O NO !

On friday i had the worst day ever in the editing suite. I had spent two and a half hours editing my music video then suddenly the Mac turned off and went black !
After me trying to retrieve the work calling the head of media and two ict technian guys in i realised my work had been lost! :(

i managed to find the tapes which were uploaded and a tiny bit of edited clips so i decided to start again. Then the mac tunred off AGAIN!!!!!!

as a result i moved the hardrive into another mac, the same problem happened AGAIN !!!!

So i had to transfer the footage onto a new hardrive onto a new mac and basically start from scratch. But fingers crossed it wont take me too long to get back to where i was before the mac/hardrive broke ! :(

Uploaded Everything on Tape - Problems !!!!

Once i uploaded the tapes i had filmed on into my mac i realsied the sections i had filmed by the graffitti wall did not tie in with the rest of the clips it was too urban. Therefore i decided to stick with the footage i has shot one the beach in little hampton.

I realsied something was missing from all the clips. A women with black hair and red lips. So I decided i needed to cast a pretty actress with black hair who would be willing to be in the begging of my music video. I went into the drama studios at college and looked for someone who would fit the desription. I found the perfect actress-

Due to the recent weather conditions i decided to film a series of shots of my actaress in the snow because it meant with a use of a fir coat and silky scsarf i could give her a olf-fashioned look and the snow gives a very bright , beautiful and innoceene atmposhere when filming. Which complemented my actaresses look. =]

FINAL DIGIPACK!! =]

Front

 Middle

 Side 1

 Side 2

 Back

Digipack revolution

Below i have created sme new sides for my digipack in order to develop it and make it more interesting.

My first new side is shown below.  i chose he electric blue patterened stars in the background to represent and create a connection that the artist is a famous singer with that star like qulaity. I then layered an image on top where i changed the clour filter into black and white. i have decided not to use this as a side of my digipack because it makes the artist have a certain 'indie' style to her, of course this is not the style i would like my artist to be  associasted with because she is a country folk singer.

i decided i wanted a natural simple image for m y digipack. so i selected a photo which was of my artists hands creating a heart shape ( shown below ) i changed the canvas size to 12" like all of the other ideas i played with the tones filters and lighting until i ended up with the image below. I especailly like this image because of where i have placed the beams on lights and the dark shading on either side of the heart i believe  it represents the good and he bad things which can happen when someone is in love. I feel this side would fit in with my artist genre of music and her image.

My next idea for my digipack was to have something which was ovbiously realted to music. After researching and searching for different images i discovered this on which i used below. The fact that the girl in jumping in a meadow ties in with the natural feel of the digipack it also suggests  innoccence and highlights the fact that my artist is not about sound effects dj mixing and hardcore beats, she is about using her bearutiful voice to express her opinions and to inspire people. Again i added shading and lighting to create some sort of boarder for the girl jumper to make her stand out. The fact that thesunlight is shinning down from the sky suggests there is a slight ellimate of religion in my artists music and reflects some of her christian beliefs.

Finally i decided to create a natural simple side of the sky on a sunny day with a prayer written by my 'artist'  thanking the Lord for giving her the inspiration and tallents that shen posses and uses to create her music. I think this side is very good because it shows my artist being thankful and greatful which will make the target audience think she is a genuaine nice person, therefore they will be even more willing to purchase her album.

Development on Digipack ideas.

After carful thought i have decided the three sides of my digipack which i have created are far too simular. This is due to the fact that i have used the same image in all three for the background and the same concept of having my artist hidden in the leaves, as a result i have developed these ideas and have decided to make some alternative sides. I will then pick the most effective and diverse sides and put them together to form my Digipack.

Below is my new version of the back cover of my digipack which would have my song titles on. I have choosen song titles which tie in with the country/folk genre of music, titles such as 'Fields of Golden' and 'Hush' very innoceent and non-suggestive song titles portray a classy and respectable image of the artist and her music.

I also researched the 'things' which would go on the back of a digipack. I did this by going into HMV and looking at the digipacks and noting down the common things which occured on most of the  backcovers. Barcodes, the name of the record company,  a copyright section, and the  Digipack designers name. I included these 4 aspects onto the back of my Digipacks new backcover. Below is my New Back Cover:

Digipack =]

Today in lesson i started to design my artists Digipack. The Album is called 'Whisper in the Wind'.
I used photoshop in order to layer and edit photos on backgrounds.

