Technology Skills Week

This week we have to identify and improve our technology skills then experiment creatively with different technology and hopefully step outside my comfort zone. I am fairly confident with: camera's, Photoshop and Premier pro as I have made a film in A2 film, this previous knowledge allows me to have a better understanding of the technology.

For our music video me and Beccy are going to have to be confident when using advanced editing skills and also various new technology and equipment. I have given myself three targets which I should meet by the end of the week, they are:

• Practise with Photoshop to create magazine layouts for the backgrounds for the clips then apply it to Premier Pro.


• Advanced green screen- learn and experiment the desired:background, lighting needed to create quality green screen.


• Do practise filming using green screen e.g. full body shot (including floor.) Then practise with Premier Pro to see what animated translations are available in this programme for our film e.g. split screen, wipe cut.
  

Examples of Pin up magazine fonts

These two print screens displayed are just a few of the many but I chose to display them as they and fairly different e.g. font.

When looking at examples on the internet I noticed that there seemed to be a running theme: bold, quirky, vibrant colurs and most inportanly

relates to the image being shown. I will add better examples in due course to compare how different or similar the titles cant be.

Choosing the: style and the colour to emphasise the word being displayed creates a thought provoking and visually striking contract of the cartoon text and the reality of the actress. Choosing an appropriate name for each individual magazine is also very important; I want each magazine cover reflect the character we are trying to portray e.g. if they are girly I would suggest using a swirly text to represent this impression.

I am going to use Microsoft word to create my own experiment titles for my music video. I thought that I would be easier if me and Beccy created backgrounds using Photoshop to then add in on Premiere Pro when we remove green screen to created more pin up/ pop art magazine layouts, as this will be very entropic and show how creative we are using the available soft we have.

My experiments using Microsoft word

Above are test titles and fonts for our music video. The theme of of our video is pin up so me and Beccy decided it would would look quirky if we created magazine titles and place them behind the girls in the video to create the look as though some of the girls are on the pin up magazines.

I have chosen different fonts and colours to reflect and emphasis the word displayed. Visually they all look striking but maybe I will have to come up with better titles? I will do this in the editing process, as I will then be able to visually see the colour code and font for each different character. I particularly like the SUGAR title as it looks like candy; both the text and font, this is a possible keeper!

For these examples I used the fonts:Baskerville Old Face, Bernard MT Condensed, Harlow Solid Italic and Broadway (very convenient for the theme of of video.)I will continue to create and experiment with different fonts and colour themes until am I satisfied.

Unfortunately I did not complete all three of my tasks due to faults with Premiere pro. However I did complete the second task; me and Beccy made our own green screen using green card and then experimented with the studio lights to create the desired effect. From our first practise we did we realised that the green screen must be lit up; I did this by positioning the lights to illuminate the who of the green screen evenly. When either me or Beccy stood in front of the green screen we had to make sure no shadows were casted on it; we did this by standing further away and strategically placed the lights so none were cast. I already had experience using these lights but Beccy did not so I taught her how to use them which I believe she now knows how to use them correctly. This practise has been a great experience for both of us as it will help us when we are producing our music; both of us know how to set up the equipment and we know how the environment should be lit when it comes to our practical work.

Once again we used the new HD digital camera to capture footage; we plan to use this for our actual music so getting familiar with it is essential because we do not want to worry about how to use when we are filming. This camera is great quality and will make our music video look music professional and polished; close up and extreme close up shot will be very effective, as we will be able to focus on the beautiful girls in the video. Being Light weight allows us to use hand held; we planning to do panning shots etc... and this is more possible with this camera. In comparison to the old tape cameras they allow us to create more advanced, desired effects. I am familiar with lenses this camera is not difficult to work with but of course me and Beccy will have to experiment with what the lenses do and which we want to use.

