Ancillary Task

I have done some research into CD digipaks and come up with some initial ideas, I will be taking some photographs over the christmas holidays.

Ancillary task ideas

I had a go at using photoshop to put different effects on the original photo:

Ancillary Task

Although I am doing my main task, I still need to work on my ancillary task so I am doing some research into famous album covers.

My favourite of the three is 'Horses' because it's quite simple but memorable and it isn't as well known as the other two which have already been copied countless times. All three of these album covers use simple images and text layouts which is what makes them effective.

Stop motion guide

I found a step by step guide on the internet on how to create stop motion in Adobe Premier Pro.

http://craigbaldwin.com/blog/2009/04/making-stop-motion-animation-adobe-premiere-pro/


It was very helpfull when editing my work, I had some trouble with the size of my photos but it can be easily solved by right clicking on the clip and pressing Scale to frame size.

Filming plans

I have finished my research and planning and will be doing my filming over the next two days, the 9th and 10th November.

Shot breakdown

1. The characters jacket, tie and shoes put themselves on him and he moves his arms into position as if he was holding a guitar.


2. A guitar appears in the characters hands and he starts to play.


3. When the singing comes in, the characters shoes untie themselves and take themselves off, another pair comes along to replace them.


4. The same happens with the characters tie.


5. His hairstyle gradually changes.


6. Just before the chorus comes in, the character takes the guitar and holds it beside him, it then dissapears as the chorus kicks in.

7. All of the characters clothes begin to change.

8.After the chorus, the character dissapears and reappears in different places around the room in time with the guitar. The last time he appears he is holding a guitar.

9. The second verse starts with the character playing the song.

10. There is a zoom in to a close up of the characters face then the shot zooms back out showing the character in a completely different location and costume.

11,12,13,14. Shot number 10 is repeated 4 times, each time showing a different location and costume, the last time, it changes back to the same location and costume as before the first chorus. The locations will be different rooms around a house.

15. The chorus is repeated.

16. After the chorus the character is seen standing still whilst all of his clothes and the location surrounding him constantly change, this is cut together with other shots from the chorus and previous verses until he eventually ends up in exactly the same position as he started in.

Research into my song

'Hardest Button to button' is the third single from the White Stripes album, 'Elephant'. The single was released on December 9th 2003.






Jack White, the lead singer of the band said 'that the song is about a child trying to find his place in a dysfunctional family when a new baby comes'. This idea is reflected in my music video through the idea of constant change.

The original video uses stop motion in the same way that I'm going to use it, with real actors instead of animated characters. The theme of the video is also very similar but I have changed the context quite a lot. The colour scheme is also very noticeable, the red, black and white colour scheme is a trademark of the white stripes and in almost all of their videos and album covers they are wearing these colours, I may try to include this in my video.

Copyrighting

Most songs nowadays are copyrighted by the record companies, so I have E-mailed XL recordings to ask permission to use the song:

Hopefully I will get a reply which I can post on my blog.

Magazine adverts

The second part of my ancillary task is to create a magazine advert for my song. I have looked at some general magazine adverts before looking specifically at adverts for music.

The main feature of this advert is the photograph which stands out and catches the eye, there is only writing on the bottom section of the advert. The car is a lot brighter than the background so it stands out well, and the box with the text in is orange so it is highlighted as important.

This advert is also mainly dominated by the picture but the text is placed around the picture. This also uses the technique of having a brightly coloured picture against a blank background, and there is a bold headline to catch peoples attention.

This advert has more text and factual content than the other two but is again dominated by the picture which stands out from the background.

T-shirt War

T-shirt war is a very good example of how stop motion can be used effectively and creatively and it was a big inspiration when coming up with my idea. It was created as a viral advert for Macdonalds by Rhett and Link.

Treatment

The video will begin with the protaganist standing in front of a blank background, his tie crawls up his arm and ties itself whilst his jacket put's itelf on, a guitar slides into his hands and he starts to play it. Throughout the first verse, whilst the character stands still and plays the guitar subtle changes occur in his clothing and the area around him, becoming more and more noticable as the song nears the chorus. When the chorus starts, the shot cuts to a live action scene of the character playing the guitar. The second verse follows much the same idea as the first. The last chorus and outro will be a mixture of shots from the verses and chorus.

Audience research

I sent out a questionnaire about music videos, here are some of the answers:

What's your favourite music video and Why?

• The Scientist-Coldplay because the storyline is quite good and the idea of the story playing backwards is interesting.


• Praise you-Fatboy Slim because it is quite funny and different.


• Telephone-Lady Gaga because it's like a film and has a proper storyline with dialogue unlike other videos.


• Here it goes again-OK Go because it's a unique idea that hasn't been done before.
  

What would you expect to see in a music video?

• Lots of music videos have stories about couples breaking up which is a bit boring.


