Cast and Location

Character:

My music video is based around 3 main characters (a daughter, her dad, and his mum) however, it shows different stages of the three character's lives and therefore, I have had to use a range of cast members for my music video.

For my mum I am using Ellie Bunce, she is a high grade, a level, drama student with much experience in acting. She is also an a level media student, this will be helpful when filming as she will understand the pressure of creating your own production and therefore cooperate well.

For the young son I will be using a doll, I decided this would be the best option as it may be hard to keep retaking shots with a very young baby without upsetting him.

The young toddler will be played by Daniel Hutson, a 3 year old, who like Ellie has blonde hair and blue eyes, therefore making the relationship aesthetically believable. I will also be using Daniel for the older school child, I will make him look older by changing his costume and shooting in such a way that you can't see his feature in detail.

I haven't yet decided who I will use for the adult boy, I will most likely chose once I've started the rough edit so it's clear what sort of character I am looking for.

The young daughter (child of the grown up son) will also be played by Daniel Hutson however his costume and once again the filming, will allude that he is a girl.

Location:

I will be using my own bedroom as the setting for the small baby's bedroom as it is white and therefore will have very pure connotations

Daniel's bedroom will be used for the shot of the toddler as it already has the right aesthetics for a child of his age

Woodstock CofE primary school will be used for the school shots

A local park, church will be used for the other shots

Seeking Permission From The Record Company

I sent a letter to Polydor Record Label to seek permission to use Ellie Goulding's 'How Long Will I Love You'. Below is a copy of the letter I sent.

After sending this letter on the date stated in the above screen shot I have no recieved a reply and so I am using the track anyway. 

Preperation For Filming

Before filming I broke down what I wanted to catch on camera to make sure I got all shots that I wanted and ensure I was organised during the shooting to ensure it went smoothly. Below are copies of my 'Scene Breakdown' and my 'Shot List'.

Poll Results

I have created a poll to see what genre of music video people think my song will fit best. Below are the results:

From the results I can see that a Storyline genre is clearly the most popular genre to use (70%). The 2nd most popular was Dance at 35% and 3rd Performance at 29%.

I asked a class of media studies students aged 16-18 to vote on my poll. This groups fits inside my target audience for the song. My audiences were informed about a previous post I had posted that they could use to help them chose there answer. The post outlined what each music video genre was. (http://bethanyhutsona2.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/music-video-genres.html)

• I think conceptual scored the least amount of votes dues to it's quirky nature. I think a song with a slightly unclear message and more of a feel-good song. This type of video would be unconventional with less of a message. 
• The second choice (special effects) is likely to be to have a low score for similar reasons as conceptual. Special effects videos are often quite abstract and don't follow a particular path. This type of video wouldn't have fit well with a mainstream song.
• An animation video also scored low however, I believe that this type of video could have fitted well with the song. A story could have been told through the animation however, it may have given it a slightly less serious feel to the song, something I don't think would have worked with the approach I wanted.
• A performance video would have worked however, for my a-level project lip syncing and finding the appropriate cast that would have fitted that place of the artist may have been hard. Also, finding sufficient shots for the video would have had obstacles. Therefore, whilst this would have worked for the song as a whole, for my a-levels it may have lowered the standard of my video.
• The second highest score was for a dance video. I believe that this should have scored slightly higher as many successful dance videos are up-beat with a fast tempo to create a feel-good factor and I believe this song is perhaps a bit too slow. However, with the right effort, a slower dance could have been made successful.
• Storyline, the genre of music video that I chose to use for my project, scored the best. I think this genre fits most suitably because the lyrics allow for many different interpretations of the song and therefore by creating a storyline music video you can easily show your interpretation.

Storboard

After organising and expanding my ideas I started to create my storyboard. I used post-it notes so that I could re-arrange my shots if i decided a different order would be more effective whilst drawing. Below is a basic idea of my shots and the order, i may add in some shots to make scenes more effective or to lengthen the video but below are the foundations of my music video:

Music Video Idea

When listening to 'How Long Will I Love You' I started to think for some ideas for my music video. I had the idea that I would show the journey of a single mum bringing up her first baby on her own. I thought about showing the significant stages in life (walking, talking, school, graduation, marriage etc.) at the end I was going to show the death of the mum and the child's heart ache. The song lyrics would reflect the video: 'how long will I love you/as long as the stars are above you', showing that the son would always need his mum.

When talking to Mr Buckmaster he told me to revaluate doing it in a linear fashion and so I changed a few of my initials ideas but I have kept with the basic idea of showing the relationship between a single mum and her son and their dependency on each other.

 

·      I will start my video with the death of the mum, and then tell the story of how it gets to that shot through the music video. I had the idea of have a shot of the mum's eyes closed and then a perspective shot of the baby opening his eyes to see his mother standing above him.

