Test Footage

This is the test footage I filmed for my music video before finishing the whole video. 
I do not have enough footage to produce a full video, therefore I have created this small video to show examples of shots and styles I want to include in my original video.
I have included captions throughout the video of why I filmed/included the certain shots.

I have decided that I will continue filming in the same location as I filmed my test footage in, the lighting works well and produces a clear image of the artist. I also like how the white background contrasts with my models hair and black shirt, and this has come out well from exporting the final test footage. 

To film in the same studio I need to contact my model and also the tutor who's room it is, this has caused problems and delays to my filming due to the studio frequently being fully booked and booking is hard for my model as it clashes with things shes already booked in. 

I will be including some of the shots from my test footage to the original video and so will need to make sure the artist looks exactly the same - same hairstyle, make up and outfit.


Editing this test footage has given me an insight of how I will edit the overall video, and the importance of keeping the clips short and cutting to the beat to keep the fun and vibrant feel to the video.

After importing and editing this footage I also noticed parts of it weren't in focus, something I didn't notice whilst I was filming. I wouldn't include this footage in the video as it is unclear and doesn't match the rest of the focused footage.

I have also learnt that I need to include more props and colours - which is why I wrote an updated prop list of things I need to buy and bring to my next shoot. You can read this here

UPDATED PROP LIST

Popcorn
Popcorn holder (bowl/box)
Balloons 
Models own shoes - 3 different pairs.
Bubble gum (pink)
Various hats
A chair or a stool
Models own jacket - to take off and on
Black T Shirt
Fake Moustaches
Party Poppers

To Do - Film and Shots List

Below is a list of footage I need to film for my video, I decided to make a 'To-Do' list to keep all my ideas organised and so I can clearly check what I have filmed and what I haven't.

-Overall lip syncing; a range of both close ups and medium shots to provide a range of footage.

-Blowing a bubble from bubble gum; to retain the house style and constant theme of 'pop' from both the name of the song and genre of the song. Close up shot.

-Blowing a kiss; Medium shot.

-Eating popcorn; Again, a reference to 'pop'. Long shot 

-Chucking popcorn at camera and in the air; Long shot

-Jumping in and out of shot with different shoes on. Close up from a 'worms view' or low angle but also a high angle to get a range of different perspectives. Also film feet - dancing, tapping foot in time to the music

-Facial Expressions; winking, laughing, blowing a kiss, smiling - focus on features.

- Speed up footage; Long shot, trying different jackets/hats on and walking in and out of shot.

First Proof - Magazine Advert

This is the first proof of my magazine advert, I like the style and think it is nearly completed. However I have not had any audience feedback for other peoples opinions and constructive criticism, which is something I plan to hold soon so I can make final adjustments. 

Magazine research

I did a search on Google looking for inspiration and ideas for my magazine advert.

The following are what I found which inspired me - some images are scans but others do not belong to me.

This advert from the band The View caught my eye by the contrasting colours. The background is pure white and with the bright pink,green and black text and images, the information they are trying to portray really stands out. 

Having a white background creates a sense of space and the advert is very clear which is a key feature to have in an advert -  this is something I will take and use in my advert because the majority of my images have been taking in a studio with a clear white background and so this is something I could use. However, the only images included in this advert are doodles and drawings and no real life images of a model or of the artist. This is an unusual take on an advert as most of the time you would want to promote the artist and their look but this is common with rock bands or acoustic music where it is more the music which they want to make an impact rather than what they are wearing or their style and this could've been why The View have chosen to do this.

My genre being electro pop, I think it would be appropriate to include images of the actual singer(my model in this case) as her style and make up is an important part of her image, especially because she is a solo artist. 

Another aspect I like about this advert is the font, they haven't chosen anything too fancy or aesthetic. They stuck to a simple font - very similar to my house font of Century Gothic. It keeps with the minimalistic theme and works well against the plain background, but in places where it is overlaps onto the image it works too. 

