Evaluation

The Finished Product

This is the finished product! The shots of the band is a conventions of a real music video and this is why we picked to film these in particular. The narrative links of the rabbits links the title of the song and is having a narrative in a music video is also a standard conventions. Through out the whole process of filming the video we, only filmed in 2 destinations. Woodford and the Drama studio at school.

MySpace Page

This is the MySpace page i created for the band. It has been created on a social networking site when friends and follows can become friends with the band and stay up to date with  their latest posts, events and music. The back ground is the weekend arrows own design. It is very colourful and connotes funk and indicates a modern take on the 70's. The Profile picture appearing in the top left is a picture of the band and is a convention of user. The General info holds key information about the band and which role each of them takes within the band. The music player holds some of their recent songs, for their fans or followers to listen to free. The band can update their status to news, or recent events they wish their followers and friends to know about.

The page is very particular of the band and emphasises their music and promotes events. With their own background they have created and a picture promoting them, the page is very exclusive and promotive to their band.

Analysis of Album Artwork

This is the back cover of the album artwork created for Weak(end) Arrows single 'Rabbits'


The colour scheme makes it look very sophisticated and iconic classic album. The font is very traditional and again is very iconic. The colour scheme of black and white is very eye catching and stands out, which is a key concept for marketing the album cover. The barcode in the bottom right corner is a conventions of album artwork and is a standard image which appears on every album cover. The random arrows link to the name of band and symbolise direction and motion. The arrow underlining the title flows with the way the viewer reads the text and again symbolises direction. Having the different colour arrows (Grey, Black) again is code for tradition and old fashion.

Analysis of my own Album Art

This is the album art i created for the Weak(end) Arrows single 'Rabbits'. 


The colour scheme makes it look very sophisticated and iconic classic album. The font is very traditional and again is very iconic. Each person is playing their own music instrument which shows they are musically able and talented. The arrow which underlines the bands title suggests movement and flows with the way the viewer reads the text. The colour scheme of black and white is very eye catching and stands out, which is a key concept for marketing the album cover. The parental guidance appears in the bottom right corner which is a conventions of album artwork. The name of the single 'Rabbits' is in capital letters and very bold. This looks very old school and stand out on the cover and attracts the viewers attention. Finally having all three band members shown on the front cover shows they are a team and unite together as one to form musical fusion.

Editing

Through out the whole task, editing has been the key to creating a good music video. After weeks of choosing & trimming clips, adding effects and lip synchronizing the video we have finished editing. Editing took a while to complete as none of our group were familiar with the software Final Cut Express. However after using the software for a week it became a lot easier to use and the group and i cracked down a really got some work done. Once we had a performance bed, we began intercutting clips in whilst following the story boards. If the clip we wished to use didn't work, or wasn't great quality we looked at what we had and edited another one in. One of the hardest things to do when editing the video was getting the drums in time with the track. This is because the drummer doesn't not always play entirely in time and therefore this makes it harder to edit it in time. This would like highly unprofessional if we had the drummer out of time with the track. Another part of editing that we had to concentrate on was lip syncing Connor, with the track. This was vital as if this was not in time the video would look unprofessional and tacky.

We used the storyboards as a guidance to where would input certain clips. For example we used shots of the rabbits and certain point within the video and the rest of the time it was band shots. We edited in lots of different angles of the band shots to vary the video. After we hand completed the rough cut, we started to add effects and transitions to make the video look as professional and real as we possibly could.

After the Showcase

The recent showcase went extremely well, we got a rating for our music video and lots of constructive critisicm. This was extremely helpful and has enabled us to improve our video even more. With the comments from the teachers we it has given us the motive to go one step further and make our video even more professional. We will change the bits that has been critiqued to make the video more professional.

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Showcase

Our rough cut is ready for the showcase!
Finally after a long few weeks editing, we have finished a rough cut of our music video, remarkably in time for showcase Wednesday. Although the video is finished, after we have been analysed by other students studying media and our teachers we will tweak our video to improve effects, transition and clips used. This will enable us to improve the video further based on the constructive criticism given by other students and our teachers. Hopefully after we have tweaked our video, we will have a finished video up to a good standard. Each person watching the video will be used with an evaluation sheet where they can rate our editing, sound, camerawork, syncronisation of sound, did it look like a real music video and if they would watch it again. Each person will rate from 1 to 10. 10 being perfect, 1 being unsatisfactory. There is also space for them to right any comments that were good, and any thing they thought could be improved or changed.
By having an evaluation from each pupil we can they forsee if they think our music video looks real and if it looks professional. We can alos obtain an overall overage out of 10. This will help us to improve our music video.

Analysis of Filming Part 2

Today we finally filmed out second part for our music video. This is the narrative of the music video and we filmed down in 'Woodford' today. Sam and Connor both dressed up as rabbits and we began to film for the narrative of our music video. This went well and we got a wide variety of different shot to inter cut with the band shots which are in the performance bed recently created.

