Evaluation question 4

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation question 3

Question 3- Evaluation


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK4ri83z0fE&feature=player_embedded

Evaluation- Question 2

q2 Evaluation

Evaluation- Question 1

Q1 Evaluation

Roles and responsibilites

Logo

Here is one of the logos that me and my group created using Adobe Photoshop. We use our initials of our names to name our record company as it was simple and sounded recognizable to future references. In this logo we used a film cut picture with the name of the company inside it, i believe this is effective as the name stands out against the black background.


However, we decided to create a new logo as we believed that the logo we created the first time was more towards film production instead of music videos. This is our final logo, which we also added into the digipak, the logo is in block capital letters to make it stand out to the audience and can also be made transparent when use in digipak and can have any colour in the background. We used symbols from a video player as this addresses a music company in a clearer way.

Final Draft of Music Video

Shot List

Shot list

Long shot

Extreme long shot

Close up extreme close up

Medium shot

High angle

Low angle

Point of view

Panning

Oblique/Canted Angle

Arc

Crab

Dolly

Dolly zoom

Follow

Pedestal

Tilt

Tracking

Trucking

Zooming

Two shot

Three shot

Group shot

Extreme low close up

Extreme high close up

Eye level angle

Crane shot

Location Shots

In the video, we mainly use a blue screen background so that we can create other background and split screens in the editing suite.

Here is a picture of the blue screen. When filming we had to ensure that the whole area of the background only showed the blue screen. There were spotlights that we could rearrange, only turning on the ones that were significant to the dancers. We had a few problems with the blue screen as the surface on the bottom kept creasing which made it difficult to key out when adding in a new background when editing, however we managed to draw attention away from it by cutting to close-ups and mid shots. The dancers had to ensure that they did not wear any form of blue when being filmed as it could have been lost when using colour correction. Blue or green are popular colours to use when filming as they are the colours that match human skin the least.

At the beginning of the video, we used different peoples feet dancing to the music, to start us off we filmed in the college infront of brick walls to reflect on the Electro house street dance style.

 We also filmed in Piccadily circus in London Trocadero. The location was a hall with graffiti writing in the background which also reflects on the genre house elemenet of the music video. The dancers were all breakdancers which was an advantage however, the dissapointment of the filming was that the lighting was very low key, and we had to ensure that the dancers stayed in the same spot so that it did not get too dark.

Weekly Update- week 7

This week is the last week of the final product being handed in. We managed to complete our editing with two days left to spare and start our evaluation. Overall, it has been a tight deadline and we believe that we could have improved considerably if we had more time. However, with the little budget we had, our video shows a clear reflection of an Electro House music video with common elements being used. I am now starting my evaluation in which i will explain difficulties that we came across when making our media product.

Inspirations

One video that particularly inspired me and my group was the Calvin Harris music video to Ready for The weekend. When doing this for my technical analysis i believed that the frame work that the editor has used is a very effective and clever technique. I showed the video to my group and suggested the idea, however, it came across very difficult and most of the images that the video has used were moving images and were being moved also a handheld camera movement had been used to zooming into the next scene using the frame. So to make the effects simple for our video we used a square frame to easily fit images in and ensured that no dancers went infront of it, we also used a still image when editing. We used a zoom camera movement but when filming we put the camera on a tripod so that no handheld zooms were made as the editor would have found this extremely difficult in the final stages of making the product.

 

 Another inspiration was the Beyonce video to Countdown. The editing techniques that were used in the video are particularly clever and carefully done. Although this video does not fit our genre the main singer has the same shot as one of our dancers. The video also is similar to the calvin Harris video when a female is multipled several amounts of times in both videos. The colour correction technique that has been used in the video was inspiring to us as the effect was exciting and colorful. We used a similar technique in our music video when Hilary was dancing.  For each movement we used a b link effect and changed the colour of the background and also her shoes and colour of the top underneath her leotard.  Another feature that the video uses is two way and three way split screens. We used this effect in our video to show different dancers doing different moves within the same screen.

