Next Shoot

Now that I have completed my Iceland shoot and have looked through my footage and also creating a practice edit with the footage that I got from the shoot I need to focus on what I will film next and my next steps when it comes to filming the rest of my music video. The next shoot I will be doing will be on at Fewston reservoir. The second of my three locations, I will be heading to this location at around 3:30 so that I get there just before sunset giving my time to film a little before sunset and also look around in more detail looking for the perfect places to shoot when the sun sets because that is the most important part of this location. I hope to successfully get the shots i want for my video while the sun is setting, after this i will make the most of the location and try out some shots in the dark, these will be back up shots which will could be used for the final video but not priority.

Evidence of planning

This blog is showing the evidence of communication and planning with the artist for my music video (Josh Beattie). I am friends with Josh so communication and getting hold of him wasn't difficult because there is many ways of contacting him. I had to contact Josh for two key part of the music video, one reason was organising creating the song which would be used for the video.  The other reason i had to contact Josh was to organise when we would be filming half the music video because Josh is performing and staring in half of it. When organising dates with Josh we looked at each others calendars to see when we were free so then we could organise a day where we would have as much time as possible to achieve our goal for that day either creating the song or shooting for the video. This meant we were as efficient as possible when we met.

The following are screenshots of planning between me and Josh for creating the song for the video.

These screenshots are of planning for shooting the music video with Josh.

Storyboard

This is a brief storyboard for my music video, it shows the general idea of how my music video will play out and the type of shots which i will be getting for my video. These aren't all the shot that will be in my video, there will be lots of added extra shots in-between the main body ones.

Time Planning and Schedule

In this blog post i have include screenshots of my events planned for when i will be filming some of my music video. The first time i got footage for my music video was when i went to Iceland. The first date i went to Iceland was on the Tuesday 9th of November, i was there until Sunday the 13th of November. I had two days where i would be able to film in Iceland. These two days were on the 10th where i had the chance to film lots of different things in the Golden Circle, the second day was the 11th where i could film its of stuff not he south coast.

The second schedule that i had in my calendar was a small late night shoot, this was scheduled for the 19th of November and was planned quite close to the day not that far in advance.

Props/Costumes

My music video will only include one person in it and that is the artist Josh. The artist will not be included in the video all the time there is only a selected fews shots of the artist performing. This means that costume is not that important in my music video but still needs to be though of and carefully picked so it matches the style of the video. Because my video is shot in winter and the theme is based in winter it will be suitable for Josh to be wearing warm clothes like a big jumper and other winter clothes such as a beanie. As well as making sure he wears clothes that match the theme of the video also need to think about the stereotype of what artists wear in this genre. Luckily acoustic artists do wear clothes very similar to winter style clothes which means that the artist will fit in with eh stereotype of the genre and the feel of the video. There is not a lot to think about in my video when it comes to props, there is only one prop which is essential in the video and that is a guitar, without a guitar there can be no performance shots so the guitar will be included in almost every shot which features the artist. Below are some examples of what Josh will look like in the video costume wise.

Location | Fewston Reservoir

My third location for filming is Fewston Reservoir. On the way to this location i will be in the car, while in the car i can get shots of Josh in the passenger seat, this will add the the journey theme of the video, the shots will be from behind him looking over his shoulder and out the car, i already have a few of these types of shots which are shot in the dark from a different time. The reason i have chosen Fewston Reservoir as my third location is because the views are really nice there and they look really good on the camera, this location will be used very similarly to how i shoot on Ilkley moor. I will be getting shots of Josh performing with his guitar sat down at the edge the reservoir and also shots of him walking along with he nice landscape background behind him. There is also a woods right next to the reservoir which i can try from in if the woods footage from Ilkley moor does not work out.

