When we arrived at the planning stage of creating a music video, we investigated the essential target audience regarding the genre of music. Here, we realised that we had to do a genre that we were comfortable with as we can then realise the obvious conventions that come with that specific genre. We began a list that both me and Rachel felt were the genres that most appealed to us and concluded with two final genres including rock/indie and pop. Both of which are genres that appeal to many of our generation today, however, we realised we did not want to have rock with a sub genre of pop, as we felt that the two music styles did not complement each other, as a result, we then investigated different songs that exhibit each genre of music. After exploring a range of pop songs, we decided to go for a 1980's upbeat approach, as we felt that this vibe was lacking in today's music industry, we then speculated and resorted to 'girls just wanna have fun', by Cyndi Lauper. We felt that this tempo and upbeat stimulus will result in a very successful music video, however, this will be hard as the original was already a previous success. For this reason, we knew that our music video had to be modernised with a completely different approach. This then lead to an idea where we would have another song to complement, 'girls just wanna have fun', yet something reiterating the complete opposite of this, this is where I had realised that the possibility of a rock/pop music video was possible. We then knew that we could use a gothic, depressing song that would slowly merge into the upbeat flamboyant pop song. After scouring through endless possibilities, we found,' Another brick in the wall', by Pink Floyd which was ideal for this, however, after discussing a possible side narrative of a girl becoming rebellious, we knew that the pop song would slowly merge in to, 'another brick in the wall', to demonstrate a conversion to the anarchist side. We then felt an endless out roar of many ideas including stop still animation, where the party's infectious vibe continues through to a small doll house inside a typical teenage girl's room, inside you will find Barbies, teddies and random toys dancing to the indulging beat. We felt that this contribution will create an unusual but intriguing factor that would appeal to our target audience. When investigating the possibilities of doing this, I was aware of the issues concerning how the doll will stand up straight, however, after a few trials, I knew that certain parts of the doll weren't to be seen through the camera angles, as a result I used blue tac to secure the doll's position. Below, is a video of the effect I am trying to gain, however, my version will vary as I want the viewers to see longs shots and mid-shots as oppose to extreme close ups.
As I began to ponder over this, I decided to do a trial test in order to see whether this was an effective technique to use in our music video, although, I decided to use a teddy bear instead of a doll as I was aware that blue tac wouldn't hold the bear in place. Whilst experimenting with this idea, I managed to secure the bear into specific positions with sewing needles, which I found much more convenient and ideal in comparison to blue tac. Below is an example of what I had achieved from this task.
As I began to ponder over this, I decided to do a trial test in order to see whether this was an effective technique to use in our music video, although, I decided to use a teddy bear instead of a doll as I was aware that blue tac wouldn't hold the bear in place. Whilst experimenting with this idea, I managed to secure the bear into specific positions with sewing needles, which I found much more convenient and ideal in comparison to blue tac. Below is an example of what I had achieved from this task.
My (short) stop still Animation
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However, this was just one of our ideas for our music video, we then elaborated on pure rock songs that we like and thought of plots and scenarios that would go along side it. We had two main songs in mind, 'All I wanted', by Paramore, and, 'My Immortal', by Evanescence, both of which are alternative forms of rock that varies from typical rock. We found that both songs were good in portraying different narratives that we wanted along side the performing element, nevertheless, the plot for Evanescence thickened as we considered a harsh gothic element that varies in comparison to many successful music videos today. We felt that this gothic element could influence the surroundings, with nature references that could correspond to the depressing plot. The idea that we both felt that we could incorporate within the music video was of a dying rose, this could also be seen on the CD cover and Magazine as a faded rose background, linking all of the media pieces together as a form of convergence.
However, in order to decide which idea was best, we created two storyboards that allowed us to compare and see which idea was more successful and could be seen as an actual music video. Below are the brief story boards that I had created.
Cyndi Lauper Story Board
London
Nevertheless, we knew that we didn't want a typical music video, as a result we expanded upon more ideas by looking at the lyrics of the song, and what interpretation we could gain from them. In the end, our discussion between myself and Rachel gave us a deeper understanding to the song which I had brainstormed upon this piece of paper. This also allowed us to gain some idea of where we could have certain clips that would coincide with the lyrics, as we understood from our questionnaire that the target audience prefer parallel sound in order to comprehend the message of the music video.
