pre- production script

I will use different parts of the woods to film this music video, to keep it interesting

EXT.  woods - night 7.00am

a establishing shot of the sky with the stars shinning which moves to long shot of a girl walking through the woods. this is going to be followed by a continuity shot of her walking through the woods using different angles and a mixture of close-ups, mid shots and long shots.

EXT. woods -night 7.00am

the girl reacts the tree where there will be a dissolve of the boy she loved. then followed by a close-up and a extreme close-up. this is then cut between a long shot of the girl run down the woods past turning back to smile at the camera which will be positioned so that it appears she is smiling at the boy she loved. then a close up of the girl again to show their love has died.

EXT.  woods - night 7.00am

a eyeline match of the girl looking a the stream, then a mid-shot of the stream followed by a mid to long shot of the two walking down the stream together.

EXT. woods-early morning

a long shot of the girl lying on the woods thinking of the boy. it will also be a intertextual reference of the original music video where the girl burs into the background, which is what i will do.

EXT. woods -early morning

a close up of her hand on the wood crunching up the leaves on the floor. then a over the shoulder shot of the girl looking at the boy walking through the woods.

EXT. woods -early morning

long shot of the girl making her way through he trees, this is followed by a close up of her struggling  thinking of the boy. and then a low angle shot of her feet moving through the woods. ( she will be barefoot)

EXT. woods -early morning

montage shot which consists of close-ups, mid-shots and long shot.

EXT. woods

birds ye view of the girl lying down on the ground and them turning to look at the camera. this is an intertexual reference to the film Twilight and how true love never dies.

EXT. woods

a mid shot of the girl leaning on the tree thinking of the boy who will be dissolved in the background. there will also be a still of the girl thinking of the boy.

EXT. woods

this will be a reply of the beginning to show how she will never get over him and always think of him.

this is the finished short film i did using the shoulder mount

story board for my music video

i made a story board so that i have an idea about what my music video will look like. the storyboard is all narrative based instead of having some performance as well which would be like a traditional music video.

 my mood board

on my mood board i have written about models i could use, clothes she could wear, inspirational artists, camera angles and editing techniques i could use and i have also put in photos of the woods where i will film.

Day 4:

i decided to do a storyboard of my music video on this day as it is very important and needed to be done soon as i can't start shooting when i don't no what to base my scenes on. i finish my storyboard and will publish it once it has been checked. i have also decided to finish the editing of my shot video of Izzy today, all i need to do is cut down the video to about 3:50, add music and titles.

Day 3:

as i had a 50mins free i decided to edit my short film of Izzy. i cut down all the scenes i wanted after i keep a log on the scenes . however in class a small group of us decided to practise continuous editing as we would need to include this in our music videos. we filming as short sequence of a girl walking through a door to talk to her friend. we have decided to edit the film on Friday.

Pre Production

Day 2:

on day two i decided to do a mood board of different ideas and inspirations i had for my music video. i came up with a range of idea but mainly focused on the camera angles i would uses and the mise-en-scene of my protencial music video.

Pre-production diary

Day 1:

I decided for the first day of Pre- production to film the model i will be using for the music video. i filmed her in school in an activity to get a basic idea of what she would be like on camera. i filmed her using a hand held camera and a shoulder mount to see what effect this would have. i also used a range of different shots such as close- ups and long shots to see what this would look like.

The song I'm using and why I chose it

I have decided to use "Birdy's" song 'Skinny Love' for my music video, even though she already has a music video for this song i will make mine completely different. I decided to use this song as it is very powerful and mysterious, and I think I could create an unusual music video with this song.
I researched Birdy's record company (14th Floor Records) so I could ask for permission to use her song. this is what i wrote.

audience

my target audience is girls and boys aged 17-25. i have decided to target this age group this is the most popular age group that go online; this allows me to have a lot of people viewing my music video. i have set up my music video with some scenes and effects which will target both genders. i have targeted the girls by creating a storyline they can relate too, of having your heart broken by a breakup or in the case of this music video as death. i have also attracted boys to the music video by having an attractive female lead but i will also film the music video in a homemade video effect which will appeal to boys as they will feel apart of the storyline making it seem like they are the ones being with her.

