Peer Feedback on Rough Draft of Music Video

Creating Two Versions of my Music Video

Editing my video: stage 3

Now I have decided upon creating two versions of my video, it has come to reversing the second one. Although I edited the scenes in order of movement, they would need completely altering so the movement worked the same way in reverse. I initially thought I would have to reverse each video individually, yet I found a way of doing them all at once:


I started by highlighting the whole video, including the audio track. All I then did was copy and paste the whole video further along the timeline so It was exactly the same in editing and all I would have to do was swap round the footage.

I then removed the track from the highlighted footage, locking the layer so no editing could disrupt it. With the rest still highlighted, I then right clicked on one of the shots, selecting the speed/ duration tool.



I ticked the reverse speed icon that would then reverse all the footage at once at the speed they normally played at. This individually then reversed each shot within the timeline, taking a while to render.

It then came to shuffling all my footage around the different scenes. As I has edited them in the order they would flow correctly in normal time, I needed to move the end shot so it was now at the beginning of the scene, and the same with each shot leading after that. To make this easier I moved the footage in a circle motion around the middle shot of the scene, placing them on Video 1 and 4 whilst I was organising it. Therefore each scene would be exactly the same as the first version of my  music video, yet play entirely in reverse.

In doing this version, I was able to view the version that works along my original plan of all motion going backwards. I like the effect it gives certain moments within the video, especially within the dancing scene where they fall onto the bed and start dancing, as well as the cheating scene where the flowers fall back into the guys hand. This version is much different to the first, not only because of the order of footage but the perspective in which the audience takes on the relationship. This versions seems to I've an equal focus on the couple rather than taking the perspective and sympathising with the main male. Therefore doing this version not only widened my skills within Premier Pro but made me visually aware of the ways in which different emotions can be altered through reversing footage.

Editing my video: stage 2

Once I had edited the main narrative of my story together it came to including the performance part of my video. These shots would display the lead singer the same male figure in the music video, as well as a trumpet player and drummer. I had organised these to be shot in front of a plain white background so the main focus was the band playing, which would contrast with the busy nature and locations of all the other narrative scenes.

 Whilst filming my band I wanted to experiment with two ways of filming the song being performed. The first would include the song being sung at normal speed with the instruments playing at the same time too. However, I also wanted to shoot a version that would play around with motion control. Previously I experimented with motion control, that changed the speed of the actions but once edited would still be in synch with the music. In audacity before the shoot, I sped up the original track 75% of its original speed that I then played to my band when being filmed. This way they played the instruments and sang at double speed, giving me the freedom to slow their movement down in post editing, which would still synch up to the song but would create an effective style of filming.

 

This worked successfully in shooting, and now it came to adding it over my narrative. I started by copying the track and putting alongside the rest of my editing. I then imported the video and put it video 1, unlinking the sound as this was no longer needed. At this point the video was much shorter than the track and so the speed needed to be altered.

 

By right clicking on the video on the time line I could then select speed/ duration to change the length of the footage and slow it down.

 

From previous test footage, for a video increased by 75% the speed of the video should then be increased by 50-60%. This took a bit of experimenting to get the vocals to link up exactly with the video, yet I finally found 57.5% linked the two together perfectly.

Pressing Ok then required the file to be rendered. After a few minutes this was complete and the video was ready to be placed amongst the narrative of what I'd already edited.

By knowing the speed needed to make the video work in the audio, I could adjust some of the other footage taken in this style to add a variety of angles and close ups to the performance shots.

Using the cutting tool, I could then take out specific parts of the song I liked and place them in amongst the rest of the footage. This would not disturb the rest of the video, and that way I could keep going back to it if there were other parts I preferred. Also by keeping the rest there I could work out the exact times in the song against the timeline, which I could then put in the same place in my official video.

Using video 4, I could then overlay this on top of the rest of my footage, decreasing the length of some of the shots within the park as well as other points in the video.

Including the performance parts of my video relates to Jon Gows's theory of music videos, my video now falling under the category of 'Enhanced Performance' that demonstrates performance elements alongside a narrative, in which the main singer in the band acts as the main character in the plot. By filming two versions of the song being performed, I could experiment further with the effects of the video to create interesting visuals alongside the narrative that would soon be turned backwards. By including the main band member in the narrative, it illustrates to the audience these are the experiences the main band member has been through, and can be expressed and understood by the people who watch it and have been in similar positions. In doing this I am considering my target audience, knowing people fond of an indie genre can relate to not only the lyrics, but the visuals going with them that demonstrate indie themes in what they are wearing, the instruments they're playing and the emotions conveyed within the video.

