my job role

As a camera man I was responsible for capturing all footage while filming. The camera man doesn’t just film footage he also input ideas and tries to make the directors vision a reality without special effect that are usually seen in editing. I had to collaborate with the director to add idea e.g. creating the mis en scene for the opening shot. My input can be seen when we were trying to make our artist look depressed. It was my idea to place him in a corner so the audience will make a connotation that he has nowhere to go. I could offer my input but if the director didn’t like or thought it match his vision of how the video should look he could always over rule my idea.

Digi-Pak Poster Revisited

Evaluation

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The video uses conventions by having performance shots mixed in with the narrative shots throughout. We wanted to keep the conventions for the artist and genre of music. The unclear narrative works well with the lyrics and the state of mind of the artist due to being intoxicated so i thought that worked very well. The mix of the narrative and performance shots makes it more interesting and gives a better effect to the video as a whole. The lighting that was used in the editing process helped develop the connection between the lyrics and the artist, with the red lighting for hell and the brighter lighting for heaven, also connating with good and bad.

2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
The original idea was to keep everything similar, with the ancillary texts we agreed on a black background for continuity. Also so the poster, cd cover and video show to have a connection to keep the theme flowing throughout. There was also some differences on the album cover to make it stand out more, for example the front CD cover with the neon effects that it does have catching the audience's eye, it stands out to other albums.

3) What have you learnt from your audiences feedback?
The audience feedback made me realise the things that could have been improved with the video and what stood out more, if time wasnt such an issue in our project there could have been improvements to our project as a whole. The audience showed what were the main shots that stood out from the video, for example the shot right at the end when Matt puts a gun in his mouth and it cuts to black. the dramatic shots were drawn attention to by the audience.

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The internet was very important in the process of production, planning and research for our project. It enabled us to research artists, watch music videos to give us inspiration for our own video, and in the beginning looking for a song to make a music video for. CS3 photoshop enabled us to create the digi pak for our project, we could add effects that were necessary. The camera was the most significant use of technology we used as it enabled us to finish the process of making the video for the editing to be completed. Final Cut Pro was important to Matthew in the editing stage.

Overall i think our project was successful, we came across problems throughout the time we had to complete the project, for example during the first idea for the project we had to change the song which was out of our control, it gave us less time to finish everything as we had to do the project from the beginning, back to the planning stages. I think it was a success but could have been much better if we had more time. It gave us an opportunity to do something completely different from what we originally planned, and it worked well by keeping to the conventions of that genre of music. It was better to use someone in our group for the artist as it allowed more time to do more filming, and finding the time was easier. The digi pak turned out successful, we split it equally so we all had input to make it more of a group effort, but kept a similar theme for all of them.

Audience feedback. Interviews

Interview 2 - Ahmed Awad.
1) What did you understand from the video?
He was upset about something, im guessing from that picture, he may miss someone or just the past and that he don't know what to do.

2) Did you feel the concept of alchoholism was portrayed well?
Yes

3) Did you understand the link between the mis-en-scene/props and the lyrics?
Yeah, because it helped to link the music with what the person is feeling.

4. Was there any shots that stood out and grabbed your attention?
Yeah, towards the end where it was the point of view of matt wen he was drunk looking around.

5. What could have improved the video?
I think there was too many scenes of him drinking the alcohol, i would have liked to see a wider variety of scenes.

Audience feedback. Interviews

Interview 1 - Glenn Dyer, 19 years old.

1) What did you understand from the video?
That the guy was upset about losing someone (the photo frame) and that he thought drinkn could help solve his problem

2) Did you feel the concept of alchoholism was portrayed well?
Yeah, I did. The amount of alcohol and bottles around him was indicative of alcoholism. Especially since he was drinking direct from the bottle

3) Did you understand the link between the mis-en-scene/props and the lyrics?
Yeah I did understand the link between it all. He was losing his way through alcohol and he was drinking it because of a loss to him.

4. Was there any shots that stood out and grabbed your attention?
The last one with the gun in his mouth.

5. What could have improved the video?
having a tripod to mount the camera on in more shots, since bits of the footage were wobbly (close-ups of the photo frame)and perhaps the lighting when he was at the mic could have been brighter.

evaluation

1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In our group we stuck to the norms of the conventions of a music video. We did this by have performing shots and a narrative. The narrative shot included a story line of the drama that is taking place in the main characters life while the performing shot has the main character singing directly into a microphone and a video camera. We have two different locations for our filming which is quite realistic and can been seen in many music video such a Robin Thicke song longest love. As the camera man i tried to show alcohol abuse without using any words. I was able to do this successfully in the open scene where the camera is in focus of the bottle of alcohol then the camera focuses on Matthew. Props were very important to us especially when it came to the narrative and performing shots. Our use of props helped us to tell our story and show the audiences that Matthew was a singer as well.

