Simple Story Board Using Online Images first draft

This post is a simplistic storyboard using images from the internet. This does not cover all of my shots however helps to build upon inspiration for my piece and portray the imagery I would like to create in my video. Some images may be of female models however they are an inspiration of shot for my male model.

"In a crowd alone" - (00:10-00:15)

Every second passing (00:15-00:18)

Reminds me I'm not home (00:18-00:20)

   Bright lights and city sounds are ringing like a drone (00:20-00:25)     

Unknown Unknown (00:25-00:30)

            Oh, glazed eyes, empty hearts  (00:30-00:33)         

Buying happy from shopping carts (00:33-00:36)

  Nothing but time to kill (00:36-00:38)       

     Sipping life from bottles (00:38-00:41)  

       Tight skin, bodyguards    (00:41-00:44) 

        Gucci down the boulevard  (00:44-00:46) 

      Cocaine, dollar bills    (00:46-00:49)

       And...     (00:49-00:50)  

       My happy little pill (00:50-00:54)

   Take me away (00:54-00:57)     

      Dry my eyes (00:57-00:59 )

00:59-01:01        Bring colour to my skies

01:01-01:04        My sweet little pill

01:04-01:06        Take my hunger

01:07-01:09        Light within

      Numb my skin (01:10-01:12)  

(Break)   (01:12-01:24)       

01:24-01:28       Like a rock afloat

01:29-01:33       Sweat and conversations seep into my bones

 Four walls are not enough (01:33-01:36)      

01:36-01:39       I’ll take a dip into the

01:39-01:43       unknown, unknown

01:43-01:46       Oh, glazed eyes, empty hearts

01:46-01:49       Buying happy from shopping carts

01:49-01:52       Nothing but time to kill

01:52-01:54       Sipping life from bottles

01:55-01:57       Tight skin, bodyguards

01:57-02:00       Gucci down the boulevard

02:00-02:02       Cocaine, dollar bills

02:02-02:03       And...

02:03-02:06       My happy little pill

02:07-02:10       Take me away

02:10-02:12       Dry my eyes

02:13-02:15       Bring colour to my skies

02:15-02:17      My sweet little pill

02:17-02:20      Take my hunger

02:20-02:23      Light within

02:23-02:26      Numb my skin

02:26-02:47       (Break)

02:47-02:49       Oh, glazed eyes, empty hearts

02:49-02:52       Buying happy from shopping carts

02:52-02:55       Nothing but time to kill

02:55-02:58       Sipping life from bottles

02:58-03:00       Tight skin, bodyguards

03:00-03:02       Gucci down the boulevard

03:03-03:05       Cocaine, dollar bills

03:05-03:06       And...

03:06-03:09       (Break)

     My happy little pill (03:09-03:12)  

    Take me away  (03:12-03:14)   

03:14-03:18       Dry my eyes

03:18-03:20       Bring colour to my skies

03:20-03:23       My sweet little pill

03:23-03:26       Take my hunger

03:26-03:28       Light within

03:28-03:32       Numb my skin

03:32-03:40       (Fade in music)

Day 1 - Filming & Editing

 have filmed various test shots in which the originals are below:

This test shot is a simple shot of a clock, this is because I will be using clocks within my video and decided it would be good to work with shots that will feature within my video.

From these test shots I am going to create random editing effects on the Edit suites in order to give myself some experience on the suite prior to making my final video.

These test shots are very basic and contain little conventions or skill, I will develop my skills as I go along.

Here are some images of the editing suite I am using.

So far I have begun uploading footage to the suite and opened up adobe premiere pro cs4

I have also watched the following video in order to help me out with the basic of the software

Another video that I have watched it this:

This taught me how to place my videos in black an whit this is effective as my theme is sad, which black and white connotes sadness.

Prop List:

Life Labels - On bottles
Bottles
Clock
Candles
Mirror
Blade
Pills
Dollar Bills
Sugar in Packets
Blank Board
Pictures Printed
Roll of Paper
Pill Packets

Additional Research for narrative; Legal Highs

Due to the fact that my main product is to be based upon drugs and emotional states. I decided to look at some statistics about drugs, one of the key thing while researching that I found that legal highs is one of the major issues at this moment, After reading various articles I found this upon http://www.talktofrank.com/drug/legal-highs;

