Feedback on rough cut and plan for filming

After filming, uploading  and then editing our footage in order to hand it in for the rough cut deadline on the 23rd October, we found that we didn't have quite enough clips to make our music video to the standard we had planned too.

After completing our rough cut, our teacher watched it and then gave us some feedback, we soon realised that a lot of improvment can be made. Our teacher and us both agreed that a lot more angles need to be used when filming in order to create some movement and depth to the video.We also realised that the whole video looks as if it is set in the same place, even though we used different locations, the fact that we filmed outside when it was dark gave the illusion that it was in one place, therefore we need to film in a variety of different loactions again to add some movement to the video. We also felt that the actors used could have been a bit more enthusiastic, as we found it hard to match their actions with the lyrics as they weren't opening their mouths wide enough when singing.

We then decided where in the song we needed more footage in order for the lyrics to match the visuals and made a plan of what equipment we needed, where we were intending to film and also what different techniques we could use.

We watched a music video made by other Long Road students to show us what we needed to include in order to make a successful music video, they included a lot more shots filmed at different angles, they also used a range of different locations, it worked really well to create a good end product. This gave us motivation to better our music video.

We have booked equipment for Tuesday the 6th November:
-Dolly
-Filters(blue)
-Torches
-Camera/tri-pod

-We plan to film in Burwell, using Charlies house and different areas outside the house to ensure that we have a range of different locations. (Exterior and Interior)
-We will use a variety of different shots and camera angles.
-We will use filters in some shots to ensure it is not the same lighting throughout.
-We will use torches to light the characters appropriately, also to add variety in the way each shot is lit.
-We will film a couple of the verses again in order to get good, clear shots of the characters singing.

We plan to make sure we have enough footage so we have something to match every lyric in the song, we don't want to be stuck trying to find something to put in and don't want our video to look unfinished or messy.

Half Term homework

Advanced Portfolio Half Term Homework:

You must think seriously now about how your music video works in combination with your magazine advert (advertising the digi-pack) and the digi-pack cover (at least 4 sides).

Answer the following questions:

1.       What is your finalised star persona? Include a photograph of your star that best communicates their persona. Discuss what ideas/ideologies they communicate (materialism, rebellion, innocence, the cultural “ideal”, alternative to the “ideal” etc.). How do they communicate these ideas? How is their persona expressed visually? (costume, hair, makeup, bogy language, lighting, framing etc) How is it expressed through lyrics, genre?

2.       How are you going to ensure continuity between the 3 products? Remember your digi-pack cover cannot look like a single (can’t be images from the music video) but an album. Compare your ideas for the digi pack cover with professional promo images. A digi-pack is a combination of audio and video (a cd and a dvd with special features such as a few music videos or concert videos)

3.       Write down all of your individual or group ideas for the digi-pack cover and magazine advert. Ideas for costume, setting, lighting, colour, hair, makeup, Photoshop special effects etc. If you can do some mock ups of your own, or experiment with effects in photoshop.

 

Word count : 500 words minimum

 

ALSO Catch up with your blogging. Make sure Target audience work is complete and you have done at least 25 individual posts since the start of the project! It is not just the amount that counts though but the content!

Feedback & Planning

After the rough cut deadline (23rd Oct) we get a chance to film once more, we have booked the cameras for Tuesday the 6th November. As we have been editing our music video we have noticed that we still need to film a few more scenes:

• ''you built your wall so high..." male verse
• "oooooo" line
• main chorus boy singing to girl
• "you let all the girls go.." girl verse
• "you carried on so long" girl verse

We then got feedback and noticed that there are quite a few elements that our missing in our music video in order for it to be successful. As a group we watched another Long Road media studies music video which was a different style of music yet communicated the narrative succesfully while using a wide range of angles and locations, which was what ours mainly lacked. This music video gave us inspiration and motivation to improve our current video.

