Evaluation for music video:
1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When we first got the track to create our music video, we wanted to put our own intake on to what we can create and have something different and unique. The type of band we chose was a very hippy and Indy, which would use the conventions of bright lights, unusual settings, and strange props, fun and closes ups of an artist or band. Where a stereotypical hippy indie boy band is bands such as ‘Weatus’ and ‘ JLS’, we didn’t want to create an image of this we wanted to break the usual conventions of having strobe lighting and good looking males. We went against voyeuristic where we decided not to use beautiful ladies dancing half naked or on the other hand males showing off their bodies and figures, videos such as ‘JLS –Beat Again’ and ‘Alex Gaudino Feat. Christal Waters - Destination Calabria’. We wanted to chanallage conventions and as it would use a very strange scenario into a normal everyday situation, and for it to be a unique and fun music video compared to others.
By looking at previous work of Harvey Danger we decided that we didn’t want to do a boy band performance, they hardly ever do a boy band performance but they do like to have shots of them performing as a band, you can see this in their video ‘Harvey Danger - Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo’.So we have decided to stick to simple and classic shots of the artist.
Too balance out how we broke conventions we have decided to create a strong relationship between visuals and lyrics as shown in Goodwin’s Analysis. For example in our music video we have used “looking into the mirror” and we have then used the artist and the bear both looking into the mirror to begin with, we also used another pay on word where they say “cz i am in hell” and there is the bear sitting and relaxing in a punting boat, which obviously suggests that he is not in hell. This example also pays on the idea of that the artist/bear is crazy and mad.
We have tried to meet all the demands of the record label, by having a variety of shot ranging from extreme close ups to panning shots to show the location. We also after our rough cut added a lot more of the male artist singing to make sure he had enough coverage of the music video.
We have also used a lot of intertextuality by trying to refer some props and locations to very well known movies such as ‘Forest Gump’, ‘Star Wars’ ‘Toy Story’ and ‘ Singing in the rain’. We did this by using the superman cape on the artist, the light saber, eye patch, sword and then the stop motion toy soldiers. We created similar clips to relate to ‘Forest Gump’ by having the bear sitting on the bench meeting new people, and to relate to ‘Singing in the rain’ we had the bear swinging on a lamppost as gene Kelly does. One main intertextuality we have tried to link it to is ‘Peep Show’ they use comedy and fun elements throughout their series, and we have tried to create that in our video, and now they use the song as its theme tune.
I think by purposely breaking some of the conventions it really helped us to create a unique and fun music video that would suit most of the audiences.
2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
When creating our ancillary tasks we tried not to create an obvious link from the products to our music video, because we didn’t want to just focus on the track but we wanted to sell the whole album to the target audience. On the other hand we wanted to use strong links to integrate the two products together, such as the hippy flower which is very bright and colourful and eye catching to stand out for the audience. In each of the products we also used footprints on the ancillary products, which we thought would create a simple link to the song “flagpole sitter” by how we used the bear in the song. The text we decided to use we tried to connect it to the style of genre of the song, i think it brings a slight rock element to it which links it towards the music video. We also used silhouettes in the poster to show that there is a band in place but because the broke up we didn’t want to add in any faces, and didn’t want to focus on just the main singer. The title “Problems and bigger ones” gives a small link to why we have the road and why it is bending behind and with the sign saying “bend ahead”, we thought that it gives the audience a link to the problems that they have had as a band, by splitting up etc and they have more to come. When looking for research on the band we found that NME found the band “indivuall and fresh” which gives us a good insight to the band and that they were very well known and unique. I think we have created a very unique and memorable style for the band, and that the audience would easily remember it, i think we did this by using very basic and bold colours and also having the element of black and white. When doing further research we found that our digi pack relates to Harvey Dangers actual old products that they have created, very simple and unique, which suggest that we were on the same idea link of what they wanted to create the band. If i had to go back and create the poster or digi packs, i think i would either add some more cartoon style imagery or do a more direct link to the products and music video.
3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
We were extremely lucky to get excellent feedback on our music video, by taking a risk by breaking conventions was a success. Doing upbeat changes throughout the video kept the viewers attention and worked well and linked together. The only criticism that we got from the rest of our peer group was that in our rough cut we had a lot of the bear, and not enough of a band performance. So having a discussion with the rest of my group we decided to do some extra filming of the main artist on a different location lip syncing. A very hard element we had to think about is how to please all ages of audience. As an example our peer groups so under 20 they all really enjoyed it and thought it was fun and exciting but people over 20 had different feelings some didn’t understand why we had gone down this route of breaking conventions, but on the other hand they enjoyed it. The only other criticism we got from our peers was that there some people thought there was no storyline and that they couldn’t understand certain aspects of the video, so by changing the start of the music video and having more lip syncing at the start and taking alot of the bear journey out we decided to focus on the main artist, so they had alot of coverage for the record company. Other points that we got good comments on was the stop motion, they said it gave the music video a new and different element, they also liked the bold simple text on top of the video, it was very affective and have just the right amount of it. The simple mise en scene was very affective and works well, for example the PJs, Chicken and duvet cover shows the element of the video being crazy and hippy which links it all back to the ancillary products and what we wanted to create.
4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
For creating and developing our music video and all the research that we did before creating the video. We used a lot of new media technologies in constructing it. The main and obvious products we used were the camera, tripods and still SLR cameras to capture images for the ancillary products. Before we even started on making the music video we first had to do was research on the band and what other artist could we link it back to and get some idea of what we wanted to create. Every bit of research we did we posted on to a website called “Blogger” which was to show everything we had thought about and created through this project. We had very successful and positive feedback from peers and students about our blog, saying that we had a wide range of variety of posts and research. The internet was a major part of where our research we did, we went onto website such as “YouTube” where we were able to research other artist and videos to help us illustrate what sort of style we were trying to aim for. It also had videos of how to do Green screen which we were planning to do, but we didn’t have enough time or the right equipment. “Wikipedia”, “Google”, “Google Images” all of these were used for general research and finding out what the original band was like, and how they went out by their success to then breaking up. “ITunes”, “QuickTime” these two programmes were used for finding the track we wanted to create our music video and QuickTime was for us to be able to show what we had created. Finally we used a website called “MySpace”; this was how we got in contact with the band, to ask for permission to use their song. All of these websites helped us so much in finding out about the band and what sort out image they were portraying in what they wanted to achieve this gave us a stepping stone in what to create and trying to stick to the conventions.
To create the ancillary products we used a programme called Photoshop, this was very useful to create the image we wanted to do. It helped us to experiment with different textures and colours we could use to get the best look, we also used this programme to create mood boards at the beginning of the project. But the main programme we used to create the music was Final cut; there would be no way we could have created what we have without it. It introduced new elements we could use in the music video such as the writing on the video, the speed of the clip and the lighting. It was a very helpful programme to make sure we got the right clip and could edit it to the best of our ability.
