12 November 2015

More ideas for your ancillary tasks

From LutteworthMedia:

Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/LuttMedia
Blog: http://mrsmitha2musicvideo.blogspot.co.uk





Remember to seek feedback at every stage of production from your peers / target audience, and outside your target audience too!

See below:




9 November 2015

Organising your shoot

You should have one post of a series of short posts showing that you have planned ahead and that you are as ready for your shoot as possible.

SHOW YOUR PLANNING FOR THE DAY - AND BRING IT WITH YOU!

Shooting schedule (what will you shot, in which order, at what time?), including where, when, what time do people meet, what does each person bring, what NOT to forget, what documents to bring (preferably in a folder), how to get there, weather forecast (particularly if shooting outside), who brings make up, costumes props, who dresses the set, who applies make up and where + will they have guidance? Have a got a plan B? A list to make sure that everything is returned at the end of the day?

15 October 2015

ANCILLARY TASKS: IDEAS FOR YOUR RESEARCH



Analysis of Magazine Posters and Digipaks from jkfernandes17

More examples…




ALSO HAVE A LOOK AT THESE RESOURCES:

Click to see a good example of the research and planning that should go into your ancilliary tasks: the digipak and magazine advert

Last album digipak: FINALLY, HERE IS A PAGE WITH EXAMPLES OF CD COVERS AND MAGAZINE ADVERTS.

And here is the template for your digipak. You can find it on the Media drive in the Digipak folder. You'll need to import it into Photoshop.

Obviously this only has four panels; you should be aiming for six:


Have a look at this group's work on ancillary tasks. They achieved level 4.

The magazine advert:

Here is their 6-frame digipack:
Do check out these obscure and brilliant album covers: 
http://a2musicvid.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/great-album-covers-have-look.html

AND OF COURSE, CHECK OUT LEON'S, ROMINA'S AND LISHA'S WORK FROM LAST YEAR! THEY GOT FULL MARKS. There are a few more past students' efforts below:










29 September 2015

Planning

What you should have when it's completed:


- Brief details about your band/artist, including which record label they're signed to, what their ideology is and who their target audience is (audience profile)

- Moodboard

- Synopsis of the video, including details of performance and/or narrative elements, location shots, costume/props images

- Shot list for each sequence

- Storyboard

- Aim for an animatic

- Explanation of how you have used Goodwin's elements within the video OR how they are subverted. Explanation of how you have used Vernallis' points.

- Explanation of WHY you have decided on this concept and HOW it will appeal to the target audience and 'fit' into the music industry.

– discussion of any influences you have had.

- Keep asking for class and teacher feedback as well as target audience feedback. This must go your blog and you must adapt your ideas accordingly. Use questionnaire or/and focus groups. Use social media / online survey.

- Your audience research should include a consumption profile of your target audience. It should also refer to Uses and Gratifications Theory.

- Actors / Casting / possibly auditions

- You should conduct a recce.

- Schedule.

Ask for hep at any point and remember to support each other. Below is a little more help to help you define your research.

1. Gathering more information on your target audience. Here is a link to the media pack published by a magazine:
http://www.mhpromo.co.uk/MP_11.pdf

Look through the pack to see how the target audience is described in detail.

Also look through last year's blogs to see examples of Audience Profiles and Audience Consumption Profiles.

2. Example of an ANIMATIC




3. Example of storyboarding:

Audience research 1: Initial questions and theory

Uses and Gratifications



UK Tribes (Channel 4): Essential booklet




24 September 2015

Research and early planning - Up-to-date blogs BY MONDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER

WHAT YOU SHOULD ALL HAVE BY NOW:

- One post looking at Goodwin's concept of illustration, amplification, disjuncture


- Three detailed analyses of music videos using Goodwin's points

 
- At least two detailed analyses of music videos using Vernallis' points - see reference sheet I gave you all. There are spares by my computer.
 
These posts should be labelled RESEARCH and ANALYSIS

- At least one post looking at a variety of music videos that inspire you - could be the camerawork, set, costumes and make up, lighting, use of close ups, dance sequences, performance etc. 
Make sure you have screenshots and explain in a few words what it is that you find interesting.

This post should be labelled RESEARCH.

- One post featuring the songs you may want to use and why they are good choices. 

- One post on your selected song and why you settled on it. The post should feature the song itself, the lyrics, preferably annotated with early ideas, and a couple of similar artists and the kind of videos they use to promote their songs, and a paragraph about the music genre and its conventions.


This post should be labelled EARLY PLANNING.

- Some of you have already started looking at lighting in specific music videos - You should look at the range of music videos with a focus on lighting.


- One post looking at the audience profile of your 'similar artists' (use uktribes.co.uk) and early market research (which platforms, channels, music mags feature similar artists)


These posts should be labelled RESEARCH and AUDIENCE RESEARCH 

- Start creating your artist (name, profile, potential actors etc - start recruiting/ auditioning very soon!) 


LABEL: EARLY PLANNING

NEXT STEP: PREPARING THE TREATMENT AND YOUR PRESENTATION.

