Sunday, 31 October 2010
Album Covers
Diana Vickers' 'Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree' was her debut album, released on 10th April 2010, it was postponed due to Vickers' leading role in the West End show 'Little Voice'. The album has her debut, number one 'Once' and other hits like 'the Boy Who Murdered Love'. I really like this album cover because of how the colours are used. Diana Vickers herself is in a very light-shaded black and white which is very simplistic but looks effective. But the particular bit i really like on the cover is the title, because it's such a contrast of colours where is goes from black and white to a bright hot pink. this is effective because it catches your eye.
Corrine Bailey Rae's debut album 'Corrine Bailey Rae' went straight in at number one in the UK. The album includes songs like: 'Like A Star', 'Put Your Records On' and 'Trouble Sleeping'. I like this cover because it's also quite simple because there aren't a lot of colours in it. I also like this album cover because the picture connects with the music and the music videos i.e. flowers- on the video for 'Put Your Records On' Bailey Rae is riding on a bike down country lanes surrounded by flowers and trees, the song is soft and happy and has connections with the summer.
'Night Work' by the Scissor Sisters was released in June 2010. The song 'Fire With Fore' was released 8 days before the album was released, but like most artists, this was used to promote the album. I love this album cover because it has absolutely nothing to do with the music that is featured on the disc, it has disjuncture. As a group, Scissor Sisters are seen as quite an openly sexual band, their frontman Jake Shears wears very little clothing and at one concert he wore a little bit too much as he flashed. The bands name 'Scissor Sisters' has sexual connotations. I like how simple this cover also is and the fact it's black and white but the writing of the album name 'Night Work' is in bright red writing because, again, it shows the contrast in the colours.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Filming, Step 5 - Refilming
We then changed our idea for the start and end because we didn't think it did the video justice. We then made the start sad, where it was just liv laying on the bed cuddling a cushion, obviously yearing for someone. And the end is happy where liv has an engagement ring which implies the person she has been yearning for has asked her to marry him and they are going to live happily ever after.
Filming, Step 4 - Beginning and End
Filming, Step 3 - Exaggerated Make-Up And Filming
Laura did start doing Liv's make-up but it took too much time so in the end Liv did most of it herself because it was easier and we didn't have a lot of time left at this point. The shots we filmed with Liv wearing make-up will be used to convey serious emotion in our video. Although Liv looks sad when lip syncing she isn't crying, so we decided that (like Natasha Bedingfield - I Bruise Easily) we would get Liv to smudge her make-up and cry. Because Liv couldn't properly cry she had a glass of water next to her where, she quickly ssprinkled drops of water on her face so it looked like tear drops. She also put water on her hands inbetween takes, so when she smudges her make-up it smudged more. Because Liv smudges her make-up and then wipes it off with a make-up wipe, we were under a lot of pressure to film it in one take because if there were any mistakes we would have had to wait for Liv put all of her make-up on again, luckily thios didn't happen and we were ok.
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Filming, Step 2 - Setting Up And Filming One Half
By the time we had the positioning and everything sorted out it was getting dark outside but wasn't dark enough to have a big light on, we then decided to use a lamp as a kind of spotlight on the shoulder shots because it highlighted key features and emotions on Liv's face, which in the end looked really effective. We originally had an office lamp so the head could move in the direction you wanted the light to focus on, but as we moved it it broke! So we then had to use a normal bedside lamp, although it looked good it was a lot of effort and was quite awkward as Laura had to sit and hold it facing the right way without moving for 4 munites numerous times.
When we eventually got filming, we decided to just make Liv lip sync the whole songinto the camera so we could cut bits we don't need in the editing suite. This was ok at first, but Liv fumbled or forgot a lot of words which made us have to film the same thing over and over, which made us run out of tape space! So we then told Liv to do it again, after re-winding the tape to the beginning and starting over. But she continued to forget words. So laura decided to get the lyrics Liv forgot, on her laptop so Liv could read them because it was the same verse she kept failing on.As we continued, things still didn't look quite right, so we told Liv to sing out loud along with the music because she wasn't miming convincingly enough. When she started to do this things looked really good and we then got the whole song filmed in one take.
