Setting justifications

The scene in our music video with the couple playing in the woods is quite a common setting for indie fold music videos. Indie folk videos also use a lot of outdoor settings and this is why we chose to have quite a lot of our video set outside. I watched loads of indie music videos like Gabrielle Aplin, Ben Howard, Laura Marling and First Aird Kit and nature settings are common places to find in the videos. (See photos below)

Title sequence editing practice

We messed around with some different ways of doing title sequences on Adobe Premiere. I got some footage that I will be using in my final piece just to have a play with the different methods. What we did was got a video and applied text over the top so the only footage seen was through the text (seen below) then made the font larger until the whole screen was just the footage not the text anymore. This workshop was quite useful in terms of if we did decide to do a title sequence howver at the moment we probably wont because it isnt cthat common among music videos of this genre.

First 17 seconds

Even though its only 17 seconds at the moment it hasn't quite worked how I wanted it to because at the beginning of the shot with the close up on the photo there are black strips at the top and the bottom of the video but on all of the ones before there aren't these black strips. As well as this, when we zoom in on the photo, the black boxes disappear but they're at the top and bottom of the next section of footage. I would like to make this consistent throughout my video so i will either remove the black strip completely or make sure its there the whole time.

Target Audience

Weather forecast

We were going to film our campfire scene the Thursday (19th November) but after looking at the weather forecast this is probably not the best idea because we need it to be dry and clear (ish- a little cloud shouldn't be a problem) but a shown in the screenshot above it is meant to be crazily rainy which is OUTRAGEOUS! But it is the weather so we can't do much to change that anyway. After checking the weather for next week, it appears to be only cloudy but no rain so we plan to postpone our filming until then.

We also decided not to include our bonfire scene because the weather has been so bad recently and it means that it might not be dry enough to start a fire that will last long enough to do this shot. We also found that after most of our other filming we have enough raw material to fill all the time we need in our music video.

More setting up

Attention to Detail

Apologies for the lack of sound in this video! Here I am just talking about what we've already set up and why we've set it up as we have. So we put the hay bales in there because in indie folk music videos there are often hay bales. Like in Ben Howard's Keep Your Head Up. (See below)

As well as this we decided to put fairy lights over the hay bales, the drums and wrapped around the mics because this is also quite common in other indie folk music videos. An example of this is Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons and Ho Hey by The Lunineers. (See below) Indie Folk music videos also normally are lit with yellow light (Like Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons)

We decided to have a black/unlit background with only the space our band will be in because this is also another common feature of indie music videos like James Bay's Hold back the river.

До свидания

The importance of Mise-En-Scene

 This was the drama studio when we first arrived to set up for our band. We had to move everything out of the way in order to set up the instruments and lights. We filmed the first couple of minutes of us setting up the room.

When our actors arrived w=they quickly got changed into their costumes and were given their instruments. We briefed them (seen above) about what they needed to do, what we expected from them and we went through our risk assessment to make sure everyone is safe.

This is what the whole drama studio looked like when we had completely finished setting up and when all our actors were in position.

До свидания

Risk Assessment

I did this risk assessment to make sure that I knew about all the possible risks while filming so that none of my actors got hurt. This risk assessment was vital because if one of my actors had gotten hurt then it could have caused a major problem with filming the rest of my video as I may have had to find a new actor and potentially have had to start over. That could have been catastrophic. This assessment highlighted all possibilities of injury.

Shot list

Storyboard

Apologies for my artwork I am not an artist but its the thought that counts!!

This storyboard will really help me to know which shots should be in when I put together my music video and it also means that I wont miss anything out!Its also really good for planning because I didn't do a story board for my preliminary task so I was just kind of guessing what shots I needed to do and which order they should be in so the storyboard should help me to save time when it comes to actually filming and editing my final piece. 

Actors

Above is our main actor Plum in her everyday clothes.

Right is her in her costume for filming the band sections.

Below is a head shot of her.

This is our other main actor Blaise.
Above is him in his normal clothes.

Right is him in his costume with his guitar.

Below is a head shot of him.



























This is another actor Ollie. He is the bass guitarist.

Above is him in his normal clothes.

Left is him in his costume for the band filming.

Below is a head shot.

 This is another actor Ollie. He is the bass guitarist.

Top right is him in his normal clothes.

