Project log 18/12/13

Transcript:

Today is the deadline for my music video, my digipak and my album advert. So obviously I need to have all of my coursework done and I think I've done this quite well, I've got everything done on time and I also feel I am quite organised with everything. But at the moment I'm just updating my blog and making sure everything is as it should be, because I know there's quite a few things that I needed to add to my blog. For example, some of my project logs didn't have transcripts and stuff like that, so it was just little things that I felt I needed to update. I'm quite happy with my music video but obviously knowing that it's just the teacher deadline today I will be making a lot more changes to all of my coursework, to make sure that I'm capable of getting the best grade I can. I'm just going to keep on making improvements.

Adding the sparkle effect to my Digipak front cover

  This is a video I made on adding the sparkle effect to my digipak front cover. I recorded me doing this through CamStudio, and it basically showed me adding a line of multicoloured sparkles underneath my title saying "Lights". The video presents how I did this; - by importing an image I found from google and simply dragging it over to my front cover. I then selected the black background on it and removed this so that it just left the sparkles, and removed any necessary sparkles too. Unfortunately the video cut off so I couldn't show this part, but I also added a red and blue effect to it so that it matches my digipak's house colours more.
I imported this CamStudio footage to Windows Movie Maker, added a title and sped it up a tad so that it wasn't boring to watch. Then, I imported my front cover from before I added the sparkles, and my front cover after I added the sparkles. I used a title saying "before" and "after" by these so that the audience can tell them apart. This also shows the changes I have made and how the sparkles really improve my work.

TO DO: (15/12/13)

TO DO:

• finish raw footage of performance
• do raw footage of gym shots
• do video project logs that I haven't done
• do some more alterations on video etc
• do descriptions for all drafts/finals

Digipak 2nd draft

Front cover

OR:

Part 2 & 3 (CD):

Part 4 & 5:

Part 6 (track-listing):

This is the second draft of my digipak. As you can see when comparing this version to my first draft, I've made many changes to it and improved it in many ways. My first draft's main image of Georgina is the the same one I've used here except before it was a lot more zoomed-out and blurry. When receiving feedback from my teacher, she told me that I should zoom in on the main image a bit more to get more of her face on show and therefore make it look more professional; also allowing the audience to identify with her more. So, I cropped the image, and then the teacher pointed out that the image looked too 'raw' and needed a filter on it which I agreed with. I had been planning to add some sort of different colour to the picture anyway as I knew it was only my first draft, but my teacher made me realise this even more so. I played around with different filters by going on the 'change colour' tab and 'adding blue' or 'adding red'. I found that I liked the image with both a blue and red filter on it, so it was difficult for me to decide. Therefore, I decided to make two different versions of my second draft which I knew I could then ask my target audience which one they prefer and also decide by myself which one I liked most. So as you can see, the first second draft of my digipak front cover has more of a 'red' filter on it which I thought really portrayed passion and love, in comparison to the second version which has a 'cold blue' filter to it which I also thought was effective because it made her face stand out and made her look innocent, which is exactly what my music video does. I didn't play with the main title too much as I liked the way it initially was, apart from enlarging it a tad. I also made the main image sharper so that it looked more professional. Lastly, as you can see there are some 'sparkles' placed underneath the first version of my digipak's title here. I knew that my digipak needed just something more to make it stand out, and I wanted it to appeal to my target audience as much as possible, so I simply googled 'sparkles', imported the image to my digipak front cover, selected the unneeded background on the image and removed it, then played with the opacity of the image and placed it underneath the title. I know it's quite blurry and not perfect currently, but it gives me something to work on in the future. Also, on the second version of my digipak front cover I realised that you can really see where Georgina's face has been 'cut out' as it is rigid and does not look professional, so this gives me reason to choose the first version as my final front cover after I've improved it. I didn't feel I needed to make many changes to the rest of my digipak for my second draft, however of course I will be for my final digipak. For my final digipak, I will most likely choose the first version of my front cover and maybe add a bit more of a 'blue' filter to the image as I prefer this, and there will be many other ways in which I will be improving it.

Album advert 3rd draft

This is the third draft of my album advert. As you can see, I have made many changes in comparison to my last draft, however I am still dithering now on whether I actually prefer my last (second) draft or not. I showed my teacher and she told me that my last draft may have looked too much like a film poster, which I agreed with. So, I made many changes such as moving the album ratings down to the bottom of the page near the website mentionings etc.. I also changed the colour of the writing underneath the stars such as 'The Guardian' from red to white so that it would stand out more. This is because I figured that the red faded too much into the background which is the opposite effect from what I wanted. Furthermore, I moved the 'featuring hit single Guns and Horses' to the top of the page, above 'Lights', then I moved 'Ellie' and 'Goulding' down to the centre of the main image so that there was a gap between the writing to leave space for Ellie, and so that the font was small enough to fit in. However, I am not quite sure yet on whether I like this yet or not because I feel like it fades into the background too much and looks too 'random', but I am planning on receiving feedback from my target audience in order to fix this. However, my teacher thinks that it looks better like this so I will take that into account. Lastly, my teacher told me that my main image was too 'zoomed out' and even though I really liked the arch of the trees in the image, this needed to be cut out and the image needed to me zoomed in on because Georgina looked too small and far away, making it look like a film poster. I then realised that she wasn't the centre of attention on my album advert and that I definitely needed to fix this, so I cropped the image to make Georgina larger. I do think that this looks a lot better. However, in preparation for my final draft I will be changing many things, such as font size and type, the colours to make them stand out, amongst many other features.