‘Legal highs’ that are actually legal contain one or more chemical substances which produce similar effects to illegal drugs (like cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy).  These new substances are not yet controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and there is often not enough research about them to know about their potency, adverse effects from human consumption, or when used with other substances or alcohol.
However, more and more ‘legal highs’ are being researched to see what their dangers are and to see whether they should be made illegal. In fact,  many substances  that have been found in substances sold as ‘legal highs’ have already been made illegal.
'Legal highs' cannot be sold for human consumption so they are often sold as incense, salts or plant food to get round the law.  The packaging may describe a list of ingredients but you cannot be sure that this is what the product  will contain.
Just the fact that a substance is sold as ‘legal’ doesn’t mean that it’s safe or legal.  You can’t really be sure of what’s in a ‘legal high’ that you’ve bought, or been given, or what effect it’s likely to have on you or your friends.  We know that many ‘legal highs’ are sold under brand names like ‘Clockwork Orange’, ‘Bliss’, ‘Mary Jane’  and have been directly linked to poisoning, emergency hospital admissions including in mental health services and, in some cases, deaths.
The main effects of almost all ‘psychoactive’ drugs, including ‘legal highs’, can be described using three main categories:

• stimulants

• ‘downers’ or sedatives

• psychedelics or hallucinogens.

As this clearly states these drugs can be worse than  illegal drugs and can contain substance which are already banded, after reading this I decided to go on and do some further research to look at the more statistical side.

Some of the statistics I found were;"In its European Drug Report 2013, the agency said the UK's average mortality rate due to overdose was 38.3 per million population, more than twice the average for Europe at 17 per million.""In its European Drug report 2014, the EMCDDA said the total number of legal highs available across the continent has now soared to more than 350 substances.Some 651 websites selling legal highs to Europeans were identified by the agency as it warned the open sale of the designer drugs online has increased availability to distributors and consumers."

From these statistics I found that UK is one of the worse for population of drug users, and the a vast avaliablity of legal highs is increasing.As for illegal drugs and alchol I found these statisticst taken from the guardian 2014;

"The average British adult spends £32.05 per month on alcohol, £18.19 per month on tobacco products and £8.24 per month on illegal drugs. However, these figures are based on all adults, irrespective of whether they drink, smoke or take drugs. If we remove those who spend nothing on each of the categories in an average month, the figures change significantly. The average smoker spends £76.73 on tobacco and the average drinker spends £54.58 per month on alcohol. In terms of active drug users, 39% say they do not spend anything on drugs in an average month, which helps to reduce the overall monthly expenditure of this group to £45.31. If we just consider those drug users who do spend money on drugs in an average month, average expenditure increases to £74.36. In addition to the money they spend on drugs, active drug users also spend significantly more than the national average on alcohol (£66.62 per month) and tobacco products (£53.68 per month).""One in 10 Britons has taken legal highs, ie drugs not currently covered by misuse of drugs laws (also known as new psychoactive substances (NPS). Usage of legal highs is most common among young Britons; 16% of 16-24s and 19% of 25-34s have taken them. Regionally, use is highest in London and the south-east, where 16% have taken them."These statistic back up the factor that I believe drugs are a problem and are having a large impact on the population as stated above it is most common amongst 16-24 & 25- 34 this backs up my idea that my music video is relatable to my target age group of 16+ and may influence them in a postive way, away from drugs.

Demographics

When creating a product as a producer we must understand the demographics of our target audience, whom we wish to aim and sell our product to. The use of demographics is helpful in creating a product as it influences the pricing, packaging, promotion and place of sale sell.

As a provider I must ensure I have done sufficient research and I must engage with the demographics of my target audience otherwise I could create a product which doesn't fit my target audience.

In the 21st century it has come to the attention of producers and marketers that its not so much essential to aim for a mass audience but more so to target a more niche or smaller more specific audience.

When looking at demographics I must understand my target audiences  age, gender, income and education this allows me as a marketer to understand which audience is most likely a person is to buy my product.

The image below is a demographics table taken from Google.

From this table we can see that Class A is the upper class, from further research I know that these are the people with higher paid jobs or families, who have the ability to afford much more high end products than that of a Class D.

Due to the factor that I work in a call center on certain jobs I need to understand demographics and understand the class types, The middle class is usually those working just below the upper class, this being those whos bosses are those in the upper class, middle class are usually those who are at a comfortable position with money and life and can afford high end products just not as regularly as the upper class.

Next is the lower middle class- C1, these are not usually referred to as they usually tie in with middle class.

Below these are the skilled working class -Class C2 and working class- Class D, the skilled working class tend to be people who have qualifications in jobs of a lower standard than those in middle class, the working class are those who are unskilled manual workers meaning they can do their job without qualifications.

Finally is Class E - this is those who some would say are the lowest and are the worst of in terms of money and luxury these are often pensioners or those on benefits.

