Group 8: A* Shots

• This is a storyboard of different shots that we think are good. All of these shots are linked to the happier side of our video and we invisage shots similar for our own production.

NM: Covention of Indie Genre Digipaks

NM: Music Video Analysis

Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball

Representation

• Within this music video the artist Miley Cyrus is represented using meta-narrative. Immediately into the music video one of Dyer’s paradoxes becomes present; this being the both present and absent. We see this as the emotion on her face brings the audience into her and shows the physical presence of her yet she is absent in the sense that she has a defensive wall up which makes the star seem not real and untouchable. Without the narrative and just pure performance a fabula takes place whereby the lyrics anchor the visuals, this also introduces the second paradox of Dyer’s research. For example the artist is extraordinary and are unlike a normal person, they are consumerable and famous, however the use of frequent close ups and in some case first mode of the address the fourth wall is broken, as an audience we then feel connected with the artist and see them as somewhat normal.
• The artist has used special effects such as time stretch which could be seen as conventional of the genre, Goodwin would acknowledge that the effects on the visuals are seen in pop and mainstream genres to seem authentic.
• The social message behind this video would be to follow aspirations, as we have watched Miley Cyrus grow to become an incredibly successful artist. Some camera techniques such as extreme close ups allow the viewer to see the emotion on her face create this sense of verisimilitude about the artist and make her songs more relatable. Another example is the transitions between different shots. I think there are some references to popular culture in the way emotion is used in many music videos today. The emotion creates and adds meaning to the artists image as well as their songs and makes them appear to be more genuine.

NM: Music Video Analysis

Bastille - Pompeii

Institution and Audience

• This video might be consumed through radio, YouTube, and television; given that the artist is a popular chart topper, the video will have gone out and been consumed by many different audiences. However predominantly teenagers between 12-18 would be the audience of a song like this hence why it would be consumed online.
• The record label would have played a major role in producing this video. it is a high budget video with new digital technologies, so the label would have invested a lot of money in to the success of this video.

Media Language

• The message of the video is purely about the band image. The video is constructed in a way that represents the artist in a ordinary yet extra ordinary way.
• The camera techniques used to do this includes the use of the rule of thirds where the artist is always centered. The use of pull focus and blurring the background is apparent through out.

NM: Music Video Analysis

Crystal Fighters - You & I

Genre and Narrative

• The forms and conventions used in this video are very obvious. They stick very closely to the convention of an indie rock music video; for example it starts with lots of establishing shots of nature and has a very high lighting effect to represent happiness, and keep the video in time with the upbeat song.
• In terms of performance, although we do not see the band performing the song, there is visuals of a tree mouthing the song, this extends the links of the track with the video, as although it may not be conventional that the band aren't performing, it is conventional for a indie video to have random aspects.
• The video is representative of a disjunctive video, in the sense that the video does not illustrate what the lyrics are saying, however it is also a slight amplification as the music is upbeat which is reflected in the cutting rate.
• I believe that the video could be considered as art because it is not a video for a commercial point of view. The video is there not too sell the song but just to offer as a visual to the track. it is designed to be interesting and happy which is why the video could be considered as art.

TH: Conventions of the Indie Genre (Digipaks)

Group 8: Brighton Feedback

From our recce trip to Brighton we benefited largely through experimenting with different camera shots and techniques, which I believe we will try to incorporate into our final music video.

·        We experimented a lot with the use of handicams during our trip, particularly when filming in the arcade on the pier.  We liked this technique and think it will be effective in our own final production because during the boys dream state we want the audience to feel present but also aware that the clip is not real life so the handicam gives it a slightly disorientated dreamy feel. This will also be presented with some a colour grade effect so it is clear that this state is not reality, and a fast cutting rate will reinforce the boys happiness and display action.

·        We worked on time-lapses during our trip to Brighton; this is a technique we may consider using during our final production. The time passing in our video could represent many things, like how regardless of how the time passes nothing changes for the boy at home and his situation never gets better. This could be shown through a shot of the sun going down into darkness.

·       The use of slow motion was effective during our trip to catch shots of the sea and mainly catching emotion. I think we will use a lot of slow motion in our final production to display the contrast of emotions from when the boy is at home where he is very uncomfortable, to this dream state where he is happiest.

JT: Technical Analysis

1.How did your creative process develop, improve from film opening to music video?

• Using a song and basing the idea around the song as opposed to thinking of the visuals first made it easier to be more creative. The different points in the song gave us a que of what type of shots we would need at what time.
• For example there was parts of the song that would be fast and so a high cutting rate was required but then there was also points in the song where a slower cutting rate was needed.

2.What cinematography skills / experimentation did you develop further during this project?

• We really developed the use of sun and shadows in this task. We filmed on an extremely sunny day and so we used it too our advantage and took interesting shots with shadows in as well as using the sun beams in the background.

3.List editing techniques and effects that you used in post-production. Be very specific and include detail.

