Sam Barnes A2 blog

What I plan on doing
• What I am going to do, is film a music video. I need to
have a think about what style of video I want to create,
so this could involve, if the video is going to have a
story behind it, or if I‘m just going to film a band play
etc. Firstly, I’m going to have a look at what song I’m
going to choose, and from there, I can see what
components I need to add to make this video. This
includes what the characters are going to wear, what
kind of attitude they are going to have ect.

Choosing the song
• I’ve been having a think, to see what song I
would like to choose for my video. I had a
think and the final three songs I am going to
choose from are;

Shoot The Runner – By Kasabian
Pumped Up Kicks – By Foster The People
Chew Your Tongue – By Control

Final Decision
• I came to the conclusion of choosing the song;
Balloons – By Foals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHcOFmiswcQ
• I chose this song because its an one of my favourite
bands, I also like how its is upbeat, and I’m sure and
can incorporate something to signify this

Research
• Also to help me get ideas for what I should do, I have been looking at
different types of music video’s; this is to get an inspiration in what I want
to do. I’ve looked at a few videos, this includes;
Darling Buds Of May –By Viva Brother
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXQOfXkLY_s
The genre to this song is alternative/
British guitar. I like this video because it
shows the band performing
on top of a roof, this links with the
mise en scene, stating that they are
going up in the world, being different
from how they started off in their roots,
and on the other shots shows them being
themselves insinuating they are
just normal people like everyone
else.

Research
• The next song I chose to research was;
All Of The Lights – By Kanye West
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
HAfFfqiYLp0
This is a completely different genre
song to the last, for this song, the genre is
R&B, mixed with a bit of rap, this is to get a
different perspective for which route
I can go for producing the music
video. For this video, It has a mixture
of the artists performing, and a
narrative following along side of the
lyrics. Also the mise en scene for this
video, is based on the name of the song
‘All Of The Lights’ so this includes
excessive use of lighting. I like how the
video is dramatically dark, which links
with the lyrics which gives the persona that
bad things happen in the dark. It would be
good to include a lot of lighting in my video

Research
• The third song I chose to research was;
Up All Night – By Blink-182
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpYhGdrknlA
This is also a different genre. The genre
for this song is America pop/punk rock.
In this video, its mainly shot in a house to
give that crazy/ ‘wacky’ house party feeling.
Giving them the freedom to do what they
want without being told what and what not
to do. Giving that rebellious punk side to
the song. I like the enclosure of the house
giving the persona that anything could be
happening in peoples houses without
others around knowing. I like the idea of the
house and might take that into consideration
when choosing some parts of the music video.

First Idea
• I have had three ideas in which to choose for my music video. My first idea was
getting the band to perform live, and record that from different angles and shots,
then overdub the song on the Mac, making sure that it is all in sync, so there are
no miss read lip syncs, cymbal crashes at the wrong time ect. The only problem
with that would be, I would want to film the band playing in front of a live
audience and getting the band from different angles, I would have to use more
then one camera and then cut and change different parts so that they all join
together. The other way of doing it is if I used one camera, I would have to stop
and start the band performing, to make sure it is all in time with the song. This
would be a difficult idea to choose from because of getting the audience
together, and also, if the band had to keep stopping and starting during the song,
I don’t think the audience would be too impressed, this would also cause
difficultly because if I got an audience together, it would be wasting their time a
lot of the time, and it would be harder to make sure everyone is doing their job
properly. A bad point of using lots of people is that it would be harder to control
and organize, and also everyone would have to be perfect, otherwise I’d have to
take a different take. So I probably wont use this idea, but I could use it as a
back up plan.

Second Idea
• My second idea was again keeping the band performing but
this time, I would just use them performing in a place such as
a rehearsal studio so it’s only the band I would be using, and
wouldn’t have to get lots of people involved. This is quiet a
possible idea for me to use. I would use just one camera and
then keep stopping and starting the band making sure it is in
sync with the song. I would also just film the band doing
ordinary stuff like ‘messing’ around and being like normal
people, and then include some of that footage into the video,
just like how Viva Brother did for their video. This would be
good to do, but I’d prefer to make a video that has a bit more
thought behind it. So something that makes the audience
think about how the video can be seen, from different points
of perspective.

