Roles Within the Group (Preliminary)

Within my group (Jasper, Rachael and I) we will all be doing slightly different roles to spread out the workload and work to all of our strengths.

Filming - All three of use will be there for the filming and help to film and direct the whole video.
Editing - Rachael will do the majority of the editing as she is the best at it and will do this role most effectively, however, we will all have input into how it is edited.
CD Cover - Jasper and I will create the CD cover whilst Rachael is in the editing process. This is because I have spent many years doing art at school and have experience creating and designing. Jasper also has many ideas for the CD cover and considers himself to be creative and computer-savvy.
Blog Posts - All three of us will contribute to the blog posts, however, when all the footage has been captured Jasper and I will do most of the posts to allow Rachael to focus on the editing.
Casting - All three of us will be involved in casting to ensure we all agree we have the best suited people to feature in our video.

Format of Video (Preliminary)

Our video will be in the form of a narrative. There won't be any live performance involved in the video or clips of the song being sung. This is because the song is a very upbeat song and so we felt it would be more effective to have a very full of energy, story-based narrative to accompany the song rather than break up the video between narrative and performance. Also, the fact that we had a very solid idea that we all agreed with and very much liked meant that we wanted to put that idea into full effect. We feel our idea is engaging enough to not need any live performance to accompany it.

Research (Preliminary)

A quick check on Wikipedia told me that Men Without Hats fall into the new wave/synthpop genre. With that in mind I chose some songs from bands of a similar genre that I enjoy:

Tears for Fears - Head Over Heels:

For the most part I can understand the plot of this video; the guy wants the girl and the girl just isn't interested. However, there are some aspects that I don't understand, for example, why is there a monkey in the library? Why are peculiar effects used like the keyboard flying in? I think the video definitely holds attention.

The Cure - Lullaby:

I feel this is a very easy to understand video as it really brings the lyrics to life; these lyrics being the bedtime tale of the spider man. It is definitely an interesting video that easily holds attention and plays to the idea of strange dreams. The only really confusing parts are the shots of the lead singer trapped in a web in the corner of the room whilst he is also in bed.

Echo and the Bunnymen - The Killing Moon

For such an interesting song I was quite disappointed with the video. I could not make sense of it and it was very repetitive (the same shots used over and over with perhaps some changes to colour). It definitely does not do the song justice. I do feel, however, that their use of colour fit with the tone/mood of the song.

Song Choice (Preliminary)

Our group decided to use a song by Men Without Hats entitled 'The Safety Dance'.

We decided to use this song as immediately we were coming up with concepts for the video. The song is very upbeat and lighthearted, making it easy for us to come up with something fitting to go along with it. We also thought the lyrics were good for story-telling. Lines such as; "we can go where we want to" and "we can act like we come from another world", really tell a strong narrative that will go a long way to helping us come up with the narrative for the music video.

Task (Preliminary)

In preparation for A2 coursework we have been given a task to complete over the next month to produce an original music video, as well as an accompanying original CD cover for the release of the song. I will be working with Jasper and Rachel for this project.

We had 3 songs to choose from;

• Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks

• Miley Cyrus - Party in the USA

• Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance

We were also provided with some stimuli in order to aid our thinking for the video;

• 'Carrots help you see in the dark'.
• 'Day at the seaside'.

Introduction - Advanced Production Portfolio

This is the blog in which I will detail my progress with A2 Media Studies. I will, for the most part, be exploring music videos and how to best create one.