Here are some test shots that me and Brad went out to take today. Generally they went okay, however there are some notable issues that we must address for our final video. Firstly, some of the shots were shaky, as I cannot use a tripod for the walking shots. This can be fixed slightly by holding the camera with the strap fully pulled on my neck, so it stays steadier during shooting. Another thing that should be addressed is how the starting shot is done- in our practice shot you couldn't see the crossroads clearly and it didn't seem to be obvious that our protagonist took one of two paths.
However, I did like some of our shots from behind trees, bushes etc as they provided a break from the lipsyncing and increased our shot variety. I also liked the reverse footage, as it seemed to work well with the part of the music we wanted it to go with, which is pleasing as it means our song choice was justified.
Overall there is a lot to improve on but hopefully we can learn from this and improve for our final video.
Me and Brad have interviewed a small group of students in our year about our ideas for our music video and our storyboard. Below are some of the questions and responses from them.
Question 1 - Do you think our narrative is easy to understand?
Student 1 : Yes, but I hope it comes through in the music video
Student 2 : Yes, it's clear and is a good concept
Student 3 : No, but if done right it could work
Question 2 - Do you think the song suits our concept?
Student 1 : Yes, performance wouldn't really work with the song so I think it works well
Student 2 : Yes, the part where it rewinds fits with the end chorus
Student 3 : Yes, the lyrics suit your concept
Question 3 - Are there any improvements necessary to make the narrative clearer?
Student 1 : Make sure that the crossroads is very clear in the opening shot
Student 2 : The mugging should be very clear and action packed
Student 3 : You should try to make sure the location and the crossroads are defined and fit the song
Question 4 - Do you think our location fits our concept?
Student 1 : Yes, the crossroads is clear and the path is very long.
Student 2 : No, I think a more urban area should be used
Student 3 : Yes, I think an urban area would be too difficult to film in.
Question 5 - Overall, do you think there are any other changes we need to make?
Student 1 : I wouldn't say so, after we see the first draft there may be changes to be made
Student 2 : Make sure the protagonist suits the music style you have chosen
Student 3 : No, everything seems good to go.
Overall, this focus group gave good insight into our current concept for our music video. I think our pre-production and concept is nearly ready to be created, and these 3 students seem to agree with me. We will definitely take their suggestions into account, especially making sure that the crossroads and opening shot is clear and visible and making sure our protagonist suits the music style. I think we will begin shooting very soon and hopefully come back with more feedback after our first draft is complete
Concept
We will be producing a music video for this song, along with a digipack and other pieces of promotional material for our artist.
Narrative
Our music video will center around the key theme of choice. Our protagonist will, in the beginning of the video, be stood at a crossroads, where he will take the right path. This path will prove to be a bad decision, as shown when he trips over, and then further down gets mugged. We are then shown the protagonist rewinding time, until he returns back to his original position, where he picks the other path.
Location(s)
The music video will be shot in one primary location, which is a nearby nature reserve which has the exact crossroads we were looking for. The crossroads will be used to show the characters choice. The location is also rural enough to provide area's for the protagonist to trip, whilst being urban enough to make the mugging viable.
Pace
The song is quite slow paced during verse's, so we have chosen to make the bad occurrences happen during the much faster chorus's, as it will fit the song better. The end chorus will be used for the rewind, as it is the fastest part of the song
Colour/Tone
The video will be shot in standard colour, however if I feel it needs a more cinematic look or doesn't look vibrant enough I will colour correct the footage to make the video look as visually appealing as possible.
Mise-on-scene
The mise-on-scene in our video will not be too extensive, as a key part of the music video is making the protagonist seem ordinary. The muggers will be wearing tracksuit bottoms and a hoody, to hopefully show the danger they pose. A knife will also be used to show the threat the protagonist is under.
Filming
Our video will be shot with a DSLR, the Canon 600D. This is my own personal camera, which I am using because I know how to use it effectively and can use custom settings to tailor the video to how we want it. The image quality will be 1080p 24 fps, which is extremely cinematic and is the fps used by professional films.
Editing
Our editing will be done on Sony Vegas Pro. This is a solid editing program which will allow us to easily add in the effects, such as slow-motion and reverse, which we will be using in our video to create an interesting visual experience
Target Audience
Our music video's target audience will be male and female's from the ages 16-20, as this is the general indie artist's target audience, which we hope our music video will appeal to with the strict all narrative theme we are going with. We also think because the video represents something and has an underlying meaning
, fans of the genre will enjoy this as it isn't like all the mainstream mainly dancing videos.
Today after looking at various possible locations around both of our local areas, Brad and I went to have a look around the area where Brad found his locations. We eventually decided that the place we found, which was right next to some of our previous possible locations, is perfect for our concept as the crossroads are very clear and quite secluded like we wanted in order to fit with our video, also the area is a short walk from school, meaning we can easily get our actors and props to the location with little hassle, and reshoots if necessary will be easy to organize.
Both me and Brad have been looking around our local area for a crossroads which is suitable to shoot our music video at. Below are some of the places we found.