"Guns and Horses" - Ellie Gouding music video 2nd draft

"Guns and Horses" - Ellie Goulding A2 music video 2nd draft/FINAL video from Hannah Alley on Vimeo.

This is the second draft of my music video. I have made many changes to it to ensure that I finalise it to the best I possibly can. For example, I have incorporated several slow motion shots of my friend Jessica performing gymnastics throughout the music video randomly. I have done this because I know that it is another way to keep my audience's attention. Also, I made these shots black and white in order to differentiate between the performance/narrative shots and these gymnastic shots, so that there is no confusion within the audience. I have also cut up the shots a lot more so that they are less long and tedious to watch. Furthermore, specifically I have changed the last scene a lot, where Georgina burns the letter Matt sent her. On my first draft there was a lot of shots of her picking up the letter and burning it, which may have become confusing and like I said, tedious to watch. However now, I have cut the shots to the pace of the song and shortened it a lot so that there's literally only about 3 shots of her doing this, keeping it simple and easy to watch. Also, before the video ended on a sad note with Georgina crying as she watches the letter's ashes scatter amongst the pavement, however now I have added a short shot of Georgina singing the last lyric as she smiles to herself, finally escaping the woods. I did this because I believe it gives the music video a resolution, adapting the 'resolution' theorem to it and therefore hopefully allowing the audience to feel satisfied with the ending solution of the video. As you can probably also see, many of the shots no longer look 'raw'. I have made a subtle contrast between the performance and narrative shots by adding an adjustment layer to all of the narrative shots, making them less colourised. Therefore the narrative/flashback shots are duller, introducing a distinct contrast. However, I noticed a few mistakes/problems with this video such as some narrative shots did not have this adjustment layer on them such as the first few narrative shots when Georgina is getting ready for her date. I did this by mistake, therefore I will be changing this for my third draft. I also know that some of the shots are probably still a bit too long, so in order to make the music video more interesting to watch, I will be changing this.

Digipak first draft

This is the first draft of my digipak. I know there are many changes I need to make, as I have noticed the main image of my front cover is blurry and a bit too zoomed out. It also looks 'raw', so I think I'll need to add a filter to it to make it look more professional. I think overall my front cover looks quite bland so I will make sure to add different features and filters to it to make it stand out more to the eye. For the CD covers I simply googled 'CD stensil' and imported this to two nature images I had taken in the woods which I thought would be good background images, removed its background, played with the opacity so that it was opaque, and added one on top of both images. I thought this worked out quite well and the ending product looked quite professional, however I know there will be changes I need to make to ensure it looks the best it possibly can. For the third part of my digipak, I simply used a shot of Georgina just finding the horse-riding badges in the woods. I really wanted to capture and use an image of some actual action that happened in the music video so that the audience would see the image and think 'that's what I actually saw in the video', therefore there is continuity and familiarity which I think is an important feature in a digipak. Also, I had an idea to basically make an artists note Ellie Goulding had supposedly 'written' to her fans/audience/customers, saying 'I hope you enjoy it as much as I did', suggesting that she actually really had fun with her songs/music video and wants her fans to, too. I thought this was a great touch because it adds a personal feel to the digipak and makes it also look a lot more professional. Finally, for the final part which was tracklisting, I simply googled 'track list digipak' and had a look at how most tracklists were set out. I discovered that you definitely needed a barcode and website on there, which was interesting; along with copyright information. I made sure to add these, by for instance googling 'barcode' and importing the image and cropping it which was fairly simple. Then, I made sure to use the house colours with the actual track list which was red and black, and made the font capitalised and bold in order for it to stand out. So far I am happy with the first draft of my digipak, however I know that there is a lot of progress I need to make in order for it to look really professional, realistic and generally the best it possibly can.

Album advert 2nd draft

This is the second draft of my album advert. Even though I have made many improvements to this, I do feel like I prefer my first draft for a few different reasons, so I will need to think about how I will make progress on this. However, after being told by my target audience that my album advert looks too much like a film poster, I firstly changed the font type of the masthead 'Lights' from a script font, to a large, bold capital font for it to stand out more as an album advert. Secondly, I moved this font upwards and then changed 'Ellie Goulding' into lower case and also so that the words were next to eachother instead of underneath eachother. This gave the rest of the album advert a lot more orderly space. Then, instead of having 'featuring the hit single' and 'Guns and Horses' underneath eachother I put them next to eachother and made the whole font white so that it stood out and looked organised. I also removed the soft drop shadow effect I had previously applied to it to make sure it stood out and didn't look too 'dreamy' and amateur. However, now I look at it, I'm not sure whether I actually preferred the 'dreamy' effect on it, so I will reconsider this. I also moved the 'Breathtaking - NME' text down a tad, and then I was finished. However I still believe that my album poster does look a bit like a film poster, so in order to avoid this I will be making many changes in preparation for my third draft in the future.

