This is my CD cover front for my task. As I am doing a music video I am going to link it as if a cover band are performing the song. This way I have opened up my choices for what I can do in order to correlate things together. The image below is a reflection of this.
Now that I have a choice of two similar songs, I am going to plan out my music video and give a brief description of exactly what I want to include over the duration of the song. I will begin by explaining the scene and scenario.
The music video will be set in a broken down street, with run down facilities and dysfunctional people who seem to just live in a life of crime and create doom and gloom for everyone else. This will create a dark mood and make the audience think that bad things are going to happen within the music video, when actually there is going to be a complete contrast which will introduce the happy side to the music. The beginning of the music video (as the music builds up) will show the scenes and what goes on within them, whilst a character enters and begins to change the tone.
Now that I have set the scene for what is going to happen, I will try and explain as best as possible my idea of what I want to happen within the music video, and what theme I am going to try and create overall.
The video will begin with a car door slamming done with a medium shot in order to show the characters hand closing the door, rather than just the door itself. This will help to create the mystery I want until the time is right. As the scene progressed we are faced with long shots and medium shots of the surrounding areas, showing both people and buildings to get a feel for the doom and gloom that is present. The camera will follow from behind the character occasionally switching from what the character sees, to what the camera man sees (who isn't present). The character will walk past the slums until he finds a suitable spot in which, he will burst into spontaneous dance. At this point, I am going to switch the scene multiple times in order to show that he has done this in more than one location. This way I will get the best contrast as the audience will not get bored with the same scene as well as it will show how the character has traveled to different locations to try and brighten up the gloom. The video will progressively become more upbeat until the bridge (which applies within both of my selection) where the music starts to dim again. I like this effect because it allows me to take a break within the music and stop the dancer from dancing to take a break to reflect on what he has been doing prior to the bridge. This will also add humor to the scene as it will allow the scene to once again go serious, in preparation for more insanity as the dancer begins to dance once again when the beats re-enter. It will continue to do this until the end of the song, in which (after the music has ended) the dancer will stop dancing, walk back to his car, get in it, and begin to drive away.
By adding the extra scene at the end, we can give the effect that he is going to do his dancing elsewhere and create happiness elsewhere. I would love for this video to be remembered as an official music video as I think the idea could work if I do it rightly, although this may not be my final idea. I am going to have a think about what else could work simultaneously to the music in order to get an equally as good effect, so if I gather any more ideas before I go into my final planning, I will post it here on my blog.
Now that I have a list of tracks that are of a high potential I am now going to take a look at them one by one in order to get the best understanding of which track I should use. The first track that I am going to look at is 'Raise Your Weapon - Deadmau5 (Madeon Remix)'. I am going to look at this track because it contains all the conventions of a well structured dance song, which would essentially help me when creating my music video.
The track begins by entering with a fade. At this point we are unsure of the genre of song (unless we already know the song) which will create a nice effect for my music video. It will give me the potential to disguise what is going to happen within the music video as I could completely create an unusual scenario where everything seems serious, and then change the style/theme of the video into something that would surprise the audience. This would create a feel good mood from what would appear to be a dull situation. Hopefully this would bring joy and remembrance towards the music video as it would show (as a hidden message) even when things are bad, they can still have a good side to them. An example of how I would incorporate this into a music video would be filming a scene in the slums where everything is full of doom and gloom, and have a character enter the scene, who at first seems all serious, but then bursts randomly into dance creating a happy situation in a dark place. I could first shoot the video in black and white which would create a great contrast between the upcoming events and the current ones, and then switch to colour once the music changes its tone.
The most interesting feature of the track is the use of a bridge, which would give me a chance to add something unique and special into the video, whether it be a slow-mo part or whether it simply be the introduction of another character. This could be done as the music returns to a similar state as it starts with, which would again create a dull theme, which would then start up once again stronger than the first time. I feel that by including this change into my video it would create a memory into the minds of the viewers as they will recognize the music video if saw again, and would remember exactly which track it was from. At this point in time, Raise Your Weapon has a high potential of being the track that I am going to use.
The next track that I am going to look at is Slip - Deadmau5. This is an interesting track to study as there is a lot of the track as there are many changes. One negative point that I would like to point out at this point (due to expectations) is that the track does not contain any vocals, which people usually frown upon. I feel like although this is a very well structured track and could easily have a music video to go with, I am going to skip looking at this track because people will not find it entertaining due to the lack of lyrics. Therefore, I shall briefly move on.
