Music Video

This is the Narrative Development me and my group created.

This Production Meeting will outline the basics for our shoot; Locations, Costumes, the narrative and main themes. We have decided on a variety of locales, such as the Prison Lanes, Delancey Bunker, and Town. These will be the main locations for our shoot.

We want to end the video with the resolution of the burden; being passed around and around again. A sense of equilibrium could be gained from this resolution, as the main character has finally given it away- or given in (if looked at from that perspective). Really the video can be interpreted in a number of ways, which is the feeling we want to convey when we finally publish.

Me and my partner shot our performance on the school grounds, specifically by pipes in order to represent the genre of “grunge”/rock, and to add a certain aesthetic to the footage.

The shoot went well;

• we took a variety of shots during the performance, of both drummer and lead singer/bassist,
• used several camera techniques, e.g “pan”.

However, while the shoot itself went well,

• I feel as though some amount of variety in locale could have increased the “depth” of the video,
• perhaps some more variation in camera techniques,
• as well as extra work on continuity
• and ensuring inappropriate objects are not seen within the filming area.

These photos can give an idea on our shoot- shot in a grungy location, as well as our costuming.

Me and my group went over our strengths and weaknesses, as well as the things we need to make sure to keep in mind in both pre-production, shooting, and post-production

We decided on the days we chose as well as shooting in-school in the afternoon specifically due to convenience and mutual agreement on the matter of setting, and time availability.

This is our meeting agenda, outlining key items such as props, outfits, locations and dates et al.

The risk assessment will give us an outline and guideline to abide by, ensuring our safety and providing teachers with the knowledge of where and what we are filming with, as well as the hazards needing to be kept in mind

This Moodboard represents a bitesized depiction of the band “Nirvana”; the band who covered the “Man Who Sold The World”; the version of the song we used in our video.

Reflecting on this, we can say for sure that their success skyrocketed the grunge genre, as well as their unconventionality in the music scene. Their costuming isn’t over the top; it is ordinary, but the stars themselves are extraordinary in personality and song. Kurt Cobain’s voice, and the raw instrumental of the band, are both combined into a pure, guttural sound. Their appearance also reflects this, always looking “slackish” and apathetic. This presents them as a band who goes against convention, striking out of their own accord and willing to lead the charge. Kurt Cobain himself, often seen as the head of a generation, represents the apathy of his era, and is used as an icon to represent millions, and the genre of grunge.

This gives us an idea on what kind of “star” we want to present, what the star image should be constructed to seem. Combining the ordinary with extraordinary, I am confident we can put a “spin” on costuming and tone of the video.

This is the Lip-Sync, test-shoot footage we took and edited.

What Went Well:

• We managed to learn a lot about editing, as well as gathering footage together to cut.
• Transitions
• Usage of mid-shots, close-ups

Even Better If:

• Variety of shots
• More footage
• Utilise more editing techniques

As Kurt Cobain has been dead for almost 30 years, me and my partner decided to instead Private Message his wife, Courtney Love, as she owns his estate (up to 98% of Nirvana in total).

Me and my group have decided to go with a combination of both my initial pitch, and new ideas taken from Lewis’ mini pitch.

Good things:

• Our current ideas on how to utilise MES seem fruitful, and will benefit the narrative
• The narrative planned seems to mesh very well with the music and theme of the video
• Variety of ideas will help to diversify the video, with differing editing techniques and usage of MES to contrast
• Fairly simple, easy to follow yet meaningful.
• The song is 4 minutes long
• Enough content to match the length

Targets:

• More planning on the technical aspects
• More planning in regards to locations, timing, access to instruments and so forth.
• More discussion with the actors.
• Need to practice editing techniques more
• Refine cinematography skills
• Develop a clear outline of tasks to follow in a structured order

My Pitch

Basic Outline: Following a man in a suit, who slowly becomes more and more disheveled. Carrying a bin with a chain, he symbolically carries the “weight” of the world, giving it away. Another figure is presented as a sort of duality to the man, the one who originally had to carry the burden, but “sold” it and left it behind.

Reasons for the choice of song:

• Good narrative potential
• Relatively somber, but still grunge (rock).
• Lyrics generally vague, feeding into a lot of ideas.
• Good length, allowing for breathing room for the narrative.
• Allows for good usage of MES, through close ups and editing.
• Fitting to the beat and matching the lyrics is also fairly simple.
• Illustrative song, meaning that connoting themes and issues and matching things such as lyrics to the video will be easy/ier.

I have decided on this music video, selected from the examples I have seen of class 2020

My reasonings for this are as follows:

Effective editing;

• The cuts and “disjointed” effects fit the song quite well, as well as effectively representing instability in a visual manner.
• As well as this, the editing matches the beat, and lip-syncing remains consistently accurate throughout the video.

Narrative: Performance;

• The ratio between narrative and performance is generally around 40:60, tending to lean more towards performance for long periods of the video.
• The edginess of the video’s performance coincides with that of the song, fitting well.

Star Representation;

• As mentioned before, the “edginess” of the video works well, especially with the low-key lighting in several scenes, the drab clothing and contrasting crown etc. works well to represent the star as someone fitting the genre
• In regards to the crown, it is a focal point in the song itself, used effectively within the narrative.

From viewing this video and analyising it, I have picked apart elements I will want to use in my own video. For example, with the editing, I have noticed techniques that I will want to take note of, as well as recognising how to create an effective piece of media through the usage of MES, editing, and incorporating the narrative/performance well in order to represent/connote meaning.