Questions from pitch

1. Whose going to be the main singer and are there any extras?
- Grace
- Extras will be the rest of the group and maybe a guy

2. Have we thought about the digi pack and whats included?
- We want a good representation of the artist. With the artist on her own on the digi pack.
- quite plan and to the point
- With the lyrics in the foreground

3. What is our back up plan, eg. if it rains..?
- use an umbrella with bright colours
- contradict pathetic fallacy - usually bad weather makes peoples mood worse ect. but with this song we will make it as though it has no effect on her.

potential target audience

Due to our chosen song by Cheryl Cole 'Just Live'http://youtu.be/Zf8tLhBS-E4 ,there could be a variety of audiences to target as the song could be interpreted as a ballad or a pop song...

Ideas...
- Teenagers, especially girls aged 13-18, as the song is about love,boys etc. And at this age many girls think they'v found 'the one' therefore they can relate to this song.

- Older generation, 18-30, as the song has similarities towards a ballad for example, Adele 'Someone Like You' which has a wider audience as it can relate to so many people as well with its catchy lyrics
Link with attached song, Adele 'Someone Like You' http://youtu.be/jCya1yiFFP4

-Younger generation, 12-15, (girls) as the song has a sense of 'pop' genre in it, with repetitive lyrics - usually found in 'pop' songs such as Katy Perry 'Last Friday Night'
Link with attached song, Katy Perry 'Last Friday Night'  http://youtu.be/KlyXNRrsk4A

Overall, we've come to a conclusion that our chosen song Cheryl Cole 'Just Live' should be targeted towards teenagers (girls) aged 13-18 as they are at that awkward stage of growing up and thinking that they have found true love. With the combined ballad and pop genre we feel that the lyrics truly relate to them and how they may or may have been feeling etc.

Conventions of music videos and the pop & ballad genre

Music Video Conventions
The cheryl cole song 'Just Live' that we have picked is a mixture of genres, pop and ballad. So I have looked at both the conventions of the two genres and how they link together and how we could use conventions from both for our video. To illustrate the conventions, I will use the following Pop ballads;
     - Beyonce, If I was a boy



     - Fergie, Big Girls Don't Cry


     - Kelly Clarkson, Becasue of You


Pop music:
- the pop genre is oriented towards the younger youth target market.
- lyrics of pop songs focus on typical themes of love, romance and relationships and the videos reflect these with storylines that go with the song.
- pop music is wanted to encourage dancing!

Pop conventions:

- close-up of artist/band
- performance
- dance rountines

- fast paced editing / editing on the beat
- mise-en-scene that reflects the atmosphere
- straight forward narrative

- change of locations
- costume changes








Ballad music:
- love song
- often emotional
- the music video contains a narrative
- power ballads have a slow tempo and contain a loud and emotive chorus

Ballad conventions:

 - combine conventions from pop
 - narrative

- close-up of artist to show emotions

- artist performs in the video





In our music video, we will use some of the conventions of the pop ballad conventions. Including the artist being in the video and singing the song. Also the change of locations and change of costumes.

Location ideas for music video

Location one: College grounds, the grassy area behind the college were the scene of the singer is singing on the ground in a dress with a load of grass around her.

Location two: The Grafton Center where we intend to film the slowing down of people around our singer and have her surrounded by passing people.

Location three: One of the parks in Cambridge were she's ridding a bike on the path whilst singing happily.

Location four: A simple brick wall of her and her guy, cuddling each other whilst the singer sings. This could be filmed at the side of one of our houses.

Location five: The singer walking through the woods and smiling with the music whilst she sings. The woods preferably behind college.

