Production Diary

Libby has been keeping a production diary in order to chronologically track all of our planning for our final music video. 

21st Sep: Today we got into our groups and each pitched 3 song ideas with a rough plan as to what we could do for the music video attached. We discussed what we liked and disliked about some of the ideas but we came to a final conclusion that we liked Buried Alive - Logic, and Children Of The Wild - Steve Angello as our final 2 songs to pitch to the class for their feedback. 

22nd Sep: In this meeting we pitched our 2 song/ music video ideas to the class, we just showed them the lyrics whilst the audio of the song played so that we could see how they interpreted the song compared to us. They came up with some good and bad points which made us rethink our song suggestions. The biggest problem they thought we would face would be the speed of the rap at certain points throughout the song but we decided that we could work through this problem and solve it so we decided to use Logic's Buried Alive as our final suggestion. 

23rd Sep: Today Libby created an availability table so that we could easily see when we had free's together where we could use this as group meetings or filming. Libby also highlighted when we had media lessons so that we are able to plan ahead and use our time productively. She also made a group chat on Whatsapp so that we're able to communicate easily. 

24th Sep: Today Libby looked at websites and CD covers from the rap genre in order to gain an understanding of how we could design and display ours. James also did some research on Kendrick Lamar's website as well as Logic and I did some additional research on 50 Cent. I did a practice lip syncing task for our music video so that we had an idea about the difficulty of the speed of the song selection. Here is his practice:

25th Sep: Today Libby decided to do some artist research on Logic as she doesn't usually listen to any music in the Rap genre and she wanted to know some more about Logic. She fe

lt this would help as when we want to create an identity/ personality for our artist she'll be able to help and input ideas. 

28th Sep: Today I did some research into rap parody videos and found a few on YouTube. I watched them and thought how each parody mocked different things, some mocked lyrics, costumes and even appearance of group members. Issak worked on doing a steal-o-matic which works as a moving, visual mood board to present our inspiration. James kept researching website and CD covers from similar genres.  

29th Sep: Today Issak carried on with the steal-o-matic as a lot of detail needs to be put in for this. James continued to do some more research for our website and digipak. Today I wrote a letter of permission to our Artists record label requesting permission to use their song to create a music video to. I have sent this off in the post to await a reply. 

30th Sep: Today I did some font research as to which font we want to have in order to feature on all of our merchandising, website and album covers. Issak continued to work on the steal-o-matic and also continued with the annotated timeline of lyrics. 

1st Oct: Today I wrote a prop and location list so that we know what props we need when we start to film. Issak finished the steal-o-matic. 

2nd Oct: Today we were unable to progress with our group planning as we had a workshop with Pete Fraser and Jake Wynne which we all attended. 

5th Oct: Today we blogged about our Pete Fraser and Jake Wynne workshop. We reflected on what we had learnt. 

6th Oct: Today I did a shooting schedule to decide when we could film our first shoot and what we would film. Issak and James decided to do a photoshoot for Issak so that we could experiment with some album/ website photos. Issak then edited some potential photos for the digipak. 

7th Oct: Today James wasn't here so Issak and I decided to do some more work on the timeline of annotated lyrics. I also did a risk assessment for shooting and emailed the council for permission to film in Chelmsford Crematorium.

9th Oct: Today I started the storyboard and decided on some of the shot types for our music video. I tried to vary the shot types so that they would be interesting and keep the audience captivated. Issak used some different effects on photo shop and edited the album cover for our digipak with input from myself and James as to which fonts, colours, styles and positioning on the cover. 

12th Oct: Today, I carried on creating our storyboard so that we knew exactly what we needed to film and to which lyric they fit with. James did some digipak research as to what other rap artists look like and what to include on it. Issak came up with a name for himself and quickly drew up some examples on photoshop to show the rest of our group and to get some quick feedback. 

13th Oct: Today I did some extra website research as I was still a little unsure of how our website should look and the layout of it. James looked at different videos and found some inspiration as to what ideas we could include in our video. This then helped Issak to continue completing some ideas onto our annotated lyrics post. 

15th Oct: Today I filled out a shooting schedule so that we could organise our shooting and make sure that we knew what we wanted to shoot and when we wanted to shoot. 

