Location Scout #2

After planning with all of our extras when and where we wanted to film, to our disappointment, we arrived to see that no one had turned up. 

However, I decided to take this moment to show Tamsin where I thought were some good spots to film, and we discussed what parts of the video would look most effective in these areas. 

Above is a photo of the old railway bridge, which I think would look amazing, especially with the fact that it is all over-grown. I think it would look really cool if we had the protagonist being chased over the bridge, but we could have this in slow motion, as it is similar to the Imagine Dragons video I analysed a few weeks ago. 

-Janet

Meet the Editor

In our group we discussed who would be stronger in the roles of the main cameraman and the editor. We came to the conclusion that Tamsin would be in charge of most of the filming, because she is a photography student and understands the camera functions better than I do. 

So that meant I became in charge of editing. I was happy to do this, because I thought of the initial idea, and was able to be the perfectionist I am to edit the clips to make the it the music video I wanted it to be.

As the editor, I have had to look carefully at Andrew Goodwin's theory about music videos, which includes editing on the beat, making a clear narrative, and making sure there is a star image throughout the video. We have successfully done this by having our actor as the singer and the protagonist, so it is very clear who he is, and the audience will be able to recognise him. 

-Janet

Post-production: Effects

I've started experimenting with effects, as this will be a vital part of the dream scene. 

The first effect I looked at, called "Additive Dissolve". It instantly made the video look slightly distorted, and more surreal. The second effect we have decided to use is called "Cross Dissolve". It is slightly more subtle than the first effect, but it still makes it look good, but also gives the impression that something weird is going on.  

We don't want to use these effects too often, because it may cause it to look unprofessional. 

-Janet

Location, Location, Location...

Last weekend I went on a walk on a local route, and it hadn't occured to me that this may be a potential location for our filming. I took some photos, and uploaded them onto my Instagram account, where I also got some feedback, and saw which image people liked the most. 

This first image is the most popular, with the light coming in through the trees. 

I am hoping to use this place for the climax of the video, when our protagonist is being chased by the Tribe. There is also an old railway and a bridge, (the second photo) which I think would look really effective if we had them running in slow motion, with a wide/extreme wide shot. This would capture the actual bridge (which I didn't take a photo of) as well as the other surroundings. 

-Janet

"Breezeblocks", alt-J Deconsruction

This is the music video for "Breezeblocks" by alt-J:

* WARNING: contains  disturbing scenes and violence*

The reason I have uploaded it is to deconstruct the way in which our perceptions as an audience are converted throughout the video. At first, we are led to believe that the woman is the victim, which is most often the case when it comes to domestic violence. However, this view changes, when it appears that the woman is in fact abusing the man. 

The fact that this video is played in reverse makes the audience even more tense, and unaware of what will happen at the end... or rather, the beginning. We are left questioning how they got into this position. 

The final scene is made to shock the audience, as we think we have seen everything, but now we have to question if the two people in the video are actually a couple- the woman is held away, locked in a cupboard in a dark room. However, there are many close ups of the man with his hands on his head- and it's clear he is wearing a wedding ring. Perhaps this could be the theme of obsessive love, or maybe it's not love at all. 

The reason I have deconstructed this video in particular is because of the way that it creates tension and confusion for the audience, especially at the ending. Our music video, like I have said before, will end on a cliff-hanger, which will hopefully make the audience feel slightly uncomfortable because this isn't what you normally see in a music video. 

-Janet

Final Days of Filming

We have filmed the majority of our music video, but now there are only a few things left. Due to timings and other difficulties, we weren't able to film our extras, but we are hoping to get this all done within the next week or so.

The weather has generally been on our side during this process. When we filmed our singer, it only rained once but the rest of the day was perfect for what we wanted. 

We plan on filming next Saturday (6th December) from about midday on-wards. I thought it would be a good idea to check the weather forecast well in advance, because we don't want any nasty surprises. 
I went onto the BBC website and took this screenshot:

Although we have checked in advance, the only problem is that it isn't hugely accurate. The good thing is that it will only be cloudy, but there is a chance that this may change over the course of the next week. 

The temperature will only be 7 degrees Celsius, so we will tell our actors and extras to bring extra clothing for when they aren't on set. 

-Janet

Magazine Advert Wordle

Making a Wordle for my first ancillary task has helped me to really think about what will need to be included in the final product. 