In our next filming session we will film the verses I have written above but we will also take on the advise we were given. We plan to involve:

• More camera movement - tracking shots, dolly, panning shots
• Range of angles - high angles, low angles
• Interior filming (set up a space inside that is a good location for our characters to be filmed)
• Exterior filming (a wider range of locations)
• Get more energy and enthusiasm out of our male character
• More lighting techniques - out of focus, fairy lights, tea lights, filters, high angle lighting
• Put the two characters in more outfits to make the characters appear more aspirational and interesting to the viewers 

Theoretical study into audience

Uses and Gratifications

Blumler & Katz argued that audiences are active not passive, and approach and use media products for the following reasons: diversion, personal relationships, personal identity and surveillance. 

I feel that our music video covers a few of Blumlers and Katz points as to reasons why audiences approach a media product. Firstly, I feel there is a lot of diverson throughout our video. The lyrics communicate a sense of sensitivity and vunerability. e.g. "you built your wall so high, that no one could climb it".. I feel this can relate to an audience who have been hurt and are scared to let their guard down, therefore our music video helps those who feel this way and can then escape from the pressures of everyday. The relationship of lyrics to visuals is quite successful throughout, we have used a lot of close ups of both the female and male characters to show emotion. The narrative of the music video is probably something the audience can relate to, which also covers the active approach of personal relationships. The male character feels like hes not good enough for the female character and vice verca, they both ignore each other even though theres a sense of attraction but dont know how to go about it. Closer to the end of the music video the scenario gets resolved and they start to notice each other then start dating/talking etc which hopefully encourages the audience to gain confidence in the situation they may be in. Furthermore, personal identity is important to captivate the audience. Hopefully our viewers can see aspiration in the characters in our music video, we dressed them both quite casual, a typical outfit that most teens would have in their wardrobe. Boy in jeans, blazers and a branded jumper, keeping the look fashionable yet simple, then the girl in leggings, a blouse, leather jacket and wedges. Our characters were represented as quite vunerable however towards the end they do become more confident in themselves shown through shots of them laughing, talking etc. I dont feel that we covered surveillance very well in our music video as we didnt reveal much about the characters. As the male character had the main part we focussed on him the most, we only revealed the way he looks and his style through a range of shots and angles. 

Focused and Ambient Audiences

David Buckingham explains that there are two types of audiences: focused audiences which deliberately watch music videos, or ambient audiences that are more likely to have the music on in the background.

Our music video accomodates for a focused audience by firstly a strong narrative. The storyline we have used of the boy and girl both feeling vunerable and scared towards each other is something our teenage audience can relate to as its quite common at that age. Ideally the context is there to multiply viewings as the narrative is something the audience will be familiar with and will then tell their friends to watch it etc. This does not only promote the video but also promotes the artist which is important in the music video. Furthermore we plan to use a clever use of effects such as colour correction and dissolving shots. We have already incorperated technical lighting into our shots which looks effective & professional, hopefully catching the viewers eye. We like to attract an ambient audience too so have incorperated some key techniques into our video. There is a strong performance throughout communicating the narrative between the two characters and we have also used quick editing by speeding up shots of the cars driving past which makes the video flash slightly accomodating for an ambient audience. Lastly we used a range of locations to shoot in such as a carpark, restaurant, street, park etc. 

Ideal Audience Type

Ideal Audience Type 

From researching into the genre of pop ballads I have started to develop an idea of what our perfect audience type would be. 

http://25musicvideo2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/target-audience-research.html
http://25musicvideo2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/target-audience-questionaire-results.html
http://25musicvideo2012.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/target-audience.html


I feel that due to the fact the pop genre is quite mainstream and common, the way our target audience behave, dress etc will be similar. 

 I asked a few questions to 2 of my target audience to use as examples

Katie
Female
12
what do you wear and where do you shop? Jeans, jumpers, leggings. Shop at Topshop, New Look, River Island, Zara, Hollister
what media do you consume? Tv, Magazines, Movies, Radio, Music
festivals you attend? -
radio station you listen to? Kiss FM
what technology do you use? Laptop, iPod, Phone, Tv

Sophie
Female
18

what do you wear and where do you shop?

what media do you consume? 

festivals you attend? -

radio station you listen to? 

what technology do you use?