Project log 15/12/13

Editing the main image for my album advert on Photoshop

  This is a video I filmed using CamStudio at home, of me editing the main image of my model for my album advert on Photoshop. This includes me adjusting the shadows, increasing sharpness, adjusting the colour and adjusting the brightness and contrast. I found these adjustments really changed/increased the effect of my image and I was pleased I had edited it when I saw the outcome. I imported this footage to Windows Movie Maker, sped it up to make it like a timelapse, added my music video soundtrack and a title. Then I made sure to save images of the before and after of this image so that the change was evident, so I added these to the end of the video with captions, and I was finished.

Timelapse: taking digipak photos

This is a timelapse video I managed to record whilst taking the photos of my actress/model for my digipak. It took ages to get my phone/recorder in the right place for it to record which was quite an amusing process, as we figured we had nobody to record it because there was only two of us so I decided to hang Georgina's bag on a branch in the woods and slide my phone into the half-zipped pocket. It took so long to get my phone in the right position to record because the bag kept swinging round and the phone kept falling in the pocket etc., nevertheless we finally got the right position to start. I imported this clip to Windows Movie Maker, muted its sound, sped it up to turn it into a timelapse, added my music video soundtrack and a title, then I was done.

Timelapse: setting up my digipak prop

This is a video I got my actress, Georgina to take of me setting up an important prop for my digipak. This prop is an "artist's note" I thought would be a good idea to include in my digipak. I got a piece of paper and wrote "I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.. Ellie x" on it in itallic/script writing and scrumpled it up/teared it up a bit. Then, I found a spot in the woods that looked colourful, interesting, autumnal and suitable to use as the setting for this prop, and found some brightly coloured yellow leaves on the floor. I placed my note there, put some leaves around it without making it look too posed/contrived, and began taking photos. Once Georgina got this footage of me, later on I uploaded it from my phone to Windows Movie Maker on my computer, sped up the footage so that it was a timelapse, added my music video soundtrack and a title, then uploaded it.

Album advert first draft

This is the first draft of my album advert. I really enjoyed making it, however I know that there are many changes I will need to make in order to ensure that it's finalised to the best of my ability. I really liked the font type of the 'Lights' masthead as the script font gives it a 'dreamy', feminine effect which I believe is the whole music video in a 'nutshell', therefore giving it continuity. I matched the red text such as 'Ellie Goulding' and 'NME' to the model in the main image's actual hair so that the house colours are consistent and it looks professional. With the rest of the text I used a white font colour as black was too dark and faded into the background, whereas with white, it stands out and looks fresh and makes Georgina look innocent. It also matches with her white dress. I chose the main image because I believe that it sums up Georgina's journey in the woods in a nut shell. She is lost and intrigued by her surroundings and wants to find her way out, and she is innocent and feminine. Her pose/stance represents the femininity and innocence as she holds her dress in a delicate manner, yet the idea of her being 'lost' is also represented through her head looking above her as she is in the woods. Also, the fact that she is 'walking' in the picture captures actual action of the moment, making the audience feel like they are almost there with her. The wood surrounding captures isolation and vulnerability. I also believe that it was great to use a picture for my album advert that the actual music video was captured in because this portrays continuity and it means the album advert actually links with my music video, so the audience can relate to it and think 'oh, that's where she was in the music video when I watched it'. I also really liked the way the trees arch around her in the photo, which was another poignant reason for me picking this image. Overall, I know there are many changes I need to make but so far, I am happy with this result of my album advert.

Project log 13/12/13 (whilst taking Digipak & album advert photos)

This is a project log I filmed with my actress/model half-way through taking all of the photos I need for my Digipak and album cover. It was a successful session.

Transcript:
At the moment we're just taking the photos for my digipak and my album advert. So we're just in the woods at the moment, and it's actually going quite quickly. I've taken the front cover photos for my digipak at the moment and I've made sure that I've taken quite a variation of different shots so that I have quite a lot to choose from. Now I'm just going to take the rest for my digipak and my album advert. Hopefully I can get all of this done, then over the weekend I plan on downloading Photoshop and starting to edit these so that I have them ready for my deadline on wednesday.

Album poster draft

This is the draft of my album cover. As you can see, there is a bold album title called “LIGHTS”, and underneath it states “THE NEW ALBUM BY”, then underneath “Ellie Goulding”. Then underneath this it states “featuring the hit single ‘Guns and Horses’”.

