The things we need to improve on ( First draft analysis)

Having done our first draft we have noticed a lot of mistakes and areas where we can improve, as well as what we have done well and what we have done badly.

The first area where we can improve is right at the start when we turn off the alarm. We do a close up shot of the alarm and knock it off the table when it comes off, but in the next shot the alarm is back on the table. This takes the point of the guy being angry that his alarm is going off and that he chucks it on the floor to make no sense. One minute it has been chucked on the floor and the next it is back on the table. When we come to film this bit for our final piece we have to make sure that things are exacly how we left it. If we move something in the shot then we have to make sure we dont move.it back untill we are done.

There is also the problem of the all the different clocks within the music video showing different times. This can make it seem un realistic but what was worse was the fact that one shot the time could be 15:00, and then a few shots later it will be midday. So we need to make sure that if we do have a shot when a clock is within the shot, then we have to make sure we either change the times so that they go in order, or we try and get rid of any shots of a clock within the shots. The only times I want the time or the clock to be shows is during the alarm clock shot and when we are filming the lyrics on the phone.   

The next thing we need to improve is how long some of the shots are. In order to keep the attention of the audience, each shot has to be short and quick, and the problem we had was that ours was quite long and so we are risking the fact that we might be losing their attention. We want each shot to match what is said within the lyrics which is what we did in our first draft however we only showed one clip and so that clip was quite long. Some shots need to be quite long because of the fact that we are trying to act out what the lyrics are saying, but for our chorus part we can add multiple shots.

There are some shots which we have done which sometimes don't make a lot of sense. For example near the beginning of the filming we have a clip where our actor is sitting on the sofa watching TV. During one shot he is in his normal clothes, and then the next he is sitting in a onesie on a different part of the sofa. I think in order to do this we need to add something to help the audience understand the reason why they changed. We could add something like the singer clicking his fingers to show that there is a change about to happen.

Another thing we need to improve is what the singer is wearing. This is mainly mise-en-scene. One big mistake we made was the fact that at the start of the first draft the singer when he gets out of bed is wearing normal clothes. He isn't wearing what someone of our target audience would wear if they went to bed. Whats worse is the fact that the stuff that he wears when getting out of bed is what he wears for the rest of the video. This doesn't make it seem very realistic and it doesn't show a good use of miss-en-scene. For the real thing we need to make sure that the costume is different during this part.

Lazy Song First Draft

Filming 14/10/13

This is the date where me and my partner did a majority of our filming. The only thing we need to film after this date is the outside parts which are the chorus. We realise this is our first draft, and so we wanted to concentrate on the possible things that could go wrong and how we could improve them in our first draft. It also gave us a chance to realise what we actually need in terms of props and actors. I think some parts we will need to re shoot because of the fact we can simply do it slightly better. Some of the shots that we did were quite good and we will probably use the same angles in our real thing that we did in our final draft. 

When it comes to filming our chorus, we will be doing it outside and so the lighting will be a lot easier to control in order to see everything. With the parts inside the house we found it hard to keep the lighting the same but we think for a draft we did a pretty good job and we did learn about the importance of it.

When it comes to filming the last remaining bits we know what sort of angles we want to do and we know how to go about filming it. We want to film as many shots as we can, as that way we will have more choice to use when it comes to making the video. We are also using the draft to learn how to use Imovie, and get used to all the features that it has to offer. 

filming 9/10/13

We did the first part of our filming today, in order to make our first draft music video. However we didnt follow the schedule completly. Instead of filming the chorus bit forst we filmed the first part of the song. Thw feason for thisnis because the sun was quite low outside, and so because of that it would have been quite hard to film. We filmed up to the point where the first chorus comes in. We filmed a variary of shots and so when it comes to editing we have a number of shots that we can use and choose what we want.

We will continue with the rest of the filming on Sunday. The reason why we cant do it on other days is because of availability of me and my partner, but also because of the cost of petrol. Me and my partner during the week, would have to go from school to my house to pick up the camera, then to his house, then back to mine and then to school. This is a lot of milage, and that would cost a lot in petrol. And because we are both free all day sunday, we think we will be able to film the rest during the day.  

