Changes Made

Here are the various changes we've made during the shooting:

•  Made alterations to the schedule list, including added days and more filming to fit in the schedule  before the deadline.
• The equipment book with additional dates for using it.
•  The first initial actors were both changed to two other people who we re-shot their scenes to include them in.
• A real hospital gown was unavailable at the time of shooting, so we instead changed it to a white jacket, which could still have an advantage as we could imply that the actor's character is almost insane due to certain negative factors of his life.
• We changed a few angles and camera shots for a few scenes involving the band performing in the woods, as establishing shots would reveal the borders of the green screen.
• There was considerate change in costume, as we no longer had the intended clothing at the beginning. They were changed to more informal clothing such as a bright orange football shirt and green trainers.
• We had to replace Ryan Hayden's role of the man with Leon Asgari taking his place.
• We didn't include the shot of Leon walking through the hospital corridor where we see the signs reading 'Sadness, Devotion and Dancer' because it was intended to be done in the actual hospital, but we would have needed to create our own signs. So, if there is time during the re-shooting stage, we could attempt to include it.
• We changed the beginning location of the woman's narrative after learning of Chelsey Willis' departure from the project. So after Nicole Denman agreed to replace her, we instead filmed her introduction in a consult room, where we could turn all of the lights off to give a darker tone.
• Josh Hobson replaced Joe Clark's position as a band member, as well as Connor Faulkner replacing Dan Howley as another band member.
• Some instruments were replaced with ones that were lighter in weight, but still resembling the intended instrument. We also excluded the microphone as we wanted just close-ups of the singer performing, as the more established and side shots with the microphone would reveal the borders of the green screen.
• We had the band perform on the school field in front of a single tree to give a simple look to the video.
• The band placed the instruments in the tree after finishing, which we used for the video.
• We filmed Nicole in an extra scene in a play park to give her miserable character a colourful perspective, intended to imply the play park as her transition from 'Human' to 'Dancer.'

Production Diary

29.11.13

      Today, we began filming the first couple of scenes for 'Human' by The Killers and used two distinct locations. Filming the part of the woman, we had our actress, Chelsey Willis, lay on a medical bed (in our school's medical room), start filming using a birds-eye view that pans to follow the woman wake up, sit up and then get off the bed to answer her phone. We had Chelsey mess her hair up to try and capture a dishevelled look along with the clothes that she wore when sleeping on the the bed. We wanted to give the impression that she didn't have a permanent residence; was homeless, or a runaway. We then filmed the beginning to the Man's narrative, played by Ryan Hayden. His first scene followed him as he plays a hospital patient (more of a metaphor than playing an actual patient) being pushed through a 'hospital corridor' (actually the school science corridor) by the orderly, played by Josh Hobson. We only filmed the man being pushed through the corridor, zooming in on his face as he passes by the camera, but due to some shaky movement, I'll have to reshoot this in the post-filming stage. All filming equipment was borrowed from school for this particular shoot.

3.12.13

        Today we had our band's lead singer, Jake Jones, lip sync the majority of the song 'Human' by The Killers so he could be able to lip sync during the filming of the music video, hopefully arranging the band members (Joe Clark, Jake Jones, Daniel Howley, Jack Charlesworth) in time for filming them and finish their parts along with the green screen setting in the forest clearing. We borrowed the equipment from school to do this practice.

6.12.13

        Today, we filmed Ryan Hayden's hospital scene again, but replacing him with Leon Asgari due to some difficulties. I recreated every shot I'd done, but with a few added ones, including the shot of the wheels rolling along with the orderly's feet behind it. Another added shot was of 'The Man' (Leon) noticing the music and getting out of the chair and walking down the hall to the entrance of the 'hospital.' After that, we did a couple of minutes of out takes, where Josh Hobson rolled around on the wheelchair pretending to be Professor Charles Xavier from 'X-Men.' All of the filming equipment was borrowed from school, as seen on the equipment booking form I will be posting soon.

7.12.13

       Today, I filmed Leon's scenes for his characters journey through his narrative, starting with the outside of the hospital (we have to film him coming out of the door on Monday), leading to the streets with occasional change in clothing to signify the spontaneous behaviour that he's expressing, and through a (as hopefully convincing as possible) small wooded area. We did a few of the same shots for back-up in case of problems with other shots. I used my own equipment for this shoot.

9.12.13

       Today, me and Leon was given permission from Montagu Hospital to film on their grounds. We shot Leon's character exiting the hospital (that began with the 'hospital' corridor shot in school) in the gown he was wearing, walking up the path from the entrance, which then leads to the shots we did on Friday the 7th, almost completing his narrative, which will be finished on Friday, the shooting deadline. I used my own camera for this shoot, with the hospital 'gown' and the tripod borrowed from school.

