Progress

I feel that this year I did not manage my time as well as I could have but nevertheless I feel that I have learnt a lot in this academic year. This time last year I was having trouble catching up with blogs and meeting deadlines, however this time around I believe that my group and my teachers have really helped to better myself and have more confidence in myself. I feel that my writing is more in depth and less vague and my use of technology has improved as apposed to just uploading screen shots and Photos.

Editing - Unfinished

From september up until now I feel that my editing skills have developed on a very major scale. I have been exposed to a wider range of facilities and functions in Final cut pro. I believe that making a music video may be the sole reason as to why my skills have developed. I argue this because in AS I had just started media studies and everything was new to me. Now in A2 I have a steady foundation in editing (a feature of media which I really enjoy) I  am able to expand and widen my knowledge of Final cut pro....

Editing - Following conventions/Order

I believe our video follows the normal conventions of a cliche pop music video. Our Video has cuts which occur on the strong beat of every bar, jump cuts, lighting etc. In terms of how our video follows our pitch, I'd say there are quite a few differences, mainly due to circumstances out of our control e.g Greenwich foot tunnel was initially meant to be for our bridge, but because of a lack of communications we had to change it to our opening which ended up working out in the end. This also meant we needed to replace our bridge location, so we changed it (ironically) to millennium bridge.

After we finished laying down all the base tracks and finished the cutting stage, it gave us time to edit, add different filters to the shots etc.

This shot shows one of the edits I added to a clip at the end of the bridge.
The shot was a result of me filming some scenery at Granary square and turning down
the opacity in final cut, then adding a filter on to the clip of our performer, giving it a broken tv effect.

The shot below was a result of my team mate Djamel filming scenery at millennium bridge at the end of our filming session.

Production: We've come a long way

Through all the difficulties, tight schedules, planning and hard work, we finally made it to the end of our production of the music video. We're very happy with the final result which is a relief after all the commitment that was put towards making this possible!

Below is a video of me and Adara Black (Taija) signing off the table of production completion, indicating the end of this section.

Now it's on to the ancillary work!

Filming issues

Whilst filming, our group encountered many hardship. Due to everyones busy schedules (course work, Jobs ect) me and my group mate Taija had to film the rest of our clips on the monday before the deadline!!!! This meant that we worked hard and didn't goof around and got down to business. We first filmed in the photography studio in college but we where only given 30 minutes to film in there because of lessons and other reasons. However, given the short time which were allocated to film, we where able to obtain some good base base tracks.  After that we went straight to granary square to film our base tracks for the second verse. We had previously travelled to Granary Square to film but due to some maintenance issues, we where unable to film there. So this time when we got there we where able to capture some brilliant base tracks. At the end of our session at Granary we where told we could not film, but it did not affect us, we had done all the filming we needed to.

WE'RE FINISHED

Group 29 have successfully finished there video, which is a big relief. We where able to to finish our video hours before 3:30pm deadline which came comes in handy because it gives us time to relax, blog and reflect on our work.

Production - Progress Review

Now our music video is complete...

Production - Initial Ideas and Notes for Evaluation Q3 and Q4

Screenshots
videos
feedback videos
analysis of my own work

the technologies used are
youtube
final cut
jvc camera
memory cards
prezi


possibly use slideshare and timetoast for good use of technology and more creative presentation

general feedback is positive - possibly ask more people to get more constructive criticism
ancillary needs improvement - ask for feedback about that

evaluation
production
research
planning

Production - Skills Development

Productions - Improvements Needed

Before we submit our final production, there are a few things which need to added and tweaked. We need to finish editing the final shots of the Studio and Granary Square and tidy up the intro/outro with a few editing techniques and make it more exciting. On the whole the main things to make sure are up to scratch is the effects and timing.

Production - Reflection on progress

So far I feel that filming has went well in terms of what footage we have got, however there have been a few slip ups and things have been prevented us from filming. Such as Filming Day 2, the inconvenience of the fountains not working that day, so we had to change our original plan and reschedule another day, therefore we were only able to film at Millennium Bridge, however we were able to get some great footage from there, which looks amazing in the final production. Also the aspect of timing and finding days of which we are all free at the same time was hard to find which meant that filming footage was prolonged. For example getting a day the studio was free was a little more difficult than planned as you had to get permission and the teachers took their time to reply, however Kevin and Taija managed to get a free studio which was ver convenient. With respect to how the filming went when it was done properly was good because everything went according to plan, the costumes were what we planned and they went with the theme of our artist ad the song. The body language as well as the setting were two other aspects that were on point each time of filming. On the whole, production so far has went quite alright.

