Record Label

I blogged recently about sending an email to Beyoncé's record label, and they never replied. I am still going to use the song as i don't have enough time to wait for them to accept this.

Getting everything orginised..

Here are two emails i have sent to some staff within the school to ask about locations for my filming.

How i spent my half term -

I tried to spend my half term wisely. I could not film or get footage during the holidays as most of my filiming is school based, using the schools facilities. I have storyboarded most of my video there is just a few moments i am unsure of location wise and some costumes. I went into town and was looking in high street shops for costumes and saw a lot of jewelry and costumes that i could get from Primark so it also means that my budget will be cheap. I have spoken to the girl who is my main lead for my video and she is learning/learnt the song, its now just asking the two dancers and her for a specific date that we can do it, this might mean that i have to get them off timetable and i need to get in touch with some staff around school to get the locations i need such as The Hall and the Dance Studio. I also need to think of another location as i dont want it to be all white backgrounds. Therefore i have tried to plan as much as possible, now i am going to finish off my storyboards, work out a date and then get intouch with some staff. As soon as i get the chance to go into town i will go and buy the costumes and accessories i need and then crack on with filming. My aim is to have my video filmed and hopefully edited by the end of November.

Annotated Lyrics

Beyoncé Annotated End Of Time Lyrics of my music video

View more documents from lauraderbyshireWHS.

MoodBoard

I have now completed my Moodboard of what i would want too include within my video, gathering just some of my ideas. I think to get more of a clear view of what i want i will do another moodboard that is completley the opposite to what i want.
But what i want is for my video to have fairly glamrous costumes throughout, and have a glam tone also throughout the video as it is what a normal Beyoncé video is like.

Next Deadline..

Our next deadline on Friday 21st October, and by then we should of done these things

chosen a song

written/e-mailed the record company for permission to use the song

completed some primary audience research (asking your audience about ideas for the song, locations, costume choices, storylines, images etc)

uploaded and annotated the lyrics with your ideas

some storyboarding - perhaps the first 10-15 shots

I have done most of these but now i am going to start annotating some lyrics, storyyboarding and finish off my mood board. I also need to upload my questionnaire with compleleted.

Ideas and Planning..

I've just thought of an idea of really building from the word 'time' from the title, by going through different times and styles such as 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's as little quirky bits during the video, but mainly keep her in a main current, glamorous look too keep with the classy housestyle.

Also i have asked my friend Natalie if she will be the beyonce of my music video for me, she has said she will and i've asked her if she could start learning the words already. As soon as i get results back from my questionnaire i will ask dancers if they will also take part and sort rehearsals out so they can learn a routine.

Acceptance..

Here is the Email i have just sent to Sony/Columbia records regarding using Beyoncé's track End Of Time for my coursework. I will now wait for a reply but i cannot wait forever so i am still going to carry on as if they have already accepted.

More Research

Here is Beyoncé's new video for Countdown, off the same album that i am using my song for my music video. Like i said below this uses all the conventions of a Beyoncé music video, however this one has a theme of dance, some recognisable scenes and dances that are famous. Its mostly shots of just her throughout the video which is what i would like to go for, because i know its not 'fancy fancy' all these different locations and nothing much is going on, but it can be quite eye-catching and different and i have more oppotunitys to do different camera angles.

Beyoncé - Countdown on MUZU.TV

Background Research

I really want my music video to be like a typical Beyoncé video, Like what she would possibly do for the song. So i have been looking at her previous videos, and in every single video Beyoncé looks classy; what i notice that mainly does it is her costume and make-up, her costumes are always stand out costumes but have that element of class in them constantly, for example her 'Single Ladies' video is just a simple black body suit, but even just using the colour black and the way she dances and her jewelry and her make-up make it look so classy because she only goes to a certain extent. Even in her 'Best Thing I Never Had' Video she is in lingere but she doesn't slutty as such. The only time i would say Beyoncé lost her identity was in her 'Crazy in Love' video as all the colours on her costume and other dancers costumes looked cheap and her dress was really short and her top was very low cut which made her look very chavvy and cheap, however this is the only video i'd say were she lost her identity. Her make-up is usualy sharp and quite heavy eye make up. Her videos tend have the same meaning; in her slow songs the videos tell a story like 'If I Were A Boy' it shows a storyline and guides you through it. Where as in the Single Ladies video its abit more upbeat and its just her and two other dancers dancing, yet its one of the most famous videos ever. Which is what i'd like to mimic, a mix between single ladies and maybe run the world girls as i think that is what maybe suites the song lyrics, beat and tempo. Her slow songs and her upbeat song videos are SO different, everything wise - like camrea angles, length of shots, costume, colours etc. To compare two; her video for 1+1 are all very slow shots, mostly filled with close-ups of her face and upper body, its a very intimate video to fit in with the lyrics, kind of telling a story from her moves and the settings even though it looks like most of it was filmed infront of a green screen, everything in this video is very slow and elegant. However in her Run The World (Girls) video the tempo is much much quicker and the beats are so precise - there are so many fast cuts to different scenes, it has a very strong begining (like most of her other songs), it is VERY strong/powerfull throughout, there is a few special effects, lots of cast, madness scenes, a lot of dancing and is just based as one main location, keeps going from busy to shots of just her in different location and it doesn't really have a storyline, a meaning. Therefore i am going to stick with these convetions, stick with Beyoncé identity because i cannot picture the song without it being like a typical Beyoncé stand out video.

