Pictures- edited

I edited a few pictures I took of Samantha as Edie Sedgwick using an american website; which you can go on yourself here- www.picnik.com

I just uploaded the pictures and went to the create tab. There are many tabs you can then click on to edit the picture how you want but most of them you would have to join up and pay for. The tabs i used were "Effects" and "Frames". The effect I really enjoyed using was the hypnotic effect as it made the picture look more artistic and 60's.

Here are the ones i did:

Xmas Holidays- Filming delayed

Samantha and I have been hugely busy these past couple of weeks which i can only once again apologize for a late update. Samantha's been too busy working and I with family and obligations regarding family. BUTTT we have promised to film on New Years Day which should complete our filming altogether...YAY!

Factory Girl/ Books

Our first week of the xmas holidays has been extremely slow when it has came to what else do we need to do for our media coursework! Samantha is currently busy at work and all I really want to be done is our filming...so for the time being i thought I would re-watch "Factory Girl" for any ideas of plot or camera shots.

I got a few ideas of how I could portray Bob Dylan with Edie and I liked how they explained at the end of the film what happened to Edie which i could probably do but illustrate it with a newspaper article!

I also found two informative and really interesting books in my house on Edie which contained many quotes from her and people who knew her and so many pictures of her; from her cambridge days before Warhol to when she was her height of fame and drugs.
Theres books are: "Edie: Girl on fire" by Melissa Painter & David Weisman
"Edie Factory Girl" By Nat FinkelStein & David Dalton.

New Vblog problem

As Samantha and I was putting our video on youtube our voices seemed to be fine, however when i got home and looked back over it, our voices had suddenly changed back to being deep again. We do not know how we could possibly solve this problem; perhaps its just our camera. So we're just going to have to live with the problem- I hope you'll be able to understand our ideas. All I can do is apologize...

Here it is:

More filming

Samantha called me up yesterday to inform me she filmed Jack singing with the guitar which is great. I wasn't needed for this part because we agreed that any scene Samantha wasn't in, she would get a chance to film herself and i trust her 100% with it all.

Today during Media, we imported the scene she filmed and edited what we could of it. We began to see how difficult it is to get the lip syncing of Jack's in time with Robert's singing however we've seemed to manage it for now.

We just need to film a few more scenes of Samantha being filmed on the bed by Warhol, more clips of her with Jack (Dylan) and of her modelling and that should be it:)

we're getting there....

New Vblog

Things are looking up:) We had to create a whole new video blog yesterday quickly because we couldn't change our voices on our old one. I just asked Samantha some questions about our blog and we tried to explain it in as much detail and as thoroughly as we possibly could.

Also, as sir isn't in for the entire week, Samantha and I spent yesterday two period's importing the rest of what we have of our music video from Jack's video camera and editing what we could. I'm really pleased with how our music really goes with the footage:D

We couldn't do a huge amount as we still need to do a fair bit of filming however we have found someone who owns an acoustic guitar so we should be able to shoot the Bob Dylan singing scene amongst many others hopefully this weekend.

Editing

Samantha and I went after school on Friday to start some editing even though we haven't finished filming just yet. We started on our video blog first where we just imported it all however as we looked back on it, our voices were much deeper than what they should be. If we cannot get this sorted out we may have to re-do it.

We left editing our vblog for the mean time and started on our actual music video. As we spent too much time trying to import and sort out our vbolg, all we could really do is import our music video for now. We cannot really begin the editing process properly anyway, not until we have completed filming it all!

Filming-part 2

Yesterday, Samantha, Jack and I went to Romford and did abit more filming. We went into Debenhams however as we didn't have our tripod to do steady shots, we instead came up with doing it in a home video style where Jack (or Warhol) would film Samantha (Edie) going around and wanting to purchase various items. This highlights how young, rich and happy Sedgewick was in her early days with Warhol before the drug abusing.

In some clips, i tried to capture how controlling Warhol was over Sedgewick such as him choosing what she should wear and putting his hand over hers. We can see how uncomfortable Sedgewick is with this display of affection and domination and cares more about modelling and fashion in those times instead of being in love. Most of the shots however had to filmed by Jack to get it all done from his direction looking upon Sedgwick.

We got most of the Debenhams footage however as we moved onto filming in a coffee shop, our battery on the camera ran out. Luckily, Jack had his camera on him and allowed us to film some on his in the mean time.

We should be importing and editing what we have so far on Friday and carry on filming the rest throughout next week=)

Finally began Filming

Yesterday, Samantha and I finally filmed a small part of our video where she is acting under the influence of drugs and Warhol is filming her but couldn't do that much because we're having troubles finding an Andy Warhol and Jack who'll will be playing the role of Dylan was busy. We're also having problems finding significant props such as a guitar and another camera. Hopefully we'll get all this sorted out very soon so we can continue filming the rest.

We also did a vblog which involved myself asking Samantha questions about our music video. When we get a chance we'll edit it on imovie and put it on here too.

Vblog/Animatic

Today, we were supposed to do our video blog, explaining our ideas. Unfortuanately I forgot to bring our camera to school therefore we were unable to do so. Our plan B was to use the camera on the computers in the media room but as other students were beginning to edit their vblogs or music videos, it was too noisy for anyone to hear our dialogue.

