AN - Filming difficulties

Despite having a plan as seen in my previous blog post, we have encountered filming difficulties concerning the actors. We were suppose to be filming on Friday 23rd December, but due to the actors being busy doing Christmas related activities we couldn't film. However, if we manage to get some of the actors this week we might and try to film some footage before we go back. If this isn't the case, we'll just have to film during January despite exams.

AN - Production Schedule

During the Christmas holidays we will be doing some filming for our Media coursework so that we can begin to edit and start working on our digipaks and magazine adverts in January. As well as dealing with exams of course!

Anyway, this Friday we'll be filming the boyfriend's aftermath of the breakup in Ilkley. We will only need James for this sequence, since Francesca (who plays the girlfriend) is away this week and Anna (the waitress) is busy on Friday we'll only be filming this part of the music video. We'll obtain the camera and tripod from Faye and Hattie (Haye Fattie) on the day, so that we have the equipment needed for filming and afterwards, we will pass the equipment onto George and Tom (2 Twigs) for them to use.

However, we will be doing some more filming next week in which hopefully all of our cast will return. With that said, we'll be filming most of the narrative sequence so that we don't have to do much filming during January because during that time we will primarily focus on filming the performance. 


That's our schedule for the next two weeks, stay tuned for more updates and informative posts. 


Merry Christmas!

AN - Digipak Ideas

I have begun to come up with ideas of what our group's digipak will look like. I have come up with the idea that the digipak will have compartments for two discs rather than one and the digipak will fold out into three panels with the track listing in between the discs. The first disc will contain various songs by Destiny's Child, while the second is a DVD which will contain all of the vodcasts that we've done, behind the scenes footage, interviews with the cast members and outtakes.


I came up with the idea when looking around my DVD collection and found the Team America/ Beavis & Butthead/Jackass the Movie collection and noticed how it folded out and how three disc trays were used instead of one. I then thought that if I used a similar design for the digipak, then it would make it look more unique in comparison to other digipaks of this day and age.

The cover of the product.

This is what the product will look like when folded out.

Here is how the set folds out.

SD - Jonas Akerlund Director Case Study

Jonas Akerlund is a well known Swedish film and music video director who has worked with stars such as Madonna especailly but also Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera , Pink, Malatica and Blink 182. His first music video that he directed was in 1988 with Candlemass - 'Bewitched' (see below). He is known for being quite controversial after a number of his videos, mamily including the ones he was involved with in Madonnas music including 'Music' and 'American Life' which featured scenes from the American at war with Iraq. As you can see in the table below he has become increasingly popular with Pop and R&B stars in recent years. It's not surprising that from his looks, before her bacame a director he was part of a Swedish 'Viking Metal' band called Bathory before the band split in 1984.

Candlemass - Bewitched...was Akerlunds first work as a director back in 1988.










Videography


1988


"Bewitched" for Candlemass [1]


1989


"Whats the noise" for Walk on water


1992


"Så länge det lyser mittemot" for Marie Fredriksson(Female half of Roxette)


"Mellan sommar och höst" for Marie Fredriksson


1993


"Fingertips '93" for Roxette


1994


"Run To You" for Roxette


1995


"A la ronde" for Sinclair


"Vulnerable" for Roxette


"Pay For Me" for Whale


1996


"June Afternoon" for Roxette


"She Doesn't Live Here Anymore" for Roxette


"Un Dia Sin Ti" for Roxette (Spanish version of "Spending My Time")


1997


"Do You Wanna Be My Baby?" for Per Gessle (Male half of Roxette)


"James Bond Theme" for Moby


"Kix" for Per Gessle


"I Want You To Know" for Per Gessle


"Smack My Bitch Up" for The Prodigy


1998


"Ray of Light" for Madonna


(Won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video)


"My Favourite Game" for The Cardigans


"Turn the Page" for Metallica


1999


"Whiskey in the Jar" for Metallica


"Wish I Could Fly" for Roxette


"Canned Heat" for Jamiroquai


"Anyone" for Roxette


"Corruption" for Iggy Pop


2000


"The Everlasting Gaze" for The Smashing Pumpkins


"Music" for Madonna


"Porcelain" (version 1) for Moby


"Try, Try, Try" for The Smashing Pumpkins


"Try" (15-minute alternate version to "Try, Try, Try")


