Filming session 1

Over the Christmas holidays, we eventually began filming as our locations were possible and equipment was ready to use. With the assistance of Eboni, she and I filmed a short time lapse in the location of a friends garden which fitted the criteria that we wanted in terms of a backdrop. We filmed the time lapse on an iPad in the back garden to show the sun going down from light to dark as a symbol of time passing in context to show how the artist is missing his partner. I wanted to use as much unique technology as possible that was available to modernise the video and include features that may challenge the conventions of a usual RnB video.

Before this, I trialled a time lapse from my bedroom to see how it may look and I have decided that the footage will be in contention for the final video as the lighting is perfect to show time passing and daily activities continuing whilst showing the idea of time going very slowly for Tavonga, the artist. This draft footage could be useful and so I am happy for it to be used when we edit the footage as we can add it in to break down seconds that may be needed to fill up the time of the video. I did not have a tripod for the footage at this time so I leant my phone up using some props to get a good angle with the effective view to show the time lapse of the sky moving, cars going past and doors opening and closing. This is the view that I got.

This was only a very short filming session however, we have since got a very big bit of filming done which will be evident in my next post. These pieces of footage will be very useful in-between shots to create some context but the next session is much longer with more detailed scenes and filming. 

Props used in our video

The 2 main props used in our music video are a red rose and a clear glass and so because this was my role in the group I had to ensure that these were available for use. I firstly when into Manchester and bought 3 glasses as I thought that if we did not catch the smashing on the glass on the film then we had spares as back up to film it again. It turned out that this was not the case but we had the extras as insurance anyway. This part was successful and the smashing of the glass looks very effective as part of the video as I filmed it in slow motion as it hit the floor. This is a unique feature of our video.

The other prop that I have used is a red rose which I have previously mentioned will be used as a motif that runs through the video as a symbol of the love that the artist and actor once had. The whole group went out to buy this however, there were none in stock at the time. Instead, we knew a contact that was willing to let us borrow one and so we went round and picked it up. This was very helpful as we went away and filmed all of the scenes that the rose was needed in so that we could give it back as soon as possible. We also filmed the rose in slow motion to show this motif style as the colour is very vibrant and meaningful.

Popular shots and props in rnb videos

My role in the group is to research and focus on the camera shots and props to be used in our music video. From my research in terms of props, many are unachievable as lots of the videos focus on fast cars, swimming pools and expensive jewellery however, I found a piece that says expensive alcohol is focussed on and I believe that this can be made possible for our video. This will add a sense of class towards the artist during the video which is one of the representations that we are aiming towards. Flowers are commonly used too in order to achieve the romance element of the video and so we have decided to include a rose as a symbol of love between the artist and actress in the video. This rose will also be used as a motif throughout the video to remind the audience of the romance that the couple once had before the break up which they will have just watched.

In terms of camera shots, the performance based RnB videos tend to use various long shots and group shots to be able to show the artist performing a form of dance routine which could also include backing dancers too which also need to be in shot. Alternatively, in narrative based RnB videos, the camera shots can vary. Establishing and wide shots are used to identify location and set the artist here and close ups are commonly used to establish the facial expressions of the artist to try to understand their feelings as they may change emotions through the narrative of the video. They may then revert to a long shot as there may be areas of performance within the narrative where the artist sings their feelings directly to the camera in an attempt to connect the audience with what they are saying. An example of the close up used is Usher in his video for Burn,

Actress profile- Eboni

In terms of choosing people to feature in the music video, we have had to improvise and choose Eboni to take part as the female to work with Tavonga in order to stick to the narrative. Eboni is fine to do this and so we have all the people ready to begin filming.

Name: Eboni Birchall
Age: 17
Inspiration: Beyonce
Background: Born and brought up in Northern England
Interests: Socialising and listening to RnB music, particularly Chris Brown and Kanye West.
Education: Currently studing A-Levels at Wellington Sixth Form
Subjects studying: Media, Textiles, Art

Camera shots research

Within the group, I am in control of the camera shots that we will use for the scenes in the video that we are created. I already have a very good idea of the shots that will be needed and for what reason but I also did some extra research of shots and some that I may not have come across before which could be useful.

