I have mapped out some dates/times that I could film with Jess, however I will need to get her go-ahead with these to check that they're all ok with her, so they may change as a result, however I will keep you updated with any changes.
For Tuesday 5th November, I am wanting to film between those times as I want there to be a dark, eerie tone to the sad atmosphere as Jess dwells on what's happened and decides to return home. For whatever reason, it may not work as it may be too dark, so that's why I have allowed Saturday 9th and Saturday 30th for extra filming if need to be as a back up plan.
I will use both Leanne Owens and Joanne Dowson to film some behind-the-scenes footage throughout these dates.
Well, so far I feel like i've done a lot more research into my chosen field (music videos) and I have also analysed in more detail and deconstructed other artists music videos.
In relation to Question 1a, I have stepped up a lot in terms of technology for my rough music video, as I was able to use a Canon camera which was amazing quality and gave me the option to use the depth of field settings, as with my AS piece, I only had a normal quality digital camera, which wasn't great at all. The camera that I used for my AS piece wasn't made solely for videoing, that was just an extra that you could use, which was obviously why the quality wasn't great. I did have it set on the highest possible HD setting, however it still didn't work as well I needed it to, yet I was able to produce a film out of it. As I knew that I needed a better quality camera for my A2 piece, I was able to borrow a Canon HD camera, which has depth of field settings and manual zoom, enabling me to have more control when filming. As I had someone else filming me whilst I acted in the music video, they were also able to learn how to use it well and how to use the depth of field settings, which has put me at an advantage for the future as I now know that if I ever need help filming again, my camera operator knows how to use top quality cameras.
During my rough trial, I have been able to improve the sound MASSIVELY because I didn't need to use a camera microphone, I was just able to add the sound in during post-production, which was great as there was no disappointment with the sound issues. I had a lot of problems during my AS piece during the post-production part of the film, however from experience, I was able to improve my editing and technological skills during my rough music video.
For my A2 piece, I have also included a lot more research as I created a rough music video, which I didn't do for my AS piece, I just filmed straight away. I did however, create a film which I thought could be my final piece, however after feedback I changed parts of it, so I was able to get a feel of filming, however not as good as I have this time. With the skills that I developed during my AS piece, I have been able to create a rough version of my music video as I knew how to use depth of field settings from research during AS, which helped a lot during my rough music video. As I had never produced/edited a music video before, it was extremely beneficial that I had the summer to film my rough music video, as I was able to take my time to plan it out, using storyboards it allowed me to gather a better insight into the planning stages of a music video and it also enabled me to gather extra footage for my final piece, as I will be using the singing parts of my rough music video within my final piece.
In terms of Question 1b, I have done a lot more research this year in terms of audience, genre and narrative, as I have been able to deconstruct individual music videos and artists to branch out my research, giving me a wide range of knowledge, enabling me to plan out my final piece in great detail as a result. I have also been able to use theories during my research, as we didn't study these in AS, but they've helped add to my research in A2. The theories that we have learnt have allowed me add a theoretical element into my work, which has given the music videos a structure, due to Todorov's theory with the three stages, which links to a lot of my videos that I have analyed. It also links to my video, as there will be three stages: Equillibrium (implicit - we don't see the previous equillibrium), Disequillibrium (the argument and when Jess runs away), New Equillibrium (also implict - this could be the family moving on without her, or Jess going back into the family, however the video will end before the audience have a chance to know). This is showing a basic structure to the genre that is normally shown within the pop/rock genre that I am researching. Roland Barthes is also brought into this, as there is a clear Enigma as the audience are left puzzled and they have to fill in the blanks to what happens next, which is very interesting. Propp is also brought into this because Jess is portrayed as the hero as she is the main character in the video, however she is an anti-hero as she is presented in a negative light. This however, is solely based on Propp's theory.
For my AS piece, I did do some research into the type of target audience that would be viewing my film, before I started to plan it, however that was just done on the internet. I also did a few interviews with some of my characters during my evaluation, asking them who they thought the target audience would be. For my A2 piece, I have extended this research hugely, as I have produced a survey on survey monkey, which has given me a great insight into how my audience would think as I picked a random sample and sent them my rough video through email and gathered their feedback. Their findings are presented on previous blog posts.
I will be continuing to extend my planning research within this project, as I going to complete the suggested list of planning materials and hopefully extend that further with more material, which will be a massive step up from AS.
Overall, I feel like my skills have developed a huge amount, which has been extremely beneficial in order to create a sophisticated final piece, linking well with the research that I have carried out.
This is a rough plan of how I imagine to film my music video. As I have mentioned, I will add in my singing parts in post-production, so those are still going to be included.
I would love to film some of my scenes at an overhead angle, looking down onto Jess, connoting how insignificant she now is in the outside world fending for herself and also how alone she is now feeling. This would be extremely hard to do, as I don't have a crane to swoop down to take the shot and where I want to film I won't have a van that I could take and drive behind Jess as she walks, so I don't think this will be possible. This type of shot would be extremely interesting to use if I had the right technology/equipment, as it would really show Jess in the way that I want her to be portrayed, as out of her depth in the 'big bad world', as she ventures out alone and now is her own guardian.
