Last lesson we finalised our ideas for the location for the shooting of our music video.
We decided to shoot particular scenes in wimbledon common as it has parts which are very similar to a forest.
Another location we agreed on was Chelsea Embankment. We chose this part of London and of the river Thames because the landscape is the sort of feel we wanted the music video and the song to have. Another reason being the pretty lights the bridge has at night, we thought this would make the video a little bit more special and pretty.
Particular scenes of the video (the first and last scene) we decided to shoot in a studio with a white background. Thankfully our school have a small photography studio and have agreed to let us use it for these scenes. We will also be shooting one or two scenes in a house, in a living room or kitchen, which is still yet to be decided.
Prop list: Video camera (to test out, if we do not like the quality we will be using a canon slr camera)
Tri-pod
Colour filters (for first and last scene)
Speakers
iPod
Clothing: Our leading actress will hopefully be wearing quite casual clothing with a bit of an edge to it. For example, take these models:
. This has a very autumnal feel to it, which is the excat look we are going for. It's casual, but at the same time fashionable and a little bit edgey.
In some of the other scenes the actress will also be seen in a floral dress similar to the left.
Now all the planning has been done we're going to hopefully be filming tomorrow, and hopefully it will be a nice and sunny day!
Once we all individually came up with a moodboard of all our ideas, we went on to do our storyboarding. at first we did one as a group, putting all our ideas together, later on i went and added my own bits to it and presented my ideas to the group. whilst doing so, i also came up with options for the locations, as did the rest of my group.
Over the past week, the storyboard has changed a little bit as we realised that what we had planned was a little bit too pretencious and that we needed to be professionals to pull something like that off.
Below are pictures/examples of our planning, and how we our ideas changed and eventually progressed into our final plan for the music video:
We have approached Sarah Blasko to get her permission to use her song for our music video.
The evidence is shown below.
We used the social networking site Twitter in order to do so, as it was also the most convinient way; we will also be using other social networking websites such as Facebook.
Once we decided on the song we quickly brainstormed all our ideas and came up with a list of location, props and anything we could think of: Autumn, Britishness, Instruments, Band, Girl walking towards camera, Moon and stars - full moon. We researched into this in particular, finding out when the next full moon is so we can hopefully film on that day which is 10th November or 10th December; we've unfortunatly missed the full moon on the 10th November so hopefully we can catch the full moon on the 10th December instead.
This is an example and evidence of a moodboard i created with all my ideas of the location and the feel i thought the video should have to it:
After we combined all our ideas we started on the story board as soon as possible. We each went away and drew our own storyboards with all our individual ideas put on, once we had all the ideas we later merged the ideas into one storyboard trying to fit as much as possible.
Whilst brainstorming we researched all the possible locations, which later on came down to different locations of London, including Albert Bridge
Over the past week, within our group, the dicussions centered around the various ideas about the music video we are going to make. Each member of the group presented their choice of song and the reasons behind their choice. Overall we chose ten songs, but narrowed it down to six and soon after the final two. The songs chosen were a mix of indie, rock and folk. We decided to focus on this area of music as we did not want to choose a typical song and artist most groups would chose, also because many people may already have a preconcieved image of what the music video should be like. Like this we would be able to do a lot more with the song and music video and be as original as possible. The selected songs were:
• Modest Mouse - Float On
• One Republic - Say (All i Need)
• No Doubt - Just A Girl
• Lucy Rose - Scar
• Laura Marling - Night Terror
• Best Coast - Boyfriend
• Sarah Blasko - We Won't Run
We then narrowed our options down to our two favourites by Laura Marling and Sarah Blasko. As the decision was very difficult we thought it would be a good idea to get an opinion from four of our other class mates, the result of the tally chart was Laura Marling 0 and Sarah Blasko 4.
Their decision was based on the fact that "We Won't Run" was more up beat and that we could do a bit more with it than "Night Terror" By Laura Marling.
John Stewart's theory states that visual reference in music videos come from a range of different sources. The three main sources consist of: cinema, fashion and art.
Intertextuality has been used in music videos for many years now, dating back to the 1980s, with artists such as Madonna using it as a theme in her music video 'Material Girl'. Directors such as David Fincher, Spike Jones and Michael Gondry are most famous for using intertextuality in their music videos.
