December!

During December we have used this time to film our media product. We have put a lot of time and effort in producing a media product we feel matches the conventions of the music genre we have chosen.

Our Filming

So it is the start of December and we have had various problems with our filming due to complications with the camera and its storage. We had filmed most scenes however the camera didn't seem to have stored the shots when we went to put them on the computer. This means that we have to rearrange and re-shoot most of the scenes required.

The Kooks Inside In The Inside Out

Arctic Monkeys

Florence and the Machine Lungs

Snow Patrol - eyes open CD cover analysis 1

We have to research and analysising CD covers that are of similar genre to ours. The research will allow us to configure what produces a good album cover, and why the creation of our music video will need to be related to the album cover. we will need to consider different influences of other genres to ensure a quality c.d. cover is made. A cover from our genre that we have decided to analyze is from Snow Patrols album, “Eyes Open”.

From the titles,the band is stereotyped towards an influence of an Indie band. The band name and album title are shown in block capitals created by a brush making it an influence of the Indie genre. In the photo, two figures are placed in the middle of the photo, the two people, presenting a man and a woman wrapping their arms around each other. There are many color connotations, bleak, dark colours have been used to create the effect of a sinister impression – which reflects with the comforting of being held in someones arms. Within the cover we can see a blurry version of another face underneaths, this represents the album by showing that you have to look deeper into things to find out what they are and what they mean, not everythings black and white.

the Camera work is used to represent the genre. It has used a motif by create two figures that are holding in each others arms illustrating the album title “Eyes Open”, this allows us to see the figures clearly and it reflects on what the songs on the album

Overall the CD cover clearly signifies and represents the indie music genre. We have been able analyse and pick out pieces that can influence our own album cover and we can see the true meaning to the album.

Storyboarding

For our pre planning process we started to storyboard our ideas and draw out our scenes in how we waned to film each film.

Lyrics Annotations For Our Song

Cast List

Our group had decided on a band with a main singer, we had to decide how many people we wanted in our band – whether we wanted four people to match the band members or just focus on the one main singer throughout the whole video.

We decided that our music video will be based on the main singer and character throughout the video with the female being shown in elements in the video. By including a male and female into our music video we are able to show that narrative between male and female, this will then be used to create the storyline for our music video.

With the song ‘Breakeven (by The Script) ’, is a personal story about dealing with a breakup between male and female with the male being more hurt then the female. Shes moved on why the man is still grieving about the breakup. The song represents typical breakups in the real world and therefore this has allowed us to create a narrative within the video.

Below are the casting that we needed to decide who would fit the music video creation that we are looking for.

Main Character: Danny Peake, the reason we have chosen this person to be the main character is because he looks similar to the main singer of The Script and is quite a good looking young man.

Girlfriend: Lydia Whicher , the reason we have chosen to use this girls is because she looks innocent and loving.

Guitarist: Jordan Walsh & Colin Baldwin, we chose these as our guitarists because as well as being able to play the guitar they suit the role as we wanted stereotypical views of a band in which the guitarists normally have long hair.

Drummer: Matt Ramm, once again we chose him as our drummer because he suited the role and looked like the stereotypical drummer.

Shot List

- Close-Ups; to capture the emotion of the character
- Long Shots; to show the couple splitting as they walk away from each other
- Establishing Shot; to show the location
- Two-Shot; will show the couple together
- Extreme Close-Ups; to show emotion in great detail

Shot List

1. Master shot is a wide shot of the shadow of the main character and Girlfriend, is a high angled shot.

2. Long shot of the main singer walking towards the church the camera tracks the movement of the singer.

3. Wide angled shot of the singer sitting down near a river the angle of the camera is above to make the audience think that he is vulnerable and feeling down.

4. Close up of the drum in black and white, above angle to show the drummer drumming.

5. Wide shot of the character condoling his emotions the shot has a shallow depth of focus.

6. Wide shot once again of the character looking depressed.

7. Long shot of the character walking towards the church doors the camera slowly pans out as the character walks towards the church.

8. Wide shot showing the entire band, black and white.

9. Mid shot of 1 of the guitarist.

10. Close up of the main singer in a white room.

11. Extreme close up of the main singers mouth.

12. Medium shot of the singer walking towards the window, black and white. Camera follows the movement of the player panning across.

13. mid shot of the singer.

14. Pans into the shot from the right, mid shot of the singer and pans out of the shot to the left.

15. Fades in with a mid-shot of the girlfriend.

16. Cuts to a mid shot of the main singer sitting down in his bedroom, black and white.

17. Medium shot of the main singer sitting down watching tele. This is a side-angled shot and is in black and white.

18. Two shot of the couple in bed above angle in black and white.

19. Mid-shot of the singer looking out of the window.

20. mid-shot of the girl smiling, low angled shot.

