This is the blogpost about the feedback we got from the screentest. This Blogpost was made by (Maisie) and the questions by Maxine
I think that gathering feedback is important because it helps us improve and allows us to come up with new ideas. Other people might see mistakes or weak points that we do not see, hence another pair of eyes will help us perfect our MV. Additionally, gathering feedback can give us different perspectives and better ways to do things, allowing us to upgrade the quality of our final result.
Questions
Feedback
Most of these answers don't have complaints about our MV so far. Remembering that our genre leans more to the niche side (the people we asked don't listen to our genre of choice that much), this might explain why we don't have specific and detailed answers about which parts could be disappointing.
However, one of the answers did point out an honest mistake of ours due to the lack of preparation. Since our original vocalist wasn't able to attend, we had to find a substitute in just a matter of minutes. We didn't have enough time to prepare and brief our substitute, hence he came underprepared. If we have enough time after getting most of our things done, we might consider reshooting the band scene with better preparation and planning.
Reflection:
Although I wasn't directly involved with this task this was really helpful at makig sure were on the right track by giving us feedback on the MV on what we should and could improve and by telling us what was good and intresting about our MV and to include more parts like that.
This is a classwork I made about the theory of stardom made by Richard Dyers.
Reflection:
This was really fun as I got to talk about the frontman of my favorite band Radiohead, Thom Yorke and as well analyse the basis of his success. As well this real life example helped act as a guide and example of how success is created which we can adopt to our artists and
This blog outlines a task we did in class where we had to make a mind map about our artists brand and persona.
I think this mind map is quite helpful because it helped us understand our concept and motive on a deeper level, as the questions forced us to think harder to be able to put our visions clearly into words. The questions being asked were so detailed that we were able to write down most of our expectations and goals into a single mind map. Additionally, this mind map will also keep us on track, making sure that we don't stray away from our original concept and ideas.
Overall the shooting process was really fun although a bit stressful as we shot a lot of things very last minute but in the end we got the satisfactory footage we needed. However this rush came at a cost as this made our shoots rushed so we couldn't put as much attention to details such as the props or set ups and as well we had to shoot in skeleton crews so for some of the scenes such as the politician office scene or prison scene we didn't have time to get behind the scenes as everyone was working on getting the footage. I think next time we should dedicate some time and someone to be in charge of collecting behind the scenes.
Even though we were told to shoot over the school holiday by our teacher, we were unable able to as there was little to no time where everyone was free at the same time as many of the group members took long extended family vactions and thus we were unable to shoot. However we still triumphed and shoot our band scenes on the first day of school which will consists of most of our shots. It went well as we were able to get good and satisfactory footage and we even had time to do a little jam session.
I was quite an introspective reflecting and reviewing back on what we've learnt over the past few years and made me realize how far I've come and also how much I've forgotten :). It was quite challenging to make as I had to practically relearn everything so I had when to the old presentations our teacher gave to us and looked at my past class works which was really annoying and time consuming. Although at the end of the day this gave me more knowledge about technical elements and theories which can help me find the right shots, mise en scene, editing sound etc. to use when shooting or in post production and find out which media theories can be applied to my music video. In the future I want to experiment with the formatting maybe using a mind map to help see how everything relates to one another.
Overall this classwork was really fun and instresting as we got analyse the diffrences between reel and real personas of real bands/artists which helped create a plan on how we will shape our band's persona. I think the only problem I faced was trying to research the members persona especially their real personas as we can never really know so the closest thing we can get to it was intimate interviews and infering from known facts/biography of the individual but thankfully I was already knowledgeable in the band members as I have been a fan for a long time. I think in the future I may want to find a band that has a greater contrasts between their reel and real personas as for RATM their reel and real personas were basically the same.
Although Sagara was the one who made the Location Scout and Risk Assesment I was pivitol in suggesting possible locations as I was the one who came up with the idea for the narrative so I had already thought of possible locations. One thing I liked about the location was the proximity as most of them are close by especially as most of them are close to school which would make travelling easily. One problem is that we may need to get permission to shoot in these places such as in our school's MPH which is ussally only used for big events, so we may have to give the school a proposal and a plan of how we're gonna shoot at the MPH. So I think next time we should find locations which are more readily present and easier to shoot in where permission is not nessesary as changing locations may mean we have to rework certain scenes.
WHY: - Our team decided to go for a bleak, oppressive and dark mood. This is because such coloring scheme and mood will represent the suppression imposed by the politician upon the journalist, and in the larger scheme, the people. This theme was inspired by the music videos we researched especially Just by Radiohead as it had an old timey film type of look. Also this color grading and style was also suggested to me by my IT teacher when I pitched him the idea/concept of my music video as he thought it would be the most suited.
