Rosie May's Music Video Ideas

Rosie sent us a couple of her ideas for the upcoming music video of her song 'Morning Blues'.

Since it is her first ever music video for her first single we have come to the conclusion that it can't be too elaborate or high budget due to her having to work up to this stage in her coming music career. Therefore, a minimalistic approach with plenty of close up, performing and beauty shots of Rosie incorporated within the video to let the viewers receive a clear idea of her appearance and star image. However, since this is her first music video it is very important for us to emphasise and correctly portray her desired star image as this is what will be referred back to in the coming years of her career.

Rosie's musical inspiration is heavily based in the 60s soul scene era of the Supremes to Otis Redding as well as modern artists such as Amy Winehouse and Prince. The moody uptempo ballad was written by Rosie one morning about how awful she felt one morning. The track primarily conveys ideas of the illusion of romance at night time, and how many people hide their feelings and only truly face them the next day, waking up to feel blue.

The Supremes

The Supremes

The Supremes

Otis Redding

Otis Redding

Otis Redding

Otis Redding

Rosie imagined the story behind the lyrics, in simple terms, to be set at night time where the girl is having fun, drinking, partying, mingling 'she takes to the night, forgets the rest' 'hedonistic joy'. She looks up at the stars as morning comes, witnessing an early sun rise when reality hits as well as her realisation of heartbreak.

Rosie mentions her primary want for the music to incorporate stock footage of various activities, objects etc. summing up and relating to morning blues. She also mentions how she would not like to be the central focus of the video with only occasional shots of her performance elements and a basic storyline. She also mentions Lana Del Rey's music video as an example of what she would ideally like to style her music video on for 'Morning Blues'.

An idea Rosie had for the setting of the video is a rundown 17th century property called Leith Hill Place, now owned by the National Trust, being very near to our school and a previously frequently visited place of Charles Darwin's. Or if not, somewhere very authentic and sad looking with the possibility of catching a sunset and/or sunrise.

Leith Hill Place

Using the window facing the garden, her idea is to film the sunrise with her sitting in the window seat, onlooking the scene. The feeling of the morning, after making a mistake, sitting on the window ledge whilst the sun rises engrosses her in her morning blues. A storyline could be initiated at Leith Hill based on a party scene.

A video reference Rosie mentioned in her ideas is Lana Del Rey's 'Video Games' music video. The vast array of stock footage included in the video is just what she is looking for. In 'Morning Blues' she would ideally like to incorporate stock footage from older periods of time ranging from people, cartoons visuals of the sky and weather etc. The stock footage would ideally conform to the theme of sadness, the sense of being blue, incorporating visuals of London through different time periods and various stories of being blue, the weather and the skyline and changing from day to night. 

Other inspiration of hers includes: 

• 60s music videos
• Motown era
• Artists and their videos such as Amy Winehouse/ Dusty Springfield/ Lana Del Rey/ Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick

Lana Del Rey

Amy Winehouse

Aretha Franklin

Dusty Springfield

Dionne Warwick

Furthering and Altering Music Video Idea

Since abandoning our last music video idea including the problem of the robot we have since been brainstorming other ideas to pursue.

Daft Punk's 'Something About Us' has a chilled out and futuristic feel to it therefore if we are going to proceed with using the song we must think of a slightly surreal and fictional idea, not being like any other average music video narrative. Therefore as a way of maintaining this modernistic yet unique idea, being future orientated, my idea is to transfer the focus from a robot to superheroes.

Superheroes are both fictional and imaginative, just as the idea of the robot was, however with the superheroes it is easier to obtain cheaper and still effective looking costumes. Furthermore, our group will have an extended amount of influences and wider links to research and find inspiration from such as the fairly recent movie, Kickass, staring Aaron Johnson as comic book obsessed teen who dresses up as his own original superhero attempting to fight crime in America. 

As well as the hit TV show on E4, Misfits, a British science fiction comedy-drama about a group of young offenders sentenced to work in a community service programme, where they obtain supernatural powers after a strange electrical storm.

However, this idea was quickly rejected due to the more beneficial option of making and producing a music video for an up and coming artist called Rosie May who has previously attended Brit School in training for her potential career in the music industry. 

Presentation To Luke and Feedback

When presenting our idea of Daft Punk's 'Something About Us' to Luke we were prepared with our powerpoint covering star image, narrative for the music video and influences.

