BFI TRIP

We went on a trip to the BFI to learn more about making music videos. Part of the day saw us plan out a music video concept after hearing a song. Here is me awkwardly presenting our ideas.

FOCUS TEST

NEW CAMERA

So one of the main things that was clear following our trip to the BFI was that in the exemplar music videos, the camera quality was incredibly high. After voices our concern that compartively, our handycams might not live up to that standard, we were given new cameras, Canon XF100's.

Although I'd done a little bit of filming already, it was a no brainer to reshoot. The quality of this camera is UNREAL. The distance of the focus is incredible and the light settings are really useful. Overall its a much more professional camera and I'm excited to film more.

BFI trip

ORDER

FUNERAL
forrest
office
kitchen
sofa
sofa end finale
underpass

hamptons daylight
happy photo running scene
hamptons dusk
hamptons blood car picking up clothes
trail night
trail wakeup flowers what

Questions: Audience RESEARCH

1. What format do you use to watch music videos?

2. How frequently in a week do you watch music videos?

3. What is your favourite genre?

4. Have you ever gotten into a recording artist after watching one of their music videos?

5. What would you say are some common features of a video is the genre of alternative pop?

6. Can you give a few examples of music videos that you think are successful? Why do you think they're successful?

The plotline of my video follows a girl who has difficulty distinguishing real life from her dreams.

7. What costume choices do you think should be included?
8. What settings/ scenarios would you expect to find in a dreamscape?

9. Has a music video ever had a strong emotional response from you i.e. stunned silence or tears?
Eg?

10. Have you ever watched a music video that made no sense or had an annoying plotline? Eg?

11. Do you think music videos are a valid art form or simply a means of distributing and marketing a musician?

Second Survey

Missing Poster

 

NEWS CLIPPING, FUNERAL PAMPHLET

 

FAKE NEWS

For my music video, I need a fake news story which I have created and linked to below

SONG CHOICE

This video is slightly slowed down to avoid copyright issues so you have to go to settings and select 1.25 under speed.

finished storyboard

digipak and distribution research

http://www.emaze.com/@AITRQQQC/digipak-research

INTERTEXTUALITY

TREATMENT

SURVEY

I sent around a survey to my friends not too long ago asking questions about their music video consumption habits and preferences. Here are the results :)

https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-RXTLJ8TC/

66.7% were 16-20
33.3% were 21-25

66.7% used youtube to watch music videos
22.2% used Music TV
11.1% said they dont watch music videos.

In terms of frequency of watching videos, 1 respondent watching MV's at least once a day, 3 watch them multiple times a week, 3 watch them at least once a week and 2 watch them less than once a week.

All but one respondents have become a fan of an artist after seeing one of their music videos.


Question 5 was 'What is your favourite music genre'. It garnered some varied results.
-RnB
-Metal
-Soul
-Dance/ Electronic
-Alternative/ indie
-80's funk
-Dance
-Pop

Question 6 asked what some common features of alternative pop were.
-Lots of colours
-Surrealism
-Black and white
-Flowers
-Slow motion
-Dark set
-Distinctive costumes
-Artist being in the video

Question 7 asked which of a select number of features, was the most successful in music videos. The top rated feature was narrative, a story  you can follow. There will be a narrative in my video so I'm glad the results have turned out this way.
The second highest rated feature was creative editing i.e. use of black and white, slow motion etc. I plan on using slow motion in my video so this is promising. The third highest rated feature was joint between having the artist in the video, and intertextuality, both at 44%. I will be doing both of these things in my video so that's again, very promising. I'm also using a different time era as a feature which came in fourth as a rated choice.

LIGHTING WORKSHOP

We did a lighting workshop to demonstrate the effects of different kinds of lighting.

Its important to have proper lighting when using a green screen because otherwise there will be shadows on the screen and this will have an impact on the footage when you come to edit it.

 When shooting this 'scary story' scene, we used a blue light from one side so that only one side of Lucy's face was visible. This had a really cool effect and looked really menacing.

We also experimented with shooting with back light. This had a really cool effect as the subject was completely blacked out and only the outline was really visible. Very cool.

DESCISIONS

The song I have chosen to use for my music video is 'Nightmare' by Miley Cyrus. Unfortunately because its an unreleased song, there's no official video or lyrics video to link to. Most of the versions of the song on Youtube have been slowed down.

I added the song to a blank movie in iMovie.

REALLY ROUGH SCRIPT KIND OF

Screen - Nightmare -Sonny and the Kings
Ariel shot in bed
eyes open
HEY
side shot
turn over
feels like im asleep but im AWAKE
get out of bed on awake
eating cereal tv in the background of guitar
IN THIS DREAM I NEVER SEE YOUR FACE
into shot on tv
IM JUST A STEP BEHIND

zoom out onto office computer
office chair spin
hey
shot of still/ photograph- night time london
cant remember why you went away
cut to kitchen area making tea
pinch me cause i know its a mistake I wanna see your eyes. ZOOMING INTO EYES CLOSED
eyes open
I WOKE UP IN A-
still frame person
southbank at night

Generally taking in surroundings all happy and good.
where nothings really dangerous, everything is black and white and noone even know oh oh's
MOOD SWITCH
i woke up in a REALISES OTHER PERSON IS GONE wakes up in bed
broken dream
with noone lying
SHOT OF EMPTY BED
next to me.
flat on back ariel shot
 its no how its supposed to be. So why'd you have to go 'oh 'oh (closer closer)
eyes snap open
Im still try-

NIGHTMARE SCENARIO ONE- slow mo
Running from shadows, broken leg, flowers in hand.
By the river where its like countryside. 
implied danger.
blue light.

