Task 3 - Be able to apply pre-production planning for a specific media production

Final product

Group evaluation:

After all the pre-production for the music video, we started to film our music video. During the filming process we kept in mind that the music video is about being a child and having fun, which is why we used different parks for our locations. We filmed all of ourselves to be in the music video, and to help each other we would rehearse the lyrics before the actual filming. After we did a section of the filming we would upload it onto the computer and we would then start editing as a group, to put in our own views in the work to make it preferable for all the participants. During the filming process we did come across a few problems; like one of our main clips was accidentally deleted, which meant that we went to film again, but it turned out right. Also on another day some of the group participants, while filming, had their bags stolen, which meant that some of the work had also disappeared

Task 2 - Be able to prepare pre-production documentation for a specific media production

Production roles:
Curtis Fletcher - Main singer and actor
Ahmed Mangera - Secondary singer and producer
Saiful Hussain - Tertiary singer and director
Zuned Cassambai (macmaster) - Cameraman and editor


Equipment list/Budgeting:

Camera- £300
tripod- £150
Macbook for editing- £800
Editing software- £100
props- £50
lighting equipment- £20

Total budget- £1420

Risk assessment

For our music video production we had to carry out a risk assessment. This is when the locations and props that are used are made sure to be used safely. The risk assessments that we made were things like, when going to the park and performing we need to make sure that the location is safe and the different hazards are noted when filming. Another risk assessment is for using the snow. We had to make sure that we do not stay for long periods of time in the cold weather, to avoid any group members from falling ill.

Pre-production

In our unit, Unit 29: Music Video Production, we will be going through the plans of our music video production and will be discussing things like the artist's style, lyric analysis and possible ideas.

Choice of music:

For our music video we decided, as a group, that we were going to use the music track of "Chiddy Bang- Opposite Of Adults". 

We decided that the style of the artist is fast paced, childish and up lifting because the lyrics keep on saying the memorable parts of being a kid and how it is something that will also be remembered. The genre for this music track is alternative hip hop, pop rap.

This choice of music style was chosen because our target audience is people from ages 16-23. This means that the audience will prefer our music video style as it is more appealing to them, which was found out through the use of a questionnaire.

We printed off the lyrics and then annotated the lyrics with our own perceptions. 

The lyrics for this music track is to try and show a person remembering how he was a child and the things that he did not have to do and how it was good, and then he says how he has changed as he has become an adult. 

The song starts off by saying the names/nick names of all the different friends and then a different person says "Oh yeah we back!", which is trying to say that they have come together as a group after they have grown up and they are all excited, which is implicated through the use of the exclamation mark which shows enthusiasm. 

The way that it is clear that the song is about being a kid is when the songs second part starts by saying "Ay yo i once was a kid". This sentence implies that he is remembering the time when he was a kid because he uses the words "once" and "was". He also carries on to say that "All I had was a dream Mo money mo problems". This sentence is trying to show the freedom of being a kid because he had no problems and did not have to have money. When he says that he had a dream it could imply that he use to have a dream when he was a kid but now the dream is gone, which shows that it was better when he was a kid. 

Further in the song the artists starts to address the audience by saying "Remember you was a kid". He says this to maybe make the audience remember their childhood and he also says "Reminisce days of the innocence", which means that he is telling the audience to remember their childhood and be happy with it. When he says "When I park cars I don't pay for the meter" it could mean that he is doing bad things now that he is older. 

He then goes on to say "I remember I was younger as a kid it was the best". this sentence enforces the fact that the song is trying to show the artist thinking of his past and saying how it was better than what he is now. The lyrics also contain a part at which the artist thanks his friend for the "crack", which could mean that he is thanking his friend for the drugs, and again shows that he is bad now that he is older. 

He also makes a reference to the movie Anchorman as he says "I play like Ron Burgundy I anchor on the track like that". This could mean that the artist is trying to say that he is on top of the world and very successful like the way Ron Burgundy is a successful anchorman in the movie.

After the third part of the song the chorus is sung, but at the end he adds on "I'm never growing up", which could mean that he is not going to grow up and he will always act like a kid because he prefers his life as a kid rather than an adult.

When it says "Can i please get a little bit of knowledge" he is implying that he actually wants to learn, but this is then contradicted because next he says "Somebody tell Roth I don't love college". He references Roth because Roth made a song that was talking about how he actually likes college, and then he says that he does not like college which could be trying to say that when he was a kid he wanted to learn, but now that he has to go to college he does not like it, because he has grown up. The song then ends by repeating the chorus twice to emphasise the he is never growing up.

Summary

The analysis of this song can be summarised by saying that it is better being a kid because he used to like to learn, he had no problems and he was a good person, but now that he has gone older and become an adult he is gone bad and does not like to learn, but he still shows some good feelings to his life now because he says things like "now i'm rippin' up shows and 'em fans goin' wild with us", which means that he has some good things in his life now. However, he still regrets being bad and the way he is now because after he says the line above he says "tell mummy i'm sorry", which implies that he also dislikes the position that he is in now as an adult.