Tavonga's Branding

All of our group members have known Tavonga since year 7 and so we understand the key areas of his background and main passions in life. We can use some of this in our video as a method of branding and understanding of artist. He is originally from Zimbabwe and lives in a strong Christian household.

Tavonga studied music at GCSE and has gone on to study this specifically at college and so he is very experienced in this field and passionate within it. From recent social media pictures, I have noticed that Tavonga likes to dress with modern fashion and he loves to ensure that his look is always smart. We have likened this to artists in the RnB industry such as: Ne-Yo, Kanye West and Chris Brown. This will be the focus of the branding for us and we will look closely into costume for the way that we represent him.

From knowing Tavonga, we know that he has a very bubbly and energetic personality which shines through, particularly when he makes his music. He also performs often which is helpful for us and so will make the most of this talent. We will be sure to create a positive representation of him within our video and an audience will see that as we will feature shots where he is lonely and sad but then will be aware of his passion and energy as he sings the song. The audience will feel sorry for him through the use of establishing and POV shots.

Song upload to Mac (Editing session 1)

After downloading the song through my laptop at home, we were ready to upload it to the Apple Macs so that we could put any footage over it without having to add in the music later on as we would find this very hard to match up. I saved the song to my memory stick and easily found the track on the Macs. We had to insert it onto a new event of which we would continue the video once we had the footage to upload. For now though, we have everything in place on the Macs and are ready to add footage to the song when we are ready.

Exploration of lyrics

In order to give our video its own meaning, we have changed the scenes of the original video to create our own however, we have made sure that the lyrics will still match up with the on screen visuals. This is very important as it makes it much easier for the audience to understand the message of the video and to follow the narrative. I have matched up these lyrics with certain shots and explained within this and the storyboard, how they link and the reasons for it. It was also important that I explored the lyrics and used this to create the storyboard so that we could understand the original message and adapt it to our own video to challenge conventions but still portray a clear message.

Artist profile

Song Download

In order to make the video, I firstly had to download the song and transfer it to my memory stick so that I could upload it to the Macs ready for when we put the footage on with it. I went away and downloaded the song through YouTube so that it was entered into my downloads file. I then brought the memory stick into school so that I could transfer it to the Macs and it is now ready and created as a new video to add the footage and begin the editing process.

Iconography Ideas

In order to challenge the conventions of the original music video, we have decided to include an instance of Iconography. Throughout our video, we will have a recurring motif of a red rose which will symbolise the romance and affection that the couple had when they were together in the relationship. We have decided that it will appear in the flashbacks and particularly the good memories that the couple had as a sign of the strength that they had within the relationship. The two points that we will show it during the flashbacks are when the couple are out spending time with each other at markets and then we will juxtapose this when the Tavonga is sat on the bed alone and the rose features in the corner. The main idea is to not make the rose stand out too much but to make sure that it is noticeable to be recognised as a motif and for the audience to understand the meaning of this.

At the end of the video, the rose will appear again when we revert back to the smashing of the glass at the beginning as the couple are arguing. Towards the end, the smashed glass will already be on the floor and to add to this, we will drop the rose to symbolise the end of the relationship and Ne-Yo's (or Tavonga's in this case) feeling that he is 'So Sick' of love songs. With the use of advanced technology, I will ensure that the rose drops in slow motion to match up with the audio that fades out at the end of the song. After this slow motion shot, we will end the song with a fade into black or white as a sense of closure and an end to the relationship.

                             

Completed Storyboard

In our last Media lesson, we finished the storyboard after spending some of our media sessions as well as vital time in free periods so that we could begin filming. Throughout the plan, we have made our narrative structure very clear whereby we have a couple who have broken up from a relationship and the video focuses on the effects of this. The male (Tavonga) will be singing as Ne-Yo does this in the actual song and we have made sure that with most shots, the lyrics will match up with the on-screen visuals to try to portray the message and story of what is going on in the video.

Branding and Image

World superstars in the music industry are often known for a certain look that makes them much more than just a singer, but a brand too. Beyonce is famous for her sparkly dresses and sharp dance moves whilst Rihanna is known to be outrageous and to connote sex within her performances and music videos. Chains, rings and nails are always on show with her and we understand her as a brand rather than just a performer.

