Research Into Similar Products - Inspiration

Although I have done research into props and backgrounds of music videos before, I wanted to look deeper into it as I am coming close to filming the scenes of the video which take place in my own home. I have chosen to look mostly into Placebo videos as they are the most helpful in researching into similar products.

I chose to look at Bosco. In Bosco, the couples bedroom is quite disorganised and casual.

In addition to this, later in the video a small amount of low key lighting is used to represent the protagonists negative emotions. I really like the mixture of both very low-key and high-key lighting that is used earlier (eg. in the first image) in the video. I plan to adapt this to my own filming.

Whereas in "Meds", the bedroom appears quite sterile. 

I will try to use a mix between the two, so I will clear space in my room but keep my books and posters within view, in order to conform to the conventions of alternative rock music videos. 

In STSG, the majority of the rooms shown in the video are rather messy and casual-looking. Naturalistic lighting is used.

I like this effect, and I plan to incorporate it into my music video. 

I will still use low key lighting in the laptop scene as I'd originally planned, but I will also now use naturalistic lighting, and a higher key of lighting in other scenes filmed inside, as it will allow me the audience to see the actors better and shows a wider range of mise en scene.

Drafting & Planning: Kevin's lip syncing footage - Improved

As the footage was too dark on the first try I have filmed again with one of my supporting actors, Kevin:

Medium Close Up - Sad

Medium Close Up Happy

Medium Close Up Happy IMPROVED

Close Up Sad

Close Up Happy

Extreme Close Up Sad

Extreme Close Up Happy

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My actor was a little nervous, so some parts of the lyrics have been cut out, or have ended too early. However, this is fine because I will be able to replace low quality footage with high quality footage from other actors.

I am extremely happy with this footage, and I think I will add parts of these into the final cut.

Organisation: Tracker.

My post tracker tells me I am lacking in organisation posts, so I will create more organisation blog posts, which will also help me to structure my filming. This is extremely important to keep track of as all of my filming needs to be complete by the end of term,

I also plan to do more research into similar products, as some of my previous posts have concentrated on the ancillary products. I believe that I need to do deeper research and analysis into music videos before I collect all of my footage and start filming.

Drafting & Planning: 2nd actress Lip sync footage

This is the edited footage of my second actress Paige lip syncing. The filming was very successful so I do not think I will have to organise a re-shoot. However, I may organise further filming of more angles across all of the chorus' and some casual smiling. This will be useful to add into the first chorus in which the protagonist lip synchs as it foreshadows the reason why the protagonist is initially sad.

Extreme close up - sad

Extreme close up - happy

Close up - sad - 1st Chorus

Close up - happy

Medium close up - sad

Medium close up -  happy

As the music video is about the friendship between (Paige) and the protagonist, I may use more footage of Paige than some of the supporting actors. To do this, I have filmed Paige lip syncing to the first chorus, which is something that the supporting actors were not filmed doing.

Mid-shot (Neutral)

The music played in the background will be edited out so that I can enter a better quality version of the track into the music video.

Drafting & Planning: Improved footage.

Last time I filmed Shannen and Kevin, the lighting was much too dark, so I got them to re-film:

Shannen (sad medium close up)

Shannen (happy medium close up)

Shannen (sad close up)

Shannen (sad extreme close up)

Shannen (happy extreme close up)

I have got my actress do to multiple scenes with both happy and sad expressions as they will be used for different parts of the video to show how in some ways technology makes life worse and in some ways it makes life happier.

Organisation / Drafting & Planning : Story plan update.

In my original storyboard, I planned to have a wide variety of backgrounds and a very large supporting cast to lip sync.

Since then, I have changed my plans.

Me (the protagonist) and Paige (2nd actress) will perform lip syncing against a plain white wall, which can be found in my Locations post. We are sharing this location as our stories are connected. I have chosen to remain with a white wall to conform to the common conventions of alternative rock music videos, for example, in Marilyn Manson's Third Day Of A 7 Day Binge the protagonist performs in front of a plain background.

Two of my supporting actors, Shannen and Kevin will be filmed against a brick wall as their stories are connected. Shannen and Kevin's story shows a couple in a long distance relationship who can only talk through social media finally meeting up again.

