Video Diary.

I've recorded a video diary to get face to face with my audience and to explain to them personally why I have not been posting many posts recently, and what i'm up to at the moment. My video diary was made my IMovie Maker on an Apple Mac computer, to which I then uploaded onto www.vimeo.com . My video diary is only short and split into two sections - one being the introduction and the other my conclusion. Whilst its not very good - and I can assure you I got plenty of practise - I hope you can appreciate both the effort thats been put in, and the difficulty of having to improvise speech into a camera in a room full of people!

media video diary a2 from Alex Machin on Vimeo.

media video diary a2+ from Alex Machin on Vimeo.

Creating My Album Cover & Poster - Software.

In order to create my album cover and promotional poster, I will be using various different softwares and mediums. One of the most important softwares I will be using is Macromedia Fireworks. Macromedia Fireworks is a popular software that has now been taken over my Microsoft due to its popularity and high use; i've decided to compile a list of pro's and con's and a summary of why i'm using it.




Pro's of using Macromedia Fireworks

• I've used the software before on numerous occasions (including my AS media project) so I have substantial experience and know how to use it readily. In my school, Fireworks is used readily so most people have knowledge of how it is used - I can always get help.
• Fireworks is both available in my school and home - this was important for me so I can continue my project both inside and outside of school.
• Fireworks is easy to use (though this could be because i've had experience with it)
• It looks professional and has many options to use in order to create a professional and smart looking album cover/poster.
• Its free within school

Con's of using Macromedia Fireworks

• I've had a few problems with it before - there's been on some occasions the inability to save my work and this becomes frustrating. Generally however, it works well.
• There are more professional looking software's out there, though these may cost quite a bit.

Generally, I can't think of many con's for Macromedia Fireworks - it's a good piece of software to which I enjoy working with to part/primarily create my album cover and my music video poster to.

Props.

I've decided to post the making and development of my props to show the effort that has been put in, and what type of props i'll be using. I had a lot of fun in the making of these props. Here are some of my props and how I made them and how I will be using them:

My signs:
As I've mentioned before, I will use large signs as part of the comical effect of my music video, linking them intertextually to my music song lyrics. I used some simple cardboard, plain black poster paint and printed pictures of the directors Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino to spell out and show the title "Kill The Director" and the bands name, "The Wombats". These resources came from my school's art room and could have been obtained readily. I hope that this will be effective, as the large black words stand out enough for a camera. As an added bonus, I created the words to look similar to my chosen font, and in that way the video will have a direct link to my album cover, creating authenticity. I hope this is something my audience will pick up when watching my music video and evaluating my album cover.

Soup:

As strange as it sounds, I will use soup in the lyric "I've met someone that makes me feel sea sick" with the intention of creating the soup to look like sick and to further link the lyrics to the music video, thus creating intertextuality. Once again, the soup/sick idea will be to create a comical effect to my music video, appealing to my teenage target audience with the comically gross effect it could create.

Guitar:

I'm not too sure if i'm using this prop yet, but its a definite possibility. The guitar will add to the music in the song (which is primarily made up of guitar beats) and also relate to the indie, teenage, target audience. From my knowledge, I know one of the actors I am using has a guitar (as does a relative of mine), and there would be a few to borrow from the music area of my school meaning guitars would be readily available. However, the guitars would run the risk of being damaged, and something so valuable would result in my paying out a lot to compensate the losses. Thats why most of my props so far have been simple, cheap and easily broken/thrown away. This will be something I will have to consider when deciding whether or not I use a guitar as a prop in my music video.

Filming Schedule.

I thought it would be in my best interests to post my previous filming schedule for my music video. So far, everything is almost wrapped up though I need to film small bits here and there that need perfecting. I've decided to post my filming schedule to demonstrate the organisation that has been put into my filming process, and for myself to get into perspective my filming times and dates. Here is my following schedule:

• 30th September 12:00pm - Meeting with my actors at lunch time to discuss the filming process, what I want from them and what they need to bring.



• 2nd October 11:00am - Equiptment, props, actors, scenery checking - running through to see if everything is okay.



• 3rd October 9:00am - First lot of filming is started. I have decided to individually film all three of the actors to then conglomerate them together in editing. My first actor to be filmed is Actor 2 - Jamie Adams.



• 14th October 2:00pm - After taking a look at the first lot of filming, i've taken the second lot with Actor 1 -Phil Hawkings.



• 25th October 1:00pm - Next I have begun filming with Actor 3 - Tom Winship. I have also reviewed the previous filming to make amends on what needs to happen next.


• 2nd November 10:00am - In my free, I have begun to discuss the extras filming with my extra Rachel Hilton. We set up a later date for filming together.


• 8th November 9:00am - I started to film small bits of the extras scenes, and bits in which actors aren't included.

So whats next? After the small ends are tied up, I should start my editing by mid-late November, leaving me enough time to make small amends if necessary.

Colour Scheme Feedback.

