Ancillary Task 2 - Album Poster

Ancillary Task 1- Album Covers

This is the album artwork to accompany my music video. It consists of (from right to left) The front cover, the back cover and the middle cover. It adheres to the conventions i researched from other products from the same genre, for example the front cover has a bold, central figure and a clear heading of the artist/ the songs name. In the same image he also appears 'soulful' or in deep thought and as it is a close up shot it highlights the emotion on his face.  It has the use of red/pinkish text which is representative of the romance genre and themes/ stereotypes of love. The image of the hand holding connotes themes from the romance genre as it is a sign of affection and a relationship.

Final Music video.

This is the end and final result of my music video for Busted's Sleeping With The Light On. I am pleased with the end result as a whole and made changes from previous cuts based on audience feedback that i received.

The 180 Degree rule

The 180 degree rule is when you visualise a line passing through the actors, and you stay on one side of this line with all of your shots. if you do not follow the rule it is known as crossing the line orjumping the line. The main purpose of obeying this rule is to keep good continuity editing. Using Youtube i found this video which explains the rule well and shows the consequences of not following the rule.

First short clip from Music Video.

From this first attempt, short clip of the music video i have learned that editing on the beat is very difficult and when it comes to the final editing process I need to spend a great deal of time and care on making sure the shot transitions are nailed and on the beat. I think some of the shots worked particularly well, such as the Mid-shot/ panning shot near the beginning, but in some of them the camera work was a bit sloppy and that resulted in a couple of shots being unstable and shaky at times. To adress this I will take greater care over the movements of the camera and the tripod.

Email for Permission to use the song

This is a screenshot of an email I sent to Universal Music Group (UMG) asking for permission to use the song for my music video as they are the record label that my chosen artist is signed to. Although I do not expect a response I felt it was worth emailing them just to make sure.

Album Cover Research: Deconstructions

From deconstructing these Album covers I have gained influence and an idea of what to use when designing an album cover for my own album by looking at successful artists who also produce music for my genre and have collected an understanding of some of the signs and signifiers that I could use in the image(s) on my own piece of work to attract the consumers/Audience and connote significant hidden meaning.

Album Cover Research: What is the Purpose?

An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10 in (25 cm) and 12 in (30 cm) 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records (either in several connected sleeves or a box), or the front-facing panel of a CD package, and, increasingly, the primary image accompanying a Digital download of the album, or of its individual tracks. In addition, in the case of all types of records, it also serves as part of the protective sleeve.

Typically the function of an Album front cover is to express and represent the meaning behind the record or show the audience who the artist is, putting their own stamp on it in a sense. Artists and Record companies put a lot of thought, time and effort into making the perfect cover to go with the record as it is important when it comes to the consumers of the product. The colour scheme is thought through carefully for a lot as this is likely to be what catches the eye of the consumers, but not necessarily the only thing. Some artists will focus on the image and try to put something more artistic or metaphorical that will connote the meaning behind the songs on the record. Ultimately the processes of Album covers will relate to Audience reception theory as the marketers and artists will produce a text/ image filled with codes, conventions, signs and signifiers but in the end it will come down to how the text is interpreted by the Consumers. 

Audience Feedback- Planning and preparation

When asking for feedback on my planning stages for my music video I received a largely positive response. The main positives where that by looking at the planning I had done they could easily identify what my Genre was going to be and that I was going to adhere to the generic codes and conventions of the genre. They also said that it was a strong idea with good opportunity for a variety of shots that would help make my video a success.

What was suggested I could improve on was having a slightly more detailed storyboard to make it easier when it came to the filming process so i know which scenes and shots I need to do, so i will make sure that I take that on board make a more detailed one. Also a common response was to make sure we had a certified cast because at the time we only had one actor for sure, but I have now adressed this issue and we now have all the actors we need.

We asked these 3 because we knew they were fans of the genre, so next time we will get a wider opinion from people who are perhaps not fans of the romance genre and also get a female perspective.

