Planning Evidence for Times and Organisation of Film Shoots

I made a table to show what days everybody is available.

Individual Response to the Idea

When we Started filming I was really happy with everything from the song choice to the storyboard. After thinking it through I think that the narrative is not very interesting. Right now it is about a couple having a fight and then making up which I think is quite cliché. Instead I had an idea of a woman dying and the man feeling guilty or sad about it by her bed side until she has passed away. I think this idea has more suspense. We will be filming again tomorrow so we will discuss this idea and if we do go ahead with it I think it will be better. All members of the group are not able to come but due to availability of the actors we have no choice but to film ASAP. It has to be done fast as the lighting outside is changing due to weather conditions so we need to film fast and start editing.

Links to Blogs

Here are links to all other blogs..

School Media Blog:  http://yr13musicvideo.blogspot.com/

Group Blog:              http://leo-blue.blogspot.com/

AS Media Blog:        http://coombe-media12e2.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

Star Image Presentation - Paolo Nutini

Star image paolo nutini

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Leo Blue Logo

This is the logo for our artist. I played around with different star sign images but this one looked perfect and we all decided to use this

.

Record Label Logo

This is the final logo. Zaq drew it again and i edited it.

Fraser's Costume

Fraser was dressed in dark blue skinny jeans, with a dark blue jumpers, navy Converse trainers, with a black jacket. He was dressed in a typical Indie costume which was perfect for today as the weather was cold and we were outside but at the same time it fitted well with the video.

Casting Decisions

As a group we all decided Fraser was perfect for the role in our music video. His style of clothing and charisma fitted the Indie theme.

Filming - Day 1

We had some problems with the tape as Joe had the wrong one so we were delayed at the start as we had to go Curry's/PC World to go buy tapes. There were 3 tapes each with 60 mins each which we all chipped in for. We then went to our first location 'The Albert' which is a small pub near Richmond Park.

Here we filmed for the lines 'I'm going from bar to bar'. This pub was chosen as it was close to one of our other locations and it had a classic homely pub feel to it which is something we were looking for. We then went to our second location which was Richmond Park - Kingston Gate.

We filmed in several places in the grounds, some of the actor in the narrative and some of the performance section of the song where he sings. I think we had a very productive day, the weather was gloomy which gave a depressing effect which is what we needed and there was enough natural light to film with. We will be filming again next week Tuesday with the male and female actor too.

Record Label

Progress on editing:

Artist Logo

Mahida and I brainstormed a number of logos for our artist and we chose to have a realistic lion in blue shading as it is unusual and fits the Indie theme. Joe will be using photoshop to come up with this logo.

Record Label

It wasn't hard to come up with a name for our record label, but we all liked the name CYBER which came from a line of thought from the series Doctor Who. We weren't sure whether to use 'records' or 'productions' but CYBER RECORDS sounds better so we stuck with that. Zaq is he most artistic member of our group so we gave him a pen and paper and asked him to draw what came to his head.

This is the Doctor Who Cyberman.

This is what Zaw came up with.

We will now have to play around with this and edit it to come up with a logo for our record label which I will do.

Artist Name

We had to think of a new name for our existing artist Paulo Nutini. Here you can see all the names we brainstormed. We then all wrote down which once we preferred the most and finally we all decided that LEO BLUE was a good name because it sounds mysterious and unusual. Indie artists usually have just their first names, their full name, or a stage name that represents them as an individual. I think this name fits that brief, it is unusual but could also pass as an actual name.

Costume Planning

There are certain costumes which are typical of our genre. Below i will be highlighting typical outfits which we will using. They wont be there exact ones but these are going to be our starting points when dressing our actors. They are either natural colours or black and white. The actor will be wearing either skinny jeans or chinos, dark t shirts or printed long sleeved shirts, cardigans or knitted jumpers with either trainers or boat shoes. These sorts of clothing are typical of an Indie artists and its a convention from music videos which we really should stick to.

Allocated Tasks

As a group we all picked out tasks that needed to be done and chose which ones we as individuals thought we would be good at or found most interesting. We then allocated around 3 to each person and are using the information as part of our research and planning for the music video. This is what we decided.

