What Happens Now..

All information is updated and Elissa and I are ready to film. Reece shots and the beginning of filming are happening this week. The band have been emailed on attending gigs for filming and filming on-location.

Filming Schedule

The Track

Head Cam

Storyboard 10 shows, we use a head cam on the guitar. To gain more confidence and knowledge of how to use the head cam, we did some practice shots with it. Neither Elissa or I have used a head cam before so we needed to learn. The head cam itself does not have a view finder so it took a few attemps to get it perfect. We now know how to get the angle and security of the head cam on the guitar. We've taken photo and filming of each stage of our experimenting to show our development

Our First Attempt
This is just Velcro-ed securely around the head of the guitar using the strap provided.

From this first attempt, we decided that we wanted to adjust the angle of the head cam as we wanted the guitar to take up more of the frame to give a better impact.

Our Second Attempt

As it doesn't have a viewfinder it would have made this task very difficult, but after experimenting we now know the angles that work best and that it's secure on the head of the guitar.

We were both please with the framing of this shot. However, we wanted the guitar to be more horizontally straight rather than at an odd angle. This was just a learning curve.

Our Third Attempt

We now turned the head cam to a 45 degree angle to gain the desire effect we wanted. This is how it looked.

As it doesn't have a viewfinder it would have made this task very difficult, but after experimenting we now know the angles that work best and that it's secure on the head of the guitar.

Proposal

Vivid Sky is a group of 4 males aged 17-19. They try to write and perform all types of music but are trying to create their own genre. Anyone interested in the band and their music, I think, will be male and female - aged 15 to 22 years. Their lifestyles may not be significantly different to your average life, however might endure in heavier music and gigs. The fans and audiences can access information about the band and exclusive material through the bands MySpace [www.myspace.com/vividskyuk] and their own website [www.vivdskyband.co.uk]. On the sites there are gig dates and venues, messages from the band, tracks available for online play, images and many more exclusivities. 

The name of the track we are using is “Man In Black”. As the lyrics show, the story of the song is about a drug dealer. In our video, we would like to portray this as a narrative and try to create an atmosphere from the “man in black” as a drug dealer. The lyrics of the song describe how this “man in black” [drug dealer] is like the devil and is always there trying to push that pressure on people. We wanted to include this within the narrative and give the right impression as, obviously; we don’t want to promote drugs. We planned the video like Goodwin - illustrative. The lyrics are very similar throughout easy verse. We wanted the narrative to be synchronous to the lyrics as we could, but not to a point that it is word for word. During the chorus’ we wanted the video to be band based. We included the narrative originally because of the band availability to film, however we still want to include them. We plan to film the band at gigs from many different angles and also have a day of filming is selected location as listed in blog post below. All of the sequences will be edited and used in a variety of different orders to fill in the chorus’ where the band will be used in the video.

The logo that the band uses is simply the band name, “Vivid Sky”, in red against a black background. All of the group members wear similar clothing, all of which are nothing out of the ordinary and average to their age groups. We want to keep this look throughout the music promotion. The band members will just be in their normal clothing that they want to wear and the locations and setting for the video will be in keeping with this theme. All of the location ideas are open plan which creates a friendlier feel to the band and makes them more approachable to their audiences. The filming in each location is going to be done in low lighting as it fits in with the design of the band logo and the atmosphere of drug dealingThe camera shots we want to use of the band are low level, high angle, close up, medium shots and wide shots. All of the varied shots are going to give us a better range of angles of the group and creates a connection between the audience and the group. The shots used in the narrative are all going to be close-up, medium shots or long shots. This is to create enigma within the storyline and create a more intense atmosphere which matches the lyrics. Editing of the video will be planned as simple jump cuts. This is so the minimal action isn’t overridden by fancy cuts. The mise en scene is a very important part of the video. Through the filming we want to keep the clutter and surroundings to a minimum to make the scenes more “open”. Due to the locations being outdoors, we will have to be careful with other people being around – from a permission as well as viewers point of view.

