Stuart dutton evaluation sorry late explain why at college

Stuart Dutton

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation – Long road music video group 41

Our media product was originally designed to be conventional but not to a specific genre. We used many techniques used in the industry and some used were improvisations made up on the spot that we surprisingly found to be quite effective so in a way our video turned out is non conventional. An example of non-genre specific conventions used is the synchronised dance in our video which is usually seen in Boy band pop videos rather than indie electro videos. We took a risk including it in our video but we feel it paid off as we managed to establish the shots and capture it in an effective way. However we did conform to certain forms and conventions of our genre; our song chosen was of an indie/electro theme. We used whiteboard background, coloured lights, and silhouettes to achieve vibrant, colourful yet abstract shots similar to shots you would find in a professional electro music video. On the contrary a way we challenged the convention of our genre was including a close up guitar solo shot as this type of shot would usually be found in a rock video. To conclude our media product partially used and developed real media conventions but we stayed away from heavily conforming to styles of the indie electro genre.

We represented the artist of the song in our ancillary text in a vibrant indie fashion. The Band members are on the front pasted on to a rainbow striped background doing so we have promoted the artist through use of art creating a certain atmosphere for the product. Our cover has a similar colour palette to pink Floyd’s dark side of the moon a black background with abstract light spectrum art. However our cover is done in a much more light hearted way. I feel our ancillary texts closely link with our main product quite well. We kept the lyrics and the general feel of the song lights and music in mind while constructing the ancillary products. Therefore we used the conventions to give the texts a similar feel to our music video. We use bright vibrant rainbow colours on a black background to achieve this. Other ways our ancillary products linked with the main product is the information and images on the packs. Our DVD cover and poster are both entitled light and music (the name of our song). The DVD cover has multiple images of us as a band which was extracted from the footage of our main product which I feel is another effective link. Another strong link between the two products is the torchlight effect image in the top right corner of the front of our DVD cover. This is because it relates to a memorable and key shot in our video near the beginning when the camera is zooms in on the sun and then zooms out on a torch in the night time.

I learned a great deal about our own media product through peer feedback. It is interesting and insightful to hear the perspective and opinion of people who haven’t been involved working on the product. Peer feedback on our rough cut had a huge influence on what content we included in our final cut. Important criticisms highlighted shots and ideas that didn’t fit and work effectively which we took on board in order to make decisions for our final piece. For example one student commented on the irrelevance of our daytime shots in relation to night time shots which led us to scrap most of our daytime footage. The feedback from our final cut was mostly positive and I have learned what techniques/shots work better than others. We were praised for our use of close up shots so I learned how to capture an effective close up. There wasn’t a great deal I could learn for my final product feedback as the comments were similar and positive but I learnt how effective certain shots were as they were the ones mentioned by peers meaning they were memorable. I learned from feedback for the digipack what worked and what didn’t. I learnt the image on the inside cover wasn’t as effective as I thought as the image was of low quality and we tried to hide this by putting smudge effects on it. The image was criticised as it looked too smudged and out of focus but the colour stripes around the world were praised. We received feedback on our actual blog also. Again the majority of this was positive and criticisms were mainly on our messy tagging of pieces of work. Instead of sticking to 4 specific tags we all had a multitude of nicknames in the tagging as we had a light- hearted approach to our blog. I learnt this is not necessarily the best idea as it can become silly.

New media technologies have completely revolutionised the industry. Especially for amateur filmmakers like us, YouTube New media technologies were essential to every part of our project. In the research side of our project websites used predominantly were; YouTube and Google images. YouTube was used to look for conventions of real media products similar to ours for inspiration and ideas. Google/Google images were used also for ideas and inspiration from real media products. However Google images were also used closely with Photoshop in terms of construction as we cut from many existing images to make our own. The construction of our project involved mainly final cut. We uploaded our footage to final cut and used it to edit footage and add the audio for both our rough cut and final project; this was an essential piece of media technology. Planning for our project was not done on paper. Instead we used www.blogspot.com. We regularly uploaded a comments, images, and videos. This allowed us to continuously add to our planning and background content of our product and the way the site is structured allowed us to look back at our own ideas with ease. For evaluation of our product Microsoft word and final cut were used. I used Microsoft word to create our evaluation and final cut will be used to record my commentary.

