A2 Advanced Portfolio Music Videos JD

In this post I have attached the storyboards we have created as a group to plan the filming of our music video.

In this post I explolre and discuss media theorists and their thoughts and discussions on music videos and how they apply to our production  Sven E. Carlson "One of the most common method of analysis is to break up the music video into black and white boxes. Almost everything is then percieved as opposites- trash or art, commerce or creativity, male or female, naturalism or antirealism." Essentially, Carlson is suggesting that the binary opposition in music videos drives the narrative forward. Carlson also suggests that music videos fall into two different catagories; - Performance - Concept Performance videos are self-explanatory, and feature the artist(s) singing/dancing/performing to an audience. Alternativley, coneptual videos refer to anything other than watching the artist perform. Carlson theorised that a flaw presented by performance videos is that the artist loses their status as a performer as a result: "He or she is a materialisation of the co

In this post I explore and discuss lighting in existing music videos. Lighting is one of the most important elements to consider with any video production and is used for various reasons. For example, dull/low lighting applies a somber feel to the music video, mirroring the song's narrative. This is a common convention in alternative/indie music videos. Whereas when we see bright or colourful lighting, a completley different mood is expelled; this is typically paired with pop music videos. This could be created through purely using natural light, or alternatively dimmed artificial light (this is more commonly used as it gives production more control over how the shots look. To example this, below are screenshots from the video for Ed Sheerans "Give me love," where low lighting, also paired with the mise-en-scene and the characters body language and expressions, suggests a melancholy mood to the video. While other factors obviously also influence this, it all starts with

In this post I explore and discuss mise-en-scene in existing music videos. - Costume/Hair/Makeup Displays characters in different ways, dependent on genre, iconic motifs for artists E.G. Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" features gaudy and extravagant costume and makeup to support her controversial image. - Propps Often used to illustrate narrative, can be used as a source of comedy E.G. Lady Gaga's "Telephone" music video uses propps as a source of irony due to the songs title - Location Helps solidify genre and narrative E.G. Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" music video is located in a car, emphasisng the pop genre - Lighting Creating different atmospheres and moods, allowing audience to recognise genre and style E.G. Shania Twain's "Forever and For Always" music video is lit in such a way that we can clearly see a happy and uplifting atmosphere, conventional with the country music genre of her music

In this post I have compiled a list of props we will need throughout the video. -Alcohol -Fake Drugs / Drug Bag -Cigarettes -Rainbow Vodka Bottle -Shot Glasses -Fairy Lights (white, yellow, multicoloured) -Artificial Colouring -Mobile Phones -Lighter -Multicoloured Jacket -Empty Cans and Bottles

In this post I explore similar artists to The Neighbourhood and the music videos that they create and marketing techniques they use to promote their work. 1. Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English  rock  band formed in 2002 in  High Green , a suburb of  Sheffield . They have released 5 studio albums and 1 live album.  Their debut album is the fastest-selling debut album by a band in British chart history, and in 2013,  Rolling Stone  ranked it the 30th-greatest debut album of all time.  Arctic Monkeys were heralded as one of the first bands to come to public attention via the Internet, with commentators suggesting they represented the possibility of a change in the way in which new bands are promoted and marketed. The band have been catagorised as Indie Rock, Garage Rock and Post-Punk Revival.  Songs such as " Fluorescent Adolescent " and "Do Me a Favour" explore themes of failed relationships, nostalgia and growing old. The music video for "Why'd y

In this post I explore what an audience profile is and create one in reference to our music video. Audience Profile = Economic and Social Characteristics of the listership, readership or viewership of a particular advertising medium. When we carried out a survey monkey questionaire, as well as asking questions that helped us gain information on what to include in our music video, we asked some questions to help us get a general idea on the demographic we are aiming towards, which we now know are primarily female between the ages of 16-20. I then went on to research and consider uses and gratification theory. This theory is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs; an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication. The theory was put forward by theorists Blumler and Katz in 1974. They suggested four main uses of consumption of media: Surveillance, Personal Relationships, Personal identity, Diversion

We narowed down our potential song choices to three, and as a group discussed why each one was an option, and came to a final decision. Through choosing our song, narrative ideas began to flow between the group and we've started to piece together a plot and shot ideas. 1. Somebody Else - The 1975 We considered this song for multiple reasons. Firstly, we were sure we wanted our song choice to be in the alternative genre of music. As a group we are all fans of the artist and the existing music video for this song takes advantage of lighting and editing techniques to convey narrative and emotion in a similar way to what we want to achieve in our music video. The lyrics of the song itself convey a narrative containing themes of relationships, mental health and emotional conflict. However, the reason we chose to select a different song is that the lyrics convey a strict narrative and plot that doesn't have much room to be altered, and we felt that we wouldn't have as much opp

The music video for "If They Only Knew" by Alfie Arcuri is themed around LGBT awareness and an individual discovering their sexuality and identity. The theme of friendship is also prevelent throughout the video and that is something we wish to incorperate in our music video. For these reasons, this music video inspires me and my group, so i'm going to analyse it to gain ideas. Mise-en-scene Throughout the video, the dark and alternative clothing that the characters wear creates the aesthetic that we want for our video, in order to appeal to our target audience of young people. This clothing style is also common with the demographic of people who listen to the alternative style of music. Throughout the video we also see the friendship group smoking and drinking, a common theme in terms of alternative music videos. I was particularly interested in the theme of a love triangle within a friendhship group as a narrative. Camera In terms of camera, we see an establishing

In this post I discuss a bubble chart of ideas we created as a group and the development of our ideas I used https://bubbl.usb to create a midnmap of ideas that we came up with as a group for our music videos, split up into sections of characters, locations, themes and aesthetic/imagery. We are going to use further mindmaps to condense down our ideas along with gaining inspiration from other music videos to develop our own original ideas. We discussed locations we could use to create atmosphere and narrative, we discussed themes, which are the foundation of our narrative and how we go about creating our music video. We talked about the aesthetic and imagery we would like to create based off of music videos we have already seen; we are inspired by the music videos for "Somebody Else," by The 1975 and "Sweater Weather," by The Neighbourhood. In terms of characters, it is dependant on the narrative we build.

In this post I explore potential song choices for our music video. This is a bubble chart showing our potential song choices. We have decided to go for the indie rock genre because as a group we decided it was our favourite music genre collectively and it gives us a lot of flexibility on where our music video could go and we have a lot of creative freedom. We chose our favourite indie rock songs and compiled 3-4 by four different artists: The 1975, Arctic Monkeys, The Neighbourhood, Nothing But Thieves and Catfish and the Bottlemen. We are still considering the different choices by exploring music videos for each of them and exsisting A Level pieces.