My Generic Conventions

Obviously it is key to have generic conventions which relate to Just Jack. The genre for Just Jack is mainly dance pop and garage, sometimes acoustic. This is what his album: All Night Cinema looks like:
As you can see, the image of himself is centred which draws attention on only him, suggesting he is a confident figure. The contrast between the black and white shows is strong and bold, eye-catching colouring, once again - making it clear and strong. The fact that nothing is surrounding him gives him more prominance (even though it would be hard to fit in).








Things that will need to be on our CD cover are:

• An image of the artist.
• Writing of the artist.
• Writing of the album.
• Props.
• Composition.
• Colours.
• Font (style and size)
• Pose/expression of the artist.
• Setting.

Analysis of Student Work

I have chosen another students work at our school so I can see what they can produce with the same equipment that we are be using. This gives me a more clearer idea of the quality and just a general idea with what another pair have produced two years ago. The video is called American Girls by Counting Crows.



The video instantly catches your attention because they have used a reverse speed technique to show to the audience that they used to be in a 'perfect' relationship, but it has ended. This is a technique which isn't just interesting for the audience, but it tells them what the story is going to be, so it is clear for them at the beginning.

There was a good balance of performance and narrative in the video which is common in music videos and so it looks professional on the eye and establishes the band whilst showing the story line that is appropriately related to the lyrics.

Counting Crows have the genre of pop rock and so I think having the performers playing/singing on the roof, is a good convention for this genre as it shows there daring side, which is often associated with rock bands and singers. They use different techniques on the roof which was effective because they are showing a variety of performance shots from 1.08-1.31. Despite having lots of different performance shots within that time, the effect where the lead singer is playing in the background at 1.18 as it draws attention from the audience.

Different shots and angles in the video contribute to how the actors are feeling. For example, at 1.33 there is a  high angle shot to show the female character is in demand. This is obvious as it shows her throwing clothes out of a chest of drawers. At 2.48 there is an angled close-up of the male character to emphasise his pain and sadness for the audience to clearly establish. There are plenty of high angled shots of the lead singer also. This suggests to the audience his power and confidence which is also seen with his acting and so they both work well together.

However, I do feel that that certain sections on the performance side went on for too long. As above, 1.08-1.31 is along time in one location. They do cover this by using varied shots but I feel that another location was possibly needed for the band to perform in. At 2.20 it shows 'fans' watching the performance. I think it would have been effected to film them in a bit more detail; have a close-up of a fan in hysterics showing that the band  is well-established and more reasoning as to why the band are performing the way that they are.

Both the lead singer and the drummer are played in slow motion around the middle. This fitted well in time with the music, but I think it would have just been nice to include the guitarist in that sequence just so they can show that each instrument can fit into the music and brighten the music video up just that bit more. Finally, the sequence with more actors singing into the mirror, the female has natural light in the shot whilst the male doesn't. I don't think this symbolises, or is different for a particular reason. Therefore, it makes both sequences different despite the fact they are both thinking/feeling the same thing.

Overall, I think it is a strong music video. The video itself is completely different to Counting Crows' and this is something essential as you don't want to imitating.

Ancillary Task 1 - Digipak Conventions

Digipack
A digipak is the cover of the DVD or CD that gives all information needed about the artist and production of the album/single. Not only is it used for protecting and putting the CD into, but uses different conventions to distract people in looking and capturing their eye into buying it. The CD would only really be appropiate if it had all the generic conventions that were appropiate for the artist (unless they did something completely random which means the production is trying to achieve this opposite effect to the generic conventions the artist possess and what the audience think they possess).

Digipak Conventions

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• Name of artist - this complements the image if the artist. The layout/font/colour etc, should relate to how the artist is and looks on the cover. For example, in Beyonce's new album, the front cover portrays a confident, sexy woman. The writing is black which is striking and bold, just like how Beyonce looks.
• Image of the artist - this is something which common on every CD cover, it is something that the audience like and are used to. 
• Record Label -  This tells the audience a number of things. These include, The artist isn't fake and that they are a well established/trained artist in the the music industry.

• Copyright - This is printed in small writing on every CD (compact disc) to show that it is not acceptable. Here it is on the back of Beyonce's new CD, in the middle at the bottom. 
• Track listing - This allows the audience to skip to a different track they want by looking at what number it is on in the track listing. It is common that the font is similar, if not the same as the front covers writing of the artist. 
• Sticker (showing the singles which the public will already know) that is placed on the bottom left hand side. This attracts more buyers as they can see just by walking by that they are likely to know some songs.