• Some footage of bands playing as well as a storyline.


• sometimes the bands are playing in the background of the storyline.

What makes a good video?

• Something interesting not just a boring storyline.


• A mixture of the band and the story.


• A unique idea that hasn't been used before.


• Good special effects.

What makes a bad video?

• Boring typical storylines that have been overused.


• having just a storyline or just footage of a band playing, there needs to be a mixture of both.


• If the video doesn't really go with the song's mood.

From the answers I've been given I can see that people like to see something original and not just a boy meets girl story that has been done before, but it doesn't always have to have a proper storyline as long as it keeps the viewer interested.

Stop motion within non animated films

My music video is a mixture of stop motion and live action, another example of this is James and the giant peach, originally a children's book by Roald Dahl, it was adapted into a film in 1996, it was directed by Henry Sellick, the man responsible for The Nightmare Before Christmas. The film starts off completely live action but then, as James enters the giant peach, the film becomes predominantly stop motion animated. This was a very successfull film because the idea of stop motion and live action together hadn't really been done before.

Stop motion

Stop motion is a form of animation which uses lots of still images put together to create moving image. The first recorded use of stop motion was in 1898 in a film called the humpty dumpty circus by Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton. Stop motion isn't just used for animated films, it is also used in Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Robocop 1 and 2. One of the most famous stop animators around today is Nick Park, creator of Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit curse of the were-rabbit, and many others.
Stop motion is also very popular online on sites like YouTube, one notable online stop motion video is her morning elegance by Lavie and Yuval and Merav Nathan, the video is very successful and has over 10 million views.

What I need to do before filming

• More research into stop motion animation.


• Treatment for my new idea.


• Audience research.


• Storyboard.


• Shot list.

I should be able to complete most of this over half term and be ready to film when I return to school.

Ancillary task

For my ancillary task I have to create a digipak and a double page magazine article advertising the album. I have looked at some iconic album covers and digipaks for inspiration.

This is one of the most iconic and easily recognised album covers ever. It is quite effective because the picture is in black and white, making the text stand out.
This album cover was mimicked by The Clash for their 'London Calling' album cover.

'Abbey Road' by The Beatles is also a very well recognised album cover, much like the previous Elvis Presley one, it's very effective because of the simplicity and boldness of the images. Both album covers show pictures of the artist. This album cover has also been parodied a lot.

Joy division unknown pleasures album cover is very famous. Unlike the other covers I have looked at, it doesn't feature pictures of the band, I think it's quite good because the image is very simple but striking.

The Sex pistols were a very controversial band in their time mainly because of the content of their songs. They got to the number one spot with their song 'God save the queen' but the BBC refused to play it on top of the pops because of the controversial lyrics.

The album cover is also controversial in a way because it doesn't share the same form as most album covers at the time.

After looking at some of the most famous album covers, I have noticed that whether they show the artists or not, most of them are very simple but powerful images and the cover is not too crowded.

Music videos and the internet

As music channels such as MTV started to move away from music videos and more towards reality TV, people started using the internet to view music videos. This phenomenon really took off in 2005 with the launch of YouTube, this meant that people could not only view music videos, they could also create their own and post them for people all over the world to see.
Artist began to use YouTube celebrities in their videos for example Feeders video for ‘Just a day’, and some artists launched a career from videos that only aired online.
The internet is a very important tool in the distribution of media and I will have to take that into consideration when creating my media text.

A brief history of the music video

The music video began with people like Elvis and his video jailhouse rock, when they first started out they were very low budget but in August 1981 the launch of MTV changed everything. Music videos became a lot more popular and people started to spend millions on making their videos.
Eventually people got bored of big budget videos and went back to using simple ideas and low budgets, these were known as anti videos, for example fatboy slims 'Praise you'.

Audience research questions

The next step in my research process is to survey the public about their view on music videos, I have come up with 5 questions:

• What is your favourite music video?
• What makes it so good?
• What would you expect to see in a music video?
• What makes a good video?
• What makes a bad video?

As well as conducting video interviews I could also create an online poll using social networking sites and post the results on my blog.

Final song choice

The song I have chosen to make my video for is: Hardest button to button by the White Stripes

White Stripes - The Hardest Button To Button Found at abmp3 search engine

Forms and conventions of music videos

• Most music videos are a combination of a storyline and completely separate shots of the band performing the song, but sometimes the band are integrated withing the story for example 'breakfast at Tiffany's'.






• There is usually little or no dialogue.






• Most normal music videos are between 3-5 minutes long, some exceptions are telephone by lady gaga and born free by M.I.A which is posted on my blog.






• Most music videos use a wide range of camera shots.






• Lots of jump shots and quick editing is used to differentiate between the storyline and the band performance.






• Extreme artificial lighting is often used to make the band members look younger and more glamourous.






