Weekly Updates Week Seven

Week Seven

24/10/11: This was our half term week in which we did the bulk of our filming, mostly at a house, by a large block of flats and in a park.

Weekly Updates Week Six

Week Six

17/10/11: This was our last week of the planning and research tasks, as we knew we would be filming the following week, which was our half term week. This week, we did our call sheets so that we knew the numbers of all our crew members and how to contact them if we needed to, as well as the risk assessment – this was very important, as we did not want anyone to be harmed during the filming of our music video. We even created a record company logo for our music video to make ourselves seem more legitimate – the name was ‘ENN’, which stands for ‘Elizabeth’ (myself) and my two group members ‘Natacha’ and ‘Nafisat’. We had the idea of hiring professional freelance actors to star in our movie so that it seemed more realistic, so we hired a casting call on website ‘http://www.starnow.co.uk/’. We got a lot of replies from interested actors and actresses, but in the end we decided against this as we wanted people who we knew we could rely on – ourselves. Thus, our editor Natacha ended up being the main actress in the music video.

Casting Call

We want our video to be of the best quality, and so we decided to put up an advert on the casting site 'Star Now', to hopefully get some semi-experienced actors willing to act in our music video:

Our Production/Record Company Logo

Any record company has a logo, which audiences can easily identify them with. To make our video more professional we decided to make a production logo for ourselves:

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

Call Sheets

Shot List

	-Establishing shot of block of flats -Worm eye view of her feet walking toward the flat (cannot see flat just yet)
Listen, little lady, This is just the worst way to spend your birthday,	-Close up of flat numbers and her pressing her key on the thing to open it -medium close up Shot of her grabbing the door and opening it
It's thirty degrees, Thursday. You work late, you is with a perv making dirty fake love in his Mercedes.	-close up of Her pressing the lift button - close up of the bag she’s holding with the cup cake. - low angle shot (on floor) of her walking in to the lift - close up shot of the lift doors closing in front of her
Lady, the word rape sums up events that take place every night. You wanna get up but you know your legs will ache if you try.	-medium long shot of her walking to the door -close up shot of her putting her keys in the hole
And you remember that your punter went crazy last night, You drag yourself to the mirror to check your face, then you cry. Forget the visit to the clinic you were booked in for, You'll make a trip to the Whittington where they'll look at your jaw.	-medium close upshot of her putting the plastic bag down on the table and walking away -eye level medium shot of her looking in to the mirror at her battered up face, -(same shot) touching face trying to cover face with make up (starts to cry if can) Gives up and walks away
They'll be inquisitive and ask about your business for sure, They'll know you're fibbing if you tell them you got hit by a door.	-medium close up of her taking cup cake out of bag -medium close up of the cup cake, her putting candle on it and lighting it.
But young woman the pimp sees you as nothin' but a dumb hooker, Medical attention could be fatal	-wide shot of her sitting with the cup cake in front of her -close up of her blowing out lonely candle.
'Cause the cunt wouldn't ever let a doctor near someone that's getting dough for him, 'Cause next you got poxy authorities sticking their noses in.	-*(close up shot of candle smoke) -close up shot of tear falling out of eye
Chorus She's just under the upper-hand. And goes mad for a couple grammes. And she don't wanna go outside, tonight. 'Cause in the pipe she'll fly to the motherland and, Sell love to another man. It's too cold outside, for angels to fly. For angels to fly.	-close up of the door -close up of her face -close up of the door -shot of bird in sky. -shots of buildings. -Shot of the hospital and her walking towards it.
Little lady, Your mind you've made up, Your injuries you can't hide with make-up.	-establishing shot of hospital inside - medium shot of her face and shoulders (taking deep breath) - close up of her foot walking in - long shot of her walking
You need some medical advice, you make up, A little lie to say just in case the Doc opens his eyes and don't decide to play dumb. With any luck you'll see the same dude that stitched your top lip, Last year when your pimp just lost it. He wouldn't recognize you if you stared him in the face anyway 'Cause all the Herroin is making you age, But you're a heroin for taking the strain of being a prostitute and punching back the funds you have left, go where you from using money gram.	*fade* - long shot in front of her as she walks along a road with cars sticking her hand out - medium long shot from behind her of a car pulling up and rolling window down her bending over and talking into window -over the shoulder shot of her taking to him -close up of her (from inside the car) of her face - medium shot (from behind) of her walking into the car - long shot of the car driving off with her inside -wide shot of car driving past fast…
Mother had to get you out of the motherland, to study, That was all she struggled to have a single daughter with the upper hand. Little does she know, you're never coming back She put you in her brother's hands only for him to formulate another plan He's the fucking cause of your appalling state this summer Fancy that? You came to London to get pimped by your Uncle, Damn.	-medium long shot of the car pulling up  - medium close up shot from males window him leaning across her and opening door telling her to get out her being hesitant demanding money, him pushing her -medium shot of her on the floor -medium close up shot from males window of him getting money and throwing it at her -medium long shot of her on floor with money on her car drives away and she’s left chasing money in the wind -medium wide shot of her sitting in the corridor with other sick people around her yet she feels alone.
Chorus She's just under the upper-hand. And goes mad for a couple grammes. And she don't wanna go outside, tonight. 'Cause in the pipe she'll fly to the motherland and, Sell love to another man. It's too cold outside for angels to fly, Now an angel will die, covered in white With closed eyes, and hoping for a better life This time I'll fade out tonight, Straight down the line.	(day time in park) *Fade* - wide shot she walks through a park aimlessly -worms eye shot of tops of trees - eye level medium shot people looking at her in disappointment - close up of her face - (eye line match) shot of a man looking suspicious - close up shot of her face, puts face down, “trying” to be discrete. - medium close up of her battered up shoes walking past - medium close up of his feet walking towards hers -close up of hands exchanging goods. -close up of her hand showing bad of coke -close up of his hand showing money. -medium wide shot of her in front of table lining up coke and going in to snort it.
Little lady, You're trembling with fear, Your skinny frame kinda resembles a deer, You're sitting facing a detective, oh dear The meddling nurse couldn't just leave it, She's only gone and made it much worse calling police in, She'll never know the gravity of the damage she's caused Your causing scandal going mad in the ward now, The copper's trying to calm you, Telling you he won't let no one harm you The same question he keeps trying to ask you, Who you working for? He's talking to you like your worth more than a dirty whore You're having a conversation you could be murdered for You're learning more about exactly why you need to help bring him or her to court	-medium shot of a detective calling her from a door -close up shot of her face looking up -medium shot of her walking towards the door -medium shot of her walking to the door and door shuts behind her -(inside the room) -medium shot two chairs in front of one another her sitting on one -medium establishing shot of detective walking over to her and stands over her (looking intimidating) - worm eye view her looking up at him -birds eye view of him touching her shoulder - medium shot of her moving back confused -shot reverse shot he sits down to speak to her eye to eye level -360 degree shot of them sitting down talking her not saying much, he hands her his card she puts it in her bag and leaves the room.
He's kicking knowledge you ain't ever heard before Just before he leaves he reassures you that he knows that it's hard He underlines a mobile number you can phone on his card Begs you to use it he's useless if you're gonna be stupid 'Cause an answer hasn't come from your bruised lips You're on your own, You've gotta go and give your pimp what you owe, You reach your door and then it dawns that you've been followed home Before you turn around you feel a cold blade on your throat And then a voice says 'where you been bitch I wanna know.' No prizes for guessing who it is resistance would be foolishness, You open the front door, he boots you in Here's something new in him, he's silent now That fills you with terror Get your alibi straight you could be killed for an error He towers over you, the six inch knife catches the sunlight At this point, your life flashes before your eyes Your handbags dropped and all the contents are all over the floor Despite the mess there's only one thing that caught his eye.	- medium long shot, in front, walking down the road - close up of her face looking scared - medium long shot from behind her (as if someone is following her) - close up of over the shoulder shot of her looking behind her -tracking shot from behind her walking towards her flat building - medium shot of a random man walking past her -establishing shot of flat -close up of her face looking relieved -medium shot from behind her she runs slightly to get to the door - close up shot of knife on her throat -medium shot of him standing there - medium shot from behind her of him grabbing her and taking her in - medium shot of him kicking her in to her flat -medium from above (birds eye view) she’s on the floor - medium close up shot of everything in bag on floor -close up of card from police and him picking it up -medium shot of him looking at card and looking at her on floor -medium shot from behind him as he goes in to kill while closing door with foot behind him.
And in the moment of rage he brutally murders his niece and dumps her body in the boot of his Mercs in the street.	-medium wide shot of him closing the boot of his car -long shot of him driving off *fade or something*
Chorus Little lady left this earth in the worst way, all because she got a card on her 13th birthday... And we're all under the upper- hand. And go mad for a couple grammes. And we don't wanna go outside, tonight 'Cause in the pipe she'll fly to the motherland And sell love to another man, It's too cold outside for angels to fly For angels to fly, Fly, Fly For angels to fly, to fly, to fly. Angels to die.	-long shot of him driving away from deserted location (lake side) -medium shot, on the side of the lake, of the lake pan out - long shot, looking up, shot of birds in the sky - medium close up, from above, shot of 13th birthday card in her flat floor (in colour) pan in to it, to the words inside saying from your loving uncle.