Certain aspects of the idea were altered slightly with the help of Luke's suggestions such as the band's image of being in black suits and futuristic sunglasses was approved and furthered by the added idea of installing a drum kit into the drummer's suit, helping to reinforce the futuristic style we will try to create for the band and their music video.

We were told to research and collect photographs of the type of setting we would want for the band's clinical looking setting to show to the set designer coming in to visit the school nearer the shoot day. This therefore included us choosing flat and long lights for the stage area of the band rather than curved arches of lighting which were previously discussed due to the sheer fact that the more minimalistic a design of furnishing is the more futuristic it appears.

We were also able to establish that the band would have no microphones as the wiring would becoming too complicated to manage on set through out the day as well as the fact that it would destroy the futuristic, simple and clinical look of the band's setting and style.

However, there were certain aspects of the idea Luke picked out and dismissed immediately classing them as impossible without a great amount of money spent on them. For example the prime problem of the video idea is the appearance and inclusion of the robot. Luke mentioned the hazard that the robot may look fake on the shoot day in many ways such as the way in which the person, in the suit, plays the robot character. Also another problem with the robot concept is that we would have no idea of the standard of the suit until it arrived, as well as the added problem of the suit possibly being very expensive if we are aiming for a bespoke robot suit, looking realistic. The idea of the Asamo Japanese robot was mentioned but quickly discarded once we researched the general pricing of one, being far too pricey for our music video budget.

On top of the problematic topic of the robot's attire Luke also mentioned how the feelings of the robot would be very challenging to display and communicate with a full body suit on as well as a mask.

Since the video would be shot romantically, Luke suggested that the video needs more of a build up. Therefore, another idea was added to the mixing pot of the girl creating the robot herself and attempts to teach him to be human. When reaching the end of the video the robot is seen to remain the same whilst the girl grows up, loses interest and leaves home along with her beloved childhood toy. Or perhaps, to create more a climax at the end of the music video, the robot could become suicidal with his owner's constant neglect.

In conclusion, the major problem with the video idea was the robot concept. The robot needs to be realistic and this is only achievable with a high budget to buy a bespoke suit or making our own one. Therefore, our group has decided to abandon the idea due to lack of realism and practicality.

Polydor Records Talk

The music video commissioner from Polydor Records, Emily, visited Hurtwood for the day to talk to the media studies students about what her job involves, passing on general advice to us for the development of our projects, giving us an insight into the workings of the music industry.

Polydor is one of the major record labels having produced music videos for Ellie Goulding's, The 1975, The White Stripes, Lana Del Rey and many more. Emily's job of being a music video commissioner involves being the middle man between the record label and the directors and team filming the music video therefore she oversees the entire process of the making of the video. Her job also involves scouting for new talent, attending concerts and being sent showreels to view for potential music videos.

The first step to making a music video is choosing the track and budget for the video. Budgets can range from £1k to £150k, however, the average budget would be around £20-30k. Once this has been decided the next stage is to set the tone of the campaign, depending on what type of artist is involved in the music video process. This is incredibly important if the music video is in fact their first, premiering their music style and there onwards gathering a fan base perhaps from the viewing of the video.

The next step of the process involves compiling a brief to discuss with the artist themselves. The brief is the basic idea of the music video therefore able to vary from conceptual, narrative, animation, film influenced or performance. The type of brief chosen depends a lot on the time frame and deadline in which the music video has to be produced within. For example, if the video had to be completed within a week or so the brief would not centred around animation due to the time allowance of a longer post.

Any production company usually starts out by developing music video projects which can showcase a vast amount of creativity within a few minutes, being relatively short to film and produce, therefore building an expansive and possibly varying style of material in the company's repertoire.

An example of one of Polydor's works is Ellie Goulding's 'Burn' which was executed by the action director Mark Sharp. It was an in house production, meaning the production achieves more for the money that is injected into the project. We were able to view the video's treatment, being a heavily visual leaflet of the pitched music video idea, which involved do-able visual references collected from the web and films. If these visual influences are unrealistic in terms of being achieved this will result in an dissatisfied artist. The treatment involves an overview of the video idea, many visual influences as well as the detail of the 'middle 8 twist' being the ultimate climactic moment of the video, perhaps introducing a new strand of narrative or a conclusion to an already existing strand, or plainly a build up of narrative imagery. 'Burn' was shot in a military air base in Peterborough on one June day, where the shoot ended at 3am.