• The mood of the song is always well established through the costumes, colours and storyline.

Different genres of music video have different forms and conventions:

Hip-Hop

• Usually contains the artist.






• Set in a club or party environment.






• Lots of female models/dancers.






• Expensive cars and houses.






• No real storyline.

Rock

• Dark mise-en-scene.






• Usually contains band performing on stage.






• Not much narrative






• Sometimes considered 'weird'.






• No use of special effects

Pop

• Colourful.






• Lots of close ups of artists.






• Fun and light hearted.






• appeals to a younger audience.






• Dance routines with the artist.






• Strong narrative, often based around a love story between two teenagers.

Indie

• Band or artist featured throughout the video.






• Some use of special effects.






• Usually a calm setting at the start but changes throughout the song.






• May be in black and white.






• Close ups of artists or characters in the video.

The song that I am doing is a rock song so I will have to make sure that I try to include as many of these forms and conventions as I can.

Characteristics of my target audience

• Aged 14-25.


• Listens to a lot of music.


• Spends a lot of money on CD's and music magazines.


• quite relaxed and easy going.


• Enjoys going to live music events.


• Likes to go out and socialise with friends.


• Intellectual and intelligent.


• Male or Female.

5 things to improve on from last year

Do

• I will make sure that I research in more depth.
• I will come up with one idea and stick to it rather than changing my ideas.
• Be more inventive with my shot choices and locations.
• Make sure that my blog is always up to date.
• Storyboard properly before I start shooting.

Don't

• I will not start shooting until I have properly researched and storyboarded.
• Leave it until the last minute.
• Don't start shooting until I am sure that I have everything I need to achieve all of my shots.
• I will not edit my shots unless I have done at least three takes of each.
• Leave my evaluation to the last minute because it will not be very good.

Music video research

Kid British-Our House: This was a good music video because it had a story but the artists were in the shot performing the song, rather than cutting between two different scenes. The artists were well integrated into the story and the other characters didn't seem to notice them, the different scenes ran smoothly into each other and flowed very well and it kept me interested throughout. The costumes and props were used very effectively to create a specific mise en scene and character type, very similar to the mood created in TV programmes such as Shameless. There was no special effects or shots of the band playing so it has a more gritty realistic look which makes it in some way similar to a short film.






M.I.A-Born Free: Born free was a very interesting music video because it has more of a story than most videos and there is a lot of dialogue, it's very similar to lady gaga's telephone in this aspect. It is also over 9 minutes long which is very unusual for a music video. There is also quite a lot of sections where the music is very understated and there is a lot of dialogue so the actual track becomes more like background music and the film becomes more important than the actual music. At the beginning of the film there is credits which is unusual in a music video.
The mise en scene in this video is quite plain and boring, the colours are all neutral beige's and yellows. The costumes in the video are very important in telling the story and the dark policemans uniform stands out from the rest of the colours in the film.
The camera angles used in the video are also quite interesting, there is a lot of handheld shots, for example, in the front of the truck there is a first person shot of somebody looking out of the window. This combination of camera angles give the video a realisitic feel, more like a short film than an actual music video.
This music video contains a lot of very graphic violence which is unusual in most music videos because it means that it cannot be shown on TV very often which gives the impression that this music video was not created for promotional purposes and it was created as a political statement.

Peter Gabriel-Sledgehammer: This video is a very good example of stop motion using a combination of real life actors and animation, I think that it is very effective because it is a very simple idea but it is memorable and entertaining. The mise en scene of the characters costume is very bright and stands out from the more plain background. The main sections of the video are just one long take of a straight on medium close up but the viewer is kept interested by the changing background. At the time, this idea was revolutionary because animation had not been used that much in music videos.

Foo Fighters-Learn to fly: I enjoyed this video because it had a simple story but it was done very effectively and the comedy works very well, I also like the idea of having the band playing all of the characters. The images of the band playing being shown on the TV screens in the plane was also interesting. The mise en scene is very bright and reflects the light hearted mood of the video.

Jamie T-Calm down dearest:

This was a very interesting music video because it is filmed with a handheld camera and the main protaganist is filming himself rather than being filmed. The whole video is in a home video style. All of the effects used are very simple things that most people could easily do at home without any proffesional equipment. This is an example of anti-video.

I have looked at a variety of interesting music videos and have started to develop some ideas, I liked the idea of using a boring static shot and using background changes to make it interesting like in the sledgehammer video.
I also like the idea of using the theme of the song in my video rather than basing a story around the lyrics.

A2 production portfolio briefs

Out of the five options, I have narrowed my choices down to either brief 1- Music video, or brief 5- A short film. I have chosen these 2 because they both interest me and they both combine video and print.
I definetely don't want to do the documentary or the newspaper option because they both seem very boring and uninteresting.