I have also thought for a different location to use whilst Jess is wondering about lost, there is a bridge next to where I filmed the poppy field scene and under the bridge is a nice little eerie location, where there are pebbles next to the water's edge and Jess could wonder under there, which would make a nice effect. There is also a lovely little walk way through the field that I could have her walking through, through the use of a LS, so allow the audience to understand how alone the girl is. This would also be interesting to do because I feel like it would link in well with the research, linking to the Titanium video where the boy walks along the woods, but to also really capture that sense of being alone and how insignificant she really is when everything else is happening around her.
This is the bridge that goes over the top of the 'pebbled water's edge':
I am just considering some different locations before I start to film.
It has been extremely hard to find actual inside magazine adverts, rather than front covers or stories about the artist, as the album that and artist that I am looking for isn't the 'next big thing' at this moment in time.
I bought Glamour magazine, as I saw that there was an article about Taylor Swift in there, however when I read it, there was nothing promoting the album, it was just an article about her as an artist, which was extremely annoying!
I have only been able to find two magazine adverts for my chosen artists and this is what I have done:
There are similarities between both of the adverts, as they use a completely different image of the artist for the background of the magazine advert, which I will be using for my magazine advert - I will get some extra images taken just for the advert. They have also used the same text and typography for both the album and the advert and also an image of the album. There isn't actually any writing about the artist in these two adverts, which is interesting as that's what I thought would be most prominent in the advert, but apparently not. So, I will be using these two adverts as my template for my advert.
To clarify everything as a whole, I am producing a treatment to allow people to gain a better understanding of what I am doing and to also reinforce it to myself.
This is my proposed idea for my music video and I have created a detailed plan of what will go on within it. I have re-planned my music video with a different actress: Jessica Hay
I am planning to have a fade in to the music video as the song starts and then there will be an argument scene between Jessica and her Mother. This will last for around (0:06 seconds), so a brief argument will be shown and then Jess will race up the stairs to her room and frantically packs clothes and whisky into a rucksack. There will be occasional shots of her phone on the bed, so that the audience are aware that the phone is on the bed and there will also be close-up's of Jess's face to show her dispear and upset of the argument.
Jessica will then run down the street as she looks back at the house. She heads for the bus stop and gets on the bus to the nearest City and walks around the streets for a while, looking bewildered and lost and as she gets lost in her own thoughts. There will be cuts between Jessica and her bedroom as her phone rings on the bed and it is shown to be her Mum. She then ends up in a woods and looks around as she realises where she is and how much of a mess everything is. Jessica will slump down at the bottom of a tree trunk and she pulls out a bottle of half fun whisky and swigs it to try and forget.
The music video will end with Jessica returning home, and she will be stood in front of the house, wondering whether to go in or not.
The video can end with a shot of Jessica outside of the house and I will do a reverse shot of inside of the house where her Mum closes the curtains and Jessica is out of focus and as her Mum closes the curtains she isn't aware that Jessica is there.
I will be adding in the parts of my singing too in the woods and poppy field.
Package
I have done a mock up of what will be included within my product, however this is very rough and will be manipulated throughout the near future, as I will probably get some more photo's taken, as I am no longer the actress within the video, thus the front and back cover doesn't really work. For my digipack, I am planning on having 8 pages within it, featuring a number of different things. I am planning on including collages of 'behind the scenes' images such as the recording studio, small gigs and also song writing. I am also going to include some of the lyrics that will be featuring within the album, which links directly to my research.
This treatment/summarising excerise is a clear identification of how my skills have changed from AS Level to A2, as this is much more detailed and my previous summary for AS was detailed, however didn't include a wide range of material.
Audience
I have evidenced some of my audience research in my previous blog posts with screen shots of my survey's, however I have collected some more:
This was a great response, because they have answered exactly what I wanting really - "adding more black and white shots". I am definitely going to do this, as I am adding much more narrative into the video, however I will use my singing parts to cut away to and keep linking in, which will act as a storyline for the video.
This respondent said that they would add in more background activity, thus the whole idea of me adding in more black and white footage will definitely link in great with the audience feedback, meaning that I've taken the audience' opinions into consideration and thus have acted upon it. Some of the respondents have also said that they liked the wood and the poppy field scenes, so the bulk of the video will be the narrative, however I will show myself singing in the woods and the poppy field too.
My research and development has influenced my decisions massively because due to the rough music video that I made, I have changed the idea of the music video massively and I am now adding in a completely flowing narrative, with parts of myself singing too, so this is a massive change.
This idea will definitely work, as it will clarify the confusion that the audience are experiencing due to the rough music video, as they're confused to why the artist is playing both the singer and also the actress, which I didn't really consider during the planning of it, as I thought it would just work, however as I have done a practise version, I am now clear on what will work and what won't, so that has been as really productive piece.
As I produced a whole rough version of my proposed music video, this clearly shows a massive jump between AS and A2, as I didn't film a rough version of my James Bond film, which shows how I am now trying to produce a top quality piece that will definitely work. I have also collected a lot more audience feedback which has been beneficial.
These are both mock-up's of my CD cover and Digipack, so aren't finished by any means! I have included my research within these, with the music video background coming through on the front cover and in the digipack, I have included lyrics and an image of me kind of in a 'backscene' style - so this links in well my research.
