Beach Shoot #2

I thought I'd post about my filming progress so far to keep on track with my plans. My second shoot focused mainly on using the props that we didn't have time to do the first time as well as get a few pick-up shots.

Me during filming

 Here is my shot list from the shoot...

The rose shots went well and we decided to throw the petals to the sea in order to have a stronger visual. I took a few shots that could be used for my ancillary tasks for the single cover...

The only thing that didn't work well were the match shots. This was mainly due to time constraints, the strong winds and the lighting (i.e. too bright). We will have to come back later to try it again, because I think it is a really strong visual that will work well. 
Here was our attempts anyway...

The darker lighting and more sheltered area worked better when experimenting, so perhaps it was the location. I may try out the match again on the river shoot to see if that works better otherwise come back at dusk on the beach, and try and pick a less windy day!

Costumes

I've put together a sample outfit for my artist of the sort of clothes I think my female protagonist would wear...

 

On Sunday I met with my actress and we discussed costume ideas. We came up with these outfits for the different locations.
For the interlude we decided on a black dress, with natural hair, red lipstick and a white blouse. It is quite intimate and as I wanted the shots to be black and white I felt the black and white clothing would work well and I think sets it apart from the rest of the video, highlighting the change in pace. Also it keeps the floaty feeling of the rest of the video.

During the preliminary interlude shoot

Next we discussed the river location outfit. We wanted something more akin with the location so chose a blue and white striped maxi dress, with a grey trilby. This is a very natural, laid back, indie style outfit which matches the location well. It reflects what the target audience would wear as well as being floaty, so looks good on screen.

On the preliminary river shoot

The beach location is also going to feature the above dress but with a sandy coloured cardigan for when it gets cold. 
The coat above is very similar to one my actress owns so we will use that for the  last shot as well as in the match shots.


The forest location will feature the white blouse, black skinny jeans and brown boots. The blouse will look great in the forest as she runs in slow motion so it will billow in the wind. 
For the river location, she shall wear a hoodie to give it more of an urban edge as well as the same dress from the beach location, so it will become a reoccurring motif.

Audience Research: Genre

Who listens to dance music (and the surrounding genres)?

My target audience is 16-30 year olds who regularly listen to, download and share music, specifically from the genre dance. They are more likely to have a disposable income, also, as they are young but will be students or starting out in their careers. As my video would broadcast on music channels and YouTube, I need to think about the differences in grabbing the audience through these different mediums. The majority of my audience will watch over YouTube as they spend more time on the internet than watching television. This means they have chosen to click on the video so will need less hooking in than on television, which can be easily flicked over to another channel. The beginning will be slower paced than the rest of the video but is still engaging as it introduces the artist and will be shot artistically. Then, once the beat kicks in the pace will build so by then the audience should want to continue watching.
According to this useful website on the media use of US teenagers, about 44% of what young people watch online are music videos. And the internet is incredibly important to young people in the UK as well, as this recent Guardian article states, just 23% of 16-24 year olds say they would struggle without tv.

Source

So the audience I'm targeting an audience that is very internet literate and is used to spending hours online a day, so in order for my video to stand out from the rest and to be successful I need to make sure it engages with the viewer and looks professional, fitting with the conventions the audience is used to (see below).


How are they traditionally targeted through the media?
Looking at some of the statistics for social networks, Facebook has a huge influence over my target audience's age group...

Source

So marketing is now primarily done through social networking sites as that is where most young people spend there time. There is a lot of business to be made advertising through these sites, so in order for music artists to be known to their audience they need to have a marketing campaign on these sites, with their own pages and interact with the audience, to get them sharing to their friends and talking about the music.


Music video conventions
- Lip-syncing 

- Dancing

- The artist featured and engaging with the audience

- Editing to the music

- Different locations/costumes to keep it interesting

- Visual signifiers

- Reoccurring motifs

- Some sort of narrative

- About 3-5 minutes long


Combining my research into what the audience for dance music videos want to see and the established conventions for music videos as a whole here is what the audience will expect to see in my dance music video...

