Alice Collins Media studies A2 Blog - 1229

Friday 30 January 2015

Colour Scheme for digipak

We have create a rough colour scheme we intend on following through our digipak. As you can see the main colours are black and pink because we feel as though those two colours suit an RnB girlband. We think that the colours flow well together and they would work well on an advert or our cd case. We want to ensure the use of pink because that colour we connote to femininity/ pop and although the group is mostly an RnB group we still want a hint of pop in their as it helps reach a much larger audience as pop is such a dominant genre in the industry.

Thursday 29 January 2015

Tuesday 27 January 2015

On going weekly production diary - what I did this week

This week me and Miriam focused more on being organised for the video shoot and for the girl band. We created chacacter profiles, props/costumes/euiptment list, productions schedule, shooting script and some initial ideas for the branding of our girlband. Each of these things contribute massively to the way we will continue. By being organised in terms of what we need, when we need it and where we need to be with who allows for minimal disruptions for the filming of our video. Next week we intend to continue the branding of our girlband ready to begin out digipack.

Photo shoot 1

Today we carried out our first photo shoot for our girl band. We had them dress in all black as we wanted them to have that elegant look but still wearing gold chains and hooped earrings for the R&B look. From the shoot we came out with some excellent photographs and I was able to see how confident and comfortable they all are with each other. This was also one of our first chances to talk to the girls and discuss our ideas for the video in which they all thought we had some good ideas going.  Unfortunately one of our members was sick that day but we have already scheduled another photo shoot with her. Here is a few images from our shoot.

Saturday 24 January 2015

Band ideas in choice of fonts


We have selected these fonts because we think they are suitable for a R&B girl band. We are yet to decide on the colour of the font so for now we stuck with black. Each font is different and different things about the font made it stick out to us; sometimes it was just one letter that we liked. We especially like the first font in the name Black Diamonds as we were able to use icons for some of the letters and we feel as if it looks R&B.

Friday 23 January 2015

Shooting script

Shooting script 

1) Studio 
2) Outside school ally way/ recreation area
3) Stairs outside of school building
4) Taken around the school - 6th form room, empty corridors
5) White room performance (Miriam/rest of the group)

Monday 19 January 2015

Props, costume and equipment list

Props, costume and equipment list

Props
  • mobile phones
  • pictures 
  • cars
  • laptops
  • sunglasses
Costume 
  • black dresses (not identical) 
  • high heels
  • trainers
  • winter coats with/without fur
  • skinny jeans
  • plain tops (no logos or embellishments) 
  • hats
  • rings
  • big earrings 
  • long gold chunky necklaces
  • bracelets
  • boots
Additional costume 
  • Long straight/curly
  • make up (in some scenes subtle, other scenes loud make up)
Equipment 
  • Camera
  • Tripod
  • Blankets
  • Stairs


Production Schedule

Video shoot 1 - 
The first scene in which the girls are looking at their phones looking at a text they sent to their boyfriends and they haven't replied. This will be done in the studio as we are re-creating it to look like a home environment. Each girl will have their individual scene looking at their phones.  This is the scene which will start the music video and the first verse of the song. We want it to look like a bedroom environment so we will be using blankets and cushions either on the floor or over a bench/chair to make it look like a bedroom. The blankets and cushions would be our props for this scene which can easily be brought in from home as well as mobile phones in which all of us have. We will also have pictures of the couples lying around for the girls to look back on and reminisce. The girls would be wearing causal clothes and little make-up/jewelry to emphasize the comfort of their own homes.

Video shoot 2 (chorus) -
In this scene the girls will be in their winter attire (coats, scarfs, hats, jeans, boots) with jewelry as they are now outside walking together. We want to ensure they are looking like an RnB girl group and we we researched this genre, that is what we found. We will use the school playground as their are parts of it that look like a general park such as the small walkway and area behind the back of the school.  This scene will display all four of the girls and we will need all four of them on this day.

