Music Video Pitch

Pitch on Prezi

Planning - Stop Motion

 This is one of the things I managed to achieve on Creativity Week. We decided to do something different to what we would normally do and tried doing a stop motion video. From doing this video we realised that it would probably be a lot easier to use a tripod for stop motion because it would look a lot better.

We have also realised that the brightness changes very quickly on some days so we will take this into account whilst doing stop motion sections so that the continuity looks more professional.

Research - Moodboard

We have made this moodboard in order to combine the ideas of stereotypical reggae with our ideas gained from synaesthesia. Explanations for each picture are as follows:

• "This is England" cast - The film "This is England" is a well known film that depicts the lives of teens from the 1980s. This has been a big inspiration of an idea what to include in our video; much of this is from the scene in the film which includes the song "Louie Louie" by Toots and the Maytals.
• Hooded youth - This shows the stereotypical outfit for modern day teenagers. As we are intending to base our video on the lives of teenagers, this is influential on the costume design.
• Jamaican flag - As reggae originated from Jamaica, the Jamaican flag is commonly known amongst many people as one of the stereotypical symbols for reggae.
• Bob Marley - Bob Marley is an iconic figure in the reggae genre. He is probably the most well-known and respected artist from the whole genre. He is also related directly to the reggae genre to most people.
• Graffiti - Graffiti is used commonly amongst teens that live in towns and cities. It is used as a means of expression in many lives of teenagers. This is a possible idea for some sections of the video we are creating.
• Cigarette smoker - Many disobedient teens are stereotyped to smoke cigarettes, so most people would expect to see them regularly smoking. This is another possible idea for our video.
• Police - The police are commonly associated as the "enemy" of many youths. This is influential on our video as it shows our main idea, which is a group of teens committing vandalism amongst a town or city. This means they will be directly disobeying the law.
• Sunny day - Sun is usually associated with reggae from a process of synaesthesia and many examples of reggae music videos. This is because many reggae videos are set in Jamaica, which is an extremely sunny country. Sun can also be used as a means of pathetic fallacy in our video, because the song sounds upbeat and happy. Sun is usually related with happiness or goodness. This is a possible aspect of the setting in the video, but will not necessarily be available during the time we are filming in January.
• Group of biking teens - We included this image because it shows a rough idea of an aspect we are including in our video. Teens usually hang around in groups and many of them use BMX bikes as a means of transport and as a means of also looking cool. This gives inspiration for a BMX as a possible prop we will use in our video.
• Dreadlocks - Dreadlocks are just a stereotypical hairstyle that many people instantly associate with Rastafarianism. Rastafarianism is usually related to reggae because they both tend to be from Jamaican background. We will take this into account when preparing the cast list. 

Collie Buddz - Come Around

Visual response:


This shot shows a common technique in modern music videos - sexualising women. By doing this, the music video captures the attention of most men. Combined with the display of wealth by Collie Buddz, men will realise that he attracts women and therefore make them think in order to get attractive women, they will need to be like Collie Buddz. This can indirectly make him more popular and increase his sales by appealing to the male sex in his video.

On the other hand, the display of wealth portrayed by Collie Buddz also attracts any women watching the video which has a similar effect but instead, making himself more attractive; so as a whole the video will appeal to both genders.


During 0.29 - 0.30 the shots are cut in time to the bassline. By making a link between the sound and the visuals, it makes it more interesting and aesthetically pleasing for the viewer.





Narrative:
The video shows what the viewers will assume is an ordinary day in the life of Collie Buddz. To summarise, he begins by arriving in his car, spends the day in the town meeting people and spending money and concludes the video with a performance.

The poster at the beginning of the video gives a clue how the video will conclude. It shows a poster advertising his show, which works in two ways. Because it is shown at the start of the video it introduces him, whereas it also implies that he does many shows and that it is nothing unusual for him. There is also another shot of a VCR tape with the name "Collie Buddz" written on it. This establishes him in the video.

Although it won't necessarily be noticed by the viewer, the poster includes the words "Downtown Kingston" which sets the scene in Jamaica. Jamaica is a typical setting for many reggae music videos as it is where reggae originated. This is also shown by the brightness of the video from the sun and Collie Buddz's trademark Bermudian singing voice. Because reggae originated in Jamaica, sunshine is a typical feature of most reggae videos.

Star Image:

The symbol for money is shown to imply that a lot of Collie Buddz's life revolves around money and fame.

He is shown in an expensive luxury car to show off more of his money. The fact that he is also sat in the back seat of the car means that he has someone to drive him round. This is all done to boost his appearance and make him look important.

These shots shows him wearing expensive clothes and jewellery and also shopping for more expensive clothes.

