Task 4: Treatment feedback

We have pitched our ideas on how we want our music video to be and what features may have including potential colours and themes and ideas.Our song is 'Miss You So' by Frank Ocean:

Some comments were as follows:

-Idea of the pictures correlate with the song choice
- If the storyline is clear it may be interesting to watch
- Motif of photographs are favoured
- It may be a typical heartbreak video
- Song didn't appeal to some audience members - but they agreed that it may appeal to other teenagers

We have decided to go ahead with our ideas and will work to the best of our abilities to make it appealing to our target audience of teenagers.

Task 3: Treatment

Task 2: Mini music video practice: Let It Go

We did a mini music video to practice how to shoot a music video. We learnt how to work with the camera's lighting, ISO and developed skills from AS. We also learnt that lip synching may be difficult and will take extra care on it when editing our actual music video

Task 2: Music video case studies

Mirrors by Justin Timberlake
Written and Produced by Justin Timberlake
Channel: justintimberlakeVEVO

Published on 19 March 2013

Synopsis: The music video, dedicated to Timberlake’s grandparents starts off with scenes in the 1950s where a couple meets. Life events are shown throughout the clip, from teenage years to adult years to where they are elderly. It is the couple looking back at their life together, and acting as a ‘mirror’ showing how much they were in love to mirror each other which is demonstrated through the elderly couple in the music video. All scenes are mixed all around, but towards the end of the video

Conceptual/narrative/performance?: The music video is narrative based as there is the story of the couple from how they meet to the end where we learn that the elderly woman’s husband dies as she drops her ring which Timberlake catches in the clip. This creates an emotional and romantic effect as the stages of a relationship is shown. However, the end of the clip is more performance based as only Timberlake is shown dancing and singing. As well as the effect of the narrative, the performance adds more of a music video feel to it and brings the focus back to the song, setting a mixture of both narrative and performance to give an emotional effect in general.  Timberlake does not take part in the role play so there is not much representation of him however he is still in the music video shown dancing and singing at certain times.

Themes/motifs: Theme of love is used throughout the video, with a motif of mirrors that is consistent throughout the clip acted out by the elderly couple.

Shot types vary from establishing shot to mid shot, however mid shot is the consistent shot type throughout. Camera movement is particularly important in this video with tilt up tilt down, and hand held movement used showing teenage years which reinforces a feeling of happiness and excitement, also creating a fun effect and a slightly 'hyper' effect, which is passed on to the audience. Mise en scene in the music video includes 50s vintage/retro clothing, a funhouse, mirrors, a bedroom, mannequins, a wedding ring and many more. The type of clothing reinforces the memories of the couple from the early years of their relationship. In terms of location, the funhouse also is significant as it is a conventional location as to where a young couple may spend time together with, at such a location. At this specific location, there are different types of lighting all around in different colours with limited brightness to add a colourful effect to not only the location but the couple enjoying themselves. There are limited special effects being used in the music video, but one particular effect would be the elderly woman dropping her ring which Timberlake catches changing scenes in between. Hardly any transitions are used in terms of editing but this is to speed up the process of their life stages and show how fast events happened.

Lip synching is used by the artist himself when he is shown at various times, but not all the time as the music video is not purely based on him, but also on the role play. The target audience may be any age, and any gender mainly because it is explaining a story of both genders at different ages. Showing the record in such way through different age groups encourages people to buy it as every age group can relate to the music video.

Ideas I can use in my music video: The story of a couple, a teenage couple enjoying themselves. As well as the role of performances, I like the hand held camera movement and the vintage theme which may be something I can add to my own music video.

Take Care by Drake featuring Rihanna

Written and Produced by Drake

Channel: DrakeVEVO
Published on: 23 April 2012

Synopsis: The music video is a mixture of a lot of things where animals are shown in various parts including a bull, a blue jay and a tropical fish. In other parts of the video Drake and Rihanna are shown by themselves at times, and together at times sharing intimacy. Different landscapes are also shown throughout, some that look calm and still and some that being damaged.

Conceptual/narrative/performance?: This music video is mainly conceptual with simplicity. It is performance based at times where Drake is shown rapping on his own. There is no narrative to it however the conceptual idea is love being shown through the environment and animals.

Themes/motifs: The main theme of the video is love as both artists are shown as being intimate with each other. The bull may be a key motif in the video as it is shown more than once and throughout which may be there to represent something the audience is not aware of.

Artists are represented as lovers as well as the singers in the music video. Camera angles take on different views, mainly neutral, with shots from the back and front of the singers, which may be for the smooth running of the video. Close ups, extreme close ups and mid shots are key in the music video with a lot of zooming in and out, to emphasise simple detail and movement in the video, and significance of some of the motifs such as the bull. Some special effects are the speed of the animals such as the fish and bull slowed down, the fast pace of the music video overall. Mise en scene includes simple clothing, and the animals, also used to reinforce simplicity and let more focus on the story of how the animals are acting and how that links to the story they are singing about. Also, lip synching is used and shown throughout the clip for an accurate music video and to match the theme of love with the words being lip synched. Lighting is kept consistent throughout, it is not too bright and is a little dim which sets a neutral mood for what is being sung.

The target audience may be teenagers and young adults, and it encourages them to buy the record because the music video shows lovers that are young adults singing about getting hurt by love and giving the general idea of ‘taking care’ as shown on the song title, which may be something they can relate to.

Ideas I can use in my own music video: I quite like the concept of simplicity with a mixture of other details. I also want a couple performance for my music video maybe with a bit of simplicity. I also like the dim lighting and zooming in and out used which may be something I can use in my own one.

