Action Plan week 7

Monday 30th September:
- Planning for ancillary task. Plan a name for our production company. Including locations, model, mise-en-scene, theme and style fonts.
- Develop knowledge of theories relevant to music videos.

Tuesday 1st October:
- research into different fonts, analysing different examples
- ring Wicksteed Park to receive permission to film there.

Wednesday 2nd October:
- Start working on ancillary task. Chose a font, colour theme, titles and plan shots.

Thursday 3rd October:
- Create mind map of all our ideas for the ancillary task, to then receive feedback from our target audience to help us decide which idea is the most successful.

Friday 4th October:
- Record more feedback on what our target audience feel is successful in album cover work.

DigiPak Artwork Analysis

Lenka's Digipak Cover:

This album artwork makes use of bright bold colours which reflects the bubbly, upbeat tone to her music befitting the pop genre. It features the artist centered within cartoon, hand drawn graphics almost as if a child has doodled this has connotations of innocence meaning the music is most likely to be family friendly with no explicit lyrics.

                                                 
  Emeli Sande DigiPak Cover:

                                                                                                                         This album artwork is desaturated in black and white however, the lighting is soft with a focus on the artist. The font is a similar soft and curved style symbolising the elegance and mature themes within her music. The artist is facing away from the camera, as if she is laughing at someone else rather than looking straight out at the audience. This conveys that the album is about her music and what is important than her instead of about the audience and consumers.

Tom Odell Digipak Cover:

The artist is oddly not centered in this album cover, in contrast to  many other album covers he is placed to the right in the framing of the photo. While he is posed to look straight at the camera he has his hands in his pockets  in a careless manner.   This gives the impression that he is a real person like any other  and that his music is relatable  to the audience. The artist has an almost scruffy, unkept look about him which suggests that he is not bothered about appearances and that his focus is on the messages in his lyrics. This idea is supported with the simple, basic font.

Taylor Swift Digipak Cover:

This album cover features a close-up of the artists face, there is nothing else on the cover with the exception of the title and her name. Half of her face is cast in shadow and the photo has been desaturated  in contrast to the bold connotations of the title 'Red'.  The way the artists head is lowered with her eyes down almost suggests that she is disconnected from the audience, distancing her from the consumer. This sets a more serious tone to her music than in previous albums.

Owl City Digipak Cover:

This album  cover feautures no artist or model but a landscape setting which contrasts with the name of the band - Owl City-   owls are nocturnal animals which holds connotations of nightlife, so you might expect a city scene set at night, featuring  skyscrapers lit up . Instead they have used a very natural, idealistic setting  without a single person or man-made object insight, presenting an uncorrupted world.  

   

Edit List

This is an edit list in preparation for the editing of our music video. This allows us to distinguish between which shots we want to use and which we do not, helping us with time management as we have a document we can refer to so we wont have to go through every piece of footage again.

Action Plan For Week Six

Monday 23rd September
Research romantic genre for music videos and apply to our own storyboard.

Tuesday 24th September
Analyse Kodaline's music video for 'High Hopes' for romantic genre conventions as outlined by a member of our target audience.

Wednesday 25th September
Use Photobucket to to re-upload all of our photos to a higher quality and enhance our planning and research aspect of our coursework.

Thursday 26th September
Produce edit list in preparation for editing our footage.
Plan our next day of filming and upload evidence of this to our blogs.

Friday 27th September
Make sure everything is completed and uploaded to our blogs.
Ensure that we are prepared for our next day of filming - upload permission forms for borrowing school cameras and allowing us to use footage of our actors.

Character Profile

High Hopes - Kodaline analysis for genre conventions

We have looked at the following conventions of the romantic genre:

- A complex narrative so that the audience can relate to emotions and feelings to make the lyrics of the song meaningful.

- Close ups of the eyes, lips, nose and hands and two-shots of both the guy and the girl.

- Reoccurring motifs of flowers, hearts and bright colours. 

One of our target audience members outlined a preference for Kodaline's music video for their single High Hopes. We then decided to analyse this for conventions of genre that we could use in our own music video.

The use of smudged, black make-up around the protagonists eyes immediately shares connotations of emotional distress reflecting the atmosphere of the music video. This evokes emotion from the audience which we think adds to the success of a music video as this makes the audience more committed to watching the music video as they have an attachment to the characters through emotional interaction which the audience may relate to. This is typical of the romantic genre as it makes the song more meaningful because there is a narrative that gives context to the lyrics. Their emotions are conveyed through the use of lots of close ups of the protagonists faces in a shot reverse shot format, creating a connection between them because they communicate without the need for words, strengthening their relationship. This is an aspect which we intend to incorporate within our own music video.

One particular aspect of this music video that we really liked is the elliptical editing during the car scene. The camera remains in the same position but cuts between different times to show the passing of time. In each shot the protagonists are doing something different showing the depth and variety of their relationship. This also adds interest for the audience as it increases the pace of the scene. However, when the characters face tragedy the shot transitions become fade outs instead of jump cuts which makes the scene more climatic but slows the pace. At the beginning of the video, slow motion is also included to evoke more emotion.

