Thoughts of filming in Camden

In Camden, we began to film the scene shots of the public in the streets and buildings that looked weird and cool for example, there were a number of shops with a cool looking signs on it such as a  giant shoe sticking out of the shop or a cat. The filming of the scene shots was very simple, as the camera remained still for most of the shots we filmed. Some of the shots have some panning in them. We left Camden with more than enough scene shots to use for our final music video.

brick lane photos

PRODUCTION- 2nd day of filming photos- camden town

Thoughts on filming in Brick Lane

Today, I begun the production by filming a few base tracks in Brick Lane, we searched for areas that were covered in street art which was vibrant and colourful and we found lots of them. We used them for the background for the base tracks. We were unable to film in the streets because there was a lot of traffic and people and filming there could've potentially been dangerous and not following the risk assessment.
There were a few negative points to the day, one negative point was the unexpected rain, which affected the lighting of the footage. I protected the camera by holding an umbrella during filming. Another annoying factor was that in one of the areas we filmed in, lots of people kept walking in front of the camera or just stared at our artist, which put him off so we had to wait for the area to be clear to start filming. It took a long time for the area to clear so there are a lot of takes of him rapping then nervously staring at somebody. Overall, I think the filming went well because we got the footage that we intended and I also got some extra scene shots of all the street art.

Health and Safety forms

In todays lesson we filled out health and safety forms.Here is everything written on the health and safety form.

3 Music Videos that has influenced final planning

 Lec Luther -  Fish and Chips
These are some of the shots that I want to inlude in the music video that Ithink would really work well with the genre of the track and the whole style of the artist.

medium close - up

fish eye effect

another fish eye effect

 

 

 

 

low angle shot 

Kings of Leon - Use Somebody

 In our music video our main motif is street art and city London life, and these shots of fast lighting is really efective against the dark scene.

midnight city

cars zooming

fade over scene

Nicola Roberts - Luck Day
This video plays a lot with obvious animatic editing using lighting and slow motion effects to amplify the subjects movement.  And includes a lot of the street and edits it into the music video creativles using colour.

Blog Feedback

Blog Feedback

I have caught up on my work and plan to keep it like that. I received advice which will help me. I know i need to make my work more in depth and spend more time on it. I think i will reedit some of my work which i think i can do better. I will also use different types of media on my blog because i have been using too much text based work and i should look at developing my skills and blog content. I will also practice my editing, i missed my chance to do so, so i will practice the editing when i film my music video and then use those skills to make a better music video.
The feedback i received has helped me a lot to understand what i need to do.

Miran

Blog Targets

In todays lesson, I had a one to one with Mary, and we discussed everything I blogged about. She said that I need to catch up on certain blogs such as the blogging tasks on Vernallis and Mulvey. I also have to use more technology in my blogs, so stuff such as GIF animations, using websites such as Flickr etc.
I also have to look at the promotional material that my artist uses to ensure that he gets his material heard, and I must do the audience task. We also have to add test shots to our blog.

Analysis of my favourite music video

Daft Punk - Around the world

Best example for a music video is Around the world by Daft Punk directed by Michel Gondry and choreographed by Blanca lI.

I think this video is one of the best music videos ever produced because its colourful, funky and captures the essence of the beat, this video is the perfect example that shows the beat of the music embedded into the edit of the music video. It also follows some elements of Goodwin’s theory of disjuncture where music video does not entirely reflect the lyrics of the song.

The set is supposed to show a vinyl record where the four men dressed as robots walk in a circle to represent the movement of the vinyl. And each group of the four characters represents a different instrument the robots represent the singing voice; the physicality and small-minded rapidity of the athletes symbolizes the ascending/descending bass guitar; the femininity of the disco girls represents the high-pitched keyboard; the "itchy" skeletons dance to the guitar line; and the mummies represent the drum machine. This was released 1997 and for the time the whole concept of the video was different and completely new, it was the directors first attempt to depict organized dancing into the music video. 

Props

work
by: miranmk

email response

I recently emailed the people in charge on Chinatown, i was told that we are allowed to film at the location and that we would only need to inform the London Chinatown Chinese Association. 

