Now that I have decided on all other aspects of my music video and am nearly ready to begin filming, I must decide on my actors. I have already established that I want a main female character who the music video is based around, but also that I need a boyfriend for this character who is abusive and violent. I needed to ensure that my actors were local and that they felt comfortable with the storyline of the video, I had to be sure that they would be able to film whenever I needed them too and that they felt OK working alongside one another. I therefore decided to ask 2 of my friends, both with a history in Drama and Acting, to be in my music video. I knew that they were trustworthy and would stick to my schedule, as well as being local and therefore easy to reach if I needed to quickly film a shot or scene. I also knew that they were friends and would feel comfortable with the storyline and would be able to work alongside one-another as a couple. I had already decided that I wanted my main female character to be blonde, average height and average weight, I wanted this character to be an 'anybody' so that people could view themselves as that character and therefore involve themselves within the storyline. Again, I wanted my male character to be of average height and build, but felt that he should have darker hair and appear quite masculine. Therefore when deciding on who would be best suited out of my options, my 2 chosen actors fitted the description and also were local and got along well, this meant that I could ensure the recording would run smoothly and that actors would look the way I wanted them too. Below are my actors -
My first actors is Callum, he is 17 and lives locally, with an A at drama GCSE as well as being part of the local amateur dramatics group, I feel he is suitable for the role. He also has the exact look I wanted to the abusive boyfriend with my video.
This is Susie, she is also 17 and has a GCSE in Drama. She lives locally and has a strong internet in Music and Media. I feel she is perfect for my main character role as she has the exact look I am looking for as well as being able to film whenever needed. She knows Callum well and they both feel comfortable with the storyline and working alongside one another.
After doing some location scouting for my music video and understanding all aspects that effect what location I can use, I have decided on my local fields as my main location for my music video. They are easy and legal to access, safe and secure and present the correct, simple image I want to create throughout my music video. It is also very beneficial that a friend's horse is stored in a field next to my chosen field and that I can film this horse for the shots I want to create throughout my music video. As I also want to have a train shot it is again helpful that within these fields there is a train track bridge which I am able to film. For the indoor location of a house I have decided again to use a friend's house which is local, it is a simple house with cream walls and carpets but has a lot of things within it which make it look 'lived in', I wanted to make the audience believe that my actors live in this house and therefore by choosing a house that has photos, dog baskets, etc. within it, I can trick the audience into believing it is my character's home. My chosen locations are safe, easily accessible, free and aesthetically pleasing, these are all aspects which I needed to ensure my location's were and therefore I know I have chosen suitable locations. Below are some images of my locations, they start at the train track, followed my the horse cage and local fields, and then the home I will be shooting in -
I have decided to start looking into the locations I want to use throughout my music video, I have already decided that I require some form of a field location for my main character to running away in, as well as some form of a house for the couple to fight in. I also wish to have some shower shots and therefore needs a suitable bathroom location to film this in. When considering location, I needed to ensure a few aspects when deciding upon where I would shoot, these were
Accessibility - I needed to ensure that my chosen location was accessible for both me and my actors, therefore it needed to be local so that myself and my actors could get to it quickly and easily with no hassle or issue of transport. As filming outside is extremely weather dependant I needed to ensure that when suitable weather was available me and my actors could easily get to my location, this helped me to make a decision that my location needed to be local.
Health and Safety - This was a large influence on me when choosing where to locate my music video, I needed to ensure that all my actors were constantly safe and not in any danger, therefore my location needed to be in a safe location which had no hazards and was near to a public area. This again helped me to secure a decision on my location and chose that it should be local and somewhere I am sure is safe.
Private Property - When deciding on my location I needed to ensure it was legal to use these locations and that I wasn't filming on anyone's private property without permission, therefore when I decided on my field location I needed to ensure I didn't use anyone's private fields but that they were council owned fields free for public use. Again this helped me to decide that my local fields would be best suitable as I know they are for public use.
Cost - As I am on a low budget and don't have large amounts of money to spend on renting locations, I needed to ensure that non of my selected locations would be costly to use and therefore essentially I needed to find free locations to use. This did limit my choices but didn't mean that I couldn't use good locations.