Production - Feedback on Rough Cut from Target Audience

Production - Notes and Ideas for Evaluation Question 1

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

Woo Hoo: We made it!

Together we made it, We made it even though we had our backs up against the wall...

We done it! The video is DONE! The blog is... but the main point is we have reached the end of this section of the project the next stage is the ancillary work but until then let the celebrations begin.

Micheal Jackson was used of course to emphasise how happy I am but also because he was the king of Pop and we done a pop video... Links, links everywhere :)

Production: Reflection on Skills Developed

Production: The final stages

The end is fast approaching..

Production: Filming Feelings

As we have only just finished our filming I am feeling a bit strapped for time and feeling that we will be in a big panic at the end of it trying to complete blogs and get all the editing done as well as deal with our other commitments. Again I done a podcast to express my feelings about how I feel filming went.

Production - Filming and Editing

With regards to filming and editing, I think it has gone well. we have been able to use some great editing techniques and effects, to emphasise our artist and locations such as Millennium Bridge as it us such as great location.

Production: our actual schedule

The actual production schedule we ran on

The previous production schedule was really just an idea of if everyone was always free. It was rather naive to think that our filming and editing would revolve solely on the production schedule. Now we are drawing to an end of the project I have managed to figure out an exact schedule for Group 29's production of the "Love killer" music video. 

Production: Filming day 3

The final day of filming :)  

This is almost the last of the stress! The final day of filming has finally come, after many set backs and delays the least I could say is that i'm happy to see this day. It was only Myself and Kevin at this filming session but despite this we got a lot done which means we can now fully focus on the editing. 

 

Notes and ideas for evaluation question 1

Production: Evaluation Question 1 Planning

Goodwin 

In terms of industry the plan for our music video is that it was a disjuncture structure and consisted of a performance from one character (Taija aka Adara Black) mostly action that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the lyrics but will contain some subtle links throughout.

We used location and costume repetition in accordance to where we are at in the song for instance: 

Opening half chorus: Location 1 and 2 ( Foot tunnel and studio)

Verse 1: Location 1 (Foot tunnel)

Chorus: Location 2 (Studio)

Verse 2: Location 3 (granary square)

Chorus: Location 2 (studio)

Bridge: Location 4 ( Millenium Bridge)

Chorus: Location 2 (studio)
Chorus/Outro: All Locations

In the ending we have closure and we achieved this by having the artist walk throw the rose heart down and walk away, this links to the song as she is talking about being so in love with someone who is not really the best of people and what we took from this is that at the end the walking away would signify her walking away from that love thus getting closure. 

Mulvey 

The general idea for our music video was to go slightly against Mulvey's theory. However we still incorporated the theory through certain actions such as dancing touching the body and playing with hair, camera movement such as tilting up and down the body, also kind of through costume like the fact the artist will be dressed nicely and look attractive this will help attract the male audience (wider audience). 

Venallis

Our music video follow all the conventions of this theory.

Taking a shot at editing

I took a go at editing some of the clips from the beginning and I believe that I was able to successfully lay down our opening location. I believe the clip was strong because it cut to the beat and had some effects which suited the genre I the song. 

Rough Copy DEADLINE

I believe our rough copy was rather strong but not as strong as it could of been due to our lack of clips. Before our rough copy deadline we only had two locations because of unforeseen circumstances. However, our edits and transitions I believe where really we'll executed. 

Production: editing skills development

From the start of the year up until now, I feel that I have improved in editing in the field of music videos. Last year, I was editing for Thriller films, and this year for music videos. I'm quite sure that editing for music videos involves much more precision, time and attention to detail. The reason being is that music video editing requires marking base tracks in time with the beat of a song, ensuring base tracks are in sync, creating the sequence in which unwanted cuts are cleared and keeping the scenes left to create the music videos. Once satisfied with the sequence, it then allows for an opportunity to fine tune and tweak the sequence to ensure smoothness and remove any other unwanted details. This year, I had discovered there are a wide variety of filters and correctors to use for the music video, such as lighting correction as we had some dark shots during filming at Millenium bridge. 

