Evaluation Question 4

Technologies

Throughout this project we have all used lots of different software/hardware and websites complete certain tasks. Each of these has provided its own unique functions and has somehow helped us to improve our project and make certain things possible here is all of the programs/technologies we have used and how we have used them.

Websites

- http://www.blogger.com/http://www.blogspot.com; This is a website which allows users to create a blog were they can create posts and share there thoughts with the world. We used this site so that we could post all of work online and keep track of it. By using a blog we were able to edit posts and use and easily add resources off our computers.

- http://www.youtube.com/; This is a site to upload and watch videos it is a great website and use by millions of users. We used this site to analyse other videos for research and to upload our own videos so that they could be watched by other and shown on other websites (e.g. facebook)

- http://www.vimeo.com/; This is a similar site to YouTube however it is less popular but equally as affective for uploading videos. We also used this site to upload of video so people who don't use YouTube could watch it and hopefully we could gain more feedback

- http://www.animoto.com/; This is a site where you can create short videos using media you have already stored on your computer it also has built in affects which allow you to create a professional looking video. We used this site to create our pitch because it is a great way to combine lots of media (pictures, music and text).

- http://www.scribd.com/; This site allows you to upload word documents and turn them into a virtual document where you view it as a picture but you can still navigate through the document and select text etc. e used this to upload most of the work we had created in Microsoft word.

- http://www.myspace.com/; This is a social networking site that allows users to communicate with lots of other people online it is also a great place for keeping track of artist. We used this website to help advertise our artist.

- http://www.facebook.com/; This is a similar site to Myspace but it is more popular and not really used for music. We used this site to communicate with each other and to gain feedback for our videos.

- http://www.twitter.com/; This site allows people to post short messages usually of what there doing at the time and broadcast it to the world other users can they follow the person to get updates from them. We also used this site to help advertise our artist.

- http://www.slideshare.net/; This website is similar to scribd in the way it allows you upload documents so they can be converted into a  format where they can be viewed on websites, however this site is mainly for power points. We used this site to upload our power points to our blog.

- http://www.bbc.co.uk/; This is a news/TV website which has information on almost everything latest news, sport weather etc. We used this site so we could look at the weather to help us decide when to film.

- http://www.wikipedia.co.uk/; This website is an online encyclopaedia is has information on almost everything and we also used this to advertise our artist so people could help find out about him and his background.

- http://www.google.co.uk/; This is a search engine which will produce results for most searches made. We have used this site to find images for our research and to help us find everything we have needed to create our video.

Hardware

- Computer; We have used a computer for almost all of the tasks for our music video we have sued is to visit all of the websites and also to edit our music video.

- Mobile Phones; We have used our mobile phones as a means of communication between each other and also to take pictures of our filming, locations artist etc.

- Panasonic Video Camera; This is the video camera that we all decided to use to film our music video.

Software

- Camtasia Studio; This is software that allows you to record what is happening on you screen (screen capture) we used this software to record our editing and also to get some clips for our research.

- Adobe Photoshop CS2;  This is software that can be used to edit pictures and to change them to how you want them to look. We used this software to edit pictures mainly the ones for our album cover but we also made some pictures for our research and to help make our work easier to understand.

- Sony Vegas Pro (8.0); This is a professional editing software which we used to edit our entire video after filming it.

- Sony DVD Architect Studio Pro; This is a software that allows you to get video files off your computer and burn them to disc we used this software to burn our video to disc.

- Microsoft Office; We used this software to create all of the work we couldn't complete on blogger, this software includes Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power point and a few other software's but we did not use those.

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 1

 For question one we decided to make a cribs video that would show where we filmed our music video so that we could go round or location and talk about all of the places where we filmed and how they have fitted or not fitted in with our genres conventions. Also we decided that this would be a good idea because it meant that we could talk about all of the props that we used in our music video. We used lots of hip hop props to make our video look more realistic and we thought that using cribs would be a good way of being able to talk about them.

Final Poster

Final Poster

Final Digipack

Final Digipack

Draft Poster

Draft Poster

This is the draft poster I have made to advertise the album, I have tried to stick with the same them for the poster as I used in the album because after looking at other albums and posters I saw it was very important to keep a clear visual connection between the poster and the album as it allows for the audience to make a link in their head between the album and the poster. This means the audience is more likely to understand what the poster is advertising if they have already seen the album. 

I have stuck to the same font and colour scheme as the album cover to help make sure that the two fit together, I have used the same distorted effect on the text and also I have added the fading and drawing effect to the picture. I have added the album name down the side of the posters to add a different effect and break away from the classic style of laying out text in the normal order. Also I have added an outline to the text to help it stand out and to make sure the audience could read it. I also changed the colour of the the letter just to add a bit if variety to the text instead of just black text all the way through. I have added the release date just to the side of the album name as I thought it was a very important convention to include because if people intended to buy the album they would need to know when it would be in the shops. I have also made Grim's name very clear and bold so immediately you can look at the poster and see who it is for and who it is advertising. I have used a different picture for the poster as I didn't want it to be too similar to the album cover and I wanted to show the artist in  different perspective. I went for a similar pose and the same clothing as the other shots but I also included a hat and made sure I chose a bigger picture as I would need it to fill an entire poster rather than just an album cover.

