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.