Lisette Cooke's Evaluation
Our final music video does both challenge and use forms and conventions of real media products. The band we chose is a typical quirky Indy band that uses conventions in their genre such as make believe lands, mixes of real narratives and shots of the band in unusual settings. We tried hard to keep the conventions of our genre throughout the music video. One of the ways we did this is through not having the band playing in the music video and not having the band playing in the music video and only having short sharp clips of the other musicians. It goes against voyeuristic treatment of both the male and female stereotypes. It does not have a women showing off her body or men dancing and wearing tight tops to show off their abs like in a lot of boy bands such as JLS in their ‘Beat Again‘ video . It also challenges the idea of having a set storyline you would find in a lot of other music videos such as Wheatus’s ‘Teenage dirt bag’ or Counting Crows‘s ’accidentally in love’ . It’s bright daylight setting also breaks the conventions of strobe or effective lighting in the background,, linking back to the intertextuality reference of having a live action feel that challenges community and surrealism inspired by the Film Borat. However we have also managed to use conventions and forms by creating a quirky /cheeky Indy band with the use of the giant bear. We maintained this throughout with upbeat editing that links with the timing of the music. We followed the style of 1980’s pop editing with cross fades in the slower bits through to amplifying with spit screens. We also used the notion of “looking” as we linked the lead singer looking into a mirror, fountain and at a photograph. The relationship between lyrics and visuals was brought into our product as we used text to amplify the lyrics in the music; whilst also having contradicting it with ironic twists such as having the bear sitting on a punting boat relaxing, as the lyrics sing “ I’m in hell” . Finally we also used more visual intertextuality references by creating a fun and humorous link through the use of props. We did this with items such as superman cape, toy soldiers, lightsaber, Winnie the pooh books, swords and eye patch. These link to film references with others such as the bear swinging on a lamp post from singing in the rain and him sitting on the bench a scene from Forrest Gump. We also combined a reference to fun and through influence from the Tv comedy show ‘Peep show’ which uses our chosen song Harvey danger as it’s theme tune.
During creating our ancillary texts we found an effective combination to that and our main product. In designing our Digipack we tried not to let it mirror our main music video as we wanted to have a broader feel to the band and the album as a whole. With this in mind we designed an image of a mini van on the front cover to link back to the 60’s Peace campaign this was effective as it had an intertextuality reference to the bands former songs like “ Carlotta Valdez” a character from the 1960’s Alfred Hitchcock Film ‘Vertigo’ However we felt it best to continue some themes into both the digipack and magazine poster. We added footprints along the side of the poster to link back to the video that the bear is travelling around the world. on the poster we did not put a picture of the band on the front, instead we added silhouettes to represent the band as during the video there is a lack of visual presence of the band as a whole. Plus during our planning research we found this a recurring theme amongst the bands past posters and album covers that don’t actually featured the band. The sign “ bend ahead” relates to the album name “ problems and bigger ones” this is very effective as it suggests that the band, like the bear have had difficulties and have been down bumpy roads ( also seen on the poster, by the swerves in the road behind the van) but there are bumpier roads to come. This works well as after researching we found out that the band had broken up this year, this then seamed like a good final album design. we discovered by adding some reviews onto the poster, found on the internet, of the bands music also very effective as a combination to the main production. with quotes like “individual and fresh” by NME gives the viewer an idea that they are going to see something different in this particular band.
We learned a lot from our audience feedback that made us think how we could improve our piece. Although we got very good and positive feedback from our roughcut about our use of shot types, paced editing, location and mis en scene, there was still a few things that needed some thought to make the final product better. After some group discussion we decided to re-shoot some of our footage inspired by some of the feedback we got from our peers. One example of this would be the lip syncing and close ups of the lead singer. we learnt after the re shoot and new editing that you may not always notice little things when your working on the product, but with another’s opinion, they can spot those small things and this helps you to sort them out. Lip syncing tuned out to be our biggest problem to deal with when re doing the sequences, as we had trouble getting enough good footage that matched the song and backing track. We also learnt that there is a big change in opinions and suggestions based on the audiences ages. The general feel from the under 25s was positive and enjoyed the quirky fun of the lion and stop motion soldiers. however the older audience viewers found the lack of storyline a little less enjoyable than the younger audience. with this in mind we had to find a way to combine both opinions so that our final piece would both still be quirky Indy band and still have a balanced ground. we worked on this by taking out earlier shots of the lead singer in the bed outside on the field as we felt it confused the audience on where the story starts. Then by our final cut we added more close up shots of the lead singer, sticking to the idea that a record company may want more coverage of the lead singer, it took away from having a lack of storyline and overdoing the bear gag. by repeating shots of the lead singer and the bear doing the same thing and mirroring each other this then lead to having a storyline where the audience work out that the lead singer is the bear. We got good response to this as the viewers begin to understand the storyline we presented.
The use of new technology helped us greatly in constructing, researching, planning and evaluating our product as a whole. Before using digital cameras and tripods to capture our footage we used a great deal of the internet’s resources to plan and research details of our chosen band and music track. we did this through sites such as www.myspace.com to track and email the band, www.google/images.com to get an idea of the style of the band, www.wikipedia.co.uk for past and upcoming information on the band and then Harvey danger’s main fan site to find information on the band’s break up. whilst doing this we used www.blogger.com to retain and this enabled us to keep all of our research for future reference. We also found using www.youtube.com as a source of inspiration to find other music videos, films and TV shows for our intertextuality references. we found that you tube was also a great site to learn different skills, one of these was using videos to understand how to do green screen, stop motion and different camera angles. using the applications on the computer such as using itunes to preview our song choices and Microsoft PowerPoint to create a pitch for our final idea. Photoshop was a great application to work with to create mood boards, early designs of poster and our final Digipack. Final cut express enabled us to edit, cut and sort through our footage to create our final product for both our music video and creators commentary.
Lisette Cooke
During creating our ancillary texts we found an effective combination to that and our main product. In designing our Digipack we tried not to let it mirror our main music video as we wanted to have a broader feel to the band and the album as a whole. With this in mind we designed an image of a mini van on the front cover to link back to the 60’s Peace campaign this was effective as it had an intertextuality reference to the bands former songs like “ Carlotta Valdez” a character from the 1960’s Alfred Hitchcock Film ‘Vertigo’ However we felt it best to continue some themes into both the digipack and magazine poster. We added footprints along the side of the poster to link back to the video that the bear is travelling around the world. on the poster we did not put a picture of the band on the front, instead we added silhouettes to represent the band as during the video there is a lack of visual presence of the band as a whole. Plus during our planning research we found this a recurring theme amongst the bands past posters and album covers that don’t actually featured the band. The sign “ bend ahead” relates to the album name “ problems and bigger ones” this is very effective as it suggests that the band, like the bear have had difficulties and have been down bumpy roads ( also seen on the poster, by the swerves in the road behind the van) but there are bumpier roads to come. This works well as after researching we found out that the band had broken up this year, this then seamed like a good final album design. we discovered by adding some reviews onto the poster, found on the internet, of the bands music also very effective as a combination to the main production. with quotes like “individual and fresh” by NME gives the viewer an idea that they are going to see something different in this particular band.
