storyboard scans

Note: as the song I am using - Nicola Roberts: Sticks and Stones - is a fairly slow song, shot changes will not be as frequent/quick changes, and shots will be longer to fit the pace of the song.

Scan of analysed lyrics.

As the scan image shows, I have analysed images within the lyrics and the mood of the song, and made points on ideas for my video, such as the different scenes that the storytelling and imagery in the lyrics of the song could fit well with. I also highlighted the lyrics which i think have the strongest effect to the song, and should have focus on, for the concept of the video.

Filming Schedule

• For the shots in my video that will not include a performer, such as several point of view shots I will be using- I will shoot these scenes over the Christmas holidays.
• The rest of the scenes in my video, that will include my performer- will be shot the first week of January Term (4th - 9th). ready to begin editing the commencing week.

Influential Videos

Adele
As I have previously analysed music videos for codes and conventions of the particular genre I am using for my video, I then looked in more detail at other videos of the same genre that could influence my own work an ideas, such as Adele's 'Someone like You' video, where the scenes of her walking through the parks/ street is a concept I will be including in my video.
I particularly like the idea of editing the video in black and white effect, as i feel it is best suited to convey the mood of the song, which Adele uses effectively in this video.

Kelly Clarkson

In addition to this, I looked at further music videos of the same genre still, which have also influenced my storyboard and ideas. An example of this is in Kelly Clarkson's video for 'my life would suck without you', in the opening scenes when she is on swinging on a swing, and the particular camera shots for thee setting are side angle/view close ups, and mid to long shots, which look effective in capturing the mood of the performer.

Consent for access to filming locations.

For the locations i will be using to film my video, i do not need any formal consent to be allowed access to film, as the majority of my scenes will be shot in locations ushh as my garden and house, and other locations i will use are publically ownded and not private land; such as St. George's Field, which also does not need consent for.

Props List

For the filming of my video the performer will use several props. Some of these props will be already included in the set; such as a bench that the performer will sit on in the Park.)

• Long Mirror ( In Bedroom)
• Ipod Touch & Earphones
• Several Magazines and Newspapers (on Table)
• Bench ( In Park)
• Swing ( In Park)
• 'Geeky Style' Glasses
• Bottle of Vodka

Concept/ Video Idea.

For my music video i am using a Nicola Roberts ballad song, 'Sticks + Stones'. As the lyrics and tone of the song are fairly downbeat/ emotional, and the pace is slow, the concept/idea i have for the video is to make the performer look reflective and remembering the troubles in their childhood, which is the story that the the lyrics convey.
To make this concept adaptable and presented clearly in my video i will shoot the majority of my scenes outdoors, with the performer walking through a field, as walking can be associated with someone reflecting on events.) In addition to this, i am planning on using a black & white colour effect throughout the video.

Similar to videos such as Jessie J's  Who You Are, and Adele's video for Someone like you -which i have taken influence from after analysing, the concept and ideas for scenes and locations are simple and non-complex, i will aim to use good editing techniques to convey the emotion of the song.

Location List

For my music video i have decided i will use outdoor settings for the majority of the different scenes i will shoot. As the song i have chosen is a reflective song and has a down beat mood to it, i think an outdoor setting is the most appropriate set for filming my video.
Videos such as Adele's Someone Like You have influenced my location ideas, as she walks along a street for the majority of her video and as the song has a very similar tone/mood to the song i am using, the setting has influenced my ideas slightly.
(Note: - None of the places i am filming at need to be consented.)

Location List

• A long street/busy road ( Gorton Road)
• A Tenfoot
• Haltemprice Field 
• Back Garden
• Bedroom (Sat on windowsill)

EDIT: Whilst completing my storyboard, i have decided to include a furthr location/set. Iwill also film some scenes of my video in A deserted Park.

My chosen song, and research into the Lyrical meaning of the song.

I have chosen to use Nicola Roberts song Sticks + Stones as the song for my video.
I chose this song because i think it has a strong message and meaning behind the lyrics and there is a narrative story told within the lyrics whic have given me visual images and ideas for a possible concept in my video.