Digipack Draft

Digipack Draft

This is my draft is panel digipack. I have used elements from my mock album covers and new ideas to create it. We took a variety of pictures of Josh that we could use to create our album covers and we could all use any of the pictures. I have chosen just two pictures for my draft digipack the first is an close up picture of Josh with his hood up looking away from the camera. This shot was influenced after I had looked at other alum covers and magazines as quite often you see the artist looking to the side of the audience rather than directly at them so I thought my first picture would be quite suited for Hip-Hop. The second picture I chose was a mid shot of Josh standing up with his hood down, I decided to use a picture of Josh in the same clothing so I could maintain consistency throughout my album cover to make it look effective. I have used one font throughout the entire digipack again to maintain the same effect, also I have used  a black and white colour scheme to make sure that my digipack fitted the name.

This is the front cover of my digipack, I have used the same fading effect I used in my mock up covers on the picture to add interest and make it look appealing. Also I have played around with the characteristics of the photo so I could create an effect to make it look as if the image had been painted rather than a photo. I thought this again was a good effect that helped add to my album cover. I have added a black and white bar down the side of my album cover this was influenced by Kanye West's album heartbreaks and 808's as he uses a very similar effect. I have chosen a clear font for the title and added an outline to help it stand out.

This is the back of my album, I have gone for the traditional theme of listing the tracks on the back as it helps make it look realistic and clear that it is an album cover. I have used the same effect on the photo in this shot to maintain continuity and too make sure my album fitted together, but I have chose a different picture so that I could make sure each part of the digipack was recognizably different. The final touch to the back cover was a bar code, again I have added this to create some realism as often you will find the bar code on the back of an album

This is the inside page of the album, as you open up the front cover you will see this page below it. I have added the album name and artist name again to show that this is part of the album and also I have added a quite from one of his most popular songs as this quote in particular helps explain the album name. I haven't added any effects to this page as I thought a Hip-Hop cover is more about looking smooth and sleek than going to over the top with effects.

This page is on the back of the front cover so as you lift up the front cover you will see this page on the back. I have added an army styled background to this as I thought it looked quite effective and I had already seen it on one of Kid Cudi's album covers and liked the look. Also I have used the same font I chose from the mock up cover which I downloaded from www.dafont.com and again I have added a distorted, shadow effect to the letter 'B' to help make the text look more interesting. I have coloured the text in white to create a contrast so instead of sticking to colouring the word black in black I have made it white to make it stand out.

This page is on the other side of the back cover and will be revealed once the front cover and the inside page have been lifted up. I have added the same background effect so that when the pack is fully open the image will spread right across all three pages. Also I have added the same effect to the text and I have also coloured it half black and half white. To do this I had create two 'N' colour one black one white then cut them in half and place them next to each other, the end result creating an effect of one 'N' in two colours.

This is the last part of my digipack and the part that will hold the CD. Again I have carried out the effect on the background and text from the last two pages and I have also added a CD picture. I have also coloured the text in black rather than white to help make it stand out. The CD image didn't cut out very well so I have had to blur the outlines this didn't look very effective and will have to fixed for my final cover. Other than this I am quite happy with my digipack and after a few tweaks I should be able to create a good quality cover.

Music Posters Analysis

Music Posters

Here are two Hip-Hop music posters I have analysed. I have chosen to dot his so I can get an idea for what the poster should look like and what sort of conventions it should include. Also this allows me to gain ideas and inspiration for my own poster so hopefully it will be easier to make as these posters will give me ideas for my own.

This is Jay Z's tour/album poster for his album 'The Blueprint 3'. I really like his poster as clearly a lot of thought has been put into the design and creation of it. If you are a fan of Jay Z or you had already bought/seen his album you would know that he has designed his poster in a a very similar theme to his album. I think this is very important as people might only take one quick glance at a poster so it is important that they can look at a poster quickly and see what it is advertising so then hopefully they will want to buy it. There are some clear poster conventions on this poster; the artists name and album name, the release date/tour date, a contact website and number, the album production company (roc nation) and also a picture of the artist. All of these things are visible almost immidetely which helps the audience to know and clearly see that this is a poster for a music album. Also there a quite a few Hip-Hop conventions within this poster; we can see the colour scheme is quite simple and has only stuck to a few man colours; red, black white/grey and all of these colours are all quite Hip-Hop. Also we can see Jay Z looking quite 'cool' in the picture and not really showing any emoticion which is a charcteristic we might usually associate with Hip-Hop artists. This look is all about being cool, having money and not really being bothered or phased by the people and teh goings on around you. Also I would say that the fonts used in this photo are all quite plain and bold which again are big Hip-Hop chareteristics as you dont want a really fancy font like you might assosciate with pop or rock but at the same time you don't want a too simple font that could be mistaken for more classical music.

This is Nelly's album poster for his album 'Nellyville' note: www.gobaeng.de not part of poster. I really like how the idea behind this album cover is very simple but it looks really effective and professional. Again like Jay Z's poster this poster is in the exact same style as his album cover is has simply been resized and different text has been added to it. This again helps make sure that the album can be linked with the poster and therefore is easy for the audience to make the connection.  Also like Jay Z's poster there are lots of clear cut poster conventions; Artist and Album name, release date, picture of the artist and  a contact website. All of these elements are necessary for the poster to show that it is advertising a music album and not just a picture of someone. Nelly has also stuck to some clear Hip-Hop conventions such as; keeping a clear colour scheme of dull yellow, white and black. Again we can see we aren't flooded with lots of bright colours but at the same time it is not completely dull like rock/metal poster might be. Also Nelly has chosen some strong bold fonts which again are very fitting with the Hip-Hop image as they are clear and stand out with out being to showy. I think the final major Hip-Hop element is the picture of Nelly himself, this is a really good picture and has obviously been planned. Nelly is looking just past the the audience if you are looking at the picture face on so he is not making direct contact or paying any attention. He has he head slightly titled and some shadow added onto to his face he is almost giving a look that isn't very aggressive but suggests you maybe shouldn't mess with Nelly. I think although this style of pose might not be welcomed in other genre for people who like Hip-Hop they are usually looking for confident artists who don't really care what other people think and worry about there own success and achievements.

