Location Shots for Possible Flashback Location(s)

The photos from a shoot for the possible location of a flashback(s) for our music video are below:

Memory Location Shoot

This location, the woods near where I live, could be a good place to shoot the flashback scenes for the yellow (happy, starting a relationship) flashback, the blue (content, joyful flashback of when the couple are together and enjoying it) flashback, the grey (downbeat and depressed after they have split up) flashback, or the orange (the boy determined to win her back) flashback. This location could fit into any of these flashbacks, as it can represent loneliness and darkness or love/friendship and happiness.

In several of these shots, the sun shining through the trees results in a brilliant lighting effect. This ambient lighting could support several different effects while we are shooting - joy, blindness, loneliness/uniqueness(the sun shining on just him), being special (the sun shining on him and the girl together), are just a few of the possible connotations that could be made through this unique lighting effect. 

There are also several parts of the woods that could be used for different shots - trees and logs that have been used as seats, branches that have been twisted together, a part of the woods that looks like an archway due to the way the trees have grown, and several man-made structures (made by gamekeepers etc.) that could show the influence of humans on nature.

Inspiration for Walking/Running Idea for the Narrative of our Music Video

The main feature of our music videos narrative structure is the walking/running main character who is present for a major portion of the music video. There are several videos that inspired us to use this in our music video as well as influenced how we have decided to develop this aspect of our music video. 

Control Hate:

This video is clearly quite similar to what we are doing in our music video - the boy in this music video is walking down the street with a purpose - to get to the employment centre. But the costume he is wearing (most notably the word "HATE" on the back of his jacket) tells us what kind of person he is - he is a rebel. The cigarette and strutting walk compliment this. This means that costume choice will play a big part in the image we construct for the characters in our music video.

The Verve - "Bitter Sweet Symphony":

This music video, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve, is an iconic example of the use of walking/running in music videos. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was also one of the most iconic and highly rated music videos of the 1990s.

The video clearly shares some traits with our idea for our music video, most notably the fact that the main character is walking for the majority or the music video. Many things that happen in this music video by The Verve represent emotions e.g. anger when the woman furiously gets out of her car when the main character walks over the bonnet of her car.

The Rumble Strips - "Not The Only Person":

This music video also contains a main character who is walking for the majority of the music video. Like "Bitter Sweet Symphony", the video contains the main character colliding with another person - this is something that I have noticed happens often in music videos where a figure walking is a focal point of the music video. Because of this, I think we should do some research into this and see if we should include anything similar to this in our own music video.

Visa Europe Ad: Football Evolution:

I have already mentioned this video on my blog as the main source of inspiration for our walking/running idea. When we thought up the idea, I immediately thought of this advert. This shows that the advert is very good as it is memorable, even years later.

Rough Shot List/Narrative Structure for our Music Video

First Verse:
Boy wakes up at 3:30am to the sound of heavy rainfall outside. A photo-frame beside his bed immediately establishes the characters as it contains a picture of a girl - his ex-girlfriend he wants back. High angle shots show weakness and vulnerability at this stage.

Second Verse:
An action shot of him leaving the house is synchronised with the music increasing in tempo. We see the main character walk out the door and into the street.

Third Verse:
As he turns the corner at the end of the street to go to the girls house, he also turns a corner metaphorically - he is more confident and the shot angle is now static to reflect this. The chorus starts at this point - the tempo of the song increases and is synchronised with the turning of the corner (literally and metaphorically).

Fourth and Fifth Verses:
The next two verses consist of the image of him walking to the girl's house (slowly speeding up as he becomes more determined) with flashbacks of the boy and girl's relationship fading into the background. There will be colour filters to reflect the different stages of the relationship. This also ties in with the name of the band - The Colours. This emphasizes the effect. The rain will also be slightly lighter now to show the slightly happier, more excited nature of the boy.

Yellow filter: The boy and girl getting together - starting the relationship. Yellow is associated with happiness, such as the happiness in this situation.