We learned a lot from our audience feedback that made us think how we could improve our piece. Although we got very good and positive feedback from our roughcut about our use of shot types, paced editing, location and mis en scene, there was still a few things that needed some thought to make the final product better. After some group discussion we decided to re-shoot some of our footage inspired by some of the feedback we got from our peers. One example of this would be the lip syncing and close ups of the lead singer. we learnt after the re shoot and new editing that you may not always notice little things when your working on the product, but with another’s opinion, they can spot those small things and this helps you to sort them out. Lip syncing tuned out to be our biggest problem to deal with when re doing the sequences, as we had trouble getting enough good footage that matched the song and backing track. We also learnt that there is a big change in opinions and suggestions based on the audiences ages. The general feel from the under 25s was positive and enjoyed the quirky fun of the lion and stop motion soldiers. however the older audience viewers found the lack of storyline a little less enjoyable than the younger audience. with this in mind we had to find a way to combine both opinions so that our final piece would both still be quirky Indy band and still have a balanced ground. we worked on this by taking out earlier shots of the lead singer in the bed outside on the field as we felt it confused the audience on where the story starts. Then by our final cut we added more close up shots of the lead singer, sticking to the idea that a record company may want more coverage of the lead singer, it took away from having a lack of storyline and overdoing the bear gag. by repeating shots of the lead singer and the bear doing the same thing and mirroring each other this then lead to having a storyline where the audience work out that the lead singer is the bear. We got good response to this as the viewers begin to understand the storyline we presented.
The use of new technology helped us greatly in constructing, researching, planning and evaluating our product as a whole. Before using digital cameras and tripods to capture our footage we used a great deal of the internet’s resources to plan and research details of our chosen band and music track. we did this through sites such as www.myspace.com to track and email the band, www.google/images.com to get an idea of the style of the band, www.wikipedia.co.uk for past and upcoming information on the band and then Harvey danger’s main fan site to find information on the band’s break up. whilst doing this we used www.blogger.com to retain and this enabled us to keep all of our research for future reference. We also found using www.youtube.com as a source of inspiration to find other music videos, films and TV shows for our intertextuality references. we found that you tube was also a great site to learn different skills, one of these was using videos to understand how to do green screen, stop motion and different camera angles. using the applications on the computer such as using itunes to preview our song choices and Microsoft PowerPoint to create a pitch for our final idea. Photoshop was a great application to work with to create mood boards, early designs of poster and our final Digipack. Final cut express enabled us to edit, cut and sort through our footage to create our final product for both our music video and creators commentary.
Lisette Cooke
Evaluation
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When planning our music video we decided that we didn’t want it to be like all the rest and conform to every rule of the genre. Many of the conventions that can be found in music videos from our genre; quirky Indie are; extreme close ups of the artists, fun colourful performance scenes and obscure make believe worlds; so instead of conforming to every convention we added a twist. We did this by making our music video both break; and sticks to conventions. This is what makes our piece exciting and unique compared with many others.
Our video demonstrates some genre characteristics for example the way the band are feature in the piece. Instead of making this a performance piece we replaced the lead singer with a lion; this then integrated an immediate difference from the other videos in the genre.
Although quite often boy bands are shown to perform dance routines, and filmed in a very sexy, intimate and voyeuristic way, we decided that this look wasn’t at all right for the band Harvey Danger. So instead of including extreme close ups of the males and using the camera in an objectifying way we decided to use simple and basic close ups in an insightful way. After looking at their previous work there was clear evidence that they too didn’t want to go down the conventional boy band route.
After breaking the one of the key conventions explained above we decided that we wanted to make a very clear relationship between lyrics and visuals just as Goodwin describes in his analysis’ of music videos; for example by adding the words of the song on to certain sections and then allowing the audience to see an image that demonstrates what the lyrics are portraying.
We also integrated a link between lyrics and visuals when we showed the lead singer looking in to a mirror and then being seen as a bear. This also relates to Goodwin’s notion of looking.
We wanted to add an element of fun to our music video so at times we used a very contradicting style through our editing; for example there is an image of the lion sitting in a boat on a sunny day yet whilst this image is being shown the lyrics say “I’m in hell”. We think this works effectively as again it plays on the fact that the song is about being crazy and mad.
We found that when it came to editing our music video we needed a fast paced transition between the footage to keep the visuals up to speed with the pace in the song. We tried to edit the majority of our transitions on the beat although at times this proved to be a very hard task.
To ensure that we met the demands of the record label, and the genre conventions we made it an absolute to include a wide variety of shots. These ranged from extreme close ups of the lead singer to panning establishing shots to show the change of location.
In our rough cut piece the band were not always present, but after producing this we received some very helpful, constructive criticism that helped us to realise that we should include more footage of the band. We then took some time looking over music videos from our genre and found that we could easily include the band members without going against our initial idea of making the piece different; for example the group “Wheatus” produced many music videos that narrowly broke conventions but were a great success.
The style of the song “flagpole sitter” is both very random and different and because of this we decide not to go along with Goodwin’s ideology of a music video and include voyeuristic references to the female body or show them in an objectified way as we did not think this would work effectively along side the lyrics.
After doing some research on the band we believe that our work relates well with previous work they have produced with in this genre but with a slight difference; by us purposely breaking some of the conventions we believe it allows the target audience to see the bands individuality.
We wanted to include intertextual references within our music video to show links with other media instituencies. We have a range of clips on our blog to demonstrate the relationships between our own work and other peoples work.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?
When producing our ancilliary products we made it key to include a link between the two pieces of work produced. Although the link is there it is not directly apparent there is smaller recognisable links; for example on both the DVD digi pack and the poster there is a Hawaiian flower present and the text remains the same on both of the pieces. The flower that is present on our work is both eye catching and colourful, even though the colours may vary it is clear that both ancilliary products have vibrant colours present. These factors being on both pieces of work then make it easy to recognise the image and associate it with the band. Both ancilliary products also include footprints; this iconography is present on both pieces and symbolise the idea of travelling. This also link in with the song “flagpole sitter”. We named the album “problems and bigger ones” by using this title we thought that the image shown on our DVD cover worked very effectively as it illustrates the hippy van having to face problems with hills and bends in the road.
Our ancilliary products are a very random style and this ties in with the style of our music video as well as the appearance of the band members. Although there is no direct link between our music video and DVD cover through image or text; the fact that they are both of a random nature, slightly obscure and very memorable then portrays the image we wanted to build for the band.
The products we produced also work well for viral marketing as they are very different to others on the market. This will then lead to the public talking about them and gaining a greater interest from a wider audience.
If we were to go back and produce our products again I think that including a more direct link would be a lot more effective for marketing and recognition purposes.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
After receiving feedback on our blog from class members we noticed that the majority of it was very positive and that in order to improve it we would have only needed to make slight changes for example; showing a greater link between the lead singer and lion so its apparent to the audience that they are in fact the same person, and perhaps another location so that the lion could have been seeing doing another unusual thing. One element of our work that got a great deal of positive feedback was the stop motion section; people thought this worked well as it made a change from the lion and also included text. One thing we could have done to improve this though was to spend longer when shooting as it would have enabled us to make the soldiers do fractionally smaller and smoother movements.
