DiaryBlog Entry 13: BIG Update

Hi, it's been a long time since I last updated, but with very good reason, I was off ill for a week or so, which unfortunately meant that I missed out on two lessons, YET, I did work at home on the video, and now it has finally come to a final cut! It has an added intro and credits which add to it's narrative and performance! I can't wait to publish raw footage and other videos on here, but I'm about to show it to the rest of my media class for Evaluation, so I have to get that over and done with first :) . Let's hope they like it!

Hope to update within the next two weeks :/
Matt

DiaryBlog Entry 12: At school

It is now half term. Sorry for not updating my blog in such a long time, but I've been very busy editing my video...
From the success of the filming being complete, I am now in the crucial editing process; which has taken a large chunk of time from my life, dwindling my chance to update anything because I was enveloped in this work area.
I still have footage to post, before drafts of the video (which shall be done) but I can't at the moment as the computer I was using is being updated (this has all of my saved files on, and so are going to be backed up at a later point). I have tried accessing other computers (such as this one), but to no avail.

Yet, the status of the video is doing well! I've completed the initial assembly of the footage, i.e. plain cutting of the footage itself + arrangement etc. and have done some adjustment to the appearance of some scenes, i.e. contrast, lighting, brightness etc. It's next draft I was going to work on today, but as stated before, I'm not able to work on it.

Now, I plan to pick up working on my digi-pak and magazine advertisement in this time given to me today.
Hope to update when technology starts working again...

Matt

DiaryBlog Entry 11: SUCCESS!!!

I am now officially done filming!!!

Let's give that a moment to sink in...

Blimey did it take forever. But, I am so happy with the results, and as said in earlier posts, I will post the Raw Footage in the near future! But I will have to warn you though, the upload process does take a hefty amount of time, even as I type; I'm uploading my recently took footage onto my area. After that, I'll have to upload it onto the computer that I plan to use (as it will have it only on THAT computer), and then I shall be getting a hardrive, which is basically a massive USB stick, in which will allow my footage to run a lot easier on the computer I plan to use!

I shall update whenever!

Matt

DiaryBlog Entry 10: Filming thus far

So far, I've filmed well over 3/4's of my footage that I want, yet unfortunately because of technological problems this weekend just gone, it got too late for me to film any thing else.
In perspective, I should try and get up earlier in-order to film my footage in decent daylight. Assuring the result of the footage I want.

Now I AM planning to DEFINITELY finish my filming off this weekend, as this is getting ridiculous :/

If not, I do have a bit longer to work on the video, but personally I want to get it done and dusted!

I hope that the Next post I publish will be one of total victory :)

Matt

DiaryBlog Entry 9: What I have done over Christmas Break!

Well, I hope you all had a fun filled Christmas; as i spent most of it filming.
I have filmed all of the scenes that involve other people, such as Tommy and Bronwen, and now all I have to do is film a majority of the bear and me.
A main problem that I faced, seemingly as it's the middle of winter now, was that I had little daylight hours for filming, meaning that I didn't have the right lighting for my filming to take place, as it's too dark.
Yet, I did turn this in my favour as I was able to use this in one of the disappearing scene with the toy bear, as he falls off the edge of one of my chairs. The darkness really worked well, as it was just light enough to see the bear, yet dark enough to create a lonely ambiance within the scene itself!
If the footage is darker than what I originally recorded, then I shall simply brighten it in the editing software (of whose name escapes me).

Other troubling aspects I came across was prioritising. As I had to prioritise scenes that involved Christmas decor, as the music video is set at Christmas (hence the relationship with the toy bear). And, I had planned to film AFTER Boxing Day, my family were waiting on me to finish filming such scenes so they could put down such decor I needed to be consistent throughout my footage. For example, I needed the tree to still be up, yet, I had several different scenes in the room where the tree was present, SO; I needed to film all of these for that room to then be free to have it's decor to be taken down.
Now as suspected, I need to keep my decor up in my room, and keep anything that may hint to the time of year consistent throughout the whole video. So to put in depressing terms, I'm going to be very unlucky by the time I take down my Christmas decorations (but hopefully still lucky enough to finish this course).