This is what I aimed to do with the font I am using throughout my video,advert and digi pak. I wanted to create a very minimalistic and modern feel to my house style and chose to use a default font instead of creating my own unique font. 

A lot of information is presented in the advert and the position is key to make sure it doesnt look over crowded and messy. The position of the band name and album title are right at the top and are larger than the other text. This is a simple way of getting the readers attention and informing them of the basic album information.  The rest of the information is centred at the bottom and is slightly smaller, this keeps it looking important but our attention is drawn to the title and key band information

Magazine adverts need to be simple, they include key information but can't be overcrowded or the message wont be conveyed to the reader. 

This is one of my favourite magazine adverts, the image matches the actual album cover, and the house style is consistent.

The image has a vintage style, especially by the font and slight marks on the background, There is little information on the advert and is similar style to my plan for my advert, especially with font size-as LUNGS is the largest piece of text - which is an aspect I will use on my advert.

The image blends in well with the background and the font and also although it contains some colour, there is nothing overly complicated and the style is very simplistic and vintage style.

There is only one image on the advert, and this is something that I will be using too, especially because the image is of the artist.

The advert also contains the date the album will be released, in my case this will be a single, what type of format you can access the album on (vinyl or digital)

The advert also contains contact information for the artist such as their website - this may be a useful idea for my own advert as I wouldn't need to include the logos of certain social networking sites, however most people keep in contact with artists by twitter and facebook and less commonly by their website - this is something I will need to decide on and address. 

Pre Production Planning; Production Treatment - Lyrics, Timing

As part of my pre production planning, I wrote out the lyrics to my song and matched the timing with what visuals I would want to film at that time.

The time is the time that the certain lyrics recorded finish.

The language is informal and slang like because they are rough notes and I had to note them down quickly with the pace of the music.

When filming, this document has proven to be very useful as I have already planned what I want the actress to do/sing etc which has saved time but I can change and edit this as I go along and film different sections if things don't work out, it is just a rough plan of my ideas.

Magazine Advert Planning

It is common to only use one image in an advert and this is what I will be doing for mine.
This is the image I will be using.

In the original advert I have positioned it more to the right and so you can only see half of her features, I will be using the remaining space of the white wall as the background for my text. My aim is to keep to a minimal and simplistic theme with only the natural colours in the image and of my house style of pink and white.

This is the sketch plan of my advert. 
None of the things which have been outlined or put in a box will have lines around them on the real copy, this is just to highlight what I am talking about.

1) The song name 

I made the song name (Pop Up) the central feature of my advert. Here you can see I wrote it in a large serif font and would be a basic colour such as white to fit with my house style of pink and white. My background is an off grey and so the white colour would show up. I want it to be the largest thing on the page - other than the image -  to catch the readers eye and draw attention to the song.

2) 'A Debut Single From...'

I wanted to make this sentence  lot smaller than the song name as it is not as important. It will be in the same font and colour but not in capital letters and may be in italics. 

3) Artists Name

Again this is a key piece of information to the advert, we need to know who wrote the song so we can find it in shops or online to buy it. I chose to design it slightly smaller than 'Pop Up' because I want the song title to be the most important thing on the advert, and if this were to be used in a real magazine, I presume some of the readers would already know who the artist is by the image. 
The font and colour will be exactly the same but the artists name just wont be as bold as 'Pop Up'

4) The image of the artist

The image I will be using is shown above, and will be positioned to the right. I have done this to only show one side of her face and her features. I think this creates a very interesting yet contemporary theme to the advert and more space for the content. 
I want an emphasis on the make up/ hair style of the artist - she will be wearing simple eye makeup and her dark hair will contrast with the white background, creating a eye catching and very strong image.

5) Social Media

To keep with the contemporary theme, I chose to designate a section to social media. With the increase in new media and access to the internet, it is the best way to contact an artist.
I will include a twitter account,facebook and tumblr account, which personally I find, are the most used social networking sites. They are not the real account of the artist - as I do not know what these are. 
I will include the actual logo, however this may ruin the house style as the colours will not match. This is something I will need to experiment with. 

