ITS CHRISTMASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS !!!!!!

Merry Christmas everybody :) ........... (For Tomorrow)

WOW

Ok, I have jus realised how long it takes to edit. We have done around 2 hours of editing and got a mssive 10 seconds IF THAT. This is going to be a long task!!!!

Animatic

EVEN MORE FILMING !!!!!

We did the filming for the bits of the verse tht we hadn't filmed but decided to re-film the parts we had already done. These ideas are much better and when we edited it, the lip-synching fits perfectly.

Some More Filming

We did even more filming today and dicovered that no amount of planning will actualy mean we will do them ideas. We were planning for around 2 hours the day before and when it came to filming, we changed all of our ideas on the spot. The shots we filmed were shots of me singing out of the window, however we need too do some more filming as we have not filmed enough to cover the first verse.

Filming

Me and Katie did some filming for the starting 13seconds of our video. These shots consisted of shots of letters that we stuck onto a white board to spell out the words Oh Me Oh My which is the title of our song.

Finally Back To Business

For some reason I was experiencing techical difficulties and was unable to continue with my blog. Now I am back onto the system I will catch up on notes that were meant to be put on before.

When will it stop RAINING!!!

We really want to film some scenes of our characters eing happy in the forest/park, but since the idea of soing this, it has done nothing but rain. we wouldn't mind but our scenes need to be sunny and happy and so far we have had not much luck!

Risk Assesment

Risk Assessment

• no filming in inappropriate locations
  
• check safety of locations e.g roads
  
• minimise risk of theft of equipment
  
• when filming on location ensure teacher and responsible adult knows where you are and have you telephone number and when you will return
  
• check all equipment working before you leave
  
• ensure you have permission for filming if necessary
  
• always film with at least one other person
  
• ensure you have the permission of those you are filming
  

Digipaks

Another part of out coursework is to create a digipak. These are a device that hold our cds/DVDs. here are some ideas tat ma help me.




These ideas all give me ideas on ho to poduce my digipaks.

I have understood all the concepts required to complete a good digipak. From the size of the image to the style of text, it all adds a huge contribution to the completed product.

A Well Worth Change

The idea to scrap any planned ideas was slightly worrying to start with, however it worked extremely well. We initially gave people roles to do but ditched the idea after realising that if we let people do what they want, then it would look more natural and less staged and therefore more professional.

A little more research.

Although me and Katie have already got out ideas, I have decided to look at some more music videos from bigger pop groups such as The Black Eyed Peas and Pitbull to try and see how the "professionals" do it. I found that most of the songs, not every word is lip-synched. Me and katie would like to lip-synch every word as it adds to the affect and I personally feel it would make it more difficult and more of a challenge which the examiner may like. Some of our initial ideas seem great after watching other music videos. For example we had the ideas of using different editing speeds and styles in order to flow with the music as well as the video to be more of a visual version of the song. Our ideas are almost like sign language. We hope that when all our filming is done and we have edited, that you would be able to understand the song, without previously hearing it. We are also trying to add value to the song!
Here are some links to 3 of the songs i watched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMxASjxRk1w Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFryG9ON7Tw Pitbull - You know I Want Ya

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQuKo3SevVA Marilyn Manson - Tainted Love

The Filming We Did.

The filming we did went extremely well. We managed to get the first verse of the song done. Me and Katie know exactly what we want to do for our music video and both have ideas that work fantastically. However this is a good but bad thing. The fact we know what we want to do and how were going to do it is great, however the firdt verse alone took around 2 hours of filming just so that we could get everything perfect. We hope that we know now what to do and what not to do while filming so hopefully we should not take as long on any other part of the song.

