Friday, 24 January 2014
Thursday, 23 January 2014
Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Lip Syncing Analysis
Nina Nesbitt is a a Scottish singer song writer, best known for her single 'stay out' that peaked at number 21 in the UK Singles Charts in 2013.
The music video opens with an establishing, long shot of Nina Nesbitt with her guitar. This immediately suggests to the audience what kind of genre Nina Nesbitt's music is. Rick Altmand suggests that genres are usually defined in terms of media language - the semantic elements - and the codes, ideologies and narratives - syntactical elements. In this case, the fact Nesbitt is positioned with a guitar, in quite casual clothing suggests that the artists is a singer songwriter supporting the acoustic/ pop genre. The camera then zooms to a close up shot of the artists hands playing the guitar to further establish the genre. This may also suggest an ideology of Nesbitt, as because the camera does not straight away focus on her it may indicate that the artist is more for presenting her music rather than promoting herself. Her playing of the guitar lasts only for a few seconds, and is in complete sync with the opening chords of the song. The pace of the music is very quick at this point, and the jump shots of the camera reflect this in a synchronised manner to keep up with the fast pace.
The camera then presents a mid close up of Nesbitt sitting at a dressing table, this time without the guitar. This adds to the variety of the music video and allows the audience to not only appreciate her music ability but also her as a person. This also gives time for the audience to build rapport with the audience. This is something we want to include in our own music video, as we think it strongly supports the narrative. This idea is also enhanced as the artist begins singing the song, whilst in the same shot as the narrative sequence, instead of the music video jumping from the lip syncing scenes and the music video narrative. Although this works for this music video, we cannot achieve this for our own as our main protagonist/ artist is singing the song whilst reflecting upon a memory of her relationship. Instead, to add to synchronisation, we intend to cross dissolve the shots of her lip syncing with the narrative sequence.
For shots the returning mid close up shot of Nesbitt and her guitar
The music video opens with an establishing, long shot of Nina Nesbitt with her guitar. This immediately suggests to the audience what kind of genre Nina Nesbitt's music is. Rick Altmand suggests that genres are usually defined in terms of media language - the semantic elements - and the codes, ideologies and narratives - syntactical elements. In this case, the fact Nesbitt is positioned with a guitar, in quite casual clothing suggests that the artists is a singer songwriter supporting the acoustic/ pop genre. The camera then zooms to a close up shot of the artists hands playing the guitar to further establish the genre. This may also suggest an ideology of Nesbitt, as because the camera does not straight away focus on her it may indicate that the artist is more for presenting her music rather than promoting herself. Her playing of the guitar lasts only for a few seconds, and is in complete sync with the opening chords of the song. The pace of the music is very quick at this point, and the jump shots of the camera reflect this in a synchronised manner to keep up with the fast pace.
The camera then presents a mid close up of Nesbitt sitting at a dressing table, this time without the guitar. This adds to the variety of the music video and allows the audience to not only appreciate her music ability but also her as a person. This also gives time for the audience to build rapport with the audience. This is something we want to include in our own music video, as we think it strongly supports the narrative. This idea is also enhanced as the artist begins singing the song, whilst in the same shot as the narrative sequence, instead of the music video jumping from the lip syncing scenes and the music video narrative. Although this works for this music video, we cannot achieve this for our own as our main protagonist/ artist is singing the song whilst reflecting upon a memory of her relationship. Instead, to add to synchronisation, we intend to cross dissolve the shots of her lip syncing with the narrative sequence.
For shots the returning mid close up shot of Nesbitt and her guitar
Action Plan For Lip Syncing Shots
We have made the recent decision to alter our music video slightly so that it now includes lip syncing rather than being solely narrative based. We received feedback that included that because the narrative based draft had no 'artist' present and only featured two protagonists, the inclusion of an 'artist' figure in the ancillary task then created confusion, as the audience did not understand who this character was and therefore, synchronisation between the two products was not apparent. We decided that the female protagonist within the music video, should also double as the artist in order to reduce confusion.
In references to the uses and gratifications, the audiences feedback may represent this. This approach focuses on why people use particular media and it's content. Katz, E, 1959 stated that media audiences are active rather than passive and that they take on a role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The basic model of Uses and Gratifications is that media fulfills four factors for the audience.
One of these factors is 'Identify' - this refers to being able to recognise the product/ person presented to you in order to 'role model' them and gain a sense of rapport. This may be where our music video fell down in the audiences eyes, as because of the confusion, the audience did not know who to connect with and therefore, the relationship with the audience and the artist did not succeed. We need to make sure that the audience are able to connect properly to the protagonists and the artists so that a personal relationship can be established.
