Some shots I will be using in my music video...

A close-up shot will be important in my music video as I will be using it to show the emotion of my singer/actress as the song holds a lot of emotion and feeling in it.

I will also be using a medium close-up shot and a medium shot. This will help to still show emotion and feeling but also a little more detail in clothes and background etc.

I will be using a wide shot. This will still show that the singer/actress is the more important subject in the image but will keep the audience up to date with the location.

I am hoping to use the over-the-shoulder shot as well to help the video seem more unique, real and personal. I would use this for when the actress is looking at something that I would want the audience to see.

I will be using high angle and low angle shots in my music video. The high angle will help to create a more vulnerable feeling on my actress. The low angle will also be used for this. It will be linked in with an over-the-shoulder shot looking up at the church.

Britney Spears is  a good example of being air brushed and altered. This photo has obviously been changed to make her look more attractive and appealing to the male gaze. However, when girls see this it is depressing as this is what they wish to look like...even if it is not true.


On the left is an airbrushed image while on the right is the truth of Britenys figure.









The photos below show the enhancements that they have made to her face to also make her more attractive  and seductive. This close-up shot is similar to the kind of shots that would be used on the front of a cd cover.

Editing a photo..

This lesson I have been experimenting and editing on Pixlr as I will be producing a number of photo's for my Digipak advert and my Digipak. The first image is the original and the second one is the edited version. It gives off more of a warmth  than the original. 

Analysis of Shania Twain digipak magazine advert..

I am looking at various previous music magazine digipak adverts to help give me an idea of how I am going to design mine. I am also looking at the effect the digipak advert gives off. Although I am looking down the country route I feel that  Pop artists and rock artists digipak adverts could help in my decision. I will mostly look at female artist adverts as my music video involves only a female artist.

This advertisement comes across to me as simple but effective. It doesn't have a lot of writing on it that it will put the audience off and it's not busy with information or lots of colours. The poster shows a mid-shot of the artist that is looking directly into the camera, this might make the audience feel more involved and because she is an attractive woman it could bring in male interest. The digipak front cover uses the same image as the advertisement image which would help people to remember what the cover looks like, rather than having two separate images. Shania Twains name is big and bold as well, this would also help the audience to either remember her name or if a fan of her the writing would stand out a great deal and would grab interest.

In my music video I am considering having the story in black and white while the singer is in natural colour. This black and white effect could work for my digipak advert as it would help to set the mood of the song and it would link in with the video. 

Other adverts for artists new album/digipak..

To do list- Deadline dates for September..

14th September: Have video's blogged up saying how inspired my video, why I like them.

16th September: Researched clothes, hair and make-up to fit my genre. Have my 'singer' sorted out.

18th September: Researched music adverts in magazines.

20th September: A Digipack template so I can start working on the photos.

Cowgirl themed moodboard...Inspiration for video style...

Like in this music video by 'The Civil Wars' I am considering on using the black and white effect in my music video. However, unlike in this video I was thinking of using it in the scenes of the story rather than using it on the singer. I feel it would help encourage the mood that I am going to try and create.

One of the video's that I have looked at as inspiration for my music video was by Katy Perry. Although I am not planning on doing a very big story line and this video tells a very in depth story, it reflects a very similar mood to the video I am going to produce.

I have decided as part of my A2 media project to create a music video. I am currently researching different music video's to give me some inspiration and idea's. I am also looking at previous A2 students work.

Evaluation

Year 12 into 13 'A day in the life...' Evaluation

The project of producing a one minute long video was something new and to a certain extent quite challenging. I worked with another student to accomplish this task. Our first thoughts for the video was to tell the story of a hopeless romantic, but as we were short on time and thought it too complicated we changed it to a day in the life of a school girl. Our new idea worked at our advantage so we were quick in the process of filming as we had the school building at our finger tips. I have learnt a considerable amount during this task. I learnt about keeping to a deadline, which we successfully managed to do. I have also learnt some new skills on the Mac. Final Cut Pro was used to produce the video which was new so had to learn how to use this new piece of software.

It took 1-2 lessons to do the filming so did not take long. It gave us the chance to spend the rest of the lessons after that editing and researching. The editing took considerably longer, certainly longer than what we had originally thought. What probably caused it to take so long was the timing with the clips and the music as we wanted it to flow, especially with the film being only one minute long. Another problem for us was the size of the clips. Although the clips seemed short when we filming the 'short' scenes the seconds soon added up. For next time I would consider trying to make the clips as short as possible so that we could fit in more and then the 'day' would seem longer and more full.

For planning we created a story board to give us a skeleton idea of the order that the scenes would go in. However, when we were editing we changed the scenes a bit to go with our surroundings and timings. Also as part of planning we looked at a number of other short films done by previous students and some small companies. There are also many adverts now that tell short stories so I looked some of those up to see what camera shots were used. We found that looking at existing materials really helped to give our short film a more professional image.

Camera work

Using the camera was important as we wanted to give different effects to the audience. In the opening scene a panning shot was used to follow the main character. The zoom out and zoom in effects were also used in this short film a number of times. We felt it kept the audience guessing about the surroundings but also if there was something we wanted the audience specifically to see, it was a good way to show it. A mid close up was used along with a mid long shot. These were the most commonly used camera shots.

Editing Techniques

For our short film we used short transitions as we didn't want a lot of time to be taken up. There were a few seconds for the opening title and even less time for the credits at the end of the film. We used a 'blur' effect in one of the scenes to help signify boredom and feeling sleepy. There was also a transition where we turned the screen to black when the school bell rang. This was done so that the audience took into account the bell more.

Sound

Apart from the natural diegetic sound happening within the scenes we also decided to add some music to go over the top and sound effects e.g. the school bell. Using the bell as one of our non-diegetic sounds helped to bring the school atmosphere into our work. We also included a song called Thrift Shop as it was quite mainstream and what our main character, along with many other students would have listened to at the time.

Mise en scene

A pen and paper were perhaps used as the main objects used as it was specifically used to show our main characters feelings. Doors were also used to help create humour within the short film as Rihanna was either having the door shut in her face or being knocked over by it.