Editing & Mise-en-scene

Editing:

• Graphic match
• Colour transition
• Fading
• Brightness and contrast
• Slow motion or speed increase
•  Distortion of image e.g. so the footage looks old
• Cut - Cutaways (change scene)
• Parallel editing - 2 story's at the same time - like in the Taylor swift video we analysed
• Titles/credits
• Crop
• Dissolve transition
• Linear (in time sequence) & Non linear (out of time sequence)
• Wipe transition
• Match on action
• Montage - Loads of information in short time
• Continuity (makes sense)
• Split screen
• Flashback

Editing ideas for our music video:

• Colour transition - Use black and white to show a memory
• Fading - Beginning and end of song
• Continuity - Similar to the Taylor Swift music video for "We are never getting back together" - used throughout except during flashback/memory

Mise en scene:

• Props
• Costume
• Lighting (artificial, low key, high key, natural etc)
• Make-Up
• Setting/sets
• Colour

For our music video:

• Examples of props - Bike, fireplace, phone, photoframes (realism), 
• Examples of costume - (Pictures on costume blog post) Floral dresses and boots (for when on the bike), coat, scarf and boots (when walking down the lit pathway at night), Soft jumper (when in the white room/fireplace)
• Lighting - High key when in the white room, low key during flashbacks, natural throughout, maybe artificial on greenery when cycling (to emphasize to mood)
• Make-Up - Natural because its a chilled out song
• Setting/sets - White set or place with a fireplace, park, long empty road, lit up pathway, living room showing photo frames and remnants of a man 
• Colour - Light and natural

Cinematography

Camera Angles and Movements:

•  Zoom shot/Close up - Used to see more emotions
•  Long shot
•  Pan  movement - Used to get a feel of the atmosphere
•  Medium close up shot
•  Birds eye angle/Crane shot - Stylistic way of showing the atmosphere
•  Over shoulder shot - Used to show a conversation
•  Establishing shot - Used to set the scene
•  Focus pool shot - Used when changing focus e.g in Psycho with the eye and the plug drain. 
•  Tracking shot - Used to make the viewer feel apart of the action
•  Shot reverse shot (editing) - Used to see people's reactions
•  Wide shot - Normally used to show a conversation
•  Point of view shot - Used to see what the character is seeing
•  Low angle - Normally used to make someone look intimidating or important
•  High angle - Used to make someone feel or appear vulnerable
•  Tilt canted angle - Quirky and mostly used in horror/psychological films
•  Extreme close up - Dramatic
•  Dutch angle - Used to create an edgy feel - scary
•  Master shot 

Cinematography for our music video:

• Zoom shot/close up - We could use this during the second verse during the lyrics: "That I will hold you up, I'll never let you down, I'll always be around" as this will enable the viewer to see her emotions. (Because we want to tell a story with the lyrics, emotions will make it realistic)
• Pan movement - This could be used at the beginning of the song when the beat of the music is slow; to introduce all of the 'band members' (in one movement - no cuts)
•  Medium close up - This will be used throughout the video
•  Over the shoulder shot - This will be used when the main singer is having a conversation with the boy she is singing about, only we will just see the back of the guys head and the singer over his shoulder talking (possibly a memory)
•  Establishing shot - This could be used to set the scene when the main singer changes location. E.g. when she is on her bike near the park (could also be a point of view shot) or when she is walking down the lit up pathway in the evening (lyrics:  Let the people talk, we can walk the walk, never going wrong"
•  Point of view - When the singer is on her bike and looking at the park (Whilst singing the lyrics:  Baby, you're the one, Like flowers in the sun, We can only grow"
•  Low angle - During the lyrics: " You can take the lead" - When in the white room or the house with a fireplace (wearing the knit jumper) to show contradiction of what the angle means.
•  High angle - During the chorus

Ideas for our music video

- a story about a guy and a girl and their relationship
- girl on a bike riding through a green
- 'for you...' - the couple are hugging each other with the guy hugging from behind
- bubbles
    The girl is in a green area singing and bubbles start to appear around her
- split screen
      'whoo whoo' with the lyrics on top of the footage on the screen
- Locations: bedroom, green,
- walking during the evening in the dark down a path with lights (Grafton path). She then stands still and the people around her rush by and in the editing increase the speed of the footage
- Costumes:
     dresses - a range of dress - flowery

this dress is just an example of what the dress could look like, more pasty, prefebly a white background and a more spingy summery look. 

something more like this: 

For her when she's in the grassy area. 

For her when she's on the bike: 

this kind of idea on the left, the sort of a western and country, autumn look. 

For the walk down the lighted pathway the clothes: 

This would be added with boots and a scarf, poosibly some leather gloves. 