Blue filter: Blue is associated with calm and tranquillity, so this will reflect the next stage of their relationship - everything is fine and they are happy and content together.

Red filter: A red filter will be applied to the memory where the boy and girl split up. The red filter represents the anger in this situation.

Grey filter: The grey filter will represent the downbeat nature of the next part of the relationship. They have split up, and the boy is upset and depressed.

Green filter: Green is commonly associated with envy, so a green filter will be used on the memory where the boy sees the girl with a new boyfriend.

Orange filter: Orange is associated with determination, so an orange colour filter will be sued on the last memory to show the boy's new-found determination to win his ex-girlfriend back.

Sixth Verse:
After the last memory, the boy will start running as the flashbacks turn back into reality. The rain will stop, and low angle shots will now be used to show he is very confident and self-assured now. He will arrive at the girl's house, which will be an attractive home - it will have a well-kept front garden and porch as well as other visually appealing features such as flowers. He will meet the girl at the door, after either knocking on her window or the door, and she will let him in. The door will close and the final shot will be of the door fading to black.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory and How it Affects My Music Video

1 - Music videos demonstrate genre and characteristics

This means that all parts of the music video will reflect the genre and characteristics of the music. This includes costume, mise-en-scene, cultural references/conventions, and more. 

The famous rap musician Eminem

An example of this is a music video for a rap song - these will normally include a main character, a man, dressed in baggy trousers, a t-shirt, a hooded jacket, a baseball cap, as well as expensive jewellery or "bling" (they will often have tattoos as well) while he is admired by his friends and women. This is the "street" look that is often associated with teenagers nowadays. These types of music videos will normally be set in a nightclub or a similar kind of location.

In our music video, we are representing the alternative, pop and dance genres. So, we will have to include things in our music video that represent this so that people can connect to both the music video and it's genre.

2 - There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals - either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting

This describes the way the music video can reflect the lyrics of the song. For example, the recent music video for Hall of Fame by The Script shows the performers in the music video achieving their dreams by becoming boxing champion and a famous ballet dancer while lyrics such as "You can be the greatest" and "Sitting in the hall of fame" are played in the background. The visual reflection of these lyrics in the music video strengthens their effect and meaning, imprinting the music video more firmly into the viewer's mind.

For our music video, we have thought of several ways that the video could reflect the lyrics - for example, our idea of someone running towards something they want could reflect the lyric "I just keep on running" in more than one way - he is literally running, but he is also running determinedly towards the thing he wants. Also, at the end of the music video, we plan to contradict the lyrics by having the main character and the girl he runs to get together, while the lyrics ironically say "Tonight I Let You Go".

3 - There is a relationship between music and visuals

This means that the visual part of a music video should reflect the tone, beat, etc. of the song at that point. The mise-en-scene needs to contain elements that are related to the song so that the two parts interconnect to create a smooth, high quality music video.

An example of this is the music video for Nothing Compares 2U by Sinéad O'Connor. The music video creates a sad, sombre tone by reflecting the low tempo, downbeat feel of the track with the use of black - a colour associated with grief and loss (it is the colour of clothes worn at funerals) - and the location of a graveyard. The use of lengthy shots, with few quick transitions, also matches the slow tempo of the track. By using both the music and visuals to try and create this effect, the effect is emphasized and works more effectively.

In my music video, I plan to reflect the tone of my chosen track - which is quite upbeat, with the use of a reasonably high tempo - with short clips and many quick transitions. This will optimize the upbeat nature of both the track and the music video (the music video is all about going on a journey and becoming a better person by taking responsibility) by having both of these aspects of my productions have a positive tone.

4 - The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motives across their work

The artist is often a big part of the music video and a big part of marketing the song. So, the record label will want to feature the artist in an attractive way to market the song as well and possible and so bring in as much money as possible. This can result in a voyeuristic treatment of the artist, mainly with female artists (more on that in the next point). For some music videos, the artist becomes famous and a bigger draw to the song than the actual music - even if the song is average, it can sell well due to the popularity of the artist and the audiences fixation on him/her. Motives can appear due to this, with a certain image - for example, a close-up shot of the artist - recurring throughout the music video and becoming a motif of the music video that creates a focus on the artist; a motif is a repeated image used to create an effect.