Bullet point list showing the development of the music video from early films

1927 The Jazz Singer

This was the first “talkie” film. It showed the power of combining a film with music. The shock of hearing “Folks, you ain’t heard nothing yet” on an established medium like the silent movies changed the world for ever.

1933 42^nd Street

This was a Busby Berkeley choreographed musical. It was sexually charged with lots of females performed synchronised dance routines. It took the audience out of the despair of economic depression and made their lives exciting.

1955 Oklahoma

A film from the musical. This was the great age of musicals when songs and dances within a play helped the plot along and supported characterization.

1964 A Hard Day’s Night The Beatles

This film established the elements of the modern video. Its visual style of unconnected music and action placed the emphasis back on the music and away from the plot of traditional musicals. It was also promotional for the sale of albums and professionally directed.

1966 The Monkees TV series

This was a TV series with an assembled boy band that mimed to music. The format followed The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night with plotless anarchic youthful action linking songs that were heavily promoted as singles.

1975 Bohemian Rhapsody Queen

This short film was surrealistic rather than natural and aided the promotion of the music of bands that were not simply mainstream “pop” music, or popular, but were more pretentiously  “rock” music, and which was “art”.

1981 MTV

A television station devoted to music videos, where music and artists were promoted through not only the sound of their music but also the visual image. The video became critical in catching the eye as well as the ear of the audience.

1984 Thriller Michael Jackson

Music video goes Hollywood. This was a big budget music video made to the standards of a Hollywood film with special effects, choreography and professional direction.

1989 Like a Prayer Madonna

Madonna fully exploited the medium of the music video courting controversy with Catholicism and sexual themes. The music videos were very expensive to produce, designed to shock but made Madonna into the biggest selling solo artist of all time.

2005 Lily Allen on Myspace

The internet and social media broke the stranglehold of the professionally and expensively produced music video. The first artist to self promote and develop a following was Lily Allen.

This is a still from Paloma Faith’s music video- “Picking up the Pieces”.

I decided to write a textual analysis of the artist Paloma Faith as her songs are in the same genre I would like to make my music video –‘Chamber’ and ‘Indie pop’.

I chose this particular shot as I think the image sums up the song as it’s about feeling isolated as a result of unrequited love. The long shot of her on a bench shows how there is no one around, which makes her seem lonely and isolated. The washed out colours of the background and the bench add to the depressing atmosphere, as there is no vibrancy apart from her red hair, which makes her stand out. I think the reason she is sitting on a bench is not just because she is outside but because a bench is meant to be filled with people but as she is alone it shows her isolation because of unrequited love. The scale of the bench also adds to the feeling of being alone as it is too big for one person.

The old fashioned house behind Paloma is in contrast with her modern hair colour and her make-up as this adds to the feeling of her being out of place. From this shot I believe the artist is hyperconscious of her appearance, as the respectable, old-fashioned outfit doesn’t match her usual quirky style. This again links in to how she feels out of place and unloved. However, the bright colours of the outfit and hair colour do make her stand out, as she is the only lively thing in the shot.

The body language of the artist shows how she feels like an outsider, as she isn’t taking up much room. The high key lighting makes the shot seem believable, as it looks naturalistic. I don’t see any intertextual references with films or other music videos.

Comparison of three music videos

I have decided to compare three music videos, which have completely different genres. A music video is a short, moving image product, shot for the express purpose of accompanying a pre-existing music track and usually in order to encourage sales of the music in another format (generally CDs).

Firstly, I decided to looked at Rihanna’s “Russian Roulette” video and Taylor Swifts “we are never ever getting back together” Rihanna is known for R&B or soul genres whereas Taylor preforms more country pop.

Although the music videos were completely different, they both had the singer speaking to the audience, which is ‘direct address’. In Taylor Swift’s video she is constantly keeping eye contact with the audience, however, in Rihanna’s we only get glimpses of eye contact.

