In our first initial meeting we produced a mind map containing all of our ideas of songs, artists and genres to use for the music video that we will create. The songs written on the plan were Mirrors - Justin Timberlake because it had a good concept to produce a music video on. We wrote down indie artists such as, Ed Sheeran, George Budapest and Hoziere as we felt that it would be easier to follow these codes and conventions when it came to producing the music video. We also put down other genres such as house, rock and conventional pop.
Initial ideas produced by the group and I
We then narrowed down these song choices as a group by printing off one songs music lyrics per person that we thought would produce a great video. I chose Justin Timberlake - Mirrors, Pink - Just like a pill was given by Amber, Ed Sheeran - give me love was given by Domenico and Bruno Mars - when I was your man by Robyn.
For the chosen songs we analysed/highlighted the lyrics as a group and said that for Ed Sheeran give me love is a very deep song so It would allow us to be very creative as the lyrics reference blood, alcohol and romance. For Pink just a pill we also said it would be a good song to do as it talks about anger, pain and frustration which is something the audience can relate to and would be entertaining for the audience to watch. But we said it would be very hard to portray the conventions of its genre. Bruno mars when I was your man we said that it was a good detailed song. But It would be too slow to edit to and wouldn't allow us to have a lot of different scenes.
Lastly, Justin Timberlake mirrors was too repetitive and the song was too long.
As a group we then decided on using Ed Sheeran as an artist but a different song of his, which had a better beat to it to edit to. We ended up researching Ed Sheeran's song's on YouTube and found that the most suitable one to do would be runaway, as it has no music video to it and a good beat. So it would be easier for us to come up with original ideas for the music video and explore our own creativity/perspective of what the song means to us. We printed off the lyrics for runaway and annotated the song to make it more visual and to understand the narrative better. We annotated some lines which gave the understanding of a father who is an alcoholic, so we created the idea of using the iconography such as beer cans in the house or of a bottle being smashed. To portray the dad as violence and struggling with alcohol abuse. We generally referenced the lyrics to visuals for example, lyrics about clothes and packing were annotated to show a young boy packing his bags to runaway.
A3 paper ideas - produced by the group and I
Annotated lyrics of runaway - Ed Sheeran
A3 paper ideas - produced by the group and I
During the planning stages we came together as a group and filled in what we would include in essential areas such as, mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, style of music video and more. To help us have a clear idea and vision of what we want our music video to contain to help us produce a successful music video.
For cinematography we agreed as a group that we will include mid shots to identify the main character in the music video. Long shots to depict sadness as the song is based on a sad experience. We will use establishing shots to show the audience the location and setting to add more depth to the music video. Close up shots are typically used from the demands of the record label and to allow the artist to create motifs for themselves. So we said that close up shots are essential as they sell the artist, show emotions (connect with the audience) and help represent the artist. Furthermore, we will include zooming in/out, panning movements and more to make the video more interesting and will add something different to the visuals.
Our creativity came into play when we had to decide on the editing techniques that we will use. We decided on black and white colour theme as its conventional in the indie genre. It is also something that Ed Sheeran tends to use a lot in his music videos. We also agreed on fades, blurs then focuses and a time lapse surrounding the main character. To express the characters emotions and heighten the meaning of the lyrics.
Mise-en-scene
For the setting we said a isolate location is very conventional in the indie genre so a beach, forest or field could be our runaway location where the character runs away to. The house will be isolated and will be the location which the artist is shown to be located in the opening of the music video.
iconography will also stick to conventions by using a guitar which Ed Sheeran plays and the sound of a guitar is in this song. So the visuals and music will match. For iconography we also said that we will have a camping backpack to show that the character is running away. The costume for this character will be kept casual, simple maybe a cardigan and some rough clothing will fit in with the look we are going for. Casual clothes are common in this genre, usually done so the audience focus more on the artists music than their appearance. And to add a sense of realism.
The facial expressions shown will be very depressed, sadness in eyes and anger to convey the artists frustration and will help make the music video more intense.
We chose low-key dark lighting for when the character is in the house and natural day lighting for when the artist runs away to an isolated location. These types of lighting will increase the suspense and mystery for the music video. Something which indie music videos like to include, an eerie feel.
Lastly, for miss-en-scene the camera positioning. The character/artist will be located in the centre of the camera to add more emphasis of loneliness. Which will make the audience have empathy towards the character.
The artist will be represented as a very lonely, vulnerable and an unreachable individual. The artist will be more relatable to the audience as he will look like an ordinary guy in a bad situation. Making the artist seem more real and honest.
