This location will be used for the flashbacks and memories
that the video will contain. It has been considered because of the open ground
where the lighting can be very bright, this allows the right emotions to be
impacted upon the audience.
Test
shots were taken in order to help understand the lighting and presentation of
the subjects within different shots. It was important to create a range of test
shots as within the final production lighting will be key when presenting the emotion
and helping the devlopment of the narrative. I used the actor that will be used
within the final product as this means that the height will remian consistent
and therefore the lighting will be presented and similarly to the final
product.
When conducting the test shots the main element that we
changed was the lighting. This is because the video is going to have a ‘moody’
impact on the audience.
The decision to create a moody effect on the shots means
that when shooting we have to be careful. The test shots area shown below,
where positive and negative elements of the shots are taken into account and
expressed.
Originally
it was decided that the subject moves around a light in the center of the shot
in order to get an idea of how the light and the camera react with each other
and reflects onto the subject. These images are presented below.
We
concluded that the most effective based on the emotions we want to impliment
onto the audience is the first image. This is because the lighting is strong
enough to clearly see the subject and their facial expression and body
language, however isnt too strong that the lighting reflects a postive
atmosphere. We have however, considered using the last image to present the
flashbacks as these are happy moments that the couple share and creates a sense
of untopia. The second image shows a moody lighing, which although is what we
want to reflect, the lighting blocks the audience the chance of seeing the
subject clearly. From
this we decided to take images by windows, although the day we conducted this
it was not a bright day due to the rain, it helped us discover the kind of
impact that filming the outside and performance elements will have as we are
planning on filming this using natural lighting to create the darker lighting.
We
decided to use a close up and a medium shot for these test shots, as these are
the shots we are most likley to use when filming. After looking at them once
they were displayed on the computer we discovered that the artifical lighting
took an impact on the subject and therefore we decided that although not
natural lighting that the contrast between the dark background and the
artifical lighting reflecting onto the subject that the second image is more
effective as the lighting on the subject clearly presents the facial expression
to the audience.
After this we decided to use a
room that had plain wall so that the lighting is reflective across the shot. We
took these in order to see the impact on the subject with a strong white light
on them. When taking these shots we considered these to be for the flashback
mid way through the song to present that although they’re still happy memories,
they are not as happy as at the start. We chose to shoot against a wall with
two shades (white & grey) in order to see the impact on the subject in
comparision to its surroundings. We then added colour into the shot, in order
to see the the contrast. We took into account the clothes the subject was
wearing, the clothes are nuteral and pastel which will be common theme of the
outfit throughout the music video.
After
this we took to an area with a different colour light. For this we used the
canteen at the sixth form. These shots are shown below. We took one image with
the subject in the middle in order to get a complete artifical lighting shot,
with the colour that was reflected due to the colour of the lighting, we
decided against these shots. However, we took into account the angles and the
lighting next to the window. The second and third image are mainly refelctive
of natural lighting, so we took to angle shots. We concluded we liked the high angel of the
subject due to the way the light reflects, we decided using a high angel shot
would be beneficial due to the connotations that come along with it, these
being that the audience has power and knowledge of that compared to the
subject. This is the kind of impact that we want on the audience this being due
to the subject and actions that the subject is conducting in within the music
video.
After this we decided that we would
take pictures under a white light again, these were mainly for the brighter
scenes such as the flashbacks. We decided to take pictures in a classroom and
outside in a coridoor in order to get a feeling of how the light is diributed
across a large open area. We concluded that we prefer the whiter light for the
flashbacks as they represent a more happy emotion and therefore allow the
audience to distiguse between flashbacks and ‘in time’ footage, this along with
after affects will enable the point is clearly made. We used different shots
such as long shots and close ups in order to allow us to see how the light
reflects onto the subjects face. This is because in key flashback scenes it is
important for the audience to clearly see the subjects facial experssion.
The production schedule is important to the creation of the product as it avoids missing the final deadline, as each element of the pre-production, filming and post- production is broken down into small elements with individual deadlines.