The next track I am going to look at is Aerodynamic - Daft Punk. This track itself already has a music video to go with it (which can be viewed above) but that doesn't necessarily mean that I can't redo a music video and create my interpretation on what I think is best for the music. The song starts out with a bell being struck four times. This gives a nice intro to the song as the audience are readied for the music to kick in. I find this very interesting as it's unexpected which helps to add a nice environment to the video itself. Once the beat kicks in and the music gets into the swing of things, we instantly get shown a story line. Having the use of a story line in the music video helps the audience to understand what the song is about (if related to the song) or to make it more memorable by explaining to friends/family the scenario of the video without having to refer to scenes as 'the scene where the man runs away' or something similar. I feel that by creating a story line (especially in my case) I can create a closer connection with the audience as they look upon my music video and remember exactly what they saw just by hearing the song itself. This is the effect that I am going to try and create. Although I do not feel like this song would suit my video, I still feel like it is a great piece of cinematography to research as it contains many well shot conventions which create great references to look back upon when creating my music video.
Another track that I am going to look at is First of the Year (Equinox) - Skrillex. This is an interesting piece of work because the track itself is very well structured. The track begins with a nice high pitched voice singing in a foreign language whilst a man follows a small child down the street. We already know by this point (even though the music seems quite happy) what is going on in the scene, and that it is definitely not a good thing. The girl begins to walk down some dark stairs that lead to an abandoned room whilst the man follows her. We notice at this point that the girl is not aware of the man's presence and we can only assume that bad will come of this. This is exactly what I want to try and create with my music video, because as I mentioned earlier when discussing Raise Your Weapon, the gloomy times will create a great contrast into what follows. In the case of Skrillex, the man follows the girl into the room and is about to kidnap her, when all of a sudden we are faced with a twist. The girl screams in time with the song and the music drops. The girl then gathers psychic powers and begins to abuse the man in a way that he would have done to her. This creates a huge contrast as the tides have now turned. Now if we compare that to my idea, we can start to see some similarities. We can understand that what appears to be bad at first, can be turned into something good, which in the case of Skrillex is also true. I feel that this music video is a good place start when looking at how to change the scenario so drastically within a few seconds of a clip. I think that I am going to watch this video in depth and keep it in mind when looking into planning my final piece of work, as it is a great reference that fits well into my research.
Save the World - Swedish House Mafia (Knife Party Remix)
This track that I am about to look at is yet another remix. The track is called Save the World, originally by Swedish House Mafia, but now remixed by Knife Party. The reason I have chose to look at this song is because of the amount of change that is present within it. I feel that it could easily fit well with a music video as there is so much opportunity behind it. The track begins with singing (much like Raise Your Weapon) which leads up slowly into the drop. I like this effect because it means you can create a scene whilst the music video builds up. I feel that because of this technique being present (the build up) that I could choose any song similar to this and create the same music video out of it. Having said this, I am going to put this song as a high possibility also as a final song that I will use in my final piece as it bares the same conventions as Raise Your Weapon.
The final track that I am going to look at is Adagio for Strings - DJ Tiestö. I have decided to choose this track (although it has no lyrics) to try and prove a point that it is possible to make a music video of a song without lyrics. The video above is of a live concert that Tiestö did when playing this song. This video has now been labelled as the music video for the song, which occasionally is played upon the music channels. I personally think that it has a lot of offer as the use of many camera angles, and perfect timing within the crowd creates a sense of atmosphere even when looking upon the video. The whole factor of the video is amazing, but it leaves me with a huge problem if I want to try and recreate something just as effective. For a start I would have to gather a mass amount of people (which I honestly cannot do) as well as create a scenario in which they would all be feeling the groove to the song that I choose as my final piece. I feel that if I had a big budget as well as a lot of contacts then I could make something like this possible, but because I do not, I cannot recreate something of the same standard and therefore will discard this video from my research.
