Preliminary Task - One Minute Music Video (Wine Red)

After much time, I've managed to complete the music video and below is what it is like. We tried to be narrative with it, we thought the idea of it telling a past event that had happened and caused a change would suit this song the most as we got this idea from previous music videos we'd looked at.

Textual Analysis 6 - Band Website (Foreground Eclipse)

I decided to look at a band website to get an idea on what to include in my website for my own artist. This led to me thinking in detail on what I should add such as tabs and other ways of communicating with the band/artist as well as many pictures.

CD Cover - Back and Front

I created a CD cover and back for the artist using Photoshop, this is the digital format of each side and this took a while to do of trial and error to get the images to fit as well as to get the correct font, etc. I think this worked well but there's also the fact that this is the second version of the album covers.

Above is the front of the case
Below is the back of the case



Planning and Research - Locations

For my music video, I looked about different locations as what would be the best place to film and decided to take pictures of areas where I'd think about filming. A trend has been followed as I've picked places where it's mostly wildlife and a natural place over a place with buildings and the like - this is to avoid running into people otherwise we won't be able to finish quick enough. I also planned for a natural place so to make it easier for when it comes to editing the footage.

Looking at place one - this seems to be a very suitable place to do the music video because of there being not unnatural areas about and it's a place people don't pass by too much so it'll be easier to film there without hindrances and distractions.

This also has a large area to film and isn't exactly strict when it comes to space as it'll be easier to edit any of the footage afterwards with special effects if I want to.

I prefer this area compared to the other places due to its appearance and others already listed.

Area 2 is one that appears nice but is an area where many people pass by and it would be annoying if everyone passed by so much as well as would be distracting.

This place would've been nice but the fact that people pass by here a lot has put me off of using this place and isn't as ideal as I would've thought, especially when there's quite a bit of noise about this place which would make it a lot harder for us to concentrate.

This area also gets very dark when there isn't a lot of light shining in its direction.

Area three was in the fields and we thought this area would be a good place to record due to how spacious it is and the fact that it's in a natural area.

The downside to this place is that it's near a couple of main roads so there would be a lot of loud noise as well as there are often people walking about on here and the tractors that often roam about the place. This area can be seen as quite busy and would be quite difficult to record in, there's also a lack of trees and as noted in the storyboard - I've drawn in trees as the ideal backdrop.

The fourth and final place we looked at is a good area in terms of it being surrounded by trees which is liked what I wanted in my storyboard but there's always some sort of glare from the sun when I use the camera in this area as well as there being a gate which wouldn't be very appealing for the background.

This place is quite overly noisy and would put people off, despite us putting sound over the top - it would distract the actor from the current task at hand.

The glare would definitely affect any footage we'd take in this place and that's not what we want.

Taking in mind all of the locations, I think we're going to film in the first place due to the benefits of that area and how not many people would pass by and the space that will come with it, as well as there being the perfect amount of lighting that will be there compared to the other places we looked at.

Textual Analysis 5 - Original Music Video (Wine Red)

The song "Wine Red" is by The Hush Sound and is the song I will be using in my one minute music video that is a practice for the preliminary task. I decided to look at the original music video though to get a look at the context of the song itself and to gain some ideas for my own music video and henceforward, I decided to do a textual analysis on it.

I looked at the mise-en-scene of the music video and noticed that for the most part that there's a lot of decaying objects, moss and dead flowers as well as quite dark colours. This sort of theme goes well with the song as it is a song based about lost love and a death - most likely over being separated - though this changes and contradicts with the lyrics when the scene changes and becomes a lot brighter than before. This is also when a new character enters the scene as well, a female, who seems to be different from the rest and bears some sort of relationship with the old man who's seen as the main character for this music video as well.

Looking at the editing of the video, a lot of quick cuts were used through out - switching between different scenes quickly and using a slight blur for certain scenes where the new female enters. This could indicate how the male remembers her and memories of a time when things were fine which is hinted by the brightening of the clothing and areas and such.

Looking at the camera angles for the music video - close ups of the artist is used frequently as it adheres to Goodwin's conventions as well as using lots of mid shots of the other members of the band - this adheres to the convention of there being a demonstration of genre characteristics due to the expected amount of close ups of the singer of the band.

A frequent use of notion of looking towards the camera as the singer looks towards the camera a lot as well as the other members of the band, all of them look directly to the camera, all except those who're playing out a narrative part in the music video.

The tone of the music contradicts the visuals of the music video for the most part as the tone of the song is quite upbeat but on the other hand, the visuals are quite dark and gloomy. The lyrics also contradict the music a little by being similar as the music is quite bouncy and sounds quite joyful though the lyrics contradict that area completely.

