3AM Kate Nash Lyrics

The main reason we chose this song was due to the lyrcis telling a story and us as directors, being able to link visuals to the lyrics. This is important as Andrew Goodwin said it is one of the '7 Key Conventions of a Music Video'.

3AM LYRICS

How did it get to 3 am?
I wish that I could call
But I know that you're probably asleep.
Do I really have to get used
To being alone again?
I wish that you were here
You must know that you aren't my best friend
Do we really have to dream?
I'm perfectly happy here
In reality, I'm wide awake
I think about the things
That I can do tomorrow but I'm trapped
Cause it's so dark outside and everybody else is fast asleep
My hand is glued to the remote
The TV has already said
Good night, I'm frozen in my seat
I want to move but I'm afraid
I suffer from anxiety
And I don't want to be alone!
You see, I want to be with

You
You ooh ooh
You ooh ooh
You ooh ooh
Yeah baby

You are the one I think of on a night
And on a night it feels so right
I miss your arms
The way you kiss me
The way you pull me in so tight
It makes me sick the way we fight
When I want you so bad tonight
Yeah baby
You are the one I think of on a night
And on a night it feels so right
I miss your arms
The way you kiss me
The way you pull me in so tight
It makes me sick the way we fight
When I want you so bad tonight

I want to change my need to want
My desires, change my route
Passion is tricky, love is tender
Love is sweet, it hurts, it's you and me
And in one fatal jump she's
Cut off my electricity
And now I'm really stumped
I'll make forever, take forever
Leave the house, it's laugh or cry
And if you cry, you're taken out
There won't be room for mistakes here
I'm afraid this is all or nothing
And I haven't got a hope
At least I thought I had a friend
Turns out I was just a joke
I'm holding on to what I've got
I'm tryna get just what I want
I'll pick the pieces up tomorrow
Cut the pill and take my chances with a half
Yeah baby

You are the one I think of on a night
And on a night it feels so right
I miss your arms
The way you kiss me
The way you pull me in so tight
It makes me sick the way we fight
When I want you so bad tonight
Yeah baby
You are the one I think of on a night
And on a night it feels so right
I miss your arms
The way you kiss me
The way you pull me in so tight
It makes me sick the way we fight
When I want you so bad tonight
If only...

You
You ooh ooh
You ooh ooh
You ooh ooh
You ooh ooh
You ooh ooh
You ooh ooh

New Song Choice

After much deliberation myself and my co-director agreed on the song '3AM' by Kate Nash.



We wanted to keep within the genre of a pop song and we feel this song suit the style we want for our video too. We wish to include elements of stop motion and green screening. Now we have decided on a song we can start working on the content of our music video and the shot types etc.

Slight Change of Plan!

After our inspiring trip to the BFI conference my co-director and I came to the joint conclusion that, after seeing other well done student music videos, we weren't too keen on our initial ideas and/or the song choice. We knew it would be a big risk, time-wise, to scrap all ideas and head back to the drawing board but we felt that our original idea wouldn't demonstrate or allow us to use our much developed editing and directorial skills.

My co-director and I now have to come up with a better video idea that we are both happy with.

Music Video Director - Prano Bailey-Bond

AT the BFI Music Video Conference there was a guest speaker who was a music video producer and director called Prano Bailey-Bond (www.pranobaileybond.com). Here is her director's showreel featuring clips of her work from music videos to short films and film trailers:



She is a multi-award winning director and editor and has created videos for the likes of Imelda May and Morcheeba. Her works has been recognised at events and festivals including the BFI London Film Festival and the UKMVA's.

"Her works invokes imaginative worlds, touching on magical realism and fusing dark vocabulary with eerie allure, revealing how beauty resides in strange places. She is fascinated by life's ironies and contradictions."

Here is her most famous piece of work:

BFI: Making Music Videos Conference

On Thursday 26th November, my media studies class and I went to the BFI Southbank to a conference about the making of music videos. It was a really helpful day for us and gave us a lot of inspiration for our own video. Here are the notes I took:

Music Videos - What is it?

• Length of a song or longer
• Usually features the artist/band
• Can tell a story
• Has to be visually memorable

History Of Music Videos

1930s - Colour Box

• Colourful 
• Patterns in time with music
• No people in video
• Lights, textures and scratched films

1940s - Frim Fram Sauce

• Artist present
• One location
• Black and white
• Introduces the idea of a sub-story (imagination)

1950s

• Artists had their own music TV shows to perform their music
• Most artists had a film career too e.g. Elvis

1960s - These Boots Are Made For Walking

• More of a narrative
• Black and white
• Wider range of camera shots (hand held shots too)
• People i.e. dancers around artists to make them seem more popular
• Scoptiones introduced - jukebox for videos
• Narrative slowly introduced
• Simple
• Mainly filmed in studio

1970s - Bohemian Rhapsody

• More advanced
• Layered shots to add variation
• 2 different stories
• Lights/textures

1980s - Rat Race and I Want To Dance With Somebody

• MTV introduced in 1981.
• Narrative
• Artists 
• Studio
• Different locations
• Wider range of shots; low angle, pans, zoom ins, zoom outs etc.
• Reference to song title (Rat Race)
• Whitney Houston's video was the 56th video ever played, also first black artist's video on MTV

1990s - Drop

• Bigger budgets - only 40 videos hit the $1 million price to make. 
• Scream by Michael Jackson costed $10 million to make
• This video they had to learnt the lyrics backwards
• Used dollies to film.

