ANCILLARY TASK.

Poster:

For our poster we have planned out a few different designs which we think will work. We needed to think about advertising and what people will enjoy looking at. We need to include colour and bold writing to attract people to come and read it. We also have to make sure that the poster matches the CD cover as we need to have a link between them.



The first idea we came up with is to do a very graphic design which will be influenced deeply by Andy Warhol. We will use a grid style poster with the album cover continuously

ANCILLARY TASK

CD cover:
As we have looked at many different CD covers, we have a good understanding about what is out there. I have noticed that the majority of the covers are a mid shot or close up of the song writter/ singer. All of them are staged and either on a white or black background or on a film set that has been made for the individual purpose of producing the CD cover.

There are a wide variety of colours that are used on the different CD covers and this all depends ont he singers style. As we are producing an indie accoustic music video, the CD cover has to match up. Therefopre gthe colours will have to be quite chalk like and not very bright. This si aalso what i have noticed with looking at different cd covers.

Here are some of our ideas:
Our first idea was to do a long shot or mid shot of Charley stood in the frosty winter wonderland. She would be stood wrapped up warm and in her hat gloves and scarf looking into the camera. We will try a few different positions that she could be standing in mkaybe looking around or staring into space. When we do the photoshoot we will experiment then.

Our second idea was to overlay different pictures of her turning around to portray her as a ghost. I think this is a good idea as it will look good when the final Cd cover is completed. It will also have a frost background so that it looks magical and enchanted. The background will also be quite misty so that the picture also helps the ghost effect.

Our third idea was to overlay an extreme close up, close up, mid shot and long shot of Charley. This will also help the ghost effect to be shown because she will be transparent. The CD cover will be quite lightly colour to ensure that the cover will be plain.

PHOTOGRAPHS THAT HAVE INFLUENCE ME.

Taylor Swift Analysis

ANCILLARY TASK PLANNING.

We are starting to plan our ancillary tasks and we are already starting to talmk about what we want to include in the poster and CD cover. We have been looking first of all at a man called Tom Leishman who is a young talented photographer from london. He has produced work of his own including the saturdays and other big bands. His work is wonderful and we would like to research him and maybe take some aspects of his work and produce them in our personal way.

We looked at the majority of his work and we have found some artwork that caught out our eye.

Here are some examples.

Example 1.
Example 2.
Example 3.
Example 4.
Example 5.
Example 6.
Example 7.

As me and Charley looked at eachothers work, we realised we had similar tastes in album art. this makes things a lot more simple.

NOT ABLE TO FILM.

Today we were not able to film because of the weather. As it is pouring down with rain today the outdoor filming cannot happen. The weather has been like this for a few days now and we are waiting for a day when it is not. Therefore, we are going to plan out what we need to get done over the next few weeks and reach a target for what needs to be done.

Target for the next few weeks.

- Filming needs to be completed as the weather is getting worse and it wont be long until we are unable to film at all. ( This includes both performance shots and narrative shots). The performance shots we have taken so far have come along quite nicely and work weel with eachother so there is not much that we need to film in this department. On the other hand, the narrative shots are nowhere near finished as we need to go out and refilm because parts are quite iffy and dont match up very well.

- Start researching for our ancillary task. For this we need to look up different cd covers and poster that is similar to our style. We need to plan our photoshoots and plan the costume and the layout of both of them. We need to look up about the different colours that we could use and different posistions and techniques that we could use.

FILMING 2.

Today we filmed some more footage but it was the narravtive side of the music video. This time, there was a group of 5 people including Charley. We did the scene down in the bottom field undeerneath a tree full of leaves. This part of the video is hugely influenced by Lisa Mitchells video- Clean White love.

I set up the camera in the corner of the field using a tripod at the right height. I posaitioned the camera so there was a big tree to the left of the screen. To me, this filled the screen and framed off half of the scene. it also showed the location well and it was obvious they were in the woods. This shows them to be adventurous and fun. i film a three minute sequence of the 5 teenagers throwing leaves around and having fun. I wanted to show them to be having a good time and for it also to be personal. Therefore i asked them to get close to eachother and have no fear. I used a long shot through out the whole sequesnce and did not use any camera movement. This will work fine as i will be braking down the sequence when editing as we will be fading different parts in together and merging it.

