Initial Draft Storyboard

By Jack Jolly

Ideas for Magazine Advertisment

From researching into multiple magazine adverts for various music artists, I have found that there are multiple conventions which we should include in order to ensure that our magazine advert is as effective as it can be. I have listed these below, along with examples of innovative ways which we can include them.

1. Artist and album name in the largest font - This is the most important feature of the magazine advert, as this is the information which the reader needs to take away from it the most. Whilst all the other information is important, this is the crucial part, as the rest of the information is fairly useless without this part. In order to make it stand out on our advertisement, I believe it should be white, as the background of the advertisement is most likely to be black in order to match the dark theme of our video. In order to separate the artist name from the album name, we may try having one in bold and then one in normal script, for example:

                                    SBTRKT 

                               Trials of the Past

An image such as this one would make a
good basis for the magazine advertisement.

2. A picture of the album cover should take up the majority of the advertisement - The album cover we design as part of the production of the ancillary products will match the mood of our video, and so if this takes up the most space on our poster then it will be effective. By matching the theme of the ancillary products to the music video, those who have seen the video are more likely to notice the other items when they see them.  Ideas which I have had for the album cover include a fuzzy picture of the protagonist of our music video in order to match the haunted theme, or a more scenic shot of the dark woods which the video will be shot in.

3. A website, Facebook and Twitter should all be provided - These are all essential, as they provide most people with a first port of call in order to hear some of the music which is being advertised. In order to incorporate each of these, I think placing small Twitter and Facebook logos next to the names of them is an effective way, as if the social network plugging is too overstated within the advertisement, then they will begin to effect the colour scheme and make it seem unbalanced. 

4. The small-print should be kept minimal - I have found that the most effective adverts were the ones where the pictures and large text did most of the selling of the product, with the small print used in order to tell the reader about the release date, the formats which the single/album will be released, and perhaps less essential information such as which song will be on the B-side. An idea which I had for the small print of our magazine advert was to use it to say the release date, but to direct the reader to a website in order to gain more information about it.

By George Martin

 

Films and Music Videos for Inspiration

Due to our unanimous decision to make our music video in quite a creepy way due to the lyrics and genre of the music, biggest inspirations will come from horror films and other genres like Science Fiction, Mystery and Drama.

For example, Donnie Darko will be a main intertextual reference for our music video because our plot is similar to the beginning of the film. Our character will wake up outside in the woods and not know where he is or how he got there, much like Donnie at the beginning of Donnie Darko.

The film opening shows Donnie waking up lying on the road near the forest, much like our initial ideas for our film. We are however thinking of having our main character wake up in the actual forest rather than near it.

I like this shot of the back of the characters head, showing the location and him looking into the distance. It's artistic value is something I would like to replicate for our own music video.



Radiohead's No Surprises is another influence for our music video because the fact that it only stars one character. However this isn't very relevant to our music video because this music video is completely performance based with the whole video being lip-synced. We plan to have a narrative element to our video which creates a more detailed and in-depth music video.

Another strong influence is Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine.

The second shot on our storyboard is a close up of our main characters eyes opening. This can also be seen in Cosmic Love.

Florence's eyes open to the beat of the music while in a close up. This idea has already been planned in our storyboard and now I have witnessed it being used and worked well I will ensure we include it.

The music video also features similar ideas that we have had in mind, for example, the use of foliage and the mystery of walking through natural settings.

This post has helped us because to gain ideas for our music video we need to have inspiration from other existing music videos. As well as this, we have seen some of our ideas from our music video being used in existing music videos, validating our ideas and encouraging us to experiment with them.

By Jack Jolly

Research into music videos by our chosen artist

Hold On: From the offset of the video there is a dark theme, with the lights shining in the night time causing large shadows to be visible throughout the video. This matches the haunting mood of the song, and is a convention of SBTRKT's videos (New Dorp, New York has a similar lighting theme) which we are going to include in our video. In addition to this, the lyrics evoke a theme of a sad, failed romance, which is similar to the message within Trials of the Past. Ideas which we will take from this video also include the use of only a couple of actors, as this creates a more personal and

 

Wildfire: There is a very artistic theme to this video, due to the unapparent narrative, the video consists of a female character under a fan which is somehow sucking everything up. The video doesn't amount to much but when the fan stops the female tries to crawl to the bathroom until the video cuts to a scene of her looking rather ill in bed. The significant shot in this video is the use of the SBTRKT logo, the tribal mask, it is seen in this video as the paint from it is being sucked up by the fan. The video is an artistic representation of the songs lyrics.