Reception Theory

Another audience theory we covered is the Reception Theory. So given that the Effects model and the Uses and Gratifications model have their own problems and limitations a different approach to audience was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the 1970's. This considered how texts were encoded with meaning by producers and them decoded (understood) by audience

The theory suggests that:-

When a producer constructs a text it is encoled with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience
in some instances audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was tryingm to say
in some instances the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message

Stuart Hall identified three types of audience readings (or decoding) of the texts

1). Dominant:- where the audience decodes the messageas the producer wants them to do and broadly agrees with it
-e.g watchinga policital speech and agreeing with it

2). Negotiated:- where the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements fo the text in light of previously held views
-e.g neither agreeing or disagreeing with the polictical speech or being disinterested

3). Oppositional:- where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons
-e.g total rejection of the political speech and active opposition

The Uses and Gratifications Model

The uses and gratifications model is the theory that audiences use the media in order to satisfy a certain need. Therefore "channeling" anger etc. This means that this model is opposite to the effects model. The audience is active rather than passive so they use the text rather than the text using them. Here, power lies with the audience NOT the producers. This theory emphasises what audience do with media texts. So audiences are far from being duped by the media, the audience is free to reject, use or play with media meanings as they see fit. Audiences therefore use media texts to gratify needs for:-

diversion
escapism
information
pleasure
comparing relationships and lifestyles with one's own
sexual stimulation

The audience is in control and consumption of the media helps with issues such as:-

learning
emotional satisfaction
relaxation
help with issues of personal identity
help with issues of social identity
help with issus of aggression and violence

Controversially the theory suggests the consumption of violent image can be helpful rather than harmful. The theory suggests that of audience act out their violent impulses thrugh the consumption of media violence. Therefoere the audience's inclination towards violence is therefore subimated, and they are less likely to commit violent acts.

Ladies And Gentlemen Boys And Girls .... WE HAVE LIFT OFF !!

The band have FINALLY sent through the music that we have been waiting for and in a few minutes I shall meet Katie at her house to start filming!

Some of the costume ideas.

The Effects Model

The Effects Model is how the consumption of medcia texts effects or influences the audience. It is normally considered that this effect is negative. This is because the audience watching the text is passive, which means they are powerless to prevent the influence. The power lies with the text and the creator. The Effects Model is also known as the Hypodermic Model. This idea is saying that the message in the text is injected to the audience. Like a powerful syringe like media text. Therefore the audience is drugged, addicted, doped or duped into the text.

Key evidnece for the Effects Model

-1). The Frankfurt school theorised in the 1920's and 30's. The mass media acted to resrict and control audiences to the benefit of corporate capitalism and goverment

-2). The Bobo Doll experiment

This is a very controversial piece of research that appartently proved that children copy violent behaviour. The Bobo Doll experiment was conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandura. In the experiment children watched a video where an adult violently attacked a clown toy called a Bobo Doll. The children were then taken to a room with attractive toys that they were told not to touch or play with. The children where then led to another room with the Bobo Doll. 88% of the children imitated the violent behaviour that they had earlier beeen shown. 8 months later 40% of the children reproduced the same violent behaviour. The conclusion reached was that children will imintate violent media content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdh7MngntnI

This link is a YouTube video of the Bobo Doll Experiment.

There are some other incidents that support the Effects Model.

The film Child's Play 3 in the murder of James Bulger in 1993.

The game Manhunt in the murder of Stefan Pakearah in 2004 by the friend Warren LeBlanc.

The film A Clockwork Orange (1971) ina number of rape and violent attacks.