In the RnB genre, this iconography is relevant with Ne-Yo as he is seen often wearing suits and always wears a hat for his videos or performances. Just like Ne-Yo, I am looking to model Tavonga's image in this way so that he is more than just a performer. Instead, we may focus on footwear rather than head wear and look closely at the costume he is wearing whether it be in the form of a suit or just smart/casual clothing to perform in.

With Tavonga, we have many options as he wears lots of caps and hats whilst he has a very unique haircut which we could focus our promotion around. With his permission, I can share these ideas from his social media pages which may help us decide with what costume we are thinking about and how best he will work with the audience. This may be, an iconic hairstyle that the audience will instantly recognise, a signature pair of colourful trainers or a baseball hat that he wears. We will choose one of these looks and have him consistently using throughout the video.

Music Video Analysis- Our song

Now that we know which song we are going to use for our music video, it is important to understand the actual video so that we are aware of how to adapt ours in relation to it. The song is very narrative based so I need to understand the message and why each shot is included so I can think about this for our song.

Ne-Yo- So Sick


The music has begun at this point but there is no music as it is an introduction. Text has been used to introduce the artist and I think that we will recreate this idea in our video. The shots are constantly faded here and we will also use this as it will show interruptions between a long shot to symbolise how the relationship has stalled and been interrupted. The narrative starts early.

Here we have a key example of Goodwin's theory where the lyrics of the song match with the on screen visuals. Ne-yo sings 'we can't come to the phone' as we see an image of the phone on the video and so we understand the message of his feelings as an audience. This fades in to show that he is flashing back through all the memories before the break up.

The fading transitions then flash back to the fighting then had when the relationship was finishing. He sings ''It's been months'' and it is clear that he still misses his ex. A long shot and two shot shows the argument that they are having to show that their were cracks in the relationship and that they had to end it. Clearly though, Ne-Yo still
can't get over what he has lost.

We see Ne-Yo sat on his own here through the use of a mid shot. The fire is on in the background and we understand that he is cold and lonely since his romance ended. As an audience we sympathise with him and get his feelings. This is then followed by positive memories in a flashback which we are going to recreate in our video which means we can conform to conventions.

Planning- Storyboard

As part of our planning process before filming, we have created a storyboard to lay out what the video will contain so that it is easier for us to follow when we begin. We have added with each picture, some notes that will help us decide what features will go with it in terms of time lapses and slow motion transitions based on the typical conventions of RnB music videos. Our song is known as a slow RnB and so we need to adapt our video so that it conforms to these conventions to a certain extent.

Our first shot names the location of the shot which is in a kitchen and we have agreed to use some fades and transitions from final cut after the footage.

In the second shot, we will introduce the actors and the idea is that they are arguing to show the basis of the narrative of the video.

The third shot shows the girl become angry over the argument as she throws a glass. This will be filmed in normal motion.

For the fourth shot we will move into slow motion and will therefore have to film the throwing scene twice so we can focus on the movement of the glass as it smashes which will symbolise the relationship.

The fifth shot looks at the girl leaving the house to avoid the man with a two shot.

The door slams in the sixth shot and we see the man left alone on his own.

We then contrast the lives in the seventh shot from either side of the door to show them leaving using a pan shot round each side.

In the eight shot, we begin to flash back from the old times that they used to have.

Focus group problems

So far, myself, Beth and Eboni have carried out our focus group with one group which is our Year 13 Media class. The session very was very successful and we learnt a lot about what differences audiences like and dislike within the RnB genre. I have displayed this feedback in a blog post and we will continue to look into audience preference when we carry out the focus group with a group of Year 12 pupils as well as Year 11's and Year 10's.

We filmed the focus group on a iPad and we have synced this to the Apple Mac so that we can post the footage onto our blogs. This however, has not been completely possible as of yet as we are unable to post the video to YouTube so that we can copy onto our blogs. The footage is completely edited and ready to post but as of the moment, we are still unable to upload the video to YouTube. This may be because the video is too long or there is a technical problem that may be out of our control.

To combat this problem, we will leave the video uploading to YouTube in the morning before tomorrows lesson in order to give it time to work and we will see if it has uploaded. If it hasn't by this time then we will try to the upload the footage to another video sharing website called Vimeo. This is an alternative which may not be as smooth to view however, it should still to possible to see it on our blogs which is the main point.

