Group Change

Due to class changes I have had to switch groups. I am now working with Leonie Mayer and the song we have decided to do is Fences by Paramore. We chose this song as listening to it generated  many ideas for both of us. It will allow us to experiment with a fast paced edit and edgy narrative themes.

Pitch

We have created a pitch with a proposal containing our initial ideas for the music video. Pitching this will helped us to refine our ideas and come up with a solidified final idea.

Feedback

• “Love the idea of a focus on the narrative theme of celebrity and the dangers and pressures of celebrity”
• “The MES of the band sounds spot on”
• “The puppet narrative also works well and will be fun to film and dress – remember make up and costume are really important”
• “I think you idea of fast paced, canted, hand held camera angles in the performance are very conventional so this will work well with the genre and star image”
• “The idea of the split personalities could be highlighted by different lighting states”
• “The narrative with only one performer will work well but as it is only one person you need to make sure you film it well or it could be flat and undynamic”

The targets that I have got from our pitch to the teachers are:

• Think more in metaphors
• Maybe film in usually highly populated location instead
• Possibly interaction with illustrations
• Think about encoding absence

We pitched our idea to our teachers in order to get feedback and extra ideas, this helped us to get a better idea. We discussed the themes of the song. We need to revisit our idea with the idea of the theme of absence, but also happiness about being alone.

This is the pitch we will show to our teachers for our proposal for our music video, this helps us to make sure that what we have planned is achievable and we haven’t missed anything important out.

The song we have chosen to make our music video from is Gabrielle Aplins song ‘Sweet Nothing’. The reason we chose this song is because of the images the music generated for us and we felt it would allow us to create an interesting music video. The pace allows for us to keep the edit fast and eyecatching.

We have a shortlist of two songs which we have each made a moodboard for with the ideas we got from listening to the song. This will help us to chose which song to create our final video for and we will have more developed options to chose between.

The two songs on our shortlists are:

Sweet Nothing’s by Gabrielle Aplin

Fences by Paramore

The song I’ve chosen is Paramore’s song Fences. I chose this song as it was a fast pace so the edit has the potential to be more eye-catching and interesting. The lyrics told a good story and I thought could create an effective narrative. I annotated the lyrics with the synesthesia (the ideas generated from music). I concentrated on these five things when originally listening to my music: Sense of subject matter, grain of voice, arrangement, suggested stories and cultural references. This helped me to brainstorm ideas for the narrative and performance, from this I think that the video should be either an illustration or amplification of the lyrics.

I decided that to stick with the blueprint of the genre, which is pop rock, the lead singer will perform in the narrative. I have made a moodboard of different ideas that I got from looking at the genre, the band and the song. This will help me to understand the star image associated with the band/genre and the repertoire of elements for this genre.

In groups we thought about what a perfect production group would be, we looked at the skills and qualities that are necessary for the perfect group. I also thought about what technical and personal qualities would be helpful in someone I worked with. This was useful as it helped me to decide the types of people I would work best with, as well as helping me realize what skills I brought.

Now that we have finished the dummy music video mash-up I’m evaluating the video so that I know where I can improve for my final music video.

What lessons did you learn about planning and the use of Storyboards/Shot Lists and Production Meeting Agendas? Why are they important when out on shoot?

They help us to keep organised and to be prepared when out filming. The production meeting agenda will make sure that we have all the props and costumes we need with us when filming, it will also improve our organisation to have the filming locations listed out. The shot list helped us to stick to the blueprint of the genre through the repertoire of elements in keeping with the contract with the audience. We didn’t make a storyboard it would have helped to have this as it would have made sure we got all the shots we needed

Plus TARGET: Create a storyboard planning out the shots I need so as to be more organised. I will also make sure that we plan what we need to film and where and the order of where we will film when so as the filming is as productive as possible.

What should the camera operator be doing whilst filming? 

Since the actors move around quite a lot during the filming of music videos, it’s important to watch so that they stay in the frame. We made sure to film the whole song at lots of different angles and distances, this made sure that when editing we had enough shots to make the video. For this we made sure to watch the screen on the camera to make sure it looks right.

 Plus TARGET: Focus more on the view from the camera to make sure nothing is cut out of the shot.

What lessons did you learn about directing people in front of the camera? What information do they need to know about their character / their performance style? How can the director get them to relax and have confidence in front of the camera in order to perform well? 

One of the most important things we found was making sure that the actor felt comfortable enough to perform properly with confidence. To do this first we made sure that we had the music playing so they were confident of the lyrics and so they could get into the music. The performer(s) should know the style of the music so that they perform in the right style and are confident in what they have to do, to help with this you should also make sure that they are comfortable in what they have to do.

Plus TARGET: Bring the music for the actors the mime along to. Encourage the actors to go for it and make sure they are comfortable and confident.

What lessons did you learn about filming the performance for your production?

It makes the editing easier if you film a continuous shot of the whole song sung in all the various locations etc so you can cut to any other shot if needed at any  time and have multiple options. It is important to film at multiple angles and distances (especially close ups).  I also learnt that you have to be careful filming outside due to weather and quick changes in lighting etc.

Plus TARGET: Film the whole song for every angle and distance.

What did you learn about editing and post-production?

I learnt how to edit in time with the music beats. I also learnt how and when to cut between particular shots so as to highlight the star image and to keep with the genre of the music. The pace of the edit should reflect the pace of the music and therefore uphold the contract with the audience. It’s important to keep the edit interesting and often cut between different shot angles and distances to keep the music video interesting.

Plus TARGET: I will listen to the music whilst editing and cut with the beats of the song to make it more natural, I will also make the edit less complicated so as to be able to focus more on the star image.

What did you discover about the use of conventional Mise-En-Scene for music videos?

The mise-en-scene in music videos is usually conventional to the genre or to the band. For example we decided to have our main actor in a suit to reflect Justin Timberlakes style however we had him wearing brightly coloured ties in order to keep with the upbeat feel of the song and genre. Our acting was enthusiastic and upbeat also to keep with the generic blueprint. For the settings the sunny weather meant that filming outside reflected the song most so our locations are as bright and colourful as possible. From this I learnt that the location should reflect the emotions in the song.

Plus TARGET: Choose interesting eyecatching mise-en-scene that doesn’t take focus away from the star image. I will also choose practical yet interesting locations for filming in.

This is the full dummy mash-up between the groups in our class. Looking at this each part is different depending on the genre, this helped me to realize the influence of the genre on the final product. Each clearly follows the genres blueprints and the mise-en-scene used reflects the repertoire of elements of the genres. We have learnt the significance of the star image how they must be shown clearly and interestingly in order to get their image (brand) out there. We’ve learnt how to edit to the beat, create a productive and comfortable atmosphere for the actor(s), how mise-en-scene can reflect the genre and how to follow the blueprint of genres whilst also being different and imaginative.