Some More Ideas

We are still coming up with new ideas which is bringing us closer to our storyboard.

Codes and Conventions

Paulo Nutini is a very unique and individual artist, and I think that’s why people have so many opinions of what genre he specifically fits into. After a lot of consideration I think he best fits into the Indie genre. Here are some brief codes and conventions which are commonly seen in Indie music videos.

•   Shows artist or band throughout the video
• Some special effects – often quite arty and creative so the video is more symbolic to its lyrics
• Calm setting
• Sometimes black and white/grey scale or very bright depending on the tempo
•  Has a narrative which is  always simple
•  Use of close ups
•  Performance of the artist or band itself as it shows them to be different and talented
•  High usage of crane shots but there is a variety of different shots also
•  Dark and mystic locations  garages, warehouses and streets etc.
•  Instruments are shown
• The actors or artists will wear dark casual clothes – skinny jeans, t-shirts, denim with longish hair
• Has longer shots than rock music so the editing is not as fast paced
• A lot of use of lighting – dark lit or dim or just focusing on the band or artist

We can use these codes and conventions to come up with our own music video. It is not necessary that we use them all as some artists often try and go against these. However it will help us when story-boarding.

Contacting the Artist

We have tried to contact Paolo Nutini several times asking for permission to make an educational based music video using his song. He has not yet got back to use but we will carry on trying.

Initial Planning Evidence

We have started coming up with ideas we could use in our music video. Zaq drew the pictures on a storyboard.

Music Video Chosen

We have finally chosen our music video. There was a lot of songs to choose from but we all decided that we liked the artist Paolo Nutini and had a choice between two of his songs, 'Rewind' and 'Jenny don't be hasty' and ended up going with 'Rewind'. The genre is pop rock which i think is a genre you can play around with a lot. Anyways, here's the official music video for the song.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is the reference to another text. The music video is often described as postmodernism. We often see music videos often referring back to existing texts to get the viewer’s attention and recognition. However, it is not always recognised by all audiences but increases the viewer’s pleasure if then do make the reference the artist is making through the promo.

John Steward said that visual reference in music videos can come from a range of sources such as cinema, art, photography and fashion. A good example of this is in Madonna – Material Girl where she makes cinematical referencing drawing upon diamonds are a girl’s best friend’ through music video. Her video has a clear link to ‘Gentleman Prefer Blondes’ (1953), but the reference isn’t just towards Merlyn Monroe, but to the typical Hollywood looks. However, it can be argued that Madonna often imitates Monroe and makes reference to her often in her music promos.

History of Music Video

history of music video -

Case Study: Felix Gary Gray

Felix Gary Gray is an American music video and film director. He was born in New York and raised in LA. Known for his work in the 90’s, he was well known for his work with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre ‘Ntural Born Killaz’ and Outkast ‘Ms. Jackson’. He also worked with other artists such as Tupac and Stevie Wonder.  By 2000, he has moved from the music industry and into the film industry. He was well known for his hit remake of the film ‘The Italian Job’ staring Charlize Theron and Mark Wahlberg. He also directed ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ and ‘A Man Apart’.

OutKast - Ms. Jackson - In the video there is great use of editing. Through effects, the animals seem to be part of the song nodding along to it as back up singers`. Here, Gray has used iconic images to amplify the songs meaning of relationships within the family. The message of the song is that there is light at the end of every tunnel - a personal meaning to OutKast.

3 Key Music Videos That Mean A Lot To Me

1. Nicki Minaj - Fly 

Reason: It`s so inspirational! The song itself and the images to go with it have a deeper meaning than you think when you first watch it. It`s one of those videos that I can watch over and over again and still not get bored. Also i just love this song!

2. Evanescence - Bring me to life

Reason: I`m always open to listen to several genres of music but i never seem to like a rock side of the industry. However this song has a deep meaning and i like songs like that. The video itself puts you on edge was you watch it, the suspense of it is what i like. I never understand music videos like this but this one is very unique and that`s why i like it.