Analyse original artists website

This artist does not have his own official website, he's a up and coming artist who is entirely independent. His website is on a blog which is very accessible to the niche audience where they can leave comments and get a vibe of his look and music.
He's background to the blog is very explicit it says "Fuck yo" which does show elements of immaturity that indicates that he's young. The title is very colorful and playful.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK TO OUR PITCH

The Annoying Wanderer

Test shot of the artist

Storyboard

PITCH PREZI

pitch for music video on Prezi

PITCH

Email asking for permission to film at Chinatown

If we are denied permission we have a back up location and plan to use our existing locations more effectively. 

PLANNING:Analysis of 3 music videos that have influenced our final song

During the planning stages, we looked through a lot a music videos for inspiration. We looked at music videos that were in the same genre as our artists. We also looked at artists that were very similar to our artists.
One of the main influences for our music video is Lecs Luther - Fish and Chips. Lecs Luther (aka Rejiie Snow) is an independent rapper just like our artist Annoyin' Wanderer.


This influenced the planning of our music video because it contains nearly everything we were looking for. The location is in various streets, a salon and a fish and chips bar. The song is also performance based so there's a lot of disjuncture in the video. The video also contains an edit every 2-3 seconds so there is a lot of movement in the music video. Something we are hoping to integrate into our music video. This video also focuses a lot on the artist as the majority of the shots are close ups, for our music video we will use this and change it so there is a wider range of shots so we wont just be using close ups, we would be using long shots and medium shots. Another factor of this video that has influenced our planning is the use of  fish-eye lens, something we are hoping to use a lot of in our video. This music video doest follow the conventions of a hip hop video as it doesn't focus on wealth and women, it just focuses on the performer, something that we are hoping to replicate. We also wont be using props like Lecs Luther does in his video for example the baby doll smoking a cigarette or a portion of chips.

Here is a shot where a fish eye lens is being used. You can tell by looking at how curved the edges are.
It is also one of the many close ups used in the music video. 

Here is another of the fish eye lens being used, it shows him walking through an alley way with graffiti. 

Our group has also talked about incorporating a street/urban setting into our music video. A music video that does is Wiz Khalifa's Black and Yellow, a video that has gotten 138980629 views on YouTube.

This music video features a variety of shots of urban settings and landmarks in Pittsburgh. We could potentially feature shots of streets in London in our music video because it reflects the style of our artist, just like Wiz Khalifa's video reflecting his style. Also a lot of his performance is also in the streets like Lecs Luther, so that's influenced the planning too so were going to have our artist in different urban locations performing, however a  major factor we are trying to avoid is looking too mainstream like Wiz Khalifa because his video shows the conventions of a hip hop video such as showing off his gold watches or his Dodge Challenger car. The mainstream look of Wiz Khalifa's video has influenced our planning because our artist in an independent artist so we want the music video to be a reflection of that.

Here is one of the few shots of streets in the Black and Yellow  video.

Also for mise en scene we looked at other factors such as lighting, clothing and props. A video that helped influenced the planning of the music video we will produce is Lupe Fiasco's Kick Push.


The lighting in this music video is all bright because it reflects the mood of the song, we are hoping to replicate this into our music video. In this video there are also loads of shots of skateboarding showing his hobby and its related to the song. In our video we are going to show the artist in the recording studio but the difference between our video and Lupe's will be that the prop we will use ( the microphone in the recording studio) wont be related to the song unlike Lupe's where the song is all about skateboarding. There are also various shots of Lupe performing in front of street art and we are also hoping to replicate this because the street art will put more emphasis on the mood of the video making it more lively rather than just performing in front of a plain wall.

lupe fiasco rapping in front of street art.

PLANNING:Analysis of original music video.

As our artist, Annoying Wanderer, does not have a music video for the song we are going to do for our project, this presents us with an opportunity to come up with unique ideas for the music video. We will use inspiration from other artists from the same genre ( which can be found in the blog titled Analysis of 3 music videos that have influenced our final song.) We will follow Andrew Goodwin theory on dis juncture as our song is focused on  performance and there is no narrative in the video so its not relating to the lyrics of the song. The editing of our music video will be fast and it will jump from different locations and angles so the interest of audience will be kept fresh throughout the song. The locations we've chosen reflects the artist himself, so we've chosen areas like Brick Lane which offers lots of culture and content that isn't mainstream, which is what our artist does.
For mise en scene, the lighting of the video would be colourful and not dark because we want the lighting to reflect the tone of the song. The only prop in our music video would be a microphone for when he is being filmed in the recording studio to show emphasise that our artist expresses himself through music. We will also be using various shot types and angles to maintain the interest of the audience and we are also going to using a fish eye lens in some parts of the song so the focus is only on the artist.

