Actors & Costume Research

I am currently planning on the costumes and characters which i which will be featuring in my music video. The costumes are very simplistic and casual.

The postman - I will be aranging for a Royal Mail postman to appear in my music video. The first appearance willl be when the postman collects the letters from the postbox, and another postman will also appear when delivering the letter towards the end of the video.

Costume - Since I will be aranging for a Royal Mail postman to be in my music video, the costume will be the conventional and traditional Royal Mail uniform. This normally features a jacket with the Royal Mail logo, carrying a bag or on a bicycle.

Male Character - The male character in my music video is the first character which the viewer sees. This character could be considered as the main character as the first shot will be of this character sitting at a table. The character will be a 17 year old male. I am arranging for one of my friends to fill this part, so hopefully he will be available.  

Costume - The character will be wearing very casual normal clothes and puts on a coat when walking out onto the street outside the house. He will also be wearing jeans. Overall a very casual costume to reflect an average older teenage male today.

Ancillary Digipak Research

The image below is an example of a digipak. These CD cases are usually made of cardboard and fold out into about 4-6 differant parts. They are often used for double albums, or CD and DVD combination products.

Here is a slideshow video of some famous and relevant album covers which have given me inspiration for ideas for my digipak. As you can see there is a wide variety of differant album covers. Each one is very individual and styles are often assosiated with types of bands. Some bands have art type album covers, and others have photography based covers.

I will be designing a Digipak promoting my music video, here are some other famous examples of album covers i will be using for inspiration. The Queen album cover features the four band members against a black background. Although the cover is very simple, it has become one of the most iconic Queen images of all time, with the same concept later being used in the music video for Bohemian Rhapsody. This is something i am going to reflect on when i produce the digipak for my music video, by keeping it simple but effective.

The image below is the album cover for Arctic Monkeys first album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" The cover is a photo of a friend of the band smoking. The cover was somewhat contraversial with many people critisizing it, saying that it was promoting smoking. Some alternative album covers were released with a similar image but without a cigarrette. Once again this album cover is very simple but also very effective.  



This is a quick draft of what the front cover of my digipak may look like. I have edited one of the images from my location research on Photoshop, changing colours and adding text. I have changed the colours so that only the postbox is in colour, emphasing the importance of it.

I have also added a script type font for the title of the artist and song.

Filming Location Research

This is the postbox which will be used in my music video. This will be used in shot four, after the character walks towards the postbox and posts the letter. There will be a close-up of the postbox during this shot. I like the simplicity of this location and i think it's very suitable for the shot I am looking for. I also like how it stands out from the background and there is lots of room for filming. This location will also be used during shot five when the letters are collected from the postbox. For this shot i am planning on a side on shot showing the postbox opening. The picture above was taken from a low angle. The image below, shows the same location, but taken from a normal angle. I prefer the lower angle shot, because it looks more effective and realistic. The overall mise-en-scene of this scene matches the mise-en-scene i have chosen for my music video.  

The photo below is the road i am going to use in shot five, of the postvan driving away from the camera into the distance. I like the colours in this frame and how the road leads your eye away into the distance. Once again I think that it matches the overall mise-en-scene of my music video in general. The shot will once again be from a lower than normal angle showing the van driving into the distance.

I also made up a mock-up of one of the first shots in my music video below. Once again this shot is very simple, with paper and a pencil on a wooden table. I have matched the mise-en-scene of my music video to this shot. This will be one of the first shots in my music video, which is very important as it sets the scene for the rest of the music video.

Treatment & Shotlist

Treatment

The main character, is at home sitting at a table writing a letter, for whom is unknown. We see a close-up of the writing of the letter, with the sound of the pen writing on paper the loudest sound. The music starts and the character walks out of the front door, and away from the camera along a long narrow road. We see a close-up of the letter being carried by the main character. He posts the letter in a small postbox and walks away. A few moments later a postman arrives in a red van, and collects the letters and drives into the distance. A 2X speed shot from inside the van is shown, indicating a long journey. The van drives past the camera through the countryside along a small country road. We then return to the shot from inside the car on a dual carridgeway merged with a map of the UK showing the letter moving across the map. A timelapse at sunset shows the daylight fading and turning dark. A series of night shots are included showing traffic on a dual carridgeway from a bridge. Another night shot is shown, from inside the car. The night light slowly fades into daylight by using a slow fade. The video fades to black and quickly shows a shot of feet walking along a gravel path. We then see that this person is a postman and he walks towards a large house. He posts the letter and the recipitent inside walks towards the door to find the letters on the doormat. The character cycles through the letters to find the letter in question. The letter is read and the person smiles.


