Changes from AS to A2

From completing the second half of our media A level I thought that their were quite a few different changes which we had to adapt to in order to make our project work. First of all I think they were was much more work involved, and to complete the work each member of the group had to be very dedicated and well motivaated in to working as a team to get the project finished. The classes were also very different this year and although some people in the class new people who were previously in there class, the majority of our class didn't. We chose to work in our group me Michael and Jade but although we didn't know each other before we got talking and got know what each of us were like in order to work together and share ideas. We also thought that the posts we had to make were much more advance and we had to really do our own research and extra work at home in order to create the best possible work.

We thought as a group that planning was a really big part of the project whereas in AS although we had to do planning, we didn't have to do as much as it came together quite easily and naturally. We all had to think as a group and sort out suitable times when to film and meet up on our free periods. We also experienced changes with the filming. We found that the groups which we were in in AS had at least one performer, someone who was confident enough to be on the film and didn't get embaressed where as with our A2 group, each one of us was quite quiet. Due to this we had to make changes with our music video in order to make it the best we could. My friend Ruksana who does perfoming arts and her boyfriend Raees said they would help us out and be in our music video. This made the planning crucial as we had to text to and meet up to arrange times when they were avaliable to film. It wasn't as complicated in AS as everyone in our group had media at the same time.

Another change which was good was that we had access to Goodwins theory. We got to look at what was expected for a good music video and also got lots of feedback from teachers of what they thought the video was like and also ways in which we could improve and also things they liked. Goodwins theory helped give us guidence into making our video very appealing.

Promotions of "It Girl"

From looking at our chosen song "It Girl" it was promoted to make people aware of it in many ways. The different ways were aimed to get the song out to the public so that it is loved and purchased. Due to this it reached position number 4 in the singles chart. This made us aware that promoting the song it crucially important for the high release in sales. From various research I have found and took ideas of ways in which it has been promoted over the internet.



I firstly had a look on the Jason Derulo's website and immediately it came up about Jason's new song. An advert came up about buying a signed album of his which includes the song plus other things. This has been created so that people who like Jason Derulo will see this and immediately click buy. It is also very big and stands out quite a lot on the page. I think this is a really good way of advertising as people will see this and will buy the album



I also had a look on the website and I found that they were selling T shirts saying "Jason Derulo - It Girl". This is a really good way of promoting as if people wear the T shirt out and about then other people will see it might well possibly by a T shirt if they like Jason Derulo. If they don't buy the T shirt then people might also want to download the song on things like ITunes or buy the song from a shop.



I also had a look on Itune, I typed the song in and immediately it came up. I also noticed that it had a five star rating which is really good to create word of mouth. People will see that it is rating 5 star and will listen to the song themselves and also tell others about it. I Think it is very good that the song is avaliable to download on ITunes as it is a really popular well known website.





I also typed "Jason Derulo" in google and a review came up from popcrush.com the review has been very well written and has a very high rating of the song so again people can read the review and might be interesting in listening to it or buying it. I think that it is a really good idea to get someone to review it because people get to know what other people think of the song before they actually buy it.



I found this magazine advert which has been really well presented. I think that it is crucial that magazine adverts are created as lots of people read magazines and will see this poster and will probably be interested in the song and want to buy it.

Plans for our magazine advert

I decided to put our ideas for our magazine advert onto paint which I created this. I included little bits of detail which we thought were important as to creating the magazine advert in order for it to become appealing to others in order to sell the song, these are the ideas we thought of as a group which have been put into one to make our magazine advert much simpler for us to make.

Plans for our digipak

Front Cover

Inside cover


Back cover

Inspiration for our video

We got the idea of the shadows from Jason Derulo's In my head music video.





The idea of the romance and love, cuddling on the sofa from Just the way you are by Bruno Mars





The faded lighting of the sun from Fix you by Coldplay.

Beyonce Halo - Lyrics

Remember those walls I built?
Well, baby they're tumbling down
And they didn't even put up a fight
They didn't even make a sound
I found a way to let you in
But, I never really had a doubt
Standing in the light of your halo
I got my angel now

It's like I've been awakened
Every rule I had you breakin'
It's the risk that I'm taking
I ain't never gonna shut you out!

