Music Video

Evaluation:

After creating the song "Falls In", I had some friends listen to it for feedback, everyone who listened said that they pictured a slow-motion fight between loved ones or fog over an ocean. This gave me the idea to use my song and create this music video. It internally started off as an idea of a couple getting into arguments and breaking up and showing the aftermath of a break up from the males perspective. During the time of gathering ideas, there was news of men committing suicide and going through depression without seeking help or feeling like they could talk to someone as they had to perform their "masculine" traits. This gave me the idea to make my music video into a male suicide and depression awareness music video.

During the filming process, we found it difficult to film shots the way we envisioned due to our budget, small spaces to work with, the weather and the amount of time we had left to film and edit. However, I am pleased with the cinematography overall but feel like we didn't have enough footage or different camera angles of the same scenes to keep the music video interesting with enough cuts as the music video feels more like a short film than an actual music video. I feel as leaving the colour blue in the present day shots and making the flashbacks in full colour helped to both set the mood of the times and how the character feels as well as differentiate between present day and the past. During editing, I also added in a glitch effect to making the video feel distorted as it would be inside the mind of someone with a mental illness such as depression. I also tried to keep the cuts as high as I could with the use of foreshadowing by quickly cutting to scenes seen ahead in the music video whilst the glitch effect happened.

One main challenge we found in a group was editing the footage to fit the entire length of the song (5:24) without using the same footage too many times and without cutting the song down. I managed this by using the same footage where it was appropriate in foreshadowing or flashbacks, I also reversed the entire music video towards the end of the song to rewind the viewer all the way back to the beginning to remind them where it all started as well as an extra "your life flashes before your eyes". At the end of the video whilst the music dies down, I also added in some facts about male suicide I found from "the Samaritans" website about male suicide rates and asked people to seek help if they're fighting the same battle of depression as well as reminding the viewers that "it's ok not to be ok" which I feel is an important ending to the music video reminding the viewers that they don't have to perform masculinity and it's ok to seek help when they need it.

I'm extremely happy with the feedback I've gotten from my music video. Friends and family have said they're amazed by it, people complimenting me on how deep it is, how it's a message that needs to be sent out there, sharing it on Facebook asking people to watch it, comments left on the video on YouTube and Facebook saying that "it hit them in the feels" and "the production is beautiful".                      

Locations

My house, private area, will be able to film without interruptions with good lighting too. Open spaces with big rooms, less chances of injury

Galley Common bridge on the dark track, relatively clear from people, very muddy, chances of injury due to slipping in the mud, rocks sticking out of the mud (could trip), glass, branches, falling from the bridge/high up.

Devils Drop bridge in Bedworth, alternative to the Galley Common Bridge, less clear from people than Galley Common, very muddy, chances of injury due to slipping in the mud, rocks sticking out of the mud (could trip), glass, branches, falling from the bridge/high up.

Meg's house, alternative to my house, private area, will be able to film without interruptions with good lighting too. Open spaces with big rooms, less chances of injury

Contingency Plan

Green Screen:
Use a bed sheet as a blue screen
Only use a close up - makes it easier to look realistic
Find a new way to end the music video - make it more suggestive

Bridge Location:
Two separate locations, one in Galley Common and one in Bedworth/Coventry
Or find a new way to end the music video - make it more suggestive

Weather Conditions:
A little bit of rain/cloudy will help set the mood, lighting doesn't have to be the best as inside we'll use artificial lighting and outside shots will be in black and white

Health and Safety:
Try to be as safe as possible to prevent injuries
if serious injuries do occur, call an ambulance, take them to a safer location and treat the injuries if possible.

Hardware:
Make sure all cameras and lights keep dry and full charged before shooting
Have spare batteries and SD cards ready

Scheduling: 
Have extra days for recording certain scenes just incase people have to go earlier than they're needed for or the shots didn't go to plan

Props:
Don't smoke all of my cigarettes before hand
Make sure we have spare bowls/plates - break them safely, pick up any bits of broken bowls to prevent cuts and scrapes.

Questionare

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SQZRBMG

Carol Vernanalysis - The Kindest Cut (2001)

Carol Versailles' music video theory in her academic work 'The Kindest Cut" (2001) is similar to that of Andrew Goodwin's, however, there are quite a few differences. She explores the methods found between film and music video editing.

There are four main parts to here theory are:

Narrative
Editing
Camera Movement And Framing
Diegesis

Narrative:
She states that "Narratives in music videos are not always complete" allowing the music being to be open to audience interoperation, getting people to discuss the meaning and ending behind the music video and "Music videos are not always balanced between performance and narrative" meaning that some music videos have more of a narrative story than the artists/performance and others revolve around the artists/performance than the story. This is seen commonly in pop music videos.

Editing:

She states that "The rules of continuity editing are broken to draw attention to what is happening on screen" and that "edits may be really obvious to draw attention to themselves" this can be done by the use of special effects. Jump cuts are also used a lot during music videos, these can help edit to the beat of the song and/or to the lyrics. She also states that "A master shot is frequently used to give the video a structure" this is a shot/scene/location that is often brought back multiple times during the music video. An example of this is the hallway shot in Britney Spears - "...One More Time".

