Current Progress

The deadline (20th December) saw the group complete:
-The Final Draft of 'Letter's
-Ancillary 1 (Advert is complete and posted)
-Behind the scenes footage

In all the hassle I had the last week with ICT and English Coursework deadlines, I forgot to export the 'Back' of the digipak, which was fully complete, and in canvas size.

Therefore over this break (hopefully) I should have completed the full Digipak, and it should be published.

__________________________________________________

In other news, I have started to 'sort' out each page of the group blog, which follows the structure of having posted the lasted thing at the bottom, showing our progress and ideas from the very beginning.


:)

Review

By the end of this week (20th December) I must have completed the full digipak (at least the front and the back).

I should have analysed out final version of the music video, looking into the narrative, genre and representation.

MUST prepare detailed research for not only a variety of music videos but also the digipak. 

Representation Presentation

Questionnaire for DigiPak.

Here is the questionnaire which will help me improve the digipaks.

Reflective Post

This first practice essay showed me my strengths and my weaknesses. A positive that came out from this was that I planned my points, especially for part A really well, and used the plan, which helped my progress, HOWEVER, this led me to not keeping the same amount of time for part B which resulted in me not finishing the answer. For part A I used more examples, compared to when I started talking about my Advanced Portfolio. 

Things I will do to improve my exam writing skills-

Before this i had only looked at one exemplar piece of work, which I must do more often because this will help me with the way I would structure my essay. 

I will also make a plan for both parts A and B with what the potential topics are which could come up, and continuously link it back to analysis of improvement. 

Feedback from Questionnaire

Click Here :)

Front and Back of Digipak

After playing around on photoshop, here is the front and the back for the digipak. I have created a questionnaire, in order to see the response for the individual sections, and will incorporate them into my next draft.

Front Cover:

Back Cover:

DigiPak Layout

Here is the first draft of the layout for the digipak. I printed it out to see how it looked, and it looked like the ones i had researched, so that was very positive. 
I then showed some of the target audience and there were a range of positive comments such as :
-The back looks extremely professional. Each detail is seen as being carefully researched because of the way you have placed it, such as the 'C' and the logos.
-A powerful image for the front cover, showing the distance between the two lovers.  

Feedback Questionnaire

New Group Blog

I created a new blog account through my A2 Media one, because all of the blogs are easily connected.
Here is the link to it.
http://dinnerplatestudios.blogspot.co.uk/

Digipak Research

The ancillary product I am looking into are digipaks, and here is the research of the codes and conventions I looked into.

Music Video Research

Music video research into my chosen genre, which is acoustic. I also looked into music videos which inspired us to make 'Letters'.

Digi Pak Plans and drafts

I've made two plans, and am going to produce the second one, as it links in perfectly from my research of digipaks which are similar to the ones with the same music.


Digi Pack Plan 1">

  Digi Pak Draft 2.doc">

Feedback of first Draft

Draft 1 for Letters

LETTERS - DRAFT 1 from Rafia Naveed on Vimeo.

Digi Pack Research

One of the Ancillary products I am looking into is the Digi Pack for the CD.
I have started my research, but have a slide which I need information from my artist (Sylvia), once I get that information from her, I shall upload the powerpoint.

I have analysed the CD's of-
Nina Nesbitt- Boy (EP)
Gabrielle Alpin- English Rain
Ed Sheeran- +

All these artists are singer/songwriters, who all come under the acoustic genre, just like our artist.

Not only this, but I have drafted out 2 possible copies of what our Digi pack could look like. I stared off by creating a actual one, with the help of one of my CD's as this gave a me a rough idea of what the size of it would be. Then i printed out the pictures I though would suit our personal ones, and then eventually created it on my laptop.

Miley Cyrus and Sinead O'Connor's recent row [Essay]

Wrecking Ball and Sinead O'Connor">

The Set

The set which is created for the 'bedroom' scenes in the music video of Letters. 

Call Ssheet

Call Sheet">

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment by Rafia Naveed ">

Locations

(In order for us to not waste anytime during our one day shoot, this our plan when we leave for Central London)

-Walk through Hyde Park (Piccadilly to Hyde Park Corner)

-National Art gallery (Need Copyright) (Piccadilly to Leicester Square)

-Bridge near London Eye (Millennium Bridge)

-Tower Bridge (Circle Line to Tower Hill)

-Portobello Road (Circle Line towards Edgware Road, then take the number 7 bus to Russell Square)

-Tube

Group Blogger

Finally made a group blogger for me and Farhana.

Gmail:

Email- dinnerplatestudios@gmail.com

Password- forkandknife

Blogger:

http://forkandknifeproductions.blogspot.co.uk

Pre-Production Schedule

Pre Production Schedule">

Letters Moodboard

This helps us breakdown and analyse the pre-production of Letters' Music Video.

