Track Selection

I shall be working with Frank James to produce my final music video. We worked together successfully on producing a two minute film opening last year and so saw no reason not to work together this year.

When thinking about what track to produce a video for, we first told each other the types of genres we both like listening to, in order to see if we both enjoy a certain genre, having agreed that it will be hard to work with a track that we don't particularly enjoy listening to for the length of time we will be required to. The genres, it turned out, that we had a mutual liking of were Dubstep and R'n'B.Our primary thought when considering what tracks we could use from the R'n'B genre was that many of the tracks we prefer are produced by black artists and so we would need a black person to perform in our video to make it look authentic. As neither us knew of anyone who 'fitted the bill' so to speak, we decided to look more into the Dubstep genre.

When thinking about artists and songs we like, it quickly emerged that we both enjoy the music of the band Nero, who recently released an album earlier this year called Welcome Reality, from which has come five singles, one of which was even number one in the UK charts for a small period.

We both liked the thought of producing a video to one of the singles from the album but were weary that our production could be compared with Nero's own. Having watched the videos of each single on YouTube though, it occurred that one video was of the animation genre. This video was for the track 'Innocence' and so we decided to write to MTA Records, the record label with whom Nero are signed and ask for their permission to use this track.

Analysis of other Radar Love videos

Having watched each other's Radar Love videos together as a class, there seemed to be some definite collective positives and negatives.

In the case of almost everyone's videos there were times when the action wasn't quite synchronised correctly with the action and when single shots were held for too long. There were also numerous instances of the incorrect guitar being used (a lead as opposed to a bass), as we had originally done, and the volunteer performers not displaying enough energy.

All of the videos featured some sort of innovative shot, with split screens and tracking shots in particular being used to great effect. Mise-en-scène seemed to have been considered quite thoughtfully by most groups, which was maybe something myself and Josh could have thought about as it was pointed out, correctly, that a bottle of washing up liquid could be seen in one particular shot where I am playing the tambourine. This sort of thing of course one would expect to pick up upon when location scouting, some of the more finer parts of the production process that we did not carry out for this practice task.

Radar Love - Final Production

This is our final video. Unfortunately we weren't able to spend as much time editing as we had wanted due to technical errors in converting the files we filmed. In any case, as a first attempt at producing a performance video I am generally quite pleased with with we managed to produce.

Elements particularly pleasing include the effort put in by the performers, which helped to give the video a certain energy, and the choice of instruments and innovative shots, such as the close up of the foot tapping, which were a major part of matching the tempo of the song with the action. Together these points meant our video was quite successful in meeting the needs of the audience.

Things I would pick out to work on include the length of the shots, as on occasion they were held for slightly too long which took away from the energy of the performance, as well as the framing, which sometimes didn't give the full picture, and therefore the full energy of the performance.

Radar Love - Reshoot

After getting our footage back to the editing suite, we decided, after discussion with our teacher, that there were some basic technical elements which we could improve upon in our video. The elements we picked up on were quite minor details, like locating a proper bass guitar to make the video more realistic. These sorts of things we will have to be mindful of when producing our actual videos. Having got our filming done quite quickly we decided we had time to reshoot.

Here is the further correspondence I had with Mr. Broadbent then, in order to organise a second shoot

Friday lunchtime would be better, we will be full tomorrow.

MrB

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael JARVIS
Sent: 12 October 2011 12:43
To: Mr Broadbent
Subject: Practice Room

Dear Mr Broadbent

Myself and Josh Leek used one of your practice rooms a couple of weeks back to film some shots for our Media Studies project and wondered if there might be the opportunity to film some further footage either tomorrow or Friday lunchtime?

Thanks
Michael Jarvis

Due to the unavailability of one of our performers from the last shoot, Josh found another, meaning we had to reshoot the whole performance.

Radar Love - Production Photos

Radar Love - Location Organisation

Myself and Josh decided that I would organise a location for us to film in and he would round up some volunteers to star in our video.

Here is the dialogue, via email, that I had with Mr. Broadbent, the Head of Music, at our school. The first correspondence  is at the bottom.


Ok - come over at the start of lunch and we can find somewhere.

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael JARVIS
Sent: 28 September 2011 13:10
To: Mr Broadbent
Subject: RE: Music Video

We would indeed like to film on Friday if that's possible.

Thanks
________________________________________
From: Mr Broadbent
Sent: 27 September 2011 11:58
To: Michael JARVIS
Subject: RE: Music Video

All the music rooms tend to be very busy at lunchtime - your only hope is for Friday when I might be able to find some space. Let me know if you want to pursue this option.

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael JARVIS
Sent: 27 September 2011 11:39
To: Mr Broadbent
Subject: Music Video

Dear Mr Broadbent

My name is Michael Jarvis. I am writing on behalf of both myself and Josh Leek.  We are Y13 students currently planning a music video shoot as part of our Media Studies A level and were wondering whether it might be possible to film in a music room one lunchtime? If at all possible we would also like to use a drum kit, electric guitar and tambourine as props.

We hope this seems reasonable and your cooperation would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks
Michael (13NMA)