A third supporting actor, Danielle, was filmed against a wall in the girls bathroom, however, the texture on the wall makes it appear as though she is outside a building. Her story is not connected to any of the other actors, which means that the rest of the supporting actors will have a different background to hers when they are lip syncing.

I have also decided that apart from the scenes above, I will attempt to film most of the other supporting actors outside. This will contrast nicely with the 'nature' aspect, to reflect the naturalness of sexuality, and the unnaturalness of man-made technology such as the mobiles and laptops that will feature in the music video.

Target Audience: Qualitative analysis

I have created a YouTube account for the footage I film in Media Studies.

I have uploaded a few videos in order to see what my target audience's opinion is of the videos, and if they have any improvements.

Skirt sequence:

https://youtu.be/3IvUk_kibV8

Different angles:

https://youtu.be/pTZWhVIn5qk

Feedback - Skirt sequence:

Feedback - Different angles:

Target Audience conclusion:

Overall I received positive feedback about my initial footage. I have also received advice as one of the respondents said they liked the colourful effect better, so I may decide to expand the amount of footage I use this effect on.

Organisation: Filming update.

On Tuesday 24th I will be re-shooting the lip-synching scene with Shannen, as last time it was too dark and gave unintended connotations. This will be done in the same location (a brick wall on school property.)

After this, I will filming lipsyncing with one of my supporting actors.

The next part of my filming will be captured on Saturday the 28th with Hermella (one of my supporting actress'.)
I will be filming her lip sync in a similar way to the rest of my supporting actors, with happy and solemn version of medium close ups, close ups and extreme close ups.

This was initially planned to be against her bedroom wall, however, I now plan to use an open space in Birmingham City Centre, such as Brindley Place, as there are black pillars on which I can film my actress against. I may also use this area to film my actors as it offers many interesting backgrounds.

As I have got positive feedback from my YouTube target audience, I will go with the 2nd actress back to cannon hill on Wednesday 25th to film on the bandstand and perhaps against the red tree.

Drafting & Planning: Danielle Lip synching footage

Here is the edited footage of Danielle's lip syncing. This particular footage is a close up in which the character is happy.

This was shot in the female bathroom, meaning that there was much more lighting. I chose this location as the texture on the wall makes it appear as though she is outside, which fits in with the rest of the video as the majority of the supporting actors will be recorded outside or among nature.

This medium close up is done to show emotion. At first in my storyboard I planned to only have extreme close ups of my supporting actors, but I decided to record multiple camera angles in order to have a variety of shots and to establish emotion. This is particularly important because the sadness that the characters feel, whether it is due to circumstances (such as in Shannen and Kevin's scenes) or due to technology (with the stereotype of technology breaking up human communication), because it needs to contrast with the happiness that is shown later (with the extreme close up as an example).

I really like these pieces of footage, and I think that I will keep this footage for the final music video.

Drafting & Planning: First lip syncing Footage

I have recorded footage of three of my a supporting actors (Shannen, Kevin & Danielle) lip synching to two chorus' in Too Many Friends.

For each part there is a sad medium close up, a happy medium close up, a sad close up, a happy close up, a sad extreme close up and a happy extreme close up. This is to ensure that I have wide range of shots.

Here is the edited footage of Shannen's close up:

This footage was shot in 720p, which is the best possible quality on my camera. However, in my opinion it is a little too dark. I plan to re-shoot this in the near future in a brighter location.

At some points the lip synching is a little bit out and the actress if not giving direct address. This is acceptable, since the footage will be cut up eventually, meaning that lower quality lip syncing can be replaced by high quality lip syncing by other supporting actors.

Here is the edited footage of Kevins medium close up:

This lipsyncing is slightly out, and the footage is too dark here too, so this will need to be-shot.

Even though the footage was not perfect, it has been beneficial to me as  have now got used to using a tripod which will make the re-shooting process much easier and faster than the initial shooting.

Drafting & Planning: Initial footage of traffic

Here is some initial footage for the cars scene:

I have sped it up on Movie Plus, however, when sped up it looked very shaky as I did not use a tripod for initial footage, so I added a motion blur effect.

