Monday, 10 January 2011
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Music Video- Initial Feedback
For the non- media background group I am going to conduct a focus group with categorised sheets which they can fill in so it is easy and quick for them to take part.
I knew I wanted to used the non-media focus group to concentrate on whether they understood the narrative of the music video, and also if lighting and editing was at a good standard.
Here are the sheets I created I was able to sift through these more conveniently take notes and make adjustments than if I'd done a spoken focus group in which I had to take notes.
I knew I wanted to used the non-media focus group to concentrate on whether they understood the narrative of the music video, and also if lighting and editing was at a good standard.
Here are the sheets I created I was able to sift through these more conveniently take notes and make adjustments than if I'd done a spoken focus group in which I had to take notes.
The general feedback I got was that the narrative was understandable, with 6 people wanting this one guy and reacting to it in different ways. The seven sins was recognised by a few people but it was English literature people who identified this. But I was relieved that there was an understanding of narrative for all of the people in the focus group.
Most of the group also understood the link between the longing for "Lust" and the lyric's ( especially the chorus). Although in further notes some said timing could be better for when "Lust" is shown, and I agree with them. But after trying to play around with the footage to fit it in with the lyrics I realised I would affect the narrative too the point of confusion for the viewer if I tried to move it into line with the chorus lyrics.
In terms of lighting and editing all the comments were very praising with only one jump being noticed by one person.
They commented that the overall product was fitting for the song and type of genre and I very different type of music video with most choir ones being performance video's. I was pleased with this as I hoped that audiences would recognise this is different for choir's but this is because Scala is different and more mainstream.
For the media background BTEC media student i'm going to take notes on improvements he suggests from watching the piece.
The student felt my editing was done to a high standard, but he noticed a few jumps which I put a slide transition in and edited to cover. He understood the narrative of the piece, I voiced concerns about the storyline and that the Lust character is meant to be a memory or a figure of the girls and boy's imagination. I looked at slide effects and there was a dream one which seemed ideal, I applied it to all the slides in which the figure of Lust is featured (which is usually at the end of the piece) I soon realised that I'd need to apply a slide transition before it happens because the sharp cut from normal lighting to the shots with the effect was too dramatic.
I went and applied all the edits and transitions to do the dream effect and wasn't happy with the result, it was too edited for the genre it's in and I just personally felt it looked better without the effect on. This might make some viewers confused and be unsure of who/what is "Lust"'s role but it can be interpreted differently by different people. With him being a figure of some of the girls imagination or in the case of the green scene it could of been him who sent them photo's trying to get back into her life. It's all down to personal perception so the video will always mean different things to different viewers.
This initial feedback was crucial as it allowed me to find mistakes and issues and improve on the strengths before uploading it on to you tube where it'll compete with other music video's from A levels and real music video's with large budgets.
The student felt my editing was done to a high standard, but he noticed a few jumps which I put a slide transition in and edited to cover. He understood the narrative of the piece, I voiced concerns about the storyline and that the Lust character is meant to be a memory or a figure of the girls and boy's imagination. I looked at slide effects and there was a dream one which seemed ideal, I applied it to all the slides in which the figure of Lust is featured (which is usually at the end of the piece) I soon realised that I'd need to apply a slide transition before it happens because the sharp cut from normal lighting to the shots with the effect was too dramatic.
I went and applied all the edits and transitions to do the dream effect and wasn't happy with the result, it was too edited for the genre it's in and I just personally felt it looked better without the effect on. This might make some viewers confused and be unsure of who/what is "Lust"'s role but it can be interpreted differently by different people. With him being a figure of some of the girls imagination or in the case of the green scene it could of been him who sent them photo's trying to get back into her life. It's all down to personal perception so the video will always mean different things to different viewers.
This initial feedback was crucial as it allowed me to find mistakes and issues and improve on the strengths before uploading it on to you tube where it'll compete with other music video's from A levels and real music video's with large budgets.
Tuesday, 14 December 2010
Music Video- Editing
In the AS thriller piece learning to edit was a long process, this time even with an updated software I felt like I had the knowledge to create a more creative and better edited piece of footage. The main issue that i'd never had before was that I had too much footage. The song is 4 minutes 19 seconds long this meant for the six sins/ scenes there should be about 43 seconds each.
