Sunday, 13 December 2009
Friday, 11 December 2009
Blog Evaluation-Question 4
How did you use media technologies in the construction,research, planning and evaluation stages?
Throughout the duration of creating our media products, we used many media technologies in the construction of our projects. Firstly, we researched possible songs to create a music video to. To do this we used http://www.youtube.com/ and http://www.google.co.uk/. This helped us analyse and consider different creations of music videos within our minds. We then put the possibilities to a vote taking in the the ideas of how we would create the video. Calvin Harris was chosen as the group already had certain ideas they would like to carry out as the piece of music was upbeat and expeditious.
After the planning process, we went on a reccy taking images of locations on our camera. This helped us create an idea of positive and efficient places to film. During the filming process, we only had three people within the group so this meant we had to delegate the roles which meant Osman preforming and then myself and Ahmed taking turns using the camera.
During filming, we used a series of camera shots and angles as we wanted to use various shots within our film. We found that we could film all the footage on a tripod, as we needed to film in difficult positions, therefor having to holding the camera ourselves. Also, when going to film on the bus, we realised that the bus would be moving, this would make it difficult to film. However, our teach advised us to use a rig to film as it would create a very interesting effect in our video and we could enhance and add effects during the editing process. We found that this worked and many people commented on how good it was when completed. In addition to this, the scene, in which many people also liked was the low angle used when filming the legs of people walking through the door. This was quite easy to film as we placed the camera on a tripod in a corner where no-one could see it then pressed record when students came in and out the the doors for their lunch break. Many people thought this was efficient.
After filming we then used a usb cable to log and capture our footage on Final Cut Pro where we would edit and complete our video. When we looked at our bin within Final Cut Pro, this made us realise that we would need more footage as when we captured the footage, the quality was not very good and made us rethink the whole process as we would have to go out and re-shoot some scenes again. Also, the lip syncing that we had record was not very efficient as Osman did not know the lyrics that well. This meant that Osman had to rehearse and get the lyrics right for next time. The second time we filmed the lip syncing we decided to film this on a green screen as we did not have enough time to set and prep the theatre. Later on in the process we found it hard to make it look like the one we had done naturally in the theatre using the lighting system as we now had to add different effects to make it look realistic. In the end we managed to this as we added effects, such as;cross dissolves, flashes,glows and light rays. Also, whilst we are within the effects department, during the music video, we increased the pace of the footage many times to correspond to the upbeat tempo of the song. Also, the cuts of the scenes within the timeline had to be very short and pacy as we wanted it to link to the beats within the music. We also, used many transitions within our music video to link present scenes to their previous scenes smoothly and to do this we used cross dissolves and fades in and out.
After completing our music video, we created a directors commentary to show some of the effects that we we used. This gives you a direct audio from the directors of the music video.
Blog Evaluation-Question 3
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
This is a video of our peer assessment. After completing our music video, we gathered some of our peers together and asked them if they would assess our work and give us feedback of what they thought was good and what we could of done better. We filmed them watching the whole film and then asked them questions at the end of it.
When we asked our audience if we could better our media product they told us that the time in which we had to complete the music video was used efficiently, however they did criticise the product and say that the story did repeat itself within the timeline. Although, many peers did like the way in which we matched the footage taken, to the tempo of the song and the effects used were creative. They also liked the way in which we used Osman as the only character, as this is where they understood the theme and concept of the music video. They also spotted that during Osman lip syncing, the green screen was sneaking its way through on the back background and onto Osman's head. Overall,the feedback we received was quite overwhelming as we thought it would be a lot more negative.
After taking in the positive and slightly negative feedback, we held a group discussion and came to the conclusion that we did not have enough time to change everything as our deadline was looming. We sorted the green screen out the best we could as we had to adjust the chomer key.
We learnt that we should of asked for feedback during the middle of the task as we could have had more of an insight of what other people think and how we could of made our product more effective and to the audiences needs.
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Blog Evaluation-Question 2
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Blog Evaluation-Question 1
Our media product was inspired by many music videos as in the post production we researched many videos and hand picked certain conventions. The theme of our video was being alone. Many artists focus on the theme; being alone and often describe themselves being alone in different situations;for example love,work. However, the song we chose lyrically focuses on being alone in life.
