test shots

Directors commentary

final music video

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages [Director's Commentary Script - Marlon]

When planning the video, we used a digital camera to take location shots and practice shots of what we hoped to use in the final video itself. We also used blogger.com to document our progress on the video, and its construction etc.

We used Sony HD Camcorders to film the video itself, and then edited the footage on Final Cut Express, which was an invaluable resource in finishing the video. When creating the digi-pak and the magazine advert, we again used the digital cameras and Adobe Photoshop to take the pictures and edit them to our own specifications.

We then used blogger.com again to evaluate our process, video and gain feedback from other groups.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts (directors commentary script-Charlie)

The main project centred around morphsuits, so they figure alot in our music video, however we could only hint at this in our magazine advert and digipak cover - as we needed to show a full reflection of the band and not just about the single. In order to parallel with the last scene in the video of the three morph-men walking away from camera, we used 'Eminem's Recovery' album for inspiration. This showed the artist walking away from the camera, indicating his road to recovery after his drug problems. We wanted to parody this with our own road to recovery, shedding ourselves of the antics performed in the morph-suits for a final time. However, this approach was scrapped and replaced with the idea of incorporating a spider turned pink in keeping with the bands name. We knew, the digipak and advertisement couldn't heavily side with the idea of the morphsuits as we had to show the bands image as a whole.

What have you learnt from the audience feedback (script for directors commentary-Alex)

From the audience feedback after the viewing of our music video, we learnt that they enjoyed the fact that it incorporated comedy into the video, saying that it is unconventional and keeps the audience glued to the screen and laughing the entire way through. We also learnt that it still demonstrated the genre of the song, and contained accurate lip-syncing that made the video have a more rock ‘n’ roll feel. The scenes where we sped up the men in the morph-suits were also praised, saying that they added to the humour. They also enjoyed the opening sequence, which was entirely improvised. It introduced the song and the content inside, giving a reason behind why the men were doing stunts in morph-suits, rather than just doing stunts.

However, there were things we could have improved on. For example, in the editing process, we could have used more filters to give the video a more ‘professional’ feel. Also, the lip-syncing shots where the lead singer was dancing could have been livelier; it made the video seem a little more boring at times than it should have been.

 I’ve learnt that the idea of the music video was good; the idea of incorporating comedy in a rock video worked and was successful. However, it lacked a professional feel, and I’ve learnt that if I was today do it again, then more time must be put in to the editing process by adding more fillters and rather than just the filming.

Director's Commentary Script

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

Our media product uses typical forms and conventions that other music videos of the same, or of a similar genre use by incorporating the conventional link between music and visuals. For example, the lip-syncing, dancing and in this case, enjoyable and funny visuals. Our music video is a mix between narrative based and performance based, and our interpretation of the lyrics from the song Truth or Dare is different to most other peoples, who might interpret it as being about a girl or love etc. We took it, and used it as an excuse to perform and execute as series of ‘dares’. By doing this, we challenged the conventions of many other music videos of the same genre, drawing our inspiration from such artists and Weezer, whose music video Pork and Beans made us want to do dares such as mentos & coke. Despite a lot of the stunts we attempted being cut out of the final version of the video, we still maintain that videos like Pork and Beans were our primary inspiration.

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

The main project centred around morphsuits, so they figure alot in our music video, however we could only hint at this in our magazine advert and digipak cover - as we needed to show a full reflection of the band and not just about the single. In order to parallel with the last scene in the video of the three morph-men walking away from camera, we used 'Eminem's Recovery' album for inspiration. This showed the artist walking away from the camera, indicating his road to recovery after his drug problems. We wanted to parody this with our own road to recovery, shedding ourselves of the antics performed in the morph-suits for a final time. However, this approach was scrapped and replaced with the idea of incorporating a spider turned pink in keeping with the bands name. We knew, the digipak and advertisement couldn't heavily side with the idea of the morphsuits as we had to show the bands image as a whole.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

From the audience feedback after the viewing of our music video, we learnt that they enjoyed the fact that it incorporated comedy into the video, saying that it is unconventional and keeps the audience glued to the screen and laughing the entire way through. We also learnt that it still demonstrated the genre of the song, and contained accurate lip-syncing that made the video have a more rock ‘n’ roll feel. The scenes where we sped up the men in the morph-suits were also praised, saying that they added to the humour. They also enjoyed the opening sequence, which was entirely improvised. It introduced the song and the content inside, giving a reason behind why the men were doing stunts in morph-suits, rather than just doing stunts.

