Getting Attention Onto My Blog

Here I have posted a link to my blog onto Facebook which will hopefully bring attention to my blog. This will give additional support and anticipation for my final music video - this will also help me gain more audience feedback once the video is finalised and posted. 

Contact with Bea

As Bea and I aren't able to communicate Face-To-Face I have been in contact with her via Facebook. I sent her a link to the blog to give her the opportunity to have a look through the blog and see how I am planning the video. 

Point 25 - Props and Costume

COSTUMES

For the Lip-Syncer:

Multiple costumes will be:

In the plain white room, Bea will be wearing a patterned dress to contrast with the simplicity of the set around her. Nearer to the end of the video, Bea will be wearing a dressing gown as she is 'getting ready' to go somewhere.

In the Garden, Bea will be wearing a maxi dress or a floaty floral dress. The floral pattern would be very cliche for a garden scene around her - yet to decide if that is a good idea. 

In the Bedroom, Bea will be wearing a leopard print onesie, but the shots will be mainly close-ups. 

For the dancer:

Will only have one costume:

Flora will be wearing Black Leggings with a White top as these colors will work well when I put the dancing shots into Black and White. 

PROPS: 

For the Lip-Syncer: 

• Make up as she will be doing it in the mirror throughout the video 
• Hair Products / Accessories 
• All other props will be part of the set however there won't be very many props to save from complication 

For the Driver:

• Keys
• Porsche

For the Set:

• Multicolored cloth
• Dressing Table
• Porsche 
• Clothes to 'decorate' the room with
• Cosmetic Products

Point 24 - Casting and Casting Shots

I have decided to cast two females for my music video. I have considered having a male dancer but I think the song has a hidden meaning of iscolation. The two actresses will never come together - as the dancer is away within her own thoughts as is the singer.

Lip Syncer:

A friend from out of school named Beatrice Begg. She is very beautiful and would work well with the camera. She also has a slightly edgy look which I think would work well with this particular song.

Here is a headshot of Bea 

Dancer:

A girl who is in the junior school named Flora De La-Mortière. She is a very capable dancer and I feel she would capture the feeling and the meaning of the song very well through her dance.

Here is a headshot of Flora

Driver: As a part of the conclusion of the video - I am going to have Bea driven away in a Porsche. My Dad will be used to do this and will also be dressed as a driver in a tuxedo and dark sunglasses. 

Here is a headshot of my Dad - Gavin

Point 23 - Locations

For my music video I will be filming a majority of shots from home. I will be using a range of locations at home.

FROM HOME:

1. Greenhouse - To give outside/surreal scene for video

2. Drawing Room - Slightly done-up room which will give a superficial effect from the lip-syncer

3. 'Party Room' (above the stables) - A plain white background for the close-up shots. Will contrast with colors in video.

4. Bedroom - A place the lip-syncer feels 'at home'.

5. Garden - Won't be in bloom however the setting will be effective

FROM SCHOOL:

1. Dance Studio - A simple area for the very skilled and experienced dancer.

Photos Of Locations At Home:

1. Greenhouse:

2. Drawing Room: 

3. 'Party Room' (the room will not be decorated - but simply a white background).

4. Bedroom(pardon the mess…)

5. Garden

Photos Of Locations At Gordonstoun School: 

1. Dance Studio:

Here is my email to the Head Of Dance at Gordonstoun to seek permission to use one of the Dance Studios. I will post again once I hear back from her.

Point 22 - Shot list and shooting script

Here is my shot list and shooting script. 

Point 21 - Animatic of video with sound

Here is an animatic of my music video for 'The Fear'. When I film my video I will most likely make changes and improvements according to how it looks. I may also add in typography during one of the chorus' to stop repetitiveness. 

Point 20 - Mood Board 5

Here is my final mood board out of five. I am going to experiment with various styles of make up with my different actors. I think for the different scenes I will have different make up - for example - with the pastel colors indoors to have bright and fun make up - for the white background to have slightly more done-up and elegant make up - for the outdoors to maybe have slightly mucked up makeup(crying). 

Point 20 - Mood Board 4

Here is my fourth mood board out of five - it is to portray the emotion having the possibility of black and white has. If I end up using this effect - it will be to create an underlying emotion in the song. 

Point 20 - Mood Board 3

Here is my third mood board out of five. It is more to capture the outdoors which will feature in my video. I am going to include a greenhouse and a bit of the outdoors. The singer will feature in these areas. 

Point 20 - Mood Board 2

Here is my second mood board out of five. It is to represent the feeling of the video - the pastel colors and the types of things which may be around - balloons, pastel decorations - sweets - pastel clothes. Also, the photograph of the greenhouse shows the idea of the outdoors(Mood Board 3) next to the color scheme. 