CD Digipak - Brief

Our brief is to "a CD/DVD advertisement for the digipak".

Costume

Costume
The costumes for each character:

• George Cooper - His character has different costumes but they have to be casual. Tailored trousers and a polo shirt/shirt is something which he has to wear, this relates to his character and contributes in making him look older which what he is stereotypicallt percieved as through the lyrics.
• Ashley Scott - Because he has different characters to play, that evidently comes with different costumes, these are:

Bird guy - Navy jeans with a grey t-shirt and white polo underneath.

George's Wife - A nude netting dress, a black bra and some tights. The camera doesn't reveal his feet so I didn't need to suply him with any shoes! I also thought that not having a wig makes it even easier for the puplic to distinguish he is playing most characters.

Granny - He is wearing a spanish, floral dress, socks and a hat.

Secretary - A brunette wig, a bra, a white shirt, a black skirt with black fishnet tights and black heeled shoes. This provides him with the stereotypical secretary, but I unfastened some of the bottons at the top to show "clevage", as this relates to his character and the way he presents himself on camera as a flirty and confident woman.

• Sadie Richardson - Sadie is wearing a skirt and a t-shirt. This fits well with the age range that her and Tom (who she is having an argument with) look. 
• Tom Manson - Tom is wearing a blue cable-knit jumper and trousers, this fits in well with Sadie as they are both dressed casual which relates with the location they are in. 
• William Reynolds - His costume suits his role of character, this being a security guard. He wears a white shirt, black trousers, black shoes and a black tie.
• Julian Walker - His costume is the same as William's as they are both security guards.

•  James Telfer - James wears a blue coat which is done up and covering the bottom of his face to show the stereo-typical of a "hard" person when he is bashing into him. 
• Nick Nestorburgemann - Nick is wearing a green hoodie and trousers which I wanted as it takes it away from the stereo-typical 'gay' look.

Make-up

No make-up was used in this video as Just Jack is from an urban background and so you wouldn't associate him  with wearing make-up, nor anyone that is surrounding him. The lighting isn't bright where it makes them look washed out and so for that reason also, this wasn't needed. Instead of this, it compliments their complection because the natural sunlight is giving them the "natural" look which is what we want.

Describing the Characters; 2

After filming, I reinforced the three descriptions to the actors and I felt that they performed in that certain way. Not only did I feel that the descriptions supported the roles, but the descriptions make the characters seem unique which keeps an interest for the audience. Here are some still images of the video to support the descriptions that were provided for them:

George - Confident, Relaxed, Confused
Ashley - Elaborate, Funny, Unique
James - Agressive, YOB, Miserable
Sadie - Independant, Assertive, Angry
Tom - Responsive, Ignorant, Carefree
Will - Camp, Lovingly, Stereotypical
Nick - Camp, Lovingly, Stereotypical

Describing the Characters

I am going to describe my characters in three words:

George - Confident, Relaxed, Confused
Ashley - Elaborate, Funny, Unique
James - Agressive, YOB, Miserable
Sadie - Independant, Assertive, Angry
Tom - Responsive, Ignorant, Carefree
Will - Camp, Lovingly, Stereotypical
Nick - Camp, Lovingly, Stereotypical
 
Before filming, I described the characters in three different ways as this is what I can ask the actors to perform like, or have one of these descriptions in their head as they are performing a shot. Obviously, it is likely that their character is going to progress in different descriptions if they are shown more than once in the piece. Such as, George is performing to the camera about his day and then all these strange experiences are surrounding him which is when he becomes confused.

It is important that Will and Nick stay in unison for their characters as that reveals to the audience that they in a lovingly relationship.

Lighting

All of the lighting through-out the music video will be on natural light. This is simple because I felt you only have lighting if there is a purpose behind, therefore, I felt no need for it. However, if the lighting in the editing process looks different when it cuts to different shots, we shall smooth down the lighting through editing it in Adobe PremierPro.

I did fear that when different cuts occur, the lighting will evdiently change. This is something I wanted to prevent and haven't come across as yet! If this does happen, filming again shall happen as I can distinguish the natural light and what our lighting looks like.

Location Shots

These are the steps where George sings, this is part of the performance side.

This was took outside the window of where the security guards are chasing Ashley, as if it was a point-of-view shot.

This is another window, in the same room as the image above, the camera turns 180 degrees, keeping it like the point-of-view shot.

This is the kitchen where his "wife" is shown through camera (a mid-shot) and the lyrics. 

