Contacting JLS

JLS are one of the most successful artists out there in today's contemporary society. So there isn't any legal conflict or regulations concerning our group using their song to produce a music video of our own, I have tried contacting the artists to get their informed consent so that we can carry on our creating our production.

As previously mentioned, JLS are very popular - so it was extremely hard to contact them. I researched many books and the internet to see if there was any sort of email address I could contact them by and after my research, I found out that JLS are managed by an organisation called "Modest".

Modest! Management is a leading Management Company. They manage all aspects of their Artists careers including Writing, Recording, Touring, Brand Partnerships, Merchandise, Endorsements, Theatre, Television and Publicity. 

Modest! Artists have -

• Sold collectively over 30 million Albums worldwide
• Achieved over 40 top ten Singles in the UK, to date, including 8 number 1s in 2010
• Reached Top Ten with 25 Albums including 7 Number 1s
• Sold over 1.2 million tickets in 2010 including over 50 Arena dates across the UK
• Won 5 Brit Awards and received 4 Grammy Nominations

 

In order to get JLS' permission to use their music video, I have to contact their management team via email - and they will contact JLS representing myself. Many fans do this, and not all emails are replied to - but the best I can do is try and email them and see if I can gain their consent.

As you can see above, I have made an attempt to contact the band - and can only hope they reply and give us their informed consent to use their song for our production.

Font Perception/Research

 The study

An online survey was used to collect the data (http://www.shaikh.us/fontstudy/). Participants were provided with a consent form online. The survey took approximately 40 minutes to complete and consisted of a demographic questionnaire followed by two parts. Part A asked participants to rate 20 font samples using 15 personality adjective pairs based on a 4-point Likert scale. In Part B participants viewed 20 font samples and indicated whether they would use the font for 25 different digital uses.

The 20 fonts used throughout the online survey are shown in Figure 1.

In Part A, the participants saw a randomized sample of text (provided as an image) that included the alphabet, numerals, and common symbols rendered in 14-point as shown in Figure 2. The 15 personality adjective pairs used in Part A are shown in Figure 3. Personality research, adjective lists, and pilot testing were used to determine the final 15 adjective pairs used in the survey.

Figure 2. Sample of the text seen in Part A to assess personality traits associated with the fonts. This sample shows the font Consolas.

Figure 3. Fifteen adjective pairs were used to assess perceived personality of fonts. The scores were based on a 4-point Likert scale as shown.

Images showing one of three pangrams and the digits 0-9 were used in Part B to assess perceived uses of the fonts. The following pangrams were used (1) The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog. (2) Amazingly few discotheques provide jukeboxes. (3) Whenever the black fox jumped the squirrel gazed suspiciously. Display of the pangrams was randomized. The pangrams and digits were shown in both 12-point and 24-point for each font as shown in Figure 4. In Part B, the participants were asked to indicate whether they would use a font or not by clicking a checkbox (yes) or leaving it unchecked (no). Table 1 provides the 25 uses assessed in Part Three. Participants were allowed to choose as many or as few uses as they felt were appropriate; participants could also choose the option, "I would not use this font for any purpose."











Figure 4. Sample of pangrams and digits used in Part B to assess perceived uses of fonts. This sample shows the font Corbel.

Table 1. 25 uses were evaluated for each font.

The Results

The table below shows the fonts rated the highest for each personality evaluated in the survey.

 

Auteur theory

The Auteur Theory

In film criticism, auteur theory holds that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur" (the French word for "author"). In spite of—and sometimes even because of—the production of the film as part of an industrial process, the author's creative voice is distinct enough to shine through all kinds of studio interference and through the collective process. In some cases, film producers are considered to exert a similar "auteur" influence on films they have produced.

A video that explains the theory - created by a past-student.

JLS - Further Research

JLS are putting music to one side as they aim to make sex safer by implimenting their faces on a range of condoms. The chart-toppers are planning on calling the contraceptives Just Love Safe, inspired by their band name. 

Article from "The Sun"

Heart-throbs MARVIN HUMES, ASTON MERRYGOLD, ORITSE WILLIAMS and JONATHAN "JB" GILL came up with the idea after joking about contraception in The Sun.

Since then condom giant Durex — Britain's leading sellers of the contraceptive — have got in touch and the lads have agreed in principle to join forces.

Aston, 22, said earlier this year: "It's all about staying safe. We all think so.
My mum sends me down a stash (of condoms) and I dish them out to the lads so none of us have to worry. I'd really be up for doing some kind of campaign about safe sex."