Therefore, during our double period we spent the first half sending our storyboard illustrations to the computer (the bluetooth finally worked) and ordering them into an animatic onto Imovie. We also added titles at the beginning and the song we are going to have for the real thing. However the intro of the song is quite long and our animatic is short so the lyrics are not heard in this example. Here it is:




The second half we planned our vblog and built up a small script to what we may say. We came up with different ideas of how to present this vblog such as having a Q&A session and adding pictures to illustrate our characters.

This saturday, we should be finally filming. We cannot delay it any longer. We are having problems finding an Andy Warhol but if we cannot find one before tomorrow, we'll just shoot parts that he isnt needed in!

Magazine Advertisements

Another part of our coursework is to promote our music video and more importantly, to raise the profile of Gary Robert's through Magazine adverts.

My research into previous band advertisements has illustrated to me how we could present our solo artist and his song in the most appealing way to the public.

It's difficult to place our advert to a particular genre of magazine; but there isn't a limited amount of choice:

Though Gary Robert's is an acoustic/ folk musician, there's a kind of soft rock sound to his music aswell therefore I believe his single can be promoted in popular magazines such as NME and Q.
As these magazines have such a high profile with its readers, Roberts will get noticed quite quickly by a larger audience. Take NME magazine for example, it features alot of new music that is soon or has been released therefore perfect for our new artist. Furthermore, their main genre focus’s are indie, rock, new rave and any bands which may have an out of the ordinary sound.

To illustrate:
Common aspects of music magazine:

-Images of band/ solo artists

-Music reviews

-Interviews with artists

-Bold colours

-Large prints

-Profiles of Musicians

-Background stories



Ideas:
Taking this in consideration, its given me ideas on how to present our advertisement. The main headline of the magazine will "Gary Roberts" in very bold letters and then in smaller text just underneath his name will be a quote as an insight into what the interview would be like inside.

A picture of Roberts will be taking up most of the front cover which means there is less room in the remaining areas to put in any other information inside but we'll manage to feature the most important pieces of information about him such as his single and what reviews he may have been given for it.

The colour scheme of the front page will be the same as the video; black and white and maybe the occasional coloured text around his image to draw in the audience of the man in the middle.

Non-music Magazines

Another possibility to where we could advertise Robert's single could be a non music magazine like "Glamour". This is where we wouldn't draw upon the personal identity of Robert's himself but focus more on what his video features and that is the glamourous and fashionable Edie Sedgewick.


We would present a still image from the video on the front page of Sedgewick and underneath write something on the lines of her being featured in a video from a brand new solo artist.

She could even be the special featured model who will overrun alot of inside pages where there be interviews from G.Robert's, re-living Sedgewick's fashion and quotes from her and even awareness on drugs.

Risk Assessment

Sir gave us a list of health and safety rules we must take in consideration and follow when filming our music video.

-No filming in inappropriate locations

-Check safety of locations e.g. roads

-Minimize risk of theft of equipment

-When filming on location, ensure teacher and responsible adult know where you are and have your telephone no. and tell them when you will return

-Check all equipment working before you leave

-Ensure you have permission for filming if necessary

-Always film with at least one other person

Updates

Firstly,

Gary Roberts has been emailing Samantha with details and updates on the song we want to use whilst we've been researching and preparing to starting filming. His latest email basically tells us that he has touched up the song and will send it to us in a couple of days, you can read it here:














Secondly,

We are having problems doing our animatic at the moment. When we completed our storyboard, we uploaded the pictures on the PC but when Samantha went home and put them onto "Windows Movie Player", it wouldn't upload onto her blog.

As we try to solve this problem, here is pictures as proof that we have done our storyboard:






























Lastly,

Samantha finally made the date for filming- Sunday 22nd November!

I know it is very close to our due date and it will take us a while to edit but Samantha is working unfortunately this weekend. However we have found our Andy Warhol:)...our fellow media classroom friend Jack Stone. So we'll be trekking around our area filming with him next Sunday.

Filming delayed

Due to busy schedules in the half term and illnesses since then, Samantha and I have found it difficult to fit in a full days work on our music video therefore we have delayed filming for the time being. Hopefully we'll be able to shoot it in a week's time.

Audiences and Audience Theory

We will now go on to consider:
-Suture
-Feminist Film Theory and Audience

Suture

Classical Hollywood narrative and editing "sutures" or positions the audience in certain ways making only one "preferred" reading possible, however unconscious the audience is of that position.
(This links with the reception theory- Dominant)

We looked at the film "Crash" to illustrate this theory. In particular a scene which would definately have an emotional impact and draw us all in on this.

Embedding has been disabled so find the clip on here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6PQgJ-Qcg8


Feminist Film Theory and Audiences

-Created by Laura Mulvey
-Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975)

Her argument:

-Cinema reflects society
-Therefore cinema reflects a patriarchal society (society ruled by and in the interest of men)
-How does a patriarchal society manifest itself in cinema?

An example:

-Patriarchy and Phallocentrism are linked.
-The phallus is the symbol of power.
-Note how guns are used in films
-Guns = Phallus = Power












The Gaze
-The "gaze" of the camera is the male "gaze"
-The male gaze is active, the female passive
-Within the narrative, male characters direct their gaze towards female characters.

-The spectator is made to identify with the male look because the camera films from the optical, as well as libidinal, point of view of the male character.
-This three levels of the cinematic gaze- Camera, Character and the Spectator- that objectify the female character (the triple gaze).

-Therefore the audience is constructed as though everyone was male.
-Women are forced to look as though they were a male audience member.

