Location Shots

To complement the narrative idea for our video, me and Samiyah have decided to film in a variety of locations for our music video within Hitchin Town.
These images will show the ideas of where we will shoots various shots for the video of 'Haunted'.
This first show is around my housing estate in St Ippolyts. Me and Samiyah thought this is a good location to shoot the character singing with direct address. The cluster of trees can could create a voyerustic effect as the character will be centred around the middle in costume which contrasting colours which will make it easy for the audience to see whilst doing a long shot. We were thinking of also doing a close up within this location as well.


This is an shot of an alley also around my housing estate. This location would be used as part of a tracking shot of the characters walking through it. this location shot is also ideal to film a low angle shot from the characters shoes and gradually working the camera up to a immediate close up. It can also be used for a high angle shot as the alley is built up on a hill, this can show the vunerability of the character during the song.


St Marys churchyard is also another location shot we took. We had an idea of using a long shot to show the whole of the church and then close up on one of the church doors which is indented in the wall, this would feature the artist looking at the camera and singing with a male character. The lighting will be natural light withn the early hours of the morning. This will also create a voyeuristic effect as the audience will want to look at the couples actions with eachother.

Contact with the artist

I contacted my artist through Facebook. I sent Alexa a message for getting consent/permission to use her track 'Haunted' for my Media A2 coursework. 

Haunted Lyrics annotated.

Editing and Camerawork

My Camerawork and Editing so far.

Camerawork ideas for my video :

- High angle shots to make the character look weak and shows supressed feeling. 

- Establishing shot to show the character looking isolated, in a dark house with a small room, field etc...

- Tracking the artist as they are moving? showing all different sides of them and edit them together.

- Close ups to show the experessions and to see the lip syncing, also to show the audience who the artist actually is.

Editing ideas for my video

- Fast cut montage ; fragmented shots of the chorus, this will make the chorus stick in the audiences head. 

- Enhancing colour with split screens/ colourisations - black and white, Grey.
- At the beginning of the video, Paige will be wearing a dark outfit to represent the situation she is in (going through a break up), She is walking through town singing

How will I use Goodwins Principles?

When looking at music videos, all of them have the features of Goodwins Principles. When making my video it is guranteed that these principles will be included. I need to state how I will use them in this post. 

Genre characteristics

By looking at the lyrics, the songs theme is very somber and full of heartbreak. The video would be a Narrative video. The music video will portray the genre as being indie, as the music and also with a variety of close up shots on the artist.

Relationship between Lyrics and Visuals. 

the lyrics of 'Haunted' are very visually imaginable which is lucky. The lyrics illustrate what the song is about so it is very easy to show the relationship between lyrics and visuals. For example 'This was the beginning of the fall', to emphasis this lyric line, a drop down shot could be used to show someone down a hole or on the ground. Another example would be 'Push me away
I don’t mind it
I’ll take it all
To be haunted by you' , this could be shown by shooting a long shot down a long dark corridor with the just the artist in it. Lyrics with visuals is a very good thing to have as it can show the audience the concept and set the tone of the video.

Relationship between music and visuals.

When watching a music video, it is very common to link the music to what is on the screen. Music with visuals has 3 categorys. Amplifies, Illustrates and Contradict. Amplifies means that the video is exaggerated compared to the music, Illustrates shows what it actually is and Contradict shows the opposite of what is being sung (contrast). When making 'Haunted'. Myself and my partner Samiyah Khair will choose to make the video as an Illustrated relationship between music and visuals as the Song is very emotional and deep so the audience may want to see the process of the song. 

Demands of the Record Label

A lot of record labels demand a lot of the charateristics in videos to make sure the artist has an image motif to go by for fans. The video we will be making will include a lot of close ups to show that the video is intimate between the audience and the artist. Also a lot of contrasting colours will be used such as Black on white, we may use black and white throughout the whole video to establish the emotion in the song.  

Notion of looking

Goodwin suggested in every music video there is some reference to the notion of looking. For example, screens within screens, telescopes - looking glass, eyes - indirect/direct address and voyeurism. In the process of making 'Haunted', voyeuristic features will be included such as direct address and indirect address and mirrors to emphasise an important bit of the video.

Intertexual reference 

Intertexual reference means a connection to something. Television is often a point of reference with intextual reference in music videos.For example The Beastie Boys. Also Games, this is more predominate for the younger audience with the more platicised look of characters emerging. There is also reference within fashion and photography,fashion sometimes takes the form of specific catwalk references and sometimes even uses supermodels. Our intextual reference will be referencing to film/tv. The setting is like the Adams family house, unlike the adams family series and movie, this video will not be comic, but the setting the video will resemble the setting in the adams family.

