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Practice footage

29.09.15

We decided to do some test shots for three different elements to our video.

This first video is a Practice of a bridge element in the music video. We decided for the section where it repeats, 'Get up of your feet and stop making tired excuses'. In this series of shots the girl will be wiping off her make up and sorting herself out. Therefore following conventions of a music video as the lyrics and visuals will be linked.






This second video is just a test on lip syncing. I am acting in this which is not ideal, but for a test it works. I think we need to ensure that our actor knows the lyrics really well so the lip syncing looks professional. It was good to test out how hard it is, so now we have a better idea of how to tackle lip syncing a bit better. 

The third clip we did is the most important. We tested the beginning to the video, where the music has 3 beats to it. We wanted to incorporate this into the video by cutting at the same time. Ella (Head of editing) did a really good job of ensuring that the cuts were precise. It took a few attempts to get used to the new Final Cut Express, but we got there and I think it looks really good. Myself and Esther contributed with the timing of when the shots should be cut because we all noticed different timings that we slightly out. 

Lyric Analysis/Possible shot ideas

Audience

Identifying our audience is a crucial stage within our development of our music video, involving a consideration of demographics and tastes/lifestyle (psychographics). After looking at other bands and who their target audiences were we felt that we had a better understanding of who we would want our audience to be. As a group we decided that our audience would be teenagers/young adults; with the ages ranging from 16-30 as the content of the video and dark themes may not be suitable to younger audiences. 

We felt that this was the correct target audience for our music video because the Indie/Pop genre wouldn't appeal to any younger or older ages. We did some research into the genre from looking at different bands and creating a questionnaire on Survey Monkey. This survey indicated to us that the indie/pop genre is related to a teenage/young adult audience. This is due to some of the themes in the video being quite mature. 

We want to ensure that when we make the video that the themes aren't too obvious as this may make the video seem distasteful and will not represent the themes how we want them to be. We want the audience to feel that they can relate to the video in certain ways, but we do understand that some of the themes are a bit extreme. The main themes are smoking, prostitution and relationships. The relationship in our music video is going to be a relationship that doesn't follow conventions to normal pop videos as the girl is seen as being extremely vulnerable. We also think that our audience will be able to relate to our music video because it is representing quite a rebellious age. 

In relation to the gender of our audience, I think that it would be split quite evenly. Stereotypical we would normally think that a love story is better suited to women, but because the love story is quite unconventional and against the normal conventions, it may appeal to both sexes. 

In terms of psychographic segmentation, the video will appeal mainly to mainstreamers since it contains pop music video conventions, such as lip sync and an upbeat tempo and rhythm. 

Lighting Plan

25.09.25

The lighting in our video will be quite dim. I feel that a stereotype of a pop/indie genre is that there are a lot of shadows and darkness within a video. This helps create tension and creates a dark mood to the video. The performance element to the video will be shot within a studio, so it will be a lot easier to control the lighting. Currently we want there to be lights either side of the actor to make him quite well lit. But I think that we should angle them so we can get some good shadows that cast on him to highlight his face.

When we are shooting on location (in Cambridge) we will have to take light sources with us to create a good lighting effect. We will either rent out the new lighting equipment that the school has ordered, or we will have to create our own light sources. We will do this by using large torches and possibly headlights of a car. 

Star Image (For our music video)

25.09.15

After researching into what star image is, I feel that I can now plan who our star image will be. Miles is the actor in the video, he will be the man who lip syncs as well as being the man in the bedroom scene. We won't see his face in the scene in the bedroom, and he will be wearing a different costume, so the continuity will not be effected. 

For the shots when he is performing (lip syncing) that is when he will look like the star image. We want him dressed in a stereotypical bands costume, which would be a plain white t-shirt, jeans, boots and a leather jacket. I think his hair should be quite messy to stick to characteristics of a pop/indie genre. I think his personality should be quite confident because he is the lead singer to the song, this is another stereotype of a pop/indie band. For  the performance part to our video I think that it should be quite simple, so there would be minimal Mise-en-scene, so he is the main focus of the shot. 

