Friday 30 September 2011

GM - Marking an A2 Product

The highlighted sections indicate why I gave it the mark I did.


Track: We Are The Ocean - Confessions
Video produced by: Chris Lawrence

The marks scheme:
Production (40 marks)


The candidate is expected to demonstrate excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

  • holding a shot steady, where appropriate
  • framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate
  • using a variety of shot distances as appropriate
  • shooting material appropriate to the task set
  • selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting
  • editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
  • using variety of shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively and appropriately - Chris used layering in appropriate sections which suited the track choice
  • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task
Where a candidate has worked in a group, an excellent contribution to construction is evident

Overall I would give this music video: Excellent (40/40)
This is because it looks very professional due to the large variety of shot types and shot transitions. I think that he has captured the meaning of the lyrics perfectly. The meaning to the reader is apparent however I did not understand why the shots of Betty's tearooms were included, it didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the video.


Wednesday 28 September 2011

GM - Read All About It - Professor Green ft Emeli Sande

Artist: Professor Green ft Emeli Sande
Track: Read all about it
Year Released: 2011
Director:
Genre: Rap
Main Target Audience: 15-24year olds
  • Huge variety of shots
  • variety of locations
  • overexposed effect as a transition
  • good examples of framing
  • Narrative for the chorus, performance for the rap parts
  • Performance shots are long shots, show his body, unlike Sean his is what is accepted in the music genre
  • Goes from a dark room to a lighter one as the tone of the lyrics change
  • similar colour palette
  • very precise mise en scene eg wedding pictures in the background to anchor that the couple are married

GM - Sean Kingston - Sleep All Day

Artist: Sean Kingston
Track: Sleep All Day
Date Released: 2010
Director: Syndrome
Genre: R n B / Dance
Main target audience: 15-24 year olds

  • lots of SFX have been used in the editing process
  • it is a mixture of concept and performance - nearly all performance shots are MCUs or MS (huge lack of variation) however this could be due to the fact that Sean's body is not the expected from an RnB artist. This is similar to how Missy Elliott uses the fish eye lense in many of her videos because again her body is not what is stereotypically expected in the RnB genre.
  • the music video has been edited to the song - slow motion then goes back to normal time on the beat as the 'party' section starts.
  • tracking has been used as well as the matrix effect.
  • There is a huge lack of variety in the shot types
  • This video would be easy for us to remake

GM - Group video pitch

The track that I pitched for the class music video was Rockstar by Nickelback. It was released in 2005 and is directed by Dori Oskowitz. The band is well known for they're contributions to the rock genre. I chose this song because the existing video is shots of both celebrities and non celebrities lip syncing the lyrics.

My idea was to recreate this music video but using members of the class. Some of the filming would have to be done in various areas of school due to time constraints but if time allowed sections of ilkley such as the park and outside the library could replace the famous landmarks that are used in the original music video. Below you can see the ideas that I pitched to the class.





The pitch that the class voted for was Hello by Martin Solveig.


Martin Solveig  (Hello) from miguel moraleda on Vimeo.

This was Tom's idea which involved pretty much copying the existing music video. He visioned setting up a doubles tennis match with one team dressed brightly eg in tutus and the other in serious tennis kit. There would be some controversy and one player would give up on winning the match as the girl he loves is kissed by someone else.

We filmed all of it in school which is due to the time constraints we had but as far as possible everybody in our media class had a part.
The strengths of this remake are:
  • Everybody dressed up and had a good time
  • All required shots were got in the time we had
  • We have included a wide variety of angles and shots
  • Everybody got involved
  • Once we were organised we worked well as a team with good communication
However there are also some weaknesses:
  • There was a lack of call sheet and storyboard which meant we were slightly unorganised at the beginning until everyone knew what was required of them in the production process
  • On the day that we planned to film the tennis nets on the school courts weren't set up which resulting in us having to delay filming
  • It took a while to gather the required props
  • Our main issue was not having enough time although despite this we did get a good range of footage that is suitable to use
Some improvements that we would make next time and will be taking into consideration for our individual productions are:
  • Spend more time on planning and organisations
  • Use time more efficiently
  • Cast more people so more people have a role rather than participants having to double up as characters
I filmed with Tom, whose initial idea it was, and this is our final edit. I did most of the editing as I was prepared to use my frees and spare time outside of lessons so I did the first sections of it. In the lessons Tom did the end parts.