Shotlist

Shot One
Male character in house sitting at wooden table, writing a letter.

Shot Two
Close-up of letter, viewer does not see the content of it.

Shot Three
Character walks out of door and along a small long road away from camera. 

Shot Four
Character walks towards postbox. Close-up of the posting of the letter.

Shot Five
Postman collects letters and drives into the distance away from the camera.

Shot Six
Shot from inside the car, 2x Speed driving along a country road.

Shot Seven
Shot of van from outside driving through the countryside.

Shot Eight
Inside car shot merged with a map of the UK showing the letter moving.

Shot Nine
Timelapse of sun setting turning dark.

Shot Ten
Night shot of a dual carridgeway, filmed from a bridge.

Shot Eleven
Night shot from inside car, timelapse fade into morning light.

Shot Twelve
Shot of feet walking along path, sound of footsteps on gravel.

Shot Thirteen
Postman walks into drive.

Shot Fourteen
Post letters and recipitent walks to door.

Shot Fifteen
Recipitent cycles through letters to find the main letter.

Shot Sixteen
Character reads the letter and smiles.

Shot Seventeen
Fades to black.

Audience Research

I produced 20 questionares and handed them to 20 people, including a variety of differant age groups and tastes. I am hoping that the results from my audience reseach will keep me focused on my production.

These are the questions which i asked.

How old are you?

How often do you watch music videos?

Where do you usually watch music videos?

Do you think that a music video should show a developing storyline narrative?

Can you name any specific music videos which you rate highly and why?

These are the results from my audience research. I have produced a number of graphs to show the results from my audience research effectively.

The first chart I produced is a very simple one, showing the range of ages who partook in the survey. As you can see I asked at least one person from each age group, emphasising on the 16-24 age bracket, as this is the main age group which i am aiming at. I asked 10 people from 16-24, 5 people from 25-33, 3 people from 34-42, one person from 43-51 and one person who was aged 52 or over.

The second chart i produced shows the results from the "Where do you usually watch music videos?" question. As you can see the most popular source for watching music videos is online on websites such as YouTube and MTV. This shows the development of the internet in the media industry as it is now the most popular place to watch music videos amoungst my questionare answerers. Television music channels are still very popular, but with many music videos now available online on demand, the internet seems a better option. As I will be distributing my music video using the internet, it allows me to reach a wide range of audiences for free.

I also asked how often you watch music videos. A pie chart showing the results is below. The majority of the answers said that they watched music videos occasionally, with 30% of people watching them very frequently. Only 5% of people said that they never watch music videos, and these answers were from the older age groups.

The final question in my audience research questionare was could you name any specific names of music videos which you rate highly. I recieved a wide variety of differant answers, from many different music genres. Here is a list of some of the music videos which were given.

Coldplay - The Scientist

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

Feeder - Just a Day

My Doorbell - The White Stripes.

Lady Gaga - Telephone

Conducting audience research has been very helpful during the research and planning stage of the production of my music video. I have learnt that the age group which I am aiming my video at (16-24) mostly watch music videos online frequently. My audience research has also focused me on exactly what audiences want from music videos, and looking at music videos which people rated highly has helped me understand what makes a good music video.



What I have learnt from my research and analysis of similar products

I have learnt a number of useful forms and conventions of music videos from analysing similar media products. One convention of music videos that i noticed during analysis, was how there is often a small section of video before and after the clip, where no audio is played apart from diagetic sound, for example characters voices or sounds from objects within the video. This is something which i am hoping to implement into my own A2 production music video during the editing process. During research i also learnt that music videos don't always have to contain musical instruments and the videos are often conveyed as short films rather than music videos. For example, during the video for "Bittersweet Symphony" by The Verve, no instruments are seen throughout. This shows how the music video is changing, with videos often becoming more like short films, showing a journey or a story of some description.

Jack Johnson's record label

Brushfire Records is the record label of In Between Dreams, which the treack Breakdown is included on. I will be emailing the record company, asking permission to use the track on my music video. I will post the results here.

