Research
Blur - Coffee and TV
This narrative music video based in the 90's features an inanimate object (a carton of milk) coming to life and exploring a neighborhood and city , looking for love and companionship. The indie video features non-diegetic audio and many low-angle shots to change the viewers perspective of them.
Beastie Boys - Sabotage
This narrative music video based in the 70's features a cameo, where the band dramatically imitates detectives. The rock video features non-diegetic audio, costumes ranging from suits to casual and fast pace camera movements and changing of shots.
This narrative music video based in the 90's features an inanimate object (a carton of milk) coming to life and exploring a neighborhood and city , looking for love and companionship. The indie video features non-diegetic audio and many low-angle shots to change the viewers perspective of them.
Beastie Boys - Sabotage
This narrative music video based in the 70's features a cameo, where the band dramatically imitates detectives. The rock video features non-diegetic audio, costumes ranging from suits to casual and fast pace camera movements and changing of shots.
Initial Ideas
I plan on producing a music video which incorporates a narrative and performance aspect. As of right now, the main themes I want to focus on are romance and sadness, this is because I believe most people are able to identify and relate to these themes. However, this may changing depending on my ideas regarding the songs I choose and direction I go in.
Slipknot - Snuff
The lyrics of this song connotes sadness and self-loathing, it tells a story of heartbreak and someone blaming themselves because of it; because of this I believe this song would be ideal for a sad, romantic music video. I could have a boy and a girl aged roughly between 16-18 as the main characters. The boy would be ignored by all those around him including the girl. He occasionally see's the girl and stares in awe with a strong sense of romantic desire. Half-way through the video the perspective changes from the boys to the girls, her actions and mood is obviously similar to the boys and their situations seem to be almost identical. This shows the audience the importance of perspective and how it can alter situations drastically.
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Slipknot - XIX
The lyrics for this song are centered around death, because of this I believe producing a music video related to death and misery would be extremely suitable. My current idea would be having either a girl or a boy aged around 18 (as of right now I don't believe the gender is important) in a somewhat hysterical rage and aggressive sadness. In certain scenes they would be seen in a room destroying objects and thrashing around uncontrollably, and in other scenes acting 'normal' and interacting regularly with people around them. This creates contrast between what is going on in the persons mind and how they show it to the world around them.
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Blue Swede - Hooked On A Feeling
This tempo of the song and the lyrics connotes happiness and excitement, because of this I believe producing a music video related to these themes would be extremely suitable. My initial idea regarding this song is to have one main character wearing bright colours and prominently centered in each shot within the music video. Throughout it, the character will interact with a variety of secondary characters in a multitude of ways, however always positively (eg. dancing, singing, helping with activities, waving, etc.) At the end of the music video, the main character look up into the sky as the camera vertically pans upward and the shot fades out.
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The White Stripes - 'Seven Nation Army'
Despite my previous ideas being narrative and performance based music videos, I am quite interested in the idea of making a purely performance based music video. The band 'The White Stripes' consists of two members, however if I require more members I can simply have one person singing, one playing the guitar and another playing the drums. I would have the band on an inside stage performing the song and the shots vary drastically. To make the music video more entertaining to watch I could add certain effects via the use of editing software.
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narrowing down my ideas
After speaking to my teacher about my potential ideas, I have decided to create a purely performance based music video with the song 'Seven Nation Army' by The White Stripes. I am conscious that music videos aren't typically very entertaining to watch, however I plan on adding some form of 'twist' on mine in an attempt to resolve this issue.
The 'Twist'
I looked at another music video by The White Stripes called 'Hardest Button To Button'. Despite being a purely performance based music video, it is extremely entertaining to watch. The music video exclusively consists of stop motion, which although being quite time consuming, keeps the audience engaged with the video. I will keep this concept in mind when planning and filming my music video however due to the time it takes to make I will most likely not use it.
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Location
In an ideal situation I would film the music video outside during the day, unfortunately, because of the country I live in, the temperature is an issue and something that must be considered; because of this I either have to film it during the night or inside.