Preliminary Filming With Voice Over.

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This is our Preliminary filming video, we used this as an opportunity to practice a small variety of shots and to get a feel of angles and also to improve our knowledge on using the cameras.

What i think went well about this exercise is that we used a series of shots such as a close-up, a long shot, a mid shot and a long-to mid shot. I think for such a short clip that is a fair variety of shots. this ties in with what I also think we did well, which is showing the journey of the protagonist by using the different shots and angles. As our video will include our protagonist on a journey from destination to destination this exercise was very useful for gaining experience on which shots work and which shots don't.

What i think we didn't do well and need to improve on is that in some of the shots the camera was a bit shaky, this is because we did not use a tripod for those particular ones when we should have, so to adress this in our actual filming process we will make sure that those shots such as the Mid-long shot and ones similar to it will be shot using a tripod to ensure camera and shot stability.

After getting some audience feedback on this video, people very much stayed true to what i thought went well and not so well:

the majority of the people when asked about what they thought of it said:

• Good shot variety 
• Good use of angles
• Camera shaky in some shots
• As we're doing a music video we could have put some music over the top
• Could have put in transitions between shots to make it flow better rather than just jump cuts.

What I learned from this feedback is which sort of shots are best shot with a tripod to avoid shakiness and which shots do and do not work well. I also learned that a good use of transitions will improve the videos quality greatly such as a cross-fade to make the video more fluent from shot to shot.

 

Audience Theory

When making a video it is of high importance to identify and understand my audience so i know what they want to see and make. Our video won't really entail hypodermic needle theory as it is not aimed at a large/wide range of mass consumers, it is a more niché, younger target audience we are going for.

Uses and Gratifications Theory 

is an approach to understanding why people actively seek out specific media outlets and content for gratification purposes. The theory discusses how users proactively search for media that will not only meet a given need but enhance knowledge, social interactions and diversion .

It assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfill specific gratifications. This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for viewers' gratification.

Hypodermic needle Theory.

The Hypodermic needle theory suggests the idea of an 'All-powerful' mass media prosuct with large effects on the consumers. It suggests that consumers of mass media are passive viewers and will simply accept what they see without question. In that way media content is shot at the audience like a 'Magic Bullet' directly penetrating the viewers' minds, showing that mass media used to have a strong, direct effect on the comsumers and audience.

Two-step flow 

This theory says that most people form their opinions under the influence of opinion leaders, that in turn are influenced by the mass media. So according to this model, ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population.

Reception Theory

This refers to the idea that the circumstances in which an individual is in effects the way they perceive a piece of text, this was discovered by a series of research carried out in the 80s and 90s into how an audience perceives Media products and texts. The theory is based around the idea that the Producers of Media products is encoded and is then in turn decoded by the Consumers. Producers include Codes and conventions to connote the product in such a way that is preferable to the consumers. It is possible for an individual consumer to decode and interpret the text in multiple ways depending on the individual and also on the situation.

Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me - Deconstruction

This music Video of Taylor swift's 'You Belong with me' meets the typical codes and conventions of a typical romance story. For audience theory it can be seen that the video is aimed towards teenage girls. The main protagonist is a teenage female who seems to be struggling with an everyday teenage girl problem of wanting something they seemingly cannot have, or not being noticed in a way they desire. So in this sense the character created is identifiable and teenage girls will be able to relate to her.  To be compliant with genre theory the video uses stereotypical codes and conventions to highlight the romance genre, for example he writing on notebooks that has 'I Love You' written on it and the kiss at the end. 

