In order to contact our potential actors and actresses for our music video, as the majority of them were under the age of 10, they were unlikely to have a mobile phone device. Therefore we agreed that Facebook would be the most efficient source of contact. Here is the message i sent out to both groups of actors for each shoot...
SHOOT 1 (10 children)
As you can see, this inbox only contains 7 of our 10 actors. This is because some of them were too young to have a facebook account. Therefore, i forwarded this message to each of the younger children's parents to which they all replied with a positive confirmation.
As part of our final project a digipack of our chosen song and artist will be produced. A digipack is a patentedstyl of CD, DVD or BD packaging which typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays that can hold a CD or DVD attached to the inside.
In order to be as successful as possible when producing my digipack, I practised creating the cover of one on an artist callled 'Forged Stone'. Here is how i made it...
STEP 1
I opened the programme 'Coral Photopaint' and uploaded the photo of a mediocre looking man playing an electronic guitar. I chose this photo as the character playing the rock instrument is unconventional to our typical expectation of a band of this genre. This relates to 'Forged Stone' themeselves as they too are individual and do not stick to the stereotype (messy hair, studs, etc). Instead they have a more surreal approach to their audiences.
STEP 2 I decided to duplicate the photograph and add some effects to the colours in order to add a funky feel to it. Then i typed the name of the band in capital letters at the bottom of the cover. Then i added the sketch effect to the font as i felt it work cohesively with the band name which includes the word 'stone', thus giving it a rough edge.
STEP 3 I discovered that the band were fond of masks so i experimented with this idea and incorperated a mask into the digipack cover. However, after analysing the outcome of this, i concluded that it doesn't look as good as i expected and the cover would be more attractive without it. I also changed the font to a more significant and bolder effect which is more appealing and eye catching
STEP 4 I then added a 'water colour' effect to the image of the man playing the guitar, and i adjusted the 'bleed levels' and density of the paint to produce this edgy effect.
STEP 5 This is the finalized cover that i produced. It represents the surreality and edge of the band whilst also sticking to its roots as a guitar is clearly visable. Hope you like it !
As our chosen song is very musical and rich in texture we felt that it would be necessary to accentuate some of the individual instruments such as the saxophone (through the blow up sax), the drums (through the lollipop drum, foot tapping and hand clicking), the trumpet (through a plastic and colourful child's trumpet), the guitar (through blow up guitars) and the piano chords (through an electronic piano).
In order to make our music video look as professional as possible, i felt that it was necessary to learn the actual chords of the music. They were pretty simple, so it didn't take too long to learnt. Here is a picture of the chords...
I filmed the piano scenes from a high angle, and ensured that only the keys were on show, nothing else. I had to film a couple of times as i wanted to have the motif exactly in time with the music from the song. Here is how I filmed it...
This photo depicts how I used auto record. This involved me playing the piano and watching myself do so whilst the camera separately was recording this.
This photo illustrates how, for some shots, I played the piano whilst watching myself do so through the camera lens. This procedure was much more difficult
One notionwhich we would like to include in our piece isANIMATION
I personally think that this would work very well in our video as it fits the fun, innocent and youthful feel to our video. Furthermore, it is something different, thus keeping the viewers entertained and excited throughout.
A very influential music video which also includes animation is 'Nowhere Near My Heart' by Kori Pop...
Although this video has some dark meanings to it, the general concept of having paper characters and moving objects (e.g. houses) really intrigues me.
The reappearing motif of a bear tapping his foot is very inspiring. The song 'Lollipop' has a very strong and significant bass line, as does the song shown above. In order to highlight this leitmotif i would like to create something animated which moves in time with the bass line also.
The paper people are a very interesting element of this video which i would love to use in my piece. It adds authenticity and excitement. In this video, i perceive the synchronised movement of the paper people as a latent representation of the lack of control we mere mortals have over our constructedrelationships and the roles we must play within them. However, if i was to use this idea in my piece, i would arrange it in a way that is representative of teamwork, child play and harmony.
I'm not sure of what the animation is going to look like just yet however here are some ideas
that i have come up with...
The stereotypical 'lollipop girl' cartoon
A wackier representation of the 'lollipop girl'
A rough sketch of a lollipop (main theme)
A sketch of a conventional young boy
'Say Love' (significant lyrics taken from the song)
A talking/moving lollipop (elicits the notion of imagination and creativity in children)
Boy holding large lollipop
Boy sucking on lollipop
Boy sucking on lollipop with text in capitals quoting the reoccurring lyrics 'Love's gunna get you down'
A broken heart to illustrate the deeper meaning that lies within this joyful song
Considering that one of the main themes in our music video idea is colour, Lauren and I decided that a variety of fun and creative props were necessary to emphasize this notion.
Some of our props were handmade. For example; the large sweetie canvas which we produced in order to use as a background; and the placardswhich we created in order to use as a vehicle to portray and emphasize certain, significant lyrics (such as ‘say love’). The video below shows the process of how Lauren and I created these props...
The rest of the props were bought. Some were from Amazon, some from The One Pound Store and some were from a warehouse of a novelty shop. Each prop was chosen with great care, and for a specific purpose...
This photo depicts me holding a box
containing some of we got from the
Novelties Direct Warehouse
The props and I
Me with some of our many sweets
A lollipop drum - amplifies
the lyrics
Sparkly and funny hats, confetti, blow up instruments, balloons beach balls, feather boas, and funky shades
Lauren and i experimenting with some of the props
Lollipops were an essential prop used in our piece
The props being put to use (e.g. bubbles)
Our 'prop table' where every prop was kept safe
Hopscotch - reiterates the notion of youth
Roses were used as a prop to symbolise the young and innocent view of love being shown through gestures
All the studio shoot actors making use of their props
In order to gain consent from the youngsters, we felt that it was only necessary to contact their parents. This is a form that we created for the parents to sign when they dropped their children at the shoot:
I am willing to let my son/daughter partake in Jessie Barnett and Lauren Mullem's media a2 level music video to Lollipop by mika. I am aware of their role in the video, and what they are going to perform. Further more, I allow them to place such footage on large scale social networking sites (such as YouTube and blogger) signed -