JLS - Launching their own condoms video 

Target Audience

Our target audience mainly focuses on the ages of thirteen to twenty - specifically females. We believe this age group is suitable as JLS are usually associated with females and they dedicate most of their songs towards love and affection which appeals usually to the female audience. The song which our music video is based on, PCD, centres upon females and wealth - these two are fundamental in the "Hip-Hop" genre and therefore someone over the age of twenty may be too mature or unable to appreciate the genre and they therefore wouldn't appreciate our production itself.

As you can tell from the screengrab below from JLS' fan page, the majority of JLS' fans are young individuals - specifically females. We therefore find it appropriate to base our target audience within the age group of 13-20. The last comment on the screengrab states that the individual's "mum and dad" bought them their copy of JLS' album - something of which reinforces our reasons for our age group.

We do, however, want to create a music video that even adults can appreciate so we won't be focusing all our visuals on the type of conventions that only the younger audience can find attractive. We believe that even though we do have a specific age group, our video can be appreciated by a much wider audience as they can recognise the work and effort we have put into making our production.

Lighting Research

Three-point lighting

Three-point lighting is a standard method used in media such as video, film, still photography and computer-generated imagery. By using three separate positions, the photographer can illuminate the shot's subject (such as a person) however desired, while also controlling the shading and shadows produced by direct lighting.

The key light, as the name suggests, shines directly upon the subject and serves as its illuminator; more than anything else, the strength, colour and angle of the key determines the shot's overall lighting design.
In indoor shots, the key is commonly a specialized lamp, or a camera's flash. In outdoor daytime shots, the Sun often serves as the key light. In this case, of course, the photographer cannot set the light in the exact position he or she wants, so instead arranges it to best capture the sunlight, perhaps after waiting for the sun to position itself just right.

Four-point lighting

The addition of a fourth light, the background light, makes for a four-point lighting setup. The background light is placed behind the subject(s), on a high grid, or low to the ground. Unlike the other three lights, which illuminate foreground elements like actors and props, it illuminates background elements, such as walls or outdoor scenery. This technique can be used to eliminate shadows cast by foreground elements onto the background, or to draw more attention to the background. It also helps to off-set the single eye nature of the camera, this means that it helps the camera give depth to the subject.

 

Key Light

This is the main light. It is usually the strongest and has the most influence on the look of the scene. It is placed to one side of the camera/subject so that this side is well lit and the other side has some shadow.





Fill Light

This is the secondary light and is placed on the opposite side of the key light. It is used to fill the shadows created by the key. The fill will usually be softer and less bright than the key. To acheive this, you could move the light further away or use some spun. You might also want to set the fill light to more of a flood than the key.

Back Light 

The back light is placed behind the subject and lights it from the rear. Rather than providing direct lighting (like the key and fill), its purpose is to provide definition and subtle highlights around the subject's outlines. This helps separate the subject from the background and provide a three-dimensional look.

Four-point lighting

The addition of a fourth light, the background light, makes for a four-point lighting setup. The background light is placed behind the subject(s), as mentioned before, on a high grid, or low to the ground.

Digipak - Album Frontcover - EDITED (Two)

Previously, I edited our possible front cover of our "Digipak" on "Paint" to see if I could improve the image and  therefore enhance our digipak overall. The images I produced definitely gave me inspiration to try other quirky things to try and improve the image and I have since then created six more images for us to consider.

Conventions of a magazine advert

There are many conventions that a magazine advert must have in order to make it successful and we aim to incorporate most, if not all of them into our production.

The following are the main conventions of a magazine advert:

Magazine examples

Goodwin's analysis of a student video (two)

As a group we've previously analysed numerous music videos whether that was from recognised artists or students themselves - we haven't, however, come across any previous students who have created a production who, as well as us, are focusing their music video on artists JLS.

Whilst browsing through the Long Road Media website however, I came across a few groups who previously at Long Road had a JLS song that their music video was based on (I made a previous post focusing on the digipak of JLS.) I therefore believed it necessary to analyse a piece from past-students who also focused on JLS, even though this video was perhaps a preliminary piece.

 

Whilst this music video is obviously only a minute long, and it would seem that they were very time-restricted, I believe they didn't convey the genre of "Hip-Hop" well whatsoever. Their setting was in a rural location, something of which doesn't relate to JLS or the genre in the slightest. Their posture and general attitude in the video wasn't something of which I associate JLS with and I believe they haven't been very successful in their attempt to convey the genre.

