We chose Sarah as our female actor because she reflects the Indie-pop genre as she has a similar look to other artists from that genre, for example Birdy who is seen on the right who produces music from the same genre. Sarah had also done Media studies herself at Fulbrook school in Woking, we found that this would be an advantage as she was aware of the amount of availability she would need to have and what it takes to produce the media products. This meant that she had experience with camera angles, lip-syncing and retaking shots.
We chose Archie as our male actor as he too also reflected other artists from the genre of Indie-pop. Archie had also done Media Studies at Godalming College in Godalming which meant that he also had experience with the subject and what was needed in order to make the product look good. He also had a lot of flexibility with filming and therefore made the experience a lot more organised.
Overall the lip syncing was rated quite highly and that is a really positive response as it can be very challenging trying to get the lip syncing to match the audio from the original song. We used a range of camera movements such as: extreme close ups, panning, handheld camera shots, mid and long shots and focus pulls. Our editing techniques consisted of layering, colour isolation, colour effects, slowed down and sped up shots. The framing and the controlled movement of the camera was rated positively in all of the feedback. The writing on the whiteboard effect worked really well as it was perfectly in time with the lyrics and the feedback shows that the audience responded positively to this
The negative feedback we received will help to influence us as to what we can do to improve on our music video. The genre of our video seemed to be unclear from the audience as they choice either narrative or concept. This was not entirely wrong as it is a narrative video with concept aspects. A big part of the video that we need to work on is the creativeness of both characters costumes and makeup as they don't appear to have anything out of the ordinary and it is all very simple and plain. This is something that does fit in with our genre, however, it would be excellent if we could incorporate some more into our video. There is one shot where the female character is sitting on a bridge, this shot is far too long and there is no editing effects to make it more interesting, we may need to shoot more footage in order to make this appear more interesting. The shot of the two characters in the mirror using each others reflection is a creative concept, however it could be done better through the use of editing rather than camera deception. This means that it will take more practise, filming time and editing in order to do this although the final product should be a good representation of these efforts.
This is the rough cut of our music video. We have chosen the song 'Satisfied', Balcony and have followed the codes and conventions of the indie-pop song in order to meet the expectations of our target audience.
Looking at the screenshots that can be seen above, we have used the opacity tool in order to layer shots. This complimented our genre as it is a technique that is used in other indie-pop music videos. We have also used fade in/out transitions between shots to create a smoother transition and it means that the video is not so jumpy as that would not fit with a slow paced song. We used colour isolation in order to highlight the female's isolation and almost showing how her soul has been taken out of her. We have sped up shots in order to keep in time with the lyrics ("let's explain this" on the whiteboard) and slowed down shots to create dramatic effect (running through the woods). A blind effect has been added to the shot of the lightbulb to make it appear as if it is in a dark room with blinds and it gives it a lonely effect.
We have been able to film the majority of our music video, where we have been exploring different shots, angle types and locations. We have found elements of filming more difficult than others, for example, timings and lighting have become more of an issue as the winter progresses. However, we have had to find alternative ways in successfully getting around these issues that we have had to face.
From completing our animatic, we found the specific areas that need improving in our music video. This has been hugely beneficial for us as we hadn't considered which elements most meet our audiences expectations, and what most fits within the music video genre of indie pop music. One area that we had not considered in our music video is the sections of the song that are not covered by lyrics [00:46-01:06, 01:38-01:43]. Doing the animatic has allowed us to consider what to fill these gaps with in order to most attract our target audience. One of the main elements we can consider is Todorov's theory of binary opposites which coincides with the theme of dreams against reality. This is one of the more important elements that we would have to consider when thinking what we can fill the gaps with in order to attract our target audience.
As well as this, we have been able to consider how the music video that we have planned fits within the genre, based on the images we have chosen to include. This has allowed us to see whether the images that we plan to include fit with the music.
This is our final plan of our storyboard for our music video. We have considered what would be the most effective M-E-S, cinematography and editing that will attract our target audience and most fulfil the expectations of the genre.
Here, we have considered the different locations that we will be filming in for our music video. For this, it is important that we consider the different elements that will be involved in the music video, for example, we would have to consider the lighting, shot type, camera movement and acting for each element of the shot. We will also have to consider how the natural elements will affect our filming and continuity of the shot.
Producing the table has enabled us to see which elements of our music video would need the most planning in order to produce the most effective piece of filming to meet the audiences expectations.
The technical difficulties that we are likely to have are as follows:
-Low battery/no battery when filming.
-Difficulties with lighting e.g. not being able to film in dark lighting as the cameras aren't high enough quality.
-When using the green screen we may find it difficult to get rid of the border around a character. This will look poorly edited and loose the effect of the scene.
-We have already experienced issues with YouTube and having limited access to it at school. This has meant that it is difficult to upload and share content onto our blog.
-When uploading content to YouTube or Blogger sometimes it can be low quality and this is to do with what type you uploaded it in and what you are watching it in. There's no good uploading something that is 360p resolution.
We have considered possible locations for filming our music video. Planning these locations has allowed us to assess the possible health and safety issues that we may experience when filming. The health and safety issues that we may come across are important for us to consider as we would need to ensure that our actor is not in any risk.
We should our peers our footage that we filmed over half term. From this, the answered questions based on what they thought about our M-E-S, cinematography, locations, codes and conventions and whether the footage met with what they would expect from our genre of music. From this, we found that our target audience thought that our props could have been more creative and we could have used different shots when filming in locations. For example, we chose to show our peer-group footage from the train station, in which our peers decided that this could have been filmed in a more creative way. This has been hugely beneficial for us as it has allowed us to use our peers opinions of the song and the genre to our advantage in order to reach out to our audience.
