Finale

As a whole the process of making this Pop Video went really well for us as a group. We did take a risk not taking a main stream song and subverting some of Negus's conventions but i think we handled that challenge extremely well and delivered quite a good finale production. We got some good shots, my particular favorites, the Fridge Smashing, The Cigarette Shots, The burning car, The DJ clapping and the Flares (above) Not having a lyrics in our song meant we had much more freedom in what kind of video we wanted to show. We didn’t have to stick to one theme but we could go in any direction possible but we needed to be careful that the audience understood the meaning on the message and what we were trying to say. If there was something I could change about the video, I would probably take out the shots where the gang members cut themselves because no one really understand that we were trying to show that in this chaotic society that they were "Blood brothers", brothers for life, that there is loyalty, respect and trust between the gang members. Instead the audience was just a bit taken aback by this and shocked. Overall, we have had great feedback and some excellent comments and people really enjoyed how our video was different.

Blog Task 3

Audience- What I learnt from my audience feedback


Having collected a variety of feedback for our pop video and ancillary products from members of the target audience and from other audience demographics- via YouTube, Facebook, a Focus Group and questionnaire, and other sources, I looked to answer this question.


We aimed our video mainly at a male target audience aged from 16-25 because of the violence and action within our video. Most of this audience being from lower-class backgrounds who would be seen as CDE in the Jictar scale. It was aimed at youths with rebellious aspirations, who would be able to identify with our cast members, with little education and wealth. Our Focus Group members were, however, according to the Jictar scale in the BCD area, enjoyed and understood the video meaning that our audience could be much larger than we had aimed for.

In this Focus Group we wanted to discover whether our target audience enjoyed and understood the message we were trying to put across, the narrative, the representation of the characters and if they could identify with them, how our video could be improved and even if they liked the song we had chosen.
At the beginning of our Focus Group session we wanted to address some main points and get some specific answers, so we showed the video and handed out this questionnaire:

1) Did you enjoy it? Why?
2) What did you get out of it?
3) What did you think the message of the story was?
4) Did you think the brand was established? How?
5) Do you think it is sexist/bias in any way?
6) Did you identify with any of the characters? How? Who?
7) Did it tell you anything about relationships?
8) Did it give you any information about the world today?
9) What is the official image that you received?
10) How do you think it can be improved?


We then showed the video a second time and after discussed the points which were made and raised some questions were they could give a wider range and answers and really expresses there thoughts, ideas and understanding on the video in this session. We then asked the members if our focus group, four male and four female, to explain there answers to us in depth. We then focused for a bit on the girl to see if they thought that it was sexist in anyway they all replied no and one even added “I think it conforms to the stereotype of typical gangs”. When asked if they had enjoyed the project they all happily said yes saying things such as it was “exiting”, “energetic”, “interesting”, “edgy”. However, when we asked what they did not understand and what could have been changed, almost every single one asked why the gang members cut themselves, when we explained that it was for brother hood “blood brothers” they still thought that that was something which could have been changed or taken out. We knew that using both the questionnaire and the Focus Group we would get the best feedback directly from the audience, sort of like a “belt and braces” technique.

We first put our video on facebook, even though we can not see how many views we have each member of our group has had many good reviews from family, family friends, friends and friends of friends. Every person we have showed our video to or even sent a link to has either sent it on or showed multiple numbers of people themselves. There have also been some very good and encouraging comments. We have also put our video on YouTube and have got 872 views and still growing. We have had comments such as “coming from an artistic background i think you should put this forward in the baftas for best short film, great directing by the way, yours sincerely 8.5/10 nick shannon would love it”.