Video Anamitic

This is our video anamatic, which is the story board running along with the music.
We did this so that we have an idea if the music will last for the length of each shot that we are going to have. This is very important because the lyrics to the song have to correspond to the video otherwise it would look bad.

Camera Test

The camera that we had planned to use was a HD camera. We were unsure whether the files that the video clips would be filmed in would work on an Apple iMovie software. To make sure that this would work we filmed some objects in and around the house to test firstly the quality of the camera, which as we can see from this picture is very good. This picture does not contain footage that will be in our final media product.

After we had done some practice shots we saved it onto an SD card which then allowed us to transfer it onto the apple mac. After transferring it we could see that the camera did have the correct software that would allow us to put all of our footage in our music video.

Order of filming

Me and my partner need to work out what order we are going to film the video. The order in which we do can be quite important. For example we need to make sure the bits outside are filmed at the same time, in order for our lighting to be the same.

The problem i had in AS was that because i filmed the outside scenes on different days, it was obvious for the viewer to see, because the light in the sky was different, and it didn't make the video seen as good. So this time in A2 i want to make sure that the lighting is as accurate as possible.

The first thing we think we should film is all the parts which we can film indoors. The reason for this is because, we can control the lighting in their at all times, and so once we have done that correctly it is out the way.

After we will do everything outside of the house. We need to do all of this within one day, because we want the lighting to be as consistent as possible. If we need to re do a certain bit, then it might be worth doing the whole thing again, because that way it will still look all the same. The bits which we will be filming outside which we want to be the same, are when the chorus is sung. Here will do a number of different camera angles in order to keep the attention of the viewer.

(however depending on what the light is like, we might do the outside shots first. This way we can be consistent with the lighting)

The ending of the video will also be outside, but we have an idea where we want to reverse the shot seen at the beginning of the video. For example, at the start the video will start outside, and will gradually move to the bedroom for the start of the video. Because the ending of the song is similar to the beginning we were thinking we could end it with the singer going into the bedroom, and then we could walk out of the bedroom to the outside of the house. The lighting for this if we are unable to reverse it needs to be a similar lighting, and so probably on the same day. 

Copyright email

To create our music video we had to choose a song that has been created by a professional. The song that we chose was Bruno Mars's - Lazy Song. This is means that we will have to gain permission off either Bruno Mars or his publisher to use this song in our music video. To gain permission we sent them an email asking if we can use the song.

Email:

Hi

We are Toby Allen and Charlie Gibson, and we are currently studying media at A Level (A2). Our task is to create a music video for a song of our choice as part of our coursework. We have chosen to use Bruno Mars's - The lazy Song. We are asking for your permission if we are able to use this in our own video

We have no intention of making money from this and the only people we would pass it on to would be to the markers of the course work. 

Thank you 

Shooting Schedule

This is the schedule we have made for our music video. This will be for the first draft of our music video. We have split the lyrics of the songs into 3 sections, we have also done this with the chorus's. We want to try and stick to this as much as possible, that way we could get the filming done in 2 days, which is good as it would give us more time to edit. We have got an idea in our head of what we are going to do at what point, as well as our storyboard. The schedule shows things like the location and the props we need, so we don't forget to use them when we need them.

The order of which we film will be the same, but the date in which we film it might be different. We need to pick a date where we are both free. The dates i have written on this might not be the dates that we actually film.  

Story Board

The story board is an important part to the planning of the music video. The story board can allow us to put a story line to the video that we are creating. It is also a useful way to see what the final product might look like before even starting the production of it. We will be able to edit bits that we think look a bit dodgy. Our story board contains 30 slides, we believe this will be a good length for it as it wont be to long and it isn't very short. Each of the slides has quite a lot of detail to how the video will be shot and produced, for example it has the frame that we will be shooting and then text that describes what camera angles will be used and what movements will be used, also in some of the slides it describes what costumes and props we will have in the video. Knowing what the final product is likely to look like is very useful to us because obviously if it looks bad then we will be able to change it and if it is starting to look good then we will feel more motivated and could possibly add more bits in that we wouldn't have thought of before.