Lighting was also use as another music video convention as well. We used the colour blue and red to show the two different paths ahead of our character. As he was in the performing show the light would change between these two colours. This help to link the narrative shot and the performing shot together as it showed that our character is facing a battle between good and evil. This also make our video interesting as well since the audience have questions going through their head about what causes this make to start drinking in the first place.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I would personally say I did this in a effective way. I used a performances shot as a picture for my magazine front cover and a poster prompting the artist concert. People in my group used a selection of pictures taken on the performances shot to make them appealing and use them for the digi-pack. By doing this we had a consist theme that the customer could relate to. This is because the same pictures are being used for the front cover, inside the digi-pack and the magazine. For my poster I used the picture with Matthew staring into the sky. This has connotation as he is looking to Haven. It is as he is looking into the sky for guidance. If I could change my poster I would make Matthew wear all black clothing and i would have a white spot light on him. This would reinforce the connotations of heaven and hell.



3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?


I asked these questions to my peers and it provided me with important information. I asked 15 people these 3 questions and this is the results they gave me.
My first question was “do you believe narrative are more important then the performances?”. 7 people didn’t know while 3 said yes and 5 said no. The majority people who answered this question didn’t have a strong opinion. The strongest answer was no for this question. this sggest that narratives don’t play an important part in a music video. This can be reflected in my group video as the performances shot are stronger then the narrative shot.
Question 2 “how important is a album cover design?”73% of people didn’t deem an album cover as important. It seems that people buy the music because of the music no how the front cover looks. This answer could have been bios as theses question were asked using new media: facebook. Cd designs play a important part in marketing the artist as it is another way the artist is promoted. The design of the artist cd could relate the artist e.g pink album was called “Fun House”, on the front cover of the cd it had a picture of Pink ridding a madrigal ride houses. This picture is something that you would find at a carnival as well as a fun house. As a group we didn’t argue with the audience responses and we decided to go against this and we chose to make a front cover that was important. We didn’t this by using picture from the performances shots from the song.
Question 3 “what type of things do you enjoy seeing in a music video”. I asked this question to see what type of genre in the narrative do the audiences prefer. Majority of the people said they like dancing in a video. Since we didn’t have any dancers or knew anybody willing to do any dancing this wasn’t possible. The second choice was comedy but as a group we didn’t know how to approach the situation when it came to making our song laughable so we choose to make a video that follows the narrative of the song. We chose to make a video that related to the lyrics of the songs as it made our video more effective and interesting as the lyric developed so does the video.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

We used new media in the planning of our video. We looked at how other artist used background and narrative to tell a simple story e.g. Robin Thick – sweetest Love. In his video he was play the piano a while sing as a performances shot, we adapted this idea and made our artist sing into a microphone to show he was a singer. We used web site such as YouTube to gain access to many different artist music to show to produce an effect music video. As a group we decided on Justin Timberlake because we were all family with his work both released and unreleased. We conducted research into r n b on similar research such as Robin Thick and Usher. To look at theses artist i used web site such as YouTube to conduct research into their music video since their music comes under the same genre. While conducting my interviews I asked people who would be interested in r n b music video.

Due to the fact we didn’t have a big budget we went able to do thing as effectively as we would have wanted e.g the type of camera that we was using weren’t powerful enough to shot Matthews face clear enough under dark colours so we tried our hardest to use the colours red and blue in our video but under editing looked like bad lighting. If I could change this i would try and use a softer blue and red that would look good while editing. Media technology was the reason why we were able to cut from scene to scene without any problem we used Final Cut Pro on the Mac computers. This enabled us to create a music video that was had no technique fault and helped us to sync all the shots together. We placed all our film scene on a time line to make to make our scene make scenes to the audiences. In our original project we had issue while editing due to the fact that our artist was wearing a green with green on it so while editing it would change colour as well.


Adobe photo shop CS4 was used to create our dig pack covers. This helps us to add special effects and fonts to the pictures. For example we made the lights on one picture as to say the artist was under the spot light. We downloaded different tools from the internet so we had a wide variety of choice when editing the digi-pack and magazine poster.

In conclusion I feel that our music video developed more on existing music video convention and this make it look realistic. Our main fault would be a lack of shots which we try to cover through editing but overall we as a group have produced something to be prude of.

interview on the final video 2

Interview 2 - Stephen Roe

1. What did you understand from the video?
I understood that the man was depressed because of a girl, the shots of the ring and th picture of the boy and the girl. All the drinking and the grubby clothes and the gun helped to convey this to.

