Research into slide transitions

Cuts and transitions move scenes from one shot to another and are therefore important in music videos. We will need knowledge of slide transitions while editing our music video in order to ensure the audience understand it properly.

Types of Cuts

Cut: Most basic slide transition which simply plays one shot immediately after the other. This is how Adobe Premiere will play the shots without us making any changes. This is also known as a 'straight cut'.

Contrast Cut: When the editor juxtaposes two subjects, for example a peaceful calm shot cutting to an angry shot. This would be relevant in our music video as it tells a story of the girls life now, frustrating and angry, against her past which was happy and relaxed.

Parallel Editing Cutting: Where a scene consists of several shots of the same action. This will be appropriate for our video as we have planned scenes where the actress is followed by the camera during her day. One continuous shot of each action, however, may make the audience bored as it would be very long-winded.

Types of Transitions

Unlike cuts, transitions aim to blend two shots meaning they are not as sudden.

Fade in/out: When one picture slowly fades out and the next fades in, usually turning black briefly between the two. This is seen particularly at the beginning or end of the film.

Dissolve: When a shot changes into the next, without turning black between. The shots blend into each other, this would work in our music video to show the difference between the present and the past of the girls life.

Wipe: When one shot is replaced by another by being moved across and out of the screen. It can involve the shots moving horizontally or vertically. I'm not sure this would be appropriate with our music video as it is rarely seen and may look amateur. 

Morph: Gradually reshaping one object to become another in a separate scene, for example a young man being morphed into an older version of himself. I do not think this will be appropriate in our music video as we are not showing the difference between two separate figures or objects when this would be necessary.

Initial Magazine Advert Research

Magazine Adverts

To begin our ancillary task research, my group and I researched female artists who look similar to Ellie, the actress in our film and girl who will be featured on both ancillary tasks.

Until we saved these pictures we did not see the resemblance between the adverts that they all have a gold and black theme. On the three where the text can be seen, the artists name is in a large font with the name of the single beneath it in a smaller font but still obvious on the advert. The artists all look glamorous and well-presented on these products which my group we also try to do.

The top right image is a parmaore magazine advert, with the left image showing the original image. Being the band behind the song we are using for our music video, I feel that looking at Paramore's actual magazine advert will show how we can link the song genre with the ancillary tasks. The poses are quite simple and the original image has a basic background in a road and so we may use this to recreate a similar image but with our one actress rather than a band. The second picture however has clearly involved a lot of editing with a logo of a butterfly which is present throughout many of the Paramore products.

Paramore's magazine advert above is very creative and looks like a reminder board with images, the title and anicdotes about the song all stuck on with selotape. The image shows the band with more forced poses than the previous one and the photo has a colour filter making it look quite old but effectively keeps the whole advert consistant. This contrasts to the other ones I have researched as it is landscape which I think is highly effective as it could either take up half an A4 page or cover two A4 pages as a double page spread.

What do magazine adverts consist of?

Ellie Goulding Magazine Advert

Rihanna Magazine Advert

Filming

This weekend, my group all met up in Hextable where the actress for our music video, Ellie, lives. We each had roles which we planned during media lessons at school but decided we would take turns in these: Charlotte would direct the film, Sarah would film it and Zoe and I would prepare the settings, include ensuring lighting is correct. However, we shared these roles, each offering our own ideas and opinions.

Step 1: Photographs

We photographed Ellie in the different settings, styled as she will be in these places.

Step 2: Preparation

We next prepared Ellie, who is starring in our film by making her hair and make up untidy so it would look as if she had just woken up. We also prepared the settings, which invovled putting empty alcohol bottles in her bedroom to meet the storyline and putting any irrelevant things away.

Step 3: Filming

The first part of filming, in Hextable, took place in various parts of Ellie's house as well as outside. We took some pictures doing filming in these different locations showing how we set up the lights, directed Ellie and the different ways we shot the film, using a variety of angles and movements. In the different settings we did encounter some problems but managed to overcome these.

In the bedroom, one window meant the light cast a shadow on half of Ellie's face but by positioning the lights correctly,we managed to prevent this. In addition, there is only a small space at the end of Ellie's bed which meant it took a few takes to get positioning and angles correct but by trial and error we acheived the shots we wanted.

In the hallway was a window which the sun faced, causing a bright patch of sunlight on the wall because it does not have any curtains or blinds. However, holding a white sheet against the window blocked the bright rays, meaning the light throughout the hallway was consistent.

Some scenes in the bathroom were shot from beside the toilet but this is only a small space, meaning when Ellie stood in front of the sink, it was hard not to cut her head out. However, we tried this shot from various angles and despite the space issues we managed to shoot it in the end. Furthermore, the mirror inside the bathroom meant that one of us or the lights could often be seen making the filming tricky.

Leaving the house took a few takes as when Ellie opened the front door, the light or one of the media group could be seen through the gap meaning we had to move things around.

Outside involved filming Ellie from across the road but we had not expected as many cars to be parked outside as there were. However, by choosing a different angle, we managed to avoid any vehicles blocking our view.

