To prepare the filming for my rough cut, I had to organise a date which my two cast would be available on, and the best way I knew of arranging group events was through a social networking site such as Facebook. Therefore, my first step was to create the event and invite James and Lauren so they can tell me their thoughts and opinions as we go through filming.
Here, shows the event that I created to my cast. It will enable us to interact with one another with ease and arrange dates, times, and meeting places.
There will be roughly 4 different locations to shoot- some will take longer than others and some will be repeated more than others. It will need a lot of planning and patience but I know we'll get there eventually.
On the days of filming there will be certain hazards that must be taken into consideration and approached with caution. I have come up with some possible risks and solution.
At the beginning of the video it shows the aftermath of a party that happened the night before. As the main character wakes up he witnesses the aftermath of the night before- all of which he does not remember. As he gets up to try and remember what has happened he sees himself in a mask- the mask represents the other side to him and portrays a slightly schizophrenic-self.
After witnessing himself in the mask he tries to remember what happened by going upstairs to change. This action gets distracted when he sees there is some unknown female in his bed, confused and aggravated he leaves his room and goes down stairs to drink his tea. As he places the cup back down a wave of realization comes over him as he remembers the night before and begins to get wound up by his actions.
The lyrics contradict his actions "Yeah, yeah and it's ok" when it is obviously the opposite. "I tie my hands up to a chair so I don't fall that way, yeah yeah and I'm alright...I took a sip of something poison but I'll hold on tight". This part of the lyrics refers to suicide and ironically not being "alright". The main characters actions will portray this.
As the percussion of drums, bass and guitar begin in the bridge of the song, the main characters motif is displayed as he strolls along the river front as a way of releasing his anger.
"you play the game but you gotta cut, 'cuz you're comin' down hard, your joints are off stud" this part of the video is when he selects his prostitute and they exit down the alleyway together, the lyrics fit the actions perfectly.
As the main character returns from the alley he has lipstick down his face and looks particularly scruffy. He composes himself and the regret sets in and anger starts to well inside of him. As the chorus begins again, you see him unleashing his anger in numerous ways.
After this he returns to his home- again walking past the river front. Before he steps through his door he hesitates and the camera starts to do 360 degree shots all around his head displaying his emotions and eventually showing him in the mask, before eventually walking through the door. The hesitation is because knows in himself he will end up doing something else he regrets.
As he walks in he heads straight for the cupboard where he keeps his alcohol, he places everything he owns out onto the counter and debates where to start first. He begins to binge drink downing almost anything and everything. Stumbling around, he decides he should leave again. The final shot it him walking off into dark on the river front.
After completing my animatic, I now have a clearer understanding of what I want to include in my video in the way of effects
Slow Motion
After reviewing some other music videos based around a similar genre I have found that the use of Slow Motion is a very popular effect. My personal opinion on it is that I believe it would go well with my own video and that I would incorporate such an effect into my video, in places where it would be best suited. For example, I would use this effect where the main character got angry, upset and violent. The slow motion effect would accentuate the anger and highlight the moves to make it look more emphatic.
Angles
Angles often show power and emphasize emotion. A low angle shows power, superiority and importance(1). A high angle usually represents that the person is small, insignificant, unworthy, vulnerable or less superior to that of another. (2).
The idea that these angles portray different things could work work in my video could show the audience these different sides to my main character- one side being vulnerable, the other, powerful and fearsome.
(1)
(2)
Cross Dissolve
This is a transition where one image overlaps the other with a lower opacity then the image beneath. This gives the effect shown below, yet this is using 3 different images. It is an effective effect to use as it catches the audiences attention and makes them focus on the situation more. I would consider putting this in my own video, to emphasize certain scenes.
Focus Pull /Push Another effect that catches the viewers eye and makes them more concentrated on the situation. When the camera is out of focus you try and figure out what the image is until the image becomes focused. A focus PUSH is when the images goes from focused to unfocused. A focus PULL is when the image goes from unfocused to focused. I would like to include this into my video as I feel it could highlight different scenes and keep the audience/ viewer entertained.
Using a nifty little program called Garage Band I was able to edit my song to suit my music video perfectly.
Garage Band Logo
Showing my Song in Garage Band at the end of my editing
The original length was 4 minutes and 27 seconds long, I cut it down to be 4 minutes and 9 seconds long which enabled to work around the new length with ease. I first cut out the beginning 8 seconds of the song as the intro I believed would have been to lengthy for my idea, luckily as it was a riff I was able to cut it in half. I then used the remaining edited seconds to cut off of the end of the song as the ending- like the intro- was too long for my song. Instead I used a volume adjustment which allowed me to decrease or increase the volume within the song at a particular point that I chose.