Louis Warwick's Evaluation

Our group devised a Music Video and supplementary products for the Indie song 'Lights and Music' by Cut Copy. Throughout the entirety of this project our group thought it was integral to maintain a certain image. This would help towards keeping continuity to a high standard; as well as making sure no shots seemed out of place or irrelevant. We tried to include stereotypical boy band elements within our music video, such as our devised dance routine and close-up miming into the camera. This was to establish our boy bands necessity to be linked with other, similar bands surrounding the indie music genre. It also helped that out chosen track had a rather rhythmical sound to it; inevitably dancing in the video seemed natural, as it is displaying the feel-good-factor that the artists would wish to get across in the viewing of the video. I feel that our product really compares with forms and conventions of real media products. By using Goodwin’s analysis of imagery and sound we can see that our video does indeed demonstrate characteristics of genre, our band’s indie clothing and style of dancing and general movement all linked to the genre of the song. Although the lyrics and visuals only related on a couple of occasions (during the walking at the beginning being one example) the music and visuals where constantly correlating. We had futuristic shadow effects during the more electronic music and a guitar appearing throughout the sounding of a guitar being played. All band members faces were captured within the close-ups and the four-way split screen image incorporated all band members individually whilst simultaneously retaining the groups boy band representation. This as well as the miming and dancing performed helped towards making our group in becoming relateable to current artists.
After looking back at our final, finished video we realised that there were several moments which could defiantly been improved upon. Had we filmed a wider range of locational shots we may not have been so hard pushed to include some of our weaker footage. Certain transitions from shot to shot were slightly too long and could have been interrupted with an entirely new shot. However, the pace throughout was consistent and the normality of an over-busy music video was not portrayed which, I believe, enhanced our video as it was easy to focus on the action taking place, each individual shot also gained greater significance which additionally worked to our advantage. In my opinion the day to night transition was one of our most powerful shots and was extremely effective, zooming in on the sun, only to zoom out and the audience is left staring down into a flashlight. At this point our mise-en-scene transformed into night time imagery and was the introduction for our boy band’s entry. The message that was connoted was that this boy band only comes out at night, to party.
Our boy band look needed to be established; hence keeping all of the band in similar costumes and including our iconic ‘sunglasses at night’ helped us create a unique image. We displayed a neon, partying persona which, in turn, related to the song ‘Lights and Music’, but also allowed us to use edgy effects, incorporating our new age boy band. Using devices such as filtered lighting allowed us to create a shadow effect which we used to recreate a nightclub esc feel during shots of dancing. These lighting effects continued into the creation of our digi pack, where we used outlining of rainbow coloured beams to boarder our textual info and band member faces. These coloured lines helped highlight key information on our digi pack, making it standout, which is inarguably what is required in such a competitive industry. With our shots all occurring at night with bright lighting emphasising our band during dance and miming shots, as well as the filtered lighting within the video, we thought to maintain a clear representation of our group as an artist it was vital to preserve these features within our poster and digi pack. The night time video needed to be incorporated within our digi pack; hence, we designed black backgrounds for all parts, as well as presenting rainbow lines which relates to the filtered lighting within our video. All of the following helped make sure that any theme or motif our band displayed would not look alienated from the rest of our products. Another group’s feedback on our ancillary tasks claimed they liked the vibrant colours on the digi pack and the silhouette of the guitar. The colour strips that lead from the front to the back show good continuity in addition to the group member’s faces being shown on the cover; this all is imperative in making the band distinguishable. They also thought the shooting star effect on the inside of the cover and the colourful stripes being used again were effective. Most probably due to the fact that this added feature was in keeping with the overall outer-worldly fashion in which we clearly designed the digi pack. They also approved of the colour stripes outlining the world, again, these related to the rainbow lines featured on the front and back of the digi pack. With all elements linking to one another our band has a particular image and brand in which we can move forward from and become a recognisable product.
We decided to scrap the majority of our footage, as it was shot during the daytime; this was due to the fact that it contradicted our initial idea of a partying boy band on an energised night out. The daylight shots didn’t seem to correlate with the darker, night time shooting; consequently this took away from our various differing locations we would have included had we incorporated both day and night filming. Although, I believe, we managed to include a range of camera angles within our final piece, the foremost example of this was during the dance routine. Some of our feedback included comments on the relevance of dancing in relation to the song, however, I believe the dance routine was a simple way of merging the group together, making them appear as one boy band rather than four individuals. Nevertheless, I feel our lip syncing could have been varied, as the same location was used to capture all group members miming. Possible lack of continuity could have been perceived as there was only one person singing the vocals to the entire track, whereas, our group decided to divide the miming between all band members in a boy band esc fashion.
Our group constantly added to our blog, keeping up with our progression. This planning was important to aid us with keeping up to date with our work, and as we had all suggestions up in writing it enabled us to merge ideas together, thus, creating the finest outcome to our work. Incorporating other professional products of posters and music video’s from current artists helped spark inspiration for ideas guiding us to create a proficient looking piece of work. Using software such as Photoshop and Final Cut allowed us to design a much more professional outcome to our finished products. Such resources can often overcomplicate tasks such as these; this may have been the case within our video, as certain effects which were used appeared as somewhat supplementary and possibly unneeded. We could have used the time we had to our advantage to enrich our video if we used the editing time allocated to film differing shots, although these shots would not have been dark enough, consequently appearing out of place. Finally uploading our work onto YouTube meant our video sat along side thousands of other recognisable artists; a place that, in my opinion, was well deserved.