The shot of the artist in the shadows is repeated
throughout the music video for Tender is the Night
by Jackson Browne - it becomes a motif

An example of close-ups being used are the music video for Tender is the Night by Jackson Browne. The use of many close-up shots makes the artist the focus of the music video and subsequently the whole brand of that track. The close-up shot of the artist in the shadows creates a motif as the recurring shot creates a mysterious feeling around the artist, and also creates a focus on him (partly due to the mystery created around him; the viewer wants to know why he is being presented in this mysterious way).

In my music video, I will use many close-up shots of the main male performer. This will make the artist the focus of the music video (the main male performer represents the artist). This will create a motif because of the repeated close-up shots of the figure representing the artist creating a focus on him.

5 - There is frequent reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body

Leading on from the last point, female artists are often focused on in music videos in a different way to male artists. Their bodies are usually treated in a voyeuristic way - the body is focused on more than the actual person. A clear example of this is the music video for "Single Ladies "Put a Ring On It" by Beyonce.

In this music video, the focus is on the three women dancing in little clothing - the women are focused on more than the music.In my eyes, this is wrong, as the focus should be on the talent of the person and the actual music.

There will not be a voyeuristic treatment of the girl in our music video - her costume will reflect the song and the character, not just the body.

6 - There are often intertextual references (to films, TV and other possible references)

Intertextual references are often used in music videos to link them to books, films, TV and other forms of entertainment. These links can be used for several reasons - an example is to reference something to reinforce a connotation. This can be done through many methods, such as costume, camera movement, mise-en-scene, representation, lyrics and location.

An example of intertextuality is in the music video for Afrika Shox by Left Field. The representation of the black man as an inferior slave figure, combined with the breakdancing the black man comes across at the end, creates an intertextual reference to the poem Limbo. The poem Limbo is all about the slave trade of black people, and how they used to play Limbo - a form of dance - in the slave ships. The topic - the slavery of black people - and the theme of dance links the two texts together. The music video for Afrika Shox was almost definitely influenced by the poem Limbo, and so an intertextual link is formed.

Click the following link to see the poem Limbo: Limbo

In our music video, we will knowingly insert several intertextual references. The main one will be the walking/running boy, which links to many other music videos.

Research into Target Audience

Genre's Audience

The genre for our music video (Tonight I let You Go by The colours) is Pop/Alternative/Dance. The audience for these genres are similar in some ways -  for example, the age groups that mainly consume these types of music are quite similar.

Pop

The main audience of pop music is the mainstream audience of 16-25 year olds. There is commonly a voyeuristic representation of women in this genre, as they often wear revealing costumes - for example, look at the images of Britney Spears and Rihanna above. The representation of males in this genre is quite diverse, as it can be quite casual (e.g. the t-shirt and jeans of One Direction above) or quite formal and stylish (e.g. the formal hat and suit of Bruno Mars above).

Pop (coming from the word "popular") music originated in the form we now know in the 1950's when it was derived from rock and roll music. Pop music can be quite varied, as it often takes parts of other genres into its songs. However, there are some core features that define pop music:

-Short to medium length songs
-Basic writing format - usually the verse-chorus structure
-Repeated choruses
-Melodic tunes
-Catchy "hooks"

Alternative

Alternative music is also known as alternative rock (or alt rock) and is a genre of rock music that came from independent music in the 1980s and became popular in the 1990s. Alternative rock is a type of music that differs greatly from other genres in terms of its sound, social context and regional roots. It became more popular by the end of the 1980s due to publicity mainly through magazines, college radio airplay and word of mouth. Once the diversity of alternative rock music had been publicised, many new genres within the genre were born, including gothic rock, industrial rock and noise pop.

