It's nearly all over! I've only got to now complete my evaluation as all our products have been handed in on time. This week my partner and I finished the editing of our music video which I'm overall pleased with however in regards to the ending,the ending is what I described but is NOT executed in the slightest like how I had imagined. I personally feel the ending is rushed and doesn't give off the emotions and atmosphere I had intended for but won't complain as the rest of the video was near enough entirely what I wanted.
The digipak was also completed this week. My partner and I decided during the process of creating the digipak to stick with the maroon red,black and white colour scheme and added red boarders and stark whites throughout the digipak design. While taking photos of the artist for the digipak I had an idea which I believed worked better than the original CD design of Robert's face looking stunned under the CD and covering his eyes on the CD. The pattern on Roberts shirt is very interesting and got my attention when a person walking through our location commented saying "That shirt is really cool, really sticks in your head with that old school look". I then had the idea to use the "cool" shirt design as the CD design cover as it had always stuck in my head and separated Robert from a lot of mainstream artists.
I pitched it to my partner who liked the idea and in one lesson we had our CD design complete. The cover also went through a drastic change. While getting photos I didn't like the images of Robert on the piano as much as the ones on our preliminary photos and when looking at other artists' magazine ads they often had the magazine ads imagery as the cover of their CD's or digipaks. I pitched the idea to my partner backing myself up with real life examples and my partner agreed this made more sense than the original cover and we completed the design with relative ease in one lesson as the majority of the tinkering had already been done when designing the magazine ad.
I'm very happy with our three products but looking in hindsight feel that there was a LOT that we could have improved on like the ending of the music video, having more red cinematography in the music video as the video has more blue tones with a few oranges and warm colours while the magazine ad and digipak have strong emphasis on the colour red. Other things I think we could have improved on is the detail in the digipak like studio information and means for the audience to get more information on the artist.
I'm happy the production is over and look forward to evaluating my work.
Sunday, 11 December 2011
Friday, 9 December 2011
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Post Production- Week 12
This week after analysing my feedback I compiled all the essential data into one document and used that as a guideline to help myself and my partner when editing my music video together.
We have completed a rough cut and are now focusing on getting our video edited to the beat to perfection. The notes that the other groups gave about video has been taken into account and has made our music video already lookl several times better than it did before.
The photos of our artist for the digipak are still yet to be done and MUST be done by tomorrow as we are running out of time to get them completed. I have done two photoshoots with the artist already but none of the photos have come out how I would like and I feel that the photos would benefit greatly from a green screen. These photos will be done tomorrow and editing on them shall begin directly after the music video is completed.
The reception from our magazine ad and current music video has been positive and I do not want to let my partner and myself down by not delivering on the digipak.
We have completed a rough cut and are now focusing on getting our video edited to the beat to perfection. The notes that the other groups gave about video has been taken into account and has made our music video already lookl several times better than it did before.
The photos of our artist for the digipak are still yet to be done and MUST be done by tomorrow as we are running out of time to get them completed. I have done two photoshoots with the artist already but none of the photos have come out how I would like and I feel that the photos would benefit greatly from a green screen. These photos will be done tomorrow and editing on them shall begin directly after the music video is completed.
The reception from our magazine ad and current music video has been positive and I do not want to let my partner and myself down by not delivering on the digipak.
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Production- Week 11
This week my partner and I have continued to edit our footage and it is coming along very well with only minor hiccups in our editing due to our artist being slightly out of sync with our footage because we did not have speakers playing the music out aloud while we filmed him like we should have. The lip syncing isn't a huge problem and we have been able to resolve these problems fairly easily.
This week I was also able to re film the bedroom scenes with our actress. Although I only re filmed certain scenes the music video already looks much better because all the lighting has the right continuity and I was also able to film some new shots for new ideas that I devised while looking at our preliminary cut our music video that didn't go well for example the quick cuts of our actress wiping her make up off has been re filmed to her putting on make up on her eyes and lipstick in two different scenes which we have now edited into one to move the video along at a quick pace.
Shots of the computer screen in the bedroom scenes were left as they were and not re filmed because I didn't believe they needed to be re filmed and once put into our edit should blend seamlessly.
Our editing is coming along nicely and should be complete before Friday next week, tomorrow I am also going to take photographs of our artist for our digipak hopefully because the last few weeks we've been unable to due to time restraints while filming or he does not have the right attire but we should hopefully have them by tomorrow night so we can add them into our existing design so far.
This week I was also able to re film the bedroom scenes with our actress. Although I only re filmed certain scenes the music video already looks much better because all the lighting has the right continuity and I was also able to film some new shots for new ideas that I devised while looking at our preliminary cut our music video that didn't go well for example the quick cuts of our actress wiping her make up off has been re filmed to her putting on make up on her eyes and lipstick in two different scenes which we have now edited into one to move the video along at a quick pace.
Shots of the computer screen in the bedroom scenes were left as they were and not re filmed because I didn't believe they needed to be re filmed and once put into our edit should blend seamlessly.
Our editing is coming along nicely and should be complete before Friday next week, tomorrow I am also going to take photographs of our artist for our digipak hopefully because the last few weeks we've been unable to due to time restraints while filming or he does not have the right attire but we should hopefully have them by tomorrow night so we can add them into our existing design so far.
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Production- Week 10
This week my partner has helped me edit the footage that I had recorded previously while I also continued to film more shots for the scenes of our artist in the hall. Filming this week was very productive and I was able to refilm scenes that we thought could have been improved while also getting more of the shots we needed.