2015 - Hello

• 485 millions views
• 27.7 million within the first 24 hours
• Fastest video to reach 100 million views in 5 days
• Different types of phones to represent the 'hello'
• Extremely detailed close ups; the steam and fire on the stove
• POV shots as flashbacks

Case Study: 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody'

• 17 out of 21 shots
• 21 seconds screen time (shots per second)
• Conventions; dancing, exhibitionism, close up and extreme close ups, irregular framing/fragmented bodies, looking at camera
• Colour changing backgrounds 
• Bright colours
• Different scene for verses
• Slow mo hair flicks
• Several costume changes
• Dance routines

Conventions

• Genre characteristics 
• Relationship between lyrics and visuals
• Relationship between sound and visuals
• Sells artist as a star
• Voyeurism 

Relationship: Lyrics and Visuals

• Dance partners
• Night time
• Key symbols - throw guys away

Relationship: Sound and Visuals

• Look changes to music to music - heat = warm colours (orange, red, yellow)
• Editing paced changes with temp

Sells Artist

• 'Lonely heart song' - object of desire
• Romantic obsession
• Obsessive close ups 

Voyeurism 

• Frames within frames
• Looking over fence/through window
• Fragmented and objectified bodies

Intertextuality 

• Film strip
• Multiple dance genres
• Costume/set changes

Making Music Videos

• Same frame, different shots
• One position for lighting and camera
• Repeat use of props
• Consistent theme/genre of characters
• Green screen/ studio performance.
• Do one idea well
• Simple narrative
• Controlled environment
• D-SLR camera
• Lights - grease proof paper to soften and gel rolls
• Fans, confetti, wind, glitter etc.

10 Steps To Making Music Videos

1. Start Performance

• Technical kit
• Locations prep
• Props/costumes
• Time frame

2.  Warm Up

• Lip sync practice 
• Photoshoot with artists
• Ancillary task practice

3. Recce

• Limit locations 
• Take photos
• Make sure location has access to lights and power
• Risk assessment

4. Pitch

• 'Treatment'
• Moodboard 
• Ancillary task (advert and website) 

5. Planning 

• Plan your ideas, don't get carried away
• Re-plan to ensure idea becomes reality

6. Plan Everything

• Story boards
• People, places and props - in advanced
• Shoot schedule 
• Technical prep - SD cards, batteries, lights
• Shoot early - not near the deadline.
• Make sure performers are rehearsed

7. Shoot

• 10 times with different set ups
• Have plenty of cutaways
• Shoot extra angles and lighting changes
• Get lots of close ups
• Motivate performers

8. Editing 

• Sync all clips
• Paper edit - storyboard
• Rough cuts and get feedback

9. Evidence 

• Show all research
• Photos of the shoot
• Behind the scenes 
• Screenshots

10. Evaluation

• Make it exciting
• Directors commentary, 'DVD Extras' 
• Interviews on Director's website

All information from this day can be found here: http://projectmusicvideo.blogspot.co.uk/

My co-director and I have had some ideas about changing our music video's story and we will meet and discuss the ideas and inspiration from the conference to finalise our ideas.

Here are some picture of us at the media conference:

Outside the BFI.

Sat in our seats.

Green Screen Error

When editing our green screen footage for our 9 frame shot, we discovered that there was a shadow in every clip to the right of the shot. This is most likely due to our performers standing too close to the green screen. However, we overcame this issue by using the 'touch-up' tool which allowed us to erase the shadow.

We also experimented with the colours in the clip, resulting in our performers looking much less washed out by the green screen and the colours appeared more 'sharp'. This resulted in our green screened shots looking a lot more professional. When we next use a green screen we must ensure to tell our performers to stand further away from the green screen.

Editing The 9 Frame Shot

After we imported all our footage from filming on 17th, into iMovie, my co director and I were keen to figure out how to achieve our aim of using a 9 frame shot. Neither of us had ever used this type of shot before so we had to experiment on iMovie to find how to achieve our aim. Aside from just experimenting, we also watched many YouTube video tutorials on how to do it. We came to the realisation that this will be a lengthy process but will be worth it when we see the final shot all put together. Here are the steps we had to take;

1. Firstly we had to choose a background for our green screen, to just experiment with, we chose a white one. At this moment in time, we are just focussing on the 9 frame shot, so only added a background to the shots for this.
2. Then we had to export all our clips (including footage we won't be using in the 9 frame shot) and save it as an MP4 file.
3. We had to then create a new project and insert a screen for text. This is a plain black screen that has a textbox reading 'text here.' We got rid of the text so we were left with a plain black background. This background is meant to have text that goes over clips. This background allows us to then place our own footage on top of it.
4. In the new project, we then inserted our MP4 file and deleted the other footage that was not needed for this frame. We then placed the greenscreened clips (with the white background) on top of the black text background, in the iMovie 'timeline'.
5. Then we clicked on the white background footage and selected 'picture in picture' and the clips then appear on the black background. We re-sized and moved the clips so the girls were in the middle column and in a line; Alicia on top, Imogen in the middle and Emma at the bottom.

My co-director and I, both learnt new skills when editing this frame and when it is complete we will upload this onto YouTube.

How Filming Went - 17/11/15

Today we finally started to film our music video. My co-director, Imogen, Alicia, Emma and I all stayed after school until 5:30pm to film both the opening few shots of our video and the whole song sung by the girls before Imogen's makeover.