2. Did you feel the concept of alcoholism was portrayed well?
Yes. All the different, half empty bottles of alcohol portrayed this and the way he was drinking too. The handheld blurry shots also enforced this and made it look convincing.

3. Did you understand the link between the lyrics and the mise-en-scene/props?
The visuals elated to the lyrics well as he was singing about being lost and not being able to feel himself. This was shown well by all the drinking and the depressive nature of the narrative. The out of focus shots really helped the feeling of being lost too.

4. Was there any shots that stood out and grabbed your attention?
I really liked the out of focus shots. These were really effective and helped to make the narrative more understandable and realistic. The point of view shots of the man drinking worked really nicely as well and helped portray the concept of alcoholism.

5. What could have improved the video?I think the video looks really good and is very effective. The only thing that I would say could be improved is some of the lip syncing. Apart from that it is a really good music video.

interviews

Kieran Lewis – Interviews - Interview 1, Male aged 17

1. What do you expect from an average music video?

to see the artist sing to the song or see something entertaining going on in the video.

2. What do you like about music?

the director vision of how the song show be portrayed to the public

3. What’s your favourite music video?

G Unit- my buddy

4. Why is this?

when i heard the song i was expecting to see a video with loads of actions and in this situation that was exactly what happened.

5. Name one thing a music video you feel every music video needs.

A confusing dilemma. When I first watch a music video i love it when it don’t know what is going go but I always try to figure out the plot before the end.

6. When you see promtion for an artist what do you expect from it?(e.g a poster)

the artist face on the poster


Interview 2, Female aged 15

1. What do you expect from an average music video?

a storyline that is interest

2. What attracts you the most to a music video?

boys that can dance

3. What’s your favourite music video?

in have a favourite video b. At the moment i love JSL one shot

4. Why is this?

They can sing and dance what else do you want?

5. Name one thing of a music video you feel every music video needs and why.

a strong storyline. Otherwise it gets really boring.

6. When you see promtion for an artist what do you expect from it?(e.g a poster)

A picture that can relate to their music

Interviews on the final video

Interview 1 - Marilyn Parlett

1. What did you understand from the video?
that alcohol ruins your life

2. Did you feel the concept of alcoholism was portrayed well?
yes

3. Did you understand the link between the lyrics and the mise-en-scene/props?
yes

4. Was there any shots that stood out and grabbed your attention?
when there were pics of his kids and it said "happy dayss" at the top

5. What could have improved the video?
wasnt really a big fan of the song, but other than that i like it.

Finished Digi- pack

Back of CD.


Inside cover - Right side

Front Cover

Inside Cover - Left side

Here is a final copy of what The Digi-pack looks like when it has all been collated. As you can see all the different sides of the Digi-pack have been designed to keep in with the same theme and use of colours.

Similar text analysis Mario just a friend

Similar text analysis
Mario just a friend
The video for “Just A Friend” has a direct link to the lyric in the song. The narrative runs smoothly with lyric of the song. The main theme of the video is a boy girl relationship where the boy is pursuing the girl but the girl isn’t interested in him due to the fact that she only see him as a “A Friend”. The song is extremely catchy due to the fact that the title of the song is also part of the chorus. I see this as the reason why the song manage to reach number 4 back in 2002. The way Mario sing the line “just a friend” shows that he has feeling toward the female character.
The main theme of this video is friendship and the director show us this by both character constantly sounded by people their own age. This also shows the target audiences for this video, since all the character in the video are young the main target audience would also be young so the audience could relate. Social activities also show age as the setting of these place take place on a road and a cinema in the narrative. A negative stereotype of teenager are them hang out n street corner when they have nothing better to do and another back ground is the cinema as it is a social event that you can do/ go to with your friends. The editing technique that is mainly used in this video is cut, as this gives the effect as a continuous story that makes the narrative of the video run smoothly. Mario dancing but his dancing also serves the purpose of showing an attempt to gain the attention from the female character that he likes.
Props are used in the audiences to appeal to it target audiences. This can be seen in character clothing and thing in the back ground. At the start of the video the female character are driving, it is coincided more socially acceptable to be driving then taking public transport and this is reflected in the male characters actions. Instead of walking past a flash car the male pose on it, has to say they are the owners of the car, this is suppose to appeal to the female character. We know its not the males care as the owner come a the male run away when the notice the owner coming in their direction. Clothing is also import as it is a fashion statement. This makes the video look trendy at the time so the clothing could appeal to the audiences. The main female of the video is wearing a pink jacket and Mario is wearing a blue vest, this so that gender stereotypes are being reinforced.
The performers shots are mixed with the narrative. The performances involved Mario sing into the camera in a close up shots, this put the main attention on him and nothing else. The performance shot involve dancing but it flow with the narrative so it make it more appealing to watch. The director successful made a video that would appeal to it target audience by make a simple video that expressed the full content of the lyric in the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8YlgC9cC-Y

