Our elements in our video...

Casting sessions...

We have started to consider the casting session for next week. We hope we can arrange a group of dancers to come and try out a small dance piece, choreographed be myself and Claudia to the music we are using for our video, to then teach to the girls, video them and see who has the right look and feel for who we are looking for.

We are trying to create choreography similar to this, and the dancers to have a similar look to this video (watch from 1:03 - 1:27): 

Locations/Setting for our Music Video

We have some key locations which we are definitely thinking of shooting in. One of those being the forest which surrounds the college - there is so much woodland that it is easy to get to and will look really effective because all the plants and trees will be real. We have also been thinking about shooting in the studio at college - here we know that we can create a set which can look like a jungle or a forest. We were thinking about having a backdrop, whether that being a painted back drop with tribal patterns etc that are bold (like below), or a projection of a forest or jungle that could perhaps be moving.

In the studio we could definitely find some twigs and leaves to lay around on the floor... we have also recently done a production at college which used lots of fake leaves that we could perhaps use for our set. In both the forest or the studio we hoped we could find a white smoke machine just to create a very moody atmosphere. In the studio, we could probably put up lighting which against the white smoke would look really effective. I looked up tribal colours and a lot of the predominant colours were: yellows, greens, browns, reds, oranges and blues.

In the forest we wouldn't really need that much extra props as the forest would be powerful enough itself, but I was thinking to create that sense of tribal/community, we could hang wood chimes and dream catchers, paint and carve things on the trees etc.

Although we thought this music video looked quite amateurish and unprofessional, we quite liked the visuals such as the lighting in the forest and face paint on the characters etc...

Final development group/Final concept Idea

My final development group now includes myself, Bella, Claudia and Liv.

                                                 

FINAL CONCEPT IDEA:

We have decided, as a group, to go forward with Bella's Tribal/Dubstep idea. These are some of the visual aspects we have been looking at for our video: 

We have made the choice to go with this idea as we all thought that it was visually the most exciting, unique idea. We are now currently in the process of bullet pointing on a timeline the exact actions and things going on we want within the music video. We have now also added in another element that a young boy will be walking in the woods and he will be chased after by the tribal dancers and changed into one. The concept of this idea is that it is mainly performance based, however, it has the slight narrative at the beginning where we see the tribal women watching this average, man who is wondering the forest by himself. 

Timeline: 

Pitching our ideas

Today we pitched both of our ideas to Luke so that we could get feedback from him as he so much knowledge in the music video industry so he could tell us what worked and what didn't.

For our first idea, the feedback we got was that perhaps filming in a studio would work better than filming in the woods. For the beginning of the idea, we talked about maybe having people pop out from behind trees, but we discussed that it may be a bit to comical and not taken seriously. Because this idea relies a lot on the visual aspects, including choreography we really had to think of more ideas and get on top of the visual performance because if it's not interesting it could look boring and not well done.

For our second idea the main critical feedback we got was that the performance in the jazz bar would be clichéd and not very effective, and that maybe we should think of doing something different than the falling rose petals. We also needed to think into even more detail of what we could add into the video which were interesting to watch.

This is our feedback video from class:

Idea 1 - Jazz Bar



Idea 2 - Skrillex/Stranger


Overall, Luke liked both ideas and saw potential in both, but we needed to make sure we had enough detail - we will be working in more depth for our next stage so that we can see which one will actually work better. I think from the feedback the jazz idea seemed to be more potential but was a bit same old, but the Skrillex idea needed more work but could look more effective on screen.

Research into Conventions of Artists

From our shortlist we decided the two concepts we were thinking to further to help develop the idea were Bella's Tribal/Dubstep inspired idea, and Laura's Jazz Bar/Contemporary dancing idea.

These were our two Prezi's on the two different genres and the conventions we found within them:

Jazz-Pop Idea:





Dubstep/Skrillex Idea:




Brainstorm we did in class to create more ideas for our concept ideas:

(photo)

Development Groups...

We have now officially been put into our developing groups, which includes myself, Claudia, Bella and Laura.

This is our shortlist:

1. Laura's Jazz Bar Idea which includes the mirrored dance studio with the couple who dance contemporary, the falling rose petals to signify their time and the Jazz-Bar singer in the jazz lounge

2. My Gang Idea which included the story of the gang who have just committed a crime and are being chased in the streets of London

3. Bella's Tribal dance/Skrillex/Dubstep Idea which involves a very quirky main star singing in a bath tub alongside with tribal dancing in the woods 

Pitching my Initial Concepts to the class

I presented my three initial ideas to my class on Tuesday on my blog, and briefly explained showing pictures and giving a quick explanation of what would happen in each video and whether they were performance, narrative or both, driven.  

My first Initial Idea was the 'Alt J - Fitzpleasure' song... This is some of the main points of criticism/ideas to think about for the video that I gained from my class:

• May be hard to do the flashback idea/may be hard to demonstrate
• Maybe do a video which simply has the gang running away in the streets of London from the police
• I would have to seriously consider casting as it involves a lot of older, grungier looking men that can also give a decent performance of what I want them to convey 

Overall, from the classes feedback, this seemed to be the most popular/favorite idea.

My second Idea used the song 'Oliver Heldens X Becky Hill – GECKO'. This was the feedback I got back:

• People liked it but think it was a bit cliche 
• It may be hard to recreate the look of the club - organizing a huge amount of people to be in it

Lastly, my third idea used the song 'Miley Cyrus ft. Future - My Darlin'. This was the feedback:

• Again, it followed the same idea as above of following the narrative of a young, loved up couple
•  It may be hard to demonstrate their falling out throughout the video - may struggle trying to find situations and places to show their falling out

 My favorite ideas are the first and second. With the first idea, I think I could make the video simpler by taking the feedback of simply filming the gang running through the streets instead of worrying about the flashbacks as I think it might be complicated. From the feedback, the class said it would still be as interesting if I was to consider this change. 

For the second idea, I reckon with the help of the studio by making the spacing smaller I could still recreate the feel of a club. Instead of doing big shots of people dancing all the time, I could do shots where we see groups of friends sitting round tables and drinking etc so that less people would be needed, it would be less demanding and it would still look like a club. 

I think the first idea is most promising and the most visually interesting out of all the ideas. It feels different to what other people have seen plus I love the track. The next steps for me is to wait to be put into groups and then discuss with my group my idea and the changes I have considered to make and then see what they think of adapted idea.  

Researching the appeals of music videos to 17-19 year olds

In today's lesson we all wrote down a music video from a song we liked. We then had to hand them in, and then at random we would pick one, get it up on YouTube and guess who in the class had chosen that song. This exercise was extremely helpful as the age group in my class is a key audience for music videos as we tend to listen to a lot of our music on places like YouTube which show us the videos for songs.

I had guessed two out of three out of the people's songs who came up (because one of them was me). These were my notes of today:

1. The first song that came up was 'Holding onto Heaven - Foxes'. We then came up with reasons why we liked this song... We liked it because it had like a dizziness/surreal feel which was a bit different and fun. I think this was a liked video as well as there are more girls in the class than boys. The video was very pretty/innocent/fairy tale like etc. I thought that overall, the target audience for this video would be older teens/young adults.

 
2. The second song we listened to was 'Crazy in Love - Beyonce' (which was the song I chose). The reason I, and the class, liked this video was down to the look of Beyonce - her beauty, figure, costumes (desirable fashion/clothing) and sexiness which is what girls tend to look up to as it is what they wish to look like and aspire to look like with Role models like Beyonce. We discussed that the choreography was eye catching, sexy which is enjoyable to watch. We also talked about the rhythmic editing elements in the song which made it look hot, sexy etc. I thought that the target audience age group for this video would be younger female audiences who idolize the beauty and the performance in the music video. 



3. Lastly, we listened to the music video '30 second to Mars - Up in the Air'. We discussed that it was very visually interesting with all the different elements going on within the video. The lighting was appealing as it used different tones, and the art design was very interesting. The video has a very decadent look. I think we decided that the target audience for this video was bigger than the others but decided it was mainly for teenagers of both sexes/young adults of both sexes. 




I like elements from all the different music videos here. Personally, the choreography in the Beyonce video appeals to me in particular as I think choreography in a music video makes it very strong, very eye catching and visually it looks and works really well. I quite like the quirky-ness of the last video, I like all the different elements that go on because it makes it interesting.

Task 3 - Music Video Concept 3

IDEA 3. Miley Cyrus ft. Future - My Darlin 

Setting: 

This concept is a performance and narrative video - it involves a narrative between the two singers. 

This song features a younger couple. It starts off with the girl laying in bed. She wakes up and looks next to her that the bed is empty. She wakes up and goes to the bathroom - where the guy is. It's awkward and they don't talk... It is apparent they are in a fall out.

Throughout the beginning of the video, they do normal morning activities such as making breakfast, getting ready etc, and here we see the awkwardness and the often sad glares from each other.  Then we see them watching old home videos together of one another and them together - this is put on by accident. They sit on complete opposite sides of the sofa. They then after the videos make up again... They mess around - kissing, throwing popcorn at each other, laughing etc. 

By the end it finishes with them getting ready for bed, joking with each other, getting into bed, saying goodnight and then turning off the light. 

Task 3 - Music Video Concept 2

IDEA 2. Oliver Heldens X Becky Hill – GECKO
 Setting - Starts off in the evening, a club in the streets of London. A london flat.

Club:

Flat:

Costume ideas -

 

For the costume ideas, both the boys and girls would be wearing gurney, fashionable, loose clothing. 

This video concept includes performing elements and a narrative element. In the beginning we follow a girl in her young 20's with a group of friends walking down the streets of London to a club. As they come to the club, the group of girls come face to face with a group of guys. The girl we first focus on catches eyes with a guy in the group. They then carry on down the stairs into the club. The music then begins to start. We then go down to the club where everyone is clubbing, dancing etc. We have random cuts of the first girl (performing element) singing in the long darker entrance to the club, and then singing to herself in the mirror of the club toilets. Throughout the video, we also see other couples getting together, friends having fun together etc. However the narrative follows her meeting this boy. They spend the night, dancing together etc, then they leave together and we see her friends looking around for her. It then cuts to the flat where she carries on singing about the boy. We see her singing on the bed, singing to him, singing in the bathroom as she puts more make up on and singing in the dark entrance on herself too. By the end of the video she finishes singing and then she closes the bedroom door with him hugging around her hips.

Task 3 - Music Video Concept 1

IDEA 1. Alt J – FITZPLEASURE

Setting - Gritty City look – (darkened colours – cloudy sky - evening) parks, graffiti on walls, side streets, skate parks, council estates, flickering side lights. Set in the East End part of London or in the streets of Liverpool.

East End streets in London: 

Streets in Liverpool: 

This is the look of the area the family would live and the streets they would roam in...

Costumes: MEN – wear white, dirty vests, tattoos, trainers, baggy/loose trousers. CHILD – t-shirt, trainers, baggy trousers. WOMEN – t-shirt dress with trainers, gold jewellery.

This music video follows a narrative. 

Narrative – Different shots of area/city. Gangs sat on steps, children playing in side streets – quiet, still. A gang of shaved head men walk up to corner shop. Guy infront with gun (guy recites first line ‘In your snatch fits pleasure, broom-shaped pleasure)’. They push through doors screaming, pulling out cash machine and raiding shop in slow motion. Cuts to old man – ‘deep greedy and googling every corner’ outside on steps. They then all pause and turn around as they hear police sirens. They all run out. Running away in slow motion from police round corner of big building, jumper over gates. Old man sitting onside watches them as they run past him. One guy in slow motionstops - Flashback of him and his son in council estate apartments. They play football – games etc. Dad goes out late at night – son wakes up and worries where he is going, dad reassures him and kisses him. The mother then comes out and she stares at him looking concerned. Father opens door and looks back at them before he closes door behind him. End of flashback. The gang ahead call him. Father figure looks back and sees the police in distance. He begins to run again. They run into a side street where they past some young kids. They go into a sidedoor in the side of a bulding and it bangs behind them – blackout. Dark room. More men around a large table, dealing cards, smoking etc. They lay out money, guns etc. Father figure flashbacks again to him, wife and son in a car, travelling. They pull up outside a small, house. They get out of car. The son runs out, excited. Father and mother stand outside house gazing at it. Neighbours/people come up to them shaking hands etc. They walk up to door of house. It then cuts to council estate flat – the father walks in and son runs up and greets him. The mother smiles over them. The father puts son to bed. Father then walks out and gets into bed with mother. Mother looks concerned again – they argue about his whereabouts. Then cuts to son pulling his curtain across to see police cars pulling up outside. Then cuts to mother and father. The father stops and looks round as if there is a banging sound. He gets up to door where other gang members are warning him and panicking. Father looks back at mother where she looks upset and crying and confused. Father sends gang members away. He grabs son and mother and they run out through the building. They stop on stairs to see gang members have been caught – they go back up to another exit. They all get in car and he drives away. Father looks in mirror where he sees the gang being arrested, but then looks down to see son in the back. They both smile at eachother.  

The reason this narrative suits this music is because it is very heavy and has different musical elements within the song which help suggest different feelings. The music is heavy, dark etc.

ALT J I would categorise as an indie band. My video idea is quite indie - it suits that idea/look of ‘grungy’, ‘heavy’ and 'urban' look etc.

Task 2 - Background to the Music Industry