Blog Reflection // Week 12

Blog Reflection // Week 11

New shooting script

We had filmed 80% of our music video last week and we had finished editing with the clips we had. However, after watching back our first draft, we decided as group to re-film some shots to make them more aesthetically appealing by improving the camera language. We have decided to re film this weekend and we will continue to edit next week. Due to some our of shots changing, we decided to create a new shooting script so that we were able to organised ourselves and know what shot came after the other, and so we could make sense of the sequence all together. I do not feel this is a problem because prior to filming, we had planned to leave an extra week in case we needed to re-film, therefore we are still on track and this does not feed into our ancillary design time.

Blog Reflection // Week 10

❤ ❥Starting our production work ❤ ❥

This week we went out to start filming in Hainault forest which is located in Chigwell Essex.
I first of all checked the Redbridge website to make sure it was open. The park is open from 7am and the closing times differ depending on the day, which you can know from the information boards adjacent to the car park.

 Hainault Forest ft our tripod

The reason why we chose Hainault forest was because it was a beautiful location that is large enough to have different areas and location drops for our music video. It is a great public park and has been around for a long time now, you can view more information about the park here. 

To make filming easier, we have split the filming over the course of three days. This was due to the natural sunlight setting around 4pm. Therefore, we have decided to film from the early morning and finishing before 4pm so our lighting can be consistent through out our music video.

google.com sunset calculator

Filming went great this week as we had no issues filming at all! We were able to film all the necessary shots, and infact, we finished rather early. We were all prepared to film, I suggested to have the lyrics already printed incase the actor/artist had forgotten the lyrics to sing along to, and I also remembered we needed a spare battery incase it died.

However, one of the main decisions we made this week was based on casting. We changed our actor from Jay to Naveed as he was not comfortable in front of the camera. Naveed happens to take drama so it was a great opportunity for him to add to his own drama portfolio. This was not an issues as we Naveed was our back up actor anyway.  It also has given me the expediences with working with trained actors which is something I look forward to in this industry as I believe it makes your production much more effective.

San filming our music video artist/actor Naveed

A glance at the natural lighting we used

Blog Reflection // Week 9

This week we finished the production paper work so our teacher could check our progress. We needed a final check on our paper work so we were able to film without any problems and to ensure everything was organised.

For our shooting script, we made sure each location was highlighted in a different colour. This helped us know what shots needed to be filmed where so we did not have to jump to each location back and forth, and instead, just film all the shots within each location once.

After receiving the feedback from our teacher, we were told to add more shots of our artist in the music video. The reason for this was that we are promoting the artist in the digipak so we should include more of him within the music video. It is also conventional for there to be closeups of the music artist as it lets the audience know who created the song, and who they are as an artist. 

This week we also discussed when we was going to film in each location and we agreed on what date and times were best for us, as well as our actor. We decided to only have one third party actor in our music video as sometimes its harder to have them available for filming, our other actor is Simran, she is part of my new group, therefore she has the same free time as will be reliable as this is her work too. We also discussed with our teacher about the deadlines for filming as we needed spare time in case we needed to re-film. We have decided to finish filming a couple of days before the deadline because it ensures us we have everything finished before hand, and allows us to have some spare times just in case. 

As we were not filming till Sunday this week, we have decided to start creating  the graphics for our ancillary products. I have been using fireworks for this as it is easy to use and enables me to create images from scratch, so that all our images are our own. This is important as a real product would not use images randomly grabbed from the internet as there would be copy-right issues with this. 

New project pre-production

Now that I have joined a new group, I decided to post the pre-production research for the new idea. Below I have embedded all the necessary pre-production research so we can get ready for our production work. I look forward to working with my new group because I am genuinely interested in forming a new style of music video that even includes stop motion, which is something I have not touched upon much myself!

Treatment : The treatment is a full analysis of the idea and how it was formed.


This is the final treatment for our music video idea and its ancillary products. We talked about our vision, artist and audience in more detail. We also described what technology we would use and how we would plan our production so that it would be successful.




Shooting script : The shooting script is our crutch for our production filming as we will use the information to help us determine the type of shot. It is very important for music videos to be shot as planned because it is shown to a big audience. I know that in the media industry, a script enables you to be organised with your filming.

In the shooting script we had originally aimed to have a minimum of 100 shots, purely because music videos have plenty of movement and the shots are always changing, however we found this goal very difficult to achieve due to the length of our song being a minute or so shorter than the average song and the tempo of our song. We were inspired by A-Team Ed Sheeran so when we realised we hadn't reached the full 100 we looked at that video, which also has less than 100-so this slightly reassured us, however we may still have to edit it and add a few more later on.