When I first began to edit I ignored the amount of time it was going to be and just concentrated on making the narrative of each scene work. This left me with 5 out of 6 scenes being an except able duration and just one scene Greed being considerably longer. Trying to edit this scene in a way that would bring back the balance to the piece was my biggest task. I attempted to do this by going through each clip and trying to cut down each one by a few seconds or milliseconds. This worked to a point, but then I realised that I needed to cut out a more dramatic amount of the narrative to make it work. When filming the shot I broke the scene down into 4 parts. Part 1 was the woman coming through the door and placing her shopping bags down. Part 2 was her walking over to the sofa and getting a drink. Part 3 was getting up to collect the envelopes then walking back to her seat. Part 4 was opening up the envelopes. Part 4 I sped up because the shots were over 40 seconds long just for two envelopes to be opened.
The excess amount of film is much better than a lack of footage all together, it took about 3 hours of cutting milliseconds off all the clips but especially Greed because I was unable to cut any of the parts out without having a lack of a range of shots or the narrative of that scene not making sense.
After getting it down to the right length, I got some non-media background people to give me feedback on how it looks, this is without music. I did this so then if I made a blatant error it could be fixed before adding the music. Once the music is added it is much more difficult to edit, so after correcting the non-media background criticisms i'll get a BTEC media student from the local college to look and see if he has any tips and can see any errors. Then the music will be applied and i'll be able to get the final audience feedback.
Look at Music Video- Initial Feedback for how I conducted the focus group and the editing I did as a result of the feedback.
When I first began to edit I ignored the amount of time it was going to be and just concentrated on making the narrative of each scene work. This left me with 5 out of 6 scenes being an except able duration and just one scene Greed being considerably longer. Trying to edit this scene in a way that would bring back the balance to the piece was my biggest task. I attempted to do this by going through each clip and trying to cut down each one by a few seconds or milliseconds. This worked to a point, but then I realised that I needed to cut out a more dramatic amount of the narrative to make it work. When filming the shot I broke the scene down into 4 parts. Part 1 was the woman coming through the door and placing her shopping bags down. Part 2 was her walking over to the sofa and getting a drink. Part 3 was getting up to collect the envelopes then walking back to her seat. Part 4 was opening up the envelopes. Part 4 I sped up because the shots were over 40 seconds long just for two envelopes to be opened.
The excess amount of film is much better than a lack of footage all together, it took about 3 hours of cutting milliseconds off all the clips but especially Greed because I was unable to cut any of the parts out without having a lack of a range of shots or the narrative of that scene not making sense.
After getting it down to the right length, I got some non-media background people to give me feedback on how it looks, this is without music. I did this so then if I made a blatant error it could be fixed before adding the music. Once the music is added it is much more difficult to edit, so after correcting the non-media background criticisms i'll get a BTEC media student from the local college to look and see if he has any tips and can see any errors. Then the music will be applied and i'll be able to get the final audience feedback.
Look at Music Video- Initial Feedback for how I conducted the focus group and the editing I did as a result of the feedback.
Saturday, 4 December 2010
Music Video- Envy
Research
In the film Se7en Envy was shown through the Envy the killer had for Brad Pitt's character,
I brainstormed this idea because I thought it would be good if the lust for the person had turned them into almost a stalker.
Within the media I felt gay relationships are still a taboo, and because of this I chose to have a man being envious to the point of stalking and insanity. This would show diversity and something different which would make the video stand out.
I decided to look into the first time this taboo was broken within the media industry so I could find out more about how much of an issue the media made it out to be.
Its shows Stephen Gately intimately with another man, but only in the same way in which the other members of the band are with woman so he's right in that there shouldn't be an issue because it is legal for two men to get married in this society so music video's should be able to show both straight and gay relationships without there being any issue.
I more recent example of this is Katy Perry's music video to Firework which shows two men kissing, this shows the progression of society because there were few articles writing this up as an issue.
Here's the video to demonstrate how it has gone from being acceptable within media just to show an intimate conversation to being able to show gay couple kissing.
In my Envy clip, I won't be able to use a a clip in which the two men interact as it will ruin the theme i'm going for throughout that lust is a memory or an illusion. Instead i'm going to have it quite eerie with the Envy man creating a picture of him and Lust by cutting out the face of a girl creating the photo then burning the girls face to show the Envy he feels is an extreme way.
