Draft Video,

Visual Storyboard.

This is my visual storyboard. There are a few words that make me understand the song and the writer more now I have analysed them.

Problems Faced.

Monday 8th December
I was planning to film my music video on Monday the 8th of December. This didn't work out as I planned. I arranged everything with my actress, where and when to meet up and the plan for the day. This fell apart as my actress got called into work. I couldn't really have avoided this because it was a spare of the moment thing. The way I overcame this problem was that I arranged to film the following Monday with the same meeting times and everything. I will ensure that my actress knows all of the details so that we are on schedule for the following Monday.

Thursday 11th December
A weather warning has been issued for Hull and the East Riding. The warning is for high winds and rain. This is going to be a problem as I plan to film my music video on Monday the 15th of December. I aren't sure if the weather will have brightened up by then but I am hoping it will have otherwise I will have to reschedule my shoot again.

Saturday 7th February
I still need to film a few little bits for my music video, but my actress has fallen over and broken her wrist, so now has a pot on it. This is a dilemma because the continuity may me harmed. I will try and make her wear mittens at all times or make sure that you can't tell that she has it on because otherwise it will make my music video look out of sync.

Weather Forecasts.

Early Weather Forecast

This is the early weather forecast for when I want to shoot my video. It says sunny spells and not much chance of rain. This is a good sign as I want my video to look sunny and bright and rain would definitely not be a good factor for filming. The sunrise and sunset for this day mean that there won't be many hours of sunlight so I will have to make sure that I am quick with my filming so that it doesn't get too dark.

4 Days Before

This is a more definite weather forecast for the day that I am planning on filming my music video. Looking at this weather forecast I will look to film most of my video around 12 o'clock as this seems to be the time where it will be the sunniest. I want a bright look to my video rather than a dark and cloudy look so this is why I will try and film around this time.

These weather forecasts are now not applicable as my actress has to be called into work on the day that I was planning on filming. I will now post the weather forecasts for Monday the 15th of December as this is the new date I am planning on filming.

This is the new weather forecast for the day that I am planning to film my video. The weather shouldn't be too bad if I finish all of my filming before 3 o'clock. Hopefully the clouds will part for my to be able to get a little bit of sunshine in my music video. I will make sure that me and my cast are at the locations promptly in order to finish before the rain is forecast to start. 

Risk Assessment.

Above is a grid that I produced showing all of the risk factors that I could face during the filming process. The thing that concerns me the most is the strong winds coming of the river Humber. This could effect the filming and even blow the equipment over, hopefully the weather should be sunny and the wind should die down so this will hopefully not be a factor.

Filming Equipment.

To film my video I will use a Canon 70D. One of the advantages of using a DSLR camera is that I will also be able to take sharp still shots for my ancillary texts without having to carry two different pieces of equipment. It films in HD and can also shoot up to 60 frames per second, this will ensure that my video is of the highest of qualities.

I will choose a lens to suite the filming process. The most common lens that I will use is a 18-55mm lens. This is so that the stabilization is low, because of the low zoom. This will ensure that the shots are steady even when the camera is hand held. It will also be easier to keep the shot in focus due to the shallowness of the lens.
I could also use a 18-270mm lens to shoot my video. The reasons I would use this lens is if I wanted a good depth of field or if I wanted a good close up shot of my actress, The disadvantage of using this lens is that if I was zoomed in, the shot wouldn't be very stable. A gust of wind could move the camera and this wouldn't be a great lens for handheld shots.

Places My Video Will Feature.

The way I advertise my music video is essential to the success of it. Currently there are thousands of websites that host music videos, the most popular of these include YouTube and Vevo. There are also many social media sites that will let you embed music videos onto posts, these include Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr.

The advantages of linking my music video to any of these social media sites is that many people would see them. These social media sites have millions of users per day, if I posted my music video on one of these sites and shared it to my timeline, I could ask my friends, their friends and their friends etc. to repost the link which would ensure my video being seen by thousands of people.