We filmed ourselves in front of our makeshift green screen doing various scenarios such as: weather report, lift and using a fan I pretended that I was in a windy, cold place. I suggested to Beccy that we should film our feet so we can see what happens to floor when we edit the green out on Premiere Pro; we did this. To replace the green screen I went outside to film the snowy scenery outside to complement the my cold impression. Sadly the Premiere Pro did not cooperate with us; it kept changing the size of the clip and cropping it down with out us telling it to do so. We closed down the programme several times but the same process kept happening.

As we were unable to edit any of the clips instead me and Beccy decided to use Photoshop to create backgrounds to replace the green screen in our music video. We only managed to create one which was only a practise and did not reflect a theme for our characters; I believe it is saved on Beccy's hard drive so I will try to upload it if I find it. In the mean time Beccy has created three backgrounds which I yet to see. I will continue to practise with Photoshop, I am not very confident using this software; I know the basic editing tool but If I am wanting to do more advanced editing eg. air brushing I will either teach myself or watch tutorials on Youtube.

Being creative- Our first attempt at Green screen

This is a very useful and easy to follow tutorial on how to create your own DIY green screen. I know this tutorial is for Premiere Pro CS4 but it is very similar to our latest version of CS5. I found this video the best for me to follow and thought and seeing this video made me believe I could actually create my own green screen. I have always thought that creating green screen was very complex and technical but I realise that I have the nessissary wquipment to create my own. Experimenting with the green screen will be a process of trial and error until both me and Beccy are happy with the outcome.

Our first ever green screen test

This week we have been encouraged to be creative, so me and Beccy decided that we should attempt green screen as we are certain that we will be using it for our music video. We used a large piece of green card, placed it under the class room light and Beccy did some hand gestures. We used the new HD digital camera with manual focus, this quality camera allowed us to capture it beautifully. We used Premiere Pro to layer the two clips together by using Chrome key, and selected the green to remove it.

I am happy with the out come of our first attempt apart the strange arrangement of clip choices. From doing this practise we have realised how important light is for green screen, the screen has to be complete lit up and the model has to stand a far distance in front of the screen so that no shadows are casted. As you can see in our video as we never lit the screen enough the light has bounced onto Beccy's hand which has created an obvious green outline.

Test shoot (displayed in pitch)

Below are the experiments me and Beccy did for how we vision our girls to look for our music video. As I enjoy creating appearances for characters I decided I would quickly put some looks together which both me and Beccy thought would be appropriate for our video. We have talked about how we do not want to over sexulise the girls in our music video which has the theme of pin up, to do this I decided to dress us in costumes that were not too revealing but yet also looked: fashionable, youthful and 'cool.' I will continue to experiment with more looks until I am happy with the apperances for each character.


Above is me dressed how me and Beccy see our lending lady portrayed. I was inspired by the world war 2 poster which has the iconic pin up girl Rosie. I believe creating a modern Rosie for our music video is entropic and fits with the theme of 'GIRL POWER' as the singer will look pretty but also powerful and strong.
Above is the beautyful Beccy portraying the sailor pin up girl. I am happy with the make up and hat but not too keen on the outfit, I think that the sailor girl need the sterotypical, elaborate costume. I want to make her look sexy as the point of her is to lure the male audience. I love the cheeky pose Beccy has given, this is how I want our sailor to act: flirty but also knowing she is in control.

This I would say portrays the gothic/ seductive pin up girl. The pose does reflect the character but the apperance does: with long curly hair, black eye make up and red rose in my hair this look could be enhanced slighty to create a seductive pin up girl. Castinbg for this role is critical as it can not be forced as it will not come across genuine and the apperance as well must be perfect. I have a friend who is perfect for this role and I am sure she will be willing to play this pin up girl.

This is the final experiement photograph. It is an alternative look for our lending lady. I am not as pleased with this look than the top one, as I believe it is not as strong. By dreesing me in a white shirt creates an angelic look which thaen does not give the empression of the strong/ powerful Rosie character we want our singer to reflect. The pose and facial expression is also not as strong as the cheeky wink in the top photograph, as once again it seems to playful and innocent than the: seductive, in control Rosie pin up girl.

