Branding, Image & Audience Profile

Audience Profile 

• Niche Audience - focusing more on the hipster aspect of the genre. 
• The artist lists himself as part of the 'Baroque Pop' of the alternative music scene. 
• His audience would be attracted and familiar with the images shown above. 
• Phrases commonly found with this type of audience can be things like 'stylishly underdressed', 'vinyl', 'Dr Martens', 'hipster', 'modern mod' 

Storyboarding

Here are rough shot for shot story boards of what I plan to film this weekend:

Type of Music Video

For my music video I have chosen to make more of a conceptual music video than a performance based one. Though the video does feature lip syncing and the artist playing musical instruments, the narrative and interpretive part of the video is greater. In terms of my artist, I feel that not only will the narrative appeal to his audience (featuring timeless parties, with a modern and more youthful twist) but also this type of video is very common within Indie music videos I found in my research and music videos of the artists he gets inspiration from. 

Video Ideas Pitch

Overall my music video narrative follows the artist George, as he goes to a mysterious house party where all the guests must wear animal masks and he meets the girl of his dreams. Things keep getting in the way of them being together, much like in the lyrics of the song. In the end, George sees the girl sitting by herself outside, away from the party and they finally are together. They rejoin the party, and George goes to get drinks from them both but in the same way he saw her at the beginning, he sees her with another guy (again fitting with the lyrics). George then leaves the party, grabs his guitar case and walks out the house, taking off his mask. 

In between the parts of the narrative, the lip sync shots will show George playing a variety of instruments in a white room surrounded by balloons. There will also be shots (mostly within the breakdown and middle 8 of the song) which will show George singing into the camera in front of a projector, while a black and white film shows on his face.  

Music Video Research

Music Videos - Indie Genre 

Three different artists that fall within the genre and answer the following questions: 

1. How do they visually differentiate between verse and chorus? 
2. How do they use the beat and rhythm in the visual style? 
3. How do they showcase the stars? 
4. How do the visuals relate to the lyrics? 
5. What's the overall concept? 

EVERYTHING EVERYTHING - Don't Try

1. The verses mainly feature a variety of shots, mostly of the main man singing into the camera and the band performing within the setting of the 'royal dinner food fight' where as the chorus features more of the conceptual element, focusing the shots on the more arty and the action (i.e. the guests at the dinner party having the food fight or the band acting within the setting. 
2. During the faster paced moments of the song, like some of the verses or the main part of the chorus the editing speeds up. But towards the end of the music video, like many of indie music videos they have used slow motion to make the most of their shots (in this case of the food fight) which contrasts with the fast parts of the song. 
3. The main man, Johnathon Higgs, is showcased the most as per usual in music videos of bands. He is shown mostly in close ups singing directly into the camera as if he is looking at the audience, engaging with them. The rest of the band are also shown playing their instruments and singing back up in the background during the chorus. As they have a lot of extras/characters within the scene the band have clean cut gray and yellow suits on; setting them apart from everyone else. This has become a staple of the band's music videos, as more often than not they are all in matching outfits, be it in lab coats or white shirts and black jeans. 
4. Within this video, the visuals don't really relate to the lyrics, there is a real mix of themes and shots in this music promo so it is difficult to tell. The idea seems more conceptual based than narrative based and hasn't anything to do with the lyrics. 
5. Overall the band have used an interestingly abstract concept with themes like royalty and scenes of food fights and generally having fun. 

SPARKADIA - China

1. There is more action shown in the chorus as the music gets faster although a lot of the shots are in slow motion apart from the ones featuring the singer of Sparkadia, Alex Burnett which are in real time and cut in parts of the video. The verses mainly show close ups where as the chorus' are more narrative based (however random).
2. There are visible changes in the visual style as the beat changes. For example, in the slow parts of the song, the majority of the shots are slow motion and when the chrorus starts the action and the narrative gets more random and begins to speed up. 
3. Burnett is showcased as the singer and shown singing in the back of a car, and similar to Everything Everything have used close ups to engage the audience with the lyrics. He also takes part in random parts of the sketches that make up the narrative. 
4. Again like the first video, the visuals and the lyrics don't really correlate so to speak, not so there is like a heavy focus on the narrative. The video is made up of small sketches which shows a random display of things from a man in an owl mask playing the drums to a girl dressed in balloons that begins to pop them as the video progresses. 
5. Much like the first video, it is mostly conceptual based, showing random sketches involving different characters that didn't really relate to the song. In that sense there wasn't much of a narrative although I guess you could say that some of the sketches involving a man and a women being together could have something to do with the woman he's referencing in the lyrics and the lyric "The stronger we act - the longer we crack
   There's only so much we can take till we start to break", could have some reference to the egg cracking and the balloons popping. 