I wanted to explore whether or not the colour scheme idea (that being completely black and white with only one fundemental colour) was a good idea and whether or not my audience would prefer this idea over the ones of my general colour scheme ideas. I conducted a short survery in my class and will post the results as follows;


My bar chart was created using Microsoft Excel, I did not want to use the previous website as I wanted a more diverse range of software. As you can see, the black and white idea gained more popularity once i'd explained the kind of idea i'd be going with. Below is some feedback from my classmates;

Chris B - I really liked the idea of the black and white colour scheme with the one colour as, having watched Schindlers List, I saw for myself the impact it can create in any forms of media. However, it might be a challenge to keep the album cover looking interesting and alive.

Ashleigh - Though the idea of black and white being the central theme to the album cover sounds artistic, I much prefer the idea of colour because I think it will link much better to the theme of the music song and video, that being because its much more fun and upbeat. I also think if its colour it will attract an audience more.

Lance - The black and white colour scheme will work well in my opinion. This is because it seems to be more male targeted and therefore would suit the male target more. The colour schemes look good, but seem a bit too girly.

Jack - The colour schemes seem to me too bright and busy. I prefer the black and white idea much more as I think it will create an intense impact that will draw the reader in and it relates to the indie theme of The Wombats.

Rachel - I really like the idea of the Black and White theme because it seems alluring and a bit romantic, something that would suit well in terms of the theme of the music song and video.

Sarah - Personally, I am more of a colour person and because of this, I prefer the colour scheme. Though I do appreciate the effect of the black and white colour scheme, this is just a personal preference.

Amy P - Though the colour scheme seems interesting, my personal preference is the black and white scheme because it seems a classic technique that has worked for lots of other media mediums.

Colour Schemes - Black and White?

I now have to figure out the kind of colour schemes will be needed for my overall album cover. Thinking about this, i've had an idea for a black and white theme but with one central item or aspect of the album cover having colour. I have gained this inspiration from different mediums, as it creates a dramatic impact and draws the reader in with its one singular colour. By having one singular colour, I can easily symbolise my music video and album because the colour has no other colour to clash or contrast with. For example, different colours are often said to symbolise different themes; red = anger, passion, love, romance; yellow = happiness; purple = royalty; pink = sexuality, feminine.

Steven Spielberg's Schindlers List:

Though the context within the film is serious, and I have interpreted it to be so, this is still my most fundemental inspiration for the colour scheme of my album cover. Here, you can quite clearly see the little girls coat is red, drawing the audience into her image and giving off the sense of love and a mothers' love when put in relation to the context of the film. This one coloured image presents a singular idea with another dimension to it, and in the case of Schindlers list, it shows a sign of hope, in a film that depicts the horrors of the Jewish Holocaust in Nazi Germany.

Bart Busschots' photography blog:

I found this on the photography blog of a man named Bart Busschots entitled www.bartbusschots.ie/blog/?p=536. Once again, I picked this for the strong impact it makes and the message it sends out to an audience. In this picture, the idea of nature is highlighted through the orange presented on the butterfly. Consequently, the colour orange presents the idea of happiness, and thus provokes the feeling out of the audience meaning overall this image is seen as a happy and positive one - something I would like to create in my album cover.

GIMP - Selective Colourization Tutorial:

This is less of an intense photo, as it is not fully in black and white but sepia. I obtained this photo from a tutorial website that specialised in teaching you how to place only one colour onto a black and white photo named http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/Selective_Color/. I used this photo as I felt that once again, the impact of keeping the eyes colours intact whilst everything else was in sepia was both clever and symbolic to the idea of the beauty of children. Therefore, once again this is a positive image with an artistic dimension to it - something that inspired me further in my ideas of an album cover.

Other colour schemes:

Failing I cannot create such a thing as above, or that I decided to opt out from this idea, I have deliberated three colour schemes I could use in my album cover design and, with explanations, have placed them in the form of a powerpoint presentation.

Other colour schemes

View more presentations from Amachin.

My chosen font.

I conducted a survey in my class to help me choose my chosen font. The class, out of eighteen (including me) had to choose one font they would pick if it were there album cover. I then plugged the results in the form of a pie chart from the website http://www.mathwarehouse.com/ .Here are the results;

As you can see, Ghetto Marquee (as coloured bright blue) gained the most votes with a total of 38.8% and this will be my chosen font.

My chosen font:

Font Ideas.

The font of my album cover is key to its design. Because of this, I will take extra care in the font of my album cover by searching for different fonts and how/why I think they could relate to the feel of my album cover. I have obtained these fonts using http://www.dafont.com/, a website I have used before and thus know its reliable. I have narrowed my search down to four different fonts with feedback from various classmates. Later on, I will conduct a survey as to which font recieved the most fonts; using this is as my final decision on which font to choose. My chosen fonts are as follows;

1. Que FONTita!

I chose this font as it has a youthful, comical feel to it and seems like the type of font that could appear as part of a fun, upbeat song. If you look closely, small pictures are placed around a few of the letters, something I thought would appeal to my target audience and something that, on a personal level, I thought looked good.

Lance: I like this font as it seems fun and boyish (something that would appeal to me - and also would appeal to the male dominated target audience of the music project). The boldness of it is appealing and I think it could really work well with the music project.

Ashleigh: The font works well as its fun and bold, meaning it wont fade out amongst other aspects of the album. The little pictures are intricate and intriguing, something I think an audience would really enjoy.