Although our audience like the fact we had a lion shown in the footage several people said that the novelty factor wore off fairly quickly so it was good that we included a variety of different shots; for example close ups, jump shots and panning establishing shots. As well as a variation in locations for example a shopping centre in town, a bedroom and the country side. The activities the lion is shown doing, such as running around in the countryside also add to the fun yet random atmosphere built up through out our piece. By including filters to sharpen the colours at the opening scene of our music video and editing the lighting to show a contrast between a section of clips it allowed very small changes to be made to our footage that then became very apparent to the audience; many people commented on how a greater inclusion of this could impact our work very positively. Although we listened to this constructive criticism after trying out some more filters else where in our footage, we decided not to use any more effects as we felt that they took the impact away from the previous sections where filters were present.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
We think that the blog was a very positive way to get an audience to see our work as it allowed them to see the rough cut and give their opinions on how we could improve the piece before the final deadline but also allowed them to see our work in progress and the reasons behind the decisions we made. By having class members preview our work it also allowed us to make those minors changes in order to hand the work in at the highest possible standard we were capable of.
Photoshop made the construction of our ancilliary texts fairly simple and enabled us to insert images, alter them and change the colour schemes in a very short period of time. By using this programme we could also take screen grabs of our work in progress and insert it on to the blog to allow people to see the good and bad ideas, the construction problems and processes.
When creating are music video we used final cut express; this allowed us to play around with many different elements of our footage including the order, the speed and lighting. This programme again made it very easy to show our working in progress on the blog by taking screen grabs of our work as we added effects.
By having resources available to us on the internet such as “Youtube” and “Myspace” impacted our work greatly as it allowed us to evaluate professionals work, and then work on the elements we wanted to include on our own piece. Myspace allowed us to watch videos the band have produced, see what Harvey Danger fans like about their work and read about them as a group. This then made it easier to produce a piece of work based around them as you gain an insight on them as a band as well as individuals.
By having all of these programmes and resources available it makes it very easy to produce a film. Although the process takes a very long time, the cameras are very easy to use and reliable, with the ease of just being able to delete the footage that has not been captured properly. The quality of the picture is also very good and makes it very easy to work with various footage even if it has been captured on different days.
Itunes allowed us to have access to the song “flagpole sitter” very easily and Final cut makes it very easy to edit the footage to the music as you have a music track open on the file you are editing in. By having the song playing along a time line and the editing capabilities it made it very easy to get the lip sync edited once you had got the hang of it.
Overall the programmes that were available helped us greatly when producing our work as it allowed us to change both small and large elements of captured images and footage as well as play around with effects and lighting.
When planning our music video we decided that we didn’t want it to be like all the rest and conform to every rule of the genre. Many of the conventions that can be found in music videos from our genre; quirky Indie are; extreme close ups of the artists, fun colourful performance scenes and obscure make believe worlds; so instead of conforming to every convention we added a twist. We did this by making our music video both break; and sticks to conventions. This is what makes our piece exciting and unique compared with many others.
Our video demonstrates some genre characteristics for example the way the band are feature in the piece. Instead of making this a performance piece we replaced the lead singer with a lion; this then integrated an immediate difference from the other videos in the genre.
Although quite often boy bands are shown to perform dance routines, and filmed in a very sexy, intimate and voyeuristic way, we decided that this look wasn’t at all right for the band Harvey Danger. So instead of including extreme close ups of the males and using the camera in an objectifying way we decided to use simple and basic close ups in an insightful way. After looking at their previous work there was clear evidence that they too didn’t want to go down the conventional boy band route.
After breaking the one of the key conventions explained above we decided that we wanted to make a very clear relationship between lyrics and visuals just as Goodwin describes in his analysis’ of music videos; for example by adding the words of the song on to certain sections and then allowing the audience to see an image that demonstrates what the lyrics are portraying.
We also integrated a link between lyrics and visuals when we showed the lead singer looking in to a mirror and then being seen as a bear. This also relates to Goodwin’s notion of looking.
We wanted to add an element of fun to our music video so at times we used a very contradicting style through our editing; for example there is an image of the lion sitting in a boat on a sunny day yet whilst this image is being shown the lyrics say “I’m in hell”. We think this works effectively as again it plays on the fact that the song is about being crazy and mad.
We found that when it came to editing our music video we needed a fast paced transition between the footage to keep the visuals up to speed with the pace in the song. We tried to edit the majority of our transitions on the beat although at times this proved to be a very hard task.
To ensure that we met the demands of the record label, and the genre conventions we made it an absolute to include a wide variety of shots. These ranged from extreme close ups of the lead singer to panning establishing shots to show the change of location.
In our rough cut piece the band were not always present, but after producing this we received some very helpful, constructive criticism that helped us to realise that we should include more footage of the band. We then took some time looking over music videos from our genre and found that we could easily include the band members without going against our initial idea of making the piece different; for example the group “Wheatus” produced many music videos that narrowly broke conventions but were a great success.
The style of the song “flagpole sitter” is both very random and different and because of this we decide not to go along with Goodwin’s ideology of a music video and include voyeuristic references to the female body or show them in an objectified way as we did not think this would work effectively along side the lyrics.
After doing some research on the band we believe that our work relates well with previous work they have produced with in this genre but with a slight difference; by us purposely breaking some of the conventions we believe it allows the target audience to see the bands individuality.
We wanted to include intertextual references within our music video to show links with other media instituencies. We have a range of clips on our blog to demonstrate the relationships between our own work and other peoples work.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?
When producing our ancilliary products we made it key to include a link between the two pieces of work produced. Although the link is there it is not directly apparent there is smaller recognisable links; for example on both the DVD digi pack and the poster there is a Hawaiian flower present and the text remains the same on both of the pieces. The flower that is present on our work is both eye catching and colourful, even though the colours may vary it is clear that both ancilliary products have vibrant colours present. These factors being on both pieces of work then make it easy to recognise the image and associate it with the band. Both ancilliary products also include footprints; this iconography is present on both pieces and symbolise the idea of travelling. This also link in with the song “flagpole sitter”. We named the album “problems and bigger ones” by using this title we thought that the image shown on our DVD cover worked very effectively as it illustrates the hippy van having to face problems with hills and bends in the road.
Our ancilliary products are a very random style and this ties in with the style of our music video as well as the appearance of the band members. Although there is no direct link between our music video and DVD cover through image or text; the fact that they are both of a random nature, slightly obscure and very memorable then portrays the image we wanted to build for the band.
The products we produced also work well for viral marketing as they are very different to others on the market. This will then lead to the public talking about them and gaining a greater interest from a wider audience.
If we were to go back and produce our products again I think that including a more direct link would be a lot more effective for marketing and recognition purposes.
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
After receiving feedback on our blog from class members we noticed that the majority of it was very positive and that in order to improve it we would have only needed to make slight changes for example; showing a greater link between the lead singer and lion so its apparent to the audience that they are in fact the same person, and perhaps another location so that the lion could have been seeing doing another unusual thing. One element of our work that got a great deal of positive feedback was the stop motion section; people thought this worked well as it made a change from the lion and also included text. One thing we could have done to improve this though was to spend longer when shooting as it would have enabled us to make the soldiers do fractionally smaller and smoother movements.
