Album Promotional Advert Research 3

My final advert is for the rock band, 30 Seconds To Mars. It differs massively from the previous two adverts, which have adertised two pop artists.

The most noticable aspect of this is the sheer simplicity of it's design. It uses mainly monochrome colouring and is just outlines. It's plain white background contrasts against the black image and font colour nicely to create the desired effect of it standing out from the rest of the advert. This idea of standing out and being unique can connect to the fact that the band does not create mainstream music, but prefers to be unique.

The use of the black for the details is also an intresting choice. Black has many connotations which all vary, one being it's association with authority. This can relate to the army and the constant referal to war in the new album, even to the name 'This is War'. It could also connote fear, grief and power. All of these feelings could refer to the fact that this album signified a big change for the band, in which they lost a member and changed their style of music. This could suggest that black connotes the fear of starting fresh when they already have a solid fan base, the grief of their old style and the missing band member as well as the power of being able to carry on a three piece band. This factor is one of many that makes this advert different to my previous adverts which want to create an air of familiarity; 30 Seconds To Mars want to start again. The use of black and white also may suggest conflict as the two colours are known for being opposite ends of the spectrum (light and dark) and so this could link to the theme of war, like previously mentioned.

30 Seconds To Mars' previous album
before 'This is War'

The only other colour that has been used in this advert is red. Like black, red has many connotations attached to it, for instance it's association with blood. This connection would link to the theme of war and danger, expressing the tone of the album and it's underlying meaning. However, red is also associated with love. On their previous albums, red has been the colour which is most associated with the band and so this as well as the connotations of love, could be a way to lure old fans in and show them that they are the same band and are still dedicated to their fans. 

Although wanting to attract a new audience because of their change in music, the band would still want to please their old audience. So there is similaities between the new style and the old. For instance, the colour scheme is one that they have always used and so would reassure old fans that they are still the band that they like. The advert also uses the symbols for each of their previous albums (located under 'This is War'.) As well as creating familiarity, this shows a progression of what they were to what they've become, almost like telling a story of their career.

Symbols play a big part in this advert, and to the band themself. The main focus of this advert is the triad. It is the largest image on the page, taking up half a page, and is the first thing your eyes see. The triad is said to represent the 'group of three', representing the three band members Jared Leto, Shannon Leto and Tomo Milicevic. It is now hugely recognised as the logo for the band and so it's presence on this would attract fans instantly. In an interview, the band were asked the meaning of the triad for them. Lead singer, Jared Leto said:

"It's a way to communicate... when I see your triad or you know we've been in some places where we never expected to see part of the family... as soon as you see the triad necklace you kind of recognise one of your own and thats kind of a fun way to do it and I have to say it's become a bit of a phenomenom worldwide."

With this in mind, the use of the triad on the advert indicates the band communicating to their fans almost like an announcement. Other symbols used on the poster are the four small symbols located under the triad.Once again these are common on all the albums but the meaning of them is unknown. However, there is two possible meanings. The first being that they stand for Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. This comes from a possible interpretation of the symbols meanings. However, a more likely interpretation is that they represent the bands name.





The first symbol is said to be two over-lapping 3's, meaning 30. The second is said to be clock hands pointing anti-clockwise to represent seconds. The third glyphic is an inverted roman numeral for the number 2, therefore meaning to. Finally, the last glyphic represents Mars, as the planet has two orbiting moons as shown above.

The band has always maintained an abstract theme and so the lack of photography is not surprising. Before joining the band, Jared Leto was more known for his acting role in films such as American Psycho, Fight Club and Requim of A Dream. Therefore, he tries to hide his identity as an actor to allow the music to speak for itself, gaining true fans of the music. This is one explanation for the graphics. The anonymity of the advert could also be linked to the fact that war could be seen as a controversial taboo subject and so being so open about it, especially in magazines where not everybody will be aware of the band, could be risky. However, the band are known for speaking out about issues such as war and equality and this is reflected in the nature of this album and so the way that it is advertised. This theme of war and peace is also spread to their music video's, in the same way that Rihanna's was.

Album Promotional Advert Research 2

Rihanna's advert for her Album 'Loud' is very different to the one that Madonna uses. The first noticeable difference is the fact that this is obviously aimed at a much younger audience than the previous advert. Its selling an artist which is at the prime of her career and so uses quite modern techniques to show this.