Pictures that we chose to use in video

Equipment Used

 Another camera that we used was a sony HDV. When filming the dancers on the blue screen, we used three of the cameras at once all in different angles and viewpoints of the dancers. These cameras were trustworthy and easy to use. 

One of the cameras that we used when filming our music video was a sony pd170. This camera helped us to film clear shots in a good focus. When editing the video there were no blurs or mistakes and we believe that using these cameras benefitted us greatly.
Another piece of equipment that we used was a tripod. The tripod allowed us to make sure that the camera was still and not shaky. We could pan left and right up and down without the look of a handheld camera, it also carried the weight of the camera when filming so we did not have trouble holding anything.






When editing our video we used Apple Mac computers as these provided us with the Final Cut Pro software and adobe photoshop used to create our ancillary tasks.








We used video cassette tapes to record our music video when using the camera. Sometimes we would have to take more than one tape out to film as it could not hold the contents of the time that we filmed and would have to swap tapes to finish filming.
 The last piece of equipment that we used was a tape deck. We used these to transfer the media from the tape onto the computer which would then be log and captured in Final Cut Pro software and ready to edit.

Weekly Update week 6

In the sixth week, me and my group have finally finished filming and completed our first draft. I have completed my planning and research and added extra posts to show rehearsals and the props we have used.

First Draft

Costume/ Prop List

The costumes that we used for the dancers were all similar, most of the filming was random so they were already wearing costume that we thought fitted the genre.
Girls

• lace leotard
• red heels
• converses black/white
• crop tops
• black shorts

Boys

• Checked shirts
• jeans
• hi-top trainers
• black shirts
• black trousers
• pink tie
• plimpsols/ trainers/ smart shoes
• snapback / wooly hat
• colourful jackets

Props
Our video is mainly based on dancing and a performance so we didnt use many props, the only props we did use was a frame so that we can use the zoom effect onto, and also the blue screen in the college to make sure the background did not interfere with the dancers whilst editing.

Tester Idea of Music Video

Me and my group came up with the idea of zooming from one scene to the next, we gathered the idea from the Calvin Harris music video "Ready For The Weekend" in which i used for my technical analysis. However, we found it very difficult to zoom out from one scene to the next on with a moving image , so we used a still image using a green screen frame to zoom into. This is a tester video of what we are plannning to use in a few of our scenes. I am in the video making sure i did not cover the screen in any way.

Making the video- rehearsals

As our video is not based on a storyline and we are using a performance, we had to gather dancers from all types of different locations and ensure that they had a routine to follow of we could film the free-styling. Me and my group took a few snapshots of rehearsals taking place.

Here are Rebecka and Joanna, two of our main girl dancers wearing leotards ready for rehearsal.


  This is a picture of the girls in rehearsal in the dance studio.

 

Ali (member of my group) using the camera

This is Hilary getting her make-up done before shooting the film, wearing bright lipstick and eyeshadow to match the genre.

Billy And Micah(male dancers)

Billy and Micah(male dancers)

Risk Assessment

Potential Hazards

Call Sheets

Call Sheet Media

Animatic

An animatic is a series of still images edited together and displayed in sequence. More commonly, a rough dialogue and/or rough sound track is added to the sequence of still images. This is the animatic that i have created for my group, i decided to use pictures from parts of the footage. The beginning is on the chess board which we have decided not to use.  However, some of the images are going to be put into a montage and have other footage overlapping them and may not be visible in the final draft.

Weekly Update 5

In the fifth week, I have been starting on my planning tasks, and helping to edit the scenes that we did not need in our video. It was a long task to delete over an hour worth of filming, as some of the lighting was bad or the dancers were out of time. We still have one more dancer to film and have nearly completed the first draft of our video.

Digi Pak

Magazine Advert Design

I used adobe photoshop to design my magazine advert, the main image ive focused on is the singer we used in our vieo, i took a picture of him against a white background and then used that picture on a zebra background as the first layer. I added in the date that it is going to be released, the title and name of the artit and a parental advisory sign as the CD contains content that should only be heard by over 18's.