Video shoot 3 -
This scene main performance element of the video. The girls will be wearing the same clothes as the previous scene as they are still going to be outside. We have chosen the block of steps outside the school for this scene as we still want to show them together as a girl group singing directly down to the camera. Second ver

Video shoot 4 (filler footage) -
For this shoot we will be filming a lot of our filler footage. We have some ideas for filler footage such as flashbacks of the couples being how they used to be (this will be done by looking back at photos and videos of the pair)

Video shoot 5 (rap verse) -
In this scene will be Miriam (my team member and girl band member) rapping the verse in the studio with white background. Parts of the rap will come up on the screen as lyrics (post production) next to Miriam. It then cuts to scenes of the girl band laughing and joking around in black and white and her alone on screen.




















Wednesday 14 January 2015

On going weekly production diary - what I did this week

This week I produced from more video analysis and those of very different kinds; one was a analysis of a previous a2 media student's work and one was a very popular girlband's video. Each one was clearly very different on more than one levels but I thought the quality of the student's video easily matched that of the professional video. The shots, visuals and quality of filming were to an outstanding level and the narrative of the music video was incredibly smart. As well as this me and my team member Miriam came came up with our idea and concept treatment which is out pitch to the class on our music video. It had to include everything from narrative to casting to locations to contingency plans. We found this task useful as we were able to fully lay out what our idea was and get feedback from our classmates on what they think about our idea.

Tuesday 6 January 2015

Lyric analysis - more than a million miles

You and I
We belong
Still we always bring our bullshit home
Time is passing us by
Holding onto you tight
I ain't letting go
I just want you to know

You and me together it should work
But your mind is in another universe
Your ambition is a thing I like to see
Let me know, let me know
If you can find some time for me

How can we be strong
When the road is more than a million miles long
When the song is done
Will the love be gone?
Or should we forget it
Don't sweat it
Regret it 
I ain't with it let's quit it, quit it

Is it red, is it green
Am I stuck in between
It ain't black or white
Just ain't feeling right
But it ain't what it seems
Can you say what you mean
Tell me why this always happens to me



You and me together it should work
But your mind is in another universe
Your ambition is a thing I like to see
Let me know, let me know
If you can find some time for me

How can we be strong
When the road is more than a million miles long
When the song is done
Will the love be gone?
Or should we forget it
Don't sweat it
Regret it 
I ain't with it let's quit it, quit it

Missing you lately
All of the time
All you seem to do is argue
Make up your mind
Come to my yard
Bring all the man dem
The broke ass n*ggaz
With all the fake gem
Communication, that's what we need
All the silence makes my heart bleed
All you wanna do sit and bun weed
No R E S P E C T
Tell me what happens to our quality time
Every time we meet
You're bringing trouble to my mind
A good man is so hard to find
Maybe we should dead this
Come back rewind


How can we be strong
When the road is more than a million miles long
When the song is done
Will the love be gone?
Or should we forget it
Don't sweat it
Regret it 
I ain't with it let's quit it, quit it


The lyrics to more than a million miles clearly states that the song is about a relationship on the rocks. The girl loves her partner and wants to be with him but she's getting fed up with the way he acts. The lyrics and the title 'more than a million miles' could easily suggest the distance between them. Not necessarily physical distance but emotional distance; as if they could be in the same room as each other but completely ignore one another because they both feel the tension. She repeatedly sings about "not letting go" and "holding onto you tight" which means she wants the relationship to keep going because she loves him so much and clearly they've been through so much and now at this point theres no going back. Although the love is still clearly there (mostly on her behalf) she has mixed emotions about whether to push through the difficult bits or just leave the entire relationship; with lyrics such as "is it red, is it green, am i stuck in between?" referring to her place in the relationship. She is completely unsure. When it gets to the rap verse, her feelings seem to become more intense. she talks about what he's doing wrong such as taking drugs and constantly having friends round to purposely ignore her. Even in the rap verse she is considering ending things all together referring to the relationship as 'dead'. The overall feeling we get from this song is that although they've been together for a long time and she loves him a lot, he isn't worth the time or heartache anymore and she wants to finish things to stop herself getting even more hurt.