Sunday, 6 December 2009

Budget summary

Overall in our budget we went over the 5000 pounds given by 15 pounds. We gave our clients the decision whether to go over the budget (which would improve the video) or to take off a day of editing which would bring us to being below budget. They decided that if it best for the video then they are willing to go over budget as it is not by much.

We have used up 2367 pounds on casting for 9 people for five 8 hour days.


My fellow colleagues were not present when Michelle gave us the information for the budget to work out. I was the director so, Hannah (the producer) was supposed to work it out. However since she wasn't there i had to work out the overall budget and writev it down and Hannah presented it to the clients at the meeting.

Friday, 4 December 2009

Moodboards 001


Moodboards 001
Originally uploaded by jorginaXstebbings
our target audience moodboard.My target audience research consisted of looking online for images and information about the indie genre and putting it all in to a moodboard. I also asked a friend who claims to be indie about himself and what he likes. This meant that i had a wider education on the genre ofour target audience. I was trying to find out what they wore, what music they liked, what they watched, how they watched their music videos, and their hobbies. I managed to find a little bit of everything i wanted and needed and this means i can now imput this into our music video so it related to the audience it is supposed to.

Moodboards 002


Moodboards 002
Originally uploaded by jorginaXstebbings
This is the moodboard we have produced especially for our music video, Our idea appeals to our target audience as it is full of drama and performances and also has a brief exposure of drink and violence.

puppy


puppy
Originally uploaded by jorginaXstebbings
cuteness...!

Friday, 20 November 2009

personal reflection on my contribution to the meeting

To prepare for the meeting, i rehearsed the topics i was set to talk about to make sure i knew exactly what to say. I made sure i bought in the locations, stroyboard, budget sheet, target audience research and anyhting else i needed to be able to show our clients as evidence.

During the meeting i had the role of the director so, i spoke about all the creative parts of the video for example the story board and the locations and i also had to talk about the camera angles/effects/cuts as Natalie was unfortunatley away. Hannah had the role of producer so talked about the budget,treatment and the improvements.

We both made sure we bounced off of eachother when communicating but didn't 'mess around' or chat. We mainly did our own bits and then let the other talk.

There was a problem with the budget, as we went over by about £15 but let the clients decide whether we cut back a day of editing or whether they wanted to pay out the extra money. They thought that if it would benefit the video then they were willing to pay out the money.

4 vidoes my T.A might like

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4 videos that my target audience might like.

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Out of the four videos i thought my target audience would like, they are all branded indie style bands.

Firstly i chose Super Massive Black Hole by Muse. The camera effects used were light blots on the camera and lots of flashing lights on screen almost confusing the images. However this will appeal to the target audience mainly because you don't see it very often so it is very unique, just like indie people. There is a lot of tilts and panning when it comes to camera angles which is effective because it causes more chaos and drama in the video which will again, appeal to the target audience. Their ar also a lot of closeups of the singers face involved which draws attention to the singer more promoting the band to the right type of audience.

Performance wise the guitar and performance element was potrayed heavily throughout the whole video which obviously relates to indie people as guitars are a big part of their life and their looks and they really enjoy the performance element, so this would definitley appeal to the target audience. The singer was also wearing indie style clothes, white skinny jeans, a shirt, a blazer and a scarf. This would then relte to that style of audience making them like the band even more.

The second music video i chose was Oasis-Little By Little. Again, to start with Oasis is an indie style band. There are no camera effects in this video but the camera angles are almost the same as the Muse video because it uses alot of panning in and out, tilting and a lot of moving to make it a bit more dramatic as the video itself isn't very dramatic. The camera seems to be angled upwards slightly to represent how small the little man is compared to everyone else as they look bigger.

The performance however is the main reason that this video relates to our target audience. The first thing that would stand out to indie's is the urban setting that is very public, including outside a city building and a bus stop which is very every day. Indies like very public places as that is where they 'hang out' and socialise. A guitar is also heavily involved in this video, throughout which again relates massively to our target audience, making them want to watch it.

The next video chosen is The Killers and their song I've Got Sole But I'm Not A Soldier. The killers is a big indie band to start with so this is definatley the sort of music they listen to anyway.

Again there are not many camera effects used in this video as it is not needed, it is quite an ordinary video yet unique at the same time, there is a blur right at the end of the video to blur out. The camera angles used are the same as the other videos a lot of moving, following, panning and tilting. However in this video the camera seems very amatuer which would appeal to our audience as it is quite a young audience who probably like to make their own videos. It looks less stereotypical and more down to earth.

During the performance, drinking is involved hugely as Justin Timberlake is miming the words whilst drinking a can of beer and is already drunk. He is beaten up so violence is almost invovled and J.T looks at the camera and put his middle finger up swearing. This relates to the target audience as it looks party influenced and indies love parties a lot. There is also sexual refrences throughtout as there are girls in nurses outfits and J.t is getting very close to them which looks sexual and party like aswell so relating back to the target audience. Therefore the target audience would enjoy wtching this video.

The last video i chose is Sterophonics-Maybe Tomorrow. Straight away you see a camera effect which is black and white. This makes it different to the other videos and unique like the target audience. The camera angles used are panning and moving through corridors which brings drama to a subtle video. closeups on the singers face promotes the band to the audience. When the singer is sad the camera is over him slightly to make him look small and sad. On the other hand when he is happy during the video, the camera is angled slightly below him making him look on top of the world, showing the target audience his emotions clearly.

Yet again, the video is influenced heavily by guitar and performing in a studio and on a stage. It is set in a public place (a hotel. All of this appeals to the target audience massively and the slight exposure of drink, smoking and kissing also creates a party illusion which is big for indies. It also shows off of socialising. This means this video will definaltey appeal to and relate to our target audience.

Overall i definatey think our target audience would be interested and would like the four videos i have chosen for them. This is because of the drama and the party refrences and mainly because of the guitar and performance element involved in these videos.

Wednesday, 4 November 2009

Disscussion of two music videos

Accidentally in love-counting crows





The song is an upbeat and happy song but the video has a sad twist. In this video the main character is a Rabbit(an animated one) that sings, this creates a surreal atmosphere, adding an odd edge to it as the video is quite ordinary. The Rabbit also represents the singer of the band who performs the song and is the only way the band is represented, the band itself is not shown at all throughout the whole video.


The video promotes Shrek 2 aswell, showing clips of the movie on the tv in the video, as the song is used at the very beginning of Shrek 2.


There isn't much imagery as it's a very simple video but still has a storyline that relates to the song. The man/boyfriend dances and flips his way out of the bedroom showing how happy and excited he is to be with and wake up next to his girlfriend.


The video also portrays a fairly normal morning for people that are smitten, with the guy making his girlfriend breakfast in bed by adding in the rabbit who seems to be 'accidentally in love' with the girl, making it silly yet interesting. Maybe it symbolises that anything can happen.


The end is another surreal turn as the rabbit and the girl run off together, leaving the man alone and wondering where his girlfriend went. This makes you feel quite sorry for him (this being a sad twist) However, the girl and the rabbit running off could connote the fact that looks don't/shouldn't matter.

Nine in the afternoon-Panic at the disco.



This song is also another up-beat song that, in places, doesn't seem or need to make sense. At the beginning of this video, the main singer wakes up in a room where for some reason, everything is red and he is moving in a way that almost looks like he is moving backwards. This may symbolise confusion and how when you first wake up everything is quite hazy.

He walks out of his door and he is in different clothes in the street (linking with the lyrics 'back to the streets where we began') the line then comes 'speaking of things we shouldn't read...' where princesses chase him and the band with bows and arrows, which connotes stories and fairytales.

All of the lyrics are a bit confusing and even the main line 'Nine in the afternoon' doesnt make sense as there is no such time. I think this symbolises being somewhere (trapped) for so long that your not totally aware of anything, your location or the time.

The animals and giant candy canes etc. portray childhood. This ties in with the fact that alot of lines begin with 'Back to' meaning the past and how they miss their childhood. This video promotes the band as they are featured in it but when they are playing, you cant see their faces, when they are not, they are joining in the fun.

The lighting all the way through seems normal, as in daytime/natural lighting. Clocks are also a big theme throughout the video as the title includes time. There is no specific costume, it changes all the way through as it is cutting to different scenes all the time. I like this video because of the fact that it does'nt make much sense. (Its not actually supposed to as the band wrote this song after being in a room with no windows and no clocks for so long trying to think up a new song, that when the singer asked what the time was, the guitarist answered ' i dunno, about nine in the afternoon' and that is how the song came about.

Tuesday, 3 November 2009

Thursday, 24 September 2009

How are music videos changing?

Music videos are changing by being more free in the sense that bands help with the ideas and are creatively free. Videos are becoming more 'art-orientated' and 'ad-friendly'. The factors that have bought around these changes are firstly the budget. The budgets for music videos has gone down so they don't spend as much money as they used to. Another factor is that MTV devoting no air time (until your famous enough) to videos but people posting loads on Youtube or other music blogs instead. The digital revolution is another big factor as technology has obviously changed dramatically over the past 20-30 years. This goes for the music industry with new and better directors gradually climbing ladders t be the best and over time things change. For example 'Vincent Moon' shooting videos in one take saving money and slashing budgets

This also relates to bands changing their directors to get different effects and save money. Alot of bands have been involved with vincent moons way of doing things including BLACK CAB SESSIONS which sees bands sitting in cab's playing their sings live and accoustically. Alot of these types of videos get alot of publicity on sites like youtube, helping to advertise such bands as Grizzy Bear, Maximo Park, Little Boots etc.

lighting (key back etc)


Fill light- This light connotes day time in a slightly surreal way as most of the time there are no shadows.
Backlight-This back light connotes this girl to be anglic and almost mysterious. Sometimes it shows them as herioc and important. In this case however, it seems to innocent.























Keylight- This lighting connotes a silhouette effect creating an important feel and dragging your eye to the main thing (oranges).























Wednesday, 16 September 2009

cinematography

Music videos use cinematography to create an atmosphere and a meaning by varying camera angles and movement depending on the mood they want to set.

In the fire starter video by The Prodigy, They use tilt as just one example of cinematography. They use tilt alot at the end when the instrumental enters and the music climaxes. This is to portray the front man and main person in the music as crazy. This relates to the lyrics also when he sings 'twisted fire starter'. Tracking is another device used. As the camera tracks out the frontman almost runs away from the camera, however, when the camera tracks foward the singer tracks forward towards the audience. This is to show slight confusion and panic in him as if he is running away mimicing the camera but when he comes foward, it creates a scary atmosphere as if he is there with you which you associate with excitement, energy and fear. At the start of the video it is steadycam so it can build up excitement for the 'explsion' of camera angles at the end. The variation of close-ups is done so that you can see the emotions on his face, panic, excitement etc. so you kind of feel how he feels. As this video is not only in black and white but is broken so it looks like an old movie and it's set in a tunnel and wrestling ring which also stresses fear and panic. i really liked this video because of the craziness

Wednesday, 9 September 2009

the conventions of music videos

Music videos are alot more complex than i thought in a sense that they use many different conventions. Usually the conventions fit in with the genre for example, if the video was for a heavy rock or metal band then the video is more likely to be made in a dark lighting in the setting of a warehouse or similar room or setting. The cimematography in a heavy rock music video is also likely to be more simple with close-ups of instruments and panning out to see the whole band which will more than likely be on the screen most of the time. Some are weaved with narrative to fit in with the mood and lyrics but most are more plain. However i personally feel that the cuts and changes in cuts made, tend to be a bit slower, making the videos seem slightly longer than other genres of a music video.

On the other hand, in (for example) an R and B music video, Things seem to be clearer. They use alot of mise on scene in their videos, if a girl was wearing skimpy clothes and dancing in a crude manner, it would be very typical as the storyline is usually about "gettin' sexy girls". The cinematography is a little more complicated with more camera angles being used in general to see what's put on the screen. More close-ups, extreme close-ups etc, but less promoting of the band or singer. More editing, more cuts and changes of scenery and the lighting is varied alot more.

jorgina stebbings' blog

hi i'm jorgina,
i'm doing a creative and media course and Norwich college, CNS and Hewitt. This blog is for posting video projects. My work will be assessed through this blog.