This is a wide-shot showing George with different characters interfering on his performance, this takes the focus away from George despite him meaning to be the star. 

  

This is a wide-shot where George comes down the stairs, he turns left and continues walking, this is shown in the image above.

This is the bedroom where George wakes up at the beginning and Gets ready for his day. The first line of the lyric is, drag myself out of bed, around twenty-past six.  

Filming Process; 5

16/10/11

The actors that I arranged to meet were: George; Sadie; James; Tom Will and Nick. The footage is placed at 1:31 on YouTube and I wanted to use wide shots where the audience will decode that they are watching times of George through-out the day as he is talking about  he worst day of his life. Wide shots will enable the audience to see what is surrounding the performance to get a better understanding of where about's he is. I specifically have two different cuts from James shoulder-barging George and Will and Nick shooing him away. The camera is positioned further down the road with George, Will and Nick to create the effect that George has continued to walk from where he was with James. I would like to put a transition fade to white between the two cuts to show that he is reflect back and telling the audience the story of why it is the worst day of his life; I feel that the colour white signifies this the most.

Filming Process; 4

15/10/11

This was the second chorus where Ashley is dressed as an old women! Once again, I brought in a dress from my Nanny and Hat to make Ashley look as realistic as possible but for the audience to still establish that it is a male teenager to create a comic effect. There is a close-up of two people tripping over him which I wanted to have as a close-up so it doesn't reveal as much violence where the audience can see the individuals. As before, George performed to the camera to create that controversy of him not reacting to his surroundings. I was happy with the composition when a wide shot showing the two characters was shown as they are both balanced out. To me, this reinforces that it is them two that perform the most in this chorus.

16/10/11

The actors that I arranged to meet were: George; Sadie; James; Will and Nick. The footage is placed at 1:31 on YouTube and I wanted to use wide shots where the audience will decode that they are watching times of George through-out the day as he is talking about  he worst day of his life. Wide shots will enable the audience to see what is surrounding the performance to get a better understanding of where about's he is. I specifically have two different cuts from James shoulder-barging George and Will and Nick shooing him away. The camera is positioned further down the road with George, Will and Nick to create the effect that George has continued to walk from where he was with James. I would like to put a transition fade to white between the two cuts to show that he is reflect back and telling the audience the story of why it is the worst day of his life; I feel that the colour white signifies this the most.

Filming Process; 3

13/10/11
I brought in a dress, bra, clear tights and a cardigan for Ashley Scott (as seen in cast) to quickly get a few shots of him as it is appropiate for the lyrics. This was something we decided to do much later in the process but I felt it was necessary for the music video and would make it funny more so at the beginning, introducing the type of genre that we have sooner rather than later. I wanted to cast Ashley to continue with the theme of him playing various roles.

Filming Process; 2

12/10/11
I filmed George on the green screen and did all the different bits of footage we needed to do throughout the video in the hour which we had. I had already gone to speak to Simon (the green screen belongs in his office/work area) and so it was a case of quickly getting the camera and everything set up, so we didn't lose any time. Most of the green screen work is at the end where George is in a place of heaven where he is thinking about all the (random) things he loves including, a guitar (we thought this would be useful because you see him with a guitar at the beginning) a rugby ball and a ham burger.

Also in this time, i thought it would be a good idea to get an extreme close up on his eyes and then edit that into what we have already done right at the beginnning, making this our first shot. It could show his eyes waking up (the extreme close up), leading into a mid shot, establishing that he is in bed.

Filming Process; 1

07/10/11
Myself, George and a friend who kindly gave us a lift to my house, did some filming at lunch. We took the storyboard and our planning sheet telling us what props, cast and location it as at each verse and chorus. We were meant to be filming at George's house but due to his work commitments every night, it made it hard for us to get there. I decided that doing it at mine would be fine because we still have all the same set we need e.g. A bed, kitchen top for the food to go on, and stairs. I believe that the filming went well but due to the time limit of 45 minutes, I believe more cut-away was needed to give us a lot of choice and experiment with different angles and cut-away. However, I left the camera, camera case, tripod and tape at my house which allowed me to film the little cut-away that I could.

Equipment Used

As part of our music video, the camera that we are using is a Panasonic NV-GS500B.

Along with the camera, there obviously has to be a camera case, a tape and a tripod. These are all things that I use and have took home with me to film footage.

  

An iMac is the hardware we use as this provides all the software you would need not only to create a music video, but a successful media student. Software, including all of the Adobe's are on there and software such as, after effects. However, the main software you use which edits and brings together all of your video is Adobe Premier Pro.

 iMac.

