Analysis of at least one sequence from rough cut

We took on board the feedback and advice that was given. We made a few changes, out of these changes i am going to talk about the scene where i walked around the corner. At first, it was a match cut of me walking around the corner, now we have replaced it with a cross cut of me smiling to the camera. We decided to replace it with this because our teacher felt "jarred" by it, and because we also had a lot of shots she adviced us to use them.

Feedback from the rough cut

As a group i think, that we did very well for our rough cut. However, we had a discussion amongst ourselves and our teacher. We came up with a list of things we need to work on.

1) Continuity - place the scene where sylvda bumps into the guy at the end.
2) Slow down the opening, so that we can see the transition
3) Add the animation to the time lapse
4) Take out the scene, where she walks around the corner.
5) Cut down the interaction scene, as it was too long.

vladimir propp and his theory (research)

Vladimir propp was a Russian scholar and a Russian literary analyst and critic. Vladimir broke down a large number of Russian folk tales into their smallest narrative to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements. He was born 17th April 1895 and died in august 1970. Born in Germany he attended St. Petersburg University majoring in Russian and German philosophy.

Vladimir developed a character theory for studying media text. He states that there are 7 broad character types which he found in the takes he analyses. He believes these could be applied to other media.

The 7 characters are :-

1. The villain- struggles against the hero
2. The donor-character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest
3. The princess or prize — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. the hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain
4. her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished
5. The dispatcher —prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object
6. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess
7. False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess

We can apply this theory can be applied to the video 'Smile by Lilly Allen' She is clearly presented as the villain as she spends the whole video seeking revenge on her cheating boyfriend. As Lilly trashes his flat and puts laxatives in his tea. we can clearly see she is not the hero at all. 

Amplifactaion, Disjuncture and Illustration (research)

Eminem - cleanin' out my closet is a good example of Illustration . He is telling a story of his bad childhood. which instantly relates to the lyrics. The low lighting creates a dark mood and intense emotions. I also feel this video has great location and mise en scene which helps create the video.



The killers -Smile like you mean it, is a great example of Amplification. As the band travel around in their past memories like ghosts it links with the lyrics. At a glance it does seem a bit confusing but as you listen to the lyrics you connect that the ghosts represents something important about his childhood.



Micheal Jackson- Man in the mirror is a prime example of Disjuncture. The lyrics have little connection the lyrics. As the song is about self-realisation but the video as wold events.

Production Schedule (Planning)

Filming (production)

During half term as a group decide that we wanted to try out shooting our time lapse. So we took the camera over the weekend.As Filippa had a great view from her window we thought her house would be perfect. when we returned from our half term holiday. We then looked at the footage and found out due to the camera and editing software we couldn't really achieve the correct look for our time lapse. But as we filmed it so early on we had time to change our ideas. However some of the footage was usable.

Our song is called 'Mr blue sky', now as a group we soon realised this came as somewhat a hindrance. Correction big hindrance. On our 1st day of filming we had a bright sunny and blue sky. Which is what we wanted for our video. But after that day the weather declined quickly which was very frustrating. So instead of filming in our next lesson. We decide to edit what we filmed already. In some ways this was an advantage for us as we got the 1st minute and a half completed of the song in that lesson. And we knew exactly what we wanted to film next. But the weather persisted to be dark and grey. This worried us as we were running out of time.

As a group we decided to film on our day off, and the weather was bright and blue. This filming session went rather well. we started rather early in the morning so we could get the use of the sunlight. We also wanted to film rather quickly as sylvda was freezing. I felt the one thing that we needed to film was base tracks. which proved in the end very helpful.  Another thing we achieved in this filming session was the scene with other actors. We really needed to develop our story line including the mysterious Mr blue sky character.

Photos from filming sessions (Production)

Note to group:-

We need to add more images but that is all i could find on our memory card. I think to make up for us not having the images we could maybe do our blopers/ funny moments idea. Hopefully i can get to do this one lunchtime.

Draft storyboard (planning)

Test shots for lighting and mise-en-scene (planning)

sylvda makeup and outfit. We wanted her to repersent the clasic stlysih 50s look. Red lipstick and a very beautiful jumpsuit

        Our blue sky shot which we needed to find the right lighting for bulidings did prove a problem at times.




This is the cafe we used for our interaction scene. We had to ask permission to flim outside and after buying some food from there they granted us permission.

Review of Student video (Planning)

Adam, Lisa, Nasima & Sayvita from 283goswell on Vimeo.

This is a pop video which you can instantly tell by its up beat tempo and also catchy lyrics. when watching this video in class i really enjoyed it. And instantly the use of black and white caught my eye, also the pop red added a nice element to the video.  In relation to Andrew Goodwin's theory this video has amplification. The singer is based as the narrator and also as a character. Even though the video doesn't tell you a story it is clearly based on a performance. But through clever cut aways to the people holding the signs 'Everybody needs love' it adds meaning but doesn't contradicts the lyrics. This video also repeats the images.

I thought the editing of this video was done really well, they has a nice shot variety also. I thought the use of red which in my view would symbolise 'love' was used in a great way. As against the black and white it creates an eye catching contrast.  I also thought the city location was a good idea as the other pedestrians added to the feel of the video. The lip syncing was done effectively as well. My only criticism is that i felt that you couldn't really get a sense of the singers personality through her costume. I felt there could of been a variety of different locations also.

Final song choice (Planning)

When picking our song we knew exactly what type of sound we wanted to go for. Fun .quirky and catchy up tempo song. And after much consideration we agree on this 'Mr blue sky' cover by Lily Allen.


As this song hasn't got a video it immediately got our creative juices following. It meant we could choose what concept we want with out it being compared to anything. After brainstorming some ideas we opted for an Amplification and illustration type of style. But in a more interesting style, we also wanted to keep the audience guessing and not follow the obvious love story.

Analysis of one sequence from the rough cut (Production)

After we received feedback from our rough cut we were very pleased with what was said. However we knew as group we needed to make much need adjustments. From the start of shooting this video we had a clear concept . ''Coco blu roaming the streets of London looking for a mystery guy who's never fully revealed'' But in our rough cut it that story wasn't clear to our audience as we had a clear continuity problem.


So on the advice of our teacher and much discussion as a group we deiced to change the shots. We bascily put 'Mr blue sky' at the end of the video rather then in the middle. This i believe did help with making the video make sense. As what i have realised is that when making a music video you as the artist already know what your story concept is. That's why if you don't continue to always think about the audience throughout the whole process you can fall off track.

Another element we added to our video was a BEAUTIFUL animation which was drawn by Holly. As soon as we got together as a group. We instantly wanted to create/ add something different. Animation was our very first thought. Originally we wanted to have a time lapse that showed the connection from morning to night. But due to camera issues and lack of memory card space we couldn't really achieve the shot we wanted. But with some clever editing and weather watching we got some shots of a blue clouded sky. And through the editing process we speed it up slightly so you can identify the clouds moving. The reason why we wanted the time lapse was due to the face the song is called ' Mr blue sky' Also would accompany our instrumental in the song. I realised very early on a time lapse for so long on screen would be very boring just to watch. So the creation of the animation was amazing. we deiced to add a sun with a happy smile and blinking eyes, This was for our 1st time lapse. Then for our 2nd time lapse we added a place with a replica small Coco blu character, and also a Coco blu banner dragging along behind it.

Feedback from the rough cut (production)

 Feedback from our audience.

Feed back from our teachers.:-

• Move the sequence with the man to the end. Which will help with our continuity issue
Slow down the opening shots of the sky and intro some transitions.
Take out the walking around the corner shot
Improve the interaction scene with a cut to sylvda singing so the sequence doesn't drag
Add animation to the time lapse bits.

A note on blog technology.

To make this a modern day multimedia blog I searched for different ways to incorporate audio, video and images within my posts. To be blunt, it's not rocket science but some things took me many hours google-ing and I thought if I exposed what I had done a bit more it would not only be a useful reference for me and other students in later blogs but might even score me some marks for presentation and/or use of technology too! :)


You want: An image gallery/ slideshow viewer.
Example at the end of my post here.
Web address: http://www.ricocheting.com/code/javascript/html-generator/image-slideshow
Explanation: Upload you images onto the web somewhere, photobucket, blogger, wherever, and then get the direct image address (normally right click on image, select copy/view image url or similiar, you know you've got it if it ends in .jpg  /.gif/.png/.bmp). Then just follow the website above, generate code, paste it into the the Edit HTML bit when making a blog post. NOTE be sure to follow advice in the websites comments about resizing /forcing a specific width, otherwise your images might end up way bigger than the confines of your post. I know it looks a bit basic but you can read through the comments for tips on jazzing it up (or just play around with it yourself), and its the best you can get that works in blogger and isn't plastered with advertisements.


You want: To make a .gif you can upload, from pictures or film clips.

I tested this but haven't had reason to use it yet.

Web address: http://www.createagif.net/

Explanation: This isn't the best way to make a gif, as you don't have much control, but it's easy. Just follow the website. You'll upload files from your pc, then when it's done theirs actually a blogger icon on the side, click that and copy the code into the Edit HTML tab when creating a post.

You want: To embed just music/sound into your blog.
Example in my post here.

Web address: none, see code below

Explanation: Took me ages trying to find a nice clean music playing bar with no adds that actually worked on blogger, here it is! not so complicated, your sound will need to be hosted somewhere like http://www.zshare.net/ or maybe its already out there, for example i found this song on beemp3.com. Then you need that url again (you'll know its right if it ends in .mp3 /.wav/.midi/someotherdots). Then just past that url into this code below, after audioUrl=. Here i've allready got an url in for the ting tings, it ends at the qoute marks after .mp3, be sure to leave the quote marks in. Code:

<embed flashvars="audioUrl=http://alyshadeshae.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Fuck-That-Bitch-Up-Thats-Not-My-Name-The-Ting-Tings.mp3?stdfro.mp3" height="27" quality="best" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3523697345-audio-player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400"></embed>

You want: To embed a microsoft powerpoint/ word doc into your blog.

Example in my post here.

Web address: http://www.scribd.com/

Explanation: You'll need to sign up/log in with your facebook account here, and i'm pretty sure the website will tell you the rest.

You want: To link to an exact part of a webpage.
Example, a link in my post here to wikipedia directs the user straight to the part of the page entitled Functions

Web address: none, see below

Explanation: Sometimes when your linking someone to a website with lots of text on you might want to direct them to the middle portion. For SOME WEBSITES theirs an easy trick to do this. Find a defining word/subheading/ect that you want people to read on that page. Copy the URL for the whole page, but on the end just add #Wordtoskipto. for example www.cutecats.com/#Furry, would open up the page at the point with the word Furry on. (example is fictional.) NOTE, this WON'T always work, because modern websites are all structured much differently, but you can try it and see.

_____________________________________________________

Ps. Blogger does have some nifty features but It can also get a bit overwhelmed when you do a lot of formatting, my biggest annoyance is when i change my font style/size in the post, publish it, only to see that it's not changed at all. Blogger gets a bit bloated, if you look at the html you can see it formats every little paragraph. If this is causing you frustration use the 'T' with the little cross on it next to the spell check at the top to remove all the formatting around selected text and start afresh. Just be careful you don't apply it to links/videos ect or else they'll all be gone!

{Production} Evaluation of rough cut

As the deadline loomed for our final cut this rough cut gave us the oportunity to to evaluate our progress so far.

In soon became clear that we had deviated from our original storyboard. We found that what should have been the real climax of the story, the moment she catches Mr Blue Sky, came far too soon. While our video was progressing the way we had wanted, because we had decided to add more narrative confrontation by having her bump into the guy of her dreams before losing him as she had to have lunch with a friend, only to spot him and chase him down later. Of course we realised upon showing our rough cut to our teachers and peers that it might present mis-understandings and seriously effect our continuity, not to mention that we all agreed that the moment she bumps into him was really the fairytale resolution we wanted for our video. I have some initial concerns with changing the sequences, of the cafe and the meeting, around. However I'm sure that with a bit of careful editing and appropriate use of some of our base tracks, where we can repeat imagery to good effect like many music videos, we should be able to overcome any problems and I'm sure the video will be greatly improved for it!

Other areas of improvement were more minor, our teachers were our most informed critics and were very helpful, they picked up on the edits that just didn't quite sit right with the viewer despite our well placed intentions. We were told that the audience wanted to see more of those fabled "blue skies" at the beginning, as you can see from the video we experimented with cross-fades to make the transition from the open sky to the close-up of Cocos feat less jarring, however we still need to improve this as best we can within the limited time frame. There was also a high angle shot that we used to show the movement between the street at the beginning and the shops, it seemed important to us but on reflection we realised that it was unnecessary and that our video will benefit much more from a perfect cut-away shot I'm sure would fit in just right. We were also advised to break up our sequence with Filipa (as Cocos friend) in as taken in it's whole it's quite long and the viewer might lose interest. So that's something we'll certainly try to improve.
Aside from the fact that several of the shots were just place holders for timing or some such (see the green smiles! and the dog), and that what was once our time-lapse shots, now cloud movement, got quite dull to watch without the animation we planned to put on top, the rest of our feedback was very positive!

The wordle image above highlights the aspects people admired the most.
Some of the comments I was most pleased to hear were:
"Really good Lip-syncing!"
"Slyvda looks great doesn't she? completely looks the part!"
"I like the doors as props alot, and they were used in time with the music which was cool."

Coco Blu Rough Cut

{Production} Filming Sessions

Planning: Potential Songs

Choosing our own song to perform and base our video on, was quite difficult. As well as being a group with different music tastes we also had a very narrow field gap to work on, especially because being a girl group we had to choose a female and also British. Below i will show some examples of songs that were considered an option. We did try very hard to maintain a song that wouldn't be extremely used, or an artist that was also not of this nature. We used the Internet, particularly YouTube to research videos. We wanted to maintain a vintage-y nature so researched old artists as well as new. We finally decided on Lily Allen because of her contemporary voice but old fashioned influence and style. Choosing the song we did was also because it was a cover of a 70's band ELO, so we thought that it was unlikely that another group would be using it. We also liked the fact that the song didn't have a video, this was to our advantage because it gave us a clean slate to work on.

An artist we considered was Duffy Springfield, for her actual vintage style that back then was obviously modern. 



After being inspired by Dusty we did pause to think how it wasn't very upbeat and we did want something much more exciting. To mind then came a soul voice who covered this song 'Son of a Preacher Man', she was much more modern, but was still an artist with a twist in her music. Joss Stone became a very likely option.



We very much enjoyed her strong voice and thought it would suit our artist a lot but maybe even too strong. Lily Allen was therefor our best bet because of her smooth, quite workable voice, i think we made a right song choice, but personally could have benefited from maybe have done a larger research to focus on other bands from other genres that we could have worked with to adapt to our pop video. Below are some examples that i thought could have been options.

Siouxie and the Banshees


The Raincoats


It would have been fun to look into these different genres, the play with costume and makeup, editing and putting shots together to fit the mood would have been much more varied and a different outcome to what we will end up with

Target Audince

Emily 18 years old.