Preliminary Task - Evaluation

Research - Task 4

Overall I think that our finished video is really good as we were able to match the real video to a high standard as we paid close attention to all the angles and movements throughout the video, and took into consideration how to change the furniture and location to suit each shot. Therefore, this enabled us to create a high quality video with only a few minor errors here and there.

We had a slight continuity error in costumes as at the beginning of the video Dan (who plays Liam Payne) is shown wearing a navy polo shirt, whereas during his solo his costume changed to a jumper. This is because we filmed over 2 days - the 23rd and the 28th, and Dan forgot to bring the same item of clothing again. However, this was not a major issue as it isn't very noticeable as Dan's costume in the first few shots are not the main focus.

Another slight issue we encountered is that some of the shots are very slightly out of focus due to changes in lighting and a variation of camera angles and zooms. To improve this we would have to re-film those shots again and make sure they're perfect before editing the final pieces of footage altogether so we will have to keep this in mind when we film our real music videos.

However, overall I think our recreation of the Little Things video turned out really well and was finished to a high standard, and we worked effectively as a team to finish all the filming on time. In our group I would say that Millie and I worked most effectively as a team as we completed all the editing as well.

As a process, I think planning, filming and editing this preliminary task has been extremely helpful for our coursework later in the year as it has given us an insight to the level of commitment and effort we will need to put into our real music videos to ensure we reach the higher grades. This process has also highlighted to me how many different camera angles, shots and levels of zoom I will need to include in my future music video to add variation throughout the video to achieve a professional looking effect. This preliminary task has also taught me to make sure all the files are properly saved into the correct files, as Millie and I did not realise that we hadn't saved the files correctly and almost lost all our footage half-way through the editing, as the files were saving onto the memory card and not the computer. To avoid any silly mistakes like this in our real coursework I will now know to check everything is correctly imported and saved in a safe file from now on, and to have copies of everything just in case anything gets deleted.

Preliminary Task - Final Product and Contribution

Research - Task 4

Below is our final edit of our preliminary task, our recreation of the music video Little Things by One Direction. Created by Millie Ford, Dan Bowers, Nathan Hill and Chloe Mar-Gerrison.
I contributed to all 6 hours of class time and approximately an extra hour as I stayed behind during lunch and in between my afternoon lessons to finish the editing and export the video to YouTube. My editing, filming and lip-syncing shots are shown in previous blog posts.

Our video:

Original music video:

Preliminary Task - Editing

Research - Task 4

We began editing our preliminary task on Tuesday 23rd June, and finished within the same day. We did not manage to complete all our filming within our allotted class time, so Millie and I stayed behind class during a free period and lunch time to complete all the editing, and I also went back between one of my lessons to export it properly and upload it to YouTube. Dan and Nathan did not contribute towards any of our editing, so they will have to complete their own finished version of the video. Millie and I split the editing quite equally, although I would say she completed the majority of the initial editing. However, when I began my section we encountered a problem with the files becoming unavailable so some of the previously edited footage had to be slightly tweaked, so overall the editing was equally shared between the two of us.

Our teacher helped us to embed a small insert of the original music video into the bottom corner of our footage, which not only shows our audience that we have matched the original video and copied the correct camera shots to the best of our ability, it also helped us during the editing process to match the lip-syncing to the song lyrics.

Overall I think the editing process went really well and didn't take us too long as we had timed the majority of our footage well so we didn't have to cut all of the clips down. As our music video was also quite simplistic we did not require any special transitions between the shots, and the only special effects we required was a black and white filter to adjust the colour in the footage to match the original music video.

Below are the shots I edited:

 

Millie previously edited this shot
however it needed re-doing

Preliminary Task - Filming

Research - Task 4

My group commenced filming on the 23rd of June, and finished filming on the 28th June. We used the majority of the 3 hours we were given, and completed all our filming in the class time we were assigned.