6) Release Date

I have chosen to put the date at the bottom of the page as it will be on top of a black item of clothing and with a white font, will stand out. It should also be where the reader turns the page and can catch attention.
The problem with having the release date so small is that some people may miss it, which would cause a problem. The alternative would be to put it higher on the page.

Images for Digi Pak

Whilst filming my video I took still images to use for my digi pak. 

I wanted the images on the digi pak to show the fun a "pop" side to my artist. I experimented with a bright coloured lipstick and studio lighting to create a shadow effect. 

I am thinking of using either of the above images for the front of my digi pak as they are a similar pose to the one I will use on my advert, but on a different side, and with different make up - however this may create too very different looks and it may be hard to relate the two products to the same artist.

On the back cover of my digi pak I want to include a range of the images taken during filming, in a polaroid style - creating the fun sense. These images will include lots of different poses and will show the artists personality. These will contrast to my advert as I will only be using one, very strong image, instead of a range.

Target Audience Moodboard

I decided to make a moodboard to identify my specific target audience, I am aiming my music video at 16-21 year olds (more specifically - females). I chose to represent this through a mood board as you can easily see the visual influences my music video has had, the interests of my target audience, similar artists I think they would like, and artists who influence them.
Firstly I included 3 images of Lady Gaga, I chose to include these images because she was a key influence for myself when deciding what style of music video I wanted to create, and also what style of music I should choose to use for my video. She is a key pop icon and has an incredibly unique and quirky style, I liked this as I wanted my video to be a bit different and unusual. 

I included two images of Marina and the diamonds, Here you can tell her makeup is very bold and strong and is an image I wanted to re create. I have tried to create that in this look with a simple and bold eye and bright lip. (INCLUDE PICTURE) To me, as well as Lady Gaga she is a key female pop musician and this is shown by her music. Marina has a somewhat 'bubble gum pop' feel to her music. Key colours are pink and white and has a 'soft grunge' feel to her style. This was one of my major influences of my music video. She is the most musical influence for my song too.

The third musician I included in my target audience was Katy Perry, I am not as influenced by her music style other than the pop genre. But of her colourfulness and this is what she is represented as in the media. Her style represents the genre of music she produces well. She also produces chart music, which is something I do not neccesarily want to re create because I want an aspect of originality. However she is played on the station BBC Radio 1 a lot, and this is something I would imagine my song being played on. 

I have also included one image of Lorde, who has just made an appearance on the music scene. She is only 16 years old and is already an icon to a lot of people. My model is going to be playing a young artist, around the age of 18 so I thought including Lorde would present the age area I will be trying to direct my music at, but also the age of the artist them self and how this will influence their music.

Alexa Chung is seen as a style icon to many, but I included her in my mood board as her style is very relatable to the fashion taste of those in my target audience. Also because of aspects of Alexa's private life which would interest my audience as she has had relationships with recent band members like Alex Turner from The Arctic Monkeys which would interest most young people who are interested into that style of music.

I also included images I found from the internet to help present the style of my music. I created a sense of Pop Art with the 4 contrasting coloured images of the lips. Especially influenced by Andy Warhol's art. Also with the splattered paint image which creates a grunge and rebellious image - subtly linking with the youth aspect.
The 'Pop' image links with the pop art image I am trying to create, as does the pink tape, it is contrasting with the youthful image as tapes are very out dated and can now be seen as stylish and retro - something that is loved by a lot of young people today.

Two more images I included were of make up looks I would like to re create for my video. The close up of the eye shows a pop of colour on the eye lid - pink to match my 'bubble gum' house style.

As said before, I included the BBC Radio 1 logo, just for emphasis on the kind of media/radio market I would be trying to reach with my song and video. This channel would also be on the interests of my target audience as they play to audiences similar to mine and also play a lot of popular music but new and upcoming bands too.

