Production plan

The production plan

Basic Equipment:

• Video Camera with (Zoom in and out features) Detachable from tripod 
• Tripod Detachable and adjustable
• Portable lighting sources such as torches ,lamps and fire (Only used in cation as well to show natural lighting )
• Computer program  preferably Imovie on the macs for editing.

Instruments:

• Guitar + 2 
• Drum set
•  Two bass guitars 
• Microphone adjustable to height .(with microphone stand )

Other equipment lists :

• Glasses
• Alcohol (Preferably beer)
• Bar setting with barman 
• Handheld camera 
• Furniture settings
• Multiple of lights placed in the background 

Setting plans:

(Birds eye view image ere)

The Pub setting plans:

• Basic list 
• Other Equipment list

The pub setting for our music video will require  materials in which can be provided in the pub itself also in the pub will require space for several members of the band as well as background actors. Also in this certain setting the back ground has been kept as it has to keep the pub image more natural .

In this setting will involves most of the narrative theory side of the music video so the lighting and placement of the actors is very important to this part of the music video also the pub has a confined space  which makes camera moving shots a problem so this will require tools of wheels to be attached to the camera to get a more swift tracking or moving shot .

The Garage Setting plans:

• Basic lists
• Instruments

Requires a garage with enough space for the instrument equipment list as well as the basic lists also the set out of the design will need to be placed in a certain way to make sure that certain band member are more enthused than other band members .

Background design in the music video will show a messy but not too trashy garage which shows not too much class but not too trashy to make the audience think they are dirty. Also the background will show lots of different light colour to make an image of begin at the concert and uses the dark background advantage to illustrate the lights as star creating a conflict of rising over the abilities making them ultimately visible to the viewers .

Different artists image

This part is where we had decided to choose a certain image for our band and by trying to choose the right image for this indie style rock band we had to do our own reasearch into the actual background of the bands and the messages they are trying to get out of there music.So by doing this we needed to decide what kind of image we want to pertray to our audience .And doing this we had decide some parts of the bands image with the use of our own youth knownlegde of todays (hip) music and by doing this allowed us too decide what genre is our band .Which helped us decide the physicail appearance of the our band .Which resemables alot of the indie style look.The image i would say that or music video band member most resemables is a band called 3 doors down a popular band which is most well known for there song (What if i could ) and the music video alone show similairites of clothing design aswell and the age group in which the band had attracted with the slow but catchy tempoed music.The only problem in using this band as a way to compare or inspire or band is that the age difference of the band cannot be ignored due to the fact this will effect the actual audience we attract along with the style and message we are trying to bring to our audience.

This would be all effected due to the fact that the concept of having the hero image talking in the propps theory and having a the bands age become similair to the hero image the audience itself will begin to use the hero image as an idolized image ulitmately changing there aspects to the hero image.

The similairites we have are that kinda of style of clothing very normal almost nothing is shiny just a causal checked shirt along with jeans and the odd jacket. But the clthing is the same the way our band wear the clothes is different in a way to match our youthly style of dressing to create a connection to the audience.Aswell as the band appearance 3 doors down gives out a message of typicail teeanage problems with alot of narrative theory music with songs such as 'loser' talking about the struggles of a teenage boy. Which helped us anaylsis them with careful evaluations of the lyrics. Aswell as using brown and dark colours to shows a some what emo like theature which is not too dark to seem emo but not too light to enthize the maturity.

Music video analysis

We decide to do some research in order to improve our own music video by analyzing other successful music videos such as fire files by owl city which a popular video with over a 1,000,000 views .

Plan of music video

Synaesthesia

Mike Gondry, in the Daft Punk ‘around the world’ video, he uses synaesthesia.

Kandinsky, in the 1920s, was famous for his synaesthesia work, many of his paintings and stage work, used a variety of colours and timbres to establish different meanings, between different musical instruments. Kandinsky said that his connections between these colours and timbres he had selected had no scientific basis but was founded on his own personal feelings and culture. According to Kandinsky, the table below shows the connection between each colour and musical timbre.

He suggested that the following colours represtented the musical timbres: 

Colours	Musical Timbres
Yellow	Trumpet; Sound of the fanfare
Azure	Flute
Blue	Deep sounds from the organ
Dark Blue	Cello
Very Dark Blue	Bass
Green	Middle tones of the violin
White	Temporary pause
Black	Conclusive pause
Grey	Lack of sound
Bright Red	Fanfare; tube/horn
Crimson Red	Medium an deep tones of the cello
Orange	Middle bells of the church; strong contralto voice; viola
Violet	English horn; bagpipe
Deep Purple	Deep tones of the woodwinds; bassoon

Arthur Bliss, was influenced by the ideas of colour music. In 1922 he wrote the colour symphony.