10.12.13

         Today we re-shot Chelsey Willis' scenes, with Nicole Denman replacing her as the lead woman. We used a different room to the original one used, this time a room that had lights that will actually stay switched off. We added another shot that comes before Nicole's character is introduced, where the camera pans in from a shot of an outside building then into the room. Josh Hobson also assisted me with difficult movements of the camera, which we borrowed from school as well as the tripod.

11.12.13

         This afternoon, I went out to Creighton Woods in Swinton to film a forest clearing that will be put onto the green screen on Friday the 13th *gasp*. I found a relatively spacious clearing, with enough space to 'hold' the band on the green screen, but having less of a crowd in this setting. I slowly panned and shot from different angles of the clearing to be able to have some accompanying shots incase something goes wrong. I used my own equipment for this shoot.

12.12.13

         Today, I filmed two separate shots of two different streets that were empty, so filming them at the right time was crucial as cars frequently drove past and people occasionally walked past. I used my own camera for these shots.

Note: I was going to film Nicole Denman's character scenes as well in the afternoon, however, problems for her arose today, so if given permission, I will film the scenes the week before the holidays.

13.12.13

        Today, we filmed the vast majority of the green screen clips for the video. There were certain problems however, with the size of the green screen not being large enough to contain more than three people before the walls behind the screen begin to appear. These shots will have the forest scenes I filmed pasted onto the green screen to give the illusion of the performers being in a wooded clearing. 

6.1.14

         Today, we began the editing for the video, despite having to re-shoot a part of the video that was filmed but went missing after the holidays. 

         We began positioning the clips in chronological order. However, problems became prominent: the process was slow as not everybody was present to help with the editing; the track wasn't on the desktop so it couldn't be added to iMovie for synchronising; the importing of the most recently filmed scenes heavily slowed the allowance of editing because of the Mac focusing on the import (which isn't strictly a problem).

7.1.14

           Today, editing became easier with the inclusion of the song so that we could start on the synchronisation between the music and the video.

          I started synchronising the first green screen section (with a member of the band miming the song), however there were two main problems: the clips had to be elongated and sometimes shortened to attempt to synchronise with the song as perfectly as possible; the instruments used in the video were also needed to synchronise with the instrumentals in the song, so the final product would be more genuine and infrequent on simple mistakes.

13.1.14

         Today, we continued editing, adding a few more clips to the project for cutting and prolonging sequences, however, with useful advice from the tutor, we decided to clip all of the scenes together to complete the video, and eventually re-synchronise the music again, which would prove to be the best time to become careful and identify the flow of the video and the music. We also began briefly focusing on the colour palette of a certain sequence; the hospital corridor, where Man (Leon Asgari) is being wheeled through the hall. We darkened the blue tone in this scene, so as to create a more cynical, dark and depressing atmosphere to suggest Man's life. There were'nt any mentionable problems within this session.

14.1.14

       Today, we continued the darkening of the blue tone in Leon's hospital scene. New clips were added, completing the majority of the beginning scenes, leading steadily into the mid-section of the video. There were certain problems: a scene featuring Leon 's character exiting the hospital through a door, then walking along a path towards the street, which was hit with an unexpected problem, a sign which read 'Ambulance Turning Point' outside where he was walking, revealing a mistake on his location, so the scene would require rather heavy cuts. However, there were many positive outcomes in this session: we transitioned clips correctly to avoid certain problems; the jump-cuts were clearly positioned to avoid abrupt cutting; we handled the editing of our Woman (Nicole Denman) opening the door from an inside perspective to an outside perspective.

20.1.14

     Today, we continued with the editing and found a couple of more affecting problems. We edited more clips together correctly, however, we needed to start re-filming two scenes: Nicole's narrative and the whole green screen section with the band performing because of the rejecting of proper pasting of the forest to the background due to colours not separating upon pasting it.

22.1.14

    Today, we continued editing the footage. We imported Josh Hobson's performance of miming the song outside and playing an electric (or bass) guitar (which we had permission from the music department to use). The performance was satisfying, furthermore satisfying as a flock of white birds unexpectedly entered the frame in a fitting way (aesthetic and well-timed). When we finally synced it with iMovie, we then decided that we would need the whole band to play, intending to use the same location (a field with a single tree) to film it at.

