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FMP Practice

Media type- Film/Tv
Music Video
YR1 FEEDBACK

  • Links to websites I researched on

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  • more detail for action plan

Proposal 

I chose to do the film/tv brief because this is something I Thurley enjoy and haven't had many chance to do something with it. I would like to explore this sector more and gain a further understanding within this industry.  I also chose to do this brief because if I gain more knowledge on it and enjoy this project I may take it on further for my FMP, or I may not but this is good practise to decide what I enjoy and what I don't enjoy.

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I will be creating a music video what will be about 2 mins long . The genre of the song is pop so the theme of the music video will have to be like a concert or something very entertaining happening what keeps the audience listening. 

The target audience will be more for teenagers because of the genre pop is listened to more by them. The genre pop is usually directed at younger people because its played more by them. The music video will have to be interesting and keep the audiences attention, especially teenagers. The style I am going to be using will be vintage clothing or casual wear because this is linked with my target audience and genre (Teenagers). The song I'm choosing is Locked out by KSI.

With my last FMP I found my workflow was really good and I enjoyed working on my own. I started this project with a group but then I dropped out because I work better alone because I know I don't have to rely on anyone else. I would like to do this independently because this way I can improve my soft and hard skills ready for my real FMP.

I have discussed with my group and one of them agreed to act in our music video, the music video will follow a narrative and make it feel like a story in a way . I am still yet to decide what narrative I would like to follow in my music video but by doing research this will help me shape my music video and put everything in place.

My role in this music video is lighting, this is something that I need to look into more than anything because when we come to filming this will be my main priority.

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Research
What is a Narrative Music Video?

A narrative music video tells a story, logically or sequentially through a chain of events that are put together to run parallel to each other. At times it may even seem like a little film that stars a main character who communicates with the audience.

What are its effects on the audience?

Contrary to a performance music video which highlights the performance of any artist, a narrative music video is much more engaging for the audience. It has a story that attracts their attention and keeps them engaged till the end.

Narrative music videos are good at creating emotional bonds between the artist and the viewer. Sometimes the style of the narrative can even define an artist.

They not only present the artist with a more engaging way to present their ideas, but also increases the recall value of the artist/band by the audiences.

How can you build your narrative?

Todorov's narrative theory

At the outset of the story you introduce a main character and everything starts normally (nothing goes wrong). Then the equilibrium is broken by some event or through creation of a conflict.

Soon a realisation occurs where the disruption is recognised as the problem is sensed by the character, who explores the consequences. After which he tries to restore the order to attempt to solve the problem or repair the disruption.

Finally the balance is restored and the conflict is solved with a happy end!

Ideas 

  • "Golden Hour" Shooting

  • Light Movement with Music Effect

  • Different Speed Footages Idea

  • Slow Reveal Craft

  • One-Shot Shooting

  • Green-Screen Shooting

  • Stop-Motion Idea

  • Drone Shooting

COLOUR THEORY IN MUSIC

Colour plays a big part when king a music video because it can indicate so many different things. I want to have a bright colour on my clips to indicate that they are flashbacks because this makes it more self explanatory.

A unique process to make searching for music more effective. Speaking in terms of colours can help to communicate ideas about music. Use colour theory to reason and help backup your music choices in creative meeting situations. To assist in strengthening the continuity between music and picture.

 

Colour theory can set the tone and mood for the viewer using colour manipulation in pre-production, shooting and post. But what exactly is colour theory?

Colour theory is an explainable phenomenon that came about during the Renaissance period with painters. While basic colour attributes were assigned, it would be several centuries before Albert H. Munsell would create a three dimensional colour system that focused on hue, lightness and chroma. This system, developed in the early 1900’s, would go on to become highly precise and scientific. By looking at his work and how it has evolved, as well as its applications, you’ll easily be able to grasp the basic fundamentals of colour theory.

What colours represent pop

Pop music, with lots of melody, but without complicated rhythm or harmony is cyan in colour. A simple melody with hard driving rhythm gives you the Blues. Jazz, with lots of rhythm, some melody, and some harmony, is predominantly purple in colour.

Chosen Song

This song has a very upbeat tone to it so something with bright colours would go well, not just one colour like a wall. Clothing would also be key when using a song like this because you can wear more than one colour.

Narrative Music Videos

Eventually people got tired of filming performances and putting them on TV like The Jackson 5’s Rockin’ Robin and realised they could use their music videos to tell stories… just like in films.

In case you can’t tell from the incredibly accurate name; narrative music videos are music videos with a story; they have a beginning, middle and end. This allows directors to tell the stories they want, how they want and even in the genres they want. You can tell a story from start to finish like Drake’s Hold On, We’re Going Home, show parts of what seems like a bigger story like The 1975’s Robbers or even an alternative narrative like our very own Remedy by The New Citizen Kane where the audience makes up their own mind on the story. This is where the film maker can really shine because they can tell a story in the genre and cinematography of their choosing, sometimes without adhering to the rules of storytelling.

Songs for the most part are already stories, even if the song doesn’t have lyrics, they all tell stories. The interesting thing here is that the story can be the song rolled out for you to see, sometimes the story is an alternative interpretation and other times the story seems to have nothing to do with the song at all but what works works like Alt-J’s Breezeblocks.

Does the story of your song require visuals to match? Then maybe a narrative music video is the way to go and just remember there are different ways to do it.