Facebook event update

Today me and Beccy have updated our Facebook event, above I have print screened the most recent messages. I have spoken to several girls who are interested over Facebook but also in person and they seem really excited of the idea of taking part in our music video production. We have had 12 girls who have accepted and are willing to participate in our video which is a good result, as we worried that maybe we would not have enough to cast 8-10 girls. Me and Beccy have discussed that we will give the other people we asked till Wednesday to reply; after that we are going to look at the contenders who want to be in the video and talk about if we think they are:

• Suitable for our video e.g. appearance.
• Reliable
• Mature (not mess around on set)
• Good performer
• Have good patience as the filming stage can be rather tedious

Once we have our final selection of girls then me and Beccy will be able to assign each girl a character profile of their pin up girl we want them to portray.

I am really happy with the girls who have replied, all are my friends so when it comes to working with them it shall not be awkward for either of us. There is a variety of girls such as; age, sexuality, ethnicity and appearance (body shape); by having such a diverse selection this will appeal to our audience; as they will be able to associate themself with at least one girl in the video.

Group calender and smart phones

Me and Beccy have set up a calender on Outlook which we both can edit and refer to throughout the production. This will help me and Beccy arrange dates which will fit around our schedules and plan when and where and we can take photographs for out digipak and advert for our music video.

We have set up a event page on Facebook to cast for our music video, this is helping me and Beccy know who is willing to star in our video. As well as it is extremely helpful for us knowing who wants to be in the video it also allows us to keep in contact of them all; letting them feel involved by constantly up dating the event page.

I believe by having a technical calender is more versatile than a written one because:

1. Both of us can access it to keep each other informed of important dates as well edit it.


2. We can access it through a computer but also via our smart mobile phones, this is good as we can automatically a note on the calender when and wherever we are and send e-mails to one another and identify them as tasks.


3. We can stick to a detailed time plan, this will help so we know we are track with our production; so that we do not get behind in our work.

I own a Sony Ericson W995 mobile phone which I able to connect to the Internet with; allowing me to access: Facebook, Outlook and e-mails. I am going to use my phone as a great tool to keep organised and also keeping in contact with Beccy but also the cast involved in the music video. I will also be able to ring and text them if needs be but also my phone has an 8.1 megapixal camera I will be able to take photographs of the process of our production such as: the digipak photography shoot, the dressing of the characters and also behind the scenes of the music video. The photographs will not be as good quality as my digital SLR camera but as these are only showing the process I do not think it will matter. By filming and taking photographs on my phone I am able to upload them straight onto Facebook which then I will able to create a link for to upload them onto my blog.

Time Management

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=169120723113114&num_event_invites=0#!/event.php?eid=169120723113114

The link above is an event I have set up on the social network Facebook to cast girls for our music video. I have added my female friends who I believe are suitable for our music video and so far I have had several confirm; at least eight girls are interested in staring in our pop music video.

By using Facebook this is going to make mine and Beccy's time management so much easier, as we are able to keep in constant contact with the cast which helps us: to organise them, keep them informed and also arrange dates, times and places. Both me and Beccy have access to this event and can edit it if we wish. I will continue to use this event and will create blogs to show how our preparation for our music video is coming together.

After posting my event on Facebook my friend Sophie texted me;

"Stace I just read your status, me, Issy and Maria all do performing arts and three main things we are studying are: dance, singing and acting can we audition? This will look good on my application for any auditions xxx"

As well as people helping us in our music video I also see this as a great opportunity for people who need a creative portfolio for either University or a job. I mentioned that we could provide a copy of the video and photographs from the production so this has made people more interested which is good. I understand that we have to choose girls who are: suitable and reliable for our concept so by asking at least 40 girls this will allow me and Beccy choose the right girls.