Letters Plan

Letters by Rafia Naveed

Protection Analysis

Personal Music Video Idea (with Farhana and Lacey) :
After reading the lyrics of Protection for the first time we thought the music video could be a performance with a narrative. The performance side of it would be with a band, sort of like a gig, but this would be more of a slow gig, where the fans could be holding up lights, swaying them back and forth.

Lyrics such as "I stand in front of you, I'll take the force of the blow, Protection" we could see a domestic argument happening between a couple. An example of this scene can be seen in Eminem ft Rhianna's 'Love The Way You Lie'. To add some more meaning to this there could be a lot of candles which could easily connote the end of time of the protection needed or the protection given.

The mise-en-scene we came up with apart from a small gig was that the set where the gig is taking place could have a glass floor, which means that the argument between the couple could be happening down below. When the last lyrics, "You're a boy and I'm a girl" are sung the candles are no longer lit.

The music video could easily be shot in no more than 3 days, one day to shoot the gig and the others to shoot the argument.


Massive Attack- Protection 

The genre can easily be identified when the song starts, as its classic lounge music and trip hop. Protection is also the name of the album by Massive Attack, making this their number one hit and being the one that stands out the most. Therefore the music video would have been carefully thought out and shot. 'Protection' is all done in one shot, with clever edits, but it shows how effective if it by having been done in one shot.

The narrative can easily be identified, because of the way the music video starts. The beginning we what seems to be a father with his young daughter, and it can be assumed that the parents for the girl are divorced, and that she's going to be dropped back of to the mothers flat. Within the separate rooms of this building, it seems that everyone needs some sort of protection from something. The old woman in a wheelchair is seen as being extremely scared and frightened of something due to all the locks she is locking. 

Letters Lyrics

Letters Lyrics by Rafia Naveed">

Week Ahead

Things which need to be accomplished by next Monday.

-Create a meaning and message behind the music video which links in with the song lyrics.
-Look into other music videos which follow the same genre.
-Find suitable location(s) for where the music video will be shot, and get permission ahead of time.

Group plans for over Summer

Group; Me and Farhana

Over Summer the main way me and Farhana will communicate is through Skype because I will be in Canada. This way there will be no loss of communication, and we can record our Skype chats for our evaluation.

-Have a final plan and idea for our chosen song.
-Secure locations for the music video.
-Secure actors/actresses and make clear to them what our vision of the music video is.
-

^Despite the fact that I wont be in the country, I will still help Farhana as much as I can with securing people and places using social media or emails.

:)

Music Video Theory

ANDREW GOODWIN: Codes and Conventions
When watching music video, we should be aware of 5 Key Concepts which are:
1. Sound
-Take into account what the audience is actually listening too, for example the structure of the song. (A verse or the chorus)
-The actual voice of the artist is extremely important because it makes the song what it is, this also makes it very easy to identify the artist/song.
-The mode of address within the sound. This means that the artist uses the video as a 'communication device' meaning not only are the audience listening to the song, but also viewing a story at times.

2.Narrative and Performance
-A song without a music video fails to give the audience the actual narrative.
-With the narrative and performance interlinking, it  makes it easier for the audience to not lose interest when constantly watching the video.
-Its more authentic if the artist is playing both the narrator and the actor in the video, it helps show the realism.

3.Star Image
-This help shows the development of the individual star overtime.
-Very important in the music industry.

4.Visual to song relation
-There are 3 ways in which this happens;
-Illustrate- Using certain sets, or images to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics.
-Amplify-Meanings and effects are manipulated, and are constantly shown throughout the video, in order for the audience to remember it.
-Disjuncture- Or within the music video, the meaning of the song can be completely ignored.

5.Technical Aspects of the video 
-These hold the whole music video together, it includes the mise-en-scene, the camera work, editing and the sound.
-Post-production stage includes the editing, cutting, the speed. It includes fiddling around with the colour and lighting in order to make it go with the mood of the video.

SVEN E CARLSSON: Representation of artists within music videos.
-Carlsson believes that there are 2 types of category's that music video fall into-
1.Performance:
-Performance: this is when the audience can see the artist singing and dancing within the video. The performance can be a singing, dancing or instrumental type.
-Carlsson believes that there are 3 types of ways in which the artist is projected within a performance style video.
-The first one is being as a 'commercial exhibitionist', in other words the artist is being commercialized. The second is 'televised bard' where the singer uses images to tell a story. The third is 'elctronic shaman' where the artist is not visible and is only heard through their voice.
2.Conceptual.
-This is where the audience watch something beyond the aim of the artist.
-The artist or their performance not so important.

RICHARD DYER: Star persona 
-Pop Stars have an iconic look or image which usually has a long significance over time. For Example, Justin Bieber is very well known for his 'sweep', which people refer to as his hair.

