Music Video: Misery Business - Paramore (Final Version)

Evaluation: Finished Ancillary Task

CD Booklet: Side One

CD Booklet: Side Two

CD Case: Back

                                                                 CD Face

CD Insert (Front and Back)

CD Poster: Side One

  CD Poster: Side Two

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Evaluation: Personal Development

Over the course of the project I have learnt new techniques while also having the chance to improve on skills that I had already utilised before. As well as adapting to work within a group, I have learnt how to operate several new technologies throughout the process; Adobe Premier Pro was new to all our of my group - yet through editing several video blogs and filming our 'band-shots' and narrative many times, we were exposed to the software constantly and learnt how to use the software effectively, to the extent that we could use more complicated features such as adding synchronisation of sound and image; adding filters; manipulating the timescale of footage etc that all helped construct our media product effectively.

Evaluation: Creative Arts Evening

On the 20th March, our school held a Sixth Form 'Creative Arts' Evening which allowed the Sixth Form of the school to exhibit their creative work to a hall full of guests. This opportunity allowed us not only to show our music video to a wide audience, but also the chance to ask the audience for feedback. To do this, a 'video feedback' booth was set up on the evening to allow guests to be filmed whilst they spoke about their opinions on our music video.


Here's a small brief to detail the content of the video below:

- A still image of my group

- A close-up of the decorated 'Video-Feedback Booth', plastered with our posters and CD/DVD covers

- Footage of our speech that preceded the showing of our music video, followed by an edited version of our final music video

- Footage from the 'Video-Feedback Booth'; A2 Media student and a friend

- Footage from the 'Video-Feedback Booth'; Two audience members

- An Audience Feedback interview with AS Media student

- A summarisation of the Feedback forms

Below is a written copy of the speech (which is included in the video above), that my group performed at the evening to introduce our music video.

"For our advanced production in A-level Media, we followed a moving-image brief. As a group, we decided to produce a music video, to accompany the song ‘Misery Business’ by Tennessee rock band ‘Paramore’. Alongside this we produced other promotional material such as magazine adverts and CD and DVD cases.

Our finished music-video was truly a group effort that resulted from extensive market research, meticulous editing and a filming process that took us multiple attempts to capture the perfect mise en scene and reflect the genre we were working in.

Although we’ve had a lot of fun (and difficulty) throughout the whole process, ultimately we are proud of what we have produced over the four-month duration of the project, and hope you enjoy watching our music video."

Evaluation: Software

Throughout the process, I've used the Internet to find websites that have helped plan, develop and evaluate several aspects of the project.

I used search engine 'Google' to find out how to construct an effective CD Digipack. I used several 'how to' websites to explore my possibilites - which proved endless as I could find out how to: craft CD booklets, CD disc and case templates, DVD folding Digipacks and booklets folding out into posters to name but a few, all through simply searching Google with 'how to make a CD packaging'.

To maintain communications and develop ideas throughout my group, we all used social-networking sites 'Facebook' and 'Skype', places where we could send ideas to each other whilst we were not in school. This sharing of ideas started as conversations about what our next step concerning the project should be, yet eventually extended to sending website links to each other so we could recommend ideas that we had seen in music videos as well as even sending pictures of potential costume ideas (as seen above; group member Georgina Kerwin showing a picture of herself wearing blue hair extensions to ask if they looked conventional of the rock-music genre - "are they suitable for filming?").

Of course, I've used 'Blogger' to document my planning, development and evaluation of the project. I have found Blogger reasonably easy to use and have tried to use each of its features such as embedding links into text, uploading videos, and highlighting text of importance, to name but a few examples of my exploration of Media technology. Another social-networking site I've used along with Facebook and Blogger, is video-sharing website YouTube. This has been particularly of use; it has allowed me to upload our progress, through video blogs and the developing music video itself, allowing our footage to be viewed across the web - exposing us to opportunites of evaluation from users of the website while also allowing us to manually send links to the videos to friends and fellow peers for their views and points of possible improvements. Indeed, we made a group account 'WhitePalmParamore', which allowed us to 'like', share, and view current music videos with each member of the group. YouTube therefore has proven to be invaluable in the research aspect of the project - we viewed countless current music videos to determine codes and conventions of the music video and its subsequent genres.