Nowadays it is used a lot more in many videos. A lot of the time it is used by indie/rock bands like Weezer as well as rap bands such as The Beastie Boys and one or two solo artists such as Eminem and UK artist Example.
Good examples of how intertextuality is depicted in music videos are as so:
All the videos above one way or another have the theme of intertextuality seen in them. Some are quite similar in many ways, however each of them have something original/unique about them.
The first two videos are 'The Last One Standing' by Example and 'Sabotage' by Beastie Boys. These are very similar in the sense that they both are based on 60s/70s cop dramas and they also show comparison with Starsky and Hutch. However even though they both have the story line of chasing 'the baddies' each music video have different plots. For example in The Beastie Boy's video, the plot is like all cop shows plots - chasing aftter bank robbers/robbers. Example's video on the other hand is about chasing people who have pirated his album, which is a little different to the usual cop drama stories, but it still has the same action shots (car chases and the police office/interview rooms).
Both videos have the same typical big, bold and bright headings in old font with credits. The videos also include the 60s/70s costumes and hair styles which really are very characteristics of era.
Born April 18, 1973 in Los Angeles, CA, Anthony Mandler is most recognised for being a commercial and an award winning music video director, and has written and directed music videos for several famous artists including Eminem, The Killers, OneRepublic, and Mary J Blige.
He is most famous for collaborating with Rhianna and is still continuing to do so, on songs such as Unfaithful, and Only Girl (In The World).
The reason why i have chosen Anthony Mandler is because he directed the videos for the song "When You Were Young" by The Killers as well as the song "Say (All I Need)" by OneRepublic.
Mandler is constantly praised for his originality in his music videos.
I have given these two examples because, in my opinion, they are two very good songs and i believe he has done a brilliant job on them.
I like the fact that this director does not just focus on one type of music genre, and varies from pop to r&b to rock/indie rock; as though he is giving all types of artists a chance.
I also like how in most of his music videos there is a story behind them. Whether they are complicated or not it still gives the song an edge to it and attracts the viewer more. A good example of this is the video above: "When you were young" by The Killers. The video is centered around a young woman in her twenties and is based on flashbacks that eventually illustrate the story of how they came to be there; it is also about how live changes whether you want it to or not. Like most of Mandler's videos, the music video is set in a foreign country, and in this case it is set in Tlayacapan, Mexico.
"Say (all i need)" by OneRepublic, was filmed in Paris, France. The video is shot in black and white and a few shots in colour (whilst performing). The video is mainly of the lead singer running around Paris as though he is searching for something. We also see all the sights of Paris, the back streets/allyways, and life in general around the city. There are one or two cuts to shots of the band performing. The way it is filmed and the style of the video is very unique and shows just how talented Anthony Mandler is.
Our preliminary task was to create the first minute of a music video. The song my group chose was "I feel it all" by Feist, this in my opinion was a good choice as it is not a well known song, which meant we could do a great deal with it, making it as original as possible.
In general i am very happy with the outcome of the video, including the quality of the shots, the settings used and the casting.
The music video i have chosen to analyse is “Foundations” by Kate Nash. It was released in 2007 and directed by Kinga Burza. Most of Kate Nash’s music is indie/pop or indie/rock and this one being indie/pop. Kate Nash has had a very successful career with two very successful studio albums and a third one on the way in 2012 working with artists such as Mark Ronson. She also won a Brit Award in 2008 for best female artist which shows how popular she has become over the years.
The music video for Foundations is very arty and in a way original; this is noticed through the editing, the camera shots, and the colours used. The mise en scene is set in one house and has a vintage feel to it as though its meant to be the 60s or 70s. For example in the first few seconds of the video we see old house essentials such as a telephone, watches and old books radios in the background. The clothing also represents the time of the late 60s early 70s, especially the dresses she wears and the scene at 2:06 shot in the living room has the 70s written all over it with the clothing and all the little bits and bobs in the background.
