Final Outcomes

Final Music Video

Final Album Front Cover

Final Album Back Cover

Final Album Poster

Poster

The poster links in with my album covers, it has the same picture, colours, and fonts, I think that it works well. Like in my research it almost just looks like a larger, A4 version of my album cover. Again, I used Adobe InDesign.

Final Music Video

Updated Album Covers

Front

I have taken the purple gradient and the white stripes out of the image and replaced it with a green and white gradient. I think that it works better and gives it more of a solid colour. I am thinking I will need to change the colour of the fonts next and maybe experiment with other fonts.

Back

This week...

This week I intend to make changes to my video like I mentioned in the previous post. I will also find time to make changes to the front and back covers for the album as I think that they are a bit too plain. My main inspiration for them is the In Your Honor album cover by the Foo Fighters (pictured below) as that contains what look like vector illustrations and/or photo manipulation and is very effective.

Rough Cut of Video

I have finally finished the first draft of my video. There are a few more things that I need to do to it, such as muting the actual footage, making a few more bits in better synch with the music. I might film one more bit: him walking down the road singing, just for a bit more variety.
I decided to go with the theme of clocks again like with the album cover so they tie in quite nicely with each other and the title of the song "Times Like These".

First Draft of Front and Back Cover

Front

I have used Adobe Illustrator to create the clock, and because this was the first time using the programme, I used this vector clock tutorial to help me but changed the colours and modified it a bit. I pointed the clock hands at 11 and 1 because I think it relates to the album name "One by One". I decided to put a clock on the cover because of this and that the song that I have used is called "Times Like These", I feel that this relates to the theme of a clock. I used Adobe InDesign to arrange the elements of the cover to something that I was happy with.

Back

I enlarged the clock, rotated it slightly clockwise and arranged it so that the viewer can see the hands of the clock. I had to enlarge the clock in Illustrator because every time that I tried to do it in InDesign, it made parts of the clock disappear and separate. I copied it over from Illustrator to InDesign and then rotated it and positioned it from there. I chose these fonts because they are simple but add more interest to the fairly simple image. I have kept the colour scheme quite simple like the Foo Fighters have with their other album covers.

I do feel like, however they work quite well, they are too plain. I am thinking of maybe putting a coloured background in too make it more bold like their Color and the Shape album cover. Maybe a green background to accentuate the green clock hands. I will experiment with different fonts and colours too.

Album Cover

I have started on my album cover... I have decided to produce a clock face in Adobe Illustrator, this relates to the title of the song that I have used in my video, Times Like These, and the album name, One by One. I have arranged the clock so that the hands are pointing to all ones, 11 and 1.

This is the tutorial I have used:
http://abduzeedo.com/beginner-tutorial-easy-clock-icon-illustrator

First draft of the cover will be posted either tonight or tomorrow.

I haven't posted for almost a week, but I have been doing a lot of filming and editing. I have decided to not use any of the footage that I filmed of my actor on the sofa because I don't think it fits in with the feel of the rest of the video. I am on my way to finishing a rough cut of the video, I am thinking I will need to film more but am a bit stuck for ideas.

Foo Fighters Times Like These (acoustic) Storyboard

Update on what I have done

Key:

• The lyrics
• Plans for this line and ideas
• Lines and shots that I have completed

Medium shot of him playing guitar, he is not centered, he is off to the side on the left

I am a one way motorway  Extreme closeup of him singing

I'm the road that drives away  Walking down the road singing, hands in pockets or holding his guitar,                medium shot, or long shot.
Then follows you back home   Walking down the road with guitar on his back, facing away from the camera
I am a street light shining   A shot of a streetlight at night, panning from right to left
I'm a wild light blinding bright   Medium close up of him singing and walking up and down slowly, tracking him
Burning off alone  Shot of a fire burning

Closeup of the guitar being played. Outside?

It's times like these you learn to live again  Medium close up of him singing and walking up and down slowly, tracking him

It's times like these you give and give again  Shot of clock
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again

I am a new day rising  Extreme closeup of him singing

I'm a brand new sky
To hang the stars upon tonight   Panning shot of starry sky
I am a little divided  Walking down the road singing, hands in pockets or holding his guitar,                medium shot, or long shot.

Do I stay or run away
And leave it all behind?