Star Image

23.09.15

Star image is how a person has been constructed using a range of materials (Richard Dyers theory). So this means the person has been influenced by aspects such as Mise-en-scene, Editing and Cinematography to create a specific image.
I looked at Rihanna for a example of Star image. Rihanna has been around for about 12 years and throughout that time, she has built up a huge image which relates to her music and personality. Relating to Star image development, Rihanna does seem to play characters in some of her videos, then others are from her point of view, e.g. concert footage. Whereas in a video such as 'B*tch better have my money' she is seen playing a crazy person who holds people hostage. I feel that Rihanna has a very versatile star image which she adapts a lot. When I think of Rihanna I think of the 'R' that was on the 'Rated R' album. I think that Rihanna sells her music videos really well, with a good use of close ups and mid shots. In a lot of these she is looking into the camera therefore breaking the 4th wall and speaking directly to her audience. Rihanna's image has changed quite a lot over time. I think that at first she was perceived as your 'typical' pop star, lots of music videos were about relationships and partys etc. I think there are elements of voyeurism in a lot of her videos. In relation to hair, costume and props in her videos, these are all used to full effect in her videos. Most of her videos have all of these elements in, some more than others but this is one element that enhances her star image. More recently I feel that Rihannas videos have been a lot more controversial, with videos such as 'B*itch better have my money' (2015) or 'Pour it up' (2013). In my opinion I think that Rihanna is popular firstly because she produces music that a lot of people like, she has her own spin on fashion and she can be controversial at times. She has built up a really strong star image for a lot of people to relate to her within songs/videos.  

Final Costume/Makeup list

21.09.15

Woman-Honor (Costume):

'Clubbing outfit'

• Mini skirt
• Blouse or crop top
• Ripped fishnet tights
• High heels
• Over sized coat/possibly fur coat

'Streets outfit'

• Old, broken shoes-could use converses
• Ripped jeans or over sized jeans 
• Over sized coat/ possibly fur coat, over the top of her clubbing outfit
• Big jumper

Makeup & Hair:

• Full coverage makeup for clubbing and bedroom scenes-To all be wiped off and to look messy for the shots in the streets
• Red lipstick
• Messy/big hair

Man-Miles (Costume):

• 'Star image' clothes
• Plain t-shirt
• Black skinny jeans
• Leather jacket or denim jacket
• Black or brown boots

Treatment

18.09.15

The genre to our music video will be Indie/Pop. Even though Bastille class themselves as a rock band, I feel that this song in particular is Indie/Pop because the song sounds quite different and the original song was R&B.

The audience for our music video would be teenagers and young adults. A lot of Bastille's songs are quite popular within the charts, so they are quite well known. Younger people are usually the people who listen to the charts so I feel that they would be the main target audience. 

Our narrative element to the video will be about a girl who is struggling for money and is homeless. Part of the narrative will be about how she ends up sleeping with men to earn money. The 'Star Image' and the male singer in the video will help to the girl and try to get her off the streets. From what we have already discussed I predict that the video will seem quite dark due to mature themes running throughout the video.We have planned for the male singer to be dressed like a normal main singer of a band, then because the lyrics link to him knowing the girl, that is when he will help her. The performance element to the video will be the man singing in a plain white room, these shots will be cut in and out of throughout the video. I think we envision the music video to seem quite dark then it will get better when the main singer helps the girl. I think our video will have a lot of influence from Ed Sheerans video, 'The A Team'. I think our video will differ from it though because the girl will eventually be helped by the 'Star Image'. Using 'The A Team' as inspiration for our music video will act as intertextuality because we will be referencing another text. 

Actor/Actress final desision

16.09.15

Miles-will be 'Star Image' (Singer)

Honor-will be the woman

Theories

14.09.15

Stuart Hall:
-Hall established that an audience can take 3 main positions: Dominant, negotiated and oppositional.

Judith Butler:
-Came up with the idea that gender is performed.
-Challenges that voyeurism is only concerned with men objectifying women. 

Laura Mulvey:
-Visual pleasure and voyeurism.

Location

17.09.15:
We discussed in this lesson our 4 chosen locations: 

-Location 1 will be a plain white room, this is where the main singer will be lip syncing-so  this is where the performance element will take place. We feel that the room should be dimly lit, this will therefore follow characteristics of the pop/indie genre.






-Location 2 will be the backstreets of Cambridge. We felt that this location will help make t  the girl seem vulnerable, if we film within the golden hour, the light could really enhance the  shots.

-Location 3 will be a party/club scene, This will be filmed in our schools drama studio (the pit).  Using the correct lighting and having enough people we will be able to re-create a club  scene even though we will not be in a real club. This location links to the lyrics at the  beginning of the song, which talks about a party. 


-Location 4 will be a plain bathroom/dressing table. We wanted a place were the girl will be able to get ready and then take her makeup off. 

-Location 5 will be a hotel looking bedroom, we chose our friends spare room because it looks very formal and like a hotel room. 

