Individual Video Diary

Film Location (Panoramic View)

Actor Screen Test

After reviewing the different actors to choose from we decided to allow Wojciech (2nd row) to take the role of the singer, this is due to Wojciech having the perfect outfit for our 'alternative' genre we are conveying as well as being the most confident actor from our group.

Experimental practice shots

Over shoulder shot

High angle shot

Slow motion wide angle

Slow motion mid-shot 

Close-up

Extreme close-up

Camera Pan

Slow motion zoom

Specific music video genre analysis

Performance:
Performance music videos mainly focus on the artist and never really include narrative and have a large amount of varied camera angles, the larger proportion of the music video is the artist performing solemnly to the camera being the audience on the wide scale view. The music genre rock seemed to include the performance style the most consistently.
This style of music video is also commonly used when an artist is new, and wants to present their brand identity along with themselves being the main focus.
Examples:




Narrative:
A narrative video can and usually does include some sort of performance aspect. Narrative videos are usually made to convey meaning and may have cut scenes to portray or mirror short films.
Narrative music videos portray a short film that links the lyrics with the images seen on screen.
Narrative music videos commonly express the artist's meaningful lyrics, as seen in Bruno Mars's 'Grenade'.

Lyrics are usually long winded, instead of repetitive in narrative music videos and can convey a certain ethic or message, in this case Bruno Mars captures his feelings in the lyrical narrative and music video.

In this different styled narrative music video, Kasabian emotionally sings about the conflict happening around the world displaying in their music video a scene where they are enduring conflict between two sides, 'I'll tell you what to fear the most' is a commonly used lyric in the song expressing the hate in todays world.

History of music videos

Music videos accompany a piece of music, most commonly a completed song. Modern music videos seem to be primarily made as a use of marketing intended to promote the music and also boost sales.
Which is why some people call the music videos 'promos' due to the fact they are a promotional device. Sometimes music videos are termed short-form music videos in order to distinguish them from full length movies pertaining to music. in the 1980s, the term "rock video" was often used to describe this form of entertainment, although the term is rarely used nowadays.
The earliest music videos were filmed in the mid 1950s however, as early as the 1920s, films by animators such as Oskar Fischinger were accompanied by music and labeled 'visual music'. Which is still mad today by animators such as Walt Disney and seen in kids television  for example 'Tom and Jerry', made in the 1940s, it seems to keep the foundations of the animations and music complementing each other on screen as discovered in the 1920s.
The 1950s and 1960s were the beginning of the common modern music videos we see today and one of the most influential bands at this time was the Beatles. With their first major motion picture 'A Hard Day's Night', the Beatles influenced a vast number of contemporary musicians, and countless subsequent pop and rock group music videos.
In the modern era the key innovationin the development of the modern music video was the ability to video record and the process of editing, along with the development in other related effects, such as chroma-key. This allowed many bands to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply, in comparison to the high costs of using film.
In the 1980s MTV was launched making music videos have an aspect of importance, being watched by thousands the branding, style and meaning of the music video would represent the band. Artists began to use more sophisticated effects, adding a storyline or plot to the music video.

Meeting Minutes and records

Meeting minutes and records:
26th October- Found are film location, became familiar with the equipment and filmed some filler shots.
2nd November- Continued filming our filler shots, planned lip syncing shots.
14th November- Filmed lip syncing shots.
30th November-Continued filming lip syncing shots.

Wojciech took the main role of acting/performing and decided to direct, we both chose to produce/input our ideas and aspirations in order to help us think, but to also know how we both perceive our music video.

Letter to Awolnation

Outfit inspiration

Colour to black and white experiment

Our music video includes the idea of switching or keeping to a black and white theme. We decided to do this as black and white usually looks professional and also conveys the alternative rock style. The forest also complements the black and white filter as there are many shadows and highlights between the trees and sky which creates an atmospheric contrasting feeling.

Planning for the week ahead

Filming dates
-Friday
-Saturday
-Sunday

Filming times
Friday and Saturday short filler filming before 14:00 due to lighting
-Sunday: 10:00-15:00

What to film?
Lip syncing (mostly)
some filler shots

Where?
Forest location

What to bring?
New props
- balloons
- flag
- waterproof clothing and footwear in case of filming in river.