This advert creates a more emotive response from the audience than the Madonna poster and has a few themes running through it. The first being isolation and the feeling of being lost. This is shown by Rihanna being centred in the advert as it enhances the fact that she is alone. The fact that she is situated in a plain field also enhances this as it shows that there is nothing else around her but the grass. It also suggests the idea of isolation as it links with the countryside, which is usually used in the media to create a sense of being lost and alone.

There is also a sense of freedom being expressed in this advert. Rihanna is naked in the photograph which shows vulnerability as she is on show to the world and has nothing to hide behind; this could be analysed in a way to suggest that this album, which is so different to Rihanna's previous work, is exposing the real Rihanna and is raw in the sense that is shows how vulnerable she is. However, she does cover herself in a red dress which may symbolise how she hides her real self from the public and so she is trying to mask her vulnerability. Rihanna is looking off into the distance in the picture rather then looking at the camera, and therefore at her audience. This could show a certain reluctance in being so exposed to her audience, which suggests realism to her audience stating that she feels no different than they would. The spread out font of the text also may connote an idea of freedom as there is a big amount of space in between each letter which could represent having the space to be free.

Pain is also being created here. Rihanna is kneeling on the floor which symbolises that she is not in control of what is happening. It could also mean that she is feeling small compared to the rest of the world which contrasts to what her fans would think of her. The way that she is clutching her stomach could also suggest pain as that movement is suggested with pain, either physical or emotional. The vibrant red of the dress could also be associated with blood and therefore wounds and pain.

The idea of creating such strong feelings from her audience would suggest that the album is aimed at a young audience, most likely to be girls. This relates to the fact that teenage girls are seen as very emotionally vulnerable and so Rihanna is showing them that she is alike to them and can relate to how they're feeling. It almost tells the audience that Rihanna is human and so she is giving a positive message out for girls to just be themselves. This is reinforced by the name of her songs, for example 'The Only Girl (In The World.'

The advert is slightly faded at the top and bottom into black. This could suggest that this album is look at what Rihanna is like but it is only a snippet and not the whole picture. Her logo 'R' is also situated on the black area which suggests that her fame persona is the black which suggests that it's mysterious and feared and also tends to hold quite negative connotations.

Similar to the techniques used in Madonna's poster, Rihanna uses familiarity to attract fans. Rihanna's logo 'R' is placed in the top left corner of the poster (where your eyes will first look) and this symbol is common on all of Rihanna's albums. However, the style of the font has changed drastically in comparison to her previous work. It is very simple and straight-forward here and is rounded, showing a aura of softness. This stripped back feeling relates to my previous point on the target audience but also creates a heavy contrast with the bold, artistic fonts that have previously been used on her albums.

The colour scheme used is also different to her previous albums. Rather than using the bright colours that Rihanna is known for, there is a constant use of red. Red has many connotations, most can be related to this album, in particular the symbolisation of love and danger.

Another similarity with Madonna's advert is the concept of selling the artist and not just the album as Rihanna is the centre of the poster. Like Madonna, Rihanna is also recognised by the majority of people and so people could see her and recognise her bringing attention to the advert. This advert also uses the name of her latest single to bring in the audience as people who know the song would possibly buy the album.

Rihanna uses similar techniques in the selling of this album as a whole. Her album cover uses photography similar to this and the theme is even spread into her music videos which once again creates familiarity.

Album Promotional Advert Research 1

This advert is for Madonna's greatest hits album entitled 'Celebration'. It uses a heavy retro theme, which is shown through the vibrant colours which are used. These colours were used in the 1980's, when Madonna was first in the spotlight, and so the familiarity of them would attract her older fans- who the album would most likely be specifically targeted at. Another way of telling who the target audience would be is where the advert is placed; from the picture we can see that it's being displayed in what looks like a train station which would commonly be filled with commuting adults who would be more familiar with Madonna's older songs.

There is a similarity between this album cover and the famous pop art interpretation of Marilyn Monroe which was painted by Andy Warhol. Pop art was very popular during the 80's which once again would attract an older audience. The resemblance between Madonna and Marilyn Monroe marks Madonna as a cultural icon, like Marilyn Monroe. It is highlighting the fact that Madonna is now a household name, and will be recognised by the majority of people showing how important she is.

Andy Warhols interpretation of Marilyn Monroe

The style of the text may also link to the 1980's. The text has splatters of brightly coloured paint surrounding it and has the look of a strip of paint. This could link back to the 1980's and the rebellious behaviour that was displayed at that time, in particular the use of graffiti on streets. This could mean that the advert is identifying Madonna's music, and career, as quite rebellious risky.

