Construction - How I Made The Black Borders

In order to make our music video look more professional, as well as give it a cinematic look; we decided to add black borders. The black borders we made simply in Adobe Photoshop. 

Firstly I opened up Adobe Photoshop and name our PSD file as Black Border (easy, simple name). I then set the width to 800 pixels and height 1200 pixels. Making my PSD this size means that rather than trying to find the exact measurements of the borders; it would be easily to use the crop tool and alter the size as much as I would want. 

Once I have set all the necessary details I clicked on the ok button and proceed onwards. As you can on the right all the preferences I set gave me a vertical rectangle white box. Next I needed to change the colour of the rectangle box to black before I can alter the size of the PSD. To do this I simply used the bucket tool selected the colour I wanted which was black then clicked on the rectangle box and it changed to black. 

Next (using the crop tool) alter the size of the PSD. Using the crop tool I change the vertical rectangle to a horizontal rectangle - by making the rectangle horizontal it would fit much easier into our music video. As you can see on the picture on the right I stretched the crop tool across the rectangle box until it touched both ends and then pressed the enter button; now it looks like this:

After I had made it the size I wanted it to be, I then used the select tool and made it wide enough to make sure that on either size there is an equal amount of black left out. I made sure the amount of black that I left out was too skinny, in order for me to be able to play around with the size in Final Cut. Next using the CMD + X ( command and X keys) I cut out the selected part of the rectangle which gave me a white background.

Finally I have made the black borders which will give our  music video the professional, cinematic group. When I was finally satisfied with the look of the black borders, I went to file - save as.

I made sure that I saved the black border in a easily place for me to locate later in Final Cut, I also saved the PSD file as a PNG; this ensure that the white part of the rectangle will not appear on the video, just the black borders. 

And this how I made simply made black borders.

Feedback - First Draft

 As a group we want our music video to really connect with our target audience, as well as looking as professional as possible. Nonetheless to get a unbiased view on how well/professional our music video looks like we played the video to around 20 people. These 20 people were made to write down what was good and bad about it.

In reviewing the feedback we received we highlighted all the points that was commonly said, for example

'She doesn't always seem like she is singing'

The lip-syncing was commonly mentioned by our peers, they underlined the fact that in several points in our music video it look like she was either singing faster or slowing than the song. Another point which was commonly mentioned was the lighting.

'Too dark' 

Reviewing our music video we noticed that there was many clips in which the lighting was too dark.

However there were a few good points which was consistently said:

'Good acting from main girl'

It seemed like many of our peers really enjoyed the way in which our main girl acted, which is a very positive sign because it means that our target audience (those who have been in similar situations) could relate with her (those who haven't) would have sympathy for her. Another positive point which was repeated a lot in our feedback was the costume used.

'Good costume'

Overall from our feedback we have concluded that there are major changes that need to be done to our music video. These changes include the lighting - possibly using the artificial light more than natural light. Additionally adding in more clips with the main guy to in order for our target audience to understand that they are dating. 

Filming - Day Two

After reviewing the footage filmed on our first filming day we noticed that our footage was really pixelated, therefore we ensured that the was room fully lit (as I learnt of a way to manipulate a clip and make it look like nighttime).  Moreover we were forced to film many of our footage all over again. Also we needed to add more variation to our shots by having the close up and medium shot filmed at the same time. Additionally the green water was too obvious and we taught (an obvious skill) by using hot water it will cause the Fairy Liquid to bubble up and prevent the water from turning green. The sections we focused mainly on was:

• Bathroom Scene
• Bedroom Scene
• Dinning Room Scene

Props used

     - Nikon and Cannon camera 

     - Tripod 

     - Bedroom

     - Studio Light

     - Natural Light 

     - Lamp Light 

     - Fan 

     - Soap

     - Two Box Light 

     - Fairy Up Liquid 

     - Clock 

     - Candle 

     - Red Wine and White Wine bottle 

     - Hot Bath 

     - Bouquet of Roses 

1. Bathroom Scene

- Setting Up 

In the bathroom we created the bathtub scene again, however this time we used warm water with Fairy Up liquid along with soap which made more fluffy bubbles. Secondly we were able to find roses we added a delicate romantic look to the bathtub. We also used more lights to avoid our footage being pixated - used both the studio light, light bulb and torch.  Thirdly we also created another scene in the bathroom by filming an extreme close of the actress turning on the tap and bath being drained. 

