Locations

I wanted a specific look in my video, so location is very important as my mise-en-scene is one of the most important things in my video. My mise-en-scene needs to be rather bright in terms of natural light as the video is going to be in black and white. I took into great consideration on what location I will pick; I will need two locations, one being a darker room and the other being a house environment such as a bedroom or a living room.  Many of my shots are artistic close ups so it is irrelevant about the location of filming.

Location: Bedroom
Filming Location: My House

Filming at my own house is easier as I do not have to worry about anything but when my actors/actresses come round, I will be able to set up equipment easier and do not have to worry about as many health and safety risks.  I do not have to spend time worry about location permission which means I can get more shooting done. I have chosen to include a bedroom in my video as it follows the narrative well as it was once a place they shared, loved and the most intimate in however it becomes a place they both despise which is reflected in  the narrative. The location will have to be deliberately messed up however that is rather simple and due to it being at my own house very possible.

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Location: Bathroom

Filming Location: My House

Again filming at my own house will be easier for all the reasons stated above. However in the bathroom I think filming in my own house is more important as I can move around mirrors and position certain pieces to enhance my mise-en-scene without any trouble. The reason the bath room is in the video is because it is a place that is very personal to a person they are themselves in a bathroom and they see themselves in the mirror. This is a place that the female in my video will go to cry and reflect on things. Lighting and camera position in the bathroom scene is very important as mirrors are involved so being in my own house again has huge advantages. 

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Location: General street areas

Filming Location: Various

I will be filming around my local area, because it will be easy to gain access during night times and get correct type of shots because I can spend as long as I need for the shot. 

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Location: Around the college area

Filming Location: Woodland

I will be filming in a woodland location close to the college area, I have previously filmed in this location so I know how to set up in the area, this location will be very good for the mise-en-scene of my last couple of shots. 

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Health and Safety

Below is a grid that I made to state all the risk concerns I will need to consider when film in various locations. The ones that concern me the most are the smashing of glass as it is featured in a few of my scenes, however a lot of people will be present and first aid will be on hand.   

Video techniques and influences

Places my video will feature

For my audience to access my music video and the content I need to consider what websites I will need to post the video onto. Currently they’re hundreds of websites that host music videos, if that be Vevo, YouTube, Vimeo etc. Also they’re many social media websites that will embed content such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr etc.  

The first place the video will be posted is YouTube this is because YouTube is the biggest video sharing platform the site has “More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month” as stated by their website.  This will be an easy way for all of my audience to access the video. YouTube is a very interactive format as it allows people to comment on the video and share the video onto social media, this type of interaction creates interest around the video and allows other audiences to have access to your video easily. Posting my video on YouTube will allow me to embed my video onto my Website and my Blog. Along with YouTube I can post the video on similar sites such as Vevo and Vimeo, both of these sites have slightly different audiences. For example Vimeo is often used to post short films and more artists movies, and the audience is less ‘casual’ than YouTube. Vimeo allows you to gain feedback about the video from a mature and experienced audience.

The video can also be posted on social networks such as Twitter; the video can be posted on the artists twitter so the fans know when the video goes live. Twitter allows people to ‘retweet’ tweets so all of their follows will see the video too. Twitter allows you to reach a mass audience fast.  Facebook also has a similar use but reaches a different audience and allows you to add more of a write up along with the video link.   