Ohhh

It's times like these you learn to live again   Extreme closeup of him singing 

It's times like these you give and give again  Shot of clock
It's times like these you learn to love again  

It's times like these time and time again

Ohhhh Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhhh Ohhhhhhhh Uhohhh

Ahhahh

It's times like these you learn to live again  Shot of clock
It's times like these you give and give again

It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again

It's times like these you learn to live again!  Extreme closeup of him singing

It's times like these you give and give again!  Shot of clock

It's times like these you learn to love again!  Extreme closeup of him singing

It's times like these time and time again!  Extreme closeup of him singing

(Slower and quieter) It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again  Extreme closeup of him singing

It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again  Medium long shot of him on the sofa playing guitar and singing (use better lighting this time!) zoom out as it fades

Update of what I have done so far

Key:

• The lyrics
• Plans for this line and ideas
• Lines and shots that I have completed

Medium shot of him playing guitar, he is not centered, he is off to the side on the left

I am a one way motorway  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphone
I'm the road that drives away  Walking down the road singing, hands in pockets or holding his guitar,                medium shot, or long shot.
Then follows you back home   Walking down the road with guitar on his back, facing away from the camera
I am a street light shining   A shot of a streetlight at night, panning from right to left
I'm a wild light blinding bright   Medium close up of him singing and walking up and down slowly, tracking him
Burning off alone  Shot of a fire burning

Closeup of the guitar being played. Outside?

It's times like these you learn to live again  Medium close up of him singing and walking up and down slowly, tracking himIt's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again

I am a new day rising  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphone

I'm a brand new sky
To hang the stars upon tonight   Panning shot of starry sky
I am a little divided  Medium long shot of him on the sofa playing guitar and singing (use better lighting this time!)    Want to change this though... Still not happy with the shots on the sofa

Do I stay or run away
And leave it all behind?

Ohhh

It's times like these you learn to live again   Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphone cut between that and closeups of fingers playing pianoIt's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again  

It's times like these time and time again

Ohhhh Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhhh Ohhhhhhhh Uhohhh Medium long shot of him on the sofa playing guitar and singing (use better lighting this time!), cut between that and closeups of fingers playing piano

Ahhahh

It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again

It's times like these you learn to live again!  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphoneIt's times like these you give and give again!
It's times like these you learn to love again!  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphoneIt's times like these time and time again!  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphone

(Slower and quieter) It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphoneIt's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again  Medium long shot of him on the sofa playing guitar and singing (use better lighting this time!) zoom out as it fades

Lyrics and Ideas/Plan

Key:

• The lyrics
• Plans for this line and ideas
• Lines and shots that I have completed

Medium shot of him playing guitar, he is not centered, he is off to the side on the left

I am a one way motorway  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphone
I'm the road that drives away  Walking down the road singing, hands in pockets or holding his guitar,                medium shot, or long shot.
Then follows you back home   Walking down the road with guitar on his back, facing away from the camera
I am a street light shining   
I'm a wild light blinding bright
Burning off alone  Walking down the road singing, hands in pockets or holding his guitar,                medium shot, or long shot.

Closeup of the guitar being played. Outside?

It's times like these you learn to live again  Medium long shot of him on the sofa playing guitar and singing (use better lighting this time!)
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again

I am a new day rising  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphoneI'm a brand new sky
To hang the stars upon tonight
I am a little divided  Medium long shot of him on the sofa playing guitar and singing (use better lighting this time!)Do I stay or run away
And leave it all behind?


Ohhh

It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphoneIt's times like these time and time again

Ohhhh Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhhh Ohhhhhhhh Uhohhh Medium long shot of him on the sofa playing guitar and singing (use better lighting this time!), cut between that and closeups of fingers playing piano

Ahhahh

It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again

It's times like these you learn to live again!  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphoneIt's times like these you give and give again!
It's times like these you learn to love again!  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphoneIt's times like these time and time again!  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphone

(Slower and quieter) It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again  Extreme closeup of him singing in the microphoneIt's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again  Medium long shot of him on the sofa playing guitar and singing (use better lighting this time!) zoom out as it fades

More unedited opening clips:

For some reason Blogger won't let me upload the third clip... It is a medium shot of him playing guitar on the bench.

I have filmed the opening scene of my video. I filmed about three different ones so I now need to choose one and start editing it.

Here are the unedited versions:

This one is my favourite, I think this will be the one that I use as I feel that it links better to the conventions of the genre.

Weather forecast for tomorrow...

The forecast summary:
Persistent rain clearing away northeastwards during the morning with some prolonged sunny periods for most places. Chance of showers developing, some of these heavy, and staying rather windy.