Shot and Lyrics list

Nature Inspiration

This music video is extremely inspirational and creates the atmospheric beauty we wish to incorporate in our music video. Not just the shots but the lighting is very important, however we wish to create a black and white feel during the larger part of our music video. A range of shots and a vast amount of editing is needed to keep the viewer intrigued and to  maintain an exciting music video.
Having analysed the music video I think the shot which includes a fast forward styled zoom should be incorporated into our music video due to the editing technique we can show off whilst also conveying the lyrics 'Maybe I should kill myself'. These lyrics match this shot technique in my opinion as the zoom brings an intense motion which then fixes on the face of the actor in order to represent the emotion of these powerful lyrics. Other shots such as the general singing shots we hope to relate and achieve, meaning close-up shots, wide angle and mid-shots, as these are conventions that are always used in music videos.

Storyboard

Location research images

As we searched for the right location, the photographs show our journey from starting in quite a pedestrian park to then finding an extremely atmospheric forest surrounding, the forest location appeals to us and complements the song as they both convey mysterious depth. This location also allows us to film aspects such as trees, logs and the river in order to create certain effects which will work well in our music video. One being using trees and logs to carve our song and band name in, we could also use the river for a mirror effect or ripples.

Animatic Evaluation

Having experimented with our song and storyboard images we only gave a brief perception of our video and the style of scenery that will be viewed in the video. The animatic vividly shows what kind of shots will appear during certain points of time in the  music video. The on beat editing isn't  complete and we want to have a change in shot on every beat during the final and rough cut, this technique will help the music and visuals complement each other. The angles on the animatic weren't justified as we just wanted to give a certain sense of how our visuals and the music would relate, however we will use multiple and many camera angles during the rough and final cut.

Animatic

Lighting analysis

The lighting in the music video 'R U Mine?' by the Artic Monkeys creates an impacting contrast as the light source directed towards the artists' faces highlights their key features and allows them to stand out due to the difference in brightness and colour. The darkness of the night sky allows a simple background almost as if it's a normal backdrop, I believe this was used due to the Artic Monkeys focusing on re-establishing their style and brand being simple a and alternative, having not released an up to date music video for some time.

Final band logo choice and improvement

We decided to use this as our final band logo and also improve the first model by reducing the tracking of the font. The logo matched the bands' persona being straightforward and representing the black to white gradient we will convey in the music video. The target symbol is an icon that could represent the band and become iconic, we chose the target symbol as it reminds us of a location marker, and location links with the band name 'Hidden'. A logo is important for any band as it is the foundation of their identity and branding.

Chosen track explanation

We decided to choose the track 'Sail' by Awolnation for our music video project as firstly its a song with a good pace and beat to edit to, whilst also having enough lyrics to show off our lip syncing skills. The song is around three minutes long, if need be we can shorten the track by cutting out a verse or the chorus however I think we will have enough footage to cover the whole song time.
The genre was automatically chosen as our group decided rock/alternative style music videos generally work well and if we had to act as the singer in our music video our appearance is suited more to this genre rather than other genres such as hip hop, heavy metal, rap.

Treatment- Sail

The opening shot to my music video will be steady and focus on the sky with an establishing shot, a time capture of the sky will then be fast forward and begin in normal colour however when the first heavy beat is played the images will turn black and white and the camera will no longer be steady, in fact wobble slightly to bring the effect of the beat being powerful.

The camera will then pan slightly to establish the main location being the forest, and zoom in depth to reveal the band, with the use of a wide shot.

The next few shots should include instrumental elements as the symbol is heard it will be seen on camera, close-ups will be used to convey the type of instrument being played.
The verses will construct lyrical meanings and also focus on the band with wide shots and close-ups, every heavy beat should change angle and during the chorus intensity will be conveyed in order to represent and identify the songs intensity.

Props such as balloons and flags will be highlighted during the chorus as the word 'sail' is seen, the props will be notified on beat with the lyrics.

The final shot will see the band leaving the location with emotion and pan to a tree in the distance, slowly zoom in and reveal 'sail' etched into the tree and finally fade into darkness.
The lighting will be mostly natural being outdoors however accompanied with some bright lights to create a contrast and bring the best out of the black and white effect.