Producing a filming schedule is important in the pre- production element for the product. It is important to know when and where you need actors and at what date, this is so it avoid incconviences and the filming is smooth.
The types of mediums that are protected by the copyright law
are:
Literary
Dramatic
Musical
Artistic
Typographical arrangement of published editions
Sound Recordings
Film
Duration of copyright
For literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works
70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last
remaining author of the work dies.
Sound recordings
50 years from the calendar year in which the work was
created or 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was
first released.
The Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather does not fall into either of these
areas, therefore this means that more research was needed to be done in order
to see the laws that apply to this song due to it’s age.
Acts that are allowed
Fair dealing (this is
the “term used to describe the acts which are permitted to a certain degree
without infringing the work”(1))
These acts are:
Performance, copies or lending for educational purposes.
Format shifting or back up of a work you own for personal
use. (No profit being made from the
video)
Design & Patent Act 1988
This is the current copyright act that s in place in the UK.
It gives the creators of products the right in which their material may be
used.
Mise -En- Scene can be broken down into five elements: Setting & Props Costume, hair & make up Facial Expressions & Body Language Lighting and Colour Positioning of character/ objects within a frame
When applying these to the alternative rock/ indie genre we
begin to deconstruct the genre. It is common for a music video to alternate
between studio shots and outside shots to portray a sense of reality to the
audience. It helps bring the artist to the same level as the audience.
The costumes that are typically used are smart- casual
or a branded style, to present the ‘right’ image of the band which will allows
them to build the reputation that they want to have shadowed onto them. In the
sense of costumes it is apparent that there is no obvious stereotype or
un-equal relationship between men and women and how they are presented. An
article from The Guardian (1)(Fonarow 2010) titled “Are gender stereotypes still present in indie
music?” It goes on the express that although the genders are presented as equal
in the sense of outfits and expectations in this “equality –based utopia”.
However, we see on a regular basis female musicians ignored or discouraged to
contribute to audience involvement.
Some videos use CGI in order to create a background that the
help either express the feeling of the song or add to the story if the music
video is narrative based. It allows the after affects team to help create the
emotions or create a whole new environment for the audience.
For example the music video for Hallelujah by Panic! At the
disco to present the artist running around a maze like environment, an image of
this is shown to the side. Linking this to the same image, music videos
typically contain artificial lighting in most if not all shots. This is to help
create the escapism element for the audience as they aren’t struggling to see
the artist or to see what is happening within the shot. The image above has
artificial lighting as it isn’t a real environment so the editor needs to
create a clear environment for the audience. The music videos are typically set in an abnormal place, this links back to helping the audiecne escape, this is because if the music video is set in an abnormal place the audience is focused on where the artist is then thinkig of anything outside of the music video. The colours typiucally lend themselves to the enviroment, the colours that help refelct the mood of the song or the colours that establish the contrapuntal enviroment. They typically contain substance abuse, this is mainly due to the stereotype fueled by other genres.
Sound
Music videos of this genre typically don't have other sounds other then the song, however some incidents for example, Centuries Fall Out Boy contain elements from the music video itself, meaning that they have a second layer of audio. This allows the audience to get a feel for the situation that the artist may be in or get an idea of how the artist is feeling in the situation before and after the song, depending on where the audio is. It gives the artist an opportunity to build a personal connection to the audience, allowing the music to have more meaning to the audience.
Editing
The music videos are typically edited on the beat, for example the music video for The City by the 1975 does this well, editing on the beat to create a flowing sequence which allows the audience to know whats going on in a smoother motion other then cutting not on the beat which causes complication when making the video flow. Another key when editing is that the speed of the song is matched by the narrative, this meaning that the story is able to flow similarly to the video itself, for example when there is a high tempo element of the song then this needs to be matched by a dramatic or action packed segment of the narrative, similarly if there is a low tempo element then the narrative needs to match this.