Everywhere I'm looking now
I'm surrounded by your embrace
Baby, I can see your halo
You know you're my saving grace
You're everything I need and more
It's written all over your face
Baby, I can feel your halo
Pray it won't fade away

I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
Halo, ooh ooh.....

Hit me like a ray of sun
Burning through my darkest night
You're the only one that I want
Think I'm addicted to your light
I swore I'd never fall again
But this don't even feel like falling
Gravity can't begin to pull me back to the ground again

It's like I've been awakened
Every rule I had you breakin'
It's the risk that I'm taking
I'm never gonna shut you out!

Everywhere I'm looking now
I'm surrounded by your embrace
Baby, I can see your halo
You know you're my saving grace
You're everything I need and more
It's written all over your face
Baby, I can feel your halo
I pray it won't fade away

I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
Halo, ooh ooh.....
I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
Halo, ooh ooh.....
Halo, ooh ooh.....
Halo, ooh ooh, oh........

Everywhere I'm looking now
I'm surrounded by your embrace
Baby, I can see your halo
You know you're my saving grace
You're everything I need and more
It's written all over your face
Baby, I can feel your halo
I pray it won't fade away

I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
Halo, ooh oh.......
I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
I can feel your halo
I can see your halo
Halo, ooh oh.......

Images from the studio

We did most of our filming in a studio using the set and green screen. We used props like a couch and umbrella. We took some pictures to demonstrate the equipment we've used and the actors in action.

This is a picture of the computer and monitors we used to shoot our music video studio shots.

Jason Derulo background information

Derülo was born in Miami, Florida, to Haitian parents. His birth name is Desrouleaux, but he changed the spelling for his stage name to make it easier to pronounce.
Derülo has been performing since the age of five. He wrote his first song, "Crush on You", at age eight and was heard singing part of the song on a Galaxy FM interview. Derülo spent his youth studying opera, theater, and ballet. He attended Dillard Center for the Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York.

Derülo has been writing songs for artists including Diddy, Danity Kane, Donnie Klang, Sean Kingston, Cassie, Lil Wayne since he was 16, intent on becoming a solo performer. On August 4, 2009, Jason released his debut single, "Whatcha Say". It was produced by J. R. Rotem with additional production by Fuego. The track samples the Imogen Heap song "Hide and Seek". In late August 2009, the song debuted at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number 1 in November 2009. He released the second single from his album, "In My Head", on December 8, 2009. It debuted at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached number five.

Derülo's debut album, Jason Derülo, was released on March 2, 2010. Derülo's second studio album, Future History, was released on September 27, 2011. Derülo is currently detailing his journey recording the album via a series of webisodes that are posted on his official website every Friday.

It Girl - Lyric Analysis

Jason Derulo's song "It Girl" is a typical love story which is basically about him loving a girl who means so much to him, he reffers to her as meaning "much more than a grammy award" this obviously shows that she means a lot to him because grammy awards are so hard to get and earning one can seem like such a massive achievement.

Jason him self said "An 'It Girl' to me is someone who is selfless, someone who's always thinking about others before she thinks about herself. You know, my mom is a very charitable woman, so I'd want someone who is in line with that kind of thought process. I also like a girl who's polite. I feel like that's a lost art, and just saying 'please' and 'thank you' goes a very long way with me. That's just so lost these days. So, ladies, it's OK to say 'thank you.'"

In other words this girl to him is his perfect girl. He says things such as "tell the other girls, theey can hit the exit check please" almost as if no other girls matter to him anymore, because this one girl is his everything, so perfect and special for him. "Tell them other guys they can lose your number your done" is a lyric which Jason says which shows he has a massive sign of jealousy and he wants her keep this girl to himself as his "It girl" "Cause I finally found a girl of my dreams" Jason says this, almost as if he has been thinking that one day maybe this perfect girl he has pictured in his dreams would come along, now she finally has done and he doesn't want to let her go.