Rachel: The font works well because it looks hand written/drawn, and gives it a bit of authenticity. The white and black work well together and make the font look fun and quirky.

2. A Love of Thunder

In this font, what really appealed to me was the simplicity of it. By making it simple, I can add other quirky effects to the album cover. As I believe my music video and chosen song is more male orientated, I wanted to project this onto my album cover; believing that out of all the font's chosen, this is the most male orientated thus relating to my target audience.

Chris: I like how simple this font is, and its boldness, but I fear it could become a bit boring. However, it has potential to be really good if everything else on this hypothetical album cover is constructed cleverly.

Sarah: The boldness is something that, as a teenager and therefore part of the target audience, appeals to me. It draws me in and intrigues me into what the album cover could be like. Its very easy to read and stands out, which is good.

Amy: This font I enjoy because it works in a very understated, simple way. It seems to draw the reader in and gives them an impact. The small faded bits are very implicit, but give it an authentic look, something I really like.

1. Elastic Wrath

I picked this font because I felt it fit with the criteria of that I wanted out of an album cover; fun, silly, informal and something that would appeal to a teenage target audience. I personally really liked the swirls that define the "0's" of the writing, and the curls emphasise the fun I wanted to get out of my album cover.

Lee: I enjoy this font because its eye catching and fun to look at. However, I think if anything, it could relate more to girls and because of this, its not my favourite. But, I could definately see a title like this in an album cover for The Wombats because its quirky, fun and epitomises youth.

Naomi: This is one of my favourite fonts because its really fun and different. Having an individual looking font could add an advantage as it attracts more of an audience. This fun font envokes positive emotions - something I think could even more attract an audience.

Jack: This font is fun and unique, but to me it looks a little too girly for the key target audience and it may be too flamboyant for a simple album cover. However, it certainly is different and looks authentic - something I and I believe an audience would appreciate.

3. Ghetto Marquee

So far, this is my favourite. Mainly because it looks authentic and almost natural - like photography. This font seems gritty and pertains very cleverly to both a predominately male and teenage age criteria. This font caught my eye because in my music video, I am using flashcards as props to create a fun and quirky feel and this font looks like each individual letter is made of a flashcard, so relates very much so to my music video and the overall feel of my music video project.

Hamish: I like this font as it looks very indie, something I think The Wombats music is. The font looks very authentic and natural, but with a gritty edge to it that adds quirkiness. My only criticism could be that it looks a bit too dark, and sharp and in that sense, doesn't fit in with the quirky music.

Perry: This is a unique and "indie" looking font that I think could fit well with the idea of the music video, if constructed properly. It could be a bit too dark and grungy though, and might not add in with the target audience.

Kris: I really enjoy this font type for a title as it looks unique, different and fits in well with the male target audience. Though it does look a bit dark in colour and sense to be classed as fun if it was part of an album cover, it has a lot of potential to be constructed well and would catch an audiences attention.

Alternatively...

After considering all four of the titles, I have to note that I could choose more than one font, and alternate between the album name title and the bands name title etc. However, that would tak choosing two fonts that look similar together. Still, the option is open.

Album Cover 3

Album Cover 3: Jack Johnson - To The Sea


The first noticable thing about this album cover is that, in a sense, it relates to the album name. "To The Sea" creates an idea of serenity, mainly through the idea of the ocean, and this is related in the both the album front and cover in which blue is the predominate colour. This idea of relating the album design scheme to the album name interests me as it sets an entire theme for the album, artist and music - binding them all together to create an entire theme. I may use this idea in my album making; finding some way to link all three musical aspects together. On both the front and back cover, the artist appears in a medium to medium long shot, but looks comfortable and relaxed (not posed) thereby giving a realistic nature to the shot, making the album feel more personal to the audience. The artists name and album name are in line with one another, linking the artist and the album together and they correlate with the black/white title colour contrast. Whilst the contents is not numbered, it is listed chronologically and so in a sense, the numbers are not needed. Once again, the technicialities and minor details are placed on the bottom of the back cover (probably because they are the least interesting aspect of any album cover).

Album Cover 2

Album Cover 2: Blink 182 - Greatest Hits

The album is simple. That being it follows a simple colour scheme (or shade scheme as technically no colours are used). By using this simplistic technique, the artist creates more of an impact to the target audience especially when the bands logo is used and placed large and in the centre of the front. The target audience (that being Blink 182 fans) will instantly recognise the logo and thus, be attracted to the album instantly. The album and bands name "greatest hits" has a font that is similar to the bands logo, and this shows the logo (and therefore the band) is central to the entire design scheme of the album and the logo. However, the back does not link too much to the front as the font is different and it contains no logo. It does however, clearly show that this is the artists album by naming it at the top, and the colour scheme is the same (black and grey/white) so in this sense, there is still a distinctive connection. The colour scheme itself relates to the target audience because it pertains to the theme of the music - punk rock. As punk rock is usually dark, gritty music, the black and grey/white colour scheme is recognisable to that music style and therefore, relates to the bands target audience. The contents is organised neatly in a chronological list as the contents clearly needs to show any audience what songs play when. After the contents, comes the technicalities (an order i've found on the majority of albums when researching albums).

