Evaluation Writing- Josh Iggulden

There are some general conventions that need to be considered when making a music video. The video should involve a fair amount of lip synching by the artist to show them singing the song. It can also be quite abstract, with different camera angles as well. The video needs to promote the singer and show lots of close ups of them so the audience can see what they look like. In a lot of videos the singer is looking very glamorous and wears expensive clothes to make them seem rich and powerful. The video also needs to sell the song and be relevant to it, and also keep the viewers interest at the same time. These were all conventions for us to consider for our music video.
Our video is quite ‘non conformist’ and challenges the typical forms and conventions of a normal hip hop video, more than it uses them. There are instances where the forms are used, such as the hoodies and tracksuits we wear. This is a typical convention of a hip hop music video and something that you see in most videos in that genre. There are lots of instances where we challenge the typical conventions, such as the locations we used. We used various locations, most of them outdoors, to vary the different shots we took. All of these locations are different to the usual party and club scenes that you would be used to seeing in a hip hop video, such as J-Kwon’s ‘Tipsy’, which we have included in our audio commentary. We also filmed a live performance scene. You sometimes see this in hip hop videos, but they will be wearing tracksuits and hoodies. For example, Eminem has a live performance scene in the videos for ‘Lose Yourself’ and ‘Business’. This is the same as our performance scenes but he sticks to the hip hop conventions and wears a hoody and tracksuit bottoms. We wore suits to make it look a bit retro and go against the usual forms and conventions once again.
Along with the music video we created two ancillary products: the magazine advert and the digipack cover. I think these look really good and the combination of the three together works really well. There are lots of ways we linked the three together. One is the colour scheme of black and pink. This is used for the title at the start of the music video, with the black background and pink text. It is also used on the magazine advert and the digipack cover, which is black with most of the text in pink.
We also used the glasses as one of our main motif. In a lot of the shots for our video we are wearing glasses. We also have the image of the pink glasses on the front of the digipack. This instantly enables our audience to recognise what group it is. Another way that we link the products is the locations that we used to film our video.
Most of these locations have also been used to take the images that were used for the collages inside our digipack. This is another use of a motif that the audience can use to recognise us. Another motif is the wall with the words ‘safe bloofs’ on. This almost became a motto for our group as the location is good and we got some good shots for the video and images for the digipack cover. We also have the ‘iglu & hartly’ logo to link the magazine advert and digipack cover as the same logo has been used on each product, with the same colours as well. This would make it easier for anyone wanting to find the digipack in a shop after seeing the advert. The representation of the band also links the three products together well, as the music video has a very humorous feel. This is what we were aiming for, and have also used that for the images used in the digipack and the magazine advert. The video and images represent the band as very fun loving and funny. We had feedback saying we had a ‘Goldie Lookin’ Chain’ feel to our band. This is because they are a hip hop band who are humorous and don’t stick the normal conventions of hip hop either.
The feedback we received for the ancillary products was good in places, but some of it I didn’t agree with, such as “There could involve more about what it is advertising because if I didn't know it was for a digipack I really wouldn't know what it was”. I don’t agree with this as we wanted to make the advert as simple as possible and give the minimum amount of information with fans still knowing what it is.
The same group said that the front cover was really effective as it is simple. I agree with this. They also said “Really, really don't like the grouping of the pictures though. It makes the pack look amateur doesn't compliment cover”. I agree that the picture grouping could have been a bit better but we wanted the inside to look quite amateur as we have gone with that look for the video and the advert as well.
The same group also gave us feedback on our rough cut but some of it was quite confusing to work out, such as “It’s consistently different which relates to the song” and “The lack of variety makes the audience lose interest; doesn't change pace”. With feedback contradicting itself like this we weren’t able to take anything from it.
The feedback for our rough cut version was better, particularly from our teacher. She gave us constructive comments that we could use to change our video for the better, such as “More close ups of performance. More graffitit (or other) more abstract images to use in edit”. We agreed with all of this feedback and filmed more abstract shots to put in and fit in with the genre of our video. We did, however, disagree with the comment “Some shots rather daft”, as the daft shots gave the video the humorous edge that we wanted.
During the research we used technologies such as ‘youtube’ to watch music videos from the genre of our song and analyse them. This gave us ideas of what to do in our video. We then used a camcorder and a tripod to film. The tripod meant that the camera could be held steady and would not leave a shaky picture. When we had completed our filming we uploaded the film onto ‘final cut’, a programme on the Mac. We used this programme to insert our song from iTunes and then cut and edit our video. We added some different effects such as ‘glow’ and ‘colour tint’ as well. We were unable to add any effects to the last half of the video as we did not have enough time.
When we had finished our final version of the video, it was exported from Final cut and made into a Quicktime video and uploaded to youtube. We then had to produce our two ancillary products. We took lots of images with a stills camera and uploaded them to our Mac. We the created both of the products on ‘Photoshop’, using the templates that were in our group folder. Throughout this whole project we have also been updating our blog using an online programme called ‘blogger’. This is where we put all of our design ideas, roughcut, and any research we did, so other groups could see what we had been getting up to, by viewing our blog from the Long Road Media website. We were also awarded ‘blog of the week’ one week, as a testament to our continued hard work and good ideas.
I think that all of these new technologies have opened up filmmaking or music video making to a wider, amateur audience, as anyone with a video camera and a Mac can film their footage and edit it using Final Cut. I think this is a very good thing as lots of people can create their ideas now, whereas they wouldn’t have been able to before this technology was around.

