Our first practice music video made last year

At the end of year 12 the whole class was asked to make a music video in groups of no more than five so show a certain type of change. My group consisted of myself, Chelsey, Dan, Louise and Lucy. We decided to use the song 'Moves in her own way' by The Kooks. The storyline consisted of a 'geek' at school who gets bullied by other student because of the way she looks. A girl finds her and offers to go back to her house to change her look and give her a 'make over'. Below is our music video for you to watch.

Practise Music Video from Lucy Simonds on Vimeo.

Although our video didn't turn out too bad, it did have it's flaws. Some things appeared in certain shots when they shouldn't have been. Below are pictures from the video and explanations of what is wrong with each clip.

Fault One

With this picture you can see the reflection of Jack in the door which is reasonably recognisable and makes our video look unprofessional and not thought about clear enough.

Fault 2

With this picture from the video you can clearly see the reflection of jack sitting in the chair to the left and Louise in the middle filming the scene. This makes are video look bad as the audience would clearly be able to see this fault as it ruins the scene.

Fault 3

With this picture you can see that Chelsey, the 'geek' in the video, has gone from wearing no earrings previously, to wearing big hooped earrings. This is a noticeable change as they are big earrings and would be noticeable if she wasn't wearing any before as she is a 'geek'.

Fault 4

With this picture you can see the reflection of a girl sitting at the desk behind who wasn't it the music video before. This looks random and out of place and obviously that she shouldn't have been it the shot.

Fault 5

In this picture you can see the girl that we saw in the mirror before, is still sitting at the desk behind the two girls getting ready. Once again this looks obvious that it is out of place.

Who is our Target Audience?

A key part to the project is establishing who our target audience for our video. We had to think of who would be interested and who would appreciate our type of song choice and music video. This is very important as then we can fully represent the specific genre in our video and ancillary tasks. By doing this correctly this should result in appealing to our target audiece.

Research in the artist Jakatta shows that he is an artist that releases contemporay House and disco music that is very common in the club and party scene in the UK. Therefore i believe that are target audience would be between the age of 18 -30, male and female, and working and middle classed people. I believe our video is the sort of video that you would expect to find on a channel like MTV Dance. I also belive that our song will be played on radio stations such as Kiss 100 and Radio 1 therefore also reaching the target age group of 18 - 30. I think that our target audience is quite large due to the popularity of the club scene in the UK and abroad therefore appealing to a lot of people.

A more detailed explanation of our target audience is explained in a powerpoint presentation by Chelsey Martin, another member of our group. Click on the link below to view this

Target Audience Powerpoint Presentation

Make up and Costumes of Characters

Main Girl and two other Fantasy Girls

After researching make-up and costumes of fantasy-like girls, we gathered an idea of what we wanted the girls in the video to look like. Below are pictures of the main girl dressed up in her costume and make up.

As you can see from the images above we decided to dress the main fantasy-like girl in bright pink and with a white top so that it is bold and stands out. The glitter on her tutu almost makes her look like a fairy which is on the same theme as fantasy. Her hair is long and wavy making it look natural and seductive. We chose to do her eye make-up using the same colour as her outfit to go with the pink theme. She is wearing big, pink eye lashes with big, bold eye shadow to extenuate her bright, blue eyes. The pink lip stick draws attention to her lips making her look even more inviting. The gems on the right side of her face under her eye and the pattern on the left side of her face add to the fantasy-like theme of her outfit and make-up.

The other two girls in the video also need to look fantasy and dream-like. Below are pictures of them in there outfit and make-up.

These girls are wearing the same type of clothing as the main girl, however, they are wearing different colours of green and black instead of pink and white. The make-up is also very similar to the main girls but using green and red lipstick instead of pink. We wanted both of the girls to be dressed the same and with the same make-up as one another as we wanted to portray to the audience and make it obvious that they are different to the main girl and so that the main girl can stand out from the three of them. They still have the long, flowing hair to add to the seductive look and with the big bold eye shadow and lipstick. To also show that they are different, they both have blond hair whereas the main girl has dark hair. Their make-up is also slightly different to the main girl as she has gems and a pattern on the side of her face whereas these girl do not. This is because we want to main girl to stand out and be made noticeable that she is one of the main characters. The others girls are really included to add to the whole fantasy/dream-like theme to the music video.

Make-up and Costume Mood Boards

Below is a moodboard of the type of make-up that we are looking for to dress the girl from the music video in. We are after big, eccentric colourful eye make-up that will draw attention to the eyes to make her look mysterious yet still beautiful. All of us like the idea of also using patterns on the face to add to the fantasy look along with the big, fluttering eye lashes.

