Problem solved

Throughout the process of this idea, we have been worried about doing the video in one continuous take as that would prove the hardest challenge of all. It has now been suggested to us that we can make it look continuous without doing so by switching between long shots and close ups and therefore shooting the video in multiple shots. This will help display knowledge of cinematography and make the idea a little more achievable.

Risk assessment

After looking in the potential location room, there is little cause for concern. There is nothing in the floor that could cause the actor to trip, all tables and chairs will be moved out the room and lighting will be managed suitable. No wires will be needed for filming and as it is inside, there is no need to worry about weather, traffic or pedestrians like we would if we were filming outside.

Potential location

These four photos are a room in college that could be a potential location for filming the video. It is a very plain room with the blinds shut and the furniture moved out and we would film with a tripod in the centre of the room. The advantage of filming in here is that the background is endless and we don't have to worry about running out of room like we would outside. A risk assessment will be conducted.

Storyboard

Mood board

We researched related artists and made a mood board from an image search that describes the lifestyle and personality of our audience.

Facebook group

I opened up a Facebook group for media students and suitable friends to give feedback on our ideas.

Target audience profile

This is a short powerpoint presentation showing my target audience and a profile.

Timetoast

Here is a Timetoast I made to show my time plan between now and half term for the organisation of my music video.

Helpful comments

Overall the reaction to our pitch was very good, everyone said the target audience was suitable, everybody liked the idea of using a silhouette and said it was very original. They commended the planning and detail we put into the idea and picked up on the fact that although it is very difficult to film in one take, it is very basic and minimalist and the real pressure comes from the editing. The overall reaction was that it will be difficult but is certainly achievable and sounds exciting.

However there were some comments to help us improve upon our idea;

• We were told we should do more test shots using the morphsuit, perhaps in a different location and have more green screen practice.
• We were told to have backup plans for any idea that doesn't go well. I anticipate this being important as there is a lot of ideas that might not work and we will only find out through a process of elimination.
• Location - we are yet to secure a suitable location. We are unsure whether to film outside in a more suitable environment but handheld and a possibility of bad weather or inside where perhaps it is less suitable but can be filmed smoothly from a tripod and edited easier.

The pitch

We were given the task of pitching the idea for our music video to the class, this was helpful in getting feedback and useful comments about was was good, bad and what to do next.

This is the Powerpoint presentation we made to pitch the idea.

Green screen practice

For our video we want to use the idea of a silhouette as the main character and the story follows this character. We got a green morphsuit and used green screen technology to turn him into a silhouette for practice. Here is the result.

Asking permission

This is evidence of me asking permission to use the aforementioned song for my video.

Song choice

After research into various tracks, my work partner and I decided that this is our first choice of song to make a video for. Eyes In Istanbull - Zombehh.

Comparison of two music videos

Radiohead – High & Dry

At the start of the video for High & Dry we get an establishing shot of a restaurant called Dick’s and the actual quality of footage is very poor, this appears to give it the vintage American diner feel which comes across more and more prominent throughout the video. At this point, there is very little to suggest they are following Andrew Goodwin’s framework for music videos. We also see at this point that the video is disjunctive as the lyrics have no reference to the diner feel. Once we see inside the restaurant, the costumes fit in with American diner mise en scene as well, therefore re-enforcing our initial thoughts on the video.

 

When the lyrics start, we see more reference to Goodwin’s framework. The visuals start responding to music as we see cuts on the beat of the song. The camera pans across the restaurant into a close up of a briefcase, but is handheld at all times. This is possibly to deviate away from perfection to represent the deep, dark theme of the song as the handheld camera gives it the roughed up DIY look, which is something Radiohead are going for here. This is another explanation for the poor video quality. This arguably ties in with Goodwin’s reference to genre characteristics. The indie rock genre isn’t perfect and does try to be different so they could be trying to reference that with this footage which is full of connotations of authenticity. The cuts are also poorly made, they are obviously there to join with the beat but some are noticeably out of sync with the song, which amplifies this imperfection even more so.

Later on in the video we see various close ups, still with a hand held camera of various actors, extras and band members singing the lyrics in a lip sync, a popular convention of music video. We also see some shot reverse shots of two parents looking at each other over a table among other pairs, and over the shoulder shots which both support Goodwin’s theory of the notion of looking, the idea that looking in music videos is key to direction of the artist and the theme of the video. (Take Madonna as an example, the aspect of looking in her videos makes us view her as not only an objectified, sexual woman, but one who is willing to be viewed like that.)

 

Other than the video cutting on beat with the song and the lip syncing, there is little use of synaesthesia in this video as the theme of the song has no direct link to the video. The video follows its own disjunctive narrative that is not at all related to the lyrics and the video is very minimal. Most shots are long takes which fits with the slow paced song but it doesn’t really go any deeper than that. However that works well because of the style of song that the video is responding to. They’re not a mainstream pop band and this video is able to show that. The persona and showmanship is not shown in this video at all.