Editing my video: Stage 1

Now that I has the sufficient amount of footage to create my entire music video, it came round to editing together along the direction of my practical production treatment to piece together my intended  idea for my music video. As I have discussed previously, I wanted my footage to play in reverse within the scenes, so the whole video goes backwards in time, however, editing it this way would not be very simple. Instead I decided to edit each scene individually in normal time, which I would then go back and reverse once I had completed all my editing.

I wanted most of my scenes to be influenced with continuity editing, so the actions flowed and time passed normally within the scene, between the different camera positions and shots I used. This meant lining up the shots sometimes took a lot of attention to get smooth transitions between the shots. This specifically became an issue in the cheating scene where the main guy runs up the stairs:



 

I wanted a variety of angles that not only created variation in shots but refered to the change of power within the scene once he opened the door.

 

There was a certain shot in this scene where I also wanted to position the audience in the point of view of the main guy when he first opened the door. When filming I moved the camera stepping forward into the room rather than just stationary:

 

 

Seeing his reaction and then seeing the action from his point of view added variety in shot type and puts the audience in the position of the guy, to feel the same emotions he would when opening a door to this.

 

These two shots and most of the scenes throughout the video were created through extensive use of the trim tool, as well as editing the length of the footage in the left preview screen against the right screen. This way I could have the same action in two different camera positions parallel to each other, which I could cut down so they switch viewpoint of the action so they flowed into each other and kept continuity in time.

Editing each scene in this manor widened my skills in continuity editing, as well as the different functions on Premier Pro. Even though all I did was simple cropping of my shots, compiling them to flow in a natural way was hard work, and now I feel more informed on how to do this to create realistic looking scenes. This way when I change it round to play backwards, the motion should flow with the exactly same effortlessness just in reverse.

Now I have got to the stage of having each scene edited in order, yet reverse in the flow of narrative. Although I intend to reverse the whole video so even their motion is backwards, I like how it is looking at the moment with the different scenes still moving forward in time. I will consider this as I move forward in my editing process, maybe creating two versions of my video to compare.



 

Location reflecting the genre and mood of my music video

When filming different locations that would display the different events in their relationship, I wanted to create certain mise en scene that in itself would reflect the mood of the scene. Luckily the days organised for filming became perfect in making this work, with either weather conditions or lighting that worked well with the emotions and action in the scene.

http://www.pinterest.com/theresakuhn4/locations-reflecting-the-mood-of-my-music-video/


Follow Theresa's board Locations Reflecting the Mood of my Music Video on Pinterest.
Overall each of the main scenes created a great pathetic fallacy that related to the emotion of the couple throughout their relationship. obviously some shot needed to be edited to make it easier to view, yet doing this will help the audience understand the course of events in relationship and the exact emotions I wanted to get across to them.


By including an element of nostalgia in the repeated settings but different emotions of my narrative, as well as elements within the scenes, I can class my music video to be postmodern. Jameson's (1998) theories of our cultures 'past becoming romanticised by artistic representation of history that is clouded in nostalgia' can relate to the nostalgic view on the previous events in the relationships I have created in my hyper reality world of this boy and girl. By seeing them drifting apart in the first park pathway scene that contrasts with the second one when they are first going out, it creates a feel of nostalgia, romanticising the better times they had spent together in that park as if it were a distant memory that can’t be recreated in the same way. The same goes for the bedroom scenes, in which the first you see in my video displays them arguing, compared to the second one when they are happily dancing and listening to music. having both scenes filmed  in the same location emphasises to the audience the difference in emotions and creates an awe of nostalgia into the lives of this couple which can now not be revisited in the same harmonious way, which the audience themselves could have experienced.

Also my choice in props for the dancing bedroom scene similarly relates with this theory. We see the guy pick out a record and play it to the girl, in which they both get up and start dancing. By including the use of a record player rather than an MP3 or CD player, it is recognised as a music player of the past, and again, the scene becomes nostalgic to the use of this old fashioned way of playing music that is much more romantic than a normal iPod device. As an audience we are saturated in the idea of elements of the past being an exciting way in which to live our own lives, and so by including this, my scene becomes much more effective as a way to reflect the great time the couple are having together.

