Complete video

After editing all of the clips I have ended up with this finished product.

Performance part filmed

This evening I filmed the performance part of the video with Jack, now that this is done I can finally edit the whole of the video.

Preperation for the performance based filming

Last night I set up the projector and lighting for the performance based part of my music video. I did this to test the projector and see if it gave the effect that I desired and to just give myself some experience before the actual shoot. I am glad that I did so as I encountered some problems along the way and if I had not dome this I would of only come across such issues when doing the actual shoot which would of resulted in a poor quality result.

ADD PICTURES OF THE MEMORIAL HALL AND ALSO ADD IN A CLIP OF THE FOOTAGE BEING PROJECTED.

Video analysis 3

To start off this is most definitely the COOLEST music video I have ever seen!!! Without a doubt this video challenges pretty much all forms and conventions. I had to analise  this individual video as it and stands out from all other videos I have ever seen.

The video has a performance based narrative showing a band inside a car driving through a pre-arranged driving course with various instruments and objects.

The lighting in this video is natural, and as far as I can tell there have been no special effects added to the footage. Unlike most videos the cameras are not hidden from the viewer and are in sight as are the microphones attached to the outside of the vehicle, this gives the video a sense of authenticity and adds to the realism of the video.

Video analysis 2

This video follows a performance based narrative, the concept of the video is fairly simple and does not challenge the conventions of an acoustic video. By intermitting between there being an audience and there not being one the video gains its own individual style and brings the idea behind the song (fear) into life by showing the artist facing his fear (an audience). The lighting in this video is natural to the environment of a band performance and there is no irregular lighting.

Depth of field has been considered and has been used to focus on the performing artist and blur out the background or in other parts the foreground. As far as camera angles and movement is concerned they are fairly simple and all follow the forms and conventions for a performance based music video.

When considering the mise-en-scene the set is very realistic for a band performance, as is the stage, equipment etc. The artists clothing is dark which prevents attention being drawn away from them and more to what clothes they are wearing, this often down in acoustic videos, particularly for this particular artist.

1st rough edit (opening 30ish seconds)

This clip is a rough edit of the opening part of my music video.

Video analysis 1

This video follows a performance based narrative, the video is very simplistic and meets the forms and conventions of a soul music video. The video is filmed in black and white, by doing this a calm mood has been set which ties in with the style of the song. Depth of field has been taken into consideration a lot in this video and has been used to focus on the artist performing, along with this the mise-en-scene has been set in such a way that also focuses attention to the artist, with an empty room with no particular features that divert the viewers attention away from the artist.

The use of the colour effects being played over the footage has a great effect and gives the video its own individual aspect that makes it stand out from other videos, I think that the use of this effect is very effective and yet simplistic.

The camera angles used in the video create a very emotional effect. There is a lot of close ups which focus on the artists face, by doing this we see can read his emotions which relate to the song playing, with these close ups and the depth of field focusing on the artist and blurring out the background the overall effect is much more powerful.

When looking at the what the artist is wearing we see that he is wearing neutral colours that stop attention being drawn to them rather that towards the artists face, this is very effective. It is such considerations as clothing, location and the use of depth of field that add to the overall mood set by the video. As well as this, the lighting within the video is very effective mainly relying on natural lighting, by doing this a natural effect is given and adds to the calmness of the video

This weekend

This weekend I will be filming the nature scenes and opening urban scene.

Complete story board

NEED TO SCAN

This weekend

Yesterday (Saturday) I did some filming it went fairly well. I WILL UPLOAD THIS ONTO YOUTUIBE AND EMBED IT HERE

Crew

The crew will be myself and my father who will hold the lights when filming at night. Other than that partiular task I should not need any assistance

Equipment list

For my video I will need:

Video camera - NAME OF THE CAMERA
Tripod
Camera (to take pictures for my digipack and poster)
Projector (to project video footage)
Grand piano
Car (to get from location to location)
Clothes for my artist
Lighting for night filming (however I will mainly rely on street light

Filming

This weekend I will be going to Crackington Haven to film some shots to use as fill ins, this will not require Jack (my artist) and will be of clouds, water moving etc.

