Looking at different colour schemes

We also have to look at what colour we will use for our font and for our actual Digipak and what image this represents, for example, we won't use the colour pink as it has female connotations and this wouldn't work with our song, band or the image we are trying to create for them.

Looking at Different Fonts

Here we see different styles of font used for various products, artists, films etc, they are in all different styles depending on the type of product that they are and therefore we need to used lettering which is more exciting and bold in order to show "the madness" of Madness themselves and of the video, this will create a image of craziness and freedom for the band.

House of Fun Media video

Designing the digipak

We have to come up with a design for our digipak using images which relate to the genre of our song/artist "the madness" the artists image and our music video itself, possibly even using images from the video on our digipak. We have to have a track list, images of the artist, lyrics and a space for the CD to go into. Our digipak is a 6 panel digipak.

Our Media Project- William Wise

For our media project, we chose the song House of fun by Madness. We chose this song as it is light-hearted and we wanted to go for a comical approach. We first had to plan the music video, this was done by creating storyboards and then scanning them onto the blog which we have done. Once all the planning was up to satisfactory, we went out filming.

During filming we had our ups and downs. Sometimes there was conflict in deciding what should be done. I decided to be the leader of the group and made the big decisions on what should be done. The group responded positively and so we worked very hard to try and achieve an excellent music video, this involved filming not only weekdays but weekends as well. Mise - en- scene helped us to give the music video a comical approach. We used bright and weird clothing to achieve this. For example a party hat, sunglasses, a purple suit jacket and other vibrant clothes.

For the media project i decided to be the cinematographer. I tried to be creative and professional with the type of camera shots i chose. One of the shots which i felt was creative was the point of view shot through the sunglasses looking at the book, this took a while to achieve the right shot but in the end i think it payed off. I used a variety of camera shots to really emphasise my camera skills and to show that i am capable of achieving this

Student Digipak Analysis - Jack Brown

This digipak follows a lot of the typical conventions of a digipak. The artist name and album name is clearly printed on the front cover. The colour scheme and the images used portrays the style of genre the artist is involved in. It has track listings on the back of cover. It doesn't seem to contain any kind of price and images of the band, but it does contain an image from the music video. I't doesn't contain any artist info.

As a whole the album is well designed because it portrays the genre of the artist, the dark colours and sharp dark writing portrays a dark genre. It could of contained more information on the band and images of the band, maybe some reviews from peers. It could of contained lyrics as well. The album design relates to the genre but it could be considered as boring.

Analysis of the Vixens Digipak- William Wise

The Vixens Digipak shows typical conventions associated in a digipak. They have shown pictures of the artists and making them look presentable. They have used big bold and colorful titles to give the digipak a professional and vibrant look. The digipak shows the track-list and the bar code as well. The representation of the group shows them as glamourous, successful and professional. This can be seen by the bright and sparkly clothes they are wearing and the make up. The digipak has a number of strengths as it looks professional due to the visual effects. They showed most conventions associated in a digipak. They also showed the names of the artists in their ow unique style, this is good as it personalizes each character.

Analysis of a student digipak, Oliver Thompson

This digipak contains typical digipak conventions. The artist name The Jane Bradfords is included and on the back page there is a shot list. Another convention added was the bar code and copyright information also on the back page. There is the artist name on the spine of the album and another convention used was the lyrics on the inside of the cover. The colour scheme also compliments itself and helps to give idea to what is the genre of the music.

This digipak worked well as the artist title and and other information was clearly shown through the vibrant colour scheme which would help to attract consumers. Also there is effective use of lyrics in the cover. However it does not contain important typical conventions such as Artist imagery is not included.

Editing - Jack Brown

Today i have finally piecing together the clips that we have recorded and I am finishing up the editing, all i need to is ask is the group is to film the remaining clips.

I have finally finished the reverse editing part of the film, and placed it all together so the film looks smooth, fluent and consistent.

All the lip syncing fits together, and the final piece looks fine, but with the lack of clips available and no filming time left i have had to work with what we've got and make sure the editing fits with the tempo of the music video.

The final product looks very good in my opinion, consistent paced editing and cuts, the video makes sense and links to the song as well. The lip synching and reverse editing looks very good and I am very happy with the final product.

