Finished video!

CHRISTINA, EMMA & ROB - 'SHADOWS' FINAL VIDEO from cmdiploma on Vimeo.

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

1. a shot that shows a link between lyrics and/or music and visuals
2. a shot that typifies the way a record company would want their artist to be represented
3. a shot that illustrates how your video uses music genre
4. a shot that shows an intertextual reference
5. a shot that demonstrates your use of camera
6. a shot that demonstrates your use of lighting
7. a shot that demonstrates your use of mise-en-scene
8/9. Two shots which you feel demonstrate something which shows you have watched other music videos

1. The lyric i looked at for this part was 'Im moving on'. so i got the shot of when everyone starts moving fast and emma stays normal speed.

2. For this i got the shot of the band with there instruments, because the record company would want the band to be seen playing there music them selfs.

3. I used this shot for this part because it shows different levels of focus used in allot of indie label videos i have seen.

4. I picked this shot because it relates to Alice in Wonderland, with the Pocket watch.

5. I picked this shot because ti is a moving shot with another moving shot over the top. we used the panning technique to add motion.

6. I used this shot because it shows the lights we used around the back of the band. thus demonstrating our use of lighting.

7. I picked this shot because everything in our shot is framed and supposed to be in the shot.

8/9. I picked this shot because i is a standard mid shot in most videos. i picked shot nine because we have layers shots to create an effect of a ghostly figure i have seen in a music video.

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

1. a shot that shows a link between lyrics and/or music and visuals
2. a shot that typifies the way a record company would want their artist to be represented
3. a shot that illustrates how your video uses music genre
4. a shot that shows an intertextual reference
5. a shot that demonstrates your use of camera
6. a shot that demonstrates your use of lighting
7. a shot that demonstrates your use of mise-en-scene
8/9. Two shots which you feel demonstrate something which shows you have watched other music videos

1. The lyric in this shot was 'So what if i never hold you, or kiss you lips again' and the shot shows a girl kissing a guy.

2. This shot shows the band playing there own music. which is what they would want to promote.

3. Standard metal music live performance set up showing the band playing.

4. this shot shows a man jumping into hell. the song is about the road to damnation being a easy way out. hence the song being called almost easy.

5. This is a steep shot of the lead singer of the band. this shows that some thought has gone into the camera work and shots.

6. This is a shot of a band playing a live show with extravagant use of lights.

7. This shot show the band in a motel room surrounded by girls. you can tell everything in the shot has been thought about and has a reason for being there.

8/9. i picked these two shots because i feel they have been influenced by such things as the Gorilaz because of the cartoon effect.

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

I created this image in photoshop to explain the link between the finished video and the visuals in my digipak. As you can see the video and digipak both have a strong woodland and nature theme through out, with a distinctive link though trees.

We tried to create an Alice in Wonderland theme in our video as you can see in the Grabs from the video. As well as the front cover of my Digipak.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

This is my Wordle Tag cloud fro all my feed back i recived for my finished video.

some feedback i got from one of my teachers was to make the tea party bits black and white because the sped up part of the charicters reminded him of a silent movie.

we had a go with some footagebut i didnt look quite right. for example the gold tea from the pot wasent gold anymore and we wanted it to look surreal.

Most feedback i got was positive things like;

Very good video

Good

Looks professional

But then some negative;

Too Dark

Didnt Get it

Too meany smiles for a sad song.

Taking all of the feedback into count i would have bighted up some parts but overall i am happy with the finished video.

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

Final Cut: we used this to do of our editing for our music video.
Photoshop: This is the software i used to edit photos for my Digipack and Poster.
Google: google is as a search engine i used to do research for the project.
Wordle: i used this to arrange all my feedback in an interesting way.
Flickr: I used this to find pictures to go on my blog and to go onto my moodboards etc.
Itunes: I used this to download Shadows on to my ipod.
Photobucket: I used this to find pictures that related to my idea and to use on my moodboard.
Facebook: I used this to get some feedback on my video.
Youtube: I used this to find influential videos to help me with my project.
Blogger: This was my Blog where i kept all my planning and research.
Myspace: we used this to email Au Revoir Simone so as to get in contact with them.
Vimeo: I uploaded all versions of our music video on to this and this is where we got feedback.

