A2 Media Evaluation

My A2 production work is in the form of a music video, a digipak and an advertisement for the digipak. The song that I chose to do is the song ‘Wagon Wheel’ which is originally by the artist ‘Old Crow Medicine Show.’ The genre of folk rock arose in the US and UK in the mid 60’s with artists such as Bob Dylan and The Byrds. Folk Rock was mainly unheard of after the early 70’s, but with emerging artists such as Mumford and Sons and Ben Howards Folk Rock is making a comeback. Folk Rock is the genre of music that my video suits and it is this genre that I have revolved the artwork and scenes around. My Digipak and advertisement both fit in with the codes conventions of this genre.

My music video has both a Narrative and performance, which makes the video a mixture. This is a very common style for a music video. For the performance part of my music video the artist can be seen performing the song from different angles. The artist seen performing in the video is the actual artist performing the version of the song. When I first chose to do the song, I was originally going to use the Mumford and Sons version of the song as it was only a cover song and therefore has no official music video. However when I first started filming the clips for my video I asked the artist to be part of the performance part for the Mumford and Sons version that I was going to produce. When we started filming the part Jay couldn’t do the Mumford and Sons version properly because of his style and the genre of music he plays didn’t cover the same instruments. I suggested we rerecord the song completely and he do his own version for the music video.

For the narrative in the video I tried to follow the narrative described by the lyrics of the song, and filmed another male character travelling around in the countryside. I filmed at locations in and around Hedon, Thorngumbald and Sunk Island. I picked the locations in which I filmed on the basis that I wanted countryside locations which were virtually unspoiled and untouched to fit in with codes and conventions of the genre. I decided to set the narrative of the video in around the 1960’s. The costumes worn by the character fit in with the conventions of this era, as do all of the props and locations. I chose to choose this era to base the narrative of the song on as it was the decade that the genre of music was invented.

Example One

This was one of the first locations that was travelled too. It is located 4 miles from my house, and the last half a mile has to be walked due to where it is located. I found out about this location when the actor involved in my video, we found out that we could use the location but only for the one date we filmed on which was the . We could only film on this day because the land, which is an old false dock from World War 2, is now used as a game reserve by a local shooting group and would be used by them daily after that weekend. We filmed 9 minutes of footage on and around the dock, although when opened in the editting software I noticed a problem with the footage. Because we had had to cycle to the location, when leaving the bikes on the bank we had left them within the shots in a lot of the footage which left it therefore unusable. I wanted to go back to the location as it had the right conventions of the genre and looked correct for the narrative due to it remaining almost untouched for half a century. We called up the leader of the group, but unfortunatly, they had already began digging and building the hut in the middle of where we were filming. Example one is an example of one of the shots taken at the first location. This is one of that shots that was unusable due to the cycle that can be seen in the background of the shot. The scene that I planned to have in which the actor was shown sleeping on the log was replaced instead when editing with a longer pan shot of the location. I decided to do this when editting as not doing anything about the cycle would have lead to an issue with the historical accuracy of the video as it is set a long time before BMX cycles were invented.

When editting my video I chose to edit my video on my laptop. I chose to do this as it would give me the added advantage of being able to edit the clips I had filmed almost straight away. This gave me chance to try and edit the video as I imagined it when I was filming the scenes. I also chose to edit the video’s at home as I already had the correct software (Adobe Premiere Pro CS5) and would be able to do the editting whenever I needed to do it as I didn’t want to have to edit my video around everyone else editting due to the college having only five editting machines. I already had experience using the program because I have created multiple clip montages off BMX. The video’s I have created have gradually become better and better obviously due to the more experience I have with the program. The music video I created contained what I feel was the best editting I have done so far. 

Ancillary Text Drafts

Complete Digipak

DigiPak Outside

Ancillary Text: Magazine Advertisement

Health and Safety Considerations

At the locations that I am filming there are not a lot of risks to be considered as the main settings were on and around the country side and the country roads. The biggest and only real risk that had to be considered when filming was the speed at which some cars came down the road at one of the locations. To combat this the part that had to be filmed was filmed on the opposite side of the road so that any cars coming had chance to see Dan who was been filmed at the time and the only other issue was at the location with the water down Stoney Creek in Thorngumbald had a lot of holes caused by the pressure of the tide when it was in along with a small stream running right in the way of where we needed to film. Fortunately the birdwatchers who use the reserve had created a small bridge to get across this. 