Reflection:
Although Maisie was in charge of making the mood board I helped her by giving suggestions of pictures to choose and also giving her my general idea for the theme and mood of the music video which was dark and bleak. One problem we encountered was actually finding images for the moodboard where even when we had a good idea on the theme and style we still found it hard to find images that would fit. To solve this I think we should've utilised apps such as pintrests more and as well refrence our genre research for example music videos that had a similar style or feel such as just by radiohead. I think next time it would be better to organise the mood board for example maybe one moodboard for each scene or per aspects of the music video such as character or location.
The lyrics sheet was pivitol on finding the right timing of the scenes as we wanted certain scenes to happen when a certain lyric was said or a certain part of the song such as a guitar solo or opening intrumentals. It also helped to build and develop the narrative as we are able to sequence and find the flow and make a story that progresses and follows it. It was also useful to brain storm ideas though most of the ideas came from me and were inspired by Rage Against the Machine like polictical messaging and music videos. So in all the lyric sheet acted as the bassis of the music video that will be visualized and expanded in the actual storyboard itself.
Storyboard:
Like how the lyric sheet acted as the basis of the music videos ideas, the storyboard is the visualisation of those ideas which help us see how to frame certain shoots and which camera angles will work best which helps us make the best possible shot. The storyboard will also help us later in the production and post production process as it has time frames and shots which will help us not lose focus when shooting, in addition it also shows which editting transitions will be used which can help the edittors as they do not need to think of one on the spot.
Reflection:
Comming up with ideas for this song/music video was actually quite easily as before term 2 I had already listened the song and had an epiphany of how a narrative music video for this song could go which I then sent to my now group member Sagara. As well being a huge fan of the songs original band, Radiohead, helped me easily be able to identify the song's messages and read between the lines which helped contribute to the idea making. However one concern I have when shooting this music video is the logistics as many scenes require a large amount of people to act as a crowd which may be hard to find, we also need to move alot of music intruments and equipment to a parking lot where we plan on shooting the band scenes which may be hard especially for the drums and amplifiers. One problem I ran into was trying to explain my idea to the group as it was pretty solid but had alot of holes in it though with discussion and communication we were able to fill them up. In the future maybe I would try to make the scenes easier to shoot with better logistics and management.
This shows the process and the decisions behind picking our actors from the screen test.
Band Members/Artists:
For the artists/band members we wanted the actors to be comfortable with and be able to play their respective music video to ensure that the performance looked accurate and realistic and as well make the acting look more natural. This did narrow down the number of people we could use but would result in a much better final product. For the screen test we requested them to send a video of them performing.
Drummer:
Abi:
Abi is one of our juniors he is an excellent drummer in many students band such as After Six which have played in public local events in malls. As well he has shown off his skills in local competitions and school events. He is very enthusiastic and always available to do activities which is great. One of my teammates Maisie has as well recently started a band with him which brought him onto our radar.
Here is a video of him playing drums at a local event in Living World Mall Bali:
Marvell:
Marvell is a good friend of mine who is an excellent and multi instrumentalist. He has been playing drums ever since he was kid but now has ventured to other instruments such as bass or keys. He as well had extensive knowledge on sound recording and sound rigs which may come in handy when we shoot at the studio. Being a multi instrumentalist as well makes him more versatile.
He often posts drum covers on his you tube channel MarvLix:
Final Choice:
In the end we choose Abi as he was more available which meant that he could join more shoots and as well he would have nicer chemistry with the rest of the "band" due to him being in a band with one of our group members.
Guitarist:
Maha:
Maha is new guitar player but he shows effort and is a fast learner already being able to pick up songs he's only been playing for half a year but is a already a capable guitarists. He primarily plays acoustic guitar however it wouldn't be hard to transition him to an electric guitar that is used for our song as he has the basics covered. He is also comfortable singing which could make him a possible contender for a singer. However he is also a media student and our shooting schedules might clash.
Maisie:
Maisie is one of our group members which means she is readily available for shoots this makes it easier to schedule and find time. As well she is a talented guitarists playing for many bands in and out of school. She primarily plays rock music which fits right into our song.
Here is a video of her playing guitar:
Final Choice:
We went with Maisie as we were worried our schedules might conflict with Maha's and she is a member of the group she is more readily available and convenient. As well she is more comfortable with electric guitar and she is familiar with these type of songs which makes the acting more natural. However we might
Bassists:
Sagara:
Sagara is one of our group members which as mentioned before makes it easier to schedule time to shoot as he will be more available. However he has little experience with Basses as he is more of a guitar player although he has always been eager to try out the bass which could mean that this could be a great opportunity for him to try it out. As well the conversion from guitar to bass is easy as they are similar instruments.