I will be able to film at about 5pm tomorrow. I would like to try to film during the "golden hour", before sunset which is at about 6pm tomorrow. I will do the opening shot of him multiple times and decide at home which is the best one. I'm not entirely sure what locations yet, but there is a wall of graffiti near my house which could be quite effective. We could also try it indoors against a wall.

Opening Scenes

I really like the opening of this video; an extreme closeup of him singing into the microphone. I can't use this as the opening in my video because the song opens with guitar rather than vocals. I can however use this shot in another part of the video.




This is the original version of the song that I had chosen (I'm doing the acoustic version). I like the opening shot of this; a medium shot of him playing the guitar, but he isn't centered, he is slightly to the left. I could use this shot then  cut to the closeup of him singing into a microphone.

Update

Since my last post, I have been editing the footage from my practice scene, I will upload it to youtube muted then post it on here, this is because I haven't downloaded the song just yet.

I plan to do some filming on wednesday when I can see my actor. I'm thinking of doing the opening scene with him. I need to figure out what I want to do for the opening scene first... If it's outside and it is a bad day I will have to do another part of the video with him.

Copyright email to Sony

 

Dear Sir/Madam, I am an A Level student currently studying Media Studies at Biddulph High School, my task is to produce a music video for my coursework project. I am writing to you to ask for permission to use Foo Fighters - Times Like These (Acoustic)as the soundtrack for the video I will produce. I have no intention of gaining profit for this piece of coursework - it will be for educational purposes only. Thank you for taking your time to read this email, hope to hear back from you soon.

Thanks, Kirstin.

Practice scene

I started filming yesterday, it was just to get my actor comfortable in front of the camera and to get me comfortable with using it and just to get an idea of what I want it to look like. The lighting was awful because we did it inside with no natural light in the evening so it was quite dark and the picture quality turned out bad.

Brainstorming Ideas for Video

I want my video to have conventional elements from the Foo Fighters' videos such as All My Life and Times Like These; these videos are the type of video that is just shots of them singing and playing their instruments rather than a humorous storyline - this is what I am aiming for in my video.

• Closeups of him singing
• Closeups of him playing guitar
• Medium shots of him playing
• outside
• inside on the sofa
• quite laid back
• extreme closeups of his mouth singing
• extreme closeups of his hand plucking guitar strings
• Walking down the street, long shots, closeups
• On the chorus, the repetition of "Times like these", shots of different clocks

Times Like These lyrics

I am a one way motorway
I'm the one that drives away
Then follows you back home
I am a street light shining
I'm a wild light blinding bright
Burning off alone

It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again

I am a new day rising
I'm a brand new sky
To hang the stars upon tonight
I am a little divided
Do I stay or run away
And leave it all behind?

It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again

Song vote

I have asked 15 people from my target audience to choose one of these songs they would like to see me create a music video for.

Foo Fighters - These Days                            4

Foo Fighters - Walk                                      4

Foo Fighters - Times Like These (acoustic) 6

John Lennon - Working Class Hero             1

In conclusion, my target audience would like to see the song Times Like These (acoustic) in my video.

Another Song Idea

Foo Fighters have two types of videos... One is the humerous storyline type which I talked about a couple of months ago when doing my initial research into this genre, and the other is plenty of shots of them actually playing the music. This video of the acoustic version is slightly different as it involves just Dave Grohl and his guitar and some of him playing the piano. I really like this video and the version of the song and I like that it is just him. It could work quite well with my one actor.

Song Idea

I like how the only sounds in this song are his voice and the guitar, making it easier to make a video around one person (I only have one actor). I'm not quite sure yet what my video will be about, I will have to do more research.

GENRE CHANGE AGAIN!!!

I have decided to change genre back to rock/indie and try to research solo artists in this genre, such as Jeff Buckley, Frank Turner, Johnny Cash.

Possible song choice - When i was a youngster - Rizzle Kicks

This is a possible song choice. The video shows a lot of shots of the boys dressing up as what they wanted to be when they were younger such as a fireman and an astronaut.

Research - Down with the trumpets by Rizzle Kicks

The director uses a lot of closeup shots of the pair singing, they don't show a lot of emotion, but that is quite conventional of the Rizzle Kicks videos.