Third Idea
• For my third idea, I was thinking about how I could consider the house idea
from the Blink-182 song. So I came up with the idea where it has a character
who’s not in the band, doing ordinary things around the house such as
cooking, cleaning etc, but with a pair of wireless headphones on. And then
whilst the character is around the house, in different parts of the house it has
members of the band playing their instruments around them, but without the
character realizing/ not taking any notice that they are there, and because
they are going to wear headphones, its like the band it performing for him. I
like this persona for the video because you could have the character walking
into the bathroom and you will see the singer singing to them from the
shower, the bassist playing bass in the bath, and the drummer with his drum
kit just set up playing in the bathroom. Then once the character comes out
the bathroom, the guitarist just comes out another room and follows them a
step behind them. And this could be developed throughout the rest of the
house. So the band are constantly moving around the character, and he isn’t
taking and notice of them.

My Idea Decision
• I had to come to a conclusion in which Idea I
am going to use for my music video. I come to
the decision that I want to use my ‘Third Idea’
this is the idea based around in a house with the
band performing and walking around the main
character, following him around. Now I am
going to start taking picture of the house I am
going to set the music video in.

Change of Plan
• I was going to use the third idea, but when
I started filming it, it was next to impossible to
get the timing with the music to sync in the
the characters in the video, so I came up with
the idea to just film a band in one of their
practice sessions, and cut different clips to
make a music video, I also want the video
correspond the 'upbeatness' to it, so I'm going
to include a sped up part to the video.

Pictures
These are the pictures that were took of the band, to indicate which type of styled
clothes they are going to be wearing in the video.

Preparing the Filming
Now I know which I am going to use, and who I am going to use, I can begin starting
to film the music video. I will use the tri-pod at some points, but I will also film by
free hand. I thought I would film the band playing from 3 different tri-pod locations
and then take footage from each to apply to the video, also the free handed parts
were added in between to break it up and not to make it look like the same through
out the whole video.

Editing the video
I filmed all the footage I need to produce this music video, now I am going to
organize it in an complete order, then I will put the music along side it. After that, I
am going to decide whether which transitions, I am going to use to continue one shot
into another.

Transitions
I thought because it is a music video just of the band performing, I
presumed a ‘cut’ would be most affective throughout the video, I did also
add a ‘fade in’ to show diversity and that I do know how to edit a film and
using different transitions.

Effects
So now the video is made, now I am going to add affects to it. During the chorus of
the song, I want to make the picture have an effect to make it look like its cartoon,
this is the emphasize the chorus. Also, each shot I am going to change the colour of
the overlay, to make it stand out and make it look more appealing for the audience.

More effects
In the breakdown of the song (the big build up in the song near the end) I filmed
being in the cab on the journey home looking at the road. And thought on this part
of the song, I would include that. But linking back to me trying to emphasize the
upbeat tempo in the song, I sped up the footage in the car. This is also indicates that
the band are going places, eg. Becoming more known, so that’s why I included it, I
thought it was a good touch. I also timed it right that you see the band exiting the cab
and going towards a door, and when they opened the door, it kicks back into the
chorus with the various coloured animated affect again. This makes it look as if the
bands music is out of the ordinary, indicating that they are not like other bands,
hence turning into cartoon form.

Complete video
This is the complete video,

Ancillary task
In the Ancillary task, I am going to create an album cover (featuring the back
and inside booklet) and I am also going to produce a magazine page to relate
to the album as if it is going to be released. This may include a small
interview with the band, photos, prizes? First I am going to look at album
covers and then analyse them to see if I can find the conventions of them to
help me create my album cover.

