Second scene shoot

The shoot for the second scene went well and we got the shots that we wanted. We ran over time a bit and because we only had 2 hours it was quite a limited time that we had. This meant some of the shots weren't as up to scratch as they should have been. When we put the footage on the macs and onto final cut pro with the rest of the footage that we had edited, we thought it fitted alright with the rest of the powder paint scenes but we will defiantly have to colour grade it to make it fit with it more. The one thing we couldn't shoot was the smashing plates because we couldn't smash them at this studio that we had booked out. We have decided to shoot this scene in a dark room on a plain black floor. We will put powder paint on the plates so when they smash the powder paint flies up with it and when we put it in slow motion it should create a good effect.

Second scene location

We were not able to use the drama studio to shoot our second scene as it turned out not to be free at the time we wanted to use it. This gave us the idea to use a proper studio that we would have to pay for but would have better lighting to use and better facilities. We have decided to shoot the scene as if they are on set for a film so that you can actually see the big lights and all the equipment in the shot. This is what we sort of hope for it to look like...

Storyboard for second scene

Second scene costume, lighting and colour research

We have decided that the actors will be wearing the normal, everyday, casual look of jeans or chinos with a top. This will mean that it won't take away any notice from what they are doing rather than everyone focusing on their clothes. We also just wanted it to be a normal fight between a normal couple.

The lighting and colour is very important in this scene because we have to get it to match the colour of the last scene we have done so that it doesn't look strange when it comes to putting it all together in Final Cut Pro. This means we will have to play around with the lighting quite a bit in the studio to make it the same brightness. If we get this wrong in production then we will have to try and sort it out in post production by changing the colour and brightness etc.

Second scene planning

We have decided to shoot the second part of our music video on the 2nd December as this will give us time to plan further on what exactly we are wanting to capture. We have decided to buy china plates that have a coloured rim around the edge so it's not plain and simple. We have also decided to shoot the video in the drama studio so that we can have a simple set up of a table and a couple of chairs and maybe a sofa so that it is either a kitchen or a living room. We wanted to make it as simple as possible so that it didn't just look like one of our houses that we had gone too. We felt like we have to set it up properly but make it simple to give it that effect so that we focus on the actors more. 

Within the fight that the couple will have in the living room there will be links to the powder paint, for example, whatever the couple touches they will leave a hand print but they will not realise it, only the audience will. So, if the girl slaps the boy he will have a hand print left on his face but they will act like they don't notice it. We also thought that when they are smashing plates etc then we could put powder paint on the plate and when it smashes down the powder paint will come off with the plate smashing. In slow motion this should give a good effect. 

Shoot for lip syncing

Yesterday we shot the first part of our lip syncing for our music video. We put powder paint on our lips and also splattered it over our faces to make it look more effective and more like the powder paint fight section of the music video. We shot the sequence with the 75mm lens so that it was close up to the lips and so you couldn't see any other features of their face apart from their nose. We also tested out different shots when they weren't singing so that we could fit them in somewhere in the music video and we also shot a lip syncing part with half of one of the girls faces because the powder paint went up one side of her face. These shots looked really effective because we used bright light and it showed the powder paint really well.

Editing research - She Wolf - David Guetta

Number of cuts in the video - 100
Mostly shrinking time throughout the video but expanding time when there is extreme slow motion. Not as fast paced as normal dance music videos however it is made fast paced by the juddery movement that is created. It is not the typical music video that you see for a dance video. The cuts do fit with the music very well and they cut on the beat.

Editing research - Get Up - Bingo Players

Number of cuts in the video - 145
The video is mostly shrinking time with fast choppy cuts and lots of jump cuts. There are lots of cuts between the different scenes and between the ducks looking at the people. The shots didn't properly fit with the music, they were just random throughout the whole video.

Editing research - Booyah - Showtek

Number of cuts in the video - 211
Shrinking time all throughout, bits were real time (at the beginning). Whole video is based around a whole school day which has been condensed down to 4 about minutes. There were a lot of choppy shots but there were about the same amount of slow motion shots as well. The beat of the music fell where the shots were cut so that it fitted to the music.

Editing research - Animals - Martin Garrix

Number of cuts in the video - 144
Shrinking time throughout the whole video, choppy cuts, not too choppy but makes it all shrinking time. Visuals don't always fit to the music, not as choppy when there is fast music. Main parts of the music do fit with the visuals however.
There are extremely choppy cuts that go from between two scenes very fast when the music is at its climax and then when the beat drops it goes back to the normal shots that have been happening for the other parts of the song.

Editing research - You Make Me - Avicii

Number of cuts in the video - 214
Mainly shrinking time throughout the whole video, fast choppy cuts create this feeling. Visuals are established just before the beat drops.
The cuts are very choppy and are put on the screen/shown for just the right amount of time for your brain to process the visuals. This means you don't get bored with visuals that are up there for ages and it also wouldn't look right if you had slow shots in this music video because it is such a fast paced song.

Decision making

Throughout the process of editing our music video we have thought that it might be a good idea to put an element of performance in. We have decided to film close ups of peoples lips singing the words to the song. These people will have powder paint on their lips so it links back to the scene that we have already edited with the powder paint fight. We will get a mixture of different people (girls and boys) to do this so that we have a variety to choose from. We think this will help to break up the sequence a bit more and also make it have more of the conventions of a dance music video using all 3 aspects (narrative, concept and performance).

Editing - post production

We started to edit our music video the day after we shot the footage of the powder paint fight. We put the basic shots in and we then got down to the details of the footage and making sure it was in the exact right place and that it flowed with the music. We realised when we put the footage into Final Cut Pro that the wide shots were much worse quality and had no depth to them whereas the close ups and the mid shots where sharp and had really good lighting. This meant we couldn't use the wide shots for a long period of time in the music video but we have put them in amongst the quick choppy shots. The good thing about doing a dance track is that with the choppy shots we can repeat sections of it because it's going to quickly. This means we have plenty of footage for the whole track. We haven't shot the second scene but even without this, we have managed to edit nearly all of the powder paint scene.

