The Making of a Music Video - The Important bits!

What are the Important parts of a music video?

Producer: The producer is essentially the person who oversee's/secures the creative team, they also have the important job of keeping an eye on the budgeting and also the timeline.

Executive Producer: Controls the main people involved with making the music video and once again contributes to the management of the timeline and budget along with the Producer.

Director: The director will actually direct the acting/performance of the actors/actresses who star in the music video and will have control of the cast and crew, and makes the creative decisions with regards to the cast and crew.

Writer: The writer has a very important job of taking the actual concept/idea and then turning this into a script.

Editor: The editor is also equally important as the roles mentioned above however the editors job only comes in once it has all been filmed and organised. The editor simply picks out the best bits of the footage and adds in special effects/text/music and also attempts to hide or resolve any last issues with the final music video.

Camera Operator: The camera operator works closely with the lighting director and operates the camera according to how the lighting director wishes them to do so.

Production Manager: The production tracks the progress being made as the process goes on, and makes sure it all runs smoothly, as well as this keeps an eye on the co-ordination of the production whether it's catering, location, equipment or people.

Storyboard Artist: The Storyboard artists works alongside the Director and the Producer to formulate the storyboard, and develop the script into something more visual and clear.

Lighting Director: The lighting director has there enormous of controlling the lighting to ensure the shots and clear and portray the right messages through the lighting.

Sound Technician: The sound technician basically oversee's the sound, recording and will normally be involved in the final sound mix, which will be put alongside the music video.

Actor/Actress/Talent: These are the actors/actresses who will star in the music video.

What do we need to know as the brief?

There are all sorts of things that need to be considered when thinking about the brief.

The first thing that must be considered is the purpose and intent of the music video, this means considering exactly what the purpose of the music video is, and what kind of message is being portrayed towards the audience, if there is a message of course.

The target audience must also be considered when looking at creating a music video this means considering once again the purpose and message of the music video along with everything else which will then decide the gender, age, lifestyles and hobbies of the people who this music video is aimed at.

Finally the budgets must be stuck to, to ensure you dont run out of the finances to afford the things which will be needed for the music video.

What is Involved in the Pre-production?      

The pre-production stage of the music video essentially involves the following things which are all arguably just as important as the other. The first most obvious thing would of course be the scripting of the whole music video. This is almost the building block to the music video and from this you can develop ideas, themes and messages which will be portrayed to the audience. We next will create a scene breakdown and a storyboard for the music video where we will work out exactly what the narrative is and which parts of the lyrics links to which parts of the action. After this a shot list and a cast list will be written out to clear up who will be performing in the music video and how it's going to filmed. The next thing to focus on would probably be the location, which needs to be just right if the music video is going to be as effective as it can be. The equipment hire would also be something to focus on at this point because you want to make sure that when it comes to filming the actual music video, you have all the equipment you need otherwise this could slow down the shooting process. The catering and transport would be essential to keep your actors/actresses happy and also to make sure you stay on track, with regards to time and shooting, which is of course why transport is important in the sense it helps you to get to your shooting locations on time. By this point people should have been informed of the preperations and a shooting shedule should have been prepared so everyone is aware of the time, budget, camera angles, shots etc.

What is involved in Production?

The production is the main chunk of the music video this is the point where you go to the different locations and following the shooting schedule you film the different shots and angles, it is good practice at this point to film a couple of each shot/angle so that you have a choice in the end when it comes to the final editing.

What is involved in Post-production?

The post-production is basically where the final editing takes place. The sounds and effects are all added and the producer and director have their final say on the music video before it is completed.

Genre Moodboard - Electro/House Music/Rock music

Above is the moodboard I have made to represent the genre of music that I am focusing on in my music video. The music style is very mixed and has a very unique sound and the bands and artists above all incorporate the rock/electro style that is being used and it's interesting to note that they are all dressed in stereotypical darker clothing, perhaps portraying the alternative subculture that this style of music represents.

Who Are Modestep?

Images which link to song - 1st draft of Storyboard

This is essentially my first draft for my storyboard, where I have taken 6 images which I believe sum up the music video, I have found an appropriate image along with a snippet of some lyrics which describe this song, for example the picture of a smiling face links in with the lyrics "keep smiling, keep fighting, live for each moment and day" which is a lyric which is fitting to this image purely because the mans face looks happy and hopeful. As I progress further and begin to do my actual storyboard I will put more detail into my storyboard, I will provide lyric timings, camera angles and shots, etc, which will make the storyboard easy to follow and film.