From this posters I have gathered some clear conventions of both Hip-Hop and posters themselves also I have noticed how they tend to use simple effects but really plan them out to make sure that they look effective and professional. I will use the ideas and conventions I have gathered from analysing these posters and add them into mine.

Album Cover Mock Up Designs

Practice Covers

Too make sure that we produced a good album cover we thought it would be best to all practice making an album cover so we could play around with photoshop and find a cover we really liked. Once we have all made two covers we will look at which one we think is best and why and then decide if it needs improving or changing and all and hopefully be able to produce a final cover.

This is my first album cover that I have made, on the left is the original image I used for it and the right is the album cover. To represent the name and theme of black and white and to show that our artist has two different lifestyles I have covered half of his face in shadow and left the other half as it was. This shows one part of his life is dull, dark and boring where as the other there is light and it looks more interesting. I think the really hits home the meaning behind the song as it physically shows the difference in him. I have also edited the picture so that it is in black and white, this was because I thought as the album is called 'Black N White' it would suit for it to be in black and white. I have added a parental advisory sticker to help make the cover look more realistic. I have added a quite bold font because I think an album cover really needs a clear font that stands out so you don't need to pick up the cover to know which artist it belongs to. Again I have tried to shadow of the 'G' in Grim's name for the same reasons I put a shadow on his face. I think the repeated effect makes the cover look more effective and helps reinforce the meaning and theme behind the music.

This is the second practice album cover I have made again on the left is the original image and on the right is my cover. Again I have used the name and theme of black and white so I have added a black and white effect to the entire picture to help add a relevance between the image and the album name. This time again I wanted to focus the effect on the picture of the artist, I have create several copies of the same picture and moved them then reduced the opacity. This has created the effect that he is fading away I think the effect looks quite effective although I think I will need to find a better picture for my album cover as things like the watch and the corner of his glasses still stood out a lot so the picture didn't seem to fade as much. I have again tried to chose a very bold font for my cover to try and fit in with the Hip-Hop theme, I don't like it as much as the font on my original cover although I still think it looks effective. Also I have added lots of paint lines in the background and smudged them this has created an effect so that the background looks like the night sky I thought this was quite suiting as one of his songs in called 'day and nite'. Finally I have added a parental advisory sticker to just help show that this image is an album cover and not just a square picture.

I will try to use a combination of all the elements I have liked in both picture to create my draft album cover, I think both of these covers have turned out quite well but I think I will still need to play around with effects and picture editing to add a more professional looking finish to my draft cover.

Album Cover Research

Album Covers

I am going to look at a few album covers so that I can get a feel of what a Hip-Hop album cover should look like and the styles or themes that artists go for. Also I am hoping by analysing and looking at this covers in detail I will be able to pick up ideas for my own album design.

This is Cee-Lo Greens' album 'The Lady Killer' I really like this album cover as it is quite plain but still looks very effective. I also like the use of reflection in his shades which shows what looks like windows and a clear sunny sky. He has obviously chosen to include this and he wants it to look like his life is happy and therefore we might assume his music is quite up beat and happy which it is. This album fits the Hip-Hop conventions because most Hip-Hop artists like to show off what they own as if to say look how much money im worth and you can clearly see Cee-Lo's almost novelty sized ring which he has obviously chosen to wear to show this. Also you can see the album cover fits the title as the title is 'The Lady Killer' and you can see he has his nice shades on, which again he has added to make himself look good and I think it is safe to assume they will be expensive ones not just standard aviators. Also he has a clean white shirt on which makes him look smart and suave and we usually expect womanisers to dress to impress like Cee-Lo has done. Also Cee-Lo hasn't left much room for anything on the cover other than himself, this is typical of Hip-Hop artists as it again shows the message of 'look at me' and we can see him looking quite plain and relaxed and seems to have the cool attitude we associate with most Hip-Hop artists.

This is Kanye West's '808's and Heartbreak' album cover. This album cover is very detailed or complex bit the simple idea behind it is very unique and looks really good. Kanye is quite a controversial Hip-Hop artist and loves to be different and a trend setter. We can see with this album cover he has broken away from the classic style of album cover with the picture of some artist, an effect and some fancy font. Instead of going with the flow Kanye has chosen an album cover with quite a simple design behind it and a simple choice of font. As it is clear to see the album name is about heartbreak so he has represented this visually but instead of      using a picture of a broken heart has has used a picture of a deflated balloon being torn by some cartoon styled hands. It looks as if he was trying to create a visual metaphor by representing the broken heart with a lifeless balloon cut in half. I would say the only thing about this album cover that fits the Hip-Hop conventions is the background colour, he has chosen quite a plain grey and usually Hip-Hop artist try to avoid using too much colour as we normally associate lots of colour with pop. But there is some colour down the side which I think he has added to show that although the album isn't as colourful as pop it is more colourful than rock which tends to be very dark colours such as blacks brown etc.

