Hello, and welcome to my blog. I am currently studying Media Studies at Ilkley Grammar School at A2 level and this blog will show you everything that I will be looking at this year. Each blog post will be like a piece of work that can be looked at individually. I hope you enjoy looking at my blog as I enjoy posting on it.

Tuesday 29 November 2011

AN - Sample footage - Take two!!!

Today, we will be filming a second set of sample footage in which we'll be using the same segment of song heard in the previous sample footage. However, it will different because we'll be filming the girlfriend's aftermath of the break up.
Like Asa in this week's podcast, we've got an actor to play the girlfriend, Francesca Fox. By filming this footage, we'll be able to have an idea of what we'll be filming involving the scenes with the girlfriend.
 Similar to the first scenario, the girlfriend will be walking around Ilkley feeling the depression of the breakup. For example, she will go into Caffe Nero and sit at a table all by herself. The footage will be sped up at one point to signify the passage of time.
Finally for the last set of the sample footage, we will get both sets of footage and put them into different frames. By doing this, we will be able to test out the split screen idea.

Codes & Conventions of a Magazine AD!!

The main Common Code and Conventions are:
  • Artists Name (in large font)
  • Album Name (usually the same size font as the artist name)
  • Album Cover
  • Bold writing
  • Web Address of artist, record labels and ticket retailer
  • Colours compliment each other
  • Twitter, Facebook and Youtube pages
  • Tour dates (if any)
  • Record Labels
  • Says the format it is available in - CD and download
  • Font Variation, framing and colour
  • Theme of the artist - fits with the lyrics and albums
  • Information about the album (usually says "Including" followed by the singles released from the album)
  • QR Codes
  • Introductory sentence to grab the audience's attention 'the wait is finally over...'
  • Thumbnails
  • Photo of the CD/Product/Merchandise
  • Format (CD, CD + DVD, CD + Vinyl or Digital)
  • Either release date, out now or pre-order
Other conventions we found as a group
  • Album artwork is included in the advert (all)
  • Says 'new album' on the ad (3/6)
  • Tour dates (2/6)
  • Release date (all)
  • Social media links - twitter/ facebook (no longer myspace for newer releases)
  • Tickets website (2/6)
  • Artist website (all)
  • Artist name positioned top, central on the page (5/6)
  • Tour sponsor advert and website (1/6)
  • Phone number for ticket (1/6)
  • Name of hit single included in the album (2/6)
  • Image of the band (3/6)
  • Thumbnails of the album (1/6)

Wednesday 23 November 2011

ALL - Podcast 2, Sample Footage




In our second podcast we have spoken about, how the sample footage went, a brief insight to our media lesson on Narrative, and a SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Fish eye lens & Stop Motion

In our music video, I suggested using either Fish Eye Lens or Stop motion.
The reason for this is because I have seen a few video's with these examples such as "Train - Hey Soul Sister








Stop Motion
Stop motion (also known as stop action) is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence. Clay figures are often used in stop motion for their ease of repositioning. Motion animation using clay is called clay animation or clay-mation.
The term "stop motion", related to the animation technique, is often spelled with a hyphen (stop-motion).
Stop motion animation has a long history in film. It was often used to show objects moving as if by magic. The first instance of the stop motion technique can be credited to Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton for The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1897), in which a toy circus of acrobats and animals comes to life. In 1902, the film Fun in a Bakery Shop used the stop-trick technique in the "lightning sculpting" sequence. French trick film maestro Georges Méliès used true stop motion to produce moving title-card letters for one of his short films, but never exploited the process for any of his other films.
Websites that specify in Stop Motion.

http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/about/ ..... http://www.stopmotionpro.com/

There have been many videos uploaded to websites such as YouTube that either show you a step by step guide how to succeed in Stop Motion or have used it for their own personal use to produce some pretty impressive videos!




To include this in my video, I was wanting to use white T-shirts for the band members to wear with specific words such as "love" or "hurt" that can be seen through out the video in sync with the lyrics in the music. It just adds skills and differs from the 'typical' love/break-up songs that have been or are on the market in the music industry today.


Fish Eye Lens

A fisheye lens is a type of camera lens that has an ability to capture wide-angle images. In theory, the images captured using a fisheye lens will have a close similarity to how the image would look like viewed through the eyes of a fish. The center part of the image will appear normal or magnified, depending on the distance of the subject to the lens, while most of the parts of the background, including the edges of the image will appear bent and a bit distorted. Thus, the background elements in your composition will just be secondary most of the time. This is why it’s essential to decide on which part of the composition you want to focus in the photo.
The effect that a fisheye lens creates gives photographers a lot of room for creativity. The wide field of view of the fisheye lens will enable you to fit huge landscapes, or a large number of subjects in a single frame. In situations where a room is too cramped or too small, the wide field of view of the fisheye lens will make it possible for you to capture great images.
The first company in optical industry to develop a fisheye lens was the Nikon Corporation. Back then, fisheye lenses were used as a tool for meteorological research to capture cloud formations. Today, fisheye lenses have become very popular, not only among professional photographers, but also among photography hobbyists, due to the unique effect it produces.
There are two different types of fisheye lenses: the one that produces a photo with dark edges is called a circular fisheye lens, the other type of fisheye lens is called a full-frame fisheye lens, which does not produce images with dark edges.
Examples of fish eye pictures :



There are videos on line that can actually show your what to get so that you can make your own Fish eye lens.