Emma

Female

18

what do you wear and where do you shop? Topshop, Zara, H&M 

what media do you consume? Tv - 90210, Friday night dinner, Towie, MIC, Take me out, X factor
festivals you attend? Reading festival

radio station you listen to? Kiss, Heart, Radio 1

what technology do you use? Phone, Tv, Laptop

This is roughly what I would imagine a typical teen female to look like within the pop genre target audience. Wearing casual mainstream clothes, quite girly looking, fair amount of make up, simple hairstyle. 

I have also gathered a range of images that reflect this style, fitting in the sterotype of the pop genre audience. 

I think our target audience are likely to attend festivals like Wireless and VFest. At these festivals artist such as Drake, Tulisa, Rihanna etc perfome rap/pop mainstream music. 

This is the cast of a TV show called 90210. I feel like the target audience are likely to watch common TV Drama like this. The way the stars dress and looks reflects how our target audience would also dress and look,perhaps taking inspiration in style from media forms such as TV programmes and movies. 

Audience research

Our music video is the pop genre.

Characteristics of pop music:

An aim of appealing to a general audience, rather than to a particular sub-culture or ideology

An emphasis on craftsmanship rather than formal "artistic" qualities

An emphasis on recording, production, and technology, over live performance

A tendency to reflect existing trends rather than progressive developments

Much pop music is intended to encourage dancing, or it uses dance-oriented beats or rhythms

Pop music is the abbreviation of popular music. Pop music is an ample and imprecise category of modern music not defined by artistic considerations but by its potential audience or prospective market. Pop is music composed with deliberate intent to appeal to the majority of its contemporaries.

I looked on youtube where this is a link that allows you to look at the 'Daily Top Pop Tracks'





Each of these music videos are very different and will attract different audiences depending on the artist that is singing, there age and style and what they are singing about, even though they are all in the pop genre. From researching the pop genre I have found that it is extremely diverse and appeals to a very wide target audience.

I looked further into music videos similar to the song we have chosen for our music video project:
Labrinth featuring Emile sande- Beaneath you're beautiful.

As the target audience changes depending on the style of song and the artist, costume ect, I looked into the main features of the video and song in order to find out what audience we are marketing our music video at.

-The song features a male and a female both singing
-The lyrics are about love (the male and female both have feeling for eachother but don't know how to show it)
-The song it slow instead of upbeat or a dance track
-The main artist typically sings 'rap' music but is singing in a different style in this song
-The female artist usually sings slow songs

As the two artists in this song both sing different styles of music but have come together, it could attract a very wide audience that would usually listen to each artist.

The male artist is typically good looking, young stylish and very current- therefore he will attract teenage girls as he is seen to be desirable.
He will also attract teenage boys as they may look to him as a role model.
The female artist usually sings pop ballads, they are normally slow and usually the lyrics are about love, she is also young and stylish, this artist will attract teenage girls as they feel they will relate to they lyrics.

overall our target audience will be boys and girls in the late teens for a number of different reasons
-Relate with the lyrics
-They may find the artists attractive
-They may listen to their music already before hearing this song
-The two artists are very new and current therefore they will want to stick with the trends
-The artists may be seen as role models to them(like their style etc)

colour corrector

We have taken a screen shot from our music video and used it to test out a range of different editing styles to see which one we like best and to see if we would like to incorporate into our video.

                                                                  (original image)

                                                                (Edited images)

One colour corrector we like is the 5th one, this is because it has an urban feel which matches with the brick background, another reason is it defines the lines in the brickwork which makes it look like a much more interesting background and adds texture and depth to the image, a final reason why we like this editing style is because it accentuates the shadow highlighting our lighting technique.
Another editing technique we feel is successful is the last image, the reason for this is its subtle feel and the cream shades incorporated.
The editing style we least liked was the black and white, this makes the image bland and boring and doesn't highlight the features that we wanted to highlight when using our particular lighting techniques. This also might confuse the audience as the convention of a de saturated image usually represents what has happened in the past.