This shows my volume decent near the beginning of the song to add extra effect on the video
This is my animatic, where I produced a total of 76 different frames to make up my video.
I made the frames by drawing them onto squares to represent the video screen. Drawing out a total of 76 frames proved to be a lengthy process and it was not long before I realised how much care and attention will need to be taken into consideration when I begin to film my music video. It was a very helpful process though as if I had not taken up this task then my video would not have been as prepared as what I can now make it, as I now know what is required to make my video look effective.
The video was made in "Final Cut Express", here I was able to edit and rearrange the audio and the images accordingly to the timing of the song. I also gained skills such as importing, exporting, rendering and organising.
Please note: Some of the frames are the wrong way round, although attempting to correct this, I failed many times as it did not work.
Showing Final Cut- all operations
Image Bar
Music Bar
Imported images waiting to be used
Video Area- Where the selected area in the Music and Image Bars are played in collaboration.
My music video would not be complete without a cast, I first had to find a main character who was male, and one who could actually portray what I was looking for.
He had to be able to show a variety of emotions and be able to not make it look fake. It did not take me long to figure out who would be the perfect candidate for the role, and very luckily, he agreed!
The main character
James Mann - Main character
Age- 17 years-young Clothing when filming?- I want it to be a stereotypical look so that the genre is easily recognised by the audience. This would typically be "boat shoes", chinos, a large sweat top or hoodie and perfectly styled hair which is most commonly found in the indie genre.
Portrayals? I want James to channel many different emotions. Mainly- regret, but also, anger, sadness and portray a delusional state. The anger is bought on by regret and the sadness sets in after the anger when he regrets his actions. The prostitute is an example of his delusional state, also when he returns to his house and binge drinks. These emotions should portray a sense of fear to the audience and I want James to be able to give of this sense. It is not easy to do but I will show him and guide him to my needs.
The "Prostitute"
The next role I needed to find was the girl who could play the prostitute in the alley. With no intention of offending I asked a few different people, but in the end I chose a very close friend of mine. (and because I know she can pull it off!)
Lauren Moran- Prostitute
Age- 17 years-young
Clothing when filming?
Although it requires some element of "exposure" such as legs, arms and cleverage- as it is winter I want to be able to have a similar effect however, without her being too cold. Therefore I will have her in tights that are slightly "fish-net" with a short dark coat that sits off of her shoulders and tall black heels. I will also do her make-up- I do not want it to look "slutty" yet, the make up will consist of fake eye-lashes, bright lipstick, and pencilled on eyebrows (that are subtle). Her hair will be down and straightened, however I want it to look a bit messier- to do this I will hairspray it in place.
Portrayals?
Quite simply to seduce James and lure him into the alleyway. This will not be difficult as will James be looking for a "good time" and is easily seduced by Lauren. She will have to give off a sense of need, want and temptation, along with sexiness. After he walks away, Lauren will show her own sense of regret and also loneliness as James walks away, as all she wants is someone to love her and not to be used as just a cheap, easy, toy. The only way she knows of in getting this is through prostitution which contradicts her own wants and needs.
This is my Storyboard for my video. It is my first stage in Planning for my music video before the first day of filming starts. It shows what research I have done and what gives some insight to what the video will be themed on, where it will be located, and what will aid me with the outcome.
When looking at different music channels in which my song would fit in I had to consider what ones would play a basic Indie genre as a whole instead of focusing on the main sub genre of Indie rock. I decided that Sky would be a suitable source where our music channel would come from. This is because Sky is one of the biggest Television providers in the UK and has a vast amount music television channels with a wide variety of genres. By using Sky I have picked out six potential channels I felt could possibly broadcast my music video according to genre. The channels are:
All of these logos are easily recognised by the public ad even more so by those who listen to music channels. Even those who do not listen to music channels would be able to tell that it was in some form of music broadcasting due to the fact that most of them have the word music in them or are recognised to be a form of music broadcasting
I believe that these five music channels suit my targeted audience and potentially could show my video. For example, 4Music usually broadcasts festivals throughout the year which contain indie content, which is my genre. Viva on the other hand ranges from different genres as it broadcasts weekly hits. The genre ranges from Indie, Pop, Hip-Hop, Rock etc. Q has evolved through the years, as in years gone by they only used to broadcast Rap and RnB songs. Now they broadcasts Indie music, which shows that Indie music is on its way up and becoming more popular. Ironically this is was never intended as Indie was meant to be "individual" and out of mainstream.