 

Ideas For Our Music Video

c- Everyone will be involved, for example, in the Taylor Swift video we put on the blog
- One person however, will be the main singer


- From looking and analysing the Taylor Swift video and then comparing with the Cheryl Cole song, we came to a conclusion, that we could possibly use one movement (no cuts). For this, we could use hand held or a track (dolly) to make it smooth like Taylor swifts. This is because, the beat of the music is similar and we thought it would work.
- In this movement at the beginning, it will show all the band members in the same shot and then the last person in the shot, will be the main singer, and then the camera will follow them to make this clear.

Add caption

- Copy the theme from the film 'The women' and the music video by Shontelle "t-shirt", where it's all about the lives of females and their partners, yet there isn't one man shown in the film. 

 for example, a shot of main singer on the phone, or the back of a mans head, or a mens shirt on the bed.

- in the chorus, possible location being a white background or a house with a fireplace. Main singer, in a jumper snuggled up.

Add caption

- main singer ride a bike
- possible location - outdoors by trees
 down and empty road, near a lake, in the forrest, in the park etc.





- Up beat part of the song - fast editing showing memories (black and white) - similar to the Student video of Lady Gaga we looked at.

Costumes:

- Flowy, floral dress

- This jumper above (similar) for the chorus ( fireplace bit )

- coat/scarf winter wear - shows she's normal 

Lyrics for Cheryl Cole's Just Live

These are the lyrics for the song that we are doing.

Baby, you're the one
Like flowers in the sun
We can only grow
And what if it recurrs
Speaking through the worst
I want you to know

That I will hold you up
I'll never let you down
I'll always be around
Cos baby, you're my man
I'm your biggest fan
Whatever I can do for you
I will do and I mean in every way And I'll vow to be more than I'm able to say

Hey ho I'll hold oooonnnn (hold on, hold on) for yooouuu oo oo yoouu you
I will riiidddeee to the fiirree (the fire, the fire) for yoouu oo oo yoouu you

The highest we can get
Lowest we can go
We'll be hoding on
Let the people talk
We can walk the walk
Never going wrong

Cos boy I got your back
No matter how you act
No matter what you do
The loyalty you'll need
You can take the lead
I'll be holding on for you
And I'll do and I mean in every way
Get so high where the clouds come I'll push them away

Heeyy
I'll hold oooonnnn (hold on, hold on) for yooouuu oo oo yoouu you
I will riiidddeee to the fiirree (the fire, the fire) for yoouu oo oo yoouu you

Hold on tight, I'll be your guide You lose your smile, I'll give you mine
And we'll shiinne, thrroouugghh You're miinnee, oooooohhhhh

Baby hold tight, we'll be alright, be by my side ah oh ah
I'll be your size, you'll be my guy, with you for life ah oh ah Body and soul, love is my goal, keeping me whole ah oh ah (X3)

Baby hold tight, we'll be all right, be by my side ah oh ah

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The mood that is portrayed in the lyrics is off someone who is happily in love, that their other half is there whole world and Cheryl Cole sings about it like a confession of her feelings, almost like a ballad. Furthermore the representation of the artist given in this song is that she is in the genre of pop and sings ballads to get her fans to relate to her feelings of love.

Example of real video that have influenced us

http://youtu.be/WA4iX5D9Z64

Add caption

We think that this is stylistically interesting because its one movement from the camera so there's no cuts, yet the atmosphere changes highlighting that it's a different part of the story.

This picture shows the transition from this serious atmosphere created (picture above) and then in one movement the mood is changed due to upbeat music, the dancing and the people in animal costumes behind makes it less serious.

This shot shows two different locations, in the story. We found this stylistically interesting as the viewer is allowed to see both persons emotions at the same time because there divided by a wall even though they are at 'different' locations.

We found this shot particularly interesting as it truly shows how clever the music video is as a whole. This is portrayed when she's seen arguing with her bf, dancing and then she's on the t.v screen. This is interesting as we get to fully see her emotions in the lyrics





Shot types that we liked:

- Split screen/two shot
- the whole story told in one camera movement (no cuts)
- group shots of the band
- different camera angles e.g. mid shot, long shot, pan, tracking

Pink - Blow me one last kiss

Pink - Blow me one last kiss

This video shares a similarity with the student music video in the saturation of colour - Black and White - There is a consistent colour that is symbolic to the video, the colour red. It is symbolic of the love between Pink and the guy and the hate and death between them.  