Narrative

Music video ideas:

• Bruno Mars 'Lazy Song
• Matt Cardle 'When we collide'
• Cody Simpson 'Summer time of our love'
• Matt Cardle 'its only love'
• Olly Murs 'Dear Darlin'
• Olly Murs 'Army of two'
• Bruno Mars 'Marry you'

Out of all of these music videos we needed to make a decision to which video that we would do as our final media product. It was a hard decision as all the music videos were equally good and each of the songs were the type that we wanted. We watched each of these videos twice and then came to a decision of three which were:

• Matt Cardle 'When we Collide'
• Bruno Mars 'Lazy Song'
• Olly Murs 'Dear Darlin'

These were the songs that we believed had the most potential for the best music video. We think this because the lyrics that the songs have have the best story lines that we could act out. Also the music videos would not need a big budget to create so we would be able to afford it as well. After a lot of planning and thought we chose our song. Bruno Mars 'Lazy Song'

This song is very popular reaching number 1 in the charts for 4 weeks. This was one of the first reasons why we chose this video, we thought our video would be more popular because of the song itself. The second reason for why we chose this song is because of the lyrics. The lyrics tell a very good story line that make it easier for us to act it out and create a good media product. Another reason for why we chose the video is because of our budget. We thought this would be the easiest video to make with the budget we have because we wont have to buy any expensive props or higher out any expensive locations to film on.

As we can see from this picture we have analysed the lyrics closely allowing us to get a better feeling about the song. We will then be able to make the video better as we will understand the song and story line more.

In our video we will only need one actor, this makes things easier for us to plan and will be able to control more easily as well. We are less likely to have to not film on one day because we have an actor missing. Also in our video we are going to have only 2 locations which are the house and the field, this will allow us to get to know our surroundings and make the best shots possible. The costume and props are also available for our use at all times so we can therefore film when ever we want without needing to worry about not having any problems

Performance

On some music videos the artist sometimes sings in from of the camera to the lyrics of the song. They don't do any acting they literally act in front of the camera pretending to preform. Some of the music videos that we have already looked at, haven't done it in their music video's. Olly Murs's - Dear Darlin, doesn't do it. When he sings in the video he acts at the same time and so doesn't preform. The same can be said with Cody Simpsons's - Summer time of our love. At no point do they preform in front of the camera. They are all acting in order to add a visual to the song and to help the audience understand what the song is about.

However In Michael Jackson's Thriller there is a part at the end where he is dancing and preforming in front of the camera, which is something you don't see on modern pop videos now.

You can see that he is preforming in front of the camera whilst he is singing the song. I think because you don't see that very often in modern music videos, me and my partner have decided that we are going to try and do that in our music video. In the actual music video to the Lazy song he does sing in front of the camera but it is for the whole song and the reason for that is because it is all one camera angle and it was shown as if it was done on a webcam. With our video i think we will only preform the singing during the chorus and maybe have it in a location like a field, and he is just singing on his own in front of a camera. The rest of the song we will be singing but we will be acting aswell.

Representation

We are going to represent the artist through the use of our song. We can follow the lines of the songs and do what the lyrics say as part of our acting. We can act lazy and quite cool like Bruno Mars is in his videos. We can represent teenagers through wearing trendy clothes and using any up to date technology.

His videos are all one shot and throughout the whole video he dances with 5 others. Some of the stuff that he is wearing is quite expensive, which is something that teenagers might do and so he is representing them in that way. He also edits the video half way through. He covers the camera with his hands to make the screen go black, and then when he removes it to start a new scene (but still uses the same camera angle).