So far with the editing we think it has gone extremely well and we are very happy with how it is turning out. The powder paint fight was a success and looks very good with the music.

First day shooting - powder paint fight

We had to shoot this powder paint fight scene in one night as we only had enough money for a certain amount of powder paint also because the actors would get so messy doing it that we couldn't afford to do it in two nights. We wrote out lists of what everyone needed to bring with them. This made sure we didn't forget anything. We also set out a timetable of when everyone got there and when we would start shooting the video. We told everyone to get there at 6pm so that we could brief everyone and so that we could set up the camera etc. At 7pm we started to shoot as this was when it was dark enough to start. We set the camera to shoot 50fps rather than 25fps so that when we slow it down in editing it will be smoother and less jolty. We only had one chance to get the clean shot as they would get paint all over them after it so we had to practise this without the paint first. We then got lots of different shots of the paint fight that we could edit together. We shot lots of different shots right up until we had absolutely no powder paint left so that we didn't waste anything. we also did shots of the people just standing in the paint so it wasn't just constant paint being chucked around.

Overall the shooting went really well and it looked exactly how we wanted it to turn out which we were all worried about. The paint showed up really well and the lighting was really good too. I also think that the costumes for the actors fitted in well and made it look that bit better. If we were to do it again I think we would have got more powder paint and got lots more shots just to make sure and be certain that we had enough shots. However, even if we don't have enough we can always reuse shots but i think we almost defiantly do have enough. The only real problem we had was that our 3rd couple said they couldn't do it last minute. We managed to get a 3rd girl but we couldn't find another guy to do it. We ended up having 3 girls and 2 guys which in the end didn't look that bad at all and it wasn't a disaster.

Here are a few stills from the day of shooting...

 

Shotlist for our music video

Our shotlist for our music video to John Newman's 'Love Me Again'...

Storyboard for our music video

 Our storyboard for our music video to John Newman's 'Love Me Again'...

Lighting and colour research - powder paint fight

Lighting - This was a very big aspect of our video and we spent quite a lot of time discussing the different lighting we could use and how we would get it to our location. We decided from the start we would shoot this scene in a dark room or outside at night so we needed some good lighting that would make you know that it was dark but there was a light shining on the actors. We are using a spotlight which you can attach to the camera which is bright enough so you can see the people but not so bright that it makes it look like day time. We were originally going to have two spotlights looking into the camera from behind the two lines of girls and boys so that it was just the silhouettes that showed up. However we did not have 2 big spotlights like that plus the lights could have shone into the camera lens making the filming very hard. This is why we chose to stick with just one spotlight on the whole scene.

Colour- The colour of the spotlight is just a bright white to make it as simple as possible and also so that the powder paint colours stand out and show their true colours when they are thrown about. We chose to do it in the dark with a spotlight so that the colours would be recognisable as well.

Actors research - powder paint fight

In our music video we have 3 couples who are in the paint fight. We wanted to make the video realistic and so we set out to find 3 actual couples in real life so that they were comfortable acting with each other. It also meant it was easier to find people to do it. We had to choose reliable people who would defiantly do it and we also got some backups just in case they couldn't do it last minute. We wanted young looking couples but not too young that the relationships didn't look serious. This makes the music video more grown up and not as cheesy as it would be if we had 12 year olds doing it. Our actors range from ages 16-19.

Hair and make up research - powder paint fight

The men's hair will all be normal however the women's hair is going to be in a 50's style. This is to show a correspondence to John Newman's style. We decided we wanted the women's hair down so that it really emphasises the movement of them throwing the paint because the hair will move a lot when they move forward to throw the paint. We looked at some photos of what we want their hair to look like and we all decided on this sort of style as it is simple and not too complex. It will not take away from the video too much. For the make up we decided just normal make up with red lipstick so that it gives that 50's look again.

Costume research - powder paint fight

We decided that the men in the paint fight should be wearing smart/casual clothes so we have got them to wear a white shirt with black jeans or trousers with black shoes. This would make it contrast with the paint that goes all over them. For the girls wee decided that we wanted the paint to stand out on their clothes so we chose white skater dresses with black high heels. This is also a smart/casual outfit so it looks like they are going out partying for the night. We got our outfit inspiration and the powder paint fight inspiration from the photographer Tyler Sheilds with his series of photos called 'Chromatic'.

Props research - powder paint fight

The only props we need for the powder paint fight is the powder paint. We had to think about the quantity of this as we need quite a lot to go round 6 actors and for them to be chucking it around for a long time. We also had to be careful about how much we spent as we didn't have a huge budget. We thought about the different colours we needed too and we ended up with pink, blue, green, orange, yellow and red. These are all bright colours and will look good all together being thrown in the air. We ended up buying 2.5kg of each colour which should be enough for all of the actors to throw.

Location research - powder paint fight

For the powder paint fight, we wanted to find somewhere that was just a standard wall with a concrete floor. This would make our audience concentrate more on whats going on as it is minimalistic but also it will go with the feel of the scene. We went for a drive around town and looked around some places that we could do some filming. We eventually found underneath the maidenhead bridge where there are arches which are perfect for what we wanted to do. The space under the arches are big enough to fit the actors and we can get a spot light to light up the location as we are doing it at night in the dark.

Our ideas

We thought long and hard about what we wanted to do for our music video and at first we came up with the vague idea of filming our summers and parties that were going to and the music video would just be a montage of all of these different scenes. However, we decided that we thought that would be too cheesy and too easy to do. In the end we decided on having a narrative that a couple are arguing. We thought we would have 2 seperate scenes; one with a couple arguing and fighting in a house and the other scene would be 3 couples having a powder paint fight.

John Newman 'Love Me Again' - Lyric analysis

John Newman - Representation, appearance and style explored further

Colour - He makes his album cover and single covers have a retro tint to them, just like the one in the picture to the left, and so he doesn't use bright colours he just uses blacks, creams, dull reds etc.