Camera Movement And Framing:

Vernallis says that establishing shots of the location and close-ups of the subject(s)/star(s) are frequently used in music videos, the camera can also be moved in time with the beat and/or the lyrics of the song. The framing of the music video usually depends on the genre of the music video itself. 

Diegesis:
This is a narrative or plot, typically in a film however can be applied to music videos.Vernallis says that there can be a lot of repetition of shots and certain frames can be highlighted more than others (the master shot) due to the fact that the actions in a music video may not always be comparative and can be left unfinished.   

Mood Board

Lots of warm lighting, bright oranges, red and yellows for the flash back scenes for a feel good vibe and representation of the past being a warmer and a better time.

Present day scenes, all in black and white but with blue as the primary colour to show the present being darker, dull and more depressing which will be represented with the colour blue.

Music Video Analysis

All My Life analysis from Jack Martin on Vimeo.

Andrew Goodwin - Dancing In The Distraction Factory (1992)

Goodwin's theory in his book "Dancing In The Distraction Factory" (1992) states that there are a set of six key features which apply to all music videos, all music videos have at least one of these aspects if not more.

A relation between lyric and visuals:
In this aspect, we look at how the lyrics associated with the visuals, how a narrative is formed if there is a storyline that the viewer will follow, and if that story is loose knit or tight with a very clear message. This can be done in one of these three (or more than one):

Illustrated:
Examples of lyrics being illustrated are when you can see the action that the lyric is - if the lyrics were "I close my eyes" you would see someone on screen close there eyes. The lyrics could be seen on screen, or a very common one, the lyrics could be lip synced.

In "Graffiti On The Train" you can see the lyrics being illustrated by them being both lip-synced and appear on the screen throughout the entire video. 

Amplified:

This is where the lyrics are stressed on screen. If the lyrics again were "I close my eyes" instead of seeing someone close their eyes, you would see the effect of it. The screen would go black or some lights would turn off to make the room darker. 

This can be seen in Katy Perrys "Firework" where she sings the lyrics "Cause, baby you're a firework" whilst fireworks shoot out of her. I believe this amplifies her lyrics as it shows the effects of her metaphorical lyrics becoming a reality.

Contradicted:

This is where the video show's the opposite of what the lyrics are trying to convey. A way this could be done is if you were to have a music video of someone crying their eyes out to Pharell Wiliams' "Happy".

A relation between music and visuals:
Much like the previous video elements, here we are looking at how the music and visuals of a video create a narrative and a story for the viewer and what effect this has.

Illustrated:
Much like the lyrics, the music can be illustrated on screen, this can be done by having people play the instruments you can hear on screen. If you could hear a piano, you would illustrate this by having someone play the piano in the video.

In Slipknots "Psychosocial" you can see the music being illustrated with the band playing their instruments on screen in this music video, you can see each guitar strum or drum hit matching up with what you can hear.

Amplified:

This is where you would show the effect on the music, usually in a creative way. If there were a cymbal crash in the song, you could amplify this with a plate being smashed, or someone being slapped.

In The Chemical Brothers' "Star Guitar" the music is amplified throughout the entire song with new objects coming into shot in time with the song. Walls get higher as effects are added, the train pulls up to the station and you see people when the vocals start, new objects are brought onto the screen the match the beat.

Contradicted:

You'd contradict the music in a music video by showing something on screen that doesn't match what the music feels like, you could have someone playing acoustic guitar in a meadow for a music video for a heavy metal song. In this sense, to contradict the music for a music video, you use juxtaposition.

Genre:
Goodwin states that there are five types of genres for a music video.

Stadium Performance:
This is when the music video is shot in a stadium/arena. A setting where the band would play, where you would go see them live.

An example of this would be Avenged Sevenfold's "This Means War" where it shows scenes of them performing live at a stadium in front of their fans, even including the fans shouting and chanting during the song in the official music video as well as close-ups of the audience to give the viewers a feel of what it would be like to watch them live in the crowd.

Studio Performance:

This genre of music video is where the viewers see the artists in the recording studio giving the viewers a feel as they are part of the process of recording the music itself.

An example of this would be "Moment" by Roses & Revolutions where you see them recording their song with all their instruments mic'd up whilst they play giving the viewers a feel of what it would be like to record with them.

Location:

This is when a music video is filmed in a famous location such as New York, London or Paris as these famous locations are places the viewers could also visit and easily recognisable. 

Narrative:

This type of music video is when a story is played out to the music, which usually encodes a deeper meaning to the song/lyrics for the audience to follow. The narrative can include the artists themselves our other people such as actors, dancers or even everyday people. The narrative can have a clear meaning of what it's trying to convey or it can keep it's meaning vague, allowing it to be open to interpretation and allowing the audience to connect their own feelings to it. 

Sia's "Elastic Heart" has a narrative which is vague, allowing the audience to discuss their own ideas what the music video is about, this has surfaced many ideas on what this music video is about from Sia's relationship to her dad, how people can be animalistic to even pedophilia.

Conceptual/Experimental:

These music videos break regular conventions of music videos creating their new artistic ways of presenting their music.