Also, the mis en scen, that we chose for our production, was very important to the the theme that we were trying to portray as white and black are two very contrasting colours, as they are cold and have a sense of loneliness and confusion. We took this idea from many videos we watched through YouTube.

These images are screen grabs from two very popular songs of their genre. Chris Brown"I can transform you" and Kylie Minogue "All I see". These are two songs in which we researched and inspired us to use the two colours white and black as they stand out and make the video very exciting as you can use many effects,like we did within our music video. As we did not have their standard and quality of lighting,sound and costume we had to make do with creative ideas and effects which Finale Cut Pro enabled us with. We used the effects to enhance the quality of our film and make it realistic.
Monday, 7 December 2009
Devastated
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Ancillary Texts
Peers passing passing commented that it looked very good and creative as they understood the concept. As a group we wanted to create a series of four panels which would want the audience to buy it as it reflected the nature of the song. Secondly, on the list of to-do was to apply the text. The text on Photoshop did not grab our attention,therefor we began to research different font styles. We came across a website, called; http://www.dafont.com/, we found that this website enabled us to use the correct font which corresponded to our music and style of genre. However, we had a problem downloading the text that we wanted as we wanted to apply the artists name and the song name. We took time figuring our different ways to do this but none of them seemed to work. We then transferred the font the Paint by print screening the page and erased the excess material which we did not need leaving just the font that we did need.

We then applied this Photoshop in the top left hand corner of the image above. This was our 1st panel completed of our digi pack . Our next panel was also a screen grab which we used in order to compliment the 1st one . this had no font/text on it as it was just an image of Osman looking bewilded in the distance. The 3rd panel was an image of Osman with a black background however we did not just want the image we wanted the lyrics of the song inserted on top of Osman's white t-shirt in black font to contrast with the white costume. The fourth panel was the last panel which would be the back of the CD cover. This had to be typical of any CD cover as we had to apply certain conventions of CD back covers for example it had to contain a bar code and copyright details.

We also included within our back cover the other songs by Calvin Harris that would have featured within this CD.
We decide to use this image as a template and create our own based around our own colour theme balck and white. The reason why this stood out, is because the head of Calvin Harris has his techno glasses on and within our music video Osman also wears his own techno white glasses. This then helped us visulise the final product of our magazine advert.Thursday, 26 November 2009

We also added text telling the audience the name of the artist and song. We added this because it was typical of a music video to display this feature.
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Monday, 23 November 2009
On the bus, we increased the pace of the footage by x200. This helped tell the time of the journey and also the theme of our video Osman being alone throughout the whole of the day. It also corresponded to the tempo of the song as it is still quite fast and upbeat.
We also added a glow effect as when we took the footage the weather looked gloomy and we could see this in the window of the bus so we used a glow effect to fade away the look of negative weather.Friday, 20 November 2009


Wednesday, 18 November 2009


Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Sunday, 15 November 2009
This image shows a low angle of people walking through the door. The image also shows shadows of the shoes, this shows you the pace as we increased it.Wednesday, 11 November 2009
When we applyed this to our timeline, the colour of this scene was very dark and did not flow correctly with our previous scene. We then went into effects and tryed to find a suitable effect that would allow the scene to become lighter. In the end we used a simple colour corrector as it lightened our scene , also, it was the only effect that we could use to make it look as though we had filmed it that way ourselves.
Before the colour corrector.
After the colour corrector.
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Still Editing
Monday, 2 November 2009
Editing
Also when we began editing, we realised that in various scences, Osman was looking in the camera, which did not look apropriate, we then have to edit this and we used the marking points to do this. We found it hard to mark in and mark out the exact moments to correspond with the previous and next scene. We also then added transitions to make the pace and linking of the scenes more smoother.
By the end of the day we had began first 15 seconds of the music video, this gave us a massive shock and and made us realise that we needed to edit faster to make our deadline. This then made us make arrangements to stay after college and inbetween free college time.
The 15 seconds that we had compleded was Osman at his house in his bed looking at his watch, and then sitting up in his bed, with a pan of the room. We then added a cross dissolve effect to each edit as the scenes were jumping and it did not look like a music video.
To conclude, by the end of the day we were shocked that we still had so much editing to do in so little time.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
We also added the music track to the timeline. This would then able us to begin editing in the next lesson.