My target audience will fall in Class D/E due to the factor that they are students and will either have part-time jobs or no job at all meaning they fall into the lowest bands in the demographics table. This means my album cannot be massively expensive and will need to be appealing to a younger audience. 

In terms of being a producer/marketer it is essential to understand that you would not be able to spend a-lot of money on production, distribution etc of an album and digipak if your appealing to Class C2 and below as the Class/Demographic table shows a clear indication that this audience have low income.

I must consider this myself when thinking about Production, Distribution, Marketing and Promotion.

Conventions of music videos

The above image is a mind-map which I created stating the main conventions of music videos that as an audience we  most commonly see.

The use of themes are apparent within music videos these help to influence the Costume, locations and colours shown in which all come under mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is a key aspect to music video as it is the visual image that the audience are presented, this creates depth for the video and helps reinforce the narrative. 

The various styles, themes and genres that we see within different videos are all known as macro-technical elements which establish what type of song it is.

 The theme of the song can be the colours used, the fonts used or the titles used. Theme can link with the album for the artist. For example; Katy Perry's album: Teenage Dream

Follows the theme of red, pink and blue. This theme also consists of sweets such as candyfloss and candy canes: this is also shown within one of the songs within her album ; California gurls

Another song from her album is ; Last Friday Night  this also consists of the colour schemes of blues reds and pinks 

 The reason behind a colour scheme is that it helps an audience to recognise the artists album, songs or singles; these colours become recognisable for that particular artist.

Skill Development - Using Conventions From Real Media Texts

Skill Development - Using Conventions From Real Media Texts

From completing my Foundation Portfolio, I now understand and know the conventions of the front cover, contents page and double page spread of a music magazine. My knowledge of conventions expanded throughout my AS year from the start up until now and will continue to extend, for example, after completing the preliminary task I have realised the importance of using the conventional shot types such as the use of medium close-up for the main image of the magazine cover. 

Before doing my preliminary task I thought any shot type would be acceptable and look effective, but when looking back at it, I can see that it doesn't my college magazine consisted of a long shot which is not conventional to a magazine front cover and this means that it does not look as appealing and professional as it would have done with if I followed conventions such as if I had have used a medium close-up, correct lighting and mise-en-scene.

I have also gained knowledge in relation to other key conventions, such as the layout of my magazine piece, such as my positioning of the masthead, an a selection of a set colour scheme including three colours, including a plug, etc.
In the evaluation of my final product, I had to complete a set of questions in relation to my product, I had to show a clear understanding of conventions of each part of the product (front cover, contents page, and double page spread) I had to discuss the conventions I have used and also look at the various aspects which are like a real product as well as improvements I would make.

My Target Audience:

In terms of my target audience I’ve found that it is to be a mixed sex group of both female and males however being a more 60/40 bias ratio towards my male audience. The prominent age range being 16-19 belonging to the Social class of group E, this can be seen in the grid image below. The reason being is because a majority of the 16-19 years olds are school and college students meaning that they are earning very little in comparison to an older generation, the target audience is perfect for both critical and complimentary feedback. My target audience are very in touch with the use of web 2.0 being a generation brought up on this technology. They are very in touch with digital technology and social networking site which enables my promotion to the video to be.

From looking upon websites such as: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28677674

I have found that on average my target audience spend more time on social media and internet then they do sleeping upon this site it said Communications regulator Ofcom said UK adults spend an average of eight hours and 41 minutes a day on media devices, compared with the average night's sleep of eight hours and 21 minutes. 

My audience spend a lot of time illegally downloading and viewing music videos on Youtube meaning this would be a good place to post my video. My target audience also use peer2peer sharing this will enable my product to be shared and exposed to new people and a broader audience.

Music Video; Structure and Purpose

Audience Theory;

Stuart Hall reception Theory;

Theory;

There are three ways an audience can understand and read a text.

This theory says that the media texts are encoded by the producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product with values and messages.

The text is then decoded by spectators.

Different spectators nail decode the text in different ways,not always in the way that the producer intended.

Dominant:

The dominant meaning is where this reading of the text is viewed by the audience in the way that the producer intended.

The audience agree with the ideology and message behind the text.

The audience will view the message in the way the producer wanted them to.

Negotiated:

This is a compromise between the dominant and oppositional readings, the audience accepts the views of the producer but also has their own I put and understanding in relation to the text.

They do not agree or disagree, they however can see the point being made in relation to the reading yet they still have there own opinion.

Oppositional:

Is where the audience rejects the preferred meaning and creates their own reading of the texts.

The audience rejects the meaning fully as they do not agree with the message created for the audience.

How may an audience have a dominant understanding of your product?