We had attempted at using Blumler and Katz’s theory on “uses and gratifications” which lists 4 broad needs fulfilled by watching TV.
• The First is Diversion, a form of escape or emotional release from everyday pressures. Our target audience could defiantly see our video as something they could relate to therefore watching it takes them away from pressures of school, university, home, poverty and even difficult social situations.
• The second is Personal Relationships, companionship via TV personalities and characters, and sociability through discussions about TV with other people. Our video is violent, edgy and stereotypical therefore many subjects and debates can be raised about it.
• The third is Personal Identity, the ability to compare one’s life with the characters and situations within programmes and hence explore personal problems and perspectives. No matter from where or what class any audience member we have can also compare their life to the lives of the character’s on screen. We can even identify with the pain, hurt and anger which goes into such rebelliousness and violence.
• The forth is Surveillance, a supply of information about “whats going on” in the world. Everyday there are articles and debates rose about how violent and reckless the young are becoming. This is exactly what our video shows.



Oddly I think ancient philosopher Aristotle can help explain how our pop video works. Our Focus Group did not understand this, but I think that pop videos appeal on the basis of Ethos and Pathos.

I explain these below.

The goal of argumentative writing is to persuade your audience that your ideas are valid, or more valid than someone else’s. The Greek Philosopher Aristotle 2,000 years ago divided the means of persuasion, appeals, into three categorise—Ethos, Pathos, Logos.
• Ethos: (credibility) or ethical appeal, means convincing by the character of the author. We tend to believe people whom we respect. Our video is aimed at a young crowed who may find the characters in our video influential and therefore would respect them in a way because they can relate to them and understand them. Many people at that age are very respectful to anyone in the music industry especially a particular artist or band, they idealize them, the DJ in our video could be see as someone they could look up to.
• Pathos: (emotional) means persuading by appealing to the reader’s or watcher’s emotions. We can look at texts ranging from classic essays to contemporary advertisements to see how pathos, emotional appeals, are used to persuade. Language choice affects the audience’s emotional response, and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument. This video plays particularly on the emotion of anger, therefore any audience members who is angry and needs to “let lose” could watch the video and his or hers emotions would connect with those of the video, therefore connecting with the music, the video and the artist.
• Logos: (logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning or speaking/writing. Deductive and inductive reasoning, and discuss what makes an effective, persuasive reason to back up your claims. Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation and cannot be emphasized enough.

Director's Commentary

We did a director’s commentary to explain a little more about our Pop Video as a way of helping our audience to understand the story line and narrative as we found that the members in our Focus Groups were a little confused in areas of the video. In the director’s commentary we explain many shots why they were put in and analyzed them. We also discussed the aims of our Pop Video and the editing. It also allows the audience to know a bit more about the choices we made such as the song.

Blog Task 2

Blog task 2

View more presentations from hurtwoodhousemedia5.

Magazine Advert

To promote our artists’ image and the theme of really grittiness and rebellion, we created a magazine advert which did just that. We wanted to create something that would appeal to our target audience as much as possible. The advert is “dark”, “gritty” however the name, D’Artagnan, connotes something completely different- fighting, justice and freedom. Which in a way our characters do fight, they fight as in physical fight but they also fight to “kick back” from the self fulfilling prophecy, which in a way is freedom.
In this modern day and age the music industry is loosing millions due to illegal downloading on sites such as lime wire and therefore only a digi pack won’t get people to buy your CD when you can get it for free. The way to make money, which at the end of the day is the main aim, even if the artists and his music is not synthetic, is threw sales of the concerts or tours. We needed to make sure that our magazine advert was the most appealing as possible without loosing that individual and rebellious feel to it. Aimed at a target audience aged from 15-25, the layout and whole image is an appealing one. It is also extremely eye catching, the fragmentation of the media texts image, exemplifies the video’s meaning. i.e. how the group within the narrative are broken and lost even though they are trying to rebel and be brave.

Digi Pack

Blog Task 1

In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge froms and conventions or real media products?