The first place my video will be posted though will be YouTube. YouTube has ''more than 1 billion users each month'' as stated by their website states. This is possibly the easiest way for my target audience to reach my music video because it is widely used and it is also very simple to use. The benefits of posting my video on YouTube is that it is very interactive. People can scroll to the bottom of the video and like, comment and share my video. Posting my video on YouTube will also allow me to get an embedding code which will allow me to put the video on my blog and on other websites.

Theorists.

Kate Domaillie 

- stated that every story ever told can be fitted into one of eight narrative types, with each of these stories having an original story on which the others are based. These stories are as follows: Candide, Cinderella, Love, Circe, Faust, Orpheus, Romeo and Juliet and Tristen and Iseult. And also states that without love, there would not be us; love is the ultimate narrative.

Tim O’Sullivan 

- argues that all media texts tell us some kind of story. Through careful mediation media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves, not necessarily about ourselves as individuals but as a culture/society.

Sven Carlson 

- suggested that music videos in general videos fall into two rough categories: performance or conceptual clips.

Performance contains clips of live performance and conceptual clips with anything else. 

Bordwell and Thompson 

Claude Lèvi-Strauss

- states that all stories within a narrative operate to clear binary opposites, eg. good vs evil and rich vs poor. His ideas come down to a complicated world made into a simple structure that things are either bad or good, and could never be in between. This can be portrayed through mise en scene, for example, a antagonist would be in a dark/black costume, and in a dark place.

Michael Shore

- argues that all music videos contain recycled styles. For example Buddy Holly by Wheezer contains the style and scenes from Happy Days which was set in the 50s. They recreated this look in their music video with costume, mise en scene, and by using original clips from the tv series. 

Equilibrium of Diagesis: Todorov

Secondary Influences.

These are my secondary influences for my video. The parts I like about these shots is mostly the costume choice. I like how snug and cosy she looks and because it will be winter when I am filming my music video I would like to incorporate this sort of look too. I like the shrug that Jana is wearing in this video and the black jeans, I will try and get something similar to these when I film my video.
I also like the framing for these shots. I like the long shot of Jana against the tree because I think it makes her look vulnerable and small in comparison to the size of the tree. I would like to use this in my music video because I think it would also show the vulnerability that is shown through the lyrics of my chosen song. I also like the medium close up shots used because I think they really show the emotion on Jana's face. I would like to use this shot in my video because I think it would create empathy from the audience. I also really like the depth of field used in all of these shots because it really puts the emphasis on Jana and puts all of the audience's focus on her.

Costume Moodboard.

This is my costume mood board. I like all of these pieces of clothing because I think they represents winter very well. My music video will be set in the winter time so I would like my costume to reflect this. I like the cream shrug/cardigan because I think it looks cosy and warm, I think it will add some likability to my actress because she will seem more caring and loveable. I would like my actress to wear boots during my music video because I think it adds to the winter look. If my actress was wearing little dolly shoes then this would not go with the time of year and make my music video look really strange. I would like the boots to be chunky and contemporary with today's style.

Locations.

The old town and marina are the filming locations for my music video. This is because I think they look romantic and have a old vintage feel to them. I like the quaint look of the houses beside the river with all of the trees as it reminds me a little of the houses beside the river in New Jersey over looking the Manhattan skyline.
I like the idea of filming near the church because this song is about love and a church can symbolise that, so this will link with the ideology.
The old cobbled streets are also a highlight of my locations because I feel they could represent her bumpy road to find love.

Textual analysis of three music videos. 2 done.

na Kramer - Whiskey

In this video there is a lot of handheld camera. This is a great effect because it enhances the country genre of the video and makes it feel more home made. Country music videos are more rustic and raw than other music video which shows through the use of this handheld camera. The shakiness of the handheld camera makes the scenes where Jana is laid on the sofa more comforting and welcoming. The handheld camera also makes you feel more sorry for Jana in the scenes when she is in the woods and the end when her boyfriend gets taken away. This is because the handheld camera make the video look more real, like a normal person is filming it which adds a sense of empathy to the viewer. The song is about relying on your gut instinct about someone, this shows when she sings "should have just called it like I saw it" and the men start fighting. This shows that she knows that he is bad news for her and she knows that she should have just left him there and then. This scene is also enhanced by the handheld camera because it makes it looks more violent and intense. The song and the video aren't in chronological order. The song is Jana singing about her experience with the man and the video is about what she actually went through with the man. This is a good effect because it makes the audience think more about what is going on in the video because they ask themselves why she is still with him when she's singing about leaving him.

