Storyboard - 1st Draft

Storyboard - 1st (and last hopefully) draft!

My friend Ben handed me my storyboard today, and I must say, he done a great job! It looks like it took him ages ...
To add the finishing touches, I went over the outlines in biro pen (he did it in pencil) and I coloured it in using felt tips. Unfortunately, I did not anticipate the fact that the pen would go right through to the other side, so I ended up with my colouring on both sides, sort of ruining the pictures! I have tried to save it as best I could, and to be fair, it still looks pretty good.
I will add a guide as to what is going on soon though, with all the timings etc

Here it is:

Side One

Side Two

Update 27/09/13

Update 27/09/13

With my song totally chosen, and my idea fully mapped out, I am very excited about getting the filming underway. I know what I need to do, and roughly how I am going to do it; however, I have no real set actors as of yet. I have an idea of who I want to be in it, I just need to ask them!
Locations are all ready as Dad has kindly let me use our house for a party scene, and all the rest is easy to do.

I have asked a friend who is a keen animation artist to draw my storyboards for me. I made a really basic one, but it looked awful, and I didn't believe for one second that it was 'blog worthy', so he kindly accepted to do it. He tells me they should be done for tomorrow, so I am very excited to see them! 

Overall, the project so far is looking good, so hopefully they come out as good on the camera, as they have in my mind! 

Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire Results

After having made a survey on SurveyMonkey the results are in. Unfortunately, it is not possible to embed the results in anyway, so I have had to screen shot the results.
Admittedly, it is not formatted in the best way, I hoped it would have been better - But despite this, from the actual website the data is clear and fully understandable, so the benefit to me is far better than it may come across here! 

I copied and pasted what I could, but some data had to be typed up by myself ...
Respondents that didn't answer a question is marked with "No Preference"

As you can see from the respondents, I attempted to ask people in my target audience category - Young adults. This would obviously give me the best results, ones tailored for what I needed. I asked a couple of people outside the target audience, to also gain insight into what they thought as well ...

A SWOT analysis

A SWOT Analysis - Tongue Tied

I have tried to find out what some of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats are to the song that I have chosen to do. Despite this technically being something I learnt from business studies, usually used to assess a business making a choice, I decided that the same principle could be applied for my song choice. 

I listened to the song (without looking at the video) and then decided what it is good/bad for. I jotted them down and later made a poster ... 

Performance

Performance Based Scenes - How Do You Do Them? 

I intend on having a few scenes which contain performance, to fill some gaps and to make the video more interesting. I wasn't really sure how to do it - so I researched some videos that are predominantly performance based and tried to pick up on some hinters as to what I should try and do during these scenes.

Below is a video by Bon Jovi - Called "It's my life'

From this video I have learnt that a majority of the shots are of solo people, flicking between different members of the group. A few shots of multiple members are used, but not as much as there are of solo artists. Something that I hadn't thought about was the use of audience. Many fans are used in this video, and I think that is awesome, and I would like to do that myself. Also, one main colour is used within this, and is mainly blue. I don't know if this has a meaning or not, I don't think it does?!
Finally, something else which is quite important, is that no shot on the artist is too long. It is flicked between the kid running along and all different artists.

Synopsis:

• One artist at a time (most of the time)
• A few multiple shots (two shots etc)
• Shots of the crowd
• Lighting held at a couple of colours, maybe even one
• Not done for too long
• Flicks between narrative and performance 

Genre Analysis

Genre Analysis - Indie Rock

'Tongue Tied' (the song I chose) fits in the indie rock genre. Grouplove cover several different music genres throughout their songs, mainly something around this genre, but with slight tweaks.

Indie rock is a fairly modern genre which came about in the 1980's and became more and more popular towards the 2000's. It originated from the term "independent"and follows the 'do it yourself' attitude. This genre is slightly associated with 'low budget' labels - however, now-a-days it is quite a popular direction to take, as the 'down to Earth' idea becomes more and more popular with consumers (studies show). Indie rock is very mainstream and features the obvious instruments; guitar, bass keyboard and vocalist.

The indie rock music video predominately features a narrative with very small, short aspects of performance. This is mainly done because an indie rock song will often have a meaning behind it - therefore the supporting music video will have a relation behind it, to support the narrative of the song.

Below is a very stereotypical, particularly famous indie rock song.  

This video shows all aspects of the traditional codes and conventions of indie rock videos except from the fact that there is no performance based scenes. This includes:

• Close ups on characters
• Narrative 
• Small aspects of concept (magician) 
• Link between visuals and lyrics
• Scene change to the beat of the music - This was only used a couple of times, but used effectively

I intend on using all of these aspects (except from concept) in my video. I wouldn't use concept because I feel there is no real place for it. The whole story I will be doing is narrative based, but you only really can tell at the end - Really it would appear quite concept based, but its not!

