Evaluation-28/1/2010

Today I underwent the final part of my A2 Advanced Portfolio in terms of creating a music video and ancillary texts by having a live evaluation filmed in class. The purpose of this was to evaluate all the work I have done since the start of term in September 2009 and how I felt I "used, developed or challenged" the forms of real media products.
This included the creation of:

• A music video
• An album cover (front and back)
• A DVD Digipak
• A magazine advert.

I then had to discuss how effective I felt the combination was between my main product (the music video) and the ancillary texts. I also had to evaluate what I thought of my audience feedback after they had watched my music video and what I have learnt from that. I then had to comment on what new Media Technologies I have used during the creation of the above products. The new Media Technologies used in the planning and research stages were:

• www.blogger.com (to update my planning of all products)
• www.youtube.com (to research existing music videos and futher my knowledge)
• www.google.com (to research into the band Oasis and the format of typical Oasis videos)

The new Media Technologies used in the consturction stages were:

• Camcorder (to film my music video) along with DV Tapes to film the footage on
• Camera (to take photos of the filming set)
• Final Cut Pro (editing software which i edited all my footage on
• Uploaded CD Track (for music video and editing purposes)
• Photoshop (to construct the print artefacts e.g album cover, magazine advert)

The new Media Technologies used in the evaluation stages were:

• Camcorder (to film the evaluation)
• Blogger (to refer to the work I have done on my blog during the evaluation.

Overall I think that my evaluation went very well and I managed to get across all the main points that I wanted. After discussions with my teacher, it was confirmed I would be allowed to use my blog on screen to show how I have developed things such as my ancillary texts. I managed to stay quite calm whilst being filmed and think that I handled the situation well. The Evaluation stage is only a small addition to my overall grade but even so I am confident that I did well today.

Audience Feedback

I recentlty recieved my audience feedback and I was relatively happy with my results. In general, all coments stated that my music video was deemed good to excellent. I am very happy with this. However, here are some critcisms I have picked out:

• Lack of editorial creativity


• Not enough variation of shot composition


• Singing not in complete synchronisation

I accept these three criticisms. I will now state why I think these criticisms ocurred, and what I could have done differently.

EDITORIAL CREATIVITY:

I agree that in terms of editing, the maximum level of creativity was not established. This, in my opinion, is because of the song and band I chose. I feel that in creating an Oasis music video, there are certain formats it must follow such as having a performance or narrative music video and using a frontman such as Liam or Noel Gallagher. Looking back I think my music video would have been more succesful had i chosen a different song because I would have had more oppurtunities to create an abstract video that made sense with a paticular song.

SHOT COMPOSITION:

On some level I think this may be considered an accurate criticism, however I did think that in general I had included enough variation of shots. One thing looking back is that perhaps I could have included more shots from a high angle. But I do think that this was a fairly harsh criticism.

SINGING IN SYNCHRONISATION:

I think that this is a fair comment. The synchronizing period was an extremely time consuming process and one that I thought we generally did ok with. However I think to master it properly it requires hours in the editing suite that we unfortunately did not have. When the video was finished, my partner and I thought that the synchronizing we had done was of a good standard. However I think one can become too warped in one's work and fail to realise the errors in front of you. In hindsight, I wish that I asked a fellow student to review my music video and point out such errors in order to prevent this happening.

Ancillary Project-Album Cover

As part of my A2 Portfolio, I have been asked to create an album cover for the music album "The Masterplan." The song I used, "Half the World Away," is on the album The Masterplan. Here is my final proposal for the front of my album cover:

For the cover, I wanted a shot of our actor playing the guitar and having houses and the sight of an urban village in the background as this reflects the storyline I was aiming for in my music video. This is a frozen still image from some of the footage I have obtained during the filming of the music video. I wanted it in black and white as well as this shows a link between the music video where approximately a third of it is in black and white. I also felt it was important to have the official oasis logo which is seen on every album cover they have produced.

This is only the front cover. For my A2 portfolio I am also expected to create the back of the album cover. I also created this on photoshop. This is my final proposal for the back of my album cover:

For this I used an image which I took with a camera which I obtained whilst filming my music video. This is an actual photo of the poker scene set which is in my music video. I think that this would work well as it develops another link between the ancillary project and the music video and makes the back more authentic by linking in the music video from my song onto the album. I have also used and developed the typical codes and conventions of a CD Album by listing the songs downwards on the back. As is common amongst many albums, the length of the song is also there.