Aesthetic appeal - Finally, I needed to ensure that all of my locations were aesthetically appealing to my audience and also fitted in well with my storyline, if my locations weren't suitable then my video simply wouldn't work and therefore I needed to ensure I found locations that followed my storyline and the image I had created in my head, as well as the images from my storyboard.
Below is a link to a definition of 'Location Scouting', this helped me to establish what I needed to consider when looking for a location -
Here is a YouTube video of some members of a production team location scouting for their upcoming video, this helped me to establish how I could find a suitable location for my music video -
Now that I have decided on the basics of my video, such as the storyline, audience, etc. I need to specifically look into what shots I want to use throughout my video to ensure that I have a variety of shots and that my music video makes full use of different camera shots that help to establish the storyline. I feel this there are a few specific shots that I must use to ensure that my music video is clear and grips the audience's attention. Below is an explanation of the shots I want to use, where I feel I could use them and an example of each of the shots -
'Establishing shot' - I feel it would be great to use an establishing shot within my music video to set up the video and introduce it, this would introduce the location and the characters and allow the audience to instantly establish within their mind the basis of the video and the storyline. I feel it would be good to use a shot like this at the beginning of the video as it would instantly introduce the storyline to characters as the video begins.
'Close up' - I feel that a close up shot would be effective to use within my music video because of the abuse within my storyline, I feel that I should use a close up to show the audience the bruises on the character as well as the pain behind her eyes. It will give the audience an insight into her emotions and ensure that the audience instantly creates a link with a character and the video. I feel it would be good to use this shot throughout the video but would be especially good at the end of the video to close it and leave the audience with the message of the character's pain.
'Medium close up' - This shots helps to show the audience the character, their clothing, emotions and location, its a good shot that allows the audience to view all aspects that you want to send across as well as still ensuring the audience can see the emotions of the character and specific aspects you want them too as it is close enough to view this. I feel this shot should be used throughout the video.
'Audience' is a key area which I need to ensure I cover, I need to decide what audience I will be aiming at to ensure that my music video is well received by this audience and is popular with it. When considering audience there are many aspects I must look into, mainly this consists of gender and age, but furthermore I need to chose an audience which like this style of music (POP) and my 'storyline' music video style. I initially looked into what gender I felt would be best suited to my music video, after considering the storyline, style of song and gender of the singer (female), I felt that my music video would be most successful if I aimed it at the female audience, I feel that this gender listens to pop music more than males do, as well as the fact that I feel they will relate to my storyline better than the male audience as it is based around a women and portrays a male character in a negative light. Having decided that I will aim my music video at females, it allows me to ensure that when creating the video I have more of a female focus and aim to attract the female audience and consistently reinforce the fact that I aiming at a female audience and therefore ensure that I portray my main female character is a good way and a way that the audience can relate with.
Now I have decided on my audience gender, I need to consider what age range I focus my audience on. All music videos, films, media pieces, are given an 'age certificate' which shows what age the video is suitable for and therefore what age it also isn't suitable for. I must consider all of these age ranges and find which one would be best suitable for me. These age certificates are from the BBFC and must be given to all media pieces to ensure that no one under a suitable age watches them. To the left are the variety of age ranges that I can chose from for my music video, by deciding this before I create my music video I can ensure that I don't include any footage that isn't suitable for my audience. As my storyline has some aspects of violence and disturbing scenes in, it won't be suitable for a 'U' audience, therefore not all ages will be able to watch this music video. However, my music video isn't going to be explicit and will only have minor violent scenes within it, therefore the 18 rating is too high and it also removes a lot of potential audience as they will be too young to watch it. I feel the song itself is simple and not offensive and would be suitable for a PG audience, I therefore think that this age rating would also be suitable for my video. I want to continue this non offensive image throughout my video and therefore by setting an age range of PG I can ensure I do so. Therefore I have decided that a PG BBFC rating would be suitable for my video, it ensures that no one too young is offended or distressed by the somewhat violent scenes within my video, but that I don't remove a large block of my potential audience by setting the age range too high. It also makes sure that I continue to vibes of the song into the music video and therefore ensure it links well.
