Costume and Props

Costume and Props

- More screenshots to be added later.

The costume and props used within music videos often relate to the genre and style of the artist or band, as well as the meanings behind the choice of instruments for the track and lyrics. An example of this is in "OK Go - Needing/Getting".

The props in this case, are the musical instruments. This reflects the band's unique take on music and music videos, as there is no other music video similar to theirs. It reflect's the band's creativity and shows that they're something different within the industry as all their music videos have a similar visual style - almost a journey, which the objects/elements interact with to create sound.

However, in our case costume and props play a relativity small part within our music video production.

The protagonist within our music video can be easily seen in crowd shots as the character wears a red jumper - A color which is very bright against the darker mise-en-scenes, such as the market shot which appears cold and bitter. The character from a distance looks like a Big Issue seller. This wasn't intentional, as this was pointed out during the edit by Miss. Barton, who asked myself while viewing a shot of a real seller - is that you? - This was taken into consideration by myself and it really does appear to be me. Taking this in mind, an audience member who watches my group's music video may also think this. Against the dark mise-en-scenes, our character, who appears as a Big Issue seller could now be seen as alone, alienated, and walks alone throughout the streets - much like O'Connors' "Nothing Compares to You" music video, where she is seen walking through the park.

Notes to expand upon:

The black outfit which Brian wears throughout feels very Gothic against the black background in a high black and white contrast.

Example on right: A still which I took with my Cannon 600D, then edited it in the camera to transform it into black and white, I did this as the contrast in colour and brightness was too extreme in colour. It distracted you from the mise-en-scene and singer, Brian.

Note: On my display, the photographs look blurred. If you click on each one, you will view the original  resolution, which is not blurred.

The guitar which Brian brought with him, was also black. Within our edit it too seems as if it's appearing out of nowhere. It's appearing out of the darkness into the mise-en-scene - much like a famous singer, taking the stage light.

Newspaper Collage for Music Video

Newspaper Collage for Music Video - Filmed by Sam

This short video consisting of JGP images taken by Sam has been put together to create an almost animatic-style motion of shorts. Our idea behind this is to demonstrate the main character's motives - his pursuit to find information. At the end of our music video, the character has all the information "pinned" up, onto a wall.

After Sam showed me the footage, I suggest to him to bring in the raw JPG image files for our next editing session, as well as this clip. This way, we can easily edit the pace of the footage as I find the above slightly slow.

I also added that, when he can, he could do some parts of it again but this time, include a few close ups of words circled in red, as well as newspapers overlapping each other. This would then add more verity into this scene and motion of clips.

The red circles highlight important words, such as "job" and "directions" - as well as other sources of information. This links to our song choice of "Information", as the artist Brian told us that his song is about seeking information for an undecided choice. This links in with Andrew Goodwin's music video analysis that the visuals have a relationship with the lyrics.

Intertextual Reference:

(unfinished) Note use of newspaper-like motion, images being displayed within an image/box shape object. Like a wall of living photos and use of red writing at the beginning.

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule (So Far)

Footage: 001 (24th September 2012)

Filming Brian Korteling at CNS H.U.B.

Equipment:
 - My Cannon 600D.
 - Sam's still camera.
 - My (full) tri-pod.

Crew:
 - Austen Nuttall.
 - Sam Wright.
 - Brian Korteling.
 - Mr. Seal (was present for supervision).

Footage: 002 (09th October 2012)

Filming protagonist - a teenage boy who goes around collecting newspapers for information.

Equipment:
 - My Cannon 600D.
 - Sam's still camera.

Crew:
 - Austen Nuttall.
 - Sam Wright.

Footage: 003 (17th October 2012)

Filming protagonist - a teenage boy who goes around collecting newspapers for information. This time, near the Norwich market and down some side-roads.

Equipment:
 - My Cannon 600D.
 - Sam's still camera.
 - My (mini) tri-pod.

Crew:
 - Austen Nuttall.
 - Sam Wright.
 - Members of the public included in shots.

Footage: 004 (09th November 2012)

While at my friend's 18th birthday party, I decided to film footage of teenagers socializing.