Conventions (Goodwin)-REDO

'Shake it off'-By Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift’s song ‘Shake it off’ is a pop genre song, and the music video helps indicate this throughout the use of specific characteristics. The video uses characteristics of a pop genre music video this is that there is a lot of choreographed dance. From being an upbeat song, we would expect something like this in the music video. I also think that humour in a pop video is quite common and I feel that Taylor expresses to the audience that it is good to be silly, this was shown by all of the different styles of dance. There is no narrative to the video, but Taylor is just dressed in lots of different costumes, possibly representing to quite a young target audience that it is good to be different, this is amplified throughout the video. There is only one location for the video and that is a studio, but the colours of the background change, this highlights the different costumes that she wears. In a couple of the different costumes she shakes her hands when ‘shake it off’ is said. This also happens to the lyrics ‘Heart breakers gonna break break break break break’ and she has her hands in a love heart shape then splits them. This really helps illustrate the name of song and the meaning behind the song that the music is trying to get across. This follows Andrew Goodwin’s theory because there is a link between the lyrics and visuals in the music video.

'Give me a try'-By The Wombats

The Wombats song ‘Give me a try’ is an Indie Rock genre song and the style of the music video helps highlight this. The relationship between lyrics and visuals in the music video are relevant. The narrative within the video is about dating and meeting new people. The video fits the genre of indie-rock because it is quite humorous in parts, mainly when you are meeting the new people on the dating app. Furthermore in the video the band pop up a couple of times which I think fits the genre as well, that is the only element of performance throughout the whole video. There isn’t any specific lip syncing in the video apart from some of the characters saying ‘Just give me a try’, which would relate to the dating narrative within the video. So this would follow Andrew Goodwins theory when referring to links between lyrics and visuals. At the beginning of the video the editing is cut rhythmically, this increases the pace and makes the song seem a lot more dramatic. Although the cutting isn’t always rhythmically cut, when it is, it is very noticeable.   

'Dont be so hard on yourself'-By Jess Glynne

Jess Glynnes song “Don’t be so hard on yourself’ is a pop genre song. The video follows characteristics of a pop genre song because she is singing in the video, I think for pop videos this is quite a common characteristic. Furthermore the video is telling a story about a boy who is trying to get into a band, this relates to the lyrics and name of the song. It probably relates better to the meaning of the song because it could be different for different situations. Throughout the song we see the journey of the boy and how he eventually gets into the band. A theme that we can gather from this video is that you shouldn't give up on what you want to do, we see this with the narrative in the video. I feel that this video highlights that it is good to make mistakes or fail because then you can work from that. Jess Glynne has quite a young target audience being mainly being teenagers, so I think with this message within the video/song she will relate well to them. There is some rhythmic cutting throughout the video, but it isn’t consistent. Even though that I feel that rhythmic cutting is a characteristic of a pop genre music video, I think that it works well because the song is quite fast paced anyway. 

Textual Analysis

Generic research and analysis of music videos

'The A Team' By Ed Sheeran:

The first music video I looked at for inspiration for our music video was 'The A Team' by Ed Sheeran. The narrative in this video is about a homeless woman and it shows the struggles of how she has to get money. I chose this music video because it is very similar to the narrative idea that we have, some of the shots and elements to the video we can use for inspiration in our own. The whole video is narrative and there isn't any performance, for our video we want there to be some performance but this is because there is a relationship between the person singing the song and the actress. 

Firstly her costume, this is similar to how we want the girl in our video to be, the girl roughly has two different costumes. One for when she is on the streets and another when she is dressed up. In this video specifically I feel that the way she looks makes the audience feel empathetic towards her, she seems very vulnerable. They also do this by the specific camera shots and angles chosen, I think that the close ups of her are very effective because we, the audience, can see her emotion and how upset she is. Another technical element that is really effective is the black and white filter that has been used. It makes the video seem a lot more simple and in my opinion makes the girl seem a lot more vulnerable. Ed Sheeran has quite a large target audience, probably ranging from 12 years olds to 30 year olds, so I think this video may shock some of the younger viewers. I think that most of the shots are quite simple yet effective. For example the time lapses of the woman on the streets really tell the audience the struggle and how long she is there for. We have considered to add a time lapse into our video because it is very effective. Another element to the video that I think is good is how they show that the man and the woman are in the room together. The mans head is not shown throughout this sequence because of the use of close ups, I think these quick shots are really good because it isn't as obvious. This sequence of shots would be voyeurism. 