Therefore, I have concluded that my target audience is Girls and Women with PG guidance.
I have created my own storyboard for my music video so that I have clear understanding of how my music video will run, below is the beginning of my music video, I feel I have come to a final conclusion on all of the parts of the story and some of the shots I want to use throughout, I have thought long and hard about how I can run my music video and what shots and aspects should be used throughout and within this storyboard I have explictly drawn and written about my idea for each shot and why I wanted to use these shots. All the shots I have drawn are basic drawings and will be undertaken with a higher level of quality, but this storyboard basically outlines my music video and gives it a focus, this will make the process a lot easy, more organised and will ensure it runs a lot more smoother. I know have a clear focus on what exact shots I need to get. Below is the storyboard -
I have decided upon some further imagery I would like to use throughout my video, I decided upon these through listening to the song multiple times and thinking of what images instantly came to mind while listening to, I then thought about how this imagery would look in terms of being able to understand, I felt many of the ideas would be effective and therefore recorded these, whereas I felt others wouldn't work or would be too hard to create and I therefore disregarded these ideas, below are the imagery ideas with examples images and when I would like to use them within my video -
Opening shot - I want to open my video with an image of a Horse, a Horse often represents elegance and freedom, I want the horse to represent my main character and be trapped within a cage but wanting to run free. I want to refer back to the horse throughout the video to show how her alter ego/past her is trapped just like the horse, I need the audience to be constantly reminded of this
Chorus shot - At the beginning of the chorus throughout the video I want to have my main girl running away through a field and essentially 'escaping' her cruel relationship, I want to split this shot so that throughout the song we see her running further and further away. This shot will represent the present and show how currently she is running away, by continually referring to this shot it reinstates how she is continually running away. I will make the opening shot of the horse a running shot also (if possible) to show how the horse at the beginning represents her trying to escape and throughout we see her escaping
Shower shot - Throughout I would also like to encorporate a shower shot, of the main girl in the shower with the water flowing over her. I feel that this shot will represent how she is cleansing herself and washing away her pain. By continually referring to this shot I can show how she constantly needs to wash away her pain and she is continually being hurt
Now I have decided upon my final storyline and song, I need to storyboard the whole of the video and specifically decide how the music video will run. By doing so I can ensure that my music video runs smoothly and that it has a focus and aim. Storyboarding is something that all media productions use, from films to music videos, and they are essential planning for making sure a production runs smoothly and has a basis. I have been doing some research into what the best and most effective way to create a storyboard is, I want to ensure that my storyboard is clear and easy to understand, it is crucial that I can continually refer back to this storyboard, add to it, and use it throughout my production. Below is a great blog post I found on how best to create a storyboard, it shows some great examples and was beneficial in the process of me creating a storyboard -
Below is a link of an example storyboard, it is professional and is for a cartoon magazine. My storyboard will be a lot simpler and less detailed, however this kind of storyboard is extremely skilled and gives a clear and expressed example of a storyboard, this is the kind of storyboard I wish I could create, but due to lack of skill and time constraints mine will be a lot simpler and will involve a lot less technique -
I will now begin to create my own storyboard, using the tips and evidence from the above links, my storyboard will begin basic with key parts, as the process continues I will add detail and shots.
