location recce

After careful consideration into the feasibility of our project filming at bluebell woods, we have come to a new decision to film at this location because we have altered the number of actors etc and so travel could be difficult to drive. Atleast with this new location that is located near to our camera resources, we can apply these ideas better. This new location is located in Stratford upon Avon, near the Rec Grounds. I took these photos when on a walk with two members of my group. We were thinking on new ideas and I suggested near the REC grounds; we then had further ideas and they progressed to this.


I am thinking of a close up of Jo here, maybe when she is singing at the camera could work well. The trees and their branches are quite engaging and this could work very well in my opinion.
This is where Jo and the actors may be running; it is quite a vast space so this could work well.

This is a very picturesque shot, and i think it could work well with the river, rocks and land.
This is what is down the small hill, it leads to a small steam and there is quite a vast area of land around it.
Just another shot of the stream to demonstrate it corresponding with the trees that we are going to decorate.
The stream is long and the large amount of trees enables us as a group to decorate the area well for our video.
The entrance of the area shown. This path could be used i think for a few shots.
Again, the vast area that we are going to film in. It is a clear, not very pedestrianised area so this will work to our advantage.

Movie storyboard

I created a moving image from my storyboard. I could not gain access to the Poppy and the Jezebels song - UFO for some unknown reason, so the video is silent. I used Microsoft Movie Maker to create my storyboard, as I knew it was quick and easy to use. I have looked at other storyboards my group have made, which are very similar to mine, so I know the song would have fit fine if it would have uploaded.

Schedule and call sheet.

Definition
A call sheet is a chart given to the cast of a film production, listing the production schedule. Typically, in addition to including a schedule, the call sheet also includes a list of contact information for other members of the cast and crew. Call sheets are often issued at the beginning of the week, because schedules change frequently, and trying to plan further ahead can become quite complicated. As we are doing this as a college project, the beginning of the week doens't apply as filming times will vary. As a general rule, when a call sheet is assembled, the scheduler assumes that everyone is available at any time, unless specifically informed otherwise. This may alter nearer the time of filming.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-call-sheet.htm

I have made some targets dates for the completion of my planning. I will attempt to get each of these done as soon as possible.

Costume ideas

Sketches



I did some rough sketches of the costumes we shall be using, and I painted them to give them some colour.
Jo will be wearing a pretty floaty dress, and the other actors will be wearing a rabbit mask, a clown mask, fairy wings, an eye mask, and maybe an eye patch.

Photos

Big bold jewellary would be good to make a statement and accessorize an outfit.


Pasty, pale colours would work well for Jo's outfit.


Brighter, more colourful outfits would fit the other characters.

Props will be good to accessorize the actors.



I think a creamy, floaty dress like this would suit the part of Jo really well.

Organisation of characters

The organisation of actors needs to be addressed so the producers and also the actors know who and what each character are wearing and who they are.

Script

Written text that provides the basis for a film production. Screenplays usually include not only the dialogue spoken by the characters but also a shot-by-shot outline of the film's action, but as a music video there is no spoken dialogue so this is unnesessary.

http://www.answers.com/topic/screenplay

storyboard of script and shots.

Storyboards are created to show each individual shot in more detail; these do not usually consist of stick men pictures. There is a small description of the shot, a drawing of the shot, and also the camera work that would be used.

Florence and the machine: Dog Days -> shots

This is a long shot that was at the beginning of the video; it sets the scene and allows the viewer to take in the scenic view. The lighting is natural in this video, and it gives a nice colour to the film. Props are lay about to create a scene, and the lack of actors make it quite a mysterious shot as you don't know what is going to happen.


Shortly after the scenic shot, the actors come in place, and this shot is of the main actor walking towards the camera. I found this quite interesting as it is a straight angle at ground level. It allows the viewer to feel like they are the camera. It is quite a strange shot as there is no recognition to where they are going or what they are doing. The shot itself does not show much about the video or the actor.


The walk continues and the camera angle changes to being behind the actor, and back into where the first shot was. This fits together quite well as the video reverts back to the beginning.