Ancillary Project-DVD Digipak cover

As part of the A2 Portfolio I have also been asked to create a DVD dikipak for my album. After much experimentation on Photoshop this is my final proposal for the DVD Cover:

For this we used an original photo of David that we took with a camera during the filming process of the music video and put it onto Photoshop. The fence was only small but we wanted it to go on the back of the digipak cover and make it look like the same image all the way around. To do this we took the size of the fence we had and pasted it 3 or 4 times next to it to the original image tomake it look like one big fence. Also, the image was made black and white as all our other images on the ancillary projects have been made in this way such as the album cover and the magazine advert. However we decided to highlight the colour of the guitar. During the black and white scenes in the music video, there was a shot of the guitar which we wanted to keep in colour to show that this object is the saving light in David's life. However during the editing process it was not possible to bring out the colour as it was placed in front of a wall with similar colours so it would not have worked. Therefore I was happy that we were able to include it in the digipak.

Production Set Images

Here is a selection of the images I took whilst filming my music video. It gives a basic insight into the set and location of where we filmed.

Dave in full flow on the roof.

Experimenting with shots!

The main setting.

Dave singing on roof, me filming.

View from the garage roof-Urban shot

Living Room Scene

Poker Scene

Editing

The final stage of creating a music video is of course editing all of the footage. This process ended last week and it took us about 5 or 6 weeks to complete. The software I used for editing is called “Final Cut Pro.” The editing process began by uploading all of the footage that we had accumulated and putting it straight onto the computer and then adding the audio track of "Half the World Away." Adding the track bizarrely became our first problem, with the song proving somewhat difficult to get hold of. This was soon sorted but it was an unwelcome early setback. The task then was to watch through all the footage we had recorded and write down the time signature of the clips that we wanted to use, thus getting rid of the footage that was deemed unnecessary. We then named each clip so that it would be easier to identify them. To do all this we used the live capture feature to gather the parts of our footage that we wanted and then uploaded it on to the editing timeline. After this it was a case of arranging our selected clips in the order we wanted. First of all it was important that we synced up the performance parts of the music video so that when our actor was singing his lips were keeping in time with the audio track uploaded. This was a time consuming process, but one that had to be done. Once this was completed, it was a case of adding the narrative clips and cropping those down to produce the full production. At this stage of editing, the music video could effectively be passed off as acceptable. However, it is then about adding specific parts to your music video to make it fit the image you expect of it. For example, we then went on to add filters and video transitions. The majority of the parts of the music video that are seen in colour have been edited using the "Colour Corrector" filter. This was necessary because we wanted the colour scenes to indirectly resemble happiness in that part of David's life. However, it turned out they did not always reflect this prior to the colour corrector being added.
In the original storyboards, we did not see the poker and drugs scenes as being set in black and white. But after reflecting on our thoughts, to make them black and white. We did this by desaturating the entire colour from the clips and fiddling around with the levels of contrast and brightness. It was then that our second problem emerged. One of the clips set up for making the change from colour to black and white had a distinctive rise in sunlight compared to all the others. This was dealt with by again fiddling around with the contrast and brightness of the clip, but it proved difficult and took a lot of time to get it right.
After then receiving editorial advice we decided to add a filter which made the black and white clips look grainy with a sepia tint adding age. However, this part of the video is showing that the height of fame is actually a downfall thus trying to demonstrate a rough and tarnished appearance as opposed to age. Transitions such as dissolving fades were added at the beginning and end of the black and white sequence to attempt to display time and events changing to affect the mood of the character.
To ensure that it looked like the music video was appearing on a music channel such as MTV, text was added at the beginning and end of the video, stating the song name (Half the World Away) and the artist (Oasis). These are often known as credits. A problem occurred in finding the right font to fit the image and in my eyes this problem was never completely solved.
There were other problems which occurred during the editing and filming stages. For example, after the first days filming it was clear that the emotion we were seeking to appear in our music video was not coming across on screen. This involved filming certain shots again and getting our main actor to show more emotion on his face to demonstrate what the events occurring were doing to his life. As well as this, we faced further problems after the second days filming. Once we had edited our footage from that day, it became apparent that there were still minor problems that would require a final day of filming. Further footage was needed to show the childhood years of David’s life (e.g. the scenes in the park.) This was a setback again that was not welcome but I felt that we generally overcame our setbacks professionally and successfully.