To film our footage we used a Canon 550D camera throughout the video, and a tripod to ensure that our footage would be as high quality as possible. The tripod was extremely helpful, as without it some of our footage would've been shaky. Throughout the filming process Millie, Nathan and I split the filming between the three of us as equally as possible, whereas Dan did not take part in any of the filming. However, each camera shot and clip that we filmed was decided amongst us as a group and we all gave each other input into how to set up the tripod and position each camera frame. We also split the lip-syncing in the video between all 4 of us, although I would say that Nathan probably did the most out of all of us as Zayn Malik's solo was quite long. Liam Payne's solo was split between Millie, Dan and I so our screen-time was relatively equal.

Overall I feel the filming went really well as we managed to film all the shots successfully and I think they match the original video quite well considering that we do not have the same equipment, time frame or budget that the professionals for the One Direction video would've had.

Below are the shots that I filmed:

This shot was filmed by both Millie and I



 

 

Below are the shots I lip synced in:

Preliminary Task - Outline and Planning

Research - Task 4

Outline - For our preliminary task we were put into small groups of three or four, and assigned a music video to research and film ourselves. My group consisted of three other members: Millie, Dan, and Nathan. Our group was assigned the music video Little Things by One Direction, and were assigned the first minute of footage to recreate ourselves, and later edit it to match the original video.
We decided between ourselves that Nathan would take the role of Zayn Malik, and Millie, Dan and I would split Liam Payne's singing parts between ourselves as he is heavily featured throughout the first minute of the video. I also took the role of Harry Styles as he was featured a couple of times throughout the video in the background and between lyrics. Millie also played Louis Tomlinson in certain shots and Dan occasionally took the role of Niall Horan, although he isn't heavily present in this section of the video.

Planning - In preparation before we began to film the music video, we each completed 15 seconds each of a shot by shot analysis of the video (which I have previously posted on my blog) which really helped us to envision the shots and gave us an easy step-by-step plan of the footage. We also took it upon ourselves to acquire a costume which was similar or matched the singers' outfits in the video. This was relatively simple to accomplish as the members of the band are all dressed quite similarly in casual, everyday outfits. I wore a white t-shirt and blue jeans with a pair of white trainers as Liam was featured wearing a similar outfit, as was Harry which was useful as I played both of their parts. Millie wore a grey t-shirt and black jeans to match Liam, Nathan wore a white t-shirt and a grey hoodie to match Zayn, and Dan wore a t-shirt and black jeans to match Liam and Niall.

The real video:

 

Marketing Package Analysis - Adele

Research - Task 3

As part of my research I have decided to examine marketing packages for different artists' albums, so that I can gain an understanding on how record labels and artists promote their products to specific audiences. For my marketing package analysis I have decided to analyse Adele's album named 25 which was released on the 20th November 2015. 25 is the third studio album by British singer and songwriter and was released through XL Recordings.
Examining a variety of marketing packages will allow me to gain an insight into how different genres of music are marketed towards the general public, so therefore when I create my own marketing package later on in the year I will have a wide knowledge of the different conventions that accompany each genre.

The digipak for Adele's album uses a sepia-toned colour scheme throughout which creates a retro and glamourous effect, therefore suggesting to the audience that these themes may also be present throughout the album. The retro-glam theme of the digipak, particularly on the front cover, also suggests that this album will be the most sophisticated in comparison to her previous albums as she has grown and matured. This will help her to appeal to a wider audience as her album cover will attract both the older generation and the current generation as her new modern look will attract younger adults, and the mixed theme of Hollywood/retro-glam and maturity will appeal to the older generation.

Adele is featured on the front cover staring straight into the camera lens, which is known as direct address as she is making a visual connection with her audience. The artist is also featured wearing a full face of makeup which reinforces the retro-glam look of the album cover as she is shown wearing very thick, bold eyeliner which flicks out towards the end of her eye. Her strong contour also adds to this effect as it creates the appearance of enhanced cheekbones, which creates a more angled and precise look to her facial features. Her serious facial expression reinforces the sophisticated look she's portraying, as does her sleek hair style.

