Analysis: MGMT Album Cover

We'll be analysing the album design/artwork for Oracular Spectular by MGMT. The album design is successful because it uses a consistence colour/image theme on the outside covers and inside they contrast this with a black and white image of the artist. The bright colour scheme represents the genre of music, and makes it easily recognisable for the the artist's fans. These colours have also been used on single covers from the album, and the music videos such as 'Electric Feel'. There is a tribal theme in the photography and the 'Electric Feel' music video which makes the band very unique, and again makes them easily recognisable.

The the simple logo has been used on the front cover, but also on the spine and on the inside. All the relevant information is included, the parental guidance sticjer, the barcode, track listing, the record labels, production, distribution, copyright notices and websites. On the inside there are details on directors and producers, the thank yous, and the recording location. These are ideas which we want to include in our music video digipak.

Blog response

I am happy with the comments we recieved from the other groups in our class. The main criticisms of our video is that the acting isn't great or that it seems to drag on. In response to this, I believe that it was a hard video to act as it is very emotional at the start and more upbeat in the second half, and the changing tempo was hard to adapt to. The dragging of the video may seem to be there but i belive that we couldn't keep changing the location and costume and other things as this would have diverted the attention away from the storyline and this therefore would have made our music video unsuccessful. Overall, i am very happy with the mu video and the comments are good about our lyp syncing overall and the video as a whole.

Review: Music Video Feedback

It's important to get feedback from other groups, this will give an honest indication as to whether our music video was successful, and if we had improved since the rough cut.

Group 27's feedback was very satisfying, they liked our idea and thought that the general narrative correlated well with the songs message. They specifically commented on the lighting filters we used, I find this particularly encouraging as it was an idea the group had to improve the overall atmosphere. However they said that the rap section could have been made better with accurate lip-syncing. I disagree with this, as we are sure that it was lip-synced correctly, it way seem off-time as the rap is quite fast.

Group 28 particularly liked the first half of the video, in the hotel room, with the slow cuts being very successful in their opinion. The group also commented on the success of parallel editing which allows the audience to follow the narrative of the music video. This is crucial as the music video centres around the strength of the narrative.

Group 25 commented on the flashback idea which we added towards the end of the editing stage, we felt this was strength of the video, and so did group 25. Again they said this flashback made the narrative more clear and gave it some finality.

Group 30's feedback of our music video was particularly critical, however this honesty does show a different perspective. They highlighted the thoughtful editing, and the flashback clip again, along with the professionalism of the piece overall. Having said this, the group thought that certain parts of the music video began to drag or became less interesting - generally towards the end. I feel that this clips slow down here because the song is coming to an end, and we wanted to create a more intimate atmosphere.

Group 29 liked most aspects of our music video, including the lighting, location and costumes. However one area of improvement was to add more shots to the rap scenes. We are well aware of this and feel that in the future we would add more shots to the part, this would represent the rapper better and the general beat of the song at this point.

Overall the feedback was very good, and I feel that all the groups managed to comment on different aspects of the music video. This proves that many elements of our music video are successful and appealing to the audience.

Final Music Video Feedback

Group 27:
We all thoroughly enjoyed the music video. The whole concept of the video was very well executed, and we liked it.

Did the piece meet the genre conventions?
We found that the video met the conventions of the genre very well, having a video as slow and sad as the song itself.

Did the piece use editting techniques well?
There was a wide variety of editing techniques used in the video - all of which we thought were well implemented, uses such as the split screen and light filters were well executed.

Does the piece sell or promote the video well?
Yes. The video follows the lyrics of the song very well and the video looks mature and professional.


Does the piece use effective camera angles?
The video uses a wide variety of camera angles all of which make it look unique and professional.

Some bits could be better lip synced as sometimes it looks a bit off time (on the bridge when Nick is rapping)


Group 26:
Genre conventions - we believed that the clip represented the genre well because the narrative fit into the genre type e.g. the slow pace, which was reflected through the slow cuts and clips especially at the start.

Editing techniques - the split screen technique was very effective, and allowed the audience to keep track of both artists and to see both characters point of views as well as their emotions at the same time. Also, the lighting was really well done.

Camera angles - they used a variety of camera angles, such as using props to create the angles like a mirror, which worked really well. however, more shot types could've been used to add another dimension to the storyline.

Sell or promote the video - the costumes sells the artist, e.g. the color represents the male


Group 25:
Really good lip syncing, aswell as storyline. Costumes were appropriate and fitted well.
very good editing techniques used like the flashback scene in the background to clearly represent the storyline to the audience.
cheesy ending let it down Nick.....
very beautiful and photogenic choice of actors
very

Group 30:
Very stereotypical video for the song and this seems to be the trend for slow hip hop video. The footage and lipsyncing also worked very well and look quite proffesional. The choice of shots was quite small and was generally filmed from a eye level and made watching it quite boring. The footage represented the genre well and stayed true to the conventions. The editing was done well with clear thought put into it and the montage that was emposed in the background worked well. started off really well but after that i lost all interest and it become a drag. this is a shame as it had high potential and better acting was needed and more tohught into the video as a whole.

Group 29:
Genre conventions:
We think this music video follows all the genre conventions. A very good use of costumes, props, lighting, costumes etc..
Editing:
We thought the editing was really good, The lip syncing was spot on and the use of effects was great.
The rap scene and some of the other scenes could have been edited a bit more with some more shots as some of these scenes lasted too long.