Peer Comments

Cinematography

• Lots of different camera angles and shots keep it interesting
• Camera can be seen in glasses at start

Editing

• Matched up lip synching well but need more (this is not our fault as we didn't get much)
• Good effects- some don't really fit though

Mise-en-scene

• Good costumes (hats, glasses etc), goes with genre
• Good locations, could have more though
• Josh B needs a shave
  

Genre Conventions

• No narrative, bit random
• Some shots not relevant to lyrics, no car either

What's Missing?

• More lip synching
• More thoughts that link to lyrics
• Rest of video (not our fault as there was no tape in the camera when we went to film at CVC)
  

Rough Cut

Never has a rough cut been rougher :)

Ed Lovelace

We had a talk from a former Long Road Pupil called Ed Lovelace. He went to Bournemouth University, where he made a friend called Daryl. During his time at Uni he had various projects to make certain videos, such as music videos.
The University required every pupil to get themselves a three month placement, in which Ed worked as a runner for a media company, making tea and cleaning up after other people. When he finished University he found work with a company called Pulse films, where he and Daryl created music videos for music bands. He started off very low budget, creating videos for £100, before moving on to bigger budgets of £40,000 for a group called "Cage The Elephant".
He is now working on a proJect called "Werewolves across America", in which a homeless folk singer travels across America and plays gigs in peoples homes and stays there the night. The feature film is a documentary which will be shown at the picture house in Cambridge next year.

Lyrics

This is a little limerick
Of something that don’t exist
Called love and the passion
They’re coming together with action
I’m never hesitating with my words or my thoughts
I go on
Blasting through these doors
Just to show them what I got
I, got my hand motion into the sky
You got your, hands grabbing onto another lie
Now take it easy baby
You never forget where you’re from
Swallow your pride
Cuz everyone thinks they is number one
Some, people can love
Some people can only hate
Some people are deviant in the back of the face
It would take all the strength
Of an army loaded with guns
And all that it takes
Is an army of one

Now what you’re telling me is this
Let me get it correct
Cuz Ima step up in this motherfucker
Dripping with sweat
I know a glimpse is better
Than never seeing at all
At least I know what to expect when all the leaves start to fall

(Chorus)
She kept on walking and she never ever looked back
And you do know everybody in town knew that
She gunna take off, going to be a star
When there’s nothing left she gunna jump out of your car

This is the motion of the ocean
And it’s overflowing
This is the motion of the ocean
And it’s overflowing
I gotta keep it up
Keep on going
Don’t stop exposing myself
Out to the public
Got to make em love it
Gotta, make em hurdle over people to see
Me and my shiny gold hair
And my shiny white teeth
Eventually enchanted with their newly crowned king
They follow me with pictures of myself
They just ripped out the magazine
No time for autographs
I got places to be
Gotta race around the world
Until there’s nothing to see
Like a helicopter
Spinning rotors floating in the sky
Your free girl
Go on and go on and give it a try.

I see your asking what I got with a pocket full of holes
And we’re the exact opposite
But we keep blowing smoke
So now tell me why you insist
On wasting my fucking time
Keep on searching round here for something you aint gunna find
So lets take a step back
Remove our mask and ask
Is this the way we’re gunna live
Keep on stepping over cracks
I know you try so hard to be what you want to be
But it aint that
So Ima say c’mon baby, go on a lay back.

