Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
All three of our products follow the conventions of real media products, we wanted to make sure we did this so this is why we first researched existing products of which are detailed below

Video
We used a mixture of narrative and band performance in our video as this is both what the videos we researched involved, but also what we wanted to use. Some videos showed good times, whilst others showed footage about relationships. We were able to get both of these intertwined into each other in our video because of the downfall of the relationship between the couple and the eventual death which leaves the female thinking back to good times in her mind. Another convention we found from our research, but also just from seeing videos aired on the TV or internet, was that the band is often shown performing and so we also included this in our own product.

Real product

Our product

Digipack

We also stuck to the conventions of existing media products in this area as we didn't want to create anything too different that may put people off. The key was to keep it quite simple and not have too much on it as this would have spoilt the effect of the cover and probably make people not want to pick it up unless they knew the band well. We achieved this well because the only thing on our cover was the image of the band which was pretty simple and didn't have much going on in the background. We also knew that colours should have been limited as too many bright ones would have spoilt it, so we chose to keep to a black and white scale as this tied in with the video and the depressed state of the female character. Another convention we followed was the use of band members on the front which also allows people to identify the album as the band's more easily if they recognise the band members, and if they don't recognise the band members, seeing the name above them will help to associate the two in the future. The text we used was kept ro a minimum as this is a convention we found and we also made sure it stood out well on the background we had used.

Real product

Our product

Magazine Advert
We also stuck to the conventions here. The main focus was the image of the band as I found this was quite common from my research. Another thing we had to make clear was who the album was by and the name of the album, of which we did by printing these in a large font and in a colour that would stand out on the background used. We also kept the colour to a minimum by turning the images to black and white and using a similar style for the text involved. As for other information which was and wasn't included in my research, we chose to include the release date, 'Out Now' in our case, but to leave out things such as the website. We did this to keep it as simple as we could and not have too much text on it which could ruin the overall effect of the advert.

Real product


Our product

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I think all of our products were combined well as they each tied into each other. Our main focus was on the video which we planned and thought about first, whilst the other two remained in mind throughout but weren't worked on until nearer the end of the project. All three of our products were based around two main points we used, the first being the graveyard and the second being the band.

I think the package overall is quite successful at promoting the album and synergising because they all look similar and links can easily be made between the three. I feel that the magazine advert could have been slightly more informative to help link to the other two products, such as a website which would display the video. However, I do think it does a good job of advertising the album because it was kept simple and has all the information which was needed.

I also think that we did a good job of meeting the requirements of the target audience we determined in the early stages of the project. First of all we had to create our video to meet these needs as a high proportion of people involved in my initial research did watch music videos either often or regularly. We also incorporated the fact that people liked to see both narrative reflecting the lyrics and random narrative in the video as this was the main storyline, but another part which was highly liked was to see the band members in the video of which we also achieved. We also used a number of locations both to keep with what our target audience liked to see and also to make the narrative flow better.


What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Our audience feedback was better than expected and we had a lot of good comments about the video. As a group, we also felt our products were developed well and would be effective at their aims. In the first week of having the video on YouTube we managed to get over 600 hits and is still rising as people continue to watch it. There were a few mixed comments on the YouTube video, but most of which were positive;

• 'great job :) it's really good'
• 'full on love 4 this! xxx'
• 'awesome =) love the story, and the shock horror at the end!'
• 'Well made video, awesome tune too ;D Nice one.'

From these comments I think that the video overall was quite successful. There were also some verbal comments I got when I was showing people the video, of which most picked up on the acting skills could have been improved greatly. Another thing noticed was the aged gravestone we featured in the video for a recent death, which we knew was present but we were unable to find a more recent gravestone available to use.

Showing people our digipack and magazine advert they also said that they linked well to the video because of the storyline and also that the two ancillary texts looked very similar was a good feature. Another thing people liked was that they were kept relatively simple and not too 'in your face' as one person put it.

How did you use media technologies in the construction & research, planning & evaluation stages?