The ideology of Jana Kramer's music video is that everyone makes mistakes and sometimes you have to make them mistakes in order to learn from them. She aims to show that most of the time you should just go with your gut instinct and do whatever comes naturally, because if you don't, it can lead to somewhere you don't want to be. The message in this music video is mostly shown through the mise en scene, through things such as props and character placement. The whiskey is a key thing in the music video. It is a metaphor for how addicting something can be and how things such as alcohol can make you do stupid things and in turn make mistakes. 

Whiskey is the second single from Jana's debut album which was released in 2012. It was produced by Scott Hendricks. Jana is on the label Elektra which is a part of Warner Music Group. Since being released it has has over 4.7 millions views on YouTube as of November 2014. 

Jana's audience is mainly teenagers. I think this song is aimed at that age group because these are the people that are going through relationships such as this one, having the problems, making the mistakes and then learning from them afterwards. Teenagers are more likely to be influenced by this song because it shows that you need to stay clear to people you don't feel are going to be good for you, because you will end up hurt. I think it is mainly aimed at girls because girls are more likely to have the crushes on boys where they get so caught up in having a 'bad boy' they don't think ahead to how they will feel when that 'bad boy' leaves. I also think this because girls are the ones who are more likely to regret their actions afterwards, more tend to be more carefree whereas girls would think about it and regret it.
This video represents how people make mistakes. The lyrics of the song are Jana telling the story of how she should have gone with her gut instinct and left that man as soon as she could. This is a good message because most people don't like admitting that they have made a mistake. She shows it really well through the different uses of narrative flashbacks and also performance. The flashbacks inform the audience of why she has chosen these lyrics and they back up her opinions. 

Carrie Underwood - Blown Away

There's a lot of slow motion used in this video especially in the beginning. This is to create suspense before the storm hits, the slow motion draws tension and makes the audience wonder what will happen. When the song first starts the juxtaposition of the slow motion of Carrie and the sped up shot of the clouds passing by shows how fast the storm is coming and that she is doing nothing about it, this extenuates the fact that she wants the storm to come and destroy her home because of the resentment she has for her father. This is also shown by the lyrics "the weatherman called for a twister, she prayed blown it down". The colours that are used in the extreme long shot of the house and the twister show how vulnerable the house and she is. The contrast of the dark sky and tornado with the bright yellow and red of the house signify that the house is the only hope for her, it's the only safe place and she needs to get to it. The extreme long shot also shows how vulnerable she is because you can see all of the surrounding areas and you can see that theirs is the only house that is there. This could create sympathy for Carrie as she tries to run toward safety. The shot where you can see Carrie shaking her dad to try and wake him up also shows glass shattering in the background. This is a subtle but effective thing to use because it shows exactly how intense the storm is, and how much danger they are in. The use of flashbacks is very effective in this video. They create more of an explanation for Carrie's rage so that the audience understand her story better. The flashbacks are helpful for the shot of her dad passed out on the sofa cuddling a bottle of whiskey with the lyrics "some people call it taking shelter, she called it sweet revenge" over it. Without the flashbacks showing the audience exactly what she had been through with her father, this shot would have looked a lot more sinister. 

