Music Video Analysis - Digital Technology

Digital Technology

We decided to use a panning shot of London to set the scene for the video, which is set in London. We had to use a tripod to keep this shot as steady as possible, so that the panning shot looked as professional as possible. We also edited the raw footage in iMovie to make it look more interesting, as the original footage was taken on a very grey day, and that didn't fit in with the theme of our video. We used the 'saturation' and 'brightness' controls on iMovie to make the shot look brighter and more eye catching as well as making the shot more genre appropriate, and fit the cheerful vibe of the song better.

In this shot we had to use the zoom out control on the camera, so that the shot looked like it was following Ruby. We felt that lots of shots in our video were still, as we did not really have the technology for lots of good panning shots, and the video did not looks as effective. This meant that we had to include movement in shots when possible, so we tried with this shot. It was quite an issue to get it right, as I had to pan out at the exact same pace that Alice was walking, so we had many out takes. This worked in our favour though, as towards the end of the video we used one of the out takes towards the end of the video that zoomed out too fast to break the fourth wall. This also made the video look less formal and made it more personal to the fans as the clip looks more like a 'behind the scenes' clip rather than having been shot specially for the video.

To again break the fourth wall in the video and involve the viewers in the video a bit more, we use the tripod to wobble the camera when Ruby storms off after getting annoyed with Ken while playing tennis. This make it look as if she has hit the camera, therefore showing that there is a camera there. This shows that the artist is aware she is being filmed, and almost means she comes out of character. It is also symbolic, as it shows her sense of aggression and frustration with Ken, so the viewer understands the storyline and realises that she is not happy in her relationship.

Music Video Analysis - Creativity

Creativity

In order to show our creativity, we had to put a lot of thought into each shot so that it involved as many themes in the video as possible. For example, in this shot we used fridge magnet letters to show Ruby's youth, as they often signify childhood. The letters are also in bright colours, so the bright theme is shown, setting the scene for the rest of the video. The record player also shows the video's retro vibe, which is again shown throughout the video. This use of creative elements in the video creates a fun, quirky feel.

We also used more props to introduce characters, for example here we use scrabble and the Ken doll. This is again to show the childlike image of the singer, as she is technically playing with toys, which is unusual behaviour for a teenager/young adult. The use of Ken instead of a real boyfriend could also show Ruby's desire to stay young, which is a common issue with the age group we are aiming our music video at. The brick wall background also shows the urban, London based theme of the video, and shows that we used a lot of resources to create each shot.

Finally, for this shot we had to wait until it was around valentine's day to get the right kind of confetti, as it was harder to get red heart shaped confetti at any other time of year. We wanted it to be red because it was symbolic of Ruby's name, and heart shaped because it shows that the theme of the video is love. We also didn't plan to do this shot in our original storyboard, but we came up with it when we were deciding what we would use the confetti for. As we didn't have the right sized tripod, I had to use a pile of books to keep this panning shot steady.

Music Video Analysis - Using Conventions From Real Media Texts

Using Conventions From Real Media Texts

For this extreme close up shot we took inspiration from other influences such as musician Jessie J, who, as part of her brand image, has quite a strong focus on her lips, using lots of lip art such as union flags. We tried to also use lip tatoos, but we found that they were quite difficult to get a professional finish, so instead we opted for bright red lipstick, as a reference to Ruby's name. We used this to show when Ruby was whistling, however it got quite repetitive, so we used a few alternative shots of her walking so that the lip shots are more interesting when they are used. The slightly smudged imperfection of the lipstick again shows Ruby's youth and quirkyness, as if it was applied perfectly she would look too grown up and professional. This way the target audience, teenage girls, are more likely to relate to her, rather than being shown professionally done make up that they would never be able to achieve themselves.

In most music videos of the solo indie pop genre, the artist is the focus of the video, and is often playing an acting role in the video as well as singing. We followed this convention, as our music video had a narrative theme. This mid shot shows a combination of the performance element, i.e the lipsynching, and the narrative, which is when Ruby has been given the flower by Ken.

We followed the conventions of having a relationship featured in the music video, as many music videos in our genre have this focus, especially with love songs. This is because our genre's audience is mostly female, and teenage girls are more likely to watch a music video if it features a relationship. We did subvert the conventions slightly, however, as the relationship, rather than being between a girl and a boy, is between a girl and a doll. We took inspiration from Olly Murs' video for his song 'Busy', which features a relationship between him and a paper mache mannequin. This particular long shot shows Ruby and Ken gwetting on well together in their 'relationship', which is also highhlighted by the bright colours and the fact she is holding him rather than putting distance between them as she has done previously in the video.