We did a lot of research for our pop video such as finding locations sites. We also watched many of music videos to give us inspiration for the making of our own, there was one in particular which we did imitate a lot, Stress by Justice the music video made by Romain Gavras,t he hole feel and concept of our video really comes from this one. Keith Negus lists the major common generic conventions of a pop music video, which are: • The explicit and unashamed promotion of the artist’s “image” (aesthetic/generic/ideological) as a specific product with a brand identity, ready for mass consumption. • The featuring of the artist (almost without exeption) • A wide and extensive range of shot types, camera angles and movement • Many short shots: high ratio • Repetition of reoccurring thematic elements and generically specific iconography (one key element often being dominant and providing the skeletal structure for the promo) • A possible narrative structure • A possible performance element • The flexibility to disregard Realism! • Shots cut tightly to the beat of the track • Use of special effects (lighting, animation, CGIs) • A carefully constructed Mise en Scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track • High impact instantly! • Discontinuity editing We looked to imitate some of Negus’ conventions of a pop video, such as having a performance element, a wide extensive use of shot types, shots cut tightly to the beat of the track and the featuring of the element or High impact so that we could follow Barthes theory of “plaisir” and “jouissance”. We also subverted some of these conventions such as the use of special effects, the promotion of the artists’s “image” we prefer to have our artist unknown and unseen, which is why when there is the performance element of the pop video our artist covers his face with a hat to make him unidentifiable. We knew from that moment that we wanted to create the same fear and repulsion as the video above had done, this coupled with the sense of disequilibrium we felt was the foundation for a good pop video.One of Keith Negus’ conventions is to use a wide and extensive range of shot types, camera angles and movement . For all the gang shots we used handheld style filming to really get that realisms and grittiness feel to our video. To give our shots a more original feel we used odd angles (as you can see above) , we also used a few slow motions shots to really give our video that impact, “wow” effect. This really took the audience in the heart of the action and video so that they could relate better to the characters. Our does not have an abrupt end but instead of this, the video fades out, leaving the conflict unresolved therefore leaving the audience wanting more. This in is as reflection on modern society because most conflicts of a similar nature are left unresolved, such as knife crime and gang violence.This shot really shows how we were trying to convey the brand of the artist’s image threw the pop video. This burning car shot really shows what lives the gang members live in a day to day basis. One of Negus’ conventions is “high impact”, we conformed to this with this shot because we create a missive build up and chose a part of the song in which the beat of the song builds up to and then we delivered this shot giving our audiences high impact. Everything from the gang scenes was all improvised so instead of following storyboards we used the location to create the film, only filming things that we thought would look god and which the audience would like. However we had intended from the beginning to have the burning car in our video and the flares too.

Final Production Music Video

Editing Blog

Editing

During the pre-production stage we made storyboards so we could have an idea of what the final project was going to become. After months of preparation, the shoot day and 2 weeks editing we finished the pop video. Using finial cut pro, we did a rough cut and after a few alterations and minor tweaks here and there we finished the fine cut of our film.

We did not follow our story boards as one the shoot day we came up with much better ideas giving us greater footage. However, we did follow the storyboards in terms of the DJ’s scenes and when his scenes were put in place. We also followed the idea of cutting from the gang scenes and the DJ scenes to the project a much better flow and more making the video more interesting to watch.


The first assembly was quite easy because we all knew what shots of the gang we liked and which ones were more dramatic. For example, we knew one of the first shots of the gang being violent should be the breaking of the fridge in slow motion (as seen on left), to give that edge to our video letting our audiences know what kind of video they were watching without giving too much away. It was also put in to keep the audeince watching and waiting til the bild up, which is also emphasised in the song, and then the grand finale.


Whilst keeping our audience still interested with the violence we also showed how rebellious our gang members were with shots of them smoking. There is one particular shot (on right), a major close up of the gang member inhaling on a cigarette around the start of our video. The same shot is then put in later on in the video, after the second "drop" in the song on the actor exhaling from the cigarette showing that this is a way of stress relief in this life style.


