Re-Filming:

Last lesson we made a unite decision that we had to refilm a snippet of our music video, this caused little hardship for a worthwhile result. Throughout our music video there are different scenes that have been jumped and mixed up within it in order to engage our audience and portray different locations as well as different situations. The specific area of our video that we decided to re-film was the bit were our star was playing his guitar in his bedroom. Originally the light was in a downwards position pointing up to sam which created an effective shot however we realised once we had edited it that this didnt fit in with the music video genre/convention that we were trying to portray (a pop/indie one) and rather that this sort of lighting would be found in a rock video or maybe even a thriller.

Therefore we decided to re film, in the same location, same mise en scene but with different lighting. Our location remained sam's bedroom and our mise en scene remained the same, scruffy bed sheets, worn guitar and sams outfit was a checkered shirt and jeans ( like before ).  However we completely changed our lighting set up to create a more vibrant/bright and a highly saturated look. We achieved this by using two soft lights, one covered with a soft box, the other with a white umbrella, we chose to cover the lights as it creates more of a soft/flawless image which enhances the artist and highlights his features. We positioned the lights in a conventional two point lighting system, one at a 45 degree angle at the left of sam and one at a 45 degree angle right of same, therefore the light hits his face from every angle creating a vibrant shot which looks professional. 

I personally am really happy that we decided to re film as the difference that the lighting has made is outstanding, it has made me realise how lighting is definitely a significant part of a music video, taking it from looking student-esque to professional. 

This is a tutorial that i found which really influenced my use of lighting within my own music video. It shows how no lighting can make the video look very amateur however when lighting is used correctly, in this case predominantly back lighting, how the video now looks professional and well constructed.

This is a print screen of the frame before professional lighting was added in a backlight 3 point lighting system.

This is the after shot when the lighting has been added. Evidently this makes the shot look more dynamic and gives an extra depth to it, creating shadows and lens flares which are the aspects which create a professional music video through the use of lighting.

Target Audience

Target audience is a severely significant aspect when constructing a music video as the main goal is to ultimately engage the audience as well as promoting and selling records to this group of people. In order to make a successful music video it must attract to a wide variety of people as this is what will result in selling the most records, that being both male and female as well as trying to reach out to all ages if possible. Taking this information into account we decided to choose a pop/indie upbeat track which we believe will engage a large population, accompanied by our vibrant music video that will appeal to young adults as well as anyone of any age that enjoys a fast/joyful track.

In order to have a large target audience and one which will be engaged through our music video we went through the process of surveying a group of media studies to see what they look for and enjoy in a music video. out of 20 students 13 said they like a music video with an upbeat atmosphere as well as a happy ending, 6 students said they liked a more sinister music video which conveyed a sense of realism and only 1 students said their favourite type of video was a conventional rap one, featuring sexualised women. Therefore our ideas of a pop/indie video went perfectly alongside the majority vote of a vibrant music video which promoted positivity.

Throughout the process of constructing our video we have kept in mind target audience continously as we highly recognise its signficance as the whole concept of making a music video is to promote the artist and their star image hoping the result will be lots of sales. Specifically for our music video we chose an indie pop track which will engage a young adult both male and female audience. Our inspiration for our video and what audience we wanted to attract was the same as the popular sic- com the inbetweeners and skins, as they both have a massive following who enjoy indie music as well as a fun, cheeky programme so we expect them to enjoy our music video also.

Props : Barbie's wedding dress

As we are creating pockets of stop motion within our music video we know that it is essential to construct different scenes in which our barbie can be in, in order to keep the audience engaged. Our newest piece of stop motion is barbie's wedding day as the song contains lyrics which state 'we are getting married in the morning' therefore we are going to film a piece of footage of her in a wedding dress either at a photoshoot or on her wedding day. We have decided to take the lyrics literally as one of Goodwins theories state that visual and lyrical matching is a key convention in creating an effective music video.

