Evaluation of Music video, Magazine advertisement & Album cover

Stars in their eyes - Jason Who - Evaluation

For my A2 Media course i was to create a music video, an album cover and a magazine advertisement. Here is the evaluation for all 3 components.

Music Video:

The song we used to create the music video was Stars in their eyes by Just Jack and the name of our artist was Jason Who. The genre was Pop and the conventions and one of the few conventions of pop we used was an up-tempo music video i.e by increasing the speed for few clips such as the beginning. There also flashing images and few clips with the 'glow' effect.

The changes:

There were plenty of changes made to the final product; things differed between the final idea and the final product and here is the list of all of them:

1. The type of auditionees we were going to have changed: instead of a group of three dancers there was a ballroom dancing couple and a bhangra dancer; instead of 3 singers there was one singer; instead of a footballer there was a juggler.


2. We couldn't get the theatre so instead we used an empty passage near the sports centre.


3. We didn't use the poster but instead a text clip on Final Cut was used.


4. Clips of people looking at the posters were removed and were replaced by flashing images because the shots of the people were not sufficient and the flashing images went really well with the up-tempo of the song.
   

What worked?

The whole idea of having this comedy music video consisting of amatuer performers and unimpressed judges actually worked and we got the result for what we were looking for. We wanted people to laugh and they did which means the music video created by us was effective. We were able to gather performers; able to find a place where we can do the filming and we found our artist Jason Who. Editing wise, it went well as i discovered many different effects which i didn't know about before and by using them i was able to create a music video which went well with the genre of our artist which was pop for example being able to add 'glow' and 'flashing' effects giving it the 'jumpy' and 'bubbly' effect.

What didn't work?

As well as having the ups there are always the downs. There was a shot which the was the last shot, it was sort of slanted but it actually worked as the credits started rolling and the 'de-saturated' and 'glow' effects were added on. We should have filmed close-up shots of Jason Who singing to create more of an effect.

What would i change if i was to do the music video again?

If i was to do it again i would most probably just change the location of where it was set; try and definitely get the theatre for next time with more lighting to go even more with the pop genre. i would also add more props such as bigger tables and sheets of paper for the judges to write more comments and also probably get number cards for them rate the performers auditions.

Album cover:

We created an album cover to go with the promotion of the music video.

The changes:

The initial idea of the album cover was to split the cover into two and have a split screen of the street on the left side and the stage on the right side and with a blacked out image of Jason Who in the middle holding a mic to show how the artist has gone from being a street kid to a performer. However changes were made because the initial idea looked more of a Grime album cover rather than Pop. These were the changes:

1. An image of Jason Who was used and the effects threshold and pencil were added to it.
2. Different coloured boxes were added to the background as a conventipon of Pop.
3. Same font type as the title in the music video.

What worked:

The whole concept of having different coloured boxes in the background worked well because it gave the immediate effect on the audience that it was a pop album and that is what we wanted. The thresholded image worked because it emphasized on the name 'Jason Who?' proving that he was a new mystery artist in the industry.

What didn't work?

With pure honesty i don't think there was anything wrong with the album cover.

The changes i would make if i was to do this again?

Again, i don't have any criticisms with the album cover as it fit perfectly with the genre therefore i would make any changes.

Magazine advertisement:

We also had to create a magazine advertisement to promote Jason Who's concert alongside his album Stars in their eyes.

The changes?

We scrapped the whole ideaof having a blacked out image with a grafitti wall in the background because it didn't work with the pop genre. Therefore we used a similar background as the album cover for the emphasis on the genre and continuity. The same image which was used on the album cover was added to the poster in different places.

What worked?

The background of the multiple coloured boxes went well with the genre. The images used made it stand out creating an eye-catchign effect.

What didn't work?

There is only one criticism of the magazine advertisement; insead of duplicating one image to use on the different boxes, i would take various different shots of the artist and also place them onto the page with the added effects.

Magazine advertisement

Here is the final magazine advertisement:

Just like changes were made to the album cover and the music video, changes were also made to the magazine advertisement. The initial idea was to have a blacked out image of Jason infront of a graffiti wall but due to it looking more of a grime genre poster rather than a pop one, we decided to make the changes. We used the same images as the album cover; a similar background from the album cover; the same font type for the title. The reason being we wanted to use a similar background was because, well firstly it emphasizes on the genre pop and also a continuity with the album cover. The font type and the threshold image were also part of the continuity. We could've used any colours but we decided to use light ones to make it stand out.