Underneath this writing I plan to use an image of my protagonist actress holding one side of her dress delicately as she looks up around her wanderingly. She is in the middle of a woods, preferably on a path seperated by trees dangling over her.

Underneath this image there will be a quote saying “breath-taking”, and underneath “AVAILABLE NOW ON..” etc.

I plan to take the photos for my album poster tomorrow.

Production process of my digipak SO FAR

Production Process of Digipak SO FAR

This is the process I have reported on the production of my digipak so far. I have created this on a Powerpoint document, and decided to add the date on a new slide of each time I make changes to the digipak so that the examiner can properly monitor my progress and see how far I have gotten. It is almost like a mini diary, where I explain the changes I make along the way and why I have made them. I have also added the initial draft of my digipak so my intentions are clear. 
Along the way I have added a lot to this document as of course, I have been making changes to my digipak and a lot of progress consistently, so I have made sure that this is up to date.

Genre applied to my music video "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding

Genre applied to my music video "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding

This is a Powerpoint I have created, explaining all of the pop genre aspects that are included in my music video, how they are conventional and how they effect the audience and change the way my music video would be viewed. I also describe how my music video is similar and dissimilar to other pop music videos.

Digipak draft

This is the draft I created of my Digipak. It includes the front cover, back cover, lyrics, disk cover and more.  I found it fairly easy to create this draft as I used inspiration off of other previous digipaks which helped me a lot. I now feel a lot more organised with what pictures I will be taking for my digipak and what ideas I can incorporate into these.

Project log 12/12/13

Project log 12/12/13

Incorporating the slow motion gymnastic shots into my music video

  This is a video of me incorporating the slow motion gymnastic shots into my music video. I took the footage of my friend, Jessica, who is an ex gymnast, many months ago now, and I wanted to adapt these to my music video so that they can represent my main actress' different stages of emotion she shows. So, after completing the first draft of my music video I chose different pieces of the gymnastics footage and dropped them onto my timeline, slowing them down massively so that they are more dramatic and emotional, and adding a black and white effect to seperate them from the rest of the video so that the audience do not get confused with where they have come from. I made a screen grab with "CamStudio" of me doing this and when I was at home, I imported these pieces of footage onto "Windows Movie Maker" and sped them up so that they weren't too tenacious to watch, added my music video soundtrack and a title, and then I was complete. I am glad I made this video because it demonstrates the progress I have made on my music video and exactly how I did all of this. However, the only problem with this movie is that the quality of the screen grabs is not very good and I assume there were some technical difficulties while I was filming these, because you can see a lot of flickering and colour problems on the footage.

Genre and narrative aspects of my music video "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding - speech

This is a speech I presented at school on the genre and narrative aspects of my music video, "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding. Firstly I talk about how my music video incorporates typical conventions of the pop genre and how it is similar to conventional pop genre music videos. Then, I go in to talk about how the narrative features of my music video build together to create meaning and what effect they have on the audience.

Project log 06/12/13 (and a summary of the week)

Screengrabs of music video production process: fixing errors and making improvements

This is a video I have chosen to create in my spare time on the process of the production of my music video so far. After exporting the rough cut of my music video, I realised there were a few errors with it such as the frame size of some of the shots being too small, so I decided to use a program called CamStudio to film me actually fixing this error. Then, after receiving audience feedback on my rough cut telling me that my shots did not suit the rhythm of my song too much and that they weren't fast enough, I began to make improvements on this weakness - again, filming this with CamStudio. I then imported both films to Windows Movie Maker, sped them up so that they were not too "boring" to watch, explained my intentions behind my actions, and added my music video soundtrack to it. I think me doing this has shown a true insight to my progress and how I am working proactively to make improvements on my music video due to feedback.

Audience feedback from: Siobhan, on the rough cut of my music video (parts 1 and 2)

Part 1

Part 2

Transcript:

Me: What do you think so far of the rough cut of my music video?

Siobhan: I think it's really good how you've got flash backs in there, it's quite flowing, also some of the lyrics matched up with what was going on in the music video. Also I like how it's telling a story of your actress in the music video.

Me: What improvements do you think I should make?

Siobhan: On some of them, use a faster cut so that it speeds it up, and matches the timing of the song and lyrics.

Me: Do you think that my music video incorporates the codes and conventions of the pop genre?

Siobhan: Yeah I do, because in terms of mise-en-scene, like the outfits she wears etc, it's very much day-to-day basis sort of stuff. As well as that, in terms of the location, it is very realistic and modern, with the woods and the home environment, it's kind of demographic of a young audience.

Me: Thank you. Also, do you think I have incorporated the stages well, and balanced the performance and narrative shots suitably?

Siobhan: Yeah, I definitely think that it is balanced out well. The stages of their relationship as well are really clearly shown, like where they're happy and then annoying each other, and you can clearly see that because it's well shot from certain angles and you can see their facial expressions.