3. Bruno Mars - Lazy Song 

Reason: This song is so catchy! The dance is also really funny. but i like this because its all one shot, a bit like videos from Ok Go like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJKythlXAIY i like how a video can be amazing without hardly any editing. Usually its the editing that makes a video what it is but this just shows that music videos can be that good without it.

Star Image Presentation on Rihanna

This is our group presentation on star image on Rihanna.
Rihanna[1]

Applying Goodwin's Theory of Music Video to Adele - Chasing Pavements

I will be analysing ‘Chasing Pavements’ by Adele.  It was directed by Mathew Cullen of production company Motion Theory and earned a 2008 MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Choreography. The genre is soul or blues but could be classified as pop. Soul singers use a variety of tones from gentle and smooth, to raspy and harsh, in order to properly convey this range of emotions which is exactly what Adele does in her songs and so the music would suggest it is from the soul genre. This comes from Roland Barthes’ theory of the ‘grain of voice’ which is a trademark sound that immediately sets the artist apart from other singers. However it shows many codes and conventions from pop music videos.

This video holds a lot of evidence from Goodwin’s music video analysis. He suggests that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics that run through the music video. The codes and conventions of a pop music video are that there is usually a sex appeal of the main artists. This video does not do that, however it focuses on other conventions such as no performance and only have one location. There is always a clear narrative. Adele does not always have a clear narrative in her videos. You sometimes have to think deeper into what iconic images represent.

Goodwin also says that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, illustrative, amplifying or contradicting. I believe that in this case, the lyrics are illustrated through the visuals of the video at some points. For example when she is leaves the car where her partner is representing her leaving the relationship. We also see her walking on her own which shows how she is lonely. I think the narrative of the video represents her relationship. The couple in the car crash come to life. The camera angle changes as an aerial view which suggests the song is moving towards the chorus or bridge.  The couple re-enact their relationship of how they met. They seem happy at first but then they have problems which they resolve. In spite of all the dancing and happiness at that point in the video, the bodies are lying there motionless on the pavement when they are wheeled away in different directions. This represents Adele’s relationship of her and her partner moving away from each other. The setting is at a car crash which suggests that the song is going to be sad before we even hear it.

As well as the lyrics, there is a relationship between music and visuals, illustrative, amplifying or contradicting. It helps the audience to identify the pop genre of the video as is just the artist singing with no performance, just Adele and the narrative helping us to relate to the song. However, the artist is in one outfit, with the same hair and makeup is common in the Soul genre. Her style is old fashioned and unique and shows the meaning of her lyrics and songs in a deeper manner than the stereotypical pop videos where the narrative is based on the sex appeal of the characters in the video.  The use of slow shots and dull natural light can embellish the real meaning of the song. This is by creating a sense of gloom and dreariness when the lyrics are portraying sadness. We also get this sad feeling by hearing the tone of music which gives us a generally sad feeling or mood as we listen to it.

Goodwin suggests that the demands of the record label will include the need for a lot of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work creating a visual style for that artist. We see this as she is mostly shot from her upper torso and face using close ups. Her voice in the song has a very powerful quality throughout which we see in all her music videos. This sort of represents her character in a way as trying to be a strong and powerful and independent woman. This contradicts her videos as they are sad. It represents the star through use of iconography; her style appears very elegant and mature with clean cut hair and makeup going into an old fashioned look. She is a role model to younger girls as a strong and successful artist. The lighting places a crucial part in this music video. It highlights the emotion of the song and the style of the artist, so she stands out from the background. This is her visual motif of black and white videos. We see this in all her videos and they are all emotional and about love, where the black and white shows connotations of no hope.

There is frequently a notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body according to Goodwin. This occurs in the video as there is several extreme close ups of the artist showing emotion when not signing and she frequently makes eye contact with the camera. This makes the audience feel like they are involved in how the artist is feeling and so will feel closer to her creating a rapport between the audience and the artist. Adele is a good example of how star image is created. The inspiration to this video is found to be by an incident Adele had with a former boyfriend. One morning, after finding out he had cheated on her, she went to the bar he was at and punched him in the face. After being thrown out, Adele walked down the street alone and thought to herself, "What is it you're chasing? You're chasing an empty pavement.” And from then she wrote this song. This shows how her songs actually have a personal meaning which is unique these days to artists as they follow what the record label want but Adele is unique and I don’t think there is an artist out there who is quite like her.