The location I first looked at was a large, open, rural area with mountains in the distance. I believe a location such as this would be ideal for my music video, due to the bleak environment, attention will be drawn towards the band members and their instruments. An aspect of this location that I find extremely appealing is the elevated area. I believe it would be a great place for the drums to be set up, this way the drummer isn't hidden behind the other performers and overlooks everything below; the position would also prove useful for an 'over the shoulder shot' near the beginning of the music video.
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The next location I looked at is quite similar to the first, however it is much closer to where I live and to school, which would make the filming of the music video far easier. An issue with both this and the previous location is the extreme exposure to the sun and the risks that come with it, such as heatstroke and dehydration.
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The third location I looked at is very different to the other two locations. For one, the location is protected from the sun's glare however dehydration is still a risk that must be taken into account. The shady, underground atmosphere created by the location heavily suits the song and band.
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Cast
a NEcessary Change of Idea
Unfortunately my cast's schedules and the times in which it was ideal for me to film did not match; because of this and the nearing deadline I came to the conclusion that I needed to completely change my music video idea. With advice from my teachers and peers, I decided to make a music video portraying the hidden beauty in nature and life.
When thinking about how to make the music video, I found these videos and took inspiration from all three. I especially like how the calming music suits the atmosphere created by the cinematography. Another aspect of the music videos I will be attempting to incorporate in my own is the close-up shots of nature and man-made objects; the fine detail found when filming this is a perfect representation of my theme 'the hidden beauty in nature'. I believe the variation of shots in regards to time of day makes the music video more interesting to watch and opens up the possibility of far more shots to demonstrate skills in relation to cinematography. One thing I like about the video 'Into The Nature' is the text at the beginning and end of the music video are both within or just after recordings of the road, this portrays a good use of continuity and I plan on incorporating this within my own music video.
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StoryBoard
After deciding on the type of music video I was going to make, I made a storyboard to visually convey my ideas to not only myself but to other as well. I believe having a wide variety of shots will keep the audience entertained and eager to see what clip follows the last.
New Location
To get the wide variety of recordings I wanted, I decided to film in a few different locations.
I still planned on filming some of my recordings at 'British School Muscat' because of the contrast between man-made constructs and nature. It's a convenient place to film due to the short distance between it and where I live.
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Another location I'm eager to film at is 'Al Qurum Natural Park' because of the wide range of wild-life and nature. It will also be an excellent opportunity to get recordings with movement in them, e.g. people walking, birds flying, etc.
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Documentation
Risk Assessment
I considered the risks that come with my filming plans and solutions/safety measures that I should put into place to ensure the risks can be easily dealt with if necessary.
Equipment
This is all the equipment I used to film my music video.
Sony 7S ii Mirrorless Camera
This is the camera I decided to film my music video with. One reason I decided to use this camera because of the electronic viewfinder, the ability to view the shot before I start to film made the recording process so much easier and more time-efficient. It also made keeping the camera steady when recording the panning shots easier because I was able to hold the camera with outstretched arms and still see what I was recording. |
Sony E PZ 18-105mm f/4.0 G OSS Power Zoom Lens
To record the clips in the distance I used this power zoom lens. I chose to use this camera fora few reasons, one of which is the ability to auto-focus. If the clip I wanted to record was moving it would have been extremely difficult to record it in a high quality whilst having to manually focus the camera. Fortunately this lens did this for me and allowed me to focus on the other aspects of the clip such as lighting, rule of three and more. Another reason I chose to use this lens was the power of the zoom, with it I was able to record clips a great distance away from myself. |
Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 Image Stabilized USM SLR Lens
This is the lens I used when recording most of the clips in my music video. The lens had a built-in image stabilizer which helped keep my clips steady when recording. The camera I was using was a Sony and because of it, when using this Canon lens I was forced to manually focus each shot; however, this came in useful when filming the focus pull clips. |