My Music Video

This is my final music video for The Fray's 'How to save a life.' The main actor in this piece is Reuben Lax and the piece consists of pictures of a mans life.
Ideally i would have liked to get a few more locations in the music video but i was unable to do so, but i am very please in the way in which the lip synicing worked out and i feel this looks quite good.

Inside In Inside Out Digipak Analysis

After looking at the Digipak for 'channel ORANGE' by Frank Ocean, aimed at the hip hop/R&B Genre, i thought it was time to look at how different genres may go differently about producing their Digipak's. Therefore, i decided to look at a band. As i will be using a band for my music video and Digipak i thought it would be a good idea to see how a band may do this differently. I also wanted a band operating in the same sort of music genre as The Fray, this limited me down to a band called The Kooks, an Indie Rock band who however have had some success in the charts.

Firstly, looking at the front cover of the CD, we see the a simple image of the band at what looks to be some form of relaxed band practise, this gives the the CD cover a very relaxed feel, this infers that the CD may be an easy listening one, reflecting the type of music which The Kooks produce. It is also in black and white, suggesting that they may be a bit retro, this helps to aim them to the Indie Rock genre which they operate in.
On the rear of the CD case we see what is more traditional of a CD case, this consisting of the track number and titles with the expected commercial rights on the back of the disk, showing synergy between companies to make the production of the CD possible. Another interesting point about the rear of the CD is the background contains the same image as the cover of the CD does. This is interesting I find as it would usually have a different image. I believe this is because the band wanted to keep the colour scheme and theme the same, this decision eliminates any possibility of the back cover looking out of place.
The inside of the Digipak contains a small poster of the kooks, which is a nice little touch for the fans and some more smaller images of The Kooks. This helps bring the loyal fans who are willing to buy the CD closer to the band, almost a reward for their loyalty to The Kooks, it also swings people away from illegally downloading the CD, due to all the bonuses which they will receive if they buy it.
The Disc itself is a bright red, with black and white writing on, this again referring to how the band are more retro then others, whilst the red could convey that The Kooks are bringing something new to this and putting their own spin on it.

channel ORANGE Digipak analysis

I will also be producing a digipak as part of my piece, this will involve the front cover of a CD, the rear of a CD with the songs on, A CD and an inside information booklet. To try and expand my knowledge of Digipaks I have decided to do some research into this area and to analyse some digipaks which are already out there by successful artist's.

I have decided to look at Frank Ocean's Digipak for his album 'channel ORANGE' this is because Frank Ocean is a new artist and i was interested what would be considered as a new and fresh Digipak.


Firstly, in my opinon, the front of the digipak is very bold and massivley stands out to any other digipak being sold in a shop. This is becuase of the bright colour of the digipak, it will be seen from a distance, put also the simplicity of the pack also helps to draw people in. With just the text 'channel ORANGE' written on the front of the cover, people will be intreaged to find out who's the album is and may flip over the case to see the featured songs on the CD. This is a very unusal technique used by the record company to help draw in potential customers, most album covers are usually alot more detailed and packed than this, but it would seem that this technique was succesful due to the high amount of sales this CD generated. We also see the sticker in the bottom right hand corner of the Digipak which tells us some of the more recognised songs on the album, encourging the potential customer to buy the CD as these are likely to be the best songs on it. The sticker also shows songs featuring other artists, this could be seen as a convention as in this type of music collaboration between artist's plays a big part.



Unforntunately this was the only image which i could find of the back of a digipak and it is not very clear, but here is a link with a nicer picture which could not be uploaded. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh029t3kYV2_Sf4XKWQnvQg17h4YYLIxl0Hdp7K7BL0srpyZwY6ECQ-Ws_jy8_qsioKeSJwW2CiDFDfYhY90rU_PjFabq-nOWGxSwy-qGvnbiBknQEdMk0AO_CLh3yVu9WzXGbRRzN_WGw/s1600/Photo-2012-07-12-12-40-06-PM.jpg


The back of the digipak is particular interesting, in comparision to the usual video which would simply state the songs on the CD. Instead, there are two paragraphs written by artist Frank Ocean directed to the fans and the audience who have purchased this album. This including how his life has changed over the last four years and thanking his fans for their continuous support. As this message is a personal one, it brings the artist and the audience closer together. Cutting out the difference between celebrity lifestyle and the lifestlye of a normal human. This is very unusual pertically in the hip hop/R&B market which Frank operates in, fans are often seperated from the star but here Franks cuts this out, brining him closer to his fans. In my opinion, a great decision.


The inside of the CD folds open into three seperate panels. the right side of which holds the CD and also has a poster of Frank. This form of Digipak is a pretty standard one but the fact that it also includes a poster of frank again brings him closer to the audience as it is asif it is a more personal albums on the market. The inside panels include a photograph of a big house and the cd cover includes a picture a what seems to be a piece of jewelrey. The use of these two types of imagery are both stereotypical of hip-hop as a genre, this is again very conventional.