The music video incorporated a significant amount of beauty shots and close ups of the artist's glamour, makeup and clothing were prioritised and therefore maximised due to the fact that Ellie is a young female artist. However, in a band's music video such as The 1975's 'Sex' there was a certain focus on camera techniques such as crane, dolly, hand camera, gliding tracking shots in order to suit the flow and feel of the song. The video incorporated 16mm filming rather than purely digital looking shots. The framing of the band in the music video also links to their album cover artwork, being effective link making in order to remind the viewers of the album and therefore possibly leading to maximised purchases.

Emily recommend the idea of storyboarding ideas to clearly display the development of the video's narrative. Sometimes a mood fill is created instead or as well as the treatment on paper. The mood fill is ultimately a film version of the treatment, compiling inspiring film clips that the music video can draw on and interpret in an original way.

Emily ended up in her position within Polydor Records by completing a Fine Art degree, hoping to become a Music Photographer. She landed an internship at the Polydor label, firstly becoming an assistant and gradually working her way up to her present position as a music video commissioner. She admitted her job has it's many chaotic moments when certain shots need to be filmed due to a tight time scale on the shoot day.

Chosen Music Video Idea

Developing Our Star Image

DAFT PUNK

-Da Funk-

Genre: Electronic, Disco, Pop

Star Image: Non-image

Concept: Dog - strange, odd pop video

Narrative: Underdog, small fish in a big pond, alone in New York

Influences: Kraftwerk, Krout Rock, Disco, Etienne de Cacy, Air.

This is the music video we looked at in class so we could establish the band's original star image and now we are endeavouring to develop our own unique star image for the band.

DAFT PUNK

-Something About Us-

Genre: Electronic Disco

Star Image: 70s view of the future mixed with a disco appearance, the band will wear suits with only the top button of the suit jacket done up as well as wearing sunglasses as there is a long legacy of boy bands wearing sunglasses e.g. The Blues Brothers. This portrays them to be mysterious as they are supposedly from the future.

Concept: A robot meets a girl and she teaches him about human nature, feelings, the world etc. As soon as he realises he loves her and therefore has human feelings which he does not understand he self destructs.

Narrative: Robot being taught to feel as a human does

Influences: Men In Black, Wall-e, THX1138, Misfits.

Men In Black Sunglasses Inspiration

Men In Black Suit Inspiration

The Blues Brothers Style Inspiration





Luke's Music Video Chat

TIPS:

• The song you choose must be new or unknown to the mainstream music listeners this way you will not get completely sick of the song if it is new to you when you begin shooting and editing. Plus, this way there may be a chance of your music video being chosen as the actual music video for the song and receiving recognition for it.
• Pop videos are ultimately commercials for bands.
• For your pop video to succeed you must have: A TRACK --- A CONCEPT --- 3 STRANDS (performance in the studio, lip-sync on location and a narrative being the story of the video).
• The strands should all flow into and from each other just as if some one was juggling them. For example the colours and mood should all be of one category.
• Each strand should be equally strong in comparison to the rest.
• You should never be too literal with your video as if the story follows the lyrics word for word.

Music Video Idea Feedback

FEEDBACK

DAUGHTER

-Candles-

 

IDEAS TO THINK ABOUT:

• The idea may need another narrative strand. Perhaps I could include an insight into the girl's parents' unhappy relationship and her realisation of becoming like them in her own relationship.
• This additional strand could be shown in flashbacks. These flashbacks could be signified by an added sepia tone giving a vintage feel to the shots due to the events happening a generation ago.

 

PROBLEMS:

• The theatre setting may be problematic due to the time allowance of the shoot day being only one day therefore we would not have time to find a suitable location as well as travel there and back to school in order to shoot the entirety of the video.

WIDER LINKS:

 

• The films 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' and 'American Beauty' dinner scene both showing an element of dysfunction in the parents' relationship.



Music Video Pitch

Music Video Idea 3

DAUGHTER

- Candles - 

Star Image

The band, Daughter, are fairly new on the music scene and are fairly unknown to most mainstream music listeners. Therefore, the star image is barely established, and very similar to their own true personalities. Daughter is an English indie folk band originating from London. The lead singer of Daughter seems to be a coy artist, singing of her personal experiences in heartfelt songs which have appeared in numerous teen pop culture TV shows such as Teen Wolf, 90210 and The Vampire Diaries. The band seem to prioritise their sound in their music career rather than appearances. 

