Production Log - Studio Shoot

Yesterday, I shot my actor, Nick, in a black box studio. I decided to use a low aperture lens, as this allowed me to shoot at a lower ISO. Therefore, I will have a better picture quality.

I backlit Nick with a studio light in the left corner of the frame, producing a lens flare across the image.

Production Log - Reshooting

Having looked at my raw footage, there are several shots I am not happy with. I am now planning to reshoot those parts of the video, making sure to correct what didn't work previously. In my first shoot, I don't think the lighting is as effective as it became once I'd become more familiar with the equipment, therefore I want to reshoot Zak's (The Different Character) indoor footage. Rhian's (The Vain Character) outdoor footage was the part I was not happy with. One shot in particular was very slightly out of focus, and this is very noticable when played alongside another shot.

Influences of Music Style: Justin Timberlake

Below is a video, in which I discuss the musical genres that have influenced Justin Timberlake's style. I feel that this will help me in styling my music video, as he is the artist of the song I am using.

Conventions of Music Videos

Research into Music Genre: R&B

Audience Research

 

Analysis of Digipak

Research Equipment

Tracking an Artist: Justin Timberlake

Above is a timeline I have created for Justin Timberlake's career. Click on any of the timeline entries to take you to the TimeRime website, where there is more information on many of the dates (rather than the brief outline you can see above). Alternatively, you can view the timeline via this link.

Analysis of Previous A2 Student's Work: Bad Blood - Bastille (Alfie Green)

 



 

 

The music video is an example of work done by Alfie Green, a candidate who comleted the course last year.

Out of all of the previous year's A2 music videos, this one appealed to me most. One of the reasons is because he has experimented with his use of light. The wash of red used through the majority of the video is successful in mirroring the title of the song 'Bad Blood'. Contrasting this with an occasional wash of blue light holds the audience's focus. Also, as I interpret this video to mean that she has killed the missing man, the red and blue lights serve to reflect the 'blood' from the murder and the police searching for what happened to him.

 

It is clear that Alfie Green thought about the mise-en-scene when constructing his video, using significant props such as the police tape that contribute to the audience's overall understanding of the narrative. The writing on the mirror also made the shots of it very interesting. The shots would have worked if the actress stood in front of a plain mirror; however, adding this element contributed to the creepy atmosphere of the video.

 

Another reason why I found this video so effective is because of the narrative. Having a narrative that was not too obvious of cliche captured my attention. The video is not repetitious, mainly because of the variation in shots and location. Again, this prevented it from feeling boring. Some A2 music video examples I have researched have had little variation and/or a weak narrative. This is what I have found to be the most noticeable difference in those that were more or less entertaining (and therefore more or less effective).

 

A tip that I have picked up from this video and other successful videos, that I shall incorporate into my own work, is the editing style. When shots do not change on the beat, this is very noticable and makes it difficult to follow the video. Therefore, I think it is vital in the editing of my work to change shots on the beat.

Music Channels

Music channels televise music videos almost exclusively. This type of channel became popular with the start of MTV. MTV is by far the most well known and successful music channel in the world.

Since MTV started broadcasting in 1981, MTV has revolutionized the music industry, not only contributing to the rise in music video production, but has started a whole host of award shows for popular culture including the MTV EMAs, MTV Movie Awards and the MTV VMAs. MTV award shows are known to be controversial, therefore many celebrities try hard to find a way to be more outrageous than the previous year and be the star that everyone is talking about afterwards.

The success of the channel has also spawned multiple others under the MTV brand. This include MTV Rocks, MTV Hits, MTV Classic and MTV Dance. All of these play music of a specific genre rather than the broader spectrum of music played on the standard MTV channel.

 

Following the success of MTV, many other music channels have begun broadcasting including Viva, 4Music and TheBox.

TheBox in Britain and Ireland is a music channel brought over by Vincent Monsey who discovered the American channel in Miami in 1991.

The American version of the channel was originally called 'The Jukebox Network', started in 1985.

The channel is best known for often having first play of music videos. Many videos make their UK or world premiere on the channel. This was particularly influential in the release of the Spice Girls song 'Wannabe'. The music video premiered on TheBox months before the songs official release date. The channel is heralded as one of the forces that propelled the Spice Girls to stardom.







What is a Digipak?

As one of our ancillary tasks we have been asked to create a digipak.