Before Nirvana and the grunge and Britpop movements that made alternative music much more popular in the 1990s, alternative musicians were mainly signed by independent record labels and rarely received much attention form the mainstream audience compared to the other genres of pop and rock music that were popular at the time.

Fans of alternative music can be any age - it is quite a niche genre so people in their twenties, who have passed the mainstream pop/rock music stage, are probably the main audience. These fans are probably quite unique and independent in terms of there style, just like the alternative musicians.

Dance

Dance music is primarily trying to cause or supplement dancing. It can be part of a large musical arrangement or played on its own. The main categories of dance music are live and recorded dance music.

The origins of dance music are in old folk dancing and communal dance music, for example the kind played at old square dances in the USA. The origins of Brazilian dance music are in things such as Samba, contrastingly.

Dance music fans nowadays are usually relatively young - 18-25 years olds. These fans are the kinds of people who would regularly go to nightclubs or gigs - e.g. for Skrillex, pictured above. These nightclubs are usually pictured with strobe lights and quite intense performances. The fans of dance music are often thought of as wearing modern, trendy clothes that fit in with their nightclub environment.

Lyrics

The lyrics of our song basically tell a story of a person wanting something, reflecting on it, and then letting it go, as you can see in these lyrics from the start and end of our selected song:

First verse:

Your empty promises
Stop filling up my mind while my loves' away
Temptation calls me
To this and loveless fools believe
Their guilty hearts still bleed
But their cold lifeless heart beats wear them out

Last verse:

You know I want to be on my own tonight
I just keep on running
You know I want to be on my own tonight
Tonight I let you go

Tonight I let you go

Tonight I let you go

As you can see, there is a progression of emotions that is evident in these lyrics. This progression is the kind of thing commonly seen in pop music - a story is often told in pop songs. This shows that our lyrics could appeal to the pop music - the emotional lyrics such as "Their guilty hearts still bleed" also appeal to the partly teenage age demographic the pop genre targets. These people are often evolving emotionally as a person so these kinds of lyrics could make the song appeal more to them.

Ideas for the Narrative of our Music Video

We have had several ideas for the main narrative of our music video for The Colours' "Tonight I Let You Go":

1. Boy and Girl

Our first basic idea was to have a boy who was romantically interested in a girl - we would use several different shots to convey this as if he is remembering her. We considered using colour filters to show these different emotions.

2. Running Through Life

Following on from the previous idea, we thought of an idea where the main character is walking or running through a landscape and the world changes around him as he is running in the centre of the picture. We could adapt the environment to be made of different coloured objects - the mise-en-scène could be adapted to be a substitute for the colour filters mentioned previously. The main inspiration for this idea came from the Visa Europe Ad called Football Evolution:

3. A Combination of Ideas

Our latest, and currently main idea is a combination of these two ideas. The music video would start with a relatively normal person waking up in the night with a desire to do something special - he gets out of bed and is soon walking/running down the street towards the house of the one he loves. As this happens, his figure (in the centre of the picture) slowly fades in and out as we see memories, dreams, and images of the future which have a colour filter applied to them to tell you the emotion shown in each moment.  The lyrics "I just keep on running" in the song could have a double meaning as the main character is running (or walking) down the street.

Eventually, he arrives at the house and the colour filters are removed - he is back to reality. There, he meets the girl and they embrace, showing their love for each other. In the background, the final lyrics of the song -

"You know I want to be on my own tonight
I just keep on running
You know I want to be on my own tonight
Tonight I let you go

Tonight I let you go

Tonight I let you go"

- would add irony to this part of the music video. This would make the ending stand out and be more memorable.

Idea for Music Video: Colour Filters

From looking at the name of our band, The Colours, I have thought of an idea that associates our music video with them while also improving the quality of our music video.

