Outside/ umbrella shots: Tuesday 2nd December 2008- School field
Piano and boyfriend flash back: Friday 5th December 2008- Gabby's house
First, second and third verse: Thurs 11th December- Gabby's house
Chorus- Thurs 11th December- Gabby's house
More outside- Friday 12th December
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Research
As well as the practice filming task we did an extensive amount of research in order to create successful and A2 standard music videos. This included:
*Looking and analysing music videos of different genres- from this we were able to recognize the core conventions of music videos of certain genres and how they differ from others.
*Annotating lyrics to songs and planning how we would use them in a music video if we were making one for that particular song.
*Learning about surrealism techniques and watching the film 'Un chien andalou' to gain knowledge of how it works and finding techniques that were able to incorporate into our own music videos.
*From our early research we learnt many things about the typical conventions of a music video. For example, all videos feature either a strong performance element, a strong narrative element or both. We noticed that it was mainly rock/indie bands that centered their video around mainly a performance element.
Our influences:
When planning our own music video, we were inspired by many of the music videos that we had watched as a class. For example, 'It's oh so quiet' by Björk. In this video the singer has many random and surreal things popping up as she walks along. She has lots of different people coming and joining her as she walks. We took the idea of the brighteley coloured umbrellas that she uses to dance with.
This is a shot from the video where the girls dance with umbrellas.
Another artist that were influenced by was Amy Macdonald. We looked at some of her music videos including 'Mr Rock and Roll' and 'Youth of today'. We liked the idea of having a female singer that had an alternative style of music. When we deciding what song to do make a video for, we kept in my mind this style of music.
*Looking and analysing music videos of different genres- from this we were able to recognize the core conventions of music videos of certain genres and how they differ from others.
*Annotating lyrics to songs and planning how we would use them in a music video if we were making one for that particular song.
*Learning about surrealism techniques and watching the film 'Un chien andalou' to gain knowledge of how it works and finding techniques that were able to incorporate into our own music videos.
*From our early research we learnt many things about the typical conventions of a music video. For example, all videos feature either a strong performance element, a strong narrative element or both. We noticed that it was mainly rock/indie bands that centered their video around mainly a performance element.
Our influences:
When planning our own music video, we were inspired by many of the music videos that we had watched as a class. For example, 'It's oh so quiet' by Björk. In this video the singer has many random and surreal things popping up as she walks along. She has lots of different people coming and joining her as she walks. We took the idea of the brighteley coloured umbrellas that she uses to dance with.
This is a shot from the video where the girls dance with umbrellas.
Another artist that were influenced by was Amy Macdonald. We looked at some of her music videos including 'Mr Rock and Roll' and 'Youth of today'. We liked the idea of having a female singer that had an alternative style of music. When we deciding what song to do make a video for, we kept in my mind this style of music.
Treatment
Treatment
Artist Name: Gabby Jones
Song Title: Merry Happy
Director's name: Rebekah Edwards, Hayley Kent & Poppy Smith
Production Company: Bekhay Pop
The fundamental concept of our music video is based around the idea of a normal girl living an ordinary life. She has just broken up with her boyfriend but doesn’t care and is happy and oblivious to the things that are going on around her.
Centering mainly around the lip-synching of the singer, we will also have a narrative that will explore our theme. She is just an ordinary girl and this is shown throughout the video. During the lip-synching parts of the video she will change clothes many times symbolising her femininity and individuality.
At the beginning we will have shots of her with her boyfriend, in the time they were together. These will be in black and white- showing that they are in the past. We then see her walk out of the black and white shots and open a door into colour, showing that she has closed the door on her old life and has started a fresh where everything is happy and colourful.
Each verse will show our artist in a different location with a different outfit on.
During the verses, we will refer closely to the lyrics. The first will show a sign saying ‘Gabby I love you’ which is linked to the line ‘cause you said it and you wrote it down’. The camera will then pan upwards to reveal the signer in a new location, she will holding some pearls in her hand and have fairy lights draped around her. This is related to the line ‘gave me those pearls’ and also reinforces the idea of her femininity and how she wants to be treated like a princess.
During the middle section of the song, our performer will be seen enjoying herself and not caring what anybody thinks of her. Using editing techniques, we will see the performer standing in a large green area in one outfit with an umbrella, we will then see her appear in another location with a different outfit and umbrella. This will happen many times, creating a surreal effect and a an idea of a dream world that our artist lives in.
The song has a series of repeated verses, allowing for a repeated theme. The chorus will show her spinning around outside, followed by a pile of cheese on toast disappearing one by one from a plate, showing she is quirky and random and this fits in with the typical conventions of this genre of song.
