Directors Commentary

In this video I have talked over my music video explaining my choices for some of the shots. To do this I have edited my video and lowered the volume of the song and turned up the volume of my voice so that the audience can here me clearly.

Focus group - First Draft of Video

After showing my target audience the first draft of my music video I filmed a focus group. I took all of these comments on board and changed where appropriate. After making these advised changes, I had my final draft.

8 - Production Entry

In this shot I decided to have the raw footage and then edit it to have the same shot tiled four times. I believe that this edit highlighted my artists loneliness and how she only has herself. In the background you can see that there is no other humans, I wanted this to be so to, again, highlight my artists loneliness.

7 - Production Entry

To film this shot I was stood on top of a sand dune, I wanted to capture my artist with a high shot as to make her look inferior. I wanted my artist to be running as to comply with the lyrics 'running, running' and to represent my artist to be 'running' away from her fears. As I liked the raw footage I kept this shot without much editing except for cutting and fitting it into the video where I wanted it. I had to cut the footage a couple of times as I wanted it in different places.

6 - Production Entry

In this shot I wanted the sun to shine so it looked as if my artist was in the ray of sunlight, however the clouds would not let this happen. Also, due to the angle that I wanted to capture, I was unable to use my tripod and so filmed this footage handheld, thus it being slightly wobbly. I only used a short shot of this within my music video as I did not think it was high enough quality to feature more. The clip I did insert into my video I then darkened the colour as I think the white clouds did not go with the rest of my film and having the shot that bit darker allowed my artist to look as if she was thinking about her loved one.

5 - Production Entry

This is my first shot filmed on the beach. I went on to use this shot as the opening establishing shot in my film where I have the name of the song over the clip. I have also edited the shot as to have the edges rounded with a blur effect. Also, I have made this shot black and white which means that the following shot is harder hitting and it does looks pleasing to the audience.

4 - Production Entry

This is my first attempt of using the green screen. As you can see, this footage was unable to be used as my framing was not up to scratch and my artists head was largely out of the shot. However, after viewing my filming I did the shots again, this time taking the framing into account.

3 - Production Entry

This is one of my examples of my wooden wall scenes. I chose this background as I think it gave the right level between rustic and country, yet still opposed the stone wall background. This background represents the 'splinters' in her relationships. After capturing this raw footage, I would then edit it to make it more pleasing to my audience's eye. I made these outdoor shots black and white to, again, represent my artists emotions.

2 - Production Entry

Here is an example of one of my brick wall scenes. I believe that this wall has great significance within my video highlighting my artists heart, being like a wall, strong and unbreakable. Here, my artist is doing the chorus, 'You da one'. After uploading this raw footage I would then edit and cut the footage to withdraw the clip I would like and insert it into the video. I also changed these outdoor clips into black and white as I felt that that not only looked hard-hitting but again, represented my artists emotions.

1 - Production Entry

This is an example of the green screening I did. After uploading this raw footage I would then edit it so the background is black. Depending on the time within the song, I would then either flash key words up behind my artist in various shapes, sizes and angles, or flash up different style hearts behind my artist so it highlights my artists love; this concept based strand is a large part of music video.

Second Draft - Digi-pak

I am happy with my second draft of my digi-pak. I believe that I have followed the forms and conventions within my music video and ancillary tasks. However, I decided to change the picture of my 'thank you' page after asking a focus group for their opinions and finding out they did not like that photograph.

First Draft - Digi-pak

In my first draft for my digi-pak, I used four images following the conventions of the rest of my ancillary task and music video. However, I did not like my inside right picture of my artist so decided to change my image. I wanted my digi-pak to have more of a beach and summer theme so decided to change the image of my artist wearing a hooded jacket. I also decided to change my artists name.

Plan - Digi-pak

Below is my digi-pak plan. To conform with my genre, I decided to have a large picture of my artist on the front cover. On the back I also I wanted a picture of my artist as that is conventional within my genre and allows the artist to be seen by a fan no matter what way up the digi-pak is facing. Where the disc sits I wanted a natural shot which has semiotics with some of the shots in my music video. On the last page where I thank customers and the production team, I put a picture of my artist so it feels as if it is 'Lydia S' thanking them.



When creating my digi-pak, I knew that I wanted to create a four panel one, the most common type of digi-pak. I wanted to follow the typical forms and conventions of my genre such as having my artist as the main picture on the front.

I want to include in my digi-pak the following;

Artist name

Album title

Track list

Barcode

Thank yous.