27.1.14

    Today, we filmed the band performing the entire song, from 4 different cameras; one angled from the left, one from the right, one directly facing the band, and a Gear Pro camera for portable use. However, problems such as the wind was present. Cameras blew over, the whistling overwhelmed a lot of the sound on the recording, even though we were able to edit out the sound. After filming and packing up, we filmed the singers performing the song again, using the Gear Pro to do close-ups and panning shots. The problem with this was that the camera hadn't recorded the footage; I must've not realised that the camera was recording the 'behind-the-scenes' part instead of the actual scene.

4.2.14

    Today, after importing the band scenes, we continued the editing process, adding in the new clips for the correct timing and importing previously lost clips to bring the video to its final minute of editing. There were problems such as scenes being difficult, but after improving them, it goes out of sync again. However, fortunately the process is going fine, so we hopefully won't take long for the completion of the video.

10.2.14

   Today, we re-shot the band scenes again, yet with more close-ups of one of the performers (Josh Hobson) so that I could create a variety of camera shots and angles. The wind proved to be a problem; blocking out the music so that it wasn't understood enough to be able to mime. After finishing the shoot, we began to import it, as well as doing some very brief editing.

17.2.14

      Today, we continued the editing; adding and taking away some scenes. The biggest problem was trying to sync the miming with the music, by lengthening, shortening, adding or deleting various clips. We're onto the 3 minute mark of the video, correctly syncing it, however we left the editing with a scene out of sync, so we will alter the rest of the video tomorrow when we have over 2 hours to finish and import it. We also added timed black screens that will be replaced with Nicole's scenes once we finish filming them.

18.2.14

        Today, with over two hours to finish the video, we finally got to the end, finishing at the 4:05 minutes mark just as the session ended. We altered the previous day's synchronization and it fit perfectly, as well as adding close-ups of drums, syncing more voice-overs, darkening a few bright scenes that don't match the rest of the video (which was mostly dark weather), turning brightness to -18%, the contrast to -48%, and the saturation to 70%. It was the closest to the intended surrounding weather, however it became a problem as the picture quality decreased because of the changes, but it was still very clear. We had a few more problems with it going out of sync, but because of the amount of time we had, it wasn't much of a problem to fix. We passed the singing stage, going onto the instrumentals that end the song. The end shots consisted of our drummer, Josh (also the person pushing Leon in the wheelchair) throwing his drumsticks into the air, subsequently putting them in the tree, then the camera slides up Connor Faulkner's guitar, signalling the eventual detachment from the band as the song draws to an end (we also changed the beginning scene of the video, where we instead used a shot of the camera sliding down the guitar as though to introduce us to the band), and finally, the image of the guitar and drumsticks in the tree, then panning upwards, fading to black. The song ends.

         We also manipulated Leon's end scene as he comes out from the bushes, making it look as though he's looking at the band with confusion (as well as Nicole), then turning his head (used from a previous shot) as though to face Nicole, who will also appear from the bushes (which is yet to be filmed). We won't be having both people in the same shot however, due to time constraints, instead trying to be creative and manipulate the scenes as though they are looking at each other.

         We started exporting the film just as the lesson ended.

CONTINUED: 

19.2.14

     Today, we filmed Nicole's final scenes where her character is passing through the trees (mainly bushes) and eventually appearing out onto the same field as Leon's character, so that the loose ends could be done and connect the video to what they are both seeing: the band. We had a few problems however: disagreements on how much inside the bush Nicole's character should be positioned in due to the bushes being potentially irritating; and the state of the bushes being without leaves, unlike the bush that Leon comes out of, despite them both being on the same field and us only realising later that we could have used another location that would've been easier for shooting. Another problem was Nicole's haircut, which was different to earlier shootings, so we decided to mostly show her through close-ups to avoid attention on the difference, as well as the difference in clothing, which we sorted because we acknowledged the theme of the video being about spontaneity, so the change in clothes (which happens to both characters in the video) was justifiable. 

21.2.14

      Today, we imported the final scene, and after editing it into the video, we exported it to meet the deadline. The problems we had were: as the clip was added onto iMovie, the last quarter of the video again went out of sync and we had to lengthen the end scene where the band is putting their instruments up in the tree, as well as lengthening the scenes where Leon and Nicole come out of the forest (bushes) and see each other; putting Nicole's quick glance at Leon in slow motion to lengthen it slightly, and eventually pit the video back in sync, where we could now leave the factors of length alone. We made a few alterations to colour so that the vast majority of the video would be in the same tone. As the lesson ended, we exported the video.

The Whole Preparation

This blog post will be the listing of everything that we have or we need for our music video. This will be updated a few times until it's completely prepared. The first set of lists is a screenshot from 'Kayleigh H's' Music Video blog, where you can visit at:

http://www.kayleighmusicvideoblogg324.blogspot.co.uk

UPDATED LISTS:

POST-PRODUCTION SCHEDULE- May be changed if anything unexpected happens.

