Thoughts On The First Day Of Shooting

The first shoot of the music video was useful to identify elements I was unsure about. Some of the main issues I had was a lack of dynamic camera movement for the singing sections. I feel that these are too static for the pace and feel of the video.

However, the outdoor sections worked well, sporting a Danny Boyle feel with the fast hand held camera work.

Shooting Schedule

Sunday 7th December

I will be shooting the intro scene and outro scenes, the bedroom and street locations.
Full cast will need to be present.

Kit:
Camera - Canon 5D MkIII w/ 50mm f/1.4 and 24-105 f/4
Tripod
Lighting
Microphone
Speaker/iPod

Props:
Dresser/Chest of Drawers
Mirror √
TV √
Guitars/Chords √
Record Player + Vinyls √
Ice Cream Tub
Hot Dog
Skateboard √
Scooter
Remote Control √
Snapback Collection √
VW Chain Collection √
Bed/Mattress √
Alarm Clock √

Cast:
Evan
Ollie
Fabian
Georgia

Updated Animatic

Costume Ideas

Locations For My Music Video

Health And Safety Grid

This grid highlights some of the obvious risks that could effect the safety of those participating. While the risk and level of injury isn't particularly high, it is worth considering the above factors and having some plans on how to deal with the injury of a cast/production member. 

Storyboard & Animatic

This is without the intro, instrumental and outro - which are coming...

Places My Product May Feature

Applying Narrative Theory To A Music

Daft Punk - Prime Time Of Your Life

Tim O’Sullivan

Argues all media texts tell some kind of story, usually about ourselves and our culture. If you look at this video it makes a statement on the impact of media on our lives. The media can create false perceptions of reality as we passively take on the ideology of the media institutions. This could be linked in with the Hypodermic needle theory that states we are a passive audience that takes in everything fed by the media.

Kate Domaille, the 8 Narrative types.

Of the 8 narrative types Domaille talks about, this video would fit the profile of ‘Cinderella’ – the dream comes true for the protagonist. In the video, the young girl sees everyone around her as skeletons, In the TV, pictures and memories. We see the girl go into these fantasies and interact with her skeleton family and friends. In the end, she cuts off her own skin and is seen within the TV image, joining her Skeleton companions.

Todorov’s Equilibrium

This theory can be applied to this video.

Equilibrium (Girl is in bed watching TV, living with family.)

Disequilibrium (Girl cuts off skin and dies)

Resolution (Girl enters the TV and join the Skeletons)

Todorov’s theory is useful for breaking down a narrative structure into three segments that allow audiences to understand the narrative.

Conventions of Genre - Hip-Hop

Most videos that come from the Hip-Hop and related sub-genres of Rap ect. portray the artists in a similar way. The typical video in this genre would involve a live performance, either in a stage environment or out on the streets that the artist/group represent. The main purpose for these kinds of video is not only to showcase: money, status and fame. But to also inform the audience of issues that effect the artist/group that are often overlooked by the media.

Nas - One Love

The video for One Love starts with a young black male being chased, arrested and put in jail. On the outside, Nas writes letters to his friends in prison. The letters he writes inform the inmates of the events that have been happening on the street while they have been inside.

Nas - The World Is Yours



This video represents street culture in a positive light by representing Nas and his crew like kings. In this video there is no violence or deviant activity, just youths enjoying life. The overall message behind the video is to inspire the youth to take their life and make something of it. "The world is yours" to go out and be something.

Elements In Existing Videos

Analysis of Beastie Boys Alive

Textual Analysis

History of Music Videos

Conventions Of Form - Music Video

Hip Hop and Rap Videos

A brief comparison of some Hip Hop/Rap videos in order to identify some basic conventions and themes to include in my video

Music Video Questionnaire

The aim of this questionnaire is to find out what kinds of video audiences like, and what they do and do  not like to see in a music video. This information will be useful in developing ideas for my music video.

Questionnaire

Age

Gender

Occupation

How often do you watch music videos?

Why do you watch music videos?

Where do you watch music videos? For example, YouTube, MTV.

What specifically attracts you to a music video? Certain artists?

What do you like to see in a music video? Things like Camerawork, Costume or Choreography?

What don’t you like to see in a music video? Certain themes? Representation of gender/race?