All the scenes of our artist in the hall have been completed and we now have all of our shots finished however myself and my partner are considering refilming scenes of our lead actress in her bedroom because they don't seem to be framed correctly in some shots and some scenes take far too long then we had planned and when edited in our video seems to ruin the flow.
This weekend my partner and I considered to do some filming at Brick Lane but decided not go forth with the idea as our actress was not available and our music video running time is already slightly over and we felt that these shots were expendable because they didn't get the message of the video across any clearer then the shots we already have had.
This week our current video edit was reviewd by other groups and all the notes of our filming have been improved on in our filming that occured this week while the few shots that were told be redone or corrected will be done early next week. These shots include refilming some of the bedroom scenes and having our actress look at herself in the mirror analaysing her body instead of pushing plates of food away which our audience didn't understand the meaning of.
Next week I have one day of pick up filming to complete ,a photoshoot for our digipak and several days worth of editing.
This week has been very productive and as long as we stay focused we shall complete all our tasks quickly and effectively.
All the scenes of our artist in the hall have been completed and we now have all of our shots finished however myself and my partner are considering refilming scenes of our lead actress in her bedroom because they don't seem to be framed correctly in some shots and some scenes take far too long then we had planned and when edited in our video seems to ruin the flow.
This weekend my partner and I considered to do some filming at Brick Lane but decided not go forth with the idea as our actress was not available and our music video running time is already slightly over and we felt that these shots were expendable because they didn't get the message of the video across any clearer then the shots we already have had.
This week our current video edit was reviewd by other groups and all the notes of our filming have been improved on in our filming that occured this week while the few shots that were told be redone or corrected will be done early next week. These shots include refilming some of the bedroom scenes and having our actress look at herself in the mirror analaysing her body instead of pushing plates of food away which our audience didn't understand the meaning of.
Next week I have one day of pick up filming to complete ,a photoshoot for our digipak and several days worth of editing.
This week has been very productive and as long as we stay focused we shall complete all our tasks quickly and effectively.
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Production- Week 9
This week I have been away due to extremely poor health. My partner while I was away has completed our magazine ad from a photo that I emailed her. The photo surprisingly enough wasn't one of the photos from the SLR camera but one that I took from Roberts Iphone 4.My partner also notified me on areas of our music video where music is not in sync.
While I was away I have been organising filming dates and dates for us to take more photographs of our artist so that next week we have a smooth week and make up for work that has been lost out on in the last week due to my absence.
While I was away I have been organising filming dates and dates for us to take more photographs of our artist so that next week we have a smooth week and make up for work that has been lost out on in the last week due to my absence.
Production- Week 8
This week my partner and I have jumped head first into the heart of production and have been hard at work. We began developing all three of our texts at once by starting with our digipak and creating an abstract panel of words relating to our artist, this has been a much more time consuming process so we're very happy that we've begun work so early because if we started this later it could take up valuable time that we would require.
I also stayed back after school to film scenes in the hall with Robert which has taken off a large percentage of how much we now need to film. With the hall scenes now 75% finished this has taken a huge amount of our workload off and has put myself and my partner back into safer territory although we must stay on top. The hall is in constant use though which was the cause for our late filming and may also be a problem in the future so I must keep checking when it is free for future filming.
In addition to filming in the hall I've tried to make use of multiple forms of technology and used Roberts iphone4 to take multiple photos of him which will be used for our digipak and magazine ad. At first I was reluctant to use the iphone over an SLR camera but after researching the frame rate of the camera I was happy to give it a chance and I believe that this shows how the marketing for our artist is kept cheap to keep the budget low.
Our actress also came into school so I filmed the majority of all her scenes in the school with my partner which also reduced our filming load drastically. The shoot of this day was overall very easy and smooth however we did encounter some problems with the tracking shots of our actress through the hallways although this was easily sorted as I used a tip I had previously learnt from "Robert Rodriguez's Ten Minute Film School" on how to make a tracking shot easy.
Rodriguez in his making of documentary for "El Mariachi" says that he used a wheel chair and just held the camera while someone pushed him about for his tracking shots so we did something very similar by having the lightest person available sit in a chair with wheels holding the camera while I pushed them alongside our actress. The trick was very effective and gave us shots that were steady and manageable, only spiralling out of control once.
Zarna pointed out that our actress is wearing a different costume in the scenes at the school than she was at the scenes in the house. Next week we will begin to put together a rough cut as we have enough footage to begin doing so, with this cut we will be able to determine if the mise-en-scene is out of place enough to require a re-shoot or if it's not noticeable.
I also stayed back after school to film scenes in the hall with Robert which has taken off a large percentage of how much we now need to film. With the hall scenes now 75% finished this has taken a huge amount of our workload off and has put myself and my partner back into safer territory although we must stay on top. The hall is in constant use though which was the cause for our late filming and may also be a problem in the future so I must keep checking when it is free for future filming.
In addition to filming in the hall I've tried to make use of multiple forms of technology and used Roberts iphone4 to take multiple photos of him which will be used for our digipak and magazine ad. At first I was reluctant to use the iphone over an SLR camera but after researching the frame rate of the camera I was happy to give it a chance and I believe that this shows how the marketing for our artist is kept cheap to keep the budget low.
Our actress also came into school so I filmed the majority of all her scenes in the school with my partner which also reduced our filming load drastically. The shoot of this day was overall very easy and smooth however we did encounter some problems with the tracking shots of our actress through the hallways although this was easily sorted as I used a tip I had previously learnt from "Robert Rodriguez's Ten Minute Film School" on how to make a tracking shot easy.
Rodriguez in his making of documentary for "El Mariachi" says that he used a wheel chair and just held the camera while someone pushed him about for his tracking shots so we did something very similar by having the lightest person available sit in a chair with wheels holding the camera while I pushed them alongside our actress. The trick was very effective and gave us shots that were steady and manageable, only spiralling out of control once.
