Plans to film.. Again

Quick update to say that we are filming the last part of our music video this Saturday. It will be the split screen part where the couple are arguing and fighting similar to the Blink-182 video for 'Always' that I have previously posted.

Plans to Film Again

Here is the video for 'Always' by Blink-182, the entire video is split into three horizontally, the strips do not match up, this shows the mis-match lifestyle which is thought of in the alternative rock genre. We think we could film like this to create a similar feel if we film again with myself and Tom (who mimed the song in the performance).

Our Moving Storyboard

Now we have finished drawing out our storyboard, we decided to take photographs of our drawings and put it together with the music to get a taste of how our clips will look when on film. As the pictures are still the video seems very slow paced and will definitely be more interesting when filmed. Despite this some shots were still too long and we decided as a group that they need to be cut up to stop the video from becoming dull and repetitive.







Here are the photographs of our storyboard before editing;

Questionnaire

1. How old are you?
14 or under [ ] 15-16 [ ] 17-20 [ ] 21-25 [ ] 25-30 [ ] 30+ [ ]

2. Are you male or female?
Male [ ] Female [ ]

3. How do you usually watch music videos?
TV [ ] Internet [ ] Download [ ] Other [ ]

4. What is your favourite genre?
Rock [ ] Pop [ ] Alternative [ ] Jazz [ ] RnB [ ] Heavy metal [ ] Classical [ ] Other [ ]

5. How often do you watch music videos?
Never [ ] Everyday [ ] Every week [ ] Every few weeks [ ] Rarely [ ]

6. Do you prefer funny or serious music videos?
Funny [ ] Serious [ ]

7. Do you prefer music videos that are reaistic or non realistic?
Realistic [ ] Non realistic [ ]

8. What are your expectations of rock music videos?

9. How do you interpret the lyrics "She's such a charmer"?

10. What music channel would you expect to see a Kings of Leon music video on?

11. What colours do you think represent the rock genre? and why?

Tips from Miss Poulten

In lesson our teacher, Miss Poulten showed us a short PowerPoint with some tips for our videos on it. These were the given tips;

Lip Syncing
- Know your lyrics (One mistake could ruin the entire look of the video).
- Pronunciation (Words need to be clear to the viewer).
- Mouth what it sounds like.
- Only lip sync the lead singers words not the backup as it can ruin continuity.
- Play the song whilst miming.

When we practised lip syncing we also found it easiest to actually sing the song as that way you mouth the words clearly and do not need to think about what you are doing. As long as you know the words to the song, our tip should work.

Lyrics
- Lyrics tends to establish a general mood, feeling or sense of subject matter, rather than offering coherent meaning.
- Key lines may play a part in the associated visuals but rarely will a music video simply wholly illustrate the lyrics. Remember mise-en-scene.

Music
- Take note of the tempo and pay attention to this during editing.
- Repeat with the beat.

Genre
- Some music videos do transcend genre while others can be categorised.
- Some music channels focus on genre, pay attention to this and think of what channels your video will be played on.
- Show genre conventions through; Mise-en-scene, narrative themes, performance, camera & editing style

Camerawork
- Take note of your camera movement, angles and shot distance.
- Camera movements may accompany the movement of the performers or be used to create a dynamic feel or disorientate.
- Close ups of the singer usually dominate.

Editing
- Usually fast paced, pay attention to the pace of your song.

Composition Practice for Performance

In Fridays lesson we also practiced where each of the four band members would stand in our real video. We have decided to use our school stage, however we are going to get a black sheet at the back of the stage as the current curtains are very dull. We decided to put the stage in black and white (similar to Jay-Z's '99 Problems' video) because the school curtains and stage do not conform to our genre and look very dismal. We placed ourselves in each position and even though the video was meant to only be short we all improvised and had a laugh with it and it came our much better than we thought. So here is the video featuring Molly as guitarist, Sarah as singer, Aimie on drums and myself on bass. In our real video we are either having two guitarists or the lead singer will also play guitar similar to Kings of Leons' line up.

Lip Syncing Practice

On Fridays lesson we decided to get some practice with me lipsyncing as it is very difficult to master. A lot of the time it is not obvious enough what people are saying but sometimes it can be over the top especially with softer sang words.



After watching it we realised it is slightly out of time. This is because we have accidentally fit my lipsyncing with a different part of the song I synced to. Overall, I think the scream managed to fit well enough without looking over the top.

More Ideas for Music Video

After another group meeting we decided to write even more ideas down so that we do not lose track. Here is our list of specific shots we want to include in our music video;

Group Meeting & Storyboarding Practise

Over half term we storyboarded the first few seconds of On Call by Kings of Leon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DK_8VZm_Dg&ob=av2e) to practise for when we storyboard for our own video. We found that even though the song begins very slowly there are still a variety of different camera shots to add interest despite the slow, instrumental beginning.



All of us agreed that we could use a similar shot to that of the close up shot of the bands feet walking past a camera on the ground as it is unclear who each person is until their faces are shown. We want to use this shot with a boys feet being followed by a girl in red heels who represents the "charmer" in our video.

Treatment Feedback

After we presented our treatment the class were asked to write words down to describe our song and ideas. We noted the comments down and created a wordle out of them to present the feedback on www.wordle.net. This is a wordcloud and the words used most often are the largest and the boldest. This is ours;

From our wordle we can see that people mainly think our video will look creative, professional and different.

Treatment

As a group we made a treatment on our planned music video to present to the rest of the class. It included
• A background of song
• The basic narrative or concept of our video - performance, narrative or concept
• What ‘feel’ we want to provide for our audience
• How we will achieve this
• What are the codes and conventions of our genre
• In what ways are we conforming to or subverting them
• What themes are running through our video
• How we will use costume and make up to convey our messages
• The location

The treatment was made up of a powerpoint and a word document which was printed as a hand out for the class.

Here is the word document;
Kings of Leon Treatment

This is the Powerpoint;

Kings Of Leon - Charmer Treatment

We also filmed our presentation where we explain the ideas ourselves. Aimie and Sarah were not present so only Molly and myself are included;