16th Oct: Today we started to film some of the green screen shots as we decided this would be easy to film first so that we had some footage to play around. We then decided to film outside so that we could get some long shots of Issak as we found this challenging in the green screen room. We shot a few shots for several lines of the first verse.  

19th Oct: Today we sat as a group and brainstormed ideas that we could include into our timeline of annotated lyrics for verse 2. 

20th Oct: Today we filmed a few more lines of our music video. The locations we filmed in were the crematorium and near to a block of flats. We wanted to film with 2 cameras so that we could get some different angles of one shot but as James couldn't make the shoot, we were unable to do this. 

21st Oct: Issak continued to edit today whilst James and I did some more planning for our music video. James continued to work on the website and tried to experiment with different layouts and contents. Today, I updated our production diary as we were a few days behind and then I carried on updating the storyboard as we had added to the annotated lyrics. 

23rd Oct: Today Issak and I filmed all morning as James was absent. We went back to he block of flats to re-shoot some of our previous shots as the footage wasn't good enough to put into our video. Once we got back we uploaded the footage and Issak started to edit some of this footage. We all filled out a questionnaire based around the level of input and general evaluation of each team member. We then went to a different location to film on some stairs as we thought we could get some different angles to the shots here. 

2nd Nov: Today we had a class meeting and discussed the website research that we needed to do in order to make our website match similar websites within this genre.  

3rd Nov: Today, Issak continued to edit some of the footage we have previously shot. James added to our halfway evaluation presentation as he wanted to add some more information and explanation to it. I reflected on some of our filming shoots so far so that we could learn from our mistakes and in order to help us save time when filming. 

4th Nov: Today, none of my group were in the lesson due to other commitments, so I watched the other group present their halfway evaluation and gave them some feedback on their digipak, website and their music video concept idea. 

5th Nov: Today we had a brief meeting and decided not to do any filming so that we could each individually catch up with any bits of paperwork that we needed to finish or add to. Issak carried on editing the footage we had already shot. 

6th Nov: Today we presented our halfway evaluation to the group, we received some feedback on this and will continue to look into this and improve based on the feedback. 

9th Nov: Today we filmed Issak at some different locations so that we had some more footage to edit. We tried to use a variety of urban locations to use similar locations to the stereotypical rap genre videos. 

10th Nov: Today, Issak wasn't here, so James and I decided to make sure all our work was up to date and we planned for everything else we needed to get done and by which deadlines they needed to be finished by. James also continued to work on the website and I did some more research. 

11th Nov: Today, Issak wasn't here again so James and I were unable to film so we carried on with paperwork tasks. 

13th Nov: Today, Issak wasn't here so I filmed another time lapse of the sky so that we could add that to our music video. James added some more to the website and I did some further research to support our digipak. 

15th Nov: Today, we filmed for a large proportion of our music video. We had 2 cameras and managed to capture lots of different shots. 




















16th Nov: Today, James carried on with the website. we uploaded our footage onto the computer so that Issak could start editing. 

17th Nov: Today I updated the shooting schedule so that we can keep track of when and what we've filmed. James carried on with the website and Issak continued editing. 

18th Nov: Today, Issak continued to edit. James did some sketches as what he wanted the final website to look like and I looked at some previous student videos which achieved high marks for some inspiration and I also tried to give them a mark, picking out what worked well and what didn't. 

19th Nov: Today, Issak carried on editing whilst James continued to update the website. I filmed the storyboard and explained the shots and what would happen in each shot. I edited it and uploaded it to the blog. 

20th Nov: Today, Issak carried on editing and James continued to complete the website. I updated the production diary and marked some more student music videos.    

23rd Nov: Today, Issak created the tour poster on photoshop so that we could include it on our website which James continued to work on. I did some research on some magazine articles of rap artists for some inspiration as to what we could use and include on ours, including the layout. 

24th Nov: Today, James added products on the website to our store so that its available for our fans to select items branded by iSO. Issak edited some more of our footage and I edited the storyboard on premier as well as planning the interview to film. 

25th Nov: Today, we filmed Issak for the interview and then we uploaded the footage and Issak edited it together. 

27th Nov: Today, Issak wasn't in so James finalised the last details for the website and I finished the magazine article. 

1st Dec: Today, we watched each others first draft of our music videos and gave constructive feedback as to what they could do to make it better and what did or didn't go well. 