Also as we want it to be a flashback, i have got all of the actors and actresses to wear winter clothes as it will show it to be a different part of the year. the sun is also beaming down and forming a lens flare which is very appropriate for this part of the music video.

FILMING 1.

We have now started filming properly. We wrote a quick note to what we wanted to achieve in the whole lesson. We wanted to take 3 or 4 different shots to get as much footage as we possibly can. We picked up a video camera and a tripod and went outside onto the apple orchard and took some simple shots. First of all we experimented with a shot with symmetry. Charley ran down tot he bottom of the orchard and i set the camera up where the shot shows the trees coming out from either side of the frame. She put the song "Ghosts" on her phone. she walked up slowly singing the song. Our teacher told us to only film simple shots and dont do anything to complex yet. Therefore we only filmed the first verse because we wanted to see how it worked and if we could use it for our fimling. This worked well. We then tried a close up shot of her singing the whole song. This also worked well as it was a simple shot that we could use throughout the music video. This shot was similar to the shots that we saw in Clean white love. I find that in the music video, they worked really well because it showed the emotions of the actor as we are so close to them. It also shows the faciall expression which will also determine the mood of the video. We then went a little further and sat Charley into a tree . The camera was then set to the tree and her being the only objects in focus and the camera then filmed her singing the lyrics. I was very happy with this footage as it was a detailed and interesting shoot to look at. We will have to crop it however, because part of the tennis courts are in the shoot and we want the focus to be aimed at Charley. We will crop it so that the camera is more zoomed in on her, leaving out all the important parts. We then had to come inside because it started to rain and we were not longer film. One, because the camera would get wet, and for two, the video would be ruined. Therefore we came inside a\nd uploaded the footage. We uploaded the footage and then looked over it. As we looked at the footage and analysed what we could use. We found that the tree was a good shot but we could only use the shot in certain pieces of the video as it is quite a techniqual shot and it couldnt be merged together to make the video constant.

We then decided it was time to film some more footage, unlike the lesson before we were more prepared and knew what we needed to do. So when the classroom was emptied we set up the sames shots that we had done the previous lesson and filmed the mid shot of Charley singing and looking out of the window. We had to do this a few times as the first time, charley wasnt looking at the camera very much and it wasnt a good look. therefore we shot it again with her looking at the camera more often and showing her emotions it was a little bit touching !!! We continued experimenting with different shots including a close up of a book that she was holding. We tried pull focus again on the book and it worked well. The colours are also a big part of the shot as it needs to be interesting. Therefore she wore blue tights and a hat as it is winter outside. The book was red and it clashed with the colours of the outside which was a combination of orange and browna nd blue and then the wall inside which was plain cream. This worked well. We then took some narrative shots of Charley looking out of the window so that we could have some different shots. We then uploaded the footage and looked through the different shots. We realised that Charley was slightly out of focus when looking on the bigger screen. Therefore next lesson we will film again and ensure that everything is set up correctly.

FINALLY MOVING ON.

Today we started planning what shots and angles we will be using for filming our video. We also chose the actor that will be playing the leading role in the video. As we couldnt find someone we could both agree on, we decided to use Charley. She has blonde hair and the wacky look about her, which will work well with the planning we have already done. She also acts and knows the song very well meaning she will be able to sing the song without messing up and us having to constantly re film.

Before we started filming everything, i wanted to get used to the camera and figure out what all of the icons did and how to pull in out out of focus. I also wanted to figure out what it could do, so we took some practise shots. Charley sat infront of the camera and i filmed some footage of her in the position she would be in. I pulled in and out of focus but for some reason it wouldnt work. The camera was always focused on her face. We then tried with a bottle and it focused out of that. We believe that the camera we are using is face sensitive. We played around with getting the composition right as we didnt want any unnessisary object in the shot. We realised that the tennis courts are right behind were we were filming so we had to angle the camera up slightly to be able to not catch it in. We were all ready to start filming once i had got used to the camera.

We decided to use a mid shot of charley sat on the window sill looking outside wishing she was out there. I filmed the scene and i experimented with different techniques such as pull focus. I tried focus out of her and into the background which is full of leaves but for some reason that wouldnt work. Therefore, we just played around with focusing out of the background leaving on Charley in focus. We then uploaded the footage after a few duifferent takes of Charley on iMovie. We watched over our footage and were pleased with how much we had come along. For a good influence we used Lisa Mitchell's music video "Clean White Love" and watched it over a few times before filming. This helped me a great deal by looking at all of the camera shots and how well they worked when connected together.

