Final Location Decisions

We eventually came to the final decision that our video would be set in two separate locations - the woods and along a road. However, these two settings were made up from a number of real-life locations, as each location had certain features which we wished to include within our music video.

We explored several different woods in which to film our video, choosing to film parts of it in three separate woods around the local area - this use of multiple locations for one setting was made possible by the video being filmed in darkness, which means that it is incredibly hard for the audience to distinguish the different filming locations from one another. Below are pictures of the final woods which we chose to film parts of our video in.

Below are some images showing the destinations that we used in our final production:

• Great Waltham/Howe Street

We chose this destination as it gave us the best of both worlds. We had a road that we could use to film the beginning and end of our music video in the scene where we see Tom getting out of the car. We could also then use the wooded area to film the rest of our music video, which overall meant we could get a range of locations from one area. Finally, it was also local to the majority of the group which made it ideal, especially when we needed to film urgently to ensure that we got plenty of footage.

• Mill Lane, Chelmsford

This was our next location, it is used to film some of the road location to. This was our back up location to the first destination encase the first destination was to busy and did not allow for us to use the road. We used this destination to good effect, as can be seen in the images below showing this location being used in our music video.

By Calum Tween and George Martin

Final Costume Decisions

We decided on our final costumes in order to reflect the personalities of our two characters - the blonde haired character is wearing a white t-shirt in order to connote that he represents lightness and morality, as opposed to the brown haired character who is wearing all-black in order to present him as sinister. In addition to this, the gloves being worn by the character dressed in black connote that he is undertaking some mischievous business, as these style of glove are usually associated with biker gangs.

We have continued the theme of pyjamas for our main protagonist because it shows that he is completely out of place in his environment. Pyjamas also connect with the idea that he is waking up and is in a recurring dream.

The white t-shirt connotes innocence whilst the pyjama bottoms pay homage to Donnie Darko, an inspiration for our main characters costume.

For our secondary character, the antagonist, the outfit will consist much more of black attire. This is because he is 'evil' and is out to get our protagonist. Everything is going to be black, so our decision is to have a black t-shirt, black leather jacket and black jeans. An important part of the outfit is the black gloves to make the whole outfit more sinister.

This is a close example of what we want our antagonist to look like but with a black t-shirt. The black t-shirt will be worn underneath the leather jacket to complete the outfit.

These outfits are embodiments of the light and dark characters and the colours which represent them. This also makes the narrative clearer and shows character construction.

By Jack Jolly





Magazine Advert Final

This is our final magazine advert. The idea for this was a joint effort from everyone in our group. In order to produce it we took ideas from everyone's original ideas. As you can see, we have incorporated parts of each team members advert into our final product.

We have used a consistent font throughout all of our products, this is good because it links all of the media texts together. It gives a sense of intertextuality. The font on our magazine advert is good because it also links in with the theme of our music video, whilst also challenging stereotypical conventions of this genre.

The image used in the background was one that we took during one of our shoots, it is an action shot that looks as though Connar is walking away from the camera. It is effective as it makes our audience want to see more, and therefore effectively advertises our music video. Also by the image being very open, it leads the audience to want to know more, enhancing them to go and watch the music video. This therefore makes the image a very good one to use on an advert as it does make people want to watch the music video.

We have included other key information on the advert, this includes the website address, iTunes logo and the record label for our artist logo. By including all of these it makes the advert look very professional. It adds a sense of realism. Based on audience feedback we did change these from the original version, we were told that originally they were too big and needed to be reduced in size, therefore we took this into account and made them a lot smaller. This is the final product, once audience feedback had been considered and changed.

By Jack, Calum, Rhys and George

Digipak Final

 

This is the final product we have created for a Digipak. We stuck with our original theme of the woods and forest which have been incorporated into our plans and featured in our actual music video. We did this because it created connection between our music video and ancillary products. We used abstract shapes around the front cover title because after researching the genres album art it was a common denominator. We used pictures of our characters on the Digipak so that it portrayed the importance of the characters to the music video.

By Rhys, Jack, Calum and George

Final Cut: Trials of the Past Music Video

This is our final cut of our music video. We have added in various different things based on personal opinions and also based on feedback received from our target audience.

The first noticeable difference between our final version and the initial two cuts, is that the use of black and white is more purposeful, we changed this based on audience feedback. Prior to this, the effects had been used very sporadically and that meant that the audience did not really understand why it was being used. The main reason for the black and white is to distinguish between reality and dreams. The black and white connote this to the audience and as a result the audience can understand what is happening.

Also in this version we have a lot more location shots, again this was based on audience feedback from the first two versions that we had done. The audience wanted to see more of the location, this was beneficial to us and the audience because it meant by doing this we could build on strengthening the narrative to make it obvious what was happening throughout, all the way until the end of the music video. The location shots also meant that we could show off our camera skills, we have used a range of shots, long shots, close ups and even establishing shots of the moon with the trees in the way.

Another difference is that we have added another character. This was quite a large change that we considered late on. The reason for adding the second character is that we had to add more depth to our narrative rather than just having one character who may be lost and can't find his way home. Adding a second character really aided our narrative and made our whole video more interesting and captivating to watch. We did away with the fatal ending which we thought was too severe and not shot properly and incorporated the idea of a recurring dream instead. We are pleased with our final cut and like the way it has come out.

By Jack, Rhys, Calum and George

Rough Cut 2

This is our second rough cut. After receiving feedback from our first rough cut we amended some of the things that were wrong in our music video. However, there are still some things which need to be changed and we need to film more footage to add to the narrative of the music video, to make it clearer.

Feedback 

 Teachers

Concept and narrative aren't clear - doesn't show an "excellence in shooting material" 

Needs to include more location shots to emphasise where he is throughout the video 

Needs to show a closer attention to Mise-en-scene

More continuity - needs to be either walking or laying 

Include the concept of the recurring dream

We decided to get feedback from teachers separately as well as peers because then we would have more detailed feedback so our next rough cut could be as good as possible. 

Students

I like the mixture between black & white and colour shots, although there could be even more black and white

The ending could do with improving as being hit by a car seems unrealistic

Some unwanted audio is still there - you can hear somebody say "do it slowly yeah"

It may be a bit far fetched but you could include another character to make the narrative clearer

The feedback from students, paired with our feedback from teachers has given us more detail to work on.

By Jack Jolly and George Martin

Rough Cut 1

This is our first rough cut of our music video. As our first attempt there are some things which need rectifying however I am pleased with how much footage we have managed to include and our use of lip sync footage. There are some things which need to be addressed which have been notified to us buy our feedback representatives.

Feedback

The video needs to be longer as it suddenly cuts off during the song.

Some of the lip syncing is slightly out of time, making it unbelievable that the character is the artist.

The black gaps in between clips need to be filled in.

It would be easier to understand if there was a clearer narrative - is there a defined ending or is the video just going to end ambiguously?

There is a shot early in the video where a car can be seen passing in the background - this makes it seem unrealistic as why else would he spend the rest of the video trying to make it out of the woods.

There needs to be greater continuity in the colouring of clips, as the actors skin appears to be darker in some shots than others.

We are going to take on this feedback and amend the things which have been suggested.

By Jack Jolly