Planning: Advert mock-up

Planning: Digipak mock-up

Ideally, I want to create a digipak that has a flowing graphic design and colour scheme which conformed to the conventions of the genre. I wanted to have a wire theme, to show the importance of the electric rocky sound within the bands music. The conflicting black, white and red are something that I'd associate also with genre and other rock albums.

Planning: Shortlist of photos

These are some of the photos that I'd like to use within my digipak and advert. With a bit of editing and being placed correctly I think they could successfully create a positive image for our band.

Planning: Do's and Don'ts of design

In order to create a convincing and professional looking digipak and advert we were given a guide of dos and don'ts to follow.

Do:

• Use clear fonts and photos in an appropriate size/shape.
• Use a layout that follows the rule of thirds for composition.
• Appropriate font that follows genre conventions; position text to conform to conventions
• Follow the three colour rule and choose colours that are appropriate for images, font and backgrounds.
• Think carefully about how you use and intergrate images, font, text and language. (anchoring meaning putting images with text)
•  Use approprate industry logos, conventions properly positioned. 

Dont:

• Stretch images.
• Use Layer styles.
• Use effects that do not fit the genre.
• Place text across artists face.
• Use a font because you 'like it'
• Feel the need to use separate images on each panel.

The guide above has helped me get an idea of what I want my digipak and advert to look like and how to avoid them looking unprofessional and non-conventional. It will be useful using these pointers when creating a mock up of both digipak and advert, and could also make creating the final drafts easier as many key points will have already been included in them.

Planning: shortlist of fonts, colours, layout and design ideas.

FONTS:
After looking at number of digipaks the fonts on each are very basic, usually capitalised and artist/band names are substantially bigger than the album title. Below are a few fonts that i have chosen as possibilities for my digipak and advert.

COLOURS:
These are the colours that I think could fit the genre of the band. I'd like to use only two or three colors throughout the whole digipak and the advertisement.

 

LAYOUT:

I want to use a very basic image, either of the band or something that links to the band for example, a cluster of instruments used in the music video. Id like the the band name and album title in bold text in two different colours in the top right area of the cover. The track listings will be on the back in a conventional listed paragraph in the same text used on the front. The inside of the digipak will contain extra information on the tracks listed one outside cover.

Inspiration

For my Digipak i wanted to use the below Logo of the classic Mod logo used by the who and of course the mods. Both the Mods and The Who have references to Indie and Rock and i thought by using this logo it would create a Indie feeling and to be known as a British Band as this logo has references to Britain's with the colours of the British flag red white and blue.

Analyse of Three Digipaks

The Kooks Digipak Inside  In The Inside Out was one digipak that i found both interesting and inspirational for my own digipak and i also believe it fits with both my category of Indie and would be bought by the same audience who will buy mine as The Kooks and my band are both an Indie band.  

What I like about this digipak is the feeling for both instruments and the closeness of the band by just hanging out with instruments. the reason why i like this is because for me and my group we wanted to create the feeling of both us writing our own music and have a love for music I.E. the instruments will be used heavily in my digipak and also the jamming as it will support my music video and the digipak of the band hanging out.

Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not:  

The reason why I like this digipak is different to the reason why i like the Kooks Digipak is because with this one it still manages to create the feeling of Indie but is different towards The Kooks as this one is more creative with the theme of smoke which i could use in mine as you could say smoking is a symbol of a classic Indie band.

The theme of smoking with the CD looking like an ashtray and the front cover of the artist smoking a cigarette for me is both very affective and creates the Indie vibe and i could use it in my digipak.

The who Greatest Hits Digipak:

I found my third  idea of inspiration in a old band but who are also rock. even though The Who are not seen as a Indie style band i still think my audience will buy this album and be interested in this band. the reason why i like this digipak is because i like the black and white theme like for Arctic Monkeys which help to create the Indie vibe. but apart from the colour scheme i also like the image of Great Britain Flag flying at the bottom which shows it is a British band which i like as in our video we used the theme of London so this idea could work as a good combination of both Indie and English band. 

