Song Choices

We each selected our favourite Lana Del Rey song that we could potentially use for our music video and evaluated why they would be successful and if in any way they could hold us back. The song 'Without You' stands out the most to us at this moment in time. The prezi shows our thought process when considering the song choice.

Analysis of Other Students Music Videos

Alive- Chase and Status

I feel that this video is very successful as there is a variety of different camera work- also that change of location makes it seem very professional and keeps the viewer interested. In terms of mise en scene, the lighting is one of many predominant features- for example, in the shot of him spinning around a snowy Central Park in NYC, the rising sun is beaming behind him, making the artist appear more like a silhouette- this time drawing more attention to the beautiful scenery rather than himself.

The lighting in this shot appears very beautiful which can also intrigue the audience as it is so aesthetically pleasing. This shots is a point of view shot as the viewer has been made to become the eyes which I think works very successfully. I would like to use more POV shots when we create our music video as I believe it makes it appear more personal. 

I also noticed that he filmed some shots in slow motion such as here where the bike is riding through the puddle. I think that shots of the scenery like this add more context to the video in order to set the scene, also acting as establishing shots. I would like to use slow motion editing in our video as I think it adds quite a mysterious element which would work well with our choice of song.

I noticed that this student actually filmed the entire video on a Gopro camera which meant that he was able to film himself and his surroundings without the need of a camera man. The long shot (show left) of usually himself and the background setting is a repeated element of the video however with a change of location each time. He also spins around with it so that the audience are able to see the full environment which I feel is very intriguing as a viewer myself. A negative of this video however I would say is the end shot which is text on an image of the artist saying 'Keep on spinning'- I do not think this looks very professional in comparison to the rest of his music video.
Overall, I would say that this music video is very successful- I think that the choice of song is excellent and the visuals are synchronous and run very smoothly with the track- especially in the section where he claps every time the song does and the scenery changes. Although he doesn't lip sync in any parts of the video, I do still think that it looks very successful and don't think that it is really needed as it is mainly 'visual vibes'. The variety of camera shots could be even wider as he often repeats a lot of them but this fits the structure of the music video and song. In our music video we are also going to use a lot of establishing and action shots of our artist's summer adventures however still include some lip syncing because I feel it is essential for our song.

Macklemore- Can't Hold Us

I feel that this is my favourite of all of the A2 student music videos I have seen. I think this proves that you don't have to have the most high tech professional camera equipment and editing software for your video to be successful due to the fact that this video has a very strong and entertaining narrative and it is one of the best I have seen among others which have used professional software. A very wide range of camera shots have been used.

A particularly successful camera angle was the high angle point of view shot of the artist opening up the bag to find what was inside. I think that this gives the viewer an insight into what has been carried around London all day in a police chase- it turns out to be rather comical as the officer clearly thought that it would be something of importance but it was only a chicken. A variety of shots like this keeps the audience interested.

I noticed that they used lots of editing techniques as well. An example of this is when the video would momentarily pause and zoom out (however still with the music playing) and the ordinary visuals would convert into a posterized comic book effect. The costumes & story line are both very stereotypical of a comic book and silent movie which is why I think that the editing filter and thought bubbles work so well.

They used split screen in some parts of the music video such as in the police station scene where they're posing for their mugshots. I also think that this editing technique is very well done as there are two different things happening at the same time which keeps the viewer very busy and therefore intrigued. The black and white filter is used in this scene, possibly to differentiate different locations.

I think the continuity is excellent and runs so well and smoothly with the song. The continuity is particularly good when they spell out 'INDEPENDENT' and the letters appear on the screen exactly when they are said. The lip syncing is also brilliant which required lots of skill due to it having rapping in the verses which they managed to pull off very well. In terms of mise en scene, the costumes were very fitting and added some mischief to the video which enhanced the humour. Multiple locations are shown, mainly around landmarks in London which are very recognisable to the audience and keeps them entertained. I want to take some inspiration from this music video by also using lots of locations (such as possibly going to Brighton and London) as I think that a video looks more successful when there are a range of settings so that it doesn't appear boring. I also want to use some of their editing techniques such as a split screen and I feel that slow motion will look good too seeing as our song 'Without You' by Lana Del Rey is significantly slower.

