Music Video Band Scene Teaser

This week we have been filming our band scene. We started last Wednesday for a practice session and produced this teaser clip. The practice session revealed the practicality of some of the shots we wanted to use and thought us about how the lighting effected the quality of the

film.

.

Shallow Focus

In the past week I have been researching online about different camera effects which we could possibly use for our music video. In some of the music videos which i have analysed on my blog I have mentioned how I like the effect of the lighting they use. Today I discovered what lighting/camera technique the producers of the video's have use, the effect is called Shallow Focus. Shallow focus is a photographic and cinematographic technique incorporating a small depth of field. In shallow focus one plane of the image is in focus while the rest is out of focus. Shallow focus is typically used to emphasize one part of the image over another. Photographers sometimes refer to the aesthetic character of the area that is out of focus as bokeh. (Taken from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_focus)

Below is a video by Majestic Micro Movies displaying Shallow Focus:

We want to use shallow focus for two scenes in our music video; one of the scenes is within the opening 20 seconds and will involve a close up of the charcters face as he closes his eyes, the shot will run along side the lyrics "I closed my eyes and you were there". The other will another close up of the main charcter for the last verse "life is such a funny thing, you lose your love to love again , then you start again."

Animatic: I Ran You Down-Tweed

Today we finished our Animatic. An Animatic is a hand drawn visualisation of a storyboard which is commonly used to pitch ideas and give investors/producers and idea of the final product. An Animatic is usually just contains pictures however we decided to add our track to it. The Animatic was a useful task which let us experiment with the basics of Final Cut Express and effects such as fades in between different shots. As a group we are quite pleased with our Animatic of how long/short some scenes may need to be.

NOTE: The scene from 0:16-0:32 shows a couple at first having fun/reflecting on good time in the past, when the screen turns red its the same scene however they are having an argument.

Framing and Camera Angles: The Streets- The Escapist

The video for the single The Escapist from Mike Skinners latest album Everything is Borrowed has a very simple basic video which was done while he was touring Europe. The video simply just shows him walking down roads, up hills and through doorways. The locations the video was shot in make the video interesting for what could of been called a boring video. As I said before nothing really happens in the video however it somehow suits the song. I don't think that another artist could get away with making a video like this however Mike Skinners unique style and meaningful lyrics allow him to create songs which are not mainstream however receive similar amount of success.

Below is the YouTube description of this video:
"During a great period of intense mixing we decided that it might be nice to shoot a video. This isn't the way the record industry works and so it was under the radar of the label and done totally for us by us on a shoe string. It was totally different from any other promo that I've made in that it was something real that we just filmed rather than trying to create something real looking using lots of people and lots of angles. I feel like it's more than a video in that sense. As well as looking quite odd without all the singing and quick cuts"

I think that it was a brave choice by The Streets to create this video and i admire the honesty normality of Mike Skinner and his public comments. In another of The Streets videos on YouTube, "Everything IS Borrowed" the description reads "An artistic piece of credit crunch drama. Album is out September 15Th." The simplicity of his words seem to have more of a meaning than a big advertising campaign, it may not appeal to as many people but it portrays him in different way to "billboard artists".

The video its self seems to tell a story which can be portrayed in many ways, to me it seems as if the main character (Mike Skinner) just wants to get away from everything. The title obviously points this out but the lyrics seem to point to him just wanting to think things over, he seems trapped the lyrics seem to support this"All these walls were never really there, Nor the ceiling or the chair Im' eking weeks of peace at the beach, I see the breezes weave the trees." I have the understanding that the song is about a point in someones life where they just want to escape reality and think things over. The locations in the video are the peaceful places he wants to escape to and through out his journey he is alone, until the final scene on the beach where he is with what seems as his friend who takes him back to reality.