The concept

The opening shot will be looking at an ipod in a hand, on the screen of the ipod the album cover of my song will be shown and then the person will press play, from this point the song will begin. The following shots will show the artist walking along the street. Within 20 seconds of the clip the artist will reach a building and enter(town building). From this point we will see the character walking down a corridor with the exact same style of shots as the outdoor ones.
He will reach a room and enter (there will be a piano) a projector(not within view) will be playing showing static. He will play the piano and sing the projector will play nature shot of which he will be in, from this point the shots will vary from performance to the projection shot of the artist in the nature shots.

Locations

I originally planned to film the nature shots on Dartmoor National Park as the location consists of woodland, moor and rivers, however due to the distance of Dartmoor from my house I had to reconsider. After thinking of different locations I decided to film at Crackington Haven. http://crackington-haven.com/

As well as Crackington Haven I will also be filming in Bude for a night scene.

My final location of filming will be in the performance hall at my school where my artist will be playing the piano.

Story Board so far...

When making my storyboard I did some research to find out about story boarding.

I found this video very helpful as it made me consider the size of the frames, by considering this I were able to make more detailed plans.

Mise en scene

For my music video I will have to take the mise en scene into great consideration. From the start of my story boarding I have already begun to consider this as such details will be the fabric of a successful video. For the urban night scene at the beginning of the video I have had to consider lighting and location, for example when picking out where to film the shots of Jack walking down the alley I went out and looked at many different locations until I found one that looked the best. For the urban night scene I wish for it to be raining (a good chance of that in England) as the lights in town will reflect on the water and give a better effect.

For the nature shots I have been looking at various locations trying to find the best ones, I have considered having the sea in the video but have changed my mind, when looking I went to Crackington Haven which is along the North Coast of Cornwall and is a few coves along the coast from where I live, within Crackington there is a footpath which goes through some woodland and has a river and streams joining and parting from it. I chose this location as it seemed to match the song. The emotions that come with the song, in my eyes suit the setting and help add to the effect that the artist is creating.

The performance part of the video will be located in the performance hall in my school, it will be very important for me to make sure that it does not look like just some hall in a school and I will have to consider mise en scene when setting this up so that I can create the atmosphere that I wish to give.

Progress

Since carrying out my audience questions I have begun to story board, taking into  consideration the thoughts of the 50 who completed the questions for me.

Analysing my audience question results

For the first question asking about what setting to film the video in the majority (78%) said to film in a nature environment, and a further 22% said to film in an urban area. In response to this I went to the same 50 people and asked them what types of locations, such as the beach, woodland, fields, country lanes etc. they would want. Their response was...

By asking this question it has helped me to consider locations for shooting my video.

When looking at the responses to the second question asking whether they would prefer a narrative , concept or performance based video the responses were fairly similar all results being waiting the 30% mark. Due to this I will include performance a narrative as I think they will tie in well with each other, such an approach is conventional within the music video industry.

When asking on the third question about filming during day or night the majority responded with day (67%) which is pleasing as there are greater demands for night filming including lighting which could be hard to do. However 33% did say night which is quiet high, I will consider incorporating some night shots into the storyline if I can.

For the final question asking about who I should use as my artist the majority said Jack (62%) which was good as he is keen to take part and is available most days I am.

Overall it was very useful asking my audience about what they felt would be good things to do, I will most definitely be asking these same people throughout the process.

                                                                



Audience questions and results. I asked 50 sixth formers to answer these questions to give me a rough idea where to go with my plan..

New target audience

When making my music video I will need to consider my target audience. A target audience, is a specific group of people within the target market at which the marketing message is aimed.
Target Audiences are formed from different different groups, for example: Adults, teens, children, mid-teens, pre-schoolers.

To market to any given audience effectively, it is essential to become familiar with your target market; their habits, behaviours, likes, and dislikes. Markets differ in size, assortment, geographic scale, locality, types of communities, and in the different types of merchandise sold. Because of the many variations included in a market it is essential, since you cannot accommodate everyone’s preferences, to know exactly who you are marketing to.

My Target audience range from 20-50 year olds and then a few younger and older people who follow the particular genre. I would say that may target audience are within the ages 20 - 50 because when researching my genre (alternative) I found that they were the most common listeners. The genre 'Alternative' is very popular with many ages but due to the roots of the song and the style of how it has been performed it could also be associated with the genre 'soul'.However the song that I have chosen has recently been in the top 20 in the UK charts so listeners on the radio or TV show viewers may of come to like the song, due to this some teenagers or older people may also be interested.

