Music Video Draft

This is my music video draft for Alex Goot's cover of The Lazy Song.
There are a few problems with this video that i need to correct when it comes to filming my final video. Such as the lighting in some of the shots are extremely dark and causes noise within the video. Also some of the shots are out of sync with the music and a couple of shots, such as the shot of the toy Wall-e are way too long.
Of course there's also the problem that i didn't manage to record every shot i needed so the video is about 2 minutes shorter than it should be.
Because i wanted this video to look as good as possible, i have deliberately recorded in 1080p HD so everything appears clear and sharp in the video. Because of this, i'm having to use a friends mac to edit it, which is difficult as i have little to no experience with Mac's.
I have used a video throughout the entire video called Hard Light, which increases the saturation of the video making colours appear more vibrant. I've done this because i want this video to seem fun and cheerful, which was difficult since it was grey and raining outside.
This video will also be going up on to Facebook and Twitter so that i can get feedback, not only from other students in my class, but also other people who do not take media, and see their views on it as well.

Delay on Draft video on blog

Because i used a friend's Macbook to edit my video because my laptop doesn't take the file type his camera records in, and i also wanted to keep it in 1080p HD, i've been unable to get it uploaded and posted onto my blog. I've now asked him to send me a digital copy of it now so i can upload it and post it on my blog, as well as my Tumblr and Facebook to get more feedback

Some ideas for my new Digipak and Magazine Advert

These are just some ideas that i am planning on doing for my FINAL Digipak and my Magazine Advert. Planning on taking neccessary photos on Wednesday.

Digipak plan:CD in middle

Front cover:Image behind Taz at piano
Hard Light effect from film
Band Name in top left corner
Album Name in botton left
Bar code in bottom right

Back Cover:close up of piano keys, diagonally down towards left side of piano
Hard light
List of songs, At least 15

Inside Cover:
Photo of taz with a guitar
hard light effect

3 inside photos:3 linked photos (Follow on one from another)
hard light effect
showing stuff light guitar, other music accecories like amps and cable
stuff like xbox games, phone and other typical teen stuff mixed in with music stuff
(Showing Taz's personality of being musical, fun, weird)

Magazine:Photoshop
Image of taz's room
taz standing upside down on roof
OR
Taz upright with room upside down
taz holding up the band name
ablum name
ratings from NME or something similar
release date

Some problems...

There's been a few problems over the half term week.
Firstly, my internet has been down the entire time and is still not working properly so i am struggling to do work for my project, as well as keep my blog up to date at the moment.
Also, draft filming was meant to take place over half term but one of the characters told me that they were going away for 4 days as we broke up from school. And the other character told me that he was going away on the weekend before we came back, however his parents changed their mind at the last second, when it was to late to arrange for the first character to get over to Lutterworth to film, so we somehow need to get a draft filmed, edited and burnt onto disk by this Friday.

Magazine Advert Examples

These are some examples of magazine adverts that i found online. Because of the school's filtering, i've had to take a screenshot rather than being able to get the full picture and save it. Each one of these adverts grabbed my attention and i really like them, mainly because of the simplicity of all of them. Each one doesn't not really contain a lot but still tells you about the upcoming song or album. I prefer simplicity to a really filled detailed image as its not to extreme and allows you to take notice of everything. With an advert that was filled with loads of different images and text, you may not even understand what its advertising.

With this in mind, i plan to keep my advert plain and simple, but not too simple that it looks boring, otherwise it won't grab a readers attention.

Album Covers of Today

These are a selection of some of the most recent album that have been released by popular artists. The main i've noticed is that most of the current albums now seem to just use a photo of the artist or band for the front cover, and use little else. Some photos are a close up, where some are mid to long shot. To me, this seems to be an effective idea, but part feels it may be to simple or to dull, with the fact that every other cover is the same at the moment, but its definitely an idea worth thinking of for mine.

Examples Of Digipaks

My Animatic

Inspiration Video: Daft Punk, Around the World

This is one of my favourite music videos. Its pure simplicity and everyone and everything moves in time with the music, creating a great effect, even the camera shots and angles all seem to fit with the song. It just seems pure fun that everyone can enjoy. If i could keep my shots to fit in time with the song, then it could also be really effective.

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

Risk	Ways to Prevent/Avoid Risk
Tripping Over Cables: Some could trip over a loose cable if its left out in the open or crosses over a room	-          Ensure all cables are tied together -          Are placed to the edge of the room, or at least out of the way of where people are likely to walk -          Use bright tape to make the cable stand out to people
Thrown Objects: Some scenes include objects being thrown which could hit and hurt someone	-          Limit Throwing as much as possible -          Try to ensure throws are gentle and are not going to break anything
Shot Eleven = Someone leaning back and falling: In shot eleven, the character has to lean back throw a doorway. If they lean to much they could fall over	-          Do not force the person to lean back further than they can -          Place plenty of cushions behind the doorway so that if the person does fall then they land on the cushions, preventing injury
Use Of Electrical Equipment: There will be a lot of electrical equipment around that could hurt someone	-          Keep ALL liquids away from equipment -          Place as much equipment out of the way of people as possible -          Allow only certain people to operate the equipment

Video Analysis 3: Blame Halo 3

This is an amateur music video to a parody song for Akon's 'Blame it on Me'. I thought that it would be good to analyse an unprofessional video and see how things differ from a professional music video. Both the song and the video were created by James At War, and the video has reached over 8 million views and is highly popular.
The video is completely illustrative of the lyrics, with almost every scene following the actions describe in the song, which helps make this video humorous which is why so many people have watched it. I want my video to be funny for people to watch as well so that they can enjoy it in a different way to most music video's today.
The video has been out for years now, so it hasn't got the best video quality, and quite often the camera is unsteady, which are both elements that i wish to avoid in my video. To do this i shall be using a Canon 550D so that i can shoot in HD, and i will use a tripod for most of the shots where possible.