In "Cornflake" by Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, you can see an extremely experimental animated music video. It uses a lot of vibrant colours, weird animation style and a narrative which you'd have to be an active audience to fully understand, stuff a passive audience wouldn't understand especially as this song focuses mostly on the music rather than lyrics.

Voyeurism:

Voyeurism is the objectification of men and women in music videos in order to get a certain element of appeal for the viewers. This however often applies far more to women than men and despite it causing an uproar with feminists, it continues to happen. This often happens in intimates locations such as a bedroom or bathroom so that the viewers can gain a higher sense of voyeurism.

Voyeurism can be clearly seen in Rhianna's "Stay" as we see her naked in a bathtub with lots of fragmentation of her body allowing the audience to see things they would never normally get the chance to see.

Star Iconography:
Star iconography refers to the representation of the "characters" in the video which is often the band members/artists. They are represented in a way that shines them in the spotlight - it is often the singers that are focused on as they are the "voice" of the band/their name which is what is recognised by their fans. they are in the spotlight in order to get their face out into the public and be seen as "stars" in their fans eyes as well as gain further credibility.

Intertextuality:
This is where the music video references other music videos, films or tv shows. This can be done either as a homage where reference it to pay respects to the creators, a pastiche where they mimic it in a sarcastic way or even as a parody where they make fun of the original.

Intertextuality can be seen throughout Charli XCX & Troye Sivan "1999" where they reference popular music videos, films and tv shows all from the 90s.

Music Video Ideas

Use my own song (Falls In)

1:
Non linear narrative
Couple gets into argument - no diegetic sounds, only the music but can see the shouting, close ups is slow motion of their faces
One of them goes off for a walk from anger
During the "build up" there's a reverb trail that plays before a small drum fill that goes into the drop, this can be used for a slow motion effect right before the character gets killed, attacked or kills themselves (jumping off a bridge etc)
during the drop flash backs to when they were happier in a very warm lighting as the character falls in slow motion
close ups on their face during the breaks of the flashbacks to show their regret
second verse - second character goes out to find them (they've been gone all day)
Second Drop - She finds him dead, camera starts on a close up oh her face and slowly pulls away to reveal the depression and loneliness she now feels

1.2:
Could also reverse the video entirely to find out why he killed himself

2:
Same as idea number one to start
Girl leaves in anger
During the build/drop guy gets a phone call (he assumes she's killed herself)
During second verse, guy leaves to kill himself
Second drop - flash backs on his happier life with her
Reveals girl is actually still alive, hears that someone's jumped off the bridge near her and finds him dead (ends the same as the first one)

3.
Present day is black and white (blue is still there) flash backs very warm lighting, contrasts present day
Same start
Instead of angry walk, it's the next day, he comes home to find a note from his wife/girlfriend (she's left)
First drop is a depression montage
Second drop is the suicide + flash backs
Hits the ground on the last crash
Slowly pans away from his body
End of the video show's a suicide/depression awareness message saying it's okay for guys to seek help and talk about it all

4 Hour Film Challenge - Edit To The Beat Of A Song

For this 4 hour film challenge we had to find/record footage and edit it all together to the beat of a song, so the could be a cut or something happening within the shot on the beat.
The song I chose was Mr. Blue Sky due to it's 4 to the floor beat and how it would juxtapose my footage of people getting hurt.

In total this took 50+ clips to edit into this and they're all unique which made the editing process that bit longer. Personally I feel as this challenge went better than expected as it was just something funny and goofy however I feel as some of the clips could have been a bit tighter with the beat and some critic I got was that there could have been some rhythmic variation throughout my edits.

I used speed ramping from the techniques I learnt to help keep clips in time with the song as well as unlinking audio to the video to have the impact noise at the same time as the impact happened. I had to do this due to the fact light travels faster than sound but having them both at the same time added more impact to the beat.

Easy Rider Analysis

The scene starts with a medium four shot of the group - 2 men and 2 women all late 20s early 30s. This scene was shot with a 16mm camera giving it a grainy dirty look. This depicts the grubby lifestyle and situation they are currently in, drinking, smoking and taking acid in a cemetery. This scene is heavily accompanied by the sound of machinery making their dialogue almost inaudible. This scene is shot in a linear style with the same camera angle until the group take the acid tabs. Once their acid tabs settle into their systems we cut to a low angle shot of an old rundown build with the hand half camera slowly panning from left to right soaking the scene in lens flairs as a religious speaker talks about heaven. Heaven is usually depicted as a blinding white light when you die which matched the lens flairs and dialogue on in this scene. During this highly experimental stage, the director and camera crew begin to break standard filming rules that were set during the time of their filming like zooming directly into the sun. This is all done to remind the audience their watching a film rather than immersing them into it. The use of relatively fast pace editing, the non linear scenes going forward and backwards in time repeatedly within a small amount of time is supposed to represent the acid trip the group is on and give the audience the confusion and the disturbance of this acid trip that the group themselves would feel. As the cast of this production actually took acid for this scene everything that happens in unscripted making this acid trip and the actions of the cast that more authentic.