 

Both videos are quite diverse in that they could be interpreted in different ways. Referencing to Reception Theory, the videos are both ambiguous, which is the plan for our own video. I like how artistic both videos are and how they could mean something different to each individual audience member.

By Jack Jolly

Lip-sync video

 

This is our lip-sync video which we made to practice our editorial skills.

 

 

Some parts of the lip syncing are out of time and the framing is off a little but overall I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. It tested what we wanted to do perfectly and it was our first chance at shooting footage. Both practicing the filming and editing aspects helped and prepared us for when we come to shoot the real music video. I used an iMovie filter so we could see what it looks like in case it is needed in the final video.  

 

By Jack Jolly  

Lip-syncing practice

Video for 5 Years Time - Noah And The Whale.

We chose to do this video because it matches the indie genre which we are doing in our own music video.

The video isn't available for embedding so I have included a link and screenshot. The outside shots in the video are something we are thinking of replicating in our own lip-sync practice. The mise en scene and characters would be too time consuming to replicate so we are primarily focusing on the shots we could create and the shots not in the video that we will experiment with. We are going to try to add a brief narrative but our main focus is trying to get the lip syncing in time.

This is the screenshot of the outside shot which has inspired our idea for a lip-syncing practice video.

 

Lip-syncing is important to being in time with the music or the whole video falls apart. It is hard to watch a video if the lip syncing is out of time and it breaks the illusion that the star is singing the song. This practice will allow us to train our skills at getting the video in time with the music we are using.

 

By Jack Jolly

25 WORD BRIEF

Teenage boy awakes in woods and doesn't know how he got there. Explores the woods and ends up in different locations, including a deserted road.

This is a summery of our music video in 25 words to display it in it's simplest form. This gives an initial idea of what our music video will entail and gives us a baseline to follow or work from if we decide to edit our ideas.

By Jack Jolly

Favourite Music Videos + Why

Rhys Willett:

My favourite music video is Afterglow by Wilkinson. The video details a couple that have been together for five years. Throughout the video, we see many different statistics of what they have done since the start of their relationship. The reason I like this video is because it is relatable on many different levels. Firstly, the idea of being in a relationship, and sharing ones life with another individual can be related to many audience members. This is similar to some of the statistics shown in the video (some more than others). 

Additionally, I feel that the humor in this video contributes to it's success in being an effective music promo. This is because there are several shots with humorous statistics. This, paired with the humorous footage adds to the reality of the video, due to it's lack of strict seriousness, therefore making it more relatable.

Lastly, I feel that the idea for this video is extremely original. I have never seen another video like it, and I think it is extremely effective.

Calum Tween 8282 :
Not Giving In by Rudimental ft. John Newman & Alex Clare is my favourite music video. The reason behind this is because of the obvious narrative and strong meaning behind the song and music video. The music video is set in a Filipino shanty town and the main characters are two young boys. They get abused by there father, as to does there mother. In the end, one of the brothers escapes and runs away, however the other doesn't. The music video therefore has a very strong narrative, and the moving images that the audience can see on the screen link well with the lyrics of the song. This results in the audience always being attentive to what is happening and by the end feel quite taken back by the music video and moved by it, meaning they have connected with it which helps sell the song. For this reason alone, it makes it one of my favourite music videos and I would like to take from this and consider incorporating a strong narrative in our music video as it then allows for the audience to engage with the music video better and maybe even relate to it, which would then link in with the Uses and Gratifications Model that suggests people watch things to be able to fulfil certain needs.
I also enjoy the music video because of the variety of shot types that it includes. It has a large range of shots which makes it interesting to watch, I particularly like the elevated birds eye shot that shows the boy dancing and also sets the scene, showing how cramped the shanty town is, connoting that the boys maybe feel trapped in terms of not being able to escape the abuse at home, and having to suffer.

George Martin: Fell in Love With A Girl by The White Stripes is my favourite music video, as it is so recognisable and different from any other music video. It is constructed entirely from stop motion, which means that each frame (baring in mind that most videos run at 24 frames per second) has to be constructed individually, which reveals the extent of work which went into constructing the video. This is what makes the video so original, as it is a completely different spin on the performance based music video which is usually used for rock videos. I also like the supposed simplicity which the video has, as established by the opening shot of the child playing with lego - it is a contrast to the actual complexity which producing the video would have involved. 

