Group 4: October 2013

Thursday, 31 October 2013

Review of the pitch

Going back to the past following weeks where the groups in set one were obligated to prepare a pitch about the upcoming recording of our music videos, I would be giving a personal review about how the group pitch went for me and discussing what I could have done to improve it. I believe the pitch for my group was not significantly good. This is because during the planning of the pitch, our group decided to change song choices as we felt that 'American Boy by Estelle' was not right for us therefore we had to generate new ideas that would be used in the new video (Attracting flies by AlunaGeorge) so it did diminish the amount of time we had to organise and structure the prezi and speech probably. Also what we personally could have done to improve the pitch was to interact more with the audience and our teacher, demonstrate the use of clear planning for the ideas of our videos and be more supportive towards the other members of the groups. In addition, I could have address my points clearly to everyone and also show use of leadership as the group seemed to lack the enthusiasm of presenting the pitch. However on the plus side, I believe the writing on the prezi did show knowledge and understanding of what we had planned for our music video. With each of us writing a section each, it gave us a range of ideas to choose from in order to display more creativity within our upcoming music video.

Research into who watches music videos.

A lot of people watch music videos whether young adults or the older generation. Music videos are a way of promoting the artist and getting their fans to support them. They are mainly seen by the younger generation as they have a clear understanding of the new technology which is open to them for example social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook etc. Here you can find out about the artist themselves and communicate well with them. YouTube is also another technology used around the world to watch music videos or to create your own videos and upload them. The song we chose is Aluna George - Attracting Flies, i went onto Facebook to find out which types of people listen to Aluna George and who enjoys the Electro Pop Genre. In this case a lot of the younger generation who go to college or university enjoy this type of music. This may be because of the upbeat, fast pace movement type of songs included. Young people enjoy listening to these types of songs as it is more familiar to them when going out to parties. Some people like the song rather than the video itself vice versa as it makes them want to experiment and analyse either the song or the video sometimes it is also to do with finding the music video visually exciting.

These are pictures of some artists from the electro Pop Genre and images of the social networking sites used by them.

Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Analysing costume, setting and Location in music videos.

Disclosure ft. Sam Smith - Latch.

Setting/Location

Disclosure are another electronic duo similar to AlunaGeorge. In this video we see a range of locations/settings for example we see a couple in the lift, a living room/kitchen and a bedroom. The whole music video is shot at a location where a house party is going on as we see young people making there way to the party. The video uses illustration where the lyric tells the story of the music video which is clearly shown through the different sexualities being portrayed. Different locations are used to relate back to the illustration and the ways young people are able to feel normal and are able to express themselves.

Costume

There are no costume changes in this video as they are at a different location which in this case is a house party. They wear casual clothing like jeans, shirts, t-shirts etc. Casual clothing indicates them being comfortable and wanting to enjoy themselves. This works well with the location as a lot of young people like to dress causally which goes with the location as it is a homely environment and everyone wants to feel comfortable.

AlunaGeorge's Fans.

A lot of Artists use Social networking sites such as Facebook to interact with their audience. As you can see this is AlunaGeorge's Facebook page. I went through their page to see what types of people listen to their songs and are generally interested in the duo. From gathering information i could see a lot of young adults interacting with AlunaGeorge. So they are more likely to be the duo's targeted audience.

As you can see a lot of teenagers like to interact with them by messaging and commenting on their pictures through Facebook. AlunaGeorge

also let their fans know about upcoming tours and the dates for them. Facebook is a very good place to attract and appeal to their audience as a lot of the younger generation use social networking sites.

Sunday, 27 October 2013

RISK ASSESSMENT

- Weather - Be careful of the rain, making sure the camera does not get wet.
Very Windy outside, Camera might tip over

Theft- Whoever is keeping the equipment should make sure that the equipment is safe.
When filming be cautious of your surroundings, someone could steal it out of out hands.

Making sure the camera is positioned correctly on the tripod or else it will fall off

Weather conditions- Planning.

Due to the weather conditions, there may be a problem with filming on Monday as weather experts have given the public a warning over a storm due to hit England and Wales. However if the storm gets worse we will have to film after half term as Monday is the only time we can take the camera equipment out for filming.

Reflection on Progress.

