Copyright permisson letter

Dear Interscope Records

We are A level students from Bishop Stopford’s School and we are writing to request permission to use one of Eminem’s tracks from his Album, Relapse. The track that we intend to use is Beautiful.

With your permission, this task would be used in our Advanced Media portfolio, which involves creating a music video, advert poster and a dig pack for a choice of our own song. We felt inspired by the song ‘Beautiful’ and felt that the message was something we wanted to get behind.

With your permission, this task would be used only for educational purposes and not for our own self promotion; the video would be put on Youtube in order to gain feedback from our fellow classmates. The video will only be seen by our fellow classmates, our teachers and the OCR exam board moderator.

The artist and your production company will be fully recognised throughout pre-production and the final video itself. A copyright notice with wording supplied by you can be included in the records of the project. If this is required, please send full details.

We look forward to hearing from you

Regards

Shayne Thomas-Gordon

Leyon Stolz-Hunter

Michael Phillips

Tyrell Chetty-Wilson

My group's completed Music video

This is a link to our completed Music video project on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfaGTvZY07A

My team members and I had complted the post production process of our music video on Tuesday the 26th of April in 2013.

We thoroughly  analysed the effectiveness of our music video on iMovie when we had completed our editing. This had included adjusting the clipsto make sure that all of the clip effects that we planned to use were applied to right clips.

We also checked to make sure that all of our clips were in the right sections of our narrative. 

My team members and I were required to be very critical with our video in order to remove any flaws were evident in our music video.

We were very satasfied with the final outcome of our video once we watched it a number of time and presented it to members of our music video for their opinions on the video. 

The response that we gained from our audience was generally positive and we uploaded our video onto Youtube once we were certain that our video was of top standard.

Completed Digipack

My team and I have produced a selection on images to be used as our music video’s ancillary texts. Our ancillary texts include an album cover and a promotional poster. These images were created from our own creativity which was inspired by real media texts such as music videos and album covers.

We formatted each section of our album cover by using a consistent house style which consisted of the same font style and colour scheme.

We took images using Michael’s laptop as well as his iPhone5 and then edited the images on the photo editing software: Pixlr.

Front cover

My group and I had thoroughly planned the design of our digipack’s front cover since it is the most important section of the album cover. This will be the first thing that audience will see if this product is advertised to them. The front cover of our digipack includes a close up of our protagonist’s face. We edited the face so that it would be vertically divided into two halves. The right side of the protagonist’s face is depicted in clown makeup whereas the right side of the face is made from a collage of medication pills.

This section of the digipack was inspired by two album covers which my team and I had researched in our product’s planning stage. The first album cover that we researched was the 2009 album Relapse which is Eminem’s sixth’s studio album.

We primarily gained inspiration from this album cover since we were using the song ‘Beautiful’ which is featured on this album.

Relapse’s font cover depicts a close up of Eminem’s face which is made from a collage of pre prescription pills. This design was used to signify the name of the album’s title: Relapse. The term ‘Relapse’ means for an individual to regress back into an illness which they had previously recovered from.

This album was influence by the period of Eminem’s life when he relapsed back into his previous drug addiction during the mid 2000’s.

We developed this convention by depicting the left half of the protagonist’s face. This was to connote that our protagonist has a mental illness (Bipolar) and is required to take medication for it.

The other half of our protagonist’s face is illustrated in clown makeup. The significance of this design is that it relates to a lyric in song “Marshall you’re so funny man, you should be a comedian, Goddamn, Unfortunately I am, I just hide behind the tears of a clown”. The protagonist will be presented with clown face when he says this lyric.

We gained inspiration for this side of the face from a poster of the Dark Knight which features and image of the Joker who is a character who wears clown makeup throughout the film.

The two sides of this protagonist’s face show that there are two sides to the protagonist which further signifies this character’s bipolar illness.

We also changed the colour to black and white to connote the depressing mood of our music video.