In the around the world video by daft punk, it is made up of different people showing the different parts of the music. The people in the middle represent the heavy bass, dancing in time the heavy bass drums. The swimming costumes show synchronized swimmers, completely in time with each other. These are the high-pitched register. The taller people made up of 2 people have additional sections to them, evoking how they add to the music, the bass guitar show the low register. The skeletons are the guitars, and the robots are the vocals. The steps around the edge are the scale with the lyrics. The backing on the staging, changes colour due to the time throughout the song, going dark blue for instrumentation, white for when its only the beat and when there’s the lyrics it’s a lighter blue. 

The choreography shows just isolated music, evoking how each component of the music is individual and stand alone.

The inner circle of the video demonstrates the planet earth, the outside shows out of space being all black. And how the dancing are ‘walking around the world.’ Everything has to work together in harmony to create music, harmony and beauty.


In most music videos, they tend to stick to the more natural semiotics associated with colours and sound, for example black is depression, white is purity and virginity. In our music video we are going to incorperate the synaesthesia by following the natural conventions of a media text. This includes thinking of the connotations associated with each colours and images. For example, we're going to use lighting that evokes the mood.

Ellie

Inception Vs. Consumption

Hall vs. Cohen

Inception vs. consumption

Katy Perry is a popular culture act. In her music videos, she tends to create meaning at consumption. In California girls, she appears on a cloud seaming to be un-reachable, and like a sexual goddess. The sweet world implies childlike, in a Disney theme world, like she’s living in a Disney, fairytale world. She uses nudity to conform to the stereotype of what a male wants, using male gaze theory to be a masculine fantasy. The semiotics preferred reading would be that she is freeing herself from the bonds of men, however the reading that is also clear would be that man is controlling her. Snoop Dogg is demonstrated to be in control, evoked through a thrown and crown, He is gambling suggesting that he has money, power and has a risky edge and demonstrated as an omniscient god, all-seeing and in control, in control of her world. By being naked she is exposing herself and coming across as unprotected and ‘easy’. The nudity represents sex as well as the sexual connotations from snakes and cream coming from her bra. This video is allowing freedom to create meaning at consumption. It uses semiotics to establish a preferred reading, viewing her as a perfect women, in control of herself, and freeing herself from men’s control. The video implies she is in the fairytale world, but male gaze theory would read this in a different way, that she is being naïve to think it would be read innocently, and that she is clearly representing herself as a sexual object.

The fray, however present ‘how to save a life.’ This is a music video, which creates the meaning at inception. This video starts with a white background, and a man playing the piano. The singer is blurred and so shows his confusion and when he comes into focus. The lip sinking isn’t in time. The use of semiotics of a butterfly, the shot of children, braces and the word ‘listen’ braces suggest infancy and innocence. The connotations of the white background show that its pure and he has been revealed and exposed as what he is, and is only left with his music to convey his emotions. In the shot of the band, they appear quite segregated and distant to show how they have been ripped apart. The red guitar demonstrates love and pain in this shot and the following shots demonstrate ache and throbbing pain. These shots only seam to have one meaning, and the meaning has been created at inception, with a clear idea of what they want to achieve and establish. The choice of shots, demonstrate the pain and loss of the fight of losing a parent. The butterfly demonstrates something growing from a tiny insignificant object into something beautiful. The ontrast between the white backing and strong use of filler lights, and the coloured writing and words that appear on the screen, these draw attention to them and show their power. It also demonstrates how there’s a battle between conquering the words and its not easy or painless.


The Adorno’s musical theory (1950s) studied high and low culture. He suggested that the pop culture creates meaningless and thoughtless texts. He said there’s no need to engage with the texts, as they have no cultural, academic or moral value. He suggested that the audience become passive and voyeuristic and just let the meaning wash over them. He said for music such as Mozart or Beethoven, we create a meaning and by listening to high culture music, we become an active audience. He also sad that pop music is standardized to a point that we have heard it before, it’s ‘predigested’ and that the audience have already heard it, so there is no intellectual level needed to process it. The music is simply accepted exactly as it is and the passive audience allow it to just wash over them. It also reassures the listener that everything is okay, and so shops and the pop music relaxes the shoppers, therefore they are more likely to buy something, therefore serving a part in the economy. He once said, “would there be any difference between buying a CD and buying a toaster”

This contrasts with classical music, which Ardono said that classical music, every detail has a concrete meaning, and that every relationship between the music and audience is ‘living’ and alive. Against this view, he was criticized for being racist. It was said that where he pointed out that jazz music didn't match up to classical, that he was being racist. opposing views said that he didn't have grounding and just didn't understand the basis of jazz music and the foreign culture. 

