Synopsis of my music video

In my video I have decided to have a video of the Singer of the band, he will be walking alone in an empty atmosphere which represents where the fairground used to be. Most of these images will be of him walking towards the camera singing along to the lyics.

During this there will be images cut in of the fairground in action on the night, with the lights flashing, creating a busy atmosphere and there will also be images of the fairground with a 'dead' atmosphere, this will stand out because they will be in black and white to make it look old.

The reason I have chosen to include images of a fairground is because it relates to the lyrics and at the time of planning the Hull Fair was up and running for the week, so it was an ideal opportunity.

I will be attempting to make the singer look like he is singing the lyrics not only to the audience but to someone special to him which will be a girl who will appear in the video later on. This idea came to me when I noticed in the lyrics that there was a 'we' for example 'We'll head south, just hold my hand now'.

It is a basic storyline of a boy (who is the singer) singing to his girlfriend about their good times at a fairground however he wants to move on with his girlfriend and is hoping she wants to too.

Location

October
The main location I have used is a fairground in Hull. I have recorded during the day to show the emptiness and on the night to show the busy atmosphere. The reason I chose to film a fairground was to relate to the lyrics and luckily the Hull fair was there at the right time for me to have that part of the filming done.
Using the same location as the fairground I will film a lead singer, who will be singing the lyrics to the song 'Farewell to the fairground'. The fairground will no longer be there so it will be an empty location to represent 'farewell' to the fairground. For the majority of this part the singer will be walking and singing towards the camera, as if he is walking away from the fairground.
Another location I am considering to use is a Coffee House were I will record a band who will represent White Lies, therefore I will have images of them to edit into the video, which will help promote who the band are.

Update on 03.02.2010

New plans for my video to confirm. Hull Fair location is still being used, due to filming of it already been done, however if any shots need to be re taken, there is a Fairground that is around all year in Bridlington. Therefore I do have a backup plan.
My idea of filming in a Coffee House has been erased. For easy access I am going to film the band performance in the theatre at college, this allows me to control lighting effects and create the atmosphere I want.
Also a new location is in position, Bridlington because I think in order for my video to differ from the original music video by Whitelies, I need to change some shots. Such as the singer walking towards the camera singing, this is used in the original video and my aim is to create a video of my own. This new idea will consist of my lead singer singing on the beach in Bridlington, it will represent the place the singer likes to go to have some alone time from things happening in life. It will not involve as many shots of him walking towards the camera, more of him sitting on the beach, singing to himself. I will also edit some shots of the singer with the girlfriend that appears at the end of the video too, as a home video type style.

21/22 February 2010
New update the location of the beach has also been arranged, simply because the day I planned to film it had snowed therefor was hard to travel there. On the same day I decided to go film at Beverly Westwood, which did infact benefit more, because the snow looked much better.

StoryBoard

The idea of a storyboard is to help create the music video. It allows us to have an idea of what we want the video to look like, what camera shots to use and how long an image will last for.

Analysis of music video lyrics, Farewell to the Fairground by Whitelies

Audience research

A target audience is a primary group of people a particular text is aimed at appealing to.
To find out more about the target audience I am looking for to match the song I have chosen, I am going to create a questionnaire to hand out to people to find out more about them, their likes, dislikes and music interest. This will help to produce a music video targeted at them, I will have the ability to create a video they will enjoy.

The song I have chosen for my music video is 'Farewell to the fairground - White lies', in order to discover my target audience I need to get some background information on the band. To help do this I visited their website http://www.whitelies.com/. On this site I found out they are a British Indie Rock Band with a lot of involvement with Q Magazine, a popular music magazine. They have a nomination for the MTV 'Push' awards and have been nominated for the Best New Act 2009. They have performed at some festivals such as the Reading Festival and Leeds Festival, which are big British events. These festivals are usually targeted at 16-22 year old Students, which gives me an idea of the target audience for White Lies.

Instead of handing a self report styled questionnaire, I have now created a miniture poll along the side of my blogger, including finding out peoples age, gender and likes/dislikes about music videos and my work.