As we get to then end of our video, as the song gets faster, so do our cuts, from the DJ to the gang back to the DJ and so on. The tension is building up and this is when we decide to but in a black out just as the song stops for a second which is then continued by and epic shot, one of the greatest ones we filmed, the slow motion burning car shot. This is not however the grand finale shot..

We cut from the black out to this shot to really give that "wow" effect in our video. We really used the rules of thirds for this shot, as you can see. We really feel like this shot is one that makes our video unique and is a key selling point to how rebellious our artist is.

The last shot in our music video is "the flares" it fades from the DJ to the gang, which is the only time this happens in the pop promo, really symbolising how the two combine together. How our music, brand and artist can relate to our audeinces memebers. (see bellow).

We chose to use continuity editing because discontinuity editing would have taken away from the main narrative. Continuity Editing is when you edit a video to make sense visually, for example, if someone is wearing a green coat they would continue to wear this item of clothing threw out the video. Discontinuity editing is when you edit a video to create a sense of unrest in the viewer, usually building to some kind of climax.

Task Number 4

A director’s commentary on how I used new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages.

Digital Technology is new media technology, where the technology is based on digital storage and communication of data, using 0 and 1 code to compress the data into tiny packets, which give greater speed, quality and huge amounts more of storage space for data. This is far better than the analogue system of communication and data storage that proceeded digital. Digital technology underpins computers, mobile phones, modern video and still cameras, editing, the Internet, MP3 and I Phones, modern radios, modern movie projectors and most technological equipment ranging from in hospitals to schools and transport.

As in Maltby’s five stages of production, we used extensively new media technologies extensively at all five stages of the production from: research and development; planning; construction (shoot); post production; distribution and evaluation

In research and development we used new media technology a great deal. The Internet is based on it. We researched other pop videos on You Tube, and found locations where we might film on various websites such as http://www.filmlocation.co.uk/ etc..

In pre production we used a digital stills camera to go to the location and take stills of locations. We also did a camera test using a digital camera to test various potential actors and see if they could do what we wanted them to. In pre production too we created a Call Sheet using digital technology, including maps and stills, and e mailed this to cast and everyone involved which made it easier than photocopying and delivering it.

On the shoot, we used small, light, easily moved digital cameras, including the Sony ZI, which did not need much lighting. It could be manipulated to give our shots a seedy gritty feel and we did this. The smallness meant we could do a high ratio of shots to those actually cut in the final version, and this meant we could be far more creative as we had lots more shots to use. We also used slow motion for effect, which is made possible by digital technology.


In the editing stage Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects meant we could colour grade all our shots to make them clash and fit together as we wanted, and we could do slow motion and mixes and fades because of our digital technology.

For distribution we used You Tube and Face Book to put our song up and get viewings and comments. These are based on digital and mean you can potentially reach tens of millions of people, something impossible with analogue.

Shoot Day

In my opinion the reason our shoot day went so smoothly and according to plan was because we were so organised with the time and planning during the pre-production. It was only possible for us to prepare and make sure our set was looking good and the way we wanted it the afternoon before our shoot day, therefore without all the planning before the shoot day would have turned into a huge mess, even though our set was simplistic. The day before we had decided that we would have a white wall behind the DJ because the lights reflected well off it the set also included a large rack of fast flashing lights above the DJ and two moving lights on either side of the DJ and his decks.



On the day we shot all the DJ shots in the studio in the morning from 9:00 am until 13:00, before the actually filming we played the song a few times so that the DJ practice his performance and we could see which camera angles would be there best to shoot from. Once the filming had started we shot him from a number of different angles and also used a number of different movements including tracking left to right and track in and out. We used JVC 500 HD cameras, with tripod and tracking but did not use blondes or redhead on set or on location. Everyone in the group was directing giving there ideas and opinions of how all the characters should be represented, for example we came to agreement that it was best that we could see at little of the DJ face to make him more anonymous, therefore he wore a hat shadowing parts of his face so the viewers would concentrate more on what he was doing on the decks and what music he was producing.