Matt Jones Evalutation

The song ‘Lights and Music’ by Cut Copy is of the electro-pop genre and therefore stereotypical ideas such as a colourful vibrant set and characters that interact through dance or a fast paced tempo such as the night of a party. An appropriate theme which was used in our music video was a dance, this develops on conventions in real media products because it is what fans of this genre would expect and enjoy. An example of a well executed dance in a real media product is the music video for ‘Beat Again’ by JLS, however our product differs as it is not solely of a boy-band dancing. The reason for this is that we felt it necessary to add other elements in order to seem original. Other conventions used include the mis-en-scene, the band members were in matching outfits and the setting complimented the song as it was heavily lit in darkness, playing on the theme of light in the song. Having matching outfits, for instance the iconography of the grey hoodies and sunglasses enables the audience to immediately recognise the performers and give them a trademark look which viewers can associate with. Another theme which is relevant to this genre is a slight narrative aspect. At the beginning of the video there is daylight, there is then a transition from sunlight to torchlight which signifies the time of day. Beginning in the daylight enabled the music video to begin with introducing shots of the setting and reveal to the audience where the music video took place. The setting is urban and therefore relates to the song and genre of music because it is a dance which could be played in social settings rather than a contrasting song which could relevant at any occasion.
At contrasting convention to real media products is the comedy element. The use of humorous shots such as using a shopping trolley enables the band to cover other elements of the industry, because using comedy allows the band to attract new audiences which may not have been interested in a normal dance video. Also a genre characteristic that was not featured is a stage performance; this is because individual shots of instruments are shown as well as lip-syncing and a dance performance. Therefore the elements in the video could be seen as minimalistic. However, by maintaining the use of simple shots but editing them in an intuitive way, for instance, the four-way split screen capturing all band members in a close-up shot. This close up shot enables the record label to use the artist as a product and develop motifs of the bands visual style.
Different locations and shots also help to keep the video interesting and engage the viewer. In addition, the amplifying relationship can be seen in the dance that is shot several times because the moves/actions in the dance relate to the lyrics.
The ancillary task compliments the music video well because they contain similar conventions and continues themes featured in the music video, such as the use of colour and striped lighting. On criticism could be that the font on the digipack cover and magazine advert differ and mat not be clearly linked. However, the band and album are clearly labelled as well as the features of the digipack. Although this could be beneficial as ait highlights the products contrasting elements such as the conventions it doesn’t follow. The screen grabs from the video onto the front of the digipack work well because they introduce the band members as well as linking the video. The use of varied colours and fonts on the magazine advert relate to the different location and effects used in the video consequently enabling the consumer to make the link between the two media products.
Receiving audience feedback allows for a higher level of media product the next time. In our feedback the general theme was complimentary, for instance; appropriate lighting, good variety of shots, interesting location and well executed lip-syncing. However criticisms included; the need for more locations and costumes, whether the dancing was needed and a general need for more variety. This criticism is useful and relevant and with more time we could have implemented these changes. However, some elements would remain the same in order to maintain the feel of not conforming throughout the video.
Different media technologies that were used to create the video and ancillary tasks were Photoshop and FinalCutExpress. Websites that were important for our research and ideas were YouTube and blogging sites. Such sites are proving very influential in the current market of music videos, this is because aspiring amateurs are able to create their own portfolio of work and then post it on the internet with the hopes of being noticed. By using the latest technology we were able to enhance our media product and take it to another level, for instance after importing our footage it was evident that some effects were needed. This is clearly apparent in our rough cut, the lack of unusual effects and slow editing makes each shot drag and become almost annoying for the viewer. We avoided this in our final product by taking interesting effects and experimenting with them. Although at times it was clear that too many effects can become just as irritating. By achieving a balanced proportion of simple and complex shots we were able to engage the viewer without excessively using the tools of FinalCutExpress. Also, by maintaining our own blog we were able to note down ideas and reveal how progress was able to be achieved throughout, this was important as it was a way of recording pices of media that inspired and that we could relate to in our final piece.

