Analysis of Preliminary Task

Camera shot, angle and movement
-The close-up shot using shallow focus and the rule of thirds immediately draws the audiences attention to the artist. This shot, with the artist on the left of the frame, makes the ordinary look extraordinary and allows the viewer to become familiar with the artist.
-The use of a zoom when the artist throws the plane is relatively unconventional in a music video however seems to work as it adds to the sense of mayhem in the classroom.
-Using the wide angle lens in the shot of the shoes distorts them making them appear bigger and less ordinary. The pull focus was also difficult shot to execute however once we were finally able to master it it really adds to the video.

Lighting
-Luckily we filmed on a sunny day so the lighting in the shots was natural. It is bright, warm, high-key lighting.

Mise-en-scene
-In the preliminary task due to limited time we were only able to film at school. However due to the theme of the song and age of the artist it worked well as we were able to base the video on a school girl in a school enviroment.
-We used a wide range of costumes which is vital when creating a music video in order to keep the viewer interested. The artists school uniform (the striped blazer and short red tie) was especially effective as it emphasised the artists rebellious streak.
-We had three locations; the grass area, the classroom and the wall. These contrasting locations worked alongside the different costumes and helped keep the video interesting.

Editing
-We knew the editing process would be tedious as we would have to sync up the artist singing with the song. It took frequent attempts to sync up the song with the shots however once we had done it there was a great sense of acomplishement. We tried to use rapid cutaways and a quick cutting rhythm as this helped keep the video pacey and make it more dynamic.
-We used match on action when the artist clicked, this helped emphasise the change in costume of the artist.

Performance
- The opening shot is powerful as the artists hair is blowing back in a diva-ish manner. The artist worked well as she had the right look and was of an appropriate age of the singer.

What have you learnt from completing this task?
During this task i was given an insight into the extent of work that goes into making a music video. It is extremely time consuming as it requires a large range of shots, costumes, props and locations. Therefore in the final task we will need to ensure we have enough time and reliable performers to be in our video.

Overall how effective has your contribution to this task been?
I was the performer in the music video so tried to ensure our ideas came together through the performance of the artist. I also brought the costumes in and gave ideas during the planning process.

26/05/15

Today we were set our first preliminary task. The task involves creating a pop video to a 45 second extract of a song. We were given two choices; Here's to never growing up (Avril Lavigne) and Funky gold medina (Tone Loc). As a group we chose the Avril Lavigne song as we felt it would be the easiest to create the video in a school environment and with limited time.

Singing radiohead at the top of our lungs
With the boom box blaring as we're falling in love
I got a bottle of whatever, but its getting us drunk
Singing here's to never growing up

We'll be running down the street, yelling kiss my ass
I'm like yeah whatever, we're still living like that,
When the sun's going down, we'll be raising our cups
Singing here's to never growing up
Oh woah oh wooh here's to never growing up
Oh woah oh woah here's to never growing up

INITIAL IDEAS

-Group of teenagers causing havoc in the school

-Sticking a note on teachers back

-throwing paper aeroplane

-science experiment gone wrong

-sticking gum under the table

-steps mucking about 

-sliding down banister

Textual Analysis Task

How do audiences know that they are watching a music video?


-This is a narrative-based video and is relatively conventional as the singer, Katy Perry, is the predominant character in the video. In the video she appears to be a strong women as their are frequent close-ups revealing her defiant facial expression.High key lighting is also used which paints her in a positive light and makes her appear more bold and defiant. However she is also displayed as relatively feminine when she emotionally cries and wears a white wedding dress layered with a pink and white bow.
 -It is also easily identified as a music video due to the lack of dialogue at the beginning. Instead of speech the characters communicate through intense eye contact and gestures, in this case the groom swallows deeply and shifts his eyes in a nervous manner portraying his reluctance to get married. Katy Perry then retaliates fiercely through using a fierce facial expression and dynamic movement, this non-naturalism emphasises that it is a music video rather than a short film.
-The bridesmaids in the background then start to do a dance routine, dance sequences are frequent occurrences in pop music videos and are choreographed to fit with the beat of the music.
- During the music video their are also multiple costume changes. Katy Perry changes from her wedding dress into a leather outfit. These quick changes underline that it is a music video, the use of a fan which blows her hair is also conventional in a pop music video.
-There is a rapid cutting rhythm which signifies the turbulence of the two charatcers relationship. The various locations also outline that it is a music video as in may videos the artist is seen in a varity of places. The quick pace also mirrors the upbeat tempo of the music. The various dance routines, common in music videos, also contribute to the poppiness of the song and make the audience feel uplifted when watching.

 What is the purpose of a music video?
The purpose of a music video is to market the artists songs. Therefore Katy Perry would want to make her video appeal to her fanbase. Hot and Cold is one of Katy Perry's earlier videos so would aim to give the audience an idea of who she is as an artist. The music video suceeds in doing this as it a Pop song so the video is relatively upbeat and light, the narrative behind the film of the groom appearing nervous on his wedding day also follows the lyrics of the song as he appears "hot and cold". In addition a music video needs to make the audience remeber the song and overall entertain, this is achieved in this video through Katy Perrys memorable performance as a crazy fiance.

Practice

In order to ease ourselves into the A2 course we created a tutorial video consisting of different shots we could use later on when creating our music video and showcasing our ability to use the camera.



Evaluation of practice task

In the practice task we used a wide variety of production skills. We firstly did an invisible cut. This was relatively easy as it simply involved using the telephoto lens and filming one shot of Paul in the frame and another shot without him in the frame. Then through editing the shots together we were able to give the impression that he had ingeniously vanished. We followed the same process when doing the invisible dissolve but used the dissolve transition when editing instead.

The whip pan was done by using a standard lens (55mm). We were initially unsure on how to do this shot however through editing we were able to make the shot look relatively seamless through precisely cutting the two shots together. The canted angle shot was one of the weaker ones as it is quite shaky and blurred. This was due to holding the camera, to improve this shot we could use a tripod to make it more stable.

Admittedly we didnt master the pull focus shot as we used the telephoto lens which simply heightened movement of the camera making the shot appear extremely shakey. Next time we should use the tripod again and experiment with different angles to make the shot more intersting and effective.

The final shot, selective focus, was relatively simple as we used shallow focus making the rose appear clear and defined. The background, the leaves, were less defined and blurred more into the background.