This is 50 Cents album 'Get Rich or Die Tryin'', Immediately the bulletproof, king of the world, no fear super Hip-Hop style ego shines through with the bullet whole on the front of the cover and the fact 50 is standing there topless showing off his muscles and tattoos. 50 has also chosen a very big bold font for his name again to show how big and powerful he is, also he is looking directly at the camera so it appears as if he is looking at us when we see the front cover. Often most people tend to look straight when 'posing' for an album cover but 50 isn't smiling or showing much signs of emotion in his face so he looks more intimidating than inviting. I think although usually and intimating man wouldn't normally be something you would want to see on a  product you intend to buy, it works quite well as an album cover. I think most people who like Hip-Hop styled music will obviously have a similar attitude to life so instead of feeling intimidated about 50 they look up to him and might even copy him. I think the glass effect works really well and clearly gives of the bulletproof effect he has gone for.

This is Nelly's album 'Brass Knuckles' it is similar to 50 cents album in the way both show the artist topless showing off the muscles with an intent to look all-mighty. So it is clear that this album fits the Hip-Hop genre as it is very similar to other album covers within the genre. Nelly is very proud of creating his own fashion of wearing, bandanna's, headbands and his trade mark band aid, so as we can see he is wearing one in this picture to keep up his image as the trend setter. It is clear to see a link between the title and the picture straight away as the title is 'Brass Knuckles' and we can see Nelly has his hand wrapped up in tame like boxers would do before a fight. Like 50 Cent and Cee-Lo's album covers we can see Nelly has also  made himself the main focus of his album cover so we can see clearly it is his album and we are forced to focus and look at him. He has also stuck to conventional colours like Kanye and Cee-Lo but added some colour again so not to be mistaken for a rock album cover. Also like 50 cent has used a very bold font for his name which I can only assume is for similar reasons to make him look big bold and strong and make sure he is the main focus of the audience.

From these album covers I have learnt that most Hip-Hop artists like to make themselves the main focus of their album in all means necessary and also they tend to stick to colours which are neither to colourful or too dull so they fit well within the genre. My favourite album cover is Kanye's as it is quite original so I will try to make my album cover have a different but intriguing look, whilst trying to stick to most hip hop conventions.

Marketing Campaign

To help advertise our artist so that more people would watch his video and by his music we decided to create a marketing campaign. We have thought of a variety of methods for advertising our artist and getting his name our there so people want to listen to his music and watch our video. The first idea we came up with was to market our artist online so we thought a good way to do this was to get him up on social networking sites. We got him to register to Myspace (music) and also Twitter we decided to do this so all his fans who use this sites can follow him and see what he is doing, this means if he tells them he is producing a new album or music video then people will then be aware of it and therefore more likely to buy his album and watch his videos. We also set up a Wikipedia page the reason for this is again so people who use that particular site can find out about him, but Wikipedia in particular allows us to give a detailed description of the artist so people can research him and then they will hopefully like him more as they know more about him.

We also thought we would need to advertise elsewhere so not just on the internet so we have decided it would be a good idea  create posters to advertise our artist we will have to speak to company's to see if we can put them up near them on there land and again this should also help to make our artist bigger and to generate more fans.

Final Music Video

Risk Assessment (Final)

To make sure all the people involved in filming and creating are video are safe we are going to have to complete a risk assessment. This means looking at where we are going to film and how we are going to film and seeing what possible risks or dangers there are and what precautions can be taken to prevent these.

These are the possible problems with filming in our chosen locations:
-House, we are filming the majority of the video within a house we will have to make sure people are careful going up and down stairs whilst carrying equipment. We will also have to make sure the house is safe at all times so if there is any major risk e.g. a fire or break in everyone should have been prepared with what to do so that they can get out safely and unharmed.
- Outside, we are filming some of the video outside the house and will obviously have to take precaution whilst filming as if the weather is really cold or it has just rained then in migh be quite slippy outside and therefore it could be possible someone could trip and hurt themselves.

These are the possible problem with our props:
- Spray Can, as the spray can has been compressed tightly with paint there a very high pressure inside it, so we will have to make sure we are all careful when carrying or using it as if we drop it too hard or have it near fire it could explode and injure one of us or our equipment.
-Clothing, we will have to make sure that all of the actors are wearing clothing correctly because if they are loose fitting they could get caught on something they could get damaged. Also if trousers are too baggy and hang down over the shoes or if shoes aren't done up correctly then the person wearing them could trip and injure themselves.

Animatic (Final)

Animatic

This is our animatic it is all of the shots from our storyboard with timings for each shot and the pictures put to music. This will help out a lot when editing as it will make it easy to see where to cut clips and how long each clip should last. It also helps give a better visual idea of what the video would look like than the storyboard. We are going to use this along with our storyboard to help us film so we can see which shots we have to do and how long they should last so we can make sure when we film that each clip is long enough so it will fit in when we edit and there won't be any gaps.

Storyboard (Final)

Narrative

The narrative for our video is quite simple, it all revolves around one main character (Grim) and his life. The video is showing how sometimes his life consists of boring, mundane everyday jobs and then  sometimes new, fun experiences that most people would enjoy doing. Most people might associate the day time with boring everyday activities and the night with parties and having fun, but we wanted to break away from this so we have included both boring activities in the day and night as well as fun activities in the day and night. The video doesn't really flow in time order of how things would happen but instead it keeps flashing to new parts of the same day(s). This was because the tempo of the music was constantly going up and down instead of a steady increase so we thought it fitted best for us to have the shots in order to fit with the music rather than in order.