They then use a man to play a woman's role. In the song they use a woman to sing 'OMG this is great' but in the performance a man plays it.  This could represent the humor that teenagers have, and they might find this quite funny. So for our video we might try and add humor to it which our audience might find funny.

So for our song we will be acting out the lyrics to try and help our audience get a visual for the song and help understand what it is about which is what we got told we need to do in our primary research. Instead of using one camera angle we will use a variety of shots and angles to keep the audience entertained.

Questionnaire and analysis

This was to get everyone’s opinions on the questionnaire. I made sure I asked the same amount to each gender to make it fair as possible. Also I don’t think the target audience would be a particular gender, we think it would be a particular age group.  




From this you can see that our target audience for our music video is people aged between 10-19. So mainly teenagers. This tells us that this is the group that like pop videos the most. However people in their 20’s also seem to be keen on pop songs and videos. From this we know that we need to make it appropriate for the modern person.  Targeting these age groups means we need to make are video seem modern so they know everything that is going on in the video.












This was to see how many people of the age groups like pop music. If people don’t like it then we will need to reconsider if it is the genre that we want to be doing. But as you can see from the results 15 of the 20 people asked said that they listen to pop music. This is good for us as it tells us we have chosen the right genre of music to make a video with. It also links to the age group in because the fact most of them selected between 10-29 this means that the majority of them probably selected ‘yes’ on this question so we know that the age group are into pop music. 

Because our song in Bruno Mars we wanted to know what people’s opinions of him were and if our target audience rated him highly or not. The results show that 14 people said ‘yes’ where as the remaining 6 said ‘no’. Again this tells us that we have chosen an artist who is popular with our audience as is his songs hopefully. So we are confident we have chosen a song that the audience will like.

It’s one thing liking the song, but the audience need to like watching the videos because we want people to watch our video and not just listen to the song. Thankfully 19 of the 20 have said they do/have watched a pop music video before. So when it comes to making ours they will know what your average pop song is like and what to expect out of it. Whether or not they have seen the actual video of our song or not I don’t know, but it’s good for us that our audience have watched at least one video before, because it means that we can use what we have learnt from our research into our own video because of the fact that it is affective. 

This was to tell us why people watched the music videos. Whatever the most popular answer was, is probably what we are going to do because it is what our audience wants. The graph shows that the most popular reason into why people watched music videos is to have a visual into what the song is about. This is good for us because the lines in our song tell a story so we can act out the lines of the song. It will also give people and understanding of our song because we will show what the lines mean. 

This was to see what our location would be. We wanted to know what are audience thought would be a good place to film our song choice. As you can see from the results a house was the most popular answer. Me and my partner think this is a good place because some of the lyrics within the song are within his house so if we use a house to film that will help the audience get a visual of the song which is what they said they wanted in the last question. They also said a street or a field would be a good place to film. This is something we could do if we make the artist song on his own during the chorus or any part of the song. They were both popular answers so it is something that we have to consider when planning/filming it.

From previous research of other pop music videos one thing I noticed is that they all wore clothes which were in trend. But because we are making our video for our target audience we wanted to know what they thought the costumes pop artists where within their music video. Clothes that are in trend was by far the most popular answer and so backs up our secondary research that we need to make sure that the actor in our video is wearing clothes which are popular in today’s society.

Lighting is important because it is part of the Mise en Scene in media. The lighting can help set the moss of the video so it is important that we get it right. The audience said that natural lighting would be better for the song because it isn’t really sad so you want it to stay quite bright. I think maybe we could film it when it is dark outside and when the weather is bad because that is why he is lazy. I think when in the house though we will need it to be natural lighting mainly, but we could try and play around with light because 7 people said they think they lighting should be light, and if the natural light isn’t bright enough we will have to use lights. 

This was an important question. On some of the videos we analysed the artist didn't sing in front of the camera on their own but on others they did, so we decided to let the audience decide if we need to do that or not for our music video. From the results it is clear that the audience wanted us to do that (18), whereas only 2 said we didn't need to do that. So from the results of the questionnaire it is clear that we need to make a modern music video.