The film Severance (2006) in the murder of Simon Everitt

Lyrics To Oh Me Oh My

Everyday I seem to turn around
Im on my back agian
Coz I know theres something
better than the tomb I am living in

Looking outside and the sky is black
I knew a better place, coz if
these four walls keep closing in
and wasting time and space

Oh me
Oh my
You know I've got something to say

Oh me
Oh my
I think about it everyday

Oh me
Oh my
You know I'vebeen changing my ways
Coz I dream of better days

Dirty old towns ringingin my ears
And don't I know just why
Coz theres nothing changing in this town
Some gray northern sky
Gotta get away, I gotta start again
Gotta turn my life around
Coz if these four walls keep closing in
this ground

Oh me
Oh my
You know that I've got somethingto say

Oh me
Oh my
I think about it everyday

Oh me
Oh my
You know I've been changing my ways
Coz I dream of better days with you now



(GUITAR SOLO)


Oh me
Oh my
You know I'vegot sumit to say

Oh me
Oh my
I think about it everyday

Oh me
Oh my
You know I've got sumit to say

Oh me
Oh my
I think about it everyday

Oh me
Oh my
You know I'll be changing my ways
Coz I dream of better days with you know

LETS GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD !!!!!

Finally me ad Katie have come to the conclusion that we should start filming. We have some initial ideas which we have and plan on filming some within he next week.

ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!

STILL the music has not arrived! Me and Katie are thinking of going to Manchester to try and get the music we still desperately need!

Yet another dissapointing moment.

After leaving my E-mail inbox for a few days and we both had a slight buzz actually thinking they might have sent the music with lyrics. But they didn't so we are rather upset about this as we cannot really get going until the music has arrived.

Target Audience

I have been watching certain music channels in some of my spare time in order to understand which sort of person my video might attract. Also, i considered the ages of the audience and what sort of time my video should be shown. After watching MTV, I realised that the genres of song change as the day go on. For example, Early in the morning, it was more calmer but still slightly up beat, whereas in comparison to around 10pm which was normally either extremely up beat or rap songs. therefore i think that my song would probably be able to be shown at any time, the reason for this is that there is no foul language or any other rude or crude material which makes it suitable for any ages. Therefore the video would be given a U certificate.

Reasons Why ???

I was wandering the other day what makes a person create a video to their song. Was it a random burst of creativity or whether there was any meaning behind it. So ..... I decided to Google it. After reading some interviews with bands such as Coldplay and Oasis, I understood that the artist and managers need a good video for it to sound good. As weird as it sounds, it kind of makes sense. More people are inclined to buy the song if they see a good video, which is true. I know this is true because I literally just bought a song off of iTunes because i saw the video on Youtube. Therefore I understand the importance of making a good music video.

Will our music ever come through ?

Even though we have been granted permission, we have had no luck in being able to actually gain access to the piece. This may make the filming stages slighly difficult as we are unable to isten to the piece through headphones while trying to lip-synch.

What ever shall we do??

So now we have the dilemma of having two bands giving us permission to use their music. Therefore, me and my partner Katie are going to listen to all the options in class on Friday and decide on the best one. After that, we will contact whichever band ad then continue with the music video.

More Music!!

We recieved an E-mail from the band The 99's and they too have given us permission to use their music!! Here is the E-mail that they sent us regarding the permission.




Hi there Chris,


Sorry for my slow reply. I have been very busy moving house and have only just reconnected to the internet.


Firstly, I would be happy to give you permission to use our music. However I will refer you to our official site www.myspace.com/the99smusic instead of unsigned.com. That is our most up to date site. Please feel free to have another listen to our most updated songs and I will be happy to send you anything you think will be appropriate along with the lyrics. Also, we'd love to see whatever music video you do produce!


Kind regards,
James, The 99s

The E-mail from The COLOURS to me !!

Dear Chris,



On behalf of theCOLOURS, who we represent, I am writing to give our consent to the use of Minutes and Hours by the COLOURS as the basis of your Media Studies course and, in particular, the production of a music video.



We have suddenly had a series of such requests, so while we are encouraged that there is so much interest in the band’s material at present, we must insist that a copy of your final work is sent to us as soon as it is available and that no commercial use is made of your work without reference back to ourselves of course. We have even decided to award a prize for the best one





Having said that we wish you all the best with your project and look forward to seeing how you have interpreted the song. I have attached the song and the lyrics, which I hope is the version you’re familiar with. At present the COLOURS are recording in Leeds and there are a few interim versions in circulation.



