1. Stages of creation for ancillary tasks
At first I researched a load of differentgenres for the project, this was
basically a way of lookingfor a song and a style that I would be happy
to work on and where I could create a musicvideo that fit correctly.
All areas of the projectwhere as important as each other such as
research, planningand construction.
Simple breakdown of each area.
Research – lookinginto differentgenres and what artists and songs
where in each. Looked at a differentmusicvideosrelating to different
artists in rock, pop, jazz, r&b, folk, classic and alternative. The next
element to look at was the typesof styles and production that was
being used in differenttypesof videos, I needed to makesure that I
was decidingon a video where I had a good understandingof what
the story was and what the lyrics where based on because it is
importantthat I know the storylinenot just because I need to explain
my understandingof itin the planningand evaluation sections of the
project but it shapes my video in terms of what I believe the song is
on about and is saying, as I am listening to a song but in my case and
for my song that I choose in the end they did not have an official
video for that songso I really did have to think very creatively in
terms of how I was going to show the lyrics though the video content
and how I was going to mix the lip-syncingwith general storytelling.
The research also included lookingat album digipaksand adverts
and I looked at many differenttypesthat gave me a broad
perspectiveof differentmusicstyles. Some of which I posted on my
blog like Coldplay and snow patrolthese obviously are similar types
of artists because I did this task after I had pretty muchdecided on
what type of music I was going for after I received and analyzed my
audienceresearch and survey responses.
Planning– the planningstage was the section where I started to
develop my ideasand started to look into the genre that I had chosen
in the audienceresearch and starting to look into my chosen song
and develop ideasbased on the style and rhythm of the musicas well
as the lyrics and what it is saying and the way it is sayingit. The
planningfor the ancillary tasks mainly focused on the designing
elements of the way it was going to look, for this I needed obviously a
good understandinginto the style and makeup of the band in order to
2. make surethat there is some connection between the image of the
advertand the CD cover and the song and artists appearance. But
also a good set of designs that fit with my audiencetheme and
research but also have a certain level of continuity so that the
digipak, advertand music video have the same brand identity and
have the same message. The way that the advertand digipak where
designed was in a wasthat give the music video meaningand in a
way that added to the whole emphasis of the video, in other words
the advertand the digipak where an extension storyline of the song.
Using shots did this and scenes that appeared in the musicvideo to
then enhance or change slightly to shape the concept of the ancillary
projects. In terms of the digipak, I used multipledark scenes so
reflect the idea of darknessand lonenessin that person’slife, which
is present in the video, I also used the same colors such as the blue
water effect and the street lighting and white spot lights all as a way
of connection to the video so that they is a relationship between all of
them. In the advertI used a main image in order to capturethe
audiencesattention within the pictureit shows the two main
characters looking at each other, this shot could show what they
where like before the issue that separated them or after that could
possibly show the disaffection with each other, but I have left the
image open to opinion. The main area of the advertis is white and
black, and this has been used as a way of showing that they has been
no gray in his life that oneday it changed forever, it also shows a link
to the meaningof the song that they is always happinessand sadness
in life and that good times and bad can exist in the same place at
similar times and that something is alwaysround the corner and that
your life can be changed instantly by your actions or the actions of
someoneelse.
Construction-involved getting on set and shooting/ taking images
relating to the planned ideas. The construction of the ancillary texts
was a completely separate event from the musicvideo shoot as I
decided that I would producebetter quality images and productsif I
had a separate shoot because it would giveme moretime and better
planningopportunitiesto really think and design the perfect places
to capture. This provided challenges in relation to costumeand
lighting, as it would bedifferentto the shots in the video. Costume
ended up lookinggood as jack the main character worevery similar
clothes to the video with a very similar color jacket witch was dark
blue and the style of the jacket was something that the main singer
often is seen in. the lighting effects used where the same as in there
3. reflective locations in the musicvideo but static white light had to be
added to show the character in a little bit more detail.
Run-throughof creation
- Looked at my chosen genre and artists and researched about
the way they look and what kindsof songs that they have
produced.
- Researched my chosen genre (alternative rock) and picked out
some characteristics that really definethat style in order to
relate that to describing songs in this genre as well as for the
use in my own video.
- Researched magazine frontcovers and digipak advertsand cds
from the band I was focused on as well as other artists related
to my chosen genre
- Designed the ancillary texts on the basis of the researched I had
doneinto the band keane and the primary and secondary
information I had gathered on my audience. Linking that to
possible places and content I could includein the video
- Looking onlineat a whole rangeof medialinking to my genre,
such as performancesmusicvideos, images of bands,
interviews, band blogs and pages all to get more info about the
style and the possible looks.
- Took a range of differentpicturesin key areas for both projects
as I was unsurewhich shot worked best. The locations included
the bedroom window scenewith the sunlight, the poolscene.
The street scene, the field scene in each scene I tried to keep
the action as close to the musicvideo as possible as not to
confusethe audienceby showing a possibly differentmeaning
by the useof differentactions.
- Changing and editingwith the useof effects to enhancecertain
shots to make then look older and moreinline with the age of
the song and to reflect what is going on.