Rush Logs for Filming

Once going out to each location and filming the different scenes necessary for my music video, it came to watching all my footage back and analysing it to see what shots were successful. Compiling a rushes log let me look through each shot, noting down the type of camera shot and the action involved, and whether it could be used or not. This was very useful when editing my music video together as I could instantly collect my useful footage and discard what didn't work or where actors lost composure within the shot. There were some shots that needed numerous takes due to the actors loosing focus or the camera not being in focus, and this most certainly helped sift them out. The next few documents display my analysing of footage for my different locations:

Camera Rushes Log: School filming and band performances

 

CAMERA RUSHES LOG: Cafe and park filming

Camera Rushes Log: House filming

Every Shot Story Board

http://issuu.com/theresakuhn/docs/every_shot_story_board.docx?e=11411834/10164042

Major changes to music video scenes

After planning out my music video and getting people to be involved, its come to my attention that some of the scenes I wanted to perform were not easily available to do with all the people I had in mind to do it. This mainly concerns the party scene where they meet for the second time and go off into a different room together. However getting the amount of people to be involved for this at a time when they were all free was not available, therefore I have changed it so where this scene should have gone, it now shows them walking in a park together.

Also due to weather conditions and accessibility of getting equipment outside, I decided to relocate my record playing scene inside the guys bedroom, providing an easier location to work in for me and my actors.

Moreover I changed the location of the argument scene to be in the guys bedroom rather than the girls. I thought the narrative would make more sense for her to visit him after what she had done round her house, rather than the main guy leave her house and return again to argue. This way the narrative flows better and will be clearer for the audience.

Prop and equipment list for filming

Prop and equipment list for each scene

Slow motion singing

As part of my skills development and research into music videos, I have also decided to experiment with the use of motion control on my performance footage. In videos such as Budapest by George Ezra, they have slowed down the footage to give the appearance of slow motion, yet the speed of the vocals still link with the audio of the song. They achieve this through the use of speeding up the song whilst filming, yet slowing down the footage in post editing. You can see this at certain points especially, with George crowd surfing and singing at a normal pace, yet he is moving in slow motion with all the hands slowly moving him too.

I wanted to consider this as an element of editing I could use on my own performance shots, that would work with the rest of the slow motion in my music video. I decided to film myself singing out of convenience, choosing a song I knew particularly well and speeding it up before hand to achieve the slow motion effect in editing.

I started by editing the song in audacity. I imported Gabriel Aplins song 'Panic Cord' it into the software, as it was a song i knew all the words to so would be easy to interpret once speeded up.

 

I then changed the speed of the song. I increased the speed to 100% to make it quick enough to edit on later.

 

 

This then dramatically reduced the songs length from 3 min 26 seconds to 1 min 43 seconds. In turn this made the voice sound very high pitch.

 

 

 To make it more bearable to listen to, I reduced the pitch to make it sound more normal and less high pitched. I reduced the pitch by 35%, making it the equivalent in sound to the original, just sped up.

 

 

Once I had finished playing around with the song I exported it as an MP3 file that I could easily play when filming.

I then set up my location for filming. I wanted a concept simple enough to achieve, but to have elements to show this slowed down effect that contrasted with my singing. I therefore chose to sit in front of my dressing table and just portray me getting ready (i.e. brushing my hair, putting on makeup, putting on perfume) and singing simultaneously. I positioned the camera on a tripod behind me so only my reflection wads visible, and the objects I was picking up could then be seen. All I then did was play the song on my laptop behind me and commenced with filming.

This was my final outcome of filming. I used one long shot of the whole song. I reduced the speed of the footage by 50% so my actions were dragged, as well as fitting my sped up lip synching back to the original version of the song. This took some experimenting to get perfect and to fit with some of the things I said, but eventually it worked successfully.

 

 

 

Overall I think my investigation into this area of editing was useful in the ideas of my final product. Doing this not only let me experiment in Audacity, a software I'd never previously come across, but also how to match up footage to a song half the speed. This has given me ideas as to what I could put in my own performance pieces of my music video, possibly filming it in both ways so I have the choice later once editing to see which would work best. There are still things I could improve on even in this video, with some parts not exactly linking up correctly, but this is all part of experimentation and skills development, which I have found most useful for the preparation of my music video.