We will include performance, concept and narrative into our music video style. So it will be more entertaining and interesting. The performance will be lip singing, talking(argument) at the beginning of music video and the playing of the guitar. This will allow the music video to be visually appealing to the audience. The concept is running away so it's an interesting concept which will keep the audience's minds running wild. The narrative will show his relationship with his father and then running away with a girl. So we will depict a breakdown of a family, running away and romance. Which will all be very exciting to our target audience.
The target audience which we have chosen is 16-25. We decided on this age range because we are young ourselves so we will find it easier producing a video to a target audience that have the same interests and tastes as we do. Also this target audience tend to enjoy watching drama, entertainment and romance in music videos.
For our music video we were inspired by artists such as, Ben Howard and Lana Del Rey (I researched Lana in my research of music genre post. These two artists helped us to understand the indie genre better. Which also helped us to decide on the narrative as their music videos tend to have great narrative content. So it helped us to identify links between visuals and lyrics and become more visually imaginative. As their is not limit to our imagination in the music video. We discovered that we just have to show the lyrics in a music video to how we all visually interpret it. Which is something Ben and Lana do well.
The annotation of our lyrics was an artist escaping from home and his dad is an alcoholic, he then runs away from home and expresses his feelings and love for a girl.
Codes and conventions of the indie genre in this music video will be followed the relevant micro elements such as, mise-en-scene an isolated, low budget setting, costume which is very realistic and casual. Cinematography many close ups to add more emphasis to the song.
Music video theory we said that we will make sure that we will use Goodwin's theory by making the music and visuals match, close-ups allowing the artist to develop motifs and lastly, intertextual references.
Dyers star theory will also be used on the basis of making the artist relatable, having an appealing characther/personlaity to create profits for the institution (hegemony).
In our next meeting we then had to create research and planning posts. Three of these were 'applying for copyright', 'researching into the chosen music genre' and also starting to consider the outline of the music video. The applying for copyright post was made to help our group improve our knowledge of the rules and regulations of using music in the UK. We then went on to email the record label Ed Sheeran is signed to, to ensure that our music video will not be blocked when uploaded and will not be sued for using Ed Sheeran's material for a new artist which we have created. Domenico sent an email to Atlantic records, to seek permission to use their music, just to be on the safe side.
As individuals we then made a post to reasearch the indie music genre. For my post I analysed two artists that are very similar to Ed Sheeran. The artists and songs analysed were John Mayer 'Your body is a wonderland' and Lana Del Rey 'Video games'. This research allowed me to formulate ideas and understand conventions to a deeper level and to also know what micro elements work well in the indie music genre. These ideas would then help me to understand the indie genre better and form ideas for our own music video. This knowledge of music videos and indie music videos were also backed up by lessons in class focusing on unconventional music video producers such as Christopher Nolan. Which allowed us to become more inspired as individuals.
This individual analysis granted us more inspiration and ideas to then feedback to the group. This feedback was done just before the storyboard planning. As we started to formulate clear plans of shots, micro elements and connotations of these elements. We decided that our music video would use some form of filter, eerie location, fast and diverse editing and a narrative. These points came from our individual analysis of the music genre, we all agreed on these points as we all had a similar vision for our music video. We then decided that the narrative would be that a boy (the artist) has runaway from his home, due to troubles in the household with a lone-parent father who is in fact a alcoholic. This allowed us to find more conventions which would be suitable to include in this type of narrative, for example, a guitar.
The storyboard was planned out in a group, during a lesson. We worked as a group but took turns to sketch and write on the storyboard. This was quite a lengthy process, as many storyboards had to be made. But once creating these storyboards it showed us what we agreed on as a group and how far we can go with it, to deliver a great music video to our audience. It really made our general ideas more specific and polished as everyone got to speak and we all had fresh ideas which made us have a better plan for a music video. We incorporated as much of each members idea as possible, to ensure every member was happy and that the plan was detailed and unique.
As a group we had to plan out production times and dates. At first this seemed like a hard task to do as each of us finished school at different times, had commitments outside of school and was abscent from school. So we decided to form a whatsapp group chat to allow easier communication, to be able to communicate with one another without having to be in lesson or in school. This allowed our group to become more organised, agree on the days and times to meet up with one another. And update each other on coursework and more. I feel like this was easier than sticking to a filming schedule, it was better to be more liberal about the situation and negotiate on a suitable date or time during the week.