SCHEDULE FOR PRODUCTION- Just a tidier version and slightly updated.

EQUIPMENT BOOKING FORM- Brief Planning for requesting equipment for the days of shooting.

Note:  Some days on these lists consist of me using my own camera, so I included these into the lists to correspond with the whole filming diary.

The Cast List

The Risk Assessment

The Schedule & Shooting List

                                          UPDATE ON SCHEDULE LIST

                                                 27th JANUARY 2014

                          CAMERA, TELESCOPE AND TRIPOD NEEDED

                                                  FURTHER UPDATE

                                                14th FEBRUARY 2014

      GEAR PRO, TELESCOPE AND INSTRUMENTS (MUSIC DEPARTMENT) NEEDED

 Location Ideas    

        The rest of the lists are on here, as well as the other members of the group. The location is a vital part of preparation, as we need permission to film in certain places, but first we would need to do some location scouting. So here are the ideas.

       The band are introduced in a forest clearing through the pre-lyrical section of the song, just instrumentals, where the lead singer begins singing for a few seconds until the camera cuts to introducing the actors in their roles.

                                                                 The Band...                                                        

                    

                      Connor Faulkner, the guitarist

                          

                        Josh Hobson, the drummer

                    Ryan Brown, the lead 'singer'

Jack Charlesworth, the keyboard player (THIS IMAGE IS JUST A REPLACEMENT FOR THE ORIGINAL IMAGE THAT WAS LOST)

For the location of the room that the woman wakes up in at the beginning of the video, we have chosen to use one of our school's medical rooms to make it look untidy with the lights off as though it's abandoned, and the woman is laid on the bed (a discarded mattress).

Nicole Denman as the woman:

Leon Asgari as the man:

Preferred clothes for the woman in the beginning.

       The man is introduced on a gurney being pushed along by the orderlies in a hospital corridor.

The orderly:

Josh Hobson

The Man is...

Leon Asgari

Vague idea of the corridor, to be filmed in school.

The Model Forms

      Through the middle section of the music video, the locations included abandoned streets, a forest entrance and pathway and basically quick uses of normal background settings. The props include sticky labels with frowns drawn on them, costumes changing into more lively attire to reflect the change in mood through the video.

Sticky labels to have frowns drawn on them.

Ideas for deserted streets:

Change in costumes:

These changes in attire are to reflect the more spontaneous nature of the two main people being released.

The final act of the video will be of the man and the woman approaching two separate entrances to a forest, where they walk through until they reach a clearing with a large crowd of people and the band playing. The forest clearing will be achieved by green screen inside the school gym. The crowd of people are all idiosyncratic, wearing all different costumes and random clothing.

The Forest Entrance

The Forest Pathway

The end of the video will be an elongated shot if possible.

Group Decisions of who will take charge in what

        In preparation for our music video, we as a group have decided what, who and where in terms of shooting the music video for 'Human' by The Killers.

Kayleigh: Costumes, props, locations and photos of the chosen actors.

Jack: In charge of Health & Safety for the shooting of the video.

Jake: Main storyboard drawing with partial help from the other group members.

Connor (Me):  Treatment of the music video, partial storyboard drawing and taking care of the schedule list to know when we are able to shoot.

For Kayleigh's blog, visit: http://www.kayleighmusicvideoblogg324.blogspot.co.uk

For Jack's blog, visit: http://www.jcharlesworth96.blogspot.co.uk

For Jake's blog, visit: http://www.jakejonesg324.blogspot.co.uk

Full Treatment

       The beginning of the storyboard centres on the lead singer and the band (the band begin playing their instruments through the intro, mid-shot of the band) as the camera cross-cuts between the two other separate narratives consisting of a woman in one and a man in the other. The woman is shown to be sleeping with a dishevelled look (birds-eye mid-shot), and the camera cross-cuts to the man, who is in a hospital corridor on a gurney (the orderlies push the gurney through the hall, the man is clearly upset and in pain, shot from a dolly effect) as the pre-lyric sequence plays through. The hospital is a metaphor for the mans 'pain' of living a bad life.

