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

My Five Potential Songs for my Music Video

Because I prefer the Indie genre of music, here are the five songs I would like to make into a video:

Florence & the Machine- Cosmic Love

The amazing beat of the drums in Florence's colourful, imaginative and allegorical song is enough to make me want to make a video of it, despite it being already a music video. The song builds up many times to the chorus, which bursts into a set of completely booming and exciting drum rhythms. The song is fantastic and fantastical.

Florence & the Machine- Howl

The perfect oppurtunity to film a video of this dark and haunting song in the woods, as it would perfectly reflect the animalistic symbolism in the song. This would be an amazing song to do a video for, and luckily it's not been made into one. So, hurrah.

Kate Bush- Them Heavy People

'Rolling the ball!' From the weird and the wonderful Kate Bush, this song is absolutely excellent. And making the video would create a strong accessible point for me: express the weirdness. Catchy, weird, symbolic and just plain fun, this song is a classic and should be listened to by everyone. If I made a video for this, then hopefully encouragement would follow.

Noah & The Whale- L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.

An instantly likeable song that raises the spirit if you're feeling down. So making a video surrounding this song would require the implication of a negative atmosphere being overthrown and replaced with a positive atmosphere everytime the chorus plays. A truly remarkable song.


Of Monsters & Men- Mountain Sound

A great, merry indie song. The video for this would require a lot of nature and open spaces to be able to express the song and its harmonic and upbeat tune. This is probably the least depressing video I have considered to make haha.

   A possible, but limited option, could be 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' by Edvard Grieg. The complete lack of lyrics would be what would make the video limited in perspective, but it would certainly have an element of mischief and a sneaky, sly atmosphere.

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."

Common Features of Music Videos from Independent Artists

Most Indie bands/artists seem to follow a certain common feature in their videos from several different aspects, or sub-categories. I created a one-page slide on 'Photovisi', where I included these features. They were:

Subliminal Messages
The hidden meanings, euphemisms and semantics in the video. Can be quite hard to notice.


Costume & Make-up
Alternative costumes, that seem to have a sort of 70's, hippy vibe, but not all Indie videos have this.

Hairstyles
More diverse than normal if presented as a ratio. These normally detach the Indie genre from all the other glamorous, tiring hairstyles of the mainstream music artists. This is what defines Independent music as its own style.

Locations
Regularly fields, forests, villages, locales, or anything that is either outside in the country (or a countryside feel), or in a local place.

Regionality (of the artists)
Instead of being just one nationality, Independent artists are very widespread in terms of their regionality. Wales, Iceland etc.


Imagery
Regularly surreal imagery to help with the allegorical aspects of the music videos.

What is a Music Video?

What is a Music Video?

      A music video, from my own perspective, is the further expressing of the emotion that cannot be expressed fully by just sound. The manufacturing of a music video helps with this creation of the further emotion needed. However, music videos are also made to provide more meaning to the songs they are filmed for. Overall, a music video is made to entertain, provoke thought and to showcase more from the song and its subject. Basically, a music video is a vehicle for the song and provokes the audience to gain its popularity which in turn affects its sales.

Early Examples
       Early examples of music videos would be songs mainly from the 60'S to the 80's, with examples such as 'ABC' by The Jackson 5 in 1970 (Click Here for the Video).Further on down the years, The Buggles' hit song 'Video Killed the Radio Star' (Click Here for the Video)was the first (or one of the first) music video to play on MTV in 1979. Another music video that is also another early example is the infamous 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen (Click Here for the Video)which was released in 1975. Quite a lot of the classic music videos were notable influences to music videos of the noughties. Such as 'Take On Me' by A-Ha (Click Here for the Video)which was the influence for a large section of the 2013 video 'Feel This Moment' by Christina Aguilera and Pitbull (Click Here for the Video), where the background chorus music is an altered techno version of the famous music from A-Ha's original hit. This is an example of why most music videos lately aren't unique or entertaining, because they are mostly influenced by the classics.