Final Music Video

Here is the final edit of the music video.

Editing Diary - 14/11/11

Today was our final lesson to edit and complete the music video. We we're able to add in our rewind effect, this occurs on the long note before the instrumental. Originally there was a fairly long clip of the Adele actress holding this note, it seemed very awkward and almost boring. We thought this note could be used to symbolise Adele as she thought back over the trauma of the argument earlier in the video.

The idea of the rewind effect is to have all the clips from the hotel scene, and to play them backwards as if they are being rewound. All these clips were arranged as a separate layer under Adele's long note, all the clips were also sped up to three times the original speed. Using a dissolve effect, we made both the original clip of the Adele actress, and the rewind clips viewable. This works quite well, it's a very original effect and shows an individual style. This effect also feeds into the next clips well, as they use dissolve as well. It gives the video good continuity, shows off our skills, and enhances the narrative.

We we're also able to add colour correction to the rap clips, we thought that a slight blue tint would sharpen the clips and give them a dramatic atmosphere. It also shows good continuity as the hotel scene is stylized with blue colour correction.

Editing Diary - 11/11/11

Toady we continued to add the finishing touches to the music video. After researching Kanye West's video effects, and colour correction styles, I decided to add some contrast onto the rap scenes which gives a similar effect. I also added in a few more transitions such as a split screen and dissolve to give the video more variety. The alley section of the rap was quite monotonous before, so I broke this up with an addition clip.

After getting feedback from the teachers we have been able to greatly improve our video, the variety, making it more enjoyable for the audience. On Monday, we will add in our rewind effect (explain in Monday's post) and some more colour correction to the rap section.

Editing Diary - Last Lesson

Today, it is the second last day of editing, therefore we will be trying to perfect our video as much as possible. We are missing two members of our group, so Sam will continue to edit as much as he can, whilst i will continue the research into the Ancillary products. George not being here is a little bit of a problem as he knows lots about final cut, so we are limited to what we can do until monday where he can add some finishing touches.

Feedback Evaluation: Media Studies Teachers

We thought it would help us to get some feedback from our teachers and the course team leader. This will enable us to achieve a better music video, that is more successful, enjoyable and meets the marking criteria more strongly.

The general feedback was that the hotel scenes were strong, and that the artificial lighting had defintely assisted this. However, the rap scenes are weaker and reminiscent of "home movies". This is partly due to the natural lighting, the performance and the flat effect of some of the shots. But we have been given some advice that can greatly improve this.

We were shown Beyonce's new music video "Countdown", which has a very simple narrative yet is still engaging for the audience. You can see that the quick cuts, and the effect of returning to similar shots gives the video variety. The production team have also decided to use a wide range of special effects and transitions to break up the footage. Split screens, wipes, fades and other transitions all give the video variety.

After looking at this video we are able to see how a video can be made more engaging. If we can make our cuts quicker then this will give the video more pace and action. As we have a clear narrative we can use split screens to illustrate parallel events, this is an example of parallel editing. Even simple effects such as dissolves and fades will improve the general delivery of the piece. We have also been advised to use the colour wheels and hues to adjust the colours, this both improving the "home movie" effect which we have, and also giving some depth.

One area of improvement is the long note from Adele before the instrumental. We are currently just showing one shot of the Adele actress on the fencing, this is quite bland. George had the idea that we could do a flashback or rewind effect, where everything that has happened before this note will be shown in a quick rewind effect. This will give the impression that Adele is thinking over the argument and will link in well with the narrative, it also shows our editing skills as we will both use speed and rewind tools to create this effect. This flashback section could be in black and white, like earlier flashback clips. Below is a screenshot of this long note, to show how we will improve it.

Editing Diary - 08/11/11

We have now completed the cutting process. Now we are working on the effects, transitions and stylizing of the video. A blue tint is going to be used on the hotel room scenes, as this reflects the mood that we are trying to create. The rap scenes however need a different style as these shots all use natural lighting, this causes the effects to look different outside.

In Kanye's video "Runaway", the video has been enhanced by a very high contrast edit. This has emphasised the colours of green and black. It also appears as if the colours have become more saturated. You can see "Runaway" below, and another video "Amazing" which uses similar techniques in it's lighter scenes. We could trial this in our own video.

As you can see the colours of green and blue are very prominent. We will experiment with these colours and add them to our blog when we next edit.

Ancillary Products: Fonts

We have been research previous media products from our artists. Along with the styles and photography that we have found, it is important to also consider the logos and fonts used.

Adele's latest album "21" has a very simple font. I found a forum thread on DaFont (here) which offers some suggestions as to the fonts used on Adele's cover. The font is most likely "Existence Light". It's crucial that we use a recognisable font on the ancillary products, this is because it will be noticeable for our target audience. This goes hand in hand with the use of a colour scheme and styling of the photography. Although "Melt My Heart to Stone" was originally from Adele's "19" era, there have been several Urban Noise Remixes that use this font and colour scheme. Also Adele is currently promoting and touring with the "21" album, so it would make sense to follow the current colour scheme and fonts.

Above is Adele's "21" album cover. Below is an example of the Existence Light font:

Adele may be the main artist on the track, but Kanye's fonts must be considered too. Kanye has changed his styling and use of fonts over time. On one of his most recent covers for "808s & Heartbreak", the font is again very simple and at a fixed width and spacing. The fonts for both Adele's cover and Kanye's are both simple, and follow a similar font-family.

