Rough Cut Commentry

Rough Cut Commentary - Locked Away by R.City ft Adam Levine

This is our second Rough Cut for our music video, there are still some parts that we can edit, however it's coming a long more than it was before. So far we have produced a questionnaire asking people what they thought about our idea for the music video, this idea was a success however producing it proved to be more difficult then it expected. There were multiple times we couldn't find the time to film particular scenes and had to do the best with what we had.

Positives about our Music Video

• The music is on beat with the shots, making it fast paced.
• It's in line with pop music video code and conventions such as the star brand; the artist play's the main lead while also singing.
• Features the the orginial characters that our music is based on 'Bonnie and Clyde'.
• Is a modernised version of Bonnie and Clyde.
• Involves Flashbacks, this makes it unique and challenges the codes and conventions of stereotypical pop music videos.
• Involves a romance.
• Lip Syncing matches up to the beat and lyrics.
• The meaning of the song matches up to the narrative of our music video.
• Even when the audience thinks the song has finished, there is a little at the end. Enhances enigma for the audience.

Negatives about our Music Video

• The flashbacks i feel need to be more prominent, so the audience know they are flashbacks
• Shots need to be shorter in various scenes, e.g. the scene of them walking to the door.
• Several shots need to be re-alligned and cut in time to match up to the ones after, e.g. the scene where Bonnie and Clyde are walking together, but then it cuts again and Bonnie is behind Clyde instead of in time with him.
• One of the police officers death is a little too fake, and Bonnie runs in to late for the kill, preferably this is a scene that needs to be re-shot.
• Scenes need to be cut just before you hear the camera noise to stop recording.
• The car scenes, needs to be cut just before the shake to avoid any shaky noises.

By Danniella Chapman

Rough Cut 2

Magazine cover

By Megan Birch

Front Cover For Ancillary Tasks

This image has been edited and photoshoped by Nathan Gilbert, its the front cover for our ancillary task and single cover.

This image is the back cover of the ancillary task. Done by Nathan Gilbert.

Album cover Analysis

By Megan Birch

Magazine Advert Analysis

This magazine advert for Jessie J's debut album "Who you are" features a picture of the artist and some information about the album. They have used the same image on the advert as the physical album cover. This is good because it allows the audience to easily recognise the album in shops. Her bold look draws all the attention to her because they are mostly selling her image. The white and gold writing on black background makes it really stand out and matches her picture, with her fair skin and a black and gold theme for her outfit, hair and makeup.

By Megan Birch

Filming Schedule

This is the filming Schedule for our first draft, this will be stuck to and any dates will be changed following any cancellations. Filming will continue after the first draft is edited to ensure all scenes are up to date and in the best position possible, we will also be looking at muse-en-scene more deeply and looking at facial expressions and body language we need our characters to be in.

By Danniella Chapman

Shot List

Here is a completed shot list of our film, it's been organised to display not only the time these shots are during, but where and what props are needed. This is being used to help us understand the filming process and what we need to do.

By Danniella Chapman

Codes and Conventions (layout and design) Pop Album Posters

The codes and conventions for Pop Album Posters

There are key elements that make the ancillary posts, for album posters and covers there are often a link between the songs featured within the album as well as the music video. For the song Locked Away by R.City there is a link between this song and the album cover which features on the poster for the album.

There's a particular set up for Pop Posters and here are the codes and conventions for it...

• Often features the Album's theme and cover photo
• The font often has a link to the name of the artists e.g. with the band Rise to Remain, their name as R's which carry out the first and last letters to look as if they are vultures wings, hence the name of the album City of Vultures with the picture of the vultures.
• The font is usually big and bold to stand out
• The album's cover is also usually on the poster as it makes the album more recognisable when it comes out.
• It features the date of release 
• The record label is also included as well as any singles that are being featured in the album, particularly ones that are already well known.