My co-director and I were looking forward to finally being able to start our music video after months of researching, however, for me personally, filming didn't go as well as I planned. We had less time than we initially thought, due to some performers having prior arrangements, not all the lyrics for the song were learnt, meaning we had to stop and start filming, rather than filming the song the whole way through and we didn't have the costumes we planned to use - due to them being forgotten.

This being said, we did manage to get some good footage that can be used for our music video and we even got extra shots of Imogen singing the song by herself and dancing. She started to do this without being recorded and my co-director and I thought this would look good in our video so asked her to do it again so we could record it.

This filming day has allowed us to learn from our mistakes. Next time we will;

• pick a day when all our performers can stay the whole time so we don't have to rush
• provide costumes ourselves so our performers can't forget to bring them and
• give our performers the lyrics at least 3 weeks in advance of filming.

Lighting for Filming - 17/11/15

My co-director and I agreed we wanted to use studio lights to make the green screen shots look more proffesional but we had to decide whether we wanted to use the over-head main lights as well. Luckily for us we have the choice of using either just the right hand lights or left.

I stood in front of the green screen and we filmed a short clip, experimenting with all the different light possibilities and I said which lights were turned on and which were off. When we uploaded this to iMovie we could then see which of the lights worked best.

When watching the clip back, we decided the best light combination was to use the studio lights and to turn off the over-head right lights off and have the left ones on. We decided this because it made the green screen look the greenest - the greener the green screen, the better it will work with a background. The other combinations were too light, too dark and only lit up half of the green screen. To make sure the lighting worked with the green screen we put a picture as the background and all-in-all worked well. The lighting did not create the 'fuzzy' outline which only occurs when the lighting is wrong.

We will use this lighting set up for all our green screen shots.

Filming Set Up - 17/11/15

In our lesson we set up the green screen and our lighting. This is how we set up the room;

We decided to put our studio lights either side of the camera so they would provide sufficient lighting for our filming area. However, when looking through the camera, the lights seemed to produce a white glow coming from both sides, rather than lighting the whole area. We decided to play around with lights to get the preferred amount of brightness.

This was how the lights were originally positioned.

The final light position. We raised the lights and rotated them so they were in more of a 'portrait' style.

Planning for Filming - 17/11/15

When filming on Tuesday, we will need the following;

• Cameras
• Studio Lights
• Green Screen
• Tripod
• Laptop/iPad/phone playing the song
• Printed Song Lyrics
• Performer's costumes

We agreed that to make the lip syncing seem realistic, our performers would have to actually sing the words to the song.  The performers are not natural singers so my co-director and I agreed to sing along with them so they don't feel embarrassed - this doesn't effect the footage as we will mute the sound of the clips anyway.

For costumes, we told the three performers if they owned any clothes that could be put together to create a 'geeky' outfit. We agreed to style Imogen's hair in a low ponytail, Alicia will have bunches and Emma will have a low plait. We also want Imogen to be wearing glasses. 

Filming - 17/11/15

We have finally decided on a day where we can film with some our performers. We decided after school on Tuesday 17th November. My co-director and I decided to film all our green screen shots on Tuesday meaning we only need Alicia, Imogen and Emma. The green screen shots being filmed are the ones where Imogen is still 'geeky'. We aim to film the girls individually for the 9 shot scene like our storyboard;

We also want to film the whole song with the girls singing and dancing using the green screen. This is so we can use this when editing and can add the shots of the girls singing in between the narrative story. Filming the whole song ensures all the shots look similar as they have been filmed on the same day, using the same camera, same costumes and same natural lighting. Also, filming this all now will save time later when editing if we come across a part in the music video where we wanted shots of the girls singing and dancing in front of the green screen.

Artist's Website Research - Mobile View

Whilst researching the artist's website, I came to the realisation that most of the websites seemed as if they worked best when being used on a smartphone. I thought this because of the simplistic layout and the landscape format was designed to fill a computer screen but can be easily adapted into a portrait view for phones. I think more and more websites are becoming mobile friendly due to the rise in people using their mobile phones to browse online, 63% of mobile phone owners use the internet on their phone.

I looked at the same websites on my phone to show the difference when viewed in a portrait format. Here is the result:

When looking at Adele's website on a desktop computer, the page for purchasing her new album shows the album cover on the left and then the links on the right. However, on the mobile version her album cover is above and the links are beneath.

Using this as research, my co-director and I should aim to make our artist's website compatible for mobile phones.

Artist's Website Research

As part of our Ancillary Task, my co-director and I have to create a website for our artist/girlband. Again, to ensure we follow conventions, I have done some research looking at other artist's websites before creating my own.

1.  The first artist I looked at Adele's website and I really liked the simplicity and monochrome colours. This is the first thing you see when visiting www.adele.com.

Following the release of her new 'come-back' single 'Hello', this welcome page is heavily promoting this, providing links to where you can purchase the single. After you have seen this page there is a 'Enter Website' button that takes you onto the main website, where you can view; tour dates, videos etc.

This website was easy to use and the colours worked well together and very pleasing to the eye.

2. The second artist's website was Taylor Swift's. Below is the page you are greeted with;

The front page promotes her new single and music video 'Wildest Dreams' and provides a link directly to the video. There is a menu pane with links for news, tours, and merchandise. Below the advertisement for her music is a unique feature of using a banner in the style of a slideshow to show a collage of pictures from live shows and backstage at concerts.