Third Draft - Poster

This is the third draft of my advertisement. I am very happy with how my poster has turned out. I have analysed it explaining my decisions and choices. I carried out the appropriate changes advised by my focus group. I am a lot more happy with this draft than my first draft as I think it shares semiotics with the digi-pak and video, however after holding a focus group I decided to change my artists name, which you will see in my final draft. 

Final Draft of Poster - Plan

This is the final plan of my ancillary task advertising poster. I am happy with this plan and think that it has materialised well.

Focus Group - Poster

This is a focus group that I carried out to gain feedback on the poster of my ancillary task. I took this feedback in and made the appropriate changes.

Second Draft - Poster

This is my second draft of my poster. I have anaylised it explaining my decisions and choices. I am a lot more happy with this draft then my first one as I think it shares semiotics with my digipak and video. After having a focus group, I decided to change my main image.

Second Draft of Poster - Plan

For this poster draft I have decided to make my poster landscape so then I can insert a more eye catching picture. I think that this plan will help a lot with the creating of my poster.

First Draft - Poster

This is my first draft of my artists poster. I used a set font which one can relate with my artist. However, I was not keen on my photo or the design of my poster. I asked some class mates what they thought and they basically advised me to 'spice' it up, I decided to create another poster, one which the audience can relate more with my artist by use of the hyperdomic syringe model.

First Draft of Poster - Plan

This is my first plan for my poster.

Analysis of 2x Digi-paks

Ben Howard - Every Kingdom



Ben Howard's debut album peaked at number 7 in the UK Albums Chart, it has 10 tracks on it, 4 of which are well loved single tracks; the album was also nominated for the 2012 Mercury Prize.

The front cover of the album suits Howard's genre of music being indie and of the surf, water and summer scene. Howards name is in large font at the top of the digipak, this imediately stands out to browsers and allows people to notice it to be one of Howards albums.

The actual title of the album is in much smaller font as this is not a particular important factor to the viual aspect of the digipak. The font used is a simple yet classy typography that shows Howard to not be a 'show boater' and keeps him as a straightforward, acoustic singer/songwriter rather then being branded as a 'pop star'.

The picture on the album artwork is of a free diver under the ocean swimming. I think that this cover is to simply signify the beauty of freedom and naturalism.

Benjamin Francis Leftwich - Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm



Last Smoke before the snowstorm is the debut studio record from Benjamin Francis Leftwich, it peaked at number 35 in the UK Albums Chart and contains 3 singles within the 10 tracks on the record.

The front cover of the album is full of lots of 'weird and wonderful' things; the fact that it does not follow usual and typical conventions is what puts the cover artwork apart from others and makes it indie, the genre of the record.

Leftwich's name is in large font on the top of the cover, interestingly, it is his first name that is in the largest font, this is probably because his record label wants him to become 'Benjamin' or they have noticed rivalry with other artist with that name (Ben Howard) and want to make Leftwich the dominant 'Benjamin'.

The name of the album is just as obscure as the album artwork and clearly does not make any sense out of context. However, these are both very clear things that when seen or heard by one who is interested in the genre, artist or music industry as a whole, can immediately link with Benjamin Francis Leftwich.

Analysis of 2x Adverts for Digi-paks

• This album advert does not follow the basic conventions of shape, usually an album advert is in A4 size so it would fit in a magazine and catch the eye of ‘flicker-throughers’, however this poster is designed more for a bill board.
• The advert matches the colour scheme of the digipak which means that people immediately have the link with Ben Howard and again it gives you an insight into his genre of music.
• The wording used is simplistic giving only key information; who, what, how, when. ‘Ben Howard’ is in large bold font to stand out and attract the eye of a fan. This is the initial feature to lure you in; the rest of the information is in smaller font yet still large and readable from a distance away.
• The picture in the background of the advert is a similar one to that on the digipack, of a free diver. However, in the poster, the swimmer seems to be further away, this may be to entice the people looking at the advert in, like there is more to come, so come and listen.
• The layout of the poster is very simple with simple font used and giving all the information needed. It finishes by instructing the reader to 'Pre-Order Your Copy Now'.
• This is a simple, yet effective poster, telling all the necessary information in an informative and easy way.

