shot list

here is the revised shot list I have used in my music video:

Close up of Olly and Airi
Extreme close up of olly's silhouette in the tree house
mid shot of olly whilst he leans against the brick wall
long shot of the three characters as the 'love triangle'
tracking of Olly and Airi whilst they walk hand in hand

editing process

After uploading all of my footage onto Final cut Express, I began to edit my music video together. firstly, I assessed the footage, and put it in the order of which I wanted it to go, then I added in bits of clips I felt would add an edge to proceedings. after arranging the video in order, I then began to edit in transitions, two cross dissolves, to link one scene to the next, enabling the viewers to be able to pick up the storyline, I finally added in the effects to show the skills I have learnt over the two years of A-level media.

photoshop lesson!

Around 2 weeks ago, we were taught a lesson on how to use the basics of photoshop. This has enabled the class to edit some photo's on the device, giving us another option for an editing effect on our music video.

Filming!

Around 2 weeks ago, I filmed my music video at a house in Hepworth. The house was of a large size and included amazing grounds, thus giving me loads of locations and interesting shots. In my video, the main character was Olly Seldis, and the two other characters include Airi Zdrenka and Harry Marcham. The filming went very well, and I obtained all the footage I wanted, all in the same sort of light, however there were a few shots which I filmed in the sunset to create a silhouette feel.

My video was storyboarded however ive had problems uploading them! so they will come after this post :)

Album cover research

Adele's CD cover for her album '21' is very simple. It consists of a beautiful photo of Adele herself, head tilted resting on her hand. This sort of simplistic modern album cover has become more of a convention over time. The photo is black and white, which could connote that Adele is all about her music, and letting her voice sell itself, rather than having a bold, brash marketing campaign to sell her albums.

The album cover appeals to many a person, as does her voice, meaning that her music isn't limited to a particular audience. I feel this is shown in her album cover.

Brainstorming ideas!

My music video is from the song 'everything you wanted' by 'Kele'. The song in my point of view, is about a bad break-up between a couple, and Kele's lyrics seem to adhere to that. Some of my ideas for this video involve the location being an empty house, and the main character coming back to find he has been left for another man. He comes home to find bags of clothes and belongings of his lady on the floor, and as he moves into the living room, he catches his lady kissing this other man, and he throws a fit and cries.

Another idea, again going along with the theme of break-ups, I was thinking of maybe shooting the video so it appears to be going back in time, thus showing shots of the main character maybe drunk, or appearing disillusioned with the world, at the start of the video, and then moving back in time to again show scenes of the break up. The inspiration for this sort of video comes from coldplay's song The Scientist.

shot lists!

In my music video, I will be using a variety of shots and different camera angles. Here is a list of the camera shots I will endeavour to use;

Extreme close-up

close-up

mid-shot

long shot

over-the-shoulder shot

point of view shot

birds-eye-view

I shall also use panning and tracking of the characters, especially during lip syncing.

Potential Audience

My potential audience could be people that are interested in dance and indie type music. This is the style I feel the song I am doing is. I believe that people who enjoy fast tempo-ed, upbeat music will also be the potential audience for my music video. I feel this would benefit people around the ages of 15-30, maybe teenagers or young adults that come under the 'smart urban' tag.

Filming Process!

I have decided to film during the christmas holidays, this is because it allows me a full day to film properly, and to take my time over the video, giving me the best possible chance of high marks for construction. But before I think about this, I will post my ideas for location and actors, as well as the storyboarding! :)

Another Student example

This student example is called smaller than you. Personally, I do not like the video, however it does suit the indie style of music it is conforming too.

again, the beat of the song is fairly quick, so the pace of editing and effects are up with the beat of the song.

the music video is part performance, and part narrative. There is various close ups of the drummer and the guitarists in the video. this conforms to the conventions of a music video because it is 'promoting' the band in the video.

the video also shows lots of shots of people on skateboards, riding around Norwich and snatching some drumsticks out of other peoples hands.

There were lots of awesome angles used in the video, showing the skateboarding at the right light, and the actual costumes and props made us believe the music video

Student example

This student example is a video to a song called Helsinki. this video gained a high number of marks in examination, and after studying this text, I would agree that this is a fantastic piece of work.

The music video is based around a young person doing parkour around the city centre following a stream of light. This video conforms the dance genre conventions, with the fast paced editing tempo, and the orange light which is clear in the video. The video does have a narrative, with the narrative not being clear to us until the end of the video, where the parkour man picks up the ring he had given to his girlfriend. This means that the orange light he was following around Norwich city centre was connoting the ring.

It is clear in the video that there hasn't been many characters used, only the parkour guy, and the other character who is the female he is interested in. The simple use of props, only the ring, means that it was a low maintenance video to make, and this allowed a lot of thought and work to go into the editing sequence, which made this video superb.

The pace of the editing is what made this video exciting. He used a lot of straight cuts, and jump cuts to other scenes where the man was doing his parkour. This pace conforms to the dance genre because dance music is fast paced, upbeat and colourful. Other effects included slowmo, when he jumped over the camera, giving us a high angle shot of the parkour guy.

