B: Update of lesson

The aim for our group over the next few weeks is the plan, create and present our pitch.
Kitty the producer of our group has created a calender so that we can keep on track of our progress and meet deadlines.
The deadline for our pitch is the 13th October.
In order to be ready for this we need to consider...
-Our track
-The artist
-Our research
-Following the genre
-Our concept and visual ideas to represent this
-Target audience
-Audience research
-Locations, props, costumes
-Who will be in our video
-When we plan to shoot
-Which equipment we will need to use
-How we are going to present our pitch.

As a group we decided that we are going to use the presentation creator 'Prezi'. We feel that this is an effective way to display our pitch as it is visually pleasing and we can easily encorporate music videos to show our research into our ideas.

K:Torgny "Big Day"

I love this video 'Big Day' directed by Emil Trier feat Maria Due. Similarly to 'Isles' by Little Comets this video combines both continuity and montage editing with a varying shot length. The first a particularly successful shot in its composition and framing as well as the juxtaposition of the water movement against the static filming has a slow cutting rate of 8 seconds; gradually reducing to an average of 3. What I note from this video how very low cuttings rate work so well, for example the girl yawning at the beginning lasting 6 seconds, and the slow motion used later of the girls running is very powerful.

The video uses a technique I have previously looked at, cutting from CU of different angles of the same shot; also the exaggerated use of slow motion and expansion of time. Handy cam and pedding down is used- a movement we haven't looked at yet (40 seconds). What I particularly like about this video is the combination of a strong narrative with cuts to random people and settings; immersing the characters in these obscure locations with socially different characters. CU of the characters are used again holding the same blank expression to that we want; with direct piercing eye contact.

Throughout the middle part of the song the cutting rate drops to a gradual 2 seconds reflecting Britain's dominant ideologies and this idea of 'youthful restlessness', the modern yob culture; a catchy and memorable performance by a group of young girls. A blunt yet emotional 'film craft' told through 'beautiful images, precise portraits and surprising themes' as the video artists quotes. The video visually explores the teenagers sense of boredom and rebellion; displaying cultural codes we wish to experiment with. The shot at 1.17 is one to remember, the use of reflections on a window to establish the characters followed by a 180' pan.

B: Video inspiration

Torgny- The only game.

This video won an award for Scandinavian video 2010 at Bergen film festival. This is what they say:

The winning video is the product of a director and a musical artist who take the music video genre seriously – this is an ambitious and poetic video, at once catchy and fascinating: A video you will want to watch again and again. It repeatedly demonstrates the magical potential of the music video; the moments where text, music and visuals melt together to form something that's able to touch the viewer in an emotional way. The video is an example of exquisite film craft – effectively told through the use of beautiful images, precise portraits and surprising themes. The scene that is portrayed in the video is genuinely Scandinavian, but the sense of youthful restlessness is also universally recognizable. Sitting in the back seat of a car that is speeding off in the search for SOMETHING, is a feeling we can all relate to. The loving and detailed portrayal of young bashfulness, boredom and love is perfectly matched with the gently exploring song. Thus the unity of music and film transcend the sum of its parts and proves that the music video is still a powerful genre with the able to tell big and important stories in the space of a couple of minutes.

I think that this music video is particularly inspiring and follows the concept in which we aim to achieve. Along with the prominent cultural codes such as countryside shown in the video there are some really interesting shots.

One shot in particular which i think we could use in our video is the Low angle shot of the air freshener in the car, i think that this is really effective and interesting as well as following the ideas which we have already discussed.

Another shot i think is effective is the cars pulling out of the petrol station, the signs in the back ground and the lighting used in the shot are particularly effective. I think that this is because the music video tells the story of youth making it accessible to the audience.

In addition to this the shots of the car stunts are also visually effective, this gives some excitement to the video as well as the steam/ smoke created being a good effect to use in the video.

From this video we can also get some good camera angles and examples of camera movement for example low angled shots and a slight movement when focusing on the characters, the movement of the cars in the shot is also very effective.

The cutting rate of the video is 3/4 seconds per shot on average this allows the audience enough time to look at everything which is happening in the shot.

B: Brighton Recce

I also agree with this,i think that the recce gave us plenty of opportunity to test different angles and shots as well as seeing what movement works well with our track and concept.