        As the song actually begins (cross-cut to the band) the lead singer is shown in front of the microphone (lead singer begins singing from a mid-shot) and starts the song. As he is singing, the narratives switch to a phone falling off the hook in the same room as the sleeping woman, who is woken by it (camera cross-cuts to the woman jolting awake and has a confused facial expression) and gets up to look (camera cross-cuts to the woman walking drearily to the hanging phone, from a side-shot). The phone dropping off the hook and needing to be replaced is a metaphor for the woman's uneventful life and she yearns for a 'replacement' in life. The woman replaces the phone after listening to the other end of the line, where the lead singer is singing. Upon hearing the music from the phone (close-up of the woman's eyes widening and immediately starts smiling, pulling a sticker with the image of an upturned smile from her face, cross-cutted into a mid-shot), she puts the phone on the hook, which this time doesn't fall off. With the odd look of a smile but with a frown, the woman leaves her room and sets off down a road to an undisclosed location (a dolly shot follows the woman walking out with a frown and smiling, but remaining in an excited state). The lead singer is then shown singing for a few seconds (mid-shot, side-shot of the singer performing). 

         This then switches to the mans narrative (from a side shot). After hearing the singing, the man gets off of the gurney (brief side shot of the man suddenly getting up, smiles and jumps off the gurney, with a brief panning shot as he walks). The narrative switches back to the woman for a few seconds to show her frown disappearing (shown from 4 different shots. Mid-shot of her face, high angle of her hands feeling her eyebrows, extreme close-up of the fingers peeling off the stickers, then a high angle of the woman with a happy face), allowing her face to express a smile. The narrative cross-cuts to the band (mid-shot), then returns to the woman (she becomes excited and sticks her arms up in the air, high angle).
       Turning back to the mans narrative, he is walking through the hospital corridors (dolly shot follows him), notices a set of signs with 'sadness','devotion' and 'dancer' on them (he stops and stares for a second, from a mid-shot, then carries on walking), implying that he leaves his human emotions behind and heads for a better alternative. (Showing elated expressions from a long shot) The man walks out of the hospital and begins towards an undisclosed location. Cross-cuts to the lead singer (close up, shown from the side, the singer wraps his fingers around the microphone), then to one of the other band members (playing whatever instrument they have, shown from a mid-shot).
      Returning to the woman's narrative, where she stops outside a forest (the woman runs towards the forest, then stands still just outside, shown from a long shot), which then cross-cuts to a long-shot of the man, who has also entered the forest, from a different entrance (the man walks slowly, the camera follows him as though he is following the camera, sustained long-shot to establish the forest and the man looking around). The story then shows an unused gurney and then a hanging telephone/unused mobile etc to symbolise the abandonment of the average human life (?) (quick cross-cuts to the gurney and the phone).
     The man and the woman are then shown as they are about to enter (split-screen of both people to show that they're not actually next to each other, shown from a mid-shot) a large clearing (long shot of both people entering the clearing from a distance apart), as the narrative quickly changes to show empty streets (from a long-shot for both frames, to emphasise the emptiness) where no people are. (an establishing shot of) The clearing shows the band performing in the background and a large crowd of people who run towards the man and the woman (from a side shot run by a dolly or panning shot), who are shown (from a side shot) noticing each other for the first time. The singer is shown performing (mid-shot) again, with (a cross-cut mid-shot of) the man and the woman throwing their arms in the air and expressing excitement and an elated mood. We once again see the band performing (from a long shot) to imply that the video/song is almost over. The band (from a sustained long shot, no cross-cutting) performs until the end of the video, where just before the very end, the man, the woman and the crowd are shown all together (in either an establishing or a long shot). The video ends.

TO SEE THE STORYBOARDED VIDEO, PLEASE VISIT;  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFwCWb00GGM 

Features of the Final Music Video Preferences

        NOTE: This post was made before we started filming the video. 

      For my interpretation on the music video 'Human' by The Killers, I want it to follow the typical path of any other music video; the 'narrative trio,' as I'd like to call it. This is where the video tells a story with at least two different settings, and a third which is mostly used to cross-cut to the band performing the song through different parts of the video. However, I wouldn't want my video to rely entirely on the three narratives as I've already created my storyboard and completed it as an animatic. My storyboard tells the plot through the use of relatively obscure scenes, so the story isn't laid out straight in front of the audience. I prefer to try and attempt to provoke thought from the audience through this video. That is one of the main factors I want my video to rely on. I'll either achieve that successfully or fail it miserably.

       Based on the shots I have drawn, there are certain needs that have to be fulfilled to complete the preparation. Such things as the actors, who need to be one man and one woman to act as the two humans who 'break free' and become less and less bothered about the constraints of 'human' life, eventually ending in them becoming the 'dancer,' a person who lives spontaneously, hence the odd location of the forest and the band waiting inside it. These people make it how they want it, in other words. The actors would need to wear certain clothing. The band would need to wear matching outfits to signify that they're the storytellers, the 'human man' would need to wear clothing that at least resembles a hospital gown in any way because of the location he is in at the beginning with the geurney; a prop that needs to be found, borrowed or constructed from various unused furniture. The 'woman human' would need to wear just casual clothes, even when awaking to imply that her life is out of order. 

