Print Artifacts

For the print artifacts we have to create a DVD cover and Album cover and advert for our music videos. The theme of my music video is all about love and heartbreak and my artifacts illustrate this.

My CD cover represents themes of love by having the picture of the heart, and the romanticised view of love. The CD cover has the name of the band, album and songs that are on the disk. I produced this on photoshop by copying/pasting images on photoshop



The DVD cover is slightly different with the choice of colours as they are quite bold and dramatic whereas the colours on the CD cover are quite relaxing with the mix of the shades of the sky. The DVD cover has logos of HMV, bar codes and certificate age logo to make the product seem as real as possible.


The advert cover links in with the rest of my products as I have used the same image as the DVD cover to have the same themes running through my products. The advert cover is to promote the music video, CD and DVDs.

Evaluation

For the evaluation process I answered four separate questions about my media product (music video) and excillary products (CD/DVD cover and advert). My teacher then recorded our answers on a mini DV camera, below are the questions and my answers.

What ways do your media products use develop or challenge forms of conventional real media products?
Firstly for our coursework I created a music video, DVD/CD cover and advert, for the music video I followed normal conventions of a performance/narrative based video which is quite common with general music videos featured on channels such as MTV. I followed normal conventions of a performance based video by having my character miming the song throughout the video and by having titles appear on my music video, such as the name of the the band, song and album. Which is often used on music channels with any song that comes on.

For my CD/DVD and advert cover I followed general conventions such as having bar codes, the price and HMV logos, to make the products seem real as possible as HMV would be the shop that I would want my product to be sold in, as HMV represented my target audience. As my music video is aimed at the younger demographic, who are teens and read magazines such as NME.

How effective is the combination of your main products and excelliary products?
All of my products have a common theme of love and heartbreak, so for my DVD cover I used an image of a red heart and black and white silhouetted girl which has connotations with the lyrics of my song as my character is heartbroken.

My CD cover links in with my music video and DVD cover as it has once again an image of a heart, but someone making a heart with their fingers against a sunrise, this all links in with m y romanticised view of love within the video.

My advert is the combinations of the two images and I did this by using photoshop where I used existing images and overlapped them together.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
At the start of the year I conducted a questionnaire on what students liked about music videos, the questionnaire featured 10 questions and was distributed to 10 individuals, the questions asked whether students preferred narrative,performance or abstract based videos, what genres of music they liked, and whether they had heard of the band Paramore. I concluded that people preferred a combination of a performance/narrative based video, as they liked watching their favourite artists performing the song, I also gathered that my target audience were between the ages of 18-19.

A version of our music videos were shown in class and another set of questionnaires were given out to the rest of the class, consisting of questions such as mise en scene, editing- what effects were used, filming-what shots were used, and whether the song was a good choice. But At that time my music video was completely finished at that time but we knew we had to have more types of editing, such as having different colours, transitions and more variety. Once our video was fully completed I gathered a couple of students to have a look at the video for more audience feedback, and I learnt that the synchronising of the actress singing was a bit faster then the audio, so I slowed down the speed of the shot so that the shot would fit in with the rest of the song.

How did you use new media technologies on the construction, research and planning and evaluation process?
Firstly from our preliminary task to now I have learned that for the research and planning process how to use Blogspot.com once again. In which I learned how to embed video clips from youtube.com and paste them onto my blog, I learned how to scan my storyboards into the computer and apply them to my blog. This resulted in using various search engines such as google.com, ask.com and yahoo.com which meant that the Internet played a big part in the research and planning process.

For the construction of the music video I learnt how to use a mini DVD camera when filming different types of shots such as over-the-shoulder, high/low angle, pans etc. I then learnt how to use Final cut Pro by editing. I learned how to capture my footage from the mini DVD camera and put onto the computer, how to use the timeline but piecing a sequence together cuting down shots etc, add effects such as slow motion, crops, dissolves, transitions etc.

For the evaluation process my media teacher filmed myself answering these four questions about my media products and excelliary products.

I believe my evaluation went well as I was prepeared with my notes.

