Evaluation

When making our music video we felt a need to be original but also conform to the conventions of real media products. Our idea was to present a ska/punk band of three boys causing trouble and having an enjoyable time on the way. They got up to many activities in the music video, this followed Goodwin's point of following the genre characteristics; ska/punk bands are often rebellious people, so we tried to portray the actors in this way as much as we could. The actors did this by giving out a strong energy to live up to the standards of the upbeat music. Dancing, pranking people and acting immature. For example there is a scene of two of the actors playing in a children's park. More ways we followed the genre characteristics was by filming in appropriate locations; jumping into the river cam, garages surrounded by graffiti and green areas for the ball activities. All the filming locations proved to be successful as they were easy to assess and related to our theme. Further following Goodwin's points we included close up's of the artists to meet the needs to the record label. The lyrics and the visuals linked when the artist's are shown in a split screen with 'B.P.C' written on their stomachs. A relationship with the music and the visuals is also present when hitting the fruit with the bat; the fruit was hit on a beat.
We were inspired by popular internet personality, 'MC Devvo' - a satirical fictional character. He frequently uses profanity and is generally unpleasant and confrontational to people. We touched on this idea and found his work to be a good starting point, based on the humour content. We also followed the use of real media products by watching Blink 182's video 'What's my age again'. Using the three male characters was present in both our music videos.
As well as following some conventions we also developed our ideas by pushing the boundaries; the running scene was hard to film as we didn't want to attract too much attention from the public, just enough for the audience to notice that the characters are shocking the public, not to get into trouble. We raised the rating to an '18' certificate as some of the language and acting would not be suitable for younger audiences. After all the target audience we were aiming at was males in their early 20's, we wanted to appeal to an audience that would find this sort of humour amusing.

A combination of three products were used to create our final media coursework; the Digipak, the magazine cover and the music video. They all had to be combined together. To do this we made sure the humorous theme from our music video, e.g. running in public in man thongs, running into each other with inflatable balls and dancing with a popular Cambridge milk shake character was included. The humour we used to for the magazine advert was a twist on the popular image of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. We developed the idea by using Liam and Callum as replacements, they wore their gold mask and man thongs also. We made an effort to use the gold bed cover as it complimented the gold mask appropriately. For the Digipak we decided to use an image of someone taking a photo of the two 'runners' as the front cover. The back of the cover features parts from the music video that sum up the product as a whole. Humorous parts like the boxing scene, jumping into the river and the trolley scene are pictured. The font we used is also continued, the font isn't conventional, it is similar to a graffiti style of font which connotes rebellion; a theme that is persistent with our products. The artists are represented in the same way throughout our products, they're also represented as mischievous boys; they have careless attitudes and enjoy having fun. From the amusing antics in the music video, to the courageous posing for the magazine advert and all the ideas drawn in the for Digipak, we have deliberately made sure they're shown in this way. The combination of the products are effective as we have a continuous theme throughout.

Receiving audience feedback always helps with developing ideas for a media product. Teachers and peers have commented on our music video, as well as giving us ideas for our magazine cover and Digi pak. The students in our class found the ideas impressive, they felt our blog looks well visually as we've included all our inspiration. Other positive comments that were made mentioned how we have stuck to our original ideas that we planned for, and have a lot of footage to work with. The various scenes we seem to have so much of helped when teachers mentioned the video would look better the shots were faster to make the video more exciting. We went on to do this, and were able to from the large amount of different footage we had. It worked out positively in the end as our video now shows how we wanted to present it; in the most captivating way. Suggestions were made to include something comical for our magazine advert and the Digipak, so it follows the humorous theme of our video. We listened to all of the feedback (that was told verbally and also commented on our blog) and made sure to incorporate it as much as possible; after all the audience needs needs to be most impressed by the work as they're going to be the ones investing in the products.
We decided to do extra filming in the half term to make sure we had enough footage to work with. The difference that was made from the draft video to the final were: changes of characters (Gareth replacing Rojiar) as we felt having an all male group made more sense to our idea; as we used blink 182 as our inspiration, using three boys followed this. Gareth went on to recording one more verse. We also re-filmed Liams verse as the lip syking was slightly out of time when we first filmed. Other random footage was also filmed, e.g. fruit throwing, 'vandalising' scenes and dancing. The re filming did take up a majority of our time, but it was definitely worth it now that we've finished the final product.