Editing Diary - 07/11/11

So far we have edited the main sequence together. This process has involved lip-syncing all the necessary clips and arranging them in the correct order so that the narrative makes sense to the audience. The fact we filmed shots multiple times benefited us when it came to editing because we had had a choice of shots which we could use.

After lip-syncing and arranging clips we will add video filters and transisitions to the video to generate a stylistic feel to the video. We have previously experimented with a blue tint in our test footage, and we think that this would still be a good idea as it will represent the sad theme. We would like to add a lighting streak filter to our video because we have seen it used in professional music videos and we think we can use it to enhance our lighting.

In the first screenshot you can see our timeline during during the hotel scenes of our music video. The lighting effects have worked quite effectively as you can see on the Adele actress, we still want to add some colour correction to these shots to enhance there delivery. The second screenshot displays our use of a black and white/colour correction. In this particular shot the desaturation has been used to signify the flashback within the narrative.

Plan - 07/11/11

Today, we will continue to edit the video so that it will be completed for our deadline. By the end of the lesson, we will only have a small section of the video to complete. We are trying to edit the sections in the track where the lip syncing did not work so well and sections where there are no lyrics at all. We will do this by using little clips of adele and kanye west on there own in the seperate locations so the song is still following the storyline.

Notes after lesson:
We have now completed cutting the video, and have begun to experiment with some colour correction filters. These will be details in a post soon. We still need to improve the rap parts as this the weaker part of our music video, this can be achieved with some colour correction and adjusting the order of the shots.

Classification Research

Every video should be given a classification, the BBFC has guidelines so that all videos/media are classified correctly. We think that although the video is suitable for all ages, the content of the rap lyrics would suit a 12 classification. The guidelines for this are as follows:

• Discriminatory language/behavior must not be endorsed by the work as a whole.
• Any misuse of drugs must be minimal and should not be condoned.
• Moderate physical/psychologic threat may be present but should be infrequent and unsustained.
• Dangerous behavior that could be imitated should be absent from film.
• Moderate Language is allowed.
• Brief sexual content is allowed.
• Mature themes are allowed but must be appropriate for younger teenagers.
• Violence in the film should not be focused on gore/injuries unless it is justified by the context

Plan - 04/11/11

Today is one of the last lessons we will have to edit our video, we are currently cutting and placing our video clips. We have a lesson on Monday, Tuesdsay and an hour of the lesson on Friday to finish off our video. We plan to make sure that all of our clips are in the correct place by the end of Mondays lesson and then on Tuesday and Fridays lesson we will add in effects and make the final touches to the video.

Rough Cut Feedback

Positive feedback

• Lip syncing was good
• Really well thought out locations
• Great outfits and varied shots
• Great editing
• lighting is really good
• Good selection of mise-en-scene
• Acting was brilliant
• Good character choices
• Good variety of shots
• Good continuity

Constructive feedback

• Quicker shots needed of the male singer?
• Kanye West part needs more action?
• Lip synching could be slightly more emphasized?
• Need to make more of the argument flashbacks?
• Rap part at the end goes on too long in comparison to the beginning of the video.
• More variety of camera angles?

In order to overcome the feedback, we need to edit the shots of the rapping to make each shot a bit shorter, and more dramatic, we also need to edit the rest of our shots to fill the whole music video and use a variety of shot types we filmed. We will see if we can change the other feedback points and see if it makes our video more effective, if not we will keep it the same.

Plan: Week After Half-Term

There are several things that we still need to do in the project, here are list them all:

• Complete editing rough cut footage
• Write a post on the rough cut, and how we can improve it
• Research fonts
• Research the classification
• Research digipack covers
• Research magazine covers
• Begin to work on digipack or magazine cover
• Put animatic on the blog
• Put location assessment on the blog

Rough Cut Video

Kanye West Previous Covers

Kanye West covers are very different, they are generally very bright to reflect his rap style. His covers includes the trademark 'Dropout Bear', this makes his products recognisable for his fans and the target audience. Below are some examples of his covers.

Although Kanye West does use bright colours, we will go with Adele's themes and colours as she is the main artist of the song.  However, it is crucial that we analyse these covers as we can bring in elements such as the 'Dropout Bear', or the 'Parental Advisory' logo, perhaps even the fonts that are used.

Adele Previous Covers

It's important to analyse the previous products of both Adele and Kanye West. This will enable us to create a successful DVD cover and magazine cover that are both recognisable for the target audience, representing the song and artists well.

Adele's previous album covers are both very dark and use minimalistic colours. The song for our music video 'Melt My Heart To Stone' was originally on Adele's first album, which you can see below. You can see the use of shadows on the face, and the colour theme of browns and black. The text on the image is very basic, you can see that Adele's name is capitalized in a logo format, and is a very basic font such as Times New Roman.

The other album cover '21' is also very dark, it focuses on Adele's face as she looks down, this creates a emotional atmosphere. However, this new cover is in a black and white colour scheme and uses a different font. Again the font is very basic, and is used across all of the new single cover too, which incorporate both green and white colours.

Recently there as been a selection of new remixes of Adele songs by "Urban Noize". These include Melt my heart to stone ft. Kanye West and Won't Go ft. Jay-Z.

