Between us we have produced a storyboard of the music video, we have used screenshots each time there is a cut in the video and have written the duration of the shot and what camera angles have been used.
Looking at this storyboard, it shows how many cuts are used for a music video and how short cuts are, the shots in this video are all around 2 seconds long and there are none longer than about 5 seconds. This means when filming we need to be careful about when sticking to the time to make sure all cuts are accurate as this will affect lip syncing.
00:58 Get your boy on his knees and repeat me after me say Leigh-Anne (Bonnie)
Take a sip of my secret potion ALL I'll make you fall in love ALL For a spell that can't be broken Jade (Olivia) One drop should be enough Perrie (Lucy) Boy you belong to me Jesy (Sophie) I got the recipe Leigh-Anne Bonnie) And it’s called black magic (and it’s called black magic) ALL Take a sip of my secret potion One taste and you'll be mine It's a spell that can't be broken It'll keep you up all night Boy you belong to me I got the recipe And it’s called black magic (and it’s called black magic)
If you're looking Jesy (Sophie) For Mr. Right Jesy (Sophie) Need that magic Jesy (Sophie) To change him overnight Jesy (Sophie) Here's the answer Jesy (Sophie) Come and get it Jesy (Sophie) While you still got time Jesy (Sophie) Hey ALL Get your boy on his knees and repeat me after me say Leigh-Anne (Bonnie) 01:58
These are the lyrics within the 30 seconds we are choosing to copy. Beside the lines I have written who in our group has to be seen mouthing the lyrics.
Below are some recce shots we took for our prelim. The music video is set in a school and parts are in a bedroom. We have taken these photographs to show possible locations for shots. We have decided we are going to mainly film the first half of the video in the hall of the school and behind the stage, the photos below of this location is the one where the two people in the group are sitting.
We chose this location because it is the right size to fit the bedroom in the video and has the same floor. All we need is to adjust the lighting, bring in a few props for it to look like a bedroom and lay down a rug to look like the carpet in the video.
We looked carefully when deciding locations as lighting would be an issue. We needed a room with a tall ceiling and windows however the light from the windows would make the quality of the video poor.
As it is set in a school we need to make sure no one is in the rooms we need which may be a problem. We are considering filming after school to avoid people being where we need to film.
Costume
The music video we are doing for the prelim task has a lot of costumes as the group of singers change into a second outfit and both outfits have a lot of little accessories. The outfits for the video are shown below.
In these photographs from the music video, the four singers are wearing bright outgoing clothes. All four outfits are very different and all have little accessories to go with the outfit.
When choosing outfits for the prelim, it was difficult to get together costumes to match the above, but after looking at what we have as a group and asking others we have managed to get an accurate copy of this costume, we also have started gathering things for the first costume in the video. Shown below are the outfits we will use for the second outfit.
In this image we have compared our costumes to the original video. We have tried to stick to the colours, patterns and the style of each outfit. We are ready to film the second outfit of the video once we know we have all the props and locations ready. After this we will look at the first outfit and film that part of the video.
Shown below are the outfits we will wear individually.
Our prelim task is to copy a music video which is easy to do in a school setting, this is so we can complete it within school time rather then spend time outside of the school. We have chosen the song 'Black magic' by Little Mix because it really suits our group as there are four girls which works quite well as we have similar features to our certain singer, for example similar hair colour. In this music video we will recreate I will be Perrie, Bonnie will be Leigh-Anne, Olivia will be Jade and Sophie will be Jesy.
Below is the music video we will recreate. We have decided we will use the times of 0:58 to 1:58 rather than the first minute because it takes time to get into the video and there is more lip-syncing in the second minute, this will give us a better chance of practising lip-syncing.
Looking at my AS final film opening compared to a music video the first 30 seconds have a huge difference in amounts of cuts used. Shown below are screenshots I have done to show the first 30 seconds of each video and I have screenshot every time a new cut is used.
(Robin Thicke- Blurred lines)
Shown in this image are the screenshots I took for this music video. In the first 35 seconds of the song 15 cuts have been used, this is a lot compared to the opening of my film for AS as we didn't even have any cuts in the first 30 seconds as we used one long shot.