Researching Album Covers and Album Cover 1.

As part of my media project, I will also have to create an album cover (front and back) in accordance to my music video. Before I do this, I have decided to research a couple of album covers (front and back) in order to get into perspective the kind of themes and ideas I could use for my own album cover. I obtained all of my CD Album covers by either taking pictures myself of my own albums, or using a simple google image (free from copyright of course).

Album Cover 1: Michael Buble - Crazy Love

On first looks, there is a simple but effective connection between both the front and back of the album cover. Whilst most of both cover sides are primarily a picture of the artist (for the obvious reason to draw attention to them and their music), there is a colour scheme present also. In this cover, the cover theme is a serene, happy kind of colour scheme will creams, light greys and yellow. This relates to the style of the artists music which is primarily pop/jazz, meaning it usually has a relaxed feel to it. On the front side, there is a close up shot of the artists face to present an intimate feel to the artists music; allowing them to relate to it more. However, on the back it is a medium shot, designed to show the artists clothing and further imply to the target audience of the style and feel of the music and the music album. In this sense, the music album becomes a summary of the type of music inside. On this cover, there is a simplistic feel. Not much is going on unless it is necessary such as the title, contents and artists name. On the back, the contents is clearly shown in an organised manner; each song labled in chronological order with the font large to draw attention to the reader the songs. The yellow banner that contains the artists name links the front and back cover together as, put side by side, you can clearly see it follows on. This connection clears up confusions about which artist the CD is of. Looking at the technicalities of the album cover, I can see the necessary labels that are issued on the back to signify to the audience certain things: for example, the bar code, the artists record company label and a symbol to show the CD can play on a DVD player. I will use these in the making of my own album cover to make it appear professional.

Animatic (Without Music)

Currently, I do not have the music on me to demonstrate the storyboard shots with the music. However, I have compiled an animatic on me that demonstrates each storyboard shot in turn. This has given me a more clear idea on what my video will be like, or how I want it to be like. I created this animatic using Windows Movie Maker to which I then uploaded onto http://www.vimeo.com/ , and this gave me a brief demonstration into video processing and editing, something I will later be using in more detail when editing my music video.

Storyboard Animatic from Alex Machin on Vimeo.

Location date.

I've planned my location date. I have given my main characters and extra the time, location and what they need to bring (though this shouldn't be tricky as i'll provide most of the props and equiptment needed) through email. As i've mentioned before, as I know my actors and extras personally, it was really easy to contact them through email (I already had their email addresses) and i've recieved replies from all of my actors to say they can make it! I chose my particular date in accordance to the weather. The weather being a really important factor in my shooting as it will mainly be outside.

What's next?

With all my main planning needs addressed, I need to think about what comes next in terms of my music video project. Later on, I may play around with my storyboard pictures; possibly turning it into an animatic with my music song. However, I also have to think about my album/single cover including photo's for my cover, font styles and colours. To organise myself, I have compiled a list of the main needs at this moment in time.

• Location Dates (In progress)
• Shooting (In progress)
• Choosing my fonts for my album/single cover
• Choosing styles/colours
• Photography
• Animatic?
• Editing

Obviously, there will be more to come, but at present these are my main points that need to be covered.

My storyboard.

So far, I have covered almost all of my primary needs for planning including;

• Actors



• Location



• Prop Ideas



• Permission from Artist



• General themes for my music video.

However, to wrap everything up, I have created a storyboard in which I have taken pictures of the storyboard I drew (I have explained this in more detail in my powerpoint presentation) and explained the different styles, themes, shots, props, and characters I am looking for in my video. By doing this, I have shown myself and the readers of this blog a more clear idea of what I want my music video to turn out like.

My storyboard

View more presentations from Amachin.

Actors.

My main actors will be Jamie Clarke and Natalie Clews

Jamie Clarke -

I chose Jamie because once again, he has some acting experience, participating in school plays and talent shows. Like all of these actors, Jamie is at the same sixth form as me, meaning he can be easily contacted, and I have known of him for a while.

Natalie Clews
Whilst Nat will probably not have a full on screen part, she will feature in props as the typical "girl next door", one to whom the boys are head over heels for. In this sense, she has both a "main part" an a part as an "extra". Nat is a close friend of mine meaning I can trust her fully and she can be easily contacted. easily contacted and trusted.

There may be others to take part in the project at a later date, and if so I will post accordingly.

Ideas about props.

Definition of "Prop"- "A theatrical property".
The chosen song for my video contains lyrics that have a lot of intertextuality to it and feature different mentions of certain things in pop culture. Because of this, I decided to annotate a sheet with the songs lyrics on, to get into perspective what kind of props would be needed in the making of my video. Throughout the lyrics, intertextuality is repeated in the form of pop culture in things such as "Eastenders", "Bridget Jones" and also in the form of everyday life, pertaining to the socio-realist theme (such as "Carrots"). Throughout the lyrics, I have generated ideas to both give a humourous feel to the video (in the form of props) and to link in with the intertextuality present in the lyrics of the song. For example, with the repition of "This is no Bridget Jones", I have taken into consideration the idea of anti Bridget Jones posters around my locations, giving a humourous feel whilst being "intertextual". Below, I have listed more ideas for props generated from the bands song lyrics.