Blown Away is the second single released from Carrie's 4th studio album of the same name. Since being released in July 2012 it has seen more than 21.8 million hits on YouTube and has gone 2x Platinum. The producer of the single is Mark Bright and was released by the label Arista Nashville who Carrie is signed on to. Arista Nashville is part of the Sony Music Group.
This music video stands for the right to stand up for yourself. This is shown through the narrative. She locks herself in the cellar and leaves her father, this is her standing up for herself. Also the lyrics used when she leaves her father in the house are "I call it sweet revenge". This shows that she is taking a stand and saving herself like she should have done years ago. 
The target audience of this music video is mostly teenage girls. These are the people who feel they get pushed around by their parents, maybe not to the extent that Carrie did in this video but they can feel like they relate to this to some extent. They will also aspire to how Carrie looks in this video, because of how beautiful she is and how strong willed she is she will motivate young girls to follow in her footsteps and she will become a role model for them. "til there's nothing left of yesterday" will also give some girls something to relate to as they are the type of people who would want to juat forget everything that has happened and start afresh. Because of mood wings and teenage years young girls are also more likely the ones who would wish a twister to tear through their house because at this age they are very dramatic and don't know how to deal with their problems in a grown up way.
This music video represents how girls should stand up for themselves and not bottle in their anger. This is a prime example of what happens when you bottle all your anger in, you do irrational things like leave your father to get hit by a twister. The sinister tone in Carrie's voice throughout the song shows her anger towards her father, especially throughout the bridge of the song. The lyrics "every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away" also show her anger because it shows she doesn't have very nice memories of her father and she just wants to get rid of them. All of these points show how she feels like she she should have stood up for herself when she was younger.

Lyric Analysis.

Narrative Analysis.

One of the narrative theories that apply to this music video is Tim O'Sullivan's. This applies to it because Tim O'Sullivan states that all music videos tell us a story not usually about our personal stories but about our stories within our culture. This is shown through this music video because it is a story about a girl who has cancer, and how it progresses and gets gradually worse but she still gets her dream in the end. This is a story that Rascal Flatts aren't familiar with personally but a story that many people around the world can relate to.
Another theorist that this video links in with is Kate Domaille. She states that every story can be fitted into one of eight narrative types. This music video can easily fit in with the Cinderella narrative. This narrative suggest that the dreams come true for the person in the video. This is true for this video because each chorus is saying how the girl is dreaming of dancing with her true love, and the video shows her vision with a scene where she is seen dancing with a boy whilst she has all of her hair. At the end of the video the chorus is changed from the words 'She dreams she's dancing' to 'They go dancing', this shows that her dream has come true as we can see her dancing with her true love.
Sven Carlsson's theory also applies to this music video. He states that music videos fall into two rough groups, performance clips and conceptual clips. Performance clips are purely the artists/s signing or dancing, and a conceptual clip is when the music video contains something else during its duration. This music video would be a conceptual clip. This is because although there is a performance element to the video, there is also a narrative to it. This is shown through the series of pictures showing the girl going through the stages of her cancer. It isn't pure narrative though because there is also a lot of performance from the band shown within the clip.

Conventions of Form and Genre.

3 Initial ideas.

1. A performance narrative. A pretty girl dressed in warm, snug clothes miming along to the song. Set in a old town, marina and a park. The girl riding an old fashioned bike down a cobbled street. Shots of girl hold a sign with the word 'Love' on it. Close up slow motions shots of girl crying. 360 shots of girl flinging her arms in the air.

2. Solely narrative. A story about a girl and a boy who broke up. Shots of girl crying, keep flashing back to memories of the girl and boy together. Close ups of the girls eyes/tears repeated whilst the flashbacks come in bits. The flashbacks in black and white to show they are flashbacks. Slow motion of girls tears falling. Flashbacks show how the relationship slowly deteriorated. 

3. Part performance, part narrative. Combining the flashbacks with the performance. Close ups of the girl crying. Use of black and white flashbacks. Chorus being mimed by girl within the video. Shots of her on a bench, on a bike and looking out onto the river humber. Flashbacks show how her relationship with a boy deteriorated and fell apart.

Chosen song.

What makes a good music video.

The elements that make a good music video.

• A good performance. - The actor needs to be putting in full effort into their performance for the video to look realistic and make an impact on the audience. They need to be performing with their whole body and not just moving their mouth to the lyrics of the song.
• A good lip sync. - The actor needs to know the song in order to give a good lip sync. The song will need to be played whilst filming so that the actor can sing along in order for the lip sync to turn out well. 
• Editing to the beats of the music. - Editing that matches the beats of the music creates an interesting watch for the audience. Fast editing will also make the video look a lot better. 
• A range of costumes. - In order for the music video not to become repetitive the costume will need to change. A range of costumes creates a more dynamic watch for the audience 

Lyric Timings.