"Beautiful Day" (version 1: airport) for U2


"Black Jesus" for Everlast


"Still" (version 2: white hair) for Macy Gray


2001


"Gets Me Through" for Ozzy Osbourne


"Walk On" for U2


"The Centre of the Heart" for Roxette


2002


"A Thing About You" for Roxette


"Lonely Road" for Paul McCartney


"Fuel For Hatred" for Satyricon


"Me Julie" for Ali G and Shaggy


"If I Could Fall In Love" for Lenny Kravitz


"Beautiful" for Christina Aguilera


2003


"Beautiful Day" (version 2: Eze) for U2


"American Life" for Madonna


"Good Boys" for Blondie


"True Nature" for Jane's Addiction


"Come Undone" for Robbie Williams


"Sexed Up" for Robbie Williams


2004


"I Miss You" for blink-182


"Aim 4" for Flint


"Tits On The Radio" for Scissor Sisters (internet video only)


2006


"Rain Fall Down" for The Rolling Stones


"Jump" for Madonna


"One Wish" for Roxette


"Mann gegen Mann" for Rammstein


"Country Girl" for Primal Scream


2007


"Wake Up Call" for Maroon 5


"Good God" for Anouk


"Same Mistake" for James Blunt


"Watch Us Work It" for Devo


2008


"No. 5" for Hollywood Undead


"Undead" for Hollywood Undead


"Sober" for Pink


2009


"Paparazzi" for Lady Gaga


"When Love Takes Over" for David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland


"We Are Golden" for Mika


"Celebration" for Madonna


"Pussy" for Rammstein


"Fresh Out the Oven" for Jlo


"Ich tu dir weh" for Rammstein


(Won the 2011 Echo for best video national)


2010


"Telephone" for Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé


"Hot-N-Fun" for N*E*R*D feat. Nelly Furtado


"Let Me Hear You Scream" for Ozzy Osbourne


"Who's That Chick?" for David Guetta feat. Rihanna (Day Version)


"Who's That Chick?" for David Guetta feat. Rihanna(Night Version)


2011


"Hold It Against Me" for Britney Spears


"Hear Me Now" for Hollywood Undead


"Moves Like Jagger" for Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera


"Girl Panic!" for Duran Duran


"Mein Land" for Rammstein










As well as this Akerlund has directed a number of short film but has also directed commercials and trailers such as Dior make-up and scent adverts and Bazaar Magazine.
Filmography

Spun (2002)
Madonna: I'm Going to Tell You a Secret (2005)
Madonna: Confessions Tour - Live from London (TV Special) (2006)
Madonna: The Confessions Tour (CD/DVD Release) (2007)
Horsemen (2009)
Small Apartments (2012)

ALL - Podcast 4: Animatic

In this podcast, we talk about the animatic that I (Asa) created and go through some of the scenes. As well as talking about some of the influences of video idea such as Paranormal Activity.


Here is the fourth podcast:

AN - Animatic

Today, I finished working on the animated story board. I created it by drawing each sequence on twelve pieces of paper and added annotations. After that, I scanned the pictures onto a computer and put them into Windows Movie Maker along with the songs. Here is the animatic itself:

SD - Change in Cast

We have had found out today that Sammy Bullock (who was supposed to be playing the waitress that James has an affair with) can no longer perform in our music video due to personal reasons according to Asa although we have found a replacement Anna Simpson (right). She will be more fitting because blond women are stereotyped as being more attractive than women with different coloured hair and by having both Francesca and Anna as the girlfriends we'll be able to portray this point.

AN - Narrative & Digipak Presentation

Today, we did our presentation on Narrative and digipaks in music videos. During the presentation, we talked about the different narrative theories and how digipaks are presented.

Narrative in music videos asa sophie katie

View more presentations from Alabzam

AN - Final Actor

Our final actor, Sammy Bullock.

Today I managed to get one more actor for our music video, Sammy Bullock. In the video, she will play the waitress in the restaurant who James (the boyfriend) will cheat on Francesca (the girlfriend) for. 