The CD itself is very conventional of Hip Hop/R&B artist's CD's. The relfective surface is what comes on a blank vinyl anyway, so frank is staying with the idea of simplicity for his CD. It then has a eject button and some text which has been added by the record company, so it is a very simple CD. The imagery of the upside eject button could be a connotation that people should insert the disc and not eject it. The text is standard legal info as well as the name of the album, conventional.I





Although this is the first digipak I have fully analyse I believe this is a very unique Digipak and reflects how Frank Ocean appretiates his fans and does not want to complicate anythig, with everything being very bland and simple, yet at the same time, very stylish.

Risk Assesment

Risk Assessment Sheet

 

Programme title: “How to save a life” – The Fray   Client:   Writer: Rory Brown   Producer: Rory Brown   Director:  Rory Brown   Date: 15/1/13

Major issues: ·         People tripping over on site and general injuries through people beign careless ·         Equipment not being put away, with a vast amount of wires out the chances of falling and damaging equipment is high. ·         Many people on set could cause it to be busy with people walking into eachother, inflicting injuries upon eachother. ·         Careless behaviour could lead to equipment being broken, or not being sheltered from bad weather. ·         Bad weather ruining the film set and the filming session ·         Filming crew being hit or hurt by cars, due to filming out in the public crew should take extra care not be distract or be a nosense to any passing vechicle ·         During the scenes involving cars, production team and actors take extreme care with actions and to pay close attention to everything aorund them   Solutions: ·         Clearing up the sites to stop avoidable acciendents and putting up more signs around the site to make the crew aware of the dangers faced on site. ·         Making sure the site is decluttered frequently, decreasing the risk of a fall by a actor. ·         Everyone on site knowing where they are meant to be and whe, reducing amount of people on set at one time, making filming time more productive.       Contacts: 999 (ambulance) Responsible adult (Relative) Emergency services: Ambulance

Equipment

To make my music video look as proffessional as possible i will be using a series of high quality equipment and software. These will allow me to convey my ideas in a better media and below are listed the pieces of equipment that I will be using.

 

A Canon EOS 600D, a high quality camera allowing a quality picture allowing my movie to look more proffesional.

A Velbon tripod, resulting in a steady shot, ensuring consistent quality

Adobe master collection, allowing me to edit my movie and digipack to make it look as impressive as I can, allowing smooth looking footage with hopefully some nice editing

Actors

I wanted the actors of my film to fit the roles as best as i possibly could with the charcters which i was looking to create in my music video. So i looked at the band which song i am performing 'The Fray' The fray consist's of four male singers. However in the video's of the fray songs the lead singer features heavily whilst other band members just take up a few shots.
Therefore i wanted to find a good lead singer to be part of my band as they will be featuring heavily in my performance parts of the music video. I am currently in the process of recruiting my lead singer and I am looking in the drama and music departments of the school. The reasoning for this being that i believe that these students in our school have a passion for music and will be more willing to perform and enjoy it alot more, all of these being key factors filming to make the video look as good as possible. I didnt want someone on set who looks like they are not giving it their all as i feel it will make the music video look abit lifeless and half hearted.

My main actor in the music video

I have selected my friend Reuben to be the main character in this music video, the reason for this is because Reuben dresses in the way which i was looking for my main actor to dress so he will naturally be wearing the choice of clothes in the video, this being a small factor in what i wanted but i believe the fact that these are his usual choice of clothes can make a small but effective difference as i believe he will be more effective and at home when infront of the camera. He is a good friend of mine and i know he is reliable and is flexible with his time so will be able to film at times which are good for all concerned. He has also performed in some of my fellow media students videos and has been a good actor and has fitted the role which has been requested so i know i cant count on his abilities.

Actors playing smaller roles in the video

The actor which will be playing the person trying to help the troubled teenager will be my mother. Although this may seem like an easy way out i believe this will be to my advantedge, this is because my mother is a professional counseller and is highly regarded in this industry. Therefore, it will be second nature to my mother when talking to people about problems and trying to find them a way out of dark places. This again adds to the factor of my actors being at ease when in front of characters making the music video look more proffesional.

Reasons for using a male and female 

I have decided to use a male and a female actor for the main actors in my narritve part of the music video. Although it comes across pure co-incdence that my main actors are of different sexes this is something i was infact looking to do in the first place. This is because I wanted to show the divide between the two actors, with my mum being a highly qualified counsellor who will be dressed in brighter coloured clothes, whilst my friend ben is a troubled teenager who needs help dressed in darker clothes. I think that the fact they are of oppisite sexes will help to increase the divide which we see in the music video which will help to produce a more emotional music video which is what I am looking to create

Costumes

I wanted the costumes in my music video to transfer the characteristics of the character.
Therefore the person who is in the video will be wearing darker clothes reflecting the dark route which they are taking in life and the decisions in which they are making. I think this will help to make it clearer for the audience to identify the troubled character and will make it more realistic that they are infact troubled as they are wearing clothes which would match this.

 

 

I think something along the lines of the images above could be really effective.



I wanted the person trying to help the teenager to be wearing something brighter and more colourful. This reflecting the hope which this person would be bringing into the life of the teenager. A bright colour would help lighten up some shots and would make this person seem like a good person to the audience as well.

 

 

Something like the jumper above I think would be good, as the blue would also reflect the calming influence which this character would have on the teenager and its also bright which maybe reflect them as a hopeful character and joyful, this would help show the contrast between the characters when in shot together.