In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? PART ONE

A collection of imagery we believe portrays the theme of our video

In our music video, we have included a title and credits. We were disappointed with the font we final have  chosen as we don’t believe that it suits our video or the artists genre due to the constraints of the available editing software we have been unable to select a font that we think suits the theme of our music video.We would have used the same font as we have used for our digi pac and magazine advert so our audience can make an association between all our media products and recognise them as being media products from our chosen artist the credits that we did put on did serve the purpose of informing the viewer of the song title, the Artist the actors and the producers. The font we would have used would have represented the fun quirky style of our chosen song and artist.

The footage of the music video is situated around 3 main locations. These are the protagonist’s home (mainly kitchen), the park and the field. These locations have been specifically used to suit the mood and lyrics of our chosen song for example the use of the kitchen was used in the to portray the lyric ‘eating cheese on toast’. Furthermore the outdoor locations suit the summery and bright theme of our music video in keeping with the songs title merry happy. A lot of Kate’s videos are centred around the home such as foundations she often performs the song in monologue style to the audience within what appears to be her home to create a more intimate and personal relationship with the audience we hoped to have achieved this  also by mining to the audience in the same style and by keeping our female protagonist central to our narrative

Props we have used include the watering can bag, the love not, Winnie and George (tea party toys), A vintage book, a heart shaped cushion, pearl necklace, scrap book  and flowers. These were all essential details of our music video as most of them either coincided with the lyrics or theme of the music. For example we used the pearl necklace during the line ‘gave me those pearl and I thought they were ugly’ without the use of the pearl necklace the music video would not have followed the clear narrative set out by the songs lyrics and the narrative would leave the audience confused. Furthermore Kate Nash's songs usually follow a clear narrative within their lyrics and her videos follow suit such as foundations where the line reads ‘you said I must eat so many lemons’. Kate’s fans expect her videos to follow the lyrics of the song which Is why we tried to think of unique way we could do this especially for the lyrics ‘eating cheese on toast’ which Is repeated through the song finding different ideas was challenging but we can up with some really unique ideas that help to abolish boredom among the audience.

Costumes included were mainly floral dresses 3 in total, a polka dot dress and a plain denim dress. We wanted all the outfits to suit the videos happy summer theme. Flowers were also a key element in our video so keeping the outfits consistent was a really clever way to keep the theme running throughout the video. We also had a number of dresses not only to represent the change in time (e.g. different days) but to also gage their attention. At the end of the music video an extreme costume change was completed that saw the female protagonist wearing a fur coat to represent a large time difference into winter I think this was really successful at portraying a huge change of atmosphere within the video. Also Kate Nash is known by her fans for her bright and quirky dress sense often serving as a fashion inspiration to them we tried to find outfits in keeping with her fashion persona as a way of attracting her current fan base.

We used varying camera angles and edited our music video so it would fit in with the upbeat tempo of the song to create a professional appearance. And attempted to keep the editing in keep with the codes and conventions of a Kate Nash music video for example showing quick cuts of the couple as she does in her video ‘Foundations’. The fact that we used varying style of shot means that the audience is more likely to enjoy the video and be more entertained. We used Mid, High angle, close up sots as well as pans to gather a wider range of visuals for the audience

The 2 characters are introduced only briefly at the beginning of the video and are only briefly shown together during the video we did this not only because the couple are now separated but because we wanted to create an enigma surrounding the type of relationship they had a the reasons why it ended leaving the audience to reach their own conclusions. The next shot of the protagonist id of her sitting on her bed miming to the camera we did this to show she is a normally an ordinary girl clearly fitting in with the codes and conventions of Kate Nash who in my opinion never portrays her self as overly glamorous or ‘special’. Furthermore the room is covered in records and paintings in keeping with the quirky bright personality and genre of Kate Nash

Magazine advert of inspiration

Advertising posters are used to advertise a new cd or tour of a particular artist usually the adverts are place in a magazine that would appeal to the artists main target audience. Magazine adverts usually coincide with imagery used in the artists music videos or their cd publications so the audience is able to recognise the themes of the  artist.In this example quen steffani uses close up imagery of herself  which is the same as that on her album cover and the 'Gwen Stefani' font is quite an old fashioned style but the gold colouring makes the advert stand out and appeal to readers furthermore the font is regularly used by Gwen Steffani so fans begin to make an association.This really inspired us, we like the idea of the distorted background that aims to make Gwen stand out and readers instantly recognise her. Furthermore we will be using an interesting font that we will use throughout the publications we make so that all that we produce goes together as a set.

This is another advert that has inspired us in terms of our magazine advert we think that the imagery used the bright colours the blue sky and the overall theme are similar to that of what we are wanting to create.Furthermore we like the idea of using similar imagery for both our cover and our magazine advert but photographing the female in different poses or using varying props but remaining in the same enviroment.   So the audience is still able to recognise the links between the album and magazine ad but the same image can become boring. Furthermore we like the way the font goes with the personality of the artist the bubble writing and pink font reflect her feminine personality.The fact that she uses her very successful ' I Kissed a Girl' single to sell the album means the audience will recognise the song and be more likely to buy it given that that single was something they enjoyed this is something we are thinking of including and will we mention her successful single 'Merry Happy' in the hope it will entice the audiecne to buy and listen to the rest of her greatest hits.