From this analysis we can make our music video relate to the actual lyrics, because the video itself does not fully match the lyrics, which can allow our group to make the video match the lyrics, but still being creative.

Task 1 - Understand requirements for a specific media production

The type of production that I am doing is a music video. My group and I created a music video. We created a music video using the song opposite of adults by Chiddy Bang. The song is about a man who has become an adult but would prefer being a kid as he had more freedom. This song is of the RnB genre.

Codes and conventions of music video:   

- The style of the music video - There are three different styles of music videos. One of these are narrative music videos which tell a story throughout the video. The second is a performance based video which is where the artists only perform throughout the music video. The last type of music video is a concept based video which is where the music video has a message to the viewers. This can be a political message or a message from a company.

- The camera shots and angles - There are many different camera shots used throughout music video production. It is essential that there are a variety of shots and angles used so the music video is unique and entertaining. The types of shots used include close ups, mid shots and long shots. The types of camera angles and movements used include low angles shots and the camera panning to follow the artist. 

- The editing techniques - The editing software that we will use will be adobe premier. This is a software that allows us to add in different clips and cut them and edit them.  We can also add music to the clips which is essential for when we create our music video. 

- The sound (diegetic, non-diegetic) - The sounds that are used in a music video are essential as there needs to be music for it to be a music video.

- Mis-en-scene - The music video requires props which make the video more interesting to watch. Also there needs to be some good locations used during the video with the light at the location being a factor in creating the mood for the video.

Finance


Equipment list/Budgeting:

Camera- £300
tripod- £150
Macbook for editing- £800
Editing software- £100
props- £50
lighting equipment- £20

Total budget- £1420

Production roles:
Curtis Fletcher - Main singer and actor
Ahmed Mangera - Secondary singer and producer
Saiful Hussain - Tertiary singer and director
Zuned Cassambai (macmaster) - Cameraman and editor

Location list:
Swanswell park
Primrose hill park
Redhouse park

Diary entries

6/11/12

We started by making our groups for our music video. My group included three other members. We then wrote down our initial ideas which we may or may not use for our real music video production. We were also told what we need to do for pre-productions and what the deadline date is.

13/11/12

This week we started to do some work on the pre-production on our blogs. We started our questionnaire and carried on thinking about our ideas for the music video production.

20/11/12

We listened to different music videos and analysed them in this lesson. This was to get a better idea of what kind of things can be in our music video. This would also allow us to know what our target audience could be.

27/11/12

In this lesson we came up with an initial song for our music video. This song was by rizzle kicks and was called 'down with trumpets'. We then analysed the lyrics and started to think of things that we can include in our music video production.

4/12/12

After choosing a music video we started to have doubts on the initial song. This was because our initial song had a music video that we would have a hard time trying to differ from. This is me and my group decided to scrap the initial song and look for one that would be easier to make a video for.

11/12/12

After weeks of searching for a song, we finally decided on the song by chiddy bang called 'opposite of adults'. This song was a good choice for us because it is a song that the whole group liked and we all felt that it would be more enjoyable to make a video for this song. We then analysed the lyrics and started to make our storyboard.

08/01/13

After working through the holidays on our pre production work, we all combined our work that we done over the holidays and added it all on blogger. We also finalised our individual blogs making sure it had all the pre production work on it and we then prepared for filming our music video production.

15/01/13

This week we started our filming for our music video. Since the main actor in our video was not in, we decided to shoot the bits which he was not needed. We went to two different locations in which we took different shots which could be used for our opening sequence. We took a pan shot of each location and we plan to use this for our opening sequence.

22/01/13

This lesson we went out to film in one of our furthest locations. Since it was snowing we decided to incorporate the weather into our filming. This meant that we used the snow to do different activities which could be used in our music video.

29/01/13

We started the lip synching this week. This included the main actor sitting, dancing and singing. We shot this part in the closest location which is swanswell park. We also watched some previous videos to get some more ideas.

05/02/13

This week we carried on with filming. Our lead singer carried on lip synching and also some of our group members got into the video and sang some lyrics of the video.

12/02/13

We started to edit our music video this week. This meant that we started to insert our clips and started to cut and edit them to make the music video.

19/02/13
This week we carried on inserting and cutting down clips so the music video looked like it would run smoother.

26/02/13

This week we added in the rest of the clips while editing. This meant that the music video was complete however without and effects.

05/03/13

This week we added in all the effects to make our music video look even better and look more entertaining and interesting.

12/03/13

This week we finally completed the music video so we rendered the video. After this was complete we then exported the video so we could add it to our blogs.

Production equipment
Camera
Tripod
Lighting equipment


Post production equipment

Mac
Editing software