There is a need for a variety of texts and fonts as this allows the audience to look at the whole picture. It also draws their attention to different parts of the poster, especially information such as dates and album itself. The longer the audience spends looking at the poster the more information they take, this can increase their memory and they're more likely to remember seeing the poster and recognising the album.

By Danniella Chapman

Music Video Analysis

Goodwin's Music Video Analysis

Iggy Azalea - Trouble ft Jennifer Hudson

Iggy Azalea's real name is Amethyst Amelia Kelly, originally from Australia she moved to the US at just the age of 16, she's released chart topping albums already and has already worked with big names within the industry including Ariana Grande, in which they released a chart topping single called 'Problem' and had another duet with Charlie XCX called 'Fancy' which peaked at number one.

The characteristics of hip hop are...

• Low Angled, Close-Up shots
• Lots of Two Shots
• Dancing, bouncing their arm to the beat
• Display of physical strength
• Expensive Items
• Men are with their 'posse'

There was a couple of characteristics involved in the music video, however not a lot, while there were no low angle shots there was close-ups and lots of two shots of not only the criminal and the justice, but also of the two lovers, which follow the theme of 'Bonnie and Clyde'. Both Iggy and Jennifer coming to the end of the music video were dancing and there was a lot of physical strength being shown by the men in jail, lifting their weights as well as doing push ups, while standing around with their 'posse'

As per, there is a link to the visuals and the lyrics, the first line Iggy spouts, she says 'Should've known you were bad news, with your bad boy demeanour and your tattoos' While a long shot shows her boyfriend standing strong and walking with pride wearing tattoos.

While Jennifer is singing 'You seem like trouble to me' there is a quick shot of the hands from the criminal in handcuffs and can see him in the back of the police car.

There is a lot of links with this music video, as one of the key points Iggy makes is 'It appears opposites attract, good girl bad guy what a perfect match' while it uses a quick 2 second shot of a bad guy behind the screen, and a good girl wearing glasses and pale skin putting her hand out for him.

By Danniella Chapman

Music Video Analysis - She Looks So Perfect

Goodwin's Music Video Analysis

5 Seconds of Summer - She Looks So Perfect

5 Seconds of Summer is a band from Sydney, Australia, which consists of 4 band members such as Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood, Ashton Irwin. The band originally started touring with One Direction during their Take Me Home tour, they debuted with their single 'She Looks So Perfect', which was topping charts in several countries.

The characteristics of Pop Punk Music Video's are...

• Particularly All Male Band
• Rebelling against stereotypes
• Live Band Playing
• Doesn't always have a link to the song
• Large area of people

As you can see they already take part with several of the codes and conventions such as them being an all male band, which they are, just by the gif being placed you can also see their as a live band playing, in which they all play instruments within certain parts of the music video. The music video itself doesn't stereotypically have a link to the lyrics itself either as its rebelling against the standards of pop music videos. Hence why it is a sub genre of pop/punk.

The first link between the visuals and the lyrics happen within 2:06 minutes within the music video, the first line is 'Your ripped skinny jeans are on the floor' as students take off their clothes and throw them on the ground.

The next line with a link to the visuals is 'You look so perfect standing there' near the end of the video, where one woman in a supermarket had taken off all of her clothes and was dancing in her underwear, which also links to the next line 'In my american apparel underwear'. These lines all link together especially as this is all happens while clothes such as underwear are being thrown around the band while they're playing.

As they're a sub genre such as pop punk, they are known for being rebels without a cause and therefor there isn't always many links between the lyrics and the song 

By Danniella Chapman

Music Video Analysis Sheet - 5 Seconds of Summer (She Looks So Perfect)

By Danniella Chapman

Music Video Analysis - Chocolate

Goodwin's Music Video Analysis

The 1975 - Chocolate

The 1975 are a band formed in England, Manchester, they usually vary in Indie, Pop, Pop Rock, Electropop, and Indie Rock. So they vary in a lot of sub genres of wider genres. The group consists of Matty Healy who is the lead vocalist of the band. Adam Hann who is the lead guitarist, Ross MacDonald who is on bass and George Daniel who is on Drums.

