I will be staying tomorrow after school and exporting the last of the footage onto the Macs in order to be ready to edit and have a rough cut finished by the first week back to school.
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Exporting The Footage From SD Cards To Mac
James and I have currently exported footage from 2 of our SD cards and are going to export the last one tomorrow after school. Because each clip is quite long, the exporting is taking longer than expected on the Voltaic software on the Apple Macs. I have also been trying to prepare a portfolio for a university interview which has been taking up a lot of my time so I haven't had time to stay after school and export.
I will be staying tomorrow after school and exporting the last of the footage onto the Macs in order to be ready to edit and have a rough cut finished by the first week back to school.
I will be staying tomorrow after school and exporting the last of the footage onto the Macs in order to be ready to edit and have a rough cut finished by the first week back to school.
Monday, 5 December 2011
Focus Group Results
Today I conducted my small focus group in the common room at school. I gathered three people who all have completely different tastes in music to one another. Person A is a heavy-metal fan, person B is a hip-hop fan and person C is a pop/dance fan.
I began by explaining to the group that I am doing target audience research in terms of representation of class in the following video.
This is the official video to Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa which was released in 2010.
The mix between narrative and performance really engaged me with the video. I feel that Unorthodox and Black and Yellow are both very similar in terms of content in the video and how the director has considered the narrative and performance side of the video.
I showed all three of the participants this video the whole way through and then asked them to share their thoughts on it. Their feedback was very interesting and varied a lot. Despite person A liking heavy-metal, he said that he thought the video was very engaging and he felt like he wanted to watch more. I was surprised by this as I know people that despise hip-hop and therefore would not even want to watch this video the whole way through. Person B said they had already seen this video and thought that the performance side of the video is inspiring as Wiz makes the video fun and energetic and that is what hip-hop should be like. Lastly, person C really likes the song but the video didn't really grab her attention and she found it a little boring at times. This goes to show how fans of different genres do not necessarily dislike other genres or cant sit through a music video of a different genre to what they listen to. This is important to consider when editing our footage as we need to make sure we are mainly targeting the hip-hop audience, while at the same time, targeting a wider audience if possible.
Now I got the three participants to consider representation of class and status in the Black and Yellow video. This was interesting and I received again, a mixed variety of results. An interesting point made by person B was that almost every hip-hop/rap video he has seen always includes shots of the artist showing off their money or jewellery. This is a great point and I believe this is true. Being a true hip-hop/rap fan, I also recognise certain typical aspects of hip-hop/rap music videos that occur frequently such as cars, money, girls and bling. Black and Yellow is a prime example of this as there are constant references to cars and jewellery in not only the shots in the music video, but also the lyrics.
Then the three participants began talking about the representation of class and status in the video. Person B clearly knew a lot more about the background of the artist and the stereotypes associated with hip-hop as he is a hip-hop fan. Therefore he made contributions that directed towards connotations of the jewellery and car shown in the video and linked it with the transformation from a low class and status that the artist may have had in the past before he made it to be an established artist. However, person A and person C made followed stereotypes due to their lack of knowledge on the artist. Person A said he is aware of the fact that the majority of hip-hop/rap artists have come from a violent/criminal background etc. This is somewhat true but is not the case for artists such as Example and Wretch 32. Person C made a good suggestion when she said that this artist is obviously proud of what he has achieved and therefore boasts about it in his videos which may be part of the hip-hop/rap culture to demonstrate their power in the industry. It is important for James and I to consider different editing techniques in order to symbolise certain aspects of the video. For example, when I am rapping my verse, the editing should be done so I am clearly the main focus and my character profile is clearly portrayed during my air-time.
To conclude, I feel the focus group gave me a much greater understanding of what people think about hip-hop/rap and how James and I are going to have to edit effectively in order to reach our audience, if not a wider audience.
I began by explaining to the group that I am doing target audience research in terms of representation of class in the following video.
This is the official video to Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa which was released in 2010.
The mix between narrative and performance really engaged me with the video. I feel that Unorthodox and Black and Yellow are both very similar in terms of content in the video and how the director has considered the narrative and performance side of the video.