Planning
I created a theme board for the Envy character;
Here's Lust;
In the film Se7en Envy was shown through the Envy the killer had for Brad Pitt's character,
I brainstormed this idea because I thought it would be good if the lust for the person had turned them into almost a stalker.
Within the media I felt gay relationships are still a taboo, and because of this I chose to have a man being envious to the point of stalking and insanity. This would show diversity and something different which would make the video stand out.
I decided to look into the first time this taboo was broken within the media industry so I could find out more about how much of an issue the media made it out to be.
This is an article I found about the first time a gay couple appeared on a music video, the person in the band who was portraying one half of the gay couple is known as being gay by the press didn't see the "issue" with it. This was in 2008 and a break through of this kind is huge to those in the population who are gay and it brings more social acceptance to them.
Its shows Stephen Gately intimately with another man, but only in the same way in which the other members of the band are with woman so he's right in that there shouldn't be an issue because it is legal for two men to get married in this society so music video's should be able to show both straight and gay relationships without there being any issue.
I more recent example of this is Katy Perry's music video to Firework which shows two men kissing, this shows the progression of society because there were few articles writing this up as an issue.
Here's the video to demonstrate how it has gone from being acceptable within media just to show an intimate conversation to being able to show gay couple kissing.
In my Envy clip, I won't be able to use a a clip in which the two men interact as it will ruin the theme i'm going for throughout that lust is a memory or an illusion. Instead i'm going to have it quite eerie with the Envy man creating a picture of him and Lust by cutting out the face of a girl creating the photo then burning the girls face to show the Envy he feels is an extreme way.
Planning
I created a theme board for the Envy character;
Here's Lust;
From this and my idea, I created a storyboard to allow me to look at the way in which the scene would take place and this would help me on the day and keep me to the timetable which I'm going to create on the call sheet.
Preparation for video shoot day 6 of 6
These are the photo's I picked to have of the Envy person and the Lust who Envy will paste together.
The picture frame with just Envy in it.
This is the room I decided to use because it is small it was easy to make it seem dark and eerie.
The desk which will be the main focus of filming, the candles are missing from the piece which he burns the girls face from the picture.
Call sheet;
The call sheet made me stay on track and held vital information.
Monday, 29 November 2010
Music Video- Wrath
Research
With wrath from the beginning I had this image of a flash of anger, and a breaking glass. Even throughout my research I kept this in mind.
In Se7en the Wrath was Brad Pitt's character seeking revenge. The idea of revenge was appealing but I knew straight away that it would take up to much time for a song to establish the relationship then have it break down then the act of revenge take place.( Along with the other sins) I knew it wasn't realistic.
When I looked up the meaning of Wrath as a sin and it states that it is uncontrollable anger which presents with self destructiveness and violence.
The violence idea stuck in my head interlinking with the smashing of the glass.
Whilst planning this I'd recently watched the social network which is a film based on the creation of facebook, Scala's song played on the trailer and the promotion of it had been incredible so it persuaded me to buy it. I then incorporated the idea that she would find out on facebook something about the figure of Lust so then it would be up to date with contemporary society as facebook seems to have taken over the internet and all other social networking sites.
Planning
here's the themeboards I created of Wrath and Lust;
The idea of the glass breaking and the incorporation of facebook fuelled my storyboards and I came up with the final one shown below
Preparation for video shoot day 5 of 6
Compared to the other scenes that took lots of preparation and set building this room seemed perfect for the scene for Wrath as it is unexpected as you think of wrath as dark and mysterious, but I wanted to make the Envy scene seem really dark compared to this scene.
The below pictures are of the room set up and ready just before filming.
With wrath from the beginning I had this image of a flash of anger, and a breaking glass. Even throughout my research I kept this in mind.
In Se7en the Wrath was Brad Pitt's character seeking revenge. The idea of revenge was appealing but I knew straight away that it would take up to much time for a song to establish the relationship then have it break down then the act of revenge take place.( Along with the other sins) I knew it wasn't realistic.
When I looked up the meaning of Wrath as a sin and it states that it is uncontrollable anger which presents with self destructiveness and violence.
The violence idea stuck in my head interlinking with the smashing of the glass.