To gain a strong understanding of the song i have chosen to use for my video, i did additional research by looking into/watching interviews by the artist where she talsk about the proccess fo writing the song, the meanings behind the lyrics and the message that she wanted the song to convey: that bullying shouldnt' define or undermine what you think of yourself (which is my aim to convey in my video.)
 The mood of the song is fairly depressing as the lyrics are a strong autobiographical reference to troubles the artist had during her childhood. Being bullied both at school and during the start of her music career by the press for having ginger hair and differing from most other females in the industry; This is the major influence for the song.

This is one of the interviews i watched to gather information about the song and the artist.
(Artist talking about the song)

Lyrics 


Couldn't you tell lies to me?
Couldn't you say I'm pretty?
Now that's enough 
Tells me that she hates the play ground
How can they hurt, words are just sounds
So take your shot.

I don't want to see that they're making it hard for me
At home I cry
Bet that you think that you're on your own
And you've no one's hand to hold
Sticks and stones
Hurt just a little
Wouldn't it be wrong if we're all the same?
Don't surrender don't you change
Sticks and stones
Hurt just a little

With all the mean words they're ugly
Starting to see I'm lucky
And that's enough
I'd rather be alone in my world
I'd rather be the girl that gets hurt
So take your shot

I don't want to see that they're making it hard for me
At home I cry
Bet that you think that you're on your own
And you've no one's hand to hold
Sticks and stones
Hurt just a little

Wouldn't it be wrong if we're all the same
Don't surrender don't you change
Sticks and stones
Hurt just a little

Too young to buy my own bottle of vodka
So i'd beg the driver please I need another
How funny that I was too young for so many things
Yet you thought i'd cope with being told i'm ugly
Over and over i'd read it believe it
Said no to the shrink I can fix me I think
I got friends in my head they've got me on the mend
I am pretty in my mirror, easy to pretend
17 and thought that i'd won the jackpot
Seems I didn't read between the lines of this one
I can't think why I could have made you so, so angry
Your bullets I don't feel them come on and fire at me

Bet that you think that you're on your own
And you've no one's hand to hold
Sticks and stones
Hurt just a little
Wouldn't it be wrong if we're all the same
Don't surrender don't you change
Sticks and stones
Hurt just a little
Hurt just a little


official lyrical video for the song;

audience research

1.What genre of music do you most prefer?

2. W hat style of video do you most prefer for pop music videos?

·         Performance

·         Narrative

·         Abstract

·         Animation

3. Do you think a music video needs to have lip syncing?

4. Where do you most frequently see advertisements for new music?

• Social Networking Sites (Twitter, Facebook..)
• YouTube & Itunes
• Magazines
• Television

5. What age category are you?

·         Under 16

·         16-25

·         25+

I asked 10 people to answer the questions above, several of different ages  (relatives & friends) and the results that i concluded with were;

- 7 out of the 10 participants prefered the Pop Music, whereas the other 3 prefered Alternate genre music.

- For the prefered style of music video, 6 of the 10 participants said they prefer narrative style, whilst another 3 said Performance was their favourite style for a music video, and the other 1 said they prefer Absract videos.

- For question 3, 7 out of the 10 participants said No, they didn't think a music video needed any lip synching.

- The responses to question 4. were varied, with 4 out of the 10 participants saying they most frequently saw new music advertisement's on Social Networking sites, with another 4 saying Youtube and Itunes were the most frequent, and another 2 of the participants said in magazine advertisements.
- the age's of the participants were varied, with six of them being 16-25, two of them being under 16, and the other two being 25+.

additional music video analysis' - Unconventional videos.

when studying current and old music videos, there were several videos i came across that had unconventional and interesting features. Coldplay - Yellow, and Lana Del Ray - Video games; are two videos that i have analysed briefly, that have unconventional features in their videos that i think are unique.

 

                                                                               Lana Del Ray

* Unconventional technique: 'unproffessional filming quality'

The music video for Video Games is filmed as an unproffesionally shot video, this effect is made as the picture quality is grainy, and some scenes are shot as point of view shots, making the video look homemade quality purposely. As oppossed to most music videos which are conventionally shot in high proffessional/ studio quality.