In addition to this the recce allowed us to test our organisational skills when bringing the right equipment such as camera, tripod, props, costumes, the track and spare battery's.

We also looked at composition of shots to make sure that the shots were both visually pleasing, effective and Incorporated movement to ensure the best results for our video.

Furthermore we were able to test our concept, when asking random people to feature in our video we have to deal with rejection and time management to ensure that we are not wasting time asking people when we could in fact be filming.

Overall i think that the recce was a positive experience and helped us to plan for our real filming. This will save us time and improve our final product.

K:Brighton Recce

I agree, the recce improved our organisation of our props and costume, particularly our masks and headdresses' we were able to experiment with, looking at composition and framing considering the rule of thirds.

We were also able to experiment with movement; although we wished most of our shots to be static we aimed to test out other movements we would use in our real product.

When looking at composition we made sure the framing was interesting enough to have a static shot.

We were also able to organise the influence of weather, working with strong sunlight which often over exposed our work and our time management; trying to film enough appropriate footage in a short amount of time.

Group: Brighton Recce evaluation

What we learnt from doing the Recce-
- That we would like to use Brighton as the location for our music video, this is because it is an iconic, photogenic location which fits with our concept.
- Specifically we would like to use the pier for example the bumper cars as well as specific graffiti walls in the lanes.
- Other interior locations in which we found were, the tattoo shop where we found an appropriate character for our concept with appropriate mise en scene.
- Specific shots in which we used in our recce were CU of signs and faces, MS of masked characters and random people on the pier.
- The trip also enabled us to assess ourselves as a group and decided specific roles. We have decided that...
-Lilli- Chief Editing
-Kitty- Head Director
-Becki- Lead camera operator.
-The trip also made us aware of the equipment we are using, for example we need to ensure that we have a fully charged and spare battery if we are filming for a full day. We also need to ensure our card is not full and there is enough space for our footage.

Comparison to Wilderness Woods recce.

- Brighton recce allowed us to focus on creative progress in comparison to wilderness woods which allowed us to improve our technical skills when learning how to use the camera.
- Brighton is also an urbanised area compared to Wilderness Woods which is rural therefore we were not disturbed by passers by like in Brighton.
- In Brighton we could get a greater variety of Mise en scene and settings/ locations rather than just the forest location.

Group: Brighton Trip

Here is our Call sheet-

This is the Risk assessment-

On the 27th September we will be carrying out a recce at Brighton city in order to practise which both the equipment and the location. We must consider the suitability, risk, composition, light, availability as well as working as a team in our production groups.

This will allow us to evaluate the field trip and outcome on our blog. We will consider what we have learnt and how we can improve on further location reccies from our AS research.

Brighton will allow us to improve on our organisation of props, costume and actors also our time management; to develop our skills and learning on the digital technology. The reccie will be very helpful for research and planning and our communication skills.

Brighton offers iconic locations all within the central location; a photogenic city and will allow us to discount the location if not appropraite, a valid piece of planning.

K: Photo ideas

Group: Specific shot ideas of Brighton location recce

This tuesday the 27th our group will be visiting Brighton for the day to test out particular shots we wish to use and to practise with the new equipment. We aim to get started on our original video if we find appropriate settings and people, and the experiment with both camera movement and angles.

Shot Ideas

• Tracking up a tattooed arm



• Compression/expansion of time on dodgems



• Birds eye view shot from pier down to sea



• Blank faces of a variety of people



• Children infront of graffiti



• Goldfish swimming

Costume Ideas

• White dress



• Appropriate clothing for the genre and style video
  

Props

• Eating ice cream and candy floss



• Mask



• Pipe



• Flag



• Balloon



• Bubbles
  

Locations

• Tattoo parlour



• Pier- filming on the dodgems



• Beach (if weather appropriate)



• Arcades



• Cafe and their signs



• Caravan site



• Beach huts

L: Ideas For New Track

K&B: Audience Research

Audience research is a key part of the planning process, we need to reach our audience effectively to create a successful music video.

For our initial Audience research we are going to create an online survey using Survey Monkey, this will give us the chance to appeal to a wide variety of people and gain quantitative data in which we can analyse.

The purpose of this research is to give us an insight into peoples thoughts and feelings towards the genre of indie/ folk and to identify a specific age group in which we will be appealing to.