Although our audience like the fact we had a lion shown in the footage several people said that the novelty factor wore off fairly quickly so it was good that we included a variety of different shots; for example close ups, jump shots and panning establishing shots. As well as a variation in locations for example a shopping centre in town, a bedroom and the country side. The activities the lion is shown doing, such as running around in the countryside also add to the fun yet random atmosphere built up through out our piece. By including filters to sharpen the colours at the opening scene of our music video and editing the lighting to show a contrast between a section of clips it allowed very small changes to be made to our footage that then became very apparent to the audience; many people commented on how a greater inclusion of this could impact our work very positively. Although we listened to this constructive criticism after trying out some more filters else where in our footage, we decided not to use any more effects as we felt that they took the impact away from the previous sections where filters were present.
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
We think that the blog was a very positive way to get an audience to see our work as it allowed them to see the rough cut and give their opinions on how we could improve the piece before the final deadline but also allowed them to see our work in progress and the reasons behind the decisions we made. By having class members preview our work it also allowed us to make those minors changes in order to hand the work in at the highest possible standard we were capable of.
Photoshop made the construction of our ancilliary texts fairly simple and enabled us to insert images, alter them and change the colour schemes in a very short period of time. By using this programme we could also take screen grabs of our work in progress and insert it on to the blog to allow people to see the good and bad ideas, the construction problems and processes.
When creating are music video we used final cut express; this allowed us to play around with many different elements of our footage including the order, the speed and lighting. This programme again made it very easy to show our working in progress on the blog by taking screen grabs of our work as we added effects.
By having resources available to us on the internet such as “Youtube” and “Myspace” impacted our work greatly as it allowed us to evaluate professionals work, and then work on the elements we wanted to include on our own piece. Myspace allowed us to watch videos the band have produced, see what Harvey Danger fans like about their work and read about them as a group. This then made it easier to produce a piece of work based around them as you gain an insight on them as a band as well as individuals.
By having all of these programmes and resources available it makes it very easy to produce a film. Although the process takes a very long time, the cameras are very easy to use and reliable, with the ease of just being able to delete the footage that has not been captured properly. The quality of the picture is also very good and makes it very easy to work with various footage even if it has been captured on different days.
Itunes allowed us to have access to the song “flagpole sitter” very easily and Final cut makes it very easy to edit the footage to the music as you have a music track open on the file you are editing in. By having the song playing along a time line and the editing capabilities it made it very easy to get the lip sync edited once you had got the hang of it.
Overall the programmes that were available helped us greatly when producing our work as it allowed us to change both small and large elements of captured images and footage as well as play around with effects and lighting.
Notes and preperations of the commentary
These are some brief notes for our commentary which we shall expand more in detail later in the filming. ----
1)
•Difference to other stereotypical Indy boy band like wheatus as it lacks use of strobe lighting and surrealistic storyline. (CLIP) ours challenges conventions as it is arranged by placing something strange into a normal situation. The lack of voyeurism which is seen in most other bands such as JLS dancing and lifting up their shirts (clip) or women dancing in short skirts we cover a sense of fun which links to other media products such as hit tv show PEEP SHOW where flagpole sitter is the theme song
•In good wins analysis of Music videos he discusses the use of lyrics and visuals, split screens of the 1980s and looking into mirrors. We have used these. (CLIP)
•Intertextuality with (references and CLIPS)
2)
•We avoided having an obvious link in our ancillary products to our music video of Flagpole sitter, so to give a vast feel to the whole album. However we have small links with the use of footprints, silhouettes of the band, Indy hippy van 1960s reference, bend in the road links to the album name, individual and fresh review.
3)audience feedback with (CLIPS) of unseen footage of stuff we have changed or removed for the final piece including some more notes.
4)we will finally discuss how using new media technology helped our final piece to be successful.
• Cameras
• Tripods
• Final cut
• YouTube
• MySpace
• Google images
• Wikipedia
• Photoshop
• ITunes
• Blogger
• QuickTime
1)
•Difference to other stereotypical Indy boy band like wheatus as it lacks use of strobe lighting and surrealistic storyline. (CLIP) ours challenges conventions as it is arranged by placing something strange into a normal situation. The lack of voyeurism which is seen in most other bands such as JLS dancing and lifting up their shirts (clip) or women dancing in short skirts we cover a sense of fun which links to other media products such as hit tv show PEEP SHOW where flagpole sitter is the theme song
•In good wins analysis of Music videos he discusses the use of lyrics and visuals, split screens of the 1980s and looking into mirrors. We have used these. (CLIP)
•Intertextuality with (references and CLIPS)
2)
•We avoided having an obvious link in our ancillary products to our music video of Flagpole sitter, so to give a vast feel to the whole album. However we have small links with the use of footprints, silhouettes of the band, Indy hippy van 1960s reference, bend in the road links to the album name, individual and fresh review.
3)audience feedback with (CLIPS) of unseen footage of stuff we have changed or removed for the final piece including some more notes.
4)we will finally discuss how using new media technology helped our final piece to be successful.
• Cameras
• Tripods
• Final cut
• YouTube
• MySpace
• Google images
• Wikipedia
• Photoshop
• ITunes
• Blogger
• QuickTime
Notes and preperations of the commentry
Content -
• Clips of video
• Audio commentary
• Talking heads, one or more (conversational?)
• Close ups or mid shots to close ups
• Clear and still background
• Unseen footage from early editing
• Poster, digipack, pictures
• Blog work
• Fads into background
• Other source material
• Clips of video
• Audio commentary
• Talking heads, one or more (conversational?)
• Close ups or mid shots to close ups
• Clear and still background
• Unseen footage from early editing
• Poster, digipack, pictures
• Blog work
• Fads into background
• Other source material
Ancillary Product Feedback
After looking at Group 42's final pieces we have found that we like the simplicity and representation that they have created for their product. Their music genre of their video was well produced into imagery for their magazine advert and Digipack.
There is a good link between the Digipack cover and the magazine advert as they both contain the same graphics, I.e: Silhouette of people which are representing the band, and a Hawaiian flower.
However the Digipack was missing key elements such as the digital video disk symbol known as "DVD", therefor it gives no information of what the contents are. A consumer can only assume there is just a compact disk "CD" in the produced item.
The magazine advert does not show where the album can be bought or where it is available, however the simplicity of the layout creates attention to the reader, for them to get more information.
There is a good link between the Digipack cover and the magazine advert as they both contain the same graphics, I.e: Silhouette of people which are representing the band, and a Hawaiian flower.
However the Digipack was missing key elements such as the digital video disk symbol known as "DVD", therefor it gives no information of what the contents are. A consumer can only assume there is just a compact disk "CD" in the produced item.
The magazine advert does not show where the album can be bought or where it is available, however the simplicity of the layout creates attention to the reader, for them to get more information.