We plan to shoot the lip syncing scenes using mid close up, close up and extreme close up shots.
This will also enhance the rapport building of the artist and the audience, as the artists facial expressions will be completely exposed allowing the audience to emphasis.
In references to the uses and gratifications, the audiences feedback may represent this. This approach focuses on why people use particular media and it's content. Katz, E, 1959 stated that media audiences are active rather than passive and that they take on a role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The basic model of Uses and Gratifications is that media fulfills four factors for the audience.
One of these factors is 'Identify' - this refers to being able to recognise the product/ person presented to you in order to 'role model' them and gain a sense of rapport. This may be where our music video fell down in the audiences eyes, as because of the confusion, the audience did not know who to connect with and therefore, the relationship with the audience and the artist did not succeed. We need to make sure that the audience are able to connect properly to the protagonists and the artists so that a personal relationship can be established.
We plan to shoot the lip syncing scenes using mid close up, close up and extreme close up shots.
This will also enhance the rapport building of the artist and the audience, as the artists facial expressions will be completely exposed allowing the audience to emphasis.
Tuesday, 21 January 2014
Rule Of Thirds
The rule of thirds is a guideline, first proposed by John Thomas Smith. This guideline applies to the process of visual imagery and design composition. It proposes that an image should essentially be divided into nine equal parts in a grid format, and that important elements of this should be placed along these lines or the intersections. The rule of thirds technique suggests that by aligning a subject at these points, the image is enhanced in terms of tension, energy, interest compared to the standard centering of an image.
These are three examples of imagery that follow Smith's guideline:
These are three examples of imagery that follow Smith's guideline:
When researching further into the technique, we soon established that the positioning of imagery in line with the frame work, images become more powerful and the audiences eyes are not drawn to particular points, but instead observe the whole image instead of certain aspects.
We then experimented with this on our front cover image, by presenting to our target audience a layout that follows the guideline and one that does not. On feedback we recognised that the image slightly to the right of the of grid was considered more effective and significant than the image positioned directly in the center. We then decided that for our final photo shoot we should consider this when taking the imagery and also upon editing.
On our draft image, we applied the rule of thirds grid, this further taught us that the framing of the shot when first taken is also very important as the main features should ideally line up with the lines. On this draft, the models eye should line up with the lines, however because we did not consider this, it does not work that well.
Friday, 10 January 2014
First Draft Ancillary Task
This is our first draft of the album cover. Following research of existing album work we found an image of Gabrielle Aplin that we felt captured the tone of our music video and reflected the narrative line. The image focused upon the artist Aplin, positioned with her hand under her chin, wearing pastel colours with a pensive facial expression, like she is reminiscing of a story she has to tell. This became a significant analysis of the art work as it is exactly what we wanted to portray through our model - we planned to express to the audience that the model on the front cover has been through a journey in which the theme of loss is reflected.
For our first draft our music video was entirely narrative based, this meant we chose to use an 'artist' not introduced in our music video.
When referring to the mise - en - scene of the shot we wanted to also create a pastel based colour scheme, similar to the Gabrielle Aplin style model. We thought this presented her purity almost suggesting she has been stripped back of 'colour' in her life having lost her partner. We also experimented with lighting of the shot - due to lack of resources we did not have a white screen to shoot the model in front of, instead we had to compromise and use a white sheet, this worked fairly well once edited on photoshop. We wanted the lighting to be bright and cold, to also resemble her loss and mourning. Again due to lack of resources, we created light reflectors out of foil wrapped around a white tray to enhance the lighting quality as much as possible. We then experimented with warmer, orangey lighting however decided this did not work and the quality was not up to a high enough standard. Another area in which we wish to change for re-shoot of the front cover was the makeup the model was wearing. We decided that her dark eye liner withdrew from the purity of the shot as it is quite a harsh and took attention away from other areas.
When referring to the framing of the shot, at first we took the photo straight on similar to the Gabrielle Aplin, however upon editing we decided that due to the rule of three divide of the page, by having the image of the model in the middle the audiences attention was only focused upon the models face rather than the artists name and title of the song. We decided that to balance the focus more we should position the model more to the right of the frame with the text above slightly, to the left. When re-shooting we also need to consider room for text, in the original shoot we did not do this and when it came to looking over the images, we realised we had cut the top of the models head off.