The video starts with  the protagonist, a girl (Taylor Swift) in a house looking through the window at a boy in a house directly opposite to hers. The shots at this point are of medium length, each shot is held for a reasonably long amount of time, the music at this point is at a slow pace which means the length of shot fits in with the music. The shots are mostly compliant with the 180 degree rule, from her to him and back again. is wearing glasses and a big t-shirt with her hair loosely tied up, this shows the audience that she is  the down to earth girl  that is not perhaps the 'popular girl' and more of the geek. this portrayal shows the image of innocence, and the effortless look. As the song progresses the beat gets faster and the length of shot decreases to more quick, snappy jump cut shot editing on the beat.

Throughout the video the actions of Taylor swift highlights and follows the lyric's meaning, for example when she sings 'I wear T-shirts' she is wearing a baggy T-shirt which then grabs at.  All the way through the video, sometimes she is singing along to what the audience can hear and sometimes she is just acting, although when she is singing along the other characters do not react to this. This illustrates Steve Archer’s theory that music videos cut between narrative and performance.

In the final scene Taylor turns up at the dance but has completely transformed her look to wearing a long dress, There is a mid-long shot to emphasise on her outfit and that it has changed. at the end Taylor and the Boy who lives opposite her start to kiss and at this point there is a close up on their faces then an extreme close up on their lips to emphasise the significance, emotion and also highlight the codes and conventions of the genre which is Romance. This emphasises the fact that in the end she got what she wanted from the start.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuNIsY6JdUw 

Above is a link to the music video. ^

Steve Archer's Narrative and Performance theory

Steve Archer's Narrative and performance theory states that it is normal for the artist to be a part of the narrative as well as the performance, however extra emphasis will always be given on the artist carrying out their craft of music making to reinforce the idea that these guys or girls have a really close relation to their music. This kind of theory is mostly found in country and indie songs, as there is a strong emphasis on the lyrics and their meanings. 

Our video will be compliant with Steve Archer's theory as we will be having a story line narrative being acted out by our protagonist but then in certain scenes he will be playing his guitar to show, as Archer's theory states, that there is a close relation between the protagonist and the song.

Top tips to use on set.

- Hold tightly onto the camera and find the record button

- Elbows tucked in tight for camera stability

-Make sure shots are always practiced before you film

- Someone behind you holding you for support and stability

- Direct the actors and make sure they know there marks in order to save film, eg. markings on the floor, learn the song well

- Always film more footage than you need as you can always edit and cut away film

- Count down- "filming in 5,4,3,2,1.."

- Use sentences like "Quiet on set" or "Camera Rolling"

- "Camera Turning 3,2,1"

-ALWAYS film more footage than needed to help editing

Equipment

• Video Camera
• Filming Car
• Guitar
• Natural lighting 
• Computer-editing

Our Video will require a fairly small amount of equipment, just the camera and the car for tracking shots. No lighting equipment will be required as we will be using natural lighting.

Risk Assessment

After visiting shot locations for the video, I assessed potential hazards and risks that could occur when filming.

Beach- With the stony/ uneven surface at Sidmouth beach, it could be hard to keep balance and may result in an actor falling over or something similar. To avoid this the actors will be briefed on making sure they stay in control of their actions and to make sure they are aware of what they are doing.

Roundball Hill- With Autumn / winter approaching, it is likely to be wet or damp on the hill which could again result in slips and falls from the actors. To avoid this the actors will again be briefed on exactly what they are to do and make sure they behave sensibly. Also if it is rather slippery, safer and more appropriate footwear will be used for extra grip.

Filming car- As a car will be used as a way of shooting tracking shots ect, there is always an element of risk as accidents could occur. To ensure this does not happen the driver will be told to drive slowly, safely and responsibly.

West Hill woods- Much like the hill and the beach, there is a possibility of the actors tripping over, with things like tree roots and uneven ground. To make it as safe as possible, we will walk slowly, carefully and once again brief the actors and make sure they know what the possible risks are and that they behave responsibly. Also we will make sure when filming the path the actors will be taking is clear of things such as fallen branches.

Props/Costume

Props

• 'I <3 You' Picture frame - Representative of love- also matches the first lyric. 

