CONSTRUCTION: BAND SCENE FILMING

On the 19th November, Elliot, Max and I booked to use the school gym after school for a couple of hours to start shooting some of the band scenes for our music video. As the gym was fairly big, with lots of empty space, this allowed us to experiment with all the lighting, and a couple of cameras at different angles and view points. The large amount of space we were able to work with made the use of props (drum kit, which was booked in advance) much easier to use and move around.

The photo above shows the set up for our shoot, and how all the lighting and cameras were placed to focus on the drum kit which was seen as the object in the film shots. We had to use tape to mark on the floor where each guitarist would stand, so they would be in the frame for each camera, which were at different angles. 

Here is an image of the Go-Pro we used in order to get close up shots of the instruments and the finger movements on the guitars. We only used this Go-Pro for the guitars. It was really useful because you could link the Go-Pro up to an iPhone and see the imagery on the iPhone whilst filming so you knew what the quality and positioning was like. This was simple and easy to do and therefore only took a few minutes to get around 30 seconds of video recorded. We held the Go-Pro in place because if we used the 'sticky mount' it would have been hard to move the Go-Pro from guitar to guitar. Huw simply held the camera in place and we adjusted the angle to get different shots.

This photo shows Elliot and Max on set, when we decided to try out the smoke machine which our teacher was able to get for us. We used this to add depth to our lighting when filming to create some very dark and creative band-like shots. The fact that we could utilise the large gym meant the smoke spread quickly and evenly so we were not completely hidden in smoke whilst on camera.

Overall, the shoot went extremely well, even though it faced several challenges in terms of lighting, the smoke machine and framing, which we all managed to tackle sensibly. And although we were time pressured due to a late start because of the lack of availability of the school gym until 4pm, we got a lot of brilliant work done with these shots we have taken, providing us with near a minutes worth of filming for our music video. We will review what we have filmed on Thursday 20th November and begin to start editing the shots so that they are ready to be incorporated in the music video, when new scenes are filmed. 

CONSTRUCTION: FIRST SCENE SHOOT

Today, Elliot, Max and I filmed one of the first scenes for our music video.

The scene shows myself driving into the distance, followed by a tracking and zooming shot. As the car gets further away from the camera, Elliot (sitting in the passenger seat) carelessly throws a handful of money out the window.

Here is a picture of the tripod and the car we were using during the filming of our first shoot - which was the money throwing out the window scene. The weather was sunny and crisp and therefore it was an ideal time to film this scene as we could see everything clearly when filming and reflected the Californian image. 

We photocopied 5, 10 and 20 pound notes so that we could use something that looked realistic to throw out of the car window.

We used a normal tripod to film the car and simply zoomed in and out to follow the car successfully rather than having to follow the car in order to get the shot we wanted, as that would have been hard to do and we may not have got a clear shot. 

This scene is influenced directly by Adorno's Theory of the culture industry. Adorno suggested that today's society influences and encourages needless materialism and that people are kept satisfied by this need for things that are not actual necessity's, which has been manufactured by a huge 

industry that churns out basic brain food to keep the human 

population satisfied.

Bibliography: 
Adorno, Theodor (1991), The Culture Industry: Selected essays on mass culture, Routledge, London.

PLANNING: CALL SHEET (GYM SCENE)

MUSIC VIDEO CALL SHEET – GYM SCENE

Track: Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication

Length: 3 minutes 22 seconds

Location: Xcel Leisure Centre

Crew: Ellie Walton

Crew: Elliot Hogan

Camera Equipment:   - Nikon camera

                                             - Tripod

Props:   -Lifting weights

                 -Headband

Wardrobe

Ellie – Running leggings, running tank top, trainers (X2)

Elliot – Vest top, shorts, trainers (X2)

PLANNING: DEFINITION OF CALIFORNICATION

DEFINITION OF CALIFORNICATION:

The process by which the American television and film industry, for the most part based in California, spreads their own highly sexualized, consumer driven, version of American culture that heavily emphasizes sex, violence, celebrity, and youth as both virtues to be extolled and goals to be achieved. Ignoring and often doing everything in their power to blur, if not erase, the dividing line between the fantasy of the cinemas world view and reality. This process has become pandemic with the proliferation of reality television wherein a person can achieve "Californication" without possessing any real talent but rather just the ability to make a fool of themselves on a world wide stage.

