Music Video Planning

Equipment Needed - GoPro, Tripod, Gorilla Pod, Stand Fixtures, Spare Camera Battery, Phone (to use as camera monitor), SD Card

Shot planning - Tree pans, Direct sunlight on lens, Pull focus with flowers, laughing smiling and playing around, blue sky, MAKE SURE ITS A SUNNY DAY

Editing - Slow mo on laughter and interaction with eachother,overlapping with opacity (I want an overlay of flowers over action)

Location Scouting

I am hopng to use wooded areas to shoot in for my music video. There are wooded areas near where I live and open green spaces such as War Memorial Park and Gosford Green. After going to have a  look at these places to see if the setting would fit, I realised they were too populated and busy when I wanted to have no public in my video. Also the grass was littered and wasn't the "pretty" vision I was hoping for. After asking around and visiting various parks, feilds and woods,  eventually came across Arley Woods. Although it is quite a far drive it seemed to tick all the boxes; very little to no public around, clean, "pretty", large, contains open spaces and densley spread trees and flowers.

Here are some screenshots from google street view of Arley Woods location:

Carol Vernallis and Music Video Theory

Vernallis is a music video theorist who produced ‘The Kindest Cuts’ which explores the difference in editing between film and music videos. She talks about the role of editing when it comes to narrative, meaning, star image and the way sound and images are synchronised, as well as possible close ups of the artist and how the editing imitates the music.
Vernallis theory is based around four key concepts that all relate to the way a music video is produced: Narrative, Editing, Framing and camera movement, Diegsis.

Narrative: When she describes her theory, Vernallis suggests that music videos are a visual response to the narrative suggested in the song, which means that what is happening onscreen reflects the lyrics. She then says how narrative might not be complete and makes the video seem disjointed and appears in fragments.

Editing: One of the main conventions of editing music videos is to disrupt or break the rules of continuity editing. Also, the editing in music videos can be used as a focal point, such as editing to the beat of the music or the strum of a guitar, rather than a narrative. Music videos have a distinctive style of editing with easily noticeable conventions: Jump cuts, Breaking the 30 degree rule, Cutting to lyrics or to the beat of the music, Juxtaposed frames.

Framing and Camera Movement: Vernallis suggests that having establishing shots is a key element to music videos, as well as close ups of the artist or main subject. The camera movement is also key, as it moving in time with the beat or the lyrics is often seen in music videos. The framing is more dependent on the genre of the music, as slower love songs focus more on close ups and use out of focus shots whereas upbeat pop tunes have more full on dance style scenes which include everyone in the frame. 

Diegsis: In terms of media, diegesis is the setting of the music video. Vernallis says that actions in the video are not always completed and can be disrupted, as this can lead to repetition of shots and frames which will come across as more important than other frames. 

My Personal Statement Video - Skills example

When applying for Coventry University to study Media Production, I was asked to create a personal statement style video. I decided to include footage from when I was younger, competing In dance shows and footage I have gathered from different hobbies I have participated in. I used butterfly lighting and used a GoPro to film with. I decided to do an interview style video as it correlates with my interview at the university.

MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS 5

 Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE.

Contradicting:

The main contradiction in this video relates to the subject of the visuals and the subject of the song. Throughout the hook on the song, Kendrick repeats the phrase:

"Sit down, be humble"

This goes against the visuals which show Kendrick being braggadocios and indulging in vices such as money, women and fine food+ wine (The Last Supper Reference). This may have been done to imply that Kendrick is exempt from his 'Be Humble' refrain and that he is above other artists.


Amplifying:

During the majority of this video, Kendrick is lip syncing to the lyrics, which is pretty much a staple in hip hop nowadays. Whereas other genres feature a lot of abstract videos that do not include any lip syncing, hip hop tends to favour this type of video, which allows the artist to amplify the mood that they want the song to convey.

"If I kill a n*gga it won't be the alcohol" is paired with a shot of Kendrick behind a window with multiple red dots on him, grabbing his crotch and maintaining a cocky stance. This amplifies the lyric but also contradicts it at the same time, as he goes against what he is saying by looking drunk and aggressive.

After the lyric:

"My left stroke just went viral"

Kendrick hits the gold ball which is timed to be right on the beat, further elevating the instrumental. This works well because when people hear the song without the video, they will hear the lyric and instantly visualise the video.

Cutting To Music:

Right at the start of the video after two lines, the beat kicks in and the camera cuts from the establishing shot to low angle medium shot. Also throughout the song the video has a fast cutting pace which is often cut on the beat.

Illustrating:

There are multiple points throughout this music video where the lyrics match the visuals, the first one being:

"Ayy, I remember syrup sandwiches and crime allowances
Finesse a n*gga with some counterfeits
But now I’m countin' this"

During these lyrics, Kendrick is lying down on a table surrounded by dollar bills and holding a machine that is spitting out money. This reflects the theme of being rich and overcoming a struggle to have a lot of money is he is basically bathing in dollars.

Another example is the lyric:

"My left stroke just went viral"

And during this lyric there is a shot of Kendrick on a car playing golf, to reflect the 'left stroke' lyric.

Genre:

The video is both a location and an experimental video. The video is shot in a variety of locations, presumably throughout L.A., including a church, the Los Angeles river and various back alleys.

Labelling

Before starting the editing process of the video, I labelled all ofmy shots to make it easier and quicker to find the specific shots that I needed.

MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS 4

Tame Impala - The Less I Know The Better

As a narrative music video it tells a visual story to match the lyrics of the song. The video begins with a minute long introduction, perhaps giving context to the two characters the song is about. The video contradicts the lyrics in a way, as the narrator describes seeing a woman he loves leave a gathering with someone else, in the first verse. However, the music video takes place in a high school gym.



In the first verse, the lyric 'Then I heard they slept together' is sung, illustrating this lyric is an image of the girl character having sex with a man dressed as a gorilla, referred to in the song as 'Trevor'. The reason for the Trevor character being represented as a gorilla may be because the main character, perhaps the narrator himself singing the song, sees Trevor as a idiot and a fool much like monkeys typical behaviour. The next lyric is 'Oh, the less I know the better'. Again the video illustrates this lyric by showing a close-up of the male character with ribbons over his eyes.



The characters in this video lip sync the words throughout the song as if they are thinking and saying them to themselves and each other, an example of this is when the girl lip syncs the lyric 'You should try your luck with Heather'. Its as if she is saying it to the ale character as she is with Trevor instead.