Project Choice

For this years A2 Media Studies course, I have been given the opportunity to learn and develop new skills to use within my film project. There are a variety of different options I can choose for my project and this post is aimed to demonstrate the process I went through, when deciding which particular project suited me best. During this process I kept in mind the following quote from my exam board (OCR)"Advanced Portfolio in Media (25% of A2 grade)
You will create a main product and two smaller products for example, a music promo video together with a DVD cover and a magazine advertisement for its release.

You will produce a presentation of your research, planning and evaluation in an electronic format, such as a weblog."

Past Choices

Before looking at the many different options available for my A2 project, I took it upon myself to look at the three most popular types of projects from last years A2 students who took the course:
Horror Trailer
This proved a popular choice in the past, with many candidates achieving high grades for the video itself

• All settings must be representative of theme
• Tension needs to be present throughout
• Large mixture of shots is help full
• Typography must follow theme
• Colours need to be carefully thought out
• Dependant on approach screaming/crying is effective for providing distraught images
• Music should be synced with trailer well
• Realism within the trailer needs to be acceptable
• Display of emotions and/or ability to for audience to relate
• Action could be shown or implied
• Situational darkness is vital

  

Music Video
This was also a popular choice amongst candidates, with scattered grades throughout

• Planning and organisation is vital, with time management being a priority
• Equipment must be well thought out before 'diving in'
• Syncing with the music itself is necessary
• Conventions of the particular genre must be constantly kept in mind
• Filming stage should be made easier with decent preparation and planning
• Lighting is very important with most forms of music video
• Shots of the performers should be merged throughout the video
• Genre conventions must be apparent at all times
• Actors/participants should be thought out carefully

Short Film

This was the least popular of the selection, however many candidates supplied high quality pieces, working closely to the conventions

• Editing needs to be bold
• Written concept must be well thought out
• Casting must be considered carefully
• Non-diegetic sound must be used at necessary times
• Strong cinematography is important
• Editing must be continuous
• Conventions of genre must be kept in mind with all aspects of film production
• Rules and camera strategies are important (especially within scenes with a lot of dialogue)
• Including a structure and moment of dilemma which stands out within the short film can help a lot

Music Video Analysis

In preperation for the planning stages of my A2 music video I have decided to analyse a small selection of music videos to try and draw elements from them, in turn improving my own.

Florence and the Machine – Rabbit Heart (Raise it up)

Analysis
For my first music video analysis i’ve chosen Florence and the Machine – Rabbit Heart (Raise it up). Rabbit Heart is the fourth single from Florence’s debut album, Lungs and reached 12th in the UK singles chart after being released on 22nd June 2009. The genre of the song is classified as indie pop on the music site last.fm and alternative in the iTunes music store.

The video is largely narrative based with Florence singing in a field accompanied by a number of actors. A spiritual ritual appears to take place in the video, where Florence and the actors dance, food is thrown from a table to the floor and finally Florence is pushed out into a river in a floating coffin-like box in a way similar to a Biblical story. These spiritual themes relate directly back to the lyrics for instaince the line ‘we raise it up, this offering, we raise it up’ as well as the song’s chorus.

The video starts off with an extreme close up of Florence’s mouth with the rest of her face covered by a piece of cloth. The camera then pans outwards as the cloth is lifted into a medium close up. This draws the audience’s attention to the opening lyrics of the song.

Tracking close ups and medium close up’s are regularly used throughout the music video of Florence making her constantly the centre of the audience’s attention.

Only one musical instrument from the song appears in the video. A man in a suit playing a harp appears intermittently creating a fairytale like scene fitting in with the lyrics and meaning of the song. One or two other instruments are used simply as props in the video to help the video relate to the meaning of the song.

The cutting rhythm of the song is slower than most music videos, but still relatively fast. This combined with the filter used on the camera and the occasional use of the fade transition gives the music video a dated appearance, as if to suggest that the ritual happening on screen used to happen, but no longer takes place.

A number of extras appeared in the video, most notably at the end where Welch is carried towards the riverbank and pushed out onto the water. The extras make the ‘ceremony’ look like a joyous occasion as singing and dancing takes place in the background. In an interview for BBC Radio Florence confessed that her record label had asked for something more upbeat, and the use of these actors in the background help achieve this.

While Rabbit Heart (Raise it up) wasn’t Florence’s first single, it was an important song as relatively new artist for the creation of her public image. The video helps to show Florence not as the typical female vocalist sex symbol, but as an artist passionate about writing interesting with peculiar videos to accompany them.