Construction

Role Allocation
For our music video I worked in a team of two, (including myself) but I came up with the choice of song and the idea/storyboard. My partner did some of the filming while I did the majority of it (because of timings) and we both did the editing of the music video.

Casting
For the casting of our music video we only needed one character to perform in the video, so it was quite simple in terms of numbers. I then arranged a friend to act in the video as she fitted the criteria for what I was looking for. As she was able to portray the characters feelings of sadness and misery. Our character was a female aged 17 who was Caucasian.

Filming
For the location of the music video we filmed in West Brom at my friends house in her bedroom, and outside so their was more then one location. We produced a production schedule which features the location, dates, props and scene descriptions so there wasn't any confusion. We also created a logging and capturing sheet so that it would be easier when capturing the footage on the computers.

Problems did arise when filming as not everyone was freely available, we then had to abandon our original idea due to cast not turning up, this presented us with our second idea for our music video. So we had problem meeting up and setting dates. Our location was also very far away from both me and my partner so getting to and from West Brom took a lot of time, which meant the majority of the day was dedicated to travelling. This meant that filming was split into several days.


Editing
For the editing process I learned how to capture footage from the Mini DV camera and put it onto the computer, I then learnt how to use Final-Cut-Pro. As I did the majority of the editing I learnt numerous skills such as piecing a sequence together by cutting down shots, I learnt how to superimpose shots by layering the shots on top of each other and by changing the opacity, I learnt how to crop different shots by having four separate shots on one screen, I also learnt how to use colour corrector, tint, emboss ect.

The editing Process went well as I knew what I wanted and was able to edit my music video without difficulty.

Props
These were the props that we used in the music video;

• Photo frame
• Photo of character
• Phone
• Headphones
• Bedroom

Audience Feedback

Questionnaire

1) Are you male or female?
Male
Female

2) How old are you?


3) Which music channel do you like most out of the following;
MTV
TMF
Kerrang

4) Out of the following what genre of music do you most like;
Rock Dance
Pop Rap
Indie

5) Which do you prefer out of the following;
Performance Based
Narrative Based
Abstract/Artistic

And why?


6) What do you most like about music videos and why?



7) Do you think that music videos can enhance the bands song?



8) Have you heard of the band Paramore?
Yes
No

9) If you have out of the following Paramore tracks which is your favourite;
That’s What You Get
Decode
Misery Business

10) Who do you think Paramore's target audience are?


Feedback
For the audience feedback I conducted a second questionnaire which consisted of 10 questions and distributed to 10 respondents between the ages of 17-18. By conducting the questionnaire I could get a clearer idea of what people wanted and expected in a music video. This would help me in the process of creating my own music video.

Over 50% opted for the channel Kerrange in which they preferred to watch music videos, this was followed by the majority of the respondents choosing Rock as their favourite genre, with the minority preferring pop music.

Many of the respondents choose performance and storyline based videos as their favourite with 30% opting abstract/artists videos. As many people like watching music videos to see the band/artist perform the song, while others like the the storyline based videos for the interpretation of the song and many people like abstract videos for the unusual artistic elements that provide a more interesting version of the song.

I conducted the questionnaire to see what people like in a music video, which gave me a clearer idea of what people look for and see in normal videos. This helped me with my research process of creating my own music video, and gave me the general basics of what music videos consisted of.

Who are Paramore?

Paramore -"That's What You Get"

Album Riot

As I chose the song and came up with the idea I specifically wanted a narrative storyline and performance based music video, and the song "That's What You Get" perfectly fits my theme for the my music video, as the meaning is very clear and fitting.

I chose Paramore over Muse's "SuperMassive Black Hole" as the beat is much more faster and in general a more expressive song.

The band paramore consists of Hayley Williams (lead vocalist/keyboard), Josh Farro (lead guitar/backing vocals), Jeremy Davis (bass guitar), Zac Farro (drums) and Taylor York (rhythm guitar)

The genre of Paramore is more of alternative rock then anything else, and Riot was their second album to be released, it was described as exploring "a diverse range of styles, however not straying far from their signature sound."