Example of a student using Vernallis' theory on their own video

A good example of Vernallis analysis 

A good example from last year of Vernallis analysis

9 September 2015

Getting it all started

Hi everyone and a warm welcome back!

Before I go on, Issa James has posted the great post below with plenty of links to music videos that we want you to look at. It is crucial that you spend time becoming familiar with different genres and that you pick up ideas from a wide range of videos. Of course, there are other sources of inspiration such as films, TV drama and books!

But before I go on further, let's go back to basic information.

1. Once again, the coursework accounts for 50% of your final grade and we usually finish filming and rough editing by Christmas with a little time in January/February to complete the edit and evaluation.

The brief is to create a promotional pack for an upcoming album (you will have to invent an artist/band), including a magazine advert, a music video for the single coming out, and a digipak for the album (6 panels minimum). So, 3 products this time around!

2. You need to understand that there are many genres of music videos, usually dependent on the music genre being promoted. Overall, there are Performance videos, Narrative-led videos, but the majority include a mix of both.
Two key theorists who will help you deconstruct and analyse videos are Goodwin and Vernallis. I will provide templates summing up the main conventions they have come up with to support your analytical work and we will of course go through their key points together.

Starting with Goodwin, here are the key points:

Andrew Goodwin has identified a number of key features which distinguish the music video as a form:
- There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.
- There is a relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.
- Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography
- Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist. Videos allow artists to present and modify their 'Star Image' to the public.
- Voyeurism is present in many music videos, especially in the treatment of females, but also in terms of systems of looking. Some examples are screens within screens, cameras, mirrors, etc.
- There are likely to be intertextual references, either to other music videos or to films and TV texts; these provide further gratification and pleasure for the viewers/fans.

Please use these to get started with your music video analyses. It goes without saying that you will need plenty of screengrabs!

3. We will be completing some preliminary tasks to teach you a few skills in preparation for shooting and editing your own videos. The lip-synch task will take place Thursday 17th September. You will need to be ready to shoot a lipsynched song of your choice. You can work in pairs.

You must:
- bring the printed lyrics
- have learnt the song lyrics before the lesson
- bring any prop you might want to use
- be able to play the song during the shoot.


Here are examples from previous years:


18 June 2015

Editing Music Videos - Essential Read!

Andrew Goodwin - Music Video Analysis


To be used when analysing music videos as part of your research.

Andrew Goodwin identified a number of key features which distinguish the music video as a form; before you understand his theory you need to understand some key terminology. If you click on the key terms you will be taken to videos which best illustrate these terms.Illustrate: Images used to represent the meanings of the lyrics and genre (this is the most common feature of a music video) this is very often literal.

Disjuncture: When the meaning of the song is completely ignored.

Amplify: Meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown throughout the video and shown to the audience (basically repetition).

- There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals
illustrating, amplifying or contrasting the lyrics.

- There is a relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contrasting the music.


- Genres are complex and diverse in terms of music video style and iconography.


- Record companies will demand a lot of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist


- Voyeurism is present in many music videos, especially in the treatment of females, but also in terms of systems of looking. Some examples are screens within screens, cameras, mirrors, etc.

- There are likely to be intertextual references, either to other music videos or to films and TV texts, these provide further gratification and pleasure for the viewers/fans.


TASK
Using your favourite music videos,
TubeChop scenes where ANY of the above features are present. Screengrab and comment.

(With thanks to Lutterworth Media)

16 April 2015

Dear Moderator,

Here are the blogs of our A2 students. They have all followed the music video / promotional package for a new album brief: they have created a music video and as ancillary tasks, a magazine advert and a digipak for the album.


All students worked individually.

Candidate 9124 - Steven Attwell: Steven's Music Video Blog

Candidate 9302 - Rhianna Biggs: Rhianna's A2 Media Blog

Candidate 9585 - Nicole Fleming: Nicole's Music Video Blog

Candidate 8073 - Thomas Hallisey: Tom's Music Blog

Candidate 9424 - Roshni Mepani: Roshni's Advanced Portfolio Blog

Candidate 9542 - Kareem Tamam: Kareem's Music Industry Blog



We hope you enjoy their work.





6 March 2015

EVALUATION - DUE IN 20.3.15

All 4 questions must be done by Friday 20.3.15.

Reminder:

Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Q2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Q3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Q4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Look at:

Lisha's evaluation

Leon's evaluation

Romina's evaluation

Their evaluation work ranges from 18 to 20 marks (out of 20).

For ideas of what to do / how to tackle questions, click on the link on the right hand side or here: Guidance booklet


Showcase and feedback FINAL VIDEOS EXPORTED BY NEXT FRIDAY (13.3.15)

Please please please embed at least 2 or 3 drafts of your video and post the feedback you got along the way, as well as whether you acted upon it.

Evidence your decisions.

Finally, record the feedback from the Showcase lesson and what you will do as a result.

DO this ASAP.

Last tweaks to your music video by next Friday 13th March. We will start marking them and the ancillary tasks that weekend