R Kelly- Ingition (Remix)

I would say that this is an example of a not so successful music video.

Firstly, there are many shots that are not very entertaining and do not fit in well with the video at all. This long establishing shot of the high street is shown for around 15 seconds before the music even begins which makes it appear quite irrelevant as there is just silence for a long period of time without much purpose. I feel that if there was a real narrative at the start of the video like there was at the beginning of the student's Macklemore 'Can't Hold Us' video then it would seem more appropriate.

This next medium tracking shot of the artist walking towards the camera is shown whilst the singing in the song has begun. I think that this shot in particular looks very out of place as he isn't lip syncing which I feel would be essential during this part of the song. The whole video doesn't have any lip-syncing therefore we'd like to make sure our video has some in order for it to look as professional as it can.

I also feel that lighting was an issue in the music video. There were often cutaways of a girl applying make-up (close up shot shown to the left) and there was a lot of low key lighting in comparison to the ambient lighting used in the other parts of the video. This created too much of a contrast and didn't therefore flow very well altogether. When creating our music video, I want to ensure that all scenes are well lit for good continuity.

Despite this, a positive of the music video was the ending scene where it showed the couple walking off into the distance. I feel that the setting it was filmed in looked good and there was then a pan up to the sky for the video to then end- this was an effective use of camera work.
Overall, I don't believe that the students used a range of enough editing techniques- I noticed quite a few dissolves and cuts however the cuts were not synchronous to the music even when there were a lot of opportunities due to the beat of the song. I think that mainly due to the lack of lip syncing and the fact that the narrative was quite hard to grab the concept of that the video seemed unprofessional. This may also be due to their costumes too as although this may be representative of their target audience/teenagers, it didn't seem to really match the genre of the song. I think that if they had changed the song used to a slower romantic song then it would look much better as the visuals did not match at all and the pace of the cuts were too slow.

Beastie Boys- Triple Trouble

Whilst watching this video, I noticed that there was quite a lot of inspiration from music video director Spike Jonze. This scene (left) shows a street performer and public appearances are often seen in Jonze's video- Fatboy Slim's Praise You video is an example of a public flash mob. I think that cutaways like this in the video appear quite successful as they can help set the scene and also add the the randomness and wacky theme of the video overall.

I noticed that they also used a range of editing techniques. They used lots of colour filters where they would highlight certain elements such as pieces of clothing or their faces (normally a vivid luminous colour) and left the rest of the visuals black and white- this can make certain areas stand out more than others to, most importantly, grab the audience's attention.

I feel that the split screens (where the screen was divided into four) were particularly successful and appropriate for this genre of video, mainly as it is performance based and the viewer is able to see four different things happening at the same time, which I think in an entertaining element. Their editing was also successful due to the fact that it was often synchronous in places to match the fast pace beat of the song. They used a range of different camera shots/angles. The majority, I noticed, were low angle, and often quite zoomed in to the artist's face which made them seem larger and more powerful as they are the most important thing in the video. The mise en scene was also successful because they are all wearing casual outfits and clothes to suit the genre of the song such as hoodies and caps. I feel that costume makes a huge difference in terms of how professional a video appears such as if you were to compare the clothing in this video to the previous R Kelly video where what they were wearing seemed out of place. Also the setting that this video was located matched the genre because it was in front of a graffiti wall which is associated with anti social behaviour and being 'gangsta'. I thought that the lip syncing was excellent and took a lot of skill from the performers as it was at such a fast pace- overall I would rate these students video as very well put together. 

Genre and Artist Mood Board

Created with Tagul.com

Created with Tagul.com

In the above word bubble, I have created a wide range of words to describe how we want our artist's brand to appear or the qualities needed to be the artist we want to represent. Some examples of the words we have used is 'edgy' as we feel like having an edgy style will link well to the alternative genre of music.

Another word I chose to include was 'unique'. This is because our artist being different from anything else currently in the industry means that she will stand out and thus become more popular. Being unique is a great think as it means you are challenging current conventions in music and expanding the boundaries to create.

The word 'young' is included as, using the uses and gratification model, an audience watch what appeals to them or what they can identify with. Therefore when our target audience watch the video (who are young too- aimed at ages 16-23) they are more likely to connect with an artist just like them and of a similar age. This is why we felt it was important to select and artist around 17-18 years old.

