Vox Pop - Rough Cut

Vox Pop - Preliminary and Ancillary draft

Final Digipak

Final Music Advert

Music Video Final Cut

Production Schedule

Production Schedule by Jack Barrell on Scribd

Digpak First Draft

Music Advert First Draft

Music Video Rough Cut

Storyboard

Storyboard

 

 

 

 

 

Pitch

Pitch by Jack Barrell on Scribd

Cutting to the beat

Cutting to the Beat by Jack Barrell on Scribd

Actor Auditions

Actor Auditions

 

Overall, we auditioned five male actors for the vocal actor in our music video. As well as the vocalist for the video, the singer role will also be the character in the narrative section of the music video. Instantly, we thought that using a female to act in the video would not be as effective for the success purely for the reason that the actual song is sung by a male and the lyrics themselves are suggested to be sun from a man’s point of view. We thought that having a female act in the video would be strange and not as effective because the audience will not be able to relate what they are hearing to what is on screen. 

After the auditions, we had to decide who we thought would suit the role as the lead singer and be in our music video. we had to make sure that we picked someone that would be enthusiastic and willing to give up some of their time to be on set and film the music video. As well as this, we needed someone that understands stage presence and how to capture an audience. Adding to this, we needed someone that would not be camera shy and someone who is confident with their acting ability and is able to maintain a character.

In terms of a vocalist, we wanted the actor to lip sync the song with a very relaxed presence due to the song being relatively meaningful and has connotations and themes of heartbreak and some sadness. 

Auditionee 1 was Jordan. Jordan studies A level Performing Arts and level 3 Btec Music, as well as media. For this reason he would be good for the role as he is aware of stage presence and is very good at sustaining a character due to his experience in productions and various acting roles he has taken part in. He is committed and would certainly be available for the role. However, Jordan was not selected for the role of lead singer and the character for the narrative in the music video. The reason for this is that in his audition, Jordan seemed quite extravagant in his performance presenting slightly too much drama and too much enthusiasm which is not what we were looking for. However, we did discover that Jordan is a drummer and he has had good experience gigging with a band in front of large audiences. For this reason, we are planning to have Jordan as the band's drummer in the music video. 

Another reason that we are planning to have him as the drummer in the band is because we are confident that he will learn the song. This is good because instead of having to mime the song on drums, he will be able to actually play the song accurately to how it is in the real song meaning it will look a lot more effective than if we'd have had to mime on the drums.

Auditionee 2 was Ronan. We did not feel that he was one of the strongest candidates. This is because initially, he found the timing of the lyrics and the song challenging and it took a number of takes to get it right. Adding to this, he slightly missed the timing of the first line. This is very important whilst filming because of how many different shots there will be. As we will be taking many shots, it will be important that the person cast for the singing role can quickly pick up the lyrics and have good awareness of structure and the song's timings. Due to this, Ronan was not selected for the role.

Candidate 3 was Jack. After reviewing Jack's audition, we found that his performance was very static and he did not move at all. his lip syncing didn't look very natural and he looked a little nervous. To create an effective and lively music video, we felt that the singer would have to seem relaxed yet not frozen in one spot. Having said this, we felt that Jack's stage presence was lacking slightly and it would have been good to see a little more confidence in his audition therefore we have not selected him for the role. 

Will was next to audition for the role of lead singer and the character in the narrative of the music video. Like Jordan, Will studies A level performing Arts and level 3 Btec music. This means that Will is aware of stage persona and how to gain audience's attention. He is also able to sustain a character very well due to his experience in theatre. We found out that Will performs quite a lot and is used to singing and playing acoustic guitar in front of many people. The fact that Will is already a singer/guitarist was very helpful in the process of picking the actor for the role. Will was able to pick up the lyrics and timings for the sing extremely quickly and was confident in front of camera. The way in which Will performed his audition and set the mood was also a large factor in why we have chosen him for the role, Will was very relaxed, it was clear that he put himself into the shoes of the narrative aspect of the character and he seemed as if he truly understood the lyrics and he was generally very natural.

It is because of these reasons that we decided to cast will for the part of lead singer and actor in the narrative in the music video. As well as singing, Will will also be playing the acoustic guitar at the same time. Will is by far the best candidate for this role because of the amount of experience that he has had and the fact that he already sings and plays guitar so will be able to learn the song quickly and make it look believable and realistic. 

