Filming part III

Tonight I shot the Pub Scene; my penultimate piece of filming. 

This will be the closing scene of the music video. The band will walk through the back doors of the pub and sit down at a table, (...Rounding off the day's events with a drink).

Here are some stills from the footage I have gathered:

I had the band in a third different costume, slightly more casual and less revised than the performance and narrative clothing. This was to give this scene the intended laid-back, end-of-day feel to it.

I also captured the band walking to and from the pub. This wasn't some footage I initially anticipated using however I think it may be of some use later on, which I may choose to feature just after the band leave the practise shed and before the 'rewinding' of the video takes place.

Editing #2

I have now completed 1 minute & 20 seconds of the preliminary editing of my Music Video.

During this I made a few amendments such as adding an MTV Logo (watermark) in the top corner; mimicking what you would see in a Music Video typically featured on the 'MTV Rocks' TV Channel.

My latest edit uses the 'mirror' effect. This is something I had not anticipated using as one of my effects, (having drafted the effects I would use) however I think it particularly highlights the energy of the performance shot and manipulates the video in a way that had not been done anywhere else in the video so far. 

After the completion of my full preliminary video edit, which I approximate to be within the next 7-10 days, I will export my work and gather feedback before pursing a final edit. This will leave me plenty of time before the actual draft edit deadline.

Editing #1

In today's lesson I began editing the footage I have. 

I have opted to use Final Cut Pro X instead of Final Cut Express, because of the greater accessibility to plug-ins (For example 'Light Leaks') and my general preference towards the program. 

So far I have created up to 22 seconds of the music video. 

Carrying out preliminary editing has allowed me to decide upon the rest of the footage I will be gathering within the next week. Because on set I experimented with more ideas than I initially outlined in my shot lists and storyboards, I am looking at the exact duration of clips as a way of tying everything together when making the final editing of the video. My video uses intercutting shots of Narrative to Performance, so my final ideas will always alter from the initial planning. 

Filming part II

Filming yesterday was a success, having completed approximately 70% of the filming now, with a little under 2 weeks before the filming deadline. 

I have now begun to consider the photography I will be using as a cover for the album release and this is something I want to capture in the follow up to gathering the rest of my footage. 

Glidecam

I will now be using a 'Calicocam' Glidecam for the rest of my footage. 

For Friday night's footage, I simply fastened my camera onto a tripod which worked surprisingly well as a makeshift glidecam, giving a fairly precise and steady motion for the footage.

However this will make the footage more steady and I will hopefully find it to be of much use.

I have also been looking at several 'Calicocam' videos on YouTube. Here as some examples which I have found useful for deciding whether to opt for using a glidecam or not; the comparison between using one and not, is demonstrated:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjZi1i4ymFk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC4d5P8z4BI&feature=plcp

Initial Filming

Last night I carried out my first part of filming for my music video. 

I captured enough footage to cover all of my desired shots, however I will also be shooting some more performance shots on Monday before I shoot the main narrative for the video. These early afternoon shots will be useful and will tie in well with the transition of the day, starting from afternoon to dusk and then a pitch-black night during the fireworks. 

By Monday, all footage will be complete for my video and this will give me two weeks left before the footage deadline. This will enable me to then go over all of the footage and work out if there is anything else I need to include or shoot again.

Here are some stills of the performance footage so far: 

Whilst watching some of the footage back, I took a few pictures of the footage on my Iphone. Thus the brightness has been heavily distorted. 

Production Schedule

Here is my Production Schedule. 

Obviously because of the type of Music Video I am shooting, there may be further intercutting shots when it comes to editing performance shots. 

Slow Motion Lip-syncing

Across some of the Performance and Narrative sections of my music video, I will be shooting it in slow-motion whilst having the singer lip-syncing. 

In order for my slow-motion editing to work with lip-syncing, I will need to make audio adjustments.

Above is a screenshot of an App I discovered and have downloaded on my Iphone called SpeedUp Lite. This is will allow me to adjust the speed of the song.

For example, if I wish to slow the footage down by 50% (i.e. 60fps to 30fps), I will need to speed the song up by x2. On my Canon 550d I am able to shoot at 60fps in 720p.

