Animatic of Storyboard

Beginning to Storyboard

We have begun story boarding and have got about a minute of our 3 minute song so far. It is taking much longer than we expected and proving to be much more difficult to think of every single shot type. It is likely that the final product won't look exactly like the story board however i think it's really important to have a guide line of what we want to produce: as this will make filming much easier and more efficient.

Treatment Pitch (2)

As we changed our idea we thought it would be a good idea to do another treatment pitch to get there thoughts on the idea. It was all positive feedback therefore we are positive with moving forward with it and putting in our all. 

Getting the Ball Rolling

We feel quite deflated about our lack of inspiration so I decided to set the ball rolling and coming up with my own plan and concept alone and see what the others thought about it in hope that this would spark some ideas.

So firstly, as we all liked the mental idea i thought it was best for my ideas to stem from this. 

While listening to the song i thought about where the protagonists craziness could stem from. She is directed the song to someone in particular which is shown through the pronoun 'you' as she is 'screaming for you' i thought this was maybe a cry for help. 

Going from this i then decided that maybe she was in a bad relationship but then came to the realisation that going to an all girls school finding a male character would be quite tricky. 

After this i thought maybe she was being bullied?  So i went with this idea and started to story board while listening to the song which i found helped me to envision what was happening much better. 

 

Here are my rough story boards- 

1) So first i thought we could have an ECU of the protaganists eye which zooms out to an empty room which would end up being a 'room in her head' with her sitting in the centre with cuts and bandages on her. 

2) Then i thought there could be a flashback to her at school in a classroom with the whole class laughing at her (wide shot) and then an ariel shot of her with everyone throwing things at her. 

3) Then there would be a flicker of her sitting in the classroom alone and her being really sad (lip syncing) 

4) Go back to this room in her head. With nurses trying to give her medicine or an injection or something and she is restisting. It would then black out leading to the next flashback. 

5) The next flashback would be at a park. We would have shots of her swinging on a swing and flickers of an empty swing swinging and a roundabout going around by itself creating a really eery atmosphere.  The same girls then appear bullying her again showing that she has no escape from them. 

6) Go back to the room again. I thought it would look really effective to have a time lapse of the girl doing crazy things such as swaying in the corner or looking dead pan into the camera or scratching at the walls along with other things. Then the end shot will be her screaming maybe? and then collapses again leading to the next and last flashback. 

7) she is being chased by these bullying girls and she is looking back to no one being there and then shes corned under a bridge and they begin fighting or something like that. 

8) The last scene would be back in the room and I thought maybe throughout each flashback she will be adding to a drawing. Then the nurses in this room- show her this drawing she's made and she gets frightened and then they take of their nurses masks and reveal that they are the bullies.

The end. 

There would also be lip syncing in between to create a more performance element rather than just a film with music over the top. 

Inspirational Video

I really like the kalidiscope idea in music videos as I think it gives an edgy effect. I found this video which shows a modern take on this concept.

Collard greens by SchoolBoy Q comes under the RnB genre therefore has the conventions that go with this genre running through the whole video such as alcohol, drugs and half naked girls.  However , the beginning of the song gives a unique take to the genre which I particularly enjoyed watching and this feature would make, me, the audience want to watch it again and again. 

Questionaire

Before starting any research into song choices etc. I set up a questionnaire which I asked on social media platforms such as Twitter and Whatsapp. I thought this would help with choosing a genre and to see if there was any specific features people looked for in a music video. 

These are the questions I asked. 

1.What genre of music do you prefer listening to?

2. What do you like in a music video?

3. What makes you watch a music video more than once?

4. Where do you watch music videos?

5. How do you find new music?

Change of Plan

It's not just you, I am also sick of hearing that we've changed our idea but we began filming for our previous idea and we all hated the outcome of even the one idea we liked the most. We thought our idea was very basic and lacked substance because of it's abstract concept. We wanted to achieve something better. So, we went back to the drawing board and this is going to be our song choice last and for all.

We heard the song White Noise by PVIS and all fell in love we thought the beat was much better and because of it's indie/pop rock genre the conventions are better suited to the style of video we wanted to create.

Also, as this song doesn't have it's own video we won't fall in the trap of stealing ideas from it and then end up creating a re make instead of a some what original video. 

The song is quite strong and therefore needed a strong narrative to go along with it in our opinions. 

I asked friends and family what they envisioned for a music video when they heard this song which set a foundation for our ideas to flow from. 

*insert video you will make* 

From this we really liked what one person said about someone going crazy in somewhere like a mental institution and we thought this could be something we could achieve and make look quite professional. 