However, Madonna's cover seems quite faded in background colour – the main background consists of a brown colour which can be connected to old paper. This can connote the fact that Madonna is now seen as part of the older generation of pop and is not in her prime anymore. Also, it links with the fact that she is selling her greatest hits which will consist of a lot of her older songs and so implies the age of some of her songs.

The adverts main focus is Madonna and so the advert has a dual purpose of not only selling the album but the artist as well. Also, the fact that Madonna is so widely recognised will attract attention from passers-by, and so can also be used as a selling technique; as people know her they are more likely to buy the album. This is also enhanced by the use of text. Neither Madonna's name or the album are the main focus and so it suggests that these are second to Madonna herself. Other text used, such as the example of her most famous songs, is displayed in a small font at the bottom of the page signifying and lack of importance. It also shows off Madonna's talent and fame as people don't really need to be reminded of her songs, they already know them.

The text is all capitalised which makes a statement on the importance of the album, it also resembles the style of writing used in newspaper headlines, which are also all capitalised. This connotes that Madonna is newsworthy and makes headlines. The subtle imprint of the newspaper text which you can see in the background also suggests this. Madonna has been talked about in the media for decades and so this links with her fame and gives familiarity for even the people who are not as familiar with her music as with her fame status. The use of newspaper print when combined with the faded background may also mean that Madonna's music is 'old news' and shows that she is moving onto to another stage in her life. This is supported by the recent release of a film that she has directed. The fact that the album is a greatest hits also reinforces this as many artists release a greatest hits near the end of their career.

Our Music Video

Upon completion of our music video, we uploaded it to youtube so we could access it easily and for the purposes of audience feedback. However, Youtube deleted our video after it alledged broke copyright regulations. After 6 different attempts we did manage to upload the video with sound. The video stayed uploaded for a number of weeks before unfortunatly the sound on the video was deleted. As a result, we have decided to not re-upload our video. Instead, we have created a hardcopy of the video on a disc.

Editing Process

Due to the complicated stop-motion process, our video took a long time to film. But after a few weeks, we have finally moved onto editing. Due to the vast amount of photos we have taken to achieve the stop motion effect, editing will also be a long process.

To edit the raw footage together we are using the Mac's that are located at college, and the programme Final Cut Express, more complicated then the software we used in our AS piece (iMovie). This means that we can use more advanced effects and therefore a more creative piece. The first stage of the editing process was to upload all of our raw footage from the camera's that we used to the Mac. This was a reasonably simple procedure but due to the amount of footage took quite a long time. Our next step was to create the stop motion effect by timelining all of the photographs we used together. The first problem we came across was the length of the photographs. Once dragged onto the timeline, each photograph was 10 seconds long, when we needed each one to be only 0.5 seconds long. This meant we had to go through the photos individually to ensure they were the correct length. Once we pieced the photos together, we then had to decide which scenes were the most appropriate to be included and decide on some to cut out, due to the time restraint of the song.

After watching the footage through, we decided the pace of the video was much to slow. So we went out and filmed more footage of our main character which we could then mix with our stopmotion. Once these clips were uploaded onto the mac's, we re-edited our timeline to create an effective narrative. The next step in our editing was to re-colour or filter our footage to maintain the meanings we desired. This meant slowing down pieces of footage or changing the lighting on some. After looking at the stop-motion, our group along with our teacher decided that the constantly changing lighting, caused by doing our stop motion in natural light, was effective as it gave the impression that the letter is not perfect and has flaws. It also makes the video feel more homely and more like a collection of memories in a photo album rather than an airbrushed video.

The next stage was creating the opening of our video. We wanted it to be obvious that the beginning is a flashback of the couples relationship and so this meant we had to edit it to be seen in this way. To add the aged effect, we decided to turn the footage black and white as this gives the impression of it being retrospective. We used a similar concept in our AS piece, where we altered the colour to make it obvious that that particular scene was a flashback. It was an effective technique in our AS piece, so we felt confident in repeating it. However, we were unsure as to what to use for the soundtrack at this point, as we wanted the song to start during the writing of the letter. We decided to use a voiceover (as mentioned in the narrative post) after being inspired by Rihanna's 'We Found Love.' Once we recorded the voiceover, using the Mac's in-built microphone, we added this to the montage and found it effective but not on it's own. We began to create s backing track using the proogramme 'Garage Band.' We toyed with the use of acoustic guitars and piano notes but couldn't create a track which we believed fit the situation. In the end, we decided on using a piano symphony of 'Jar of Hearts' by Christina Perri as the piano tone was perfect and it fit perfectly with the beginning of the original 'Jar of Hearts' for the rest of our video. We also decided to include the sound of the letter being scrunched up, as it contains a heavy symbolic meaning of the boy giving up. We added an echo effect on it to make the scene significant and to make the effect linger, like the noise.