This is an element I'm looking forward to experimenting with, because of how abstract it is and it's something that is cropping up more and more in modern day music videos. 

Shot List

Audience Research Results

Animated Logo

I spent one of my unsupervised lessons designing my Director's logo which will feature at the very end of my music video. 

After designing the logo in photoshop, I will then move onto Apple Motion on my laptop where I can then create a full-working animation sequence of approximately 5 seconds.

Here are a few of my plans in photoshop so far: 

Here is my first attempt. The 'Bebas' font was something I found online and will definitely be using in the animation. By making this short animation, it will give my video more of a commercial-look, thus more realistic and professional as a music video.

With my second attempt, I focused on drawing more attention to the director name. Across the 3 lines I included an 'outer glow' effect and on the bottom line, included an inner shadow angled to give an effective shadow. 







Here's my third attempt, similar to the first but I took into consideration the screen placement. This will give me an idea of how I am going to go about making the frames of the sequence. (i.e. splitting it up into different colour effects and font manipulation).

Previous Student Work #2

Here is another piece of past student work I have found when conducting my research into music videos. 

Like my previous example, 'Frick Park Market', this song is evidently different to the song I will be shooting a video for ('Still Here' - Viva Brother). I think however that there are things I can take from this video as influences for my music video. 

Special effects are the video's greatest strength. 

• Motion effects such as Zooming in, sequences of lots of cut-shots and sped-up motion are some examples of this.

These have all been used very effectively and give the video the intended 'eerie feel'. Like most Drum and Bass bands, the video has a clear underlined theme of twisted and disordered.

• Colour effects such as manipulation and textual effects add to the 'cinematic' and commercial style of the video.

Textual effects manipulate the footage and the use of colour alterations draws attention to certain points. Here for instance, the torture is highlighted in red and orange and we can identify him as a danger. 

• Lighting is used effectively throughout the video. 

Lighting is used on the victim and the torturers to portray them differently. We see a long-shot here of the torture whilst the victim is portrayed as the vulnerable person in the video, with emphasis on the blood.

• Mise-en-Scene has been carefully selected.

- The violence is shot in a dark room. This is something you would tend to see in a film (i.e. victim tied up, little amount of light). 

- The shots of the victim trying to escape are portrayed well in the compound where it is shot, highlighting that he is unable to escape and is trapped, facing a terrible fate. 

CONVENTIONS OF DRUM&BASS MUSIC VIDEOS

THIS MUSIC VIDEOS INCLUDES THESE TYPICAL CONVENTIONS: 

Dark imagery 

Fast changing shots 

Close ups of performers 

possible eye contact with audience

It does not use lip-syncing which is only really typical of Performance music videos.

TO IMPROVE: 

Consider using the Cloning effect between 2:17-2:34.

A clearer understanding of whether the video is a Narrative or Concept. If a Narrative, longer shots should be used and we should have a clearer understanding of what is going on exactly. This makes me think the video was intended purely as a concept video. 

Use a greater amount of footage. It does get repetitive. 

Concept Video Study

Concept videos are based around a single idea (concept), typically quite surreal and unusual for the audience. Concept videos are combined with either performance or narrative because from a commercial point of view, the market demands for greater accessibly. However extreme examples I have looked at, only focus on the niche of pure concept art.

A successful concept video will keep the audience entertained and constantly keep them engaged. A range of artists covering all genres have used concept/art based videos. There 

is not a stigma attached to the type of artist who opts for a conceptual style of music video.

Directed by duo Godley & Creme, the video features robot-like movable sculptures dancing, spinning and walking in time to the music in a "virtual house" in London. The video is unique because it was edited to the sounds of the scratching of the composition, and it employed techniques that had never seen in a music video. Here is clear example of a relationship between music and visuals. Hancock himself appears and plays keyboard as a black-and-white image on a television, which is a clever tie to bring in a performance aspect into the video. The video had a demand from a commercial point of view, thus the idea of having performance and concept was evidently important having garnered five MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, including Best Special Effects and Best Concept Video.

The track was a massive success for Gabriel, reaching #1 on the American charts. The video is highly memorable purely because of Aardman Animations' and the Brothers Quay's use of claymation, pixilation, and stop motion animation, altogether giving life to images in the song. This video is frequently considered a highly groundbreaking video and is regularly listed as one of the greatest music videos of all time.