From the start we were all a fan of the grey scale videos as we thought it just gave a nice effect and a professional feel. We have also seen overlapping techniques in videos before and the kaleidoscope affect which are some elements we wanted to create during post production.

"White Noise"

It's hard to be what you need through a static screen. 
Been trying to speak for weeks and weeks. 
Open my mouth, 
All that comes out is white noise and incomprehensible sounds, 
And all you ever do is turn me down. 

I'm watching.
I'm waiting.
I'm aching. 
Suffocating. 
I'm breathing. 
I'm speaking. 
Can you hear me?
I'm screaming for you. 

Day by day, 
I'm slowly replaced in your picture frames. 
A brand new face on your pillowcase. 
Come the night you dim the lights and close the blinds, 
But I still see them running down your spine, 
Cause I illuminate the room, 
Just enough to watch you. 

I'm watching.
I'm waiting.
I'm aching. 
Suffocating. 
I'm breathing. 
I'm speaking. 
Can you hear me?
I'm screaming for you. 

Sick of the lack of signal. 
Sick of the lack of touch. 
Sick of the static voice. 
It's not enough, it's not enough. 
Baby it's hard to be just what you need when all I speak is static screams.
Can you hear me? 

I'm watching.
I'm waiting.
I'm aching. 
Suffocating. 
I'm breathing. 
I'm speaking. 
Can you hear me?
I'm screaming for you.

The lyrics connote anger and sadness so we think the grey scale affect in post production would go with this nicely as the dull tone will correlate with the way the protagonist feels. 

Filming (1)

We began filming today for the first verse of our song; 'he's got a rolling stones tee, but he only knows one song' where we are doing stop animation of a rolling stones t-shirt. 

It took longer than expected as first we had problems with our memory card which wouldn't function with the speed of the camera. However we found a replacement and it was fine. 

We also took a few takes of the top moving, using both photos and a continue video to see which would look better during the editing process. 

As the idea is quite straight forward we imagined it wouldn't take too long however it took much longer due to some technical difficulties which seem to haunt us when attempting to film. 

The camera kept coming up with this message after filming for only a few seconds. 

However,after googling it we found out that it was because our SD card that we had wasn't fast enough for the camera therefore after changing it we managed to get it working and were finished filming shortly after. 

We decided to use artifical lighting as the natural light kept changing and made it difficult therefore to keep it consistent this worked much better. 

Here is a vlog we made after filming where we explained the problems we faced. 

Codes and Conventions

The song we've now chosen falls under the indie genre which has different conventions to our previously song therefore will affect our decision making when planning our video.

Conventions:
1) Live Performance
It keeps the focus on them and doesn't take away from the talent of the artist.

2)Narrative
This is common in order to link the lyrics to a visual keeping the audience more engaged.

3) Mise-En-Scene
Indie rock artists usually have a unique image which they like to portray through props and sets in their music videos.

4) Sound
Hearing directly from the instruments so the audience can appreciate the talent.

5) Extreme Close Ups
To introduce characters or the artist themselves or to portray what emotion they're feeling.

6) Editing
An effect is laid on top of the footage to create a consistency and give an old fashioned affect.
A range of fast and slow cuts to reflect the pace of the music.
They also use special effects to make the video more interesting.

Inspirational Video

Taylor Swift has recently brought out a new music video for her new single Blank Space.

This video has a lot of performance elements as well as having a strong narrative. I feel like this video really fits the definition of a music video as the narrative corresponds to the lyrics well and there is lip syncing throughout. 

I especially like the symmetry of all the frames. I think framing is really important and needs to be something that we should pay extra attention to when filming our music video because it gives the video a professional and aesthetically pleasing visual. 

Furthermore,  she looks staright at the camera a few times which creates a relationship with the audience and shows her as a 'star'. 

i also like the build up of the video. It shows the couple happy and then the destruction of the relationship in all of the same locations/rooms. This creates the idea that not everything is what it seems. There are also comical elements which I  like as it doesn't make the video too serious and makes an audience want to re watch it.

The video is also cyclical which gave us an idea to begin and end with the same thing as well. 

Digipak Research

A digipak is an alternative to dual casing packaging.