Research: Digipak Anlysis

In order to create a genuine looking digipak we were asked to look at a selection of digipaks that fit the genre of music our band fit into and outline how it fits the genre and audience. 

'Unplugged' by all time low is a special edition CD of live tracks. The album cover clearly shows us who is in the band; from the instruments and clothing worn we get an idea of the indie rock genre. The instruments in our music video play an important part of emphasizing the genre. The front cover image allows the audience to get a clear view of what the band are about and the performance aspect in the image front shows us that they are passionate about music and not gimmicky. The inside panels of the digipak are images of the ban performing to a very small audience. The colours are very much the same as inside as they are on the front cover.

'This is war' by 30 seconds to mars is a very basic design where only a few colours are used. The dark colours could suggest a darkness in the lyrics of the bands songs which the audience are used too and the darkness the genre and connote. The front and back panels of the digipak have the word 'war' taking up majority if it with the rest of the album title very small within the word. The digipak has a very different image to the one featured on the CD, as so the only thing creating a link is the band name across the bottom and album name. The use of text and no actual band image is something I may consider doing in my digipack.  


'Come around sundown' by Kings of Leon has quite a simple digipack cover. The same shades of orange are used though-out the digipak as wells as very similar beach images. There is a huge sense of familiarity between the digipak and the CD as they both have the same olouring and very similar photos on the digipak. The images relate to genre of the music and the bands personality, which i would consider to be quite laid back.

Research: Advertisement Analysis

This advert uses the image on the album cover as a visual link. This allows buyers and fans of the CD/digipak to instantly know what it looks like. The bright and bold colours help with this and are usual for the indie/rock genre (shown below also). The font is not as bold as the image and at times quite small, but colours allow it stand out more so. This entire advert relies on its relationship with the CD cover to attract its audience.

This advertisement uses a similar colour scheme as the above, but uses it to create a dark atmosphere. It features an image of the band members and the CD cover it is advertising. The text on the poster is capitalized and makes it stand out, particularly the bad name in white on black background. The image has been edited to fit a pop art theme which is seen of the rock genre, like on The Beatles albums.

Both digipak and advert employ the same colour filter over the images, the advertisement features an image of the album and  the band, this create different a relaxed atmosphere and can give an indication of the relaxed styles of the rock genre they produce. The clothing the band wear is one thing that gives away the genre also,

Filming

Filming this year was so much more fun to do! Day one consitisted of the Roundhouse, which was excellent, (Kirsty is an amzing director/camera woman) and we produced some amazing shots. On the downside, all the shots were really staic due the the small natue of the room. Still i had an amazing time filming and i wanna do it again! :)

Day 2 was the JAM at my house! ^____^
The good thing about this was that it was all handheld, which gave a really home movie kind of effect on the video, which is what we were going for. Also, we intended to make all the shots black and white for the "behind the scenes" footage and keep the performance in colour. The only slight downside was that i think i was annoying everone with my singing, But oh well, That just me trying to be a tiny bit famous. But what can you do eh?

Peace,
Mikey

Reflection on lip synch tutorial.

the lip synch tutorial was fun, but i found it hard as i barely knew the song and found it embarrassing as it was my first time in front of the camera singing. it was hard to try and get everything in synch, but it began to get easier. I'm glad we had a practice before doing the real thing because I'd have probably got it all wrong.

Production: Final Edit.

Production: Rough Cut.

 

There are a few things that we need to change in terms of editing from the feedback given by the teachers. These are:

1. Keeping the same transitions constant, at various points there are fades from black where there  shouldn't be. 

2. Some clips need to be cut a few seconds earlier as they begin to zoom in at times. 

3. A fade should be used to start and finish the music video.

4. In some shots the instruments aren't in time with the music or they aren't being played at all, they need to be put in sync.

Filmimg: Day Two/Three

For our second and third day of filming we decided to film the band jamming at Michael's house to get the real home video affect as we have decided to do it in black and white to create this affect. there are some problems that we faced when filming the jamming, as we wanted to know what exactly we wanted to film. In order to make it look affective we decided to use Miss En Scene appropriately by getting instruments like Guitar and  keyboard and Drum sticks with also sweets crisp and of course every indie bands favourite a bottle of Jack Daniels.