A series of awards the video has received can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sledgehammer_(song)#Musicvideo

What is clear are the demands of Geffen Records for 'close up shots of the artist', something Andrew Goodwin identified as one of his key features. There is also a clear relationship between lyrics in visuals. Examples of these are the 'bumper car scene' and the train tracks which appear around Gabriel's head. 

Unlike the previous videos, Ballad of Black Mesa does not dwell on a narrative or performance. The video is purely concept. Having been an 'internet viral' video, it does have an iconic status because of its originality.

"The Viral hit "Ballad of Black Mesa" is a toe tapping, gun toting, tour de-force. Taking cues from works like STOMP, and contemporary advertisement, The Ballad of Black mesa has been featured in numerous publications, including UK PCgamer, and GEE magazine."

- http://litfusefilms.deviantart.com/art/The-Ballad-of-Black-Mesa-67278735?moodonly=86

Costumes Brief

I have divided up the costumes for the Performance and Narrative sections of my Music Video. 

PERFORMANCE

• I am intending for my video to depict a very british urban look, because of the Britpop genre the song stems from and the associations that can be made between weather and the editing.

• I will be dressing my 3 actors in denim jackets, subtle t-shirts/v-necks and black/dark skinny jeans; typically rock-n-roll.

Demonstrated here by Joe Hicks of British rock band 'Francesqa'

NARRATIVE

• During the performance sections of the video (shot in a music practise room/shed), I want to adopt a similar look using shirts.

• Whilst Viva Brother are renowned for performing in flamboyant shirts, I am going to dress my actors in vintage/modern shirts which british rock bands tend to perform in. As the video is being shot purely as a 'rehearsal' rather than a live performance including a crowd, the costumes will adopt perhaps a more informal look. 

Some examples:

British rock band 'The Xcerts'

British rock band 'Deaf Havana'

Group organisation via Social Media

I've decided to create a group conversation with my 3 actors to enable me to keep in contact with them. This is particularly helpful for deciding the shooting dates (which will be displayed on my Production Schedule) and discussing things such as required costume. I will be shooting the actors during the Performance shots and Narrative shots, in different clothing. 

Questionnaire (Audience Research)

I used the example questionnaire above (13 questions), as a basis for mine. These are the amendments I made:

• I decided to use a smaller amount of questions, because I felt some of these were unnecessary and the point of my questionnaire is to deliver concise audience research.
• Some of the answers to Q5 (example) are now obsolete. The genres 'Trance' and 'Rap' have been substituted for Hip-hop and Dubstep, whilst I have also included 'Metal', 'Classical' and 'Alternative'.
• I also felt Q6&7 (example) served no purpose for my research.
• My Q8 will be useful because of my analysis of 'Tribes' and the UK website. Certain dress sense and music taste will be important for the persons music video expectations.

My questionnaire:

I used SurveyMonkey because it made my Audience Research much more interactive, meaning that I could survey people online as well as with physical questionnaires face-to-face. This opened my survey up to a wider demographic and was therefore much more beneficial. 

Performance Video Study

Performance music videos often contain shots of the artists performing:

• Can be a live stage performance, including shots of the artist and audience.
• Can be the artists in “real life” situations, for example: warming up, talking, fooling around
• Lots of close ups of the artist.
• A particular visual style that goes with the artist, e.g. clothing, actions, props, type of images.
• Often the artist can appear to perform in an unusual place - Use of lip-syncing, e.g. a field or rooftop.

As one of the most famous glam rock bands of the 1980's, Bon Jovi's video for 'You Give Love A Bad Name' has been renowned for its iconicity. 

• What is interesting is the representation of men in the women, because the audience is predominately women.
• The hierarchy of the band members is also put on show, with main shots focused on the lead singer, followed by the lead guitarist. There are very few shots of the keyboard player.

• What is immediately addressed in the video is the dangerous LA neighbour setting. This challenges the principles of a rock performance video because you would normally have a performance setting in a confined environment, only focussing on the band rather than the environment in which the performance video is being shot.
• What was unique about the video is the the events depicted in the video show what actually happened that day almost in real time, and getting busted was an integral part of the plan.