·      I am then going to have shots mirroring each other. The video will show the journey of the boy growing up and the journey of the mum getting ill and dying. It will show the mum helping the boy learn things and grow up and then the boy helping his mum when she is ill; i.e. the mum feeding the boy and then the boy helping his mum eat. This will reflect that they both need each other as much as the other

·       At the end I wanted to show the boy revisiting a significant place for him as and his mum, which will be seen earlier on in the video, and have a shot of him there looking sad and then his own daughter and family running towards him, signifying that the story has already started over again.

Below is an example of a shot I am thinking of using:

Song Choice

After deciding that I wanted to create a hard hitting music video I started to look at different genres and artists; I then started to narrow down what style of music I wanted to use. I decided I didn't want anything with overpowering instrumentals, I felt that by choosing a track with only one or two instruments in the background it would take the focus away from the music and the audience would concentrate more on the lyrics which will help to convey the message.

When listening to the tracks on YouTube I also made sure I didn't look at the videos because I wanted to make sure I interpreted the songs in my own way and wasn't influenced by the artists video; this has resulted in me taking a different approach to the song I have chosen compared to the artist.

To try to find my song I searched for 'controversial songs' and 'songs with a message'; although it came up with some suggestions the only result that I found useful was the VMA best social message nominees. 'Same Love' by Macklemore would have been a perfect example of controversial song with a hard impact on it's audience however, I have already seen the video many times and I would have been influenced too much by the original music video when planning my own production.

I then asked people in my class if they had any recomendations for songs I could use. This resulted in me listening to songs such as Daughter by 'Medicine', The Temper Trap 'Rabbit Hole' and concrete gold wu lyf. whilst all these songs had a sad feel to them wehn listening I couldn't imagine a video that had the right feel to compliment the songs.

Finally, Mr Buckmaster told me to look at the song Ellie Goulding sang for Children In Need 2013; 'How Long Will I Love You'. I listended to the song twice in a row and immediately I began to imagine the kind of music video I could create to go with the song. After brainstorming I told Mr Buckmaster and we both developed my idea and he helped me to expand on what I was thinking of. This is the song I have chosen to use for my production.

Looking into Similar Products

After deciding I wanted to shoot a video that was a bit more true to life and more about the harsh reality of the society we live in I decided to start looking at music videos with similar story lines. Not only would these videos give me ideas for shooting styles and themes for my own video but they may also lead to to artists who produce music with the right feel that I'm looking for.

The first video I looked at was 'The A Team' by Ed Sheeran. It follows the life of a homeless female that turns to prostituion to make money; when she gets the money she then spends it on drugs leading her into a downwards spiral. The video starts with a young girl crying over a dead body the end is poignaint because the audience realise that the girl lying on the floor at the begining, dead is the girl we follow through the video and it is her spirit that is looking over the body after she dies of a drug overdose.

Another song I looked at was You're Too Young by Lucy Spraggan. The song is about a young girl who takes the wrong path in life, getting kicked out of shcool, involved in crime and getting into a relationship with a 'bad boy' who is into drugs and has many relationships at one time. The song is about the journey to her death after she gets into a fight with another female and ends up getting stabbed by her. The girl that stabs her is actually her dates girlfriend. The video visits the harsh reality of choosing the wrong path in life.  

Shooting Styles

At the weekend I saw the Sainsburys 2013 Christmas advert; 'Christmas in a Day' The advert, like the music videos I have been watching, had a big emotional impact on it's audience. The advert was directed by Oscar-winning Kevin Macdonald.He created a 45 minute festive film for Sainsbury's to be released on YouTube week comensing 18.11.13. Macdonald collected various christmas home videos from across the UK and collated them to create a short film - he also created a 3 minute teaser advert before the film was released.

The 3 minute teaser includes emotive footage; including, a man eating Christmas dinner alone and a dad coming home from Afgahnistan to surprise his children on Christmas day. This realtes to the theme I want for my music video becuase it has a hard hitting, realistic, emotional impact on the audience.
 

It wasn't just the theme and the impact of the advert that attracted me but also the style, I like that they were home videos included in the filming and clearly not set up situations; this gave it a much more realistic feel increasing the emotional impact.
Read more: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-sainsburys-christmas-day-will-bring-tears-your-eyes-153935

Changing my idea

After some thought I have decided to change my initial production idea. I have been considering this for a while and during Friday's lesson I made a final decision. I will still be doing the music video brief however. I have changed the theme song and story line of the music video but, I have not yet finalised my new idea.

Reasons for changing my initial idea: 

• I thought my first idea about someone perusing love and then succeeding was too cliche and predictable
• I felt the idea was maybe a bit hard to follow and that the audience may not understand the significance of shadows and empty seat e.t.c. (Signifying that he is looking for someone/missing someone) 
• I didn't think my song choice linked to my story line strongly enough. The lyrics of 'Clouds' are slightly hard to interpret and slightly contradict themselves.
• Finally, I decided I wanted to explore a completely different genre of media (my AS production was the opening sequence of a rom com and this too was a romance/love based story). This year I want to explore a controversial and slightly more 'gritty' side of media. 