For the third day of filmimg me and Kirst decided to get some footage of London landmarks like Big Ben, London Eye and Piccadilly Circus. We decided to film these locations and use them in our music video to show that we are an English band starting off to get the real sense of being an English band. We decided what locations we would film before we went out so we did not really face many problems apart from the fact that it could have rained but luckily it did not.

Production: PROBLEM!?!

With two weeks to our final cut deadline myself and George showed our video to a number of media teachers to give us ideas of what we can fill the last minute of our music video with but...we are running out of footage. We need a wider variety of footage - the beginning of our video is looking good but you can see it starting to repeat as it gets to about a minute and a half /two minute minutes. The only way to resolve this problem is to get back to the drawing board and discuss ideas for quick filming. Another problem we face is the fact that everyone during our band performance looks miserable and we cant use this footage for too long because everyone will notice it. I think this is where the lack footage is rooted as we planned for the performance to be the main aspect of the music video -  now we are having to change this and use it as little as possible.

Production: Filming Day Two/Three.

On Friday 5th November, we decided to film for a second day location: Michael's house. We decided to film the 'band' hanging out and writing music in a living room so that they appeal to an aspiring audience and so that the band are easily related too by fans. There weren't really any problem on this day, except that Chloe couldn't make it. Looking back over the footage we got some really good stuff we could.

The next day, Myself and George decided to go out on our own and film footage of some main and very familiar areas of London to include in our video. The only problem we had was because it was a weekend all locations were extremely busy and people kept walking into shots. The reason for us choosing to film areas of London was to create a sense of familiarity with fans and pin point where the band are from and where their music career started. Even with the busyness of London this footage also turned out pretty good and its likely that it will be used in the final edit of our music video.

Teacher feedback

Hello group 35
The blog is looking great - although late blogging of some posts (Michael...) has meant that the video that Kirsty made is a bit lost.  It would be good to see some other photos from the rest of your filming sessions too, along with a little commentary about why you chose to film there and any difficulties that you encountered.
Keep up the good work.

Audience Task

Dylan is a seventeen year old white British male from Islington, London. He is a college student and has a part time job in a store in Westfield, London after college. He usually shops in Tesco and Sainsburys for food and in stores like Hollister co., H&M and Topman for style. In his spare time he plays guitar and sings vocals for a band at college. At the weekends, he likes to socialise with his friends, go to parties, drink and go to gigs. He usually reads the Metro or the evening standard papers; as they are free, and tends to read Kerrang or NME for his latest news on his favorite bands, what gigs are coming up and for the posters; so he can put them up in his room. He has a white iPhone 3Gs and a Macbook (He got it with his first 2 months paycheck). His favourite places to shop are in Westfield, Oxford street, Brent Cross, Covent Garden and Camden Town. If he is drinking alcohol, his favourite is Cider and if just normal fizzy drinks, its Relentless INFERNO. He also likes to go on holiday in America (If he can) but usually goes on UK domestic hoildays to places like Reading/Leeds during the summer to visit the festival. Dylan likes this Genre the most because it fits in with his style and he can connect with it.

Planning Main Location

For our music Video we wanted to create an indie vibe and to make our music video look affective. As we are a new up and coming band we decided to film at the Roundhouse as the rooms are small and would be the ideal place where our sort of band would play. Kirsty Phillips and Michael Lewry went to the roundhouse to get permission to film there and to see if it was okay if we could film there with 6 people in the room at one time.

We thought the Roundhouse would be the ideal place to film as the room was very small and as we are a new and up and coming band we decided that a small room like this would be where our band will play there song as they will not be that famous. Also by the room being small it creates an indie vibe and makes it look like a real music video which is the whole point.

Describing the initial ideas for digipak and advertisements.