Because of the current economic climate, and how music has developed over the last few decades, artists have changed the way that they make money, release new songs and get audience attention. For example, fewer and fewer artists are releasing whole albums an release individual commodities often online for downloads. This however results in each song having a download rate and so the artists can see what has been really popular and create more music similar to this, resulting in all the music sounding increasingly similar.


In our music video, we are hoping to create meaning at inception. This involves intense planning and so we are thinking about the meaning we want to convey. We are doing narrative imagery that is parallel to the music, and so we have come up with a story-line that reflects the mood of the song. The performance side of the hybrid video, allows us to represent the metanarrative of the band. This creates the preferred meaning that we hope to be interpreted by the audience.

Ellie

Sweding Task Evaluation

For our preliminary task, we had to swede a music video. We chose to do the Foo fighters video, best of you. We had restrictions on actors and timing, as well as location limitations so it was difficult to film.

In the first shot, the length of the cross dissolve is a little too long, and the colour of the image appears different in the actual video which we should’ve colour corrected in editing. However it was a difficult shot to film because of the variety of lighting.  When filming, we didn’t realise how much the little changes in the lighting would affect our overall outcome. To improve this image the use of filler using small lights and positioning them successfully in places to create point of aesthetics appreciation for the audience would have easily rectified lights and backing lights. From this, in our music video, we now know that we can use lighting in simple subtle ways to create different effects. The lighting needed to be coming through a door and we had to create a synthetic door using a window. The mise-en-scene works in the shot as the image looks similar and has the same effect that you cant see the character’s face. In our music video, its important to consider the mise-en-scene in order to establish the storyline and imagery we are trying to represent. However, the lighting in the Foo fighter’s video appears to be filmed in the evening, as we should’ve used filler lights to create this effect as we filmed in the day.  When filming our actual we wont have to film in school time, as so will be able to film and the time of day we want the image to portray, or establish the time of day through editing and lighting.

The next shot uses shadows for visual effectiveness. For this shot we had to create a bed out of a sheet and try and film from a birds eye view, which was difficult to get in the right positioning for the shot. The topside lighting we missed, and only focused on the positioning of the actors, to create the effect of the shadow, we should’ve used a filler light to get the right outlines on the bed. The creases in the bedding have connotations of creases and wrinkles and crumples in their relationship, and how they have to battle these and fight with only each other, in our shot the creases weren’t evident enough, and when we filmed it, it appeared artificial. From this we have learnt that birds-eye view filming is more difficult as its hard to get on the right position, rather than just having a high angle. Its important to remember the high angle shots and birds eye view shots have very different effects, and high angel makes the actor or actress appear looked down on and small or innocent, making the audience feel sorry for the character, where as the birds eye view has a fairly neutral appearance of the characters and is used to show the contextual relations to the image, showing the whole image, and placing the audience in a separate place unseen to the character, as they are looking in on a story rather than apart of it, therefore from this we know in our music video we will use more high angles in the narrative side story line, to create sympathy for certain characters, it will also make the audience feel more part of the video and synthetic personalisation is established as the audience are more relatable.

            In our next shot, we needed to look at our framing. The mise-en-scene was made up of a low angled shot of the main singer. In our shot, the cloud positioning was nice and worked well, create appealing, easy to watch backing visuals, however in the top corner of our shot was the piece of roof, which ruined the shot. It also made it appear amateur and in our main task its important to consider all aspects of the mise-en-scene.  The lighting in this shot was also not the same as in the video and we felt that because we were outside it wouldn’t appear as much of an issue when it came to editing as it did. The lighting effects the representation of the shot dramatically, and so in the shots its important to consider how the choice of lighting will effect the image representation.

            In the following shot it was of the main singer, Dave Grohll, and the shot demonstrates his passion to music and how he has power and male dominance through his singing. He passion, demonstrated through the closeness and pressure he puts of his mic, is the main reasoning of the shot. In our sweding we over concentrated on the shot type, getting the low angle and close-up nailed that we missed the reasoning of the shot and so the passion didn’t come through in the same way. We also found that the binary opposition that appeared in the main video was between light and dark, creating shadows I effective ways to demonstrate the difference between the good and evil behind the song and song lyrics and they’re battle against society and conforming to the social conventions that they are expected to as a male band. We also had constraints of his beard, drawing a fake beard on him, which didn’t have the same professional look that is in the foo fighters version.