Point 20 - Mood Board 1

Here is the first mood board out of five for my music video. It is focused on ballet and contemporary dance. It is going to be a very large element of my video - as dancing is very easy and attractive to watch. With my dancer, I will have a lighting element for one of the longer shots - it will most likely include dark lighting with neon colors all over the dancer to make for an eye-catching effect

Point 19 - Storyplan for video

STORYPLAN FOR VIDEO - 

Where?

-> At my house - in my stables - upstairs room

-> All white room - like a blank canvas - this means I am able to decorate the room how I like with any colors so they stand out

-> Also all white room makes it easier to switch into neat black and white effect

-> In a greenhouse as well - outside effect, change of scenery (at my house)

-> Dance studio 

Who?

-> Friend from outside school - she has a very edgy look and is very beautiful. This means she would work well with the camera

-> Capable female dancer - preferably ballet or contemporary dancer

What?

-> I will have lots of pastel colors to decorate the plain white room - balloons or pastel materials

-> Change of scenery - outdoors - greenhouse

-> Singer to be wearing a contrasting outfit to the set

Anything else?

-> Might include lettering with different fonts which match the lyrics 

Throughout the video - the singer will be getting ready for something, however stalling herself as she stops to reflect on her life of 'The Fear'. There will also be a dancer who will be in the video - not with the singer. She will begin stumbling in the video a little bit, as her dream is to become a dancer, towards the end of the video she becomes very good and is able to flow to the music. The singer will be finding herself in different situations where she will be iscolated (in a garden/greenhouse/blank room) and thinking about her life living in 'The Fear'. 

Point 18 - Things to include

From my audience research I have come up with a few things which I feel I should include in my music video:

Expected from Genre: 

• Dance would generally be expected in this kind of genre - if not, syncronized movements to the beat (Would enchance the beat of the song)

Expected from Audience:

• My audience feedback showed that people like to see Color in music videos and lighting effects. 
• A story-line or hidden message also seems to get the interest of people.
• People have said that having interesting props can also grab good attention

Expected from Video:

• Perfectly timed lip-syncing
• Well made video
• Movement to the beat - no offbeat
• Range of effects 

Things I need to remember to include:

1. Use color and effective lighting
2. Have some kind of movement to the beat - perhaps dance
3. A hidden meaning within the song - as this would be a difficult song to find a meaningful storyline to
4. Interesting hand-props and stage-props
5. WELL TIMED LIP-SYNCING 
6. Good quality - steady camera 
7. Range of effects - perhaps between black and white against the contrast of the bright colors

THEORIST - 

http://www.slideshare.net/07weeksjor/andrew-goodwins-music-video-theory-28408660

Here is a link to Andrew Goodwin's music video theory. It is very interesting to see how Goodwin interprets different elements of music videos. He seems to capture different themes and show the stereotypical features in different types of music - for example, 'There are frequent references to the notion of looking and the voyeuristic treatment of the female body' - example being Miley Cyrus. Another example - 'There is a succinct relationship between music and visuals'. 

Point 17 - Institutions that might produce and exhibit my video

When my video is finished I will be putting it up on YouTube so that will be a way of exhibiting my video however I will not benefit from this financially.

Record labels who have helped produce independent music videos are more likely to help produce and exhibit my videos, for example:

http://www.3beat.co.uk 3 beat records is an independent record label in the UK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Records_(UK) Fire Records is another independent record label based in the UK.

http://www.motownrecords.com Motown Records is another independent record label in the UK.

All of the above independent record labels would be looking for business from people like myself who may be trying to exhibit their own music video.

Point 16 - Attracting the perfect audience member

I will attract my perfect audience member, as this person will be slightly edgy and alternative. My perfect audience member enjoys blogging about their days and likes to inspire people with their actions. My video would benefit from having this kind of audience member as they would promote it by blogging about it. In my video I am going to have either contemporary or ballet dancing - possibly both. I think that having visuals in the video will also attract a wider audience range than just my specified audience member, as well as being sure to have my lip-syncing completely in time.

Point 15 - Perfect Audience Member

I went onto the UK Tribes Website and had a look at potential audience members. Here is a screen shot above of stereotypical characters of people. 

Different Audience Members: 

ALTERNATIVE 

Here I have a photo of a woman dressed in all black - she would be a bit of a stereotypical 'nerd' too. Very smart, but would keep to herself. 

ASPIRANT

Here I have a photo of a woman dressed up in a slightly more formal outfit as I think that being aspirant is being very on top of everything fashion-wise, knowing everything and slightly more upper-class on the fashion side.