2nd Dec: Today, I looked at everyone's websites and gave feedback on what I thought was good and what could have been better. 

3rd Dec: Today, I looked at everyone's digipaks and gave them feedback as group as to what went well and even better if. 

4th Dec: Today, we looked at our video feedback and decided which shots within our music video that we should re-shoot and which shots worked well. 

7th Dec: Today, I edited the rest of the storyboard together so that we could export it and upload it to our blogs. James looked at the feedback we got from the website and changed parts of it to make the website better from this feedback. Issak finished adding some extra details on to the digipak after looking at the feedback. 

8th Dec: Today, I decided what we could add to the website and the digipak based on the feedback as neither James nor Issak was in the lesson. 

9th Dec: Today, I went through my blog with my teacher to decide on posts that I need to add in order to support my research. Issak continued to edit the digipak as the deadline is today. 

Parody of Rap Videos

In this parody video they play on the fact that the original song and music video refers to drugs, but they change 'CoCo' to coca cola and the petrol station called Sunoco. They change what is a song all about drugs, obsessions and how cheap they're getting it, into a video located at a gas station. They talk about being broke and not being able to buy chocolate which replicate the drugs as they pick up many different types.

In this parody music video Jimmy Fallon plays on Will Smiths opening music video to the fresh prince of Bel Air. He create his journey to the stage where he hosts his show but does it in the style and similar lyrics and story line as Will Smith does. He even mocks the costume and setting. 

This parody video mocks the lyrics Drake raps as he delivers his message of how hard his life has been and to see the journey of where he started to where he is now. The people featuring in this parody music video mock the costumes of everyone in Drake's video even down to drawing on facial hair and wearing fake teeth and wigs. 

Name Decision

As a group we have decided on a name for our artist. I suggested "iSO" would be a good name. We then asked various people what genre of music it made them think of. A large majority said it sounded like a rapper and as a result we made the decision that iSO should be our artists name. I quickly drew up text samples on Photoshop for us to see if it decide if it looked as good in text which are below:

Narrative and Conventions for Buried Alive

To me, the video needs to set a narrative to represent the [main character's] personal story. The narrative will follow a teenage male living with their parents, of whom do not care about their child/forget about their child as they're so caught up in personal problems and arguments resulting from financial problems. This causes the teenage male's imagination to spiral and create an escape from the parental turmoil that they're caught up in and attempts to break the mould.

An important concept of the music video, that is key for the video's success is the CHANGE from normal to greyscale filter. This does not only correspond to the lyrics, it also looks impressive if done correctly and helps the narrative come to life. Full colour shots and greyscale shots also have clear colour differences which have different connotations.

Introduction for Buried Alive

0-13: Start from blackout into [main character] laying down, closed eyes, zoom out relatively slowly. Once wide shot of [main character's] body is complete, ([main character] is central of the shot with arms crossed), cut to extreme wide shot of sky in the morning. Cut to extreme wide shot of sky in the middle of the day. Cut to extreme wide shot of sky in the early evening. Cut to extreme wide shot of sky in the evening at sunset. Time lapse of sky moving to the synth in instrumental each time. Cut every time synth key changes.

Timeline of Annotated Lyrics

[Hook] [Set in Greenscreen (G), Shennans (S), House (H), Bedroom (B), Adobe Premier (AP)]

Tell me how you feel (S) (Tell me how you feel (S)
[[main character] opens eyes.]
[Perfect lip sync is key here.]
[On repetition, colour flickers]

I feel like the grass is green (S)
[Movement from [main character], uncrosses arms, touches the ground, causes full colour, this NEEDS to be timed with the green effect.]
[Lip sync.]

And everything I do is unseen. (B)
[Slow-motion split-screen shot showing [main character]; [male parent] and [female parent] can be seen arguing at table with documents on table (camera shot on level with [mother], with [father] standing over [mother] noticeably shouting), while the [main character] tucks [brother] into bed high-angled camera shot over [main character].]

But I know that’s just in my mind (B)
[Back to grey scale.]
[Cut to [main character] sitting, back against the wall, head in left hand, moving right hand to head to join left in slow motion.]
[Lip sync.]