Equipment:
 - My Cannon 600D.
 - My (mini) tri-pod

Crew:
 - Austen Nuttall.
 - My friends.

Footage: 005 (12th November 2012)

Time-lapse, Big Issue sellers, shops and signs.

Equipment:
 - My Cannon 600D.
 - Sam's still camera.
 - My (mini) tri-pod.

Crew:
 - Austen Nuttall.
 - Sam Wright.
 - Members of the public included in shots.

Footage: 005 (12th November 2012)

Footage: 005 (12th November 2012)

On Monday the 12th of November, Myself and Sam went into the city between 9:05 - 10:40am to film extra footage. The footage which we hope to archive on this day I believe we have done so, this was shots of traffic, signs, and lastly news-related headlines.

I filmed using my Cannon 600D, and Sam brought his stills camera. Both myself and Sam gave input on the following shots:

Cameraman: Austen Nuttall

For the next two shots of the "Fire exit" sign I had a little trouble trying to get the frames in focus. Eventually, I manged to do so, but it took a little while to get the right pace and timing. 

I rather like the close up of the newspapers above, something which I would feel needs something else though within the mice-en-scene, perhaps we could use this towards the chorus of the song in an over-lay of another clip.

The above shot I rather enjoy, although short, in comparison to our track "Information", I believe it'll fit rather well. The Big Issue seller is seen being rather lively, and upbeat. Much like our track, it is as if he is "dancing" to it.

The following shots Myself and Sam will edit on the computer to give a time-lapse effect. This is when the shot is increased in speed making objects move faster than normal. This is often done to represent movement of time, however, on top of this, the below shot sees a "Big Issue" newspaper seller standing still. We thought this would be a great shot to get passers by in the time-lapse effect, and the man will (more or less) stand still. Representing an almost loneliness and bitter relationship with the public. The public choice to ignore, rather than interact.  

As well as the above being a time-lapse shot, the below of passers by in Chapelfield Norwich will also be a time-lapse shot.

Footage: 004 (09th November 2012)

Footage: 004 (09th November 2012)

On Friday night, I went to my friend's 18th Birthday party in Norwich at a place called "Arkwrights". I decided this was a good opportunity to film extra footage for our music video even though none of the following has been story boarded or planned in advanced with group member Sam.

The footage I filmed includes people socializing, drinks and lastly a pool table game. I find that these shots will help strengthen the cultural appeal and references to the community for our music video and the folk genre towards our target audience.

I would doubt we'd actually use any of this footage in our final edit, since it may not relate to how our video will be constructed and narrative-wise, but it is always a positive to have extra clips available nevertheless.

Cameraman: Austen Nuttall

Actor(s): My friends at an 18th birthday party I went to.

Draft/Backup of: Discuss the role (/impact) of tribes and subcultures in youth identity

Question: Discuss the role (/impact) of tribes and subcultures in youth identity

(I still wish to expand on it more with more points, but I'm finding it a little difficult to come up with some - this is just a backup of what I have).

There are many different types and variations of tribes and subcultures. According to a modernist theory of approach on identity, we discover who we are as identity is given and is unchanging. However, a postmodernist view is that we choose who we are. It is your choice and it's ever changing, it's fluid. Factors such as how you behave shape who you are today.

Taking this into account, one example of how tribes and subcultures have impacted society's views is by looking at different stereotypes of how teenagers express themselves though different genres of music. Rock, Punk, Gothic and Emo suggest a negative vibe due to the vast amount of black styled clothing and wacky hairstyles as a form of rebellion against social acceptance of others which suggest chaotic riots are far overdue. This then suggests that each and every teenager is the same, whereas they are all different. This has an affect on youth identity since the youth community would then be seen as dangerous and rebellious by local newspapers and members of the public.

The use of belonging with a certain group gives teenagers a form to express themselves. This allows them to express who they want to be. Being in a group of people with the same outlooks is a sense of belonging, a collectively which shares the same identity.

Youth identity also plays an important role in business models for target audience demographics. This is so that the brand is able to establish a potential market to enter. Since tribes and subcultures in youth identity already exist, there is no need to do much, yet any research on how to establish a potential audience's attention. For example, the Gothic community stereo-typically are interested in churches  gravestones, religion, death and spiritual meanings. For a jewelry shop, crosses and angels would appeal towards and attract the Gothic culture due to their interest towards the subject since this is how they express themselves as being part of this culture.

Editing 001: Adjusting Lighting

Editing 001: Adjusting Lighting 

(Edit took place on the 22nd October 2012)

The "backbone" shot to our music video is inspired by Sinéad O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2U" music video. This shot is where the performer is positioned in-front of the camera in a mid-extreme close up against a black background.

Our original footage of our performer, and artist of our chosen song - Brian, the results where satisfactory in my opinion, however Myself and Sam wanted to archive a more dark, and shadowy background than previously seen in Sinéad O'Connor's music video (as mentioned many, many times on my blog).

To begin with, we tried out editing a few clips of our footage we've already filmed, just to see how it would appear in the editing software Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 and how we could cut to different shots throughout our track.

We then decided to leave our footage and move onto our "backbone" shot and experiment with different lighting effects, transitions as well as syncing our MP3 track to our footage. The outcome would not be the final edit of the clip, since this was only experimenting in-class what features would look appealing within the mise-en-scene, however, it is very possible our outcome today being a final edit of a selected clip is being considered.

Non-ambient Lighting Effects:

I decided to surprise Sam and film a little bit of our editing process.

Nice singing Sam, very nice indeed...

Although, I'm so fussy when it comes to my hair...anyways:

To adjust the lighting, we first tried using a spotlight. A spotlight is an non-ambient light source which focus light on one particular aspect or object.

Spotlight - 3DS Max

However, our results could of been better. I then suggested to Sam to use an Omni light. As an Animation student at the Hewett Sixth Form I'm very familiar with how Omni lights work since I have used them in the animation software 3DS Max.

Omni light - 3DS Max

An Omni light is different to a Spotlight since an Omni light produces light in all directions, whereas the spotlight is only in one direction. By using an Omni light, we have the option to have an equal amount of light in all directions which dramatically enhances our shot's appeal from the original since the background is no longer as bright as the foreground of the mise-en-scene.

Here is a screenshot showing the effects of an Omni light in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. The footage which I recorded above also includes us editing the Omni light.

3DS Max Images from:
http://www.expertrating.com/courseware/3DCourse/3D-Lights-1_clip_image002.jpg
http://www.expertrating.com/courseware/3DCourse/3D-Lights-1_clip_image002.jpg

Footage: 003 (17th October 2012)

Footage: 003 (17th October 2012)

Cast and Crew of the Following Footage:

Cameraman: Austen Nuttall

Actor(s): None

The above shot which I took was for me, originally going to be at the beginning of our music video, but after much thought I think it'll fit more with the ending. The title "On Sale Here", seems to feel appropriate to end our edit on. We're planning to include many news-paper related objects within the video, and for me, planning ahead would feel stratified if this was our ending clip. However, I could imagine this in black and white, with a very high contrast. It would bring out the mise-en-scene to be very gloomy and dark, as it looks fairly "lifeless" in color due to barely any hue within the mise-en-scene.

Cast and Crew of the Following Footage:

Cameraman: Sam Wright

Actor(s): Austen Nuttall

"Chopping wood never felt like such a waste" - chopping down paper from a notice-board, relates to song lyrics, amplifies the meaning, Goodwin's theory.

"Fill your pockets", again, relates to theory and amplifies the lyrics:

Footage for a Time-Lapse Idea

Cast and Crew of the Following Footage:

Cameraman: Austen Nuttall (filmed on mini tri-pod)

Actor(s): Members of the public... and a pigeon.

The following footage will be increased in speed during post-production editing to create a time-lapse effect and appearance.

Footage: 002 (09th October 2012)

Footage: 002 (09th October 2012)

Cast and Crew of the Following Footage:

Cameraman: Sam Wright
Actor: Austen Nuttall

The above shot uses the rule of thirds to draw the audiences attention, something which is very important in a music video - have the audience interested. I feel that this above clip could be edited, instead of colour use black and white to bring out the pavement. A higher contrast level would dramatically increase the tension, as a low angle, even a worm's eye view can be very vulnerable  as we see a strange character come out of the shadows.

Cast and Crew of the Following Footage:

Cameraman: Austen Nuttall

Actor: None

Practice:

Finalized Result of Shot:

Music Video Analysis: Sinéad O'Connor's - "Nothing Compares 2U"

Music Video Analysis:
Sinéad O'Connor's - "Nothing Compares 2U"

The song "Nothing Compares 2U" was written by the artist Prince for a side project of his called "The Family". The track was then later made famous by the Isrish singer Sinéad O'Connor.

The first opening shot is a long shot of a pathway, with the lead singer - Sinéad O'Connor in the distance which cuts into a fade of a well/pond soon afterwards. The long shot could represent a troublesome journey Sinéad has to take within her music video, this shot is also in-relation to the opening lyrics:

"It's been seven hours and fifteen days,

Since you took your love away,"

The opening lyrics assumedly establish that this song is about a heart-broken harrowing tale of love and the loss over it. The genre of the track, alternative pop, is portrayed much slower and more meaningful than other pop songs. For example, Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" - this track also has an emotional meanings attached to the lyrics, but the drumbeat throughout the track and quick edits of cuts between clips take away the emotional aspect of Adele's music video and transforms it into something else - a track which could be danced to in a lively manner.

The opening shot can represent how Sinéad is by herself, in the wilderness all alone and unloved by the wild, cold chilly surroundings within the mise-en-scene as she is seen alone, with no one around her for comfort.

The shot then cuts to a fade-in of an empty pond, this could be an intertextual reference to the Greek myth of Νάρκισσος (Narcissus), who looked into his own reflection and fell in-love with himself not realizing it was only an image of his own reflection. Due to not being able to leave his own reflection, Νάρκισσος eventually fell towards it drowning himself by his own beauty -  "Nothing compares to you".

"to you"

The close up of Sinéad's face between 1:15 to 1:20 has an emotional and meaningful relationship with the audience consuming the music video. Between 1:15 and 1:20 is the main lyric(s) of the chorus: "Nothing compares to you".  Sinéad expresses the lyrics by making the audience relate to her story, as in each and every chorus, as soon as she sings the lyric "you", it's as if she is connecting with the viewer - the viewer is the one who she is singing about, she's singing to you and not for you as a way of entertainment and pleasure to listen to.

The camera then cuts to an autumn setting with leafs falling onto the ground with Sinéad fading out to around a 50% opacity within the mise-en-scene to still remain visible to the viewer. The leafs falling to the ground could represent how at this point the music video changes emotionally and in musical pitch as the track is approaching the first half of the middle section within the song where Sinéad starts to "yell-out" towards the viewer, expressing her emotions more frequently by looking into the eyes of the consumer.

The falling lefts could also represent how what was, has now been lost. Leafs falling from trees are dying and will be replaced during the Summer due to the cold bitterness of the approaching winter season - a cold and chilling season, one which some may not like to spend alone.

to be continued.

NOTES:

Intertextual reference - QUEEN - Bohemian Rhapsody

Stills 001: (24th September 2012)

Stills 001: (24th September 2012)

Below is a still photograph which I took while on shoot with my Cannon 600D. I find this photograph rather appealing due to the use of the pose of the performer.

The quality of the mise-en-scene was limited to my surroundings, so I decided to position Brian beside the Yamaha piano with his guitar. I also explained to him how I would like him to pose.

However, while editing I'm able to have the option to cut out the background using Photoshop or GIMP to replace it with something more interesting, colorful and a far more vibrant mise-en-scene armament.

Although, the black and white outcome I find is fine as it is, the only issue I would have with this photograph is the color version.  

Click to view photographs :

As an A-level photographer myself, I'm rather happy by the outcome and I am pleased to present it to you. The outcome itself was purely inspired by Terry O'Niell's photograph of Elton John sitting by his piano. The outcome is purely continental to my current work, since at the time I was writing an essay on Terry O'Neill for Photography A2.

Some trivia: This photograph was a rejected
cover image for "Elton John's Greatest Hits 1974"

The reason behind the chosen pose is that it outlines to the consumer/audience of the media that Elton is an artist; as both the piano, artwork and sculptures in the background and mid-ground reflect this, just like my photograph of Brian: He is also an artist and singer-songwriter. Our chosen target audience may understand that this is an intertextual reference which refers to the photograph of Elton. This in theory could lead to a potential album artwork or cover for my print productions. 

Footage: 001 (24th September 2012)

Footage: 001 (24th September 2012)

The following footage was filmed at CNS (City of Norwich School) on the 24th September 2012 inside the hall of the school "HUB".

Our main inspiration for the following shots was taken from Sinéad O'Connor's 1989 song "Nothing Compares 2 U". This is because Myself and Sam find the reoccurring continuous close up shot of the singer/performer is very iconic and very memorable due to the use of emotional facial expressions, which emphasize the meaningful lyrics.

Myself and Sam chose to film the whole track in different camera positions. We chose to do this so when it came down to editing, it wouldn't be as difficult as we have every option to cut to X shot at X time and making sure that the lyrics are in-sync with the music track.

Please ignore the bad sound quality in a few selected clips. We chose to play the song on the surround sound speakers so that Brian - the performer, would be able to archive complete synchronization with his music track. This will most useful and beneficial during the editing process, since the track and footage is already aligned in perfect synchronization exactly.

From another point of view, in terms of an industry, this is called lip-syncing. It is often rumored that at live performances artists and bands would lip-sync some or even all of songs. This may be because of having a bad throat or that the singer is getting older and isn't able to perform as well as they did before.

For example:

I'm more than sure he's "sorry" now! Haha! No? Anyone? Awh... *sad face*.

I have to admit, that was a bad pun.

The footage:

Cameraman: Austen Nuttall

Stills Cameraman: Sam Wright

Performer: Brian Korteling

"Good footage" which I am satisfied with:

"Footage which to me is neither good nor bad" which I am satisfied with:

I only say this since we can edit out parts of the clip and only take the most interesting aspects - such as the zoom in/out of focused guitar transition.

"Footage which I find is ok, but could of been better with more planning"

which I am satisfied with:

To explain the above, the dolly which I used was sometimes shaky on the floor. We could of got out boards or some-kind of smoother surface to work on if we had the materials. Again, we can edit and cut this clip while editing to only include the parts which look appealing.

Outtakes:

Casting

Casting

Brian Korteling:

Brian Korteling is the artist of our chosen track - "Information". Since he lives in Norfolk, Norwich, Sam and I where keen to get him involved, in the hopes that it will make our music video production different from the rest of the class. 

As an experienced musician and artist, who also has his own website, we had no issues with casting him as the lead performer in our music video production. We've already filmed Brian and the results where satisfactory to my opinions. I especially enjoyed the mise-en-scene of just Brian's face in a close up, I find that shot is very iconic and memorable.

Myself - Austen Nuttall

I volunteered to star in our music video as a young teenage male who goes around taking newspapers and magazines to hang on his bedroom wall within our music video. I've had previous acting experiences as I also acted in two A.S. thriller opening media productions. The first being my own, with a group member called James Kent and the other, a classmate's production for the same media course. The below video is my version of edit to last year's thriller production:

As an amateur photographer taking A.2 photography I've often experimented by acting and modeling in different ways, this for me has also helped with my on-screen presence and courage while filming our production and will continue to do so.

Here are a few photographs of myself posing for the camera. The first two are self-portraits I have taken, the first where I have held my Cannon 600D in front of myself, and the second by using a mini tri-pod mounted on the dinning table.

Watermarked with "Austen Nuttall Photography" since these also appear on my (work-in-progress) blog: austennuttallphotography.blogspot.co.uk

Click to show photographs :

The below photograph is taken by my friend Jade Ashby.

This just also happens to be in the style of image and costume which is seen within our filmed footage so far:

Storyboards

Storyboards

The drawings within the frame/mise-en-scene I find are the most important aspects of our music video to feature, this is why I haven't included all possible shots to film, of course, there will be other close ups, camera angles and shots alike in the final cut. Please take notice that during the edit, the order of the shots may vary and change depending on how the narrative of the edit is completed and constructed.