Post Production - UPDATE 2

A week before the deadline and I'm happy with the progress I've made in my edit. 

All the narrative parts have been put together and the lip syncing has been done. Now I am just left to tweak parts of the video so I can get the highest marks I can get, adding transitions and text and maybe adding in extra close up shots.   

Post Production - UPDATE 1

I finished filming everything last weekend. I managed to get all the footage I needed by filming on Saturday; filming George's parts in the morning and then all of the extras arrived in the afternoon to film the party and narrative scenes. George was easy to work with and really got what I wanted from the video. I chose his costume to match the research done in the branding and profiling stage (e.g. braces, buttoned up shirt, tweed trousers, Dr Martens); a kind of plaid look I felt went with the video and matched the costume of his love interest. I was also very keen to get him to play all of his instruments within the video as an artist he likes to think of his music fits into the Baroque Pop genre of Indie, featuring many classical instruments mixed with a more pop-vibe, so I wanted to capture both sides of the artist. Overall filming was really successful I got everything I needed and everyone was really great and co-operative which was good because we didn't have long to film.

Since then, I have begun editing and have edited about 2-3 out of the 4 minutes roughly. It will take a while to refine all of the footage because there is quite a lot of it.

Below are screen grabs of my edit on Final Cut Express: 

Equipment List

1. Canon EOS 550D Camera 
2. Dolly 
3. Tripod 
4. SD Cards (8GB) 

Here is a snapshot of the post only the 'Booking Equipment Blog' from the school:

Risk Assessment

UPDATED: Filming Schedule

IMPORTANT 

Change in location from a house in South London to a house in Hampstead because of a confusion with the dates and through miscommunication. The change in the location doesn't alter the piece that much, it just means that the original storyboards created with the first location in mind will have to be altered on set. 

Also the list of props have also changed as the other location had a projector and this one doesn't, however I am not too fussed, I feel I can get the lip sync shots I need in this space.

Photos of new location... 

In preparation for the weekend, I have sent out messages to the cast members helping me with the production about what is happening on Saturday 9th November for information about the location and meeting times. 

Filming Schedule

Date - 9th - 10th November

Time - All day on the Saturday starting from 11am/12pm for the main narrative shots, and on Sunday, just George's lip syncing shots. 

Location - Large house in Honor Oak, Lewisham, South East London

Actors - Cast of around 10 -11 including George acting in both the narrative and in the performance based action. 

Props - Animal Masks for everyone involved, red cups, balloons, projector, DVD of Red Shoes Movie. 

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 

Applying Goodwin's Theory - CASE STUDY

Foo Fighters - Walk 

To fully understand Goodwin's' theory, I am going to be applying it to a music video case study."Walk" is a song by American rock band Foo Fighters, released as the second single from their seventh studio album Wasting Light. The Foo Fighters' "Walk" video is, rather oddly enough, a near re-creation of the 1993 film "Falling Down," the oft-disturbing portrait of the prototypical "angry white male” who is pushed to the brink by what he views as society's decay and goes on a violent rampage. Below is my analysis of the video in connection with Goodwin's theory. 

Theory:	Analysis:
1) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.	Grohl immediately refers to this dull existence in the lyrics therefore showing a direct relationship between the lyrics and the visual meaning of the music video, "To who it may concern, I think I may have lost my way, getting good at starting over every time I return". It echoes this idea of him losing contact with what is important which can be presumed music perhaps. As these words are being spoken, the camera tracks him walking along a bridge. There again is repetition of the literal translation of the lyrics as not only is he metaphorically learning to walk again but physically too as he has left his car behind. It as if Grohl realizes he has been 'going through the motions’.
2) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics	In the beginning of the video, Grohl grabs his guitar and exits his car - symbolic for his exit from this boring lifestyle. He is not a businessman, but a rock star. When he leaves the car the music begins. Grohl’s character keeps his guitar case with him, this time reminding the audience that underneath it all he is still a rock star and that is where his values lie. This can also be seen as a symbol to demonstrate the genre (Guitar = Rock and Punk music).
3) There is a relationship between music and visuals	Throughout the video, the lyrics play a part into how the narrative pans out within the video. But as for the music going along with the video, it is quite a unique idea and paints a picture of how the band feels about the lack of punk rock in the modern world. At the end of the video, when Grohl arrives at the garage branded with the Foo Fighters emblem; he enters and is shot in mid framing. His band members are then shot for the first time together and then it cuts back to him - by taking off his glasses and loosening his tie, it metaphorically represents him freeing himself from the shackles which conceal his true identity, which is an old school rock star. This part of the video shows the change between the comical narrative and the actual performance where he is presented in the foregrounded as the lead singer. The performance is shot in a series of fast cuts which plays off the beat of the song hence the pace of the transitions.
4) The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style)	OTHER MUSIC VIDEO - 'LEARN TO FLY'  Throughout the video, there are a lot of close ups of Dave Grohl as well as the rest of the band members but in true Foo Fighter comical style for the majority of the video they are all playing roles, even playing women in some parts. This is also a feature of the band itself - as the members feature as characters throughout illustrating they do not take themselves too seriously and have the comedic edge to their music videos that the fans adore. This has also become their visual style as a lot of their videos feature them dressing up and playing characters.
5) There is frequent reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes) and particularity voyeuristic treatment of the female body.	Within this music video there isn't much reference to the notion of looking, I think mostly because unlike most music videos their videos contain a very unique style that makes a view feel like they are watching a short film as opposed to a generic music promo. However there is a lot of looking through mirrors which reflect some of the lyrics in the song about seeing yourself for who you really are. Again with the voyeuristic treatment of female body, not only does it not fit with the punk rock genre too much but it doesn't really fit with the image of the band (all of the members are married with children and very old school in both their music and their ideals ). The closest thing relating to negative treatment towards women is when the band members dress up as women and make fools of themselves, perhaps to show how they think the way other genres portray women is ridiculous.
6) There is often intertextual reference to films, TV Programmes, other music videos etc.	The Foo Fighters' new "Walk" video is, rather oddly enough, a near re-creation of the 1993 film "Falling Down," the oft-disturbing portrait of the prototypical "angry white male” who is pushed to the brink by what he views as society's decay and goes on a violent rampage as a result, culminating in a stand-off with police and his death. The whole music video is based on this film, demonstrating intertextual reference. Although the video has more of a comedic message than a political one in that it is based on the loss of the old school punk rock genre. Within the film ‘Falling Down’, the character Foster carries with him a brief case, reminding the audience of his once business and calm-like demeanor. In the same way, Grohl’s character keeps his guitar case with him, this time reminding the audience that underneath it all he is still a rock star and that is where his values lie.