    

        

Coldplay Yellow

*Unconventional technique: one continuos shot, no cuts.

Coldplay are a pop band well known for having stand-out and unconventional music videos. Their video for Yellow is one video that does not follow conventions as it filmed as one continuous shot, starting on a long shot of the sea, then panning to the left and focusing on the performer (Chris Martin). The entire duration of the video uses the one shot Him walking down the beach in the rain (which connotes the mood of the song) towards the camera. Using this feature makes the video unconventional and differing from all other music videos that are shot using continuous scene and shot changes.  

Ideas/influence for my own video shots.

Videos that are influencing my own video

Adele- Someone like you.

I  like the concept of the video and the camera shots used; starting with an establishing shot of the street with the angle they have used here, then a cut to a medium close up, and the use of extreme close up of her eyes which conveys the emotion of the song really well. I like the idea of her walking beside the water as imagery of her reflecting back on the relatrionships in the song, as it gives meaning to the video. I am also considering using the black and white effect, similar to how it is used in this video as i think it is the best way to connotate the emotion of the song.

Conventions of all Music Videos.

Although most genres create differing msuic videos in the context of editing techniques and styles, the majority of music videos are edited without continuity, using fast cut-on-action shots rather than match-on-action editing. This is one convention of music videos that i will use in my own video, to cut shots to match with the beat/backing instruments of the track, fitting with the pace of the music.

One of the main conventions of music videos in general, is the use of performance. Nearly all music videos show the artist performing for sections of the video.

The literal meanings of the lyrics in the song also influence imagery and scenes that are shown in the video, as well as reflecting the mood of the song, which is expressed through visual aspects such as clothing/fashion that is worn and emotions that are conveyed.

 Colour themes are also generic to all genres of music videos, although the different genres have their own colour schemes, nearly all videos have a set colour theme for set and clothing etc, that usual are pciked to reflect the mood of a song, for example;
Black & white = Depressing tone of song
Bright colours such as red, pink, yellow = uplifting mood of song.

Conventions of Music Videos for the Pop Genre.

The genre I am researching for my music video is Pop, and R&B music, as the song I am using for my own video follows this particular genre. I have analysed three Pop music videos; Jessie J – Who you are, Girls Aloud – The Loving Kind, and One Republic – Good Life. I found a pattern of conventions they all use to distinguish the genre of the videos/music.

The editing techniques of shots in pop videos is conventionally cut on action shots, using quick shot changes - as the pace and background instrumental beats of pop songs are usually fast, they mostly do not follow continuity rules in these type of videos, using several different places of mise-en –scene, rather than one specific location or scene. (an unconventional video that does not follow this convention is Coldplay's video for Yellow, which uses only one location, and one continuous shot.)

 As the instrumentals and beats of the music in pop songs are generically fast and up-tempo, the shots are fast cuts and timed with the music track, as opposed to acoustic videos or other slower pace genres of music that follow continuity and do not match shot cuts with the beat of the track.

Another convention of Pop music videos is the importance of style, through the use of fashion and high maintenance of looks. Generally, females in pop music videos are dressed fashionably aand highly glamorously to connotate a style to the audience, whereas videos for other genres such as rock music-use black make up and leather fashion to appeal to their audiences.

In addition to this I noticed on analysis that the most frequently used camera shot size on pop genre videos is the close up shots. Artists use mostly medium close up shots to convey the emotion and meaning of the song through expression, which the close-up shots allow. These sizes of shots are also used to prioritise attention on the image of the performer in rellation to make up and accesories, as pop music is the most vain genre and image is what sells songs.
Long shots and wide shots are however rare shots to be used in videos of pop genre as fast editing uses mostly extreme close ups and mid-shots. One Republic's video for Stop and Stare is an example of unconventional use of camera shots, as the video uses many long, and wide angle camera shots, whereas Jessie J’s video for Who You Are follows the conventions of pop videos using close ups, mid shots and extreme close ups to make up the majority of the video, due to lyrically meaning of the song, it conveys the emotion of the music, which is a style frequently used in pop videos.