Fashion - In his music videos he wears quite plain clothes and the actors in the videos wear old fashioned floral dresses or straight loose fitted trousers (as shown in 'Love Me Again'). Also, the actors and actresses hair and his hair  have a 60's look to them.

Audience research

John Newmans actual audience are people aged 5-50 but the intended audience is probably teenagers from ages 10-20. This makes our intended audience the same as this however, because our music video isn't going to be old fashioned like John Newmans is, our actual audience will be almost the same as our intended audience. This is because we are thinking of doing an upbeat and fun music video with lots of bright colours.

Island Records - Research

Island Records is the label that signed John Newman when he was 20 years old. The record label was founded by Chris Blackwell and Graeme Goodall in Jamaica in 1959 and it was based in the UK and is now owned by Universal Music Group. The company is set up in many different countries such as America, UK and Australia. They are a huge record label who have also signed artists such as:

- Jessie J
- Dizzee Rascal
- Rizzle Kicks
- Disclosure
- Bombay Bicycle Club
- Drake
- Avicii
- Ben Howard
- Dappy
- Mumford And Sons
- Nicki Minaj
- The Wanted
This is such a massive range of different artist who are all extremely well known across the globe. This makes the record label have a huge reputation and shows that they are incredibly good at what they do.

John Newman - Career and early life

John Newman grew up in Settle in the Yorkshire Dales. At the age of 14 he started to play guitar and write his very own songs. Soon after he then learnt how to record his own songs and produce them himself, he even did his own house tracks and also did a bit of DJing. At the age of 20, John Newman moved to London and started his own band doing live gigs at lots of different venues. He then got signed to Island Records and released 'Cheating' as a download song.

In May 2012 he featured in Rudimental's single 'Feel The Love' and the single topped the UK charts. He then featured again in one of Rudimental's singles called 'Not Giving In' in November 2012. In June 2013 John Newman released his very own single 'Love Me Again', which is the song we are doing our music video too, which was a number 1 hit. He then released his next single 'Cheating' in October 2013 from his debut studio album 'Tribute' which he will release in mid October. From 2012 - 2013 he has become a world wide pop star who everyone knows about.

John Newman - Representation, appearance and style

As a production group we discussed John Newman's style and representation. He is quite a new artist in the singing industry and so only has one album out. This meant that we could only base his style on his one album and his appearance in this album. We think that he has a 50's look about him with his Elvis Presley quiff. Also, music videos for 'Love Me Again' and 'Cheating', have quite an old fashioned, traditional look to them.

Song choice

For our music video we decided that we wanted to get John Newman's permission to use his song 'Love Me Again'. I emailed his management to ask for the permission and they replied saying that this was fine.

Director analysis - Shane Drake

Shane Drake is an American director who has directed more than 50 music videos and co-produced 3 films. He owns Red Van Pictures, a Los Angeles-based production company. He directs a mix of different genres of music videos, some of the artists he has worked with are:

- Avril Lavigne
- The Wanted
- Lawson
- Paramore
- Panic! At The Disco
- Dappy
- Fall Out Boy
- Gym Class Heroes
- Flo Rida
- Kelly Clarkson
These are all pretty different people to be working with but i would say he mostly directs indie/rock/alternative music videos.

Creativity is...

One example of defining creativity is... 'To create something, by taking inspiration from your surroundings, your past experiences, your friends and family and your emotions. Creative instincts and impulses play a large part in how creative and original you can be. Creativity is a means of outputting and representing yourself, especially if you find it difficult to communicate who you really are'.

We did an activity in the lesson where we had to write in no more than 50 words what creativity was. We then put all our definitions around the table and we all walked around the table to read the definitions. We then all sat down and disscused the definitions that everybody had wrote. We decided that we couldn't critisise anyones definitions because they were indivisually created.

Synaesthesia

Synaesthesia is the process of picturing sounds in the minds eye. This could also be known as 'thought beats' or 'seeing sounds in your head'. In our last lesson we got a big bit of paper and put it in the middle of the table and we all sat around the table with a felt tip. We played two different songs and on separate pieces of paper we drew to the beat of the music. The result of this was 2 big pieces of paper with lots of scribbles on it. However we could tell what the different genres of music were because of the way people drew. One of them was slower and has more emotion in it and one was more upbeat and had more jagged edges.

A. Goodwin's (1993) quote says that Synaesthesia is 'A clip that responds to the pleasures of music, and in which that music is made visual, either in new ways or in ways that accentuate existing visual associations'.

Steve Archer stated in the February 2004 edition of 'MediaMagazine' that with the process of Synaesthesia you need to start with the music. To begin, the lyrics don't need to be analysed word for word but the main lyrics that pop up in the chorus for example, create a sense of subject matter. So these key words and phrases will have a part to play in the kind of visuals associated with the song. The other thing he says is that if songs are stories, then the singer is the storyteller and this obviously makes music videos stand out , as they feature a first person mode of address rather than the invisible 'fourth wall' of television narration. He says that the music or arrangements of the song, including instrumentation, the mix and effects, including samples generally works with the lyrics and grain of voice. He gives an example of how instruments can create visual associations, the slow twang of the steel guitar could create geographically based visual associations from the deep south of the US - a desert plain, a small town,one road out or men chewing tobacco. He says that everyone shares some of the same visualisations of what the music fits too.

The visualisations can be created in the format of a music video by using camera, colour, editing and mise en scene. For example, when you have an up beat pop song you would expect to see bright colours, fast choppy editing, modern clothing and a range of camera shots.

Director analysis - Director X

Director X is a Canadian director and has been working in the music video industry for 15 years. He started his career by directing the music video 'Richter Scale' by EPMD and the most recent song he has directed is 'Twerk It' by Busta Rhymes. He has worked with some very famous acts including:

- Drake
- R. Kelly
- The Wanted
- Justin Bieber
- Nicki Minaj
- Sean Kingston
- David Guetta
- Ludacris
- Rihanna
- Usher
- Jay-Z
- Alicia Keys
His music videos are all of a similar genre of POP/R&B therefore the music videos are all similar in what conventions they have. They all include the actual artist and they are usually the main feature of the video and the main focus.