Using all this stuff really helps with all of the project.

Finished video!

This is my finished video for shadows.

If i had more time i would of liked to go into more detail in the editing and do a little more with the video. i would of liked to get more shots of things to put in the video, and have a bigger variety or shots.

i have linked my video on face book and asked for feedback. i have had a few replys so fur but nothing major.

Finished Digipak

This is the finished front and inside of my digipak and poster.

Front and Back

This is the back - front of my Digipak, i made this at home and edited it at college today. I added the four pictures of the characters and put the effect dark strokes on them to give it at shadowy effect.

Inside

This is the inside of my Digipak containing the CD and DVD. I put the images of trees we took in our group and again used the effect dark strokes to add a shadowy effect.

on the grey parts that represent the CD holder i added the chrome filter to give it the look of plastic.

Poster

For my Poster again i used a picture of a tree we had taken and again added the Dark Strokes filter, but this time i inverted the image to make the poster more eye catching.

I enjoy doing tasks like this involving photoshop, i find them challenging yet fun because i can explore new effects (or stick to the usual Dark Strokes :p) I find photo manipulation quite calming and a interesting thing to do because you can get the same image and make it into something different every time you edit it.

Digipak Cover

This is the cover and back of my Digipak.

Back Front

i used al original images for this, so no random google pics in there.

i arranged the pictures in a way i thought they would work and added the effect dark strokes to give hem a shadowy feel.

Today!

Today me and Liam went out to help Max and film for of his music video.

we went to various locations around cambridge and got a few more cutaways and a few more takes of the song.

Filming went well and we got all the setups Max wanted for the morning.

Rough Cut Feedback

This is the feedback my group was given from our rough cut.

- I like the use of shots

- Fading shots together works well

- Great atmosphere and composition

- I like how the background is fast and Emmais normal pace

- The atmosphere fits the song

- Good use of effects e.g. the timelapse + stopmotion

- Good lip syncing, instrument playing, lighting, cards, costume, location and effect

- Great opening shot

- Great shots of cards

- Feels like a music video already - set the scene with close up's very effective. First chours made me smile

- Varitey of camera angles/cut aways

- Scene set up well

- I like the night theme with the flashing lights and the cards spinning round

- Good performance and locations

- The opening is amazing: effects, shots, lip syncing, mise en scene, costume (there were ticks by all of these)

- Love the tea party sped up scene

- The tree with lights look great

- I like how the footage blurs then focuses

The improvements/weaknesses received were fairly similar. Most people thought some of the band performance was too dark and the contrast of this with the tea party being so bright made the video lose flow in some places

Other comments included:

- Too Dark in some places

- Less movement from singer - needs to be more focused on camera(there's not much we can do about this unless we re-shoot, which we don't have time for)

- Lip sync is off in some points or Emma giggles (we're going to cover up the giggling with cut aways)

- Should add more cut aways

- Try out effects on certain parts or brighten them up

- Need to draw attenetion to the speed up thing

- In some bits the performer isnt convincing

Rough Cut

This is the Rough Cut for my groups video.

we made this on friday and exported it ready for feedback on monday.

This is the timeline from our edit this morning.

sofar we have

Feedback

The Feedback

• i like the effect on the trees, in contrast with the still text. not sure about the picture of people, it looks a bit like it's just plonked there. typography seems out of place. i like the black around the CD.
• I really like the effect used on the images, and find the front image very interesting and is alike with the actual bank, however the font is a bit boring, and i'm not too clear whitch is the front or back.
• Good use of 'Opie' effect. Good use of typography. Nice Photos.

My Thoughts

I agree with most of the feed back i was given for example, People liked the effect i put on the trees which i felt good about because i feel the work i did on the trees reflects the shadow feel on the song.

Not many people like my use of font with i agree with, i could put more thought into it.

Im happy most people liked the image of the band i created, i think the bark background refects the shadows.

Possible changes

Text, a bit think im going to have to put some thought into as most people said it really didn't work.

i would like to find a way to make the band image fit better with the rest of the digipak, some people said it looked out of place.