Shooting Script

Shot 1	Music begins with an establishing long shot of a traveller walking through a village. The shot will last 4 seconds The transition at the end of this clip will be a clean cut
Shot 2	The shot will cut into another angle of the traveller still walking though a village this will also be a long shot. The shot will last 4 seconds The transition will be a clean cut
Shot 3	The shot will cut to another angle of the traveller who will be walking around a corner, this will be a medium shot. This shot will last 4 seconds The transition will be a clean cut
Shot 4	The traveller will be shown walking onto a country lane, this shot will be a long shot and will continue to follow the traveller. This shot will last 5 seconds The shoot will zoom out into the next shot ‘Well I’m heading down south to the land of the pines’
Shot 5	The shot will show the traveller stopping and attempting to hitch hike. The shot will be a mid/long shot The shot will last 5 seconds ‘Thumbing my way into north caroline’
Shot 6	The shot will zoom out into a long shot and will show a car driving down the road towards the traveller and stopping next to the traveller The shot will last 5 seconds The shot transition will be a clean cut ‘staring at the road pray to good I see headlights’
Shot 7	The shot will show the interior of the car as the traveller gets into the car, the shot will be a mid shot The shot will last 5 seconds The shot transition will be a clean cut ‘I made it down the coast in seventeen hours’
Shot 8	The shot will show the traveller picking up a bouquet of flowers The shot will last for 9 seconds The shot transition will be a dissolve ‘Picking me a bouquet of dogwood flowers’
Shot 9	The shot will show the band performing the song, this will be the first example of lip-syncing in the video. This shot will last 42 seconds, although it will contain other zooms and focus on the other band members The shot transition will be a
Shot 10	The shot will show a couple sat playing musical instruments to eachother The shot will last 10 seconds The shot transition will be a dissolve
Shot 11	The shot will cut to 4 people playing poker around a table The shot will last 7 seconds
Shot 12	The shot will show the character from the main animatic will be zoomed into a close up and then zoom back out into a long shot as the character tips over the poker table and leaves The shot will last 7 seconds Shots 11, 12 may vary slightly with time

StoryBoards

Filming Reshoot

A few of the clips shot so far have an error in them in the way that despite the setting and time period the music is set in, in numerous shots my Bike can be seen in the background. This doesn't fit in with the codes and conventions of the genre of my music video and as a result will have to be reshot. 

Auxillary Text Analysis 2 - Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More

  

This is the first studio album from the Folk Rock artists Mumford and Sons, this is the normal version of the artwork, although a special edition version is also available that contains a DVD and photo's of the production of the album. The codes and conventions of this artist and the genre are going to be very similar to that of the artist I have created. The song that I am making the video for is by this artist but is not from this album. The song that I am using is from the BBC radio one live lounge, and was originally completed and used by Old Crow Medicine Show.

The album cover shows a long shot of the four members of the band, stood in the front of a shop window. The shop looks as if its in a traditional English countryside Town. This is a typical place for the genre, due to many of the codes and conventions of the genre being very old, very traditional style clothing, locations, lifestyles etc. The instruments used in this genre are quite peaceful and the songs aren't likely to contain a heavy drum beat.

The colours used in the artwork are very plain and very basic, due to the image being of a small section of a street. Three of the four artists are wearing very stereotypical clothes to the genre of the music. The other is dressed in a long coat with a Fur Tricorn hat. All of the artists have their instruments in their hands or just next to them. This also adds to the conventions of the genre due to it pointingout the fact that the band play their own instruments which is very important in the Folk music genre.


