Good production work this week, evident in your blog and powerpoint presentation. The written entry needs to be broken into separate posts, otherwise it simply reads as a posted essay. Try to incorporate more analysis in your posts and employ appropriate media language. Well done nonetheless.
Saturday 26 November 2011
Tuesday 22 November 2011
Account of Shoot Day 22.11.11
We began our shoot day by making sure everything was in place and ready for filming. We started by positioning our band so that they could all be seen for our first wide shot, we had to fit them into the gaps making sure that the hanging pieces of mirror were not covering there faces. The mirrors were spinning throughout the day which was really effective as there were a lot of reflections creating a distorted effect, how ever when filming we had to close the curtains around the camera to stop reflections of us being in the footage.
To solve this problem as well as shutting the curtains a bit, we had to duck. This was slightly inconvenient but the effects that the mirrors create were very much worth it. Our second shot was a close up of the lead singers face, we angled the mirror around him so that the other band members were reflected in the shot, this looked very effective as it allowed us to get lots of footage of the band however it did mean that the band had to work hard without any breaks as they were in almost every shot.
Our original idea was to shoot all the band members individually but when we saw that the mirrors reflected all of the band members we simply used that to our advantage and filmed the band members with others in the background mirrors, this has created a different image for our band as it is a unique way of filming and it has allowed us to film elements that would have taken a long time to produce in the editing suit. After filming the distorted sections of mirrors and band members I then took shots of the light bulbs, mirrors and LED going in and our of focus which I thought we could add to the beginning and end of the song when the music is at its calmest.
I also shot the band members walking on at the beginning of the song, putting their instruments on and preparing to play and also walking away from the set when they had finished playing. I thought that this would be a good idea to act as an introduction and ending for the music video.
The second part of filming was shooting the dancers, we began by filming them both in there blacks at a wide shot, we had to remove some of the mirrors and bulbs so that they had enough room to dance and it wasn't dangerous for them, we did have to give the dancers a bit of time to work in the space before filming and i also asked them to mark through it so that i could position the camera in the correct space so we didn't loose any of the key moments of dance. We then began doing close up and mid shots of their feet, so that when they fell to the ground we collected a good image, of a central point as a lot of the key passionate moments were there and we had a detail close up shot of them to use and also up above to we could catch the leaps and lifts accurately. After this we tried to follow their moves, trying to catch them in the mirrors as well to create a direct link with the band. The board we made for the dancer section we didn't end up using as the dangling mirror sections worked well enough. We then did a high angle shot as they did a lot of looking up to the ceiling so we could capture this. There was also a section where James held his hand over Sophie's chest as she pulsated up which we caught perfectly on camera which I am hopeful we will use.
After filming the dance in two costumes, both normal every day clothes and the dancing wear we when on to film more of them in their normal clothes, we captured a high angle shot of them lying down holding hands and another high angle shot of them putting their heads back on each others shoulders crying, which we wet as tissue to create tears to emphasise this we made mascara run down her face which looked really effective of camera as it reinforced how she was feeling.
When finishing with the high angle shots we went on to film elements of them kissing whilst crying, fighting aggressively filmed from both behind Sophie and behind James and another close up and mid shot of Sophie leaping into James's arms and them kissing passionately.
The only small inconveniences we had with moving the camera about so much was that we had to keep on focusing the shot otherwise they would look of a poor quality. Our shoot went better than I expected, I really felt comfortable whilst producing the footage. It helped that the boys hand learnt the music and lyrics to the song and the dancers had a dance prepare and were ready to listen to instructions. By the actors and band members being prepared it meant that we as a group could smoothly run through the shot without too much stopping for recapping any of the material. I felt every member look as if they were enjoying themselves and got really into the scenes which mad the video easier for us to shoot. Even though Sophie and James didn't have time to rehearse before that they really took direction well and made a massive effort to do everything as best they could. Over all i was extremely please and i really look forward to editing it.
To solve this problem as well as shutting the curtains a bit, we had to duck. This was slightly inconvenient but the effects that the mirrors create were very much worth it. Our second shot was a close up of the lead singers face, we angled the mirror around him so that the other band members were reflected in the shot, this looked very effective as it allowed us to get lots of footage of the band however it did mean that the band had to work hard without any breaks as they were in almost every shot.
