Digipak Draft 1 (Nathan)

This is our first digipak draft. We have hardly added anything to this digipak as we haven't thought of the links we can do between our magazine advert and music video. Therefore we only added the cd template, the design for the cd and the black background colour scheme as we thought the design of the cd and the black background looked good.

Draft storyboard (nathan)

Draft Shotlist (nathan)

Favourite Music Videos (Josh)

Favourite Music Videos;

One of our favourite music video which we both agreed on was "A sky full of stars" by Coldplay. This is because of the simplicity of the overall music video and the way it had been filmed. The narrative of the music video was solely the band members walking through King Street in the inner Sydney suburb of Newtown. This idea worked so well as the video got the local people involved and made it more of a show rather than an actual music video. This gave the video a very unique feel to it and made it very memorable, which made it appealing to both of us.

Shot list for Magazine Advert (Josh)

Shot list for Magazine Advert;

We used a photo from one of our videos that we filmed when recording the band within the recording studio. We used this as part of our magazine advert. The photo was taken showing the band playing their instruments, which links in well to the music video and allows us create links between our three products in our promotional package. Both the photos that were used were blacked out to go with the overall them of the promotional packages and also to link in with the music video itself. We have done this as this adds effect to the overall narrative and adds emphasis to the actually storyline in our music video.

Draft Filming/ Editing Schedule (Josh)

Draft Filming/ Editing Schedule;

Our overall intension is to film over the course of around 5 days and an additional day for the filming of the band, as this location is local- 20th November and November 21st to November 25th. As we need natural light (Daytime hours) to film the majority of our scenes, we will be shooting around mid-day time, as this is the only time the correct lighting is present and also when group members are free to film. In order to match the time of day, we plan to colour grade each of the shots. This will ensure that they match and make it seem like they were filmed at the same time of day, even if we film on separate days.

November 20th- On this date, we hope to film all of the performance shot from the band that we will be using, as this location is a distance away. this means getting back to the location will be different, so filming all scenes within one day will be the most efficient route to go down.

• November 21st- On this date, we will be filming the first part of the music video including the mill scene and also the bedroom scene.
• November 22nd- On this date, we will be filming the car driving scenes through the mill and also to the next location.
• November 23rd- On this date, we will be filming the first bad event and also the flip side to this where the character puts it right.
• November 24th- On this date we will be filming the second bad event and also the flip side to this where the character puts it right.
• November 25th- On this date, we will be filming any scenes that need to be redone or improved depending on if some mistakes were made during filming.

Editing will need a shorter time frame as we have already got our storyboard and we know the storyline for our music video. Additionally we can do these after school and also during school hours as the time of day wont effect how we edit the music video.

Costume Information (Josh)

Costume Information;

These are examples of the costumes that will be worn by the main character within the music video and also the band members. Some of the clothing isn't the exact clothing, however these are accurate and as close to the representations of what the main character and band members will be wearing throughout the video.

Main character's outfit;

Band members outfits (General);

Films and music video Inspiration (Josh)

Films and music video Inspiration;

After researching around my chosen genre (Pop Rock), I found a variety of real media texts that I could benefit from and take some inspiration from. One example that would be very beneficial is the music video for "Clocks" by Coldplay, as this is the song that we have chosen for our actual music video.

After reviewing the entire music video multiple times, my view was that there are a wide variety of performance shots that could be replicated within our music video from the band that we will be using for the video. From close-ups of the band members and instruments to wide angled shots of the whole band playing, these are only a couple of shots that could easily be duplicated from this video in particular but there are many other music videos that use similar shots that could also be replicated within our music video.

Effective shots that could potentially be duplicated; 
Close-up of lead singer- (0.38 secs)
Close-up of Guitar- (2.58 secs)
Over the shoulder shot of drummer- (3.46 secs)
Close-up of lead singer- (3.58 secs)

Another real media text that we could potentially take inspiration from is Craig David’s "7 Days", which was one of his first initial songs he released. within the video creates a narrative where one day keeps rewinding until he finally gets the outcome that he is looking for. After reviewing the music video, a number of times, my view is that I could easily be Incorporated within the meaning of "Clocks" in some way.

What have I learnt from this research?
After researching into a variety of real media texts, it has helped me gain inspiration from these different sources to use within my own music video that i will be creating. If I hadn't of done this research, it would of been a difficult task to come up with a completely original idea that could potentially have not worked well with our song. 