Analysing an example of a student digipak

http://getaheadocrmedia.blogspot.com/- I looked at this website and found an example of an A2 Media blog: http://fahminaali.blogspot.com/ I looked at their digipak:

They have gone for a scary and mysterious image on their digipak and of the artist. The artist is featured on the front of the CD and front cover of the digipack, with various images from the music video on the inside cover. There is a track list on the back of the digipak, a barcode and parental advisory sticker (as its too scary for some viewers, possibly). The style is suppose to be "scary", with the band "The Ghost Frequency" and the title 'Nightmare', the smokey dark colours follow this theme and therefore it is successful. The images of a graveyard, and the bright red heart makes it seem dangerous and scary as they intended. It doesn't have lyrics or artist info which may be a fault with the digipak, however not all digipaks have these things and therefore may not be that bad of a problem. It also doesn't have a side bar with the name of artist and song on it, which is typical of a digipak.

Dimensions

Standard dimension layout for a Digipak

Example of Digipaks

Digipak Research

View more presentations from Pieter Jollans.

These are examples of other digipaks in a presentation. It shows various digipaks associated with well known artists such as Eminem and his digipak which shows the typical conventions associated in a digipak such as visual imagery of himself. For example he has a picture of his tattoo and various other pictures, this helps the audience to connect with him and to understand more about his personal life. The digipak also shows lyrics of one of his songs and the track list specific to the CD which is also inside the digipak. I managed to the slideshow of digipaks on a website called http://www.slideshare.net/Pieter1933/digipak-research-3344503

Dimensions of a digipak

5.53" X 0.25" X 5"

4 Panel Digipak with CD Replicated Inside

5.53" X 0.31" X 5"

6 Panel Digipak with CD Replicated Inside

5.547" X .4375" X 4.9375"

8 Panel Digipak with CD Replicated Inside

Here we see the diffrerent dimensions of a digipak, with examples of how they are in terms actual digipaks. The "4 panel' digipak is the typical digipak used by artists, but the other ones are used sometimes if there is more than one CD or a DVD with the CD.

Oasis Digipak - Jack Brown

I have chosen the digipak by Oasis as my research.

The digipak follows the typical conventions because it has the name of the band and images of the band and artist. The name is also on the spine of the pack. On the pack and on the CD it has track listing as well. The colour scheme follows the type of genre of the band and it also has an image of the instrument used by the band.

The back of the pack also contains website information, band website and record label information. The inside manual has credits and pictures of the band and also contains background information on the band, images and videos of them performing. It also contains bonus acoustic versions of their songs.

The overall design of the digipak is very basic, the colour scheme reflects the style of the music the band plays, and the image of the guitar also displays the genre of music they play. The band name is in a bold white text so the buyer instantly recognizes the band. The text followed by the band name is the shows the type of music within the album, this enables the user to fully know what they are buying.

Digipak analysis, Oliver Thompson

This digipak is an album for the Sneakyspeeks. This digipak follows typical digipak conventions. It contains the artist and album name “face in a crowd”, there are also images of the band performing, introducing each artist with their name and what instrument they play. The spine of the digipak is covered in information and there is artist and bonus information behind the CD. There is imagery on the CD which reflects the genre and fits in with the black and red colour scheme.

Example of a Digipak- William Wise

The conventions of this digipak shows the artists dominance in the picture. The digipak shows various pictures of the artist. The digipak shows the tracklist, it also has special designs on the digipak to make it look more professional and presentable. The writing on the digipak is professional and gives the digipak a colourful and vibrant feel to it. The digipak shows the lyrics of one of the songs. The Digipak also had the CD inside for the buyer to listen to.

Analysing a Digipak by Tom Lane

This Digipak of Madonna's "The Confessions tour" album, follows the conventions of the digipak. The digipak features the artist dominantly on the front cover and she is looking at the audience to gain there attention and entice them to buy the CD. The use of colour makes it bright and stand out, with the name of the artist in a bold pink colour. It is made obvious that this CD also contains a DVD by the little sticker on the front of the digipak. On the back with have the track list (all the songs and what number they are on the CD). Whilst in the middle the artists name and CD title are on it making it easy to see what it is if the CD is side-ways.

It has a "Parent advisory' sticker on the front of it to show that it contains lyrics or images which May be inappropriate to some people. It also has a barcode for it to be scanned, and credits for the produced, artist etc are on the back of the digipak. Having the main artist as the image and her name in big letters makes it successful as it would be obvious to the audience whose CD it is and they can decide whether they want to buy this artists music or not. The disco ball on the back cover of the digipak shows the genre is pop music and the artist enjoys disco giving that representation of the artist.

Using Creative equipment by Tom Lane

Through the filming task we had to use digital cameras and tripods, Imovie HD and Apple Mac computers. We used the cameras to take a variety of different shots in order to make the music video interesting and got the ammount of shots needed to fill the video and fit in time with the music. The editing on Imovie HD was important as the footage had to be placed in order and then edited so the cuts fit in time with the music.