Best wishes,



Andrew Parsons

The E-mails From me to The COLOURS

Hi,
My name is Chris Stephens. I am a 17 year old media studies student from London. Our final piece of coursework is to produce a music video. We found your band on Unsigned.com and loved the track Homesick Valentine. Therefore I would love permission to use this song for my final piece of coursework. Along with the music itself, a copy of the lyrics would be brilliant if you decide to let me use it!
Thank you very much
Chris Stephens.

Music has arrived at last!!

We hav finally got some music. The representative from the band "The COLOURS" replied to my e-mail last night giving us permission to use their music and to wish us good luck with out coursework.

Now We Are Talking!

We have our ideas and now we have people. As a group, me and Katie sat down with our little helpers/employees and spoke about who did what. we decided to allocate peoples roles on what their personality is. We then realised that we cannot MAKE somebody fun, so we scrapped roles and just asked them to come along. The filming part that we were going to do has been scrapped and we are now just going to ask people to do what they want. Hopefully this will work.

A few ideas

Me and katie have sat down today and tried to think of a few ideas. After listening to the song for quite a few times, not only is my ipod going mad with the song, but we have plans. The style of song is quite upbeat and therefore i think it is a great opportunity to use fun. This is a reason I love media studies. So now we have a few ideas for the initial song, we have tried recruiting people to become a part of our master class.

Music !!

We have been looking at some music on www.unsigned.com. We did this because we did some test shots. First of all Katie did some lip synching. After that I tried lip synching aswell and was suprisingly good at it. Finally we got a group friend Stacey Reading to try some lip synching aswell. Out of the three of us, I seemed to be the best lip syncher, but this was a problem because the lead singer in our song was a female, and obviously, I do not fit with a females voice being a man myself!! Therefore this was the reason we decided to look for some music on www.unsigned.com. We found a band called The 99's and listened to the music they produced. We were extremely interested in the song Oh Me Oh My. Therefore we e-mailed the band lead singer to try and get permission to use their music in our video.

Song Choice

We have been looking on www.unsigned.com to try and find some acts/songs that we think are relevant to our style. We have ruled out styles such as rap/hip hop and grunge as we already know that these will be almost impossible to lip-synch to. We have found two bands so far. One called The 99s and one called The COLOURS. Both have songs that we found perfect so we shall contact them in the near future. Therefore I have tried researching both groups and used sites such as facebook, myspace and youtube to try and understand some of their ideas behind their songs.

Today we looked at some examples of previous media coursework involving the music videos. We saw 2 really good examples which seemed to work extremely well with the musci.The lip-synching was done really well and the actor/actress suited the song brilliantly. We saw one good example, however there were some aspects which seemed to make the video a bit off-putting. For example, the lead singer had rather bad looking teeth and had a few tenage spots. These wer'nt a problem until they decided to do extreme close ups on his mouth.

Top 100 Music Videos

100:- Musical Youth "Pass the Ductie"
-one of the first video's to show black people
-showed black British people
-video was about drugs, but not directly
-not very dressed up
-teenagers, and under children are shown
-story line
-lots of dancing
-shown next to famous London landmarks

99:- ??

98:- "small town boy"
-tells a story and deals with homosexuality
-first openly gay band
-issues
-personal issues
-normal life
-about not being yourself
-follows the boy about
-no special effect

97:- corner shop
-colourful
-lots of dancing-happy girl
-teenager dancing
-thought it was to heavily advertised

96:- So Solid Crew "21 seconds"
-each member had 21 seconds to introduce themselves and a chance to sing
-lots of special effects where used

95:- The Cardigans
-driving down a road
-shows the elements of a pop video e.g singing
-lots of special effects used
-cars chasing
-use of humor in the video

