Likes the idea of an ending where the character in the narrative breaks free
Likes the locations chosen e.g underground hospital and vale castle
Likes the use of different models to portray the performance and narrative
Like the simple narrative idea of being trapped and trying to get out
Likes the idea of the sheets to symbolically show the narrative
Negative Feedback:
It will be difficult to make the performance interesting and engaging with just the black studio and some lights so we have to make sure that the performer is very expressive
Use three locations for the narrative
Could used a storage container so imply being trapped
Could use a spiders web made out of tights to symbolically represent being trapped
We chose this song as a good, effective but simple narrative can be produced alongside it. The song also has both quiet and slow parts as well as electronic fast paced sections meaning that we can easily vary the pace of edit and effectively edit to the beat.
This task was very useful as we got to understand each our strengths and weaknesses which will be helpful when we come to make our music video as we can play to our strengths to make the video as good as it can be. Also by doing this planning document we will be more prepared during the shoot and post production as we know everyone’s roles and responsibilities.
Below is my final lip sync to Poker Face by Lady Gaga which I edited using Adobe Premier Pro. I think altogether it was a successful project however some clips could have been synced better for example the last clip is slightly out of time and unfortunately the clips cropped themselves so some of the footage was not the best.
Skilled lip syncing is a crucial skill within a music video as if the lip syncing is off, the video looks unprofessional. Unskilled lip syncing also takes away from the narrative and emotion of the video as the actor is not appropriately portraying the song’s lyrics.
To make sure the lip sync aspect of the music video is as successful as it can be it is paramount that the performer practices before hand and knows the words as to create a convincing performance. Energy is also vital within the performance. The performer needs to grasp and understand the vibe and tone of the song as to portray the narrative convincingly.
Another aspect that needs to be thought about in order to convey a convincing narrative is who looks like the voice. The music video would not be compelling if the performer clearly didn’t look like the sound of the voice for example if you had a female performer lip syncing to Ed Sheeran. The confusion and lack of cohesion would detract from the music video’s narrative making it unsuccessful.
Premier Pro will be a crucial program when I come to edit my music video. In this task I mainly used markers and the razor blade tool to cut my video clips to fit with the music. I firstly used markers as a rough guide and once the clip was in place I used the razor blade tool to do some final cuts if the clip needed it.
To improve this preliminary task I would pay better attention to the transitions between clips as sometimes the lip syncing overlapped. Following on from this, after looking back at the final edit I noticed that some clips were not properly synced up. For example the last clip and the clip at 0:22 are not perfectly in time with the audio, which detratcs from the video and its narrative. Also as in this video, the clips cropped themselves I would make sure that in my actual music video I found a way around this as too portray the whole narrative and performance.
The song that I have chosen as an idea for my music video is Honey Sweet by Blossoms. The song is about a relationship that has failed however the singer is still in love with the person and wants to get back with them.
[Verse 1] I’m out, will she love me? I’m still seeing honey sweet You shout ‘don’t you leave me’ ‘Don’t you leave this incomplete’
[Pre-Chorus] I wanna know if this road Belongs to my eyes and only mine
[Chorus] Then I’d go back and show my love A heart attack, I’m told I should have known No more nights alone, so cold Let’s go back discreet, honey sweet
[Verse 2] I’m out, I heard a heavy creek Behind my window, honey sweet There’s no doubt you still love me You’d still love this incomplete
[Pre-Chorus] I wanna know if this road Belongs to my eyes and only mine
[Chorus] Then I’d go back and show my love A heart attack, I’m told I should have known No more nights alone, so cold Let’s go back discreet, honey sweet
[Bridge] Teardrops stain skies of thunder Autumn pain, change my number I’ve seen you two about And talk about rebounding
[Chorus]x2 Then I’d go back and show my love A heart attack, I’m told I should have known No more nights alone, so cold Let’s go back discreet
My narrative will start in the introduction music with a shot of a couple fighting and breaking up. To show this I will use mainly symbolic shots as a naturalistic break-up could be hard to portray effectively. Shots I would include would be close ups of each characters face to show the emotion within the scene and mid shots of the guy trying to hold on and the girl pushing him back. These shots would be fast paced to portray the chaos of the situation and how the guy feels confused and lost. The video will follow the couples story of the guy trying to get back together with the girl and her keeping pushing him away.