Thursday 26 November 2009
Here is our final digipack, continued on the theme of using a Hippy style/ indie band look with the use of the Volkswagen beetle and flowers. In their past album covers there has been a repetative thme of flowers appearing. We named the album "problems and bigger ones" this relates to the image of the curly road that has a sign named bend ahead. Suggesting that the band has had problems and their are bigger ones on the road ahead.
The pattern of the footsteps across the page links back to our music video where the bear is walking around a city travelling. This also links back to the lyrics "been around the world".
This is our final poster, we have decided to use silhouettes for the band members instead of actual photographs. The reason we have done this is after research of the bands past album covers and posters, they tend not to put themselves on it. A lot of their past advertising uses abstract imagery from the 1960's , we have continued this theme in our digi pack but with a wider range of variety.
Reviews
Rolling Stone - "Harvey Danger display a sly wit with sharp pop-rock hooks for the modern thinking man and woman" ****
NME - Individual and Fresh 10/10
The Times - Brilliant *****
NME - Individual and Fresh 10/10
The Times - Brilliant *****
track Lists for the Back cover
| Carlotta Valdez | |
| Flagpole Sitta | |
| Woolly Muffler | |
| Private Helicopter - Harvey Danger, | |
| Problems and Bigger Ones | |
| Jack the Lion | |
| Old Hat | |
| Terminal Annex | |
| Wrecking Ball | |
| Radio Silence We have sdecided that we want to name the Album after one of their songs - Problems and Bigger ones . we have chosen this as it links with one of the older albums called little by little. Artists like Mika have also linked thier work back with -   We think having the link would benefit sales as people like to be reminded of the same style and genre of music that they have first fallen for. almost the idea of having an extended version of their favorite album but with new songs. |
Digipacks
Here are some examples of Digipacks for CD and DVD
With these there has been a great deal of work involved in creating the innner cover with different art works, but as we're only focusing on the outer case we have had to come up with ome ideas of what we want to put on it.
We have our original design we are working on the for the front cover, then have the logo Hippy flowers on the inside DVD cover and to finish off the track list on the Back with footsteps on the back.
Font Type
Here are some tests on fonts and styles
We want our final logo to be bold and simple to have an effect that draws the reader or viewer in to read the rest of the advert. after looking at some other posters and adverts for Harvey Dnager we have come to the concluion that they use very simple styles to grab the veiwers attention but uses bold and simple abrstract images like the artist Salvador Dali.
We really like the stlye Engracers works well because it covers all the simpllistic but effective look we are going for, we are going to try some of the font styles on our rough poster and see what we can change.
We are also looking into working with one set colour for the font with another colour outlining one side. we are thinking Orage and blue.
We want our final logo to be bold and simple to have an effect that draws the reader or viewer in to read the rest of the advert. after looking at some other posters and adverts for Harvey Dnager we have come to the concluion that they use very simple styles to grab the veiwers attention but uses bold and simple abrstract images like the artist Salvador Dali.
We really like the stlye Engracers works well because it covers all the simpllistic but effective look we are going for, we are going to try some of the font styles on our rough poster and see what we can change.
We are also looking into working with one set colour for the font with another colour outlining one side. we are thinking Orage and blue.
Thursday 19 November 2009
This is a screen grab of us playing around on photoshop. We cut around the camper van and then used that, we have not yet tried using different colours but we plan on doing that next. We have also used very simple black lines in the distance to try and demonstrate that there is a road behind the camper van. We found a tool that allows you to insert footprints on to your work and tried them on both the road, and to the right of the road. We did this so it was easy to see a comparision in sizes and what works more effectively. From looking at this, we think that the feet getting smaller in the distance works better and that placing them along the road also looks well. We are thinking of inserting some flowers next around the top or bottom edge to the piece.
We have also had the idea of inserting cartoon people in to the piece to represent the band members scattered around the cover. This will then show the band in the piece but also relate back to our music video as the band is always scattered around in ours; and also links to serveral videos that we have watched previously.
This is an image we collected from Harvey Dangers website and shows how with the poster they went with a very simplistic theme. This also demonstrates that simplistic styles can be very effective. Although our piece is not going to be quite as simplistic as this.We want to use more vibrant colours and have slightly more going on in our piece. This would also show that our ideas do fit along the lines of DVD and posters that the band have gone for in the past.
This again is an example of the look we are going for. It is slightly different to the other flower image we have uploaded and the colours are more simple. We do not plan on having a background so filled with this design but its a template that we could work with to feature in the piece.
We also collected this image off google and thought that we could use something along these lines to put into the background of our piece. It would work effectively on making the piece random and again we could change the colours if necessary to colour coordinate the piece.
We thought that this image of the camper van could work well because it shows a fun,colourful, bright and random focus point.
With this as an idea, we thought that cutting out the camper van, possibly changing the colours and then creating the background ourselves could work really well.
ideas for auxiliary products
Here is an example of two different images we got off the bands myspace page. Both of these images give off two very different styles that we could use when producing our auxiliary products. We prefer the idea of producing a more abstract piece because it will look more eye catching and interesting, as well as not giving to much away. It will also prevent the piece from looking too simplistic and boring.
Monday 9 November 2009
DVD and magazine advertisment ideas
We are now looking through our footage and seeing what would work well as a DVD cover. Whilst we were filming we also took some still shots in the locations where we were shooting. We have now found that these stills don't work as well as we thought they would, because they don't capture all elements of how the main singer is actually the lion, and how although the band are present in the footage, they are now broken up. We are now trying to incorporate all of these factors in to our product and having either an image of the musicians in the background with the main singer/the lion in the for ground.
For the DVD cover we are thinking of keeping it simple but bold. So by using a simplistic image it doesn't give to much away, but enough to get the audience excited about the purchase.
Our group is also in debate on whether to use a split screen effect with half the bear and the boy. Some of us dont think this will work, as it is very hard to match it up properly and effectively due to the size and location difference; where as others think by collecting new still shots of both the lion and the boy in the same place it could begin to work. We are going to play around with this idea as well as create new ideas so that we have several options to try out and work with.
For the DVD cover we are thinking of keeping it simple but bold. So by using a simplistic image it doesn't give to much away, but enough to get the audience excited about the purchase.
Our group is also in debate on whether to use a split screen effect with half the bear and the boy. Some of us dont think this will work, as it is very hard to match it up properly and effectively due to the size and location difference; where as others think by collecting new still shots of both the lion and the boy in the same place it could begin to work. We are going to play around with this idea as well as create new ideas so that we have several options to try out and work with.
editing
When editing we ran in to a few problems. We wanted to use the green screen effect on some of our footage but this was not possible because when shooting we didn't realise you had to shoot with a green background.
We then tried a range of different filters to try and make the footage look different to the usual. We found a lot of the filters didn't look right,but there was one that worked really well with the effect we wanted.
Throughout the music video we have flash between colour footage and black and white. We decided to do this because it shows a contrast and it also plays on the "im not sick but im not well" element to the video. We think the flashes between the colour and black and white work really effectively because it prevents the audience becoming bored of the same type of footage and instead adds contrast.
We then tried a range of different filters to try and make the footage look different to the usual. We found a lot of the filters didn't look right,but there was one that worked really well with the effect we wanted.