By writing out these words, I have now got an understanding as to how I should go about thinking of the staging, proxemics, mise-en-scene, and lighting. After doing research into music magazine adverts, I will have to think about the rule of thirds, giving me enough space to fit not only the main image on the page, but also the masthead and other conventions such as the album release date, and possibly some reviews as well. 

-Janet

Audience Feedback

Analysing Imagine Dragons

We thought that it would be a good idea to look at some music videos by Imagine Dragons, so we could compare ours to it. 

One of the reasons we thought this would be beneficial, is because we were worried about our singer not having enough screen time as The Singer, rather than the character. By watching "It's Time" has shown us that the singer in Imagine Dragons doesn't need to have loads of screen time as himself, because he is also the character. In the Imagine Dragons video, the first time we see him singing is about a minute into the song. 

Another reason why we chose this particular video, is because of the use of slow motion. We want to use slow motion in the establishing shot of our music video, so we have now seen how effective it can look in a music video.

It's also shown us how we should look at light and dark. Most of the video above will have been edited to be darker, as there seems to be a hint of blue to maybe connote coldness and danger. We are thinking of editing one of our clips to make it lighter, to suggest happiness at the ending. 

-Janet

Natural Lighting

When out filming our singer, there was a particular moment we noticed that natural lighting can have an amazing effect on the filming. 

This screenshot shows the sunlight giving the effect of a Light Leak even though it's all natural. This was a great boost in our esteem, especially when we edited it together and realized that we had also managed to sync the lyrics in time with the music perfectly. 

We also have a part when the lyrics go

"When the sky turns grey..."

For this, we decided it would look good to use our knowledge from the lighting workshop, and create almost a silhouette against the sky. 

This is an example of how our music video is illustrating the lyrics, to make it look more powerful.

-Janet

The Editing Process

Having filmed all the scenes with our singer, the final scene, and the dream scene, all we are left with now is the chase scenes in the forest with The Amazons. This aspect of the process so far has been the most troublesome, because we were hoping to have around 15 extras to do this. The problem was that many weren't available on the weekend we were hoping to film, and the fact that we ran over time when filming our singer. 
At the moment I'm not too worried, because we have got a lot of footage to work with and edit, and we are now starting to make some real progress. We had trouble at first with using Premier Pro, because we weren't used to it, and also because it often froze, or we couldn't find the footage, which took up a lot of time. 

Editing the final scene

The scene in the image is a different ending to how we originally planned it. We thought it would be effective to have the protagonist tripping, and then the rose is picked up by The Girl, but we only see her face right at the end. We still have the Amazon in the last clip before having a blackout. 

The hardest thing for me, has been trying to organize loads of people, which is something that came up in our initial presentation to the class. Secondly, I've found that syncing the song with the miming of our actor to be difficult, as there are some parts where it doesn't match up. We may have to film this again to make it really clear, but at the moment I'm hoping that we will find a way!

-Janet. 

Ancillary Tasks: Research

This is an example of a digipak template. It will help us to see what photos must go where, such as the front cover, back cover, and the inside sections. 

-Janet

Ancillary Tasks

Costume Ideas

Actor/Character Profile UPDATE

As Eddie was too busy to be our main character, we have now changed to... 

Nathanael. 

We chose him because he is available more often than our original protagonist and lead singer, as timing is a really crucial part of the process now, so we need to know that whoever is going to be our main actor will be able to come when needed. This is why we felt it was necessary to change now, before filming, rather than having to start all over again. 

-Janet

Filming Schedules

This was our initial time schedule for filming. It isn't in as much detail, because I wanted to plan it out first, before sending it to those involved in the music video. 

The only difficulty we will find with filming on Saturday, is that it is now getting dark really quickly. We are planning on filming all the scenes with the "Amazons", as there will be more of them and it will mean that they won't be waiting around. We are going to be filming a lot of running scenes, so we will try to get as many takes as possible, so we will try and avoid running over onto Sunday.

There are some people who can't make it on the weekend we are planning to film, but the nightmare scene with the "Amazons" faces will be filmed separately, in the school drama studio. This will either be during school times, or after school, so if our extras still want to be involved, they have this chance to experience some really cool shots with the LED lights we experimented with in the Lighting Workshop. 