Marcus Howard Evaluation

A music video is a visual representation of a song. They usually include the artist singing or a band performance. On top of that, they may have a narrative or moral to the images. On the other hand, the video could be totally random and have no relation to the artist or band. There are also videos where the video relates to the song but not the artist. They do this by either adapting around the lyrics to create picture or tell a story over the lyrics. The song lights and music is an indie-electro pop song therefore it would make sense to conform to the dance video conventions. The dance video conventions are bright colours, odd locations, dancers, clubs, girls and outfits. A good example of this is “Now your Gone” by “Bass Hunter”. It doesn’t only use all the conventions but it has lyrical relation to the video as well as a narrative. Our video would generally follow this theme of dance but we didn’t want follow them completely due to the quirky mix of genres. We have tried to adapt on these conventions by following the odd genre. For “bright colours” we used a shadow dance in the break part of the song. We used a car park roof as our “odd location”. We did our own dance to fit in the “dancers” category. We couldn’t find access to any clubs or girls but we did use outfits. We created a boy band that all had their individual roles. This challenged what usually happens in dance videos because the focal point would either be on a DJ or a single singer. It hasn’t just been down to the outfitting that defines our video, the location time and editing plays a massive role.

We made sure that the location somewhere open and out of the ordinary again following the theme of dance. An obvious time to choose was night as the general nightlife music is dance. The editing had to be very clever to gain what we wanted. After looking at different videos and seeing their conventions, we noticed that they used a large variety of shots and used a lot of effects on those shots. We used this technique when we did our dance routine because it was the unique selling point of our video. It also made the dance seem more interesting with low angle, high angle, and close up and long shots. Artists in dance videos generally look “cool” so we tried to portray this with matching uniforms and sunglasses which weren’t needed as it was night but the artist wear them in night clubs. The sunglasses where also an idea for a hidden identity look as if we were doing something we weren’t meant to be, this could be our back icon as they are our only props. The other reason for them was that we all had the same uniforms but very different sunglasses so it gave us all a sense of individuality.

Our ancillary products have a very obvious theme to them which is bright colours and a “rave” atmosphere. Our digipack related more to our video as it has a street feel to it. We used a brick wall and street lighting to relate to the video being on the street. We ran coloured streaks of lights along our faces which was a suggestion that we were part of the music. This was also another relation to the video as the pictures were taken from the video. On the magazine cover we tried to follow the same theme but didn’t include the band as again we wanted to keep some sense of hidden identity. Although we stuck to the theme of dance, we gave a different look to the advert. We made it a lot brighter and made it more informative about the digipack. We tried to use a variety of different styles in our products to keep things out of the ordinary. This was done by not throwing off the audience making them think they were getting the same video no matter what product they have seen.

Generally we thought the feedback was useful. We knew there were things we had to touch up on and with further time we would have completed them. Our peers just stressed how important they were to them as an audience. The most common comments were on the length of shots and variety. This was a good example of things we thought look good but clearly weren’t letting us know how to change it in the future. Another main criticism was the inconsistency of the video. There were a lot of “random” shots that weren’t conventional to the video. The overcome this we scrapped most of the rough cut footage and stuck to 1 location and 1 time zone. One of the main things we knew was missing was the amount of lip syncing. We had such a small amount that it made it really hard to fill up the time for our video. Other than criticisms, we did get good comments. For example they thought the costumes, dance routine and “non-conforming conventions” were all good which helped us to reach a decent final product. Our ancillary products were mainly praised. They thought the digipack looked very professional and noticed there was a strong relation between it and the video. They liked the faces on the front but weren’t too keen on the full body shots on the back as they were too blurry and didn’t fit in. We could have chosen another image to take this place but we thought it would be a good group shot to show the band. For the magazine, there was mixed views from people thinking it was too bright and too much going on. Then again people did agree with what we were trying to get across with that it’s different but not too different. They thought it really complimented the digipack. I thought the comments were very fair and definitely useful if we were to change our products. I would say the main thing we have learnt from peer feedback is not the get caught up in what you think is good and look at it from the audience’s perspective.