The colourful props used for the mise en scene give a very happy feel to the video in contrast to the lyrics which are about two people breaking up. Having said that, throughout the video the lyrics are literally illustrated – even the words which have a figurative meaning have been depicted in a literal way. Examples of the lyrics being illustrated literally are seen at 0:41, 1:03 and 1:21, at 1:21 the lyrics are: “you said i should eat so many lemons cause i am so bitter” and we see her eating a dozen lemons; or at 0:41 it says “why don’t you have another beer then?” she opens the fridge and shows all the beers. When the song hits the chorus - “my fingertips are holding onto the cracks in our foundations” at 1:03 - we see the character and her partner holding hands but slowly letting go and at other parts of the video the camera moves from her face to her hands, so either way it is taking the lyrics literally. Another point is at 0:58, when they are in bed, there is a teddy bear in between them, as though it is keeping them apart and shows that their relationship is on the rocks and that they may not be communicating as much as before.
In my opinion it is as though the producer and creators of the music video are trying to portray her character as being very happy, innocent, gullable and a push over through the atmosphere and the clothing, when really she is tough and someone who knows what she wants and not one to mess around with.
There are also one or two double meanings discreetly shown such as at 0:30 when the character is talking about her friends but the shot is of a fish tank and she is in the background, which could suggest that her friends are not really real friends and that she may not deserve them or it could be a witty shot.
The editing of this music video is very well done with a few still shots and slow motion animation. At certain times in the video there are cuts in time to the beat, for example, whenever the piano and drums start to play there are very frequent and fast montage edits.
With that said it is as though the record company are trying to portray the singer as being a serious but at the same time quite a fun and quirky type – and comes across as though she has fun in her videos and through her songs however the serious side to her shows that she’s fierce, strong and not one one can mess around with.
In terms of camerawork, close-ups and mid-shots are often used to give the viewer a chance to get to know the characters well, especially the main character through the close-ups of her face. These close-ups clearly show the character’s feelings, as well as enabling the viewer to have a connection with the video and the music. With mid shots, we do not only see the character but also her surroundings; this allows us to get to know that little extra detail about what she is like and what environment she is in – the apparently colourful and happy environment portrayed in the video is a total contrast to the sadness, anger and frustration the character is experiencing. It is almost as if she is hiding the truth behind all the appearences – something which many people can relate to.
This video allows the viewer to have access to a couple’s personal life and their relationship. Although it focuses mainly on the woman, it is easy to get a feel of the problems the couple are having in their relationship. The despair the young woman feels because the love has gone out of the relationship – but how they are still together pretending to be happy – the couple live in a neat, tidy and orderly house where the woman feels that it is the only thing she is in control of as she doesn’t seem to have any control over her relationship with the man. Many people can relate to this type of situation; therefore, the target audience could be quite wide ranging – young and old, regardless of age, race or gender. There are references in the lyrics to verbal and physical abuse, but from the visuals it is not clear to understand which of the two is the victim. This shows how certain people who find themselves in abusive relationships still hold on even though they are hurting – as if they enjoy being hurt (“Yes it was childish and you got aggressive, and I must admit that I got a bit scared but it gives me thrills to wind you up”). It seems to be a vicious circle. It gives an insight into why they do it – maybe to try and fix things, or they just can’t seem to get away.
The music in this video is very uplifting and upbeat; something which automatically inspires you to get up and dance. However, watching the video, and listening to the lyrics, the viewer realises how contradictory the two things are.
The couple in this video are also represented as objects. In the opening scene, we see two toothbrushes together which automatically imply that there are two people in the house. Later on, we see a pair of watches, and two odd socks which don’t seem to stay together
This video is a good example of Goodwin’s theory as there is strong relationship between the video and the lyrics. The lyrics are cleary illustrated and sometimes exaggerated in the video. At times, the lyrics contradict what we see – as though the lyrics could have a double meaning. A good example of this is when she sings about the man “being aggressive, and her being scared”, what we are actually seeing is the couple are-wrestling, and the woman winning! There is a definite relationship between the music and the visual. The camera shots concentrate a great deal on the young woman – this could mean the video is directed at a female audience.
Unlike other pop videos, this one has an edge to it as it is a very different style to songs in the charts at the present time. The theme of voyeurism is depicted in a completely different way to the typical female artist such as Rhianna. The female in this video is shown dressed in a conservative way, she is seen as a typical “housewife”,doing chores in the house such as dusting, baking and looking after the house. However, she also comes across as a fierce, strong young woman that no one one can mess around with.
