Storyboard

Storyboard

Here is the storyboard in which we have created for our music video. The storyboard explains in small sketches what we have produced in our music videos, with notes along the side about what shots we used, who was in the clip and what was happening in it. For example, one slot is labelled with "Low angle" and "Michal eating a doughnut". 

Shot List

Shot List

Here is the shot list we completed in order to note down the camera angles and the amount of shots we took whilst filming for our music video.

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Here is the accurate shooting schedule we created when filming and planning our music video. 

Location

Location

We discussed in our social media group chat where we are going to film for our music video. It was important for us to come up with a vast amount of locations to film just so we had a majority to choose from, so we wouldn't get stuck later on with where to go. Later, we chose a selected few and wrote them down on this planning sheet. I have also included some screenshots of the exact locations where we have filmed.

Audience Research

Audience Research

Recently we asked people in our class about their opinions on the song we chose. It was important to receive feedback from others in our class so that we could grasp a general opinion. We asked Nadine and her group to write down their thoughts in response to the questions on the sheet.

The questions and answers on the sheet were as followed:                                                                                                                                                     1. Without too much thinking, give three words that come to mind after hearing this song? There is no right or wrong answer, we want your "first impression" or emotional response.

a) Fun

b) Parody

c) Cliche

2. Which other artist(s) does this remind you of?

Busted

3. What are this/these artist's music videos like? What would you expect to see in their music videos?

Parody like

4. How would you describe the mood of this song?

Happy/comical

5. If the song was a colour, what colour would it be?

Neon yellow

6. What pictures does the song create in your mind?

Guitars, gimmicks, GIRLS!!

7. What narrative do you imagine with this song?

A girl acting as the boy

8. Having got this information, you need to sift through the ideas. Is your song still viable?

Yes

                  

Treatment

Treatment

Group Roles:

Cinematography: Carly Laslett
Mise-en Scene: Carly Laslett
Editing: Joshua Collier
Starring: Michal Cendrowski

Title:
A Song About A Girl

Synopsis: One man falls in love with a girl he sees, and is instantly infatuated with her. However, he does not realise that the love of his life, whom he has dedicated the song to, is actually a male wearing a pretty frock and a long blonde wig. He spends the whole video, searching for this one girl he has met amongst her friends and even begins to fantasise about their love. His friends, all shocked by the situation, encourage him to follow his dreams. But is his soul mate everything she appears to be? 

Genre Conventions: 
The pop-punk trend is what the video is based around, hence why it is so stereotypical and cliche - but this is where the dramatical comedy comes in. The people who star in the video are also dressed within the pop-punk fashion collection, which were inspired by other pop-punk videos we have viewed as a group to help us out. The video also includes live clips of the "band" performing (e.g. Charlie and Joe playing the lead guitar and the bass guitar) as well as different collections of footage to make up the video, fast paced editing and humour to make the audience see that the cast of the video are having a good time, and it is just a fun, not to be taken too seriously video to view and enjoy.

Mood Board

Mood Board
Here is a photo of us with the mood board we created. As a group, we decided to go with the genre pop-punk for our music video, a combination of soft punk and alternative pop, which is what A Song About A Girl is. 

Our mood board was our first form of research. We looked up pop punk's history and took some quotes, photographs of performers, and best-selling pop punk albums. In the center of the page we drew out the images in our head that sprung to mind after listening to the song, such as blonde hair, a cliche love story, etc. 

Initial Ideas

Initial Ideas: What is our music video going to be all about?

I instantly knew I wanted to create something comedic when we began planning our music video at the very beginning. Since I am a big fan of the pop-punk genre, I thought it would be exciting if we made out video as cliche as possible and make a friendly parody towards the majority of famous pop-punk songs. The original video by Luke Cutforth and Patty Walters was funny and cliche, so I wanted out version of A Song About A Girl to take things even further. Since there were only two people starring in the original version, I thought it would be interesting to include other people and also involve different people playing musical instruments. First of all, we needed some inspiration to help make this happen, so we researched the most famous pop-punk bands and albums of all time and their music videos.