After story boarding and coming up with my idea, I needed to look at locations and where I want to film my music video. I have decided to use my local area of Greenhithe, more specifically Ingress Park, which has the Thames located on one side of the estate, there is also extensive woodland with nature trails within the estate. The main feature of the park is the abbey. The abbey holds many historical features and in centered around houses and apartments with surrounding woodland. I believe this will be a perfect setting for my video.
By using Google Maps and Street View I was able to obtain these images:
The copyright holders of the chosen track is Sony Music Entertainment. Surprisingly I found it difficult to find a e-mail in which to contact the Sony Copyright team. However, I did eventually find it and so e-mailed my request of permission to copyright.agent@sonymusic.com
This is my e-mail I sent to the company:
After e-mailing this company they replied back to me with this e-mail.
(click to enlarge)
In response to this I followed the link to where I had the choice of either e-mailing the New York or Los Angeles offices where they deal with the TV, Film and advertising licensing. I have now e-mailed the New York office and am waiting for their reply.
The song is about the effects of sex and its consequences. I am using this music video as I believe its conventions are portrayed effectively, and reflects Andrew Goodwins theory perfectly- as it "illustrates, amplifies" and "contradicts" the lyrics effectively. There are two main characters to this video The woman who we are introduced to first, and her husband, who appears further into the music video.
The first thing you see at the beginning of the video is a woman's feet on frame which then moves to her torso showing off a fancy coat- and finally you see her head. However, it is not as you would expect to see a humans head.
It is inside a fish tank filled with water and fishes. At first this seems a bit odd, however, as the video goes on you then find out that the fish inside the tank are metaphors. The fish in the individuals tanks represent how many people that person has slept with. It is not just this woman who wear the tank, everyone in the video has their own tank with their own amount of fishes inside, (representing how many people they have also slept with).
The woman continues to walk as the lines of the first verse are recited, they frames are of a mixed length some being longer than other and some that are short and sweet to the point for example, the portrait frames of other individuals showing their tanks with fishes inside.
The woman passes these two people and carries on further down the street. She then stops as she notices water on the ground. flowing towards her feet. The lyrics at this point suggest some nervousness as it sings "and your heart is racing as your fingers touch his skin". Although with a sexual meaning behind it there is an element of double entendre as it hints that something has happened to someone she knows. This is highlighted by the high angle of the camera as she begins to follow the trail of water.
As she follows the trail of flowing water, the audience soon realises that the water must have come from one of the fish tanks, as the woman who follows the trail sees a small fish in the middle of the trail, picks it up, and adds it to her collection fishes. This is another metaphor which indicates that who ever was the owner of the tank, she had slept with. This could also represent that she has cheated on a potential partner that at this moment in time we assume she has.
After adding the fish into the tank, she begins to walk on and follow the trail once again. The video displays the street she is walking down until the chorus ends and the bridge starts. This is where she discovers that it is her husband/partner who has died in the act of suicide, by breaking/smashing his tank so all of the water pours out. We assume yet again that this is because of her "cheating" as he only has one fish in his tank (owned by the woman) yet she has many, which is proved by the act of her taking the fish from the ground before discovering her dead spouse.
The bridge highlights this event as it goes "So I guess we're back to us, oh cameraman swing the focus, in case I lost my train of thought, where was it that we last left off?". This is sung as she looks down at the body of her partner, and begins to kneel to where he is laying, and the lyrics highlight her feeling with the "focus" and "trail of thought" as the shock of his death would spark many new emotions for her including coming to terms with his death- "where was it that we last left off?"
After this the final verse begin which while sung, shows the flash backs of them both getting married, having a laugh and a good time together and all of their memories. "oh now I do recall, we were just getting to the part where the shock sets in, and the stomach act finds a new way to make you sick"- can be interpreted as the shock of the finding of her dead husband and how this is a unique and completely new feeling of being "sick"
After the flashbacks and the chorus reciting "lets get these teen hearts beating faster faster" it shows two emergency vehicles pulling up to the scene to investigate what's happened.
However, as they pull up the woman kills herself by emptying her own tank. This shows that although she may have slept around and not been entirely faithful she still loved him none the less, and in so cannot live without him.
And as she is tipping the water out of her tank, the frames of flashbacks increase in speed and show the "life flashes before her eyes" as she dies.
The emergency team see the dead lovers and begin to prep them for the after life by placing them in bath tubs and transporting them to the ocean, the chorus of "lets get these teen hearts beating faster and faster" is ironic as they are both dead and they're heart rates have actually ceased at this point.
As the lovers are put into the ocean by the medics they become alive again, similar to that of a fish, and your final frame of the video is them in each other's arms in the sea submerged in the water.