                                 

Letter of consent for song

In order to be able to use our chosen song, I remembered that we needed to ensure that we had consent from the record label of Ne-yo and so we ensured that this was finished early. His recording studio for the song is Def Jam and so we researched the contact details for this studio so that we could send a letter of consent. This was difficult however, as we struggled to find an e-mail address and so with assistance from Miss, we looked into the contact details of Universal who is the parent company to Def Jam. Within this research we found an e-mail address of a lady who's contact details also came up when researching Def Jam initially. We then agreed that this lady was the correct person to e-mail and so we used a template to type out the letter and send it to the e-mail address. If she does not reply then we are fine to use the song as she has not replied negatively to say that we can't. This would be the only reason why we wouldn't be able to use the song but we hope that this will not be the case and so for now we will continue with this record.

Production schedule

In order to make our production much simpler, Beth has created a production schedule for the group to follow so that we are aware of all of the tasks that we need to complete to be organised and ready to edit once we have our footage from filming. This is very helpful to have so that we can follow it and be sure that we haven't missed out any crucial stages of pre-production. We can tick off when each task has been done and we have dated the estimated time that we will complete each task. If we stick to this and complete it efficiently then the process will be very smooth and hopefully a very successful one.

Institution: Def Jam

The song that we have chosen is 'So Sick' by Ne-yo and his record label that helps produce the song is Def Jam. It centres around the genres of RnB, Hip Hop and other types of Urban Music and it is owned by Universal Music Group. Ne-Yo's track was produced by Stargate, a Norwegian production team in his debut album 'In My Own Words' and it was released as the second single from the album.

                         

The song charted worldwide with number 1 achievements in the United Kingdom as well as the United States. With Def Jam, Ne-Yo met with Stargate in New York to write the songs for his album and one of which would be 'So Sick.' Once finished, Ne-Yo released the song with Def Jam recordings and Stargate and the success came about from this very quickly.

Initial video thoughts

Recently, before we have started to film, we have needed to plan what will go into the video. We contacted Tavonga and together decided on the choice of song that we were happy to go with as well as Tavonga as he would be performing it. So as a 3, Eboni made a brainstorm of inital thoughts that she, Beth and I contributed to. I know that a common feature of RnB videos is love and relationships and I thought that this would be more realistic to create rather than one surrounding wealth and fast cars which none of us would have access to. I also listed some useful locations where we would not look out of place filming a music video and they consisted of urban areas where there are lots of people rather than a rural, green setting as this would be more relevant for a slower song and RnB is rarely associated with this type of setting. Our main idea is to conform to the actions of the actual song that we are using which is So Sick by Ne-yo. We therefore have planned a narrative structure where we focus on the man and the woman in the relationship and compare their lives after a break-up.

To avoid the video looking very similar to the original, we have included some ideas which challenge the original conventions to make the video our own. I firstly suggested to make the most of our technology and include a time lapse which would be effective to show how the time is passing now that their relationship has ended. Eboni then suggested that a flashback could be useful to show how they used to be in the good times previously. Finally, in terms of costume, I suggested that a suit could be appropriate in terms of costume in the way that Usher uses it. It would not be too uncomfortable to perform in whilst it still portrays a sense of class around the artist to show that he hasn't lost his way since the break-up. For scenes when he is in his bedroom or the music video however, they would be much more casual.

Song Choice

Over the holidays, we have spoken as a group to our performer (Tavonga) to discuss our original ideas for the music video that we will create together. We could not just choose any RnB because we needed to know that Tavonga was happy and comfortable with the song. This is why we contacted him and discussed the 3 songs that we were thinking about which were: Miss Independent by Ne-yo, Excuse me miss by Chris Brown or So sick by Ne-yo. Myself, Beth and Eboni were comfortable with any of these songs based on the videos that were originally constructed for them. The lyrics are all meaningful from which we have looked into and so we had to confirm with Tavonga, which one would be his preferred song.

Tavonga's personal preference was So Sick by Ne-yo and so we will research further into this video which includes the RnB conventions that are challenged and conformed to so that we can decide how we will conform to the video or challenge it. Now have decided on this, we can prepare in terms of location, props that will be needed, the types of camera shots along with general mise en scene. It means that we can begin filming very soon and begin edit any footage.