This is the first album cover I am going to be analysing.
This CD cover is ‘Total Life Forever – By Foals’ it
represents the members of the band as if they
are swimming around the sea, shown by their
body language and the presentation of the blue
background insinuates they are in the sea.
This could be referencing to their music,
because this album is the second album, and its
quite different to their first, this album
represents their music in this album is going to
take you on a journey, because the sea is huge and you don’t know where you are
going, just like their music, it takes unexpected changes leaving the listener wanting to
hear more. Or you could see the other side of it, by where it has the light on the top
right hand side of the picture, this could be representing that they are leading the
listeners to the light, the way they think music should be. I like how the words are
bold and stand out on the light background, this makes the writing the same priority
as the picture. So when you first look at it, you see both points proposed together, so
you see more of the cover opposed or normal CD covers.

This is the second album cover.
This is the cover to the band to the band
‘Bombay Bicycle Club’ and there album ‘A
Different Kind of Fix’ . Now this has two different ,
this what I thought. Firstly, how the imagery has
been shown , you have two silhouettes on the cover
and has collages of other pictures, to symbolize the
brains, air ways, and mouth. This shows that people
are thinking different thoughts, gaining different
ideas, allowing them to share them with others.
Therefore developing new ideas. Meaning this how
people will evolve . So Bombay Bicycle Club are have
used this concept to how they create song. Meaning is well as evolving, making
people improve, they are teaching others from their music, trying to be a role-
model styled band. Now the other idea could be relating to curing others, this
links with the name of the album ‘A Different Kind of Fix’ could be meaning
helping others. I like how the text is presented on the cover, it stands out clearly
on a dark background.

This is the third and final album that I will be
analysing. This album cover is ‘Baby Darling Doll
Face Honey – By Band Of Skulls’. This is an artwork
cover apposed to featuring the band on the
front cover. I like how the image is symmetrical.
It looks like it has been painted, the main focal
point of the cover is the middle, it looks like a
flower, which has contrasted colours around it
to emphasis it. This could be symbolic by how
it shows something's new/ up and coming,
(since this is their first album) I like all the colours shown, this
could be linking back to all their influences, because this band have
quite a wide range of influences.

Questionnaire For Album Cover
• Taking into consideration the conventions of an Album Cover, I am going to
come up with a questionnaire for others to complete. Based on their
answers, is how I am going to come up with the planning for my Album
Cover. I have a rough idea of how I am going to set it out, but the questions
are going to be like, what colour scheme they think the album should be, do
they reckon the album should feature the band/artist or someone not
involved with the band, should it be a picture/artwork instead of having the
featured band etc.

This is my questionnaire which
I gave out to thirty students so they
could complete and give them back~
to me. Based on their results, is
how I am going start planning my
Album Cover.

Questionnaire results

Based on their results, I tallied
it up and got these results. These
were the predominant results
that I gathered.

Planning The Album Cover
Taking the results from the questionnaire, I am going to start planning the
rough outlines for what my album is going to look like. Now I am going to
start planning the Album Cover, so the conventional features I need to add
are, Band/Artist name, name of the Album, on the back page, It needs; a
barcode, Track list, where and when the album was produced and who
produced it. This is what I’ve got so far.

The Front Cover
• This is the planning for the
front cover for my Album,
I’m going to make the whole
page itself a picture, then
overlapping it with a big, bold
title, of the band and the
name of the album. This is
going to be bold, so it stands
out over the top of the picture,
and is probably the main
focal point when you first look at the
cover.

The Back Cover
• Same again with the back of
the cover, I am going to have
the whole background a
picture, then followed by all
the over lapping writing, for
instance on the left hand side
of the cover is going to be the
track list for the album,
underneath that is going to be
the barcode, on besides that
is going to where the album
was produced, and who by
etc.

The Inside Booklet with lyrics
• This is the inside cover for
the album cover, its going to have
a picture/artwork for the main
focus of the page itself, then
overlapping it will be the lyrics on
the left hand side of the page,
followed by the thanks to the
producers and fans on the top
right of the cover, and on the
bottom right of the page will be
the information about the band
itself, for instance who the
members are, and what they play
etc.