Conventions Of A Digipack- William Wise

Conventions of a digipack
For the first of our ancillary texts we have decided to construct a digipack. The modern digipack is a variation on the traditional plastic CD case for album, it usually consists of a folding cardboard sheet with a certain number of flaps and storage compartments. The CD either stored on a plastic back or a carboard sleave which is very similar to the classic carboard sleaving for vinyl. Not all of the images included in my research are from digipacks, but represent the way that album art is presented in general.

For a description of some types of digipack see: http://www.mediaheaven.co.uk/digipak.htm (hyperlink option broken)

The digipack (or traditional CD case) is just as important promotional tool for the artist as a music video or any other form of advertising. The artwork needs to be able to stand out from the crowd, while at the same time it has to relate to the music or artist. From looking at a range of album covers and digipacks I have managed to piece together a set of common conventions which are present, these are by no means definitive but seem to represent this form of media text.

•Genre Characteristics
•Artwork reflecting the main themes of the album or artist
•Images of the artist (or their iconography)
•Intertextual references
•A consistent design aesthetic
•Information about the product

There is obviously a great detail of variety in the application of these conventions, this is essential to allow an album to stand out from the crowd. For most texts one convention or a combination of few will provide a unique selling point.

Filming, Oliver Thompson

Today we filmed our last shots in the schools drama studio. We wanted to film our "house of fun" as a crazy new club, which really went with the songs lyrics. We were able to utilize the studios lighting effects, of which we chose to use the disco ball lighting making the the mise en scene perfect. We wanted to give ourselves a formal look with a crazy twist, as the main character has matured however we still considered the crazy aspects of The Madness "House of Fun" music video.

Our props were that of an adult party with the alcohol, cigarettes, sunglasses and trilby hats. Also i made a small poster for the House of Fun which was shown to the camera in one of the shots so the audience understand the new setting.

Furthermore as a group we uploaded and edited in the new final shots. We had to cut the shits to the beat and get the lip syncing perfectly in time.

Letter to our Record label

Stiff Records Ltd
The Blue Building, 8-10 Basing Street
London W11 1ET, United Kingdom

Dear Stiff Records

I am writing a letter to you, to ask for the permission to use one of your artist’s songs in our own production, for our A level media coursework. The song is The House of Fun by The Madness. We really appreciate it if we could hear from you soon.


Yours sincerely

William Wise

Mornington Rd
Woodford Green
Essex IG8 0TP

Animatic Storyboard

Copyright Law Prevented Me From Attaching Our Song With The Video

Lip syncing (Tom Lane)

In order to incorporate lip synching in our music video, we will have the main character lip synching as he walks down the road, on his way to the "House of Fun" party. We will edit it so it appears as if the character is singing along with the song.



This song influenced us to take the practice of lip syncing into everyday actions, as out character will also be lip syncing while walking through life.

Madness-One Step Beyond; Other videos that influenced us (Tom Lane)

We have been influenced by another video by Madness. "One Step Beyond" is video that has influenced us as we want to use the same walking style that they use when the character walks down the road in a "conga" style line. We want to incorporate this in our video when our character walks down the street.

Screen shot of the walking which we want to use:


Actual video for Madness-One Step Beyond:

Pitch

In the end we didn't use this idea as it lacked narrative and our feedback was quite negative. The feedback received in our group felt that we lacked creativity and that we didn't plan thoroughly enough, as the music video was based around 4 monkeys running around in different places. We decided to change our music video to House of fun by Madness as we have a better narrative and fits our idea well. The previous song we were going to do didn't have a music video as well, this made it difficult for us to think of a music video, whilst House of fun by Madness had a music video which gave us a couple of ideas o what to do and to help us follow the style they achieved in their music video.

A-Level Media productions from previous years (Tom Lane)

We looked at a video for "Walking on Sunshine" which was given on a DVD by the exam board. The video lacked shots and basically had only 4 shots in the entire video, with no real sense being made during the video and with the editing poor as the lip synching was out of time. This showed us that we need to have a variety of shots in our music video and also if lip synching is used (which it will be in our video), it needs to be edited well in order to make it look like the character/artist is singing in the video.

We also looked at a music video for Michael Jackson's PYT from last years Trinity A-level students, and whilst the main character was dressed like Michael Jackson, the female character was dressed in school uniform and they filmed within the schools grounds and therefore looked a bit amateur as she didn't suite the role and the location was poor, this showed us that we need to have correct costume (or appropriate) and location.

We also looked at a music video where the main character was "Elvis" or a person dressed like him and lip synching the words to the song in different locations. This idea May have become boring, but the shot variety in the sequence made it more interesting and the different locations were chosen well. Therefore planning and shot variety are key in making the music video interesting. The lip synching was edited in well and that is also crucial in making the music video look professional.