Top left is him in his costume for the band filming.

Above is a head shot.

 This is Caias. He is our drummer.

Above is him in his regular ordinary clothes.

Right is him in his costume for shooting.

Below is a head shot.

This is Tom. He is the trumpet player.

Left is him in his costume.

Below is a head shot.

Testing out ideas

We took one of our friends up to East Hill (where we planned on filming most of our video) in order to test out a couple of ideas and see how they actually looked, to decided whether they fitted our genre and whether they would be good for our narrative. Not only were we looking at what sort of thing we could include in out video but it also helped me to start to think about what editing I can do to improve the shots. For example, when the leaves were being thrown in the video below it made me think of whether I could put that sort of shot into slow motion and how I could then transition it to the next shot with a fade or something. 

Pitch

Above is our pitch and what we plan to do throughout our music video. Below is my partner and I telling our target audience what we plan to do as well as showing them a Pinterest Pin Board I made full of ideas for settings, scenes and costumes. We asked them what they likes, what they didn't like and they told us how they wanted us to change our music video to suit them as an audience. For example, they said that they liked our idea of using mainly natural settings and most of the video taking place outside but they also said that they didn't like some of our sunsets or shots that don't contribute to the narrative because our audience said they were unnecessary. We have done this so that we can get a better idea of what our target audience is looking for and what sort of product they would like. This will massively help us when we start to film and edit our music video as we can keep their responses in mind.

Ancillary Task

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

1) a website homepage for the band

2) a digipak for the albums release

3) a magazine advertisement for the digipak

For my ancillary task I have chosen to create a digipak as well as a magazine advertisement for my music video. 

These digipacs have helped me to start planning mine as I know have a clearer idea of what is typically on them as well as the actual layout.

Similarly, these posters have helped me to understand the basics of digipac adverts so I will find it easier to plan and make my own. 

Music video research

I asked some people to write down what came to mind when they heard the song "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men and this was their response...




 



This has helped me to create my pitch because I know what my audience would expect form this genre and what they would like to see when I create me video.

Introduction into research

This survey helped me to outline my target audience and what songs they would be interested in if we were to make them a music video. It also helps me to identify the age gender and how much they liked each of the song options given to them.

Cyndi Lauper Girls Just Want to Have Fun prelim task

For my Preliminary task, I had to recreate one minute of any music video. After looking through a variety of different music videos like Birdys 'Skinny Love' and Mylie Cyrus' 'Wrecking Ball' my partner and I chose to recreate Cyndi Laupers "Girls Just Want to Have Fun".

We chose this song because it was just basic shots with everyday settings so it wouldn't have been expensive to recreate as unlike many modern pop videos. 

This song was also a good choice because there were only 3 people in the actual video and because this is a recreation, we only needed to find two other people to play Cyndi's parents (excluding myself who was Cyndi).

In the filming of this, we used a combination of using a tripod for the camera and hand held shots. The tripod meant that the shots were more steady and the hand held ones were a bit more unsmooth and wobbly. 

In order to put all of our shots together, we used Premier to edit and put the song with the video. I found this software really easy to use and I could quickly learn how to do things I couldn't already do.

In our version of the video, there are a few problems with it. For example, some of the shots are different from the original. Also, many of the shots are very blurry because we had a lot of problems with the camera we were using. Additionally to this, in some of the scenes (like the kitchen scene) there are items lying around that shouldn't be there like things on the kitchen table and a TV on the wall that wouldn't have been around when the video was actually made.

From this task, I have learnt that casting is very important because our cast was quite last minute and rushed so we could have been able to get actors that are more suitable if we had taken more time.
I have also learnt that I need to make sure everything that is visible on camera is meant to be there and fits in, rather than having bits and pieces that are out of place. This would make our video a lot better.
As well as this, I have learnt that I need to actually be able to use the camera better and be familiar with how it works before trying to film because by the time we did know how to use it properly, we had run out of time to complete the task.

I think that this task was very useful and helpful in preparing me for the main task as I now have a better understanding of how to plan, film and put together a music video and if has also meant that I have made my mistakes before I complete my main task so the main tasks should have the same flaws.

Cyndi Lauper Girls Just want to have fun original video

Of Monsters and Men- Little Talks music video

Of Monsters and Men- Little Talks Lyrics

Of monsters and men Little Talks

Hey! Hey! Hey!