Digipak and Magazine flat plans : Our ancillary products needed to be carefully planned as they represent our music artist. We needed to have a design that would promote the artist and make them spend money on the product itself. 

Shown above is an image of my magazine advert for the digipak, we tried to communicate the idea of nature from the digipak through the large window, we also have the acoustic guitar and the orange mug carrying synergy of the orange coloured leaves on the digipak.

Above is the digipak, we decided to stick with the basic 6 sided template as we felt it communicates our artists simplicity. Two of the panels are very simple and have no text as we felt those two images connote his brand very well. We also chose these simple images as we may choose to do some artwork and stencil them with paint to add a creative edge to further communicate his brand and authentic music. 

Production schedule & Call sheets : To ensure we are organised with our filming, we have created a production schedule. We are working together to make sure this production is the best we can make, and we need to be organised with our filming , military style ;) This will keep us from rushing any filming plans and that all our shots are incorporated. It also allows us to have time to re-film if necessary. The call sheets are for each individual filming date so we know what is needed for each filming day so nothing is forgotten.

Location reccies: Before we started filming, we decided to venture out to all our planned location so we are definitely sure that is what we needed for our production aesthetically. We also added some back up options just incase we had to change locations. It's better to be safer than sorry.


This week we did the location reccie for the locations for our music video. We had to evaluate locations against each other and take pictures to show the location. We also had to think about back up locations in case there was a problem with the original. Thinking of how we could use the location creatively was important as creativity is essential to keeping the audience captivated.

 

Blog Reflection // Week 8 : Plot twist

This week was intense as some changes were made in terms of whom I was working with. I was formerly working with Eoin as we had not worked together before and we are close friends.

However, working together led to a few complications. Throughout the build up of workload, I personally felt as if I was doing more of the work than Eoin. Each week I was given firm deadlines for all my subjects as they are all course-work heavy and I was under a lot of stress. I kept myself organised and completed all my work on time and to the best of my ability. However, my partner was not completing his sections of the work on time. Due to the deadlines that were not met, the missing work he did not complete did affect me as we were doing partner work and we were being assessed together. After discussing with our teachers what was the best solution, Eoin is now working by himself and  I am now working with a new group, which I am extremely happy with. 

The new group I am working with are Paman and Simran. They have the same passion and commitment as me into media and complete the work together. The class has also supported me through this and these two girls have been helpful enough to allow me to be a part of their group.

I am extremely grateful for this and also have an interest towards their music video idea, which I am looking forward to.

Overall, this experience with Eoin has been taken into a positive perspective, as I am still close friends with him. I hope for the best for Eoin, as I know what he is capable of. It is necessary to organise yourself in a career and for media in particular, as you need to work with other teams, therefore your actions affect them too. In the real industry, you sometimes have to work with new people, and so I am going to establish what has happened as a positive outcome. My new group is aware of what happened so this ensures me that I will be treated more fairly.

This week, my new group and I have discussed what we need to do in order for our production and future work for this year to be a success. We have spoken about when we are going to film and when to produce the last parts of pre-production together. For the next few weeks we are going to start filming and working on our production, which I will be updating along the way. 

Call Sheets

Production Schedules

Location Reccies

Blog Reflection // Week 7

This week was an amazing but hard working week off of school as we had half term. During the week, me and my partner met up a few times to discuss the production work we needed to. We discussed how we was going to form our shooting script as it was very important we had the appropriate detail as it is a key to our music video being structured and well executed. We first discussed how we was going to cut to the song and we had decided to cut to the guitar  strums, this was exceptionally hard as the song was very fast and upbeat. However, we didn't want the shots to be excessive and fast. As the song is a love song we wanted to illustrate the contradictions people make when in love by using appropriately length shots to showcase the narrative towards the song which was fast paced which signifies the fast beating of someones heart ;)

We also discussed the ideas we had for the images for our digipak and magazine. We wanted to present our music artist the best we could in the most conventional manner. We used our treatment (which you can find on my blog) to help us as I had previously created a mood board and briefly detailed our former ideas.

In all, this week was rather busy as we had to contact the actors we wanted to use and confirm their roles, we also ventured out into Central London to ensure the locations we had decided on were the best and fit into the music video well.

