Official Music Video

Evaluation Question 1

At the start of the school year, our teacher gave us the task of creating a media product. The teacher chose for us to do a music video, and two ancillary products.
The ancillary products that would go along with the music video are the digipak, and the magazine advert. This varied from our foundation portfolio, as throughout the creation of the thriller, we were told that we must follow conventions, however upon reaching the advanced portfolio, challenging the genre conventions was essential for us to become media producers as opposed to media consumers.

The purpose of a music video is to portray and express emotions in which an audience is supposed to feel due to the suggestions and expression a certain video is making. For example, if a music video is full of low key lighting, and is slow, with a depressing narrative, then it is very obvious that the music video is therefore meant to make you feel sad, unless it is diverse to its conventions. For example, that style music video that I just described may be put to an upbeat dance soundtrack, going completely against whatever a person may think when they see the video; therefore this would be breaking convention, and showing diversity within that chosen music genre.

A music video is something used to help as a selling product to an audience, and helps draw fans closer to their artist through the use of successful production and marketing. Music videos and their genres are broken down into different sections, as a dance video will undoubtedly be different to a rock video. This is where the real task came, as I tried to challenge the conventions of a pop/Indy music video. In order to do this, we tried splitting the artist from the narrative within the video. For example, in James Morrison’s “Broken Strings”, Morrison is shown performing within the narrative, and has evident emotional attachment to the other artist in the video. I felt that keeping the artist separate helped keep the purity of the artists image through not tarnishing his reputation at all through any negativity in a story line. I used the performance aspect as more of a reflection, therefore it may look like he is either looking back, or simply telling the story of the couple seen on screen in the narrative. This is how I challenged the convention, and I feel that this worked really well, as  it allowed more flexibility within the narrative that was ever changing.

Group Magazine Advert

This is our group advert design. It has been built up of many different ideas from each member of the group, and we feel it best portrays the music video, through many different elements.

Firstly, we used the black and white filter again, as we feel that it should be used as much as possible without becoming too repetitive, as it depicts the mood, which is essential in an advert, as there is no moving or sounds to help provide the audience with the atmosphere of the creation. Next, something we all agreed on straight away was the use of the guitar in as many parts of the video and ancillary as possible. It gives the person playing it a certain sort of edge about them, and also helps create an isolated scene. It then also shows that the artist is selling themselves as a musician, not just simply a singer.

Next, we felt that as simple text as possible was necessary, as the idea of the video and the song is not too complex, and we didn't need the writing to look 'fancy' as, the narrative in the song is supposedly dark, cold and hard hitting. Evidently, the text looks well spaced, which allows us to emphasis the connotation of the isolation theme.

The last theme that we felt we must include in the advert was was the use of the cards and flames. the cards are used throughout the video in order to portray the relationship, and its status throughout the music video. The first time we see the cards occurs when things are good with the couple, but they are shown again and again throughout the video as the relationship worsens. The cards end up in a card tower, burning. We felt that the connotations of that scene are great, as they represent something that has been built and well established burning down in a short amount of time, much like the relationship. With this being such a pivotal point of our narrative, and one of the things we pride our music video on, we felt it necessary to include these everywhere possible. the flames used on the cards gives us the escape from a simple black and white magazine advert, which then again breaks up the sadness with something unusual. Fire usually is connoted as bad and dangerous, and still is within the music video, but in this instance on the magazine advert, it is actually the only bright spark, as it is the only piece of colour on the entire advert.

The only problem I would have with this magazine advert is that I do not feel the cards and flames fit in well enough with the image, as there is not enough free space in the background, and that it does not seem to blend. There is no mix of themes within the rest of the advert, yet the cold black and white filtered image is cut up with two playing cards on fire randomly placed. It may be best if the cards are faded into the background, or we could find a different way in which to represent the flames and the cards that are so heavily shown in the music video.

Insert Jagoda's Magazine Advert Here.

In Jagoda's individual magazine advert, I feel her use of flames is more effective, as they are in the background, and they seem to blend pretty seamlessly with the image, and the smoke effect also helps create a transition from dark to light, rather than a complete contrast of black to orange.

Risk Assessment

A risk assessment is essential when planning to do anything. This is because, for obvious reasons, you want things to be as safe as possible, so you can get the job done, without any hazards.

Hazards are a major concern with our music video, as we plan to do things that carry many risks.
Firstly, we plan for our main setting to be the white cliffs of Dover. The cliffs stand at 300ft tall,instantly creating the danger of falling. The winds at that height also will be stronger, causing more problems with small pathways at the edge of the cliff.

So firstly, as just mentioned, we need to take precaution when at the cliffs. At 300ft, there is a sheer drop off at the face of the cliffs, and this obvious creates a very severe risk of falling, especially as some of the cliffs paths are so small that you can only walk single file. As also mentioned before, the cliffs are high, and also situated by the sea, so the winds will be a lot stronger than normal, not only creating the problem of equipment and iconography flying away, but the very realistic hazard of being blown of the cliff.