Brief

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with the following;

• a cover for its release on digipak (CD/DVD)
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD)

Textual analysis of existing texts

Alanis Morissette - Ironic



The first thing i noticed about this video is that it's just of Alanis Morissette singing, no imagery to relate to the lyrics. The way she sings in the each verse is soft and calm and are about ironic incidents 'an old man tunred 98, won the lotery and died the next day', its not until the chorus she sings more aggressive and much louder.

In the video Alanis is driving a car in the snow, she is all wrapped up but after a verse another version of her comes out in a green jumper. All together three different versions of Alanis appear, one in a green jumper, then a yellow jumper and a red jumper. I think these are supposed to symbolise different personalities inside of the main Alanis (the driver), I think that the green jumpered is her weird side, the yellow is her neutral character and the red jumpered is her wild, crazy side as she climbs half way out of the car window.

The first shot in the music video is a point of view shot from Alanis inside the car looking ahead driving on the road. Followed by four other views from inside the car looking out, then as the lyrics start its an extreme close up of Alanis from the right side of her face, this allows the audience to see the singer and her facial expression. It then cuts to a medium shot until the end of the verse when she says 'Isn't it ironic, don't you think?' and its changes to point of view shot of her looking in the rear view mirror, seeing the Alanis in the green jumper who then begins to sing the chorus. During the chorus there are some shot reverse shots between Alanis in green and Alanis driving. During the video there are mostly medium shots of the singer and a small amount of close ups, the singer in each shot looks like she is singing to the camera but infact she is singing to the other 'Alanis's', questioning them if the scenario's their singing about are actually ironic.

The idea of the song is Alanis singing about ironic incidents which can happen in the world and how life has these kinds of bad suprises. At the end of the song to add to ironic incidents her car breaks down.


Mise en Scene

The scenary of this music video is set in a car with a snowy atmosphere outside. It only features Alanis, her image is repeated three other times in the video at the same time. Firstly theres the Alanis driving the car in a coat, trousers and hat. Then another Alanis appears in a green jumper, another in a yellow jumper and the last one in a red jumper.

Editing

Mostly straight cuts until the end of the video when the camera zoom out to a finish fade.

Cinematography

It begins with a pan shot of the snow outside to set the atmosphere, then a point of view shot of someone driving in a car looking out. An extreme close up of the driver (Alanis) from a side view. The next edit is a film syntax starting at a long shot, medium shot and then a close up, the camera then cuts to a point of view shot of the driver looking out the front window of the car. A point of view shot of driver looking in the rear view mirror, a straight cut to a shot from the side a medium close up of the driver still looking in the rear view mirror.

Medium shot of a the Alanis character in the green jumper in the back seat, back to a medium shot of driver then back to medium shot of green jumpered Alanis (shot reverse shot). It repeats the shot reverse shot pattern. It then changes to a point of view shot of the green jumpered Alanis looking out of the window, to another point of view shot of the green jumpered Alanis looking at the driver.

Straight cut to an extreme close up of a new Alanis character in a yellow jumper also in the back seat, moves to a side view, medium angle of driver. Cuts to a point of view shot of yellow jumpered Alanis looking out of the car window, she then moves her arm forward then the camera does a match on action shot of her arm touching the fourth Alanis in a red jumper (MS).

A medium shot, tilt down of yellow jumpered Alanis, then cuts back to medium side view shot of red jumpered Alanis. As the red jumpered Alanis climbs out of the window it is a medium shot, however the frame of the window frames the camera shot. Side view, medium sho of driver leaning to the camera (where the red jumpered Alanis is), point of view shot of drivers arm reached out towards the Alanis half out of the winow. Two quick cuts of medium shots of yellow and green jumpered Alanis's laughing. An extreme close up of the rear view mirror, then a framed shot of the red jumpered Alanis getting back in the car whilst the car zoom under a bridge. Medium, side view of red jumpered Alanis back in the car seat looking towards the camera laughing.

The ending is continuous cuts of each of the characters until the end were there is a medium side view of the driver as her car begins to break down. She begins to get out of the car and the camera zooms out to discover it is only her in the car. fade to black. END.

