Research: Music Video

As seen previously in David Guetta's 'Without You', the video has been edited in order to emphasise the beat of the track. In 'Earthquake', the entire video is based upon special effects and having speakers thumping along to the track really brings out the dance nature of the track. In my video, although I won't be able to include special effects to this level, I can use editing in order to highlight where the music builds up.

Opening Sequence

For the establishing sequence of my music video, I am really interested in having my protagonist smoking. It will be simple and will include extreme close ups of the lighter and cigarette. I feel that this will be a useful and appropriate introduction to my music video as it will represent the loneliness that my protagonist is experiencing from his addictions and also clearly introduce the narrative for my audience. As he exhales, the track will begin.

Costume: Choice on Rabbit or Masks

I have decided that a White Rabbit figure would be more effective and suit my music video more than people wearing masks as the distance the protagonist is experiencing from humanity is displayed in other aspects of my video; arguing with family and escaping to Wonderland. The White Rabbit also suits my  narrative more and is suitable to the theme. I have ordered the costume seen in a previous post and am expecting it in a couple of days.

Costume: Rabbit

 

The idea of a white rabbit would suit my video as it would continue the intertextuality of Alice in Wonderland. Also, as it is a classic, the audience should already be familiar with the story and recognise the white rabbit figure as being one of temptation. The issue I would have with this is getting hold of a costume; I do not know anyone who has a rabbit costume as I would like it to be full body rather than simply ears/a mask. One option would be to rent an outfit, but after doing some research I have found that cost to rent and buy is fairly similar. Therefore, purchasing a costume would seem like the more sensible idea as I would not need to worry about having to send it back within a short space of time.

The costume above is good as it is not a typical friendly looking rabbit and instead is rather creepy and unnerving. This is useful as it shows the warped nature of a usually innocent animal and a twist on a children's Disney film. This particular costume costs around £30 from amazon.co.uk.

Costume: Masks

A plain white mask is very effective in removing any sense of humanity from an individual. It allows a single person to act as an entire group or stand for a message as their identity is taken away from them. In the film 'Scream', the villian wears a white mask which has become a symbol and icon for the film. Although the mask used in the work is more detailed than the mask I would plan on using, it is clear to see the connotations of a lack of humanity and detatched emotions, as well as being threatening.

Costume: Masks vs Rabbit

As well as the Temptation character of the female singer, I would like to include a second "villian" in my narrative. Continuing the 'Alice in Wonderland' theme, I am considering to have a "white rabbit" figure as the protagonist is being led down the rabbit hole of an addiction to drugs. However, I could also use ordinary people wearing masks, to demonstrate the protagonists distance from the real world. I am unsure of which of these two ideas would suit my video better and so shall research it in further depth.

The Strangers - Final Edit

This is the final edit of our live performance video for The Strangers' 'If I Found Love'.



The main problem we encountered when it came to editing was that the version of the song that was played live was different to the track that we were using. This caused issues as at some points the drummer was hitting cymbals when they weren't included on the track, and also the timing was out. To avoid this, we should have told the band which version of the song we were planning on using so that they could suit our needs. As well as this, from 0:23-0:27, one of the people in our group who was filming with a dolly is clearly visible in the shot. I did not notice this during the editing process which has made me realise how much attention I need to pay to the footage that is being used. Despite these problems, I am pleased with the result, particularly the cross fade effect which is used at 0:36 which I feel is very effective in creating a theme of distance, matching the lyrics of the song.

The Strangers

A professional band came to our school last week and performed live for us. Our task was to plan and film their performance to a song of our choice in order to give us a feel for filming live. As the music in my coursework will not be played live, this gave me an idea of the variations of techniques and processes involved in filming. One of the main problems I noticed when filming was that the band members were moving wherever they would like. This particularly was an issue for the singer, who travelled around the stage a lot, especially during choruses, in order to build energy. We had to use three cameras rather than just the one so that a variety of shots were gained. Unfortunately, one of the cameras did not work and so we are going to have limited choices during editing. However, we are confident that the footage the other two cameras gained will be sufficient.

This is the song we filmed:

Costume: Protagonist and Antagonist

I'm going to have two different costumes for both the protagonist/male singer and the antagonist/female singer, depending on whether they are in reality or wonderland. 

Reality

Protagonist

For the reality shots, the protagonist will be dressed in casual clothes which are suitable for a young male. Preferably, he will wear chinos with a simple top, jacket, and trainers. By having understated clothing, this will represent him to be a typical male teenager who is conscious of his appearance but not interested in following fashion. The chinos will help to achieve this look as they are smart yet casual. Facial hair will make him look a bit more scruffy and create connotations that he does little to maintain it. His hair will be left unstyled to add to this effect.