After he is shown spending his money, he is shown in this shot wearing what he spent his money on. As well as making the narrative of the video realistic, this also shows he has enough money to buy what he wants to.

The constant display of wealth in the video is all done to increase his star persona.

This shot shows him showing a non-formal greeting to the shop owner to show that he is popular among people. This shows the audience that even though he is wealthy and displays it throughout the video, he is still human and acknowledges everybody. This improves his appearance to the viewers.

There are many examples of close-up shots of his face in this video. This is typical of a music video that focuses on the success of the artist because it shows that they are the most important person in the video, whereas a more niche artist's video, such as Richie Spice, might focus more on what they are singing about instead. Collie Buddz is also shown a large amount more than anyone else in this video because the audience is supposed to be focusing more on him rather than the other characters.

Combined with close-up shots of the face, Collie Buddz also has very confident body language. For instance, pointing at the camera towards his audience in this shot shows that he is not afraid to perform and will show off as much as possible to make the video a success.

Altogether, this video is a good example of Sven E Carlsson's theory on popular music videos. This video focuses a lot more on commercialism than the music itself.

Cinematography:

Most of the video is shot in sunlight to make everything seem more shiny and attractive.

The video has been edited so that the majority of time in the video has Collie Buddz in it. This is done purely for commercialism. Compared to the Richie Spice video, he is shown a lot more frequently because he is trying to be much more successful and is much more mainstream.

To create more impact in the video, Collie Buddz's face isn't shown until he begins singing with the most famous line of the song, "finally the herbs come around." This has a great impact on the audience because it introduces him into the video with probably his most recognisable lyric.

Video Type:
Compared to the Richie Spice video, this video focuses a lot more on the wealth and power of the artist rather than focusing on the feeling and emotion expressed through the music. Star image is the main aim in it, which deters any use of the main topic described in the song, marijuana.

This video is mainly disjunctive. This is because there is nothing in the visuals of the video that show any signs of marijuana; instead the focus is based on Collie Buddz himself, and a normal day in his own life. All the wealth and women shown in the video are only shown to improve his status and make him look more powerful. This makes people want to buy his products.

On the other hand, there are certain aspects in the video which demonstrate aspects of an illustrative video. For example:

This shot is shown when Collie Buddz sings the line "police and rudeboy, them in a showdown."

In conclusion, nearly all of the video is disjunctive, but there are small aspects of illustrative.

Theorists of Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin- 5 key aspects of music videos:

• Synaesthesia (Links between sound and visuals)
• Narrative and Performance (The story within a video and how it is conveyed by the artist)
• Star Image (How the artists is portayed; e.g wealthy,
• Visual relation to lyrics
• Technical aspects of music video. (Cinematography etc.)

Sven E Carlsson: "He or she is a materialisation of the commercial exhibitionist. He or she is a monger or their own body image, selling everything to be in the spotlight - selling voice, face, lifestyle, records and so on." This implies that music videos have evolved over time to become more and more about money and fame, rather than performance. They become more dictated what to do to in a video gain the most money possible rather than expressing themselves to link with their music.

Richie Spice - Youths Dem Cold

Visual response:
Throughout the video there are examples of beat/shot punctuation, but it is mostly intended on the beat of the snare drum.  For example, at 0.44 - 0.51, the shots only change on the offbeat with the snare drum. Another example of this is at 1.42-1.43, where the shot transitions are only on the beat of the snare during the fill. This is done with this drum because it is the loudest drum in the song and therefore the most noticeable. This makes it more aesthetically pleasing for the viewer by linking the visuals to the sound.

The majority of shots showing the youths are shown in darker locations, which implies they are hiding. Synaesthesia is used here because most people would think of cruel youths whilst listening to the lyrics. Darkness and shadows usually symbolise badness rather than light, which usually symbolises goodness. The camera lens also has a slight darkening filter on it throughout to give further impact on the viewer.

Narrative:
The video generally doesn't follow a chronological narrative as such. However, there are certain aspects that include everyday problems of youths Spice is singing about, and a few of the sections need a few shots to convey a message.

For instance, this shot shows a long shot of some characters driving their motorbikes down the road from behind.

This subsequent shot then shows an over shoulder shot of the police officer chasing them from inside his car.

Most of the shots that follow a narrative are just different examples of crimes and how the consequences of the crimes unfold. This is not necessarily in consecutive shot order, because sometimes the shots are separated by shots that are off topic or shots of Richie Spice singing.

Star Image:
This video doesn't promote star image as much as a mainstream video for example. This is because reggae songs usually focus more on the feeling of the song and conveying a message, rather than focusing on the commericialism of the artist. This is shown in the video because there is a balance between the shot time of Richie Spice and the shot time of all the other characters as a whole.

