Rough cut feedback

We decided to get some feedback for our rough cut from our target audience:
We asked 3 girls and a boy who fitted our indie target audience and had an interest in the indie genre.


The questions we asked were:
1. In what ways do you think our music video fits into the indie genre?
2.Do you think the performance is believable?
3.Do you understand the story behind the narrative?
4. How do you feel about the narrative? Are there places we could improve?
5.Do you feel the narrative coheres with the lyrics of the song?
6.Do you think the lip syncing is believable?
7.How could we improve our rough cut?
8.Do you think the pace of the edits fits the pace of the song?
9.Do you think there are any other shots we could use that would fit the genre?

The response we got was:

Rough cut

Tuesday 9th Decemeber

Friday 5th Decemeber

During our single media lesson, Louise and I decided to film more of the performance scenes as from looking at the shots we had for our music video it was clear we had more narrative than performance. We decided to do some filming around the castle and luckily it wasn't raining. From looking at some of the clips we originally had it was clear that a guitar wasn't suitable to use as I didn't know how to play it. I also thought that I needed to improve on my lip syncing as it wasn't clear enough in our original shots.

Next lesson we hope to do some more editing as a group and if we need to then we may have to do more filming for performance as we do not feel we have enough for our music video and due to changing our idea for the performance it meant we had to refilm.

Changes to our music video

• We are no longer going to be using a guitar during the performance as it is clear that it looks unrealistic as I can't play guitar.
• We will not be filming in the drama studio as from looking at other music videos of the same genre this isn't a generic convention so we will therefore be filming the performance scenes by the river, castle grounds and at Whitcliffe. 
• There will be more movement within our performance instead of having the artist just sitting down with a guitar.

Video of the Week

My video of the week is One Direction 'Night Changes'. This is because I like the fact that It Is from the perspective of the girl which is quite unusual.

Time Management

Tuesday 25th November

Poster and changes to narrative

India who is in our group created a poster for us to use within the narrative promoting myself as the artist for an upcoming show. Aaron will be putting the posters up with me in the flashback scenes which therefore shows how he knew about the show so that the audience can understand his appearance at the end of the music video.

 

We have also made some slight changes to the narrative aspects of our music video. 

The changes we have made are:

• The break up of the relationship will no longer be shown by Aaron just walking away as we thought that this would be unclear to our audience.  Instead Aaron will be shown at the bus stop waiting for his bus to go to University which therefore shows why they had to split up as the female artist (me) wants to carry on with her singing career.
•  So Aaron knows about my show we are going to have a scene where Aaron is putting up posters around the town with me to promote my show which links with the ending of our music video when Aaron walks in on me practicing for my show even though we have broke up.

Tuesday 18th November

Costumes, props and make up

Friday 14th November Filming

Choreography/ movements and blocking

Performers and casting

Filming Notes

Tuesday 11th November
We plan to start our filming on this day during our media lesson. We are going to film the flashback scenes due to Aaron being available to come in to Ludlow for filming as we need both myself and Aaron to be in the relationship scenes. At first we were unsure whether Aaron would be able to come in due to a football injury however he is well enough to come in for filming.  We hope to be able to film in the following locations:

• The castle green and around the castle
• By nice and colourful houses in the town

Friday 14th November
During Fridays lesson we aim to film the scenes of myself in the drama studio. The scenes we will be filming are the performance aspects of our music video which represents the present. Due to us filming in the drama studio, the weather will not affect us. We need to ensure that we have a guitar or it will be difficult to film the scenes in the drama studio as this prop is very important for the performance scenes being used the whole way through.  If we can't film in the drama studio due to the guitar being forgotten, it will be difficult to film any other scenes due to Aaron not being available to come in as he has school. One of the people in our group is unable to come in due to having a cold which means that there will only be India available to film as I will be in the performance scenes of the music video.

As we feel that Tuesday and Friday will not be enough time for us to finish filming we have arranged to meet on Saturday 22nd. Saturday should allow us to get all our filming done as we will have more time then we get during college.  We plan to film in the following locations:

• By the river
• In the town and by the jewellery shop
• Whitcliffe
• Mortimer forest

We will ensure we check the weather nearer the time to see if its going to be possible for us to film or not.