-Janet

Lighting Workshop

After school, we stayed behind to understand how to use and experiment with the LED lights. I have seen them being used before, but I haven't been able to actually use them to create my own vision of what I want it to look like.

Although these were experimental, it will really come in handy when we do the scenes of the "Amazons" in the nightmare scene. 

-Janet

Copyright Permission Letter 2

We received an email back, telling us that the previous email address wasn't the right one to send our enquiry to. We then sent another email back, and are now waiting for a reply. 

-Janet

Practice Shots

We went out and experimented with the camera, the sort of shots that we were thinking of using in our music video. This task was really useful because we didn't use a tripod for any of them, and learnt that, especially with the zooms, we will need it. We also realised that some of the shots can be edited to be faster or slower, such as the over shoulder shots. 

-Janet

Risk Assessment

Representation

As I have said before, we were hoping to not stereotype too much in our final product. However, it has occured to me through my research that our "Amazons" will be based on stereotypes. Many of the photos used on my mood board on Pinterest are what we expect tribal people to wear, but a lot of it has been made to look fashionable. I also noticed that most of the images were of females, but I was initially planning of having a mix of both genders. Obviously, it will depend on who we can get, and I think when it comes to filming, if there are more girls than guys it won't be intended that way.

The Girl will be blonde, which is a stereotype often used to indicate that she is a "dumb blonde". This is not the case in our video. The point we were hoping to put across is that she is pure, or she is like the light. This links back to Claude Levi-Strauss' argument about binary opposition. At the point in our music video when she will come in, it will be the time that he needs to be shown the way through the darkness.

-Janet

Target Audience Survey (Results)

We decided it would be a good idea to create a survey on SurveyMonkey, in order to really see who our target audience will be. The link to the questions can be found here...

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/F2XV3QS

We then posted it on Facebook, and on Twitter, and asked people to take part in the survey, so we could get a wide range of answers. These are our results...




We found that most of our audience who participated in the survey were girls, aged between 16-20. Our initial target audience age range was 16-26, so we weren't too far off. This has shown us that the 16-20 age group will be our aspirational audience, where as people aged 21-26 will be our secondary audience.
The majority like rock music, and we feel that from their opinions on rock music videos, our idea will fit in quite well with what they want to see. 

-Janet

Actor/Character Profile

This is Eddie. 

He was going to be our singer, and the protagonist of the narrative. We thought he would make a good choice because he likes the band, Imagine Dragons, and knows the song we are going to use quite well. However, due to timings and schedules, it has been difficult to use him as the main character. So we are thinking of using someone else who isn't quite as busy, especially on weekends. 

This is Lucy.

She will be The Girl in our music video. We thought she would be a good choice because has similar music interests to the song we are using, and I know that she will be able to act the part well. She also has a red dress which will be ideal for the dream sequence. (Also, she is blonde, which is what we were thinking for The Girl.) 

-Janet

Story boarding

Above are our images of our final story board! It took absolutely ages to complete, due to timings, as well as the fact that we decided to go with probably the most complicated idea for an A-level music video in the history of ever. 

However, I'm glad that we finished it, as it taught us that planning these sorts of things is crucial, and also it meant that we could really think each part of the song through in detail, so there would be no missing gaps in the editing process. 

Next, we are going to have to start filming, and I think that by doing a story board, we can use it as a base, and when we are actually doing the practical side of it, we can properly visualize what's going on so it won't matter too much if we change something from the initial story board. 

-Janet 

Light Leaks

A 'Light Leak' is an effect which can be used in the editing process to create the idea that there is sunlight being cast across the lense, when in fact, it's only an effect. 

I have included this as a part of my planning and research, because I think it would come in to look quite effective in our final product, especially as there could be scenes when the natural sunlight isn't strong enough to get through the leaves, in shots that show the sky. We were also discussing whether it would look good in the dream/nightmare scene, as our target audience told us that we need to be clear in defining which is real and which is not. 

-Janet

Copyright Permission Letter

In order to use "Bleeding Out" by Imagine Dragons as our proposed song in our music video, we have had to send a copyright letter to request permission to use it. Above are some images to prove that we have asked to use the song as part of our A-level Media Studies project, and that the final product will only be shown to our class, our teacher, and the exam board- it won't be available to a mass audience. 