Questionnaire

Survey Monkey Questionnaire

I made a quick survey on survey monkey and posted it on twitter, for people to fill out - hopefully I should get a few responses!

Below is a link to the survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2GT3NRF

I will post the results on Friday next week ...

Analysis of Real Music Videos (4)

Tongue Tied - Grouplove

Seeing as I have changed my song choice, I doing an analysis on this song as well, as I done that for the others. 

There is an establishing shot at the very beginning of the video, showing us the field in which the main character ends up in. This then changes to a high angle shot, possibly done on a a small crane, or standing on top of something. This shot gives a good perspective to the mess that he's in! Lots of close ups are used after this. This could be down to a contractual agreement between the director and the record label (one of goodwins theories) or to show his facial expressions, as it turns out he has taken drugs, and they are trying to get across his feelings and emotions he is going through, as he 'trips out'.

Then lots of mid shots and long shots are used. They are quite basic really, and not done for any real purpose, apart from to show the people behind him as he is running, and to show him in general. There is a really great bit of camerawork at the beginning by the paddling pool. The reverse motion begins, and to go from morning to night, the camera looks up during day time, and goes back down as it changes to night time. I like the use of this shot, mainly because I think it is a cool shot and kind of goes with the whole theme of the song - PARTY! 

Not many fancy aspects of editing are ventured into within this music video. The obvious one that stands out, is the fact that the video is in reverse mainly, except from the start. The film is shot forwards, and will be put in reverse during the editing stage, this give it a realistic feel, because if you tried to do it backwards, it would look awful, unless you were a very skilled actor/actress! Most of the time, quick cuts are used to keep it quite simple, but every now and then (not very often) cross dissolves are used, probably to represent his mind playing up from the drugs. Also, a few times, an effect which sort of looks like a 3D screen when you're not wearing glasses. I love this, because again it represents his mind playing games with him, which is the whole narrative to the story - this is the same with the use of most of the slow motion, although some of the slow motion may be used, purely so the audience can get a good solid look at the party atmosphere to get them buzzed!

The main charcters costume (despite it hardly being a costume) is just a pair of trousers - no shirt. This is obviously shown to us at the very beginning, so we gather the idea that the film is going to rewind into some kind of party, because people do crazy things at parties! As it goes back, we see him acquire a shirt which matches the wall. This again is the director showing us that his mind is playing tricks on him. He gets back into his original grey t shirt. This could be subtle representation for the fact that he is quite boring a dull, and the drugs change him completely. The 'bad guys' are fully suited and wearing a mysterious face mask each. This is a completely random costume - again another bit of representation for the fact that he is spinning out. Everyone else at the party is in casual clothing, to show that they are just normal people. Right at the end, when we find out that the party he's at actually isn't happening, and he's actually at some really crappy party, we see that everyone is wearing dull clothing - telling us that really, he is just a loser and not one of the 'in crowd'.

The main settings are all meant to be a streotype for what happens to a teenager when at a party, we start of in a house, go out onto the streets and end up in some random field in a paddling pool; something that happens to everybody! All these settings are just representative to the average teenage party. 

The make up is fairly basic. The girls are all 'dolled up' but nothing too outlandish and the guys are just guys! This is obviously done to keep it as casual as possible, in an attempt to connect with the target audience; teenagers - If they went out dissing teens, saying they over do the make up, or something, the teens may feel disconnected and not enjoy it. 

Finally, the lighting is all basic. When inside, it is lit to a degree where it just appears as what you'd expect from a normal house. Outside during daytime, the lighting is all natural from the sun. When dark, however, there are light tints of unnatural lighting, so that you can actually see the character, but not to an extent where it becomes stupid.

Overall, I like this video, and hope to take some of the ideas used in this video, and incorporate them into my own, for instance, the idea of the pan up/down during a time change. I also liked the hidden narrative that you only discover at the end. I have no intentions however, on doing a complex narrative!

Update - 19/09/2013

Update - 20/09/2013

After attempting to whip up a decent draft for a storyboard, I realised all three of the songs I chose may be quite difficult to get perfect, I decided to have a look into a new song choice. I found this really hard to find a song that I like, and that I believe could have a good video alongside it.

I just checked the video as I was writing this update out, just to check that its not too similar to the plan I have written out. It takes the theme of a party, but goes about it in a completely different way to what I had in mind, so that's good.

This is the song that now looks like what I WILL be doing ... 