The next verse will show her in a restaurant recreating an experience similar to what she had when she was with her boyfriend. She will be acting in melodramatic way, as if she was making fun of people that take relationships to seriously. The idea that she is unromantic is created in this verse. Using the line from the song ‘you can grow flowers, from where, dirt used to be’ , instead of flowers our performer will hold up a dead rose at this point, emphasizing how her relationship is dead and there is nothing left of it.
We will see the performer against a patterned background, she will hold a large pillow with the same pattern in front of her so that she is covering herself, she will then remove the pillow and sing some of the verse before recovering herself. This will be repeated several times and each time she will being wearing a different outfit with a different hairstyle. This is quite surreal and also highlights her love of clothes and styles; just like a typical girl. She is having fun and not worrying about her relationship.
The video will end with a fast paced montage of many different shots of our artists in different places, doing different things. This will round it all to a close and will flash us typical parts of her life showing that she’s just a cheerful, normal girl in her own little world.
The end product will be a humorous and colourful music video that is original as well as modern. It will also provide the audience with an unforgettable viewing experience.
Artist Name: Gabby Jones
Song Title: Merry Happy
Director's name: Rebekah Edwards, Hayley Kent & Poppy Smith
Production Company: Bekhay Pop
The fundamental concept of our music video is based around the idea of a normal girl living an ordinary life. She has just broken up with her boyfriend but doesn’t care and is happy and oblivious to the things that are going on around her.
Centering mainly around the lip-synching of the singer, we will also have a narrative that will explore our theme. She is just an ordinary girl and this is shown throughout the video. During the lip-synching parts of the video she will change clothes many times symbolising her femininity and individuality.
At the beginning we will have shots of her with her boyfriend, in the time they were together. These will be in black and white- showing that they are in the past. We then see her walk out of the black and white shots and open a door into colour, showing that she has closed the door on her old life and has started a fresh where everything is happy and colourful.
Each verse will show our artist in a different location with a different outfit on.
During the verses, we will refer closely to the lyrics. The first will show a sign saying ‘Gabby I love you’ which is linked to the line ‘cause you said it and you wrote it down’. The camera will then pan upwards to reveal the signer in a new location, she will holding some pearls in her hand and have fairy lights draped around her. This is related to the line ‘gave me those pearls’ and also reinforces the idea of her femininity and how she wants to be treated like a princess.
During the middle section of the song, our performer will be seen enjoying herself and not caring what anybody thinks of her. Using editing techniques, we will see the performer standing in a large green area in one outfit with an umbrella, we will then see her appear in another location with a different outfit and umbrella. This will happen many times, creating a surreal effect and a an idea of a dream world that our artist lives in.
The song has a series of repeated verses, allowing for a repeated theme. The chorus will show her spinning around outside, followed by a pile of cheese on toast disappearing one by one from a plate, showing she is quirky and random and this fits in with the typical conventions of this genre of song.
The next verse will show her in a restaurant recreating an experience similar to what she had when she was with her boyfriend. She will be acting in melodramatic way, as if she was making fun of people that take relationships to seriously. The idea that she is unromantic is created in this verse. Using the line from the song ‘you can grow flowers, from where, dirt used to be’ , instead of flowers our performer will hold up a dead rose at this point, emphasizing how her relationship is dead and there is nothing left of it.
We will see the performer against a patterned background, she will hold a large pillow with the same pattern in front of her so that she is covering herself, she will then remove the pillow and sing some of the verse before recovering herself. This will be repeated several times and each time she will being wearing a different outfit with a different hairstyle. This is quite surreal and also highlights her love of clothes and styles; just like a typical girl. She is having fun and not worrying about her relationship.
The video will end with a fast paced montage of many different shots of our artists in different places, doing different things. This will round it all to a close and will flash us typical parts of her life showing that she’s just a cheerful, normal girl in her own little world.
The end product will be a humorous and colourful music video that is original as well as modern. It will also provide the audience with an unforgettable viewing experience.