A digipak is a patented style of CD packaging. They are usually produced to have a paperboard outer binding and a plastic CD holder inside (attached to the paperboard). Digipaks are most often used for the release of singles and special edition albums.

For albums with multiple CDs, there will often be multiple sections that fold up rather than the standard front cover, binding and back cover.

Music Video Theory: Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin, writer of ‘Dancing in The Distraction Factory’ (1992), has conducted years of research on both the music video and the music industry. He proposed 5 key aspects to a music video.

·         ‘Thought Through Beat’

·         Relationship Between Song and Visuals

·         Narrative and Performance

·         Technical Aspect

·         Star Image

 

“Music videos ignore common narrative as they are essentially advertisements. As consumers, we make up our own meaning of a song in our minds: a music video can anchor meaning and gives the record company/artist a method of anchoring meaning.”

Andrew Goodwin.

Relationship Between Song and Visuals

Goodwin proposed that in every music video, there is a relationship between the song lyrics and the images being displayed on screen. He believes that the relationship is one of three types:

·         Amplify – This is also known as repeatability. In this type of video, the images presented are manipulated and shown repeatedly through the music video, drumming it into the audience’s vision.

·         Illustrate – Using the visuals to depict the meaning to the song and ‘bring it to life’. The most common type of relationship between song and visuals.

·         Disjuncture – The meaning of the song is completely ignored and the visuals do not relate to it in any way.

‘Thought Beats’

There are three steps to this process.

The first step is taking into account the musical structure, including the verses and choruses.

The second step is considering the voice of the artist(s). Many artists have a very unique voice. This is often referred to as being a good ‘recording voice’, as people are more likely to identify them when they hear their voice (e.g. on the radio etc.). Therefore, Goodwin believes that the artist’s voice forms an important part of their star image.

This links to Roland Barthes’ theory of the ‘grain of voice’, in which he suggests that the voice is an ‘expressive instrument’. Therefore, he believes we should be able to make associations through the vocal expression.

The third step is to consider the story the artist is telling. In this way, the artist should be viewed as the storyteller and the music video a device to make the story come to life.

 

Narrative and Performance

Andrew Goodwin believes that songs do not give us a complete narrative; they tend to imply that certain things are trying to be said. For this reason, we tend to make up our own ideas of what the song means, and this is often influenced by what the song means to an individual personally. Many times, people can have very different interpretations of a song’s meaning. Therefore, the music video, as a promotional device, should avoid a standard narrative structure.

Music videos should have coherent repeatability, meaning that the audience should be able to watch the video repeatedly without losing interest. Having both a narrative and performance structure helps to hold the audience’s attention.

Goodwin suggests that having the artist themselves as the central ‘character’ and focus of the video is most beneficial to the promotion of the song. He believes this gives the video the most believability, particularly with the emphasis largely on the use of lip-syncing.

Star Image

The artist’s image is extremely important in the making of the music video. The image the artist portrays to the public needs to be consistent, so elements such as costume need to be consistent with previous looks.

Also, the demands of the record label need to be met. Generally, the label will want to see the artist as being the ‘centre of attention’. This will be executed through lots of CUs of the artist’s face, their image or ‘look’ is one of the most identifiable features of the ‘star’. If the artist is relatively new, CUs will be important in making their face known and linking their image/’look’ to their music. As the music video is a promotional video for the song, it is important that the audience can connect the voice of the artist to the face of the artist.

Furthermore, the belief that sexualising the artist, particularly when female, will help to promote the song, is becoming increasingly common in the industry. A very prominent and relatively current example is Miley Cyrus in her videos for Wrecking Ball and Adore You.

In this case, it is true that the controversy created through the sexualisation of Cyrus herself helped to promote the song. In fact, the video was deemed so effective it won Video of The Year at the MTV VMAs 2014.

Another way in which star image is important to the video is through genre characteristics. Music videos often use stereotypes of the musical genre, in terms of both the mise-en-scene (what we see on screen) and the style of music video that has been created. For example, music videos of the rock genre are expected to depict a live performance. The stars themselves and any actors in the video are expected to wear gothic, mainly black clothing. Goodwin believes that music videos do stick to these stereotypes, particularly as these help to advertise the song to a specific audience.
 

Technical Aspect

The technical aspects refers to the way in which the music video was constructed. More specifically, this encompasses the micro-features camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene.

