Thursday 27 October 2011

Tests and Planning


With this test, I was practicing the idea of taking pictures of each stage of an drawing and them putting them together using iMovie, making them a very simple moving picture. I have used stick people so that it still relates to the childhood theme of our promo. I like the way that this test has turned out and I think it it would work well in our promo, as it illustrates well a child's view of relationships, being a very simple and innocent view. From this test I can see that in order to make it look more effective I would have to make sure that the camera was aimed in the same spot, viewing the image with each shot that is taken to stop the image moving to different parts of the screen when put together. 



This video is the same as the one above, however I have removed the fade to white transitions from it, I think that this is more effective as the clip moves faster, and gives a better final effect. 

Thursday 20 October 2011

Tests and Planning


We have done these tests to see what some of our initial ideas will look like put into practice, we have decided to base our music promo on the idea of a mixture of childhood memories, involving different occasions and props e.g balloons as seen below. By showing a range of images we will be able to provoke different thoughts and emotions within our audience, as they will be able to relate most images with their own memories.


These two shots illustrate the idea of the simple, small object being re-invented into something fun and exciting, that which a child would do. In these shots we have blown up and thrown balloons into the air to try and capture a fun and enjoyable moment, from doing this test we can see that this idea will be effective and would work well in our promo, however we can see that we need to frame the shot much better, allowing a little glare from the sun, but not letting it take the shot over completely, as seen in the third image. We can also see from these shots that we made need a much clearer more simple backdrop, the trees work well in creating an effective and interesting shot, however it takes the focus away from the balloons which we intended to be the main point of focus. The light in the first and second image, work well in creating an idealistic looking environment.




We also decided focusing on childhood memories, that we should get some shots of a child's playground as this is something that is a main part of childhood. We have tested the idea of showing the elements of the play ground as well as showing people using the swings and slides ect... these shots can be framed and made to look more artistic, for example showing someone using a swing, framing the shot with the sun glaring in the background. Using a child's play area will give the promo a much more fun element, and will portray the ideas and images we are trying to get across to our audience.




We have also tested the idea of illustrating different events and occasions, below we are illustrating halloween and the idea of dressing up and going trick or treating. We want to use very simple short films and images that can be related to almost everyones childhood, we feel that this will be a good way of showing narrative compared to just following one story the whole way throughout the promo.


Video Tests 





The three above images, show testing of the idea of playing in the leaves. We has the idea of throwing and kicking them towards the camera lens as a way of showing more interactivity, making it appear more like a home video, rather than something that has been professionally produced and that appears very impersonal. I like the way these shots have turned out and think that they create a very effective effect.




The two above shots show the idea of illustrating occasions such as halloween, following on from the image of the ghost, showing more of an acting element, we wanted to try to show the idea of a child playing up to the camera, and just generally having fun and enjoying themselves, I think these shots work well and give a quirky, interesting element. 






With these shots we wanted to test the idea of just loosing yourself by spinning continuously round in circles, a game that some used to play as children. We wanted to show different views of this to give more a sense of motion, one showing an establishing shot, another showing the participants view whilst spinning making it personal, as well as putting the viewer in the video as it will give the effect that they are the ones spinning, triggering some childhood emotions and memories for them, and another showing the face of the participant, showing emotions and reactions to the game/action.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Audience Research

What music videos do you like 
and which elements do you think work well and are effective?

Do you prefer videos based on performance or narrative?

In a music promo do you think having one main point of focus or many would be more interesting/ effective? 

What do you associate with the acoustic music genre?

What shot types do you think are the most effective for this genre?
Long shots, close-ups, mid shots ect…

What locations and themes do you expect to see throughout an acoustic music promo?




Chosen Music Institution

We have chosen 4Music as our institution as we think its the best choice for our genre of music and the type of promo we are planning to produce, 4Music is one of the only channels that plays a very wide variety of music, and it is also the one that reaches the widest market due to the fact that being available on digital TV, it reaches the Republic of Ireland. It also has the larger weekly viewing percentage. 