The Setup

This is a video of us setingup the set for our video.

Weekly Plan

This is our plan for the week. hoping Tina is in tomorrow.

Digipak Cover Idea.

This is my first idea for a Digipak. I went with a shadows theme because of the name of the song and used Cross-hatch Dark Lines to give the shadow feel then altered the brightness and contrast.

These are all pictures i got off my blog so no online image steeling.

Lip-sync Test Footage

On Friday Me Tina and Emma, finally got some test footage done. We recorded a lip sync test for Emma as lead vocals and i think it went rather well.

First off we went to a room at Coleridge and recorded Emma lip syncing from a few different angles and a shot of Her out side, We did this to add variation to out shot.

I think this video works well because it really looks like Emma is singing the song, which she seem to have a talent for as shown in our first lip sync lesson and Emma's Spice Girls video.

Doing this task showed me that for the real thing we are going to need lots of different shots to make the video look good for example in the looooooooooong intro, and cut a-ways of other band members and the Alice In Wonderland theme thought out the song.

I Think we are going to find this project challenging but very exciting at the same time. :)

This Is Our Lip Sync Test!

The Quest For Power

On a unsuspecting Monday morning, Me Emma and Tina decided to embark on A 'Quest For Power' we started by looking for Dan, a teacher in the art department and ask if we could borrow power for our video. We looked for about 15 minuets and couldn't find Dan anywhere, Suddenly we found Steve walking down the stairs in reception. We asked Steve f he knew were Dan would be and he led us strait to him.

We talked to Dan and he said we could use a power plug from art there for granting our location power.

Screen Test Pictures

These are some of the photo's we took today for screen tests.

Me as the Mad Hatter ( In the actual video i wont be the mad hatter, i will be the bassist.)

White Rabbit played by Elliott but we will have to put bunny ears over the wolf ears.

[More pictures will be coming soon]

This morning

This morning i helped Max and his group with test footage for the video, me and max playing the guitar to there song. For the actual video me and max will play buskers in cambridge.

The test was to see if we could sync the guitars to the song.

In this block i am doing test footage for Yaz's group for the memory scene in which i play guitar. Then i will be joining my group to take photos of people in costume there costume for our video, we have an assortment of alice in wonderland style costumes for people to put on and take photos of them for planing on our blogs.

Animatic

This is my groups animatic for our song shadows. we created this with the story board i drew last week. The section we used for our animatic was the 30 seconds from 1:20 to 1:50.

Guitar Tabs

I have been asked by people in my glass to preform in there music videos.

Yaz and Max both asked me to play guitar in there video.

yaz's group is doing 1234 by Feist

Max;s group is doing Mansion In The Sky by The Brianjonestown Massacre

1234- Tabs:

E|-----------------------------------------------| B|-----------------------------------------------| G|-----------------------------------------------| D|--7--7--7--7--4--4-----------------------------| A|--5-5---4-4---2-2---5--5-----------------------| E|--------------------3-3------------------------|     s p   s p   s p   s p  When Leslie stars to sing "One, two, three, four, tell me..." I switch to this:  E|----------------------------------------------------------| B|----------------------------------------------------------| G|-7-7--7-7--4-4-------7-7--7-7--4-4------------------------| D|-7-7--7-7--4-4--5-5--7-7--7-7--4-4--5-5-------------------| A|-5-5--4-4--2-2--5-5--5-5--4-4--2-2--5-5-------------------| E|----------------3-3-----------------3-5-------------------|  "Old teenage hopes are alive..."  E|--------------------------------------------------------| B|--------------------------------------------------------| G|--7-7/9-9-----------------------------------------------| D|--7-7/9-9--9-9--5-5-------------------------------------| A|--5-5/7-7--9-9--5-5-x2----------------------------------| E|-----------7-7--3-3-------------------------------------|  "Ohhhh uh-ohhh, you're changing..."  E|--5--3-----------------------------| B|--5--3-----------------------------| G|--6--4-----------------------------| Listen to song for strumming pattern. D|--7--5--x2-------------------------| A|--7--5-----------------------------| E|--5--3-----------------------------|