Pitch feed back from the class

After gathering all the feedback from the class I am able to summarised their: opinions and ideas. By having so much feedback it will help me and Beccy improve our concept, strengthen our weaknesses and also enhance our concept by adding or removing ideas to it.

Comments on suitability for stated target audience

Our demographic audience is: white females aged 14-17. We also believe there is a secondary audience of males, aged 15-20 due to the male gaze. Many people believe that our demographic audience is clear, good and suitable to our concept. Some believe that as it is a pop song it will appeal to a wider audience, as it seems as though the image we are creating is mainstream which I agree with but as we have to aim our video at a certain audience we seem this is best suited. A good comment that we received which highlights this is; "understands audience fairly well but might find a niche due to style and nature of mainstream." Others argued that our target audience was not clear as we mentioned we believe there are two: females and males. What we mean by having a secondary audience of males aged 15-20 years old is we believe that they will also enjoy the video but solely for the fact that the video is going to include only females who are slightly going to sexualised for the male gaze.

The mood board we created to visually show the class our demographic audience which included: alcohol and the night club Tramps. Several people picked up on this saying this unrealistic and unsuitable to our audience but we argue it is not. Tramps hold nights for under 18's and we believe our song would play at this venue. I know many under 18's who drink and we specifically choose to present the drink drink Smirnoff,as we believe this is what C2/ D girls drink due to most of them being slightly 'chavy.'

A positive opinion someone gave was; "I like their research into the audience, the fact they incorporated the fashion trend idea is good. they got the audience spot on!" As we mentioned in our pitch our target audience will be: mainstreamers, aspires and materialists we thought that our music video could be influential so incorporating fashion into it will help create a image for the lead singer. Finally people also mentioned that the song correspond well with our target yet the music video idea does not which makes it very entropic; which brings me onto my next point.

Comments on originality of the idea

Me and Beccy want to produce a high standard music which incorporates both of our artistic and creative skills. When conducting synaesthesia we envisioned the 1940's pin-up girl concept which will have a balance of both entropy and redundancy which I thoroughly explored in my research. Overall nearly every comment we received was positive saying that our idea was new and exciting which I am extremely happy about but now I hope we can meet these high expectations.

Only one person stated that our concept is redundant but yet they did not state why and how we could make it more original and entropic but they did like our theme of 'Girl power.' What several people commented on was the fact that our song genre does not necessary fit our concept for our music video, some people liked this, others did not. I believe that the song does gel well with the idea; as it is sang by a woman, we want it to include a female and the title Hey Boy amplifies it, as it seems flirty and fun with a 'Girl power' theme. People liked our song choice as it if different to everyone else in the class, they said it was a: typical, cheesy pop song, "From listening to the song, although I think it is a bit cheesy, it will make an original video if you plan it out right."

The class particularly like the vintage and retro idea as it is unique and individual by using this era instead of modern and contemporary which is entropic and interesting for the song choice and video concept which someone quotes "You have a good/ clear view on entrophy and redundancy." Many people said our concept is new and original and love the fact we are going to interpret the male gaze differently by not over sexualising the females in the music video which is unusual for a stereotypical music video, as many contain half naked women such as: Gold Digger. We instead want to create the impression you can look but can't touch!

Some people thought the pin-up idea is quite original and entropic but someone did mention that this concept has been used before in Christina Aguilera's Candy man music video which we did mention. The Candy man video is rather redundant in relation to the song, as is illustrating the 1940's era which is similar to the song because it sounds like this song which would of played in those days. We agree that it sounds familiar and we do hope to create the same message that this video does; look but can't touch. In this video Christina is not overly sexualised but yet her confidence and playful oozes sex appeal, as she is very flirtation in this video but not over the top which could be seen as objectifying her.

Overall people said our video idea was: new, exciting, original, entropic and not what you would expect from a music video which is good as I did not to stick with stereotypical music video's as they are: boring, predictable and un-inspiring.