• This album artwork does not follow the basic conventions of shape as it would not cover a whole A4 side, which poster adverts usually do. I think this advert is for use over the Internet as it has a hyperlink where you can click to choose from where you want to order the album.
• This advert has the same image as the album artwork for '+', this quite clearly links them together and easily catches the eye of a fan. However, for people who have not heard any Ed Sheeran, this advert does not give you much of an insight into his genre of music.
• The wording used gives you most of the key information, who, what, how, when. Telling you its the artists 'debut album' which usually comes with great anticipationso the reader may be interested by the words 'debut album'.
• The image is of Ed sheeran blending in with an orange back ground. The conventions of orange as a whole is closely linked with Ed Sheeran as he is largely publicised with his ginger hair.
• The advert tells you where to order your copy and underlines the hyperlink to draw you closer and intice you into buying the record.
• It is a simple advert that one could link with Ed Sheeran easily.

Ancillary Task

For my ancillary task I will be creating a digi-pak for my artist and a poster advertising my artits digi-pak. For this I will need to carry out some research into the conventional digi-pak's and adverts for this particular genre (pop/electropop), as by doing so I will be able to understand what I should include within them and what not too include. By being aware of this I should be able to create better products.

Locations

After lots of research and looking I decided to settle with the beach as my main location with other ones to strengthen and oppose my ideas. During the filming process I have had to film in various different locations. I started the filimg on a beach, Westward Ho! I decided to use this beach as it is very long (3 miles to be precise). In the winter months with few people on the beach I was able to get the shots I wanted to make my character look lonely. I had to do it very carefully as, even though I wanted lonliness, I also wanted my charcter to look like she did not care. Lydia did this very well as she is a talented actress.

 

 

As well as natural scenenery such as a beach, sand dunes and a brick wall, I aslo largely used the green screen. With this I was able to create the concept based words and hearts along with my singer still doing the performance based strand.  

Final Song - Copyright Permission Letter

Dear Copyright Holder,

I am a current A-Level student and I am writing to request your permission to use one of the tracks by Rihanna. The track I would like to use is ‘You Da One.

With your permission, I would love to use this track in my current Media Studies A-Level project, which involves creating a music video, as well as producing an album and a ‘digi-pack’.

If we received your permission, this track would only be used in an educational context and be viewed by our media class, our teacher and the OCR exam board moderator. It shall not be released to a large audience.

The artist and your company would of course be fully recognised throughout pre-production and the final video itself. A copyright notice with wording supplied by you can be included in the records of the project. If this is required, please send full details.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Regards

Harry Chance

Final Song - Crew List

Cameraman, director, editor, cast director, set decorator and costume designer - Harry Chance

Star actress - Lydia Scambler

I have choosen to use Lydia as she suits my genre of pop and electropop. Not only does she suit the genre, she is also a big fan of the genre meaning that she will be more than keen for my ideas and thoughts.

Final Song - Equipment List

• Digital Video Camera
• Car (For travelling to different filming locations)
• Tripod
• Microphone
• iPhone
• Computer with Adobe 11 Software
• Green Screen

Final Song - Shooting Schedule

As I want my video to be well prepared and well thought through, I have done all of my filming in one week. I did my filming through the week from the 16th of February to the 23rd; I did the majority of my filming on the tuesday. As my actress does not live too far away from me we were able to spend the day largely filming and did not have to leave too much time for travelling, I chose this actress on purpose partly due to her geographical position.

Final Song - Prop List

• Clothing that will suit my genre of pop, R&B.
• Props are not needed within this video as it is more concept-based, so it relies more on the editing with the use of the green screen and my artists lip syncing and performance-based skills rather than a narrative, which would need props.

Final Storyboard

As I changed my song choice, I decided to draw up a storyboard for 'You Da One' by Rihanna, which I went on to use.

Final Song - Treatment of Video

I changed my song choice drastically. I went for a different genre (more pop, club-like music), a female artist and focused more on the concept-based and performance-based categories. My new song is 'You Da One' by Rihanna.

Final Song - Lyrics

[Intro]You the one that I dream about all day
You the one that I think about always
You Are The One So I Make Sure I Behave!
My love is your love, your love is my love

Baby, I love you, I need you here
With me all the time
Baby we meant to be
You got me, smiling all the time

Cause you know how to give me that
You know how to pull me back
When I go runnin, runnin
Tryin' to get away from loving ya
You know how to love me hard
I won't lie, I'm falling hard
Yep, I'm falling for ya but there's nothin wrong with that

[Chorus]
You the one that I dream about all day
You the one that I think about always
You Are The One So I Make Sure I Behave!
My love is your love, your love is my love

You the one that I dream about all day
You the one that I think about always
You Are The One So I Make Sure I Behave!
My love is your love, your love is mine

Baby come, take me now, hold me now
Make me come alive
You got the sweetest touch
I'm so happy, you came in my life

