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.

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. 

   

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

Music Video Analysis 101

Name Of Song- Shampain

Artist- Marina & the Diamonds

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS

       The observations for the genre characteristics of 'Shampain,' it being an alternative/indie genre, is the location, the tune of the song, the cinematography style and the costume. The evidence for the location is obvious with the video, as the setting isn't a large place; a play park for most of the video. We see Marina doing a thriller-style dance through a littered park with two backup dancers. The evidence for the tune of the song is that, even though the video was released in 2010, it has a very retro vibe and sound to it, which isn't exactly a widely used style in mainstream song culture. The evidence for the cinematography is that the look and feel of the video, with help from the camera angles and shots, is a sort of glamorous cheesy indie retro feel through shots such as a close-up of Marina's face with heavy make up, only used to contrast with the smeared make up on her face later on, which is shown with surrounding smoke effects and backup dancers moving like the zombies in Michael Jackson's Thriller, generating the glamorous, cheesy retro feel. The evidence for the costume is obvious as the only costumes worn are binary opposites; a beautiful dress and then a ripped up dress. This implies the possibly small budget as different costumes aren't worn every 5 seconds, unlike mainstream pop music videos.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS?

         There seems to be connection with these factors, as there is in almost every indie/alternative music video. Here, the lyrics 'drinking champagne, to forget yesterday, 'cause I remember, the way the way the way, I ended the day...' is quite easily connected with the visuals, such as Marina wearing a nice dress and shown in a golden-coloured tone, then wearing a torn dress, as though she's remembering something bad she may have done and tries to 'forget yesterday.'

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS?

          There is only little relationship between music and visuals, as indie probably pays more attention to lyrical meaning and visual representation. However, the rhythm of the music, it being in a retro style, is synchronized at times with the backup dancers and Marina herself as they do their own rendition of the Thriller (as I've said before, so forgive me).

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

          There are quite a few close-ups of Marina used between the switch overs of her costume and make up. This doesn't create a star image motif, as her dressing isn't similar in other videos, and there isn't really any justifiable motif to do with her style in other videos and singles.

IS THERE REFERENCE TO THE NOTION OF LOOKING?

ARE THERE INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES?

             There are two intertextual references, one lyrical and one visual. The lyrical intertextual reference is when the line 'made by the angel, who goes by the name, of glittering Gabriel' references the angel Gabriel from the Holy Bible, as well as the word 'celestial' being sung at times. The visual intertextual reference is that of (you guessed it) Thriller by Michael Jackson, with the dance moves closely resembling the moves in the 1981 music video.

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

               The video is 40% disjuncture, 50% amplification and 10% illustration. It is disjuncture as there are a lot of times where Marina is just shown stumbling zombie-like through a park, which doesn't really connect with the lyrics. However it's also amplification because the stumbling through the park and the zombie-like women seem to reflect that something has gone wrong due to a 'bad night,' which is why Marina is shown well dressed and then dishevelled. The small section that is illustration is just where Marina gets up and walks away from a set of stairs during the lyrics 'the day the day the day that I walked away, away away away.'

THE VIDEO- http://youtu.be/-vHi83LTQjU

    

 

     

 

The Slideshare Powerpoint

The Killers- Human: The Final Music Video, The Planning Stage

It seems, these days, that I'm beginning planning on a tonne of different music videos. This is a plan for our newly appointed music video; 2009's 'Human' by The Killers, the four man band fronted by Brandon Flowers. Beginning our planning today, me, Kayleigh and Jack have chosen different areas of research for the video to be able to piece together later on and create our own vision of the song.
          I chose the lyrical side of the research. Even though this sounds easy enough, I need to be able to annotate the lyric sheet, pick out certain words and find as many allegoric/symbolic references as 'human'ly possible (see what I did there)?
         From first look of the lyrics, they seem to be referencing life, love, suicide and 'opening doors.'
From the perspective of another, the line "are we human, or we dancer" is "his way of asking would you rather be human and live and live everyday doing the same thing, or being a dancer and feeling the music and doing a dance that isn't a regular routine."As I carry on with this research, I'll update my blog to show you the latest news on the research and eventually merge all of the research from each group member together and create a presentation containing this information, using any possible website that creates presentations.