Time Management

I am nearly up to date with all my work however I still have to finish my costumes and props, post on performers and post on choreography which I aim to have done by the end of this week. This week my group are also going to do our filming. We don't think its possible to finish all our filming within our media lessons so we are going to meet up on Saturday the 22nd as we are all available to finish our filming. We have a Facebook group so that we can all arrange to meet up and who is bringing what to the lessons as well as any problems we may have.

Locations and Health and safety

The rain will make it hard for us to film due to the use of electrical equipment. Using the electrical equipment in the rain could lead to us getting electrocuted.

These images show Louise and I looking at a potential danger which is the bank by the castle. It is covered by tall plants which makes it difficult to see which therefore makes it even more of a danger as someone within the group could fall down the bank if they do not look clearly where they are walking.

There is the danger of tripping over cables from things such as the lighting wires which could cause someone in the group to cut, bruise or even electrocute themselves.

 Within Mortimer forest there is likely to be a lot of falling branches which could easily lead to someone tripping over them if they do not look where they are going.

Test shots

Here is a video of me practising lip syncing and practising playing the guitar as this is very important in the performance parts of the video so that it looks believeable. As this is a test shot it wont be used in our music video.

Storyboard/animatic

Shot List

Time management

I am nearly up to date with my work due to completing my Goodwins theory which was originally keeping me behind. I now need to collect my feedback from my target audience as I have only got class feedback. I also need to finish off my stars and stardom post which I aim to have done by Friday. As well as this I aim to finish my research on institutions and have it posted by Thursday. By next week I hope to have finished the posts on Locations+Health and Safety,costumes, Actors and choreography to ensure that the week back after half term my group can start filming for the music video.  

Plan 5 sections of our music video

My group came up with 5 sections for our indie music video. We will be changing between scenes of the artist playing her guitar and scenes of her past showing memories of her and her boyfriend.


1.  A girl (our artist/chosen character) on a guitar singing on a stage (eg.Ludlow Assembly Rooms) at the beginning of the video. This connotes that she is in the present as the video will keep changing between past and present.


2. The second section of our music video will be showing memories of the couple through flashbacks shown through a hazy,camera effect. The flashbacks will be part of our narrative showing the girl/artist and her boyfriends memories. They will be shown walking through town, holding hands and laughing and joking together. Locations will include the town, the river, walking past nice houses.


 3.The third section will be off the girl being taught how to play the guitar in the forest by the male character. This is again a flashback of a happy memory for the girl as she is now a well known singer.




4. The fourth section will go back to the present and be of the girl/artist on stage practising playing the guitar and singing. Due to the fact she is practising there wont be an audience as she is preparing for a show she has later on in the evening due to becoming a 'star'. We will also show a shot of a poster advertising her show.


5. In the fifth section which will be in the present, the girl will continue to practice on stage. Towards the end of the video the ex-boyfriend will walk in and sit down smiling as he is happy at how far she has come due to him being the one who taught her. When she is singing the last word of the song 'Try', she will look up and see him watching her as he starts to clap for her being proud of what shes become.

Create a story arch and detailed synopsis of a video

Time Management

This week I will be collecting my feedback for my pitch from my class and from my target audience. I have also been doing some research into possible institutions that might produce and exhibit my music video. I am focusing on the last week of research and planning as I will then be focusing on planning for production. The last week of research and planning includes a story arch and detailed synopsis of a video, planning 5 sections of our music video and storyboards/animatic.

Detailed Target Audience profile

Pitch feedback

After presenting our pitch for our indie music video we gained feedback from our class.
The questions we asked are:

1. Do you feel that our concept is suitable for our target audience? If so why? If not why not?
2. Do you think that our idea is achievable?
3. Do you feel that anything in our pitch is not going to work? Why?
4. Do you think that our clothing and make-up aspects of our music video are appropriate for our genre?
5. What would you expect to see in an indie music video?