Treatment.

Treatment

A performance by a girl She will be in summer dresses and pretty clothes with soft curls and romantic makeup. I will take shots of her with flowers in a variety of framings, shots with her riding a bike and shots of her walking all whilst miming, a heart shaped board with the word “love” on it will be used. I will film in old town, marina and pearson park. Slow motion will be used.

Brief and Ancillary Texts.

A promotion package for the release of a new album, to include a music promo video, together with;

- a cover for its release as part of a digipak

-a magazine advertisement for the digipak.

Final Video.

Story Board and Short List.

1 intro music - slow zoom in, medium shot - grey white tint, kettle and cup props - cuts to medium close up of woman.

2 "summer after high school when we first met, we'd make out In your" - medium close up shot - grey white tint, white baggy top - cuts to jar.

3 "mustang to" - close up shot of jar, pans upwards - cuts to 2 shot of couple on bed - dark and old lighting.

4 "radio head and on my 18th birthday" - over the shoulder, 2 shot of couple - cuts to close up of man - dark lighting, paintings everywhere, man bigger than woman

5 "matching tattoos" - close up shot of man painting - cuts to close up of finger - dark lighting, drawing pad, puts paintbrush in his mouth

6 music - close up of mans fingers on painting - cuts to close up of man - dark lighting, black paint

7 music - close up of man - cuts to over the shoulder shot of the woman - dark lighting, paintbrush, takes it out of his mouth

8 "used to steal your parents" - over the shoulder shot of woman - cuts to close up of painting - dark lighting, paintings in background

9 "and climb to the roof" - close up shot, pans down the painting - cuts to over the shoulder shot of woman - dark lighting, painting, pad

10 "talk about a future" - medium close up of girl, over the shoulder - cuts to close up of man - dark lighting, paintings in background 

11 "like we had a clue" - close up of man smiling - cuts to man putting painting on wall - dark lighting, edge of the pad 

12 "never planned that one day" - medium shot of man putting painting up - dark lighting, tape - cuts to woman next to painting 

13 "I'd be losing" - over the shoulder shot of woman stood next to painting - cuts to two shot of couple - dark lighting, other painting next to her 

14 "you, in another" - two shot of couple, close up - cuts to couple hugging - dark lighting, painting in the background 

15 "life" - medium shot of couple hugging - cuts to old woman on bed - dark lighting, props in background 

16 "I would be your girl" - long shot of woman sat on the bed - cuts to close up of old woman - bright lighting, dressing gown

17 "we'd keep all our" - close up of old woman's face - cuts to mirror shot of woman - bright lighting 

18 "promises, be us" - mirror shot of woman -  cuts to close up of woman - dark lighting, paintbrush, paint, mirror

19 "against " - close up mirror shot of woman - cuts to her waking - dark lighting, paintbrush, paint, mirror

20 "the world" - medium shot of her legs whilst walking, pans down her legs - cuts to her helping the mans coat on - dark lighting, American flag leggings

21"music" - two shot of the couple, medium shot - cuts to medium close up of man - dark lighting, fur coat

22 "music" - medium close up of man - cuts to woman walking with camera - dark lighting, fur coat, does his hair 

23 "in another" - woman walking, medium shot, tracks her - cuts to close up of her with camera - dark lighting, bike, old camera

24 "life" - close up of woman clicking camera - cuts to man with hat - dark lighting, old camera, leather jacket

25 "I would make you" - over the shoulder shot of the woman taking a picture of the man - depth of field, cuts to medium shot of woman - dark lighting, hat

26 "stay" - medium shot of woman - cuts to two shot of the couple - dark lighting, old camera, film

27 "so I don't" - two shot of couple sat on sofa - cuts to closer shot of them on the sofa - dark lighting, fury throw on sofa, film from camera