Throughout the music video we have flash between colour footage and black and white. We decided to do this because it shows a contrast and it also plays on the "im not sick but im not well" element to the video. We think the flashes between the colour and black and white work really effectively because it prevents the audience becoming bored of the same type of footage and instead adds contrast.
refilming
After recieving feedback from both the class and our teacher we decided to go out and re film some of the footage. We did this to ensure we had a range of different shots, making the music video more exciting, and also refilmed footage of the male singer, this allowed us to be more exact when lip syncing and meant that we could again use a greater variety of shots and close ups on the singer. We added some more random elements to the video such as adding a chicken beacuse this then made the footage different for several reason and again played on the random element to our music video.
We also tried to film a band the second time round but again ran in to problems getting one together. So instead the three of us dressed up in hoodies and attempted to act like boys and play instruments. We found when editing we couldnt use a lot of this footage because the movements are clear we are girls. We have now put some of the footage in to our piece and are considering using some stills from the footage for are DVD cover.
We also tried to film a band the second time round but again ran in to problems getting one together. So instead the three of us dressed up in hoodies and attempted to act like boys and play instruments. We found when editing we couldnt use a lot of this footage because the movements are clear we are girls. We have now put some of the footage in to our piece and are considering using some stills from the footage for are DVD cover.
ideas
We chose this video as an example because it shows an element of what we want to achieve. The part where the girls top changes between colours is what we wanted to do with some of our footage. After talking to our teachers we were told that this would be far to complex because of the range of different colours in our footage, but agreed it was a good idea.
Thursday 5 November 2009
These video clips are examples of women playing instruments in the video, when they are not actually playing the instruments in the song. This is an idea that we used, as we could not get a band together, we decided to be in our own music video playing instruments as well as dancing, but we hid our appearence to try and add to the convention of the music video being an all boy group. This also added to the randomness of the piece because it showed a fun element to it, like the lion.
The video of the backstreet boys works very well as an example because it shows how well a random video can work. It keeps the viewers interested and its not predictable. It makes the audience watch it all the way through just to see what happens throughout. This is something we are aiming towards for our own piece because we plan to keep people interested throughout and make constant changes and random elements in order to prevent boredom and predictability.
Monday 2 November 2009
Peer Feedback =)
Here are some of the comments we got from the rest of our peers,
1. Cinematography -> Good variations of shots, the camera movement was excellent (especially at the beginning), and the camera work was very good. They did say that we could of expanded on certain themes such as toy soldiers + reduced on the other themes (novelty of the lion wore off).
2. Editing -> The transitions at the start were brilliant, the pace kept up with the speed of the song, a lot of people agreed that the i motion worked well and it was very good editing. The lip syncing does need a lot of work.
3. Mise en scene -> Army soldiers are good, but a bit random. Put a lot of thought into location and costumes, they really liked the bed in the field, interesting idea. "loves the costume, looks good especially in normal everyday life, makes it funny." Some people commented and said that we could add some more costumes into the video to make the viewers interested.
4. Genre Convention -> It stuck to conventions "cheeky indie'. They liked the relationship between visuals and lyrics it makes it very interesting.
5. Whats Missing? -> Most people said that we needed to add in more angles of shots, and variation of shots. Another person suggested that we could try and put the lion running away from army men.
Comments from Tanya:
1. Well formed. Needs more close ups of the main character. Some lip syncing is rather dark.
2. Make it really clear why and how the young man becomes a lion. Will there be more lip syncing?
3. Costume works well, and location.
4. I would expect more of a performance, so you could shoot an 'interior' performance and parallel edit it in.
5. Close ups
Performance
Edit throughout
After receiving feedback from both our classmates and Tanya we've decided to go out and re film some of our footage. We think that the majority of our feedback was very positive and the other comments have definitely been helpful to help us see where we need to improve in order to make our work as good as we possibly can. We were debating between us on whether to remove our stop motion part, but after receiving feedback we have decided to keep it as the comments towards it were very positive.
1. Cinematography -> Good variations of shots, the camera movement was excellent (especially at the beginning), and the camera work was very good. They did say that we could of expanded on certain themes such as toy soldiers + reduced on the other themes (novelty of the lion wore off).
2. Editing -> The transitions at the start were brilliant, the pace kept up with the speed of the song, a lot of people agreed that the i motion worked well and it was very good editing. The lip syncing does need a lot of work.
3. Mise en scene -> Army soldiers are good, but a bit random. Put a lot of thought into location and costumes, they really liked the bed in the field, interesting idea. "loves the costume, looks good especially in normal everyday life, makes it funny." Some people commented and said that we could add some more costumes into the video to make the viewers interested.
4. Genre Convention -> It stuck to conventions "cheeky indie'. They liked the relationship between visuals and lyrics it makes it very interesting.
5. Whats Missing? -> Most people said that we needed to add in more angles of shots, and variation of shots. Another person suggested that we could try and put the lion running away from army men.
Comments from Tanya:
1. Well formed. Needs more close ups of the main character. Some lip syncing is rather dark.
2. Make it really clear why and how the young man becomes a lion. Will there be more lip syncing?
3. Costume works well, and location.
4. I would expect more of a performance, so you could shoot an 'interior' performance and parallel edit it in.
5. Close ups
Performance
Edit throughout
After receiving feedback from both our classmates and Tanya we've decided to go out and re film some of our footage. We think that the majority of our feedback was very positive and the other comments have definitely been helpful to help us see where we need to improve in order to make our work as good as we possibly can. We were debating between us on whether to remove our stop motion part, but after receiving feedback we have decided to keep it as the comments towards it were very positive.
Wednesday 21 October 2009
List of tasks we need to do for final deadline...........
1) Capture Still images of the boy
2) Shoot more footage of the lead singer
3) Lip syncing!!!!! Close ups, Distant Shots.
4) Change Location of footage
5) Band together????
6) Change the location of the opening of music video
7) Re-think stop motion.
8) Go over storyline.
We will discuss what we have talked about with each other and Tanya with Lisette when she gets back.
2) Shoot more footage of the lead singer
3) Lip syncing!!!!! Close ups, Distant Shots.
4) Change Location of footage
5) Band together????
6) Change the location of the opening of music video
7) Re-think stop motion.
8) Go over storyline.
We will discuss what we have talked about with each other and Tanya with Lisette when she gets back.
Editing
While we were editing today , we were thinking about what we could improve, and that was to have more visuals of lip syncing, close up of the artist singing and distant shots of the artist singing to ensure that we have a variety of different shots of the artist.
We also realised that we need to be tighter on the singing, because often the words said are not the words in the song and this becomes obvious when putting them on to final cut.
We also think that we should include another location of the lead singer because although he is shown at home, and then in a field, it becomes quite repetative when trying to piece together footage. So when filming next time we plan to still shoot outside but like we did with the lion, change location a lot more to prevent the audience becoming bored.
We also found that when we went through the rough cut there were blacked out parts, that we are now attempting to fit footage into, so it flows better.