We used a number of technologies in the creation of our products. The first thing we had to do was to research other products, of which was done first of all by looking at other music videos on the internet. We did this on YouTube as it's the most popular video site and would have had a range of videos to analyse. To research digipacks and magazine adverts, we had to use a more physical form of media product by looking at the actual items in our hands. To conduct my reasearch I sent my questionnaire via email and posted it on facebook to get some responses of which was successful and I ended up putting a limit on how many replies I would use as there was a high number. Another technology I used was blogging to keep track of our progress through the project and so it could all be in one easy to access place without paperwork all over the place. I think this was a very good way of presenting the project and has worked very well!

When it came to actually creating our own products it became slightly more technical. Using the camera and tripod wasn't a very hard task because we'd done this before and were even allowed to practice using these at the end of the AS year. However, filming the band shots were slightly harder because of a not-fully-functional tripod and so this wasn't as effective as it could have been. Next up came the editting and for this we used Adobe Premiere Pro of which seemed to be quite a complex program at first glance. However, once I knew what I was doing on this it all became pretty simple and the editing process got quicker as we moved through the sequences. I think we used this very effectively as the final product flowed well and received a good reception. The final piece of our development phase was using Photoshop to create the digipack and advert to accompany the video which was also a relatively simple task. It became simple because we had all used the software before and understood what features did what and were able to get an effective final product in both areas.

Advert: Final Product

Digipack: Final Product

Advert Planning: Ideas

We had two ideas for our Magazine Advert which both related closely to the story of the video and the band itself.

Our first idea was to use the gravestone featured in the video and try to clear all writing on it, before adding our own text inscribed onto it. However, this would have been quite hard to do to a good standard so we thought of another idea which was much simpler. The second idea we came up with was to simply use the same image of the band we used on our digipack.

Whichever design we decided to use, we didn't want too much writing on it to keep it simple and effective. The only text we chose to use was the band name, the album name and 'Out Now!' as this is all the information needed to appeal to fans of the band and possibly lure in new listeners by showcasing their greatest hits.

Advert Research: Magazine Adverts

In order to create an effective magazine advert of our own, I first looked at a few existing examples to see what conventions we could follow and make our own advert as effective as it could be.

The adverts I chose to look at were;

• Stereophonics
• Razorlight
• The Smiths

Stereophonics

This advert is effective because;

• It's simple but still attractive to the eye
• It features the band members
• The title of the album and the band name are very clear
• I like how the mountains join into the white to form the main part of the advert
• However, this advert doesn't show the release date, so I would assume it's already released

Razorlight

This advert is effective because;

• It clearly states the band name and album name
• Details that it's a new album
• Shows the release date, website and other information all in one place so it's together and not all over the page
• Uses only a few colours so it still looks attractive
• Features members of the band

The Smiths


This advert is effective because;

• It shows the band
• Again uses only a few different colours which helps to keep it simple
• Shows the band name and album name in different colours so they're easy to see
• Maybe has a bit too much information on it to be as effective as it could have been
• The release date is slightly drowned inside this additional information

Things we can take away to use in our own advert;

• Show the members of the band
• Clear release date
• Only a few colours, not too vibrant
• Both the band name and album name are important
• Other information such as websites, songs included etc
  

Digipack Planning: Ideas

For our digipack we had to try and make it tie-in with the video. To do this we decided we would use the two main aspects of the video - the gravestone and the band.

On the front of the digipack we simply wanted an image of the band accompanied by the band name and album title as this is all that was really needed. On the back, we would use a shot in the graveyard and print the song titles over this. For the inside we wanted to keep it simple as it didn't have to be over the top. We would either colour these areas a similar shade to the front or back cover, or print one picture of the girl crying at a grave on one side and an image of the boy at the bottom of the stairs on the other side.