"Cant seem to stop you from running, running through my, through my, mind, mind" shows that all he can think about is her. This one girl he wants to make his own and he is not giving up. We can tell she makes him happy and makes his life worthwhile. "Your my greatest hit girl" Again, he is saying that she is his greatest achievement. Over all the song is a typical R&B love song and shows love and passion all the way through it.

Jason Derulo - 'It Girl' Lyrics

I've been looking under rocks and breaking locks
Just tryna find ya
I've been like a maniac insomniac,
5 steps behind ya
Tell them other girls, they can hit the exit
Check please...
Cause I finally found the girl of... my dreams
Much more than a Grammy award,
That's how much you mean to me

[Chorus:]
You could be my it girl
Baby you're the shit girl
Lovin' you could be a crime
Crazy how we fit girl,
This is it girl
Give me 25 to life
I just wanna rock all night long,
And put you in the middle of my spotlight
You could be my it girl
You're my biggest hit girl

Let me play it loud
Let me play it loud like...
Oh oh oh oh [x2]
Let me play it loud
Let me play it loud like...
Oh oh oh oh [x2]
Let me play it loud

You can't help but turn them heads
Knockin' them dead
Dropping like flies around you
If I get your body close not letting go
Hoping you're about to
Tell them other guys they can lose your number
You're done!
They don't get another shot cause you're... love drunk!
Like a TV show playing reruns
Every chance I get,
I'm a turn you on

[Chorus:]
You could be my it girl
Baby you're the shit girl
Lovin' you could be a crime
Crazy how we fit girl
This is it girl
Give me 25 to life
I just wanna rock all-night-long
And put you in the middle of my spotlight
You could be my it girl
You're my biggest hit girl

Let me play it loud
Let me play it loud like...
Oh oh oh oh [x2]
Let me play it loud
Let me play it loud like...
Oh oh oh oh [x2]
Let me play it loud

[Bridge:]
Can't seem to stop you from... running, running
Through my, through my mind, mind
Just keep it coming, coming
Til' I make you mine, mine
You've got that something, something
I wanna be with girl
You're my greatest hit girl
Just say this is it girl...
Hey baby...
Don't you know you're my it girl

[Chorus:]
You could be my it girl
Baby you're the shit girl
Lovin' you could be a crime
Crazy how we fit girl
This is it girl,
Give me 25 to life
I just wanna rock all night long
And put you in the middle of my spotlight
You could be my it girl
You're my biggest hit girl

Let me play it loud
Let me play it loud like...
Oh oh oh oh [x2]
Let me play it loud
Let me play it loud like...
Oh oh oh oh [x2]
Let me play it loud

Let me hear you singing like...
Oh oh oh oh [x2]
Everybody in the crowd
Let me hear you singing like
This is it girl.

Troubles faced when filming

Whilst we filming we came across quite a few problems which we had to deal with. First of all, we planned film an Ellie Goulding song and started to film quite natural, abstract things. We started to go to our chosen locations which was the park and chorlton water park. We started to film Jade who was wearning knitted clothing and a woolley hat. As we started to film we found that Jade wasn't confident enough and got quite shy when miming the song, this immediately became an issue and the other people in the group were also quite shy. We had to find a performer which was crucial if we wanted our video to look good. We had to change our plans massively, last minute.

Another issue which we came across is that when we looked back at our footage there was only a tiny amount which we could save. We had started to film our footage by just using a hand held camera as we wanted to use a shakey effect. When looking at the computer at the clips we thought it looked really amateurish and we didn't like them one bit, we therefore had to do more planning and start our filming again.

We also came across an issue when we had Jade as our main character. When we did our planning in class we planned to film at Jade's friends farm. We also went through planning of how to get there by looking at google maps on the internet. When the day came to come Jade's friend wasn't free which really slowed are filming process down.

From doing our planning we had also planned to film Jade in the drama studio playing the piano, we thought that it would be quite simple to do this as most of the time the drama studio is free. When it came to our filming times we realised we had to plan it and arrange it as it wasn't avaliable in out class times when we wanted to use it. Also the college production was going on around this time and they were using the drama studio quite a lot which became a problem.

