Creativity in our Music Video

Intertextuality:

We will not be using intertextuality in our music video as we feel that it will complicate things and we can produce a successful video without producing intertextual links to other media within the promo.

Disjuncture and why we will not be using it:

Our music promo will concentrate on amplifying the lyrcis of our song rather than being completely random like videos that use disjuncture. One example of a music video that uses disjuncture is 'Lazy Song' by Bruno Mars.



We feel that disjuncture is not the correct type of video to use, especially as it does not follow the typical conventions of the genre that we are looking at.

Amplification:

We are going to use amplification for our music video because we feel this is the appropriate one to use because illustrating the lyrics of our song would be fairly difficult as it would require a lot of love scenes, which is something that Matt and I feel is too cliche so we are going to try to do something a bit different whilst still amplifying the moral of the song.

The song is about a rollercoaster type of relationship, so our idea of going on a journey in an effort to 'get off the ride' is hopefully going to be successful and appeal to its audience.

Narrative/Performance:

We are going to use both narrative and performance in our music video as, in terms of the genre, this follows conventions and we do not want our video to be too much like the pop genre which tends to only use narrative in its music promos. We will have a fairly substantial narrative but will cut to performance scenes every so often throughout our music video so as to maintain interest and give that 'rock' feel to the music video with the shots of the drums, guitar and vocalist singing. We do not really like the original music video for the song as we feel that it is slightly boring because it is completely performance-based, therefore making it look unprofessional and rushed so we hope to produce a video that is quite unlike the original promo.

Final Shot List

Production Timetable

Filming Day One - Wednesday, 23rd October 2013

• Film the production element of our video
• We have allocated a day to this task, so we can take time to set up the stage with backcloths and lighting, and get a good variety of shots
• Jack Spires & Matthew Jones will join James and myself for this day

Filming Day Two

• 9:30 bus to Peterborough
• Film shots of person walking through the city
• Film shots at train station, including the time lapse section and looking up at the board
• Get 11:52 train to Stamford, which will allow us to get the necessary shots for this part of the video
• Arrive in Stamford at 12:05
• Leave Stamford via Bus at 13:00
• Arrive in Bourne at 13:28
• Backup the morning's shots onto computer & charge camera if necessary
• Travel to Morton fen, and gather the required shots there

Filming Day Three

• Leave Bourne at approximately 8:00
• Arrive at 9:30 in Skegness
• Spend until 11:30 exploring the area, looking for the best place to film
• Gather the required shots in Skegness
• Leave at 15:00
• Return to Bourne at approximately 16:30

Try-outs: Stop Motion Picture Zoom

 

We are considering introducing the band and the video by using a stop motion with video match technique - a culmination of many ideas that we have previously attempted. In this technique, stop motion would be used to film someone writing 'Chasing Tigers', and then the page would be flipped over, to reveal an image, that would appear to be sketched. The stop motion would then continue to zoom into the image, and then once the picture fills the screen, this would go into a section that is similar to the cup tryout we attempted a few weeks ago, whereby liquid is drained from a cup to reveal letters written on the outside.

This technique worked very well, and gave a professional effect, that we will be able to consider for use in our video.

 

This technique worked very well, and gave a professional effect. I feel that this technique would be ideal for use at the beginning of our video, when we could write the name of the band on the sketchbook, and then use the cup animation effect for the words 'Idols & Upsets'. 

Performer Information and Briefing for Performers

In our music video, we will have three performers:

• Jack Spires - Drums
• Matthew Jones - Guitar
• James Craig - Vocals

This fulfils the requirement for the instruments that are used in the music track, making it realistic and believable. In addition, as James is in our group, he will be able to act during the narrative part of our video, bringing an element of continuity, linking the two parts of the video together.

All of our actors will be given a copy of the costume plan, so that they know what to wear, and look enkeeping with the style portrayed by our chosen genre. This will ensure that a realistic effect is presented in our video, and will also mean that all of the performers look similar, again, adding to the realism.