Below I will now explain each shot explaining what the shot is, what is in the shot and why we have included that shot in our video. Also you can see we have made this storyboard on solid paper as oppose to post it notes as for our draft we needed flexibility of shots because we weren't sure of them but after receiving feedback on our draft we were sure of our shots for our final video.

Shot 1. This is a mid shot of Josh walking towards the camera holding a spray can and shaking it. 

Shot 1.1. This is a close up shot of Josh spraying the camera, although it appears as if he is spraying the audiences screen.

Shot 1.2. This is another close up of Josh spraying the camera and the screen then turning completely black.

There is no music for these shot as we had seen in other Hip-Hop music videos they had intros but didn't have any music playing, we thought this looked quite good and was a good affect so we included an intro in our video. The reason we went for a shot of Josh holding a spray can and spraying the camera/screen is because we wanted to jump right into the narrative of our video. So here you have Josh walking up without a care in the world, seemingly having fun spraying away in the plain daylight. We really like this affect as normally you associate spray cans with graffiti and night time but we wanted to give a different take on how people viewed graffiti and we also wanted to reinforce the narrative of him having fun in the day and night. 

Shot 2. This is a mid shot/wide shot and the opening clip of our film, it is showing Josh waking up getting out of bed and singing. - We decided as our narrative was all about activities in the day and night there would be no better way to really start our film than a person waking up as this is how everyone usually starts there day. The music starts just as this shot appears on the screen to help show that the real film starts here. The tempo and beta of the song is quite slow at this stage so we decided we would show a boring activity happening here and waking up is a great opening scene as well as a standard everyday activity so we thought it was very suiting for the first 'real' shot. 

Shot 2.1. This same shot as above but a different action so we have listed the shot as '2.1' it shows Josh getting out of bed and walking away. - We wanted to keep the flow of the video going so we have tried to keep lots of movement to help make the change from shots stay smooth. By making Josh climb out of bed and walk past the camera it was very easy for us to move into the next shot as a motion had just gone straight across the camera ready for it to quickly move position and shot.

Shot 3. This is an over the shoulder shot of Josh standing looking in the mirror singing and brushing his teeth. - We have included this shot to stick with the whole action of him getting up and getting ready for the day ahead. We went for an over the shoulder shot so we could show both Josh and his reflection in the mirror we thought this made the shot look appealing and also added theme of having fun and being boring. This is because although we can see Josh's reflection in the mirror we can't actually see his face so all we know is Josh is brushing his teeth whilst his reflection is singing away. This shows almost two parts of Josh one happy part were he is enjoying life singing as he goes and one boring part were he stands there and brushes his teeth.

Shot 4. This is a mid shot of Josh reaching out for some shaving foam as he stand in bathroom singing. - We went for this shot again to keep the flow of everyday life and getting ready but also to fit the song. The lyric for this part of the song is 'I look for peace but see I don't attain' so we thought it would be quite fitting for Josh to be looking for something at this moment. We also had to make sure he got what he was after so it was clear what he was reaching for and didn't confuse the audience and keep them thinking what was he doing.

Shot 4.1. This is the end part of the shot above it is simply Josh pulling down the shaving foam can towards himself. - We have again used this shot to help us switch shot we have included a movement of him pulling his arm right the way across the camera so it was easier for us to change into the next shot without it looking 'Jumpy'.

Shot 5. This is mid shot/close up of Josh sitting at the table playing poker with his friends and singing. - Here we have completed changed location and place in time this isn't because the tempo of the music has changed but again because we wanted to fit in with the lyrics of the song as well as add interest because the previous shots we are quite boring as nothing much was really happening. The lyric for this part of the song is 'What I need for keeps, this silly game we play, game we play'. So we thought including a scene of him playing a game would be quite suiting, it was easy for us to decide that he should be playing poker as it is a very Hip-Hop thing to do as gambling winning money showing off money is what Hip-Hop is all about. Also this shot shows him having fun again so we now have clips of him enjoying his life rather than clips of him doing boring everyday things and showing little interest.

Shot 6. This is a shot of Josh pushing some chips on the table repeatedly for a few seconds and then completing the action and pushing the chips into the middle of the table to bet. - After we had decided we were going to play poker we knew we needed to include a shot of him throwing all his chips and going 'all in'. The music is quite repetitive at this part of the video so we thought that this would be the perfect time to include this shot as we could have him repeatedly pushing the chips into the middle of the table at the same repetitive pace as the music.

Shot 7. This is a quick mid shot of Josh sitting at the table singing and playing poker. 

Shot 8. This is quick whip pan around the poker table.

Shot 9. This is another shot of Josh sitting at the table singing and playing poker.

Shot 10. This is a long shot/wide shot of Josh again sitting down singing and playing poker.

Shot 11. This is the same shot as shot 9, however Josh is singing different lyrics.

The reason we have decided to include a lot of shots of Josh sitting at the table singing is because we wanted to maintain a constant lip sync through our video to show that Josh is happy and having a good time. Quite often people associate singing with being happy so we have played on this for these shots, we have also made sure Josh was smiling and looking happy to help emphasize he is having a great time at night playing poker with his friends. The whip pan was included to show how time is flying by again to emphasize he is having fun as time seems to go more quickly when we are enjoying ourselves.