Music Video Analysis - Research and Planning

Research and Planning

We did lots of planning for when we shot the footage of the skate park in Alexandra Palace, as we had to research the area, how to get there and what kind of shots we would do. this way we were able to be fully prepared, as well as have plenty of time to get all the shots we needed. One thing we couldn't predict. however, were the other people in the skate park. However, we had to carry on filming despite some embarrassment. We also had to know what things to bring with us as well, such as video camera, tripod, Ken doll, oyster cards and I also brought my camera so what we would be able to have some good images of the location for our blogs. For this mid shot there is a distance between Ruby and Ken, which again shows that they are not getting on well. This is also emphasised by the way Ruby is 'looking down' on Ken. showing that she has the power in the relationship.

We also did lots of planning for the filming for the part in the video when Ruby is waiting for Ken after she has prepared a special valentine's day celebration for him. We planned on filming this a few days before valentine's day itself, as we knew that the sort of things we'd need for the shoot would only really be in shops around then. We bought things like red heart confetti, a red pretend flower, heart chocolates and a toast stamp that said the words 'I love you'.  This meant we were prepared for this shoot, as well as having the camera etc with us. For this mid shot we had to do quite a lot of preparation, such as light and arrange the candles. We also had to decide on the camera movement, which was a panning shot of the table. This adds the hermeneutic code to the video (Barthes), as we do not know where the shot is going until it reveals her sitting at the table. The fact that she is checking her watch is also a semantic code, as the underlining meaning to this action shows that she is waiting for someone, and as an audience we can work this out before it is revealed by Ken arriving, as that is how we interpret this action.

For this close up shot we also filmed at Alice's house, but we needed to prepare beforehand as we planned out the sequence, so that it made sense and was funny. We also had to buy the giant haribo beforehand, and make sure that Alice had eggs in her house. The bright spotted plate again adds to the colourful and youthful the video, and contrasts with the stripy tablecloth, which shows that Ruby and Ken are binary opposites  (Sassure), despite the fact they are getting in well on the shot. It also shows that there is an enigma code (Barthes) towards Ruby and Ken's relationship, as audience doesn't know exactly how they stand with each other by the end.

Music Video Analysis - Post Production

Post Production

This close up shot of the scrabble pieces spelling out the word 'presenting' has been changed in iMovie, using a video effect called 'Vignette'. This adds focus to the word, as well as giving the clip an old-fashioned, pinhole effect that works well with the music video's retro meets contemporary theme. The use of scrabble also adds a childlike feel, which also goes with the use of the Ken doll, and the other signifiers in the video that Ruby is young (Strausse). After doing some research at the beginning of the project, we found that many music videos in the indie pop genre introduced the artist with text, for example in the music video for Olly Murs' song 'Busy'. As our music video had a lot of similarities to this video, we decided that this would be a good way of 'presenting' our artist. 

A split screen is often used in music videos to show contrast, much like in Daniel Powter's music video for his song 'Bad Day'. We used Final Cut express to make the split screen, and the use of symmetry is used to show that although everything looks similar, the situation is entirely different. The split screen shows the ups and downs of Ruby and Ken's relationship, as it is good one minute and bad the next. The composition of the shot is focused on the sofa, as it is what stays the same in both shots. The use of Ken and Ruby sitting on opposite sides of the sofa is a symbolic code (Barthes), as we are taught that any couple with distance between them shows they are having problems and have recently had an argument. The lower shot shows them as being close, and even having Ruby lying on Ken's side of the sofa, which signifies that she is in control of the space, therefore is in control of the relationship. The use of red in the shot, as well as being a metaphor for Ruby, as rubies are usually red, shows anger in the top screen and love in the bottom, which again shows the contrast, even though things look the same.

In iMovie we used a transition called 'Circle Open' to create a shot that alludes to Ken being hit by the tennis ball. This is an example of an action code (Barthes), as we do not see the actual action occur, but we are able to work it out through the use of other cultural codes. The use of the comic book style 'POW!' is a cultural code, as only certain cultures would be familiar with comic books and the use of onomatopoeia. The use of the 'POW!' also shows the viewer that this is not a realistic world they are seeing, but rather a figment of a young person's imagination, namely Ruby's. The use of the transition being circular signifies (Strausse) the tennis ball, which also adds to the action code, as we do not see Ken being hit. The use of the bright primary colours in the image shows again that Ruby is young, as primary colours are often used on child's toys. It also stands out and goes well with the bright and colourful theme of the video.

