Final Film

http://www.myspace.com/565126799

Evaluation

Today we filmed the evaluation, it took a couple of times for me to get used to talking to the camera Im sure the rest of the group could tell you that but we did get there in the end so im very happy!

Now we just need to edit any bits that refer to our video into it.

I stayed and waited for the evaluation film to upload and this did take quite a lot of time, once it had loaded and converted Emma finished this off whilst me and Sophie were doing the final edits to the music video.

There are a couple of little bits I dont like about our film, but everyone else thinks otherwise so Im just going to have to go with the flow for that.

Overall today has been productive, happy days!

questions

3. Audience feed back

- helped us to re create the fight scene, took more time and effort into it
- no point in creating something that no one else likes
- if they like something, such as emma's acting it is a good thing because then we know we are creating something worthwhile
- we also know to carry on how we are going as well

4. media tech

- internet - research music youtube channels in which other artists show their work, google to find images etc
- digital video camera - to record all of the footage and take some images as well, we recorded the prelim with this as well as using the editing software bit tricky but got there
- adobe photoshop - to create the album artwork
- final cut express to edit - not used it before hard to get grips with, but then it all worked out alright

Evaluation

Really need to focus on this now!

When i got home, I did go through the questions and make rough notes on them. I wasn't quite sure about the first two but i think that I have tried my best and hopefully this will show through!

Nearly done!

Today me and emma were able to finish editing the rest of the film!

Even though emma had the control a lot of the time with the mouse, we were both having equal says in how it should look and what needed to go where.

We had sorted out the fight scene the day before after school so that was one less thing that we needed to worry about, we started at the end and then filled in all of the instrumental parts after we knew what was going where; it made it a lot easier to work this way.

We filled a lot of the instrumental parts with random parts of the filming we hadn't necessarily intended for that purpose but in the end it had worked well.

Emma took the sensible idea of making the footage look brighter, as it was supposed to be set in the summer.

We finished it all, there aren't any more gaps however we are going to put more effects to it now!

Will be so good when it's all finished!!

Converting the film

This process is always long, and after the prom scene me and emma stayed after school to convert it to make our double media lesson easier tomorrow so that we can just get on with it then!

We also put together how we think the end part of the music video should be to edit and cut it properly.

Very happy with how it is all looking!

Filming

Sunday 9th January

We focussed on:

I'm just another thing for you to roll your eyes at honey,
You might have him but haven't you heard
Do you still feel like you know what you're doing

Me in emma’s room rolling the teddy, and answering the phone
Me walking down the stairs
Emma in my room – dart board part

Today we went to Emma's house and filmed me getting ready for before prom. This will be used to contrast the way in which I get ready compared to how Emma gets ready in our video.

So I went to Emma's and got ready into the dress that I was going to wear and put the make up on correctly as though I was actually going out to go to prom. To make me look mean, Emma filmed me rolling over the teddy bear and knocking it off to fit in with the music. Also I was answering the phone to the male lead by pulling a face taking him for granted whereas Emma's character will be jealous of this.

Then Emma came to mine and we filmed, the dartboard scene which will be jump cutted when editing to make it go along with the beats, which was a good idea of Emmas if i remember correctly!

Then we were filming the beginning few lines of the music video, with emma in the american outfit.

It's all gone to plan but we were filming for a long time so we stopped for now to film again soon! And show sophie what we were able to film at school.

Tuesday 8th February

She looks at me like I'm a trend and she's so over it
I think her ever present frown is a little troubling

Emma putting on her make up dodgy

Sophisticiation isn't what you wear or who you know

Emma trying on dresses and walking towards the camera – looking angry

Or pushing people down to get you where you wanna go
But no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity

Trying on more clothes

She's not a saint and she's not what you think she's an actress, woah

Emma drinking – looking annoyed thinking about the ‘bitch character’ having who she loves in the video

She's better know for the things that she does on the matress, woah

Experimented with different things that Emma could be doing on the mattress – might be seen as a bit provocative

Ha ha


Today again all of the filming was in my room. We were aiming to get all of the make up looking dodgy on Emma getting filmed and I am pleased to say that we accomplished that!