"I've met someone that makes me feel seasick" - Here, I thought about the idea of throwing a sick looking product over the actors for comic effect.

"Whenever she looks I read the nearest paper, but I don't care about the soaps, no I don't care about the soaps.. Though I'm acting like i'm in an Eastenders episode" - This is my most crucial line, as it contains a large majority of intertextual ideas for me to create props. For this, I am considering your typical props, such as a newspaper. I will link the "soaps" and "Eastenders episode" lyrics together for my prop by creating a prop to do with the Eastenders soap, possibly a charicature or a puppet of a popular Eastenders character. This will hopefully add a humourous effect too.

"If this is a rom-com, kill the director" - Here, like the "Bridget Jones" idea, I was going to have anti romance or director posters put up, possibly of popular romance movies or directors such as Love Actually and Steven Spielberg.

"Carrots help us see much better in the dark" - Here, the obvious would be to add a vegetable like prop, my only problem being whether or not this would be too silly.

"This is my head and this is my spout" - The prop here, I thought could be associated with a teacup, here I could play around with silly, nursery tale style themes to emphasise the comic effect.

"So with the angst of a teenage band..." - To relate to the music, my idea was to pull out a guitar and have the main actors pretend to play.

Themes

I have created a Wordle from http://www.wordle.net/ that contains all my themes. These themes will essentially become the backbone of all the production in my music video. Conglomerating all of these themes together gives an idea of what i'm looking for in my video.

Further Ideas - Mind Map

To get into perspective the extras of my planning such as props, clothing and the validity of the actors, I decided to create a hand written mind-map with a series of my ideas. I scanned this onto my blogger in order to show the kinds of ideas for my planning at first hand. I will elaborate on these further.

Props - I'll be making an annotated sheet of lyrics later on containing further ideas of my props as I feel they are a fundemental part of both my video personally, and the theme I am pertaining to. The more props I can get, the more humourous I can allow my video to be, therefore to me, props are crucial. Aswell as this, I have opted for the idea of male orientated props such as footballs, and guitars to add to the music playing in the video. In this sense, I am further pertaining to the theme of my video.

Clothing - The clothing, simple enough, will be supplied by my actors as I want normal/average clothing to pertain to the socio-realism and themes of my video. However, another thought I had would be to feature my actors in formal clothing, to emphasise courtly love and romanticisim, thus making my video more comical. If my actors cannot supply this, I will have to find a way to supply it for them.

Actors/Extras - Once again I will elaborate further on my actors and extras by posting pictures of them. So far, I have delegated my three main actors; Tom Winship, Phil Hawkings and Jamie Clarke. These actors are all in the age range with experience in acting meaning they'll be more professional and more confident. I'll also employ extra's and back up plan actors in case for some reason the actors cannot make it.

Sound - I have opted for non diagetic, meaning my video will contain nothing but The Wombats' music. Upon this, the three main actors will main for socio-realism and comic effect.

Camera - My camera shots, at first thought, will vary to suit the light-heartedness of the video. I'll range them from everything between close-ups to extreme-long shots, giving a random and quirky feel to my video. However, during the filming process I cannot say I wont experiment and try new shots, so it is difficult to conclude indefinately what kind of shots I will be doing.

Main Themes of the Video - These are essentially the backbone of my entire video, and will be what I strive to accomplish throughout. However, like my camera shots, I cannot say whether or not i'll change the tone of the video. My main themes include: Socio-realism, Romance, "Angst" and Comedy.

Further Analysis.

I researched one more video to get into perspective the kind of things I would be doing. I presented this in the form of a powerpoint presentation. Whilst I had already done this video, I focused even more on the band themselves, and the technical points such as Camera, Mise-en-Scene and Lighting to give me inspiration as to what kind of shots I could be doing.

The Futureheads - Further Video Analysis

View more presentations from Amachin.

Thinking about locations.

In the planning of my Music Video, I have to think about certain locations to which would be fit for my music video. To think about the locations my video could be shot in, one must think about the target audiences and what locations they would readily relate to. I have shortlisted a couple locations around my local area that I believe would pertain to the target audience - that being teenagers aged between 14-19.

Local Shopping Centre -

I picked this area primarily because it is a popular area for teenagers and young adults mainly because shopping is known to be a popular past time of young adults and teenagers.

Pro's - The area is busy and pertains to the idea of socio-realism, something I am striving for in my music video.

Con's - It might be hard to travel to the main shopping centre in my area for both me, the actors and all the equiptment. I am also not sure on the rules and regulations of filming in a shopping centre and whether this is allowed.


Surburban Street/Area-

It could be a bad generalisation, but as teenagers are usually out, I thought about setting my location in surburban street type area. By doing this, I will try to pertain to the teenage/male gender stereotype that I want evident in my video.

Pro's - It would be easy to travel to and easy to film in, being that there are no laws against filming outside in public. This therefore makes it one of my most popular candidates in terms of location for my video.

