Progress: Last piece of Filming By Emily

On the 3rd of November our group will do our last piece of filming. Our location is a corridor and the shots will go at the start and end of our music video. 
We have started to edit our film and will produce a rough cut of our footage for feedback.

Researching into our next Location By Emily

On Wednesday 26th we will film in town on the top of a multi-storey car park as well as in the town centre. Here are some photographs of the Car park location taken today. The shots we will take tomorrow will come towards the end of our music video as the main singer and rapper, Ana and Calvin, will look powerful and authorative at this height above town.

Researching into lighting at our next location By Emily

On 20th and 26th of October we will film in town and on the 21st October is our night shoot at Tesco's car park. I went to Tesco's at 9pm on Wednesday the 19th (today) to look at lighting before our whole group go and to see whether or not there was enough over head street lamps and if they would provide enough light for us.

This is around the side of Tescos, as we want the tops of cars as a backdrop this might be a good location as the lighting is spread along evenly giving out a strong light.

There is lighting situated over trees and light comes from the main store

Lighting from the main store.

Entrance in to Tesco's could be used for long shots.

Lighting over trees

 As a group we will need to bear in mind that Friday night will be busier so more cars will be around, so we will have to be careful when filming. Overall there is appropriate lighting for us to film.

Permission Request by Calvin

Testing/Rehearsal (whole group)

This is a rehearsal of our group lip-syncing. We took three videos on different locations to see the effects of what these locations will have on a music video. We tested the timing of the video to the music; we found it a little bit hard at first but at the end we got used to and got this testing music video done. We also added some editing features such as the shaky bit at 0:39 sec, and black and white feature at 1:31 sec.

Record Label by Calvin

The Record Label that we are going to create our music video under is Def Jam Recordings. We have chosen this record label because they specialise in the music genre, Hip Hop and R&B, and our music fits into their music genre.

Def Jam has numerous well known artists such as Rihanna, Jay Z, NeYo, Kanye West, and Frank Ocean. This proves that this record label is very successful and by making our music video for this record label would help us become successful and get our music across to our target audience worldwide.

Recording Studio Location Shots

We filmed all of our Recording Studio shots on Friday 14th after school. These location shots show the equipment we used as well as our props and costumes.

We also used a laptop (not shown in photographs above) with a picture of some 'equaliser software' displayed on it to look like a professional recording studio.

Evidence of Making Recording Studio Background By Emily

In these photographs me and Ana are creating the recording studio black background.

Group Discussion on Costume, Props and Location of Recording Studio

       

Record Studio Filming By Emily

We will start filming the Record Studio shots on Thursday 13th in the afternoon and then again after school on Friday 15th. The recording studio location is the chaplains office in school. We chose this location because of the large window that is at the front of the office which looks like a recording studio because of the small room behind it, where artists usually record songs.

Recording of Group Discussion

This is a sample of our group discussing about filming and planning. 

Production Cast

Cinematographer: Emily Kelly


Singer/Rapper: Ana Alvarez and Calvin Serrano


Choreographer: Jasmine Allison 


Extras: Andrew Ralston, Jasmine Allison, Jeico Castro and Sam Considine


Editors: Emily Kelly, Ana Alvarez and Calvin Serrano


Art Director: David Walker


Assistant to Crew: Janelle Remigio

Discussion about costume, props and recording studio location

Health and Safety Information By Emily

Risk Assessment:

Filming Schedule By Emily

(Double click to enlarge)

Shot List By Ana and Emily

We have 102 shots in Total.

Nine frame structure analysis of a music video in our genre by Ana

Alexandra Burke ft. Flo Rida - " Bad Boys ".

1. The Title of the music video:  This first shot shows the titlte of the music video. They used tha same shot to introduce the artists and the title of the song. It's a slow paced shot that increases the tension and makes the audience want to watch it, as the shot gives an insight into what might occur. The shiny silver colour and font of the title is appropriate to teh genre of the song, R&B/Hiphop. It is written in large font in teh middle of the screen, while the female artist is being introduced to the audience. This looks effective and creates a sense of suspense.

2. How characters are introduced: Alexandra Burke, the only female character in this video, is introduced getting out of a fancy car. This is shown with slow paced close-ups of the car and her heels, so she can be shown as a mysterious, powerful and authoritative character. Flo Rida is introduced standing next to a brick wall (screenshot number 3). When Flo Rida joins the video, the arrangement changes. The dancers start tolive up to the 'Bad Boys' reputation.

3. Artist's Performance: Alexandra looks very relaxed and almost arrogant. however this shines through as a good arrogance as it shows as confidence. Her eye contact with the camera is amazing. she is always focused on the camera, adn it is really striking as a viewer, as she seems to connect with the audience (e.g. screenshot number 6). She is also telling the story through her sexy movements (screenshots number 7 and 9). As she is singing the lyrics, her movements always go with the beat of the music. In this shot, Flo Rida keeps his cool, swerve look, as he stands near a wall with spotlights on him, whilst the dancers break loose.

4. Setting/Location: they used urban locations such as a bar and the street (screenshot snumber 1, 2, 3, 7 and 9) so the video could take the form of the typical dark, gloomy type of basement setting, with the dancers bringing the scene to life. This is quite typical in R&B videos (e.g. Timberland ft Nicole Sherzinger and Keri Hilson  also used the same sort of setting in the 'Scream' music video). These settings allow a wide variety of shots.