Example: James Bond


Agency
-In the classical Hollywood cinema, the male protagonist has agency- he is active and powerful.
-He is the agent around whom the dramatic action unfolds.
-The female character is passive and powerless- she is the object of desire for protagonist and audience.

Erotic Desire
-Mulvey argue that women have two roles in a film;
1) As an object of erotic desire for the characters.
2) As an object of erotic desire for the audience.

Digipak- Ideas

Right back in September we were given the task of having to complete our music video, a website design and advertisement for our video all by December however as it seems everyone is having difficulties with just their filming let alone editing it afterwards, Sir has given us an extension for everything to be completed by February.

He has also changed the idea from us designing a website to designing a Digipak which seems less of a challenge but more of the fun:)

Our music video still needs to be completed by December but in the mean time here area faw pictures that I got inspiration from and may become useful for our own design.

Example of a Digipak:


Definition:

"Digipak is a patented style of compact disc or DVD packaging"










Ideas for our Digipak:

For the front cover:



















Or something like this?...



















I love the techniques of these. It really highlights either the film star that Edie was but her expression captures how trapped she was in such an environment or how fun her character was where not all her pictures had to be serious and model-like.
I would love Samantha to imitate these pictures for our cover!

Bob Dylan- One inside panel:

Dylan obviously was very creative when it came to his album covers however some were just very plain and simple with just a headshot of him or himself and his guitar.









Something like this is what i would like for one of our panels:



This picture stood out with its simpleness. The guitar symbolises Dylans love of music but his agonised expression can be linked to his lost of Edie.

Jack can imitate this picture!








Andy Warhol- 2nd inside panel




Just frighteningly mysterious. Perfect portrayal.












Final Panel- Love Triangle

Preparation

This half term, Samantha and I should finally begin filming!!

Before then, ive been doing as much research as i possibly can and have came up with a few ideas for our video.

Firstly, with the first lyrics being "Let me paint a picture", i thought it would be a good idea to get a pencilled or painted sketch of Edie from the internet and let that be the first image shown followed by Warhol in the midst of painting it with the real version of Edie (Samantha) in the background in the exact same position of the picture; depending on whether its a head or full body shot.

Here's a possible selection of sketches/paintings i found that we may use in the video:



A large headshot of Edie?


















Or a smaller one in colour?


















Or an unfinished painting?












Edie Sedgewick's real voice- her views:

I then remembered a technique used in "Factory Girl"- where they used the real voice of Edie Sedgewick and put it in the film throughout as a voice over. This made me think of using something Edie had said quickly about herself or her views on an issue right at the end of our video, just as the music fades out. This would give our video some more significance and make what she had said more meaningful and upsetting.

I searched around Youtube for any clips that had her speaking in it and found some documentaries where she spoke on love and drugs-which is what we are portraying in our video.
The two samples I found with the most significance were these:

Edie Sedgewick talk about love






Though her speech is 30 seconds long, that may be too long. If we were to use this i would suggest to cut out the first 10 seconds and use the last 20 seconds because you still get the basic outline of what she is saying.


Edie Sedgewick Interview




Obviously most of this clip isnt needed but the little speech from 50 seconds to 1:04 "I got my first introduction to heavy drugs at the factory...i would like to turn the whole world on just for a moment, just for a moment"I had found really heartbreaking, especially as it's slightly slurred and therefore agonising to listen to as it illustrates how she wasnt in control of herself and the state she was in was all because of the factory.

Technical Skills:

In class sir gave us a list of skills that is expected in every candidates music video in order for them to achieve the highest possible grade. Whilst studying the list, we analysed several previous music videos from robert clack students and graded them from matching up what they succeeded to do from the list. Most of them did demonstrate excellence in the creative use of the skills.
Here is the following technical skills required:

-Holding a shot steady, where appropiate,
-Framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropiate,

-Using a variety of shot distances as appropiate,

-Shooting material appropiate to the task set,

-Selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figurem lighting, objects and setting,
-Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer,

-Using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively and appropiate,

-Using sound with images and editing appropiately for the task.

Overview:

Name of Track: Let Me Paint a Picture

Artist(s): Gary Roberts

Name(s) of student(s) in group: Samantha Waite
Shelley Corney

Initial research and target audience:

-We looked at other videos portraying Edie Sedgewick's life visually(using look-alike actresses) or lyrically. Usually would be a montage of her.
-We listened to Bob Dylan's songs dedicated to or about her to get an idea of genre for our music.
-Our audience would be people from the 60's/70's who remember the era/model well and also teenage girls who follow the glamorous fashion and lifestyle of Sedgewick.

Outline Ideas:

Portraying Edie's life under 4 minutes; involving
-Andy's Warhol's art and obsession/close friendship with Edie
-Edie's fun lifestyle- partying, fashion, modelling, actress etc.
-Her downfall- drug use
-Dylan's disapproval/love for her

What resources will you need? (include actors, props and artist)

Two men to play the roles of Warhol and Dylan to display their rivalry
A woman to play Sedgewick- Samantha
Props- Guitar for the acoustic solo of Dylan, art work, drugs, 60's clothes items, alcohol and syringe, wigs, cam recorder etc.
Settings- Bedroom, art-room, restaurant. alleyway etc.

Audience Theory

Three questions to be asked;

1) Why do audience choose to consume certain texts?
2) How do they consume texts?
3) What happens when they consume texts?

There are three theories of audience that we can apply to help us come to a better understanding about the relationship between texts and audience.