This is the wedding dress that we have found as a result of searching through sam's sisters barbie box. We have customized it by cutting the straps off as we believe this creates a more modern look therefore our target audience is more likely to relate.

This is a picture of barbie herself in her new wedding dress. As you can see in different to the previous pictures of her we have tidied her hair and made it look more 'wedding like' as we want to create a realistic scene. Throughout our filming in the stop motion setup box we had a red background in which really emphasised the whiteness of the dress and worked well with the 2 point lighting system that we constructed. Red also holds connotations of lust, passion and love which are three things that we want to illustrate within our music video in a fun and quirky way.

Filming outside: Lighting

Today we decided to film more for the bulk of our music video ( the last couple verses inbetween the chorus' ) we knew we wanted to film more of our barbie to put in to our video through the use of jump cuts and that switch between stop motion and reality i believe is an effective one, especially for an indie music video. We filmed our barbie sunbathing as we thought it would bring a sense of realism and voyeurism to our video, however the lighting deemed to be an issue.

At first we didn't think that the natural sunlight would be enough to achieve the brightness we wanted within the shot, however we tested it out with and without  a reflector. The difference was monumental as it made the footage instantly look more professional, as well as a next level of vibrancy and brightness. Specifically we positioned the reflector in a way that the direct sunlight would bounce off of it in order for it to shine brightly on our barbie (as well as the whole screen of shot.)

This is the look we were trying to achieve as we believe it is an effective way of adding a sense of realism to our barbie shots as well as adding a fun aspect to our video. As you can see the lighting on this shot is bright however there is a shadow created by the flower, in our shot it is complete brighness as were trying to achieve high/soft key lighting in which creates a flawless image. We also filmed other diverse scenes for our music video today.. we filmed a car scene in which our male protagonist was driving and as he glances to the passenger seat barbie is sitting there, we thought this created a fun atmosphere as well as targeting our audience as they will be young adults as well relishing in the novelty of driving. Furthermore we also filmed at a bus stop as we thought this ticked all the convention boxes for a music video. We filmed a classic shot of the camera man being on the opposite side of the right, panning from left to right however we also twisted this convention by filming various types of shots such as a pan up the body, constant camera movement, including the barbie a lot in order to enhance the sense of relationship between sam and the barbie.

This is the type of reflector that we used as the white/translucent cover creates a soft flawless image, also enhanced by the intensity of light also created from it. We believe that using a reflector whilst filming outside is essential as it does indeed create a flawless image and without it , it wouldn't have the same depth of shot and would lack professionalism.

Editing: Colour Correction

Colour correction is a brilliant tool seen within the final cut pro programme which enables you to control the saturation, contrast and white balance of your clip. For our specific video this is vital in constructing the look we want to achieve, which is a vibrant, high contrast one. Specifically we used/will use the 3 way colour correcting tool which gives us even more control over the way our footage looks and will be percieved.

In my opinion this is a brilliant example of the way colour correction can really transform a piece of footage for the better. As you can see the three colour wheels on the left are what ultimately give you the full control over the saturation, white balance and contrast of the shot. When the saturation is altered this either emphasises or dampens the colour, eventually putting it into black and white. Whereas the white balance controls the lightness of the shot either making it washed out, which is what you would maybe use in creating a thriller or as in a music video case it can add real depth to the shot, creating a dynamic image. Furthermore the control that is possible over contrast is the most useful for our specific music video as this allows us to create vibrant, dynamic footage which almost takes on a cartoon feel which is what we are after in order to construct our quirky/indie music video. We are constantly using this helpful tool throughout our video as it emphasises our use of lighting which ultimately makes our footage look more professional as well as being well put together. Evidently within the image above, this tool is helpful in many ways, especially in emphasising the headlights of the car, making it look more powerful than it is, in addition to this it also gives the shot a 3d dynamic unlike the image before it was colour corrected. Editing using colour correction ultimately is to engage our target audience as it is apparrent that a more dynamic image creates more attention rather than just a plain 2d image which hasn't been edited. This is because our target audience of young adults are used to seeing dynamic imagery through the new tech films and music videos and that is why we want to achieve this look within our music video, and our answer to this is effective lighting and good use of colour correction.