I was directing and controlling the set saying “Rolling camera, playback and action”, and was making sure all the lights were good and rave like, whilst another member of my group was in charge of playback and the other two members were on camera at the time. I was also encouraging the DJ and clapped with him behind the camera so he could imitate me and did the very important pointing scene with him, making sure he did it correctly and boosted his confidence so he could give an even better performance. Then the group swapped around slightly and it was my turn on camera (see picture above to the right, me on camera) mainly doing the tracking shots in and out, left to right and right to left, whilst someone held the wire so it could not ruin the shot, I also filmed from a couple of different angles such as hero shots showing his the DJ’s importance. In the second half of the shoot I filmed a lot outside, which was all hand held. On location we found that the natural light was better from the effect we wanted, we filmed from 2:00pm till around 6:00pm. The directing outside was simpler than the directing in the studio because we did not have to worry about lights and wire and things like that it all became a lot more natural. The cast was very easy to direct all we had to do was point at something tell me to go crazy and smash it, which they did giving us great footage making it not looked staged and practiced which was the look we were going for.


Before the actually shoot day the main problem was to find a location where we would film all the gang shots. We were not aloud to film in our first two locations which we found because we simply did not have the money to rent it out and the health and safety precautions were just too extreme such as having an ambulance and fire truck which were really unnecessary and would put to much pressure on our actors. We also would not be aloud to make noise, break lots of things and burn a car which in our visions just did not work because that is exactly what we wanted to do. For example, the burning car was the “wow” factor to our video which we were not prepared to give that up without a fight.
However, on the shoot day the only real problem was the weather after waiting a good hour for the rain to settle, we final went off to our location at 2:00pm (behind schedule) and were able to manage the rain with two umbrellas, one of which I had luckily remember before leaving that morning. It was difficult trying to keep the camera from getting wet when we were following and running after our cast members. This therefore ruined a few of our shots. Finally the rain completely stopped and filming became much easier.


We then came across some other difficulties, such as not white balancing correctly and choosing an appropriate shutter speed on location. This did force us to lose some shots which would have been very good but we corrected the problem once we realised what was happening and the rest of our shots turned out the way we wanted them too. A few other problems happened which was the way we were holding the camera, because it was handheld, the slightest touch would put it out of focus and with the rain we did not really realise because the screen was blurry with the rain drops, however that problem was solved when the weather became good again. We had a minor issue in the studio when the CD with our track on it didn’t work but that was easily solved when a member of my group went to get his laptop which he connected to the sound system.I was especially pleased with various shots that I did .These included close ups with kanted angles on the main characters. I shot these from a low angle which gave me an impression of power and authority and potential violence in the characters.

I was especially pleased with various shots that I did .These included close ups with kanted angles on the main characters. I shot these from a low angle which gave me an impression of power and authority and potential violence in the characters.

I also liked the close ups of the characters smoking. We tried to de focus the smoke and then the face but it did not work to well as I kept getting the timing wrong. I also liked the low angle shot of the smashing of the fridge which I thought we could use in rapid cutting and slow motion. I did not do the burning car shot but the close up and the wide shot were very effective as they filled the screen.

I thought the shots of the DJ from a low angle with him clapping gave a good brand image to him. Since a lot of the shots were handeld several were wobbly alough this gave the film impact I thought several of them were without any real meaning, such as two shots of trees panning to a face had no real message.