All of Me by John Legend

Written by John Stephens and Toby Gad, produced by Dave Tozer and John Legend

Channel: johnlegendVEVO
Published on 02 October 2013

Synopsis:
John Legend both sings and participates in the narrative as the boyfriend/partner of the actress featured. They are a couple who live together and spend time together. Many flashback's are shown without any clear narrative running.
Conceptual/narrative/performance: It is more conceptual and performance based as there is no clear narrative structure to the video. The only narrative elements it contains is when the couple is shown spending time together. The rest are different shots of both and Legend performing the song and playing the piano. The combination of the three make the video interesting and maintain audience interest as they complete each other. While some may enjoy the conceptual side of it, others may enjoy the narrative that tells them about the couple's story or the parts where Legend is perfoming the song and some may even enjoy watching the combination of all three. Many music videos today combine these different elements to keep audience interest but also to produce a music video that is appropriate for the track it is being produced for.


Themes/motifs: The theme of love and heartbreak is explored throughout. The music video directly matches the lyrics in most parts as we see the couple and then we hear the song or see the artist performing the song. The theme of love is combined with heartbreak as it is suggested in the video that the couple may be going through a break up as there are shots of both the artist and the actress with sad expressions or Legend is shown performing the song not happily but rather as if he is hurt. The piano may be one of the main motifs. It recurrs throughout the music video, and is an instrument usually associated with love which allows the audience to tell what the song and music video may be about as soon as the piano is heard. The house the couple are living in is also a motif itself as it is another motif that runs throughout the video and also is where the couple share their happy moments symbolising the key idea of the song/music video.

There are some postmodern elements in the video. For example there is an unusual narrative as there is a constant move between time. The audience does not know where the stucture stands. The camera angles are constantly changing as the camera is never positioned in the same position throughout and is constantly moving. Lack of a consistent camera angle that almost follows a 'wave' pattern may represent the couple's status at that current time. There are many mid shots and close ups of both the artist and the actress, constantly moving. In terms of mise en scene, clothing is simple, the artist is wearing simple clothes and the actress' costumes change throughout and goes through simple clothing to swimwear. Clothes may be kept simple because it is not the main focus of the music video. The location is almost just the house the couple live in but there are some parts near a river/lake. The location may be limited again to make the house a motif, the main focus. The piano is also the main prop used in the music video again may be this way for the focus of it being a motif. Special effects include some cutaways but the main effect is the greyscale effect that runs throughout the whole music video, giving a sense of nostalgia but also making the audience question what the flashbacks mean. John Legend lip synchs the song throughout and is seen at some points to be lip synching to the actress in a way "talking to her"

The target audience for this video may be both male and female teenage adults and adults as there are complex adult break up issues and sexual content involved . The target audience is encouraged to buy it mainly because the audience my relate to the theme of heartbreak and love. The audience may also be willing to buy it mainly because the video may be seen as realistic as the actress in the video is Legend's actual wife.

Ideas I may use in my own music video: I particularly like the greyscale effect and I think it will be useful for me to use it my music video as there may be some flashback elements. I also like the wave form of the camera movement as it explains the couple's heartbreak and the representation of them going through obstacles which may be relevant to the potential track I will choose with my group.

Task 1: Production schedule

Task 1: Creative ideas

I got into a group with Kamran and Zeynep and we shared our ideas with each other. We had a variety of different ideas however we came to conclusion that our track for the music video we will produce will be Miss You So by Frank Ocean.

Summer music promo task

Wanderlust by The Weeknd (Pharell Remix)

The track mainly is about the love of travelling (wanderlust) over the idea of real love [“You’re in love with something bigger than love, you believe in something stronger than trust”]. 

A summary of the narrative that I came up with is that a young man sees a young woman at a busy Central London street. After seeing her he starts following her and singing towards her which she is unaware of. She looks at stalls, souvenirs and around the streets. She is travelling the world, and London is just one of the places. He leaves a note in  every stall she visits with the song lyrics “Tonight Imma love you, and tomorrow you won’t care” – this may be the only night he will ever see her again, and so he is trying to get her attention. “You’re in love with something bigger than love, you believe in something stronger than trust” –  he leaves a note again, she is so in love with travelling that she doesn’t notice him until the middle part of the song where he walks in front of her and places his last note “They’re in love with this idea of love, it’s a shame that they believe it’ll come from us all” which she steps on and finally sees who it is.
They now start exploring London together, and towards the end they get to the train station. She has to make a decision of continuing her journey and love of wanderlust, or being with him for real love and she ends up choosing him.

Actors: Young male, young female, shopkeepers
Props: Souvenirs, notes, a backpack
Locations: Central London, train station

Honeymoon Avenue by Ariana Grande

This song can be referred to as a break-up/heartbreak song as the singer sings about how much of a good couple they made, but they cannot find the “right way home”. Honeymoon Avenue is key in the song as the singer always goes back to mentioning it, and the way it was there.

 The narrative ideas I came up with is that a young couple can be shown enjoying a relationship and young love mixed with scenes of the couple on their own at first and acting out argument scenes [“Going the wrong way home”] but always showing the scenes of the couple together when Honeymoon Avenue comes up like a flashback [“When we were on Honeymoon Avenue”].

The bridge of the song can be the female in the studio with a black backdrop singing directly to the camera. Towards the end the song has a part where words are mixed up and moves on at a fast speed, there the couple can be shown walking to their own houses but can be rewinded straight after, all the way back to when they first met as the last words she sings is [“Let’s just go back to the way it was”] and ended there.

Actors: A young male and female
Props: Books and phones
Locations: House locations, London streets, a park