3. Lastly, I looked at a girl group's website as this would help me relate my ideas for our girlband's website. Little Mix's homepage looks like this;

Unlike the other websites, this is the only screen visible, if you scroll down there is nothing else to see. The menu tabs are accessible through the universally recognised menu icon. This then opens a new window displaying the tabs for their social media links, tour dates, the band members, merchandise etc. This is the menu window that appears;

In conclusion, the main convention for an artist's website seems to be a simplistic design and simple colours. The website must be easy to use with information under obvious tab titles. Using this research I aim to create a mock website for my made up artist. 

Album Cover Magazine Research

For our Ancillary Task we have to produce a magazine advert and a website promoting both, the artist and their new album. To make sure our magazine advert looks similar to others and professional, my co director and I have been looking at magazine adverts that are out at the moment and looking at the typical conventions used.

I created a powerpoint presentation and uploaded it to SlideShare to show some of the magazine adverts I have found and created a word mind map of all the conventions used for most/all the adverts I had found.

I wanted to use a programme called 'Wordle' for my mind map but the software was not compatible with my laptop. To overcome this issue I researched into websites that offered a similar service and stumbled across worditout.com. This allowed me to create a collage of all the different conventions used.

Here is my presentation on SlideShare.

Photoshop Experimentation

After researching into magazine advertisements for artist's and their albums, my co director and I thought that we would experiment using Adobe Photoshop to create a mock advert. Neither of us had ever used photoshop before and it was definitely an experience! We decided to do this task separately so we could experiment and show each other how to do things the other hadn't discovered when creating our girl band's advert.

This is the advert I created:

I had to come up with the artist's name, album name and a release date. I also thought it would be good to link the artist's website so readers can find more information online if they want to.

I wanted the advert  to be simple and without much going on. The simple black font stands out and is easy to read. However, I wanted the artist's name 'Forever Lily' to be a larger font size and a thicker outline of the letters. I found that once I had typed what I needed and clicked off, you could not go back and edit what you have previously typed. I am sure this is possible and I will carry on experimenting with Photoshop to ensure that my co-director and I produce an advert of high quality that can be printed in magazines.

Filming Set Backs

Unfortunately, due to our (quite) big cast we couldn't all meet on the decided date to film as some people had made other arrangements prior to agreeing a date. This has set us back slightly but we aim to have our video filmed and edited by December. This extra time allows us to plan more precisely and plan the exact shots we want to feature.

Filming Locations

We intend to base our music video around the idea of the performers being at 'high-school' and it being a high-school crush. For this reason our main filming location will be our own school. We hope to use corridors, the front entrance and I have had the idea of maybe even a classroom - these locations will hopefully set the scene for our audience.

Our second location is for when Imogen undergoes her make over. My co-director and I discussed this scene and both agreed that it should be set in a girly bedroom. We will ask one of our other cast members, Alicia, if we can use her room to film as it is big, modern and girly. 

Evaluation After Filming The Makeover

After filming Imogen's make over, I came to the conclusion that my co-director and I would work well together to direct and produce our own music video. We listened to each others opinions and ideas and would come to a compromise of both ideas. For example, Chaya wanted Imogen to have a dramtic eye make-up look with a red lip. I, however, wanted simplistic eye make-up and pink/nude lipstick. We compromised and settled for a dramatic eye look with a pink/nude lip.

This reassured me that, when planning and filming, we would work well together and have an equal input of ideas in our final music video.

Imogen's Look After The Makeover

Here is Imogen's look with red lipstick. After applying the red lipstick, we came to a joint decision that we both preferred the pale pink lipstick.

This is Imogen's final look with the pink lipstick:

Imogen's Makeup Experiment

We decided to show document the make up looks we tried out on Imogen we would record using the camera and then speed up the footage to create a 1 minute 43 second long video - with no editing! We also decided to experiment with studio lighting for the first time. We set up one light to the left of the camera and this resulted in the video looking more professional and better quality.

Below is the video:


We did, however, stumble across some bridges that we had to cross. These being:

• Half way through filming the camera memory was too full. This was an issue as we wanted the video to be a continuous recording with out any stops. Luckily, because we sped up the footage, you cannot see when the camera cut off. 
• Imogen's foundation was too pale on camera and under the studio lights, therefore we had to use bronzer to create the illusion that the foundation was a better match to her complexion.
• We realised when editing that a plug socket was in shot. This means we will ensure that notjing like this will be in shot for our final music video.
• Finally, we came to the conclusion that using a white wall as a background appears grey on camera. If we wanted to use a white wall for a background it would be best to use a green screen and edit this white.  

Filming Set Up For Imogen's Makeover

Below is our set up for when we filmed Imogen's make up:

We situated the camera directly opposite Imogen at her eye level, so we then had an eye line match with the viewer and Imogen. To the left, we set up a studio light to make the camera footage look more professional and make the make up more prominent so the camera would pick it up.  And finally, to the right we had a table which had all the make up we were using on. 

The above picture shows me applying Imogen's eye makeup. Due to the position of the camera only our arms/hands were only in shot. However, it proved difficult to apply some make up without getting close to her face so half of mine and Chaya's faces are in the shot.