The final part of the editing process was to create the complicted scene where the letter enters a photograph stuck to a fridge. This was something we had set our heart into doing even though we knew it would be a complex procedure. We got various teaching staff to help us superimpose photographs of our protagonist onto a photograph of the fridge. After a lot of time (both learning how to superimpose images and actually superimposing them) we had something in which we were proud of and believed it to be effective in the video.

Filming Process

Unlike our previous filming regime in which we designated certain days to get a lot of the work done, we have decided to have a more loose structure to this video. We decided to film when we had the time and not wait for certain days. We thought that this would be best due to the short amount of time we had and this way we wouldn't be relying on peoples schedules. It was also important to be flexible with this process as it took a lot of time to take all the pictures for the stop motion.

The Roaches

We decided to use locations which were readily available to us, such as the grounds of the school, but mix in some abstract, rural locations, such as the Roaches. The main reason for local locations was the time limit that we had and the lack of transport we had as a group. We were determind to not rely on people's schedules as we did not want to get behind and lose time on the editing process. However, we tried not to make our locations to repetitive and boring and so using places such as The Roaches (a rock formation a few miles from our hometown) and Rudyard Track created more variety in the shots which made it more interesting as well as indicated the length of the jouney for the letter. Using more rural locations enhanced the idea of isolation for the letter as well, therefore creating a deeper meaning. We did include a few urban shots, such as roads, to once again show diversity.


It took us around three weeks to film, which is reletively short considering the work that was created in the time limit. The majority of this time was spent taking photos of the letter to create the stop motion sequence; it can take hours to photograph only seconds of footage. During the filming process we took thousands of photos as well as gaining a decent amount of moving footage.

Of course, such a complicated procedure did create a few minor problems, but compared with our last video, these were nothing to worry about. One of the biggest problems we had was lighting. Because the majority of our stop motion footage was taken outside, the light changed every shot. However, from a quick look at the photos, this is not as noticable in some shots and in others it can actually look quite effective. Another problem was the weather. As we were trying to stick a piece of paper to objects outside, the wind tended to move the paper. For example, we wanted the letter to travel across the mouth of fountain but because of the splashes of water, the letter didn't stick to the stone as well as it should making the letter more susceptible to movement from the wind. When the wind moves the letter, even just a centimetre, we have to refilm the scene to keep continuity and to maintain the professionalism.

New Narrative

Our new narrative is vastly different to the old in both meaning and style. Our new video has a deep sense of love and heartbreak and so is a lot less abstract than the previous idea of childhood and postmodernity. It also a lot more relatable to than the previous idea as many people have experienced love and heartbreak and even if they haven't experienced it personally then they would know about the feelings and expectations as it is common in our society; we wanted to tell a story rather than just imply it.

Our narrative begins with a flashback on our two characters. It shows a loving relationship between the two as they playfully run in a field holding hands and hugging. This flashback helps to establish the relationship from the beginning and how much love the couple share. It is quite clichéd in how we expressed love but this is the effect we wanted as many people desire this carefree love that has become clichéd. We thought that a voiceover would also be effective over this scene to give a retrospective view from the girl after the break up. This establishes the emotion of the song and video from the onset.

We got the idea of a voiceover from Rihanna's 'We Found Love' video:

This video begins with a voiceover which we thought was extremely effective. The song itself also creates a meaning which is similar to the one which we desire. We deliberated using the actual lines which are said in Rihanna's video as they are perfect for the story which we want to tell of a break up but decided against it as we didn't want it to be a replica of rihanna's voiceover scene. And so after some research, we found a quote from Marilyn Monroe which we have decided to use:

"I believe that everything happens for a reason.
People change so that you can learn to let go.
Things go wrong so that you can appreciate them when they're right.
You believe lies so that you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself.
Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can all fall together."

We believed that this quote is perfect as it shows what the protagonist is feeling at that moment in time. It's also heavily emotive and so opens up the girls emotions from the beginning. From a practical point of view, it introduces the concept of a break up from the onset meaning that when the songs begins we can initiate the break up feelings straight away with no introduction and so the video is more synchronous to the lyrics. We also want to add background music, in the form of a piano, to the voiceover to emphasise the emotion further. We have decided upon a piano rendition of 'Jar of Hearts' as it will link onto the actual song easily as well as having silent gaps between the piano chords to allow clarity for the voiceover.