A short while on, there is a low angle that caught my eye of a two shot. The actors are walking straight and the camera is directly in front of them. The camera moves with the actors and I think this works really well for a very naturally set feel.


This midshot of an actor is quite interesting; it is almost an introduction to a new character.


This then moves onto a close up of the actor, the expression is lifeless and very wary. Close ups are a good way to show emotion, and I think this could work well in our video to show the vacant expressions on the faces of the masks. If we have masks that have eye holes, I think close ups of eyes would be a good idea.


Nearing to the end of the video, the scene changes slightly. The main actor is out of the woods and running free, and the lighting is quite dark. This may be due to the low angle of the camera having blocked the sunlight.


Back into the original set, the actor runs through. The long shot is again taken from a low angle. It appears to be that you see the video from a low point of view through a lot of the shots.


This shot is quite demeaning and claustrophobic. It is a low angle, again, and is a midshot of the actors. They are all gathered to the camera, but are supposedly looking at the main actor (who is lying on the floor at this point).

This shot is of the main actor singing to the camera. The lighting is what really caught my eye in this shot though. Having a spotlight on one person excludes other distractions and makes the spotlight the main focus, and i think this works really well as there is still some movement in the background but it does not make make your eyes follow. I like this idea of some singing towards the camera as would a promo video, it gives more personality to the band. On the other hand I do really like how the narrative gives a story, but the two combined, especially in this video, work really well.

Poppy and the Jezebels info

http://www.myspace.com/poppyandthejezebels

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Poppy-and-The-Jezebels/23407354551?ref=ts



Lyrics to UFO:

Here we were out of nothing,
into nowhere-land Fortuna 4000
Fate falls in our hands
Make mountains from moondust with people from
Mars Engines are drumming, in time with the stars

A powder filled UFO explodes across your shirt
'Coz everything has turned to dust, don't take off it won't hurt
A powder filled UFO is crushed between your teeth
The future's so last century, it's all beyond belief

Celestial circles come swirling... under our feet
Lingering luminous
Lethally sweet.. these heavenly heights we like to call home
Shine silver light, through crystals of chrome

A powder filled UFO explodes across your shirt
'Coz everything has turned to dust, don't take off it won't hurt
A powder filled UFO is crushed between your teeth
The future's so last century, it's all beyond belief

Imagination...Risk assessment...we better stay at home
Imagination...Crash position...underneath the dome

A powder filled UFO explodes across your shirt
'Coz everything has turned to dust, don't take off it won't hurt
A powder filled UFO is crushed between your teeth
The future's so last century, it's all beyond belief

Reply from Paul Bassett

This is the reply from Poppy and the Jezebels management, accepting my request for the use of the bands music.
This now entitles me and my group to use the artists work, and now we can fully prepare our project with the band that we intended on using.

Reply from Lab Records

This was the email sent back to me from Mark of Lab Records.
We can use the song, and this puts a lot of relief onto the project as there is a definate back up.

Portia and Poppy

We have chosen these two artists as they are both under the right genre of music that my group and I would like to use.
They are both local artists, and both relatively new into the music market.
I think they are both the right sort of artist that could make our project exactly how we intend it to be.
The image of the two artists is not exactly how we intend our own image to be, but we can alter this to fit our final idea.

Email

I have emailed Poppy and The Jezebels management in request for the use of their song, and also Portia Conn's management as a back up.
I found them by searching the artists on the internet, coming accross their Myspace and Facebook.
Hopefully they will reply soon so we can finalise our project idea.

Treatment

A written sketch outlining the plot, characters, and action for a screenplay but does not include camera work etc.

http://www.answers.com/topic/treatment

final idea

This is a mindmap addressing the ideas that my group and I have come up with for a final music video idea.
They are outlined very simply, so in depth analysis will need to be undertaken to finalise the idea.

initial ideas

Content of digipak/advertisement

The purpose of our project:

Florence and the machine

Dog days are over



This video was shown to me by a member of my group. I really like this video, it is very surreal and abstract. After discussion in my group we have decided to revert our ideas to a more abstract video such as this one. I shall conduct some research into this band to see what other videos they have and if they might relate to our idea.