Lyric Analysis

These are the lyrics for Breakdown by Jack Johnson.

"I hope this old train breaks down

Then I could take a walk around

And, see what there is to see

And time is just a melody

All the people in the street

Walk as fast as their feet can take them

I just roll through town

And though my windows got a view

The frame I'm looking through

Seems to have no concern for now

So for now"

 
I think that the first verse of the song is very meaningful. The main story of the lyrics is about how inbetween tours, Jack didn't ever have time to explore his surroundings as he was always on the move between differant venues. The next segment is the chorus which is repeated three times throughout the song.
 

"I need this

Old train to breakdown
Oh please just
Let me please breakdown"

Therefore he wanted the train to breakdown so he could explore. However i think that these lyrics can apply to everything, not just train journeys. How we should be aware of our surroundings and explore how things work and differant parts of the world. The next paragraph is the final verse before the chorus is repeated for the ending of the time.

"But you cant stop nothing

If you got no control

Of the thoughts in your mind

That you kept in, you know

You don't know nothing

But you don't need to know

The wisdoms in the trees

Not the glass windows

You cant stop wishing

If you don't let go

But things that you find

And you lose, and you know

You keep on rolling

Put the moment on hold

The frames too bright

So put the blinds down low"

 

This verse is also explaining about the missed oppourtunities and how we should take time out and explore our surroundings and how things work.

 

I think that this song is very suitable for my music video idea, as many people are unaware and of the long journey of a letter across the country. I think that it will show the long journey of a letter and how much work goes into it.     



History of Music Television

Music Television (MTV) is widely known as one of the most influential factors on the popularity of the music video today. MTV was launched in August 1981 at the first music video played was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. During the first few minutes of MTV only a few thousand people in New Jersey could recieve the channel. There were small black cut cards between music videos as the DJ changed the VCR tapes. MTV had an international influence on many people's musical tastes as local record shops started selling international music as seen on MTV. When MTV first launched the original concept was to play music videos 24/7 by VJ's (Video Jockeys) but this was later dropped. MTV also moved into showing live concerts aswell as music videos and these became very popular. Like many other music channels MTV does not focus on one genre of music, but broadcasts a wide range of differant genre music videos, both old and new.

Like many other large organisations, MTV has been constantly adapting and changing to advances in technology. MTV has it's own website where content can be accessed online, and music videos can be watched on-demand from the website. MTV Music, a feature of MTV.com allows users to access a catalogue of music videos, dating back to the first ever music video shown on the TV channel "Video Killed the Radio Star" in 1981. MTV wanted to also dominate the online market aswell as the television market, and succeeded becoming one of the most popular music video streaming websites today.

MTV is now a global music television brand, broadcasting music videos and other music related features in over 83 differant countries to an estimated audience of over 300 million people. This is a far cry from the first MTV broadcast which was only available to around a thousand people in the US state of New Jersey.

Song Choice

The song which I have chosen for my A2 music video is Breakdown by Jack Johnson. I like the rhythm and lyrics of this song, and think that it is very suitable for my storyline.

Moodboard

 (Click for larger size)

This is the moodboard that i have produced for my A2 Music Video. As you can see from the image, my music video is going to be focused on a letter, and the journey which it takes. I have included images of iconic Royal Mail objects, such as the Royal Mail Van, traditional postbox and a postman. I have also included images of acoustic guitars, relating to the song which i have chosen for my music video. I think that my moodboard has helped me focus my ideas and bring them together.

Forms and conventions of music videos

There are many differant forms and conventions of music videos mostly depending on the genre of music. For example the conventions of a hip hop video, are completly differant to a rock or indie music video. I have listed the differant genres of music below, and listed the general conventions of the music videos from that genre, with information from my research into similar media forms. 

Indie

Basic conventions of Indie music videos,

• Usually shows the band performing at a gig or concert.
• Cuts between shots of the band and other shots.
• Has a separate plotline which unfolds separatly from the band performing.
• Close-ups of the band members performing. Also close-ups of their guitars and drums.
• Dark lighting and colours, sometimes completly black and white with no vibrant colours.

Hip Hop/Rap

Basic conventions of hip hop/rap music videos.