Right at this moment I am uploading my footage onto the computer, and it's taking it's time, so I shall hopefully of uploaded a full blog post of all (or for simpler reasons: "SOME") raw footage that has not been edited. This I will compare with to one of the edited pieces of footage, showing the differentiation between the two, and how this creates the effects I intended, and those of which were unexpected!

As I said I still have some filming to achieve, so the blog post will be a little while yet, BUT, I plan to use this weekend to finish all the filming I have left to do, I'm not guaranteeing everything, but hopefully all my footage will be present by this time next week!

Thanks for keeping up-to-date!

Matt

DiaryBlog Entry 8: Small Update of Filming

Unfortunately I did not get all the filming that I wanted to get done over the weekend with the bear, YET, it gave me the chance to reflect on how much work I had to do for some of the scenes, these I shall explain.

Basically, for the filming; I ran out of day-light time, by the end of it, most of the shots I had to do by bedroom light as it was too dark for the camera to capture the right expression and detail that I wanted. Yet, it's kind-of turned to my favour, as now when I look at the 3 minute footage that I have; it makes it look a little bit unnatural, and a little bit nerving, which I can link to an accidental stumble across a method of showing expression; without necessarily having to literally act it in the screenplay.

When I talk about the amount of work I have to do for one scene, I mean a lot! By this I could say that I've been a bit too ambitious with some of the screenplay. One scene in particular. By this I'm referring to my early confirmed shot of the rotation sequence with the toy bear in the middle of my room, as it constantly cuts between a current and a past version of my bedroom (reminiscing). I got the current footage, yet it hasn't got everything that I wanted it to have (like the posters I've researched music video screen shots put up around my current room). But now I'm sort of dreading the past footage as it'll take a lot of work to get my room into the right condition (especially with what I've got planned), I can't have much current technology in the shot, as it emphasises the fact as to how alien it all appears to the toy bear.

First difficulty with the shot, which I overcame, was the fact that the bear can't stand upright on it's own. This really frustrated me throughout me trying to film him. So I got some tub-aware which helped in me propping him into a stable position, without it being present in the footage itself. (this I'll take a picture of to upload to blog later).
Second, was the arrangement of the room itself. Although there isn't AS many changes that need to be made to my room for the present shot, it was still time-consuming moving stuff out of the way to get a clear shot, which is why it took up so much of the weekend. Plus, from wasting time doing all this, that's how it lead quickly to it being dark, making it even harder to get the right shot.

The other days were simply too dark for me to even try to attempt taking footage, which is where I lead up to my second outcome of this.

In this time, I instead worked on the shot list, perfecting the times of which I was going to film collections of scenes, that were relevant to others they were put with. I have now split my work into four even sections of filming (some bigger than others) where they focus on availability of different aspects and conditions of the scenes themselves. First would be of the opening scene, which requires a lot of effort (as stated thus far). The second being all the shots that have Bronwen present, and relative scenes close to that (because of available camera man and same shot conditions). Third being the next large half of the video, only comprising of me and the Toy bear, without difficult camera technique. And last would be the scenes leading up to Tommy becoming the new owner of the toy.

So really, I did get a lot of good work done this weekend, yet I've still got a long way to go. It's safe to say that this will probably go over Christmas, but hopefully not much longer after then. In addition there's still a ton of paper-work documentation that I have to complete (now just looking at my checklist :/ )

I shall update my blog promptly of any changes or reflections that I may come across in the near future.

Matt.

DiaryBlog Entry 7: Planning DONE!

Now I have done my timeline analysis, to great detail, and have started to plan for my first real camera shoot this weekend! Last weekend didn't go well as my teacher was away last Thursday and Friday, so I couldn't get the camera off of her.
Initially I thought to then use my own camera, but when the day came, I arranged to meet up with one of my friends, but left it too late to film anything as it was not the right time of day that I wanted for the scene she's in.

But now I've planned to film everything with the bear and me this weekend and then arrange other shootings with the people I need at a later, yet current date!

Right now, I'm starting to get up the paperwork like No-Fee Release forms and other such documents, as-well as trying to convert the timeline analysis into a suitable format to be uploaded onto my blog.