As far as my final thoughts after watching / listening to these songs and videos I feel that the best songs that I could possible choose would be the songs that start off with a light beginning (which creates contrast) that then break into a hefty beat. I feel that the two songs that are best suited for both my idea and for the best success are 'Raise Your Weapon' and 'Save the World'. With this in mind I will now begin planning my music video around these two songs to create a story board which will help to see what is going to fit where. This will help me to also understand how to create atmosphere by creating a build up within the video itself, in order to make the audience get into the swing of things and feel a connection to the video. I am going to spend the next week looking in depth at my structure and looking towards creating a final design for my music video.
The image above is my Mood Board, which I have used to explain exactly what it is I am going to be creating overall. I have included a list of conventions that are contained within most music videos, as well as ones that are strictly dance music video based. I have also listed a group of tracks that I am going to try out with to see which is the best idea to choose as my final song, as well as other music videos that have been created using dance tracks to see what features they hold and to see if I can salvage any techniques to import into the creation of my music video. I feel that by looking closely at other music videos that I will be able to get the best inspiration when it comes to creating my final piece.
I am going to look for more inspiration throughout the depths of YouTube by looking through similar songs to that of what I am going to be using and seeing what conventions that they use within their music video in order to get an idea of what I can produce effectively. The first video that I am going to look at is a music video by Fatboy Slim. This music video features the famous actor, Christopher Walken, and is a very simple music video that expresses the song and makes it memorable. This is a key feature that I want to try and include so that people can easily recognize and match up the song with my video. If I could do this, I would definitely prove success with my project.
This video is the prime example of how simple can be better. Apart from the scene where he is flying through the air, there isn't actually that much to it, it's simple just Christopher Walken dancing throughout the entire music video. This would be a clever effect (especially when using a dance track) as it would insinuate the situation and create a nice reflection of how the audience should feel when listening to the song. I plan to incorporate something similar within my design as I think it could work effectively if done correctly.
Another feature that I would like to include within my music video is that of a storyline. Even though there would be the possibility of no-one talking, I would still like to try the effect of showing the scenario before the song actually enters the video. An example of this can be found below.
'I remember' is a clever music video as it tells the story of people looking to bring dance back to life and create the atmosphere that it once had. Although this is not too obvious in the video above, there is a longer version available which goes into a lot more detail, and overall gives a better effect. This however is more like a short story, and so I am going to stick with the shorter version to analyse.
The video starts off with 3 men sitting around a table discussing an unknown topic (at the time) which includes two audio tracks as the recording from the conversation is played as the music begins. This creates a nice effect as the lyrics within the dance music do not start until the man has finished talking. I would like to try this technique out as an effect as I feel it could create a good sense of atmosphere, and if timed right, could be the key to the success of the music video as it adds that little bit extra between the song and the video. It helps to create a connection. I think by telling a story within the video it will create a sense of realism to the song and people will believe to feel it and believe it more. This is essentially what I would like to create with my final piece, but before then I am going to have to look at music videos in a higher amount of detail to find the pros and cons of my decisive moves.
At this point in time, I am looking into creating a mixture between a few music videos including the two above as well as the Madeon - Pop Culture video. This way I can create a contrast to what has been created originally, but also add a sense of originality to my work, which I would experiment with until I got the best results. Overall, I would like to include a story as well as some dancing within my music video as I feel that it would be the best option to choose to go alongside my song.
So I've been toying with the idea of creating a music video as I can no longer undergo the game related task. I decided to look around with different songs to get the best feel for what my video should contain. The first idea that I came up with was a rock song, until then I realised that lip syncing was a lot harder than it seems, especially when using transitions. So I moved on to a dance track. This way I could put anything in the music video (as long as it fit the song) and it would make sense. For example, the video below is a guy dancing to a song with many transitions. Such a simple effort, but yet so complex.
This is an inspiring method for the song I want to do, which coincidently is by the same artist.
Note: This video was made by the community, it isn't actually the music video for the song. There isn't a real music video for the song, which just proves that I could pull it off with a bit of planning and equipment.
So now that I'm back at college, (after a list of results that weren't exactly the best, but they weren't the worst either) I am ready to take on A2. I have learned from the past who I should and shouldn't work with to get the best results for my work, as now things are getting a lot harder and I have to put a lot more attention and focus into the things that I create.
It's been a bumpy ride over the last year, which multiple technical problems and the quality of work being less than poor, but all these factors of my work have gave me motivation to endure the tasks more promptly over the next year in order to get the grades that I deserve to leave college with a smile on my face.