 

 

As you can see in these album covers they both have a "green theme' which uses a greenish background and a green font. The photos are generally quite dark and are high contrast emphasizing the shadows on the artists. This is important to note for our own DVD/digipack cover.

Ancillary Products: Photo Shoot (Editing)

I have begun using Adobe Lightroom to edit the photos taken in the hotel room last week. Lightroom is very similar to Photoshop, but it is specifically for editing photos rather than general graphic editing.

The software includes preset settings which you can use to create effects on your photos, however it also has sliders to change exposure, black, lighting, contrast, brightness, saturation and to adjust the colouring of the images. This software is actually used by professional photographers and includes advanced options and information about all the photos imported. For example, the ISO, aperture  shutter speed and the focal length of the lens used.

On the right is a screenshot of Lightroom. You can see some of the present options available, this enable easy editing for the less experienced user. You can download further Lightroom presets and even create your own if you want to keep the setting for a photo. The other part of the screenshot shows the more detailed editing options, these are also very easy to use and can be learnt simply by 'playing' with the sliders. I have had previous experience of this software and the options as I use it for another subject. These particular settings were actually used in for the individual Adele shot which you can see later in this post. I have also included some further screenshots from during the editing process.

The most powerful shot, in my opinion, is the one of the couple together. The poses are very strong, and the location does shows continuity with our music video. The first edit has a slight blue tint to it, and shows good contrats on both the models and background. The blue tint indicates a dark, depressing mood which is also represented by the actors posing. The photo is very similar to earlier Adele cover art, such as her '19' album cover which is very dark and shows shadows across the face. If we went for a high contrast edit like this, it would be recognisable for Adele fans.

Alternatively this other edit is extremely similar, except it is a simple black and white colour scheme. In Adele's more recent cover art, the colour scheme is often just black and white. Again I think it is important to include both artists on the cover, this means that the cover would appeal to two audiences. It would also highlight that the song is a remix featuring Kanye West. However, a downfall of this edit is that it has no sign of emotion at all. The mood of the song is not represented by colour, but by the posing which isn't totally clear.

The last two images are close ups on the Adele character. Again I have tried to edit this image so that it is similar to Adele's style. You will notice the harsh lighting and use of shadows, you can even see some of the mascara that was used in the music video. As I said before colour definitely has an impact on the mood represented by the photos, I have used a blue tint on both to emphasise the depression of Adele in this song.

In order to decide which image to use the group will have to have a discussion on what we all think is best. We will also need to research previous DVD covers and magazines to find what makes them successful. The screen shot below shows the process of editing in Lightroom, including the photo and the settings used to create this effect.

Editing Roles

Now that we have completed the filming process we need to begin on the ancillary products and editing.

We think that George should do the main editing on Final Cut, as he has the most experience and uses the software at home. Sam should help him as he wrote our the narrative, shot lists and breakdown, so he knows how the shots should come together to make sense and follow continuity. Daisy and Nick will begin to work on researching different techniques that we could use in editing, and will start to work on our ancillary products. The photos for the ancillary products have already been taken, but we still need to consider how the actual packaging should look.

Filming Day 2: Evaluation

Yesterday we were able to complete the filming process for our music video. We now need to complete editing and begin to research and experiment with our ancillary products.

Myself, George and Nick left college during our media lesson to begin filming the rap parts. Daisy came with Emily after her lesson so that we could do the remaining shots of them both on scene. We began filming at about 4:15 which gave us about 30 - 45 minutes before Daisy and Emily arrived. In this time we were able to an alternative location for some extra filming, this was not in are notes or earlier planning but feel that it suits the overall theme of the video. Below is an image of the old cricket building that we used, we put the Kanye character on the steps to begin rapping. This is also beneficial to the narrative as it isn't far from the hotel, meaning that people who know Cambridge we see this as being very believable.

After these shots we processed onto the shots of Parker's Peace, here we used a variety of shots. We aimed to used the dolly but found that this was too shaky, instead we tried a slow; steady handheld shot next to the Kanye character. We found that this worked quite well, and could create an uneasy effect for the audience after it has been edited.

The shots down at the river were very straight forward, we needed to make sure that the crucial part of the narrative was well performed. When Adele catches up with Kanye and gives him the rings, this is important so the narrative makes sense. The footage of the couple after this argument was filmed last week, we had extra time as we were able to leave earlier than expected. Of-course we needed some shots for the instrumental, which we had already got from last week but decided it was best to add some more to this.

Towards the end of the filming it began to get cold, therefore we felt as if the last few shots were quite rushed. However, we do not thing this will affect our footage too badly, we ensured that the same shot was taken many times. This gives us more options during the editing process.

ideas for ancillary products

 Melt my heart into stone - Adele feat Kanye West

Release date: 21st July 2011

• Review of song
• Review of Adele
• Information on song e.g. track duration
• Da font title?

Filming Update

Toady we will film the second part of the music video. We decided that Nick, Sam and George to leave at 3.30 so we could get as much done as possible before the light started to fade. Daisy, whilst we were doing this would wait for Emily who has to finish her lesson before coming to film her part as Adele. We planned to travel to the location by car, however there was a lack of petrol, so we have to get the bus which has consequently affected our time sheet.
We plan to film the rest of the film which includes Nick's part as Kanye and some of the storyline. we thought that this would look more effective in the daylight rather than in the dark.

