Thursday 14 May 2015

These are templates that we drew out for our digipak ideas. 

Monday 26 January 2015

Throughout the planning process we edited our idea a lot. Many things we decided at the beginning proved to be impractical or to not come out the way we had hoped. For example, we realised that the majority of the regal theme couldn't work due to access to props as well as the fact it just didn't follow codes and conventions of real media products we were looking at. We had the idea of the regal theme because of the story behind the song being written. In an interview Jessie Ware spoke about how she how she saw a picture of ... sitting on a throne wearing a crown and a lot of jewels, she said how she wanted to take him off his throne and wrote a song about that, she initially named the song 110% as a play on one of his songs called 100%. This is were we got our idea from however, we quickly realised its flaws as we hadn't followed the common codes and conventions of real media products.
However, we did keep some of the ideas including the man mouthing the words at the beginning while sitting in a throne like chair but we made it so they never came into contact. This is so the performance in the video is mirroring the lyrics of the song which is what we found to be a common convention. This is also why we cut out the idea of her walking through public places in London, as we wanted to preserve the idea that she is isolate, not even coming into contact with other performers in the song.
Our initial research and planning was very useful for establishing other factors of the video though, firstly the artists style, when we changed a lot of the planning we kept her professional, simple and mature style. As well as the video being based predominantly in a studio with changing background and coloured lights.

Thursday 1 January 2015

Planning Editing
The most common form of editing for a music promo is fast cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing thus ensuring multiple viewing.
There are videos that do use slow pace and gentler transition to establish the mood.
This is particularly apparent for the work of many female solo artists with a broad audience appeal, such as Dido.
Often enhancing the editing are digital effects which play with the original image to offer different kinds of pleasure to the audience. This might take the form of split screen, colourisation and of course block buster film style CGI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5CVsCnxyXg

This Radiohead music video is an example of an unusual editing method because the whole song is filmed in one take, this is not following common codes and conventions of most music videos however it works because there is a lot happening in the video and it follows a storyline.



Production Tips
-begin rehursal weeks before the shoot for the actors to get familiar with the song and video.
-have the song playing and make sure they sing along properly for the best effect.
-give them the story board .
-make the actor feel comfortable, let them imput to the production.
-use the definitive recording of the track and when starting edi put the song down first.
-shoot plenty if angles, make sure most angles cover the entire song with many many cut aways.
-visualise it like a series of beautifully composed photographs, not a film.
-upload footage straight away. 
-stack footage when editing.
-cut to different angle shots, different distances.
-make the ordinary feel extraordinary. 
-don't choose big budget projects with no budget.

Andrew Goodwin. 
We learnt about Andrew Goodwins theories of music videos.
-Narrative and Performance
We only tend to get a gist of the meaning of the song and then tend to make up our own idea of what is being told. Goodwin explains that music videos should ignore common narrative. It is important in their role of advertising.
Music videos should coherent repeatability. Narrative and performance work hand in hand, it makes it easier or the audience to watch over and over without loosing interest. The artist acting as both narrator and participant helps to increase the authenticity however the lip sync and other mimed actions remains the heart of music videos. The audience need to believe this is real.
-The Star Image
The star image is another vital aspect of music videos. Meta narrative which is a big story that describes the development of the star over time, it has an important part to play in the music video production process.
-Relation of Visuals to Song
Illustrate: Music videos can use a set of images to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics and genre, this is the most common.
Amplify: This is similar to repeatability. Meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video and drummed into our vision.
Disjuncture: This is where the meaning of the song is completely ignored.
-Technical Aspects of Music Video
Technical aspects hold the music video together through use of camera work, movement, angle, mise-en-scene editing, sound and special effects.
Speed, camera movement, editing, cutting and post production are all forms of use of camera. Lighting and colour help set moods and emphasise key moments of the song for dramatic effect.
Mise-en-scene, the setting of music videos is vital, it needs to look authentic to attain professionalism.
Beats, music videos use cuts to go with the beat of rhythm making the vide more entertaining.
-Thought beats- Seeing the sound.
The first set is to look at the music itself. Taking into account the structure of the song.
Secondly, the voice of the song. The artists voice is extremely unique and can form identification or trademarks that work well with the star image.
Thirdly, Goodwin points out the artists mode of address. Songs can be seen as stories and the artist the storyteller, making the music video a two communication device, them telling us a story and us listening.