After this we found that we really needed to get our head in gear and find someone suitable and flexible and also confident who was willing to be in our music video. First of all, I asked my friend Leah who is part of a dance group if her and her friends would like to perform. Leah was very understanding and was willing to perform along with her friends, we also found they were free in college and also planned to film on our day off college in Manchester city centre. As the day came we got ready to got ready for college and a few problems arised, we found that Leah and her friend became ill so could not film which caused us to panick. One girl who I am friends with called Ruksana was still willing to film and came in college early to film. After a few moments of filming we decided to make a risky desicion and change the song to Jason Derulo - It girl. Ruksana"s boyfriend decided to be the main character which helped us enable to solve our problem massively.

Ruksana and Raees were a great help however it did become an issue at times trying to arrange the filming times when they were free as well as us. One issue which we didn't come across when filming is that we planned to film on our day off college. Ruksana phoned me last minute to say what she wasn't coming because she was ill. This became quite a panick to us as we didn't have much time but we got round it and started to film on our free periods and also lunch time at college.

Another issue we came across when filming was the where would be best for us all to film. We was going to film in Chorlton park and had based our planning around it, but when it came down to it we couldn't get there in time and therefore had to change plans and solve the issue by filming in Alexandra Park instead which was quite near college.

We also had a time where the weather becaome a massive issue. We wanted to look like quite a summery, autumn effect when we filmed in the park and was really hoping that everywhere wasn't wet from the rain. We wanted Ruksana and Raees could do things like sit on the grass and have a picnic etc as we thought that it would look quite cute for a love story. When it came to the day for filming the leaves on the floor were very wet and also the benches, we had to put a coat on the bench for them to sit on. We also wanted to weather to be a bit sunnier but we couldn't control the weather so we had to get around this problem in the best possible way and adapt to it.

The recording studio also came quite an issue. We thought that it would be easy to just go in the studio whenever it suited us but we came across the problem that when we wanted to use it it was either full and someone else was using it, or that someone wanted to use it at the same time. We found this quite an issue at first as we had planned as a group and also with Ruksana and Raees when we were going to film. We had to overcome this by future booking and double checking to see if it was still free.

Actors

We've got two actors to be in our music video; Ruksana and Raees . Also Jason Derulo (The artist) is the main singer we've got Ruksana to act in the video to add to the narrative.

Raees does most of the lip syncing, although Ruksana does some too. Ruksana mainly does dancing and acting in the music video.

The camera used: Canon Legria FS306

Some features of the camera includes:

• It features a slot for SD memory card which is where all of the filming has been stored.


• 41x advanced zoom which has enabled up to zoomed in closely from a long shot easily.


• Dual shot to record and also take pictures, allowing us to easily get pictures for the blog.


• Small and lightweight, enabling us to carry the camera around without any hassle.


• Long battery life which enabled us to film for long amounts of time.

Costumes

In terms of costumes, we wanted them to reflect the urban style that's demonstrated in the song.

For Raees , our male lead character, we decided him to wear clothes that are in fashion. (Similar to below)

For Ruksana, again we wanted her to reflect modern, in-trend fashion which is a convention of pop music videos. We had her dressed in clothes similar to:

Casting

To cast our main character we wanted to find someone who would be available at all time we're filming and suitable for the look of our video. We knew the song was song by a female artist so we wanted to look for a female character.

When we started looking for a character we tried to find someone who echoed the singer, Ellie Goulding's looks. But we realized that we didn't need to have someone who looked like her and we could convey our own image in the video.

We couldn't find any of our friends that would be available all the time we're filming and felt this was vital. So we looked at ourselves and tried to think if we would fit the video look. We then decided to cast our group member, Jade.

Although Jade is the main character in the video we wanted her to still maintain her role within pre and post production. So Jade is still doing as much 'behind the scenes' work as possible, for example, filming shots that's shes not on-screen; editing; planning; designing.