I looked at an A-level music video for Radiohead's Reckoner, the video is edited well to fit in the with music and the images are chosen well to fit in with the lyrics, quick paced editing at the start fits in well with the quick pace of the song. The video mixes together abstract and storyline in the video and doesn't contain performance. Some of the shots are a bit repetitive, with constant shots of the sky being used. The abstract images go with the song and the video itself is quite well edited. Shot variety is also used to make the video more interesting.

Target Audience

Our target audience is to the younger generation. We wanted to show the pressure that younger kids have on their appearance and to be popular. In this case our protagonist becomes something he's not. No on turns up to his party so he assumes he is too young for his age and that he needs to grow up. He then leaves his house and begins to mature and grow up. When he arrives back at his party everyone is still young and childish. He then realizes that he is trying to be something his not and enjoys his party with his friends. This music video could also appeal to an older audience as no matter what age you are you can still be childish and enjoy yourself.

Research into our band

Madness are a British pop/ska band from Camden Town, London, which formed in 1976. The band continue to perform with their most recognised lineup of seven members, although their lineup has varied slightly over the years. They were one of the most prominent bands of the late-1970s 2 Tone ska revival.
Madness achieved most of their success in the early to mid 1980s. Both Madness and UB40 spent 214 weeks on the UK singles charts over the course of the decade, holding the record for most weeks spent by a group in the 1980s UK singles charts. However, Madness achieved this in a shorter time period (1980–1986).


The album House of fun was released in April 30th 1982. Their label is Stiff Records.

The song was originally recorded under the title "Chemist Facade", without the "Welcome to the House of Fun" chorus. However, while the song was being recorded, head of Stiff Records Dave Robinson demanded that the band add a chorus, to ensure the song was a hit. Upon hearing this, band member Mike Barson immediately wrote the "Welcome to the House of Fun" refrain on his piano.
However, at this point, the song was already recorded, and the management decided not to re-record the whole song. Instead, the recording was edited, and the chorus instruments and vocals dubbed onto the recording. This proved to be difficult, mainly due to technical limitations at the time, and it resulted in the first part of the word "Welcome" being cut off. Due to this, the chorus seemed to begin "Elcome to the House of Fun", so lead singer Suggs was forced to overdub the word "Welcome". Although this proved to be a tough task, it was completed successfully.

Shaggy- It Wasn't Me- William Wise

"It Wasn't Me" is a 2000 number one hit song by reggae artist Shaggy, featuring Ricardo "RikRok" Ducent. It achieved a huge success in many countries, topping the charts in the U.S., France, UK, the Netherlands, Austria, Australia and Ireland.

The video starts out with Rik Rok running to Shaggy's mansion to explain to him what just happened to him. Rik Rok tells him that he cheated on his girlfriend and got caught. Shaggy tells him to tell her that "it wasn't me." The video then cuts into a flashback to earlier that day. Rik Rok had been caught sleeping with another woman, and his girlfriend was outside the apartment in her convertible when two women pull up next to her on their motorcycles. The three women go into the building and Rik Rok sneaks out the window, takes one of the motorcycles and leaves. The women come out and the girlfriend and one of the friends get in the convertible and the other women got on her motorcycle and chase after him. Rik Rok gets on a bridge over the highway when the friend rides on the bridge in front of him. He then hits the brakes to stop while she stops her motorcycle. Rik Rok then hears a noise behind him and it's the other friends and the girlfriend driving the convertible on the other side of the bridge. On the highway below, an 18-wheeler drives by and Shaggy leaves him a text message telling him to look behind him. He notices the truck and jumps off the side of overhead and lands on the truck. He is then dropped off at Shaggy's mansion, showing the same scene from the start of the video.

Analysis Of Queen "Body Language" by Tom Lane

The band Queen are a British Rock band formed in 1971 with Band members, John Deacon, Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor. This video was the first video to be banned by MTV due to the "thinly veiled homoerotic undertones plus lots of skin and lots of sweat". The song was released in 1982 and was of the dance/funk genre. Reached number 25 on the UK charts. However, it did far better in the U.S., where it peaked at 11.

