Our CD cover

we've stared to make our CD cover and have decided to change our idea slightly as we feel that our new idea is slightly stronger, instead of focusing on the american flag and theme we have to decided to try and make our idea bolder and more of a girly theme, x

Re-Shoots

We are planning to re-shoot next tuesday the 27th of November. This is because we didn't get all the material we needed and we need to re-shoot some shots as they are too long and not varied. We also plan to film one last time on Sunday 2nd December, to make sure we have all the shots we need.

Filming

We filmed some of our music video at the weekend. We got a lot of the performance side of the video, however we had to stop filming after 2 hours due to the freezing conditions and it started to become too dark. One of our dancers couldn't make this date so we had to film without her. The filming went okay and we got quite a lot of material we can use however we will have to film again to get the rest of it. In todays lesson, between the 3 of us we have been editing the video and working on our web page/cd cover.

Wix

In todays lesson we have been on wix starting to create a website. We are looking at ideas for the layout and design for our website, we are trying to find a glitter background to match the glitter on the digipak however this is proving difficult as the glitter makes the text hard to read. We have decided on making the text boxes colour so we can see the text. The colour scheme at the moment is red, blue and white (to match the american flag on the cd cover) however this may change in the future.

advanced portfolio: textual analysis.

The music video I have chosen to analyse is Ellie Goulding “starry eyed”

 

Camera: shot/angle/movement.

 Visuals and music:

From the beginning of the song a lot of the camera shots are close ups, i believe this is due to the fact that this was Ellie Goulding’s first song and video therefore this is a way of the audience getting to know her. However throughout the video the shots do change which i again believe is to really familiarise with her. A variety of angles are used to keep the audience’s attention, there is a lack of camera movement as it remains quite stationary, keeping the video simple. I believe this is done along with the amount of close ups to help sell the artist as it fits in with the genre as well as creating Ellie Goulding as a product. Close ups are regularly used in the chorus’s during the main performance section to again help establish the artist.

 

Visuals and lyrics:
From the begging the lyrics are heavily matched with the visuals it’s a strong performance based video which throughout shows the artist performing. However there are times when the artist is shown with stars on her when the lyrics “everybody’s starry eyed” there is also other times where the lyrics strongly match the visuals this will be again a way of keeping the audience interested and excited about the song, another way of selling the artist is by making sure that the video is remembered as well as associated with different things.

 

Form and structure:
I think that this is very obvious that it is a music video due to the fact that the artist is heavily featured within the video as well as how heavy the performance side of the video is. There are two dancers featured in the video as well as special effects which are used also help to indentify this as a music video. The video follows a structure as the song plays out.

 

Genre:
I think this video complies with the genre really well as it is simple however has the artist personal twist. With most indie/pop videos they appear to be very low cost however elements of a high budget video have. The dancing and performance based sections heavily convey the typical conventions of the genre. The syncing of the lyrics with the camera work is really good and works really well.

 

 

Mise-en-scene:

 

Visuals and music:
Throughout the video it is a very similar colour scheme the use of blues, gold and silvers are very royal colours and Ellie Goulding is a very mid to high class artist. This is again shown through the setting which is a large grand building and she is wearing very, what look to be expensive, clothes.

 

Visuals and lyrics:
Throughout the song there is regular ties between the mise-en-scene and lyrics, for example when there is references to “starry eyed” or “bright” there is a change in light which helps to connote this. I think this is really effective as it helps to make it feel more tied in as a whole. When the song references to “hit me with lightning” there is again a use of light which shows this. The use of the stars all over the artist relates to the chorus of the song which is again really effective.

 

Form and structure:
 With the help of mise-en-scene it is noticeable that it is a music video due to its special effects as well as the use of setting as there is a strong performance on what appears to be a stage with two backing dancers there is also regular interaction with the camera which makes it obvious to the audience what they are watching a music video.

Genre:

The use of mise-en-scene helps with the conventions of this genre as it shows the artist as the main feature there is a few changes of costume within the video however each outfit is very similar for example every dress is a very vintage dress that again are all royal colours. The location changes within the video to different rooms within the grand building this is very similar to other videos within the genre as its again low budget. The one thing that this video perhaps challenges the conventions with is the lack of props or instruments, this however could be her way of making her unique twist as this video is about her establishing herself as artist.

