Shooting Day 1

Our costume for this performance scene; we wanted to have a bright outfit that would stand out from our location. We chose this outfit because it complimented our artist and made them look both glamorous but casual. This is what we aim to achieve throughout the music video as we want a relatable artist and star image.

Hair and Makeup- Shooting Day 1

Today we filmed one of the performance scenes. Here you can see Sophie in charge of hair and makeup for the performance. We wanted to have a dramatic and bright costume and makeup. This included false lashes and red lipstick as well as bright leggings. Our iconic image throughout the music video is the use of the bright red lipstick. We wish to maintain this throughout the music video as it will remain a vital part of our star's image.

Green Screen Test Shooting

We began a test shooting for our green screen to make sure we would be able to film this without any problems and to make sure this would work well. Testing our green screen we came across some difficulties , for example we noticed the lights made shadows which later on would make it difficult to edit successfully . We also noticed it was hard to keep the camera still because of our birds eye view shot and we thought this would make it look unprofessional .

Starting filming

We have currently started shooting for our music video , we have focused on shooting individual shots of our main actress 'Erna'. When doing this we have came across a few problems but have been able to overcome this , for example , when shooting a tracking shot down the street and changing the camera shots the mise en scene changes as different people walk in the shot each time , to overcome this we made sure we had no people walking through the shots as well as shooting the scenes at once. Another problem has been the weather but obviously this is something we cant change , yet when the weather changes dramatically e.g snow , we use our time for shooting inside shots and work on our blogs and artist portfolios.

Planning Meeting 3

Today we started planning our storyboards. We already had an idea of our shots we just had to organise the order and annotate the storyboard. We had already thought about our shots and written it in relation to the lyrics. Therefore this stage was relatively easy as we just had to draw our images to visualise our ideas. We drew out all of our shots and worked out which shots needed to be filmed together. We also annotated the shot types but werent sure of the timings yet.

Email To Production Company

We emailed the production company- Fiction Records, the company that is responsible for producing the song Foundations by Kate Nash in regard to using the record for educational purposes. Above is copy of the email sent.

Animatic

Here is an animatic showing the timings of our storyboard in relation to this song. This helps us to visualise how our music video will work with the timings of the song. Although this is a very simple visualisation, it helps us when editing to place each scene at the correct timing.

Green Screen Test

Today we practiced with the green screen so that when we come to film our final music video we know how to successfully use it and edit it. We came across a few problems while doing this practice. Our first problem was lighting, we struggled with creating the right lighting to eliminate shadows. This made it harder to saturate the background when adding the animation. We also found it difficult to find the right animation to use as a background. A problem we only discovered when we came to edit was the camera movement. We need to use a tripod when filming the final to make it steady. We overcame all of these difficulties and managed to create the look we wanted. We will remember this when filming our final music video.

Costume planning

In today's meeting we put together our ideas for the costumes with items of clothes we had and decided what should be worn when- so that there is a variety of clothes in the scenes.

Practice Flashback Attempt

Today we did a practice to make sure we could do the effects to make the flashback look successful , we used a camera and zoomed into the eye of our star . By doing this we realised this wouldnt be as effective because for a music video the narrative does not have to bee 100% in order and instead decided to do a montage of the past events rather than doing a flash back . But also the flash back was not needed and tok up frames that could be used for other footage of the music video.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis

 Strengths
- We are able to use narrative and performance, also in the performance part we can make it quite interesting by the use of the green screen. The narrative
-We are able to add quirky elements into the video and interesting aesthetically appealing ideas- fingers playing the piano, lyrics written by magnets.
- We have a small cast so we aren't depending on too many people for our idea to work, as well as our 'artist' being in our group which is a lot easier and she is very comfortable and good in front of the camera
-We get to use a variety of locations and and costumes which again makes can make it more appealing to watch. Also with the costumes we can add subtle hints of voyeurism.
-The overall image of the artist and video is quite down to earth but bright, so both costumes and locations we have decided to use work well with this- this also means we can use day to day locations. Also the bright theme works well with the casting as Erna (our artist) has red hair.
-We put together ideas for costumes fairly quickly
- Apart from locations and costumes for the majority of the shots there isn't much mise-en scene which means managing less things.