Thoughts on the logistical arrangements

This this was probably the weakest part of our pitch as I believe we were not clear on many things such as: location, transport and cast so many people had a lot of opinions. I mentioned that there is a photographers studio where I work which I have previously used for photography but we are not guaranteed that we will be able to use this, so at the moment we are search the Internet for local studio's which are for hire. People liked the fact are using a simple location and like us; they agreed that this would makes the production easier and achievable by sticking to one location. Simplicity is the word I would some sum up our music video yet it is effective. We will have a low budget to create a high standard music video but this will also be reflected in the video by having simplistic scene settings.

The mise en scene will be key to this video, as it is the overall look which could either make this video really effective or look extremely armature. To avoid this me and Beccy will have to practise with different lighting to create the desired atmosphere for each character. This I believe is achievable as we have access to high quality lighting and if we able to use a studio there will also be lighting equipment available for us to experiment with and use. I have worked with the lights before when producing my A2 Noir film which I practised with different filters to create different lighting, this knowledge will come in handy for our music video but I have to remember It is not going to be edited black and white so the lighting may be different.

Someone mentioned that it seems we have to much cinematography and this could cause difficulty for us. I do agree with this but I hope me and Beccy will work together and evenly spread the work between us so that we can create affective set ups and elaborate costumes. We will use appropriate props and costumes to create a different pin-up character which you will be able to identify by the whole mise en scene in the frame. I believe this is going to be difficult to achieve which someone else also mentioned, finding and gathering props maybe a slight problem. I have several retro belonging such as: suitcase and phone but other things we may need we will have to find. Transporting the props should not be too difficult if we are able to use the studio where I work as we could easily carry them there as I live 2 minutes away. If we do not use this studio I am sure either mine or Beccy's parents or friends will provide transport to get all the: props. costumes, equipment and cast to the location. We have several girls who are willing to be in our music video, we want 8-10 girls to feature in it. We will not film every girl either at the same time or day as they are all individual characters who do not interact with each other in the same frames so organising to get the girls does not seem too problematic just we need reliable and committed girls.

We explained the health and safety well and people said that it was clear. We talked about possible health and safety issues which could occur when in the production stage such as: cast twisting ankles in high heels, lifting heavy props and wires. Once we established possible safety issues we thought how we could avoid accidents from happening. When it comes to the production stage if we notice any more possible health and safety issues then we will come up with a solution how avoid accidents and inform one another as well as the cast so that the safety of everyone involved is being looked after.

Comments on the technical aspects of the idea- does it sound achievable with the college equipment?

I am confident using the college camera's as I have used them several times for both experimenting in AS and for my A2 film. I also do photography so this will help when thinking about what angle to use and how the composition will fit in the frame to create certain feelings. I fairly ok using Adobe Premiere Pro editing software but this is something I have to improve on.

I can do the basic editing but I will have to: 'mess around,' experiment and explore to see what this software is capable of doing. One thing we want to do is add: text, animation and maybe speech bubbles like in the Oh no video which we showed to the class. I am able to add text to shots but this basic I want cartoon style, me and Beccy will have to experiment with the software to create our desired look. Many people liked the idea of adding text to some of the shots this will be illustrative to the song and could make the video entropic and effective.

All this is achievable as we have access to tripods so the shots will be still but them we can edit them to either zoom in or out etc... as not pop video has shots which are completely stationary. We have access to the newest version of Premiere Pro so this will help us so much; as it is the editing which will make this video really fun and effective. It is a simplistic video with a low budget so we to focus on how we can make this video more professional looking, we talked about using various editing technique's such as: wipe edit and split screens this will add fun to the video but we know this editing is going to be very time consuming.

Overall, does the idea sound exciting and achievable?

At first when me and Beccy were creating a concept for our song we were not clear what we want our video to look like apart from the fact that it should emphasis 'Girl power.' After synaesthesia several times I came up with the concept of 1940's pin- up girls as the theme, I wanted to make the production to simplistic and focus on the mise en scene and editing. I believe me and Beccy can make a high standard music video as we work well together and combine ideas and communicate well with one another.

