Storyboarding

 

 These are the first couple of storyboards I completed before initial filming. I set out an idea for the start of my music video so I knew what shots I had to film.

Location, location, location

Thinking about and planning locations is vital when you make a music video or any type of film in general because location can add a particular tone to the product you are producing. Not only that, but it can put your shots into context and for these reasons I have put great thought into where my music video should be filmed. I have come to the conclusion that in order to convey the message Lee Roy Benjamin is putting forward in 'A Trip To The Moon' I must pick certain settings that can convey this. Loneliness is a common theme throughout the song and this really relates to youth. Loneliness and depression are common moods felt by teenagers (Hall 1904) and therefore I have chosen to film at locations that really connote this loneliness.


Cardinham Woods, near Bodmin 















I have chosen to film at Cardinham Woods as I think the woods can often be seen as a place of solitude and this link to the lyrics of the song. The artist wants to get away from the stressed of urban city life and as a way of retreating he finds himself alone in the woods. I have visited these woods and think this would be a great place to shoot my music video because firstly there are lots of places to film within the woods and secondly because the woods are visually stunning. This will work very well on camera, visually and metaphorically.

Bodmin Cemetery 

I chose Bodmin Cemetery for similar reasons. Cemeteries are often considered to be very lonely places but also they are a place in which people go when they need to reflect. It is for these reasons that I have chosen to film some of my film shots here. This cemetery is also very close and therefore makes it very convenient to film at. I have chosen this particular cemetery because it is hundreds of years old and currently disused, conveying perfectly the tone and feel I need for my music video.

Camel Trail, Bodmin

I picked this location for the very same reasons as the other locations. Among this trail are some lovely spots that are always quiet and would seem like a great getaway from the stresses of life. I have walked along this trail many times before and therefore know many good places to film. There is lots of greenery and hills that look over the main town that is is situated next to. Therefore the artist could observe the town from the outside.

Costume Designs

Cardinham Woods Filming: Costume Sketch

Here is an costume idea I have drawn for filming at Cardinham Woods. I want the artist to wear a black pea coat because this links in with the products I have been analysing. I took the idea specifically from a music video for the Last Shadow Puppets song "The Age of The Understatement." This type of clothing is used quite commonly in the indie genre and is therefore easy for my target audience to recognise as they are familiar with it. For the same reason I would like the artist to wear skinny jeans. Skinny jeans are often associated with youth and I have found in many videos I have analysed and particularly the music videos by The Last Shadow Puppets and The Dead Weather that the artists wear skinny jeans. 

Magazine Album Advertisment Analysis

Digipack/Magazine Advertisment Photoshoot

For one of my tasks I have to create a digipack for the album of my chosen artist. I set up a studio, with lighting boxes and a black backdrop, to create professional looking images for the cover. After this I edited them using Photoshop CS5. Here are a few of the final outcome:

 Before actually turning them into a digipack, I will look into the common conventions of indie and alternative album sleeves.

When taking and editing these photos I kept in mind existing examples to make sure I would apply my target audience's expectations through use of lighting (to make it look professional) and mise-en-scene.

Promotional information for unsigned musicians

As my artist, Lee, is an unsigned musician I thought it would be a good idea to research how unsigned artists gain recognition. Here is an interesting article on liveunsigned.com, a website dedicated to unsigned musicians:

http://www.liveunsigned.com/blog/2011/08/12-low-cost-promotional-ideas-for-musicians/

Lyric ideas

A Trip To The Moon by Lee Roy Benjamin

 I'm the one that listens,

but never says a thing

Take it all in,

take it all in

I surround myself with trouble,
take it all in,
take it all in

If I could leave today,

and leave right away,

 that's what I'd do

with this guitar,

I'd travel just as far

as I need to

Take me to the moon,

take me to the moon.