-is there a clear message

-audience is the same age so it relates to the product

-from the same culture

-easy to understand narrative and they can relate to the narrative in some way

-relevant to society

-audience are choosing to consume the product, therefor it must have a reason to like it in the first place.

Negotiated reading of your product:

-the audience may not have had the same life experiences 

-may not understand the narrative in relation so therefore cannot relate in the intended way

-age may vary the reading and understanding 

-the audience may not understand all of the message making it unclear, therefor the dominant reading cannot to be understood.

Oppositional reading to your product:

-your product has controversial themes

-disagree with the messages in the video

-dislike the genre

-no understanding and/or cannot relate to the narrative structure 

-is not reflective of society

-different cultures have different understanding 

Genre Theory;

Daniel chandler (2001);

Argues that the word genre comes from the French (and originally Latin) word for 'kind' or 'class'. The term is wid,eg used in retoric literacy theory, media theory to refer to a distinctive type of text.

We are the first fully media literate generation.

Steve Beale (1995);

Suggest genres are process of system - ____- they are dynamic and evolve.

Nosseratu (1922)- 

Vampires masterpiece 

Jason mittell (2001); 

Argues that genres are cultural categories that surpass the boundaries of media texts and operate within industry,audience and cultural practices as well.

In short, industries use genre to sell products to audiences. ,edit producers use familiar codes and conventions that very often make cultural references to their audience knowledge of society, other texts.

Genre also allows audience to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance In order to fulfil a particular pleasure.

(Jay-Z 99 problems)

Genre changes, however we still understand it within the genre as an audience.

Strengths of genre theory:

The main strength of genre theory is that everybody uses it and understands it- media expert use it to study media texts, the media industry uses it to develop and market texts and audiences use it to decide what texts to consume.

The potential for the same concept to be understood by producers, audience and scholars makes genre a useful critical tool. It is accessibility as a concept also means that it can be applied across a wide range of texts.

Christian Metz (1974):

Argues that all genre goes through the typical cycle of changes during their lifetime:

-experimental stage: before the genre is established 

-classic stage: conventions are established 

-parody stage: taking the rules it's making fun of, even when using the genre conventions 

-deconstruction stage: goes beyond parody and reinvents itself.

Music videos- medium with many sub-genres/postmodern styles.

Music video is a medium intended to appeal directly not youth subcultures by reinforcing generic elements of musical generes.

They are called pop promos as they are used to promote a band or artist

Music videos are postmodern texts  whose main purpose is to promote a star person (Richard dyer 1975) 

They don't have to be literal representation of the sonf or lyrics.

Postmodern is the era we are living in now. 

In terms of genre are narrative and performance ; weezer, blink 182

Other themes which may fit around the lyrics of the song or society (particularly if the band are well known activists known for supporting the cause.)

This isn't medium known for being experimental and controversial 

The generic convention stay the the same but the style (looks)

Genre themes;

David borewell (1989) ' any theme may appear in any genre'

Some music videos have themes for a ,ore youthful audience such as:

-teen angst

-rebellion: conformity verses non-conformity.

-romance

-sex/ losing virginity

-nostalgia- for the innocence of youth

Nihilism- the belief that there is no future

-coming of age rituals (e.g the prom, falling in love, losing your virginity.)

Tribalism: popularity verses unpopularity, e.g cliques 

-bullying

Juvenile delinquency. Moral panics and the teenager as a folk devil.

The currency of 'cool'

Hedonism-living purely for pleasure 

Friendship

Other themes in music videos:

War 

Crime

Poverty

Capitalism

Racism

Genres are not fixed they constantly change and evolve over time- your coursework articles, as we have discussed are postmodern pieces.

David Buckingham (1993)-

Argues that genre is not simply given by the culture; rather it is in a constant process of negotiation and change.

As postmodern theorist Jacqueline Derrida reminds us. "The law of the law of genre.. Is precisely a principle of contamination , a law of impurity."

For example, short films and music videos are in the process of genre cross-over.

Some narrative videos borrow from the conventions of short films and in fact are short films.

Artic monkeys " scummy man"

" portisheads to kill a dead man is essentially a short film 

Noir (1940s detective movie.)

Narrative Theory;

Tim O'Sullivan et at (1998);

Tim argues that all media texts tell us some sort of story. ( through careful mediation, media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves – not usually our own personal stories, but the story of us as a culture or set of cultures.

Tim O'Sullivan et at once said that; 'Ideas about gender are produced and reflected within language' he also said that a stereotype is a label that involves a process of categorisation and evaluation. 

Narrative: The structure of a story.