We filmed all different parts today with Emma getting further along for getting ready for the prom scene at the end of the song, and as the time getting on Emma looking more and more like a drunken jealous mess. We were showing this by filming Emma from different angles and different perspecitves like the camera pretending to be a mirror as she put her make up on funny.

We did a part where Emma will be trying on lots of different dresses, but when filming this we kind of changed our minds and decided on jump cutting one dress with emma looking messed up as though something definitely isn't right with her.

We were at this for a long time and we got into it quite a lot as well, and we will definitely have a lot to edit when we are school.

Wednesday 9th February

Outside Field – Ray Park
Back at school – corridors, walking around, random sofa, bench bits
For this emma had made a list of all of the things which still needed completing

Wednesday 2nd March

Focussed on the whole song!!

Live performance at school – drama studio
Me and the lights
Emma on different parts of the stage – different camera angles
Emma underneath the stage for fillers

Today we filmed the live performance at school, as sophie had a lesson she wasn't with us for this but she was fine with us filming it as we needed to get it done.

So me and emma went to the drama studio in the school and used the stage that is already set up and the lighting that they have in there.

I had to set up the lighting to see what it looked like on Emma as there were only us two and in the end we came up with a good set of lights white lighting and red lighting, it actually looked really good!

We filmed it the whole way through more than once, in all different angles and positions to make it look like a real performance. Looking from below as though a part of the audience, from the same level as emma sitting down on the stage, and from above as well.



Fields near home – went to the feature seat, been graffited on angry looking – good time of day looked summery which we needed

In 'Better Than Revenge' we have a part of the song where Emma as the lead character is going to be in a field reading through a diary as if she is telling a story. This is because of the line "The story starts when it was hot and it was summer and".

During the day we had already been filming for our live performance part of the music video. We were originally going to be doing a lot more of the field part during the day, however we didn't feel that it was appropriate to be filming it in as it needs to look like summer. After we had finished school though we realised that the weather had picked up and the weather would now portray the appropriate atmosphere for which we needed in our video.

As me and Emma live near each other and a big field and we still had the camera on us, we thought we should take advantage of the weather for as long as we had it. The scene which we were creating needed to look summery, and so had to have the right lighting etc to fit perfectly with how we had planned it all.

Emma got into costume which was how we had planned as a group, this consisted of a white dress and leggings. The white dress was to symbolise how she was the 'good' and 'pure' character and the victim of the music video apposed to the comparison of the 'bitch' character of whom I play. In music videos hair styles are always changing, to show different parts of the story of the video so it was appropriate that we kept up with that so for Emma to make her hair look different she decided on doing a different style, this was because for quite a lot of the video it is the same, down and curly.

For props we took a long a diary, as it would be what she is reading from as well as a country straw hat.

During the filming we didn't encounter any problems, except the occasional person walking behind the shot. Although that would have added a sense realism, it wasn't going to make it look like a professional musical video to the standard of which we want to obtain. Therefore every now and then there was a lot of waiting around for people to move but all in all the footage which we got was what we wanted.

For the filming of this part, as well as quite a lot of the other filming I was responsible for.

On top of what we had wanted to get and planned on getting, we realised that there is a lot of instrumental parts within the song and so to help fill those up we just filmed random parts of the field and walking round. A term we are constantly using for Emma to do is 'aggyness' and although you might not know what this means, it is how we feel she should portray her anger and hatred for the 'bitch' character. So we tried to show this in the fields but improv of angry jumping, and looks and just spinning with the camera in the field.

Monday 28th March

Today we realised when we were editing that we needed different, angles and certain phrases pronounced more clearly within the video.

As I was creating the myspace page, Emma and Sophie went out to film this part to make the best use of our time.

They came back with some really good stuff was really pleased! We will definitely be using it.

Tuesday 5th April

Filming of the 'prom' scenes, as well as a re-take of our fight scene!

After we had the whole class look at our music video so far, a lot of the replys were people telling us that the fight scene which we had so far was unrealistic so this obviously needed to be sorted out right away.

During the fourth period me and emma had it free so we filmed for it. We had the help of a friend to film it and give us some directions with how to make it look as realistic as possible.