We got a close up of the rabbits for the beginning as well as a long shots, mid shots, and extreme close-ups. We also included a pan and the 180 degree rule. Whether we include all of these clips within the music video is up to the group and the storyboards. We will blog about our editing later on.

Filming

Good news, due to the good weather recently we have managed to film the last set of footage for the music video. Due to the late filming we have cracked down and uploaded the footage already. We have begun intercutting the footage in with the previous stuff. We aim to have our video finished with some effects in the next few days ready for our showcase.

Drawbacks

Unfortunately because of the weather our second part of filming has been delayed. This is because we need the right conditions to film. We need it to not be wet and we need sunny skies so when we edit these parts into the video it looks quality and professional. Dates of the arranged filming session we be uploaded at a later date.

Filming Part 2

The group and i have arranged to film next week. We have bought the appropriate costumes for the filming. We we be filming in Loughton and follow the storyboards to get the necessary shots need for the music video. One we have filmed we will upload the new footage to the Mac Suite. We will have to convert the footage once more and begin to edit to create our final product. When filming, if it takes over more than one day we will have to ensure that lighting conditions are the same to make them look professional. Hopefully we can crack down and film the remainder of the footage next week and begin to edit our video once more.

Changes in the Music Industry - The Internet

The Internet has changed the way that the music industry distributes music. Instead of creating CD's and Records to sell in shops, many record labels are distributing music online across the Internet. A popular program for this is iTunes. The is an online music store run by Apple which people can download their favourite tracks from 79p.

As well as selling music in music stores such as iTunes many artists are choosing to market their music virally. Viral Marketing is using websites such as Vevo & Youtube to advertise your music. Although they do not get any profit from viral marketing, their music is being viewed by millions of people across the globe. If people viewing this material like the music, they may choose to purchase it from a Music store such a iTunes.

With the increase in technology and illegal downloads increasing many users are downloading pirated copies of artists songs and albums. Illegal torrents and programs such as lime-wire allow users to download track, albums, films and even software free of charge. Program such as these mean that artists and record label are making less money because people are downloading it illegally. Ways of downloading and converting videos from sites such as Youtube and Vevo are now emerging to and less and less people are paying for the music they download.

The increase in technology such as iPods and MP3 players has increased the sales of downloading music using the internet. People do not want the albums anymore as they take up space, get lost and scratched. Now that computers have excessive storage capacity they can store thousands of tracks on their PC. They do not need album artwork or song information because it is all stored electronically on computers. iPods now show a picture of the album artwork on the screen and song information is stored too. Because of this increase in technology the music industry is selling more music using the internet than selling CD's and Records in shops.

Analysis of Filming - Part 1

We have successfully filmed part of our music video on the two days we booked the drama studio for. We have filmed the necessary footage to start creating a performance bed for our video. We first of of all filmed the band performing the whole track from a straight mid-shot angle. I then preceded to film from both high and low angles. Once we had filmed from many different angles, we began to film close-ups of all the instruments and vocalists to ensure we followed the storyboards we had created. We filmed sam playing the melody for lead guitar, Connor singing the vocal for the whole track, and Lewis playing the drums and played certain attention to the cymbals. We did this because we believe we can intercut these pieces of footage to create the desired finished video. We then filmed from behind the drum kit as another point of view of the band performance. Finally I used the dolly to capture moving shots and sequences. By using the dolly the footage filmed was steady and useable. Throughout the whole stage of filming we used the same lights to make it look professional. We used a spotlights for lead guitar and vocalist, we also lit the drum kit so that Lewis was not in the dark. Finally we used some pink filter to lighten the mood so the lights were not all the same colour. With the help of a friend 'Katie Eason' we managed to capture certain sequences with flashing lights and chases. This made the footage look professional.

Filming - 10th & 11th

These are the two dates we have booked for filming the band perform. In theses two sessions we aim to film the band perform numerous times and get various shots including close ups, extreme close-ups and mid-shots. We have hired two cameras, two tripods, and dolly. This equipment would be vital to successful filming. Once we have filmed on these two dates, we will upload the footage from the camera to computer and begin to edit and create our music video.

Location for filming - Part 1

After consulting the and discussing ideas where to film the band performing, we came to the decision that it would look most professional to use the drama studio on the school premises. We decided this would be the most suitable location as it was both professional and we had access to lighting facilities to make the filming look good. We hired the drama studio out for 2 nights and me, Connor, Sam and Lewis (The Drummer) stayed after school to film. The drama studio has pull round curtains so we could hide any of dramas props we did not want appearing on the set. We decided that to make the filming successful we would bring all the bands equipment to school for authenticity and to make the overall shoot professional. 

Rabbits Storyboard

Rabbits storyboard

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