Below are some images of this location 

Location | Ilkley Moor

This is the second location that i will be including in my video. I will not be using one specific part of the moor i will shoot in different parts. The shots which i will get on the moor won't be just the moor on its own, they will be including the artist (Josh). My idea is to get Josh on the moor with just his guitar and we go to a few different locations such as in the woods and near a stream. When we are at these places i will get many various shots of Josh playing this guitar featuring a nice aesthetic background, these shots will be close ups of the guitar being played and medium close ups showing josh playing the guitar. Doing this will mean i include the performance aspect of the video. I will look at the forecast and pick a day to shoot when the weather is slightly gloomy and dark, this will man the shots will match my Iceland footage therefore looking like a similar place rather than two completely different places. Most of the footage i want from the moor is in the day but i will also go up in the dark to see if thee shots look any good or better. Once i have got all the performance style shots on the moor, i will also include tracking shots of Josh walking around. These will include close up shots of his feet walking and long shots of Josh walking along. This will add the the journey theme that i want to portray in my video.

Below are some images of Ilkley Moor and examples of places i will be filming.

Face like Thunder Video

Face like Thunder by The Japanese House is a new music video which has recently been released. The music in this video is quite different to the type of music that i will be using in my own music video but the video has taken my interests and includes aspects which i think are relevant to my own work. It is just a video which i stumbled across while looking for more inspiration and decided to include it on my blog. Some aspects of the video which i like are the shots tracking the artist and also the landscape shots that are included in the video.

Practice Edit with Iceland Footage

When i went to Iceland to record half of my music video i was very happy with the outcome and thought it was a success. I got lots of different shots which i was pleased with and thought they would work really well with my idea. Instead of just creating a collection of my favourite videos and putting them into a empty test footage video i decided i would choose a song from one of the artists i have analysed and edit the clips similarly to how my music video will turn out.  Below is the test edit with only the footage i shot from Iceland. The artist i decided to use is called Bon Iver, i have analysed one of their music videos before and their genre and style of music is similar to the artist i am using for my final video. I approached editing this video by thinking that i was just editing my final music video, this meant i could see if my style of editing would fit with the same style of song and the clips.

I edited this video on Adobe Premier Pro, the process i went through with editing this video was firstly going through my clips and filtering through the best quality shots and the ones i thought would look best included. I edited the whole video and cut down everything into the right places so the footage flowed smoothly, i was happy with how the test edit went because it showed me that my footage was good enough for my music video.

Production Diary Iceland

Camera and Equipment
The equipment i took to Iceland was a DSLR camera which is a Canon 1200D i also had a telephoto lens so i could get long close up shots, i also had a gorrila tripod so i could achieve steady shots instead of shaky ones.


Day 1:
First location i went to film was at the edge of Reykjavik where there were views of mountains and the sea. I then went round the Golden Circle route in a car where i got some travel movement shots . The Golden Circle included Iceland Geysers and got many different styles of shots close ups and extreme long shots. Then i visited the Gullfoss waterfall which again got lots of different shots from different angles of, here i used my telephoto lens to zoom really far into the waterfall to get closer shots. The third place i went to which was Thingvellir National Park gave me the opportunity to shoot some great shots of water close up and from above which was fast flowing, i can also use these shots in slow motion. The weather for the day was really misty which was perfect for the feel and effect i wanted in my video. At the end of the day it was forecast as the best day to see the northern lights so i went to see if i could film them but unfortunately they hardly showed up. At the end of the first day i was very happy with the shots i had got throughout the day and made me feel confident about the next day.

Few pictures of first day

Day 2:

On day two at Iceland i went round the south side of the island this meant that i got to visit places such as the black sand beaches and other dramatic waterfalls ad a glacier. The weather this day was very extreme rain, when i previewed the footage from the day this didn't show that much on the camera but it did give the shots a very nice feel and a different atmosphere to it. I am really happy with how the weather was because i wanted the whole feel of the video to be cold and wintery, because of the weather this has turned out perfectly. I visited a wide variety of different places again which was good because it meant the video will have a variety of different shots rather than the same thing over and over. I also tried not to shoot boring shots but instead shoot from different more unique angles to make the cinematography more enjoyable to watch.

Some photos from second day of shooting

Location | Iceland

Iceland Plan:

One of my main locations that i will be shooting a large amount of my music video in is Iceland.