       For the props, we would be needing a telephone on the hook for the first couple of scenes, to imply loss of communication when we film the phone dropping from the hook. Obviously we would need instruments for the band, so they are the priority. For later scenes, we would need to use stickers with frowning eyebrows imprinted onto them to place over the woman's own eyebrows for the scene where she removes them and has a much more happier look. These are the main props needed, along with the makeshift geurney, as location is the main factor for this video.

      So, for location we would need a corridor that can resemble a hospital corridor, which is relatively easy as the school has many corridors for use, but we may need certain minor props to at least be able to make the scene look realistic. The other location is the house that the woman wakes up in. This could be any room in a house that will allow us to use it (of course the house will belong to somebody we know). This location will have the phone dropping off the hook. For another location, we will try and find a street that is literally empty, so timing is a big factor here. This shot will imply that everybody has left and gone to the last location. The final location is the forest and it's grounds, which will be the location of the band, the people that left the street, and the two 'humans' who finish their journey in the forest. This implies that everybody in the forest has left the constraints of an average life and now live spontaneously (these big words are making me go mad).
     

Treatment of my Music Video

     For my own interpretation of the song 'Human' by The Killers, I have constructed a trio of narratives on my storyboard. This is where I have created two separate settings for the two main characters to start in, then a third is included to show the band performing the song in certain sections throughout my storyboard. The two separate storyboard narratives will follow a man and a woman, who both live separate but very average lives. The woman is introduced sleeping in bed with dishevelled hair and wearing all of her clothes instead of clothes like pyjamas etc, to insinuate that her life is out of order in some ways. She wakes up with a depressed look on her face, then walks towards her phone (which is ringing) and then, just as she picks it up, the shot of the singer is shown with the microphone. The woman then suddenly drops her phone, as though she has just heard the singing, then begins to peel off a fake upturned smile imprinted on a sticker over her mouth, which when she removes, she is smiling, then leaves her apartment/room and starts walking to an unknown  destination that is revealed later on.

   The man in the other narrative is introduced just as the other narrative finishes until later on. The man is in hospital, being pushed on a gurney down the white corridors, until they stop at a set of double doors. Around this time, the singer is shown again in the third narrative, as the man sits up, gets off the gurney, and walks through the hospital (signs of 'sadness' and 'devotion' direct towards the place where the man has just come from, and a 'dancer' sign that points in the direction he is going). The hospital is sort of a metaphor for the mans ruined life. The man then leaves the double doors and starts walking to an unknown destination. As this is happening, the woman is shown walking down a street, feeling at her frowning eyebrows and noticing that they are peeling off. She pulls these stickers off, now revealing a much happier face as she walks towards the unknown destination. The stickers represent sort of a manufactured sadness that becomes automatic when people live the same life day after day. Now she has given her 'regards to soul and romance,' she can set off to become the 'dancer.' With the bands performance and singing lasting, the woman finally reaches the outside of a forest, in which she begins to pass through. Around this time, the man from the other narrative enters the same place, just metres across from the unsuspecting woman (the man also doesn't realise that the woman is nearby). The music becoming louder to both people, they quicken through the forest, both eventually reaching a clearing at the same time, but still not noticing each other. It's at this point where the story briefly cuts to   a deserted street, as though to question the disappearance of everybody. Cutting back to the man and the woman in the forest clearing, a large crowd of people are shown surrounding the band. Upon noticing the man and the woman, and upon the man and the woman noticing each other for the first time, the crowd rushes towards both people. The video ends with the two people being brought through the crowd and everybody becoming much more joyous. 

   

10 Indie/Alternative Music Video Choices

Marina & the Diamonds- Shampain

Yael Naïm- New Soul

Of Monsters & Men- Little Talks

Noah & the Whale- Life is Life

Kate Bush- Running Up That Hill

Mika- Grace Kelly

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour- The Golden Age

Bastille- Pompeii

Kyla La Grange- Been Better

Out of these videos, Shampain, New Soul, Life is Life and Little Talks have been chosen to be analysed. You can find them on the titles 'Music Video Analysis 101-104.'