Shooting Script

Treatment

Magazine Advert & Digipak

Pre-Production Music Video Analysis

1) Whetus - Teenage Dirtbag
2) Katy Perry- T.G.I.F
3) Kodaline - All I want (Part 1)

Audience feedback analysis

Vox pops :

The term "vox pop" comes from the Latin phrase vox populi, meaning "voice of the people". The vox pop is a tool used in many forms of media to provide a snapshot of public opinion. Random subjects are asked to give their views on a particular topic and their responses are presented to the viewer/reader as a reflection of popular opinion.

Vox pops aim

The aim for our voxpops was to help us identify the preferences of our audience in a form of a brief discussion. A voxpop allowed our audience to answer questions openly,thus providing us with qualitative data. It also allowed us to understand the type of person our audience are like as we got to ask them questions relating to our idea to see if they would like it i.e if they like romance music videos or not. We did this in order to please our target audience as much as possible.For our Vox Pops we went around the school asking people some questions and recorded the responses. This was difficult at times as a lot of people we asked didn’t want to be filmed and it took a lot of convincing and some just flat out refused. The piece of technology we used was a flip cam which was provided by our school.

Vox pops results with analysis

1) Why do you watch music videos?

-easiest way to watch,legally.

-to entertain me

-enjoy music whilst be able to visualise the song

- gives the song more meaning

- music videos have a variety and is a sense of escapism 

lets you experience the life of the artist

Overall, from these answers I can determine that my audience watch music videos to feed escapism,social and entertainment aspects of the uses and gratifications theory. Therefore, it is important that my music video has a strong visual to cater towards these needs. I also like the fact my audience look for meanings in songs as my music artist has deep lyrics.

2) Do you like music videos that tell a story or just have interesting visuals?

-tell a story, visuals are too repeated,

stories are more different

-a back story but with entertaining visuals

to keep the mood and enthusiasm towards the 

song

-a story is only good depending on the song, in contrast a song with a good beat would look better with visuals

-a music video should tell a story rather than 

just pass time, a story lets you connect with the artist

Overall, I have decided to use a narrative style music video because my audience feels they would have better connection with the artist and the meaning of the song itself,where as visuals are too repeated and only pass time.I personally strongly agree with this and look forward to creating a music video with a sense of purpose rather than just for aesthetic reasons.

3) What music video have you watched that you really loved - why?

-Mika Lollipop,

has animation but it unique interms of it adult 

humour

-Rihanna and Shikara Can't remember to forget you

because of the beautiful women 

-Hayley Kiyoko- Girls like girls 

because it has been 

shot like a film and has a strong narrative

-Hozier Take me to church 

because the video wasnt 

based on the title and had a different deeper meaning

-Justin Bieber What do you mean 

because it highlights 

a strong theme such as trust

-Macklemores Thrift shop 

because it was funny 

and the actors were using the props associated with the words

literally ( an illustrative/interpretive style music video)

In particular, I see why someone mentioned Shakira's and Rihanna's music video because it was under the male gaze, however as my audience are mostly female, I would make my music artist appealing in the same attractive manner. I also liked that my audience liked strong narrative videos that were based on significant themes such as trust in the Justin Bieber music video, thus ensuring me and my partner that our music video narrative is on the right path.

4) What do you think of my music video idea, any improvements?

- Don't conform to the soceity and make the happy

ending on how everyone accepts the beast rather than him

turning into a handsome man. Make him still less socially

desirable. Let it focus on how people should be considerate

of others.

- Add more iconography from the film such as teacups

from the film

-It's a great idea and I have no improvements

-It's interesting because its a modern twist on a traditional film

- It's cute and interesting and I would watch it

I am extremely pleased that my audience enjoy the concept of my music video, however I love the suggestion of making the actors perspective change rather than sticking to the beast transforming into a human. It adds a much more deeper context and highlights the emerging ideology that people are still starting to consider others more. I was also pleased that the male audience liked the audience rather than just the females, therefore I do not feel like I have to manipulate the storyline in any way to fit a masculine approach, because regardless of it being a romantic genre (which is stereo-typically for a female audience), its truly about society and that includes everyone and both genders.

5) Have you ever felt like you did not fit in society?

-Race has been a concern for me because I am Indian. In India I am not Indian and in

England I am not English, so its hard to fit somewhere in particular.

-I fit into society really well.

-I've always fit in.

-Occasionally when I make English Literature jokes on poetry references

because I feel as though my hobbies are a minority.

I feel like it is a mixed view on whether my audience identify with not fitting into soceity. However, I still feel like my narrative idea is amazing because I get to give a sense of personal identity for those who do not feel like they fit in, as well as give the other half some education and insight on how they could perhaps alter their views and help those who feel excluded and alone.