Digi-Pak Design Draft

Magazine Advert Design Draft

 

This is a draft of my magazine advert i have drawn it out by hand , i will be including a picture of the two male singers, with a zebra black and white background, the advert will only include the date and name of the song and artist on it , and also the parental advisory sign. The bubbles around the picture and date will be yellow so they stand out to the audience and the font will be in yellow bubble writing with a purple background.

Analysis Of Digi pak (2)

Weekly Update- week 4

In the fourth week, i began planning, making call sheets and risk assessments and me and my group are almost finished filming . The editing will begin shortly and i am continuing ideas for my magazine album advert and digipak. We found it hard to gather the dancers at the same time as they also had other lessons, we found a lot of difficulty in making sure they wore the designated costumes and kept on the beat of the song.

Analysis Of Magazine Advert- Screen Casting MIKA

For my second magazine album analysis, i have decided to download Cam Studio. Software that enables you to analyze a document by speaking into a microphone where the screen follows the mouse and captures what you are doing. I have chosen Mika's advert , although this is not electro house , more pop, it conveys a colorful and positive attitudes which i could also use for my ideas when designing my advert.

Mood board

This is my moodboard that i have designed to give the audience an idea of our video. It represents an electro house video as i have used bright color's and similar themes. I chose to use the outline of a woman dancing with flashing laser lights around her as the main object. This instantly focuses on being in a club, i have also put bottles of alcohol with a skull on them and a picture of multiple pills(drugs) in someone's hand as with most electro house videos they are based on people drinking or taking drugs in clubs.
I have also included a pair of colorful converses and a snapback as these are the most common form of electro house costume that are used in videos. The whole mood board is retro and colorful and represents electro house aspects. 



Andrew Goodwin Theory (2)

Kickstarts

Using the Andrew Goodwin Theory for the second time to gain more valuable ideas, i will be using Examples video, for kickstarts. This is also an electro house song which is the closest relation to our idea for our music video. The six points i will be discussing are as followed:
Iconography
The music video demonstrates genre characteristics of Electro House, brightly coloured trainers, logo tees, hoodies, dancers and quick cuts are the main features of the music video that has been used to represent the genre. Colorful objects like red sunglasses and an orange ball has been used which can also represent the genre, showing cheerful objects and dancers that are happy conveys the postive attitude of the Electro House Genre.

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

You want me to come over I got an excuse
Might be holding your hand, but im holding it loose
Go to talk then we choke its like our necks in a noose
Avoid the obvious we should be facing the truth

Start to think it could be fizzling out
Kinda shocked because I never really had any doubts
Look into your eyes imagine life with out ya

And the love kick starts again
Starts again

And the Love kick starts again
Starts again

Its the same old you the same old me
You get bored and I get cold feet
Get high get wandering eyes
Forget ive never ever had it so sweet
I realise what I got when Im out of town
Cause deep down youre my girl in a golden crown
My princess and I dont wanna let you down
No I Dont wanna let you down down down down

You want me to come over I got an excuse
Might be holding your hand but im holding it loose
Go to talk then we choke its like our necks in a noose
Avoid the obvious we should be facing the truth

Start to think it could be fizzling out
Kinda shocked because I never really had any doubts
Look into your eyes imagine life with out ya

kick starts again

Start to think it could be fizzling out
Kinda shocked because I never really had any doubts
Look into your eyes imagine life with out ya
Imagine life with out ya
Imagine life with out ya
Imagine life with out ya

And the love kick starts again
Starts again

And the love kick starts again
Starts again

kick kick starts

Its the same old you the same old me
You get bored and I get cold feet
Get high get wandering eyes
Forget ive never ever had it so sweet
I realise what I got when Im out of town
Cause deep down youre my girl in a golden crown
My princess and I dont wanna let you down

kick kick starts

Start to think it could be fizzling out
Kinda shocked because I never really had any doubts
Look into your eyes imagine life with out ya