Paramore "That's What You Get" Lyrics

That’s what you get
No sir, well I don't wanna be the blame, not anymore.
It's your turn, so take a seat we're settling the final score.
And why do we like to hurt so much?

I can't decide
You have made it harder just to go on
And why, all the possibilities, well I was wrong

That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa.
That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa.
I drowned out all my sense with the sound of its beating.
And that's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa.

I wonder, how am I supposed to feel when you're not here.
'Cause I burned every bridge I ever built when you were here.
I still try, holding onto silly things, I never learn
Oh why, all the possibilities I'm sure you've heard.

That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa.
That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa.
I drowned out all my sense with the sound of its beating (beating)
And that's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa.

Pain make your way to me, to me.
And I'll always be just so inviting.
If I ever start to think straight,
This heart will start a riot in me,
Let's start, start, hey!

Why do we like to hurt so much?
Oh why do we like to hurt so much?

That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa!
That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa.
That's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa.
Now I can't trust myself with anything but this,
And that's what you get when you let your heart win, whoa.

Final Proposal

Artist/Band: Paramore

Track: That's What You Get

Album: Riot

Genre: Rock

Channels: MTV, MTV One and Two, TMF, Kerrang,

Characteristics: Performance and storyline

Channel for Broadcast: MTV, KERRANG, SCUZZ, TMF (As the song is rock based)

Target Audience: I Believe that the age can range to teenagers to young adults, who are both male and female of any ethnicity.

Style of Music Video: Our video is going to be fast-paced to go with the beat of the song, with angles such as over the shoulder, tilts, pans, etc the whole video is going to be in different colour reflecting the characters mood, this can be done through editing.

My music video is essentially has the same concepts to go with my song "That's What You Get" I wanted obviously to have the same themes so that the concepts would be the same, so that I could create a good music video. My music video is about a girl and a boy and their relationship falling apart. The video is completely all about the girl, where as the boy doesn't actually feature in the music video, but the sense of him and video footage are ultimately about him to.

The first scene will be a medium long shot of the girl arguing on the phone, this then moves onto a medium close up of the the girl crying from the argument, from the close up we can see her emotions and that she is distressed. She then looks down to see a photo in her hands, an over the shoulder shot will be used to show this scene. The camera cuts away to the next scene of her miming to the song.

A low/high angle will be used when the character is walking down the stairs to show the audience are submissive towards her, after her argument she has arranged to met the person and is now on her way out to see them. This is shown through a close up of her mobile phone ringing once again that this person wants to meet. The shot moves onto the next scene of her walking out the door, which she slams, the music track then stops to show the abruptness and slam of the door. The music track begins when she puts in her head phone and walks aways from the house. Then again the music video cuts away to her miming the song and back again to the shot.

There are several different shots of her walking down the street, one consists of her walking towards the camera, and walking away from the camera, forward/reverse tracking. The next shot is a pans of her walking across the street and a close up of her shoes walking across the street.

Point of View's will be used to show that she is looking for the person as they are late, I will then distort the image with the use of editing to show her state of mind and emotions, the point of view is to add a different element to the music video and get a insight to our character.

Music video Ideas

Different Ideas

Artist/Band: Muse

Track: Supermassive Black Hole

Album: Black Holes and revelations

Genre: Rock

Channels: MTV, TMF, HITS

Characteristics: Mainly Abstract with Performences

Idea

As the song is a metaphor for black holes we worked this into out music video with our two characters where the girl was seen the be the "Black Hole" metaphorically, out character was portryaed as someone who was emotionaless and empty, where our other character a male who was confused and wanted to be free of the girl. We portrayed our charcaters in this way to fit with the lyrics and messages of the song.

The opening of the video is a layed effects of the male character putting up different images of blackholes on his wall, it would be quick paced with tilts, pans and dissolves. The shot then would go into a medium close up of the boy imagining to see the girl appear infront of him, the camera then would then follow his gaze to see the medium long close up of the girl. The shot then goes into a close up of the girl as her eyes are closed, when she opens her eyes they are deep black with the connotations of the supermassive black hole. The camera slowly zooms out and she smiles.