In addition we included the title Relapse which is formatted in Eminem’s trademark style in which the ‘E’ on end of this word is rotated backwards. We also included a parental guidance sticker on this front cover to emphasize that this album contains explicit content.

I feel that we had selected an appropriate selection of real media texts which contained conventions that were ideal to use for our product. I was very pleased with the outcome of our front cover.

Interior sections

This section of our digi pack is used in the album covers interior. These images depict two images of the protagonist as they face each other. One of the faces had an angry expression while the other face has a sad expression. This creates the impression that one of the faces has upset the other.

The concept of having two images facing each other is that it connotes how this character has a split personality. In addition these characters are expressing negative expressions to each other as they are face to face. This connotes how this character suffers from inner conflict since these characters appears as though they are enemies.

This section also represents this character’s mental illness. The protagonist of our music video suffers from bipolar which causes a person to feel intense anger as well then severe sadness. We emphasized how this character has bipolar by depicting him from two separate entities as they both display the emotions associated with bipolar.

Track listing section

This refers to the back page of the album cover. The purpose of this section is to display the list of tracks which is included on the album. We used a white font style for the text and edited the background of this section to be black. We selected this house style was so that the list of tracks would be readable against the background.

The centre of the section includes an image our video’s protagonist as he sits on a table while surrounded by a group of people. The people around the protagonist are blurred out while the protagonist is in clear focus.

This use of editing is used to signify that this character is the main focus of our music video. In additional it also represents how the protagonist perceives everyone around him.

Due to this character’s mental illness, he has become deeply depressed with his life and ignores everyone around him. His bipolar has made him become very antisocial and reluctant to communicate with anyone around him.

The background consists of people being  blurred out of focus which connotes how the protagonist is not focusing on anyone around him.

Constructing our Digipack



This is the front cover of my group's digipack



This is the layout of the booklet that will be included inside the album cover. This booklet will be placed on the opposite side of the front cover.





The image above shows the layout of the left side of the album's interior. This is an image of pre prescription pills which will be featured on the side of this dipipack where the CD booklet will be positioned.



The image below depicts the back cover of my group's digipack. This section of the template is used to display the list of songs that are featured on this album. 

Fast cutting in our music video

My team and I have decided to incorporate the fast cutting editing technique into our music video. The 'Fast cutting' technique consists of various brief shots that are played in consecutive sequence. The duration of the clips in this sequence often lasts for a few seconds.This editing technique is primarily used in films for conveying a large amount of information within a small amount of time.

We chose to use use this editing technique in Post-production stage of our product.

This technique will be used in the second chorus of our video which takes place before the protagonist decides to commit suicide in the video's climax.

We gained inspiration for this editing technique from the 2004 horror film 'Saw'. This film is about a group of people who are abducted by a serial killer and then  forced to participate in a series of life threatening traps in order to prevent their deaths.

(Duration: 4:24-4:37)

I had previously watched this film and had noticed that the Fast cutting editting technique is evident duing  the climax of this film.

 In this scene, the film's protagonist has  discovered the true identity of the film's antagonist.

The protagonist then tries to shoot the antagonist but the antagonist retaliates by electricuting him. It is at this moment when the fast editing technique becomes evident in this scene.

The following clips are a sequence of fast shots which highlight all of the main events which occured previously in the film's narrative.

The speed of the clip's length gradually increase throughout the course of this sequence which creates an energetic mood for this scene. In addition the combination of this editing technique with the incidental background music is used very well  in order to make this scene very dramtic as well as intense.

This editing technique begins at 4:24 seconds and concludes at 4:37 seconds.This means it lasts for a total of thirteen seconds.

We will develop this film convention by incorporating this editing technique into the second chorus of our music video. This will be done to build up the video's climax in a dramatic and energetic manner.

In our music video's second chorus we will use this technique to show a collation of breif shots that highlight the previous events which took place in our video's narrative.

This form of editing will reflect how the protagonist is looking back on his past and is being reminded of all the depression he experienced in his life. Once this character has been reminded of all of the negativity in his life , he then decides to commit suicide in order to end his suffering.