The performance section of our music video will be performed on our school stage, which can be seen above. The black curtains and sides will allow us give the impression that we are filming in a stage environment, and we will also use the stage lighting, which gives an authentic feel. We have also be able to ascertain some additional lighting equipment, which will enable us to focus on certain instruments at certain points, along with making the silhouette effect easier to achieve. Furthermore, the smooth floor of the stage will allow for successful use of the camera dolly owned by the school, which will make smooth pan shots easier to create, giving a professional feel to our video.

The performers that we are using are accomplished musicians, and so will be able to play the song that we have chosen. This will enable us to get lots of close up shots of these people playing the instruments, and as they will be playing it correctly, it will appear realistic.

To further add to the realism, we will ensure that all of the instruments are connected to amplifiers, as they may be in a traditional band set up. I have experience in live performance sound system setup and maintainence, so I will be able to advise of the equipment that would usually be used in such a situation. In addition, we will set up some of the speakers for use, so that the track can be played at high volume through the system, so that the musicians can still hear the track they are playing whilst performing, which will ensure that they are playing at the right speed and tempo, making editing easier, and ensuring effective lip and instrument syncing occurs.

To enable us to get a wide variety of artistic shots for our video, will will set aside a day for the filming of this section. This will allow us to run through the song many times, focusing on different instruments on each run through, so that when we are editing, we have a wide variety of shot types and angles to choose from. All of the performers will be given notification of this date, and will also be given chance to practice playing the song, so that they are fully prepared before the shoot.

We ask that performers focus on making the performance as realistic as possible, by performing in a way that they may do so in a normal rehearsal or performance situation.

Storyboard

Updated Shot Plan

Costume

The costume that we plan on using throughout our music promo is going to be conventional of the music genre. Stereotypical costume for indie-rock music tends to be smart-casual, generally involving casual clothing like t-shirts and jeans combined with smarter clothing like shirts, ties and smart shoes. Here are some examples of indie-rock bands that dress in the conventional manner which we plan on following:

Fun (left) are one indie-rock band that dress in the conventional indie-rock style. They always dress in this smart-casual way, whether out in public, or performing in their extremely popular music videos as well as when they perform on stage.

Another band that dress in this fashion are Two Door Cinema Club (right) who, as shown by the image, also dress in the conventional indie-rock way.

One band that break these conventions is Empire Of The Sun, a definite indie-rock band that use disjuncture to bring interest to their music videos. This is also shown by the way they dress as they also wear odd clothing when performing in order to be unique and break the stereotypical conventions of the genre.

Music Video - Empire Of The Sun

Live Performance - Empire Of The Sun

Our Costume:

For our music video, we plan on following the conventions of the genre and dressing in a smart-casual way.

We will require that all actors (aside from the girl in the photo) wear jeans or chinos in our music video. This is because these items of clothing are seen as fairly casual but at the same time they are not too casual to be seen as cheap.

For the top half of our costume in our music video, we will look at dressing in a fairly smart manner but not too smart as dressing in an office-style is not the conventional fashion for the indie-rock genre. We will perhaps look at wearing a smart shirt but with another piece of clothing to take the 'too smart' look away from it. Some examples of this dress sense would be to wear a plain t-shirt with a blazer, a shirt with a loose tie, a plain t-shirt with an open shirt over the top or we could wear a smart shirt with a neck-scarf to 'loosen up' the smart look a little.

The shoes that we plan on wearing have to be quite smart to fit in with this look, so trainers and running shoes are out of the question. The best shoes to wear would be smart black or brown shoes but for the narrative part of our music promo, this may not be possible as we do not want to mess up smart shoes so we may have to wear typically smart-casual shoes like converse or chinos. We could vary between smart 'office-type' shoes and the more smart-casual shoes in the narrative and performance.