Jack Jolly: My favourite music video is Born To Die by Lana Del Rey. This is because of the artistic factor that the video possesses. It was one of the artists first music videos so I appreciate that she didn't resort to the use of sexualisation and nudity to gain popularity. Lana Del Rey uses art and a strong narrative in the music video to create a well rounded product.

I admire the creative skills of Yoann Lemoine, who shot this video and other videos like Teenage Dream by Katy Perry. Similarities are obvious, not in content but in artistic flare. The Tiger's are a symbol of royalty when used in conjunction with the crown Del Rey is wearing and the throne she is sat upon. This is quite a female empowered song and it is my favourite because it doesn't conform to the usual representations of women, as explained in the Cultural Effects Model.

Representation in Music Video

Like all other media texts, the directors of music videos will always attempt to represent a certain category of people through the way which they construct the elements of the video. The divide between men and women is the most commonly represented theme within music videos, as in recent years, it has become an accepted norm that pop videos will contain a female star performing in a way which could be viewed as provocative. In addition to this, music videos often reflect the culture in which they are made, and then make representations of the general opinion which the public has at this time. Below are often represented social groups, and examples of videos which they are represented in.

Race: Race is represented in vastly different ways across different genres of music. For example, in hip-hop, the most common stereotype is that people of different races don't interact, as in the video for Still Dre by Dr Dre, there is not a single person of white race shown. This suggests that the community which the video has been filmed around believes that racial segregation is still in place, and this is a message which is widely echoed throughout hip-hop as a whole. However, there are some hip-hop artists who break this stereotype of segregation with their videos, as Eminem commonly features characters of both black and white race in his videos.

However, in some genres, race is represented as an area where there is no divide, and in fact try and promote racial unity through their videos. An example of this is multicultural band The Specials, who have a dominant focus on the colours of black and white throughout their videos, in order to try and break the racial divide which many believe is still a big issue within the music industry. For example, in the video below the whole band are dressed in both black and white, in order to connote that racial division is unnecessary. 

Gender: The most common representation of gender within music videos is that of women being objectified, usually through the use of promiscuous outfits in order to attract a larger male audience, as suggested in the male gaze theory. An example of a music video which represents women in such a way is Anaconda by Nicki Minaj, as the focus of the camera throughout almost the entire video is on the bums of the women within it, which has been done in order to create a larger male audience for it.

This is also a theme within hip-hop videos, with the lyrical content, usually delivered by a male, referring to women as "bitches" and the visual content showing them wearing very few clothes and often acting in the same way that the males are. In terms of males within hip-hop videos, they are often presented as being controlling and dominating, and being able to get anything that they want. This is usually shown by creating a luxurious setting with sports cars and a mansion, and then surrounding them in women, in order to show that they have "made" it. Stereotypes of both men and women are shown in the video for Candy Shop by 50 Cent, as the artist is the only male shown within the video, representing him as being omnipotent.

In our music video, we will show a representation of age. This will be established through our primary character, who will be shown as being in his late teens. This is a confusing tine of life for many people, which is reflected through the uncertainty established within the music video. In addition to this, we will be showing a representation of gender through the fact that there is only a single male character featured with no females.

By looking at how certain groups of people are represented within the music video industry, I have found that we will need to ensure that we create strong and easily evident representations when making our music video, in order to give across the correct message which we intend to give to anybody who watches our video.

There aren't any set representations in our video because of it's ambiguous narrative and singular character. Our character is a Caucasian, British male. As he is the only character he cannot be compared to another character of a different race or gender so it is hard to identify what we are representing with him. The focus of the video isn't on how our character is represented but what he is doing in the video and perhaps the deeper meaning for his actions. His showing of being 'lost' is potentially a metaphor for audience members and this could make our character a 'mouthpiece' for what we are trying to convey.

By George Martin and Jack Jolly

Research into our chosen artist

SBTRKT (2011)

Background: SBTRKT is the moniker of London music producer Aaron Jerome, which he has been producing music under since 2009. His first releases were bootleg remixes of artists such as M.I.A, Radiohead and Bassment Jaxx. Even from looking at the diversity between these three artists, it is clear that SBTRKT's music is hugely varied and draws influences from a wide range of sources. The majority of his music features his long-time collaborator Sampha, who provides vocals and keyboards. He has released multiple EPs, such as the Transitions series of EPs, which were made up of dark, experimental electronic music. In addition to this, he has released two albums to date, his soul-influenced self titled debut in 2011, and more eclectic Wonder Where We Land in 2014. From looking at his album covers, it is clear that his music is going to be confusing, and to a certain extent, challenging. We need to ensure that we channel both of these things within the production of our music video.