Audience Profile for the Indie/Alternative Type of Music

        With my main chosen genre, the indie/alternative style, I realise that the audience profile for this could be extremely varied, depending on if a certain indie song possibly goes viral and becomes more famous, such as Marina & the Diamonds with her singles 'I Am Not A Robot.'
         So, the audiences that would be normally attracted to this kind of genre would probably be a group aged 14-35, as independent bands and artists have reputations for writing the majority of their own songs, so certain elements such as emotions and the tune of the song can reflect the listeners feelings. Compared to Pop, the lyrics are not reputed to be repeated throughout the song just to try and encourage singing almost the same line over and over again, even though some pop songs don't follow this 'rule.' This would then connect to mainstream music, as the charts that play the same songs on the TV and Radio would become tedious with the same rap, pop and R'n B songs. Only a few independent artists become famous on the charts, such as Gotye with 'Somebody that I used to Know.' In my opinion, listeners may tend to switch over until a more diverse song is played, one which provokes thought and encourages singing along to almost unrepeated lyrics. With the world of technology making listening to music available on multiple platforms, people may take to YouTube to listen to the independent songs. This would then pave the way for discovery of less known and much more diverse artists on the internet, giving the chance to listen to new music through the magic that is the recommendations tab.
         So, to sum up, this demographic of audiences is quite a wide variety of people, even though most listeners of indie/alternative music would need encouragement via viral 'marketing' on social networking sites, which then begin the discovery of songs that are buried deep within the undergrowth of mainstream pop/rap/R'n B culture.
         Below this paragraph is the links to the referenced indie/alternative artists I have used as examples. Please take a look, and enjoy. Or not :-)

Marina & the Diamonds- I Am Not A Robot-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_oMD6-6q5Y

Gotye- Somebody That I Used To Know-  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UVNT4wvIGY

     

Album Covers: Indie/Alternative

For the music videos I am analysing, here are the album/single artwork for these songs.

Marina & the Diamonds- Shampain

Noah & the Whale- Life is Life

Of Monsters & Men- Little Talks

Yael Naïm- New Soul

Music Video Analysis 104

Name of Song- New Soul

Artist- Yael Naïm 

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS

            The dress sense in this video is sustained to each person; it doesn't change throughout. This is evident as Yael Naïm wears the same blue striped dress from beginning to end. It's the same with the 'strange' characters who wear odd things and hold odd items, maybe to imply the imagination of the singer? The tune of the song has a very happy but melancholic tone, it has an upbeat piano rhythm with new instruments being introduced through the course of the song. This is evident when a character is shown walking through a field with what looks like a trombone/trumpet, this instrument is then introduced into the song. The cinematography presents a very positive and child-like atmosphere. This is obvious as we are given a bright sunny day and a nice lake with a fancy floating room in the middle, which counts for the child-like factor as the rooms walls fall down and reveal a surrounding lake, which implies the fun imagination of the artist as she then encounters the strange characters and an upbeat, positive ending. The location basically speaks for itself as it much resembles the typical indie genre; a nice wide open space that is empty and seemingly imaginary characters begin to appear. The location is quite easy to tie in with the lyrics, especially here, as the room is floating on a lake. Could that mean something?

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS?

              'Im a new soul, I came to this strange world, hoping I could learn a bit 'bout how to give and take.' These lyrics do coincide with the visuals, as the events in the video are certainly odd, with what looks like imaginary characters and the imaginary demolition of a room floating on a lake. This straight away gives us the idea that she has certainly come to a 'strange world.' Apparently the lyrics are about Yael Naïm moving from Isreal to America, so the big cities and the people is like a whole new world to her, hence the song title 'New Soul.'

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS?

               The only relationship between the music and the visuals is that both are upbeat and represented very positively, such as the bright sunny day and the colourful clothes worn by the strange characters. 

ARE THERE CLOSE-UPS OF THE ARTIST AND STAR IMAGE MOTIFS?

               The camera does close in on the artists face on occasion, but there isn't a strong sense of relation of thematic elements between this video and the artists other works, so her work doesn't exactly harbour a known artists trademark. There is, however, a similarity in the sound of the music, as her other single 'Toxic' is very slow and melancholic, much like a few parts in 'New Soul.' Her other video 'Go To The River' has little to no relation in thematic elements with this video. The location, costume, cinematography and the tune are almost completely different compared to the cheerful video.

IS THERE REFERENCE TO THE NOTION OF LOOKING?

ARE THERE INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES?

                As long as I know, there isn't any intertextual references in this video, as the lyrics just reflect a new world to the artist, and the video embodies that with imaginary characters and falling walls and floating rooms. There isn't any reference to other texts or other works in general. Maybe there will be, but if so, it's certainly subtle.