Clothing

Here is a collection of images of Rihanna and Kesha; two singers we have based our own character on. I have gathered a selection of different images to show their styles and therefore to see how we should dress our own actress.

From this research into clothing I have come to the conclusion the ideal outfit would be as follows:

Denim Shorts (probably worn with tights due to the cold weather)

Basic T-Shirt, loose fitting

A jacket (as it will be cold when filming) however, there are a range of possibilites so something casual.

SHOES
The collage above does not closely show the shoes being worn and so I have looked further into shoes.

These pictures clearly show boots are the main shoe worn by Kesha. However, the style of boot must also been considered and as a group we believe Doc Martens will be the best option as they are big and bulky so will suit her style. We also have them available and therefore are easy to use:

 

Camera Angles

Two of the settings we are using are featured in a large part of the film and so we want to use a variety of camera angles to make these scenes fast paced and snappy. I have therefore drawn a picture of these settings up so we can consider possible angles to film from in each.

The Hallway

In the images, the circle represents the camera.

Ellie's Bedroom

Considering Camera Angles

Who We Will Use

Protagonist Female
Ellie

For the main girl in the music video, I had previously decided they should have a similar personality and style to someone like Kesha so they fit well with the storyline. However, they must also be confident in front of the camera and also be reliable to use.

We decided to use my friend Ellie who is happy to be filmed for the music video and lives close to all of the group, meaning she will be easy to film. I used her in AS media for my music magazine model and so know she is reliable and suitable to use. In addition, I believe she has the right look to fit our character.

We have taken some pictures of Ellie in different locations of our film, so her style and surroundings can be easily seen:

These above pictures show Ellie outside of her house where some filming will take place. She looks quite annoyed but carefree which links to the style of the song. Her clothing is quite indie with timbaland boots and a blue material headband which portrays her as casual.

This picture shows Ellie in her home, where more filming will take place. The decoration is quite neutral meaning it doesn't take over the girl, while the stripy carpet includes similar colours to those she is wearing, meaning the colours link well. In addition the house is naturally quite light but taking this pictures showed us where we should put artificial light to avoid darkness or shadows.

This is the third setting we will use with our filming. The plain white wall and sign are effective as it is very basic meaning all attention is on the wall. It also represents how her life is quite empty, only showing herself and a vodka bottle on the floor.

Protagonist Male

Harry

The main boy stars in the flashback scenes and therefore not as much as Ellie, who is the overall main character. He is roughly the same height as Ellie which makes filming easy as they are at the same height in shots and so we can film at their eye level.

Harry's outfit for the filming will be quite casual; with one top being a striped white shirt and the other being purple. These colours will makes him look nice and cheerful, matching the style of Ellie in the flashback scenes. In addition, he needs to look friendly to contrast with Ellie's angry, rebellious character.

The 'Other Girl'
Sarah

We originally planned on using Charlotte as this character as she was happy to be involved in the film, however, as she could not make it we decided to use Sarah as the 'other' girl. I believe she is appropriate for this part as she has a very different look to Ellie and therefore the audience will easily tell the difference between them, unlike Charlotte who, like Ellie, has long blonde hair. Sarah was happy to play this part and as she knows both characters well felt comfortable in her part.
The outfit she will wear for her part is a black top and skirt. This is quite basic and so does not make her stand out as an important character. The black also suggests she has a dark side, reflecting the protagonist characters opinion of her.

Locations

Lighting

I have already carried out research into lighting in music videos; my group therefore will try and develop this in our own music video.

To ensure the characters and props can be seen clearly, we want the scenes to be bright and clear and will therefore need artificial lights for the inside scenes, particularly in the bedroom scenes at the start as this room is naturally quite dark and so would not show the actress well. We will borrow the school lights and use 2, positioning them at different angles to light up the actress well without causing shadows across her face.

I have labelled the window at the side but the lighting is very limited from here and so will not increase the light from this angle.

Something I noticed from music video lighting research was that the music videos both tried managed to create the same lighting and brightness in each of the clips, whether these were inside, only changing the lighting if it was a night, rather than day, scene. Therefore we too will aim to get a similar level of lighting throughout by controlling the two lights we will borrow and aiming to film on days with similar weather e.g. avoid one day it being very sunny and another cloudy. However, this is difficult to anticipate and plan.

Initial Font Research

More than one font used on the cover

The use of different fonts effectively separates the information on the title page, so the audience can see the difference between the artist name and song name. Both artists above however, have a well-known font style which makes them easily identifiable.

Only One Font used on the Cover

Though these two have used the same font, it makes the album covers consistant and separates the two features by the size of the words.

I think both methods work well on an album/ magazine advert cover but prefer the use of more than one font as it makes the product more interesting. However, I feel that only 2 should be used as there is otherwise too much variety.

Timeline

As a group, we listened to our chosen song for the music video and designed a timeline which says what will happen at each stage of the song. This means we know how long each clip should be when filming and will also enable us to design a storyboard, showing the stages more clearly. In addition, a story baord will prevent us from having missing clips when we edit which could be problematic.