Reversing footage experimentation

One of the key post editing features that I will include in my video is the use of reversing my footage to convey time going backwards. It is used in videos such as Alt J's Breezeblocks, showing a man attacking the person he’s cheating on, which you only find until the end why he has good reason to do so. Like this example, the video also shows its footage in slow motion that elongates the actions and gives you time to really understand the narrative of the story. I intend to use both these editing techniques to the best of my abilities to convey the breakdown of the couple’s relationship, and create an awkward situation for the audience to be in when they have the argument. This not is seen as a great reaction to want to get from a music video, but it will therefore become more memorable.


The video I then created shows my experimentation with revering footage, as well as the speed necessary for my video to look professional. I took a piece of text footage I have previously filmed in the city, showing numerous people walking past with music playing in the background.





I started by simply reversing the footage. This obviously messed up the audio to sound particularly strange, but the people in the frame clear moved in reverse as if it was normal.

 

I then kept it in reverse but played it at 75% speed. This slowed down the motion but didn't affect it too much. You could obviously tell it was slightly slowed down but didn't look too different to the usual reversed footage. It also didn't drag out the motions enough to what I wanted it too, so decided to change the speed.

 

I then reduced the speed to 50%. this dramatically changed the pace of the movement, making everything slow down and elongate greatly in a way that was noticeable an affective.it really made features I hadn't previously caught on to noticeable, for example, the man dropping his cigarette and then blowing the smoke away, which in reverse was mesmerising watching it fly back into his hand. I wasn't sure if this was then two slow for my piece so I thought I’d experiment with a speed in-between.

 

Changing the speed back up to 60% was interesting, as it still showed everything clearly but at a speed that was obviously different to normal and slowed down actions. It didn’t make people walking appear to judder so much, and they instead flowed across the screen much better. However I still think it could have been a little slower, possibly depending on my footage.

 

I then decided to take some of my test footage which I intended to use in the official video I would create, showing a picture of the couple slowly burn. I started with 50% speed however I felt even though the flame created a cool movement action; it went on for too long. I had to consider a shot like this would only stay on the screen for no longer than 5 seconds, and the burning of the paper in slow motion wouldn't work in that time. Therefore I changed it up to 60%. This resulted in a quicker burning action, that although was still in slow-motion took less time to burn, with it still achieving the whispy flow of the flame around the paper. I therefore decided to keep this speed when editing my actual footage for my video.

 

Experimenting with reversing footage and speed was very interesting in my development of knowledge for the effects on my video.  It showed me that certain shots depended on different time scales to provide a better image and to make the affect noticeable. doing it with the different speeds let me make a decision of what works and what could be improved on, which all helps with the development of my editing skills.

Development in Premier Pro: Adding titles and editing audio

Whilst editing my test footage on Premier Pro, I began to explore the different methods of editing that I could later use in the development of my music video. Creating this simple sequence of footage with titles let me understand the best methods for audio working with sound and text.

To start with I located the way in creating a simple title for the beginning of my video. I made this by using the drop down tool to create what I wanted. I not only wanted my title at the beginning but in between shots of test footage, which was made possible through this easy system.

It then came up with the separate box to edit the appearance of the title. Here you could change the font and size of the writing, as well as the colour of the background. For this instance, I kept a black background to introduce each scene.

 

 I then easily slotted it in the time line of my video, with the ability to adjust the length of it and include a dip to black at the start so the writing would smoothly appear.

 I also found a way of creating titles that went over the imagery instead of just a black screen. This way I could include an explination to some of the shots I was using, or the shot number in the series of test footage I used. I could position it where I like, so it could neatly become a header in my experimentation of footage.

 

Apart from experimenting in titles and the variety of ways I could use them, I also experimented with the overlaying of audio, so the sounds of the different shots didn't abruptly stop and start again. When I filmed test footage in the coffee shop, there was music playing in the background that obviously moved on from shot to shot. However to make the audio continue smoothly I looked into the audio effects that could prevent the judder of sound. One of the effects known as constant power almost overlapped the sound, making them smoothly run into each other and made the music sound as if it was just continuing forward in the song. Obviously this wont be a necessary factor in my music video as I'll just be using the song as the audio to my video, yet it was good to use and experiment with this tool.