Filming, Step 1 - Removing Existing Make-Up
When Liv removed all of ther make-up she was then very concious of how she looked and her skin condition/tone so we then suggested a bit of foundation/concealer to make her look less pale and blemished. What music video has women or even men not wearing a tiny bit of make-up to make them look better?? Liv then took her hair out of a pony tail and put it behind it shoulders for filming, we felt this looked natural. Because we were going for a more natural look, me and Laura told Liv to wear a strapless top so when filming her singing at a shoulder shot, we would see bare skin, this looked really good and effective when filming.
Filming
Monday, 25 October 2010
A Student Video Of 'Sweet Disposition' And How It Can Help Us
I have been looking on youtube at student projects of music videos to get idea's of what would work on lower quality camera's than the HD ones used for professional music videos. I have chosen this video of 'Sweet Disposition' because i really, really like this video although it is very complicated, especially for us as we have so little time, but i think there are elements of it we can use.
This shot of the slit screen is a really good idea, and we have spoken about using it in our video. In our video we are going to have Liv crying whilst lip syncing into a camera with a lot of make-up on which is running off her face or being smudged. We've also spoken about having a split screen and on the other half of Liv crying, have either Liv putting her make-up on, or a boy playing her ex boyfriend with the same shots as Liv- looking into camera, headshots, walking etc at the same time to see how he is responding to the break up.
We also like the idea of Liv reading a love letter from her ex boyfriend and getting angry/upset and then screwing it up/ripping it up, which is in this video. In this video i also like the idea that he has met a new girl and there is quick editing between shots of him with the main girl and time with his new girlfriend. I also LOVE the shot where the two are laying on bed together and the boy fades away leaving the girl alone.
Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
This song was what The Verve got their idea of walking down a busy street at the same stride and in the same direction from so that is the intertextual reference. Like The Verve the camera is focussed on one person for the whole video which allows the audience to see the mise-en-scene and everyday happenings that are going on behind her. Unlike The Verve, there is a lot more emotion portrayed by the main singer whereas in Bittersweet Symphony he has more attitude and barges past people etc. This makes the video quite intense whereas this video is a lot more relaxed.
This song has very little lip syncing because there aren't a lot of words in the song, the song is simply just:
I know that I've imagined love before
And how it could be with you
Really hurt me baby, really cut me baby
How can you have a day without a night
You're the book that I have opened
And now I've got to know much more
The curiousness of your potential kiss
Has got my mind and body aching
Really hurt me baby, really cut me baby
How can you have a day without a night
You're the book that I have opened
And now I've got to know much more
Like a soul without a mind
And a body without a heart
I'm missing every part
Hey, hey, hey
I, I, I, I
This is a song about being broken hearted, the emotion isn't portrayed as strongly as Sinead O'Connor's 'Nothing Compare's 2 U' or the video we are hoping to produce, but there is still emotion there, just very minimal. The emotions inthis video are very mixed, anger is portrayedmore than that sadness, this could be used in our video at some points.
Disjuncture is in this video because the video doesn't nessecerily project the meaning of the song, unlike Bittersweet Symphony because that song is about life so seeing everyday things in the background fits, but with this there is a strong case of disjucture. Although, her facial expressions whilst lip syncing which then amplifies and illustrates the meaning of the song and her emotions.
Marina & The Diamonds- I Am Not A Robot
I've chosen to analyze this video as I like the different types of makeup that she wears in the video as it is inspirational for the type of makeup I am going to be wearing in our video. We want to create an over the top look by using makeup, as this will add emphasis to the singers emotions and make it seem more dramatic and realistic.
In the clip above she is covered in some sort of black paint and glitter, of course this would be too exaggerated for what we want to create but it looks very good and stands out as all you can see is her mouth. This amplifies the lyrics as she looks exactly like a robot so the audience get a clear image of what she is singing about, this relates to Andrew Goodwin's theory.
In the clip above, the makeup is something we could maybe create although we don't want any makeup below the face as she has body paint on. I love the red lips she has with the diamante on. I love the face paint she has on that is black and green.
In the clip above we see her with silver diamante eyes and red lips with diamantes, I feel this looks really good and very sophisticated, and I think something like this would be good for our video. I like the diamante lips as they really stand out and draw attention to her lips when she is singing.