Ancillary Project-Magazine Advert

For our A2 Portfolio, we have been asked to create an advertisement for a magazie, promoting the release of a new album. In this case, that album is "The Masterplan," by Oasis. We have decided to stick to the format in terms of advertisements, so it may be similiar to certain adverts. The main information needed is the name of the band and the name of the album. Therefore these two pieces of information are at the top of the page and are in the biggest fonts. Also important is the price and this is in a slightly smaller font. The photo also dominates the majority of the page and is the same photo used for the cover for the album, so this links well in my opinion for promoting the album and familiarising the image amongst fans. It would show the familiar face of the would be artist to his fans flicking through a magazine. This is my final proposal for my magazine advertisement.

FIlming-Day Three

Our third day of filming took place on November 9th 2009. This day was very successful as Sam and I managed to complete all our required filming ready for the final pieces of editing. Our final day of filming took place in a public park near David’s house. We needed to film David having fun and playing with his mates, and generally being happy. After looking at what we had filmed we realised that the majority is made up of David’s poker scene where he is an adult rock star. Therefore, in order to stick to the original storyline, we required footage of David in his youth. Hiring the services of supporting artists Jack Taylor and Sam Cooper, we filmed David playing on the swings, playing football, and running down a big hill, coming to the conclusion that these are very childlike traits. Upon returning to the edit suite it was clear we had all our required footage, and all that was left to do was edit our final footage

Filming-Day Two

The second day of filming took place on Friday 23rd October. This became a very productive day and at least half of the music video was filmed on this day. There were no problems on the day of filming and everything ran smoothly. Confidence was clearly overflowing as I decided to give myself a last minute acting cameo! But on a serious note, filming went well and I was happy with the days work. The all important poker scene was filmed where our actor loses all his money and his car, and then takes drugs and passes out on the floor. Many camera shots were again explored on the day and once again we didn’t stick to the storyline. However, this was not a problem when it came to editing. There now remains a short bit left to film.

Filming-Day One

Our first piece of filming took place on Wednesday 14th October. Overall, filming went very well. At the end of filming, we got around a third of our video filmed. There were a couple of changes which had to be made however. Upon filming, we realised that our original storyboard was a bit too unrealistic and there were some camera shots which were not feasible. This was an early disappointment. However when we arrived at our location we realised there were more imaginative achievable shots possible and decided to explore these. One example of this was to film David playing the guitar on his garage roof. This materialised into a brilliant shot as it granted us a wide range of possibilities to do with how we would film but also what we could film. The location, David’s house in the urban area of Great Barr, turned out to be terrific as we could film David on his roof and get shots of city life in the background. Another new possibility explored was David’s garden. We were unaware that it was so big, and we decided to film shots of David in the childhood phase of the music video, in his garden. This saved time as we did not have to relocate as we had previously expected to. In general, filming was largely successful and we were happy with our days work.

Casting

Casting was inevitably a very important part of my music video. There is one main character throughout the video. Originally, I considered using myself for this role. I have a good knowledge of acting and I am currently studying A2 Drama. Also considered was my working partner Samantha Cliff. However, we both decided that we wanted to test ourselves in terms of filming and Media, and the only way to do that would be to be behind the camera as opposed to in front of it. Eventually, we decided on using our mutual friend, David Moore (see below). The song "Half the World Away” is performed as mentioned by Oasis, and I wanted my actor to heavily resemble Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher. David is also an A2 student of Drama, and we felt that with all things considered, using David would work well.