- At the beginning and end of the video the storyline credits are on screen. This gives the video more of a story feel then a music video.

- Editing is on the beat of the music. Also with some of the location changes also on the beat.

- Many fades are used to link the clips together but this type of transition is used to give further effect the style of the video.

Fade in
- Zoom in
- Constant change in location
- costumes are always changing
- a narrative story that goes with lyrics

Todorov's Equilibrium Theory

Todorov’s suggested that many storylines and plot in many TV programs, films and music videos include a narrative that contains an equilibrium. Todorov’s had 5 stages of the equilibrium. The 5 stages include:  

1.       The equilibrium is at the outset of the story/narrative

2.       The equilibrium is disrupted by action – disequilibrium

3.       It is seen that the equilibrium has been disrupted

4.       The disruption is tried to be repaired

5.       A new peace and harmony is made and creates a new equilibrium

A music video that can be used to illustrate Todorov’s theory is ‘Watchtower’ by Devlin feat. Ed Sheeran.  

The narrative of the video is that Ed and Devlin have committed a crime of burglary and they are being hunted down by the police. Their friends and family want to help keep them safe and under cover, but the truth gets out and the police are after them. The equilibrium at the beginning of the narrative is the police looking and asking questions about the guys and another separate equilibrium is Devlin in the house trying to find the red box. Everything is under control and calm.

 

The equilibrium’s that were 2 different now are linked and are disrupted by Lucy telling the police that she has seen the mask. Even through Devlin doesn’t know that she has told them, his reaction shows the disruption and mess it has caused.

 

We are then soon shown that the equilibrium has been well and truly disrupted as the officer is calling for back-up.

 

The disruption to the equilibrium is then tried to be resolved by the police going to try and find Devlin to arrest him.

 

As that is going on Devlin believes that running away will resolve the situation.

 

At the end of the video there is a new equilibrium with the 2 guys that are running away from the situation. 

Example of student music video

http://youtu.be/NWe0BZI8nfM

What we think is stylistically interesting:

- In this shot, she is writing down the lyrics and it zooms in on the actually word 'words'. This was to show that she's trying to erase the memories and they represent this by the words fading away.

- We really liked this shot because not only is it black and white, the cars are moving past her and she is standing still, which emphasises that she is at a stand still and her memories are coming back to her. So this shows good use of relation with the lyrics.

- We found this shot stylistically interesting as, they overlay two different images on top of each other which makes us, the viewer, physically and emotionally understand what she is going through, via this imagery and the lyrics.

- We like the this specific footage as it starts with a high camera angle over the lake then they edit it to make it appear that she is walking by the lake as the camera moves into a low angle and pans up to reveal her walking.

Student Work Evaluation

Group 20 music video 2009

There was a clear storyline that went with the music and lyrics throughout the video. This was shown through the editing on the beat, as well as it being quick and and short footage.

The music video is creative and fun and often the music is anempathetic with the actions. Thus creating a joyful video to watch and we felt like this was a good trait for this specific song.

We liked the use of other technology that was used, for example, when they moved around on the bench, as well as saturation of the footage - black and white -.

There was a good use of cinematography e.g. close-ups; this was used to focus the audience on the singers lips, tracking shots; following the car helping the video for a wider range of cinematography and some wide shots of the singer to give the effect of enjoyment and fun into the music video.

There was an interesting use of props and it shows how well the people thought about it as well as the constant change in location which adds to the authenticity of the music video.

Deciding our song

Chamillionaire and Paul Wall:
Pros:
- Good to imitate
- Could be fun to film
Cons:
- Difficult to film
- Difficult to lip sync
- Same beat throughout
- Have no boys to film

Cheryl Cole - Boys
Pros:
- Different beat
- Easy lip sync
- Pop song - easy conventions to follow
- Costume = easy
- Location
Cons:
- Could be easily copied

Craig David - Smoothed out
Pros:
- Good storyline
Cons:
- Annoying/bland
- He's a boy
- Slow beat
- Locations

Cheryl Cole - Just Live
Pros:
- Editing on beat and lyrics
- Catchy
- Easy to express the lyrics
Cons:
- Too cheryl cole - easy to copy


After group discussion, we agreed on Cheryl Cole - Just Live as we considered the pros were realistically do-able. The cons could be managed by experimenting with the conventions of pop and Cheryl Cole.