Heres of a video of Sagara playing guitar:
Candra:
Candra is both a guitar and bass player he took several lessons as a kid and now is able to recall his bass playing ability. He is a capable guitarist and bassists this means that he is versatile in the shoot or as an actor due to his ability to play both bass and guitar. However Candra is also a media student so our schedules might overlap.
Heres of a video of Candra playing electric guitar:
Final choice:
We ended up going with Sagara as we is apart of the group and thus has the same benefits as Maisie however like Maha we have another role for Candra in the narrative.
Vocalist:
Gosha:
Gosha is a student and good friend from another school and the lead vocalist of the band AFTERSHOCK which plays in their school events such as Rock On and competes with other schools in Battle of the Bands where they achieved runners up and their bassists was deemed the best bassists. Gosha is a comfortable and confident singer who primarily sings rock songs which means the acting/lip-syncing will be far more natural.
Heres Gosha singing with his band at a school function:
Narrative:
Politician:
Journalist:
Candra:
I have worked with Candra before on a previous media project called Mark Choi: The Revenge and he is a wonderful actor with great range of emotions and body language/actions which would be great in a music video where there is no dialogue nor sub titles especially with a complex character like the journalist.
Here is Candra in a screen test where he is instructed to introduce himself:
Here is Candra in Mark Choi:
Guard:
Maha:
I have also worked with Maha in Mark Choi: The Revenge, where he plays a tough and stoic Mafia Boss which I think would work well in role such as a bailiff or secret service type of guard.
Here is Maha in a screen test where he is instructed to introduce himself:
Heres Maha playing the Mafia Boss in Mark Choi:
Reflection:
I'm quite excited to shoot with these people as I had previously worked with them and had a lot of fun shooting with them and i hope that continues with this project. For the band scenes I am as well excited to shoot with them as I know they are capable musicians and I have seen them play first hand and I can't wait to see it again. I hope we are able to schedule a time with everyone and be able to shoot successfully.
This blog outlines the regulations we followed as well outlines the process of asking permission to use the song for our music video project.
Media Regulation:
Before starting the project our teacher reminded us about the rules that cambridge recommends us to follow such as avoiding sensitive topics such as Suicide and drug use and avoid dangerous acts such as harsh violence or shooting in or with motorised vechicles. Simultaniously we have to follow the regulations of the schools which meant our product could not contain explicit imagery nor explicit language These regulations aim to protect and keep us safe however some may argue that they limit and censor our creativity. However these rules did not impact our production or our image as we kept these rules in mind since the beggining and made sure our video did not involve content that would violate the regulations.
If we were talking in the sense of govermental regulation Indonesia uses Lembaga Sensor Film which is the regulatory body which sorts films and other content onto 4 age ratings shown below taken to from their website.
According to the age ratings of Lembaga Sensor Film, our music video would fall under 13 years above as it features implied violence with the execution scenes however we did not explicitly show the deaths of the prisoners but only implied they were hit by a weapon. However our music video does feature mature themes of political corruption which would make it a higher age rating however those themes are not as explicit due to the lack of dialougue and have to be interpreted by the audience and as mentioned by Stuart Hall audiences can have multiple readings of a text. This would aswell fit our target audience of Teens and young adults.
Permission:
Background:
Pierce The Veil:
To respect the artists copyright we wanted to write an email to the music label behind the song. After the quick google search we found that the Karma Police cover by Pierce the Veil was released under Fearless Records which is distrituted by Concord which is an independant music company which owns Fearless Records which is one of the world's leading independent rock labels.
Radiohead:
However the song Karma Police which Pierce the Veil covered is made by Radiohead and released by Parlophone which was a subsidiary of EMI which was bought by the Universal Music Group in 2012 but Parlophone is now owned by Warner Music group, as in 2012 Universal Music Group wanted to buy EMI but the European commision would only allow it if Universal Music Group were to divest Parlophone which allowed Warner Music Group to aquire it. However as of 2016 the ownership of Radiohead's discorgraphy with Parlophone was transfered to XL records which is a birtish independant label due to Warner Music Group making a deal with Impala ( Independent Music Companies Association) a non profit trade assosciation to divest 30% of Parlophones catalougue to independant labels with artists approval.
So to play it safe we decided to email both XL records and Concord/Fearless records.
XL Records:
Contacting XL records was quite easy they had a contact us page on their website where users could submit messages so I wrote a simple message stateting how I'm a year 12 media studies student in Bali making a music video for my final project which uses one of their songs.
Concord:
Finding the contacts for Concord was quite easy as they had a page on their website for License Request forms however the process was a bit long and tedious as it was letigious and very formal which is the right way of doing things.
The first page lists our the diffrent types of License Request forms as shown below. This required me to do some research on the types of License Request Forms which I found on
This helped me conclude that the one I needed was a Synch or Synchronization License Request Form as a music video has audio and visual elements and a synchronization license is required when music is used in combination with visual media. This includes movies, TV shows, commercials, YouTube videos, and more.