I am going to Iceland on the 9th of November. I am going to be visiting lots of different locations in Iceland including the Gullfoss waterfall

and the black sand beaches

Going to all these different locations hopefully means i will be able to shoot a wide variety of different shot types and shoot many different subjects making the video more diverse and not boring.. The type of shots i will be shooting in Iceland will be mainly aesthetically pleasing shots which look really nice and sharp. I am not going to just film everything i see i will be looking for specific shots that look really nice on camera and will be thinking constantly about how it will fit into the edit and where about in the song it will look good. If i can see the northern lights then i will be attempting to film them, i have researched the best way to photograph and film the northern lights so that if i have the chance i will be ready to film it at the best quality but reports are it is not very likely that they will appear. I am taking my Canon 1200D camera with me to film with, i am taking this camera because i am very used to it and have used it many previous times this means if there is something that i want to shoot and don't want to miss that i won't be struggling trying to figure out the best way to do it with a new camera. The quality of this DSLR is goo and in full HD meaning the shots will turn out a suitable and good quality for a professional music video.

Song Choice

For my song choice for the music video instead of using a popular big artist or band i have decided to work with a really small artist who i know called Josh Beattie, he hasn't recored or released any music properly only a few things on soundcloud, so not only will i have to create a music video, i am also going to work with Josh on recording a song for the video. This requires more meeting up and planning because we will meet separately to make the song, or do some of the song after days of filming. I have chosen to create the song as well as the music video because i think combining them both will make me think more about my approach to the music video and it will be good for me in the editing process because i will know the song very well and what would fit well in certain parts. Below is to a link of a few cover tracks from Josh on soundcloud

https://soundcloud.com/sundialproject/sets/first

Shooting Schedule

This is my blog for my Shooting Schedule, i have a clear idea of how my shoots are going and when and where they will be, these details are featured in other blogs. Because i am clear about what im going to shoot and where i have only scheduled two locations because i believe that will be enough and i will have shot everything i need for my video in these two locations.
The first scheduled shoot takes place when i go to Iceland, this will take place on the 8th to the 13th because i will be visiting different locations throughout the trip.

The second scheduled shoot takes place in the UK on the 25th of January, i have chosen this date closer to the date because it is going to be a nice day for weather which is what i was hoping for, this shoot will be done with the artist.

Questionnaire

This is a questionnaire which i have created for my primary audience, i will be asking people who fit the criteria of my primary audience to complete it for me so i can have a better understanding of what people like to see from music videos.

1) What is your least favourite genre?

Rock
Indie
Pop
Techno
Other

2) How long would you prefer a music video to be?

Under 2:00
2:00 - 2:99
3:00 - 3:99
4:00 - over

3) How do you access music videos?

Internet
Television
Mobile Phones
Other

4) What is your gender?

Male
Female

5) Which category below includes your age?

17 or younger

18-20

21-29

30-39

40-49

50-59

60 or older

6)What is your favourite genre of music

Rock
Indie
Pop
Techno
Other

7) Do you prefer concept or performance music videos?

8) Do you prefer narrative or visual music videos?

9) How often do you watch music videos?

Never
Everyday
Every other day
Every week
Very rarely

10) What is you favourite music video?

Audio Feedback

Lewis Watson Target Audience (Ben Howard)

Lewis Watson is a small artist which doesn't have any audience details about them, because of this i will be looking at a similar artist but is bigger so he has more information on him and has a similar target audience, this artist is called Ben Howard.

                               
The first thing i am looking at is which gender is more likely to be interested in listening to and watching a acoustic artists music video.  The majority of people who listen to Ben Howard are female, this is common statistic in the acoustic genre as most people who listen to acoustic artists tend to be female this could be because the music is softer and more gentle than other types of music which can appeal more to female than males because stereotypically males listen to heavier music such as rock. This could suggest that when making a video for such an artist the best type of video would be a slow calm one not a fast paced quick changing shot type of video, this type would also fit with the music better as well as the audiences preference. This means that the primary target audience for Ben Howard would be female, because the primary target audience is female this would mean that the secondary audience of Ben Howard would be male.


 Most people who listen to Ben Howard are young, the reason for this could be because he relates more to younger people with his lyrics and genre, he is a relevant artist who plays a lot of gigs and festivals which can result in more younger people being able to find out about him and his music easier. Ben Howard is also very popular in the indie charts when he releases music, the type of people who are most likely to listen to popular indie artists tend to be young females. Using this information you can see that the primary target audience is young females. This means that there are alternate secondary audiences such as young male, old male/female.