The filming of the production first proved challenging, due to a low battery and enthusiasm to film. But we resolved this issue quickly. Despite that, filming has been relatively easy and simple. As a group we werent limited by our storyboard or planning, we followed the narrative. But once filming and doing the practical we became more creative. For example, as a tracking shot we used cardboard on the bottom of the tripod to be able to slide it smoothly in order to gain a smooth tracking, without the pricey equipment. This was an idea which was created on the day of filming.
Group meetings table
Meetings and discussions are important to carry out as it gave us time as a group to communicate with one another and put all our planning ideas and decisions in order. It allowed us to be more effective as a team, and find out what direction we wanted our music video to go in. Also, it let us know what not to do, the risks involved and what was appropriate for our music video. I feel that our group worked very well together, when we met up outside of school and had other meetings we communicated via whatsapp and we kept in contact regularly. I feel that we came to decisions well as a group and helped each other to perform a role to the best we could, for example, filming or lip syncing, we all supported each other well.
To conclude, planning was beneficial and planning as a group was even better. As the more people in a group, the more ideas and skills are involved. Which will more likely mean that our work will be polished and effective. The group planning allowed us to be organised, improve team work skills and generate more ideas for a complex task.
For cinematography we agreed as a group that we will include mid shots to identify the main character in the music video. Long shots to depict sadness as the song is based on a sad experience. We will use establishing shots to show the audience the location and setting to add more depth to the music video. Close up shots are typically used from the demands of the record label and to allow the artist to create motifs for themselves. So we said that close up shots are essential as they sell the artist, show emotions (connect with the audience) and help represent the artist. Furthermore, we will include zooming in/out, panning movements and more to make the video more interesting and will add something different to the visuals.
Our creativity came into play when we had to decide on the editing techniques that we will use. We decided on black and white colour theme as its conventional in the indie genre. It is also something that Ed Sheeran tends to use a lot in his music videos. We also agreed on fades, blurs then focuses and a time lapse surrounding the main character. To express the characters emotions and heighten the meaning of the lyrics.
Mise-en-scene
For the setting we said a isolate location is very conventional in the indie genre so a beach, forest or field could be our runaway location where the character runs away to. The house will be isolated and will be the location which the artist is shown to be located in the opening of the music video.
iconography will also stick to conventions by using a guitar which Ed Sheeran plays and the sound of a guitar is in this song. So the visuals and music will match. For iconography we also said that we will have a camping backpack to show that the character is running away. The costume for this character will be kept casual, simple maybe a cardigan and some rough clothing will fit in with the look we are going for. Casual clothes are common in this genre, usually done so the audience focus more on the artists music than their appearance. And to add a sense of realism.
The facial expressions shown will be very depressed, sadness in eyes and anger to convey the artists frustration and will help make the music video more intense.
We chose low-key dark lighting for when the character is in the house and natural day lighting for when the artist runs away to an isolated location. These types of lighting will increase the suspense and mystery for the music video. Something which indie music videos like to include, an eerie feel.
Lastly, for miss-en-scene the camera positioning. The character/artist will be located in the centre of the camera to add more emphasis of loneliness. Which will make the audience have empathy towards the character.
The artist will be represented as a very lonely, vulnerable and an unreachable individual. The artist will be more relatable to the audience as he will look like an ordinary guy in a bad situation. Making the artist seem more real and honest.
We will include performance, concept and narrative into our music video style. So it will be more entertaining and interesting. The performance will be lip singing, talking(argument) at the beginning of music video and the playing of the guitar. This will allow the music video to be visually appealing to the audience. The concept is running away so it's an interesting concept which will keep the audience's minds running wild. The narrative will show his relationship with his father and then running away with a girl. So we will depict a breakdown of a family, running away and romance. Which will all be very exciting to our target audience.
The target audience which we have chosen is 16-25. We decided on this age range because we are young ourselves so we will find it easier producing a video to a target audience that have the same interests and tastes as we do. Also this target audience tend to enjoy watching drama, entertainment and romance in music videos.
For our music video we were inspired by artists such as, Ben Howard and Lana Del Rey (I researched Lana in my research of music genre post. These two artists helped us to understand the indie genre better. Which also helped us to decide on the narrative as their music videos tend to have great narrative content. So it helped us to identify links between visuals and lyrics and become more visually imaginative. As their is not limit to our imagination in the music video. We discovered that we just have to show the lyrics in a music video to how we all visually interpret it. Which is something Ben and Lana do well.