Questionaire

I Asked 7 different people from my pop target market the same questions to see what they would want and what they already like in the pop industry.

-who is your favourite pop artist?
1)Chris brown
2)Neyo
3)Maroon 5
4)Justin bieber
5)Beyonce
6)Rihanna
7)Justin Bieber

-Why?
1)I prefer Chris' old music but his songs are always good, there is not one i don't like.
2)Although Neyo doesn't release that much music recently i really like him recently after his recent songs.
3)I used to like Maroon 5 ages ago and kind of forgot about them, then they brought themselves back with 'moves like jagger' and i love them again.
4)His newest album is brilliant and its made me listen to him a lot more so now thinking about it he seems to be the person i listen to the most.
5)She has such a powerful voice
6)Rihannas songs are so catchy and are always stuck in my head which makes me like them even more.
7) Its Justin Bieber, i think everyone loves Justin!

-What kind of album covers catch your eye?
1) Usually they tend to be colourful and with a recognisable singer on the front, if i dont recognise them i wont really look at the cover.
2)I always prefer the more simplistic album covers that are easy to understand who the artist is and not confusing like some i have seen.
3)I know i have already said they are my favorite band but it would have to be maroon 5, i always remember it because its so busy and eye catching and hard to work out which makes you look at it for longer.
4)Anything quite sleek, maybe using colours like greys and blacks alongside pinks.
5)I dont tend to look at the covers and much as the inside, you know when you can sometimes fold a little book out. Some of them have funny pictures which i love to look at.
6)I always remember what Tinie Tempahs album cover looks like so i guess thats the one i would choose, its got such pretty colours but still so clear who the artist with the medium shot, he is an easily recognisable star.
7)I prefer not having the artists face and just an interesting picture, i dont know why but it makes me pay more attention, i guess finding out who the artist is.

-Do you generally prefer male or female artists?
1)Male
2)Male
3)Male
4)Female
5)Male
6)Female
7)Male

-Why?
1)I do like female artists aswell especially when they collaborate i just usually prefer the sound of male artists voices and tones.
2)I dont know i just counted up my favorite artists and there were more male!
3)I find their voices so much more interesting to listen to.
4)Female songs tend to get stuck in my head more which leaves me singing them all the time so i end up enjoying the song more.
5)That choice was tough but i seem to enjoy male songs more.
6)Its not just the singing of a female artist its usually their persona aswell and they seem to come across a lot more interesting making me want to know about their lives aswell as listen to their music such as lady gaga.
7)I dont just prefer male singing i prefer male rapping in my opinion its a lot better than female rapping. 

After looking at the answers from this questionnaire this might help out group as to how to attract the right target audience with the right style CD cover (by making it colourful) and how to make our star more likeable by the target audience (interesting star persona)

Filming

Overall I feel filming went quite well. We were slightly unprepared at the beginning as we planned to film on the Sunday 14th of october however a lot of the actors we wanted to be in it couldnt attend, eventually we managed to pull it together and find a male and female to star in the video. We started filming on Sunday evening at about 6pm in cambridge. Our first location was the queen anne car park. We felt this looked effective as the sun was going down and the sky was getting darker, also there is a nice view so we thought it was the best location, we filmed on the very top floor where there was no roof. One problem was that the weather wasnt great, it was cold & a bit rainy so i think that made us all a little less enthusiastic towards the end. We did a few shots up against a white brick wall and then more scenes standing in the distance with a range of long shots, medium shots and close ups. We did come across a few problems for these scenes as the lighting we wanted to use such as tea lights werent working so we had to improvise with the large torches and shine light from the side onto the characters. We then filmed some shots of cars and the surrounding atmosphere on the roads as we found these are common in music videos and are good to use to infill bad footage. Finally we filmed on parcus piece doing action shots of the two characters walking away, meeting each other and then getting together. When we got back to the car we decided just to take a few more shots incase we didnt have enough, so we improvised not using the story board and filmed some scenes on the two characters getting in the car & chatting that we can use at the end of the video to communicate the story line. 
I feel there is maybe more scenes we could have done such as shots inside and more locations in order to make it more professional, furthermore we need more camera movement as its a large convention of music videos in the pop genre, therefore i feel thats what we should focus on when we get a chance to use the cameras after the roughcut deadline on 24th October. 