• Time Lapse and Time Stretch
• Colour Grading to make the shots brighter
• Fade to Black Transitions

4.To what extent did you conform to the codes and conventions of music videos you have studied in your coursework productions?

• We conformed to the conventions of the songs genre is a few ways. Firstly we used to a bright colour grading to make the video more upbeat to match the visuals.
• Secondly we used time-stretch to speed shots up, this is oftenly seen is music videos of similar genre.
• Thirdly the involvment of establishing shots and shots of the surrounding locations, especially with the influence of the sun beaming down.

NM: Technical Analysis

Kodaline - High Hopes

Shot No.	Duration (Seconds)	Camera (movement, angles, and Distance)	Mise En Scene
1	4.0	Long shot, high angle, static	Fields, trees, car, person centre shot. Lighting coming off the left hand side
2	4.0	Mid Shot, Eye line, Static	Car in the centre of the shot, grey colour washed sky. Person walking round the car.
3	5.0	Close up, slow zooming out shot	Person putting a hose pipe into the exhaust of the car.
4	3.0	Close up Static Shot	The end of the hose pipe releasing smoke in to the car.
5	2.5	Close up Static Shot	Man inside the car whilst the car fills us up with smoke around him.
6	3.0	Long Shot, pull focus	Car set in the centre whilst a young woman dressed in white comes in to focus running towards car.
7	3.5	Long Shot, Static Shot	Girl running towards the camera, high key lighting, representation of an angel.
8	2.0	Close up, slow zoom out	Man in car smoke around him, looks out the window of the car.
9	2.0	Close up, static shot	Back of the man's head as he looks around over his shoulder out the back window.
10	4.0	Mid shot, slow ped up with a slight pan from left to right.	Over the shoulder shot, shows shoulder of man, roof of the car and the woman running towards.
11	1.5	Over the shoulder mid shot, static	Return view as the woman looks at the man.
12	1.0	Over the shoulder mid shot, static	Man looks back at woman, she then turns her head to the right signalling for him to look that way.
13	3.0	Extreme Long shot, static, low angle	From bottom of the hill, we see a group of people coming over the top of the hill into the bright colourful picture.
14	2.5	Over the shoulder mid shot, static	Over the shoulder of the woman showing the facial reaction of the man.
15	2.0	Close up, static, low angle shot	Shows the faces of those who have just come over the hill. Distressed facial expressions, low key lighting.
16	2.5	Mid shot, eye line, static	Close up of the man as he keeps looking away from the camera towards the saviours.
17	3.0	Mid shot, knee height, static	Shows the man bending down and pulling the hose out the exhaust pipe, his boots and legs are in the left hand third of the shot and the exhaust to the right.
18	2.0	Eye line shot, static and framed in mid shot	The woman opens the door of the car, with the sun light behind her and gets in.
19	5.0	Close up eye line static shot	The man and woman both sitting in the car, the man then takes the hose and puts it in the back and begins to drive.
20	1.5	Close Up slow panning shot left to right	The men who came over the hill are too late to stop them, shows the anger in their face.
21	3.0	Long shot, eyeline, very steady slow pan left to right.	The car drives away from left to right, shot is slowed to add effect. The picture is bright and beams of sun light are shown across the screen.
22	1.0	Close up , static shot	Camera is on the inside door of the passenger seat where both passengers can be seen.  This shot there is no movement.
23	1.0	Close up , static shot	Camera is on the inside door of the passenger seat where both passengers can be seen, the man pulls out a flask.
24	1.0	Close up , static shot	Camera is on the inside door of the passenger seat where both passengers can be seen, the woman then drinks from the flask.
25	1.0	Close up , static shot	Camera is on the inside door of the passenger seat where both passengers can be seen, the woman makes a puppet out of a sock, they laugh.

 

 

In summary, I have learnt a lot by doing this technically.The video I have chosen was a narrative and so did not feature any shots of the artist and no performance was in volved in the video. On average the shots are between 2-3 seconds. There is a lot of very slight movements of the camera to add effect and different pace too the shots; for example although a shot may only last two seconds it feels as if it is much longer as there might be a steady pan, tilt or ped. The video also uses the rule of thrids to create a sense of space, the shots are either framed with an object in the centre and nothing around it or they are framed with an object in either edge of the screen and show a gap in between, this represents the emptiness of the character.