And the love kick starts again
I believe that the lyrics are illustrating. The lyrics give off the impression that a man is getting bored of his relationship with his girlfriend and keeps forgetting what he has got although she treats him right. However, he then realises again that he wants to be with her when he looks into her eyes or when he's not with her and 'the love kickstarts again'. The video focuses on the man being with his girlfriend but seems like there is something missing. The first scene where we see the girl going to hold his hand, there is a close up of this and then another close-up to his face which looks uninterested, this matches with the lyrics of 'Might be holding your hand but im holding it loose'.  In the same scene the lyrics state 'Start to think it could be fizzling out
,Kinda shocked because I never really had any doubts, Look into your eyes imagine life with out ya' this then shows a close up of the girl facing the camera focusing on her eyes, and then a two shot of the artist going to kiss her, as he realises what he has got. Although our song does not have many lyrics, we can focus on the editing skills that have been used with the lyrics that are present. In this video the editor uses the lyrics 'down, down, down, down', in the visuals. When the artist is singing this we see feet tapping from a different scene above him and coming down to switch scenes . They also use a good technique when the lyrics are sung to '
Go to talk then we choke its like our necks in a noose', a piece of spaghetti is then shown in a close up tied up, which conveys the trouble he has speaking to his girlfriend about his feelings.
We see a close-up of the girls eye when Example sings the lyrics 'Look into your eyes', this is also a split screen to concentrate on the lyrics and him singing it whilst looking into her eyes.

There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
The relationship that is shown between the music and visuals are illustrative and amplifying. For example at the beginning of the song there is the same beat that is being illustrated by feet tapping to it, as the beat continues and gets louder and more bassy we see a split screen of multiple feet also tapping to the beat of the song.

When the lyrics begin the jump cuts become less frequent however keeping to the split screen. The video concentrates more on the artists singing as soon as the lyrics begin.
As the beat drops again and the backing music becomes more clear to the listeners the video uses lots of cuts rom one person to the next to match with the beat.
When the lyrics stop for the beat, we see another split screen that shows three cuts of people put on top of one another to look like one person, and all of the cuts are of peoples body parts dancing to the song. For every bit of the song that has no lyrics it mostly concentrates on the dancers, and when the lyrics start again, we begin to see a story line to go with the lyrics.
A popular part of the video that illustrates the music is when the singer says 'down' multiple times we see another split screen of feet tapping to the beat and eventually going down until it reaches the whole screen and cuts off the singer and returns to the main beat.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
The record label includes lots of close-ups of the artists to ensure that the audience know who Example is. Below i have included some of the close-ups that they have used. The visual style that occurs with example is a casual look. In most of his videos we can see that the artist does not go out of his way to impress the audience, his clothes are regularly casual with jeans trainers and a top and cardi. This is likely to help the audience to relate to him, most likely that he lives a normal life and fits in with lower class people.
He does not use any motifs, however, the most famous attribute could be the gap in his front teeth. The represents that he has imperfections like most people, and he may however, have alot of money at the moment but is not proving to be a stereotypical celebrity with plastic surgery and implant, this is an attribute that gives him likeability.

There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
In the video the director uses notion of looking. This is when it shows people in the video that do not know that they are being watched. We see the artist looking at the female, whilst she is sitting inside, she does not know he is observing her, however, the lyrics suggest that he is realizing his love for her. We also see a split screen of both of them looking at eachother which represent the strong feelings that they have for one another. The close-up of an eye is a symbol of watching, which represents voyeurism in the video.

There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc)
There is intertextual reference to the music video Kate-Nash Foundations. The reference of maybe falling out of love with someone, is also used in this music video:



Close-ups of feet in particular and random objects are used in both music videos maybe used to represent the confusion that the artist is going through. Many two shots are used with both couples looking at eachother sitting at a table and showing their feet. They both use many close-ups of the artists singing the lyrics to the camera showing deep expression in their faces.

Analysis Of Magazine Advert

I have chosen to analyze La Roux's album cover as the genre of music that she is in is electro, this kind of poster could give me ideas on an electro house poster.

Week 3

In the last week there was a half term, in which i did not do any blog work, and concentrated on filming, our group have came up with an idea and based the video around editing work. We filmed in the college and are planning to go to london to finish our film. We have planned to get a group of dancers to help us film, and plan a routine.

Lyrics

~ Instrumental~





Pon de floor.



~Instrumental~



Pon de floor



Hook

Lady, get in line.