Weaknesses
- We will need to use lots of different locations and we all have different timetables so won't be able to film a lot at one time, especially we need to film when its light as it accentuates the brightness and will also make Erna stand out more which is what we are trying to do.
-The drama studio is only available to us for an hour and setting up and filming will take some time but initially we also need to test the green screen.

Opportunities
-We will be able to use different styles and different kind of editing than we did last year, to make the video interesting to watch we will need to use interesting edits and shots to keep the audience engaged, also it doesn't matter whether we use continuity editing as visually it doesn't have to follow a sequence. This is quite different to something we have done before which will be interesting to work on.
- We have to look more at audience and artist image for our music video and album art.
- We are able to work with both narrative and performance part of the music video and learn how each can make a music video good.
-We will be able to use a lot of different locations and costumes- costumes is something that is quite interesting in music videos as its not strange to use a number of different costumes or use something that would not regularly we worn.
- We get to use the video along side the album and website as a means to promote the artist so we must learn about how to promote the music.


Threats to our idea
- Due to our music video narrative being based on relationship/break up which was used in a lot of music videos for the previous year and didn't quite work so the narrative could cause problems as it wasn't very entertaining, but we this is why we chose a more upbeat song.
-Due to us having lots of different locations we may encounter problems regarding the locations, and finding suitable locations and being permitted to use them.
- Our performance scenes use a lot of green screen which we all really like the idea of however we aren't sure whether it will work as we haven't yet tried it out. We changed our idea of using a black scene which we felt was too dark and didn't quite work with the kind of music video which we were trying to go for which is quite light hearted rather than dark and serious.

Planning Meeting 2

Planning Meeting 1

Today we updated our group blogs and discussed our ideas in relation to the lyrics. We also spoke about our casting ideas and began our pitch ideas. The costumes and locations were also discussed. We also came up with a few ideas for our star image and how we were going to achieve this. At first we wanted to have various shots in moving vehicles however we found that this would be difficult to film and therefore changed our ideas to make them more manageable.

Casting discussions for our music video

When filming in AS we learnt that to create a believable short film you need good , confident actors. So picking our cast members for our music video was crucial as we need confident bubbly people , that are willing to give their best performance and who would take on the role. For our main character ' The Artist' we made sure she was accessible , so we could shoot with her whenever and keep in contact , but also a confident girl with attitude and would be comfortable in front of the camera , so Erna Starr , who is apart of this project volunteered . This benefits us a lot as she will understand exactly what type of persona and directions we would want her to take as well as having a lot of access to her if we needed to re shoot . Our second actor is our friend Jack English , he was in our AS project and gave a good performance as well as following key directions . Jack is  a good friend , so is easy to contact , he is also in our sixth form so is on hand at all times . For our extras we all offered ourselves including friends that were excited in taking part and very keen to help us in the process of shooting our music video.

Mood Board

Influential Music Video's

 Influential Music Videos

We decided that we liked the style of this Lily Allen music video. We plan to use the bright coloured, dress and trainer look to portray our artist as being relatable. We also liked the mood and tone in this video as it was upbeat which is similar to our own ideas for our music video. The use of the mood change was also clever as it showed a difference between daydreams and reality.

We particularly liked the transitions between the locations in the Taylor Swift video and we plan on attempting something similar in our music video. The use of the smooth transitions helped the music video to almost flow from each setting to the next. We also liked the way the music video began and ended in the same location as it gave it a rounded feel and we plan on doing this in our music video.