-Janet

Target Audience Feedback

Here, we have made a video with audience feedback from people in our target audience. We have a mix of both genders, which shows that this is a genre for no specific gender. 
We have learnt through this that our music video idea is very complex, and ambitious, which is a common problem brought up by many people who we have asked. 

However, the general reaction to the idea is very strong and, like said in the video, is different and something our target audience would like to see. I now feel very optimistic about making this video after receiving such positive feedback.

-Janet

Categories of Music Videos

There are three main types of music videos that we, as an audience, tend to see. These include:

• Performance Based
• Narrative Based
• Concept Based

Performance:

This is when the artist/band is shown throughout the video. It is a good type of video for when you have a low budget, or just want to make it simple. An example is "Something From Nothing", by the Foo Fighters:

Narrative:
A narrative based video is when the music video has a storyline that somehow links to the lyrics, which can illustrate or amplify the meaning of the lyrics. This technique is sometimes used for film soundtracks, which are made into music videos. This will include having the musician, and then shots of the film, so the audience knows what the song was written for. The example I have chosen is "Never Close Our Eyes" by Adam Lambert.  



Concept:
As the title says, this method is based around a concept, or an idea. These tend to be less common, as it isn't necessarily what the audience is used to seeing. Concept based videos are really there to get a message across to the audience through metaphors, so the video will probably be one to make you think carefully. I have used "This is Gospel" by Panic! At the Disco as an example:



Our music video, I think, will mainly be a hybrid of narrative and performance based, because we have the storyline of the man in the forest looking for something, but there is also the part where he is singing, which is separate from the narrative. 

-Janet

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Media Language

I made a Wordle, to list all the different types of media language. I did this because it will be a good source for me when it comes to finishing off my storyboard, and to make sure that I have got enough attention to detail, to make the text more complex and meaningful. 

One of the things I forgot to put on the Wordle was the word "motif". This is something we are planning to use in our video, for the girl. She will be wearing a red dress in the wood scenes, but later on she will be wearing maybe a red necklace, so that it is something the audience can link together. 

-Janet 

Lighting Experiments

We had a lesson learning about the different types of lighting techniques, and how effective they are in creating certain shots and emotions. Originally, we wanted a silhouette but due to difficulties with location, and natural lighting from windows without curtains, this caused a problem. 

This was our final photo:

We decided to edit it in black and white, to try and create the effect we wanted, and we later realized that this actually worked quite well, even though it wasn't what we originally planned. Having the two different light sources helped us make a silhouette (or try to, anyway) and a soft focus, as there was light coming from two angles, which we made by putting the light behind, but slightly to my left, and the light coming from the window.

The research we have done on lighting has inspired my planning process further, because it is through lighting that we can create moods and therefore our narrative can be made as clear as possible. We discussed how we would use lighting in the forest scenes, especially to emphasize the significance of the entrance of the girl in the red dress. 

Overall, I am pleased with the outcome of our experiments with lighting, and it has taught me that it can be difficult to get it exactly how you want it to look like. 

-Janet

Target Audience

Mood Board- Pinterest

On Pinterest, I made a board with inspiration and ideas behind my music video. There are mainly photos of dark forests, as this will be the main location for my video, but I also found some different photos- I found one particular photo of Red Riding Hood, and I thought it was an interesting concept as people may link the girl in the red dress in my product to be like Red Riding Hood. I liked the idea of having a map as the background, because it contrasts with the idea of being lost, and it can link to different cultures around the world. Finally, I not only looked for photos of Tribal People, but also clothing for both men and women which are related to rock music, my genre, so I could get ideas as to how to do the make up in my video to look effective, along with the hairstyles and outfits to complete the mise-en-scene. 

Here is the link:

http://uk.pinterest.com/janetbargmann/music-mood-board/

-Janet

Preliminary Copy and Director's Commentary

We had to find a music video, and re-create one minute of it, for our preliminary task. As a group, the video we chose was "Enemies" by Shinedown. The reason behind choosing this song was because two of us new the song really well, but also because the video as a whole seemed relatively simple to copy. 



We decided to copy the first minute, because we thought it would be the simplest as later on, the band members get into a physical fight. (which is staged an choreographed... obviously...)