Problems With Filming Inside a Car

As you can see from the previous post we recently experimented with camera angels we could use within a car. This was valuable experience that has made us realise how hard or impossible it is to film certain shots. One of the main problems we had was the limited height we had to get certain angels, this was because the car we used was a small three door hatch back. This is not the car we intend to use in our video, the car we aim to use is slightly bigger and more spacious. There was many things we had avoid such as; the camera appearing in the reflection of the mirrors, headrests getting the way and being to close to the front seats. The image on the right shows the main problem we came across when trying rear view mirror shots, we tried for around five minuets to get one shot of me in the distance. The problem was the low archer rear window of the car, in the car we aim to use in our video this problem will not occur the rear view mirror is wide and clear. In the photo above I was thirty one meters away from the car which would be the reasonable distance for a shot when the car is moving. Also the car we used was quite small inside as the picture on the left shows, but as you already know the car we wish to use in our video is proportionately bigger inside and suits the theme of the video more than the small hatch back we used to experiment.

Filming Inside a Car: Finding Plausible Camera Angels

Today we took out a digital camera and borrowed a friends car to try out angels we wish to use in out music video. We tried a number of angels from inside the car, outside the car, shots through the wing mirror, rear view mirror, in front of the car and from the side. We aim to use some slightly complicated camera angels within our video so this experience is vital to determine the practicality of the shots. Our current story board contains around five or six car scenes which involve a character getting into the car after having a row and driving off fastly, many point of view shots inside the car, low angle shots of the car passing by, our character looking through the mirrors at other people and many mid shot scenes while the car is moving. We understand filming some of the shots where the car is moving can be quite dangerous however before the actual shoot we will have a trial run. The image just above shows one of the shots we wish to use in our video, we want to use this shot as our character drives past his girlfriend (who he has had an argumentwith), we will film an over the shoulder shot of him ignoring her ashe drives past then cut to a shot of her looking at him in the wing mirror. I think this would give our video an effect which improves the technicality of the video which would award us more marks than if we had not used it. At the moment we have many ideas and are excited to start filming, however filming can be stressful and complicated and could take many attempts to produce one good quality scene. We are feeling confident that our video has a good balance of shots and scenery and we have started thinking of who will play which characters.

Possible Future Issues: Filming Inside a Car

We are currently creating drafts of our storyboard for our music video and we are planning on using a car for a considerable amount of shots, we aim to film a few scenes from inside the car but the majority will be from the outside. Within the next two weeks will attempt all the angels and in car shots we wish to do to see the likely hood of the shots being of a high quality. With the ideas and plans we have any poor shots could ruin the quality of our video.

While i was researching online on how to film safely inside a car i came across a number of blogs which recommended using a small "fire wire" or a webcam mounted on the dash board or windscreen, however due to the lack of budget we cannot afford a fire wire or a mounted webcam so we will have to make sure the shots we produce inside the car are of a high quality.

Making the Most of Available Locations

While searching for well known videos with low budgets on YouTube I came across another Bombay Bicycle Club music video this time it is "Always Like This". The video makes excellent use of simple locations, something which we will have to do because of the lack of budget. During the video the band are playing at a bus stop, in front of garages, in a park, on a high street, in front of a row of houses, in a car park and in front of a ice cream shop.

The video has a homemade feel which is emphasised by the stop, pause and play logos on the top left corner as if the audience was viewing it through an old camcorder, also the framing is changed to make it seems as it is being watched on an old TV. They play around with reversing and fast forwarding the characters playing the instruments while moving side to side which creates an odd interesting effect. The video for Always Like This was the first thing that put Bombay Bicycle Club into the charts and gave them an impressive fan following. The video is a quirky introduction to the band which gives them some originality while also creating the video on a low budget.

Below a link to the video Always like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qkj62rkbrm&ob=av2n

Bombay Bicycle Club: Evening/Morning

Apart from having a great sound Bombay Bicycle Club have some interesting videos with simple but effective ideas. The video Evening/Morning is one that i am interested in particularly; the video has an odd them that doesn't really make sense but it is enjoyable and fun spirited. What i like in particular is the deep focus in the opening scene of the "Panda man" sitting on the bench, this year with the use of high definition cameras I believe we can make some very high quality scenes if we use natural light correctly. The problems we experienced last year were due to poor light conditions because we started filming approaching sun down at around 6pm, for this years project for outside scenes I think because of the time of year and the mood of our song we should start filming around 5pm to catch the autumn sky's sun sunset. The scenes we plan to shoot outside involve our main character driving or being driven down a country/forest one way road which is covered by tall trees on each side. I think this will create a conditions good effect because there will be light shining in between the trees and due to the autumn the orange/brown leaves will off set the trees and bring some colour to our scene.