94:- Bonnie Tyler
-used special effects

93:- "when we love" Rolling Stones
-document, drug, looking drugged

92:- Herbie Hancock "Rock it"
-black singer
-robots
-sexual references
-body parts

91:- The Specials (1981)
-car journey
-roits in english

90:- the pet shop boys "Go West"
-gay rights
-sung firstly by the village people
-special effects
-looks like robots
-done on computer
-"comersal art" use new technogly

89:- Smashing pumpkins
-creepy
-special effects

88:- Elton John
-playing piano
-someone else is playing elton john
-robert downy junior

87:- "cry"
-new video
-different to all the other ones
-show faces

86:- "can't touch this" Mc Hammer
-girls dancing around rapping

75:- Duran Duran "Rio"
-on a beach
-girls wearing hardly any clothes
-set on a beach
-shows videos have changed

74:- ??

73:- Bass Jaxx
-surreal, not like reality
-normal life but with singing

72:- Rorbort Palmer
-singing to the camera
-with girl in background

71:- Bjork "All is full of love"
-robots
-technology is used a lot
-building Bjork as a robot

70:- The Police "Every breath I take"

69:- Frakie goes to hollywood "Two Trys"
-trying to flight
-high class men fighting

68:- Madonna "Ray of light"
-shows streets of America
-everything is fast

67:- Beastie Boys
-fast paste
-car chase

66:- Bob Dilan
-documentary
-lyrics are on sheets of paper
-out of time
-badly shot

65:- The Aplex twins "Window Licker"
-lots of swearing
-isn't the man doing it, someone who look like him
-girls turn into him

64- Bjork
-strange
-super natural

63- George Michael 'Outside'
-in a toilet
-dressed as a police man
-disco in a toilet
-used filming from the air

62- Blur
-unnatural
-old days
-colourful

61- The Prodogy 'Firestarter'
-point of views
-shot in one night
-shown as a man, does "ladish" things
-seen in the eyes of a woman in the end

60- Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams"
-dressed like a man, but had all her make-up done
-has a cow in the video

59- Abba "Knowing me knowing you"
-playing on gossip

58- The Cure "Close to me"
-everything is pushing together
-filmed in a cupboard
-uses other props to make it look like they are making the sound

57- Meat Loaf "Anything for love"
-set in a forest
-dark lighting
-parts are bright colours with the girl is in
-like beauty and the beast

55- Fat Boy Slim "Praise you"
-done using hidden cameras
-people dancing, bad dancing on purpose
-gets stopped half way thought

54- Daft Punk "Around the world"
-dancing skeletons

53- Wham! "Club Tropicana"
-set in a holiday place
-having fun

52- Massive attack "teardrop"
-unborn baby sings

50- Paul Simon "You can call me Al"
-singing to the camera
-comedy

48- Johnny Cash "Hurt"
-showed he was ill
-last video
-cover version
-long back in time
-very moving

46- Adam and the Ants
-fairy tale
-big costumes and make up
-made like Cinderella
-special dance made up

45- Aerosmith "Crazy" 1994
-set in a shop, and some of the band performance

44- "Can't get you out of my head"
-different world
-future world?
-lots of different over the top clothing
-sexy

42- Bjork "oh so quiet"
-set in car garage
-like a music video
-lots of dancing

41- Spice Girls
-lots of running
-girls having fun
-shows girls personality

40- "Get your freak on"
-tribal

39- Pulp "common people"
-old fashion disco
-colourful
-un-natural at points

38- Fat Boy Slim "Weapon and choice"
-dancing
-flying

37- Guns 'n' Roses "November rain"
-wedding
-death

35- Sinead O'Connor "Nothing compairs to you"
-crys
-gives a real performance
-close ups makes you look her eyes
-powerful

33- U2 "Sweetest Thing"
-boyzone in it
-showing emotions
-don't sing

31- "Stan"
-dark
-having

30- "Buddy Holly"

29- "Gay Bar"