I think there is intersexual reference to Amy Winehouse who had a lot of videos similar to Adele’s. Her videos were usually black and which and were usually about love and cheating. Her genre was soul and blues as well.

The music video is narrative-based. It tells a clear story and makes you think about its deeper meaning. There are elements with are concept-based. However, narrative in songs is never really complete. The story can be fragmented. They only suggest its meaning leaving the viewer with the desire to watch it again and again to catch what they missed out.

I think this video is a good example to show an example of Goodwin’s theory in a music video. Every part of the song and its video helps us to understand it and by looking at Goodwin’s theory we understand why images are being shown and the reasons behind everything.

Kate Nash 'Foundations' Video Analysis

I worked with Sarah to look at a music video. We made an analysis of the video and presented it. The purpose was to show how we can learn more during the course and evolve our understanding of music videos. 

• Playing the game sets up the narrative that they are together but they don’t look happy to suggest the relationship isn’t working
• The bright happy colours contradict/juxtapose with the unhappy relationship
• She is half out of the shot sometimes which suggests she is close to leaving the relationship
• The lyrics have a deep relationship to the mise-en-scene, as the lyrics are portrayed through images for example “wind you up” a wind up toy is shown “let go” hands let go”
• Flowers in a beer bottle, reflects the idea of trying to make the best out of the relationship
• Her style is shown through the costume and the mise-en-scene
• Objects used to symbolize their relationship e.g. toothbrush and socks
• Happy colours build expectations of happy relationship which brings a contrast with the lyrics and real message of the song and also brings out light heartedness of the song
• Socks moving away from each other and back reflects their relationship making up and breaking up
• Shot on stairs to symbolize her inability to leave and that she can’t go back
• Competition between them shown through arm wrestling, again following the idea of  their relationship as a game
• Cake- symbolizes happy families and warms but they obviously aren’t. the idea that it’s a façade trying to be happy but it’s not working
• Boxing gloves the shadow the camera angle and the long shot suggests the idea she is fighting with herself, as to the decision of whether to stay or whether to go
• The camera is quite shaky and moves quite a lot, which suggests the realism of not only the relationship but also of Kate Nash as an artist showing she is not a glamorous, glossy artist she is more indie
• Changing colours represent the changing of her mind, torn as whether to leave or whether to stay
• Teddy represents comfort she is not getting from him
• Positive lyrics to angry lyrics after second chorus
• Anger building as the video shows couple annoying each other
• Contrast between them shown through healthy and unhealthy food
• Photograph shows how things used to be and bringing a contrast as to how they are now as a couple
• Objects separate e.g. watches and socks to show the couple separating
• Props seem to be from a different era reflects Kate Nash’s style and also the idea that the couple is stuck in the past
• Cassette their story together
• Camera low angle shot of suitcase to emphasize that she is leaving
• Finally leaving she looks back for the last time
• She walks out of the door and the frame showing her leaving for good
• Bright colours trying to be happy but it’s a façade
• Evokes sympathy from the audience
• Literal images of lyrics brings out humor which is represented in the lyrics e.g. “you said I must eat so many lemons cause I am so bitter”

Little Red Riding Hood 2

The task now was to remove random stickers off the sheets to leave you with half the sticky notes. The aim of this is to show that you can still have a disjunctive music video that works even with a fragmented narrative doesn't tell a complete story and a fragmented narrative that most music videos use. This reflects Goodwin's theory. The gaps in the middle of the random shots can be filled with performance or edited shots according to the genre of the music video. Not all music videos follow this pattern, some are all narrative and some are all performance. By using tecchniques such as space, frame and movement as discussed by Vernallis, you do not always need a very detailed storyboard. 

Little Red Riding Hood

 

I am trying to create a disjunctive music video in style by using the ideas and events in Little Red Riding Hood through story-boarding. 

