1st Draft of the Layout of my Music Video

1. Tracking shot of the streets going by via car - Sped down (0.00 - 0.04)
2. Steadicam tracking forward of the shoreline - Brightness and contrast brough up (0.04 - 0.07) FADE TO BLACK
3. FADE IN - Two people walking hand in hand by the shoreline - Tracking forward (0.07 - 0.11) FADE TO BLACK
4. FADE IN - Steadicam of Becky and Alex laughing and joking - being in love (0.11 - 0.15) FADE TO BLACK
5. Close up of Becky smiling (0.15 - 0.17)
6. Close up of Alex smirking (0.17 - 0.21)
7. Medium shot of Becky and Alex dancing slowly (0.21 - 0.24)
8. Close up of Becky leaning on Alex's chest - smiling contently - Sped down (0.24 - 0.29) FADE TO BLACK
9. FADE IN - Medium long shot of Alex and Becky shouting at each other (0.29 - 0.31)
10. Close up of Alex shouting at Becky (0.31 - 0.33)
11. Medium close up of Becky crying and shaking her head (0.33 - 0.36)
12. Medium long shot of Alex walking out the door (0.36 - 0.39)
13. Medium close up of Becky shocked (0.39 - 0.41)
14. Medium close up of Becky shocked - Steadicam (0.41 - 0.44)
15. Medium shot of lit candle flickering (0.44 - 0.45)
16. Medium shot of Becky sat crossed legged on the floor in front of the candle - lip syncing (0.45 - 0.49)
17. Close up of Becky lip syncing (0.49 - 0.52)
18. Medium shot of Becky hugging herself - lip syncing (0.52 - 0.55)
19. Close up of Becky's face - lip syncing (0.55 - 0.59)
20. Medium long shot of Becky hugging herself - face turns to the right - lip syncing (0.59 - 1.02)
21. Close up of Becky's turned face - looks up at 1.06 then looks down at 1.09 – lip syncing (1.03 – 1.12) FADE TO BLACK

My Audience

Character Profile

The person I will be using as my main singer is Becky Foster. I asked her to be in my music video because we are close and I trust her to be reliable and organised. She also enjoys acting and performing and isn't camera shy so she is perfect for the role. 

Rebecca Foster
17 years old (January 1995)
Studies English Language, English Literature and Media Studies
She aspires to be a primary school teacher 

Florence and the Machine Timed Lyrics

This song is about a woman who feels like she is slipping away from the one she loves and also reality, she is begging to be saved which is the main line from the song 'Never Let Me Go'. 

Final Reconstruction

Evaluation

For this task we had to go into groups of 4-5 people and choose a music video one of us had re-created a one minute storyboard for. For my group we chose No Doubt – Just a Girl. We chose to recreate the first 30 seconds of the music video because it had different edit styles which would be a challenge when it came to re-shooting and editing it together. For the mise-en-scene we had to use a car and drive around the neighbourhood collecting shots of the different sights for the fast paced shots. Throughout the music video there was a wide variety of different camera angles which we had to recreate, there was many high and low angles, close ups and medium shots which when edited together created a three second sequence. Further on the video, there is another fast paced sequence lasting 1 second although they are still images.

I learnt how important planning beforehand is important, having the story board completed and also having a production schedule so everyone knows who is filming what and when. We created a production plan and posted in onto blogger, this helped us to keep organised a so everyone knew what to do which we also updated daily on what we had shot, when. This task also helped me to get experience for time management, as I had a two week deadline we had to sort out a timetable and also give everyone a role for the task, e.g. director, editor or camera operator. I also learnt how to use the edit suites more thoroughly as for a scene in the music video there is a split screen with two different shots, I was shown how to do this by cropping the two shots and changing the motion of both shots so they both occupy a side.

Problems we faced was on the first day of shooting, our director and camera operator was ill so this forced us to abandon filming for the full afternoon we scheduled to film. Another problem was shooting the scenes were Gwen Stefani is singing in the car, we didn't have the full story board at the time so when it came to shooting the scenes we ended up singing the wrong lyrics, we then had to go back and re-shoot this scene but this set us back in our production plan which ended up costing us less time on the edit suites. Another problem we faced was when it came to edit the sequence together, in the video there is a scene were Gwen Stefani is seen walking from one room into another, when No Doubt filming this scene they had built the set so the camera was able to track from one room to the other, however we didn't have the means to do this, so when we was filming the shots we filmed the singer walking into one room and the then another of her walking into the actual room. When we came to edit these shots together we faced the dilemma of the shots looking bad, we had gotten both shots into the same shot by cropping them together and moving the shots so they occupied a side. However when we played back the shot, the shot on the right were the singer is seen walking through the door disappeared for a few seconds before reappearing in the other shot. The problem we did was we had cut both shots too much and had lost the part of the sequence we needed. So we went back and made the shots longer were we overcame the problem.