The relationship between the music and the visuals does vary though and match when it comes to certain areas where the main female for the narrative enters as the colours and brightness matches the tone.

Story boarding - One Minute Music Video (Wine Red)

I've drawn up and written on the storyboard for my one minute music video to give me a plan and rough idea on what to do for the music video and what sort of measures/procedures should be taken. This also helped me with my storyboarding skills and helped me to think about what would and what wouldn't work for the music video.

Textual Analysis 4 - CD Covers

We looked at different CD covers and albums which gave us the chance to think about our own and how I should make the one for my project look like. I decided to look into a few other albums whilst I was at it, in hope to get more ideas and decided to look and see how in depth the artists for the covers thought into making them.

Foreground Eclipse

Foreground Eclipse are a Japanese band which make arranges of character songs specifically from a certain game and add vocals over the top that would match that character, they're also known for making a few songs of their own which are known to be quite emotional or hold some sort of meaning.

Looking at their album covers, each one includes a character from the game they rearrange character songs for and that characters rearranged song is often the title for the album - as noted by the title being called "Seated with Liquor". The background and pretty much everything on the cover is based about the main specific character and their personality as well as their story.

• What is noted from the cover of the album is that the female is holding a weapon, many would indicate weapons to war or some kind of violence and the idea of violence would make people have an idea of what sort of genre this band would sing which is punk rock/metal, varying between the two depending on the song they're doing.
• The logo for the band is present in the bottom right corner as the logo has a crescent shape as though representing a crescent moon for the idea of the 'eclipse'.
• The colours used for the title of the album shows a contrast as it varies between red and white - two colours that represent different things. The red would be loud and is seen as a loud colour - possibly hinting at some sort of screaming which is linked to the colour easily. The colour white represents the sense of purity and innocence which is could represent the female singer for the band who sings in a soft tone and contrasts with the screamer/drummer of the band who would be represented by the colour red.

The Black Keys

The Black Keys are a band made up of two members only and were formed in America as the members only play guitar and drums which is all a band could need if made up little numbers. They fall under the genres of garage rock, blues rock and indie rock and have a variation in song titles.

The duo met when they were young and are technically classed, anyone could class them as, the best of friends as they play even to this day their music which seems to have caught the hearts of plenty of fans. They released their eighth album which was also seen as a single only last year, (2014) which was named "Lonely Boy" and won three Grammy awards.

• The album I'm looking at is the album named "Brothers" which could also give a sense of how the two feel about each other as from looking at the background of the band, they appear to be the closest of friends and hence why the title came to mind.
• The bluntness of the wording for the titles can work with their attitude as well as it appears to be quite sarcastic and almost looks down on their audience; this is purposeful but despite the that, I doubt what they're implying is on purpose as it is more for comedic value above all else.
• The colour scheme of red/white/black contrasts with one another as red makes us look at it the most as it's highlighting the bands name and it could imply that they, as a band, are trying to stand out above everything else. The white and black is simply a contrast in colours and how the two colours are at the other end of each other and don't mix well.

Music Video - Lip Syncing Practice

I practiced lip syncing [As well as someone else who volunteered to be a main for the actual music video] to the song that I've decided to do a music video on. The song is Wine Red by the Hush Sound. This was to help us get to grips with lip syncing as well as being able to sync the music over the top.

1 Minute Music Video Briefing

For the starter, we will be making a one minute music video using a song of our choice and we get to decide who the work with, what we're doing and such.
I chose to work on my own for this work and have planned to ask others to star in it.
My song choice is "Wine Red" by The Hush Sound and I already have a few ideas in mind for what to do for the one minute music video and I hope it will turn out well.

Ten Steps/Tips to Making a Music Video

We were given an article that told us the ten steps to making a music video at A level which was written by Pete Fraser - below is the ten steps summarised;