However, there were things we could have improved on. For example, in the editing process, we could have used more filters to give the video a more ‘professional’ feel. Also, the lip-syncing shots where the lead singer was dancing could have been livelier; it made the video seem a little more boring at times than it should have been.

 I’ve learnt that the idea of the music video was good; the idea of incorporating comedy in a rock video worked and was successful. However, it lacked a professional feel, and I’ve learnt that if I was today do it again, then more time must be put in to the editing process by adding more fillters and rather than just the filming.

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

When planning the video, we used a digital camera to take location shots and practice shots of what we hoped to use in the final video itself. We also used blogger.com to document our progress on the video, and its construction etc.

We used Sony HD Camcorders to film the video itself, and then edited the footage on Final Cut Express, which was an invaluable resource in finishing the video. When creating the digi-pak and the magazine advert, we again used the digital cameras and Adobe Photoshop to take the pictures and edit them to our own specifications.

We then used blogger.com again to evaluate our process, video and gain feedback from other groups.

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products [Script For Director's Commentary - James]

Our media product uses typical forms and conventions that other music videos of the same, or of a similar genre use by incorporating the conventional link between music and visuals. For example: The lip-syncing, dancing and in this case, enjoyable and funny visuals.

Our music video is a mix between narrative based and performance based, and our interpretation of the lyrics from the song Truth or Dare is different to most other peoples, who might interpret it as being about a girl or love etc. We took it, and used it as an excuse to perform and execute as series of ‘dares’.

By doing this, we challenged the conventions of many other music videos of the same genre, drawing our inspiration from such artists and Weezer, whose music video Pork and Beans made us want to do dares such as mentos & coke.

Despite a lot of the stunts we attempted being cut out of the final version of the video, we still maintain that videos like Pork and Beans were our primary inspiration.

Ideas For The Director's Commentary

1. Use green screen when filming the commentary, and show either a new advertisement for the music videos release date, or current album cover.
2. Film each person separately, and use a separate script for each person doing the commentary
3. Use final cut to put in the persons name and how they were involved with the making of the video, for example: Alex Long, Producer & Co-Director
4. Use final cut to edit in parts of the music video that the person is talking about at the time.

Evaluation Of Music Video

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

Our music video manages to portait forms of real media products by simply using small aspects of real videos and slightly convirging them into our own. 

Album Front Cover

Album back cover

Magazine advertisement

Evaluation of Music Video

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

Our media product uses typical forms and conventions that other music videos of the same, or of a similar genre use by incorporating the conventional link between music and visuals. For example: The lip-syncing, dancing and in this case, enjoyable and funny visuals. Our music video is a mix between narrative based and performance based, and our interpretation of the lyrics from the song Truth or Dare is different to most other peoples, who might interpret it as being about a girl or love etc. We took it, and used it as an excuse to perform and execute as series of ‘dares’. By doing this, we challenged the conventions of many other music videos of the same genre, drawing our inspiration from such artists and Weezer, whose music video Pork and Beans made us want to do dares such as mentos & coke. Despite a lot of the stunts we attempted being cut out of the final version of the video, we still maintain that videos like Pork and Beans were our primary inspiration.

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

The main theme we decided to use for the music video was the idea of incorporating comedy into a rock music video, which included the use of morph-suits in the video as well as performing stunts to the lyrics of the song. In order to parallel with the final shot in the music video, our first album cover concept was of the three morph-men walking away from the camera. However, unlike in the video itself, the three men were not wearing their morph-suits. The idea for this was a parody of Eminem’s album Recovery, where it depicts the artist walking on a road to recovery. However, we decided to do the same but instead depicting the three men on their own ‘road to recovery’, having gotten over their sudden lack of judgement and sanity with the morph-suits. However, this idea was scrapped as it was a single instead of an album cover. Instead, because the album cover isn’t just for the song Truth or Dare, we decided to go for a more classic approach by using a ‘pink spider’ (name of the band, The Pink Spiders) chasing after the members of the band. Their shadows would instead be the colours of the morph-suits, because the song Truth or Dare would be the main song on the album. For the magazine advert, we decided to go for a more minimalist approach, by simply putting the lead singer of the band on a pink background whilst holding the morph-suits in his hands. We knew we couldn’t make the morph-suits from the music video the main focus for everything, so instead we decided to put it in the ads and album covers as a subtle reference, rather than a main focus.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

From the audience feedback after the viewing of our music video, we learnt that they enjoyed the fact that it incorporated comedy into the video, saying that it is unconventional and keeps the audience glued to the screen and laughing the entire way through. We also learnt that it still demonstrated the genre of the song, and contained accurate lip-syncing that made the video have a more rock ‘n’ roll feel. The scenes where we sped up the men in the morph-suits were also praised, saying that they added to the humour. They also enjoyed the opening sequence, which was entirely improvised. It introduced the song and the content inside, giving a reason behind why the men were doing stunts in morph-suits, rather than just doing stunts.