Our music video's storyboards

The storyboards of our music video

Our music video will begin with a wide angle shot of a man running towards a building.
The next shot features the protagonist of the music video.
This character will be shown to standing on the roof of a tall building .The protagonist then throws his phone to the floor. Following this frame will be a a close up shot of the phone as it lands on the ground.  The text 'Missed Call' will be shown on the phone's screen which implies that someone is trying to contact this character. The protagonist ignores the phone and looks out to the ground below.

The protagonist then turns his head to make sure that no one is behind him.
He then looks  down on the ground and sees cars and people on the ground from a very high distance.
The protagonist then closes his eyes and the video flashs back to previous events in this character's life.

From this point, the rest of the video is shown in flash back. The purpose of this is to show the protagonist's depressing life and the events which led to the protagonist wanting to commit suicide. 

The flash back will begin with a wide angle shot of the protagonist as he wakes up  in bed.
The next shot will be a low angle shot of the protagonist as he sits on the bottom of his bed.
The protagonist will have his head lowered as he rubs his hands through his hair and then on his face.
This camera angle will then transition to a mid shot of the protagonist in his bathroom.
This shot will feature the protagonits washiong his face in his bathroom sink.
The camera will then show a close up of a tub of pills on the bathroom sink.
The protagonist then picks up the tub and stares at them for a short while.

The protagonist will then violently throw the tub to the floor.
The next shot will show the protagonist as he is getting dressed in the bathroom. The camera will show the protagonists reflection in a mirror as he buttons up a short sleeved shirt.
The protagonist will then be shown from a high angle shot as he kneels down a picks up a pair of battered shoes.
The protagonist then leaves the bathroom. As he exits, his eyes widen and suddenly realises something.
He then goes to a small table in his living room and tries to find a pen and paper.



 The protagonist then begins to write something on paper but then throws the paper on the floor.
He then walks out of his home and onto the road. He sees a man in smartly dressed clothes walk past him. The next shot shows the protagonist walking though a cemetry.

This part of the song will begin with a sequence that shows a close up of different lips. This would show a selection of people lip synching to he song. After this sequence, the camera transistions back to the protagonist as he walks past people on the street.
The protagonist then enters a building where people are witing for him inside.

A group of people approach the protagonist and try to communicate with him but he ignores all of them as he is clearly unwilling to interact with any of them.

The protagonist then sits down on a sofa chair while other people socialise behind him. Another character sits down next to the protagonist and attempts to start a conversation with him. The two characters briefly exchange dialouge and the protagonist explains that he is distressed.

The protagonist then sees two people who are very happy with their lives. This contrasts with the protagonists life and he appears envious of the couple and then leaves the building.
The man wh briefly spoke to the protagonist sees him leave and chases after him.

The video then transistions back to were the music video began with the protagonist on the roof. The protagonist is about to jump off the roof but the second man who spoke to the protagonist has also arrived on the roof.

The second man then convinces the protagonist not to kill himself which then causes the protagonist to walk away from the roof's edge.

The screen then fades to black which concludes the music video.

Real Media Texts which inspired our video

'Beautiful' A 2009 music video by Eminem



Not Afraid. A 2010 music video by Eminem

Silver linings Playbook. A 2012 romantic comedy film directed by David O Russel

This is a scene from the 2002 film: The Two Towers. 

The album cover for Eminem's sixth studio album 'Relapse'

The Dark Knight poster. A 2008 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan

Bullet proof. A 2009 music video by the british pop duo La Roux.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. A 2002 fantasy film directed by Peter Jackson.

 

Limitless: A 2011 thriller film directed by Neil Burger

Bitter Sweet Symphoney by the Verve.

A 2005 film directed by Judd Apatow

The cover for the  album 'Playing in the shadows'. This album was released in 2011 by the british rapper Example.

Saw. A 2004 horror film directed by James Wan.