As part of our band shots, I have played the bands guitarist. During our first attempt at filming, I simply strummed along to the song hoping my musical improvisation was effective. However, when we took the footage to the editing process, we realised because I had improvised the guitar parts, it was incredibly difficult to synchronise my guitar work with that of the song. I therefore used the website 'Ultimate Guitar', which provided me with the guitar tablature for our song, which I learnt; this had a noticeable effect when filming (and editing) as it was significantly easier to synchronise the footage to the non-diagetic audio track.

During the planning stage of the project, we explored possible narrative ideas for our chosen song, 'Misery Business'. We decided to use research the song for potential ideas; indeed we searched the song in the website 'SongMeanings', which allowed us to see users comments on what they personally thought the song to be about, as well as there overall opinion on the song. This effectively acted as market research - we were reading the views and opinions of our audience - and therefore this helped us with exploring both Reception Theory and Audience Theory, as we could use the existing views of the audience concerning the song and then incorporate them into our video allowing us to ensure we would be following ideas that would already be developed by the audience.

Also during the planning stage, was our research into our video's Mis-en Scene. One of the aspects of this, was deciding how to develop the costume and prop aspects of our video.We therefore explored several websites, such as fashion sites solely dedicated to each member of the existing band Paramore, allowing us to browse conventional costumes of the Rock Music genre as worn by bands members such as lead singer Hayley Williams.

To develop my Ancillary tasks at school as well as at home, I used the official Adobe website and found a trial version of their products: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator etc, so I installed Adobe Suite CS5 on my home computer allowing me the freedom to construct and edit anywhere.

Evaluation: Development of Ideas

Over the course of the project - despite meticulous planning, we have adapted and developed our initial idea for our music video. At times, we were reluctant to change our idea - mostly, the idea worked, but lacked particular elements and each individual time, we would evaluate what we had and what we needed and voted on whether to keep or change our idea.

Although this method was time-consuming, it helped show our groups dedication to achieving the best possible product. I've chosen to show the progression from our initial idea to our final video through evaluating possibly the three main themes we developed and explored throughout the project.


1. Jealous Lovers

Our original idea was to simply take the songs lyrics and try to construct a narrative from them; we annotated (annotations are compressed to being highlighted in green below)  them to see what themes and possible narratives we could extract:

"I'm in the business of misery, let's take it from the top

She's got a body like an hourglass that's ticking like a clock

It's a matter of time before we all run out

But when I thought he was mine she caught him by the mouth

I waited eight long months, she finally set him free

I told him I couldn't lie, he was the only one for me

Two weeks and we caught on fire

She's got it out for me but I wear the biggest smile

Whoa, I never meant to brag

But I got him where I want him now

Whoa, it was never my intention to brag

To steal it all away from you now
But God, does it feel so good

'Cause I got him where I want him now

And if you could then you know you would

'Cause God, it just feels so It just feels so good

Second chances they don't ever matter, people never change

Once a whore, you're nothing more, I'm sorry, that'll never change

And about forgiveness we're both supposed to have exchanged

I'm sorry honey but I passed it up, now look this way
Well there's a million other girls who do it just like you

Looking as innocent as possible to get to who they want

And what they like, it's easy if you do it right

Well I refuse, I refuse, I refuse!

Whoa, I never meant to brag

But I got him where I want him now

Whoa, it was never my intention to brag

To steal it all away from you now
But God, does it feel so good

'Cause I got him where I want him right now

And if you could then you know you would 'Cause God, it just feels so

It just feels so good
I watched his wildest dreams come true

And not one of them involving you Just watch my wildest dreams come true

Not one of them involving

Whoa, I never meant to brag

But I got him where I want him now
Whoa, I never meant to brag

But I got him where I want him now

Whoa, it was never my intention to brag

To steal it all away from you now
But God, does it feel so good

'Cause I got him where I want him now

And if you could then you know you would

'Cause God, it just feels so

It just feels so good"

Official 'Misery Business' music video

2. Travelling

As we felt that our first idea was too boring, we wanted to try something more unconventional. We took direct inspiration from a music video that we found during our research stage, 'Closer to the Edge' by 'Thirty Seconds to Mars' (below). Near-identical in terms of genre and target audience to our chosen song, the video features the band travelling from locations on their recent tour. This lent us the idea to show the band 'travelling' to a location such as band practice.