However, there were things we could have improved on. For example, in the editing process, we could have used more filters to give the video a more ‘professional’ feel. Also, the lip-syncing shots where the lead singer was dancing could have been livelier; it made the video seem a little more boring at times than it should have been.

 I’ve learnt that the idea of the music video was good; the idea of incorporating comedy in a rock video worked and was successful. However, it lacked a professional feel, and I’ve learnt that if I was today do it again, then more time must be put in to the editing process rather than just the filming.

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

When planning the video, we used a digital camera to take location shots and practice shots of what we hoped to use in the final video itself. We also used blogger.com to document our progress on the video, and its construction etc.

We used Sony HD Camcorders to film the video itself, and then edited the footage on Final Cut Express, which was an invaluable resource in finishing the video. When creating the digi-pak and the magazine advert, we again used the digital cameras and Adobe Photoshop to take the pictures and edit them to our own specifications.

We then used blogger.com again to evaluate our process, video and gain feedback from other groups.

Evaluation of music video

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our media product challenges the conventions of real media products by showing humor. We took inspirtion from a few existing music videos such as 'The Artic Monkeys-Florescent adolescent' and 'Weezer-Pork and Beans'. the main reason why it challenges the concept of real music products is becasue there are not many existing music videos that use morphsuits as costumes.

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

The main project centered around the theme of humor/ comedy and the morphsuits, so the morphsuits as comedy featured continuously throughout our product. However when creating our digi pack and magazine advert we could only hint at these as we werent creating a single but an album. so we needed to show a reflection of the band and not just that single.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

I have laernt that the lypsincing is vital in having a successful music video, having structure to our work and the importance of having fillters in your product so it makes it look more professional. But one main thing i have laernt is having a back up plan if anything goes wrong. This is where we fell down in our project, as we were rushed to finish our project by the deadline resulting in our project not looking as professional as we wanted it to be.

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

We used media technologies during and after the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages. We used final cut express to edit our product and merge all our footage together. We also used a digital camera to take photos of areas and locations where we could shoot our project. Another media technologie which was used was photoshop, we used phtotshop to help create our CD cover and our magazine advert.

Evaluation of Music Video

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our aim was to show the humourous side of music video's we took inspiration from existing video's such as 'Fluorescent Adolescent - Arctic Monkey's' and 'Stay Awake - Example' . I believe this idea challenged the concept of real media products, as no other existing music video has used morphsuits. Therefore, I believe this supports the claim that we challenged the forms and conventions as instead of intepreting the single as a song about love, we used it as an excuse to perform daring and humour-based stunts. Despite many of our stunts getting cut, such as the mentos and cola took from 'Weezer - Pork and Beans'.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancilliary texts?
The main project centred around morphsuits, so they figure alot in our music video, however we could only hint at this in our magazine advert and digipak cover - as we needed to show a full reflection of the band and not just about the single. In order to parallel with the last scene in the video of the three morph-men walking away from camera, we used 'Eminem's Recovery' album for inspiration. This showed the artist walking away from the camera, indicating his road to recovery after his drug problems. We wanted to parody this with our own road to recovery, shedding ourselves of the antics performed in the morph-suits for a final time. However, this approach was scrapped and replaced with the idea of incorporating a spider turned pink in keeping with the bands name. We knew, the digipak and advertisement couldn't heavily side with the idea of the morphsuits as we had to show the bands image as a whole.

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?
I have learnt how vital the lip-synching is to the music video, and also the importance of having a structure to our work and filming as well as a contigency plan if anything goes wrong. This is where we fell down in our project, as we were rushed to finish by the deadline. To develop our idea, we were encouraged to include more daring scenes with the morph-suits if we were to do it again. Time constraints restricted what we could include, therefore it didnt look as good as we hoped. Furthermore, to be more creative with the lip-synching, because with lack of time, the background looked quite bland. Whereas with a bit more thought and time on our side, we had ideas of filming in Cambridge town centre and places around college.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
When planning and taking test shots/footage for our initial ideas we used a digital camera, this enabled us to take multiple pictures to use in the planning stage. We also used 'blogger.com' to document our progress and post relevant images and test footage we had taken. We used a Sony HD Camcorder to film our video and then edited our crafted these clips using Final Cut Express, this became an invaluable piece of software for us, especially when cutting and editing our footage as the deadline approached. Lastly, we used Adobe Photoshop we created both our digipak cover and magazine advertisement.

