Filming and editing techniques that other directors use in music videos that would appeal to my audience.

After researching videos that included 'what ya say' by Jason Derulo and 'Doesn't mean anything' by Alicia Keys, i found that a technique used often in videos my audience liked is the use of extreme close-ups of their faces to empahsise the emotion they are trying to get across. i have also found that successful videos tend to be heavily storylined, mostly displaying a bad relationship. Both videos also give the audience flash backs of the life they once lead with their loved one. There is also a lot of long shots to show the overall picture of whats going on in the video. Jason uses a lot of point of view shots letting the audience see what exactly he is going through. Another technique which is always used is the link between the video to the lyrics for example Alicia at one point in her video is standing in the house ahe used to share with her boyfriend, it is really big and looks like it cost a lot, However as she is standing there she sings the lyric "But it doesn't mean anything now that your gone". Which tells the audience that she doesn't care about anything apart from him. Having the visuals there as well really helps the audience relate and get into the song more. Other conventional techniques is the use of fades showing flash backs of the artists life to now. It's an easy distinctive way of showiung the audience that this part of the video is in the past.

From this research i have decided to focus on incorporating the following techniques in my video:
Exteme close ups of the artists faces to show emotion,
Have a storylined video to keep the audience interested, and to give them visuals,
Long shots to show the audience the establishing shots of where the artist is?, how they are feeling?, what is in the overall shot,
Furthermore i am going to show different lighting effects night and day, to give the audience the feeling that this is how the artist feels night and day.
I will include many other techniques and some that are not conventional to make the video unique, i.e. Some special effects maybe of the artist standing on a mountain to show how vulnerable and alone she is. Furthermore i might incorporate what her life is like now she has got out of her bad relationship and show how far she has come physically and mentally.

Overall there are many conventional techniques that directors use to ensure profits, however i want to take a few risks and explore different avenues to maybe widen my audience, and prove to people that R'n'B isn't just about showing off what you've got it's meaningful too.

Budget

The majority of our budget is going towards transport for the cast and crew, to be able to get to different locations. This will work out to be £10 each way. £200 a week is going to the production office for stationary, euipment, utilities etc. £50 is going to the recce this is so the producer and production manager can confirm the locations, i.e. the beach. There will be one main artist and her supposed boyfriend. The boyfriend will be paid £142.62 and that includes his national insurance. The artist will be paid £237.67 which includes 5 days of shooting. Thfee is also to ensure her presence every day and to the highest quality equipment available for her. We will need a camera with a tripod with a camera to get the establishing shots of the market, furthermore we are going to display a lot of panning shots, this will cost £50 per day. I will also need to get the permissions of all the market stool holders to check whether or not they want to be filmed. Furthermore i will have to check with businesses to see whether they want their businesses featured or not.

Prodution Manager
Our main location is a beach in Great Yarmouth. Therefore i will have to check trains are running and the times they leave to and from Yarmouth, and to see whether or not the cast and crew will get there on time. i also need to decide how long we will be shooting at each location and make sure we move to our next location on schedule, to ensure we still have light. The food that everyone will have will be from the local fish and chip shop, this will be pre ordered so that it's there when we want it. Euipment that we will need will be a camera, tripod, and tracking euipment which can be borrowed from the local supermarket and returned that evening, because i feel a shopping trolley will be idle to track with. The rest of the euipment will be hand held by the crew to different locations. An idea that we could put into practiseis to use the Yarmouth wheel because it would give us a smooth shot and show good effects. The CD of the track will be needed so the artist can mime along to it. Lights may be needed to brighten up the locations due to winter nights, and these will again need to be transported by hand but carefully because they could break. Furthermore i may need to negociate with a local businessman whether or not we could use some electicity to power the lights if needed.

Budget Summary

Production Office-£200
Recce-£50
Cast (Casting)-£1652.66
Production Salaries-N/A
Unit Salaries-£502.66
Equipment Hire-£300
Art Department-£50
Studio Costs-N/A
Location Costs-£535
Post-Production-£237.68
Insurance and Legal-£100

Sub Total
Contingency and mark up

Final Total-£4931.14

Team Responsibilities

In our group there are three roles;

Producer- who is responsible for the overall finance. In charge of the client relationship, and in charge of all major production decisions. Lindsey has chosen to take on this role, because she likes to lead and make major decisions so she knows everything thats going on.

Director- This person produces the concept, directs the actors and plans and directs camera shots/movement. Post production and creative delivery. Cedella has chosen to take on this role because she would rather be behind the camera then infront of it.