In the video women are objectified, which is typical of music videos in order to entice an audience. this is shown here:



There artist (Queen, they are shown individually and as a group) is heavily featured in the music video with is shown in this image of Brian May:



There is lip synching in the music video, which is used to pretend that the artist (or person in the narrative) is singing the song and the audience understands that they are telling the story. This is shown in the image below:



Performance doesn't appear to be used during the music video (instruments not Lip Synching) although the band appear to be performing without instruments in this shot:



The Video also contains some abstract sequences, this is shown in this shot:



Finally the music video is 4:42 which is between the 3-5 minutes that most music videos are:



This is the actual music video; Body Language by Queen;

The Scientist By Coldplay - Jack Brown

"The Scientist" is the second single from English alternative rock band Coldplay's second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head. The song was written collaboratively by all the band members for the album. It is built around a piano ballad, with its lyrics telling the story about a man's desire to love and an apology. The song was released in the United Kingdom as the second single from A Rush of Blood to the Head and reached number 10 in the UK Charts. It was released in the United States as the third single and reached number 18 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks.
Critics were positive towards "The Scientist" and complimented the song's piano ballad and falsetto. Several remixes of the track exist, and its riff has been widely sampled. The single's music video won three MTV Music Video Awards, for the video's use of reverse narrative. The song was also featured on the band's 2003 live album Live 2003.



The song heavily uses reverse editing, and from the video our group have gained a lot of influences. The song also has a lot of lip syncing, and it can be considered as abstract.



The song's use of reverse editing is extremely clever and it shows a story, instead of the accident being at the beginning and showing his feelings it shows us him after a considerable amount of time.

Eminem-Sing for the Moment- William Wise

"Sing for the Moment" is a hip hop song by American rapper Eminem from the album The Eminem Show, released in 2002. It was released as a music single in 2003. Sing for the Moment" deals with the themes of rap music's effect on society and the misunderstanding Eminem claims critics and parents have towards his message. Eminem uses the song to refute critics who have accused him of promoting violence to young people, saying that committing a crime is ultimately up to the offender. He also explains that his music has an advantage to young people, claiming that his music is a relief from boredom and depression. The song reached #14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, #6 on the UK Singles Chart, and #5 on the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart.

A music video for "Sing for the Moment" was made and released in 2003. It consists of a collage created with various clips, including shots from the Anger Management Tour. It also contains cameos appearances by various fellow rappers, including Dr. Dre, D12, 50 Cent and Ludacris. The video is very similar to the 50 Cent music video "If I Can't".

Sing for the moment consists of lip synching and live performance. The video also features the artist throughout the music video. It also features the audience in one of Eminems live performance. The video follows typical conventions as lip synching is used, live performance and a small narrative. There are various shots which shows woman being objectified as well.

Analysis of "That Tree"

"That Tree" is produced by the artist Snoop Dogg Featuring Kid Cudi. The song was released in December 8th 2009 and is off his album Malice in Wonderland. The Genre of this song is hip hop. The music video includes typical conventions of a music video such as lip syncing, performance,narrative, is cut to the beat of the music which is a moderate pace and the artists are heavily featured as the center of the music video."That Tree" Contains typical convetions of a hip hop music video such as it objectifies women. this represents a specific life style they want people to see they live. The music videos length is 4 minutes 34 seconds, which is not a typical thing for a music video its slightly longer tan the average 2 to 3 minute video.

This screen grab below shows the typical convention of women being objectified.



This screen shot below shows the music video convention of lip syncing and performance.

Plan

(1) 16 year old male looking forward too his birthday party except no one turns up. He realises that he’s too old for “this” (the cake the jelly party hats, basically a young kids party).

(2) Goes through cards and presents and notices a secret party invite in one of them inviting him to the house of fun.


(3) Gets ready for party, he starts to reach for clothes, and he is dressing younger for his actual age.

(4) Journey to the party and during the trip he is gradually maturing, people are beginning to follow him

(5) Gets served in the shop i.e. cigarettes, beer and condom and he walks towards the house

(6) Party is at his own house and when he turns up he is older than everyone.






• Starts with a close up of a hand pressing the play button on an oldish stereo.
• Long shot party room being empty with only the main character on his own =(
• Medium shots of scenery i.e. cake and party hats.


• Medium view of all presents
• Point of view of opening presents (small gifts like socks)
• Medium view or pile of cards and a one card stands out more then the others (bright colour)
• Point of view close up of an invite to a party

• Close up shots of him reaching for clothes (hands only)
• Pan shot of him starting from the bottom and going to the top
• Leaves his house and close up of his door number


• Medium close up shots of clothes flying up on him (individual shots of the clothes flying on)(reverse editing)
• Point of view of people following him
• More shots of the reverse editing
• Medium shot of only his clothes maturing

• Close up of hands reaching for different items
• Point of view of the main character handing over the money
• High status shot of him walking out the door
• More reverse editing showing him maturing even further

• Pan shot of him walk towards door
• Close up of the door number of his own house
• Low status shot of him walking through the door
• Quick cross cutting between the main character and the young children playing

Reverse Editing - Jack Brown

This is what we want to do for our music video. This can happen by using reverse editing, this will be important for our music video as it will look good and it also shows the importance of time going by.

The Madness-"House of Fun" lyrics

16 year old boy turns the radio on at his party (1st shot)

Good morning miss
Can I help you son?
Sixteen today
And up for fun
I'm a big boy now
Or so they say
So if you'll serve
I'll be on my way

we see that there is no one at the party, he is upset and we see everything around him is too young (Jelly, Ice Cream etc)

Box of balloons
With the feather-light touch
Pack of party-poppers
That pop in the night
A toothbrush and hairspray
Plastic grin
Miss Clay on all corners
Has just walked in

He goes to open his presents and we see that they are childish and young, he opens his cards and gets an invite to the "house of fun".

Welcome to the House of Fun
Now I've come of age
Welcome to the House of Fun
Welcome to the lion's den
Temptation's on his way
Welcome to the House of

He leaves the party and starts the journey to the "House of fun", walking down the street with clothes coming on him maturing him.

N-n-n-n-n-n-no no miss
You misunderstood
Sixteen big boy
Full pint in my manhood
I'm up to date
And the date's today
So if you'll serve
I'll be on my way

He goes to the shop and buys alcohol and cigarettes and is joined by more people.

Welcome to the House of Fun
Now I've come of age
Welcome to the lion's den
Temptation's on his way
Welcome to the House of (Fun)

They walk down the road performing and miming the song

I'm sorry son
But we don't stock
Party gimmicks
In this shop
Try the House of Fun
It's quicker if you run
This is a chemist's
Not a joke shop!

Looks at the invite and discovers it is at his own house then changes direction

Party hats
Simple enough clear
Comprehende savvy understand
Do you hear?
A pack of party hats
With the coloured tips
Too late!
Gorgon heard gossip
Well hello Joe, hello Miss Clay
Many happy returns from the day

A more mature boy and his friends arrive at the party finally.

Welcome to the House of Fun
Now I've come of age
Welcome to the House of Fun
Welcome to the lion's den
Temptation's on his way
Welcome to the House of Fun
Welcome to the House of Fun...

He Arrives to find he is the most mature one there, whilst those at the party are young and immature, he enjoys himself at the party.

(Fade to End)

Madness- House of fun

Pitch: Our Idea (basic summary, Tom Lane)

A boy is celebrating his 16th Birthday. He has a party and no one turns up.
He has childish things at the party and he realises they are too young for him. he opens his cards and receives an invitation/leaflet to a secret party; "The House of Fun". He goes and buys cigarettes and alcohol, wearing young clothes and during the journey he matures.

Pitch-Song choice and Artist Background

Song title/band: "House of Fun" by Madness

Genre/Style: Ska/Pop

Band Members:
Graham "Suggs" McPherson
Mike Barson
Lee Thompson
Chris Foreman
Mark Bedford
Daniel Woodgate
Carl Smyth

Record labels: Stiff, Virgin, Lucky 7 Records

Years together: 1976–present (on and off)

Song Released in 1982 and was their only number 1 UK hit.

We decided to change our idea from The Monkees (see below), as we felt that our idea was not specific, would cost a lot and the performance side of it would be too hard whilst wearing the suits. And whilst the song fitted in with the Monkey suit idea, we decided to do "House Of Fun" instead without the Monkey suits and with the idea stated above.

Original Idea
Song/ Artist- Hey Hey, We're the monkees (theme from the monkees) By The Monkees
Target Audience- Teenage girls
genre/Style-Bubblegum Pop (which was targeted at a teenage girl audience between 1967-77)

Our idea was to go around in Monkey suites doing different things and creating a narrative through the lyrics of the song, as well as incorporating performance.

Production Tips (Tom Lane)

-Shot variety is key to engaging the audience and making the video more exciting whilst fitting the video with the music.
-The editing has to fit in time with the music, to make it flow
-Use settings which are relevant
-Use costume which is relevant (and not school uniform or a school unless required)
-Use the song lyrics to help create a story if that is the objective for your video
-Make sure the story makes sense.
-Cast Appropriately. Don't have unrealistic characters.
-Fast/slow paced editing to fit with the song
-Choose a song which allows an interesting video to be made

The History Of The Music Video- Jack Brown

In the late 1950, the Scopitone, a visual jukebox, was invented in France and short films were produced by many French artists, such as Serge Gainsbourg, Françoise Hardy and Jacques Dutronc to accompany their songs. Its use spread to other countries and similar machines such as the Cinebox in Italy and Color-Sonic in the USA were patented. In 1961 Ozzie Nelson directed and edited the video of Travelin' Man by his son Ricky Nelson.