Last year i got a B for my coursework, which i was very pleased about. This year i feel like my blogging isn't as detailed as it was in AS however i am going to work on this in order to do even better than last year. Recently we changed our song for the music video as it didn't appeal to us as a group in which it led to me being behind on blogging. This was mainly because we had to come up with another concept as our ideas for the previous song wasn't intriguing. So that is one of the main factors affecting my blogging standard at this point. However despite the complications, we have now got good ideas for our music video.

In AS i used a range of ICT which i included in my blog these are as follows:

Prezi
Go Animate
Slide share
Embedding YouTube videos
Final Cut pro
Camtasia.

In my blog i have used Prezi, Final cut Pro, Embedded YouTube videos and PowerPoint so far. I am planning to use more ranges of ICT to make my blog interesting and visually exciting. Out of 20 i would give myself 10-12 marks for using some ICT. My target is to make my blog visually exciting, use a range of ICT and to blog regularly so i am up to date with the tasks.

Thursday, 24 October 2013

Clothes for the artist

How to get to one of the locations we have chosen for filming- PLANNING

This is a screen grab of the directions, to get to one of our chosen locations which is the Excel Exhibition centre.

Ideas for Music video (PLANNING)

The song for our music video is Attracting flies by AlunaGeorge. The original concept of this video is her talking about her boyfriend talking rubbish to her and it also has a fairy tale theme where we see a night and shining armour coming to the rescue and references to red riding hood. In our video, we are thinking of having a complete contrast to this. Here are some of the ideas we have discussed to include in our music video as a group:

We thought of a group of boys stalking the main artist (Deseree Diamond). This could be seen as an example of amplification as it will create a different meaning to the lyrics. From this, we are trying to insinuate that the boys are the flies and she is attracting.

Another idea that we discussed was to make have a thriller theme. That the character would show some signs of isolation and anxiety towards the beginning and become confident towards the end.

Looking promiscuous towards the beginning and attracting bad guys and ex boyfriend. At the end, she gets a nice guy and looks classy therefore representing her as luxurious.

Three group of boys: Bad boys (flies), Ex boyfriend and new boyfriend.

Show how two characters live after the break up

Assessing lyrics

"Attracting Flies"

Hold on now, I'm choking
Give me a second to collect myself
You must be joking
Otherwise I'm laughing to myself

Why you here again
Hold on a minute, let me check this out
Your invitation's a fake
Must be from a ticket tout

I hear you out, you hear me out
I hear you shout, I'm not stepping out
I hear you out, you hear me out
I hear you shout, I'm not stepping out

Little grey fairy tales
And little white lies
Everything you exhale is attracting flies

And you can go off the rails
And you can cry your eyes out
But everything you exhale is attracting flies

Please stay, it's your moment
I'll give you all the listening that you need
Don't be a showman
Who needs the drama
Who said you had to bleed

I'm excited
Come on, surprise me, sweep me off my feet
Oh, enlight me
What is this special thing 'bout you I need

I hear you out, you hear me out
I hear you shout, I'm not stepping out
I hear you out, you hear me out
I hear you shout, I'm not stepping out

Little grey fairy tales
And little white lies
Everything you exhale is attracting flies

And you can go off the rails
And you can cry your eyes out
But everything you exhale is attracting flies

How'd you think it felt when you stuck the knife in
You know my heart died and you had me aching
How about a piece of your own medicine
Now you're outside there tryna get in

B-A-B-Y would I care if you want me
B-A-B-Y would I care if you don't
B-A-B-Y would I care if you need me
B-A-B-Y would I care if you don't

Little grey fairy tales
And little white lies
Everything you exhale is attracting flies

And you can go off the rails
And you can cry your eyes out
But everything you exhale is attracting flies

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Assessment: The lyrics of 'Aluna George - Attracting Flies' details the singer telling the audience about their significant other, telling lies and everything they say "attracting flies" or poo. The music video when combined with the lyrics, is an amplification video which is illustrated by the artist being portrayed as characters from fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Goldilocks.

Analysing the original artists website- PLANNING.

Risk Assessment

When my group and I are filming our music video remake of 'Attracting flies' by AlunaGeorge, it is imperative for us to show understanding of the risks that could be involved when recording of video. During the recording, we are going to be using these following equipments: Camera 1(pictures), Camera 2 (filming), Tripod and Fig wheel. These are some of the risks will need to understand and make sure that it doesn't occur:

Damage of equipment: We will make sure that the equipment such as the camera is handled with good care, meaning it won't be dropped during the process of filming.

Losing equipment: We will make sure that at least two individuals are left with the equipment when recording to ensure it is not open for robbery.