In my opinion in shoot day went extremely well, all according to plan and we tackled all the problems that were thrown at us and came up with good effective solutions. Even with all our careful planning in pre-production we still improvised all the gang shots on the day, which we had planned to do only a bit, and we hoped they would turn out the way they did. A lot of the good shots were not even scripted we just did them on the spur of the moment because it felt at the time a good idea to do them, I am pleased we did not follow the script exactly because we now have a wider variations of shots. It really sends a message to our audience members, in a naturalistic way, and shows how not everything has to be superficial and perfect to create a good and meaningful music video. Even though our final production does not follow our storyboards exactly it looks even better than we had versioned it to be in the first place. We managed to get the shot of the burning car, even if it was run down and half of it was missing, which I was extremely pleased about. We even got another “wow” factor which was the final scene when the two gangs meet and one of the gangs threatens the other with flares, the shots are fantastic. These are the shots that made our video what it is today.

The Pop Music Industry

The Pop Music Industry-A Background and The Position Of My Pop Video In It


Musical taste can be a controversial topic, almost to the point of Tribalism. It is contentious because it defines and often signifies personality and lifestyle. Musical taste is about the way you dress, speak and sometimes act. A stereotypical example of this would be people who listen to the genre death metal would tend to wear black, have a few piercing etc. However, all commentators agree that music and its trends- sit at the epicentre of popular culture.

Some critics believe that music and the industry are in many ways incompatible terms. It is this ‘dynamic tension’ between the organic and synthetic that exists between the artistic and commercial forces of underpins the success of this vast media business. Our artist is organic, the music comes first, it is a DJ not something a media company has put together and the artist does what he wants, with his music and the way he presents himself, its not a “show or an act”. In our music video we really show this by not have a lot of flashy mise en scene but a very simple set up with just the DJ, some lights and his decks to show what the really importance of making a music video is, the music. We show a topic which, in life is very much discussed, the corruption of the younger generation. In our video we tried to keep the DJ’s face hidden so that kept his identity. Another feature to consider is the music industry ‘synergetic connections’ with other media forms, this codependence with other media means that a ‘mutual reliance’ can be productive but also risky.

The place of the Pop Video is only one strand of an often multimedia campaign. The music industry is dominated by 3 trans-national corporations (conglomerates) which are Universal, Sony/BMG and EMI, know was the Majors. Most Majors also own, or license, a string of smaller subsidiary companies in order to reach different kinds of audiences in different kinds of genre; these companies are known as ‘major independents. Finally, there are a huge number of small companies with little or no financial connections to the majors. This is one of our companies, meaning that we are not run by anyone allowing us to be less synthetic and more organic.

Music video serves a number of different functions, it promotes a specific single and, normally, an album. Promotes a specific artist or band whilst its creates, adapts or feeds into a ‘star image’. However, our music video does not quite follow all these conventions, it less promotes the artist but more the music which the artist generates, the artist represented as unidentifiable and hidden, which in a way could create a mysterious star image, like the Gorrilaz how all there music video’s are cartoons and when they perform live its there cartoons and you cant see them. The music video entertains as a product in its own right, it reinforces, adapts or undermines the ‘meanings’ of a song.

However, there are current ‘threats’ to the music video, in many respects the pop video is becoming defunct and irrelevant. There is illegal internet downloading with sites such a limewire costing the music industry millions. There are manufactured programmes with live feeds, the vidvet or ivideo and music television becomes more mainstreams with television channels such a MTV.

Permissions Letter

HURTWOOD HOUSE
HEADED PAPER


Dim Mak Records
Po Box 348
Hollywood
CA 90078 Date 08.10.10


Dear Sir or Madam

We are a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project:

We Are From Venice
- The Bloody Beetroots

With your permission the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purposes and will have no commercial usage. The video will be viewed only by members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board.

The artist and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognised in the pre-production and evaluation material that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself.