Friday, 23 October 2009
The shots that we have been filming are various camera angles, however they are a majority of high camera angles as we want to present Osman in the music video as vulnerable and inferior. We have also, been taking many close ups, to show the facial expressions of Osman.Other camera shots that we have used include;medium shots, long shots, pans etc.
When going into town, we travelled on the bus, which then gave us a idea to film on the bus as the bus was more or less empty. To film this shot, we used a rig. This allowed us to get different camera angles as it would have been very shaky as the bus was moving, it allowed us to have more control of the camera.
Next on our journey, we wanted to film Osman in a restaurant/bar to give a sense of forever being alone. The bar we chose to film in and were allowed to shoot in was the KRO BAR as they were very happy to see students wanting to use their facility. The shots were taken in the early hours of the morning as it was empty. We sat Osman in the corner of the restaurant/bar, we did this on purpose as the window was behind him and we wanted to create an image of Osman sitting in the bar alone with the whole world passing him on the other side.
We then went to Piccadilly gardens to film shots of Osman in front of the waterfall.When filming this, i thought that this would not look good, however, I stood corrected when I looked back on the camera. The shots that we took at the back of the waterfall made the shots look creative.
From there, we then explored town, filming Osman in various different locations to fit into our music video. We then made our way back to college to log and capture our footage that we had taken.
Saturday, 17 October 2009
Filming at Osmans house, after college
Monday, 12 October 2009
This is the college theatre.
We are going to use this twice, however it will not loook the same as the second time we are going to use it, we are going to use the lighting system and the curtains to create a techno location
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Shot List
Location-Osmans room
- High angle directly on top of Osman lying down in his bed
- Long shot-he sits up in his bed
- Extreme close up of his face
- Eyeline match pan of Osmans room-blurred vision done by editing
Track-Calvin Harris begins
- Over the shoulder shot of Osmans reflection in the mirror
- Medium shot of Osman looking directly into the camera as though it were the mirror
- Back to an over the shoulder shot of Osman looking in the mirror, however it is not Osman, it is an older version to show how much he has aged. Also with loneliness and it also matches the lyrics at the beginning of verse 1
Location-Outside of college, Random guy 1 standing by himself
- Extreme close up followed by tracking back to show a long shot- this is going to be speed ed up in the editing process to show that he is alone and time is passing by-hence the theme of the song
Location-park-pigeon by itself
- Long shot of pigeon by itself
Location- Park sitting alone on bench swinging his legs-Ahmeds little brother-Adam
- Long shot of Adam swinging his leg
- Close up of the sadness in Adams face showing his venerability because he is alone
Location-My(Kuvals) house-Kuval's little sister Neelam looking out the window with her teddy
- Long shot
- Close up to show innocence hence the teddy
Blurred vision created during editing process. Neelam is imagining she is in the garden playing on the swings.
Long shot of her playing on the swings being happy and somebody pushing her on the swing to show that she is not alone within her imaginary vision
Location-College steps, students feet walking through the door, fast pace in the editing process
- Low angle
Track s beat begins to speed up. Location-Osman in theatre changing seats
- Long shots used according to the beat of Osman changing seats which will be speeded up in the editing process-15 seconds
Location-Still in theatre, however blacked out and lights flashing matching the words of the song at that appropriate time.
- Various fast paced shots to show the confusion of Osmans state of mind.
- High angles to represent Osman as inferior and venerable.
Location-On the bus
- Extreme close up on Osman on the bus by himself-we are going to use the rig to film this
- Use various different shots to show Osmans facial expressions
Location- In the corner of Kro bar
- Medium shot and close ups of Osman, reading the menu by himself
Location-Piccadilly Garden in front of waterfall
- Long shot and back shot of Osman in front of the waterfall
Location-In town on the elevator going towards the food court
- Close up and zoom into Osmans face
Location-Sitting down at table
- Zoom in to Osmans face reading the paper and drinking coffee
Location-Back in the theatre-confused
Location-Back to his room getting into bed again which shows the end of the day and which also shows the end of the track.
This song stood out to us as we knew we could make a very different video to the original one. Personally, we thought that the original music video was quite random and didn't correspond to the lyrics.
Our essential theme of the footage we want to produce is being alone. Therefore, we will need emotive and powerful scenes to create the illusion of being alone. We have agreed that Osman will be essential actor throughout the filming process and he is going to portray a lonely, confused character. Hence, myself and Ahmed handling the the camera.