Brick Lane

Here is a picture of a fisheye lens.

Research

I have been looking at diffrent artists and how they produce their work in musicv videos. i have looked at MIAs video for 'Bad girls' here. I havent learnt about the many diffrent types of equipment needed and the planning. I have also learnt about the time it also takes for the shooting of a music video. Obviously we cant make a video to this scale but it has helped inspire me and if i did have the money and equipment i would make it the best video ever!

Technical skills developed in AS

In AS we learned many diffrent skills.

• Editing - we learnt how to edit a thriller and the diffrent types of edits
• Camera use - we learned how to use the camera and the diffrent type of shots this was also seen in our work with the diffrent type of shots.
• Mise en scene - we also learnt of the importance of mise en scene and keeping things constant such as costume.
• Sound we learnt how to use effective sounds
• we also learnt about effects and how to use them in a video

Andrew Goodwin's theory

Goodwin’s Theory

Goodwin recognised that you cannot analyse a music video in the same way as a TV show or a film. This is mainly because a music video does not obtain a consistent narrative, whereas movies and TV shows are planned in order with a chronological order.  He gives an example on how a music video is different from a TV show, firstly the artist or bands are both the narrator and the character in the music video. And more importantly the entire music video is built around song so the footage is edited to the beat of the song; the costume and setting all have to be relevant to the lyrics.

Also Goodwin said the artist and record labels rely on the component of repetition in order for their audience to become familiar to the song or genre. So in this case the music videos are available on music TV channels such as MTV, Vh1, Chartshow etc. Also the song is heard on the radio and more recently they can be watched on demand on YouTube.  Interestingly Goodwin has stated that there is a structure to a music video in which it builds to create a climax and fades at the end. He also said that music videos have a purpose which could represent things for example in Lady Gaga music video  You and I she is in a tank in a lab completely surrounded by water which is symbolic of her new self or a rebirth.

The three relationships between the video and the song:

1.    Illustration – the video depicts a story which relates to the lyrics.

2.     Amplification – this comes about when the video introduces a new idea that does not contradict the song.

3.    Disjuncture – where there is little connection between the lyrics of the song to the idea of the music video.

An example which illustrates disjuncture is ‘Pumped up Kicks by Foster the People’ the lyrics of the song is about a boy but instead the set is a live performance of the band and its shot like a documentary where we get to see their life on gigs back stage and them enjoying the perks of fame. They also include a random sequence of them overlooking the sunset on the roof of a tall building.

An example of amplification is in the music video Nicki Minaj - Starships. I chose this video because I think it included element of illustration where in the beginning you have a UFO and then people covered in face paint which is supposed to make them look alien like. That is the new idea that has been brought into the video which blends in with the meaning and the theme of the song although its meaning is bizarre.

An example of illustration used in a music video is Neyo – Lets go the lyrics depicts the music video where different characters are taken through a journey and all end up at the same concert enjoying and dancing to the track.

list of the location

Locations  - this is a list of all the locations that we will be filming in, they all have a consistent link of creative street work and relate with our main theme of urban London which represents the artist.

China town – Lighting will be required

West end
Camden Lock

Recording Studio

Carnaby Street

Mile End Skate Park

Tower Hamlets Cemetery
Brick Lane
Hampstead Heath - Lighting will be required
Alexandra Palace - Lighting will be required

Risk Assessment

We will be filming in a lot of locations for the music video so we have to be incredibly aware of surroundings so we as a group need to make sure that the technical equipment are safe and no in danger of any damages.
 
We will be filming most of the time in busy streets where there will be a lot of people so we need to make sure that none of the filming equipment gets lost or stolen. This is really important for us because we are held responsible if anything happens to them. Also the group has to be aware that while filming on the streets no one knocks over the camera and damages that.
 
Lastly the weather could be another contributing factor which may cause damage. So it is important to check the weather before filming and in case it does rain we need to make sure that that they are protected to minimise damage.