I hope that I don't stumble into anymore problems this week, than what I did the last week...

Matt

DiaryBlog Entry 6: Test Shoot Fail

Unfortunately, my friends little brother Tommy did come round last weekend for what I planned to be a test shoot, but I only got 10 minutes with him, so I didn't test shoot anything.
Yet, I was able to tell him about his role and that I needed to print off the No-Fee release forms before anything major can happen. This will be presented to his mother also.

Now in class, I'm filling in the rest of my timeline (all scenes with Tom, are already complete) and completing the release forms. Next lesson, I shall be helping my fellow student Becka Heasman film her band performance scenes in her video.


I'll Keep you posted on further details.
Matt

DiaryBlog Entry 5: Update of what's happening

So far, I've ticked off a lot of criteria for the first part of my coursework; which is really good! And now I plan to do some film testing this weekend with my friends younger brother on the last scene of the video itself (as this is when he is featured). I still have to complete the "No-Fee Release Forms" which shall basically prevent me from being sued by angry parents :3

I won't need to take one of the school's cameras, as it's only just a test shoot for the scene, which shall help me to understand, and hopefully, perform the scene better when the time actually comes. This will be my first time in testign with actual footage, so I'm not expecting MASSIVE results. But it would be nice to upload this to my blog as a "first attempt" of filming with the prop bear and actors with it :)

I shall update when I get confirmation for the release form from him and his mum (as he's in year 4), which will tick off the paperwork that needs to be made.

DiaryBlog Entry 4: Pitch Aftermath

I have just performed my pitch to my Media Studies class, it went quite well a-part from the fact that I had to do most of it again as the camera ran out of memory space :/
Now I'm planning for what I'm going to do for My Digipak and Magazine Advertisement. Got some really good consistent ideas so far!

DiaryBlog Entry 2: Refresh on Analysing and Researching music videos

I have been shown a more detailed way of analysing music videos, than before. From this I shall be able to analyse in professional standard detail, of the concept, design and manifestation of the music videos themselves.

This is achieveable by looking at "Andrew Goodwin's" theory of how music videos are divided up into six different categories.
BUT, first here is the helpful general categorization of music videos on a universal scale:
1. Performance Based - the artist or band is playing the song throughout the video (NB is the performance stage, studio, stadium or location based?)
Good example of this would be my muisic videos

• "Kings and Queens" by "30 Seconds to Mars"
• "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" by "Fall Out Boy"
• "Walking Disaster" by "Sum 41"
• (etc)

This is advantageous to the artist, as it shows the origin of the presented music, promotes how well they can play, and may also try to replicate the experience of how they perform in-front of live audiences, or simply try to set the mood/theme of the artist themselves.
This may also help to connect them in with the concept of the video, if another story is present (through Concept based), as to not confuse the song's artist as someone else.

2. Narrative Based - the video represents the narrative of the song lyrics
This isn't normally achieved, and I have no current examples of this basis, however I have seen it been used in songs to emphasize the meaning of the lyrics within the song. Like presenting the word literally, or presenting the image of the word (like "fire" the video then presents a flame to the audience, etc).
This is also achieved by reoccurring the story within the song, as it's being presented, to fit in time with the plot of the lyrics. This used to be a popular base, yet, due to the style of having videos having NO correlation to the songs lyrics, yet may reflect the theme/mood that the artist wanted to achieve, generated the new artistic look of the medium.

3. Concept Based - single cocnept or idea, often unconventional
This is what I described in the "Narrative Base", this is where the video presents a concept, rather than plot, which may or not relate to the song itself. As said above, this is usually unconventional as this is a more arty approach to the subject.
Relevant examples would be:

• "Sugar, We're Goin' Down" by "Fall Out Boy"
• "Kings and Queens" by "30 Seconds to Mars"
• "Move Along" by "The All American Rejects"
• (etc)

With "Kings and Queens" this was very much expected of "30 Seconds to Mars" as the lead vocalist: "Jared Leto" comes from a film background, so most of the bands actual videos are more like short movies than your simple promotional video.