Zarna pointed out that our actress is wearing a different costume in the scenes at the school than she was at the scenes in the house. Next week we will begin to put together a rough cut as we have enough footage to begin doing so, with this cut we will be able to determine if the mise-en-scene is out of place enough to require a re-shoot or if it's not noticeable.
Production- Week 7
As this last week was half term I wasn't available to film and have been told by my partner that she was unable to film some of the vitals scenes of the music video which were supposed to be filmed at Brick Lane. With this news in mind when I arrive back in college my partner and I must immediately begin filming the other scenes of Robert and edit the footage that my partner managed to get off our actress in the bedroom and home scenes. While I was away I did manage to get some typography ideas which I have told my partner about and have begun analysing. My partner and I are behind and need to get on top of our extensive workload as soon as possible.
(Pre Production) Week 6
This week myself and my partner decided to focus on improving the majority of our pre-production work as areas of it were not particularly strong and felt it hindered us like our original focus group.
We improved the final focus group by re filming it in the style of a pod cast because we didn't feel we received enough information from our target audience and that it wasn't presented in a format that allowed us to decipher the essential information from our target to a mainstream audience well.
Instead while my partner went prop hunting for a Sea Kelp bottle and prepping Internet pages for filming, I contacted as many members of my target audience and filmed a vodpox with them answering questions that we felt we needed answers to from our target audience. This new vodpox has been very beneficial as it not just gave us all the information we needed but is presented in a structure which makes it much easier for us to extract the information required.
To still make our previous focus group have some impact on our pre-production we have decided to use the focus group as research as to what a mainstream audience would like to see in a music video and what they'd expect to see in a music labelled with an indie artist.
Our final shooting script is still being redone as we've now inserted too many shots into the script and must find a way to cut it down.The new script is laid out easier to understand for whoever is directing as it color coordinates the shots to location which makes it easier to cipher through when filming.Once this is completed we will begin filming immediately.
The shooting script now though features far more movement and more cuts between the performance and narrative as I felt that in the previous shooting script the video felt as if it lacked pacing,life and energy. The new shooting script better expresses the grief and strain the character goes through while keeping Robert as a main focus point.
My partner and I also completed a Recci on the locations we intend to use so that we can analyse the advantages and disadvantages of possible locations we're considering to use. The Recci has proved very useful as it has helped us narrow down our search for filming locations and will make filming smoother as we can play a journey to each location to film and will help us avoid backtracking to and from locations when filming.
Due to prior commitments I will be unable to film Friday and through half term as I'm not in the country. I've given my partner some shots to try and get over the week so we can begin editing them while I'm away. I will plan out our digipak in more depth and try to get photos of Robert to use before I depart.
We improved the final focus group by re filming it in the style of a pod cast because we didn't feel we received enough information from our target audience and that it wasn't presented in a format that allowed us to decipher the essential information from our target to a mainstream audience well.
Instead while my partner went prop hunting for a Sea Kelp bottle and prepping Internet pages for filming, I contacted as many members of my target audience and filmed a vodpox with them answering questions that we felt we needed answers to from our target audience. This new vodpox has been very beneficial as it not just gave us all the information we needed but is presented in a structure which makes it much easier for us to extract the information required.To still make our previous focus group have some impact on our pre-production we have decided to use the focus group as research as to what a mainstream audience would like to see in a music video and what they'd expect to see in a music labelled with an indie artist.
Our final shooting script is still being redone as we've now inserted too many shots into the script and must find a way to cut it down.The new script is laid out easier to understand for whoever is directing as it color coordinates the shots to location which makes it easier to cipher through when filming.Once this is completed we will begin filming immediately.
The shooting script now though features far more movement and more cuts between the performance and narrative as I felt that in the previous shooting script the video felt as if it lacked pacing,life and energy. The new shooting script better expresses the grief and strain the character goes through while keeping Robert as a main focus point.
My partner and I also completed a Recci on the locations we intend to use so that we can analyse the advantages and disadvantages of possible locations we're considering to use. The Recci has proved very useful as it has helped us narrow down our search for filming locations and will make filming smoother as we can play a journey to each location to film and will help us avoid backtracking to and from locations when filming.
Due to prior commitments I will be unable to film Friday and through half term as I'm not in the country. I've given my partner some shots to try and get over the week so we can begin editing them while I'm away. I will plan out our digipak in more depth and try to get photos of Robert to use before I depart.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Pre-Production -Recci (Locations In School)
Location: The School Hall
Time Of Day: 16:00
Access information: The school hall is in close proximity so it should be easy for us to get to however it's currently being redecorated and may still be getting redone when we choose to film. Another difficulty with accessing the hall is we have to book the hall in advance for filming, they did say that it would be complete and open for use after half term though.
Facilities: There is a large open ground space for us to lay out the magazine advertisements in addition to having an existing classic grand piano in the hall available for use. There is a stage which is used as a performing space if we decided to film on the stage. There are also stage lights which we can use to light our shots.
Vision Issues: Where the windows are we may encounter lighting issues because of the natural lighting that comes in and particular times of days, this could effect the shots we would like to take such as the long shots of Robert on the piano or the rotation shots we intended to use. We could possibly incorporate the naturalistic light into our shots to give the cinematography a unique look, if we did do this though it could have conflicts with our artificial lighting.
Potential Risks and Hazards: Because the hall has been redecorated there are risks of machinery being left out or possibly having our actors injured by power equipment that has been left aside, this must be taken into consideration when filming.
