Initial Idea brainstorm

                     We created a brainstorm of possible ideas we could use for our music video.

1) The first idea included the video being primarily studio based. It would be performance based with an element of contemporary dance involved. We were particularly inspired by a variety of other student's a2 music videos that we watched where they would lip sync in front of a range of different coloured plain backdrops- I feel that the simplicity is especially effective and something we could tie into our own as it draws the audience's eye straight to the artist which is the main focal point. We decided not to choose this idea as it would involve a choreographed dance by our artist which would be too difficult to have a professional appearance. Also, the video would mainly be lip syncing which is not something we would be going for- we would like a range of scenery shots too- therefore the studio would limit us.

2) The next idea we had was to make our video revolving around a couple's fun summer. It would show their relationship at their highest and lowest points- including their breakup. We do not plan to show our artist's boyfriend on the video as it would allow us to be more creative- for example using lots of point of view shots from the male's perspective of his girlfriend. These themes would allow us to experiment with lots of different locations (in and outdoors) and camera shots as well as emotions. I feel that this idea could give us the most potential in making a successful music video.

3) Our other idea we had was for our music video 'Without You' to be about coping with death. Our artist would have experienced a loss and would be shown dealing with it emotionally- also a montage of the 'good times' may also be effective- acting as flashbacks of great memories. This would mean that a combination of both indoor and outdoor scenes could be used which could create a variety of different atmospheres, provoking a mixture of emotions in the viewers. Saying this, I do not think we should choose to go with this idea as it represents a deeper, darker side of life which we don't think would be very effective to explore- it could limit our creativity and only target a narrow audience.

4) Finally, idea number four was for it to be a comedic video. This would mean interpreting the song in a completely different context. Our idea was to have funny characters involved to elicit more humour in the viewers. Humour can be a way to draw in an audience as laughter is often shared between others. Although this could be a good idea, it would have to be targeted at a very narrow audience which may deem our artist to be seen as unpopular when we are aiming for the opposite of this. Not only this, but comedy is very difficult to master as everyone has a different sense of humour which, again, means that our video could never really appeal to a mass audience. This type of video would also be hard to make look professional which is, ultimately, the appearance we are aiming for. This is yet another reason why we have ruled out this idea.

We have decided to choose idea number two. This idea would let us experiment with the theme of 'love'- which I feel that this song best represents, therefore giving the lyrics that bit more of a meaning. We also all agreed that we enjoy the idea of using lots of point of view shots, showing more of a link between the artist we have been inspired by- Lana Del Rey as we noticed she often does this in her own videos. We have already come up with a range of exciting locations that we could film this (I will write about these in a later blog post) which would create exciting aesthetics. 

This is a point of view shot from Del Rey's video 'Shades of Cool' which shows the types of camera shots we wish to use.

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.

Created with Tagul.com

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