Tuesday, 13 December 2011

Update Of Effects

We used different backgrounds which we thought fitted with the theme of POP which were; stripes, polka dots, heart shapes and other pictures we created from Photoshop which was also well fitted with the theme and some block coloured back drops. After we put the images onto Final Cut we decided as a group that the patterns did not fit with the block colours so we decided that the block colours would be the best option for our video. We are in the process of putting the backgrounds in and we are using text from the lyrics for another effect which will jump out from the block background. We used a website called www.myfonts.com to find some inspiration for our text.

Monday, 12 December 2011

Examples of edited images for backgrounds.


The above image is from Photo Shop where i have been editing the images taken from the photo shoots to put on the background of our music video. This is a still which is trying to create a face using our faces. I have selected different part of the face and put them together and using the Curves and Hue/Saturation effects i have lightened the images up which give them a better effect. After this i then was inspired by Andy Warhol and POP ART and created boxes around the images to create a more colourful overall image to tie in with our theme POP. This is the final outcome of this image.


This is another example of an inspired edited image where i have used a similar technique using colour and an almost repeat pattern effect which i feel has worked well.


After taking inspiration from the different art movements i decided to make an image using the different aspects and techniques and produced another image which i feel works well and could either be put onto the music video or could be incorporated within our Digi Pak.

Monday, 5 December 2011

Speeding Up Our Clips


To speed up the clips we had to double click the individual sections of footage and right click on the and a box came up and we could change the percentage speed of the clips. We varied the speeds from 100% which was the normal speed to 200% to 250% which made them fast enough to be placed on the changing beats.

Update 2 from Rough Cut 2

All of our footage is now black and is ready for the effects to be put in place. We have no black empty patches of footage. We have added lots of sped up clips which also match well to the beat which has been taken from the footage of us all dancing around and having FUN while filming.

Razor Tool


This tool we used lots as the footage we had was long and needed cutting down to make short snappy shots to cut to the beat. We found this tool very useful also when we were looking at the lip sync to enable us to get the best match. We also used the razor tool when putting together our instrumentals as these also had to be short cuts to match with the music beat.

Green Screen


The above image shows all of our footage and this is all green as it has not had the Chroma Keyer used on it. We need to use the Chroma Keyer to eliminate all of the green. We feel that the green screen will help us with our aim of having lots of different effects on with the use of post production. we have taken inspiration from lots of 'POP' videos which is our genre and this will help us with the effects.

Editing Techniques used on Final Cut

Chroma Keyer



As we used the Green Screen for all of our filming it was essential to used Chroma Keyer on Final Cut to remove all of the green to turn it black and the above image shows the us using the Chroma Keyer to take away the green to enable us to use different edited images for post production. We had some difficulty when using the Chroma Keyer as some of the footage was not shot at the same time so the green wasn't the same and sometimes the the flooring was in the shot which had some marks on and this took some time as there were lots of different shades of the green, however some of the footage didn't take long to do and the overall effect we thought was good.

Friday, 2 December 2011

Update 1 from Rough Cut 2

From the Rough Cut we have added sped up clips to match with the beat and we have added more clips in the instrumental part as these were blank within the rough cut. we have also used Chroma Keyer and now all the clips are black ready to add effects.

List of Editing Techniques Used So Far

Chroma Keyer
Speed
Stills
Photo shop edits
PNG files
Filters
Slow Motion Shots
Fast Cuts

Trouble we faced . . .

We had to re-schedule our plans to film on several occasions as our actress let us down. However we decided as a group to take matters in our own hands and we became the actresses which we feel worked better than having a single person acting within and the title indicates 'Girls" just wanna have fun. We are happy with our footage so far as we have all of our filming and we just have to plan our photo shoots to start post production.

Rainbow Eyeshadow tutorial



After decided our make up ideas we decided a rainbow of colours would look very effective when we come to filming for our video and also of a possible close up of our eyes for the Digipak. We looked for images of rainbow eyeshadow and decided to look on Youtube for a tutorial and we found the above video.

Our Photo Shoot








Our Photo Shoot

Saturday, 22 October 2011

Plan of advert

Planning our Advert
We have decided that our advert should closely link with both the digipak and the actual music video. We feel that its important to incorporate the same type of images, font, text and colour in order to represent the band as a whole unit and promote the video in as many ways as possible.

COLOUR
Our primary colour will be purple as this is a key colour in the music video and also the central colour within our digipak aswell. Purple incorporates the girly fun edge which we have included in our video and has connotations of being a very feminine colour. This stands out against a plain black background which demonstrates the main information and makes them more noticable to the audiences.

