Drafting & Planning: Music Video Storyline & Back story

The music video with fade in from a black screen with the words "Placebo - Too Many Friends".
After this, the camera will cut between the actress in dark clothing walking down a long path, and the same actress glancing at a computer screen. Low key lighting is used in the bedroom.

Option 1: She is about to watch a film illegally, and then spots an advert aimed at single men. She feels as though her computer is 'outing' her, and so she closes it.
Option 2: She is on a website that analyses a person's sexuality. She reads the bisexual option, knows it resembles her sexuality. As she is not yet open with her sexuality, she closes it.

Example of what could feature on the screen:

This relates to the band Placebo, not only because of the "gay" line, but also because the main singer is bisexual, and who has also said that he wishes he kept quiet about his sexuality because people started only seeing his sexuality instead of his talents.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a31417/molko-i-wish-i-kept-quiet-on-sexuality.html#~ppLAT2CukGONbF

After the line "as I was walking home", she is shown with a phone (prop) in her hand, about to message her love interest. This scene may use inspiration from "a million little pieces". Later in this short scene she is filmed deleting her typing and putting her phone away, showing the 'last communique".

The camera cuts between her deleting her message and sped up shots of cars passing her, showing the 'super high way'. This may work better at dusk as the headlights of cars will be switched on and will resemble a more electronic vision than cars in the day time.

Example of the desired effect:

After the line 'in a single tome' the camera records a mid shot of the protagonist looking down and slowly up. This cuts quickly to the protagonist in a slightly different outfit in front of a plain white wall. She lip syncs to the chorus. This will largely be the only part of the video where there is direct lip syncing from the protagonist as only around half of the target audience surveyed preferred videos with a large amount of lip syncing.

Colourful red-yellow transition between scenes such as:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5TPRn9M5lk

"If i could give it all away"  Shows an extreme close up of 2nd actresses flowing skirt (red) and zooms out to show her dancing and spinning around carelessly. The background behind her has a greyed out effect, mixed with some naturalistic lighting from the sky and the sun to draw attention to the actress. There are occasional cut-aways to the protagonist to show the audience that the protagonist is watching actress 2. Slow motion effect is used throughout until "Or an expensive stone". The flowing skirt transitions to the next scene as she dances past the camera.

"But I got a reason to declaim, the applications are to blame".
A close up similar to the close up of the phone at the beginning of the track, showing the protagonist swiping through 'selfies' of her and the 2nd actress. This close up of the phone is showing the viwers that the protagonist is retracting blame from herself, and instead is blaming her phone applications for allowing her to see pictures of her crush and causing her "sorrow and pain".

The next chorus consists of faster-paced editing from mouth to mouth of several supporting actors, mixed in with some of the protagonists and the 2nd actresses.

The reason for this extreme close up is to represent the disconnect that comes from internet friendships. You don't know everything about the person you're talking to therefore I will not film all of their face. These shots may be done at angles or have coloured effects over them. This is to please people within the target audience that don't prefer to watch a large amount of average lipsynching in their music videos.
Cut aways to the protagonist looking at the image again.

Near the end of the chorus, the camera returns to the protagonist looking into a mirror and washing her face. As she finished the camera tracks her sinking down into the corner in her bathroom. This reveals a bottle of vodka.

During the music break:
Fast paced steadi-cam of the protagonist looking stressed. The colours should be distorted to suggest that she has taken alcohol or drugs to deal with her emotional problems. Some cut aways back to the flowing skirt to demonstrate the reason why she is stressed. (Because if her crush)

"My computer thinks I'm gay, what's the difference anyway?"
Return back to the bedroom scene. The protagonist looks at her laptop, however in this scene high key lighting is used.

Option 1:"When all the people do all day" Protagonist lip syncs this line in front of a white wall.
"Is stare into a phone"
The supporting actors bring a phone up to their face, so that only part of their face can still be seen. This supports the lyrics 'stare into a phone'.

Option 2: The protagonist sees that her crush has messaged her. There is a top shot of the protagonist lying backwards clutching her phone to her heart.

"I got too many friends..."
Cut aways to the earlier scene of the 2nd actress dancing. This is the last chorus and is sliced with different scenes from the music video. The fast paced editing should represent how rushed people's lives have become in the digital age.