The next scene consists of an over the shoulder shot of the girl watching the guy melting an ice cream with a lighter, this goes with the lyrics of "(you set my soul alight) Glaciers melting in the dead of night". This then goes into a extreme close up of the ice cream melting, so that the audience can see the effects of the lighter and see the melting "drops" of ice cream. The ice cream then floors to the floor, with the camera tilting down to show three other ice creams melting. With the use of editing the out line of the puddle of ice cream would turn black, again with the connotations of the supermassive black hole, the darkness seeping into the puddle, (the blackhole).

As our video was going to be very fast paced with quick fluid shots between eachother, as the next shot was going to go back to the images of the black holes on the wall, again with pans, tilts and dissolves.

For the next scene I was going to have the characters both walking towards the camera in a split screen and then they would merge to be one of the characters, this would lead on to being the male character who then shakes his head in confused this is shown through a 36o shot of the camera showing his state of mind.

The music video would end with the girl dissapering and the wall that the black hole images turning completely deep balck.

Documentaries

Life behind Bars By Louis Theroux
Anaylsis of the first 5 minutes

An establishing shot is used to show the location of where he is San-Quinton prison, which is a very famous prison most noted for the most dangerous sort of criminals to be imprisoned, on such offences as murder. Louis Theroux is on his way to interview a criminal David Silver, the shots used are mainly close-ups and medium close-up showing Davis Silver behind bars in a prison outside. From this shot we see his uniforms and cell, which creates a bleak picture for the rest of the documentary.

Another close-up is used when one of the prison officers unlocks the cell so Louis Therox can interview the inmate properly, shot-reverse-shot is used when talking to him of his life sentences, which include a pans and tilt showing the cell. Many long, medium and close-up shots are used showing the surroundings and environment the prisoners live in. The medium close ups also show Louis Theroux wearing a stab proof vest demonstrating the dangerousness of the prison.

There isn't much use of editing but there are fade-in and fade outs when a new scene is shown, shot-reverse-shot is used when Louis Theroux interviews different inmates/officers. The camera can become quite handheld at times maybe to show the realness of their situation and reality of what's being shown.

As it is a documentary Louis Theroux uses a voice-over telling the audiences of his thoughts of what's happening and facts and informing us about the prison, when a voice over is not used either ambient sound of background noise such as the mass amounts of other inmates talking, or non-diegetic music is used which is quite edgy and dark at times to illustrate the seriousness of the scene and mood.

Documentaries

Supersize Me
Analysis of the first 5 mintues

The documentary opens up with diegetic music of children singing a fast food song "Pizza Hut" the screen then shows a big group of children singing the song aged 8-11, the camera then uses a pans still showing the children singing the song, the camera then zooms into a child who is larger then the other children, who is falling behind with his singing and the actions that go with the song. The camera purposely focuses on the boy as he demonstrates what the documentary is about, and that by eating fast food you become over-weight, breathless and become tired more easily.

The scene ends and fades into a quote "Look after the customers and the business will take care of itself" Ray Kroc McDonald's founder, quotes are often used in documentaries to inform the audience. This then goes back into the children singing which fades into non-diegetic music of a flute with ambient sound background noise such as people and traffic. The camera zooms out of the American flag which is the cue for the voice-over of Morgan Spurlock, while he's talking images of what he is saying are being show illustrating what's being said. The pace of the editing is very quick paced with the shots and voice-over.

Short Story
In class our media teacher showed us a clip of a short story which was very random and abstract-like, the clip was all in black and white and was featured back in time. There was know clear storyline within the video but was about three characters living in London. There was non-diegetic music all the way throughout.

Questionnaire

Audience Feedback

For my audience research I produced a questionnaire about music videos and about the band Muse, I did this to get a better insight into what people like about music videos. By doing this it gave me a better indication of what people wanted in a music video and whether my idea of a music video would be a good concept with the chosen song. My questionnaire consisted of 10 questions and was given to 10 individual respondents, the questionnaire involved both males and females, the demographic was mostly aimed at teenagers, which ranged from 17-19. This gave me an idea of what young people wanted and what they found interesting about different styles of music videos.