Director analysis - Emil Nava

Emil Nava is an ... director who works with lots of well known artists such as:
- Jessie J
- Rita Ora
- Ed Sheeran
- Paloma Faith
- Katy B
- Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding
He is in the UK urban pop industry for music video directing. Since going into the music video industry, he has recently directed adverts as well such as the L'Oreal adverts with Cheryl Cole in them and the vitamin water one featuring Jessie J. He has had a great success with Jessie J and her video for Price Tag received over 180 million views on YouTube and was the #1 viewed video in the UK. Emil Nava also won best video for Jessie J 'Do It Like A Dude' at the 2011 Q Awards.

His music videos are all narrative based and they have an edgy, fast cutting style which grabs audience attention. They all have the key conventions for the genres that the music videos are and so they all work. They are all quite predictable videos and they are what you expect to see when you hear the music before. They are not unusual videos they are just high budget and very well directed.

Director analysis - David Fincher

David Fincher was born August 28th 1962. He is an American film director and music video director and is very well known for his music video work with artists such as:
- Madonna
- The Rolling Stones
- George Michael
- Michael Jackson
- Justin Timberlake
This is a very big range of different types of music artists and they all have different genres of music. All of the music videos he made for these artists (and many more) were all big budget videos. He is an extremely successful film maker and director as well as being a very successful music video director. The music videos got him well known and on the radar and he then  started to direct films as well.

A lot of his videos have performance in them and show the artist all the way through such as Justin Timberlakes 'Suit and Tie', Madonnas 'Vogue' and The Rolling Stones 'Love is Strong'. 'Suit and Tie' and 'Vogue' are both done in black and white even though 'Suit and Tie is very recent and could have been done in colour. These two videos are also very glamorous and you can tell there was a big budget for them. You would expect them to be very glamorous though because they are big well known artists. This is also the case for Michael Jacksons 'Who is it' and George Michaels 'Freedom'. From 1984-2013 he has been making music videos and you can see the similarities between all the videos and you can see David Finchers style of music video which is that they are very big budget and mostly very glamorous.





I do like his style of video but I think i prefer the more unusual ones that make you want to keep on watching and that make you really interested. I think he has got away with the general music video style because he has starred the well known musicians in the video and that's who he is working for. I think the Rolling Stones video for 'Love is Strong' is better and more interesting because it has an unusual concept. However i do still like the music videos for the other songs.

Textual analysis of Ed Sheeran - You Need Me, I Don't Need You

Introduction
- The genre for this music video is alternative hip hop
- The video is very simple and there is not a different setting

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- Throughout the whole video there are links between the lyrics and the visuals
- The boy that is the focus of the video is using sign language and acting out the lyrics
- There are also points like when he sings 'Vo5 wax for my ginger hair' where the boy runs his hands through his hair which shows what he's singing about
- When he sings 'I say the words that make you blush' the boy puts his hands to his cheeks and does a small smile to emphasise this lyric
- He then sings 'When a young fella filmed me' and a camera on a tripod comes into the picture so he starts to use props. He also does this with the 'brit school' lyric and the 'couch' lyric
- A bit further on he sings the lyrics 'Watch how I step on the track without a loop pedal' at which point you see Ed Sheeran's foot step on a loop pedal
- He sings 'I'm still a choir boy' and at this point a choir boy is shown on screen

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- The beat and the visuals fit very well together as it is a very fast paced song all along and the shots are edited together closely so they make the video choppy and fast
- Towards the end they add in shots of Ed Sheeran playing the guitar to show it is him doing all the instrumental as well

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- There is a few close ups of Ed Sheeran's hands playing the guitar and there is one long shot of him at the very end but he is in a dark light so you cannot see him properly
- In the middle of the video a very quick shot of the plus sign of his album that comes up

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- You could say that when the dancers come in there is reference to the notion of looking
- There is one point when the male dancer is standing there with his shirt off and there are also shots of the female dancers body parts
- There is voyeurism used in this video but it's done subtly

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This music video i would say is performance based because they guy doing the sign language is performing the song and i don't think there is any narrative in this video

Conclusion
- I really like this video because it is simple and done in one studio but it is so effective and interesting
- I like the fact that you only get a glimpse of Ed Sheeran because it gives that sense of enigma

Textual analysis of Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?

Introduction
- The genre for this music video is indie rock
- It is all done on a computer instead of being filmed

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- There aren't any links at the beginning of the video
- When it gets further into it he sings 'I wanna know what time it shuts' and as this is sung the lines go into a pair of legs effectively 'shutting' and they cross their legs
- The lyrics 'Simmer down and pucker up' are then sung and the lines turn into a pair of lips
- As he sings 'Too busy being yours to fall' the woman dives down and is falling

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- This music video is cleverly done and uses the lines on the screen to show the beat of the music
- At first it's just one instrument so they show one line on the screen that moves at the same rhythm to the music
- It then changes to the singing rhythm
- As the song goes on, more and more instruments and singing comes in so there becomes more lines on the screen that represent the different components to the music and they all go at different rhythms

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- There are no shots of the artists at any point in time in this music video

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- In the middle of the song it starts to show images of young girls made up of these lines shown on screen
- There is a lot of voyeurism within these shots as they focus on different body parts of the women
- Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory is defiantly used in this video

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- I would have said at the beginning that is was purely concept based but then there became images on the screen and i began to think that it was actually narrative based although it doesn't really have a narrative to it

Conclusion
- This is a very different music video and i really like the way they have done it
- The lines that represent the different instruments and voices are a very clever idea and it is simple yet effective 

Textual analysis of Chase & Status - End Credits

Introduction
- The genre for this music video is drum and bass
- It is a fast paced video with use of dull colours
- It is set at night time