• Usually features and focuses on the main artist.
• A party or night club atmosphere.
• Lots of dancing.
• Usually features women who accompany the main artist of the song.
• Bright vibrant colours.
• Close-up shots focusing on artist.
• Use of brand names and expensive houses/cars.
• Expensive jewellry and clothing

Overall, the forms and conventions of the music video depends on the genre of the song which the video is accompanying. During the construction of my A2 media coursework, i will be following the basic conventions related to the genre of my song choice.

History of the music video

The history of the music video dates back to the 19th century, where in 1894 two musicians hired an electrctian and actors to promote sales of their new song.  They projected a series of relevant images on screen, accompanied with live performances from the musicians. This is widely regarded as the first form of the music video, and the basic conventions and forms of this are still in use today. Although this wasn't a music video in the form we see it today as it wasn't a single moving image format this was the first step to combine commercial music with moving images of dancers and actors.

In 1926 Vitaphone produced a series of musical short films which were produced by Warner Bros. These videos were six minutes in duration and featured a song accompanied by a series of animations and shots of the artist singing the background song. Many people consider these shorts to be the first music videos as they combined music and visuals in one video format.

Later in the 1960's the hit band "The Animals" filmed a music video to accompany their song House of the Rising Sun. The video featured a performance of the band miming to the song on a location set specifically built for the video. The video featured a series of tracking shots, close-ups and establishing shots and most importantly had a unfolding plotline. After this, many videos followed suite with popular bands such as the Beatles creating music videos to accompany their songs. Also the introduction of specialist music video channels in the late 90's such as MTV allowed the broadcasting of music videos. After the introduction of MTV, the music video became very popular. 

In 2006 with the rising popularity of video sharing websites such as YouTube, it allowed bands to reach millions and become internet viral hits. Music videos such as "Here it goes again" by Ok Go became huge viral hits gaining millions of views on YouTube. It allows artists with a small budget to broadcast their media online for free, where as before it may have been an expensive and lengthy process to have a music video broadcasted on television channels. YouTube also allowed amateur filmakers such as ourselves to reach millions for free and created a whole new division of amateur music videos.



Oasis - Wonderwall

Oasis - Wonderwall.

This is the music video for Wonderwall by Oasis. The song was released in 1995 and reached number two in the UK chart. This music video mainly focuses on the band playing with somne other differant filler shots. There isn't much of a storyline to the music video, most of the shots are close-ups of the band members and their instruments. The other shots are quite varied and feature alot of differant props. For example seen in this video are a spinning record, saws, clowns, guitars and the band playing darts. The mise-en-scene is very simple, as almost all of the video is shot in black and white, with some exceptions. For example towards the end of the video a guitar is seen in bright green colours which really stand out against the black and white surroundings. This shows emphasis and draws the audiences attention to it. Some parts of the clown are also in colour, standing out from the black and white surroundings. The video also features some interesting camera angles and shots. Most of the shots in the video are close-ups of members of the band and their instruments. However there are some establishing shots showing all the band members together in the building.

Overall i think that the video very suitable for the song. The concept is very simple with just simple shots of the band performing. There are some clever editing techniques which emphasize certain items to bring our attention to them. However i think that the video could be more interesting and engaging if the video had a better plotline, showing a developing story or similar.

Coldplay - Talk

Coldplay-Talk (official Video)

This is the official video for Talk by Coldplay. The song was released in 2005 and was on their X&Y album. The video focuses on the four band members landing on an alien planet. In the video, after landing on the planet the four band members begin to explore. They eventually find a sleeping alien robot who wakes up and follows the band members across the planet. This is the first time we see the band playing their instruments when they try and communicate with the him. The band eventually think they have befreiended the robot, who thinks otherwise and eventually eats their spaceship as the band are taking off. The mise-en-scene of this Coldplay music video is very simple and effective. Firstly the colours are very simple as the video is completly black and white colours. Since black and white pictures are associated with space and the moon I think that the colour choices are very relative and effective. The lighting is also very simple in this music video, it is mostly dark with light from sources such as the robot's eyes and the bands torches. I like how the video combines stop motion animation and puppets with real life and think that the mixture works well. There are no sounds in the video apart from the song playing.

Overall i think that the video is very simple, yet effective. By using only black and white colours the video has an authentic space type feel.

My audience

These are 10 characteristics of the audience for my music video.