My initial ideas for my digipak is I would either get a big picture of the band or the lead singer and put some effects on it like black and white or something else that would make it have the indie vibe. However for the cover that goes on the CD I want to do something creative like cigarettes buts that make it look like an ash tray like Arctic Monkeys album ‘Whatever people say I am I’m not’  I will not however use this idea but maybe have pictures of different instruments or loads of mini stills from the video. I think I may produce a 6 or an 8 digipak to gain more marks. By having these sorts of ideas I believe that it will create the indie effect and therefore meet my target audience and will get interested in it. 

Also in my digipak I will have a poster of the band. to make it a unique item for fans of the band to have to put up on there bedroom wall. 

I will also advertise my digipak on the Internet to connect and reach my target audience and hopefully reach a wider audience as so many people use the Internet. I may also decide to advertise over the radio for music fans.   

Planning : Pitch 13,14 and 15

13.For our 3 products we plan to use digital technology by doing a radio interview of the band to promote this single of shooting star to get across to their audience and to increase sales. Also we was planning on posting on facebook of our single to and advertise maybe on the Artist Facebook page to get across to their fans as only their fans will be able to see this page and will go out and buy this single. 

14.We have used conventions of real media text like radio interviews, digipacks which real music artist use. The difference between all these three are the digipack will be what people actually buy and i want to do something creative with an indie twist and the rest are actual advertisements to get the single out to the public.  

15.In A2 we have looked at production in a different way to A level because in A level we was looking at prediction of films and this is usually done in big budgets so the production like adverting would be everywhere. However with music video we are looking to advertise on the radio unlike film, also unlike film and A level at As we are looking to do a digipack and look to advertise online and of course produce a music video. 

Production: Filiming Day One.

 

Our first filming day went really well, we filmed all shots and angles that we felt would do the performance aspect of the music video justice. Even though the performance space was on the small side, we thought that it still looked pretty effective and puts the band where it is at in the world of music - forthcoming. Without having looked back at the footage, the only problem we have encountered so far was the dropping out of the drummer at the very last minute, and so we had to get George to play the drums with no experience. Above are a few of the photos we took while on shoot. some could possibly be used in digipaks and adverts. 

Storyboard

 

This is the storyboard that we had to do to show how we plan to make our video work and what sort of shots we plan to use in our video.

Planning: Main Filming Location.

On Monday the 18th of October, myself and Michael officially booked our main filming location at the Roundhouse. We were shown around the facilities available for us to use at a small fee. We discovered that if we wanted to, whilst filming, are able to use programs such as Final Cut Pro in their media labs. This could be used to our advantage as we will not have to wait until we get back to college to find faults in our footage.


One thing that could be a disadvantage is the overall size of the rehearsal rooms: they are very compact and they are poorly decorated and brightly light. Though I think we will have to use an idea suggested by teachers, which is putting curtains/fabric around the areas of filming so that we can have a plain and clean looking background. It needs to be discussed whether or not to use black or white backdrops. Today I have been emailing requestin permission to film footage outside a number of small gig venues to be edited into music video.

Planning: Storyboard

This is the final storyboard that we have come up with and will be the main basis of the production of music video.

Planning: Pitch 13, 14 and 15.

13. How do you plan to use digital technology?

The internet : facebook, youtube, blogs, band website etc. 
Analogue and digital radio.
Photoshop 
Editing transitions and effects (final cut)

14.  How have you used conventions from real media text in your planning? 
We have had to analyse a number of official music videos and from this we have been able to take certain aspects and adapt them to fit our own. We noticed that close ups are vital and so we have aimed to use a vast amount. Also, the pace of the editing cuts to the beat of the song. For indie bands, their CD and digipack covers tend to have photographed artwork, with a range of graphics over-layed.   as opposed to pop genre artwork being more animated. 

15. What have we learned about research and planning?

We found planning for A2 more difficult that AS. Mainly because we have to request permission to use a number of locations and the  song itself. The video and the planning would not be possible without permission. Using final cut is not as simple as last year; we have be showed how to correctly time the track to the performance on the video.

Planning: Describe your initial ideas for the visual style and graphics of your digipak and advertisements.

