Week Eight - Blog Reflection

In week 8 me and my group allocated roles to each other according to our strengths and weaknesses. Music videos require a lot of team effort in order to produce a quality video. We have ensured everyone in the team is happy with the job they have been allocated with to avoid any sort of conflict that could occur.

The roles that were available were:

• Location/Recce (Johnson)
• Manager 
• Casting agent
• Costume designs
• Photgraphy
• Script writer
• Flatplan
• Production schedule
• Camera operator
• Cast
• Director
• Cinematography
• Graphic designer
• Make-up artist
• Costumes
• Copy writer
• Typography
• Photoshop
• Editing
• Sound editor 

Job roles

The job roles was significant to us as a group because it gave clarity regarding what we needed to do. This helped clear any ambiguity as we could always reference back to the allocated roles each of us had to do. In the end, we were able to come to conclusions regarding who would be doing what. Additionally, understanding our own weaknesses and strengths helped us to reach our decision in an easier way. For example, we understood that Johnson had a vast amount of nuance when it came to Photoshop, so allocating him with that job was paramount as that way we could manipulate his skills in order to make our final production impeccable. Similarly, he was able to do it with Cherly also, which meant that she could learn from him and improve her own personal knowledge regarding the process of Photoshop. Continually, this in turn helped Timi, as he watched, listened and understood the process and although he wasn't allocated to that job role, he gained an insight as to how to process it because it may prove useful in times when Johnson and Cherly are away.
Furthermore, the group had one female member in it and we felt it necessary for her to utilise her skills also. An example of this, is the allocation of make up to her. This conforms to the perception of teenage girl and Cherly was happy to take up that role as it came naturally to her.

Timi's skills are in grammar and based on this, we allocated him with the task of typography. This way, it ensured that grammatically our work was impeccable and in turn made it clear and understandable to readers.

• Location/Recce (Johnson)
• Manager (Johnson)
• Casting agent (Johnson)
• Costume designs (Cherly)
• Photography (Cherly)
• Script writer (Timi)
• Flatplan (Cherly & Timi)
• Production schedule (Cherly)
• Camera operator (Cherly & Johnson)
• Cast (Mohamed & Johnson)
• Director (Johnson)
• Cinematography (Timi)
• Graphic designer (Cherly)
• Make-up artist (Cherly)
• Costumes (Johnson)
• Copy writer (Timi)
• Typography (Timi)
• Photoshop (Johnson & Cherly
• Editing (Johnson & Cherly)
• Sound editor (Timi)

Week Seven - Blog Reflection

In week 7 in order to get prepared for our filming we had to create a shooting script as a group. In preparation for our this me and my group discussed how we want our video to look so we watched a videos on youtube getting different ideas and aspects that may want to input into our own video. We created our shooting script on microsfot excel where we wrote the locations we intend to shoot out, description of action in detail so its clear of what we actually want it to look like if we were to give it to someone to shoot for us.

Shooting script

Week Six - Blog Reflection

This week we completed our vision and now begun to start planning designs for the digipak we want to create. To plan we physically created a rough copy of of digipak including the track list, images of our artist and other aspects that related to our music video. As this was our first copy we didn't really add colour as we were still trying to think what to include and to see if it would be good to use. In this week i was required to do some research of looking at existing digipaks to get an idea of how they're presented. One of the example Digipaks we looked at were Jay'z, Rihanna and Ellie Goulding.

Digi-Pak Analysis

This is an example of digipak and has many codes and conventions of a professional music digipak. The main image is an image of the artist 'Rihanna' where we denote an extreme close up of her face with her red hair covering her right eye. Here, I believe this is done to hide an identity the audience isn't aware of which brings a big attention to the audience. Also, with the blatancy of the red hair of her eye I believe the colour has connotations of love & this could subliminally tell us love is protecting her eyes. In addition, I believe the effect of the extreme close up was to ensure she is portrayed as an innocent looking sexy female due to the subverted stereotype of the Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory how females bodies and used for the pleasure of mens eye sight. Rihanna closing her eyes shows her feminine aspects and shows her beauty in a calm mannered without any revealing sexuality poses. We also denote Rihanna's mouth slightly open where we see her white teeth which perfectly juxtaposes with the red lipstick. I believe her white teeth is shown slightly to reveal the purity within her smile and most importantly in herself. With her mouth being slightly open also brings a sexual seductive side of her with her eyes also being closed shows this and make her seem mysterious. Pink light roses are used to cover her CD. Roses are in connotations with love and because it is put on the CD which is a circle inputs the idea her love for roses or the roses that are in connotations with love is everlasting. Furthermore, we denote Rihanna laying in a bunch of roses where she is wearing a white dress that covers her chest and below hiding the sexual part of her body. The fact the dress is white gives us the impression of gentleness love and respect she has for her body. I believe the way she is laying down gives a sexual approach from men with her open arms and chest towards her face. This could attract men sexually due to exposure of her hands could subliminally give males the impression she's giving the helping hand to be seduced by them. This sexual pose can also be seen differently with females being inspired to look like her with her beautiful smooth skin. This shows the versatility of Rihanna grabbing two types of audience in doing one aspect theme of love that can appeal to both genders.