Feedback From Class

After everyone viewing our video, they gave us valuable information on what we did well and most importantly, what we need to improve on. The feedback that we were given due to things we did correctly consisted of; 

• It was humorous: The use of the morph-suits was unconventional and funny to the audience, it kept people watching and laughing along with the music video.
• It demonstrates the genre of the song
• The lip syncing was good: The lead singer got into the singing and gave out a rock 'n' roll sense and vibe
• Effects: The sped up scenes were good and very attention-grabbing
• Enjoyed the opening sequence where the characters were introduced

The feedback we were given about the things we did wrong or could have improved on were;

• Editing: Could have used filters and made it seem more professional
• Lip syncing: The shots with the lead singer were slightly boring, could have used more effects.

Overall, we are quite pleased with our feedback and agree that given slightly more time, we could have made the editing much better and gotten more shots with the lead singer, perhaps in a better location.

Ace Frehley - The Girl Can't Dance: Pitch.

The scene can open with four guys standing next to a table with drinks on it (symbolize where they are), while they watch a girl on the dancefloor who is horrific at dancing. The four of them laugh with each, before the music begins.

The camera then shows the scale of the party, perhaps including around 7 - 10 extras, as well as the four guys and the girl herself - ask around college for volunteers.

The different locations and shots are key for the video to work, so the use of establishing shots, canted angles, close-ups and panning shots are vital for an effective music video. These are the proposed locations:

1. The party, where the girls antics are being filmed and laughed at without her realising.
2. The next day, where groups of people all over cambridge are watching and laughing at the girls dancing on their phones (Youtube)
3. Lip-syncing shots, set in Cambridge City Centre, as well as in the party itself.

The video is going to link to the lyrics word for word, but instead of a romantic sort of setting, it's going to be humorous in an effort to appeal to more of an audience.

Auteur Study: Hammer & Tongs (Garth Jennings & Nick Goldsmith)

Hammer & Tongs is a pseudonym used by director of films and music videos Garth Jennings, and producer Nick Goldsmith. The pair have worked together on numerous occations, doing both music videos and films such as Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. They have also worked on many music videos such as: Blur - Coffee & TV, Supergrass - Pumping Your Stereo & Radiohead - Lotus Flower.

I chose to look at these two because they have both made at least 27 music videos, and 2 films. A lot can be learnt from their technique's and videos themselves, and are a good pair to use as inspiration for our own video.

Progress Report: 17/11/2011

Tasks that have yet to be completed are:

• Uploading of three videos: Test Shots, Rough Cut & Final Cut of the music video. Upload to youtube, and then embed the videos onto the blog itself.
• Contact the artist: Research into The Pink Spiders to find out if they can be contacted or not - try using Twitter.
• Magazine Cover

As of the 16/11/2011, the music video, rough cut and test shots are all finished and have been converted into quicktime files and ready for upload. The digi-pak appears to be nearing completion as well, and we are all happy with the outcome of the final video.

Front cover idea

Still shots ideas for lip synching

Filming schedule

Wednesday 12th October 2011, During this date we intend to get the beginning of the music video which shall be the following scenes;

• Sitting around table bored
• James enters room
• we open closet to find the morph suits

Thursday 13th October 2011, During this date we shall shoot some of the singing (lip syncing) done on camera. hopefully at least the first verse completed including;

• The first verse with lip sync in time
• scenery is correct
• with multiple camera angles. preferably 3?

Monday 16 October 2011, On the Monday, we have our first draft hand in. what we will be doing for the lesson is;

• work more on the blog
• think of more ideas for the morph suit pranks
• prep for the lip syncing on up coming dates

Tuesday 17th October 2011, For our biggest part of the video we intend to get all of the morph suit clips done by the end of this date. the way it ill go is;

• Beginning sequence of us grabbing and changing into the morph suits
• Walking out in a single file of a building to show us with names above so we ca be identified by the audience to know which ones we are.
• Pranks, reactions and following of us will be the next and final stage of the morph suits clips. 
• we will return back, get changed and upload the footage for next lesson to edit.