These are the initial lyrics Lee thought up for the music video. I thought they represented my idea for the video very well; "if I could leave today, and leave right away..." connotes loneliness, and denotes wanting to leave, which is the basis of the synopsis of my video. The lyric "I surround myself with trouble" connotes that teenagers look for trouble, much like Stanley Hall's (1904) 'Storm and Stress' theory that teenagers go through a period of depression and and rebellion through this time in their lives. This relates back to my target audience.
 The 'wanting to be alone' theme of the video is also shown by the fact that it is filmed in some woods etc. which are far away from people. This theme represents my target audience of disconnected indie fans in the way that indie music is usually about something that reflects personal emotions, which is what this does.
The lyrics also follow conventions of existing examples in the way that they follow a verse, bridge and chorus.  Songs such as 'Norgaard' by The Vaccines are also two minutes long, and have a couple verses and a catchy chorus. The Vaccines are relatively new and have had a big impact on the indie music world. Because of this, following their example would be a good idea for Lee, as he is an unsigned artist who is trying to appeal to the same target audience.

Music Video Narrative Synopsis

To follow the conventions of indie music videos, my music video will have a narrative running through it. Read the synopsis below: 


The video for A Trip To The Moon by Lee Nottle revolves around the idea of wanting to escape from reality.  As the video progresses, Lee becomes tired with everyday life and being around people all the time. The video follows Lee through various 'out of the way' locations such as a cemetery and the middle of a forest. These secluded places in the video represent the target audience of teenagers who feel loneliness and angst, which was stated by Stanley Hall (1904).  The video reflects the meaning behind the artist’s song, which brings a fresh new sound to the popular music genre indie rock. Teenagers that have grown up listening to bands such as The Beatles, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead will not be disappointed. 

100 Greatest Music Videos

Recently I did some research into some of the most iconic music videos produced, for some inspiration regarding my music video. NME.com have made a compilation featuring their favourite 100 music videos. Click the picture to view the list:

Target Audience Research

To gain an idea of who I am creating a music video for, I created an online survey using Survey Monkey. I chose this because I can link it to popular social networking sites such as Twitter and Tumblr, and people can fill it in quickly. Then I can form my project around my target audience's preferences. Here are the questions I put forward:

This question had an equal response. Mixed reviews generally suggest that my target audience are not too fussed if I have live band footage or not.

This clearly shows that my audience love music videos which have a narrative featured in it. Therefore, I will be apply a simple narrative to my final product.

This question shows that my target audience fit into the social group of 'disconnected'. This follows up with the latter questions of age and genre preference. Youths aged 15-24 who listen to indie music fit into this group because, according to Stanley Hall (1904), teenage years are a time of "storm and "stress" and depression. Indie music usually fits under this category, hence why my target audience is interested in this genre of music.

Female had the biggest response for this question which means, stereotypically, I would have to have an attractive male artist to be a part of my video.

This question shows that although some people still watch music videos via television, the growth of the internet and new technologies, such as smart-phones, play a big part in the way people watch music videos now.

Basic Shot Types

I created this simple video to gain a better understanding of the basic camera shot types. Having a better understanding of the default shot types will help me when filming my project, as well as taking these skills further to use more complex filming techniques. 

Moodboard

Muse, The Beatles, Radiohead, Queen, The Smiths, Arctic Monkeys, Pete Doherty, Florence and the Machine

This moodboard is a collection of iconic bands and artists that link to the artist I am creating a music video for. They touch upon genres such as indie, rock and alternative therefore they have the same target audience as my artist. 

Magazine Institutions

 

Kerrang! magazine is a UK rock music magazine released weekly and published by Bauer Music Group. It was published for the first time on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper. Originally, it was dedicated new British heavy metal hard rock bands, now however it leans more towards rock-pop bands. In the early 2000s it became the best-selling British music magazine.

Although if my magazine advertisement were to go in Kerrang! it would reach a large demographic, I think that the audience would not be suited to my artist who focuses more on indie music.

Uncut is a music magazine which focuses on American and British country and classic rock, which is released monthly. It is based in London and although focuses on music, it also has a book and film review section. According to IPC Media, 86% of the magazine's readers are male and their average age is 37 years. Taking this into consideration, and the fact they do not focus much on indie music, I would not choose to advertise the digipack here.