Digipack Research: Digipacks

Before we could start creating our own digipack to accompany the music video we had to look at some existing ones to find any conventions we would have to follow. The three I chose to look at were;

1. Radio 1 Live Lounge Volume 2
2. The Hoosiers
3. Razorlight
4. Take That
   
   

Radio 1 Live Lounge


This album cover is effective because;

• It's bright and catches the eye easily. Only three main colours are used, blue, red and white. The text stands out well because it's been put on a background which makes it clear
• The images in the middle all relate to what kind of music is on the album, along with the names of the bands on it spread around these which is quite an interesting idea but wouldn't be able to be done on our own album case as ours are all by the same band
• I like the layout of the cover as the main information, the name of the album is easy to see, whilst the rest of it fills up the space well
  

The Hoosiers

This album cover is effective because;

• It uses bright colours (is also available in other colours) which stand out
• Other than the border, it isn't too complex and looks very appealing and is likely to catch someone's eye
• Only two colours are used, white and a few shades of blue which help to keep it simple but by using the different shades of blue it is also made more visually appealing. I think using other colours with what we currently see would have spoilt it
• The text is very simple, only displaying the band name and name of the album which is all that is needed on the front

Razorlight

This album cover is effective because;

• It's very, very simple but serves it's purpose well
• It shows members of the band, of which could allow people to recognise them more frequently than if they just listened to the band, rather than watch them
• The colours are very basic but stand out very well on the background used and is all in black and white which makes it even simpler but overall more appealing. If the band members were to be in colour, they wouldn't fit in with the white background and black text as well as they do

Take That

This album cover is effective because;

• It all fits together well, despite the actual focus of the cover being quite unique and odd
• Having the band members all taking the same position lets you know that they're together as a group but doesn't appeal to me personally
• It's quite bright and if seen on a shelf in a shop would stand out quite well
• The white text fits in well with the background because of the white clouds further down, the highest member of the band also appears to be pointing towards the band name which directs the eye straight to it

Ideas we can use in our own digipack

• Use quite basic, simple colours and not too many of them
• Keep it relatively simple, nothing all over the place as this will spoil the overall effect
• Some covers include the band members, others have other, (un)related images
• Text should be kept to a minimum as people won't want to read lots of writing on it
• Any text used should also stand out well on the background it's put upon
• The album should jump out at people as they look at them in shops
  

Video Editing: Finished Product

Video Editing: Overview

We knew the editing process was going to be the longest part of the project from the beginning. We decided that I would do the editing and the other members of the group would help make decisions as to whether sections looked good or not and what to change.

I'd not used the software before so it was made an even harder task but once I knew what to do, it became pretty simple. Whilst we were doing the editing, we changed the order of the video and some timings slightly as not all of our footage was good enough. At the start, we intended to have the band walking on but the footage we had was a bad quality and had stripes over it so we chose to begin with the grave and then switch to the band rather than the other way round.

Also whilst editing we decided to add some fading effects between some shot changes to show that they were a flashback, rather than a simple cut which wouldn't have made this as obvious. Overall, the editing took quite a long time but as a group, we thought the end product was the best we could achieve with the footage we had!

Video Filming: Day Two

Our second day of filming was also very successful, as shown in the blue comments below!

Day two - Thursday 22nd October

Time: 09:30-10:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake, Jacob
Location: Osbaldwick
What's being done: Meeting other members of the group and getting ready for filming at the first location.
This went well and we even met up slightly early!

Time: 10:00-12:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake, Jacob
Cast: Amy
Location: Church
What's being filmed: All of the shots involving the graveyard (4 shots) which will last a total of 56 seconds
We managed to get this part filmed much faster than expected, so we added in some additional angles

Time: 12:00-12:30
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake, Jacob
Cast: Amy
Location: Osbaldwick
What's being done: Lunch
Due to finishing the graveyard section earlier than expected, we took lunch a little earlier so we could do the following shots after, but also because we would be eating at Jacob's house where we would also be filming!

Time: 12:30-14:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake
Cast: Amy, Jacob
Location: House
What's being filmed: We'll be filming the three shots that involve the house, both from the outside and inside. This will make a total of 39 seconds of our final video. These are the couple moving in, arguing and then the death of her partner.
Again, this section went well except the area at the top of the stairs we had to fit the tripod into was a bit too small, but after adjusing the tripod's legs we managed to fit it in. I also think the acting in this section could have been much better as the argument wasn't very effective, whilst the boy 'storming' out of the room was more of a walk. When being pushed down the stairs, this part was also particularly poor in terms of acting.