Here are our class responses:

From looking at the feedback gained from our media class I can see that they thought the concept is suitable for our target audience because it fits the conventions of our genre well and is similar to music videos already available. They also thought it was suitable for our target audience because it contained a female artist.  Our media class also thought that our idea is achievable because it's simple and redundant. When we asked if anything in our pitch wasn't going to work, two people said that it would be quite difficult to get access to the assembly rooms, other than that they thought that our ideas would work. Due to realising that the assembly rooms will be difficult to get permission to use and also because of the fact we would have to pay quite a bit of money we have decided to try and get permission to use the college drama studio stage instead. According to our media group the clothing and make up aspects of our music video are what you'd expect to see in an indie music video and are very simple however too much of a country themed clothing may confuse the genre of indie with country/folk. Our class would expect to see a guitar featuring in our indie music video, a mixture of performance and narrative, an outdoors locations, aspects of a love interest and for the video to be slow paced all of which we have decided to include in our music video due to these features being generic conventions of indie music videos which we found in our research. 

The feedback was useful as it helped to see if our video would fit with the indie genre and also if our idea would work or not, however this feedback is only from our media group and they don't all fit into our chosen target audience and so I will be gaining some more feedback from the target audience. 

Target audience feedback for pitch

We decided to gain feedback for our pitch from our target audience. We asked two girls who fitted in with the indie genre and had an interest in it. Both of them are 17 therefore fitting in with our targeted age.




We asked them the following questions:
1. Do you feel that our concept is suitable for our target audience? If so why? If not why not?
2. Do you think that our idea is achievable?
3. Do you feel that anything in our pitch is not going to work? Why?
4. Do you think that our clothing and make-up aspects of our music video are appropriate for our genre?
5. What would you expect to see in an indie music video?


The response we got was:
1. They thought the concept is suitable because its similar to other indie music videos and also because you tend to see relationships in indie music videos such as in Ellie Goulding 'How Long will I love you' they thought it was a good idea.

2. Jess thought that our idea is achievable because we are using natural outdoors locations which is stereotypical of the indie genre therefore allowing us to use natural lighting. Rosie said yes, however she thought we might have problems recording in the bad weather due to the use of electrical equipment aswell as the fact we would be filming outdoors the majority of the time.

3. One of the problems that our audience thought might occur is trying to get access to the drama studio due to the possibility of others using it for lessons. Jess thought that gaining permission to use the assembly rooms would be even more of a problem.

4. The answer was yes because it was obvious our choices for clothing have been influenced by other indie artists such as Foxes. Rosie agreed because the clothing we had chosen  is casual which is stereotypical of the indie genre.

5. Jess said she would expect to see a couple together within an indie music video and outdoors locations. We decided our outdoors locations would include by the river, by the castle, within the town, Whitcliffe and Mortimer forest. Rosie said she would expect to see a guitar featured, casual clothing such as jeans and a jumper and again outdoors locations such as in a forest.

Pitch

Time Management

I have completed week 1 of my research and planning. I am currently slightly behind however I aim to complete the analysis of redundant and entropic music videos and my application of Andrew Goodwins theory by the end of the week. The reason I have not been able to complete my generation of ideas using lyrics is because my group are currently waiting for our chosen artist Alex Megan to reply.

Institutions that might produce and exhibit my music video

I have done some research into possible institutions for our music video.

Moodboard for music video

Here is a mood board I have created in response to Alex Megans song 'Try'. These images connote the types of things such as clothing, make up and locations that my group will be using in our music video.

The images I have used are redundant, as they are what is expected from the indie genre and the lyrics of the song. The images I have used illustrate the lyrics which therefore relates to Andrew Goodwins theory that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. This is also known as synaesthesia. 

Things that inspire me..

Creativity

What is creativity?
Creativity is making or doing something that is unique and inventive. It could also be an original idea.

How can you be more creative?
I could be more creative by being more original in  my work such as doing things differently instead of doing things that people expect and taking the straightforward option.

Where does it come from?
Creativity comes from things that we see throughout our life that then inspires us to do something such as create a new product.

What role does it play in creating a a media production?
Creativity plays a role in creating a media production as producers and directors are always looking for new and unique ideas through media platforms for example music videos because they want their videos to be unique, interesting and memorable as well as innovative to therefore result in a larger profit.