The technology that we used for the video was really useful. In the research stage, the internet was a huge help. The first pages we looked at were previous blogs on similar projects. This gave us an insight on what our blog needed to look like and what to include. Following that, Youtube was a good source of video information and useful for putting on the blog. It also showed us a variety of dance videos made by professionals and amateurs. The amateur videos gave us a good idea of what our final product would look like. We used photos and I-photo to create a storyboard of our ideal music video. We used the internet again as a main source of information for the evaluation stage by looking at other similar magazine adverts and Digipacks on Google. For the video we used software such as final cut express and Photoshop. We used final cut to edit the video in the way we needed. It was very useful as it let us have an easy to use piece of software with a versatile range of effects. The layout of final cut was very good with the editing process. It let us move videos, cut them down and edit individual clips. We used this in our video all throughout. We had to cut down every clip that we had and mix them around to make sure they made sense. A good example of moving clips to make them fit with the song was the lip syncing. We had to shift the clips over and over again to make sure they were exact on the timing of the lyrics to look as though we were singing the song. A good example of putting effects over the top of a clip is in the second verse where the shadow is lip syncing. We put an overdrive effect on to make it stand out more and this gave us the ability to make it the colour we wanted. These technologies aren’t only useful to us but help amateur producers get noticed. With these types of software you could produce a piece that looks very professional. To help this gain interest, site such as Youtube are a great help to get these videos made public and recognised. The site allows the video to be viewed world wide.

Commentary

Current Situation

We are currently writing our evaluations after receiving feedback. We generally need to add more information on past feedback that we received on our video and also add feedback we received on our ancillary tasks. Also we need to add how our media product might relate to real media products, such as the videos that we posted on the blog earlier in the term.

We're also completing out commentary, such as inserting select pieces of our evaluation where they are relevant. For instance, Matt has inserted his analysis of the four-way split screen on top of that actual transition.

feeback =)

We really like the vibrant colours on the digi pack and the silhouette of the guitar. The colour strips that lead from the front to the back show good continuity and the group members faces being shown work really well on the cover. The DVD symbol and bar code are also a nice touch. We like the shooting star effect on the inside of the cover and the colourful stripes being used again.
The image of the band on the inside cover isn't as effective as the rest as the band members looked too smudged and out of focus but the colour stripes around the world are very effective.



Our group has mixed views on the poster. Some group members think that it is too bright and there is too much going on where as others think the colours work well as they link back to the other ancillary products. The text was clear and easy to read so work well with the brightly coloured background as it was simple plain text. The quotes included on the top left of the poster work really well as they are informative and add to the piece.

Magazine advert

Magazine Advert ideas

Digipak Ideas

These are the kind of digipaks that we have been looking at. They slightly resemble the style that we would like to portray. Saying this we couldn't find anything that would be nearly satisfactory to the look that we want because our digipak is going to be so unique.

Our Feedback on our Video

We were really happy with the final result of our video. We thought from our rough cut we had really made something that came around in the end. There are very obvious parts of the video that we thought didn't quite work well in between certain shots. This wasn't really noticed until we got out of our glory of the video and watched it a few days later. As a group we thought the video was really good and although we scrapped a lot of our general ideas was still very good.

Comments on Pier Feedback

This is the kind of review we were expecting. Our video was very conventional and the structure was worked on which showed in the feedback. They really liked the boy band look which i think was a good idea on our behalf. Overall these were really positive comments towards our production.

Pier Goodwin Feedback

1. The stage performance and lip syncing are impressive especially with the different shots which compliment the timing of their dance routine. Even if the band are meant to be of the indie genre and incorporate more instrument playing, dancing worked extremely well for this group's favour.

2. Lip syncing is involved through out and creates excellent music video expectations. All the characters in the video take part in lip syncing, which amplifies the chorus of the song.

3. Guitar playing is introduced during a solo on a electric guitar the cords seem right and and are all in time, and create more attention to the song.