Time: 14:00-14:45
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake
Cast: Amy, Jacob
Location: Bar
What's being filmed: Only one shot lasting 15 seconds is taken at the bar.
We had to change this part slightly due to pillars in the bar getting in the way of our shot. We also had to change the timing of the shot as we could only use 15 seconds of film, but the conversation second was too long so we removed the serving of the drinks at the end.

Time: 14:45-16:15
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake
Cast: Amy, Jacob
Location: Park
What's being filmed: In this part we'll be shooting the park scenes where the couple walk up to park, have a little play and then the male proposes to her. This will make 26 seconds of our video
This section also went rather well, the only problem being trying to get both of the swings in the shot without going too high.

Video Planning: Shooting Changes

We also had to change the second day we were shooting due to the person taking the main female role pulling out the night before we were due to be filming and we couldn't find anyone else to take the place at such short notice so we had to postpone the filming of this part by a week.

We will now be filming it on Thursday 22nd October, and the shooting schedule will remain the same as it was intended;

Day two - Thursday 22nd October

Time: 09:30-10:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake, Jacob
Location: Osbaldwick
What's being done: Meeting other members of the group and getting ready for filming at the first location.

Time: 10:00-12:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake, Jacob
Cast: Amy
Location: Church
What's being filmed: All of the shots involving the graveyard (4 shots) which will last a total of 56 seconds

Time: 12:00-12:30
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake, Jacob
Cast: Amy
Location: Osbaldwick
What's being done: Lunch

Time: 12:30-14:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake
Cast: Amy, Jacob
Location: House
What's being filmed: We'll be filming the three shots that involve the house, both from the outside and inside. This will make a total of 39 seconds of our final video. These are the couple moving in, arguing and then the death of her partner.

Time: 14:00-14:45
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake
Cast: Amy, Jacob
Location: Bar
What's being filmed: Only one shot lasting 15 seconds is taken at the bar.

Time: 14:45-16:15
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake
Cast: Amy, Jacob
Location: Park
What's being filmed: In this part we'll be shooting the park scenes where the couple walk up to park, have a little play and then the male proposes to her. This will make 26 seconds of our video

Video Filming: Day One

The first day of our filming was quite successful despite some problems of which are detailed in the blue comments below.

Day one - Tuesday 13th October

Time: 09:00-10:00
Group: Chloe & Zoey
Location: College
What's being done: Collecting equipment and taking it to the first filming location to meet other members of the group
This part went alright initially, but when Chloe and Zoey arrived we realised the tripod we were given wasn't complete and so would have to improvise

Time: 09:00-10:00
Group: Jacob & Jake
Location: Osbaldwick Sports Club
What's being done: Setting up the instruments needed for the first shots of the video
This part also went well to begin with, until we realised we needed a controller to set up the microphone and so I had to return home to collect it which wasted more time

Time: 10:00-12:00
Group: Zoey
Cast: Jake, Jacob, Chloe, Sam
Location: Osbaldwick Sports Club
What's being filmed: The band performing for the first two times this happens. Overall this will be filming 25 seconds worth of our final video, but will take longer due to filming extra pieces which can be used if the intended piece didn't go as planned. We will also film each part of the video twice so if one isn't quite right, we have another version we could use without having to go out and film on another day.
This part went well and we managed to get some of the shots we were due to be doing after our lunch break done early. To get around the tripod issue, we thought that using beer mats which were scattered around the pub would be sufficient but were unsteady so we had to think again. Instead, we used a number of chairs and stacked them to an appropriate height, if we needed to tilt the camera up or down, we used beer mats to prop it up.

Time: 12:00-13:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake, Jacob
Cast: Sam
Location: Osbaldwick
What's being done: Lunch break
This bit also went well by enjoying some monster munch, sausage rolls and pepsi!

Time: 13:00-16:00
Group: Zoey
Cast: Jake, Jacob, Chloe, Sam
Location: Osbaldwick Sports Club
What's being filmed: The band performing for the remaining three clips. Overall this will be filming 49 seconds worth of our final video, but again will take longer due to filming extra pieces.
Again, this section also went well and we finished an hour early. We again hadto improvise around the tripod issue by using the stand under the TV, which was showing the rockband screen, which rotated and so gave us the pan we wanted.