Photoshop Tutorial

To create this, we followed a photoshop tutorial on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6qjgslXXO0
We followed several steps which including, making many different layers, downloading 'grunge' brushes and loading them onto photoshop,  searching for images on the internet and transferring them into the final photo - we downloaded an image of concrete from the internet, as we thought it matched the grunge affect. with this image, we learnt how to 'add noise' which gave the pixilated, 'fuzzy' image as the background.

We learnt many different skills, e.g the 'dodge' tool to create a softer touch, creating a lighter appearance in the middle of the photo. Also, we used the 'burn' tool to create harsh tones around the edges which gave the "grunge" effect. (using the grunge brushes)
We also learnt that reducing the opacity, could either make the image blend together or make one part fade away
 We used the lasso tool to crop out the chose image i.e the model, then we pressed the key alt and took the mouse over the two layers to create this silhouette effect.

By watching this tutorial and making our own similar photo, we gained many new skills, including many shortcuts for the mac - e.g Cmd T goes into transform mode, enabling us to move the selected image and also change the size.
Also, cmd, option o - this brings up the files added to the desktop, so you can quickly select the image to wish to use.

The Auteur Theory

The word Auteur comes from the French word meaing Author.

The Auteur Theory is filmmaking where the director is viewed as the major creative force in the picture that they are putting across. The theory originated in France in the 1950's and was promoted by Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.

The main idea of the theory is the director to be seen as adding his/her own personal artistic and creative vision into the film/music video, and overtime that certain stylistic and thematic style/s are seen in all of the director's work.

A music video called Michel Gondry has his own stylistic style in the music videoes that he has created.
Gondry is an Academy Award winning film-maker, with his work including a director in film, a music video director and a screenwriter. He is known for his inventive visual style and the manipulation of mise-en-scene in his videos.

In his music video for 'Come into my world' sung by Kylie Minogue in 2002, the shot is filmed as one long continous shot that never ends (until the end of the video!!!).

 

 

Another video is called 'Little Star' by Stina Nordenstam in 1994. This video uses a lot of technology and effects.  

 

 

Another video is 'Dance Tonight' by Paul McCartney in 2007. This video uses a lot of technology and layers to make the ghosts apear over the footage. The video also builds up the suspense for you as a view and you have to watch the whole of the video to know what happens in the end. This is also the case for 'Come into my world' by Kylie Minogue, as you want to know whats going to happen to her next.



 

 

And the final video is 'Fell in love with a girl' by The White Stripes in 2002. This video shows Gondry's 'visual style' by using only lego bricks to make the whole of the video.



 

Overall...

Photoshop Task

Our first try on photoshop was not a major success. We did however learn a new skill that will help us in our digi-pack work. This was to be able to use a range of different stamps and colours to create a nice design and also a background layer that could be added to something else to give an effect. The image below is the stamp pattern that we created.

 

To make this design we went online to http://www.brusheezy.com/ and looked at a range of brushes that we can download for free and use on photoshop. We would then download the stamp and try out the different stamps on offer to create the effect we wanted. For the above image we downloaded a leaf stamp, we then changed the colour of the stamps and the opocity of the colour until we thought it would look good. We then layered different stamps on top of each other until we got this effect that we liked the look of.     

 

 

We then used an online tutorial from youtube (video below) that would help us to improve our skills on photoshop and create an itunes inspired giftcard.  

 

 

The above image is our finished itunes card. The tutorial helped us to gain new skills that we may be able to use in our digi-pack and advert. We learnt how to use different layers and how adding different layers and changing how they are seen through another can add an effect that is disired for what is needed. Also the silhouette image on the left of the image was done by having a layer that contained the image of the model with no background colour. We then created another layer that was filled totally black. We then merged the two layers together that created the silhouette effect of the model.   

 

The main idea that we got from the final outcome and watching the tutorial was to just experiment with what we have and if it doesn;t look right try something else. We found that our car image that is in the background didn't look very good, so we got another image and tried changing the opocity of the image  and where it was on the page. We then finally got it in the right place that looked nice to us.