Ancillary Products: Photo Shoot

Last week we used the University Arms Hotel to film the first half of our music video. Whilst we were there we took the opportunity to take a photo shoot of the characters, using the lighting and realistic setting. Here are some of the photos taken, as you can see they fit with the music video footage, and the styling that we have aimed to represent. These could be edited to improve this further.

Filming Update

Last week were able to film the first half of our music video, which included all the hotel scenes. We are now left with Kanye's rap section which will take place in various locations around Cambridge. Today we made sure that everyone was organised with costumes and lyrics, along with the time that we need to be ready. I have booked the camera, dolly and tripod as we will not need the extra lights outside. I will bring the equipment back on Wednesday morning at 9am.

The weather forecast for tomorrow shows that the day will get brighter, just still cold and windy. The wind will make our shots more dramatic as they will feature motion, also giving the music video more theatrical emotion. As it will be cold it is important that we are extra organised with the shots and locations, as the Adele character will get very cold quickly.

Forecast in Cambridge from UK Weather

Here is a list of shots that we need to take tomorrow, this will enable us to cover all the different parts of the song that remain. We will take the shots in a chronological order to show continuity.

• Rap shots in hotel entrance (50-60 seconds)
• Rap shots on Parker's Piece (60 - 70 seconds)
• Take some shots of Adele walking on Parker's Piece (used later as if she's following)
• Rap on the old streets, Trinity & Kings Parade (70 - 80 seconds)
• Alley ways (80 -95 seconds)
• Adele catches up, Kanye stops walking as Adele walks off screen (95 - 115 seconds)
• Adele walking away, close up, midshot, tracking, bridge, thinking, looking at hands. (115 - 135)
• Kanye West in alley where he stopped, closeups on rings and static shots (115 - 135)
• Kanye West short rap, tacking to Adele (135 - 155 seconds)
• Shot reverse shot as Kanye raps
• Kanye and Adele end shot.

Fact File: Kanye West

Kanye West songs usually include vocal samples from soul songs incorporated with his own drums and instrumentals. Influences include 70s R&B, baroque pop, trip hop, arena rock, alternative, electronica, synth-pop and classic music.

His debut album "The College Dropout" was released in 2004, followed by "Late Registration" in 2005. The third albm "Graduation" saw the start of his mainstream success, with songs such as "Stronger" being popular worldwide. Since then two more albums have been released "808s & Heartbreak" and "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" which have both gone to #1 in the US. In August 2011 a collaboration album with Jay-Z was released "Watch The Throne".

Kanye has received many awards including 14 Grammy Awards. This is due to his overwhelming sales, his top five tracks have sold 18.1 million, which places him at third most digitally downloaded over the past decade.

Kanye now owns his own record label "GOOD Music" with artists such as John Ledgend, Common and Kid Cudi. He is known for his logo of the "Dropout Bear", a bear which has appeared on the covers of three of his five albums as well as several single covers and music videos.

Fact File: Adele

Adele Atkins began her musical career when she graduated from the Brit School in 2006. She originally aspired to work in A&R, but after putting some demos on MySpace she gained a record deal with indie label XL Recordings.

Her first album "19" was a UK #1, causing her to receive the Brit Awards Critics Choice and BBC Sound of 2008. She spent the next two years touring and working on new material for the second album "21" which was released in 2011. The second album was incredibly popular, establishing her in the US as the album sold more than 350,000 copies in it's first week alone. In the UK the album held the #1 position for 16 week, and has now sold about 3 million copies since it's release. The singles "Rolling In The Deep" and "Someone Like You" have been most successful with music videos winning three MTV Awards. "Someone Like You" set a record by being the first single to sell more than 1 million copies in this decade.

Some of her inspirations include Pink, Beyonce, along with many female soul singers.

In October 2011, Adele has to cancel two her shows due to a hemorrhage on her vocals. She also commented on her next album which she has already begun writing for.

Filming Update

Toady we had to cancel our filming day. This was firstly due to the bad weather, and we thought that it might be dull or raining in the afternoon when we filmed, causing a disruption to continuity. Also the actor playing Adele forgot to bring her costume, this would have been a major problem and has ultimate caused us to cancel the filming.

Tomorrow we will begin editing the footage we have, and organize the re-filming date.

Filming Day 1: Evaluation

Yesterday we filmed the first part of our music video. Here is the evaluation of the day, including good and bad points along with any improvements that I think we could take into the second day.

We were able to start earlier that usual, we left college at roughly 3:20PM which gave us extra time for traveling to our locations and organizing both the actors and crew. As the hotel was booked for 5PM, we decided that we would try to film some shots for the instrumental section down at the river. We got several shots here, including some more intimate shots of the couple that could be used towards the end of the video. I found that we knew what we wanted to do, yet we were not exactly sure how we were going to do it. Therefore, this extra time at the river was a great advantage as we are no able to visual the location and have a better idea of the ideas which will and won't work.

After this we went to the hotel and were given our room. It took us about 30 minutes to set up the room, and organize the lighting which we haven't used before. The room was suitable for what we needed, and was realistic enough for the narrative. Whilst filming we found the lighting to be a great advantage to us, the effects it created were very artistic, especially for closeups on the Adele actor. The lights were very bright though, and sometimes they could have been seen in the mirror or back of a shot. However, we were able to overcome this. If we had the opportunity again we would defiantly use the lights, and perhaps some gels/filters if available.

