Final Pieces

Magazine Poster 

 

Album

 

Music Video 

Editing Tutorials

As we were not too experienced or familiar with using final cut pro I guess running into problem is no surprise. When we started of this project we were bursting with ideas of what we could include in our video for example effects. There was only one thing that was holding us back....we didn't exactly know how to do these effects on final cut. At this point we were feeling low and were starting to lower our standards and ideas. I guess there was just one thing we forgot, we had a weapon at our disposal, something that could turn anything impossible, possible.....the internet. All we needed to do really was to search up "how to do this" and " how to do that" and it will just put up in front of us within seconds. So we decided to search up different effects or problems we encountered and used websites such as youtube to help overcome these problems..

Speed

One of the biggest problems we had whilst making our video was the speed. The timing of our artists lip syncing and out audio file did not exactly match, this was a disaster at that time, as every professional video has the lip syncing and the audio working together. No matter what we tried or what we did it just was not working. To overcome it we searched it on you tube and came up with this..

Colour

Another problem we encountered whilst making our music video was that some of our clip either looked too dark or too bright. We needed to find a way to change this as it was making our music video look very unprofessional. As we did before, we decided to call on you tube to help us out.

 

Adding Effects

We wanted our music video to look different from everybody else in the class. To do this we had to obviously come up with something unique. So we decided to search on youtube for possible effects that could make our music video stand out.

Equipment Used (Sath)

For the filming we have decided to use several pieces of equipment, there are various equipment such as two SLR cameras, two tripods, led lighting, halogen lighting.

Nikon D5100

The Nikon D5100 is a SLR camera which is capable of recording full HD videos which is a reason why we was chose to use the camera. This camera is really useful as it is a SLR which includes all of its manual options which comes in handy when we want to adjust our footage before we edit which would make it easier to edit. Another reason is that, the camera has a flip out screen which has the ability to rotate and tilt. Using this screen, we would be able to film high angle and low angle shots which gives us  great flexibility while filming.

Nikon D3100

The Nikon D3100 is the second camera that we used which was supplied by our Media Studies teacher, it is also capable of capturing full HD videos. This camera also comes will other features that are available with the SLRs such as manual focus etc which allows us to take control over what we film and the outcome of the footage.

Jessops tripod

The Jessops TP323, is a tripod provided by our Media Studies teacher, the tripod had three levels of leg which allows us to film from various heights allowing us to achieve different angles of footage. It has a head which can rotate either 360 degrees horizontally and 80 degrees vertically. This gives us a lot of freedom of how we filmed using the tripod.

Hama star 62

The Hama star 62 is a tripod which also comes with three extendable legs. Having another tripod allows us to film from two different fixed points so even when we do cuts, the angle and height of the footage would not change which would make the film have more continuity to it.

More On Target Audience - Sath

According to UKtribes there are many types of young people out there in the world, their social groups have various names such as; boy racers, chavs, indie scenesters, emos etc. All of those groups of young people fall under bigger social groups which narrows things down. The big social groups are; aspirant mainstream, mainstream, urban, alternative kids, and leading edge. 


Aspirant mainstream consists of Trendies and Rahs. The brands that most of them use are; Amazon, Jack Wills, H&M, Topshop, and iTunes. The media brands that are most common are; Vogue, Timesonline, Channel 4, Twitter, Elle, and Facebook.

Mainstream consists of; Ravers, Townies, Chavs, Boy Racers, Sport Junkies, Street rats, and Casuals. The popular brands that people from this social group uses are;Nike, Umbro, River Island, Reebok, Primark, Nintendo Wii, Sports Direct. The Media brands that are most common are; OK!, The Sun, Youtube, ITV 1, and Facebook.



Urban social group consists of; Get paid crew, Blingers, DIYers, and Trackies. The brands that are most common in this social group are;Nike, Youtube, Yahoo, JD sports, Blackberry, Adidas, New era, and Playstation 3. The media brands which are common amongst this social group are; BBC 1xtra, Channel 4, Kiss 100, AKA, Facebook, and MTV Base.