The TV channels I think my target audience would like to watch are BBC Three and E4, both which are aimed at the younger market compared to most channels.  This is just an emphasis on my target audience as they would like entertainment shows which have been specifically aimed at them. 

The interests of my target audience would be; reading magazines such as Company and NME, possibly online blogs including style,make up and fashion on sites such as Tumblr and Blogger. Also using other social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 
They would also be interested in fashion with brands and shops such as Topshop, Converse, H&M and Vans - also which sell to the younger market. And make up and experimenting with styles. 

Skills Development Journal: Title

In a previous post I learnt how to include a  basic title sequence into my footage. (here)
As I have started editing for my first cut of the video I wanted to experiment with different styles of fonts and sizes until I came up with the font, colour and size I would like to use for my video. 
In the post called 'Music Video Analysis' (which you can find here) I said how I was inspired by Jessie J's music video for 'Wild' in the terms of the text at the beginning. This is how I came to creating a similar style for m

 This is part of the title editing pop up, here you can change the font, colour, style, spacing, and orientation of your text.

I chose to use the font 'Century Gothic' which is already installed on Adobe Premier Pro, I made it bigger and turned it bold. Although I liked the font used for the Jessie J video, I wanted to put my own spin on it and so instead didn't use the exact same font.

 This is a section of the editing bar where you can choose the colour of your text, here I opted for simple white to give a more polished and modern effect.

 Once I had finished editing my text, I imported it into the video editing bar. Because it is a title sequence I wanted it right at the beginning. I aligned it to start at the same time as my first shot.

 This is what the beginning of the music video will look like.

Pre Production Planning; Equipment List

Above is an equipment list I created to help me remember what equipment/accessories I would need to film part of my video, This is only suitable for an inside location (studio lights/extension lead would not be able to work outdoors) which I am filming on the 15th November in a drama studio. For any other locations I will need to create another list which would be applicable. This also links with the RECCE Checklist I completed in another post. 

Pre Production Planning; Recce Document

For safety reasons I removed the full name of the college I am working at however in the original document all parts have been filled in.

This is a Recce Checklist which I chose to fill in for the benefits of organisation, it is in more depth than my Equipment list (see other blog posts) as it addresses certain items I wouldn't have thought of. 
I have also added small notes to remind me and to go into more detail about certain aspects of the check list.
 I wouldn't have thought to do a Recce before being told about them in lessons, but it has now given me an insight of how directors and producers in the media industry would have to prepare their sets for filming which has been incredibly useful to me.

Pre Production Planning; Risk Assessment

I have removed the exact location and my mobile number for safety reasons but the original is completely filled in

I was unaware of risk assessment forms before I started to film my music video but I soon realised that it is essential to do a location risk assessment and the information you collect is very important for the safety of you and any other participants. 
If I decide to use a second location I know that I need to complete a new risk assessment form. 

Music Video Analyses

1)Gotye - Somebody that I used to know

This video is inspiration for my music video because of the use of camera angles used, for example this medium close up is an example of a shot I will use in my video, I think it draws emphasis on the face and would work well if the actor was going to lip sync, especially if they are in front of a white background. 

This shot also has very natural light, it brings out the natural features of the artists face, nothing is too harsh and relates to the genre and vibe of the song which is quite mellow. 

Another aspect of this video that I like is the use of "costumes" - I like the idea of painting parts of the body to match the walls, it looks artistic and fits with lyrics and theme of changing. I wouldn't go as far to painting the entire body but I like how the colours are the main point in these scenes, as his body gets painted over and almost disappears, I am thinking of using brightly coloured make up on my model to add to the "electro pop" vibe.
The performance in this is not too out there and wild, it is slow and calm and although the genre of my song is very different to this one I have taken the idea from this video that my actress wont need to go too crazy and wild, and performing in front of a plain background can work, this also links with the use of editing and camera work, both are quite slow and no harsh cuts are used which I like, however I may have to do some quick cuts for my own video especially when the beat drops. But the main aspect I will take from this video is that you do not need to go over board with effects and editing and can still make an iconic video especially by the quality of filming. 