 

Music industry

Illegal Downloading

The music industry has change dramatically over time since technology has developed and the new generation accessing music differently. Artists and bands are now looking at different ways to make money, and this is due to the increase of illegal downloading through websites like Pirate Bay, Napster and Lime wire, which has become very popular amongst young people to illegally download. So, record companies now look at other ways to make money from their artists due to the radical dip in record, CD and MP3 download sale. Some record labels offer the 360 degree deal, this is when the take a certain percentage of the artist profits from their merchandise, tours, book releases and gigs.

 

Endorsement and Merchandise

What is really popular with artist now is making deal with retail companies such as Lana Del ray has released a new collection with H&M and other artist have done so in the past with Top Shop. Interestingly Katy Perry promoted her new perfume by spraying it on her new album Teenage Dream which smelt like candy floss. By doing this she promoted both of her products and because this was such a unique way of promoting, Katy Perry ensured that she maximised sales. Popular way artist make money is by releasing their perfumes and advert deals for cosmetic companies or designer companies.

 

 

Niche Audience

This is when a non-mainstream artist caters to a selected group of people. For instance, Amanda Palmer is an excellent example that conveys how they too can make a living if they approach making sales towards a certain group. She has a very close relationship with her fans so when she released a limited edition albums with various products she made a lot of money in just a few days.

Student video analysis

The student music video i am going to be looking at is by Jem, Zakariya, Courtney and Fuzail.

Jem, Zakariya, Courtney, Fuzail from 283goswell on Vimeo.

The video opens with a medium shots of the two guitar players, straight away this establishes the artist and what type of music video it might be. Then at 00:13 the scene changes and this carries on, this is a very good edit and quick transition and makes the video look very professional. The variety of shots is a good way of making the video seem interesting, the lip syncing also is done very well and seems to be in sync through out the video. then there is a shot of the girl, which makes it even more obvious this is a love song.

The video carries onto with more fast edits and locations kept different. The props use is also used well, the guitar playing in the video is a good way of keeping the conventions of a soft-rock genre. The costume changes also is a fun and quirky factor which is also done well. 

This keeps going through the video. The video seems to be very professional for a students piece of work and i think they would have received an A for this piece of work .

Skills Audit

Skills Audit

Since AS I think that my understanding and development of the editing software,  Final Cut Pro and tools have improved. I now know how to cut and chronologically order footage onto the timeline and make marks to match up with the track. Last year we took part in a lot of practical work when planning and practicing for the thriller, I think the tasks where we had to recreate a piece of footage and re-film it shot by shot helped us to learn how to use the camera and the different tools.

My research skills have improved a lot too because I know that we have to understand an artist and its brand image in order to create a music video in depth. Last year  I don’t think that I focused a lot on research for the thriller we took a very basic approach and this completely differs to the work and research put into creating a music video at A2.

Skills Audit

My skills in research have changed since AS. I now look more closely into the artist and his music and the audience  In AS it was more vague and we didn't do as much research for our thriller opening. We mainly just went out and shot something we thought was a thriller and was scary which i believe didn't do that well.

This year however i have put more time into looking for locations, speaking to the people in the music video and also looking at what the audience wants. I have looked at different music videos and tried to find the similarities and how i can incorporated them into my music video so i reach the same audience.

I also have changed my ides on how to film and that this year the editing technique changes and it will help me understand the different ways you can edit and produce a video.

Miran

The artist's website

The website of the artist is very simple and doesn't have a lot of content on it. It it obvious it is not used often and is only up to promote new music and other media which he wants to.

The website: http://theannoyingwanderer.blogspot.co.uk/

He hasn't written ant blogs but has posted 3 videos and the background for the blog is a notebook which says 'F*CK UP' and shows a lonely figure. The header also has a black figure which is common on the website.

Audience task

Our target audience for  music video is a niche audience, our artist is an independent artist so the amount of people who are familiar with him will be low. The audience we are aiming at are female and male, aged between 16 to 22. Our target audience means that we will be looking to please the younger generation who live mainly in and around London. The ethnic background of our audience would be from White, Asian, Black and any other our artist doesn't really portray a favourite in his music. Also our audience would mainly be students or young people in part time of full time work.