Goodwins principles

Goodwins Principles are based on 6 points which feature within a music video.

• Muisc videos demonstrate genre characteristics, for example, Stage performancses are regular in rock videos.
• Theres a relationship between lyrics and visuals
• There is a relationship between music and visuals - Amplifies, Illustrates and Contradict.
• The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artiist and the artist may develop motifs which reair across their work (a visual style).
• There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens, telescopes etc..) and paticulary voyeutristic treatment of the female body.
• There is often intertexual reference to films, TV programmes and other music videos etc..

Evaluation Of Practical Task

For the practical task in year 12, My media class and I recreated the Britney Spears music video 'Baby, One more time' as you can see below, we took sections of the video as a class and worked in groups to recreate our own section. The recreated sections have been joined together and the video is embedded below, my groups section is 0:00-0:30.

When filming, mirroring the shots for our section we had was used different camera shots for each scene so we could choose from a vairety. I  learnt how to use iMovie on the mac computers, and learnt the importance and how careful you have to be with editing.

When making the music video, I gained knowlodge of how to work a camera, how to use filming equipment such as a Tripod and also key skills of how to work in a group and edit with the precisions of lip syncing and timing. When filming our lip syncing scenes, we first just got our actress to mime the words, but that was particular difficult as we didn't have the guidence of the song. The second time around we used YouTube to listen to the song, but this time sing a long with it. We found that was much more effective when lip syncing and it doesn't look as fake when your miming. When editing our footage, it was particularly hard to work the lip syncing as many of us were not familiar with the iMove programme we were using. As a group we all had our say and input when editing, this made us work a lot better and we could understand each other if one person had an opinion about tweeking a shot.

Creating the music video was a very enjoyable task which helped me gain knowlegde on a production of a Music video and the props that you need as well as the equipment. I feel very confident during my A2 course of Media studies now as i've had experience which filming and editing.

7. Artist and Track

For my music video, I wanted to use a Niche artist. Alexa Povey is an unsigned Niche artist who has just started out her ambition to sing. I have chosen the song 'Haunted' which was written and sung by herself.

Lift the floor boards
To what we find
Are the cobwebs of what we left behind
In the web I could see
The remains of how we used to be

Remembered that time you lied
And you laughed
So did i
But your eyes said it all
This was the beginning of the fall

Chorus

Oh please don’t please don’t please don’t please don’t
Put this all to rest
Cause I swear, I swear that I can I can I can
Live with this on my chest

While the corner embraced me and my
Tears chased me
Want to be close to you
My eyes were open, wide open
But I wanted to be blind for you


I never got to tell you how I really felt
Cause darkness was more enticing than the light had ever been
And what they said did come true
That he would lie, lie to you
But I don’t mind
I won’t find
A comparison that comes close to you


Chorus

Oh please don’t please don’t please don’t please don’t
Put this all to rest
Cause I swear, I swear that I can I can I can
Live with this on my chest

While the corner embraced me and my
Tears chased me
Want to be close to you
My eyes were open, wide open
But I wanted to be blind for you

Oh you did save me
But you kill me
Always thrill me
Push me away
I don’t mind it
I’ll take it all
To be haunted by you

The song has also been recorded live by a Fan.

6.Magazine advertising

When looking to produce a music video, you need to think about promotional ideas for it. Many ways artist and label do this is magazine adverts, preferbaly in a magazine that their target audience follows. I have made notes on 3 magazine adverts and how they work well for the artist.

Magazine Advertising on Prezi

5. CD cover design

CD cover design on Prezi

I used Prezi to show my research on Cd cover designs and how they connote features such as images, colours and how the design attracts the audience.

4.Branding

When branding is used, it allows the artist to create an identity/trademark for themselves so they are easily recognised by the audience if they see a peice of Merchandise. I chose Katy Perry as she is a worldwide artist. Her brand identity is all set through her logo, her trademark is the quirky font on her logo. Her house colours recently have been baby blue and bubble gum pink. These go with the colour scheme of her latest album cover. She brands her merchandise with the girly image motif that she portrays in her music and her videos. Her logos are featured on her posters, CD albums and clothing merchandise. She will be recognised whenever someone will see her logo as it is offically her brand identity now. 

Having branding is hugely important for an artist to have as it gives the audience an image to match with the artist so it can be instantly recognisable.