Digi Pak Brainstorm

Here is a rough template for a traditional digipak design. It has four sides which are the front, back, inside cover and back inside cover, all of which are used to convey what the artist is all about as well as there star image whilst promoting their music. As you can see in the template, the image of the artist is present on all four sides as after all this is the most important thing that needs to be advertised, as the artists target audience want to see their star all over the album. As we must create specifically an album cover it is important that the digipak creates a sense of unity and formation to it in order for it to have a collective feel. Therefore i think the best way to do this is use similar shots of the artist throughout the digipak so it does create this feel. The font is also significant whilst creating a digipak as it can say alot about the genre of the artist and what they want to portray. In our case we are promoting an indie band that have a quirky look that goes alongside their music, therefore the font we were thinking of using for our digipak is a quirky yet simplistic one as that mirrors the band itself.

This is an example of the kind of font we were thinking of using for our album cover. I discovered a font website which offered a range of fonts and i believe this is the closest one to which we were looking for as it is almost comic/cartoon like however still has that quirky, contemporary look also. 

For the front cover of our digi pak we were thinking of taking some inspiration from our video itself however changing it slightly in order to create a bigger statement from our image. As our music video contains a little bit of stop motion which portrays our desirable female figure, a barbie. We thought it would be an effective idea to shoot sam (our protagonist) with the barbie romantically sitting on his shoulder whilst he is almost drooling over her. 

What do we want to achieve on our album cover? 

- we want to achieve a bright vibrant setting for our shoot to take place, including pop art sort of colours such as blue red purple yellow and green, as we want our album to portray our band accurately, which we believe are an uplifting one. 

- we also want to use a high contrast setting on our album cover in order to emphasise this comic/cartoon look which we are aiming for, as we believe this is fun, young and will definitely appeal to our target audience, young adults.

-We want our audience to almost believe our protagonist is in fact in love with the barbie, we will achieve this by romantic facial expressions as well as making the barbie look desirabe as possible, for example dressing her in a red dress as well as illustrating her long blonde hair. 

- As our band is an indie/pop band we want to stay true to the genre throughout this process, we are doing this by being creative as possible for example our choice of font, our choice of characters and our choice of setting. Also we are attempting to create a querky album cover as we believe this is what the indie genre is all  about, not following the crowd as it were.

Plan for what we are doing today;

• research digi pak ideas further

• brainstorm ideas for digipak - keeping in mind a statement image that portrays our star as well as the whole aestehetic that we for our album cover

• take different images from our video (print screen) so far that we can work off in order to create an effective digi pak cover.

• continue editing what footage we have already

• e.g. continue rhythmic editing 

• colour correct to the image we want to portray

• begin brainstorming for our advert which we have decided will be a poster

Music video advert research;

An advert is vital for the success of either a single or a whole album, as the key to profit and for the album to become well known you must first advertise your star appropriately as well as it being fun and engaging. We understand to achieve this we must test out a few shots and ideas first to end up with the right one for our band. Our band is generically indie/pop who rely on vibrant rhythms and beats alongside narrative lyrics to engage their target audience, of which is young adults both male and female. Firstly here our different examples that i have chosen to analyse in order to gain a wider perspective of the different adverts out there;

This is the popular rap/hiphop star plan b, who has become largely successful in the past few years, down to his contemporary style alongside his urban edge. This is an example of his advert that has been published in a magazine. What i like about this advert is that it has a vintage feel, which has been created through the quality of the picture, it purposefully being grainy as well as black and white. I also like the simplistic colour scheme that has been used, red white and black. The red, for me really stands out as it engages the reader vivdly, and emphasises that raw urban feel. Furthermore it also presents the reader with some statistics of the ratings that various newspapers have given it, as they are all high this proves that plan b has made a more than creditable album and thats why people shoul purchase it. In the bottom left hand corner there is a picture of the actual album itself, which i think works effectively as the whole thing isn't the album which adds more variety. In fact the main picture is of plan b performing, which he takes pride from as he is known for touring a lot.