LEADING EDGE

Here I have a photo of three women wearing slightly alternative clothes, a bit edgy, but trendy and natural. She has her laptop with her as she would enjoy blogging about her life and inspiring others. A slightly more 'Artsy' character. 

URBAN

Here I have a photo of a woman wearing a more relaxed outfit - comfy trousers and a big jumper as she would enjoy comfort over style. 

MAINSTREAM

Here I have a photo of a woman dressed up in a very 'mainstream' outfit. Leopard print hinted in with a black leather jacket hints at following the mainstream crowd more than being her own person. 

MY PERFECT AUDIENCE MEMBER 

Here I have a photo of a woman who is a mixture of all the personalities above. She would be smart, artsy and aiming towards inspiration - she would own a laptop as she would enjoy blogging about her life. She has her hair down as she would be quite relaxed. 

Point 14 - Audience Research

Here is a list of the questions to ask for my audience research:

1. What kind of music do you listen to?

2. What draws you to that type of music?

3. Does the music video for the song make a difference to the song?

4. What sorts of things do you like in a music video?

5. What puts you off a music video?

Here is my first audience member research. My laptop won't allow me to put the videos all together so I will be uploading them on their own.

I asked my friend Emma her opinion on these questions:

1. Pop music

2. The beat 

3. Yes, a storyline is very effective as it makes the song more emotional and meaningful

4. I like syncronized movements for example dancing. 

5. Not linking to the actual song and bad quality and looks rushed is very off-putting. 

I also asked my friend Hugo his opinion on these questions: 

1. I like slightly edgy music, for example slower beats

2. The slower beats get me really chilled out

3. Yeah, I really like special effects in music videos

4. Special effects and syncronized lip syncing is very important because it is attractive to the eye

5. If I am listening to a chilled song and the music video is very upbeat and exciting then it doesn't help the mood - the video needs to fit the song

Point 13 - Mood Board

Here is a mood board of the types of thing I would like in my music video. The bottom left hand corner is a screen-shot from 'The Fear' - as you can see there are pastel colors in it. I would like to have a unique music video, however stick to a theme with pastel colors. There are screen shots of dancers above, I like the idea of intigrating ballet or contemporary dance into my video. 

Point 12 - Storyboard of video

I decided to make a storyboard of the first minute of another Lily Allen video - 'As Long As I Got You'. I have drawn the different shots, and for close-ups of Lily Allen I have just repeated the same drawing.

The shots go from the top left down, then back to the top middle then down, then up to the top right and down. 

1 - There is a 'Parental Advisory(Explicit Content)' warning before the video starts just so parents are aware there could be something inappropriate for their child within the video. 

2 - Close-up shot of Lily Allen showing a photo of when she was a child. 

3 - A baby photo of her - followed by a range of other photos of her past years at Glastonbury (I haven't drawn all the photos…)

4 - A shot of her dancing.

5 - A shot of her lip-syncing and dancing.

6 - An establishing shot of the setting - flags.

7 - Another establishing shot - somebody sleeping in front of the flags from previous shot.

8 - A shot of Lily dancing and lip-syncing to song.

9 - A close-up shot of Lily singing.

10 - Establishing shot (product placement) of 'Glastonbury' sign.

11 - Shot of man playing guitar in front of tipi section of festival

12 - A shot of Lily lip-syncing to song

Point 11 - 9 Key Shots

I have chosen to choose the 9 key shots from the music video 'Dollhouse'. 

Top Left: I find that this is a very effective shot because the singer in this music video is looking at herself in a mirror, which reflects her feelings. This shot inspires me because you cannot see the camera behind, and can represent the singer's emotions - this would be effective in my video.

Top Middle: Seeing the point of view of the singer onto something which intimidates her has an impact and inspires me because when you see something from the point of view of the singer, it makes you feel the song and become empathetic with the singer. 

Top Right: This is a very effective and well-placed establishing shot, as the singer is holding her hand out, an actor behind her is doing something ("Smoking Canabis") which is shown in both the song and the video. Effective technique. 

Middle Left: A shot of the four main characters all together I think is effective and it shows the viewers a sense of togetherness within the actors. Linking to the song, the reason they are together is for a photograph, so a stereotypical family coming together to get a photo then leaving. (Could use this sort of technique to bring actors together.

Middle Centre: An establishing shot of the singer in the comfort of her own room. This shows her personality, which I want to be able to establish with my singer in my video.

Middle Right: A shot of a hand on a bottle - this is very effective because although the video is portrayed to be 'perfect', you see there are still flaws in the most 'perfect' looking people.