From this data you can see that the political views of people who listen to Ben Howard are  pretty far left. One reason for this could be to do with some of the lyrics that he uses. He doesn't reference politics in this music but his other views and thoughts in his lyrics may be similar to the thought s and feelings of people who are typically left wing. Using this data you can see that the primary audience for Ben Howard would have left wing political views therefore the secondary audience would have right wing political views. Personally I do not believe that political view do not really have a huge factor in how people portray music and listen to it, but I think that they can effect what is in a music video

About an Acoustic Artist - Lewis Watson

I have chosen to look at the artist Lewis Watson because the artist i am using for my music video is not a big artist and doesn't have an online persona they just play gigs and make music on their own without sharing it online. So i have chosen to look at Lewis Watson because he is a very similar type of artist and it will be easier to analyse than Josh.

About:

London-based singer/songwriter Lewis Watson got his start in music while still a teenager by quietly uploading cover versions of his favorite songs to a sleepy YouTube account in 2010. The singer's spare acoustic guitar complemented his booming and slightly soulful voice on covers of tunes by the Knife, Bombay Bicycle Club, Bon Iver, and others, and before long he was uploading his own original compositions to great response. Watson began playing out in support of larger acts, and after a gig with his former music teacher Joe Porter, Porter offered up his production services in the recording of Watson's first studio material. The speedy sessions yielded four songs that were eventually released as the cheekily titled EP It's Got Four Sad Songs on It BTW. The buzz surrounding the 2012 release of the EP was enough to have numerous record labels knocking on Watson's door, eventually landing him a contract with Warner Bros. and hurling him into the world of festival performances, Billboard charts, and an ever-growing fan base. Response was so strong to the first EP that a second, Another Four Sad Songs, followed just months afterwards. Things moved quickly and Watson worked tirelessly on a third EP, this time aided by big-ticket songwriters and producers including Richard Wilkinson (Kaiser Chiefs), Mr. Hudson, and collaborators of Arctic Monkeys, Florence and the Machine, and many others. In early 2013 this third EP, Wild, was released. It, too, contained four sad songs, but revealed a heightened confidence and glossier production values than Watson's first two releases. Two more EPs followed in 2013, and Watson's debut full-length album, The Morning, was finally scheduled for release in July of the following year, boasting a much more full-bodied production than before; it also came in a Deluxe Edition that contained every song Watson had ever released.

Spotifys information on Lewis Watson reports that he is most listened to in the London in the UK.

Lewis Watson is quite a big and popular artist as he has 442,174 listeners a month

This is information about what the stereotypical Lewis Watson fan is like, therefore this is his target audience. The majority of his fans are young, female and have strong left views when it comes to politics. These results are similar to other acoustic artists.

 Lewis Watson is signed to two record labels these are Warner Music Group and Cooking Vinyl, Warner Music Group is an American global record company and is one of the three 'big' recording companies. Cooking Vinyl is a UK based independent record company




Lewis Watson sells merchandise on his own store, he sells a variety of different items such as Jumpers, Beanies and signed vinyl.

Here are some of Lewis Watsons most popular songs/videos.

The Killers | Mr Brightside

Singer - Brandon Flowers
Genre - Alternative Rock
Label - Lizard King
Writers - Brandon Flowers, David Keuning
Producers - The killers 

Relationship between visuals and lyrics 
The relationship between visuals and lyircs in the music video are weak but they do have a direct connection. There is a lot of shots of the band performing and playing in time with the lyrics. There is also a narrative of a love triangle. There are performance and narrative shots. There are common conventions of a indie/rock genre. The common convention of the killers performing and then the indie convention is the narrative and the extravagant colours and clothing. The video and the lyrics are both about to men a female in a love triangle. These characters are played by actors and then the lead singing himself Brandon Flower. The visuals show us that the female kissed another male and that Flower is getting jealous. The lyrics "jealousy turning snakes into the sea" reflect this. The narrative doesn't directly have a relationship with the lyrics; however it the narrative reflects the lyrics meanings and ideas.