As the song begins, we see the boy writing a love letter to his lover. After a failed attempt, he screws up the piece of paper and discards it before texting her saying 'I love you.' We then see the letter beginning to move as it opens itself up and then crawls off the desk. The letter travels down a set of stairs and into a kitchen before climbing up a fridge. The fridge holds a picture of the girl who is standing in a park setting. We intend to get the letter to climb into the picture of the girl and follow her. The girl, who will still be in the picture, will turn and walk away. This creates a graphic match to the next scene, where we see the letter travelling through wooded area trying to find the girl.

During the video, we intend for the letter to carry on following the girl through different terrains as it gradually gets more dirty and rugged. Intergrated bewteen these scenes we will see footage of the girl walking aimlessly, alone, to create a connection to the flashback at the start and to make it obvious that there is tension in the couple. The girl will look solemn and lost to exaggerate her feelings about the boy. Nearing the end of the video, we will see the letter travel in a car away from the town and to an isolated high point. The girl will be sitting on a rock, looking out to the horizon as the letter crawls up to her. She looks towards the lette, picking it up and reading it. She then proceeds to the edge of a rock edge before scunching up the letter and throwing it off the edge. The girl will the walk higher up the rock formation before stopping and standing at the edge of a high point. The video will then end, leaving the audience unclear as to what will happen.

The main goal of our video is to create emotion with the audience. We are trying to personify the letter to create a feeling of sorrow and sympathy for the letter. We will then interject the clips of the girl to create more sympathy for the situation. By showing a contrast between the happy emotions, created by the flashback, and the melancholy feelings we are forcing the audience to have an emotive reaction, linking with the emotions created by the song itself.

Lyrics Analysis

As our new song is so different to the previous song, I decided to conduct a new lyrics analysis to help us with our new narrative.


No, I can't take one more step towards you
'Cause all that's waiting is regret
Don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore
You lost the love I loved the most

I learned to live half alive
And now you want me one more time

[Chorus:]
And who do you think you are?
Runnin' 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
So don't come back for me
Who do you think you are?

I hear you're asking all around
If I am anywhere to be found
But I have grown too strong
To ever fall back in your arms

I've learned to live half alive
And now you want me one more time

[Chorus:]
And who do you think you are?
Runnin' 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
So don't come back for me
Who do you think you are?

Dear, It took so long just to feel all right
Remember how to put back the light in my eyes
I wish I had missed the first time that we kissed
'Cause you broke all your promises
And now you're back
You don't get to get me back

And who do you think you are?
Runnin' 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
So don't come back for me
Don't come back at all

[Chorus:]
And who do you think you are?
Runnin' 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
Don't come back for me
Don't come back at all

Who do you think you are?
Who do you think you are?
Who do you think you are?

The lyrics are fairly self-explanitory and, unlike MGMT's 'Kids', have only one basic meaning which can be taken from the lyrics. The song was written by Christina Perri after she went through a divorce from her husband. Therefore, the song represents how she was feeling at that time and how she wanted to forget about the heartbreak in which she is suffering: "I have grown too strong to ever fall back into your arms." This theme is heavily embedded into the lyrics and the tone of the song which is melancholy.

There is an obvious sense of betrayal in the lyrics: "Collecting your jar of hearts and tearing love apart". It is this which creates a deep sense emotion into the lyrics as it is something that a lot of her target audience would be able to relate to and so creates a strong sense of empathy. You also get a sense of how much she loved her ex from the song and how much his absense has effected her life. For instance, "I learned to live half alive" which highlights how her life is not what it used to be when they were together, and her life now is not what she wants it to be. This is also relatable as many people would feel this way after a break up.

Another emotion displayed from the lyrics is a sense of hatred towards the man: "You're gonna catch a cold from the ice inside your soul." This powerful line represents this hatred perfectly as she is showcasing how heartless he is. However, you get a much stronger sense of power from the singer as she displays her strength: " But I have grown to strong to fall back into your arms." Lines such as these are very relatable for the audience and so would help people in a situation similar to the one in which she is suffering. This mixed with the style of the singer and how she sings the song (which is extremely powerful to the point where you can imagine her shouting the line 'Who do you think you are?') places Christina Perri on a pedastal above her ex-husband. There also seems to be an air of resentment about the relationship - "I wish I missed the first time that we kissed" - which adds to the raw emotion portrayed as it shows that she is at an early stage of the break up where she can't even look back on the relationship as happy.