Blink-182's What's My Age Again? music video released in 1999.

The Offspring's 

Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) music video released in 1998. This song was in fact going to be our original music video choice, but since The Offspring are already signed we didn't want to be involved in violating the copyright terms of the artist. Interestingly though, the song we've chosen is quite similar to this one in terms of comedy.

All Time Low's Weightless music video released in 2009.

Jimmy Eat World's The Middle music video released in 2001.

Sum 41's In Too Deep music video released in 2001.

These are some of the videos we viewed to get some inspiration from. One thing they all have in common is that they're fun, comedic and they all fit within the stereotypical pop-punk genre of music. They all involve live bands playing instruments and people looking like they're having a good time just by dancing around, and we decided as a group that we wanted to adapt all of this in our music video. 

Song Lyrics

Song Lyrics

Here are the song lyrics to A Song About A Girl which was written by Luke Cutforth and Patty Walters.


A Song About A Girl

(Intro about 12 seconds)

I was just a boy,
Now I'm a man 
Hehe!
I hate this town,
This deadbeat town,
And everything I do,
I do it all for you,
And everything you say makes my pain and sadness go

This is a song about a girl!
This is a song about her long blonde hair!
This is a song about the way she stares at me,
In my American Apparel underwear!
Na na na naaaa,
Na na na naaaa,
Na na na naaaa,
Na na na naaaa,
This is a song about a girl...

Parents are mad,
Don't understand,
They think I'm bad and all,
Don't give a fuck at all!
You're the reason why, 
I feel like I can fly,
You're the reason why I just don't care at all

This is a song about a girl!
This is a song about her long blonde hair! 
This is a sing about the way she stares at me,
In my American Apparel underwear!
Na na na naaaa,
Na na na naaaa,
Na na na naaaa,
Na na na naaaa,
This is a song about a girl...

This is a song about a girl,
This is a song about her long blonde hair,
This is a song about the way she stares at me,
In my American Apparel underwear, 
This is a song about a girl...
This is a song about her long blonde hair...
This is a song about the way she stares at me...
In my American Apparel
UNDERWEAR!

Na na na naaaa,
Na na na naaaa,
Na na na naaaa,
Na na na naaaa,

This is a song about a girl!
This is a song about her long blonde hair! 
This is a song about the way she stares at me,
In my American Apparel underwear!

This is a song about a girl!
This is a song about a girl!
I think she's rad and all!
I wanna fuck her all the time...

This is a song about a...
Girrrrrrrrl!

Contacting The Artist

Permission

The Youtuber Luke Cutforth who wrote and performed A Song About A Girl, the song we are going to use for our A2 music video, has recently replied to me on Twitter confirming that he gives us official permission to use his song. Thank you Luke!

Song Choice & Artist Information

Song Choice & Artist Information

This is the song we have selected to use for our music video next year. It is by YouTube star Luke Cutforth with Patty Walters starring in the music video. The song is aimed to be a parody, but it is also a fun and exciting track to use for us in our music video.

Luke Cutforth (aka LukeIsNotSexy)

Luke rose to fame on YouTube and has over 500,000 subscribers. He wrote A Song About A Girl with Patty Walters and the recorded version is sang by him. His inspirations for writing this song were typical pop punk bands like Blink-182, Green Day, etc.



Patty Walters (As It Is)

Patty was/is also a YouTuber, but he was really recognised when his generic pop punk band As It Is rose to fame earlier this year. Recommended by Kerrang! and Rocksound magazines, As It Is recently have gone viral in the alternative music industry. He stars in A Song About A Girl dressed as a typical pretty girl and also plays some instruments in it.