Mumford and Sons belong to the two record labels Island Records and Gentlemen of the road. Island records is a subsidory label from the company Universal Media Group. The label doesn't have a very specific type of artist as they have signed a large variety of artists. The label has recently leaned slightly more towards the Rock and Pop Genre's with the artists they are currently signing. Gentleman of the road is a label started by Mumford and Sons and is currently still in the process of becoming fully up and running. The label has released a documentary about the artist with the same name. The Genre of Folk Rock/ Folk is still only generating a Niche audience


The Digipak I am creating will follow similar conventions to this music video. I am going to use the settings of the countryside to take images of untouched natural places with both the character from the video and the band members featuring. The colour scheme I will use will be very basic and plain to uphold the conventions. The font packages that I will use will also be similar to the Mumford and sons one. 

Auxillary Text Analysis 1 - Kanye West Graduation Digipak

This is the digipak from the 3rd Studio album from the hip hop artist Kanye West, this is the only version of the album released in the UK and contains the 15 track CD, artwork and a poster. The colour scheme and graphics used throughout the cover artwork are all from the same comtemporary artist/designer Takashi Murakami. The artwork uses the same features as in most of Murakami's work. The cartoonish characters appear friendly and happy when you first look at them but hold dark, twisted undertones. 

This cover doesn't contain any images of the artist, as the artist is represented by the cartoon bear which is known as 'Dropout Bear.' Dropout Bear is based on the artist who himself dropped out of college, although he dropped out of college to continue with his music career.

The album colour scheme features bright, but at the same time dullk colours, this is done by the artist because the brightness adds to the cheerful look from the first glance at the images. The dullness of the colours then sets in and it is noticable that the dark twisted side of the characters is clear.

The album belongs to the Hip hop genre, the codes and conventions followed by this cover are the same for most covers by this artist and in this genre. All of the covers by this artist contain similar characters and always the dropout bear which as mentioned, represents the artist. The connotations of the featured images are mixed, whilst some of them show fear, others show what is described by the artist as 'good life.'

The artist is signed to the institution Roc-A-Fella Records, Def Jam and Good Music. Roc-A-Fella records is a label owned and run by Shawn JayZ Carter. GOOD Music records 'Getting out our Dreams'  which is owned and run by Kanye West himself, he has signed a few of his friends to the label which is an independant record label.
 

Filming Schedule - 19th February 2012

Who I need:

·         Dan Fishburn

·         Matthew Connor

Props I need:

·         Camera

·         Friendship Necklace

·         Hat & Scarf

·         Barrel Bag

·         Acoustic Guitar

Locations:

·         Hooks Lane bench

·         Paull Nature reserve

·         Paull village

·         Hull Marina/Queens Gardens (possibly? May not be needed)

Scenes to Film:

·         Performance Scenes

·         Any other small scenes not completed

Filming Schedule - 12th February 2012

Who I need:

·         Dan Fishburn

·         Alice Dilley

·         Joe Robinson

Props I need:

·         Camera

·         Friendship Necklace

·         Hat & Scarf

·         Barrel Bag

Locations:

·         Hooks Lane bench

·         Hedon Track

·         Field next to Hedon Track

Scenes to Film:

·         Travelling Scenes 5&6

·         End of video reunited clip

·         End of video clip

Filming Schedule - Saturday 5th December 2012

Who I need:

• Dan Fishburn
• Alice Dilley/Vicky Hyde

Props Needed:

• Camera
• Gorilla Pod (Tripod)
• Russian Style Winter Hat
• Barrel Bag
• Scarf

Locations:

• Paull River Bank
• Thorngumbald
• Hooks lane
• Main Road
• Near Allotments
• 1^st Field

Scenes to Film:

·         Walking into village

·         Camping near field

·         Walking through next to allotments

·         Conversing next to Hooks Lane

Filming Schedule - Saturday 21st December

Who Is needed:

• Dan Fishburn

Costume Needed:
       

• Plaid Shirt
• Russian Style winter hat
• Pale Denim jeans
• Blue Leather Shoes

 Props I need:

• Barrel bag
• Camera
• Gorilla pod (tripod)

Locations:

• Paull, Humber River Bank

Scenes to film:

• Travelling Scenes (first 4)