Creating the front cover
• I finished planning the front cover, now I am going to start creating it. So
first I need am image I can put on the front cover. I looked at some of Foals
artwork and thought it would be good to see if I can draw something along
those line of these images. Something out of the ordinary, quite random.

What I came up with
• This is what I drew, I wanted something colourful which I then scanned in
onto the computer. I like how this picture doesn’t really have a meaning,
making it more random, linking back to the Foals artwork

Manipulation
• Now I’ve created the picture, I need to go onto photo-shop and take away all
the lines, this was my fault though, I should have just drawn it on plain
paper. I used the Clone Stamp tool to take away all the lines.

Outcome
• This is what the image looks like after I took out all the lines and cropped it
down so that it will be an album cover size. Now I am going to add a filter
onto this, to make it look more like the Foals artwork. Also on this image I
slightly changed the brightness and contrast to make it look a bit
clearer then being quite bright how it used to be.

Applying Filters
• To try and get it looking wackier, I am going to add filters to the image, firstly I am
going to use the filter called ‘Cut out’ this what it looks like;
I do like this, I like how the boldness is emphasized, and gives it more of a 3D
affect. I might consider using this I’ll see what other filters there are.

Different Filter Used
• This is the same filter ‘Cut Out’ but this time I added the
filter glowing edges. This changes the image into negative
almost, then makes the coloured lines bolder, which I think
gives it almost an abstract feel to the image because you
can vaguely see what the images are, but some parts
makes you uncertain about what it actually is.

Choosing the font
• Now I have the image I am going to use as the album
cover, I need to decide on which type of font I want to
use. I went on to Publisher and started looking for
fonts, I came across the font Lucida Sans Which I like, I
like how it looks bold and just straight forward writing,
instead of being fancy.

Adding the font
• This is what the cover looks like with the name of the Band
and album on it. I thought I’d put the album cover inside the
hot air balloon, because it links with the name of the album. I
was thinking about having the writing straight, but it did not
look as good, so I made it so that
the writing is wrapping around
the balloon, I like it like this also
being somewhere else on the
cover opposed to being right next
to the name of the band, which is
normally expected.

Finished Result
I added the two white lines either side of the
name of the band, to
make it stand out
better. I prefer it like
this, its like the name
is cut off from the
rest of the album.

Back Of The Album Cover
• I took some pictures a while ago of the band
to show how they would look in the music
video, I liked them photos so I am going to
choose from them to make as back cover,
that’s going to have the song names written
over the top of it. This
is the picture I’m going
to use.

Adding the track list
When I was adding the track list, I image I chose couldn’t have the
tracks going down on the left hand side of the image, It would cover
a member of the band, so I changed it up a little bit, so that its now
at the top of the image therefore it doesn’t overlap any of the band.
I kept the same font as shown on the front cover. Also kept it white
so it was contrast against the darker background.
1. Drifting 2.Transparent 3. Bloom 4. Balloons 5. Sold Out Life 6. Through These Eyes
7. Sorrow 8. Amongst Shadows 9. Echoless Mind

Adding the Conventions
In the bottom right hand
corner, I added a barcode,
this is a typical convention
for an album cover, also
this makes it look more
professional, now I need
to add at the bottom
when and where it was
produced, also who
produced it, I might
include a copyright
symbol also.

Production of the album

On the bottom left of the cover
I added the production of the
album, I also included a Copyright
symbol on it, to make it look more
professional.

Finished Result
• This is what the back of the 1. Drifting 2.Transparent 3. Bloom 4. Balloons 5. Sold Out Life 6. Through These Eyes

album cover looks like
finished. I like how it
represents the band
performing. Personally I
think it looks really
professional, and I reckon it
will look good along side the
front cover and the inside
booklet.
Produced By Sam Barnes and the team at Banana Road Studio in 2012. ©

Inside Booklet
First, I started off by creating a black
background, then I started adding
photos of the members in the band,
on individual photos. So this is a slight
change from the original idea instead
of being one big image, it has five
small ones. Next I am going to get all
the lyrics to the song Balloons- By
Foals, therefore if you bought the
album then you could have a look at
the lyrics inside allowing you to sing
along to the song.