2) Jessie J-  Wild 
This video has inspired my own music video in many ways, firstly the fashion and style of the main artist, she wears statement jewelry and a simple outfit the make her self stand out in front of the simple background. 
The background has also inspired the back drop for my video, I want it to be shot in a studio with clips establishing this with examples of screens within screens, studio lights and professional camera equipment to set the scene. 

I was inspired to just use one model as I think it creates a sense of power and independence, it also fits with the style of my song which is electro pop and this is similar to the pop genre of "Wild" 
The target audience for this song is also similar to mine of 16-21 year olds especially women, I would also want my song to appear in the same places as this song, such as on Radio One, and the top 40 chart.
Another part of the video I like how the artists name and the title of the song are in a very simple sans serif font, It creates the image of simplicity and looks very modern and works well with the style of the music, I also think it would fit well with my genre and as my house style is going to be white and pink I would probably include the contrast of the font as pink on a white background. 

The editing style of this video has also inspired how I would edit my footage, when the tempo is fast and parts of the song are up beat the cuts are very quick, I have decided to use this as I think it would add to the "electro" theme. But when the artist is singing in depth and the beat is quite slow, the cuts aren't as quick and I like this as I think it gives a wide variety of editing styles and makes sure the footage relates to the tempo of the song.
A camera angle which I am going to use for my own video is a close up of the artists face. 
Another shot I may use from inspiration of this video is an establishing shot of the studio and the graffiti wall. This will help to set the scene and tell the audience where the video is being filmed. I think it will also create more of a range of angles as I planned to use a lot of close ups and a range of shots will help give my video a more professional look.

This is a mind map I made whilst watching the video, I then turned these notes into the above text.

McFly - Love Is On The Radio
The third music video I have chosen to analyse is of a similar genre to the song I have chosen for my own music video (pop) it also relates to the same target audience of young people - mainly girls - and will also be aiming to reach the weekly top 40 charts.
One of the aspects I like about this video is the colouring and filters, the studio backdrop is obviously very bright but it doesn't look overly edited and has only probably been brightened slightly, I like this effect as I think it keeps the with a natural style(similar to Gotye) but I can change how bright I would like my video depending on what colours I include in my video.
I also like the performances of these artists, they are showing their personalities and it seems like there is no set scrip and the artists could do whatever they wanted. Because of this I think this video is a lot more fun and not as serious as the others I have analysed and is something I would like to include in my video as I want to make it seem as lively and fun as possible to fit in with the cheery pop genre.
There are only two main camera shots used in this video, the first being close ups which I have already established I would like to use in my own video, I like how in this video they use the shot of a close up to interact with the camera and the audience which also helps present their personalities. The second main angles used are long shots which establishes the scene and distinguishes the separate members of the band and sometimes the band as a whole, I also think it creates an image of a lot of space, which continues the image that they have been given free run of a studio as they're only a few props they would've brought in themselves.

This is a mind map I made whilst watching the video, I then turned these notes into the above text.

Music Video Proposal

The music video I am creating is for Zoe.Leela - Pop Up.
The genre is mainly electro/pop and I have chosen to represent this through the colour and editing style.
I have decided that I am only going to have one actress who will be playing the part of the artist, she will be lip syncing and also acting as a "behind the scenes" insight of the artists character including photo shoot/bloopers style videos to help portray the personality of the artist more.
I am taking inspiration from key female independent pop artists like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Jessie J, I feel I am doing so by only having one key female character with a strong character.
I do not want to use harsh effects in my video, bright colours will only be achieved by the choice of make up and clothing as I want my model to wear brightly coloured clothes and a statement make up look in front of a white background and also plain clothes in front of a graffiti wall to show contrast and to film in different locations.
I want to keep exactly the same angle in both locations and I also want the model to be in the same perspective in shot so the footage looks professional and not in different angles.
My target audience is young people, mainly girls between 16-21 and I feel like I will be able to show this through the choice of location, colours, editing style and fashion