This is the cover for FATM's album Lungs. It is a fantastic image, I especially like the colours and composition.
The colours are quite pastel like and this gives a very soft tone to the image. I think this works well as you can realy see what impression the band wants to give. The composition of the image is very central and follows the rule of thirds quite well. This may be due to the image followig some forms of symmatry. I think creating something like this could be really interesting as you could experiment a lot with techniques to achieve such a surreal image.

Florence and the Machine is the recording name of Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide backing music for her voice. Musically Florence and the Machine's sound is generally referred to as soul-inspired indie rock. Their album 'Lungs' was released on 6th July 2009, and held the number 2 position for its first five weeks in the charts, behind Michael Jackson.
The album has now been in the top 40 UK charts for 30 consecutive weeks. On January 17th 2010 the album reached number one on the official UK album chart and stayed there for 2 weeks before dropping to number 3.

The producer for this video is Josh Davies, but is directed by Tom Beard and Tabitha Denholm, who have been directing music videos together for 18 months.
Tom began as a music photographer in his early teens, taking photos of friends such as Jamie T and Adele. Tabithas partner manages Florence and the machine, which then led her to be in charge of the 'art' side. This has been
all encompassing from album art work to merchandise and stage design.
This has led to a number of exciting new collaborations from art
directing fashion shoots for Vice magazine to co-directing videos with Tom.

Cross media advertising

Cross media advertising can be defined as advertising in all media including radio, TV, direct mail, magazines, newspapers and the internet.
I understand that advertisement can happen through all of these, but I feel that the best are through the TV and magazines.
Direct mail is the same as junk mail, nobody wants it and it would get thrown away.
For the type of industry that I am doing my project on, newspapers don't seem the best option.
As for the internet, it seems a good idea but as my project products are not internet based I shall not be experimenting this idea.

Visual based subliminal messages that can come accross without realising, such as TV and magazines are the best advertisement options in my opinion.

There are benefits and drawbacks from cross media advertising. One of the main benefits of this technique is that it is more than one advertisement technique to suit the audience and location, there is not one set way to promote a product.
A drawback is it would cost more than usual because of new media technologies and distribution.

Target audience

The target audience that my group and I plan on aiming at is the younger generation, ages between about 15 upwards. Because we are focussing on the indie rock genre, we aim for our audience to be a part of the indie culture, and also a fan of indie/indie rock music.
Our target audience through the media:
Readers of Q, Rocksound and NME
Listeners of MTV, Q and 4Music.
Fans of Florence and the Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Lostprophets, etc.

On the other hand I understand that we are also aiming for anyone that is interested in indie music, or this particular genre and culture, of any age.

I collected some demographic data on the internet at www.itfacts.com about music buyers/listeners in the UK.

Kerrang magazine

After looking into Rocksound, I decided to look into another popular rock magazine that I read.
I looked into Kerrang's publishing company, which happens to be Bauer.

Bauer Media connects and engages 19 million consumers every week with the most influential brands in the UK.
They have more than eighty influential media brands spanning a wide range of interests, including heat, GRAZIA, Closer, MCN, FHM, Parker's, MATCH, Magic 105.4, Kiss 100, Kerrang!, 4Music and the Big City Network, their group of twenty local radio stations.
The value of our in-depth understanding of these audiences is reflected in our unrivalled research initiatives. Bauer Media is in a unique position to be able to deliver groundbreaking consumer insight to media professionals, having more market leading brands across a wider breadth of markets than any other media owner.

The Inside
‘The Inside’ is Bauer Media’s unique research panel designed to understand today’s consumers. Launched in November 2006, The Inside’s bespoke research data offers a greater understanding of consumer behaviour and tracks consumer trends as they emerge.
The panel’s 10,000 + members, aged 16 years and over, have been recruited from a wide range of Bauer Media’s brands including FHM, heat, more, Kerrang!, Kiss, Magic 105.4, Empire and GRAZIA.

Unfortunately I can't access this information as Bauer privacy states it is private information. There must be some truth in their research though because Bauer publish some of the best selling brands.

New media technologies for film and image

Image editing software:
Photoshop.