I do, however, appreciate this is possibly only a preliminary and they only had a certain amount of time to capture and edit their footage. Their costumes conveyed the genre and JLS - even if they only equiped a scarf and glasses - they manged this well in the time they had. Whilst I could never picture JLS sitting up in a tree, I believe their editing in this scene was fairly good as they created a sense of ambiguity as they split the screen up into four pieces - something of which our group may be producing, or something simular. Whilst it's easy to state what's wrong with the video, in the time they managed, they did incorporate Goodwin's theory into their production and they did produce a comendable piece of work. 

Analysis of student magazine ad.

As previously mentioned, magazine adverts must have certain conventions to make them successful. I've decided to analyse a past-student magazine to see if they put the conventions to use.

 

After analysing the magazine above, the group have used many conventions that I've previously researched. They've included the name of the magazine, a main article, a photo and a banner. The group have the main conventions for a magazine advert, though I feel their advert is too bland - it isn't very eye-catching and doesn't entice me to read on. They could've obviously included more conventions to enhance their product and maybe a better use of images and colours would really convey and highlight their product moreso than it's doing at present.

Analysis of student digipaks

Whilst researching the Long Road Media website, I came across a digipak which focused on JLS - I therefore decided to analyse the piece and blog my findings. It's very fortunate that past-digipaks are on the website as it gives my group an incentive and a rough idea of how to present our own digipak when we finish our music video production.

 

 The conventions of a digipak, as previously mentioned in a former post, are the following:

• The title of the songs
• The artist's name(s)
• Different images linked to the genre of the music or the artist(s)
• Brief description of the CD
• A parental guidance 
• logo(s)
• The name of the producers
• An insight of what the pack includes
• A unique bar code
• The CD music-disc
• Various ratings

After analysing the image above, it does present most of the conventions that a digipak should have. It has the main aspects such as the artist's name, the title of the song, images that link to the genre, a logo, a unique barcode and producers. The group could have obviously improved by adding all of the conventions, as they have missed four or five out of their final production. I also believe the image is a tad too bland. Whilst the image(s) they've used are effective and do convey the genre as well as JLS themselves - I believe they should've had a tad more ambiguity to really push their production that much further.

Their strongest selling point, for me, is the lightening and the colours they've used. I believe the black and white they've used are really effective and whilst they're simple - they're really effective. I do believe, however, that they've restricted themselves with the images that they've used. Both of their images are really simular, and whilst this may have been their intentions - I believe they could've enhanced their digipak further if they used a more varied image that contrasted to the first one.

Creative use of technology

Whilst we have the locations, props, costumes, lightening, and all the other ingredients to make a fantastic music video - the main part of our success will be down to the editing, and the way we impliment different scenes in creative ways. "Final Cut" is the program we will be using to edit our footage, and the sofware has numerous uses that can make our production very successful.

One of the ways in which we can improve our music video is by dividing the screen up into two sections - we can then have two of our actors performing within two sections of the video. This would create originality within our piece and exemplify the genre as most of the music videos we have researched have quirky additions to them. Another way we can be creative is by essentially "pushing" the screen away by using a "wipe" shot. We could have one of the actors within our production making the "pushing" motion then producing the shot. This would again be another good addition to add to our music video.

Digipak - Album Frontcover - EDITED (One)

Whilst we were filming our production, we came across an image (as mentioned in a previous post) that we were pretty confident was going to be our frontcover for our Digipak. Whilst we are still speculating over what the final image should actually be, I've edited the image a number of ways to see if we can convey the genre even more, but more importantly, try to find an appropriate image that is ideal for our intentions. We may actually not use the image at all, but our options are open - and hopefully we will spark more ideas from my edited pieces. The images below are all created by the use of the program "Paint".

Original image

 Edited - possible choices

Goodwin's analysis of a student video

Whilst researching into different types of music videos from recognised artists, we thought we would also analyse a past-student video to see if their video put Goodwin's theory to use.

 

 

After watching the video, we came to the conclusion that the genre portrayed was "Indie". My first impressions of the video were positive - the group clearly put a lot of work into their production. The group used Goodwin's theory straight away as they matched the lyrics "is this what they call love?" with the visuals as they included a floating-heart in their piece. Another interesting aspect of their video was the use of editing. This is what I believe their main selling-point is as they've used a artifical drum kit in one of their locations which convey the genre quite well. The group used the use of text well too as they included a phrase out of the lyrics and presented it all over the screen. 

The group only used two locations and I believe this is their biggest downfall. Obviously their attention wasn't to include a vast range of diverse locations as they've mainly focused on editing - however I believe to truely amplify their music video, one or two more locations may have pushed their production that little bit further. They didn't include any intertexual references either, and there was also a lack of voyeurism which could've enhanced their video that much more. What they worked with, however, did work - and I believe they've created an interesting piece. The use of pictures filled in the "gap" of a lack of locations and without the use of their creativity in their piece, I believe they would have struggled. Overall, however, the final production is very well created and they've included many aspects of Goodwin's theory.