Our original idea was to shoot all the band members individually but when we saw that the mirrors reflected all of the band members we simply used that to our advantage and filmed the band members with others in the background mirrors, this has created a different image for our band as it is a unique way of filming and it has allowed us to film elements that would have taken a long time to produce in the editing suit. After filming the distorted sections of mirrors and band members I then took shots of the light bulbs, mirrors and LED going in and our of focus which I thought we could add to the beginning and end of the song when the music is at its calmest.
I also shot the band members walking on at the beginning of the song, putting their instruments on and preparing to play and also walking away from the set when they had finished playing. I thought that this would be a good idea to act as an introduction and ending for the music video.
The second part of filming was shooting the dancers, we began by filming them both in there blacks at a wide shot, we had to remove some of the mirrors and bulbs so that they had enough room to dance and it wasn't dangerous for them, we did have to give the dancers a bit of time to work in the space before filming and i also asked them to mark through it so that i could position the camera in the correct space so we didn't loose any of the key moments of dance. We then began doing close up and mid shots of their feet, so that when they fell to the ground we collected a good image, of a central point as a lot of the key passionate moments were there and we had a detail close up shot of them to use and also up above to we could catch the leaps and lifts accurately. After this we tried to follow their moves, trying to catch them in the mirrors as well to create a direct link with the band. The board we made for the dancer section we didn't end up using as the dangling mirror sections worked well enough. We then did a high angle shot as they did a lot of looking up to the ceiling so we could capture this. There was also a section where James held his hand over Sophie's chest as she pulsated up which we caught perfectly on camera which I am hopeful we will use.
After filming the dance in two costumes, both normal every day clothes and the dancing wear we when on to film more of them in their normal clothes, we captured a high angle shot of them lying down holding hands and another high angle shot of them putting their heads back on each others shoulders crying, which we wet as tissue to create tears to emphasise this we made mascara run down her face which looked really effective of camera as it reinforced how she was feeling.
When finishing with the high angle shots we went on to film elements of them kissing whilst crying, fighting aggressively filmed from both behind Sophie and behind James and another close up and mid shot of Sophie leaping into James's arms and them kissing passionately.
The only small inconveniences we had with moving the camera about so much was that we had to keep on focusing the shot otherwise they would look of a poor quality. Our shoot went better than I expected, I really felt comfortable whilst producing the footage. It helped that the boys hand learnt the music and lyrics to the song and the dancers had a dance prepare and were ready to listen to instructions. By the actors and band members being prepared it meant that we as a group could smoothly run through the shot without too much stopping for recapping any of the material. I felt every member look as if they were enjoying themselves and got really into the scenes which mad the video easier for us to shoot. Even though Sophie and James didn't have time to rehearse before that they really took direction well and made a massive effort to do everything as best they could. Over all i was extremely please and i really look forward to editing it.
Building the Set 21.11.11
We then set up the drums and mic stands, and had our guitars ready for our shoot on the following day.
After setting up the camera on the tripod, putting in the battery and memory card for film and getting the track ready to be played we were ready to begin filming our music video.
Saturday 19 November 2011
Feedback
Excellent blog of CD digipak design and photoshoot. Clearly accounts for production whilst considering the relationship between institution, the design of the text and audience. Do try and fit any theory into your practice, for example on conventions and star image and the use of marketing for more academic argument. One other area for development is to present your photo shoot in a more dynamic way, other than simply post images onto the blog. Well done.
Friday 18 November 2011
Evaluation Of Digipack
I found both of these very time consuming but also interesting as I enjoyed creating a star image for the band. We did a photo shoot of the band member but Oscar wasn’t there so we will have to meet with him another time and photo shop him in. After the photo shoot we used photo shop to edit the photos into a digipack and poster.
The digipack took quite a long time and lots of editing and drafts to get it right. Firstly Ally and I simply took photos of the band members on our phones and developed both and hand written and computerised draft. We then created the final which involved downloading the font off the Internet so that it was a unique style and different to other artists, we put their faces the front as they aren’t a very well known band to try and get band recognition instead of a simple or image as some established bands do. We also added a bar code onto the back, a list of songs and also the Virgin label. In the second draft we added smaller details such as more band information, background and knowledge as they are a new band to the market and we wanted fans to understand them and what they do and their past. We also added the song title on the spine to promote their most popular song.
When taking the photos I could see an element of one direction in their image, by their dress sense more than their music and example. I also think there music reminds me of second hand serenade but they are a less popular band than ‘you me at six’, I find that there isn’t that many bands musically very similar to ‘you me at six’ as they are fairly individual and unique which is a great part of there star image and star quality.