Production Manager- This person is in charge of all costs, negociates all the shots and locations, and they organise the venues, cast, equipment and studio. I have chosen to take on this role because i feel that i have a good head on me to make relevant choices and i am good with money and know how to budget. Furthermore i can deligate the work to my team and equipment in unique ways.

Stationary

This is our logo, business card and invoice template for our company. We decided to create our logo the way we did because it's stylish, professional and the picture reflects our service well. In stead of just having a CD we decided to create a modern twist and have swirls coming out of the CD. This could be portrayed as sound coming from it, a bit like music.

Copy of the minutes throughout the meeting and a copy of the response back to the client

This is a copy of the minutes of the first meeting with our client on the 18th November. There is also a copy of the letter we wrote back to the client about further changes we will make. i took responsibility for writing the minites and in the letter back to the clieny i wrote what changes we need to make to ensure the video is what they are looking for.

The contribution i made to the meeting with our client.

Preparing for the meeting was a group effort, however we all had separate things that we focussed on. I was in charge of creating the moodboard and gathering all of the audience research. I chose to display the work on two separate A2 pieces of paper so it was clear for the client to see. I started to explain the video and what we have decided to do, but i made sure we kept to the clients original ideas as best i could. Furthermore i also explained that through my research it was shown that the audience love to see a storyline that they can follow and relate their bad relationships with.

During the meeting my role was to break the ice and get everything started. i did this by introducing the client to a lot of visual ideas so that they can get a good picture in their heads of what i was talking about. I also had the role of explaining the video and asking them if they had any changes they would like to make. I recorded the minutes during the meeting and created action points of things we as a group need to change.

Communication throughout the meeting flowed really well, everyone knew exactly what they had to say and pitch to the client. Once someone mentioned something for example the budget we all came together as a group and said something different to help that person out. Our ideas seemed to bounce off each other like electricity, and i feel it went really well. However in future we do need to let each other speak and not talk over one another because i think we confused the client slightly.

Problems and action points that arose during the meeting was our location shots. The client said that they wanted the beach to be the artists prominent singing location instead of the train, because the beach is a lot more peaceful and the surroundings will look better in the video. Furthermore the beach will show her reflecting on her past and what she has gone through. However they still like the fact we are going to use the train because it shows hidden messages of her moving on, looking towards the future.

The next step for our group is to solve the problems that arose during the meeting, and get back to the client within the next two weeks to show the changes we have made. Furthermore we will start filming the video in December which will envolve 5 days of shoting, and hopefully the client is impressed with the outcome.

Four videos reflecting our target audience

All these videos show a great understanding of what my target audience would like to see in a video. For example they all have a very good looking artist, and their lifestyle is envious. Furthermore my audience likes to relate the lyrics or the storyline of the video to something thats gone on in their lives, i.e. a bad relationship.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZVlVgpghA4 Akon-Lonely

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfPqwoIBuXI Rhianna-Rehab

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZKdgFVqAkA Mariah Carey-I stay in love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jCDnwldrt8 Leona Lewis-Happy




In all my videos there are many close ups and extreme close ups. For example when Akon is singing to his girlfriend. A shot is used to emphasise his facial expressions and to show the emotion he is feeling. In the video with Leona Lewis she does a lot of walking across the screen, this was shot using tracking to get a steady realistic scene. Long shots of Mariah Carey in her videos are are used a lot. I feel this is done to show an outsiders point of view, and to give the audience the overall visualisation of the situation.

The pace of the videos vary for certain scenes for example Leona has a lot of shots cutting to and from her relationship with a man to the present day of her watching her man marry someone else. At this point the editing is reasonably quick to keep the audience interested and to keep the different time frames fresh in their minds. However in the Mariah Carey video editing is constantly slow with a few fades to and from shots. This done to entice the audience into the video and to make them think about their previous relationships. Rhianna uses a lot of slow editing for the same reasons. However they are mostly of herself, i feel this is done to show the audience her emotions towards her past relationship. No great effects are used throughout all the videos because they aren't about looking flashy they are trying to relate their past wsith the audiences, and try and make the video look like real footage of their lives.

The mise-en-scene used in all 4 videos are very different. For example Akon features him on a stage singing, but with no audience to watch him. This could be a link to the lyrics to show how lonely he is. It cuts back to moments in his life with his girlfriend and where it all went wrong which again emphasises his lonelness. The outfit he is wearing i feel doesn't reflect what he is feeling. For example he is dressed very smart and has a lot of jewellery on which is prominently featured. This tells me that although he is talking about a sad and depressing song he still wants to come across to the audience as a wealthy man who has an envious lifestyle. There are no props that are used that mean anything i feel this was to create the illusion that what he was doing was happening right there. i.e. there is no camera watching him, it's almost like it's real footage. Rhianna and Mariah Careys videos are located in similar places out in the dessert, this shows that they both feel on the outside looking in and mostly feel alone. Both women portray themselves as strong, like they are coming out of the slump thet felt they were in and fighting back. The outfits are very revealing showing that they still have confidence and that they are trying to appeal to the male audience. However one main difference is that Mariah Careys video is shot in black and white, this could show that is what she thinks about her life in terms of simplicity. The lighting used in both videos is bright because they are in the dessert, emphasising their faces.