Cause you know how to give me that
You know how to pull me back
When I go runnin, runnin
Tryin' to get away from loving ya
You know how to love me hard
I won't lie, I'm falling hard
Yep, I'm falling for ya but there's nothin wrong with that

[Chorus]
You the one that I dream about all day
You the one that I think about always
You Are The One So I Make Sure I Behave!
My love is your love, your love is my love

You the one that I dream about all day
You the one that I think about always
You Are The One So I Make Sure I Behave!
My love is your love, your love is mine

[Bridge]
And Yes I'm kinda crazy,
That's what happens baby,
When you put it down
You shouldn't give it to me
Good like that,
Shouldn't hit it like that,
Had me yellin' like that
Didn't know you would've had me coming back

You the one that I'm feeling
You the one that I'm loving
Ain't no other nig*as like you
No there's just one, one, one
One, one, one
No baby just one, one, one
I bet you wanna know

[Chorus]
You the one that I dream about all day
You the one that I think about always
You Are The One So I Make Sure I Behave!
My love is your love, your love is my love

You the one that I dream about all day
You the one that I think about always
You Are The One So I Make Sure I Behave!
My love is your love, your love is mine

Research Into New Genre

I have looked through a lot of different music videos within my genre of pop/electropop. I have looked at videos from Rihanna, Beyonce, Will.I.Am, Katy Perry, Adele, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, Nicki Ninaj, Lana Del Rey, Jessie J, Pink and Shakira, all of which are my genre. After studying these videos I was able to understand which forms and conventions I wanted to follow and/or oppose.

As the artists that I am using is a female, I largely focused on the female artists and began to form a profile of a videos that I liked and would want to follow the conventions of.

Here is an example of one of the videos that really stood out to me:

This video has a very good example of a narrative-based concept. It has a very obvious story line that also links with the lyrics of the song. 

Target Audience Description - New Song

Before creating my music video I shall have to consider my target audience; the group of people I am planning to reach with my music video. A target audience is a specific group of people within the target market at which the marketing message is aimed. Target Audiences are formed from different groups of people, for example: Adults, teens, children, pre-schoolers.

To market an audience effectively, it is essential to become familiar with your target market; their habits, behaviours, likes, and dislikes. Markets differ in size, assortment, geographic scale, locality, types of communities, and in the different types of merchandise sold. Because of the many variations included in a market it is essential, since you cannot accommodate everyone’s preferences, to know exactly who you are marketing to.

 

Taking into the genre of my music video, I believe my target audience to range from 14+. I would not put a maximum age on Rihanna’s music, as it is largely pop and I feel that all age ranges enjoy her music as it can be very catchy. A few younger who are into the genre may also listen to Rihanna’s music.

 

I would say that my target audience are of the age 14+ because when researching my genre (pop/electropop) I found that they were the most common listeners. The genre ‘pop’ is very popular with all ages but due to the way the song has been made and the beats used, it could also be recognised as ‘electropop’. However, the song that I have chosen is arguably Rihanna’s most well known song so many people like the song.

I think that the kind of person who would be into this genre of music and watch my video would be someone who wants to get excited, perhaps heading out on a night out or just wants to listen to a song with a deep base. The style of the song is quite energetic and my intentions for the video will result in an energetic mood being created, however a binary opposite will be created when the music picks up and the message of the song begins to be portrayed.

As far as types of communities are concerned with my target audience, I wouldn't say there would be a specific type, however it is less likely that an old, retired country fan would be part of my target audience as the genre is not one that they would be interested in.

After considering my target audience I will, when storyboarding, take into consideration what my target audience will expect, want and not want to see in my video, for example most pop fans would not expect or want to see such footage that may be shown in a stereotypical rap video or dubstep video.

I feel as if a typical follower of Rihanna’s music would be a person who enjoys socialising, festivals and going out for a night. Their style may be fairly mainstream in the way they dress, however, I also think normal, average people who do not label themselves as a style also like to listen to this genre of music.

 

I think my videos typical audience would enjoy to watch casual films but not be huge film fans. They would be the type of people who prefer summer to winter, they would not like how in the winter parties become a lot less frequent. Their favoured artists would include Rihanna, Azealia Banks, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Will.I.Am, One Direction, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and other mainstream, chart artists. They would have a large library of songs and would give in to the marketing of these songs.

Change in song

After planning my music video, my artist who I have chosen was ill and unable to film for a few weeks, due to this unfortuante circumstance, I decided to change my song/artist/genre/video. I am now doing 'You Da One' by Rihanna and using an artist who is more convenient and better suited for the role.