Making this short film showing my test footage became multi purposed in practicing for my music video. It not only let me explore the variety of shots i could use for my music video in the different locations, but made me more aware of the different tools and effects i could put over my footage. This overall gave me more ideas to how i could adapt my visuals to make them engaging and appear professional.

A Film of closeups: Developing in filming skills

http://prezi.com/4o6jiwzi5sqf/a-film-of-closeups-developing-in-filming-skills/#

Test Footage: Experimenting with my camera on location

Before going straight into official filming for my music video, I thought I would experiment with some of the locations that I intend to film on. This let me experiment with camera angles, movement, and a variety of shots that inspired me for some of the frames I will eventually use in my final product.


The video below displays a few of my chosen locations, including a café and the park. It also records my experiment with some of the close up shots I intend to use, and the best way to achieve them.

Call Sheets

Now that I had my locations identified, cast decided, and risk assessments were filled out I could create the call sheet for the different dates I planned to shoot my music video. Each gives detail as to the location, contact information, scenes being shot and the routine of the day. For each day I have made sure I consider my cast by giving them breaks during filming, so they are treated professionally and put as much effort into it as possible.

Call Sheet(School)

CALL SHEET(Chaplelfield and Cafe Nero)

CALL SHEET(House 1 and 2)

Representation of my Narrative

As part of the planning of my music video I wanted to investigate the representations in my music videos, and what angles I wished to convey.



By now it is clear the narrative of my music video follows the stages of a relationship in reverse, including first meetings and dates, going round each others houses, and then the downfall of the relationship with the girl going off with another guy, to which her original boyfriend finds out and leads to their breakup. Therefore I wanted to make clear of the protagonist and antagonist of this story which the audience can then identify with.



Whilst researching this representation I looked at You Me at Six's'Underdog' track, a good example of representation and stereotypical views of women in media. The storyline basically follows two girls and a guy. We at first see the guy making out with the blond girl, whilst the brown haired girl cries on some stairs. This already follows stereotypical views of blonds being the antagonists and having control over men because of their looks. We therefore identify the brown haired girl to be the protagonist and should be the one we sympathies during this scene. However as we get further into the narrative this representation changes, as the scene is played again but the brown haired girl being the one kissing the guy, with the blond girl seeing this and going off in floods of tears. This then makes her appear to be the antagonist, with her upsetting the blond girl as well as kissing the guy and then leaving. Basically this video shows an act of revenge towards the brown haired girls supposed boyfriend who is actually cheating on their people. Her kissing him in front of the blond girl he cheated with makes the blond feel like ‘the other woman', and also leaves the man with nothing.



It’s interesting that during this whole video, the guy appears passive to being the good or bad character of the plot. However it is his actions of kissing both girls in the first place that this has all lead to, so generally he should be viewed as the antagonist. However this purposely seems not to be the main focus of the video, as the director intended for the girls to be the main source of the problem.



As an influence to my own work, I found this very useful in the differentiating of characters and the directors intended representation. Therefore for my music video narrative, I aim for the main male character to be the protagonist. In contrast, I want the female character to be the antagonist, with this only being revealed half way through the narrative. As she obviously cheats with another guy, it could be argued who out of the two cheating on the main male character is the antagonist. From one perspective it could be the second male being the one taking the female away from the other man. However it could also be the female’s choice to go off with the other man and leave her boyfriend.



With these two possibilities, I have decided to keep the girl the antagonist in the relationship as it is her motives of going off with another guy that caused the breakup. The person she cheats with will then appear passive (much like the make figure in the Underdog video) as he was only an intended catalyst in the main couples breakup. Also as the shot of her boyfriend walking in on them two cheating will be in 'her house' it is therefore understandable that she is the wrong-doer in this relationship.



As representation of males and females go, I wanted to go against the usual conventions of the male being the dominant figure and the one that cheats on someone.  I feel this is over played and taking this view would give an interesting alternate perspective on the norm. Also in comparison to the underdog video, I want the blond male to be the one to be sympathised with rather than the brunet, therefore showing my music video challenges conventions and creates individuality in my representation as a director.