The Alternative kids social group consists of; Gamers, Emos, Scene Kids, Skaters, Metal heads, Young Alts. The most common brands in this social group are;Amazon, American Apparel, Play.com, Nintendo DS, Topman, Quiksilver, Vans, and Xbox 360. The most common media brands in this social group are; Xfm, Eurogamer, 4OD, Youtube, NME, Facebook, Kerrang, and Myspace.

The Leading Edge social group consists of; Hipsters, Geeks, Craft kids, Indie scenesters. The brands that are most common in this social group are; Nike, Wikipedia, Converse, Ebay, ASOS, Urban outfits. The media brands that are most common in this group are; Flickr, The Guardian, Twitter, Vogue, and Xfm.

New Songs and Reasons - Seun Osho

or a number of reasons we have had to change our song. This was mainly down to;

1. Location?
Firstly, our first location let us down because they had change management due to their lost contract. this original location was Acacia hall.

 

2. Location PERMISSION
Secondly, our second location didnt let in to film because all of the arrangements we had made with them were all vocal and over the phone, this led us to being blocked in on the day because there was no written contract.

 

3. Main character AVAILABILITY
Thirdly, our main character was male and it was really hard to find a guy willing to do it , this made really hard to find a lead until we finally had one. But when it came to filming he kept letting  us down, therefore limiting our time to actually film. 

 

4. Main character willingness to do the video.

In the end he got impatient and quit all together, leaving us with no lead.

This has left us with the decision to change our song completely. Our new song is called 4am by Melanie Fiona, a R&B artist who was recently signed to ROC Nation.

We have chosen this song for multiple reasons. Firstly we think that the bat and the lyrics of the song show exactly what the R&B genre has as some of its stereotypes. Secondly, we think that this is also a good example of an R&B sing without rap within it. This would allow us to use as many of the R&B conventions to make our video successful in its field. Thirdly, this song contain an emotional, heartly vibe to the song, making us able to tap into the protagonist emotions of the current situation. This would help us greatly when picking the narrative and how it should be portrayed. However it also has a vixen edge to her tone of voice, this will enable us to use darker colours for hair, wardrobe and make up.

Intial Ideas for 4 AM - Melanie Fiona - Seun

Intial Ideas for 4 AM - Melanie Fiona

For our initial ideas I decided to make a glog. this allowed me to plan out all our ideas in a more creative way through layering images and adding the actual.
to watch and use the actual glog, please go to our Initial Ideas Glog Post

Firstly, we separated out ideas into images and text.
The images displayed items such as clothing, location and equipment
The text explained our two plot, which would be shown in the video through performance and narrative.

Costumes and Props Slideshow - Seun

This is an animoto on our costume and props used in the video so far
Make your own photo slideshow at Animoto.

Filming Day 5 - Seun

For our final filming we decided to get into the other half of the narrative of the music video. This is where it is made clear that the boyfriend is cheating on her and that it is revealed that he has a bit on the side.

The Plan:
1. To shoot him realistically having an affair with another girl
2. To show them in an interesting embrace as well as showing the effect of her poisoning him with alcohol
3. To have an interesting twist at the end to ensure a good storyline.

The Four Sections:
1. The Welcoming Scene
2. The Corridor Scene
3. The Sofa Scene
4. The Poisoning Scene
5. The Projector Scene
6. The Second Poisoning Scene
7. The Concequences Scene (wandering into the road)

The Props Used:
The camera
The Tripod
The sofa
The white wall in the location
The projector
The tray
The wine glasses
The wine
The two tablets
The living room.

Construction of MTV Logo - Seun

In order to make our music video look as realistic as possible, we decided to add the MTV base logo. this insured that we included our target audience and the research that we had done with what our audience would look for. furthermore, it indicates that that would be publicly shown on a national channel.
 Step 1:
choosing the picture
Firstly we went onto the internet and searched for the logo best to suit our video as the channels have different versions of the same logo. We eventually found a logo that looked similar to the one as is seen under actual music video, viewed On TV. 

This was the original image that we chose to use for our music video we had decided to take this into photoshop and edit.

Step 2:
editing in Photoshop
Then it is dragged into photoshop for editing. We first took out all the black boarder around it so that it fits into the video more and then we put some brightness on it just for it to stand out.