Similiar text analysis - Timberland ft. Keri Hilson, D.O.E, Sebastian - The way i are

In the music video ‘The way I are’ by Timberland, it starts off with a close up of Timberlands face as if he is thinking. Immediately the location of the movie is established through a panning medium shot, however in this music video the location does not really have any meaning or purpose. It is clear from the first few seconds of the song that there is no real story line to the song because not once does it change from a performance shot.

The main role of this music video is to establish all the different artists that are involved within it. Keri Hilson D.O.E and Sebastian are all part of the video and play equal parts. Besides the performance shots there are a couple of men juggling footballs in the background, however this again has little relevance to anything with the song and is there simply for entertainment and to drag the viewers eye away from the different artists for a second. Everything about this music video has the conventions of a generic RnB music video, especially with the performance shots throughout the whole video.
When watching the music video Keri Hilson is made out to be a sexy and attractive girl who catches the eye of the three other artists included in the video. Listening to the lyrics “can you handle me the way I are” suggests that Keri carries a lot of sex appeal which is clearly one of the main focuses of the video. The different versus that Sebastian and D.O.E sing give the viewer the idea that they are both in competition to win Keri over by telling her all the different gifts and object’s that they can give to her.

The lighting and editing plays a key role in the music video and without it it would be rather dull to watch. Bright lights are used throughout the music video to catch the viewer’s eye to certain parts of the screen when needed. Another use of the lights is to help one shot move to another quickly by blinding the camera with bright light. When the bright light fades you find yourself then looking at another shot and this method of shot transition has been used well throughout the music video. This video is all about the editing too. The fast paced cutting from shot to shot is used well within the video and fits in well with the beat of the song. When all of this is combined together it creates a nice flowing video to watch. Another editing technique that has been used in the video is the overlapping of different shots. This method has been used effectively because if the video was just performance shot after performance shot it would become tiresome very quickly. However, the fast paced lighting and overlapping of different shots drags the viewers away from the artist for a split second which is enough to make this video still interesting to watch.

Similiar text analysis - Robbie Williams - She's the one

In this music video ‘She’s the one’ Robbie Williams makes a video based on his false career as a figure skater. The reason for this is figure skating is a very passionate sport and a lot of emotion is involved in the performance, and this is exactly what the song needed because it helps to add emotion and passion to the single.

In the opening shot to the video Robbie and his skating partner are sat on a bench waiting to hear the results of the skating competition that they are made out to be part of. The mis en scene is great in this video because you really believe that the couple are part of a skating competition due to the costumes, setting, make up that has been used to give this illusion. The scoreboards at the beginning of this video help to let the audience know where the video is set as they are a clear indication as to what is taking place.

Although the video shows the couple taking part in the figure skating competition, the lyrics give us a different idea as to what the music video is about. Throughout the song he sings about a girl that we can only presume is his girlfriend. The audience gets this idea from the video because of the way that the couple are battling it through the competition. Then listening to the lyrics he describes her as the only person that can make him carry on through life because she makes him happy and is the only person he really needs.

Throughout the music video different stories are portrayed as first we see them in the European figure skating competition getting the highest scores on the board. Next we see how he grew up going through different competitions as a kid to become a professional skater. However at 2:20 in the video, the song fades out showing Robbie and his dance partner entering the ice rink about the start their final performance. Close ups are used throughout this short period in the video. These shots help to show the facial expression on both Robbie and his partners face, once again adding that emotion needed to the music video.

There have been quite a lot of special effects used in the music video such as the slow motion at some stages. This helps to make the footage more dramatic by slowing everything down to add passion and emphasis emotion through the skating he is performing. The shot transitions mostly appear to be fast, with very few fade transitions used. The use of faster transitions helps to make the skating more powerful. When the tempo of the song slows down, you notice this in the video through the editing as slow motion and fade transitions are used. The use of slow motion can be seen when Robbie is skating and pulling off some amazing moves.