Above is our copy of the video. Overall, I think it's not that bad- there are some things which could have made it better, which we have mentioned in our Director's commentary:

Like I said, for a first attempt at editing and syncing the song and the video to match and go at the same pace and everything, it's not too bad. One of the main differences is the fact that we had three girls and one guy, instead of four guys. I don't think this is a massive issue in some cases, but we needed some people so we went with what we could get. Towards the end, editing the song to sync with the singing part became a bit more difficult, because we didn't have quite enough footage that was long enough for it to flow fluently. However, the majority of the video is relatively similar to the original, and I am proud of our preliminary task of copying a music video.
What I have learnt about recording over our copy for the commentary, is how vitally important it is for the audience to be able to hear what is being said. When we recorded ourselves talking, we were in a classroom, and we hadn't thought about telling everyone to keep the noise down a bit. I now know that when we film our music video, even though we'll be using a song over the top, the extras are going to need to be quiet so as directors, we can think and hear the song alongside with the acting for the narrative.

-Janet

Narrative Theorists

Music Video Codes and Conventions

Andrew Goodwin said that there are certain things that need to be included to make a music video what it is, which are basically some of the codes and conventions you are bound to see in a music video, but may not notice. 

• Thought Beats:
  Editing the clips together to the beat of the music
  Represents the voice of the artist.

• Narrative and Performance:
  Must be able to watch again and again, so there has to be an element of performance.

• Star Image:
  Used to promote the star with certain angles
  Gives them the most screen time
  Proliferation of a close-up on the artist

• Disjuncture- the video has nothing to do with the meaning of the lyrics
• Amplify- meaning is exaggerated through visuals
• Illustrate- meaning is made clear throughout the video and the most common use!

• Technical Codes:
  Camera angles
  Lighting
  Movement
  Editing
  Visual effects

In our music video, I feel that it will maybe amplify the lyrics. The plot doesn't exactly tell the same story that the lyrics do, but I think that it will help exaggerate them. I mean this by having certain visual motifs- such as the girl in the red dress, and then we see her later on with a red necklace. Red will be a common colour in the video, as the song is called "Bleeding Out" and it's also the colour of love, but also danger, which can be associated with many cultures around the world. We are following these codes and conventions, as there is a strong narrative (as we found through our Audience Feedback) and there is certainly an element of performance and star image. Lighting and editing will be really important, as I imagine the video being fairly dark, as well as the fact we plan to start filming mid-October/early November. 

-Janet

Audience Feedback: The Pitch

"Bleeding Out" Lyrics

Here, we have written our points as to when certain things will happen in the music video, a bit like doing a pre-storyboard, so we know when to film the singing and when to film the narrative (singing highlighted in green, narrative in pink). I think this will be really useful, as it means there will hopefully be no gaps in the filming process and it can run as smoothly as possible. 

-Janet

Inspirational Music Videos

Below are some music videos by artists who, I believe, have influenced the idea behind my music video, which I have chosen to be "Bleeding Out" by Imagine Dragons.





"King and Lionheart" by Of Monsters and men was inspirational for my ideas, because it is about adventures, being chased, and fighting for someone that you love. It also includes the theme of protection, which I think will be evident in my final product.
This video is more animated, even though it has real people in it, and it doesn't have the band in the actual video, which mine won't be like. 


 



Walk The Moon's "Tightrope" was inspirational behind our idea, because although it is lighthearted and upbeat, it has a group of Tribe-like people who have animal characteristics. Again, it has the idea of trying to escape and chaos. 






My final choice of inspirational music videos is "Rain" by Mika. I think this is the most like our idea, and watching it again has been really useful, because things such as the mise-en-scene, the setting, and the lighting. I really like the outfit Mika is wearing in this video, and I think it would be really good to try and get something similar for when we make our video. Also, the narrative is fairly similar to ours, in the way that he is in the forest being chased away.


-Janet

Initial Ideas!

So far, I have decided between two songs. The first is "Bleeding Out" by Imagine Dragons:

My idea for this song is to have a singer, plus a narrative running alongside it. The only thing I'm worried about is my idea being too ambitious, but I have thought in a lot of detail about how I want it to go. The plot will include a man (the singer) who is in a forest and is looking for something, and it will cut between him singing and him playing the character.
The man finds a flower, which is protected by a group of people who live in the forest who, for now, I will call Amazons. The man picks the flower, and gets chased away by the Amazons. Later on, he has managed to get away, and he sees a girl, who is the love interest, wearing a red dress. He tries to get to her, but he realizes that she isn't real- he's dreaming. Then there will be cuts to close ups of the Amazons faces, and I will probably use a canted angle to give the effect that he is having a nightmare.
In the final scene, he is going to arrive at the girl's house, and give her the flower. It all seems fine, but I want to have it end on a cliffhanger, so I will have an over-shoulder shot of one of the Amazons (maybe the chief?) who is hidden from view of the two people, watching them. The camera will then focus on his face, maybe an extreme close up, and on the last beat he will look at the camera and it will go to a blackout.