Make Up Ideas for Imogen

Chaya and I are using a plain face template to draw 8 different make up looks (4 each) to practice tomorrow. This means we will know exactly how we will do Imogen's make up without having to think on the spot. This is the template we will use for our ideas:

Tomorrow's Lesson

In tomorrow's Media Studies lesson, we plan to brainstorm and practice Imogen's final make up look for when she turns into a 'pretty' girl. Chaya (my co-director) and I are going to experiment with make up looks trying out different eyeshadows and lipsticks. To document this and to refer to when filming the actual make over, we will set up a camera on a tripod and record the whole makeover experiment process. When we come to edit the footage we will speed it up to create a short video of all the different make up looks. We will hold the shots when each look is finished.

Imogen's Transformation

For Imogen's makeover, we used the makeover scene from the St Trinian's film as inspiration.



As the girls experiment with different types of looks e.g. geeky, goth, glamorous etc, Alicia and Emma (the other geeks) will experiment using different types of eye make up and lip colours. We want to use similar shots to what they have used in this clips including stop motion mid shot of the other girls applying the make up:

Also we want to position the camera as if it is a POV shot for Imogen - as if the camera is Imogen. This will create the illusion of Emma and Alicia applying make up on the camera. We will use this type of shot for the final look.

We will show Alicia and Emma's reaction when they've realised they have perfected the look, however, Imogen's look won't  be revealed until she walks into school.

The Boy

The good looking boy that, both Imogen from the Geeks and Maggie the cool girl, fancy and 'fight' to impress him. The boy we are using is called James.

He is also seen as a 'cool' character so we will dress him in jeans, t shirt with a plaid (check) shirt and fashionable trainers.

Character wise, we want him to be very dismissive and judgemental of Imogen when she's a geek and obsess over Maggie - so they're seen as the cool couple.

Just like the 'cool' couple in Black Magic music video by Little Mix (above).

The 'Cool' Girl

Maggie will be playing the popular cool girl. For this we want her to be dressed in fashionable clothing and have pristine make up and hair. This will help her create the sense of her being popular and everyone aspiring to be like her.

In the St Trinian's film, the main character, undergoes a make over and turns into a pretty, popular girl that all the girls want to be friends with. This is the same effect we hope Maggie has on the Geeks. This is how we want Maggie to look similar too:

We want Maggie to wear quite a lot of make up as this seems conventional for a popular girl in films and music videos.

As in most music videos that are set in a school, we will have the girls not wearing a uniform. This is also logistically easier for us as directors as it would be quite difficult and expensive to find a uniform for all 4 characters.

This being said we will dress Maggie in a short-ish skirt, a top and heels. The heels are necessary as one of our shots is of her stepping out of her car, they also show how glamorous she is.

The Geeky Girls

Imogen, Alicia and Emma are our geeky girls and we want to show this through the use of costume, gestures and movements.

We want to dress these girls in geeky, unfashionable clothing so they are in contrast with Maggie (the cool girl). This type of clothing includes; flared jeans, mismatched patterns and/or colours, hats, glasses, slicked back hair etc.

An example is how Little Mix are dressed in their 'Black Magic' music video.

They're all dressed in uncool clothing that doesn't match and 2 of the girls are wearing glasses. We also are going to have our girls clutching folders and books to make them look like nerds.

Similarly, in the 'Girlfriend' video by Avril Lavigne, the protagonist is also dressed in very unfashionable clothing - long skirt, socks, and a pink cardigan and glasses. We aim to dress Imogen similar to this.

Planning Meeting

In today's lesson my co-director and I discussed more of our ideas, including filming locations, filming days, costumes and specific camera shots. This is what we have decided:

• We will film on Monday 26th October at our school - we checked with the school's bursar that the school will be open as it is during half term.
• For the make over scene, the protagonist (Imogen) will ask her geeky friends to help her. We aim to make this scene quite comical and show the girls doing Imogen's make up but not having any idea how to do it resulting in her looking clown like. When they finally get the look right we will use a POV (point of view) shot as if the camera is Imogen. To reveal her dramatic make over we will use a upwards panning shot of her outfit, make up and hair

Digital Media Use

To assist with organising and keeping everyone involved, me and my co-director have created a Whatsapp group chat with our five actors. This allows us to tell them about filming dates, times and any changes we need to make. They can also post in this group if they have any problems and/or queries they wish to discuss with us.

BBC Vizii Music Video Maker

BBC have come up with the idea of allowing young people, like ourselves, to create a music video using words and animations that is original and is unique to the individual.

Here is the tutorial video from the BBC website:



This is a really good programme and it may be very useful for our music video. The only downside to it is that you have to use the songs provided by BBC Introducing, this is an issue if we did decide to use Vizii. However, this can be overcome by simply uploading the video we created onto iMovie or Final Cut Pro and mute the sound from the Vizii video and use the song that is being used for the rest of the video (about the boy).

Ideas For The Intro Of Our Music Video

Here are the lyrics for the intro of the song:

'Something about
Something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
Just something about the boy'

We have had the idea of using a 9 shot split screen for the introduction of our music video. Each girl from the 'band' will have a line each ('Something about, something about the boy') and will appear in the middle of each row, either side of the girls will  be a block colour such as pink, purple, orange etc. Imogen will be in the middle of the second row as she is the main girl.

At the end of the line they say, the next girl will appear and colours in their own 'box'.

This adds a performance element for the music video which is what we hoped to include. The bright colours and girls appearing whilst dancing and miming the lyrics is very conventional for a pop music video. 