Step 3:
Transferring it into Png
We saved it as a png so that we can out into final cut

Step 4:
Applying it to Final cut

Step 5:
Adjusting it to our video

Album Covers - Seun Osho

Second Album Cover attempt:

Melanie Fiona '4AM' Music Video Analysis - Prince

Prince thought it would be a good idea to repeat what we did for the Miguel adorn music video for our Melanie Fiona music video. He took out some time to write down the most used shots and camera angle in this music video. Seeing as the story line of the music video was going to be the same as the original it would only be right that we knew what the shots in the original music video portraying (e.g feelings, hunger, hard work...). It also helps as we now know what shots are needed to make our video look good and as professional as possible. 

Magazine Poster - Prince

Evaluation 4 - Made by Prince and I

There was numerous technologies used in the construction, planning and research of our music video. Below using bubbl.us I have created a brainstorm to include all the different types of technologies we encountered during our course.

To go into further detail in what technologies we used how effective they are in making our music video. I have made a video which highlights the various technologies and their impact on our work.

Evaluation 2

Below is flash flipbook of the effectiveness of the combination of the ancillary task and the main product

Evaluation Question 3

I have learnt a lot from my audience feedback. However in order to get a deeper understand I used applications such as Microsoft Excel, inserted my data and created charts which underline the percentages of my results. Below I have created video which will further explain what I have gained from my audience feedback.

Additionally to get further feedback for our music video, I sent it off to my family friend who works at. By gaining feedback would truly as he has gained knowledge on different genres of music, what a professional, attractive music video show have, by working at the radio station.

This email just confirmed to me, that even though we may have a few good shots, the lip synchronizing which is one of the most important parts is not as tight as it should be.

Here is a few comments I received via Facebook about our music video:

We also gained some feedback on our ancillary tasks. Many mentioned how they like the house style used in both ancillary tasks. They also mentioned how it was attractive and eye-catching, which means that as a group we have made an effective ancillary which will promote our artist very well.

Analysing Digipak - Seun

Here is a video conducted by Seun, analysing a digipak made for Drake.

Audience Feedback

Here a flash flipbook in which I have highlighted all the points both good and bad that was commonly mentioned. 

Cast

Our cast for the music video Melanie Fiona - 4am is made up of:

Sarah - Second Main Female 

We have chosen Sarah as we believe she has some experience in acting which will make it easier for us as group, because would not have to coach that much. Additionally we believe that Sarah looks around the same age as the male lead, therefore the scenario will look more realistic. Sarah will take the role of the second main female. Her role is to portray the woman that is involve with an affair with 'melanie man'. 

Queen - 'Melanie Fiona'

Queenwas chosen to portray Melanie Fiona because of her mature look, and similar to Sarah she has had some acting experience, and she can easily act out scene which are able to emotional, angry, 'sexy' etc. 

                                Reke - Main Male Lead  

 Reke will take the position of the male lead. Reke will have to play the 'two-timing' boyfriend of Melanie Fiona. Unlike the other two in our cast Reke does not have acting skills however after doing a practice run with him we found that he easily fits into the role of a cheating husband.          

Practice Shots

To avoid wasting time or creating more expenses for ourselves than we already have, we decided to a practice filming. What we were able to obtain from our practical filming is each other strengthens, for example:

- Who would be good at tracking shots?

- Who would be good at pans?

- Who is skillful with handheld cameras?

- Who could be good at filming long shots?

- Who would be best for editing the footage?

- The positions to hold the camera, to achieve certain camera shots?

All of these questions we were able to determine the answer for by our practice filming. Due to the schedule of lessons we were force to split up into two groups (Seun and I, Prince and Sath). Taking in turns each person had an opportunity to film using several camera angles and shorts.

Seun and I mainly focused on the opening scene (the staircase scene), We took several takes, approximately 8 different takes till we felt the opening scene was good enough. By taking the several clips, Seun and I found that Seun was more skillful at tracking shots and POV shots than I, as well as how we should record the opening clips. 