- The artist featured and engaging with the audience
- Great cinematography
- Sharp editing to the music
- Lip-syncing 
- Dancing
- Changing locations
- Colouring/Lighting carefully considered
- Repetition techniques - manipulation of the film
- Emphasis on the beat through cuts and pacing
- Close ups of the artist, which provides empathy for the audience which they can identify with


Further detail in specific shots:
Many videos I have looked at have visual signifiers/reoccurring motifs, which anchors meaning for audience. Here are a few that I will include...
- extreme CU of lips to main line of the song
- crash of the waves

New Ideas

After talking over my ideas so far in class, I have come up with a few new ideas that I'd like to integrate into my video.

As one of the lines is "lay your ships bare" and I'm setting a portion of the video on the beach I thought shooting in front of the fishing boats would be an excellent visual signifier for the audience. 

Also reoccurring motifs are a good way of making music videos successful so I am looking to include one in mine and thought a paper boat might fit in well. I could use it in most of my locations; the beach, the river, the forest. The visual image of the paper boat floating out to see is a strong image, something I have looked at here. Otherwise on the river rapids would also look good. 

Another great new idea is to have my artist throwing rose petals into the water. I think this a really strong visual code for romance, being thrown away - akin to the line "we could have had it all". However, I want it to be a positive action so will probably have the artist smiling as she does it as she is glad to have moved on from the relationship.


I also realised I need something a little more unique in order to stand out in the market, which is why I had an idea to shoot some scenes at night. I'm not sure which scenes would benefit from darkness but my initial thoughts were the beach scenes - especially with the match falling shot as it would really stand out in the night. The scene doesn't have to be entirely shot at night, in fact intercutting day and night might up the pace even more, but the darkness would give it more of an edge. 


Lastly, I'd like to look a bit further into the representation of my female protagonist and how female artists are portrayed in music videos, which I wil put in a seperate post. 

Storyboards #2

Here are my second storyboards where I go into much greater detail. I have already put together a storyboard video to the music, so I can see how everything fits together.

1. The first shot will be an establishing shot of the first location: the beach. It is an important shot as it the first of the video and it also parallels the last shot. This will be achieved firstly by fading in from black, whereas the last shot will fade to white - an important contrast to represent the change in the artist as she comes to terms with her break up and sees her life as it can be now in a more positive light. As this is the main narrative of the video, it is vital to connote this where possible. The lighting should be dusk - he same as the last shot except the last one has the artist in it, signifying that she has learnt since the beginning.
2. The second shot is quite a long one as it focuses on the artist singing the first four lines of the song; introducing the narrative to the audience, and also the artist, as it is important for her to be known to the audience in terms of marketing and branding. However it won't be all one shot, but many cut together. I would like camera movement similar to what I have looked at here, with cutaways to her lips, eyes and hair in the breeze - making it more pleasing to look at visually.
3. Then before the beat kicks in, there will be more atmospheric shots of the location, hopefully ending with the artists shadow on the waves, however this is determined by the lighting conditions.
4. I really love this image of the match falling from her hand in slow-motion. It represents how the love they had ("we could have had it all") is no more and 'out of her hands'. I would also like to try panning the camera to follow the match to the ground - some practice of this shot will obviously be needed as there are clear risks involved with flames. 
5. Then intercut with the above, with the beat, I'd like shots of the artist singing in front of the red cliff on the beach as this will connect nicely with the passion of the flame and the passion of the red. Close-ups of the artists face may also be good to add drama.
6. I'd like to have a long shot of the artist on the beach, walking (perhaps in slow-motion) with a lens flare. However, the lens flare is totally dependent on weather conditions, so may not be possible.

1. An extreme close-up of some lips singing the dominant line of the song will emphasise these words and takes the audience away from the beach location briefly, meaning they will stand out even more and increases the pace.
2. As we've now entered the chorus where the beat picks up even further I'd like the pace to match this. Seeing the artist singing, dancing, spinning etc will fit the the conventions of existing products. Having a nostalgic feel could be ironic to the lyrics or even support them even more as she thinks about what they had.
3. Here is an example of one of the quick shots I would like in this section of the song. Others include; the artist laughing and running away from the camera, close-up of her hair in the wind, the artist looking out to sea.
4. Now the chorus has ended I felt a change in location was appropriate to keep the visuals fresh. As the end of the chorus is signalled in the song through 5 drum beats, I thought it would be good to have 5 or 6 different flashes of the last location (a technique seen here and here) and then ending on a tree in the forest, showing the audience that the location has changed. 
5. The pace should slow slightly in the verse so that when it picks up again it will have more of an impact. Therefore the images in the forest/grass shall be dream-like and use slow-motion.
6. Moving closer to the river, I'd like to see the artist throwing stones into the river - a common stereotype for being thoughtful and contemplation, something which the song focuses on. It also sets up the next shot which I am excited about...