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- There are a few lyrics that link with the visuals
- When he sings 'When the blood dries in my veins and my heart feels no more pain' he has just been pushed to the floor and died
- When he sings 'I know I'll be on my way to heaven's door' he rises up from the pavement as if he is going towards heaven, this is also happens when he sings 'to a place where i will rise like before'
- When he sings 'When my mind stops thinking and my eyes stop blinking' he puts his hands to his head and then his eyes to act out the lyrics
- He also says 'I'll be hoping I don't drop' and as he says this the old man drops to the floor

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- The music and the visuals link together very nicely
- At the beginning he falls in slow motion when the music is slow
- He then starts singing and he opens his eyes and starts to move upwards
- As the song goes on, the music gradually gets more complex and upbeat and the visuals get more choppy and the scenes become more violent which fits in with the music

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- There are lots of close ups of Plan B who is singing the song as he is in the music video all the way throughout
- However there are no images of Chase & Status
- The close ups of Plan B are mostly when he is rises up off the pavement

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- There isn't reference to the notion of looking at all in this video because it is a violent video so you wouldn't expect it
- There is no voyeurism involved

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This music video is performance based and narrative based
- He is singing the whole way through in different locations while the narrative is going on

Conclusion
- This video shows a narrative which helps you to understand the music a bit more
- The dull colours set the mood for the song as well 

Textual analysis of Disclosure - F For You

Introduction
- The genre of this music video is techno/dance/pop
- Compared to all their other videos it is very simple with no storyline

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- There are no actual links between the lyrics and the visuals as it is just them performing

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- You can see quite clearly the relationship between the music and the visuals 
- When the music gets more complex, the backdrop starts to have more going on on it
- Also when they are doing the DJ instrumental parts of the song, the camera focuses on the instrumental and DJ set up
- They also do this with the singing

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- There are plenty of close ups of the boys while they are playing and singing
- Mostly close ups of the one singing and not so many on the one who DJ's the most
- Dark lighting and quick camera shots make it hard to see the artists properly when there are close ups of them
- Their famous drawn white 'face' comes up a lot on the backdrop so you know it is them immediately  

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- There isn't really any reference to the notion of looking
- No girls in the music video
- No voyeurism used

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This music video is purely performance based
- No narrative told throughout
- quite a repetitive song so the pure performance fits with the style of song

Conclusion
- Overall, this video is purely performance based which is good because it fits with the song and wouldn't really look right if it had a story to it
- I really like the simpleness of it and how there is not much to it   

Textual analysis of Delphic - This Momentary

Introduction
- The genre for this music video is alternative dance
- It is a very different music video and type of song
- Dull colours used throughout the video

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- In this video there are absolutely no links between the lyrics and the visuals
- At the very end, the lyrics are 'let's do something real' and they show a close up of a girl singing those words however this is not really a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- From 0 - 42 seconds the shots are still shots around a deserted area. These all fit with the music when a different beat comes in
- Throughout the video they show faces from one distance then closer then closer again and they cut from shot to shot in time with the music at that point in time
- The pace starts to pick up a bit more at 1.57 and they show slow motion shots to emphasise this pace
- At 2.18 the pace picks up more and they show lots of shots really close together to show this fast pace
- At 2.20 they show a horse struggling in a field which is done in slow motion to show the pace again, this is combined with the feet of the ballet dancers to make it more dramatic
- The pace then gets slower and everything is shown as calm again (the horse)

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- There are absolutely no close ups or any shots of the artist
- Completely done with actors/actresses

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- You could say that the part with the ballet dancers has voyeurism involved because it's focusing on the girls legs and arms however it is not done in a sexual way
- Not much of Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory involved in this video

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This video is purely concept based
- There is no performance from the artist
- There is no narrative throughout the video

Conclusion
- Overall, i think this video is very good and i like the way that it has nothing to do with the song
- It is also quite an emotional video when you put the music to it so the music and the visuals work extremely well together

Textual analysis of Avicii - Wake Me Up

Introduction
- The genre of this music video is alternative dance
- Not the typical dance music video

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- The actual title of the song links to the visuals because they wake up twice in the video
- When the lyrics 'when I'm wiser and I'm older' are sung, the camera focuses on older people
- Also the lyrics 'they tell me I'm too young to understand' are sung and at that same time they focus on the younger girl
- The lyrics 'hope i get the chance to travel the world' are sung and she is travelling on a horse

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- When the music is slow at the beginning, the pace of the video is slower
- When the first beat of the music drops, the horse starts running in slow motion so it fits with the beat
- When it carries on with the dance music, they all dance at the concert

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- There aren't any close ups of the artist but you see them at the end of the video when they are performing at a concert
- Their sign for their band is everywhere in the video, on the girls arms and on the stage when they perform

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- When everyone is at the concert the camera shows the girls dancing and focuses on their arms with the logo on them
- There is a sense of voyeurism when this part of the video is being shown
- The Male Gaze theory can be seen in this video 

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This video to start with is all narrative based
- At the end of the video it becomes mostly performance based with Avicii playing at the concert

Conclusion
- Overall this video is quite different for the type of music it is being played too but it works
- The relationship between the music and the visuals are very well done as well

Textual analysis of Disclosure - White Noise

Introduction
- The genre of this music video is electronic, deep house
- Dull colours used throughout
- Dance song, dancing used in the video

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- The only relationship i can see between the lyrics and the visuals is that the lyrics 'You got me washed out, washed out, colour drained' links to the colour of the whole video because it is very dull and there are no bright colours
- Other than that there is no connection between the lyrics and the visuals

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- The music and the visuals have a very strong link
- When the first beat drops the man suddenly starts to dance in time with the music
- When the music slows down again the guy gets on with his everyday life again, it's almost as if when the music drops he drops his life for a few minutes and dances

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- There are no close ups or any shots for that matter of the artists
- There are only actors in the music video
- The sign for Disclosure (the face drawn with white lines) comes up at one point in the music video which shows it is their song and them who made it

