Teacher Feedback on Pitch and Blog

Your pitch was excellent, very clear ideas for the promo music video. You have clearly done lots of work on the magazine ad, I would like you to research digipaks and ensure your blog has some of your initial ideas for the digipak.
Your blog is also coming along really well and is very illustrative of your ideas.
Great work so far, keep going.

Lyrics : David Ford - A Long Time Ago

Clouds on the moon,
It was a hollywood sky,
I sat on the wall, 'til your parents drove by,
And i walked to you door,
And remember how you smiled,
Well that was a long time ago.

Your fault or mine,
It's such a tough one to call,
Do you one day look up to see your innocence fall,
From a twelve storey window, to the concrete below,
It was all such a long time ago.

Now your path and mine,
They never seem to converge,
And now sat here in god-knows-where with a mouthful of words,
Well they just sound like noises,
If you say them enough,
It was all such a long time ago.

Now was it though?

In some underground saloon,
Where you can always get a drink,
There's a girl by the cigarette machine,
And i think i'll strike up a conversation,
But i wouldn't know how,
Doesn't seem such a good idea now...

With the clouds on the moon,
Another hollywood sky,
It's time i dragged myself home and to wonder just why,
I still think of you know,
Only as you were then,

It was all such a long time ago.

Now was it though?

Props in the making

As i-stop motion is fairly time-consuming it is important that we begin getting footage as soon as possible, so we have already begun making our main props (e.g the 2 main characters). We also split the list of props into 4 and have all taken responsibility for gathering certain items. We aim to have all props together by Thursday 1st October to do some test footage. Our first proper filming date is Monday 5th October.

Costume Details

Red shirt
Blue jeans
Black Belt with buckle
Black shoes
Black hat

Blog Checklist

• Storyboard - Done
  
• Shot List
• Timeline
• Location Scouting
• Props List - Done
  
• Costume Details
• Confirmation of Actors - Done
  
• Call sheet
  

Magazine Advert - Initial Idea

Above is an initial draft idea for a magazine advert for our chosen song. The advert will show the artist sitting on a bench with his guitar sitting beside him everything below his the top of his head will be real , where as everything above his head will be made out of plasticine. The transistion between will be a gradual fade from real life to the model. We chose to show it like this because we wanted to get across the colourfulness and playfulness of the video.
The words ‘new album’ will be made out of plasticine also and will be in the same writing and the same lights as the Hollywood sign that frequently appears in the video. For now we just have ‘new album’ but in the same font the artists name (David Ford) and the name of the album will be written there to give the advert more content. The colour scheme for the advert will consist of very bright colours to draw the reader in and yet again emphasise the element of fun in the video. The date is included in the bottom right hand corner and along the bottom we will include various other information, for example, where you will be able to purchase this album.

Magazine Advert - Analysis

Below are a few examples of different magazine album adverts as you can see they are all very different but they all have certain similarities
Firstly, they all contain a picture or name of the band/ artist that have created the album. This is to target and to sell to people that already know of the band and enjoy their music. Depending on how big the band or artist have been depends on how big the artist name is in comparison to the album title, if this is one of many albums from a very popular band they will focus more on getting the artist name across rather than the album title. If they are a relatively new band they will focus on catching people's attentions with the album title.

Secondly, they all include release dates this is to show the audience of the advert when they can hope to get their hands on the album. This plays a very important role as then the reader can plan to go out and get it as soon as it comes out instead of looking in every now and then because they aren’t sure if it is out yet. Also along with the release dates some adverts include places that you can purchase the CD from, for example the Ian Brown ad has the easily recognisable HMV logo.

Lastly they all contain complimentary visuals for example the Mika advert. Mika’s songs are known for being upbeat and happy, this advert reflects this as the colours are very bright and stand out.

By using these various techniques the designers of these adverts maximise their chances of anyone viewing these adverts eventually buying the album.

Music Video Analysis Powerpoint - Goodwin's Theory

Q1 Music Video Analysis

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This powerpoint is showing an analysis of a music video, Hey ya! - Outkast, using the different points of Goodwins theory. This will help us in making an effective video for our chosen artist and song.

Storyboard

This is our current storyboard. It is likely that we will adjust some of the shots and composition as we begin to film.

List of all the props we need to make/prepare:

-The box (main setting)

-Background (the moon etc..)

-Plasticine lead character (and hat and clothes)

-Plastic Tree (from duplo/playmobil

-Brick Wall (plasticine)

-Stars (thick card, hanging on clear thread)

-Hollywood letters (plasticine)

-Car (either plastic or plasticine)

-House (thick card)

-Thought bubbles x3 (thick card, hanging on clear thread)

-Picture of plasticine girl

-Teddy Bear (plasticine)

-Paths (grey plasticine)

-Words (card, on clear thread)

-Music notes (on clear thread)

-Plasticine Girl

-Bar/Saloon (new background, and box to use as bar)

-Pints of drink (plasticine)

-Chairs (playmobil/duplo)

-Cigarette Machine (box)

Items for real life shots:

-Guitar

-Hat

Music Video Analysis - Goodwin's Theory

This powerpoint analyses a music video based on Goodwin's theory. Looking at other videos (even those not in the same genre as our chosen song) helps us to see the specific requirments of music videos and the characteristics of all genre's.

Q1 Music Video Analysis

View more presentations from Media Studies.