Weekly Updates Week Five

Week Five

10/10/11: This week, my group and I started focusing more on the features of our actual music video. First of all, we contacted the artist’s representative to make sure that our usage of the song would be perfectly okay. Once we had gotten the permission, we knew we could start planning properly. We made our storyboard, then the following day I did my rough drafts for the magazine advert and digipak for our fictional Ed Sheeran album ‘Park Bench’. Now having our storyboard, we could complete an animatic, where we merely took photos of a section of the song to give ourselves, and others, a rough feel of the music video. Some members of our group, including me, find it easier reading a shot list than a storyboard so our next task was completing that, which was extremely easy as we had already done our storyboard.

Animatic

To give the audience a feel of our ideas, my group and I created a small 'animatic' - an animated storyboard with photographs. Our music video will be very similar to it, the shots used are all the shots we compiled in our shot list.

Drafts For Digipak And Magazine Advertisement

Magazine Advert:

 Digipak

Storyboard

As the process went on, our ideas and shots began to expand and become more creative. But at first, I simply put our initial ideas into the storyboard:

Contact With The Artist

Ed Sheeran is a relatively well known artist, and steadily growing in popularity, so we wanted to make sure that we would not be doing anything illegal by using his song for our music video. In order to make sure this was alright, we decided to get in contact with Ed Sheerans record company and ask their permission. They got back to us very swiftly and told us that it was completely alright to do to so. The pictures below show how exactly we got in contact, the email that was sent, and the email we received from them:

Audience Research

Ed Sheeran is not the most diverse artist, and will not appeal to all audiences. Sometimes the enjoyment of the music video can add to the audiences enjoyment of the actual song. The general target audience for our music video will be both males and females aged between 15 and 30, so we asked people around these ages to ansswer a few questions for us. If the audience do not like our music video, obviously we have failed our task. We went around our college and asked some students to take part in our audience research, hoping to gain some knowledge from them about what exactly they wanted to see in a music video, and what they expected. We asked the following six questions:
1) How old are you?
2) Do you watch music videos?
3) What genre of music do you listen to?
4) Who is your favourite music artist or band?
5) What makes a music video effective for you?
6) What type of media do you most use to watch music videos?

Weekly Updates Week Four

Week Four

3/10/11: Again, I managed to do many of the tasks in our fourth week of the course. I started the week by analysing my second magazine advert, which also featured in Kerrang magazine, and was advertising the 20^th Anniversary Edition of famous nineties band Nirvana’s album ‘Nevermind’. I then went on to analyse the lyrics of the song we were hoping to do for our music video – ‘Little Lady’ by Ed Sheeran featuring Mikill Pane. I also completed a moodboard for the song in which I outlined the various themes of the song merely through pictures. I also analysed a digipak for the band Tokyo Police Club’s album ‘Favourite Colour’, aswell as doing an in-depth study into the music genre of ‘folk rock’. My group and I also did our audience research this week, in which we questioned students from out college on various factors, which added to their enjoyment of music videos.

Genre Research: Folk Rock

Ed Sheeran’s music is generally put under the hybrid genre of ‘folk rock’, therefore in order to really grasp his style of music I researched into it more thoroughly.  By doing this, I will be able to understand more of the conventions of the genre and so our music video will be more fitting to the ‘folk rock’ genre.