Initial plan- Spidergram

Our plan for our initial idea involves a stylized narrative black and white music video the the song 'Sail' by AWOLNATION. The use of the black and white theme will present the music video in a much more professional that is strongly representative of an alternative rock genre. We plan to film it in the woods as that will provide the alternative aspect that we are looking for; as opposed to filming in a studio. The involvement of nature will allow for very interesting shots and framing. Furthermore we plan to work with balloons and flags that will be representative of the actual song and the band. One of the ideas that we are currently not sure on in the group is the use of fire. This is due to the uncertainty of how fire will look when being edited in black and white. Our biggest style inspiration for the outfits of the band are the 'Arctic Monkeys'. This is due to the smart-casual style in which they are dressed. The combination of dark colours as well as the use of denim with smarter trousers makes the band look distinct therefore we plan to dress in a similar fashion as our target group of listeners is similar.

Chosen Track

Music video target audience profile

Our music video will predominantly target  18-28 year-olds who appear to belong in the hipster sub-culture. The sub-culture ideology is the idea of being unique, alternative and against any mainstream groups, we decided to set our location as a forest and set the colour tone to black and white in order to convey that alternative feel we discover from research and studying iconic artists who already convey aspects of our brand, for example Artic Monkeys and Imagine Dragons.

Our band have studied and focused on our target audiences' appearance and we want to relate with our audience therefore choosing to dress similar to our audience and mirroring styles of famous bands such as Artic Monkeys, Kasabian and Vampire Weekend allows us to fit into the stereotypical yet iconic alternative genre.

The dress sense is generally simple and usually a black and white themed, hardly any colour is conveyed and if so it would be minimal. Normal Tees are also common signifying simplicity. Our target audience would most likely shop in Top shop as this style is widely expressed in there clothing range.

Target Audience Profile

Target Audience Profile from freddierussell96

Proposal

Coursework Brief:
We aim to create a music video for an existing music track but with an emphasised style in which we will incorporate after research.
Genre:
Our initial thoughts are to create a band which falls into the alternative/ indie rock category, mirroring bands such as the artic monkeys and the 1975. We believe we will choose the song 'Sail' by Awolnation as we think this song has a good beat to edit to and also the song definitely fits in with the alternative branding.
Specific music video influences:
After having researched multiple music videos, here our some that include aspects that influence:

In the Artic Monkey's video the black and white style appeals to our bands' principles being a typical indie/ alternative rock band, as does the setting in Paramore's music video 'Decode'. The forest surrounding conveys the alternative style we wish to signify in our video.

Initial production job roles:
Director: Freddie
Producer: Wojciech
Sound: Freddie & Wojciech
Editor: Freddie & Wojciech

Megan Trainor Music Video Analysis

            Megan Trainor's music video "It's all about that bass" is a performance type video, displayed in a 1950s style as Megan Trainor and other dancers wear formal clothing giving the impression of a life size doll's house or the lifestyle represented in the film Grease.
The use of colour also contributes to the 1950s feel where vibrant pastel colours are used mostly as a background however are also signified in some props and clothing. The video all in all conveys against most pop branded music videos performed by woman as Mulvey's male gaze is usually adapted however in this case a greater number of the conventions are not seen in this music video, some examples would be formal costume, location and the type of dancing and movement being purposely non-seductive. Also with the use of balloons as a prop the video feels more innocent and meaningful as balloons are commonly used to symbolise celebration and are quite child-like.
In this particular music video many close-up and wide shots are displayed as a mass amount of dancing is captured and a large number of shots focus on Megan Trainor as she is establishing herself due to this being her breakthrough, the first shot seen connotes this as an old film style pin roll opening occurs and we see a close up of the artist. There is one high angle shown as Megan Trainor is laying on a pastel coloured material.
The editing in this music video is quite fast and follows the beat, it also varies and changes from lyrics at times.

Inspiration

Initial and Target audience profile

Our band's target audience is aimed at the 16-21 aged bracket, however would also appeal to anyone that has an interest in the alternative rock genre. Our music video includes 'indie' clothing and a nature themed setting  along with a black and white colour scheme in order to convey the alternative styled convention, our research and inspiration has helped us portray a stereotypical view which represents the alternative genre and helps fall into the category along with other branded artists, such as Artic Monkeys, The 1975, Paramore and Vampire Weekend.