Let me see your bestest wine X3

Move if you want to all it tek a jus a likkle wine.

Pon de floor, any weh X4



Pon de floor....



~ Instrumental~



Hook(repeat)



~Instrumental~

In Pon De Floor there are not many lyrics, the whole song is mainly focused on the beat, which is why we have chosen to do a performance to the song. However, the lyrics do focus on simulating provocative dance moves on a women, as the term'wine' appears in the song. This could put the artist across as being possible sexist towards women encouraging sexual dance moves. Therefore, as there are not many lyrics the song encourages dancing with an upbeat tempo.

Target Audience

After researching the music genre, I have discovered the usual aspects that are used in electro house music videos. The videos are usual sexually orientated and promote voyeuristic treatment of the female body. Most of the people that we interviewed for our audience research said that dance music was their favorite. I am going to be basing our target audience around the ages of 16-24, a typical young adult age. Especially the male audience and dancing females can be used a lot in this kind of video. Most electro house music is played in clubs and bars, hence, why we are choosing the young adult audience.

Contact with the artist

I have contacted the artist so that i can gain proof of permission to use his song. I recieved his e-mail address off of his website so it is a genuine address.
Unfortunately, i did not recieve a reply from my attempt to contact the artist.

Andrew Goodwin Theory

In order to gain suitable ideas for our Electro-House music genre, i am going to use an existing Electro-House music video using the Andrew Goodwin Theory. This theory is a six point approach that analyses a music video in greater detail than a technical analysis.  Goodwin came up with this theory and is stated in his book 'Dancing In The Distraction Factory'.  The six points that Goodwin mentions are what he believes are the six different elements that should make up a music video.  These six points are as follows:

1. Iconography (Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics)
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc)

Iconography

The genre characteristics that i have mentioned in my music genre research was based on Electro House, the video of Kid Cudi- Day n Night reflects the genre in every aspect. The video is based on the use of Drugs, which is used in many house music video's. This video displays to the audience how the use of drugs makes the singer feel good about himself, this is conveyed by dancing girls wearing provocative outfits, and dancing sexually. The video uses many different bright colours, and the dancers wear bright colours e.g. pink , yellow and blue. 

Lyrics and Visuals

The lyrics of the song:   

Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh... 

[Kid Cudi:]
Day and night (what, what)
I toss and turn, I keep stressing my mind, mind (what, what)
I look for peace but see I don't attain (what, what)
What I need for keeps this silly game we play, play
Now look at this (what, what)
Madness to magnet keeps attracting me, me (what, what)
I try to run but see I'm not that fast (what, what)
I think I'm first but surely finish last, last

[Chorus:]
Cuz day and night
The lonely stoner seems to free his mind at night
He's all alone through the day and night
The lonely loner seems to free his mind at night (at, at, at night)
Day and night
The lonely stoner seems to free his mind at night
He's all alone, some things will never change (never change)
The lonely loner seems to free his mind at night (at, at, at night)

[Kid Cudi:]
Hold the phone (what, what)
The lonely stoner, mr. solo doe low (what, what)
He's on the move can't seem to shake the shade (what, what)
Within his dreams he see's the life he made, made
The pain is deep (what, what)
A silent sleeper you won't hear a peep, peep (what, what)
The girl he wants don't seem to want him to (what, what)
It seems the feelings that she had are through, through
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/k/kid_cudi/day_and_night.html ]
[Chorus:]
Cuz day and night
The lonely stoner seems to free his mind at night
He's all alone through the day and night
The lonely loner seems to free his mind at night (at, at, at night)
Day and night
The lonely stoner seems to free his mind at night
He's all alone, some things will never change (yeah) (never change)
The lonely loner seems to free his(yeah) mind at night (at, at, at night)

[Kid Cudi:]
Slow moe, (what, what)
When the temple slows up and creates that new, new (what, what)
He seems alive though he is feeling blue (what, what)
The sun is shining man he's super cool, cool
The lonely nights (what, what)
They fade away he slips into his white nikes (what, what)
He smokes a clip and then he's on the way (what, what)

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

The relationship between the lyrics and visuals is illustrative because it relates to the lyrics in some aspects.  