Digipaks are: 

• Made mostly from thick card, the digipak is virtually shatterproof and allows great graphic display.
• Originally used for the album packaging of leading musicians, the digipak and digipak family are now priced reasonably enough to be used for any CD or DVD project.
• The digipak is an extremely versatile packaging. It can be made to accommodate a booklet either by placing in a die-cut slot or gluing onto one of the panels
• In addition, the panels can be increased from 4 to 6, 8 or more.
• The DVD Digipak is a popular alternative to the DVD box which is now widely used for feature film DVD releases which are special editions because it increases the value and creates a premium product.
• CD and DVD DigiPaks make a big statement, they represent the ultimate custom packaging for your CD or DVD replication project. ADigiPak is also a more environmentally friendly option when compared with traditional plastic jewel cases or DVD cases.
• Material: 300gsm card with matt or gloss varnish. Printed 4 colours (CMYK) or Pantone colours. Spot varnish, lamination and embossing available.
• Dimensions (based on standard 4pp digipak): finished size of 139.5mm x 6mmx 125.5mm

Here are some examples of existing digipaks from our genre...

Chorus (1)

The chorus of our song is very up beat therefore we wanted the visuals to include something fun to correlate with the rhythm of the song.

We thought we would make the most of the fact that we live in London and have shots of us riding boris bikes and panning shots of the view with the London eye and other iconic buildings. This will also relate to the 'star' at show where she's from etc.

 while riding the bikes we wanted a mixture of shots. Some low angle shots of the wheels/ some hand held shots to show that they're videoing themselves which shows voyeurism and some panning shots of London's beautiful sky line concentrating on the London Eye.

Storyboarding (2)

Our story boarding is finally coming together and even though we haven't worked through each verse chronologically we know have verses 1 to 5 sorted and have made sure they will flow from one to the next.

For the second verse we found it difficult to think of an abstract idea without it being too literal so we decided, instead, to have performance in this verse instead. We took on board what Pete said about music videos and performance and wanted to include more of this element so we decided to use this verse to do so. He also said he thinks close ups are necessary to promote the star which we will also be doing here.
We wanted the setting to reflect our sixties theme therefore thought of local and accessible locations. Outside our school there is a market place with cobbled streets which we thought would work quite well.

Props/ Clothing

VERSE ONE 

A rolling stones t-shirt will be used for the stop animation at the beginning of the song when it will be scrunched up into a ball and flatten out. 

We also wanted to use a calender like this to show the date of 1991 however obviously not this exact one as it doesn't show the year however we liked the style and will be on the hunt to find something similar! 

VERSE FOUR 

We wanted to have the horizontal split screen with change of outfits with a contrasting top and bottom with a mixture of boys and girls as we think it will give a cool effect as I previously mentioned.  This will involve a few different people wearing different outfits maybe about 4 or 5. 

BFI, South Bank

Today, we took a trip down to the BFI, South Bank where we were lucky enough to see a music video director speak to us and show us his work while talking about his experiences. I found this really interesting and it put into perspective how real media products are constructed and the hard work it entails. As well as this Pete, who turned out to be the A-Level teacher of this famous director, gave us his top tips for making our video which were also useful and told us the shot types we should include.

We had a fun-filled, jam-packed day which was informative as well as enjoyable. 

The day was well thought out in order for us to get the most out of it! 

First we were introduced, then we learnt about the history of music videos which I really liked as it was an opportunity to see the progression of music videos and the way technology and ideas about what music videos are has really had an effect on them. 

We then was told Pete's top tips for making our music video which you can see from my hurried notes (from excitement and fear of missing anything) down below....

After that we were set a task to do over lunch which consisted of listening to a song and trying to come up with a concept for a video. Each school then pitched their idea when we returned and got feedback from the actual director of the real video. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences from the videos we thought of to what he actually created. 

Here is the video... 

All of us played on the idea of women and cars which he did use in the real thing and some of the other schools came up with futuristic ideas which were similar to the flying car in this video. 

This inspired ideas for our own music video such as using secondary footage from the sixties and more close up shots with performance elements. Pete told us that a music video isn't a music video without performance it is just a film. 

Voyeurism

We wanted to incorporate voyeurism into our music video. We thought we could do this by having our main protagonist putting a vinyl record on to play with a logo that will correspond to our branding and DIGIPAC so it will show her listening to her own music.

We may also use her filming herself on her phone on social media platforms such as 'Snapchat' where as well as friends, famous people can also reach there fans by short videos and photos available for 24 hours.

Storyboarding (3)

We carried on story boarding by looking at the lyrics while the song was playing to see what visuals we wanted to match each particular lyric along with the rhythm of the song. Today, we looked at the fourth verse of the song as this is the verse that sparked the most ideas. We like the idea of having direct visuals of the 'checkered shirts and chino trousers'. At first we liked the idea of having solely the clothes being shown with no head shots. This then developed into having a horizontal split screen of a top half and the bottom half of different people, still with no head shots. After coming up with this idea we realised it was very similar to  the opening of the TV show 'Ugly Betty'. This is exactly the kind of thing we wanted to recreate as we think it will give a fun edge to our music video. However, instead of their use of face features and 3 horizontal splits we will be using the body with only 2.