• This minimalist video breaks the conventions of a performance music video. 
• The video became the subject for many parodies, such as Gina Riley's parody "Nothing Is There" on Fast Forward, playing on the fact that she was bald.

Further Narrative study.

Narrative based videos attempt to tell a story. 

• They generally involve a main actor(s) and extras, to portray this story. 
• There is a tendency for a relationship between lyrics and visuals to develop across the video.
• They tend to be set out as a Mini Film - a structure of a Beginning, Middle and End. 
• A certain film can be promoted through Narrative Music video. 

FOUR key theorists studied the way music videos and other media stories are constructed.

Todorov Narrative is structured into five different stages;
 Equilibrium -> Disequilibrium -> Recognition -> Reparation -> New Equilibrium

Any example of this narrative structure is 'Jack and the Beanstalk':
- Jack and his mother are living happily (Equilibrium).
- They are forced to sell their family cow which Jack sells for five magic beans (Disequilibrium).
- Jack knows that he has done wrong but decides to climb to the top of the giant beanstalk (Recognition).
- Jack takes the gold coins from the ogre and defeats him by cutting down the beanstalk (Reparation). 
- Jack and his mother are now rich and live happily ever after (New Equilibrium).

Levi Strauss Narrative is motivated by a struggle between Binary Oppositions. The audience is able to distinguish the 'morally right' side from the 'corrupt and bad'. Any example of this are any Superhero films such as Spiderman. Here we can distinguish the good (Heroes) from the bad (Villains). Heroes are always shown in a favorable light e.g. low camera angles and a combination of close ups and longer shots in order to allow the audience to identify with them and essentially side with them.

Propp Narrative is motivated by a variety of character functions. Typically there will be a hero who is sent on a quest by the sender. The hero has to overcome the villain usually with the aid of an assistant (helper) and in doing so gains a reward (a princess?). If the audience can spot these narrative character functions, the plot is easily predictable, which is why it is often used in children's films with a U or PG Rating, so the younger audience can follow the story.
Any example of this story structure would be 'Shrek': 
- (Hero) Shrek is sent on a quest.
- (Sender) He is sent by the king. 
- (Villain) His quest involves overcoming a dragon.
- (Helper) 'donkey' accompanies him. 
- (Reward) He gains Princess Fiona. 

Roland Barthes identified 5 different codes which a narratives engages the audience with:

• THE ENIGMATIC CODE - The audience is intrigued by the need to solve a problem.
• THE ACTION CODE – The audience is excited by the need to resolve a problem.
• THE SEMANTIC CODE – The audience is directed towards an additional meaning by connotations.
• THE SYMBOLIC CODE – The audience assumes that a character dressed in black is evil and this creates an expectation of their character. 
• THE CULTURAL CODE – The audience derives meaning in a text from shared cultural knowledge about the world.

EXAMPLES OF NARRATIVE MUSIC VIDEOS:



In the first half of this narrative the showing of Beyonce in a negative light and her loving husband in a positive, reinforces the idea he is the faithful one in the relationship. The relationship between the visuals and lyrics is interesting, because the negative lyrics reflect Beyonce's character. Here the director has chosen to go against typical gender conventions. Stereotypically, you would expect the male to be cheating on the woman and this is what the artist is trying to get across by doing this interesting parallel. 

The reverse situation later in the video reflects on the situation that the woman is the one who had the cheating partner, but reflects on how he would feel if it was her who was not being faithful. This is a contradiction of the lyrics and is cleverly done towards the end of the video, leaving the audience realizing that the artist isn't a bad person, only heart-broken. 

Storyboards

I broke the storyboards up into 8 different sections:

Opening Sequence/Verse #1/Chorus #1/Verse #2/Chorus #2/Bridge/Chorus #3/Outro

Further camera tests (motion)

#3 from Lew Parker on Vimeo.

Here I experimented with motion by reversing video. I later added a zoom effect when reversing to achieve more of a sustained and commercial look (00:14+). After this I increased the speed of which the shot was being reversed and added a flashing effect. I also tweaked colour across the video with the Vignette effect, to give it more of a 'cinematic' style.

I shot this with my Iphone camera, however my canon 550d will be arriving next week and I will begin planning with this. 