Audience feedback from: Janani, on the rough cut of my music video

Transcript:

Me: What do you like about my music video?
Janani: I like how it's both narrative and performance-based, you get a bit of both, and I also liked your actors - how they made it look professional.
Me: Thank you. If you were to think of any improvements or criticism, what would you say?

Janani: I would say on one, link the miming with the song more.

Me: Thank you. Do you think that my music video incorporates the codes and conventions of the pop genre?
Janani: I think with the whole narrative it's a good idea as it's quite conventional of the pop genre, and also with the whole love story thing I think that's what you would expect in a pop music video.
Me: Thank you.

Audience feedback from: Rag'e, on the rough cut of my music video

Transcript:

Me: What do you think so far of the rough cut of my music video?

Rag'e: I really like the video; I like the 5 stages of a break-up that you did, like showing how you can go from a happy relationship to the end of a relationship. I like how you did the break-down of the relationship, I think that's the best bit about it, like how it is narratively ordered.

Me: What improvements do you think I should make?

Rag'e: In terms of improvement there was one moment before the second time the chorus began, and she began miming before the song came in. Also, there was a blip where there was distortion of a clip because it went out of shape and stuff like that. I'd say also, don't have your shots too long, purely due to the fact that when the song kicks in, there is a constant beat and your shots should follow that rhythm. Because if you have a shot that long for about 15 seconds, I feel like I'm going to expect that for the rest of the music video.

Me: Do you mean that with the narrative side or the performance side?

Rag'e: I think that with the shots of Georgina in the woods that is really good, it's just the narrative ones. If you were to maybe use fades and then at least it can give the same steady rhythm in the clip. That will show her heartbreak with fast parts and then will be slower etc.
Hannah: Also, how well do you think I incorporated the codes and conventions of the pop genre?
Rag'e: I think it's the best break-up song - I think it's an interesting song. All the shots and the story line fit in great with the song. I like the fact that you did both performance and narrative. Nowadays you see mostly just performance-based music videos. I like the fact that it is just her in the performance, and then her and also a male in the narrative footage. So that's what I like about it.

First draft of my music video "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding

This is the first draft of my music video which I created on Adobe Premiere Pro. I received a lot of feedback on the rough cut of my music video and took all of this on board, using it to improve on my music video massively. I have now added many effects to my music video, such as video transition fades so that the performance shots fade into the narrative shots for example, as well as many other effects like adjustment layers to tone down the vibrancy of colour in a shot or to add black and white to a shot. I found these effects very successful increasing the professional feel to my music video and also creating a clear contrast between the performance, narrative and also slow-motion gymnastic shots. Where my rough cut before looked unfinished and quite "messy", my first draft I feel looks a lot better and conveys so much more emotion to the music. I just need to improve on this music video now in order to complete my final piece which I believe I can do in a few days.

Presentation on the narrative of my music video

Narrative of My Music Video  
This essay explains the narrative and structure of my music video and the possible reasons why certain things were placed where they were. In this power point I speak about the intention behind each narrative aspect of my music video and what effect they have. I have also given an example next to each point I make, of an image of how I have actually practiced each aspect. Overall, creating this powerpoint actually really helped me because it confirmed to me why I structured my music video the way that I did and what effect its narrative features would have on the audience.

Narrative of my music video essay

Coursework Music Video Narrative Paragraph

This essay explains the narrative and structure of my music video, it explains the possible reasons why certain things were placed where they were. In this essay I speak about the intention behind each narrative aspect of my music video and what effect they have. Overall, creating this essay actually really helped me because it confirmed to me why I structured my music video the way that I did and what effect its narrative features would have on the audience.

Genre of my music video essay

This is an essay I have produced on the genre of my music video. This essay contains my reasoning for why I have produced what I have and how it links to the particular genre. This is so that the examiner is aware of the intentions of my music video and its effect.

Project log 04/12/13 (convert into video)

Transcript:
Over the past week I have been working really hard on creating my actual music video. I have been using Adobe Premiere Pro, cutting many of my shots, fitting them into place and adding special effects etc to get the look I want. It has been quite hard to fit everything in, as I have been having to create summaries of my raw footage so far etc aswell as making this music video, but I have made sure to work extra hard and fast to ensure all of these tasks are complete, which has required a crucial time management skill.
So far, I am nearly finished completing the rough cut of my music video, and after completing the summary of my raw narrative footage, I understand I now need to begin creating a summary of my raw performance footage.
Other things I know I need to do is return to Ruislip woods with my actress/model, Georgina, and take digipak photos. My Canon 550D camera stopped working whilst beginning to try take photos for my digipak on the filming day for the performance shots a few weeks ago, so I will definitely try to do this soon. Then, this will allow me to begin editing my digipak properly.
So far I feel quite up to date and organised with all of my work. The fact that I have nearly finished my rough cut of my music video makes me feel a lot better as it means I have finished it early and can begin starting on my evaluations and other coursework that I need to complete before christmas.