Influencial Music Videos

Each of these videos have used the programme i-stop motion which is what we're are hoping to use for ours. The first two videos are by are Swedish band called Melpo Mene, their visuals are very complimentary to both the lyrics and the music. They both have a very 'cute' appeal about them and gives a happy and relaxed tone. Referring to mise-en-scene in 'I Adore You' it is quite limited and quite simple but this again is very effective and compliments the music. 'Firekites- Autumn Story' was co-directed with a woman called Yanni Kronenberg, and after research it seems that she quite new to the music video scene. An artist she has a close relationship with is 'Holy Throsby' and she has directed a few of her videos. The third video 'Its Magic' will be very helpful for our project in terms of its use of props: plasticine. We are hoping to make our characters out of plasticine along with with setting too. I like the fact that the video has its narrative through the making of the main character which really encourages viewers to carry on watching. It also seems that the genre to all these videos are similar, around the indie-rock genre. A possible reason for why these videos choose animation is that the mostly have literal lyrics or are easily representable through animation.

Video Pitch

Stories/Narrative

The narrative will follow the lyrics of the song as they're are quite versatile to represent literally. For example, 'I sat on a wall till your parents drove by,' could be easily shown in i-stop motion using plasticine figures and props. The audience will relate to the artist's thoughts also as they are represented through both the lyrics and visuals.

Costume and Props
A box will be used as the setting for the i-stop motion parts in order to keep consistency with lighting throughout the shots. Most props used within the box will be made out of plasticine or card, some props will be plastic figures used for dolls houses or playmobile etc. This keeps in line with Hammer & Tongs playful theme, child like and abstract influences.

Tone
The tone of the video will represent the artist, David Ford, as an approachable, genuine, nice guy. The video will have a 'cute' factor, giving it wider appeal so the audience can range from a child to adult.

Colour
To keep in with the childlike/playful theme we will use bright primary colours in the video. the objects made out of plasticine will be similar colours to the real life objects that they portray , but the colours will be intensified.

Pace
The length of the shots will relate to the pace of the music. The music has a slow pace therefore the shots will be of a long length and rather than having sharp cuts between them, the cuts will be more gradual.

How our music video will relate to Goodwin's Theory

Genre Characteristics- The indie genre of music is seen to be stereotypically quirky and often doesn't comply with the conventional image of celebrity bands. This is demonstrated in the indie genre of music videos. Below is a shot from the video 'Pumping on Your Stereo' by Supergrass that reflects the unique and innovative attributes of many indie music videos.
We plan to use bright colours, abstract mise-en-scene and an engaging storyline to ensure that our video concept complies to the generic characteristics of most indie music videos.

Lyrics and visuals - Our music video will definatly have a strong link between the lyrics and visuals as all action taking place will replicate what the artist is singing. The lyrics in this song describe a situation more than a feeling which allows to us to use complementary visuals throughout.
We will also have the artist(the plasticine representation of the artist) singing the lyrics. The images below are just some sample shots we did using the concept of i-stop motion to make it look as if a figure is speaking/singing.

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Music and visuals - There will not be such a strong connection between music and visuals as the video will be shot from one angle and will not have a variation of shot types that change on the beat. Our main focus is on the literal representation of the lyrics and the representation of the artist and we didn't want rapid shot changes to draw the viewers attention away from this. We are however going to swap to the real-life shots during the instrumental sections at the beginning and end of the song.

Notion of Looking - By setting our music video within a box it gives the viewer the impression that they are looking into something hidden or private and encourages the viewer to engage with the artist and want to watch further into the video.
This sample from our storyboard shows how the use of the box will give the viewer the impression that they are looking into something personal.Intertextual References - Elements of our music video relate to childrens tv programmes, characters and themes. Childrens television programmes are often seen to be playful and friendly, this intertextuality encourages the viewer to see the artist as having similar attributes.

Setting

For the i-stop motion section of the music video, the setting will seem as if it changes as the lyrics progress. Also, it will be reflective of the normal 'world' however made of plasticine. When the scene changes, e.g. ' And I walked to your door,' A backdrop of a house with a door will be inserted at the back of the box. The other section of the video will be, again, set in a normal everyday situation where the protagonist will sit on a bench as if he's reminiscing playing the guitar. Overall we have a mixture of performance and narrative based setting.

Contacting David Ford

We felt that it was important to contact David Ford and get his permission to use our chosen song. We have messaged him via Myspace and hope to receive a reply soon. Below is the message that we sent.

Track Choices- initial ideas

Track 11: A long time ago - David Ford

We quite like the idea of using i stop motion to reflect the lyrics of this song. We could make the video complimentary to the lyrics as they tell a story whilst retaining its quirky cute elements. the i stop motion will contain a combination of real life and plasticine models. The models to represent his thoughts and the real life to represent what is happening now. we were influenced by the signature child like styles of Hammer & Tongs.

Track 2: Teenager - Camera Obscurer

We were also thinking about using i stop motion for this video. we would start of with a girl sitting on the end of her bed this would then cut to the exact same shot but inside a dolls house with a doll sitting on the end of her bed. using i stop motion the objects an furniture in the room would move around the room, for example a chair or clothes.

Track 5: We Can No Longer Cheat You - The Cribs

We will start this video off in a studio with the band setting up for the performance. The majority of this video will be performance based. the video will include shots of the band out and about intertwined with shots of them in the studio performing.