The Location Could Be Used For: We could use this location as the location in the music video where Robert is playing his piano in a school hall. This school hall offers large amounts of space, naturalistic and artificial lighting, a piano available to use and because it's an already existing location it features real life signs and warning notices that you'd find in a school, this will add to theverisimilitude of our video.
Location: School hallways
Time Of Day: 16:00
Access Information: Toilets are nearby, it has easy access to filming locations like the study room, the school hall and the lower schools/sixth forms toilets.
Facilities: There are toilets but nothing of major interest.
Vision Issues: Due to the time we wish to film there may be students,teachers and/or parents who may walk into a shot.
Potential Risks and Hazards: There is a possibility of colliding into school children in the scenes we intend to film so great care must be taken regarding safety of equipment and actors.
The Location Could Be Used For: This area can be used as a location for our actress to run through to get to the school hall because the location is an existing school hall it adds to the verisimilitude because of the real life props that add to the mise-en-scene. The set is also in close proximity to the school hall so it would make filming an easier process.
Location: Schools Girl ToiletsTime Of Day: 16:30
Access Information: Access to the toilets is difficult because they have to be used during times when they're no longer in use which may be difficult at 16:30, however it is an hour and a half after the end of school so it should be empty. It's easy to access as it is part of the school and isn't far from the other locations we hope to film at in school.Facilities: Other than having toilets for have our actors change in and do their make up in there aren't many other facilities in the toilets.
Vision Issues: Mirrors in the toilets mean that we will have to be careful with the framing of camera shots shots so that the camera operator and equipment isn't seen as this will reduce the authenticity of our video and corrupt the verisimilitude. We will also have to be careful to avoid getting students in the shot.
Potential Risks And Hazards: Hazards we may encounter can range from water on the floor to damaged cubicles. Before filming we must make sure that everything is dry and in working order to avoid injuries.The Location Could Be Used For: The location can be used for the scenes of our actress in the toilet contemplating taking Sea Kelp and receiving a text from Robert. With intelligent shot framing, the location could also be used for the shits were our actress is putting on make up in her bedroom.
Location: Sixth form girls toiletsTime Of Day: 16:30
Access Information: The sixth form toilets are easy to access but offer less time to film in because they are only available while the sixth form block is open. The toilets only permit access to sixth formers so we may need a visitor badge for our actress as she's not part of the sixth form. Filming in these toilets is also harder as there are more sixth formers in the sixth form block then there are lower school students in the school.Facilities: Other than having toilets for have our actors change in and do their make up in there aren't many other facilities in the toilets.
Vision Issues:Mirrors in the toilets mean that we will have to be careful with the framing of camera shots shots so that the camera operator and equipment isn't seen as this will reduce the authenticity of our video and corrupt the verisimilitude. We will also have to be careful to avoid getting students in the shot as there are more likely to be more students in these toilets then the lower schools toilets because there is usually more sixth formers in the school after the school day ends then there are lower school children in school.Potential Risks And Hazards:Hazards we may encounter can range from water on the floor to damaged cubicles. Before filming we must make sure that everything is dry and in working order to avoid injuries.
The Location Could Be Used For:The location can be used for the scenes of our actress in the toilet contemplating taking Sea Kelp and receiving a text from Robert. With intelligent shot framing, the location could also be used for the shits were our actress is putting on make up in her bedroom.
Location:Sixth form Study RoomTime Of Day: 16:00
Access Information: The sixth form study room is open for a long enough period of time for us to go from several of our other filming locations in the school to there while still having plenty of other time to film and get the shots we need.
Facilities: The sixth form block (where the study room is located,) consists of a toilet for the actors to do their make up in and a common room (,where if need be) we can tell students we do not want visible in our shots to wait while we continue filming.
Vision Issues: The visional issues we may encounter are students being in our shots that we do not want and the tables in the study room may restrict our ability to film in certain areas of the study room. On a positive note though we may be able to use the students in our shots as their presence may add verisimilitude to our work.
Potential Risks And Hazards:Distractions from students in the study room may be a risk as it will delay our filming and we only have a certain amount of time to film in the study room. Rubbish being left around will be another risk because our actors may slip on the litter and this will disrupt our schedule if it causes the actor any injuries. Tables or chairs can also be an issue for safety as we do no want our actors tripping and hurting themselves or damaging equipment went falling.The Location Could Be Used For: Scenes where we need our actress to get bullied by the other girls because it's all on the grounds of the school we intend to film at. The location will add verisimilitude to our work and will not require us to bring many props as the set is already furnished and has all the props we would need for the majority of what we intend to film.
Saturday, 15 October 2011
(Pre Production) Week 5
This week while designing our digipak discovered that it was far too complex to design with the cube design and the logistics of how we originally imagine to sell it for our artist began to back fire as we soon realised our artist would most likely not be able to manufacture a design for a digipak which not even established artists like "The Gorillaz" or "Katy Perry" have manufactured.
After this revelation my partner and myself went back to a more traditional approach for the digipak and began working with a six side digipak layout for our artist still keeping the design of the cover and back and incorporating the color scheme and certain ideas in like the CD cover and CD holder design and the artist image spread.
I feel that this new design makes much more sense to how we imagined to brand Robert Staines because it's more traditional and won't turn my target audience away yet still manages to incorporate ideas which are slightly different and will just as his music does, show Robert in a interestign and versatile way.
This week my partner and I also went out with the artist to do some test photography to get rough snap shots of the images we will need of Robert so when we go out to take the final photographs we will know exactly the angles,lighting etc. we will need. We used the photos in a rough version of our digipak. This has helped me and my partner alot because it gives us a chance to look at a template for what our design would look like and gives us the chance to make changes before we have the final designs.