Initially, the genre was started in the US, when Los Angeles based band ‘The Byrds’ began playing traditional folk music, but with rock instrumentation. US music press first used the term ‘folk rock’ to describe the bands music in June 1966, when their debut album was also released. Folk rock became hugely popular in the UK and US in the mid-late 1960’s, especially after The Byrds released their cover version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr Tambourine Man’. Dylan himself played a huge role in the progression of folk rock, especially with his various collaborations with electric rock bands and electric backing bands for many of his songs.

Folk rock has various subgenres; country folk, celtic folk, electric folk, medieval folk and British progressive folk. Each of them include their own music/lyrical coventions as well as their different recurring iconography features and themes. In a very general sense, folk rock is very simple instrumentally. Many folk rock artists merely have themselves playing the guitar for many of their songs. Artists who do this are; Bob Dylan, Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) and even Ed Sheeran for many of his musical performances. The guitar itself could be seen as a regular icon for folk rock. 

BOB DYLAN - MR TAMBOURINE MAN

        

CAT STEVENS - PEACE TRAIN 

                           

ED SHEERAN - SMALL BUMP

Folk rock doesn't really have a particular 'fashion' style, the artists usually just dress in casual, everday clothes.

Ed Sheeran himself is rarely seen wearing anything but hoodies, jeans, tee shirts etc.

The lyrics are usually about everyday or relatable things, for example the song 'Father and Son' by Yusuf Islam, the lyrics of which is merely a heartfelt conversation between a father and son. 

Or even 'Be Like you' by Ed Sheeran, a song about somebody who realises too late they lost the love of their life, and everybody has lost somebody they loved therefore the lyrics are very relatable to for audiences.










The genre has had a long life span, and even now continues to be popular. Folk rock is easy to listen to and as I mentioned before, many folk rock songs are heavily relatable and so there will always be an audience for the music. 

Digipak analysis

• Front cover - album is called 'Favourite Colour', the font is white, most of the photo is grey and black etc, the red person stands out in great contrast
• Photo of all 4 bandmembers blurred behind the song titles.
• The top left hand and right hand photos look as though as they are looking at eachother when folded out.
• Very conventional of Indie bands 
• Very few colours or special effects
• Simple locations
• Drawings to make it more alternative

Moodboard

Lyrics Analysis

Listen little lady, listen makes it as though the artist is speaking to the female
This is just the worst way to spend your birthday,
It's thirty degrees, Thursday.
You work late, you is with a perv making dirty fake love in his Mercedes. ‘dirty fake love has negative connotations’
Lady, the word rape sums up events that take place every night. Rape brings up strong imagery
You wanna get up but you know your legs will ache if you try. It is clear the character is in a lot of pain which makes us sympathise with her.
And you remember that your punter went crazy last night,
You drag yourself to the mirror to check your face, then you cry. Clearly the character has been beaten and abused
Forget the visit to the clinic you were booked in for,
You'll make a trip to the Whittington where they'll look at your jaw.
They'll be inquisitive and ask about your business for sure,
They'll know your fibbing if you say you got hit by a door.
But young woman your pimp sees you as nothin' but a dumb hooker, Emotive language 'dumb hooker' makes the audience feel more sympathetic towards the character.
Medical attention could be fatal
'Cause the cunt wouldn't ever let a doctor near someone that's getting dough for him,
'Cause next you got poxy authorities sticking their nose in.

She's just under the upper-hand.
And goes mad for a couple grammes. 'Grammes' makes it clear the female is addicted to heroin or cocaine. And she don't wanna go outside, tonight.
'Cause in the pipe she'll fly to the motherland and,
Sell love to another man. Almost an oxymoron created with 'sell love' - can one sell love? What is the artist trying to say about love here?
It's too cold outside, for angels to fly.
For angels to fly.

Little lady,
Your mind you've made up,
Your injuries you can't hide with make-up. These two lines are worded quite oddly, to keep in rhythm with the rhyme scheme of the song.
You need some medical advice, you make up,
A little lie to say just in case the Doc opens his eyes and don't decide to play dumb.
With any luck you'll see the same guy that stitched your top lip,
Last year when your pimp just lost it.
He wouldn't recognize you if you stared him in the face anyway
'Cause all the Herroin is making you age,
But your a heroin for taking the strain of being a prostitute and punching back the funds you have left, go where you from using money gram. Creates strong imagery for audience, but also makes them sympathise with her as, although she is a drug addict, she still sends money home to her family. Mother had to get you out of the motherland, to study,
That was all she struggled to have a single daughter with the upper hand.
Little does she know, your never coming back
She put you in her brother's hands only for him to formulate another plan
He's the fucking cause of your appalling state this summer
Fancy that? You came to London to get pimped by your Uncle, Damn. 'Damn' - almost as though the rapper himself is shocked by the cause of the females current state/life.