Narrative Analysis

Warriors – Imagine Dragons

The music video is a story of a gamer trying to make it into the professional world of games. The narrative follows two people in similar situations, they eventually meet and one destroys the others dreams. The second man then goes on a ‘adventure’ to become the best and they soon meet again later in the narrative. This narrative fits well into the theorist I have studied.
In terms of narrative theory this fits in with the majority of narrative theories for example Claude Levi-Strauss theory that all narratives follow clear binary opposites however it is not as simple as good or bad in this case. The video fits into this theory but not as simple as Claude states, the story follows two people who are not evil but one of them stops the other therefore according to Strauss this would make him ‘Evil’ and the other ‘good’ the story then follows him as he overcomes the ‘evil’ and beats him. The mise-en-scene also reflects it in a way as one is wearing red and the other wearing blue, red suggesting evil and blue suggesting good. If you don’t look deep into the story the narrative does fit into the theory however if you look further into the narrative it does not as both of the character are neutral in a way.
Goodwins theory also fits into the videos narrative, as many people depending on their age will create their own meaning based on their experiences. This is because the audience that the song is appealing to is massively varied from 13-30+ as the video was marketed trough a video game. The story is also not as basic as it seems so many people will not interpret the ‘meaning’ of the video.
Tim O’Sullivan’s theory of all media texts telling a story, in this case this theory is true. It reflects the struggles of someone who plays video games and wants to be successful.
The narrative fits Pam Cook theory; the story starts with a problem, as he wants to be successful and is trying to be. The other character within the narrative then breaks down this dream. He then strives to become better in a fit of anger and towards a overall resolution. The narrative closes with them meeting again and becoming successful. This fictional world is rather true as it is based on true story and the struggles of many players. This is why many people can relate to the video and understand it.
Todorov’s theory also fits into this narrative as explained above.

Theory - Narrative

Below is a Slide Share summarising the key aspects of Genre Theory.

Throughout the course I will be using theory and applying to my work. This post will be updated as I work to show how I apply theory to my decisions when making my music video.

Chosen Song Survey

I am conducting a survey to find out more detailed information of my audience reaction to my chosen song.
Survey can be found here
Once I am happy with the number os responses I will collect the data and analyse it. 

Research - Audience Survey

Theory - Genre

Below is a Slide Share summarising the key aspects of Genre Theory.

Throughout the course I will be using theory and applying to my work. This post will be updated as I work to show how I apply theory to my decisions when making my music video.

Theory - Audience

Below is a Slide Share summarising the key aspects of Audience Theory.

Throughout the course I will be using theory and applying to my work. This post will be updated as I work to show how I apply theory to my decisions when making my music video.

Theory - Representation

Below is a Slide Share summarising the key aspects of Representation Theory. 
 
Throughout the course I will be using theory and applying to my work. This post will be updated as I work to show how I apply theory to my decisions when making my music video.

Conventions: Form

When researching music videos and planning my own, I started to look at the typical conventions of music videos. I have research this heavily as I feel knowing the conventions of a music video will help me greatly when deciding what shots to do and how to make my product look more professional. Specific genres do however break these conventions such as the genre I will be focusing on, Indie. They break conventions to create an original or new look to the video, it also adds a unique style, and personally I will most probably break conventions but I feel like I still need to know what the conventions are to ensure I do not twist them to far or break a convention that would help me out when producing my video.

The general conventions of a music video across most if not all genres are:

• Artist being featured
• Performance (Differs depending on genre) 
• Close-ups of artists or the narrative focus
• Shot length is often short, but is dependent on the beat of the song
• Rhythmic editing
• Mise-en-scene: Locations, costume and props change frequently
• Cinematography: establishing-shots, mid-shots, low and high angles, high amounts of camera movement, close-ups etc.
• A narrative,pure abstract, or performance, many videos feature more than one
• Editing is fast paced, and is often more interesting than cuts for example fades, slow motion etc.  
• Most videos offer no other sound but non-diegetic sound of the song, however sound breaks are used rarely depending on the artist. 

Planning and Research - Mood board

I created a mood board to reflect the feel and look I want for my music video. I have chosen all black and white image, and some with colour splash as I feel that my video will look better and reflect the lyrics better in black and white. The images I chose that have colour splash is an idea I like and I would like to slowly add colour into the music video towards the end of the song. This may give the video a more abstract feel which is what I would like. Blurred images also feature and I would like to have similar imagery at the start of my music video and slowly focus the shot. Other images just show the look that I want to acheieve in the video.

Conventions: Genre