Video Planning: Cast changes

A few days before we were due to be filming the first part of our video - the band, two people pulled out of being a member of the band. We then had to try and find people to replace them at short notice, of which we were unable to do, leaving us a guitarist and singer short.

To get around this, we had to rearrange the people we still had so we had a drummer and singer available, and then myself and chloe, also from the group took the roles of guitarists.

Because of this, we had to change the shooting schedule slightly as now 3 members of the group were in the video, leaving only Zoe to do the filming. Our updated shooting schedule is shown below;

Time: 09:00-10:00
Group: Chloe & Zoey
Location: College
What's being done: Collecting equipment and taking it to the first filming location to meet other members of the group

Time: 09:00-10:00
Group: Jacob & Jake
Location: Osbaldwick Sports Club
What's being done: Setting up the instruments needed for the first shots of the video

Time: 10:00-12:00
Group: Zoey
Cast: Jake, Jacob, Chloe, Sam
Location: Osbaldwick Sports Club
What's being filmed: The band performing for the first two times this happens. Overall this will be filming 25 seconds worth of our final video, but will take longer due to filming extra pieces which can be used if the intended piece didn't go as planned. We will also film each part of the video twice so if one isn't quite right, we have another version we could use without having to go out and film on another day.

Time: 12:00-13:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake, Jacob
Cast: Sam
Location: Osbaldwick
What's being done: Lunch break

Time: 13:00-16:00
Group: Zoey
Cast: Jake, Jacob, Chloe, Sam
Location: Osbaldwick Sports Club
What's being filmed: The band performing for the remaining three clips. Overall this will be filming 49 seconds worth of our final video, but again will take longer due to filming extra pieces.

Video Planning: Shooting Schedule

To give us a plan to work from when we're filming, we had to create a shooting schedule which would enable us to get all of the filming we needed to done without wasting time, but still giving us enough time per shot to allow for problems and setting up.

Day one - Tuesday 13th October

Time: 09:00-10:00
Group: Chloe & Zoey
Location: College
What's being done: Collecting equipment and taking it to the first filming location to meet other members of the group

Time: 09:00-10:00
Group: Jacob & Jake
Location: Osbaldwick Sports Club
What's being done: Setting up the instruments needed for the first shots of the video

Time: 10:00-12:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake
Cast: Josh, Jacob, Tom, Sam
Location: Osbaldwick Sports Club
What's being filmed: The band performing for the first two times this happens. Overall this will be filming 25 seconds worth of our final video, but will take longer due to filming extra pieces which can be used if the intended piece didn't go as planned. We will also film each part of the video twice so if one isn't quite right, we have another version we could use without having to go out and film on another day.

Time: 12:00-13:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake, Jacob
Cast: Josh, Tom, Sam
Location: Osbaldwick
What's being done: Lunch break

Time: 13:00-16:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake
Cast: Josh, Jacob, Tom, Sam
Location: Osbaldwick Sports Club
What's being filmed: The band performing for the remaining three clips. Overall this will be filming 49 seconds worth of our final video, but again will take longer due to filming extra pieces.

Day two - Thursday 15th October

Time: 09:30-10:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake, Jacob
Cast: Amy
Location: Osbaldwick
What's being done: Meeting other members of the group and getting ready for filming at the first location.

Time: 10:00-12:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake, Jacob
Cast: Amy
Location: Church
What's being filmed: All of the shots involving the graveyard (4 shots) which will last a total of 56 seconds

Time: 12:00-12:30
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake, Jacob
Cast: Amy
Location: Osbaldwick
What's being done: Lunch

Time: 12:30-14:00
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake
Cast: Amy, Jacob
Location: House
What's being filmed: We'll be filming the three shots that involve the house, both from the outside and inside. This will make a total of 39 seconds of our final video. These are the couple moving in, arguing and then the death of her partner.

Time: 14:00-14:45
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake
Cast: Amy, Jacob
Location: Bar
What's being filmed: Only one shot lasting 15 seconds is taken at the bar.