Kings of leon - Use Somebody





Due to copyright reasons, the video is no longer available to post on my blogger, however i have taken some print screened images to show the types of imagery used in the video.

After watching the video one I have learnt that this is a whole mix of images of their tour combined together, images of the Band Kings of Leon having a good time, their concerts, quick pan shots of cities in America lit in the dark and the lead singer singing the lyrics of the song.

The sequence is full of short quick images, using a variation of shots such as extreme close up (when lead singer is singing), medium shots of the band and long shots of them in concert or in the streets all together.

After analysing the lyrics to the song I think its about the band being so far away from home, that they could do with somebody their to confort them 'i've been roaming around, I was looking down, at all i see, painted faces fill the places i can't reach, you know that I could use somebody'.

Mise en Scene

Mainly concert settings using props such as microphones, stages, different lighting, drums, guitars. The band are usually wearing baggy tshirts and skinny jeans. Also in smost shots there are crowds at the concerts, can usually only see there heads and them singing and jumping up and down to the music.

Setting

It's set on the bands tour, uses images of them performing on stage, and shots of them having a good time together backstage or in other settings such as the street or hotel rooms.

Editing

Mainly cuts. Uses some fades and zooming in movements. Some images are also in black and white.

Cinematopgraphy


Begins with a faded zoom in to see two men sat watching tv, it then cuts to a birds eye view on a slight tilt of a city in America (camera is panning to tilt more upwards), tilts to normal level to see the whole city (in the dark can only see the lights of buildings and cars). Cuts to a MS of the same city, camera panning sideways. Cuts to another birds eye view of the city, zooms in slightly then cuts to a MS of the band getting out of a car (band coming towards the camera). Cuts to a panning LS of a plane landing (orange/pink sky), cuts to a MS tilt up shot of a band member playing a guitar, LS camera on floor level, band walking toards the camera down a corridor (Black and white image), then cuts to a blurred image of what seems to be the band walking down a street, camera tilts up quickly blurring the image more. Cut to a band performance in a MS, cuts to a high tilted down angle of cars moving in the traffic (image is speeded up so it looks like quick lights flashing by), cut to a point of view shot from the front of a car moving forward in the traffic, cut to a MS of the band practising on stage it then cuts to an actual band performance on stage with a crowd. Cuts to another shot of vehicle moving in traffic (speeded up) . Tilt up to a CU of lead singer singing, CU of another band member (a light shining through behind him, his figure is like a shadow), a light flashing as an edit to next shot, a LS of band performance but from behind the band so can see the crowd. Cuts to a sideview Medium Close Up (MCU) of a band member in the balcony of a hotel. The video then cuts to a birds eye view of the city lights, the camera bends round to the left and follows the road as camera tilts up.

These cinematography edits all take place in the first 26 seconds of the music video. This pattern of quick cuts and different images of the band tours continues untill the end of the music video. It ends with an extreme close up of the lead singer singing the last line of the song 'I've been roaming around, always looking down and all i see'. The music fades to a finish whilst the camera stays as an ECU of the lead singer. Blackout at the end.



The killers - When we were young





Mise en scene

It is set in a Mexican type culture. The main young girl is tanned with dark hair, wears a gypsie skirt and blouse. The main guy wears a cowboy hat, jeans, shirt and has a moustache.

There is a hill side setting at the beginning with the christian cross which symbolises religion.

There is an inside a church setting with lots of candles and pictures of jesus, this represents a safe place.

The guy is supposed to represent the girls form of jesus, someone there to save her, however the lead singer in The killers thinks not, this relates to lyrics 'he doesn't look a thing like Jesus but he talks like a gentleman' .

The band perform in the video they are in similar outfits as the mexican men, waistcoast shirts moustaches. They are playing in a mexican bar with mexican men around them. At the end we find that the band are in the back of the guys bar and when the girl walks through she stops to watch them until he takes her away.



Edits

It starts with a fade in from black. it has continuous straight cuts, faster cuts in the flash backs of the girls wedding with the guy. The edits spead up as the song speads up. Throughout the video there is continuity editing which helps make the narrative make sense. At the end there is a cross fade to same shot as the beginning of the christian cross on the hill, then it fades to black.