IMAGE
Our anchoring image is of all three members of the band striking a pose. Again the way in which we have constructed the advert allows for a very similar approach as the digipak does. Each member of the band is placed in front of a letter from the word 'FUN' like on the front panel of our digipak. The band members are the main image and so they are centrally anchored to be the first image that the audience can see.

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Digipak Front Cover Ideas

COLOUR
We feel that we need to keep a close link to the video when it comes to the type of colour that we intend to use. In the video we have a lot of bright multicolored backgrounds that change as the thought beats switch. We want to incorporate this into our digipak in order to keep a link between the two, whether this be through using a multicolored background or one bold colour that has been used in the video.

MISE-EN-SCENE
On our digipak we plan to wear very smart going out clothing that we would normally wear on a night out. We will each be wearing our style of clothing which will represent our different personalities within the band. Within the video we are getting ready to go out or having a girly sleepover doing make up and so on, therefore we have decided to incorporate the girls getting ready to go out type of situation on the front of our digipak.

ANCHORING IMAGE
We decided that our anchoring image should incorporate everything that the music video does. In this instance we have used images of all three members of the band along with animated lyrics. We plan to use the lyrics "FUN" with each female artist standing or sitting in a pose against each individual letter. we feel this would be an eye catching image to use as our text is the predominant image from the cover, with all three artists being the secondary image.

Tuesday, 18 October 2011

Inside left, inside right, middle panes

We discussed that these pages will be glamorous individual images of each of us which will also show the different personalities of the band and the three different styles of us girls as not every girl is the same. This will show the audience a more personal image of us and this technique has been used throughout the genres of music to develop an individual fan base within the band. The images will be of us dressed in smart going out clothes, our hair and make up will be immaculate just how it is on a high class, professional images. The backgrounds will be different colours that will be bright, as this has been used within our music video.

Idea 1 of CD for Digipak


This is an edited image of different aspect of our faces to produce one image which was done using photo shop and this we this could possibly be appropriate with our digipak.

Sunday, 16 October 2011

Animatic scene storyboard




This is the animatic for our different scenes within the music video shoot. Our shot list and shooting schedule display more detailed shots that we plan to use within our music video. This animatic, however, allows us to demonstrate what our ideas are for the wider themes and scenes that we understand are crucial to our music video.

Thursday, 29 September 2011

Shot Count - Linkin Park - New Divide

 The genre of this video is Rock/Rap, within the first two minutes of this music video there are 83 different shots. The narrative of this music video is entirely based on the Transformers movie which shows clips of the movie incorporated with the Linkin Park band which uses the effects seen on the movie(Narrative). This has been put together with using different effects to blend the clips of movie with band smoothly.
The main shots used in this video are Medium shots which shows the lead singer fairly close to the camera with the band playing in the background. (Audience) The transformers is aimed at males aged between 15-22 and this is also who the video here is aimed at. The video is a mix of clips from the movie, Transformers and the band. Representation Linkin Park is a group of males aged 20-30 who look like they are in angst whenever they are singing.  

Linkin Park - New Divide Video Shot Count

Location for our music video

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

9 Frame Analysis Sean Kingston

Magazine Advert Analysis

This is a magazine advert for Gwen Stefani's album which is promoting her album, Love.Angel.Music.Baby. This is also cleverly promoting her new perfume range which are individual fragrances called Love, Angel, Music and Baby. This image has been been created by using different layers and filters on Photoshop. this has given her a surreal look, however it has also been able to keep her iconic red lipstick and golden hair. Gwen Stefani's music comes under the pop genre and maintains a similar regal feel throughout her videos and also throughout this advert. This advert is agent centered which flaunts her as an artist and her album. The text used on this advert looks to me feminine/gothic which she always uses, in adverts and also on her videos it also looks quite rich with the golden colour, this is a good example of anchorage with the background of her as it looks likes he is sat on a throne with a crown in her hand and a staff in her hand. Her body language is quite plush as he is sat in her fantasy world. I have learnt from looking at this advert that it is appealing to the eye, uses extra Photoshop techniques and draws the eye in. All of these aspects i will use and create my magazine advert using similar techniques to make mine as successful as this. 

Tuesday, 27 September 2011

Our Logo - LAA

LOGO! LAA!
We decided to create a logo for our production company which will be "advertised" through our music video and will be showcased on the digipak and advert. We felt it was important to create a logo that would match the concept of our music genre and be eye-catching to the demographic audience. We came up with the name LAA from our initials and we thought it sounded musical and fitted within our genre pop.
The colors we used were mainly primary, bold, bright colors that would be easy to notice on adverts/digipaks etc. For example, pinks and oranges have been used to agree with the conventions of our 'pop' genre. Although the colors are bright they have been used in a simple, minimalist way in order not to strike too much attention away from the anchoring image/artist.
The font we used felt very Hollywood-esque which we though matched our genre perfectly. A lot of pop music videos are originated from American producers and companies and we wanted to incorporate that within our brand and video. In addition, a lot of pop videos are filmed in Hollywood/LA and so we wanted to include the American vibe into our video as well.