Mansion In The Sky- Tabs:

HORDS USED Am (0-0-2-2-1-0)--| G (3-2-0-0-0-3)---| Am? (0-0-2-2-3-0)-| D (x-x-0-3-2-3)---|   Am      G      Am    Am? Am               Am   Am? e------------------------------------------------------| B------------------------------------------------------| G-------------------7-5--------------------------7-5---| D-7-7-7/9-5---5-7-7-----7--5h7-7-7-7/9-5---5-7-7-----7-| A-----------7----------------------------7-------------| E------------------------------------------------------|         D                   Am             Am? Am e-------------------------------------------------------| B---------------------8-8-8/10-10-10--------------------| G---5h7-7^---5h7/9-9-9-9-9--------------7-5-------------| D-7---------7-------------------------------7-5h7-7-7/9-| A-------------------------------------------------------| E-------------------------------------------------------|    G    Am   Am? Am e------------------| B------------------| G----------7-5-----| D-5---5-7------7---| A---7--------------| E------------------|

Shotlist

This is a picture of our shot list, there are 20 shots overall. We tried to make sure we used a varity of different shot types and not just stick to the average Mid Shot etc.. The shot list includes what time of day/night the shots are fimed, whos in the shots, whether the shots exterior or interior and the camera/shot type eg, Mid shot.

location ideas

These are some pictures from the location we hope to shoot in at Long Road.

We hope to get power for our lights from the art block however we do have an alternitive location as Charna has kindly let us use her house/garden/shed to film as it backs on to a similar clearing to this. :)

Important Dates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Week (Feb 1st-5th):

• Pre-Visualization
• Production Design
• Animatic (30-45 seconds, on blog on 5th)

Feb 8th-12th:

• Test Footage ( shoot what we can use in the final video, experiment, and compare, Digipak and magazine advert

Half Term (Feb 15th-21st):

• Individually make a draft for a Digipak and magazine advert

Feb 22nd-27th:

• Filming

March 5th:

• All day at Coleridge.
• QuickTime what we have (rough cut).

March 10th:

• All day at Coleridge

March 11th:

• Hand in Digipak and magazine advert (12:00 pm, B102)

March 12th:

• All day at Coleridge
• Hand in finished video!

March 15th-19th:

• Evaluating

storyboard

Today with Nick we were given a task to chose 30seconds from our song and create a storyboard for it.

We picked the 30 seconds of Shadows from 1:20 to 1:50

This part of the song is where the first chours comes in. This is were the song becomes a bit ore upbeat which is why we chose it. It begins with the lyrics 'I'm moving on, I hope your coming with me' and then becomes instrumental.

Here is the storyboard we created:

set-up sheets

Here are my groups set-up sheets, Showing the shot types, performers, setting, props and costumes and post production/SFX/Graphics

Digipak Cover

This is a Cover Of a Digipak i found. I put this on my blog because i thin it fits our theme for the music video project, Being it a set-up in the wood with a light picking out some trees.

this would be the sort of thing my group is looking to do but replacing the tent with a band set-up and with lights in the trees themselves.

Steve's Lesson

Today we were given a task to go out and take photos of things that would relate to our video for a storyboard.

First we took photo's of tree's using close ups for texture etc

However I it was really cold and we didn't want to be outside for long.

we had a chat to Steve and he gave us the idea of a placed shot of how the band would be so we asked a class member to help us out and took a photo.

This is one of the photo's we took

(from left to right) Me represents the bassist, Emma the lead singer, and Ali the keyboardist.

The idea is to have Emma (lead) in front with Me (bass) on the left side of Emma and Ali (keyboard) on the right side slightly off a straight view.

Here are the trees we got.

Nick's Lesson #2

Also in Nick's lesson today we were given a task, We had to find three videos.

• A professional music video
• A Long Road Student music video
• A Hurtwood House music video

We had to count the number of cuts in each video for a time frame of thirty seconds - a minuet

1. In one minuet the professional music video had seventeen Cuts
2. In one minuet the Long Road Student music video had 11 Cuts
3. In one minuet the Hurtwood House music video had 33 Cuts

Nick's Lesson

Wordle Word map

This is the Wordle map of the words most used on my blog.

i find it interesting that the words used most are: Video and music.