Yours sincerely,


Tamara Middleton
Hurtwood House School

Call Sheet

WE ARE FROM VENICE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11TH 2010

TAMARA
MILLIE
JJ
LEO
CONTENTS

1. PRODUCTION TEAM

2. CAST LIST

3. STUDIO SET PLAN

4. LIGHTING PLAN

5. EQUIPMENT LIST

6. PROPS AND WARDROBE

7. SCHEDULE

8. STORYBOARD

9. SHOOTING ORDER




PRODUCTION TEAM

JJ BENZIMRA
(DIRECTOR)

TAMARA MIDDLETON
(PRODUCER)

MILLIE FREEMAN
(EDITOR)

LEO FAULKS
(CAMERA/LIGHTING)

CAST LIST

GLEN PEGADO
(DJ)

(GANG MEMBERS)
NIALL GREEN
JAKE CECIEL
TUNDE OGUNDARE
PATCH WADSWORTH
SULEIMAN SHITTU
RICHARD OXLEY
SEYI OLASUNKANMI




STUDIO SET PLAN


LIGHTING PLAN
(view blog post)

PROPS AND WARDROBE

DJ SET
LIT BATONS
CIGARETTES
FAKE DRUGS
EMPTY BOTTLES

BLACK/WHITE MAKE-UP
BLACK/WHITE HAIR ACCESSORIES
BLACK/WHITE JEANS
BLACK/WHITE HOODIES/SLEEVELESS T-SHIRTS
BANDANAS
HATS
BOOTS
JACKETS
DJ OUTFIT



SCHEDULE

9-12.30
STUDIO

12.30-1.15
LUNCH

1.15-3.30
BEATRICE WEBB

3.30-4
BREAK

4-6
BEATRICE WEBB




STORYBOARD
(View bellow, storyboard post)



SHOT LIST

STUDIO
Camera position: 1, 15, 19, 25, 27
Wide shot, mid shot, close-up from front
Wide shot, mid shot, close-up from side
Wide shot, mid shot, close-up over shoulder

Tracking Shots:
Left to right, in and out
Cherry Picker

LOCATIONS
Incidents:
Bonfire
Graffiti
Breaking stuff
Drinking
Smoking
Drugs
Stolen Handbag/Wallet

Camera Test

We spent an afternoon carrying out a camera test to see if various people would fit for our group. We tested 7 people, asking each of them to stand in certain positions and act out various situations with and without music.

We were looking to see if they had screen prescense and also if they would be easy to work with and take direction. Harrison Ford is famous forbeing a cartpenter in the backgroud in someone else's camera test when the director noticed that he had screen prescence and the rest is film history. I do not think any of my cast will be that good but we have been professional in the way that we have picked them.

Storyboards

Before i began storyboarding I researched how to do it. I looked at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR2Gew1eN2M which proved a very useful first lesson.


Storyboarding is a real art as shown by this illustration of a hollywood storyboarder at work.



We carried out a long process of storyboarding, which involved working out where we would place our cast in the frame and how we would film them. We worked out size of shot, camera angle, camera movements and colours so that we would be ready to edit what we shot and know that it would work as we wanted it to.

Storyboarding is abit like an architect's plan for a building. We storyboarded and then shot what we had planned just like a builder uses a architect's plan.

Timeline

Our TimeLines (above)


We create a Timeline to display what we are going to do in each shot, for example what shot we will use, major close up, close up, mid shot, over the shoulder, long shot and wide shot in that particular moment of the song. It is a ruff outline of the actions that will happen in the shots and gives us an indication of the length each shot needs to be to complete the length of the song. A timeline is also used to match the lyrics with the timings however for our music video the time line is slightly different seeing as the song we are doing “We are from Venice” by The Bloody Beetroots has no lyrics. Our Timeline is even more precise on the timings of the shots and the narrative within the shots allowing us to synchronize the music wit our imagery. We have planned each action with such precise detail so that it fits perfectly with the length of the song.

Composition Rules

There are over 100 composition rules for film making. As film makers it all starts from what we are trying to say, our hypothesi and our meaning, which we will convey threw our pop videos to the audience where we will try and use at least 10 of these compostition rules.

1) Different Types Of Shot Size:

Shots are the vocabulary of film and television, having an undestanding of shot sizes and what they communicate is essential to every professional and amateur video producer.