Shot 12. This is a mid shot of Josh sitting down and pulling up a beer towards himself to drink and then repeating the action  for a few seconds then completing the motion of him finishing his drink. This is a similar effect to shot 6 as the music as the time is doing the same thing it is repeating on the same note and lyrics over and over for a few seconds so we have again used a small motion to match the beat of the music. Also we thought pulling up a drink would be a good way to exit the shot as it is a nice smooth movement that can be carried on into the next shot.

Shot 13. This is a mid shot of Josh pulling down a glass of milk sitting on his bed and singing. - We have taken this shot back to Josh getting ready and waking up. We wanted to constantly repeat and go back to shots in almost so the whole video almost worked in a circle and looked really smooth, so we thought it would be wise to keep going back to the boring shots as the music went down. The shot shows Josh pulling down a glass of milk this helps keep a smooth transition of shots as he is pulling the beer towards him in the previous shot and the down in this shot so when they are put together they will look smooth.

Shot 14. This is a side view mid shot of Josh sitting down on his bed, placing the empty milk glass on the night stand and singing. - Again here we have made sure we have maintained the constant lip syncing through the video to keep up our conventions. However we made sure that Josh didn't look happy in this shot as this shot isn't him having a good time but simply him getting up and being quite bored. This also took a spin on the singing and made sure that the audience didn't always associate singing with happiness.

Shot 15. This is a quick mid shot of Josh standing up and walking towards the wardrobe. - The tempo and volume of the music has been slowing building throughout the previous shots and it is clear it is about to pick up and become very fast dance styled music, so to match this we have cut down the shot lengths and made sure he is completing very quick actions to match the new beat of the song.

Shot 16. This is a mid shot of Josh standing up opening the door and walking into the wardrobe topless. 

Shot 17. This is a shot of Josh walking out of the wardrobe closing the door fully clothed.

We have added these shots as the music is becoming very fast so we needed something good to happen, we thought it would be a good idea if Josh was sitting at home bored getting ready for the day ahead and then had an idea to climb into his wardrobe put on some of his favourite clothes dance and just have a good time. Also we thought the two shots of him walking in and out of the wardrobe would again be very smooth and help us cut to the next shot.

Shot 18. This is a mid shot of Josh standing in a plain room dancing and singing. - We have decided to include this shot to show that Josh can have fun in the day time as well as the night so we have got him singing and dancing around which are activities we might normally associate with night. 

Shot 19. This is a mid shot of Josh dancing and pulling his T-shirt towards the screen.

Shot 20. This is mid shot of Josh dancing in the same position as above but in a new T-shirt and pulling it back towards him.

We decided to include these two shots as the music is about to kick in just after the T-Shirt changes and we thought that we would need something quite clear to show this visually. So we settled on the T-Shirt changing it changes just it time to the music kicking in and sets up the theme or style for the next few shots. We also wanted to show he is having a good time and he seems to be enjoying himself and it looks as thought he can give his shirt a quick tug and it will change this looks quite cool and he is clearly enjoying messing around changing clothes.

Shot 21. This is a mid shot of Josh pulling out his arm dancing and then banging his chest.

Shot 22. This is the same shot as above but in a new T-Shirt.

Shot 23. Same as 21 and 22, new T-shirt again

Shot 24. Same as 21, 22 and 23 again a new T-shirt, then dancing.

We have added these shots in as the bass kicks in quite a lot in the video and makes quite a distinctive beat as we had already included the clothes changing we thought it would be a good simple way of matching the beat. We have set up these for shots so he is repeating the same dance move or action whilst changing shirts so it looks as if the changing of shirt makes the big bass noise which the audience can hear in the song. We thought it was very important to match the beat of the song and this was a nice simple way to do it.

Shot 25. This is a quick low angle close up shot of Josh facing his feet outwards.

Shot 26. This is a quick low angle close up shot of Josh moving his feet inwards new pair of shoes on.

Shot 27. This is a quick low angle close up shot of Josh facing his feet outwards new pair of shoes on.

Shot 28. This is a quick low angle close up shot of Josh moving his feet inwards new pair of shoes on.

Shot 29. This is a quick low angle close up shot of Josh facing his feet outwards new pair of shoes on.

Shot 30. This is a quick low angle close up shot of Josh moving his feet inwards new pair of shoes on.

We have added these shots again like the T-shirt changing shots to match the beat of the music, the music is quicker for these shots though and there are more beats so each shot needed to be quicker than the T- shirt shots and there needed to be more changes. We have kept an action of Josh moving his feet in and out so it looks as if he is almost dancing and gives the audience a little more to look at without having too much happening in not enough time.

Shot 31. This is a mid shot of Josh standing and dancing, the pulling his jacket zip down and looking to his left.

Shot 32. This is a mid shot of Josh standing and dancing, the pulling his jacket zip up and looking to his right wearing a new jacket.

Shot 33. This is a mid shot of Josh standing and dancing, the pulling his jacket zip down and looking to his left wearing a new jacket.

Shot 34. This is a mid shot of Josh standing and dancing, the pulling his jacket zip up and looking to his straight ahead wearing a new jacket.

We have added in these shots for the same reason as the shoes changing shots and the T-Shirt changing shots but we decided to use a new item of clothing to keep up the effect and make it look new and help change it a little.

Shot 35. This is a mid shot of Josh dancing and pulling a hat to the right of his head.

Shot 36. This a a mid shot of Josh dancing and pulling a new hat to the middle of his head.