The band is currently not signed but has been recording. I think that the music promotion that we create could be shown on music channels like Kerrang and maybe MTV and TMF as the song will appeal to many different types of people. Our production will be put onto MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. All of these will enable feedback from viewers and improvements for future productions.

 

This is Vivid Sky's website. Their fans and audiences can see any updates and exclusivity's from this site. 

Locations, Props and Mise en Scene

Location Ideas

All of the ideas we have come up with for the video are all in open space and show a lot of sky. This was to reinforce the band name and to make them more appealing to the audience. The Large amount of sky shows that each and every member of the band are just normal people in a big world, just wanting to enjoy their talent in music and for their audience to feel more connected with the band. 

     

Torquay Harbour

Torquay Pier

The Big Chair, Dartmoor

The White Bridge, Torquay 

A Yacht

Haytor Rock, Dartmoor

The Balloon, Torquay

Props and Mise en  Scene

The props and mise en scene for the video is very basic. The band members will just be wearing their own clothes, nothing particular. They may be wearing their Vivid Sky merchandise as shown in the picture below.

Lewis Burkes, Lead singer, wearing a Vivid Sky t-shirt

The man in black character will just need to wear all black clothing and try not to revile his face. 

The other characters which as used for very little filming. For example, story board 1 & 2, we use two pairs of feet, and two characters [one of which is the man in black]. The shoes in storyboard 2, need to be a smart pair and a casual pair, to show the distinction between the two characters. Whereas the outfit of the character in storyboard 1 is just everyday jeans and a jacket. However, the jacket needs to be of colour so that it contrasts to the "Man in Black", this is so you can see the distinct difference between the two characters.

The Mise en Scene will just be basic. When filming outside or in an open location, we want the atmosphere to be evening/dusk, so the mise en scene will be minimal anyway - as there wont be as many people around. When filming the band during gigs, we really just want the band members in the frame, but this shouldn't be hard to ensure. If we film the band outside of gigs, we want it to just be band. so by filming in the evening will decrease the pedestrians around. If we have problems with the mise en scene then we will have to attend to them as we go.

"Man In Black" Lyrics With Storyboards

[Lyrics start at 00:19]

Back in the middle of the morning of the night before

Met a man on the stairway

Tried to pull me through the door

He said “walk this way and for a very small fee, I’ll get you into something, make you cool like me!”

Back in the middle of the morning of the night before

Back in the middle of the morning of the night before

Met a man on the sidewalk

Tried to sell me a score

He said “listen son, try a little beast, and I’ll guarantee you something that’ll make you very pleased”

Back in the middle of the morning of the night before

Get out of my way

I know I ain’t too cool

But I can tell you something, I’m nobody’s fool

REPEAT

Look out for the man in black

He’s the legal Satan

Wants to shoot you in the back

Look out for the man in black

He’ll take you to the devil

And grill you on the back

Back in the middle of the morning of the night before

Met a man on the highway

Tried to push a little

He said “come on boy, you know you want to fly, step in to the kitchen, and give it a try”

Back in the morning of the middle of the night before

Get out of my way

I know I ain’t too cool

But I can tell you something I’m nobodies fool

REPEAT

Look out for the man in black

He’s the legal Satan

Wants to shoot you in the back

Look out for the man in black

He’ll take you to the devil

And grill you on the back

Look out for the man in black

Look out for the man in black

Look out for the man in black

Look out for the man in black

Look out for the man in black

He’s the legal Satan

Wants to shoot you in the back

Look out for the man in black

He’ll take you to the devil

And grill you on the back

Look out for the man in black

Look out, for the man in black

Look out for the man in black

Look out for the man in black

Vivid Sky

In the past week, things have started to come together. Elissa and I attended a Vivid Sky gig and got to know the band alot better. We now have the okay from the group and it's full steam ahead. The track we are going to use is they're newly released, self-written single "Man In Black". Both Elissa and I cannot wait to get started as we both think the song is amazing. The track can be found on Vivid Sky's MySpace page [as shown on the above banner].