I started with this photo of my artist, i then used the Polygonal Lasso Tool to cut around her i layered her on top of the background to the right of orange and yellow autum leaves.












After combining these images together adding the title of the album and the name of my artist and altering the colours and how the layers sit on top of each other i ended up with my finished album cover.

Next I decided to create the title page for my album i combined the following photo with the same background as before.

With adjustments to the colour layering cropping size of the canvas I created the following title page.

Next i decided to create a dedication/ thank you page for my Digipack, here my artist has written short paragraphs of who influenced supported and inspired her. I used the following origional image with the leaves background.

After using the same techniques and tools as i did before and playing around with the font size i  ended up creating the following 'Thank You Page'.

I used autum leaves as the background for this digipack because i think it complements the natural style and natural beauty my artist possess, furthermore the natural leaves suit the country/folk genre of the music is artist sings. As a result of the same background in the three sides above i have decided that the origonal autum leaves image is going to be the middle of my digipack where my CD will sit.

Hour Long Think.. hmmm

Today I sat down and planned out what I need to do in order to finish my A2 media course work. The List is as Follows:

Pocast of evaluation
Lyrical Analysis
Coustumes
Questionaire
Digeeey Pack
Myspcae
Animatic
Filming
Editing

Its a lot to handle for just one person but I am Determined to complete all of the above. =]

BIG MACHINE RECORDS!

I have researched many record labels such as Interscope
Records, an American records company who originally made its
name known by dealing heavily with hip-hop and urban music
but who now deal with artists from all genres such as
industrial rock, e.g. Marilyn Manson and No Doubt. In 1998
Geffen and A&M joined Interscope resulting in
Interscope-Geffen-A&M being created. This institution deals
with Blink 182, All Time Low, JoJo, Lady Ga Ga and Robyn.
Through discovering that Interscope tend to manage and deal
with mainstream music I have discovered that it is not a
suitable record label for my artist. As a result I have
researched Big Machine Records a reasonably new record label
due to it being founded in 2005. They deal with artists such
as Trisha Yearwood, Jack Ingram, Steel Manolia, Rascal
Flatts and the famous Taylor Swifft. I think these artists
are similar to my artist and her genre of music they have
the same non-materialistic, natural image. Therefore Big
Machine Records is the ideal record company.

First Section of music -Man writing the Love Letter

Yesterday i filmed the section of the music video which is a man dressed in a tuxeto... from the past writing the love letter then hiding it within a table's hidden compartment. This filming was very hard due to the tripod being broken and the lights being broken. But I over came these problems of broken equipement by holding the camera in a very still and steady possission. Furthermore it turns out it was better without the lighting because I used candle lighting instead which added to the mise en scene by creating an 'old fashioned' atmosphere. Yet another problem which i had to over come was the fact that the actor has little experience and therefore he needed constant direction and support from my in order for him to achieve my vision.




Props I had my actor use in the scene were as follows:




A single red Rose to represent love and passion.

An old fashioned pocket watch to symbolise that the clip is set in an old era, perhaps Edwardian.

Writing Paper which is the same style and size which people used to right on in the past.

An envelop with 'My Dearest' written on the front to empathisze the fact that the man is writing a love letter to his loved one.

Candles and silver candle holders to highlight the fact that this clip is set in the olden days.

A Table with a hidden compartment for when my artist finds the old rose and letter.

The Big Four !!!

Open publication - Free publishing - More warner

Preliminary task and Class Task. =]

For the Preliminary task i had to create a slow and fast sequence to two separate tracks. ( a slow track and a fast track) by using the same images, and camera shots but just editing the shots in different and contrasting ways.

I kept the camera rolling but had the characters static, I moved the camera in various way;
swaying the camera
spinning whilst holding a hand held camera
track from side to side
constantly keeping the camera static

I focused on moving the camera in new/unique ways. I experiment with exciting and new movements. Some which I later one watched back in the editing suit realised were not as effective as we initially thought.
In the editing suit I added special effects such as changing the colour settings, and adding lighting strikes to the character props.