Today, we began filming as we had already chosen the fundamental location that we were going to film in. Firstly, we went to the the theatre and we filmed Osman sitting on different seats by himself looking tired, worn out and lonely. We did this,as we want to speed up the pace in the editing process and make it look like he has no-one to talk to and he spends his time by himself. The shot we used for this was a long shot, however we also took the same shots using a high angle. We did this show a variety of shots and to also make Osman feel inferior and vulnerable.
We then went outside and took footage of a bird by itself, we thought that we show that it is alone, however coincidentally when filming another bird wandered into the shot. We thought this would ruin the whole shot. Although looking back at the footage, it worked pretty well as at the beginning we could show the bird by itself and then at the end of the song, we could film the two birds together showing that the bird is not alone.
At the end of the lesson, we thought it went quite successful and were pleased at the footage.
Before next lesson we are hoping to have more footage as we are taking the camera with us.
Kuval Kaur
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Monday, 5 October 2009
Can you stay up for the weekend
and blame god for looking too old
can find all that you stand for
has been replaced with mountains of gold
you cannot dream yourself to noticeto feel pain and swallow fear
but can you stay up for the weekend
for next year
God i can’t do this any more
though ill be laid down on the floor
as many feet walk through the door
I’m not alone
[repeatedly punch the air bit]
if i see a light flashing
could this mean that I’m coming home
if i see a man waving
does this mean that I’m not alone
if i see a light flashing
could this mean that I’m coming home
if i see a man wavingdoes this mean that I’m not alone
no?
[repeatedly punch the air bit] again
if i see a light flashing
could this mean that I’m coming home
if i see a man waving
does this mean that I’m not alone
if i see a light flashing
could this mean that I’m coming home
if i see a man waving
does this mean that I’m not alone
Analysis of ' Calvin Harris – Acceptable in the 80’s '
i'm going to analyse Calvin Harris – Acceptable in the 80’s to get a feel for his music video's
Performance
In this music video it has some performance of dancing and also Calvin Harris lip-syncing to the song as a DJ.
Narrative
This video also show the narrative which is science experiment on the animals which they are trying to say it was ‘acceptable in the 80’s’. Also going to your hairdresser’s salon to do a over the top style was ‘acceptable in the 80’s’
Calvin Harris music video has lots of deliberate references to the 1980’s such as the old fashion cloths the performers are dancing to, the old fashioned hairstyles and also the split screen editing effect
Friday, 2 October 2009
Planning
At the beginning of the lesson,we all listed songs that we would like to produce.We came up with a number of songs;for example;
- Black Eyed Peas-Where Is the Love
- Black Eyed Peas-Boom Boom Boom
- Pussycat Dolls-Jai Ho
- Nelly and Kelly Rowland-Dilemma
- Calvin Harris-I'm not Alone
- Justin Timberlake-Sexy back
- Timberland-The way I are
- Enrique Ingelsis-Hero
It was then even tougher as we then had to decide as a group which one music video we were going to use. Everyone in the group had their own ideas. We then went through every song and and eliminated songs which we thought were not going to make it. These are the songs that we eliminated;
- Black Eyed Peas-Boom Boom Boom
- Justin Timberlake-Sexyback
- Timberland-The way I are
- Enrique Inglesis-Hero
We then had four left to choose from. We then looked at their videos, in full details. We analysed them and created rough videos of them in our minds.
- Pussycat Dolls- need dancers,need reliable people,needed suitable location. We then realised that that this would be to hard as we would need to rely on many people to create the music video and this would be hard as everyone has different timetables.
- Where is the Love- I liked this idea as we could create an emotive video, as we could create different story lines, for example like;x factor finalists-Hero. However the rest of the group did not like this idea, as we would have to get children involved to film.
Our last two songs were;
Calvin Harris-I'm Not Alone;a fast temp song
Nelly and Kelly Rowland-Dilemma; a slow song
Our two songs that we had to choose from were opposites as one is about being alone and the second was about love. Also, the pace of the song were opposites. Stuck for choice, we then asked our teachers opinion and they said Calvin Harris was an interesting choice and it had not been done before. We then went away as a group and decided that we should do CALVIN HARRIS-I'M NOT ALONE as we could manipulate the original video and involve it around any theme; for example someone alone or alone then reunited.