- Shot used 

• Extreme Close up 
• Close up 

   2. Bedroom Scene 

- Setting Up 

We noticed a lot of our footage our main actress was not saying the right lyrics, therefore we had re-film a lot of the footage. Additionally in the bedroom we also filmed some of the narrative; filming the scene in which she is getting ready along with the performance scene using the white wall as a background. Also to add more effect onto the performance scene used a fan to cause her hair to blow back. Furthermore to reduce wasting time we filmed using both the Nikon and Cannon camera, placing them at different angles. 

- Costumes 

We used the same costume, however in the bedroom we also recorded her preparing the bridge and last verse (which will be dramatic) - for this we made her wear a leather body con dress with a zip on the front along with red lipstick (Ruby Roo Mac Lipstick). 

- Shot used 

• Medium Close up 
• Side Profile 
• Long Shots 
• Close up  

    2. Dinning Room 

- Setting Up 
In the dinning room we recorded the scene in which our actress is waiting upon her boyfriend. This was a simple setting up in which we order Chinese and placed it in a place to give the impression that she had made the food, along with red wine. We used a light bulb to lit the scene as the studio light were too bright.

- Shot used 

• Medium Close up  
• Close up  

Filming - Day One

The concept we wanted our main female to represent is that she would be at home waiting for boyfriend, who she plans to have dinner with. Nonetheless as a group we decided that the best location to represent this concept would be my house. At my house we intend to use:

      - One of the bedrooms 

      - Bathroom 

      - Kitchen 

      - Dinning Room 

Bedroom - (Narrative & Performance)

The bedroom is where we will be filming majority of the performance. We purposely choose to structure because of the concept of the song '4AM and her lover is not home'. Moreover to implement this into our music video we decide that by filming our main actress in the bedroom by herself would put more emphasis on the concept. 

Bathroom - (Narrative) 

The bathroom we shall filming the intimate part of our music video. With the help of rose petals and a bubble bath we tend to create the illusion that our actress is supposed to have a romantic evening with her boyfriend; as well showing her preparing for their romantic evening. 

Kitchen - (Narrative)

Kitchen is another part of our narrative, in which we intend to use the kitchen to show her preparing for her romantic night - cooking the food etc. 

Dinning Room  - (Narrative/filmed in our second meeting)

The dinning room is one of the important part of a narrative; this will show our actress waiting on her boyfriend by herself, as well as attempting to call him. 

Props used

• Nikon and Cannon camera 
• Tripod
• Tracking equipments 
• Bed
• Studio Light 
• Bedroom Light 
• Natural Light
• Torch 
• Lamp Light 
• Fairy Liquid
• Rose and daisy petals and buds 

After coming to an understand of what we will be filming in my house we arranged to meet at my house (_). Our first filming everyone arrived at my house around 6pm - filming at 6pm was essential because it was the darkest earliest time we could meet, the darkness played a great role in our music video. Before we began filming, we recapped over our plan:

      - We decided to divide our filming session into sections

            - The bedroom 

            - Kitchen 

            - Bathroom 

Luckily we had both Mrs Mclukie's camera and Sath's camera, this made our filming move much faster. 

Outcome 

1. Bedroom

- Setting up

Setting up the bedroom for the performance was rather easy as everything was in place, however the problem we faced was our lighting - we were struggling to create the night time illusion without our actress coming across dark on camera. We found the light bulb was not light enough, moreover we decided to use studio lights (supplied by Prince), although the extent in which the studio lights, lit up the room completely destroyed the night illusion. We placed the studio lights in several positions to reduce the amount of the light; as you see in the short clip,Prince tired placing the studio light in the corner of my wardrobe - this created a nice glow to room however our actress still came across dark. Nonetheless we resulted in using   a torch along with the studio lights; positioning the torch on the actress face which allowed her to come across much lighter on the camera. (place video) Additionally one of the problems which slowed down our filming significantly is our actress constant forgetting the lyrics, this wasted a lot of time.