The lyrics do hold a certain narrative to them, about the man trying to win her back after he has left her and how she is strong enough to say no. This creates a big contrast to our previous song which was abstract and so will help to guide us into telling a story which will help a lot with the production of the video. It also shows how personal the song is from the artist which adds to the effect on the audience which is very powerful.

New Artist Research

Since we have changed artist and song, I thought it appropriate to do some research on the new artist; Christina Perri:

Name: Christina Perri
Age: 25

Date of Birth: 19.08.1986

Birth Place: Philadelphia

Perri grew up in Pennsylvania with her older brother Nick, who has played guitar with numerous bands such as Shinedown and Perry Farrell. She taught herself how to play guitar at the age of 16 with the help of a video of an artist playing guitar live.

At the age of 21, Perri moved to Los Angeles, where she got married. It was here that she started to write and produce her own music and videos. Unfortunatly, 18 months after her marriage she got divorced. It was this life change that inspired her to write the song 'Jar of Hearts', her most famous song and the song we have chosen for our video. Perri then moved back to Philadelphia before once again returning to L.A.

Her fame began when 'Jar of Hearts' was played on the American version of So You Think You Can Dance. The song was played on the show after one of Perri's friends had passed a copy of the song to the shows choreographer. After its playing, the song sold 48,000 copies, debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 63 and number 28 on Billboards Hot Digital Songs. Within a month the song had sold over 100,000 copies. Once the video was released the song placed in VH1's top 20 music video countdown show.

The song went on to be played on more primetime shows in the US which led to Perri being signed by Atlantic Records. She released her debut album 'Lovestrong' in May 2011. Perri released her next single 'Arms' which has also been played in many American television shows. Perri's third single 'A Thousand Years' was used as a single for the film The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 which made Perri's name recognisable in many countries as well as gaining fans from the vast amount of fans of the film series.

Changes To Our Video

After much discussion between our group and our teachers, we have decided to start a completely new video from scratch and so, consequently, are scrapping our first idea. There are many reasons for this change; once we uploaded our original footage to the Macs, in which we are editing our piece, we found out that the editing software we are using, Final Cut Express, did not allow us to create the desired effect. We had wanted to use the split screen effect during our narrative to make the two people clear to the audience and avoid confusion. However, the split screen effect that was available to us was different to what we expected in that it cropped a good portion of our footage to enable it to fit on the screen. Without cropping the clip, our video would consist of two small boxes (one on the left and one on the right) which would display our narrative. This was not ideal as the boxes were incased in a black surrounded which meant our video lacked its meaning as you could not see the narrative clearly. We attempted to reorganise our footage to allow us to keep the narrative without the use of split screen but it did not work as the narrative became very abstract and so the audience would not understand the narrative.

Once analysing our footage, we did notice issues with mise-en-scene. One particular example of this is the difference between the two houses. We used the same house for both characters to enhance the conncetion and alhough we attempted to clutter the house to make it look unkept for Dougie, we had forgotten about hiding family photographs and such items which go against the meaning we trying to create about Dougie being abandoned and unloved.

Realising all these issues, we knew that we would have to refilm most, if not all, of our current footage and even then we believed that we would not have a video which reflected our potential. Therefore, we decided that a completely new narrative would be the most appropriate option. For a while, we brainstormed ideas surrounding the concept of childhood and growing up as that was what our old idea was based on. We debated using the song 'Fireflies' by 'Owl City' as this song does capture the essence of childhood. Yet, all the ideas that we came up with were half-hearted and not as strong as we wanted. So, after a weekend, of deliberation and research, we found the song 'Jar of Hearts' by 'Christina Perri.' It's low tempo and sombre lyrics heavily contrasted the quirkiness of MGMT's song and so allowed us to completely forget about our old idea and create fresh possible narratives to work with. Our final idea played with the concept of dwindling love between and boy and a girl. We follow the journey of a love letter written by the boy (which he screwed up and never intended to send to his love) as it attempts to find the girl that it is written for. We also wanted parallel editing to show the journey of the girl at the same time to create an emotional connection with the letter and the general situation. We wanted to personify the letter to make the letter the protagonist rather than have a character and actor as this would allow us to film in a period that suited us and so we would not be held back by waiting on other peoples schedules. The few characters we did need we could act out or find a friend during the hours in which we needed them.

One thing that we did want to maintain from the original idea was the use of stop motion, which we have decided to heavily incorporate into our new idea as it is the most appropriate method to make the letter (an inanimate object) to look like it is travelling of it's own accord.