Lyrics
"Merry Happy"
Watching me like you never watch no one
Don't tell me that you didn't try and check out my bum
Cause I know that you did
Cause your friend told me that you liked it
Gave me those pearls and I thought they were ugly
Though you try to tell me that you never loved me
I know that you did
'Cause you said it and you wrote it down
Dancing at discos
Eating cheese on toast
Yeah you make me merry make me very very happy
But you obviously, you didn't want to stick around
Dancing at discos
Eating cheese on toast
Yeah you make me merry make me very very happy
But you obviously, you didn't want to stick around
So I learnt from you
Do do do da do do do do do da do do do do do da do
So I learnt form you
Do do do da do do do do do da do do do do do da do
I can be alone, yeah
I can watch a sunset on my own
I can be alone, yeah
I can watch a sunset on my own
I can be alone
I can watch a sunset on my own
I can be alone, yeah
I can watch a sunset on my own
I can be alone, yeah
I can watch a sunset on my own
I can be alone
I can watch a sunset on my own
Sitting in restaurants
Thought we were so grown up
But I know now that we were not the people
That we turned out to be
Chatting on the phone
Can't take back those hours
But I won't regret
'Cause you can grow flowers
From where dirt used to be
Dancing at discos
Eating cheese on toast
Yeah you make me merry make me very very happy
But you obviously, you didn't want to stick around
Dancing at discos
Eating cheese on toast
Yeah you make me merry make me very very happy
But you obviously, you didn't want to stick around
So I learnt from you
Do do do da do do do do do da do do do do do da do
So I learnt from you
Do do do da do do do do do da do do do do do da do
I can be alone, yeah
I can watch a sunset on my own
I can be alone, yeah
I can watch a sunset on my own
I can be alone
I can watch a sunset on my own
(do do do da do do do do do da do do do do do da do)
I can be alone, yeah
I can watch a sunset on my own
I can be alone, yeah
I can watch a sunset on my own
I can be alone
I can watch a sunset on my own
(do do do da do do do do do da do do do do do da do)
Practice music video task
Before we started our actual music video task we did a practice one to help us understand exactly what we had to do and what we wanted to achieve. We created a storyboard before filming our practice task which was a minute from the song 'Banana Pancakes' by Jack Johnson in which we used surrealism and lip-synching.
This is the report that was written for our practice filming task:
Report on practice filming task
We chose the first verse of the song Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson to do our practice filming task. We tried to use surrealist techniques and lip- synching as these are typical features of a music video. We designed a storyboard of our ideas by listening to the song. When we started to film we tried to follow our storyboard as closely as possible.
At the beginning we had a close up of strumming on a guitar during the instrumental. As we were creating a music video it was important to have the instrument there so that the audience could identify with it and recognize the music genre. We then tracked out slowly to reveal a medium close up of the performer playing the guitar. This allowed us to establish a location and was then followed by the performer lip synching to the lyrics. The lip synching at the beginning was quite accurate and worked well because we had the music playing therefore we were able to sing along and it was always in time.
On the lyrics ‘ain’t no need to go outside’ we used the camera to pan up to the sky. These lyrics were quite ironic as by looking up to the sky we can clearly see that the performer is already outside. We then used a graphic match of the sky in the first shot to provide a visual transition to a similar sky shot. After this we panned down to reveal me in a different location still playing the guitar. We thought this worked well because it was a smooth transition and was quite surreal in the way that we just appeared in a different location. However, there were some problems with this shot; the graphic match was quite accurate as the two shots the sky where in different places so in shot there was clear blue sky and in the other there were clouds. This resulted in bad continuity editing. If we were to do this again we would have planned it more carefully and found two locations where the sky was the same.
For the next shot, we panned down into it and then keeping the camera at a neutral level we had the performer walking towards the camera playing the guitar with people in the background moving quickly behind her. To do this we had to slow down the song so that when the performer sung slowly the people behind walked at normal speed. When editing we sped up the song so that the performer was singing at normal speed and the people behind were walking fast. We thought this idea worked well because it was quite abstract and interesting. However, the final result didn’t work quite as well as we expected because the lip synching was out of time. We realised this was due to the fact we were unable to have the music playing throughout this shot. Therefore, the performer had to guess the speed of the music. With editing, we managed to make sure that the key words were in synch but if we were to do it again we would make sure that we always had the music playing so that the before could be in time.
We then used a match on action shot in which the performer tripped and fell. The action of the falling begins in one shot and is continued into the next shot were the fall is completed. We got our inspiration for this shot from the 1928 surrealist film ‘Un chien andalu’. This helped us to get an idea of how surrealism can be used in production. Using the match on action shot in our film really helped to add to the sense of surrealism. Most parts of this shot worked well, the idea of falling from behind screen and into screen was successful. However, the speed wasn’t quite right. We needed to make the speed of the falling action the same in both shots to make it smoother. To improve this we could have filmed the whole fall from two different locations. The way the performer turned around after the fall and sang the lyrics ‘we can pretend it all the time’ worked well because the lip synching was good and it reminded the audience that it was a music video. Overall, the continuity throughout the video was good. We mostly had the guitar in each shot and had the same clothes depending on the location. However, in the last shot we were unable to have the guitar. This was the only point in which I felt the continuity was bad. Next time, we would not film anything until we had everything we needed.
