Music Video

Production meeting agendas are an integral part of planning a shoot because they ensure all mise-en-scene decisions are made and prepared for in advance. We also needed to make sure that any camera equipment we needed was accounted for so to avoid any incidents on the day of forgetting kit.  Our plan was to shoot at 2 locations, inside and outside, over the course of 2 days. This meant that we had plenty of time to play with difference performance shots in each location. Our aim for this shoot was to get all of the performance shots so that next shoot all we need to film are the sock puppet illustrative shots.

The performer of our song is Claire Cottril, professionally known as Clairo. I have analysed her star image to focus on what the common conventions for an indie star are and how she presents herself as a meta-narrative.  This concept describes what makes the star a star, meaning what makes up their brand and how they present themselves to appeal to their target audience.

Richard Dyer came up with the reception theory as an answer to how a star should present themselves. This was that the star should be relatable to their audience so they feel connected to them and thus remain loyal fans; whilst also being distant and alien to the public in order for them to feel extraordinary and special. I think Clairo fits this star image well because she still acts like a normal teenage girl (her target audience) whilst also being able to switch to a professional singer.

From making this collage of Clairo’s star image I can see how I need to construct mine for my music video. I think it will be important to keep the playful, childish feel that she presents continuing through my star because it very much fits with the tone of the song and the child-like simplicity of the lyrics. I think the most important thing I need to take forward from this star image research into production is the feeling of being relatable whilst also feeling surreal and exaggerated in order to make a successful star. This can be achieved through our costume and overall styling of our star by elevating what a typical teenager would wear.

This is our risk assessment for our performance shoot 1. It is important to do a risk assessment to ensure that we have the necessary precautions in place and know what to do if something goes wrong in the worst case scenario. We sign it to agree that we will practice the safety measures we need to make sure our shoot runs smoothly.

For inspiration for our performance shoot we’ve watched lots of music videos in the same genre of our song and from similar artists so that we can see what kind of shots we could use in our video. This was helpful because it gave us lots of ideas for more creative shots we can experiment with and also it helps us to visualize shots we’ve already thought of. By doing this we’ve been able to identify the typical camera conventions of an indie music video and what they usually consist of; below is a collection of shots we would like to try:

For copyright purposes we must ask the artist of our chosen song if they give their permission for us to use it for educational purposes. In the instance that they do not reply we must still notify them of its’ use.

In order to make a successful music video, we must understand who our audience is and what other media products they consume. Doing so makes it easier for us to cater our media to our target audience appropriately to ensure it fits the demographic of who are most likely to consume our media; thus making our video more popular and in sync with the music chosen.

The collage below picks out certain brands or interests our audience demographic would enjoy to show us what kind of direction we need to take our video in stylistically.

Our target audience are teenagers to young adults so around 16-25; the song we are using is in the indie genre so our audience will be interested in more alternative artists and trendy brands. Our demographic is also more individualist than mainstream artist listeners so we will take this into account when curating our star image in terms of what they will wear.

Mini Pitch

Pitch meeting

Targets and feedback

The main feedback given was that we need to hone in our ideas into specific locations and shots which we will use, instead of just having a main concept.

Another critique was that we needed to decide the significance of the sock puppet idea, from this critique we’ve decided that every flashback to the star’s past relationship will be connoted through the sock puppets. This will help give the video the child-like and informal feel we are aiming towards.

Lastly, another change we’ve decided to make from our teacher’s feedback is to remove the idea of the side by side shots of her looking back onto her past relationship with flashbacks to the relationship in live action because it may come off too ‘cheesy’ or fake; thus why we chose to use the sock puppets instead.

However, our teacher did say that he liked our main theme and the child-like nature we’re adding to the video, another positive was also the idea of the sock puppets as it further adds to the youthful and innocent feel of the song.

He also liked the low-fi or ‘bedroom pop’ vibe to the pitch idea because it adds a daydream-like and surreal nature to the video which matches the artist’s tone of voice in the song chosen. The idea of surrealism will also allow us to experiment with animations and transitions which a more realist video would not allow.

The song we have chosen to use is ‘Pretty Girl’ by Clairo. We chose this song because the cover of the single gave us inspiration for the video by using a nature-centric and summery feel; this also is helpful because we are shooting most of it in the summer months so the mise-en-scene will match. Another reason why Emilie and I chose this song is because it’s in the indie/’bedroom pop’ genre; one which we both listen to and enjoy which means we understand the genre really well.

To make sure the production of our music video runs smoothly our group has signed an agreement in which we have allocated each of us roles and agreed how we will sort out any problems we come across. This is important to do as it ensures that all of our voices and ideas are heard and we do not have any major disagreements which affect the outcome of music video.

I’ve put together 2 slides of mini pitches of my song ideas for a music video, I chose two very different songs so that I have 2 options for how I want my music video to be designed and also so I can adapt to the group I am working with if one of my pitches is chosen. It’s important to be able to make a pitch for any of my ideas because it means I can plan out the rough outline of the video and make sure that it is realistic to do. these pitches will also be used to convince my group and my teacher that my song ideas are feasible and worth using.