CHANGE OF DIRECTION

As charley wont be in for a while, i have decided to change the course of direction and start doing the ancilary task. This will give me time to build up my ideas for the music video but not fall behind.

BACK UP LOCATIONS

This is magpie bottom. I have gone down and taken some photographs of the location. It is near enough the same as Marshfield except a smaller and more over grown. It is an easier location to get to as it is around school and i will be able to go down to there during lessons if needed.

Here are a few of the photographs that i have taken.... In my head i have a plan on a few shots that i would like to use.

For this part of the location, i would like it if the girl was leaning up against the tree while singing. I would film all the way through and then when editing, i would cut in and out of the scene. She could maybe swing around the tree while singing. I could use both long shots and mid shots.

I am thinking of using long shots of the actress, walking away from the camera in an emotional way. This would give the idea to the audience that she is walking away from her fears. Having a long shot would show all of the actress and as the camera is far away she would look alone.

This is the feild i will be shoting the music video in. As it is big location i am able to use different shots.

This is just one of the many different plants that grow in the field. This will brighten the music video up as earlier, i thought it was a field full of weeds.

The field is very interesting when it comes to different ways to present. I can use discovery shots which would be very creative if i include it in my video.

There are loads of different places around the field which will not relate to each other at all. Using a darker tree background would look totally different from having a more plainer and more grassy background.

The same as this. This image looks to me a little enchanted. As the whole picture is completely covered in different coloured and different leaves it could look like she is being watched or unaware of company.

FALLING BEHIND

We are running behind our time plan as we have had a few interuptions with my partner not turning up to lessons in the group. Therefore, i have to make some back up plans incase we really fall behind. Instead of shooting our music video in places outside of school, we have to arrange some similar places in school which will mean we have easier access. This means will will be able to get the filming done a lot quicker and a lot easier meaning we will be able to keep up with our time schedule. I will go down to the magpie bottom and take some photographs of the location which we will use instead of Marshfield. We could also use mine or charley's bedroom to shoot the bedroom scene as it will be easier access again and we can do it on any evening.

LOOKING AT DIFFERENT PERFORMANCE SHOTS

When i looked at the different performance shots, i realised how they were done. The first thing i realised was the way they filmed. Instead of filming different shots, they tend to film the whole scene and then cut into it when editing. I found this very useful as i will be able to maybe use this technique when filming my music video.

I also understood how many different ways they filmed different scenes and i think that using different shots and changing the shots quickly throughout the video gives it a good effect.

LOCATION AND PROPS

I have gone around different places and figured out that Marshfield (a little village on the edge of Bath) would be a perfect to shoot our video. For me, a countryside location would be a lovely quiet place that we could use for the performance side of the video as we would be able to shoot as many times as we like as it is near to where i live and also quiet and easy to film. The song fits with the location as well as it shows a more lonely side of the world. This is not a convention of the more indie song that we are using as normally it would have a more wild approach to it.

We have also decided that a front door and a bedroom is needed for part of the video. This is for the more narrative side of the video as the video is about the loneliness of the girl. (The girl who wrote this video, wrote it about how she was scared to leave her house). This is too literal to film, but we would like to tie it in to the music video as i feel it will give a good effect.

We also think by using a car or something, we would like to show a stop sign, no entry sign, one way sign, or something to indicate having to stop or wait. This is because the song also talks about the loneliness the girl and that she needs to realise and do something about her phobia.

We also need to shot in a garden as we are going to experiment in using different photographic shots,showing the process of a plant dying. This is an idea i came up with as i wanted to have some good experimentation in the video as it will show good skills.

The props that we will be using within the video contain a matchstick house that i will be making along with a throne. This is so we are able to burn it at the end of the video to express the lyrics " Break down the house you made of matchsticks, and set fire to the throne." I will be creating this matchstick house on a very small scale. It will be very difficult to film as it will only be able to be filmed once. I will need to ensure that there will be a few cameras set up around the burning house and throne, so we can get it from different angles.

We will need to also find road signs that indicate stopping. This involves give way signs, stop signs, one way signs, etc.

We will use poster and photographs in the room that she is able to rip down out of upset and anger. The posters will also be used to to drawn on which will show a sad and happy face.