However, when we started filming we realised Jade didn't fit the character we wanted in our video. When we changed our song ideas we tried to look for other people we knew and wanted to be in our music video.

We contacted our friends (Raees and Ruksana) and found they fitted another genre of music really well. But we couldn't find anyone to suit Goulding's music. So we changed the song and decided to use them in our video.

Filming- Day five

We decided that day five would be our last day of filming if we could get enough footage. We decided on our last recording day in the studio that we would all go back to Alexandra park on our lunch time as it was when Ruksana and Raees were free as well as us. We decided to go back there as we thought the over all setting was really good and thought that it would look great for a love story video. We took lost of shots and filmed them walking together up the steps. We filmed them from behind, the side, close up of there feet, and also a long shot of them walking in the distance. We also thought of random shots which we thought would look creative. One of them filming a close up of there hands going together and one with there hands pulling apart. We decided that we would use this and create it as like an animation.

We decided to use the tripod a lot as we didnt like the hand held camera effect which we did previously as we thought it looked to messy and unprofessional. Like the Ellie Goulding song we liked the way we did some abstract filming so we thought it would be great to link it in. We filmed Ruksana and Raees hugging near a tree and he is also singing to her, the setting also looks good as we filmed it in Autumn and the leaves make it a lovely colour in the background. We continued to take lots of shots of them so that we had enough to use for our video which would fit in at different places.

We also filmed them on benchs laughing together from high angle shots and low angle shots. We were really pleased with how natural the shots looked and we thought the fact that Ruksana and Raees were boyfriend and girlfriend made it a lot easier as they were completely comfortable about portraying the love story. Although we used lots of ideas which we had planned before, we had also thought of lost of other ideas which had come together from experimenting with the camera.

Costume Ideas - Male Actor

From watching Jason Derulo's video "It Girl" We can see that He is very smartly dressed in a dark patterned blazer and black pants which makes him look very immaculate and tidy. we usually associate this colour clothing with smartness and wear this kind of clothing for things such as job interviews. He also had a typical clothes change and also wears a white suit which is a sign of purity and cleanliness, which again links in with his super clean professional image. We also see him wearing a black vest top, which indicates even inside he still keeps this high status. He is also clean shaven and his hair also looks perfect. I think this "clean" image would be great for our music video as it is basically what Jason Derulo is about. I had a look at some different styles of clothing to see what I thought might fit in with the music video.



From searching around on the internet we found this stylish blazer which we thought would be great for "Jason Derulo" to wear in our music video as it is still plain but the white around the edges gives it a very funky edge to it however, after thinking hard we decided not to use this as it was firstly very costly and cost around fifty pounds which we couldnt afford. We also thought that it would it would be copying the original and we wanted to make our video quite different and unique. We decided to think further about what would be a suitable jacket to wear and we decided that Raees would have a look at home to see if he had one he felt comfortable wearing which took up less time and money.



I also looked at various ideas for the style of pants in which we would like Jason Derulo to wear. I like these pants as they are quite plain and look quite classy. I dont think that they look too over the top for "Jason" to wear. I quite like this idea but I think that as the orignal video is quite dull I think that the pants we choose should be much more colourful but still be quite plain. I have also researched about buying the pants by looking at shops such as primark and can be purchased for around ten pounds! Raees himself also said that he has a pair of these at home which he doesnt mind wearing.

Costume Ideas - Female Actor

From looking at the orginal video of Jason Derulo's it girl it comes to my attention that the girl who is in the video with him is a huge part of of this video and is really important as to creating the full "love story" therefore when we chose the suitable clothing for this character we choose something which makes her stand out. The young mixed race girl in the video, just like Jason Derulo looks immaculate, her hair is neatly curled and she looks very pretty and perfect. She is pictured wearing a a black smart hat black short dress which is quite skimpy and revealing, we tried to have a look around for something which might fit this image which doesnts look to over the top and we found this dress



The dress is a black layered lace dress which could fit in to a day dress or a night dress and can be purchased from AX paris in the Trafford centre for thirty pounds. This is one of the ideas we thought would look good for a while but when we thought about it Ruksana didnt feel as comfortable wearing a dress like this as it is quite short. After thinking much more it gave me some ideas about giving it quite a different look and instead of wearing short dresses etc the typical "girly girl" image which is portrayed in the video, we could show her wearing comfortable "tomboyish" clothing and linking it to the boy in the video. So I researched into various jackets and pants which she could wear.