Ideally, I want to produce a digipak with simple images that symbolise the genre, the band and the music they produce. Whilst shooting our video, we are planning to take a range of photos that can possibly be used, either, on the cover of or on the inside panels of the digipak. I am looking to produce a 6 panel digipak containing song lyrics and a pull out poster of the band. The addition of the poster is likely to be one of the way in which the digipak – teenagers are likely to want to put posters up of the band they like in their bedrooms. Those who are fans of a particular style of band, for example, indie rock are likely to style themselves around the band – the poster showing the band is likely to affect the style of the consumer. 

I want my advertisement to be very simple, but informative and eye-catching. Preferably a photo of the band with the band name at the top of the ad and further information at the bottom with maybe a small thumbnail of the album cover.

Wordle

Planning: Pitch.

Planning: Animatic

Audience Task

Sid Brady is a seventeen year old white British male student who is currently unemployed. Sid lives in North London,  he shops at Tesco as it is the cheapest place to go shopping. In his spear time he plays musical incitements like guitar and socialises with his friends and drinks alcohol, He don't tend to buy big tabloid newspapers and gets The Metro as the best things in life are the free things.

When Sid is meant to be doing work he reads Kerang and MME so there is not a surprise he is into Indie Rock. When Sid goes shopping he goes to the high street like Camden high street. He feels that he best likes Indie as it goes with His style. Sid favourite drink is cider and he would very much like to go to America but is happy to stick with UK domestic holidays. Sid will take public transport when traveling around London using his Oyster card.

                                                      

Copyright request

Letter sent to record label.
EMI records
EMI House, 43 Brook Green
London
W6 7EF
Dear, Sir/Madame
Request for Copyright Permission to use part or whole of: “shooting star" by Air traffic
I am a student of A Level Media Studies and for my Advanced Portfolio I will be working in a group to produce a promotional package for the release of a new album track.  I would like to request permission to use the above track for this project.
The finished project will not be made available publicly and will be used solely for coursework purposes.  The holder of the original copyright will be fully acknowledge in the finished project.
If you do not hold the rights for this song I should be grateful if you could forward this request to the appropriate person, or return it to me with the contact details in order that I might approach the copyright holder directly.
Yours faithfully
Kirsty Phillips

Planning: Filming Permission Request

In order to make sure there are no problems on the days of production, I emailed Westminster council to ask permission to film in the borough. This is the email that was sent:

Dear Sir/Madame

I am a student of A Level Media Studies and for my Advanced Portfolio I will be working in a group to produce a promotional package for the release of a music video. I would like to make sure that it is okay to do so or request permission to flim in areas of Westminster. Specifically around areas of the river Thames. The finished project will not be made available publicly and will be used solely for coursework purposes. 

Many thanks,
Kirsty Phillips.

Planning: Audience Task

Harry is a seventeen year old white British male from central London. He lives at home with his parents and is currently an unemployed student who would usually buy his groceries from Tescos. In his spare time from college Harry enjoys socializing with friends and some family members. He also plays guitar and piano and enjoys creating forms of art. Harry enjoys reading his parents newspapers, but prefers the free newspapers that fit his budget such as the Metro. His most enjoyable magazines to read are music magazines such as NME and Kerrang! He tends to use all forms of public transport, particularly the bus as it is free for hims to travel around London. Harry uses a range of gadgets such as a smart-phone, iPod, laptop, digital camera and other up to date technologies. Harry is attracted to designer brands such as Fred Perry and Lyle and Scott, but mostly chooses high street brands such as Topman because they are more in his price range. His preferred places to shop would be Camden, Covent Garden, Oxford street etc. Harry tends to go on road trips with his older friends around the UK to seaside and city destinations. But goes on family holidays most years. Harry like the indie rock genre as he feels he can connect with the passion of music most of the bands and artists of that genre have because he can play instruments and loves to play music. His style also reflects his liking of the genre. 

Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture

1) Illustration: - This is where the video tells the story of the lyrics.

2) Amplification: - Occurs when the videos introduce new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning.

3) Disjuncture: - This is where there is little conncetion between the lyric and video or where the video contradicts the lyric.