This week one of our primary locations (the school hall) was under refurbishment and therefore meant we were unable to film. I'm slightly worried about filming and would like to begin as soon as possible because we're slowly getting more and more behind on our production schedule and the filming was one of the things I had intended to get done first and foremost and right now I have currently absolutely no footage what so ever.
I would prefer to have all our filming done before halfterm as I am not available to film in half term and I'm not sure my actors will be available, if this is the case then I'm going to be behind on a lot of deadlines on my production schedule and will need to begin filming and editing fast.
After this revelation my partner and myself went back to a more traditional approach for the digipak and began working with a six side digipak layout for our artist still keeping the design of the cover and back and incorporating the color scheme and certain ideas in like the CD cover and CD holder design and the artist image spread.
I feel that this new design makes much more sense to how we imagined to brand Robert Staines because it's more traditional and won't turn my target audience away yet still manages to incorporate ideas which are slightly different and will just as his music does, show Robert in a interestign and versatile way.
This week my partner and I also went out with the artist to do some test photography to get rough snap shots of the images we will need of Robert so when we go out to take the final photographs we will know exactly the angles,lighting etc. we will need. We used the photos in a rough version of our digipak. This has helped me and my partner alot because it gives us a chance to look at a template for what our design would look like and gives us the chance to make changes before we have the final designs.
This week one of our primary locations (the school hall) was under refurbishment and therefore meant we were unable to film. I'm slightly worried about filming and would like to begin as soon as possible because we're slowly getting more and more behind on our production schedule and the filming was one of the things I had intended to get done first and foremost and right now I have currently absolutely no footage what so ever.
I would prefer to have all our filming done before halfterm as I am not available to film in half term and I'm not sure my actors will be available, if this is the case then I'm going to be behind on a lot of deadlines on my production schedule and will need to begin filming and editing fast.
Friday, 14 October 2011
(Pre Production) Week 4
This week my partner and I created our magazine ad which we drew inspiration from Gwen Stefani’s magazine ad and create our digipak flat plan which was inspired by the Gorillaz digipak I analysed.
My partner and I also cast our main actress for the music video who will be Brigita Kurientiute. We also held a focus group session which although did not consist of as much of our target audience gave us good feedback and helped us decide on the artists costume, Digipak name and also get a seal of approval on our music video content and other media texts.
From the focus group we decided that Robert Staines would wear a formal vintage costume with a modern twist and that his digipak would be called “House Of Porridge” because of the names association with his YouTube account. My partner and I also created our shot list which although brief gives a clear image of the shots we MUST obtain.
We also created a production schedule to keep us up to date with our work and give us deadlines we have to reach. Our final treatment has come out very well with it drawing information from audience feedback from Q&A’s, questionnaires, focus groups, YouTube comments and the artist himself.
After our music video ideas and narrative concepts were approved by our target audience we began to get permission for filming in certain venues and have now begun obtaining the props we need ,(the most difficult props being set lights and newspapers about dieting pills and anorexic teenagers). The most difficult challenge we think we will face is obtaining the correct imagery and making sure our actors can stick to the filming dates we have agreed.
My partner and I also cast our main actress for the music video who will be Brigita Kurientiute. We also held a focus group session which although did not consist of as much of our target audience gave us good feedback and helped us decide on the artists costume, Digipak name and also get a seal of approval on our music video content and other media texts.
From the focus group we decided that Robert Staines would wear a formal vintage costume with a modern twist and that his digipak would be called “House Of Porridge” because of the names association with his YouTube account. My partner and I also created our shot list which although brief gives a clear image of the shots we MUST obtain.
We also created a production schedule to keep us up to date with our work and give us deadlines we have to reach. Our final treatment has come out very well with it drawing information from audience feedback from Q&A’s, questionnaires, focus groups, YouTube comments and the artist himself.
After our music video ideas and narrative concepts were approved by our target audience we began to get permission for filming in certain venues and have now begun obtaining the props we need ,(the most difficult props being set lights and newspapers about dieting pills and anorexic teenagers). The most difficult challenge we think we will face is obtaining the correct imagery and making sure our actors can stick to the filming dates we have agreed.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
(Pre-Production) Focus group with target audience and mainstream audience
Unfortunately when we began preparation for our focus group many of our target audience agreed to appear in the focus group however when it came to the day of the focus group many of our audience didn't turn up so we didn't have as many of our target audience as we had wanted. On a more positive side our focus group liked the idea of a cold opening for the video detailing what exactly "Sea Kelp" is and also liked the locations we had in mind to shoot at. Our focus group also decided on what outfit they wanted for Robert to wear in the music video.
When we told our target audience the idea for our music videos performance and narrative aspects and they seemed happy with the idea of the narrative and encouraged us to go with the idea. The downsides of our focus group was that a lot of the boys in the group weren't paying attention and kept on giving silly answers that we had to cut out of the video, the focus group also kept on going off task and not paying attention to what we were asking.
I think that because that there wasn't many of our target audience and some of the boys in the focus group weren't paying attention that we lost a good chance to gain important information from our target audience. We did get a good insight into what an exterior audience would like though so it was not a total failure but this focus group does not completely express the views of our target audience.
UPDATE
Here is a more recent and accurate representation of my target audience and I have done individual focus groups with them called "Voxpods".
When doing these individual focus groups with individuals of my target audience I obtained results similar to when I did a focus group with the mainstream audience. My target audiences description of how they imagined an indie artist to look like before seeing Robert Staines was very close to the appearance and style of our artist. The target audience also unanimously agreed on Robert wearing outfit 2 which was Robert's costume seen in my previous post and was also the most popular among my mainstream focus group.