This is what we have planned so far and what we would like to use. It will probably change slightly when getting to the mood board and filming as we do recognise that it is a difficult process but we feel we can achieve it if we set our minds to it.

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS

Questionnaire results

View more presentations from abbie12.

Here are the results of my questionnaire. These results will tell me what people would like as an audience to watch.

INITAIL IDEA FOR OUR MUSIC VIDEO

Me and Charley have planned roughly what we would like to get from this video. The plan was for the video to have different aspects that we would both like to include from different videos. For example, the colours and the different "joke around parts". This is what we have figured out so far. It is not final but is a start. We have linked some of the lyrics with the narrative because we find some of them very strong and intense.

I'm sick and tired,
Of hanging out my window.
(Singing out her window)
I've learnt from past experience,
Rain can't make flowers grow.
(Transition into next scene)
And friends don't stick around,
They go which way the wind goes.
(Group of people, one by one, disappear)
You're never safe and sound,
Until all your doors are closed.
(Stood in doorway, singing, slam door)
Doors are closed,
Doors are closed.
(Long shot of girl in field)

When you're awake on your own,
Shadows turn into ghosts. (x2)
(In field, doesn't want to be outside. Going crazy. Camera circles.)

Soon it will all fall apart,
And the roads will have no way.
(Walk towards a stop sign)
And you'll be the one laughing,
As their fences fade away.
(Singing out of window)
And instead of being left there,
Feeling all alone.
(Stood on edge of road, bag on back. Singing)
Breakdown the house you made of matchsticks,
And set fire to the throne.
(Matchstick 'throne' sets fire. House burns too)
To the throne,
To the throne.
(Watch burn until nothing left.)

When you're awake on your own,
Shadows turn into ghosts. (x2)
(Same as before. Different footage)

Home becomes what you're scared of the most. (x2)
(Front door. Walk towards camera. Singing)

When shadows turn into ghosts,
Its what you're scared of the most.
(Face in camera. Singing)

I'm pulling pictures off the wall,
(Posters/Photo of 2nd phrase on wall. Rip down)
Watching smiles as they fall. (x4)
(Smiles on paper. Drop. Frown/Split screen smiles frowns etc.)

When you're awake on your own,
Shadows turn into ghosts. (x2)
(Look around room)

Home becomes what you're scared of the most. (x2)
(Singing)

When shadows turn into ghosts,
Its what you're scared of the most.
(Fall on bed)

GENRE.

Our genre is indie rock. After analysing some music videos, i feel i really understand the genre and how it is brought across when making a music video.

The colours play a big part in the whole music video as they are either very chalk like, or very bright, colourful and fun. I am focusing on the chalk like colours as the song is a sad and slow moving song with upsetting lyrics and it would not work at all if i use a more bright and colourful approach.

Another convention i found caught my eye is the shot types and how they are all very similar. They are very personal and use close ups, aswell as mid shots and sometimes long shots. I will be taking this into concideration as these make the music videos work really well and i feel it could work well in my music video as the song is very personal.

Its not just using the conventions in the music video it is also about challenging them as well. In most music videos there would be a blonde or brunette long haired girl but as i would like to challenge the conventions, i have a short haired girl who has died her hair red. This is Charley, my partner.

TARGET AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE.

It is very important to get opinions from our audience as, at the end of the day, they are the ones that are goingt o be watching to music video and it would be a lot more appriciated if they were to enjoy watching it. The ages range between 13- 21 and this is the sort of age that are more likely to use social networking sites on a regular basis.

Therefore i have put together a small questionnaire for them to fill out and find ideas. I will post this on social networking sites which will help me out a lot as nowadays a lot fo teenagers and young adults use these sites for communication thanks to web 2.0 and the upgrade in technologies nowadays. I am going to take advantage of this.

1) Are you male or female?
Male
Female

2) Do you watch music videos on a regular basic?
Yes
No

3) Do you enjoy watching music videos?
Yes
No

4) Where do you watch the music videos?
Youtube
Television
Artists Websites

5) Do you enjoy listening to the genre, Indie Rock?
Yes
No

6) What do you prefer to see within a music video?
Focused Narrative
Focused Performance
Both

7) Would you like the music video to relate to the lyrics of the song or allow the music to leave it up to the audeince?
Relate to the lyrics
Let music leave it up to the audience

8) Would you enjoy the music video more if the artist was the main character in the music video?
Yes
No

Is there anything else you would like to add to the questionnaire to do with the music video? It will be very appriciated and will also be taken into concideration when coming to plan the video.