Time: 14:45-16:15
Group: Chloe, Zoey, Jake
Cast: Amy, Jacob
Location: Park
What's being filmed: In this part we'll be shooting the park scenes where the couple walk up to park, have a little play and then the male proposes to her. This will make 26 seconds of our video

Video Planning: Cast

Once we had the locations sorted, the next part was to find who would actually be starring in the video. We needed the following people;

• 1 drummer
• 2 guitarists
• 1 singer
• The main female character
• The main male character
• Barman
  

We then had to decide who would be best to use for each part;

Drummer

For the drummer, we'll be using Jacob Cartledge from our group

Guitarist #1

For the first guitarist, we'll be using Tom Mpande

Guitarist #2

For the second guitarist, we'll be using Sam Harrington

Singer

For the singer, we'll be using Josh Stephenson

Female character

For the main female character, we'll be using Amy Bland

Male character

For main male character, we'll be using Jacob Cartledge from our group

Barman

For the barman, we'll be using myself

Video Planning: Locations

Before we would be able to start filming our video, we had to plan the locations we would be using. To do this we once again sat down as a group and discussed the locations we needed for the various shots, but most importantly how far away they were. We didn't want to spend too long travelling to the locations as this would result in less time to film what we needed.

The locations we needed were:

• Band Performance
• Graveyard
• Bar/Pub
• Park
• Exterior of house
• Interior of house

We decided we would film all of these around Osbaldwick as it wasn't too far away from college and all of the locations we needed were available in close proximity.

Band Performance
For this part we didn't want anything too complex so chose to keep it relatively simple. Rather than have the band performing to an audience within the video, we wanted it to look as though they were performing to the viewer of the video. To do this we would be using an area of Osbaldwick Sports Club as we were allowed access to this and there was available space to set up the equipment needed.

Graveyard

Again, we will be filming this in Osbaldwick at the graveyard. We also asked permission to do this of which we were given on the terms that we told them when we would be filming so they could check we were doing what we said we would be!

Bar/Pub

This section of our video will be shot in the same location as the band scenes, Osbaldwick Sports Club though we will be using a different section of the building as obviously we need the bar in this scene whereas we didn't last time.

Park

We'll be using Osbaldwick Park to film this section as it's an open space which isn't as busy as using somewhere like a public gardens which would have people walking through all day and potentially get in the way of our filming. We would also shoot this location during school hours so it would be empty.

Exterior of house

We needed the outside of a house to film our moving in sequence in a flashback to the goodtimes the couple had. This will be filmed at one of our group member's home (Jacob Cartledge's)

Interior of house

Similarly to above, we needed the inside of a house aswell and since we were there, we used the same building. We needed to use a number of different areas within the house for what we had to film all of which were available

Video Planning: Storyboard

Shot 1

The first shot of our video will have the band performing as a whole in a long shot, before moving onto individual closeups of each member of the band. It will last 15 seconds. This changed from our original idea because we shortened it by 3 seconds as we didn't want to show the band for too long at the start of the video as the viewer may get bored.

Shot 2

The second shot will start by tracking the female as she walks towards the grave in a long shot, before cutting to her falling to her knees as a medium close up to show how upset she is. This will last 18 seconds. We extended this part by the 3 seconds we took from the introduction.

Shot 3

This shot will show the male and female meeting in a bar. It will have a closeup as they catch each other's eye, then a long shot so we can see them both and their interactions. This will last for 15 seconds. This is the same as our original idea

Shot 4

This will cut back to the band performing, similar to the opening. This will last for 10 seconds. The length of this part was extended slightly from our idea to try and include more shots of the band rather than just narrative.


Shot 5

We then track the couple up a path as they walk into a park having a laugh together. It will be a long shot so we can see both of the characters before continuing into the next shot. This will last for 4 seconds. We changed the location of this shot to walking up a path to a park rather than walking down a busy street and also shortened it so we could have a longer shot of the band, as this location will continue into the next verse.

Shot 6

Following on from shot 5, it will show the couple having fun in the park in a variety of closeups, long shots and medium shots. It will then change to the man proposing to the woman in the same location. This whole shot will last 22 seconds. We expanded on the idea of the man proposing to the woman in this shot by showing them having more good times before this happened as it may have been a rather big jump in the narrative.