Kieran Hill's Feedback on our Idea

Idea is very strong

Amplification is the right thing to use for the vide

Try not to make it too cheesy

Keep the narrative and performance equal

Cup idea needs thinking about

Don’t over use techniques, will make it too complicated.

Song is really good and upbeat

Think about trying to not confuse the viewer by jumping locations, make it a steady change.

Try-Outs: Stop-Motion Sketchbook Technique



Try-Outs: Silhouette, Jump Shooting and Time Lapse

 

 

In order to get a better idea of which shots we have the technical ability to use in our music video, we carried out some tryouts, to see how well they went.

 

The first tryout we attempted was the timelapse technique, that we are considering using on the platform at the train station. With this technique, we filmed in a school coridor for 8 minutes, whilst one person remained still in the shot, with lots of other people walking past. This gave the impression that time whilst everybody else carried on their lives, time stood still for one person. Overall, I feel that this technique worked very well, and would be very effective in our video, providing that we are able to gain permission to film at the train station. To improve further, we could try using editing to make this effect more realistic. For example, we could film in one position for 8 minutes, and then, in a separate take, get someone to stand in front of the pillar which is shown in the shot. Then, you could play the 8 minute section at high speed, whilst overlaying the cropped shot of the person standing in front of the pillar, played back at normal speed, which may make the action appear more realistic.

The next technique we tried was to use a silhouette technique with a drum kit. For this, we filmed in a darkened room, with the only light source coming from directly behind the person who was sitting on a chair, pretending to drum. This technique worked rather well, as it meant that although the audience could see the rough outline of the person, and could tell what they are doing, the drummer's identity remained concealed. In our music video, we would slowly bring the front lighting up, so that throughout the video, the identity of the drummer slowly became clearer to see. The use of a professional lighting system would also make this effect easier to achieve.

The final test that we attempted was to use a style of jump shooting. In this effect, the subject appears to jump from one location directly into the next, by walking at the same angle as they were in the last shot. In our example, we showed a shot of the subject walking across a school playground, and when the person reached the edge of the frame, the shot immediately jumped to another of him walking through another location, whilst the speed, trajectory and shot depth were maintained from the last shot.

Overall, I feel that our shot testing was a very effective exercise, and has allowed us to practice many different techniques, that we will be able to use in our production.

Props for our Music Promo

We are looking at using plastic cups like this in order to do our 'Sabbapath' cup idea where we use stop-motion shooting to gradually drain the liquid out of the cup, therefore unveiling the writing on it.

We are also using multiple instruments in order to create the performance scenes in our music promo. One of these is a drum kit, although within school, there isn't any made completely madfe up at the minute so the image (right) only shows one particular drum instead of a set.

A guitar is another instruments that we will be using in our music promo in order to 'play along' with the music, as well as the genre of our chosen song.


















The microphone is not the one that we will be using but it gives the audience a general idea about the fact that we will be using a microphone for the vocalist in the performance scenes of our promo.

A piano/keyboard may be a possible prop we also use as an instrument in our performance scenes, depending on whether we feel that we need to include a piano or a keyboard.

Another prop that we will look at including is the sketch book, in order to do some stop-motion effects for some of the lyrics as well as possibly some 'zoom to video' effects that zoom into a still image which becomes a video once the camera has moved in.

Audience Views on our Chosen Song

To further extend our audience research, we carried out an online questionnaire, to ask people whether they liked our chosen track.

We asked two males and three females, who were all aged between 11-20, with the exception of one female, who was aged between 21-30. Out of these five people, all but one person said that they like our track, with the person who didn't like the song commenting that it is not his preferred style.

Our survey then went on to ask people about what they feel the track is about. Most people picked up on the theme of it being about a relationship, with some picking up that this was about changes in a relationship, and how the person feels at different times. These are themes that we will be able to convey in our video, using a variety of different t echniques. People also felt that a video that picked out themes of a relationship, and going on a journey, would be an appropriate way to present this song.