Ideas for Our Music Video

We have brainstormed some ideas and have decided that we want a partly narrative and a partly performance type of video.

The story behind the video is our protagonist (Imogen) being a geeky girl and fantasises about being with the popular boy that everyone fancies, but her friends/band members (Alicia and Emma) try and tell her it'll never work and he won't fall for her. Imogen will then ask for their help to undergo a makeover... she will then become a very attractive girl that everyone fanices. We had the idea of her make over being for prom. 

The fourth girl in the video, Maggie, will be the popular guy (James)'s girlfriend who he then leaves her for Imogen, our protagonist. Maggie will also take the mickey out of Imogen and her geeky-ness.

Our New Song Choice

'About the boy' by Little Mix, we feel is very appropriate for our ideas for the music video. Also, it being by a girlband suits our video idea. We have decided that our protagonist will sing all the solo verses, the other two band members will sing Leigh-Anne and Jade's verse. The chorus will be sung all together and for the bridge all three girls will have a line each to sing.

Here are the lyrics:

[Intro:]
Something about
Something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
Just something about the boy

[Jesy:]
It's the verse in my head
The words that make me stutter
The swag in my step
The change from gray to color
A guaranteed bet
Oh, I found my lucky number
The feeling that you get
Can't help but make me wonder

[Leigh-Anne/Jade:]
No need to try
He's just right
He's got that something
I can't let nobody tell me no
No I don't mind
Takes me high
I won't stop until the boy is mine

[Chorus:]
He got me good
I've got it bad
He got me feeling like a girl gone mad
Got me running around like I'm a lovefool
Taking me down I can't stop
He got me up
I can't come down
He got me locked and I don't want out
I know he's playing my heart and I ain't got no choice
There's just something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
There's just something about the boy

[Perrie:]
It's the first time we met
The lightening to my thunder
The green light on red
The kiss that pulls me under
It's only for me
If you're the test I got the answer
And I'm all that you need
Now you finally get the chance to

[Jade/Leigh-Anne:]
No need to try
He's just right
He's got that something
I can't let nobody tell me no
No I don't mind
Takes me high
I won't stop until the boy is mine

[Chorus:]
He got me good
I've got it bad
He got me feeling like a girl gone mad
Got me running around like I'm a lovefool
Taking me down I can't stop
He got me up
I can't come down
He got me locked and I don't want out
I know he's playing my heart and I ain't got no choice
There's just something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
There's just something about the boy

[Perrie:]
I know you like to play it slow
But I'm running out of time
It's like I lost my self control
'Cause you are the one
And you know what you've done
My poor heart's come undone
Baby please

[Chorus:]
He got me good
I've got it bad
He got me feeling like a girl gone mad
Got me running around like I'm a lovefool
Taking me down I can't stop
He got me up
I can't come down
He got me locked and I don't want out
I know he's playing my heart and I ain't got no choice
There's just something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
There's just something about the boy

[Outro:]
Something about
Something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
Something about
Something about the boy
Just something about the boy

Change of Song Choice

After much deliberation, Chaya and I have decided to change the song for our music video. We changed our song for two main reasons, these being;

• Us wanting to keep our original idea of having our protagonist undergo a makeover, however our original song choice ('Heart Attack' by Demi Lovato) didn't work with our idea, even though the lyrics of the song fitted perfectly.
• To use 3 girls as band members in the video, yet our original song is sung by a solo artist.

Our new song choice is by the girl band Little Mix and is called 'About the Boy'.

Inspiration For Shots In Our Music Video

Me and my co-director agreed that to make our music video more girly we would have a 'geeky' girl get made over into a glamorous popular girl that everyone wants to befriend and the boys fancy. Below are some makeover scenes from both films and music videos:



This clip shows how a normal looking school girl gets transformed into a princess. A shot I would particularly like to use is the one of her hair being brushed and the hairbrush getting stuck in her hair and breaking - this would add a humorous angle to our music video.  To accentuate our protagonist's 'geek-iness' we would have her wearing glasses which, like above, would get broken and reveal a pretty glamorous face. As mentioned in previous posts, we are going to use close up shots of the protagonists nails being painted.

 

This scene shows a stylist throwing clothes and shoes at the protagonist. She looks confused, overwhelmed and out of her comfort zone. This has inspired me to have my protagonist's friends show her outfit options and her looking out of her comfort zone as the fashionable clothes are not what she is used to wearing.




I like this particular makeover scene for two reasons. The first being the camera shot of the girls who are making the protagonist over are looking into the camera and doing the make up as if the camera is the girl. This adds another dimension to the video. The second thing I like is the photographs of her posing after the make over. I hope to do a similar montage but of her and her friends.

Our Final Song Choice

We have decided on using the song 'Heart Attack' by Demi Lovato.



We decided on this song as we feel the lyrics fit well with our idea of a girly pop music video.

Here are the song's lyrics:

Puttin’ my defenses up
‘Cause I don’t wanna fall in love
If I ever did that
I think I’d have a heart attack

Never put my love out on the line
Never said "Yes" to the right guy
Never had trouble getting what I want
But when it comes to you, I’m never good enough

When I don’t care
I can play ‘em like a Ken doll
Won’t wash my hair
Then make 'em bounce like a basketball

But you make me wanna act like a girl
Paint my nails and wear high heels
Yes, you make me so nervous
That I just can’t hold your hand

You make me glow,
But I cover up
Won’t let it show,
So I’m...

