Tuesday, 1 October 2013
'Morning Blues' Setting Ideas
Since reading Rosie's notes on her thoughts for her music video I have researched London and urban settings. A perfect site for these types of videos is SBTV due to the focus on upcoming grime artists where the videos are filmed in suitable settings, considering the genre of music and artist's roots, of rooftops, views of skyscrapers, graffitied brick walls and alley ways.
An example of the videos of the SBTV YouTube channel is the clip below:
The urban sense of these videos could easily be incorporated into Rosie's video, due to her East end of London roots, but in a slightly different way and more subtly due to the different type of genre her music conforms to. This can be done by filming her performance strands against brick walls or of her walking down vacant streets such as in Massive Attack's Unfinished Sympathy which is something Rosie suggested herself.
An example of the videos of the SBTV YouTube channel is the clip below:
The urban sense of these videos could easily be incorporated into Rosie's video, due to her East end of London roots, but in a slightly different way and more subtly due to the different type of genre her music conforms to. This can be done by filming her performance strands against brick walls or of her walking down vacant streets such as in Massive Attack's Unfinished Sympathy which is something Rosie suggested herself.
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
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.
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.
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.
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 |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
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.
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.
Monday, 16 September 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)