This example is far different from plan b's advert as it takes on a different approach to the star image. Jessie J is known for being a strong independant female therefore her advert directly achieves this look. It does so as it focuses mainly on her face, as it covers the majority of the advert as well as portraying an effective colour scheme, black and gold. Black and gold hold connotations of superioty therefore emphasising the fact that jessie j is no doubt a strong feminist which is illustrated through the use of her advert. The advert contains her website address, which is effective marketing as it clearly states it for readers to go and see more of her music if they wish. Furthermore in the centre of the advert is the album name itself as well as the 'smash hit' 'price tag' which succeeded in becoming number 1, therefore highlighting this statistic and advertising it even further. I think this advert is really effective as it simply focuses on jessie j's star image of a strong female which is what her target audience love. Her audience is mainly female as her music empowers them, however this is also a generically male audience as well as they will, i suspect find her attractive, and as her music is typical pop/hip hop music, the male audience tend to enjoy this just as much as the female audience.

Lana del rey's advert takes on a more simplistic approach, unlike jessie j's who's advert is very harsh and 'in your face.' This simplicity mirrors lana's overall look, fashion sense and the music itself. Her music has a sombre tone and is known as having no drum line, therefore it having only one dynamic. Lana has an effective vintage look which is portrayed effectively in this advert, sticking to neutral tones as well as her wearing vintage fashion. Her name is what is most noticeable in this advert as it is written in strong, bold font mirroring her pose, which makes her look dominant. The setting for this advert is a very natural one, which conveys a tranquil dynamic, very much like her music. This advert would appeal to lana's target audience, as overall her audience seems to be young females who inspire to be and look like her. The main attraction is her flawless face, therefore which girls would inspire to.

What we achieved this lesson...

Today we focused all our time on rhythmic editing, in order to create a professional look to our music video, as well as emphasising the fact that the most important part of our video is the track itself alongside its vibrant, up beat rhythm. In order to achieve this look it took us a lot of time and effort in working out how to do this through the use of final cut pro and its different processes.

This is an example i found on youtube of rhymthic editing at its best. Like our track the music used focuses in on the rhythm as it is a key part of the song, therefore rhythmic editing emphasises this rhythm and makes the music video look professional and sophisticated.

Digipak ideas + our target audience

• This is an example of a well thought out, professional digipak. The star of this digipak is ellie goulding who is an indie/pop artist with an alternative edge. As it is evident, ellie's digipak focuses on her quirky  star image that is ultimately what her target audience want to see. Her target audience is young adults, generally both male and female, therefore she is trying to convey a musically talented side as well as embodying a strong, sexy woman. The image on the top right emphasises her talent regarding music as she is clearly playing an instrument, trying to engage the female side of her audience. In contrast, the bottom images show a more vulnerable, sexy side to elllie, conveyed by the use of neutral colours which emphasise her supposed innocence, as well as a unaware shot which has been used to portray voyeurism, a sense of the audience watching her without her being aware. Furthermore the font used is very tranquil and sophisticated which mirrors her overall image as well as the locations which have been utilised to create a peacefiul scene, which follows the same path as her music, peaceful yet dynamic. 