Cinematography

Starts with a MS of a christian cross on a hill, the main girl appears (over the shoulder shot), cuts to an ECU of her, tilted view of the cross from a side view. Cuts to a CU of the main guy in a car,the view is from outside of the car window. Cuts to a MS of the girl from behind, CU to the guy inside the car a side view of him, LS of the car the guy is in (shows where he is). Cuts to a MS of the girl near the cross. Cuts to a tilt up shot of the car driving by until the car stops, cuts to a CU of the guy inside the car, outside the car view. Cuts to where the guy is looking which is the girl, a MS of her, cuts to LS of the girl next to the cross on the hill, cuts to a MS side view of guy in car, LS of guy getting out of the car, LS of girl leaning against the cross. MS of the girl leaning on cross. (quick cuts of ECU of candles, LS the girl and guy outside an old church, CU of guy and girl looking at each other smiling, CU of the guy and girl having sex,Tilt up CU of the guy with a cross behind him, ECU of candles) back to a MS shot of girl crying at the cross slight tilt up. Tilt up, blurred view of guy climbimg up the hill, MS of the girls hands by her side, tilt down shot of guy climbing up the hill, LS of girl kneeling by the cross,titl down of guy climbing up hill, Cu of the girl kneeling on the floor with the guy in the background climing up towards her, LS of the guy with the girl on the hill, ECU of her face tilt down, CU of the guy holding the girl in his arms, ECU of his hands touching her face, ECU of guys mouth. MIN 1.31

(Music kicks in) CU of lead singer of the killers with a bright light behind him, CU candles, CU of girl kneeling in the church with all the candles, CU of her hands with a beaded necklace, pan down of lead singer legs which are tapping to the music, ECU of another memeber of The Killers, head on view of the girl knelt down with beadded knecklace in her hands looking slightly up, point of view shot of where she is looking (a picture of jesus). MS of guitarist, birds eye view of drummer. CU of girl looking up (side view), ECU of lead singer, tilt up of the girl holding the necklace through her hands. Birds eye view of her kneeling in the church, birds eye view of the drums, CU of the drummer, CU of the girl in church (side view). ECU of lead singer when he sings 'heartache', pan down of the church from the outside, see girl come out, CU of the lead singer, CU of guitar, CU of drums, tilt down from the top of the church of the girl walking out, CU of her walking out, tilt up of her walking away from church (makes her and the church look dominant). Behind view of her walking forwards CU as she moves forwards the guy appears on a ledge above her looking dominant, CU of lead singer, tilt up of the guy on the ledge being down to the girl (cross is behind him makes him look like a hero), CU of him helping her up, tilt down view of lead singer, tilt down of the girl looking at the guy, side view CU of him helping her up the ledge like a gentleman (mentioned in the lyrics), CU of them smiling at each other, CU of drums/cymbols, tilt up from behind ledge of the couple walking away with cross above their heads, LS of the couple walking close, towards the old builing with a cross on the top, CU of the lead singer, CU of guitarist, CU drummer, tilt down view of the guy looking at the girl, LS of the guy sat holding the girl infront of him kissing her, tilt down of the singer, CU of his boots.

ECU of jesus like figure lights on a bedside table, LS of the couple having sex slightly zooms in, CU of a picture of the couple together on the wall, CU drums, MS of lead singer, CU from behind of couple having sex, side view CU of couple having sex, MS from behind of them having sex, MS of lead singer, MS of girl the walking through the door, to a CU of her putting her necklace on the table in her home, MS of her taking her jacket off, MS of two guitarist and the drummer, CU of lead singer, ECU of her feet walking. ECU of her hand touching the light switch on the wall, MS of guitarist, MS of the girl, MS of the light coming on and her husband with another woman she sees this in a mirror, MS from behind of her seeing this in the mirror she walks back, cuts to ECU of husband with woman looking towards her, CU of the girl walking back and accidently knocks the photo of her and her husband on the wall off, MS of her husband and woman looking at her, he goes to get up but woman pulls him back, MS of band, CU guitarist, CU of the girl. CU of the guy, CU of the girl leaving, MS of her walking out door crying (pan), slight zoom in to see her expression. MS of her husband getting out of bed, MS guitarist, CU of singer, MS of the girl walking in the street the view is through the window of a car, MS from behind of her looking back crying, MS of woman alone in the bed, CU of the guy looking at woman, CU of the girl looking back, (her looking back is a reminise of..) a MS of girl and guys wedding, CU of their wedding, MS of wedding, CU of wedding, the back to CU from behind of her turning her head back around, front view of her head coming back round, CU of her wedding, tilt down LS of wedding, CU of wedding, CU of her crying down the street, MS band, MIN 3.20

