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.

Theorists Of Music Videos

 

'One of the most common methods of analysis is to break up the music video into black and white boxes. Almost everything is perceived as opposites-trash art, commerce or creativity, male or female, naturalism or antirealism, etc.' ~ Sven E Carlsson

 

 

Carlsson believes that there are two main categories that music videos are able to fall into:

 

• Performance videos are when the audience are able to see the artist(s) singing and dancing throughout the video.
• Conceptual videos are when the audience watch something other than the artist throughout the video.

 

Sven E Carlsson points out that the majority of performance movies make the performer not a performer anymore. This tends to be in the mainstream videos using women such as Beyonce and Rihanna. They would symbolise the assertive young black woman through their songs, videos, image, body language, costume etc. "He or she is materialization of the commercial exhibitionist. He or she is a monger of their own body image, selling everything to be in the spotlight-selling voice, face, lifestyle, records and so on." However there are other mainstream artists such as Adele who is not very slim but pretty and identifies to mainstream audiences that you don't have to be slim to be pretty and a star.

 

Michael Shore's theory is that most videos contain elements of speed, power, girls and wealth. Shore suggests that most music videos are soft-core pornography with clichéd imagery.

 

I think the majority of female mainstream artists involve some soft-core pornography representing male fantasies. Beyonce is a good example of this. All the women within this video are all dancing very seductively, attractive, slim, young and don't wear very much clothing. I believe that Beyonce is used reach a wider target audience both male and female.

 

 

'A day in the life of a school girl' 1 minute short film

This is the final product of our 1 minute short film task. This is a summary of a school girls day involving teachers and other student's. Our aim was to include humour in the video which i feel has worked successfully and shows the character of the girl and how she fits in.

For my A2 task I am thinking of doing a music video rather than a movie trailer or a five minute short film. Producing a music video has interested me a lot more than the other two choices. I have done some research into music video's by watching existing music artist's, the style that they are and what kind of shot's and effects they use within their video. I have also looked into the style and genre of music that I am considering doing. I will most likely be using my sister as the artist so will be a female singer.

Film Posters-what do they show?

I am looking at film posters to have a look at the design of layout, colours and the type of image that is used. This could serve as inspiration for a poster to go with the one minute short film that me and my partner are currently editing.



These are two very different film posters, produced in different countries, giving a different effect on the viewer. They are both edited to a certain degree to give the desired mood.

The first poster advertising the film 'Thor' is designed in the colour red. This signifies to me anger and violence, so that is what will be in the film. It is also a close-up of the main character's face which also helps the audience to figure out what he is going to be like.
The second poster 'A Royal Affair' shows a very delicate looking young lady dressed in very expensive clothing and yet the background doesn't fit her appearance. It is interesting how the designer of the poster has put what seems like two opposites together yet they work incredibly well, it helps to tell what will happen or is happening in the film around the main characters. The editing on this poster is impressive using the dark colours to perhaps give the emotion of sorrow? The green could signify envy?