When I think of who would watch my video I think of a person who wants to unwind. The style of the song is very calm and my intentions for the video will result in a calm mood being created.

As far as types of communities are concerned with my target audience I wouldn't say there would be a specific type, however it is less likely that a young unemployed rap fan would be part of my target audience.

After considering my target audience I will when storyboarding take into consideration what my target audience will expect, want and not want to see in my video, for example most soul fans would not expect or want to see such footage that my be shown in a stereotypical rap video or pop video.

Permission letter

As I have changed song and have had to send an email to the record company for my new song. Bellow is a copy of the letter I have sent.

Dear Copyright Holder,

I am an A-level media student and I am writing to you to request your permission to use the track Getting Nowhere by Magnetic Man ft John Legend.

With your permission the track would be used in my current A-level Media studies project in which I have to create my own music video as well as creating a digi-pack and poster for the artist.

If I received your permission the track would only be used for educational purposes and would only be viewed by my media class, teacher and the exam board moderator.

The artist and your company would of course be fully recognised throughout production and the final video itself. If you wish for there to be a copyright notice to be included in the video I would need any information sent to me so that it could be included in the project. If this is wanted please inform me with further details.

I look forward to your response,

With thanks

            Jake Claridge

Decided

This is now the song I shall be making a music video for. Now its story boarding time...

Artists

When thinking of what artist I automatically think Benjamin Francis Leftwich, however his videos are so amazing I dare not attempt this. However another artist that is similar is James Vincent McMorrow. I have been listening to his music recently and I will now listen through a few of my favourites, of which I am sure I will pick one of them.

Going back to my original outdoor theme

After reflecting on what I want to do I have decided to include nature in my video, I need to find a song that will tie in with this...

Well since my last post I have filmed the first section of my music video. I have decided that I have chosen the wrong idea for the video and possibly the wrong song due to this I have started to look at new options. I know that this is pushing the time limit, but with good organisation this should not be an issue.

Lighting

I came across this video on Tom Antos channel, he is a film maker that posts his videos on youtube and also provide tutorials on youtube similar to this clip.

This video is very useful as I have been trying to decide how I am going to light my video for the night shots.

First weekend filming

This weekend I will be doing the work that I posted about in my last post. This will include

·         Go with Harriet and Jack and get some pictures of them. Get footage of them messing round and having fun. Get footage of them on swings.

Originally I were going to film the house scene with Jack however this will not happen anymore. 

The footage I am going to get shall be used for flash backs during the video and the photos I will take shall be used for props in the video.

Potential dates for filmingand film preparation.

Saturday 19^th November:

·         Arrange dates and times with Jack and Harriet. If they agree to the dates shown bellow and are available I intend to film on these dates.

Saturday 26^th November:

·         Go with Harriet and Jack and get some pictures of them. Get footage of them messing round and having fun. Get footage of them on swings.

·         Film house scene with Jack.

Sunday 27^th November:

·         Film the singing scenes with Jack at the park.

·         Film the street scenes in Barnstaple at night.

Saturday 3^rd December:

·         Film the house scenes for Harriet and family/friends turning up.

Focus group

Since my last post I have developed my concept and have now almost completed my story board. Before finalising my storyboard and preparing equipment, props and other things, I felt it necessary to have some focus groups to find out other people’s opinions on my concept and how I could further develop it. I had four groups of two's, I kept the number small in each group so that each person felt comfortable and did not feel any pressure from others to give their own thoughts.

To start with I played each pair the song that I am going to use so that they were all familiar with it. Afterwards I asked them what impression the song gave them and what sort of story it would tell and what colours they would expect to see. After explaining my concept I asked the pairs how it could be improved and anything that could be added to the story line.

Other questions included what locations could be used to film at and what clothing should characters wear.

From the focus group sessions I gained a lot of great feedback, overall all of the people were on board with my idea but all gave their own inputs that I shall take on in my video.

The main suggestions were that the film should be shot in a town early in the morning (so that it is still dark), the colours should be very bleak particularly using grays’ and blues.

When asking where I should have my character perform, one person came up with the idea that they should be in the place where the 'picture' has been taken. This would display his emotions and would add to the depth of the story.