The camera shots for Taylor’s video are very simple. The story is linked together using a tracking shot and she is mainly in a mid shot. There are a few group shots with her and the dancers, but there aren’t any high or low angles of the camera. There is also a split screen between Taylor on the phone at her house and the boyfriend in a club on the phone.

 

Rihanna’s music video has more mixed camera shots, the shots consist of high angles to make Rihanna look powerless. The long shots also make Rihanna look vulnerable, as she appears smaller. There are also close ups between Rihanna and the man she is playing Russian Roulette with. Even though the camera angle is even between them, the reaction of Rihanna makes her the weaker character.

The speed of editing is also completely different between the videos. In Taylor Swift’s video the editing is very slow as it is a country pop song. However in Rihanna’s music video the editing it very quick in the flash backs but slows with the scenes when she is alone or with the man, which add tension between the characters.

The beginning of “We are never ever getting back together” starts with a asynchronous car honk and an establishing shot of the New York City apartment, which sets the scene. The music video also ends with the same shot of the apartment and the same car honk. In “Russian Roulette” there are a lot of extra sound effects especially in the beginning of the video. The hyperbolic sounds of the banging footsteps, the heavy breathing, the beeping of the machines and the noise of the cylinder spinning inside the revolver create an eerie and dangerous mood to the video.

Taylor Swifts music video has very simple lighting, however Rihanna’s music video has lights that flash to the beat of the music. When Rihanna sings ‘flashes before my eyes” the lights flash to the beat.  The music video mainly consists of top lighting. This use of lighting creates an eerie and dark atmosphere. There are also special effects in the music video where images of Rihanna move around in a circle just like the cylinder of a gun.

Unlike Taylor Swift’s music video which has a lot of locations, Rihanna’s music video only has three different locations; outside in the car, the jail cell and the scene where she in the sea.

After comparing these music videos I decided to compare Justin Bieber’s music video “As long as you love me”.  The music for this music video is a mixture of pop and rap from the artist Big Sean. There is a non-diegetic rumbling base sound, which becomes louder as the music video progresses. The asynchronous sound of the telephone is heard through the beginning sequence of scenes and finished just before the music starts when Justin is at the telephone booth. The footsteps of the dad walking are hyperbolic to exaggerate the danger of the character.

The widescreen shots of the music video give a cinematic effect, these shots have a mixture of close ups of the singer, telephone booth and the girlfriend. There are also mid-shots of the dialogue screens and long shots of the dance sequence. These shots are used in a standard music video. Justin also uses direct address in this music video, which is when the singer talks or sings to the camera and makes eye contact with the audience; this keeps them interested and makes them feel part of the video.

The fast cuts are meant to imply the memories of the couple together as they move through his head. The cuts are between the romantic flash backs of them together, the dance sequence and the fight scene between Justin and the father.

From the Romeo and Juliet storyline this music video is targeting teenage girls. The Island and Def Jam music group made the music video.

The lighting in the music video is very dark with the exception of the romantic clips between Justin and the girlfriend, where pastel lighting is used. The lights flash in time to the music and the fast cuts add tension to the story.

  

In conclusion, looking at Godwin’s Theory, Taylor Swift’s music video uses parody to mock herself in the video. She does this by talking to the audience in-between the song and using direct address whilst singing. ”Russian Roulette” doesn’t seem to parody anything, as it is a serious and dark music video. Taylor’s music video also uses pastiche, which is visual imitation; she does this by using props such as the cardboard car to imitate a real car. Justin Bieber’s music video uses intertextual referencing by creating a modern day Romeo and Juliet love story. In all the music videos the artist are hyperconscious as they all dress in a particular way. All the artist dress to appeal to their target audience. For example, Taylor dresses in typical teenage girl clothes, Rihanna dresses in dark and grey clothes to suit her music and R&B genre and Justin dresses in stylish outfits for his cinematic music video. 