Hurtwood House

This is the Video Sweet Disposition created by Hurtwood House Media.

This video links to the video we are planning to make for Shadows.

If we were to make this video we would go about it in the way were planning to for our video.

Therefore we plan to use the back of long road as its away from any traffic, roads etc.

We are also planning to use lights like them, and we could easily just use old

christmas lights etc, and get power from the art block nearby.

We can use our own clothes, and just use natural light.

Feed Back

Shadows

• Insane mood-board
• Lights
• Good Research
• Idea is really original
• Realistic
• Tea-party = <3
• Easy to film
• props easy to find.
• Band idea is good
• Good use of contrast
• The Fairy story is exciting
• Good location idea
• Nice detailed idea
• Like the fair-tale idea
• Like lighting idea

Everywhere

• Band scene and everyday teenage life is good
• Good Concept
• Locations
• Very Detailed ideas
• Good idea very interesting
• Planed well
• Story line fits in well with the lyrics of the song 'i like the shadows idea better!'

Sadows Keynote

Christina, Emma & Rob's Shadows Pitch

View more documents from longroadcreative.

Stages Of Production

Pre-Production
- Pre-visualisation (Mood board, shot list, animatic, treatment etc)
- Production design (pros, costumes, locations, hair and makeup etc)
- Production manager (Logistics)

Production
- Director
- Cinematography
- Production assistant
- Performance
- On set photographer

Post-Production
- Editing
- Graphic design (digipak and magazine advert)
- Marketing

Mood Board

This is the mood board we created using images we found on flickr. We edited the opacity on most of the images allowing us to layer up all our ideas, we then added a photo of light exposure on top of the whole mood board which helps create texture that I’d like to re-create in the video (if we get the song).

Post Card

This is the postcard we made for Shadows
This is the postcard we made

It includes the song title, artist name and release date.

My Generation

This is the video i edited for my generation. i had a good reaction from people in the class (especially Max) I'm really pleased with how the video turned out. I tried to use a variety of shots throughout and think that it didn't end up too repetitive and tedious.

Here is an image of my time line.

I don't feel I've learnt much from this task but I really enjoyed it. I love doing this sorts of thing and it gives me a chance to be very creative. I feel like this task is making my better at this sort of editing i know it will help me a grate deal in the making of the real deal video.

Jasmine Report

At coleridge, a university student gave us a presentation showing us how to create a good music video. She was given the music video project in college just like we have now.

When I saw her college video i saw that her planning and preparation rely payed off to make a good video.

She entered her music video for the BBC Blast award and was awarded with first prize. which meant that she had the chance to work with a professional team with a budget of three thousand pounds. She worked with the 'Black Dog' company, as director for the video. During the of making the video she had to do a paper version of the video. One thing Jasmine said was, 'Taking references from other songs is not stealing, it's borrowing'.

This is her college video:



And Professional video:

Songs we're interested in

• Au Revoir Simone - Shadows
• The Black Keys - Strange Times
• Everywhere - Michelle Branch
• Two Door Cinema Club - Cigarettes in the theatre

Ideas

Au Revoir Simone:

• Fairy-tale - Alice in wonderland
• Lights - Coloured
• Female performer
• band/instruments
• Two locations, To start inside then outside (woodland)
• Keyboard theme. costume/props

The Black Keys:

• Band Performance
• Parts in black and white
• Tainted love - Marlin manson style (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQuKo3SevVA)

Michelle Branch:

• American High-school style
• Lots of different locations
• Band intercut with other locations
• In a car?
• stereotypical Boy Girl story

Two Door Cinema Club:

• Band Performance
• Shots of band out and about messing around/misbehaving
• fast paced editing (lots happening)
• Skinny jeans/topman sort of costume.

Music

This is a list of the music we were given.

Check list

What makes a good music video?

• A convincing performance
• Convincing props for example real instruments
• Decent lighting
• Convincing costumes
• Good use of location
  
• Time management and being organised
  
• Editing software
• A camera operator that knows what they're doing

What is needed to get optimum marks?