Important Music Videos

Amidst the giant variety of unique, not-so-unique and classic music videos that have been released in the past 50 years, there is a rather large percentage of those that do express proper messages and importance. Michael Jackson was probably one of the optimum artists who not only created amazing music, but created amazing videos to go with them. Michael addresses the worlds problems through his number one hit (of many), 'Man in the Mirror' (Click Here for the Video),  which explores the issues of racism, poverty, war and equal rights among other problems. It is clear that Michael Jackson was genuinely interested in problems that he cared about, which is why he is probably the most famous artist who was ever known because of his vision and voice. Jackson's most infamous music video, 'Thriller' (Click Here for the Video) became the most famous music video ever to be released. It has influenced many videos after it and broke the record for being at number one for almost a year. 'Thriller' is one of the most influential videos ever made. British Songstress Kate Bush became a very important figure in the music world as her diverse and rhythmic tunes that held subliminal messages galore, glorified her talent to the world. Her debut video, 'Wuthering Heights' (Click Here for the Video), which was released in 1978 when Bush was just nineteen, became a huge and popular tune, which defined Kate as one of the most important and influential women of the music world, as she influenced many modern artists, including Florence & the Machine. The rock'n roll era was a very important time when 10 minute ballads expressed songs of emotion and messages. This era began in the mid 1950's with 'Bill Haley & his Comets', who practically founded the rock'n roll genre. An example is shown in their video 'Rock Around the clock' (Click Here for the video) in 1954. Elvis Presley, dubbed 'The King of Rock'n Roll' was a major influence on the music 
industry as he was 'crowned' for his musical talent and his contribution to Rock'n Roll as a genre. One 
of his most famous videos 'In the Ghetto'(Click Here for the Video) is widely considered a Rock'n Roll 
classic. The techno era throughout the 80's could be said to have been partially started by the British 
band 'Eurythmics', who, with their famous video of 'Sweet Dreams (are made of this)' (Click Here for the Video),
which rose their status, along with many other hit videos that made them become one of the most praised
bands in the music world with its alternative techno vibes.


My Favorite Music Videos

       I mostly enjoy the more low key, and quite depressing videos, as they convey more meaning and I 
enjoy looking for the subliminal messages that they hold. My top 4 music videos are:

5. 'Earth Song' by Michael Jackson (Click Here for the Video). Positively one of the most powerful video ever
 made for music. Jackson addresses the world's problems through imaginative lyrics and amazing set 
pieces. Probably the most emotive video I've ever seen, even surpassing 'Man in the Mirror'.
3.'Running Up That Hill' by Kate Bush (Click Here for the Video). A classic in any sense. Bush provides us 
with complicated and swift dance moves that reflect the emotion and the rhythm of the song. It gives a
 completely different take on the 'relationship' aspect of the song. We're taken through different scenarios 
that all depict beautiful but slightly disturbing scenes. 
4. 'Like a Prayer' by Madonna (Click Here for the Video). I love this video for the reason that it was highly
  controversial when it was released. The soulful music combined with atmospheric and sometimes
  tragic set pieces to allow for emotion to follow.
1. 'Little Talks' by Of Monsters & Men (Click Here for the Video). Even though it's a modern piece, the 
video for this amazing song depicts a beautiful, yet ashen grey mountainous landscape where the 
stranded cartoon band members make a trek with a guardian angel to help them. The video also 
synchronizes the tune with various events and appearances in the video to keep the beat going. It's certainly
 the most unique music video of the noughties.
2.Never Let Me Go' by Florence & the Machine (Click Here for the Video). Highly emotional video centered 
around the effect of suicide for a young couple, when one of them is revealed to have drowned. Very dark yet
 harmonious video depicting the subtle tearing apart of a relationship due to a suicide, which is made more
 emotional when they are both shown to be together, never wanting to let each other go. Basically the title.