1. Research - It's best to always research into other works and other music videos to get ideas for your own, it's also a better way to get acquainted with what a music video actually is, after all, it's not just some visuals with a song, does it have a narrative? Is it trying to tell a story? Music videos have try to sell both the artist and the song to the public and be worthy of many replays.
2. Getting into a group - This is thinking about who you will work with for this project and is quite a crucial decision. Many question whether it's best to work with your friends which may not always be the case as there are many distractions when it comes to working with friends and such. If you do though, it's best to exchange numbers to get quick contact with one another so there's no excuse as to turning up late and such.
3. Choosing a track - If a teacher has decided on what song to use for the music video, then that's the hardest part out of the way but if not, then it's best not to choose your favourite song so you don't get annoyed with it in the long run, after all, it's going to be repeated several times and you're bound to get annoyed of it after a while. But it's also best not to pick a song that you hate since you'll most likely get more annoyed at it than ever before and feel like quitting, it's often best to pick one that's not your favourite and not you most hated one as you won't have much of an attachment to the song itself.
4. The pitch - Even if your teachers haven't set a date for such or anything, be prepared to pitch for the track you have chosen. This usually includes a single page of ideas which are simply expressed and would enable anyone reading it to make it simpler and not get confused about much. The pitch is part of your planning and will be a useful document to look back on when it comes to writing and reflecting on what has and hasn't changed in the long run.
5. Look at previous students work - Looking back on these will make it easier to think about what you can achieve as well as you'll be looking at material from a similar context to your own. Yet previous students work should give ideas on not only what would work well in a music video but also what to not include/do, for example;
   1 . Don't use well-known songs
   2. Overdone effects which shouldn't be used to disguise bad footage
   3. Aimless driving around
   4. Scenes that involve things like booze, fags or drugs (even simulated)
   5. Shots of people just walking around
   6. Sped up footage or footage that rewinds backwards due to lack of material
   7. Zooms, can get annoying if overused
   8. "Found footage" - it should only be your own unless there's an exceptionally good reason.
   9. Atmosphere-less stage footage (remember to keep trying to create an atmosphere)
   10. Over the top stories (this isn't a tv drama!)
   Though you should be able to find good parts through looking at previous students work like; consistency through to the end - a clear sense of genre and artist - well-shot footage - a powerful performance-  a good simple effective idea - judicious cutting.
6. Planning and shooting - Keeping track of your time is crucial to say the least as there's a deadline and it's best to keep on top of your own work in order to make good progress in your work. It's often noted that it's best for students to be under pressure as they work quicker and often achieve good results, so it's best to keep in mind of your deadline for your work. There's also storyboarding, it's best to storyboard your work to plan ahead of it all, gather your props, find a good location, arrange make-up and costumes of your crew and those who are performing. It helps you to remember if you've forgotten anything needed. The last thing, which is a definite must, check that the tape is in the camera, check if it's the right one and make sure you can shoot the work - making sure you know all the basic controls and that the tripod, if you use one, is working specifically for the shoot. Make sure to remember other basic things like; is the camera batteries fully charged? Do you have the correct lighting? Don't forget your music or, if you do, make sure you have a back-up source. Keep checking your footage early on and put it onto a device which you know will be safe for the footage to stay on.
7. Editing - Load your footage into the editing program and this needs to be done properly/sensibly as it's quite important, don't just leave your computer on as there's obviously those few people who will mess about with it but also remember to look at your footage straight away after uploading it to the computer. This is so you can get rid of any unnecessary footage instantly and get on with you work when it comes round to editing it properly later. Naming your files is quite important as it keeps it easier to maintain your work and find it later. Do not use over the top effects, use them sparingly and in a planned fashion so you do not go over your time as well as to make it so that it doesn't look tacky. Line up your material for lip synching as that's quite an important thing to do for when it comes to music videos as it can also be seen as the hardest part of the entire project, especially when it won't line up correctly. You must always expect to make compromises as not everything can go your way.
8. Screening and feedback - There will be a time when your product will be showed to others, so expect questions and feedback, or even ask your audience for feedback if they don't give you any, always ask about for improvements for your work and try to get other forms of feedback too. This can include having a copy of it in order to get more people to view your work which means you can always ask for more and more advice on how to improve it.
9. Writing - When it comes to the writing side of it all, follow the guidelines provided to you by your teacher and don't try to fill your writing with excuses like blaming the equipment or the people you worked with. This will not get you any marks, you should focus on covering things like;
   - Covering the whole process
   - Use technical language where needed
   - Include your feedback and comments on the work
   - Place your video in relation tot he industry (for example, what is it for?)
   - Relate it to real examples and their conventions
   - Include an analysis of the finished product using the tools you would use to analyse the real examples
10. Marking - This is the part that you do not need to worry about, just leave it to your teachers!

Theories - Halls' "Reception" and Gauntlett's "Media 2.0"

Reception (Stuart Hall)

Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory consists of the producer of the media text encoding a meaning to the music video. Hall believes that the encoded meaning is either dominant and agreed with by the audience, negotiated where the audience understands the meaning and agrees with it to an extent whilst oppositional is completely different and is where the audience disagree with what the encoded meaning to the media text is.

Media 2.0 (David Gauntlett) 

Media 2.0 is about filter as content has become easier and cheaper to produce than during the time when it was media 1.0, the distribution of products has also become open and limitless thanks to the internet and many other platforms that media can access and the attention of the consumer has reached to the point where there is the need to filter choice rather than in the past when there was the need for more choice.