"I'll never be there"
Option 1: The protagonist and 2nd actress touch noses to suggest a kiss and the video fades out with bright yellow to black. This leaves a cliffhanger for the audience to whether they kiss or not.
Option 2: The protagonist and 2nd actress touch noses to suggest a kiss but pull away, which is synchronous with the melancholy way the song finishes.
Option 3: The 2nd actress is seen kissing a man, the camera cuts to the protagonist, there is a close up of the 2nd actress' and the mans silhouhette against the sunlight and the scene fades to black.

I will create a storyboard for this story line in the near future.

Target Audience: Survey Monkey Results

I have created a survey on Survey Monkey to ensure that the music video I produce will please audiences of all kinds, including those who do not prefer indie/alt rock, as a function of music videos is to promote the artist and their music.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/P3XZY7G

Here are my responses:

Research Conclusion:

The largest population of respondants had indie and alternative rock as their favourite genre. The vast majority of the respondants were between 18 and 24, which reflects on the target audience of rock and indie music, and gives me an idea of the audience I need to aim my video at. The gender of the respondants was equal, which means I need to create a music videos that both males and females will enjoy. I phrased the next question in a way that people who have not studied media will understand. Although one person replied that they rarely like synchronous music videos, the majority said they do like to watch them sometimes or most of the time. Lastly, most of the respondants said that they didn't like videos in which there was a very large amount of lip syncing, although some said that they did enjoy these types of music videos sometimes. This means that I will use some lip syncing but add an individual style to it, so it doesn't bore my target audience.

Drafting & Planning: CD song titles.

Firstly, I have decided that out of the three tracks of which the lyrics I have analysed, I would like to create a music video for Placebo - Too Many Friends. This track is from the album Loud Like Love. Loud Like Love features 10 tracks, so including "Too Many Friends" I have created 9 other track titles inspired by both Placebo and other indie/alt rock artists.

1. Too Many Friends
2. Preserve
3. Say Those Words
4. Better Pray
5. The Way You Looked In The Sunlight
6. Rosaline
8. Anaesthetic
9. Not Dead Yet
10. Speak in Whispers

Largely, indie/alt rock bands use one of their best tracks as an album title. I have not yet decided which CD song title I will use, as I think it is more suitable to get my filming for the music video done first, to give me a better 'feel' for the album's appeal.

Research into similar products: Mise en Scene & Props

Mise-en-scene is French for 'everything in the scene' but as I have already researched costume, location and lighting, this section of research will be focused on the different camera angles, transitions, body language and props used in alt & indie rock music videos. I have used http://makeagif.com/ to display the body language more professionally.

In 'Best of you' by alt rock band Foo Fighters, a big close up is used of the lead singer to begin the video. The large microphone is arguably used as a prop, and it should be noted that similarly to other music videos I have analysed, this one also features a plain white background.

"Best of You" features a large range of shots, which cut between Dave Grohl's big close up with the microphone as a prop.

In 'This is the new sh-t' by Marilyn Manson, this mid shot is continuously cut back to in between other scenes. This is effective as it creates a holistic music video amongst the anarchy in the remainder of the video.

Similarly to 'Best of you', a wide, rapid range of camera shots are used, including long shots, extreme long shots, mid-shots and close ups all within the range of a few seconds.

Marilyn Manson as an actor very rarely has any form of dance routine, which is common with most indie &alt rock music videos, but instead allows himself to move with the music.

In this music video, a mobile phone is used throughout the video, to great effect, as it appears that the band is reaching out to the actor in this scene.

In this scene, the actor lip syncs to the track. This creates an inclusive effect as this is an action the fans on Placbo may often do while listening to their music. This is an important feature to note as it frequents all genres of music videos.

A cigarette is used as prop, which may represent an act of defiance as smoking is well known to be unhealthy and anti social. This prop could be used to represent an actor as beginning to not care about the things around them, or alternatively to relieve the stress coming from the things around them.

Research Conclusion:

It is vital in indie & alt rock music videos to have a large variety of different camera shots and angles. Both musical props and alternative props such as lipstick and cigarettes are used frequently in this genre of videos. These findings must be incorporated into my music video.

Research into similar Products: Lighting & Tone.