Putting the Lyrics in
There's a thing called
There's this thing called

I positioned the lyrics
We fly balloons on this fuel called
We fly balloons on this fuel called love
What's a chkcha?
What's a fuel called?
Fair weather storms are in your hand

on the left hand side of

We fly balloons on a fuel called love
We fly balloons on a fuel coalled love
We fly balloons on a fuel called

the page, this is to fill There is a thing called
There is a thing called

out the page a bit more,

and also this allows the We fly balloons on this fuel called love

audience to know what We fly balloons on this fuel called

the lyrics are.

Bio and other information

• On this slide, I added
What's a chkcha?
What's a fuel called?

information about the band, a Fair weather storms are in your hand


small bio on the bottom left We fly balloons on a fuel called love
Joe Timm—Vocals

which is followed by where the There is a thing called
Dan Curzon—Lead Guitar
Jed Selby—Bass guitar
George Wood—Synth
There is a thing called Sam Barnes—Drums
band say thanks too their fan There is a thing called

and producer, and anyone else We fly balloons on this fuel called love

involved in the production of We fly balloons on this fuel called

the album. Also in the middle We fly balloons on this fuel called love

of the page, I added the
Sdsgkfsdjg ksgskdghjhsd sdh eusd gfsdu wer ieh sdfisgd sidg
sidisgdhs gis ighs dgiwethewt8yfudjjz asufgas fjh gjh f djghs d
ajsgf afiuyfushe uyre duhf djfhsufaishdf woeir fdoishd fugs
asgfwdrscabnabsloivmsbyrgs vsvdysi ie e hu fdu efiuh sduh
duf fdudufh ua fuhasf aush egfcscpso vpiui ejh dfjgas reurtq
asd jf ausf vovnxcmxjsdlsd pepir wrour slake jekje elic csoei

members of the band and
we

which part they are of the
band.

Final result for the album cover
What's a chkcha?

Front What's a fuel called?

Inside
We fly balloons on a fuel called love Joe Timm—Vocals
Dan Curzon—Lead Guitar
There is a thing called Jed Selby—Bass guitar
There is a thing called George Wood—Synth
Sam Barnes—Drums


Sdsgkfsdjg ksgskdghjhsd sdh eusd gfsdu wer ieh sdfisgd sidg sidisgdhs gis ighs
dgiwethewt8yfudjjz asufgas fjh gjh f djghs d ajsgf afiuyfushe uyre duhf djfhsufaishdf
woeir fdoishd fugs asgfwdrscabnabsloivmsbyrgs vsvdysi ie e hu fdu efiuh sduh duf
fdudufh ua fuhasf aush egfcscpso vpiui ejh dfjgas reurtq asd jf ausf vovnxcmxjsdlsd
pepir wrour slake jekje elic csoei we

1. Drifting 2.Transparent 3. Bloom 4. Balloons 5. Sold Out Life 6. Through These Eyes

Back

Produced By Sam Barnes and the team at Banana Road Studio in 2012. ©

Magazine Advertisement
• Now I have created the album cover, its time
to advertise it, for this I am going to create a
magazine advertisement page for the album
itself, First I am going to start by planning
what needs to be placed onto it. For instance
where everything will be positioned and what
will be included on it.

Magazine Advertisement Planning
I quickly sketched out an idea for
how the magazine
advertisement should be. I
included who the band are, a
picture of the band, a picture of
the album, and to conclude it
with a competition including
different type of prizes including
the band. I thought it would be
better to keep the black
background and same font which
I used for the album cover, this is
so it is easier to recognize if you
see it, and also there no point of
having two completely different
ideas, it could confuse the
audience, because if they see it a
different font, they wont know
what the bands actual logo is.