Do you prefer a music video with a narrative, abstract or performance video? Why do you prefer

Treatment

Three guys (protagonists) meet a girl (antagonist) who seduces them. They take her home and she steals all of their stuff, while they sleep.  The theme would be the idea that young men are blinded by lust and naivety in their quest for a woman.

  

Music Video Narrative Synopsis

The music video will follow the story told in the lyrics as a visual representation:
A girl meets one of the members of the group and he wants to take her home. Rumour has it that the girl has been seen on street corners, implying that she "gets around." When he tries to take him home, he the cab driver recognises the girl because he has had sex with her. Some time advances in the narrative and another member of the group meets the same girl as before while he is buying a hot dog. She approaches him and sweet talks him into going to his place. Two of the members of the band who know about her warn rech each other to "hide your gold" because they do not trust her. They sleep through into the afternoon, only to find that the girl has stolen all of the possessions from their room.  

Initial Ideas For The Video

For my video I am thinking of having three men play the role of the Beastie Boys and make a narrative video based on the story in the lyrics. This will be mixed with a performance element as they will be rapping and dressing the viewer directly while interacting with the diegesis.

Lyrics Analysis.

She's Crafty Lyrics and Timings

Beastie Boys – She’s Crafty

Ad Rock, MCA, Mike D, Ad + D All

0:23 Well this girl came up to me, she said she's new in town 0:27
0:27 But the crew been said they seen her around 0:29
0:30 I thought they were right, but I didn't wanna know
The girlie was Def and she wanted to go 0:35

0:35 I think her name is Lucy but they all call her, "Loose" 0:37
0:37 I think I thought I seen her on eighth and forty-deuce
The next thing she said, "My place or yours? 0:41
0:41 Let's kick some bass behind closed doors" 0:45

0:45 We got into the cab, the cab driver said
He recognized my girlie from the back of her head 0:49
0:49 He said a little something about tip to base 0:51
0:51 So I made him stop the cab to get out of the place 0:54

0:54 Shouldn't have looked back, man, I'll always regret it 0:57
0:57 Something's going on and I'll probably never get it 0:59
1:00 She was crying like a baby, stupid dumb 1:02
1:02 It's just too bad that girl's a bum 1:04

1:04 She's crafty, she's gets around 1:06
1:07 She's crafty, she's always down 1:09
1:09 She's crafty, you know she's got a gripe 1:11
1:11 She's crafty and she's just my type 1:14
1:14 She's crafty 1:15

1:33 I spent my last dollar to buy a Sabrett
When I seen this girl I could never forget 1:38
1:38 Now, I like nothing better than a pretty-girl smile 1:41
1:41 And I haven't seen a smile that pretty in a while 1:44

1:44 The girl came up to me she said she loved the show
I asked her to come home and she couldn't say no
We got the crib and there's Adam and D
We didn't say a word, they just stared at me 1:53

1:53 I said, "I don't know her I just met her tonight" 1:56
1:56 And Ad Rock started hiding everything in sight 1:58
1:58 D pulled me over said, "Hide your gold
The girl is crafty like ice is cold" 2:04

2:04 The girl is crafty, she knows all the moves 2:06
2:06 I started playing records, she knew all the grooves 2:08
2:08 He thought she was a thief and D was right 2:11
2:11 But I just figured she'd spend the night 2:13

2:13 When I woke up late in the afternoon 2:16
2:16 She had taken all the things from inside his room 2:18
2:18 I found myself naked in the middle of the floor 2:21
2:21 She had taken the bed and the chest of drawers 2:23

2:23 The mirror, the TV, the new guitar cord 2:26
2:26 My remote control and my old skateboard 2:28
2:28 She robbed us blind, she took all we owned 2:31
2:31 And the boys blamed me for bringing her home 2:33

2:33 She's crafty, she's gets around 2:35

2:36 She's crafty, she's always down 2:38
2:38 She's crafty, she's got a gripe 2:41
2:41 She's crafty and she's just my type 2:44
2:44 She's crafty 2:45
2:47 Ah, yeah 2:48

3:14 She's crafty, she's gets around 3:16
3:16 She's crafty, she's always down 3:18
3:18 She's crafty, she's got a gripe 3:21
3:21 She's crafty and she's just my type 3:23

3:23 She's crafty, she's gets around 3:25

3:26 She's crafty, she's always down 3:28
3:28 She's crafty, she's got a gripe 3:31
3:31 She's crafty and she's just my type 3:33
3:33 She's crafty 3:35

Chosen Song: Beastie Boys - She's Crafty

I chose this video because it doesn't have it's own pre-existing music video. Having a pre-existing video might make it hard to make an original product without taking on influences from the original. Secondly, I chose this video because the lyrics are strong enough to create a good narrative video. The Lyrics tell the story of a girl who uses her charm to manipulate and deceive men to steal their belongings.