Update

We are now currently at the stage where we have finally filmed our music video and are now in the process of uploading all the clips and editing them on final cut. Last week I was slightly behind on planning as I missed a few lessons due to being ill and then uni visits, so when i got back there was loads to be done. We had booked the camera and equiptment out for a thursday lesson, bearing in mind the filming dedline was Wednesday 17th Oct, however we did not have any actors/actresses there at the time. It has been really hard to find people to be in our music video and we have had to change our choice of characters several times due to others being unavailable - that was the biggest problem we encountered. 

We managed to overcome this and book the equitment to use at the weekend (12th-14th October.) The equiptment we took out was a camera, tripod, 2 gel filters, 2 torches and an angle light. We filmed together on the sunday evening using 2 characters, Sam Rasdall and Jess Salgado. Due to the fact we couldnt find any more people available to star in our video we had to change our storyboard slightly, however i think we managed to do this successfully without changing the plan of our video completely. We filmed in the dark using artificial lighting such as the large torches. We planned to use battery powered fairy lights and tea lights but they broke as we were going to use them. We overcame this just by being creative with the torch lighting & thinking of different angles so hopefully it worked out okay. 

 The plan for this week is to start organising our clips and making our video on final cut in order to make the rough clip deadline by Wednesday the 24th. 

Target Audience Questionaire Results

These are the results I got from asking a few people to fill in the questionaire. All audience i asked are of a similar age but I feel the the outcome is still successful as it shows that people are still into different styles of music. 

1. Martha

• How old are you? 17
• Male or Female? female
• Whats your favourite genre of music? Range of genres
• Do you listen to music channels? If so, which ones? MTV
• What radio station do you often listen to? Radio1, Radio1xtra, Kiss
• How do you purchase your music? Online downloads
• Who is your favourite artist/band? -
• Do you attend many live events? (Gigs/festivals) Yes, eg. Reading Festivals
• Any specific music videos you find are successful and interesting to watch & why? Katy Perry - California girls. Quite quirky & unconventional which makes it more interesting to watch and is fun and playful 

2. Harry

• How old are you? 18
• Male or Female? Male
• Whats your favourite genre of music? Indie/Rock
• Do you listen to music channels? If so, which ones? 4music, Q, Kerrang, MTV Rock
• What radio station do you often listen to? XFM, 6music, Q, NME, Radio1, Kiss
• How do you purchase your music? CDS, iTunes, Online downloads
• Who is your favourite artist/band? Artic Monkeys
• Do you attend many live events? (Gigs/festivals) Yes, roughly 1 festival a year & a gig every month
• Any specific music videos you find are successful and interesting to watch & why? Most indie/Rock music videos i watch are the bands performing, which are succesful as it encourages me to go and see them in concert, also i feel these types of videos are more realistic & enjoyable

3. Emma

• How old are you? 18
• Male or Female? Female
• Whats your favourite genre of music? Acoustic style
• Do you listen to music channels? If so, which ones? Viva
• What radio station do you often listen to? Kiss, Radio1, Heart
• How do you purchase your music? Online Downloads
• Who is your favourite artist/band? Ben Howard/ Maroon 5
• Do you attend many live events? (Gigs/festivals) Reading Festival
• Any specific music videos you find are successful and interesting to watch & why? Ellie Goulding - I know you care, Maroon 5 - she will be loved, The Kooks - Naive. Likes the lyrics & style of song, easy to relate to. 

Target Audience Research

I have conducted a survey in order to gain knowledge into our target audience and the type of music they listen to & music related questions. Our song is a pop ballad therefore i feel our audience will be teens & young adults, maybe age 12-25 roughly. Mostly a female audience but equally male too. 

