Props

Whilst storyboarding I've started to think about the props and costumes that I want to use. I've managed to source a set of fake eyelashes that I think could work effectively in my video:

I thought that fake eyelashes would work really well with matching lyrics to visuals as the lyrics use the word 'eyes' frequently throughout the song. I'm planning on getting some more variations of lashes to make sure that the focus is on the eyes and how they change with different lashes. 

I've also managed to source a basic calendar, this will be used by filming a hand ripping off each month, and the edited to cut quickly between the shots, showing the months flying past to match the lyrics 'less than the years'. 

Location Shots

Here are a range of shots from the locations in which I plan to shoot my video. They are all in Hitchin which I have easy access to.

I've chosen the green with the bench and tree, as I think that I could do some really interesting shots with both characters. An example of this being keeping the camera in the same position, but getting the charcters to be sat/standing/acting in different areas of the shot to show what stage their relationship is at in comparison to the song. This could then be edited together in a fast cut montage changing on the beat of the song. Another shot that I'm really excited about is a spinning aerial shot, looking down on the vintage mic with the wire underneath on a mixture of grass and leaves, which would be fine to use in my location. I've also looked at the river by the church and thought that I could try and do some reflection shots if possible.

Storyboarding Ideas

Britney Video Evaluation

To provide experience in making music a video, we first tried to recreate a 10 second clip of Britney Spears' video 'Baby, One More Time'. We worked in a small group of 3, and reinacted the video. My group's section was the second clip in the video below:

Technical Points learned during this task:
- I found that a lot of the shots taken had to be shot from a much further distance than I had expected, to make sure that everything was within the frame, meaning that we had to allow for more space when shooting.
- I also realised how short the cuts of the shots were to fit with the music when editing the footage together, which was much quicker than expected.
- I also learnt how to physically use the camera and tripod, working out the various buttons and how to manoeuvre both bits of equipment.
- As well as this I've learnt a lot about how to use iMovie to edit the shots together, and how much time it takes to get it perfect.

Practicalities learnt during this task:
- The importance of communication was also highlighted during this task, as we had to make sure all members of the group had all information needed to make sure that the task ran smoothly.
- We also had to source actors, which was quite difficult so we had to volunteer ourselves. This informed us that we have to spend more time than expected on finding actors.
- I also found that you have to make lip synching so obvious to make it seem like you're actually singing and for it to look effective on the video, as when I did it in our video, some of it needs to be bigger to make it better.

I really enjoyed working out all the shots needed, and what needs to go in them when storyboarding the video, as well as working together in a group, as I found that all our ideas put together worked really well and improved the video. I found actually editing the video quite difficult purely because I'd never used iMovie before, so I had to learn as I went along.

Notes on Editing and Camera Work

Camerawork and editing notes

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Annotated Lyrics

To help make sure that my music video uses as many of Goodwin's principles as possible, I've annotated the lyrics to the song that I'm using, indicating my idea's of how I'm going to link in his theory. There are also a couple of initial idea's of what the narrative might be like. 

Goodwin's Principles - 6

Intertextuality

John Stuart says the essence of intertextuality is 'incorporating, rading and reconstructing'.

The term refers to using something which the audience may be familiar to generate both potentially nostalgic associations and new meanings. It is more explicitly evident in music videos than any other media text (with the exception of advertisements). 

Film

The Madonna 'Material Girl' video has an extremely strong intertextual reference to the film 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'. The video features a sexy blonde, using her looks to get what she wants. This is the principle in both the film  and the music video. Madonna also has very similar costumes, setting and other characters to make the reference all the more evident.

TV

The video below of the Beastie Boys is intertextual of a cop show, as it is presented as a spoof in a comical way.

R.E.M. also use TV as their intertextual references, as they make their video a parody of a news programme, with shots of the singer as the main newsreader, and then the video also goes to the weather and external news links.


Video Games
This references a generics video game, by turning all of the band members into characters in the video game.

Goodwin's Principles - 5

Notion of Looking
There is frequent references to the notion of looking, whether it be through screens, mirrors, stages, cameras etc. Voyeuristics treatment of the female body is also used within the notion of looking, as it atracts the audeince in by showing them something that perhaps they wouldn't normally be seeing.

This Miley Cyrus video uses notion of looking very well in a number of ways. At the beginning the audience are all looking at something unknown to the audience, then Miley is looking back at them and we see this from the audience's perspective. She is also looking directly into the camera, and is also dressed voyeuristically, making the audience (both in the video and outside) wanting to be looking at her.

Goodwin's Principles - 4

Star Image Motifs

Eminem demonstrates the rule of music video's representing the artist with a star image. Eminem's videos usually have humour in them, star himself as a variety of characters, have intertextual references and can also sometimes be quite controversial through both lyrics and visuals. An example of the controversy is shown in this video on a number of occasions, one of the most memorable being when he dresses up as Bin Laden, but then waves a white flag in surrender, and then starts dancing around with all the other men in the cave.

Goodwin's Principles - 3

Music and Visuals
This principle represents how the video itself matches the music accompanying it. Whether this is by the shot changing on the beat, or an image or motif repeatedly showing when a certain sound or noise is played. A really good example of this is Star Guitar by The Chemical Brothers. The buildings that go past hit the beat, and as the music changes so does the scenery, very cleverly, around the train journey. 

Goodwin's Principles - 2

Lyrics and Visuals

There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals that the audience can identify. The links created between the lyrics and visuals make it easier for the audience to follow the story of the song and the video. Goodwin says that the video can represent the lyrics by either amplifying, illustrating or contradicting them. 

This is a video from last year's Year 13 Media A2 music coursework and demonstrates the links between lyrics and visuals quite well. An example of this being when the song holds the lyric 'You', and the video shows the word written down, lengthened on paper and the camera follows it as it gets longer. In this case, the lyrics are being illustrated as their way of being represented as they aren't the main focus of the video, but are still represented by the video quite subtly, but not noticeably. 

Goodwin's Principles - 1

Genre Characteristics
Music videos demonstrate different genre characteristics due to the three different types of music video; Performance, Narrative and Conceptual. 
Performance based characteristics:
- shots of whole band
- short shots
- close-ups on instruments
- clothing to match genre
- main focus on artist all the way through
Example: 

This video is performance based, and we can tell this by the majority of shots being of the band themselves. There are also a range of close-ups on instruments and on the singer, as well as wide shots of the whole band playing together. This shows the audience their talent as an artist as well as making more recognisable to the audience.
Narrative Based Characteristics:
- based around a storyline
- follows the song
- storyline usually fragmented
- usually follows the meaning of the song
Example:

In this video, the mise-en-scene all fits in with the story that's being told by setting the scene and adding features to the characters. The story this video is telling matches the lyrics to the visuals, making it quite easy for the audience to follow.
Conceptual Based Characteristics
- single idea
- comical
- band aren't main focus
- abstract

This video is conceptual due to the video not following a storyline at all, and being completely abstract. The routine that the band are performing are extremely hard, and was all taken in just one shot, meaning that any mistakes would mean they'd have to start all over again. 

Artist and Track?

For my music video, I'm going to use a track called 'Still Alive' by the band Panda Police. They're a fourpiece from Hitchin, Hertfordshire, but are currently focussing individually on other things. However, I'm good friends with the lead singer, and have also gained permisssion from the band to use their music via email, as you can see below. 

The lead singer Jamie Ellis, shown on the right, has also agreed to be in the music video, so I've already sorted out a main part of the casting for the video.

This is the band's myspace address: www.myspace.com/pandapolicemusic

Magazine Advertising

Magazine Advertising on Prezi

CD Cover Design

Promotion through CD Covers

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Branding

Avril Lavigne is a singer/songwriter from Ontario, Canada within the pop rock and pop punk genre. 

How has the 'Avril Lavigne' brand been developed? 

• By looking at the range of images above, we can see that she has been branded to match her genre, for example the skull and crossbones and splashes of pink in many of the images. This gives the element of rock, but also shows that it's lighthearted and perhaps shows that her target audience are most likely to be female. However, due to her looks and talent, she attracts both genders, but mainly from younger generations, around 14 - 24 year olds. 

• Avril's style also represents her music genre, for example having stereotypical girly blonde hair and wearing quite feminine clothing, for example the pink dress in the top right of the image. But with this she still keeps an element of punk in her dress, for example the studded belt and fish nets with the pink dress, as well as the pink streak in her hair. 

• On her older albums like 'Under My Skin' which is shown in the center bottom of the image, Avril has a much more gothic/tomboy look, but as she adapted to her target audience and matched her new and lighter sound on the album 'The Best Damn Thing' she brought in the splashes of pink but still mixed with punk features. 

• Her merchandise also has elements of pop and punk due to the skull mixed with pink, or on a more feminine style top. The fact that Avril's picture is not on the merchandise, shows that she can be recognized easily by just her name and logo shown on the tops.