I believe this song has far more potential for me to make a good video, and also gives off a better opportunity for me to use some of the technologies, such as split screen, and green screen, which are embedded into my plan.

Hopefully it comes out well! A fully detailed storyboard will be on soon, explaining my idea step by step.

The History Of Music Videos

Timeline

Director Study - Richard Ayoade

Director Study - Richard Ayoade

Richard Ayoade is the director of one of my three choices - Fluorescent Adolescent. I have decided to do a study on him, based on this.

Richard was born in London England, to a Nigerian father and a Norwegian mother. They later moved to Ipswich, where Ayoade's career began. 

Ayoade is more known for his work in television, where he has played several different roles. He has also done quite a bit of film work as well. Recently his name is getting more and more 'out there', due to his major role in the hit series 'IT Crowd'. He won awards for this role, and since then, has began appearing in bigger programs.

Ayoade has done quite a bit of work with Arctic Monkeys recently, directing three music videos with them, and directing their DVD "At The Apollo" which won an award for 'Best DVD' at the NME awards. As well as this, he has worked with 'Super Furry Animals', 'The Last Shadow Puppets', 'Vampire Weekends' and quite a few more. 

After doing a bit of deeper research into his work, it turns out that I am not really a huge fan of his work. I think it is a little bit boring and its just something that doesn't really interest me. Maybe this is a hint to do something fun and exciting? I have found an example of his work; some he done with 'The Last Shadow Puppets' called 'Standing Next To Me'. The video is below:

This video is all performance based, with the one turn around to the dancers and the film crew. This is quite odd for a song of this genre. Usually in the indie based genre, we see a mixture of narrative/concept with performance filming going inbetween it, but this is solid performance. This shows that Ayoade is a director who likes to challenge Codes & Conventions (which is also backed up by the fact that the others I watched were similar) which is not a problem at all; however, I have struggled to connect with the majority of his work. I like Fluorescent Adolescent, but I think that's just because I think the video is cool, as opposed to having real aesthetic appreciation for the quality of the work, because really, its not that good!

After doing a quite thorough bit of research into Ayoade's work, what I can learn from it is it's okay to challenge your genre's codes and conventions, as long as it doesn't lose that relationship between the video and audience. You have to take your target audience into account if you are going to challenge conventions - because if they don't like it, the video's in trouble!

Previous Student Examples (2)

< This is an example of a music video I found on youtube. The song is Pieces by Chase and Status Feat. Plan B The camerawork is dominated by mid/long shots (mostly long shots) showing the main character most of the time. There are some examples of close ups, especially from the point of view of the girl in the bed. Rap songs often show the artist throughout most of the video, so this video follows those conventions well. At the very beginning, we see an establishing shot used, although it really only shows the city for a little while, and pans away, whereas traditionally, it does the opposite. It doesn't look too bad though and gives the opportunity for the tiles to be displayed clearly - It could easily be argued that the director has intentionally tried to break this paticular convention, to follow the sterotype of rappers behaviour - Bad! Tracking is used quite a lot through this music video, as it follows the evening of this artist. It allows us to see how he lives, and at the end, it shows him rushing upstairs to find what we assume to be his girlfriend with another guy. They do use a shot out of the rear windscreen of a car going around a road. Despite this being a really generic shot, I quite like it, and I think it is used well in this example. All of the aspects of mise-en-scene are very natural within this video. No one is 'dolled up' too much, which is odd for a rap film, because often the rappers girlfriend/wife is made to either look full of swagger, or to be full of make up and looking really good. This girl looks natural, with minimal make up on. The setting is predominantly on the streets - probably where the artist lives. They are fairly rough parts which follows the conventions of a rap video. This piece of work is full of different editing techniques. The use of split screen is used a couple of times. The one that stood out most to me was the one with the beer bottles. This would have been a really good shot, however, it's a bit jumpy, which ruins the shot for me, as it's not clean at all. Split screen is also used to seperate the screen into four, showing him bascially doing the same thing. This shot was good, however, I feel it would have been better if the content within the split screens would have been completely different, giving off the same impression. The director/s have also made full use of the speed editor. They have sped up several scenes. It would appear that there is no real reason as to why they have done it, but it does look quite cool. This has been done to make the scene look good - It's okay, but would have been better if the director would have implemented a reason as to why they have sped it up! There is also a small use of colour manipulation, with the screen fully flicking between three different colours. I don't like this because I feel that the people have done this, just so they have used it, and haven't really put it in with a valid reason! They could have adjusted the colour so particular things on the screen coloured more, as opposed to filtering the whole screen. The lighting is very basic in this video. They have made full use of the street lighting around, meaning they didn't have to do any of their own. This is okay, but it doesn't seem to have stretched the students much at all, and looks a bit tacky - because it knocks the cameras focus out. Overall, I didn't really like this video. I thought it was okay, but it comes across as though the students have rushed their technology use, and haven't really used it with any meaning - it just looks like they have been thrown in. I think the fact that I hate the song makes my opinion a little bit bias, but trying to put that aside, I would still say I don't like it.

Group Brainstorming (3)

Group Brainstorming - I Wont Give Up

Group Brainstorming (2)

Group Brainstorming - Fluorescent Adolescent

Group Brainstorming (1)

Group Brainstorming - Don't Look Back Into The Sun

We all watched eachothers three choices, and wrote notes on what we thought of them ... Here are my results:

Previous Student Examples (1)

Past Student Example - Analysis

This is a music video completed by students at my school, last year. The song is an indie song performed by You Me At Six - Called Crash.

The camerawork used in this video really tells a story within itself. The angles used display the facial and body expressions to a professional standard; which really helps boost the power behind the emotion that the song gives off. A few point of view shots are used, again to help portray the emotions of the two main characters. The use of shot-reverse-shot is also used to perfection. It is used in away that expresses the differing emotions between characters - especially when done with the girl who he is cheating with. The quantity used is perfect as well, because it isn't underused, but most definitely isn't over used, which can really ruin a good bit of camerawork.

The editing is done really cleverly. The use of split screen at the very beginning is something I love, and I think it is used very well. It gives the opportunity to show how both characters are feeling, and how they are expressing it at the same time, without cutting. They have made it so that all of the male's encounters with his 'cheat' are in black and white, maybe to portray the fact that these were dark times, and his mind was not in the right place. The times with his girlfriend, however, are in colour, or tinted over with brighter colours, most likely to symbolize the exact opposite, to the meaning behind the black and white imaging.

All the locations used are linked somewhat to the characters shown; and tend to have a meaning behind them, none of the locations are 'random'.

The narrative is very powerful and is supposed to be one hundred percent believable. With that in mind, the directors of this music video have kept the other mise-en-scene aspects very natural - using natural lighting, and keeping the actors/actresses looking natural.

Goodwins theories are mostly applicable to this music video. The characteristics of this particular genre are that the music video almost always has a narrative behind it, and isn't a concept and very rarely performance based, mainly because the music isn't really exciting, and the thought of a gig/concert is. The relationship between lyrics and visuals are also present; and in fact, are very strong. The opening lyric says "Wait, where you say you've been? Who you've been with? Where you say you're going? Who you're going with?" which basically, to a tee, is related to the narrative, which is on the theme of cheating. Throughout the video, this is the same, with similar lyrics being said, with the same meaning. However, the relationship between the music and the visuals isn't really there. There are times were the guitar is more predominantly strummed when a scene changes; whether this has been done intentionally or not, I don't know - but it is there, just not very often. Lots of close ups are used during this video. Goodwin states that this is due to demands of the record labels, whereas I would argue it is done to express and exaggerate the characters facial expression, and therefore their feelings, but that's because in a students situation, there is no record label! Voyeurism isn't really used in this, however, some may argue that some 'bedroom scenes' count, all be it mild, but still show some aspects of voyeurism. I didn't notice any intertextual references at all, although sometimes you wont notice them, because you are unfamiliar with the original reference! But as far as I am aware, no intertextaul references were used.

Overall, I think that this is a brilliant example of a music video for this particular genre. I feel the students have done a really good job of putting across the meaning and emotions to the audience. I also feel that the way it has been set out really is good, and has a professional quality to it. If I were to choose my softer song (I wont give up - Jason  Mraz) I would use this video as a guide, because I think it is truly awesome!

Analysis Of Real Music Videos (3)

I Won't Give Up - Jason Mraz

Jason Mraz's "I wont give up" (Directed by Mark Pellington) takes a completely different approach and uses a lyric video. The video shows all of the lyrics coming up on the screen as they are sung by Jason. It also has a narrative going on alongside the lyrics. The story is of a man who is writing to his girlfriend - and towards the end the guy is reunited with his girlfriend, and its all good at the end!

This music video doesn't really use many of the technologies that we have learnt to use - it does, however, use the green screen. Its main use is for the window, looking out to the stars, and also when the paper house is used as a foreground; the background is done by green screen.

This song is an indie genre song, and the video is a narrative based theme. This tells me that when the song is slower, and has more meaning, it is more likely that the video that goes with it will be narrative based.

Analysis Of Real Music Videos (2)

Don't Look Back Into The Sun - The Libertines

This is another of my 3 choices ...

Like most Rock genre songs, "Don't Look Back Into The Sun" uses a lot of performance based footage, from what appears to be an actual gig, most likely as that song is being performed. The performance is done by a handheld device, almost as if a member of the audience has done it on a mobile phone. This gives off the impression that you are there. The other half of the video is filled with footage of the band sort of 'messing about' around in different locations, towards the build up to the gig. They are all done with a handheld technique - which is very common within modern music videos.

This music video doesn't really have a meaning, as such, it's more a video that shows lads being lads, which is something that the target audience (Male teenagers) can relate to. This tells me that sometimes a meaning is not necessarily important at all, and if it something the target audience can relate to, the music video will be appreciated.

Overall, I feel that if I were to choose this song, the majority of the video will be performance based; but to change it around from the original, I will probably add a little bit of narrative to the video.

Analysis Of Real Music Videos (1)

Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkeys

I will be analysing the three music videos that I have narrowed my choice down to. This will help me point out the good and the bad from the already existing videos, and may give me pointers to what I should do. 

Fluorescent adolescent is a strange music video. It is very concept based and doesn't really have any meaning or even link towards the lyrics being sung. Despite this, I really like the music video, mainly because I think its a cool one. This (to me) shows that not all music videos have to have a 'deep meaning' or any link to the lyrics; like most tend to. The only meaning I can salvage from it, is that (because of the costumes) from the childhood, your path is set and you are always going to be that way, although that is me really trying to claw something from it! After 'googling' it, it turns out that the video is about how it is boring to grow up, and life as an adult isn't fun at all.

Throughout the whole music video, there is no use of any of the technologies we have learnt throughout the course, it is very simple with just straight cuts, and one quick cross dissolve that takes us into the flashback of when they were kids. No sign of colour manipulation is used, which personally, I feel would have been really good, especially in the flashback; possibly making use of lighter colours in order to show how times were better when they were children. There is no use of green screen or split screen either. Split screen could have been used to show life from the two main characters very different perspectives. The director (Richard Ayoade - Yes, the guy from IT crowd) really hasn't really taken the opportunity to incorporate any of the technologies, although maybe he did this purposely. It could be to portray the meaning behind the song, because colours (nice ones, anyway) are associated with happiness etc, but in the adult life, there is none - What you see is what you get - However, a flashback to childhood doesn't have colours either ...

Overall, the video to fluorescent adolescent proves that you don't need fancy effects to make a good music video, just a bit of creativity. This one is really unique! I think this one shows that simplicity can be good. However, to gain as many marks as I can get, I feel that a few technologies must be incorporated. Also, this video shows that the story line behind them do not need to be obvious, for them to be good - I had no idea what the story line was, yet I still thought it was good!

Jonathon Glazer

Director Study - Jonathon Glazer

• English filmaker, born in March 1965 in London
• He is a director and creator of music videos, adverts and feature films
• Glazer studied theatre design at Nottingham University, where he began directing theatre and making television commercials. He has completed commercials that went on to be award winning for the BBC, which began really getting his name 'out there'
• He began directing several popular advertisement campaigns, including an advert for Guinness and Stella Artois - This was just after he wrote three of his own short films; "Mad", "Pool" and "Commission"
• Since the 1990's he has directed several music videos, and was named MTV's director of the year in 1997
• He directed a full film in 2000 called "Sexy Beast" with quite a high profile cast
• Glazers approach to music videos is more of an intellectual side. His music videos are more often than not based around sad songs - and his music videos all seem to have a hidden meaning that you have to try and work out. His music videos are renowned for being the most confusing things you'll ever watch! Some people argue that you have to actually be in the situation to understand the meaning behind them, as they are so complex. 
• Street Spirit is a particularly famous piece that Glazer directed. It's a song by radiohead; who are known for making 'Depressing' songs.
• Glazer uses a lot of slow motion in his work, Street Spirt shows that as well. 
• Below is an example of his work, that shows all of the above in action ... 

• The music videos Glazer has worked on, are listed below: 

• Karmacoma" by Massive Attack
• "The Universal" by Blur 
• "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" by Radiohead 
• "Virtual Insanity" by Jamiroquai 
• "Cosmic Girl" (version 2) by Jamiroquai 
• "Into My Arms" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 
• "Karma Police" by Radiohead 
• "Rabbit in Your Headlights" by UNKLE ft. Thom Yorke 
• "A Song for the Lovers" by Richard Ashcroft 
• "Live with Me" by Massive Attack 
• "Treat Me Like Your Mother" by The Dead Weather

• Virtual insanity and Street Spirit are particularly famous pieces of work he directed