This channel is owned by Box Television (Bauer Group/ Channel 4) and has sister channels with Channel 4 e.g. Film 4, More 4, Kerrang, Kiss, Magic ect..  and so has the advantage of being able to advertise of a number of different channels and reach a much wider audience. 

4Music also gains a much larger audience due to the range of music and shows that it broadcasts, unlike other channel they offer a range of different genres which suit a number of different tastes, and also broadcast certain TV shows gaining a different audience, making it a more entertaining channel and one that people watch rather than just have on in the background whilst carrying out other tasks, meaning that our music promo will get a lot of exposure. 



Institutions: Music Channels


Weekly viewing: 1.7%
This music channel/ company, reaches a fair amount of people, it focuses on mainly charts and pop music, which reaches a large number of listeners, however not as many as could be reached as it doesn't play an extremely wide variety of music genres. This channel is owned by box television (Bauer group/ Channel 4) and so has a large number of sister channels in Channel 4, Film 4, E4, 4Music, Kerrang, Magic, Q, Smash Hits and The Box. This station started as a pirate radio station and so has been seen as quite a well known influential station.
 

Weekly viewing: 7.4%
This radio station is used generally to play up to date chart music, however it does play a larger range of genres, compared to other stations. It has one of the largest weekly viewings. It has mainly available in the United Kingdom however it is available on some digital television providers and so can be on certain channels in the Republic of Ireland. It also has its own website, as well as Facebook and Twitter pages. As well as music this channel also broadcasts tv shows, and so reaches a much wider audience. This channel also has the rights to broadcast most summer festivals and through links with sister channels hosts it own, 'T4 on the Beach'.




Weekly viewing: 1.2%
This stations is focused mainly on the rock music genre, and so only reaches a small selected audience. It started as a rock music magazine and then branched out to tv. This station is an open one, and so the main majority of music played comes from texted requests from their viewers, so that don't have as much of a variety of music to suit all viewers played.



Weekly viewing: 3.8%
This is an American company based in New York city and so reaches an is exposed to a wide range of views and different genres of music, this channel therefore played a range of different genres as well as chart based music, it also broadcasts a range of television shows. It does now however focus more on the broadcasting of these tv shows than it does of the music. MTV has been around for a large number of years, and so has become quite an influential station and one of the most well knowns, it has however been criticised over the years for devaluing the importance of music.




Weekly viewing: 0.9%
This channel plays mainly classic pop and music from the 70's, 80's and 90's. They have specific times slots for power ballads and music from movies. This channel is aimed at a specific audience and does not suit everyones tastes as it only plays a very specific genre of music. To begin with the bliss logo was quite bold in gold colouring, this however has developed over time to suit the genre of music played.




Wednesday 5 October 2011

Post Modern(ism)

Definition: Texts are created by copying and (re)using ideas and images ect... that have been used in previous texts; often in playful, schocking and unconventional ways.

Saturday 1 October 2011

Music Promo: Music Video Theories

Andrew Goodwin's theory: Gym Class Heroes: 'Stereo Hearts' ft Adam Levine












This music promo shows some main features of this theory, a lot of focus throughout is on the artists, the main artist being the man seen clearly throughout, shown through a variety of different shots, however as well as him the secondary artist is also shown throughout this promo, through the TV's. This relates to Goodwin's theory as he talks of record companies wanting a lot of focus to be on the artists.







This music promo also demonstrates some characteristics of this genre, it shows the band playing, this however is done through unconventional means to keep in with the narrative of the promo, the band are seen performing in shadows and reflections. This promo also has some choreographed dances throughout.



 This promo also features some intertextual references, to the Beatles album cover where they are seen walking across the street, in the way that they are lined up and their shadows can be seen.




Steve Archer's theory: James Morrison: 'You make it Real'





This video shows this theory well as the artist is part of the narrative throughout the music promo, however at parents there are some more obvious elements of performance.




In these two shots above the artist can be seen from mid and close up shots performing, whereas in the shot below the artist can be seen as part of the narrative.