The characteristics of Pop music video are...

• A romance 
• The artist lip syncing
• The artist also being the lead actor
• Upbeat music
• A narrative

The 1975 are band that go against stereotypes such as their music video girl's and while their music lyrics themselves follow the standard conventions for pop, their actual video's don't. They are in a sense a rebel without a cause and at times they most likely won't even have as many lyrics to match up to the visuals since they go against those codes and conventions.

One of the only visual links that they have to lyrics are 'Now we're running away from the boys in the blue' while they're in a car driving through a tunnel, this makes it appear that they are driving and trying to escape from the police, even without any police in the scene.

Another link is 'Dressed in black from head to toe' from the head up from what we can see in the visuals its obvious they are wearing all black, as the music video is also in black and white.

There isn't many visual links to the lyrics simply because they are a every rebellious band that like to defeat the codes and conventions that are sent for them to follow.

By Danniella Chapman

Music Video Analysis Sheet - The 1975 (Chocolate)

By Danniella Chapman

Music Video Analysis - Locked Away

Goodwin’s Music Video Analysis

R.City – Locked Away ft. Adam Levine

R.City are a pop band that also do several genres of music for a wide range of fans, they also focus on hip-hop, pop, R&B, Calypso and Reggae Fusion. However for the song Locked Away in which they perform with Adam Levine from the band marron five, they come under the genre of pop and perform this song featuring the standard codes and conventions of pop songs. The band was formed in 2003 and consists of two brothers Theron and Timothy Thomas.

The characteristics of Pop music videos are …

• ·         They usually contain a link from the lyrics of the song to the actual video itself.
• ·         Celebrities are usually the starters for fashion trends, usually the actors involved in the music video itself are young, this is to link with the artist themselves but also to the youth, it appeals to the younger audience.
• ·         Most pop songs are about love or the concept of it, so most of the pop songs have an element of romance to it to make it appeal to the younger audience.
• ·         In sync dancing with choreographed routines and performances within the music videos are also common, this is too sure they’re all performers and not just singers.
• ·         Close ups of the artist’s face helps keep them relevant and recognisable.

Music Videos such as Locked Away are sung to tell a story within them, you can hear and see the story being played out in your head before you have even seen the music video, this is because most pop videos have a direct link to the song and lyrics themselves, it has the ability to give the audience an insight into the representation of the lyrics and any hidden meanings in them.

The song locked away has several links to the lyrics starting with the line ‘Tell me would you really cry for me,’ during this music video, in this particular line it shows the characters girlfriend crying since they aren’t able to pay the bills. As well as the soldier in the video crying since he will be leaving his family, he picks up and then puts down a photograph of his family.

‘If I couldn’t buy you the fancy things in life,’ in this scene, the character’s girlfriend also pulls out a jar full of coins while holding their bills in one hand and pours it over the table, showing that there isn’t a lot of coins in the jar to pay for these bills.

‘If I couldn’t be strong,’ this line can have two meanings, and for this music video it replicates the prospect that the soldier couldn’t stay strong for his family and broke down in tears when it was time for him to leave.

The music video was made in the summer and therefor bright clothing was one of the trends during this period, at the end of the video they were multi-coloured clothing as well as different design patterns which can be classed as ‘fashionable’ as well as sticking to African patterns. The girls were braids in the hair which many African-American women were to protect their hair and dark make-up to suit their skin tones.

The demands of the record label mean that close-ups are required from all of the singers involved in the music video, a lot of the close-ups were of Adam Levine one of the main singers in the video, while there are medium shots of him to show not only his body language but also his tattoos, which is one thing he is known for, his many tattoos. The record label also includes multiple body shots of the model.

The label also include product placement with the brand ‘CORE’ water, they include two shots, one where the main rapper is drinking it and another when he places it on the counter and the shot focuses on this water bottle for at least 3 seconds.

