Previous blog

Here is a link to our last blog where we began our music video research
http://imaginarybeardproductions.blogspot.com/

Actors and characters

Ok so now that people have definitely confirmed with us that they would like to be in our film and are available in the Christmas holidays we can now give the official list of actors names.
Main character/ singer- Olivia Sherman
Acting alongside her as her partner - Benjamin Wise
Her friends who take her on a night out- Katy Matthews and Leonie Evans
Bass Player- Nathaniel Spence
Drums- Alex Peacock
These are all the people starring in along with a whole load of extras for the gig scenes. I would like to outline why we have chosen these people for our film.
Liv Sherman was chosen because she can sing confidently as well as play guitar. This made her a good candidate for being able to sing confidently in front of a camera even though the audio would be edited out. Not only this but due to acting alongside her in GCSE drama I am confident that she will act the role well and understands acting concepts.
Ben Wise was chosen due to his musical talent. Although he isn't required to play an instrument or sing he knows a lot about instruments and vocals and so he and Liv together seem like nothing could go wrong musically. Not only does he look in his early 20s which is the age we need him to be but we feel that he could portray a menacing nature we need the boyfriend to communicate. As a good actor and someone known for their commitment and organization he is a reliable and talented person to be in our film.
Leonie Evans and myself are good friends with Liv and we felt that because of the real life connection we share it would be easier to portray on camera naturally. Not only this but Leonie and I are confident with acting and since it is only a small role I am glad to participate in the project as well as directing and filming alongside Nick.
The bassist and drums are well-known people within our year for playing these instruments well. After watching them play either at gigs or just as an audition for us we can tell that Nat and Alex are the right people to chose to play in the video.
And finding the extra screaming fans at the gig shouldn't be hard with all the talent we have in our video

Shot List

• Black Screen-Fades up to
• Extreme Close Up-Sirens flashing
• Fade to Black...Fade up
• Mid-shot, tilted down, Point of View-Chalk outline of bdy on the floor
• Fade to Black...Fade up
• Close-up-Picture frame showing a couple happy arms round each other (maybe on holiday?)
• Fade to black...fade up
• Establishing shot, long shot, tilted up-A house where the couple live
• Establishing shot , long shot-Through window into a bedroom we can see a girl sat at a dressing table applying make-up
• Mid-shot-Reflection in the mirror we watch her apply make-up and begin singing
• Mid-shot-no longer filming the reflection but filming herdirectly continues singing. She turns as if to hear a door
• Long shot-her halfway through turning. She gets up and walks over to the door
• Extreme CU-We see the door handles pressed down and the door open-Jump to
• Long shot-She walks down the 2nd half of the stairs
• Mid-shot, POV-Front door opening...but from outside to inside so we see our main character open it
• Establishing shot, mid-shot-two girls stood on the front door who appear to knw the girl. They are dressed up and look like thy are about to go out.
• Extreme CU-Keys unlock the car
• Mid-shot-Car drives away. But we can see through the window that the girls are in the car
• Establishing shot, long shot, tilted down-'The Band' playing on a stage, 3 members, female singer/guitarist, bass player and drummer. Lead singer is also our main character, same actor
• Close-up lead singer-singing with emotion
• Long shot,two shot -shows bass player and drums showing their talent as artists
• Mid-shot of lead (quick shot)
• Close-up of guitar being played
• Establishing/mid-shot-Boyfriend unlocks the front door (we know the house from the girlfriend and we know they are together because of the picture frame)
• Mid-shot-opens fridge door
• Close-up of taking beer
• Mid-shot-Him on sofa turns on TV and gulps a swig of beer
• Close-up of eyes looking towards the clock
• Extreme CU-Clock-FF>>| 2 hours
• Mid-shot-Angry boyfriend gets out phone
• Establishing shot-girlies at the gig together
• Mid-shot of girlfriend at table-she takes out her phone
• Extreme CU-She denies the call
• CU -Girlfriends face from worried and series to smiling and laughing with her friends again forgetting about the call
• Cut back to mis-shot of boyfriend-he looks dissapointed-he changes TV channel and puts his phone beside him
• Long-shot th girls get up to leave the gig and alkby the camera laughing
• Long shot of the band  playing at gig
• Close-up of lead singer
• Establishing shot of girls now at a bar
• Mid-shot they sit at a table
• Over the shoulder of the boyfriend
• CU of the clock
• Long shot, gets up and puts on his jacket-looks in a diary
• CU- writing in diary "Pandemonium concert with girls <3"
• Long shot as he walks and then slams the front door
• Long shot of band again at gig
• Guitar solo!-Close-up of guitarists skill
• Close-up looking down the guitar
• Mid-shot of guitarist
• Wide shot-Girls laughing round table in bar
• Mid-shot-Boyfriend enters the bar
• Long shot-We see the girlfriend recognise him andher face falls
• Long shot-He walks over
• Two-shot-She picks up her bag and appears to try to stand to leave
• Two-shot-Him and her, mis-shot of him, close-up of her-he pulls her up off screen by her hair
• Mid-shot of him pulling her away-friends in background horrified
• Long shot he pushes her and she falls into a chair
• Close-up of her scared
• Close-up of his face angry
• Mid-shot she gets up
• POV-We see them leave point of view of girlfriends
• Mid-shot-Of girls getting their bags to go after them
• Long shot-girls run out the door
• Extreme long shot-We see tail lights dissapearing
• Mid-shot-Girls look at each other worried
• Two shot in the car he shouts at her
• Over the shoulder-he still shouts at her lookin back to the road every now and again
• Over the shoulder-she is crying.
• Over the shoulder he stops the car and he gets out
• Long shot-back of the car he throws open her door and hauls her out by her ar.
• Mid-shot-He takes her down the path
• Mid-shot opens door
• Mid-shot opens kitchen door
• Establishing shot of kitchen he pushes her in keeping a hold of her
• Mid-shot we see shadows which appear to show him hitting her
• Mid-shot, tilted down, POV-We see her slumped against a counter
• Tilted up-He is breathing heavily over her he turns away
• Mid-shot we see her get up
• Close-up-Her face realisation
• Over the shoulder we see her reach for a knife
• Long shot we see her come up behind him and say somthing, he turns
• Two shot-We see her stab him
• Close-up his facial expression
• Close-up-her facial expression
• Mid-shot he slumps
• Longs shot of him on floor her just standing there staring
• Long shot-just her she leans back and slumps
• Close-up of sirens-repeat

