Animatic

Shots of potiential locations

We're going to film in number of places first location being inside the college shooting on the green screen where then going to shoot a number of shots in Alexandra's and My house after that we will then move to an ice cream parla called Cookies&Cream and the to a park.

Analysis of a Previous Student Video

Adam, Lisa, Nasima & Sayvita from 283goswell on Vimeo.

In our previous lesson we were given a chance to see work from other students . I was glad to see a variety of different videos as it gave me a chance to see what i could do with the shots and camera compostion but also how i could improve on this . It also showed me how they used the camera , mise en scene to match the lyric of the song. This was an example of , in this video there is a numerous amount of camera shots , especially close ups of her mouth when she's singing , i felt that this was a good idea as the whole video is in black and white except from her lips and the buses which were red. The choice of location also matched the genre of the song as she is trying to spread love around the world, she filmed it on a busy high road where people go to shop. I also liked the way she used people raging from different age groups. In my opinion this can be targeted to any audience.

List Of Potential Songs!!

One the the songs we wanted to recreated was kyla who sang a very popular song called "daydreaming" the song is very popular in urban parties and is know by virtually everyone. The song is a fast pasted song vibrate and has alot of character to it which we felt will be great for a video which is why it was one of our choices.

We also had a girl pop band called "The Saturdays" the saturdays are a teen pop sensation and have many song for all types of ages. We was considering doing one of the saturdays hit single called missing you.

Our final choice in our shortlis was a great song by "Estelle" called "No Substitute Love" we loved the beat of the song and the original video so we was instantly inspired to try and create our own version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLb1Iwkt2R0

Final Song choice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLb1Iwkt2R0

The Final song choice for our video will be ESTELLE 'NO SUBSTITUE LOVER'
It seems that in the actual video most of it was done in the studio with a white background flattering around, there is not that much illustration apart from the flash backs of other poeple. I noticed there is a close up shot of her phone, as a group we had decided that we will not be using a phone because it happens in videos a think we should be different The video portrayes her as being angry with the boy that had cheated on her but at the same time not caring, we have decided to change that idea and do it so that the main singer is happy and getting on with her life. We know that we are not marked based on our performance so we have included different shots from beggining to end which will work with the song.
Most importantly we want to have a video totally different to hers, and we feel that we can achieve this in many ways.

Short list of potential songs

The Saturdays

The song we thought to do was a Pop song by the Saturdays called 'Missing you'

We thought the saturday could be a potential choice not just because we liked the song but we knew that with the song we could do a lot with the video in terms of mise-en-scene, camera angles and editing .

Kyla

The song we would have chosen is a Funky house song in terms of genre called 'Daydreaming'. This was one of our potentials because we thought that because it has an up beat, we could do a lot with how to conduct our video.

Estelle

Our final song choice is an R&B song called 'No substitute lover' by Estelle reason for this is because we feel that it will make a good video, our group has a lot of ideas to put foward which we think will work. We are going to do this totally different from the original video, we also decided that we wouldnt do the typical chiched type video but something different to illustrate a good video. 

Example of Disjuncture

This is an example of Disjuncture as there is little connection between the lyric , the title of the song is 'Pass the Courvoiser' in the video Busta Rhymes, Monque , P,Diddy and other re act part of a scene from a film called 'Harlem Nights.

Final Choice

Our final song choice is Estelle - No substitute love

We have chosen this song because we believe it is perfect to make a good video, the original video illustrates a professional and popular video without copying the original work we want to make something that is quite similar. Estelle's video portray professional camera movements, relevant mise en scene and also mainly show a narrative. Keeping the professional camera movements and relevant mise en scene we have decided not to use the typical narrative idea we all decided on the idea of 'disjuncture' this may allow us to try something new and different in our editing.

Analysing A2 work

During our media lesson we watched previous A2 music videos this allowed us to gain an idea of what to expect. Our teachers showed us a range of music videos that were all different grades ranging from A- D

As a class we highlighted the points in the video that we thought looked professional, why and how we might be able to achieve it too.

One video that I enjoyed especially was of a student that produced the video all by themselves. This video stood out for me because I enjoyed the narrative, it was simple and the use of camera angles and work allowed the audience to not get confused. The idea of having a actor play the part of the singer was useful as you could focus on the mise en scene more and produce a bigger range of camera shots.

Short list on songs

The process of choosing our final song was difficult, as a group we didnt expect it to be but we had to think about which artist could allow us to make a professional video not give a good performance.

Another idea we had to think about was who a good 'British' artist to choose. Which videos have we seen in the past that we could gain some inspiration from, who do we think as a artist or band produce popular videos that we would remember.

We narrowed our choices down to a few...

The Saturdays - the popular new formed british girl band,

Kyla - A british funky house song

Estelle- The popular soulful artist

Lipsynching task

During our A2 media lesson we were introduced to the 'lipsynching' this skill is to enable us to edit our music videos properly and to enable us to have a professional outcome. At first I wasnt confident on 'lipsynching' and struggled with the equipment. I had to try editing the clip a number of times before feeling satisfied with my outcome. After help from my teacher and technician I was able to 'lipsynch' properly.