To produce the media products for our music video task we needed to use media technologies. When researching, using the internet for ideas was incredibly useful; sites like 'youtube'
and 'google' helped us search for music videos, pranking ideas and products we could buy as props. This was helpful because it kept us organised and on top of our planning.
When constructing our products; we used different technologies than the planning. To make the music video 'Final Cut' was the programme we used to edit the different clips of our video together. It was a suitable software as it's easy to use and enabled us to make the video appear more interesting than just putting the clips in un-edited; we shortened clips to make them more snappy, made the lip syncing in time, inserted titles and were able to cut down the music to fit with our visuals.
When making our digi pak and magazine covers we used 'Photoshop' as photo editing software to make the images. Photoshop helped us create developed and professional products that could be used for advertising. 'Myspace' was another internet site we used to contact 'The Filaments' when informing them about us using their song. We also used Myspace to listen to their song at home so we could learn the lyrics for filming, viewing their picture to get a feel of their 'punk image' also helped us live up to that.
To evaluate our work we published our findings on 'Blogger', a blogging site to upload our inspirational photos and videos. We also put up ideas that we had for our products, such as possible magazine cover ideas. Our most inspiring video - Blink 182's 'What's my age again' was also analysed and put on the blog. Blogger also helped to develop our ideas as our class members were able to view our uploads and comment on them.

To conclude, I feel we have achieved what we set out to produce. We've all enjoyed making our products, from the filming of the running scenes to photographing the images for the magazine
cover. Our music video is a great improvement from our work last year.

Magazine advert ideas.

When planning the image for our magazine advert, choosing an image that reflected the artist's was the most important thing to consider. The image I have chosen from our music video is about half way through, and shows the main 'artist's'/actor's in the music video. The artist's are represented as youthful, rebellious boys; they have careless attitudes and enjoy having fun. The image I have chosen shows the artist's in that way. Firstly the setting compliments the image; broken windows, the B.P.C logo in graffiti and generally the area of the image is not a typical area to be in, if they were law abiding youths. They're doing a dance/pose, this reflects their humorous selves.

It links to our video because it is following the theme of 'messing around' and having an enjoyable time with your friends. The artist's continue this sort of attitude throughout the music video, but I think this image reflects them in the most boisterous way.

The genre of music by The Filaments is ska/punk. The characteristics of ska punk often features fast tempos, guitar distortion, on beat punk-style interludes and shouted vocals. The fast beat tempo is reflected in our music video by the shots being very quick. The image I have chosen was from one of the many fast shots. The way ska/punk artist's usually present themselves is in the attitude reflected by the artist's in the music video. "Punk rock is meant to be our freedom. We're meant to be able to do what we want to do." - quotation describing punk beliefs.

The audience we have aimed our music video at is adults that enjoy this genre of music, mainly men. The track contains explicit language and behavior that isn't positively looked at for younger audiences to view. This image will appeal to the target audience because listeners of ska/punk embrace the amusing culture.

Feedback

- Liked the short pace of our clips, costumes and the random elements in our video.
- The group suggested that we use a 'man thong' image of the two running for our Digi pack. Or the three posing against the graffiti background.
- Thought the lip syncing could have been better, agreed that it was hard to do and thought we managed to successfully divert attention towards our other clips.

Final Video

Final idea for magazine cover

We've decided that we're going to stick with the idea of the John Lennon and Yoko Ono on the bed in our man thongs and gold masks.

What needs to go on the magazine cover

Photograph to cover page

Star ratings and reviews from well known magazines

Out when(date)

Myspace of band

Where to buy from ( logo of itunes, amazon etc)

Record label logo, website

Name of artist and song

Date of shooting- monday 23rd nov

Digipak ideas

Magazine advert

Needs to promote video and artist

Magazine

Name of artist

Name of album (featuring the track BPC)

Release date

Available from

Websites/myspace

Record Label

Reviews and ratings

DVD

Showcase the artist

Collectors item

Limited edition

Features-Out-takes, Documentary, making of, live, bonus tracks, uncut version, short films featuring artist, photographs

Rating-parental advise

Tuesday 10th

We've uploaded our footage, and made a good start into the editing of our video. The clips we got seem to fit really well, creating a better feel to the video that really grabs the viewers attention with lots of short effective shots. Overall we are happy with our progress.

Monday 9th

We've filmed our final footage, and we feel it went quite successfully. We managed to get the clips that we needed, including footage that grasps other groups feedback.

Magazine Advert Research

For our Magazine Cover we've decided to stick with the man thong idea but mix it in with a famous image. The shot will be on a bed or carpet with Liam laying on the floor and callum laying next to him curled up with his body wrapped around him whilst kissing him on the cheek. We'll be wearing the gold masks and man thongs that we sported rather well in the Music video. The genereal Idea of the shoot is to re-create the John Lennon and Yoko Ono famous image from the cover of Rolling Stone magazine



The lighting in the original photo is quite dark and grainy but we're thinking of making it a brighter photo to help represent the way we want our video to be seen.