Risk Assessments

Before I could go any further with the planning of my music video, I had to create a risk assessment that identified all the risks of my five locations. I would then brief these with my cast before any filming is started on the locations, so they are aware of the risks and how to prevent them. This would then create a safe environment during filming sessions.

 

 

 

Participate Release Forms

Recce checklists

The next five documents show the recce checklists for my five different locations. They each give  a detailed plan of what I need on location, permission required and any other notes depending on the setting of filming. 

RECCE CHECKLIST(Chapelfield Gardens)

 

 

Recce Checklist(Cafe Nero)

 

 

Recce Checklist(the Hewett)

 

RECCE_CHECKLIST( House 1 )

RECCE_CHECKLIST ( House 2 )

Casting for my music video

Male and Female Style Moodboards

Girls Outfit Mood board 

This is what I've decided to dress my main female character in. I've gone for quite a casual approach so it is comfy to wear on set and easy to work in. The main style in outfit comes directly from my research into my target audience of indie, with extravagant patterns for shirts and denim shorts and dungarees that are still unique but rather feminine. I have also gone for a simple hairstyle that will be easy to achieve on set and can be touched up easily between shots. Finally my makeup choice is quite simple except from the flick definition on eyes with eyeliner, that will add an edgier look to the main actress. My choice in style reflects one of Goodwin's theories of music genre iconography, with my decision on costume reflecting my target audience and their interests.

 

 Boys Outfit Mood board

This is the main way I've decided to dress my males characters. I've gone for both casual and formal wear for variation in the different scenes, providing a mature look to the two characters. Again I have decided to reflect my target audience through the use of costume, deciding upon choosing patterned shirts and skinny jeans for the casual outfits. I have added a blazer to the more formal outfit, just to show some formality that I could use in the date scene. For their hairstyles I have gone with a simple style with short at the sides and long but styled in the middle, which again will be easy to touch up on set.
 

Storyboard: main visual layout

Music Video Moodboard

Music Video Mood Board

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contacting The Band

After downloading the track of Jamendo I was in need of a lyric sheet for the song I intended to use. As the band didn’t have any lyric videos on YouTube I contacted them directly through Facebook. This way I was definite I could use the song and also have all the lyrics ready for my Music video proposal and later when filming the footage.

My Audience Profile

Researching my target audience

 For my music video I intend to aim it at an indie target audience.

The term indie rock, describes a genre of music founded through alternate rock that was first discovered in the 1980s. It main sense of ‘individuality’ came from the underground music scene, with artists signing with record labels who were very much individuals in the music industry. Their dedication to remaining unique and independent from other artists or genres of the time raised their popularity to create an indie culture with numerous subcultures, subgenres and fusion genres. This offspring of music in the late 1990s created multiple forms of indie, such as indie pop, grunge and lo-fi that is still appreciated today. This new identity not only influenced the music choice of its followers, but gave an overall style and attitude that these cultures and subcultures would be known for.

I intend to focus my study on one of the fusion genres of indie rock, known as indie folk. This unique genre first became popular in the late 1990s, when indie rock was influenced by the soulful sounds of country music. The unique mix of catchy personal lyrics with the soothing sounds an acoustic guitar creates relaxing contemporary listening for a new subculture people can identify themselves with.

Examples of indie folk music in the charts today are bands such as Bombay Bicycle Club, Of Monsters and Men, The Lumineers, as well as solo artists like Ben Howard and Jake Bugg. They each consist of music very much stripped back to basics, with main instruments including an acoustic guitar, double bass, banjos, drums and violins. They don’t include any synthetic sounding instruments or synthesisers. This relates to their iconography of a genre as a whole, the sound of their music being exactly the same as if they were playing live. The lack of over ambitious sounds and mixes creates a soulful experience, yet still something great to dance to.

People who refer to themselves as ‘indie’ carry a particular style, attitude and identity that reflect the music they preferably listen to. It is common to see people of this subculture mainly buy their clothes from Topshop and H&M, as well as include one off vintage pieces or charity shop purchases to create individuality in their look. They obviously listen to band and artists listed under the subgenre indie, with a particular fondness of going to gigs and festivals. Indie folk are more common as festival goers, wearing clothes infused with nature such as flower crowns and face paints to create artistic values in their look. They also convey a particular attitude of being quite care free, open for new experiences and experimenting in drugs and alcohol to have a good time. Outsiders of this identity sometimes state they are quite depressive and emotional due to the depth of lyrics some songs possess, yet this is down to personal opinion.