25- Maddness "Baggy trousers"
-shows normal life
-children playing

24- Radio head "No Surprises"
-video and song complements each other
-close ups
-lyrics are on screen
-shown like a text
-water at bottom of screen

23- Britney Spears "Hot me baby one more time"
-dresses as a school girl
-set in a school

22-Justin Timeberlake "Cry me a river"
-stalking a old girlfirend

21- Queen "Want to break free"
-done in drag

20- Gorillaz
-cartoons

19- Madonna "Material girl"
-artist complements the video
-dressed like Marylin Monro

18- "Crazy in love"
-special lighting

17- Blur "Coffee and TV"
-dancing milk
-milk cartoon expressions pull videos alone

16- Outcast "Hey Ya"
-old style setting
-screaming fans

15- REM "Everybady hurts"
-stuck in traffic

14- "Dirty"
-set in a boxing ring
-not a lot of clothing
-lots of men

13- "Scream" Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson
-filmed on spaceship
-most expensive video made
-black and white
-bouncing off the walls

12- Cold Play "The Sciencist" 2002
-walking backwards, but singing forwards

10- Nirvana "Smells like teen sprit"
-smoky
-dark
-dancing and jumping around

9- Madonna "Vogue"
-rich looking woman, dress up
-dance off
-old style hollywood glamour

8- The Nerve "Bitter Sweet Sympothy
-walking down street
-set in London

7- Michael Jackson "Billie Jean"
-set in a ruff area
-pavement lights up
-dancing around

6- Robbie Williams "Rock DJ"
-girls dancing around him
-taken his clothes off
-takes his skin off

5- Madonna "Like a Pray"
-controversial video
-religious
-black Jesus
-Gospel choir

4- Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody" 1975
-close ups of the faces
-fire
-playing live
-wear make up
-special effects used

3- "Take on me"
-cartoon
-adds value to the song
-mix between reaity and fairy tale

2- Sledgehammer
-special effects
-background changes
-lots of props

1- Michael Jackson "Thriller" 1983
-like a movie
-walking down the street singing
-dance
-wolfs

I'm Back

After the summer holidays, me and my partner Katie have decided to write on our blogs. During summer, Katie's cousin, Charlie Arnold allowed us to use his band's music for our music video. This was great news as it allowed us to proceed with some of the planning and research.

A little bit of research

Today, me and Katie, who I will again be working with, have been looking at some music videos. We looked at Micheal Jackson's "Beat It", Coldplay's "The Scientist" and Pink's "So what". After looking at these, we noticed that they all had a story line, and the Coldplay one actually does the story backwards. It goes from the lead singer walking through a city backwards with general life going backwards as well, then we finish with the scene of his girlfriend going back through the window screen, and the car moves back up the cliff which it had fallen down. We understand how the accident happened when we see her take off her seat belt to remove her jacket seconds before they swerve around an on-coming vehicle.

Another part of music videos tat are common include lip syncing, special affects and dancing. A good example of dancing is Micheal Jackson's "Beat It" where it follows the story of two gangs who meet up to fight but end up dancing as one big group.

Similarly to thrillers and other films and movies, editing is a key part of the video. For example, the faster the song, the faster the editing. This helps to set the tempo of the song.

Mise-en-scene can help to set the mood. For example, in the Coldplay video, it stats with the lead singer in an underpass with graffiti covering the walls, even though in real life, this person would probably never be seen near graffiti. They do tis just to set te scen as I'm normal and working class.

Finally, costume is a key part of a music video. The singers and dancers always look glamorous as it as an attempt to sell the song and help promote the band or group.

In the SUMMER TIME when the weather is fine ..... :)

Ok, so it's the time of year where we give our workplace a rest and hit the beach. So if you don't hear from me for a few weeks then I must be cooking somewhere. See ya ...

Welcome

We have been set the task of creating a promotion package for a release of a new album. This package includes a promo music video, a digipac and a promotional magazine advertisement.