1. The introduction into the interlude is very important as it is a dramatic piece of music and allows the audience a pause in the chorus'. I like the idea of a stone being thrown into the river as it will create some beautiful ripples which will look really great on screen, while symbolising the artists feelings of throwing away the relationship while creating something good out of the aftermath. This is a shot I will need to practice to get right.
2. Below is the more extensive plan for the interlude. I felt it was right to take this section indoors away from the other locations, to set it apart from the rest of the video as it is a unique part of the song. Here I've been able to explore more thoroughly the artists feelings, and I'm hoping that it will look good and dramatic through shadows and low lighting and getting some emotion out of the artist. She starts off further away from the camera and gradually gets closer and closer, until she is face to face with the camera - expressing her true emotions to the audience making it a more striking and touching video.

3. To match the sound effects on the song of symbols crashing I thought a shot of waves crashing on the beach would be a great idea to ease the viewer out of the interlude. 
4. Heavy beats dominate this part of the song so I thought I would make use of it in my second location as their is a path locally that zig zags and would be perfect to use. 

I would love to do jump cuts of the artist as she gets closer to the camera ending with her close-up (5.) as the chorus begins.  I am looking forward to testing this technique out soon as it will be important to get right, otherwise it will not look very professional.
6. Then the repeated use of "we could of had it all" close-up will be effective in establishing audience recognition of the phrase. Repetition is also a widely common technique in existing products.

1. Keeping with the forest location I would like a closer focus on the artist and the lyrics as we come towards to climax. I like this shot as it is an interesting high angle, which makes the artist seem small - almost as if she is anyone, so the audience can identify with her. Cutaways of shots from the ground will add further depth, as well.
2. To break up the long sequences and to add impact (and a visual cue) to the change of beat I like the idea of the artist simply looking up, with the trees behind her framing her face.
3. and 4. The next 18 seconds are represented with two drawings as there will be many different shots with quite quick editing. The first sketch is of the artist rolling down the hill which is a direct reference to the title of the song and is also playful and positive which, as the song nears the end, is the note I'd like to leave on. The second sketch is inspired by this: 

I really love the atmosphere in this screen shot from Birdy's video which I have previously looked at, so would like to try it out. 
5. As drums are such a big part of the song, I would like this drum 'solo' to stand out. I am looking at the use of slow-motion if it fits with the beat, otherwise I may use a couple of cutaways to make it more interesting to watch. 
6. This section of the song is almost a second interlude and at 37 seconds long is the longest sequence of the whole song. Therefore I've had to think hard about what I can use that is different to the rest of the video while still retaining the feel of the song. Looking at other dance videos, they are often set in urban locations so I would like to feature this in some way and this part of the song feels the best part as it is focusing on the melody and the caribbean vibes which always make me want to dance, so I think using people dancing in a more urban location will work well. To fit the beat ideally I will need about 6-8 different people which may be hard to find, so as a 'Plan B' I can use fewer people and use cutaways of their feet and hands as well as intercut it with shots from all the locations, like of the artist dancing in the first location to round-up the entire video. I have seen this technique used many times before so it will fit with well tried and tested conventions and make it fit in with the rest of the products in the industry.

1. - 4. For the last 9 seconds of the music I would like flashes of the whole video's locations and memorable shots. As there are about 20 seconds about 20 shots would match well. 
The 20th shot is 5. and is using the light of dusk to silhouette her face and then cuts to 6. the same angle as the very first shot. But with the artist with he back to the camera, looking out to sea. I will hold on this after the music ends, perhaps with the sounds of seagulls and waves as it fades to white. The only part of this last shot that is unsure is if I will have the artist holding the match or not. I quite like the simplicity without it, but also the subtext and symbolism with him. I may look to audience feedback to decide this. 