I also like the semi-slow motion scenes which make up a majority of the video, however I am not sure if the character is moving slowly or the film has been slowed down, obviously I know that the two men chasing him are over exaggerating every step to add comic effect. However the lead singer Jack Steadman seems to be lip sycnhing in real time. I think the slowed down effects emphasises the location and colours within in the scene although they are plain and dull you notice them more.

The band scene where they are playing the instruments is also interesting the use of stop/start jump shots gives a simple but unique feel, the band are wearing bright colour clothing and as it jumps from shot to shot they have exchanged clothing, this is another simple but effective idea which can bring colour and a fun feel to a music video. Also i like the fact that they are in front of what seems to be a garage with no one there but them. Gig scenes with screaming fans appear in too many music videos and have no real effect unless it is a parody, yet again another simple but effective idea. Evening/Morning is one of my favourite music videos by on of my favourite bands and with different ideas than most artists their videos portray them in a different way than other similar artists.

Progress!

Today we received an email to confirm the use of I Ran You Down by Tweed. We had previously been granted permission to use another of Tweed's songs "The Better Part of Me" however when we had listened to it a few times we thought that we could not do much with the song due to its heavily emphasised chorus.

Today we received an email which contained the lyrics and an Mp3 copy of the song, and once we had printed out multiple copies of the lyrics we each began highlighting strong lyrics, turning points in the song and parts where we think it will be suitable to lip synch. After five or so minuets we began drafting rough storyboard ideas and came up with some impressive scenes. At the moment the story of the video involves the main character who will be a male, realising his partner has left or cheated on him and he is trying not to let it get to him. He goes out driving and through out the song the key turning points make him realise that he is better off without her. We have many ideas for the ending but at this moment in time the main ones are; she wants him back but he drives past her in the car and moves on, or that he simply finds someone else and is happier.

We made solid progress today and have many ideas for shots which do not just mirror the strong lyrics but give meaning to song and gives the video a good balance, we have selected parts where we think lip synching is suitable and we don't want to just turn it into a boring four minuet band scene, we aim to balance the story with flashbacks, turning points, subtle reminders and make the most of the powerful meaning of the song.

Similar artists

Now we have permission to use I Ran You Down by Tweed, I have started to research similar artists to give me ideas to put forward to the group for the video. I have found a British artist called The Hoosiers who were the one hit wonders of July 2007 and have a similar sound and appearance to Tweed. I have researched the Hoosiers to give me ideas and inspirations of the conventions from the Hoosiers which may suit our video.

The Hoosiers are made up of Irwin Sparkes (Lead Vocals and lead guitar), Martin Skarendahl(Bass guitar and rhythm guitar) and Alphonso Sharland (Drums and percussion.) The Hoosiers are described as an English pop/rock band however they are not a conventional British band, NME puts the Hoosiers under the Odd-Rock category. I do not particularly like the Hoosiers and the main reason i have chosen to compare them to Tweed is simply because they have very similar images. I think that although Tweed are unsigned by a label they are a better artist, while looking at the lyrics of I Ran You Down it is clear that the song is based on real feelings, where as The Hoosiers lyrics are simply odd meaningless jingles.

Here is a link to the Hoosiers one hit wonder Good Bye Mr A:

hrrp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ielkqnieva&ob=av3n

Tweed

Tweed are a five piece band from Australia who have made relative success and have their album The Power Of Silence on ITunes. They consist of Oliver Jones (guitar, lead vocals, bass and keys), Artie ( vocals, guitar, bass, keys and sax), Matty C (bass and vocals), Karl (drums, percussion and vocals)and Watto (keys and vocals). We have a slight issue at the moment we have permission for their song "Better Part Of Me" however we no want to use " I Ran You Down." I Ran You Down has a slow intro which builds and builds into the chorus with great effect. The song also has a few strong lyrics such as "My hands tight on the steering wheel, I lined you up with a ton of steel."

