Saturday 28 January 2012

Health & Safety

When/Whilst filming it was important to consider our own health and safety as well as recording, however none of my location was in an enclosed area, where fire extinguishers and other safety checks were not too be seen.


The most important thing to check was our spacial awareness, as large crowds where continuously around us in the streets of London, and also was to be aware of the yellow line when recording in busy crowds in the under ground, and also aware of the busy road traffic when we was recording around these areas.

Friday 27 January 2012

Production List - Locations

As the song is called 'The City' and often mentions the words 'London' it is essential that my video takes place in London. I have places in mind that I would like to visit and film, however when I get there I may come across places that I hadn't thought of, so some of the places will be decided on the spot when I am there, to get too much footage rather than not enough. Also some things depend on what the place is like when I get there, For example I know that I would like to include the street performers - however when I get there, there may be none or perhaps too busy to catch on film.



Places in mind:
- London Underground
-Trafalgar Square
-Piccadilly Circus
-Leicester Square
-London Tower Bridge
-Covent Garden
- London Eye
-London Backstreet
-London telephone box



Pre Production

Below will be a list of the equipment I will need  to think about/buy to carry out this project
Equipment:
Flip Camera
Tripod
Computer - Editing Software


Props List:


- For the chorus I will need to have prepared cue card signs with the words 'London, Stranger and My Home' written in a black bold pen so that they will stand out on the camera.
- I will need a London underground tube map as I would like to experiment my ideas of using it to open up or end the video.


I am only having one person taking place in my video, I would need to think about the costume however I would just want an everday outfit, but consiting of dull/dark colours as I am planning to use black and white - I wouldn't want bright clothing. This would just be a leather jacket, trousers however the shoes I would want to be white because then they would stand out and also I am planning to focus on him walking so if they stand out it will catch the audience's eye.

Thursday 26 January 2012

Analysing A Music Video 2 - 'Mama Do The Hump' by Rizzle Kicks

The next video I decided to look at was the video to 'Mama Do The Hump' by Rizzle Kicks released in November 2011. Although they are a British Hip Hop type genre band, they hold Indie features throughout their music style and also their music videos often have many similarities to a typical music video of the styles that I am looking at.



The video is very abstract along with the lyrics and are not there to tell a story or narrate. The video begins with two people preparing a hand hold camera, to then knock on the door of a house. The music does not play for the first 28 seconds, before it starts they enter the boys house, where they welcome one another. It looks very 'home made' and almost 'amateur' which many music video of these styles are. We can see it is a family gathering with the two elder ladies (who we guess are playing the dispatchers - mother figures)and men as well as the younger boys, who then go to the CD player and turn the music on - which where the music begins. When the boy is turning it on, he looks in to the camera and it is a close up of his face, he then walks away and is followed - the camera shot is quite shaky - showing the 'home made' and low budget film style that was intended within its genre characteristics. (In which I would like to show through out mine).


The camera then pans over to the elder lady at the table, who we assume to be the Mum of one of the boys, she then begins miming to the boys voice giving it a quirkiness and unique flow.
An element of Goodwin's theory can be seen within the Lyrics reflecting through images, the song is quite so repetitive for example 'a verse of rap, to the chorus and then back to the verse etc' and when it does break to the chorus the words "Mama do the hump mama do the hump hump, mama, Won't you please let me do the hump hump." Where each time we see the boys doing a 'signature move' specially for the song lyrics in which they get more and more people doing by the end of the video, including actor James Corden. Once the chorus is over, it repeats back to the ladies miming the lyrics.

In terms of notion of looking there is none and the gaze of how someone is presented, the ladies are often shown more on camera, and have much more action taking place rather than being restricted. In terms of representation it shows oppositions and contrasts with the stereotypes of elder women, which the audience would not expect as they are miming lyrics and acting younger then they are, where as the boys who are teenagers, are represented more sensible and more restricted from the camera.


There are extreme close ups on many of their faces which are contrasting with the stereotypical genre characteristics, meaning that usually the video and the camera shots would be prioritized on the band or on young and more attractive people who would be interested in the music. However the video juxtaposes this concept as it primarily sets if focus on the elder ladies, holding long shots on close up of their faces and they do not stereotypically represent people who would be attracted to their music.


Record labels do have certain control over artists that they sign and I think that through the video they wanted to represent the band as a modern and unique trendsetters to appeal to their younger audience - also meaning that both genders would be interested in the music video as it is not set to appeal to just females, or just males like other genres.


There is hardly any signs of Intertextuality within the music video, meaning that there are no other signs of other media examples - things that have been seen in other films/music videos within the same genre. By not including these examples allows the video to have its own uniqueness and creates its own signature video - which will be remembered through the video style, lyrics or signature dance from its audience (because it has not been shown before)

Wednesday 25 January 2012

List of People Involved

I will be working independently on this project, meaning planning, pre production, prop making and recording/editing etc.



I have asked a boy named Ricky Veale (Image above) to act as the centre role boy in which the music video will revolve around.  I asked him because I found he was free for the time period in which I was planning to record, so I knew that he would be reliable if we would have to go back to London for extra shots and also because he had done acting in the past, I felt he would follow instructions well. Also because he looks 'ordinary' in the fact he doesn't have a distinct stereotypical features to give away of which genre of music he likes so he will fit the role well playing the mysterious boy lost beyond the crowds in London. At the age of 19 with the style and look he carries he will be re presentable for many teenage boys that the video is aimed for.

Music Video Producers and Influences

Other than just watching music videos to gain influence, I decided to research into successful or just starting out, music video production companies online. I found a site called 'Pixelloft' which has produced videos for many famous music artists, as well as smaller and less well known artists (of all different genres).A few examples of this could be Mclean, The Courtneers, McFly, Pendulum, Kids in Glass Houses and You Me At Six.


The music video director is Nick Barlett, who has been directing for over 7 years, creating a portfolio for more than ove 40 music videos. The style of video that he chooses to follow is along the lines of Storytelling with art and graphic direction. The company is based in Worcestershire, UK and Los Angeles, USA. To view the company site click the link http://www.pixelloft.com/index.html
Below are some screen shots from the index page, and the work portfolio page: (Click images to enlarge)


I then searched online 'Ed Sheeran's Music Video Producers' and the first thing was too appear was the creators behind 'The A Team' which the company is called 'River Rush.' The creator and main contributor is called Ruskin Kyle, who has expirence in writing, directing, lighting camera and editing/adding effects. His earliest and most successful piece of work was creating 'The A Team' in which came Number 3 in UK Singles Chart, playlisted on major music channels on TV aswell as over 15 Million hits on YouTube. The site tells us that aswell as the standard music video format that the company also specialise in filming 'live' performances, studio and location shoots. The company are quite small, but up and coming in terms of numbers of videos they have created, however they can create the ideal video that the artist wishes on a small or big amount of budget money.
To view this site click the link: http://www.riversrush.com/index.html
Below are screen shots of sections of the site (Click images to enlarge)

Sunday 15 January 2012

Looking at the lyrics

To focus on the themes throughout the song, I printed off the lyrics and annotated what I would like to include in my video, either relevant or not to the lyrics. The song is about him being an individual in London, as if lost in the crowd.




Monday 2 January 2012

Storyboarding

I am currently in the process of drawing ideas in the order of my music video, having this sort of planning will help me bring my ideas together and will be easily adaptable when it comes to recording the video. Once I have finished the storyboard I shall upload it on to my blog, however it could take a short length of time as my location is very big and unpredictable (In London, on the day of filming there may be incidents that clash with my storyboard) so it will be very basic in terms of that.