• Aged 16-24
• Relaxed and laid back lifestyle
• Spends alot of free time listening to music
• At sixth form or university
• Enjoys living independently
• Spends alot of time with friends
• Embraces Technology
• Intelligent
• Uses Facebook & Twitter

       

Kings Of Leon - Red Morning Light

Kings of Leon - Red Morning Light (Official Music Video)

The video above is the official music video for the Kings Of Leon song "Red Morning Light"  This song was released in 2003. I don't think that this video would have been produced on a high budget, because the song was written before the band went mainstream recently. Once again the general concept of this video is very simple and doesn't require expensive equipment to produce something like this. The video mainly focuses on the band performing on stage possibly at a local gig. Aswell as video of the band performing live on stage, there are also very quick cuts to shots outside of the building. For example near the start of the video there are a series of quick shots of famous London landmarks, such as a London bus and Big Ben. The video also cuts to what looks like a London nightclub, and a british radio station studio. Interestingly shots in black and white old film are also shown, but i am unsure of the relevance of these. The mise-en-scene of this music video is as follows. The lighting when the band is performing on stage, is very dark lit only by colourful disco type lights. The camera angles are mostly close up shots of the band performing and their instruments etc. 

Overall i think that this video is quite an unusual video, with lots of differant quick shots mixed into longer shots of the band performing on stage. It all seems very random and i'm not quite sure of the relevance of some of them. I didn't get bored whilst watching the video because it was constantly changing and there is lots of variation.

The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony

The Verve, Bitter Sweet Symphony

This is the official music video for the song "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve. The song was released in 1997. The concept of this music video is relativly simple. It features the lead singer, singing whilst walking down a busy street. The singer seems to be looked down upon by the members of the public in the video. He often bumps into them and never changes his direction. The main character is very scruffy and dirty, but looks in place on the old and rough street. The mise-en-scene is very interesting and overall gives a cold and dark feeling to the video. This is done through the lack of lighting and editing afterwards making the video look colder and darker than it was shot in. The camera angles are very simple and almost always show the singer walking towards the camera. This shows that the video was probably shot on a proffesional dolly, a tripod with wheels travelling the same speed as the singer is walking. A variety of differant shots are used so that the viewer doesn't get bored with the same shot repetitive main shot. There are often close-ups of the characters face, walking feet, first person shots from the characters perspective and also shots of the other people on the street. I have also noticed that there is a small section of silence with visuals before the music starts, this is something i am also hoping to include in my production. The video also shows a journey, this is something i am hoping to implement into my music video. I have always thought of the song as a cheerful song, but the video shows otherwise. 

Overall I think the video is very simple which could easily be replicated with some camera equipment. However i think that it is slightly boring and isn't quite as good as the song. I have always thought of the song as a cheerful song, but the video shows otherwise.

The Black Hole

The Black Hole by Ollie Williams and Phil Sansom is a short film about a tired office worker who discovers a black hole.

This short film has a very interesting mise-en-scene. The room is very dark indicating that it's late at night in the office and the main character shouldn't really be there. The colours have also been edited to show this, as there are no vibrant or bright colours in the scene at all. This is very differant to the first short film I analysed which was much brighter and had more vibrant colours. The main character is quite a strange character who is wearing scruffy office clothes. The positioning of the main character within the scene are fairly normal, but there are a few close up shots featured during the 2 minutes.


The film uses lots of special effects when the man finds the black hole. These could have been created using software such as Adobe After Effects. I think that they are very realistic and cleverly done. Often with amateur short films the special effects aren't always the best, but this film has used them perfectly.

The character finds himself stealing from the vending machine using the black hole and eventually becoming too greedy and gets stuck in the office safe.


Overall i this short film is excellent. Using lots of special effects and a funny moral the creators have a produced a short film which has won lots of awards, including the Virgin Media Shorts Award in 2008.

A2 Project Brainstorming

I am currently thinking about ideas from three differant portfolio briefs.

1) Music Video
Idea 1: A fun stop motion animation music video, focusing on a busy city during Rush Hour, using model cars and old toys etc. Song Eple by Royskopp.

Idea 2: A music video following the lengthy and difficult progress of a letter from one individual to another. Undecided on song, probably a guitar song.

2) Short Film
Idea: A fun stop motion animation video, focusing on a busy city during Rush Hour.

3) Documentary
Idea: A factual documentary about Snetterton Race Circuit.