Rough Cut Magic

BoB Magic Rough Cut 2 from Jules Thrasher on Vimeo.

Magic

This is a rough cut of our music video - magic. This is what we showed on showcase day to the class. We got a lot of beneficial criticism form the class. We have taken their comments and made use of them by further editing our video to perfect it. We have filmed since the showcase day and have edited it all in. It looks a lot better now compared to the rough cut.

We have kept our lyrics in sync with the artists actions which is what Carol Vernallis' theory suggests. As a class we have looked at Vernallis and I like her theory the most. We decided as a group that we should use Vernallis' theory as it linked in the most compared to other theorist's.

Final Filming

Yesterday we felt we could add more to our music video, so we decided to borrow a HD camera and start filming. We went off to Chris' house were the opening of the video was filmed. We decided to make a party scene to link in with the idea of B Money being hungover. We took shots of the party so we could edit them in as quick cuts to show flash backs of the party.

The filming went really well and we plan to edit it all in today using Final Cut Express.

Preparing for the Evaluation

Before we start our evaluation for our groups music video, we must pre-write what we are going to say. We will do this otherwise we will mumble and not have any direction in what we say. Preparing for the evaulation is key so that we cover all aspects of the video and evaluate everything.

We know we must look at the good points as well as the bad points. We will set ourselves questions to follow as guide lines so that we do not go off track of the evaluation. As a group we will all take our turn to evaluate the video so that we don't all get shy on the camera. We will film it in an empty room with just us four in it.

The evaluation itself is very important to the coursework as it allows the audience to see how we felt about the piece and it will demonstrate the video to the audience.

The Webpage

The artists fans:

Gaining an incresed fan base is vital for a new artists such as B Money, as it will help him develop his music further and be able to see what his fans want. The webpage will allow fans to give suggestions on what track to produce next, or even what to wear. The artists fans are assively important, so keeping in touch with them through a social networking site is crucial.


Availability:

The artist's music must be easily accesible for the fans/listeners to get to otherwise they just will not bother. Putting your music on youtube, MySpace for example will make it very easy for people to hear your music. If your music was only available on iTunes for example, it would force the customer to have to buy the music before listening to it which they will not do.

Style:

Maintaining a style will help fans define the artist and will allow people to know what genre your music is in. The layout and design of the webpage has to link in with the artists theme. We have given our artists a hip-hop style and the webpage which I designed is also hip-hop, this will not confuse the fans at all so there will be no problems.

Video Showcase

In last weeks lesson we put our video on the big screen and showed it to the class. As a group we introduced our video and let everyone see it. We gave everyone out a sheet to write their thoughts and critically analyse our video. We took everybody's views and gathered up what everyone had written and made adjustments accordingly. After making the adjustments which was suggested to us by the class, we made our own changes which we felt were needed in order to make the video as perfect as we could make it. As a group we feel we have done a very good job in the video and gave our all into it.

We gained a lot during the showcase lesson as we could see what all the other groups came up with, as well as it being fun to watch, it helped us with our own video as we could compare our video to everybody elses.

Editing

Editing our music video was the most challenging part of our music video. We took more shots than needed when filming so we had options when editing. Keeping to the beat with your edits is a very important factor as not doing so will make the video look out of place with the video. We have also attempted to keep the lyrics in sync with the actions of the artist.

Final Cut Express

Getting used to Final Cut Express takes some time and dedication to the software. As a group we have spent a lot of time on Final Cut so that we were ready to edit our music video to the best that we could. We have found many useful effects that we have used in our video to link different shots together in the smoothest way.

Music Video Analysis - All of the Lights

The first shot you see during Kanye West's music video, All of the Lights ft. Rihanna and Kid Cudi, is of a warning sign emphasizing that bright flashing lights will be used in this video; this instantly prepares the audience to expect a lot of quick snappy shots with a lot of change in colour. By reading this opening shot you will know that the song will be fast paced without even listening to it.

The shot then moves onto a list of names which the audience do not understand but will expect to understand by the end of the video.Then a young girl is seen walking in black and white, this will surprise the audience as they were expecting a fast start but the music is also very slow as all you can hear is a piano. You then see a glimmer of light when the little girl slowly walks past a car with bright car lights, which builds up the tension for the song to pick up in pace. The idea of the little girl walking in the streets on her own with slow, sad music, makes the audience feel sympathetic for the little girl. All of the lights which she walks past are lit up by the camera to make them the focus point even in the opening stages of the song.

Then instantly the black and white shot of the girl flashes multi-colours very fast but the music stays dull... Then incomes the loud sound of Rihanna singing 'all of the lights', and then the beat drops and gives the audience what they were expecting in a very fast, exciting song. A long shot of Kanye West's name in bright lights are shown to show that he is the main part of this song and is the main artist even though Rihanna opens the song. 56 seconds are then shown of a black background of all different coloured writing, synchronized in with the sound and the beat.