It took two hours to film inside the hotel, this was an hour quicker than we had planned. This was good time management, as we had left plenty of time for the filming we needed. Although, this has made us realize how long and difficult the outdoor scenes could be. It will be important to have a thorougher plan in advance, looking over the shot list and break down will assist this.

After filming we decided to take some photos for the DVD cover and magazine cover. I brought my DSLR camera and knowledge from Photography AS to take some photos. Again we used the light to create a dramatic and theatrical look. I will upload these photos onto the blog, and also posts about the editing process of the photos. We will discuss this later.

The good points about the first filming day were that we were efficient with the time, well prepared with costumes, and had effective equipment. Whereas we need to improve on the clarity of ideas/shots before shooting, and perhaps brush up on the lyrics before tomorrow.

Email to Record Labels

(To read this, please click on the image and it will open in a new tab)

We have written an email to the record labels of Adele and Kanye West, requesting the use of their song in our music video to prevent any copyright issues. We also asked Adele for any background information about what influenced her to write the song.

It is important that we contact the labels regarding copyright issues, it shows that we have an awareness of the copyright issues which face the music industry today. If the record labels reply to our email, the extra information will give usual information that could be used when the magazine or Digi pack are produced.

Test Footage

Over the past couple of lessons, We have filmed and edited our test footage.  Our test footage will enable us to preview what some of the shots we have chosen will look like in the music video. We have also viewed what colour tint looks like on the footage using a blue tint and a sepia tint.

Weather Report

If we have time after videoing in the hotel, we plan to film the outside parts of our video on 11th October 2011, therefore the weather will play a big part on how easy it will be to film and also how the video will look. In the above image is the weather report for the 11th, the weather looks ideal for our filming; there will be no rain however the sky will most likely be overcast which is good because it will bring an added feel of sadness to our video which is what we want, however the clouds may make filming a little tricky because it will be a bit darker. If it is quite dark when we are filming, our only option is to brighten up the image on final cut. Even though the weather is not forecast to rain we still plan to take umbrellas and a cover for the camera in case it does rain. A lot of our video is indoors however, so weather won't be too much of a problem overall. If we do not have enough time to film the outdoor parts of the video on tuesday then we will film it on Thursday, the weather on Thursday is quite similar to the weather forecast for Tuesday so we will have the same plans for filming on thursday as we do for tuesday.

Moodboard

Here is our moodboard for our music video, we have included a number of images which have links to the main themes of our video. We have used an image of a couple fighting to represent the arguement in our video which is the main theme of the actual song. We have also inlcuded an image of a couple hugging as though they're in love with the rings to show that the couple are actual married and in love. On the moodboard I have placed pictures of the costumes we intend to use; a black dress for the female singer and a white suit for the male singer. I have also placed two images of location on the moodboard including n image of a posh hotel room which is where most of our video will be filmed (not the actual hotel room) and also there's a picture of the bridge which we intend to use to film our couple looking thoughtful towards the end of the song. We have also used a picture of a cup being thrown at a wall which is a screenshot from adeles video which we want to use as a shoe being thrown and there's a picture of a ;ady looking sad and thoughful because we want our female singer to be sitting in the hotel room with this kind of look going on.

Filming Week Plan

This week is our filming week, we have Tuesday and Thursday to complete the initial filming process. It is important that we take advantage of the three hour period at the hotel on Tuesday, we will need to take as many shots as possible which gives us more options in the editing stage. Here is the plan for each day this week, this includes equipment, peoples responsibilities, work in lessons, and other general notes.

Monday
We need to complete editing and upload the test footage from last week. Daisy needs to contact her friend who is going to be the Adele character, make sure she has her costume and has learnt the lyrics.

Tuesday
In this lesson we need to collect all equipment and paper work, this includes:

• Call sheets
• Storyboard and shot list
• Camera
• Tripod
• Dolly
• Two lights (with gels if available)
• Costumes
• Two rings
• 'Fake' photos
• Camera to take photos for Digipack/Magazine
• Song on iPod/Phone

Travel to the University Arms for 5PM. Spend the first 30 minutes setting up and preparing the actors. The remaining two and a half hours can be used to film the hotel narrative, and experiment with many different camera angles and shots. Aim to shoot every shot three times, and then spend time experimenting with lights and other camera shots which could be used in the parallel editing.

Wednesday
George and Sam will return the camera, tripod, dolly and lights from the previous day. No lesson this day, but a blog post should be created which evaluates the first day of filming.

Thursday
We need to collect all the equipment again for this day, except lights and fake photos will not be needed. Can start as soon as possible, take advantage of the lighting available. Film in chronological order as the light will look like it's naturally fading, shows continuity. The rings are really important for this day.

Friday
First return all the equipment. Evaluate the second day of filming, identify if we need to do further filming by checking over footage. Begin some editing for rough cut if time is available.

Target Audience

It is very important to know our target audience, this will allow us to make the video more successfully by targeting our audience. We can also use our findings to incorporate good intertexuality which will appeal to our target audience. Below is a mind map which lists some of the stereotypical characteristics of our viewers, this was both for fans of Adele and Kanye West.

After creating this mind mip, I visited Find Your Tribe which categorises a person through a questionnaire. I completed the questions according to the information I have already included in the mind mip, this included being a teenager, having an interest in music, being a social person, having knowledge of rap and classy brands. The results from the questionnaire was as follows:

You are a Blinger! There’s no ghetto fab for you – just fabulous. You wear your riches on your D & G sleeve. If you’ve got it, why not flaunt it? You love those that do – especially Americans. See heroes Jay-Z and P Diddy: men that aren’t afraid to flash their cash. You might not quite have their bank balances but you can still keep up appearances – your bedroom looks better than some of the ones in Cribs.