I showed all three of the participants this video the whole way through and then asked them to share their thoughts on it. Their feedback was very interesting and varied a lot. Despite person A liking heavy-metal, he said that he thought the video was very engaging and he felt like he wanted to watch more. I was surprised by this as I know people that despise hip-hop and therefore would not even want to watch this video the whole way through. Person B said they had already seen this video and thought that the performance side of the video is inspiring as Wiz makes the video fun and energetic and that is what hip-hop should be like. Lastly, person C really likes the song but the video didn't really grab her attention and she found it a little boring at times. This goes to show how fans of different genres do not necessarily dislike other genres or cant sit through a music video of a different genre to what they listen to. This is important to consider when editing our footage as we need to make sure we are mainly targeting the hip-hop audience, while at the same time, targeting a wider audience if possible.
Now I got the three participants to consider representation of class and status in the Black and Yellow video. This was interesting and I received again, a mixed variety of results. An interesting point made by person B was that almost every hip-hop/rap video he has seen always includes shots of the artist showing off their money or jewellery. This is a great point and I believe this is true. Being a true hip-hop/rap fan, I also recognise certain typical aspects of hip-hop/rap music videos that occur frequently such as cars, money, girls and bling. Black and Yellow is a prime example of this as there are constant references to cars and jewellery in not only the shots in the music video, but also the lyrics.
Then the three participants began talking about the representation of class and status in the video. Person B clearly knew a lot more about the background of the artist and the stereotypes associated with hip-hop as he is a hip-hop fan. Therefore he made contributions that directed towards connotations of the jewellery and car shown in the video and linked it with the transformation from a low class and status that the artist may have had in the past before he made it to be an established artist. However, person A and person C made followed stereotypes due to their lack of knowledge on the artist. Person A said he is aware of the fact that the majority of hip-hop/rap artists have come from a violent/criminal background etc. This is somewhat true but is not the case for artists such as Example and Wretch 32. Person C made a good suggestion when she said that this artist is obviously proud of what he has achieved and therefore boasts about it in his videos which may be part of the hip-hop/rap culture to demonstrate their power in the industry. It is important for James and I to consider different editing techniques in order to symbolise certain aspects of the video. For example, when I am rapping my verse, the editing should be done so I am clearly the main focus and my character profile is clearly portrayed during my air-time.
To conclude, I feel the focus group gave me a much greater understanding of what people think about hip-hop/rap and how James and I are going to have to edit effectively in order to reach our audience, if not a wider audience.
Meeting Audience Needs In Editing
Before we begin editing our footage we shot last weekend, it is important for us to consider audience needs. This means that when we are editing, we need to know what the audience will connect with or appreciate from the video. Unorthodox follows the genre of Hip-Hop/Rap very closely; through the lyrics and through the mise-en-scene used in the video.
Due to the fact the song is very catchy and up-beat, it is important to maintain that tempo during the editing process so the audience don't get bored with watching our video. The video also has to have reference to the song lyrics and this is something James and I had to consider when shooting in London. We needed to capture scenes that would reflect the song lyrics and mood.
The song name 'Unorthodox' says it all. We planned to have fun with the performance side of the video, therefore not following a strict structure as to what Nick and I would be doing in each shot. A lot of the footage is of Nick and I messing around in various locations performing the song. We wanted to make ourselves stand out from the crowd to symbolise the song title.
This is what our target audience wants to see.
After reading essays and researching into Hip-Hop audiences it is clear that the Hip-Hop/Rap audience has widened in the last ten years. Ideally, people assume 'rappers' to be black males from deprived urban areas in the USA. This is a stereotype that is most definitely not the case anymore. We see artists such as Professor Green, Example, Devlin and Eminem being up in the spotlight weekly. These are not deprived black males from an urban area in the United States of America. These are artists who have talent and are passionate about music.
Personally, I think people naturally assume that anyone who listens to Hip-Hop/Rap is black and this is 100% not the case as I will prove in my focus group tomorrow.
I will conduct a focus group tomorrow during school with 3 people in the common room at school. I will show them the official video to Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa because it shares the same genre as Unorthodox. Then I will draw conclusions from what they think. I am going to question them on the representation of class/status in Black and Yellow. This will allow James and I to have this information at the ready before we begin editing our footage and therefore having a better understanding of our target audience for Unorthodox.
Due to the fact the song is very catchy and up-beat, it is important to maintain that tempo during the editing process so the audience don't get bored with watching our video. The video also has to have reference to the song lyrics and this is something James and I had to consider when shooting in London. We needed to capture scenes that would reflect the song lyrics and mood.
The song name 'Unorthodox' says it all. We planned to have fun with the performance side of the video, therefore not following a strict structure as to what Nick and I would be doing in each shot. A lot of the footage is of Nick and I messing around in various locations performing the song. We wanted to make ourselves stand out from the crowd to symbolise the song title.