NME (New Musical Express) magazine is a music publication published weekly in the UK since March 1952. It began as a music newspaper but soon changed to a music magazine in 1998. It is predominately  an indie music magazine aimed at young people aged 15-24, which is brilliant because that is my target audience. I would choose NME magazine to publicize  my magazine advertisement.

Music Video Institutions

MTV was formed in 1981 and it's original purpose was to bring music videos to the television, something that had not yet been achieved. It was devoted to playing music videos, especially popular rock music. It's key audience was rock music fans in their teenage years, and throughout their twenties. with investments from companies like Warner Communications and American Express, and became available in most of the US in the mid-1980s. The first music video shown on MTV was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. MTV became a leading promoter of new rock music and musicians, it broadcast new music videos, promoted special rock concerts, and presented news and documentaries about bands and performers. 
MTV gain money through advertisement, sponsorship and money from record company's who want a specific video to be played. Now that they mostly play television shows such as 'Teen Mom' and 'Jersey Shore', ratings sore and therefore businesses want to have their adverts shown on MTV and it's spin-off channels.
MTV has branched out into making various reality TV series. It has spin-off channels now such as VH1 (targeted at an older audience), MTV Rocks (rock music), MTV Classic, etc. It also has websites in the UK and US. MTV aims their channels at people aged 12-24 and almost excludes other demographic groups. 
I don't think that my music video would be appropriate for MTV itself, but perhaps for MTV Rocks because they broadcast mainly alternative and indie music videos, aimed at teenagers, which is what I want to produce.

NME TV is a British music channel owned by CSC Media Group. The channel has been running from November 2007.  It is linked with NME Magazine, the popular music publication in the UK which has been published weekly since 1952. An online version of NME, NME.com was launched in 1996. 

NME TV only plays music videos, which 99% of the time are indie/rock. Therefore, NME TV would be the perfect institution to play the music video I create.

Music Video Analysis

1. My Mistakes Were Made For You by The Last Shadow Puppets
Label: Domino / Oct, 21 2008


The video begins with a long shot which zooms in towards a car in a tree, which has obviously crashed. This sets up the narrative to the video and draws the audience in. The music begins as the zoom in shot gets closer to a medium, two shot of the artist and a women dressed in white. The white dress connotes innocence which ties in with the song lyrics in the video, "innocence and arrogance entwined..." The shot then zooms out again and under the car towards a pathway, where we see the artist again, this time walking down the road towards the camera. 
The video is set at night time and is quite dark, which matches the tone of the song perfectly. There is smoke and dimly lit lights in the background, which again sets up the dark atmosphere more. We then see the other artist in the band, leaning against a car and playing the guitar. All of this scene is done in one shot, which slows the continuity of the video down and compliments the tempo of the song very well. The introduction of the guitar (in the song and the video) is appealing to the target audience, who generally would be indie/alternative rock music fans. 
After the introduction of the second artist, the camera zooms out and captures both artists, the first one walking towards the camera (still the same shot) and then turning off into smoke. As this happens the tempo of the song picks up and the artist exists the smoke, now holding a guitar. This connotes that the artist went threw a dark period of time (the smoke), but when exiting it (holding the guitar) he found music helped him through it. This ties in with the storyline of the song, which is mainly about relationship troubles.
We then see the two artists playing guitar together in a brightly lit gazebo, this connotes a happier mood which is a big contrast to the rest of the video. As the lyrics to the song end, there is some instrumental music which briefly speeds up whilst there is a quick zoom out shot from the artists through the smoke; this connotes panic to the audience, which contradicts the happier mood of the shot before. The last shot is of the women we saw at the beginning walking away into the smoke, passing the crashed car; connoting that she is "moving on" from the relationship. The instrumental music fades out with this last shot.