Whilst planning this I'd recently watched the social network which is a film based on the creation of facebook, Scala's song played on the trailer and the promotion of it had been incredible so it persuaded me to buy it. I then incorporated the idea that she would find out on facebook something about the figure of Lust so then it would be up to date with contemporary society as facebook seems to have taken over the internet and all other social networking sites.
Planning
here's the themeboards I created of Wrath and Lust;
The idea of the glass breaking and the incorporation of facebook fuelled my storyboards and I came up with the final one shown below
Preparation for video shoot day 5 of 6
Compared to the other scenes that took lots of preparation and set building this room seemed perfect for the scene for Wrath as it is unexpected as you think of wrath as dark and mysterious, but I wanted to make the Envy scene seem really dark compared to this scene.
The below pictures are of the room set up and ready just before filming.
Call Sheet
The call sheets were very important in helping me stay on time and in keeping vital information like the local hospital and police station in an easily accessible format.
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Music Video- Pride
Research
Initial research in the film Se7en showed pride as "die pretty or live ugly". This is shown in a exaggerated way but it makes the point that pride is based on "love of self".
When I think of Pride I think of a mirror and looking into it for days on end. I looked for images which showed this image I had. This perfectly depicts the image I had for Pride.
Initial research in the film Se7en showed pride as "die pretty or live ugly". This is shown in a exaggerated way but it makes the point that pride is based on "love of self".
When I think of Pride I think of a mirror and looking into it for days on end. I looked for images which showed this image I had. This perfectly depicts the image I had for Pride.
Planning
Here's the theme board I created for Pride featuring the girl who will be playing the part of Pride.
Below the figure of Lust will appear in the mirror, then disappear.
The main planning took place within the storyboarding, as I just needed to plan the angles in which I'd be able to film into the mirror seeing the girl and the figure of lust without any of the equipment i.e. tripod, camera and lighting.
Photo's of the Storyboard-
Call Sheet
Preparation of video shoot day 4 of 6
The room before I removed everything and cleaned the room.
I moved everything out of the room and hovered, I tried the mirror where the alcohol is but decided on it in front of the curtains.
The room set up and pictures of where the lighting is in terms of the camera to stop glare from the mirror.
Friday, 26 November 2010
Music Video- Sloth
Research
In the initial research the film Se7en shows sloth as a man who has been tied down to bed and left to decay for a year. When found he appears to be dead, but he is in fact alive.
My further research into Sloth I found that the meaning has changed over time. In the 17th century the meaning of Sloth was the failure to utilize ones talents and gifts. The more contemporary view goes further by seeing all laziness and indifference as a sin.
My research also showed that Sloth is considered the least serious sin compared with the other sins.
In the initial research the film Se7en shows sloth as a man who has been tied down to bed and left to decay for a year. When found he appears to be dead, but he is in fact alive.
My further research into Sloth I found that the meaning has changed over time. In the 17th century the meaning of Sloth was the failure to utilize ones talents and gifts. The more contemporary view goes further by seeing all laziness and indifference as a sin.
My research also showed that Sloth is considered the least serious sin compared with the other sins.
a sin of omission than of commission.
I felt the older meaning of Sloth as a sin would be easier to portray than just laziness. Talent made me think of musical talent and thats where my planning began.
Planning
I created a theme board with the picture of the girl who will feature as "Sloth" in this scene.
From the themeboard the idea of wasted time and talent is what gave me the idea for the piece.
The idea began with me thinking the girl would be playing saxophone and through editing i'd make it look like time was passing then she'd become frustrated and look up and there the figure of lust would be. It will be as if the thought of him makes her fail to utilize her talents.
I created a storyboard for the idea with a saxophone.
But then when I tried to book a room to film this scene in at school it was unavailable so I came up with a knew idea which would be easier to organize to film. This was with the girl playing a piano at a friends house rather than it being her playing a saxophone. The figure of lust is in the same way as above.
Here is the first storyboard (with a saxophone)-
The Final one with the piano -
Preparation of the video shoot day 3 of 6
Location-
A friend allowed me to use his house and piano for this scene.
This was the room before we removed everything and cleaned the floor and piano.
These pictures show the room after the clean and me testing the lighting with the blinds closed but curtains open but then deciding that the lighting works better with the curtains closed.
This was the other light set up to light up the girls face.
For the girl to play piano and look believable for half an hour before we began filming the friend who owns the piano gave her some lessons in how to play and make it look as real as possible.
Call Sheet
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