CD Cover for Jason Who

Here is the final album cover for Jason Who:

The process of creating the album cover:

The initial idea for the album cover:

• The idea was to have a split screen of the streets and the stage to show how the artist has gone from the streets to being part of the performing industry giving this message out that 'anyone can make it regardless of their background' because our artist could be known as the 'kid from the estates'. During the editing process of the album cover we decided to add in a mic or maybe a 'blacked out' image of Jason Who to emphasis on the 'Who?' bit of the name in the middle of the two pics.
  

The changes:

• We made alot of changes to the album cover. Instead of having split screens and images of the street and the stage, we decided to do something else. The whole idea of having a street would actually make the album cover seem 'urban' rather than 'pop'. Therefore, we decided to have an image of Jason and use the effects 'threshold' and 'pencil' to get the image below:
  

Here is the original image:

What we then did was add blocks of colour onto the picture to make it seem more of a pop genre. This was advised to us by our teacher Rosie. Here is the final image:

Connotation:

• First of all, the reason being we used the font 'cooper black' was because it's the same font we used in the music video and the poster and so this is a part of continuity. Not only that, it seems like a pop genre font type.


• We decided to have the coloured boxes in the background because we wanted people to know that the genre of the album was pop as soon as they look at the cover. The same background was used for the magazine advertisement for continuity.


• We decided to threshold the image of Jason because we wanted to emphasis on the 'Who?' bit of his name. This is part of continuity (read below).

Continuity:

1. The continuity between the music video, album cover and magazine advert is emphasising on the 'Who?' bit of Jason Who's name and to do this we thresholded out his images on the album covers and the magazine advertisement. As for the music video, we had point of view shots and over-shoulder shots and then right up untill the end of the video, that's when he revealed himself.


2. The font cooper black.


3. The colourful background.

More more filming and more more editing

I continued the final filming today and these were:

• Jevetta re-filming her bit; she had a different look today which actually came useful with the whole 'amatuer' look; she was wearing glasses and acted geeky.
• Mahamed's bit was re-filmed aswell and i made sure i got extra long clips.

After filming all the clips, i was able to edit the whole music video and i finally finished editing it making today the day where the music video was complete!! The music videos and the magazine are all due in tomorrow, the 15th.

I filled in the gap with the clips and added the credits in the end. I discovered new effects as i was just playing about trying to find something exciting and these two are the ones which i would definitely use:

• swap slide
• slip slide

I used these effects which added the 'oomf' to the music video. The lip-synch was tight and the speed of the video went with the song.

To finish it off i just tightened it up and re-watched it several times to make sure there were no mistakes.

More filming and more editing

Filming:

I wanted to re-film Mahamed's and Jevetta's bit again but thy weren't available today so hopefully tomorrow!

Nonetheless, i did get some new performers and they were: a ballroom dancing couple and a bhangra dancer.

Ballroom dancing couple: what they had to do was, well it started off with the boyfriend dragging his girlfriend into the audition room who didn't want to take part and as they started dancing when he spun her around she would fall to the ground and Akeiba would tell them to just go. He would then drag her up and drag her out of the room.

Bhangra dancer: what he did was, he walked in and then said hello to them in his religion. He would then start dancing and because he is so awful Akeiba told him to leave and then he would take his religious head piece off, throw it onto the floor and then kick. He would then walk out but look back and give them a rude remark lol (this wont be heard as all the clips will be muted).

Editing:

I just continued editing the clips that i filmed today and it's starting to look really good. The bhangra dancer (Aman) did an amazing job; it's really funny and that's the vibe we wanted to get from the amatuer auditionees. The couple's bit was also fun espicially when he dragged her into the room and then dragged her out.

The point of view shots of Jason didn't seem right to me and felt as if the story didn't make sense so i wanted to do something which would make it more unambiguous. Then i discovered the effect 'glow' which made the point of view shots more appealing and possibly would give the audience the idea that this person is yet to be discovered because that's exactly what's going to happen.

I also decided to border all the clips just like most music videos, for example like the one below:

^^ This is a shot from Jay Z's music video 'Run this town' featuring Rihanna and Kanye West.

Editing process day 2

2nd day of editing and due to a technical problem, most of what i created was all deleted meaning i had to do it all over again = STRESS! However, it didn't take that long so it was alright :D lol.

I had finished the beginning of the music video and the ending and all i had left to do was fill in the middle. I had shots of Mahamed juggling, Jevetta singing and the crazy girl being crazy. As i started editing these sections i noticed how i had very few clips and they weren't enough to fill in the gap in between. So tomorrow i'm going to have to film more clips, perhaps get some more people to perform.

I want more clips of Mahamed and his juggling and Jevetta with her singing meaning i'm going to have to re-record their bits again. I've only got a few and i want more lip-synching from Jevetta.

Rosie watched what i've done so far and she advised me to speed up the shots of the judges walking in so it can go with the tempo of the song and it looked good. I also decided to have their bits desaturated and as Akieba (the main judge) is on her way to her seat and then the camera zooming out to a long shot of the judges, i edited this bit to go back to colour and slowed it down because it meant the story was about to begin and so did the song.

Editing process day 1

I've uploaded all the clips onto Final Cut and edited the beginning of the music video (well tried to). Being honest, when i started off i was all confused and worried because some of the clips were 'wonky' and 'bent'. I wanted a close-up shot of the 'Stars in their eyes' poster but that shot didn't come out right so instead i decided to have a text clip which said 'Stars in their eyes' and had it flashing.

I've already made several changes to the initial idea of the music video due to several clips not seeming right.

1) In the beginning where i wanted to have students looking at the 'stars in their eyes' poster, when i added it, it didn't seem to fit in properly because, well firstly the shots were slanted and some didn't turn out right due to the appalling acting (no offence to the students lol). Instead i decided to edit in the shots of the judges walking to their seats and these were close-up shots of their feet. I did split screens of the judges Mehak and Wasila but decided not to split screen Akieba's close-up shot of her feet because it gives a sense of authority unlike the other two. As she walks to her seat and sits down the camera zooms out from her to the 3 judges.

This is all the editing i was able to do in this lesson. Im very sure i'm going to end up having more changes as i can never set my mind to one thing if i don't feel it seems right.

Filming day 3 (hopefully final filming day)

Today we completed all the filming!!

All the performers performed their sections today.

1. Mohammed did his so-called 'juggling'.
2. Jevetta decided to film her bit again because she didn't feel confident with what she did yesterday.

We also completed the judges sections aswell. We have close-up shots of the judges feets walking in. When the final judge (Akieba) walked own the stairs in her heels and then walked upto the chair, i zoomed out into the 3 judges. Then we filmed the close-up shots of the judges expressions and then a middle shot of the main judge in the middle calling out 'next'.

We completed Jason's section where he would come to perform and then Akieba would walk upto him shaking his hand and then he would walk out the door.

Next lesson we're just going to be editing!

Filming day 2

In today's session, we got the performers to start performing and we also filmed Jason's bit.

1. First of all, we filmed the 'crazy girl's' section. We had her run through the door into the audition room screaming and then run through the exit door. We were meant to have either Ola or Olu to play the part of the security guard but they were too shy to do it lol. It doesn't matter though.
2. We had Jason (real name Tamouy) do his bit. A middle-shot of his feet where he's walking was filmed and then a close-up shot of his hand opening the door. Then a point of view shot of him walking through the audition room door. Finally we filmed him singing along with the music and these were long shots. The bit where the judge walks upto him will have to be filmed tomorrow and so we'll continue it then.
3. The final filming of the day was when the singer (Jevetta) did her bit. I got her to act crazy and confident about her singing and it actually looked really good because of her exaggeration. And we also got the other dancer (Zainab) to do her bit aswell which was just moving her head.

We will continue filming next lesson! Again..

Filming day 1

We've been given the cameras today and so we set off to film. We couldn't find our 'Jason Who?' so we filmed all the point of view shots first. We stuck the 'Star's in their eyes' posters on the wall and filmed a point of view shot of 'Jason' looking at it outside and then walking in through the door upto the security guard who let him in. We then got various other people to just react to the posters. We asked the librarian if we can film her putting up the poster. The next shot was of Mohammed walking upto the poster and looking at it.

There have been some changes to the music video and these are:

1. First of all, we couldn't get the theatre to film due to the drama students rehearsing for their exams so instead we thought we might use the sports hall but that seemed a bit odd. So we walked around the college looking for rooms but then we found this certain place near the sports hall; it was empty and plain and it had two doors which we needed so it was the perfect place to film.
2. Instead of having 3 singers, a dance group and a footballer, we now have 1 singer (excluding Jason), a juggler and a 'so-called' dancer just moving her head. We still have the crazy girl but we couldn't get the security guard because he didn't want to be part of it.

We're going to continue filming next lesson!

Taking pictures for CD cover

We took some pictures for our album cover and then we're going to edit them soon. Here are the best ones:

As you can see, most of the pictures are of the street and this is because for our album cover we're planning on having split screens of both the street and the stage to show how our artist has gone from being a kid from the estate to being part of the performing industry. The picture on top, we are planning on using that one for the magazine advertisement.

As for the stage, we decided we would take a picture from google.

Storyboards and CD Cover designs..

Aswell as doing a treament, we also have to produce storyboards and draw up intial ideas for the CD covers. Both me and Akieba worked on the storyboarsd; Everyone in the group has to draw up two different ideas for the covers. Below are images of the storyboards and the designs.

Storyboard:

Once you have the treatment ready, it's very easy to draw up images for the storyboard. Below are the scans of the sheet; we didn't draw eveything, infact just a summary: beginning, middle and end.

Initial designs for album cover:

Below is a scanned image of the 2 designs i created for the album cover.

As a group we've decided to go for the idea of having a split screen image; basically, there will be a line going through the middle of the canvas and on the left side of the cover would be an image of the street to and on the right hand side will be an image of a stage with a mic in the middle. The whole idea of this is to show how the character has gone from being a youth from the estate to someone living their dreams.

First day of starting the production!

Don't let the title musjudge you but what actually happened today was:

• We found our locations.
• Found some of our actors.
  

We wanted the theatre for the talent show but the theatre is booked and so it's difficult for us to use it, therefore, we decided to use the sports hall and fortunetly we can; it's not always in use so it would work in our favour.

Actors:

Singer: Still searching.

Bad singer: my friend Jevetta.

Dancers: Still searching.

Footballer: Kaamil

Juggler: Mohammed

Psycho girl: Akieba's freind

Security guard: Ola

Judges: Akieba & still searching lol

Jason Who: still searching.

The last thing i did before lesson ended was create a poster for the music video.

Here it is:

The Final idea!

After debating about what idea we wanted to go for, Idea 3 got the vote and this is the one we will be working on.

The idea in depth:

The concept of the video is a talent show with people waiting outside read to audition. The winner will then get his/her picture in the magazines and newspapers but the people who are blocking their ways are the three judges. Justin Who is actually going to be the winner of the show and we've decided that, throughout the video his face will not be shown but infact it will be a point of view show right up untill the end just before he starts to perform. There will be some good auditiioness aswell as bad ones and we've decided to have a 'psycho' girl running around liky crazy and then Ola the security guard will then chuck her out of the theatre.

Comparisons:

1. X Factor - Shayne Ward: That's my goal

The reason why this is a comparison is because our music video is a x factor/britains got talent style video.

The Similarities:

Judges

Auditioness

Stars in their eyes poster (instead of x factor ofcourse)

The line of other auditionees waiting outside.

Differences:

• Security guard taking out crazy girl.
• Not only singers but dancers too.
• Point of view shots.
• Video isn't only based around one person; other auditionees can be seen.
  

Here is the video:




2. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

I really like the idea of having split shots afer watching a previous A2 music video and i thought it was cool. Therefore, i threw in this idea and the others agreed. Michael Jackson's Billie Jean also inspired me because it uses several split shots when he's dancing.
Below is a GIF image i created using print screen shots of the split screens from Bille Jean:

Reason why we thought this will be a better idea to do than the other two is because it's similar to what the song is about and that about being 'a star' and as it is a pop kind of song, a jumpy and humourous video would suit it's genre.

Next lesson we will be looking at treatments.

Treatments

Before we start creating the music video, we need to write up a treatment. Rosie gave us an example of a treatment for Eightball's 'My Homeboy's Girlfriend' which was directed by Christopher Erskin.

The treament consists of the idea of the video into depth and what sorts of shots and angles we're going to have. Here is the treatment:

Music Video.. ideas

I'm actually happy with the group i'm in this year because everyone actually listens to each other and take each other's decisions into consideration :).

We've already made a decision of what song we would like to use for the music video and we've had different ideas about the music video itself.
Well the song we would be using is: Stars in their eyes! By Just Jack..

Idea 1:

It would start off with a close-up shot of a poster which says 'RESPECT' in capital letters and then it will zoom into the artist looking into the mirror. The point of the poster is to show that the artist is a very genuine person who believes in believing & respecting yourself. He is in the dressing room getting ready for a performance and then he will walk out the room and as soon as he steps out, there will be a point of view shot when he's walking. There will be flashing lights to signify 'stardom'. This idea has been influenced by Common's music video 'The game'.

Common - 'The Game'

Idea 2:
The second idea was all based around being in school telling a story. It would start off with a close shot of the school logo and then zoom out to Jason Who walking towards the building. The significance of being in the school is to show that, 'you can aim for your dreams even if you're at school' and also he would be having flashbacks of him when he was a student. The younger him would be messing about and getting into trouble but at the same time being serious about his music. This idea is similar to (not compeletly similar though lol) to Chipmunk's video 'Chip Diddy Chip'.

Idea 3:

Our third and final idea was a judging panel music video. It will be a talent show sort of thing similar to the x factor videos. We will have a line of people waiting outside the theatre for their turns to audition and then towards the end Justin Who would walk in and impress the judges.

Next lesson we will come to a final decision as to which one we want to do!

Pleminary task - the video

Here is the final and completed A2 Pleminary video!

What i learnt from doing the pleminary task is how to do different shots to add effect. For example, starting from 0:58 he starts walking down the stairs and then a point of view shot; then a shot of him walking down the stairs but this can be seen through the glass window. During editing i learnt the obvious: how to create a music video :).

Editing pleminary task

Unlike last time, everyone has to edit the pleminary task instead of just one person. I've started editing and finished in an hour; it was easy for me to edit it because, i edited the our last production which was the beginning of a film and i've become used to using the software 'Final Cut Pro'.
It was 1 min and about 30 seconds long which was alright because the maximum was 2 mins.

Evaluation:

There were mostly good shots such as the over-shoulder shot and the mirror out which turned out really good. I also added an 'crawl' effect to the bits where the camera was on Junior and this looked really good because it suited the music. In between his journey, i added the people saying 'fuck education'. However, there were some shots which were shaky, tilted and out of focus so i need to bare this in mind for when we start filming the music video; need to make sure the focus is fine and the tripod is fixed properly. Other than that, i was pleased which means the main production will also be good if i keep up with the pace im working at.

Pleminary task - day 2

We continued filming and that's all that happened this lesson. Junior was our actor and we had him walk through some doors (long shot); walk down the stairs (high angle); point view shot of him walking down; then an over-shoulder shot of him walking towards Kaamil. I then came up with a good idea of filming him through the drama window which looked like a mirror because of the black curtains on the other side and it looked cool. So we had him walk down the stairs and then turned the camera towards him. This was a good shot. We then filmed him walking towards the sports hall where he punched the lockers and then he walked into the sports hall and Marcus went round and round him with the camera. He then walked into the library and typed up 'Fuck Education' on word and we filmed him doing this. The last shot we filmed was of Ola kicking Junior out of the college. The lesson then ended and we had enough shots to edit for next lesson so everything was all sorted!

Pleminary task

Before we actually start producing our music video, we have to do a task known as the 'annoying pleminary task' lol. It's just a minor activity where we have to record and edit a peice and then evaluate it and talk about how we would improve to when it comes to the real deal. Maybe annoying but it brings marks so it's alright lol :D.

The pleminary task for this time is to:

'Create a walking/dancing video with different people appearing in it'

The song we are using is called 'F-Word' by the artist 'Babybird' (i've never actually heard of this artist before lol).

The video should have the running theme of young students saying "F**k Education". It should be as realistic as possible, but give the title song a connection with disaffected youth.

-

The class was split into 2 groups and then we went out to film. I was in a group full of boys and it'sactually much easier working with them then working with a group full of girls because all they is disagree and you never actually get much done whereas the boys listen and do something lol.

We went out filming students from the college saying 'fuck education' and we got about 10 of them and before we could continue, lesson was over.

Here is a 30 second preview of the song we have to work with:

The F-Word - Baby Bird