Overall, I think that our practice filming task was a success. We used all the appropriate conventions including continuity editing, surrealism and lip- synching. I think we achieved the idea of surrealism well. Also, the continuity editing was mostly good. There were times when the lip-synching worked well but at other times it wasn’t in time and we felt this really ruined our piece. The most important thing that I have learnt is to have the music playing at all times. This would be much easier when editing as we wouldn’t have to try and match it up as having the person singing out loud would make sure everything was in time. If we were do this task again I think that we would be able to to improve it a lot more.
Doing the practice task really helped us as we found out a lot of things that we would try to do or improve upon in our actual final task.
This is the report that was written for our practice filming task:
Report on practice filming task
We chose the first verse of the song Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson to do our practice filming task. We tried to use surrealist techniques and lip- synching as these are typical features of a music video. We designed a storyboard of our ideas by listening to the song. When we started to film we tried to follow our storyboard as closely as possible.
At the beginning we had a close up of strumming on a guitar during the instrumental. As we were creating a music video it was important to have the instrument there so that the audience could identify with it and recognize the music genre. We then tracked out slowly to reveal a medium close up of the performer playing the guitar. This allowed us to establish a location and was then followed by the performer lip synching to the lyrics. The lip synching at the beginning was quite accurate and worked well because we had the music playing therefore we were able to sing along and it was always in time.
On the lyrics ‘ain’t no need to go outside’ we used the camera to pan up to the sky. These lyrics were quite ironic as by looking up to the sky we can clearly see that the performer is already outside. We then used a graphic match of the sky in the first shot to provide a visual transition to a similar sky shot. After this we panned down to reveal me in a different location still playing the guitar. We thought this worked well because it was a smooth transition and was quite surreal in the way that we just appeared in a different location. However, there were some problems with this shot; the graphic match was quite accurate as the two shots the sky where in different places so in shot there was clear blue sky and in the other there were clouds. This resulted in bad continuity editing. If we were to do this again we would have planned it more carefully and found two locations where the sky was the same.
For the next shot, we panned down into it and then keeping the camera at a neutral level we had the performer walking towards the camera playing the guitar with people in the background moving quickly behind her. To do this we had to slow down the song so that when the performer sung slowly the people behind walked at normal speed. When editing we sped up the song so that the performer was singing at normal speed and the people behind were walking fast. We thought this idea worked well because it was quite abstract and interesting. However, the final result didn’t work quite as well as we expected because the lip synching was out of time. We realised this was due to the fact we were unable to have the music playing throughout this shot. Therefore, the performer had to guess the speed of the music. With editing, we managed to make sure that the key words were in synch but if we were to do it again we would make sure that we always had the music playing so that the before could be in time.
We then used a match on action shot in which the performer tripped and fell. The action of the falling begins in one shot and is continued into the next shot were the fall is completed. We got our inspiration for this shot from the 1928 surrealist film ‘Un chien andalu’. This helped us to get an idea of how surrealism can be used in production. Using the match on action shot in our film really helped to add to the sense of surrealism. Most parts of this shot worked well, the idea of falling from behind screen and into screen was successful. However, the speed wasn’t quite right. We needed to make the speed of the falling action the same in both shots to make it smoother. To improve this we could have filmed the whole fall from two different locations. The way the performer turned around after the fall and sang the lyrics ‘we can pretend it all the time’ worked well because the lip synching was good and it reminded the audience that it was a music video. Overall, the continuity throughout the video was good. We mostly had the guitar in each shot and had the same clothes depending on the location. However, in the last shot we were unable to have the guitar. This was the only point in which I felt the continuity was bad. Next time, we would not film anything until we had everything we needed.
Overall, I think that our practice filming task was a success. We used all the appropriate conventions including continuity editing, surrealism and lip- synching. I think we achieved the idea of surrealism well. Also, the continuity editing was mostly good. There were times when the lip-synching worked well but at other times it wasn’t in time and we felt this really ruined our piece. The most important thing that I have learnt is to have the music playing at all times. This would be much easier when editing as we wouldn’t have to try and match it up as having the person singing out loud would make sure everything was in time. If we were do this task again I think that we would be able to to improve it a lot more.
Doing the practice task really helped us as we found out a lot of things that we would try to do or improve upon in our actual final task.
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