• Mobile Phone

• Guitar- Important for the song- Also looks symbol of sadness in Music videos- singing on own. 

• Picnic equipment 

Costume

• Ruggy- Modern Casual wear- Jeans, Red T-shirt (in memories), Black T-shirt (present day) ,leather jacket, trainers
• Chloe-  Modern Casual wear- Jeans/ joggers, casual shoes
• Jonny- Jeans and Red T-shirt- Symbol of new love

Reasons for the casual, relaxed costumes are that it makes it more relatable for our main target age range of Teenagers around 15-18. It also gives it the more everyday feel which makes our story more believable. The red T-shirt is Important as it is a representation of "Love". Dan Rugg Switches from a red T-shirt to a Black one because when they break up the black represents his sadness.

Original Sleeping With the Light on Video by Busted

Busted - Sleeping With The Light On on MUZU.TV.

Story Board

This is our Story board that we will be using as a template of shots for our film. this is just the rough copy and we will be developing this as we go along. From this we can create our shot list so we know which shots to shoot during the filming process of our film.

Photos of shots and locations.

This is a powerpoint of the locations we will be using in our video, some of the shots and angles in the images will also be the same as the shots in the actual film on that location, but not all of them. 

This is a photograph of our mood board for our Music video for the 'Romance' Genre. We included within in it a variety of the different conventions that stereotypically would make up a 'Romance' video. Most importantly we used a repetition of a motif and included the word love a lot in various different places mainly to make it very clear at first glance exactly what Genre we are going for. We also included lots of red, Both in our imaged and with the colours of the key words which all are a representation of love or romance. The colour red is stereotypically related to 'Love' and for that reason we chose the colours accordingly. Something that is a clear representation of Love is the heart, so naturally we included pictures or hearts in our mood board as they are often used as the main theme when symbolising love itself. We Included lots of close ups and long shots of couples either kissing, face to face or walking side by side, this is key to our chosen genre as without the couples are the ones who are in love in the first place, the reason that we used so many close up shots is because we think that doing so in our own music video will be a great way of highlighting the emotion of our characters and hopefully really emphasising their feeling of Love. The brown pieces of paper around the edges are passages of lyrics from our chosen song, which is appropriate for our chosen genre. Our Story line will include a break up so we thought it important to include pictures or people crying and looking upset as that is what will also be involved in our Music video. Other pictures include Poster images and scenes from films that we can gain inspiration from as they are of the same genre, so films like 'P.S I love you' is on our mood board because it matches our genre and also uses memories as a way of creating different scenes, which is similar to what we are going to be doing with our video.

                 This is me and Calum presenting our Mood Board to the rest of the class. 

                                                    

                   

                                                           Evaluation

When we presented our mood board we generally got very positive feedback. What was said to be good about it was that straight away when looking at it, it is clear what the genre is, largely due to the word love being spread about the place and the big red hearts. It was also said that the images used were good, such as the two holding hands creating a heart and we were told to use some of the shots and images as inspiration and include them in our own video. Something else positive that was said about some of the images was that the composition for some of them was really good, such as the couple walking on the beach, it was said the shot was really good and again that we should use it in our video too. Some people commented on the Big red words and said it was a nice touch as it made clear what the genre was and also related back to/ represented the overall theme of love and Romance. Also the photographs she is looking at on the poster image of 'P.S I love you' spread across the floor was said to be a nice touch and it was again suggested we try something similar.

What we were told we could improve on were things such as the fact we did not include enough images of people looking sad or of people crying, therefore we didn't have enough representation of a break up so it was not made clear that we intend to include a break up in our actual video. The other main point was that although we did include lyrics, they are not very clear, and there is not very much of them, so perhaps we could make them bolder and include the song in it's entirety rather than just a few of the verses from it. 

Cast

Main Male Protagonist- Daniel Rugg - He will be the one who will be walking around looking at old locations then having the flashback memories of him and his now ex girlfriend.