'Greek Tragedy' By The Wombats:


The second music video we looked at for inspiration was 'Greek Tragedy' by The Wombats, this was mainly due to the beginning of the video. The music at the beginning is quite dramatic and goes between being loud then quiet in two obvious sections. There are two main shots, one of a girl and a busy, quick moving video. I really like how dramatic the editing cuts are to the music and I feel that this can be incorporated into our video. The change in camera quality also adds effect, the shot of the girl seems to be very clear, then when it cuts to the other shot, the camera seems a lot older; so the contrast helps express the change in music. The narrative in this video is about a fan that stalks the band, so it is very different to our narrative. But one part to this video that I really like is how the shots are cut quite frequently, it adds a lot of drama and pace to the song. The song that we have chosen is a lot slower than this song, but I think by adding lots of shots in then the pace of the video won't become too slow and boring.

Performance/ Narrative discussion

11.09.15
For the performance element to our music video, we want the boy to be singing, he will be the star image to the video. The location for when he is singing will be down some backstreets in Cambridge, we hope to be able to manipulate the lighting to reiterate that he is the star image. We also thought that him performing in front of some car headlights would look effective and would follow expectations of the genre. There is one element to the song that the girl will sing, these lines of the song are sung in her perspective. We felt that these should be shot in either the room, or down some backstreets in Cambridge. Regarding the narrative element to the music video, we thought that the man will help the woman out of her troubles. The lyrics in the song relate to her having to be a stripper for money to look after her son, so we think that the man will act as support for her and help her. 

Actors/Actresses and Costume discussion

10.09.15:

In our lesson today we tried to cut down our actors/actresses list. For the girl in the video we have decided two possible actresses, Maddy and Abby. We need to contact them and see if they would be available to be in our video. Regarding costumes for the girl, we feel that she should have two main outfits, one for the 'club' shots and one for the shot of her down the dark streets and in the bedroom. Her club costume will be a short mini skirt, a sheer blouse, ripped fish net tights and some high heels. She will also have quite a lot of make up on. Then for the bedroom/streets costume she will be dressed in some ripped jeans, an oversized jumper, a big coat and some old shoes. We want to make the girl seem vulnerable and costume is a good way to indicate this. 

For the boy in the video we had to cut down our list to two possible actors, Miles and Cormac. We want the boy to be the main image of the video, so we want him to be dressed in quite normal clothing. He will wear a white t-shirt, leather jacket, black jeans and some boots. 

All of these ideas at the moment are still quite rough so they may change again. 

Conventions (Goodwin)

Media music video analysis using Andrew Goodwins Theory:

Taylor Swifts song ‘Shake it off’ is a pop genre song, and the music video helps indicate this throughout the use of specific characteristics. The video uses stereotypes of a One characteristic of a pop genre music video is that there is a lot of choreographed dance. From being a up beat song, we would expect something like this in the music video. There is no narrative to the video, it is just all based around dancing which can be related to the name of the song. The relationship between lyrics and visuals throughout the video are shown by the ‘shake it off’ dance. There are a couple of times where the same dance is done when ‘shake it’ off is said. Another aspect of Goodwins theory is also carried out in this video. The phrase “shake it off’ is amplified throughout the video, and is constantly referred back to. 

The Wombats song ‘Give me a try’ is a Indie Rock genre song and the style of the music video helps highlight this. The relationship between lyrics and visuals in the music video are relevant. The song is about dating and meeting new people and that happens in the video. The video fits the genre of indie-rock because it is quite humorous in parts. Furthermore in the video the band pop up a couple of times which I think fits the genre as well. At the beginning of the video the video cuts to the beat of the song, so there is a link between music and visuals. 

Jess Glynnes song “Don’t be so hard on yourself’ is a pop genre song. The video follows characteristics of a pop genre song because she is singing in the video, I think for pop videos this is quite a common characteristic. Furthermore the video is telling a story about a boy who is trying to get into this band, this relates to the lyrics and name of the song. Throughout the song we see the journey of the boy and how he eventually gets into the band. A theme that we can gather from this video is that you shouldn't give up on your dreams, we see this with the narrative in the video. I feel that this video highlights that it is good to make mistakes or fail because then you can work from that. Jess Glynne would be reaching her target audience by doing that. 

Technical Roles

8.9.15
In our lesson today we were told to decide who was going to manage the three main elements, Cinematography, Editing and Mise-en-scene. I am in a group of three with Ella and Esther and we all decided straight away, with no problem who was going to do what. I am doing Mise-en-scene, Ella is doing Editing and Esther is doing the cinematography. 
We have decide on our song, which is 'What would you do' by Bastille. From now deciding this we were able to decide on rough ideas for locations and actors/actresses. For locations we were thinking of going to Cambridge at night and gathering shots down dark alleyways, we want to manipulate the use of light in these shots to make the girl seem vulnerable. We thought of filming near a club because then we would be able to relate it to the lyrics.