Basic Schedule

This is my initial schedule of when i would like to get work done, but at this moment, i'm still unsure as to exact dates and times  when i will be able to get the shots done as it depends on when me and everyone else involved with the video are available. When i am sure of a date or time, then my schedule will be updated.

	Day
Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Weekend
3rd Oct – 9th Oct	DIJIPAK AND MAGAZINE ADVERT
10th Oct – 16th Oct	Music Video Test Shots				DRAFT DIJIPAK AND MAGAZINE ADVERT DEADLINE	Analyse test shots and suggest improvements
17th Oct – 22nd  Oct	Shoot shots for Draft Video
24h Oct – 28th Oct	Editing Video				VIDEO DRAFT DEADLINE

Video Analysis 2: Bring Me To Life - Evanescence

The video to bring me to life heavily reflects the mood and meaning of the song. The song is quite a dark gothic rock song, and the video has low lighting and gothic feel to it even though it appears as a type of futuristic city. Everything begins slowly and gently just like the song itself, using slow pan shots, zooms and long cuts. Then as the guitar and bass start, making the music more forceful and increases the overall speed of the song, it switches to her falling, then back to her sleeping when it goes quiet again.

In the video, the main character, also lead singer, awakens and climbs out the window. The way she moves is almost like she is being possessed or spirit like, which could link back to the title, bring me to life, with her being possessed and her true self needing to be brought back. After she climbs out the window she scales the building to the room where the band is playing, like she is drawn to the music coming from there. On the way she passes people and they don’t even notice that she’s there, making her seem more like a spirit. When she reaches the room, one of the band members actually sees her, and opens the window to let her in. When he does, it seems like she is suddenly awoken and she stumbles and falls, and he’s there to save her. All these actions are very illustrative of the lyrics within the song.

Audience Profile

The audience that my video is most likely to appeal too is Teenagers and young adults between 13 - 21.
This is because this is the age range that listens to the most music and watches the most music video's, plus the song that I'm using is well known by most people within this age range. Of course it will appeal to other ages as well, but not as much.
People between 13 - 21 tend to have a huge variety of musical tastes so there's not really a specific type of person that this may appeal to more, but they may have certain views on how a music video should look. I need to ensure that the video is fun and enjoyable for younger viewers, but not too childish that older people won't enjoy it the same way. A good way to do this is with creating an illustrative video that is based mainly on what the lyrics of the song say. That way, if people like the song they will most likely enjoy the video as well.
Young adults and Teenagers enjoy spending time socialising, hanging out and sleeping over with their friends, so if i can use that in my video, then it should help the video appeal to the target audience.

Pitch

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

This is my video Pitch. Struggled to think of how to describe what i planned to do and couldn't find any decent appropriate pictures to show my ideas, plus Animoto only offers a 30 second video and cuts out parts that don't fit.

Band Name and Biography: Upside-Out

Twitter Link: http://twitter.com/#!/AlterReality_A2
Biography:
Upside-Out has 2 members Taz and Jacob. They've been friends since High School, but only became best friends when they moved up to Year 11 in college. Each of them has similar interests, as well as their own different interests, so there's a lot of variety within everything they do.
Jacob is the more intelligent one of the group, in certain areas. He took Physics, English and Maths at AS Level, and passed them all with high grades. He thinks of himself as the more mature one of the group as well, but he can be just as immautre as Taz, he just hides it better. His musical interest mainly focuses around rock music, but he does take interest in other genre's.
Taz is the creative genius in the group. He can think of absolutely anything when it comes to coming up with ideas, or solutions to problems. He's the youngest one of the group by 3 months but is the most musically talented. His musical intersts mainly revolve around humourous artists such as Stephen Lynch and Avenue Q, but he listens to a larger variety than than Jacob.

My Song choice for my music video

This is a popular cover of 'The Lazy Song' by Bruno Mars. Its now available on ITunes because of how popular it has become and how good of a cover artist Alex Goot is.
I thought it would be good to use a cover version for my video since i'm creating a different music video for the song to the one originally released.

Video Analysis 1: Linkin Park - Numb

The video for Numb by Linkin Park reflects many of the emotions that the lyrics talk about it. The entire video is based around one girl who acts differently to everyone else around her. The video uses faded colour effect so that there is little to no colour in of the scenes, almost reflecting the little hope the girl has left. Also there are numerous scenes when she is walking slowly and the rest of the world is speeding past at a higher frame rate, identifying her individuality amongst the rest, just because she’s an artistic person. Even her mother moves around faster, and doesn’t accept her for who she is, showing the girl as completely alone in the world. Even when she runs to the church where the band is playing, it’s completely empty when she arrives. The length of the shots changes throughout the song. As it comes to the chorus, which is more heavy and powerful, the shots become shorter and quicker, but return to normal speed when the verses are sung as they are more peaceful than the chorus. This emphasises the chorus, which makes it stand out more, making it the main part that people remember.