- Costumes

Our actress got changed in one of the other rooms. We wanted our viewers to view the couple as an intimate couple as well as them getting the impression she was/is so much in love with the guy. Moreover we dressed her in a black basketball jersey (supplied by Joshua - my brother), but made her where a necklace in order for her to still have a feminine look in male clothing.  (insert picture)

- Camera Shots 

The shots which we used in filming the bedroom scene were:

•  Medium Shots
• Close up shots 
• Pan
• Long shots 

        2.  Bathroom

- Setting up

Similar to the bedroom, setting up was quite easy as we did not have to install any appliances. To create the bubble bath we used cold water and added a lot of Fairy Up liquid - this failed greatly as the water produced a few bubbles and stayed green (which completely diminished the romantic, intimate scene we were trying to create). We tired to disguised the green water by adding a lot of flowers, unfortunately for us we were unable to find red rose, therefore we were force to result in using pink flowers and daisy flowers. The pink flowers and daisy flowers caused problems as they seemed to wrinkle in the cold water and not float long enough.

- Costumes

We made our actress Queen wear a simple black vest top and leggings, in which she covered with a comfy bathroom robe. We made sure robe completely hid the fact that she was wearing a vest top and positioned the camera to hide her leggings, in order to create the illusion that she is not wearing anything underneath - adding to our intimate scene.

- Camera Shots

We took only two types of shots in the bathroom:

• Extreme close up 
• Close up 

We wanted to focus greatly on the bath and the flowers in the bath.

        3. Kitchen

- Setting up 

In the kitchen we recorded the preparation of the meal, we also used the kitchen to in some ways carry on the intimate atmosphere we created first in the bathroom. We used large florescent lights (fitted already in the kitchen) to light up our scene, by lighting up one half of our kitchen we were able to avoid eliminating the night time illusions.

- Costumes

As the kitchen is used to show the progression in her preparation we made sure our actress had a change of clothing. We dressed her in black shiny leggings with a white peplum top and a gold statement necklace, along with black opened toe.

- Camera Shots
The camera shots we took in the kitchen were:

• Close up
• Pan 
• Focus pull
• Tracking shot 
• Extreme close up 
• Medium shot
• Long shot 

Amount of Clips Taken 
(Add clip - School)

Digipack (First Attempt)

First Final Cut

Here is our first final cut of our music video.

Risk Assement

As we are filming our music video indoors, we will need to consider a range of potential risk that can occur on set. To made sure we have covered all potential threats, I created a table which highlights the potential hazards we could encounter and how we can prevent these hazards. From research music videos and how they are created, I learnt that risk assessments are extremely important because they reduce the risks of accidents and ill health to me, my team members and anyone involved in the filming; additionally in the long run it is helpful financially.

Furthermore I intended to create this risk assessment to share with my team members and cast ensuring that everyone is full aware of the potential hazards. Below is an image of the risk assessment which I created in Microsoft Word.

Risk Assessment created by Jessica

In this assessment we considered everything that could occur in both my own house and Seun's house, we also considered the dangers of the equipment that we are using such as the camera, tripod etc

New Animatics - Melanie Fiona 4AM - Prince

As part of the planning and making of our music video, we had to include and produce an animatic. An animatic consists of drawn images of the type of the camera shot, angle and content that would be going on during a certain part of a song. We had to put a lot of thought into this as we were going to use this as a guide to making our final music video. We made our animatic by uploading our drawn images onto final cut with the track we were going to use for our video.

UK Tribes

In order to help us understand our target audience more, we used Channel 4 research on social groups to gain some insight, and in some ways be able to establish what tribe our target audience would belong to.

What is UK Tribes?
UK Tribes initially started in 2005, by Channel 4 in partnership with Crowd DNA (previously known as Ramp Industry). Crowd DNA ran a project called TV Glue, which analysed how television could exist as the force which unifies individuals in the midst of 'media fragmentation'. A small aspect of the project which eventually became one of the most important was looking at youth culture. Youth culture was analysed thoroughly and through a tribal breakdown (based on the 'social glues' - music, sports, fashion, technology etc) placed into tribes. Nonetheless when these tribes were presented to the media and marketing people, it was proven to be quite successful in attracting their desired target audience. Thus UK Tribes was established, with Channel 4 interest to extend their research further; exploring the youth in honest terms and as they perceive themselves.