Target Audience

This video shows us discussing our target audience for our music video. We decided that we wanted our target audience to be ages 16-18, a reason for this is because we, ourselves, fall into this age bracket therefore we know that it is a true representation of the age of people that listen to Lana Del Rey. Typical associations of people this age is reckless behaviour, heartbreak, partying, drugs and alcohol. We feel like we could portray some of these elements in our own video as Lana, herself, also does this- such as by revolving a lot of her song lyrics around love loss and her alcohol problem. She also shows her and her friends socialising and having fun in her music video which we all idolise her for in a way as she is living the exciting life that we do not yet have.

We also all agreed that our target audience should be aimed at both boys and girls. This is because we all know boys and girls that listen to her music so we know that it is appropriate.

After much discussion, since filming we have considered how ages 16-18 is a very narrow target audience. We have decided to keep that as our niche target audience however have extended the overall target audience to 16-23. We feel that this way, it will appeal to more people and at these ages what appeals to them is very similar which is why we think it is so fitting.

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Production Schedule

 The dates below are the days in which we plan to film particular scenes of our music video.

Sunday 26th July 2015, Rochester: On Sunday, we plan to film the majority of the breakup scenes. Rochester would be a great place to film as there is a cafe where we aim to film our artist sitting by herself looking 'heartbroken'. Also, the castle gardens and cathedral would make for some picturesque footage. The weather is forecast to rain, however we feel that this will add to the dark, unhappy mood we are going for.
Actors: Millie Laing
Props: We plan on using a magazine for our artist to flick through. Also we want a cup of coffee to film Millie sipping on a drink during the cafe scene whilst she is sitting alone to highlight a break up.
Equipment: Camera and tripod to film establishing and long shots.
Costume: As this is a very relaxed breakup scene we would like our artist to wear a very relaxed outfit. We are planning for Millie to wear a hoodie and Converse with no makeup to emphasise the casualness of this scene.
Shots:  The image (left) shows a long shot of the artist sitting at the table in the cafe reading a magazine- the long shot will be able to show her vulnerability and isolation as well as the location that she's in (in the background) in order to set the scene for the audience.


Friday 23rd August 2015, Whitstable: On this day, we would like to film the beach/seaside scenes. I think that this environment would be great to film the POV shots we have planned as this is the type of place that couples would typically go.
Actors: Millie Laing and 'mystery man'- we do not plan on using an actual male in our video as we felt that using actors outside of our group could cause reliability issues. As we are not using the artist's boyfriend's face in the music video, we will instead use on of our arms in the point of view shots.
Props: We do not plan on using any props in this video- only props in a natural environment such as a pebble to throw in the sea.
Costume: We plan on dressing our artist in a rain coat (possibly in a couple of scenes due to the rainy weather predicted) and also in dungarees and a floaty, white gypsy top.
Equipment: A tripod to film some establishing shots & a camera.
Shots:
An example (above) of the type of point of view shot we want to film shows the person filming's arm holding onto the artist's hand as she is pulling him towards the sea. This type of shot can make the video more personal and intimate which may appeal to our target audience.
The next long shot shows the artist sitting on the wall at the beach lip syncing. We plan to keep our artist to the far right end of the screen so that the background environment is also focused on by the viewers too as we think that our choices of location are important (to show a further scale of time.) This is a theme we would like to keep up throughout the video in order to show consistency.

Sunday 13th September 2015, Faversham: We plan to film a bonfire scene where our artist would be toasting marshmallows/having fun with her friends. We also want to use sparklers as this could create quite interesting visuals.
Actors: Millie Laing & Tamzin Sellar. We want to use another girl in the bonfire scene to show that she is with other friends throughout summer- not just with her boyfriend.
Props: Sparklers, Bonfire, paper to throw into the fire to represent the destruction of her relationship.
Equipment: Camera & Tripod
Costume: We aim to use a couple of different outfits in this scene. A more casual appearance (such as a jumper and jeans) for walking in the nature reserve and a slightly more dressed up outfit for the bonfire, which could give more of a relaxed yet classy look for the video.
Shots:  The image (left) shows the POV/long shot of our artist with a sparkler by a bonfire. We feel that this particular shot would be successful as the composition is very busy. This therefore means that the visuals are both very vibrant and intriguing to the viewers- possibly making them want to continue watching.