Over half of the respondents choose Kerrang and MTV as they're favourite T.V channel with only 30% choosing TMF, 50% choose Indie music as there favourite genre, with 40% choosing Dance, 30% of people opting for Pop music and a minority of 20% choosing Rap. This indicates that the majority of people like Indie music which is a favourite with channels such as MTV.

Many people liked music videos for the simple reasons such as wanting to see the band perform, others like music videos for there creativity and their style of the music video. Often people liked the narrative and storyline, they liked to see the video have more depth that could enhance the song.

The majority of the respondents had heard of the band Muse and several of they're songs many liked "Supermassive Black Hole" and "Plug in Baby", this showed that people were familiar with their types of videos and style of music.

By conducting the questionnaire we found out that by choosing Muse it was the right idea to have a abstract/artist video, it also helped that people were fans of Muse and could related the lyrics. By finding out this information we could see we were heading in the right direction, as Muse would be normally shown on channels such as MTV and Kerrang, that people like the genre of music and that but by creating an abstract video would completely fit with the style of song.

Muse

Who are Muse?
For my music video I have chosen the song "Supermassive Black Hole" from the album "The Resistance" from the band Muse which is an English alternative rock band that consists of three members Matthew Bellamy, Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard, the chosen song "Supermassive Black Hole" is a metaphor for emotions and that the lead singer is singing about a character who is emotionaly empty and all his feelings mean nothing.

Background Information
Muse are a multi award-winning English alternative rock band that formed in Teignmouth, Devon in 1994. Since its inception, the band has comprised vocalist, guitarist and pianist Matthew Bellamy; bassist and backing vocalist Christopher Wolstenholme; and drummer Dominic Howard. Muse are known for their energetic and extravagant live performances and their fusion of many music genres, including progressive rock, classical music and electronica.

Muse have released five studio albums – Showbiz (1999); Origin of Symmetry (2001); Absolution (2003); Black Holes and Revelations (2006), which earned the band a Mercury Prize nomination and a third place finish in the NME Albums of the Year list for 2006;[6] and The Resistance (2009). Muse have won many other music awards throughout their career, including five MTV Europe Music Awards, five Q Awards, six NME Awards, two BRIT awards and four Kerrang! Awards. The majority of these awards have been attributed to their live performances.
(Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse_(band)

Kanye west Diamonds of Sierra Leone

Codes and Conventions of a Music Video

Kanye West
Diamonds from Serra Leone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgqd80026xU

Mise En Scene

Kanye West uses the sample from the classic song "Diamonds are Forever" by John Barry which was a worldwide hit that was released by Shirley Bassey to create his own music video, the song was so popular that it was the theme song for James Bond.

Before the music video even begins the video has a pre-music sequence such as the quote by Kanye West which only really happens in films, the quote suggest how important Kanye West must seem in the video as quotes are normally taken from very significant people. Already the music video has film like aspects such as the voice over which talks about the blood diamonds which links to the video having a storyline that is voicing their morals. We can now come to the conclusion that the music video is narrative and performance based as there is a strong storyline about children dying from conflict diamonds, this is the theme that runs through out the video. Not only is it a theme but through the music video Kanye West is trying to use his fame to expose the reality of conflict diamonds.

The video is set in Prague and in the mines which both contrast with each other of good against evil as Prague has the connotations of being religious as the camera shows many shots of churches, statues and of Jesus Christ, while the mines reinforce the idea of evil as the children are slaves who risk there life for diamonds. The video might also be set in Prague, which is in Europe as the conflict diamonds are transported to Europe to be sold on. The whole video is in black and white which represents the past but still is on-going.

Editing

Superimpose is used with the overlapping of several images of the children working to compose the life of the children. We can tell that the children are slaves from what they are wearing and how they look. Their eyes are completely black from never seeing daylight and from being underground all day. Fades are also used right at the start of the video when the writing fades in and out before the music starts this again creates film like video.

Camera Angles and Movement

The camera uses forward tracking so that it seems like the audience is entering the mines right at the start of the music video. The camera then uses many tilts and pans to show the conditions of the mines and the diamonds, the effect of this is to show the audience the slavery that happens. As they are slaves the camera uses a low-angle so that the audience is looking up at the slave owner which gives the impression of the audience being submissive and the slave owner having the power and dominance.