Storyboard

Using our music video research and ideas, my group have created a storyboard which shows each stage and different scene of the music video. We each drew a quarter of the storyboard and wrote short description of what is going on which will help when we film our video by giving us clear guidlines to follow.

The finished Storyboard

Characterisation

To decide the style and personality of the characters in my groups music video I have looked at artists and music videos which share the same style. We can therefore base our characters on these. By identifying the characters style, we will be able to plan our music video around this, meaning it will suitably meet the song.

Two Videos that have similar styles to 'Ignorance' are 'We found love' and 'Tik Tok'. The storylines link with the lyrics in Paramore's song.



Ideas

After listening to the song we considered features of the song which are important to know for filming. These included the speed of the song: upbeat and the mood of the song: aggressive at times, but also quite carefree.

The spider diagram I have drawn shows different factors we will discuss before planning the music video. These include Target Audience which must consist of the correct age group, who can relate to the song and people who like this style of music.

In the spider diagram I have also considered suitable locations for the filming which will be easy to get to and film at; there is a wide range of choices which prevents us from limiting our options while planning. I have also thought of a possible cast; people who are reliable to use and those who will feel comfortable at carrying out the roles.



Analysing the Song

Ignorance

The official music video for Paramore's 'Ignorance' is quite basic, filming the band in quite dark areas. My group, however, plan to use individual characters rather than a band in natural light in the open, which will give a very different final product to this original video.

We have first analysed the lyrics to understand the mood of the song and the basic storyline so we can reflect these in our music video.

Practise Shots

We have carried out practise shots to familarise ourselves with the camera equipment. This involved following a firend throughout a house using a range of shots as she walks to her bedroom because our music video involves following a girl throughout a house and therefore similar angles, shots and camera movements. To film this sequence, we organised the different members of the group having different roles. Charlotte prepared the settings for the filming, removing irrelevant objects while Sarah and I planned the lighting so each angle was lit in the correct way. Zoe was in charge of filming, using ideas from each of us so we have a variety of shots and angles to use when editing the clip. However, we shared these roles, each giving our own advice when directing.

Lighting
We used school equipment for the lighting in our music video as these professional lights make the film much clearer and prevent shadows in the shots etc. We did encounter some problems, such as the lights/ wires being seen in shots and the light causing either shadows as people walked past or it reflecting brightly off of the actors in the shots. However, by positioning them correctly and placing covers over the lights to make the light less harsh, we managed to overcome these issues.



Filming
When filming, we used a small camera which was easy to move around and not too complicated. We also had a tripod which we used for still shots, but when following the character, we used the camera freehand to give the right movement. We experienced problems such as cutting out the actors heads and filming the lights but with the right angles and movements, we managed to avoid this any further.

To prevent any wires being in the shots or any of the actors or us tripping over them, we taped them temporarily to the floor.

By carrying out practise filming sessions, we are now familiar with the camera and lighting equipment, meaning when we film the actual music video, we will not waste time with problems we have experienced here as we know how to overcome these.

Resolving Problems

We have encountered a few problems while preparing to film our music video. The band we have is very busy as they work at different times and so this was hard to get them together, making them unreliable to use. We have therefore made a new band consisting of the lead singer from the original group, and two other boys who we believe will look right for the part. Furthermore, they live close by and so will be much easier to get together for photos and filming. By having the original lead singer still, we still have a member in the group who can play the instruments well, making it look realistic.

Lighting in Music Videos

Music Channels

(click image to enlarge)

After carrying out this research into some of the different music channels, I have noticed that MTV has a channel for the different genres of music stated above and more. Therefore I believe MTV would be appropriate to promote our music video.

Different Types of Music Video

Music Video's can be made in various ways. They may or may not:

• Film real People
• Include the singer/ band themselves
• Be animated
• Include the songs lyrics
• Use special effects

Special Effects
An example of a music video which uses special effects is 'Earthquake' by Labrinth. The video is almost completely special effects which would have been added during editing, after the artist himself had been filmed.

Animated

An example of a music video which has been animated is 'Heartless' by Kayne West. This video has a cartoon style but animated video's can also be in a 3D style, like Justin Bieber's 'Santa Claus is coming to Town'. Animated music videos do no require filming using a camera as they involve using a computer to create the different images and put them together.

Music Videos With Lyrics

 Some music videos add lyrics of the song, either on their own or with footage of the band/ artist. Neyo did this in his music video 'Closer'. Not all lyrics were shown and only one or two words were put on the screen together at the same time, keeping the artist himself as the main focus of the video.

Most Common Music Videos

Many music videos do not include any of the above qualities; showing just people and different settings. However, these can either include the artist/ band or feature actors who do not actually have anything to do with the song. An example of a music video in which the artist barely features is 'Lego House' by Ed Sheeran. Though his picture is shown in the video and he can be seen walking out of a lift for a few seconds, the rest of the video features a boy.

Contrastingly, Take That's music videos always star the band, but manage to include them in a story rather than just filming them in a studio.