The album title is featured down the spine of the album, and is fairly simplistic and modern as she uses three main colour schemes: red, white and black. These colours attract the audience's eye as they all contrast off of each other, and as she has chosen to use the black as a background colour this creates a reverse-block appearance which works to attract the audience's eye. For the title of the album and her name, Adele has chosen to use a sans-serif font, however the font has a layered effect which makes the words stand out against the black background to capture her audience's gaze.

The back cover of the album also continues these themes of sophistication, maturity and Hollywood/retro glam as the sepia-toned colour scheme continues. The artist is photographed leaning forwards onto her arm, and again staring directly into the lens of the camera to draw in her audience's attention.
The font for her track-list is very simplistic and modern, yet again portraying that the artist has grown and matured throughout her musical career. The artist has used a classic, white sans-serif font with red sans-serif numbers down the side to create a nice contrast which will catch her audience's eye and encourage them to read the titles of the songs. The use of white font against the dark photography creates a reverse-block kind of effect which further attracts the audience's gaze.

The CD in the album is yet again very simple and classic, sticking to the common theme which runs through this particular marketing package. The CD is a muted yellow colour (although it does look slightly pink in the photograph), with 25 written on it in bright red. The typography used on the CD resembles a handwritten effect, to suggest that this album has been personalised by the artist and is hand-crafted specifically for every listener. The use of this typography also suggests an old fashioned, retro aesthetic which could be to highlight these elements in Adele's personality, as titles were commonly written on home-made CD's.

To market her album further, Adele's album was advertised on large billboard posters across the world, which showed the front cover of her album. This would attract mass attention as the image is very large and the black background sharply contrasts with her pale skin and bold font, which would catch people's eye and encourage them to purchase the album.

As you can see on the left, Adele also advertised her album on her website, which would inform her current fan-base that follow her on social media to the release of her upcoming album. The advertisement is quite simplistic, as are the other varieties of marketing she has used throughout her release. She uses an out of focus background image of her album cover, with a smaller image of her album cover layered over the top. She then has the title of the album featured as a logo, and a small amount of text in sans-serif font to inform her audience of the upcoming release.

Research into another student's work (part 2)

Research - Task 2

For part of my research I have decided to look at Chloe Burrows' blog to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of her coursework. This will give me an insight into how much detail I will need to include in my own blogs to achieve a high grade.

Research- Chloe's research into the music industry and music videos from a wide variety of genres is highly detailed and executed to a high standard. She has also used a wide variety of different multimedia formats throughout her blog which will allow her to reach the higher grades. However, throughout this section some of the URL links to videos and websites do not work, which means some of her work cannot be accessed which is unfortunate.

Planning- Chloe's planning is also very detailed and features lots of images which highlight the progress she has been making throughout the music video module. Her drawings also help to visually demonstrate her ideas and allow the examiner and her audience to view her original workings.

Music video- Chloe's music video follows a female actress around multiple locations, and features a wide variety of camera shots, angles and transitions. She has also used a variety of different lighting to create a diverse range of effects throughout the video, and has used multiple costumes. However, the camera quality is not very high which creates a less professional standard to the video, and some of the camerawork is also slightly shaky which reinforces the un-professional effect. As the video also only focuses on one person the storyline is unclear as the video does not seem to follow any particular narrative.

Digipack- Chloe's digipack is produced to a very high standard and her posts surrounding her digipack are very detailed and specific. She has analysed her work well and has set herself improvements she could make next time. The only criticism I could make is that the colour of the text on the digipack back-cover blends in slightly with the background so it is not very easy to read.

Magazine Advert- Chloe's magazine advert is quite plain in comparison to her other media products, and looks slightly unprofessional as the white background creates quite a basic look. The photos used on the magazine cover are also not very high quality which reinforces the un-professional look, which could possibly result in her receiving a low grade for this section. However, the text used is bold and bright which will attract her audience's attention.

Evaluation- Chloe has used a variety of different multimedia formats to produce her evaluations, which is a key strength throughout her blog as a variety of layouts will enable her to reach the higher grades with the examination board. Her evaluation is also very detailed and features both strengths and weaknesses, submitted by herself and other candidates.