In this first 30 seconds of this music video the cuts show a mixture of close ups and wide shots for the people/singers in the video. The cuts create a zoom in and out effect of the main singer without actually using zooms. They do this by swapping close ups and wide shots after each other.
Also in the music video the females are created as voyeurism as they have less clothing on then the males and in the fourth shot each male has his selected female next to them. One female gets a particular focus as she has a lot of close ups which are even closer than the male singers.
Just like the previous activity we listened to the following song and predicted the music video. This one was a lot more difficult to predict as it is very unique and had a very different idea to us as a class.
We got into groups and gathered ideas separately to what we thought it may include and then gave back our ideas to everyone else. The ideas in these small groups were incredibly different. One group said that they thought the video would be about a king in the setting of a castle in an older time period. They thought the story would consist of power and leadership. Another group thought it would be a performance video as a band.
The group I was part of came up with the idea of a mixture of tracking shots which followed one man throughout the video who had experienced a tough break up as this would illustrate the emotions and anger in the song. The pace was slow to start with then sped up so we thought the man may have begun walking and then started possibly running. The only thing we got right was the costume. We thought the singer/s would be scruffy looking and when we watched it, the men were bearded and were wearing dark/plain clothing.
We then worked out as a class that the video is different because it has a unique and original idea. This idea is that the video contains the four element; fire, earth, land and water. The music video shows these elements in a narrative of showing the band facing these elements for example the men laying on rocks being surrounded by fire and being splashed with water. This music video does this to create a different look so the audience are seeing something different so they have interest.
When listening to a song we can predict what is going to happen within the music video depending on the pace and lyrics.
In lesson, when analysing music videos we first listened to this song by Radiohead. We then predicted what the video may be like by just listening to the music. We did this by listening to the lyrics, pace and who was singing. We predicted the narrative/performance, pace of cuts, the setting, who was singing and any other ways the video is presented.
As a class we predicted it would be a slow pace video with a depressing narrative. The colour would be dark and possibly in black and white. We thought it was a band and scruffy looking group singing. We couldn't understand the lyrics by listening the once so we thought the video may be strange and the middle of nowhere.
Once we watched the music video for the first time we realised we were very close when we predicted. The slow pace was illustrated by a slow movement video with slow motion and was in black and white giving it a strange and creepy theme. The video has a narrative rather than a performance and has a random story which is unclear. The events are muddled and do not link which we predicted without looking.
This activity showed that certain genres and song paces have a particular story or performance behind them. This shows that this video follows the typical outline of a music video for this genre of indie rock.
A music video chooses either a performance or narrative for the song.
An example of a music video using mainly performance would be 'Il be ok' by McFly. The video is partly/mainly a performance as the video consists of the band playing the music and are using instruments. The band are seen playing outside and cuts to a slight narrative.
This narrative is supported by Carol Vernallis who says the narrative in the video is important, she says the video should be a response to the lyrics and this video follows this as objects relate to the lyrics. For example when the words 'rain on you' is sung, water pours down onto a band member. Another example is 'all the alcohol in the world' at this point a glass of beer is seen.
An example of a music video that uses mainly narrative is shown below, the song is called 'Love me like you do' by Ellie Goulding.
The video uses narrative to show love and emotion. It is different to a performance because it has many different locations and has other people rather then the singer. A story is shown in more detail in a narrative video. For example this one shows the meeting of two people and them falling in love. The narrative is taken from the film '50 shades of grey'. The cuts in this video compared to the McFly performance is different, although pace is similar there are more cuts in the narrative video rather then the performance.
Narrative- Video is a response to music and not necessarily always a balance between narrative and performance, there are no set rules for the order of the narrative and is all based on the song. Editing- Match musical phrases or beats. Camera work- Extreme shots are common. Diegesis- A world within the video is created, it is revealed quite slowly.
1. Relationships between lyrics and visuals which illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics- Links lyrics with the video.