Wonder Where We Land (2014)

Style: The genre which his music best fits into is post-dubstep, as it takes a large influence from the dark, slow-burning sound of early 00s dubstep, but also influences from more upbeat techno and house. Trials of the Past, the song we are making a video for, contains all of these influences, and also contains a soul style, provided by Sampha's vocals.  This means that the style of our video needs to be dark and gritty, as the lyrical content of the song is about ghosts, meaning that a video which wasn't unsettling for the viewer wouldn't be particularly appropriate to genre.

Instrumentation: SBTRKT's music is produced almost entirely digitally, using a mixture of analogue synthesisers and drum machines, and DAWs such as Logic Pro. This is how he can create such versatile sounds within his music, as he isn't limited to one set of instruments. We need to consider this when making our music video as it will tell us which instruments we need to include in performance shots of the artist.

By George Martin

Plot & Narrative

Our main idea is to create a music video with our male character waking up in a mysterious location and searching for answers about how he got there and why he is there.

The majority of our shots will be artistic shots of our character discovering more and more about where he is and why it is important that he is there. We have locations in mind like the woods, forest-like areas and deserted roads to create a creepy atmosphere. Our narrative will be conveying confusion within our character and we also aim to create a plot which will confuse our audience so they are intrigued by our video. After waking up, our character will explore his location and travel throughout the woods until he realises where he is and how he gets home. As well as this there will be a darker, ghostly version of himself who will be leading our character around. The same route will be used as planned but the ghost version will be leading our character around, whilst our original character will be confused as to why he is following himself, but will be going with it anyway.  I have been inspired by the beginning scene of the cult film Donnie Darko. At the beginning of the film Donnie is asleep in the middle of the road and upon waking up, he is unsure of how he got there.



Reception Theory, also known as the Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication (Stuart Hall) states that texts are not only passively accepted by audiences but interpreted different depending on the cultural background of the individual audience member. Similar cultures will have similar interpretations on texts and we are hoping our ambiguous music videos will develop multiple ideas and opinions for our music video.

Target Audience Brief for Music Video

Our target audience is male and female aged between 16 and 30. This is because based on the genre of our music and therefore market research, this is the main demographic for the sort of person who listen to this type of music.

Demographic of Target Audience/Target Audience Profile-
Age: 16-30
Gender: Male and Female
Marital Status: Single, In a Relationship, Engaged
Occupation: Student, Starting Work, Skilled Profession
Social Grades: Our target audience will be of the social grades B-D. This therefore includes C1 and C2. This means our target audience have varying different backgrounds meaning we don't segment our market, meaning the music video may not be as specific and targeted, resulting in a larger market to aim at, increasing the chance of a high amount of views from the audience.

 

 

I feel that we can target this audience because the genre of our music video is post dub step, electronic and  Indie pop. This means that both males and females enjoy this sort of music. In order to target towards our market, we are using a male actor in the music video. The idea behind this is that it will help attract female audiences. To attract the male audiences, we have set the music video in a dark woods, this will give a mysterious, scary feel to it, which we can work with and help build tension, making it an enjoyable watch and make it relevant for a male to watch as well. Overall, by incorporating all these things together, it means the music video is relevant for our whole target audience.

Content of Music Video-

Our music video is going to be set in a dark forest. This therefore appeals to both male and female audiences and doesn't segment and mean one gender favour it more than others. In contrast to this, if we set it on a football pitch, stereotypically we may lose some of the female audiences, similarly if we set it in a shopping centre, we may lose some of the male audiences. Therefore, by ensuring we set it in a creative and relevant setting that also links with the lyrics (considering Goodwin's theory) and fits in with the song was very important.

We have a lead character in the music video. The character is a male, and throughout is very suspicious. As the music video goes on, the tension will build, keeping our target audiences intrigued as to what is going to happen next. Also because of the setting and the entire mise, I feel it will keep both female and male audiences entertained and therefore ensure both audiences are attracted to our music video.