Being the opening scene it must not only by eye-catching but of good quality, therefore practicing filming the opening scene we thought must be essential For example we learnt in order to create a smooth, crisp tracking shot our artist would need a step ahead on the staircase, and whoever is taking the shot approximately two steps behind. One issue that came to our attention is the POV shot; due to not having the expenses to use high-tech equipment such as a crane our artist would need to know how to hold the handheld camera, along with what position would create a smooth POV shot. Having a high-tech equipment such as crane would help us avoid the issue of our artist knowing how to handle a handled camera. Nonetheless from doing the practical with Seun, we learnt that our artist would need to be bent quite forward to avoid her/his knee from dominating the footage. (Photoshop jess)

In this clip below you may notice a few things (which we hope you could ignore) such as the fact that we have used two different shoes, this is because (as mentioned earlier) Seun is better at positioning herself to get a clear, smooth POV shot.

Here is short footage of our practice shot - put together using final cut. 
(insert image)

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Using The Dolly

In order to give our music video the cinematic look, and make it as professional as possible, we realize that we need certain equipment to achieve certain looks. Luckily enough for us our school supplied us with these necessary equipments, one in particular is the dolly.

What is a Dolly?

'High-tech' dollies as you can see from the image, as usually carts which travel along tracks. The camera is mounted on a dolly and records the shot as it moves. Dolly shots have numerous applications and can provide very dramatic footage.

  

 As obvious as it may sound dollies are used to make dolly shot which are also known as tracking shots/trucking shots. Although many professionals prefer the 'rigid' terminology which defines dolly as an 'in-and-out' movement (i.e. closer/further away from the subject), while tracking means 'side-to-side' movement. Most dollies (especially those used by professionals) have levers to allow for vertical movement as well as (known as pedestal move). Or in other cases a crane can be mounted on the dolly for additional height and flexibility. A shot which moves vertically while simultaneously tracking is called a compound shot. 

How Effect Can The Dolly Be For Our Music Video?

Using the dolly would be an effect tool to our music video because it will allow our group to capture smooth and dynamic footage. For example in our music video the dolly could used for a tracking shot, as we want footage of our main female artist walking in the kitchen. With the dolly we could record our female artist in a way which would put our target audience in her POV, as well as following her; this could be a way of interacting with the audience. 

Practicing With The Dolly

To avoid wasting time during our filming with the dolly, we established that it would be more logically to practice using it. Nonetheless we split our group further into two groups, Seun and I and Prince and Sath and practiced using the dolly. 

First and foremost we had to set up the dolly, this was very simple. We first mounted the camera onto a tripod and then extended the legs. Once that was done we then connected it to he dolly, by adjusting the knob (widening the gap) to allow the tripod slip in, to then tighten the knob (reducing the gap) to the extent that the tripod could not move. This was done to all three legs of the tripod. 

Once the dolly had been set up we then practiced panning vertically up and down on each other. Below features so of these clips: 

Types of music videos

Pop Music Videos 

There are many convention commonly used in pop videos, in the video below is the video Katy Perry - Last Friday, I have used this video to show the conventions.

 Upbeat - Instantly as you play the video you can hear the upbeat song. Pop genre songs majority of the time are upbeat with a fast pace. 

Bright Colours - Also as you can see there is a use of bright colours. Pop videos to mimic the pace of the beat (exciting, fast, up-tempo) use retro, bright, block colours to create that fun, party atmosphere. In this music video the colour hot pink, yellow, purple etc. are use continuously throughout the video.

Locations - Location based on the lyrics is usually party/club scene, as the intention of pop music is to generally be played in clubs or at party. Likewise in this music video the location used is in a house to create a house party. 

Costume - Pop genre similar to hip hop videos always have a variety of costumes. For example in this music Katy Perry costumes changes from a dungaree with a turtle neck, to a bodycon skirt and crop top. There is also a part in the music video where she is wearing a long medieval gown.

Instruments - Unlike rock/indie music videos you tend not to see instruments in the music video for example Ke$ha - Tik Tok, however nowadays pop music videos do not always tend to stick to that convention; Katy Perry - Last Friday Night, is a great example as there is a saxophone solo performance in the music video. 