Wednesday 18th October 2011 & Thursday 19th October 2011 Again we will be getting more (if not finishing) the lip syncing. the plan is;

• Get half the song finished (lip syncing clips) before the thurday. 
• on the thurday we will have the remainder of the song to do and hopefully we wil manage to finish it. 
• and then to edit everything together to create our final music video product.

,

Digi-Pak Research

Eminem - Recovery Album

This album cover has influenced us to make our CD cover similar as it is simple but effective. The simplicity of the road in this cover symbolizes his 'long road to recovery'. However, our use of it would parody that by implying that we too on the road to recovery because we're clearly insane because of the stunts we are performing.

Or, as an alternative, we could use the 'long road' idea to show us evading the police in a bid for freedom. Another idea is to have the morph-suit men walking away from the morph-suits that they've left in the road, implying their road to recovery.

Example - Won't Go Quietly

A secondary idea would be to take inspiration from Example's 'Won't Go Quietly' video, but including the morph-suits. We would have James, as the lead singer as the central photo and then the others 'morphing around' in the morph suits in different poses.

Idea's for Music Video

This clip here just proves how music videos can be made with even limited resources. the sine/rapper that went to Kenya for a travel magazine 'AFAR' to write about how his trip was. when in kenya he managed to find a Kenyan rapper called 'rabbit' and decided to made a music video. they had only 6 days in which to do so and with only a camera and their natural surroundings to shoot the video. this video is just another clip in which proves how easy it can be with the correct state of mind and good amount of planning at the begining before shooting. even though they didnt do much planning, they still most likely saccrificed a day or two to do so.

Feedback From T136

 Coverage of Posts:

They have covered most of the criteria for the blogs with detailed images that back what they have said. Competing each post thoroughly so there is no post which is done quickly every post has been completed with thought. It has all the the required information for the posts.

Quality of Posts

Every post they have posted is lengthy with great detail and have clearly explained their ideas and plans. The images that they have used have backed up their ideas for their music video. On some of the images they show what they are going to do in their music videos has test shots of possible locations. They have shown how they they would get their costumes they would wear in their music video. They have also described how they are going to use their costumes.

Improvements

However some posts needed to do  the storyboard of their musicvieo which shows what they are going to put in their music video.  It also descrbes what camera angles they would need however they have done a shot list which ddescribs the shots they are using for each sceen.

Also the blog post about a Music director.

Advice and Guidence

The blog is very well donw just keep up with it and ad the remaing blog posts with detail.

Auteur Study

Richard Ayoade

Ayoade is a british actor, comedian, writer and director best known for his role as Maurice Moss in 'The IT Crowd'.

The main reason for choosing this particular director was because of his work on 2007 Arctic Monkey's hit 'Fluorescent Adolescent'. This specific video was a big influence on us due to the fact that it featured people dressed as clowns, we want to create a similar effect with morphsuits in our video. Richard Ayoade has also directed video's for Kasabian, Vampire Weekend and The Last Shadow Puppets.

morph suit first sequence

Our video will possibly begin with either;

• Begins with no music! me, alex, charlie playing a card game when one of us sparks an idea, the camera will zoom in on one of us to symbol the idea. music starts after the idea is established (morph suits) the camera will be looking into a locker and we open the locker with the morph suit planted inside hanged up, and we will have a short clip 3 times of us grabbing and pulling the suits out of the locker.

• Begins with no music! alex & charlie sitting by a table bored with nothing to do and then i will run into the room with a great idea happy to change the mood. alex charlie engage with the idea, look at each other, smile then the music starts! 

 
After the beggining sequence is completed with will have a small montage of clips of us dressing, but will only uncover small parts like us puuting the arms on, legs on and so on. just like this video resembles below during the time period of 00:57 - 1:12




After the dressing sequence we have we can have one of two of our ideas;

• the first is have a slow-mo clip of the 3 of us in our morph suits walking in a line across a green area (field) or a flat area with birds flying away infront of us as we approach. during the few seconds of the slow mo we will have our names appear slowly above our heads in order for the audience to know who we are. 
• the second of our ideas resembles to one of our images on the blog where 3 of us all walk out of the building, but instead of us walking towards the camera, the angle will be a side view of us. again, the names will appear but with a quicker affect in block letters above our heads. 

MORPH SUIT SECOND SEQUENCE.

