Thursday 29 September 2011

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.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

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

Monday 26 September 2011

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.

Thursday 22 September 2011

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.

Thursday 15 September 2011

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...

    Wednesday 14 September 2011

    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.