In the video there are only a couple of performance shots which is unusual for a generic pop video. However there is a reason for this; adding realism to the movie making the viewer believe we are watching a skating competition which is the purpose of the video rather than Robbie Williams performs to an audience which is common in the pop genre.

artist research mario

Mario Dewar Barret who performs under the name of Mario IS A famous sing turn song writer has sole over 4 million record worldwide and has even reach number one on billboard Hot 100. Mario musical talent was discovered at his high school talent show. Mario first brake through into mainstream music was in Doctor Dolittle 2 with a cover of Steve Wonders song “You And I”. Mario first album was self in titled and with his first single “Just A Friend” it managed to reach number 4 back in 2002. This album managed to sell 700 000 worldwide. Mario type of music tend to appeal to a teenage audiences as he tend to sing about early love experiences that usually teenage go through.

As Mario got older so did his lyrical content, this can be seen in his second album Turning Point. This album showed a matured Mario and it expressed more mature themes then his first one, this also gave him more commercial success. this can be seen with the fist release from the album “Let Me Love You” which was at number one for nine weeks in The American top one hundred. This album featured artist such as Ne-Yo and Cassidy.

When it comes to the stereotypical idea of a r n b music artist Mario fit it as his is a reflection of music. Sweet, innocent and charming. Instead of push the boundaries Mario produces the type of music people would expect from a r n b artist but on a high level.

Final Video

This is our final music video:

Evaluation - Matthew Flynn

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?



Our music video does all three, it incorporates the typical conventions of a r 'n' b or hip hop music but takes a U turn with some aspects of the video going to the total opposite end of the spectrum. A lot of r 'n' b and hip hop music features one artist with many girls who would be deemed indecently dressed if they were to walk around in public as they do. A perfect example is Lil' Wayne who countless times is featured in videos where women are objects of power the more the artist has on screen the more power they have, his video for lollipop illustrates this greatly. We wanted to go down the route of challenging these key conventions in a way Usher did previously. Usher's video burn featured him going through a rough time after a break up where the lyrics had deep connections with the video and depression. We used similar aspects in out video by using depression as the centre of our video and build around it much like Usher did. Whereas as Usher added a girl we wanted to develop further on this. We added a girl character in the form of a picture frame and ring (yet you don't actually see the girl character) but we took one step further then Usher and added the serious case of alcoholism. I feel this made the video more impacting on the audience rather than a dramatic love story gone wrong.


2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The combination of your main product being the music video and our ancillary texts work well together as they have the same feel to it. We used images that came directly from the performance shoot of our music video to create a definitive link between the two so that the audience can instantly recognise the two. This works work to allow viewers of the video to then go and buy the digipak. The use of colour I used on the front cover go hand in hand with the actual video bringing religion and concepts of heaven and hell to the forefront. This is shown by the red writing for the album name and artist name representing hell and the blue light swirling around the artist representing heaven. A way to improve this I feel would be to to swap the colours round so that it seems that he needs saving from hell as the lyrics say 'Can you save me from this hell'.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

From my audience feedback I learnt that our video served as a form of education about alcoholism and how even the deepest religious person cannot be saved from the grips reality puts on you. I also learnt directly from Patricia that this video can make people feel sorry for the individual who is in an alcoholic choke-hold. Patricia gave me an insight of how religion can directly relate to most people and we done this in the video via the cross on the artist's hand and the lighting in the performance shots. Broxton's feedback was very useful as he let me know which shot he felt was the best, he spoke very highly of a close of drinking shot we done. Overall my audience feedback gave me an insight in how to improve the video, it has become very apparent that more shots are needed although with a limited schedule due to starting again I done the best I could for this project. A point Patricia made was to have better lighting during the performance shots and this is an agreeable case as the lighting was not to the correct standard and this will need to be improved if a music video is attempted again.

4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I used new media technologies in all of the stages of this project. I used a Nikon D40x with a tripod as well as lights (including flash) and a studio in the construction stage. I used a Digital SLR to produce the best possible image we could for our original artist. In the construction stage I made a slide show for each costume of our original artist to show and highlight why each costume was chose. This is mainly to show which costumes we picked for our final video but due that video ceasing to exist I had to go about a new means of using new media technologies. I also used Adobe After Effects CS4 to put together a slide show of our original artist's make up process which was to show how I made our artist from scratch. Once the new video had begun we proceeded to use the same lighting as before but in different settings. The other techniques used were the lighting in our drama studio which I suggested where we could use the normal, blue and red lights to highlight certain parts of 'Losing my way'. Final Cut Pro was used for both the original video and the 'Losing my way' video (although not much for the original video). With 'Losing my way' I used Final Cut Pro to edit, manipulate and piece together our final video.
I used Youtube to illustrate the videos I researched with my similar text analysis so that you can choose to watch the video as you read my analysis. Another form of media I used for the research part was Facebook as I contacted Patricia and Broxton via Facebook as I knew they would be interested in an r 'n' b / hip hop video. Their views were detailed and informative so I am glad I asked them to do the interview. Both of whom were shocked with the ending but in the same way were pleased with the way it was done.
In the planning stages I used Microsoft Word to write down what we needed each day we filmed in with our original artist. Also due to the group vote to do a green screen shot in the original video I had prepared possible backgrounds we could use in the editing process via Adobe After Effects CS4. But with the change in demands these backgrounds were not needed. With 'Losing my way' I had planned out specific shots that were needed such as the beginning shot starting out of focus and then coming into focus. Another planned shot was the ending which I had planned since the choice of song was made.
In the evaluation stage of this project I kept the faith with Final Cut Pro and continued to use it to edit a short video. This video can been seen in question one where I interview myself. I got the inspiration to do this from football sensation Christiano Ronaldo who before an important match for Manchester United interviewed himself for Sky Sports. I found it amusing but thought it was a fantastic idea to do this. I also used YouTube to take screenshots and to put them into Adobe Photoshop CS4 to view on this blog.