Here, Tara and I are watching the opening to ensure our memory of the show was as we remembered. 

This will be used for the whole of the fourth verse and we wanted to play on the lyrics of 'gangsters' and 'sixth form' which will convey the contrast of scruffy attire to more 'preppy'. 

Storyboarding (1)

As none of us are the best of drawers it made more sense to write the shots we wanted to use straight onto the lyrics. This, we found useful because it allowed us to not only get our thoughts onto paper but also know which shot went with which lyric.

We have now fully planned the first verse of our song and have some vague ideas for the rest of the song.

We wanted to use stop animation of a 'rolling stones tee'. We wanted to have the t-shirt scrunched and then open up to reveal the famous logo. This correlates directly with the lyrics which is a concept we liked from the Riptide by Vance Joy music video at the beginning of our research. 

I found the idea of using stop animation from a YouTube video on my 'recommended' page and i really like the way it looks I think it gives a very intricate look and becomes memorising to the audience which is an essential factor to consider. 

This idea of  mine was also reinspired when our teacher showed us stop animation of this incredible art work.

For the 'but they were born in 1991' lyric we wanted to have a visual interpretation of a calender from 1991. When thinking of ways to do this we thought of the iPhone calendar being filmed while scrolling through. However after gathering some spontaneous audience feedback on this idea (which we forgot to film) our peers thought it may be a better idea to have a real calender from which more research took place and we found these flip calenders which we thought would be more suitable for the retro/ sixites theme that we're trying to create.

We also wanted to include a trippy visual with sixities colours to represent the 60's theme as well as acting as a transition from one shot to another. This may also look good as the album cover. 

Richard Dyer- Star Quality Theory

''A star is an image constructed (as any other aspect of the fiction is) from a range of materials- E.G. advertising and magazines, as well as films and music. -Richard Dyer 

Ed Sheeran is a good example as he is similar to our chosen artist Nina Nesbitt. They are both from the pop/folk genre.

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Ed Sheeran has been dominating the singer/songwriter realm since he released his debut album “+” in September 2011 and his debut single “The A Team” heated up the charts! He went on to release 4 more singles from that album including: “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You”, “Lego House”, “Drunk”, “Small Bump”, and “Give Me Love”. The album has gone on to sell millions of copies.American actor, Jamie Foxx invited him to 'jam' at his house.  In January 2011 Ed released an EP called “No 5 Collaborations Project” and it went to #2 on the iTunes albums chart.  Ed  then received a phone call from Elton John.  He is apparently so interested in new music that he bought Ed’s EP and listened to it. Elton put Ed under his wing as a mentor and soon after he was signed by Atlantic Records. Ed is now a star. 

He's been on the front cover of various magazines with all positive comments said about his music. This plays a big part of Ed's success. He has also joined the biggest talk show hosts Ellen and Jonathon Ross. 

Ed Sheeran’s target audience would typically be the young people, aged around 16 – 25 because of what the songs relate to; heartbreak, relationships, alcohol and drugs etc.   However his audience aren't restricted to this age group, as he appeals to a wider audience due to the amount of magazine coverage and radio he is being acknowledged by a wide spectrum of audiences. His audiences are a mixture of both male and female. There are many fan-base websites on facebook, tumblr, fanpop, which suggests that his fans are of a young age as they are active on social media. Social media is another platform Ed gets lots of notice. His twitter page has reached 11 million followers. 

This video recorded back stage at the water front in Norwich. Ed Sheeran and fellow 'star' Example were free styling about Nandos chicken and this funny video went viral, being spread through twitter and other social media. The song was sung all around the country. 

Location ideas

We wanted to play on the sixties theme and we thought of a few ideas for this. We wanted this theme to be portrayed through our locations as well as through iconography.

We wanted to us cobbled streets which we could find locally at Enfield Town street market and vinyl record shop in east london.

These are some location ideas we have thought of-

Mood Board

Hunting for inspiration tumblr seemed the place to find it. As we wanted to play on the sixties theme mentioned in the lyrics of our chosen song we looked at sixties colours and patterns which we want to incorporate into our music video. 

We also liked the sepia effect and thought it gave a vintage look which would also go with our subtle sixties theme.