Chloe's Music Video:

Research into another student's work (part 1)

Research - Task 2

For part of my research I have decided to look at Philippa Klymowskyj's blog to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of her coursework. This will give me an insight into how much detail I will need to include in my own blogs to achieve a high grade.

Research- Overall, Philippa's research is really good as it contains lots of detail and is neatly presented in a logical sequence. Her shot count analysis focused on the track Hymn by Ultravox, and featured 10 shots. Her analysis was detailed and very precise as she included the exact seconds each shot covered.
She also included a large variety of videos throughout her blog, ranging from a wide variety of different music genres to help her analyse a diverse range of artists' msuic videos. However, to improve her research she could have made sure she had a consistent level of detail throughout each post as some of her posts were lacking the same standard of effort and were therefore a lower quality in comparison.

Planning- Again, Philippa's planning was produced to a high standard as she included lots of detail and had a clear and logical layout. She also included a variety of photos which is key for a higher grade as it highlights your ideas to the examiner and also adds a variety of layouts throughout your blog. As you can see from the drawing on the left, her planning drawings were also very detailed which is a strength to her work as it shows she puts a lot of effort into her coursework which will have helped her reach the higher grades. The only weakness I have noticed is that a few of her posts are block text, which shows she doesn't consistently use different forms of multimedia which is essential for this piece of coursework.

Music Video- Philippa's music video was well planned throughout her blog and was focused around a male actor. The music video contrasts from normal colour to black and white throughout the video, and features a variety of different shots, transitions and camera angles which is a key essential to achieving a professional aesthetic. However, a weakness of her video that I noticed was that the camera quality wasn't very high, which therefore makes the footage look grainy and low quality (which you can see in the photo below) which is unfortunate and would result in candidates receving a lower grade. As the footage was also primarily focused only on one person there didn't appear to be a clear storyline to the music video which could confuse her audience.


Digipak- Philippa's digipack posts were much less frequent and less detailed than all her other sections, however she has included a variety of mulitmedia formats which will help bring her grades up. To improve this section of her coursework further she would need to include more detail and information about the process of creating her didgipack, and maybe include a more detailed analysis of the production.

Magazine Advert- Throughout Philippa's magazine section there were a few grammatical errors which would bring her grade down, and yet again her posts for this section were less frequent and less detailed. However, she included lots of images throughout this section of her coursework which show her progress through the production.

Evaluation- Philippa's evaluation was very detailed and produced to a high quality. Her evaluation featured a wide variety of multimedia formats as she used two Prezi presentations to convey her analysis, and also included a few screenshots from her editing process to show her progress. 

Philippa's Music Video:

Shot Count Analysis

Research - Task 1

For my shot count analysis I chose the music video for Foy Vance's recent single, She Burns. The video was released on the 26th April 2016, and is directed by Gus Black for the record company, Glassnote Entertainment. The video is 4 minutes and 9 seconds long, and in total contains 87 shots in the entire video. I analysed the first 30 seconds of the video, which in total only contains 9 cuts including the title screen. On average each shot lasts approximately 3.72 seconds.


























As shown in the table above, in the 30 second snippet of the music video there were 2 close ups, 1 extreme close up, 2 long shots, 2 mid shots and 2 title screens. There were also 2 panning shots and 1 tilt which were incorporated into the mid shots and long shots.
Analysing this video has been very helpful as it has shown me how many different shots  I will need to incorporate into my own music video to achieve a professional look.

She Burns music video:

Shot by Shot Analysis

Shot by Shot analysis of 1 minute of a real video
(15-30 seconds of the Little Things music video by One Direction)

For my preliminary task I am in a group of 4 within my media class, which consists of myself, Millie, Dan and Nathan. We are researching the Little Things music video by One Direction, and have each created a storyboard for the section of the video we have been allocated. Millie analysed the 0 to 15 second section, I have analysed the 15 to 30 second section, Nathan analysed the 30 to 45 second section and Dan analysed the 45 to 60 second section of the video. This will help us when we film our own version of the video.

 

Little Things music video: