Evaluation (so far)

For my media production I chose to produce a music video for the Cyndi Lauper's 'True Colours'. I had to think about the style of the original as I wanted to take a different approach to the song. The original genre of my chosen song is fusion of new wave, pop and adult contemporary, however I have created my music video in the genre of a typical pop video.

The first process I took was briefly analysing three similar music videos to get an idea of the range of codes and conventions that are followed in different genres of music. The first video I analysed was the chart topping pop band Abba’s ‘Super Trouper’, I found that this music video follows the typical conventions of a pop video, being that the majority of the running time, it is the performer being shown performing their song. I took this technique and had only had a short narrative at the beginning, middle and end of the song to break up the sections of the song. From analysing Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ I decided the codes and conventions of this video did not create the style of video that I wanted to create. The third music video I chose to analyse was Panic at the Disco's 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies', I chose this song because it has been produced in a quirky, alternative style. I wanted to find out if there were any similar features used in this video compared to Cyndi Laupers original video.

I decided to use the program prezi to present my research, including my lyric analysis. During my research I found that my chosen song was most popular with males and females aged between 35 and 44. It was also popular with females aged 13 to 17, I believe this is due to the cover performed by the cast on the American show 'Glee'. This helped me to decide that I would produce my video in a popular style as my target audience was fans of Cyndi Lauper but also the millions of viewers of 'Glee'.

The next step I took was to produce a storyboard to give me an idea of how each shot would cut to the track and a brief description of what would happen in each shot. I decided that because my chosen song has a slow tempo that I wouldn't have many fast cuts as this wouldn't create the desired effect.

figure 1

Problems I came across whilst filming were mainly due to the weather conditions, as it was windy and rained slightly, which caused the camera keep shaking, even though I had the tripod on steady ground. I overcame the problem by filming in an area that had a surrounding that blocked the wind. Another problem I had to deal with was that the camera tripod that I used to shoot my first scenes was stiff, so as I tried to pan the camera across or up and down it was not in a smooth movement which affected the quality of the video. An example of this, shown in figure 1, is at 2 minutes 12 seconds as the camera jolts as I went to zoom in on the performer which causes the image to become blurry. 

As my performer is at university, it became a problem for re-shooting scenes as she would often be unavailable when I was available to film, which meant I had to use and edit shots that I wasn’t 100% happy with.

From the information I gathered from my audience feedback questionnaires, I can see that I my narrative and performance style were done in a way that allowed the audience to understand what genre and what the meaning behind the music video production was.

If I were to do the coursework portfolio again, I would have chosen a different song as I felt it was difficult to create an interesting storyline that fitted my chosen genre, the song I would choose if I had the opportunity to do this media portfolio again would be Christina Perris’ ‘Jar of Hearts’. I think I would have done a better video for this as I can relate to the song, which would give me a deeper in site into the meaning behind the lyrics. I would also have organised myself more, by having a strict time schedule to follow to ensure that I completed the necessary tasks leaving enough time to make changes and get feedback on what I could do better.

Final Magazine Advert

Finished Music Video

Finish Digi Pak

This is my final digi pak. I changed my idea from seperate panels to a single image stretched across the three panels for the inside, one image for the two back panels and one image for the front cover.

Digi Pak so far.

First Edit

First idea of DigiPak

Up to Date Prezi

This prezi now includes pictures of my locations and a brief description

Shooting Script

0.0 - 0.05              Boy on laptop, medium close-up of him, as the music starts the camera cut to the laptop screen to show YouTube video playing

0.6 – 0.22             YouTube video plays, then camera cuts to a close-up of the boy’s face as the lyrics say ‘you with the sad eyes’

0.23 – 0.29           Close-up of the boy cuts back to the laptop

0.30 – 0.37           Boy walks over to the window, looks out at people talking and laughing

0.38 – 0.45           Zoom in on boy’s sad face, zoom out to show room with laptop on the bed

0.46 – 1.01           Fade in to his eye with him slowly blinking

1.02 – 1.10           Fade/dissolves into rainbow (picture)

1.11 – 1.31           Dissolve into singer in bedroom doorway, singing

1.32 – 1.39           zooms out to over the shoulder shot of boy looking through pictures of him smiling etc, still with singer singing in background

1.40 – 1.48           Singer slowly walking over to the bed

1.49 – 1.53           on the phone, as camera pans out to show full room, with bed and singer in centre

1.54 – 2.02           fade into singer slowly walking through the trees

2.03 – 2.11           Zoom in of singers face, cuts to..

2.12 – 2.19           Wide angle to show of her walking through trees

2.20 – 2.30           Fade/dissolve into a large picture of a rainbow fade into..

2.31 – 2.51           birds-eye-view shot of bed and laptop, shows YouTube video playing

2.52 – 3.45           slowly dissolves into ‘full screen mode’ to show the rest of the video, until lyrics ‘like a rainbow’

3.46 – 3.57           dissolves into final picture of a rainbow

3.58 – 4.00           fades into a bright light to end the video

The Cast's Costumes

Hannah will be wearing a pretty colourful dress for  the majority of the video, however when it is the walking through the trees shot, she will be wearing a white floaty dress, so she looks innocent in the moonlight (as I am shooting it around 4 - 5pm so it is just getting dark, so the moon is out).

Liam will just be wearing casual jeans and a blue t-shirt, as I want it to be an underlying message that he is sad, as the blue connotes sadness, and also because the shots will be in black and white, so the blue t-shirt will come out lighter that the jeans.

shooting schedule

Dates to be decided as of yet, waiting for date confirmation with cast.
However, I plan to film the artist performance first that will appear as a youtube video, then followed by the narrative.

Updated on 5/12/11
I had arranged to film on thursday 1st december, however had complications with the camera, so went to film on saturday 3rd december, but due to the rain I couldn't film, as it was outside shooting.
I have booked a camera again for thursday and plan to film the performance parts of the music video, shot in the woods and hessle foreshore

Anamatic

Statistics for my song.

Storyboard

Genre & Target Audience

GoAnimate.com: Genre %26 Target Audience by S0013017Gemma


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Prezi

Video Analysis 3

The third video I am going to analysis is Panic at the Disco's 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies'.

Panic! at the Disco is an American alternative rock duo, formed in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2005. Since its split, the band's line-up includes Brendon Urie (lead vocals, guitar, piano) and Spencer Smith (drums). Former members Ryan Ross (guitar) and Jon Walker (bass) left the group in 2009. The band has been described by critics as a variety of genres, most commonly pop punk, alternative rock, and baroque pop.

Video Analysis 2

The second video I am going to analysis is Bonie Tyle's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'

Bonnie Tyler (born Gaynor Hopkins on 8 June 1951) is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s including "It's a Heartache", "Holding Out for a Hero" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart".

In the opening 7 seconds, the scene is set with a wide angle shot of an old building, followed by a zoom in on the lite up window. As the first lyrics 'turn around' are sung, the vcamera slowly pans across to reveal the female singer heind a piece of material as she sings her first line 'every now and then'. At this point, the shots of Bonnie Tyler, she isn't singing, she is just in the shot looking out of the window looking mystierous. She isn't shown singing until 1 minute 22 seconds into the song. As the song builds up at 37 seconds, a male in a old school uniform, comes through the double doors, this is dramatic becasue it shows him in the dark, and as the lyrics 'bright eyes' is sung, he looks up and his eyes are lite up which carrys on the mysterious feel to the video. The whole video is shot in darkness with only light shining through the windows. the narrative doesn't match the lyrics, but the movement of the characters works with the bear of the movement, so when she isn't singing, there is mevement from the characters. for example, at 1 minute 33 seconds, she sings 'and I need you now tonight' this shot of her singing is follwed by a shot of two characters fencing in time to the music before she sings her next line.

Video Analysis 1

The first music video I am going to analysis is Abba's 'Super Trouper'.

ABBA were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog. They became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of pop music, topping the charts worldwide from 1972 to 1982.

This music video follows the typical conventions of a music video, it begins with a light shining down onto the singers and the whole video is their performance of the song. There isn't a narrative and the only match on action is at the beginning when the woman sing 'beams are gonna blind you' and there is a man shining a spot light at the camera which then dissolves into the performers singing.