WEBSITE WHERE DEFINITION FOUND

Theodore Adorno has similar views to the creators of he song, Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Californication talks of the music and generation of today being fake, manufactured and purely for show instead of raw talent being expressed within the music industry.

Theodore Adorno (1991) says that these manufactured and "unsophisticated" products that replace critical art forms which then makes people forget about the important things such as the meaning of life and social interaction.

He also expresses the want for materialistic goods by todays generation and how image is seen as more important than anything else - similar to the lyrics of Californication.

Adorno (1903-69) argued that capitalism fed people with the products of a 'culture industry' - the opposite of 'true' art - to keep them passively satisfied and politically apathetic.

Adorno saw that capitalism had not become more precarious or close to collapse, as Marx had predicted. Instead, it had seemingly become more entrenched. Where Marx had focussed on economics, Adorno placed emphasis on the role ofculture in securing the status quo.

Popular culture was identified as the reason for people's passive satisfaction and lack of interest in overthrowing the capitalist system.

Adorno suggested that culture industries churn out a debased mass of unsophisticated, sentimental products which have replaced the more 'difficult' and critical art forms which might lead people to actuallyquestion social life.

False needs are cultivated in people by the culture industries. These are needs which can be both created and satisfied by the capitalist system, and which replace people's 'true' needs - freedom, full expression of human potential and creativity, genuine creative happiness.

Commodity fetishism (promoted by the marketing, advertising and media industries) means that social relations and cultural experiences are objectified in terms of money. We are delighted by something because of how much it cost.

Popular media and music products are characterised by standardisation (they are basically formulaic and similar) and pseudo-individualisation (incidental differences make them seem distinctive, but they're not).

Products of the culture industry may be emotional or apparently moving, but Adorno sees this as cathartic - we might seek some comfort in a sad film or song, have a bit of a cry, and then feel restored again.

Boiled down to its most obvious modern-day application, the argument would be that television leads people away from talking to each other or questioning the oppression in their lives. Instead they get up and go to work (if they are employed), come home and switch on TV, absorb TV's nonsense until bedtime, and then the daily cycle starts again.

• Adorno, Theodor W. (1991), The Culture Industry: Selected essays on mass culture, Routledge, London.

PLANNING: CALL SHEET - MONEY THROWING SCENE

·                     Title of page: A2 Media Studies Call Sheet for Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Californication

·                     Track – Red Hot Chilli Peppers: Californication

·                     Length – 3 mins 22 seconds

·                     Shoot date – tbd

·                     Location – Money throwing out of car window – Ellie’s Car – in car

Crew: [Ellie Walton, elliepw@hotmail.co.uk,]

·                     Crew: [Elliot Hogan, hogan.elliot@yahoo.co.uk, 07825563046]

·                     Crew: [Max Day, maxday@hotmail.com]

·                     Camera equipment (Nikon Camera (Ellie’s cam) and tripod from media)

·                     Lighting equipment (N/A as will be done in natural daylight)

·                     Props (Photocopied money – preferably £20 notes)

·                     Wardrobe [Preferably American branded clothing to represent the Hollywood image]

PLANNING: SHOT SKETCHES

This was the preparatory work for our storyboard for Californication. In our group of three, each of us undertook one third of the drawing task by using Post It Notes. Underneath, you can then see how I turned these Post It Notes into an animatic by using iMovie.

PLANNING: CALL SHEET - SNAPBACK SCENE

Title of page: A2 Media Studies Call Sheet for Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Californication

·                     Track – Red Hot Chilli Peppers: Californication

·                     Length – 3 mins 22 seconds

·                     Shoot date – tbd

·                     Location – Snapback scene – Top Car Park – Claremont Fan Court

  

·                     IMAGE: FROM GOOGLE MAPS

·                     Crew: [Ellie Walton, elliepw@hotmail.co.uk,]

·                     Crew: [Elliot Hogan, hogan.elliot@yahoo.co.uk, 07825563046]