In lesson, we discussed the general, initial ideas in terms of location and discussed where would look professional whilst being realistic with the locations that we can get to. We discussed how we would get to these places and who would come to assist with the filming and performing. Miss has booked the room for Apple Macs in the next 2 weeks and so we know that we need to begin filming by then. Beth has also made a rough production schedule that we will try to stick to and this says that we will begin to film next week. We need to take into consideration our commitments to Sixth form and how early it goes dark based on our filming possibilities and so this we all be planned before hand.

This is the song that we have chosen.

Our artist research

Neyo is the artist of the song that we are using and we need to try to recreate his persona whilst challenging some of his typical conventions too. Obviously, we can't recreate his background such as his birthplace in America or record label but in terms of clothing and performance style, we will try to conform to. Neyo often wears hats during his videos and performance and so we will bear this is mind. Our artist is black skinned and so this matches the characteristics of Neyo whilst both are very confident and composed people.

Throughout his videos, Neyo changes his costume from smart to casual and so we have this choice of how Tavonga will dress. In some videos, he wears a suit and a hat whilst others he may wear a shirt and jeans with high top trainers and more of an informal baseball cap. Tavonga is capable of recreating both of these looks and so we will take on his decision too. In the video for 'So sick', he is dressed very casually due to the romantic narrative and so we will probably conform to this idea.


                                                       

Neyo often dances in his videos and particularly at his performances but I have noticed that in videos such as: So Sick and Mad that this is not always the case. To challenge some stereotypes, we will make the most of Tavonga's ability to dance and include this in our video whilst telling the narrative story of romance which we have begun to plan in our storyboard. It is important to model Tavonga on Neyo so that we don't challenge conventions too much that it is an unrecognisable video to the song that we have picked.

Group roles

To make our production much simpler, the group have assigned separate roles for us to take up. This will split the work and planning equally so that we can work on our areas to contribute and provide to the group for pre production.

Me: Camera shots and props

Eboni: Editing and costume

Beth: Location and lighting

As I have been the assigned the role of props, I will research what props are commonly used in RnB videos then decide if we want to challenge of conform to these conventions. I will also ask our performer Tavonga what props he will need to help us produce an effective music video. It will be my job to then order these so that they can be used in the piece.
In terms of camera shots, I will again look at existing texts of RnB videos to see what types of shots are used and how we will conform and challenge these conventions. During filming I will monitor the shots that we have an see if they look effective through the camera and judge how good they will look when editing on the screen of the Apple Mac.

These roles will share out the work to make our jobs more easier and more organised so that we know what we can work on. Once we bring these roles together we will be very prepared and have lots of research and planning to put towards our piece.

Feedback from focus group

So far we have only carried out a focus group with one group which is our own media class of year 13's. The session was very helpful however, as we asked a range of questions which aided our initial ideas of how we were going create a music video for the genre of RnB. I had created a consent form so that the class were happy to take part and Eboni created a power point of visual aids which included pictures of RnB artists and extracts of music videos from these artists. Together we asked the questions and gained lots of useful feedback.

To begin the session, we informed the group about the background of RnB with some information about general conventions and how it had changed over time. We asked what the audience already knew about RnB and who their favourite artists were in general to see if anyone's favourite artist was in fact, an RnB artist. This was not the case however, once we discussed certain artists from this genre, it appeared that they were still very popular with our group.

Within the extracts that we showed, there were some older RnB videos mixed with some newer ones and so we could show this comparison to our audience. When asked which type of RnB was better, the audience response was generally that an older type video was preferred as they gave more of a sense of reality.They didn't like the newer videos as they focussed more of wealth and success which came across arrogant as well as the desirable, sexual representation of women which was not approved by many.

A question that I proposed was 'do you think that you will prefer a video more if the artist performing is the same gender as you?' There were mixed responses to this question as in the RnB genre, most songs are made and performed by men which tend to target the female audience however, there may be less focus on the artist in the video and therefore people of the same gender as the artist may just enjoy the music itself. We therefore could understand who our audience would be with the resources and performers that are available to us.