                                                                                              

Purpose Of A Music Video

Purpose Of A Music Video

The purpose of a music video is for it to be:
- Promotional
- Add an extension of income
- Extension of outlets (music channel, direct DVD, CD sales)
- Synergy
- Advertising 
- Illustrates the song
- Appeals to a visual audience
- Expresses an individuals emotions
- Tells a story
- Markets an image
- Creates a brand

An example of the most successful video of all time is Michael Jackson's Thriller. In 2006, it was listed in the Guinness World Book Of Records as the greatest video ever made. In 2009, the video was inducted into the national film registry of the library of congress, the first music video ever to achieve this honour. 


Another example would be David Bowie's Lazarus released at the beginning of 2016 a couple weeks before his death. The video holds a very intimate message that he obviously wanted to send out to his fans. No one knew of his terminal cancer, so by listening to the lyrics of this song and watching the powerful signs of death within the video, this was his poetic sound of a goodbye. 

A Model Of The Media

Text->Audience->Institutions->Text   a full circle

Text:Newspaper, magazine,music video, blog, social media Accounts, videos, TV programs, video games, films 

Audience:- Consumers-How?, Why?, When?, What?, Who?, What happens?

Institutions:youtube, social media sites, google, disney, warner bros- Produce texts, Distribute texts, Exhibit texts, Market texts.

Audience to institutes: Monetary transactions.

The biggest issue nowadays is piracy of texts.
This means that producers will not be getting the money from consumers actively buying the texts so they must resort to lifting the price of those texts, for example go back thirty odd years and it cost next to nothing to see a live concert whereas now it can cost hundreds as those producers don't get the money they need/want for their products.

Case Study 3

Alex Southam

- Along with Emil Nava, he also freelances for OB Management.
- Trained as a lawyer but decided to go in a new direction and work in film.
- He began making music videos to learn "the trade".
- Has worked for Agile Films who describe him on their website as: "an exciting new talent, working in a dizzying variety of styles." 
- To begin with, Southam undertook all the tasks on his videos; camera, lighting and editing. He now uses a Director of Photography.
- Southam likes the format of music videos as "you can try new techniques and can have real artistic freedom."
- He is less keen on commercials as they allow for "much less freedom".
- He uses Vimeo to showcase his videos - this is becoming an increasingly important platform as it is considered to have "higher status" than YouTube.
- His breakthrough came with the video Tesselate by Alt J.

Case Study 2

Emil Nava

- He began as a runner for film production companies.
- Worked for Blink Productions.
- He now freelances for OB Management.
- After working as a runner, he graduated to Assistant Director where he would manage the video shoots.
- He signed to Academy - one of the biggest music video companies.
- He has made adverts which generally have a higher budget and production values.
- At his busiest, Emil has made 24 music videos in a year.
- When he began shooting videos for independent labels, the budget would be as low as £5,000 to £10,000. 
- His most expensive videos to date has been Jessie J and the video was £160,000.
- Emil's first budget was for the band Kid British and the track "Our House". It had a budget of £20,000 and was shot in Manchester, local people starred in it, it only took 1 day of filming to be complete and 2/3 days of editing.
- OB Management works as agents for music video directors. Their aim is to nurture talent, work with production companies, work with record labels and match the right director with the right artist.

Popular videos Emil Nava has directed:

Case Study 1

How Are Music Videos Made?

Case Study 1 - Jamie Thraves

- Made short films at university.
- Began shooting three very low budget music videos which cost about £5,000 each.
- Used an award winning short film as a "calling card" to get a "foot in the door" with the video production company Factory Films.

This is how the process of music video making works:
- A commission from a record label sends a track to 5-10 directors.
- The directors then each submit their treatment. At this stage, it is unpaid.
- The director who has submitted the "best" treatment is then committed to make the video.
- Only then is the director paid.

Radiohead - "Just"
This video was directed by Jamie Thraves and really kickstarted his career. It was shot in 3 days with a £100,000 budget. It is a disjunctive music video because the lyrics do not match the story told in the video.
The video shows Radiohead performing in some sort of apartment alongside a road where a man lies down and a crowd of people surround him asking him why he is lying down. Eventually he tells them why, but the audience to this day still do not know what he said.