6) What extra features would make you buy a music artists product rather than illegally downloading it?

-Beside the scenes footage, Bonus songs

- Cheaper price

- Reasonable price and proof I support the artist

and the special features need to reflect the artist in particular.

-Acoustic/remixes of songs already on the track list.

- Associated with the album in particular such as a booklet

and download to make the purchase more valuable.

In all, my audience are looking for proof that their purchase is valuable. The special features I have chosen from my audiences suggestions are remixes of original songs and perhaps a pullout poster of the artist himself. The audience were mostly concerned about having their money worth spent to stop them from illegally downloading songs. They also wanted things that could not be downloaded as easy which is why I have chosen to do a pullout product like a poster. This is great for those fans that really appreciate the artist in particular too because they can support him by buying his album and placing the posters in the bedrooms for their friends to learn about too, thus supporting the artist via word of mouth.

Survey monkey :

Survey Monkey is a free website that allows you to create online surveys. Feel free to make your own survey at www.surveymonkey.com.

Survey Monkey Aim

Our aim was to find out who our audience is for the video as we asked questions to identify what kind of person it was then asked questions relating to our idea to see if they would like it for example if they like romance music videos or not. We did this in order to mold our idea in order to please our target audience as much as possible. For our research we carried out a survey on surveymonkey.com and I shared it online and asked some friends to fill it in so I could analyse the data. We also did Vox Pops where we went around the school asking people some questions and recording the responses. This was difficult at times as a lot of people we asked didn’t want to be filmed and took a lot of convincing or just flat out refused.

Survey Monkey results with analysis

From this pie chart we can see that narrative videos are preferred by over 86% of the audience, however 46% of that liked it when it was tied in with elements of performance suggesting to me that this is what I should do for my music video. Be that as it may 40% wanted only narrative and 13% wanted only performance so the majority of my audience (53%) may not want to see both in my video. This means that the majority of viewers would not find this music video appealing, but since I’m doing both it may please them to at least have had some features of it in the final video.

From this bar chart it appears that Beauty and The Beast was a well-liked film as 40% said it was excellent and 20% said it was above average and so a music video where there are some intertextual references would be well received by this audience. Even though we hadn’t considered this before but because the film was so popular we may make our video homage to it whereas before we just used a similar storyline based on the original but now we might take into consideration using similar; camera, editing and mise-en-scene for the video.

We asked our audience what their views on acoustic guitar music were and we found similar results as to their view on Beauty and the Beast where over 72% of the audience said that it was either good or they loved it meaning that our music choice is perfect for this audience. It is clear that the 16-20 year old age group is the right target audience as they liked beauty and the beast, acoustic guitar music and preferred a narrative idea or one with elements of performance and narrative as our video is going to include all these things.

From this we can see that the audiences overwhelmingly prefer fast paced music videos over slow paced. We can use this to our advantage as the music itself is quite fast and upbeat and so our music video will match the tone of the song. There was a small group of people who preferred slow paced music videos but we couldn't be able to make our slow paced to suit them as the beat is just too quick for a slow paced music video. We will consider the pace of the music video is post production to match the beat and just doing that alone should make it fast paced.

Conclusions to Vox Pops and Survey Monkey

Are any of your results surprising or conflicting?

One set of data I found surprising was the results we got back from the question regarding what their favourite  genre of music video is. There was no clear pattern or favourite as the results were pretty even no genre really took a lead. This made it hard to analyse as it was so even and we couldn't do anything to make it appeal to the mainstream audience as there was none in this regard just a lot of a niche groups. In terms of our voxpops, art first it was conflicting have a mix of people like visuals and narrative, but in the end we felt more connected to a narrative idea. I was particularly surprised at how the male audience felt passion for this narrative rather than just girls. 

Are there any reasons why your research could be bias?

One reason why our research for the survey could be bias is because we only asked people aged 16-20 years old which is a niche group and doesn't give much range in the data. The ideology of this group would likely all be similar and so not give us any variation in the answers given. It is also not a accurate representation of the population and shows only a small sample of it. Our voxpops were also centered on those of a similar age to us, therefore their views are limited compared to those who are older and perhaps had more experience with society.

How does this affect our product?

From the results of our research we thought we might implements elements of intertextuality and reference Beauty and the Beast as we now know it is well loved so referencing it will be enjoyed by a large audience. We could do this by choice of mise-en-scene for example costume where we dress up the Beauty character in a dress similar to Belle's yellow dress. We also saw that having both performance and narrative is what is wanted by our audience so we are definitely going to do that now as before we were considering just doing short film