I found it hard to chose one specific storyline for my business and wished to weight up the pro and cons for each of them, I felt that by doing this I would be able to make things clearer for me and understand which option was best -
Storyline
Pros
Cons
A girlfriend who has lost her boyfriend through
death or illness and therefore is longing to have him back
This
storyline is extremely thoughtprovoking and will really involve the audience within the video
This
storyline could be hard to portray due to having to pass this message through
images without being too obvious and maintain my metaphorical imagery
This
storyline is very deep and meaningful and would allow the audience to get
involved in the video
This
style of storyline could be quite hard for some people to watch and this
could reflect badly on the video
It
would be one strong emotion of sadness that would need to be portrayed
throughout and this is easy to achieve
There
isn’t a strong match between the song and this storyline and it wouldn’t be
easy to conduct
A girlfriend who's boyfriend simply leaves her
and doesn't want anything to do with her any longer
This
is a relatable topic for many audience members and would therefore involve
them in the video
This
storyline lacks depth and meaning and wouldn’t evoke mass emotions within the
audience
As
a storyline this would be easy to express and direct and there are many shots
and scenes that I could use to portray this
This
storyline could come across quite boring and simple and therefore wouldn’t
attract a mass audience
This
storyline does link to the song well and portrays the deep unrequited love
lyrics within the song
This
storyline isn’t very memorable and doesn’t allow for much movement
A girlfriend who is in a either a bad or abusive
relationship but still holds onto the relationship
This
would be a very emotive storyline and would fully involve the audience by
subconsciously making the audience involve themselves in the storyline and
feel the same emotions as the characters
This
may be seen as distressing to some audience members as it’s a deep and tough
topic
This
storyline has a purpose and incorporates an issue in society, although it
dramatices domestic violence it is representative of the issue and inevitably
spreads word of the issue
It
could be hard to create realistic domestic abuse with bad actors and lack of
skill
This
storyline leaves breadth for many shots and scenes that could be created,
from this I have a vast variety of how to structure my video and what exact
shots and parts of the storyline to use
Violence
is quite often used in other music video and therefore it would be
questionable is this was original
From this table it was evident that the 3rd option was most suitable, I feel it has the most pros, and any cons it does have can easily be overcome. I feel this storyline is most touching and will involve the audience, and this is something that it important to me. I also feel that it will be a storyline that allows imagery and methaphors to be used throughout, as well as fitting in well with my chosen song. I have therefore made a final decision on my storyline and can now begin to plan my video!
While doing my lyric analysis, I also thought about what kind of images and methaphors I could use throughout my music video. I wanted to use imagery so I can give my video more meaning and depth and make sure it isn't stereotypical and predictable. I have decided on a few key images to go alongside the lyrics to the song, these are explained below -
'Breathe your smoke into my lungs'
For this lyric I interpretted it as the smoke being someones speech and lies, and the fact she is asking to breathe it into her lungs it shows she is believing and 'inhaling' all the lies he is expressing to her. I therefore want to take this shot literal of my main girl character breathing in smoke, I will do so by reversing a shot to ensure it is clear that the smoke is being inhaled. I also want to smoke to cover the camera lense at the beginning of the shot to create mystery as this will be the first time the main character is introduced
'Still not to old to die young'
I read this lyric as the singer believeing that its not too late to give up on the relationship or life and move on, and I therefore felt that a shot such as hands seperating would represent how she is giving up on the relationship and they are drifting apart.
I also wanted a returning motif throughout my music video to ensure that the music video ties together. I have decided upon my motif being my main character, a girl, running away and essentially escaping the deep yet painful love she us currently experiencing. I feel that by encorporating this shot throughout the music video, I can make sure the whole video ties together well as well as reinforcing the fact the 'present' and how she is currently running and escaping the treacherous love; I need to reinforce this fact because I want to encorporate flashbacks to her past life with her boyfriend throughout the music video and therefore need a recurring image throughout that represents the current time, I want this motif to return each time the chorus plays and the lyrics below are sang:
'Lovers hold on to everything, And lovers hold on, to anything'
Before I can begin to think about specific details of my music video, I need to decide upon the key storyline that will run throughout my video. When doing my lyric analysis, I felt that the song was about a love that was deep and meaningful, yet under intense strain. This is where I began to get ideas for a storyline, initially I felt that the music video could just focus on one girl and how she has lost someone who she loved, either a boyfriend or family member, but after listening to the song in more detail, I decided that my storyline should be based around 2 people, a man and women, in a relationship. I felt that the song must be based around their relationship falling apart, and love being lost, but I didn't want my music video to be stereotypical. This therefore led to be deciding upon 3 key ideas for a final storyline, these are explained below:
1. A girlfriend who has lost her boyfriend through death or illness and therefore is longing to have him back
2. A girlfriend who's boyfriend simply leaves her and doesn't want anything to do with her any longer
3. A girlfriend who is in a either a bad or abusive relationship but still holds onto the relationship
I have created a Poll on the right of this blog and hope that I will gain some votes on it to help me decided which storyline is most suitable!