Responsible of equipment: We will make sure that we responsible with the college's equipment, we will not mistreat the equipment or put it in any type of risk.

Wednesday, 23 October 2013

Reflecting on the progress

Media studies is going really good, this year we would be making a music video. In my group is Benjamin, Amina and Alex. We have decided to do Estelle ft Kanye West - American Boy, I really enjoy this song so I think we start planning properly and filming the outcome will be great.

Monday, 21 October 2013

Synergy.

As a group we have decided to use Diamonds as our synergy product. The reason why we have chosen a diamond to represent the artist is because our lead singer is called Desiree Diamond. The use of diamonds such as a diamond necklaces or earrings will be visible to the audience and will somehow grab the attention of our targeted audience as our music video is mainly aimed at girls. The product will appear in our music video, digipak and magazines.

The lyric for AlunaGeorge- Attracting flies.

"Attracting Flies"

Annotation of the site

The site of the original artist doesn't have much promotion for the song or the artist. It features very basic imagery, and only features tour dates and options to purchase to buy a signed CD and some vinyl.
There is no use of a real brand as a symbol for the artist.

Short list of potential songs

For this year's project, we are requested to pick song that was performed by a British artist and from it, create an original concept to it for the music video. The potential songs that we were thinking of doing are the following below:

Estelle: American Boy- We wanted to use this song because it is popular therefore it would be easily recognised by the audience. Also we had two members of the group, Benjamin and Phoebe, whom were keen on being in front of the camera as the artists.

Azealia Banks: 212- We briefly wanted to use this video because the concept of the original is very simple so this would have permitted us to come up with many ideas that would create a strong contrast between the original video and our remake.

AlunaGeorge: Attracting flies- This is another song that we looked at and we were fond of the original concept of the video because we found that it was the most unique among the three songs we looked at.

Sunday, 20 October 2013

Music Video Analysis

Since the current change of our music video choice, my colleagues and I are obligated to analyse the video 'Attracting flies by AlunaGeorge'. In this blog post, I would be discussing the technical areas which consists upon: Camera, Editing and Mise en scene. Also, I would also make interpretations of the certain representation the artist is looking for by these conventions. Here is the original video for our video.

Camera:

In the beginning of the video where we see the footage of the main artist and cameo (children), we slow panning and tracking of the people in the video, especially on the main artist (AlunaGeorge). We see the camera slowly pan on her hair, this is to introduce the artist with suspense and create the idea that AlunaGeorge is associated with long hair. This can also be considered as branding because it will make the audience instantly recognise her by the length of her hair. The panning for when AlunaGeorge is walking down the street. The panning could be suggested to be the 'male gaze'. This is because it reveals the seductive body of the artist and the panning shows that it is intended for the male audience in order to seize their attention. This follows Laura Mulvey's theory of the artists choosing a particular way to represent themselves in order promote their image across the media and to attract a particular audience. In the case of AlunaGeorge, we can assume she is trying to appeal to a young female audience and to men as well. In addition, the wide shot that is used when we see the castle illustrates that the artist is searching for a fairy-tale theme/image for this video. This wide shot footage of the castle will also provide evidence with the idea that AlunaGeorge is trying to attract a younger audience and attract those that are interested in creative and imaginative concepts to music videos.

Editing:

When the artist, AlunaGeorge, was walking down the dark streets with bright red hoody top and the men and the dog were gazing at her, we see a slow motion used. This could suggest that the artist is in danger by the daunting stares of the stern characters used in the shots or to represent the artist as a desirable creature that the men/creatures are craving for. The cross cutting between AlunaGeorge and the young male with the sword shows that she is vulnerable at that she waits for him to rescue to her. This is to represent the theme of the song as a fairy-tale that the woman is in need of a hero and that he is the one to save her. With these aspects used for the 'Attracting flies' video, it opens the door for the young audience that are interested in fairy tale narrative.

Mise en scene:

The props, costumes and the setting of the video all demonstrates the theme of a fairy tale and wild imagination of AlunaGeorge. The sword and mo ped used by the young male illustrates that contemporary idea of a fairy tale hero, the two props are used to contrast from each other and create a bizarre but imaginative idea to a music video. The costumes are also contemporary and unique such as the hoodies, tracksuits and extended hair for AlunaGeorge. This is to build the brand image of AlunaGeorge being an imaginative and creative artist.

Friday, 18 October 2013

Synergy- creating a brand identity..