I had originally marked each base track against the beat of the song played when the footage was recorded, and then matched it up with the markers which was marked in time with the beat of the song too. When I had edited for the rough cut, I found that colouring markers a different colour at a particular sound or word gave an easy cue to match up base tracks with the actual song which would accompany the visuals. 

Below I have included images of Final Cut Pro, the programme which we had used to edit the rough cut and the music video.

Below the two viewers is the sequence panel, and this was one of the most important features in terms of matching up base tracks and soundtrack, clearing scenes and arranging clips how we had wanted

A close up shot of the sequence, along with the red markers used to match up base tracks with the soundtracks. I believe markers are a very useful feature in this editing package.

Day 2 filming

Our plan was to film at two locations; Granary Sqaure and Millenneum Bridge, on our second session of filming. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, we where only able to film at one. We made ways to granary Sqaure but was not able to film because the water fountains where underconstruction. This was a major setback in terms of our schedule, but we had to carry on. We filmed at Millenium bridge and got some really good base tracks. We faced some problems in terms of lighting because there was distractions on the bridge - pedestrians, runners etc - which caused a lot of time and the dido lights only work for about 40 minutes.

Production: Rough cut

Production: Having a hard time

At this point i really feel link I'm having a little bit of a hard time staying committed especially after certain incidents took place at filming I also find it really time consuming and keeping up with blogs, its a lot work but i am determined! Below is a podcast of how I feel filming day 2 went...

Production: Editing progress

Production - Filming Day 2

Filming Day 2 from aliyah25

Progress update

At the rate my team is filming and considering the amount of time we have left, I am not too confident about the quality of our video, nonetheless, I will endeavour to put in more effort into our music video. We are only as strong as our weakest player, which means we are all in this together.

Production: Filming backstage footage

Just messing around and having fun whilst filming at Millennium bridge today :)

Production: day 2 filming

Today we went out for filming day 2 at the location for the bridge which was Millennium bridge. It was extremely cold but it was a good time because all members of the group were able to attend this filming session. Just to show how happy we were here are some photos.

Planning - Inspiring Music Videos

This is a previous Media Studies groups music video.

 

I found this inspiring to use as they have a similar theme to us in terms of having one main female artist and also their use of effects and editing techniques are very subtle but effective and give an urban vibe, which is one aspect we want for our music video.

Production: Day 2 obstacles

Planning - Choices for Costume, Setting, Location and Props

Setting/Location:

The setting for our music video is in various parts of London, The more central locations such as Granary Square, Millennium Bridge and Greenwich Foot Tunnel.
The setting is more towards the end of the day/evening, when the sun is setting. As this gives our video the look we want and it suits the style we are trying to create. It looks more urban and underground and therefore is more relative towards our core target audience.
Granary Square has the fountains, which is where we are mainly going to be filming, there is also lighting, which creates a warmer atmosphere. Greenwich foot tunnel has a more underground, urban feel. it is darker also. And millennium bridge is very central, busy and shows the heart of the city.

Costume:

The look we want to give Adara Black is edgy, eccentric and fun with an aspect of sophistication. The clothes she will be wearing also relate to our colour theme; red, black and white. Which brings a connection to how we go about incorporating synergy also.
The reason why we want her to have this kind of look is because again, this is the kind of style our core target audience wears and aspires to the most and adding more sophisticated outfits will show her variety in fashion as well as inviting more people to take an interest.

Props:

Our main prop is a heart shaped by back roses. This again is in connection with our synergy image we are creating, as the rose is black and is used on her website as well other media aspects.

Research - Reference to Synergy and the Meaning of the Black Rose

One of the main props used in our music video, is also used to help recognise our artist, a black rose. 

The black rose has been used to symbolize the start of new things or a major change in the direction of life. For some, it has been used to inspire enthusiasm and signal a new lease on life. 

It has been used to symbolise more detrimental feelings such as death and hatred, however it has also been known to have the meaning of black and beauty and they appear a lot in fiction.

Research, Planning and Production all in one (part 2)

Ordering the rose petal prop

During the research and planning stage of the project our group came up with the idea that as a form of branding and synergy we would use black rose petals. I ordered 1000 rose petals so we can create a heart made of rose petals and also use them singly. We came up with the idea from looking at Taylor Swift's 22 video (seen in previous blogs) 

On the penultimate slide above there are screensots of the videos I have posted below..