'Closer to the Edge' official music video by 'Thirty Seconds to Mars'

3. Obsessed Fan

Our final idea was developed through learning several important aspects of constructing an effective music video. This was done by understanding the feedback that we received from our audience; we wanted to introduce the audience to something interesting and challenging - which would hopefully effectively engage the audience; something that our video's ambiguous and visually striking narrative hopefully achieved.

Stills from our Narrative

Evaluation: Learning from the Filming Process

Over, the course of the project, we have planned and filmed a substantial amount of footage. I've learnt that no matter how much you plan - how much detail goes toward storyboarding - that you still can't definitely be sure that the footage captured on the day will look as effective as one originally thinks. Indeed, there were several occasions where we captured footage that either didn't look as planned, or once uploaded onto the Video-Editing Machines, didn't quite look as effective as when we were filming it.

However, although we did film a lot of footage that wasn't actually used in our final video, we made sure that we learnt from the mistakes that we made and carried our newly-obtained knowledge onto our next batch of filming - ensuring our final sessions of filming ran as smoothly as possible.

To show a progression of our skills throughout the project, I've collected all our different filming sessions into one post - evaluating each through our own views as well as those of the audience members that we asked to view our product.

1.

Aim: Film our 'Band Shots' (First attempt).
Location: The school's Drama Studio.
Evaluation:
+ Camera Angles used look effective and varied
+ Footage once edited, reflected the fast tempo of the song
+ Synchronisation of diagetic sound and on-screen actions - singing, guitar-work etc looks realistic
+ Costumes used are conventional and therefore look appropriate

- Location fails to represent the conventions of a Rock-music video - it is clear it's in a Drama Studio
- Drumming fails to match urgency of song
- Could incorporate more complicated filming; Jib and/or Track-and-Pan shots for example

"The musicians themselves look professional due to the well-timed synchronisation and carefully-crafted camera angles. Ultimately however, the setting used fails to emit that 'rockstar' aura and leaves me feeling that I've just watched the school-band's rehearsal."

- Media Teacher

2.

Aim: To film our 'Narrative' (First attempt).
Location: Erith Train Station.
Evaluation:
+ In using all the camera equipment for the first time, we learnt how time-consuming utilising the equipment is, a problem we didn't foresee; shooting a track-and-pan shot required us setting up the lengthy track itself and once finished, dismantling it to move it around again
+ The shots themselves were filmed very carefully to ensure appropriate framing etc

- Time-consuming; in just over five hours worth of filming, we had yet to leave our initial location of the train station due to the lengthy process of moving and setting up the equipment
- Once uploaded to the computer - after fast-cuts and editing, the content of the shots was ultimately boring despite the quality of the shots themselves - their framing and angling etc

"I realise some of the shots have been carefully planned - I particularly liked the track-and-pan used to track Georgina down the length of the train platform - that would've been a time-consuming process setting up and subsequently dismantling the tracking equipment for that one shot. However, as a member of the audience, I can't say that I'm emotionally engaged nor interested in the narrative, it seems rather simple - a contrast to the loud and fast song you've chosen."    

 - Sam Robinson, A-Level Media student

3.