The traffic was not moving fast enough to get the desired blur of lights, which means that in future I will film at a time where there is less of a crush so traffic can move faster. I will also use a digital camera so that the footage is of much better quality.

For this footage I only used motion blur, as it creates the illusion of time manipulation without damaging the footage quality.

In future, I will definitely use a tripod to film, and I will definitely be using a digital camera. I will also film from further away so that more lights from the cars be recorded. It has also been suggested to me that I should film when it is less dark, as I do not plan for the sky to be at night time during the walking scene.

Target Audience - Demographic

Placebo are an English alternative rock band, formed in London in 1994 by singer-guitarist Brian Molko and guitarist-bassist Stefan Olsdal. The band were soon joined by drummer Robert Schultzberg, who was replaced in 1996 by Steve Hewitt. Hewitt was fired from the band in 2007 and was replaced the following year by Steve Forrest, who left in 2015.

Placebo are known for their androgynous image and musical content. To date, they have released seven studio albums, all of which have reached the top 20 in the United Kingdom, and have sold around 11 million records worldwide.

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Understanding this information is very important for establishing my demographic. As Placebo have been a band for over 20 years, which means it is very likely that they have fans of all ages, from new fans at age 16 to fans who liked Placebo at the beginning, at age 30-40. 

This means that my music video needs to attract people from a large range of ages, which means I must include content that would enjoyable and interesting from the perspective of all ages.

One way in which I will do this is the effects. During music breaks I will add blurring and possibly coloured effects to create a dizzyness effect. This will attract younger audiences by showing the some of the negative effects of alcohol, as research has shown that college and university age people are drinking less than their parents, who would be in the 30-40 age bracket. Using props such as alcohol bottles may give a sense of social realism, which may attract older audiences with a realistic storyline.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/more-school-less-spirit-why-young-people-are-drinking-less-alcohol/281759/

Drafting & Planning: POV footage

Although this was not part of my storyboarding, I decided to test POV walking while using my mobile phone to film, as this will give me a wider range of camera and angles and shots to use in my music video.

I found this footage to be way too shaky and very unprofessional, so I will definitely not be using a mobile phone to film this part of the music video.
Instead, I plan to use a piece of apparatus which can be strapped around an actors body attached to a tripod, which creates a much more smooth POV shot.

In addition to this, next time I will make sure my shoes (which will be black boots in the final cut) are part of the POV filming, as this helps to attract a target audience who may also like to wear similar clothes to the protagonist.

Drafting & Planning: Skirt scene initial footage.

Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery as we were filming, so I had to use my phone which uses a lower quality of MP. This is why the footage is portrait instead of landscape.

In the first section, slow motion is used, as this was the planned effect. This effect emphasises the actress' care free nature that needs to be demonstrated in the music video. I will definitely use this effect when editing begins. The only improvement that needs to be made is that I need to direct the actress' hands away from the skirt so that they cannot be seen in the shot.

In the second section "motion blur" on Movie Plus is used. I chose to do this as this effect could represent the 'funny feeling' you get when you're embarrassed because you have crush on someone. This effect could also be used later in the music break scene to demonstrate disorientation.

The saturation was raised to 66% in this piece of footage. This was experimental and doesn't look very professional in this scene in my opinion. However, this effect could be used in other elements of footage to create a psychedelic effect.

In this footage I decided to use the bandstand in Cannon Hill Park to film from a low angle, to show the power the actress has over the protagonist. To do this the actress had to wear thick leggings so that the audience could see the inner linings of the skirt without detracting from the innocence of the crush.

I think that this final piece was the best footage that was taken. The way the actresses hair and skirt moves was exactly how I imagined when I created my storyboard, so I will seriously consider replacing some of the mid-shots with high angle shots so that the full movement of the skirt can be seen. I also think that slow motion works much better when the actress it situated on the bandstand as it allows her to spin in one place much more easily.

In conclusion, doing this initial filming has been extremely beneficial to improving my ideas for my trailer, as it has allowed me to find out the best angles in which to film the actress from.