Editing:

Visuals and music:
The editing throughout the song is very similar to the beats within the song and is quite fast paced when the song picks up. It matches the music more than anything within the song as the cuts are matched to the changes within the beats. This will be used to keep the audience interested as a change with something visually will keep the audience’s attention.

 

Visuals and lyrics:
as well as the editing being matched to the music it also has some relation to lyrics as when the shots are cut they often cut to something that visually matches the words of the song. The shots change a lot to things that are visually interesting which is really effective in making the video smooth running and not boring.

 

Form and structure:
The editing follows a typical form of a music video with editing changes that match the beat and lyrics of the song. With the structure also being really strong as as the song builds so does the pace in editing this is really effective and makes the video work really well.

 

Genre:
The editing is very similar to other videos within this genre there is use of CGI as however is kept to a minimal. The editing also makes the video very similar to the genre it falls under because when looking at other videos it follows the same pace and skills.

Overall i think that this video is 90% performance with 10% conceptual, i think this has been done to help show the artist that Ellie Goulding is and hopes to become and by including the conceptual part she is trying to convey the conventions of her genre.

shooting dates

The deadline for our first shoot is the week of 3rd December. 


When we are filming !

• We are planning to film on 18th November and we hope to film everything on this date. 
• this is a sunday which we found was the day most of our cast had free

what we need to bring !

• camera
• tripod
• animal props
• sparklers
• glitter
• american flag
• costume
• microphone stand
• microphone
• masks
• drum 

NVC- what will you see in our video?

Costume






We really like this image as we think it shows exactly what we are looking for our actress to look like. we really like the the white flowy dress as well as the feather head piece. also the make up shot above it we really like the bold eyes as well as the beauty mark. 

• Posture and gesture

As one of our main inspirations is florence and the machine we want to take some of her dance moves and her persona of how she can be quite awkward. Her gesture will be friendly in the dance scenes as we want it to look to the audience as if there is plenty of fun and at 1 minute 30 seconds we want her directly looking in to the camera.

• facial expressions.

We looked into facial expressions within our genre and they seem to be quite pouty and cheeky, there's a heavy amount of eye contact. in our video whenever there is a performance section we want our actress to have a very animated face and have lots of contact with the camera. 

• Use of space

we think that these two shots show the use of space really well, as we are also using dancers we think that this  demonstrates how we could go about it really well and also shows how to use the maximum amount of space as well.  in our video in the dance scenes and chorus's we are going to have less close ups and more shots like this to show exactly what is going on. 

• Voice

The beat changes in our song

Throughout our song some of the beat changes are very repetitive we found the first bat change happens at
0:15 - a stronger beat comes in, we feel at this point that our actress will come to life more.

we then found that whenever the lyrics "my life is a play" are said the is a drumming beat which comes in this first happens at 0:46

Then at 1:02 the track speeds up and a massively faster beat comes in. we think that at this point our shot types will change dramatically.

at 2:35 there is a violin section which we think is really important that we focus on as its a dramatic change in the song

then finally at 3:17 the beat drops off.

PITCH

Feedback from pitch

We believe that it will be hard to create the 'magic fantasy' effect without any funding, however widening the target audience is a good idea, and if shot well could be achievable.

We like the idea it seems achievable but i think you need to make clear the the dream from the real life part and also make sure you know where you're going to film.

Also, you have a good idea, which implements the themes of performance, and conceptual videos, however, we are unsure what the full narrative is.

We thought your idea was good, perhaps you should look at 'the wizard of Oz' for inspiration?
:)

i thought it was a very original idea and should work well.

need to be careful if you wanted to make it conceptual, we didn't understand if thats what you wanted to do. we really like the song though and think if you plan it well it will look super cool :D xx

Response to Feedback:

overall they thought it was a good idea, but really we needed to clarify the actual narrative. when filming we need to make sure that the audience can tell certain aspects of our filming is a 'dream world'.

teachers response:

what we need to include within the lyrics and we have many beat changes so we need to use this to our advantage.

First Post

Were working together this year we have chosen to make a music video for Marina and the Diamonds album track 'State of Dreaming'. We chose this song because we wanted our video to be about a 'dream land' where the main persona wakes up in a woods surrounded by people in animal masks. These will be dancers and they will end up having a party together. We thought this song would go well with this idea because it is called 'State of Dreaming' and so reflects the idea that she is dreaming.