Genre Characteristics
The genre of the song "Mr. Brightside" is indie/rock. The typical conventions of a indie are usually unique and abstract. The song writer and director created an artistic and abstract video out of something small and simple. Typical genre characteristics of an rock would be for the music video to show some performance in the video instead of being a simple narrative. Pop music usually sticks to the narrative; whereas rock either mixes or just performance. the majority of the camera shots are close ups of the bands faces or instruments. These are also typical genre conventions of rock music. The face of the band is flower himself therefore most of the camera shots (whilst they were performing) are focused on his face.

Intertextuality
The music video has taking inspiration from the film "Moulin Rouge". It is similar to "Moulin Rouge" in the way of the love triangle and the mis-en-scene. There are also a few references to "snow White". In the first few seconds we denote the female protagonist gets thrown an apple and she is dressed in all white. The red apple is symbolising poison and the story of Adam and Eve. The apple is causing destruction in the means of temptation and mistakes. flower chucks her the apple and then she goes to kiss another man. He is pushing her away and towards other men with his possessiveness. We are also able to connote Flowers possessiveness through the lyrics; "I want it all".

Performance and narrative 
The first thing we see in the initial wide shot is a stage and the killers standing on the stage performing. Gradually throughout the video we see the performance and the narrative having interlocking shots. There is a "Moulin Rouge" setting, the location is all set in one place however it is a large location with multiple rooms. The rooms allow the multiple relationships that are going on to be shown in private. Even though most of the time the couples are running into these private rooms alone, the other member of the love triangle ends up being there and seeing what is happening. This is another representation of how jealously can effect a person in love. The audience is able to connote that the song and the visuals are about jealousy in a relationship and how it can become toxic due o the jealousy turning into possession. There are also shots of the instruments and they are plugged in; making the performance authentic. This allows the audience to denote the band is playing live to this "Moulin Rouge" audience. The girls are dancing to this song therefore making it even more authentic and realistic.

Narrative
The narrative is about a man that falls in love with a women that is already in a relationship. We denote that Flower and the female protagonist are dancing together, this could signify that they are having relations. The other man in the relationship finds out about Flower and the female protagonist, therefore finding out about the affair. Both Flower and the other man argue over her and flower looses her. Flower doesn't stop seeing her. Overall the narrative is about adult relationships; however we connote that they are playing childish games. This can attract to the younger audiences. There is a closed non linear narrative. The close narrative occurs due to the fact the audience can denote in the beginning that there is a love triangle and Flower is jealous and pushing the female protagonist is being pushed away. In the middle of the music video we can see the action occurring. Initially we denote the band performing on the stage; then in the middle we see the action occurring, both Flower and the other man are with the female protagonist. Finally the last shot we see the other man in the love triangle walk away from her. We can connote that Flower and the female protagonist end up together. However the narrative is also non-linear due to the fact that there are performance shots interlocking with the narrative shots. Propp's theory can be applied in this music video. We can denote that there is a 'hero' that is Flower. There is also the villain that is the other male in the love triangle. The audience can also denote a princess. That was the third wheel in the love triangle. the hero is the character that seeks something; that something being the female protagonist. We can connote that the other male is the villain due to Propp's theory stating that the villain in  the music video is the person that gets in the way of the hero getting something. Finally we can apply Propp's theory to "Mr. Brightside" by calling the female protagonist the princess. She acts as the reward for the hero. The hero (Flower) ends up with the female protagonist. One of Barthes codes can also be applied to the music video. The proairetic code can be applied. We are left wondering throughout the video what is going to happen next and who is going to end up with the female protagonist. The tension is building up throughout the video; the killers do this by the audience viewing the females and the males love affair. The man she was originally with is gradually figuring it out. This is building tension because as the audience we are unsure as to what the male is going to do. We can also apply Levi-Straus' theory of binary opposites. We can denote that there is a love triangle. We can denote the other male in the love triangle, being a negative character. We connotehim being evil and the male protagonist (Flower) being the hero. This shows the binary oppositions of evil vs. good.

Mode of address
Flower does look directly at the camera whilst there is a close shot of his face in the beginning. This is breaking the fourth wall. It is said that Flower was looking at the camera because he was the face of marketing for the killers at the time. With Flower looking through the camera it is making a direct connection with the audience and it makes the audience feel like he is looking at us. The gratifications theory would state that Flower is building a personal relationship with the audience.