This is what our target audience wants to see.
After reading essays and researching into Hip-Hop audiences it is clear that the Hip-Hop/Rap audience has widened in the last ten years. Ideally, people assume 'rappers' to be black males from deprived urban areas in the USA. This is a stereotype that is most definitely not the case anymore. We see artists such as Professor Green, Example, Devlin and Eminem being up in the spotlight weekly. These are not deprived black males from an urban area in the United States of America. These are artists who have talent and are passionate about music.
Personally, I think people naturally assume that anyone who listens to Hip-Hop/Rap is black and this is 100% not the case as I will prove in my focus group tomorrow.
I will conduct a focus group tomorrow during school with 3 people in the common room at school. I will show them the official video to Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa because it shares the same genre as Unorthodox. Then I will draw conclusions from what they think. I am going to question them on the representation of class/status in Black and Yellow. This will allow James and I to have this information at the ready before we begin editing our footage and therefore having a better understanding of our target audience for Unorthodox.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Studio Shoot Was Successful
We have just finished filming in my mums studio for the performance side of the music video. We mainly focused on getting shots of Nick and I messing around and dancing to the music. I feel getting footage of this will satisfy our target audience well as the song is based around an unorthodox/happy mood and this is clearly conveyed in the footage we just shot.
Here are some images from todays studio shoot.
Here are some images from todays studio shoot.
Todays Studio Shoot
Today James and I are going to be filming some performance footage from my mums studio at home. James and Nick are due to arrive at my house for 4pm and then we will begin setting up the studio so it looks like a recording studio.
We will be using Nick's studio microphone with my microphone stand and cable. This will be in the centre of the room/frame and we will then shoot footage of Nick and I each performing our verses individually and then together for one chorus.
This footage will be used in the video but not all of it. Some of it may be used to fill in for footage that we were not pleased with.
We will be using Nick's studio microphone with my microphone stand and cable. This will be in the centre of the room/frame and we will then shoot footage of Nick and I each performing our verses individually and then together for one chorus.
This footage will be used in the video but not all of it. Some of it may be used to fill in for footage that we were not pleased with.
Saturday, 3 December 2011
Tomorrows Performance Shoot In The Studio
Tomorrow Nick and James are coming round my house at 3pm to film some more performance in my mums photography studio. This will consist of Nick and I performing and messing around using a microphone and headphones to connote a studio-type environment. This will involve lip-syncing and then we will have footage of Nick and I dancing and having fun to use as backup footage just to fill in if any of the footage doesn't look as aesthetically pleasing as we want it too.
Once this is done, we will be ready to export the footage from the SD cards onto the Apple Macs at school and begin editing.
Once this is done, we will be ready to export the footage from the SD cards onto the Apple Macs at school and begin editing.
Todays Shoot
Today we went to London to film our music video. We got the 8:10am train and arrived at London Liverpool Street at 9:13am. We then immediately began shooting our performance material outside the station on a step which gave a great view of the Gherkin building and surrounding buildings in the background.
We then went to to the multi-story car park we had found on Google maps in Hanover Street which is near Liverpool Street. However, on arrival we did not feel satisfied with the view from the top of the car park as it wasn't revealing any interesting landscape from where we were able to get too. All was okay though as I knew there was a block of flats in Barbican where my friend lives that we may be able to access the roof from. We then got onto the Tube and went to Barbican and to the block of flats. Unfortunately, the key needed for rooftop access was held by the caretaker who was nowhere to be found. This meant we had to improvise and use what we had. We filmed from the balcony between the flats with a lot of high-rise buildings in the back which created a great shot for the performance.
We then decided that we would also use a set on stairs across the road which went up at least 5 stories whereby we used the top of the stairs to film the whole song through twice again. This was also a great location and despite James' fear of heights, he managed to film Nick and I perfectly without any faults in this location.
We then decided to break for lunch at MacDonalds and then go around London and film lots of the performance and have fun with the locations to create the happy mood we want our audience to feel when watching the video. This footage included shots of Nick and I messing around in the street and pushing each other around and just having fun. This seemed to work really nicely and will look great once edited.
Then we went to Covent Garden where I took charge of the camera and managed to get lots of photos of street entertainers to put into the video. I then managed to persuade 5 out of the 6 street entertainers to feature in the video which was great! Unfortunately, one street entertainer was not willing to help as he said that a donation of £5 was not enough so we left it at that. Along with this, I got some footage walking through the huge crowds at Covent Garden to link in with the street entertainers unorthodox looks. This will tie in nicely once edited.