4. All of the "band" members are in the shots managing to all have their "moment' meaning the viewers are introduced to all of the members at an equal amount. They continue through out the video close up's of the artists.

5. Even if there isn't many of them shots, the notion of looking is sometimes seen while the group is performing a dance. However most of the time it uses straight forward close up's of artists which is expected of this genre.

6. Rather similar to some boy band videos simply because it contains dancing and singing .

Tinkering

This is general overview of what we have been doing in the past week. As organised we had taken our shots on the top of the grand arcade car park. The main aim of the past week has been to edit the footage in a manner that will suit our final product. So far it has been a challenge but from a process of trial and error we have seen what we are going to keep and scrap.
We had come to a conclusion to scrap most of the day time footage as it didn't fit with the rest of it. This makes the video look a lot more conventional.
One of our main problems was that none of the shots fitted together well and i think we have managed to tinker enough so that the continuity of the video is very good. An example of this is a random shot of Stuart in a trolley but we have made it look relevant by including it right from the start. We have also related our dance shots right from the start by establishing all us as characters of the video in uniform.
In conclusion, the video is looking fine but fine isn't good enough and we want at least good. So little additions will make our video look slick and conventional.

Teacher comments

Cinematography-
Mostly well framed. Innovative camera work eg. nodding camera movement is effective

Editing-
Some shots are too long and need to be edited into eg. initial shot of start

Mise-en-Scene
Mise en scene effective in terms of costume. Locations need to be more consistent eg. parts of the city. Love different feel to costume mise-en-scene.

Genre Conventions-
Factor of lighting with gels and 'dancing brand' the video so these should be introduced earlier, this would indicate the genre more clearly.

What's Missing-
At the moment, as you know, the features of the video seem unrelated in terms of genre.
The group need to be introduced clearly at the beginning.

Peer comments

Cinematography
-Appropriate lighting, camera movement was suitable for pace
-Bopping head too long
-Zooming a bit odd with signs
-Like the beginning
-Some shot a bit random
-Good variety of shots
-Shadows bit cool
-Little too much fan
-Needs more facial shots

Editing
-Transitions at wrong times at points
-Transitions and effects cool
-Visual and lyrics more relation to lights

Mise-En-Scene
-Car park roof was cool
-Shirt with X-mas lights was cool
-Bit random but good
-More locations
-Doesn't make sense in some bits
-Lots of different locations, some a bit odd
-Dancing WTF?

Genre Conventions
-Sort of raving a bit but no conventions really, (non conformist)
-Didn't conform to conventions
-Some slow shots seem to stick to convention

Whats Missing
-More shot variety
-Different locations and costumes
-Dancing wasn't needed because it wasn't relevent to music?
More:
-Lip syncing
-Variety

Rough Cut

TO DO LIST:

• Learn synchronized dance routine.
• Get feed-back on rough-cut.
  
• Finish final narrative shots (filming) to bring together the overall purpose of the video.
• Complete editing for the finished product.
• MOTIVATE STUART
  

This music video by duck sauce shows a perfect example of synchronised dance and singing which we are seriously considering to add to the content of our final product although in a different style to this video. also this is a tune

Analysis of test footage

The main point of posting the video was just to show some really rough ideas. The editing doesn't bare any resemblance to what the finished product will look like.
However, Stuart's dancing and the lighting are what we hope to replicate in our final piece.

Items to take on Sunday

Instruments: 2 guitars
1 microphone
1 bass guitar

location ideas include:

• The top of Grande Arcade car park (as above) we dont deem it to be copying as only a small part of our video will be shot in that location, probably the dance routine as that is an abstract idea in th first place.
• Bang in the centre of town, restaurants, shops and other night life locations.
• Center of Parkers Piece, with the four sided lamp.

Planning for the weekend

Schedule for Sunday 18 October

12:00 meet
12:10 go to location
12:20 set-up
12:30 begin filming
12:40 next shot in same location
12:50 move to next location
13:00 set up in new location
13:10 - 14:00 dancing/different shots
14:10 get out instruments
14:20 continue with performance with different shots

Experimenting with practice shots

Video ideas

We have just done some footage of a shadows with Stuart dancing and us filming his shadows. We used different light filters to create different lighting on the wall behind adding to the relevance of the lyrics. We a good idea of incorporating the woman into the shadow by giving the audience a sneak of the girl but you don't actually see who she is which will continue throughout the video. We are also going to elaborate on the shadow effect by making Stuarts shadow change while hes dancing, so it looks like his shadow isn't part of him. We will do this by filming a simple shadow dance of Stuart, place it on the projector, have Stuart dance the same move but then change giving the effect of his shadow being seperate.