Illustration: Miley Cyrus - Fly On The Wall :

This video fits the Illustration category because the lyrics are about the paparazzi and them watching everything that Miley makes, which completely relates to the video because she is being followed by the paparazzi; they're basically following her around with cameras.

Amplification: Paramore - Misery Business:

This video fits the amplifcation category because the lyrics of the song fit with the video, but the video uses different illustrations to add more meaning into it; for example, we get to see who the character is in the video, and have no need to create an image of the mean girl in our heads (we would if we only listened to the song) becuase they've created one for us.


Disjuncture: Katy Perry - California Gurls




This video is an example of disjuncture because it bears no relation to the song; the lyrics are about California, but the video is using sweets and is sweet themed. This therefore has no relation to California; however the only relations to the lyrics in the video are the girls weraing daisy dukes and the heart with the letters CA (Abbrevation for California) inside at the end of the video.

Audience Task

For our audience, we're hoping it attracts young people more, because of the genre, especially the indie/rock type of people.
But, then again, it could go for any age.

 

Andrew Goodwin Blogging Task.

Andrew Goodwin feels that traditional analyses (using ideas such as todorov) don't really apply to pop videos. This isn't because pop videos are trying to be innovative or experimental; they approach narrative from a diffrent perspective and angle compared to novels and films. There are some reasons behind this:

1) Pop videos are built around the song, which do not have traditional narrative structures.

2) The Pop video often uses the singer as both a narrator and a character.

3) The singer often looks directly at the character - This is an extension of performance and tyring to invole the viewer at home with the performance they're creating.

Pop videos rely on repetition. Often, the video repeats images in the way that the song repeats chourses or lines. Also, this repetition in songs of parts or rhythms of other songs means that we become familiar with the genre and then we have expectations of how the genre creates it's videos.

Pop songs and videos have an ending to them. It's the single that the video is based around and therefore must also have an ending, which is often reflected in the structure of the music, it builds to a climax, before fading and ending.

Some videos are autonomous from the music that was created for them; a video for a song may go completely beyond the original meaning and create a new, deeper meaning for the audience. Sometimes, the video provides a visual pleasure which encourages viewing the video over and over, which in turn promotes the song and the artist's music. Sometimes the song/video is synergous and therefore promoting something other than the song/video itself. Therefore it can be said that there are just more than one relationship between songs and videos: Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture. (See post on Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture for meanings and examples.)

Pop videos often have easily recognisable features (An example, Hayley Williams for Paramore's coloured tape around her microphones in Paramore's Videos) Another feature is the way women are presented as objects of male desire. This is particularly true of hip hop and heavy metal videos. In some videos the different instruments in the music are represented by different objects. Also, videos try to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, without alienating the core target audience. Videos which feature older bands often show them in their older days, usually so an older audience can sill identify with them. Finally, Videos that are from songs made for movies often (Usually all of the time) include and incorparate images an clips from the movie.

My copyright Clearence

This is My copyright clearance E-mail/Letter; It was also completed for florence + The Machine and Hadouken!

Corporate Communications Department
EMI Music
27

Wrights Lane
London
W8 5SW

Tel: +44 (0)20 7795 7000

Dear, Sir/Madame

Request for Copyright Permission to use part or whole of “Fireworks” and “Underdog” (As an acoustic song) By You Me At Six.

I am a student of A Level Media Studies and for my Advanced Portfolio I will be working in a group to produce a promotional package for the release of a new album track.  I would like to request permission to use the above track for this project. 

The finished project will not be made available publicly and will be used solely for coursework purposes.  The holder of the original copyright will be fully acknowledged in the finished project. 

If you do not hold the rights for this song, I should be grateful if you could forward this request to the appropriate person, or return it to me with the contact details in order that I might approach the copyright holder directly.

Yours faithfully

Michael Lewry

Planning: Our Media Mood Board

This is our Mood Board. It puts all of our influences of genre, clothing, audience and locations together (Paramore, You Me At Six, Indie Rock, Massive crowds, Moshing, Drums, Guitars) in one place. This shows who we are, what influences we have in our own preference of music and what is going to influence our music video.

Final Song Choice.