The last auditionee was Tom. Going over Tom's audition, he was very camera shy and seemed very nervous. As well as this, he had to hold a sheet with the lyrics on and was constantly looking down on them. Also it took a while for Tom to get a good take of his audition as he was unsure about the timings of the lyrics and the song. From the audition, it looked like Tom was trying too hard and it didn't look very natural. If this was to be done in the actual video that we shoot, it would not look effective at all and would make the performance less interesting for the audience because they would not be able to believe the performance. It is for these reasons that we did not select Tom for the role of lead singer and character in the performance.

 

Deconstruction of Song Lyrics

Production Roles

Shot List

Shot List Table by Jack Barrell on Scribd

Risk Assessment

Music Video Risk Assessment by Jack Barrell on Scribd

28 Norh Band Contact

Contacting the Band

Overall, in deciding our song for our music video production, it was essential that we contacted the band (owners and creators of the song). With this in mind, we did contact 28 North in order to inform them that we plan to use their song 'Los Angeles' for our music video. The band did in fact receive our message therefore we deemed it suitable to begin planning and production of the music video.

Mise-en-Scene

Reasoning

For Costume, it was thought to be necessary that we present the band image through what each band member and what the narrative character wears. We chose casualwear and relatively ordinary costume due to the fact that we wish to follow conventions of the indie genre and in regards to conventional costume use in the genre there is usually regular, quite trendy, everyday items of clothing such as jeans, t shirts, jackets and trainers. For the choice of this costume we were inspired greatly by similar costume worn by the band members in Imagine Dragons who in their music videos such as 'Radioactive', 'It's time' and 'I bet my life' do in fact wear very casual items of clothing.

 

 

Setting is also a very important aspect of Mise-en-Scene that we had to take into consideration with our music video, we had to decide where the sequences of narrative would take place and where the sequences of performance would take place. The settings that we chose were both very simple in the forms of a bedroom and an open field, this is mainly due to the fact that we plan to bring the set to life and give an essence of character to it with the props and the actors in the narrative. The field was chosen for the set of the performance and the narrative as my Narrative Sketch Post states that the performance will feature in this setting on a relatively bright day signifying happiness whereas the narrative will feature in the exact same field yet it will be on a more dull, overcast day representing the emotions portrayed as a narrative. The second setting we have chosen is the small bedroom, this setting will only feature narrative and no performance will take place here whatsoever. We thought this to be a suitable setting for the narrative because it plays the part of the main characters home and the bedroom will have a chalkboard on the wall with string and pegs holding in place vintage postcards from the American states mentioned in the song. In this planning process we visualised an open spaced setting for the performance and narrative thus coming to the conclusion of a country field, in making tis decision, we gained inspiration yet again from the indie/rock genre due tot he fact that this genre is conventional for not featuring too extreme settings and the music videos tend to feature familiar or realistic settings. An artist that we did take inspiration from in terms of our setting choice was Jason Aldean in the music video for 'A little more summertime' where the performance aspect of the video is filmed from a wide shot on a beach featuring the entire band with a carnival in the background. This inspired us because of the authenticity given off by the band in the setting, we liked the idea of performance taking place in a location other than a stage or an arena yet the location is not too abstract.

It is the simplicity of a setting that we wanted to feature in our music video with the character and charisma being emitted from the actors and props being used in the sequences. Another music video that we were inspired by in terms of this simplicity in a setting was Justin Beiber 'I'll show you', and even though this of the pop genre an effective setting is still used and is effective due to its simplicity.

We feel that these two music video examples are so effective because the simple setting as a result draws focus to the other aspects of mise-en-scene in the shot.

Following the theme of Mise-en-Scene aiding the narrative, we plan for the props to be no different. The majority of the chosen props for our music video are for use in on particular narrative sequence. This narrative sequence being the part of the video where the main character's emotional/mental state is depicted with a cut from the performance to him throwing, kicking and making a general mess of the set with sed props. The majority of the props chosen for this sequence are disposable therefore are relatively easily cleaned up and are not too valuable if broken, also, these props/objects are very random and this was due to the narrative and the fact that the whole sequence depicts the characters insanity and unstable emotions. The other props we plan to use in the music video include a chalkboard, string, pegs and a variety of vintage American postcards which play a part for the narrative as well. Finally, for performance, instruments will be used in the video such as an electric guitar, drum kit with drum sticks and possibly a microphone with stand. In general, it is not overly conventional for music videos of the indie/rock genre to feature a great deal of props apart from the exceptions of instruments. However we plan to ignore these conventions and use the variety of props as mentioned due to the fact that we feel their use will have a positive impact for the narrative and will play a significant part. Some inspiration that we got for using a wide variety of relatively noticeable and familiar props is from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers music video of 'Can't stop' where a wide range of props are used such as buckets, lamps, paint and dustbins, however the difference in this music video is that it has a disjuncture narrative and we plan to expand on this use of props by using them within an amplification narrative.