Pixie Lott - All About Tonight - 9 Frame Analysis

Monday, 26 September 2011

Beyonce Shot Count Task



Beyonce – Run the World
Within the whole of this video, over one hundred (122) shots are used in order to comprehend with the music and with the narrative of the track.
The main type of shots that are used are long shots for the most part in order to show the intense dance routine that is present throughout two thirds of the whole video. The dance routine is crucial to the lyrics of the song and visualises the key meaning of the track. The track is mainly about female domination and the power of women presently. This is recognised by a large group of women dancing fiercely toward a crowd of males. Their “frustration” aforementioned in the track is obivious within the dance routine.
Another type of shot which was particularly common within the music video was the close up shot. This helps to create the notion of looking and places emphasis and the physical attractiveness of the artist. In this particular video, the fact that Beyonce is shown in this light actually emphasises the fact she has so much power along with other females instead of being purely for male attraction.
A certain motif of Beyonce’s is key in this music video, as seen in other work she has two backing dancers who are female and imitate the dance that she does. For example, in Single Ladies, the video is made up of herself and two other dancers performing a routine. This was and still is an iconic routine known worldwide which is only associated with Beyonce. However, in this music video, the two backing dancers are male which immediately can be seen as an illustrative representation of the lyrics within Run the World.
With the audience of this track being mainly female, the use of characters within the video is key to attracting that demographic. The running theme of female empowerment is present through the use of a large number of female characters and a smaller number of male characters. Beyonce dominates through the whole sequence, being the leader of the pack and even coming face to face with members of a police force. Male members of a police force are seen to be strong and tough men but act as no threat to the large group of females in front making the females seem more powerful to the men again illustrating the dimensions of the track.
A lot of Beyonce’s songs have strong R&B influences much like this particular one. As well as the actual track having R&B influences we have visual offerings of clothing, scenery and characters which demonstrate a scene where R&B is present. For example, some of the male characters wear bandannas and have sleeveless tops on. The females however represent the other influence of the song by wearing dresses and jewellery, the more pop like side to the track. Beyonce symbolises both sides of the coin by wearing short biker style clothing in some scenes then long flowing dresses in others, bringing both ends of the spectrum together like in the track itself, mixing strong R&B with hip pop.

Rihanna Digipak Analysis


CD front cover

The central image on the front cover is the artist. This photograph takes up the whole front cover to capture attention and use the artist to sell the CD. Rihanna is physically attractive and so the Cd cover makes use of this to attract potential buyers and her demographic audience. Her lips and hair are the most vocal part of the image as they are bright vivid red. Her lips are shaped into a perfect Cupid's Bow suggesting that she is looking for love, looking for romance and that bright red colour matches the aim of her lips being centrally anchored. The bright red colour of her hair expresses ' a femme fatale' iconography which in turn expresses a strong female character.

The text used on the front over is very demure and very refined in order to maintain most attention on the 'meat shot' of the artist. The text reads her name and the name of the album 'LOUD' which are both written in simple fonts for the same reason of not diverting any attention away from Rihanna. The texts are located at the top and bottom of the page so that the image is centrally anchored and the first thing you see. You would then be attracted to her name and finally the name of the album.

CD Insert Pages

The main image on the insert page is Rihanna laying on a floor of roses. Again the red lips and hair portray her feisty nature but her want for love at the same time. However in this image, the loving nature to the red colour is more apparent because of the roses in the background. The red roses are a signifier for love, romance and relationships which is what Rihanna is looking for by looking into the roses. In the Photograph Rihanna is wearing a flowing ballernina style outift. This outfit suggests her innocent and playful side whilst still maintaining her stereotypical strong, attractive woman profile. The provocative pose which she is laying in suggests a very mainstream institutional context and that the pose has been perfected to attract an audience.

Actual CD Image

The actual CD also has a transferred image of a rose head, however in this image the rose is pale compared to on the CD insert. The bright vivid red which has been apparent through the whole of the digipak cant be seen on the actual CD cover. This suggests that on the outside she is very outgoing and has a vivid personality which is represented by the bright red colours. The paler CD colour suggests her inner purity and innocence and how on the inside she may not be as outgoing and wild as what her institution demands her to appear.