To do this it involved me getting muddy, lying on the floor pretending to get punched and kicked a lot. We tried slow motion movements so that we could then speed it up during our editing processes to make it look more believable as we clearly didn't hurt eachother.

Emma had to keep her angry face on throughout this, even though we did giggle a few times throughout we got through it and hopefully it has turned out for the best!

The prom scene we filmed during our period 5, this was with sophie as well on top of that we got help from a few lucky people to be our extras.

This was filmed outside the sixth form block to make it look like the venue. Hopefully it all looks believable in the final product!!

We had to do a part where Emma was walking behind with the camera, trying to be confrontational. As well as me and the guy being together, and emma coming up looking a mess and being very depressed about the situation. In the background of this we had people in dresses and shirts and ties to help make it look like a real prom.

It was a very successful day of filming even if it was freezing and when it was supposed to be summer!

Update

Today we were supposed to be filming or it would have been handy if we could have, however as it was my birthday I was going out with family and I couldnt film.

So sorry gang!

Show Case to the Class

30th March

Today we all got the chance to see eachothers music videos, and also to show off our own.

I saw some really good ones, and like what a lot of people had done it did make me think how we could change ours for the better as some people had used a lot more effects than we had. However, I am really proud of what we had achieved so far.

As everyone watched our music video they were given an evaluation form to fill out to help give feedback to parts they both liked and thought could be changed for the better or parts we should probably scrap altogether.

Overall our video went down quite well, no one seemed to say anything to negative when we were given our oral feedback. The main point that we need to go away with and think about is the changing of the fight scene that we had as they said it wasn't believable. Looking back over at it, it probably isn't as I'm just not that good of an actor my natural reaction is to laugh which is letting the clip down. However, it is something then that we can change to make it the best possible video that we can have.

A lot of people did mention our performance scene and said that they were impressed with the lighting and how Emma is very good at showing her emotions through it also. The general lighting, at the fact that a lot of it looks summery when it has been quite miserable lately.

Our teacher said that our really good points were; Emma's acting skills, especially her portrayal of disgust and anger, the outfit that Emma is wearing at the beginning as it is really incorporating Taylor Swift into our music video and the performance parts we have as the lighting made it look really realistic.

'Aggyness' Technique

A term we are constantly using for Emma to portray whilst we are filming is 'aggyness'. As it is quite a slang term of today's youth and you may not know what this means, it is how we feel she should embrace the anger and hatred for the 'bitch' character (played by Amy).

As the song goes a long Emma's character is getting more and more angry about the fact that she has lost the boy of the video. To show this we use alcohol constantly which is also creating a depressing feeling with her character. When filming we often feel as though Emma might not like us this isn't me talking badly of her but in fact positively, and we might feel like it because of how well she is portraying the character which she has to play. When she is infront of the camera she is very focussed and knows what is wanted for her from what we have planned as a group. When we ask her to give an 'aggy' look she knows exactly what we mean, and the looks are often to help us fill some of the instrumental parts of the song which we need to fill but, it is also helping to show how the character is moving emotionally throughout the music video.

Making a Myspace

Today to help promote our artist Emma Lang, today we produced a myspace page.

As Emma and Sophie were filming parts to add to the music video, I began to set it up. First I created the myspace page how you would set up any other account; I then went on to choose a picture I thought would help make the artist look pretty and like a picture you would see of someone who is famous etc.

To change the picture I used photoshop to help make it pop. I used a photo of Emma Lang on a stage performance, to make it clear how passionate she is as an artist.

Hopefully when the myspace page is completely finished we will be able to help promote her career along with the new music video!

Album Designs for Emma Lang

Front Cover Research To find out the dimensions of the album artwork, I googled it to make sure that I was making it to the correct size. Now with the dimensions I am going to start to produce the album artwork for my artist Emma Lang. To create the artwork I am going to use Photoshop, and put the required dimensions into the software to make sure that I am going to be making it correctly.