Another question that was put forward questioned whether narrative videos were more popular or performance based videos. We showed them extracts of Drake's 'Started from the bottom' which is very much followed with narrative and compared it with Usher's 'Yeah' which is predominantly a performance by Usher himself. The audience were again mixed. Some people enjoyed the story telling element of the music video as it was something to follow however, the more popular choice was the performance based video of Usher as it focusses more on the song itself rather than a story which allows the artist to dance to his own music and let the music do the work.

Focus Group- Year 13

Uploading focus group (Issues+Finished)

After many weeks of trying to post our focus group to YouTube so that it can be shown on my blog, we have finally managed to start the upload. Previously, the file size had been do big or we had saved it in the wrong areas but now we have it correct and we are in the process of getting it onto our blogs alongside the actual feedback that we gained from the session. In order to get the video onto YouTube, we had to create a new YouTube channel so that it would upload separately but even when we did this, the video upload expired and we had to do it again. Luckily though, it has worked now and the feedback is now alongside the YouTube video of the focus group so that my posts of chronological and make sense when read. After we left the video to upload, I checked the YouTube channel on a desktop computer to find that the video was there. It was therefore a relief that after so many problems, the video is now up for an audience to see on my blog.

Focus group- Lower school consent

In comparison to the focus group that we conducted with the year 13's, this focus group will be more organised and structured as we used our media class for the last one. Our letters of consent with headed paper hadn't been created by this point and so I had to make one myself to ensure that the class were comfortable to take part in our discussion to help us with our research.

Our letters of consent are now ready and so we will use these to ensure that the year 10 and 11 students that we will do our focus group will be happy to take part and have the session filmed to be put on YouTube and onto our research blogs. The letters of consent now look very professional and each student that takes part can have their own letter to sign instead of everybody signing the same sheet as we did with the year 13 group. Once these letters have been signed, we can begin the focus group with the year 10 and 11's and use their ideas and preferences to go towards our research for the production of our music video.

Focus Group- Year 13 Consent and syncing

In today's lesson, Beth, Eboni and I carried out a focus group with our media class of whom fall into the preferred age range of our genre of music which is from 15-25. In order to carry this out, Eboni created a power point to aid our questions and give the audience an idea about our genre. Together, we asked questions that we could use information for with our research and planning to produce the best piece possible. Before we started however, we needed consent from the class with permission that they were willing to take part in the focus group to help us. Thankfully, the whole class signed the form that I had created myself and we were able to go ahead with the session.

The session was filmed on an iPad and so we needed permission for this to happen which we had gained from the class. Once we had finished the questions, the actual video lasted for around 23 minutes which was far too long to post onto our blogs and so for this to happen, we needed to sync the video to the Apple Macs so that we eventually edit out anything that we didn't need. To do this, my whole group stayed behind after school to sync the footage onto the Apple Macs so that we could begin editing as soon as possible.

       

Music Video analysis- Chris Brown

We have decided upon genre for the creation of our music video and we have chosen RnB. I can now analyse different texts from this genre to look at conventions as well as the differences between videos within RnB.

Chris Brown ft Tyga- Ayo

This video is typical of the RnB genre as it focussed very much on the representation of wealth. Artists are often arrogant about their wealth and this crane shot proves this showing Chris Brown on a golden sofa in a pool of money. This portrays a feeling of royalty and is a perfect symbol of wealth to prove that he is better and more famous than similar artists. It connotes the idea that he is far superior and many people will aspire to have this lifestyle.

More conventions are evident here as many RnB videos feature a woman or women which the males of the video use to symbolise their success. Typically, she wears very little clothing and conveys a very sexual feeling which is commonly created within music videos from this genre. A sense of romance is created between Chris Brown and the women that features as she walks around the house.

Here, a mid shot is used of Chris Brown as he raps to his song in a more performance based section of the video. He is showing himself rapping to show the audience what they can expect if they were to go to a live show. It shows that RnB videos can have performance elements with a modernised background rather than just narrative or a concept of money or success. We instantly recognise his iconography with the cap, jewellry and sunglasses.

A long shot of a man on a motorbike is shown here and this vehicle is often use as a symbol of masculinity as it is used in various RnB videos in Ne-yo's 'Closer' for example. It is a sign of wealth and success but also romance as a man can whisk away a women on the motorbike and take them to a better future. Females are attracted to these men and their motorbike due to the opportunities they see as they are represented as alpha males taking part in these activities.