Location Scouting (Josh)

Location Scouting; 

These are the locations that could potentially be used within our music video. These have been chosen as each of them offer the correct background and also place for the music video to work and look effective. As well as this, all location are accessible to use and can be used freely and whenever we deem necessary, meaning that any extra filming that needs to be done can be done quickly and easily. Below are pictures of the potential location;

How will this help with our music video?
When it comes to filming and putting together the music video, this location scouting will help as it enable us to have an idea on where we are going to film the video. This means that we can be more efficient when filming and already have idea on the kind of shots we can do in these locations before arriving there.

Music Video Brief (Josh)

Music Video Brief;

'A man comes across bad events happening to him, but then time reverses and he then gets to relive these bad events and corrects them'

Research Into Artists Music Videos (Josh)

Research Into Artists Music Videos; 

After a number of different options, We decided to go ahead and use the band 'Coldplay' for our music video and promotional package. Coldplay is a British Pop Rock band that joined together in 1996, consisting of 4 members within the band. Throughout these years, they have created a variety of different music videos for a lot of their songs and with recent examples such as "Paradise" and "A sky full of stars". Although, some of Coldplays earlier music video such as "The Scientist" is very well known and unique as it includes lead singer Chris Martin in reverse but at the same time lip syncing the right way round. 

Some examples of Coldplay music videos;

Coldplay- "Paradise"; 

Coldplay- "Fix You"; 

Coldplay- "The Scientist"; 

How will this help with our music video?

This research into our chosen artists music videos will give us a lot of guidance on what needs to be included within our version Coldplay's "Clocks". This is because from this analysis we are able to get knowledge on what Coldplay typically includes within their music video and also the generic conventions, s that we can follow these to make the video look effective.

Magazine Advert Draft 2 (Josh)

Magazine Advert Draft 2; 

Within this magazine advert, we added a number of details such as the reviews towards the sides of the advert, the detail in the top right hand corner and also a few adjustments to the general advert. Although the advert is yet complete, the progress and the overall look of the advert is starting to be shown, with the space below for our next image and also room at the very bottom to add details such as the record labels and what platforms the album is available on. 

Final Magazine Advert (Josh)

Final Magazine Advert;

This is our final magazine advert design that we have chosen to be in conjunction with our music video ad also our digipak. We chose to use this as the imagery within the advert is also from our actual music video, which links the two products together. 

Music Video Conventions (Josh)

Music Video Conventions; 

Costume & Make-up- Costume used within music videos normally represent the style and genre of the artist. Pop musicians tend to dress in very flashy, modern clothes made by expensive brands, whereas rock artists will dress in plain clothes to draw the attention of the audience to the music rather than the artist themselves. Hip-hop artists also where clothes made by big brands however their intent is to make them seem wealthy by the use of fur coats and large amounts of jewellery. Make-up is normally only used by female artists to seem more glamorous, however it can be used by punk or metal male artists to show their act of standing out and being individual.

Lighting- The lighting of a music video can change the entire effect it has on the audience. Usually, the key of lighting will match the genre and desired feel of the song. Kings of Leon’s “Sex On Fire” has very low key lighting and lots of shadows to give it a dark effect, matching their style of music. LMFAO’s “Sexy and I know It” has very high key outdoor lighting to adhere to the lyrics involving beaches and cheerful beat of the song.

Editing Techniques- The pace of editing in music videos will normally correlate to the tempo of the song. For example, a song such as “Hitz” by Chase & Status with a fast beat will have shorter time between cuts and more of them whereas a song such as “Small Bump” by Ed Sheeran has very few cuts at all. Slow motion is also a technique that is used in relation to the tempo of a song. In “End Credits” by Chase & Status again the first 43 seconds of visuals are in slow motion as this part of the song is slower than the rest. This helps add to the effect of the different speeds within the song.

Camera- Camera sizes are used in music videos to convey the generic conventions of the genre of the song. Close-up shots are used to promote the image of the artist in pop music videos and wide shots if they have backing dancers. Mid-shots are used in rock and alternative performance videos to show the band playing the instruments and singing. Long shots can be also used to show the crowd if available in performance videos. 

The Notion of Looking- Eye contact with the camera is used in many genres of music videos that feature the artist. This is used to make a connection between the artist and the audience, a technique that can be universally used in the music industry. For example, Rita Ora’s “R.I.P.” contains many close-ups of her looking directly at the camera and is from the pop music genre, whereas The Prodigy’s “Firestarter” is drum and bass yet also contains eye contact from the performing artist. Within rock and alternative music videos women are generally not featured as the artist will tend to be as ‘genuine’ as they can.

How will this help me with our music video?

When making our music video, this will help us as these conventions will need to be added within our music video, so that it conveys with the generic conventions of our chosen genre. This i will make our video look visually better and also more effective. 