Below is a mood board of mainly pictures of the character Poison Ivy from the film Batman. I have selected pictures of this particular woman as she is dressed how we want the woman to look in the video. We want her to have long, big, wavy hair wearing either tight leotard costumes or sexy yet not too revealing cloths such as corsets. I think green would be a good colour to use for the costume as it is a colour of nature which works well as the story is based in a forest.

Locations for Music Video: Forest

To help with us chose the most appropriate location for the main bulk of our video, we all went together to three different forests to establish which one we thought would fit best for our music video. These were Shorne forest in Gravesend, another forest in Gravesend and another in West Kings Down. We found that Shorne forest had too many skinny trees which we thought wasn't that appropriate as the girls in the video wouldn't be able to hide behind the trees as the were running away from the main male character, especially with the bit at the end where all three of the girls come round from behind the tree and kiss the boy as they wouldn't be able to hide themselves behind the trees therefore resulting down to not being able to include that scene.

The other woods in Gravesend seemed to have too many wide trees making it all look to spacush and not a very desirable location for the video. The woods in West Kings Down was the most appropriate as it had both skinny and wide trees making it varied and it look dark and mysterious with the sun beaming through the trees in some places. Below are picture of the chosen forest location.

Exisitng Jakatta Products

As we have chosen to use the song 'American Dream' by Jakatta, it seems appropriate to analysis some of his existing products. Here is the original video for the song.

Jakatta - American Dream

This story behind this video seems to be that there is some sort of riote taking place, men with angry faces throwing and smashing things all over the place. To add to the dramatic effect of this, shots have been slowed down so that audience can gain a longer image of the sense of emotion that is on their faces. Whilst this is occurring, the shots are interrupted from glimpses of what looks like to be some sort of knitted dress. These shots seem to last for some time, preventing the viewers from seeing exactly what it is therefore building suspense. Then all over a sudden we get to see a close up shot of the woman face, mainly her closed eyes. No one seems to be noticing her and she seems to be in her own sort of fantasy. When the music goes from being quiet and goes back to load to riote gets more aggressive which is encouraged by the loudened tone and quickened pace of the music.

Here is also an image of the existing Jakatta album

The front cover of this Jakatta album seems quite plan simple due to the fairly due images that have been used. This is because Jakatta and his product do not seem to have a brand image, which can be supported by the music video.

Song Lyrics for Initial Ideas

Below are the song lyrics for our first and third idea for the music video, Blinded by the Lights by The Streets, It you click on the picture it will enlarge where you will be able to see the lyrics and the annotations clearly. The annotations show what some lyrics mean and how they would relate to the music video, establishing what the filming would be like in some cases.

Below are the song lyrics for our second idea for the music video, Flashback by Calvin Harris. Like the above, if you click the image it will enlarge where you can then read the lyrics and the annotations clearly. The annotations explain the same content as it does in the previous song lyrics.

Exisiting Homepages of Websites

In order to gain an idea of what our webpage for our artists website should look like, we reseached into existing websites of music artists. On of the websites we came across was Taio Cruiz's. We liked the look of the home page of this site and therefore analysed it to see what looks good and what features we could include on our webpage. Click on the image to enlarge it to see the annotations.

Another website that we analysed was Calvin Harris' one. Click on the image below to enlarge it and see the annotatoions of the webpage.

From looking at the researched websites, i like the idea of having the main navigational bar across the top of the page. I also liek the idea of using either a close up or medium close up of the artist on the website. Like with Taio Cruz' website, i like the idea of including a User login form onto our webpage and with the recent music video too. Headings and importants links will need to be bold and stand out for the viewers to recognise.

Exisitng Digipaks

A digipack is a type of cd packaging Made out of materials such as card, paper etc. Digipacks can be made to open out like a book or they can be made in three parts. The digipak that we require to do must have four pictures in it so to make it open out like a book would be the obvious choice.

In order to help create our own digipack for our album, we have researched into existing digipaks music artists albums. Below are images or existing digipaks

Album Front Covers

Having researched album front covers, we found that the majority of covers include either a close up or a medium close up of the artist with a stern direct facial expression. We also found that the artist were often staring into camera to attract the attention of the public of the viewers. This is encouraged by their straight, yet seductive stare into the camera, it draws our attention.

I think using a close up or medium close up of the artist on the front of the album cover will be a good look for our Digipak.

Exisitng Music Videos

Because we were looking into the club/house genre for producing our music video, we decided to look into existing music videos of this genre so we could analyse them and see what they have included in their videos. Below is the music video for Pjanoo by Eric Prydz.

This video looks to be set in a dessert where a man is trying to run away from something, maybe escaping from being a prisioner as he has robe tied aroung his wrist at the beginning of the video. He breaks into what looks like an old bar to find water for his thirst. All of a sudden the piano starts playing and what appears to be mini tribal people dancing around the room. I think that this is a figure of his imagination as he is exhausted and dehydrated so is probably hallucinating. Towards the end of the video there are constant slow downed clips of the mini tribal people dancing and in between each clip there in an image of running water as this is what the man desires. The man then realises that the tap is actually running with water and starts drinking out of it with a great sense of desperation. Finally, it starts to rain outside and after the man has his drink he leaves.