Final Choice

                                                      Estelle : No Substitute Love

We have chosen this song as there is alot we can do with the video. Although the video is simple and has a narrative . Our group also have ideas to keep it simple but with no narrative and to have disjuncture. As we think it will be easier to make a video without having to tell a story, but to include good camera angles and postions without having to follow what's happening in that particular scene.
 We also thought we would change how the main singer would look, for example in this video Estelle was dressed in an black dress, and the scenary was plain with a backdrop with an old jukebox playing in the background with a man playing a guitar. Our intial ideas were to make everything look like 1960's including her clothing but found it hard as we couldnt find areas to shoot as everywhere is modern. However we made a decision to make it look very modern , where she is glammed up wearing red lipstick . We would also be using the green screen to change our scenary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLb1Iwkt2R0

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Propp was born on April 17, 1895 in St. Petersburg to a German family, he attended St. Petersburg University from 1913 to1918 majoring in Russian and German Philosphy. After graduation he taught Russian and German at a secondary school and then became a college teacher of German.

Vladimir Propp extended the Russian formalist approach to the study of narrative structure. In the Formalist approach, sentence structures were broken down into analyzable elements, or morphemes, and Propp used this method by analogy to analyze Russian fairy tales. By breaking down a large number of Russian folk tales into their smallest narrative units, or narratemes, Propp was able to arrive at a typology of narrative structures.
Functions



After the initial situation is depicted, the tale takes the following sequence of 31 functions


1.ABSENTATION: A member of a family leaves the security of the home environment. This may be the hero or some other member of the family that the hero will later need to rescue. This division of the cohesive family injects initial tension into the storyline. The hero may also be introduced here, often being shown as an ordinary person.

2.INTERDICTION: An interdiction is addressed to the hero ('don't go there', 'don't do this'). The hero is warned against some action (given an 'interdiction').

3.VIOLATION of INTERDICTION. The interdiction is violated (villain enters the tale). This generally proves to be a bad move and the villain enters the story, although not necessarily confronting the hero. Perhaps they are just a lurking presence or perhaps they attack the family whilst the hero is away.

4.RECONNAISSANCE: The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the children/jewels etc.; or intended victim questions the villain). The villain (often in disguise) makes an active attempt at seeking information, for example searching for something valuable or trying to actively capture someone. They may speak with a member of the family who innocently divulges information. They may also seek to meet the hero, perhaps knowing already the hero is special in some way.

5.DELIVERY: The villain gains information about the victim. The villain's seeking now pays off and he or she now acquires some form of information, often about the hero or victim. Other information can be gained, for example about a map or treasure location.

6.TRICKERY: The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim's belongings (trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim). The villain now presses further, often using the information gained in seeking to deceive the hero or victim in some way, perhaps appearing in disguise. This may include capture of the victim, getting the hero to give the villain something or persuading them that the villain is actually a friend and thereby gaining collaboration.

7.COMPLICITY: Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping the enemy. The trickery of the villain now works and the hero or victim naively acts in a way that helps the villain. This may range from providing the villain with something (perhaps a map or magical weapon) to actively working against good people (perhaps the villain has persuaded the hero that these other people are actually bad).

8.VILLAINY or LACK: Villain causes harm/injury to family member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops, plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on someone, substitutes child etc., comits murder, imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion etc.). There are two options for this function, either or both of which may appear in the story. In the first option, the villain causes some kind of harm, for example carrying away a victim or the desired magical object (which must be then be retrieved). In the second option, a sense of lack is identified, for example in the hero's family or within a community, whereby something is identified as lost or something becomes desirable for some reason, for example a magical object that will save people in some way.

9.MEDIATION: Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for help etc./ alternative is that victimized hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment). The hero now discovers the act of villainy or lack, perhaps finding their family or community devastated or caught up in a state of anguish and woe.

10.BEGINNING COUNTER-ACTION: Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter-action. The hero now decides to act in a way that will resolve the lack, for example finding a needed magical item, rescuing those who are captured or otherwise defeating the villain. This is a defining moment for the hero as this is the decision that sets the course of future actions and by which a previously ordinary person takes on the mantle of heroism.