This song could be technically challenging because there are three people who rap across the song. whoever I cast, must know the whole song in order for the lip syncing to work well. However, I can reduce the amount of lip syncing needed by having areas the vocals more as a narration of a story.

Narrative/Performance Video Beastie Boys - Make Some Noise

This video by the Beastie Boys is a good example of a narrative music video mixed with some abstract elements. The narrative for this video takes place the morning after a party (the one featured in '(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)'  and the three B-Boys' quest to keep the party going. In the end, they run into future versions of themselves and have to battle them through break-dancing. The use of cast in the video is interesting for this video as the Beastie Boys don't actually feature in this cut of the song.* Instead, Ad Rock is played by Elijah Wood, MCA is played by Danny McBride and Mike D is played by Seth Rogen. Other features are Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Orlando Bloom, Steve Buscemi and Kirsten Dunst. The use of slow motion reflects the feelings of being hung over from a night out. The section from 3:20-4:15 is quite good because it used slow motion, jump cuts and a boosted colour saturation to visualize the effects of hallucinogenic drugs.

  

*this section is an edited version of their 30 minute long video 'Fight For Your Right Revisited.'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evA-R9OS-Vo

Grimes - Go ft. Blood Diamonds

I Chose this video as a good example of an abstract music video. The art house style is considered to be an element of iconography for Grimes and her music. I like the use of slow motion footage that is combined with sped up footage. This combination works especially well with the use of a fisheye lens as it distorts the image. I like the use of a back light, mixed in with neon paint because it brings out different features. Another strong point I like is the use of reversed footage and the way water and Grimes' hair moves when reversed. The mix between the long shots in the desert and the fisheye shots in the chorus represent the transition of the song by slowly combining the two locations.

I feel the video is let down by the lip sync as in the opening shot, her vocals and lips don't quite match. The vocals aren't that much out of sync but I feel it is noticeable enough. I feel like the mirror shots at the end are thrown in at last minute just to add some more visual appeal, but I feel that even in the style of this abstract video, they are out of place.

Evaluation

Originally we looked at Vanessa by Grimes, Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana and If You Wanna by The Vaccines. All three videos would have been good to do but we decided to choose The Vaccines’ video  because the concept was simple – a live band video. The video was in the same format as the Nirvana one but The Vaccines one didn’t have a large crowd, which would be hard to replicate. We chose  the first minute of The Vaccines video, which finished right at the end of the first chorus. Another reason for choosing this video was due to the fact we had all of the facilities within the college for producing this video. The theatre had a selection of coloured lights that were needed. We booked the theatre but could only get it for one session. This meant that we didn’t have enough time to shoot the whole video. We managed to get 15 seconds of useable footage from that session and were unable get anymore footage before the deadline. We decided it would be a good idea to choose a different video that could be done in the remaining 5 days of the project. Therefore, we chose Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars because it could be done fairly quickly around the city centre, making it easy to go back and re shoot any parts that needed to be done again. Chasing cars only had one actor in the video which made it easy to set a shooting schedule. Trying to get 4 people, a drum kit, 3 guitars and a theater is much harder than originally thought. Chasing cars also only has 8 shots in the 60 seconds that we chose. The Vaccines one had around 20 individual shots with 44 cuts.

Even though we decided to choose a second video, we thought it would be a good idea to keep the first video because it served as some valuable experience for producing a video. We learnt a lot about teamwork and organization – specifically planning ahead. We also learnt about framing shots, editing and improvisation out in the field. The problems we faced as a reminder of the importance of forward planning.

I have really enjoyed the transition project and I am proud of the work we have produced. I feel I have learnt a lot about production that I can take on to next year not only in Media studies, but Film studies as well. 

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars Remake

Production Roles

Group Members
Nick- Editor
Liam- Main Character
Luke- Camera/ Director
Sam- Set Design/ Assistant Director

Cast List
Liam