We are going to make a choice after looking through all the photos and working out which is most practical.
The costume and mise-on-scene in our music video will be extremely useful in portraying some of the ideas we want to show in the video.
The key mise-on-scene is the crossroads, which will show the key theme of our video, which is choice.
Example Crossroads
The two paths splitting from each other is key, as it shows the protagonists choice between two paths in his life, and is a good use of symbolism in our video
Another piece of mise-on-scene we will need to use is a knife- as the protagonist is going to be mugged. This is to show the danger that he is in, as he has chosen the wrong path in his life and has been made to pay the unfortunate consequences. The knife will have to look threatening, and show the attacker as a great danger.
Protagonists Costume
Our protagonist will look as normal as possible- he will be a teenager, and look just like a normal member of society. This is to show our protagonist as somebody who is like the target audience- a normal person who these bad things are happening to simply because he made the wrong choice. He will be wearing jeans and a hoody, and be very plain and average.
Mugger(s) Costume
The mugger(s) will have to look rough and dangerous, and look like they pose an immediate threat to our protagonist through their costume. They will be wearing joggers and a hoody, with the hood up, as this is the stereotypical representation in society of somebody who would mug someone, so we are sticking to what the viewer would expect.
Time of Filming/ Lighting
In our film we will be filming in the daytime, with as much light as possible. This is because it makes our film look a lot better visually, we can use a lot of different camera shots and angles which wouldn't be possible in the dark. Whilst the mugging would probably be better in the dark we feel it will still be effective as it is more symbolic, therefore the light will be a lot more useful for showing the mugging.
Our music video opens with a fade into a shot of the protagonistfrom behind, showing two paths he can take. Theshot then pans around, showing theprotagonist's indecisionas to which path to take. The song now begins, as he chooses to take the right path, and begins walking, whilst lip syncing. Some shot variety will be used here, with differentangles and zooms used.
Around halfway through the first verse some people will appear in the background, alsomiming the lyrics.
When thefirst chorus hitstheprotagonistwill trip, and aslow-mo effect will be used to make the trip look more impressive, with lots of different shotsof the fall, including close-ups and mid range shots.
After the first chorus theprotagonistwill brush themselves off and continue walking, but now walking with a slight limp. The verse will continue and the protagonistwill keep going as in the first verse. However the people walking behind him will now have problems, one will trip over as theprotagonistdid and the other will try to help him, they will then be left behind.
When the second chorus hits the protagonist will be mugged by two hooded people, who will leave him injured in the road. Anoverhead closeupwill be shown of the protagonist.
When the chorus stops, the character will be shown closing his eyes with a closeup and things will start to rewind, showing the mugging, trip and walking backwards, until the character finally reaches the crossroads again, where the original starting shot will be shown again, but this time theprotagonist will choose the other path, and we see him walking off at the end of the song.
This below is the storyboard that me and Brad created and then Brad digitalized using PhotoShop for better clarity than a scanned image. To do this Brad scanned in the image and then recreated the shapes within PhotoShop, doing this also allowed there to be slight improvements to the storyboard.
The first code and convention I will discuss is the tendency of indie music videos to use live performance in their music videos. An immediate example of this is the Arctic Monkeys breakout song, "I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor', which is all performance.
Clearly this convention is used to show the indie artists passion for performing and the fact that they are in it for the music- not for the fame that typically more mainstream artists are in it for. It also shows they can actually play their own music- making them seem homegrown and not manufactured, like many mainstream artists.
Often both live performance and narrative are used, with the narrative breaking up the nonstop performance, as sometimes being strictly performance can make the music video seem dull.
Performance can also show that the band are skilled at what they do- seeing them performing seemingly live may attract an indie audience as they like to see that their favorite band can perform live.
We will probably not use performance in our music video, as it doesn't suit the style of the song we have chosen and we feel that an all narrative based music video will work more effectively
2 - Narrative
Many indie music videos may use an entirely narrative based music video. A good example of this is "Danny, Dakota and the Wishing Well" by A Silent Film, which is completely narrative focused.
Narrative is a convention used by an extremely wide range of music videos, as it can be applied to many different circumstances and artist images. A narrative video can be very memorable, and may, in many indie music video's cases, provide a message for the audience to decipher. It is a good way of making a music video stand out, as if you can do something fresh and never seen before it will guarantee interest, even if the actual song isn't very good. People who either haven't heard of the artist or dislike their music can still appreciate a good narrative focused music video, as they tell a story and aren't straight up performance, attracting an indie audience.
We will be using narrative as the key part of our music video, as it is entirely narrative based. Our video will also try to send the viewer a message, and leave them wondering exactly what happened. Hopefully this will make it stand out from the crowd.
3- Mise- on- scene
Mise-on-scene is another crucial part of an indie music video. An example of an indie music video with good mise-on- scene is 'Cousins' by Vampire Weekend, which utilises props to portray the lyrics of the song
Many artists in the indie-rock genre have a very retro look, such as Parma Violets. This is to distinguish them from the mainstream, and make them seem unaware of current music trends and fashions, and clearly all about the music.