Storyboard Interviews

Interviewees: Connor Morrice, Liv Mawby and Michael Navarro-Marin

We interviewed 3 members of our target audience.

Initial Footage - First day of filming

This is the footage we gained following our first day of filming. We have decided to re-shoot the scenes that take place indoors as the lighting affects the quality of the footage. We've learned that we need to manipulate the lighting in order to produce shots that are of the same quality as those that were filmed outdoors. We will do this by using natural lighting wherever we can and producing light reflectors to enhance the lighting that we have.

We intend to:

• Use as much natural light as possible in the indoor scenes - even those set at night - to make it seem as if it's set at night we plan on filming during late evening so there is enough natural light for the shots to be clear but not too much sunlight to make it unconvincing. 
• We plan to make light reflectors using white sheets and tin foil to use when shooting the indoor scenes. We will evidence the making of these to assist with our filming.
• We have also realised that the height difference of our actors presents a difficulty with framing shots. We intend to plan and concentrate on making sure that each shot is well-framed, taking into consideration the significant difference in size of our two actors. 
• Because of the size difference of our actors we have also decided to rearrange the actors so that Shannon is always at the front of the shot, because Reece's size overpowers her.
• We need the lighting to be brighter and better positioned so that when cutting between scenes the change isn't too contrasting. 

Shot List

This is a shot list in preparation for filming, the different scenes are organised in the order that we intend to film in.

Weather Forecast

This is the weather forecast for Monday 16th September when we intend to begin filming one part of our music video. Currently it is forecast to be sunshine and cloudy which is ideal for filming these particular scenes as we would like warmer lighting to convey the happy atmosphere.

Final Story Board Upload

1) The establishing shot will be a medium long shot of the protagonist sitting at a window seat looking out. The lighting will be bright and natural coming through the window. The camera will then zoom into a mid close up of the protagonist which we will then cut to a close up of the girls face, showing tears to convey her sadness and grief. The atmosphere at this point will be distressed creating a tone of mourning.

2)  The camera will then cut to the protagonist picking up a framed picture of herself and her boyfriend. The camera will then pan around the protagonist to an over the shoulder shot. The lighting will remain natural from the window. This scene is set in the present tense. 

5) This scene will show the couple sitting up against a tree. reading a book called 'PS I Love You', we decided to include this book as it is symbolic of romance and loss, which are themes that are prominent in our story line as our main protagonist dies. Therefore, this foreshadows later events in the music video. The female character will be blowing bubbles which will represent how delicate their happiness is at this point. 

We will show a close-up shot of the page number, and the male protagonist inserting a book mark when she's laughing too much for him to continue reading.

6) We plan to use a variety of shots that take place as the couple walk down a dirt track among fields. Shots will include them laughing, having fun, messing around. We have chosen to use a rural and isolated location as this brings focus on to the couple, almost as if they're the only ones that matter to each other. They're the most important aspect of each others lives. 

7) We will then shot scenes located in a more domestic environment, where the couple seem at home and comfortable with each other. We plan to show them playing and laughing. We will use artificial lighting in the form of fairy lights to create a romantic atmosphere, but the fact that the lighting is getting dimmer and darker as opposed to the natural bright lighting prior to this, represents something going wrong in the future. 

8) The camera will then cut to a close up shot of the alarm clock reading '2:37' or a similar time in the early hours of the morning. This immediately conveys to the audience that something is wrong. The camera will then pan to the male protagonist who sits up abruptly in bed, waking his girlfriend because he is in pain. Despite having no dialogue to communicate what exactly is going on, the audience are able to infer to what has happened. We found from studying an existing clip from 'What To Expect When You're Expecting' allowed us to understand that this is an effective way to explain to the audience that our protagonist needs medical attention. 

9) The next scene includes the male protagonist being helped into the car by his girlfriend, this does not conform to gender stereotypes, which is something our target audience outlined as something they would prefer in a music video. Typically it is the female character who is portrayed as being vulnerable, so we have chosen to present our male character as being the dependent one in this scene. The pace of the camera will be slowed down to illustrate the change in tone, in comparison to the previous scenes. The camera will also include dolly shots to close-ups of the male protagonist's face, to express his sad and fearful emotions.

10) We will include a mid close-up shot of the hospital sign to confirm that something is seriously wrong and that they are driving to seek medical assistance. As a possible scene to follow up we are considering shooting a scene showing the couple sitting in an office environment, speaking to a doctor. Although there will again be no dialogue, through facial expressions and body language the audience will understand that the couple are receiving bad news in regards to the male protagonist's health.

11) We then return to scene 2, showing the over the shoulder shot of the female protagonist clutching the photo frame. This will allow the audience to understand that the video has returned to present tense. Showing her on her own symbolises that she is now alone, having lost her boyfriend, who is featured in the photo but no longer with her. 

12) We then plan to return to the same location where the couple first appear together (Wicksteed Park) this will include various shots showing her placing flowers under the tree where they had previously sat together, clutching the book that he had once read to her. A close-up shot will reveal the female protagonist opening the book to the same page number seen in scene 5, where the bookmark still remains. She will be wearing a black dress which is symbolic of grief and mourning.