I know everything is just in my mind (B)
[Camera zooms into [main character's] forehead, fade to black.]

Do you really wanna to be famous? (AP)
[Cut to magazine front cover with lyric-related headline featuring [main character].]

Do you really wanna be a superstar? (AP)
[Cut to another magazine front cover with lyric-related headline featuring [main character].]

Do you really wanna get dangerous? (AP)
[Cut to magazine front cover with lyric-related headline featuring [main character] posing with firearms.]

Do you even know where the groupies are? (AP)
[Cut to something with connotations of fans??]

Bitches out here be shameless
[Cut to something with connotations of shameless girls, possibly shadow of sexual act.]

And I really wonder where they parents are (G)
[Cut to parents in seaside cut-out]

Look around, everything changes (S)
[Opens eyes, back in Shennans, changes back to GREYSCALE.]
[Lip sync.]

It feels like I've been buried alive...
[Blackout?/literally being covered in mud, being buried???]

[Verse 1] [Set in Greenscreen (G) Graveyard (Gy), Kitchen (K) Bedroom (B) Urban (U)]

Everything happens for a reason (G)
[Lip sync.]

People only in your life for seasons (Gy)
[Possibility for panoramic shot.]

Word to Aunt Viv (Gy)
[She's dead. [main character] knelt next to (random??) gravestone placing flower.]

Death (Gy) and taxes that’s all we given (K)
[Fast cut from (Gy) to (K).]
[Camera positioned above father sitting at table evidently stressed, pile of papers on table... bills.]

You can make a life but can’t make a livin' (B)
[Split-screen shot? Bedroom, [brother] in bed, [mother] despairing at table.]

You can make it work but that still ain't driven (H)
[High-angled shot over mother in car, car is smoking she is evidently stressed]

Give a lot but that still ain't givin (H)
[Give money to mother, in smoking car]

Livin' life like this (H)
[In front of smoking car]

ain’t real though (G)
[[Main character] Tear through GREEN paper]

Every night like this I feel so (S)
[Under street lamp, lip sync.]

Dead wrong, (G)
[Lip sync.]

collision is head on (G)

[Green screen required here, [main character] in front of car crash behind them.]
[Lip sync.]

My vision is dead and gone (G)
[[main character], bandage around eyes.]
[Lip sync.]

Perception of right and wrong (G)
[Lip sync.]

I been here so very long (G)
[Green screen required here, [main character] in front of  time related visual, egg timer? clock? etc.]
[Lip sync.]

Right here in this very song (G)
[[main character] central of the shot pointing 'right here' downward.]
[Lip sync.]

Look around (G)
[Looking around.]
[Lip sync.]

everything changes (S)
[Opens eyes, back in Shennans, changes back to GREYSCALE.]

Seem like everybody (G)
[people walking]

just strangers (G)
[Blurred, moving shadows/shapes of people walking with no identity]

Don’t go outside  (Gy)
[lip sync.]

cause it’s dangerous (Gy)
[Lip Sync]

Why everybody wanna be famous (G)
[People grabbing [main character], pushes them away on 'famous'.]
Lip sync.]

I’m so OCD (G)
[Fix collar etc.]

if they notice me (G)
[Extreme close-up vision/eyes???]

I might jump out the grave (Gy)
[Jump from behind a grave]

so they know it’s me (G)
[Mid shot, pointing at self]

Man everybody want this shit for free (G)
[Lip Sync]

Hand out palm up when they get to me (U)
[[main character] "hand out palm up."]
[Lip sync.]

In my mind no (G)
[Put hands to head from hands out]

I never (S)
['NO' hand gesture exaggerated.]
[Lip sync.]

let it get to me (G)
[Lip sync.]

Everybody got a turn will it get to me  (G)
[Lip sync. Begin to turn, cut into next shot]
[]

V’s up motherfucka that’s victory (S)
[Extreme close up shot of "V" finger sign held in the air or swearing 'V' sign at camera out of grave???]

Tell me why what I’m doing ain’t shit to me (U)
[]

damn (G)
[Lip sync.]