Music Video

The video starts with a long, establishing shot of the venue of Daugher's band set up - an extravagant and old fashioned theatre, framed by an intricately detailed embellishment on the arch over the stage, framing Daughter. In the long shot, empty rows of seats are shown - a vacant theatre. A spotlight is shone on the lead singer as she starts to play her guitar. Mid shots and close ups are filmed of her playing the guitar. As the music picks up shots of Elena Tonra, the lead singer, and a love interest of hers shown - holding hands, kissing. The next shot depicts the pair in a dimly lit room and attempts of the male to undress Elena which she refuses. This is followed up by his insisting and encouraging whilst she is seen to adamantly shake her head, looking down, feeling ashamed. Cut to close ups and mid shots of Elena lip-syncing in the spotlight. Cut to an aerial shot of the couple lying in bed, back to back, followed by close ups of each person's eyes - wide open. Cut to Elena playing guitar on stage in theatre. Next shot introduces home videos of Elena as a child, a reminder of her innocence and naivety in relation to the refusal earlier in the bedroom. The videos envisage her playing in a playground, by the seaside, with friends at her birthday party - blowing out her candles on her birthday cake. Cut back to Elena playing guitar and singing in theatre. As music picks up cut to a candle lit room - Elena and the love interest are fighting and supposedly shouting at each other, unheard by the audience due to the music, as well as a lot of shoving and pushing of each other. Close up of Elena looking

distressed and crying as a tear runs down her cheek. Mid shot of her turning to leave and slams the door. Cut to close up of Daughter playing on stage and back to the one spotlight on Elena, creating a dramatic and gloomy atmosphere as the last lyrics are sung. Cut to the blowing out of one singular candle in the previously candle lit room, leaving an abundance of darkness ending the video.

Music Video Idea 2

FLORENCE & THE MACHINE

- Over The Love - 

Star Image

Florence Welch, lead singer of Florence and the Machine, bears an extravagant and elegant star image whilst also being alternative to most other artists in the charts at the moment. The band are an English Indie Rock band. Florence tends to keep her personal life out of the tabloids due to her desire of staying out of the limelight and not becoming a famous personality but instead known for her voice and music. The artist is the central image of the band due to her position of lead singer and is able to achieve a striking first impression for anyone due to her fiery red hair and elaborate costumes of lace, intricately embroidered gowns an cutting edge fashion and accessories which are presented on stage by the performer as well as in her tasteful and often dramatic music videos. 

Music Video

Since the song was a part of the soundtrack for the film, the Great Gatsby, it would be fitting for the style and era of the video to be based around 1920s style and etiquette. the video will start with a long shot of Florence sat at a piano in an empty room of wooden panelling walls. Close ups of her face whilst she lip-syncs. Dazzling sunshine seeps through slightly parted heavily thick curtains, illuminating her red hair, setting up an elaborate location. When the song picks up Florence is seen to be strolling around a mansions garden amongst various trees, flowers, bushes in the evenings dusk, singing the lyrics in a long floating yellow dress. Varying shots from close up to mid shot, slow motion of her dress floating in the breeze and as she turns. Cut to more close ups of Florence singing at the piano. Cut to clips from the movie 'The Great Gatsby' introducing Leonardo Dicaprio and Carey Mulligan entangled in their tragic love story involving car chases, kissing, dancing amongst guests at outrageous parties. Cut to Florence entering a garden party where all guests are dressed in long ball gowns, dancing with partners, doing the waltz. The party is extravagant and elegant just like one out of the movie. Florence is swept away by a male partner - dancing in time to the music. As the music picks up again she turns away dramatically, unlinking herself from the man in slow motion, and escapes from the party, running through the garden, the audience unknowing to her urgently desired destination. Fast paced, flashing shots of the movie appear- the car crash, DiCaprio's death into the pool, Mulligan crying. Then as the music slows once more, Florence is seen to have reached her destination, the edge of the garden, looking out to a misty sea. Cut to Florence at the piano, singing. A close up view of her profile is used where she is looking down at the piano keys. Cut to mid shot of Florence looking out at the misty view of the sea, a distant flashing green light is visible, ultimately rein-acting the clip from the movie, being a significant part of the love story shared by Dicaprio and Mulligan. As the mist gathers, the flashes of the green light slowly fade away and the video ends. 

Music Video Idea 1

LANA DEL REY

- Diet Mountain Dew -

  

Star Image

Lana Del Rey is a classy as well as wildly eccentric artist. She is a 26 year old sultry, seductive songstress. Many of her existing videos for other songs are slick and lavishly produced signifying her pride in her music as an artist. Her abnormal yet chic style suits her sound of soaring vocals and melodies, reflecting genres as diverse as hip-hop and indie music. Her music is associated to a self styled 'gangsta Nancy Sinatra' paying homage to 1960s fashions and seedy showbiz glamour. There has been a fair amount of speculation over the artist due to her transformation from Lizzie Grant, her true identity, to Lana Del Rey, her stage name of an entertainment act and false persona, set up and encouraged by her management.