TH: Technical Analysis

Bastille – Things We Lost In The Fire

 

Shot Number	Duration (Seconds)	Camera	Mise en Scene
1	4	Extreme long shot, which is static.	Introduces the song opening with the lighting emerging, through the sun rise. Also sets the location, as a cold wasteland.
2	4	Extreme long shot, again static. High angle.	Again shows the location. However the lighting is more subtle, despite this there is more happening in the shot. With a something in the distance producing fumes.
3	8	Long shot, tilting upwards which starts from a low angle.	Introduces the first set of characters. All of which are anonymous as we cannot see their faces, as well as this all are clothed in black to emphasise the subtle light coming through in the background.
4	7	Extreme long shot, static shot from long angle.	Three dogs are running towards the camera in slow-motion, this being the main object in the shot. However the light seems to have increased slightly.
5	8	Mid/long shot, static shot from relatively low angle.	The 11 characters walk from right to left of the screen; they are all dressed in dark colours. The only light is far into the distance.
6	7	Close up, tilting upwards. At the beginning it is focused on the bullet then refocuses on the character.	A man picks up the bullet and we are introduced to the first face of the video. We can see he is between the ages of 50-60. At the beginning of the shot we can see he is wearing a ring this could show he has family.
7	4	Long shot, slight pan to the left, at a low angle.	The is an abandoned car, on which as dog is standing on the roof. The dog turns to face the camera. The lighting comes from behind the dog, as we can see the suns outline.
8	7	Long shot, which is stationary.	Suddenly very dark, and we see the outline of several characters who are dressed in dark robes running towards the antagonist. He is wearing lighter clothing, and the light seems to revolve around him.
9	6	Jump cuts to a side view of the previous shot. This shot is a mid-shot, which pans from left to right.	The same dark characters run past the protagonist, and back into the darkness.
10	3	Close/Mid-shot, which is zooming in.	We see the protagonist is wearing a denim jacket, which is conventional of the indie genre. Also we can see the light is revolving around him.
11	3	Close up, with rule of thirds used.	Performance starts. The lights emphasises his faces in the foreground, as there is nothing in the background but darkness.
12	3	Close up, static shot.	The bullet that we have previously seen is reintroduced, however with a different character (the protagonist) holding it. This leads to narrative fuzz.
13	22	Mid-shot, zooming toward the protagonist. However moves past him toward the light of the distance. We then find we are transported, a pan from a left to right starts. We also find we ped down from a high to medium angle. We then follow the female antagonist, via the same prolonged pan.	The light in the foreground soon disappears as we move into the dark. However we somehow change location, to an inside of a night club. Here we see some sort of robbery, etc. The characters are dressed casually, and the antagonist is left anonymous until the last second of the shot.
14	7	Jump cut, back to the performance and the protagonist. We see a close up of the performer; there is a track backwards as we see the protagonist walking toward the camera. No first mode of address.	The close up of the performer allows us to see his emotion and which is sadness. The melancholy mood is also set by the grey composition of the frame and little lighting.
15	7	Cuts back to a frontal view of the antagonist. Close up of the antagonist, which fades to black slowly.	The character seems to be between the age of 20-30, and the fade to black is effective as she does not acknowledge the audience. However in some ways enigma codes are created as the audience want to know what will happen next.
16	9	The fade to white occurs of the same shot, there is a close up of the protagonist. However he walks from the foreground to the background. Static shot.	The lighting is still dim, and this emphasises the lights of the car, bringing it directly to our attention.
17	2	Mid shot, this is a static shot.	We see the protagonist get in the car. The lighting remains dark and grey, however the car is in the lightest part of the shot.
18	1	Close up, static. Reverse angle of previous shot.	As we enter the car, we see its darker.
19	4	Close- up of protagonist, another static shot.	We see the face of the performer has changed and he is now much happier, shown by the change of lighting in the window. We also can tell the car is moving through the window.
20	7	Long shot, tracking toward the car which is moving away from the camera. As well as this the shot is in slow motion.	We are in a different location, possibly somewhere in northern America. The shot is much lighter, and the mood has developed into a cheerful one. The car then disappears behind the smoke of the exhaust.
21	3	Close up, another static shot. POV shot.	We are introduced to another character, also in a cheerful mood fitting to the previous shot. The car seems much lighter which we can see through the front window.
22	2	Close up, again stationary. POV shot.	Another character is introduced (the driver) he briefly looks straight at the camera.
23	2	Close up, this is also stationary. POV shot.	The third and final character is introduced. He seems a more mellow and is dressed in darker clothing than the characters. However this does not kill this atmosphere.
24	1	Close up, stationary shot of the driver and the front window. POV shot.	This character picks up a gun on the top of the desktop. Begins to throw it towards the back seat.
25		Close up, fast tilt shot.	The mood darkens as the gun hits the lap of the antagonist. The quick tilt up shows the characters quick change in emotion, to concern.

In this video there are several things which are conventional of the genre. An example is the dark lighting, this is common in other videos of the indie genre. As well as this there is some disjuncture of narrative, and this is a common theme within indie videos. Specific camera movements such as panning slow- mos and extreme shots are shots we hope to emulate within our video. As well as this personally I think the POV shots in this video, are both visually interesting and authentic. At the beginning of this video there are only a few characters which are shown through enigmatic codes to be mysterious, however as the video progresses we are introduced to the performer. Then the majority of the next shots include the performer in some ways.