In addition to this, there are also many shots of Richie and the other characters together, such as these two. This implies that he values himself equally to the people he is singing about, which challenges Carlsson's theory of star commericalism. Viewers could also possibly interpret this as meaning he has been there himself, which would give the song a deeper meaning from a first hand experience and shows Richie Spice's background.

These shots show Richie Spice in his normal clothes, which aren't specifically focused on to dislplay his wealth or success. He is wearing similar clothes to everyone else in the video to show that his career path is not dictated and comercially based, as opposed to most mainstream music videos of different genres.









Cinematography:

The video begins with a long shot, that fades in from white, of a group of youths to establish what the song is about to begin with.

It then proceeds to a series of mid shots and close-ups to show the faces of some of the people in more detail to show their expressions. All of these shots are shot from a low angle to make the characters seem more powerful. This shot for example is shown even before the introductory drum fill finishes and before the song actually starts properly. This means that the viewers might understand straight away that the youths are supposed to be cruel and powerful.

This shot is the main establishing shot of the video. This shows a young woman with her child and then pans across the rooftops towards Richie Spice to show that he is in the same location and not in a studio or any other location. The shot is shown early on to show the viewer where the video is set so that they don't get confused.

This shot shows a darkening camera effect, which emphasises how evil the youths can become at times.


Video Type:
The video is mostly illustrative because it shows the lifestyles of youths in a certain environment. Richie Spice sings the song about the youths' lifestyles and this is shown throughout the video.

For instance, this shot shows the youths on motorbikes, going out to obtain food for their families, literally illustrating the lyric "searching for food for the pot."

However, quite a lot of the video is also amplifying the meanings of the lyrics.

For example, in this shot Richie points at his head when he says the words "fill that gap." This interprets a different meaning from the previous line "searching for food for the pot." Most people would automatically assume that he is talking about filling the gap in the stomach of the youths because the topic is food, but when he points to his head, this could mean that he is also talking about filling gaps in the brain because the youths gain life experience from searching for food.

Production

I learnt that in order to organise time more efficiently, planning is essential and makes the whole process a lot faster. I also learnt how to successfully shoot a lip sync video. This will help overall for the next task this year, involving a different song. I think the shoot went OK overall, but in order to make it better I would've needed to spend more time focusing on synchronising the song to the lip movements in my video. This is because in one section of it, the song and the lip movements are noticeably out of time and it makes the video look unprofessional as a whole. I would've also preferred to have more time to get the right length for each shot so that there was no unnecessary excess time on some of the clips.

Production: Digital Technology

I learnt how to properly edit clips on Adobe Premiere Pro from the video camera. This year I would like to develop my skills of editing on Premiere Pro as well as include more types of shots that I didn't use last year. For example, I want to know more how to include effects for sound and video on Premiere Pro in order to make my video more interesting. I will also hopefully learn more about the types of shot to know what is appropriate for my video.

Research and Planning

Out of all the planning, the thing I found most useful was the storyboard because it showed all the shots and exactly how to shoot them. The casting and prop list was also useful because we all needed to bring in certain props for some days and we knew who should bring in each prop and when. I think if we did the task again I would probably make a more detailed shooting script so that we knew exactly what to do at first to save more time whilst shooting the video. The planning I expect to be doing this year is: Storyboard (with images and details of shots) Shooting Script Cast list Prop list Genre research Research on previous videos in order to get inspiration for my own.

Research

For our music video, we think this clip could fit appropriately with the theme of the song. This is because the song we have chosen, "Gun Talk," sounds quite lively and happy but has a theme of crime in the lyrics. This style clip fits because the film "This is England" shows the main characters as the likeable characters, despite the fact that they cause trouble. If we have our characters in the music video causing trouble and still being likeable then I think this video will be a success.

Types of Music Video

Andrew Goodwin states that there are three main categories of music video. These are as follows:

• Illustrative - A video with visuals that relate literally to the lyrics. This would be generally the most boring type of video to try to recreate in my own style.

• Amplifying - A video with visuals that connote a variety of meanings with underlying messages. This type of video could be interesting to work with and the end result would be a lot more entertaining than an illustrative video.

• Disjunctive - A video with visuals that have no relation to the lyrics at all. This type of video might be difficult to pull off but would be very entertaining if it worked properly.

Here is an example of an illustrative video:




Here is an example of an amplifying video:




Here is an example of a disjunctive video:

Song Choice

The song I have chosen for my music video is "Gun Talk" by the metal band Skindred.



Although the band is usually of the metal genre, this song is in the style of reggae and therefore my research will be based on reggae rather than metal.