Mise-En-Scene Research

Location:

We have four or five locations for our music video. As a group, we wanted to have a vast amount of locations so that we could stick within the traditional conventions of "Hip-Hop". We found that there were usually up to four different locations present in the music videos we researched so we decided to include this number in our production. We will be filiming in the drama studio, a bridge, a cap-park and on top of castle-hill. We believe these locations convey the genre as they're all quite urban and JLS' videos are also urban - there isn't one video that's located in a rural setting.

Colour:

There will be vast amounts of colour - especailly in the drama studio scene. There will be three spotlights on our three male characters, and the colours will resemble a traffic light - as the song mentions the absense of nice, flash cars - we felt it appropriate to have the lightening relating to the lyrics. Other than that, for our other locations, the lightening will be fairly bright as JLS' music videos usually focus on bright, bold places that match their personality and their costumes.

Lighting:

The vast majority of our music video will be shot in broad day-light so we will just be using natural light. Some aspects of our video may be shot at night, but this is only a possibility. Artificial light will also be present as the scene in the drama studio where our male individuals are acting, lightening is used as we have three spot-lights on each character to enhance our music video. During our research it became apparent that JLS' main attraction was the lightening used whilst they perform a dance routine. We have incorporated their style into our production and have used lightening when necessary.

Costume:

Costumes are also extremely important in conveying JLS and the "Hip-Hop" genre. We have four or five locations, and in each, we have a different costume for each - highlighted in the above image. JLS' costumes consist of very bright and bold colours and their costumes are essential in conveying their personality and JLS as artists. We will be replicating their style of clothes as we aim to amplify their videos as much as we can.

Props:

As a group, we felt that we didn't need many props to articulate our mesage and convey JLS and their genre. We therefore only have a handful needed for our production. Here is a list of the props that we will be including within our music videos:

• Diverse costumes
• Image of the "Sugarbabes"
• Phones

Our physical equipment

For our production, we used various equipment to enhance our music video - our main one was of course a fully HD camera used to record all of our work. The camera is fully compatible with software such as "Final Cut" so we are able to easily edit our captured footage.




We also had a tripod used to keep the camera in one place - we used a tripod with the camera so the footage for a number of reasons, the main being so that we could capture some still footage. Another reason we use the tripod is so we have an extra group member available to use - normally we would have to compromise one member to hold the camera, so this is also a bonus. The device is also great for medium and long-shots - the device isn't shaken or interfered then - and would enhance our production.




The Dolly camera is designed to create smooth camera movements (cinematic techniques). The camera is mounted to the dolly and the camera operator can then focus on his production without worrying about camera composition.

As a group of four, three members have iPhone 4s. We can therefore use our phones as extra camera devices if we choose to. This would benefit us as we would be able to create more camera-angles of the same scene so it would enhance our options when we choose to edit our production. Unfortuantely, however, the iPhone would take time to transfer the data to the computers in college as the software we use isn't fully compatible.

Different types of transitions.

Cut

"Cut" is the most common transition — it's an instant change from one shot to the next. Many music videos, especially the vast I have researched in this genre amongst others, possess "cut" shots. We will be featuring numerous "cut" shots within our music video as it's the most common, simplistic shot to use - many music videos/films use this transition. The raw footage from the camera contains "cuts" between shots where you stop and start recording (unless built in transitions are used, of course.)

Wipe

One shot is progressively replaced by another shot in a  pattern. There are many types of wipe, from straight lines to different shapes.Wipes often have a coloured border to help distinguish the shots during the transition.Wipes are a fantastic way to show changing location and this is, amongst others, one shot which we hope to incorporate into our music video. We've seen music videos featuring JLS which have "wipe" shots present so we hope to replicate their style. 

Mix / Dissolve / Crossfade

These are all terms to describe the same transition — it's where there's a gradual fade from one shot to the next. Crossfades have a more relaxed feel than a cut and are useful if you want to create a meandering pace, or tranquil mood. Scenery sequences work well with crossfades and they can also convey a sense of passing time or changing location. i.e one shot of an individual walking from point A to B - it creates a nice atmosphere for the audience.

Fade

"Fades" essentially turn the shot into a single colour, usually black or white. The "fade to black" and "fade from black"  usually signal the beginning and/or end of a music video. They're used between shots to create a sort of crossfade which fades quickly to white before fading to the next shot. They are very effective in the sense that they present the audience with ambiguity and they're left anticipating what's to come.