Dance Sequences - Pop videos tend to have a dance sequence in their music videos, this usually to encourage the audience to dance, as well as making the music video more entertaining.

Heavy Metal Music Videos

Similar to Pop videos there are conventions which are used repetitively used in metal music videos. I have decided to use the music video 'Psychosocial' by Slipknot to highlight these examples. 

Dark Lighting/Setting - Heavy metal music videos always have a sinister atmosphere to it. As you can see in the Slipnot video, the lighting is very dark, there is fire in many of the shorts giving it that 'hellish' setting.

Performance Based - Majority if not all metal music videos are performance based. Slipknot   music video is a beautiful example. As you can see all instruments used to create the song is shown in the video; the band is performing. 

Costume  - The costume is clothing is always dark to fit the theme of the video, black is prominently used in their attire. In the case of this music video not only are their attire black but they are also wearing scary looking mask.

Fast Pace - Heavy metal songs are always fast pace, electric guitars are constantly used to usually get the audience adrenaline 'pumping'.

Camera Angle - Camera angles are always shaky, to mimic the chaotic setting as well as the fast pace of the song. 

Hip Hop Music Videos 

All Hip Hop music videos all share similar conventions. Using Trey Songz ft T.I - 2 Reason, I will underline the similar conventions used.

Props/Location - Similar to pop videos nowadays hiphop songs are situated in a club or a house party. Although they are also some hip hop music videos which are located in a expensive house. The theme of wealth is prominently shown through hip hop music videos, therefore props such as expensive cars, expensive alcohol even literal money is shown. For example in Trey Songz music videos, it is in a club, there is expensive alcohol everywhere, along with many beautiful girls. 

Costume - To follow the theme of wealth prominently shown in hip hop music videos. The attire that the artist wear are usually very expensive, which not only makes them look wealthy but promotes the clothing line.

Promotions - Hip Hop videos love to promote products in their videos, from perfumes, clothing to cars and alcohol. As you can clearly see in this music video the expensive drink is Grey goose is promoted as well as french drink. 

Existing Music Labels

It could be debated that artists such as Beyonce, Rihanna, Adele would not have become as successful without their record label. Record labels do not only parent an artist(s) through their career but the skillful turn their artists into a branding; marketing and funding their musical talent. To understand more about music labels - how they are run, who their run etc I have researched on the current labels.

I have created a prezi to highlight the current music labels:

How to Create a Risk Assessment

From my research I learnt that to make sure our music video is done in a professional and safe manner we must conduct as risk assessment. Nonetheless to make a risk assessment we would need to understand what it is and how it should be structured.

What is the a Risk Assessment?
A risk assessment according to HSE is a careful examination of what, in your workplace could bring harm to people, in order for you to make sure you have taken enough precautions or if you should do more to avoid harm. A risk assessment is important step in protecting whoever we will be working with, as well as complying with the law, it helps us to focus on the risk that really matter - the ones that can cause potential hazards.

Below is a five minute which sums up what risk assessments are:

 How I made the Risk Assessment
Making the risk assessment was very easy, first I listed down what potential hazards we could face in making our music videos. Next for every hazard I mentioned I then wrote a solution for each one. Luckily for our group there was nothing which had no solution to it (if that did occur then we would have the 'scrap' the idea and put the safety of our group first.

How I Created The Font

As mentioned in an earlier post wanted an ombre affect on our font. The two colours we picked for our font was pink and black; black because it is a bold colour also the Apple Garamond font in black makes the name Melanie Fiona stand out more and look like a statement. The colour pink was chosen because the image we are going to use for our album cover the lipgloss she used was pink (similar to the Keyshia Cole album who linked the background colour of the background with the ombre effect on the font) we are decided to link the colour of her lips with the ombre effect on the words.  

I created this font in Adobe Photoshop. Firstly I created typed Melanie Fiona in the Apple Garamond Font, making sure all letters are in capital letters. Once I had typed the letters up I then added a gradient overlay.