Ancillary Projects-Ideas and Images

As part of our A2 Advanced Portfolio we have been asked to design

• An album cover (front and back)
  


• A CD/DVD Digipak



• A magazine advert
  

I have begun considering ideas over the past 2 weeks as to what I would like my album cover to look like. I started by researching past Oasis albums to see if I could find inspiration and guidance as to what an ideal Oasis album cover might look like. Here are some I picked out:

ALBUM COVERS:

Be Here Now:Whats the story morning glory?:

Definetely Maybe:

The Masterplan

What I noted from these is that each album is very unique which gives it a certain distinction. I think this helps when coming to distinguishing each album as they are all different. I think this is good because it adds a promotional edge to the album which is good in the long run for selling records. What I have drawn from each cover however is that although there are things going on in the background, the main focal point still somehow manages to be the band. This I think is also good and a very good selling point as although there are things happening in the background the familiar faces of Oasis are still the first things one sees.

Here is the single cover for Half the World Away:

Half the World Away (single):This follows a similar pattern to the album covers I mentioned as clearly the main focal point on this image is Noel Gallagher and when it comes down to it the image of the artist will sell records ahead of any other images on the cover. I like this cover very much as I think it is very simple yet very effective. It shows Noel playing a live gig with his adoring fans in the background. I like the idea of this and I would like to maybe use a similar method when it comes to constructing my album cover, with the image of David playing and having something else in the background. I think that using an image similar to the one from the cover for "Half the World Away" on an album cover would show a very effective combination between my print artefacts and my main product (the music video).


Something which I have also noticed from the album covers is that they usually follow the same pattern of an image, the names of the album or single and the oasis logo. I have noted that I will need to include these in my print aretefacts to sustain consistency and not destroy the illusion that what I am creating is an actual Oasis album cover and magazine advert.



MAGAZINE ADVERTS:
I have also looked at certain magazine adverts featuring Oasis and looked at the typical features are of magazine adverts. I have noted that the main aspects of a magazine advert is:

• The name of the band


• The image of the band


• The product they are selling


• The price of that product


• The magazine name or logo

Here is an Oasis magazine advert I have found:

Dig out your Soul-Oasis
This magazine has most of the main features I have mentioned. It has the name or logo of the magazine (NME), the band name or logo twice (Oasis), the product in this case the album (Dig out your Soul) and a picture of the band (Oasis). I think this magazine advert is very successful. As I have already mentioned I think the main promotional selling point along with the music is the image of the band. I think it works well that the two biggest images on this magazine advert are the band and the product (album). All that is missing I would say is the price of the album, which I think is a crucial piece of information to any fan wanting to purchase a new album.

My magazine advert:
I have given careful consideration to my magazine advert, and I would like it to consist of the 5 main bullet points I have listed above which I believe are essential to any promotional magazine advert. I think that the name of the band has to be one of the most important things on the advert so I would ideally like this as one of the biggest things on there. I then think that the picture of the album is equally as important as it is the new product you are promoting. I then think that the price of the album is important but a magazine is likely to want a reasonable chunk of the page to promote its magazine. These are the ideas I have gathered looking ahead to constructing my print artefacts.

My Music Video-Important Information

Here is some information I consider important to my music video:
Props:

• Guitar
• Suit
• Tracksuit
• Football
• Poker cards and chips
• Table and chairs
• Cigarettes and Alcohol (poker scene)
• Car Keys

Mise en Scene:
In terms of mise en scene, I would like at some point to show certain shots of an urban city or village. This is because I can clearly demonstrate the roots that David has risen from to become a rockstar, and to maybe hint that these roots stay with you forever. Ideally, I would like to show a pan or tilt of urban housing at the begininng of the music video to set the scene. Other aspects of mise en scene will include a park. At some point I plan to show David playing football with his friends and this will probably need to be filmed in a park. I think that this will clearly demonsrate childhood as like most young boys he spends his summers in the park playing football with his friends. In terms of performing the guitar, I imagine that this will be shot in a house. I think this adds a homely image to the life of David as a boy.

Half the World Away-Oasis (Lyrics)
Iwould like to leave this city
This old town don't smell too pretty and
I can feel the warning signs running around my mind
And when I leave this island I'll book myself into a soul asylum
And I can feel the warning signs running around my mind

So here I go still scratching around the same old hole
My body feels young but my mind is very old
So what do you say?
You can't give me the dreams that are mine anyway
You're half the world away
Half the world away
Half the world away
I've been lost I've been found but I don't feel down.