During the second (Main) section of the music video, we intend to do small and funny sequences which ties in with the lyrics of the actual song in order to both make the video funny, but with the acception of it making sense, in this i will make sure it works well together with the song.

during the small pranks and stunts we will be doing, we intend on combining the lip syncing from James in order to establish a balance between the two sequences (the lip syncing & stunts/pranks in morph suits)

The majority of our stunts will be just on the spot ideas how ever we intend to do one or two thingsThe pranks that we might do is standing on a window seal of a cloths shop such as Next, Jack jones ect. and the idea would be to jump at people as they get close to look at us. and we would gather there reactions striaght after the prank.

Planning

During the course of the music video shoot, we have decided that we will get the lip sync filmes first as that is our priority. we hope that this will only take a few days worth of lessons to get done and out of the way. To prevent mistakes we will shoot each scene about 3 times so that we are confident that we have good quality clips with the lip syncing perfect.

After we have the signing out of the way, we will then move onto our second priority which ties in with the lyrics of the song. when we go out to do our secondary shoots, we intend to dress up in morph suits in order to go around gathering footage of us pulling pranks on one another and members of the public. however we will also gain clips of people reactions. To make sure we do not offend people we will make sure for the larger pranks that they are well aware. Especially with stores and shops.

Target Audience

We have decided to classify our music video as a '12' as our actions whilst dressed in morph suits we believe will be unsuitable for children under this age, as we feel they are the most likely to replicate our actions in the video.

However, if when the video is completed it doesn't appear to contain stunts of images unsuitable for minors, then the classification can be disputed and changed.

Classification of our music video

’12A’/’12′

Suitable for 12 years and over

Exactly the same criteria are used to classify works at ‘12A’ and ‘12’. These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.
The ‘12A’ category exists only for cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a ‘12A’ film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult, and films classified ‘12A’ are not recommended for a child below 12. An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. In such circumstances, responsibility for allowing a child under 12 to view lies with the accompanying adult.
The ‘12’ category exists only for video works. No one younger than 12 may rent or buy a ‘12’ rated video work.

Discrimination

Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned.

Drugs

Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail.

Horror

Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free.  Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’) must be infrequent.

Nudity

Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet.

Sex

Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.

Violence

Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification.

A Guide on How to Make a Music Video

DO's:

• The first 30 seconds of the video are crucial, make sure you make the opening sequence appealing and something you yourself would want to watch.
• The Nightclub Theory: If you're going to be dancing etc, make sure you make it colourful and eye catching. Incorporate good lighting and other camera techniques.
• Logistics: Location; make sure you scout your locations and inspect them first. Prepare for any eventualities (For example, building works being done where you want to film or the area not accessible on that specific day). Also be sure to time everything perfectly, create schedules for filming and prepare yourself for if one of your group members can't turn up.
• Planning: Plan down to the smallest details, make sure you have your shotlist and storyboards and that the director knows what he wants to do beforehand. 
• Storyboard: When creating the storyboard, you can not only draw it but you can also take digital stills instead. Have you actors act the scenes they would at the location and take stills, analyse them and decide on whether or not they're suitable for what you're trying to achieve.
• Always have a back up plan in case the unexpected happens, make sure that if you can't do what you were hoping to you can you have something else to be getting on with for the time being.
• Make things different and unique, don't copy from other music videos etc.
• Realism! Don't make it look ridiculous and don't try and do wacky things that could endanger yours or others lives.
• Add a twist to it, make it different and eye catching. Nothing is worse than a boring video...
• Work with the lyrics: Do not make a video completely unrelated to the song - it's not a Lady Gaga video!
• Shoot the performance footage first! Make sure you work around it, the lip syncing is the main part of the video and should take priority.

DON'Ts

• Not planning your video. If you don't plan the video properly, it will be rubbish. Planning is a major part of creating a video!
• Health and Safety: Make sure there aren't any dangers that your actors might face, you need to make sure there aren't any wires to trip over and no dangerous stunts.
• It's not a short film! Don't make the narrative of the video too cliche and ridiculous, it isn't a short film and doesn't require it to be so complex.

Test Shots for Locations

Shot of the location where the morph-suit men are at the beginning of the video

Test shot of the morph-suit men walking out of the building

Test of possible shot for the morph-suit men

Shot of the exit of the building in one of the first shots in the sequence

Test of possible shot of where the morph-men could be at some point in the video

 

 Test of possible shot of where the morph-men could be at some point in the video

video influences- past student videos

this video has inspired us, as it features a similar location to where we want to shoot and it also has cuts from the lip synching to another location shot.



this video is rather inspirational because it has a lot of related features that we would like to apply to our video. the features that we witness in the video that are related to our ideas are dressing up so that our faces are not visible and going around making people laugh whilst we do small pranks on each other with a signer cut between each clip of us.

real video influences

in this video the mise-en-scene has influenced our music video because they dress up as clowns and do 'stunts' similar to our own ideas with the morph-suits.