Main Female Character- Chloe Hosegrove - Will feature in the Flashback memories.

Generic codes and conventions for the Romance genre.

This is a MindMap of the generic codes and conventions of my chosen Genre Romance. It Ranges from things you would expect to see in a Video of this genre to the type of shots used within it. This will enable me to ensure that my own video contains these Conventions so i can adhere to them and everyone can clearly see what genre my music video falls under.

Magnum Photographers: Philip Jones Griffiths.

My Music Video Idea - Narrative and Genre

The idea that I will be doing for my music video will be of the Romance genre. The basic story line is that our protagonist, a boy suffering from a break up, will be walking around to different locations ( looking sad ) where he has memories of being with his now ex-girlfriend. As he looks at the locations E.G. Park bench, he will have a flashback memory of him and his ex girlfriend when they were still together, showing them being happy/ loved up and having a good time, then it will cut back to real time, and he will continue to walk around. Eventually he will  have the chance to get back together with his ex girlfriend but in a tiwst he will turn her down and will then end up getting together with a new girl with the girl in a slightly subverted-stereotypical love story manner.


The Genre of the music video is a stereotypical boy/ girl romance told in a less stereotypical manner. The story will focus on a couple/ ex couple and will be a classic love story being interfered with some problem, but by using a fragmented narrative, the love story will be told in a different way.

The Narrative of the Music Video Will be fragmented as while the Protagonist walks around looking at old locations where he has memories of him and the antagonist (ex-girlfriend), he will be having flash backs of that memory and we will then show him spending time with her in the past. So as opposed to a classic Linear narrative we will tell the story in a fragmented manner using memories.

Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe.

I am looking at this video From Carly Rae Jepsen's 'Call Me Maybe' and breaking it down into Genre, Narrative, Representation, audience and Media Language. The video clearly comes under the Love/Romance Genre. You can tell this right from the very start as it evident that Carly Rae has a crush on the boy she is looking through the window at. Also in the same scene there is a close-up shot of some books on a table which are romantic novels, the front cover of one of them is later represented by Carly Rae and the man in the video when she falls off the car and starts dreaming.

The representations of this video at first glance are rather stereotypically of a girl falling for a boy, which one would assume would lead to them eventually getting together by the end. However, this video hits us with a plot twist right at the end where it then becomes clear that the video is actually representing the 'romance' in a subverted stereotypical way by revealing to us as viewers that the man in the video is actually gay and has no love interest in Carly Rae, Thus showing to us why he showed no real attention to her antics.

The Narrative of the video largely is just a case of seeing her lusting over / trying to get the attention of a man that doesn't seem to show any interest in her in return so the video is being narrated by her in a fairly Linear sense by the way she tries to win him over. This changes however when she falls off the car and starts dreaming, as in her dream she is with the man and they are about to start kissing, much like the cover of the romantic novel seen previously, so the narrative takes a turn towards fantasy and we see what it coud be like if they were together.

The audience for a video such as this would most likely be for fans of pop music, as it is clearly a pop music video. you can tell this from the bright colours/clothing and Carly Rae's bright Make-up. The slightly generic beat of the song is also a give-away as it (or something similar) is present in many a pop song. One final reason for this would be that it plays out a fairly stereotypical 'romance' which would also be associated with pop music perhaps due to the upbeat nature of the Genre.

M.I.A Music Video - Representations.

This is a good video to look at when talking about representation as it challenges the main stereotypes that you would normally associate with the culture portrayed in the video. The people in the video are mainly Arabs or people of Asian ethnicity, a culture known for it's strict rules and conservative way of life. This video challenges this stereotype in such a way that the people in the video seem the complete opposite of strict and conservative. Throughout the video, you see the people dancing, wearing bright colours and doing crazy things like Driving cars at high speeds on two wheels while people balance on them. This is all a Subverted stereotype as in some places in Asia is is illegal to even own things such as music CDs and other things like it, so the fact that everyone is dancing, singing and having a wild time shows that they are breaking from the Norms of the culture as it definitely something that would never normally occur In many countries across Asia. So to conclude it can be said that the people being represented in this music video are people of Asian ethnicity and are being positively represented in a way that is a subverted stereotype and shows to us that their culture is not as strict and conservative as the stereotype of them might lead us to believe.