Overall I feel my music video is a success in challenging the forms and conventions of real media products but it needed more time and planning to nuture this music video into something special which could develop on such conventions of dramatic videos such as from Usher and Justin Timberlake. A great beginning and ending was created which I am pleased with. My audience research further emphasises this through Patricia and Broxton both giving positive feedback about these shots.

Editing Process Video

Editing Process

For the editing of our music video we decided to use Final Cut Pro as it was available to us and we picked it up quiet easily. The shots were relatively easy to edit and to manipulate if needed.
We chose Final Cut Pro over the like of Adobe Premier Pro CS4 as Final Cut Pro is the now industry standard and we wanted to use the best we could.
We used a lot of fades around the chorus to bring a clear distinction between the narrative and the performance shots. We feel this worked well and allowed us more freedom to change shots around as long as we kept the link the same (the fade).
We used some slow motion when needed as well as speeding scene's up but it was done in an unnoticeable way to allow for the viewer to become immersed in the video.
We left the ending with a straight cut but gunshot to allow a sense of enigma to be creating within the viewer and to send a shiver down their spine.

Editor: Matthew Flynn
Assistant Editor: Matthew Doel

Words: Matthew Flynn

Digipak Response

Marilyn Parlett's opinion on the front cover:
"i really like the blue swirl going round Matthew, it makes him stand out from everything else. The red font is bold and in your face too"







Laura Smart's opinion on the right handside insert:
"i love the positioning of the character and the light shining on his face"









Stephen Roe's opinion on the back cover:
"Although the design and colours are relatively simple i think it works really well. I would use a different font personally though as it isnt identical to the same sort of italics on the front cover"

Interview 2

Broxton Williams

1. What did you understand from the video?
I understood that this guy has got some serious problems in his life and drinking himself silly. It's not right someone drinking that much and maybe this video is a good thing to highlight this issue.

2. Did you feel the concept of alcoholism was portrayed well?
Yeah the concept of alcoholism was portrayed well but maybe a bit too much.
3. Did you understand the link between the lyrics and the mise-en-scene/props?
Yeah I did see the link how he eventually had enough of the drink and decided to grab for the gun to end his misery.

4. Was there any shots that stood out and grabbed your attention?
A shot which grabbed my attention was when it was really close up to him and he moved the bottle and the cross became very clear. I liked that.

5. What could have improved the video?
I think this video could have been improved by using more shots and show more of why this guy is so sad and drunk.

Interview 1

Patricia Alves

1. What did you understand from the video?
I understand from the video that the man is a very troubled individual and I felt sorry for him. As a Christian myself I could relate to cross that he was holding while he was drinking. It made me think while he was looking at the ring and continuing to drink that religion was all he had. I felt the bottle's of alcohol represented the Devil and hell.

2. Did you feel the concept of alcoholism was portrayed well?
I felt the alcoholism was portrayed very well as it was clear he was intoxicated and did not have full control of himself. The alcohol also led to the end scene where he puts the gun in his mouth, a sober person would not do that.

3. Did you understand the link between the lyrics and the mise-en-scene/props?
Yes I did, when I saw the lighting change to blue and Matthew look up I knew it was about heaven without even hearing the lyrics, and of course looking down and the lighting change to red was about hell.

4. Was there any shots that stood out and grabbed your attention?
Probably the best shot was the ending shot, the emotion in his face was so real, he looked so scared. I gave me the chills at the end made me think about what alcohol and being emotionally unstable can really do to you.