Album Cover Final Designs

Design One

To get the cover to look like this I:

• changed the picture brightness


• the contrast of the image


• picked out the pinkness of the lights


• found an appropriate font for 'Emma Lang'


• separated the top and bottom from the image with a block of colour


• I then went on to chose a font for the name of the album (I couldn't quite come to a decision on the font so I went for a mixture of all different fonts) to give this effect\/ but with my own twist


• 


• to make the album title look more faded, i placed the text behind the block of colour and made it so that it was partly transparent to be in-keeping with the rest of the album art

Design Two

To get the album cover like this I:

• I used the original image from the previous design


• I just changed the contrast and levels of light within the image


• put a pink twinge within it


• I again used the two colour borders


• However for the top border I added rose petals underneath the colour and added a more defined black line underneath the row of rose petals


• the bottom right hand corner is where the artist name is and album title


• the artist name is all in capitals and very clear and pronounced compared to the album name


• the album name is a slanted font which I just felt looked good in comparison with the capital nature of the previous one

Back of the Album Cover

To get the back of the album cover like this I:

• I got the dimension for the cover and set the page up accordingly


• I then used a picture that i took of a flower


• Made the image into greyscale


• Then I copied the code that I used on the front cover, of the cut up magazine styled font


• I made up some of the song names


• I finished it off by making the spine realistic as well with the conventions of having the artist name and album name on it

Back Cover 2

To get the back of the album like this I:

• First put the right dimensions into photoshop software


• I then picked a photo that I felt was suitable


• i changed the colour to make it so that the writing would stick out more


• i also added a barcode


• i then put the production company name onto it


• I added the song list for the album incorporating the font style which i used on the previous album cover


• i tried to keep the album colourings the same so that they would all match up


• i again did the spine with the artist name and album to follow conventions of album covers

Advert for the release of the album

Editing

For editing we use a software called final cut express. To help us get to grips with it we did a preliminary task - our group did it to a song called moto moto - chunky. We did the song more for a laugh than anything as it wasn't being taken too seriously but to make sure that we knew how to use software. The software at first was a different language to me! I really didnt get it, Emma took to it easiest i think and so was in control of it for a lot of the time when I did use it I found it hard but then after time it got easier and easier so then when it will come to our final music video it will be all ok!! After everytime that we have gone out filming we come back to school and convert all of the film! This takes a long time especially since we switched cameras for a better quality one than we used in the prelim.

Research on an Artist

Lily Allen...

- Allen met her first manager, George Lamb in Ibiza. Allen was rejected by several labels, which she attributed to her drinking and being the daughter of Keith Allen. Lily eventually used her father's connections to get signed to London Records a part of the Warner Music in 2002. When the executive who had signed her left, the label lost interest and she left without releasing the folk songs many of which were written by her father.

- Allen created an account on MySpace and began posting demos in November 2005. The demos attracted thousands of listeners, and 500 limited edition 7" vinyl singles of "LDN" were rush-released, reselling for as much as £40.

- She gained tens of thousands of MySpace friends, which led to The Observer, taking an interest.- In March 2006, OMM included an article about Allen's success through MySpace. She received her first major mainstream coverage, appearing in the magazine's cover story two months later. The success of her songs convinced her label to allow her more creative control over the album and to use some of the songs that she had written instead of forcing her to work with mainstream producers. Allen decided to work with producers Greg Kurstin and Mark Ronson, finishing the rest of the album in two weeks.

- Allen's songs have been downloaded from her MySpace page 19 million times. As at 9 February 2009, Allen had 448,000 MySpace friends. She was the fifth most popular musical act of 2008, according to the social networking site. Allen used her MySpace blog for controversies surrounding her. By February 2009 she had stopped the practice because "It's boring when people just pick stuff up and write about it. People get hurt, people get upset."

- Allen's debut album, Alright, Still, was released as a limited-edition 12" vinyl in the UK on 3 July 2006; the full CD release followed in the UK and the rest of Europe on 17 July 2006. The album features between 11 and 14 tracks (depending on the edition), most of which were previewed on her MySpace page, including the singles "Smile" (the first song she wrote with Future Cut), "LDN", "Knock 'Em Out", and "Alfie". "Friday Night", also included, alongside "Littlest Things" produced by Mark Ronson

- In September 2006, "Smile" was made available on the United States version of iTunes Store.