Initial Brainstorming

To help us create some ideas the whole cl\ass listened to each others tracks and wrote down what we imagined or would be effective in our music video. Many people in our class and beyond suggested a couple within the video. I think this is due to the lyrics,sung by a woman they reflect how she will not forgive the man she is with for what he has done. Many people had images of the couple arguing. Overall it was clear our video needed a narrative within it. We toyed with some ideas as to what the situation could entail. Cheating? Abuse? Maybe he is a soldier going off to war? Due to the sound of the drumming at the beginning many people had suggested the heme of war within our video. We eventually settled on the idea of domestic abuse yet we have chosen to portray it subtly as opposed to brutally so our video would be able to be shown on TV which seems to be a main platform where much of our audience would access music videos. Many people sad they imagined the band in an open location like over looking a city and some suggested they play at a concert. But all seemed to think that a performance element was important within the rock genre which certainly fits in with Goodwin's theory. Some creative ideas were discarded due to their almost impossible nature or it was not a path the majority seemed keen on pursuing.

Audience Research

Our audience research gave us lots to think about in regad to our music video.
We gave our survey to an equal amount of males and females so the results are unbiased in regard to gener
On average how many music videos do you watch a week?
0 videos- 3/10
1-2 videos- 5/10
30+- 2/10

Which out of these would you want to see in a rock music video?
The answers we included were:

• Grungy abandoned location-5 people
• Lyrics and visuals to link-5 people
• Lots of shots of the talented artists-4 people
• Crowds of people-2 people
• Artists alone-1 person
• A narrative-6 people
• A love story-None
• If other please specify: Only one said other and suggested fire in our video

Out of the locations listed please tick your two ideals for a music video to be set?

• Urban city 7/20
• Country side 1/20
• Woods 3/20
• Graveyard 1/20
• House 1/20
• Warehouse 5/20

(20 possible responses not 20 asked however two only picked one answer)

Do you expect the rock artists to wear cetain brands that are associated with the genre?
Yes 2/10
No
I don't think it's important 8/10

In a music video you expect to see talent. Do you expect your artists to be conventionally 'good looking' too?
Yes 2/10
No 1/10
It's not as important as talent 4/10
I don't think it's important 3/10

Where do you hear about new music videos the most?
Youtube 4/10
A TV channel 2/10
Band sites
Spotify/iTunes
Through a friend 4/10
Other

Which do you know first:
I see the video and if I like it I download the track 1/10
I hear the track and then I check out the video 9/10

What would you like to see on a band website?
Tour/gig dates 10/10
Interviews with the band 4/10
Money off of new tracks they are releasing 6/10
Band merchandise 6/10
Adverts for music 4/10
Other: Screensavers/posters to buy of the artists

Out of these album covers which appeals to you the most and why?