Once these 56 seconds are up, Kanye West is shown, but the lights are still flashing to keep to the theme of the lights. Kanye is shown as a silhouette to hide his identity, but he is so well known people will recognize his voice and posture and work out that it his Kanye West who is singing.

A medium shot is then shown of another man in the characters bed with his girlfriend, Kany West says "To my suprise, another n*gger replacing me", this synchronization keeps to Vernallis' theory of lyrics corresponding to the story of the video.

The editor has done an edit where a shot of Rihanna and a shot of Kanye West are cut between the two so fast that it looks like they are flashing together in the same shot. We have used this edit in our music video as we feel it is very influential and will work in well with our video.

Kanye's next line is "restraining order, can't see my daughter", this reflects back to the opening shot of the little girl alone to slow upsetting music. It makes the audience realise, that this little girl is either Kanye's daughter or the character in the video's daughter. He then says "she need her daddy" as the edit shows the little girl in colour for the first time; this shows that life is being brought back into the girl, and she wants her dad just as much as he wants his daughter.

After then next chorus, Kid Cudi is shown on a black background wearing a bright red leather jacket to keep to the theme of bright lights.

The final 20 seconds of the video is of a blank multi-coloured screen flickering thorugh different colours at a fast pace, to end the song to the theme which has played thorughout the song.

Meeting

Yesterday we met up as a group to discuss whether there is anything that we could do to improve the video further. We decided that we could make some of the cuts smoother and quicker, and that tidying up the cuts is the main thing we need to do and we will be done, in good time.

Creating a Webpage For B Money

This is the webpage that I created for our artists, B Money. I decided to use MySpace as my source; I chose MySpace as it is very user friendly and is great for artists to promote themselves and their music. I created the page and designed into a Hip-Hop style to keep with the theme of B Money. I have also uploaded a few pictures of the artists and the music video.

Further Editing

Today I edited part of the music video. I went into the media suite and started to smoothen up some of the shots. I found that some of the music was not in complete sync with the some of the shots, so I edited them into sync to make the video look more realalistic. I feel that the edits need to be perfect to the millisecond so that the video runs through smoothly which is very important.

Technology in Music - Social Networking - MySpace

This is MySpace music. MySpace music is where most modern day and some old school artists put there music. MySpace is used for artists to comunicate with fans as well as distribute music. Artists such as Lil Wayne or Kanye West will put all of their exclusive music on MySpace for their fans.

Fans will be happy to see their favourite artists on MySpace so they can see what the artist is doing and what they are planning to do in the music industry.

Being internet accesible for an artist is a massive assistance in becoming an established artist. Most artists are on social networking sites to gain more fans; by not signing up to a site you will be left out in the cold by other artists.

I felt that we needed to put B Money on MySpace so that he could gain fans through the site as in the modern age it is very hard to gain fans otherwise. Unless you go back to the old school ways of singing on the streets and doing little gigs!

The internet is a powerful source to gain recognition in the 21st century; and now more than ever, music is so influential to peoples lives, becoming an established artist is a dream for most.

Many artists also have a Wikipedia page, this page will allow fans to look at the lives of their favourite artists and how they begun their career. Being on Wikipedia is very important as it shows that you are an established artist. When you type in an artists name into Google, the first link that will come up is the wikipedia page if the artist has one.

Artist Website

I decided to create a website for the Artist that we have made. I have chosen to use MySpace as my destination for the web page. Doing this will require me to have photos of the artist and a theme for the artists page. We have created a kind of 'bad boy' image, which I will keep in mind when making the page for B Money.

For an artist to gain further recognition from fans, they will need a website or a web page. MySpace, Facebook or any social networking website will be suitable; or perhaps even a whole new site for the artist. Many artists use Myspace as you can upload photos, videos and music to share with fans.

Album Cover Artwork Analysis

Kanye West GRADUATION.

This is Kanye West's 3rd album, Graduation.

The first thing that the audience will see when looking at the album, is the cartoon designed teddy bear. This teddy bear is what Kanye West uses to symbolise his presence. The bear is dressed in Kanye West's style so that his fans are kept satisfied with the consistant theme.

The colours of the album cover are very bright and attractive, this is so that the constumer's will see the album clearly and will be an eye catcher.

In the bottom left of the album is a Parental Advisory symbol to show that some of the content is not suitable for a younger audience. The teddy bear is being cannoned out of a machine like object to show that he is moving on to greater, higher things. On top of this machine/monster, is a university graduation, this is shown to keep on the theme of the title of the album, which is Graduation.