By Danniella Chapman

Music Video Analysis Sheet - R.City (Locked Away)

By Danniella Chapman

Costume Inspiration

Bonnie and Clyde Costumes

The Bonnie and Clyde costumes are inspired by different movies. There isn't many modern music videos that capture the modern version of Bonnie and Clyde that we are going for. As most student film's there was a low budget involved so we weren't able to make a lot of costumes or to be able to buy new ones, in this case we had to look for films or music video's that had similar costume choices to what we would most likely have at home. Two film's that we felt made this was St Trinians and Black Mass.

In the film St Trinians they use the use of all black tight fitting outfits, in this particular scene they were also robbing a painting, where as in our music video they were robbing a house, and looking for objects to steal. The fitted outfits are what we wanted to portray in our own music video. We used black leather trousers as well as a tight fitting high neck top. In this photo you can clearly see the woman on the right is wearing a high neck top as well as tight fitting trousers and a jacket.  We modernised this for our music video as the theme is Bonnie and Clyde. This outfit we picked to be fitting for Bonnie as she's more of a dominant female character than 'Clyde' who was also the main gangster during the famous duo's robberies in America within their time.

In the film 'Black Mass' James 'Whitey' Bulger was known for his notorious crimes in America. He is known for his casual clothing, including in the picture on the right you can see him wearing jeans. a white wife beater and a leather jacket. We made Clyde wear casual clothing as well, trousers, with a jumper so they can appear more normal and not draw attention to themselves by turning up in stereotypical gear such as all black clothing and a black mask to cover their faces and hide their identity. One of the reasons we wanted their identity to be known was during Bonnie and Clyde's well known raids, they never covered their faces. And as you can see, even the worlds notorious gangster James Bulger never covered his face, as it made them look and appear more suspicious.

By Danniella Chapman

Progress Update

We have reviewed our music video and decided to change some things. It is still unfinished nut I feel like it is important to always update the blog with our progress.
We have a few shots to re-film then we need to add them to the video but after that our video will be finished. Below is the current version.

By Megan Birch

Casting

Casting

For the casting we needed specific roles to play these characters as Bonnie and Clyde are known for their notorious robberies and killings in America during the Great Depression, however we decided to put our own modern spin on these characters. Bonnie is seen in up-to-date fashion while still having a reference to the 60’s fashion for robberies i.e. tight clothing, black leather trousers and a black roll neck top meanwhile Clyde is seen in smart trousers and jumper so it’s easier for them to move in.

Clyde Barrow

Kyle Sanders

Clyde Barrow – The role of Clyde Barrow is portrayed by Kyle Sanders. Clyde is known to be short however Kyle is over 6ft tall in which represents the growth of how times have changed. Clyde had blonde hair, however the most desired and common hair colour in today’s day an age is brunette, it was important to modernise these characters as it shows how much time has changed between The Great Depression and today.

Bonnie Parker

Danniella Chapman

Bonnie Parker – The role of Bonnie Parker is portrayed by Danniella Chapman. Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was in a way a Damsel in Distress with Clyde, Clyde done most of the work while Bonnie was the getaway driver. However, this time around we wanted to portray her as the genius behind the madness. Bonnie has been known for her released photos which feature her smoking a cigar and holding a gun in various images with Clyde.  While in the music video Bonnie isn’t smoking she is in charge and looks tough, and has the gun in her hand with her at almost all times.

Police Detective – is played by Nathan Gilbert. During Bonnie and Clyde’s notorious robbing and killing sprees they killed several police officers but were eventually arrested, in our music video adaption the police detective is wearing smart clothing and arrests Clyde, but Bonnie escapes due to killing one of the police officers.

Police Officer – This role is played by Ethan Anderson, like noted before, during Bonnie and Clyde’s robberies they killed several police officers, the police officer is killed when having a standoff with Bonnie once Clyde has been tackled.

By Danniella Chapman