13) The camera will zoom in on the female character writing a note that says 'I miss you', which she attaches to a paper lantern. We will the cut to a mid-close up of her releasing the lantern and then finally a long-shot as the lantern rises in the air, leaving her standing in a field alone.

Annotated Lyric Sheets

A Fine Frenzy - Near To You 

Kodaline - All I Want 

Music Video History

Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980s, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "song video" or "film clip".

The first step towards music videos began in 1894, with sheet music publishers Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern. Using a magic lantern, Thomas projected a series of still images on a screen simultaneous to live performances. This would become a popular form of entertainment known as the illustrated song. 

2005 saw the launch of the website YouTube, which made the viewing of online video much faster and easier; Google Videos, Yahoo! Video, Facebook and Myspace video functionality, use similar technology. Such websites had a profound effect on the viewing of music videos; some artists began to see success as a result of videos seen mostly or entirely online.

More recently MTV now provides streams of artists' music videos, while AOL's recently launched AOL Music features a vast collection of advertising supported streaming videos. The Internet has become the primary growth income market for record company-produced music videos.At its launch, Apple's iTunes Store provided a section of free music videos in high quality compression to be watched via the iTunes application. More recently the iTunes Store has begun selling music videos for use on Apple's iPod with video playback capability.

Action Plan for Week 4

Monday 9th September
Analysis of story board and receive feedback from target audience in interview format.
Begin research into the history and development of music videos.

Tuesday 10th September
Complete research into the history
Begin research into DigiPaks and existing products

Structured Study
Upload history research and DigiPaks

Wednesday 11th September
Textual analysis for the conventions of genre relevant to our music video

Thursday 12th September 
Upload all photos to a high quality

Research and Planning

We annotated a lost of aspects required for successful research and planning with the intention to improve certain aspects.
This includes:

• Research into genre conventions 
• Increase interactivity of blogs
• Analyse print based products 
• record target audience response to music video
• Analysis of existing music videos with voice over on final cut pro.

Wicksteed Park Permission Enquiry

We emailed Wicksteed Park, in Kettering, asking for permission to film scenes of our music video at the park. Due to the park being public space, we thought it would be beneficial to gain permission before using it in our video and to alert the managers of our intentions.

Target audience feedback on draft analysis

Having received feedback from different members of our target audience has helped us to understand their expectations and needs within music videos. They have outlined that a key factor in the success of music videos is that a variety of different shots helps to make the video more enjoyable to watch whilst clarifying the narrative.Therefore, we have revised our story board to include various different shots within each scene.
They thought that the story board conveyed the genre well, and the romantic theme was evident throughout which means it fulfills the conventions of this genre of music.

Prop List

• Bottle of bubbles
• Paper lanterns
• Matches
• Hot chocolate
• Pop Corn
• Picture frame ( with picture of couple)
• Book - PS I love you 
• Cameras
• Car 
• Ice-cream
• Flowers

Narrative Theories

Our music video surounds a couple, who are the only characters that feature throughout, rather than a protagonist and antagonist. This challenges Propp's theory of character types as the two main characters oppose this completely. Rather than following narrative of the 'hero' being presented as having a challenge to overcome we have chosen to present our protagonist as being weak and vulnerable having experienced loss. Our male protagonist challenges stereotypes because he is the one who becomes physically weaker and dependent on the female protagonist, opposing the assumed masculinity of the male gender. The results of our audience survey showed that Todorov's equilibrium/disequilibrium/equilibrium narrative structure was not as popular as a non-linear format. We have chosen to use a circular narrative structure, beginning at the end/climax of the story, that proceeds to take the audience through past events - following a non-linear structure - before returning back to the end. Our audience thought that this provided the narrative with more depth and therefore more appealing to watch.

Within our storyboard, scenes 8 to 10 we have chosen to use action codes, according to Barthe's codes theory. Here we will present action to convey something the audience knows and doesn't need explaining with dialogue eg. our male protagonist waking abruptly and being driven to hospital conveying to the audience that he is severely ill.

At the beginning of the music video we plan to make use of enigma code, by witholding information from the audience to create intrigue. We do this by not revealing what has happened to our male protagonist until the end of the video. This was something our audience thought was an important factor in the success of a music video - an original and intriguing story line that conveys a deeper meaning was more popular than a stereotypical romance story.

Action Plan

Research relevant theories

Analysis of digipaks

Analysis of final storyboard

Upload storyboard

Upload evidence of progress and planning 

Action Plan For Week 3

Monday (02/09/13):

• Complete final draft of story board 
• Edit the voice recordings of the first draft of the story board and upload to YouTube.

Tuesday (03/09/13)

• Take a picture of final story board and upload to blogs
• Complete full analysis of the story board, including any improvements and theories relevant

Wednesday (04/09/13)

• Interview target audience to retrieve feedback on final story board 
• Begin a detailed shot plan

Thursday (05/0913)

• Complete shot plan
• Begin a character profile of the two main protagonist including costumes 

Friday (06/09/13) 

• Finish character profile 
• Upload everything onto the blogs