In regards to lighting and make-up, we have little requirements for our music video for either of these aspects, except for the lighting in the performance and narrative scenes in the field which where the performance scenes will be on a brighter day whereas the narrative field sequence will feature on a more dull, overcast day. The narrative sequences in the bedroom will feature artificial light since it is a home environment and it would seem realistic for their to be standard lights used. Secondly, with make-up, we have decided that we do not plan to use any make-up whatsoever as we wish to follow conventions of the indie/rock genre and also our narrative does not require us to use an aspect of make-up either.

Target Audience Demographics & Psychographics

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Narrative Sketch

Narrative Sketch by Jack Barrell on Scribd

 

 

28 North Lyrics Analysis

28 North – Los Angeles by Jack Barrell on Scribd

In the presentation above I have outlined the key concepts, ideas and connotations present in the lyrics in 28 North - Los Angeles. Through these subtle connotations in the lyrics, ideas of a wider narrative are interpretable.



For example, there are many hints and references to themes of heartbreak, guilt and loss, this is clear in lyrics such as 'The one that got away', 'She said I broke her heart', 'running from my past' and 'no peace'. All of these lyrics do have strong connotations of past heartbreak and guilt. Furthermore, lyrics such as 'no peace' and 'sanity's a luxury' indicate themes of guilt and open up possible psychological aspects and feelings of the viewpoint from which this song and these lyrics are taken, with the lyrics 'no peace' and 'sanity's a luxury' it is implied that this person is haunted by the past and is struggling to find peace in life, this connotation is then reinforced by the lyrics 'now sanity's a luxury'.



Further into the song, the concept of finding peace is even more apparent yet it is subtly represented with travelling to physically find peace in location. This is evident in lyrics such as 'I could stay in PA', 'moved to California in my 25th year' and finally 'I found no peace in Los Angeles', it is inferred that this person feel lost and that they don't belong in 'PA' and they 'could stay' but don't necessarily feel right emotionally doing so. This metaphorical search for a sense of belonging is further expanded with he lyrics 'moved to California'. After this, in the more chorus sections of the song lyrics such as 'I found no peace in Los Angeles', 'no peace in Los Angeles', these lyrics give the suggestion that Los Angeles is the final place that this person has travelled to in order to find this 'peace', however they are unsuccessful in their efforts as after all the travelling they cannot even find the 'peace in Los Angeles', with this emphasis on Los Angeles it is implied that this person considered Los Angeles a heavenly place and this is considered by many as Los Angeles is nicknamed 'City of Angels'. Therefore the fact that they can't even find peace in this place that they see as heavenly leads us to believe that they are guilt ridden and feel as if they will never get rid of this guilt.

Digipak Analysis

Music Video Focus Group

Questionnaire

Overall, the focus group after the Vox Pop, was another way to find out more about our possible target audience. However, with the focus group, we were able to select a specific group of people all of similar age but split with three males and three females. The first part of the focus group activity involved offering the participants a questionnaire these questions all revolved around a possible song choice for our music video and we played the song to the focus group while they answered the questionnaire.

 

Thumbs up, Thumbs down

After we issued the questionnaire to the participants, they took part in a ‘Thumbs up, Thumbs down’ exercise, this entailed the focus group answering four different questions relating to the chosen possible song and their only form of answering was either putting their thumbs up or down usually signifying ‘yes or no’. This again was a very effective method in eventually choosing a song for our music video and discovering what aspects of songs and music videos they were attracted to the most. Again, this exercise took place while the participants listened to the song.

The first question that we asked the focus group read ‘Does the song provide a wide range of music video ideas?’, we thought that this was an appropriate question to ask the focus group due to the fact that we plan to create a music video with an amplification narrative it is vital that we have selected a song that does offer ideas and concepts that could be implemented into a music video. Successfully, the answered we received from the participants were 100% yes as all participants evidently put their thumbs up. With this information we now know that members of our possible target audience possibly view the song choice as original, unique and rich with connotations and concepts.