Atlantis

In the past week we have been granted permission to use songs by three different artists; Atlantis, a Course Of Action and Tweed.Atlantis are a four piece band made up of; Paige LeFleur (Lead Vocals),Scott Weiss (Bass), Will Ragsdale (Drums) and Patrick Phelan (guitar) from Little Rock , Arkansas, USA. The song Signs has a smooth bass line which isnt too overpowering and allows the lead singer Paige's strong voice to stand out, the only problem is we would have to get a female with the right look and who would give a strong performance that complements the strong vocals.

A Course of Action

Finally the third band is an american quadrette called A Course Of Action the members of the band are; Greg Lucy (drums), John Culberson (vocals and rythm guitar), Jonathan Byrd (lead guitar) and Tony Hawkins (bass guitar). A Course Of Action seem to have achieved relative success and have toured through out Europe. There song screaming at first seem good for our video however the song stays at the same pace all the way through, and also the guitar riff overpowers the vocals.

Tweed I Ran You Down LIVE

While doing some research on our band Tweed i came across a live performance of the song we wish to use I ran you down. It is a pretty normal for a live set however it gives us more insight onto the style and possible Mise En Scene of our video.

Monatage Of Tweed Ideas

This is my montage of ideas and images that i collected while listening and reviewing I Ran You Down by Tweed, the australian four piece band we are currently seeking permission for use of their song. The basic idea is that a man is reflecting on a boken relationship, which due to the lyrics seems as the woman was the one who ended it. However it seems as the man is reflecting he realises he is better off without her and seems happy.

Four Year Strong: It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now

The video It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now by Four Year Strong is a great example of lip syncing. The video involves 20-30 fans of the band lip syncing the lyrics while walking down a street, every thirty seconds or so another group of fans come from behind them and take over the mock instruments, such as Guitar Hero guitars and blow up mics and guitars. The video has a real fun feel to it because it is obvious that the fans are enjoying the experience to star in one of their favourite bands video.

From watching the video it is clear that it may have taken many takes and planning to get all the timing right, but it seems they have succeeded in the end. The video is simple but effective; the single continues shot of the fans walking around in East London's Brick Lane looks amateur; however the fans performance makes it a fun enjoyable video to watch. The final scene where the actually band turn around and start singing completes the video and make's it what I think one of the best "fan" videos around

Preliminary Excercise: Warren Holmes- I Need Your Pain

In the last week we have produced our first video of the year. The short video was produced to practise lip syncing and I have to admit it was harder to do than I first thought it would be. We had the track "I Wont Forget You" , a song from a past students music video. Although we have a male lip syncing a females lyrics the video was reasonably good, we managed to film the first verse and chorus from three different angels and then tried to put them together when editing.


There have been a few changes in our 6th forms Media department since last year; andthe most impressive of changes is the upgraded editing software: Apple's Final Cut Express. Final Cut Express is significantly more complex and advanced than our previous software (IMovie). The purpose of the lip syncing attempt was to make us discover the many options and effects that are available on Final Cut Express

What Is A Successful Music Video?

In the current media climate because the way we consume music videos has changed so has the criteria we use measure a videos success. As the Internet has evolved sites such as YouTube, Itunes,Myspace and LastFm have become big players in the music industry and have achieved a large fan base. Music Videos are now judged as a success through;

• The number of YouTube views the videos receives


• The number of Itunes Downloads it achieves


• Record sales (although downloads are more popular)


• Big awards such as MTV's Video Music Awards (VMA), The Mercury Prize and NME Music Video Awards.