During the restaurant sequence, she will be wearing a waitress' uniform in order to portray the waitress stereotype. One part of the uniform will be a short shirt, this will obtain sex appeal attracting a male audience. However, it won't be over-the-top and feel more realistic to fit the tone of the video.

SD - Company Ident

For our company ident for Blazing Grace productions we've come up with the final idea. We're going to have a 'bad ass' barbie doll as Barbies are often a connotation of purity and the ideal stereotype of beauty for young girls we have decided to create a counter type of this, our barbie will have ripped clothing with a short leather skirt (quite gothic clothing) with a nose ring and messed up hair and smoking a cigarette, example shown left. This is a countertype of the usual Barbie as normally she is the perfect pristine woman that always looks glamourous. The ident will go with the name Blazing Grace productions because Barbie is usually a graceful sucessful woman but in this case she has turned into the opposite, un-glamourous and a mess and a not longer suitable role model for young girls aged 4-10.

As you can see this is an old Barbie doll and the kind of image we hope to create although you cant actually see the clothing she's wearing in the image its just a sample of what we hope to achieve with are ident but better. The clothing we will dress her in will make her look essentially like a washed up stripper and just generally a mess, with all her clothing ripped up and maybe some pills lying around her when she's sat on the floor. This idea originally came from the 'We Found Love' video by Rihanna a video about drug use and relationships failing because of it to signify bad connotations of drug use to our audience of teens for our Destiny's Child video - Emotion.

ALL - Podcast 3: Sample Footage 2

In today's podcast, me and Sophie (with the absence of Katie) talk about the second set of sample footage we filmed which involved the girlfriend's aftermath of the break up. As well as that, we also talk about how the sample footage will help us in the making with our final product, along with the symbolic meaning of some parts of the video.

AN - Sample Footage Idea 2

Next week, we will be filming a second set of sample footage in which we'll be using the same segment of song heard in the previous sample footage. However, it will different because we'll be filming the girlfriend's aftermath of the break up.


Like I said in this week's podcast, we've got an actor to play the girlfriend, Francesca Fox. By filming this footage, we'll be able to have an idea of what we'll be filming involving the scenes with the girlfriend.


Similar to the first scenario, the girlfriend will be walking around Ilkley feeling the depression of the breakup. For example, she will go into Caffe Nero and sit at a table all by herself. The footage will be sped up at one point to signify the passage of time.


Finally for the last set of the sample footage, we will get both sets of footage and put them into different frames. By doing this, we will be able to test out the split screen idea.

KM - Fish eye lenses and stop motion

In our music video, I suggested using either Fish Eye Lens or Stop motion.
The reason for this is because I have seen a few video's with these examples such as "Train - Hey Soul Sister" 





Stop Motion
Stop motion (also known as stop action) is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence. Clay figures are often used in stop motion for their ease of repositioning. Motion animation using clay is called clay animation or clay-mation.

The term "stop motion", related to the animation technique, is often spelled with a hyphen (stop-motion).

Stop motion animation has a long history in film. It was often used to show objects moving as if by magic. The first instance of the stop motion technique can be credited to Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton for The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1897), in which a toy circus of acrobats and animals comes to life. In 1902, the film Fun in a Bakery Shop used the stop-trick technique in the "lightning sculpting" sequence. French trick film maestro Georges Méliès used true stop motion to produce moving title-card letters for one of his short films, but never exploited the process for any of his other films.


 Websites that specify in Stop Motion

http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/about/      http://www.stopmotionpro.com/

There have been many videos uploaded to websites such as YouTube that either show you a step by step guide how to succeed in Stop Motion or have used it for their own personal use to produce some pretty impressive videos!









To include this in my video, I was wanting to use white T-shirts for the band members to wear with specific words such as "love" or "hurt" that can be seen through out the video in sync with the lyrics in the music. It just adds skills and differs from the 'typical' love/break-up songs that have been or are on the market in the music industry today.