This description is very stereotypical, and it probably does represent the Kanye West audience. However, it does not describe the Adele audience. This proves that the the range of viewers for the song and video is a very big range, and there are a lot of differences between them. It would have been difficult for the song to marketed as a single, this is proved by the fact that the song did not have major impact on radio or the UK charts.

Analysis: Previous Music Video (Group 19)

We viewed a previous group's music video to gain knowledge of what a good music video project should look like. In Group 19's music video they used the song "Heart Skipped a Beat" by The XX.

The video suited the genre has it was very artistic, with the graffiti and the editing techniques used such as rewinding the video and adjusting the speed. The music and lyrics fit together, the narrative is very loose but there is some reference to the two singers being a couple. The thought that the shots and visuals all followed together very well, the shots showed continuity and the colour filter used did create a warmer tone as the group had suggested. I thought that the shots at the beginning, in the intro section of the song, were particularly professional. This because the lighting highlighted the objects well, the group had obviously thought about the lighting. The artist, The XX, has been represented as being of the indie genre and shows an appeal to the lower class with the graffiti and damaged location. There is obvious voyeurism in the piece, this is particularly realistic as the actors do not look at the camera for most of the video, and actions do not seem forced. However, the voyeurism is more relevant when the video shows narrative.

The editing techniques used in the music video were good, it was cut on the beat and the lip-syncing was almost flawless. They also decided to use extra effects such as colour correction,  and speed adjustment to give the music video some depth and create and interesting effect which suits the style of the video.

Analysis: Previous Music Video (Group 51)

I believe this video to be successful even though it does not follow Goodwin's points fully. The electronic style music is portrayed perfectly in the video by the group using the UV paint. This shows the music to be 'funky', and a song that is fun. The darkness in the video makes the song seem like it is designed to be played in a nightclub again this links to the genre of electronic/dance music. The fast editing helps create a party mood and links to the upbeat music. This video represents the song very well and is very effective in creating a happy mood.

Analysis: Previous Blog (Group 21)

In order to be successful with our music video project, and to improve our blog so far, I have taken a look at some past blogs. I found S1-21 (here) to be full of reliable, and well thought out posts, along with their final products which were also of a high standard. The groups music video was for "My Way" by the Next Men, it didn't follow a narrative, instead there was footage of skaters and graffiti in London. This definately suited the genre, and some of the lyrics in the song. However, I think the lip-syncing was not emphasised enough and looked weak or not rehearsed. Therefore we will ensure that our actors are well prepared with lyrics, costumes and acting required of them.

It was clear that the group has considered every element of the song from lyrics to the message, and had made many attempts to contact the original artists for further information. I felt that while viewing their blog I could see their thought process, as all research was documented - no matter how small or insignificant overall.

I watched some of the groups commentary, unlike other groups they were able to relay their ideas without an obvious script or prompt. This is a small thing, yet it does make a huge difference, and shows that all members of the group connected with the song, idea and statements made in the commentary.

Music Video Inspiration: Love The Way You Lie

"Love The Way You Lie" is a track by Eminem and Rihanna, it shows the themes of domestic violence which we are interested in. We have also drawn inspiration from the type of shots that are included, and the editing techniques used. The narrative clearly has a similar message to our chosen song "Melt My Heart To Stone", the girl can't help but run back to him even though he treats her awfully. It's as if she can't escape, and this is represented by the juxtaposition or oxymoron of "Love" and "Lie".

The shots of Eminem rapping and then the parrallel editing back to Rihanna and the main narrative, is exactly what we want to re-creating. It makes for a fast-paced piece which also causes some suspense for the viewer as they want to see how the narrative continues and how the artists perform. The argument featured (0:45) uses a handheld shot type to represent the emotion and frantic nature of the narrative. The audience can't see the shots very clearly as they are only a few seconds long, thus also causing confusion and a sort of anxiety for the girl as she is controlled. This is something that we defiantly want to include in our own video. Although it is crucial that it suits the music and target audience, meaning that we can't make the argument to rough or extravagant as it would not fit with Adele's artist image or the music that is in the background.

This music video also shows the use of several angles for the performance of Eminem, again we have mentioned this for our Adele character whilst in the hotel room and in the instrumental section of the song. Below are some screen shots of this, along with some of the argument.

Shot 1 - Close up 

Shot 2 - Mid shot

Argument - you can see the quick action/movement in the scene

Argument - Emotive close up

Breakdown of Narrative

Here is the breakdown of our narrative, this details everything that is currently planned to happen every 10 seconds. This is a good form of planning and organisation as it ensures that the entire song is covered, and that we are aware of the time spent on each shot/event/action.

0 - 10 seconds:
Adele in the hotel room, looking to a mirror doing her make up and getting ready for to go out. Several different shots, some close-ups on items she's using or holding. The audience are not aware of another character at this point.

10 - 20 seconds:
"I find myself repeating like a broken tune", on this lyrics the Adele character will look at herself in the mirror and then look down and shake her head. This symbolizes a feeling of depression or hopelessness.
Kanye will enter the room on "I'm forever excusing your intentions", Adele will look towards Kanye with a shot-reverse-shot. The argument will begin here.