Conventions of a Pop music video

I researched into the conventions what are included within a pop music video because this will help me shape my music video by getting inspiration from others. I also watched some pop music videos and took notes on what i think are similar and what makes it a pop music video

Pop is a genre that I used to listen to a lot of is probably the genre I know most about as I used to watch a lot of pop music videos when I was younger

Camera – After watching around five pop music videos I could see that the majority of them used the same types of shots. For example lots of close ups are used on the artists face to show passion and add emphasis on the lyrics. For example in John Newman’s video for ‘Love Me Again’ lots of close ups are use on his face. Furthermore lots of camera movements like panning and tracking are incorporated in a pop music video. In ‘Counting Stars’ by One Republic the majority of the shots are filmed on a hand held camera making the audience feel disoriented as its not crammed properly. However this also can create a more personal and laid back atmosphere for the audience that is enjoyable to watch as it’s less staged. If the artist is a pop band wide angled shots are used to show the whole band performing but will equally have close ups focusing on them too. Lastly some music videos are just movement and dance routines and therefore consists of lots of long shots. A good example of this is Justin Bieber ‘Love Yourself’.

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Mise En Scene – The majority of up beat pop music videos have brightly coloured costumes and vibrant makeup. However when looking into costumes I came across a theory by Laura Mulvey which implied that women are  seen as sexual objects and wear extravagant and revealing clothing in their videos. For example Lady Gaga wears minimal clothing in all of her videos that give off a huge sex appeal. Due to the advancing of technology location has changed dramatically as now you can use a green screen to produce beautiful scenery. One video I am using as inspiration for when I film mine is ‘Happy Little Pill’ by you-tuber Troye Sivan  as his backgrounds are very simplistic but effective. Lighting can vary depending on what mood the artist is trying to create. Adele uses low key lighting in her ‘Hello’ music video to create strong shadows and emphasis the dramatic mood. Props are either used to dress the scene or as a symbol to represent something important, this could be a photo a phone. In the video for ‘Chandelier’ the props are very dull so all the attention is on the music and the dance movement.

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Editing – This is a big part of any music video as it transforms the music and creates the finished product. Traditionally the editing of the footage matches the music or the beat. This can be accomplished in many ways including cuts, jump cuts, dissolve and cross cutting. Editing also makes lip syncing look real by matching it to the music at the right tempo. Furthermore if the music video is in the style of a narrative it might include a voice over which has to be edited over the top of the rest of the footage.One convention  discovered that I would like to incorporate into my music is they layer tints and filters over the top of footage to boost colours and make everything crisps and look more professional. It also makes the artists look airbrushed which is never a bad thing!

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Sound – Similar to my post about the codes and conventions of rock music videos mostly the sound used in the video is the actual music. However some will have a bit of dialogue to introduce the story and the concept of the music video and what the artists is trying to get across to the audience. For example in Chris Brown’s song ‘Wake Me Up’ he has narration over the top at the beginning to introduce the concept.

Specific conventions

Artists are clothed in fashionable, stylish and mainstream outfits .

- Artist are portrayed as happy, enjoying and content with life.

- The lyrics are normally based around love or relationships.

- Often bands express the unity associated with teens, which is the main target audience for this genre.

- Music genre is normally conveyed through the video dressing and setting.

Pop songs is usually between 3-5 minutes long with a set structure and a consistent beat.

It provides a structure that the audience can understand.

- To ensure the lyrics of the song fit with the visuals of the music video.

Lighting can make a video rather intruding, as some music videos may use natural lighting e.g. the sunlight the performance shots of a music video. Whereas, some music videos would use bright neon lighting to make the video be rather surreal. It adds more energy and vibrancy to a music video.

Lighting
Working with natural light

(If you're shooting during golden hour, the dissipated light can serve as your key light, fill light, and back light all at the same time.)

Outside of natural lighting situations, many music videos are similarly shot with only the use of ambient lighting or practical lighting — which is truly an artform unto itself. However, my general advice would be to only use natural or practical lighting only when no other lighting options are available. 

Practical Research

We originally planned to use light so I got too practise using lighting but when we went outside the natural light worked really well 

Production
Reflection-Gibbs' Reflective Cycle
 

  • Description of the experience

  • I really enjoyed making this music video because this is something I have not engaged in before and from doing this I feel like I have adapted my technical skills. I had to make a music video, it didn't have to be the whole song just over a minute. I worked with a group and I think once we all got to know each other we worked really well and done a good job.

  • Feelings and thoughts about the experience

  • This was my first time making a music video, from doing this project I feel like I have learnt a lot but this is something I don't want to be involved with again. The experience was fun but making short films is something I will find more interesting than making a music video.

  • Evaluation of the experience, both good and bad

  • Mostly good, everything went to plan we had a couple of problems on the way such as we needed to use a collage classroom but none were available so we wasted a lot of time finding one. Mostly went well and i did enjoy making it.

  • Analysis to make sense of the situation

  • Things went well because the people I worked with really communicated with me and we got along very well. Working as a group did make things less stressful because we all had are own roles and we helped each other out. We also all had a part in the assignment so this meant we all put something in the project.

  • Conclusion about what you learned and what you could have done differently

  • I learned how to use adobe premier in a deeper depth. This has been useful because I am going to use this software in my FMP. Next time I would of worked alone because then time management would be easier because I'm not waiting around on people and I can be organised and get the work done when I'm free.

  • Action plan for how you would deal with similar situations in the future, or general changes you might find appropriate.

  • I would like to be more organised next time and write out a plan of what we are going to do and when we are going to do it. This will make it easier next time because I feel like during this project some lessons we were very unprepared and we just went with the flow, although the outcome was alright next time it would be better to be organised.

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