This is the album cover 'settle' by Disclosure. As you can see the artists name is displayed at the top of the cover. The name of the artists are in black and the album name is in white, the colours are light shades,quite dull. The two little boys on the front of the cover are the artists.

In the music video single, straightaway the artists are presented on screen. On the album cover and in the music video they are seen wearing checked shirts. We also see the same colours black and white in the music video, this is a key feature as it links back to the album cover. One feature seen across all products is the illustration on the face, both within the music video and the album cover. Another feature is that both artists are placed on different sides this could highlight different personalities and different people. The features in these products are used to appeal to their target audience as it needs to attract and be visible to them.

Analysis of AlunaGeorge - Attracting flies.

This is an analysis of AlunaGeorge's music video 'Attracting flies'. Throughout the video there are aspects of Camera shots, Editing and Mise en scene which are used to centralise the theme Fairy tales.

The music video opens up with an establishing shot of the location. It is of a tall building which represent the building in the fairy tale Rapunzel. The editing in the video is limited, this is the only scene in which the lighting, and the buildings have an effect.

Once you have seen the establishing shot of the building we see a wide shot of the Artist dressed in a red dress with a basket in her hand, this highlights the story little red riding hood. Another setting is highlighted which is an alleyway in London. The lighting is quite dim and faint this is done to replicate the red riding hood story.

We also see a close up shot of the artist. The artist seems quite confident as she is walking down an alleyway in the dark this contrasts with the theme little red riding hood as the character is seen as frightened.

We see a medium shot of a man and his dog. They are in a different location. Both of them are seen looking at the artist, this again represents the 'Bad wolf' in the theme little red riding hood.

Here we see the main artist in a different costume with a long plait in her hair hanging out of the window. The switching of themes to Rapunzel again portrays the artists interest in Fairy tales.

This is a wide shot of a man on a motorbike, the low angle tells us that the man might be a hero or has some kind of power, this is presented later on in the video. Here we see another alleyway. The lighting is low and faint, this is to make the man seem visible and centre of attention.

Here we see another change of themes to Sleeping beauty. The pills are used as a prop and to represent the sleeping beauty theme.

This picture highlights the theme 'Goldilocks and the three bears'. As you can see the men sitting beside the artist are the three bears as they are eating porridge. Slow motion is used when the man scoops up the porridge then drops it into the bowl. This is done to hint the theme used.

We see the artist and a few other characters on a road opposite the tall building. A wide shot is used a long with a low angle shot.

Lastly, we see the same character who was in the alleyway appear in this scene. This character is seen as the hero just like the man in the fairy tale snow white.

Monday, 14 October 2013

Presentation

New copyright clearance

Analysis of AlunaGeorge - Attracting Flies

In this analysis of AlunaGeaorge - Attracting Flies I will look at Mise En Scene, Editing and Camera. The theme of the videos seems to be centred around fairy tails such as Little Red Riding hood, Rapunzel, Goldilocks and Sleeping Beauty.

Mise En Scene and Camera: The mise en scene within this video is much more varied and has a number of locations, props and costumes. We see an establishing shot of where the video is taking place right at the start of the video.

Establishing Shot

We then see the artist as one of the characters of a fairy tale (Little Red Riding Hood), as seen by her wearing a red hoodie and all red. The location is set in at a common London setting. The lighting of the video is scarce, although the artist is clearly visible

Wide Shot.

We see another location , with a man and his dog in a car. The use of the dog can be seen as another prop and relate back to theme of Little Red riding Hood. Lighting is once again low but both dog and man are clearly visible.

Medium shot.

We see another person and location as a woman is seen walking through a house.The lighting is once again dim but the character is visible.

Medium Close up

We see the artist take on a new role as Rapunzel, with her out of the window. The lighting has taken a new colour with it being a bright yellow.

Medium shot.

Props of rings.

Close up.

Man on a amotor bike, New location of an alleyway. Lighting is similar to early scene where the lighting is low but the character is visible.

Medium shot with a slight upward tilt.

The artist takes on another role as Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. We see 3 fat men with bowls of porridge, with the artist in another new costume. The lighting is similar to most of the other scenes with little lighting in general but the artist and characters visible.

Medium shot

A new location with a man outside, with big buildings behind him/far away. Long shot

The artist takes on another role along with a new costume and a new location. We see the artist take on the role of Sleeping Beauty, she is sleeping in a house, and is wearing a white dress, The lighting is much more in comparison to other scenes and is bright.