We used screen grabs to take images of what we were working on throughout the process so far, we have also used Photoshop and Pixlr.com to construct the actual digipack and the poster advertising the band and the fold out special edition poster that is contained inside the CD digipack. When making our digipack we were trying to construct a cool, chilled image for the band, we wanted them to seem very close and good friends so that the audience see them as more of a family than just a group of people. We wanted them to be ‘guys’ that boys could look up to, such as follow there fashion and image and also a group of guys that girls found attractive so that ‘synergy’ could be listened to by both a male and female audience between the ages of 14-25. By putting the poster of the boys inside we wanted there faces to be on there fans walls which would make there faces look more familiar to friends, also but putting there faces on the front they will hopefully become more recognisable which will create a fan base for them.
The ancillary tasks have really helped promote and market the band as there faces are everywhere, all over the posters promoting release dates, digipack and the fold out poster that comes inside the digipack. This will make them recognisable to there fan base extremely quickly. They are signed to virgin records which is a fairly big, well known company which shows that there music is developing and progressing, becoming more well known to a slightly wider audience. Due to this is means that their music can be sold and promoted on iTunes and also at supermarkets, and with their faces on the CD digipack people without realising notice their faces. I feel marketing is important for building customer relationships to make them trust or share and interest in what you are selling as well as creating product awareness.
Without an effective marketing strategy you cannot expect people to be familiar with your media product you need something to get people talking and create and star image and brand awareness, marketing is the vehicle to do this.
Without an effective marketing strategy you cannot expect people to be familiar with your media product you need something to get people talking and create and star image and brand awareness, marketing is the vehicle to do this.
We have had good feedback from our audience girls say ‘They look cool and attractive’ and ‘they look like good mates like ‘The wanted’’. Boys have said ‘There image is pretty cool, I recon young guys could look up to them’. This feedback shows that our aims have worked well and the correct image is being put across to our target audience. The one thing that I would like to change about our band is that they look fairly young, if I could have guys that are between the ages of 21-25 that would be ideal but being at a college the boys are 16-18 which is a bit of a shame but we have worked with it and I think they look good together.
This has helped them create a star image 'a star is an image, not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials, stars are also commodities (something you sell) produced and consumed on the strengths of their meanings' Richard Dyer. Audiences strive to try and make sense of an artist such as Lady Gaga or Jessie J, this is achieved when audience continually watch and follow the artist consuming them and their material. The performance of an artist seems to promise a completion of the image but ultimately leaves them unsatisfied so that they go and watch the artist again. The image can be used to create social values that are dominant in positioning an audience. Our band star image is shown within the music video stay with me but they aren't fully revealed to keep the audience wanting more from them, wanting to see them live and wanting to download more of their songs.
This has helped them create a star image 'a star is an image, not a real person that is constructed out of a range of materials, stars are also commodities (something you sell) produced and consumed on the strengths of their meanings' Richard Dyer. Audiences strive to try and make sense of an artist such as Lady Gaga or Jessie J, this is achieved when audience continually watch and follow the artist consuming them and their material. The performance of an artist seems to promise a completion of the image but ultimately leaves them unsatisfied so that they go and watch the artist again. The image can be used to create social values that are dominant in positioning an audience. Our band star image is shown within the music video stay with me but they aren't fully revealed to keep the audience wanting more from them, wanting to see them live and wanting to download more of their songs.
Wednesday 16 November 2011
Monday 14 November 2011
Photo Shoot
The Band Apart from Oscar who we will edit in using photoshop as he wasn't available for the shoot
Merlin- Bass
Freddy - NOW lead singer
Walter- NOW secondary guiltar
Freddie- Drummer
Wednesday 9 November 2011
CD
This is a CD that I created, this is just experimenting with image and colours to see what suites the bands star image. This isn’t the final CD, this is just me exploring and experimenting ideas.
Letter to Epitaph Records
To Epitaph Records
We are a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project:
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We are a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project:
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You Me At Six-Stay With Me
With your permission the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purposes and will have no commercial usage. The video will be viewed only by members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board.
The artist and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognised in the pre-production and evaluation material that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself.
Yours sincerely
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Alexandra Blackock, Hannah Patey, Jim James Troughton, Sophie Loughridge
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Hurtwood House School
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