The xx Crystalised

The xx are a new alternative band whose music could be mistaken for ambient background music. Most of their tracks have mellow low tone vocals accompanied by a sightly more upbeat base. The xx have been called "Britain's new favorite band" in the current media as they have recently shot into the music charts with their first album simply named The xx. The xx recently picked up the Mercury prize and the £20,000 prize for their hit album "xx"



Mise En Scene:
Most of their tracks have mellow low tone vocals accompanied by a sightly more upbeat base. The video for the single Crystallised from the album The xx does not involve any movement from the band or does not follow any story. However the background constantly changes and moves. The background is projected on to what must be a plain white painted wall or a blue/green screen. This effect gives the video a unique and interesting feel that most other alternative bands fail to produce.

Cinematography:

Throughout the video a majority of the scenes are slow panning shots focusing on the band members faces, the instruments and the band all togeather. The lighting produced by the projected background creates some the perfect lighting for a few deep focus shots of instruments . The video has a calm but fast paced feel to it and although it is simple and uneventful it is still enjoyable to watch.

Below is a link to an article about The xx wining the mercury prize:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts011224473

The Purpose of a Music Video

Music Videos are produced for many different reasons; from self publication to artistic statements, big egotistic artists take the concept of the video more seriously that the music itself. The first music video burst on to television with "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggels and from then onwards artists have changed the way we consume music. Music videos were created to:

• Promote a single or album


• Promote a product which is appears in the video


• Create an artistic statement


• Promote a film in which the song features


• To attract a wider online audience, who may watch the video without understanding the song (YouTube)

The one artist of the modern day music industry who puts a lot of thought into her music videos is Lady Gaga. However her concept is simple; wear something odd and dance, her career is built on her music videos, because after all she is not a powerful impressive singer, just someone who has used image carefully and got extremely lucky. Her first video Pokerface shot her into the spot light because of her odd dress sense and the semi-graphic scenes of her covered in men. Lady Gaga did seem to have her own "unique" feel when compared to other artists in the same genre but in a mainstream industry when her image is analysed has borrowed her look from multiple people. Although not everyone likes Lady Gaga everyone knows her, this is how image and representation in the media thought music videos can work to promote an artist.

Using a Camera and a Tripod

In the last few weeks our project has taken some big steps. We have now filmed and are finishing editing Preliminary exercises, but before we could film we had to learn the basics of how to use a camera and a tripod. The camera was fairly simple to use, the only task that required any thought was removing the tapes. However the tripod was more complicated. The tripod is made up of three expendable legs which balance and stabiles the camera. The camera its self is attached to a removable plastic stand and screws in to place using a small bolt to attached to the thread, which is already built into the camera (and most cameras on the market today.) There are a few handles on the tripod, which are used to position the camera to make sure it is level, and to extend the camera to improve its height and range.

The camera and tripod was simple to use however making sure the camera was level was a harder task, after filming a few shots once we watched our film on the computers it was obvious that the camera was off center and unlevel. We were told to look through the camera at a doorframe to make sure its lines appeared vertical on the camera.

Requested Music Video Track

In the past week I have continued looking on websites such as; Myspace.com, Unsigned.com, LastFm.com and FreePlayMusic.com while browsing on Unsigned.com I came across a band called Atlantis from Little Rock Arkansas in the United states. The band have a powerful lead singer called Paige LeFluer whose vocals standout while not overpowering their songs, I enjoy their music however they slightly remind me of the American band Paramore. Their demo track Signs was quite impressive, I like the bass and the change of pace attracted me also the song was just over three minuets, which is the time period recommended by our teachers. I sent the band a message over MySpace to ask for permission to use their song.

Survey

Today I created a short survey to obtain some information on the music video market. We will use the results to guide us when making the video. The link below will take you to the survey homepage. I created the survey using the free websire SurveyMonkey.com

Click here to take survey

Finding Tracks: Last FM

In the past few days i have been browsing free music sites for tracks to use in my music video by unknown artists. My plan is to find four or five decent tracks which i can see my self using and then send out emails to the artists requesting permission. I am currently feeling confident that an artist would agree to let me use their track in my music video, but you can never speak to soon!