I assume from the lyrics he had a girlfriend that he loved a lot and she left him. He talks about being a loner, and no one can relate to the pain he is feeling. He feels like a loner without her in his life.  "The pain is deep
A silent sleeper you won't hear a peep" All day long he only feels stress and pain and at night he finds the energy to smoke some weed to free his mind at night.

When he is 'stoned' this gets rid of his problems for the time being a relieves his pain.

He also talks about how he keeps attracting bad situations and girls – “Madness to magnet keeps attracting me, me, I try to run but see I’m not that fast”. He talks about how the girl that he likes doesn’t like him anymore and how he’s going through a tough time – “The girl he wants don’t seem to want him too, It seems the feelings that she had are through, through”. 

However, towards the end of the song it sounds as if he is picking himself up, and realising that he can start fresh. "He seems alive though he is feeling blue (what, what)
The sun is shining man he's super cool, cool".

The video is also contradicting as when he is singing negative lyrics about how he is feeling the video is portraying happiness. For example, when the lyrics say "the pain is deep" it shows the singer dancing with beautiful girls and having a good time.

There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

The song has a slow, mellow beat to it, which is amplified in the video with dancing girls and a performance. As the song begins it has a slow beat which is represented by the artist going into a room and coming out with smoke coming out of his mouth stimulating that he has smoked drugs. As the lyrics begin we also see a close-up of the artists face, illustrating the song. The girls dancing in the background are doing slow dance moves as he intorduces the song, and as it get towards the end and the beat comes in a performance is shown of the girls dancing sexually.
When the beat eventually drops and the chorus kicks in , the tone drops and there are jump cuts of the singer acting childlike playing with objects that he has found in the workplace, and a siren like noise begins and a police officer walks in to the shop, this is amplifying as she begins stripping and dancing to the beat of the song. The tempo of the song increases and cuts of her body are being focused on continously and the male singer watches in the background.
It seems that when the chorus begins and the song speeds up, dancing girls become noticeable to the audience to collaborate to the beat of the song.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

Throughout the video the director uses many close-up shots of the artist. Most of the close-up, concentrate on his wacky emotions when he is under the influence of drugs, and maybe could be a recurring motif for the singer. A person that entertains himself when taking drugs, however, this could have a bad effect on people watching the video as it can encourage people. This could be the record labels way of getting members of the publoic to remember who he is and how he has no morals or interest in what people think of him or his actions.

 

There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes,etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. 

 

This music is completely voyeuristic, showing revealing provocative outfits of the female dancers. However, this fits in with the genre of the music video. The camera shows cuts of close-ups of sexual body parts of a woman dressed in a police officers outfit and also a woman dressed in shorts and visor chewing gum and blowing bubbles. The video also shows reference to notion of looking as the main singer is constantly watching the dancing girls. Most of the time the girls are looking directly into the camera creating a more initimate relationship with the audience. This is used to create an attractiveness towards the females for a male audience. 

There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc)

Another music video that has an intertextual relationship to this video would be George Michael- Outside. This is because both artists seem to mock the law by showing girl dancers dressed provocatively in police outfits because drug taking is illegal. However, both artists are showing the fantasies involved in taking drugs and the irresponsibilty of it. Both videos have a performance of dancers dressed sexually.

Technical Analysis (2)

For my second analysis i will be discussing the visual effects and concepts of Kanye West's video; Good Life, which could also give my group plenty of ideas to use. Similarly to Calvin Harris's video, it does not have a narrative and is bright and colour most of the music video is based on the main singer Kanye West. The whole concept of the video is that the imagery all relates to every single lyric of the song. The editing plays a huge part in the technique of this video.  The music video for "Good Life" was directed by Jonas & François with animation by So-Me. The video was the recipient of several awards nominations, winning "Best Hip-Hop Video" at the BET Hip Hop Awards and "Best Special Effects in a Video" at the MTV Video Music Awards.