INSERT CAM STUDIO VID OF ME EDITING MUSIC VIDEO

Rough cut of my music video "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding

  This is the rough cut of my music video which I created on Adobe Premiere Pro. I imported the soundtrack of my music video and then incorporated all of my footage, ensuring that every "stage" was in the right place. Overall, this took me about 2 weeks roughly to do. It was difficult as it took a lot of time management to make sure I would finish it before Christmas, however I have enjoyed the process. There are many improvements of course that I can make in this music video, and some parts I have not attended to, for example one of the shots I noticed are much smaller than all the others. However, I will making many changes to this music video over the next two weeks to perfect it and I will also ask for feedback from my peers to help me with this process.

Summary of original narrative footage in its raw state

This is a summary I have created on Adobe Premiere Pro, of the narrative footage I have filmed. I imported all of the narrative footage I have taken so far onto Adobe Premiere Pro and also imported the song I am using for my music video: "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding. I then cut and edited all of the footage and removed the sound from all of them to make sure it seemed professional. Once I had done this, I made sure everything was in sync and the music was working properly, and finally exported the video. I uploaded the video to YouTube and of course, embedded it here. As you can see by watching this video, it only contains a summary of several different shots as my aim was to not bore the audience with a range of random, tedious footage. I have used the main feature of personal identity by keeping the audience engaged through mainly using shots that contain my main protagonist, as she is the focus of my music video - not other irrelevant aspects. I hope that my audience will maintain their interest by having some sort of relation to the artist. Furthermore, I adapted the footage on Premiere consisting of speeding up some footage, cutting some parts etc to allow the audience to be able to identify each part, so that again, they don't bore easily and feel as if they are watching the same thing over and over. Lastly, portraying a range of footage allows the audience to feel as if they are part of a journey, directly watching transitions from each shot to shot and how all the scenery varies.

Alterations made along the way (ADD TO THIS)

Below is a list of the alterations I can remember making along the progress of my music video/coursework. I have roughly estimated when I think these alterations/evaluations occurred, added some along the way, and included a description of them, why they happened and how they have effected my workload/progress etc.. I found this task really insightful as it showed me the progress I have made on this journey and how far I have come.

• Song change (03/09/13): At first I had intentions to use "Only Love" by Ben Howard as the song for my music video, however I then changed it to "Love Story" by Taylor Swift. Later, I realised that this song was actually too cheesy for me to base a music video on as I was not even that keen on the song itself. I figured that if I did not have a huge passion for the song then I would struggle to develop an understanding for the lyric meaning and be able to interpret it in different unique ways. So, I changed my song choice to "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding, my permanent song choice now. I have always loved this song and understood the lyrics and their meaning, so I found it so much easier to adapt my own ideas to it and apply many different concepts.

• Work change (04/09/13): I had completed a lot of work based on the previous song I had chosen, and so now I had changed my song completely, I had to re-do a lot of my work which took a while.

• Music video concept (14/10/13): At the start I had researched Ellie Goulding's intended meaning for Guns and Horses so that I could adapt my ideas properly. I discovered that she made the song about an internet relationship and its consequences, so I decided I would replicate these ideas into my own and film a couple having an internet relationship, and their break-up. However, I soon realised that actually, this concept was quite bland and boring, and it did not have enough of a build-up or climax to it. So, after speaking to a media teacher Mr Fisher, I decided to change my idea. I decided I wanted to do a half narrative, half performance-based video like before except make it where my actress walks through the woods, lost, and discovers different props that link to different stages/flashbacks of her previous relationships. Except, what the audience will realise, is that these props are actually figures of the protagonist's imagination because she is suffering from heart-break causing her to imagine things from stress. In the narrative flashbacks, I had decided to present "the five different stages of a relationship", which are: 1. just-met stage 2. comfortable/inlove stage 3. distrust stage 4. arguments/break-up stage 5. acceptance stage. This idea is now my permanent idea now.

This was what my music video was originally going to be like:

• Script/storyboard change (15/10/13): Due to the changes stated above in my music video concept, I have had to change my script and storyboard to plan for my new ideas.

• Shots used change (16/10/13): I had already started filming according to my previous idea on the "internet relationship", so I had quite a few shots for this concept, however fortunately not many as of course I changed the idea. So, I had to delete all of these shots and obviously re-film. The one draw-back from this is that I am not 100% sure if I will still be using the footage of my friend Jessica performing her gymnastics, because I don't know if I will need them due to all of the footage I already have.

• Footage (20/11/13): The narrative footage I have taken so far is quite a lot, but of course I would rather have too much than not enough so this is a positive thing. However, I wanted my music video to be half performance, half narrative but I am not sure whether this will be possible as I want to fit a lot of my narrative shots in instead of letting them go to waste, so the alteration in this is that I think I will perhaps now have more narrative shots than performance shots, which is fine.