Coldplay - "The Scientist"
This video directed by Jamie Thraves was also shot in 3 days, on a higher budget than "Just", it cost £200,000. Thraves looked over the lyrics of the song and the one line "go back to the start" really stood out to him and he decided to use that as the main narrative. He shot the whole video in the point of view of Chris Martin and whilst he's singing forwards, the video goes backwards.

Sexism in Pop Videos

Are Pop Videos Sexist?

In 2013, "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke and "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus provoked controversy. Here, women are ultimately objectified as sexual objects, some without even knowing. Women were appalled by these videos as they promoted women as sexual objects who are always empowered by the male.

Michael Jackson: King Of Pop

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was not only the King of Pop but was also the King of Pop Videos. His early videos were when he was in the Jackson 5 back in 1971 in his youth. The music video for Rockin' Robin was pretty basic, but promoted the song and showed the lip synching aspect.

Rock With You (1979)

This was one of Michael's first videos which promoted him as a solo artist. It contrasts a lot with the general time period and we first see his talent for dancing appearing slowly here. This was his leading single from the album Off The Wall where he became his own artist and left behind the Jackson 5.

Billie Jean (1982)
This was his first video that actually told a story and had a plot, it was a video that did a lot more than lip synching. The steps that light up within the video became one of his first trade marks which he interpreted on stage also.

Beat It (1982)
The music video for Beat It was Michael's first chance to show off his dancing ability to a great extent. It was themed differently to his other videos with an edgy-gang theme to it. His signature red jacket became a national trademark which audiences instantly interpreted him with - the red jacket may symbolize danger and or trouble. Like Billie Jean, this video also tells a story which begins with other people first showing in their face in it before Jackson even appears.

Thriller (1983)

Michael Jackson's Thriller is ultimately the greatest music video of all time. The original full length video is almost 14 minutes long and was one of the first music videos to be introduced as a short film. When it was released it was considered to be very scary and was not shown in cinemas until after 9:00pm. The dance moves were often improvised by Jackson and the make up effects were a phenomenon as he danced with the dead. Michael's entire outfit displayed in this video became a very famous look and people have often interpreted the dance moves from the music video in more modern movies and in theatre productions. Costing about $500,000 to make, Jackson's record company had no intention to pay for it, since the album was on the downswing and they had already financed the videos for two of its songs. (Billie Jean, Beat It). According to the director John Landis, Michael really wanted to turn into a monster so he offered to pay for the clip himself. Landis eventually took it on because it fitted into the short film genre which he loved. The video won Best Performance Video, Best Choreography and Viewer's Choice at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. 

Bad (1987)
After Thriller, Michael Jackson easily became the biggest pop star in the world, and his videos made the news. The video premiered on the BBC and was a huge event. People were desperate to see his new image and even more of his signature dance moves. This was the first taste of his new album Bad, in which he wore black and this video had reflections of the Beat It video back in 1983. 

Black Or White (1991)
The pop video for Black Or White was very expensive and inventive. At this time, Michael Jackson had received allegations of being "strange" when he had been accused of sexual assault towards children. He used this video to almost resurrect his career after his fall. He had also been having some problems with his image - viewers said that he had been "bleaching his skin" when he was a sufferer of vitiligo. In order to get back on track, he knew he was going to have to send out a positive yet serious message to his fans about racism. It takes place in different locations and has dancers of different ethnicities and religions involved, to show that racism is a worldwide issue and that equality applies everywhere. Jackson wears white, which contrasts with his skin colour to bring in a metaphorical aspect for the message of the song. 