As you can see above, this is our story board, however, our ideas did vary slightly as we considered having the actress become the artist who expands upon her personnel experiences, as many music videos do this in order to gain a connection with the target audience. However, this does mean that our intense morals and the dramatic storyline will be terminated. As a result, we decided to stick with our original idea as it varies to what is presently seen in the music industry today. We hope this will be successful, but to ensure this, I have analysed the story board and compared this to what is presently seen in the music industry today.
Storyboard
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Now that we have planned out our music video, we have decided to start filming in order to obtain the footage required for each scene, these are the pieces of equipment that we are going to use.
Equipment
However, this was just one of our ideas for our music video, we then elaborated on pure rock songs that we like and thought of plots and scenarios that would go along side it. We had two main songs in mind, 'All I wanted', by Paramore, and, 'My Immortal', by Evanescence, both of which are alternative forms of rock that varies from typical rock. We found that both songs were good in portraying different narratives that we wanted along side the performing element, nevertheless, the plot for Evanescence thickened as we considered a harsh gothic element that varies in comparison to many successful music videos today. We felt that this gothic element could influence the surroundings, with nature references that could correspond to the depressing plot. The idea that we both felt that we could incorporate within the music video was of a dying rose, this could also be seen on the CD cover and Magazine as a faded rose background, linking all of the media pieces together as a form of convergence.
However, in order to decide which idea was best, we created two storyboards that allowed us to compare and see which idea was more successful and could be seen as an actual music video. Below are the brief story boards that I had created.
Cyndi Lauper Story Board
Evanescence Story Board
When evaluating both ideas, it was clear from the storyboards, that the resemblance of scenes that would belong to an actual music video was Evanescence's, 'My immortal', as a result we kept on regarding many ideas and scenes that we would use. When looking at the present storyboard, we automatically knew that the narrative must be relatable and not too dramatic, despite the gothic ambience. For this reason, we terminated the car crash idea as it seemed unrealistic after all of the bad occurrences present in the music video, therefore, it will not relate and connect with the target audience in the way that we hoped. To add to this, we knew that we had to expand upon our basic ideas and felt that the eerie classical melody could coincide with a ballet performance on screen, this could be justified as parallel sound as both arts complement each other. We then agreed upon the narrative line, where a young married lady, receives a phone call at the beginning of the music video, where she realises that her husband is dead, the rest of the music video itself revolves around this scenario and the surroundings react (ie: rose dies) towards this depressing outlook. Overall, we gain a sense of anger, hatred and sorrow whilst pondering upon what was love and happiness that doesn't seem to exist any more. However, in order to use this song for our music video, we need to send a letter of permission (our address is not shown for privacy purposes):
EMI Records UK
EMI House, 43 Brooke Green
W6 7EF
Thursday 16th September 2010
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are writing from Holy Trinity Catholic Media Arts College, to inform you of our early entry A level media task, where we need to construct an original music video in order to obtain the complete qualification, after progressing from our AS media. We were hoping to use your popular song, ‘My Immortal’, by Evanescence, (Fallen), in our music video, as it coincides with the genre we have chosen. We have currently created a story board plan of what we will see in our music video along side this song, which has allowed us to see a numerous amount of ideas in order to create an appropriate, but realistic music video. We assure you that we will not be gaining any profit from your rights to the song as it is solely for the purpose of our exam work.
Thank you for taking time out of your schedule in order to read this letter, we look forward to hearing your reply,
Yours sincerely,
Rachel Kealy and Amarpreet Devi
Nevertheless, we knew that we didn't want a typical music video, as a result we expanded upon more ideas by looking at the lyrics of the song, and what interpretation we could gain from them. In the end, our discussion between myself and Rachel gave us a deeper understanding to the song which I had brainstormed upon this piece of paper. This also allowed us to gain some idea of where we could have certain clips that would coincide with the lyrics, as we understood from our questionnaire that the target audience prefer parallel sound in order to comprehend the message of the music video.
As you can see from the sheet of paper above, our ideas became more advanced with a deeper meaning of love. We felt that my character who is the artist will ponder over the wife's circumstance as she mourns over her dead husband. However, judging by my black, gothic appeal and dress sense, the target audience may assume that I am the cause of the death, this hatred will enhance as I illuminate all the memory's belonging to the couple. When in theory, I am helping her mourn and move on with her life. This ingrains the message of our music video, which is not to judge a book by it's cover, as I may also be considered as a guardian angle whom aids this poor lady.
To add to this, the widow will wear a white dress that will highlight her purity and innocence as she seems helpless and vulnerable, whilst the artist will wear black that conveys dominance over this character as she is in control of the situation and manages to influence the widow's emotions and actions. We had then discovered the idea where the wife will leave the house as it has too many memoirs of her married life, however, during this abandonment of the house we seem to see an increasing dominance in the widow as she becomes independent and strong. This will then cut to the artist's face who laughs within the dim lit house, as her angelic work is done, she has managed to encapsulate some hope within the widow. Nevertheless, the thought of laughing may coincide with a demonic evil element as this artist has gotten rid of the poor, incipient human. Either way, the consumers have control over the narrative as they may judge the artist as one whom is manipulative and evil, or the audience may look beyond this a see the angelic qualities that has made a vulnerable widow into a strong, sophisticated and independent women.
These ideas have been elaborated in the sheets above, however, in order to gain a sense of organisation, I have then created yet another story board including the time of each scene, the lyrics heard, the visual aspect along with the symbolism of each element.
As you can see above, this is our story board, however, our ideas did vary slightly as we considered having the actress become the artist who expands upon her personnel experiences, as many music videos do this in order to gain a connection with the target audience. However, this does mean that our intense morals and the dramatic storyline will be terminated. As a result, we decided to stick with our original idea as it varies to what is presently seen in the music industry today. We hope this will be successful, but to ensure this, I have analysed the story board and compared this to what is presently seen in the music industry today.
Storyboard
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Now that we have planned out our music video, we have decided to start filming in order to obtain the footage required for each scene, these are the pieces of equipment that we are going to use.
Equipment
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In order to make the promotional magazine poster and the CD/DVD cover, we will be using Photo shop, where we can advance upon our previous skills that we had gained when doing our AS, this will also aid us when editing any images that we will need.
However, when it comes to editing our footage for our main task of a music video, we will be using the Apple Macs, in particular, Final Cut Express, an editing programme that provides effects and transitions that will allow us to get as close to professionalism as we possibly can.
we were also considering rerecording the song in order for the lip syncing to be easier and more precise, if we proceed with this idea, we will be using Adobe Audition in order to record the final song.
Update
As we considered the location of our music video, we knew that we wanted something quite big and eerie to reflect the harsh tones of the music video, but due to our position as students, we could not access a place like this. As a result, myself and Rachel decided to have a back drop that we could find on the internet and modify to our standards, we could then film on a green screen at school where we would have professional lighting, and then edit our footage on top of our back drop. We thought that this was a good idea and kept scouring the internet for something that stood out, eventually, we found the image below.
We felt that this image conveyed the eerie essence that we wanted and the look of it coincides with our gothic narrative and overall genre. However, there were aspects that we wanted to change as we decided to include a chaise lounge on which the widow would express her feelings. We also wanted to enhance the lighting within the room, so myself and Rachel started to edit the room and this is what we resulted in.
As you can see, we have enhanced the lighting whilst adding a chaise lounge.
We have now made the chaise lounge brown so that it will blend into the setting ,and have lit the candles on the left to create a haunted look to the room. To ensure that this will work, we looked at certain music videos such as 'Sweet dreams', by Beyonce that incorporate back drops, however, we can not settle on this room alone, as the setting changes quite frequently. As myself and Rachel discussed this issue, we knew that we would have to include a variety of backgrounds, but they must look as though they are from the same house. As we continued our research, we knew that this wasn't possible , so we resorted to filming within one of our own houses. We were disappointed by the prospect, but as we started filming, many of the scenes were very effective, and the fact that it was filmed in a normal house illustrated how this music video is more relatable to a wide variety of people in England.
Update
We have started to film a lot of our scenes successfully, but we have come across one of the later scenes where the widow looks back on the past by looking through a photo album. Obviously, the album must consist of photos of the happy couple as we would like to include a POV shot. For this reason, we booked a photo shoot with the two actors, Kalifa and Fabien whom will act as though they are a married couple. This photo shoot was very successful as they incorporated a variety of shots ranging from long shots to low shots that complemented their vibrant energy. The following presentation expands on the successful images taken by myself and Rachel compared to real couples.
Photo album Images
In order to make the promotional magazine poster and the CD/DVD cover, we will be using Photo shop, where we can advance upon our previous skills that we had gained when doing our AS, this will also aid us when editing any images that we will need.
However, when it comes to editing our footage for our main task of a music video, we will be using the Apple Macs, in particular, Final Cut Express, an editing programme that provides effects and transitions that will allow us to get as close to professionalism as we possibly can.
we were also considering rerecording the song in order for the lip syncing to be easier and more precise, if we proceed with this idea, we will be using Adobe Audition in order to record the final song.
Update
As we considered the location of our music video, we knew that we wanted something quite big and eerie to reflect the harsh tones of the music video, but due to our position as students, we could not access a place like this. As a result, myself and Rachel decided to have a back drop that we could find on the internet and modify to our standards, we could then film on a green screen at school where we would have professional lighting, and then edit our footage on top of our back drop. We thought that this was a good idea and kept scouring the internet for something that stood out, eventually, we found the image below.
We felt that this image conveyed the eerie essence that we wanted and the look of it coincides with our gothic narrative and overall genre. However, there were aspects that we wanted to change as we decided to include a chaise lounge on which the widow would express her feelings. We also wanted to enhance the lighting within the room, so myself and Rachel started to edit the room and this is what we resulted in.
As you can see, we have enhanced the lighting whilst adding a chaise lounge.
We have now made the chaise lounge brown so that it will blend into the setting ,and have lit the candles on the left to create a haunted look to the room. To ensure that this will work, we looked at certain music videos such as 'Sweet dreams', by Beyonce that incorporate back drops, however, we can not settle on this room alone, as the setting changes quite frequently. As myself and Rachel discussed this issue, we knew that we would have to include a variety of backgrounds, but they must look as though they are from the same house. As we continued our research, we knew that this wasn't possible , so we resorted to filming within one of our own houses. We were disappointed by the prospect, but as we started filming, many of the scenes were very effective, and the fact that it was filmed in a normal house illustrated how this music video is more relatable to a wide variety of people in England.
Update
We have started to film a lot of our scenes successfully, but we have come across one of the later scenes where the widow looks back on the past by looking through a photo album. Obviously, the album must consist of photos of the happy couple as we would like to include a POV shot. For this reason, we booked a photo shoot with the two actors, Kalifa and Fabien whom will act as though they are a married couple. This photo shoot was very successful as they incorporated a variety of shots ranging from long shots to low shots that complemented their vibrant energy. The following presentation expands on the successful images taken by myself and Rachel compared to real couples.
Photo album Images
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Update
At the moment, as we have decided to rerecord the song, My Immortal, we have ensured that I get enough practice and I have managed to learn the song off by heart to create a professional cover. Before we record this on Adobe Audition, we knew that we had to include harmonies, as this is usually incorporated in many music videos today, that supply a certain depth and quality that adds to the professionalism of the entire music video. As we wanted to get used to the programme, we decided to play around with a test sample of the song during a rehearsal, and realised that we could gain an echo that adds to this eerie, haunted genre that would appeal to a gothic audience. When listening to other successful music videos within this genre such as, 'Last Resort', by Papa Roach, you will notice the levels, as the sound of the backing track and the vocals aren't too loud, so they do complement each other. However, when looking at songs with harmonies, the main vocals are louder and this allows the tracks to blend together, for instance, 'The only Exception', by Paramore'. We have realised, from rerecording this, that the lip syncing is much easier to do, below is a clip of myself rehearsing the song.
This is a picture of me recording the song in our school studio, using Adobe Audition.
As you will notice from the final recorded song, ' My Immortal', the rehearsals have paid off, as there is a drastic improvement from the the clip above. We have now also included the piano accompaniment and had done a final mix down where we changed the levels of the voices/harmonies, making them compliment each other, that is pleasant to hear. We have also added an echo effect that sets a haunted atmosphere for the music video and hopefully, this is will be a form of parallel sound as the visual aspect will include effects that may add to this mysterious outlook.
Update
This is our photography and filming schedule that includes all of the sessions we spent together in order to obtain the footage that we required for our music video and ancillary texts.
photography and Filming Schedual View more presentations from mediafan
photography and Filming Schedual View more presentations from mediafan
This is the Gantt chart that I had created regarding what I had to do and when I did them.
Update
This our diary of events regarding what we had done during each session and whether we were successful in doing so. I decided to do video diaries instead of a written account, as the day was fresh in my mind so it was easier and more efficient to explain via mouth.
Update
Now that we are editing, we have started to get used to the programme, Final Cut and have managed to manipulate our knowledge, by using effects and unique transitions. We have also started to implement our research into our actual main task, as we have managed to create a smooth flow and consistently use parallel sound to enhance this gothic genre that we are trying to portray. Hopefully, this will show through our final music video.