The music video concept was also very well received among my target audience with many of them saying "it's good to bring awareness to this cause" one of the participants said it will be good because they have many friends with eating disorders and one of my participant praised bringing awareness via the song and concept because she once had an eating disorder herself.
The digipak title was a split down the middle with people saying they liked the "House Of Porridge" because of it's association with Robert's amateur work and some saying they liked "The Boy With The Piano" because it sounded commercial and gave a pleasant sounding image to our artist. We've decided to please both by referring to the artist as the boy with the piano by critics but using the name "House Of Porridge" as the digipak title.
Sunday, 2 October 2011
(Pre Production) Week 3
This week I have analysed various conventions of music videos, digipaks and magazines to give me ideas of what to include, conventions to follow and styles to recreate in my own versions of these Medias. I analysed a “Cosmic Love” by Florence and the machine and began to consider more abstract ways of showing the artist because Florence and the machine used the idea of the performer performing in three different costumes in three different locations that eventually all became one location.
I analysed a Gwen Stefani magazine ad which was primarily the same image of her album cover with more detail on the advertisement explaining who has worked on this digipak and release date. This magazine ad helped me realise that it’s very important have links via imagery to the artists other work, I have now begun to consider using the digipak cover with a few slight changes as the magazine ads main focus or use the same visual style with a different image. The Gorillaz digipak which used a slightly different flat plan design made me begin experimenting with ideas of how to create my own unique flat plan for a digipak.
I and my partner then came up with the idea of having a cube as the digipak and the cube will collapse flat for easy access to the content of the digipak. We could take advantage of the cube design by having the exterior of the digipak being simple photos of Robert playing the piano or interacting with the piano in humorous ways. We’re beginning to design the flat plan for this cover and we’ll see if we can make it work.
To help us with the branding of our artist I created an audience profile which we can constantly refer to when wondering who our target audience is and what they want. I created this audience profile via speaking to members of my target audience and taking information from my previous research questionnaire. Now we have an audience profile, if I and my partner are not with each other at the time of working and are struggling to figure out what our target audience may want, we now have a handy audience profile to help keep us on track to what they like.
Me and my partner also began going through a collection of Robert Staines’ most popular songs on his YouTube account to put into the track list for his digipak and created two extra songs to round off the total number to 10. The two we created we did ask the artists permission and he is now currently turning one of them into an actual song; “Astronaut Man”. My partner and I are now beginning to plan the name of his digipak, we will create a selection of titles to choose from and let our target audience decide in our focus group session.
I analysed a Gwen Stefani magazine ad which was primarily the same image of her album cover with more detail on the advertisement explaining who has worked on this digipak and release date. This magazine ad helped me realise that it’s very important have links via imagery to the artists other work, I have now begun to consider using the digipak cover with a few slight changes as the magazine ads main focus or use the same visual style with a different image. The Gorillaz digipak which used a slightly different flat plan design made me begin experimenting with ideas of how to create my own unique flat plan for a digipak.
I and my partner then came up with the idea of having a cube as the digipak and the cube will collapse flat for easy access to the content of the digipak. We could take advantage of the cube design by having the exterior of the digipak being simple photos of Robert playing the piano or interacting with the piano in humorous ways. We’re beginning to design the flat plan for this cover and we’ll see if we can make it work.
To help us with the branding of our artist I created an audience profile which we can constantly refer to when wondering who our target audience is and what they want. I created this audience profile via speaking to members of my target audience and taking information from my previous research questionnaire. Now we have an audience profile, if I and my partner are not with each other at the time of working and are struggling to figure out what our target audience may want, we now have a handy audience profile to help keep us on track to what they like.
Me and my partner also began going through a collection of Robert Staines’ most popular songs on his YouTube account to put into the track list for his digipak and created two extra songs to round off the total number to 10. The two we created we did ask the artists permission and he is now currently turning one of them into an actual song; “Astronaut Man”. My partner and I are now beginning to plan the name of his digipak, we will create a selection of titles to choose from and let our target audience decide in our focus group session.
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Monday, 26 September 2011
Songs for "House Of Porridge" digipak
1) Sea Kelp & Cigarettes
2) I'm Not Sure
3) Painted
4) Sunk
5) Five Weeks Late
6) Ain't Got Jack
7) So Where The Hell Are You Now
8) Sweet Heart
9) Get A Grip
10) Astronaut Man
2) I'm Not Sure
3) Painted
4) Sunk
5) Five Weeks Late
6) Ain't Got Jack
7) So Where The Hell Are You Now
8) Sweet Heart
9) Get A Grip
10) Astronaut Man
Sunday, 25 September 2011
(Pre Production) Week 2
This week I sent out a questionnaire to help get my target audiences opinion on the products I will create for my artist Robert Staines.
The questionnaire helped me get an idea of what to include in my music video for it to appeal to my target audience and also let me understand how my audience would like me to brand my artist for it to appeal to them.
The questionnaire was very useful because of the large amount of information I received from target audience and it also allowed me to make decisions I found hard such as; what outfit should I have Robert wear to let my audience know he’s an Indie artist.
My partner and I also began allocating job roles to make pre-production and production a relaxed and smooth process that’ll be done fast and effectively. We decided that in Production we will both edit our work together but that I will focus more heavily on the music video where as my partner focus more on the digital and we will both work together on the magazine ad.
To help stimulate ideas for what sort of locations, props, costumes and actors we want to include and how we imagined we should brand our artist we began beachcombing ideas. We decided that the Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor had a very interesting sense of style that is very similar to Roberts and could be used well in the music video. While beachcombing locations were also planned like the school hall or somewhere similar because of its modern and clean look.