Many close ups are used such as the close up of a man inspecting a diamond, the camera frames the man so that the audience see that he isn't a slave because he is a white middle aged man who trades the diamonds. A crane shot is used which gives a sweeping action to show the mountains and where the children mine. Many of the low angles are used when the cameras are focusing on the statues, this gives the statues more significant importance such as the statue of Jesus Christ which shows the more religious aspects. Kanye West leaves the message that by purchasing blood diamonds you are creating the slave trade and having blood on your hands Kanye does this by making the audience feel guilty.

Codes and Conventions Of a Music Video

Kasabian
Empire



Kasabian - Empire (Official Music Video) - Watch today’s top amazing videos here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSKxXu05aOE

Mise en scene

The music video is narrative based with a storyline and has partial performance aspects, the video is based like a film narrative that is set like a period drama. We can tell this from the props such as the costumes and weaponry which are dated and suggest that the video is set back in the 1800s-1900s. The costumes imply that the video is set in a war the British Empire against France/Spain as all the characters are wearing uniforms and dressed up as soldiers.

The war symbolises the youth, the children and soldiers dieing for their cause, The camera cuts to the generals eating which represents the aristocracy/politians who don't take notice or don't care about the people dying for the war, the video has a theme which all ties into the storyline aspect.

Editing

slow motion is used when the child dies, the slow motion is used to show the sudden dramatic impact and to emphasise of his death. The child is wearing a bag containing milk which has the connotations of babies and children this represents the innocence being ripped away. The milk which has connotations of being white, pure and angelic is the complete opposite of war, which symbolises evil and death.

Seamless editing is used which shows that the cuts between the shots are very smooth and barley noticeable.

Superimpose is used when the lady blows out the flower and the boys from the band get blown away from the cannon fire, they do this by merging both the images together to create a layered effect, which shows the contrast of the images. A dissolve is also used at the end of this clip which implies a passage of time and place.

Camera Angles and Movement

A pans is used when the young boy is running through the fields, the camera becomes shaky and wobbly to demonstrate the frame of mind the boys is in and to show how realistic is it that the boy is running across the field. The camera also tilts up to show a woman who reaches down to pick up a flower, the camera cuts to a close up of the flower so that she is not the main focus of the \shot, she then walks away leaving the camera focusing upon the grass. This leaves the audience to figure out what is happening.

A medium close up is used showing an elderly man giving a letter to someone else, the man seems quite happy for himself which seems quite odd as there in a middle of a war, this could indicate that he is one of the aristocracy and is in charge of what is happening. The view of the camera shows only the back half of the man who has received the letter, this could indicated that the medium close up is used to show how important and significant the man is in the video. After this shot, an establishing shot is used while the boy is running through the field, the audience can now see the background which has a dead soldier lying on the ground and a group of people.

The video show a close up of blood running into a pool of water this is then followed by a series of other close ups from the band showing their emotions as the boy has been killed. The camera cuts to a close-up of the blood with the connotations of evil, death we then see the raw emotions of the characters face. Other close ups are used of the main man performing the song which reinforce the fact that this has conventions of a music video which has partial performance and is narrative based.

Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash
Hurt
In class we analysed the lyrics of "Hurt" by Johnny Cash, this was to get a insight into the meaning of the song and video.

Johnny Cash wrote the song in 2002 when he was in his 80s before his death, the song is very personal and has very deep lyrics. The song is personal because Johnny cash is singing about his life, by looking at the first few lines "I hurt myself today to see if I still feel, I focus on the pain the only thing that's real" the song all ready shows that Johnny Cash meant that the world that he had created seemed glamorous wasn't the world that he thought it was but instead just full of pain.

His lyrics depict what his life was like even with his fame and glamorous lifestyle, that he felt alone and that fame wasn't what every one thought it was.

His lyrics are very emotional which he shows by the connotations, similes etc

Not only through his lyrics the video indicates and represents the lyrics as the video is a montage of archive footage and images of his life when he was younger showing him with his family, and on stage footage