Research - Inspiring Music Videos

I found this video inspiring partly because of how real it looks, as well as it being set around London, more central parts and on the underground. We are also filming in central locations.

This video also illustrates the conventional cuts of music video, even though it isn't in the same style as there are no males present in our video.

It is of the disjuncture style and also conveys certain aspects of a pop video one being fun and upbeat, gives the illusion of moving with them in certain shots.

Showtek ft. We Are Loud and Sonny Wilson - Booyah

Production - Skills Development

The process of planning with both productions from AS and A2 have been very different in my experience.

If I'm honest, I'd say that this year has been not as organized as it was last year for me. Even though we have planned a schedule for practically the month, including space for blogging as well as filming. Last year I was on top of everything and every detail was planned to the time and we stuck to it. I also feel that last year we were able to get on straight away with filming, this year feels a bit more like everything is on top of each other. And the time frame we have to film, edit and produce our music video is not that long.

In AS we planed where we were filming and what time, frequently whilst discussing when we were able to do this. We also planned times and places we would meet and what we were doing about equipment the day before. We made sure we got everything done within college time as we didn't want to waste any time and also give ourselves a break.  therefore our whole production was done a little earlier, giving us time to tweak anything we weren't sure about or happy with.

Blogging Health Check

From my last discussion with Marisa I have learnt where I am at and what I need to improve on to get a higher grade. These details are explained ore thoroughly in my "reflection on progress" post.

I feel that having regular blogging health checks helps me to keep on top of my work and balance myself out with respects to the number of blog posts is should have and what they should contain at what standard. As last year we didn't have this and this year is a lot more full on and productive.

Reflection On Progress

From my last progress review, I feel I have improve a little in respect to
taking more time dedicated to media, as I have taken time myself to do work and plan, even though it may not always be in the lesson.
 
As for the ict skills; that is still lacking, so that target will remain. I know that I have to incorporate more to gain higher marks and develop further skills, however sometimes I find it hard to do this, for certain posts.

When it comes to blogging more frequently, this is something which did I improve on, however, the blog posts caught up on me again, in particular logs that were half done because of technical difficulties. Resulting in poor time management. So this will be one of my targets also and this time aim to do one blog at least every other day.

My next 2 targets are:

- Improve time management
- Use a wider range of ict skills

Marks out of 20:

- ICT 10/20
- Detail 15/20

Production: Change of plan with the costume

Just a quick note to say that we have changed the costume for the studio as I had purchased a really trendy and nice black and white tracksuit that would really work well in the studio. So we have decided to have to the colour scheme as black and white instead of blue as well. Also we have changed the costume for the granary square as the playsuit was sold out so now I will be wearing a cream dress that says boys on it with black tights.

Production: Stuck in the mud

I'm feeling rather fatalistic at this point. We haven't been able to do much filming and we are not projected to do anymore filming for a while. I feel as if we may be very behind because if we don't do any filming we cant really blog much and I don't want that to happen. Filming on the 28th didn't go according to plan and wasn't the best which hasn't left me feeling very positive about the project as a whole. Reason for this also is if we leave it too late we will miss the rough cut deadline ad may even worse miss the final video and blog deadline, I feel as individual members of the group we really need to make a conscious effort to do more and be more focused.

Filming - Day 1

There where a few problems when getting ready to film. Our time in which we had chosen to film was changed due to our performer being admitted into hospital, which means we were given less time to record. Our initial film time was 2pm, it then got pushed back to 7pm

Also, because we were planning on shooting at two locations in the original time allocated. We where forced to only do one because of the time change and also the weather. The weather can seriously damage our equipment I it's not good.

Filming - Day 1

For our first day of filming we went to Greenwich foot tunnel to shoot the scenes for the bridge for our song. Due to lack of communication, none of us had the song on our phones and seeing as the location was underground none of us where able to obtain the song on iTunes or on YouTube. So Djemal had the idea that some one should I upstairs with the flip camera and a phone and go onto YouTube and record the song onto the flip. However we where only able to obtain the first minute and a Hal of the song, meaning we had to awitch the order of the shots. Nevertheless, I do feel we got some really good shots.

DAY 1