Music Video

Since the song's melody includes mentions of New York the music video will be set in New York City. Establishing shots of New York's most famous locations such as Fifth Avenue, Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building, Time Square etc. as the screen blacks out in time to the beats and reappears with these different images. The start of the music video will show Lana in her usual retro fashion with dark glam sunglasses on, strutting down fifth avenue with a love interest of hers. Close ups will be filmed of the pair holding hands and sharing intense looks with each other. Cut to various close ups of the artist singing the lyrics to her song, seen to be wearing dramatically heavy makeup. Cut to a slow motion shot of the pair driving down Brooklyn Bridge, the love interest smoking with one hand on the wheel, maintaining a smouldering attitude, whilst Lana admires him in the passenger seat. This idea will vary in shots from mid shots to close ups of Lana, her eyes drawn to the driver, the driver's cigarette in hand and cigarette to mouth and gentle exhalation of smoke. This will be followed by a mid shot, from the backseat of the open top Ford Mustang, filming the couple and the view in front through the wind screen of the bridge's arches in dazzling sunshine. Cut to more artist close ups of Lana lip-syncing. Cut to the pair relaxing in Central Park on a picnic rug laden with picnic goods, a vintage picnic basket and champagne flutes. Close ups of Lana pouring champagne for the pair. Mid shots of the two laughing and teasing each other. Close ups of Lana's profile laughing and smiling. Mid shot of the pair laying on the rug in the setting sun, Lana resting on her lover's chest. Close up of the artist lip-syncing while her head is rested in this position. Cut to long shot of Lana in a full length gown playing the piano on stage and singing. The room is dimly lit. Close ups of Lana's hands on the piano keys, her hair sweeping down over the back of her dress. Cut to the couple at an evening Broadway show. Mid shot taken from behind the couple in their seats, Lana's head on his shoulder. Focus in on the activity on stage, Lana in the long dress, back lit lights portraying Lana's silhouette, slowly fade as music video ends.   

Genre in the Music Industry Article

The article highlights the meaning and importance of genre and the many differing sub-genres.
Genre is essentially important for the customer as the process of categorisation is vital for some listeners. Additionally, a genre can be connected to certain image with factors such as clothing, hair and lifestyle. Therefore an artist's star image is majorly important as well as their sound due to their prospective appearances on TV as well as them being visually represented on record sleeves, publicity photos and music videos.

Therefore, this year when developing our musical product it is essential to primarily confirm the genre of the artist's work as a way to continue with building on their star image, following up on their sound. This has proved to be vital for an artist such as Adele, whose music draws from classic pop styles of the 1960s and 70s. She is often photographed wearing classic, retro clothing that associates her with her role models Aretha Franklin or Dusty SpringField and suggests she is serious about he music, being a soulful artist, prioritising her music over her look whilst opting for a classic vintage vibe, at the height of fashion today. Adele is a nationally successful artist with a wide audience listening to her work. This could possibly be due to her various role models influencing her sound and looks reminding an older generation of their loved artists. Therefore, it is essential to confirm a genre and then star image which could then pay off to create as many links as possible to the greats in the music world whom have passed in order to gain a wide target audience, leading to the heightened possibility of obtaining success.

Jamal Edwards Biog Article

The key point of the Jamal Edwards biography, other than telling the story of his success, seems to be the fact that he is relentless in his work due to his driving passion as well as the importance and effectiveness of technology today.

The points to bear in mind when creating our own products for the music industry this year is the essentiality of finding that gap in the market, the USP, that Edwards was lucky enough to stumble upon at the time due to grime music drawing a vacancy on mainstream television. Therefore, grime music possessed an up and coming nature. The videos Jamal filmed of London rappers free styling on the street were a complete success leading to his recent 'media mogul' status and signing a deal with Sony RCA to create his own imprint within the label.

When promoting our artists next year the article helps to highlight the sheer power and effectiveness of Youtube to create a platform for musical talent. Therefore, the use of Youtube may come in handy. Additionally, the 'rebel' persona and determination of Edwards will help to inspire us this year in the shooting sector of our project. The 'I'll film absolutely everywhere attitude' will surely help us to achieve heightened goals in the planning and on the shoot day.