After clicking on the Synchronization License Request Form it brought me to the next page where I had to fill in general information regarding my production ( The Music Video).
This included a synopsis where I gave a little description of the narrative of the music video. As well as the location and where it would be published/uploaded.
Next up is the song request this had me explaining the song used which was Karma Police - Pierce The Veil and how and how long it was used including a description of how it was used.
Lastly They allowed me to upload a few files that would help them better understand the music video and such I uploaded the storyboard and Statement of Intent which would give them a good idea of what the music video is about.
Lastly Submitted YAY!
Reflection:
For the media regulation section it was quite easy as I was just rehashing what was told to me by my teacher about the rules by cambride and the rules by our school regarding the content we could/couldn't include. As well finding the indonesian regulations by Lembaga Sensor film was quite easy as it was on their website with an optional english translation their regulations are also very descriptive which allowed me to get a specfic understanding of the ratings.
For the permissions things got a bit confusing as it was hard to find the exact owners of the songs but for Pierce the Veil it was fairly easy as they had an independant record label which was owned by an independant music group. However for Radiohead as the song Karma Police is old and due to media consolidation where media companies buy out and aquire one another the song rights changed hands alot which caused me to go on a rabbit hole to find the history behind the record companies.
For the asking permission part this was really intresting as it gave me first hand experience on how to license the use of a song from a record label however the process was somewaht complicated and letigious especially for a student however the experience I will find useful for the future.
For the most part this task was easy to complete as we were able to work as a team to create it. The only problem we ran through whilst making it was choosing a song but thankfully we were able to choose one quite quickly as our teacher let us do Official covers which we all agreed to. Another issue was due to the shorter deadline as before we had months to do our statement of intent now we only had 3 days which meant that we weren't able to write and spend as much time as we wanted and honestly some parts might reflect the rushed nature. Another issue was discussing representations and what to include but the way we solved this was by implementing diffrent aspects from each other in a compremise. I think next time we should work together more and finish the statement of intent faster and with more quality although I wish we had more time atleast a week.
This was our process and our decision making behind choosing our song for the Music Video Project
For the Music Video Project our teacher limited the song selection to songs from the last 5 years so songs released between 2021 - 2026 in hopes of keeping things contemporary. This made it difficult to find songs in our genre as alot of our favorite songs in the alt-rock genre are older than 5 years and as well there was not alot of new popular alt-rock songs that fit our tastes. This meant that we had to keep searching essentially from scratch as we did not anticipate this rule when we were thinking about songs over the break.
However we had found a good number of songs that were released in the past 5 years now we had to just sort through them and find the best one. I tasked every member of the group to suggest 5 songs they liked from there we sorted again. Sadly theres no footage of this discussion as it was held in class where phone use was not permitted at that time. However we were able to screen shoot our lists.
Then we began listening to the songs then striking through ones we didn't like which helped narrow the selection.
At the end we all championed one song and came up with ideas and as well gave a hefty description of the song's meaning and style from there we gave reasons on why or why not to choose said song.
From this we choose Karma Police By Pierce the Veil after confirmation from our teacher that this song was allowed as we were unsure if covers were eligible. We choose this due to its political and authoritarian theme which would allow us to create a unique and interesting story. As well liked the beat and style of the song as it is very familiar to what we like whilst being energetic yet still dark. Another factor is the simplicity as we had a clear idea of the scenes and where to shoot which made it easier to make the storyboard and statement of intent and as well find people to be actors.
Speaking of coming up with the idea, the song had appeared in my queue when I was listening to music. I then had the idea after watching a Youtube web documentary about the meaning of the song which them inspired the narrative which the idea I sent to my groupmate Sagara over Whatsapp.
Reflection:
At first it was somewhat hard as the 5 year gap really threw us off and as well that made it harder to find songs in our genre. However after we found some songs we ran into another problem which was finding the right one or at least narrowing it down but using the decision making systems mentioned above we were able to narrow it down to Karma Police By Pierce the Veil which I suggested as I am a big fan of Radiohead and thus was able to understand the meanings of the song and thus make a clearer image/narrative.
For me researching the rock/altrock/artrock genre was overall pretty fun as I got to search for deeper meanings in my favorite songs and analyse their hidden symbolism and easter eggs. The most challanging part about completing the researching was my time management because I have a bad habit of procrastinating and aswell this term my schedule was pretty packed with retaking psycology exam and school events. Next time I try to manage my time better and better focus on doing media studies tasks. I will probably add to this research as there are many things I wanted to say but couldn't right in time, also I feel like my writing is inconsistent due to the time constraits I put on myself and for some I might have wrote to much and its wordy and hard to understand whilst others are far to short.but nonetheless I hope I get a good score and was able to share my passion with anyone reading.