Creativity depends on.....taking a chance and preparing to be wrong or you will never come up with anything original.

Creativity is...preparing to be wrong and take chances and to then think about things in a different way.

Do you agree?
I agree with Sir Ken Robinson because if we don't take chances and try out something we are always going to follow peoples expectations and give straightforward answers. In education students are usually worried when giving answers thinking they will get it wrong and be laughed at meaning students don't try to challenge ideas leading to them being unoriginal. 








Do you think this makes you more creative?
It does you help with creativity by giving you some tips on how to be more creative but it doesn't automatically make you creative because you yourself need to come up with the ideas and be innovative.

Generating ideas using lyrics

Alex Megan- Try

Said that I-i-i-I should move on with my life

If I could get back to where I was

It would be nice

I can’t love you like I did before

Don’t come around here any more

Cause the truth is a lie

And I’m empty inside

Only time will tell

If you know me well

But I’ve still got my pride

You can beg and plead

Oh

 Get down on your knees

And try-y-y

Thought that I had lost in love

But that’s what makes me sad

But how can you lose something

That you never really had

I handed you my world

I thought that I will always be your only girl

And the truth is a lie

I’m empty inside

Only time will tell and you know me well

But I still got my pride-e-e

You can beg and plead

Oh-h-h get down on your knees

And try-y-y

Maybe I’ve been broken-n-n                             

Maybe I was blinded by the sun

I’m hoping you’ll be surprised who I’ve become

And the truth is a lie

And I’m empty inside

Only time will tell and you know me well

But I’ve got my pride

You can beg and plead

Oh-h-h get down on your knees

And Try

Truth is a lie

And I’m empty inside

Only time will tell and you know me well

But I got my pride

You can beg and plead

You can beg and plead

Oh

Get down on your knees

And try-y-y

Get down on your knees

And try-y-y

Ideas

• Loneliness 
• Love
• Relationship/storytelling
• Slow paced to match beat of the song 
• Outdoors location such as the woods
• Girl playing a guitar
• Town location 
• Casual clothing with subtle make up
• When showing the relationship, the girl could wear more glamorous clothing such a floral dress with red lipstick
• High and low key lighting
• Narrative  such as a fight between the couple and performance
• Sunny weather for the relationship scenes
• Dull colours for scenes of girl on guitar
• Light colours for the relationship scenes
• serious and sad facial expressions
• Pride
• At the end the girl could be playing her guitar to an audience 

Stars and Stardom

I chose to do my stars and stardom post on Nicki Minaj.

 

Redundant and Entropic features of music videos

Redundancy is the result of high predictability.
Entropy is unpredictability.

This image of a puppy is redundant as it is what we would expect a puppy to look like. The image is predictable because it is cute and fluffy.

This image however is entropic as it goes against the stereotypical image of a puppy. The dog is wearing human clothes and has human hair which isn't what we expect a dog to look like.














Redundant and Entropic features of  4 music videos.
Foxes-Glorious





Redundant Features 

• Live performance to the camera to make the audience feel involved with the song which is a generic convention of indie music videos.
• There are a lot of medium close ups, close ups and long shots which is another key feature of Indie music videos.
• The cuts between shots are quick which in most indie videos I have looked at this is stereotypical.
• Tracking and zoom camera movements are used throughout the video which is similar to other indie videos I have looked at such as Taylor swift '22' and 'Dog days are over' by Florence and the Machine.
• The location is outdoors in a simplistic location which is a key feature of Indie music videos. An outdoors location was redundant in the majority of music videos that I looked at to find out conventions of Indie videos. 
• The video mainly focuses on Foxes again this is redundant for Indie videos.
• The clothing Foxes is wearing is simplistic and her make up is subtle
• High key lighting throughout the music video
• Synaesthesia 'Just before they hit the ground' (0:43)
• There are bright colours within the video shown through mise en scene, such as the pink flowers and clothing worn by other people besides Foxes which is a convention of indie videos.
• The video is slow paced which is what we would expect.
• Repetitive footage
• Lip sinking
  
  
   

Entropic Features 

• There are a large amount of people featuring in the video even though the main focus is on Foxes which is unusual for an Indie music video as we would expect to see a limited amount of people so that the audience don't focus all their attention on others in the video, 
• There is no narrative in the 'Glorious' Video which we usually see in Indie videos however this ensures that most of the focus is on Foxes to connote importance.
• Even though the location is outdoors it is located at a house with a swimming pool which is unusual as we would expect to see a forest or the countryside or a place of nature. 