CameraWork
Throughout the video the shots vary, from long shots to show the backgorund of the lyrics forming, to close-ups and mid shots.  The camera angle that the director has used is in most of the scenes are an eye level shot, the camera has been kept 5-7 feet off the ground so the singers head is on a level with the focus. In most of the video not many camera movements have been used to focus on the singers, however as the director has gone for a 3D feel and look to the video sometimes a Pan is used to exaggerate on the effects of the background. For example when the rolercoaster animation is coming towards the screen , the camera slowly pans to the right and moves from left to right as if it has been crashed into.  Camera effects that have been used is the use of wordart moving on the screen as if it is a speech bubble. These are creative and fun and appeal to a wider audience.
In the video i believe that only two scenes have been used which is a plain white background and than a black background which emphasizes the special effects ,  the white scene may connote the day time and pictures show what America has to offer in the day and all of the good things about life in america, the black scene shows what it is like at night showing lots of casino signs and cocktail neon lights, even fireworks as special effect to connote that they are having an even better time at night.  However, in the video both singers are presented in black and white, this could be to emphasize all of the colorful things in the background that tend to make them happy. 

Mise-en-scene
As the video focuses on the editing more no props have been used at all in this video it must have been very simple to create with the help of a good photoshop user. The clothes that the singers are both wearing are leather jackets and sunglasses this could possibly represent that they have a lot of money, the female dancer that has been used in the video is also wearing black leotard with fishnet tights and heels, this could be to connote that the 'rich' males get alot of female attention. The lighting that has been used in making the video i assume to have been bright light at first to make the white background stand our and then towards the end of the video to be low key lighting in order to make the background fade in with the singers and dancers. 

This video has influenced the design of our electro-house music video to use plenty of colours and minimal scenes just like in the calvin harris music video. The aim is to create an emotion of fun and happiness and create a sense of the 'high-life'. Costumes such as sunglasses like in this video could also be used , with any girl dancers wearing colourful leotards.

Weekly Update- Week 2

In the second week of starting my coursework we have filmed and edited our Audience Research, this have given the group a better idea on the audiences attitude towards Electro House music videos. I have completed my Star analysis and research into the Auteur Theory in which i chose to research Colin Tilley. I am inspired by his visual work and have learnt to use my own originality in our Video.

Auteur Theory

Auteur Theory

The theory holds that the director, who oversees all audio and visual elements of the motion picture, is more to be considered the “author” of the movie than is the writer of the screenplay. In other words, visual elements as camera placement, blocking, lighting, and scene length convey the message of the film.

The music video director that i have chosen is Colin Tilley , an award winning director for Riveting Entertainment. Colin Tilley is an international music video director born on  June 27^th 1988 in Berkely, Californina.  He has directed videos for Diddy, Chris Brown, Keri Hilson, Justin Bieber, Bow Wow, Ciara, Usher, and many more.  Some of his landmark videos include, Chris Brown ft Justin Bieber- 'Next To You' ,Chris Brown-'Yeah 3x' and Jason Derulo- 'It Girl'.

Colin Tilley has won several awards including video of the year at the 2011 BET Awards for Chris Brown's "Look at Me Now" video and Best Male video at MTV's 2011 VMAs for Justin Bieber "You Smile".

Tilley seems to the same visual style throughout all of the videos that he has directed, dark rooms, basements and dim lighting. The videos usually include lots of street dancers and girls which boast fantastic lighting pieces, and sleek editing.  Colin Tilley emphasises the narrative within the lyrics of the song he is directing the video fo. For example , Next To You by chris brown and Justin Bieber. The video shows that the world is ending and they are both looking for their girlfriends, making sure their next to them when its over and showing their protection just like the lyrics of the song. 

Colin Tilley particularly inspires me because he is only 23 years old, and has already directed over fifty music videos. He has a great amount of talent and uses his own originality in all of his videos. 

Star Analysis

Star Analysis – Katy Perry 

Katy Perry is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Katy is known for her unconventional style of dress. 

It is fairly obvious that her outfits match her bold lyrics within her songs as they are often humorous and creative.