5. Costumes and Props: In this shot, she is using her Blackberry next to her expensive fancy car. These are both typical conventions of the R&B/Hiphop genre as expensive items are used to show the artost's wealthiness. In this video, alexandra wears 2 totaly different outfits: when she is dancing with the dancers she is dressed in a black leather outfit (screenshot number 7), and in the rest of the shots she is dressed in a silver sparkly dress (screenshot number 6) to make sure the differences are ovious. The dancers and Flo Rida are alll wearing HipHop/urban clothing: baseball caps, sun glassses, hoddies, gold necklace, etc. (screeenshot number 3).

6. Camerawork and editing: this video includes a lot of medum and long shots as they help showing the dance routine to the audience (which is one of the most important aspects of this video) better thatn close-ups. Durins this dance routine, there are two different camera shots of Alexandra: One where she is dancing with the dancers and the other, showing a more relaxed Alexandra, where she is dressed in the silver sparkly dress. The quick editing of the camera work only gives us a short clip of Alexandra in a different scene, which works well, as it quickly goes back to the dance routine. 

7. Story and How the music video sets it up: The story of this music video portrays Alexandra as a powerful woman in control of all the 'bad boys'. At this particular point of the video, Alexandra stops, mid walk, and acts as if she is pushing the guys away. They dramatize this move and jump out in differnt directions. All the dramatic movements go hand in hand with the beat of the music. It looks as if they would do anything Alexandra does. There is another dramatic part in the song where Alexandra makes an entrance, looking stunning and making all the guys stare. The next point in the video is when Alexandra starts a dance routine off. She begins to dance and gradually the dancers join in. This is a really good feature of teh video as it is an impressive dance routine.

8. Special effects and Dance routine: There aren't a lot of special effects in this music video, as it is mainly based on the performance and dance routine. The only special effect i found is in this shot, when she flips over the dancer. This is obviously edited into the shot.

The dancers don't seem to have a particular dance routine, but it is very well choreographed as they bounce off what Alexandra is doing. She later breaks into a choreographed routine, showing off her dancing abilities, which the dancers join in with. The whole performance is professional and well-timed together.

9. Genre and how the video suggests it: this shot shows clearly the genre of the song. The shot shows the artist dacing with her crew in the street, making her teh center of attention. This type of scene is used to attract and inmerse the audience straight into the fast paced music. The lights placed behing her are really appropriate  to the genre as tehy give the 'cool factor' to the scene. In general, all the aspects of this music video are appropriated for the R&B/HipHop genre (lightning, costume, location/settings, dance routine, props, etc).

Still Frame Analysis by Calvin

B5 - All I do 

This is an example of an old R&B music video by B5. The music video genre is Performance based with a little hybrid of Narrative. 

The music video starts with a vehicle which in this is a School Bus which then proceed to present the Artists.  This is a low angle shot which sets us in lower position than the artists giving them authority and higher status than us the viewers. 

This is a long shot type which showcases the whole group. This is effective as although we can barely see their faces and how they sing; the video wants the audience to focus on their dance routine instead which is one of audience's expectation on an R&B music video.

This is a mid-shot showing a group of people including the artists. This is effective as once again it shows one of the audience's expectation on an R&B Music Video: artist being shown with 'crew' or a 'group'.

This shot also show a prop: A portable stereo. It is a prop used by many R&B music video as it shows how the artist is fond of music; wherever they go they can play their own music and sometimes showcase their dance moves.

This is a close up of one of the artist singing. Close up is a vital aspect for a music video as it helps the audience recognize the artist thus one of the reasons an artist gets known is through being shown visually showcasing their appearance on screen. If audience like what they are seeing, they are bound to remember that artist which then leads to them being known. 

This is an example of a transition used by the music video; this is called a fade out where the scene fades by getting covered in white. This is effective on getting on one scene to another different scene.

 

The REj3ctz - Cat Daddy

This is an example of a contemporary music video by The REj3ctz, a hip hop group who popularized the dance craze "Cat Daddy". The music video is a performance based showing artists and dancers performing.

The music video starts with a mid shot of a guy doing the "Cat Daddy" as well as showing a special effect; a text saying "REJ 3CTZ" which is the hip hop group's name. This helps the audience to acknowledge who they are.

This is a long shot showing a group of people gathering around in a circle. This shot shows a modern take on the traditional Circle dance in which people dances without partners to any music accompaniment. In this shot, the audience can see Chris Brown dancing; doing the "Cat Daddy". As Chris Brown is well known and famous through his songs, as well as being a talented dancer; him doing the "Cat Daddy" will help the audience to recognized the dance move therefore inviting them to copy him.

This is a close up of the main artist. This is also a low angle shot giving the artist an authority and higher status especially the way the artist looks straight into the camera with his finger pointing at it makes him more dominant.

This is a 360 degrees long shot. It is effective as not only it shows the artists dancing; it also shows the location which is a beach with graffiti'd skateboard ramps (this is also one of the audience's expectation in an R&B music video).

The two different music videos from different times shows changes in the style of R&B, Hip Hop music video. However, something hasn't changed yet has been developed further such as the artists dancing; the use of low angle shots; the use of close ups; having a group or a 'crew'; and as well as long shot to show the artist's image.