The concept

My music video is going to be concept bassed and will show the persectives of the situation shown from both main characters.

The video will start in a bedroom where a teenage boy is asleep; his mobile will be going off and will awake him. When he gets up to look at the phone he will see that he has loads of missed calls and texts, when he opens them he will realise that they are from his girlfriend’s mum, when he opens the text it will read something like this: Hi (name) its ....'s mum, she’s not getting any better and is asking for you (or something along the lines of this). As he closes a text a phone call will come through from her and then the shots will cut between him and her on the phone, as the phone call ends the shot will be of the mother upset (probably a CU shot) and then the camera will pan and zoom out to reveal that she is in the daughters room.

The middle of the story will show the boy trying to get to his girlfriend but he will have troubles in doing so, for example missing a train or taxi (or something as long the line of this I am still unsure) this will tie in with the name of the song 'Getting nowhere' as the video carries on we will see the girls perspective.

(The girl is suffering from some serious illness and is dieing) Due to the fact it could be her last moment at any time family or friends will be coming to see her but she will not be interested, I will represent this emotion by using a photograph that she will have of her and the boy and when she is not interested about meeting anyone she will stare at the picture and blank out everything else.

The boy will also display his emotions by looking at his duplicate picture.

After his chaotic journey to her house he arrives but it’s too late (not sure whether I will get him to go into the house or not)

I am still unsure whether the boy will be singing the lyrics during the acting bit or whether to have him do it somewhere else.

So this is my basic concept at the moment and it definitely needs some work but I will do so and then have a focus group.

Time to get drawing...

Well I have done as much as I can do now until I make my storyboard, or at east worked on my concept for my video. Once I have done that I will have focus group and will ask them about the concept and the storyboard and then ask them a few other questions, such as what their expectations are for the video in regard to its genre and some other questions that allow be to get some pointers and some of their ideas.

Conventions of music videos

Forms and conventions of music videos are very important particularly when making my own music video, this is because if they are followed too much I will end up with a dull and stereotypical video, however if I challenge them too much I will end up with a video that does not make sense and the audience will not be able to relate to it. Due to this I need to to get a good balance, but before hand I need to look at the forms and conventions of music videos so that I can get a good understanding and when planning my video I will be aware of whether I am following or challenging the forms and conventions.

First of all...Camera Shots:

Music videos tend to have many close-ups, long shots and mid-shots, this is done to draw the viewer in and focus their attention to the artist and what is going on. With the use of close-ups the artists emotions are shown alot clearer and this allows the viewer to emphasis with the situation.

Camera movement:

The camera movement mainly follows the artist/band and goes wherever they go. Camera movements include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots.

Mise-en-scene:

This is very important and is used to set the mood and is key to representing the song and the artist, mise-en-scene is usually the best indicator of the genre of a music video and if I were to challenge this too much my audience may not be able to identify with it.

Editing:

The editing in most music videos is very fast passed and there are many shots, jump cuts are the predominant editing technique used. It is rare for many shots to last for more than 10 seconds unless the the camera is tracking the artist who is moving around. Fades and dissolves are also very popular transitions within music videos.

Lighting:

Some music videos are filmed in black and white to give a certain effect and others use natural lighting, artificial lighting is also used in video to give a certain effect or feeling.

Sound:

In terms of sound it is usually just the track and sometimes extra sounds are added to fit in with the story as well as dialogue in the video such as characters talking.

Colour:

Usually the colour ties in with the genre for example dark colours tie in with the rock genre however colours can also be used to reflect emotion for example if the mood was meant to be sad the colours would also be dark.

Research into the music video industry

How are music videos generally made?

There are different stages that take place during the creation of a music video. The first is Pre-production.


Pre-production for a music video entails budgeting, finding locations and performers, hiring a crew and working with a director to brainstorm the video.

The next stage is production, this stage includes the actual filming of the video and bringing together all of the planning that has happened leading up to this stage. This stage can be very costly even though it a very quick stage, this is because so many people are usually involved and other costs such as sets and effects are needed. 

 

This video gives an example of behind the scenes showing the production side of a music video.

The next stage is Post-production, this stage incclludes the editing of the footage resulting in a complete music video. After this the video will be shared on the web and on TV channels.