Audience Research - A Liar's Autobiography

I looked into audience research to see how other markets have promoted their media products and to get information about how best to promote my production. I looked on the BFI website to research case studies that they had produced on the ways that they promoted texts.
One case study that I found was based on "A Liar's Autobiography", an animated, factually incorrect biography of Graham Arthur Chapman, one of the founding members of the comedy group Monty Python. From the research I learnt of different ways they promoted their product and therefore got useful information about how I could promote my own media product. Here are my main finding from the research:

Marketing Approach:

• The marketing strategy was straight away decided to be based upon the Monthy Python popularity and legacy
• They wanted to appeal to younger audiences; those generations who may have heard of Monthy Python from their parents
• They didn't want the animated film to move too far away from the Monthy Python fans, they wanted to attract a new audience as well as keeping the loyal fans interested to appeal to big sector of the public.

Target Audience:

• They created two target audience; the 'core' audience and the 'broad' audience

Core:

• 35+ years, male  - loyal  fans and those who grew up watching the series
• 20+ years, male and female - animated enthusiasts and professionals: both old enough to have grown up with the series and young enough to be enthusiastic about animation
• 25+ years male and female art house audiences

Broad:

• 30+ years principally males but females too - fans of British comedy
• 25+ years male and female, may not have been film fans but heard about them through publicity

Overall Distribution and Marketing Strategies:

• simultaneous theatrical and VOD release, closely followed by DVD and BD release
• Support from Adobe
• www.liarsautobiography.com Official website an interactive and innovative site; it received over 13k unique visitors in the UK.
• www.facebook.com/aliarsautobiographymovie Official Facebook Page: became the main ‘hub’
  for all on line activity and distribution of an array of content: including clips, links to YT videos e.t.c.

Conclusion:

• I need to decide what genre and style my music video is so when marketing the single I can aim it at the right audience.
• I then need to decide specifics of my audience (age, gender, social group e.t.c.) for both a broad audience and a core audience. By aiming my production at two audiences I can get as broad audience as possible.
• I then need to decide suitable ways to market my production - this will be connected to the target audience criteria (e.g. am I aiming it at the 'online generation'?

To read up on their audience research Even further visit and click on the top left link in the table ('A Liar's Autobiography) http://www.bfi.org.uk/film-industry/lottery-funding-distribution/insight-reports-case-studies-audience-research/new-ways-reaching-audiences-distribution

Planning My Time

In class we have made a rough plan of what we need to do and when we plan on doing it by, I will edit this copy as I move ontp different stages and complete differnet areas of the course.

I have also created a detailed breakdown of each scene and dated what time I will be doing differnet thuings; see a copy below: 

Song Choice

The song I have chosen to use for my music video is 'Clouds' by Newton Faulnkner Sam Newton Battenberg Faulkner (born 11 January 1985); an English singer-songwriter and musician from Reigate, Surrey. He is known for his unique, percussive style of guitar playing.

I initially chose this song because I like it, I am fan of Newton Faulkner and I decided to listen to his album for some inspiration on what song to use for my A2 music video. After listening to both 'Hand Built by Robots' and 'Write it on your Skin' I liked 'Clouds' the most.

When looking more deeply into the song and its meaning to try and fit a message for my music video around it I conducted some further research. Some of the lyrics slightly contradict each other and the message isn't completely clear when looking at the lyrics. To help me identify the meaning I found a video made by Newton Faulkner to help me research his interpretations; he said the main message of the video was that things get better if you just staty possitive and persue things. The video has since been taken down from his website but below is an article that I found that gives a further in-sight to the meaning of the song from an audience persepective. http://glipho.com/rnbryant/stop-looking-down-at-the-ground-just-pick-it-out-of-the-clouds

Here is a link to the lyrics: http://www.tunewiki.com/lyrics/newton-faulkner/clouds

Practising Shots

Another shot that I wanted to do was a sunrise Time lapse.

I have the idea of starting my video with a person sat on a hill side watching the sun rise, this will be the male protaganist in my music video who is trying to better his life. I will then end the shot with the male in the same place but he will be sat next to a female. I think it will link the story together well and give it a romantic feel.

Here is an example of a dunrise times lapse that I've found (skip to 10 seconds when the time lapse starts). I also found a still picture of the end shot that I envisage.



Practising Shots

On thing that I'm really keen on doing when filming my music video is playing with the depth of field on some shots. I want some shots that go from being blurred to focused and vise versa and I want some shots that have a blurred background whilst the focus is on the main feature of the shot. Above is a video that I found with lots of examples of the kinds of shots that I want to try when filming my video.

I have also found another video where it is specifically the fairy lights that are blurred, this is a shot that I have in mind. It's 'let her go' by Passenger. I plan on using an SLR camera to create these shots as I feel they will be very effective when adjusting the depth of field


Finally I have taken this idea and tried to create my own shot. I have used a Nikon SLR camera to film some  fairy lights using different depths of focus.