Audience research

Questionnaire 

1. Gender: F/M

2. age: 11-14, 15-16, 17-20, older than 20

3. do you watch music videos?    yes/no

4. if yes where do you watch them?   Internet, music channels, other

5. what is your favourite genre?  pop, indie, soul, R&B, dance, country, other

6. what do you like to see in a music video?

7. do you prefer the females in the music video to be voyeuristic (virtuous) or fetishistic (sexual)

8. what type of music video do you like? narrative, performance, both

9. do you prefer music videos on bands or solo artists? 

10. why?

could you please answer these questions as it will help me narrow down what my music video will be like. thank you

About the artist

i have decided to use the artist Birdy, as i like her unusal lyrics and music.

Birdy was born on the 15th May 1996. Her real name is Jasmine van de Bogaerde. She was born in Lymington, Hampshire, England. She got her nickname from her parents who used to called her birdy when she was a baby.

When Birdy first composed the song I will be using (Skinny Love) she was 14 years old. This song was her first hit in the UK singles chart. Her songs have been copied by Ed Sheeran and The xx. The song Skinny love have also appeared in The Vampire Diaries.

Birdy's record labels are 14th Floor Records and Warner Bros. I will try to contact these people to see if i can use her song. if i cant contact her here i will try this website to assk permission birdymusic.co.uk

Casting

these are the women i was thinking off in casting for my music video. i wanted to have an attractive women to be my main star, because this would want to make not only girls  watch the music video over again as they can wish they were like them but also boys would want to watch the music video because of the sexual allure of the main character. 

even though the other models were very attractive i decided to go with the fourth model as she was a better actress. which is the most important part as the music video i want to do is more about emotions  and feelings the of lust and desires. 

different artists i could use

I have been thinking about different artists i could use for my music video. The artists and songs i might use are Birdy's song Skinny Love, Paloma Faith's song Picking Up the Pieces, Lana Del Ray's song Blue Jeans and Emeli Sande's song Next to Me. 

I think these songs will be a good chose as they are slow but don't follow a straight forward narrative, which is what i want to do. After making a practice music video of Katy Perry's song teenage dream i decided i wanted to make a practice video that is less straight forward. 

These artists all have different strengths that make them interesting and appealing to make a music video. However my favourite song is Birdy's Skinny Love because it has unusual lyrics that make the idea of the song confusing and not simplistic. 

narrative

Narrative videos are rarely complete and often in a montage style of editing. the storylines are in a non-linear order, which leaves the viewer with a desire to see the film again. Steve Archer says that music videos need "an extra aspect" or the "repeatability factor", sometimes the artist will be apart of the story, acting as the narrator and actor.

music video's allow the audience a different access points to the artist than a stage performance can. the close-ups on the artists face allows eye contract with the audience and allow the audience to feel close and involved in the video. it also allows fans to closely observe the facial gestures and presents the artist in a number of ways which wouldn't be possible in a live concert.

relationship storylines are often in a narrative order as part of the voyeuristic context by suggesting a setting associated with sexual allure .e.g. nightclubs.

i have decided to make my music video most narrative as i think makes the music video have a more 'watch-ablility' factor. i have decided to make my narrative music video about a girl and boy who have broken up because of a tragedy. i will include a few seconds of performance based clips just to break the storyline up a bit and to make the video seem dark and unclear.

Isabella Hannah and James Carolan will be the cast of my music video. izzy however will be featuring in the most part because she is the main character. i decided to choose these people as they are good actors and are attractive. even though i think women will find this music video more appealing as there is a sort of romance, by having an attractive women star in my music video it will appeal to men as well.

i have decided to have a non-linear narrative as i think this allows you to have more freedom experimenting with different scenes and shots. it will also make the music video seem darker and more sad if you know no exactly wants going on all the time. i wont have flashbacks but i will have overlaying shots of the characters seeming to be together when there actually not. i haven't planned to have a prologue however that might changed depending on what i film and if it suits the mood.

i found the Britney spears music video 'Everytime' inspiring so much so that i am planning on doing an intertextual reference with the scene in the bath tub. i thought the narrative of that music video was very gripping as it was so personal. i loved how you couldn't tell until the very end what was going to happen.