For the second question, we sked, if the music video for the song should contain lip-syncing, we again thought that this was a suitable question to ask the focus group as many of our answers that we received from the vox pop specified that they preferred an equal ratio of narrative and performance therefore we intended to find out if members of our potential target audience wanted to see lip syncing as a part of this performance or not. Similarly to the previous answer, responses were very one sided as 5 out of 6 participants answered yes with only the one negative answer. With this information, we suspect that the majority of our potential audience do enjoy lip-syncing in music videos and feel that it should particularly feature in the music video for our potential chosen song.

The third question that we asked our focus group questioned the participants whether instruments should feature in the music video for our potential song choice. This question, similarly to the previous question about lip-syncing relates to the performance aspect of the music video and we felt it was essential that we discovered which aspects of performance our potential audience prefer, and would possibly envision seeing in our music video. The answers that we received for this were substantially less one sided to the previous responses, the responses we received were split equally with three answering yes and three answering no. However this was split between the males and females with all of the girls answering yes and the boys the ones answering no. These findings intrigued us as they could suggest that the psychographics of girls are that of liking performance with both lip-syncing and instruments being played yet boys only enjoy lip-syncing in music in videos. However, these findings could simply lead us to believe the girls enjoy the instrumentals to the song more than the lyrics yet the boys are more drawn to the specific lyrics.

The final question that we asked the focus group was relatively similar to the first question that we asked in terms of ideas for the music video, however, in this fourth question we asked if there connotations and concepts present in the lyrics specifically. This was essential information for us again due to the fact that we plan to make our music video with an amplification narrative therefore connotation and key concepts in the lyrics are key and it is vital that our potential audience can pick out these connotations. Fortunately, the responses that we received form the focus group were completely positive as all members put their thumbs up. These findings now inform us that our potential audience understands the song and the lyrics in particular.

 

Music Video Vox Pop

   

From the Vox Pop question that detailed participants’ favourite music genre, we discovered that even though people do have different favourite genres such as R&B, Rock and Alternative, their reasoning behind liking these genres are due to the fact they are not necessarily considered mainstream and they are all unique in their own ways and they prefer genres like this to the pop genre for example. This could impact our possible song ideas for our music video production as possibly more different, less mainstream genres are more likeable than simply the pop genre.

With the question in which we asked what participants thought made a music video memorable, we discovered that originality could be key, this originality could be present in the narrative, as one answer stated that an ‘interesting’ narrative made a music video memorable. On top of this, we learnt that originality could also be vital in terms of mise-en-scene as another answer stated good mise-en-scene makes music videos memorable. As another participant stated, the music video can simply just be fun and enjoyable to watch. This could influence our ideas for our music video production as we have now learnt that originality can definitely be effectively and in our production we plan to be as original as possible in as many aspects as possible.

In the question ‘What do you like most about music videos?’, we gained similar responses to the answers to what made a music video memorable, these answers included, originality in narrative and song, however we did learn from this question that positive emotions and concepts are the most likeable features of a music video, as we received answers such as vibrance, fun and excitement.

From the examples given by the participants for memorable music videos their thoughts on what makes a memorable music video are reinforced as the examples they give roughly contain all of the aspects they have mentioned to be effective.

In the question in which we asked for the participants’ preference on narrative type, we learned further that people really enjoy a story in a music video. Out of the five answers we received, 4 out of the 5 chose either amplification or illustration, from this we learnt that people like to be able to associate the lyrics of the song visually in the video, whether this is an illustration where the video almost reflects the video exactly, or if its amplification where the key concepts or ideas are visually reflected on the video.

With the final question, we intended to find out what type of performance to narrative ratio people prefer. From the Vox Pop, we did learn that people do in fact enjoy the presence of both, as we discovered that people would ‘get bored’ if there was too much performance or too much narrative therefore a 50/50 ratio would possibly be more effective.