In the begininng of the video the camera is following his as he runs, getting a quick shot of the glaring hot sun and then to his face to show the despeartion that hes in for water as he feels so dehydrated due to the terrible heat. I found that certain shots were used in the video at the right time to introduce and exaggerate the change in music. This is shown at the beggining of the video when he falls over and when the piano starts playing before he sees the little native person. The pace of the music quickening is exaggerated when the man frantically starts frumberling round the room to try and find any water to drink, until the piano starts playing which then the beat of the music drops again. When the little native people dance, they are in time with the music so the music video seems like it all flows togther which is highly important.

Towards the end of the video there are random images of the scorching sun and money as this is what he desires. It then switches to shots of a native woman dancing, with slow downed clips that fade in and out of eachoher. This makes the video flow together, makes it seem all dream-like and goes with the type of music that is being used for this video. As the pace of the music builds up the more shots of people dancing, the sand and dripping water flash on the screen which once again exaggerates the fact that the music is picking up pace. Suddenly, a flash of lighting comes in when the beat drops and we return to watching the mini native people dance in the old bar. When the man rushes to the tap to drink the water, there is a close up of his face to show the desperaton in how thirsty he was and this is further portrayed by the shot being slown down. Right at the end of the video it beginnings to rain and there is a shot of the rain beating on the ground with merky water to portray irony as this man wanted so much water at the beginning when there wasn't none then when he finally gets some at the end it begins to rain heavy.

'It's Raining Men' Music Video by Geri Halliwell

In one of our lessons, our whole class watched the music video of 'It's Raining Men' by Geri Halliwell. After we watched it we all had to write notes on analysing it and explaining why certain things have been put in there. I have included this into my blog as it gives the idea of what sort of things we all should be considering when making a music video and making sure the storyline relates to the song choice. We need to make sure we interpret the music. Below is the actual music video for 'It's Raining Men'.





Below are the notes that we all made in class about the music video:

• Starts off like a FAME audition. FAME top she is wearing --> intertextuality
• Very upbeat song/active
• Contrasts of what she is wearing and the judges
• A lot of focus on her physique
• Almost within the first minute of the song we don't know what she looks like --> builds suspense and curiosity for the viewers
• The song is used in the Bridget Jones film --> Empowerment of women, showing shes in control
• Form of song and dance routine --> borrowed form musicals
• Drawn heavily to flash dance
• She puts on a vinyl --> authenticity, iconographic
• Judges --> formal, suits
• --> they all look down there nose at her
• Diegetic sound of her footsteps at the beginning. All we have are fragmented sots --> creates sense of anticipation enigma (puzzle)
• Judge says to Geri, 'In your own time miss Halliwell' --> formal and patronising
• When the music starts the camera is positioned at the judges --> seeing expression on judges faces. Also, notion of looking throughout, framed by judges
• Over shoulder shots --> we as the viewers are looking at it from the judges point of view
• Notion of looking continues with students watching her dance through door
• When she sings, 'Humidity is rising', she raises her hand which at the same time the camera scrolls up echoing the word rising
• As the verse builds, people flock to see her dance
• By the end of the first chorus, the judges have taken their glasses off and are tapping their feet to the music which we are aware of from having a foot level shot. They have abandoned their stern looks and appear to be enjoying the performance
• As the chorus begins, the other students burst into the room and dance carnival style, jumping around wearing colourful outfits
• Geri is always framed in the centre
• In the second the phase of the video, Geri breaks down patriarchal barriers by crawling across the table and kisses the head judge
• She has also had an outfit change into yellow hotpants
• She is seen above the other dancers by a low angled shot making her visually dominant
• Her third outfit is a red top which we see the top half of it as she is given a close up shot of her face and she is singing to the camera, which personalises the video and engages the viewer
• When she sings "berometers getting low" the cameras scrolls down revealing her 4th outfit which is a blue top and jogging bottoms
• There are emphasise of the other dancers as they come in front of the camera doing splits etc however we don’t see their faces
• In the third phase of the video we see Geri doing aerobics/ crunches portraying how she got her physique that has been emphasised throughout
• This video is a typical American teen film - rushing to lesson
• There is a contrast between the two dances seen in the video. She is no good at ballet however she leads the flash dance
• Towards the end she bursts through the front doors wearing a leather jacket, portraying rebellion
• The filming is taken outside to what becomes a street party tightly framed to make it appear busier
• On the words "stormy weather" there is chromakey present. The shot is low angle and the movements are slow motion. the lighting gets darker which we are lead to believe is to do with the storm