Another hazard that we must take into account appears when we get to the card motif. We intend to set cards alight as a good effect and connotation of the relationship. We must be careful when lighting the cards as the chances of the fire spreading may be quite high. We would ultimately like there to be a coating of fire around a tower of cards, as opposed to just lighting cards. This means that we may have to use lighter fluid around the edges of the card tower, causing increased flammability, and increased risk, as the fire could spread more easily, especially if the lighter fluid drips, or spreads somewhere else and the fire starts going along that line. We must make sure that when doing the fire scene that the fire is controlled, and that we take the right precautions to enable us to put it out in time if we feel that the flames are out of control.

Another hazard is the problem of weather. With several outdoor scenes, it is imperative that we keep the equipment functioning perfectly. Things like rain will cause problems to our production, as we cannot afford for the HD camera to get wet, as we may end up breaking it. This also applies to the acoustic guitar, as it is an electro-acoustic, therefore the internals will get damaged, and it could ultimately ruin the guitar which is valued at several hundreds of pounds.

Lastly, we must be careful when filming inside that we do not trip over certain things. Being in a house often means that there may be clutter around, which is something we should take note of, as although it does not seem that big a deal, there is always the big risk that we could slip, or trip over something and end up with an injury. A big example of this is if we were to charge the camera, and we left the lead trailing along the floor, it is very obvious that someone could not see it as moving around the setting, and get their feet caught on it.

Digipak Analysis

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This is our group digipak.

With the theme of the music video, and the song itself being about a break up, which is quite a dark topic, we figured the best way to use continuity was to use dark colours, with tints of brighter ones.
This therefore allows the audience to further understand the purpose/theme of our music video. The black and white filter, mixed with the bricks are a great way to help represent isolation, as the locations show no signs of other people or life, and the colour is also a negative representation.

The colour we added in makes sure that the mood is not completely miserable and depressing, as the audience would not necessarily want to buy an album that makes them feel depressed. The colours red and orange/black also show colours of hope and compassion. They are not bright, 'in your face' colours, but they are subtle, and are colours that may be represented through love, and even the orange sunset affect. It shows that all hope is not lost, and that the artist represents that the character in the video may not have given up hope. This was also a good way to display some extra editing skills.

Filming Schedule

Shot	Date & time	Location	Content /Action	Shot type & Duration	Costume/ hair/ make up	Iconography	Personnel	Equipment
	01.11.13 12:00 pm	White cliffs of Dover	Artist performing i.e. miming to the lyrics as well as playing the guitar	Mid shot, long shot	Artist Costume:  casual clothing consisting of jeans and jacket Hair: Natural Make-up: Natural	Guitar	Artist Camera person Location manager Director	Digital camera, batteries, tripod, memory card
	07.11.13 15.05 pm	Drama studio	Artist performing with the guitar	Mid shot, Long shot, Side angle	Artist Costume:  casual clothing consisting of jeans and checked shirt	Guitar, stool	Artist Camera person Location manager Director	Digital camera, batteries, tripod, memory card
	21.11.13 16:00 pm	Indoors - bedroom scene	Male and female featured in the video will be seen playing cards & their relationship will be made clear to the audience	Mid shot, Long shot	Male: jeans and top Female: leggings and long sleeve top	Cards	Actors Camera person Location manager Director	Digital camera, batteries, tripod, memory card
	25.11.13 15:00 pm	Outdoor - Various locations	Flashbacks of male and female in a happy relationship	Tracking shot	Male: jeans and coat Female: leggings coat	-	Actors Camera person Location manager Director	Digital camera, batteries, tripod, memory card
	27.11.13 17:00 pm	Indoor - kitchen	Cards will be built up in a tower and set alight	Close up, mid shot	-	Cards	Camera person Location manager Director	Digital camera, batteries, tripod, memory card
	03.12.13 15.05 pm	Indoor - living room	Female is seen unpacking a box filled with photos of her and the male together	Close up	Casual clothing	Cards	Camera person Location manager Director Female actress	Digital camera, batteries, tripod, memory card
	05.12.13	Outdoor 12:00 pm	The male and female will be seen arguing	Long shot	Male: jeans and coat Female: leggings coat	IPhone	Camera person Location manager Director Actors	Digital camera, batteries, tripod, memory card
	06.12.13	Car 13:00 pm	Arguing scene between male and female	Mid shot, Low angle	Male: jeans and coat Female: leggings coat	Car	Camera person Location manager Director Actors	Digital camera, batteries, tripod, memory card

This filming schedule gave us the flexibility that we needed, as it allowed us to adjust times and dates if necessary, and was especially helpful that we had the half term in which we made the trip to the white cliffs of Dover. Due to other commitments, we were forced to delay some filming times, and this did change our production schedule slightly. It prolonged the filming process, but ultimately did not make much of a difference, as the music video was completed in plenty of time, and the narrative was unaffected by all the changes and delays with the filming schedule.

