Showcase

Today in class we had an oppertunity to show the rest of our peers and teacher what we have editing and creating in terms of our music video. This showcase allowed us as a group to recieve some really helpful, constrcutive criticism and for ourselves what we still need to do to make it perfect! The rest of the peers responses were all really nice towards our work which was an utter relief because every time I watch it, I still have brace myself before I see myself on screen singing along to Evanescence.
Also by watching everyone elses work was constructive also for the evaluation part of the exam, being able to evaluate work at the level we need to.
Overall I really enjoyed this process and can now learn and work on the parts of the video we need to.

Editing- Update #4

Another update...I am so happy with the progress made on our video, we have pretty much completed editing the whole of the narrative. Due to other circumstances we were not able to film the performance part last week but have decided to do so tomorrow (Wednesday 30/3/2011) after school in drama. We are aiming to have the whole video edited and completed by this time next week, which will be such a relief as the song is starting to give me a headache!!

What I want to achieve from tomorrow's filming.

Tomorrow we are finishing all the filming for our video, and this is what I want to achieve:

• To film the performance in extreme close-ups, close-ups, mid-shot
• To have alot of action within the performance and to reflect the genre of music, therefore to portray current Rock artists.
• To film Elliot singing the male parts of the songs
• To have fun with my group!

'Bring Me to Life' Analysing the original video

Before creating our music video to the chosen song 'Bring me to Life' by Evanescence, I believe that it will be beneficial to analyse to the original video for the song. Hopefully by doing this I will be able to see what codes and conventions of the Rock genre and music videos are used.

 In the first shot of the opening of the video conventions of music videos have been used straight away through emphasized diegetic sounds of the wind and cars, as the camera pans and sweeps through the city sky scape. The slow panning movement is in time with the tempo and pace of the song making it feel almost ghost/spirit like which can be associated with the gothic genre. However this movement can also be decoding as if the audience were on a helicopter which is supported by the helicopter sounds. The camera is constantly moving until we reach the window of a peacefully sleeping girl, as the camera passes through the window into the room the wind sounds are no longer giving the idea of reality.
 As the heavier beat begins the mood of the video changes as we are shown the singer falling which is mirrored by the girl in bed fidgeting representing her discomfort, this suddenly changes the dreamy feel into a nightmare which is coded with the music genre. However as the girl falls she is angelic as her arms out and seems happy to be falling, which is the opposite to what is seen in the bedroom. The music at this point is parallel to the images being shown, despair, fright and scared with is reflected through the heavy guitars. This fright and despair is also shown through the quick edits, which are discomforting to the audience but at the same time reminding that this is a music video, just a show. 
 In some music videos the band and performance is separate from the narrative, this is distinguished through a different setting e.g. a stage. However in this video the performance is part of the narrative as they are set in a room above the bedroom, the setting of sound proofed walls code for the loud music of the genre.
 As a whole the video is set in a dream state and is very unrealistic as all music videos are. This state is constant as no one pays the character attention as she walks along the window ledges and in the editing a ghosting effect has been used. 

Editing- Update #3

So far we have made really good progress with our editting and I am really happy with the way that it is coming together. We have really focussed on editting on the beat and using different filters such as the colour corrector which has allowed us to change the lighting and colour of the footage disconnecting the audience from the narrative as it changes to black and white in a instance. Also by using the colour corrector we have made footage darker, and brighter when in the forest. This colour correction really reflects the conventions and codes of the music genre as the flashses of black and white and different colours represents the heavy music.

Postmodernism- Album Covers

Whilst studying postmodernism we applied our knowledge to album covers which has relevance to the A2 media coursework as we have to create our own. Examples of postmodern album covers are as followed:
The Clash- 'London Calling' 

• Conventionally this album is very traditional as it has the album name, band name and a picture of the artist
• The whole of the album codes youthful frustration which is conveyed through the artist smashing his guitar
• Punk Rock is coded through the costume
• The album has an 'edge' to it, which is reflected through the black and white image however the image also gives it come conviction and a class feel which is a juxtaposition the font used
• The font is very playful, colourful and cartoon like and by this clear juxtaposition draws the attention of the audience to the album
• This cover is an example of an hommage to Elvis's first album as they both have the balck and white image and colourful font
• The seriousness of The Clash's cover shows that it is a recognition and respect to Elvis

Today's Filming

As seen in music video 'Love the way you lie' by Rhianna and Eminem the artists sing in an open field to represent the freedom, which is also associated with our ideas of the music video we are creating. To achieve this we went down onto the school field and filmed some performance. To make sure that lip sycning is good I had to sing along with the track, which was quite embarrasing infront of Jamie and Elliot but I got over it and sang along. We had to film quite a few times as Elliot kept distracting me and making me laugh, this footage could not be used as it does not work for the gothic genre. Overall though I feel as if it all went well and got some good footage that we can use in the video, but we still need to film more in drama studio.