The song I have chosen ‘Stay Awake’ by The House of the Old Boat fall under the category of indie folk, so when making decisions of the genre and style of my music video, I will reference the identity of my target audience to influence my imagery.  

 

 

Music Video Analysis 2: Grouplove Tongue Tied

Music Video Analysis: Grouplove Tongue Tied

Music Video Analysis 1: Lucy Spraggan Beer Fear

Music Video Analysis: Lucy Spraggan Beer Fear

Music Video Practical Production Treatment: Stay Awake by The House of the Old Boat

This is the basic outline as to what my music video will look like. Here I list the visuals in conjunction with the lyrics, and as to how they may be filmed. It also differentiates between the narrative part of the video and the performance aspect of the band. I also give times throughout the song as to changes in scenes or locations. At the moment this is only a simple structure as to what my video will look like. Later I will plan each individual shots through a story board, but this acts as a structure as to the ideas and visuals I want to include.

The main story as part of the narrative I will get across to the audience will be the breakdown of a relationship. In chronological order, this will show a guy and girl meeting at school, going to a party together and becoming closer. Then we will see them on a date in a café, a beginning of a relationship forming. Through images of them singing with a record player in a garden or bedroom, it will show they are at the peak of happiness in their relationship. However there will then be in an introduction of another guy, in which the girl comes closer to and pushes her so called boyfriend away. We will see shots of them socialising with the existing boyfriend awkwardly behind, followed by numerous un replied texts from the girl. The boyfriend will then plan a surprise visit to his girlfriend at her house, but in doing so, will find her and this new guy making out. In frustration he will storm out of the house, this image followed by a sequence of shot of an argument between them and then the burning of a photo of the two of them. The end of the story will focus on the two at a park bench, in an emotional but uncomfortable situation of them parting ways.

However in my video I will use this story but portray it backwards, therefore starting with the broken relationship with visuals that pick up the pieces to see where it all went wrong. This is the reason my video practical production treatment shows it in the reverse order.

Match on action short film

To get a grip on editing for our final product of a music video, we were given the task to create a short film experimenting and developing our skills in match-on-action editing. Our brief was to create the scene of someone going through a door and crossing a room or corridor, with a minimum of 12 shots to document the movement. This was our final product:



We chose the location of a stair case leading to a corridor through a door. As part of the video it followed me running up the stairs, out the door and round the corner to mysteriously appear if I went through a normal door and came out a lift door. Before hand, we made a brief story board to decide what angles, camera positions and movement we would use to get a varied amount of shots documenting the movement. When it then came to filming, we used a tripod for most of our shots. This included numerous pan shots of me running, extreme close ups of me grabbing for the door, and a long shot of the staircase. We thought we would be more experimental for one of our final shots, with me holding the camera and running to give the perspective that the audience was in the same situation. It increased the tension and panic in the shot that would set the mood better when in editing.

Once we collected all our footage we started editing them in Adobe Premier Pro. Alongside our footage, we needed music to accompany it that would determine our editing style and pace. We went for the genre of horror/thriller that related to the reason of me running through the corridors. The length of each shot was therefore not only determined by the beat of the song, but the thriller experience we wanted to convey.

We also added some effects that contributed to the mood of the short film. We changed each of the frames to black and white to give a sinister effect. We also briefly reversed some of the footage at the end to appear as if the door was opening rather than closing. A dissolve to black helped with this when the focus of the camera was very close to the middle of the door, and at the end to finish the film.

From this activity I increased again in camera skills and post editing. Having to film numerous amount of shots for something that only lasted about 4 seconds seemed very elaborate to anything I had complied before, but showed me it paid off, giving the best result when creating an action sequence. It also enlightened me on the numerous angles and type of framing I could use in my own product, to create something professional like exiting music videos.

The techniques we used in editing also let me explore a wider range of skills. Adding effects after compiling our imagery proved effective in the overall atmosphere we wanted to convey, and introduced me to the range of possibilities that could be made on our footage. Not only was editing of the different frames to make a continuous movement a challenge, but adapting it to the music was also very insightful as how to set the right atmosphere even further. I had never previously considered this to be a necessary factor, yet doing so contributes well to the piece as a whole. I therefore plan to include this feature in my own final product.