Lyric Analysis

I remember years ago - Starts the song with a strong sense of reflection
Someone told me I should take
Caution when it comes to love - Shows warning, therefore makes evident that video will include something to do with love gone badly/foreboding
I did

And you were strong and I was not - Introduction of the 'other half'
My illusion, my mistake
I was careless, I forgot
I did - Explaining that it is the protagonist that is affected most and made the mistakes

And now when all is done - Again reflecting, as something has already happened. Starting to see the relationship through flashbacks
There is nothing to say
You have gone and so effortlessly
You have won - Evidence that the relationship has ended, and that the artist/protagonist is accepting defeat
You can go ahead tell them

Tell them all I know now
Shout it from the roof tops - This section will show the performance/artist to break up narrative
Write it on the sky line
All we had is gone now
Tell them I was happy
And my heart is broken
All my scars are open
Tell them what I hoped would be
Impossible, impossible
Impossible, impossible -Relating to the relationship, which is represented throughout the hardships of the partnership throughout the video

Falling out of love is hard -Showing the downfall of the relationship
Falling for betrayal is worse
Broken trust and broken hearts
I know, I know...

Thinking all you need is there
Building faith on love and words
Empty promises will wear
I know, I know... - Showing growing aggravation and despair form the artist/protasgonist

And now when all is done
There is nothing to say

And if you're done with embarrassing me - Show some sort of resilience from the main character
On your own you can go ahead tell them

Tell them all I know now
Shout it from the roof tops - Same as last chorus, but with more break up focus
Write it on the sky line
All we had is gone now
Tell them I was happy
And my heart is broken
All my scars are open
Tell them what I hoped would be
Impossible, impossible
Impossible, impossible

I remember years ago
Someone told me I should take
Caution when it comes to love - This part of the song is slow, and should be represented through slow scenes of either the couple when they were together, or one/both of them reflecting
I did

Tell them all I know now
Shout it from the roof tops
Write it on the sky line
All we had is gone now - Focused on performance, with slight clips of narrative to break it up

Tell them I was happy
And my heart is broken
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, hoped would be
Impossible, impossible
Impossible, impossible
Impossible, impossible
Impossible, impossible - Use light, slow clips of narrative at the end to provide the music video and relationship with 'closure'

This song provides different ranges of tempo, therefore allowing for a lot of flexibility when planning and producing certain scenes. The helpful thing is that the lyrics within the song could also directly correlate to a good narrative, as it already discusses an obvious break up, which means we simply have to create the breakup scenes in order to create an effective piece. I believe the editing will be pivotal when creating this, as although the songs tempo, sound and lyrics help set a mood, I feel the filters, camera shots and natural lighting will also be a great way to provide the viewer with a better understanding of what the music video is trying to portray, and how it is trying to do it.

Evaluation

At the start of the school year, our teacher gave us the task of creating a media product. The teacher chose for us to do a music video, and two ancillary products.
The ancillary products that would go along with the music video are the digipak, and the magazine advert.

The purpose of a music video is to portray and express emotions in which an audience is supposed to feel due to the suggestions and expression a certain video is making. For example, if a music video is full of low key lighting, and is slow, with a depressing narrative, then it is very obvious that the music video is therefore meant to make you feel sad, unless it is diverse to its conventions. For example, that style music video that I just described may be put to an upbeat dance soundtrack, going completely against whatever a person may think when they see the video; therefore this would be breaking convention, and showing diversity within that chosen music genre.

The importance early on during our year 13 A2 look at Media was placed on things such as the way in which music videos are consumed or advertised.  This would thereby help us later when discussing these things and relating it back to our own video and ancillary products. We wrote blogs on different genres, and different ways in which they can be consumed i.e. different music channels and Youtube etc. We then chose our groups of 4 in which we would create our videos and ancillary texts. I worked with Lauren Vale, Jagoda Jasion and Dipika Sharma. We chose this group, as given all our success separately at AS, we figured it would be good to bring the same sort of ideas together as one, to hopefully come out with top marks on our video and ancillary products.

At the start of the production, I was the performer, and would also take part in the narrative. I would then also help witht the editing, however with so little free time to film, I soon became just the performer, and assisted with editing, as the amount of filming we still needed to do on the narrative couldn’t fit in with my already busy weekly schedules. As a result of this, our narrative has changed several times, with several different actors/actresses attempting to fill a role that we find has no emotional expression, and doesn’t connect with the audience in the way the we originally hoped they would.