Filming in London

Today we managed to get our filming in London done. We had to go to three different locations, and we were really tired by the end of the day. We first went to Brixton, however we found that it wasn't really the kind of area that we were comfortable filming in, especially in the market as everyone started glaring at us when we took out the camera. We did get a few shots done in an alleyway next to the O2 Arena in Brixton, which we will definately use for our production, and we also got a few graffiti shots, however when we were filming this there was a woman nearby having a very loud, sweary conversation on her phone, which was a bit awkward filming wise, as we were trying not to laugh.

As Brixton wasn't as successful as we'd hoped, we went to our next location after lunch, which was Southbank. This was far more effective for graffiti shots, however the main graffiti area was the skate park and lots of people we skating so we didn't want to get in the way. Instead we decided to do some more walking shots, so we found lots of interesting backgrounds and filmed those. I also had the idea, when we were by big ben, to do some vintage-looking shots on my phone of Alice, the Ken doll and famous London locations. I used the app Hipstamatic to make these, and I later got them printed off at Boots. We decided we could use these in a shot that is similar to the concept of the Cher Lloyd 'Want U Back' video, which is the singer looking at photographs of her and her boyfriend.

Finally we did some filming in the tube, at the end of an escalator. This shot was quite difficult to co ordinate, as Alice had to go up and down the escalator two or three times and we didn't want to annoy anyone on the tube.

Overall we didn't get quite as much footage as we'd hoped for, but we did come up with some new ideas and took advantage of our locations.

Alexandra Palace footage

This is a summary of our trip to Alexandra Palace, along with some of our footage.

Ally Pally filming

Today we braved the bitter weather and went to film at Alexandra Palace in Muswell Hill. It was a brilliant location, as there are lots of different bits to it, such as a skate park, a play area, a lake, and of course the amazing views of London from the top of the hill.

We also filmed in the skate park, which had some nice colourful graffiti. We got most of the shots we wanted, but it was pretty embarrassing as there was a guy filming a little kid rapping at the same time. Also, we decided to leave one shot in there until later, because they were filming right in front of it, but when we came back the staff had closed the skate area, because it was all icy and too dangerous to try skating in. We were pretty annoyed, but it was just a shot of some graffiti that we can get when we go to London, so it's not too much of a problem.

                                     

This was the bit of graffiti we wanted to film in front of. Oh well.

We wanted to film on some of these slopes, but it was so icy Alice couldn't get up there and we didn't want her to hurt herself (look at us, considering health and safety!).

And this was one of the shots we used with Alice lip synching. She actually sang along, to make it look more realistic, but she made us sing with her so it was less embarrassing for her. Things we do for media.

Anyway, it was a pretty successful day of filming, and we got almost everything done we needed to. once we'd finished we went to the cafe and got some hot chocolate to warm up, and then went home. We think we now have around 40-50% of our filming done, which isn't a bad figure to be working with.

Lips Filming

As part of our video we are going to include some shots of lips whistling at the whistling points in the song, so today we filmed that. we originally planned to use different lipsticks on the lips for each shot, but we realised that that might be quite time consuming and we wouldn't have enough lipsticks, so we decided while filming that we would only do one or two different colours of lipstick and then change the shot's colour in iMovie to fit in with the video's colourful theme. Here is a behind the scenes video that Valentina took on her phone:

Tennis and Kitchen filming

Today we had a day off because of the teachers striking, so we though it was a good opportunity to kickstart our filming. We decided to film the tennis and the kitchen scenes of our music video, which we were able to do in one day as there is a park with tennis courts right near Alice's house, which is where we filmed the kitchen scene. Here is a behind the scenes video that Valentina filmed on her phone:


Here are some of the final shots we got for the tennis scene that we will be using as part of the music video:

Shooting Schedule

Today in the lesson we decided to put together a shooting schedule so that we can start filming. Here it is:

It's only the one page because Valentina is away over christmas. Me and Alice are still possibly planning on filming over the holidays but we don't know when we will be free and we don't ant to film in London when there will be christmas choppers and january sales, so we're going to have to film the London parts at another time.

Stop Frame Animation Practice

Today we put together some practice videos for our stop frame animation. We are using scrabble pieces to spell out the artist's name and the song title. We also decided to have some of the lyrics in scrabble pieces as well, because we wanted to keep the theme going in the video. Here are the resulting videos:








We will probably have to re film these, because the quality isn't the best, and there are a lot of shadows that ruin the effect. However, as a practice these turned out pretty well, and we've decided that we will use similar backgrounds because these work well with the theme.