When editing our music video, we could apply colour filters to associate certain shots with certain things. Different colours are often associated with different things:

Green: Envy/Air

Red: Anger/Fire

Blue: Calm/Water

Brown: Uncomfort/Earth

Black: Evil/Darkness

Grey: Dullness/Machinery

An example of this being applied to a music video is a music video of Kasabian's "Goodbye Kiss" which was used by the BBC as an end-of-season video for the F1 season in 2011. The colour filters in this music video are used to associate clips with different teams e.g. red for Ferrari. This helps the music video stand out and also helps you to understand the music video better.

If our audience could instantaneously associate different colour filters, and so different parts of the music videos, with different things, then the audience would be able to relate to our music video better. This means no time in the music video would be wasted telling you what the mood is at certain points - combined with the soundtrack, the colour filters would help tell you what to think at all times.

As the wife of Bernard Herrmann said, "The music tells the audience how to feel and what to think,". By combining music and colour filters, this could be emphasized in our video. 

The fact that our band is called The Colours would also focus attention on the different colour filters of the music video, again enhancing the effect of the music video telling you what to think.

Afrika Shox - Music Video Analysis

Before you even watch the music video "Afrika Shox", the name of the band - Left Field - tells you the political views of the band. "Left Field" tells us that they are likely supporters of left field parties.

The flashing lights of the police car reflect the
electronica/dance genre of the song

The music itself is from the electronica/dance genre and the flashing lights of the city (particularly the police car at the start of the video) compliment this and tell you the genre of the music. This continues all the way through the video, with bright lights from neon signs and breakdancers.

The main character of the music video always looks confused and blind, as if the daylight damages his eyesight. This figure represents the slave trade in America - this man is hidden away in the dark corners of the city and is ignored by the citizens passing him. As he stumbles around the city, everyone ignores him as he represents the slave trade and they are in denial that it exists.The most obvious example of this is when his arm is shattered as he reaches out for help. This shows that other people are rejecting his ask for help and this - literally - shatters him. As he looks at his shattered arm, destraught, alll the witnesses do is look at him and walk on, afraid to help him as they would rather believe he, and the slave trade he represents, do not exist.

The many tilt shots and shots containing shake, edited together quickly with quick cuts in between, emphasize the feeling of confusion and not knowing where you are. The aforementioned bright lighting is also included here to help this. The shots used to show the main character always make him appear vulnerable, and the focus on his vulnerability progressively increases as the video continues and more and more parts of him are shattered. This finally climaxes with the main character laying helplessly on the ground, as someone finally helps and offers his hand to help him up, ironically asking "Do you need a hand?". This has a triple meaning - to help the main character up (he has lost both hands and one foot by this point), to offer help for the desperate, injured, confused man stumbling through the city, and as black humour concerning the fact that he has lost his hands.

Through the music video, the main character's decreasing amount
of limbs reflects the amount of times his request for help is rejected

This music video contains intertextual references to the poem "Limbo" by Edward Kamau Brathwaite. This poem describes the lives of slaves and their game of Limbo on a slave ship transporting them. The poem Limbo, like this music video, describes people who are lost, desperate, and in need of help.

Another part of the music video "Afrika Shox" that references the genre of the music is the breakdancing at the end of the video that I mentioned earlier. This dancing is a reference to the electronica/dance genre of the music as this type of dancing is often thought of when people hear this type of music. This makes you more aware of the music and helps you to remember the song.

There is also a sense of racism in this video. The black main character is ignored by the predominantly white citizens of the city, and they all act superior. The ending of the music video contains some previously mentioned breakdancers, who cause damage to one of the main character's legs - instead of helping him, they reject him and he ends up knocked to the ground.

He is often associated with dark areas as well - your first view of the main character is him emerging from the shadows of a dark, dirty corner of the city. At the end of the music video, he is also seen walking down dark alleys.

The main character is first seen in a dark, dangerous place

The majority of the music video is focused on the main character, who is a lonely, isloated, vulnerable figure who represents the slave trade. This suggests that the slave trade is still present in America - and the fact that the white population of the city rejects him also suggests that they are in denial over the existence of a slave trade in America.