Step by step the production of our video.

After we had thought up the initial idea for our song we began storyboarding the video. We planned out a storyline sequence putting together ideas that could match the song.
The basic outline for a story we came up with was that of our main character beginning the sequence as drunk and alone. He would then hear the song being played and begin to sing it himself. This then led on to his performance on a stage that he believed to be there although in reality he was just singing down in the ‘gutter’ somewhere.

Once we had thought through a basic storyline we researched locations looking around local areas to try to find a suitable stage-like area to film. The location we found was the underside of a bridge that had a low barrier which could act as the front of the stage. To begin filming we had then to improve our storyline to make sure we had enough to film and to make sure what we filmed matched the song especially as we were going to involve a lot of lip-syncing.

We thought of having a car go past under the bridge as it would seem appropriate that it was still in use and whilst the main character sat there drinking away his thoughts, the song playing on the cars radio would blare past and put the song into his head.

We began to film the opening sequence with the car going past the main character sat out on the barrier under the bridge. As the song played he began to tap his foot and his hand would begin to go and eventually he mimed playing the piano as it starts in the song.

Back to the drawing board we thought up how the video was going to play out, we thought of having the character singing the entire song as he was drunk but he would believe (because of his apparent location) he was on stage singing to an audience and performing the song live. We would show this as a ‘switch’ between what he was singing where he was in reality and what he believed he was singing and the stage he thought he was on. This led us to film each of the shots we needed in order of how we wanted them to appear, either in reality or in the dream sequence.
We planned to have the majority of the start of the song in reality so that the audience could get to grips with the storyline of a drunk beginning to sing a song he had heard. Then we devised certain areas in the song to be filmed in what he was dreaming. We improvised a spin which would take the video forward to his dream, which would consist of him singing indoors to an audience.
Filming each of these sequences was fairly straight forward as we had pre-planned our locations and the order of play in which we wanted to film. The difficulties we faced were getting the close-ups right so that the lip-syncing was in time to give a realistic effect to the end product. Overcoming this was simple in that we used an ipod so that the main character could sing the song in the exact time it was played from the version of the song we had. This worked to a good effect as we were able to place the audio over the video exactly making the lip-syncing look as realistic as possible, giving our video an aesthetically pleasing finish.

We managed to get through filming fairly efficiently and then began the editing process. During editing we cut and changed parts of what we had filmed so that we were satisfied with the clips we had. We then put them in order and began to add them together with the audio slowly creating our music video. We were then able to add different effects as necessary to give the video a smooth running feel to it.

Having edited what we had so far we showed what we had to a small audience and the feedback we got was positive. They liked the storyline and thought what we had achieved so far was good and this encouraged us to continue with the rest of the film in the same light.
Eventually finishing our filming with the end of the dream sequence and the jump off stage back to reality, the song ends and the main character walks off into the sunset. The location we had under the bridge slopped off into the distance which was perfect for the ending, luckily we had timed it just right so that the sun was setting as we filmed and were able to get the perfect ending shot.

We added in the idea of dropping the beer can (which the character had previously used in place of what he thought was a microphone) which then rolled back down into the gutter where he had performed. As a series of shots this was difficult to film as we had to get the exact roll of the can right, but eventually getting there it turned out to be a good feature in the video and worked well with the end of the song.

The Filming Begins

The Start of our filming basically consisted of us matching up our locations to the story boards. We started off by gaining a few panning shots in order to establish the location we did this by carrying out a few panning shots and still long shots of the under pass.










This was then followed by a shot of the car arriving a the underpass we used a mixture of inerior and exterior shots to establish where the music is coming from.
We then used a range of shots to show the man hearing the song and then start tapping to the beat.


















We took a couple of shots to show him hearing the song and we felt that the shots that showed him most getting into it was a close up of his feet tapping, his fingers tapping and him playing his air piano. As he starts to sing we then went into different shots such as using long, close and wide angle shots.