21. Close up of the singer slowly panning out whilst spinning the angle of the camera. Black and white.

22. Close up low angle shot of the singer

23. Side angle mid- shot of the signer looking out of the window.

24. Two shot of the couple in bed panning from left to right.

25. Wide shot of couple arguing girl slaps the boys flash to white.

Costume Ideas

This is the idea we have had for our drummer to wear, we feel this is suitable for a stereotypical drummer.

Prop List

- Instruments
- Guitar
- Drums
- Microphone
- Bed
- Bench

Location

- Beddington Park

- Wallington Green Fountain

- Holy Cross Catholic Church (Confession Box)

- Danny's House

Our Song!

Out song choice for our media project is going to be The Script - Breakeven. The reason we have chose this song is because we find the story of the lyrics very intriguing, therefore we can portray good filming and ideas within our music ideas. We have also looked at their video and we feel we can adapt our own ideas to the lyrics to incorporate into our own video.

Questionnaire Results

From the questionnaire given out we have a clear view on what our target audience would like to see. We have established that out of the 20 given out, a majority of 17-20 year olds prefer indie music with a strong narrative. Therefore we have chosen this genre and have decided to create a narrative reflecting the lyrics. The audience have also said they like an entertaining music video with quick camera shots and good effects i.e. black and white. Therefore we have incorporated these affects to interact the audience as much as possible. This has given us a good insight into what we need to create for our target audience.

Questionnaire

We have put this on the school network so that we can ask students and teachers to fill it out and send it abck to us.

Are you male or female?

How old are you?

1. What do you enjoy most in a music video? ..................................................................................................................................................................................

2. Do you prefer a music video to be performance based, have a narrative to it or bits of both? ..................................................................................................................................................................................

3. What is your favourite music video and why? ..................................................................................................................................................................................

4. What do you look for most in a music video? ..................................................................................................................................................................................

5. Which type of music do you prefer? .............................................

6. Do you prefer black & white music videos or normal coloured music videos? ..................................................................................................................................................................................

Online Questionnaire Completed

This is an example of one of the questionnaire's that we recieved.

Are you male or female? Male

How old are you? 17

1. What do you enjoy most in a music video? I like a narrative which relates to the lyrics

2. Do you prefer a music video to be performance based, have a narrative to it or bits of both? I prefer it be narrative although I like small elemtns in music videos that are performance based

3. What is your favourite music video and why? My favourite music video is Rhianna - Unfaithful because it has a strong narrative

4. What do you look for most in a music video? entertaining, attractive nad enjoyable

5. Which type of music do you prefer? Indie

6. Do you prefer black & white music videos or normal coloured music videos? A mix of both

The Script - The Man Who Cant Be Moved

The Script - The Man Who Can't Be Moved
by wonderful-life1989
There are many various techniques in this video that we have taken in mind to gain inspiration from for our own music video. First of all, the narrative of the video is told both through the visuals and the lyrics as they both intertwine with each other. This helps for us to understand the main characters personal state of mind and his dilemma.

In the beginning of the video, we see the main singer walking down various streets on his own and to help amplify the characters loneliness, various long shots and close ups are used to show his emotions and to show noone's beside him.

With the street scene, the artist tells the story of the whole song through his emotions with not a lot of props needed. He sits alone on the side of the street waiting for the one he loves and shows he will do anything to get her back. The camera focuses on a photo of the girl from time to time as well as his watch which adds to the effect of time going by. Undercranking is then used to show night turn to day and people walking past which is effective as it emphasizes the waiting time that it woll take for the singer to get what he wants.

When the main singer is sitting on the corner of the street, an over the shoulder shot is used to show the other characters watching over the main singer. This shows the main singer is not alone and that these characters care about his feelings.

Anfrew Goodwins theory can be directly to this music video. The visuals and the lyrics of the song pair up together to perfectly explain the narrative of the video. An example of this theory would be the line "i'm not moving". When the character sings this line he is sitting down on the corner of the street and doesn't move until he finds the one he loves.

The video like many of the indie genre aims to portray feelings and moods throughout the video and this is a technique which adds to authenticity. The ideology of the band is to convey their feelings which they conform to here. In many of their songs, they aim to get a message across to the audience which can make them a very influential and inspirational group. This video does not try to challenge any forms of conventions in this music video.

The Streets - Fit But You Know It

At the start of the music video a prelude is used to introduce the song. Then we see Mike Skinner entering a shop to pick up some photos. He opens the photos and as he leaves the shop there is a picture on picture effect with the photos he has just opened.

During the video Mike Skinner is wearing jeans, a jacket and baseball cap and can be stereotyped as a bit of a 'chav' which links to the image of their band, as a kind of garage rap band.