Viva Brother: Analysis across their music videos

As part of my Planning and Research, I have decided to look at some of Viva Brother's other Music Videos to identify underlying themes that may run through each of them. 

As well as 'Still here', the band also shot videos for the songs, 'Darling Buds of May', 'Time Machine' and 'New Year's Day'. 


Director: Adam Powell
Running Time: 03:16

Mise-en-scene

Location - Slough, UK; performance shots on a roof.
Weather - Overcast.
Props - Instruments (full band), 
Costumes - Fishtail parka coats, coats/jackets, jeans and loathers. 
Colour - Subtle colour editing depicts a grey, natural-looking overcast Britain. 

The video completely plays on the 'Britpop culture' of the 90's. From the sense of costume and instrumental performance shots, to the chosen weather to shoot the video in. The performance location is key because it fully illustrates what the band represents (essentially Britpop rivalists). By using an industrial setting it depicts Britpop in its entirety, in which it stems back to unemployment during the late 80's/ early 90's and the populated cities where this new music and culture was created. 

Editing

• Lots of cut-away scenes from the performance shots, giving us a narrative of the band's journey so far.

• Manipulation of transitions from colour to B&W (giving it an 'old fashioned' look).

Director: Jamie Roberts 
Running Time: 3:17

Mise-en-scene

Location - dark room/venue. Lots of miscellaneous shots accompany the performance.

Weather - Use of dark indoor lighting, and in the outdoor scenes we see an overcast sky. 

Props - Sunglasses, jewelry, balloons, performance lighting, instruments (full band).

Costumes - band perform in usual attire (shirts, loathers, etc) however, women are dressed in bizarre outfits and heavy makeup.

Colour - Strong colour manipulation purposely chosen to give the video a 'psychedelic' edge. 

The combination of the above makes a very effective Mise-en-scene for the video and what particularly stands out is the relationship between music and visuals. The song is entitled 'Time Machine', quite a futuristic and enigmatic topic, so this psychedelic theme has been used effectively and for this very reason. In my opinion this video is probably the most unique of the band's videos.  

Editing

• Strong use of colour manipulation intertwined with camera techniques to give the video an obscure and delusional look. 

•  Lots of cut-away scenes. The video does not follow a set narrative and in terms of a concept is quite open. 

Director: Dan Henshaw 
Running Time: 3:29

Mise-en-scene

Location - Living room (mexican-looking?). 

Weather - Bright lighting. 

Props - Instruments (full band); however the guitars and amps are slightly a different style, skull, photos, etc.

Costumes - Usual band attire, nothing unusual about this.

Colour - Bright; emphasis on sunlight piercing through blinds. 

The video looks as if it has been shot in what looks like a foreign living room (Mexico?), however we can assume the band probably shot it on a set in the UK. What supports this is the vintage instruments the band uses, the exaggeration of miscellaneous props (i.e. photo frames, bird cages, skulls) and the low ceiling, living room doors and windows. The location is not your typical estate living room (demonstrated in 'Darling Buds Of May'). Over the course of the video, we see the room where the band are performing beginning to fall apart, as pictures fall off the walls and wallpaper peels off. You can also pick up on the band members and their slow movement (i.e. bassist and drummer during 1:09-1:11). This suggests that the members themselves are falling apart, like the room around them. What I find interesting is that the band move around as if they are on strings and this could be an inference of being 'puppets to the industry'. 

Editing

• Use of many cut scenes, otherwise the video would be a 'one-shot'. This is effective and allows the director to use this one location and focus on other things surrounding the living room. 

• Textures of dust and haze make the video look old-fashioned, like something you would expect in a cowboy western film and this supports the idea that the scene has been made to look like a mexican house. Flashing lighting also emphasizes this. 

• In terms of lighting, the most important aspect is the use of sunlight. The sun would often shine abroad in a hot climate, which is another obvious hint of a setting that hasn't completely been established for the audience. 

Final Cut Effects

Here is a list of Final Cut effects I have identified as being useful for my music video.

Having explored many video tutorials on Youtube and experimented with Final Cut, I have began to piece together the specific editing style I am after, to suit the music video. I am giving careful consideration to effects in order to achieve my desired video, but also to not completely tarnish it with misplaced effects.