We also began looking at public locations in London like Brick Lane Market and the South Bank. Actors and actresses were also looked at but we haven’t completely decided on what sort of actors we want to include because we’re not certain on the route we want the video to take.
One thing we know for certain is that the main girl in our music video must look like our target audience and we must use the visual link between Robert and the piano.
The questionnaire helped me get an idea of what to include in my music video for it to appeal to my target audience and also let me understand how my audience would like me to brand my artist for it to appeal to them.
The questionnaire was very useful because of the large amount of information I received from target audience and it also allowed me to make decisions I found hard such as; what outfit should I have Robert wear to let my audience know he’s an Indie artist.
My partner and I also began allocating job roles to make pre-production and production a relaxed and smooth process that’ll be done fast and effectively. We decided that in Production we will both edit our work together but that I will focus more heavily on the music video where as my partner focus more on the digital and we will both work together on the magazine ad.
To help stimulate ideas for what sort of locations, props, costumes and actors we want to include and how we imagined we should brand our artist we began beachcombing ideas. We decided that the Matt Smith’s 11th Doctor had a very interesting sense of style that is very similar to Roberts and could be used well in the music video. While beachcombing locations were also planned like the school hall or somewhere similar because of its modern and clean look.
We also began looking at public locations in London like Brick Lane Market and the South Bank. Actors and actresses were also looked at but we haven’t completely decided on what sort of actors we want to include because we’re not certain on the route we want the video to take.
One thing we know for certain is that the main girl in our music video must look like our target audience and we must use the visual link between Robert and the piano.
(Pre Production) Analaysis Of Research Survey
Audience Research Results-
I created a questionairre and sent it out to my target audience to get their input on what they want from the chosen artist and what they'd expect, here are the results of the research.
Audience Feedback To Initial Idea To Artist Music Video-
After briefing the target audience on the initial idea of the video for my target audience 26.7% of the target audience thought it was a brilliant idea with the majority of my target audience thinking it was a good idea with 66.7% agreeing and only 6.7% thinking it was fair. From this data I have learnt that the foundation of the idea we have at the moment is proving to be very popular and will need a little bit more developement but is most certainly appealling to our target audience.It should also be noted that there was an option on the questionairre for my target audience to make their own notes in more depth however only one person chose this option and the results they left were spam and had no creative input into the questionairre.
Audience Feedback To How They Vision Artist Fashion-
We were interested in discovering what our audience would imagine our artist to sound like so the two mix well together and appeal to the audiences inner eye. To do this we gave a list of pre set outfits and had our audience choose on what they thought suited the artists' voice and what they liked. It was a 40-40% split on the outfits the audiences associated with our artist and luckily for us both outfits were very similar to what we imagined our target audience would like, these top scorers were "Blazer,smart shirt and trousers, with a bow tie (informal style)" and "Braces, topman shirt,smart trousers and a bowtie". To decide which outfit our arist will wear in the video we will take photos of two seperate photos and put them onto Facebook to have a vote on which outfit should be selected for us in the video.
Audience Feedback To Color Scheme For Artists DVD AD & Digipack-
We wanted to know what our audience would think best illustrates the music categories our artist falls into so that when we begin branding and marketing our artist we approach it in the correct manner. The results from the questionairre have shown that muted natural colors were the most popular with natural colors coming in second in the survey. With this information now available I know that when we begin designing these products I will use a color scheme which is very natural or only slightly altered so to blend with what our target audience likes and associates with our artists particularr type of music.
One person in the questionairre and said "Indie soul - Warm, rich colours but not bright. Indie folk - Fresh and natural.. very earthy colours"; this information is very beneficial for us because we now know that depending on what the song "Sea Kelp and Cigarettes" falls under we can use natural colors similar to these for the video. An example of how this comment has helped us is that now if the song falls into Indie Sould we can use warmer colors in the scenery and mise en scene but still keep it natural without color correcting to better appeal to the target audience.
Audience Feedback To Artists Unique Selling Point-
The results of this section of questionairre seemed rather mixed and this was expressed even more with one participant saying in regards as to what to focus on (as the artists' uniqe selling point) as "all of them". From all the results from this question I think I'll focus on emphasising all of the things in the list and let them almost "brand the artist himself" much like as what was said during the initial ideas pitch feedback session.
I created a questionairre and sent it out to my target audience to get their input on what they want from the chosen artist and what they'd expect, here are the results of the research.
Audience Feedback To Initial Idea To Artist Music Video-
After briefing the target audience on the initial idea of the video for my target audience 26.7% of the target audience thought it was a brilliant idea with the majority of my target audience thinking it was a good idea with 66.7% agreeing and only 6.7% thinking it was fair. From this data I have learnt that the foundation of the idea we have at the moment is proving to be very popular and will need a little bit more developement but is most certainly appealling to our target audience.It should also be noted that there was an option on the questionairre for my target audience to make their own notes in more depth however only one person chose this option and the results they left were spam and had no creative input into the questionairre.
Audience Feedback To How They Vision Artist Fashion-
We were interested in discovering what our audience would imagine our artist to sound like so the two mix well together and appeal to the audiences inner eye. To do this we gave a list of pre set outfits and had our audience choose on what they thought suited the artists' voice and what they liked. It was a 40-40% split on the outfits the audiences associated with our artist and luckily for us both outfits were very similar to what we imagined our target audience would like, these top scorers were "Blazer,smart shirt and trousers, with a bow tie (informal style)" and "Braces, topman shirt,smart trousers and a bowtie". To decide which outfit our arist will wear in the video we will take photos of two seperate photos and put them onto Facebook to have a vote on which outfit should be selected for us in the video.