Music Video Proposal: Stay Awake by The House of the Old Boat

Music Video Proposal: Stay Awake by The House of the Old Boat

This is the start of my music video proposal. it is an on-going process to fill in, as auditions have to be held for characters, as well as locations discovered, but this gives the general idea as to what my music video will entail.

 

Choosing a Song

Once we had been given the brief of creating a promotional package for the release of an album for an unsigned British band, it was my task to find a band I wanted to make a music video for. On the search for copyright free music, I came across jamendo.com. This website offered a wide range of unsigned artists with a variety of genres to choose from. In my head I wanted to create a video for a band that would suit my age group, which mainly meant I should focus on indie rock bands. I also have a knowledge in the area as it is a genre I like myself, therefore securing this as my choice of band or artist to choose. I listened to numerous tracks on the website, compiling a playlist of possibilities that would suit my genre, attract my idea of a target audience, and that I could imagine a music video working with. Here were some of the possibilities:

I finally decided upon using Stay Awake, by The House of the Old Boat. They are a London based indie folk band, produced and written on behalf of Jo Loin who frequently collaborate with multi-instrumentalist Catherine Masonas. They released this song as part of their debut self titled album, The House of the Old Boat.

I loved this song in particular due to the composition of the track, starting with the trumpet and simply building up in instruments with the guitar and drums. The song develops in a full circle of sound, hitting the climax towards the middle of the song that then levels out again towards the end of the track. The lyrics really came across strongly as to the emotion within writing the track, which is something I wanted to bring out through the imagery of the video. It is apparent they talk about a breakup in the song, which instantly gave me ideas whilst watching it.

What is a music video??

Music Video Directors: Ellis Bahl

There are a lot of directors around at the moment with work that I particularly like, yet one of my favourites is director Ellis Bahl. As a young director, he lives in Los Angeles, California and studied at Emerson College. After working at MTV networks as an associate producer, he now directs music videos for the likes of Alt J, Bank and SIR SLY.

 Alt J 'Breezeblocks'     

 BANKS 'This is what it feels like'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SIR SLY 'Gold'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Big Sean 'Ashley'

 

Through watching a lot of his videos, it is apparent he is known for his darkened tonal ranges on shots and slow motioned frames that give each of his videos a sinister atmosphere that work well alongside deliberate underlying meanings. Also the emphasised use of close up shots and extreme close ups makes the audience identify with the characters, which reveals the true emotions of the characters in these harsh environments.


 Working with the artists above, he takes a wide range of genres on, but is now seen to be focusing on alternate indie tracks. Bahls work is quite underground at the moment, his directing on Alt J's 'Breezeblocks' being the first to be recognised due to the bands risen popularity. His unique style of filming was on this track is what is getting him noticed today, the whole narrative played in reverse of an abusive fight between a man and woman with references to the title of the song. This is a particular favourite of mine and what brought me to his attention because of this captivating way of filming.

 
His stylistic influences come from a lot of stop motion production, the simplicity yet effort that goes into every shot which makes the audience reflect on after they have watched it. He also takes influence from Alfred Hitchcock and Quentin Tarantino, some of the most well-known directors of film with a noticeable and intriguing way of filming that is reflected in his own work.


His videos mainly include just a narrative element to them, only few including actual performance shots. They mainly tend to focus on a maximum of three people in each video, as if we were just observing the life of someone else for this short space of time. To keep this narrative, he consistently uses continuity editing to keep a sense of time moving on in the story, which keeps the editing from shot to shot quite unnoticeable. He also tends to use match on action editing that portrays what the character is doing in detail which becomes apparent in the story telling.


I particularly like Ellis Bahls work for a number of reasons. I am particularly fond of videos that do take a narrative that connects with the song, and the way he portrays this really works. His use of a darkened filter on the shots increases the atmosphere of the scenes, and reflects the harsh environments these stories are conveying. I also like his use of slow motion that lets the audience view every minor detail in focus, and drags out the events that either shock or question the audiences idea of what is really happening. I will defiantly consider Bahls directing techniques in my own work, as they provide slick and intriguing videos to accompany alternative indie music.