Cut and Copy- analysis of their music video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khGPcAa8_YI

We found after viewing Cut and Copy's music video for their song 'Lights and Music' that it lacked a variation of ideas. The majority of the video are shots of the band playing with a larger reflection of them shinning on the background. It has good visual effects with the reflections well lighted with different coloured tints, however, it is all rather same-ish and possibly lacks some sort of narrative. After our initial ideas we have decided to film some extra footage of more abstract aspects to maintain audience attention, if needed.

Comments on T-48

Generally our points were quite positive and we put our opinions across as well as we could. One of our main comments was that it needed to be more visual with just notes marking on what they are talking about so that the reader doesn't get bored. I really think we have established this in our blog with is being extremely visual. One thing that we needed to include in our blog for the future was a location plan for our video.

Ed Lovelace's Lecture

Ed Lovelace is a previous media studies student at Long Road college and is now directing music videos. He made many useful points that would help us to understand the industry. Here are his main points:
- The difference in technology between the top and bottom of the industry is very small, i.e anyone can do it
- If you desire to proceed in the industry you have to be committed and constantly making new material to present to possible employers
- The cost budgets for his videos vary massively from £100 to £40,000
- The length of time he has to create a video can be as short as a week
- The higher you become, the more there is to worry about, for example, each second of film costs money and therefore every shot counts and needs to be valuable.

Development of plans

After failing to attract one choreographer to construct our dance, Marcus has contacted another individual, Albert. We feel that if a dance student choreographs our dance then it will be easier to perform as we'll know what to do and just do it, and it will appear far more professional.

We are hoping to hear from Albert before the first filming session.

This is our timeline of shots, unfortunately backwards due to blogger.

These are some general ideas for what shots we would include.

Instrument miming footage

As well as a narrative storyline in the music video we will have footage of the band ( Stuart, Louis, Matt and Marcus) miming and playing instruments. Instruments will include 2 guitars a keyboard and drums. We will use vibrant night life lighting to our advantage to create more of an immersive atmosphere.

Shot List (rough edition)

1. Long Shot - slow motion walk of the entire group, reminiscent of the famous Reservoir Dogs walk. Initial planning and general take on the style of our video suggest that we should dress in a stylish formal manner, preferably black suits.
2. Panning Close-up Shots - establishes characters involved within the video. Final shot finishes with lead singer, possible opportunity for visual effect to to define between the opening and the introduction shot of the girl which starts the loose narrative.
3. Long Shot - group walks past the girl.
4. Close-up Shot - showing the lead singers noticing of the girl by dropping glasses in order to take a better look.
5. Medium/Long shot - short synchronized dance routine with backs to a brick wall as a backdrop. could incorporate a high/low angle shot to create a variation of shots.
6. Close-up Shot - displaying the goldfish singing the backing in his fish bowl.
7. Long-shot - Cut back to the walking through the streets with another one or two move choreographed dance steps breaking up the walking.
8. Long shot/ Over the shoulder - follow the girl moving round a corner and out of vision, with her looking back hinting at her interest in the band. But disappearance displays her as the idyllic girl, always out of reach.
   
9. Long shot - Group arriving at the destination.
10. Close-up - Switch to band playing instruments. extreme close-ups could make playing of instruments appear more professional.
11. Other shots displaying further instrument playing.
12. Further shots yet to be decided.
    

More Ideas

More ideas for keeping the video interesting are synchronized dance moves and glow sticks

Lyrics- ideas

Cut Copy Lyrics – Lights and Music

This is where we walk today
For your birthday (night out on the town, creating a celebration atmosphere)
Secrets that we held that day
Will be kept straight (events that occur will only be viewed by audiences of this music video, this creates exclusivity element, we will probably choose to create some kind of chaotic partying gag played on the main singer. Keeping all the action on the main singer establishes a relationship between him and the audience and gives viewers less work to only memories one face.)