- By January 2009 the album had sold 960,000 copies in the United Kingdom and 520,000 copies in the United States.

http://www.lilyallenmusic.com/lily/

Taylor Swift and 13

Today Emma pointed out to me and Sophie, that within all of her music videos she mentions about the number 13 or has it written on her somewhere.

Taylor Swift incorporates the 13 within the videos as it is a lucky number for her, even though it is mainly unlucky for everyone else.

I also realised I remembered Taylor Swift using it in the film Valentines Day.

This has now become an iconic feature which Taylor uses.

Planning

Better Than Revenge

Actors/Extra's

Lead: Emma Langschied
"Bitch": Amy Rushmer
Guy: Rhys Lloyd
Extras: Kelsie Bagshaw
Sunil Bedi
Sophie Grayling

Locations

- My bedroom
- Emma's bedroom
- Field
- Taxi

** WE NEED TO KEEP ALL OF THIS IN MIND!! **

Taylor Swift

The images that I have incorporated into this collage of Taylor Swift are all showing different aspects of her as an artist, and in the way in which she markets herself to her target audience.

The top row are images which are from different music videos; the middle image is from Lovestory, and the image on the far right is from the music video Tear drops on my guitar. I put images from music videos on this collage, as that is what we will be making, and so having some ideas of the mise-en-scene and costume which she wears as well as how she has her hair will help encourage ideas for our group.

The images in the middle row are from different album covers and different single covers. As for our artist and song we need to construct an album cover, I thought that it would be best to see what kinds of album she has used an artist, they are all very simplistic and just showing the real innocence and naturalness of her as an artist and a person.

The images on the bottom row are from different magazine covers that she has been involved with. I thought that it would be best to have different album covers incorporated with her image collage as it is showing how she really markets herself. It is showing which sort of magazines she is willing to be a part of of, for example 'Rolling Stones' is a good one to go to, for any musician to be a part of, as well as younger magazine audiences such as 'Sugar' and 'Seventeen'. Taylor Swift is an artist who definitely knows where target audience lies and where she is best to promote herself, and to even be able to gain more fans.

Taylor Swift's official website

http://www.taylorswift.com/

iTune's

I can remember from a few years ago when Taylor was first starting out as an artist, on iTune's I was able to download one of her songs for free, it was called Fifteen. For a starting out artist it is an extremely clever way of advertising themself. If you like the song as a potential audience member, you are very likely to go out and buy an album or keep downloading her songs as it is something that you would listen too.



As I went onto the iTune's online download store, I searched for Taylor Swift and there was a lot for a potential customer to buy. Also in the bottom left of the page I was on (as you can see from the above picture) it said that one of her songs was an iTune's essential.

Taylor Swift - Thug Story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DFMbLKEjaI&feature=related (The actual video)



Country cutie Taylor Swift's collaboration with rap artist T-Pain - 'Thug Story' - was a highlight of the 2009 CMT Music Awards on Tuesday, June 16. Photo Credit: Jeff Vespa/The Recording Academy/Wireimage / Splash News
June 17, 2009, (Sawf News) - Country cutie Taylor Swift's collaboration with rap artist T-Pain - Thug Story - was a highlight of the 2009 CMT Music Awards on Tuesday, June 16.

The parody on Swift's Love Story is directed by Peter Zavadil.
- http://www.sawfnews.com/entertainment/58501.aspx

This video was purposely made to be played during the CMT Music Awards in 2009. This video is showing the versatility (even if it isn't at it's best) of Taylor as an artist. It helps to show her as a likeable character, and someone who isn't afraid of a challenge or something new.

By Taylor joining T-Pain in this little parody music video it helps to show another way of her advertising herself, even if it isn't for recognition of what she is normally known for.

Film and Tv Career



Taylor Swift hasn't just limited herself to a music career, she has goals and it seems that she is very much so achieving it. She has been in a few films and also been in a few television programmes, this again is helping to show people her versatility and all at such a young age.

OVERALL

From all of this research it seems that Taylor Swift is the kind of singer which as a group we are very much going to want to be doing a music video for.