Half Term Objectives

Over half term, I will be taking the filming equipment home with me, and will hopefully begin to start filming, but will mostly working out different shots and ways I can use the camera. I will (hopefully) begin filming the actual video as soon as possible.

Green Screen

We have now set up the green screen within the new building which should hopefully help enhance our videos by being able to create many more various situations that can appear within my video.

Song Choice

I have finally decided on exactly which song I am going to use. I have chosen F.E.A.R. by Ian Brown, due to the fact I believe I can come up with many more ideas using this song than the others.

Locations For Filming

I have been researching various locations which I will be trying to use in order to create my video. Some of these locations will be Roos and Burstwick, as well as using certain places within the school, such as the Green Screen room and (hopefully) the recording studios and the main hall.

(Here is one of the locations within Roos I hope to be able to film at(hopefully with the weather like that as well!))

Storyboarding

I have begun storyboarding for my video - I so far have done around 1 minute of the video and will hopefully have it uploaded soon.

The Verve Video Analysis - Bitter Sweet Symphony

I have chosen to analyse Bitter Sweet Symphony by the Verve as my Verve video analysis.
Bitter Sweet Symphony is the 1st single on The Verve's third album, Urban Hymns and it reached number 2 on the UK Singles chart. The full version of the song is 5:57 minutes long and is of the alternative/britpop genre similarly to bands like Oasis and Pulp. The song also in a similar way makes use of violins to give it a unique sound. These qualities will make it a good analysis to conduct for research regarding my chosen song. The video is in a pseudo-performance style as the lead singer is shown singing as he walks along a street but the rest of the band is not shown.

 

The video begins with a camera panning to follow the Richard Ashcroft (the lead singer) as he walks onto a busy street. The unique sound of the violins fade in on the 3rd second eventually drowning out the ambient street sounds that could be heard before. This highlights how the character is thinking and how he becomes almost oblivious to the world around him as the song continues.

He stops and turns to face the camera as it pans up to show his face. The camera moves slowly backwards as he pauses and looks towards it as if deep in thought.

Eventually, Ashcroft begins to move forwards, following the camera. The rest of the song continues as he walks along the street throughout which, he is shown to be completely uncaring and almost oblivious to his surroundings. Almost immediately as he crosses a road where he doesn't look, he is almost run over but he shows no reaction.

 

He continues to walk down the street and doesn't move from his path regardless of who or what is in his way. The lyrics were clearly used directly when the video was being created, the third line of the first verse is ''I'll Take You Down The Only Road I've Ever Been Down''.

This is represented by the road he walks down and along with ''It's A Bitter Sweet Symphony, This Life'' clearly set the theme for the whole video in the eyes of the director and the video reflects that in the singer's nature and actions.

 

The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony on MUZU.TV.

Music Video - Basic Ideas

After looking through the results of my audience research, as well as extensive research of music videos across the Internet, I have finally been able to start creating my music videos' story.
For the video, I extensively looked at similar artists to the genre that my song is from, and then choosing just one of those artists to base my music video around.

The band that I chose was The Verve.

Looking through almost all of the videos have an identity that is prevalent throughout them. The whole band feature in nearly all of the videos, but only Richard Ashcroft appears in all of them. In a lot of the videos, Ashcroft is made to be pictured as an isolated, lonely figure, such as in 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' and 'The Drugs Don't Work'. Another connotation is that the band's appearance, both them and their surroundings, are made to look very bleak and desolate places, for example 'History' mainly features driving around in desert and wasteland, or 'Rather Be' which features Ashcroft walking around a small wood for the entirety of the video. There are exceptions to these though, such as 'Lucky Man', which is quite the opposite of a Verve video, with a much joyous atmosphere about it. The songs and song lyrics themselves dos have an effect on the video, as a lot of their songs do have a slightly depressing tone towards them, which will affect the video.


The Verve - Lucky Man on MUZU.TV.

Song Choices

I have now eliminated Under The Westway by Blur from my song choices, as I felt I could not develop my ideas with the resources available to me.

Songs left:
F.E.A.R. by Ian Brown
Some Might Say by Oasis

E-mailing Record Labels

In order for me to use one of the songs I have chosen, I am going to have to e-mail one of the record companies to ask permission to use it, as I will be uploading the video onto YouTube. As the music will not be used for my own financial gains and just for educational purposes, I am hoping that the companies will say yes.

I will send e-mails to two companies:

Parlophone           (for Blur - Under The Westway)
Polydor                (for Ian Brown - F.E.A.R.)
Creation Records (for Oasis - Some Might Say)

Goodwin's Theory Of Music Videos

Goodwin's Theory is based on 8 principles:

1. Links between Lyrics and Visuals
2. Links between Music and Visuals (Complimentary, Contradicting or Amplification)
3. Genre Characteristics
4. Intertextual Reference
5. Notions of Looking (Objectification of Women)
6. Voyeurism (direct gaze, other people looking at artist, insight intoartists' life, screens and mirrors)
7. Demands of the Record Label (and the representation of the artist)
8. Performance based, Narrative based or Concept based music videos

Moodboard

Here is my moodboard, which I will use to engage ideas of what my video could look like. I know that it is quite basic and simple, but that is what I want from my video, as the general convention of the genre's videos at the time were quite simple.

Digipak Analysis - Urban Hymns by The Verve

While researching digipaks I have seen a very similar theme appearing throughout the various genres. The genre of Alternative Rock, or just Rock in general, is that the band does not usually appear upon their respective cover. Instead, a more common cover is much more abstract, featuring something more political or controversial.

The front cover of Urban Hymns shows the band, with Richard Ashcroft (Second from left) the main focus of the various members. They are all sitting in the middle of a large field or park of sorts (the images were taken at Richmond Park in London), possibly showing the ideas of being free and able to be who you want - the fact that they are sat in very casual, laid-back positions shows that the songs may have a slower, less pacey style to them, similar to the Britpop genre of the time.

The title 'Urban Hymns' seems to give religious connotations, which is followed within the album itself, with songs such as 'Sonnet' and 'Lucky Man' which feature many pieces of religious imagery. The title may also be another way of saying the album is full of 'Anthems of the Current Generation', with songs like 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' a highlight.

The back cover, in comparison, is completely black, with only the setlist and a very small image of the band, stood in a garden. This is a good comparison from the front cover, as it makes the front cover much more eye-catching, though the use of random images of the band on the back are common themes of the various pieces of art on The Verve's various albums and singles.

Digipak Analysis - Viva La Vida by Coldplay

The front cover of Viva la Vida (which means 'Live the Life') mainly consists of a painting known as "Liberty Leading The People" by french artist Eugene Delacroix in 1830. the use of revolutionary imagery such as this cover is prevalent throughout the entire album and the songs within. It also shows that the band is trying to (possibly) purvey an anti-political message to the masses. in contrast, the back cover and the inside of the digipak are much less hectic and much calmer in comparison to the front cover, which compliments well and makes the front cover more eye-catching.



There are a couple of conventions which Coldplay break here - firstly, the band's name does not appear anywhere on the outside covers. This shows that the band does not need to state their name anywhere in order for the album itself to sell copies.

This 'revolutionary' cover also shows of in the genre of music that they perform - Alternative Rock.

Song Choices

I have managed to narrow down my six song choices down to three. These are Under The Westway by Blur, Some Might Say by Oasis and F.E.A.R. by Ian Brown. I have been able to create many more ideas for these three songs than the others, but I couldnt seperate these two just yet. I will upload my final choice when I have decided.