He used a variety of shots in the music video, however the most common shot seemed to be the long shot of the parkour guy. He also used a lot of panning and tracking in the video, this also conformed to the fast nature of dance music videos.

Here is another example of a student example, which again shows the elements of their genre, Dance,  being linked  in.

Similar to the other student example, the main location in this music video is the town centre of Bury St Edmunds, yet the other locations are very dark and mysterious settings such as in the multi story car park and in one of the nightclubs called, DeJa Vu, which shows they would have to spend some money on the hire of the club, which could have been an issue during the production.

As well as the other student example, they have included the fast paced 'fast forward' effect at the start going through the roads which looks like they are in a car, and passing the different lights from the street lamps, cars etc, which suggests the genre of dance due to the high key lighting, showing the spontaneous elements of being in a nightclub getting drunk seeing the blurry and non-clear lighting.

Her costume doesnt quite suggest the genre of Dance, as you would probably associate this sort of video with a girl dressed up in a dress. skirt etc, ready to go out. But she has been dressed in just normal clothes without suggesting any sort of personality of genre of music, so this could show the lack of emotion inside of her as she's 'addicted.' Yet her outfit changes in the shots of her drinking the alcohol which could portray the 'dark' side to her. As it comes every so often so it could also represent her mind, of being the evil addiction as the 'other side of her' is running around, as if she is trying to escape it

Goodwins theory has been included in the way that the lyrics are being matched up with the visuals as the main chorus states "totally addicted to bass" so she is in a club dancing on her own, which shows that she has no company of no one there to be with which suggests she's desperate for the music. The lyrics also include, "looking down to the street below" then the girl in the video looks down from where she is.

Another rule Goodwin goes by is the music matching up with the visuals, as some sections of the song are very slow but it ends up gets faster at the chorus which shows the girl starting off as being calm and collected dressed in white connoting her innocence, yet when the beat comes back faster, that could symbolise her addiction of 'bass' is coming back to her.

She uses different effects such as split screen to add the girl in the video an extra 4 times, so it could look as if she is imagining and having visions from this addiction she has. The split screened girls in the video are wearing the black so that could symbolise them against her, to create a battle between them and her.

I think I would include some of her ideas she has into mine, as i like the concept of her having an 'evil' mind that she's constantly trying to get away from. Yet at the end, it proves she has lost in this 'battle' by the costume, where she has the black jacket on when before she had the grey. This represents her as the evil now coming to terms that she is 'addicted to bass.' It could be included in mine by having a different sort of concept where it doesn't necessarily have to be the binary opposite of 'good and evil,' whereas mine could represent love and hate etc.

example of Spike's work

This is perhaps my favourite Text from Spike Jonze. This is because the video is cutting edge, yet uses mostly the same techniques as other music videos. my favourite shot is when the camera pans round to reveal the car, but whilst the camera is panning, it is zooming at the same time, yet somehow still manages to give a slowmo effect, this effect is used in the whole video as everything is slowmotion.

Picture of Spike!

Music Video directors!!!

Spike, although reknowned for his directing skills, also produced a number of other talents, for example, he was also an actor, and had cameo roles in the 3 jackass movies that have come out recently.

he also makes skateboard videos as he is a talented skateboarder and BMX rider. for example, he made the video 'yeah right!' for skateboarding.

Music Video directors!!!

My director of choice was Spike Jonze.

he was born Adam Spiegel in october 1969 in rockville, USA.

Spike was an avid BMX rider in his youth, and this reflected in his early career. he along with two other friends, became the editors of the dirt magazine, he then moved onto directing music videos in 1992, firstly directing the 'high in high school' video for the band 'chainsaw kittens'

Spike moved onto directing major artists' videos, such as beastie boys, notorious b.i.g, puff daddy, r.e.m, daft punk and fatboy slim. These videos were all directed around the late 1990's, obviously a period of time where spike was in high demand due to his skills.

perhaps my favourite spike jonze video is 'otis' by Jay-Z and Kanye West.

A student example of music video

Heres an example of a student music video with three boys from Thurston. The reason why I have picked a students example is because of the realistic element of budgeting in comparison with the other music videos I have looked at that are obviously real signed singers who are in the charts. Yet with this video, we we are able to relate to it a little bit more as we are using the same camera and editing equipment as they have in the past.

The locations that they use are local, with the main location being in Bury St Edmunds ranging from the town centre, bus station, skate park etc. Which obviously is quite easy access, yet it fits in nicely with the genre of it being Rap, and the style of the 'actors' who are associated with being 'greebos.' We can easily recognise this by the way they are dressed being in baggy jeans and hoodies, with their long hair all in their face. They also portray that style through the way they have hats on to the side and their 'bling' chains which can be associated with 'chavs' or the younger youth. The way they are presented to the camera being full on with hand gestures to portray the 'rapping' style that they have obviously picked up from the rap genres in the different music video research. Another shot of the actors in this video are them in a trolley messing about and having a laugh with each other which also shows that type of genre of indie/greebo rap with them not really caring what they are doing as long as they are enjoying themselves.

The camera at the start of the video is in fast motion looking like its scurrying through the streets/town of Bury St Edmunds ready for the song to start and the singing to begin. The camera angle in the majority of the video seems like its a low angle shot, may be to portray the intimidation and power that the actors in the video have. This is normally the case with rappers as they tend to be the centre of attention in their music videos as they want to come across to their audience as controllable over the camera, such as Eminem and Jay Z. Another way in which they make themselves stand out is by adding the effect of colouring tint in their clothes then making the background black and white. This may be because they want their t shirts/clothes they are wearing to be appealing as it is designer brands such as DC's which are normally associated with the style of 'greebo.'

Another interesting effect they have added in their music video is the Split Screening with the scene the boy standing there twice singing to each other in either sides of the shot, which shows the style they are trying to copy of it being a 'sing off' where some rappers may go to with whole gangs of people where they try to compete with their talent of freestyle rapping.

They have also added an element of Goodwins theory with some of the still shots (pictures) they have included into their videos, where it matches up the lyrics with the visuals. For example, the lyrics are "If you wanna call Mr Bevedere" here, they split it up into the different syllables to represent the different pictures... Which i found quite effective as it was a random idea and contradicts their genre of music being quite animated and not having the realism element.

This genre is quite different to the genre we are planning on doing, so not much of it appeals to myself to feel the need to include any of their main effects. But I do think we could include in ours the use of close ups of the actors face, as our genre is more emotional this could capture the feelings that he (dave) is having. I also like the slight rewind of the actions of the boy putting his hood up then down again, as this suits the way the beat and rhythm goes which would work quite nicely in the song Kele - Everything you wanted' where the song speeds up at the chorus. Another effect we may use is the N square where the screen splits into 4 to show each other boys. This would work well with our music video to show the different narratives/actions that are going on at the same time.

Results from our second questionnaire

Another questionnaire for our target audience

I also created another 'mini' questionnaire more about the artist himself, Kele, so we can feel that the audience have a little more input into our music video. I've already produced the first questionnaire just about the audience as a whole, knowing the content information, so this will be useful to know our target audience a little better, and i will also find out how well they know this artist. I've included questions that relate to Goodwins theory so we can have an idea of what we would like to involve in our music video.


1. Have you ever heard the song 'Everything You Wanted' by Kele? If so, do you like it?
Just a general interest if they have heard of the artist and what kind of music they produce

2. Do you prefer the genre 'indie,' or 'rock'?
These are the two main genre types that Kele produces in his music, so it would be interesting which would be the audience preferences then we can include the majority of that genre into our music video

3. In a music video, do you like the music to match up with the visuals?
This is one of Goodwins theories, so this would be helpful to know whether our audience would prefer to have a predictable video or the visuals to contadict the music

4. If you had to choose, would you go for a more up-beat song, or slow and calm?
This song that we have chosen can be seen as being a variety of pace and tempo, as the bridge is very calm and quite slow yet the chorus comes in with a very up beat rhythm so we can really emphasise one of the other in our music video if there is a majority

5. Do you like to see the artist in their music video, or other people?
As it is just a solo artist, we can go by preference to the audience whether or not he (Dave Grant) is in the music video throughout or hardly at all

6. Do you like to see a romance in music videos?
Our chosen song has got elements of romance and love in it, so this question will help us as to whether or not we develop this and portray romance

Extra ideas from other music videos...

These 3 music videos all have something in common, and that is the fact they are all filmed from a one shot position. Personally, I dont think you would notice unless you weren't doing media, so there was no need to be looking at it in detail. Yet when you look at it in depth, you can tell that this form of production becomes very effective with just the one shot throughout.

If we included this idea in our music video, we would have to make sure that it comes across with a unique feel like it has in these three videos, whether it be a performance, concept or narrative. We would have to make sure that whoever is the performer/singer in our music video that they are fully prepared and they know what they are doing at all times. They cant make any mistakes and is able to keep the flow of it going, yet they should have the ability to improvise if they forget anything in their routine whilst they are being filmed.

The three videos all seem to have alot going on in them, to keep the audience intrigued, so they dont get bored with just the one shot. Bruno Mars has included the monkeys with a dance to it aswell, which has obviously not been done before, therefore the audience wont really know what will happen next. Bruno Mars and the other performers have obviously put a lot of effort into this by the way their timing has worked to fit it all in together. The second video of OK GO - they have also done a well constructed dance on the tread mills, which shows although it is just one shot, it must have been very hard work for them, and they look like they have put a lot of effort in for them to get it just right in that one take. The third video of fiest has alot of action going on! The performanced based video captures the audience's attention as it doesnt seem predictable and there is always something going on. Although the main girl in the video seems like she is just making it up as she goes along, it looks like the timing has fit in perfectly with the added bits of her being carried along 'stepping' on the other dancers.