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- There isn't really any reference to the notion of looking apart from the girl
- She is shown close up towards the end and this shows some voyeurism
- There is a little bit of the Male Gaze theory involved but not much at all

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This music video i would say is completely narrative based
- There is no performance and it is a story of a security guard living another day of his life

Conclusion
- Overall, i like this music video because of the way the dancing fits to the beat
- I think its very well done with the deserted buildings as well 

Textual analysis of Coldplay - Paradise

Introduction
- The genre of this music video is R&B/pop
- A very modern music video
- Has titles at the beginning to make it like a film

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- When Chris Martin is dressed as an elephant and he has the pieces of cardboard this is showing the lyrics clearly and that links the lyrics and the visuals together
- The name of the song 'Paradise' is also a lyric and fits with the visuals because it's all about an elephant getting back home which is paradise
- However these are the only two links because the song is about a girl but this is not evident in the video

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- When the song goes 'para para paradise' the shots are edited so that the next shot comes up at the beginning of the next 'para' which makes it fit the beat
- At 2 minutes into the song, Chris Martin buys a unicycle and the beat drops at the time the shot changes to him riding the unicycle
- At about 2.35 the song goes to a different tune and he becomes sad which fits with the music
- Then the pace picks up when he finds the rest of his 'family'
- When he runs up to the rest of them it is in slightly slow motion and this is the same for when they dance together as this goes with the music
- In the instrumental at the end it cuts to them doing a gig with the guitar solo which fits nicely with the music

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- The only glance we get at the artists is when Chris Martin takes off his elephant head when riding the unicycle
- Throughout the rest of the video the band are all wearing the costumes
- They use their piano and guitars which have the neon paint all over them which means you can tell that it is them

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- This is focused on the elephants and how sad this one elephant is
- There is no voyeurism
- No Male Gaze involved either

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This music video is mostly narrative based with the story of the elephant getting back to the wild but at the end it turns to performance based because they are singing and playing their instruments at the gig

Conclusion
- Overall, i think this music video is very good and well thought out
- It is modern so it has lots of different shots in it and i think that makes it look very effective

Textual analysis of Radiohead - Lotus Flower

Introduction
- The genre of this music video is electronic rock
- It's a very minimalistic video
- All in black and white

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- There are so many links between the lyrics and the visuals
- Thome Yorke acts out the lyrics throughout the song
- Examples of this are at the beginning when he sings 'i will shake myself into your pocket' he acts this out and puts his hands in his pockets
- Then he also sings 'i will sink and i will disappear' at which point he gets lower to the floor
- Another example is when he sings 'there's an empty space inside my heart' and he clutches his heart
- When he sings about the lotus flower he makes a shape like a flower

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- The beat of the music very much fits with Thome Yorke's dance movements
- He gets faster when the music gets faster and he slows when the music gets slower

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- There are lots of close ups of the artist
- In these close ups you see him singing or making facial expressions which fit with the mood of the song
- There are no star image motifs

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- Very much focused on Thome Yorke and look at him from all different angles
- No voyeurism
- No Male Gaze involved

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This music video is performance based because he is singing and dancing to the music
- It may have a slight bit of narrative in there because he is acting out the words but i wouldn't say it was a lot at all

Conclusion
- Overall i think this music video is very well done as it is minimalistic and it is very effective
- It grabs your attention because it is quite a strange way of doing a music video  

Textual analysis of Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

Introduction
- The genre of this music video is rock
- Almost as if it is two songs put together as the two sections of the song have very different sounds

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- There isn't actually a relationship between the lyrics and visuals apart from the fact that they are singing and their emotions when they are singing the lyrics is sad
- In the second part of the song, there are the lyrics 'i see a little silhouette of a man' and he sings this, this is what you see on the screen, this is the only relationship between lyrics and visuals in the video 

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- They are moving around to the beat and rhythm of the music when they are performing with the instruments
- Also when they are singing in the formation of four the shots are edited together to the beat of the song as well

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- There are close ups of the artists pretty much all the way through the video and the lighting is done so that you can't see their faces properly when they are in the quartet.
- There are no star image motifs

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- I wouldn't say there was reference to the notion of looking apart from maybe when they were singing on the stage and performing
- No voyeurism involved
- No Male Gaze theory in the video either

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This video is purely performance based as they are constantly singing and performing and there is no narrative or anything more to the video

Conclusion
- Overall, this video only has two scenes and this makes it simple
- It is an old music video so it actually fits in with Firth's theory of only having performance in there and nothing else

Textual analysis of Michael Jackson - Thriller

Introduction
- The genre for this music video is funk/disco
- It has many different scenes (the movie, real life and the dream)

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals are huge
- When Michael Jackson sings 'it's close to midnight' they are outside in the dark with the moonlight on them which links hugely
- He also acts out most of the lyrics that are being sung for example when he says 'now's the time for us to cuddle close together' he hugs the girl as he sings it so the relationship between the lyrics and visuals is very close

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- When all the zombies come out and Michael Jackson turns into a zombie and they start dancing, that is to the beat of the music
- When the lyrics 'thriller' are being said the zombies are all doing the famous thriller dance move which fits with the song

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- There are many close ups of the artist as Michael Jackson is in almost every scene in the video
- He is shown as a normal person and a zombie
- There are close ups of his face singing and also of his dance moves

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- The girlfriend is shown as good looking and has make up on, this shows some voyeurism involved
- She is also shown as strutting through the street with heels on
- There is an element of the Male Gaze when the girlfriend is in shot

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This music video is both narrative based and performance based
- Narrative when the film is showing and also when the zombies come out and performance when he is singing

Conclusion
- Overall, this music video is very much showing what is being sung which means it is very narrative based
- I like the way this is done and that he is pretty much acting out what he is saying

Textual analysis of Red Hot Chili Peppers - Universally Speaking

Introduction
- Festival music video, all shot in one place
- Genre is alternative
- Has a funny element to the video

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- There isn't actually a link between the lyrics and the visuals
- The lyrics are about love and the video is about a guy trying to get into a festival and get on stage with The Red Hot Chili Peppers without a ticket

