After re-watching our music video pitch, Kris and I came up with some targets to focus on over the next few weeks and during the summer holidays.

 

*Too Many Ideas*

• Quite frankly myself and Kris have come up with too many ideas for one music video, over complicating it and making it have more than one overall narrative idea. This meaning the music video would have different styles and would not make sense in general. However it is best to have too many ideas rather than too little so luckily we are able to choose our favourite idea and work from there.
• We need to decide whether to create the more vintage style of video, the more symbolic and artistic filming or performance and studio work.

 

*Start Filming ASAP*

• We need to start filming as soon as possible generally due to the summer weather disappearing and the darker evenings approaching earlier and earlier so we are able to make good use of the day and the lighting available.
• We have a short period of time to film and edit our video due to our actors are more or less off to university or starting jobs, meaning they will be leaving very soon and will have less free time.

 

*Research Different Filming Methods*

• To create those exciting and interesting shots we need to do a little research on how to film the shot with the correct aperture, exposure, shutter speed etc.
• Find out how to create time lapse, with everything moving a lot faster in the background and the actor in the foreground in a more natural movement.

Below is the embed attachment to mine and Kris’ music video pitch for the song ‘7’ by Catfish and the Bottlemen.

During the pitch our media department teachers found out what song we were doing, why we had chosen it and all about our overall ideas for the music video.

This was a good chance for the teachers to give us helpful advice on what would work and what may not work so well, how to improve our overall look and ideas for the video and just give us a confidence boost to carry on and create a exciting and intriguing music video.

Here is the embed music video!!

In conclusion I believe this task was an excellent idea because we are now able to come back and re-watch this video so we are able to reflect and remember key ideas and advice from the teachers to create the best music video we can.

As we have now chosen our song, we were set the task to come up with a pitch to present to our Media Studies teachers our ideas and findings about the song, ‘7’. How we want to portray the narrative and performance, who will be in our music video and the lyrics and mood board of the song.

Below is mine and Kris’ Google Slides document of the pitch containing our ideas for ‘7’ by Catfish & the Bottlemen.

Our final song choice is:

‘7’ by Catfish & The Bottlemen.

We decided upon this song as it has a really clear genre being indie rock, we are able to have a band performance which would include interesting and quirky shots and then have a amplification narrative, where we will emphasise the feelings and emotions that are brought forward during the song by the lyrics.

For this narrative idea we will include the emphasis on key connotations from the lyrics for example:

• Lonely
• Isolation
• Distress
• Desolate
• Abandonment

Here is mine and Kris’ mood boards and song choices for the music video. This post shows our ideas as a whole and a embedded version of both songs.

‘Fossils’- Circa Waves

Below is Kris’ song choice, ‘Fossils’ by Circa Waves. I really like this song as it is uplifting and exciting. I feel the song reminds me of a typical summer, and how happy life can be. If we used this song I would want to use high contrast and vibrant colours due to the mood and genre of the song. This song’s genre is indie pop and you can tell this through the use of the band and captivating lyrics that boost your mood.

This is ‘Fossils’ by Circa Waves.

Here is Kris’ mood board for his song choice, I really like how he has used bright and exciting colours and visuals. This is because it portrays how we would want the music video to look like, happy times and enjoying life.

 

‘7’- Catfish & The Bottlemen 

I chose ‘7’ by Catfish & The Bottlemen as shown in my previous post as I feel we would be able to work on interesting camera shots, looking into the lead singers feelings. I would keep the colourings as monochrome as I feel black and white is a clear convention of a indie rock band.

 

7 – Catfish and the Bottlemen 

My chosen song is 7 by Catfish and the Bottlemen. This is a indie rock band, who show excellent band work and a great entertaining performance. I believe that this song has a clear genre and has the potential to become a exciting and fast pace music video.

Below is the mp3 soundtrack of the song, however; due to the song being so new I was unable to find the shortened/lyric track, so please skip to 00.40 seconds where the music begins to play.

 

 

Here is my mood board containing my thoughts that I felt throughout the track, ‘7’. I decided to keep the colourings black and white with a little hint of colour (the orange) because the mood of the song portrayed a darkening, sad feeling of being lost from someone.

 

Here are the lyrics that from the song ‘7’ where I have taken time to analyse them, to look into further detail into the meaning of the song:

To begin our research for the music video we made a mind map as shown below to come up with ideas about the qualities and skills we need to create the ‘perfect production group’. This meaning we wrote down key features and factors to do with production in media studies for example, team work, good use of Premiere Pro. This mind map was produced by myself, Kirsty and Joley, we were put into groups which meant that we were able to come up with as many ideas and thoughts as we could.