[Bridge] Location: Garden (Ga)

Buried alive, buried alive (Ga)
[Establishing Shot]

Will I survive? (Ga)
[Close Up of face]
[Lip Sync]

Buried alive(Ga)
[Extreme Close up of face]
[Lip Sync]

I gotta know (G)
[Floating effect, standing infront of greenscreen]
[Lip Sync]

I gotta know (G)
[Floating effect, standing in front of green screen]
[Lip Sync]

It feels like I’ve been buried alive (Ga)
[]

Buried alive (Ga)
[Long Shot]

[14 second instrumental]

[mud flying about everywhere in slow motion, shows progression]




[Hook]

Tell me how you feel (S) (Tell me how you feel (S)
[]

I feel like the grass is green (S)
[]
[Lip sync.]

And everything I do is unseen. (B)
[]

But I know that’s just in my mind (B)
[]
[Lip sync.]

I know everything is just in my mind (B)
[Camera zooms into [main character's] forehead, fade to black.]

Do you really wanna to be famous? (H)
[]

Do you really wanna be a superstar? (H)
[]

Do you really wanna get dangerous? (H)
[]

Do you even know where the groupies are? (H)
[]

Bitches out here be shameless ()
[]

And I really wonder where they parents are (G)
[]

Look around, everything changes (S)
[]
[Lip sync.]

It feels like I've been buried alive...
[Smooth camera shot going into dug hole and then dipping to black]

[Verse 2] Road Crossing (Rc)

Let it breathe
[Lip sync.]
[[main character] breathes out smoke.]

I'm feelin' this villainous feelin' inside of my mind
[[main character] ]

Every time that I’m willing I feel like I'm killin' my dreams
[]

When that voice goes (Rc)
[]

nah, (Rc)
[]

nah, (Rc)
[]

nah (Rc)
[]

Listen up now
[]

Love it or hate it,


never debate it,
[]

you can never degrade it
[]

While all these other motherfuckers probably thinking

I made it
[]

My mind jaded
[]

no I never evade it
[]

I elevate it just to keep it innovative (innovative)
[]

God damn,
[]

bring it back now
[]

Blowin' up
[]

like Iraq now
[]

RattPack put me on the map now
[]

No we never back down
[]

Just take my time, I just take my time
[]

I know, Imma get it like this
[]

So everyone know that I did it like this
[]

Yeah, I know
[]

Imma take my time
[]

Battle the image inside of my mind
[]

I know, Imma keep going
[]

Tell me I can't but I'm already knowing
[]

I know, I'm gonna rise
[]

Even though
[]

I've been buried alive
[]

Buried alive,
[]

will I survive?
[]

I gotta know
[]

I gotta know
[]

It feels like I've been buried alive
[]

Buried alive
[]

????___________________ Can implement the below if necessary ___________________????

[Outro: Thalia]

Let it breathe
[]

Outkast
[]

A Tribe Called Quest
[]

The Red Hot Chili Peppers
[]

And films by Quentin Tarantino
[]

Were in  rotation constantly
[]

Throughout the duration of this album's creation
[]

Robbie Williams' "Let Me Entertain You" Edit

After editing this music video, I learnt several things which I feel that I can use positively for my actual music video:

• I realised that fast cuts on parts of a track with many layers on it works positively for the viewing experience. With this in mind, I will use a large amount of cuts, when textually the track gets more layered.

• I gained further understanding on the importance of the lip syncing in a music video. Sometimes, if the lip-syncing was off or there was missing footage, it would work positively to use the performers' actions which fitted the lyrics.

• I realised that it would always be a good idea to alternate the camera angles to keep the audience interested.

• I came to the realisation that it would be a good idea to spread out some of the clever and more-original editing techniques throughout the video at appropriate points such as beat changes or appropriate lyrics which the video could illustrate.

Artist Name and Branding

Today I created the artist name and brand for our group: iSO.

We decided to go with the name 'iSO' for our artists name as I suggested this and felt confident that it would be unique and memorable to our fans. We then decided to ask our peers what they thought about the name and what genre it made them think of. Most people said it sounded like a rapper so we all agreed we would stick with that name. I then drew some text samples on Photoshop so that we could see what it would look like written down and so that we could later experiment with fonts to establish a brand for iSO. 

Photo Shoot

On Tuesday, me and James took some photographs in the form of a photo shoot.

We then decided to place effects onto the photos from the photo shoot.

I then opened the photos in Adobe Photoshop to test whether they'd be good to use for the digipak.