Digipak Draft 3 (Josh)

Digipak Draft 3; 

During the creation of Digipak Draft 3, we added the 3 images for the front and middle sections of the digipak so that the whole product was complete. As well as this, we made the CD it self the correct circular shape, so that it looked like an actual CD itself. Compared to Draft 2, we have made quite a lot of progress in comparison to our last Draft. In our next and also final draft, we will be making the finishing touches to the overall digipak such as placement of pictures, bar code, details etc.

Feedback on our digipak was quite positive with comments such as effective pictures used within the digipak, the overall layout is good and also the colour scheme continues throughout the digipak. the only comments for improvement were mostly to do with he improvements that we are going to make to the digipak in the final outcome stage such as the change of font and other minor details to touch up. 

How will this help me with my digipak?

This draft will help me with the overall digipak as i am able to receive feedback from other people and improve the digipak to make it look effective and professional. 

Digipak draft 2 (nathan)

This our second draft of our digipak, this has progressed quite fair as apposed to our first draft because we decided to quickly progress in the production of this of our promotional package. We still need to add our picture of our main singer, add a barcode and a few other little effects that we initially thought of for our next draft. We need to find the correct font also for our title, adding to this we still need to think of our album name. However, this is our second digipak draft and the base of what idea we have decided to go with.

Final Digipak (nathan)



This is our final digipak that we have created. We added a link to the music video by using our establishing shot on the digipak and also linked our magazine advert to the digipak as well, by using the bands instruments. We received feedback which was to change the font. We did this and then submitted our final digipak as we believe we have linked it between all of our promotional package.

Comparison of music video findings(nathan)

We researched in different music videos to find the generic conventions of all the genres so that we could compare and see what genre we could choose four our music video. We researched into the following genres:

• Rap - The rap genre is all about fast paced music and sung lyrics in which is to a rhythm that attracts the audience. The use of casual clothing is always present and is subtle and loose. Jewellery is the main props that are used to show wealth and dominance during the video. The editing cuts are very fast and create tension in which helps with the anger the usually comes behind rap music as clear emotions are shown.
• Rock - Based on mise-en-scene, in rock music, there is usually a dark setting with bright lighting, a lot of makeup and costumes are usually worn. The camera work within these music videos are usually harsh pans and tilts in which are done quickly. There are usually a lot of different angles and techniques that are used and there is hardly ever any narrative shots. The editing is usually the same beat as the song depending on how quick it is.


• Pop - The artists are usually wearing fashionable clothing the attract the audience they are aiming for. artists are usually portrayed as happy, enjoying and content with life. The song is usually up beat with a fast paced tune to the song with fast cuts. Partying is a key theme as this is stereotypically seen as what teens enjoy. Most female artists are seen as a seductive character and hair and make-up takes a huge role in this genre.

Overall these music videos are all very different and have different conventions between each of the genres. The examples all so how these are different based on the use of colours and the pace of the song. I have learnt from this that all music videos from different genres are extremely different and portray different subtle or obvious messages to the audience throughout the music video.

Representation in music videos (nathan)

Representation describes the signs that stand in for and take the place of something else. In all music videos, there are either obvious or subtle representations throughout the video, sometimes both. Most representations show what the audience would naturally think of the actor or character however, they may pick up on small representations that are subtly distinguished within the music video. There could be many different representations from, genders or colour to race. The main representation is music videos is of gender.

There are many stereotypes that have become known throughout music videos. Mainly in music videos, there is an objectification of women and they are interchangeable. The Male Gaze theory takes huge effect in music videos as this is a theory in which describes a males point of view of a women, from legs upwards. There are different representations of genders in music videos and they are:

• Women are often sexualised in the media however we could argue in music videos there seems to be a large sexualisation that occurs.
• Women are seen dancing provocatively.
• Women are usually asserting their femininity and expressing themselves sexually.

Masculinity is huge within music videos and males always seem to be in control in which is a huge stereotype in music videos.

• Hegemonic masculinity - hegemonic masculinity is competitive and reflects a tendency for males to seek to dominate other males and subordinate females.
• Characteristics such as drive, ambition, claims to self reliance and heterosexuality.

Therefore these are used in many music videos in which come out, especially some where these stereotypes come into play. For example, Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke is a huge music video that displays these stereotypes.


From this post, I have learnt what stereotypes occur in music videos and how different representations of people can affect how the audience views the music video.

Ideas for digipak (nathan)

We came up with two different ideas based on our music video. Because we have to link them, we came up with two different links to the music video and magazine advert on two different digipak's. The first digipak was a dark display to show emphasis on the bad narrative parts in the music video. We also used these effects on the magazine advert as it creates a huge effect in which the audience can take into account.