Last day filming

This was to be our last day of filming for the shots that would be at the very end iof the music video we wanted the scene to contradict our previous summery theme.And to therfore portray the change of not only the season but the change of our female character who it seems has finally come to terms with her breakup. So for this we needed the perfect misserable day which is not hard to find in England  we wanted the character to be on a typical autumn walk with her dog for this we brough allong Millie Tinkler. We wanted the dog to sit still next to the female as she lookd through her photoalbums of when her relationship was still intact. This was often hard to film as millie had issues with sitting stilll often the shot was reuined when a bird flew over head or and ambulance came down the mainroad just next to where we were filming.However we did get a good shot were Millie managed to refrain from flying off and we were oveall happy with the shot. Another issue we faced was the wind we wanted to throw the love note into the water but often the wind blew it ofcourse to the other direction.

Focus Group

Together we conducted a focus group which required us to collect a group of 5 females aged 16-18 which we consider our target audience. Together we discussed topics surrounding music videos and particularly Kate Nash. We wanted to ask questions that allowed us to access their habits for watching music videos in order to asses what music channel we may want to show our video on in order to reach our wanted audience.  We also asked them what aspects of music videos they liked and what elements they did not like. We also asked  them what music videos they enjoyed and what music videos they didn't so we could  analyse their preferred videos and take inspiration and ideas from them to better create a successful video that will appeal to this audiene. After we played the song to the group we asked them if they had any ideas to create an appealing video.

The topics we disused were:
1)Do you enjoy watching music videos?
2)When do you usually watch music videos?
3)What are your favorite music channels?
4)Have you ever heard any of Kate Nash's music?
5) What are your favorite songs by Kate Nash?
6) Do you Know the song Merry Happy?
7) What sort of themes do you think we can include to portray Kate Nash's style?

Some had forgotten the lyrics and tune of  'Merry Happy' so we play it to the group once again

8) Do you have any ideas that we may be able to use in our video?
9) What theme ideas do you think we can use?

Use of different media technologies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK7fGfFFc6E&feature=youtu.be

Audience Feedback

Dairy of a day in Editing

Day 1 - 10th October

The editing equipment we used

Because of the problems we had with using software outside of school we have began to use the school editing equipment 'Pinnical'. Firstly we have had to scan our camera for all of the footage to be transferred into pinnical once all our footage was on the computer we need to put the song into the document so that we could sucessfully put the footage together with the song so the correct shots were in the right areas to match the narrative and rythm of the song

Lip syncing in the music video

Day 2- 13th October

Now that all our footage has been put virtually in place we have to go through it and ensure that all the shots are edited smoothly and that all the shots are in the correct areas. We also needed to make shure the editing went together with the beat of the for example at the begining of the video at each beat change we tried to put in a different shot. Furthermore we had to make sure that none of the shots were too long at that the rapid editing suited the tempo of the song also it was important that the areas of the song that contained lip syncing were perfectly in time with the music so that the editing looked professional.

Day 3 - 17th October

Now we were happy with the placement and editing of most of our shot we then had to do the difficult task of trying to make the shots that went with the lines 'dodododadododadadododadododadododado' chance each time a new 'do' or 'da' was said so shots went perfectly in time. Reflecting the tempo of the lyrics. This was ecspecially difficult when trying to edit the shots of the post it notes for each do or da ad it was virtually impossible to get each post it note to appear on the beat. After a huge time spent trying to get each post it note to appear at the correct time we were happy that we had sucessfully edited it to flow as smoothly as possible and suit the songs tempo as much as we could possibly do.

Day 4-20th October

Resturant Footage

Since our last editing session we have filmed more footage for the resturant scene so we just had to begin by uploading our new footage and then try to condense the shots so that they fit into the gap we had previously left for the section to be put into.This piece of editing went well and we sucessfully filmed and then edited the resturant clips.

Day5- 22nd October

The sunset idea that fades out at the end of the video

We tried to make the shots of the flower flash in at each beat

By this time we were happy with our videos progress so far and we felt asif we were almost finished, so we asked two of our media teacher to watch what we had completed so far. There feedback was very positive they said they really liked the summery and quirky theme of our video and that they felt we had some very creative and clever ideas within it, They also said they felt as if we had a good range of interesting shots. However they felt the editing had altered only slightly so that each shot was exactually on beat they suggested we sit listening to the song tapping our feet to the beat to ensure we knew exactually when each temp change occured. Furthermore one of our teaches suggested that we try to capture a sunset on film to be put at the end to finish of the video so that it faded out to a sunset. We took on board this advice and spent the day tidying up the editing we had done and later that night we went outside to film the sun setting this went well and was put at the end as was suggested to fade out with the music.