Medium shot

A new location which is a car park. Medium shot with slight tilt upwards.

Props of pills. Clos.e ups

Lighting takes on a similar tone to the rest of the video. A new location features the building seen at the start in the background and a pub in the background as well. There are new costumes and new characters which seem to be the Seven Dwarves.

Medium shot.

Editing: Editing seems to be very prominent within the video but I'll pick out the specific bits where it is very obvious:

Editing seems to be prominent here with the lighting and the building in general.

Editing arguably is seen within other shots but with a similar tone with this shot, and only lighting being the upgraded effect.

Copyright Clearance for new music video

Sunday, 13 October 2013

Review: Pitch

The pitch did not go well at all. To be honest with you we all did not know what we was doing so we were talking a load of rubbish. We just started thinking about changing the song so all the plans we had before have changed which is making things very difficult and because of this we are way behind.
Dan did not like our ideas so we need to go back and think carefully about what we need to do and have a strong foundation and just build up from there.
Hopefully Dan likes our new idea that we are going to pitch for him soon, and from there we should be back on track.

Storyboard.

This is our Animatic Storyboard which we have created. It outlines the stages of the filming process we will undertake. Each scene drawn on the storyboard will be included in our music video.

Thursday, 10 October 2013

A Trip Down Memory Lane..

Since the start of A2 Media Studies where the groups were allocated to record their music videos of their own choice, I thought it would be essential to show demonstration and progression of the particular skills I have learnt in the previous year. During AS, the groups were asked to record a film opening which was based on a Thriller theme. We learnt all the types of Camera techniques that would make the Thriller opening interesting. In our opening, we used a range of shots such as Close Ups, Medium, Long and Establishing Shots. This showed the examiner that we were setting out to illustrate the huge ideas we had for our opening and also it allowed us to develop some editing techniques such as Match Cuts and Continuity Editing. The filming experiences in AS also taught me the importance of how important Sound and Mise en Scene are within a recording, it can convey more information about character if it is illustrated correctly. For instance, the colour contrast between the two costumes that my character was wearing shows that he is completely different to the person he once was. The non- digetic sound (Background Music) had a dark and depressing feel to it, it sounded like danger or unstable behaviour was approaching the scene. This was our intention of the opening to represent the genre of a Thriller. Here is the nostalgic opening performed by Group 36 during last year.

Clip:

How I will apply skills learnt from AS?

As my project will be to record a music video of my choice, I will use a variety of camera shots but a wider range, sorely because a music video demands more shots in order to keep the audience intrigued with the artists and the footages that is being displayed. I will also need to expand the level of editing by adding transitions, slow motion or anything of my choice to show expression of the artist in my music video. The costumes will play a vital role this year as it would be a representation of the artist and if it done right, it will show understanding of creativity and knowledge of the requirements for this unit.

Changing Songs

Our group has decided to change our song from Estelle - 'American Boy' to AlunaGeorge - 'Attracting Flies'. We've decided on this song because we feel more enthusiastic about the song but also, we feel like the decision we made to choose 'American Boy' was a poor choice due to the popularity of the song and the limitability of the creative choices we could make.

We think AlunaGeorge's video 'Attracting Flies' allows us for much more creative filming and the fact that it is so much less popular than 'American Boy' allows us to impose our own ideas rather than adapting to the video.

Technical Skills learned from AS which will help from A2

Use of Final Cut Pro, Soundcut Pro
Assessing suitable locations
Assessing the mise en scene of our video
Assessing other bodies of media work
Timing

Monday, 7 October 2013

Branding for artist (RESEARCH)

As I am going to be the featuring artist for our music video, 'American Boy by Estelle', I decided that the artist that I have created, 'Benny B', needs a particular image that will make him distinct when the appearance is made within the video. As the main artist, Desree Diamond, has an audience called Teamdiamond and based around a diamond theme, my artist would have a theme that is similar which will be jewellery, specifically a chain, and having the letter B on some of the clothing. Though it is a simple style of branding, I believe this is a short and simple way to use to represent an artist. Here are some of the artists that may have a similar style of branding themselves:

Here is Jay Z's clothing line 'Rocawear', this is used to brand the artist.

This is another example of an artist having a similar branding technique to my own. As you can see, Drake also has his own clothing line and he is also known for the excessive amount of jewellery such as Chains he wears during most coverages.

This is an initial idea of the clothing line that my artist Benny B would be using in the video.