Short Film Tips

Representations.

The person being represented in this video is a young woman who could be a metaphoric representation for the difficulties faced by younger generations in this day and age as it is get increasingly harder to make a living for oneself. So in that sense this is a negative representation as the girl in the video is homeless and sleeping on a park bench with nothing but shabby ripped clothes and a duvet to sleep under. The video represents that hardships the girl has to face. Looking at her face, you can see her eye make-up is all smudged and running down her face which shows she has been crying and is actually crying at one point in the video. This highlights the desperation of the girls situation once more acting as a negative representation. There is a slight stereotype of people that live on the street in the way that she is selling the 'Big Issue' magazine or something like it, which you would usually associate with a homeless person. Further the negative representation, the girl then turns to prostitution to try and earn some money coupled with the use of drugs. This could be seen as a partial stereotype of todays younger generations with the excessive use of Drugs or even sex to get things that you want. More negative representation can be seen when you think about how she lives on the street with barely anything to live by, but the second she gets some money, all be it from a dodgy source, she then spends it on Drugs rather than essentials such as food,drink, new clothes, ect. This shows us that she is stuck in a vicious cycle of addiction amongst other things.

Conventions for the Action Genre.

Main Conventions- The main conventions for a Action genre film would include such things as:

• large explosions
• Gun fights/ Fist fights/ other sorts of conflict
• Large, butch men (usually), Skilled fighters 
• Car chases
• High Tempo
• Hectic 
• heavy sort of music to accompany high action scenes
• Attractive women

These are just some of the things that came into my mind when i think of the main conventions that would appear in an Action film.

Semantics associated with this genre would again be things such as:

• Guns
• Fast cars
• Drugs
• Hench men

examples of the sorts of cars usually used in this genre are cars like Ford GTs, Mustangs and Ferraris.

the sorts of people would usually be rather muscly, Tall and fast.

Syntactically an action film would begin with something more calm, where the character will be introduced to allow the audience to get a feel of the character, after this, say if the film was based on a bank robbery, you might see the robbers planning their assault on the bank where they will then go and carry out their plan more often than not accompanied by a fight sequence (usually with guns). After robbing the bank there is normally always a car chase of high speed proportions with guns shots being fired all over the place. I guess it could be said that the film often starts of quietly and builds up to a massive bowl of action.

Certain film producers and directors might use a specific genre such as this because they want to appeal to a certain type of audience. If the film company had already released a few films of other genres over the year, they might feel that they are missing out on a certain proportion of the audience and so they create an action film to tap into the other parts of the media market.

MISS LEA. My Bubble.com is not currently working neither on the school mac or mine at home so i made it text based so you didn't think i was just not bothering to do my homework.  I will transfer this to slideshare ASAP but the Powerpoint thing keeps not responding so i'll do it later.

The 2 Briefs and The Linked Theories.

Brief 1: we can create a promotional package for the release of a music album which would have to include the creation of a promo video to go with 2 other creation options that include:

• A website homepage made for the band/Artist.
• A cover for the release of the DVD.
• A Magazine advertisement for the DVD

Brief 10: Creation of A short film which would last around about 5 minutes, the film can be live action or an animation or even a combination of the both. This will go together with 2 of the following options:

• A poster to accompany the film.
• A radio trailer for the film
• A film magazine review page featuring the film.

Also we must include into our chosen brief of coursework the key, linked theories such as:

• Genre.
• Narrative.
• Representation.
• Audience.
• Media language.