CU of band, CU of guitarist, MS of band, CU lead singer, ECU of water on girls skin (lyrics 'devils water aint so sweet), CU of her pouring water on her knees, CU of water pouring out of tub, CU of the girls face, ('but you can dip your feet once in a little while) CU of her feet with water on them, CU of the guys shoes, tilt down of the girl pouring water on her feet, ECU of the guy smoking, CU of the girl, CU of girl pouring water on her legs. ECU of guy smoking, CU of girl pouring water on her legs, ECU of guys mouth with smoke blowing out, MS of band, CU of girl looking at him, CU of the guy looking at her, CU of her looking back, ECU of guys mouth. ECU of her eyes looking at him, pan down of band, MS of band, ECU of guy wiping the bar down, CU of the guy smoking wiping the table with the woman sat near him, he looks at her, MS of the guy and woman near him, pan across to see the girl walk into the bar, MS of lead singer can see people sat watching him, pan of the people watching the band, CU of singer, LS of singer, MS of the girl closing the door as she walks into bar she looks at guy, CU of the girl and guy shaking hands, MS of them holding hands, LS band, MS of the girl looking at woman , MS of the guy looking at woman, CU of woman looking at man as he turns away, MS woman walking out of the bar, MS of lead singer side view, MS lead singer from behind, MS of the guy walking towards the girl with a jacket, pan of the couple walking away through to another room, CU of them walking away from behind, MS of them walking past the band, MS of the girl walking she stops and looks, match on action to where she is looking which is a CU of the lead singer. MS of the girl from beind the guitarist, CU band, CU of girl watching the band, CU of lead singer, CU girl guy appears behind her, CU of lead singer, CU of the girl, guy taps her on her shoulder they turn and start walking away, MS of band, a cross fade into beginning shot of the girl kneeling near the cross, fade to black , END

History of music videos

The idea of a music video is to promote the singer/band that appears in the music video, the idea is to reach their target audience to influence them to buy their albums. Also for voyeuristic pleasure for the audience, by using narratives, imagery, lyrics with a meaning and good performance.
Some of the first music videos were very simple, of perhaps the singer sat infront of the video camera singing along to their music for example Bob Dylan - Subterranean homesick blues is a black and white video of Bob Dylan himself standing in a street holding up cards with words written on them related to the words in the song, he is not singing along with the song but you can hear the lyrics outloud. To us as the audience now, this is seen as simple and boring to watch but back in 1965 when it was released it was a new interesting form of media.



Another music video very similar to this is David Bowie - Space Oddity, this is also of the artist himself in the video. He is sat on a chair in a recording studio, playing his guitar and singing the lyrics of the song. The only diferrence is that to the make the video more interesting, there has been some special effects used, such as red lighting.

Other music videos are created to send a message out to the audience or has a narrative for their lyics, for example R.E.M - Loosing my religion, this is a video trying to reflect the meaning of the lyrics by using physical images. For this video I could not find a video that would upload properly, therefore I have had to upload a still image which is from the actual music video. This image shows the lead singer with angel wings on his back which is ironic to the name of the song 'Losing my religion'.

However nowadays in 2009/2010, I think music videos are out their for the artist to boast about how much of a good video they can produce, as for male artists to use as many 'sexy' women possible in them and female artists to look as 'sexy' as they can in their videos.

This is a video of Lady Gaga - Poker face, she is a new artist who is very daring in her videos showing pretty much full nudity in them. Boys do find her attractive and she is a big hit and currently on tour. Her image she portrays (having her own individual style) works for her and gets her noticed which she shows in her music videos.