2. Die By The Drop by The Dead Weather
Label: Warner Bros. Records, Third Man / April, 6th 2010


The video begins with a medium shot of the male artist spinning a large globe, which is clearly representing the moon because the background is similar to that of the night sky. The moon and the night already connote a dark atmosphere, and the music that accompanies the video just adds to this; the guitars and organ in the song are heavy and give the video an almost tense atmosphere. We then see quick cut shots of close-ups of the 'moon' and artist, who is staring at the camera through the globe. Throughout this there are jump-cut scenes of the female artist and the rest of the band, dressed in gothic clothing with masks which are similar to tribal costumes. This connotes a primitive, natural look which fits well with the rawness of the song used in the video.
We then see a long shot of three people dressed all in black, either side of them are black, cemetery style gates, this obviously connotes death and it also ties in with the lyric, "let's dig a hole in the sand, brother. A little grave we can fill together." Another person then walks in front of the camera, with the three figures still lurking in the background; the style of their clothing suggests they are part of some kind of cult, as does the use of the word 'brother' in the lyric I commented on earlier. The creepy feel to this video will appeal to alternative rock fans who are familiar with The Dead Weather, as their previous videos also have a dark tone to them.
There are then various jump-cut shots of the singers sitting in a large armchair, extreme close-ups of the band members playing their instruments, and a medium shot of the female singer sitting next to a grave with 'wind' sweeping her hair back. The camera shots of the singers sitting the the armchair are juxtaposed together, as they are both slightly transparent so the audience can see them both. The shots of the artists sometimes jolt and move independently from the rest of the camera shot, this coincides with the heavily distorted guitars in the song.
The video continues showing these various shots throughtout the video, intertwining rapidly to suit the song as the tempo gets faster.

3. The Scientist by Coldplay
Label: Parlophone / Nov 4th, 2002


The video for The Scientist is very interesting in the way that it uses a reverse narrative. It starts with an extreme close-up of the lead singer's face which fills the entire frame, then it slowly zooms out as he starts to sing. It zooms out to show the artist's entire body who we see lying on a mattress. We see that it is outside, in a rough looking neighbourhood full of graffiti. This connotes to the audience that it is not a happy, clean-cut song and video, and that it might have some depressing vibes to it. This is fitting for a Coldplay song/video, as their target audience will know that their alternative indie/britpop music is not always cheerful. 
We then see a side view of the artist/mattress where it zooms out, this is where the audience can see the reverse narrative in use -  the way the artist moves has been reversed so that the audience can see the effects unfold in an unconventional way. Again, alternative music fans will appreciate this because they want Coldplay's music videos to be less conventional and to go against the normal equilibrium more so than your average Britney Spears pop video. 
As the artist stands up we see a bicycle go past in the background, which is also in reverse. This shows us that it is not just the protagonist that is being shown reversed. We see the artist walk backwards through crowded streets, and then jump over a tall brick wall. As the lyrics "take me back to the start" play it is evident to the audience that the protagonist wants to go back to where the video started (or ended in this reverse narrative) it could connote that he wants his life to go back to where it did before an upsetting event, so he could have a chance to put something right.
The audience then see the artist walking backwards across a railway line. This could go as far to connote death and suicide - obviously railway tracks are known to be dangerous, but it is as if the protagonist does not care. The camera zooms into his feet to give us a better view of where he is walking, and slows down on his whole body to give us the sense of forbidding.
The artist walks away from the railway tracks and into a forest (still in reverse) as the lighting darkens and night time falls, which connote sadness. The lyrics "tell me you love me, come back and haunt me" connote that he has lost a loved one, and "take me back to the start" makes more sense to audience now - he wants to go back to a time before his loved one died.

A Brief History of the Music Video

A Brief History of Music Videos on Prezi

Which brief have I chosen?

I have chosen the following brief: A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options: 

• A website homepage for the band
• A cover for its release as part of a digipack (CD/DVD package)
• A magazine advertisement for the digipack (CD/DVD package)

The reason I chose this brief is because I would like to broaden my filming skills; learning how to use video cameras and final cut express will help me to achieve this. Along with this is I want to go into music journalism as a career, so creating a promotion package for the release of an album is the perfect brief for me. I have chosen the options of creating a cover of the digipack along with the magazine advertisement rather than the website because last years AS project (creating a music magazine) helped my Photoshop skills, and helped me understand the common conventions of music related media, so I can apply them to the task. 
I will begin the project with research into the history of music videos and industries, as well as analysing music videos and various CD/DVD packages.