Questions we will ask-

General audience information

Are you male or female?

Which age category do you fit in?

What iconography do you associate with folk/ indie music?

What locations would you associate with folk/indie music?

What props and costumes would you associate with folk/indie music?

What do you imagine the artist to look like?

Do you prefer a narrative based, montage or performance based music video?

Click here to take survey

Group: Our Target Audience

In order to create an effective music video we will need to be aiming to reach a specific audience. Target audiences can be defined by...

G- Gender
R- Race
A- Age
S- Socio economic
S- Status

We think that the Folk genre target audience would consist of...
-Both male and female
-British
-15+
-All classes

We think that the indie genre would appeal to...
-Both male and female
-All
-15-35
-Woking/ middle class

B: My ideas for our chosen track

(Click to see track and group ideas)

Lyrics-
Oh yes scream halleluiah darling. Some sort of being trapped
startled all the sleeping starling on the wild. Fairy lights/ lanterns on the tree
As we walked up the footpath through the fields how the rain did reveal your heart. Heart in sand

and the ropes close up of rope swing from the balance held your weight, Shells fall from the cold wind blows. Beach shots
And you said oh, maybe were just lost souls here,maybe your everybody goes. Girl lip syncing the lyrics, Random people

Oh we were young, oh oh we were young, oh we were young, oh oh we were young. Young children playing/ running on beach
Still don’t, don’t you forget, that rope you tied around your neck. People with masks
Don’t free your darling, don’t free your darling. horses, children running, pikeys running
And it took them three days to find you, tired torchlight’s and dog scents Tea lights on branches

Oh they let you down from the highest branches, cold eyes and frozen arms Her things hanging from branches
Your beauty was so dumb found and your lace white dress Girl in lace white dress and your hair as follaton woods Shot of her hair and the whole town just stood there crying CU of someone crying looking at the darkness for something wholesome and good. People in masks representing sadness/ random people.
Still don’t, don’t you forget that rope you tied around your neck, Tree???

don’t free ya darling don’t free ya darling. express sense of freedom people running and playing down brighton pier Chinese lantern set off

*End Song*

Morning white mist came across the plains, blue sky’s and rain.
Oh it was the strangest day, people taking cover we were holding shame, you would have left your heart, you would have left your heart, you would have left your heart, you would have left your heart, you would have left your heart.

B: Reflecting on the process of audience research

In today's lesson we were reflecting on the process of effective audience research, this involved us analysing our AS audience research in order to remind ourselves what audience research entailed as well as what worked effectively at AS and what we need to improve.
My audience research at AS consisted of...

1. Research of different types of target audiences and identifying which category i was going to aim to reach.



2. Questions in which we needed to find out and that would be use full for us to know to improve our product.



3. I then used survey monkey a online survey Creator to conduct my initial research, this worked effectively as i was able to reach a large outlet by posting the survey to the web, quantitative data was collected allowing me to analyse the data effectively. As well as this survey monkey collates the results so the results are easy to analyse.








4. Although, some drawbacks to using survey monkey are that the question design means that questions may be leading thus affecting the results and validity of the data produced.



5. We then conducted a screening of our final piece which was very effective, this is because we were able to see the immediate reaction of the participants by observing them.



6. From this we gave out questionnaire's for the participants to fill in giving us feedback of our film opening. This worked well as we were able to get a large amount of replies, although in some cases people were not truthful as the questionnaire was anonymous.



7. We also conducted video interviews after the screening to get peoples immediate reactions, this worked well in that the film was fresh in their minds although, some did get embarrassed by the camera therefore may not have produced valid results.

To conduct audience research for our music video concept we will firstly use Survey Monkey in order to get a wide variety of feedback and idea's for our video before we finalise the concept. this will also collate our data so that we can carefully analyse it before creating our final questions.

We will also use a focus group consisting of a maximum of 6 people, in this group we will play our track and allow them to follow it with the lyrics. We will then ask three questions to get some creative feedback, for example 'Where would you image this video to be set?' Would you expect there to be a narrative?'

We will then present the group with our summary of the concept we have created and ask for feedback. We will then have more questions specific to our concept to ask in order to gain a good set of audience research.