All your friends have gone away
So let’s celebrate (more partying needed)
With holding hope open for the one
Making new way (abstract night out scenery focus on lighting, symbolic of the new way of lights and music)

Chorus
Lights and music
Are on my mind
Be my baby
One more time

Lights and music
Are on my mind
Be my baby
One more time

Fading will become of you
Seeing my face (all eyes on the female in the video a stranger passing by who catches the attention of the main singer)
Cold and crystal you can hide
But your tears race (as the girl walks on and round the corner as she turns in acknowledgment of the groups presence, looking impressed, but still proceeds around the corner and out of sight. )

I’ll be waiting by your time (slow motion scenes)
Put your dreams away
With holding hope, hoping for the one
Making new way

Chorus
Lights and music
Are on my mind
Be my baby
One more time

Lights and music
Are on my mind
Be my baby
One more time (final lyrics, conclusion with the girl that appears earlier in the video)

Contact with the band 'Cut Copy'

Further ideas

After a group discussion we have decided to add a recurring theme to our video.
A copy of the opening of Reservoir Dogs, where the characters are shown walking in slo-mo, is our introduction but we are going insert an effect which will run through our whole video

Feedback of Pitch

General feedback was positive and the other groups understood our concept. Factors we need to keep in mind are:
- Making sure the shots are consistent with the mix of narrative and relation to the lyrics.
- Making sure the lighting of the shots is all good.
- Be careful with the shot of the goldfish as it can produce to a decent shot with the amount of glare that comes off it.

dvd album cover

Neon sound to the song is displayed through the rainbow lines flowing through towards the shinning outline of the guitar. The songs two elements, lights and music, are effectivly portrayed as the lines highlight the old fashioned street lamp and the guitar is the formost item within the cover. The dark bricks filling the background evokes a rougher feel to contrast with the obvious more modern factor created by the multi-coloured lines.

Magazine advert

This is our representation of a magazine advert for the song of our first choice.
- We decided to create a juxtaposition of the jazzy modern music and a posh formal theme for the band and the advert.
- This can continue into our actual music video; for example, we can still have a 'club' scene but instead of the usual teenager mis en scene, we can have suits on, as a twist.

Location ideas

These images would be our ideal location, however it is highly unlikely that we would be able to achieve this so we will have to imitate the concept.



A more realistic approach would be on a smaller scale

Inspiration for "Lights and Music" Video

Yeah- Usher feat. Lil Jon & Ludacris


The blue neon lighting is ideal for the concept we have. The lights would relate to the lyrics and also appeal to the the target audience of the band Cut Copy

Lights and Music - DVD ALBUM COVER

Ideas behind our Music Video DVD Album Cover

The title features only two elements (Lights and Music) and as the lyrics are also about that it makes sense that the cover has to include some sort of lighting effect. If we had the capability to achieve such an effect we would have done a hologram cover that flickers as you move the CD cover. However, resources are limited, so we'll try a neon shine covering the cover from a top corner spreading out. In the opposite corner we'll incorporate the songs other feature: music, a range of instruments could be displayed or, more likely, just the main instrument with an outline glow the opposite colour to the light in the corner to gain a contrast in colours and to highlight the instrument, making it stand out more. The title would take a central position making it the main focus point of the cover and the first thing you draw your eyes to making the title memorable.
This may appear simplistic but the main focus points are all included, if it turns out to be too bland then we have the option of adding in the vocalist behind the title, maybe appearing as if he is holding it in place.
Ideas of colours are blues and yellows to maintain the feel of the music video of a night out (blue) roaming under the streetlights (yellow).

Ideas for a music video

Cut Copy, Lights and Music 

Exotic lights and strobe effects to produce vibrant atmosphere. Our rough storyline includes a guy on a night out, with flashing lights and loud music he encounters a female who keeps reappearing throughout the video. Music, lighting and love can encapsulated his mind and the whole evening emerges into one blur; this will enable us two skip from scene to scene and incorporate a more arbitrary feel apposed to a narrative, linear storyline.  

Possible work: Negative imagery (camera effect), Band performance, Goldfish mouth opening and closing to the harmony, wacky hair and clothes as everything about the song is slightly odd.

Vincent Vincent and the Villains, Cinema

Based in a cinema, dull atmosphere to create the persona of a man bored in his dead end job. Possible involvement of money and contrasts of rich and poor. As the song picks up tempo the video needs to gain more abstract elements, ideas include partying to the song in cinema settings or well-known cinema favourites popping up.

Welcome

Group 41