Detailed Music Video Analysis

This a detailed music video analysis of the song "How to save a life" by The Fray. We analysed this video so we could use some of the ideas within it to inspire us on creating our own music video.

Nine Frame Analysis

Using a nine-frame analysis, I have analysed The Strokes - 'Juicebox', in terms of media theory (Genre, Media Language, Representation and Narrative). This allowed me to see how the conventions are being subverted and conformed to, but also to note the mise-en-scene, creativity and visual style that may influence my own work.

 

Editing Software for Magazine Advert

Photoshop was the software we used in the editing process of our magazine advert. We thought this was appropriate as it allows to do a whole range of things to enhance the look of our magazine and that it did.

Font Choice

We have the same font for a lot of the presentable things on our blogs, this font immediately caught our eye. Not only by the name 'Evanescence' but the genreal look. Now our artist will be known as just Emily, whenever her name is being presented we use this font as her star font. This website is named http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=405 and really helped us generate a look.

Magazine Advert Editing

When editing the pictures for the magazine advert, we came across a website that allowed us to play around with various effects. http://pixlr.com/o-matic/ this website enabled us to change the lighting, colour, effect, saturation and other things like that. It had different effets that suited different conventions.

This was the original image we started off with.

Before we began editing we had to crop out the date a that wouldn't look very professional on an magazine advert .
We both decided to use this image because of the shot. we particularly liked how good the lighting was on Emily and how dark it was around her. The trees in the background really emphasise and support our gothic rock genre. This picture was actually accidentally took and Emily's emotion is perfect. We liked how she wasn't frames centrally and thought it varied the frame.

 

After experimenting on the website we found, this is the concluding image we came up with.  We thought it was extremely clever how the red and orange 'cyborg' effect was based near her heart and ironic that the song it about that.

Final Magazine Advert

We carried on our Evanescence writing font as we just like the overal look of it and think it suits this genre. We got the star images and the bar code of google, copied and pasted them in so it looked like a real magazine advert. Looking other magazine some of them had quoted what a paper or tabloid had said about them and what they were rated.

Shooting Schedule

I will use the Shooting Schedule when filming the video in order to remind myself, in detail, of the shots that I need to produce in order to fulfil my vision. It includes a chronological list of the shots planned in the Storyboard; what type of shot this is, the camera movement (action), and the mise en scene within it, ensuring that I won't be making things up on the spot.

I will be able to film objectively, getting all the shots I need to and then experiment and introduce an element of spontaneity if time allows. I've presented the document using a table for extra clarity - I'll be able to print a copy out and tick things off whilst filming, adding notes to assist in the editing selection process. The actor will also be able to see what I require of her shot by shot, and I've adopted a typewriter-like font and used the record label logo to give a professional feel to document. I need to take this project seriously and hopefully this will encourage the actor to do the same.

 

Magazine Advert

Magazine Advert

Please find on this page the final magazine advert.

Risk Assessment

In this presentation we came up with some risks that need to be identified and taken in as they could cause harm to us as individuals or the project itself. It will be made sure that each person who takes part in our project will be aware of the risks to prevent them happening.

Evidence of Editing

This page contains a number of screenshots which evidence the process of using Photoshop to edit the images for the digipak and advert, as well as an example video taken from the Evaluation stage of the project. 

Synchronising footage with the music

Changing the effects

Processing each shot

Record Logo

This is the logo we created to professionally portray out music video. We thoroughly looked through different logos in different genres to just see how they vary. After looking, we came up with the logo shown before after altering it; playing round with colors and exploring different fonts. As a pair we wanted the final piece to look effective and aesthetically pleasing, so we stuck with the typical gothic black and white coloring and quite a simple yet effective plain theme. Cleverly, we found a font that was relatively similar to the Evanescence bands font that is presented on their albums, this was a cursive again gothic font in which we really though looked appealing. This logo is something that is representing us so we aimed for it to look eye-catching, interesting, different and also follow gothic conventions. We edited, created and recreated our logo on photoshop - this allowed us to play around with aspects such as: lighting, color, framing and a lot of different techniques which enabled us to come up with the logo shown below. It did take a few goes to perfect and develop however after 3 various developments and improvements, we finalized our music video logo with Anarchy Records!

Record Logo Research

To help think about brand identity, I created my own record label and its logo to use throughout the project and serve as the distributor and promoter of the video.As such, I began by creating a mood board of existing record company logos to inspire my design ideas. I looked at a whole range of record labels.This helped me develop a much more representative idea of the "genre" as a whole.