Another pattern of conventions used in pop videos that I noticed is the use of colour. Unlike the rock or heavy metal genres which connote the mood of the music through dark colour themes in the videos, pop music very rarely uses a black and white themed video, instead bold colours or particular colour themes, such as pink, yellow, blue colour themes; are used to convey the stereotype image of pop music, and the upbeat mood of the majority of pop music. For example, a stereotypical 'girly girl' in pop would use a pink colour theme - an example of this is Nicki Minaj.  
However one pop music video that does not follow this convention is Beyonce, with her video for If I were a boy; which is shot in black and white, and suggests the tone of the song to be serious and of a negative mood.
The most popular and distinguishing convention of a pop music video is the use of constant scene change which occurs every few seconds, particularly in the most upbeat pop songs, and to keep the interest of the audience on the video.

Video Analysis. One Republic - Good Life.

Throughout the video a grainy effect is used. As the video progresses the reason for this becomes clear, as large canvas boards are used to play clips in the video and act as a screen, which is why a canvas effect on the quality of the video is used.  The video starts with three continuous establishing, long shots. There is no continuity editing during the video, and most of the shots are edited as cut on action shots, and as the pace of the background music to the song is fairly fast, to match this, the shot changes are quick and regular. The first shot of the performer in the video is 3 seconds in, where he is shot from an eye level mid-shot, although unusually, the performer is facing away from the camera. There is then several continuous extreme close-up shots of the instruments used in the song and video.

As the beat of the song increases pace slightly, the camera cuts to a medium close up of the artist/performer with no eye contact to the camera. This is a shot used regularly in the video. There is then a cut to a close up shot of the performers’ lower body, where the camera then stays at the same shot size as it travels up to the performers’ upper body/shoulders, which is an unusual video shot and is done without using a tilt.

After the use of another close up on a guitar, there is then the first extreme close up of the performer, where the body language and gesture of the performer having their eyes closed connotes a peaceful feeling of the performer, which is expressed through the lyrics and title of the song.

How Youtube has globalised the importance of music videos.

Founded in 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, Youtube has been the biggest development of the internet to hugely increase the importance of Music Videos to the global chart success of all Artists.
The invention and globalisation of Youtube has meant anyone around the world with internet access can view all videos put onto the website, making music videos almost compulsory to the sucess of a song. Songs gaining  Top 5 chart positions generally gain youtube hit/views of over 30,000,000 in the first year of release, a high indication of the globalisation effect youtube has for Music Artists around the world.

With the development of activities and tools on the website, such as the 'like' and 'dislike' button, as well as the 'favouriting' button, artists relasing music videos through Youtube can get a fair indication of how successful the song and music video is or will be.

With Youtube having many links to most social networking sites; Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, the instant a music video is uploaded to youtube it can be shared on all the listed social networking sites within minutes, making it promoted with the target audiences imediately after release, unlike previously when music fans had to wait for a song to be played on radio or music television channels.

Video Analysis of Jessie J - Who You Are.

Who You Are - Jessie J.

Jessie J is a fairly new recording artist who has had chart success since 2009, and is signed to Island Records, although she was previously signed to an independent record label. She is known for writing most of her songs, having strong lyrical meanings; which comes across strongly in this song/video. The genre of her music is categorized under Pop music, with several of her songs being dance/ electro-pop tracks.

‘Who you are’ was written by Jessie and produced by Tony Gad, the lyrical meaning of the song is based on a trip she had to Los Angeles when she was sent by her record label  to many different producers and song writers and lost some control over her own music. The lyrics ‘don’t lose who you are in the blur of the stars’ relates to her feeling of not wanting to loose he own style and who she is through success of her music; wanting to remain grounded.

 The first shot of the video is a medium close up shot of the artist; it is also an establishing shot of the bedroom, the only location used for all of the shots in the video. The gesture of the performer is looking down, expressing a sad mood, which straight away conveys the tone and mood of the song and lyrics.

The pace and editing of the video starts slow, keeping the same pace as the song with longer time between shot changes; The focus of the camera is still, and the shot size stays on a mid-shot of the performer- where she is communicating the emotion of the song through direct eye contact with the camera. The artist uses lip synching for the majority of shots throughout the video, matching it with the slow pace of the song: The movement of the performer is also edited with slow motion effect on several shots. However, as the pace and beat gradually builds up in the song, the wind starts creating activity in the background, that has been still for the previous duration of the video. The Artist continues singing with the shot size remaining on a medium close up, as there is movement in the background of the shot.