What is the purpose of a music video for the companies/artists that make them?

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. By making a music video an artist creates an opportunity to show themselves to the viewer and sell them their image of what they are and their overall style. People are usually more attracted to an artist if they are fashionable and have a better presence on camera. Due to this artists make videos because it creates more interest in them which results in greater sales of their songs usually.

Who are some famous music video directors and why are their videos so well known/successful?

When looking into this I came across this slide on slideshare which informed me of famous music video directors.

Famous Music Directors

View more presentations from 3246

After looking at this slide I decided to look into their work more, so that I could write about them, but I decided that if I were to do so, I would end up saying pretty much the same thing as shown in the slide above so to avoid that I have decided to embed this video.

One answer to why their music videos are so successful is first of because of the budget they have to create such videos, because they work with the more successful artists who have more money to spend they can be as creative as they want to be and create a successful music video, whereas a director who has not yet become as well known will be unlikely to have a large budget and therefore may be limited to create an idea that they have due to a lack of money. 


How much money is usually spent on the average music video? Have any been made cheaply or are there any that have had a huge budget?
                                                                                             
 Artist(s)                                           Song title                      Director                                  Original air date    Production cost   PC in GDP deflated     

Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson	Scream	Mark Romanek	1995	$7,000,000	$10,330,328.08
Madonna	"Die Another Day"	Traktor	October 22, 2002	$6,100,000	$7,626,051.14
Madonna	"Express Yourself"	David Fincher	May 17, 1989	$5,000,000	$9,068,790.32
Madonna	"Bedtime Story"	Mark Romanek	1995	$5,000,000	$7,378,805.77
Guns N' Roses	"Estranged"	Andy Morahan	December 1993	$4,000,000	$6,225,771.63
Aqua	"Cartoon Heroes"	Thomas Masin	January 2000	$3,500,000	?
Puff Daddy (featuring The Notorious B.I.G. & Busta Rhymes)	"Victory"	Marcus Nispel	March 31, 1998	$2,700,000	$3,725,436.81
MC Hammer	"Too Legit to Quit"	Rupert Wainwright	November, 1992	$2,500,000	$4,007,590.88
Mariah Carey (featuring Jay-Z)	"Heartbreaker"	Brett Ratner	August 16, 1999	$2,500,000	$3,374,939.98
Busta Rhymes (featuring Janet Jackson)	"What's It Gonna Be?!"	Hype Williams & Busta Rhymes	March 12, 1999	$2,400,000	$3,239,942.38

When looking at this list of the most expensive music videos ever we can see that the most expensive ones are all made by very well known artists that have greater budgets.

Bellow are the three most expensive videos.

It is hard to find an average cost because there are so many videos made all of which vary so much in price from £200 to £5,000,000 +

So far I have only mentioned the really expensive videos,  among the vast amount of music videos out there, there are so many different types that all range in different prices, bellow are a couple fairly low budget videos.

Most low budget films will have very little or no special effects in them like the ones above and will only include a few extras or for example in the casper video the extras are his friend in real life which reduces the cost of having to pay for people to be in your video. More often than not the low budget films are made by more unknown artists and therefore they have a smaller budget.

How can audiences view these videos? Where can they be seen?

In the past music videos could only be viewed on the television and as time went on and they became more popular they started to have their own channels that were purely based around them. As the internet has developed more and more music videos have been put up on the internet and such websites as Youtube and Vimeo have allowed anyone in the world with access to a computer to upload and view videos, due to this artists have put their videos up for people to see. As phones have improved people have been able to also view music videos on the internet using their mobiles.

Permission Letter sent.

            Dear Copyright Holder,

I am an A-level media student and I am writing to you to request your permission to use the track Getting Nowhere by Magnetic Man ft John Legend.

With your permission the track would be used in my current A-level Media studies project in which I have to create my own music video as well as creating a digi-pack and poster for the artist.

If I received your permission the track would only be used for educational purposes and would only be viewed by my media class, teacher and the exam board moderator.

The artist and your company would of course be fully recognized throughout production and the final video itself.  If you wish for there to be  a copyright notice to be included in the video I would need any information sent to me so that it could be included in the project. If this is wanted please inform me with further details.

I look forward to your response,

With thanks

Jake Claridge