20 - 30 seconds:
At roughly 19 seconds you can hear a minor note and violins used in the music. We could take advantage of this and use it as a turning point in the narrative, meaning the argument begins here and this is where Adele begins to get upset. Minor notes and violins often indicate a sad atmosphere and are used in film soundtracks to intensify the emotions of the characters. A suggested action could be that Kanye grabs Adele's hands, while Adele tries to get free.

The shots in this section will be fast-paced and is where the frantic handheld shots will appear. This contrasts with the slower music. After the big violin note the shots will slow down, with a tracking shot following Kanye out of the hotel room.

30 - 50 seconds:
This section will begin with the drum beat before the chorus, on this beat there will be a shot of Adele in the hotel room looking sad and recked after the argument. She will be sitting on the bed or at the mirror with mascar running down her face. The entire twenty second chorus will be focused on Adele performing in the hotel room.

Shots will include long shots of the entire room, mid shots of Adele looking out the window, over the shoulder shots of the photos being torn up, and of course close ups of the mascara and her face. However, it's important to note that some shots will be used in-between Kanye's rap performance. Parallel editing will be used to show both scenes occurring at the same time, this will break Kanye's rap up and will make the narrative more continual.

50 - 60 seconds:
After the chorus ends at fifty-two seconds, a fade could be used in editing as a transition from Adele's scene to Kanye. Depending on what is available we will either begin in the hotel corridors, or on Parkers Piece. Kanye entire rap will be focused on being a performance, the actor will need to exaggerate certain words. In this section "Mr Bentley" is referenced, a car wheel motion could be used to signify this.


60 - 70 seconds:
Again intertexuality and references will be emphasised by the acting in this section. "Pay them Benjies" means to pay with 100 dollar bills, this is simply show with the action of rubbing your fingers in a "cash hand action". There will be parallel editing back to Adele sitting in the hotel, looking out the window or sorting out her mascara.

70 - 80 seconds:
By this point Kanye will be at least outside, if not in another location such as Granta Place. All shots should be tracking, panning or showing some kind of movement as Kanye walks. The references are "cold" an action is shown of shivering or freezing, "jesus piece" pointing to the sky or at a chain.

As the rap nears it's end we will see Adele get her coat, through parallel editing, and exit the hotel room. Shots of Adele doing this will following into the next section up-to 95 seconds.

80 - 95 seconds:
Old streets of Cambridge by now, alley ways near Granta Place and the river will be used. Clips of Adele in places that Kanye has been will show she is following him. A long shot will be used as we see Adele enter at the end of this section. Kanye is unaware of this, we will continue to see a tracking shot of the argument as they continue to walk.

95 - 115 seconds:
Adele has caught up with Kanye. We will see Adele sing her lyrics at Kanye, almost as these are the words that she uses to argue with him. As already mentioned she will take her ring off, throw is at Kanye and walk off-screen. Kanye will be shocked as the Adele character is fighting back at his attitude, and perhaps the domestic violence theme that we are incorporating. To symbolize this Kanye will stop walking as the camera moves away from him, in a tracking long shot motion, leaving him isolated.

In the last five seconds there is an increased beat, we will need to use this to our advantage in the editing stage with a flickering of shots, for example. We will discuss this as a group soon.

115 - 135 seconds:
Instrumental section, there we will see the use of parallel editing again. There will be shots of Adele walking, at the river, looking over the bridge, and then back at Kanye as he tries to find her. Again use similar shots to the hotel scenes - close-ups on the rings in someone's hand, their face, different distances etc. The beat is more obvious in this part of the track, the two characters could individually be nodding their heads to the beat of the track whilst doing there actions. This enables the beat and narrative to sync together, becoming closely connected.

135 - 155 seconds:
Kanye West has a short rap outro section, this will be used as he find Adele on the bridge. He could walk up to her and rap to her, as an explanation to get her back. Shot-reverse-shot of their faces as they look at each other along with midshots of them looking over the river.

155 - 165 seconds:
This is a ten second instrumental outro. One shot is used, Adele and Kanye hold hands with rings on both back on. The rings have got to be obvious and emphasised for this outro, as it is an important part of the narrative and brings us back to the equilibrium. Fades to black.

Research: Lighting and Cinematographic Techniques in Music Videos

We viewed a You-Tube video of how to use lighting effectively in music videos. The video explained how positioning of lighting can add dramatic effect and depth to the shots. We liked the effect of using lighting on the contrast of the video and really made the artist stand out. Since the demonstrator was using two lights, we could easily re-create this with the spotlights which we will be using. We thought we could also use the lighting available in the hotel room i.e. lamps. The college has also offered us some "gels" which can be added to the lights creating a tint, for example a cold blue, which we desire for for the hotel room.

We also viewed another short You Tube video titled "Best Camera Trick Ever!" which told us how to effectively pan a camera using a rubber-band. The difference we saw between the panning where no rubber-band was used and where a rubber-band was used was that the quality of the shots looked much better. Below is the video we viewed.

Shotlist

Here is our Shot-list for our music video, have tried to put as much in-depth detail as we could so that it will help us be organised when it comes to filming.

Storyboard

Here is our storyboard for our music video, We have tried to put as much in-depth detail as we can to make sure we can follow the storyboard as accurately as we can when it comes to the filming the music video.