So here are the lyrics that I am annotating:

THE KILLERS LYRICS

I did my best to notice
When the call came down the line
Up to the platform of surrender
I was brought but I was kind

And sometimes I get nervous
When I see an open door
Close your eyes, clear your heart
Cut the cord

Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?

Pay my respects to grace and virtue
Send my condolences to good
Hear my regards to soul and romance
They always did the best they could

And so long to devotion
You taught me everything I know
Wave goodbye, wish me well
You've gotta let me go

Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?

Will your system be alright
When you dream of home tonight
There is no message we're receiving
Let me know, is your heart still beating?

Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer

You've gotta let me know

Are we human or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer
Are we human or are we dancer?

Are we human or are we dancer?
Are we human or are we dancer?

Taken from http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/killers/human.html  

Group Music Video: Fluorescent Adolescent- The Storyboard Years Part 2

We have now finished our storyboard order for the music video 'Fluorescent Adolescent' by The Artic Monkeys. To be able to know what order to place these images in for the video, we scanned over the lyrics multiple times to find which ones match with what the words are suggesting. After about half an hour of moving the images round to match with the lyrics (which was helpful because most of the pictures we drew were literal to the words in the song, such as when Tabasco is mentioned, Tabasco is shown), we finally finished piecing them together.

Now that we have finally finished piecing together our music video, we used the pictures we took of the full storyboard and placed them on iMovie, where we edited it into place. We downloaded the song to be put onto iTunes then drag it over to iMovie where we had to intricately synchronise the songs lyrics with the storyboard images that perceived them. After listening for the first time to the music and the pictures, we were given an idea of where to move the images to synchronise with the lyrics. Two or three lessons later, after moving and adding a few images, we played the song for the final time along with the slideshow of images, and eventually it fit.

Now that we are happy with our finished product, you can view it here at:

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

Enjoy :-)

Planning the Music Video: Blog 1

Here I will show and tell what I have done for the first stage of my music video plan. The music video I am planning for here is the 'Them Heavy People' by Kate Bush, not 'Fluorescent Adolescent' by The Artic Monkeys. I have completed a storyboard for my chosen video (which could hopefully be made) with elements of allegory; characters; settings (mise-én-scene) and location that I have drawn through just over 4 pages of 3X4 storyboard frames to be able to feature the typical three-part 'narrative' of a typical music video. NOTE: This is a post that was made for another intended video, not 'Human' by The Killers.

 

Analysis of the Storyboard

 

       The two main locations that I have chosen for this video are the forest (or just a wooded area) and the room of a house (I drew a kitchen because of the osition of the furniture to be able to pull off one certain scene involving a mirror. The completely different locations are because the forest resembles the actress's state of mind and the world inside her own imagination. The kitchen/house is used to juxtapose with the imagination as the house is intended to be filmed in a more darker tone to correctly oppose the brightness of the imagination and the darkness of reality. The actress is pulled out of her imagination and back into her house (reality). Of course, this would require some quite complicated editing as I intend to throw her back to reality via two shady suited men who drag her through the forest and slumped onto a chair, which is randomly placed so that it resembles her view o returning to reality through a chair. It reflects her state of mind along with the lyrics of the song. As the video plays on, the 'story' becomes clear that the actress is being driven more insane by the real world, which is told with accompanying cross-cuts to a slinky being pulled taut and snapping; the slinky being her mind. Despite the dark undertone of the storyboard, the lyrics do imply these tones on occasion, so the inclusion of a third cross-cut setting is used to show the actual instruments in the song being played and the song being sung by the actress. This is a typical feature in most music videos; where the camera cuts to the band/artist performing the song, as though 'breaking the fourth wall.'