Successful Channel 4 has been able to make their research genuine and real, avoiding generalisation which usually inform such studies that were conducted. Below is a flip book I put together which summarises how the UK Tribes identified the tribes: their:
      - Methodology 
      - Video (below the flip book)
      - 23 Tribes Found  




Meeting the UK Tribes



What I Found Out From UK Tribes 
From researching the UK Tribes I found that they grouped together the similar tribes with a system they call macro segmentation. Macro segmentation is based on the key factors which define the tribes; music, fashion, hobbies, interests, attitudes and culture. These key factors were able to form 5 segments:
    - Mainstream 
    - Aspirant Mainstream 
    - Alternative
    - Leading Edges
    - Urban 

Mainstream 
Mainstream is the first and the largest segmentation, it consist of the Causals/Townies/Chavs/Ravers/Street Rats/Boy Racers/Sport Junkies, however with alternative/trendy lifestyles and music now becoming more accessible, the mainstream tribes seem to have lost a few of their members in the later years. Those who remain according to UK Tribes tend to specialise into more 'aspirational subsets' like Casuals, Boy Racers and Sport Junkies. Nowadays it seems that the big brand sportwear and high street fashion dominates the mainstream and music. A survey was taken (TGI Fusion) to get understanding of the characteristics of the members of the mainstreams - the results were the members of mainstream are:
    - Slightly older and lower social grade
    - Fashion choices heavily influenced by television 
    - Not ambitious, but confident about their future
    - Unconcerned with political issues
    - Most likely to desire a top of the range car 

Aspirant Mainstream 
Rahs and Trendies make up the second segment, according to the UK Tribes Rahs and Trendies  make up a significant proportion of the youth market; their spending habits make both tribes one of the most desirable 'demographic' for marketers. Aspirant Mainstream members are keen to spend their money on their looks, music and the lifestyle they want - preferably the expensive one. TGI Fusion survey states the characteristics of the Aspirant Mainstream members are:
   - More likely to be female, upmarket and younger
   - Keen to travel and 'give something back to society'
   - Love fashion, and particularly admire the style of Prince William
   - They are most likely to worry about violent crime, but least likely to be a victim

Alternative

The Alternative segment consist of the Scene Kids, Emos, Skaters, Metalheads, Young Alts, Gamers. Possessing an alternative taste in music and fashion no longer automatically denotes a 'weird status. Instead this segment makes up a significant part of the youh market, the internet has helped to destroy this 'weird' barrier. Members of the Alternative according to the TGI Fusion survey are:
     - More likely to be male, upmarket and younger
     - Most common in the North, West and Scotland 
     - Love going to gigs and downloading and sharing music 
     - Tech savvy and more likely to use video on demand 
     - Fashion choices are inspired by favorite musicians 

Leading Edge
The Leading Edge segment is the smallest segment in the youth market. However UK Tribes states that the leading edge tribe drives the taste across virtually all the other sectors and has impact on fashion and listening habits of everyone from the 'rural teenage Emos to the stars of US Hip Hop'. The Leading Edge over the past years have become the gateway of popular culture and are the main influence over other tribes like the Young Alts. This segment consist of Indie Scenesters, Hipsters, Craft Kids and Geeks.The members of the Leading Edge as a result of the TGI Fusion survey are seen as:
    - Love all things niche and cutting edge
    - Found all over the UK, not just in London 
    - Most concerned with global and political issues 
    - Love to party take more drugs than any other groups
    - Hate sports

Urban 
The Urban segment is made up of the Blingers, Trackies, Get Paid Crew, DIYers. Research has found that the Urban segment is the most pervasive and influential genre in popular music, urban music has topped the charts all over the world. Research has also found that members of the urban segment are very close to one of the biggest cultural signifiers in the youth market - however genuine urban members make up a small slice of the youth market in the 'planning terms'. Urban members stated by the TGI Fusion survey results are:
    - Male, younger and lower social grade
    - The most diverse segment in terms of ethnic background
    - Mix fashion influence to create own style 
    - Love sport 
    - Ambitious: they are most likely segment to desire a high powered job   


Conclusion 
From studying the UK Tribes we have concluded our target audience will fit into the Urban segment and particularly in the Blingers tribes. The blingers tribes we believe sum up our target audience however it could be said that are target audience have some of the characteristics of the leading edge.

Here is a clip which sums up the characteristics of the blingers: 

Melanie Fiona - 4AM is aimed at women in particular those who believe they are being cheated one - should be able to relate.