This video inspired us partly because of the experiments they perform, for example: Mentos and cola.

Shotlist

Truth or Dare (Opening Sequence)

• Three guys are sitting around a table (facial expressions indicate boredum)
• One of the men expresses how bored he is, the other three agree when a fourth man enters the room and tells them about a great idea (Morph-suits)
• Three men follow the fourth to a cupboard, where the sequence ends and the music starts.

The Music Video

• The setting changes to Cambridge, with an establishing shot of the city
• The three men, now dressed in their morph-suits, exit a lift in the grafton centre from the car park.
• The group of morph-suits mess around in parkers piece, grafton centre and the busway.
• Meanwhile, the fourth man (Lead Singer), is singing in a seperate location to the three men, cutting back and forth between them throughout the song.
• The music video ends with a shot of the three morph-suits walking away from the camera down the busway - parallels with the digi-pak cover where they are doing the same thing, but without the suits.

Where to buy the Morph-Suits

http://www.morphsuits.co.uk/ - Morph-suits range at around £35 - £40 each, with free delivery (1 - 5 days) within the UK.

The Girl Can't Dance - Ace Frehley Music Video Ideas

Rough Ideas for Ace Frehley - The Girl Can't Dance

The video could contain a humorous depiction of a girl who is absolutely terrible at dancing, that everyone is trying to avoid. The singer, and the three band members (James (Singer), Marlon, Alex & Charlie), could be part of the group of people trying to avoid her.

It could be set in a simulation of a party, where there would need to be several extras. It will also need realistic lighting, which can either be achieved from editing or lighting while filming - I propose editing, because the lighting while filming could be difficult to achieve with a limited budget (or no budget, in our case).

There would need to be another location to go with it, and use of complex camera angles to give it more of a party feel - canted angles, panning shots, close-ups.

The Girl Can't Dance - Ace Frehley

[Chorus]
The girl can't dance, she's got no soul
The girl can't dance, oh no!
The girl can't dance, she's got no soul
The girl can't dance, oh no!

[Verse]
The mood excites
The room is hot and lights are low
I'm gonna move it 'til it stops
Dances with pride, with money on the line
And I've seen her
At dinner for two
My Lord, My Lord
Said, "who is that girl at the door"?
She's got buck teeth
No beauty queen
That skinny girls
Got two left feet
And she can't dance
She must be lost
Now show her to the door before she gets out on the floor, because

[Chorus]
The girl can't dance, she's got no soul
The girl can't dance, oh no!
The girl can't dance, and she's got no soul
The girl can't dance, oh no!

[Verse]
She peels off her over-coat, watch out
Heads started turning
Ugly duckling to a poster girl
You only seem them in a magazine
She said, "put that spotlight on me
I'm gonna show you how it's done tonight"
Fire up the party
Like heat and steel
Sparks are flying from her high-heels
Long legs, a killer skirt
Ginger Rodgers in a mini skirt, I thought you said that

[Chorus]
The girl can't dance, she's got no soul
The girl can't dance, oh no!
The girl can't dance, and she's got no soul
The girl can't dance, oh no!

[Solo]

[Verse]
The music stops
She took the prize
I asked her to dance
She said, "No way, I heard you say"

The girl can't dance, she's got no soul
The girl can't dance, oh no!
The girl can't dance, and she's got no soul
The girl can't dance, I heard you sayin' that
The girl can't dance, and she's got no soul
The girl can't dance, oh no!
The girl can't dance, and she's got no soul
The girl can't dance, oh no!