TRYING TO WAKE UP FROM THIS, FROM THIS NIGHTMARE, FROM THIS NIIIIIGHTMARE WHERE EVERY

fall down and crawl
 DAY IS, IN ITS RIGHT PLACE BUT YOU'RE NOT THERE

*whirring sound effect*
tyler durden cut of photo subject there and gone
 NO YOU'RE NOT THERE.

END OF SCENARIO 1

Closeup of face
Hey!
midshot at dinner table
tables set for two but its a waste
*gets up and leaves shot*
*ENTERS SHOT at sink/ bin cleaning plates*
food into bin ontop of newspaper
-local girl still missing-
im the only one thats breaking plates
the quiets getting loud
sitting down
turns on tv
shot of tv with cards near it
fake tv intro panel 'that 50's show'
hey everyone keeps saying im ok
one more night alone i'll go insane
i need to hold you now

I woke up in another life
HAMPTONS WITH SPARKLERS on bikes
where nothings really dangerous
and everything is black and white
and noone even knows
i woke up in a broken dream
SPARKLER DIES
with noone lying next to me
REALISES SHES ALONE
its not how its supposed to be
so why'd you have to go
LOOKING AROUND CONFUSED
IM STILL
HEADLIGHTS FLASH ON
TRYING
TO WAKE UP FROM THIS
CAR STARTS PERSUIT
EYES WIDEN
STARTS RUNNING
FROM THIS NIGHTMARE
RUNNING FROM VARIOUS ANGLES AND POSITIONS
FROM THIS NIGHTMARE WHERE EVERY DAY IS
IN ITS RIGHT PLACE
BUT YOURE NOT THERE
NO YOURE NOT THERE

RUN INTO FORREST - jarring sped up footage, play the song at half speed and then double footage
SMOKE BOMBS random articles of clothing on the ground

suddenly I can almost see it
feel the heat of your breath on my skin
scared to death that im only dreaming

synth whirring - sped up underpass

suddenly I can see you fading
holding on but my heart starts racing
scared to death cause I know i'm dreaming


OOOOOOOOHHHHH underpass
Im still trying..


FINAL THING

Nightmare scene one on the ground, noticing flowers in her hand
to wake up from this
confused
stands up from this
night
light comes on from behind
mare
turns around to face it
its the car
from this nightmare
confused
theres blood on the front
reaches out to touch it
when every
cut back to the forrest and the clothes
collecting clothes from the ground frantically
day is in its right place
zoom into face but youre
cut back to boat and sofa
sitting on the sofa with all the clothes
not there
gets up and picks up sympathy card from the sideboard
no youre not there.

tv flicks on
news footage
teenage girls body found in forest after being hit by a car
kneel down infront of the tv and touch the screen

intercut with megan in black in a cemetery holding the flowers from the earlier scene.


SPECIFICS

Outfits
Megan
in bed-  pajamas
nightmare one-  pajamas
office- office clothes
dinner- office clothes but ruffled/ hair down
nightmare 2 start- retro American themed clothes (find something)
nightmare 2- end- pajamas again
underpass- Grey. Grey is popular right now.
funeral- Black.
band scene- black leggings, black top, mask

Holly- cheap light clothes that can get covered in blood 


PROPS
Smoke bombs
Sparklers
Car
Bikes
Flowers
Sympathy cards
Newspaper
News story for the TV
That 50's show poster

MUSIC VIDEO FOR TV+ office comp

I'm going to shoot in the Hamptons twice on the same day, with an interval in the middle. I want to film there during the daytime using the light to symbolise the happiness and safety felt by the protagonist. I then want to shoot when its a bit darker to represent the danger and fear in the nightmare.

I'm filming the funeral scene first so the flowers are still presentable.

I've divided my filming into two days, one where I need both Megan and Holly and one where I just need Megan. This is helpful because the filming is condensed so if I need to re-shoot something or film more, I'll know pretty early on.

Voyeurism

Voyeurism is defined as an individual gaining pleasure from watching. Many music videos have voyeuristic features, presenting women in skimpy clothing and making them objects.

An example of this which has blown up in the media is Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines'. The song is famous for being an infectious jingle about date rape. Oh dear. If the songs content werent enough, the video is pretty awful in terms of objectification.



The video features three men and three women. The men wear suits of some description, an outfit which indicates power and status. The also wear sunglasses which hide their eyes. This could indicate a level of distrust.