(Chorus)
She kept on walking and she never ever looked back
And you do know everybody in town knew that
She gunna take off, going to be a star
When there’s nothing left she gunna jump out of your car

Test Footage

This is our test footage. We added the black and white effect as this is what we are planning to use for our video.

Shotlist for video

Shot 1: Black screen with song title. (hot pink titles)
Shot 2: Transition from small circle to full screen.
Shot 3: 2 people on chopper bikes riding down the road in 80's mod clothing.
Shot 4: Close up of strumming guitar.
Shot 5: Long Shot to establish main characters in mod clothes.
Shot 6: Zooming into mid shot.
Shot 7: People walking around scooters (Transition before).
Shot 8: Playing football in a street.
Shot 9: Close up of playing keyboard.
Shot 10: Mid Shot of 1st person singing in front of wall with graffiti.
Shot 11: Long shot of Josh B on his own in a park.
Shot 12: Mid range shot of performance on stage.
Shot 13: Long shot of spoof crowd shot.
shot 14: Mid shot of walking through doors.
Shot 15: Close up of singer with hand in air, low angle shot.
Shot 16: Mid Shot of singer grabbing girl and singing.
Shot 17: Long shot, moving camera, of people walking around in 80's clothing.
Shot 18: Group of people kicking the s*** out of someone.
Shot 19: Group of people with guns/weapons lined up.
Shot 20: Shot of singer standing alone in camouflage army gear.
Shot 21: Performance on stage.
Shot 22: Mid-shot of singer singing in different locations.
Shot 23: Close up of singer and give in car.
Shot 24: Zooming out to see girl Jumping out of a car.

Pitch Feedback

On Thursday we pitched for the song Jump Out Of Your Car by Iglu and Hartley. We got the song but no one else wanted, so don't know if our pitch was good.

1 point that was brought up by the class were that the song suits an 80s setting, so we were thinking about making the mise-en-scene 80s style (80s costumes and that). But we will have to be careful that we don't expose the modern world in our video (modern cars, clothing, technology). that will be hard.

Song Choices

1. jump out of your car - Iglu and Hartley

This is our number 1 choice. We think the tune is great but the voices ruin it. A waste of what could have been a potentially great song. Things we could include in our video are a bit of live performance on a stage, with whole group "playing" instruments, hopefully a guitar keyboard which would be sick. Other props we would need are a car, instruments, different costumes (Suits, tracksuits etc.) and extras to be in the autograph hunting part and a girl to be in the car and walk out. Both Josh's will perform the singing parts- lip synching.

2. More than life- Whitley

This is our 2nd choice. The idea we had is the singer in different locations on his own, such as on a park bench, graveyard etc. We would use a forest aswell when the song mentions falling leaves- this is a good time to film it as it is autumn.

3. Way back into love- Hayley Bennett

This is our 3rd choice song. The idea for the video was to have 2 people doing a duet lip syncing but no close-ups, as we have no females in the group.

Goodwin Analysis- Kanye West , Paranoid.

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

There is a lot of glamour in the video, mainly provided by Rhianna, which is typical of a Kanye West video. The video genre is horror, and there are lots of horror characteristics such as the fangs in the background, the moon shining in the night and the scary looking mountain.

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

The words that flash up on screen at the start of the song are all words associated with 'paranoia'. There are also scenes where Rhianna is driving the car and looking very paranoid, which also fits in with the horror genre. also some lyrics flash up on the screen at the same time as they are sung, such as "tell me right now".

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

At the start of the song the camera movements are quite slow until the beat speeds up and the camera zooms into Rhianna's face. A lot of the time the lights flash at the same time as the beat. Also at the end, images of Rhianna's face flash up on screen in time with the beat.

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

There are frequent close ups of Kanye West, but only in the background to look scary and add to the horror feel. There is not really a motif as most of his videos are very different, but lyrics appear on screen in time with the music, like in the video for 'Good life' (as seen below).



5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

There is a big reference to looking when Rhianna is driving as she is constantly looking around to make sure no-one is following her. there is also a lot of the obvious voyeurism, with Rhianna in the revealing outfit, and the shadow of the hands pulling down the bed covers at the start of the video.

6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

There is an obvious reference to old fashion horror films with all of the characteristics mentioned in the first heading. There is also the bad graphics with the car driving down the mountain, which makes it look like an old fashioned film, as they did not have the technology in them days.