Overall I feel it was an extremely successful day and we got everything we had planned for on the shot-list and storyboard done way before it even started to get dark which was brilliant. We encountered no problems during the day and therefore everything went to plan.
We then went to to the multi-story car park we had found on Google maps in Hanover Street which is near Liverpool Street. However, on arrival we did not feel satisfied with the view from the top of the car park as it wasn't revealing any interesting landscape from where we were able to get too. All was okay though as I knew there was a block of flats in Barbican where my friend lives that we may be able to access the roof from. We then got onto the Tube and went to Barbican and to the block of flats. Unfortunately, the key needed for rooftop access was held by the caretaker who was nowhere to be found. This meant we had to improvise and use what we had. We filmed from the balcony between the flats with a lot of high-rise buildings in the back which created a great shot for the performance.
We then decided that we would also use a set on stairs across the road which went up at least 5 stories whereby we used the top of the stairs to film the whole song through twice again. This was also a great location and despite James' fear of heights, he managed to film Nick and I perfectly without any faults in this location.
Then we went to Covent Garden where I took charge of the camera and managed to get lots of photos of street entertainers to put into the video. I then managed to persuade 5 out of the 6 street entertainers to feature in the video which was great! Unfortunately, one street entertainer was not willing to help as he said that a donation of £5 was not enough so we left it at that. Along with this, I got some footage walking through the huge crowds at Covent Garden to link in with the street entertainers unorthodox looks. This will tie in nicely once edited.
Overall I feel it was an extremely successful day and we got everything we had planned for on the shot-list and storyboard done way before it even started to get dark which was brilliant. We encountered no problems during the day and therefore everything went to plan.
Friday, 2 December 2011
TAF Weather Forecast For Tomorrow
I went onto the TAF website today using my dads login. All the weather is in TAF code meaning I had absolutely no idea what it was saying. Therefore my dad translated the code for me and I now have an accurate forecast for tomorrows weather. The forecast shown gives the accurate forecast from 5pm today to midnight Saturday night which covers the time we are filming well.
The code translates into this;
-Wind during early morning, 10 Knots
- Clouds scattered throughout the day
- Between 6am-9am wind increasing to 13 Knots
- 40% chance wind will increase to 16 Knots with 26 Knot gusts between 10am-7pm
Lip-Syncing Test
Yesterday, I got Nick round my house and we filmed ourselves singing to the song. We then uploaded it to iMovie and edited out the sound and overlapped it with the actual song mp3 from iTunes.
I then had to play around with the footage as the song came in at the wrong time in the video so I moved it around and eventually got it to fit.
Here are both lip-syncing test videos.
I was very happy with how the lip-syncing test went. Both Nick and I managed to sing/rap along perfectly to the song, therefore creating the lip-sync effect.
This means both Nick and I are completely ready to be a part of the film and we both know the lyrics as well which obviously helps.
I then had to play around with the footage as the song came in at the wrong time in the video so I moved it around and eventually got it to fit.
Here are both lip-syncing test videos.
I was very happy with how the lip-syncing test went. Both Nick and I managed to sing/rap along perfectly to the song, therefore creating the lip-sync effect.
This means both Nick and I are completely ready to be a part of the film and we both know the lyrics as well which obviously helps.
Camera Situation
Unfortunately, we have encountered a contraint which is that the camera battery is going to run out if we do not plan our time wisely.
We will take the other camera as a backup incase the Sony camera does run out of battery but we will make sure we conserve the battery as much as possible in-between shooting. We can do this by taking the charger and charging the camera in a Starbucks or an Internet Cafe.
We will take the other camera as a backup incase the Sony camera does run out of battery but we will make sure we conserve the battery as much as possible in-between shooting. We can do this by taking the charger and charging the camera in a Starbucks or an Internet Cafe.
SD Cards
We have decided to take 2 4GB SD cards tomorrow along with a 2GB card as a backup. Fortunately I found one at home and James found a 4GB one and a 2GB one.
Therefore we are all set to film.
Therefore we are all set to film.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Kickstarts by Example Inspiration
The video to Kickstarts by Example is a perfect example of how James and I wish to edit our video. This whole video is made up of letterbox editing but for ours we will probably only use letterboxing for the mix between performance and narrative during the chorus.
Here is a screenshot from the video of the mix between narrative and performance.
Here is a screenshot from the video of the mix between narrative and performance.
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