Shot 37. This is a shot of Josh dancing and pulling a new hat to the left of his head.

Shot 38. This a a mid shot of Josh dancing and pulling a new hat to the middle of his head.

Shot 39. This is a mid shot of Josh dancing and pulling a new hat to the right of his head.

Shot 40. This a a mid shot of Josh dancing and pulling a new hat to the middle of his head.

Shot 41. This is a mid shot of Josh dancing and pulling his hat up.

Again these shot have been included to match the fast tempo of the song but a new item of clothing has be chosen to keep up the change and create a feeling of something new and fun to show how Josh is having a good time enjoying new fun things within the day.

Shot 42. This is a mid shot of Josh dancing and singing. - We included this shot again to make sure we could keep our artist lip syncing but we also wanted to show how he was happy now after he had found something fun to do so we have him dancing quite boastfully being very aggressive and in your face to show off his new clothes and new Hip-Hop attitude.

Shot 43. This is a mid shot of Josh dancing and singing whilst pulling a phone up towards his face. - We have added this shot as a way to bring Josh back to reality back to the boring life. Often when people are in the middle of something they are interrupted by a phone call or a text message and previously they had complete forgotten about anyone else and were just enjoying what they were doing. This is the feeling we want to get across for this scene. Also the movement has allowed us to very easily get out into the next shot.

Shot 44. This is a mid shot of Josh sitting down at a table pulling a phone down from his ear and putting it on the table. - We decided to include this shot so we could cut from the previous high tempo dance scene to the calm scene of him playing scrabble at a table. Also the lyric for this shot is 'Hold the phone' we thought again it would be suitable to match this with a visual representation of the lyrics and matching the lyrics with images is a very typically Hip-Hop thing to do.

Shot 45. This is a close up shot of scrabble pieces spelling out the words 'Mr Solo Dolo' on the scrabble board. - We decided to have this shot as we knew we were going to include a boring non Hip-Hop game as we had already include a fun Hip-Hop game (poker) and we wanted to keep up the narrative of having fun and boring things in both day and night. As we had decided to use scrabble we thought it would be quite good to match the lyrics with the pieces of scrabble so we decided to include this shot as it looked affective and took full advantage of our shots and props. 

Shot 46. This is a shot of Josh getting out his chair walking towards the door and singing. - We have included this shot mainly to keep the motion going we used the shot to connect shot 45 and 47 to stop the change looking 'jumpy'. By having him get out of his chair and walk towards the door it would be easy to fit into the next shot as he was already taking part in a movement. Also we again tried to match the lyrics as in this clip he says 'He's on the move can't seem to shake this shake' so we thought it would make sense if he was 'on the move' for the shot.

Shot 47. This is a mid shot of Josh walking outside his house and singing.

Shot 48. This is a mid shot of Josh gesturing to his house and showing it off. 

Shot 49. This is a long shot of shot continuing the movement of shot 48.

We included these shots as the lyrics our 'Within his dreams he sees the life he's made, made' and we thought something that you can make is money and something you buy with that is your home. So we decided to settle on him walking outside his house and gesturing to that to show the money his made and the house he has built with it. Also it is quite fitting with the Hip-Hop genre as again he is showing off what he has got and what he has earned with his money.

Shot 50. This is a shot of Josh lying in bed ready to go to sleep.
Shot 50.1. This is a shot of Josh picking up a photo frame and singing.
Shot 50.2. This is a shot of Josh holding the picture frame by his side whilst he is sleeping and a TV noise texture is on the photo frame.

We have added in these shots as the lyrics are 'The pain is deep, a silent sleeper, you won't hear a peep, peep'. We thought it would obviously make sense for him to be lying in a bed but we decided to chose a different bedroom to show how his world appears different just because of how he is feeling, the room is now dark and this helps show that he is unhappy reinforcing the lyrics. To show his pain we thought he could be holding  a picture frame of a girlfriend he used to have and he is looking at the picture of them together and feeling sad as he has lost her.

Shot 51. This is a shot of Josh within the picture frame he just had, singing then throwing the hat at the screen and the motion being repeated. - We have made this shot quite strange as we have just shown Josh asleep so this is Josh's dream and him imagining himself within the picture frame all alone. The reason we decided to show this as he went to bed looking at the picture frame and the lyric he sings in the frame is 'The girl he wants don't seem to want him to. It seems the feelings that she had are though, through'. We also thought as the music is repetitive and the word through is repeated we could again use the repeated motion technique so we included Josh taking off his hat and throwing it towards the screen and repeating the shot to match the music.

Shot 52. This is over the shoulder mid shot of Josh looking into the mirror, singing and shaving. - We have included this shot as we wanted to show how life can be boring in the night time as well we have also chosen for him to be shaving as we saw him picking up shaving foam earlier but didn't see him shave. However we can presume he did and therefore it is clear this is the second time he is doing it and it is now a chore as it the second time in one day and it is really boring and he doesn't want to be doing it.

Shot 53. This is a mid shot of Josh sitting on the bed, buttoning up his shirt and singing. 

Shot 54. This is a mid shot of Josh sitting on the bed, putting on his trousers and singing.

Shot 55. This is a shot of Josh looking into the camera/mirror, straightening out his tie and singing.

Shot 56. This is an over the shoulder shot of Josh looking into the mirror, make some final adjustments, then doing up his tie and singing.