Saturday 26th September 2015, Brighton:
We intend to film lots of casual scenes at Brighton. This could include just walking along the pier/the lanes as the background will have a lot going on- with that by itself creating an exciting appearance. We want to do a lot of the artist's lip syncing here.
Actors: Millie Laing
Props: Fairground game props/arcade machines- therefore money (Such as 2ps) are required.
Costume: A floaty dress as we associate seaside towns with summer.
Equipment: Camera and tripod.
Shots: This is an establishing/long shot of the artist walking around on the beach by Brighton pier. Again, this type of shot is important the context of the video and setting the scene as the town is well renowned for its famous wheel. Lots of locations used means more of a variety of visuals- and therefore more intriguing for an audience.

Saturday 17th October 2015, London: This would be a great place to film the scenes of our artist looking around London's famous landmarks and art museums. I feel that we could get quite a lot of footage on this day as the city is so busy and has a lot of creative sites to experiment with.
Actors: Millie Laing and other members of the public (we want to show the hustle and bustle of the city).
Props: sketchbook to make it appear as if she is drawing what she is observing at the gallery. Bicycle to ride around the parks of London which could represent a sense of freedom- much like the motorbikes used in Lana Del Rey's 'Ride' video.
Equipment: Camera and tripod


Costume: Yet to be decided as weather can be unpredictable- however we plan for our artist to have a smart casual outfit and sophisticated coat- I think a classy outfit like this can make a video look more professional.
Shots: This is another POV shot of the artist walking around the gallery observing the artwork. We liked the idea of incorporating art into our video as it would present more of a modern and contemporary feel which is something needed in order to stand out in the competitive music industry.

Saturday 14th November 2015, Local Park: Our local park has a lake and a lot of woodland areas/fields. This is a good opportunity for us to film our artist lip syncing with a natural background.
Actors: Millie Laing
Props: We would just like to use the natural landscape- such as flowers in the fields. Flowers can be seen as very symbolic (such as roses representing love), which is a look that we think could be particularly successful as the audience can note these subtle references as they watch the story unfold.
Equipment: Camera and Tripod
Costume: We think that our artist should wear shorts and a kimono as the bohemian look would match the natural environment.
Shots: This is an example of a shot we will film at the local park. It will be a tracking, long shot of the artist walking and lip syncing towards the camera down a path. As the path gets more distant in the background, it creates a leading line meaning that the viewer's eye is naturally led towards the artist which is our main goal.

We will create a story board to show a more detailed selection of shots and camera work in order to produce a dynamic video which I feel is very important.

Lana Del Rey: BIOGRAPHY

Lana Del Rey

Birth Name: Elizabeth Grant

Stage Name: Lana Del Rey

Born: U.S.A, NY, June 21st 1985 (aged 30)

Early Life: Del Rey attended a Catholic Elementary school and expressed her passion for singing in the church choir. Her uncle taught her to play guitar and her love for music began from here. She realised that she would be able to write a million songs with just six chords. she played at many clubs arounds NYC at 18 under various different names but at this point was not planning to pursue music as a serious career- she had many contacts in the underground seen but they ''were only playing for each other'' and did not ever think that her songs would be known worldwide. She enrolled at Fordham university where she majored in philosophy- whilst there she often volunteered at homeless and programmes for drug and alcohol abusers, which she had suffered from herself- alcoholism is a key theme in much of her music.

Career: She began writing her own material at the young age of eighteen years old, initially being known as, her former stage name, ''Lizzie Grant''. She signed her first recording contract with 5 Points Records in 2007 and released her first digital album 'Lana Del Ray'- she soon bought back the rights to the album as the record company were unable to fund it. Instead she signed a joint contract with Interscope, Polydor and Strange Records in summer 2011.

Album Release: Lana Del Rey released her second studio album 'Born to Die' in January 2012 which debuted at number 2 on the U.S Billboard 200. http://www.billboard.com/charts/billboard-200
This album turned out to be very successful, becoming the fifth best selling album of 2012.