Con's - It might prove tricky for me to film outside depending on the weather conditions and other external factors such as roadworks and blocked areas.

School -

The most obvious area for me to film a teenage based music video would be a school due to the relevance in terms of the target audience and the convinience of

Pro's - It would be easy to film and find actors in the school area. In terms of props and equiptment it would also be resourceful, with plenty on hand if needs be. Because of this being a school project, the support I would get in terms of making my video would be far more in comparison to a random street or shopping centre

Con's - Filming in my school would be the easiest and simplest choice, therefore I would be limiting the learning curve of my filming and media skills. It would also be the most obvious, limiting my creativity.

Conclusion/First thoughts: In retrospect of this, I believe the best option would be to set my video in either or both, a school and surburban environment. This way, I will be able to pertain thoroughly to the target audience of the music song and my video whilst having easy access to both areas.

Asking for Permission.

I became aware of the copyright rules and regulations when it came to using another groups material for your own creative use, known as the "Derivative Laws". After research on Derivative Laws under http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p22_derivative_works.en.htm I decided to apply for permission to use The Wombats' song by contacting the Band and their management. After finding a "contact" section on the bands website, I was directed to a contact area where you were advised to put down your name and email address along with your inquiry. After submitting my request, I waited a week and was granted permission to use their song with the making of my video.

Wordle (First ideas for my Music Video)

I have created a Wordle from Wordle.com containing all of my first ideas for my music video, including genre, shots, actors/actresses and scenery. This contains my initial ideas as to what I should be thinking about in terms of my music video.

My Chosen Song's lyrics (annotation).

After some deliberation I have decided that my chosen song will be The Wombats - Kill The Director mainly for its quirky and ambigious lyrics, giving me the freedom to play around with mise-en-scene and camera shots in a comical way.













To draw up some initial ideas, I have decided to draw some ideas from the bands lyrics. I found the lyrics on http://www.sweetslyrics.com/. The annotated lyrics I will highlight in red.


The Wombats - Kill The Director (Lyrics)


I've met someone that makes me feel sea-sick



Oh what a skill to have
Oh what a skill to have



So many skills that make her distinctive



But they're not mine to have



No they're not mine



Whenever she looks i read the nearest paper



Though i don't care about the soaps



No i don't care about the soaps



Though i'm acting like i'm in an Eastenders episode



If this is a rom-com



Kill the director



If this is a rom-com



Kill the director please



Carrots help us see much better in the dark



Don't talk to girls; they'll break your heart



And this is my head and this is my spout



If they work together; they can't figure anything out



So with the angst of a teenage band



Here's another song about a gender i'll never understand



Here's another song about a gender i'll never understand



If this is a rom-com



Kill the director



If this is a rom-com



Kill the director



If this is a rom-com



Kill the director please



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget Bridget



*Kill the director*



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget Bridget



*Someone kill the director*



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget Bridget



*Someone kill the director*



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget Bridget



*Someone kill the director*



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget Bridget



*Someone kill the director*



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget Bridget



This is no Bridget Jones



This is no Bridget, Bridget Jones

• The first prominent idea seen from the lyrics is the use of repetition, this means that I will be able to repeat certain shots, settings, props and people a lot, to compliment the tone and pace of the song.


• The lyrics are very intertextual, and often mention modern pop culture today. This therefore gives me the idea to include humourous references to said pop culture


• As the beat of the music ranges from slow to fast, I will vary my camera shots consistently in time to the music always.


• The singer is male and therefore, it is my belief that I will include various male actors into my video. I may exclude female actresses to draw upon the male "teenage angst" that is present within the song and lyrics.
• Through the lyrics, its clearly seen that the song is about romance, or lack of. Therefore, I shall include some narrative, romantic tale to it. Though it will not be the primary theme of the video (i.e. it will not be completely narrative and romantic and I will need to incorporate some humourous aspects)
• The character sings about himself personally, meaning that I will probably be doing lots of head on, close up or medium close up shots directly looking at the "main character". In that case, I will need a main character.
• The lyrics contain random lines such as "I've met someone that makes me feel sea sick". In this case, because they're random and a bit amusing I will use some humourous images in relation to this. For example, At the line "I've met someone that makes me feel sea sick" I will throw a sick looking product over the said actors.
• As the lyrics are about a teenage love; "So with the angst of a teenage band", I will use primarily teenage, male actors.

Deciding The Song For My Video.

So far, I have decided on four potential songs to make for my video. All songs contain aspects of an indie/alternative nature, something I have consciously done, as from my previous research, I came to the conclusion that Indie or Alternative genre music songs and videos often have the liberty to create wackier, quirkier videos - something I would like to dabble in. My four potential songs are:

Ellie Goulding - The Writer

I chose this song as it is a romantically theme, alternative song that I believe would be able to allow me to dabble in romantically genre'd mise-en-scene, aswell as drawing up ideas for camera shots and lighting to add to its slow beat.

Pro's - It is a popular song and therefore my video would have the potential to attract a large and wide variety of audiences and whilst it is mainly pop, it dabbles in other genres such as indie, allowing me to try different aspects of filmings in addition to their genre.