ANALYSING (EXAMPLE- KICKSTART)

This is "Example- Kickstart"

ANALYSING (JOSE VANDERS- MOTHER THERESA CANT DIVE)

This is the music video for "Jose Vanders- Mother Theresa Cant Dive". The style of the music video is a more up beat and fun style. As the song is a more happy and enjoyable song to listen to it fits with the video extremely well. The colours are a bright shade which makes the audience smile when watching it. There are illistrations that are used within the video which complete it and makes it more enjoyable to watch. There is an illistration of an octopus/ squid that attacks the people within the music video and really does work well.

The costumes that all of the actors wear are really bright and colourful. It matches with the background and the theme. The audience also respect the person who is dressed differently and more thier own style because they are more individual and they are not ashamed to show who they truely are. Jose Vanders in this music video really shows how crazy and wacky she is by the way she acts and the different outfits she wears. She obviously has her own individual style and i like that.

Most of the shots that are used in the music video are long takes as the video is trying to show a story through the different illistartions and acting that is used. Most of the shots types are either long shots, two shots or mid shots of all of them. When the perfomance shots are being used in the music video, Jose Vanders is central in the framing and a mid shot is used to show her closely. when the illistratuions are shown, most of the time theactors are all in a long shot so that the audience can see the whole picture and not just part of what is going on. This is a good idea because it is more enjoyable to watch when more of the story is shown.

There is also a very different experimental technique that i would like to use in my music video. I find it very interesting to watch and i looked up the technique on the internet. I found out that the technique is taking a series of pictures and putting them together. When the yellow t shirts move through the people, this is what is used to do it. I would really like to experiment with this through my video just to see how it would work out. I think it wouldnt only be enjoyable to do, but the kind of music video that i am thinking of doing, it would fit in very nicely.

ANALYSING (PASSENGER- WHAT WILL BECOME OF US)

This is "Passenger What Will Become Of Us". I have chosen to analyse this music video because i like the location where it is films. I like the fact that it is based in a meadow which can be romanic but has nothing to do with any of the music. This makes the video very random and makes the audience think. The narrative is also very random and has not actual story to the music video. It seems to be the same shot every time and the characters are just walking towards the camera. The story seems to unravel itself as the man walks away from the camera at the end of the video. As they seem to be walking towards each other, it really shocks the audience when this happens.

What also really catches my eye is the t shirt colours changing as the video goes on. I like the way this works with the video as this is also completely random. This contributes towards the shots that are used as they are all the same shots. All of the shots in the whole of this video is always either close ups or mid shots. This somehow works with the video though, its because the audience is not really worried about the action they are looking at the colour changing tops the two characters are wearing. I find this very interesting.

ANALYSING (LISA MITCHELL- CLEAN WHITE LOVE)

I am going to analyse parts of the music video by "Lisa Mitchell- Clean White Love". I will take aspects for the music video of which inspires me and leads me to making my own ideas.
The first convention of this video that catches my eye is the colours that are used through the entire video. Although the colours catch the audiences eye because they are so bright, they more chalk like and pail. I would like to use this in my music video as i see that as quite old school and vintage. The clothes worn in the video are also very vintage style, nearly 80's style. I also love this as it goes with the music. The clothing colours are also plain because it fits the trend of the video. The first shot is of a paper sign with a drawn on, red heart on showing someone is missing. The young gril is stood on a train platform. There is then an action shot of a very old red leather suitcase with the girls friends running towards it with the suitcase being the focal point. This shot shows that they are going away somewhere. The next location is the girl and her friends on the train playing and chatting sitting around a table. The scenery is showing from the window behind them and then it quickly changes to the whole scenery being shown as if you were looking out of the window at it. This is known as a point of view shot. They are playing cards and laughing and messing around which shows that they are having fun and this is a good and happy music video. They then walk across the train track in a straight line which looks good as they have their different coloured umbrellas up and you see it from an ariel shot. This is a generally fun video. Later on they have a fight with leaves and through around things in the woods. I love this idea as it shows they are enjoying themselves and makes the audience feel they are having fun with them. I would like to take aspects from this video as it is very similar music to the music we will be using. I also like the colours and the vintage feel to the story and the fun narrative that we get to see and enjoy. I would like the audience to feel as though they are joining in with the fun. To do this we will need to find someone who is willing to act as the main part and would fit the part perfectly.