We also realised that we need to be tighter on the singing, because often the words said are not the words in the song and this becomes obvious when putting them on to final cut.
We also think that we should include another location of the lead singer because although he is shown at home, and then in a field, it becomes quite repetative when trying to piece together footage. So when filming next time we plan to still shoot outside but like we did with the lion, change location a lot more to prevent the audience becoming bored.
We also found that when we went through the rough cut there were blacked out parts, that we are now attempting to fit footage into, so it flows better.
Expenses
In order to get the props we wanted for our music video we had to buy/rent:
-a lion suit (as the bear was unavailable)
-toy army men
-newspaper
The over all cost for this was around £65 between us.
-a lion suit (as the bear was unavailable)
-toy army men
-newspaper
The over all cost for this was around £65 between us.
Tuesday 20 October 2009
editing
We've beagn to start our editing for our music video ready for the roughcut deadline this week. Using a range of filters we have changed the colour resloution and balance to give it a wierd and blurred look which will then mege back on the line " see a little clearer" we have chose to do this to give a dream like feel to it as the lead singer is in bed most of the day. To link with the tempoi and beat we have used different speed changes to fit with this. for example the beat is very upbeat and fast so we have chan ged the speed of the clips and fastened them up for both humour and style. We have had had some trouble with not having enough footage of the lead singer singing but with some work we have managed to mix some stuff together and hopefully will get a good response back to this.
Target Audience
When filming, we were talking about what would be our target audience for the music video, we have decided that we are aiming it at teenagers between 12-19 years old. The reason for this is because the video is fun, upbeat and has an element to comedy to it.
In the music video there is a young boy, which they can relate to the target audience as they are around a similar age. We have tried to fit the genre of the music to what the characters do. With the lyrics we have tried to match them to visuals so that the younger audience can relate the lyrics and images together.
For example, this image shows the childish element to the video.
In the music video there is a young boy, which they can relate to the target audience as they are around a similar age. We have tried to fit the genre of the music to what the characters do. With the lyrics we have tried to match them to visuals so that the younger audience can relate the lyrics and images together.
For example, this image shows the childish element to the video.
Sunday 18 October 2009
Photos =)
while we went out filming i thought i would take a few images on my camera to use as the DVD cover and magazine cover.
We are not totally sure which one to use yet and how to change them..
Thursday 15 October 2009
Contacting Locations
When filming we had to think about locations and permissions to film. We contacted the local bus service in cambridge Stagecoach, and asked their permission if we could film on the bus dancing around when stationary. Due to health and safety reasons we were not allowed to do this.
We also got in contact with Cambridge University as we wanted to shoot some footage on their grounds, but we were unable to due to student privacy and confidentuality.
We then got in contact with some of the university accomodation and they allowed us to film in their gardens provided that people werent around. The shooting we did here was very successful.
In lion yard we were not allowed to film on the lower ground, as it was busy and could cause health and safety issues. They allowed us to film on the upper floor as it didnt disrupt the public. We were not allowed to shoot on the escalators again due to health and safety issues.
We also got in contact with Cambridge University as we wanted to shoot some footage on their grounds, but we were unable to due to student privacy and confidentuality.
We then got in contact with some of the university accomodation and they allowed us to film in their gardens provided that people werent around. The shooting we did here was very successful.
In lion yard we were not allowed to film on the lower ground, as it was busy and could cause health and safety issues. They allowed us to film on the upper floor as it didnt disrupt the public. We were not allowed to shoot on the escalators again due to health and safety issues.
Wednesday 14 October 2009
Stop Motion research
Transformers Stop-Motion Bumblebee beats Optimus Prime -
Stop Motion-
Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie -
Sweet Dreams by Kirsten Lepore -
Chris Seed army men stop motion animation episode 3 -
This stopmotion of the film Transfromers has been done extremly well and is slick without little faults or editing faults. The special effects of this baffal us on how they managed to cretae the flying effect without visable strings or other objects.
lego harry potter -
However this spoof of harry potter is a little bit more jerky in tits movements and tends to look a little obvious at times that it is a stop motion ratehr than a movie likr the transformers above. the use of the beard is a good effect that is slick and humerous.
lego indiana jones -
Stop Motion-
Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie -
Sweet Dreams by Kirsten Lepore -
Chris Seed army men stop motion animation episode 3 -
Other insperations for our music video
We wanted to get the style of a unsual thing aongst normal things, so that's how we came up with the idea of following a bear/lion around cambridge doing normal things but looking out of place. with this idea we found other cinerios where things look out of place and fit in aswell.
OU Mascot "Boomer" - Music Video 2009 -
Analysis of Other Bands in the same genre
Wheatus - A little respect
wheatus a pop rock band from the 90s is a similar genre to harvey danger in it's se of wacky songs with wierd lyrics. this music video involves a very basic storyline that follows a young boy inlove with a girl but unable to prove it to her. It uses a range of different split screens merginging together to give a strane feeling to the viewer. It has had a filter used on it to give it a very brigt blod look like something out of a barbie house or a Tv programme this puts accross the style and genre aiming for young teenagers. The band playing are messing about and joking giving us the feel of what type of humour they have. They use thier traied mark checked background, found in most of thier videos and CD covers, throughout the video to give the Viewer an idea who they arewithout listening to the music.
Wheatus - teenage dirtbag
Again in this video we see the main protaganist fighting to win the heart of a girl that is out of his leauge. Filemed in a a school they use a range of camera and editing styles to create a film atmospher. repeated in this video they use a film actor to be in it (jason briggs &brittany Murphy) to again give it a teen movie genre. As if they are using film contexts but breaking the mold slightly. from shots back and forth from the storyline and the bandwe once again see the band members joking about with maracers and apples giving a very light hearted feel to the video. with the film elemnt thrown in you get remnded of films that came out in that time like Clueless, American pie or She' all that.
wheatus a pop rock band from the 90s is a similar genre to harvey danger in it's se of wacky songs with wierd lyrics. this music video involves a very basic storyline that follows a young boy inlove with a girl but unable to prove it to her. It uses a range of different split screens merginging together to give a strane feeling to the viewer. It has had a filter used on it to give it a very brigt blod look like something out of a barbie house or a Tv programme this puts accross the style and genre aiming for young teenagers. The band playing are messing about and joking giving us the feel of what type of humour they have. They use thier traied mark checked background, found in most of thier videos and CD covers, throughout the video to give the Viewer an idea who they arewithout listening to the music.
Wheatus - teenage dirtbag
Again in this video we see the main protaganist fighting to win the heart of a girl that is out of his leauge. Filemed in a a school they use a range of camera and editing styles to create a film atmospher. repeated in this video they use a film actor to be in it (jason briggs &brittany Murphy) to again give it a teen movie genre. As if they are using film contexts but breaking the mold slightly. from shots back and forth from the storyline and the bandwe once again see the band members joking about with maracers and apples giving a very light hearted feel to the video. with the film elemnt thrown in you get remnded of films that came out in that time like Clueless, American pie or She' all that.
Props Used Whilst Filming
lightsaver thermometer sword
eyepatch newspapers Framed photograph
Book Superman cape Book Witches hat