A significant change we plan to make for the re- shoot is to change the model we are using. Following feedback from our target audience, we realised by using another model not featured in the music video it created confusion as to who this character actually is. Therefore, we have decided to include scenes of lip sycning in the music video to conclude to the audience who the artist is, this will also be the main protagonist in the music video, who we will then use for the front cover. Once we have created this, we will then ask for feedback again to see whether there is still confusion or whether they feel it has improved.
When referring to the mise - en - scene of the shot we wanted to also create a pastel based colour scheme, similar to the Gabrielle Aplin style model. We thought this presented her purity almost suggesting she has been stripped back of 'colour' in her life having lost her partner. We also experimented with lighting of the shot - due to lack of resources we did not have a white screen to shoot the model in front of, instead we had to compromise and use a white sheet, this worked fairly well once edited on photoshop. We wanted the lighting to be bright and cold, to also resemble her loss and mourning. Again due to lack of resources, we created light reflectors out of foil wrapped around a white tray to enhance the lighting quality as much as possible. We then experimented with warmer, orangey lighting however decided this did not work and the quality was not up to a high enough standard. Another area in which we wish to change for re-shoot of the front cover was the makeup the model was wearing. We decided that her dark eye liner withdrew from the purity of the shot as it is quite a harsh and took attention away from other areas.
When referring to the framing of the shot, at first we took the photo straight on similar to the Gabrielle Aplin, however upon editing we decided that due to the rule of three divide of the page, by having the image of the model in the middle the audiences attention was only focused upon the models face rather than the artists name and title of the song. We decided that to balance the focus more we should position the model more to the right of the frame with the text above slightly, to the left. When re-shooting we also need to consider room for text, in the original shoot we did not do this and when it came to looking over the images, we realised we had cut the top of the models head off.
A significant change we plan to make for the re- shoot is to change the model we are using. Following feedback from our target audience, we realised by using another model not featured in the music video it created confusion as to who this character actually is. Therefore, we have decided to include scenes of lip sycning in the music video to conclude to the audience who the artist is, this will also be the main protagonist in the music video, who we will then use for the front cover. Once we have created this, we will then ask for feedback again to see whether there is still confusion or whether they feel it has improved.
Thursday, 9 January 2014
First Incomplete Draft.
This is scenes 3-4 and 8-9 of Shannon and Callum together at Wicksteed Park representing the happy couple and a scene later in the timeline where Shannon then returns to the same spot to finish the book alone, and place flowers in his absence. One aspect to our video that we like is the change in lighting to reflect the change in the story line and the atmosphere. In scenes 3 and 4 the lighting is bright and warm with the sun shining however scene 8 and 9 is more dull and cold. this reflects the loss and mourning of which the female protagonist is going through.
12th January Filming
Date: Sunday 12th January
Time: 12:00 - 4:30pm
Location: Leah's House, Rothwell
Scene: 3 - 8
Description/Shots: - Shannon answers the door to Callum who is holding flowers. They hug each other.
- Shannon and Callum roasting marshmellows by the fire, looking happy.
- Shots of the couple sat together laughing.
- Shot of the clock/phone showing the time to be roughy 3:00 am.
- Callums wakes in the middle of the night, sitting up and clutching his side in pain. He wakes Shannon and she looks concerned.
- Shannon helping Callum down the stairs and into the car. Shots of Callum in the car looking worried. Shots of lights passing the car window to show they are travelling
- Shot of Kettering General Hospital sign.
Mise-en-scene: Both wearing casual clothes, jumpers, jeans and leggings etc in the first happy scenes together. Warm lighting as they sit by the fire to reflect a happy and comfortable atmosphere. Then when it becomes night and therefore darker, the two wake in pyjamas etc. We plan to use light reflectors to provide high quality footage that is clear and visible, but also give the impression that it is night time. We will therefore film this during late afternoon when it is becoming darker.
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
First Draft Ancillary Task
Following feedback from our audience members, we have decided that a more effective layout for our album would be to position our artist to the side of the frame, instead of in the centre, with the text positioned above but to the left. Due to the rule of three this means that the audiences focus is both on the picture of the artist as well as the name, whereas before the audiences attention was drawn only to the artist in the middle.
Having also presented this example to our target audience, we also received feedback stating that by introducing another character representing the 'artist' of the music video, it created confusion for the audience as this character was not the protagonist in the video. For this reason, we have decided to feature the protagonist in the music video as the artist. This will include shots of her singing and playing the guitar throughout the music video and also appear on the cover. We received positive responses from the audience when we presented this idea.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)