Full Finished Storyboard

Textual analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryH5cga0yUI&feature=relmfu 

(was unable to find embeded code)





Lyrics
When listening to the lyrics of the song its obvious exactly what the subject matter is. The repetition of 'my finger tips are holding on to the cracks in our foundation' suggest that the song is following the breakup of a couple, that are close to letting go of one another. During the video the lyrics are not always directly portrayed by the characters in question. Their relationship is often represented by separate objects such as the couples socks separating, their toothbrushes turning away from each other and their watchs on the bedside table moving away from one another.

Music
The song in general is seen to uphold a slow pace and the editing does reflect this.Often the shots in the video are long this reflects the tempo of the song. Such as the scene when the couple are lying together on the sofa, the same take is used for aproximately 17seconds. However the takes are from differnet angles one is closer than another.

Genre/Mise en scene

Kate Nash's music is often described as alternative pop. From watching her video they seem to reflect a similar theme. Her video appears very quirky kitsch feel to them. She often uses everyday objects and shows them almost 'coming to life'.Kate Nash herself plays the female character, and you can see from the various costumes in the video she also is also very  quirky and unusual. Furhermore the mise en scene of their house/flat show their personalities often featuring bright colours clashing prints and 'vintage/retro' style interiors.

A performance is not really included in the video, and Kate is never shown on stage or using any microphones. Instead she seems to use cutaways from everyday life to occasionallt adress the audience. Making the audience feel more connected to Kate and the overall theme of the song.

The themes of the video often emphasise everyday objects and use them to reflect the overall mood of the household and feelings between the couple. Showing that the couple are living in an ordinary household and adding to the videos quirky and unusual feel.
I believe that the camera work used is stop motion. Which involves moving objects between camera takes so they appear to be moving or changing position independently.



Camerawork.
The begining of the video involves close up shots of some everyday items belonging to the 2 characters. It shows both their toothbrushes together, their watches together and then finally Kates shoes which are suddenly hit by a bowling ball, which I believe reflects the disruptance of their calm lifestyle. For example their possesions have lived in harmony with eachother until a massive bowling ball disrupts their relationship. This can be seen as a metaphor for the relationship of the couple.

Then a close up of both the female and male character is used. Although they are playing a board game together on the table, a two shot where both charaters are shot together is never shown. Instead over the shoulder shots flit between the two characters. Maybe reflecting the characters as a couple, showing their loss of closeness within their relatioship.

A close up is then used as the female character is telling a story of her broken relationship. This helps the audience feel close to the character, and heightening their sense of sympathy towards her.

A two shot is used a moment later however that shows the couple in bed together. But this does not refelct their closeness as a couple it instead shows the female turning from the male which then highlights to the audience their relationship break down.

There is then a high angle shot of Kate sitting on her stairs. This high angle shot helps to emphasise to the audience how alone and vulnerable she is within the relationship.



Editing

The song is of a low tempo, so softer shot transitions are often used which I think heightens the theme of love and breakup.The action in the video is laidback and inaggressive. Unlike that of say a heavy metal video, so I think the editing is also used to reflect both the genre, style and tempo of the music.


Narrative/Performance

The song itself is written from the point of view of the female in the relationship, so the narrative is described and sung by the female and effectivelty the viewer is seeing the breakup from her point of view. Shots of the couple and their possesions are used between the females monlologues. This would help the audience to feel connected to the female, and help them to feel sympathy towards her. This is helped also by the fact that the male is rarely seen in shots, so the audience is never really exposed to his view on the relationship.


Star image/The brand

When Kate Nashs' music was first released the song was highly experimental, and her singing was of a style that had rarely been seen before. Which was an almost monologue style for an audience. And her singing style often regarded as barely singing at all only rarely seen. exceptions being her and maybe Lily Allens music.
Kate Nash is now well known as a quircky and different artist. Praised for her interesting look and unusual fashion style . As this was her first mainstream single and video it paved the way for her to be regarded as the quirky and unusual singer she is. This is achieved by showing her in interesting fashions and unusual style of video using everyday objects as metaphors for her relationship.


Voyerism 

In terms of voyerism this is were I think Kate Nash differs from most other artist within the pop genre. I believe this video contains no obvious elements of such. As she mainly dresses un-provocatively and even when in bed can only be seen wearing a baggy 'mens style' shirt.

What is a music video?

Peter Fraser has defined a music video as:
''A short moving image product, shot for the express purpose of accompanying a pre-existing music track and used to encourage sales of another music format.''

For our music video we will be using a recorded piece of music from an artist of our choice. We will then create the music video to accompany it. This may be a single which already has a music video or we can start blank to create a new one.

Andrew Goodwin in his book concerning the rise of mtv states a number of key features vital to a successful music video:

-There is normally some relationship between lyrics and the content of the video the visuals may either be illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music

-Depending on the genre of the music the video will contain various iconography representative of the chosen genre for example live stage performance during a heavy rock video

-The video will usually contain a large amount of close ups of the main vocalist/ band member

-Music videos are likely to contain a large amount of voyeurism, particularly in the treatment of women, But also in terms of looking systems eg (multiple screens, binoculars and camera etc)

-There may also be inter textual references,either to other music videos, films or television shows

Peter Fraser has also updated this knowledge to also mention that music videos often become an important part of the construction of a lead singers image thus helping to 'sell' products of the band/ singer.