Camera
The most common angle that is used in alternative/indie music videos are medium shot, this is because most of the videos have a lot of performance elements in along side narrative elements;. The medium shots give the audience the ability to see both the subjects' expression and their body language which helps communicate what is going on within the music video and the emotions that the video is trying to portray. A good example of this is The City by the 1975 which uses medium shots to their advantage. However, the video mostly uses close ups to present the emotions and subject that the director wants the audience to feel.
High angles are typically used well in situations such as in Centuries by Fall Out Boy which gives the audience a sense of power over the artist, perhaps they know something that the character doesn't or the type of character they are the audience is morally above them and this is presented through the high angled shots. These shots are also used to help the audience establish where the artist is, as high angled shots of iconic landmarks means that the audience quickly understands where the video is located.
Bibliography
(1)Fonarow, W. (2010)Ask the indie
professor: Are gender stereotypes still present in indie music?Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/sep/01/gender-stereotypes-indie-music
(Accessed: 24 January 2017).
Researching channels that the music video would be broadcasted on it is clear that the channel wil be of a indie or alternative nature. This therefore narrows the channels which would broadcast the music video down significantly. The most likely channel that it will be broadcasted on will be Vilanoise as this meet the criteria for the music video.
Target Audience
General Demographic The general demographic for the music video will be that refelective of the song itself. This being females aged between 18 to 24 typcially from England as of recent years this genre has began to reach its peak in this part of the world. Gathering data from YouGov it is suggested that the audience will be apart of a consulting society with a monthly disposable income of £1000. Lifestyle The audience is predicted to have hobbies such as writing and collecting of some nature, it suggest that their personality is sensative similar to how the song comes across, this will help me estbalish what should and shouldn't be shown in the music video when dealing with a sensative topic. We believe that their general interests range from fashion, design and cosmetics which backs the point that we are dealing with a young audiecne as they have relatively modern interests, ti suggests that we could use props such as cosmetics within the video in order to create a connection between the character and the audience. Personality Once again gathering information from YouGov, from the data that was collected they have established that the typical audience for this band considers themsleves to be a leader, firm minded and perky. However, on occasion, cold and impatient, which allows us to use these elements of their personality when attempting to portray a certain emotion on the audience. Band The audience, being typically young adults, means that their brand loyalty is modern, being a customer of Apple, BBC and ITV which will allow us to use these to the music videos advantage in order to impliment product placement within the music video, however when doing so it has to be with subtlty due to the topic of the music video. Entertainment
The audience is also typically a fan of films such as Home Alone and Dracula (2000) and TV shows such as The Great Britrish Bake off. These elements of the audiecne can help the devlopment of the music video as there is a TV involved within the making of the music video therefore if one of these shows are shown then the audience will feel a personal connection to the video and will therefore increase the audience's opinion about the video itself.
Online Activity
Our audiences online activity is important, in a constanlty growing society which is becoming more and more revolved around technology our audience's online activity can become impiortant when the music video is being published. The audience uses Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, this therefore means that the music video should be publisuhed on these websites in order to get the right people to view it. The audience is commonly on 'TheStudentRoom" which is a community page where people ask questions and answer on forums. This means that the music video may be talked about on there in order to discover an extensive meaning to the video and the sensative topic is it surrounding.
There tpypical online time is about 31 to 35 hours per week which means that these aspects are likely.
Genre
The Neighbourhodd Sweater Weather falls under the genre Alternative/ Indie the typical convnetions for an alternative/ indie music video are demonstrated below.
Mise
–En -Scene
Camera
Editing
The
location is typically abnormal to the average person (Middle of the desert/
seeing the life of the artist)
The
costumes are typically smart- casual
High angles are typically used to
establish the setting of the video.
Performance elements are
incorporated using close ups of the artist and instruments.
Editing to the beat is key in
this genre; this is so the music and video don’t develop a contrapuntal
affect for the audience.
Editing such as fades and slow
transitions are used when the beat slows down.