We have added this shot to help show he is getting ready, we have chosen quite dull dark lighting to show he is not happy as there is little light in his life. It is not clear what he is getting dressed for but he doesn't look happy so the audience should assume he is off to work late at night rather than off to go and enjoy himself. Also in the last shot of him getting ready we have him just tidying up and tightening his tie the music is quite slow for this scene but is about to kick in, so we decided it would make sense if there was some motion of some sort to show the change in music. To show this we have Josh quickly popping his tie up tight to his neck just as the music drops, this looks effective and helps make the change from this shot to the next smooth.

Shot 57. This is a mid shot of Josh dancing and singing.

Shot 58. This is a mid shot of Josh dancing and singing from a side view.

Shot 59. This is a low angle, close up of Josh dancing and singing.

Shot 60. This is a close up front view of Josh dancing and singing.

Shot 61. This is a side view close up of Josh dancing and singing.

Shot 62. This is a close up front view of Josh dancing and singing.

Shot 63. This is a side view close up of Josh dancing and singing.

We have added these shot as the music has kicked in again for these clips so we thought it would be good to have lots of quick shots of him dancing and singing to match the beat and tempo of the song. We also decided to put these clips back in the day so the fast up tempo beat could meat the fun light of the day. We included lots of different angles and shots to add affect to the scene and make it look more interesting rather than sticking to just a few shot for each clip.

Shot 64. This is a shot of Josh throwing a hat towards the camera/screen.

Shot 65. This is a shot of the hat landing on the camera/screen covering it up.

We have added in these shots as earlier on whilst watching Josh in his dream we saw him throwing a hat at the screen but didn't get to see the end of the shot. Also as we started the video we something a bit weird and surreal we thought we would end in the same way. So we got a shot of Josh throwing the hat onto the camera to cover it up. Also the music stops playing before the shot ends so the music isn't playing for the intro or outro of the video. We think this adds a great effect and will make make the beginning and end of our video clear and interesting.

Working With Feedback

After receiving feedback from our friends and our teachers we now have lots of things to work with for our next video. The feedback has really helped us because it has given us a chance to improve our video so it is better for the audience. I will now list all of the feedback we have received for our first draft and explain how it has helped us and what we into to do with the feedback i.e. change shot, improve editing etc.

Bad Points

- The bed scene it is clear that two men are lying in bed together, I don't think this is not the effect you intended to create. - This will be an easy problem to fix as we couldn't get hold of our actor for the draft video but we will make sure she is in the next video.

- Concept not realised looks like two people playing similar roles it is not clear that the two actors are meant to be the same person. Possibly change the hoodie clip so he seems to morph into other actor. - This will also be easy to fix as in our draft we missed out some clips and one of those clips is a shot of the two characters dancing then CCTV showing him on his own so this will make it clear there is only one real person.

- Mise en Scene needs improving in the poker shot there is clearly a china cabinet in the background try to set up a more Hip-Hop styled theme for your music video. - We are going to fix this problem by changing the setting of the shot for the poker scene or by moving things out of the room and making it look more Hip-Hop.

- Parts are missing you will need to make sure that these are included for your final video as it could be missing some key clips. - We will be filming our next video on a brand new tape and make sure we don't watch it back until we edit it to make sure we cannot write over what we have already filmed.

- Some continuity errors for example when walking past the camera at the start of the video he walks one way and then the wrong way in the next shot. - We will film these shots from a different angle so the two shots match up and then the actor can walk in the same direction twice and we can just move the camera.

- No smoking if your video was to go on MTV it wouldn't be allowed due to the smoking clips. - We are going to cut these shots from our video and maybe replace them or extend other scenes in our video.

- Not many shots more action needs to be happening on the screen as the song is quick in tempo. - We are going to add lots more shots for each scene to pick up the tempo and try and match the beat of the music.

Good Points
- The clothes changing shot is very good and the changes are almost flawless the arm seems to stay in the same place throughout.
- Good lip syncing it looks very clear and fits in time very well with the music.
- The poker scene is also very good there is lots of room here to develop your music video try to make this scene longer as it could be a very good one.
- Good general editing and filming the quality of both is quite good throughout the video.

- The cuts from each scene look very good and over flows quite well.

We will also try and maintain everything we have done well in our video and try and improve everything as much as possible to produce the best video we can.

Teacher Feedback

Feedback

After giving in our first draft to our teachers to watch this is the feedback they gave back to us they were happy with the large majority of what we had done but they said we would need to make a lot of improvements to make our video better this is the feedback that they gave to us:

Bad Points

- The bed scene it is clear that two men are lying in bed together, I don't think this is not the effect you intended to create
- Concept not realised looks like two people playing similar roles it is not clear that the two actors are meant to be the same person. Possibly change the hoodie clip so he seems to morph into other actor
- Mise en Scene needs improving in the poker shot there is clearly a china cabinet in the background try to set up a more Hip-Hop styled theme for your music video
- Parts are missing you will need to make sure that these are included for your final video as it could be missing some key clips
- Some continuity errors for example when walking past the camera at the start of the video he walks one way and then the wrong way in the next shot
- No smoking if your video was to go on MTV it wouldn't be allowed due to the smoking clips

Good Points
- The clothes changing shot is very good and the changes are almost flawless the arm seems to stay in the same place throughout
- Good lip syncing it looks very clear and fits in time very well with the music
- The poker scene is also very good there is lots of room here to develop your music video try to make this scene longer as it could be a very good one
- Good general editing and filming the quality of both is quite good throughout the video