Beyoncé - 1+1 on MUZU.TV

Beyoncé - Run The World (Girls) on MUZU.TV
I am now going to print out my questionnaire and see what my audience think, and then i am going to ask someone too be my main character and give her the lyrics and then probably ask 2 other people if they would be my dancers (if my audience think so). I will then start working on a dance routine to teach to them so they can get it perfectly, whilst working out what locations i want and how i can get them which could mean i need to talk to a few people and sort things out.

Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) on MUZU.TV

My Questionnaire

Here i have developed a Questionnaire which i am going to gather around 10 of my intended audience, play them the song i have chosen and get them to fill this in so i know there clear idea of how they picture the music video to be, purely to help me decide which is best for my audience.

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Audience Music Video Ideas

Questionnaire
1. How do you picture the beginning of the song? What would you expect too see?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2a. Do you expect dancing in this video?
                 Yes ◘     No ◘
2b. If so, how many dancers would you expect? (Including the singer)
       1-3 ◘            3-5 ◘           5-8 ◘       9+ ◘
      
3. Do you picture different locations? Or just a plain backgrounds (just white or blue etc.)?
       Different Locations ◘
please quote what locations you would expect ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
       Plain Backgrounds ◘
       Mixture ◘
4. What do you picture the costumes to be like?
tick as many as you like…

Glamorous ◘        Very Beyoncé Style ◘         Bright Colours ◘       Dark Colours ◘ 

Classy ◘               Urban look ◘                        Fashionable ◘           Vintage ◘

Any Other?.........................................................................................................................              

5. Do you expect it to be a quite classy looking video? Like a typical Beyoncé video.
                                                       Yes ◘           No ◘
6. Do you think they’re would be Males involved in the video or Just Females?

                               Males & Females ◘             Just Females ◘
7. What is your favourite music video and why?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

8. Which is your favourite Beyoncé Music Video?
Single Ladies ◘              1+1 ◘              Halo ◘                If I was a boy ◘

Who run the world (Girls) ◘           Irreplaceable ◘    Best thing I never had ◘
8b. Why?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Technical Problems With Websites

Recently our school has had technical problems with websites that us as media studies need to use as our resources. It lead to me doing an hours worth of work on this blogger to press publish and then to say that the internet page could not be displayed therefore i lost my whole hours work, Also we cannot get onto other resources such as Scribd etc. The IT department are working on changing the access rights so we can use the sites we need. It means for now we have to do a lot of the work at home and then it cannot be accessed in school. But the IT department have said that it should take about 3 weeks to get our resources up and running.

Digipack 2 - Coldplay

Here is Coldplays new album 'Mylo Xyloto' the front cover is very busy and bright colours, all looking like its graffiti, all the colours look like neon colours and all different words and symbols. It looks like there identity is showing through the symbols and colours, representing the storylines. This also carries on through there Music Video for 'Every Teardrop is a Waterfall' ...

Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall on MUZU.TV
You can see that throughout the video that there is always colour in the background like graffiti either saying the lyrics or symbols representing the lyrics. Also in neon matching the housestyle of there album, building on there brand identity. Including on there website, the background is black and there links and fonts are in neon blue and pink, and the headers look like they have been drawn on, also sticking with there housestyle, therefore there audience would notice this as there brand identitiy.
http://www.coldplay.com/site.php

Music Video Ideas

I have looked around a few albums from various artists trying to find a song that they have not yet got a video too so i could use one for mine, and one that has struck out too me the most is a song from Beyoncé called End Of Time. I have already asked a few members of my audience of some ideas what the think when they hear the song, i am going to soon do a questionnare for them to do so i can get some information.