1)The Effects model or Hypodermic Model
2)The Uses and Gratifications Model
3)Reception Theory

Other evidence for Effects Model

The "Frankfurt School" theorised in the 1920's and 30's that the mass media acted to restrict and control audience to the benefit of corporate capitalism and governments.

Key examples sited as causing or being contributory factors are:

"Clockwork Orange" (1971) in a number of rapes and violent attacks.

"Severance" (2006) in the murder of Simon Everitt.

-In each case there was a media and political outcry for the texts to be banned.
-Laws were changed, films banned and newspaper demanded the burnings of DVD's.
-Subsequently it was found that no case could be proven to demonstrate a link between the text and the violent acts.

The effects model contributes to moral panics whereby:
-The media produces inactivity, make us into students who wont pass their exams or "couch potatoes" who makesno effort to get a job.
-The media produces violent "copycat" behaviour or mindless shopping in response to advertisement- "Shake and Vac Advert"

The Uses and Gratifications Model

-It is unclear that there is any link between the consumption of violent media texts and violent imitative behaviour.
-It is also said the Effects model is flawed as many people do watch text and appear not to be influenced.
-Therefore a new theory is necessary.
-This is called the Uses and Gratifications Model.

This is the opposite of the Effects Model!
-The audience is active
-The audience uses the text and is not used by it
-The audience uses the text for it own gratification or pleasure.

Here, the power lies with the audience and NOT the producers. The theory emphasises what audiences do with media texts- how and why they use them. Far from being duped by the media the audience is free to reject, use or play with media meanings as they see fit.

Audiences therefore use media texts to gratify needs for:
-Diversion
-Escapism
-Information
-Pleasure
-Comparing relationships and lifestyles with one's own.
-Sexual simulation

The audience is in control and comsumption of the media helps people with issues such as:
-Learning
-Emotional Satisfaction
-Relaxation
-Helps with issues of personal identity
-Helps with issues of social identity
-Helps with issues of aggression and violence

Controversially the theory suggests the consumption of violent images can be helpful rather than harmful. The theory suggests that audiences act out their violent impulses through the consumption of media violence. The audience's inclination towards violent is therefore sublimated and they are less likely to commit violent acts.

Reception Theory

Given that the Effects Model and the Uses and Gratificiations Model have their problems and limitations, a different approach to audiences was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the 1970's.

This considered how texts were encoded with meaning by producers and then decoded by audience.

The Theory suggests that:
-When a producer constructs a text, it is encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience.
-In some instances, audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was trying to say.
-In some instances the audience will either reject or fail to correctly understand the message.

Hall identified three types of audience readings (or decoding) of texts:
1) Dominant
2)Negotiated
3)Oppositional

Dominant
Where audience decodes the message as the producer wants you to decode them and broadly agrees with it.
E.g Watching a political speech and agreeing with it.

Negotiated
Where the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views.
E.g Neither agreeing or disagreeing with the political speech or being disinterested.

Oppositional
Where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for Cultural, Political or Ideological reasons.
E.g Total rejection of the political speech and active opposition.

Case Study 2- The Murder of James Bulger

This is another example which can back up the The Effects Model Theory. Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were thought to of murdered Bulger under the influence of the film "Childs Play 3" in 1993. Its been suggested and linked that the two boys acted out what they had seen from this violent film onto the defenceless two year old.

However there has been no evidence that the two 10 year old boys had ever even seen the film and it has been known that they both came from neglected and abusive backgrounds which may have been the cause of their violent outbreak. Therefore it needs to be asked; was it actually the film or the years of abuse that created this murder?

Its also greatly believed that politicans only put blame onto this film in order to cover up their own failure on not picking up upon the poor systems that was going on in society e.g. social services not visiting abusive households frequently.

Overall it had to be said that the boys must have been mentally unstable in order to participate in such a crime as they were at an age where they could think rationally and know right from wrong. A film could not have made such an impact that it forced them into killing another innocent being.

However there has been experiments in the past to try and prove The Effects Model. In particular one done in the 1960's by Albert Bandurn called "The Bobo Experiment" which explains about aggression.

Aggression must explain three aspects:
1) How aggression patterns of behaviour are developed
2) What provokes people to behave aggressively
3) What determines whether they are going to continue to resort to an aggressive behaviour patterns on future occassions.

The Experiment- Children witness a woman aggressively attack a plastic clown called the Bobo Doll. After the video, the children were placed in a room with attractive toys but they couldn't touch. Therefore the children become angry and frustrated which they use to take out on the identical toys used in the Bobo video.

88% of the children imitated the aggressive behaviour!!!



There are 3 major flaws in this experiment i believe to dismiss this idea about text violence being linked with replicating it.
1) The children were being intentionally provoked beforehand therefore are going to need to take out their frustration somehow afterwards
2) There wasn't much else you could do with a Bobo doll other than push it whereby it will immediately right back up which will make the children want to push it again- Its all part of the game.
3) If the children were given a hammer and a gun and they know what their purposes are then of course they are going to use them in the exactly way. A Bobo Doll is a perfect toy for them to use these items on.

I also highly doubt that if Banburn put a real human being in the room with the child instead of the Bobo doll that the child would use the weapons on them to outlet their frustration. Because the doll was in fact a toy, the children knew they couldnt harm it and therefore no crime is being commited.

In conclusion i find this experiment to be unreliable. To the extent that violent texts could be influential enough to replicate isout the of question; there are plently of other reasons and causes of these to why crimes are commited.