Leona Lewis's video is more about the meaning of the lyrics. It features her in a foreign county with a man who the audience believe throughout the video is her boyfriend. However later on at the end of the video we discover that she is the bridesmaide at the wedding of the man she loves. All she sings about is how happy she wants to be. The location is very unusual because it doesn't look expensive if anything it looks like a place anyone could go to for a small amount of money. The outfit she is wearing is very virginal, i.e. a white flowy dress. This says to me that

she is the type of person who would rather say nothing then cause trouble, it also says that she is a good girl and respects the rules. The only props used is the conventional wedding things i.e. chairs, aisle etc.

The narrative and performance element to all 4 videos is amazing. They are almost acting throughout. They are all heavily storylined which is done to give the audience visuals and something to follow. Akon and Mariah both have small performnace elements in their videos, but both for different reasons. For example i feel Akon is using that stage to express his feelings that he has bottled up for so long wheras Mariah uses her performance element as her job in the video, something she does every night for different crowds. For me Akons stage presence is a lot more believable and emotional to watch because i can relate what he is saying to my own past relationships. Rhianna's lyrics to rehab is amazing and sums up love in one. However unlike some songs you don't need the video to listern to it because the lyrics alone are so powerful. I feel that the video could have been a lot better then it was. Maybe featuring her relationship in the video. Leona's narrative can be used on a very wide spectrum for example many people can relate whats happening with her to their own lives. It doesn't just have to be someone whos married your guy, it could just be someone whos stolen your guy and your showing your emotions. Throughout the video something else is happening it's like your seeing the build up to the big day first hand, like your invading their privacy. You constantly want to know whats going to happen next. Furthermore the still images of her face when they marry almost bring you to tears, because it makes you slow down and really think about whats going on.

Overall all 4 videos show elements of what my target audience want to see, and i will make sure that most of the shots and stoylines etc are featured prominently throughout our video, this way we can ensure the highest profits.

Different types of lighting

Analysing a music video Arctic Monkeys-Brainstorm

Analysing a music video oopsy Daisy-Chipmunk

video

The changing nature of the music industry

The last sentence of this essay should have been,

and as long as that is in demand directors and producers will take advantage of that.

Brief we were given

On 28th September we received our commission brief from the agents of the artist (pasted below).
Our commission is to create a music video for the single 'Crazy Past', to be completed for delivery in the first week of February.
We have scheduled for three further meetings with the clients.
On the week beginning the 2nd November we will have a meeting where we present our treatment, along with audience research and a draft budget.
On the week beginning 30th November we will have an update meeting and will present our work in progress.
On the week beginning 1st February we will deliver the completed video, with final invoicing.


Lisa Gibson

Crazy Past

Emerging from the dingy streets of South East London is Lisa Gibson aged 20. She exploded onto the RnB scene with her very first performance at ‘I LUV LIVE’ alongside Estelle and Ms Dynamite.
From an early age Lisa started to learn to play the piano, her passion for music then developed as she started singing, it wasn’t long before she was writing her own songs.
Lisa’s songs offer a soulful blend of RnB, Pop along with a cutting edge of jazz flavour.
Once you hear Lisa’s fresh irresistible vocals and her passionate song writing ability you’ll understand why so many labels are trying to sign her and why they are all referring to her as the next big thing to come out of the UK.
She has graced the cover of ‘Absolute’ and ‘Qube’ Magazine.



Genre and Style
Blend of RnB,Pop and Garage

Influences
Tina Moore, Mis Teeq, Brandy, Billie Holiday, Mariah Carey

Audience
13- upwards Predominantly female. fashion conscious and image aware laydaaay!!!
VideoWe would like the video to be clearly heavlily influenced by a crazy past.

All about me

Hiya,
My name is Naomi and i am 17, i chose to do this course because media is one of my strengths along with English. Last year at college i did my first year of A levels and got a 'B' in my media so i decided to take a more direct approach towards it and pick a course that features this primarily. i am hoping to go on to university to study journalism and hopefully choose this as a career. My hobbies and interests is going out with my friends and dancing. i am a very organised and particluar about having things presented in a certain way.