The first album cover had three votes, the middle none and the last was the most popular with seven votes.
Some of the reasons given for picking the last option were:

• The art on it relates to the title
• I dislike the other two as one is too complex and one is too simple.
• It's more artistic
• The image appeals to me the most
• It is interesting, different and eyecatching

The reasons people picked the first option are

• It looks darker and so applies to the genre
• It is the most interesting as it has the most detail
• Obviously done by a talented artist

Since our location was planned to be a house in an urban area this certainly agrees with the data. We are better off if we were to advertise the track to do it on TV or online as there seems to be more activity there. Perhaps if we get a USP it would become viral as through a friend was a comon way of hearing about music. There is going to be a narrative in our video along with performance elements because we feel talent is important in this genre. The questions on websites and album covers I feel have given us a further idea into how our advertising could be composed.

Labour split

The labour between me and Nick for this project is split as follows.
Joint responsibilities:

• Camera operator
• Director
• Editor
• Special effects

Nick's responsibilities:

• Storyboard artist
• Set designer
• Sound design
• Lighting

Katy's responsibilities:

• Continuity
• Actor
• Props
• Costume design
• Make-up

Goodwin's Theory for When I'm Gone-Eminem

A rap music video that I feel is very conventional.



This contains genre characteristics cause at the start it is a support group and rappers are well known for having drug and home problems. We see Eminem directly rapping at the camera which is a convention of rap. There is low key lighting throughout the video to show the genre. There is a part of the video which suggests shooting his alternate personality. There is a suggestion of a violent nature which is common in rapper's music

There is a direct link between lyrics and visuals. He sings about his daughter and she is there and when he is rapping what she is saying we can see her onscreen saying it to Eminem or 'Shady'. Everything that he raps is acted out in his video.

There is a heartbeat that is in the background and throughout most of the song the shot changes angle of perspective on this heartbeat showing good use of editing in the video

There are lots of close-ups of Eminem rapping however there are also many of his daughter since the song is mainly about his relationship with her. But Eminem has the majority as it is his song.

This song contains performance when Eminem is onstage rapping to the crowd and also narrative as we can see the lyrics being acted out before us. The narrative is almost more prominent in the video than the actual performance elements.

We feel as if we are spying into his home life and how he thinks, we don't necessarily realise it is a performance directly made up for advertising purposes.

Goodwin's Theory for Justice-D.A.N.C.E.

A nice change to a poppy/dance song with another awesome music video



The genre for this is dance and I feel this is shown but he party or club location the pair appear to be at for the first half of the video. There are elements of fashion, drinking and girls which are all conventional to this genre.

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals as they begin to animate the lyrics either on the t-shirts or on a black background. Other than this there doesn't appear to be any dancing which is what most of the song is about considering the lyrics are repeated.

The people in the video walk to the beat of the song in time and when it becomes the second round of the chorus the animation cuts to the lyrics. Since this video is shot from one angle just constantly moving backwards you cannot say that the edits cut on the beat.

There are no close-ups of the artist due to the concept nature of the video. In fact we don't see any faces at all in this video. But that is not uncommon in the dance genre.

This isn't very voyeuristic the animation is obviously purpose made to impress the audience and it's not discreet.

Goodwin's Theory for Foo Fighters-Best of You

Foo Fighters are one of my favourite rock bands and this video to me is really interesting.


I feel that the location for this video doesn't necessarily match the genre all the time. When we can see the whole band playing out in the open on what appears to be a rooftop it isn't necessarily genre specific. However later in the video we see Dave Grohl (the front man) in a corridor or underpass of some kind with graffiti all over the walls. This is a more generic place for a rock music video to be placed.

Some of the graffiti in my interpretation matches the meaning of the song. Phrases like "Help me through" link to the angry or even sad nature of the lyrics in the song. It is about weakness and strength shown through cars crashing, dying flowers, innocent children, animals attacking their prey and to me this links to the lyrics however to some people this would be considered random and not linked in with the song meaning.

The images cut quite fast and the song has quite a fast beat to it. The edits aren't always on the beat of the song but it keeps up with the pace. For example when the song slows at the beginning and in the middle it shows Grohl singing and there aren't as many, if any at all, flashing images.

There are lots of close-ups of Grohl singing throughout the song. He walks towards the camera directly addressing us. There is also an extreme close-up of him singing later. There are mid shots of the drummer and the guitarist too when they are playing to show their skill. Since Grohl is also playing a guitar there are mid-shots to show his talent too.

This music video contains performance elements especially at the very start. However, there is a concept to the flashing images that do not appear to follow a specific story but we do see inter-cutting of the same characters in he same situation. For example you see a flower grow but you also see it die. You see a girl playing and you see her again when she leans back from the camera. This to me is more concept than narrative.

The performance and singing in the corridor is very much directed at us and we feel it is a performance but clips where we can see people having sex for example that are slightly blurred we feel like we are spying on their private affairs.

The New Blog!

This is our new blog for Year 13.
Our old blog which some information on music videos is posted on is  http://imaginarybeardproductions.blogspot.com/
I can't wait to start music videos, it should be exciting :-)