The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony is a really interesting music video because the idea is so simple but the video itself is quite complicated and hard to make, there are a lot of people in this video too which makes the video look a lot busier and harder to make. As a group we like the idea of walking down a street, whether it be one street or several different locations. This video contains both disjuncture and illustration/amplifying because the song is about life being 'bittersweet' which is also an oxymoron because bitter and sweet are completely different things, this means 'pleasure endured with pain' impying life is cruel but we enjoy it. When he is walking down the street he is surrounded by different every day life things going like; men working- brushing roads, people rushing to work etc.
Richard Ashcroft, the lead singer of the verve and the main man in this video, refuses to change pace or directiont hroughout the whole video. In this clip we see him continuing to barge past people and have them look at him for an apology but he doesn't respond. This video has close intertextual references with the video to Amy Winehouse - Tears Dry On Their Own, but that was made in the 2000's so probably got many idea's fromt his video which was made in the 1990's.
analysis of video.
In this video she is first seen covered in make-up and different colours. As she begins to take her make-up off we see a completely different person. The song is meant to convey a sad meaning, so by losing all the make-up she is revealing the 'real' her and makes us feel her feelings. When she removes her make-up she does it very simpley, by smudging it across her face, as if to show she doesn't care. Throughout this we are taking in all her emotions, which effects the audience. By including her crying this also adds to the communication of her feelings. This has an impact on the audience as they feel touched. We like the idea of removing the make-up and the crying scene as the song weve picked to do is sad. I think this part of the video is very effective as not only does it represent the meaning of the song, it also creates and effective and creative video.
Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
We have chosen to do a more simple idea because of our lack of time. I like this video because it's so simple yet really portrays the emotions of the singer because it's a head shot which then makes the facial expressions are magnified to the audience. She isn't hysterically crying in this video she only has one tear that rolls down her cheek at one point in the video which is simelar to how want it to be. Our main idea of someone singing into the camera is taken from this, i like it because she is showing strong emoitions which is what we are going use in our music video, but we are going to have Liv crying and removing masses of make-up.
This half of the music video is the part where she is more sad because you can see her tearing up. This has given us the idea forour video that it should be chronological and the singer will become more upset as the video progresses. This video amplifies the way Sinead O'Connor is feeling in this video, this then illustrates the song and what it's about.
Christina Aguilera-Beautiful
Here is a snapshot of a character in the video "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera. This is the type of shot we want to use to show me crying in the video. This looks very dramatic and very realistic, and that is what we are aiming for. Unfortunately I cannot embed the video as it has copyright but I have print screened the type of shot we would like to use., although I have attached a link. We thought that it would look good if I removed my makeup like Natasha Bedingfield's video "I Bruise Easily".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZjr0heZNIw&ob=av2n
Adele- Make You Feel My Love Lyrics
When the rain is blowing in your face,
and the whole world is on your case,
I could offer you a warm embrace
to make you feel my love.
When the evening shadows and the stars appear,
and there is no one there to dry your tears,
I could hold you for a million years
to make you feel my love.
I know you haven't made your mind up yet,
but I would never do you wrong.
I've known it from the moment that we met,
no doubt in my mind where you belong.
I'd go hungry; I'd go black and blue,
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
I'd go crawling down the avenue.
No, there's nothing that I wouldn't do
to make you feel my love.
The storms are raging on the rolling sea
and on the highway of regret.
Though winds of change are throwing wild and free,
you ain't seen nothing like me yet.
I could make you happy, make your dreams come true.
Nothing that I wouldn't do.
Go to the ends of the Earth for you,
to make you feel my love
to make you feel my love
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Our new idea
The video we will be making will be circled around a break-up. Some idea's we have are to look at the negatives at a break-up and have the singer crying and feeling sorry for herself.
The video will be following Liv walking around streets and going to certain places around the town that have meaning for her, when she gets to those places there will be a flashback of her and her ex-boyfriend looking happy and having fun, showing the contrast between how she was and how she is now. The flashbacks will be shown in a different colour, preferably black and white, so the audience are aware it isn't present day. We got some ideas from these videos:
Hair, Make-Up, Costume
Because this song is depressing, we feel that hair, make-up and costume should be simple.
Liv's hair will be simple, like how hair is everyday, either curly, wavy or straight. I feel that if her hair is straight on the negative scenes it fits because straight is simple and dull compared to wild and curly hair. Her hair will look nice at the start of the video, but as she gets more frustrated and upset she'll run her fingers through her hair and tug on it which will make it look more messy to get the negative emotion across. In the flashback scenes Liv's hair will be wild and curly to show her flamboyant and happy side across to the audience.