• Structure of music video (02/12/13): After having filming both my performance and narrative footage, I began editing my music video on Adobe Premiere Pro and figured that I have a lot of footage. This gave me the problem of not being able to fit everything in unless I use many fast shots that would not match the lyrics, which I did not want to do. Therefore, I had to re-organise the originally-planned structure of my music video to make sure that every vital "stage" of the narrative fitted in with my music video, along with the performance, along with there also being a fair balance between the two. I hope that I have successfully managed this as it was quite hard to do.

• Stages change 14/12/13: After I began editing my music video, I realised that the song wasn't actually long enough for me to be able to fit in all of my prop links (what I mean by this is when I was going to get Georgina to find all five props and they would merge into five different flashbacks of the stages of the couple's relationship) and all of my performance shots without it looking less balanced and professional. So, instead of incorporating all five props to link to the couple's relationship like originally planned, I actually ended up only linking only three props: the horse medals which linked to the first date, the spoon which linked to the comfortable/inlove stage, then the arguments/break-up stages were incorporated afterwards randomly, then I used a letter at the end to finally link to the acceptance stage. I think this worked quite well, because if I linked every prop then I believe my music video would become repetitive and predictable.

Project log 22/11/13 - after filming

This is a project log I filmed in my actress' car just after we had finished filming my performance footage for my music video. Below is the transcript:

Transcript:

We just finished filming for Media, we pretty much finished filming the performance side of my music video, and we're absolutely freezing! I've basically finished everything now, I've done the narrative-side of my music video and also the performance now, so all I need to do is edit it and put it all together. We actually went quite far into the woods, we got lost in there (laughs). We wanted to show an actual journey instead of faking going far into the woods, we did actually get lost (laughs). It was evident we went on a journey. I have made sure I have done a variation of different shots. It was quite successful.

Photographs of me filming

This is a video I have created on Windows Movie Maker consisting of photographs taken of me filming/taking photos during my filming sessions. I have got either of my friends to take these photos of me as evidence of construction. I uploaded these photos to Windows Movie Maker and added titles infront of each set of photos stating what the photos/footage were/was being taken for.
These photos/videos range from settings of the field, where Jessica is performing her gymnastics, to Georgina's bedroom, where I take photos of Georgina and Matt for costume photos or filming Georgina.
The purpose of carrying out this task proves that I took all photos or filming myself without any guidance or help. It almost acts as a journey whereby illustrating the process of my filming and how I have developed and improved. Getting photos of different positions also highlights how the lights adjusted whereby getting lighter in some areas and darker in others. This is effective when getting different effects due to giving different key lighting on different parts of my artist.

Structure ideas for my music video

Brief ideas for my music video

This is a document I have created on the brief ideas I have developed in planning for my filming my music video tomorrow. I have already filmed the narrative shots I need, and now I am going to film the performance shots, so I wanted to create a brief plan to structure what parts of footage I need and what my actress should be doing in them. Doing this has made me feel a lot more organised.

Covers of my music video song

I decided to research different covers of the song I am using for my music video: "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding. I found this independent research really interesting because it gave me an insight into how different people interpret the song and vary it to match their tone of voice. It highlighted to me how differently people can take the song; - some may interpret it as extremely emotional, others happy, etc., which suggested to me that I can be as eccentric with my ideas for my music video as possible, as it is all up to interpretation. I enjoyed researching these covers.

Project log 21/11/13

This week I have started editing my music video at school on a program called Adobe Premiere Pro. I uploaded the clips I have filmed so far on the narrative-side of my video, and put them together. I feel it is going fairly successful so far, however it is hard to tell where to put what clips in what places because I have not filmed my performance shots yet.

Today and yesterday specifically, I began creating another file on Adobe Premiere Pro, summarising the footage I have filmed so far narrative-wise. I tried to export it today but I did not have enough time so I am going to export this and upload it to YouTube hopefully on Monday.

Tomorrow I am filming my performance shots with my actress Georgina, in Ruislip Woods. 

Print screen photo of the process of me editing my music video narrative footage summary:

I also created a "photos of me filming" video on Windows Movie Maker at home, as this I believe is a strong piece of construction evidence.

After this, I developed a Word document on a brief planning of the structure of the filming of my music video tomorrow. Therefore now I feel a lot more organised because I know what I am filming for what parts, so I found this particularly helpful. Then, I completed the "alterations/evaluations I have made along the way" task on my blog, listing the alterations I can remember making along the way, with rough estimations of the time these alterations occurred and a description of the alterations, why they happened and how it affected my work. I actually found this task really insightful, showing me how far I have come so far.

Behind the scenes/videos of me filming/alterations/bloopers video

Today, I created a behind the scenes/bloopers video in my free time on a program called “Windows Movie Maker”. I had previously produced this video, except now of course I have done a lot more filming so there was more footage to add to it. So, I downloaded my last “behind the scenes” video, imported it onto Windows Movie Maker, and added more pieces of footage Matt or Georgina have taken of me filming, doing Georgina's makeup, the group on the way to the filming set etc.. I added these all together, aswell as muting them and adding the “Guns and Horses” soundtrack with it. I cut out many parts to make the video look a lot more interesting.