Lighting in Alternative & Indie Rock videos:

In this music video, red orange and black are heavily used, which as I learned in AS are common conventions of Rock music artists. In 'Hero' these colours are used triumphantly, representing the burst of music coming from the band as positive and impressive.

However, in 'Why'd you only call me when you're high?', red and black are used to represent deviancy, as the main singer (and actor) is drunk and later takes drugs in the music video.

In contrast to the previous two videos, a large amount of natural lighting is used. This is used to emphasise how normal the protagonist feels around his love interest, which is of huge importance as the remainder of the music video takes place in a mental illness care home in which most patients are not considered 'normal'.

In Placebo's 'Song To Say Goodbye' naturalistic, yet dim lighting is used. Dim lighting is often used to represent dark emotions such as loneliness and sadness. which aids emphasis on the subjects negative emotions.

Research Conclusion:
In alt and indie rock there are similarities, but no set conventions on lighting and tone. This means that when I create my music video I should use a range of lighting to represent the different tones in the track I choose.

Research into similar products: Location and background

Backgrounds and Locations in Alternative & Indie Rock videos.

In this alt rock music video, Marilyn Manson features on a dusty white background, which contrasts with his black costume. This approach forces the viewers interest onto the music artist.

Similarly, in 'Cocoon' by indie rock band CATB, a dim white background used. In contrast, the background matches the actresses costume, which makes her seem 'part of the furniture' instead of someone to be focused on. This is fitting as she is not the protagonist of the video.

In this video the actress is filmed in her 'natural environment',which is a (quite messy) bedroom. This is quite a common background to use in indie/alt rock music videos as it adds an element of social realism.

For a large part of this video the actor (Turner) is stumbling around outside in a dark city setting. This video also uses elements of social realism, as he passes various shops which his fans would be accustomed to (eg. chip shops). I want to use this tactic to some extent in my music video.

Research Conclusion:

For the most part, indie/alt rock music videos are filmed in casual locations, such as in bedrooms and on metropolitain streets, which differs greatly from the more 'impressive' scenes filmed in pop or rap music videos, such as the locations and backgrounds featured in Nicki Minaj and Rihanna's videos:

Secondly, when a less casual background is used, a rather plain one is used (as seen in TDOASDB). This contrasts greatly with pop music videos such as:

My research has shown me that the location and background in my music video should be casual and quite plain, as this is what the audiences of current indie/alt rock music videos like.

Research into similar products: Costume

Out of the three tracks I have analysed 2 are indie rock, and one is alternative rock. To keep within the codes and conventions of alt / indie rock I have decided to research the costumes wore in both the music videos and on stage by the artists / band members.

Jack Savoretti- Chemical Courage

Savoretti can be seen wearing a casual jacket both in music videos and on stage.

Arctic Monkeys- Love Is A Lazerquest

There isnt an official music video for this track, however, in videos of Turner performing the track he most often wears black jackets are T shirts.

Members of Arctic Monkeys have also been known to similar black outfits, T-Shirts with band logos and slogans, and casual jackets similar to Jack Savouretti during on-stage performances

Placebo - Too Many Friends

Placebo have produced multiple music videos for this singular track, so I will research both these tracks and the band members on-stage clothing.

In the 3rd official music video for "Too Many Friends", the protagonist wears extremely casual, almost scruffy clothing, while the secondary actress wears a more "indie" outfit of a jean jacket.

Lead singer Brian Molko is most often seen performing in almost all-black outfits. His bandmates wear similar black clothing, although occasionally they can appear as scruffy as the protagonist in the main video.

Research Conclusion:

To conform to the conventions of alt/indie rock videos, I should dress the protagonist in mostly casual clothing, and perhaps a band T shirt. The secondary actors and actresses in the video will be dressed similarly, unless it is to create an effect.

Research into similar products: Genre research 2 - Alt Rock

Research into similar products: Genre research - Indie Rock

Pictured: Drowners, Catfish and the bottlemen, Arctic Monkeys

Research into similar products: Magazine music adverts.

In my research I found a limited amount of inner magazine adverts for my chosen genre (alternative rock and indie rock) so I downloaded the best indie/alt rock advertisements I could find so I could study the similarities.

Research Conclusion: 

Although the adverts have similar elements to them, such as big main images, release dates and titles, there seems to be little cohesion. To form a better understanding of magazine adverts, I will research conventions of magazine adverts in the future.