27th September- Photos

Samantha as Edie Sedgwick :)


Samantha and I began to take photos to see the outcome of what our video may look like when we dp begin filming, we wanted to get the right 60's look to give it some authencity; like a dress rehersal. We could also use these pictures for our CD cover and website design and even put them in the background for our video.

We first had to go into Romford to get a few props for the photo. We were meant to get a blonde wig however couldnt find any of the right colour or shape so ended up just putting Samantha's hair up and as the pictures will be black and white there shouldnt be a major difference!
I experimented with make up; but mainly focused on Samantha's eyes. It was the false eyelashes that was most challenging. The glue kept drying so the lashes didnt stay on for very long.

However we finally took some photos, mostly agaisnt Samantha's black wall so when Samantha edited the colouring later to black and white, her self would stand out more.

Here are a few samples: Im really pleased with how they turnt out!!

Audience Theory

Today in class, sir asked us two questions;
1) What happens when we consume media texts?
2) Why do we consume the media texts that we do?

Before considering these questions we looked at a model of the media with given examples from around the room to show our understanding. The model goes like this;

The text (such as music, film, radio, television, newspapers, websites etc) is what the audience consumes. We have to consider what, why and how the audience consumes these texts as well. The audience then makes a financial transaction to a particular institution (such as BBC, MTV, Disney, Capital, Microsoft, EA, Sky etc) who in returns produces the text they want.

We also discussed issues surrounding this which would damage this media cycle. For example illegal downloads or piracy. If the audience are finding new ways where they do not pay institutions (they may be able to get it for free or cheaper somewhere else) then it is the institution that is suffering as no money is coming in from the text they have produced; and therefore no profit to go onto making new texts in the future. Take Dreamworks for example, if they spend £12 and half million on a film, they are then going to need to make more than 12 and half million in return in order to make a profit. They may have to price cinema tickets and DVD's very high (alongside selling soundtracks and other promotional merchandise) if their audience number is low which will only result in the audience turning to piracy and such.

Other institutions have found solutions into making money none the less. Take a music institution for example, if their Cd's aren't selling because of illegal downloads than concerts are normally a successful way into gradually getting money in. Most people are prepared to pay a large amount if it meant they would see their idol up close and personal. However this is very time consuming and exhausting to do it frequently so doesn't happen often!

Afterwards sure asked us to think of a thriller/horror film which had effected us and why. My one was the film "The Evil Dead" which was actually banned for the cinema. I saw a scene from it once before on the 100 greatest scariest films then a few years later watched about 20 minutes of it with Samantha and had to turn it off!! It just shows how much a film can disturb you.

Sir then put this into context with the effect model;


The Effects Model:

This theory suggests that the consumption of media texts effects (often adversely) the audience. The audience is influenced, sometimes to replicate what they have consumed.
Also known as "The Hypodermic Syringe Model"-
Here the audience is passive. The images of the text are "injected" directly into the brain and the audience is powerless to resist.

Evidence of this;

Case Study: The Murder of Stefan Pakeerah

It is believed that Warren Leblanc murdered his friend Stefan Pakeerah by imitating the attack strategies from the controversial violent game "Man Hunt" in which he became obssessed with. Coincidently the game suddenly got increasingly significant demands once it was removed from UK branches such as Game and Dixons.

Research- Music Videos

In class on Wednesday we looked at music video's made from former Robert Clack students. They were shown for the purpose of giving us ideas on what we could potentially produce. Sir showed us in particular ones who got an A grade so we could see what standard our music videos need to be at in order to do just as well. The few that stood out to me were:

I Live For Speed- Star Stangles

What i enjoyed in this video was the quick straight cuts which went well with the fast music. The student's simply edited in a way which represented their song's title and it really did work. I also liked their many close ups of the instruments to show their passion for rock n roll and music overall. The fast forward effects also captures teenagers lifestyles where they start a riot for no good reason but to endure a sensation of adrenaline and freedom.

Movies of Myself

Two groups of students used this same song but it shows how the lyrics can be interpreted differently to give completely different performances.

The first music video (by Elizabeth Ellis and Keeley Brien) did a simple story about how a girl spends her time. She shot it on an Essex Coast in one day but cleverly changes outfits to give the allusion of it being days. There are various quick cuts of her with her friend in the past tense. The quick cuts really go well at one point when the two girls are in a photobooth; this fast editing can be associated with their pictures being taken. One really positive comment about this video aswell is that the girl lip syncs in the foreground all the way through which is a really hard thing to do in itself and then edit afterwards but the timing is perfect.

The second music video (by Jodie, Natalie and Lana) was more imaginative. One of the girls begins with looking in a scrapbook which contains pictures of her and her friends in different areas of london. However as the camera zooms into one of the pictures, the freeze frame become real life, in that exact same place and with the same people. The whole video continues to do this technique which really emphasizes the girl's love of that day out and their friendship. I particulary enjoyed them capturing the iconic landscapes of London to give it that British status. There are however a few negative elements. The lip syncing wasnt that great, the camera was shakey at times and sometimes the editing was too slow which didn't go really well with the music. But overall it was one of the most memorable videos.

Simple Kid- Hello

This was an excellent video!!! Throughout it, a reverse effect was used which made it all the more original and most clever. The lip syncing was absolutely perfect aswell even though the entire video was almost all the time in that reversed order. At one stage the colour scheme changed completely to black and white but a pink ribbon that the boy was playing around with was still showing its colour! The whole video was cleverly thought through which gave its most memorable and best performance.