Bottom Left: A very effective shot of the singer trapped in the dolls house, the idea of being trapped somewhere is very much underlined in this video, however this shot brings it to a whole new level. I like the idea of the main character feeling trapped, and this has given me ideas of how to physically make the character feel trapped. 

Bottom Middle: An establishing shot of the dolls house in order to show the viewers where the video is supposedly taking place. 

Bottom Right: A close-up head shot of the singer. Hair and make-up is very important here and has a massive effect on the rest of the video as we see her setting and what she looks like. In the motion picture of this shot, the singer is slowly moving as though she is a doll. Very good characterization. 

Point 10 - Textual Analysis (Part 2)

Here is my chosen video 'The Fear'

Here is my second video to compare 'The Fear' with; 'Wide Awake' by Katy Perry. I have really struggled finding similar music videos to 'The Fear'. Because of this, I have chosen a video which has similarities in a different way. The fact that there aren't many similar videos to 'The Fear' is what drew me to the song because it is unique and I believe I could do something different to continue it's reputation for being individual.

Similarities - Both have a sense of surrealism in them and how being famous can effect you. In 'Wide Awake' there is a very effective use of her other music videos - it is a story of how even in the midst of her busy career, she still knows what is going on in her life and is very awake. 'The Fear' is mainly about how being famous can get into your life.

Similarities between the two videos:

Cinematography: Both videos have a range of establishing shots that help create a surreal atmosphere within the two videos. There are a lot of close-ups of Katy Perry in 'Wide Awake' which really set the tone to make it a gripping music video - there are also many close-ups of Lily Allen in 'The Fear'.

Mise-en-scene: Both videos take you on a story of their lives. Lily Allen takes you on a story through her life at the moment, but Katy Perry is showing you a part of her past. The color schemes in both videos have a large effect on how the video is perceived, for example 'Wide Awake' has the darker color scheme near the beginning which brings a very magical and lower tone to the mood of the song, however in contrast, 'The Fear' has a continuous pastel color pallet throughout the entire video. There is syncronized dancing in 'The Fear', however not in 'Wide Awake' - but both videos have planned moments to assure the music matches up to the beat and the video.

Sound: Both songs have a similar instrumental background to them, as they both feature synthetic sounds to accompany them.


Lighting: Both videos have distinctive lighting features, 'Wide Awake' having different lighting to differentiate the situations. There is a much brighter light scheme (Daylight). Which is similar to the brightness of 'The Fear' as there is a constant daylight-feel within the video. 'Wide Awake' features a darker and more mysterious lighting scheme for much of the video, which makes the contrast of the brighter light more effective.

Point 10 - Textual Analysis (Part 1)

Here is 'The Fear' - My chosen music video track.

 The music video for "All about that bass" by Meghan Trainor is quite similar to Lily Allen's Official Music Video for 'The Fear' (Above).

Mise-en-scene: Very similar set ideas. Both videos have a sense of surrealism about them. Pastel colors, and doll houses/toys featured in both videos. Both videos have pastel colored balloons for decoration, which makes the video very eye-catching. Both videos include syncronized dancing to the beat and a setting where the singer is alone singing. Both include lip-syncing and is very much about the singers (Lily in 'The Fear' and Meghan in 'All about that base').

Sound: 'The Fear' talking about stereotypes of being famous, and how everything seems to be going over her head but she is coping fine. 'All about that bass' is about how body image is so noticed these days but that you can't let it get to you.

Lighting: The lighting in both music videos is very natural lighting allowing the pastel colors to really stand out. 'The Fear' is shot in daylight however is mostly shot indoors - 'AATB'* has been completely shot indoors. Both videos will have most likely had natural lighting in order to create the effect of daylight in order to have brighter music videos in order to attract to the eye.

Cinematography: There are a range of establishing shots in 'The Fear' for example, the house at the end and showing what the Lily Allen has done throughout the video has done to the house. In 'AATB'*, there isn't as many establishing shots because it is much more based on her and the actors and dancers she has with her in the video. Something which links the two videos together is the amount of close up shots on what the singer is doing, focusing on their movements and actions. 'The Fear' tells more of a story as the video progresses however in 'AATB'* Meghan has a range of different events going on throughout the video as opposed to telling a continuous story.

Both videos have messages within them - 'The Fear' being how you can't let things get in the way of your life because it will take over your life, the song is a metaphor for how being famous can really get into your head because the press tells you to be one way, however you want to be another way. 'All about that bass' has a much simpler meaning to it, however kind of similar to the message of 'The Fear' - This message is that you can't let things get to you otherwise it'll make you feel bad about yourself, and don't change who you are for the publicity, to be yourself whatever the circumstances.