28 north band Biography

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Use of Genre Conventions

Cinematography in Music Videos

Preliminary Bloopers

Preliminary Music Video

Preliminary Media





Original Video

Shot List/Storyboard: Owl City - Fireflies

Preliminary Storyboard

Music Advert Analysis

Music Advert Analysis

Intertextuality in Music Videos

Intertextuality by Jack Barrell

Types of Intertextuality




Parody


With an Intertextual reference of parody, the conventions and general aspects of the original text are used in a ridiculous, absurd or disrespectful way, often intended to make fun of the original by creating humour. Overall, the use of an Intertextual reference of Parody can affect the intended audience in various ways. For example, most commonly this Intertextuality would create humour, especially if the parody is based off of an original text that is relatively serious and not naturally humorous, examples of this can also be seen in films in the 'Scary Movie' franchise as the films are all about creating parodies of very serious films of the horror genre and converting them to be full of comedy and humour. However, this mocking that can be apparent in Intertextual references of Parody can often be seen as very offensive  by audiences and cause controversy, yet this controversy would as a result lead to the video becoming viral and this in turn would evoke attention and the video would then get more noticed and could increase in YouTube views and possibly downloads which would benefit the artist/producers of the video.




Pastiche




An Intertextual reference of Pastiche, is similar to a Parody yet the recreation is a lot more light hearted and mocks the original text a lot less. There is often a lot more respect involved in a Pastiche and the comedy is not designed to directly mock the original but the form humour with the aspects of the original text. Overall, the intended audience will react to this relatively similarly to a Parody yet less or no controversy will be formed at all due to the lack of direct mocking of the original text.




Homage


Finally, an Intertextual reference of Homage is the Intertextual reference that stays as true to the original text as possible with little humour revolving around the original text. The Homage overall aims to show how worthy the original text is and almost advertises it. A Homage is essentially a remake will all aspects being as exact and as similar to the original text. More often than not, the intended audience of this Intertextual reference will feel a sense of nostalgia as the Intertextual reference would visually spark the pragmatic recognition from the audience'[s memory, this is an example of synaesthesia which is where a sound, or visual aspect of something that stimulates a feeling or emotion. In the example of the music video for Eminem - Without Me, this synaesthesia would be the sight of the Robin Costume thus stimulating the memory of possibly reading a Batman and Robin comic or watching a film or TV series.

Genre in Music Videos

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Purpose and Conventions of a Music Video

Narrative in Music Videos

The three narrative types in music videos suggested by Andrew Goodwin; illustration, amplification and disjunction are used to create a certain level of effect and meaning.


Illustration - An illustration Narrative in a music video is one which tells a story through the lyrics and the video visually. The plot in an illustration narrative will often be very clear and relatively easy to understand. The effect of the illustration narrative is similar to that of a film, it tells a detailed story that has a clear start, middle and end. The purpose of the illustration narrative is to intrigue the audience and keep them hooked from beginning to the end.


Amplification - An amplification narrative in a music video is one which does seemingly have a strong plot yet the lyrics to not match the visuals all the time yet key concepts and ideas are noticeable from the lyrics and visually in the content of the music video. The effect of the amplification narrative is to carry a deep meaning that often is implied throughout the music video but is possibly not explicitly expressed.


Disjuncture - A disjuncture narrative is one which the music video has absolutely no correlation with the lyrics of the song. In a disjuncture narrative in a music video there can often be little narrative whatsoever. the effect of a disjuncture narrative is often to entertain more than anything, the advantage with making a music video with a disjuncture narrative is that the music video can be as abstract and unconventional as the producers want it to be, thus possibly creating humour and as a result making the music video and in turn the song very memorable for audiences.




Narrative Types
In Narratives in general, there are various types with each variation creating different effect for the intended audience.


Linear Narrative - This is the most common narrative type where the overall plot is told in chronological order thus creating a logical and understandable storyline
Non Linear Narrative - The opposite to a Linear Narrative, the plot is told in seemingly non-chronological order
Closed Ended Narrative - This is where the ending to the narrative has closure, the ending is clear and understandable
Open Ended Narrative - The opposite to a Closed Ended Narrative, the plot ends with a cliff-hanger, no definitive ending and the audience has unanswered questions.
Circular Narrative - This is where the plot starts and ends in the exact same place, in a music video this could mean the video opening in a certain setting, featuring a certain prop or character and the plot finishes with the exact same shot or one that is very similar that features what the video began with
Singular Stranded Narrative - This is where there is a single storyline presenting either one character or more but linked to the one narrative
Multi Stranded Narrative - The opposite to a Single Stranded Narrative, in this narrative their are more than on main narrative and they do not crossover whatsoever yet are all as important as one and other