            In our next shot, the natural light was too dark and strong for the shot, and we needed to use filler lights open up the shot, these filler lights would’ve also created shadows and darkness so the correct appearance came across, and would’ve balanced out the shot. To brighten this shot we also could’ve corrected it during editing, lightening the whole image. On our final production, it’s important to film shots with a variety of lights so we can establish, as well as plan beforehand so we know what sort of lighting we will need to use to create the right effects. the framing in this shot was important, as the Foo fighters used to rule of thirds to be more aesthetically appealing to the audience, placing the mic in the line down the left hand side, and Dave Grohl on the right, leaving the gap in the middle to be eye catching and demonstrating the importance of the microphone to him and his music. Also across the top third the sky is show to evoke he evening time of performance, showing how it’s a end of day as a release for the band. The clear sky also represents that the bands has clear motives and are only playing for the music and concentrates all attention to the singer. The position of tom in this shot was different to how we needed, and the top of tom’s head is cut off and the rule of thirds was abandoned, the mic is too far over the to the left, and the gap between tom and the mic is too big, suggesting separation between him and the music. Dave Grohls positioning is also more open and more like he is releasing himself, the closed body language that tom is portraying is demonstrating that he’s not comfortable around music in the same way that Dave Grohl is, and that he is not completely at ease. Dave Grohl’s body language demonstrates that music has power over him and he is completely passionate about it. In our music video it’s important to think about how body language effect the shot connotation. Subtle movements and positioning an create gaps and imply distance. To make sure we establish the image and connotations we wan its important to plan and mark out each shot through storyboarding.  Framing each shot is also important, making sure we use the rule of thirds so its visually attractive to the audience.  Finally in this shot the camera control wasn’t very strong, and the control of the moving shot was weak and mess. Whilst filming we tried to use a tripod, but because of the setting and location, the tripod wasn’t possible to use. Trying to find another piece of equipment that we could rest the camera on took time, and ended up with a table. In our music video, we will have to come up with more appropriate ways of doing moving shots to make sure that the filming still looks professional, and doesn’t appear amateur because of the movement being inconsistent and shaky.

            In the following shot, which was of the whole band. This was extremely difficult to film as we didn’t have an appropriate location to get the same image at all. The band members consisted of more people than we had actors, so we had to find more actors. The background on the actual video is clear and shows how they are performing freely and almost practicing to no-one and just want to play. They chose to do this outside as they feel they can be freer and have fewer limitations than conventional music. When filming this we discussed moving to somewhere downstairs, but felt that consistency would be more important than a shot with the wrong background. When filming our music video, it will be important to pick an appropriate location to film, but also chose appropriate shots for the location that we do have. We will also think carefully about actors and characters and where they be in relation to each other and the shot. The mise-en-scene is important to consider so that everything in the shot add together to create the visual representation that we are trying to portray for the band.

            In our next shot, the lighting and background is different to what is in our shot, again due to restrictions that we had because of setting. The zooming movement was too fast, and so again found issues with the camera movement. We didn’t realise that there was a slight zoom and so when we came to edit, we noticed. The subtleness of the zoom has a little emphasis, which e of course missed.  Therefore proving that it necessary to remember how little movements and simple emphasis can be very effective. The explosive energy of the drummer also demonstrates his passion, and it was hard for Joe to match this passion. The drummer also has longer floppy hair, which covers his face and so can create a mystery. This was impossible for Joe as he had short hair and needed to look up, however we now know that in order to be effective in our video, we can use the unknown, ‘unseen’ side of the characters, hiding facial expressions etc. to create mystery and tension. I also found in this shot, that the camera is rarely completely still, dynamic shots – however subtle, tend to represent the explosive energy of the band and how the band is actively connecting with the audience.

            The filler light in our subsequent shot, we needed to concentrate on the filler lighting and framing as before, however we didn’t realise that the shot was closer than we though with a tighter angle, changing the shot slightly. The harsh colours needed to be colour corrected during editing to establish the same image that the Foo fighters had. The colour corrector will change the representation of a shot as different colours have different connotations. Subtle changes in colour will effect how the image comes across although from a neutral eye wouldn’t be able to tell much different in a direct comparison, when standing alone the image actually has very different connotations. Again in the following shot, the colour correction was off again. In the Foo fighters video, the close up shot Dave Grohl makes him appear more ‘rosy’ and healthy looking, in an artificial way when you directly compare, but in the shot he appears brighter and easier to look at. This is also important to remember how colouring effects a lot, in association with the colours our characters and actors will wear, appear, to colours of the location as well as the colour of the shot.

            In our shot of the ring, the point of interest was the ring, which we didn’t establish while filming the backing of the shot was also not right or what we intensified and tried to exaggerate.  The colours in this shot were also off, and so the mise-en-scene wasn’t right. In our video it’s important to establish the right things to be intensified. We need to consider the whole appearance of the shot and get the right distancing and exaggeration.

            In our final shots, we didn’t have to equipment to do the shots ourselves, so had to copy the shots across. This is important that we plan only shots that are achievable and physically possible to shoot, so were not left with shots that we don’t know how to film.

Ellie