A remix of her song 'Summertime Sadness' produced by Cedric Gervais was her highest charting track, reaching number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Extended Play: She released the EP 'Paradise' in November 2012 which was an extension of Born to Die- it sold 67,000 copies in the first week of released and went straight to number 10.

Ultraviolence was released in June 2014 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.

She is the most streamed female artist on Spotify.

Inspiration: Lana Del Rey has a cinematic sound and is highly influenced by 1950's and 60's Americana. She also claims to draw influence from the likes of Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone and Bruce Springsteen. The artist once described herself as ''the gansta Nancy Sinatra''.

She chose her stage name 'Lana Del Rey' when she first heard it mentioned by her Spanish speaking Cuban friends. She said ''it reminded me of the glamour of the seaside'' which I feel is a look she is influenced by- especially on her Paradise album with the palm tree setting and often has quite a 'mermaid-esque' look.

Genre: She describes her music as 'Hawaiian Glam Metal'' with some trip hop and acoustic elements.

This video shows Del Rey performing one of her latest songs at popular British festival Glastonbury.
This proves her success in the UK too.

Links to her music:
https://soundcloud.com/irosbeth/lana-del-rey-national-anthem
https://soundcloud.com/interscope/lana-del-rey-blue-jeans-1

Spike Jonze

                                    Spike Jonze 

Spike Jonze is a very successful director well known for his television appearances as an actor, his producing and screenwriting roles. He began his feature film directing career with films such as Adaption (2002) whilst he then went on to directing music videos such as Kanye West's Only One ft. Paul McCartney, Beastie Boy's Time for Livin' and Weezer's Buddy Holly to name just a few. Over the years he has won many awards such as for 'best choreographer'.


Jonze's success is almost holey due to his unique ideas that completely go against Andrew Goodwin's music video laws which are definitely on the more traditional side of things. Jonze has the ability to come up with 'one crazy idea' and revolve the entire music video around it which means that his originality shines through in each of his videos, showing that he breaks the conventions of standard videos. Two of his most successful music videos are Fatboy Slim's 'Praise You' and The Pharcyde's 'Drop'. 

The Pharcyde 'Drop'

This video is particularly fascinating due to the fact that it was completely performed and played in reverse. It was filmed in Los Angeles and the group had to hire private linguists to break down the lyrics of the song to allow them to be taught it backwards- this was so that their lip syncing would still match up to the (forwards) song when played in rewind. The song 'Drop' has quite a spacey beat so with the backwards visuals combined to the audio, quite a surreal effect is created. I noticed that the shots in this video are all very long and there wasn't very many cuts at all. Some shots lasted around 50 seconds and only changed when there was a change of location- I think that the video was made to look as if it was filmed in one take as the cuts are all very discrete (for example, there was a transition is shots when one band member jumped in front of the camera, completely blocking the scenery behind him and as he moved away there was a cut and the setting had changed. The slow pace makes the video appear very smooth and almost effortless with very good continuity. The use of mise en scene is very interesting because they use props in a very effective way that can show the fact that it is backwards clearly but still in a subtle manner with a sense of humour. Such as when the man's trousers are falling down and all of their tops just appear to vanish and when a mass of water is dropped onto them however as it is played backwards, it appears as if they magically dry. All of these scenes make the video intriguing and certainly made me want to continue watching.

This video shows the Behind the Scenes and the making of 'Drop'. 

Fatboy Slim- 'Praise You'