·                     Crew: [Max Day, maxday@hotmail.com]

·                     Camera equipment (Nikon Camera (Ellie’s cam) and tripod from media)

·                     Lighting equipment (N/A as will be done in natural daylight)

·                     Props (Collection of Snapbacks)

·                     Wardrobe [Preferably American branded clothing]

PLANNING: SHOT LIST (PART 1 OF 3)

PLANNING: CALIFORNICATION LYRIC ANALYSIS

"Californication"

1. Psychic spies from China     (just before song starts, Band Scene – photography room – in   
2. Try to steal your mind's elation  completely white bare photog studio, a blank canvas –    

3. Little girls from Sweden  performers in mono chrome as candy colours come later)                         

4. Dream of silver screen quotations  transition - Dream figure (lips and eyes)      

5. And if you want these kind of dreams  Different cuts of nails 
6. It's Californication

7. It's the edge of the world
8. And all of western civilization
9. The sun may rise in the East               Gym scene (weights lifted, yoga poses) 
10. At least it settles in the final location
11. It's understood that Hollywood
12. sells Californication

13. Pay your surgeon very well                           Surgeon (from patients POV, crazy surgeon 
14. To break the spell of aging                                  has stitches for mouth)
15. Celebrity skin is this your chin            Mirror scene (playing with cheeks) 
16. Or is that war your waging 

Chorus:
17. First born unicorn
18. Hard core soft porn              Band scene
19. Dream of Californication
20. Dream of Californication

21. Marry me girl be my fairy to the world   Bubble Bath
22. Be my very own constellation
23. A teenage bride with a baby inside  Candyfloss
24. Getting high on information
25. And buy me a star on the boulevard                 Champagne 
26. It's Californication

27. Space may be the final frontier   Snapback snatch
28. But it's made in a Hollywood basement
29. Cobain can you hear the spheres
30. Singing songs off station to station  Pimp My Ride scene (number plates, shopping 
31. And Alderaan's not far away            bags, seat covers) 

32. It's Californication

33. Born and raised by those who praise  Throwing money out window of car
34. Control of population everybody's been there and  Policemen chasing us
35. I don't mean on vacation

Chorus                         Band scene

36. First born unicorn                 Girl beating up boy - all 3 get arrested
37. Hard core soft porn              Prison mug shots

38. Dream of Californication      All 3 pushed into individual cells

39. Dream of Californication 

PLANNING: TREATMENT

GYM SHOTS

We plan to use several shots of a young male and female wearing up-to-date gym wear whilst posing un the mirrors either lifting weights or doing yoga positions.

When the male is seen to lift the weights above his head, he is wearing one outfit, then when he brings it down towards his waist he changes into a new outfit. The same applies to the female doing different yoga positions.

CELEB SQUEEZE

In one of our other shots, we discussed how we would portray a young female with her "squeeze" which is her partner. We will use several shots showing the female with her squeeze, which then cuts to  the same female but with a different boy which represents the falseness and manufactured title that Hollywood has grasped over the years. The follow shot after that will then show the first squeeze with a new girl.

RESEARCH: TREATMENT

Pimp my ride scene

One of the things you think of associating with California is pimped out cars, so show off how much money you have. 

We came up with the idea of using Ellie's car as the basis of our pimped out car for our music video Californication. We immediately thought that most pimped cars in California have a personalised number plate that says something personal on it. This was a great concept for us as recently Ellie had acquired a personalised number plate and this could useful in filming the video as we could show the transfer of the original plate to the new one that is 'pimped and personal'. 

We also associated wealthy female Californians with little dogs that they take everywhere they go for image purposes. Ellie has a cocker spaniel which isn't a really small dog, but they aren't too big either and therefore we thought we could use the dog for the filming in the car. The dog would sit on the front seat of the car, with a bow on the head of the dog to show that it's the prized possession of the Californian girl (Ellie). Max does know a friend with Chiwawas and we were considering asking him if we could use them but theres a strong chance we may not be able to use them.

We also thought that the car's inside would be very wealthy looking and girly, with pink fluffy cushions and pink dice hanging from the mirror etc, with even some of the car seats having pink covers of some sort accompanied by shopping bags with expensive designers on the bag to show the wealth that is shown or said to be shown in California. 