The shot then changes to a long shot of the artist sat on the bed cross legged; this gesture/posture conveys the vulnerability in the song even from a long distance. The lighting throughout the video is a dim, light that conveys a calm atmosphere; the source of the light appears to be from a bedside lamp, as this the only light source in the long shot. The shot then cuts back to a mid-shot, with the artist back at the desk. There is no continuity editing and as the pace of the song increases fast pace editing is used with several reverse shots; from mid-shot to close up and reversing shots, which continues for the chorus. As the pace of the song reaches it height, the camera cuts to several long shots of the artist sat at different places in the location (the bedroom), the camera cuts from a close up of the artist to a pan slowly left to a long shot of the artist sat against a worktop/shelf, again not using any continuity editing.

The way in which the concept of the video is very simple and uses mostly medium close ups, is an idea that has influenced my own ideas, as it enables the video to convey the tone of the song well.

Possible Song's for video

Although i am unsure yet of the music i will use for my video, i have several possible songs i may use. I highlighted the lyrics that i think have strong imagery and culd give me ideas for my video if i choose one of the songs.

 i am considering using is Nicola Roberts - Take a bite.. I think the lyrics have aa strong messgae and create bold imagery which would be effective in a music video. As the song has no video it would give me an advantage to creating an origional video, so this is a possible song choice for my video.

NICOLA ROBERTS - TAKE A BITE

You always seem to want to take a pop
Like a bully by the corner shop
All over me like a polka dot
You treat me like someone I'm not

I'm gonna blow up, I'm gonna blow up
Do you enjoy winding me up?
I'm gonna blow up, I'm gonna blow up
I'm gonna blow up, I'm gonna blow up

Get your teeth round this open wide
Eyes bigger than your belly tonight
If you think you're hard take a bite

You push and push and push, pushed me to fight
Everybody's got a limit alright
So put 'em up, put 'em up, take a bite

Just because you're twice the size of me
Doesn't mean I'm scared of World War III
Sit back and grab a cup of tea
I'm gonna kick your arse now in 3D

I'm gonna blow up, I'm gonna blow up
I'm asking pretty please
I'm gonna blow up, I'm gonna blow up
I'm gonna blow up, I'm gonna blow up [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/n/nicola+roberts/take+a+bite_20976127.html ]
Get your teeth round this open wide
Eyes bigger than your belly tonight
If you think you're hard take a bite

You push and push and push, pushed me to fight
Everybody's got a limit alright
So put 'em up, put 'em up, take a bite

La la la la la la la la la

So I was just a shy girl from Halton Brook
I'd always write all my dreams down in my story book
We didn't have many pennies, used to sit round the telly
Never been wrapped up in the way I look

So when I got down to London, had the press on my case
Coz I didn't walk round with a smile on my face
Called me a rude ginger b*tch and say I bought bigger tits
They're gonna eat all their words, they're talking absolute shit

Get your teeth round this open wide
Eyes bigger than your belly tonight
If you think you're hard take a bite

You push and push and push, pushed me to fight
Everybody's got a limit alright
So put 'em up, put 'em up, take a bite

History of Music Videos

The evolution of music video production, technologies and the industry have progressed through several stages since the first signs of the music/industry started in the mid 1800’s; Illustrated songs, Talkies, Soundies, Musical Shorts, Musical Film, Extended narrative Videos and Music Videos.

In 1894, Edward Marks and Joe Stern, Music publishers for ‘Sheet Music’ hired an electrician and several performers to promote their song ‘The Little Lost Child’. George Thomas, projected several stages of still images onto a screen by using a magic lantern to create a ‘live’ playing effect. This was the first step towards music production, as illustrated songs then developed into Musical Short Films, also known as talkies, in the mid 1920’s, which were often six minutes long. They featured vocalists, bands, and dancers. The first example of this is Spooney Melodies, released in 1930, which is known as the first ‘Musical Video Series.’