11.DEPARTURE: Hero leaves home;

12.FIRST FUNCTION OF THE DONOR: Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc., preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or helper (donor);

13.HERO'S REACTION: Hero reacts to actions of future donor (withstands/fails the test, frees captive, reconciles disputants, performs service, uses adversary's powers against him);

14.RECEIPT OF A MAGICAL AGENT: Hero acquires use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);

15.GUIDANCE: Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search;

16.STRUGGLE: Hero and villain join in direct combat;

17.BRANDING: Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf);

18.VICTORY: Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, banished);

19.LIQUIDATION: Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken, slain person revived, captive freed);

20.RETURN: Hero returns;

21.PURSUIT: Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);

22.RESCUE: Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms unrecognisably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life);

23.UNRECOGNIZED ARRIVAL: Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in another country;

24.UNFOUNDED CLAIMS: False hero presents unfounded claims;

25.DIFFICULT TASK: Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, other tasks);

26.SOLUTION: Task is resolved;

27.RECOGNITION: Hero is recognized (by mark, brand, or thing given to him/her);

28.EXPOSURE: False hero or villain is exposed;

29.TRANSFIGURATION: Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole, handsome, new garments etc.);

30.PUNISHMENT: Villain is punished;

31.WEDDING: Hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted).
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opkRF3UZSJw And  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEsry6HbhSM
This compares to the video by Missy Elliot 'She a B***h ', and Chris Brown ft Keri Hilson 'Superhuman' where tranfiguration takes place, where the hero is given a new appearance.

Shortlist of Potenial Songs

These are many of the choices that we came up with. One of our choices were the saturdays but struggled with comming up with an idea for the video . Intial idea was too similar to the video itself.

The second choice was Kyla, 'DayDreaming, we liked the song but didnt have any ideas as to what to with the video , we wanted to do a narrative bu our ideas were to hard.

The third choice was Estelle 'American Boy', we thought this would be a good song to pick as it's quite upbeat so the cuts would be alot easier , but we didnt plan how we would shoot the video.

The final choice was Estelle 'No Substitute Love', as a group we immediately thought of different ideas, of how to shoot the video, and what the video would look like if we used the green screen.                                                                                           

Kyla :

     DayDreaming

The Saturdays :

Missing You

                                                                          Estelle :

No Substitute love

 American Boy

Vladimir Propp!

Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp was born in 1895 and died 22 august 1970. Throughout his life he studied narrative structure and  extended the Russian Formalist approach to the study of narrative structure. In the Formalist approach, sentence structures were broken down into analyzable elements, or morphemes, and Propp used this method by analogy to analyze Russian fairy tales. By breaking down a large number of Russian folk tales into their smallest narrative units, or narratemes, Propp was able to arrive at a typology of narrative structures.

Below are a few books Vladimir has written:

Lip Synch Practice!

In this lesson we were taught how to use final cut to combine the audio track of music to the video with the artist singing the track. It was a good lesson and would benefit us so we can use these skills in our music video's and keep them in synch.

First of all we had to film a smll sequence of a 1 chorus and a verse which was our minimal amount of footage. We the took the footage and chose 5 shots to put on final cut and editing it  with the audio track in the background instead of the bad voice of my group member. Once we had the audio on final cut I then pick a specific word which the song said clearly and would be easy to lip synch with me footage (Best to chose a word nearer to the begining). When I had my word exactly right i the proceeded in add my footage to the final cut timeline also. When the footage was on the timeline in then did the same with the audio track and used the same word synch to make the audio and lips of the girls in my footage say the same word at he same time as the music. This wasnt easy but I think we did well. You can see the lip synch video on the blogger under any of my classmates names.

During the tutorial we all learnt some key skillls which will make the editing of the music video easier. We learnt how to use the 'razor icon' which made it easy for us to film minimum footage and edit the music video to perfection. This was diferent to last year as during our AS year had to have lots and lots of shot tocombine them to make a sequence whereas with a music video we don't need to as oo many shots isnt need as we are able to use the same shot but at diferent time over and over again. The 'razor icon' was eay to use, as all we had to do was click any where in the timeline on different footages and delete the footage we didn't need however to get the best looking music video we needed to be percise and accurate.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory On Music!

Andrew Goodwin's feels that traditional narrative analyes (usin such ideas Todorov) don't really apply to pop videos, because pop video's aren't trying to be avant garde - it is just that they approach narrative from a differen angel to novels and films.

The main reason for the differen narrative structures are as followed:

1. Pop videos are build around song - and often songs do not pose traditional narrative structures 9 normality-problem-resolution).
2. The pop video usues singer both as narraor and as a character.
3. The singer often looks directly at the camera - this is and extension of (music-hall) performance and trying to involve the viewer at home with performance.

Pop videos rely on repitition. Often video's repeat images in the same way music repeats chorises or lines. Also the repitition in songs of parts or rhythms of other song (intertextuality) means that we become familiar with the genre and have certain expectations. Lastly the video would be played on TV, the song would be played on radio and ther might be ab advertising film or TV tie-in making the song familiar through repitition.

There are three types of relations btween songs abd videos: Illustration, amplification and disjuncture.

1. Illustration: This where the videos tells th story of the lyrics "pap don't preach" (madonna) for example. Dance is often used to express the feelings/moods in the song.

2. Amplification: Occurs when the video introduce new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning.

3. Disjuncture: this where there is little connection between the lyrics and video or where contradicts the video contradicts the lyrics. Michael Jackson's Man In The Mirror is an example of this. he song is about self-realisation bu the video is full of radical world events.