Props are also very important and often used in indie music videos, such as in the song above, where props have been used to depict the songs lyrics. Often the instruments used by the band are stylised and made to look retro and help to distinguish from more modern instruments like DJ decks. The fact that mainly the standard band layout of guitar, bass, drums is used in indie music also shows that they are all about the music, and don't believe in the manufacture of music.
Our music video will utilise props and mise-on-scene to further enforce our focus on narrative, by realistically representing our characters and setting. This will hopefully make our video immersive and realistic.
4 - Editing
Editing is also crucial in the representation of an indie band in a music video. Many indie music videos utilise a 'retro' feel to their video, an example being 'Reptilia' by The Strokes. This effect and feel to the music video again helps to add to the idea that the band play their own music and are not manufactured.
Rhythmic editing is often used to sync the music's beat to the clips shown in the video. This is crucial in music video's in general, as a good piece of rhymical editing can tie the music video together and make it seem like the video is to the song, and not just a random lot of clips thrown together.
We will look to use rhythmic editing in our music video, as it will help to make sure our song syncs with our video. We will probably not use a retro feel, as it wouldn't suit our narrative.
As a group of only two people, both me and Brad have decided that we will both contribute equally to our music video, with both of us sharing the workload and both having roles in filming and editing, as both me and Brad are good editors and can contribute well to our small group. If we had more people in the group I would consider splitting into smaller roles however, with such a small group it will be much easier if both of us split the workload, allowing us both to be involved throughout the production process.
We are currently two students studying A2 Media Studies at sixth form. For our coursework we have been challenged to make a music video for a song of our choice.
We have found that the song "Love Lost" by the Temper Trap would be perfect for the music video we would like to create. We are big fans of the Temper Trap and would love to use one of our favorite bands music in our A-level coursework.
Therefore we are asking for your permission to use the song for our small A-level project and hopefully create something which will get us the most marks possible!
Thanks for your time,
Tom Woodhouse and Brad Matthews
We have sent this email off to the record label and copyright owners of the song "Love Lost" by The Temper Tramp- this should mean we can use the song in our music video
Andrew Goodwin came up with the theory that there are 5 key aspects of music video's:
1) Thought beats
2) Narrative and performance
3) The star image
4) Relation of visuals to song
5) Technical aspects
Thought Beats
Thought beats are the way we see sound in music videos. This can be done by making the video visualize the lyrics, as many songs can tell a story. The video could also reflect the distinct voice an artist has.
Narrative + Performance
In your video, you should always try to communicate the gist of your story- it is extremely difficult to tell an entire story well in a short amount of time.
Repeatability is key- repeat the same ideas throughout your music video
Good lip syncing!
Make sure your video is an advertisement for your artist
Star Image
Your artist should be in the video- remember that the video is an advertisement for them!
This doesn't always apply- some indie artists could prefer to show how artistic they are by not being in the video
Relation of Visuals to song
There are 3 different ways of doing this
Illustrate- visual illustration of lyrics
Amplify- Meanings and effects shown constantly
Disjuncture- Meaning of song is completely ignored
In our music video, me and Brad are looking to use either Illustrate or Amplify, as Disjuncture isn't really something we want to do. Amplify will probably be the best choice as our music video is mainly going to be narrative based.
This music video is a great example of some of the techniques we want to put into our own music video. The narrative in the video is told backwards, from the start where the man is lying in a paddling pool, to the end where he is shown eating a dodgy brownie. This makes the video stand out and makes it unique, as you rarely see this type of thing in mainstream artists music videos. There is also a lot of use of editing effects which we want to use in our video ; reverse and slow-motion. These two used together can create a very interesting music video, and it works well in this video, using the backwards effect to show the mans journey from end to start, and slow-motion used when he gets to the house to show the people enjoying themselves to the band playing. The use of narrative closure and the fact that there is infact a narrative despite the entire video being backwards is a main technique which me and Brad want to use in our own music video, and watching this one gives us inspiration. The video also features clear roles, the protagonist and antagonists are clearly shown, with the man as the protagonist and the masked men as antagonists. There is also a wide variety of shots used throughout the video, with noticeably there being a lot of close-ups on the protagonist and an establishing shot at the beginning, with mid and long range shots also being used in the house to show the dancing and general enjoyment of the people there. The performance near the end is also very good, as it still keeps to the narrative and doesn't cut away like many music videos, keeping the viewer immersed in what is going on. There is also a use of pathetic fallacy in the video- the dark, cold night which the man begins in reflects the dark hallucinations he is having. The song is quite cheerful, and clearly this is juxtaposed with the dark mood set throughout the video. Lastly, there is some use of classic horror conventions in the video, and the mirror shot, generally used in horror films, is done backwards, making it not scary and odd.
Overall, this music video is extremely useful for helping me and Brad to work out how to use editing effects like slow-motion and reverse along with a narrative in an effective way. We hope that we can take some of these techniques forward into our final music video.
