Half Term

Over half term I have had some commissioning opportunities such as photographing Barristers in London. Here are some of my photographs:

 

By taking on this task and opportunity I was able to get inspiration and ideas on what compositions work and how I can develop my framing and angels in our music video.

 

 

I also had the opportunity to interview and film successful pub owners in and around London which is footage I have been commissioned to then edited together into three videos on how to start and develop your own business, which is to be put onto the William Read Business Media website and the Heineken website. 

 

Here are a couple of location and set up shots I took and the finished products will be uploaded when complete.

 



Editing

Laura and I did some editing recently and found editing to the beat of the music to be specifically difficult, as well as cutting out a minute of the instrumental, making sure it still flowed smoothly. Here is us editing:

 

To differentiate between the representations of our protagonist we used black and white colouring and the 'romantic' filter for the past, we increased the contrast for 'the dead' scenes and kept the footage normal for the present:

 



A2 Inspiration

Taking inspiration from other A2 music videos we have decided to incorporate hand held camera wok using depth of field so the audiences focus is on the protagonist:

We also like the way this long shot was used and edited so that the shot is broken up and not one long continuous shot:

Both of these ideas from this A2 video are things we will use when filming and editing our own music video.

Plan

Here are some of this ideas we liked from the Maroon 5 video incorporated into our music video plan:

Inspiration

Maroon 5's music video to their song 'Maps' inspired us to incorporate ideas they used in their video and fit it to our narrative.



We like the fact that the video began with the ending of the narrative, giving the audience hints as to what has happened but not giving it away fully until shown again at the end, linking everything together.

Within this idea we enjoyed the fast pass of a series of close up shots, as if to create confusion and keep the audiences guessing. This also being edited to fit the beat allows the narrative to move from a short story to a music video with interesting shots and angles.

We also liked the use of hand held footage to fit the theme of fast passed and tragedy, as well tilted camera angles to also portray this idea.



Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is one of the main “rules” in art and photographic composition and stems from the theory that the human eye naturally gravitates to intersection points that occur when an image is split into thirds. In the rule of thirds, photos are divided into thirds with two imaginary lines vertically and two lines horizontally making three columns, three rows, and nine sections in the images. Important compositional elements and leading lines are placed on or near the imaginary lines and where the lines intersect.

When editing our prelim, we did not consider the rule of thirds, however looking back on our outcome, shots where this rule was applied makes the composition more pleasing to the eye, in contrast to the central shots, which the more you look at, the more flaws in the symmetry are noticeable.

Prelim rule of thirds used:

Not applied:

 

After realising how much of a different the rule of thirds made in our prelim, we decided to incorporate this composition in our music video.

 

 

This photo is taken from some of our music video footage:





Band Name and Song Title

Ways in which we tried to create a name included websites such as this one which helps generate words and ideas: http://watchout4snakes.com/wo4snakes/Random/RandomWord

Our group as finally settled on a band name and song title. Our Band Name with be 'Enemy's Song' and our song name is 'Half Remain.'

Enemy's Song was chosen using the lyrics of the song however the song name was adapted from the lyrics to suit the theme and narrative or our music video. 'Half' came from the fact that she's dead however her sprit still 'Remain.'

Song Idea and Storyboarding

After attempting to edit the fire footage and shots of Laura lip-syncing, it was clear our music video didn't have a clear narrative or any what so ever. Here is the footage from this original idea:



We then discussed what we wanted to portray in our narrative, in more detail and our idea now consists of the lead vocalist (also being the protagonist) collapsing and pacing away in the forest. however her sprit remains as she must say goodbye to her boyfriend before she can cross over.

After trying to find a way to fill the long intro (24seconds) of our song we finally came up with a plan which would be affective. Our idea consists of close up shots edited to the beat of the music so the audience can piece together what has happened with those few ideas presented and as the lyrics begin more is revealed.

Here are the storyboards for our opening:

Stop Motion

In our music video we want to include a stop motion painting, we looked at some videos for inspiration in what to paint and also how to edit it so that is flows well and is interesting. What I like about these two videos is that they both use stop motion and incorporate a storyline. The first video follows the kind of thing we want to achieve but not in so much detail as we do not want the whole song to feature the painting, but what we will divinity take from this piece is the build up to an overall destruction.

Inspirational Video

One music video in particular that I think uses elements useful for us is the 'Love The Way You Lie' video by Eminem and Rihanna. This video incorporated fire and destruction really well and uses limited locations yet is affective and has a clear narrative. The song also hasn't got any performance but does use lip syncing which is another element we are interested in. The song doesn't use the artists as the actors for the video which is something we could consider however I feel for us, using the lead singer as the actor as well would create a relationship between the song and video better.

Synopsis

A lot of the lyrics speak of fire and broken is a theme throughout, therefore we felt incorporating these elements were key.

Our music video will be mostly abstract due to the editing, we want to include a time lapse and stop motion, but we will also want to include a narrative and some elements of lip syncing. Although this is a lot to incorporate it requires less location and more time is spent editing where we feel we excel. The basic message we wish to convey in our storyline is the lead singer (also the protagonist) is trying to hold onto a relationship which no longer exists, till she finally comes to terms with the fact that its over. The music video then goes from creating to destroying, to symbolise the relationship ending.