Of Monsters and Men- Little Talks



Redundant Features

• The video is slow paced which is expected
• In some parts of the video bright colours are used for example the womens clothing and make up is very bright which makes her stand out therefore being redundant as it is expected. 

• Although the location isn't actually a real place it is still outdoors

• Synaesthesia is used in the video as there are some scenes in the video where the lyrics and visuals match. For example 'This old and empty house' where a house is then shown and the video is in black and white so therefore connotes oldness. 
• There are a range of shots within the video ranging from close ups to extreme long shots. 

• The video is narrative as it is telling a story which is a generic convention of Indie music videos. 
• The video is upbeat and occasionally the beat matches the footsteps of the cartoons which relates back to Goodwins theory. 

Entropic Features

• The singers are rarely shown in the video which is very entropic as a key generic convention of Indie videos is that the main focus is on the singers.
• The animals in the video mouth the word 'Hey' which is unexpected as animals can't talk for example at 1:51 in the video.

• The whole video is in black and white which is therefore entropic as the majority of indie videos are bright.
• When real people are shown they are in the scene with the cartoon people which is very expected.

• The use of fantasy animals is also entropic because if an animal is used in music videos we expect them to be real such as a dog or a horse. 

•  The whole video involves cartoon people which is therefore entropic as all the indie videos I have researched contained real people the whole way through the video. 

Birdy-Shelter 


Redundant Features

• The location is outdoors in a woods which is a generic convention of Indie videos. 
• There are medium close ups, close ups, long shots and  Extreme long shots which are expected.

•  The Mise-en-scene such as clothing and make up is very simplistic. 

• Tracking shots are used throughout the video which is stereotypical of Indie videos.
• Birdy is the only one who stars in the video therefore focusing all the attention on her and from my research into other music videos of the same genre, this is redundant. 
• The video is a performance one which again for indie music videos this is stereotypical as they are usually contain aspects of both narrative and performance. 
• Slow paced video
• The tone and atmosphere of the video reflects that of the music as the song connotes sadness and this is amplified through Birdy's facial expressions and the seriousness in her voice as she sings which relates back to Andrew Goodwins theory.
• Repetitive footage

Entropic Features

• The lighting is low key the whole way through the video which is unusual however for Birdy this tends to create her brand identity for her dark videos. 
•  The colours within the video are dark which is unusual as the audience for Indie music would expect some aspects of brightness through Mise-en-scene.
• There is no narrative within the video which we would expect of the Indie genre. 
• Throughout the video the locations are mainly blurred out which is entropic so therefore the video uses shallow focus a lot which furthers the attention on the artist.

Nina Nesbitt- Way In The World

Redundant features

• The location is outdoors as it is at the beach which is a key feature of Indie music videos. 

• The guitar is stereotypical of the indie genre and it is what we would expect to see in an indie music video, 

• Nina's clothing is very casual as she is wearing a plain jumper and shorts and she also has simplistic hair and makeup.
• Repetitive footage
• The main focus is on Nina which connotes importance which is a redundant feature of Indie videos. 

• There are a lot of medium close ups, close ups and long shots and extreme long shots which is another key feature of Indie music videos.
• Live performance to the camera to make the audience feel involved with the song
• High and low key lighting used throughout with high key lighting being used the most. 
• Aspects of Synaethesia 'at the front of the bus' (1:51) as it shows a broken down yellow bus. 

• Slow paced 

Entropic features

• The cuts between scenes are slow which is unusual for indie videos however it does fit with the slow paced song. 
• There is a lack of narrative within the video as its mainly performance.
• Unusual location of an arcade in an indie video. It would be expected more in pop music videos.

• Although there is aspects of synaethesia there isn't much of it as 0:09 Nina says 'Im working at a retail store' when she in fact standing on a beach. 
• Extreme close ups are entropic of the genre