Kanye West's music style rap, techno, hip-hop. The idea of an outa space kind o theme helps the consumer see what the type of music will be before even listening to it.

For our groups album cover we will use Kany West as inspiration and hopefully achieve a similar effect to what Kanye West has achieved.

B Money Album Cover

This is my design for an album cover. We decided on the name 'B Money' as we like the idea of a Hip-Hop star being linked with money. I chose to ply on the idea of money by holding up a 1p piece in the photo.

In the photo I am looking quite fierce to keep the 'bad boy' image of a Hip-Hop rapper. The background consists of a grotty smashed up ally which links in well to the background of our artist.

We decided to make the image of me black and white, so we could bring out the importance of the money which is the first thing you spot when looking at the cover. I chose the font of B Money because it is a rough font to keep the link of the artist to the cover. The colours were chosen as they go well together and they match the eye colour to bring the eyes out even more to make me look even more fierce.

I put in a Parental Advisory symbol as he is a rapper and some of his music will contain strong language and it also makes the artist look 'gangster' to keep in with our theme.

I used Photoshop to create this album cover and used 8 layers in the process. This was the first time I had used Photoshop, I picked it up fairly quickly and feel I have learnt a lot.

Filming 3

We set out for our 3rd filming session with intensions to do a massive chunk of filming, and it kinda went to plan.

As a group we filmed the entire first verse and it went as planned. We filmed every thing we needed for the 1st verse and this has eased our time pressure. We have started to edit in the new footage and it is looking very good. We want to use different effects to make it look professional and so far we feel we have accomplished this.

We want to use a variety of shots when filming and we have done this so far and will consistently do this throughout the filming to hopefully gain extra marks.

Music Video Analysis - 6 Foot 7 Foot

Lil Wayne  - 6 Foot 7 Foot ft. Cory Gunz


The opening of this music video is of Lil Wayne sitting in a chair and someone trying to wake him up, the sound is of the man saying "he wont wake up"; Wayne then falls into a bath filled with water. The idea of Wayne falling into a bath of water whilst he is asleep symbolizes death. He is also wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie; this is known by most as the attire to attend a funeral. The audience will feel as though this song will symbolize death in some way in the video.

Lil Wayne is then seen wearing a Pilot's outfit with his 'crew' around him. This shows the audience that Wayne is the boss of the group. They are also all wearing some sort of red to show that Wayne is a 'blood'. By wearing red, Wayne's fans will like the fact he has kept to his usual theme and not changed.

Then the chorus comes back in for a few seconds and goes back to the idea of Lil Wayne dying... But this time he is in a car and not moving, but then he goes back to the bath tub in the same chorus.

All of the lyrics in the song are synchronized with actions from Lil Wayne, e.g. the camera is underneath Wayne as he says "I think you stand under me". This style of linking actions with words agrees with Caroll Vernallis' theory.

Even during the verse, the idea of Lil Wayne dying is still shown as the clips cut back to the bath and the car scene. Wayne's head is then shown being cut off to keep to the theme of him dying.

Cory Gunz then steps in for his verse; he is wearing all black to stick with the dark theme of the song, representing death and depression. He is also seen wearing a black suit just as Lil Wayne was, emphasising the idea of a funeral.

The car which Lil Wayne wouldn't wake up in, then crashes. This portrays the idea of death further and shows that Lil Wayne knew his death was coming before it happened.

The final shot is of Lil Wayne hitting the water in the bath tub, then realising he is in the water, waking up and getting out. This portrays to the audience that his death was not inevitable and that it could of been a dream.

Using a Variety of Shots

We know we need to use a variety of shots when filming our music video. We have used a vast amount of shots but we know we need to do more. We have a lot more filming to do so we will make sure we use a variety of shots next time we film, but we will make sure we keep good quality in our film. Our video has very ast cuts so we will need to do a wide range of shots to make it look right. But we know we have enough time to make it good quality.

Filming in 1st Person

As we have now decided to start our filming in 1st person, I felt I should do some research on filming in 1st person and what artists have also done this. Looking at various music videos I have found that not many artists decide to use 1st person in their music video's, I think this is a positive as it makes our work very individual compared to everyone elses. It also brings a narrative to the video if we do this. We plan to keep some of the 1st person footage as it is very good and we hope to keep to a 1st person theme throughout, but have hints of other shots also.

This is my first attempt at a album cover, I used Tinie Tempah as an example so I could practice for our actual album (B Money). I used ROCNATION and the Parental Advisory symbols to make it look realistic. I felt that the album is a bit plain and could do with more exciting colours.

For B Money's album cover we will use more colours and a picture of me with money in my hand to keep the idea of 'money'.
I believe that I should be the main part of the cover as the artist is supposed to be the most important part of the cover.