A influential music video that has contributed key ideas to help create and develop our music video is by Marina and the diamonds - Primadonna . This music video gave us inspirations due to the key themes of a vintage feel as well as the bright and bold colours on her make up and clothing . Marina is a very unique artist , so by listening to her music and certainly watching a music video you can tell it is her . This music video specifically captures a vintage theme of old props , e.g. chandeliers , old grand beds , silk and her locations (which is set in a big old mansion ) . The use of editing in this music video represents a more of a rough view , as though some of the footage is being filmed by the camera , by doing this the music video creates a ‘homemade’ idea and makes the video seem less Hollywood , contradicting to the mise en scene. Marina’s image in this music video is very ‘cartoonish’ , bright lipstick , thick eyelashes , hard placed hair , all of these factors help capture her star image and promote her music . Our group music video aspire to this because of how we want to represent our artist , the bright lips , colourful clothes and a vintage and down to earth feel . As well as this the music video is still very glamorous but in a subtle and fashionable way . Another inspirations from this music video was Marinas persona , she gives off a innocence and cute vibe but as the music changes she gives off a lot more attitude and becomes a lot more sassy , which we will include in our music video because it relates to the lyrics as well as the star image .

Influential Artists

Marina and the Diamonds

Marina Diamandis is a welsh singer & songwriter, Diamandis calls herself a "DIY musician" and describes her sound as an alternative to mainstream pop music. In an interview she said, "I suppose I'm an indie artist with pop goals". As well as her music, Marina and the Diamonds is also notable for her unique attire. When asked in an interview to describe her fashion style in three words, Diamandis said 'vintage, cheerleader and cartoon'. Three words that we wish our artist can convey in our music video and most definitely through her style. She's an influential artist for our group because of her vintange style and her creative quirky indie pop music videos.

Florence & the Machine

Florence and the Machine are an English indie rock/indie band, consisting of lead singer Florence Welch Isabella Summers. Florence and the Machine's style has been described as "dark, robust, vintage and romantic". Although we don't want ou stars image to be 'dark and robust', we do want her to have that vinatge and romantic look. Many of 'Florence & the machine's music videos features quirky and innovative props. This makes her videos exciting to watch, an attribute that we wish for our music video to have.

Katy Perry

Katy Perry is known for her unconventional style of dress. It is often humorous, bright in color, and reminiscent of different decades, and she frequently uses fruit-shaped accessories, mainly watermelon, as part of her outfits. She defines her fashion style as "a bit of a concoction of different things'. Her style is very quirky and colourful something we wish for out artist to portray, through our music video. Her make up is quite bold and we want our artist to have bold & bright make up on.

Lily Allen

Lilly Allen has a similar genre and style of what were wishing our artist to have. She's very down to earth and her style is simplistic & very relatable to her target audience.

Audience Findings

Initially everyone in our group created different questionnaires however to compare the results better we decided to create one questionnaire  and we used some of the existing questions but including other questions that we felt give us more of an idea of the audience expectation regarding our chosen genre of indie pop, we decided to use general questions as well as questions that would give us an idea of if our ideas appealed to the target audience. Hence why we decided that we would only use the questionnaire on a target audience rather than a bigger range audience.

The Questionnaire we designed:

Audience Findings:

What we found out from the questionnaire is

This bar chart shows the response to the question 'What genre of music do you mainly listen to?'. From this we found that most the people we asked listened to pop which works with our chosen genre, we also found that a lot of people we asked did listen to indie music which shows us that the age group that we aim to appeal to shows an interest in the music genre we have chosen. In the category when asked our audience said that they listen to chart music rather than a specific genre, hence if (in reality) our music video did well it could go into the charts which would appeal to a wider audience.


This pie chart represents the result for the question 'What methods do you use to listen to  music?' We found that a lot of people do like to watch music videos, as there is a large percentage who use both internet and TV to listen to music. This tells us that it would be a good idea to make a music video. When asked which they preferred just listening to music or watching the video many  suggested that they expected for a music video to be created along side the song. Purely listening to a song allows the audience to picture how they expect the video/narrative to be like, however a music video gives an insight of how the artist wants the song to be seen as, which is quite interesting.