• Establishing Shot:
  

These are that set the scene, in television the establishing shot is usually the first thing the director shoots, so that the director and everyone else involved knows what is going on. The rest of the shots evolve out of the information given in the establishing shot.

• Extreme Long Shot:
  
  
  
  
  

The extreme long shot shows scale, distance and geography. It is great at creating an overall atmosphere, although people will be extremely small. It works best when there is action: e.g. a train coming towards camera.

• Long Shot:

The Long Shot intro duces people at full length and creates a sense of place, time and atmosphere; showing an interior or exterior, day or night. It shows any components of the mise en scene. This shot is oerfect for the picture i have chosen because it really capture that iconice moment in the Titanic.

• Medium Long Shot:
  
  
  
  The medium long shot is good for showing character and location. If someone is on the move or going through a door this can be very useful shot. In the picture i have chosen the shot is useful to capture the action of the actors beeing chased down the hallway.
  


• The Mid Shot:

The mid shot is close enough to see facial expressions but far enough away to capture bodily gestures, like in this shot of the actors walking but showing awkward facial expressions.

• The Close up:
  

The close up delivers emotion from people and impact from objects. It gives a great detail of expression like in this picture it shows the intensity of his gaze.

• The Extreme Close Up:

The Extreme cloe up is an unusual shot. especially as you don't often get this close to someone in reall life. It is used to shock the viewer. ECU of objects can bring a new perspective to the story.

2) Camera Position and Angles:

The angles are about how you want your subject to be seen by the viewer. When Oliver Twist asks Mr Bumble for "More" the scene is enhanced by the camera being at a high angle above Oliver, and at a low angle below Mr Bumble.

Size of characters and backgrounds are important in emphasising the significance of a shot. A good camera position is the difference between seeing and not seeing.

3) Camera Movements:

The Tracking Shot: keeps the lens at a fixed angle but moves the camera towards or away from the action and so keeps the same perspectives. The tracking shot can be done on foot (but its wobbly), with tripod wheels, in car etc…

The Panning shot: because the television screen is fixed format the panning shot (left to right or right to left) allows for things that are too wide for a static shot, e.g. landscapes, to be conversed.

Titlting: the classic example of tilting is in the wedding video. The shot starts on the spire of the church and tilts down to find our newly weds, still young and in love.

4) Lighting:

The best way of lighting is to position the light as high as possible without losing the eyes in shadows from the eyebrows. The lighting must never cast an ugly nose shadow across the subject’s cheek. Avoiding nose shadows is key. When lighting a scene you must also beware of nasty shadows across the eyes from spectacle frames. Try to pinpoint light reflected in the eye pupils from a filler light. Another thing to remember is to use as little extra light as possible.

5) Rule of Thirds:

The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography, design and film. The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.

6)Leading the Eye:

Within film making, almost one of most essential elements is to encourage the viewer to follow the main character or subject. This can be done in two ways; rule of thirds or converging lines

7) Colours:

Colours within films are always used to create moods, biases or opinions. Colors also have positive and negative qualities, for example if we take the color pink, which represents loving, nurturing, emotional, the positive qualities are understanding, sympathetic where as the negative qualities are immature, needy, unstable.


8) Shapes and Lines:

The “line” of a picture is determined by outlining the subjects and/or the objects in the picture which would give its line content. For instance a picture of a sunset usually has a horizon that communicates peace and harmony. Its principal line is a horizontal.
An example of this is in the film, Strangers on a Train (1951), the first minute tells us who is good and who is bad, one enters from the left (bad) and the other enters from the right (good). The good guy walks straight and it fades out to the train tracks which turn right (with a few bumps) this is a perfect example of how lines and shapes can give u a idea of what will happen in the rest of the film.
An example of this could be the colours used in the film Wild Bunch, there is very little colour, brown, pasty, flat, grainy, dirty effect and it also goes to black.