Puttin’ my defenses up
'Cause I don’t wanna fall in love
If I ever did that
I think I’d have a heart attack [3x]

Never break a sweat for the other guys
When you come around, I get paralyzed
And every time I try to be myself
It comes out wrong like a cry for help

It's just not fair
Pain's more trouble than love is worth
I gasp for air
It feels so good, but you know it hurts

But you make me wanna act like a girl
Paint my nails and wear perfume for you
Make me so nervous
That I just can’t hold your hand

You make me glow,
But I cover up
Won’t let it show,
So I’m...

Puttin’ my defenses up
'Cause I don’t wanna fall in love
If I ever did that
I think I’d have a heart attack [3x]

The feelings got lost in my lungs
They’re burning, I’d rather be numb
And there’s no one else to blame (no one else)
So scared I take off and i run
I’m flying too close to the sun
And I burst into flames

You make me glow,
But I cover up
Won’t let it show,
So I’m...

Puttin’ my defenses up
‘Cause I don’t wanna fall in love
If I ever did that
I think I’d have a heart attack [5x]

We have come up with some ideas to relate the lyrics and visuals;

• For the line 'I can play 'em like a Ken doll' we aim to use stop motion and an actual Ken Barbie doll. We hope to have the girl pull the Ken doll's head off, showing each stage of the process through the use of stop motion
• As this song is by a solo artist, we have decided to use a girl group made up of 4 girls, however we still want a 'main' girl that sings the whole way through. Her band members will feature in the video and assist her get ready to go out etc.
• In the beginning half of the song we will have the girls be getting ready for a nigh out and will show a range of shots including close ups and mid shots of them applying make up and putting on clothes/shoes. This will create visuals for the line 'paint my nails and wear high heels'. 

Song Choices For Our Pop Music Video

After researching pop music video, we have come up with a list of possible songs to use for our music video. Here are our options:

1. Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne

This is an option as it has a good pop-rock beat, and the lyrics would be easy to create visuals for. The lyrics create a narrative in your head and as an audience, you can imagine a girl talking to a boy about his girlfriend and trying to impress him so he dumps her for the girl.

2.  Miley Cyrus - 7 Things

We chose this song as it has a very 'sassy' feel and personally, I can visualise, these girls showing they don't care about the boys who messed them around.

3. Cyndi Lauper -  Girls Just Wanna Have Fun



This would be a very fun song to create a music video for. It is very upbeat and the lyrics are very obvious to create visuals for. This video would be very girly and maybe include shots of girls getting ready to go out and shots of make up, shoes and clothes would be included.

4. Demi Lovato - Heart Attack



Finally, our last option is this song. The lyrics are also very easy to create accurate visuals for. For example, the line 'But you make me wanna act like a girl, paint my nails and wear high heels' creates an obvious idea for the type of shots used. You could use a close up of a girl painting her nails and putting her shoes on, thus creating a very girly music video. 

Year 5 Stop Motion Task

The year 5's at my school asked us Media girls to help them create a stop motion video of the earth moving around the sun. We thought we could use this as good practice for our own pop music video as we've decided to feature stop motion in it.

The idea was to split a piece of card (the base) into 8 sections and have each pair of year 5s to construct their own earth and sun made out of plasticine.  For each section, we needed to take 40 photos whilst rotating the earth, we also used a torch to represent the sun light.

However, this turned out to be very time consuming as the year 5s struggled to follow the instructions and stick to the task. This resulted in us running out of time and unable to finish taking the photos, meaning we had to leave the year 5s to carry on taking the photos. Another issue was that we had to use four different cameras so the angles and lighting was slightly different, meaning all the pictures looked slightly different.

If we were to re-do this task, I feel we should have planned it more meticulously and use shot-by- shot storyboards to follow to ensure we had enough time and used this time effectively.

Here is the final stop motion video all put together.

Shot-by-shot Analysis of a Pop Music Video

Here are a short descriptions of each shot in the music video 'What About Us' by The Saturdays.

I got up to one minute and 16 seconds and then realised the shots get repeated throughout the whole video. In just over a minute, 97 shots were used. Using a range of close ups, mid shots and wide shots. This amount of shots is typical for a performance -  type pop music video. However, this has made me want to use less shots in my own pop video. 

The History of Pop Song Music Videos

I have researched into pop song music videos from the past ten years. Using the MTV Video Music Awards, I have found the winners for the 'Best Pop Video' for every year since 2005.

2005



In this music video, shots of clothes in a wardrobe are used, making this particularly girly. The singer also performs on a stage in front of a crowd which is following one of the typical conventions.

2006



This music video is very humorous, particularly the making fun of stereotypical American girls. For example, the disastrous orange spray tan.

2007


This video follows many of the pop music video conventions. For example, back up dancers and dance routines, shots of the singer and her band and close ups of the artist. The narrative amplifies the lyrics by adding a story to the lyrics of how the performer steals a boyfriend from her rival. A lot of the humour comes from the fact that Avril Lavigne plays both of the girls in the video.

2008


Within the first 10 seconds, clips backing dancers, dance routines and girls getting ready are evident. Halfway through the video, the convention of a different shot on each different beat is followed. Fast paced shots flick between the performer and backing dancers walking down a red carpet in front of the paparazzi then into a club and then back to the solo performer singing and dancing looking into the camera.