• Enough variety of shots
• Listening and doing what is stated in the brief e.g lip sync
• Evidence of research, planning and reflection (on blog)
• Include pictures, screen garbs, videos etc. on blog
• At least one dance move for Nick

Personal Statement

Technical skills:

Technical Skills I possess include: Leading a tech team for shows and school music shows.for example i would rig lights ans program the shows.

I also play a few instruments and compose my own music so can remember things easily.

Creativity:

I play three instruments.

i have a good eye for a shot that will work rely well. for example in the film opening task i set up the camera for the shot panning down on Elliott .

Organization skills:

Working in a shop I have to make sure all the shelfs are well organized as not to look rubbish or obstruct anyone in the shop.

Special powers:

I have a few 'special powers' I could bring to this music video for example i play a few instruments so can bring in a guitar/acoustic and a bass, and two amps/microphones

All so I do acting in a local panto and have a GCSE in Drama.

The Digipak/The Magazine Advert

In this task we were told to creative a CD cover and magazine poster for a band we were given from a list. I got the band called Robots in Disguise, The band has an Electronica / Punk / Pop sound. Born in London/Berlin Both are now living in the United Kingdom.

This is the Outside cover i created for the single. Including a barcode record label and parental advisory to add authenticity.

This is my inside cover of the single, i added a little robot on the CD its self because the bank is called Robots in Disguise.

After doing this task it showed me that the marketing of a CD is very important. I enjoyed making the CD and poster and cant wait to make the proper one.

This is the video of the track i have to make the Cover and Poster for.

SHAPES MUSIC VIDEO TASK SESSION

This is the shapes music video i have made. we were given a track and told we had to create a video of shapes moving/changing to the beat of the track to get to grips with beat by beat editing.

I was very pleased with how mu video turned out and gave me a real feel for beat editing, and i found its allot easier than i first thought. I think this task is going to help me allot in the music but i have learned that beat by beat editing can be very repetitive and boring so it shouldn't be used to much in one video.

Music Videos

Today, we looked at student music videos from Long Road, and saw what students did well and not so well.

We were told to nominate videos for 'awards', and put them into different categories.

For 'Best Band Performance' we chose 'Kicks or Consumption', we felt that it most accurately portrayed a bands performance in a music video, and was very convincing.

For 'Best Male Vocal' we also chose 'Kicks or Consumption', the performance was strong, and we liked that the group obviously chose actual band members, instead of just choosing to do it themselves

For 'Best Female Vocal' we chose 'The hot one in the Red shirt' from 'Science is Golden'. Being hot, she did a good job of being a vocalist, regardless of what her actual talents are. Whatever they are, it's obviously not being a performer.

For 'Best use of Location' we chose 'Fake ID'. Though they didn't go all out with the camerawork or planning, we liked that they shot it in London, using some cliches that are seen in music videos, even if they didn't quite pull them off.

For 'Best Editing' we chose 'Kicks or Consumption', we felt it most resembled a professional music video with the pacing and shot choices, and they were clearly reflected in the editing.

For 'Most innovative concept', we chose 'Science is Golden', even though the techniques were not original we felt the way it was put together had a certain charm about it, and a rather 80's feel. We like this.

The 'Wooden Spoon' award goes to those with a whiter soul than Jesus himself. 'Side to Side' features three Tim Westwood wannabes in various 'gangster' locations, such as the side of a travelodge, a quiet suburban street, the quad at long road, and a sports hall. Congratulations, you wiggas.

Music Videos

Homework one.

Task One


In this task we were given snippets of a music video and a choice of different musics to edit to. first we had to pick the music then be creative with the tracks.
i enjoyed this task because we got to see what editing a music video is rely like.




In this task we had to lip sync a track to different bits of track. i thought lip syncing would be hard but its actually very easy. I also enjoyed this task because it gave us an incite into another part of out music video.

Task Two


i picked this video because of the mix of stock footage and green screening. I enjoy the concept of it to. I also like the editing of parts of the video to make it look like its from a stock real.