Starting To Make The Advertisement
This is the start of the magazine
advertisement, I wanted the
band name to be at the top of
the page in bold, so it will be
pretty much the first thing you
see when you look at it. I added
underneath the writing ‘New
Album.. Out Now!’ which is
right next to it, so therefore the
audience with probably see that
next, this way, they know when
it is available to purchase.

Adding the album cover
Now I added the album cover.
I thought Id position it where I
did, because its nice and bold
in the middle of the page,
really colourful, which means
it should be really hard for the
audience to miss it. This
should now make the
audience see it and think, ‘this
is interesting, I’ll have a look
into these’

Picture Of The Band
• I want to include a picture
of the band onto the page,
this is so the audience
know who they are even if
they have never seen
them before. I added a
filter to it on photo-shop
to give it a bit more of an
effect and make
everything more Three
dimensional.

Adding the Picture to the page
• I added it to the bottom
of the page, this is to fill
the page, you don’t want
the page to be full of
writing, the audience
would get bored.
Although, I have left
enough space for there to
be a competition on the
bottom left side of the
page.

Competition
I thought I would add a
competition to the advertisement,
the competition consists of, ten
signed albums for ten lucky
winners. Which I think is a good
idea because if someone doesn’t
know who the band are, they see
there is a competition available,
they might consider joining, to see
what the band are like. And also
the main prizes is two back stage
passes to a FOALS gig in New York,
with flights and accommodation in
a 5 star hotel and £2000 people
spending money.

Evaluation
1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media product.

In my media product I used conventions throughout, for instance
with the music video, I got the performers to dress similarly, making
sure all their clothes are from the same genre, it wouldn’t look as
good if they all dressed completely different. Also following this, on
the album cover, I went along using conventions still by making sure
it had either an album artwork, or pictures of the band. I used the
album artwork. I also added the Title of the album and the name of
the band itself. on the inside booklet I have lyrics of the song, this
allows the audience to memorize the lyrics and sing along, this is
also conventional because famous bands actually do this, which is a
good touch to keep their fan base happy.

2) How effective is the combination of your main product
and ancillary task?
I think they are really affective, I created the music video,
which I think looks quite professional where the
characters turn into cartoon, not really a common thing to
do in music videos, and it can also be used as
advertisement, to signify they have a new album coming
out and this is main song off of the album. I like how the
album cover looks by using all that colour, I think it looks
more appealing to catching the audiences attention, this is
by being out of the ordinary, not a typical album cover,
making it more memorable for the audience to keep in
mind. Because if the audience saw it, they should be
drawn in by all the jagged shapes and colours. So, I think
the combination of the main product and the ancillary
task are affective because I think it draws the viewers in,
by making them want to know what else the band do.

3) What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
I have learnt that the audience like to be conventional,
this is from them liking the fact the real magazines/
albums covers are bold, stand out and contrasting,
either by colour of objects. So I took their feedback to
create my products. There were some parts of the
feedback I used and thought would be really affective.
For instance, for the production of the album cover, I
asked what should be in the inside booklet on the
album cover, and the most common answer was
information about the band, which was affective,
allowing the audience to find out more information
about the band, but I went one above that and added
the lyrics to the cover, this is so the audience can read
through it, memorize the lyrics if they like the song and
be allowed to actually sing along with it if they wanted.

4) How did you use new media technologies in the
construction and research, planning and evaluation
stages?

In the construction of the research, planning and
evaluation stages, I used technologies such as the Mac,
to create the music video, to research the album covers
and music videos I used the internet. And I done all my
planning on the programs that I used, Such as
Microsoft Publisher, and Microsoft Powerpoint. When I
was using the Mac it was hard to get used to at first
because I have never used it before. It took a while to
link the camera up with the computer and upload the
data onto the Mac, but once I got the hang of it, the
rest was smooth sailing. In the evaluation I just used
Powerpoint to create it, I was going to use a camera
and film myself talking it, but I thought the Powerpoint
would be more effective and might be easier to
understand.

Sam Barnes A2 blog

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