We picked Air Traffic's 'Shooting Star'as our final song.
We haven't quite planned out our narrative, for now, and how it'll be different from the actual clip itself, however we're thinking of filming London -either in the day or night - and speed it up in the editing. Fast and slow editing. Also, the part in the clip where everything slows down, we're comsidering that. Also, we're planning no to do the cliche thing where boy meets girl and falls in love, we want to make it creative.
Also, we're planning to book a studio, where we can film the band...

Short list of potential songs.

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Who is Vladimir Propp?

Vladimir Propp is a Russsian Scholar. We have to write about his theory:

1. ABSENTATION: A member of a family leaves the security of the home environment. This may be the hero or some other member of the family that the hero will later need to rescue. This division of the cohesive family injects initial tension into the storyline. The hero may also be introduced here, often being shown as an ordinary person.
2. INTERDICTION: An interdiction is addressed to the hero ('don't go there', 'don't do this'). The hero is warned against some action (given an 'interdiction').
3. VIOLATION of INTERDICTION. The interdiction is violated (villain enters the tale). This generally proves to be a bad move and the villain enters the story, although not necessarily confronting the hero. Perhaps they are just a lurking presence or perhaps they attack the family whilst the hero is away.
4. RECONNAISSANCE: The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the children/jewels etc.; or intended victim questions the villain). The villain (often in disguise) makes an active attempt at seeking information, for example searching for something valuable or trying to actively capture someone. They may speak with a member of the family who innocently divulges information. They may also seek to meet the hero, perhaps knowing already the hero is special in some way.
5. DELIVERY: The villain gains information about the victim. The villain's seeking now pays off and he or she now acquires some form of information, often about the hero or victim. Other information can be gained, for example about a map or treasure location.
6. TRICKERY: The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim's belongings (trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim). The villain now presses further, often using the information gained in seeking to deceive the hero or victim in some way, perhaps appearing in disguise. This may include capture of the victim, getting the hero to give the villain something or persuading them that the villain is actually a friend and thereby gaining collaboration.
7. COMPLICITY: Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping the enemy. The trickery of the villain now works and the hero or victim naively acts in a way that helps the villain. This may range from providing the villain with something (perhaps a map or magical weapon) to actively working against good people (perhaps the villain has persuaded the hero that these other people are actually bad).
8. VILLAINY or LACK: Villain causes harm/injury to family member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops, plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on someone, substitutes child etc., comits murder, imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion etc.). There are two options for this function, either or both of which may appear in the story. In the first option, the villain causes some kind of harm, for example carrying away a victim or the desired magical object (which must be then be retrieved). In the second option, a sense of lack is identified, for example in the hero's family or within a community, whereby something is identified as lost or something becomes desirable for some reason, for example a magical object that will save people in some way.
9. MEDIATION: Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for help etc./ alternative is that victimized hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment). The hero now discovers the act of villainy or lack, perhaps finding their family or community devastated or caught up in a state of anguish and woe.
10. BEGINNING COUNTER-ACTION: Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter-action. The hero now decides to act in a way that will resolve the lack, for example finding a needed magical item, rescuing those who are captured or otherwise defeating the villain. This is a defining moment for the hero as this is the decision that sets the course of future actions and by which a previously ordinary person takes on the mantle of heroism.
11. DEPARTURE: Hero leaves home;
12. FIRST FUNCTION OF THE DONOR: Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc., preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or helper (donor);
13. HERO'S REACTION: Hero reacts to actions of future donor (withstands/fails the test, frees captive, reconciles disputants, performs service, uses adversary's powers against him);
14. RECEIPT OF A MAGICAL AGENT: Hero acquires use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);
15. GUIDANCE: Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search;
16. STRUGGLE: Hero and villain join in direct combat;
17. BRANDING: Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf);
18. VICTORY: Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, banished);
19. LIQUIDATION: Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken, slain person revived, captive freed);
20. RETURN: Hero returns;
21. PURSUIT: Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);
22. RESCUE: Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms unrecognisably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life);
23. UNRECOGNIZED ARRIVAL: Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in another country;
24. UNFOUNDED CLAIMS: False hero presents unfounded claims;
25. DIFFICULT TASK: Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, other tasks);
26. SOLUTION: Task is resolved;
27. RECOGNITION: Hero is recognized (by mark, brand, or thing given to him/her);
28. EXPOSURE: False hero or villain is exposed;
29. TRANSFIGURATION: Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole, handsome, new garments etc.);
30. PUNISHMENT: Villain is punished;
31. WEDDING: Hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted).