Performance:
The performance will be separate from the narrative. I aim to have a moving performance of the singer walking down the street staring at the camera breaking the fourth wall with the camera tracking in order for the audience to feel his emotion and upset.
This video is my favourite of the former student music videos as it is interesting and engaging and has a good balance of performance and narrative. The story of the boy killing someone and feeling wracked with guilt after as he knows it was a mistake and he will be found out is easy to follow and understand. This makes the video engaging as I am not trying to work out the message within the video so it is more enjoyable to watch.
The video is also compelling as an amplified narrative is used with some aspects of illustration. The amplification adds another layer to the music and makes the video captivating as it is not exactly an echo of the song so new aspects of the song are discovered. However the moments of illustration, for example when the lyric “blood on your hands” is sung we see a shot of the actor with blood on his hands, makes the narrative easy to grasp and coherent with the song.
Furthermore, the video also follows typical conventions of a pop music video, for example lip syncing is used over the track rather than having a live performance in the video. Another reason why this video is so good is because of it’s brilliant lip syncing which makes it believable and easy to watch. The costumes also fit in with the typical mise en scene of the pop genre for example the girl performing is wearing a trendy and fashionable outfit. This makes the music video appealing for the target audience making it successful.
Here is my close analysis of Katy Perry – Chained to the Rhythm
Here is my close analysis of Sigrid – Don’t Feel Like Crying
This task made me take a deeper look into music videos and how every aspect of them such as mise en scene or camera can help portray the intended narrative. As I have now looked at 6 music videos and analysed them to varying degrees of closeness, I think I now have a good understanding of what the conventions of a music video are and how to make my own music video as successful as it can be.
For example I have now decided that I will aim to have a combination of performace and narrative even if one aspect is more prominent than the other. I am also determined to use an amplified narrative as is all of the music videos that I have studied that is what has been used. It also means that I can be creative with my storyline and include interesting symbolism with the audience still understanding the connection unlike in disjunctive narratives.
I have understood from this task that visuals add to the music produced by the artist however the main aim of a music video is too promote the artist. Music videos mean that there is another platform to see the star making them more present in their audience’s lives.
This task of analysing music videos will help me when I come to create my own music video as I have now learnt key features and types of music videos. These include:
Illustrative – When the narrative shown in the video is closely echoing the lyrics and music
Amplified – When the narrative shown is inspired by the song but also adds another level to the music
Disjunctive – When the narrative shown has little to no relationship with the lyrics or music
Music videos also don’t have to be narrative, they can purely be a performance by the star. If the star is performing, a convention of music videos is for them to lip sync and not actually have them singing in the video. On top of this they can be purely narrative with the star not singing or being present in the video.
These factors, as well as mise en scene, will have to be thought about carefully before I begin creating my music video as to portray my intended themes and narrative effectively.
Our montage was entitled ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.’ Using this prompt we created a mood board planning to video things that people would find beautiful for example flowers and books.
I think overall our montage has an impact however some clips were more impactful than others.
For example I think that the clip of the girls laughing at 0:06 effectively portrays the prompt as it represents the beauty of friendship and happiness, however the clip of the people holding hands is not as successful. This is because, as there was little movement in the shot, little emotion was portrayed.
There was not much sense of story with our montage, apart from the beginning and end clip of the eye opening and closing, however we wanted to portray the feeling of seeing beauty. I think a sense of story would’ve been better achieved if we used the same models throughout as the mixture of models made the montage difficult to follow.
Our montage is trying to reflect the expierience of seeing beauty and is not necesarily meant to progress as a narrative would. For this reason there is also no repeated shots. The montage is meant to show a variety of different things that people find beautiful therefore repeated shots would take away from the variety of shots.
To make our montage more effective I would add in a long shot of a stereotypically beautiful person as in our montage we lacked long shots. Also the typical idea of beauty would help represent our prompt and make it clear that beauty was the focus of our montage.
This task will be a great help when I come to make my music video as I now have an understanding of how to cut, reorder and edit clips. It has also helped me to get a grasp on what kind of shots are appropriate for certain situations as there were clips in our montage that could’ve been more successful.