We discussed calling our song 'Ting Spark' as this is one of the lyrics in the song but also because the word sums up the narrative. as if someone is trying to keep a fire lit and hold onto the flame for as long as possible even though they are aware it isn't what it once was. Much like the relationship in the music video. However this name is not yet officially decided.

New Song/Idea

Due to complications we have decided to change our song. With our lead singer going outside of our group, it was becoming difficult to film with him as we weren't always free at the same times. We also found that with our narrative, the filming and overall video was looking very cliché and amateur.

However we like the genre but feel we need a female vocalist so that one of our group members would be able to star in it. We have settled on the song Part II by Paramore, and the lead vocalist with be Laura Licata.

This song is called part II due to the act that it is actually a sequel song to an earlier released song called Let The Flames Begin, also by Paramore. We felt this song has a good beat and flexibility within the narrative. From exploring the other song idea we came to realise we much prefer a darker message with negative lyrics rather than upbeat and playful song. This is also reflected in our AS film opening where we did a psychological thriller, this genre seemed to suit us well and when attempting something happier we found ourselves lost and disconnected to the project.

BFI trip

We went to the BFI recently to talk about the making of music videos and to gain some advice on what to do for our coursework, as well as looking at past examples.

 

 

While we were there we did a vlog:

 

 

Influential Music Videos

This video by A Day To Remember, has a strong narrative and clear lip syncing which is something we hope to incorporate in our music video. The shots too are very interesting and varied and use actors outside the band as well as in.




This video by Bastille uses a variety of location, all of which are framed very well. This is something important to do in our music video because we want to use location shots to help create a date setting. Also the angles of the camera in each of these locations are different and interesting to the eye, which we could also take from this as inspiration.




This video by Example uses lots of split screens and shots which fit perfectly in time with the music, which we hope to incorporate. The date setting is also something we wish to portray in our video but without making it look too cliché and in this video they pull this off the way we would like to, therefore his video is the most influential towards our music video.

Promoting Star Quality

Star quality has been promoted through a variety of medias such as newspaper articles, social networking sites, interviews, album signings etc.

One star who has changed a lot over time is Miley Cyrus. Her change in style and platform from sweet and child friendly on Disney Channel, to sexy and wild on stage has allowed for a lot of publicity on many forms of media. Here is one example, an article called 'What Happened To Miley Cyrus?' Although not all the publicity is positive it has reach a lot of people and made her more famous due to the number of people interested in her big changes. This therefore following Richard Dyers Star Quality Theory.

Star Quality Theory

A short overview of Richard Dyers Star Quality Theory:

 

 

 

 

Audience and Institution being the idea that stars are made to make money. The institution models the star image around the target audience. For instance The spice girls each had different characters (costume and personality) to stand out and look fun to attract a young energetic audience.

 

 

 

 

Construction being the idea that the artist is built specifically for the audience to differentiate them from other stars. For example, Pink was made up to look tomboyish, with heavy black clothes and makeup, short hair and stern facial expressions to suit her rock image and create a statement that woman can are as tough as men.

 

 

 

Hegemony is when an audience feels they can relate to or admire a star and usual tries to replicate them in some way. Their admiration becomes idolization. This can be positive for example, Paramore suggest you don't need to be an emo, miserable person to love punk music and rock instrumentals. However some stars have a negative impact, for example Britney Spears, who portrays herself as a bad role model and in some ways has influenced peoples poor decisions such as drug usage.

 

 

 

 

Random Name Generator

During a recent lesson we played a game called 'The random name generator' this was a way of generating a name for our band. The games works where each person takes it in turns to write down a word fold over the paper and pass to the next, so that when reviled you have a long sentence of words which you can rearrange as you like.

Although we are still not completely sure on a name yet, this did help to get ides flowing. We feel so far the best band name which came out of doing the was 'The Worn Skies.'

Music Video Ending

After taking into account our audience feedback we decided our ending would end with the protagonist holding a photo taken earlier on in the music video from a double date scene. The protagonist will fold away the two girls in the photo, leaving him and the other male figure in the photo, suggesting he is homosexual. The protagonists sexuality is revealed subtly and not cliché way however also reflects the complexity of the way people feel in society.

 

 

Storyboarding

In the last lesson we were storyboarding. this proved more difficult than expected. This intro of our song lasts 24 seconds and within this time we struggled to think of something to do in this time. We eventually came to the conclusion that we would do still shots of the the protagonists individual features and fit them to the beat of the music. This would then lead into the lyrics through a zoom shot going into the laptop screen and beginning the videos made with the female characters.

We have not worked out all the details yet but feel this will be easier once at location, so have therefore done a simple storyboard to go with these ideas so far. We also this lesson discussed the ending of our music video and came to the conclusion that we needed to somehow portray our message clearer to he audience and decided we would interview people with different sexualities to come up with an ending which our audience would find appropriate.

Here is a picture of us storyboarding:

Pompeii Music Video

This music video uses a variety of different locations which is what we wish to do in our music video. Through watching this video it has become apparent that it is important to use interesting locations in order for it to be worth the travel. Although using different locations is going to be time consuming, it is clear through this video that if shot properly then they are very affective and eye catching to an audience.