This is another of Spike Jonze's individual & unique creations.
The video revolves around a flash mob, choreographed and directed by Jonze himself (he also stars in the video as one of the lead dancers), to the song 'Praise You' outside a local movie theater in California. It is in the form of a guerilla style meaning that there was no permission from the owners of the site- at one point a worker walks over and turns their portable stereo off. The video only cost $800 to produce (this was mainly to pay for replacing the stereo and feeding the dancers)- with this, it ended up winning 3 major music awards at the MTV VMA's in 1999 and was voted the number 1 best video of all time out of the top one hundred. All of the choreography and the idea of this video was completely original, as before websites such as YouTube, flash-mobs were not known of and when performed in a public place, it creates an element of surprise which is pleasing to an audience. This video was also produced in an unusual style, breaking the conventions of a typical music video- this is as at the end and the beginning, there is talking and it seems more like a documentary than a music video until the songs starts playing. Also in terms of mise en scene, they all look very ordinary (not like typical stars of a music video and dressed up for the occasion) which can create even more of a connection between the dancers and the viewers at home as they are so similar in how 'everyday' they appear which has a personal response. They also stay in one main location whereas in many other music videos, it is the norm to have multiple locations. The people in the video are not professional dancers (they are in fact not very good at dancing at all) this creates a sense of just not caring what people think and supports the common phrase ''dance like no one is watching'' which is also a relatable factor to the audience. One of the most obvious things I noticed when viewing this video is the fact that Norman cook aka Fatboy Slim (the artist) doesn't appear as the main star himself which can divert even more interest to what's happening in the video as the audience may feel perplexed and want to know the story behind it.

Middle: Director Spike Jonez stars as one of the main dancers.
Although Fatboy Slim isn't the main star in his own music video, he in fact appears as an onlooker to the flash mob and can be seen (right) at the end of the video when Jonez is talking to the camera.

We will use some elements of Jonze's videos in our own music video- we could do this by completely breaking the conventions of typical music videos (like Spike Jonze does) such as by possibly not having the main artist star in it. Or we could use elements such as reversing as it creates a very unique and intriguing effect to make an audience want to continue watching.

I have noticed that Spike Jonze goe directly against Andrew Goodwin's theory of music videos which consists of the basic conventions that all (or most) videos have from a concept/narrative/performance based video to voyeurism. I think that it is a good idea that Jonze disregards Goodwin's theory as it makes his videos completely different from the rest in order from them to stand out and draw popular media attention to them. I feel that music videos which are unique and individual are typically more successful than other 'conventional' videos as they offer something more enticing than a standard video with a concept that everyone has more than likely seen before. I think it is important, for my group, to reach a point that our own music video has an equal balance between Jonze's and Goodwin's ideas as both combined seem to make a very successful video. We want our music video to stand out and have unique traits but we also still want that conventional spin to it for structure.

Our Chosen Artist- Lana Del Rey

As a group, we were all in agreement that Lana Del Rey would be the most appropriate artist for our music video. Not only are we all fans of hers, but her songs are just the rhythm that we were looking for- this Prezi explains a few more reasons why.

Analysis for other artist's music videos

Florence + the Machine- Rabbit Heart

This video of Florence + the Machine's Rabbit Heart is based heavily on Greek Mythology. The video is narrative based but with performance aspects- the camera will often cut to the artist lip syncing, with many shots of the surrounding area to set the scene and time period. There is structure to this video however it is not necessarily very pronounced. The chorus is repeated however the visuals are not, the storyline in the video is continuous with only cutaways of the artist dancing repeated occasionally. This music video is based upon the Greek God of parties Dionysus. This God is very well know for his violent mood swings and wild spirit, it seems as though the artist has attended one of his high end parties of which many people sacrifice their own life to go to. I feel that the title of the song 'Rabbit Heart' symbolises the fact that Florence needed a brave lion heart to survive the party however in this case she only has a rabbit heart, the end of the video shows her coffin being carried and drifted into the lake, proving that maybe her ambitious partying with Dionysus did not end so well after all.
Within Mise en scene, Florence wears the same outfit throughout (a floaty Greek inspired dress for for the time period- this clothing is a very typical image of her branding)- this may be due to the fact that the story is meant to represent one whole day, of which you would wear the same clothing. Her accessories from the start of the video change once, she has a beaded head piece/veil covering parts of her face at the start. (see gif)

 This adds to her rather mysterious image and can act as a mask to temporarily hide her identity to intrigue the audience. There is one main location used, it is situated in a field by a lake with a traditional Greek dinner party set up. Not only is this typical of the particular time period but I feel that it remains that same as the story is situated around this same environment. Ambient lighting is used throughout, such as during the high angle shots of her looking up at the camera and singing, bright light beams block some of her face which emphasises the fact that it's a summers day and also adds a more mystical effect. I think that the use of high key lighting is very effective and we'd like to use it in our own video to create a happy & free atmosphere. The high angle camera angles looking down at her generates a sense of innocence at the fact that she is at an occasion which is very out of her depth.

