Costumes

I want my actors to wear modern costumes, because I want it to seem quite timeless. I dont want anything too mainstream. I also dont want them to be glamorous as this isnt what you'd expect for an 'Indie' genre. I want my audience to feel like they can relate to my couples, so I want the outfits to be quite simple and something you may expect to find in a high street store.  I want Kirst and Effie to wear something either pink or red to relate to the sweet tin. This could also link to some idea's I have had for my digipak. I also definitely dont want any aspect of the Male Gaze theory so Effie will be in a shirt and trousers.

Children

Teens

Initial Idea

The initial idea to my music video is a narrattive which follows the story of an older couple that met when they were just children. My main idea came from the film 'When Harry Met Sally", in the film there are mini-scenes thhat have an old couple telling a short story about how they met each other.

I've decided that I am going to adapt from this idea by having a 30 second clip at the beginning of my video of an old couple describing how they met, then the rest of the video will be seeing them through the different stages of their lives.
During the 'teenage' years I dont want them to officially be together as it will give my story more shape, also allowing me to follow the narration conventions of Torodov.

Similar Genre

Vincent, Vincent and the Villains 
Band shots playing instruments with things you'd find in shops - Links back to my idea of playing drums with pots and pans, guitar with shoe box/ tissue box and elastic bands.

Narrative: Code & Theorists

Vladimir "Propp" (1895-1970)

8 characters/ spheres of action

1. Hero
2. Villain
3. Donor (help the hero by giving him something)
4. Dispacher (sends hero on quest)
5. False Hero
6. The Helper
7. The Princess/Prince
8. Her Father

31 plots all together

Tzvetan Todorov (1939)

Equilibrium ------------> Disequalibrium ---------------> Equilibrium

(normality)

 

Is there a clear beginning and end?

Roland Barthes (1915-1980)

• More than one narrative to push story ahead
• 5 Codes
1. The Enigma (puzzle)
2. The Action (dont have to see the whole sequence of events)
3. The Semic (connotations of character)
4. The Symbolic (how things are represented eg. dark& lightening = frightening)
5. Cultural (reference to their environment & speech) 

Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-2009)

Narrative depends on 'Binary Oppositions'

Rich - Poor

Old - Young

Stories reflect the values, beliefs and myths of that culture (wiseman, medicine man)

Narrative in Music Videos

For my music video I have decided I would like it to have a narrative. The main feel of the song is very major and jolly, with a 'feel good' vibe. It also makes me think of Summer so I want my narrative to be happy.

I googled 'Music videos with love narrative' and found a youtube playlist called "20 Best Music Videos that Story Tell" to look for elements that narrative music videos involve. I've written notes on the things I like:


The narrative is clear and obvious. The love story is effective with interesting and original camera shots. The acting here is exaggerated, especially with the expressions, as no speech is used.

Gwen Stefani - Cool
Includes flash backs of when they were together, showing there love with warm lighting.
Dress codes - with red dress, however some of the costumes are a bit too 'glam' for an Indie genre.
A lot of slow motion and focus on the eyes, however this is more of a sad love song.

Watching the rest of the videos in this playlist, it became apparent to me that each video either was a 'love tradegy' or had a 'struggle' in their relationship.
 For example Bruno Mars' Grenade is totally depressing, and definitely isn't what I'd like my music video to be like!
 However, as most music videos do feature a problem with in the story line, I have decided that my teenage couple are going to experience a 'problem' with in their relationship.

Inspiration

Florence And The Machine

I was just listening to some music on youtube and I came across Florence's music video for 'What the Water Gave Me'. I found I was gripped to it and decided that I like the merging of two scenes on top of each other as a transistion. It works well as it isn't obvious and not tacky. This is something I hope to include in my video.

Stornoway

I also found this video from the band Stornoway. The whole video is of them playing on a roundabout. I really liked the shot of them being still and the background moving. I think this would look good for the headshots. One of my favourite shots in particular was..

Kate Nash - Mouthwash

There is a similar shot in Kate Nash's Mouthwash music video. It also contains elements of Florences cross faded shots. (2:22)

Noah and The Whale

I have realised that in many music videos the camera is rarely steady the whole way through. Noah and The Whale's 5 Years Time uses very unsteady shots. I think this gives the music video a slightly vintage feel, which is what I want as it is going into the past.

Gotye

I like the use of the head shots in this. At the beginning I want head shots of my characters so they can be associated as the same people, and shows them growing up

 

Digi Pak Behind CD Creating

I've started creating my digi pak for my music video.
For behind the CD case I wanted to use sweets as these are childish, and Haribo are often related to children.
In my orginal plan I was going to use liquorice strips to make birds, like on the front picture, however I could not find any of these at the time so decided to put some teddy bears in there instead. This was better as it included more colour and thats definitely what I wanted.

SNAP SNAP
Instead of creating the sweets on the computer I took pictures on plain white background.

This is how I orginally led them out, in the shape of a CD and the egg in the middle.
However the shading on the background made it look quite dirty, so I decided to cut each sweet out and apply it onto a plain white background. This also meant I could move the sweets around.

After doing this my result was.. .

Draft 1  

Heres my first draft of under the CD case, I added the drop shadow to give it more depth, but I think that it looks a bit plain. I might experiment with different backgrounds which may give it more character.