Con's - As the artist is popular, and the song is quite famous, I might run the risk of being rejected for permission by the artist. Aswell as this, it could be difficult for me to supply potential actors for my video, as the video suggests a narrative, romantic tale to it. Something that, if not professional, could be executed disastrously.

The Wombats - Kill The Director

The idea for this song came about as once again, the genre is alternative/indie, a genre that would give me the freedom to play about with quirky ideas. The lyrics throughout are quirky and humourous, giving me different ideas as to how to execute a music video (i.e. with comical effect).

Pro's - The song is a fast paced beat, meaning it would be fun to play around with. As the song is fairly comical, I would be able to get away with silly acting skills and fun shots as it would all contribute to the beauty of humour.

Con's - The song is fairly popular, and because of this there is a great risk of an imposing rejection by the recording artists if I applied for permission to use their song. The lyrics also contain detailed imagery of certain settings or scenes (for example, the sea is briefly mentioned) that would be quite difficult to pull off in my filming.

Flamboyant Bella - Break Away

Flamboyant Bella are a band that typically rose to stardom from posting their independant music on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. Whilst they now have a record label, they are still considered the epitome of Indie, non-mainstream music.

Pro's - The band is generally well unknown in terms of mainstream music, and this would give me an advantage in them accepting my proposal of using their music. The bands unusual quirkiness and sociorealistic lyrics would provide a good muse in ideas for my potential music video. As of now, there is no music video for the song so my ideas/creations about the music video would be completely virgin.

Con's - The bands lyrics for "Break Away" can actually be said to be too subjective, and therefore it would be hard for me to create ideas as to what I could use in creating the music video.

The Futureheads - Skip To The End

The Futureheads are a predominately Indie band that have generated a large fan base over the years, whilst still being typically Indie and non "mainstream". Skip To The End is one of their most popular songs, primarily about a failed or failing relationship. This would be an unusual subject to cover in my potential music video.

Pro's - The lyrics are subjective, but in a sense that is fun and would allow me to play around with the lyrics and the camera shots. The beat is also quirky and therefore would also allow me to play around with fun camera shots pertaining to the quirky beat.

Con's - As the lyrics are generally about a failing relationship, I might have to conduct my video in a narrative sense, which might be more difficult to provide good actors and a more serious notion. The lyrics are of a fairly serious nature, meaning it might be tricky to execute a serious and professional video with a narrative tale.

Death Cab For Cutie Tour Poster

This is the concert advertisement poster for Death Cab For Cutie. As the entire poster is made from cartoon, the artists and designers have given themselves the freedom to be more creative in their design. This is seen distinctively in the poster as much mise-en-scene is shown all throughout the poster. For example, references to the bands unusual name are presented through the mise-en-scene through the cartoon picture of a skeleton driving a cab (hence "Death Cab For Cutie"). In terms of the posters colouring, there is a contrast between the dark, black background and the bright colours of pinks, purples and yellows used in the cartoon and title underneath. By creating this contrast, the designers have drawn further attention to the poster by making it appear both obscure and therefore more attractive. In terms of the title and concert details, the title is placed in large, roundish font towards the bottom to further attract the audience, allowing them to clearly see the concert details but without drawing the attention away from the main images. The roundish font suggests a more lighthearted feel to both the bad and the concert itself, aswell as it being flattering to the cartoonish, light hearted theme of the above images.

Sia Tour Poster

This is the concert advertisement poster for the artist Sia. Through the colouring and general mise-en-scene, the audience can instantly see that this is a female dominated artist, and could be a female dominated concert. The main artist, Sia, is featured in a medium close up image centred in the middle of the poster. By doing this, the audience is instantly drawn to the artist and is able to easily recognise her, thus advertising her work. Upon this, the mise-en-scene surrounding her (i.e. the quirky items placed on her face) are used in this way to further draw attention onto the artist, connecting the advertisement for a concert to her work. The concert details (amongst other details such as the album release date) are placed in the right hand side corner in a small (probably size 6) font to draw more attention onto the artist. This may be because your typical audience would focus more on the aesthetic details on the poster, as opposed to the formalities. The concerts tour name, aswell as the artists name is placed high above the poster in a large font, with the artists name placed with an unusual and colourful font to further draw more attention to her and her work. By making both titles at the top in a large font, the audience is instantly drawn to the title. This is complimented through a general lack of mise-en-scene, allowing the audience to only focus on the main aspects of the poster.

You Me At Six - Underdog (Single cover) and Album cover.