Shannon Saunders-

Slow but still fast pace cuts 

Lana Del Rey- Video Games

This video is of the alternative genre. I feel that this is a very typical representation of this genre as it is a creative video- often with old vintage footage. The music video has a narrative with some performance based sections, however these are only occasional and are filmed with a home video footage. The narrative to 'Video Games' shows lots of shots of social occasions such as swimming, cycling and the nightlife- the video is almost an entire road trip, often filmed with many point of view shots.

The repetition of the words 'video games' means that it is emphasised against the juxtaposing images of the outdoors- it represents the fact that she is content watching her lover play video games however exploring and socialising is what she really longs for. Going out with friends is her version of ''playing video games''. The lyrics link to the visuals in some places too such as when she sings ''watching all our friends fall'' it shows her friend falling from his skateboard. There is structure with the verses and chorus in the video however the visuals are never repeated- it is very continuous which can represent the ongoing road trip journey. She wears only two outfits throughout the whole video which I think represents anyone's everyday appearance- it also reflects real life as she has filmed herself lip-syncing and the quality appears to be a home video,  making the whole video appear very 'normal'. The music video is predominantly POV shots- this includes her walking through a garden passage way and Hollywood Walk Of Fame. These shots make the viewer feel as if they are the ones experiencing her fun adventures which makes the video very personal and also keeps the audience guessing in order to make them want to continue watching. There are many establishing shots (such as of the billboards/lights) this puts the video into more context whilst also accentuating particular locations so that it sets the scene for the audience. I think that this video has provided lots of inspiration for our own as we want to film lots of point of view shots to represent what the artist/character is experiencing, this creates more of a connection. The variety of different establishing and long shots of different locations will show that the character is having fun and will represent a longer time scale to make it seem like flash backs of her life.
The use of dark low key lighting is frequently seen, this adds a sense of mystery and can keep the audience drawn into the video.

Kate Nash- Foundations
In the music video 'foundations' by Kate Nash I am able to tell that it is of the indie pop genre- I would say it was quite stereotypical of this particular genre due to the fact that there is lots of bright colour involved and creative effects which makes it appear fun and enjoyable. The video is very much narrative based with some elements of performance however this does not include any dancing but just mainly lip syncing or acting out scenes to tell a story. The video initially shows the artist and her current boyfriend completing very mundane tasks e.g. playing cards and choosing what to eat from the fridge. As the story unravels, we see that their relationship is breaking down which is shown more literally through the visuals of her tossing and turning away from her boyfriend in bed and turning over the picture in the frame of them together whilst she is dusting. The gradual split is also shown more symbolically by the stop motion animations of the watches at first being connected to then moving from each other and two tied up socks unraveling. The lyrics 'my fingertips are holding onto the cracks in our foundations' represent the fact that they are both trying to cling onto their inevitably crumbling relationship (the foundations) knowing that it will soon end anyway- the sense of hopelessness is greatly highlighted. The end of the video shows the artist packing her suitcase which tells us that their relationship has ended, of which the audience probably predicted due to the buildup shown throughout.

One main location is used throughout the entire video, it is set in a house which shows the downfall of their relationship as they are trying to get about their normal life. I think that for this type of indie pop video the location is very appropriate mainly due to the fact that it is narrative and therefore should take place in an everyday environment (such as the home for this instance). Other parts of mise en scene like her costumes are significant too. For example, she has five costume changes in the whole video, her style seems to be quite vintage and consists largely of bright colours. Her first outfit was a gingham yellow dress, yellow tights and yellow high heels- this makes her appear very unique and quite kooky, which is all part of her branding and fun pop image. The amount of costume changes are probably there to represent the time scale of events unfolding- which I feel is very successfully done, for our music video we would also like to do the same to show our artist having fun over a long summer, therefore by having several costume changes it can show the period of time. Kate has 'normal' appearing natural make-up which I also think is appropriate because it should represent how she looks everyday at home- as well as this, I noticed ambient lighting throughout which is quite juxtaposing as the topic and mood of the video is rather sad and the high key lighting makes everything appear more uplifting. Of the wide variety of camera work used, I feel that it predominantly consists of close-ups and eye level shots. The eye level shots are used when she is lip syncing to the camera (which occurs very frequently) I think that this portrays more of a personal message to the audience watching and creates a stronger connection between them and the artist. Closeup shots are often seen of the couple's facial expressions which emphasises their negative emotions, they are also used in the stop motion animations (such as the tooth brushes moving away from each other at the beginning of the video) to really draw the viewer's attention it. An aerial shot is used when the couple are trying to sleep in bed and are facing away from eachother, it gives the viewer a more understanding viewpoint of their crumbling relationship as it allows you to see the growing contrast between them more clearly.