Fish Eye Lens

A fisheye lens is a type of camera lens that has an ability to capture wide-angle images. In theory, the images captured using a fisheye lens will have a close similarity to how the image would look like viewed through the eyes of a fish. The center part of the image will appear normal or magnified, depending on the distance of the subject to the lens, while most of the parts of the background, including the edges of the image will appear bent and a bit distorted. Thus, the background elements in your composition will just be secondary most of the time. This is why it’s essential to decide on which part of the composition you want to focus in the photo.

The effect that a fisheye lens creates gives photographers a lot of room for creativity. The wide field of view of the fisheye lens will enable you to fit huge landscapes, or a large number of subjects in a single frame. In situations where a room is too cramped or too small, the wide field of view of the fisheye lens will make it possible for you to capture great images.

The first company in optical industry to develop a fisheye lens was the Nikon Corporation. Back then, fisheye lenses were used as a tool for meteorological research to capture cloud formations. Today, fisheye lenses have become very popular, not only among professional photographers, but also among photography hobbyists, due to the unique effect it produces.

There are two different types of fisheye lenses: the one that produces a photo with dark edges is called a circular fisheye lens, the other type of fisheye lens is called a full-frame fisheye lens, which does not produce images with dark edges.

Examples of fish eye pictures :                                        

There are videos on line that can actually show your what to get so that you can make your own Fish eye lens.

ALL - Podcast 2: Sample Footage

In this week's Podcast, we talk about our experience filming sample footage to give us an idea of what we need to do when filming the final product, a sneak preview of our lesson on narrative and a SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

ALL - Sample Footage

Here is the first set of sample footage, in which we see the boyfriend's perspective of the breakup aftermath. We do plan to film some more sample footage in the near future, but I will talk about that at a later date.

AN - Treatment

Here is the treatment for our coursework, which gives you a good idea of what our video is about and how we're going to make it. I apologize for any glitches with the product because it was fine in Microsoft Word.

Treatment A2

KM - Sample Footage Idea

Later on today myself and Asa will be shooting some sample footage. We have asked James Newton, who is playing the role of the main male character to shoot with us, so we can get an idea of what shots to put across, and if the right locations fit.


Couple in split screen, an example of what we would show in our video.
An idea for the video was when the couple start to argue, and they finally walking away the screen will then split into two, and each character will have their own story and journey until they return to each other.

Location, for split screen.

For the sample footage we are focusing on the male characters side of the story after he has left the female character.

AN - Blazing Grace Productions Facebook Page

Besides from having its own blog, Blazing Grace Productions now has it's own Facebook page. So click on the link below and keep your eyes peeled for updates concerning the development of our coursework and one or two exclusive pieces of content.

Blazing Grace Productions Facebook

AN - Magazine Ads

Magazine adverts are another method used by music companies to advertise CD singles and digipaks. There are many common codes and conventions which can be seen in these adverts, these include:

• Artist name being visible
• Web address
• An image of the band
• Tour dates
• The record label
• Theme of the band
• The album cover.
• The single name
• URLs for the band and company.
• Hash tags relating to the band and company for sites like Twitter.
• Highlighted song
• Record label/logo
• Release date of the album
• Pre-order/out now sign

Click here for our post on digipaks.

KM - Deconstruction of my Music Pitch

Destiny's Child Official Website
Destiny's Child Wiki Link



















Forming in 1997, Destiny's Child have had big hits such as Bootylicious, Survivor, Independent Woman, Lose My Breath and many more.

Australian Pop Sensation Samantha Sang!!

I have always been a fan of their R&B style music, and this is one of the main reasons for picking there music to include for my music video. 
The song Emotion was originally sung by an Australian pop singer Samantha Sang in 1977, but then recorded as a slower-tempo version by Destiny's Child. 
The music video featured a triple split-screen effect. Rowland on the left, Knowles in the center, and Williams on the right. Rowland is seen saying goodbye to her boyfriend before he leaves in a taxi. Knowles catches her boyfriend with another woman and runs around the house in tears. Williams is with her grandmother, who has died in her bed. At the end of the video Williams calls the other band members to her home. The three girls meet there and comfort each other. The screen returns to normal.
For our music video, myself, Sophie & Asa have discussed the video to include both narrative and performance. We will include 5 main cast members, three taking the roles of the band members, we have asked Melodie Abraham and Annie Cutillo for taking those roles, but we need to fill the parts of the main male role as well as the female role, and another band member. The video will take place in three main locations: Train station, a street, and a cafe. The reason for picking three locations is because each band member will come into each location and sing to the characters, but the characters will not acknowledge the singer and be arguing. The video is based on a break-up, some videos I have looked at that are based around the 'Break-Up' topic is:





 NSYNC's 'bye bye bye'
 No Doubts 'Don't Speak'
 & a more recent song Cee lo greens 'forget you'.