Shot 7

It will then return to the female grieving in the graveyard with a closeup, focusing on her face but also catching part of the gravestone in the shot. This will last 5 seconds. This is the same as our original plan

Shot 8

Next we see the couple moving into their first home together mainly through long shots, but also showing close ups of the two and what they're carrying. This lasts for 10 seconds. This is also the same as our original plan, but we decided to extend the shot into the following guitar solo as the verse was not long enough to get enough content in, but the following guitar sequence was able to be shortened as it was quite long.

Shot 9

We then go back to the band performing as the guitar solo starts, but mainly show closeups of the guitar. This is for 16 seconds. This is the same as original idea, but has been shortened by 5 seconds so we could extend the previous shot.

Shot 10

It will then return to the female crying at the graveside at different angles. This will last for 8 seconds. We split the verse this was in into three sections (whole verse is 18 seconds) so we could continue the narrative in a steady manner. The idea is as we planned.

Shot 11

An argument then starts between the couple in their home in a medium close up. The boy then leaves the room. These shots will take 15 seconds. This shot then uses the remaining 10 seconds of the verse mentioned above, aswell as going into the following gutiar solo by 5 seconds as again, it was rather long. The idea is the same as our original plan.

Shot 12

As the next guitar solo starts, it returns to the band performing in a long shot, before panning to a closeup of the guitar. This will last for 16 seconds. Again, the idea is the same as we had planned but the shot has been shortened to only 16 seconds rather than 21 seconds so more narrative could be used.

Shot 13

In these shots, it starts with the couple arguing again before the female pushes the man down the stairs in a medium shot. We then see a closeup of the female's face followed by a high angled point of view long shot down the stairs, looking at the male lying there. This takes 14 seconds. This sequence is the same as we had planned.

Shot 14

We then see the band performing again, in the same manner as the instances before. This will last 17 seconds. This is also the same as we planned.

Shot 15

The final shot will return to the graveyard and the female takes the ring off and places it on the gravestone in an over-shoulder medium close up. Following this, she places some flowers on the grave in a medium shot before walking away in a long shot. This whole shot will take 25 seconds. This sequence is also the same as we had originally planned.

Maybe shot 16

When the female is walking away from the grave, we will have shots of both the woman walking away, but also the band members following the same path as she was and have the two fade in and out of each other as the song ends

Video Planning: Expanding our idea

Before we could start storyboarding our ideas, we had to listen to the full lyrics of the song and expand our ideas to fit around them with the appropriate timings.

Introduction 18 seconds
Opening of song The band will be performing as a whole

First verse 15 seconds
You sit there in your heartache This whole verse will show the girl crying at the graveside of her dead husband
Waiting on some beautiful boy to save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now ... here he comes!

Second verse 15 seconds
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus This whole verse will show the couple meeting at the bar in a pub through a number of different shots and angles
But he talks like a gentleman
Like you imagined when you were young

Third verse 14 seconds
Can we climb this mountain These three lines will show the band performing as a whole
I don't know
Higher now than ever before
I know we can make it if we take it slow These three lines will show the couple walking down a busy street in a world of their own
Let's take it easy
Easy now, watch it go

Third verse 22 seconds
We're burning down the highway skyline This whole verse will show the man proposing to the female
On the back of a hurricane that started turning
When you were young Man proposing
When you were young

Fourth verse 10 seconds
And sometimes you close your eyes This line will return to the girl grieving
and see the place where you used to live These two lines will show the couple moving into their first home together
When you were young

Guitar solo 21 seconds This section will return to the band performing, but focus mainly on the guitar

Fifth verse 18 seconds
They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet These two lines will return to the girl crying beside her husband's grave from different angles
You don't have to drink right now
But you can dip your feet The couple begin to argue
Every once in a little while The man leaves the room in a temper

Guitar solo 21 seconds This section will return to the band performing, but focus mainly on the guitar

Sixth verse 14 seconds
You sit there in your heartache The two will continue to argue
Waiting on some beautiful boy to The female pushes the male down the stairs
To save you from your old ways
You pray forgiveness The camera will cut to the female's face to show her reaction
Watch it now here he comes Cut to boy laying at the bottom of the stairs