So here I go still scratching around in the same old hole
My body feels young but my mind if very old
So what do you say?
You can't give me the dreams that are mine anyway
You're half the world away
Half the world away
Half the world away
I've been lost I've been found but I don't feel down

Background Information on the song:
This song was written and performed by Oasis band member Noel Gallagher. Noel was the main writer for the band before its split last year but it was usually brother Liam who would take control of lead vocals. However, it is Noel who performs this song. The song was first released as a B-side to "whatever" in December 1994 and was later included on the album "The Masterplan" in 1998. The Masterplan is an album consisting of the band's best B-side records and it was very popular upon its release. The song "Half the World Away" is also famous as it is the theme tune to popular British comedy series "The Royle Family."

My Final Proposal

My final idea for a music video, and the idea I have decided to pursue, is the song "Half the World Away," performed by Oasis. I think that this paticular song would most likely feature on the music channel "MTV2." MTV itself is a more recent updated channel, but this song was first published in 1994, and MTV2 is a more dated channel and is more likely to show older songs, possibly from the nineties, perfromed by bands such as Oasis. Oasis can be described as an indie rock band and have a vast fan base spreading from males and females in their late teens to their late fourties. I think that Oasis appeal to the working class man. Liam and Noel Gallagher, the constant faces in the group, were brought up in Manchester in very working class backgrounds and this I think appeals to many of their fanbase.
I have noted in general that the majority of music videos and songs are based around love between a man and a woman. I want to show a different kind of love. The love I want to focus on is a love for a certain lifestyle, a love for youth and a love for friends. I feel a successful music video needs something different and this may just be it. My idea in general is to focus the video around a leading male character who is achieving great things in life. The character’s name is David Moore and he is about 14 years old. In this case, David has then grown up and become a great musician, and is spending his time at different parties and basically living the high life. Despite all this action, glory and stardom, David is not happy in life. This is because all David wants to be doing is playing football on the streets with his friends like when he was 14, because it is in fact these times where David was happiest.
Part of my reason for wanting to produce a film in this manner was because of my studying of the song lyrics. “Here I go; I’m still scratching around in the same old hole.” This line is very ironic because how I interpret it, the hole David is scratching around in may be grotty, but it is his home and it is where he feels happiest. “You can’t give me the dreams that are mine anyway.” The way I interpret this is that it may be everyone’s dream to be a rock star and people will be telling him how wonderful it is, but David thinks that once in this showbiz lifestyle, his dream is to be back kicking a ball around with his friends.
My general idea for filming is as follows. At the beginning of the music video we see David playing the guitar, running around the park with his friends, playing football and being a happy person. This then all changes. Filming showbiz and stardom will be a tricky thing to do, so I plan to film a poker scene where David loses all his money and a car and this shows how far he has fallen. He then takes drugs and ends up on the floor of a house and he has lost everything. It then goes back to David being happy when he was younger and the video finishes on that note. In my eyes, it is up to the audience to decide whether the happiness he goes back to is when he was a child or after breaking free from the curse of fame.
This video would be described as performance and narrative. I plan to have certain shots with David playing the guitar as a child showing that he has a talent and is happy. It will then go back to David in his showbiz lifestyle. Using the idea of a poker game, I would like to show drugs being handed over and losing money due to gambling. I want to show things really going downhill for David and his life becoming very dangerous. This will then add emphasis to the importance of David’s childhood. It is everything David has ever known, and is everything that is safe and secure for him. I would like to end the video on a happy note with David playing football again with his friends. This is a general overview of the shots and camera anglesI plan to use in my music video, and also the themes behind my thoughts. The distinction between David’s very different lives should be clear as I plan to have David wearing a suit when filming his scenes as a rockstar and then have him wearing tracksuits when filming his childhood life.