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• Another effective example of a professional digipak is rihannas latest album cover of 'loud.' It is clear that star image is also vital for rihanna as the album cover is taken up completely by a flawless image of her face. Her target audience is both male and female therefore her album cover oozes feminity. Firstly the cover itself rihanna is pulling a seductive face, attracting the male audience, however this look can also be interpreated as being a dominant one, therefore empowering the younger women within her target audience. Red is a significant colour that constructs rihannas persona and star image, mainly down to her vibrant red hair. The colour red holds connotations such as passion, lust and power, therefore embodying what rihanna strives for and represents. Like ellie goulding's digipak the location for inside the album cover is a supremely natural one, which suggests tranquility and feminity which is once again what rihanna represents.

• My third example is the popular indie singer songwriter, Ed Sheeran. Ed's star image is constructed majorly by his statement colour, orange. This is mainly because of his ginger hair as he has played on this arguably 'quirky' look to his advantage, featuring orange throughout his clothing, his albums and his instruments. The image on the cover is a close up of ed's face, emphasising the simplicity of his music, furthermore the albums name '+' also reflects this simplicity that is seen through Ed himself as well as  through his songs and personality. The paw symbol is also a key element of his star image as it is seen a lot throughout his material. His target audience is predominantly teenagers, as to teenage girls, he is desirable, not conventionally but alternatively and young boys appreciate his raw talent. Therefore this digipak satisfies both audience's needs and portrays a simplistic but effective album cover. 

Editing..

The other lesson we started the editing process for our music video. The programme we have chosen to use is final cut pro, as we believe it is the most efficient software in order to create our video. Currently we are getting used to the different settings within final cut pro, so we can take the maximum advantage out of it. We have tested colour correction and different kinds of transactions, as we want to create a high contrast aesthetic to our video.. following the thematic conventions of an indie/pop video. Throughout our editing process we wish to achieve rhythmic editing within it, as this creates a dynamic effect to a music video, emphasizing the beat of the track.

Whilst editing we were faced with difficulties that we had to overcome, such as matching up the lip syncing. As we didn't know the correct way to lock in the track, everytime we added new footage, our current footage would go out of sync. Therefore we had to figure out a way in which to rectify this, and we did. We realised that with final cut pro, it is possible to form different layers whilst editing one video.. allowing us to match the lip syncing correctly.

Filming our Stop Motion

Last Lesson we filmed our stop motion sequence which, after a few mishaps and misjudgments we are now very proud of. At first we had a problem with our lighting set up as we couldn't get the bright vibrant look that we wanted, so in order to rectify this we moved to a completely white room and used two small lights, setting up almost a 3 point lighting system, so we could achieve this look. We tested the lights several times as we couldn't get them perfectly so the vivid colours of our background stood out, however we eventually went with this set up which conveyed a great contrast between the colours we had in frame.

In this lesson we also thought we would be creative, to create a bikini for our barbie ( the desirable figure within our music video. ) We did this in order to emphasise our use of voyeurism within our video, which is key when trying to portray a desirable female. To emphasise this even further, we developed this with a pan up her body, to highlight her 'womanly figure' . This is a convention within typical pop music videos, as their needs to be a sense of female attraction in order to attract the male audience.

Planning for next week...

• Next week is a key time frame for editing and tweaking what we have filmed already, in order to be ready to film the final bulk of our music video. The hardest bit of the process i believe will be matching the lip syncing with the final track, as it requires a lot of time and skill. We have already attempted to this however we had difficulty as whenever we put new footage on our timeline, the track seemed to alter itself, therefore ruining our lip syncing that we had already done. However we are determined to progress with our lip syncing as we want to achieve this look for our music video, as we want to make it look as professional and well put together as we can. We will achieve this by matching the lip syncing, alongside for filling our plan of narrative and performance based video. 

- next lesson we are going to specifically edit our chorus, as we have filmed the majority of it. We plan to use colour correction on final cut pro in order to created a high contrast scene, almost making it look like 'pop art' ,we were inspired to do this by one of our favourite music videos, stacy's mum by fountains of wayne.. we think this look really suceeds in aesthetic as it creates a cartoon, unrealistic look which follows the querky, abstract type feel which is extremely popular within music videos currently.