I don't like walking around this old and empty house

So hold my hand, I'll walk with you, my dear

The stairs creak as you sleep, it's keeping me awake

It's the house telling you to close your eyes

And some days I can't even dress myself

It's killing me to see you this way

'Cause though the truth may vary

This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore

Hey! Hey! Hey!

There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back

Well tell her that I miss our little talks

Soon it will be over and buried with our past

We used to play outside when we were young

And full of life and full of love.

Some days I don't know if I am wrong or right

Your mind is playing tricks on you, my dear

'Cause though the truth may vary

This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore

Hey! Don't listen to a word I say

Hey!

The screams all sound the same

Hey!

Though the truth may vary

This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore

Hey!

Hey!

You're gone, gone, gone away

I watched you disappear

All that's left is the ghost of you.

Now we're torn, torn, torn apart,

There's nothing we can do

Just let me go we'll meet again soon

Now wait, wait, wait for me

Please hang around

I'll see you when I fall asleep

Hey!

Don't listen to a word I say

Hey!

The screams all sound the same

Hey!

Though the truth may vary

This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore

Don't listen to a word I say

Hey!

The screams all sound the same

Hey!

Though the truth may vary

This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore

Though the truth may vary

This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore

Though the truth may vary

This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore

I have put the lyrics on my blog because my partner and I have decided to base our video on the lyrics of the song. We have chosen to amplify and illustrate the lyric through the visuals of the video and because of this they lyrics are really important. By reading through the lyrics it helps us to get ideas about what they could show and how we can portray them.

The highlighted sections of the lyrics gave me ideas about what I could include in my video.  For example "I don't like walking around this old and empty house" could be shot in a house with only one person in the shot. The next quote I have highlighted is from the chorus saying "the screams all sound the same" and here the characters in the video could be arguing about something meaning they're literally screaming at each other. I've also highlighted "you're gone, gone, gone away, I watched you disappear all that's left is the ghost of you" and I thought that this could be good to overlay one shot of a character over the other so they look faded and more ghostly. Or to use long fading transitions so the characters literally disappear. 

Nicki Minaj- Anaconda

This video by Nicki Minaj sexualises the female body throughout the whole thing. The use of costume in this video adds to idolisation of their bodies as all of the women in it are wearing very little clothing. The genre of this is hip-hop, dance and dirty rap which can be shown through the video by her choice of clothing and dance moves or actions. This video appears to be aimed at young men or teenage boys from the idea that she is the 'ideal woman' in terms of her body however it appears that it could also be aimed at women and this would make these women want to 'be her' as she and all of her backup 'dancers' are portrayed as very sexy and attractive.

This video can be linked to Andrew Goodwin's theory because it contains a star image, the artist acts as both a performer and a narrator, the video is edited through the beat and the visuals in the video are linked the the lyrics and words of the song.

I have decided to reject this type of video because it is a pop video with is usually expensive to produce and over the top in terms of props and camera angles so it would be difficult.

Narrative Theorists

This research of narrative theorists has helped me understand what may influence of affect my work as well as how I can incorporate these different ideas into my video.

Camera Angle

Directors use different camera angles in order to engage the audience, make sure they know whats going on or to make you focus on something in particular. In order to do this, there are a range of angles they could use.

I have looked at Blank Space by Taylor Swift to show the different camera angles.

Extreme long shot

Used so the viewers can see everything in a room or at a place. Can demonstrate wealth (like this shot)

Two Shot

Two shots generally show intimacy between two characters or subjects.

Close Up

A close up makes the subject look bigger, more important and makes the audience focus on something in particular like facial expression.

Medium Close Up

Medium close ups normally make the viewer focus on something/someone or it can withhold information.

Ariel Shot

This shot gives an overview of whats going on. It can make the subjects in it look small, worthless and unwanted.

Low angle

A low angle shot makes the characters look important or superior. It can also put the audience in an inferior position.

Over-The-Shoulder Shot

This can help the viewers to see what another character is seeing or become part of the action/conversation/narrative

Looking at the camera angles in this music video has helped me to understand conventions of music videos and also it has helped me to get an understanding of which camera angles are best in which situations to correspond with the emotion of the narrative.