At the start of the video, Liv will have full make-up on and as the video goes on, the make-up will get smudged and cryed out. the make-up she is wearing at the start of the video will be very over the top and thick i.e. false eyelashes etc. We got an idea of this from this video:
On the flashback shots Liv will have nice make-up, this symbolises her emotions and allows the audience realise she is happy.
Costume will be black and simple, again reflecting her emotion at the time. Black is a colour assosiated with death and negativity which is why it will be used in our video to project how Liv is feeling at that moment in time. An example of this is:
The flashback scenes will be a contrast to this because Liv will be wearing lots of colourful clothes showing she is happy, contrasting how she is feeling at present time.
Saturday, 23 October 2010
problem number one.
Chosen song:
Thursday, 21 October 2010
Storyboard
I was going to do a simple powerpoint or just anatate every shot, but i thought this was a much more creative way of displaying our storyboard. Every shot is in time with the music for the exact amount of time the real shots will be, but they will obviously be in film and in some shots the camera pans and moves.
I thought of nearly every shot myself and drew pretty much every shot myself, this was very very time cosuming and i ran out of ideas after a while so found it hard to think of a variety of shots. I then had to take pictures of over 100 shots and then edit them on my laptop to make a video.
Making the video was really hard because my laptop is very slow anyway, but also because i was only able to use Windows Movie Maker at such sshort notice so the editing software was very basic. After i put several pictures on the timeline the video began to jolt which made it extremely hard to tell whether the timing was right or not.
Friday, 15 October 2010
Lyrics and Meaning
There's no one home to call,
You're forgetting who you are,
You can't stop crying.
It's part not giving in,
Part trusting your friends,
You do it all again and I'm not lying.
Oh oh oh oh,
Oh oh oh oh,
Standing in the way of control,
Go and live your life.
Survive the only way that you know, know.
I'm doing this for you,
Because it's easier to lose,
And it's hard to face the truth,
When you think you're dying.
It's part not giving in,
And part trusting your friends,
You do it all again but you don't stop trying.
Oh oh oh oh,
Oh oh oh oh,
Standing in the way of control,
Go and live your life.
Survive the only way that you know, know.
Standing in the way of control,
We live our lives.
Because of standing in the way of control,
We will live our lives.
Because of standing in the way of control,
We live our lives.
Because of standing in the way of control,
We will live our lives, lives, lives, lives.
Your back's against the wall,
There's no one home to call,
You're forgetting who you are,
You can't stop crying.
It's part not giving in,
Part trusting your friends,
You do it all again, you don't stop trying.
Oh oh oh oh,
Oh oh oh oh,
Standing in the way of control,
Go and live your life.
Survive the only way that you know, know.
The song was written by lead singer Beth Ditto as a response to the Federal Marriage Amendment which would have constitutionally outlawed same-sex marriage in the United States. She says of the song:
" Nobody in the States was that surprised or shocked by what Bush did, but it made everyone I know feel helpless and cheated. I wrote the chorus to try and encourage people not to give up. It’s a scary time for civil rights, but I really believe the only way to survive is to stick together and keep fighting. "
Risk Assessment- Messing up the house
Risk | Solution |
Using bottles | Will make sure no bottles are broken and that no alcohol is in the bottles for safety reasons, and when we scatter them we will make sure no-one stands on them. |
Using paracetamol/tablets | We will be using tablets to create the representation of drugs, we have to make sure that no-one takes any tablets for safety reasons, and to make sure no-one takes ill. |
Clothes scattered | As we will be scattering clothes around the house and down the stairs we have to make sure that everyone knows where they are to make sure that there are no accidents and people wont trip over them and hurt themselves. |
People dancing and jumping around | In the video as people will be dancing around and jumping we have to make sure this is done safely so we will inform everyone on where to dance and to not push into other people or to dance to closely to other people. |
Wearing heels | In the video, myself, and other characters may be wearing heels so therefore we need to make sure either peoples feet don't get trodden on or they stay out of the way with people with heels, if they are not wearing shoes. Also the people wearing heels need to be careful they aren't too high so they are not at risk of falling over. |
Equipment | We need to make sure everyone is aware of the equipment such as lighting, camera etc, so that no accidents can happen such as tripping over a wire or possibly knocking the camera over. This is for the equipment safety and also the people involved in the video, so we make sure that no equipment is damaged and no-one is hurt. |
Controlling everyone safely | We will inform everyone on what is required for their participation in the video, and tell them all the safety rules and how they can stay safe. If everyone follows our instructions, everything should go safely. |
We will inform everyone on the risk assessment before we start filming to that everyone knows what they are doing and how to stay safe. By doing this we should ensure we have a better result.