5. What could have improved the video?
I feel better lighting in the performance shots would have been better as well so that the performance could be more impacting. Also more settings to allow for a bigger story to be told and maybe more characters. But I liked it, made me think to never resort to alcohol if I have a problem.

Script Development

General Script and shots needed for Losing My Way video:

• Start of video - close up of bottles on table and artist in background on the floor both out of focus.

• Bottles and artist come into focus as artist picks up drink.

• Performance shots run throughout the video until beginning to reach the climax where artist walks away from microphone. Eventually microphone fades to black. Lights go blue and artist appear to pray when reference to heaven in chorus. Lights go red and artist appear to be stressed when reference to hell.

• Shots of artist drinking throughout the music video.

• Close-ups of bottles, picture frame, the ring, and the gun.

• Towards end of video Extreme close up of gun and picture frame.

• POV (Point of view) shot of artist lying on floor – look at picture.

• High angle blurred shot looking at artist.

• Shot scrolling the artist’s body.

• POV look to gun.

• Argument with friends leading to physical contact and eventually artist pushing friends out and shutting the door on them. POV shot of one of the friends.
  

• End of video - Camera following artist’s hand to picking up the gun and putting it in mouth and cutting to black.

This was our general guidelines for our music video, there was some improvisation while we were shooting but these were the key shots we made sure to include in the video.

The settings needed were A studio with a lot of black for a simple performance background and a household situation for the narrative.

The props needed were alcoholic bottles with liquid inside, a ring, a picture with a boy and girl inside, a replica gun, Smart clothes and a tie and waistcoat for performance and smart clothes which have been roughed up minus with no waistcoat and a different tie for the narrative.

Losing my way - script development

Here is an image of my original notes of shots needed for out video of Losing my way:

As you can see there are shots that have ticks indicating when we were filming which ones we were actually using.

Even till when I was into the editing process I still had these notes referring to the original idea. Obviously these notes were not followed word for word but served as a good guideline for filming and for editing.

Similar text analysis - Usher - Burn

Usher – Burn

Unlike most songs this is a combination of R'n'B and Ballad, this is indicated through the musical instruments and beat that is used. The lyrics of Burn are about a break-up, how Usher is in love but isn't happy in the relationship he’s in. Usher proceeds to end it with the female character but almost immediately realises he wants her back. Reading the lyrics it is not clear if the song will fast or slow. In each verse there is and each chorus, there is the word 'Burn'. There is a clear comparison between the song name and the lyrics throughout the song. It is a clever way to make the listener remember the song name even when the song has finished. The song could well be the inner thoughts of Usher.

This music video commences by showing a close up shot of the Usher’s eyes then panning and cutting to the woman’s eyes who he is talking to. For the duration of this component of the song, he is speaking the intro rather than singing it. This shows Usher is talking to the girl from his point of view.This is done to create a link with the lady blinking so it’s clear for the audience to know Usher is talking to her. Medium shots are used of Usher at the start of the music video. When a significant sentence in the song comes up there is a shot that is relevant to the words being spoken. Usher is beginning to carry out a narrative within this music video.

The word Burn, is the main focus of this video and it is seen when there is a close-up shot of his eyes where there is an apparent flame in them. This is further illustrated in many other shots such the long shot where he is standing next to the car and the trees are on fire. This shows how Usher looks back on what his ex girl-friend and him use to do. When he is doing the narrative it always cuts to Usher singing after. A lot of see extreme close-up shots of his mouth are shown throughout the video to highlight the emotions he is feeling. The editing technique of ‘fades’ are used all the way through the music video and these work because the viewers know when their watching the narrative and when they are watching the performance. The video then ends on a panning shot of Usher looking towards the floor in a medium as if the penultimate part of the song highlighting his anguishes suggesting what will he do with his problem.

The use of clothes and props in this video is carried out well as if to highlight emotions and messages within the video. Usher begins the video in a casual black and red jumper in the narrative part of the video where he talks rather than sings. This is to show the relaxed environment he is situated in. He then wears jeans with a white jacket and a white top and this is to show this is no longer the narrative anymore. The love interest in the video appears to be in a bikini which shows deep connotations of sexuality and instantly the audience can assume Usher was intimate with her. Usher is featured in a black jacket and jeans, black being a colour of sorrow so therefore these clothes could indicate he misses her deeply. Usher stays in this outfit throughout the video at this point but adds a cap towards the end. This is done to show he wants to hide his feelings away by putting a cap on to cover it all up.

Usher shows that there is deeper music within R & b and hip hop then the generic media would let you believe. He shows you can bring a story to the forefront rather than a dancer’s behind to grab the viewer’s attention and entice them into a music video.