I quite liked the look of the girls blazer but we decided as a group that it was quite plain and boring it didnt suit Ruksana as well as something would do to make her character stand out like a main part


We all decided that denim is a really good look as it does make her look to girly or to masculine, Ruksana also agreed that she has some denim jackets at home which she feels comfortable wearing and we thought it would look great in the video as she still looks very fashionable. We also asked some opinions from other people who wernt in the group and they also agreed that she would look great wearing denim



Denim being worn on the catwalk!

Filming Location: Alexandra Park

As one of our filming locations we decided to film at Alexandra park in Manchester. We wanted to film here because of the green scenery and the outdoor feel it could provide to our film. The park has many trees and locations that can be features in our film. However, we didn't use this locations because we changed our idea, this therefore this didn't fit in with our idea.

We took some pictures:

This is a picture of the gates leading in to Alexandra park. We thought these gates could look good in our video because they look grand and more iconic that what they really are.


This is a picture of the trees and the leaves in Alexandra park.



This picture is of a bench in the trees at Alexandra park.

Q Magazine

When looking into the music industry, I discovered how influential the music magazine Q was. Being a frequent buyer of the magazine I realised the impact it had on me when buying albums. The magazine is published monthly in the United Kingdom and looks at all different music genres. The magazine is well known for compiling lists. It has created many, ranging from "The 100 Greatest albums" to the "100 Greatest '100 Greatest' Lists". In the Q magazine I purchased, the magazine features a list of the '100 best thing I've heard all year' and '50 albums of the year', these reviews on the best songs and albums of the year may persuade the reader to buy the album/single. This has a impact on the reader when deciding on what is the 'right' album to buy, this is a way of promotion for the artist.

The magazine also features an array of advertisements from albums to live concerts. The magazine also advertises the ipod, stereos, headphones and places such as HMV where we can buy the music from. The magazine is mainly focused at lovers of music and is used to advise them on what to listen to.

Artist Inspiration- Banksy

Banksy is an unknown graffiti artist which is based in England. His style of work consists of very detailed grafiti artwork and is mainly done outside. His work is very distinctive some with humour, each one is very unique. He mainly uses spray paints and creates a look as if he has used stencils. I have chosen to research Bansky as I have seen pieces of work and I think his style would look quite good when being created on a photoshop. I think it appeals to both males and females and would fit in great with Jason Derulo's song "It girl"



I like this image which has been created with bold red spray paint on a white paited brick wall as it is very different but simple. I think the spray paint look looks really good as would fit in well with our chosen song as our album cover. I also think it would look good if this style was created on the computer as we could not only use this idea but also use are own unique ideas aswel. The position of the man on the right would also be a good position for Jason Derulo to be pictured on the front cover.

Artwork inspiration - Alex Bown

From looking at various designs for the cd covers we have decided to look at various ways in which we could make our cd cover look unique. For this I researched some artists for inspiration for our work. I firstly looked at an artist called Alex Bown. Alex is a textiles artist from Manchester who creates her work based on creating different patterns and layering images together. She uses lots of bright colours to create different shapes which look really abstract and effective. Her work consists of random objects such as lines or dots which have been but together in a creative way and then are digitally printed on to bags and clothing etc. The designs she creates are very unique and I think would look really good being created using photoshop and being put onto a cd cover for our digipak

I love her artwork as it is very bright and colourful however, after looking more into her artwork and thinking about the designs I dont think it would be the right sort of artwork to use for our digipak. I think her work looks more appealing to females and is more female related and the artist we have chosen is Jason Derulo. I think it looks very bright and happy and it would be quite hard to create this this effect on photoshop. Im glad however that I researched into Alex Bown's work because it has given me lots of creative ideas and possibilities.