Earth Song (1995)
 Like Black Or White, the music video for Earth Song also portrayed a serious message. Michael Jackson stars in this video with a look that contrasts with the other looks portrayed in his serious videos. He isn't wearing dazzling clothes, and his general appearance comes across as messy and unkempt. He walks around the earth when it is in the process of being destroyed, showing viewers that climate change and world hunger are serious issues that we will always come across, and that it is important we take care of our world. Towards the end of the video when the song becomes more dramatic, Jackson is seen clinging onto two trees either side of him, portraying him as a Christ-like figure.

Katy Perry & Her Pop Videos

Katy Perry

Katy Perry's target audience is aimed at girls between the ages of 14 and 17. Her vibe is supposed to come off to young girls as an older sister or a friend. Her music is supposed to reflect on some of the anxieties some young girl have and become someone to admire and want to be, appearing sexy in a non-threatening way.

The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, looking into the camera etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. Katy Perry's videos appear as "Feminist" but she also appears "sexy" in parts. There is often inter textual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc - Wide Awake refers back to California Gurls and Firework. 

Hot N' Cold (2008) 

In one of her earlier videos, Katy Perry presents herself as a victim when she gets rejected at the aisle. However, she is not presented within the "runaway bride" stereotype or any sort of damsel in distress, instead the video is slightly comic as she chases after the groom - she is presented both funny and sexy; later on in the video she sings on stage wearing red with a band playing behind her. 

Firework (2010)

Katy Perry encourages her younger viewers to celebrate their inner difference and individuality within the Firework music video. When she sings about fireworks it is a metaphor for everyone's own uniqueness - in the video she is walking around in a beautiful long dress passing all different kinds of people who each have a "spark in them". This is another inspiring video for her younger fans who struggle with self-image, being an outcast and or just standing out from the crowd. She tells them not to dismiss that individuality, but to embrace it because it is something that nobody else has. The firework that comes out of Katy's chest also appears with all the other people.



Last Friday Night (2011)

A video with a distinct story line, Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F) involves Katy Perry appearing differently than she has done before - she is stereo typically "unattractive" here with glasses and braces, unpopular with the "in" crowd. The video shows her undergoing a make over to go from nerdy to sexy. The video is colourful and fun, showing young girls that it is okay to stand out from the crowd. For example, even when she undergoes her make over she doesn't look entirely perfect; we see this as soon as the camera pans up her body from the bottom of the stairs and her shoes are different colours - she looks prettier and more fitting but she doesn't look perfect, and her message here is that it is okay and completely acceptable not to be.



California Gurls (2011)

This music video displays Katy Perry in a new light. She appears within a sexy new image, there is a lot of nudity hints within the video and she sings alongside Snoop Dogg. At this stage in her life she was going off the rails within the sense that she was not appealing as much to her target audience. She failed to send out a positive message to young girls in her new music video - this was the time where she was dating Russell Brand and he was considered a bad influence. This video alone contrasts with her previous works.




Wide Awake (2012)

Katy Perry reconnects with her teenage fans in this music video to act as almost an apology. This video is very metaphorical as she shows her past experiences and mistakes with Russell Brand after he publicly shamed her when they broke up. "Wide Awake" starts up as the continuation from her "California Gurls" video; the video features a little girl who acts as her past self, and when she meets the "prince charming" character, she punches him at the very end. Katy Perry starts creating music like she had done before, with female empowerment and a role model to young girls. 



Roar (2013)

The message in "Roar" is similar to the "Firework" music video, The high production values and special effects to make it look like Katy Perry was stranded in a jungle. The self empowering positive message promotes that women can be strong and independent without men. There are humorous elements in this video once again, and elements of being sexy but not to attract a man, rather for her self confidence instead. 

Audience Reception Theory

Audience Reception Theory

Audiences receive and respond to texts very differently, the different effects generate varied responses.

It is a way to categorise and group together different audience (consumer) interpretations.

Audience reception=way we react

 Stuart Hall 1973

Producers encode meaning/ideology into texts, which audiences decode

Audiences are active in their interpretations and can accept/reject the producers message.