What I Learnt

I learnt a lot from the transition from AS to A2. I learnt more camera skills and editing skills. I had more management over time keeping skills. I also felt i learnt to work better within a team as well as coming up with my own ideas. I feel i broadened my ideas. 

Short Synopsis of Preliminary Task

The music video starts with the actor on the telephone box statue, at each beat moving up the the next telephone box. We then see the actor on a roof top. The frame will include the blue sky and some building giving a positive and optimistic impression. The actor will then start clapping and clicking along to the beat. When the whistling starts int he song he should whistle along to it. He should then start singing directly into the camera to interact with the audience. It then moved on to him on the riverside where he shows the audience the river. It skips in parts to the signs were we see people holding the signs. The end has a performance element where the actor plays an air guitar.  Its ends with people holding up signs with positive phrases on them.

The Preliminary Task

The task was to design and create a music video for a song of your choice.

Roles in the Preliminary Task

Fasial - Camera
Abdur and Ramish - Prepare resources
Adam - Acting in the music video
Shazmaa - Story-boarding
Ishma - Editing

Preparation for Preliminary Task

To prepare for filming, we had to organise a time for use to all be free. We filmed before, during and after our lesson time. This gave us 4 and a half hours to film. We had to have all the resources ready which meant to have everything printed and the camera charged. We then filmed our music video.

Song Choice for Preliminary Task

We wanted a song that was unusual, so we looked into the indie genre. As all of us were fond of One Republic, we looked through their songs and chose Good Life. We also considered "OK GO' and 'Magnetic Man', However we felt this song had a more broader scope for an interesting music video.

Resources Needed for Preliminary Task

The following resources will be needed:

• Cardboard for signs
• Paper and Blu-Tack for signs to be printed and stuck onto cardboard
• Camera
• Tripod

Locations for Preliminary Task

The locations are as follows:

• Kingston river side
• Kingston river side on paving
• Rooftops
• High street
• Telephone box sculpture 

Costumes for Preliminary Task

The character should be dressed in casual/indie type of clothing which is a typical convention for indie music videos. The actor will provide these clothing with 2 changes of clothes.

Preliminary Task - One Republic Good Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uNoRmskg_Y

To what extent can Goodwin/Mulvey’s theory of voyeurism be applied to music video?

Voyeurism comes from Freud and is used to explain the gendered pleasure and can be used to sell the artist's music through sex appeal. For a male, it refers to the idea of looking in order to gain sexual pleasure. There is a powerful controlling gaze at the objectified female of display. This idea can be closely linked to the idea of scopophilia, which is the desire for looking. Most music videos we watch will create this desire to look. A good example of this can be from Robert Palmer, addicted to love.

Goodwin argues that the female on display will often be objectified through a combination of camera work and editing of fragmented shots emphasising a sexualised treatment of the star. An example of this is Beyoncé – Single Ladies where she is showing herself to make a statement by the way she dances and shows off her body. The low angles point upwards enticing men to look.

Females are also used in male artist’s videos with the use of dancers flattering the male star. However the male body is also on display such as in Lady Gaga’s video Born This Way we see the male body on display and women in control. She also dresses in a way that encourages men to look and here is no problem for her to do that as women are used to being looked at in that kind of way. In Nicki Minaj’s video Superbass, there are topless men as well as girls showing off their body which sells her as a star image. She uses men in her video to entice female viewers as well as women to draw in male viewers which will increase her views and promote her as an artist.

Laura Mulvey says that the camera is the male’s view, so all the camera sees is what it wants the men to see. Women get used to the male controlling gaze and women learn to be looked at. This is another way for an artist to sell her image to the audience.

A good example of voyeurism is in Miley Cyrus's Can't Be Tamed, for instance, when the video shows crowds looking in on her as a caged animal, parodying the public's voyeurism of her as a famous person, or to enhance the message of the lyrics. This shows both Goodwin and Mulvey’s theories of voyeurism.

The idea of voyeurism is also evident in music video through ‘screens within screens’ with characters shown watching performers on television or on webcams etc. as on a video camera or CCTV.