The women in this video are all wearing short underwear, crop tops and see through over layers. They are completely exposed. They also have sort of absent expressions as if they're not really there or theyre confused. This ties into the idea that women are presented as either childlike/virgins or whores. Following on from this thought, the women are all wearing white which is seen as a pure colour, tying in with the virginity aspect. They're also all wearing red lipstick which would be more likely tied to being a whore. The video is made to make the men seem powerful and the women seem like sex toys. Or tables.

or cigarette lighters.

Essentially the message of the video is "Half naked lady, serve me."

Here we have a lovely shot of T.I. counting a stack of cash. This again shows the power/ status of the men in the video. 

The difference in power here is startling. Powerful man in a suit, wearing shades to cover his eyes/ hide himself VS naked young woman.

This shot shows that the woman is a conquest, an object of sexual desire.

Creepy. 

And if all that wasn't enough to make you really uncomfortable, there's an explicit version where all the women are topless for the duration.

The fact that its not enough to be fully clothed and surrounded by essentially naked dancing women is really distressing. Its not enough to look overpowering to an alarming degree he has to take it a step further and pull this masochistic 'be-sexy-or-get-out' shtick and make them all actually naked. This isn't so much a music video but soft porn. Ooer.

Its not like I'm the only person who feels this way either, following the songs release a plethora of parodies were released making fun of Thicke and his song.

THAT 50'S SHOW

THAT 50'S SHOW.
Music videos often feature intertextuality, taking elements from preexisting medias such as films and TV programmes. My research showed that people like music videos set in other times or eras. I'm going to combine the two and create a scene set in the fifties under the guise of 'That '50s Show', my spin on the sitcom 'That '70s Show'.

LOCATIONS

LOCATIONS- The Hamptons from Jamie Sugar

So for my music video I want to shoot in the Hamptons. The Hamptons is this weirdly out of place bunch of houses which look like something from suburban America.

From my survey Ive gathered that people like videos set it different eras so for the scenes shot in the Hamptons, I want a retro American kind of feel to them.


Forrest
Near where I live there's a really long running trail which after a couple of miles gets really rural looking. If I didn't know any better I would think I was in a forest. There are rarely people on the path so I think it would be a great place to film.
In the nightmare scenario set here, we see the main character running from 'something'. This scene will include a lot of implied danger and not much actual evidence of danger. I will achieve this using different angled shots, high to low shots onto Megan to make her look smaller etc. I will also use POV shots following after her. For this scene I would really like to use blue light, similar to what we used in the lighting workshop. I think it gives off a really cool feel, very dreamlike. My natural instinct would be to have red light to heighten the sense of danger, but because its only a dream and not real, I think blue is a better choice as its less obvious what's happening.

Digipak conventions

I looked at a few digipaks to find similarities and codes.

FIFTIES

fiftes by jamie-carmel-sugar featuring a car clock

This is my mood board for the kind of feel im going for in the 50's section of my video. Ideally, we'll be able to film on a warm day so the clothes can be as summery and fun as possible. If not, I think we should stick to a simple black outfit with retro accessories like cat eye sunglasses and ascots.

pyjamas

Pajamas by jamie-carmel-sugar featuring Topshop

For my music video, the protagonist will need to be wearing pyjamas for a significant chunk. There will be running involved which ruled out night-gowns or anything dress-like. This also meant that footwear would have to be a boot style rather than a slip-on style as otherwise they would fly off whilst in use which wouldn't be useful at all. Seeing as filming will take place in autumn/ winter, warmth is key. This is why I have only included long sleeved sweatshirts and full length bottoms. This is useful also as the protagonist will have to lie on the forest floor.

NIGHTMARE MOODBOARD

nightmare moodboard by jamie-carmel-sugar featuring a leather king bed

This is my mood board for my music video. I've posted some things which I feel will relate to my project including outfit ideas, props ideas and overall moods of my project.

BAND AND RECORD LABEL NAMES

I came up with a name for my band and for my record label.

After looking into artists in my genre, alt pop, I observed that most artists use some aspect of their name. For example, Florence Welch goes by Florence and the Machine. Marina Lambrini Diamandis goes by Marina and the Diamonds. The second thing I observed is this formula of

 *INSERT NAME* and the *INSERT NOUN*

This is extremely common. Examples of this include:

With this in mind, and the previous lesson we had on star image, I decided to create an all new set of people. My music video/ band will consists of me, Jamie Sugar, and my friend Megan Robinson who will be the key member of the band. 

We had a brief conversation about band names and came to an agreement on 'Sonny and The Kings'. We then decided not to use our real names. We would create completely different people to be in the band, June King and Sonny LeVar. By incorporating the new peoples names into the band name, we followed along from the kind of thing Florence Welch and Marina Lambrini Diamandis did.

I decided to call my record label Ricochet Records. I like the alliteration and I think it sounds legitimate. 

Following these decisions, I made some basic logos which might change later on down the line.

I put both of the logos onto my Wix Website for the band so the top of the page now looks like this

I'm not sure if you can clearly tell but both the logos are transparent so they show whats behind them. The band logo has a subtle glow around it which means it can clearly be seen on every background. That's the only difference really.