IS THE VIDEO CATEGORY ILLUSTRATION, DISJUNCTURE OR AMPLIFICATION? HOW MUCH?

               This video is probably 30% Disjuncture and 70% Amplification. Disjuncture because we already know that this world is 'new' to the artist, so strange and odd things occur in a positive and happy sense because it's a whole new world and she doesn't know what it would hold for her. This leads to the amplification side, as the odd occurrences, such as the room dismantling into a floating wooden raft on the lake and the strange characters are just subtle metaphors for her own impression on moving to a different and bigger place: the people she'll meet and being able to keep afloat in this world etc.

THE VIDEO- http://youtu.be/XgEfYGzojcA

Music Video Analysis 103

Name of Song- Little Talks

Artist- Of Monsters & Men

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS

           Here, costume and location don't technically apply for this video as it's animated, but still, the animated dress sense is very diverse and has a look of a very diverse fashion, with the clothes being multicoloured moving feathers making up what looks like a robe, and also black and white wooly jumpers are worn too, but the style is the same, as the clothes never change. The location is a large factor of the video, as the animated characters venture through a vast, surreal noir-style world in search of what seems to be some sort of salvation. The location could be one of the reasons why the video is animated (even though that's mainly the bands style), because a real set would cost millions, so creating an animated video broadens the imagination and draws on fantasy, adventure and even horror (the large dangerous monsters) elements. Now, the cinematography has sort of already been discussed, as the lighting is dark because of the noir style that the surreal world is presenting, but there are camera edits that are obviously used to synchronise with the songs beat and rhythm, such as when the background singing shouts 'hey!' The camera either cuts to another scene or follows the rhythm between the lyrics and the visuals.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS?

             The relationship between these two factors is quite confusing because the lyrics tell of two people 'walking around this old and empty house, so hold my hand and I'll walk with you my dear,' but it doesn't match what the video shows, but there is that irritating air of mystery where you can connect the lyrics and visuals but thought is needed to do it, as the video resembles something much bigger than what the lyrics suggest. The video just shows a guardian angel guiding these five people through a dark and dangerous enchanted world, which is possible to connect with the lyrics I previously mentioned, as they're being guided through a dark place.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS?

The relationship here is very strong between word and vision, as every single beat in the video, including when they shout 'hey!' there's always something that appears or happens which is used to synchronize with the beat, creating a very smooth rhythm that encourages a good old singalong. This is evident in every scene. An example is when the video shows the five men climbing up a grapple hook that leads to a stone creatures mouth (so the rope that the hook is attached to is horizontally positioned. Here, the lyrics 'some days, I don't know if I am wrong or right' is sung monosyllabically as the words are monosyllabic anyway so that the beat can attach itself to these. At this moment in the video, every time the arms of the men swap over to climb the rope, the lyrics and the best synchronize with every arm movement. This can be found at 1:21 in the video link below.

ARE THERE CLOSE-UPS OF THE ARTIST AND STAR IMAGE MOTIFS?

            The video has six characters (the five stranded men and the guardian) who have members of the band superimposed onto the faces, so there are close-ups of the artists quite a few times throughout, but it's noticeable that they are shown in close-up because they are frightened of the beasts that try and attack them. There are star image motifs, as the bands other video 'King and Lionheart' is shown in the same fashion; animated, darkly lit and an adventurous setting, as the camera pans, cuts and zooms us from a city in ruins to a wide open space of abandoned buildings and structures. The only difference here is that the characters aren't animated.

IS THERE REFERENCE TO THE NOTION OF LOOKING?

ARE THERE INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES?

             It's quite difficult to notice any intertextual references, with the only subtle ones being references to OMAM's other songs through the tune of the song, such as 'Little Talks' and 'Mountain Sound' that have a similar upbeat tune that starts the song off and continues through the chorus. The only other reference that I can think of isn't justifiable because it would take reading a whole book to get it, but from the style of the video and the fantastical creatures in it, it seems like one of the Brothers Grimm's dark fairytales. 

IS THE VIDEO CATEGORY ILLUSTRATION, DISJUNCTURE OR AMPLIFICATION? HOW MUCH?

            The video is probably all amplification because we, the audience, can easily put together the subtle links between the lyrics and the events of the video, such as the guardian angel beginning to leadthe men through the enchanted world, with the beginning lyrics 'I don't like walking around this old and empty house, so take my hand I'll walk with you, my dear.' This is why the video isn't disjuncture because the lyrics and images, though visually separate, still create a metaphorical link. It isn't illustration either because nothing that the lyrics suggest provokes the appearance of that suggestion visually.

THE VIDEO- http://youtu.be/ghb6eDopW8I