This poster includes general skills that we will individually need for example being organised, technical skills like editing and camera work and things like costume design.

Below is my evaluation of the dummy mash up music video of the song ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’ by Justin Timberlake. This evaluation indicates what I have learnt, What I already knew, and my targets for next time. It has really helped me to reflect on what we did in preparation to making our section of the mash up and what I feel we did well and what we need to improve on for our actual music video.

Here is a photo collage that I have produced from screenshots of Jimmy from the production/ filming process:

 

 

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

Through planning I learnt that it is essential to come up with ideas before the shoot day to produce a promising and confident shot day, where all members of the group are fully organised and understand what shots we need to take. Also what props we need to take with us and other equipment. I learnt that making a very detailed shot list is crucial to make a promising video and to collect enough shots to use in the video. I have also learnt that we were very limited for time to shoot, this meaning when it comes the music videos at the end of our coursework to allow longer time to film each shot that we need.

• Plus TARGET:Plan in further detail, every shot and extra shots then we actually need to make sure we have enough footage.

• What should the camera operator be doing whilst filming? 

The camera operator should be making sure shots are in focus, filming as much footage as they can and allow other team members to participate in shot compositions and framing ideas. They should also be nice and clear towards the performers as they could be nervous or unaware of what they are meant to be doing during the filming.

• Plus TARGET: Have enough footage, rather than just bits of a shot to collaborate into one.

• 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? 

I have learnt to choose people who already know  how to sing and play instruments and to have confident people, so they are not camera shy or nervous with the filming sessions. Before the filming I believe they should look into the genre of music and learn about their character or performer that they are portraying so that they are fully ready and confident to perform in front of a camera. I also believe the director can get them to relax by giving the clear instructions on what they should be doing and where they should be standing within the frame of the shot.

• Plus TARGET: My target would be to make sure the performer is 100% committed to the role and understands how to perform and he/she is able to change themselves into different people to become the typical character or performer.

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

I have learnt that we need to film the whole song through more than once, in different angles. This will mean we will have enough footage without any worries to fill and produce a whole music video. As we were limited for time we ended up just filming the song line for line rather than all the way through, this meaning we were very limited for the choice of shots when in the editing process.

• Plus TARGET: Film the star at least three time all the way through the song.

• What did you learn about editing and post-production?

I have learnt that it is difficult to have the lip syncing completely in line and matching the song lyrics, however I now know for next time to make sure that my group and I have every moment of the song filmed as a performance. However I learnt that cutting each shot became quite easy for it to fit with the music video, this is because we cut in between the beats, so as a new beat started we would change the camera angle or use a filler shot.

• Plus TARGET: Try our hardest to make lyrics fit in sync with the lip syncing.

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

It automatically helped to give the song a clear recognition by the audience to understand what genre our sections of the mash up was. It also helped the actor to get into the mood and feel of what the actual artist/performer would be like and what their personality perceives.

• Plus TARGET: Make sure to contact the performer again the night before the shoot to make sure they are ready to perform and have their mise-en-scene ready for the shoot.

Here is the link to our final dummy mash up of ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’ by Justin Timberlake. This music video has different genres ranging from, disco to rap, female acoustic to male solo pop.

This task has really help me to understand all the different genres to the full, knowing their mise-en-scene, how they are performed and the different types of character that is portrayed due to the speed and tone of the music.

This will help me for my final music video as it has taught me how to match the lip syncing and the song lyrics as one. This task has also allowed me to know which genres of music are easier to produce a music video with than others as we have watched and learnt about all types of genre.

Here is my final edit of the male acoustic part of the dummy mash up, ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’ – Justin Timberlake. Myself and Ben edited a separate section of our genre so that we were able to work closer as a team and produce a different looking video to Louis and Tom.

From filming and editing the dummy mash up I have found that it will help me massively when it comes to making my end of coursework music video. This is because I heave learnt how to link each shot together in a way that matches the beats to the song to keep the audience intrigued and interested in the music video. I now know how to keep the music video fluid, exciting and eye catching through the use of camera angles and general mise-en-scene. Finally I am confident to select particular clothing to match the genre of the music video, in this case, the checkered shirt and sunglasses to emphasise the laid back, ordinary lifestyle that male acoustic musicians aim to live.