2009


This video is highly energetic and follows the conventions of multiple outfit changes, seductively looking and singing into the camera and a dance routine with her backing dancers in the office, who look like her adoring 'fans' that look up to her and aspire to be her.

2010



In this video, the artist has a care-free attitude and seems to be a wild party girl who has gone out the night before and had fun. This video follows Goodwin's convention of there being a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. For example, the brushing of her teeth for 'before I leave, brush my teeth' and the mid shot of her foot fits the lyrics of 'pedicure on my toes'.

2011

This video is very comical and similarly to Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend' video, the artist performs the uncool geeky girl. This video is particularly girly due to its brightly coloured theme and also the make over scene where the performer becomes overly attractive and gets attention from the popular people. The shots used showing the performer walking down the stairs after her make over are very typical for a woman in a pop video.

2012




This video follows all the top pop music video conventions, therefore making it the perfect example of one. Firstly, you assume it is a pop song due to it being set on the beach, this is a very typical setting for a pop song. Secondly, throughout the whole of the video, there are close ups and mid shots of both, the singers singing into the camera on their own and as a group. Thirdly, the visuals, again, relate to the lyrics. One shot in particular being one of the girls spinning round in slow motion so her hair is blowing in the wind. This shot is shown when they sing the lyrics 'the way that you flip you hair gets me overwhelmed'. Finally, the use of attractive females in a male artist's music video is a very common occurrence.

2013



This video opens with the singer laying in a field of flowers, this is a very common type of shot used in pop videos. An aspect that definitely confirms this to be a music video is the singer's dance routine with her backing dancers and the close ups of her singing into the camera.

2014


Again, the bright colours (pink especially), dance routines, backing dancers and close ups of the artist singing into the camera are all traits of a pop music video. My favourite shot is of the singer spinning around on a black and white pinwheel. I think I particularly like that one because it is a change from the typical 'standing in front of the camera and mime'.

2015


Aside from this being a very 'fun' music video, it does follow some of the key pop video conventions; the backing dancers, dance routines and cuts to different shots on each beat towards the end. A wide range of shots are also used, including low angle shots and close ups of the artist.

The 7 Key Conventions of a Music Video

Andrew Goodwin came up with these 7 key conventions that most music videos tend to follow, in his book 'Dancing In The Distraction Factory'.

I will use and follow these conventions as a guideline for my own music video.  

Initial Ideas for My Music Video

I have finalised my genre of using a girly, pop song. To fit with the stereotypical pop song music video conventions, I hope to:

• feature a girl group in the video
• use shots of them getting ready (make up, hair etc.)
• use a green screen for some specific shots
• use shots of the girlband messing around, as if they were in a photo booth
• film the band performing on a stage in front of a crowd
• use bright colours in my music video, especially pinks and purples
• maybe use backing dancers

Ideas for Songs for our Music Video

I have been looking into suitable songs for my music video. I, ideally, would like to use an upbeat girly pop song. I feel like this is the most relatable genre and will be easy to get inspiration for my own video from previous videos.

These two songs are exactly the kind of song I want to use.

1. Skye Sweetnam - Number One

2. Miley Cyrus - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun



Both, follow the music video conventions of girly pop songs.

More Music Video Research

I've decided to look at more music videos as research for my own.

1. Kate Nash - Foundations


I particularly like this video as it uses a wide range of camera shots and techniques including stop motion. The stop motion symbolises the couple in the video and how their relationship is deteriorating. For example, the toothbrushes start, next to each other in the holder and then the stop motion separates them to be facing opposite each other, This has inspired me to use stop motion in my music video.

2. Lewis Watson - Calling



 I enjoy this video because it gives me the same feeling I get when I'm with my friends. It is a very relatable video for, particularly, teenagers. The dull colours and slow motion shots give the video a sense of nostalgia.

Putting all my research together, I aim to produce a music video using a wide range of camera shots and hope to create a sense of nostalgia and one you can relate to easily.

Music Video Inspiration

I have watched some popular music videos and have chosen my favourite for inspiration for my own music video;

1. Rachel Platten - Fight Song

I chose this video in particular as it uses the typical pop song conventions. For example, the singer lying on a bed miming into the camera and an emotional scene of her in the shower.

2. Little Mix - Black Magic 



Again, this music video is very stereotypical of a girly pop song having the same theme as a stereotypical chick flick film. It is set in an American style 'high school' and the 'uncool' group of friends (Little Mix themselves) become the attractive popular clique that everyone wants to get to know.

3. Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me 



Finally, this is my favourite pop song music video. It tells the story of the song lyrics. My favourite part is when they use pieces of paper to communicate through the window. This music video seems to portray the story of a typical American teenage love between a girl and a boy who has a girlfriend.

My Preliminary Task

Here is my motivational video for my house:

Preliminary Task Plan

For my preliminary I will be creating an inspirational and motivating video that represents my team house (Kirk). As my house is known for not winning often but having good team spirit, I had the idea of having members (including staff) of my house act as if they have just won a race but then wake up to it all being a dream. The message behind it being, it's the taking part and team spirit that counts, not winning.

The experience I have gained as a media student from the past year will, hopefully, come into good use so I can use a wide variety of shots and edit my video to a good standard. I have just under three weeks to create the video.

African Activities Day

As it is the end of term, my school organised  two African themed activity days which consisted of dancing, making masks, cooking, drumming, learning about Fairtrade and African music. As media students we were asked to produce both a video and a newsletter reporting the days event in just two days. We met the deadline and this was the video we created: