Blog Reflection Eleven

This week we had aimed to achieve a full timeline for our music video, due to the deadline next week. We had successfully achieved this, although some performance shots didn't look very appealing so therefore we had decided to use the white screen, this would add clarity to our shots.

The filming had worked out to be successful, considering the deadline that is approaching. We had achieved our target of getting lots of shot types and angles, through the use of multiple cameras on the white screen, one was a mid shot and the other a close up, in addition to this we had then taken a handheld scene with more energetic movements around and towards the actors.

After completing this we had started to edit the new scenes into final cut.

Blog Reflection Ten

The week we have started editing! We had imported all of our footage into final cut on the IMacs. We did this to amalgamate the footage we had gained over the half term and to see what we was missing and what we could improve. This had helped us as we have seen what shots we need to re-film and how we could improve shots. We had found a few issues with the footage that we had shot during the half term as our technique wasn't correct. We had only taken the shot from one angle and had not gained enough camera angles and that is an improvement that we had amended when re-filming, although we had started from the first chorus, as our establishing shots didn't have the desired effect as they were too slow and mundane, we then decided that we would work on those areas at a later stage.  

Blog Reflection Nine

This was our half term, we had to use this time to film footage for our music video. We had planned to get a majority of the filming done at Lions Den Gym. The production schedule had all the information about the shots that we planned to shoot at the gym,  Click Here to view the shot list. Although, due to casting issues we had prolonged the filming stage as our actors had let us down consistently, thus making it harder to film. We had filmed shots that we thought we could use, while also making the decision to extend the time allocated to filming as the workload was getting high due to the breakdown of the plan due to the cast members. Although, this week wasn't very productive, I believe that we could manage our time well and film the remaining shots.

Blog Reflection Eight

This week was finishing off the pre-production stages, and creating our flatplans for the magazine advert and digipak, we had to incorporate the analysis that we had previously conducted and added the conventions to make a realistic, professional product. We had to create a shot list for our music video, and also a production schedule of where and when we would be filming during the half term, without the shot list we wouldn't be able to film as it is approximately 4 minutes of audio, and to create a successful music video we would have to plan our shots ahead so that we could film with less errors and less hassle of filming the same scene a numerous amount of times. The difficulties of creating these documents were that they had to be very specific, and the number of shots within a music video made the shot list more time consuming, although this would help later-on as it would keep us on track. The production schedule was less time consuming as we had to find dates where we were both available, and had scheduled times and locations to film. My partner had to create the recci shots of possible shooting locations.

Call Sheet Two

Call Sheet One

Music Video Shot List

Production Schedule

DigiPak Flat Plan

Magazine Advert Flat Plan

Blog Reflection Seven

This week we had conducted a focus group where we could gain some feedback from our actual target audience and their thoughts on our brief ideas and if they had any suggestions to make so that we could relate to them further. 

We had to create a treatment that would look in depth about how we would use the artists branding across the 3 different products (Music Video, Magazine advert and Digipak), this was split into the categories; 

-The Artist

-Audience

-Our Vision

-Technology

-Logistics

The treatment was split into specific categories allowing us to speak in depth about the artists themselves, the audience (using feedback), and allowing us to speak about our vision for the products and how we would use the previous information into our own products, and finally the technical details about where we would film, and what we would film with. This was to direct our thoughts for the project towards a specific direction so that we can plan and get a general idea of what we are going to produce.

Recci Shots

Here are some idea's for locations to use for our music video, and some finalised ideas which we will definitely be using in our music video. Of course the locations need to be suitable and easily accessible therefore our choices have been based on these factors. Of course being a gym song, a prime location which we will have to use is of course a gym. There are many gyms which are accessible to us. We have chosen three Gym's in fact, because of various reasons. One of the reasons is that the facilities at each gym are very different, for example one of our gyms is purely a kick boxing and boxing gym. Here is an in depth picture of our choices for the gym scenes:

Lions Den Gym:

This is the first location we will be using, this gym is not a very expensive or updated gym with the newest equipment. However this is the image which we wish to conduct because I believe the song is of weightlifting and that these locations are shown in a more male orientated gym which is more likely to be very jam packed with weights. I have used this location before in another assessment and it had gone very well and smooth with no complications. Also this is my local gym which I have a membership for therefore it will be easily accessible. Some risks that we could face with filming in a gym is space, as in a gym there is a lot that could go wrong as there is heavy weights and machinery and people. We must be cautious when filming in the gym as we must watch out for other people around the gym, as heavy weight could cause them, us or the equipment serious damage that could be avoided easily, we could inform others that we're filming and that we may need a little space, and we could try use the amount of space that we have to the best of our ability.

Seven Kings Gurdwara Gym:

This is the second location which we have chosen, mainly because it relates to the target audience of our product. Our artists originally are Asian, and getting some footage in a Sikh gym will identify the right target market. Also we can use many aspects of this for humour, as one of us is a member of the Sikh community and know a lot of people from the Gurdwara therefore they can be used for our acting. Meaning that this location is very easily accessible for us due to the ties we have with the Sikh community.

School Gym (Chadwell Heath):

Finally for our final gym location, is our very local school gym. Of course the accessibility will definitely not be a problem for us as we attend school everyday and have access to the gym in most days. But another reason behind choosing this location is that I believe the equipment is better than the other gyms for some scenery, therefore we have chosen this. If it had been far and very hard to gain access then this location would not have been chosen, however because it is so close and will look better I believe we have chosen the right decision in choosing three different locations.

Goodmayes Park:

We have chosen an outdoor venue to use for some scenes. A park is very often seen in many motivational music videos, we wish to show our character running in this setting. The park is not very far and is open at respectable hours, of course shut when it does get dark. Also we will not need any permission to film at all therefore I believe this will be a good setting for our outdoor scenery. The problem with using a outdoor location is the weather, as during winter, it is cold, dull and rains alot so it would not be ideal to film in as the cast, and equipment would get wet, and it would also alter the mood of the music video and make it more depressing, as the emotions associated with cold and rain are usually unhappy and dull.

House:

The locations I will be using in my house would be my living room. This is to get access to my TV and computer which are both needed for some specific shots. Of course it being my home it will be very easy to access it and for my partner it Is not far from school at all therefore for both of us it is very easy to access and can be accessed at almost any time.  The living room will not be too flashy because  UK rap videos arn't associated to having videos which showboat very big and flashy houses, in fact it is the opposite. 



Focus Group on Chosen Song/Analysis

From our focus group we have gathered some positive and negative feedback. All the participants had given the strong side to the song we have chosen. As well as giving a fair opinion with negative responses and things which we can improve on. They also were given an insight in how our product will look and asked for their opinion.

(00:30-00:40) When asked about their first thoughts on the song, we had been given a very good response. They had told us first that it is a "very motivating" song, this was of course an aspect which we are very happy was noticed because then now our video will be associated as "motivating", which is one of our aims for the genre of this project. When talking about the beat, it was described as "upbeat" and "work out song". Meaning the focus group had got the right picture of what the song is about and therefore now may have a better picture on how they want the video to look, hence we asked them this question first. 

(00:41-01:05) After gathering their thoughts on the song we asked them what characteristics they would think of when hearing this song, their reply were ; " weights, shoes , running trainers ". We then asked more in depth on these characteristics and what they'd expect the artist in the video to wear. The response consisted of "tracksuits, hoods, casual clothing, trainers". We initially wanted this response because the costume aspect of our project is more or less the things which our focus group had described anyway. Therefore this was a positive response because what they would expect the artists in the video to be wearing will be what is in the video it self.

(01:30-01:45) Before asking for our initial ideas, we asked more about the focus groups characteristics themselves. Most of them agreed that their favourite genre of music is "house music" due to the fact you can dance to it. This also gave us some very positive feed because when I conducted my previous focus group on my idea the response had been that this song has got a dancing feel to it and it can be played in parties. Also we asked them whether they can associate any other artists with this act, they told us that it does relate to a lot of rap artists. One specifically being Krept and Konan. 

(01:47-02:30) The people in our focus group were all aged 17-18. When asked whether they feel this song is of their age group, they replied " yes" very assertively. This tells us that we have chosen the right target audience for our project. To support this we had asked a middle aged woman to say whether she felt this was of her age group, she replied with no and this is what her children would listen to, and also gave us an age group of 18-21+. Therefore we can conclude that the age group associated with this song is around 18-30, this is a  positive response due to the fact that we had already set out to design this to that specific age group anyway. 

(02:32-03:12) We also asked where they listen to their music, mostly they said it was on music channels. We asked them whether they would change the channel if this came on and they replied with no and that it is a catchy tune therefore it would stay on. Also when asked about how motivating the song actually was they replied with a boundary of around 7-8 on the scale of 10 being the most motivational. Therefore again we have a positive response about the song, which sets our platform when designing the music video and gives us assurance our perception of the song is right. 

However they did give some negative responses on the song saying that the lyrics are not clear enough and are a bit fuzzy. Therefore this gives us the impression that in our video we need to lip sync them perfectly and also go about the lyrics more soundly so that the audience can get a better understanding of the lyrics.

(03:15-03:38) Our focus group had already told us that they know its a gym song, therefore we didn't need to ask their opinion on whether that should be a location, however when asked what location should be in the video we received responses to do more outdoor scenes, like parks and on the street running. 

(03:40-04:14) The idea of bullying being the narrative was put across, was approved of and they thought it could be a good idea, however it was said to be of a more emotional subject and that this song was upbeat. But this response will help us think of more innovative ideas when planning the location and the narrative scenes in our film. 

(04:16-04:30) Finally we started to conclude with our ideas, we told them that our theme of the music video will be of a parody. They seemed to agree with this style more than the bullying concept therefore they give us more confidence to carry on doing the parody style. When we told them one of our idea,  of the women being more stronger they had agreed with this and felt that it would be very funny.

We did receive some critical responses however, and when asked what we could improve on our ideas, they did give us some very good feedback. (04:35)One idea they gave us,  was skinny guys taking pictures of them selves in the mirror. Since hearing this idea we straight away were appealed with it and decided to go ahead with it because even we find it very funny and relevant for our project and so did the focus group therefore it is a win-win situation. One of other great advice we received was to "not make it serious" and to keep it light hearten and it would appeal to them (04:45). Keeping the concept of the video light hearten video was a main convention we wish to use, and further backing on this had made us very confident on our project. 

(05:18) One negative we also received was that the females felt the song is more male dominated, but they also had said they would still listen to it and they do enjoy the song. On the other side another positive they gave us was that they believe our idea is great and think it is funny. This gives us again enormous confidence to go ahead with our ideas.

Overall the focus group has been tremendously helpful, we have received approval of our ideas. We also have received some ideas which have come across from the focus group. Ideas such as skinny guys posing in the mirror, and some better settings such as more outdoor scenery. We received positive feedback on both our ideas and song. After gathering the responses from the focus group we feel extremely confident with our idea and it has made us more wary of what we need to improve and that the good ideas we have we need to emphasise on them and make them as good as they can be.

Final Treatment

Artist:

The artist that we are working for is PMG (Pure Music Generals), they are a group who produce music about keeping healthy and going to the gym, their music and branding works in harmony with each other as they're all in peak physical shape and are leading by example. They have a positive representation to the audience as their music is suitable for most ages as their music is about keeping healthy and taking care of your body, not the usual topics such as; sex, drinking alcohol and drugs seen in other rap, R'n'B videos such as Rihanna's "We found Love" 
We Found Love - Music Video

Audience:

The audience we are aiming to reach is teenage/young adult males ages 16-25; we believe that this age group can relate most to the song, as they may be starting to go to the gym or have been training for a while for the younger ages it may inspire them to start training. This is because they will be able to understand the lyrics and references to the exercises and gym habits, as well as relate to them. They also will idolise the artists as they are very well portrayed men in the video who look to be very masculine. Our Feedback told us that the men will be the firm target audience; however parts of our feedback do reveal that Women may even be interested in this. We know our audience would use this song for motivation, to either go to the gym or train harder, and this would relate of both genders. PMG are a group of British Asian artists, therefore the ethnicity of our audience does straight away draw attention to the Asian background. However our audience is not based on ethnicity, therefore the other audiences from different ethnic backgrounds could listen and enjoy the song. Overall our target audience is based at Males aged 16 and over, who normally go to the gym or are looking to get fit and in shape. They will wear tracksuits and t-shirts to the gym along with the ideal running shoes. Our Digipak, magazine advert and music video will most likely portray all this things at once, through the conventions stated making all three products universal and linked, building the artist brand.

Our Vision:
Plan for the music video and products;
The costume of our artist would usually be very casual wearing jogging bottoms, trainers, hoodies and t-shirts while at the gym or with friends, but his costume would change with the location, for example; he would dress smarter for parties; wearing jeans and a shirt.

The props that we would be using would be gym equipment such as dumbbells, barbells, weight machines, punch bags and cardio machines, using these props would match our song as it is about going to the gym and the first thing that comes to mind when we say gym is “weights” but we also think of famous movies such as Rocky, as one of the movies conventions is the training montage.

The magazine advert and digipak synergy that we’re going to create Is using the same logo for each product, also the artist branding would be kept the same keeping the continuity as when the audience has seen one product, having the same colour scheme and logo and artist representation would show all the products are linked to that artist/group.

We’re going to subvert the conventions of a rap music video and try and make our music video humorous, have women lifting more than some of the men (going against stereotypes that men are stronger than women) and also have skinny males tensing their muscles in the mirror taking photographs (focus group). Our main thoughts for the music video is to make it as funny as possible by showing all the things you should do in the gym etc. We are also going to include a narrative, of a weaker male who is lazy, and procrastinates about going to the gym, until he finally decides to go to the gym - from here we'll have him training with our artists making progression until finally he is confident, active and 

Technology:

The technology that we will be using throughout the main production stage would be a camcorder (SD card), as this is what we'll be using to record our footage, we would attach the camcorder to a tripod for steadier shots, we also have access to a green screen that would allow us to superimpose images/videos onto the screen, this would make the gym fail idea possible. During the editing stages we would be using the iMacs to edit our music video together, using final cut to create a seamless music video, but also to add special effects.

Logistics:
At the moment we are still in discussion about various locations to film our music video. One of the obvious locations which we will have to film in is a gym, the gym is sorted as a location and our two local gyms are more than welcome for us to use as I have used them both on previous occasions for some other media studies projects.  Another location which we are in discussion about is a park, this is a very easy location to choose as we live in an era where there is almost a park or land full of grass within 10 minutes. I believe even if we would like to make the video more effective and put more effort into it we could choose parks which are well known for example a park like Hyde park, we wouldn't need any permission to film in these locations making it easier for us to film in a range of locations.
Along with our desired locations I believe we will need the right time of the day and the right weather in some cases. For instance with our idea to use a park as a location, we will need good weather so that the lighting matches the mood of the song, we would also need a park with smooth pavements so that the camera movement is stable to gain good quality shots. For the gym we need to organise our time so that it is not so busy we hardly get to use any equipment and that we can also experiment along with the place and try to make it look better in the video without making a hassle.