Music in the 30’s was not a part of a large industry, artists didn’t have a strong fan-base, although records were produced and consumed. The music industry began to come to life during the development of narrative films in the 50’swith videos such as Bill Haley’s ‘Rock Around The Clock’ in 1955. One of the most influential artists of Music as a phenomenon was Elvis, who played a character in his narrative videos, and became a huge musical success, influencing the start of Rock ‘n’ Roll as a global genre, in the late 50s/ Early 60s.

A large development to the music industry was the start of Radio 1 in 1967. Radio 1 became a milestone in the development of music videos, (along with the start of MTV in 1981) as they created a base for audiences to hear new music and hugely benefited artists in the promotion of their music releases. The 60’s become one of the most influential periods to the music industry, with the start of Rock n Roll, Radio stations, and significantly the development of manufactured pop stars. The music industry became controlled, as artists were no longer writing their own songs, and being manufactured by professionals. They were used as the ‘image’ of the music and only performed the music produced for them. This was to create artist that ‘fitted’ with the genres that were most popular top the industry at the time. This created the first real signs of a fan-base following. The largest indicator of this, in the 1960’s was The Beatles, who became a global phenomenon, with mass following. This meant their narrative films were heavily pressured to be trend setting, influencing the importance of narrative films for promotion of songs.

As a band that were not manufactured or controlled, The Beatles wrote and produced all their own music, they also broke the conventions of narrative performance films as they chose not to perform as a character, like artists such as Elvis did, but instead played themselves as performers, in films such as ‘A hard day’s night’.

This broke the barriers between artists and audiences as fans could relate to them, and created a direct relationship between the two institutions, and the Beatles became focused don targeting and appealing to a large Teenage based audience. As they gathered global successful, their narrative performance films began being showed in cinema screenings as concerts were not frequent and many people could not get to see them perform live, and therefor relied on their films. 

By the late 1960’s, colour began being used as a feature in music films. The Beatles, having had massive success could afford to film in colour and filmed their narrative 1965 narrative performance video ‘help’ in colour. Although the film was performance base like the Beatles always did, there was camera editing, a lack of continuity editing and a montage feature was used to make thee film advanced and slightly ‘unrealistic’/ abstract effect.

The technicality of editing in the short music films became more advanced with elements of abstract editing and concepts. As the 70’s came around, music videos further revolved with the use of lighting effects. David Bowie’s video in 1972 used red lighting and on –screen effects to create a ‘futuristic’ theme to the video and song.

In 1975, Queens ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ spent 9 weeks at number 1, as has been classed as the first real and successful Music Video. They fitted an operatic theme in the song with the video, with the use of lighting, close up shots, smoke, lower angles to make them appear powerful and overlapping/fading scenes. 

Taking a further leap, the 1980’s saw the global success of bands such as ‘Wham’, who introduced the concept of narcissism and voyeurism, and the image of a’ million dollar lifestyle’ all of which were portrayed in ‘Club Tropicana’, influencing more music videos to promote the ‘Hollywood lifestyle’.

By the time of the late 80’’s the videos had become significantly important, if not more important than the song to the success of the artists, as it became more clear how global success was achieved through video promotion, and artists became reliant on their music videos.

In the 90’s however, music videos began breaking the rules of ‘safe’ videos and sexuality and religious opinions and beliefs were portrayed by the artists. An example of this is George Michaels ‘Sleighhammer’ in 1986 and REM’s ‘Losing my religion’ in the early 90’s.

As music videos moved into the 21st century and pop/ r&b music became ‘the’ popular genre, the technologies for creating advanced and technical videos became more accessible and special effects (slow motion, swipe screens, advanced lighting effects, etc.) were used by the majority of artists. By this point, music videos were being played no longer on only MTV, but several other music television channels - throughout the days, which began to make music videos heavily influential to the global success of the artists and the overall chart positions/success of the songs.

Brief Specification

I will produce a promotional package for the release of an album, creating a new identity/branding for an original artist or band, which will include a music promo video. It will also include a cover for it's release as part of a Digipak, along with a magazine advertisement for the Digipak.