Bubble bath scene

We came up with the idea of different types of 'bubbles' signifying the Californian image of wealth. 

One scene we were planning to have someone in the group lying down in a bubble bath relaxing to signify the dream like place that California is and how relaxing it is supposed to be. Champagne also came to mind when thinking about 'bubbles' and this is a good thing to include in filming as Champagne signifies wealth, as you only have it on special occasions whereas in the California, the video can portray that the character in the video has it most days. 

PLANNING: PERMISSION

This is the email I sent requesting permission to use the song California by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

RESEARCH: TRENDS

This summer we have seen a wide variety of genres of music. This is the same as every summer, as summer is a time for blasting music especially when the weather's good. Each summer it is impossible to decide on which genre of music has been most popular as this is purely opinion based and we rely on music websites and TV channels to give us an insight as to what has most been listened to, such as The Top 40 Chart.

Typically, during the summer, the most popular genres of music are electro, dance, pop and rap/hip-hop as they all contribute to the summer vibes especially when it gets to festival time. A lot of festivals such as Reading and Leeds, rely on these genres to produce a good festival to end the summer. Abroad, a lot of these tracks are played to create a party atmosphere in places such as                                                                      Malia, Napa and Magaluf.

Below are a list of songs that claim to be the most popular this summer in 2013:

1. We Can't Stop - Miley Cyrus

2. Wake Me Up - Avicii

3. Can't Hold Us - Macklemore 

4. Burn - Ellie Goulding 

5. Look Right Through - Storm Queen

6. Clarity - Zedd

7. Animals - Martin Garrix

8. Holy Grail - Jay-Z

9. Thinking About You - Calvin Harris

10. I Love It - Icona Pop

Although these tracks are said to be the most popular of summer 2013, this is purely opinion based as many other websites provide contradictive views on which music genre has been popular. However, these tracks have all featured on a number of websites as being the most popular and, therefore, I gathered them together in a top ten list.

RESEARCH: MORAL PANICS

According to O'Sullivan, 1983, 
"Moral panics are those processes whereby members of a society and culture become 'morally sensitized' to the challenges and menaces posed to 'their' accepted values and ways of life, by the activities of groups defined as deviant."

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) closed a three-month consultation that most observers believe will end a loophole which means DVDs with titles like The Bitch of Buchenwald and Britain's Bloodiest Serial Killers can claim exemption from being given age guidance by the British Board of Film Classification.

As things stand, most sport, documentary and music videos can claim an exemption from classification.

"The great majority of exempt video works are fine," said the BBFC's head of policy, David Austin. "They are not going to harm anyone, but there are a significant number of titles that are potentially harmful to children.

Many parents across the globe have complained about certain videos and questioned why they had been given exemption and classified! These videos that have been complained about range in seriousness, and some content can be acceptable whilst others are a lot more serious and graphic. 

For example, there was a video documentary on the American Heavy Metal Band - Slipknot, and this shows many graphic scenes. Some of the graphic scenes include images of women practically worshipping the band and going as far as carving the word 'Slipknot' in their arms and one girl across her stomach. Of course, images such as this are totally inappropriate. This is especially worrying considering this type of content is practically available to anyone, with a young child at the age of 10 owning the content. 

I think that music videos are pushing moral boundaries by becoming more pornographic, extreme and violent. In Miley Cyrus's latest music video, Wrecking Ball, she is seen swinging from the stone ball, completely naked. This has been considered by many as extremely inappropriate considering the young fans that follow Cyrus's career and look at her as a role model.

I think that performers, such as Miley Cyrus, need to have regard to the target age of her audiences  because a lot of her young fans have followed her since disneys hannah montana and therefore may continue to follow her, the way she dresses, and behaves and therefore this is setting a poor example of what is acceptable behaviour. 

However, she may be wanting to expand her audience to a wider range of age groups and genders because she doesn't want to be seen or referred to as Hannah Montana for the rest of her life and wants her career to be recognised as something more than just a child's television show.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail's YOU Magazine, Miley Cyrus supported my hypothesis saying: "What would be the point if I looked like every other singer out there?"