This is another example of a digipak and has many features. The top right image shows us the artist in a studio with a guitar in her hand. This shot tells the originality she is built in with espescially she has no make-up which may also show she has natural beauty. This can be contradicted with eh image below where we denote a close up of the artist where this time she wears make-up. This may shows insecurity in a sense has she may feel she has to hide her real self. It could also be seen differently that she is a versatile artist with the range of differences in all for images. Ellie Gouldings looks in all four images subvert Laura Mulvey's theory of females are sexualised objects for male attention. I say this because of ther natuarl looks and lack of exposure to any sexual parts of her body. We also denote her sitting in the country side we shows us she keeps her songs original and fresh meaning its unlikely for her to be auto tuned which grabs the attention of the audience who love originality. Also, with her being outside shows the freedom she has in her music which has a positive affect on the audience in making feel if they listen to her music they also have freedom.

This is another example of a digipak which has many conventions of of one. This digipak includes a lot of hoodlum style with the various of graffiti prints placed on the image. In the top right corner of the digipak we denote the main font which is written in stencil font in capital letters which is appealing to the audience with the blue outline on the words with the filling of white in the 3D writing. This connotes the creativity of music that is likely to feature in on the CD. I believe this because of the various of instruments like piano, drums, guitars etc. that is placed behind the font. This imagery is effective as it brings out the rock theme with bubble 3D writing and many instruments attached together to show how music can be improvised with the variety of equipment you can access. The majority of the colour on the CD is blue with black being the minority shown on the left hand side of the CD; this could connote the dark side they have in them as black dots are spread throughout the blue side of the CD. Also, we denote the 'N' in the 'LINKIN' are reversed 'N's' we shows the rebellious side of the artists which goes back to them reaching out to the hoodlum style audience.

Music Magazine Analysis

Week Five - Blog Reflection

In week 5 me and my group had to prepare plans towards the treatment plan we were going to create which included: Brief background of the artist, our target audience, logistics, technology and our vision.

In my final treatment I included a brief description of my artist alongside with background information that was important to know about to able to know what type of audience we want to attract. I also had to think about what he will be wearing about in my music video through analysing his character in reality which was one of the main decision me and my group made whilst deciding what we want him to look like.

We also decided our target audience through analysing what our song was about and Yungen's background. Further information about who our target audience and why we chose to them is mentioned in the treatment. A main decision we also had to make is creating a secondary audience  as the music video wouldn't only relate to the main people who we have thought it would appeal to more.

With logistics this was mentioning all the locations where we want to film and why. The most important about this section was ensuring we cast people who were going to turn up to every film session and the cast member we chose to be Yungen enjoyed music so we felt  he would suit the energy and commitment we were looking for.

Technology was an important tool when planning for our music videos. We as a group decided  to ensure we use as much camera shots & angles as possible.

Our vision summed up what we want our video to look like and how we would like the audience to feel.

Permission

Above is a screenshot of the message I sent to my artist 'Yungen' through twitter where he granted us permission to use his music for our final production.

Week Four - Blog Reflection

In week four, me and my group sat down to discuss our plan for music video and decided who's video we was going to use. My group consisted of two people including me making three and we decided to choose my music video because we believed we could use a range of effects and conventions for this specific song. We also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of working together as a group.

I'll now list three advantages and three disadvantages of working together

Advantages:

1. Easier to share workload.
2. More ideas are shared and can be put together to make a great final piece for our music video.
3. Working in a group can boost confidence of individual members of our group.

Disadvantages:

1. Decisions make take a while to take place because of disagreements on particular actions a group member may want to take.
2. Conflicts may occur and members may take some comments wrongly which will be taken personally and decide not share their great ideas that may be vital to the group.
3. If there is no motivation in at least one member of the group then they may feel unimportant and will contribute less to the teams effort.

On a whole I prefer working in a group as I believe more work gets done and everyone has their own unique strengths and weaknesses that can contribute to the teams success. Also, disadvantages can be avoided by criticizing the idea and not the person so it is not taken personal and also the way things need to be said needs be said with respect.