Task 1

Music Video's include a variety of different shot types to maximise the artist the location and emotions shown in the video. We knew it was important to show the artists emotions throughout the video so the audience could understand, to an extent, what the artist is going through. We achieved this with the different shot types, and in particular close ups. This then uses the conventions of an R'n'B music video by following what is usually perceived to be seen in the same genre video.

Yet again, the panning shot in this case, is to show the artist's emotions as we get a full prospectus of how he feels about the situation but in camera movement form. Just like the previous comment, this follows the conventions of a typical R'n'B music video.

This screen shots represents the mise-en-scene of the video. In the video we first see the artist with his hood down before he knows his girlfriend is splitting up with him. Then as soon as she walks away, the hood goes up. This reflects the artists mood and vulnerability that he feels at that moment. Also, the shot being dark lighting through ally ways as such through town shows how he wants to distance himself from others and wants to be alone and reflect on proceedings. This also follows conventions of this music video type and likewise with the clothing. High tops, black jeans and a hoodie is typical fashion of an R'n'B artist.

Jump cuts are used mostly in music video's as the editing technique that can provide the sudden change of location and change from one scene to another which is important to give the audience a better prospectus and to keep them entertained. Here we also used de-saturation to use another effect, and so we gave another view of the relationship. I feel that we challenged the form of editing in an R'n'B music video as there is not often flashbacks of the 'happy days' but often just on how the artist is feeling at the time.

Here is a screen shot of a dark setting representing the colour of the video, and the mood of the song which can be represented as dark and sad. But this is not the usual colours seen in a R'n'B video. This is because we normally associate R'n'B with bright colours, mainly white, and more Rock styled video's to be of a black/darker background. Here i think we are challenging the normal conventions of this genre.

This screen shot shows how the video consists of a narrative by the use of the dialogue from both characters. This narrative is present throughout the video, as shown by the flashbacks referring to 'happy times' and then back to 'reality' and the present day. When first listening to the lyrics i knew we had to stick with a narrative to allow the video to make sense. This then doesn't follow the normal conventions of an R'n'B music video as they do not usual follow a storyline, but mostly follows the genre.

We decided that we should sell the artist as much as possible. This is because it is a typical convention of an R'n'B video. But at the same time we also wanted to draw as much attention to the lyrics and narrative. However, we used a range of different shot types i.e close ups and long shots of the artist centralised. We did this to show that the video and song was all about him and for the audience to focus on him and his feelings.

This is an example of voyeurism. The way the artist is walking away and the camera following represents him trying to walk away from the situation but the feelings and thought (camera) following and that he can't get away from them this easily. I feel we challenged the typical form as usually the camera is constantly on the performer as with R'n'B they are focusing on the artists wealth and fame rather than the song, usually.

The lyrics of the song are shown to be very illustrative during the video, as the video relies on the lyrics to shape what happens and what the scenes are in the Music Video. In this screen shot, he realises that what they had is over. The artist shows this by shaking arms and walking off as if he is walking away from the girl. in a way i believe we are challenging usual conventions and forms as not often does the video concentrate so much on the lyrics of the song.

Throughout the song, it sticks to the same beat and tempo so this is then represented in our, to a point, slow cuts. this is because we usually associate quick cuts with up beat songs like 'One Direction -Live While We're Young' as this video shows them having a good time at party etc. Whereas this song is slow and upsetting so we had to cut to reflect the mood. But towards the end we Incorporated a section of quick cuts as the song came to a close to show how quickly the relationship had come to an end.
We also changed the location as the chorus came in. This was when the flashbacks were used as this was when the mood changed in the song. But when the chorus had finished, the artist got back to the present.

This magazine is in the same location of where the first few scenes of the music video was set to show a link between the two. We also gave the magazine a blue tint as we believed this gave a 'frozen' look this to link to the title of the song.

the inside of the digi pak shows the artist sitting alone with a dark scenery and dark lighting around. This then links to the mood of the song with the darkness. This also links to how the artist feels during the video, alone and vulnerable.

Photoshop Progress Magazine Ad/Front+Back of Digipack

This is part of our digipack, we are going to use this image, cut it in half and use it for the front/back/spine of our digipack. we are also going to use this for our Magazine advert.

We have modified this image on photoshop. We have cut around James and put a blue tint on him. We have blurred the outside of the image. We have adjusted the brightness and contrast levels on the photo as well. we have also included a solar flare in the image to make the light look brighter. The main effect we have gone for with this image is to make it look colder as our song/album is about cold emotions. We did play around with putting an ice image with no colour in the background to add texture but we decided that it didn't look good enough. 

This is our original image.

Feedback

Overall our feedback was positive that we received from our peers. From what the other groups had out we had answered all the questions asked with a positive and what was expected.
One of the comments we received was with the question of 'Is there appropriate use of transitions and other affects?' was that from Q1-20 they said we could have used more effects but was still good.

In the overall summary of our video most of the comments were that the video gets the story across well and that it has a good narrative. But two groups disagreed with each other over the different angle types and shots. One had said 'lots of angles and us which makes it flow' whereas the other group disagreed by saying 'could use more creative angle and shot types'.

So overall our feedback was positive from all groups.

Ideas for branding our artist in our digipak and magazine advert

We want to show our artist in a way where you can see the emotion of the song, this will give an indiction of what the song is like and the message behind it, we want to show our artist clearly and use his popularity to sell our products.














We want him to look quite vulnerable and this will make the audience feel sorry for him and because he is a popular figure among women we are playing on their need to nurture.

Evaluation of the Final Cut

Our final Cut of our video met my expectations and more. Our first thought of how we would approach making our own version of the video was to make the video appealing to our target audience, of 15-25 year olds who have experienced heartache or who know and understand what the artist is feeling. I feel we have done this by using the dialogue at the start of the video to represent what has happened, and to allow the audience know how she had broke up with him and how the artist felt directly after this, showing his emotions and attracting the audience into knowing the rest of the story and the words he describes what has happened. We have also helped to link to the audience with the amount of close ups. Although we could have added more, we still have a substantial amount so the audience can understand the hurt he going through because of the facial expressions as well as the words, the close ups allow this to happen. another way that we believed we achieved this was with the slow tempo of the different shots and the sharpness of the cuts. The slow tempo represents how the artist feels at the present time, slow and sad. Whereas the sharpness of the cuts reflects his heart racing and how fast the time went between them in the past. This, yet again, shows feeling and emotion and pulls in the audience.

I also think we have reached our expectations as we have changed the way our chorus was intended to be set out. We had initially planned to just have the artist singing the lyrics whilst at a random location. But as we thought about it, and how the filming went with already having locations with just singing, with feedback from others we took on there advice and filmed 'Flashbacks' of when time was good between the couple to give another convention and so the video would not become repetitive and boring. This gave us another dimension with the editing process with making the shots black and white to show coldness when reflecting what had happened. This then met and exceeded our expectations as it gave the video another edge and something that isn't included in the verses, which was one thing we wanted to achieve.

Final Version Music Video

This is our final cut of our music video.

Progress with editing

Today we have finished a full version of our music video, we are open to change on the video if someone outside of the group has any issues with it, but if our feedback is good our video is finished and editing is done.

Since them we added blue tint to the daylight shots to add a more 'colder' look to the shots. We also realised that in one of the shots when the artist and his girlfriend were discussing their relationship there was a prop, light, that was on show. We dealt with this by cropping it out and blending it with the background. Another thing we felt we had to edit was to put more clips in the chorus. We did this so it wouldn't become boring and add a new dimension to the chorus and not to make it repetitive.