Three Music Video Ideas

First Music Video Idea
Dramaphone by Caravan Palace

• The song 'Dramaphone' is like a remix of a 20s song, and I therefore have based my idea around a Charleston 20's style music video. 
• It'll be a mixture between naturalistic and abstract. 
• In one side of the video (the band/lip syncing), it is set in a 20s nightclub, smokey, sexy, tables with red table clothes on them, three girls standing behind a 'radio mic', we see the business of the club. 
• Other section- 20's charleston dance, black and white (have an idea for splashes of paint producing colour). 
• Dance, (4 dancers- separately and with partners) in a white box studio space. 
• The dance scenes will be abstract, quick edits and frantic movements. 
• There is no real storyline to this music video.

Clothing ideas 

Song lyrics: 

Sassy sisters,
Dressed in nothing but silk underwear.
Silly swingers,
Get your feeling under spell.
Sassy sisters,
Come and taste as sweet as can be.
Silly swingers.

Hey man, what's the matter,
What's he doing standing up there shaking like that?
Ah, well the boys are gonna tell you what to do.
Listen to 'em.

Dressed in nothing.
Dressed in nothing but silk underwear.
Listen to 'em.
Dressed in nothing.
Dressed in nothing but silk underwear.
Dressed in nothing.
Dressed in nothing but silk underwear.
Dressed in nothing but silk underwear.

Second music video idea
'We were wasted' by The Leisure Society

• Basing my idea on 'Tyrannosaur' the British Independent movie, which has 'We Were Wasted' as it's soundtrack. 
• Centred around an old man, living in poverty, council estate, lonely, nothing to live for. Black and white effect/ or just faded. 
• Clips of just his everyday life, extremely mundane. 
• Lots of grim and grimy settings, dirty armchair, lit by the television, his journey to the shop to buy cigarettes. 

Song lyrics: 

And I will close my eagle eyes
Hang up my skin to dry

We were wasted son
We were wasted all
On the ride, from the nightclub to our drive
On the way we sank

And from the flat above the square
We watch our comrades bare
Their teeth, their souls, their flesh

We were wasted son
We were wasted all
On the ride, from the nightclub to our drive
Oh the way we sank

3rd Music Video Idea
The Maestro by Caro Emerald 

• Vintage setting again, vintage murderess.
• Dressed in pencil skirt (black), green blouse and brown furs. She is beautiful, dark haired. Like Caro herself.

• We see her journey through the victims she has murdered, but its all extremely secretive and dark e.g. back alley ways and the murders are never really shown. 

Song Lyrics:

Presence, elegance, an unmistakable dominance

Behind those steely eyes

Anything you know is coincidence

No one seems to know anything about his age, just his name

He’s always dressed for fame

Uh, the keyser is the maestro

Let it go, dream a bit

To wear a garment so delish

I’d be out of my mind

The slightest designs, the ultimate chemist

Even you ingénue

A gift he can’t buy from you

But if I had to pay I’d sure find a way to break the bank

I’d break the bank that day

Ladies, his designs make the words fall out of a pantomime

Colors, how they flow, go from avant-garde to beyond sublime

History and mystery, he stops the hands of time

The magic skin is mind

‘Cause the keyser is the maestro

Initial group ideas

Group Ideas

This term we are creating Cover Music Videos on songs of our choice, arranging a group, bringing together our ideas to create a new and 'better' than the original for a song. My group (Callum, Katie and Finbar) have come to the conclusion of doing Fitzpleasure by the indie/rock band Alt J.

ALT J

Although, I loved the song, I wasn't keen on the idea at first as I had ideas of my own. So my group listened and took my concepts into account (designing the video in a past/vintage era e.g. 50s). We have decided on this idea:


Initial Group Work

As a newly decided group, we discussed all our music video choices and our ideas for it. The boys described their idea of doing 'Fitzpleasure' by Alt J. Their idea was:

• To use an old man (tweed jacket, braces, stuck in the past) who walks through a modernised room
• Represents his memories, with furniture/table suspended from the ceiling
• Every-time he looks at an object it transports him to a memory 
• 3 main memories and band performance 
• Vintage style, stuck in the past, she's dressed up as a typical 50s housewife, apron

Beginning:

-Head shot.
-Eyes open sharply
-He gets up and notices he is in a completely

Middle:

-Walks through the modernised, white room
-Memories change as he walks
-Girl is in each memory

End:

-We realise he murdered his wife
- Shard of glass reminds him of it.. squeezes it? Blood?

Our Group

Desert Island Year Review

Desert Island Year Review

To create a visual review of our AS year we created a 'desert island' diagram. This year for me, has been a mixture of positives and negatives, so I demonstrated this in my drawings, for example using the metaphor of a shark and a 'knife attack' to show difficult moments in the year. Personally, I found blogging the easiest bit in the media course, and so I portrayed this as a relaxing 'sunbath'. 'X marks the spot' was used to show our success at discovering an idea for our thriller, and finally deciding as a group what choices we wanted. The trees planted around the island tell how my knowledge about Media has developed along the course. Simon, my media tutor left at the end of the year, which was a down point to the year, as he'd gotten me an A in my exam, so the diagram describes my farewells to him.

Notes- Lady gaga guardian interview

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       Notes on Lady Gaga Guardian Interview 

      -The article tells of how Lady Gaga became hugely well known in 2008 for her hits such as 'Pokerface', 'Telephone', 'Bad romance'. But she is also for her eccentricity in style such as meat dresses, Grammy performance in giant eggs. You could suggest her desire is to be in the public eye.

·      

      -In reality, Lady Gaga states 'I hid in my house.' She wanted to preserve her image outside 'superstar' as people only ever see her at her best. She would never show the public and her fans the realistic image of Stefani Germanotta (her born name).

·      

      -Gaga puts her fans before anything, and in this instance it seems she doesn't want them to see her as a normal human being. To prevent this from happening, she never walks anywhere, getting cars everywhere. 

      -She is described as a cult-leader to her "Little Monsters"whose mantra for love in her last album, is acts a Bible for them. 

  

      -She is questioned whether she feels persecuted to which she replies "Yes! I certainly feel that at this time it's almost as if people are surprised they haven't already destroyed me." 

      -"It's almost entertainment for people to poke fun at Lady gaga, but they have no idea what I put into this album. In fact, people have no idea what it really took me to get here." 

      -Her album hadn't been out for 2 weeks and already people come out and say "she's over" and because she's not number 1, "she's finished". Instead of focussing on the music, people look at the statistics of the music's success. 

  

      -Due to a severe- hip injury, Gaga couldn't complete her Born This Way tour. Yet, she claims she would have shielded her fans from the hip secret if she had been able to continue on.

     -'Applause' was written as a motivational song for her fans "I want you to wake up in the morning and say 'I live for your applause, look at me today, I'm having a good day." 

     -When she talks about her fans: "I mean everybody. I mean anyone that's watching." 

     -She describes the girl underneath the sheep skin 'the kind of dingy, underground, metal-loving girl from New York who wants to talk about equal rights and go on and on about loving yourself.' 

      -She talks about her performance at the MTV awards comparing it to Miley Cyrus's near-naked show. "For me, my performance was not about taking my clothes off. I want to be strong and beautiful and powerful and full of confidence." But "it's not a competition". 

     -She claims she tried to hide a lot of pain over the past few years, hinting perhaps domestic abuse. The article questions whether this is gaga coming out of her hiding, and revealing her real self. 

A2- Tradgectory

Paloma Faith- Picking up the pieces

First equilibrium
The girl and her husband (Paloma Faith) are journeying to the house. The atmosphere is dark and melancholy, with colours being grey and dim. It's silent, with only the diegetic sound of the cars movement on the gravel and the sound of the birds- helping to create tension between Paloma and the man.

Disruption
The car arrives at the house, and she doesn't get out. The tension is building as she begins to sing. The  responses she gives when he attempts to show his love for her, are rejective. The disruption is therefore a distinct conflict in their relationship. She is concerned about the way people look at her and see her situation and relationship.

Recognition 

Paloma knows she is a woman "stuck in a tempestuous relationship with a possessive boyfriend". He is self obsessed represented by a scene of him shaving, with little care about her (who sits in the background.) She is frequently sat on her own, showing she has no support from her boyfriend, and is alone, despite being in this relationship. Her clothing is always perfect and glamorous symbolising the fact that he is besotted by the version of Paloma who represents perfection. He's in love with perfection. 

Attempt to restore 

In their attempt to restore, they take a meal together, which ends in an aggressive argument in front of other dinner guests. We see this emotional crumble of her character, as a resemblance of a domestic abuse situation, through the symbolic use of becoming wax-like and melting. The scene in which she melts shows that her character is not real and that she was imagining does not exist.  

New equilibrium

The video is finalised by a final kiss between the couple, which determines their argument was in fact just a blip which Paloma states 'happens a lot in relationships.' The kiss signifies the new equilibrium of their future continuing on as usual, with her problems being forgotten. 

Audience feedback

Audience Feedback

We asked our audience these questions:

• What did you like? 
• What didn't you like?
• What would you improve? 
• What do you think our narrative is? 
• Who do you think our target audience is? 

This video gave us an idea of what people truly thought about our thriller outcome. Our peers seemed to enjoy how artistic the film was, and how it doesn't need action as the tracking shot was capable of portraying the thriller genre. The long shot helped to build up the tension- 'where is the going?' and when it is revealed its exciting and 'thrilling'! They liked the fact we continued the music throughout the whole piece of the thriller.

Due to the fact they enjoyed the tracking shot so much, they were disappointed when it ended and other shots were included- they would have preferred the female to just remove the clothing from his eyes and the clip ending. They also thought the final line 'So long sweetie' was cliche and 'cringy', so avoiding that would have assured it's professional look.When asking what we could improve, they claimed the cuts at the end, took away from the importance of the clip and ruined the long shot, taking away from the context of the thriller. In response to this comment they gave, we claim that we felt we need to have other cuts within in the thriller, as it would otherwise restrict our account of editing content etc. There needed to be some break in there, to prevent it from dragging on, however they have a point.

They believe the narrative is about a woman who attempts to carry on out of line from the police and 'how the police track her down'. They also claim they think she takes photo of her victims- some sort of psychology included there. Another interpretation, could be that she is a spy, or something in that direction- as her personality is questionable.

The target audience was suggested to be male, as they're attracted to the lead female (which was our aim of target audience) however, women were also raised in target audience, claiming as she's a dominant character, female's aspire to be like her. The age range would "definitely be a mature audience as it has relationship issues". The area of people who enjoy the thriller genre would come to see our film; they gave examples such as 'people who watch Silence of the Lambs'. Niche audience's that aren't keen on action and explosions, but on subtly and perhaps psychological twists, which is the basis for our thriller.

Evaluation task (7) What have I learnt from my prelim to main task?

How have my skills developed between prelim and thriller?

Our prelim video was hugely limited. It was filmed in a media classroom and therefore we couldn't explore all the elements of a professional film, that we could use with our thriller. Our prelim was a useful practice for different elements of filming and it was crucial to explore different areas, ready for our thriller. 

In the classroom, we had a lack of lighting to create any sort of mood or feeling in the prelim, and it was therefore hard to bring convey any sort of genre or storyline. Lighting is crucial to form shadow, helping to create a setting and location of some sort. Lighting colour helps to portray a particular character's personality. For example bright, colourful lighting represents happy, positive characters whereas dark colours suggest sinister, perhaps dangerous characters. In our thriller, lighting was the crucial element to make it the thriller genre. We decided to use neon strip lighting, to create the setting of a tacky rundown motel. This neon lighting also made the thriller a present day film, which determines the era to be modern. We also used an unusual brightness in the thriller, to present a ironic positivity, despite the fact it was in a room where a murder had taken place. 

Thriller: We used the light from a film reel to create a 'heartbeat'

 like rhythm for the beginning of the thriller- creating anticipation

Prelim: We used natural light from the window in our prelim

For our thriller we had taken the time to decide what angles we wanted to shoot from and how we would position the tripod etc. Likewise in the prelim, we had to decide on the shots to create a decent storyline: use of close ups, wide shots etc. In our thriller we could use a highly technical use of cameras, and with this advantage, we were able to use a crane (primarily down to the space we had in the media studio compared to the classroom). With the prelim being done in a lesson and the thriller being filmed in a day, we had more time to redo shots, and finish with accurate, perfect clips.

Prelim: We practised high and low angle shots

 to demonstrate authority, or inferiority. 

Thriller: We used a crane, exploring objects on a table, 

to get a detailed sense of the setting in a small amount of time

As our prelim was merely gaining experience using the camera and editing, and so it lacked any real Mise En Scene. We had to make do with what we were given: a classroom, and the actor's clothes they were already wearing. To film our thriller professionally we had to gather Mise En Scene together to present a realistic film. We used furniture that fitted the setting of a 'motel' and the themes of death and seduction e.g. We learnt from the adaption of props and setting from prelim, to the thriller how much it creates an atmosphere for a film, giving it a location and purpose.

Prelim: The actor wears his own clothing. 

Thriller: Our lead actress wore a glamorous dress and 

makeup that included red lipstick to create the seduction of a thriller

Prelim: We made do with a classroom setting

Thriller: Our set was highly detailed to suite the genre and style

The Prelim

The Thriller 

Music
 Using found sound was much harder for our main task. We decided that if the music was unknown we could use it, and it really was crucial that our thriller had music in it to create the right setting. We chose a track that suited the flow of everything that takes part in the clip. The music and 1 lined up we gave to Lynne, differs from our original decision of having the thriller in complete silence. We presented Tobi with a cd: Burlesque and Beyond. The music on the album was jazzy and quite abstract, creating a seductive atmosphere perfect for the sexual tension in the scene. We inserted this onto the timeline and lowered the sound of the fan to create a jazzy atmosphere for our scene that was in keeping with neo-noir in The Last Seduction and Kill Me Again.

Meanwhile we continued to edit the thriller, we explored 20 different songs on the album, narrowing it to 10. we then presented them to us and we picked track 12. We then transferred the the music onto our timeline but the format was incorrect, and once the music was cut and pasted onto the timeline, we decided to add some extra noise and background sound such as cars and mopeds passing outside and the bustle of party near by

• Our tracking shots were long and took a great amount of time to sifter through them identifying any errors. We had an original plan of the cuts we would put together, and to begin with it was easy to play shots into the timeline. However,due to the lack of shots we had, we soon realised quite quickly, that some of the cuts didn't work together and so we were in a slight dilemma, as we didn't have any back up shots. We also realised that the angles were wrong, and wouldn't make sense when editing them together- when Lynne lifts her arm, the shot changed and the arm swapped round. To fix this, we had to result in zooming into her face for one shot, avoiding showing the body.