Seventh verse 17 seconds
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus This whole verse will be showing the band performing as a whole
But he talks like a gentleman
Like you imagined when you were young
(He talks like a gentlemen, like you imagined when)
When you were young

Eighth verse (final) 25 seconds
I said he doesn't look a thing like Jesus Shows the female taking off her ring at the graveside
He doesn't look a thing like Jesus Places the ring on the grave, places flowers on grave
But more than you'll ever know Walks away from grave

We then built on this plan again to create our storyboard which would be used whilst filming, as seen in the next post.

Video Research: Existing Videos

When you were young video
The official video for the song we chose to create a new video for tells the story of a Mexican woman around the age of 20. It begins with her arriving at a large white cross in the desert, followed by her mourning below it until her supposed husband appears and comforts her. We then see her praying at a church, she then leaves the church and meets up with her husband. She then arrives home to find her husband sleeping with another woman, having seen this she then runs out crying - with her husband close behind her.

It then flashes back to their wedding day as she continues to run. We then see the woman washing herself briefly before it cuts to her entering a bar. This scene is before the two have been wed so we see her sitting at the same table as her future husband and the woman he later cheats on her with. As they introduce themselves to each other, the other woman leaves. The band are playing in the bar, as the main girl looks over to Brandon Flowers (singer) he sings the main verse before turning away as the song ends. The last shot returns to the cross from the start with both the woman and her husband there. An alternate version of the video contains the woman jumping off a cliff, rather than reconciling with her husband.
How we'll use this in our video;
From looking at this video, we're going to keep the focus around the relationship between two characters as it deteriorates. We'll also be using the idea of flashbacks to relate to good times that they've had after an initial bad start.


Read my mind video
The video for this song isn't largely related to the song and finds the band in Tokyo simply having a good time undertaking activities associated with the freedom of youth. Some of these activities include riding a variety of bicycles through Tokyo, playing games in an arcade. Elsewhere they were seen playing with leaves in a park with Japanese school children and also starred a Japanese children's TV character. Throughout these scenes showing good times, it turns to shots of Brandon Flowers singing at a traffic interchange in the middle of the city, ending with the band in a hotel.
How we'll use this in our video;
Again, we'll be taking the idea of showing good times and put them into our own video. Along with this, we'll also be showing clips of the band at various intervals throughout our video.

Human video
Similarly to the 'When you were young video', we see the band perform in another desert location with the name of the band in large light up letters behind them. The video simply shows the band performing in this area with a variety of animals appearing throughout, from tigers to large birds. Portraits which were drawn for the band are also used in the video as they are held over the members' faces at points. The final shot contains the whole band watching the sun set in the desert, of which then went on to be the album's cover.
How we'll use this in our video;
Like from the other videos, we'll be intertwining clips of the band performing through the whole video at various points.

Research Results: Audience

Having sent the questionnaire around, I then had to collect the results together and decided that using pie charts to show the information would be the clearest format to be able to make comparisons between the options available within the questionnaire.

The first question was to determine the questionee's gender so I would be able to get a wider range of results from both males and females to give me an overall set of results with no gender bias.

The next was to find out the age of the questionees

Following this I wanted to see what the most popular genre(s) of music were to see if the song we had chosen would suit the audience.

From this question it was clear that most of the people interviewed have regular involvement with music.

It was also clear from this question that most of the people interviewed listen to music at home via the computer/cd etc.

The results for this question were nearly split evenly between listening on their own and listening both on their own and in groups, but none listened solely in a group.

Clearly from this question, it was clear that most people find out about new music from the internet, with word of mouth information and the TV being second by a long shot.

Again, it is clear that most people have some form of involvement with music videos, as only a minority rarely/never watch them, whilst most of the questionees do at regular times.

This question also has a clear answer, most people like to see some form of narrative within a music video rather than just seeing the band perform, though that was also a large contribution to the results.

It's clear again that most people would like to see the members of the band featured in the video rather than actors. Also with this they prefer to have various locations seen throughout the video with instruments being played by the band at points.