In 1965, The Beatles began making promotional clips for distribution and broadcast in other countries.
The location clips are considerably more elaborate and use vibrant colour footage shot on location in the grounds of Chiswick House, London. Both clips are notable for their use of hand-held camera work, rhythmic editing, slow motion shots and reversed film. Most notably, apart from a few brief shots the Rain clip virtually abandons any pretense of performance and has no obvious narrative structure.

The Rolling Stones appeared in many promotional clips for their songs in the 1960s. One of the earliest, dating from 1964, showed the band on a beach, miming to their single Not Fade Away, but this has apparently since been lost. In 1966, Peter Whitehead directed two promo clips for their single Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, and Standing in the Shadow?

Many countries with local pop music industries soon copied the trend towards promo film clips. In Australia, promotional films by Australian pop performers were being made on a regular basis by 1966; in 1968 singer Lynne Randell featured in one of the first promotional clips for an Australian act that was filmed in colour, but most Australian clips from this period were in black and white, because Australia did not convert to colour TV until early 1975.

During late 1972–73 David Bowie featured in a series of promotional films directed by pop photographer Mick Rock, who worked extensively with Bowie in this period. These clips are important landmarks in the development of the music video genre in the 1970s, and they are also notable because they were made by a professional photographer rather than an established film or TV director, and because Rock was given total creative control over the clips.

The Australian TV shows Countdown which premiered in 1974, were significant in developing and popularizing the music video genre in Australia and other countries, and in establishing the importance of music video clips as a means of promoting both emerging acts and new releases by established acts.

Conventions of A music video (Tom Lane)

There are typical conventions, which most music videos follow (exceptions include Michael Jackson's Thriller) The conventions are listed below with an example of a music video that features the convention, in order to make it clear that each point occurs in music videos. The Conventions are guidelines that music videos follow.

Lip synching and live performance are often used in music videos, this usually features the artist but sometimes contains members of the public (such as Rockstar by NickelBack), Live performance is shown in this video by The White Stripes, which shows them playing instruments:



Music videos sometimes have a story line (or plot) to them, the plot often relates to the music video and The artist is heavily featured, this promotes the artist and makes the artist the centre of attention, these are both shown in this video:




Women are sometimes "objectified" in music videos, this makes them more attractive and objects of desire to male audiences, this is shown in this video:



The video is cut to the music as in this video, so it is in time with the song and therefore fits in well, this is shown in this video:

The history of the music video- William Wise

Many musical artists made their careers a success by using music videos. As an important part of the music industry, music videos not only showcase an artist's singing talent, but also how they perform. The history of music videos shows how the use of the videos transformed the music industry.

Premiering in 1974, the Australian TV show 'Countdown' played an important role in the development of the music video industry. Music video clips were used as a method of promoting acts that were to appear on the show. As the popularity of the video clips grew, the music industry began to realize the marketing potential of these music clips. One of the most notable video clips features was the AC/DC hit, "It's A Long Way to the Top." During the 1980s, 'Countdown' aired in 22 countries.

In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV was launched and it began the age of 24-hour music television. They launched the channel with the video, "Video Killed the Radio Star." Throughout the 1980s, MTV expanded to become an important tool used in music marketing. Singers like Madonna not only used music videos to promote their albums, but to create their images. In 1983, the almost 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson's song "Gay," was released. It became the world's most successful and influential video in music video history.

In 1988, the MTV show, Yo! MTV Raps was launched. The show helped to bring hip hop music to a nation wide audience. Two of the videos that are most famous for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time are Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream," which cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story," which cost $5 million. "Scream" is still the most expensive video ever made.

Evaluation of Alice Cooper- No more Mr. Nice Guy

1.)Identify the task as well as the song/artist

1.) The task was to make a music video based on the track we were given. We were given the Song No more mr. nice guy Alice Cooper. We had to get the video to fit with the song and in time with the music.

2.) How have you used digital technology during the construction of your video?

2.) We used digital technology during the construction of the video as we used a video camera to film the whole production, once we had finished our production we used Apple Macs to upload and edit the production.

3.) Discuss the planning stage of your production and the steps that you went through

3.) We planned by creating a storyboard which contained a list of shots and a story line for our music video. We also researched other music videos of the same genre to see what type of codes and conventions they used, and to see what feel of style we needed to use. We researched the artist on Youtube but unfortunately there was no music videos just live shows, but Alice Cooper gave us the attitude we needed for the music video.