The second song I was thinking of doing is quite lighthearted, as it is a pop song:




My idea for "Unlikely Hero" by The Hoosiers would be more cliche, and possibly more simple than "Bleeding Out" as I was thinking of the protagonist being the stereotypical school nerd, who is in love with the girl who is dating the school Jock (the villain of the story).
The nerd will also be the singer, and the difference between my two ideas is that he will be singing as the character, as well as being either a single artist or a frontman for a band (I haven't decided yet...)
I want to make the video quite funny, and cliche, so the nerd is going to see that the Jock isn't treating the girl very well, so it's up to the nerd to overcome the High School social status that separates him from the girl he loves... and to save her from her evil boyfriend, of course.

-Janet

Gunther Kress

This slideshow about Gunther Kress has helped me to understand his views on the music industry and music videos in particular, because of his beliefs in how genre changes and how new genres arise due to situations in society. Also mentioned is class, age, gender and ethnicity, which is something I'll have to think about when I get on to my target audience and their feedback.

I personally do not agree with Kress when he talks about genre fitting into certain codes and conventions, because when it comes to genre, it is a way to distinguish one thing from another. For example, rock music tends to be a lot louder and heavier than classical music, because the conventions include different types of instruments that make different sounds. 

I am likely to be making a rock music video, so it will be important for me, as a creator, and for my audience to be able to determine what sort of video they are watching. It will be important for me when it comes to the different types of shots and also the editing, because all these little things will help to create a music video that is clearly in the rock genre. By watching other rock music videos, I will be able to see what needs to be included in my own music video. This is why I don't agree with Kress. However, I do think that genres can change. This is why we now have numerous sub-genres of music, including pop-rock, indie-rock, pop-punk, and jazz-rock fusion. These will be aimed towards more of a niche audience, because people may not be as aware of these hybrids. 

-Janet 

Example of Making Videos (Jack Howard)

*Video contains some strong language*

Here is the video behind Jack and Dean's music video called "Consent". Both are YouTubers, and as Jack says, they are not musicians. However, I thought this video was really relevant to the A2 course, as he talks about how he came up with the ideas for the video. 
Jack also talks about the importance of lighting, and how it should be kept in the background, yet also connote different emotions, and it can help amplify the lyrics of the song. Even though this song is meant to be quite funny, there is also a serious message behind it which is mentioned in this behind the scenes video. 
Again, Jack says how they subverted the audience's expectations of the video, to make it humorous and to help illustrate the light-hearted feel to the video and its lyrics. 


This was really useful in my preparation and planning for my music video, as simple things such as the colour of the lighting to emphasise moods hadn't occurred to me. I may not use green and red to imply good and bad necessarily, but I think it's the idea put across to make sure the video and narrative is what the audience is there to see, so it's important to keep the lighting in the background.

-Janet 

Key Media Theories

Music Video Deconstruction

In the music video for "Better Than I Know Myself" by Adam Lambert, he plays two versions of himself which helps to amplify the lyrics. 

The first person we see is Adam as being very angry, alone and destructive, and we get the impression that he is quite uncaring for others. 
The video then cuts to Adam in the "other room" and it's the version of himself who is relaxed, calm, and much happier in contrast to the first impression we get. 



The video is really clever because it illustrates how we don't always want to show our true selves, and we are the only ones who know the deepest darkest secrets of our individual lives. 

The mise-en-scene also helps to create these two different versions of the same person- Angry Adam wears black leather jackets, black eye make-up, his room is grey and black, he has a skull on the wall and the light seems really artificial. This could be a myth about certain people who are antisocial, and unhappy. These things also connote death.
Happy Adam, on the other hand, has clothes which look more comfortable, the lighting in his room is more yellow/gold, which usually symbolizes happiness and purity. The props are all in a certain place, and it's really neat. Normally this is a myth for someone who is probably more organised, or sociable, and connotes all the good things about life.