We thought for this digipak, we would create a dark effect to display the bad narrative throughout the music video. This therefore would surprise the audience as we also have a good narrative running throughout as well, which is very clear. We decided to do with dark images and used a darkened effect on the instruments from the band. This is the link to the magazine advert that we used. We added our establishing shot to our digipak to have a link to the music video and therefore this created all the links we needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In our second idea, we went with a lot more colour on the digipak to signify the good side of the narrative that is displayed throughout the music video. We used Coldplay as a template only, and we will not actually use them if we did on this idea. We only did 3 sides to this digipak as we decided early on that we was going to use the darker one as it has more of an effect and impact on the music video. Also this digipak was hard to link with the other two components of the promotional package. Therefore instead of using bright colours we went for the darker approach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Therefore from doing this we could decide on what we could do as apposed to thinking of an idea on the spot, we could plan in advance to this.  

Initial Ideas for Music Video (nathan)

We had a thought session where we both decided we would gather initial ideas that we could do for our music video. We first had to choose what our genre was by picking from the most realistic and possible genres to lip sync to. Rap and Grime were completely off the table as we thought it would be too hard to lip sync perfectly, therefore in the end would limit our mark. The lip syncing for these two genres is not impossible but very hard therefore we decided to go for the easier option of genres. We therefore decided we would go for either Pop, Hip Hop or Pop Rock as these were popular genres. We both liked songs from these genres therefore we thought it was a perfect idea to create a music video of one of these songs as we already had a knowledge about it.

We decided to look at songs from each genre and how they are played, how the music videos were constructed and the pace of the song to see what sort of music video we would have to make and how the lip syncing would work. From each genre we looked at a song and made quick points as to what was in the music video.

From the Pop genre we looked at Don't Wanna Know by Maroon 5.

• We thought that this was a fast paced genre.
• We thought that because of the fast paced music, lip syncing would be difficult.
• We saw that there was more performance shots than narrative shots.

From the Hip Hop genre we looked at Black Beatles by Rae Sremmurd.

• We noticed that this music video had a slight reference to rap/grime.
• We saw that this is again, fast paced music.
• We saw that the main footage is performance shots.

From the Pop Rock genre we looked at Complicated by Avril Lavigne.

• This song was slightly slowly in the verses.
• Mainly performance shots with some narrative.
• Easier to lip sync.

From this, we decided to go ahead with the pop rock genre and use inspiration from bands such as Coldplay, One Republic, Maroon 5, Scouting for Girls and Kings of Leon. We looked at songs we could make a video for based on 3 of the bands above (our most favourite). We narrowed it down to Coldplay, Kings of Leon and Scouting for Girls. We both had a greater knowledge of Coldplay and therefore decided to make our music video to one of their songs. We decided to go with clocks because of its slow pace and relatable lyrics.

rough plan for music video (nathan)

We came up with various ideas when coming to think about creating a music video. We had a few ideas which were:

• Creating a purely narrative music video
• Creating a purely performance music video
• Having the main character lip sync throughout the narrative to have performance along with narrative.

Out of these ideas, we thought about what one could be best and what one would help us achieve a higher mark. Creating purely narrative or performance based music videos would not help us get the best mark for the music video so we decided not to go for that. We originally thought that getting the main character to lip sync at certain points throughout the music video would be our best option.

However, as we started to develop our idea, we had a lucky situation as one of our group members dad had a band. The first thought that came to mind was that we asked to film his band singing our song we had chosen. We had chosen Coldplay Clocks. We decided on this song as both of us had a good knowledge of the song and the band which therefore gave us an advantage when making our music video. We had to research into the genre of Pop Rock as this was an unfamiliar genre as we thought their music what just Pop. Therefore we had to research into this genre and find the generic conventions within this genre in order to portray the narrative correctly based on other music videos by this band and genre.

Our final idea consisted of a good and bad narrative that played out throughout the day. We planned to start our music video at the start of the day (the main character waking up) and then them to progress throughout their day. However, we made the decision to have a time lapse forward to an event where something bad happens. Then after this has happened, a turn back in time where this event happened again however, the bad event was stopped. There are two events in the music video however, at the end of the music video, the screen goes back to when he was at home waking up, connoting the previous events in the music video were a dream.