There is a clear trend in the design of the logos. By in large, the majority are black and white which helps them to stand out across a variety of mediums, e.g. CD labels, posters, and coloured backgrounds, etc. which is necessary in an increasingly multimedia industry.  Any use of colour in the examples I have picked is of a single primary colour, facilitating simplicity, sophistication and again boldness that creates a distinct brand identity. 

The designs of the logos are simple, helping to make the brand identity they create memorable, usually a single shape and/or symbol used - squares, circles, silhouetted people, globe. 

These are some of the ideas we looked at in the process of choosing our font.

 Supernatural Knight

Beyond Wonderful

Black Chancery

Fairydust

October Crow

Pieces of Eight

 These were all extremely good ideas that we both liked, however after variously looking we decided on this one because it fits the part and in our opinion shows gothic rock conventions.

We found these logos which and immediately loved it. All the different interpretations of it and recreations inspired us to recreate our own. The fact they look quite rock like and gothic, enhanced our creation more. We liked how each one had a different design but still looked equally as good! There was a current theme of black and white then occasionally just red and again this shows typical rock conventions and just looks stylish and sophisticated.

From this, we designed our logo with finally concluded to look like this! We are proud of our logo and think it represents out music video well.

Film Updates

When concluding our rough cut, we realised we needed a few more shots of footage. As some shots appeared shaky and we came up with new shots to make the video more diverse. We have arranged to film again with Emily at the weekend which will be 23/11/13. This time we will have an idea of what looks good and what doesn't so we can really perfect certain shots and also have variations of shots which show that as a pair we have thought it through to have the best possible outcome. When we next take footage we aim for extremely different shots so the video as a whole looks aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable to watch. Emily will be wearing the same clothing so the video looks continuous and we will try and replicate hair and makeup so it's not obvious to the audience we have filmed on various occasions. Before filming again I will show Emily the rough cuts so she knows what she looks like and gets a feel of the video. We will go to the location around about half three as it begins to get dark just after that and some of the shots needed show rock conventions if they are in the dark, we will edit lighting on the final cut so it's the same throughout. Looking at the rough cuts, what we need to film is parts where she is just wondering around in her own little world to make it look mysterious. We aim for the final piece to be complete by 28/11/13!

Photoshoot Ideas

These are some photo shoot ideas we looked for on the internet. We tried to look for images that appeared quite goth like and scary to follow our rock conventions. We looked at different representations of eyes, settings, girls and masks. After looking at various images; we came to a conclusion that we want to capture pictures of Emily's eye. It will look dark and gloomy and show a tear as symbolism of her broken heart.

Photoshoot

These are the images from the photoshoot I conducted with Emily at High Tunstal Court sticking to what I'd planned. I think the photoshoot was largely successful given it was a first attempt, even if a lot of the images are over or underexposed. A lot are still useable, though. Emily an outfit practically identical to the one I'd planned, giving a really goth like feel. Her portrayal of a angry emotional character was spot through her facial expression.

The star image really matched the video, it maybe even a bit more intense. I used a studio flash in to give a high-quality finish to the photos, making them well-lit with high-key lighting. I experimented with using an umbrella to soften some of the images. The the main issue I had during the shoot was with regards to the lighting and was the reason why many of the photos turned darker than others - it was all a matter of getting the aperture and white balance right.
  
In the images where everything worked, it worked really well. I paid particular attention to framing in the shots, Emily appearing mainly in the centre or to the side, looking directly at the camera or in the distance at the side. This is important for both products to pull audiences in. I did experiment in some, by going slightly-off centre and getting her to look down, or to the side; these shots were supposed to be slightly more "arty" and would be used for the panes on the digipak other than the front and back.

I had quite a god high quality camera. This meant that the images have a very high resolution and can be enlarged as necessary. In some shots I used my macro lens when I wanted a particular angle that would mean standing in front of the studio lights.   Most of the shots were close-ups or medium shots, fitting perfectly with what is required for both the digipak and advert. Also we done some long shots just to experiment. Furthermore I should have probably took more portrait shots as I will definitely need to use one of these for the advert. Of course all of the images will be edited in Photoshop, to form them how we want it to look. I am hoping to see some creative results. Practically any flaws can be ironed out, including whitening the background and improving the shadows and highlights.

Final Images

I feel that these are some of the most successful and appropriate images to work with. They will be incorporated into the finished products. 

Add caption