• Diegesis: The fictional space and time implied by the 

narrative – the world in which the story takes place.

• Verisimilitude: Literally – the quality of appearing to 

be real or true. For a story to engage us it must 

appear to be real to us as we watch it (the diegetic

effect).
The story must therefore have verisimilitude -

following the rules of continuity, temporal and spacial

coherence.

Narrative is made up of story and plot;
Narrative theory sets out to show that what we experience when we ‘read’ a story is to understand a particular set of constructions, or conventions, and that it is important to be aware of how these constructions are put together.

(We must understand that narrative and story are different)

Bordwell and Thompson (1997)
offer two distinctions between story and plot which relate to the diegetic world of the narrative that the audience are positioned  to accept and that which the audience actually see. They based this on Russian film theory:

• Fabula (story) is all the events in the narrative that we see and infer. The fabula is defined as the chronological series of events that are represented or implied.• Syuzhet (plot) everything visible and audibly present before us. Syuzhet is considered to be the order, manner and techniques of their presentation in the narrative .

The Structure Of The Classic Narrative System;According to Pam Cook (1985), the standard Hollywood narrative structure should have:• Linearity of cause and effect within an overall trajectory of enigma resolution.• A high degree of narrative closure.• A fictional world that contains verisimilitude especially governed by spatial and temporal coherence.

Sven Carlson (1999) suggested that music videos in general videos fall into two rough categories: performance or conceptual clips.Performance contains filming from live performances.

Representation Theory;

Looking at Conventions of Music Videos

The grid above is a piece written  from within my lesson, it consists of different conventions of music videos.

Within the lesson we each looked at the different aspects of narrative and the various conventions we could see and believed to be important.

After the lesson I decided to do some extra research, into the various conventions of a music video.

Firstly I looked into the Cinematography

 In which all music videos cover  a wide range of cinematography usually mixed depending on the style of the music video. The uses of more close ups and different camera angles are normally seen in  abstract where as close ups, long shots, establishing shots are more conventional to narrative, and sometimes performance or a mix of two. 

When looking at narrative music videos it is often seen that close up shots are used when an artist is trying to create emotion within a song, it is normal to use a close up or an extreme close up of an artists mining and then showing their face close up can be to  represent  their  emotions to the audience.

There may be time where the artist isn't the one featured within the video, this usually means that artist has had an input within the video. However if the artist is featured within the video they will usually be the main person or main focus. 

In order to represent this the use of medium close ups with the artist placed in central frame is shown, often to establish the main focus with the audience. This then may lead into a tracking shot in order to ensure the audience is following the artist and keeping their focus is set on them.

Another key aspect of music video is the camera angles these are often used to show the audience who is powerful/dominant or maybe trying to show they're less powerful within a situation.

I know from watching music videos that Pop and Rap videos have a tendency to be energetic using lots of pans, tilts and ______ another aspect which is used is the upwards camera angle in which the artist is usually be  seen miming downwards to the camera this helps to establish their power and/or authority and position within the video. 

Next I looked into the Sound;

In terms of sound, music videos are greatly based on the music track, due to the fact that this is what the institution and artist are trying to promote/sell. 

When looking at music videos they usually range from narrative, performance or abstract.

When looking at narrative music videos the video will usually consist of a theme, it is likely that within a narrative such as some of  Michael Jackson's Music Videos such as "Thriller" and "Scream" are good examples of music videos which include digetetic sound. Narrative videos are longer than usual music videos and can include but include lots of speech and background noise that would not be heard usually over radio etc as they edit them down just to the song.

Next I looked into the Mise-En-Scene

In terms of Mise-en-scene it is one of the most important aspects to a  music videos, however this will vary dependent on the genre etc. 

Mise-en-scene is key due to the factor that these can have a massive influence upon their target audience, various Iconic styles for pop stars can be made through their videos though, which means its important to get it right and make and portray the right image however this will not always be positive. 

There are various artists such as Rihanna and Lady GaGa which have been known to create music videos that have been slightly controversial and have shocked the audience, typically through the Mise-en-scene used (usually slightly or greatly provocative). 

Despite many points of view from the audience being disapproving the audience will still be watching and listening to the song and usually sharing the song commenting with their points of view, however despite some being negative attention the streaming and downloads etc still go up, still causing the artist to be gaining money.

Things which are included within mise-en-scene are things such as location, costume and colours within videos there is usually a reoccurring theme which be shown in the locations, costume and colours videos such as "Thriller" is a horror based narrative and the use of the graveyard location added with the zombie costumes and dark grey, reds and black colour schemes, which helps for the audience to establish the theme and narrative from the start.