Also, Propp concluded that there are 8 main character types he analysised in the top 100 tales:

1. The villain — struggles against the hero.
2. The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
3. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.
4. The princess or prize — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. the hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
5. her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.
6. The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
7. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
8. False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

Planning: Final Song Choice.

Air Traffic - "Shooting Star"
Official video link





Our final song choice is "Shooting Star" by Air Traffic.The video we produce will be substantially different to the original in the link above. We hope to portray the song through a mix of linear and non linear narrative, with the artist being a narrator as well as participant. One way in which we could make the narrative different to the original video is by changing the narrative to give the song another meaning or show its meaning from another point of view. We want to experiment as much as possible with this music video to allow us to get a range of shots and transitions in the video, but not to many so that it is overwhelming and distasteful. We want to follow conventions of the indie pop genre as well as adding our own twist to it.

Planning: Song Choice Shortlist

After researching and discussing a varied range of genres, as a group we decided to chose a song of the indie rock genre, that wasn't to up-beat and heavy based but not to slow. We then looked at the songs we all requested copy right for and chose five that fit the genre and what kind of song in that genre we wanted. Our final five are as follows:

Planning: lip Sync Tutorial

 

To get us familiar with the used of the new skills that are needed to create a music video, we were set the task of making a very basic music video.

Analysing Previous Student Videos

For this, in class we watched different videos that were made by previous students from City and Islington College.
The one who stood out for me was the first video we watched - the one where the girl made it all by her self. I thought it was really good, and the song was catchy too. Even though she wasn't in the video, it was still very effective. I especially liked the way she edited it - it was so cleverly done, linkning the two stories together, but merging into the next scene. Even at times, when it was dark, you could still see what was going on, and that you'd understand the story.

For our A2 Media studies, we are marked on the following:
-holding shot ready where appropriate.
-framing shot appropriately.
-variety of shot distances.
-material appropriate.
-appropriate mise-en-scene.
-editing to make meaning clear
-varied shot transitions.
-using sound with iamges and editing appropriately.

If we do this, then w're looking at a level 4 - which eould be B to A gardes. :)

Going back to the former student's work: at the beginning, when the girl woalks towards the camera, she starts talking to her boyfriend. However, there was an empty Mcdonald's cup. It was so distracting, because she filmed it in the dark, and to have a white cup, it stands out, which drew your attention to the cup, and not to the actual thing that's happening. But, even though there was minor distractions, overall, I honestly think it's a very good video, and is very realistic, and looks like a professional music video clip.
There was a lot of guiter solos in the music, so by the guy playing the guiter, it gave more of an effect and that because it was indie, it gave the indie vibe a good gist to it.

To make a good music video, I think you have to have good technical skills, and editing, which I think she didn very well. The choice of music was in so much sync, that you unterstood the story -  that the girl rejected her boyfriend, lying to him, when she's meeting up with another guy. it's not loyal.

Watching this, it makes me think of the things I should be careful on my group as well. Little mise-en-scene is a big part of it, so if it's not suppose to be there, then it ruin the whole clip - or just dat scene.

Examples and anaylsis of videos that follow amplification, illustration and disjuncture.

Amplification: <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zJv5qLsLYoo?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zJv5qLsLYoo?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
This shows that even though is shows whats happening, there's a much deeper meaning to it.
Illustration: <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9rlNpWYQunY?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9rlNpWYQunY?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
This shows that if she's rich, she dresses up wealthy - links to the words.
Disjuncture: <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SEJcrsQmFMg?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SEJcrsQmFMg?fs=1&amp;hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
This shows that it doesn't really have a connection with the lyrics and video.