If we look at this video and compare it to other music video theorist’s ideas, we can see that actually it is a relatively broad video and doesn’t fit other theories besides Andrew Goodwin’s. It was generally believed for a long time that all music videos fit into two categories, performance or conceptual. Sven E Carlson challenged and said that not all videos fit into these two categories and a more vast range of categories should be considered. This video however goes against Sven E Carlson by being a completely conceptual music video. Supporting the idea that this video goes against many theorist’s ideas, Michael Shore says that all music videos are recycled styles that contain an information overload and reflect teenage male fantasies of girls, which is very much not the case from this video. It is worth considering that this is due to authenticity and deviation from mainstream culture being key in the indie rock genre. They will purposely change their way of doing things to stand out as individual, and it appears that is the case in this video.

Foals – Bad Habits

Just like in the Radiohead video, this starts off with an establishing shot, this time in a desert with one lonesome man (also Foals vocalist) on the floor at the end of a trail of footprints. The establishing shot zooms in as the music begins to play but never gets closer than a very long shot until the next cut. It follows the character as he stumbles around in the sand before cutting to a medium close of his face as he walks and as before in the last video; he is lip syncing the lyrics. It’s at this point where you begin to realise the common characteristics in this indie pop genre. The lip syncing appears to be key and once again the camera is hand held. A third common characteristic is that the shots are long takes. Most of the reference to Goodwin’s framework that we saw in the Radiohead video is also showed in just the first part of this Foals video.

 

At this point he is lip syncing the lyrics ‘don’t follow me’ and we can assume that he is running away and asking his friends and family not to follow him, which in Goodwin’s framework can be seen as illustrative, but then the shot changes to anther very long shot from behind him and this is the first time we see him following a girl, and we realise that the ‘don’t follow me’ lyric was something that she was saying to him. This can also be seen as illustrative but at the same time, viewed as amplified as well because it’s adding a double meaning to the fact that the male character is singing it.

 

As shown in the photo above, this references the notion of looking as well. He is looking at her as she walks away and he is following her. This is the first major difference to the Radiohead video in that the notion of looking supports the aforementioned Michael Shore theory that music videos are to support teenage male fantasies. Although at this point she is not viewed as a sexual object, we see her as something he is lusting after. However after a few more repeat close ups of the male character and a close up of the female character, we see a long shot of her and see she is completely naked, totally changing the aspect of the notion of looking in this video. Laura Mulvey argues that females have to watch music videos through the eyes of men due to the male gaze becoming more and more dominant in media even when the target audience is predominantly female. This is shown in this video by the various close ups which establish her as a sexual object followed by the long shots showing her entire body which leaves the male viewer feeling dominant as the figure is now small and in the distance.

 

It’s at this point in the video where the visuals start to react to the music and as in the Radiohead video, the shots cut to the music. This is another feature of both that I will look into applying to my video when the time comes, then the next few scenes show the ground opening up in front of him as if to say he has walked too far and he can’t go any further. This is an example of video where visuals amplify the meaning provided by the lyrics because at the time of this happening the lyric is ‘would you pray for me?’, and the ground opening up in front of him could be a suggestion of hell below him, especially as he is on his knees as if he is praying.

The idea of hell is later amplified by the male character finding the bones of a dead man in the sand using an aerial shot, and this could also mean a similar story of a previous lover lusting after this girl, to which the outcome is obvious. The close up of the skull and bones shows the emotion and the intensity of the discovery.

 

Later on, they use a fade out – fade in shot to represent time going by as he is still on this search for this girl, before a serious of extreme long shots as he runs into this newly formed area of structures where this girl is standing. This shows the idea of creation and the centrepiece of this newly formed area is a huge overpowering cross, resembling the idea of heaven, hell and religion. This is an example of amplified music video because although the video and song are really about him loving this girl and following her, it adds a second meaning of religion into the mix.

 

This is the final scene of the video, at which point he has travelled this distance only to see this girl and this new village crumble to sand in front of him. This doesn’t strongly tie in with any of Goodwin’s theory, it doesn’t represent genre characteristics and doesn’t tie in with the music or the lyrics, but we do see him looking so it slightly resembles the notion of looking, as is a running theme throughout the video. At this point, the previously discussed element of Laura Mulvey’s work suggesting that she is seen as a weak, controllable object is discarded as we see that she had managed to get this male character to follow her all this distance only to break his heart and them subsequently disappear herself. The extreme aerial long shots (shot at establishing shot distance but without the function) where they are both pictured show that he is no more dominant than her in this video.

To conclude, these videos both show the most common and simple characteristics of music videos like the male gaze, shot reverse shots etc, but clearly display that indie rock as a genre tends to display a more edgy and non-conformist attitude via music video. This has been achieved by the disjunctive theme in the Radiohead video, alongside the handheld camera and poor video quality, and the disregard for ideas from theorists such as Laura Mulvey, Sven E Carlson and Michael Shore shown in both videos