The student group chose to create a music video for their advanced media studies portfolio. They used their own band and an original song. Their research showed that rock music videos typically have fast editing paced to the music, focus on performances, use casual clothing and equipment as props. Their video opened with an introduction and used various shots of the band's performance mixed with behind the scenes footage. They also created promotional materials including a Digipak and magazine ad following conventions of rock album design. Audience feedback was positive and found the video fit the genre and brief.

1. A2 Media Studies - Advanced PortfolioFor our Media Studies coursework, we could choose one of the following forour advanced portfolio:Music video

2. Soap opera

3. Film trailerMy group chose to make a music video. This task also consisted of making and producinga video, designing a Digipak CD cover, and making an advertisement poster which couldfeature in as a magazine spread.It made sense to us , to use our own band to base this project on Undershot. We then Had to record and produce a title track for the video which is a rock/indie track called Jarhead. We were set a task to create a music video that would be entertaining and capture the audience’s attention, before we could consider any filming any footage , we had to consider a variety of different aspects that go into creating a successful media product that answers the brief we were initially given.

4. Planning The Project...We were set a task to create a music video that would be entertaining and capture the audience’s attention, before we could consider any filming any footage , we had to consider a variety of different aspects that go into creating a successful media product that answers the brief we were initially given. We firstly considered the style of music we wanted to create a video for as the genre of music would greatly affect the mise en scene and general style of the video. With me and my group member being in a rock band we decided the logical thing would be too use one of our own pre recorded tracks.We needed to research pre existing rock music videos in the media now. We decided too look on “You Tube”, on this website we researched bands of a similar genre to our music and carefully noted the pace, editing, mise en scene and shots of this style of video. We researched rock/metal band “The Blackout” and “Enter Shikari” as well as other bands of this genre , our findings where that the videos directed by these bands where very fast paced in editing , this matches up with the overall quick tempo of the songs.We also found that the mise en scene in these style of videos stereotypically include clothing which is casual (jeans and t-shirts) in generally dark muted tones as this reflects slightly anarchistic, laid back style of music, mise en scene within this genre of music also stereotypically includes equipment such as guitars, drums, amps, microphones and an urban low budget location. We also noted the type of shots with in these videos, we noticed that a long shot was often a recurring opening shot, we realised that this was an important aspect to the creation of a successful music video as it introduces the band and their image and brand to the audience.

5. Target Audience...From looking at our initial research we also concluded that creating a band over all image that the audience would commonly associate with us, a band image helps the audience categorise our genre and identify with us as a band.This research also revealed we needed to access who our target audience where as this will make it easier to create a video as we where then able to include things that would appear to our target audience, we then decided our target audience where people who have a genuine interest in rock/indie genre music. Through this research, it gave use the idea of a more serious approach to making our music video, based mostly around the music and performance. From this, we decided to make a performance video.

6. Our Music...For the audio track we used in the video, we decided to use our own track recording that me and Joseph both performed in and produced using a professional recording studio. As it is our band in the music video, we decided to use our own music, which meant that we had to produce a song to use for the music video and create a video that would fit the genre and style of our music. We used Logic Pro Studio 8 software on an Apple Mac Pro. We wanted to keep our coursework as original as possible and we wanted to make it realistic which I think we succeeded in doing as it is a real band creating a real music video for their own product.

7. Our Music Video...The music video we created opens with the title of the song and artist name typing across the scene, this opening introduced the band to the audience.At the start of the music video a monochrome filter has been used over shots of the bands equipment being set up with in a studio , this is where we recorded the title track. We then used a greyscale filter to show behind the scenes style shots with in the video. This gives the video an over all indie genre which is what we wanted to create from looking at our research. The song opens with an extreme close up of the kick pedal of the drum kit in order to emphasise the beat of the song and set he pace of the video.We then use an establishing shot in order to set the location of performance and to introduce the band as a whole to the audience, this helps them identify with the style of band we are.

8. Our Music Video Continued...To show the performance from different perspectives to give the audience a more personal feel and allow them to connect with the band. To achieve this we used various shots.This included extreme close up shots of the drum kit, the bass guitar, and the electric guitar. These are in order to emphasize the performance in a more ‘up-close’ way and too show the audience how the music is played for example the hand plucking the bass strings.We also included various mid body shots, E.g. Owen playing the drums, this introduces each member playing their own instrument to the audience.The over all style we wanted to achieve for this video is a raw edgy indie as this would emphasise the music more than an over complicated music video. This is the stereotypical style of video a band not belonging to a major record company would use, as we found in our research task.

9. Music Video Continued...Shots that we repeated through out the video, such a the mid body shots, long shots and close ups and extreme close ups are necessary in this style of video as it is only a performance narrative, a variety of shots means the editing can be fast paced from shot to shot , this style of editing keeps the audience engaged. Switching form the “documentary style” extreme close ups in gray scale e.g. Joe turning dials on the amp also adds to the fast paced editing which deviates from the classical narrative structure as the audience gets to see an insight into how the band set up for the performance.Documentary style close ups where used here to keep the audience a further look at the band playing their instruments.

10. Music Video More...To introduce us to the audience as a band we decided to use long shots that would include all four members from head to toe, this not only introduces us but also creates an over all brand and helps the audience to indentify with the style of the band based on how we dress . We filmed footage from both left and right angles therefore we could quickly edited from one angle to the other too keep the audience engaged thanks to the variation of the shots which are slightly more varied than just a single mid long shot straight in front of the band. These different angled shots and fast paced editing are use throughout the video as this creates a relationship between the audience and the band and keeps their attention fixed on the video with out being boring .

11. Editing...We decided to keep the audience engaged in the video by making the editing in the video very fast paced and on the beat of the song, this is also something we found occurs in most music videos from our research.(See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz9rhSmXixM )We edited the video to have shot changes on the beat of the song, which make the video run smoothly. We did this because this is a typical technique used in most music videos. (See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz9rhSmXixM )Mise En Scene...We found in our research that mise en scene is a fundamental part of the music video as it establishes the genre of the music video. With in our video we decided too look at our research and found that the stereotypical rock video focused on the bands instruments, so we had the main mise en scene of our video as our amps, guitars, drums and effects pedals.

12. DigipakTo go with our video we had to create a Digipak which consisted of a CD booklet which had to be a minimum of 4 sides. Also we had to create a magazine advert for the album. From look at the initial research we did into CD booklet designs we found that typical conventions of a rock bands album art work where :Dark colour pallet

13. Bold type face for bands name

14. Pictures of the band