Technical analysis THIS WEEK

All three groups need to work on the technical 'shot' analysis of a music video this week. This is time consuming, but almost THE most relevant piece of product research that you do - it really does show you technically how a video is edited together and what you should be planning in your final storyboard. Tips are as follows:

1. Choose a video in the "style" (not necessarily genre) of the video that you are planning to deconstruct - in other words a narrative, or performance, or conceptual based video

2. Make the shot list on paper while watching the video online so that you can pause and make notes efficiently. This will be time consuming but better than trying to flick between packages online. DON'T post the shot list on the blog - it will take up too much space. Instead it can be submitted to us/for moderation as a paper appendix

3. Make notes on shot size, movement, elements of mise-en-scene, transition and if interesting - length of shot. E.g. CU tracking in to MCU on lead singers face grimacing fades to
MS couple on swings laughing 3 secs cuts to
...

4. Once you have completed the shot list - review and evaluate on the blog. What have you learnt from this exercise? How long are the shots? How are they cut? What shot size is predominantly used? How does the camera move? Are there any long static shots? Relationship with lyrics/music? How is the narrative constructed? Are any types of performance shots repeated? What will you now use from this when planning your own work?

Step 5 - creating your storyboard (by end of term)

Well done to 13B and 13D for excellent pitches - some very exciting projects ahead. Good luck 13C for Thursday. You now need to finalise your video and storyboard in as much detail as possible. There are templates on the shared area in Y13 Resources / Advanced Production (PDF files), however you can design your own template if you wish. I suggest the following:

• 6 - 8 shots per A4 sheet (easier to take on shoots than A3)
• Number each shot
• Write lyric / time code references as often as possible
• use arrows to indicate camera movement
• Clearly demonstrate framing (CU / MS)
• If using zoom - use square to mark the final camera position
• draw in pencil to allow for amendments
• Write location at top of each shot to help you organise later

You will probably shoot more that you storyboard, but this is the key planning document and you cannot begin shooting without it. Make sure that you are discussing the video together as a group - don't just leave to the designated "storyboarder".

This needs to be finished by the end of term so that you can focus on revision at Christmas and be ready first lesson back to upload as an animatic to your blog. (film, capture and cut to your track to get a sense of final piece before shooting).

Step 4 - audience research by 3rd December

Beginning week 26/11, you should carry out audience research to inform your own production. This needs to be meaningful and genuinely provide you with ideas about genre, expectations and audience engagement with music videos. REMEMBER that you should keep the paper copies of any questionnaires / forms as evidence of your research (use group zip folder).

You can take one of two approaches;
1. Quantitative research
Design a questionnaire about your band / genre / concept and hand out to as many of your target audience as possible. This may include open questions, however you should design this with a variety of question styles including semantic differentials and ranking to ensure that you can collate your responses
2. Qualitative research
You could chose to carry out a focus group, by playing the track to a group of your chosen target audience and use pre-prepared questions to guide a discussion.

Methodology
You must be able to assess your methodology, which includes carefully considering the types of questions used, the purpose of your research, demographics of target audience, and how effective your mode of delivery was (in person, hand out with deadline, online, message board)
This must be completed, collated and results posted on blog by Monday 3rd December.

One post per group.

Step 2 - CHOOSE TRACK / GENRE

You now have a week to finalise the track that you are going to use and submit to CF/KJ for approval. The sooner you do this, the better. That way you can get cracking with relevant product analysis and planning.

Remember - choose something that is appropriate to produce a low budget video for - stadium rock for example might be a bit tricky to do... It doesn't necessarily need to be to all of your tastes either - you'll end up loathing the track after editing anyway!

First step - PLANNING 1

The first entry on your group blog should be about the 'institutional context' of music video and audience 'consumption patterns'. Divide up topics in your group and each contribute a post that shows you understand how your video might be consumed and where.