In addition, 4 out of the 5 people who completed the survey felt that it should use a mixture of narrative and amplification, with just one person disagreeing, and feeling that only performance should be used.

We ended our survey by asking people to come up with any suggestions or ideas that we could consider using in our video. Along with ideas that we have already come up with, which include the idea of a journey, travelling across the country and starting a new life, people also suggested that the focus needs to be on the male, and suggested that we could use flashbacks to happier moments in the relationship, which is something that we will definatley consider incorporating.

Try-outs: Sabbapath Cup Animation Technique

 

 

The tryout above shows our attempt at the cup technique, which was inspired by Sabbopath (see earlier posts). For this tryout, we filled each cup with black water, draining a little water away for each shot, and in black marker pen, writing the top section of a letter for each cup, giving the impression that as the water was drained away, a letter was revealed. We used stop frame animation for this technique, as we found that it would be very difficult to drain the water away using normal video filming.

Although this technique was very effective, and is something that we will be able to incorporate into our filming, we felt that in order to improve, we could try and use black food dye or another similar additive, to try and ensure that the water was completely black. This may allow us to write the letters onto the cups first, creating the desired effect better. Also, we could try releasing the water more slowly, increasing the frame rate, and giving the video a more professional feel. 

Initial Shot List and Plan for our Music Video

Mood Board of Indie-Rock Genre

This mood board shows iconic images that many people associate with the Indie-Rock genre. This identifies the stereotypical themes that are related to the genre, including the casual appearance of band members, along with the the use of outsde environments and staging effects, which are also often used with these songs.

Mood Board of Inspirations

The mood board above shows many of the inspirations that we have used to form our ideas for our video. We have included in this mood board the Sabbopath cup idea, which is something that we could consider using, along with a shot of someone looking out of the train window - a stereotypical shot that we will again look to incorporate. One shot shows a couple whose relationship is not going well, and this is one of the main themes of the song, whilst another shows a man looking out to sea, which is a theme we will look to replicate in the video. The final shot shows a light-hearted shot of an indie-rock band, who are performing in their home, as they cannot find anywhere else to rehearse, indicating the deprived background which many bands of this genre have.

Location Shots

Morton - Countryside Shots

The location above is just on the edge of Morton fen, and would be ideal for when the person leaves the train station, as the houses in the background give the impression that he is leaving the town and heading for the countryside.

The shot above is also taken further out on Morton fen, and shows the remote landscape that would be useful for our project, as it will give the impression that the character has escaped his past, and is now away from civilisation. 

Peterborough - City Shots
 

The shot above is taken in Peterborough city centre, and is the sort of place that many people may associate with negative thoughts and images. The character may hold many memories associated with the relationship at this place, and is the sort of location that he may wish to escape from.

The paved environment shown in the shot above is the sort of location that many people may associate with modern, bustling city centres, and also provides a safe location for us to work .

Skegness - Coastal Shots

The shot above shows the beach at Skegness. The beach looks open and inviting, which would be the perfect setting for our video. However, if we perhaps travelled North along the coastline a bit more, we could perhaps look for somewhere which is a bit more remote, which would be more suited for our video.

The shot above shows the steps at Skegness beach, which could perhaps represent the character climbing up from the town, and away to his new life. The Skegness Pier can also be seen, and this could also be incorporated into our video.

 

 Drama Studio - Performance Shots

 

The above shot shows the drama studio in school that we will be using with dimmed-lighting, for our performance-based scenes. Hopefully we will be able to do this filming in the holidays so we will be able to set the drama studio up to look how we want it to.

 



Presentation of Ideas to Group

Inspirations for our Narrative

All 3 of these videos have an element of 'going on a journey' from one place to another in them, which is the concept that we are going to try and use in our music promo. The way the scene changes from scene to scene, especially in the Passenger video, is what we want to try to recreate.