We also used panning shots as he roamed around the underpass, we decided to use and POV (Point of view) shot of the man spinning around has he goes into his imagination.
After a blurry POV image of the man spinning around we then cut into the man’s imagination, we then use a mid shot of the audience cheering and clapping.
















We then use a mid spotlighted spot of the man singing on his imaginary stage. We then used a series of shots such as close ups of the audience and side shots of the man singing into the microphone.













As the song continues to the line ‘Street lights People looking down the bulivards’ we use a moving panning shot into a close up to show the audiences focus on him. This is an affective shot but was hard to achieve whilst trying to keep the camera steady.














We then use a panning shot of the audience clapping along to the guitar solo. This then goes into a couple of low angle shots that we use to show his emotion as he carrys on singing as the audience go wild cheering and clapping.
















As we get to the line ‘Hold on’ we then use a low side angle shot as he jumps of the stage back in to reality as his little dream ends.

We then use a low shot of his feet landing into his reality back in the underpass. We then use a close up to show his disappointment of finding himself back in the underpass.














Shortly followed by a panning shot of him walking out of the underpass, we then use a shot of him walking down a road. He then jobs his beer can and we follow it with a low shot as it rolls into the gutter.

The last shot as the song ends is the man walking down a long road into the sunset this symbolises the end of the song.

Location

For our piece we need two main locations; the underpass and the stage. We have managed to find a suitable underpass located on a now disused road the underpass is quiet it has some graffiti this added to the scene and is what you would normally expect in this type of location. The underpass has a road running underneath it so it was possible to fit this in with our story as the man hears the music first from a passing car. We have also chosen to use the school drama studios for the imagination scene, the studios have a good size stage and a good lighting system.

Story Line

We decided to take our possible story ideas along the lines of an amplification video, although are video does not really consist of the story line of the song it would involve most of the song being lip synced. Are basic story line consist of; and unknown man sitting in a underpass by the side of a road, a car passes by and he hears the song journey don’t stop believing blasting out the speakers. The man is intoxicated and starts to imagine he is a famous superstar and begins to start dancing around and singing. He then imagines that he is performing on stag to an audience.

Questionnaire

In order to help us create our music video we created a questionnaire to help us find out what audiences like a music video to consist of. Here is a copy of our questionnaire


Q1 Age 0-15 15-20 20-30 30-40 50+
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Q2 Favourite form of music Rock/Hip Hop/Pop/Punk/Rap/Dance/Other
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Q2 Do you like music videos to follow a story? YES NO
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Q3 Do you like a music video to affect you emotionally? YES NO DONT MIND

What Makes a good music video?

We carried out research into what makes a good music video we have searched numurus articles and websites also including music television stations to try and find out what makes a good video here are some of the examples we managed to find.
1. Credits. Yes, yes, it adds a cinematic element to the video. Yes, yes, it makes everything look professional and epic. Awesome, it’s like the audience is watching a movie. But what’s the major difference between music videos and feature films? Oh, I don’t know, maybe about two hours! Also, millions upon millions of cash. Yes, some videos deserve special admiration for its technical feats but credits? Really? It just looks so pretentious. And if there’s one thing musicians want to avoid it’s being pretentious.

2. Sound effects/dialogue. I’ve watched a lot of videos and this is one kernel of truth I’ve discovered: all music videos aspire to be movies. The director usually wants to be filming a movie, the crew usually wants to be filming a movie and we all know the artist wants to be filming a movie. This leads to silly little ideas like adding dialogue or special effects to a music video. Explosions, heavy rain, bad bits of conversation. Yuck. Is this a MUSIC video? Why are people talking? Why does this feel like a film trailer? Oh, that’s right, everyone’s stuck in a state of arrested development and can’t come to terms with the fact that they’re not Brad Pitt. Deal with it, people! Cut out all the extra bells and whistles, it comes across as stupid and contrived.