Audience Research-Questions and Answers

I asked 8 people 10 questions in order to gain knowledge about what the public look for in a music video and their general tastes. These questions give me a general idea about where my music video will be placed to gain most attention and what a specific audience enjoys most. From this I will be able to manipulate my idea to please an audience more.
1) Age:
(17,17,18,17,17,46,48,20)
2) Gender:
(Male, Male, Male, Female, Female, Female, Male, Male)
3) How many music videos do you watch per week?
The options given were 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10+
(10+) (10+) (7-9) (10+) (1-3) (7-9) (10+) (1-3)
4) Where do you watch most of your music videos?
The options given were Internet, TV, Other.
(TV) (Int) (Int) (TV) (Int) (Int) (Int) (Int)
5) Please specify your favourite site/channel/other
(MTV2) (Youtube) (MTV2) (Kerrang) (Youtube) (Metacafe)
(Youtube) (Youtube)
6) Whats your favourite type of music video? The options given were performance/narrative/abstract/amplification (mix of others)
(Narrative) (Amplification-Narrative & Performance) (Amplification-
Narrative & Performance) (Performance) (Abstract) (Amplification-
Narrative & Abstract) Performance (Amplification-Narrative and Performance)

Reflecting on my research, it appears clear that most music videos are sourced through the internet side "Youtube." Youtube is a site which booms the general public's videos and music interests and it is specifically popular amongst young people. Music channel MTV2 was also a slightly popular choice. The most mportant point I drew from my research was that amplification videos were the most popular, and especially ones that consisted of a mix of narrative and performance. This is important because my questionaire was aimed largely at young people, and their answers proved that the style of music video I myself am producing is very successful amongst people in their late teens.

The View-Same Jeans Music Video Analysis

To help me develop better skills and further my knowledge, I have analysed a second music video. The song is called "Same Jeans" and it is performed by Scottish band The View.

This video is produced as a of performance and narrative piece. The song is approximately 3 minutes 47 seconds long, and features all members of the band.



Generally, the song is about a man (in this case lead singer Kyle) who goes through the path of four days without ever getting changed. This is not crucial information. I gather that the story generally is bout Kyle leading such a crazy lifestyle that he doesn't have time to change his clothes because he is always partying and performing.



The video follows generally the same pattern the whole way through. It starts with Kyle being woken up by a knocking at the door, with a medium close up shot of his face and torso. For the first 25 seconds it shows Kyle (the lead singer of the band) getting up, opening up the curtains of his hotel room, and then leaving the room. This is all done with the use of a hand held camera. After 12 seconds Kyle starts to sing. This is where I noted that the music video was performance as well as narrative. For the next 20 seconds Kyle then walks to the hotel lift and opens it to reveal a live crowd audience. His walk to the lift is covered with camera shots including close up, medium close up, and medium to long.



Between 46 seconds 1:02 seconds, Kyle joins his band members at a live gig and performs the song. During these 16 seconds of live footage, a range of camera shots are included which give off the image of frenziness. The shots show the band performing and show individual performances as well as group. There are also shots of the audience dancing and jumping up and down. This is a regular theme in the other occasions during the music video where a live performance is screened.



After 1:03 seconds, we see a close up camera shot fixed on Kyle singing. The shot zooms out and it shows that Kyle appears to be waiting in airport or some sort of waiting room. His face displays little emotion and this suggested to me that perhaps these are the more boring times in his life. This was also the case in the hotel room and walking to the lift. The zoom out shot lasted about 10 seconds, and we then see a medium to long shot of what appears to be a fellow band member leaning against a wall with a guitar. The next 10-15 seconds then consisted of shots of Kyle and the other band member. The band member then moves towards the camera before it goes back to Kyle, who is then joined by the band member. There is then 2 seconds of singing before it again goes to a shot of the band performing live.



The live performance follows the same patterns as last time, and is about 17 seconds long. It then cuts to a close up shot of Kyle, being filmed by a handheld camera. The camera follows him for around 13 seconds as he stumbles through a party. The vision is blurry and because it is handheld I took this to mean that Kyle is very drunk and there is madness going on all around him. A medium to long shot is then took of Kyle dropping to a sofa, with the following shot filmed in daylight with him waking up on the same sofa. This pattern is regular and to me it is showing all the different things that are happening to him in his day to day life and these offer reasons why he has not yet changed his clothes. Kyle then gets up and leaves the house with medium close up shots then took of people asleep who were obviously at the party. A medium close up shot then focuses on Kyle leaving the party and singing. He then opens a door and we again see the performing band for the last time. This time the performance aspect lasts for 64 seconds and again follows the same patterns as before. This time however, the camera zooms in and out on members of the audience, and there are many medium close up shots of singular members of the audience. The final shot is then a 10 second shot of Kyle falling back on the hotel bed and then being waken up all over again.