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- The relationships between the music and the visuals mostly happen at the end of the video, for example when he gets into the golf buggy and the music picks up
- When he goes on stage with the band, the song is in the middle of a guitar solo and this is what you see on the screen 

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- The whole video is of an actor in a festival but at the end the band on stage are The Red Hot Chili Peppers and there are shots of all the members but they are very brief so you can't actually see them properly
- On the drum in the band you can see the words 'Red Hot Chili Peppers' which shows who they are

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- There are parts in this music video when there is voyeurism involved such as when he throws the frisbee on the girl in the bikini but that is very slight and so there isn't much there
- There is no real link to the Male Gaze theory either

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This music video is purely narrative based until the very end where there is performance of The Red Hot Chili Peppers on stage
- There is no concept based part in this video

Conclusion
- Overall, i think this is a good music video that involves humour and although it could get away with more voyeurism they have decided not too which i think is good
- I also like the way the artists are only in it for a short period of time at the end rather than the whole way through

Textual analysis of Four Tet - Smile Around The Face

Introduction
- Video for song with no lyrics
- Type of sound that the music gives out matches the emotions of the man
- Genre is a sort of electronic style


What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- There are no lyrics in this music video so it makes it very different to all the others except you could easily find this music video to fit with music with lyrics

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- There is quite a lot of relationship between the music and the visuals as those are the only two components of the music video as there are no lyrics
- When the man falls over on the bus the music gets dramatic and once he is up the music gets woozy and all over the place just like him and how he feels
- As soon as you see the daughters the music lightens up again as this is the highlight of his day
- At the end when he goes into the bath the music is still slightly up beat and then when he puts half of his face underwater the music gets very calm and you see him happy

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs? 
- There are absolutely no close ups or shots of the artist and this is what makes the music video interesting
- All the way throughout the video it is a camera facing this man and what he does in everyday life, there are no other shots used

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- There isn't a notion to the reference of looking
- No Male Gaze theory involved
- No voyeurism used

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This music video is purely narrative based
- It is a story of this mans day
- No performance of the artist and it all makes sense and links with the pace of the music

Conclusion
- Overall, this video is a very simple one as there is only one kind of shot and there are no lyrics involved so it makes you think more about the meaning of the song and the video

Textual analysis of Ultraista - Smalltalk

Introduction
- Simple music video
- Genre is pop even though music video may not show this
- Different paces at which the music video plays at which fits with the music

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- There is no real relationship between the lyrics and the visuals
- Only slight relationship would be the lyrics 'sharp memory talks i hear around the room' and you get the feeling in the music video that she is in one room all the time so that fits with the lyrics.

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- The relationship between music and visuals is quite obvious
- As the music gets faster or slower the coloured lights on the singers face become slower or faster depending on the pace of the song at that moment in time
- Also when there is an instrumental, a few of the times the visuals move to a drum stick being used on a drum to show the instrumental part

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- The whole music video, apart from the drum part, is a close up of the artist singing
- There are no changes in the distance from the music artist even though the shots do change slightly so it is not done on one big uninterrupted video

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- There is huge reference to the notion of looking all the way through this video
- The singer is constantly being looked at close up and she has make up on the make her more sexualised
- It is particularly her lips that are the reference to the notion of looking
- Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory
- Voyeurism  is used

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- This music video is performance based
- The whole way through the music video there is just performance and nothing else

Conclusion
- Overall this is a very simple yet effective music video
- The music fits with the visuals with the beat but there is no real link between the lyrics and the visuals
- It is a purely performance based music video as there is no narrative and it is not concept 

Textual analysis of DJ Fresh - Gold Dust

Introduction
- It is a dance video.
- Common features of this genre:
   - Upbeat
   - Fast pace /fast tempo
   - Bouncy/lively
   - Energetic
- Culture relates to the type of dance - American culture/South American
- The video is a typical dance video - very energetic and lively
- Does have quite a few slow motion movement which break up the sequence so we don't get lost, and also exaggerate the fast placed action

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?
- Being a concept video, the lyrics do not have a clean cut, direct link to the lyrics in the song
- However there are a few cases where they do crossover;
   - When the lyrics say "running away" the visuals are the skipper, running and travelling
   - "Hands up" the skipper put their hands up
   - "Gold dust" there is someone wearing a gold coat/jacket
- The skipping is totally unrelated to the song apart from the jumping aspect

What is the relationship between music and visuals?
- The visuals often match up to the tempo of the song at certain points
   - For example, during the tempo build up, close ups/establishing shots (like someone shooting a basketball into a net) are used, then when it reaches the peak, cuts back to the fast action skipping
- However, slow motion shots are used during the heavy tempo sections too - to provide a contrast which makes the skipper appear even faster - like it's in fast forward

Are there close ups of the artist and star image motifs?
- There are many close ups used - especially of the young children looking/reacting to the older people skipping
   - Establishes culture more
   - They don't have much money so can't afford to do typical sports - skipping has been passed down through the generations
- The matching girls' tops say " the new front ear" which could mean "frontier". "frontier" means development inviting research - which links to the name Dj Fresh

Is there reference to the notion of looking?
- There is great emphasis placed on the women in the video
- Male gaze
- Voyeurism
- Women are perceived as the idols/main focus
- The 2 girls are quite provocative/sexualised
- Slow motion of the men's reactions show them looking impressed/satisfied
- Everyone crowds round to watch

Is the music video performance based, narrative based or concept based?
- Concept based with an essence of narrative
- More concept - skipping
- Girls/culture - narrative

Conclusion
- Overall it is a very interesting video which covers the main connections of dance music videos
- I think it is very successful and the unusual topic of skipping suits the song and makes you want to watch more
- To improve it, i would perhaps add a bit more relevance/build up the 2 girls, as they randomly appeared

Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve - Medium close up tracking shot

The happenings in the first 32 seconds: Tracking shot of feet, pans up to full body, he waits at pavement, camera goes across road, he waits for a bit, he starts to walk across road with camera tracking him from front, cars goes past him straight after he crosses.

