Shooting Schedule

Holborn Studios

Today we visited Holborn Studios, a well-known place for artists and celebrities from all over the world for more than three decades. It is currently based in Eagle Wharf Road, London, literally a fifteen minutes walk from Hackney Community College in Shoreditch.

On our arrival we were introduced to staff members, then we took a tour around the studio. We saw different rooms which were wonderfully designed for photo-shoots, performances, and various different activities for artists and celebrities, creating a unique place for shooting their album covers, magazines covers and lots more. 

The studio basically consists of different rooms where you could see plain and seamless white walls, floors and ceilings, with professional lighting and photography props which cost from £300 to £900 a day to rent. The reason for using white paint is because white is a neutral colour and doesn't add any effect or any meaning to the actual object which has to be shot or filmed so artists can add mise en scene to this blank canvas. Normally artists rent photography and lighting equipments in studios instead of buying their own which cost thousands.


The studios have their own changing room, toilet, and a personal computer. The studio keepers, have to redo the white paint all over the surfaces each day to retain the studios' pure white look. As we were walking through different studios we could see lots of construction and rebuilding works going on there, they were expanding the studios into larger spaces to keep up with their customers demand as many professional companies/people would need a larger spaces and different facilities for their shoot. 


Among these studios, there was a unique room with green walls and floors decorated by artists pictures and a pool table, plus a small bar, a changing room and a toilet. This room, which was called the 'green room', is actually a place for artists to relax and chill while getting ready for their shoot and filming, and to spend some times on their own away from paparazzi and cameras. The green color also adds to its relaxation with views over regents canal. There is also a bar and restaurant, or even a boat for relaxing and going around the canal!

Things I learnt today:

• What a studio is and how it looks, what rooms and spaces need to be there and how they function.

• Costs needed for renting the studio and equipment and the assistants per day and sometimes per hour, you can find these cost here.

• Hassles and costs required for keeping the studio up and running, working well and professionally.

• Different pay for staff in different positions, such as studio manager, director, photographer, technician, bar and restaurant staff, etc.

We did a two hour shoot in Studio 4. As you can see in the pictures the studio had white floors, walls and ceiling. One of the shot locations had two boards, black and white, on two sides and a big stood flash light with a special kind of lamp shade  
for controlling the light and 
shadows and preventing it from being reflected. 


There was also a dressing table and a professional computer system attached to the camera used to transfer the pictures to the computer screen automatically after being shot so you could see the pictures at the same time they were shot and touch them up on photoshop.

Textual Analysis Of Avril Lavigne's Album Cover

"What the Hell" Album Cover

Props And Costumes:
She's wearing a black top and jacket, she's dressing casually to fit in with the modern society, however the messy hair connotes her ignoring her boyfriend and relationships. The necklace says "Drink Me" which shows her youthfulness and naughtiness as a teenager.


Background, Colour, and Lighting:
White background, With black script of the artist name which suits her costume. The song name is in red, "What The Hell" which can refer to her being sexy and crazy. The picture is not so happy and tonal which can mean she's a bit sad or heart broken or even tired and wants some kind of changes in her relationships, or her lifestyle, the same thing can be withdrawn from the lyrics when she says: "don't get it wrong, I just need some time to play".

Typeface:
She is staring into space with a neutral and bored look, again ignoring her surroundings, Her facial expression can connote her being heartbroken or sad, as she says somewhere in the song that "love hurts whether its write or wrong", this kind of thoughtful n tired look might refer to her being tired or broken from her last relationship.


She has used couple of pictures as her song cover, but original album cover is the picture on top of the post. I uploaded more pictures of her song cover to have a look at her different shots and photo styles which can all say something about the song.

Ancillary Text

front cover:
we will use a long shot of the Main 2 artists + thier band in the background with their instruments and props, with sharp lights ( Red, or goldbrown ) so that the audience would have a recognition of the charactors takin part in the music video


back cover:
back cover will be more landscape shot with collages of different shots to give the audience an idea of whats actually happening in the music video(narrative)


inside cover:
medium or close up shot of the female artist in black and white, because the music video is more about girls anthem this is preference to what the main message is based on

Global Audience

How can we make the character in the music video a global icon?

What features of the music video have a global appeal?

Avril Lavigne, is an international superstar, whose fans are from almost every country across the globe. She goes on different tours and performs in different continents.

This video shows Avril Lavigne's fans in Hong Kong on her Black Star Tour, and she explains the rest of the tour on South East Asia being to Beijing, Shanghai, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and then to South America.

Globalisation is the idea of the world becoming a smaller place due to technology and media, and is transformation of traditions into a fusion of traditions. For example McDonald's McArabia's meal is a popular pita bread sandwich in some Arabic countries, or Coca Cola being the world's first popular word. 


Globalisation in music may result into disposal of local instruments and music. However globalisation can bring together people from all around around the world and unify them in the way they live, they dress, they talk or even they way they think.


One of the ways to makes a music video successful is to make it internationally attractive to it's viewers.


This is how we tried to make our video globally popular:

Shots locations:
The video is filmed on the streets of London, an international destination which makes it globally significant. Youths from all around the world might be interested in London so it would be attractive for them to see how Londoners live their lives and how they dress up. 


Lyrics with a universal theme:
Lyrics are about relationships, people breaking up or cheating one another, something that anyone has experienced somehow in their lives, it makes the lyrics easier for people to relate with. The lyrics are about a relationship, she is breaking up with her boyfriend and wants to have her own freedom.


Universally recognisable characters: 
young people wanna have fun! We feature people with different races in the music video. The protagonist is an Iranian girl. A young, attractive and dynamic pop star who girls will want to be and guys will want to get with. The antagonist is a Somalian boy.  

The language of the music video:
The language in the music video is important in terms of making it understandable by a majority of people all around the globe, as English is the most popular second language, it makes the music video internationally viewable.  

Target Audience

In order to make commercial success in media productions, the first thing for a producers to consider before making decisions on production and mise en scene is the target audience. It involves researches into the age, gender and ethnicity and their expectations and interests.

The target audience that ties in with our song is teenagers. We then did a questionnaire asking people about their favourite songs and generall information on music videos.

Our questionnaire is as followed:

Dear Friend, Here Is A Confidential Questionnaire For My Music Video, As A Part Of The Production Work For A2 Media Studies, I Appreciate You Cooperation.

Age..........  Sex...........  Ethnicity......

Favourite Music Genre.....................

What A Pop Star is?

..................................................................................................................................................

How Do Pop Stars Dress Like? 

..................................................................................................................................................

What Language Do They Normally Speak? 

..................................................................................................................................................

How Old Are They Usually?

..................................................................................................................................................

What Are The Songs About?

..................................................................................................................................................

Have You Ever Heard Of Any Song Called “What The Hell”? What Can The Song Be Possibly About, whether Or Not You Have Heard It?

...............................................................................................................................................

What Do You Like To See In Music Videos?

..................................................................................................................................................

Do You Like To See Bands Playing And People Dancing In Music Videos?

..................................................................................................................................................

Can You Make Up A Brief Story About The Song “What The Hell” ?

..................................................................................................................................................