The type of transport they  take would mainly be public, so the bus, train or tube. it would also be played in these places because the music is relaxing and the person can enjoy it while they are going from A to B.

The type of reading material they would be into is mainly fiction, they would also probably read a lot of music blogs on the internet and music magazines. They would mostly be in contact with other friends on BBM, Twitter, Facebook and any other type of social networking.

The type of clothing they would wear would mainly be new and funky so for example Dope Chef, Vans and Obey. They would be called 'Hipsters'. They would shop at H&M, Size and at Brick Lane.

Other types of music they would listen to would be Jazz, RnB, Conscious Hip-Hop.




free gif maker

The music industry

The music industry has changed a lot when my parents were teenagers and listening to their favourite artist. Today most record labels are owned by 3 major conglomerates. The first one is Sony Music Entertainment which owns Columbia records, Epic records and Syco Music.

The second conglomerate Warner Music Group owns a large amount of record labels under them they own, Atlantic record, Maverick and Tee Pee records.

The third major conglomerate of music is Universal Music group, they have also recently purchased the 4th major conglomerate which was EMI, it has now been sold to Universal. Under them Universal has Interscope records, Island records and Def Jam recordings.

Letter requesting copyright clearance

Dear sir,

I am a media student is city and islington sixth form and we have been given the task of creating a music video to a song. Our group has chosen your song 'Mad Meditations by Annoying Wanderer' and would like your permission for it to be used. 

We aim to create a video which is different from other videos we have studied and think we can create a amazing video for your song. 

When we have finished creating the video it will be put up on to YouTube  there will be no profiting from the video and it will not be used to any type of promotion.

If you have any questions please contact us.

Yours faithfully 

Miran Mohtashami 

Andrew Goodwin

andrew goodwin - slide show

Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis studied music videos and found that they are very different from films and TV shows. the first thing she noticed was that edits in a music video are much more faster and frequent, she also noticed that the edits would be in time with the beat of the song. Edits are also made more obvious using effects and other techniques to create a interesting video. she also noticed a lot of videos are disjuncture. Most edits would be Jump cuts and she noticed that the camera also would move in time with the music.

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9RunljdHow

Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey believes that music videos are patriarchal and are often used to negatively portray women and sex objects. The male gaze she argues is a way that videos help create this by dismembering the female body. It is common within Hip-Hop video, RnB videos and Grime videos. The dismembering of the women is also how they are able to do it and an example is '2 chainz - birthday song'

PLANNING- Letter requesting copyright clearance

Dear Sir/Madam, 

We are all media students for A2 media studies at City and Islington Sixth Form College requesting for Copyright Permission to use your song Mad Meditation by the Annoying Wanderer.

The aim is to recreate a music video using the song listed above, this is towards the completion of our A Level for my advance portfolio, we will be working in a small group to plan and execute a music video and to produce footage of a professional standard. Therefore we would like to kindly request your permission to use you track.

When the project is completely finished it will not be available publicly but it will be used solely for coursework purposes. 

If you do not hold the rights for this song we should be grateful if you could forward this request to the appropriate person, or return it to us with the contact details so we can immediately contact the correct copyright holder.

Yours faithfully
Hasan Mahmood

PLANNING:Risk Assessment

Before setting off to film the music video, it was important that we had a risk assessment , we planned out all the potential risks and came up with ways to avoid them in order to make sure the filming was as secure as possible.

RISK	SAFETY MEASURE
Filming on bumpy terrain could cause damage to both the crew and the equipment.	Be careful when walking on bumpy terrain and keep equipment in bag.
Filming in the streets could cause an accident because we might be blocking a road.	Stay out of busy areas and draw less attention to self.
Filming in nightime could cause damage to both the crew and the camera
Equipment could get stolen	Maintain constant supervision of the equipment
Rain could lead to water damage of the camera.	Check the weather forecast or film inside.

PLANNING-locations

For our music video we have chosen many locations to film our video.

China town – Lighting will be required

West end
Camden Lock

Recording Studio

Carnaby Street

Mile End Skate Park

Tower Hamlets Cemetery
Brick Lane
Hampstead Heath - Lighting will be required
Alexandra Palace

Finished Animatic

Our finished animatic.

storyboard draft

Our storyboard draft so far. We are confident with our shots.