28 "have to say" - medium close up of the couple sat on the sofa - cuts to medium two shot - dark lighting, fury throw, film from camera

29 "you were the" - medium two shot of couple - cuts to close up of man - dark lighting 

30 "the one that" - close up shot of the man - cuts to extreme close up of the woman's eyes - dark lighting, fur coat, fur throw, gets pushed down

31 "got away" - extreme close up of the woman's eyes - cuts to close up of mans face - dark lighting

32 music - close up of man hiding his face in coat - cuts to close up of woman's face - dark lighting, fur coat and throw

33 "the one that" - close up of woman pulling a funny face, low angle - cuts to close up of mans face - dark lighting, moustache 

34 "got away" - close up of man with confused look - cuts to pictures on a table - dark lighting, fur coat and throw

35 "music" - high angle shot of pictures on a table - cuts to close up of a picture - black and white images, dark lighting 

36 x3 "music" - close up of an individual picture - end - black and white images, table, dark lighting 

Lyrics and Timings.

Production Plan.

5th June -13th June - Planning (All take part, Natalie - Story Board, Poppy - Mise-en-scene, Jenny - Lyrics and enditing, Mollie - Props, location and mise-en-scene)

14th June - 18th June - Filming (Mollie - Filming, Natalie & Adam - Acting)

19th June - 25th June - Editing (All take part in editing each section to get it finished)

Evaluation

1)           What did you find the most challenging and why?

I found that the editing was the most challenging. Not the actual editing of the clips but when the clips started to override themselves and started to delete themselves. This was the hardest part because you have to do it all really fast and then close it so it saved, and then you had to restart the Mac so that the clips would come back.

2) What will you do differently when you make your A2 product next year?

I will try and make sure that the editing goes better and doesn’t start overriding itself. I will make sure that we have all of the props that I need so that I don’t have to substitute costumes that I don’t have.

3) How has doing this task helped you and why? What have you taken away from this experience?

I have improved my team working skills and I’ve learnt how to rely on people to do their best. This task has helped me see what to expect from next year also, this is good because now it’s not like I’m jumping in at the deep end, so I feel more comfortable with the project I will be doing.

4) How successful was your product? Why do you think it was successful or unsuccessful?

I think our product was really successful. I think this because when we played the original and remake side by side the shots and edits seemed to match really well. I think this is because we took our time to make sure we got all of the shots and edits to the T.

5) How do you feel about developing to A2 level now you have completed this task?

I feel really comfortable about A2 now I have done this assignment. I feel like it has made me more aware of what to expect and by using all of the equipment I have readied myself for using them next year, this will maximise the time I spend on the actual project so I don’t spend my time up learning how to use everything.

6) What do you like most/least about your final product

What I like most about my final products is that the edits and the shots are pretty spot on. I like how they resemble the actual shots and edits really well. What I like least about it is that in some of the shots where I should be wearing a jacket, I’m not. I would definitely change this if I had the chance.

Locations, Cast and Props.

Locations: Adam's house.
                Bedroom, mum's bedroom, kitchen.
Cast: Natalie Wilson - Lead Girl
        Adam Brocklebank - Lead Boy
Props:

• Paint
• Paint Brushes
• Cup
• Table
• Jam Jar of Water
• A3 Drawing pad
• Leather Jacket
• Dressing Gown
• Talc for Hair
• Fan
• Old Camera
• Paintings

My Group.

I am working in a group with Poppy Coldwell, Mollie Allison and Jenny La.

A2 Brief

Brief Specification

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

• A website homepage for the band
• A cover for its release as a part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);
• A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

2. A promotion package for a new film for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:

• A website homepage for the film;
• A film magazine front cover, featuring the film;
• A poster for the film. 

3. A promotion package for a new soap opera, to include a TV trailer, together with two of the following three options:

• A listings magazine front cover featuring the new soap;
• Two hyperlinked webpages (with video extract) for the soap's website;
• A poster for the soap.

4. An extract from a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minutes, together with two of the following three options:

• A radio trailer for the documentary;
• A double page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentaty;
• A newspaper advertisement for the documentary.

5. An advertising package for a new product