Questionaire

• How old are you?

• Male or Female? 

• Whats your favourite genre of music?
• Electro
• Dance
• Pop
• R&B
• Rock
• Indie

• Do you listen to music channels? If so, which ones?
• MTV
• Viva
• MTV Rock
• 4Music

• What radio station do you often listen to?
• Kiss FM
• BBC Radio1
• Heart FM
• BBC classical FM
• Other

• How do you purchase your music?
• iTunes
• CD
• Illegal Download
• Other

• Who is your favourite artist/band?

• Do you attend many live events? (Gigs/festivals)

• Any specific music videos you find are successful and interesting to watch & Why?

Digi pack ideas

Album covers

We looked into a range of different pop music album covers and selected a few we particularly liked:

-We like the blue filter used in this picture we also like the simple colour scheme.
-We like the busy city background as the colours are so simple it works really well together.
-The lighing coming from behind works really well and makes his face stand out.
-We think the close up of the artist is a good idea as he is the main focus.
-We like the text used for his name as it is origional.

-The plain background with a splash of colour works well as it is simple but still stands out.
-There is a thin white border around the artist removing him from the background.
-The lighing creates a shadow making the picture more three dimentional.
-The font of the album name links with the spray painted background.

-The colours on this album cover are really plain and simple but it workd really well as the artists face is lit and the dark colours make it stand out more.
-We like the simple font used here as it gets the point across but looks smart.
-the animated pictures combined with the photograph of the artist works really well together.

Ideas for magazine covers

Magazine Covers:

We like these cover because:

-The photograph of the artist is black and white, we like this because its simple and a rare thing to see on a pop magazine cover.
-The name of the magazine is clear and stands out as it is very bright and colourful, also it is very busy compared to the minimalistic feel of the rest of the cover.
-Clear picture of the artists face, we like this because its a close up of the artist and identify with the artist straight away.

 

 

-We like the colour scheme of this magazine cover because the text colour and the colour used on this outfit match, linking the whole thing together.
-The close up of the artists face is good because its easy to identify him.
-All of the text on this cover is straight apart from the name of the artist 'Kanye West' this makes the name stand out so the reader knows who the artist is.
-The text is situated behind the photograph of thr artist to make him they key focus.

-We like the bright colour used for the writing alone with the simplistic clothing and background, it keeps the cover quite simple but it still catches your eye.
-We like they they have included a qr barcode on the cover, allowing people to connect it with there phones, keeping the magazine current by including technology, as the pop genres main target audience is the younger generation who are constantly using technology.
-We like the lighting used the light the side of the artists faces creating a border around them, stopping the artist merging into the background.



The cover we like the best is the first one due to its minimalistic feel and the constrasting use of colour against black and white, we also like the idea of using a large photograph of the artist making it clear who it is. One of the aspects we would like to use is on the third cover which is the qr barcode as we want to keep our cover up to date and connect with our main target audience.

Update

We are now at the stage where we are ready to film.

This week:
-We have sorted out what equipment and props we will need
-We have chosen our location to film
-We have  booked our equipment
-We have story boarded out music video so we know exactly what we are doing

What problems did we encounter?
This week we had a problem with the actors we are using in our music video, we struggled to find a day to film that everybody could attend and get to the location, we thought we would have to find someone else to play the lead singer. We were worried about having enough time to film our music video.

We managed to find and evening (which is the time we needed as our music video is set at night time) were we could all get together to film.

This coming week we plan to have all out filming finished by wednesday the 17th of october so we can then start editing out music video in order to meet the rough cut deadline on the 24th of october.

Target audience questionnaire

Questions relating to the pop genre
I asked my sister and her friend (age 15) a range of different questions.

What stars are you into and why?
Taylor Swift because shes young and with a lot of her songs you can relate to the lyrics and all her videos tells a story which makes it a lot more interesting to watch.

What appeals?
-She does a lot of interviews and you can see she is just like a normal girl which makes me like her more.
-Because you can relate to her lyrics you feel like she understands what you're going through.