My initial ideas for the music promotion video is to run a narrative, parrellel to the band themselves - I think this is perfect for the lyrics of the song. I feel the video needs to be energetic and vibrant to go with the rock genre of the track. I believe handy-cam will be ideal for the video as it gives it more of an urban edge and would create more of a voyeuristic view and connection between the audience and the band.

Research

In the past 6 weeks, Elissa and I have had the task of finding the perfect artist for our A2 part of our media A-Level. We found a group straight away, Bohemia Rocks [thanks to a connection with my cousin in a media company in London] but due to distance there was difficulties,  and even had one as a backup, Ben Cosway [Elissa's brother], however he had personal reasons not to be available during filming. However, both groups fell through and left us with no artist for our coursework. On the plus side, after a lot of effort and time, we now have a band to use. A family connection, once again, helped us find our artist.

Vivid Sky is a group of four 17-19 year old males. They try to vary the range of genre they perform, including Rock, Metal, Progressive, Blues and Funk – however they are trying to create and individual sound. Vivid Sky perform covers of existing tracks as well as their own written songs.

I believe that their target audience would be ages 15-22, both males and females, and anyone interested in their music genre. Fans of Vivid Sky can contact then and view more excusive videos, tracks and information about the band on MySpace and their own website. On their MySpace page, there is a list of all their gig dates, times and venues – Vivid Sky often perform at small festivals and pubs.

Due to the fall through of our first two artists, we now have to start all over again. So the rest of the information will be on shortly.

Deconstruction

Video Director - Spike Jonze

It's Oh So Quiet - Bjorn

Possible Representations  - 

Artists

Genre

  Director

Track itself

• Lighting affects match, tempo and structure of song
  
• Synchronous
  
• Borrows from musicals - intertextuality
  
• Artist always centrally framed
  
• Distinctive orange dress
  
• Represented as young and energetic
  
• Contrasting opening - why? suggests horror
  
• Slow tracking - synchronous with music and lyrics - illustrative
  
• Borrows from Wizard of Oz - tin man
  
• Whizz pans and crash zooms
  
• Continuity editing makes you believe she did the flip
  
• Borrows film ideas/themes e.g. umbrellas - singing in the rain
  
• symbolism in her rising above - shes happy
  

Music Video Deconstructions

Chart/Pop
Katy Perry – Waking Up In Vegas
Britney Spears – Womaniser
Lady Gaga – Poker Face

Camera work
In each video, it is like a story is being told. The camera work shows this by showing the action as the video progresses.

Katy Perry – central framing, depth of focus, zooms and reverse zooms are all important camera shots used within this video. To help tell the story the camera often pans and tracks the artist as she tells the story. Close-ups of significant objects are used to emphasise them.

Britney Spears – parallel editing is used to show to the main story line and just Britney herself, based on the nature of the song. Long shots are used to show the whole shot and the men around Britney herself. Close-ups are also used emphasise her singing.

Lady Gaga – this video is very busy, for the majority of the video, the artist is centrally framed. Long shots are used as she is dancing; this enforces her status and importance. Close-ups are used to reinforce the detail of her outfit and makeup.

Editing

Katy Perry – as the video begins the editing is slow, however as the beat develops the pace of editing picks up but it is still not fast pace editing. There is several long takes which enforces the action on the screen.

Britney Spears – the editing in this video is quite fast but synchronous to the music. Insert shots have been used. Most of the cuts are jump cuts.

Lady Gaga – the majority of the editing is long takes, this helps the viewer see what is going on and doesn’t make the video asynchronous to the music or too busy for the eye.

Mise en Scene

Katy Perry – all of the scenery and outfits seen throughout the video are all in keeping with theme of the music video, Vegas.

Britney Spears – the lighting is quite dark, giving a feel to the video. Britney is seen is many different outfits, all of which show her body off with me around her objectifying her; the whole point of the song.

Lady Gaga – the lighting is light, drawing a contrast between her individual clothing and accessories and the background and people around her; making her stand out. Her style is very different to any other artist, creating a name for herself as an establishing artist.

Introdcution

This blog will follow my progress in researching, planning, production and evalutating this practice production of making a music video, a cover for the video produced, and a magazine advert to promote the Band and video.