Final update on top 100 music videos

This is the last addition of music videos that we analysed in class. The several the stood out to me were:

The Verve- "Bitter Sweet Symphony"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx3m4e45bTo

This video is an imitation of the Massive Attack video where there is one whole continuous shot all the way through but there is a huge contrast in the style between them. Originally called "Unfinished Sympathy", and shot in LA, the video features the lead vocalist Shara Nelson walking along the sidewalk, unaware of her surroundings which include drunks, gangs and bikers. However the way she sings and walks is done with such emotion to show how much she cares about her surroundings. Whereas The verve gives a more British/ rock twist whereby Ashcroft is lip-syncing as he is striding down a busy London sidewalk; basically walking with purpose, with attitude. He is determined not to break this pace and is oblivious to what is going on around him. This is a perfect example to show where we come from dictates how we act!

Madonna- "Like a Prayer"



This is a very controversial video in which Madonna associates religion with sexual Ecstasy- "cleavage with crucifix" to many people dismay. Despite this however there is a message behind it; to show how children should behave and what is right from wrong. The story line is basically an innocent man (assumed by many to be Jesus) being charged with rape and Madonna being a witness to him being wrongly accused. She then goes to church to seek help and finally finds the answer which sets the man free.

Queen- Bohemian Rhapsody

When this video was released it became hugely popular with its many creative techniques in a sense of it being in the style of a stream-of-consciousness nightmare that has unusual song structure. It is more akin to a classical rhapsody than popular music. Although it is lyrically impossible to understand, it just goes to show the video aspect of things is what made it such a commercial success!

Aha- "Take On Me"



This video begins with a story of a girl leading an ordinary life; shes in a cafe reading a motorcycle magazine which comic drawings of the motorcycle models. However she's thrown into this extra ordinary situation when a man (who is the lead vocalist of the band) from the magazine comes alive and reaches out to the woman to join him in his fantasy world. When the song was originally released it sanked without a trace however when it was re-released with the video it sold millions which just goes to show a video can really add value to the song.

More pop videos

Three more music videos i found in being very significant and each using one thing in common; emotion!!!

Johnny Cash "Hurt"




There are various cut footage of Johnny Cash years and years back; really its a montage of his life and he is presently, in his old age, showing his attitude and thoughts in the 4 minutes he has. This video plays on the heart strings with the close shots of Cash and his wife with their sad expressions and teary eyes; there is no effort being made to hide their fraility. Also the acoustic style really makes it personal which we want to use for our video.


Sinead O'Connor "Nothing compares to you"



The framing here has been very cleverly used here, as it is cropped around her face the audienced is forced to look into O'Connor's eyes which as time goes by, becomes more intense and tearful.It Captures her vunerability and we, as viewers, become just as emotional understanding her in this state. It is really one of those videos that add value to the song.

Radiohead "No Surprises"



This is a very compelling video to watch as its entirety is focused on Tom York's face. It's tense at first and we know something is arriving when he remains still and lyrics is the only thing moving on screen. Then it becomes this unbelievably powerful but unsettling image of York drowning which though is vry distressing for him and for us, it once again adds value to the song which also becomes more meaningful.

Artist Replies!!

Samantha received an email from Gary Roberts giving us his permission to use his song!!!

This is evidence of his reply:

As the text is too small to read from the image; it says

"Hi thanx for the email, i would be glad for you to use it, which song is it that you heard? The songs on there aren't of fantastic quality as they are only demos but i am in the studio in a week getting them mixed properly so i could email you with it or you can download the one you heard if you like, let me know how things go, thanx again."

New artist

Although I had Samantha's approval to use Carl Haucks song "Dissociation", the more i replayed the song, the more i felt it wouldn't suit our idea for the video itself. It seemed too slow whereas our shots will be fairly quicker. Therefore we began to search through the "Acoustic" genre together for a new artist and came across a guy called "Gary Roberts" who also specialises in folk and alternative. The song we found is called"Let me paint a picture" which we can use in the sense of Andy Warhol artwork of Edie and Bob Dylan not physically designing art himself but showing his own perspective of Edie and how he see's the world in front of him. Theres also a repetition of the lyrics "And you go get so high" which we can use to show Edie's drug abuse and Dylan's disapproval of this.

Check out the rest of the song here; http://www.unsigned.com/garyroberts

Samantha has emailed Roberts for his approval however if we dont recieve a response soon, we'll still be able to use his music since it isn't copyrighted! We just like to know we have his permission though.

Update: 100 greatest pop videos

In class, we looked at more different pop videos to gain any ideas and techniques we could use when filming our video. There were several which stood out to me, they were:

"Cry" by Godley and Creme

The concept of the music video was to get as many different people to sing the song in front of the camera to show how it doesn't matter where you come from around the world nor who you actually are as everyone can endure the same emotions. Its fasinating to watch aswell as Godley and Creme use the wiping technique which allows two faces at one stage to morph into each other to design a whole new face. This can be known as "Video Genetics"

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

"All Is Full of Love" by Bjork

The video is all about Bjorks love for someone and that love is all around you. Although Bjork plays the role of a robot, she can still feel certain emotions; love is something that you cannot be unwholly unfelt. The sounds in the music video were inspired by machines aswell. The visuals in the video also how really sensual Bjork music really is.



"Ray of Light" by Madonna

This video was a way of re-inventing herself and it simply shows a casual day in 4 minutes; which means fast fowarding everything in the background whilst having Madonna singing in the foreground. The techinque in doing this is called "Time-Lapse" and really goes with the fast speed of her music aswell.