I decided to construct a lyric analysis for my song, I felt that if I did this I would be better able to understand the song and the better I understand the song the easier it is for me to interpret it through a music video. When doing my lyric analysis I paused at each line and wrote down what I felt the lyric meant, then did this again 2 more times and saw if my feelings changed. I then recorded which of the lyrics were most powerful and can be interpretted in multiple ways and involved them in my lyric analysis. Below is the link to my lyric analysis on Scribd:
If you have an alternative ideas about what the lyrics mean or how you have interpretted them, please comment below. I have tried to read the lyrics in a way that I feel best suits the song and the emotions throughout it, however many people may view it differently and I'd love to hear your opinions.
The first thing I needed to consider was what kind of story I wished to tell alongside my music video, I've already established that I wanted to do a storyline music video, alongside a methaphorical, image video. I wanted to combine the both to tell the same story. Therefore, the first thing I need to do is look into the song and discover where methaphorical images can be used and what kind of images I can use. I feel the best way to do this is to do a lyric analysis first of all to discover the meaning of many of the lyrics, and then after I have done this I can discover what kind of images would be suitable, below is my list of things I need to do next to establish the basis of my music video:
- Lyric Analysis
- Decide upon key storyline
- Discover aspects of video that could use imagery
As I have finally decided on my song, I needed to right to the record company to gain permission to use this song within my video, Ellie Goulding is currently singed to CherryTreeRecords, which is part of a 'family' of record labels. I simply asked whether I can be granted permission to use it and stated that it will be viewed on my blog and by my teacher and class.
After re-looking over my previous video analysis' I have done, I found I particularly liked the song by Ellie Goulding and the music video she created, I decided to look further into Ellie Goulding's music videos and song to discover if there are any I feel I would be able to use for my Music Video, I discoverd this song by her called 'Figure 8', I loved the lyrics and the depth of the song, as well as the music video, it's simple but very effective.
The song talks of how she chased his love around a 'figure 8' and that she 'loved you more than I can take', essentially the song is about an obsessively strong love for someone who isn't bringing happiness to her or returning this depth of love.
I found the song very inspiring and felt that it had a strong potential to provoke emotions in my audience and also help to tell a story that would entice the audience in. The music video also presents some reflective and methaphoric images which I feel are very effective and this is an aspect I want to use within my video.
I'm still going to use the idea of telling the story with images and methaphors, but would like to encorporate another story throughout as I feel this is more effective and ensures the audience understands the video as well as getting emotionally involved in it.
Below is the music video for Ellie Goulding - Figure 8, I have finally decided the song that I will be using and feel this song is both effective and emotionally involving and will be easy to strongly tell a story alongside.
After deciding that my other song ideas weren't suitable for the music video I was trying to create, I have been looking into some other songs that are avaiable and seeing whether they would be effective for a part-story part-image music video. One song that I discovered today was Bastille's song Pompeii, this song is very emotional and moving and speaks about change and optimism. I feel this song has many strengths due to it being emotive, and the music video portrays how the story of the vdeio could be told, however I don't feel this song is completely suitable for my music video due to the lack of methaphors and availability for imagery within in, therefore I won't be using this song for my music video, however I feel the song is effective and moving and feel this music video is strong, graphic, and tells a very unique and different story.
After doing some practice shots for my music video, I have decided that my idea, although originally strong, won't work on the scale I want it to and won't be as good as antisipated. I feel that if this idea, although unique and different, doesn't allow me to tell any kind of story within it and I feel this is a key aspect of a music video. I need to ensure that my music video is relevant to the audience and that it entices the audiences, whereas I feel this style of video wouldn't be strong enough to attract them to the video and would therefore make my video in-effective. Therefore I have decided to re-think my music video, firstly by looking into some new songs, along the same line of Pop music, but with a different focus; a song that is more emotive.
This is Susie, she is also 17 and has a GCSE in Drama. She lives locally and has a strong internet in Music and Media. I feel she is perfect for my main character role as she has the exact look I am looking for as well as being able to film whenever needed. She knows Callum well and they both feel comfortable with the storyline and working alongside one another.