Director's case study- Nigel Dick

Nigel Dick is an English music video director mostly known for directing the extremely successful music videos,  Oasis - “Wonderwall;” Britney Spears - “...Baby One More Time;” Guns N' Roses - “Welcome to the Jungle”.
The music video 'Wonderwall' particularly appeals to me due to the simplified yet effective performance based video created effectively due to the use of clever editing.
The black and white style is an influence as me and my group want to convey this style in our own work, Nigel Dick also used a colour contrast in this particular video, highlighting the acoustic guitar. Giving the impression Nigel Dick wanted to illustrate the importance of the acoustic guitar and symbolising the iconic and famous rift played in the song "Wonderwall".
Being one of Oasis' first huge and successful songs the music video needed to portray the bands brand and style, Nigel Dick doing so by capturing the emotionless yet new and unique performance and sound of Oasis.
The black and white style can be inferred the Oasis brand but can also symbolise their personalities being simple and nothing extravagant.

Student music video analysis

This performance based music video by A2 students use a green screen in order to create a sparse white background, contrasting against the Chroma key whilst also allowing focus on the performance.
The first camera shot used is a close-up of the guitar being played which is in sync and on beat with the song. The students also use effective lip syncing throughout the video which is needed in order to convey the performance genre.
The vibrant paint colours are set as a theme and a cut out filter used during a frame in frame shot as if the girl is watching the band perform.

Goodwin's theory in our music video

At this point in time we know we wish interpret certain aspects of Goodwin's  theory, the first being representing the lyrics with visuals on the screen. This is a common convention which helps illustrate the narrative and highlights specific words and meanings.
We also wish to incorporate Star Iconography in our music video by conveying a specific indie brand, the video mainly focuses on the singer whilst we also want to include the song name and band logo in the music video, we our thinking of carving them into trees or logs at our chosen location.

Goodwin's theory

Goodwin suggests that particular key features are commonly seen in music videos, I believe his theory is accurate. Andrew Goodwin spent years analysing music videos whilst putting together features to see if they reflect society.
Feature 1:
Relationship between lyrics and visuals on screen.
-illustrating
-amplifying
-contradicting
-in time with music

 Feature 2:
Genres of music video/conventions.
-RnB, dance sequence
-Heavy Metal, head banging
-Hip Hop, singing to the camera


Feature 3: Artist close ups.
-Branding
-To establish the artist
-Celebrity culture


Feature 4:
Star Iconography
-Branding
-Style
-Brand values/unique selling points

Feature 5:
Voyeurism
-Being watched
-Nudity
-Exhibitionism

Feature 6:
Intertexuality
-Other music videos
-Films

Music video analysis and inspiration

I chose to analyse this music video by the Artic Monkeys specifically due to the consistent  grayscale colour scheme, we intend to use this effect due to the professional crisp look you get in black and white something colour may not achieve and also as we plan to make our video ominous and quite dark, which all in all fits our song choice 'Sail'.
This music video  uses black and white to capture the 'Artic Monkey' branding style whilst also using this technique to gain high contrasts from things such as the fire and headlights, whereas in colour these effects wouldn't be as out standing.
Artic Monkeys commonly use performance in there music videos, and from 'R U Mine' a chilled karaoke style is conveyed at the beginning of the video, capturing each heavy beat with a air drum solo in the bands car on route to their gig, this editing technique makes the viewer join in the air drum solo and creates a memorable rhythmic beat which is extremely catchy. In the later stages of this music video the band our united and begin a live performance, which could infer the band live and breathe music due to their non-stop attitude.
Our bands' style may be influenced by indie/alternative rock bands as we  are basing our genre in this area, and in order to fit in the market it would be a good idea to mirror popular rock bands.

Music video screenshot analysis 3

Music video screenshot analysis 2

Music video screenshot analysis 1

Performance music video

A performance music video iconically displays a bands style or brand, where the artist sings and looks towards the camera. Many popular artists have begun with a performance music video due to the perception of their style they want to convey to the media and viewers.

The White Stripes' performance uses stop motion in this video to convey their personal, iconic sound they create, the stop motion music is in sync with the stopping and starting imagery making the tune that bit more catchy.