Aim: To film our Narrative (Second attempt).
Location: Travelling around London; Bexleyheath Train Station, Brick Lane, Liverpool Street, London Bridge.
Evaluation:
+ Shots were complicated and interestingly filmed; incorporated 'Rule of thirds', 'deep/shallow focus', 'focus-pull' and 'establishing shots' to name but a few
+ Locations featured looked appropriate and conventional of the genre; street-art looked effective as a motif of the scenes - itself representing the underground music and skating genre
+ Used the equipment effectively - setting it up up efficiently and safely to get the required shots

- The content of the narrative, despite the interesting camera shots, still seemed lacking in areas of interest for the audience
- The mobile-phone scenes that were essential in establishing the cycle of equilibrium in our narrative failed to translate from storyboards to filming - the text was too small and therefore unclear to the audience
- A difficulty we found in filming in realistic and busy locations was filming the lead-singer's vocals well enough to sync them to the audio-track once uploaded to the computer; when uploaded we found out that it was hard to distinguish what lines the singer was actually speaking due to the diagetic (and unwanted) noise

"I really liked this footage. I thought the mis-en-scene was great; make-up and location in particular looked really effective - the lead-singer looked quite mysterious in some shots - '0:08' was quite memorable, an almost unsettling extreme close-up. I noticed a lot of interesting camera angles as well although I didn't really understand what was going on."

- Megan Dallimore, GCSE Media student

4.

Aim: To film our Band Shots (second attempt).
Location: Our school's sports hall.
Evaluation:
+ Location captured the idea of the band having a rehearsal - as well as having the added benefit of being a big, open space which allowed for plenty of room; didn't look enclosed like the drama studio set
+ Lighting looked very effective; we had a set up of two professional photography lights lighting the set from behind, transforming an ordinary sports hall into a more professional-looking set
+ Band look professional
+ Shots are more complicated and varied; extreme-close-ups, wide shots encompassing all band members

- Evidence of the fact that it was shot in a sports hall; basketball hoops, floor-court markings etc visible - detracts from the mise-en-scene
- Idea is confusing for the audience; our narrative that included switching actresses for the lead-singer proved to be too complicated for the audience to grasp

"At first I didn't realise it was in the school's sports hall - the lighting was really effective and professional, making it look like it was a carefully-chosen location. However, I then began to notice the iconography of a sports hall - the hoops, floor markings etc and felt it showed that you hadn't actually considered the mise-en-scene of the set/setting. However, the band themselves look professional; the shots of the instruments was very conventional of a music video. Honestly, the narrative didn't really make any sense - there was two different lead-singer's which is not conventional of a music video - if you are hoping to create a brand for the band, aspects such as the band members themselves need to remain consistent."

 - Louis Irving, GCSE Media Student

5.

Aim: To film the narrative (Third attempt)

Location: Inside a garden shed

Evaluation:

+ Set/Setting was carefully planned and executed; painted wall with 'paramore' logo and posters effective for furthering the narrative

+ Lighting was effective in creating a dark, almost unnerving atmosphere

+ Actress portrayed the character professionally - helped the narrative to be taken seriously by the audience

+ Narrative itself was 'striking' and 'captivating' - complimenting the song as opposed to taking the lyrics literally; taking 'reception theory' on-board by leaving it open to interpretation

+ Costume was appropriate

+ Shots were varied, ranging from simple mid-shots and close-ups to canted angles and more experimental filming

- Unusual narrative with unsettling elements - perhaps slightly unconventional for a music video?

"The narrative was really captivating - the recurring motifs of the flame and the unusual editing such as the 'fuzzy' static made it quite unsettling, I didn't know how her behaviour was going to escalate. I like that the narrative is loose and open to interpretation; particularly effective for a music video, a video that you could potentially see several times if you liked the song, so your view on the character and the narrative could change with repeated viewings. I thought the lighting was very good - it wasn't naturalistic - the opposite; the flashing lights and the almost candle-lit effect added to the eerie atmosphere. The acting was realistic and subsequently unsettling."

Louise Salter, A-Level Drama student

6. 

Aim: To film band shots (Third attempt)

Location: Boiler-room

Evaluation:

+ Set/setting fitting for the genre; carries a theme - iconography of an industrial/Urban setting, ladder, sand, equipment etc

+ Actors look professional; instruments synchronised effectively to soundtrack

+ Variety of shots and angles; allows the freedom to use an array of shots for short, fast cutting

+ Lighting is focused and effective in creating atmosphere

"The band, lighting, set and synchronisation look professional - the mise-en-scene has evidently been carefully constructed to represent the rock-music genre."

- Ellice Head, GCSE Media Student