WALK THE MOON - Tightrope

1. The verses feature the main singer, Nicholas Petricca singing into the camera, and much like the other two videos do this so they can directly connect with the audience and engage them with the lyrics. And the beginning of the chorus features the actors in the surroundings changing and dancing and in the main part of the chorus the whole band sing into the camera, hand movements and puppets around the screen join the visuals and the lyrics (e.g. in the part that says "my heart is burning up", hands with flame painted on them engulf the band at the end of each chorus).
2. Much like the other two indie music videos the action surrounding the band speeds up when the music does and slows down accordingly.  
3. Like the other very similar videos the stars are shown by singing to the camera, in normal codes of dress, which shows the difference between them and the actors dressed as animals in the setting. This is very similar to Everything Everything, with the suits. 
4. Again much like the other two videos, they only have a small similarity between the visuals and the lyrics as mentioned before. However from what I have seen in all three of the videos there seems to be a trend of having only a small relation to the lyrics along with a very random and conceptual videos. 
5. The overall concept again is very random, mostly about the characters in the setting being chased by humans dressed like animals and the band getting eaten by fire... Much like the other two videos there isn't much meaning, there is just a lot of bright colors  arty settings and shots. 

LIST OF GENRE CONVENTIONS IN MUSIC VIDEOS

GENRE - INDIE

1. Widescreen black banners used across the screen to make it feel more like a movie than a music video promo. 
2. A lot of bright colors seen within the settings and costumes. 
3. Close ups of the band or single stars singing and dancing into the camera. 
4. Not always a direct relation between the lyrics and the visuals, maybe only small relation. 
5. The setting and extras/actors can be completely random and have no relation to the song. (i.e. a lot of animal masks used within the videos I looked at as the characters) 
6. Slow motion is often used to complement the music and emphasize the actions (i.e. throwing food at a food fight, jumping around in a paddling pool), and the action speeds up and slows down accordingly. 
7. Band features in the random action shots as well as the direct singing into the camera close ups. 
8. Repetition of shots, colors and themes throughout the video (i.e. parallel editing showing the action of different characters) 
9. Sometimes the videos can remain in one setting, mostly to make the most of one place and contain the narrative. 
10. The band almost always is in the video at one point, there is a mixture of conceptual narrative and performance based video. 

Lyric Inspiration Board

Auteur Theory

The Auteur theory was introduced in the 1950’s by French film directors like Francois Truffaut who advocated a focus on the contribution directors made on the style and form of film, he said:

“A true film auteur is someone who brings something genuinely  personal to his subject instead of producing a tasteful, accurate but lifeless rendering of the original material”

This theory holds that a film's director is its “author” (French, auteur). An auteur is a film maker whose style and practise is distinctive which creates a signature auteur status for them. It is also a film maker who has a personal, signature style and keeps creative control over his or her work. 

Making any film or in this case a music video the director is the auteur but it would not be possible for them to create the whole production on their own, instead they collaborate with others and team up with; writer, cinematographer and actors but the director is still an auteur in a sense as they control everyone and everything in the production. Supporters maintain that the most successful films bear the distinctive imprint of their director and that an auteur would place a significant visual style that would be visible throughout their work.  An example of a music video auteur is Chris Cunningham. Chris Cunningham is a British music video film  director and video artist. Cunningham is known for his warped style and disturbing imagery, he has worked and produced music videos for the likes of; Aphex Twins, Bjork, Placebo and  Madonna. 

CASE STUDY - MUSIC VIDEO AUTEUR: HYPE WILLIAMS 

Harold "Hype" Williams (born 1970), previously known as HYPE, is an American music video and film director. As the definitive video director for late-'90s rap music,  Williams worked with every major rapper of the era, from Nas and Kanye West to Missy Elliott and Puff Daddy, and even made the admirable leap to feature films as well. Born in the Hollis, Queens, neighbourhood of New York to working-class parents. He attended Adelphi University, where he studied film, and subsequently joined Classic Concept Productions, where he swept floors on the sets of golden-age rap video shoots. In 1993, he launched his own production company, Big Dog Films, and made his first major video in 1994, Wu-Tang Clan's "Can It Be All So Simple." Following the video's airing, offers began pouring in, and Williams took on as many as time allowed, directing numerous videos every year until the decade's end.

Within only a few years, Williams had become an award-winning director, taking home the 1996 Billboard Music Video Award for Best Director of the Year, the 1997 NAACP Image Award, and the 1998 MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video, among others. During this late-'90s run, he worked with every major rap artist imaginable, and earned a reputation for incredibly stylish videos characterised by fish-eye lens work and glitzy wardrobes. The Artisan-released film starring rappers DMX, Nas, and Method Man became a substantial cult hit among the urban audience. 

SIGNATURE STYLE FEATURES 

Throughout his work, certain iconic auteur styles and elements can be seen time and time again. Some examples of this include: 

• Use of coloured banners across the top and bottom of the screen
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Use of bold, primary colours, - often block colours 

• Sexualisation of full figured women through dance and costume

• Singing rapping to the camera, lot of close ups

• Now puts his name on each videos much like many film directors 

• R&B hip hop focus within his music videos 

• Use of fish eye lens