2. Thought beats seeing the sounds, relationship between music and the visuals which illustrates, amplifies or contradicts the music- Links beats with video
3. Genre-related style and iconography present- Video links to the genre of the song; props, costumes, setting, hair and dancing.
4. Multiple close ups of the main artist or vocalist-creation of a star image to promote a recognizable brand image- Camera angles to make the person in the video look powerful
5. Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relations to females- Angles used to show the male gaze. Voyeurism is looking/staring at things.
6. Intertexual references to other media texts may be present, especially in humorous videos- Clearly influenced by another video.
Key aspects
1. Thought beats- Where you see the sound; uses a unique voice and tells a story.
2. Narrative and performance- Whether it uses a story or a performance; depends on the genre, uses lip syncing and is realistic. For example Sam Smith Stay With Me uses a narrative where as
3. Star image- Increases awareness and interest; for example Elvis Presley
4. Relation of visuals to song; Amplify, disjuncture and illustrate.
Technical aspects
- Camera; Angles used to present video
- Sound; Pace
- Mis en scene; Costume, setting, facial expressions, make up etc.
- Editing; Cuts
Examples in one music video
The scientist by Coldplay
In this music video many of Goodwin's conventions are used/seen. To start with the video has a strong relationship between the lyrics and the video. For example the lyrics 'Im going back to the start' are sung and in the video, the narrative is the singer walking backwards and showing a car crash being shown in reverse.
This also links to another point of the theory where thought beats are used. For example at the time of 1;38 the video shows the feet of the walker going backwards, this is shown in time to the beats of the song. The beats are slow which has the same pace as the footsteps.
Shown at the time of 3;00 the same happens, as the beats changes slightly, the man gets into the car, the song pauses and the lyrics 'Im going back to the start' are heard again. This again relates to the narrative in which the man is reviewing the car crash. This explains the slow pace and lack of facial expressions and colour. The pace however speeds up when the car starts to move to show the power in the narrative chosen. The facial expressions towards the end are different, the two people are both smiling which shows how before the accident the two people were happy whereas the man after (at the beginning) is distraught.
There are several close ups used to show the star of this video which is the singer/driver. The very first thing we see is an extreme close up of the singer which zooms out, this tells us he is the star of the video. He is positioned centre of the frame and the zoom slowly shows us where he is to start off the sad story to the music video.
As well as close ups, extreme long shots are also used, for example when he is walking through the forest the camera looks down on him from faraway to show he is the only person in the video and shows he is centre of attention.
Strong examples of voyeurism
'Can't remember to forget you' By Shakira and Rihanna
The images below are screenshots I have taken from the music video. I have selected these particular images as they are typical examples of one of the conventions Goodwin explains which is voyeurism.
These four images show the female singer in a lack/thin layer of lace clothing which allows the audience to see parts of her body such as her hands lower down and her shoulder and chest. These particular views attract the male audience and shows the 'male gaze' in which interests the audience to watch this performance.
Also shown here, the two images show lack of clothing which presents skin and typical 'male gaze' body parts in which suggests the two girls are more of an object to be stared at.
I found that the genre with the most voyeurism in the videos is dance.
Strong examples of thought beats
'Countdown' By Beyoncé and 'Bounce' By Calvin Harris
The images above are screenshots taken from the music video of countdown by Beyoncé. They are two different shots shown separately one after the other. There are other shots just like this but with other colours. The beats in the song changes quite quickly and when these beats change, the colour of the image changes. This is a thought beat as there is a relationship between the music and the video pace.
Also taken from the Beyoncé music video of 'Countdown' the image above shows the position of the hand on the singers face. This movement of the hand is done in time to the music in the video when the word 'softly' is sung. At this point, the timings are accurate as the hand moves to the pace of the lyrics. This may also be seen as an example of relationship between lyrics and the videos narrative.
Lastly, taken from the music video 'Bounce' by Calvin Harris the two images above show thought beats. The top image with the writing 'bounce' is also shown with the catching of a tennis ball in the background. This is a thought beat as the ball is caught with the same time as a beat in the song.
The second image also shows a thought beat where the male seen in the centre is jumping in time to the pace of the music.
Strong examples of genre-related style
Music can be many genres...
Below are some examples that link the genre to what's in the music video.
Taylor Swift is an example of the genre 'pop' and shown in the screenshot image I used is a typical video image of this genre. In most pop music videos a performance is used and has a simple narrative. Colours are bright and the lighting is very key in the video. Normally pop videos are seen either outside or inside and have a lot of settings and props.
The Beatles are an example of rock. The image of the video shows the view of the band on stage therefore is a performance. Most rock genre videos are based around performance and displays a lot of instruments. Dark colours are used a lot to show the atmosphere of listening to a live band in a dark venue.
One other example of genre and video would be soul, the image above is a screenshot from Sam Smith 'Lay me down' which has a typical video for the genre soul. They are found normally in dark settings with low key lighting because it fits the typical slow pace of the song. Shots are slow to fit the pace of the music.
Strong examples of close ups and star image
'Love on top' By Beyoncé
In this music video Beyoncé has many close ups which make her the star image in the clip. She is also the only female which also shows she is the main role in the video. She is positioned in the centre of the frame alot which also makes her the star in the music video.
'Thinking out loud' By Ed Sheeran
As well as close ups, low angles are used like in the video above by Ed Sheeran. The camera focuses on the couple dancing and makes them appear as the star image as the camera looks up to them showing they are important and superior.
'Bad romance' By Lady Gaga
In this final clip I have chosen to show star image is 'Bad romance' by Lady Gaga. This clip from the very start also shows the star image being used. This first shot is of the female singer surrounded by many people. Although all the people she is with are dressed nicely and are bold individuals, Lady Gaga still stands out as she is in the centre and is wearing a gold metallic colour which differs and stand out from the blacks and whites of clothing in the rest of the image. Not only this but she is sat on a large chair whereas everyone else is either standing or sitting on the floor showing she is superior.
When I hear this song it reminds me of being younger because I used to dance a lot with my friend and when we went to dancing lessons my friends mum used to play this song in the car on the way to the lessons. It also reminds me of the shows we did together which makes me happy as I used to love dancing.
This song reminds me of starting secondary school because in year 7 me and my family went to Scotland to visit family which was the year this song was released, I played it a lot on the plane and when we were round our family's house. When I hear it now it reminds me of the family I rarely see so again is based on memories I have had.
Later on in about year 10, I went on a school geography trip to Swanage, as this song had just been released I listened to it a lot along the journeys there and around Swanage. When I listen to it again now it makes me picture the trip really clearly and again gives me a clear recall of what I did at the time of this song.
A music video is a short film or video that is used to accompany a piece of music. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings, music videos are often called promotion videos or promos.
MTV
(Formerly an initialise of Music Television) the original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by television personalities. In its early years, MTV's main target demographic were young adults, but today, MTV's programming is primarily targeted at adolescents and teenagers.
Although early jazz artists created short music-film performances of their songs, and Elvis filmed unique settings of his songs that were parts of movies, the Beatles were the pioneers of marrying the two ideas into the concept we now know as the music video – a short, stand-alone film of a musical act presenting a current song that may or not be a live performance.
Top 4 music videos of 2014
1. Sia, “Chandelier” (Directed by Sia and Daniel Askill)
2. DJ Snake, Lil Jon, “Turn Down for What” (Directed by Daniels)
3. Nicki Minaj, “Anaconda” (Directed by Colin Tilley)
4. Jenny Lewis, “Just One Of the Guys” (Directed by Jenny Lewis)
My Favourite music videos
I like this video because I think the idea is clever and unique. The narrative is a car crash in reverse order so shows the whole event and emotions backwards. The video starts like any other video but then soon changes to become a video with a creative twist that keeps you watching which I think a music video should do.
I like this video also for the narrative. I love the colours and setting at the beginning with the sunset warm colours and the view of bubbles. The video then shows a group creating a water slide and them going down it. These videos have made me realise I prefer music videos set outside.