The annotation of our lyrics was an artist escaping from home and his dad is an alcoholic, he then runs away from home and expresses his feelings and love for a girl.
Codes and conventions of the indie genre in this music video will be followed the relevant micro elements such as, mise-en-scene an isolated, low budget setting, costume which is very realistic and casual. Cinematography many close ups to add more emphasis to the song.
Music video theory we said that we will make sure that we will use Goodwin's theory by making the music and visuals match, close-ups allowing the artist to develop motifs and lastly, intertextual references.
Dyers star theory will also be used on the basis of making the artist relatable, having an appealing characther/personlaity to create profits for the institution (hegemony).
In our next meeting we then had to create research and planning posts. Three of these were 'applying for copyright', 'researching into the chosen music genre' and also starting to consider the outline of the music video. The applying for copyright post was made to help our group improve our knowledge of the rules and regulations of using music in the UK. We then went on to email the record label Ed Sheeran is signed to, to ensure that our music video will not be blocked when uploaded and will not be sued for using Ed Sheeran's material for a new artist which we have created. Domenico sent an email to Atlantic records, to seek permission to use their music, just to be on the safe side.
As individuals we then made a post to reasearch the indie music genre. For my post I analysed two artists that are very similar to Ed Sheeran. The artists and songs analysed were John Mayer 'Your body is a wonderland' and Lana Del Rey 'Video games'. This research allowed me to formulate ideas and understand conventions to a deeper level and to also know what micro elements work well in the indie music genre. These ideas would then help me to understand the indie genre better and form ideas for our own music video. This knowledge of music videos and indie music videos were also backed up by lessons in class focusing on unconventional music video producers such as Christopher Nolan. Which allowed us to become more inspired as individuals.
This individual analysis granted us more inspiration and ideas to then feedback to the group. This feedback was done just before the storyboard planning. As we started to formulate clear plans of shots, micro elements and connotations of these elements. We decided that our music video would use some form of filter, eerie location, fast and diverse editing and a narrative. These points came from our individual analysis of the music genre, we all agreed on these points as we all had a similar vision for our music video. We then decided that the narrative would be that a boy (the artist) has runaway from his home, due to troubles in the household with a lone-parent father who is in fact a alcoholic. This allowed us to find more conventions which would be suitable to include in this type of narrative, for example, a guitar.
The storyboard was planned out in a group, during a lesson. We worked as a group but took turns to sketch and write on the storyboard. This was quite a lengthy process, as many storyboards had to be made. But once creating these storyboards it showed us what we agreed on as a group and how far we can go with it, to deliver a great music video to our audience. It really made our general ideas more specific and polished as everyone got to speak and we all had fresh ideas which made us have a better plan for a music video. We incorporated as much of each members idea as possible, to ensure every member was happy and that the plan was detailed and unique.
As a group we had to plan out production times and dates. At first this seemed like a hard task to do as each of us finished school at different times, had commitments outside of school and was abscent from school. So we decided to form a whatsapp group chat to allow easier communication, to be able to communicate with one another without having to be in lesson or in school. This allowed our group to become more organised, agree on the days and times to meet up with one another. And update each other on coursework and more. I feel like this was easier than sticking to a filming schedule, it was better to be more liberal about the situation and negotiate on a suitable date or time during the week.
The filming of the production first proved challenging, due to a low battery and enthusiasm to film. But we resolved this issue quickly. Despite that, filming has been relatively easy and simple. As a group we werent limited by our storyboard or planning, we followed the narrative. But once filming and doing the practical we became more creative. For example, as a tracking shot we used cardboard on the bottom of the tripod to be able to slide it smoothly in order to gain a smooth tracking, without the pricey equipment. This was an idea which was created on the day of filming.
Group meetings table
To conclude, planning was beneficial and planning as a group was even better. As the more people in a group, the more ideas and skills are involved. Which will more likely mean that our work will be polished and effective. The group planning allowed us to be organised, improve team work skills and generate more ideas for a complex task.
This post demonstrates some good planning techniques, which is evident through the points that you have included above, which demonstrates how you and your group visualise your music video. You have commented on the style, micro elements and artist representation that you wish to include. However, you need to ensure that you also include the A3 paper planning sheets to support the points that you have made.
ReplyDeleteThis post demonstrates a good understanding of why group meetings are essential to carry out and the purpose it has to a production. It is clear to see that you and your group have discussed your sequence in some detail, which is evident through the planning sheets and your group meetings table.
ReplyDelete