To add a gradient overlay I first made sure that the layer containing the font was selected then clicked on the FX icon (at the bottom on the layer tab). After I had clicked on the FX icon a dialog box appeared. Next in the dialog box I clicked on the gradient overlay section. Once I have selected the gradient overlay the default gradient overlay of black and white appeared on my font. However I want the gradient overlay to flow from black into pink, therefore to make it easier for me to customize the gradient I first changed the degree of the  gradient from 90 to -90. Moreover all I would have to change is the white to pink.

To customize the gradient I double clicked on the gradient (which made another dialog box appear). The dialog box allowed me to alter the colour of the gradient changing it from white to pink. 

Update 
When putting the font on top of our image we noticed that it contrasted greatly with the image, making it uncomfortable to look at. Moreover we decided to change the colours we used for the gradient overlay from black-white-pink to white-pink.

Filming Schedule

To help us with our planing and time management I created a filming schedule.

History of Music

Overall the years music videos have developed drastically, from just watching images with music in the background to music video created with hi-tech equipment. Below is a prezi I put together to sum up the history of music videos.

History of Music Videos

New Digipak

Here is an update version of our Album - Melanie Fiona - The MF Life 

Album Cover Pictures

Here are some of the images taken to create the album cover:- 

Font

In order for our group to understand what fonts would be best for us to use on our album, I decided to research different type of fonts which are use on albums. Below are three of the fonts which stood out the most for me. 

As our the artist of our music video is female I decided to look at a variety of fonts which are used on female artist album covers. For example Beyonce, the font she used for her latest album Beyonce 4. From my research I found that the name of this font is Dream Orphan. What I like about this font is that it gives a sort of vintage, posh  look to the album without taking away the fact it is an R'n'B album. Also the colour black (even though it is plain) gave some type of bold statement, which I believe represent the genre R'n'B. Additionally the contrast between the colour black and her complexion, gives the album a rich look 

Unfortunately I were not able to find that exact font, however a font which I found similar to this font was Apple Garamond from dafont.com. 


Using Adobe Photoshop I experimented with our artist name Melanie Fiona, both in lower case and capitals; to get an idea of what it may look like if placed on to the front of our album. 

Another female artist which I analysed the font on her album cover was Kelly Rowland. This album in particular is an R'n'B album which includes a lot of dance. Research showed this particular album was nominated for International Dance Award. Moreover as you can see the font  in which she used is very thin with both inner and outer glower. This I believes represents the type of music included in her album - dance music; the type of music which you would hear in a club. Nonetheless the font illustrate or 'paints a atmosphere' of a club.  As you can see below I attempted to find the closest font possible to the one featured on Kelly Rowland album:





This font is called Good Times also from the dafont.com. Unlike the font featured on the album this font is much thicker and bolder. This font in particular only has uppercase letter, therefore I was unable to see what it may look in lowercases. In order to achieve the similar font on Kelly Rowland's album I had to manipulate the font in Adobe Photoshop. Below is an image stating the quick steps I took to achieve this look.

Additionally another album font I looked at was Keyshia Cole - A Different Me, compared to the others I have reviewed, this font in particular was quite soft with a slight ombre effect. The swerves gives a gentle touch to the album. In someways the font gives the impression that the album will reveal a softer side to Keyshia Cole, therefore reflecting the name of the album 'A Different Me'. 

Using the font MTF Under Your Skin from 
DaFont.com I tried to recreate the same font, to understand what the name Melanie Fiona may look like in a similar font; however I used the colour grey. 

After reviewing several different album cover fonts, we decided to take ideas from all Beyonce and Keyshia Cole albums which lead us to the font Apple Garamond. For example what we liked about Beyonce Album font is that the font looks bold and stands out, it also looks classy and vintage; additionally the font makes her name looks like a statement which is how we wanted our artist name to come across on her album. Furthermore what we liked from Keyshia Cole's Album font is the ombre effect, in which the colours used to create the ombre is based on the background. Nonetheless we have come up with a font which we believe represent our artist as bold and fearless.

CHANGES 
We had made some minor changes to the font of our album cover. We found that using the gradient overlay with the colours black, white and pink contrasted greatly with the chosen image, therefore we changed the colours to pink and white. Below is our now chosen font:-