 

 

        

 

 

Group Music Video: Fluorescent Adolescent- The Storyboard Years Part 1

For the last couple of weeks, we have been working on creating a music video for a song that we were given: 'Fluorescent Adolescent' by The Artic Monkeys. Through these couple of weeks, we got into a group of four; drawing our own sections of the storyboard by basing it off the lyrics from the song. We then began cutting up the storyboard frames and interweaved them with each other to form the three main scenes of the music video; creating a story as the background for the video. The three main scenes were: The band shown to be playing the instruments and singing; the story shown through an almost literal style; and cross-cuts that show a woman with a paper mask on that changes emotion every time the camera cuts to her, with certain items being used to symbolise the fall of her adolescence (which is literally shown as a scene shows cut up letters that create the word 'Adolescent' fall before the woman wearing the mask. I created the scenes for the latter description: the masked woman, mostly because I had no idea how to interpret the lyrics until i was given a hint that she was growing up. Here is the storyboard section that I created:

Analysis Of A Music Video From An Independent Artist

To prepare for the planning of my music video of 'Them Heavy People' by Kate Bush, I need to be able to analyse another indie artists music video, so I can get a clear idea of what the music and video of this particular genre consists of in terms of features, like sound, costume, production design, location etc. I will analyse the video for:

           'Fallen Trees' by Saint Saviour

Here is a perfect example of what indie music videos feature. 'Fallen Trees' begins with a close-up shot of the artist, Saint Saviour, as she begins her song with just one camera shot directed at her when she sings. Throughout the whole video, there are very few different shots, such as side shots, mid and long shots and shots that follow the artists movements. The limits of these shots contribute to how an indie music video is defined, as the camera never veers away into unneeded establishing shots of sparkling images. The same can be said with the cinematography of the video, as it is clear that there is no evidence of post-production editing, yet maybe apart from a possible change in brightness. It basically shows that the artist and the cameraman went out and filmed the video and used whatever was already there without need of adding effects inappropriate to the song. In most larger-budgeted music videos from big, well known artists (who in my opinion are much less talented than the independent singers, who write and help produce their own work without needing a dozen big-time producers), the use of props can either heighten or worsen the videos intended effect, but with an independent video, we, the audience, are presented with a video that focuses more on the song meaning than on the surrounding colourful visual aspects and large items that get needlessly thrown around to insinuate fun, but it ends up looking silly. However this isn't to say that indie artists never use colour in their videos, as with Marina & the Diamonds and her 'Oh No!' video, which has a pop-art effect. In the 'Fallen Trees' video, the only noticeable props are two sets of black balloons, each set tied to each hand of the artist as she sways with the balloons. The use of these balloons can convey much more meaning than thinking that they're just there for effect. Is she trying to fly away from something? Why are the balloons black? Now to analyse the use of location. As I said before; the indie artists use whatever there is in the shots of their videos, so here is a wide open space that looks countryside-like or even coastal or looking as if it was filmed on the top of a cliff. Juxtaposed to the more well known music vids by more well known artists, Saint Saviour's 'Fallen Trees' strives for effect from its music and visuals, and not glamour, like many chart toppers try to achieve instead just to get a larger target audience. When a big artist makes a music video, the budget is much bigger, so the idea of being able to put almost anything into a video from the budget gives it a bigger chance to ruin the song with irrelevant uses of over-the-top cheesiness and special effects. The same applies for the film industry. 

       These features that I have analysed should now help me get further with my own my own music video of Kate Bushe's 'Them Heavy People.' Hopefully it should go well. In my next blog I'll share the first stages of my planning for the music video. If you want to view Saint Saviour's 'Fallen Trees,' you can find it here at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHUr7KfD8WY

One of My Originally Chosen Music Video Songs

And the chosen song is...

'THEM HEAVY PEOPLE' BY KATE BUSH

My reason for this song to be chosen for my music video is because, like I've mentioned, I can express my weird'ry' on film. The idea of somebody attempting to stay inside their head and avoid the world's indifferences with the person who is the central subject in the video is a strong point for me. The song is weird, so the video will be. The song has allegory (symbolism/meanings), so I would try to put as much of it in the video as possible so that it could reflect the song. Who are 'them heavy people'? Why was she 'hiding in a room in my mind'? It'd be the most fun song to video, but nevertheless it would also be quite challenging in terms of location and also trying to crack as much of the meanings as possible so the video would fit the song. I will start planning for my music video very soon. Here is the link for the video for 'Them Heavy People', http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfNtPbHkp0U 

 

"They arrived at an inconvenient time. I was hiding in a room in my mind."