4. Animation
This is the style of using the medium of Animation within music videos. This can be a full animated piece, or simply having characters (perhaps band members) interacting with the fictional entities. This is used to directly convey imagery to the audience, rather than trying to replicate the intended image in real life.
Such examples (Which I HAVE NOT analyzed) would be:

• "Dig" by "Incubus"
• "Walk Over Me" by "The All American Rejects"
• (etc)

This is used as another unique and current art form within music videos, however, it is considered to be troublesome hiring an animator or designer, including syncing the animations with any real-life interaction (as said before). All in all this isn't a wise choice to use, as I have not got the right equipment, skills or tools necessary to achieve a video on such a high level of quality.

Andrew Goodwin's "Dancing in tyhe Distraction Factory" (Routledge 1992) identified 6 key points within media products (mainly music videos:):

1. Genre Characteristics - Music videos demonstrate gnere characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band).
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals - (either illustrate, amplifying, contradicting). How does what you hear relate to what you see? Are they dancing in time to thew music? Does the editing cut on the beat of the music?
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals - (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
4. The star image of the artist - THe demands of the record label will require lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). Lok for the artist close ups, artist logo or iconography.
5. Voyeurism - There is frequently reference to notion of looking or spying (screens with screens, mirror shot, frame-within-frame, unconscious exhibitionism, private view, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. Voyeurism = Pleasure gained from watching (ideally when the object is unaware of being watched). Relate this to gender theory, e.g. Laura Mulvey & the 'male gaze'.
6. Intertextuality - There is often intertextual reference - ie a reference to well known image or phrase from another media text (films, TV programmes, other usic videos etc). Eg. Madonna's Material Girl / Marilyn Monroe's Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend; Dr Dre's 'California Love' / Mad Max; Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2U / Jannelle Monae - Cold War

These points I shall have to reference and detail within my own work. Especially the points:

• Illustrative - showing or illustrating the meanings of lyrics and genre clearly
• Amplifying - repeating and emphasising themes, meanings and effects to the viewer
• Contradicting - deliberately abstract or opposite images in the video compared to the lyrics of the song eg. Ratatat - Drugs

That were shown in Goodwin's points. I'll also have to look at the camera angles and shots presented, as to evidence my claims of these points. These shall be a guideline to my analysis and evaluation of videos, along with other guiding concepts, in-order to produce the best quality analysis that I can possibly achieve!

DiaryBlog Entry 1: First Initial Update of Blog

At the moment, my blog is only just starting to come together.
Before, in my A level course, I didn't focus on my blog as much as I hoped, BUT; now that I'm in the full swing of Year 13, it's nice to simply get on with the work at hand... :)

The Blog at the moment, I designed in lesson. I simply chose the template present (picture gallery? or something like that) and then chose for it to display a mountain within a rain filled setting (this I chose simply for the fact that I liked it)
Then I wanted to change the layout of the blog itself, for this, I added the label section; AS TO GIVE EASY ACCESS TO ALL MY POSTS THROUGHOUT THE BLOG. And then added the photo at the start. This is of the band "All American Rejects" performing one of their latest songs ("Beekeepers Daughter") for their music, which incorporated ALOT of choreography, dance and movement, which as they quoted "is a mesh of everyone wacky", they have girls dressed as devils, muggers, thieves, the common stranger and (as put) everyone else. This personally inspired me, as the video simply had no correlation or easy to see symbolism, it was literally making the audience trying to work out what was happening, yet, in the end, it was an impressive final product!

I've also added the labels to my posts (in correlation to adding the nice system in my blog that enables you to go to them quickly-through the labels themselves) and have finished doing the Evaluation over my current music video analysis work.

I don't know at the moment how often I shall update this labelled section (DiaryBlog), I shall probably inform you at some point over the next few months (as to develop routine, etc).
Now, I'm going to organize a plan or list, of what I shall produce over the course of my work, whether I shall add this to my blog or not, I really don't know? But what I definitely know, I that I shall execute a few more video analysis work, as to make sure that I fully understand the gravity and design of my task.

Thanks for reading
DiaryBlog Entry 1: END