This is the different screen shots of the music video i have analysed. This is a variety of the different shots they used in the video. I thought buy screen shotting the shots would allow me to see how the music videos would show emotion. In this slideshow, it also shows the colours and the costumes that the characters and the style we would like to be influenced by.

OFFICIAL SONG WE WILL BE USING FOR OUR MUSIC VIDEO

This is "Ghosts" that Gabby Aplin wrote and sang. She will be producing a really official, properly recorded version of this song as she feels this song is very personal to her. It is about her phobia of going outside a while back. We would like to use her as the main actor in the video as personally, i feel that as she wrote the song and it is personal about her. She would also fit the part perfectly as well as she is the one who produced the music and would be the correct style.

We have chosen this song because we find it very interesting. The lyrics to me are very insightful because i know they are very personal to her and i think they are brilliant. She is a very talented girl.

The lyrics are below the song of the rough copy she filmed and put on youtube to see what people thought and asked for her fans opinions.

TIME PLAN

This is my time plan for the upcoming project. This will help me keep up to date and not fall behind.

My time plan allows me to keep to my time and not go off course or get behind and then have to worry when the time comes for handing everything in. I have sorted my time within reason so it is not completely imposible to complete. I have sectioned out different parts of my chart with the pre production planning, then the production of the ancillary task, the production of the music video and then evaluating the two different part of our project. This will help me as i will then know where i am going with everything.

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO ACHIEVE OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS

Over the next few weeks i would like to have decided on a song that we are going to be using for our music video. I would also like to have the actors to be chosen and knowing what they are doing. We need to make sure they are responsable and will be able to keep to the times we will give them. We will need to make sure that the conventions of the actors will be right for our music video and match the genre of the music. For the theme of music we want to do, we are looking for a long hair, natural looking girl , known as "the bath look". We want to be able to make her look a bit hippy and to be abkle to suit bright colours. This means we have to go window shopping and both decided on a girl that is right for our video. We will also need to use other actors in our video so they will also need to use the same style.

We also need to agree on different locatons where we will want to shoot. We will need to do a rough plan of the different places that we would like to include in our video and see if that is possible. In a few weeks i will hopeful be driving, so hopefully things will be a lot more accessable than if i wasnt. We also would like to keep the cost down as much as possible so we will also need to think about that.

I want to have the alocated jobs given to the group members which are only me and charley. But i would like it to be clear on what eachothers dutes are and to make sure we are going to be able to stick to them and not go off course leaving the other with a lot of work to be done.

I want the questionnaires for our pre production being long on the way to being finished. We will be doing this by using websites such as facebook, twitter etc. This would be a good way to give people a chance to complete the questionnaire as many young adults/teenagers are on the internet rather a lot nowadays and will be easily accessable. We have already used facebook to reach someones views. Gabby Aplin, the singer will be using the video as her official music video, therefore she wants to be included in all of the conversations. This is possible but we need to make an agreement that it also fits with the alevel mark scheme as we do not want to lead off of track. Anyway. She has sent videos from youtube over on faceboook to show the kind of style she would like to use and singers she uses as influences. This is very easy to do so we can keep track of everything online if we are unable to see eachother.

I would like to look at other music videos that are linked with ours and would like to analyse a few to see the sort of camera shots, angles and movements they use. Also using the colours and the actual people who are included in the videos. We need to see whether they use a narative or the videos are completely random. We need to also do this for album covers and posters as we also need to produce this as well for our anciliary task. I will starts off by making a variety of mood boards of which i think are bad and good and then analyse a few of them in depth and pick out good and bad aspects of them both. This will be a good start to our project i think.

WHAT WE PLAN TO DO.

As we have had a few lessons and out of school time to discuss what we are doing. At the end of last year we started thinking about our project and researched some videos on youtube of Gabby Aplin. As we are now A2 students our music video will have tio be top notch to be able to get into my good books. It will have to look very professional. To do this we will need to use a tripod to keep the camera steady. I also know a very trust worthy freind who is willing to let me borrow his top of the range video camera which also has filters that can be fixed to the lens which will give effect that i am hoping to get. We will use Adobe Premier Pro to edit our video which is useful as i learnt how to use it last year. I am very familiar with the different icons and how to use them and i am capable of producing different effect ont he screen.