Encode:meaning, ideology

Decode;understand, interpret

Texts can be decoded by body language to understand emotions/ relationships

They have multiple meanings and can be decoded in various ways. the messengers can mean something different to different people

Preferred reading- audiences agree and accept what the producers are encoding.

Negotiated reading- audiences partially agree with the decoded messages.

Oppositional reading- audiences reject/disagree or decode the text differently.

Developed by David Morley

Managers encode artists with specific ideology this is ultimately to increase financial gain.

Target audience will always have a preferred reading. They accept all messages and decode the text in the way it was intended.

usually the secondary audience will decode a negotiated reading.

Parents/audience who hate the music genre will have an oppositional reading.

Editing To The Beat

Editing To The Beat
Today we practiced editing to the beat. We were given a soundtrack and some clips of people dressed up in animal suits, then we were told to edit this clips and put them together in the video, so it was edited on the beat of the music. I used a few crossfading techniques whilst doing this and I also put a series of frames into the video at the same time towards the end. This was a good practice to use before we actually start filming our own music video. 

    

Star Theory and Pop Videos

Star Theory & Pop Videos

Richard Dyer's theory explained how the three ways music videos promote songs.

Illustrate: When music videos have images that match the lyrics.

Amplify: There is no clear distinction, it portrays the narrative. Layers of meaning are added.

Disjunctive: The meaning of the lyrics in the song are completely ignored.

Richard Dyer believes artists are constructed through artificial images e.g. advertising, films, magazines and music videos.  Dyer believes stars are manufactured to make money for their record label.

Gramsci is known for his theory; the belief that the ruling overview from the higher power is imposed.


Britney Spears

Her early music videos were surrounded by "girly iconography" - one of her first songs Baby One More Time has images of her with pigtails and displayed in a sweet and innocent light. The white blouse she is seen wearing as a sort of crop top in this video became a fashion trend for all of her fans who set out to copy this trend.

In opposition to her portrayed innocence is an underlining sexuality.

 This video is colourful, which is typical for a pop music video. She is also singing about an innocent high school relationship, as well as wearing white which can symbolise her purity.












Later on in her career, her music and lyrics became more meaningful. An example of this is I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman where she sings about her life experiences starting from when she was younger. The video completely ignores the meaning of the song (it is disjunctive), but it is cleverly shots with all sorts of different angles and you can see the passion in her facial expression. However, she is dressed to appeal to the male gaze (Laura Mulvey's theory) much like in Baby One More Time she is once again wearing a crop top.
Britney Spears' music videos are a polysemic text (a text that has multiple meanings.)

Oops! I Did It Again (2000) displays Britney in a red latex suit with a fiery background. This opposes her innocence showed in previous videos and exposes her feistier, more sexual side.

Womanizer (2008) suggests a side of her which is both attracting to the male gaze and is also showing a dominating female side.

Branding The Spice Girls

Branding The Spice Girl

The Spice Girls were a British girl group formed in 1994 by Bob and Chris Herbert to be able to compete with dominant boy bands who were always on the chart. They are an excellent example of an image that helped create a brand.

After they were put together, they quickly begged for a showcase. They wrote "Wannabe" in 15 minutes which became one of their first and greatest singles ever.

Image


Each Spice Girl was different and individual. They appealed to their target audience which was young teenaged girls. By setting a good example to them about valuing friendship and starting a trend of "girl power" their branding became very successful.

Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) always wore slinky black dresses and was portrayed as being very smart and serious all the time.

Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) was portrayed as a sweet and innocent character with her hair in pigtails and a cute nature.

Melanie C (Sporty Spice) was the active and athletic member of the group - she always wore tracksuits or running shoes to portray her sporty character.

Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice) was the only red-headed member of the group, so she was known as Ginger Spice. She often wore dresses with the Great Britain flag displayed on them. 

Melanie B (Scary Spice) had a feisty and outgoing characteristic - she could always be found to be wearing leopard print and being "fierce". 

"Wannabe" 1994