Video Roughcut

After Half Term

Plans for After Half-Term:
- Gareth lip sync Verse 1
- Liam lip sync Verse 2
- 'Hey Hey Hey'
- More dancing scenes
- Ass Slap
- Reaction shots
- Slap round face with bag of flour
- Fruit throw
- Mini Mosh-pit
- More Random Footage

Production meeting

Shooting - Monday 12th:

Walking down from garages
Performance (verse 1)
Wheelie bin
Exercise balls
River jump

Thursday 15th:

Naked run
Dance with shakin moo
Boxing
Performance verse 3
Hey hey hey's


Equipment:

Camera
Tripod
G-clamp
Car
I-pod and speakers


Actors:

Liam - Man thong run, Man thong river jump, Performance, Exercise balls, Boxing, Dance
Callum - Man thong run, Man thong river jump, Performance, Exercise balls, Boxing, Dance
Rojiar - Performance, Exercise and Boxing victim
Gareth - Performance, Exercise Ball, Boxing
Shakin Moo - Gets bullied, Dance
There may also be a couple of random actors to perform Reaction shots.

Music video analysis

Blink 182 lyrics

Blink 182 Whats My Age Again? Video - Blink 182 Music Videos

Music Videos by VideoCure

Blink 182 - 'What's My Age Again?'

I have chosen to analyse Blink 182' video, ‘What's My Age Again?'. The music video was released in 1999 and involves the band mainly running around the streets naked, interrupting television shows and also has performance in a white room.
Their music is predominantly of the 'pop punk' genre, best know for their scatological humour and simple melodies. This is reflected well in 'What's My Age Again', lyrics include; 'Nobody likes you when you're 23, and are still more amused by TV shows. What the hell is ADD? My friends say I should act my age, what's my age again?' This also follows Goodwin's points, as the visuals compliment this when you see the band members knock drinks out of passers hands, distract drivers and do naked cartwheels on live television.
The music then slows down as they approach an attractive female, they take one look at her, run back then the upbeat tempo starts again with the band continuing to disturb the public and cause amusing havoc.
Although Blink 182 have previously mocked the boy band culture in videos such as 'All The Small Things', they demonstrate genre characteristics in this video by performing in the white room and there are many close ups of the artist' faces which help the audience continuously recognise them.
The reason I chose to analyse this music video is because as well as 'The Filaments' (my groups chosen band) lyrics inspiring us, Blink 182' humorous style has inspired us to create something similarly entertaining.

Contacting The Filaments

Hello, we're four Media students representing Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, UK.

For our coursework this year we've been asked to create a music video, we've chosen your song - B.P.C.

We hope that you'll be happy with us using it; and we'll be sure to send you the final video and welcome any feedback or thoughts on what we've produced.

Thanks very much.

More Inspiration

Goodwin's Points

To help us in our decision making process, and with the concept of our music video, here are Goodwins points.

1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

2)There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3)There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4)The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5)There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6)There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

Lyrics

Lyrics to B.P.C. :


Benfleet punx crew is the name of the firm so dear to me.
You'll see them on the cider
and keeping it real out on the street.
We like to drink with them and sing with them
thats how its always been.
We spent our teenage years like a punk rock family.

Through all the party nights and pissed up fights, - Callum
a lot of shit went down
But we always stand together, we're unified and proud. - Liam
Back to those early gigs we were kids, - Gazza
but we knew how it had to be
The beenfleet punx and chelmsford crew in solidarity. - Gazza

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
The B.P.C.!(x3) - Callum

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!

Done down on southend seafront, a DIY gig.
The BPC gathers and they're busting out the drink
there gonna have a beer and have a laugh
thats what its all about.
And then it's back to Benfleet
the hometown have no doubt. - Callum + Liam

Hanging out on street corners
where its punx against the pricks.
nothing can confront us when musics in the mix
Nothing could be better than when I'm drinking with my friends.
BPC this one's for you united to the end.

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
The B.P.C.!(x3) - Whole Group

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
The B.P.C.!(x3) All

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!

Location

These are the several locations we are going to film, most are going to be areas of our groups performance which is around some graffitied garages to fit are groups image. The final picture is where we plan to film the 'Manthong Run', it shows are camera positions and the street itself which is Fitzroy St. by the Grafton Centre.

Mood Board

As you can see the moodboard shows the variety of ideas we have for our Music Video. Firstly theres the Manthong and the screenshot of Blink182's 'Whats my age again', this is linked with our inspiration of from there video to run through Cambridge in Manthongs which will be a main focus of are video, being shown during the songs verses. There are also several other props which we are going to use for pranks throughout the video, for example there are boxing gloves, which we're simply going to hit each other with. Finally we have a picture of the River Cam, this is going to be the main focus of our final shot as the 'Manthong' idea continues, we plan to film a shot of us jumping into the river then peoples reactions, for our fade-out.

Props and Budget

Man Thongs x2 - £5.99
Masks x2 - £3.99
Wheelie Bin - £0
Exercise ball - £12
Boxing gloves - £5
Melon x2
Sledge Hammer
Small fruit - £5
Cricket bat
Dressing gown
KFC
Car

This is all our props needed, which we've valued at £42.