Artist Research - Usher

Usher's real name is Usher Raymond IV but he performs under just the name Usher as this is more mainstream. Usher has sold 45 million albums worldwide making him one of the most successful artist’s in the world. Unlike most R n B singer Usher saw success from a very young age. He recorded 10 songs with the group Nubeginnings. After his early success he competed on Star Search where he was spotted by an A&R representative from LaFace Records, who arranged an audition for Usher to L.A. Reid, the co-founder of LaFace; Reid signed Usher a contract with the record company. Usher’s self-titled album was released in 1994 selling 500,000 copies worldwide. Usher’s biggest breakthrough would have to be his collaboration with Ludacris and Lil John ‘Yeah!’ which spent many weeks at number 1. Usher’s second song ‘Burn’ took over from ‘Yeah!’ at the top of the charts and the two together gave Usher nineteen consecutive weeks as number 1. This album ‘Confessions’ had 4 consecutive number one singles which is phenomenal.
Usher brings a certain charm to his music, breaking away from traditional ways of dressing. Usher tends to wear suits when performing and in a lot of his video thus moving away from a stereotypical r & b artist.
Usher sticks to a lot of r & b connotations but does occasionally break away from the norm with his innovative storytelling music videos. This shows him in a light where he is more creative than the average r & b artist who would settle for average song that makes enough money and has a video with lots of ‘booty’ girls, Usher strives with every song and video to make it number 1.

This is a magazine poster promoting our artist. It was created by using CS4 and I used the front cover of our cd dig pack to promote our artist single.

Similar text analysis - Kanye West - Touch the sky

In this music video ‘Touch the Sky’ Kanye West tries to make an interesting, innovative and creative short film rather than a music video. This '70s themed video fits the song well and contains clever touches throughout breaking away from generic mainstream r & b and hip-hop.

Throughout the entire video start to beginning the setting is right in the forefront. The setting is of the Canyon that Kanye West will be attempting to jump. The mise-en-scene is constructed to illustrate the beauty of what the character Kanye is playing is trying to achieve.

Kanye’s video opens like an old film and even includes credits. Kanye plays Evel Kanyevel, a daredevil who is about to embark on a dangerous, death defying stunt involving using a rocket to cross a massive canyon. This is an obvious reference to the famous daredevil ‘Evel Knievel’ who was known for going to all lengths to go against human logic and physics. Pamela Anderson makes an appearance in this music video as Kanye's girl in the video suiting the typical blonde, physically fit, glamorous music video girl. During the video, we see Kanye prepare for his stunt called Death Rocket and we are given a visual of Anderson and Mr. Kanyevel argue and deal with the dangerousness of this gigantic stunt which brings a deep reality to this music video which makes a change from generic r & b and hip hop videos.

Despite the degree of seriousness of the video's plot where a man is risking his life to impress the world, there is some humour to be found. The video brings the music to a halt for a brief moment as a reporter interviews ‘Kanyevel’. A subtle reference made to the controversy over Kanye's comments about President Bush is apparent, with some celebrity cameos adding an edge of comedy to this video. Tracie Ellis Ross who made an appearance in Kanye’s video ‘the new workout plan’ makes a brief but funny appearance insulting Mr Kanyevel in the process. Tracie Ellis Ross's dialogue is nothing but comedy as to lighten the mood of the video as the previous scene showed Anderson and Kanyevel arguing.

After the humorous interlude, the video proceeds, as Kanye finally gets ready for the stunt. TV cameras are everywhere and plenty of people are watching the celebration of this huge feat about to be attempted. Then Lupe Fiasco performs his verse with a marching band behind him with his name in bold at the bottom of the screen. We then see Anderson run to Kanye to kiss him as if a final kiss as it seems to of been done out of desperation. The video meets its end as Kanye attempts the stunt.

This music video of ‘Touch The Sky’ has a gritty, cinematic feel that keeps you interested throughout despite it being 5:20 minutes in length which is usually unheard of for a r & b or hip hop song. It portrays the '70s to the audience very well with nice touches here and there such as slightly the whole music video having a grainy effect.

Some of the lyrics in ‘Touch The Sky’ are a reference to the action onscreen. When Kanye says, ‘I'm going on an airplane and I don't know if I'll be back again’ he is looking out at the rocket that will seal his fate, when the camera cuts to Anderson’s face it highlights the problems this stunt is causing for their relationship.

The plot and setting complement each other creating a video, which is both entertaining both to watch and listen to. There appears to be no hip-hop video clichés to be found and at times, it is as though you're watching a short film rather than a music video. ‘Touch the sky’ makes a change from the usual ‘booty-shaking’ generic r & b and hip hop video.