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Target audience & market research
Location Shots
Examples
Above are some example of house parties that are featured in music videos. We will use some of the ideas taken from these as inspiration! We can also use these videos to create an idea of what looks good and what looks bad. For example the first music video by Demi Lobo features a dance scene which i personally think looks rubbish. Its a good idea, as it breaks the video up so its not just the same idea throughout, but the way its been produced and choreographed is poor.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Location
So I could display the pictures of the type of atmosphere and setting we want to film, I did some research and found some images of a typical party scene and then I created a Flicker account and uploaded the images to that and then created a slide show to display them. In this images you see young people dancing around drinking this is the type of situation we want to create to represent a realistic party scene. To create this type of environment we are going to use a lot of people to create a party atmosphere and a lively gathering. For this the four of us will each ask a few friends to participate in the video.
The images I took off the internet are all pictures of the type of atmosphere we want to create. A few of the images are from the teenage programme "Skins" which has certain elements which are very inspirational. Obviously due to our ages there are some scenes that we cannot display and some props that we cannot use. An example of this is, we cannot wear revealing clothing in the video although this would be a common theme at a party. In the clip there is a variety shots used, a strobe effect is also used to show the life of the party. In our video it would be good to use something like this as it looks really good and very modern.
Risk assessment
Doors- Our set features 9 doors, therefore increasing the risk of trapped fingers.
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Props for the Production of Our Video
This is my animoto presentation of the props we are going to use to create a realistic music video. In the video it shows the pictures of alcohol and drugs, these are a major theme in our video as it is based around teenage society. We have chosen to use fairly cheap alcohol in the video as teenagers tend to purchase fairly cheap alcohol, but obviously we will not be using real alcohol for safety reasons and because we are underage and the majority of other people in the video will be aswell. We have discussed we will be using some sort of paracetamol or tablet to replace pills and create a believable representation. For the messy location we will use props such as clothes, bottles and other objects to create a disastrous area which looks recked and looks like there has been a party and things have got out of control. This goes very well with the title of the song we are using; "Standing in the way of Control" by The Gossip. We want the video to be very realistic and fairly shocking to project an image to the audience that this is what some situations can turn into and a stereotypical image of a teenage house party. The word "control" in the song, is a vital theme for the song as the video will be a binary opposite of control and totally out of control.
Monday, 4 October 2010
Representation
Beth Ditto has a big, curvy figure and black hair, where as our main actress(Liv) is blonde and skinny. We are therefore going to compose a representation of Beth Ditto, not a spitting image.
Our main costumes for Liv, will generally tend to be 'rocky' themed clothes. For example bright colours, blazers, big heels, tight tops. We plan on getting these clothes from all of our wardrobes. If not we will have to improvse, either bothering clothes off friends, or visiting cheap local shops or charity shops in order to keep our prices down. Also we will try and include extreme clothes. For example ...
Here Beth is seen wearing an unusual costume, which is a regular trend within rock. Unusual and extreme clothing.
As we are follow the style of Beth Ditto throughout to show a real representation of the band, we are going to use big, bold make up, one to copy Beths style, two to copy the rock style and also to make her stand out within the video. We liked the idea of big, black, smokey eyes. Also the idea of bright lips. This will bring Liv out in the crowd. For the rest of the cast within the video, we wanted to do plain makeup, so they come across as 'the background'. For example little mascara and natural lips. We want the cast to look presentable but not to the point where the audience are always focusing on them. We also will put makeup on the boys within the video. This will make them also look presentable and provide a better complexion when filming.
We like the idea of big, messy hair for Liv. We chose this as it represents that 'rocky' look! In order to create this, were going to back comb her hair, with lots of hairspray. By doing this we will hopefully achieve the desired look! I am going to do Liv's hair and make up. As i no what look we are going for it makes it easier for us to achieve the rock look!
inspiration
I cannot get the embed code for this video as it is disabled. This is an example of a house party featured in a video. we want to follow this kind of style and use it as inspiration to take ideas from.