Lyrics in Music Videos

I have researched and watched numerous pop music videos and it seems as though it is quite common for the song's lrics to appear in the video at some point. Whether it be appearing on the screen or the artist interacting with the lyrics.

For example, Cher Lloyd's 'Swagger Jagger' video has the lyrics popping up in different animated ways. A lot of the time these lyrics appear on the beat of the song. She also interacts with some of them too e.g. pushing the line 'get out of my way' to the left and the words leave the shot as if she had actually pushed them.

My co-director and I want to find a software that'll allow us to do similar animations of the lyrics in our music video so it follows conventions of similar music videos. 

Filming 4/4/16

Today my co-director and I filmed some more shots for the music video. We filmed the shot of our performer crying over her ex boyfriend whilst eating ice cream in her pyjamas, close up of her putting her slippers on, ripping the head off of a 'be mine' teddy bear, angrily scrolling through pictures of her ex boyfriend with other girls and her beating a drum thats covered in confetti. The shoot was successful and we shot the clips we needed.

Crying Shot

We dressed Imogen in pyjamas and sat her on the ground with screwed up tissues as if they had been used.

We dropped eye drops into her eyes to make sure her eye make up ran down her face. 

We asked her to pretend to cry dramatically whilst eating ice cream.


Teddy Bear Shot

As it was too difficult to rip the head off, I had to cut some of the stitching so it was easier for Imogen to rip off. I unstitched the side of the head so it couldn't be seen.

Drum Shot

For this shot we used a drum from the drum kit at school and poured confetti on it so when Imogen hit the drum the confetti would bounce. We hope to edit this shot with a black and white filter and slowed down.

All in all, the day was very successful and we took all the shots we needed. We learnt from past filming days to leave the camera rolling between shots so we could get some natural laughing and dancing shots.

Intro for the Music Video

In our music video, we want a clock to tick from 2:55 until it gets to 3 o'clock. However, we wanted to speed it up so we used the fast forward tool in iMovie. We placed a big clock on a green screen on a table and set up the camera to record.

After we filmed this we added a YouTube sound clip in iMovie of a clock ticking and an alarm bell for when the clock got to 3 o'clock.

Below is our filming set up:

This turned out well and we gave the clock a girly pink background. 

Once the clock got to 3 o'clock, we added a close up shot of our performer suddenly opening her eyes as if she has just woken up. 

Photoshoot 3/03/2016

Yesterday we did a photoshoot of our performer to enable us to start our ancillary tasks (website and magazine advert). We used a Canon camera so the pictures would be high quality and my co-director and I took it in turns to take the pictures. We used the green screen and the studio lights to enhance the quality.

Here was our set up:

The shoot was a major success and we took some great photos that would be perfect for our tasks! We felt the black and white filter made the pictures seem more professional. Below are our favourite: 

Filming Set Up

Today my co-director and I started filming the intro to our music video. Our idea was to show our performer stood holding a blanket (to represent a bed) and see her turn over to see her phone light up with a text from 'Stop Looking' and saying 'He's not going to call'. We wanted the text to read this as it provides visuals for the lyrics 'I wish that I could call but I know that you're probably asleep'. A relationship between the visuals and lyrics is one of Andrew Goodwin's 7 music video conventions. To do this I changed my co-directors contact name in my phone to 'Stop Looking' and sent the 'He's not going to call' from her phone to mine.

To make this seem more animated, we wanted to make the phone hang down by our performer's head and fly upwards after she turns away. As we were green screening we threaded green thread through my iPhone case so the thread could not be seen.

My co-director stood on a chair so she was taller than our performer and held the two pieces of string, slowly lowering it.

This took a lot re-takes as my co director's shadow kept appearing on the green screen. However, we persisted and tried putting the chair in different places and we came to the conclusion that the best place was behind the studio light. Re-filming this shot meant having to re-send the text from the other phone numerous times. This is what our set up looked like:

Prop and Equipment List for Filming

Here is all the equipment we will need for tomorrow's filming:

• Camera
• Camera battery and charger
• Tripod
• Studio Lights
• Greenscreen
• iPhone
• iPhone case
• Blanket for bed
• Green thread
• Choice of dresses
• Make up
• Computer to play the song
• Song lyrics

Risk Assessment for our Film Opening

Below is the risk assessment for our film opening:

 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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: