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.
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.
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.
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 youas 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We live in "the time of tribes" where the "proliferation of lifestyle cultures" has dramatically increased. Due to this result, mass culture has disintegrated. Instead nowdays, social existence is conducted through fragmented tribal groupings, organized around the catchwords, brand-names and sound-bites of consumer culture through products form retailers such as "Superdry", "Topshop" and "The Rock Collection". As identity becomes more personal, there is a rise of "identity politics" where we only think about oursleves and our own appearance and image.
We've chosen to aim the music video at an older audience since the music track reminds us very much of older generation band's style of music such as "The Stokes" and "Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel", however, I've decided to do some research about how the song appeals towards different ages between 16-19, much lower than our group's choice of 19-30 as mentioned in the above PowerPoint.
To do this, I decided to create an event on Facebook where I invited and asked all of my "online friends" the following questions about our chosen music track:
Age? Male/Female? Would you listen to this song often? Yes/No Would you listen to this type of genre (pop/folk)? Yes/No Any reasons to why? E.g. "Prefer metal and something more upbeat".
Would you include it on your MP3 player (if you have one)? Yes/no
Optional:
Any major interests? For example: T.V. shows(s)? favorite movie(s)? Sport(s)? Anything else?
I find asking a range of ages these questions is very important to help find us the identity our target audience for the music video. Even though the questionnaire I created is focused about opinions and thoughts on our chosen song, and not an actual music video, I find that by doing so, my group and I are able to re-think our target audience range. If the music track applies to a younger audience, then we have the option to adjust our music video production to match the younger generation, between the ages of 16-19 rather than our current opinion; 19-30.
The results from my questionnaire where very positive with a few negatives. A satisfactory sample of those invited manged to answer my questions and you can view their responses below:
We have chosen to base our music video with the theme of using newspapers as they are a source of "information".
To cut between a few shots, we've came up with the idea that the camera zooms outwards, and pans downwards or to either left or right to the next article/photograph which then starts to play, and zoom back in again. Lyrics would also appear in the columns.
This type of shot/transition will be filmed when we have footage to use as photograph "thumbnails" in the newspaper by taking stills from both the beginning and end to place in the newspaper.
Newspaper zoom in/zoom out.
Guitar close up.
Close up of singer.
Putting newspapers on wall.
Walking shots (close ups, long shots, tilted shots).
Guitar close up.
Newspaper zoom in (not the same as shot 1 - zoom onto the words "jobs" and/or "career").
Close up of singer.
Close up of guitar.
Traffic lights, street locations (close ups, long shots, tilted shots).
Highlighting/circling in newspaper words.
Crossing out highlighted words one by one.
Singer + guitar medium close up.
Slow-motion ripping up newspaper.
Long shot slow-motion paper falling above person to ground.
This is a basic idea of how we would like to construct our music video for our chosen track:
"Information" by Brian William Korteling.
The skeleton plan:
We have chosen to base our music video with the theme of using newspapers as they are a source of "information".
To cut between a few shots, we've came up with the idea that the camera zooms outwards, and pans downwards or to either left or right to the next article/photograph which then starts to play, and zoom back in again. Lyrics would also appear in the columns.
This type of shot/transition will be filmed when we have footage to use as photograph "thumbnails" in the newspaper by taking stills from both the beginning and end to place in the newspaper.
1) Slow long shot zoom onto a newspaper since our track has a long intro. The newspaper will eventually fill the complete mise-en-scene. The mise-en-scene would include a still from our second shot as if it's a complete transition between the two.
2) Close up of penny/coin dropping into water - this illustrates the first line of lyrics: "I was wishing, I was wishing to bad". The symbolism is making a wish into a well or fountain.
3) Worm shot of man (protagonist) within our music video to show who throws the penny or coin into the water. Myself and Sam have considered the idea of this character being anonymous, by doing this, the lyrics in the chorus "give me information" is asking a question, rather than a statement. It is asking who the protagonist is.
4) Close up shots of the singer Brian against a black background. Intertextual reference to "Sinéad O'Connor" - "Nothing Compares 2U".
5) Close up and extreme close ups of guitar.
6) Different close ups and tracking shots of (possible anonymous) protagonist walking past "rough" locations with dark mise-en-scenes. Contradicts the mood and atmosphere of the upbeat and lively track.
7) Close up shots of the singer Brian against a black background. Intertextual reference to Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2U music video.
8) Close up and extreme close ups of guitar.
9) Slow-motion nearer towards the ending and close ups of protagonist ripping up newspapers and throwing them against a white background. Thus not being able to give someone information, which the lyrics ask for as mentioned above - contradicts the lyrics once again. Different facial expressions will be used. This can be seen as an intertextual reference to the slow-mo used Woodkid's "Iron" music video to express feelings and emotion while carrying out actions.
Also possible reference to the dancing used in Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" music video - by dancing, some kind of dust cloud is created out of matter.
1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
Genre characteristics are features which help identify a specific genre. For example, a detective can be associated with a murder mystery drama, whereas a spaceship belongs more to a Sci-fi genre. Different characteristics can include either stage performances in a metal video and even dance routines for a boy/girl group band. However, it is not just limited to these two, the mise-en-scene, costume, casting, camera angles and also lighting (ambient or non-ambient) can also help identify genre.
Within the American group "As I Lay Dying" music video of "Through Struggle", the metal genre is represented through costume, lighting and appearance/pose. The atmosphere of the dark mise-en-scene gives off a Gothic vibe and the flickering lighting could represent a stage presence performance. The constant headbanging is socialized often with the rock, punk, and metal genre of music.
2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.
The relationship between lyrics and visuals could either illustrative, amplify, or contradictive. An example of an amplifying relationship can be seen within Woodkid's "Run Boy Run" music video. The main lyric in the chorus and verses is: "Run boy run". The visuals amplify the lyrics since within the music video, a boy is seen contently running.
3) There is a relationship between music and visuals.
This relationship is similar to the above; could either be illustrative, amplify, or contradict. An illustrative relationship is when lyrics represent a meaning in a visual form. An example of this is seen within "Bat For Lashes" music video of "Whats a Girl To Do".
The relationship between the music track and visuals occurs after 0:40 seconds. This is when the masked animals on the bicycles begin to clap to the same rhythm of the cymbals in the music track.
4) The demands of the record label will include:
The need for lots of close ups of the artist or band.
The artist or band may develop motifs which recur across their work - such as visual styles.
Examples of a visual style can be seen at Michael Jackson's live events, and public appearances. The very first appearance of his famous white glove was in 1983, in a performance of "Billie Jean" at the Motown 25 television special. (source: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2009/0626/p02s19-usgn.html).
Audiences often associate Michael Jackson with his glove and white shoes. His white styled shoes often make an appearance in his music videos, whereas the glove doesn't. For example, his white styled shoes appear in the music video of "Billie Jean". Both of these objects represent Michael's visual style of the pop genre.
Another example is Lady Gaga's whacky and frequent costume changes, with also her dance and poses in each of her music videos and appearances. Her costume is her main visual style. In each and every music video, Lady Gaga is seen wearing a different costume from the previous one, which is even more whacky than the last!
5) There is a frequently reference to notion of looking and voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
The use of the female body being used voyeuristic is becoming more commonly used to attract and seduce male audiences (not exuding females - mostly male audiences*) for publicity and advisement. For example, Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" (released 23rd September 2008) starts with Lady Gaga walking out of a pool and the camera slowly pans down her body in between cuts revealing her costume.
6) There is often intertextual reference(s) to either film, T.V,
music videos, and/or other media.
Intertextual references within music videos are often used to add a meaning to their video and/or song. These can range from mainstream films to old fashioned poems and any media type or form in-between.
The animals riding the bicycles in "Bat For Lashes" music video of "Whats a Girl To Do" could be an intertextual reference to the 2001 film "Donnie Darko". This is because throughout the film there's the presence of the mysterious Rabbit - Frank, whose appearance is very similar to the rabbit mask used within the music video. Donnie also rides a bike, just like the lead singer within the video.
Notes for the above:
The Smiths - "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard Of This One Before" - Bycle scene. Relates to kids on bikes in the above video.
Notes:
Bat for Lashes music video as suggested. Alice in Wonderland references.
The Matrix Trilogly - The music video of the soundtrack is similar to the style of the film. (Slow mo used, camera angles, narrative, also very similar to Midnight Sin...Batothern (sorry for spelling mistakes, this is just notes at the moment for future reference/to remind me on points to continue on).
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.