Music by You Me At Six is typically of a punk rock nature and this is reflected unconventionally through the amount of colour, and lack of darkness that is usually associated with punk rock music. Whilst there is a lack of colour designed to be unconventional to the bands genre, the images and mise-en-scene surrounding are projected to imply the theme of love or broken love, a quite conventional theme of punk rock music, and of You Me At Six's single itself "Underdog". Through the colour explosion seen on the Album cover, and the colouring of both covers in general, (that being whites, pinks, reds, blues and random bursts of colours) the audience recognises the many colours as symbolic of emotions (ones that would be associated with the punk rock theme of love/broken love), especially that of the prominent reds and pinks apparent on both covers. Upon this, the image of a rose is apparent on both covers along with these colours, presenting to the bands target audience the furthered idea of romance and broken love. As both the single and album cover are heavily connected, it can be said that the general theme throughout the bands music is that of broken love (often prominent in the bands genre of music). On both covers, there is a white banner that covers the majority of the area on the bands cover with the bands title placed upon it. This is used to make sure the bands name (coloured black) is appeared prominent and not washed out through the high amount of colours that have appeared on the main bands cover, the album cover. This theme is followed through to the single cover to make the connection between the bands music. The font of both covers' titles differs in terms of font between the bands name, which is a mainly masculine type of font, to the title of the actual album/single which is predominantely feminine, giving the implication that both album and single cover is neutral in gender.Unusual is that of the album/single covers title, to which the writing is small and scrawled, making it harder to read than larger and more clear style fonts. The intentions of this may be so the audience has to look harder, and thus it draws more attention to the covers. Through the picture apparent on the single cover, (which is centred in the middle to draw the most attention to) we can see that the bands music is designed for teenagers (mainly because the image is of a teenage boy) and this is further implied through the colouring and the conventions of punk rock music to which teenagers are its biggest fans.

We Are Scientists - Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt (Single Cover) and Album Cover

The album and single cover of the We Are Scientists have surprisingly almost no connection amongst them besides their features that represent the "Indie/Rock" genre. As Indie music is typically an alternative and quite quirky style of music, the band have represented this by putting random and quite quirky cartoons/pictures as the majority of both their covers. Whilst the band are redundant in their appearance, the album cover is implicit in the way it suggests the three "headless" men could be the members of the band. Looking introvertly, a connection could be made between the two covers through the way they hold slightly feminine aspects about them. Looking at the mise-en-scene for example, the single cover is totally black apart from one clearly female hand holding a cigarette. And on the album cover, the three men are holding up kittens, a typically female type of animal. By doing this, the band are contrasting against their typically male music types and drawing further more upon the general male genre of their band and music, making the overall genre of these covers either neutral or male dominated. On the single cover, the entire background is black, except for the title and the small picture. By doing this, the band are attracting their target audience by drawing the only attention to the small picture (added for further quirkiness). Because of the lack of mise-en-scene apparent in the single cover, the band have the liberty to make their title smaller with the added chance of the audience becoming more drawn to the smaller writer due to it being one of the only things apparent on the single cover.Because there is not much mise-en-scene, the band have placed the title in the middle, thus drawing more attention. In contrast to this, the album cover, (to which's mise-en-scene is plenty) has a much larger title because it is needed to dominate over the other preceding mise-en-scene and it is placed underneath the pictures in the aim of making sure it does not become faded amongst the other images. Another difference between both covers is the use of colour, that being the album cover is plentiful in light and intense colours such as light blue, bright pink and red whilst the single cover is dominated entirely in black. Though very different, both provide the feel of "quirkiness" and thus pertain to the chosen genre and target audience - indie, young, usually male. There are no apparent logos, themes or icons throughout both covers, most likely to maintain a feel of quirkiness with random images.

Katy Perry - Waking Up in Vegas (Single Cover) and Album Cover

Both the album cover and single cover of Katy Perry are connected to eachother distinctly through their aim of trying to attract a singular target audience and through the genre of their music. From the colouring of both covers, (that being primarily bright pinks, light blues and reds) and through the mise-en-scene, the audience is able to recognise that its target audience is that of young (teenage) females and through the recognition of the target audience, one can stereotype the genre to be that of pop music (mainly because it is young, teenage girls who enjoy pop music). To attract its target audience, Katy Perry's album cover uses an idylic type of scenery (sunny, blue sky, green fields etc) to reflect a feeling of happiness, fun and serenity. By doing this, Katy Perry pertains to the stereotypes of pop music and thus, reaches out to her target audience. Upon this, the clothes and general mise-en-scene throughout the album cover hold a 50's style theme (for example, the high waisted shorts and classic record player), drawing upon the classic feminity that was the style back in the 50's and therefore, instantly becoming more feminine. Whilst through Mise-en-scene, it can be said there is no instantly recognisable connection to both the album and single cover, Katy Perry's single cover connects more to that of the song it is promoting ("Waking Up In Vegas") through the way a large dice is featured, highlighting the infamous gambling that features in Vegas. However, in both covers, Katy Perry is featured in the middle to draw more attention to herself than that of other background, general mise-en-scene. The shots are medium, but still large enough for Katy Perry to cover most of the space and draw the main attention to herself. Katy Perry's name is featured in the exact same font and a similar colour to give the artist a particular brand and connection through all of her music work. The font itself is once again conventially feminine to draw more attention to the main audience of Katy Perry's music. Whilst through the font and colour, the title is still prominent, both Katy Perry's name and the album/single title, it is positioned at either corners of the picture or towards the bottom, to draw more attention to the artists photo herself than the name (possibly because it is assumed that the target audience will be more drawn to photos than writing). And whilst there are no immediate logos or icons, the font used for Katy Perry's titles can be seen as iconic as it is unique in its style and promotes Katy Perry's label.