If I could re do the preliminary task I would have taken more still shots in order to create a vast variety of different locations positions and characters in order to make our short clips more engaging.  From carrying out this short Task i discovered the importance of story boarding because the story boarding for this task was not detailed enough therefore we just experimented which is good, but i think with more planned shots and different angles the short movie would have been more interesting and engaging.
Furthermore i learnt that its VERY important about who you cast to be in your movie/video because the main girl in the video below was very shy at the beginning resulting in it being hard for her to look confident on camera. Therefore when I need to cast my Artist I will look for someone with experience who is confident enough to be on camera.

Below is my fast and slow sequence in a combined short movie






In class we mirrored a famous music video by She and Him called In the Sun. This took a lot of planning and organising with rehearsal times and casting each member of the class with a role to play on or off camera. This task brought the class together. In total it took a huge amount of time with the planning, organising,  researching, filming and editing of our version of the music video this made it clear to me that when I plan, organise, edit and film my music video I must make a clear work timetable in order to balance and use my time on the first half of my media course effectivly. On the whole the class production project was really good, I think the girl cast as our artist was fantastic, but maybe a girl with more confidence and experience in front of a camera would have been more effective.


The Link Below Is Our Class Production:


She and Him - In the Sun

Taylor Swift Video Analysis Love Story.

Open publication - Free publishing - More taylor

CASTING THE ARTIST ! - exciting times !

I want my artist to have star image qualities i want her to look like she belongs on a poster on someone’s bedroom wall. I want her to;

1. Be easy to watch, ( so the video can be watched repeatedly without loosing interest)
2. Be believable, ( to give a sense of realism to my video)
3. Be attractive, ( so she is appealing and people can look up to)
4. Be confident, ( so she can easily perform )
5. Be innocent looking, (Cara Dillon had a very angelic voice and an innocent look would complement this)
6. Be mature (easy to act and sing in front of people and a camera)
7. Have a natural Irish look to her

After carefully thinking I have decided and made arrangements with a girl called Georgia Merridan.

She has fantastic experience in regards to acting singing and dancing in front of people. She has even been in a music video before, this means she is aware of the commitment, which is expected from her. Her confidence and brilliant acting skills hopefully mean the filming process will be smooth and she will not need much direction when he comes to the acting part of the music video. I have had a meeting with Georgia and we have agreed that she is free most Thursday evenings some Friday evenings, and a couple of Sundays but I have to call her up and arrange days to film two weeks before due to her busy schedule with dance.

Genre of Music

 PUT THIS IN A POWER POINTTTTT

The Genre of this particular song is folk styled, country music. A country slightly old fashioned styled music acompanies the romantic lyrics.

Folk music is the modern term used for the musical folklore, this 19th centry term was used to describe music which could be passed on and shared by word of mouth, it was commonly used by working class people. But since the middle of the 20th centry musical folklore has been shorten to folk music, a popular music style which has been based on traditional music.

An example of a singer who sometimes has songs that fit into this genre is the female artist Taylor Swift who i shall later be researching in greater detail. Taylor swifts music is a hybrid genre called folk.-pop, which is basically a mixture of modern pop and tradtional counrty/folk music.

Final Idea After a LOT of thought.

I have decided that a servant years ago in the past wrote a lover letter to his lover, but was alomost walked on in when he was writting it so he hid it in a table with a single rose. This letter was then forgotton about or never delivered. in the future my artist disocvers this letter by accident perhaps by spilling a drink on the table with the hidden letter hidden in. The artist then takes this letter puts it in her pocket n reads it later on.

This complecated idea will demand a lot of time and organising and PLANNING!! i hope to be able to achieve it... we will see =]

Audience Research...

Questionnaire.

1. Which Gender are you? (please circle) Male or Female
2. Which age range do you come under?

15-20
21-25
26-30
31-45
46-50
50+
3. Listen to song out or ten what would you rate this song out of your terms of enjoyment? _______
4.What is your favourite genre of music? ( please circle )
hip hop
rap
indie
garage
folk
counrty
metal
If other please say ________
5.How many times have you been to a music gig, concert or event?
once
twice
threee times
more than 4 times
never
6.How do you purchse music?
CDs
Itunes
Ilegal downloads
other _________
7.Listening to this song, which would be more appealing for you to see in an accompaning music video
a narrative/story
random sequences
just the artist
artist and instruments
　
From carrying out 20 of these questionnaires in New Malden High Street I discovered that the target audience for my artist and her song is as follows:

Both genders in late 20’s to 70’s the younger public and teenagers tended to be more interested in hip hop, rap and metal. Whereas everyone above 25 years old said they loved the song choice and they said this type of music is good to listen to when wanting to relax. 