Storyboards #1

Storyboarding

I have started storyboarding the song, so have come up with a lot more ideas and thoughts. My 'big' idea is for each chorus to be set in different locations and then come together at the end to intersperse to make a collective music video. This technique is very common in modern music videos (I will make a post later on this) and thus following some conventions, so may help to improve the quality of my video.

In order to create flow I will make sure costumes are right, lighting and most importantly the colouring of the video (probably towards the blue side) will match for each location so that it is obvious that it is one video. 

Here are my initial thoughts for images in song along with the respective storyboard... (Please excuse my terrible drawing skills!)

BEACH

0:00- 0:18 Begin on beach so nice parallel to ending, different shots sets up locations, throwing stones, close-ups of face, hands, feet, waves, seagulls, pebbles, sun etc, running along beach

0:18- 0:36 beat kicks in so upped pace, but still slow editing - BONFIRE?, in bucket, "fire starting in my heart"

also "bring me out the dark" - shadows/ silhouettes

0:37- 0:45 throwing stones, match falling in slow-mo, holding match on beach

0:46-0:53 lying on pebbles

0:54-1.13 miming to song, dancing on beach, spinning, close-up of lips singing

1:14-1:28 change in beach location to cliff area, looking out to sea still miming and dancing, close-up of making heart with hands

1:29-1:31 stop-motion here? flashes of different images in different locations (close-ups etc)

RIVER 

1:32-1:40 lying in grass reading book "no story to be told", running through grass, various dream-like angles

1:41- 1:49 ripples of water, skimming stones, light through water, possibly splashing in water

1:50-2:23  INTERLUDE #1 This is a very important part of the song, so I haven't sketched anything yet as I need more time to work out what needs doing here. An idea is using stop-motion as I like using this technique and is different and artistic enough to work in a dance music video. Ideally if I had a bigger budget I would love to film underwater in the sea - emphasising the "rolling in the deep" aspect, but budget restrictions mean this may probably won't be possible, however stunning the results would be.

2:24-2:27 waves from beach

FOREST 

2:28-2:43 walking through forest, jump-cuts adding pace

2:44 - 2:58 from above lying on ground below tree

2:58- 3:01 one shot held - facing camera miming with trees and sun behind

3:02- 3:19 hand-held camera rolling down hill

3:20-3:29 Focus on shots of drums, slow-motion?

BRING TOGETHER ALL LOCATIONS

3:30-3:46 Horn, spinning, laughing, dancing, miming to song

3:47-4:06 INTERLUDE #2 Dancing - preferably many different people/ ages, sizes etc (need around 8) on the street would give it nice urban edge, dream-like

4:06- 4:15 Flashes of various images (about 20 needed to match beats) used throughout ending on standing silhouetted on beach 

4:15-4:17 Close to white, on beach/sunset

END

Initial Ideas

In this post I'd like to go over my initial thoughts and ideas for my music video so that I can have a clearer view of where I'm heading.
The overall theme of the song is breaking up and moving on and has a positive feel. I really like the idea of filming at dusk, symbolising the end of the relationship and ending the video with bright light as she moves on into the future. 
Therefore some location ideas include the beach and a forest. I will do some scouting at local beaches and forests over the next few weeks/months. Lighting is hugely important to me and will help enormously to make the video look more professional so I will have to bear that in mind when looking at locations and then times of day also as the seasons change.

Beaches are often used in music videos and films, especally when they are romantic so it will be good imagery to have the artist thinking about the relationship, perhaps with flashbacks of happier times there and them throwing stones, following conventions as well as playing on them a little as it's about the end of a relationship instead of during.

I also want to capture some great atmosphere which the song already has lots of. A forest with great nostalgic sunlight would be perfect for that. It boosts the artistic feel which is important to make it feel more professional and fits with the genre of music well.

Other imagery I would like to include is drums as there is a lot of focus on the drums/beat in the song, steel drums might be good, but I will look into drums that are available. Also I love the period feel in Adele's original video of the song, so would like to think about that as I think of other locations, filming techniques, costumes and props. 
I would ultimately like a montage feel so will need to look in more detail at the lyrics and different sequences could fit into that, but the main feature is the editing and pacing to fit with the song.
I will also look further into dance music videos or remixes and see what the conventions are to help me know what to and not to do. And lastly I will obviously keep the relative theories in mind to make sure I keep on track.