In groups, we were given the task to create a storyboard for a music video based on the story of Little Red Riding Hood. We were given posted notes to individually draw our ideas down and after combine all our ideas together to form one storyboard with each of our ideas put together.
This really helped me to prepare for the planning stages of our own music video we have to create for coursework.
The theme of sexuality is seen in many videos, especially throughout this past decade. It seems as though every artist in the charts today has had at least one or two videos using this theme, as though it’s the “thing” to do. I have chosen different music videos which all demonstrate this theme.
The video of “Womanizer” by Britney Spears touches the topic of sexuality in nearly all of the music video. From the title of the song we already get a sense of what the video will be like and what the song is about. Straight away in the first 8 seconds there is a nude shot, which automatically grabs the viewers attention, this indicates that the video will be about sex and the attraction between men and women. From the title womanizer us viewers would assume that it is about a player who may constantly cheat on all of his girlfriends. Throughout the whole music video we see the two main characters dressed seductively, which indicates that they both have a adventurous/dangerous side to them, for example, the opening minutes we see Britney wearing revealing night wear and the man practically half naked. This could suggest that Britney is not as innocent as the guy thinks and that he should pay more attention to her, whereas for the guy it could suggest that he is expecting her to approach him and it lives up to the title of the song that he really is a “womanizer”. Throughout the rest of the video we see Britney’s character intimidating him and making him beg for her in many different ways.
Through the video we see many bold and dark colours such as black and red, which in my opinion shows that the song is associated with sexuality and the colours black and red are usually used in a very suggestive way, which is also related to this song. The colours show Britney’s fierce side as well, as though she is trying to tell him that he has lost his game and his title as a “womanizer”, and to show that women are more dominant than men.
Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake
Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake is my second choice for a music video to analyse in terms of sexuality. This song is similar to “Womanizer” by Britney Spears in terms of the theme and meanings of both songs, which is sex and the attraction seen on screen. From the very first few seconds of the music video the colours portrayed are very dull and grey looking which gives the viewer a feeling that the video will be very dark and mischivious in some way. However, in the same shot there are also bold colours such as red and white which stand out from the other colours. These colours are usually associated with danger and adventure, so automatically the viewer knows that the video will not only be very dark and mischivious but also adventurous and full of action.
The location of is not the most glamourous of settings as it is a dark/ gloomy and even grotty looking hotel. This can also be related to the theme behind it – cheap sex in a cheap motel room. Watching the video the viewers get a sense of mystery as they don’t excatly know where it is taking them as the setting changes from one place to another every few minutes, as the shots change from being in a motel room to a big, large, dark (maybe an office) room. The shots of the office scenes are quite mysterious and confusing. There are young professionals along the corridor who are just making out; then there’s a close up shot of Justin in a suit and tie just looking out of the window
For most people the location of the video (shady motel room) would not be a familiar place, they would only make the association with films. In the first few shots Justin and the women appear to be in two separate hotel rooms, Justin’s character has a gun, and the woman has a pen knife. They both seem to be involved in a sort of spying/ criminal activity, something which they shouldn’t be doing (due to their actions). The way the scenes are shot make it difficult to understand if they are working together or seperatly.
The lyrics don’t match the scenes, therefore the director of the music video has not taken a literal approach. There is also an unrealistic atmosphere in the scene of people making out in the corridor, as it seems to be an office building and these things usually happen in a private home or a party. The characters and extras in this music video seem very out of place. With that said, you would not find a woman who is all dangerous/ adventurous in a little hotel like the one in the video; she is not someone one would imagine to have such a strong and dangerous character, or someone very mischeveous. However in the office scene the extras along with Justin Timberlake, seem more comfortable with their surrounding as they are dressed quite smart and seem to be more at ease.
The use of editing is very well done, as there are a lot of jump shots, however the video does not have a steady flow as it cuts very quickly and the viewer can easily get lost in it. The succession of jump shots, mainly in black and white, in very unfamiliar surroundings add to the mystery, which I think the producers of the video try to convey.
The choreography targets young adults in their late teens and early 20s, of both genders. This is evident as the video is all about sex, which is one of the main interests young adults have nowadays. All the action, violence and other themes portrayed in this music video is another reason why the target audience is so, as many people these days want the excitement a video like this brings.
