Sick of Losing Soulmates - dodie

dodie's new music video to "Sick of Losing Soulmates" has been released and we would like to take inspiration from parts of it. Mostly, I love the cinematography and colour palette and would be hoping to use similar shots and colours in our music video. For example, we have now adapted the idea so that my character would be on a date and her parents would spot her. In that situation we would be looking to use shots similar to this one.

Audience Feedback for the 1st Draft

We took in some feedback from our peers about the short 1st draft we made. Here's the video of that:

The main pieces of feedback we got were:

• The arguing parents weren't convincing enough - not enough emotion.
• The focus wasn't right on the shot of Megan leaving her house so we'll have to reshoot that.
• Needs better continuity - need a shot of Megan getting into bed otherwise the jump is jarring.
• Might need to change the casting of Megan's parents as Nadia looks too young to be Megan's mother.

30 Second Music Video Draft

Here's the first draft of our music video! We are quite pleased with this as it matches the storyboards for the first 30 seconds quite well, whilst also making adaptations so that the video is better. The next step is to show this draft to an audience in order to get some feedback.

BFI Trip

Here is the vlog from the trip to the BFI's Study Day.

Megan's storyline - Filming Day 3

JB and Megan shot the interior parts of Megan's storyline with the help of Nadia and Cem. Here's the vlog of that.

Filming Day 2 - We Tried

Today we went out to film at Alexandra Palace for the end of our music video but the trains were all delayed and cancelled so we couldn't film anything more than some shots at the train station.

Filming Megan's side of the story - Day One

JB and Megan went out to a local park to shoot the rural scenes for Megan's storyline. Here's their vlog of the day.

 

Learning new editing software at the BFI

I've been taking part in a film-making course at the BFI and part of that course has been learning how to use Adobe Premiere Pro. I enjoyed learning how to use it as it is a more powerful editing tool than iMovie, which will hopefully allow us to have more control over our finished media product. Below is an example of some of the work we were doing at the BFI.

I also learnt how to use Adobe After Effects but I don't expect we will have to use that in our music video.

Shooting Schedule

Planning - Ruby's side of the story

Today we've been planning how the story of the character I will be playing, who gets kicked out of her home for being lgb. We are going to show this by having my character watch popular lgbt+ webseries Carmilla. The clip is below.

Storyboard to the song

Here is a video of our storyboard set to the music we have chosen. This has allowed us to see how the shots work with the music. This is just a rough version of what the final shots and video will look like as I have found that it is useful to leave some time to come up with shots to use on the day of shooting, as there might be an element of the location and lighting that wasn't there on the rekkie.

BFI Film Academy Lessons

For the past week I have been directing a short film for the BFI Future Film Academy. We used both a Black Magic camera and a Bolex, to have a nice mixture of digital and chemical film, as the film was an experimental one. We had to do all the casting ourselves, so I learnt how to find a 7 character strong cast in the space of two days. I also learnt the importance of planning, as we spent 2 full days storyboarding and shot listing the film, which made it a lot easier when it came to shooting. In addition, we had to get legal permission from Southwark council in order to film there, which may be something we have to take into consideration when shooting our music video, although councils are not as concerning with small dslr handheld cameras as they are with large cameras with tripods, so we shouldn't have to worry about it.

Email to Jagjaguawr

An email has been sent by us to the record label of the song we are using, asking for permission to use their song, Wash.

Ok Go - One Take Wonders

The below music video is from Ok Go and it is shot in zero gravity all in one take, which is very impressive and would have required a lot of rehearsal. I've also included the behind the scenes, which is very interesting. It takes a village to make a music video, clearly.

Storyboard

Here are our first storyboards. These are initial ideas and the finished project will contain more shots to fit with the quick cuts that are typical to a music video.

My Weekend

This weekend I was on a film course and worked with 16mm film. Here's some of my experience.

New Idea Vlog

New Idea

We have developed a new idea for our music video and that is two teenage girls running away from home, who have different reasons for running away. One is afraid to come out and the other wants to get away from a family breakdown. We did some research on why people run away and here was what we found.

Lip Syncing Practice

We just practiced lip-syncing of our chosen song and this has solidified our decision to not use lip-syncing in the video, except perhaps a tiny part that fits with the narrative. This is because the song doesn't have many lyrics so although our narrative will hint to them, they won't be a significant part of the video. The lyrics aren't very clear and the singer has a deep voice so it wouldn't make sense to have the young female characters lip-syncing to them as it may shatter the suspended disbelief that the audience will have whilst watching the video.

Here is the video of us lip-syncing.