Digipak Research

Kate Nash

This digipak has hugely influenced mine. It has a wide shot of a house, which is similiar to the house I want drawn on my digipak.

The image looks surreal as it has been created on the computer. The colours are bright, and you can see Kate Nash, the artist, in red so shestands out.

The font is simple and immitates hand written text. Following the conventions of childhood. Just like mine!!

Vincent Vincent and The Villains

Here, they have gone for the scruffy text, and a feel of hand drawn stripes.

They have also combined computer text, on top of a picture, just like my design (without the computer text!)

Jason Mraz

This is similar to the Kate Nash digipak. The font is simple and looks handwritten. The picture is drawn, again something I'd like to feature in mine. It isn't anything jazzy and could show he thinks music is more important than the glossy outfits and fame!

Digi-Pak Planning

Need to do
Done

Front Cover

  
• Buy fridge magnets - capital & non - capital letters
• Find white fridge, preferably retro? Ask Alys about her 'Smeg' fridge.
• The children to be drawn with crayons and blended on fridge (photoshop)

OR

• draw picture and paper and stick on fridge underneith magnets.

Back Cover

• Experiment with crayon scribbles, like a toddler

OR

  
• Experiment with coloured sring/thread
• Experiment with coloured elastic bands

Inside front cover

• Draw background eg. clouds, sun, grass and flowers.
• Experiment with lego house
• Clouds as cottonwool
• Real grass and petals for the grass and flowers

Under CD

• Haribo sweets
• Magic stars
• Liquorice

Animated Influences - Indie Genre

Kate Nash - Foundations
This used to be my favourite song when I was 14 so no wonder her music video has inspired my own.
I like the use of colour within the costumes and set, but also the animation with the socks, watches and tooth brushes! This is what I'd like to include in my video with the crumpled peice of paper.

The childishness between the protagonist is also similar to what I want with my older couple.




Regina Spector - Us

This music video is animated throughout. It is animated to the quick piano  beat. I want to add jump cuts into my video to make it look slightly old. The colours are slightly dull which I think makes the video a bit more deep,making you listen to the lyrics more. I want my video to reflect the major tones of the song so I want it more colourful.

I also like Regina's red lipstick as it makes her lips stand out when she is singing the lyrics.

Music video research

So before I decide my style and song I want for my music video we have watched a few music videos in class to help inspire our own visions.

Postcardfrom 1952
This music video took pictures taken from the '50s and reenacted them adding movement. The slow motion images compliment the music perfectly. I really like the old vintage feel with the '50s mise-en-scene and dress codes, however, setting my music video in a different decade would be very challenging as I wouldnt be able to have anything from todays world in the shots. The way I could over come this is if I was to set my video in a forest or somewhere outside where you wouldnt get any cars.

 Another thing I like about this video is the warm lighting, this is something I may look into when filming my own video.

Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity 
The surrealism in this music video makes it something of a spectacle, the plain set also works well, as you can see that Jamiroquai is the attention.


M.I.A. Bad Girls
I love the costumes in this and the constant movement of the camera. This is a more hip-hop genre where there are many possibilities such as dances.

Metronomy
This is one of my favourites, the lighting is beautiful. I especially want to take inspiration from the editing matching the beat of the moving.

Music Video Analysis

Artist and Title	Visual	Pace
Bob Dylan Subterranean Homesick Blues (First music video 1965)	Bob Dylan in the side of the shot holding card board cue cards that relate to the song. Tramp in the background and in an ally way all gray.	Country, jolly music but the action is smooth.
Pharcyde Drop Directed: Spike Jonze	4 rappers walking, moving, jumping etc. in reverse so the movement is robotic. They had direct address rapping to camera and there were only 3/4 shots all together. When they jump on and off shot it looks like they are on a harness. The water is poured down in reality but in the video it looks like it is gravitating upwards giving a really cool effect.	Again smooth pace as it was tracking from in front shot. Although the lip synching didn’t really work at times, it didn’t matter as you were distracted by all the movement in the mise-en- scene.
OK Go (2006) Here it goes again Director: Trish Sie	8 Treadmills, the band are dancing on them jumping on and off. The mise-en-scene seems a little tacky and not perfect but it doesn’t matter too much because it is mainly focused on the action. The colours are simple.	Movement within the speed of the treadmill. They jump with the beat of the music
Metronomy (2011) The Bay Director: David Wilson	80s filmed, white stilettos and bathing suits. Was actually filmed in Torquay looks like the French Riviera. Framed by other scenes in the video. James Bond film.	The frame moves along to the beat of the song also with the split screen when it comes on and off. One point legs open up the screen as they are being closed.

Music Video Shot by Shot Analysis

Katy Perry -Thinking of you

So to get our music video minds working we did a shot by shot analysis of a music video of our choice. I did Katy Perry's 'Thinking Of You'
The amount of shots were crazy as you could imagine, with a music video directed by Melina Matsoukas.
Jess Work Katy Perry

Music video practise Jojo

JoJo- Get Out (Leave) Practise lipsync.
So in preparation for next year we have started mimicking Jojo's music video to Get Out (Leave)
We chose this video because it is set in a school, making it the perfect location to film as we will be doing it in our media lessons.

To get us started we practised lipsyncing, this helps us get a feel of what it will be like when doing our music video and the difficulties we could potentially face when editing.

Here's the finished product!