Photoshop is an image editing software, available in many editions to suit your profession in photography. There are now even editions (such as CS4 Extended) for film and video. Photoshop is a very commonly used software, and is used by professional photographers everywhere. Photoshop is created by Adobe Systems.

The history of Photoshop is relatively simple; in 1987 a student named Thomas Knoll began writing a program on his Macintosh Plus to display grayscale images on a monochrome display. This program, called Display, caught the attention of his brother John Knoll, an Industrial Light & Magic employee, who recommended Thomas turn it into a full-fledged image editing program. They then together created Imagepro, which later turned to Photoshop. Demonstrations were given to Apple and Adobe, both successful, and Adobe purchased the license to distribute the product in late 1988.
Photoshop is now one of the leading image editing software kits. It has been described as "an industry standard for graphics professionals" and was one of the early "killer applications" on the Macintosh, later also for MS Windows.

I think Photoshop would be a very useful tool for editing and creating the digi pak and poster. I use Photoshop on a regular basis to edit photographs for college and for personal use, so I am very familiar with the tools and am happy to use the program for my media project.

iMovie


iMovie is a program on the Apple Mac that allows you to organise edit and create film. iMovie supports most digital camcorders, and iMovie '09 supports popular video formats like AVCHD and MPEG 4, and even the new iFrame video format.

Due to college supporting Apple Macs, I think that for my own video this would be a good program to edit my film. With all these tools I believe that my group and I could create a successful music video.
This program will allow me to edit my shots, organise my video timing, the colours that appear on the shots, and the sequence order that the shots appear in.

Song A1E


High definition video (HDV) is a format for recording and playback of high-definition video on a DV cassette tape.
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. Two important characteristics of CMOS devices are high noise immunity and low static power consumption.

Features:
Using a 3 mega pixel CMOS sensor provides high quality results in a highly compact design. With the Enhanced Imaging Processor (EIP) which is the new signal processing circuit for CMOS sensor, it provides a number of benefits such as,
- Wide dynamic range
- Smear-less
- High sensitivity & Low noise
- High-speed read-out
- Low power consumption

The ring positioned in front of the body can be selected for manual focus or manual zoom, with direct operation of using the slide switch located near the ring.

Still image capture
Enables the flexibility to capture still images onto both tape and Memory Stick. It can record maximum 2.8M (1920x1440) pixels in Memory Mode, and maximum 1.2M (1440x810) in Tape Mode.

B&W / colour switchable viewfinder
Some professional users find it beneficial to view an image in black and white to assist with focusing operations. For this reason, the HVR-A1E allows you to choose either a colour or black & white display on the viewfinder depending on your preference.

This camcorder is the equipment that I shall be using for my project. With the added use of a tripod I shall be able to get a very still straight images.

Questionnaire results

I have put my results into a table.
From this i can distinguish what genre of music would be the best to follow through with my project. I shall compare these results to the rest of my groups so we can discuss what we think would make a successful project.
In my questionnaire I interviewed 10 people, 5 female and 5 male. I thought this way i could see which gender I should be aiming my product for. From my results it is clear to see that the majority of people watch music videos (for what ever reason) and also download music. This helps me because I can see who i should be aiming to my product at. There were a few questions about concerts, and I feel that this is relevent because the reason that people go to concerts is because of how they know of a band, which is through advertisement (digi pak, etc.)
The most popular of the genres was rock and indie. Not far behind was pop and rnb. This has allowed me to assure that I shall focus my project around either rock, indie or pop. Pop rock or indie pop could work well in my opinion.
Between advertisement and understanding the track, the results were very similar. Top of the results was to entertain. From this I can conclude that my music video should be more based on entertaining the viewer rather than simply advertising the band. On the other hand I think I could incorporate both. For instance the Digipak and advertisement can be more purely advert based.
From my results I have found out that people prefer music videos to be in colour, and to be narrative. This goes against what I initially thought could make a good music video, but on the other hand I know that this is only a small selection of people who might have different taste to others.
I shall consider this research when mindmapping ideas to gather a clearer perspective on what to do for my project.



I picked some of the more important of questions and placed them into graphs to show the difference in results.