Music Video Style Mood Board

 These are a few images of the artistic, quirky, creative, indie style which I would like to convey through my music video. The images with the bubbles, birds, and beach are ideas which I would like to include in my video. I will also use these images to inspire the photographs and design of the ancillary products (digipak and magazine advert for the digipak).

The music video has a significant role to play in constructing an image for the artist, by creating an associated iconography (visual features which regularly accompany performance by the star, e.g. costumes or settings.)The image of my artist is very important to me, so Alex and I have discussed how she would like to be portrayed as a young up and coming artist. We have decided that she will be portrayed as a care-free, creative, artistic individual through her costumes, and the style of shots.

One of Alex's ideas for the video was to emphasise her lyrics through close up shots of the words, such as; a close up of a particular word in a newspaper article when the word is sang, or a close up of a word in a scrap book. Another idea I had was to include close up shots of a painting (e.g. birds in the sky - which illustrate the lyrics in Alex's song), and then have a transition to a real shot of birds flying through the sky. I particularly love the colours in this photograph so I want to experiment with changing the altering the filter of some shots. We have discussed adding text over the top of shots to draw the viewer's attention to Alex's lyrics.

I would like to experiment with animation; I am going to an animation workshop next week so I will play around with some ideas I have and see if they will fit into the theme of the music video. There have been a few Indie Pop videos that I have researched (in particular Tiffany Alvord's 'We Are Young' cover - see my presentation on style inspiration) which include animation, so it fits with the genre and it would also be an effective way to inject an artistic flair into the music video.

Music Video Analysis: 'Atlas Hands'

Music video Analysis 'Atlas Hands' from Jessie Williams

Music Video Analysis: Ben Howard's 'Old Pine'

Music video Analysis: Ben Howard's 'Old Pine' from Jessie Williams

Ben Howard 'Old Pine' Music Video Timeline

 

 

 

This is a timeline for the entire duration of Ben Howard's 'Old Pine' music video with the timings of all of the 60 shots plus descriptions of the shot content. I chose Ben Howard as he's an Indie/Acoustic artist (the same genre as my music video) whose music video style I would like to emulate. His music video is set completely outside in rural and seaside locations which is very similar to the locations I plan to use for my music video. His visuals amplify his lyrics which constantly reference the natural world.

 

Through studying my timeline I can see the typical conventions of a music video from my chosen genre, which will help me decide what kind of footage to capture and guide me through the editing process. One of the main features of the music video was the variety of shot times (the amount of time a shot is on screen for); at the beginning of the music video the shot duration is short with the average shot appearing on the screen for about 3 seconds. However as the video progresses the shot duration gets longer with shots appearing on screen for over 10 seconds. The shot durations usually follow the pattern of a short duration time followed by a long duration time (e.g. 5 seconds followed by 14 seconds).

 

 

The most common shot featured in this music video are close ups of crops, trees, or the sea; thus illustrating his lyrics about the natural world. At the beginning of the music video there are lots of close ups on the artist's legs and feet walking through a field, however his face isn't shown, this builds a sense of mystery and adventure as the viewer wonders who the character is and where he is going. There aren't many close ups of the actual artist which doesn't follow the typical conventions of a music video, as there are usually a lot of close ups to emphasise their star status, because the music video is focused on them.

 

There are many wide shots of landscapes and seascapes featured in the music video which sets the scene, however some people may find these shot types boring. The common camera movement featured in the music video is a tracking shot which follows the subject of the shot (e.g. tracks a bird or tracks the artist), this adds interest to the shot as there is movement and the viewer can follow the subject. I think this is a very effective music video as it evokes a tranquil, natural, and rustic atmosphere through the slow paced continuity editing, shot types and duration. It is this style which my music video will be influenced by, so I will use this timeline to storyboard my own music video.

 

Practise Filming: A Walk On The beach '2'

This is a developed version of my original practice video 'A Walk On The Beach'. This video was filmed over two days on two different beaches in Cornwall. I would have liked to have spent more time editing the video and adding in a variety of effects, however I had a limited amount of time. If I had more time I would like to experiment with using slow motion for some of the running shots, I would also like to try to edit a few shots so they actually rewind (go backwards) as I think this would look interesting. I will investigate with many more techniques when editing my proper music video on Final Cut Pro.

I think this video successfully captures the natural, light-hearted, indie style I want to portray through my music video. I was inspired by a mixture of artists' music videos, including; Ebony Day's 'Payphone' cover, Lana Del Rey's 'Video Games', and Kina Grannis' 'I will be the one you say goodnight to'.

Practise filming: A walk on the beach...

This is a taster of the style and energy I want to capture within my music video. I used Alex (my chosen singer) as the focal point of the video, we filmed on a beach in Cornwall using my digital photo camera, so the quality might not be as good as if I was using a proper digital film camera. I have my own tripod so I was able to do some panning shots and keep the camera steady. I edited the footage on iMovie (as I don't have FinalCut software on my computer), which I hadn't used before so it was nice to explore and play around with the software. I experimented with manipulating the colour tone and saturation of a few shots and I added a Mumford And Son's track for the soundtrack (obviously it will be Alex's music in the real music video) as I thought the band's indie style would suit the image I'm trying to convey.

Overall I am really pleased with the outcome of this video, I think the shots of Alex walking by the sea work well (I especially like the shot of her and the speedboat in the background), I was inspired by the style and content of the YouTube artist music videos I analysed in my last post. This was only a quick practise and I didn't spend as much time or energy on making the video, I will do a lot more planning and story boarding for the real thing. This has been valuable filming and editing practise for me and some of the shots I plan on utilising in my real music video.

Target audience interview

This is an interview with two members of my target audience (14-19 year old girls), they are both 17 year old girls who enjoy Pop and Indie music and like watching music videos. I asked them a few questions about how they consume music videos (mostly via YouTube, or watching them on a television music channel - thus portraying the advances in modern digital technology) and what features they would like to see in a music video. I have gained a lot of valuable information from this interview and I will integrate their ideas and choices into my music video so it will hopefully appeal to them and other people within their age group.

I learnt that their favourite bands are Two Door Cinema Club, Mumford and Sons and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, so I will look at their music videos to source ideas for my own music video. Both of them said that the music videos they enjoyed had an artistic, creative style, which I want to experiment with in my own music video, such as including animation. They said that they preferred music videos that were set outside and had a natural feel to it, so I will set most of my music video in multiple locations outside, such as on the beach or in woodlands, which would reinforce the Indie style of the music.

Target Audience

The target audience for my music video are teenage girls aged between 14 - 19 years old. I am a member of this category and so is my artist, therefore we know exactly what appeals to our age group. However I will make sure I have constant contact with other members of my target audience during the pre-production, production and post-production stages. This will enable me to gather their opinions on their favourite music videos and have their feedback on my initial ideas, ancillary products and the rough cut, so the final version of my music video will appeal to them. Ideally my target audience's favourite musicians will be artists such as, Ben Howard, whose music video, Old Pine, is the main inspiration for my own music video.

My Music Video Pitch...

This is the pitch I will present to my class to explain the initial ideas for my music video, including a general description of the props, costumes, location, conventions, genre, mise en scene and style.

My Music Video Pitch on Prezi