  

Fashion/Visual Look                                                                                       

She frequently uses fruit-shaped accessories, mainly watermelon, as part of her stage outfits. Since the teenage dream era katy has included more glamorous and food-related outfits in her wardrobe. Her outfits are retro- inspired and everything she wears is fitted well and correctly to her figure. She embraces the fun of fashion and wears what she likes regardless of criticism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 She defines her fashion style as:

 

"A bit of a concoction of different things"

And her fashion stylist; Jonny Wujek as

 “Very colourful and vintage”

Music Genre

Most of Katy Perry’s songs are placed in the ‘Pop’ genre. Katy Perry’s representation comes across as fun and loving and lives her life to the full; however, some of her videos may be classed to some viewers as provocative as her outfits are raunchy and revealing. As in her California videos she is shown partly nude with candyfloss covering her chest and bottom.  

 

Media Representation

Katy Perry’s appearances in the media can all relate to her attractiveness and a figure that most teenage girls would like to have. She is also presented as a sex symbol to men as she has appeared in a Victoria’s Secret lingerie catwalk showing off her killer curves.  

Katy has also appeared in many magazines that compliment different groups of her target audiences.  She has appeared in fashion magazines like Elle and cosmopolitan, being interviewed about her marriage to Bad Boy Russell Brand, and tips on how she maintains her figure. 

 

She has appeared in Raunchy photo shoots for FHM and has been anointed the Sexiest Woman of 2011 by Australia’s FHM, a popular men’s magazine.  

Katy Perry released her first album in 2008 ‘One of the Boys’. The artwork on the album is very creative, and colourful.  The cover and the back of the album is Katy in a garden, the pictures represent her being girly and feminine.  However, the songs on the album are far from this and in fact the complete opposite, being rocky and edgy.  One of the pictures on the album artwork is of Katy holding a watermelon as a phone; once again she has used fruit as an object.

’Teenage Dream’, her second album was released in 2010, which in her pictures showed a whole new Katy.  The album cover is a Will Cotton painting of Perry lying nude on a cotton-candy cloud and a limited number of the albums are also scented like cotton candy.  Her images inside the album cover are colorful and show her wearing purple and blue wigs which show a fun side to her. 

Motifs

Katy Perry uses many visual motifs to represent her style. A recurring motif that she uses is food. She uses these in pictures, videos and outfits.  For the video of ‘California girls’ nearly all of the props that have been used are of food.  , "It's definitely something to watch when you have the munchies. ... It's all edible. We named it 'Candyfornia' instead of 'California', so it's a different world," she said.

The food that she usually uses is candy. Lollipops, cotton candy, and hard candy motifs.  She uses a lot of glitter and satin with her outfits, which all connote how she may come across as immature, and she dresses the way that a young girl would like to dress. 

Symbolism

Katy Perry often uses real life attitudes in her videos. They are usually telling a story or filming a party with the use of actors.  She is shown as innocent in most of her videos, however, her outfits are sexual and revealing so this is a complete contrast to being innocent.  Most of her videos are created to entertain the audience as she is usually acting in them wearing all different kinds of costumes.  I think the main symbolism in Perry’s videos is her being a liberator of women.  She wants women to be strong and not held back.  She seems to be shown as dominant of males in most of her videos. 

Performance

Katy Perry’s performances are often theatrical with many actors and a storyline too it. She is always the main source in the video and the video is created to match with the narrative of the lyrics. 

 

In the ‘Last Friday Night’ video she has taken on the role of Kathy Terry who is an unpopular ‘geek’ who does not remember her drunken night from the night before.  

'Hot N Cold' is said to be about one of Katy's neurotic ex-boyfriends, she is dressed in a wedding outfit and also acting as a psycho fiancé in this. 

Target Audience

Katy Perry’s target audience range from around 13-24 year old male/female audience also including homosexual males and females.

Katy Perry’s first single was ‘I Kissed a Girl ‘which promoted homosexuality. This is why I have included homosexual female and males in her target audience.  It is clear to straight people now that it can be normal to be attracted to the opposite sex.

In many of her video it shows provocative style outfits and even in one video she is nude, this can attract male fans.  Also, the use of candy and glitter will represent Katy as being a role model of younger girls as she is living their dream worlds.