Song Lyrics - Wash

The lyrics to the song we have chosen are:

Climb
Is all we know
When thaw
Is not below us
No, can't grow up
In that iron ground
Claire, all too sore for sound

Bet
Is hardly shown
Scraped
Across the foam
Like they stole it
And oh, how they hold it

Claire, we nearly forfeit

I' I'm growing like the quickening hues
I' I'm telling darkness from lines on you
Over havens fora full and swollen morass, young habitat!
All been living alone, where the ice snap and the hold clast are known

Home
We're savage high
Come
We finally cry
Oh and we don it
Because it's right
Claire, I was too sore for sight

I' we're sewing up through the latchet greens
I' un-peel keenness, honey, bean for bean
Same white pillar tone as with the bone street sand is thrown where she stashed us at
All been living alone, where the cracks at in the low part of the stoning

We were thinking of using the idea of growing up and of home that is present in the lyrics in our music video. For example, we are thinking of having a younger and older version of a character. Also, the lyric "climb is all we know" may represent how the character in the video struggles to achieve her dreams. 

Inspiration - A Letter to Teenage Girls

In the pitch we did on Monday Caitlin Moran's 'A Letter to Teenage Girls' was mentioned. Here is a video of her reading the letter.

This may be an inspiration for our music video as although the main character will be a child younger than a teenager, we may still address the idea of speaking to your younger self and wishing you could reassure your younger self that it will all be okay.

Our Music Choice

Although we are still working on the narrative of our music video, we have decided which music it will be set to and that is "Wash" by Bon Iver. I like this song as it is calming and I think easy to put a narrative over, as opposed to a song with more clear lyrics, which might steer the direction of the narrative. This song gives us full creative control.

Pitch and Audience Feedback

Here is our pitch for our initial music video idea. The idea changed quite a lot over the course of the pitch.

 

We got a lot of audience feedback and suggestions over the course of this pitch, so much so that our idea changed quite significantly. We were originally going to have a child running away from growing up in a Peter Pan-ish narrative, with the older version of the child meeting them and telling them that it will be fine and its okay to grow up. Audience feedback helped us to reflect on how difficult that narrative may be to convey, particularly without sound. So the idea developed into the story of an older girl moving away from home and reflecting on her childhood, perhaps with the more feminist angle of "this girl can" even though she was told she couldn't as a child. This idea hasn't been fully developed yet but the pitch was very useful as it reminded me that any narrative we do will have to be conveyed without sound.

Song Idea- Dream

An idea I had for a song we could use was "Dream" by Tessa Violet. This is because it fits with the indie genre we had decided on and I like the beats of the song and think they would be good to edit to.

The lyrics are:
would you be embarrassed, think I'm being careless, if I said you're all I want and more
finger tips and collarbones, if I caught you on your own, would you mind my hand stitched into yours

I got it bad, bad, oh
I see you in my sleep
and I want you mad, madly
come running after me

you're in my bones bones oh I gotta let you go 
but I don't know how when you're rooted in my soul
I gotta tell you

I had a dream last night you came back to me after our goodbye
My arms you fell into and you asked if I'd run away with you
I ain't felt that way before like I couldn't wait just a minute more
and I don't wanna let you go, but dreams slip away I know

You saw me clear as glass I thought you bold as brass, never knew how lovely love could be

forty hours give or take you call me when you are awake and from our phones we'll crumble time and space

I need you here here oh I see you in my sleep
and I want you dear dearly come running after me

you're in my bones bones oh I gotta let you go 
but I don't know how when you're rooted in my soul
I gotta tell you

I don't know if you still think of me (come on come on over)
how you used to love me lovingly (come on come on over)
I know when we left we left a mess (come on come on over)
but if you ask, I promise I'll say... (come on come on)

We could use these lyrics to create symbolism and to match the visuals of our music video. For example, we could use soft focus to imply dreams.

Performance and Narrative Videos

Something that I have noticed is that music videos are hardly ever either narrative and performance, usually a mixture of both. This is what we as a group would like to do. Most of the time this is a character in the video lip syncing or cuts to the artist performing dispersed throughout the narrative. Here are some examples:

 

Mac 3 Vlog 1

Thriller Music Video and Narrative

The Thriller music video was a game-changer for music videos in that it introduced the concept of an extended narrative to a music video, which is something that we as a group might be interested in.

 

Since this video was released, most music videos contain at least some kind of narrative and some are entirely narrative. Some examples are below and I have noticed that they often contain a shocking twist at the end.

Bohemian Rhapsody

The music video to Bohemian Rhapsody was very advanced for the time (1975) and the use of lighting and different camera angles is very effective. Although we can't match Queen, the way the video mixes between a live performance and very dramatic lighting could be used as an inspiration in some way.

Performance videos

We have been looking at the different types of music videos, although we are not looking to do a purely performance video, it is useful to see what the typical videos look like, as we may want to include some performance elements to our video. They usually involve dancing and a band.

Inspiration: Colour Bandits

Today in my group we were discussing ideas for our music video and we liked the idea of using coloured powder. The video below is a spoken word piece, but I think it uses powder very well.

My Group

My group for making the music video is Megan, JB, Kirti and myself. The links to their blogs are in the sidebar.