Research - Just another boyband by The Midnight Beast

Again, the lyrics link in very well with the video and tells the story of "Just another boy band". The conventions of The Midnight Beast videos are that there is a storyline that links in with the lyrics and they are all humorous.

Research - Wands by The Midnight Beast

This is the kind of genre that I will be using, comedy/rap. I really like how this band use the lyrics to tell a story and the video always links in with the lyrics. I am thinking that I could use this technique.

Change in genre?

Due to circumstances out of my control, two of my actors pulling out, I am having to consider changing the genre almost completely as I think that creating a Foo Fighters video with just one main person would be too difficult and I wouldn't get the marks that I would like. I have friends that are in a band and are more of a rap/comedy genre than indie/rock.

Analysis of Walk

The first scene of Dave Grohl sat in the car in traffic, the director uses lots of closeups to show his emotions that appear to be impatience and anger. The director zooms in on some car stickers such as "Thank You President Bush", "Coldplay", "Bieber", then keeps going back to his face to show that he is angry that this is what the World has come to as it has gone down hill music-wise. There are also shots of people in cars, in one of the cars there is a "hottie on board" and shows the ugly looking woman looking in the mirror putting lip gloss on. There is a shot of a well dressed man picking his nose, a small child swearing at Grohl. This scene shows that society is going down hill as well as music and Grohl has had enough. The close up shot of the words "Punk is dead" drawn on the wall is what I think pushes him over the edge initially to make him get out of his car and storm out.

The shot of him leaving his car fades into black, then fades into an extreme long shot of him walking along Brooklyn Bridge (I believe...). This is the start of his journey of "learning to walk again".

The first shot of him in the shop is a high angle shot if him walking towards the counter, this shows that  the shop owner is looking down on him and taking advantage of customers. This also becomes clear when the director uses a closeup shot of a sign that says "no change" and one that says "TIP colleague of the month". This, along with other events of the video such as going into the fast food restaurant and ordering food which looks nothing like the picture up on the boards, stepping in dog poo, getting mugged in central park, getting hit by a golf ball portray Grohl getting annoyed and frustrated with the way that society is going.

It can be argued that he "gets back" at society by beating the muggers in a fight and scaring them off and running one of the golfers over.

The only time that we see him even somewhat happy and where he belongs is with his band towards the end. The director uses lots of closeup shots on Grohl to show that he is happy and this could be linked to the lyrics "learning to walk again" as he is learning to be happy again and to play with his bandmates again.

Different song?

I think that Walk, by the same band, would be an easier song to use with one actor, and some different actors spread throughout the video.

Ideas... AGAIN

• Remembering how good things used to be with flashbacks and pictures
• ...

Storyboard

Over the past few days I have been working on the storyboard of the video. I am going to have to change the story, so the storyboard was a waste of time, because two of my actors have decided not to be in the video. I need to rethink some things...

Actors/actresses

• Oliver (main actor)
• Luke (Second boy)
• Dionne (Girl that cheats on first boy)

Props

• Guitar
• Microphone (maybe)
• Few sets of clothes for each actor
• 
  

Steadicam!

I am definitely going to give this a try! All I need is a tripod or a monopod and my camera! Such a simple, cheap way of doing it!

Brainstorming Ideas

• A boy and girl all loved up at the beginning
• Lots of shots of them holding hands and hugging and laughing
• Girl cheats on him with second boy
• She gets caught
• Boy gets really angry and upset "I bet your heart will be broken, I bet your pride will be stolen, I bet, I bet"
• First boy is the main character
• Closeups to show emotion: love, happiness, then anger, sad, heartbreak
• Shots of first boy playing guitar and singing

Possible meanings

I have been researching possible meanings to the song These Days.

People on http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858864953/ think:

" "But it's alright.
Yeah it's alright.
I said it's alright.

Easy for you to say.
Your heart has never been broken.
Your pride has never been stolen.
Not yet, not yet."

i believe, from my personal experiences, that these lines of the song illustrate a situation in which a very important relationship of some kind has ended, and someone is trying to make this person feel better by saying that its alright, without knowing what the person is going through. to that, the person answers with "easy for you to say" because, as mentioned before, that someone doesnt know the pain this person is feeling from this situtation. then the person answers with " Not yet, not yet" which pretty much means that one day, eventually that someone will experience what the person is going through, and then obtain the right to say it'll be alright, because they themselves have experienced it. "

"I think this song is about when something big in your life screws up (such as a relationship), and everyone tells you it's alright, even though they have no idea what you're going through and don't really have a right to say that. "

"I've heard this song a million times, but I didn't pay attention to the lyrics until today and now I love it.