This is the video for the tutorial that we used.

One Direction - Star Analysis

One Direction

Videos:
1. What Makes You Beautiful


2. One Thing


3. Live While We're Young


One Directions have a massive fan base and this is due to the publicity and start of their career on the X Factor. Their target audience for their videos and music are teenage girls, with many of their videos containing girls of that age range in them.

The first video that shows their star image is 'What Makes You Beautiful'. The video is a very boy band style of video with lots of shots of them being with their mates and having girls around them. The video contains lots of close-ups and mid-shots of the guys having fun and messing around on the beach together.

The next video is 'One Thing'. This video is very much like 'What Makes You Beautiful' with the boy band style video with no plot or stroyline that is there.        

The final and most recent video from One Direction is 'Live While We're Young'. This video has a very small sub-plot going on with the band camping out and doing lots of activities during the day and then ending with a massive party with their friends. This video does however go with the trend of the other 2 videos with no real storyline.

When looking at the 3 One Direction videos, they all have no real stroyline to go with the music. Also their star image in all of the videos are boy band style and laid back teenage guys. So with that in mind most of their fans that like them, only like them for their looks and the style of the videos and not for their music. 

Star Analysis - P!nk

P!nk 



The newest video of P!nk shows her selling a brake up of her and a lover, but her carefree attitude that she is known for brushes it off and also takes revenge by ruining the wedding. This just appears like another one of P!nk's songs where it shows her 'bad girl' attitude which she is known for and they sell this as the fans love her attitude and thus it helps sell her songs.

This old video of P!nk shows a more passionate side of p!nk and this one is trying to sell her feelings and also it's trying to say that although P!nk is careless she still feels pain, as we also see in other pop-punk ballads such as I don't believe you, and Don't let me get me.

Richard Dyer - Star Theory

Richard Dyer came up with the star theory which is the way that a star is presented to an auidence by media products, including, magazines, music videos, etc...

A Star: when interest in their personal life outweighs interest in their profession.

- The star image is constructed by a range of materials including films, videos, posters, magazines, etc.
- Stars represent many shared cultural values. Some including being thin, the latest fashion trend and religion.
- We get the idea and drive of what we should look/be like from stars.
- Some stars support hegemony (definition: leadership or predominant influence from people/power) by conforming to the ideal.
- Celebrity magazines compare us or encourage us to conform to the ideal.
- Star persona is fragile and can be broken at any time. For example, Jade Goody went into Big Brother and was bullied and the papers/magazines felt sorry for her. But later when she went back to Celebrity Big Brother she was accused of bulling in the house, and her star persona went down. But then when she later died due to cancer, her star persona was lifted and was presented to the public as a good person that should have never died. This just shows one star, but how their star persona went on a rollercoaster ride from good to bad, and then to good again.


To put Dyer's star theory into practice, we got a Celebrity Magazine and tried to find a story or article that: 1.showed the current cultural ideal, 2. an example that challenges the ideal and finally 3. a comparison bewteen us and the ideal.

The example that we found for the current cultural ideal was the 'I want what she's got!'.

 

This article shows us the current cultural ideal of the stars in the fashion world, and looking and what the celebrities are wearing. It then tells us (the readers) that we can be like them in what they are wearing by being able to buy the clothing items at high street or big label stores for a cheap price.  

 

The next example is for the article that challenges the ideal. For this we found the article, 'From stunning TV model to ravaged drug addict'.

 

This article shows us the opposite of the star ideal and the side effects of drugs. We see the horrible effects of drugs ans what they can do to a star and not representing the 'ideal' star persona.   

 

And the final article gives a comparison between us and the ideal. The article is called 'Fearne's Pregnancy Blues'.

 





In this article it is talking about the symptoms that Fearne Cotten is getting from her first stages of pregnancy. It does tell us that other women who are pregnant and her are the same but any women who is also pregnant at this time could read the article and relate to the things that Fearne is going through.

 

This is a slide where we have Rihanna as our star and we tried to think of as many good or bad points that are in the press of her star persona. This got us to think about all the different things stars do to be a star and keep their good persona and be a role model to us.

Star persona - Anissia and Grace from longroadmediastudies