What videos do you enjoy?
One Direction; Live while we're young
Why?
Because it shows lots of different angles of the boys. (the singers look desirable therefore young girls will be drawn to the video)
It's also funny.



What would draw you to an album cover?
-The artist/bands name in big writing so it is clear who it is
-A picture of the band/artist instead of a completely random picture
-Bright colours

What is the most common reason you would buy an album for?
-Songs: I would have to like/enjoy most of the songs in order to buy the album
-I would have to like the band/artist as a person. e.g. seeing them in an interview and liking their personality.
-If a lot of people are talking about a song or the singer I wouldm listen to it and if I liked it I would buy it.
-If it is advertised well, if I saw posters and adverts or people talking about it I would want to find out more.

Lighting lesson notes

In class we were shown videos to help us with lighing our own music videos:

The main aim of this video is to create a performance shot that is very stylized, it is a simple shot of an artist singing and playing a guitar.
There are three main styles of lighing:
-stylized(used in music videos and some films)
-naturalistic
-minimalistic(available light)

-They use the lights to change the contrast and move the light around to find a position where the light and the shadow look good.
-They use one light to light the artists face and another light behind to separate the shadow on the artists face from the background as they were blending together. (so the artist stands out, therfore the shot has more depth)
-They add light behind the artist that don't actually add light but they help give extra contrast to the shot, they then add streak filters which help to create extra streaks
-They then put the camera on a dolly to add some movement to the shot
-They then added some fairy lights in front of the camera and put them out of focus to add a more romantic kinf of feel to the shot, it also adds depth to the shot

Promotion

I have researched into ways that the media typically use to promote artists in order to make a track/artist more successful & well known. This research will help to think of ideas to promote our artist & track. With reference to Goodwins points promotion is a demand of the record label in order to introduce the audience to the artist visually. Common ways of promotion are album covers, photo shoots, posters & videos. 

On itunes they feature all sorts of types on their homepage itunes store to promote - ibook, songs, albums, films, tv shows etc. itunes often features albums that are waiting to be released which informs audience and encourages them to identify & click on the link. The use of visual images is majorly used over text which promotes the artist & their album cover. Linking to goodwins points this is a demand of the label which is successfully achieved through online promotion & advertising. 

Some artists promote themselves & dont leave it down to the professional media. For example Wiley takes to his twitter account to embed his tracks from youtube and composes it into a tweet. This is one of the best ways an artist can interact with a fan as its more personal and shows the passion of the artist. Fans & people in general are more likely to use twitter daily than they are to watch a music video or use itunes store for example, therefore the tweet is more likely to be seen. Furthermore fans can tweet the artist back (optional) commenting of their opinions of the track etc, giving the artist reliable feedback.

Although this artist isnt signed and is up & coming, even an upload on youtube can introduce fans & audience to artists. This is successful as a video includes a lot of shots & angles where the audience can really identify with the artists face & appearence. On this type of promotion people can also comment therefore we can reconise whether the artists appearence & presence is successful within the video and also other factors eg. whether lyrics relate to audience. 

Group Pitch

As a group we performed a pitch to our class to show our planning, research & goal of our music video.
We used a powerpoint presentation & also had flashcards to read from to explain our points.

In class we started the powerpoint off (slides 1-4) then I (Charlie) finished the rest off at home & sent it to Hannah who then wrote the flash cards. I feel our pitch went very well and got some good feedback from our planning & ideas. I think a few people were quite confused as to the story line & how we are going to present it, however we have now made a storyboard so that should become more clear.