Lyrics Break Down- Cyndi Lauper- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Permission Request


Sunday, 25 September 2011

Initial Ideas Wordle

Niki Minaj Music Video Analysis



The sound of this particular track i think is very futuristic and so to match this different techniques have been using in camera shots and also in post-production to match the uniqueness of the song. For example, the song is very upbeat and alot of percussion instruments are used. In order to match this to the video, editors have clipped each scene so that a dance move, e.g a footstep, hand clap or a finger snap is in direct sync with a clash of a drum or a beat of a piano. Each time a new beat is hear there is a movement which illustrates this and so i feel that the music video is illustrative of the track as theorised by Andrew Goodwin. In addition, the actual storyline to the track is illustrated through the choreography and the video itself. The track is about summarising themselves up and declaring their superiority over other artists who should 'check this out' or check them out. It's all about being higher in the charts and more popular than artists who perhaps put them down in their beginning. This is illustrated in the choreography, especially by Nicki Minaj who uses alot of attitude in her dancing. The choreography is illustrative of the words being spoken, for example when the song says 'sometimes it's just me and all my bottles all alone' Nicki Minaj acts like she is drinking out of bottles. Will.I.Am does this also when saying ' you need to grow a little taller' as he moves his arms up to taller height, all of this illustrates the lyrics in the song.

A colour scheme is apparent through mise en scene and backgrounds throughout the video. Pink and Black are the most dominating colours in this video. Not only does Nicki Minaj and Will.I.am wear them but also some of the backing dancers. The colour pink is almost like a recurring motif for Nicki Minaj as it is vivid in her other music videos and also contributes to the name of her album 'Pink Friday'. When an audience see the colour pink it easy for them to associate it with Nicki Minaj as she uses the colour so often. Sticking with mise en scene, a lot of the outfits are very wacky and futuristic which amplifies the songs sound. The backing dancers were costumes which almost resemble spaceman outfits, again pink and black for the most part. At one point, Nicki Minaj is wearing a pink and white leather catsuit which has been designed to look very futuristic and wild. Will.I.Am wears a leather padded outfit with a plastic L.E.D lit hair stripe which again contributes to this idea of computerised characters and futuristic tracks.


Some of the post successful components of this video have been done in post-production. For example, throughout the video we have running animatics in a foreign langauge which presumably read what the song is saying. By having these animations the track is able to be amplified and the lyrics emphasised through the use of them. The animations are also used on the beat of the music, so that they only appear on a certain beat to match the track. They carry the same animated and futuristic feel as the rest of the track and so the theme is also amplified through these.


A range of camera shots are used in this video for a variety of reasons. One of the most common shots is the 'meat shot' which enables Laura Mulvey's theory of 'voyeurism' to be apparent. A close up shot of Nicki Minaj is used as the 'meat shot' in order to promote the song through her attractiveness and the female figure. A lot of males will watch the video purely for Nicki Minaj and so dressing her in certain outfits and choreographing certain moves will help contribute to the 'male gaze'.
A lot of long shots are also used within the video so that the choreographed and sometimes free styled dance can be seen. A lot of this video is made up of small sections of choreography which amplify and illustrate the song. Dance routines are a convention of pop videos and audiences will automatically be able to assign the pop genre to this song as soon as the upbeat tempo and dance routines kick in.

Saturday, 24 September 2011

Saturdays - All Fired Up Analysis



The genre of this song is pop with strong dance influences as portrayed by the up tempo and fast beat of the track. Most of the tracks produced and performed by The Saturday are of the same genre and sub genre and so a lot of their videos include dance choreography and club scenes, much like this one.

There are two main costume changes in this video by The Saturdays kind of illustrate what the song is suggesting. The song's narrative is about being read to go out and being 'all fired up' and feeling 'alive' to have a good night out. The outfits are glamorous and dressy which suggest that the group are out and performing on a night time. The black slick dresses that they were for the most part of the video are very revealing and help to establish the attraction of the band. Laura Mulvey's theory can again be added to this video as it does place some 'voyeurism' onto the band as they are dressed glamorously and revealing aswell. However, in some of the video the girls wear all white which has connotations of purity and ideallic innocence. This contradicts the song and makes the girls seem innocent which is not what the song is saying as it refers to everyone being 'animals' and to 'get your claws out'.