Antagonist

For the reality shots, the antagonist will be dressed in leggings, plain shoes, and a cape style coat. This is to keep her look classic as she is a figure in the protagonist's mind, rather than an actual human with her own style. The simplicity of the look will mirror the protagonists, maintaining a link between the two characters. However, she will have heavy eye make up in order to be captivating and dominating.
Wonderland
Protagonist
When in Wonderland, I would have him to still be wearing aspects of his clothing as to before - I am thinking of keeping the chinos, with a change in top from something simple to a shirt with bright colours. The change to a shirt will reflect that his place of importance on drugs means that he is more willing to dress smartly - as if to 'dress up' for the drug. The bright colours will give a kaleidoscope effect and will represent a feeling of self-confidence.
Antagonist
The antagonist, corresponding to the protagonists change in clothing, will also be wearing more vibrant clothing. She will also wear elements of clothing which suggest her to be a cat (to intertextually reference the Cheshire Cat of 'Alice in Wonderland', such as ears, make up, and mittens. In this narrative, I would like her to be the more dominating figure in terms of costume as the protagonist is ultimately under her control during this. 

Intertextuality

My narrative is a pastiche of 'Alice in Wonderland' as it references the Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit, who are both shown to be tempting my protagonist to strive to satisfy his insatiable addiction, ultimately dragging him further "down the rabbit hole". In this case, it is vertical intertextuality as 'Alice in Wonderland' is both a book and a film, while in my coursework's case it is in the medium of a music video.

Research: Music Video

I find this video interesting as the narrative also crosses between 'reality' and 'wonderland' like my plans for my own video. Robbie Williams takes the character of a 'White Rabbit'. His costume, although his headwear is obvious, is not too much or exaggerated which would conceal the fact he is human. I like this idea as in my video I would like 'wonderland' to still have elements of humanity.

Planning: Narrative

After looking at the lyrics of 'Blind Faith', the strongest theme that was apparent to me was drug abuse. I have been considering a narrative for a few days now, making spider diagrams to explore the potential of an interesting video, which I believe I have discovered.

I have decided to not use a hybrid genre for my video, and will therefore only be using narrative. However, the singer will also be the protagonist.

The video will be torn between two narratives, that of reality and the singer's "wonderland".

The reality is of the singer when he is not under the influence of drugs and has low saturation to represent his low mood and quality of life. It follows his struggle with his addiction, sitting in Church confessing to God and being tempted to take more drugs by 'Temptation'. There will be shots of him smoking/'breathing smoke' as a reference to his heavy drug use and a lot of foliage and trees to signify the temptation involved in the Garden of Eden.

When he has taken drugs, he is transported into a 'Wonderland', inspired and intertextually referencing 'Alice in Wonderland', where the colours will be highly saturated in order to show the contrast of moods to his reality.

'Temptation' will be personified and almost take the role similar to the Cheshire Cat's in 'Alice in Wonderland' as she is constantly leading the singer further into wonderland. The breathing of smoke seen in reality will be an intertextual reference to the caterpillar in 'Alice in Wonderland' who blows rings of smoke etc. At the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, the dormouse tells a story of three sisters who lived in a well made of treacle. If I can somehow incorporate this into my video it will be useful as the well can represent hell, while treacle is the sweetness of the drug. I am considering having anyone I choose to involve (except the singer) in 'reality' to wear a mask to show how he has become disorientated and isolated with the world. If I wanted, I could also use this in 'wonderland' to show that his addiction is insatiable.

I think my idea for my video is good as it is very different to the official video, which is based upon raves. Although this narrative will require a lot of work, I think that if I put the work into it I could produce a really good final piece.

Song Review

To get another perspective on the track, I have researched into some reviews of the song. One quote that I found interesting was from 'The Guardian', which explains how 'Blind Faith' is a "record that sets a mournful, reggae-infused vocal against a vast diva-screamed chorus [which] perfectly captures the euphoria and melancholy of the dancefloor at the end of the night." Alexis Petridis' description of the track fits my idea for my video's narrative as reggae is often attached to drugs, and the 'diva-scream' signifies the strength and dominance that the voice has (in my productions case, the drugs over the protagonist's life), while the contrast between the euphoria and melancholy is similar to the emotions attached to being high on drugs - while my protagonist is high, he experiences intense happiness, but his comedown makes him feel desperate and depressed.

Research: Music Videos

The technique of using the audience as the topic of the song is a technique I have not seen before. Will Young, throughout the entire video, is 'talking' to the audience which makes it very personal and creates emotion to the video. This technique is not difficult to do, but works well in involving the audience.

Research: Music Videos

Maroon 5's video for 'Moves Like Jagger' too meets the audience's needs through humour. They use numerous actors dancing - almost as if they have walked off the street. This allows the audience to connect with the people involved. Due to Maroon 5 also dancing, this puts them on the same level as everyone else in the video which makes it more 'real'. The cultural knowledge involved in the song adds to this relation because they understand the humour involved.

Research: Music Videos

The lighting in Ed Sheeran's 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You' video is so simple yet is very effective. With the added effect of the whole video being in black and white, this contrasts the lighting further. It clearly highlights the people in the video and the harshness of the lighting connotes the harsh reality that the lyrics portray.

Research: Music Videos

Watching a music channel, I noticed how in McFly's video for 'Star Girl', they use a home camera which gives an intimate feel. This technique is also used in Rihanna's 'Cheers (Drink to That)'. The effect of this is that the audience feel connected to the artist as they are being given an "inside look" into their lives. It also shows how the artists are only human and so this furthers the bond and empathy between the audience and artist. successfully meeting the audience's needs.