I also thought it would be good to add a “bloopers” part to the video, so I turned down the soundtrack, looked on the USB for all my footage taken and found all of the videos where things had gone wrong. I imported these onto Movie Maker and added them on.

I was really pleased with the video in the end and felt it was successful. It allows me to give the examiner and the audience an insight into how my music video was made, and also some construction evidence.

The purpose of carrying out this task proves that I took all photos or filming myself without any guidance or help. It almost acts as a journey whereby illustrating the process of my filming and how I have developed and improved. Getting photos of different positions also highlights how the lights adjusted whereby getting lighter in some areas and darker in others. This is effective when getting different effects due to giving different key lighting on different parts of my artist. It also portrays to the audience how much I actually enjoyed filming and producing my music video, and therefore this adds a personal touch to my video, making it seem more believable and understandable because there has been effort put into it. The idea of taking an audience on a journey and allowing them to laugh at bloopers/mistakes I think is a really successful touch to the whole process.

Planning for my Digipak & album advert: image inspiration

I began Googling images for what I want my Digipak front cover and album advert pictures to look like, to give me some inspiration for how to construct my own. I put these onto a Powerpoint and explained why I want to use some of them. I thought this was a good idea as it also shows the examiner the progress with thought I am making, and some construction evidence.

Project log 04/11/13 (MAKE INTO VIDEO?)

Transcript:

Today, I created a "costumes" video on Windows Live Movie Maker. I had previously created a costumes video before, but of course now I have filmed a lot more footage, there have been many more costumes to add, so I started again. This video included every single costumes my actor/actresses used in my music video, the reason why and what effect it will have on the audience. I figured this would give the examiner or the audience a good insight into my motives and reasons for creating the look I did in each shot. I have uploaded this to YouTube and embedded it onto my blog, however I will be adding to this costumes post as I still have more filming to do on the performance-side of my music video. Furthermore, I have tidied up my blog, making sure that every post is named under the right label. I found that some posts had been labeled as "Planning", when they were just construction evidence etc., so I made sure to fix this. After this, I began Googling similar images to what I want my Digipak front cover and album advert pictures to look like, to give me some inspiration for how to construct my own. I put these onto a Powerpoint and explained why I want to use some of them. I thought this was a good idea as it also shows the examiner the progress with thought I am making, and some construction evidence.

Screenshots of the process of editing and uploading my "costumes" video:

Screenshot of the process of me creating my image inspiration ideas for my Digipak cover and album advert:

Project log 03/11/13

Project log 03/11/13

Project log 31/10/13

Today, I have been filming all day at various locations for my music video, such as: Georgina's home, Elmbridge close, the alley-way near Coteford Infant school, The Fairway restaurant and more. I have completed filming all of the narrative shots for my music video which I am so pleased about, and now I only have to film my performance shots of Georgina in the woods, which will be done on Monday since both me and Georgina have half-days on this day. Since returning home today, I have also created a picture location video on Windows Movie Maker, as I took many photos of the locations today. I uploaded this to YouTube and embedded it onto my blog. I feel as if today was a really productive, successful day. Below are some photos of me filming today.

Furthermore, here is also a photo of the notes I created before I began filming. I produced these notes so that I was clear and organised on how I wanted today to be structured:

Production process of my album advert SO FAR

Production Process of Album advert SO FAR

This is the process I have reported on the production of my album advert so far. I have created this on a Powerpoint document, and decided to add the date on a new slide of each time I make changes to the advert so that the examiner can properly monitor my progress and see how far I have gotten. I have also added and described the draft of my album poster. It is almost like a mini diary, where I explain the changes I make along the way and why I have made them. I have also added the initial draft of my digipak so my intentions are clear. 
Along the way I have added a lot to this document as of course, I have been making changes to my album advert and a lot of progress consistently, so I have made sure that this is up to date.

Video mood board

I have already created a picture mood board, however, looking back I decided that I wanted to improve on my mood board and create a video version instead. So, I downloaded several pop music videos which I believed held many typical pop conventions, through a site called "www.keepvid.com", imported them onto Adobe Premiere Pro, downloaded an MP3 of my music video song "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding, downloaded a few more images of outfits and images I thought fitted in with my music video, and put them all together in one. I made sure to cut and edit each music video into the most interesting parts and made it switch from one to another, so it looked interesting and eye-catching. Overall I think this is a successful mood board as it portrays all of the aspects and conventions I believe convey "pop" as a whole and those that I would like to adapt into my own music video.

Structure & shot ideas for music video

This is a shot idea document I have created on Microsoft Word. It is not an official descriptive shot list or storyboard, however since completely changing the concept ideas for my music video I gathered I should start creating some brief draft ideas for the structure of my music video and the shots that are going to be in it. Of course I will create an official shot list soon once I am 100% sure on what shots I am using at what times. However, so getting down these brief shot ideas has really helped me progress because I now feel a lot more organised and head-clear in what I am doing in my music video and how it will be structured.