Monday, 29 October 2012
Filming Update
Filming at Aldeburgh went well yesterday. I was able to get most of the shots I wanted despite the weather not being as sunny as I hoped. The only real issue I came across during filming was the arrangement made about filming at the Prezzo's in Aldeburgh. I had previously contacted the restaurant asking if I could film for a couple of minutes, using a table by a window as it would fit in nicely with the idea from the storyboard. Yet on arrival, and after talking to the manager I was unable to film. This was a slight issue, however I had pre-planned a plan B if we weren't able to film in Prezzo. Instead I had my actor and actress on the actual beach with a portion of fish and chips. This concept work equally as well.
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
Surveys
To work out what to include in my own music video survey I used an example questionnaire and made changes where I thought the questionnaire had a fault whether it was unclear or just unnecessary. The main issue I found with the questionnaire was when it cam to answering the question, to often the boxes were to limiting, with many questions requiring multiple answers. Such as question six 'What type of 'gizmosz' do you own?', it is more than likely that the audience will have more than just one of the forms of technology listed. Another problem with this question is it's highly informal using a sociolect term such as 'gizmo' may confuse the audience if they do not know what it means and put them off from answering the question reliably or at all.
The example questionnaire also asks what does the audience 'expect too see in a music video'. This is a reasonable question as the feeedback will determine the nature of the music video and whether it's a concept, narrative or performance. Yet, including options like, drugs, sex and alcohol is not necessary as I would be unable to include these in my music video.Unfortunately the survey site SurveyMonkey, that I used, only allows questionnaires to be ten questions long, so I am having to split the survey in to two. The first asking about music genres and purchasing and the second to be on music identity and content.
To get people to fill out my surveys I will post the survey on my blog and on Twitter, I will also email it to people that have agreed to fill the survey out but do not have a way of accessing my blog or Twitter.
Saturday, 20 October 2012
Final Cut Express Effects
Yesterday I went for a walk and practised using my camera for filming, to get use to using the camera and its functions. And also to practice using the effects in Final Cut Express, the program I will be using to edit my music video. Below are a series of effects that I applied to the video, to work out which if any effects suited the style I'm aiming for. This is particularly important as the school Mac's have Final Cut Express, this version does not have the light leaks effect that I was hoping to use.
Friday, 19 October 2012
Costumes
I have decided to go for a vintage look for my character in the music video I feel this look fits in well with the music genre, and the video.
The collage of images shows a variety of styles. For the main character the retro theme involves rustic heavy boots, worn jeans or chinos, a knitted jumper (some times christmas themed) and heavy coats, like the duffle coat. Accessories include a thick knitted scarf, retro shades and old school leather watches.
The tweed look turned up a lot when searching for the male character vintage look, this look is to sophisticated for the style that I'm going for, as is the more formal blazer look.
For the girlfriend character the vintage look takes a lot of inspiration from the 60's and 70's. Although a lot of the styles I looked at were more link to summer weather, I'll incorporate the knitted jumper and a stylistic vintage coat and scarf to make the costume appropriate for the season I'm filming in.
http://www.theatticpeople.co.uk/womens-vintage-clothing-archive-ebay I found this website really useful when deciding the costume of my woman character.
http://loveclothing-blog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/street-styles-celebrities-like-love.html This site was also useful showing the retro fashion with men and women.
The collage of images shows a variety of styles. For the main character the retro theme involves rustic heavy boots, worn jeans or chinos, a knitted jumper (some times christmas themed) and heavy coats, like the duffle coat. Accessories include a thick knitted scarf, retro shades and old school leather watches.
The tweed look turned up a lot when searching for the male character vintage look, this look is to sophisticated for the style that I'm going for, as is the more formal blazer look.
For the girlfriend character the vintage look takes a lot of inspiration from the 60's and 70's. Although a lot of the styles I looked at were more link to summer weather, I'll incorporate the knitted jumper and a stylistic vintage coat and scarf to make the costume appropriate for the season I'm filming in.http://www.theatticpeople.co.uk/womens-vintage-clothing-archive-ebay I found this website really useful when deciding the costume of my woman character.
http://loveclothing-blog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/street-styles-celebrities-like-love.html This site was also useful showing the retro fashion with men and women.
Making the Sheep
Last night I started making my felt sheep for the stop motion animation part of my music video. I have the basic body shapes, now I just need to assemble them. I have made them bigger then in the additional test of stop motion, which you can see as an older post. This is because the shot isn't going to be as close so for the sheep to be actually visible they needed to be larger.
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Music Video Analysis
Concept Music Videos
Concept music videos are based around a single idea, the concept. Concept music videos can be quite surreal and unusual, as they tend to be en expression of visual art. There is no set music genre associated to concept music videos, and a range of artists and genres have used them.
The first concept music video I have chosen is Genesis - Land of confusion, this is a pretty famous music video from the English rock band. It includes the puppets from Spitting Image instead of actual people which makes the video surreal as they are trying to be as lifelike as possible. This video focuses on a political concept as we see major figures, as puppets. The video is a good example of how concept videos can be combined with another type of music video, narrative or performance, to strengthen the video and make it more entertaining. This video does both as the see the puppet band playing as well as the slight narrative of the guys dream.
The next concept video is from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, their video for Don't Stop was inspired by the artist Ewirn Wurm. Wurm used people and inanimate objects to create his sculptures. The Chilli Peppers copied his style and made a successful music video and help Wurm become more highlighted as an artist. This type of video is focusing on the arts side of concept music videos.
The last concept video, Ballad of Black Mesa, is made completely from noises from a video game, due to this it is undecided whether or not it's actual a music video. Yet many feel this is an extreme version of concept music videos as it is very unusual and different from the norm. There is not real plot or narrative to the video which fits it in to be a concept video also.
Narrative Music videos
Narrative music videos tell a narrative story that typically relates to the lyrics of the song. The video can include a range of actors but generally focuses on a main actor or pair, this can sometimes be the artist or lead singer of the band/group. Some narrative music videos are set out like a short film, with beginning, middle and end. Others may include clips from an actual film they are promoting as they are included in it.
Enrigue Iglesias Hero is a narrative music video that follows Todorov's narrative stages; equilibrium, disequilibrium, recognition, reparation and new equilibrium. As we see the couple go from being all happy together, through the money issues and gang trouble to the new equilibrium at the end of him coming back for the girl (or possibly dying). His narrative plays on the songs title and theme of being a 'Hero'. This video also includes Propp's characters; hero, dmasel, villain.
Taylor Swift - Love story has a slightly more litteral link between visual narrative and lyrics. As the actions of the character link to what is being sung. The characters are also meant to represent Romeo and Juliet so the costum and mise en scene of the video links the lyrics, building the narrative story.
Music Analysis
The music video for Rudemental's Not Giving In, is a narrative video as it shows the story of two boys struggle in a third world country. The narrative is of how different each boys method of coping is, one goes join a dance group, the other a violent gang.
The music video is set in the far east, in what appears to be a third world country. The buildings are unstable and supported by sheets of metal and scrap material. As the camera pull away near the begining of the music video we see that this is in fact a slum on the outside of a major city. The clothing that the people in the slum are wearing are very basic with no designer brands, some only wearing shorts. This tells the audience the they are unable to afford nice clothes, they get by with what they have. It also tells us that the area is hot.
As the music video goes on more high brand clothing is seen, mainly with accessories like a hat. This higher standard of clothing is link to the dance group.
There are a range of camera angles used in the music video, the majority of angles are eye line to create a link between the audience and the two boys. Yet high and low angles are also used to suggest power shifts between character. Like at the start where their father holds the power he is shown with a slight low angle.
The pace of the video as a whole is quite quick as it fits with the music, however there are periods of slower pace and at times slow motion is used. The fast pace editing keeps the audience engaged and entertained in the video. Where as the slower editing and use of slow motion is used to draw the audiences attention to a particular even or feature. Like when the boys pick pocket the man at the beginning or when the boy is shot at the end.
Lighting in the music video depends of whether they are inside or out, as scene inside tend to be dark and unsettling, such as at the beginning where the two boys are stuck at home. But when they are outside, the lighting and mood of the video is brighter. By using the binary opposites that video forces this idea of a certain place being bad and another being good on to the audience.
Concept music videos are based around a single idea, the concept. Concept music videos can be quite surreal and unusual, as they tend to be en expression of visual art. There is no set music genre associated to concept music videos, and a range of artists and genres have used them.
The first concept music video I have chosen is Genesis - Land of confusion, this is a pretty famous music video from the English rock band. It includes the puppets from Spitting Image instead of actual people which makes the video surreal as they are trying to be as lifelike as possible. This video focuses on a political concept as we see major figures, as puppets. The video is a good example of how concept videos can be combined with another type of music video, narrative or performance, to strengthen the video and make it more entertaining. This video does both as the see the puppet band playing as well as the slight narrative of the guys dream.
The next concept video is from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, their video for Don't Stop was inspired by the artist Ewirn Wurm. Wurm used people and inanimate objects to create his sculptures. The Chilli Peppers copied his style and made a successful music video and help Wurm become more highlighted as an artist. This type of video is focusing on the arts side of concept music videos.
Narrative Music videos
Narrative music videos tell a narrative story that typically relates to the lyrics of the song. The video can include a range of actors but generally focuses on a main actor or pair, this can sometimes be the artist or lead singer of the band/group. Some narrative music videos are set out like a short film, with beginning, middle and end. Others may include clips from an actual film they are promoting as they are included in it.
Enrigue Iglesias Hero is a narrative music video that follows Todorov's narrative stages; equilibrium, disequilibrium, recognition, reparation and new equilibrium. As we see the couple go from being all happy together, through the money issues and gang trouble to the new equilibrium at the end of him coming back for the girl (or possibly dying). His narrative plays on the songs title and theme of being a 'Hero'. This video also includes Propp's characters; hero, dmasel, villain.
Taylor Swift - Love story has a slightly more litteral link between visual narrative and lyrics. As the actions of the character link to what is being sung. The characters are also meant to represent Romeo and Juliet so the costum and mise en scene of the video links the lyrics, building the narrative story.
Music Analysis
The music video for Rudemental's Not Giving In, is a narrative video as it shows the story of two boys struggle in a third world country. The narrative is of how different each boys method of coping is, one goes join a dance group, the other a violent gang.
The music video is set in the far east, in what appears to be a third world country. The buildings are unstable and supported by sheets of metal and scrap material. As the camera pull away near the begining of the music video we see that this is in fact a slum on the outside of a major city. The clothing that the people in the slum are wearing are very basic with no designer brands, some only wearing shorts. This tells the audience the they are unable to afford nice clothes, they get by with what they have. It also tells us that the area is hot.
As the music video goes on more high brand clothing is seen, mainly with accessories like a hat. This higher standard of clothing is link to the dance group.
There are a range of camera angles used in the music video, the majority of angles are eye line to create a link between the audience and the two boys. Yet high and low angles are also used to suggest power shifts between character. Like at the start where their father holds the power he is shown with a slight low angle.
The pace of the video as a whole is quite quick as it fits with the music, however there are periods of slower pace and at times slow motion is used. The fast pace editing keeps the audience engaged and entertained in the video. Where as the slower editing and use of slow motion is used to draw the audiences attention to a particular even or feature. Like when the boys pick pocket the man at the beginning or when the boy is shot at the end.
Lighting in the music video depends of whether they are inside or out, as scene inside tend to be dark and unsettling, such as at the beginning where the two boys are stuck at home. But when they are outside, the lighting and mood of the video is brighter. By using the binary opposites that video forces this idea of a certain place being bad and another being good on to the audience.
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Shot list
Here is my shot list which includes a brief description of the type, action and props to be used.
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