The clothing that our actor will need to wear are black/dull clothing all over.

The equipment that we will need to shoot this clip are the camera and the stedicam 

Final edit of our version of Bittersweet Symphony 

Types of music video (Firth 1998)

Firths theory - This is a theory where music videos can only be categorised into three different types. These types are:
- Performance which is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert or other form of entertainment.
- Narrative which is a series of connected events usually forming the part or whole of a song.
- Concept which is an abstract idea.

Some examples of performance based music videos are:
- Last Nite by The Strokes
- Beneath Your Beautiful by Labrinth feat. Emeli Sande

Some examples of narrative based music videos are:
- When The Sun Goes Down by Arctic Monkeys
- No Church in the Wild by JayZ

Some examples of concept based music videos are:
- Gold Dust by Dj Fresh

In this day and age (2013) this theory however, is too rigid. It is very difficult to find a music video purely based on only one of these concepts and they usually have 2 or all of the concepts in the music video.

Key conventions of a music video

We had a look at a few music videos in our lesson including Rudimental - Waiting all Night and Mcfly - Love is Easy. We came up with the key conventions of a music video that we saw in all of the videos we watched. These are...

- The sound matches the narrative.
- Having the artist appear in the music video.
- Having extreme close ups.
- Showing instruments and people playing them.
- Tracking shots.
- Low angle shots - more powerful.
- Slow motion.
- Artist performance.
- Fluid camera movements.
- Lyrics matching the narrative.
- Visuals - representational of the sound.

These all appeared in the music videos so we decided that they are the key conventions of a music video although some may not apply to others.

The history of music videos

Facts about music videos...

- MTV stands for Music Television.
- They aired their first ever music video on 1st August 1981.
- The song was 'Video Killed the Radio Star' by The Buggles.
- However the first ever music video was aired in 1894.
- The song was called 'The Little Lost Child' by Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern.
- They created it by using a series of still images put together to create a moving image.

Music video - Things to consider

How important sound is to a music video...

Sound is very important to the music video for a range of reasons. These are:
- The mood of the song can help to determine the visuals.
- The music video should match the connotations of the aspects of the song eg. rythm, tempo, voice.
- The video that you create has to fit the genre of the music.

How important emotions/feel is in a music video...

The emotions and the feel that the song gives you are very important.
- It helps determine what kind of video to have with the song.
- The emotions that are conveyed in the song can be backed up by the visuals.
- The emotions in the video can help you understand the song a bit better an help you to relate and understand what it's about.

How important lyrics are when constructing a music video...

Lyrics are incredibly important when you are constructing the music video for a particular song because...
- They can help you understand the song further and appreciate what it is actually about.
- If there is a metaphor in the song then that can be shown in the visuals.
- The lyrics can also help to construct the music video into a narrative almost.

Chasing Pavements - Adele - close up shot

Location - For our location we have decided to use the school grounds by a tree.
Equipment - The equipment we will use to film this shot are the canon 550D and the stedicam.
Props - The only props we will use are clothing and we have decided that our singer will be wearing dark clothing.
Editing - There is only a bit of editing that is needed for this short clip of a music video. We will have to edit the sound together with the visuals, but the most important thing we will need to do is change the colour of the whole picture as we need to make it look like it was filmed in the Autumn time.

Final edit of our version of Chasing Pavements

Music video research

McFly - 5 colours in her hair - pop

The different shots in the music video "5 colours in her hair" are...
- Panning shot
- Mid shot
- Long shot
- High angle shot
- Establishing shot
- Close up shot

There was particularly a lot of panning shots in this video so that you could see the whole band playing in the footage. They also used close ups so that you could see who everyone was and see who was singing at each particular time.

Adele - Chasing pavements - ballad pop

The different shots in the music video "Chasing pavements" are...
- Panning shot
- Close up shot
- High angle shot
- Mid shot
- Long shot
- Birds eye shot
- Extreme close up

There was a lot of birds eye shots because of the storyline but there were also lots of extreme close ups and close ups of Adele singing and her lips moving to show her dramatically singing.

Gotye - Somebody that i used to know - indie

The different shots in the music video "Somebody that i used to know" are...
- Panning shot
- Close up shot
- Extreme close up shot
- Mid shot
- Two shot

This is a very simple video as there aren't many shots used and its quite a slow paced song. There were mostly close up shots or mid shots as this showed him singing clearly.

White Stripes - 7 nation army - rock

The different shots in the music video "7 nation army" are...
- Mid shot
- Panning shot
- Close up shot
- Extreme close up shot
- Long shot
- Black shot

The video to this is very repetitive and there is constantly stuff moving forward at you. The most common shots are the close ups and the long shots. This is so you can see what the artist/singer is playing instrument wise and also so that you can see them singing.

Overall

Overall all of these videos use close ups of the main singer to show that they are singing the song. This shows that the close up shot is a very important shot to use in a music video and that we should use it in our video. This is also the case for the panning shot.

Reflections of my development this year

What new terms or concepts have i learnt this year?
- McGuffin
- Enigma
- Digitisation
- Long tail theory
- Male gaze theory
- Digital/analogue
- Convergence
- Actual audience and intended adience
- Mass audience and niche audience
- Diegetic and non-diegetic sounds

What skills have you developed from the beginning of the course to the present day?
- How to use Final Cut Pro and the different aspects to it
- Shooting footage on the new digital camera
- Setting up the shot and thinking about what goes into the frame
- Storyboarding/shotlisting/screenplaying
- How to analyse a moving picture

To what extent did knowledge of media products influence your media products?
- The narrative
- The conventions
- The genre

How have digital technologies impacted your production work?
- Final Cut Pro has made it simple and easier to edit the footage together and it is advanced so can do a lot of things to make the film look better
- The new camera that we got makes the footage much better quality and makes it easier to shoot the film. It also makes it quicker and easier to produce the film