The Pink Spiders Lyrics

Truth Or Dare

---

Was it easy all along?
As the days went on and on
Going through the motions
Holding on to better years.
'Cause now all you'll hear from me
Is a familiar melody
From the wires to the speakers to your tired ears

So truth or dare
Let me hear it
Say you'll stay
Like you mean it
Or don't let go
'Til it feels like nothing's changed and nothing's wrong

With the things you tried to take
That I need to stay awake
That I need to trade the action for the old routine

So truth or dare
Let me hear it
Say you'll stay
Like you mean it
Or don't let go
'Til it feels like nothing's changed and nothing's wrong
'Cause day by day
She's a little
Closer still
To the middle
So kiss and kill me
A little more and more until you're gone

'Cause every single minute I'm drowning out there
And every single argument's endless
And I know every indiscretion is breaking your heart
And every bad decision is defenseless

Truth or dare
Let me hear it
Say you'll stay
Like you mean it
Or don't let go
'Til it feels like nothing's changed and nothing's wrong
'Cause day by day
She's a little
Closer still
To the middle
So kiss and kill me
A little more and more until you're gone

Truth or Dare - Pitch

We want to have the music video split into 3 seperate scenes, using quick cuts between the scenes to incorporate them all into the video.

• Scene One: Scenes where the instruments are being played
• Scene Two: The lead singer lip-syncing
• Scene Three: The truth or dare gang doing their dares...

The music video will open with an aerial view of a bottle spinning, and as the camera zooms out you see three guys sitting around a table in a circle. They all then go to a locker with the morph suits, the colour fades from black & white to colour and the guys all go into a changing room. Then, the guitar starts and the scene cuts to the guitarist playing. It then cuts back to the morph suits leaving the changing room and walking past the interview room, where through the open door you can see the bottle still spinning.

When the singing starts, the video cuts to the lead singer lip-syncing, and then back to the men in morph-suits doing their first dare. Text appears on the screen saying 'Dare No. 1', and then cuts back to the guys doing their first dare. As the dare progresses, it cuts between the singer and the men, and occasionally the guitarist. This sequence continues for two more dares, the most extravagant event happening last. Ends with the three in morphsuits running away across a park, fading to black...

Ideas For Our Music Video

Pink Spiders - Truth or Dare

• Three Locations/Scenes - 1. The band playing the musical instruments etc 2. The lead singer lip-syncing in location (example: City Centre) 3. Three guys in morphsuits doing 'truth or dare' pranks
• Ideas for the 'truth or dare's': 1. Playing football in parkers piece 2. Grand Arcade 3. Trying to eat food in morphsuits.
• Lead singer can be seen singing in city centre, with no idea what the morph suits are doing - he's not part of it.

Analysis of Music Awards

Video Music Awards Show 2011

The function of the award show is to celebrate new music and best video's of the year, with some of the most famous artists performing on the night.


This particular award ceremony would be best suited to young adults and teenagers who like the particular type of music. As it features hip hop/pop/rock/indie bands. There is a lot of emphasis on making it a performance, with the use of dancers, musicians and lasers.

It also features many current celebrities, giving it a high appeal to the younger generation who listen to music by the artists involved.

Music Video Analysis Using the Goodwin Points

Weezer - Pork & Beans (Official Music Video)

Genre: Rock/Alternative

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

• Use of quick cuts between band performing and the rest of the video - typical characteristic of this genre
• Use of celebrity cameo appearances (In this case, famous 'Youtubers') to add humour to the video
• Shots of each band member performing on their respective instrument

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

• This is seen fairly often in this video, usually through lip syncing or the lyrics appearing on the screen in a humorous context. 

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

•  The band members are often seen playing their instruments in time to the music, to give the illusion that they're performing it in the video.

4. 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).

•  The artists are noted for performing and creating humorous songs and music videos, and this video is no exception to this.

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

•  There isn't much exploitation of the female body in this video, if any. The only voyeurism would be the use of hand-held cameras or webcams to capture the images of the youtubers, whether they be performing what they're famous for or just doing something funny.

6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

• This video contains many intertextual references to television shows/youtube videos - this is the main point of humour for the video.

Analysing a music video using the Goodwin points

Example - Stay Awake Genre: Dance



1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

Cuts to different locations of people dancing, in different styles and features a lot of mid-shots of the dancing and uses slow motion to emphasize the genre. It appears fast paced and shows 'Example' looking directly at the camera making it appear more personal.


2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

Lyrics such as ''leaders of a messed up generation'' and ''chase the rabbit into wonderland'' both show literal and illustrative representation as the video features people of the same age representing a generation. It also has the girl dressed up as a rabbit.
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

upbeat music represented by people dancing, this amplifies the relationship.

4. 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 constant close ups of the artist singing and his motif appears regularly throughout.

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

This would be more prevalent in other genre of music such as female pop artists and boy bands.

6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

lyrics such as 'rabbit into wonderland' suggests aspects of the film 'alice in the wonderland' and also ' don't need sleeping beauty' in reference to the children's film.