The overall feedback we gained were all very similar; people said that the idea is: entropic, original, interesting and achievable. They particularly like the test shoots we did of me and Beccy dressed in similar costumes we see our cast wearing; by doing this practise photographs it helped the class envision what we want to achieve and they seem positive maybe because they clearly show our idea of not over sexualising the cast but yet give the feeling you can look but can't touch.

Many stated they are excited and can not wait to see our music video due to the creativity and unexpectedness. By incorporating retro into this modern pop song is entropic which is in fashion at the moment which many people commented on. They also like the idea of: advanced, fun, quirky editing and all the different camera angles we are wanting to use; all is achievable but me and Beccy will have to learn more about the software. " It diffidently sounds like a music video as it is interesting and different but the amount of: people involved, editing techniques might make difficult and hard to achieve." This quote also summaries my opinion on our music video, it is going to take a lot of: research, dedication, experimenting and planning to achieve a high standard music video. I hope me and Beccy do as this could turn out to be a: fun, quirky and effective music video which showcases mine and Beccy's artistic and creative skills.

pitch

Pitch

View more presentations from Stacey Hall.

Me and Beccy want to produce a high standard music video for our pop/dance song; Hey boy. To do this we have created a pitch which we presented to the class what we envisioned our music video to look like and how it communicates to the demographic audience. Through out my research stage of this course work, I have analysed many music video's and learnt theory's associated with music video's. From this, me and Beccy have combined our gained Knowledge to create a clear pitch for our music video.

Andrew Goodwin says that a ‘music video is a response to the music’ – Baring this in mind Beccy and Me used Synaesthesia to try and envisage what our music video would look like. We shared and combined both of our ideas together, from this we have come up with a concept which we believe is strong for a music video which we have visually demonstration in the mood board.


We believe that our mood board communicates and represents our concept for what we want our music video to be like. We want the theme to incorporate 'GIRL POWER' through using various iconic 1940's pin up girls. We have included some pin up girls on our mood board which are examples of what we would like some of the models to look like. We plan to use 8-10 teenage girls to star in our production, and if not that many me and Beccy are willing to star in the music video as well, so far we have several girls willing to perform in our video which makes this idea promising. The mood board also includes a heading from Kanye West’s video Gold Digger, this is to show that we want to create similar titles and would love to be able to do something like this in the post production stages of our music video using Premiere Pro. We have also included pictures of props that we would like to include in our video such as: the milkshake, ice cream sundae, telephone, beach ball, hairbrush, curlers etc. We have included a picture of red lipstick and an eye with fake eyelashes on it, this is how me and Beccy envisage the make up the models we be wearing.


As I do art I thoroughly enjoy being creative, I want to incorporate this into our music video. I thought It would be good to create a few pin up looks to visually show the class what we see our cast will potentially look like. Preferably we would like to have 8-10 models in our video, this means we will have to come up with different characters for who I will create the style of. Our music video is to promote and create a image of our lead singers I thought sticking with the theme of pin up it would be fun to have the lead singer dress like Rosie; one of the most iconic pin up girls after the second world war. The pitch features me dressed similarly to Rosie but adding a modern twist to it; by wear: a red bandanna, black shirt with a popped collar. essentially my ideal appearance of the lead singer is a glam Rosie wearing: a pink bandanna and glitzy clothes as we believe it will look more contemporary and appeal more to our younger audience. We want her to be a strong looking woman, and we thought that the stereotypical ‘Rosie’ would be the ideal for our leading lady. We also included some other examples of what we would like our cast to look like. We definitely would like a sailor girl in our video which Beccy has beautifully demonstrated, as well as a more glamorous girl, like featured on the left. Other types of pin up girl that we would like are: Housewife, Mechanic, seductive and angelic; very much the stereotypical pin up girls.