My group have decided on a song called "Ghosts" writen and sang by Gabrielle Aplin. We would love it if she was able to act in the video as she would suit it perfectly as it is about herself, if not we will have to find someone very similar (we have some in mind). We have a specific look in mind for our actor, we would like her to have long hair with the natural look which will suit vintage type of clothing. (FACEBOOK LINK) We also need to make sure they are reliable and easy to get to. We will need to make sure they are comfortable infromt of the camera as we do not need any mess ups. We also need other actors in the video as we would like the video to involve a freindship ground. We arent really bothered at the moment about what they look like but later on in the stage we will think about it in more detail. One thing we have spoken about howvever is that they need to suit the same look as the girl we will be using.

The locations that i have researched are very close to where i live. Marshfield, a little village on the way to Chippenham. I will be going up to the village in a few weeks taking photos with a friend of mine. I will take different images of the different shots i would like to include in our video. I have chosen a lovely field, a bit like a meadow, with long grass etc. I have also got a mini cooper with a black outer body and pink seats and accessories. I think this will tie in with the video quite well. I will be driving by the time we start and i would like this to be a good part inthe video as nowadays cars play an important roll. As i also work on weekends in Marshfield so i will be able to shoot whenever i want aslong as the actor is free. I am the filmer as well so it will not be a problem. We will not fall behind.

In the next few weeks we will have to ensure all of the research is done and properly plan our storyboard and then go out shooting after that. Our research will include the questionnaires which will involve the public and will help us in our researching ages and genres. We will post the questionnaire on facebook, twitter, myspace and tumblr. Teenagers and young adults tend to use social networking sites a lot more which means that we will get some good answers in. This will allow us to get a range of people and different opinions. As i am experienced with the filming, it is more than likely that i will be shooting the film. I will probably also edit as i also have skills in that.

I have briefly starting looking at music videos as i want to have a rough outline on what sort of conventions are used and i want to get used to what they are like. Then, it might come naturally and it would be a bit easier. I have looked at the camera angles of the different music videos. I have looked at the colours and the costumes used for setting the scene and have looked at the narravtive scenes

We also need to look out for the ancillary task. We need to make sure that the film and the poster and cd cover all link together and all stay on the same guildelines. I will start to look at different cd covers and different posters and analyse them very in depth as i would like to make them look good. I am also very skilled on photoshop as i do photography and have skills of taking the photographs. I am also artistic so i hope that the finished product will come out amazing.

TECHNICALLY COMPETENT

For this project we will be first of all using shot types well to produce a good and "full" music video. I will also use a tripod to film the music video as i we will want to have a steady hand and not allow the camera to wobble as we do not need to use a point of veiw shot as of yet. We will also use Adobe Premier Pro to edit the video. We will use a range of editing skills to produce the project well and i know very well how to use the program.

CONVENTIONS OF ACCOUSTIC INDIE.

I have looked around you tube and found some very different videos. I found that the colours used in the videos are very natural and quite dull. I also realised that the videos uses very long takes of the actor or actors. They constantly include close ups and extreme close up, i feel this is because they are trying to show emotion. The whole music video is showing about the emotions and doesn't have much of a narrative to it. The videos are also shot quite dark as well so it catches the detail that is needed to show the emotion.

The video also uses pathetic to. This also brings across the emotion, for example, in snow patrol there is a close up of rain droplets hitting the floor to show the emotional side of the video and showing a different way of bring across tears without him actually crying. The situations in the film are also realistic and it could easily relate to a situation of the audiences.

SEARCHING INTO A GENRE.

We are using a girl who is unsigned called Gabrielle Aplin. She has done many different song, some her own and some covers. She has attended different gigs and has recently gone on tour. Most of her songs are acoustic indie kind of genre so we need to look at conventions of different music video using this kind of music. This is her youtube account, so take a look.. http://youtube.com/user/Gaberrz

IN CAMERA EDITING

This lesson we were in groups of four and learning new skills. We got taught different creative techniques which we were then told to use to create a small film. The film had to be based on suspicion and we had to plan the different shots and quickly storyboard. We went to the school car park and brought a tripod and a camera. We set up using our storyboards. First of all, we used a long shot of Himilay trying to open a car door looking suspicious. We then took a discovery shot (which we learnt in the lesson) from behind the wing mirror revealing Himilay's hand on the handle. I then filmed an extreme close up of Himilay's hand on the handle which then turned into a long shot of Matt and Asha standing talking then looking over towards the camera. I then filmed an over the shoulder shot of someone pointing at Himilay. Himilay then runs away leaving the car.