Me and James took some photos for our photo-shoot so that we had some pictures of me that we could use for our website and digipak and any other promotional product we decided to create. We will also use these images for social media purposes. 

I wore different outfits as these were the sorts of clothing we envisaged me wearing in the music video. A black hoodie is commonly worn in rap music videos which was supported by our research. He also wore his jacket as it can fit in with the conventions of the rap genre. 

We then decided to place some effects onto these photos, however the quality of these pictures isn't all that good. 

I prefer the photos which have the dark background behind I as I feel it fits better with our convention. 

'Eyelid Blink' Effect

There is an eyelid blink effect in our music video. I taught myself this effect through watching this video:



This slideshare explains how we constructed the effect and then implemented the 'Eye Lid Blink' Effect into our music video:

Pete & Jake's "Top Tips"

On Friday, Pete Fraser and Jake Wynne visited the school to talk to year 12's and 13's.

Pete Fraser's main focus is the philosophy of media education, he is the Chief Examiner for OCR Media Studies at A level. He spoke to us about what is expected when it comes to our blogs being graded, and what we had to do to achieve high marks. Fraser had produced a slideshare presentation (below), explaining each point as he went through it. From this, the most valuable thing I learned was that, I should keep up to date with my everything I do to help achieve the best marks and give myself a substantial amount of time to complete everything asked of me as a media student.


Jake Wynne is a director and editor based in London. We watched several of his critically acclaimed music videos. He gave us information on how they were produced and ideas we could glean from them. First we watched "Outer Space Girls" by the Spice Girls which was the first full music video he edited.

We then watched the first music video which he directed which was for a band called Nojahoda. Wynne didn't have a large budget for this music video, so he used previously built-up favours he'd gathered throughout his time in the music industry and created the video below.

Then we finally watched Geri Halliwell's "It's Raining Men." I learned that Halliwell's record company insisted that certain "beauty" shots be implemented, which were made through the illumination of Halliwell's face using a specially made light. The record company felt that it was necessary for the artist to be portrayed in a beautiful perspective.



Wynne then gave us individual feedback on our video ideas. He thought that our group's music video idea was really good and gave us some tips. He suggested that we should "build up" to a climatic ending rather than use all of our tricks in one go, so as to provide for an entertaining and immersive viewing experience for the audience throughout. He suggested that rather than revealing the idea of being buried alive straight away, we should infer aspects of being buried alive before revealing this at the end, such as mud being tossed into the air etc. I personally felt as if his ideas were useful and I'll use them when working in my group to produce our music video.

Locations List

As a group we discussed where we wanted to shoot our music video.

The following locations which we decided on are as follows:

Graveyard
Green Screen Room
John Shennan's Playing Field
Outside of house
Bedroom

Props List

Me and my group discussed what props would be good to use for the music video as we all understand the importance of iconography in music videos.

Here is a list of the props that shall be required for the filming of the music video:

Documents (Mock bank statements)
Bed
Shovel
Flower/Bunch of flowers
Car

Letter of Permission

Libby wrote a letter to Def Jam Records in order to gain permission to create a music video for the song they distributed, (Buried Alive). In this letter, Libby stated that the purpose of the music video was for educational purposes only. Libby then posted the letter to them as she couldn't get an e-mail address relevant to our group's purpose.

Logic's Audience

I decided to research Logic's attitude towards his audience and how his audience treat him, what the typical Logic fan looks like, in how they dress etc.

Logic has a fan base which appeals to even the youngest of people.

In an interview, when asked about the tracks on his new album, Logic states, "There's stuff on there for the motherf***ers that don't pay attention to lyrics and just want to have fun, but every line is constructed with such depth that the real lyricists and nitpickers have something to listen to and analyze as well."

On March 15, 2012, Billboard declared Logic as the Next Big Sound, meaning he was the fastest accelerating artist across the internet gaining fans.

The video below documents one of Logic's meet and greets. By watching this video you can kind of get a feel about Logic's most dedicated fans. Notice that there's no clear type of people who has queued to see him. 

Steal-o-matic of Applicable Video Conventions

I made a 'steal-o-matic' video on Adobe Premiere to present the musical devices and conventions which our group would like to present in a similar fashion when it comes to making our music video for 'Buried Alive'.