Analysis of Music Video: Pull Me Down - Mikky Ekko

Pull Me Down - Mikky Ekko


 

I will be looking at the music video for ‘Pull Me Down’ by Mikky Ekko for an analysis of mise-en-scene, including set, costume, lighting and acting.

Through a series of pans, the audience are shown a floor covered with broken glass. There are fallen lamps and shoes strewn around it. This implies that there has been an argument. The pair of broken glasses suggest it could have been between two people on a relationship. From the CUs the audience’s eye is drawn to the expensive look and quality to the items. For example, there is a leopard print sofa and a black high heel with gem stones around the ankle.

 

Both of these items contrast the next shot, still a pan, of a white walled corridor. After the variety of colours and textures displayed in the previous shot, the simplicity of this location reinforces the chaos the audience has previously seen. This allows them to process it, as the information implied in the earlier shots is important to understanding the narrative.

The dimly lit room reflects the mood of the character, who is also in this case the artist. This is emphasised by the dull colours used in both the set and costume. For example, the blinds through which the only light is coming from, are a light grey colour. This is emphasised even further by a CU of the blinds. The audience’s attention is also drawn to the movement of the blinds, which again helps to create the reflective, melancholy atmosphere of the song. The colours used in the set of the bedroom are dull but quite light, drawing attention to Mikky Ekko, who is almost silhouetted by the dim backlight in the shot.

A dolly shot then draws the audience’s attention to Ekko’s costume. As with the bedroom set, they are fairly plain, with a simple monochrome colour scheme. Though the clothes are simple, through the use of a necklace it can be assumed that the costume reflects Ekko’s style. Therefore, this helps portray Ekko’s persona as an artist.

There is unconventional use of lighting at many points throughout the video. A great deal of it is shot using low key lighting, with Ekko being largely if not entirely in shadow at some points. Again, this contributes to the moodiness of the piece. The technique only works, as there are also a great deal of CU shots of the artist. These are well lit, and used to portray him miming the song.

Admired Videos

Coldplay - Magic - Semiotics

The Coldplay music video emulates the style of an old silent movie. This is reinforced excellently by the semiotics, capturing the difference in status between Christophe (played by lead singer Chris Martin) and Cecile. These connotations are drawn particularly from the costumes, as Christophe is dressed in a simple shirt and trousers, whereas Cecile wears glamorous, jeweled outfits.



Bruno Mars - It Will Rain - Lighting

I admire this video, as the lighting effectively distinguishes between the flashbacks of his happy relationship and the 'present' in which he is singing the song. The happy flashbacks use high key lighting, giving the shots a slight glow. This reinforces the positive feelings the audience should be feeling and juxtaposes the low key lighting used to indicate the 'present'. The low key lighting contributes to the creation of a sad and reflective mood.

Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko - Stay - Location
In the music video for Stay by Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko, I like the locations used and feel they are very effective in complementing the reflective mood of the song. This video inspires me as I would like to create a music video with this sort of atmosphere. However, through studying multiple videos, I feel coupling this type of location with a narrative to bring the song's lyrics to life would be most effective.

Ed Sheeran - Lego House - Narrative

In contrast to the previous video, I particularly admire the narrative structure of Lego House by Ed Sheeran. Throughout the video, the audience assume that Rupert Grint (a well known actor, most recognized as Ron Weasley from the Harry Potter franchise) is depicting Ed Sheeran. However, it is towards the end of the video that the audience learns he is in fact an obsessed fan who is going to desperate and slightly crazy lengths to be like his idol. Giving the video a sense of unpredictability is something that I found particularly engaging in this video. Therefore, when creating my music video, I will aim to avoid creating something that is predictable to the audience, as this may cause people to lose interest.

Production Log - Director Research

Over the past week, I have been researching four very different music video directors. I have come to the conclusion that they each have a very different style, with certain elements being a recurring theme through their videos. The style of their videos has given me ideas as to what sort of 'style' my music video should have. For example, I am hoping to use a similar lighting style and create a similar atmosphere to music video director Sam Pilling.

Research into Artist - Justin Timberlake

Research into Music Video Directors

Analysis of Lyrics

Pitch of Music Video Idea

 

Above is the powerpoint that I used as a prompt to pitch my idea. Below is a video of my pitching my idea. In the pitch, I cover:

- My reasons for choosing the song

- A brief outline of my idea

- What audience I am targeting

- How I will use Uses and Gratifications theory in my work

- A music video that inspired my idea

- A selection of shots that I would like to replicate in my music video