Vampire Weekend explore and exploit the limitations of the format to create narrative interest during their performance music video, the video is hampered with repetition however displaying a different motive every time the band fly back and fourth on the dolly, seeing the dolly takes away some of the mystique from the video. The band become part of the shoot, which makes them feels less remote and more engaged.

Abstract music videos

The conventions commonly displayed in abstract music videos are the use of collective images shown unrelated to the music with also the band rarely seen. Abstract music videos also bring many talking points as people attempt to discover the videos meaning.

Narrative music videos

Narrative music videos portray a short film that links the lyrics with the images seen on screen.
Narrative music videos commonly express the artist's meaningful lyrics, as seen in Bruno Mars's 'Grenade'.

Lyrics are usually long winded, instead of repetitive in narrative music videos and can convey a certain ethic or message, in this case Bruno Mars captures his feelings in the lyrical narrative and music video.

In this different styled narrative music video, Kasabian emotionally sings about the conflict happening around the world displaying in their music video a scene where they are enduring conflict between two sides, 'I'll tell you what to fear the most' is a commonly used lyric in the song expressing the hate in todays world.

Band logo experimentation

I started to design some logos in Adobe Photoshop, from my research I noticed the band name was commonly displayed and used as the stimulus of the logo, so I decided in all my logos to use the name 'Hidden Empire' which I created and use it as the main attraction in each logo.
I did this by firstly making the each font bold and simple to read in order for the text to inform and strike the audience. I decided to use the cross-hair shape due to it being a simple yet visually pleasing whilst also acting as a location sign relating to the 'Hidden' aspect of the band name.

Logo research

During my time researching band logos I found most logos to mainly consist of text displaying the bands name in a particular style. Most text based logos distort or change certain letters such as the 'Kiss' logo which changes the 's' to look like lightning bolts, this also gives the brand name personality.

Some logos, such as the Rolling Stones logo uses an iconic image without text, these logos are particularly memorable and usually also symbolises the band. The tongue is animated and uses solid colours, this is due to the logo having to be simple yet effective, the highlights also leave a glossy feel and the tongue being stuck out gives a rock-and-roll impression to the band.

Gorillaz- Clint Eastwood music video

In the Gorrilaz' first single 'Clint Eastwood' a short film-like narrative is interpreted, the iconic and very different characters are introduced during the music video as if every Gorrillaz music video would be an episode of a Tv series. The main vocalist took the character of 2-D who seems extremely emotionless and oblivious to all thats happening around him. The drummer's character Russel is diplayed as possessed as an 'immortal' spirit takes over his actions and begins to rap also saying meaningful lyrics that contradicts 2-D's chorus and lyrics. Noodle the main guitarist is seen as generally quite upbeat and happily kills off the evil gorillas which can also give Noodle the hero image. Murdoc the bassist seems mysterious and as if he wants 2-D's star persona as we see Murdoc first laughing then again stealing a shot whilst 2-D is singing. The close-up angle is mainly used in most shots to catch each characters image and personality however when Russel's rap spirit is released alot of wide angles are used to connote the enormity of the creature also linking with his lyrics 'panoramic view'. I believe there is also some intertexualality in this music video due to the recognition of similarities from Michael Jackson's Thriller music video, the gorillas are seen breaking through the ground as do the monsters in thriller, whilst the iconic dance moves from thriller also seemed in use by the gorillas, the moonwalk being most noticable.

Kasabian- Shoot the Runner music video

       

Kasabiansʼ Shoot The Runner is a play on a conventional indie rock band music video, it uses the normal codes and conventions by having the band play and perform the song during the music video, however 21st century technologies have been used to twist this code and convention by using animation to animate the members and instruments. This music

video is a personal favourite of mine, the indie-rock band creates a pop art-like narrative whilst the explosions of paint burst from the instruments in sync with the loud notes that arae played. The mood of the song is presented with the emotion of colours, the red, blue, orange and purple displayed infront of the basic black background makes the colours feel even more vibrant.

The editing to this video features quick cuts and slow frame rates during the slow tempo parts of the music video. The camera shots used in the video are mainly close-ups however a wide angle shot is used when the whole band and set is first seen. Some shots are created by hand to signify the mood of the song which is fast and lively.

Welcome!

Welcome to my A2 media course where i will be studying music videos, researching and analysis them whilst also producing my own music video along with other relating products.