Calum Tween 8282

Music Video Brief

Below is a brief synopsis of how we would like our music video to run, along with a description of our singular character and a description of why he has been constructed for the video. 

Our music video is going to be for Trials of the Past by SBTRKT, and is going to continue the dark, spooky themes which run throughout his videos. The premise of the video is going to be a male character around the age of 20 who has woken up in the woods, and is haunted by visions of the past as he tries to find his way back to civilisation. The confusing element within our video will be relatable for our target audience as many experience alienation and confusion within their teenage years. We chose such a character considering the uses and gratifications theory, as I believe that our target audience will be able to relate to a character who is similar to themselves. In terms of style, the video is going to be shot in partial black and white and partial colour, in order to break up the narrative shots from the lip-syncing shots. The video is going to have a cyclical structure, as the final shot of the video is going to be the same as the first shot, showing that the character is trapped in this cycle of being haunted and running to the woods in his dreams.

Close up shots are important within
music videos as they allow the record
company to sell the artist more effectively

Character profile: As previously mentioned, the character is going to appear to be around the age of 20, and is representing the artist within the song. We decided that the character was going to be a representation of the artist so that we could include some close-up lip syncing shots, as these are incredibly important within music videos when it comes to selling the artist. In terms of costume, our character is going to be dressed in pyjamas, in order to make it more believable that he has awoken in the woods. He has blonde hair and is fairly short, which allows us to use birds-eye views in order to make him seem paranoid and like a victim. In terms of the audience's perception of the character, we want him to be seen as a tragic hero - a character who is unable to break the cycle which he is trapped in, despite his efforts. 

By George Martin 

Initial Ideas

George: Since posting the first ideas which we had about the video, we have since decided on a song and a general theme which we want the video to have. The song is called Trials of the Past by SBTRKT, which I believe is a suitable song as it doesn't have an official music video, is by a British artist, and the record label, Young Turks, are easily contactable in order to gain permission to use their song.

In terms of initial ideas, we have decided that the video is going to have a psychological horror influence and to be filmed in black and white. A video which I take some influence from within this genre is Sheena Is A Parasite by The Horrors.

We have also chosen various locations in which to film the video, including an abandoned house, a woods, and a bedroom. However, despite there still being many more things which we need to plan, such as costumes, characters and props, these are some strong initial ideas which we plan to build the rest of the video off of.

Jack: My initial idea would be to shoot a video for a fairly slow, relaxed, soulful song. This is because after analysing the Sam Smith video I think it would look more professional and do-able rather than attempt a Pop song and create something tacky and out of time.

Soul, R'n'B and Indie music all seem possible to use for a moderately paced music video that I have in mind. I also don't want too many characters because I don't want our music video to be confusing or too busy. A married couple or a group of friends would be a good idea for characters because they are also good relationships to match with a song. I think an emotional song will require a break up or a falling out storyline to create a really heart-wrenching piece. I think a natural setting is a good idea because then there is not a lot of setting up to do.

I like the video for Dilemma by Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland. The mix of performance shots and relaxed narrative is a perfect combination which inspires me for my own music video. I think that a loose narrative is much better than a hard to follow storyline which will distract from the song.

As well as all of this, I want my video to be quirky due to the genre I have in mind. Indie, electro music tend to have randomly loose narratives that perhaps have a deeper meaning.

I like the use of Tarot Cards in the Riptide video by Vance Joy. They are symbolic within the lyrics and I an influenced by the use of spiritual tools and equipment.

Doing this task has helped me take influence from other videos and realise the sort of video I want to create. I want my video to be quirky and have a loose narrative, with a symbolic meaning which will allow for audience interpretation.

Rhys:

Topman:
My initial idea was to have a fast paced music video, which incorporated lots of cuts to help it meet the generic conventions of music videos. By having lots of cuts it means that the audience are always going to be interested and intrigued and therefore pay attention to the music video. Without lots of cuts, shots can become tedious and long, making it feel awkward or boring for the audience to watch. By having lots of fast paced cuts from one shot to another can also show that we are able to edit, increasing the professionalism of our music video.

Also my initial ideas included a strong narrative for a music video, this is because I feel including a strong narrative can help to engage an audience, and make it more personal to some audience members. This in turn would help make people understand and relate to our music video. However, this being said, I would still like to ensure that the music video isn't one type of music video and does have aspects of all three types (performance, narrative and conceptual) of music video to keep it interesting.