What else we found out from the audience research is that a lot of people said that a music video didn't require a narrative as such however as the audience generally expects there to be a narrative in the indie pop genre we will be using narrative. The audience suggested that an indie pop video doesn't necessarily need a narrative but a concept in the video so its not purely performance. However it was also further elaborated that sometimes a narrative can be boring so it is essential that
Also commenting on indie pop the audience suggested the use of quirky/vintage props and a down to earth feel to the music video which is nothing like the Hollywood glamour. Locations, outfits, and quirky themes. Even though it was suggested that narrative doesn't have to be included often the audience expected the music to be about love and relationships or life in general. Also as it the genre is indie pop as opposed to indie rock the music and visuals should give a more uplifting vibe rather than mysterious. It was obvious from our research that the audience liked the idea of watching the video and just purely listening to the music itself, the audience suggested that the music video gives an insight of the star and their image, it gives the audience more of an idea of what the artist is about and brings the audience closer to the artist as opposed to the just listening to the music which tells the audience more about their art. A lot of the time the audience just expected to see something aesthetically appealing in the music video and use of quirky ideas to make the video different from other videos. From the research we also found that the audience felt that having a connection with the music also appealed to them, as it made it easier to relate to. It was also suggested that 'fun, playful' vibe makes the video interesting to watch.

Genre Research

Genre Research

Genre Research: Indie-Pop Music

Indie Pop is a genre that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera. Indie Pop music videos do not tend to have a clear or linear narrative. Most images that fall into this genre use unusual props and vintage style costumes. This is an attribute that we are aiming for our music video to have. The representations usually portrayed in this genre are youth. This is shown through the use of on trend costumes, quirky props and the artist/star themselves tend to be quite young. The style of lighting used throughout the Indie Pop genre is unusual lighting such as mix-match colour like reds and blues. The use of back lighting puts the emphasis on the artist/band and creates a bizarre feel to the artist/band. This is an effect we are wishing to create in our music video.

An Indie – pop Album cover is usually simple such as a plain or patterned behind the artist/band, allowing the band/artist to be the main focus and eye-catching to the viewer. This also helps the audience to recognise the artist/band therefore creating a connection with the viewer. An example of where an unusual image has been used is on the Two Door Cinema Club album cover for ‘Tourist History’. The image is a cat, which does not relate to the band, but creates intrigue for the viewer, as they want to find out why it has been used. The inlay usually contains a recurring theme that is seen on the front and back cover of the CD such as a colour.

Some examples of Indie-pop:

Marina and the Diamonds music video for ‘Primadonna’. The video clearly has a distinct vintage feel to it, e see this through the use of costume, props and set. The use of black and black and white filter adds to the whole feel of the Indie -pop genre

Florence & the machine 'Rabbit Heart (Raise it up)'. The video has a clear quirky style to it, which you'd expect  an indie video to have. The vintage styled costumes and the unusual props add strongly to the fact that this video falls into the Indie - pop genre.

Initial Thoughts

We found the song we wanted to use for our music video fairly quickly, and we all quite liked the sound of it.  We then went on to decide how to make our video interesting and started planning our pitch and planning what we would want to do according to the lyrics. We decided on the concept/ narrative, which would be a girl breaking up with her boyfriend and the song is sort of narrating their past story. We also had to consider things like the locations as we required variety and our storyline allowed us to vary our locations. We decided that we wanted our music video to be bright, and this will ensure that the narrative isn't too powerful but also will reflect the artist's view on the relationship as the sonf suggests sarcasm. We thought creative elements that we could add in and tohught about change of costume whilst she the camera tracks her down the street, we discussed that we would like hints of voyeurism but only subtly hence would have a bit of fregmented framing focusing on her lips and parts of her body. We tohught about using fridge magnets for writing some of the lyrics as we all really liked the idea and would be visually good. We needed to think about performance on its own, and discussed how sitting on a stool with different screens in the background would be good for that.