Initial ideas

This video shows us discussing our initial ideas about what type of music video we wish to create.

As seen in the previous discussion video, we narrowed down the possible artists that we could base our music video on. We were left with four different options including; Shannon Sauders, Lana Del Rey, Florence + the Machine and Kate Nash.

We thought that Kate Nash would be good because she has a very distinctive voice (she sounds as if she is talking the song in her common English accent) therefore we thought that this would be good and less challenging to lip sync too. She has a very fun and bubbly personality which would be very enjoyable to create a music video to, however could be difficult to make sophisticated.

Florence + the machine was also a possible option as she has a variety of upbeat and slower songs therefore we could choose what would be most effective for our own video.

Another possible option is Shannon Saunders. She is an independent artist who has very unique music videos that we could take great inspiration from.

Lana Del Rey has a very quirky style and we are all fans of hers. She has a variety of both fast and slow songs therefore we have the option to choose what we would prefer.

What is a digipak?

A digipak is ''A type of packing for CDs or DVDs, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more disks''.

Part of our brief for our A2 media coursework is to create a digipak for our artist and the song we have chosen. Digipaks are similar to regular albums in the fact that they both hold one or more CD's. The difference is that digipaks are made for a cardboard material and regular albums are made from plastic- digipaks have more of a luxury element to them and are particularly used for artists releasing a special album such as their 'greatest hits', with this comes a more expensive price tag. Their design means that it opens up more like a book which allows further room for inserts such as lyric booklets or more than one disc.

When we create our own digipak, the 'style' of it, colour schemes and fonts are important to consider as it will be that that determines the way our artist is represented in the music industry.

Forming Our Group

Forming Our Group

I have decided to work on this project to create a music video with Evangeline Luckhurst, Tamzin Sellar and Millie Laing. I feel that as we all worked together in the Advanced Subsidiary media film opening section of the course (throughout both planning/research and production stages) it is a good idea to work together again. This is because we all complimented each other's skills. Millie is exceptionally good at the editing side of media, on the previous task she really excelled in the creative variety of transitions and cuts- this is also possibly down to more experience. Tamzin has a huge interest in cameras and I feel that this really shines through in our final products- she is very knowledgeable about which camera shots and angles look most effective which is a prime reason why she is a great member to have on the team. Evie is very good in the mise en scene area of media. She has a very artistic eye and can therefore arrange beautiful sets and costumes to fit the context of the video and target audience. This is as well as being the creative mind of the group to think of unique props and locations and most importantly think outside of the box, avoiding stereotypical narratives and offering an alternative approach that can challenge everyone else's ideas to make us all more open minded. I feel that I can offer my organisation skills by setting firm deadlines and goals each week to be achieved in order for our music video to be the best that it can be- this can include arranging dates and times for filming locations and when editing should begin. We all agreed that we like the alternative genre of music and coincidentally had a very similar vision  which is another reason that we will work well together as there will be few conflicting ideas. I believe that we all contribute equally good qualities of which I am hopeful will produce another successful project.

We agreed that we wanted to choose the music video task. This is mainly because the film trailer is very similar to our previous piece of coursework (film opening) and a trailer demands a very large variety of different locations and other mise en scene factors which I feel would be particularly extensive/more complicated.

Creating a music video will prove to be a challenge (such as with the added skills of lip syncing to prove) however I believe that it will allow us all to show our creative flares as we are very passionate about the music industry. We have began our research by viewing other student's successful a2 music videos which have really opened up our minds and motivated us to generate an effective and individual piece with teamwork.

(From left to right) Tamzin, Evangeline, Kate (me) and Millie.