Digipaks, Nirvana.

Nirvana re-realised a special edition album, as a Digipak.

Katies Scan 1


Katies Scan 2

AN - Digipaks

Digipaks are a patented type of CD packaging which is made out card/paperboard. Usually, digipaks can open up like a book or they could have a more unique design, such as a three-part digipak in which one portion of the packaging opens to the right and other to the left. The part of the digipak which is made to hold the CD(s) is made of plastic, which is attached to the paper background.


A company known as MeadWestvaco first created the digipak. Since the birth of the product, it has become more popular with manufactures and they have also started to use it. Now, the term "digipak" has been used to describe all soft CD packaging.

Codes and conventions of a Digipak




  • Album art
  • Track listing
  • Card/paperboard packaging
  • Lyric booklet
  • Credits
  • Copyright logo
  • Artistic cover
  • Pictures of band members
  • Quotes from reviewers
  • DVD(s) depending on the type of digipak.
  • Barcode
  • Web addresses
  • Folding packaging
  • Date of release
  • List of band members' roles
  • Square based packaging

Monday 21 November 2011

Sample footage, idea.

Later on today myself and Asa will be shooting some sample footage. We have asked James Newton, who is playing the role of the main male character to shoot with us, so we can get an idea of what shots to put across, and if the right locations fit.


Couple in split screen, an example of what we would show in our video.
An idea for the video was when the couple start to argue, and they finally walking away the screen will then split into two, and each character will have their own story and journey until they return to each other.




Location, for split screen.
For the sample footage we are focusing on the male characters side of the story after he has left the female character.












Wednesday 16 November 2011

Spike Jonze, Case study into a Director.

WIKI - 'Spike Jonze  October 22, 1969) is an American directorproducer and actor, whose work includes music videoscommercialsfilm and television. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Charlie Kaufman, which include the 1999 film Being John Malkovich (that gave him an Academy Award for Best Director nomination) and the 2002 film Adaptation, and direction of the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are. He is well known also for his music video collaborations with WeezerBeastie Boys, and Björk. He was also a co-creator and executive producer of MTV'sJackass.[1] He is currently the creative director of VBS.tv.[2] He is also part owner of skateboard company Girl Skateboards with riders Rick Howard and Mike Carroll.'


"He also co - founded 'Directors Label'  with film makers Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry."




Spike Jonze's IMDB





2011Mourir auprès de toi (short) 
 
2011Scenes from the Suburbs (short) 
 
2010The Vampire Attack (video short) 
 
2010I'm Here (short) 
 
2009We Were Once a Fairytale (short) 
 
2007Fully Flared (video documentary) 
 
2005The Medúlla Videos (video short) (video "Triumph of a Heart") 
 
2004Corporate Ghost (video) 
 
2004Weezer: Video Capture Device - Treasures from the Vault 1991-2002 (video documentary) (videos "Undone - The Sweater Song", "Buddy Holly", "Island in the Sun [2nd Version]") 
 
2004Hot Chocolate (video documentary) 
 
2003Tenacious D: The Complete Masterworks (video documentary) ("Wonderboy" video / as Spike Jones) 
 
2003The Best of R.E.M.: In View 1988-2003 (video documentary) (video "Electrolite") 
 
2003The Work of Director Spike Jonze (video documentary short) 
 
2003What's Up, Fatlip? (video documentary short) 
 
2003Yeah Right! (video) 
 
2002Adaptation. 
 
2002Björk: Volumen Plus (video short) (video "It's in Our Hands") 
 
2002Pavement: Slow Century (video documentary) (video "Shady Lane") 
 
2002Cydeways: The Best of the Pharcyde (video documentary) (videos "Drop" and "What's Up, Fatlip?") 
 
2000Beastie Boys: Video Anthology (video documentary) (videos "Sabotage", "Sure Shot", "Ricky's Theme", "Ciao L.A.") 
 
2000D.A.F.T. (video) (segment "Da Funk") 
 
1999Clip Cult Vol. 1: Exploding Cinema (video "Praise You") 
 
1999Björk: Volumen (video) (video "It's Oh So Quiet") 
 
1999An Intimate Look Inside the Acting Process with Ice Cube (video documentary short) 
 
1999Torrance Rises (short) (as Richard Coufey) 
 
1998Amarillo by Morning (documentary short) 
 
1997How They Get There (short) 
 
1997Mouse (video documentary short) 
 
1995R.E.M. Parallel (video) (video "Crush with Eyeliner") 
 
1994Beastie Boys: Sabotage (video short) 
 
1994Ciao L.A. (video short) 
 
1991Video Days (video short) 
 










He has also directed Films such as























- Jackass the movie
















- Being John Malkovich

















- Where the wild things are.