Different Camera Shots

I knew from previous research that there was a good website that showed you the different camera shots and why they are used. Despite the fact that I know these, I thought it would be appropiate to recap on them and see whether (so far) i have achieved a few of them as mixing up different camera shots will make the video far more interesting for the audience. The website being: http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/

Here are some of the main camera shots which I think will be appropiate for my music video:
A wide shot. This Targets the main feature (the boy) but also allows the audience to establish the location they are in, which would automatically allow them to decide what kind of background the boy belongs to. These shots have to fit in with the narrative and/or lyrics. For example, if the song was something heavy metal song and the lyrics was about a teenage woman in an urban area, this would not likely be in the video.

A mid shot. This once again shows detail surrounding the boy, but it emphasises more on him as it is inbetween a wide shot and a close up. It can also be known as a social shot because it allows room for another character to be in, but still possess a detailed perscription of our main feature. This shot is argued to be the most popular one in the industry.

A close up shot. This can only show one characters face due to the size of it. It enables the audience to distinguish how the actor is emotionally feeling through their facial expressions. However, some people can argue that it would be called a reaction shot. Reaction shots are normally, however, shown at the end of a scene to show how the actor is feeling/has reacted and close ups can be provided at any time. They are also imported to show significance on something in the video, along with extreme close ups.

Cutaway. The shot is usually something other than the current action. It can be irralavent to what the video is about, but it helps the audience distinguish where about the film is located and brings in a completely different interest as to what they have continually seen. It also helps to buffer out inbetween shots.

Two shot. This shot is good for the audience to establish the relationship between the teo characters, whether good or bad. As the two characters have equal prominance in the frame, it is likely that they will have equal input in what they say, this is why this shot is common for two co-hosts. E.g. Ant and Dec.

Point-of-View shot. This shot is used from the actors perspective and shows the audience how they see things, making it more personal for the audience.

All of these shots are ones which I would like to put into my music video. I think it is important to vary your shots and experience with other ones and pick the one shot that would be most appropiate to that part of the story.

Pop star theory - Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin has identified a number of key features that distinguish the music and the video as a form. He believes that there has to be a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting with the music. The lyrics in our music video are from the artist talking about the day he died. The visuals we have shown do have a relationship with the lyrics, despite me as the produced specifically making it the worst day of his life instead of the best - "The day I died was the best day of my life". This is shown through different mishaps such as, the stuffed animal falling from the sky and he witnessing a disturbed male picking it up and smelling it. There is also a point-of-view shot where a line from the lyrics is typed onto the screen which evidently indicates that the lyrics are relating to the visuals.

He understands that record companies will demand plenty of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist and that the genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography. He believes that voyeurism is present in many music videos, especially with the content of females. Despite him being a male (which I specifically chose to play on the humour) Georges wife shows voyeurism as he performs mild sexual imagery to the camera.

Pop star theory - Matt Keil

Matt Keil talked about the three different based video's and what should be in them. These three are:

• Performance Based Video: The music video has to include the artist, band and group performing the song through most if not; all of the video. Having the group perform is likely to be the easiest thing to do if you have a budget, however, it is key if you have an appropriate location. An example of this could be Coldplay - The Scientist. 

The location fit in with the lyrics and yet it is still entertaining despite it being performance based

through - out.

• Narrative Based Video - A narrative based music video contains plenty of footage which tells a story through moving images to the audience whilst being accompanied with the music on top. This means that professional actors are brought in and are used to act with lyrical content so they link together. This kind of video is popularly known to be linked with movies as a featured song in the film. This is because you will often see film footage within the video. An example of this would be Take That - Rule the World.

As you can see, the narrative was there (footage from the film) and the performance (Take That).

• Concept Based Video - This style of music video is based around a single idea or concept. These types of videos are very unusual and utilize one particular filming or editing technique. The commercial world demand music video's to be slightly more accessible, however, a good example of this would be,  "Mario Bros" by Aphex Twin. 

The majority of videos aren't clear as to having one set type. Usually videos will incorporate a mixture of the three above (mainly, a performance by the artist and narrative footage alongside). An example of this would be "Love The Way You Lie" by Eminem and Rihanna. Through out the video, the camera jumps to footage of Rihanna and Eminem singing, and then back to the narrative of the couple.


This is something which the industry likes as it expresses and widens what happens in a music video. This is something that I want to aim to achieve with my music video and what I have been planning to achieve from the beginning.