To plan it took us an hour to sort out the roles of everyone and to plan our production schedule, we already had a hand drawn story board of the scenes we were to shoot but or extra measures we created a digital story board with screen shots from the actual music video, this is so we knew the exact shot, angle and distance from the camera. It took us longer than we had hopes to shoot the video, after having to re-shoot some shots our shooting time lasted five days which ended up cutting our time on the edit suites. To edit it took us a little over two hours overall, which wasn't ideal in our situation because we had many difficult edit sequences to learn and use in our video.

Florence and the Machine - Never Let Me Go Lyrics

Looking up from underneath
Fractured moonlight on the sea
Reflections still look the same to me
As before I went under

And it's peaceful in the deep
Cathedral where you cannot breathe
No need to pray no need to speak
Now I am under all

And it's breaking over me
A thousand miles down to the sea bed
Found the place to rest my head
Never let me go
Never let me go

And the arms of the ocean are carrying me
And all this devotion was rushing out of me
In the crushes of heaven for a sinner like me
But the arms of the ocean delivered me

Though the pressure's hard to take
It's the only way I can escape
It seems a heavy choice to make
And now I am under all

And it's breaking over me
A thousand miles down to the sea bed
Found the place to rest my head
Never let me go
Never let me go

And the arms of the ocean are carrying me
And all this devotion was rushing out of me
In the crushes of heaven for a sinner like me
But the arms of the ocean delivered me

And it's over
And I'm going under
But I'm not giving up
I'm just giving in

I'm slipping underneath
So cold and so sweet

And the arms of the ocean
So sweet and so cold
And all this devotion I never knew at all
In the crushes of heaven for a sinner released
But the arms of the ocean delivered me
Never let me go
Never let me go

Deliver me

Never let me go
Never let me go

Deliver me

Never let me go
Never let me go

Deliver me

Never let me go
Never let me go

And it's over
And I'm going under
But I'm not giving up
I'm just giving in

I'm slipping underneath
So cold and so sweet

Genre Conventions Essay

Codes and conventions used in music videos are recognized by the audience, this then develops those codes and conventions to form different genres which the audience is then able to establish and recognize the different genres of music. Stereo-typically men and women can be represented in different ways to each other, in the case of men, the male is seen to be addressing the viewer directly as he is supposed to be singing at the audience. The female figure is often an object of the male desire. This is why most females in music videos are often dressed and posed in very sexual and desirable ways.

I analysed the music video ‘The Funeral’ by Band of Horses where I found a mixture of stylistics being used through cinematography and mise-en-scene. Medium close ups were used mostly throughout the music video which is common in music videos but also some close ups of the protagonist in the video were included to create a bond with them and the audience which is common in most music videos. This also helps the audience to relate and recognize the artist and also the situation happening in the video which reflects the song lyrics. The costume they wore was old worn out suits; the setting was industry working class areas and working men’s clubs. This gives the impression of the genre and language of the video, i.e. an old fashioned story along with the edit used (home video).

Depending on the genre of the music video the type of camera movement can vary, for pop music videos they will be fixed cameras with smooth movements, an example could be The Saturdays ’30 Days’ or in indie music videos they will be use of steadi-cam where the camera will be shaky and the video will contain jerky movements, an example would be Kasabian ‘Rewired’.




The narrative of the music video is determined by the lyrics of the song. In the song ‘Born To Die’ by Lana Del Rey the title of the song gives an overview of what the video will be about, the narrative of the video is the two characters relationship was doomed from the start as the run away with each other and have a lust filled road trip but are involved in an accident which claims their lives. The title of the song ‘Born to Die’ suggests and also reinforces this idea and thus supports the narrative. It can also promote a film with clips from the film and also includes a story, mimic other film and TV genres like horror or sci fi, an example would be Backstreet Boys ‘Everybody (Backstreet's Back)’.

Editing within the music video is important as the lip syncing makes the video look the most professional and pristine. Jump cuts are common in most music videos as the video is a montage edit so will add to the narrative also. Depending on the genre of the music video the edit will set the mood and feel to it, whether it is a slow paced song with slow cuts and slow motion edit used or fast paced video with fast cuts, edits and action sequences an example could be Coldplay ‘The Scientist’.

Having diegetic sound-at the beginning and ending of some music videos with scenes but no music can help to explain what is going on during the music video. It can also start or finish the narrative. Changes in the levels of sounds- in certain areas of the song is common, the music level changes for effect from the audience, for narrative reasons or to just suit what is going on within the scenes.