-Dyer believes there are 4 components which go into making  the Star Theory.
1.Stars as construction:Dyer believes that stars are constructed  in a way in which they can easily be recognized.
2.Industry and Audience: 
They are seen as 'objects' in order to appeal to more audiences and create a fan base.
3.Ideology and Culture:
Stars will promote a certain idea in order to enhance who and what they are.
4.Character and Personality:
Throughout the showbiz lifestyle, stars change in order to 'update' or 'change' their characteristics and personality, for example Madonna.

Sylvia Ella Kesington

Back when i went to The Farm Group, I met an aspiring singer Sylvia Ella Kesington and so went and viewed her sound cloud.
She writes her own songs, about things that have happened in her life.

Whilst on her soundcloud some of her songs really interested me, and I could already imagine a music video being shot for it.

I have Facebook Messaged her, and shall wait for the reply; but just incase she does allow me to use one of her songs, I have started planning ideas. 

LETTER-
 https://soundcloud.com/sylvia-ellakesington/letter

This was the 2nd song of hers I actually listened to, but it stood out to me from the beginning. Whilst listening to the song carefully and the lyrics, I think that a Narrative music video will suit this song best, especially because from the title it connotes that the song has a meaning behind it. Especially where lyrics like 'You're in the shadows, you're in the rain' where the actress could be walking in the rain, looking back on the past written letters.

Possible Locations-

-Street full with cars, walking through them in the rain

-A flower filled garden/park with sunshine 

-Bedroom surrounded by screwed up paper | Looking through old pictures 

A young female girl actress will be playing the artist whose point of the song is actually from. 

Costume- Plain skater dress, and pumps.  

Genre- Acoustic 

Props- Letters and pictures 

Idea- 

It could start off with the actress in her bedroom, writing a letter, with clustered screwed up letters around her. 

Personal qualities- Good with camera work, and developing ideas.

MISS YOU ALREADY 

https://soundcloud.com/sylvia-ellakesington/miss-you-already

I liked the actual lyrics of this song, I don't know why, but they stuck out to me. I can see a concept with narrative music video behind it, because the lyrics are really strong and so could be easy to portray. 

One of the main settings I think will go well with this could be a girls bedroom, with pictures of the couple scattered everywhere; however this could be boring, so the girl could be sitting along a river, reminiscing through a box we first see her bring out from underneath her bed.

The stereotypical representation would be a young girl, missing her true love. This can be seen as stereotypical because  it is usually the women who take longer to get over relationships. 

Types of Music Videos

Performance- 
This music video usually involves the band/artist performing either live or just within the music video. This is usually the case if the budget of the music video is low, despite saying this certain artists prefer to perform splashing the cash on the settings and costumes.
Performance styled music videos can usually be seen in the pop genre.

One Direction- Little Things



Lumineers- Ho Hey



Beyonce- Run The World



Narrative-
Narrative music videos usually use footage which attempts to tell a story. It will either involve actors or the actual artist. The story is sometimes linked to the lyrical content of the song, but this isn't the case for many.

Drake- Find Your Love



Justin Timberlake- Mirrors


J Cole- Power Trip



^This can be seen as an example where the lyrical content does not link with the visual content.

Concept-
This is based around a single idea, whether it makes sense with the lyrics of a song or not. It tends to be usually unusual in a particular editing or filming technique. It may also include controversial or political story lines.

Miley Cyrus- We Cant Stop (This can ALSO be a performance music video)


Kanye West- Mercy

Music Videos

Music Videos by Rafia Naveed

This mind map shows why music videos are created from my perspective. After my research on certain artists  i came up with the ones in red.

Taylor Swift - Fifteen PARODY

Original:




Our Parody:

MIA Research Task

MIA from Rafia_

McFly- Love Is Easy Analysis

McFly's genre of music can be been as pop, and most of the times, the music videos behind songs have a narrative. Love Is Easy is visiting 'Memory Lane' throughout this video, which fits in very well with the album it is apart of.

This first screen shot shows one of the narratives behind this song, which is that the band may love performing so much on stage, that they have based the whole video around it, connoting that they are pretending
to be in a concert performing to thousands of fans.




This extreme close up shot is dedicated to the target audience for this band, being girls in general.

This is a representation of both people of who enjoy this band and of events that have taken place. Due to this visiting memory lane, one of the bans biggest achievement was winning a Brit Award, which for those audience members who follow what the band gets up to will understand; in contrast to someone watching this video for the first time, not knowing what the award wad for.

Once again, fans are involved with this video, showing the closeness between the band and the fans enjoying there music. This shot shows a variety of age group members singing along to their music.

This shot clearly shows the props used within this music video, which helps contribute to the cost.

This shows the boys having fun, getting their personalities across. Not only this, but it too gets the lyrics across very easily.







^I actually found it difficult to analyse a music video.