Take A Bow - Prelim

Indie Genre Conventions

Some conventions of the indie genre that I have noticed is that they are typically narrative videos, as shown in this post.

In terms of mise-en-scene, the locations typically seem to be rural locations, with high-key lighting as shown below:

The cinematography also seems to include a variety of shots but in most of the music videos I have seen, they are handheld and include lots of close ups with a shallow depth of field as shown below: 

Indie Artist research - Shura

Shura is an English electropop/indie pop artist. Her latest album is also her debut album Nothing's Real and was released in July 2016. She is signed to the Universal Music Publishing Group, which is a major label. I think her brand is more underground as it sounds different to most of the music in the pop charts.

Indie Artist Research - Halsey

Halsey is a 21 year old singer-songwriter from the USA. She is signed to the Astralwerks/Capitol record label, which is owned by the Universal Music Group. I think her brand is designed for fairly wide appeal as she began as a more underground style artist with the release of her EP Room 93 in 2014 but the music from her debut album Badlands, released in 2015, has more mass appeal.

Indie Artist Research - The 1975

The 1975 are an English indie rock/pop band who released their self titled debut album in 2013 and their second album I like it when you sleep for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it in 2016 to top the UK and US album charts. They were originally signed to Dirty Hit, who still license their music, but through major label Polydor. They aren't designed to have mass appeal as their music doesn't have much of a genre to it but the variety in their music attracts a lot of listeners.

Indie Artist Research - Troye Sivan

Troye Sivan is an Australian singer-songwriter who gained part of his success through his popular YouTube channel. He is currently signed to Capitol Records, which is owned by major label Universal. His latest album is Blue Neighborhood which is also his debut album. He has mass appeal through his established YouTube personality and advocacy for the LGBT community, as well as the pop style of his music.

Indie Pop Music Videos Research

The genre of music I have chosen for my music video is indie so I have been looking at indie music videos, particularly indie pop as that is the sub genre I enjoy the most. Here are some of them.

The above video is a narrative video.

This video is a performance video and I really like the use of lighting in it.

This video by the same artist is a contrast to the last one as it is a narrative that takes a dark turn at the end.

This is a narrative video and a lot of the shots are close ups and handheld.

What I have noticed with a lot of the music videos from this genre is that most of them are narrative videos, and some have elements of performance in them like a "character" in the video lip syncing. They also typically seem to have handheld cinematography with lots of close up shots and a dark twist in the story. 

Top 3 ECS Music Videos

Here are my top 3 music videos that have been made at my school:

My first choice is this music video to "We Fall". I like the variety in all the shots and think they are framed nicely and in a way that conveys the narrative of the video clearly to the audience.

My second choice is the above video. I liked this one because I thought the editing was very creative and fit the beat of the song very well. 

My final choice is this video because I like the projections used and I liked the way it was edited. Although I'm not yet sure which type of video I'd like to make (performance or narrative) I thought they fit the conventions of a performance music video very well.

Coursework Mark Scheme

 

At A2, in terms of production 40 marks will be allocated to the main task and 10 marks each for the two ancillary tasks.

 

Construction of your music video: Level 4 32 

 –

 40 marks 

Where a candidate has worked in a group, an 

excellent contribution to construction

 must be evident. The candidate is expected to demonstrate 

excellence

 in the creative use of 

most

 of the following technical skills: 



 holding a shot steady, where appropriate; 



 framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate; 



 using a variety of shot distances as appropriate; 



 shooting material appropriate to the task set; 



 selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting; 



 editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer; 



 using varied shot transitions, captions and other effects selectively and appropriately; 



 using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task. 

Research and planning on your blog : Level 4 16

 –

20 marks 



 There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience. 



 There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props. 



 There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding. 



 Time management is excellent. 



 There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning. 



 There is excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation. 



 There are excellent communication skills. 

 

Evaluation on your blog: Level 4 16-20 marks 

Each candidate will evaluate and reflect on the creative process and their experience of it. The questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are: 



 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 



 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? 



 What have you learned from your audience feedback? 



 How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages 

Level 416

 –

20 marks 



 There is excellent understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions 



 There is excellent understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the production. 



 There is excellent understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts. 



 There is excellent understanding of the significance of audience feedback. 



 There is excellent skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation. 



 There is excellent ability to communicate. 



 There is excellent use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation. 

Level 4 (Print) 

 –

 this will be for the print ancillary tasks 

The candidate is expected to demonstrate 

excellence

 in the creative use of most of the following technical skills: 

• awa

reness of conventions of layout and page design 

• awareness of the need for variety in fonts and text size • accurate use of language and register • the appropriate use of ICT for the task set • appropriate integration of illustration and text • 

framing a shot, using a variety of shot distances as appropriate 

• shooting material appropriate to the task set; selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, 

lighting, objects and setting 

• manipulating photographs as appropriate, including cropping and resizing.