The big positive that came from the performance part of this video, is the isolated locations. Firstly, the performance seen is set in a dark room, and is slowly lit directly on the performance, and none of the surroundings. This shows complete focus on the performance that is currently taking place, and also shows connotations of loneliness, with complies with the sad theme that the song appears to follow. The other location that we feel works well is on top of the White Cliffs of Dover. The only problems we encountered here were:

a)      Did we get enough shots?

b)      The wind was too strong for some clips

Despite these problems, we feel happy with the performance, and although we have struggled completely with narrative, the performance aspect has worked as a sort of anchor/platoon in which to work around when modifying or adapting a new narrative.

We started changing our minds after the first day of planning the video. Our group originally decided to do an indy song by a girl artists, but were faced witht the fact we couldn’t find a girl that would be the performer, and we also couldn’t find any songs that we felt had the slow emotional aspect, as well as a powerful finish. This is when we agreed that going for the indy male artist would be much easier. We looked through different songs by people such as James Morrison and Kris Allen. We finally decided that we  would use the most recent winner of the X Factor ‘James Arthur’. This seemed quite fitting, as we chose to do his version of ‘Impossible’ originally recorded by Shontelle, but appeared to be much more successful by the young talent show winner.

Immediately we all had ideas of what we wanted in the video, but the problem soon became that all the ideas were too conflicting, let alone much more complex than we seemed to understand.

We decided that our target audience should be 18-25 years old, as these are the ages in which they are most likely to watch music videos on the television, and youtube, so therefore they should also be able to connect more with the themes and representations that we hope to express throughout our media production.

Something that hasn’t been focused on too greatly within our video is the ability to represent other products within the video that may help fans/viewers connect with the artist, as they can see things that may be a part of their lifestyle.
One item that is very evident throughout the performance is the performers’ superdry jacket. Things like these can then represent either the style of the artist, and maybe the genre in which they hope their music pursues, and also giving a guideline to fans on what he wears, in case they want to follow suit. This is known as an intertextual reference.

Originally we agreed that our music video would be split into 70% Narrative, and 30% performance, and there would be no use of concept in the production. However it is unclear whether these percentages will be stuck to, as it is hard to measure with all the narrative problems we have encountered that I mentioned earlier.

When looking at creating the ancillary texts, we struggled to find any great examples, as we wanted an indy/urban theme to them, but when looking for some of these that James Arthur released, we soon realised that he hasn’t released any, as his new album had only just finished being produced, and therefore we couldn’t find the digipak. We found similar types of artists for inspirations such as the male artists I mentioned earlier, but we still found that they did not help as much as we hoped, and found ourselves trying to create a new genre of digipak that appeared to have not been produced before.
One of the most challenging things with this was being able to get suitable images that we could edit, and then adapt them through 6 different boxes/slides that would all link and keep the same style. After having a brief photo shoot, we had some images that we thought we could use, but when it came to editing, the other 3 in the group felt that they were too hard to edit, so had to get me to have new photos taken.

The positive behind the new photos was that we could also have a change of scenery, and we decided to use a brick wall on the outside of a London underground station. This definitely gave us the urban look that we desired, and I feel the clothes on the artist represented the indy edge to then mix genres, and combine two different music cultures, to create the images that we found so hard to find when looking through professional examples of different ancillary texts.

Originally when I started creating a digipak I assumed that there would only be 4 slides, as when you get a CD, the only faces to note will be on the front, back, CD and inside cover. I never assumed that we would have to use two additional images to complete a digipak which requires 6 slides. I think our most successful slide on the digipak is the back cover/track list, as Lauren Vale originally came up with the idea of using a picture of a guitar, and putting the names of the tracks in between the strings. She then made the picture black and white, and although the colouring may not seem to fit our indy genre, it did correlate, as there was a guitar, and the mood set by the picture also fits witht the emotions we are attempting to express from our music video. I certainly feel that we have done a good job at making sure our digipak and magazine advert relates to each other, and also more importantly to our music video. There are certain aspects that  we originally used that have now been put to the side, but with our original idea for the video, we planned to use a house of cards, and set them alight. We then found a good way of linking this theme in a magazine advert, as Jagoda Jasionowska used fire in the background of the image, and blurred it with smoke. Firstly this gave away the obvious link between music video and advert, but I feel that by blurring it, and then adding a smoke effect, it also correlated with the video, as it created that air of mysteriousness, that works with the lyrics of the song, as our song can often be misconstrued to mean many different things, therefore the shroud of smoke represents that mystery.

We originally tried using the shots we had from the first photoshoot in the digipak, but this proved a challenging task, and therefore we decided to shoot again in a different setting (brick wall). We have used the shots from this photoshoot in our digipak, as again we feel this portrays the image we hope to send, and fits well with our genre.
The images from the first shoot were in an organised photo studio, so these could work well when using a magazine advert, as the shots look well produced, and are purposely not cluttered or focused on a setting.