In this video, water seems to be made as an icon. The iconography of the water is a common convention in pop music videos, especially for bands. A lot of previous videos include a dance routine in water, for example an older song by Shane Ward features dancing in water. I think that the water adds a more dramatic effect to a dance routine and encapsulates a glamorous look for the video. However, in this video I think that water is used to reflect the lights in the background to make the set look and feel like a club. A lot of lighting is used in this video, including a back wall of spotlights suggesting that the band are always in the spotlight. The fact that they dance in front of it suggests that they don't mind being in the spotlight and actually play up to it. The combination of the lights and the water reflect a glamorous and dance club atmosphere.

A wide range of camera shots are used in this video, with the most common shot being the long shot. The long shot is used alot in this video because of the large amount of dance routine within it. The long shot enables us to see the dance routine fully and helps to divert our attention to the girl's bodies, specifically to attract male attention to the band and increase their demographic audience. Medium close ups are used to show the band individually in several quite provocative poses which again helps enhance 'male gaze' and makes the band more attractive. Shallow focus of backing dancers is used in order to make the water the main icon of some images.

Monday, 12 September 2011

Black Eyed Peas - Boom Boom Pow



This music video contains a lot of technical editing which has been added once the artists have performed in the green room. The dancers are all dancing with the beat. The chorus 'Boom Boom Boom' there is a close up of them lip syncing which suggests that this music video is also promoting them as artists as it is agent centered. this is backed up by Andrew Goodwin's theory which shows their stage performance throughout the music video. I feel that this music video is also illustrative as there has been lots of post production manipulation added. This has been filmed inside a studio and green room where the effects have been added after, for example for most of the beats of the music there is a new colour and shape being projected in the background. We have looked at this video as we like the aspects of the post production with the shapes and colours in the background and we feel that it would be a success if we were to do this in our music video, however, we do want to shoot scenes outside of the studio.

Thursday, 8 September 2011

Personal Skills Audit


Personal Skills Audit

-       Digital technology; What equipment/software packages did you use to produce your production?
-       -TV Studio
-       Final Cut Express
-       Handheld Cameras
-       Photoshop
-       Prezzi

Using these it allowed me to edit my video to a high standard when using final cut. Then using prezzi and Photoshop it helped me to gain more skills to have a more complex blog.

I hope to be able to use final cut more and the more complicated and complex features of this.


-       Post production; what software did you use to create your production? Discuss specific features of the software.
-       Final cut
-       Photoshop
-       Razor tool
-       Dots to mark sound files together.

These helped to produce a smooth lip synced outcome. Photoshop helped create credits and change photos from dark to like and different colours. I will develop these using them more and in different ways.

-       Research and Planning ; what tasks did you complete when preparing to film your sequence? How did your planning help the smooth progression of your film?

-       Timeline story board shot lists. All planning helped me to stick to deadlines.

-       From this it helped me to stick to deadlines and get all work completed.

-       I will need to produce more planning during A2 to stick to deadlines.

- Creativity; Were our ideas for your portfolio imaginative and unique or did you adhere to conventions.

-       It helped me to use my imagination and to look at more things.

-       I need to look at more music videos to develop ideas.

-       Within A2 I need to develop my creativity.

Monday, 27 June 2011

The Process of Lip Syncing

The Process

  1. We first obtained the desired audio track to lip sync over (California King Bed - Rihanna), checking it's playback and then having a few trial runs.
  2. We then took multiple shots of a fellow student lip syncing to various parts of the song.
  3. We then imported the clips into Final Cut, using the variety of tools available to sync perfectly the different shots.
  4. To make sure the video and audio were in time, we matched wave forms of key parts to maintain a high accuracy in matching.
  5. These clips were then merged together to make the final product.
  6. The video was then tested for any errors

Monday, 20 June 2011

Screen grabs of the early stages of the task.

Medium shot
Long shot
Close up
Low angle shot
High angle shot 

These screen shots are showing me converting the files from the video camera to a DV file using MPEG streamclip.

Start of lip sync task

I chose to use R&B as my theme for this task and then chose to use  Rihanna - California King Bed as the track for this task. I recorded in the studio using a variety of shots including; High angle shots, close up and  long shots. I will then edit them together and produce a smooth running clip of the lip sync including different shots to match with the original track.

Thursday, 16 June 2011

Julian Opie Photoshop task.

This is a photograph of myself which has been developed by the inspiration of Julian Opie. I built layers using Photoshop and on each layer there is a different part of my face. To do this i used;
- Lasso tool
- Crop tool
- Filler tools
- Colour selection
- Layers
- Select tool
- Paint brush

These tools enabled me to quickly create a look which resembles this movement. i used the colour selection tool to select a colour which was suitable for my hair, face, lips and eyes. The lasso tool enables me to fill the selected area with colour with minimal mistakes. the Crop tool enabled me to create my selected background. Overall i am happy with the outcome.