Eventually, Angry Adam sets fire to his room, which has a bad effect on Happy Adam- it causes his oxygen levels to decrease, and he starts dying. Angry Adam has to make the choice of saving his alter ego, or letting him go. 



In the end, he saves Happy Adam, and we see Adam walking down the street with two different coloured eyes, implying that they have become one person. 



Although the lyrics may make the audience think that the only person who knows you inside and out would be a loved one, this video makes you think twice, and how we are the ones who really know about the deepest and darkest parts of our lives and how it is to face conflict with yourself. 

-Janet

Mood Board- Music Videos

I've created this Mood Board to explore ideas on what sort of video I want to create. At the moment I'm thinking of doing a rock or pop song, as it's what I mainly listen to. 




I wrote that sometimes rock has voyeurism, but this isn't usually the case. It's seen more often in R&B or Dance music videos rather than most rock videos I've seen. 
I now realize that this slideshow is quite fast to read, but the point I was trying to make is that I have now decided on my genre, which is more than likely to be a rock video. Last year I made a rock magazine for my AS coursework, and I feel that this knowledge will help me to create a music video in this genre- I know the mise-en-scene, for example. As I said, this is the type of music I listen to already and I know what sort of narrative and lighting etc. should be used in this genre.

-Janet

Andrew Goodwin: Music Video Theory

This research has helped me to plan my music video, because I now understand the use of "Illustrate, Amplify and Disjuncture" in terms of music videos and performance. The challenge now is to decide where my music video will fit into these groups. At the moment, I am certain that I won't use Disjuncture, because that isn't a typical convention in rock videos. Like I said in the Prezi, most rock videos will be used to amplify the lyrics, rather than illustrate them, but I also think it depends on the song- if it's a love song, then illustrating the lyrics is very cliché, but it makes sense to the audience. I think I'll probably make a video to amplify the lyrics, because I like the idea of having a powerful video which the audience will remember and want to watch again and again, so I feel that amplifying the lyrics will help me succeed in this goal.


-Janet

Genre Presentation- The Great Gatsby

Through doing these presentations on "The Great Gatsby" and "Tangled", I have learnt how much work is put into filming- whether it's a film or a music video.


It is through this research that I plan to create a music video, because I feel that it is more me. I think in general, I would prefer the process of making a music video.


However, I have learnt through this process about what it's like to be a director (particularly researching Baz Luhrmann) and how much attention to detail is needed in any creative process.


-Janet

Genre Presentation- Tangled

Genre Research Task

A2 Practical Coursework

I know now for definite that I am going to film a music video. I feel that it will be simpler than a short film, because I'll already have the sound part of it figured out. The only thing now is thinking about who I'll use, the mise-en-scene, lighting, genre and of course, the narrative.

Reflection on AS Media Studies

Hello and welcome to my A2 Media Blog! 

In the last year, I have learnt so much about the media in general, as well as writing a blog for specific purposes. It helped me to understand the importance of organisation and staying on target, and also sticking to deadlines, which I know will be beneficial in the future. 

But it wasn't just these skills I learnt through my AS Media course. It helped me understand how to use different types of software, such as Photoshop, and websites like Slideshare, Pinterest and photobucket- to name a few!

I think my coursework went well, as my magazine turned out better than I ever thought it could, and it really showed a professional side to it, which I was really proud with. I thought the images chosen were appealing to the eye, along with the colour scheme and it was through sticking to the codes and conventions of a Rock magazine that I was able to achieve this outcome. 

There was a time when I was really stressed, because the technology side wasn't exactly going my way, and I eventually had workloads piling up and I felt like I wouldn't be able to get out of it- however, through perseverance I managed to get on top and produce something I could proudly call my own. 

This year, in my A2 Media Course, I am expecting to learn so much more about cameras, lighting, sound, editing, and mise-en-scene, and the importance of these factors in a media product. As the course will include making a music video/ short film, I think that these will all be the most important things to keep in mind. However, I don't think it's going to be easy! But I'm looking forward to what it has to offer. 

-Janet

New Year, New Blog

This is the link to my AS blog, so I by the end of the media course, I can reflect and see how much I've (hopefully) improved! 

http://janetbargmannmedia.blogspot.co.uk/

-Janet