The video will also include flashbacks, this will shown the audience times when the couple were good together or what started the break-up to happen, so we would then change the location for this, possibly more romantic places, such as the 'cow and calf rocks' or the park.
To show the audience signs of tension and anger, Asa thought that a picture being smashed would be good to include, also we thought flowers being given one minute and then broken and thrown on the ground another is a good signifier for this. 
The target audience will be 15-24, many people in that age range can relate to the way our video will be presented.
Sophie and I will be doing some sample footage this week so soon enough we can show you what shots we are thinking about, and the locations.

KM - Spike Jonze Case Study

WIKI - 'Spike Jonze October 22, 1969) is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Charlie Kaufman, which include the 1999 film Being John Malkovich (that gave him an Academy Award for Best Director nomination) and the 2002 film Adaptation, and direction of the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are. He is well known also for his music video collaborations with Weezer, Beastie Boys, and Björk. He was also a co-creator and executive producer of MTV'sJackass.[1] He is currently the creative director of VBS.tv.[2] He is also part owner of skateboard company Girl Skateboards with riders Rick Howard and Mike Carroll.'

He also co - founded 'Directors Label' with film makers Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry."

Spike Jonze's IMDB

Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win (short) 

2011Mourir auprès de toi (short) 

2011Scenes from the Suburbs (short) 

2010The Vampire Attack (video short) 

2010I'm Here (short) 

2009Where the Wild Things Are 

2009Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak (TV documentary short) 

2009We Were Once a Fairytale (short) 

2007Fully Flared (video documentary) 

2005The Medúlla Videos (video short) (video "Triumph of a Heart") 

2004Corporate Ghost (video) 

2004Weezer: Video Capture Device - Treasures from the Vault 1991-2002 (video documentary) (videos "Undone - The Sweater Song", "Buddy Holly", "Island in the Sun [2nd Version]") 

2004Hot Chocolate (video documentary) 

2003Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks (video documentary) ("Wonderboy" video / as Spike Jones) 

2003The Best of R.E.M.: In View 1988-2003 (video documentary) (video "Electrolite") 

2003The Work of Director Spike Jonze (video documentary short) 

2003What's Up, Fatlip? (video documentary short) 

2003The Chemical Brothers: Singles 93-03 (video) 

2003Yeah Right! (video) 

2002Adaptation. 

2002Björk: Volumen Plus (video short) (video "It's in Our Hands") 

2002Pavement: Slow Century (video documentary) (video "Shady Lane") 

2002Cydeways: The Best of the Pharcyde (video documentary) (videos "Drop" and "What's Up, Fatlip?") 

2000Beastie Boys: Video Anthology (video documentary) (videos "Sabotage", "Sure Shot", "Ricky's Theme", "Ciao L.A.") 

2000D.A.F.T. (video) (segment "Da Funk") 

1999Clip Cult Vol. 1: Exploding Cinema (video "Praise You") 

1999Being John Malkovich 

1999Björk: Volumen (video) (video "It's Oh So Quiet") 

1999An Intimate Look Inside the Acting Process with Ice Cube (video documentary short) 

1999Torrance Rises (short) (as Richard Coufey) 

1998Amarillo by Morning (documentary short) 

1997How They Get There (short) 

1997Mouse (video documentary short) 

1995R.E.M. Parallel (video) (video "Crush with Eyeliner") 

1994Beastie Boys: Sabotage (video short) 

1994Ciao L.A. (video short) 

1991Video Days (video short) 

He has also directed Films such as

- Jackass the movie

- Being John Malkovich

- Where the wild things are.