Lighting Lesson

Lighting Lesson

1st example
In this video we got shown how to use contrast & colours through lighting. 
'love like you'

• Basics - This is basically how to light an artists face in the video in order to look professional and captivate the audience through lighting. It creates a stylised effect that throws the back ground into darkness. The demonstration showed to use light from the left of camers or 2 lights to key the only light seen through the camera on the face, then one behind artist on right side of the camera. 
• We also got shown how to put lights behind the artist & use streak filters. You can put black tin foil around lights to create shapes of lighting. eg. triangle for a pointy light. A camera on a dolly moving left to right works well with lighting in this style as the focus stays on the artist however it adds a bit more detail to the setting. 
• The last demonstration in this video was how to light by using fairy lights. wrap & lay them infront of the camera lens but take them out of focus and focus on the artist. This gives a really professional feel to the filming & it doesnt look like fairy lights at all.
• This video really inspired me & gave me ideas of how we should light our music video - I think we would definitely use the basics of just shining a light from the left of the camera onto the artists face in a blackroom as we will have lots of scenes of the artist lipsyncing. I also think we will use the lighting with the fairy lights as its so effective & gives a intimate & personal feel to the scene, this relates to our lyrics very successfully as they are also intimate & emotional. 

2nd example

Oregon Filmaker - This type of lighting style created a really unique feel which is really successful however i dont think we would use this, the pop ballad genre doesnt follow this convention of lighting at all, furthermore this style of lighting seems quite complicated to set up. 

• Use a fish eye lens on camera
• Put softbox above head
• film this scene
• then edit to speed up & slow down

3rd example

This video was definitely the most interesting. It included so many different ideas & lighting styles out of one technique. I think we will use this technique of lighting in our music video as its conventional throughout the pop genre & is really common in music videos in general. I feel we can easily achieve this homemade lens flares style of lighting.

• This video showed us how to make a homemade lens flare. Lens flyers are expensive therefore these are custom. 
• use plastic packaging 7X7 cm square cut out
• fit it into your lens
• scratch surface of filter in any way. crosses, lines, stars, horisontal, vertical (3 point star = 3 different directions)
• use rubber band & secure over front of lens
• film in complete darkness with lens on, then stand in the distance with a torch & the scratches in the plastic pick up the light creating a unique successful effect. 

Analysing the lyrics

Analysing the lyrics in red

"Beneath Your Beautiful"
(feat. Emeli Sandé)

You tell all the boys no
Makes you feel good yeah

(Indicates that she is a powerful person)
I know you're out of my league
But that won't scare me way out no

(He thinks she is really attractive but likes her so much he wont give up)
You've carried on so long
You couldn't stop if you tried it

You've built your wall so high
That no one could climb it
But I'm gonna try

(This shows she has been reserved when it comes to relationship, him repeating he's going to try again means he wants to get the point across about how much he likes her)

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful
Would you let me see beneath your perfect
Take it off now girl, take it off now girl
I wanna see inside
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight(He is asking the female if he can be the one that she lets her guards down to)

(girl starts singing)You let all the girls go
Makes you feel good, don't it?

(You can see they have the same views about each other)
Behind your Broadway show
I heard a voice say please don't hurt me

(He puts on an act to girls but he's actually quite naive and sensitive)
You've carried on so long
You couldn't stop if you tried it

You've built your wall so high
That no one could climb it
But I'm gonna try

(same lyrics as above emphasising they think the same thing about each other)

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful
Would you let me see beneath your perfect
Take it off now boy, take it off now boy
I wanna see inside
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight
Ohhh, Tonight
(chorus - same as above)

See beneath, See beneath,
I... Tonight
I...

I'm gonna climb on top your every tower
I'll hold your hand and then we'll jump right out

We'll be falling, falling

(metaphor indicating them falling out of a tower is them falling more and more in love, and him holding her hand means he wants to look after her)
But that's okay
Cause I'll be right here
I just wanna know

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful
Would you let me see beneath your perfect
Take it off now girl, take it off now girl
Cause I wanna see you say
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight
Tonight, see beneath your beautiful
Oh tonight, we ain't perfect, we ain't perfect
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight

(chorus - as above)

After analysing the lyrics we will tell the story through our music video mainly by the stars singing with facial expressions and close ups so you can see how they are feeling. We will also have clips such as; the male singing at the female showing the female and her not caring, also we will show at the end when they come together and go on a date.