For question 7 12/20 said they would imagine a narrative to accompany the music, some suggested to include the artist in the narrative yet most said they imagined the artist as being an on looker to someone else's narrative.

From the Rate this song question no young teenagers rated it above 5/10. When I asked them why they said it wasn't their 'style' of music, I therefore discovered that teenagers and young adults tend to like more mainstream music whereas the older/maturer generations were more accepting with the different genres of music they would listen to but the older generation picked folk and country as their top favourite genre or music out of the selection I had given. 

From carrying out this audience research I not only discovered my target audience but from talking to the people and from their ages I decided a simple video with minimalistic make up, natural surroundings, natural beauty and no sexual scenes would be more suitable for my target audience.

Location, Location, Location...

After picking my best and most effective ideas for my music video I have decided that the 4 main locations below are a brilliant starting point for my music video.

1. Stone pebble beach in little hampton, I have chosen this location due to its easy travel routes and because its an ideal quiet place to film my ocean and waves squence.

2. Woods/Forest area in Wibledom Common, where there is a clearing which would be ideal for a extream long shot and ideal for cirular tracking shots.

3. Dimly Lit Streets in New Malden in the private roads due to the greenery and scare street lighting would create a very mellow and chilled feel to my music video whilst  giving it an urban edge.

4. Dickerage park in the Triangle. I have chosen this location to add a urban feel to the video due to the fact that there is a huge graffitti wall in this park and this combined with an artist singing a folk style song will create a contrast yet make it interesting and colourfull

After carful thought I decided that the location ideas of the graffitti wall and the street light locations were not suited for my country folk genre of music. Also the town locations are masculine man-made locations and i wanted a natural  feminine feel in my music video. Therefore I am going to concentrate on the Natural locations to complement my artist and her image.

Hmmm.. Ideas/story/sequences I shall create in my Music Video.

By sitting in my media room after school I played "Black is the only colour" three times repeatedly again and again. I noted down the first couple of images, colours, type of people which cam into my head.

• I imagined a Scottish heath filled with Heather,
• Nature,
• a waterfall,
• the British sea on a stormy day,
• autumn/winter time,
• falling leaves,
• dimly lit streets
• a young women with a letter from an unknown sender, this letter is about a mans lover
• she lets the letter blow in the wind
• she is travelling somewhere but we are not shown the destination.

　
I asked my two of my peers to sit down and to listen to my song and to tell me what they thought.

Frankie - Said she thought of the colour of red meaning passion, she said she imagined a candle flickering in the wind.

Emily- said she imagined waves hitting a beach and a small stream trickling on a sunny day.

I have decided to use the waves hitting the beach idea, the candle flicking in the wind, the letter, dimly lit streets and the falling leaves ideas in my music video. This is due to the fact that i believe these events would complement my music and look good combined in a music video.

Found The Perfect Song =]

Through Brainstorming qualities and aspects i wanted to show/ represent in my music video I have come to the conclusion that BLACK IS THE COLOUR by CARA DILLON is the ideal song and artist I wanted to base my music video on.
As Shown on the photograph below when researching and looking for songs I looked for songs which:
Had inspiring music
Inspiring beautiful lyrics
A main female artist
A sense of innocence in the lyrics and music
And slow to medium paced music.

The folk style song is beautifully sung it has a lovely sense of relaxation and creates a calming/magical/enchanting atmosphere, and combined with the things listed above " Black is the colour" is an ideal song for me to work with.

First Entry on My Blog!!! =]

HELLO VIEWERS!!!
My name is Claire Baker and this is my first ever blog entry :)

Today I was given persmission to start and to create my own music video, I was allowed to pick the artist song  and genre. This means i have to decide on:
all the locations
the casting of the artist/band
coustumes
props
inspirational artist.

This is A LOT OF WORK!!!! Meaning its time to put my creative hat on and pull my socks up and get started :)