Overall, I think that the music video is average to good at best. It is well consturcted and I think it has a decent storyline behind it which comes across well on screen. The video follows a consistent pattern all the way through. However I think this begins to get slightly monotonous after a while and I think there is too much live footage of the band. I think it would have worked well if there some parts where Kyle plays the guitar on his own, maybe at a party scene, instead of so much footage of a live performance. I also think that a wider range of camera shots could have perhaps been used. All in all, I have learnt a lot from this video, and will try to incorporate some methods into my music video.

Here is a link for the music video if you want to watch it yourself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpF51y8udgY

Coldplay-Fix You (Music Video Analysis)

I have analysed a music video which I considered performing myself. The song is called "Fix You" and was performed by Coldplay. The song comes from the album "X and Y" which was released on 6th June 2005. The song itself was released as a single on September 5th of the same year. The music video was directed by Sophie Muller.
From my own interpretation I believe the general message of the song is to inspire. If one looks at the lyrics: "Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones." These lyrics suggest to me that when you are feeling down you should carry on going no matter what challenges you face in life. It could also be that the lights represent religion and the lights mentioned are those from heaven. It could be that it is God who is looking after you and subsequently guiding you home.
Looking at the video in paticular, I can see that it is performance type video and it is also slightly narrative. It also includes archive footage at the end of a gig which Coldplay performed in Bolton.
The start of the video shows the lead singer of the band, Chris Martin, walking through the streets of London at night time (the whole video is filmed at night). The first three shots are of Martin in slow motion repeating the lyrics of the song. The lyrics reflect the slight mundanity and depression displayed in the video. The shots are of medium close up on Chris Martins face and the setting behind him is very dark with a light occasionally flashing over his left and right shoulder.
The chorus then sets in after 1 minute 9, and the video reflects the lyrics again as the scene becomes a happier one. "Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones." These are the lyrics of inspiration and this is reflected with the whole scene becoming brighter and the light over Chris Martin's shoulders becomes a very distinctive and bright one.
There is then a short instrumental which shows Chris Martin walking but with loads of examples of lights such as cars and buildings. The pace speeds up for this and this could show that maybe his life is getting back on track.
The chorus then returns for a second time and is performed once more in slow motion and at the beginning shows an establishing shot of Chris Martin with a street full of lights ahead of him. A guitar is then introduced at the end of the chorus which speeds up the sound of the song. This is reflected well in the video as it then returns to normal pace and shows Chris Martin running down the big empty streets. He continues to run through well lit streets of London until he arrives at the concert and runs on stage to greet his band. The rest of the video shows archive footage of a gig Coldplay performed in Bolton, playing "Fix You." Chris Martin is seen swinging a light around on stage and this is a constant feature throughout the video.
I think that the video reflects the lyrics very well and the video is a very good one. I think that the use of so many lights is to reflect the lyrics of the song clearly. In general there are only two types of camera shots used mainly. These are either close ups of Chris Martin performing the song with the focus on his mouth and the words, or establishing shots which show Chris Martin and the city of London. The establishing shots are to focus on the scenery and also places emphasis on the lights. The video is mainly of Chris Martin with the emphasis on him, although we are introduced to other members of the band towards the end with the archive footage of the gig in Bolton.
In general, the song puts you in a very inspirational mood towards the end as the pace speeds up in the video as well as the song. The clear connection between the lyrics and video makes it a very enjoyable thing to watch and listen to. I do not think there would be a specific target audience for this video, but rather Coldplay fans in general. I think if one were to pin an audience on it, it would probably be young people who are seeking inspiration in life.
I have not been able to embed this paticular video so have provided the link for it below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skUJ-B6oVDQ

My Main Product Decision and Originial idea

After studying the codes and convetions of both music videos and documentaries and weighing up my likes and dislikes, I have decided that I would like to create a music video for my A2 Advanced Portfolio. Here is an idea I have worked on over this past week but decided against:


My original idea was to create a music video and I first wanted to cover "Goodbye My Lover" by James Blunt. My general idea was to show two couples getting married, but a man from one couple and a woman from the other were having an affiar. The first couple involved the man marrying into a middle class family and it was more a case of circumstance and parental meddling that meant he was with his future spouse. The second couple were working class and were living a mundane life. The two having an affair are in love but agree to end their relationship for the sake of their respective partners. My idea was to show the build up of both weddings showing how the man and the woman from the affair were unhappy building up to the wedding. The video would then end with the couple following their hearts and leaving their partners for one another. I was very keen on this idea and thought it had a lot of potential. However the more i thought about it the more I became aware it would be very difficult to film. The song itself is 4 minutes 18 seconds long. I don't think my idea is deep enough to contain enough footage for the entirety of the song and I would not like to include scenes just for the sake of doing so. I have one main plot involving the couples which I have just explained but I do not have any other ideas such as sub plots. Therefore I have adopted not to go ahead with James Blunt "Goodbye My Lover."

I will now begin to look at certain music videos and analyse them so that I can try to further my knowledge of how music videos are generally formatted and what certain styles there are.

A2 Advanced Portfolio

I am considering creating a documentary, but a music video is also something I am very interested in. I think that both have the ability to influence an audience with what they show on screen. I will now talk about typical codes and conventions found in a music video:

CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF A MUSIC VIDEO:

A music video is basically a motion picture produced to go with a song. Over the years, music videos have become more and more important for the purpose of promoting and selling a paticular song. There are three types of music video. These are:

Performance-this is where the artist or band perform the song the whole way through

Narrative-where there is a story being told in the song and generally acted out by members of the band

Amplification-a mix of performance and narrative

Abstract-refers to the use of musical structures in visual imagery.

These are the most common types of music videos. Another type of music video is a dance routine but this is not as popular.

One of the key things to remember with music videos is that it has to be able to be viewed more than once. Therefore a key element is that it must not be considered boring.

There have been many music videos which have been made paticularly famous over the years such as Michael Jackson with "Thriller," and Queen with "Bohemian Rhapsody. A famous abstract music video is "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by The Beatles.

A2 Advanced Portfolio

This year as part of my A2 Course I have been asked to create either a documentary, a short film or a music video. After careful consideration, I decided that doing a short film is not something that interests me greatly, so over the next two weeks I will decide between a documentary or a music video. I am now going to weigh up the codes and conventions of a doucmentary and a music video to help me reach my decision.

CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF A DOCUMENTARY

A documentary is usually a programme aiming to deliver certian topics to its given audience, providing the form of either fact, opinion or both. Most documentaries follow these similar patterns:
Voiceover- This will be a leading figure, male or female, who will talk about the invents that you, the viewer, is seeing on the screen. The voice usually will usually attempt to guide you towards the opinion that the show itself has obtained. Usually the host will refrain from being on screen, but sometimes this can change. This would usually be described as challenging the codes and conventions of a documentary.
Event footage-typically shows footage of what the documentary is based around. Commonly used event footage is "archive footage." This is real live footage which has been included by the show and is based around the purpose of the documentary. This footage is usually most effective as it gives viewers a true reflection of what has happened. A well known way of displaying archive footage is through the "fly on the wall technique" where a camera will be in the specific area necessary for filming and is able to provide us with a correct view of what is happening. Editors can of course manipulate archive footage so it displays only the view that the show wants displayed. For example if a programme's purpose is to show the bad side to a certain family, it will not include loving moments gained from the fly on the wall technique in the documentary.
Re-constructions are scenes filmed by the television show which attempt to provide an accurate reflection of what happened with the use of actors.
Eye witness footage is when a person from the general public who witnessed an event from the topic matter is filmed giving his or her version of events.
Expert Interviews-interviews conducted by the show with someone considered an expert, delving into their knowledge of the matter at hand.
Vox pop method-where the narrator has a hand held microphone and will go up to random people on the street and ask them for their opinion on the matter.
Images and text-are both very popular methods regularly used in documentaries to add an element of entertainment and imagery to the programme. They are also a way of displaying relative information quickly on screen and can be very effective.