3. Too much story. This is the biggest one of all. A music video is best when it realizes the confines of the medium. Let’s be honest: you’ve got a couple minutes to draw in the viewer’s attention and leave a lasting impression. Use those few minutes in your favor! Be creative, be inventive! Try something new! It’s a horrible idea to try and create a larger-than-life story and cram it into the short amount of time. It never works, it looks silly and it lends to parody.
(This article was useful as we felt many of the opions stated where valid)

• It the piece technically well executed? Regardless of the style, the performance - whether improvised, derived from notation, or electroacoustically produced - should be free of extraneous notes, sounds, effects, nuances of any kind that do not contribute to communication of the musical ideas.
  
• Does it exploit a variety of elements of music, i.e. rhythm, harmony, melody, texture/timbre? Although a quality piece of music need not have all elements equally represented (in fact, many if not most fine works do not), a piece that relies solely on any one element is likely to be less than fulfilling.
  
• Is the chief attraction not the music but the words? If the answer is yes, then the piece probably should be considered more as a theater piece or as poetry, than music. For music is the most abstract of arts, and although the marriage of text and music can be transcendent, the best does not need verbal associations to enhance it.
  
• Are the elements of the work highly integrated so that each supports the other’s function? Melody, for example, cannot exist without at least some degree of rhythm; rhythm, however, can exist without melody, as can harmony without either rhythm or melody. But it seems that most truly satisfying music exploits the elements in ways that cause the product of them to be greater that the sum of the elements, disparately.
  
• Does the piece appeal on a variety of levels – intellectual, emotional, spiritual? A piece can be strong enough in any one of these areas to justify being called good, but the best music somehow seems to appeal on many levels.
  Is there a feeling of "musicality" about it? That is, does the piece invoke a desire for body movement that corresponds to the gestures in sound? Musicality is distinctly human and inexorably connected to physical movement in ways that are imbedded in our psyches from the first expressive sounds uttered by our ancient ancestors to experiences as recent as our last rehearsal.
  
• Is there satisfying formal organization to the way the gestures are presented and developed? Since music occurs over time and for practical reasons, if for no other, music has to have a beginning and end, it seems to be our nature to expect some kind of sequence and development of the ideas that we find satisfying as anticipation and memory blend to create a mental image of form.
  
• Is there a good balance between familiarity and variety, appropriate for the length of the piece? Clearly, very extended pieces will need to introduce more variety than very short ones; likewise the task of maintaining coherence within greater diversity is more difficult and expected in longer pieces.
  
• After having been listened to many times, does the piece still have appeal, appeal that is based on some new revelations rather than solely on comfortable familiarity? Complexity in and of itself is not especially valuable, but exceptional music seems to have many facets, and holds up well and continues to interest even after many listenings.
  
• Do you feel positively stimulated, better, richer, fuller, or improved in some way for having heard the piece? This may seem a lot to expect, but truly great pieces (which, or course most music, even very fine music, will not be) often have a beneficial effect on careful listeners. Like the nutrition axiom "we are what we eat," (which, although obviously not literal, makes the point that our physical health is affected by our diet) in the arts we are what we consume, and what we habitually listen to affects our spirits. The best music makes us better by stimulating our minds and touching our hearts, and helps us feel better about ourselves and the world.
  (Also a useful article that we have tried to take pointers from in order to make our own piece a success)

Dancing in the Distraction Factory

We have used the book Dancing in the Distraction factory as a useful research tool. The book is very useful and was a valuable insight into the world of music videos. Andrew Goodwin the author has analysed many music videos through extensive research to identify the key aspects of a music video these include:
Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals: illustrative, amplifying, contradicting. There is a relationship between music and visual: illustrative, amplifying, contradicting. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work a visual style.There is frequently reference to notion of looking screens within screens, telescopes, etc and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. There is often intertextual reference to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc.
An interesting point we have taken from the article is the research into Meta Narrative, often used in the form of star stories, a prime example of this would be Madonna, once promoted as a sex icon in the 80’s. Madonna has now become to old to be promoted into such lights she has changed her path and is now promoted as a role model to women. Music videos often market the star as a product through Meta Narrative they way they act and how the audience responds.
This has proven to be a good article and we have tried to take many examples given in the article and include them into our project.