To me, this song is about someone trying to come to terms with the loss of a friend/family member. They're trying to move on, pretend everything's normal, but the people around the school/workplace are constantly reminding them with consolation and/or plain pity; even though they're sympathizing with them, it's still agonizing because all they want to do is move on. I'm probably seeing it this way because 1.) I went through it myself as a kid and 2.) it's the only way I can see the verses (or maybe it's called a "hook" in this case, IDK music terminology that well) and the chorus coinciding. 


"One of these days the ground will drop out from beneath your feet
One of these days your heart will stop and play its final beat
One of these days the clocks will stop and time won't mean a thing
One of these days their bombs will drop and silence everything"

These are like the lines from someone who hasn't lost a loved one before. They don't know what to say, so they're telling this person the usually cliches lines: "the Lord works in mysterious ways," "these things happen," "they're in a better place." Maybe in this case it's something like "one of these days, you'll see them again."

"Easy for you to say
Your heart has never been broken
Your pride has never been stolen
Not yet not yet
One of these days
I bet your heart'll be broken
I bet your pride'll be stolen
I bet I bet I bet I bet"

This is like an angry, fed-up rant or thought in response to them. "Easy for you to say, you've never been through this before. One of these days you'll go through this too. And I bet those corny thoughts won't help you any more than they help me." I could be projecting all of this, though."

Personally, I believe that it is about someone getting their heart broken by a lover and being angry and upset with them and saying "what goes around comes around" and "one of these days i bet your heart will be broken, I bet your pride will be stolen, I bet, I bet".

These Days original music video

This is the song that I plan on using, it may change, but for now at least this is what I will be using. I won't be able to make a video anything like this one because I dont have access to huge crowds in stadiums. So I am thinking of figuring out what the song means and create a video and storyline based on that.

These Days lyrics

One of these days the ground
will drop out from beneath
your feet

One of these days your heart
will stop and play its final
beat

One of these days the clocks
will stop and time won't
mean a thing

One of these days their bombs
will drop and silence
everything

But it's all right
Yet it's all right
I said it's all right


Easy for you to say
Your heart has never been broken
Your pride has never been stolen

Not yet not yet

One of these days
I bet your heart'll be broken
I bet your pride'll be stolen I'll bet I'll bet I'll bet I'll bet

One of these days
One of these days


One of these days your eyes
will close and pain will
disappear

One of these days you will
forget to hope and learn to
fear

But it's all right
Yet it's all right
I said it's all right


Easy for you to say
Your heart has never been
broken
Your pride has never been
stolen

Not yet not yet

One of these days
I bet your heart'll be broken
I bet your pride'll be stolen

I'll bet I'll bet I'll bet I'll bet

One of these days One of these days


But it's all right
Yet it's all right
I said it's all right
Yes it's all right
Don't say it's all right
Don't say it's all right
Don't say it's all right

One of these days your heart
will stop and play its final
beat

But it's all right

Easy for you to say
Your heart has never been
broken
Your pride has never been
stolen

Not yet not yet

One of these days
I bet your heart will be
broken
I bet your pride will be stolen
I'll bet I'll bet I'll bet I'll bet

One of these days
One of these days
One of these days

Song Choice

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been debating which song to use, I knew I wanted to go with a Foo Fighters song but I wasn't sure which one. I have also been trying to decide who I would like to be in the video. The song I have chosen These Days by the Foo Fighters because it is, in my opinion, and the actors' opinion, a brilliant song. In addition it is a fairly new song, the album, Wasting Light, was released in April 2011. This album is undoubtedly one of their best as it reminds us of the old and great Foo Fighters recording on an analogue tape. So this album and this song is very stereotypically "Foo Fighters".

Conventions

It is very difficult to figure out the conventions of a typical Indie music video because every band tries to be different, hence the genre: Independant (Indie). So with my video I will try and be different, but I will take inspiration from the bands that I have already mentioned in my blog.

You can, however, more easily figure out the conventions in a certain band's videos. For example, Foo Fighters videos tend to have a humerous storyline and involves the band members dressing up as different characters. This can be seen in Learn to Fly, Everlong, Long Road to Ruin, Walk, and many more. Or, the Foo Fighters videos consist of just the band playing the music and pretty much no storyline as seen in All My Life and Times Like These.