Props information (nathan)

In our music video we don't actually have that many props that we use. We decided to use natural equipment, such as cars and camera, in our music video to provide a conventional music video. We used a coffee cup, a phone, a clock and a bed. We have used these props to make our narrative exist and function smoothly throughout the music video so that our audience will understand what is happening. We used the phone to make the narrative realistic and show the audience that we are trying to make a narrative based of a normal life. We used a coffee cup as part of the bad narrative part of our music video because this has relevance to our narrative and the storyline behind our music video. We used a clock to portray our narrative. The clock was one of the most important props in the whole music video. This clock allowed us to link our magazine advert to our music video as the same clock is seen in/on both. The clock in the music video is the same clock that we used for our time lapse which is a huge part of our narrative because it links everything together. The bed is used both at the start and end of the music video and displays where the day started. The time lapse resumes back to the bed at the end of the music video so that the day starts over. Therefore this is the traditional way of waking up in the morning therefore we decided to use the bed to make the music video as realise and life-like as possible.

Questionnaire analysis (nathan)

We asked 10 people 8 questions based on our genre of music and music videos in general. We asked 10 people as this would give us varied results, in which it did for some of our questions however, some were very one sided. The 8 questions were:


1. Do you enjoy the Pop Rock genre?


Our results for this question were varied. We asked 10 people if they enjoyed the genre that we had chosen. 50% said yes they did, which is key to our research as this shows what our target audience likes and dislikes. Only 20% said they didn't like pop rock as they were not a fan of rock type genres and some didn't give a reason. Finally, 30% said that they somewhat liked the genre however, wouldn't listen to in by intention if another genre was available. Therefore from this we can understand that half of the people we asked (5) said they liked the pop rock genre which is good as this is the genre we have chosen. The other half of people (5), said that they didn't like the genre or potentially would listen to music from the genre, but only if necessary.


2. From the selection, who is your favourite artist/band?

We asked the audience who their favourite artist/band was from the 5 we gave them. These 5 were from the Pop Rock genre so that we could use the most popular one as inspiration. The 5 bands/artists were Coldplay, Maroon 5, One Republic, Kings of Leon and Scouting for girls. The most popular one was Coldplay as 40% of the audience said that they were their favourite. Next was a joint share of the result as 20% of the audience said they liked One Republic and 20% liked Scouting for Girls. Finally, Maroon 5 and Kings of Leon were not as liked as others as they only got 10% of the vote each from the audience members we asked. Therefore we will use Coldplay as inspiration as this is the most

favourable band out of the few given.


3. Do you watch music videos from this genre?


We asked our audience whether they watched music videos from our genre or not. 60% of the people we asked said that they did, 20% said they didn't and the rest (20%) said that they sometimes watched them. This therefore shows how many people are actually a fan of this genre and how much they watch music videos. This told us that we had picked a good genre as the majority of people seem to enjoy the genre, therefore its favourable.

4. What do you expect to see within a Pop Rock music video?


Most of the people we asked, in fact all of 10 said that they would expect to see performance shots of the band and the instruments, it be fast paced throughout and have a good narrative in the background in which is hidden temporarily. We therefore need to carefully consider to fact that we need to use these points by our audience and also the generic conventions of the genre itself and other videos within this genre.


5. From your favourite artist, what is your favourite song and why?


We asked 10 people this question and got various results, however, the main genre that peoples favourite song was from wasn't ours. It was Pop. This is partially our genre however, we do have the element of rock in our music video. This therefore was a invalid question as the people we asked didn't have any favourite songs in our genre which therefore made this questions invalid to our research.


6. Do you enjoy narrative based videos, or more performance?


Again we asked 10 people this question, and the results were surprisingly different to other questions in this questionnaire. The majority didn't mind whether the music video was narrative or performance based. In fact, 50% of the people we asked said they didn't mind, 30% said performance and 20% said they prefer narrative based music videos. This gave us a huge insight as to what we could use, shot wise, in our music video. Therefore we have decided to use a bit of both and include performance and narrative shots in our music video, however, having a clear story behind the narrative whilst placing performance shots into our music video to cater for our audiences wants.


7. Do you enjoy music videos that reflect the lyrics in the song?


This was a good question as it helped us understand what our audience likes and therefore what to do in our music video. The results we gained from this were odd. hardly any people said no, in fact 10% (1) said no. 50% said that they did enjoy it and 40% said they didn't mind in which helped us understand what we needed to do in our music video.


8. Does a good music video help you to enjoy a song more?


We asked whether a good music video helps our audience enjoy the song more. A huge 70% said that they did feel that a good music video helped them enjoy a song. 20% said that it didn't and then 10% said that it somewhat did. We asked this because this would give us some idea as to what we needed to do in our music video to make it good enough to help our audience enjoy it and watch it. Therefore this was one of the hugely one sided questions in the questionnaire.