The
lighting isn’t specific, it ranges to the location however, it is typically
natural lighting ( pathetic fallacy is used a lot)
Group shots are typically used
to show the band in their entirety.
Low angles are used of the
singer are used when the lyrics become dominate as it creates the same affect
on screen.
Medium shots are used in order
to establish the body language of the artists.
The speed of the editing is also
impacted by the emotions carried in the narrative, for example, if the
narrative is carrying a sad emotions such as loss then the editing will match
this with fades, whereas if the emotion carried is happy then there will be
more cuts then fades.
The Lumiere Brothers, are iconic to the development of film
editing. The French inventors and pioneer manufactures of photographic
equipment who devised and early motion picture camera and projectors called the
Cinematographe. The Lumiere’s apparatus consisted of a single camera, their
first films were of everyday French life such as a train arriving or a game of
cards.
Primitive editing quickly became evident as filmmakers soon
discovered that editing shots into a sequence not only contributed to the
audience’s sense of tale, but it is more to be able to express a more complex
story to the audience.
D.W. Griffith had early involvement with the early years of
editing. He was known as the "inventor of Hollywood" This was decided
after his movie "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) where he was known to
have used advanced camera work which revolutionised America at the time for
this. The film costed $110,000 and returned millions but was never fully
accounted to.
The reason it was known for it's camera work is that shots
such as close ups and fade outs. It contained colour tinting throughout which
effected the way the viewer experienced the movie.
Sergei Eisenstein was a pioneer in the theory and practise
of montage as he demonstrated through his films Strike (1925).He continued to
develop the "methods of montage"
Metric
Rhythmic
Tonal
Overtonal
Intellectual
Walter Murch
The rule of six, is that there are six elements to build the
story within the edit, which is seen as a list of priorities. The first element
of six is, emotion. This is in the sense that when we make a cut the effect on
the audience needs to be considered, does the cut create fear? Or happiness?
Emotion should be emphasised and not dulled through editing to help the
audience escapes into a topia of their own.
The second element being story, the edit needs to ensure and
solidify the storyline, simple edits would be the best way to do this, allow
the audience to focus on, on screen action and not post production elements.
The third element being rhythm he expresses that “editing
must have a beat” “Timing is everything” if the editing is off then this make
the whole production will become sloppy and become uninteresting to the
audience.
These three are emphasised to be the key elements to editing
and a well-produced production.
The fourth element is eye trace this is focusing on where
the audience’s eyes are on, meaning what are they focusing on. For example in
Apocalypse Now the scene of the ceiling fan rotates into helicopters. The way
that is suggested to do this effectively is by splitting the frame into
quarters and keeping the action into one quarter.
Five, two dimensional place of screen, the cut needs to
follow the 180 degree rule. This is also known as the 180 degree rule. Where
the camera and editing needs to stay on one side of the line so that there is
no disorientation for the audience which may create confusion.
Six, three dimensional space, similar to the two dimensional
place of screen, the editing and camera needs to stick to a line of 180 degrees
in order to not confusion the audience, however, some directors and editors go
against this rule in order to create the effect of confusion, sometimes this is
because the director wants to create the emotion the character is feeling on
the audience. It is also done in horror movies to great a sense of
disorientation to add to the fear the movie aims to create.
The proportions the he believes should be carried through
each rule:
Emotion (51%)
Story
(23%)
Rhythm (10%)
Eye Trace (7%)
2D Place of Screen (5%)
3D Space (4%)
Video editing techniques that are
key when editing any media product are
Continuity editing is a way of
cutting a media product in a way to ensure the narrative is continuous and
clear. The shots that are involved in doing this are; establishing shot, shot/reverse
shot, 180 degree rule, 30 degree rule, crosscutting, match on action,eyeline match, re-establishing shot.
Parallel editing also known
as cross cutting, it is when scenes are edited alternatively, so it makes the
audience know the scenes are simultaneously, these are common in party scenes,
or in horror movies for example in the iconic.
The Silence of the Lambs, below, it shows what is happening inside the house
with the man and the dog and what is going on outside the house with the swat
team about to take raid.
Zooms need to be done smoothly. It
is considered a hard task to do without editing, however software now allows
this to be done with ease, it can be used to create any affect, it makes the
audience focus on a particular part of the frame and the camera itself brings
that part of the frame to a more predominate place on the scene.
Stabilization refers to how steady
the shot is, if the scene has been shot and turns out to be shaky then this can
now be changed in editing. This is important because if the shot is shaky then
the audience will not be focusing on what is happening in the scene but will be
distracted by the shaky shot.
Cut on action, otherwise known as
match on action is used for continuity editing. It is when one shot cuts to
another shot portraying the same action of that the subjects did in the first
shot. It creates a “visual bridge” for the audience and helps draw the
audience’s attention away from any issues on screen.
Shot reverse shot is also a part of
continuity editing, it is used to convey a conversation or the character’s
focus on something. When using this editing technique following the 180 degree
rule is key in order to make it work and not confuse the audience.
Montages are effective to show the
events across a period of time, montages can be created with still and moving
images. There are two examples of montages that are shown below.
This montage uses: Still images
Sepia
Tone
Slow
– paced editing
Orchestral
music
No
dialogue
The second montage is from ‘The
Rules of Attraction’ and it uses:
Video footage (Digital)
Fast- Paced Editing ( quick shots,
many cuts)
House Music
Narration
These two edits show how a montage
can add two different elements to a film.
Jump cuts are fast cuts, it shows
the passing of time in a short space of time. It is often used in horror films
to create a sense of urgency for the audience, as it is used to reflect the
character’s mood as well.
Cutaways are used as an
interruption of continuously filmed action and used to show a view of something
else, this is then typically followed to a cut back to the original shot,
however, this isn’t always the case.
Intercutting is where the edit cuts back and
forward between two or more discrete narratives. This is normally used to link
two narratives together as well.
Edwin Porter an American director
in the 1880s and 90s. He developed the famous “The Great Train Robbery” a film
that was considered to be the most influential of the decade. It benefitted
from a strong storyline and well composed camera work accompanied by Porter’s
advanced editing skills, using the splicing technique, where the editor would physically
cut and join the scenes together in order to create cuts, jump cuts and
dissolves. He would also colour some scenes by hand in order to present the
audience with coloured scenes to emphasis elements within scenes.
The uses of film varies depending
on the person and the audience as a collective. For example in World War Two,
people would use film as an escape, the biggest film that was released only six
weeks before Pearl Harbour was Dumbo, Disney was used as a powerful weapon in
the entertainment industry creating energy, excellent drawings and emotion to
allow the audience to forget about the current events. Other films that created
the escapism effect on audiences are The Black Swan (1942), Girl Crazy (1943).
Romantic escapism is incredible tough to create and develop, however the film
‘I Know Where I’m Going!” created a perfect utopia for audiences filled with
surprises which allows the film to create what it was designed to do.
On the other hand film started to
become a weapon, by incorporating propaganda throughout films in order to
encourage people to be involved in the war. For example the same production
company that developed Dumbo created the propaganda film “Education for Death”
which was an American propaganda short film against Germany, mainly targeting
and involving Nazis. The British also had their involvement in propaganda films
for example, “Target for Tonight” and “Kill or Be Killed” which presented the
negative idea of Germany.
Another positive aspect of film are
their involvement in education.
I decided to create the casting list by incorporating Propp's theory, meaning that it included a Hero, Princess, dispatcher and a Donor, however, it does not include a false hero or villain.
Tv music video channels have been broadcasting for over 30
years, starting on August 1st 1981 with the main music channel,
MTV.From this developed many other
channels that broadcasted music videos of different genres and for different
reasons. For example Kerrang! Was developed in 2001, broadcasting nu metal and
pop punk artists round the clock, such as Green Day, You Me at Six and Panic!
at the disco. MTV itself has many different sub-channels that cater to different
genres and interests. Below are a list of the channels and the genre they
broadcast:
MTV Base ~ Active from 2005 mtv base combines R ‘n’ B,
hip-hop, reggae and dancehall in order to cater to the African market. (1 (TVSA, 2016))
MTV Classics ~ The channel that originally launched as VH1
Classics developed into simply MTV Classics. The channel plays music from 1940s
onwards ranging from official music videos and concert footage. The channel
first aired “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles in 1981. The channel
was rebranded in 2010 as MTV Classics.
MTV Dance ~ The channel broadcasts electronic dance music,
starting in 2001 it began having only a night-time programming slot. This was
due to the popularity for these music videos peaking on the night instead of
the day.
MTV Hits ~ Launched on 2001, this channel developing the
highest amount of views as it airs the most recent and popular music videos to
target the main target audience of teenagers and young adults. It encourages
the viewing of music (promo) videos through their shows such as Euro Top 20 and
The Official UK Chart.
MTV Rocks ~ Launching on 1998 the channel broadcasting music
videos from the alternative and indie scenes to cover the urban charts that
have been developed.
MTV have developed a large range of variations of itself in
order to attract people to watch music videos for all genres in order to
promote the music and to cater to both the artist and the audience, for example
the development of the MTV Rocks channel was in order to helps get that genre’s
message across to the audience. The difference between music channels is that
most are genre specific which means that more people will watch certain
channels because it caters directly to their interests for example it allows
people who are into pop music to switch to a channel that only shows the latest
poo music videos.
Music video have developed a larger following online and
through streaming for example through MTV Music which is an online presence to
give users the ability to watch the most recent music videos. The use of the
internet encourages of the audience to download and purchase the artists songs
this is because the user is already on a site which gives them the ability to
download the content on that particular site instead of having to search for
the link in order to download it or buy it. Other music video sites such as
YouTube which since its release in 2005 it has developed a sum of 1 billion
users each month, with the most subscribed music channel being
“JustinBieberVEVO” with 26 million subscribers then “RihannaVEVO” with 23
million. These create and notify users of new uploads to encourage them to
watch the music videos that have been released in order to promote the song
even more through their ‘personal’ accounts.
VEVO is a hosting service which allows sites such as YouTube
to work with them in order to make the publishing of the music videos more
effective in order to get it out to the public quicker.
Music videos exist in order to promote and encourage people
to listen to a song in order to increase sales of the record for the artist and
therefore increase their reputation and their popularity. However for artists
such as Michael Jackson who don’t need the money they use it as a creative
medium to create things such as short film in the form of a music video, which
is what he was well known for, as he worked with directors such as Martin Scorsese.
However the main aim of music videos are to increase record sales, however in
the 21st century it is to increase downloads on sites and apps such
as ITunes and Amazon.
When creating a music video there is an aim to achieve in
the end the most common being to increase sales for the song this either being
through physical records or through downloads. However there are other aims,
for example there may be a message that the artist is trying to get across or a
story which can be shown through the music video and therefore allows the
artist to use the medium to their advantage.
The music video also helps an artist create and develop a
persona or profile and also help them enhance their reputation, this is done
through sharing the music video which creates a hype the song will there for
get a huge viewing if the music video goes viral. Music videos are typically
ego driven and are used to promote the selling of concert tickets or
merchandise the increase the income that the artist is bringing in for the record
label. The end goal for most artists is to win a Grammy or a Brit award for
example a tweet from Demi Lovato stating “I will get a Grammy nomination one
day” portrays the approval that comes with the end goal of achieving a Grammy
or Brit award in order to enhance their importance and to develops a large ego
boost for the artist.
Bib
TVSA (2016) MTV base. Available at:
https://www.tvsa.co.za/channels/viewchannel.aspx?channelid=38 (Accessed: 13
December 2016).