4) How did your research into music videos contribute to the development of your own production?

4.) When we looked at other AS music videos this helped us as we realized we had to base our music video on a story. We also looked at lip synching and fitting the music in time with the production.

5.) What do you think are the main strengths/weaknesses in your production? consider your audience feedback.

5.) The main strengths for our production was the type of camera shots we used as they looked professional and unique. There was a nice structure for the music video and the length of the clips were good. Some of the shots looked realistic. For example when the victim was running towards the door. Our weaknesses was we should have a made a better ending as the bullies should have put up more of a fight and the pushing should have been more realistic. The lip synching didn't work as expected as it was not in time and we was not in time with each other. We should not have filmed on the webcam as well as it looked poor and didn't fit the story line.

Evaluation Questions For Prelim Task - Jack Brown

Identify The Task And The The Song/Artist
The song we were given was No More Mr. Nice Guy By Alice Cooper, and we had to make a music video for the song, we were allowed to cut out some of the song if we wished to.

How Have You Used Digital Technology In The Construction Of Your Video?
Digital technology had a huge input towards our media product, we were given a hand held camera with a stand to record the music video. Then we had access to Apple Macs, and an editing software called iMovieHD. We was also enabled to show our video to the public via YouTube.

Discuss The Planning Stage Of Your Production And The Steps You Went Through.
To plan the media product we made a list of all the various shots and we made a rough storyboard as an visual aid to help us contruct the shots. Whilst some of our group was creating the storyboard the half started taking notes from music videos by the same music artist of the same genre, this helped us understand the generic conventions for the genre Rock in a music video.

How Did Your Research Into Music Videos Contribute To The Development Of Your Own Production?
We looked at what other media groups from previous years did that had the same genre as us and from that we were able to copy what they did and see what worked well, we also look at general rock music videos to see how the editor has enabled the video to flow with the tempo of the music video.

What Do You Think Are The Main Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Production? (Consider The Audience Feedback)
I think the main strength is that at the beginning the sequence flowed really well with the music and the tempo. There was a good structure and alot of contuinity editing throughout the piece. Near the end of the sequence the video began to colapse and we got lazy, we didn't have enough shots so we added a few random shots to fill the time. The plot of the sequence was very good according to the audience feedback, altough near the end the quoting back from my previous comment, we got lazy and the acting was getting drowzy. The worst part of the sequence was the lip synching, we have now learnt that singing into a webcam was a horrible idea and we have now learnt from the mistakes.

Evaluation questions for practice music video

1. identify the task as well as the song/artist

Our task was t create a prelim music video for the song No More Mr Nice Guy by Alice Cooper.

2. How have you used digital technology during the construction of your video?

We used digital technology as when we filmed we used a digital camera which connected to our Apple computers. We used technology in the editing as we used the software I movie HD. We also used it when uploading our Prelim task to youtube.

3. Discuss the planning stage of your production and the steps that you went through.

Firstly we identified the genre and used the internet to find the conventions of a typical rock music video including using youtube to see some of the videos. We then created a story board which helped us plan out the shots and the story line which we were to include in our task.

No More Mr Nice Guy - Alice Cooper

Evaluation Questions for practice music video- William Wise

1.)Identify the task as well as the song/artist

1.) The task was to make a music video based on the track we were given. For our group we were given No more Mr nice guy by Alice Cooper.

2.) How have you used digital technology during the construction of your video?

2.) We used digital technology during the construction of the video as we used a video camera to film the whole production, once we had finished our production we used Apple Macs to upload and edit the production.

3.) Discuss the planning stage of your production and the steps that you went through

3.) We planned by creating a storyboard which contained a list of shots and a story line for our music video. We also researched other music videos of the same genre to see what type of codes and conventions they used, and to see what feel of style we needed to use. We researched the artist on Youtube but unfortunately there was no music videos just live shows, but Alice Cooper gave us the attitude we needed for the music video.

4) How did your research into music videos contribute to the development of your own production?

4.) When we looked at other AS music videos this helped us as we realized we had to base our music video on a story. We also looked at lip synching and fitting the music in time with the production.

5.) What do you think are the main strengths/weaknesses in your production? consider your audience feedback.

5.) The main strengths for our production was the type of camera shots we used as they looked professional and unique. There was a nice structure for the music video and the length of the clips were good. Some of the shots looked realistic. For example when the victim was running towards the door. Our weaknesses was we should have a made a better ending as the bullies should have put up more of a fight and the pushing should have been more realistic. The lip synching didn't work as expected as it was not in time and we was not in time with each other. We should not have filmed on the webcam as well as it looked poor and didn't fit the story line.

Published by William Wise