"Subterranean Homesick Blues" by Bob Dylan

It's so graphically simple but effective. The way Dylan throws away the lyrics as if he really doesn't care about it makes the video completely cool and casual. It only shows Dylans laidback nature alongside his folk genre music. The video is so inspirational, its been copied in other adverts and music videos too!

Also its allowed myself and Samantha to consider using black and white for our 60's/70's style music video!


"Window Licker"- Aphex Twin

It begins looking like a typical RnB music video but becomes very surreal when Richard D. James comes into the picture. He imitates Michael Jacksons dance rountine and style then has two women, who accompany him in the video, have their faces morph into James likeness. Unlike "Cry" where this technique is used, it just makes it more bizarre and extremely egotistical.


"Praise you"- Fatboy Slim

Its very much enjoyable to watch a music video in a television format. Everything seems more realistic and therefore with its mocking variety of dances, more humourous. The music goes really well with the speed and styles of dancing aswell.

Unsigned.com

I was looking around www.unsigned.com at different artists and mostly focused on acoustic/folk/rock genres, when i came across a man called "Carl Hauck" who focused mainly with folk and experimenting with his work. Carl Hauck is a guitarist and songwriter and has been praised many times by the media, mostly calling him a poet. From the range of songs i listened to, I particulary enjoyed a song of his called "dissociation" from his 2005 album; both the tune, style and lyrically.

I found many things in common with the artist and the elements within our video such as Hauck coming from the USA and us wanting to establish an american vibe to it since our are characters are

Not only is the genre something of which Bob Dylan would use back in the 80's but there were also other things parrallel with the artist, its music and what we want to suit our video idea. Since Edie and Dylan were american, its great we'll have a singing voice to mime with who comes from Illinois. Furthermore, the song subject can in some ways reflect upon Dylan and Edie's relationship and coming from the song title "Dissociation"; meaning in our terms how Dylan had to "dissociate" himself from Edie and her outrageous lifestyle; it will help us know the starting point for our video.

Various lines in the songs can be interpretated in a way to match our storyline aswell;
[lyrics]
He eats turkey for tradition, not the taste,
uses old movie lines as he touches her face
figures everybody's got a lover on the big screen
prefers his love advice from old Jim Beam

'Cuz beauty's in an empty bottle
as long as its contents are traveling through his insides

She's just never tasted right, but there's cocaine on her lips.
It's sad to hear him claim a thing when he's never felt it.
It's hard for him to deal with those stages in between
when the logic kicks in called sobriety

'Cuz beauty's in an empty bottle
as long as its contents are traveling through his insides

Is there any cure for this second brain?
Is there any cure for this second brain?
What is true? Love or lust?
What is true? Love or lust?
Tell him what is true. Tell him what is true.
Tell him what is true. Tell me what is true.
'Cuz I'm lying to this thing you call God,
and I'm lying to your friends,
and I'm lying to myself again,
and I'm lying to you.

check out the song here: http://www.unsigned.com/carlhauck

This isn't the definate song we'll use as i still need approval from Samantha that she also wants to use it; if she agrees to it then we can begin to come up with ideas from listening to the song together and begin our video.

Music dedicated to Edie Sedgwick

Edie has been referenced many times in popular music; mostly post death.

Someway or other it seems many bands have taken either the face of Edie to put as the cover of their albums or into a montage style in their music videos. Others have just lyrically place her in their music; either way it shows how much of an icon Edie became.

I studied three particular video's, that concentrated on and portrayed differently with Edie, which should give me ideas when finding the music and filming for my video.

The cult-"Edie (Ciao Baby)"


What i enjoyed about the video was it not only being in a hard rock style which i hadnt heard of before (only in an american folk style or soft rock) but also the band using an "Edie-Double" to make it clearer who there song is on about. The various clips of the Edie-double is what i would like to demonstrate in my piece but there will be more dedication with the stages of her life. I also liked the use of violins for a hard rock genre to give it a more classier feel to it.







Furious Apples- "Girl on Fire"



Though this isn't the official music video of "Girl on Fire", I still particularly enjoyed the whole montage dedicated on Edie Sedgwick. Everything about the video rings how glamorous and an artistic sensation she became which is the message i would like to bring across. The English band also did it in an Indie genre which is something more of my taste.



The Velvet Underground- "Femme Fatale"

(Though the enbedding has been disabled, you can find the video by this link; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjjDmX9Tkss)

The message the song is trying to bring across about Edie is all in the name-"femme fatale" which means an irrisistably attractive woman who leads men into dangerous situations. Whether this is true about Edie can be debated however it shows another way she was seen and therefore a different way she was portrayed by another band. This song isn't all about Edie's appearance like other songs but makes a strong argument on who she really was underneath the glamour and angel like smiles. The music video i found was done in an acoustic style and what i particulary enjoyed was it being sung by a woman which differs from men who were most likely sexually driven to dedicate their songs on Edie.

Unsigned.com-finding our music

I was given this website- www.unsigned.com- since the other one(newgrounds.com) didnt have exactly our taste in music lyrically.
However unsigned.com gives a wider range of music from ordinary people who havent been signed up to any music company just yet therefore it will allow us to use their music without permission.

The great thing about the website is that there is a whole load of genres to choose from and some times an artist will have a collaboration of 2 or more genres. A piece of music isnt always the same.