In camera editing was really worth trying out. I feel this because it brought my skills up a bit more as i was able to refresh my mind about all the different shots, and also matching the shots together makes me think a lot more about what i am filming rather than not worrying and expecting editing to do the job.

REVIEW OF MY SKILLS LAST YEAR

Over the last year, i feel my group came a long way. At the beginning of the year we produced our preliminary task (click). We did not plan our preliminary task well and broke quite a few rules that we shouldnt have. For example, the 180 degree rule. This is a big rule that should not be broken because it will reveal thing that should not have been showed. Some of the cut did not match up as well as they shoulod have and looking back now, it was a complete desaster.

At the beginning of this course none of my group really knew what media was all about and how much work had to go into the planning and then the actually making of the film. Once we were taught a lot about the planning and how to story boarding worked we had a lot more of an idea of how to do it. We used questionnaires to find what things were needed in making a thriller film.

PRE PRODUCTION:
For our pre production i feel it went rather well. To me, pre production was the simplest thing we had to do as it was just thourough research of different genres and the conventions and surveys and more research than actual physical work. Analysing different starts of thriller films helped me a lot. Paranormal activity showed me that there does not have to be any blood or gore at the beginning to show. Its more of the shot types and the way they set the scene. Arlington Road on the other hand, was all blood and gore and makes you feel very nervous as its hard to see until the shot of the boys hand being blown off it introduced to the audience. This whole exersice was a great help to me. It also made the rest of the work an awful lot easier as we had sort of guidelines to follow and it was not off of our own back. We had to cange our storyboards a few times as everytimw we went filming we thought of more ideas and more shots we could use. We also found that some of the shots we had plan were to difficult to put together and when it got to editing it was impossible. Our final storyboarding of our film works well becasuse we had had a lot of past experience.

PRODUCTION:
The actual production of the film was much more extreme and a lot more work involved. It took a lot of filming shoots and different skills to produce the perfect film. Filming the opening to the film was very time consuming as every time we filmed, it was different settings and a lot of changing. The amount of times we went filming was 6 times. As we shot we changed the storyboards and the costumes and the settings. It kept chnaging as my group wanted to make the film as good as we could. We realised that we had not planned what we were to do in enough detail. This scrambled us a lot and we were stressing because of all of the different bits and pieces we had not even thought about. Many things went wrong in the filming processes but we finally got it together. We also thought up of the idea of adding the next victim in the opening and the film would carry on from there. This was thanks to Miss Street. We used a brunette as this is a typical convetion in a thriller and we worked it out to be rather well.

POST PRODUCTION:
The editing process was rather stressful as well. It took us a while to understand the program and figure out how to use it, which was rather annoying. We were hoping to get a high grade and to do this we had to get our film up to a good standard. Therefore we were on the editing machines as much as possible and figured out different systems and way in which to do things. We learned everything from fading the sub titles in and then out at a certain time, to using the razor tool to cut certain shots and putting the music in. We faded the music out when needed and colour coded the words. It took a lot of work with the editing process but we finally got there. We also used a voice over within the opening which we prodiuced on garage band. This is not a typical convention of a thriller but we wanted to use it as we watched a film called "twilight" which was a thriller romance. We decided to use it to see how it went. It worked well for the film.
Putting the film on youtube was very interesting as we got comments of what people thought of the film. We had one person ask when the whole film was due to be out which chuffed all of us. We used the comments in our evaluation as they were our audience. As we were distributing on youtube we were a showign our film as a company and we finally realised how important this was as we were putting it on youtube. We also got Jack to come in and evaluate our film on the computer which i have written up on my blog. This was also more help to what the audience thought of our film.

Here is our finished film, 4 AM. (click)

WELCOME TO MY A2 MEDIA BLOG.

Welcome to my blog. i have chosen to produce a music video and also a poster and CD cover to go by the side of this. i am working with Charley as i feel she is reliable and will work hard as well as me to complete this project.