With the collection of feedback that we got from our peers, it has allowed us to improve what we think we want to include in our video, allowing us to effectively reach our target audience.
When it came to filming in half-term, we found that we were able to do effective filming with the timing that we had. As we did it in the afternoon, light may have become an issue for us as it was starting to get darker at that point, meaning that we had to film a few shots in each location at the same time in order to get continuity in our shots. As well as this, we found that finding suitable locations with met with the needs of our genre. This was fairly easy as where we were filming had a similar idea to what we may have expected from the genre. We had some issues with filming in two of the four locations that we filmed it. At the train station, we had our filming interrupted by a guard who was at the station. This was not necessarily a big problem, but was frustrating as we were aiming to film a scene with the train leaving the platform. As well as the train station, we found that filming on the bridge was also an issue. We were aiming for the calming idea when we were filming over the bridge with the calming back of the water flowing, but had issues with being interrupted by runners, dog-walkers, cyclists, runners and families.
This student music video fits the convention of the indie-pop genre. The video fits the narrative genre but has elements of concept as well, both of these work well with the lyrics. Popular and trendy clothing has been chosen to add to the pop element of this song and a subtle makeup look compliments this well. Editing techniques such as a split screen has been used to show both of the main characters emotions and their relationship to one another. Another great editing technique that they used was to put a shot of a traffic light turning green at the same time as the beat dropped in the song. This not only was very seamless but it also signalled when the song was about to pick up pace. The main character is seen to be positioned to either the left or right of shots until she is reunited with the person she loves. The locations that were used were areas in London which fitted in with the indie-pop genre as there is a number of creative places in London. They made use of graffiti and coloured houses to show this. One shot that i liked in particular was a close up of the female character typing a song lyric into her phone. We have adapted this idea and used a similar approach by using a phone to type out "I miss you" and then deleting it.
Love runs out- One Republic
This music video fits in with the genre of Indie-Pop for a number of different reasons. Costumes, hair, makeup and props play a huge part in this music video. This is because in the video the audience is watching some sort of chase, the male character is following the female through London as she passes through portals. Each time the pair of them go through one of these portals their appearance changes as well as the location they are in. This allows audiences to distinguish clearly when they are in a new location. When travelling through these portals, editing has been used in order for it to look like they are actually going through them. This is done by using a warping transition to the next scene as well as editing a moving graphic of a portal which appears to be similar to the one that can be seen in the programme 'Primevil'. A rewinding effect is used at the end to recap to the audience the journey that they have been on. Panning has been used near the end of the video to capture the moment when the two are finally with each other standing still. This allows the audience to see both their emotions at once.
Let her go- Passenger
This music video fits in with the genre of Indie-Pop for a number of different reasons. This music video follows Todorov's three stage theory; where everything is balanced, progress as something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution, when equilibrium is restored. Dim lighting has been used to show the performance side of this video which highlights that it is not the main part of the video but more of a voice in the characters head. This is played out by the end when the boy who is doing the performance comes to comfort the main character who has been acting. The location of London has been used to show how the couple met in an everyday manner, on the tube. Invisible cuts are used to show the transition of time moving forward and this could be a feature that we could incorporate into our own music video as it has the same genre as this one and we will be showing the moving forward and backward of time throughout. After the two characters break up the males costumes change to winter clothing and the lighting becomes darker and blue looking. The audience are then shown flashbacks to when they were together sitting in the same place as he is now alone. The different clothes and colouring in the shots create a clear distinction between them.
From our question to our target audience, the most common theme among the replies was that the audience thought that the music video would look quite cool as in trendy. The main actors would also be young and carefree. This fits our genre perfectly as this is what we were planning to do and by asking our target audience these questions it has allowed us to get confirmation that the ideas are suitable as well as allowing us to incorporate some further ideas such as the idea of incorporating a car and using cameras or mobile phones as props to emphasise the age range of the people in the music video and to make it appear more realistic with everyday life as teenagers are often seen to be with their mobile phones quite a lot of the time or simply taking pictures of one another. One audience member suggested that it would be set somewhere hot, as we were geographically limited this was not possible to do, however we could alter this through the use of editing effects. Empty places and spaces is also something that we have managed to incorporate into our video through the use of fields, woodland areas and this highlighted the actors feelings of isolation and we contrasted this with busy locations such as train stations and shopping centres which makes the actor seem isolated even in a busy setting making them feel and look invisible.
In our editing practise, we looked at Aha - Imogen Heap. Here, we took a specific element from the video that was created and tried to re-create it with some of the footage that we had filmed. From this, I think that the most effective editing techniques for our genre would be the layering of the shots that have a relationship, as well as colour isolation. Layering can be used to our advantage as it can be used to help highlight the idea of Levi-Strauss' idea of binary opposites, in which we are using the idea of dreams against reality. Colour isolation can also be used to our benefit for the music video as it can be used to emphasise the feeling that we want to recreate.
For this task, we used Barbie dolls and an umbrella in order to create unusual concepts to consider within our music video. For this, we looked at a variety of ways in which we could use the dolls and the umbrella in creative ways in order to create something interesting to the audience.
Doing this task allowed us to consider more creative ways in targeting our audience. One example would be using the headless Barbie doll. It also encouraged us to consider interesting angles and shot types which we can further include into our music video. From this, we have considered using the round light bulbs and mirror in our music video as it has a connection to the theme of dreams against reality (Todorov's theory of Binary opposites).
However, we also found that we could have found more inventive ways to use the umbrella when using concepts. This is because the umbrella is not used in a creative way in which would target a specific audience.