I find it easy to search for the genres we want from inspiring Bob Dylan however as we have already ideas for what will be portrayed in the video, there are some difficulties in finding lyrics to go with our video. It needs to have words that somehow match what either Dylan or Warhol think/feel about Edie, most likely after her death so perhaps its lyrically on about missing her or loving the way she was.
It needs to be beautifully written (somehow related) and have the style Dylan would have chosen it to be.

Planning- Edie Sedgwick

The other day i was watching "Factory Girl" and got the idea of doing a music video on Edie Sedgwick and portraying her life in it.



What first inspired me was her relationship to Bob Dylan and for him to dedicate two of his songs to her; which were

"Just like a woman"



"Leopard-Skin Pill-Skin"




From these songs, it has inspired us to use Dylan's style of music in our music video to illustrate the relationship between Dylan and Edie.

As we cant use copyright music, we cant use these songs for our video but from researching Dylan's genre of music, we're thinking of a soft rock/country/folk ballet to go with the video. We want it in an acoustic style whereby we would get a male friend of ours to play the role of either Bob Dylan or Andy Warhol (who also had a close relationship with Edie) to sing on their own with just a guitar.
The subject matter must also portray edie's tragic lifestyle, her young death and/or love for her from the men in her life. We want to add happy aspects of her life aswell where she grew independently away from her conventional roots and found fame and become a style icon.
The year the video will be set in 1950's/60's and 70's aswell.

Samantha will be playing the role of Edie and a male friend of ours will be playing the role as either Dylan or Warhol!!!

Music for our video

Sir also gave us a website yesterday which my group could use if we were to select our own uncopyright music and not from the list the media department had chose for us.

This website is; www.newgrounds.com

We are still in the process of selecting the song we want however if we find the song by next week with our teachers approval hopefully we'll be able to start filming our video in the summer holidays!!!!

The 100 greatest pop videos

Yesterday we began looking at "The 100 greatest pop videos" to look out for such things as, the purpose of the video e.g. is it the message they send out, is it just for entertainment (e.g. containing humour visually and lyrically), does it have a plot or is it in an art form? etc... and we also looked out for the conventions which will give us ideas for our own music video.

With the videos we had time to watch, I selected the ones i believed had the most importance. These were:

Musical Youth- "Pass the Dutchie" (1982)


Musical Youth was the first black band to appear on MTV. "Pass the Dutchie" explores the issue of race and is basically telling a story about smoking drugs. The young people in the video had the difficulty of illustrating this in a way which wouldn't seem offensive or controversial howevery they made it into a humorous play on words song to bring out a message of them being "happy users".

Bronski Beats- "Small Town Boy"


Bronski Beats was an openly gay band and used their sexuality to produce "Small Town Boy" in which they tell a story about a boy who is finding it difficult being openly gay himself because of his homophobic community. However he cannot seem to escape temptation with all men around him. The video goes deeper with exploring the prejudice and abuse the boy suffers for his sexuality however Bronski Beats demonstrates that being gay doesn't make you any different than if you were hetrosexual!!

Cornershop- "Brimful of Asha" (1988)

(video could not be found)

Cornershop cleverly advertised themselves in the video with their band name and it's song branded on all the records shown in different fonts, styles, colours (primary to be more effective and noticable) and angles so they wouldn't be easily forgotten.

Pet Shop Boys- "Go West"


Director Paul Greenhalgh commented it as "a form of commercial art" and also said it allowed directors like himself alot of freedom to experiment in their videos.

Talking Heads- "Once in a lifetime" (1981)

(video could not be found)

The lead vocal singer became a inspiration to art form after this video was shot. He used abstract ideas and put these into his movements. The video is all about not being in control of your life and is now exhibited in art galleries.

Friday 19th- Music Video Generic Conventions

Yesterday in lesson, sir showed us music videos on youtube in order to illustrate to the class what kind of conventions are used and the different sort of ways they are portrayed depending usually on it's genre.

The most important conventions that was shown was;

Humour (used in Queen's video "I want to break free")



Special effects (used in Peter Gabriel's video "Sledge Hammer"



Dancing (used in Pussycat's video "When I Grow Up")



Tell a Story (used in Coldplay's video) "The Scientist"



Other conventions that are usually used;

-Singing
-Close up of face
-An art form
-Mise en scene

A2 Advanced Production- Promo Video

Our new task for year 13 is to produce:

-A music "promo" video
-Up to 5 minutes maximum
-Either working in a group up to 4 people (max) or on our own


We'll also need to produce

-A website homepage for the band
-A cover for its release on DVD
-A magazine advertisement for the DVD

AND....

-A critical evaluation
-On a blog
- Including Research and Planning

Wednesday 17th June:

For our double period media lesson, sir asked us various questions concerning music videos and our personal views on them.

Here are a few samples of what we were asked:

1) What are your 3 favourite videos? 

2) Why do you like it?

3) What makes them effective?

4) What do you think is  is the purpose of  a video?

5) How can a video be judged to be successful?

6) What factors must be taken in consideration when planning a video?

Model of the media

-Text

-Audience

-Institution

What are the conventions of the genre

- Story telling

- Unrealistic mise en scene/ special effects

- Lip synching to the music 

- Dancing

- Playing instruments/ microphones

- Bright costumes/ certain appearances

- Background dancers/ singers

Also:

We will be given a selection of tracks from which you have to select one

You will then have to bid to make the video for that track

This will involve considering:

Text

Audience

Institution