K: Technical Analysis

Screen snap- shot by shot analysis of video

For my technical analysis I looked at 2 videos, Paolo Nutini's 'Candy' and Little Comets 'Isles'; the first a combination of performance and a strong narrative with the framing roughly half of each, atleast 30% meat shots, and the second a montage edited video with a similar cutting rate cutting on action but a variety of settingsand little performance or narrative; both however heavily illustrative and quirky creating an art antique style.

I closely analysed each video watching eagerly and noting every cut, transition, movement or particular framing and mise en scene I liked or thought were successful, measuring time of cuts and which type of shot was given preference. For example in Paolo's video, meat shots were used a great deal usually after a sequence of 3 cuts of the wedding narrative back to his performance present in this scene. In Little Comet's however they would usually have equal length clips cutting at different angles and distances of the same frame.

In 'Candy' I noticed the exaggerated use of POV shots, blurring and how well the video cuts on action according to the song. The video relies heavily upon non verbal language and facial expressions with an faster cutting rate with children to reflect their personalities, and where the track speeds up particularly in the climax revealing the sexual scene which is directly cut to fireworks and an emphasised performance by the artist. Closeup's are used frequently throughout the video. The video creates a sense of serenity with the opening shots, the white coloured props and the strong natural sunlight pouring in. The video tends to use meat shots cut to side angles of the artist rather than from straight on and cutting to his guitar, CU to MLS. The video cleverly varies it's depth of field, particularly shot 3 where hands clap in the foreground and characters or the artist in the background; cutting every 3 shots of the narrative back to the artist. Similarly to 'Isles' Paolo explores the sense of Italian culture through the props and costume as well as the directed non verbal language. The over the shoulder CU shot of the hands successfully displays the ring with the sense of eternity. The darkened lighting from the begging to the end of the video works nicely to show the progression of the day entering Paolo into the scene at the end, emphasising both colour and cutting rate to 2 scenes/second at the end, finishing softly as begun.

Similarly in 'Isles' non digetic sound is sucessfully combined with the pre recordedtrack from the beggining. The video opens with a slow cuttingrate, the first shot lasting3 seconds to reflectnot only the more melancholy opening of the song but the mise en scene present, the drifting soft flag moving in thewind, directly cutting from the MCU to a MLS of a different angle of the same shot lastly 9 seconds. High canted angles are repeatedly and sucessfully used showing no movement but compression of time allowing the audience to follow the fast moving clouds, or cars in a town (4.5 seconds). The mise en scene in this video acts as a signifier of the working class urban lifestyle opening with images such as broken glass,run down cafes and a woman eagerly holding her little money, a particular favorite shot of mine. The video tends to cut from static filming of moving images in the scene to tracking or movement with the camera of a still image eg the sea's movement or the petals blowing in the wind, a farely fast cutting rate also used here lasting roughly 1.5 seconds each. Handy cam is cleverly used with a tracking shot as it follows children and horses running and jumping as well as the use of blurring to a focused face at point 33 seconds. 'Isles' successfully sticks to its subject matter of presenting the strong British culture and the variety of personalities through the particular costume and props, juxtaposing harsh young thugs with aggressive nonverbal language holding a dolls head, similarly the video explores characters cutting from different angles and viewpoints repeatedly, each with strong eye contact. A meat shot is only used twice at the end of the video, similar to what we discussed introducing the artist with lip syncing, characters already present. Two favourite shots at the end of the video (2.43 seconds) are the use of blur to focus from the foreground, the face subject matter to the run down street behind and lastly the tracking shot to the left at a side angle of the arcade and bikes riding in a town at night.

From this video I can conclude it tends to cut from different angles to explore characters further, particularly from CU to MLS and the successful use of the prop mask we intended on using (see 1.37) cutting from MCU to ELS to real life animals. Also the successful use of compression of time speeding up cars and weather juxtaposing to the expansion of time with horses "running wild".

By analysing these videos closely I was able to get a real sense of the production of the videos and how it is nesecarry to have a large amount of footage; also that the footage must cut to the beat in the track and that matching the lip syncing is vital. Both videos display dominant ideologies and the stereotyped presentations of British cities, run down an urban or Italian weddings, flamboyant and beautiful. Neither use the voyeuristic presentation of women but the sense of equality among all.

Group: Generating a concept

Lyrics-

Hanging feet, lace white dress. Only revealing parts of the body throughout the video, focused in the foreground with blurred woods behind.