She's just under the upper-hand.
And goes mad for a couple grammes.
And she don't wanna go outside, tonight.
'Cause in the pipe she'll fly to the motherland and,
Sell love to another man.
It's too cold outside for angels to fly,
Now a angel will die, covered in white Already the females future is being foreshadowed by the lyrics and the audience know how she is going to end up.
With eyes closed, and hoping for a better life Religious connotations 'hoping for a better life' could mean the afterlife.
This time I'll fade out tonight,
Straight down the line.

Little lady,
Your trembling with fear,
Your skinny frame kinda resembles a deer, This could be seen as dehumanisation
Your sitting facing a detective oh dear
The meddling nurse couldn't just leave it,
She's only gone and made it much worse calling police in,
She'll never know the gravity of the damage she's caused
Your causing scandal going mad in the ward now,
The copper's trying to calm you,
Telling you he won't let no one harm you
The same question he keeps trying to ask you,
Who you working for?
He's talking to you like your worth more than a dirty whore
Your having a conversation you could be murdered for
Your learning more about exactly why you need bring him or her to court
He's kicking knowledge you ain't ever heard before
Just before he leaves he reassures you that he knows that it's hard
He underlines a mobile number you can phone on his card
Begs you to use it he's useless if your gonna to be stupid
'Cause a answer hasn't come from your bruised lips
You're on your own,
You've gotta go and give your pimp what you owe, Clearly she has no trust in authorities and the only thing on her mind is repaying her pimp still.
You reach your door and then it dawns that you've been followed home
Before you turn around you feel a cold blade on your throat
And then a voice says 'where you been bitch I wanna know.'
No prizes for guessing who it is resistance would be foolishness,
You open the front door, he boots you in
There's something new in him, he's silent now
That fills you with terror
Get your alibi straight you could be killed for an error
He towers over you, the six inch knife catches the sunlight
At this point, your life flashes before your eyes
Your handbags dropped and all the contents are all over the floor
Despite the mess there's only one thing that caught his eye.
And in the moment of rage he brutally murders his niece and dumps her body in the boot of his Merc's in the street. Strong imagery - expand

Little lady left this earth in the worst way, all because she got a card on her 13th birthday... Linking to her past and how she got into this predicament.

And we're all under the upper-hand.
And go mad for a couple grammes.
And we don't wanna go outside, tonight
Cos in the pipe she'll fly to the motherland
And sell love to another man,
It's too cold outside for angels to fly
For angels to fly,
Fly, Fly
For angels to fly, to fly, to fly.
Angels to die. Downbeat, pessimistic ending to the song - leaves the listener with a melancholy feeling, very emotional.

Magazine Advert Analysis: Nirvana 'Nevermind'

The focus photo of the advertisement is quite controversial, as it shows a nude child swimming after a piece of string with a twenty dollar bill attached to it.  The image is almost suggesting the unraveling of innocence, that even when we are supposed to be our most innocent we cannot resist the tempting call of money.

The background of the photo is a vibrant, striking blue, to represent the water the child is swimming in but also to catch the readers eye.

The title of the album ‘Nevermind’ is in a blurred font, like being underwater has actually blurred the font. The band’s name is not blurred, but in large block capitals in the colour black and is the focus font of the advertisement. Nirvana are a very well known band, so the album will sell better purely on the band than on the name of the actual album.

Using powerful words such as ‘LANDMARK’, ‘RARE’ ,‘EXCLUSIVE’ and ‘LEGENDARY’ automatically catch the readers attention, and more so fans of Nirvana. The words have been put there to elicit a reaction of intrigue from the reader, thus making them want to buy the album.

It is also the 20^th anniversary edition, which is written various times on the advertisement, and huge fans of the band will want to buy it anyway, to pay respect to the band if nothing else. Kurt Cobain committing suicide in 1994 shocked and devastated fans everywhere, so they will feel more inclined to buy the album.