Star Treatment
The lead singer of the killers is singled out throughout the video. He was known as the key marketing angle for the killers. In many of their music videos there is close shots of Flower looking directly into the camera at the audience. Therefore in "Mr. Brightside" when he looks directly at the camera we are able to connote that he is the star of the music video. We are also able to connote this through the fact that he is playing a character in the love triangle. Not only is he involved in the performance with the rest of the band; but he is also deeply involved in the narrative, instead of getting another actor they use him, so that the audience is able to get involved in the love triangle and are able to connect with him and the love triangle.

Representations
The imagery has strong intertextualty references to Moulin rouge. the girls are seen wearing provocative clothing. The audience can denote the girls being controlled by the men in the music video. Over the female gender is represented as being an objects of pleasure for the men. The colour red also represents lust and love in the music video. Also red can represent the emotion anger; we can connote that the men in the room may be feeling lust for the women, Flower may be feeling love for the female protagonist. Then the women may have a sense of anger towards the situation. As the narrative proceeds the audience emphasises with the male protagonists (Flower) wanting him to get the girl in the end.

Male Gaze
There is voyeurism in the music video. The main female protagonist is displayed as a prostitute and is being controlled by another men. There are shots of the girl lifting up her skirt among with the other girls. This is showing the voyeuristic side of men and how they observe women as an object of pleasure. The females in the music video are mainly shots of their body. There are close shots of their legs and they are lifting up their skirts to show more leg. This relates to what Carole Clover stated; saying that women are showing their bodies in order to imply that they wish to express their sexual confidence.

Pace
The overall pace is fast. The drum beat is fast and all the visuals are fast moving.

Shots
The shots are 80/20 narrative to performance. We denote the performance of "The Killers" is occurring to break up the narrative. When the audience denote the performance we can see that there are more close shots of Flower himself and then medium shots of the rest of the band due to the fact that they are not as important to narrative as Flower himself. Because Flower is the protagonist in the narrative the shots in the performance are mainly on him and the instruments. The audience can connote that Flower is more important than the rest of the band members. The shot variety in the narrative are more varied. The audience can connote in the narrative that the video is focussing on both the female and male protagonist and the male antagonist. Overall the shots are focussing on the main characters and the mis-en-scene. There is one location throughout; however the location has several small rooms, enabling the two protagonists in the love triangle to run off together and then have the antagonist following them. In the narrative there are generally wide shots of the characters; this allows the audience to denote the Moulin rouge theme in the music video. We can see the females dancing and lifting up their skirts in a provocative way. The medium long shots are also used to enable the audience to denote that their are three people in the relationship. Also there are shot reverse shots of the female protagonist and male antagonist and protagonist. This is allowing the audience to infer the relationship between the three characters. went tre is shot reverse shot, they use close shots to enable the audience to see the characters facial expressions. The facial expressions allows the audience to connote the emotions that are occurring between the three. For example when we see Flower looking at the male antagonist, we can understand there is some hatred and jealously occurring in the eye contact. Then when Flower looks at the female protagonist; we can connote there is a sense of love and want to be together.

Effects
There aren't any visual effects added to the music video. The theme of the Moulin Rouge and the colour red are strong and it represents love, lust and anger. There are mainly quick cutaway transition shots. They are quick cutaway shots so that the audience don't notice the cut away shots and the narrative is coherent and fast paced.

Mis-en-scene
The mis-en-scene was heavily inspired by the film "Moulin Rouge". The location and the room was designed heavily in the colour red. The colour red can represent the feelings of love, lust and anger. In the film Moulin Rouge the girls are portrayed as being items of pleasure and they are dressed in provocative clothing much like in the music video. Moulin Rouge is about a young writer to comes to Paris to the drug and prostitution lifestyle."Moulin Rouge" is about an underground night club in which the rich and poor men are able to visit and have a good time. Things then take a turn for the worst when the main character has a love affair and becomes in danger. He is in over his head. The audience in the music video can connote that Flower relates to the main character in Moulin Rouge. The room is red and the costume designs are over dramatic and the female characters aren't wearing a lot of clothing. The men's costume's are three piece suits, therefore the audience can connote that they are of higher status.