Also the lyrics in the song correlate to the video, for instance the bit where he is in the kebab shop arguing. Or when he says "after a few pints time" and he is in the pub looking at the girl in the blue. There are also editing which correlates to the video, for instance when there is no singing and a base beats hits a change of shot normally happens.

The lyrics in the video are also like a narrative to a story of there holiday and Mike Skinner is singing them. This is as they show shots of the holiday in the pictures with multiple close ups, which are followed by a reaction shot where we can see his expression.

Overall the video has some good features which we think will be quite inspirational to our video.

The Streets - Fit But You Know it
Uploaded by billybright. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

Calvin Harris - Ready For The Weekend

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars UK Version

A close up of the hands and face at the start of the video which is in line with the blowing of the wind before the start of the music. The shot then fades over and becomes blurry which then cuts back to a wide shot showing the main singer on the edge of the cliff. After this the close ups return firstly of the lips and then the eyes which give the viewer a very close feel to the lead singer.

A straight cut form this to the singers hands then cut to a blurred close up of his lips try to give the viewer a feel for the emotions the lead singer is feeling through his actions. Shots then start to occur where the lead singer is laying down which is in time with the lyrics "if i lay here." The video carries on with close ups of the band so the customer feel close to them, this is an intent ploy by the video producers so that the viewers gets a better understanding of the feelings and emotions in the video.

A point of view shot looking at the clouds tries to put the viewer in the lead singers shoes. Close ups of the hands and then the face of the hands as the rain starts to pour down show more pain being added to the song than there already is. Shots of rain then hit the puddle in time with the beat of the song which is very effective and also looks very good.

More close ups of the singer appear as the lightning flashes across his face and then the lead singer rolls into a puddle which from a mid shot below makes it look like the lead signer is floating from below.

A shot of the lead singer floating in the puddle is then glared out as it turns to a close up of the singer sitting up. Close up of his hands and then back to his hands on his knees show him getting up and it kind of shows us that the singer is trying to get out of the pain he is in.

A still camera then shows the singer getting to his feet and then looking at his chest which cuts to a high angled shot. The camera then pans as the singer looks up towards the camera. The music stops as the blowing of the wind takes over as the sound again and the camera pans away from the singer. The last shot shows the singer laying on a mountain which may be trying to signify that the singer is lost and needs to find his way back to the top.

This video is quite simple and doesn't really include a narrative with parts of the video having no real connection to the shots shown in the video. I would say that the video concentrates more on the performance of the singers.

The Fray - How To Save A Life

the how to save a life video starts with superimposed text saying how to save a life. then a blurred image of a man playing the piano slowly become a focus pull and the text becomes out of focus and the man becomes in focus.

MoodBoard

Here is our moodboard which shows artists who we wish to gain inspiration from their music videos as they have used many techniques during them to help promote the artist or band more.

Andrew Goodwin's Key Features of Music Videos

When analysing a music video Andrew Goodwin suggests that there are six key features in music videos which are very rarely broken. The first key feature is that they have genre characteristics, such as in rock genre songs there is normally a band on stage or in boy bands or girls bands there is normally a dance routine. His second key feature is that the lyrics normally have a relationship with the visuals, for example 50 Cent's song 'In Da Club' is filmed in the club and he refers to fast cars and women and he is surrounded by women and money. This also accounts for the third key feature where he says that the music has a relationship with the visuals, so if it is quite a happy song there is quite a lot of bright colours and quite a happy narrative then the music will represent this.

The fourth feature is that the music label normally make sure that there are a lot of close ups so that they can promote the band or artist and also the artists will generally develop motifs to create a visual style of the artist or band. For example, in most of Tinchy Stryders videos he always has "Star In The Hood" labelled on his T-Shirts or hoodies. The fifth key feature is the use of voyeuristic images to help a certain character in music video to stand out in a certain way. The last key feature that Goodwin described was the use of intertextual reference from other sources of media such as movies, TV programmes and other music videos themselves.

Institutional Research

As we are making a music video, we need to know what the different stages and format in making a film. The British Film industry is in three areas ''production which is the making of the film, distribution marketing and selling the film and exhibition when the film is showed. Here we are going to distribute our music video film. Distribution needs good marketing strategies within the film market via posters, trailers, merchandise and photographs, which are used to create interest and will help promote the music video. This will help us beacuse we are distriburing through music covers and music release posters and will hopefully bring attention to our product.

The Brief

We chose the music video option because we feel we can be more creative and expressive with this option as we have seen many music videos ourselves and will be able to put our insight on these video into our own. We have had some previous experience with music videos as we have created christmas and end of year music videos just for fun but now we feel we can create a music video to its very best. Also last year we created an opening sequence to a film which included music throughout the whole sequence. By creating this project, it gave us a good insight in how to use the technologies and filming equipment.