You have to keep the customer in mind when creating the cover and making an attractive cover is key for the customer as they will not pick it up unless it is well advertised or attractive.

Filming 2

For our second filming session we decided to slightly change what we originally did, use our failure of the first attempt to improve the second. We decided to use a 1st person affect to give the effect of a drunk and crazy night. We felt that using me with no trousers on will give a comedy effect as well as a serious one as this is what happens on crazy nights.

I am woken up by the man holding the camera and have to rush out the door and we will do quick cuts to give a rushing effect.

We did a few different shots of close ups of door openings and a few other angles to give variety in our work.

Filming

For our first day of filming, we decided to go to my house to film. We started out by renting out a HD camera from our Media department and then we set off. We got to my house and then I got changed, ready for filming. We then filmed our opening 10 seconds and this took a few takes and adjustments; we stuck to our storyboard as planned and it helped us progress quicker than we would have without it.

After a couple hours of filming, we went back to school to upload what we had filmed onto the Mac's and see how it looked in sync with the music. As a group we felt that the filming wasn't that good and can be made better so we decided that we would re-film the opening scene in a different house as mine was not suitable.

We plan to film again this weekend and make sure that it goes a lot better and make use of our storyboard and time a lot more.

Preperation for Filming

Before we start filming, I have made sure that we are prepared before we start filming. We want to get it done with no messing about and know exactly what we are doing before we start. We want to go to either or mine or Chris' houses as it will be suitable in either.

Lumby Producky Storyboard

View more documents from Westhatchmediastudies.

Here is a slide show of our storyboard which we created. We set up a heading page to guide us through the storyboard and let us know what characters and sets we will need within our filming.

B.O.B - Magic ft. Rivers Cuomo is our chosen song for our final video.

The video is very appealing and inspirational but we will not let the video itself inspire us, we will use our own ideas and techniques.

The video is very fast paced and we will create a video which is matched with the beat. We will lip sync some of the song but not all just like they do in most music videos, too much or too little lip syncing will result in a bad music video.

The editing will be very important to help the video look professional and out skills on Final Cut will assist us in doing this.

The Fall of the CD Market

Music Stores, HMV and Apple

CD sales hit an all time high in the 90's and didn't look like falling. But every product has its peak and sales began to decrease horrificly in the CD market. The rise of the internet found that CD sales began to decrease, this was due to online downloads which became easier to purchase than bread. In the Noughties, music downloads became the 'cool' thing to do, and this trend has not stopped since. Apple brang out iTunes and this opened up a whole new market, the music industry of CD's fell and didn't look like it was ever going to pick itself up again.

Then came illegal downloads, people set up websites to 'share' music. There idea of sharing music around the globe assisted a collapse in the music industry as a whole. Record labels were losing money like they have never seen before. Security online has helped some illegal download websites to be shut down but it will never be stopped. Now shops such as HMV are finding it hard to keep sales alive but they are doing there best to keep the CD market alive.

The novelty of a physical CD has warn off and now people will happily pay for music and not physically get anything for their money. iPods and MP3 players are the reason people now want to buy music online, they store music on them with out any need for a CD, and to be honest they are a lot more feasable than a CD and a Walkman.

Prelim Task

For our preliminary task we filmed many different shots to practice for our final piece and I feel we achieved this but improvments can still be made. We used Final Cut to edit our filming and we all had a try at the software to get used to it.

We added the music to the video by importing it to Final Cut and it was easy enough to work out by our selves. We then had to do the hard part which was alining the sound to sync with our mouths to make it look real, after a bit of work we got it to look real.

During the filming we knew we had to actually sing out loud other wise it would look fake once finsihed, so we did. We can see that it looks respectably realistic so we will use this technique in our final filming.

Story Board

As a group we set out to complete a detailed story board in order to have a very accurate idea for when we film. We wanted to do a very detailed story board so we know exactly what to do when filming. The song that we chose is very up-beat so we feel we need to make many cuts and show a variety or shots in our work. We looked at other music videos for inspiration but we felt that our own ideas will be more suitable for our song choice.

Completing a story board sheet before filming, I believe is very beneficial for the group and the video. By creating the story board we will know exactly what we are doing when filming, shot by shot. /having the story board in hand when filming is extremely helpful to help us keep organized and on top of everything, we can mark off what shots we have done and what shots we still need to do.

Making our Artist Look Like a Star

To keep our artist, B Money, to look like a star, we have give him a specific 'look', just as most artists have. Kanye West in particular has his own image and he sticks to it where ever he goes. We have given our artist a unique style withe the clothes he wears, as the song Magic has an indie artist and a Hip-Hop rapper.