Our pitch includes a slide where we have created a character profile of our audience. We believe our demographic audience are: white females aged 14-17. We also believe there is a secondary audience of males, aged 15-20 due to the male gaze of the slightly sexualised girls featured in the music video. We believe both our demographic audience and secondary audience would be C2/D on the jicnar scale. We believe they would be: hedonists, mainstreamers, aspires and materialists which I believe we have clearly communicated through the character profile mood board.


We loved the idea of focusing on the 1940’s theme and these were some of the women that came into our minds and have influenced us to develop our concept. Women like Kat Von D has influenced me as she has a very fun pin-up look and yet is more contemporary as she is heavily tattooed. I would compare her to a modern Rosie as she is a: strong, independent, successful business woman who is a great example of 'Girl Power.' Katy Perry is a very popular pop artist nowadays and also has that slight modern pin-up girl look with her raven black hair and quirky fashion sense. Dita Von Tease is probably one of the more traditional pin-up models, but we believe her style and grace is something we would look for when deciding how to dress our girls. I have mentioned Rosie who is a huge influence to us as she is one of the most iconic pin ups of the 1940’s, we believe that she has a huge influence on our video as I mentioned before. Finally it is not just music video's that have influenced us but also TV programmes such as: desperate housewives and Americans next top model. AMTM has even aired a episode where the girls modelled as pin up girls, the simple white studio and appropriate props has inspired me to keep the video simple as this can be affective.


Our music video is going to be a performance video, with some choreography and miming to the song all taking place in a studio setting. We want our music video to be quite artistic as this reflects both mine and Beccy's creative skills as well as quite low budget.


With reference from to Bathes' code our music video will refer to:

The Semantic Code (SEM)

This code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word.

It is by the use of extended meaning that can be applied to words that authors can paint rich pictures with relatively limited text and the way they do this is a common indication of their writing skills. With relatively limited text and the way they do this is a common indication of their writing skills.’
(http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/articles/barthesfivecodes.htm.)

Another theorist we looked at which is relevant to our music video research is Laura Mulvey; who In 1975 intruded the theory of the male gaze in cinema. Mulvey suggested there are two types of the male gaze:

1. Voyeuristic- seeing women as as "whores"
2. fetishistic- seeing women as "Madonna"

The male gaze is created by the way the camera interacts and portrays the woman, if sexual body parts such as: breasts, legs, bums and lips are concentrated on then the camera is creating voyeuristic gaze where women are seen as objects. Women who are seen as objects are often passive so it males in mainstream films/video's that are active and carry the narrative. From conducting this research we decided that do not want to associate our music video with scopophilia which is a sexual pleasure from looking at the girls in a video but more of " YOU CAN LOOK BUT CAN'T TOUCH" feel which creates a 'Girl power' bond. We will create this by not making our cast too sexual in costumes and the camera not objectifying the female body but instead focus on the fun aspect by using bust shots to focus on the expressions on their faces.

We have explored and created solutions for Health and Safety Issues we may occur when we are producing our music video, they are:

• Loose wires, tape them down.
• Heavy props, more than one person helping.
• Tripping over tripods – Folded away when not in use.
• High Heels, could cause ankle injury, remove when not in use.
• Lighting, can be heavy, more than one person helping, break easily, only experience people should manage the lighting equipment.

I am sure when we are in the production stage we will establish more hazards which may occur, if we do we shall make sure: we are aware of them as well as the cast. We will come up with a health and safety plan so that everyone can avoid any accidents.

Overall I believe that our pitch did ran smoothly and I hope that the class understood our music video concept. If I could of improved anything it would be that me and Beccy should of thoroughly knew what we were going to say, as we did miss out important information like: we have several girls who are willing to star in our video and we should of presented my blog which includes a detailed presentation on Laura Mulvey. We have gained feed back from the class which I am going to create a separate blog for, as the feed back is important to us; negative or positive.