Oh yes scream halleluiah tealights placed along a branch darling,
startled all the sleeping starling on the wild. owl sleeping, lanterns hanging in the dark, horses running
As we walked up the footpath through the field how the rain did reveal your heart, different people in different locations standing in pouring rain
and the ropes close up of rope swing from the balance held your weight, Shells fall from the cold wind blows. sea movement fast/slow motion
And you said oh, maybe were just lost souls here, random people, masks, locations maybe your everybody goes. compression of time on towns, cars, weather and people fast movement
Oh we were young, oh we were young, oh we were young, oh we were young. Old film
Still don’t, don’t you forget, that rope you tied around your neck. hand and neck close up
Don’t free your darling, don’t free your darling. horses, children running, pikeys running
And it took them three days to find you, sped up wood/village tired torchlight’s and dog scents little girl with dog, oh they let you down from the highest branches, cold eyes and frozen arms close up or girls eye and arm mamama your beauty fat man, pikey boy, random people was so dumb found and your lace white dress and your hair long close up fair in the wind and white lace cut to woman in wedding dress as follaton woods and the whole town just stood people standing motionless, masks their crying faces, MLS to CU looking at the darkness for something wholesome and good. old fashioned fruit shops, market stools
Still don’t, don’t you forget that rope you tied around your neck, don’t free ya darling don’t free ya darling. express sense of freedom people running and playing down brighton pier


Morning white mist came across the plains, blue sky’s and rain.
Oh it was the strangest day, people taking cover we were holding shame, you would have left your heart, you would have left your heart, you would have left your heart, you would have left your heart, you would have left your heart.


From looking at this video of Ben Howard we liked the idea of using old film from the past or applying the 'old film' editing technique to create this quirky antique feel.

B: Technical Analysis

Little Comets- Isles



My Technical analysis

-Here is my first page of analysis of the Little Comets, Isles Video. In this section i deconstructed 30 shots. These ranged from MS, LS, MCU and CU shots thus showing the variety of different shots used within the video, these were roughly equally spread making it smooth and interesting to watch.

-The main image in each shot varied as a variety of people are presented in the video, signifier's such as the British flag in shot one and British countryside connote the cultural codes presented in this video throughout linking each random person therefore making the music video flow.

-The camera had a light movement in most shots which varied from tracking shots to, pans to a slight jolt. This is key to a music video. The shots in which the camera was static had movement from the actor in the shot for example the boy in shot 28, horse in shot 29 and dog running in shot 26 which worked really effectively again linking the video together and giving it a sense of meaning.

-Another shot which linked the video together is the Birdseye view shot of the city and the cars shown and different parts of the track and representing different parts of the day, this links with the lyrics as well as giving the video a sense of continuity in between the montage of other shots.

-Here is my second page of analysis from the video, this page consisted of 33 shots creating 63 shots in total, this shows the fast cutting rate and amount of shots used within the music video.

-This half of the analysis also consisted of CU, MCU, LS and MS shots again showing the variety of shots needed in a video to make it interesting and enjoyable to view for the audience.

-The video also consists of a variety of angles for example shot 54 is a low angle of someone skipping. Shot 45 is a Birdseye view of the city, Shot 41 is a High angle shot of sand falling out of a little girls hand as well as worms eye view shots. This again makes the video more visually pleasing and interesting for the audience to watch thus making an effective video.

- The camera again in these shots has some movement for example shots 56 and 57 are tracking shots along the street. The music video also has some static shots like shot 43 for example the Birdseye view of the city but a time compression effect is used as well as the cars moving making the shot have movement.

What i have learnt

-That every shot has some sort of movement, either the camera moves or the person in the shot is moving.

-The longest amount of time that a single shot is shown is 3 seconds.

-The average time a shot is shown is 1.5 seconds.

-There is an underlying link between some shots, for example the running shots, the panning shots and the Birdseye view of the town and cars shots as well as the artists shot on the sofa, with slight performance.

-There is a variety of different angles used.

-Lots of locations are also used to give variety.

How i can apply this to my work

-Ensure we use a variety of shots within our filming.

-To take enough shots in different locations to ensure we have enough footage to do the cuts in which we require.

-Make sure that there is movement in every shot otherwise it will become static and boring.

-We could also create a link between some shots for example, the tree shots.