Goodwin's Theory Research

All music videos have a purpose and with this purpose comes the conventions of music videos, these traits are followed to make the music video successful at its purpose - to promote the artist and the song.

Andrew Goodwin, who believes that there are 6 features which are present in music videos:

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (i.e. usually show stereotypes of modern culture, like an R'n'B video is likely to contain money, cars and women). 
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (Narrative in the lyrics is shown through the moving image).
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (i.e. dance music would be accompanied by fast paced editing) 
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). 
5. There is frequent reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes) and particularity voyeuristic treatment of the female body.  
6. There is often intellectual reference to films, TV Programmes, other music videos etc.

Music Videos - RESEARCH

Within the lesson today we learnt about the three main types of music promos: 

THREE DIFFERENT STYLES 

1) PERFORMANCE BASED VIDEOS - Majority of the video is performance based, showing the band the most part of the video. 

2) NARRATIVE BASED MUSIC VIDEO- Telling a story through moving image. Sometimes is a song from a popular film which will ofter include cuts from the film.

3) CONCEPT BASED VIDEO - A video focusing on a visual concept or idea. Usually quirky and quite surreal looking, quite specific to a genre.

Timeline of Music Video History

1950's - Musical Films - The earliest example of music videos were songs from films that were performed (i.e. Marilyn Monroe - Diamonds Are a Girls' Best Friend which was taken from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953 and Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley which was taken from the film Jailhouse Rock in 1957). Companies then realised the potential and popularity of matching visual images to lyrics. It was also around this post-war era that youth culture had properly been established which mostly began with the introduction of Elvis Prestley to commonly used media. 

1960's - Era of Rock 'n' Roll. Elvis Presley and the Beatles has generated such huge fan bases they had created video performances to their audience. The Beatles had utilized music videos to promote their records starting in the mid-1960s. The creative use of music videos within their 1964 debut film A Hard Day's Night, particularly the performance of "Can't Buy Me Love", led MTV decades later to honor the film's director, Richard Lester, with an award for "basically inventing" the music video.

1970's - The 70's saw the development of the music video with the incorporation of television with music. Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart  television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1 January 1964 and 30 July 2006. Each weekly programme consisted of performances from some of that week's best-selling popular music artists, with a rundown of that week's singles chart. The show peaked in the mid 70's becoming a main way for bands to perform to their audiences. As well as The Monkees, an American comedy which followed the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. Eventually from the popularity of the television show, the actors decided to for the band and release the tracks  shown in the TV show. Because of the original fan base, the band generated a mass amount of popularity in the 60's to 70's.

1980's - In 1981, MTV was launched with the original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by television personalities known as "video jockeys,". 24hr broadcast meant music videos begin to play a central role in music marketing by the mid 1980's. The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star", which seems ironic because of the introduction of video on this new platform. The 80's also saw music videos from popular artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper which all featured cutting edge editing techniques of the time and began to introduce the idea of narrative and concept behind the videos. 

1990's - In November 1992, MTV began listing directors with the artist and song credits, reflecting the fact that music videos had increasingly become an auteur's medium. Directors such as Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Hype Williams all got their start around this time; all brought a unique vision and style to the videos they directed. Some of these directors, including, Gondry, Jonze went on to direct feature films. This continued a trend that had begun earlier with directors such as David Fincher.

Two of the videos directed by Romanek in 1995 are notable for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time: Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream", which cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story", which cost $5 million. "Scream" remains the most expensive video of all time. In the mid to late 1990s, Walter Stern directed "Firestarter" by The Prodigy, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve, and "Teardrop" by Massive Attack.