Audience Feedback To Color Scheme For Artists DVD AD & Digipack-
We wanted to know what our audience would think best illustrates the music categories our artist falls into so that when we begin branding and marketing our artist we approach it in the correct manner. The results from the questionairre have shown that muted natural colors were the most popular with natural colors coming in second in the survey. With this information now available I know that when we begin designing these products I will use a color scheme which is very natural or only slightly altered so to blend with what our target audience likes and associates with our artists particularr type of music.
One person in the questionairre and said "Indie soul - Warm, rich colours but not bright. Indie folk - Fresh and natural.. very earthy colours"; this information is very beneficial for us because we now know that depending on what the song "Sea Kelp and Cigarettes" falls under we can use natural colors similar to these for the video. An example of how this comment has helped us is that now if the song falls into Indie Sould we can use warmer colors in the scenery and mise en scene but still keep it natural without color correcting to better appeal to the target audience.
Audience Feedback To Artists Unique Selling Point-
The results of this section of questionairre seemed rather mixed and this was expressed even more with one participant saying in regards as to what to focus on (as the artists' uniqe selling point) as "all of them". From all the results from this question I think I'll focus on emphasising all of the things in the list and let them almost "brand the artist himself" much like as what was said during the initial ideas pitch feedback session.
Thursday, 22 September 2011
(Pre- Production) Beachcombing Ideas
Actors
Due to our artists music being almost indie urban like we've decided to give our artist an indie yet vintage look. We want the artists style to represent their music and how they really are so we've decided to present the artist with some basic ideas to work from like the 11th doctor and fashion from areas like Brick Lane (where he regularly shops) to create an image that is what we think the audience will appeal to while also having the very unique look of our artist.
For the actress in our video we've decided to go for an attractive girl from the target audience so to allow the female members of the target audience to relate to the character and for the male target audience to be interested in her because she's attractive while also looking like someone they could know because they're all from the same target audience.
Due to our artists music being almost indie urban like we've decided to give our artist an indie yet vintage look. We want the artists style to represent their music and how they really are so we've decided to present the artist with some basic ideas to work from like the 11th doctor and fashion from areas like Brick Lane (where he regularly shops) to create an image that is what we think the audience will appeal to while also having the very unique look of our artist.For the actress in our video we've decided to go for an attractive girl from the target audience so to allow the female members of the target audience to relate to the character and for the male target audience to be interested in her because she's attractive while also looking like someone they could know because they're all from the same target audience.
Locations
As far as locations have been considered we decided that due to the fact that our video occurs in multiple locations that we would want several easily distinguishable locations whether that be by color or architectural style. We want Robert to be in a basic school assembly hall which will play on the idea of him being young while also giving the idea of a person giving a speech about something to an audience, something that he is doing with his music giving awareness to Sea kelp.
For the scenes with the girl we know we want a scene in a bathroom where it would be her moment of realisation, as a visual link to her and Robert we feel that every other location should be slightly more cluttered and urban while the scene in the bathroom signifies her awareness of Robert we feel that perhaps the bathroom should look more plain,empty and sterile like the school hall Robert is in singing.The bedroom the girl wakes up in will be the most disorganised and cluttered set so that as the song progresses and she gets closer to Robert each set gets plainer,emptier and more sterile; almost like a cleansing of her mind.
Scenes on the street should be done up in London to help attract a wider audience and also show how confined the girl feels, specifically in tourist attractions to show the negative side of her emotions however we will also show areas of Brick Lane to make the audience relate to the character and also give the character a fortress of solitude where she can feel happy.Narrative
For the narrative we had decided on the idea of Robert receiving a letter from a fan talking about how she feels uncomfortable in her skin and then seeing the girls day to day routine through her eyes where we see how she starves herself,takes dieting pills and is bullied and influenced by the media. 
Myself and my partner came up with the idea that the dual narrative between Robert and the girl should be visually heightened with the girls narrative being the fake side of the world with her being fat and having her bedroom floor covered with beauty magazines and cut outs of models while the floor around Roberts pianos are covered with articles about girls starving themselves and shows the negative side of the media.Ideas we had for the narrative included a scene of the anorexic girl looking in the mirror to reveal her reflection being several stones larger than her self and shot transitions like her downing diet pills and having a smooth transition in Robert looking from the ceiling to piano or her throwing up in a toilet and as the camera tracks the vomit we transition to Robert skidding his fingers down keys on the piano.
Props
We intend to use a piano, preferably a classic standard piano (,nothing too extravagant) because we want to keep it looking rather average and not out of place for our artist. We like the design of classic standard pianos because even without our artist they are already very iconic.
We would also like to have hundreds of magazines littered along the girls bedroom floor while for Robert we have hundreds of news papers to show contrasting imagery surrounding the idea of weight loss and dieting. 
The only other major prop I can think of is the stage lights which will surround Robert and give his scenes a studio like atmosphere so we can clearly connote to the audience that this is the performance side of the narrative.
Shots/ Influential products
I like the image of Alicia Keys on her piano because it's simplistic and iconic and instantly draws attention to the artist.
Further looking at pianos I really like Kanye Wests' video "Runaway" because of a high angle shot of him standing on a piano because it looks so powerful and gives a clear view of all that is occurring around him, it's a camera shot I'd very much like to create.
I like the music video for "Runaway" because it uses interesting imagery of ballerinas and simplistic staging to create a beautiful majestic video while the lyrics of the song and the footage captured from Kanye's performance make the song feel like a dramatic monologue or story. I would like to replicate the feelings this song creates with Robert's song.
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