About My Music Video and the Original

After lots of hard consideration I decided that I would be choosing the song "Another Day" by Modestep, to recreate with my own little ideas. I decided to keep to the same frame work as the actual music video however I decided that the main character would be a young teenage girl, because while the fact that a young attractive female in my music video would appeal to males other young teenage girls would appeal to the music video and the main character as well therefore making it a very universal music video. I decided that I would slightly change the narrative to make it portray more of "todays issues" in my music video, the main character falls pregnant, and finds out that the father has been in a car incident and has died, the music video then explores how she struggles to cope with this tragedy.

Album Cover Mood Board

Above is the mood board I made for lots of different bands and artists album/cd covers. They all each belong to different genres of music, and this varies from pop music such as Lady Gaga, electro/house music like Skrillex often referred to as dubstep, and rock music such as Black Veil Brides, Asking Alexandria, etc. All of this cd cover art, each has different elements, colours, shapes and ideas which make the album cover appealing to the audience eye, and makes you want to listen to their CD to find out what they're music is about. It is interesting to see that the pop/electro/rock cd covers each have different elements which differentiate them between their genres. Pop artists such as Lady Gaga and Katy Perry have album covers which incorporate brighter, more enlightening colours such as pink, purple and white which all have rather positive connotations. The electro music uses more jaggedy shapes and sharper colours like electric blue, electric green, and a metallic silver which automatically portrays the idea of this more modern form of music. Finally the rock genre which belongs to artists such as Slipknot, Paramore and Motionless In White, uses colours such as black, red and grey which all have darker, violent more emotional and passionate connotations, which again is what rock/emo music is all about. When looking at the cd covers above there are a couple of conventional features which are used throughout all the cd covers regardless of the genres of the music being portrayed. We see that the main part of the album cover which stands out noticably more than anything else is the name of the band or artists being portrayed in the cd album, because if we look above we can see even on cd covers such as Lamb of God, who use rather dark colours to portray the darker type of music they play, use relatively light colours such as white for the colour of the font of the name of the artist/band to make it stand out against the dark colours of the cover art, meaning this is the first thing we see when we look at the cd cover. The next thing we see is either a close up or mid shot of the artists face or a long shot if the cd cover is presenting a band, the image of the artist/band essentially looks quite attrractive to appeal to the audience, as well as this the images of the females or males which appear on the front cover are clearly photoshopped too look attrative to the males and females which will be looking at the cd cover, which is another thing in todays modern music industry which attaracts a wider following. Despite this it is interesting that the cd covers which belong to the rock/emo genre, are a sharp contrast with the pop music cd covers that we see. The rock music cd covers look slightly less appealing and more disturbing and dark, this is however just too link back to the darker nature of the music, which will then appeal to the type of people which listen to this type of music.

Skills Development essay

Location Ideas

Many of the scenes which are seen throughout will occur in either a bedroom setting or a classroom setting. I have decided that I will request permission from Wyke College to use one of the classrooms to film the classroom scene. The music video actually starts of in a bedroom when the character wakes up from a restless night once again I have simply decided to just use my own bedroom, because it is supposed to be a young teenage girls bedroom which can be difficult to recreate however my room is a teenage girls bedroom so its convenient, easy to reach and meets the criteria. There is however a scene where the main character is sat on a beach/field like enviroment on her own drinking, to basically make her forget all her sorrows, for this I had to do a little more thinking and think of different shooting locations, so far the two that I have narrowed it down to is Hessle Foreshaw and also Bridlington beach, both of these places are quite iconic and pretty sights so would look good in my music video.

 

The images that I have provided have only been found of google just to give myself a general idea of the different filming locations and ideas however I will soon be taking my own pictures, which will then be uploaded to my blog. I have used the image of the bedroom, to show that in particular scenes she will be sat in her room, upset or crying in her bed or throwing her belongings accross the room in frustration, this is to portray the idea that this young girl saw her bedroom as a place to retreat to and hide away when she felt she couldnt face the world, this is something many teenagers can relate to and people in general as well. The classroom scene would show the young girl struggling with her work, due to the amount of stress from her personal issues and conflicting feelings about her pregnancy and the dead father of the child, again the way the teenager is struggling like this simply allows people in similiar situations to relate. Finally the pathway leading up to the front house door is shown when the young teenage girl is running home from a tough day and she appears upset and exhausted from the stress and pressure that is on her, I will use a similiar camera angle as the one above to show the pathway because this essentially emphasizes how far away the door is, and how far away home is, therefore portraying the young teenage girls emotions.

Makeup Ideas

I have decided that the best form of makeup so far would probably have to be something very neutral. I have even considered no makeup at all. The reason for this is because once again the main character in the music video is stressed and has suffered great trauma, because of this I want to try and portray the idea that the character has so much going on in her life that she doesnt have time to even make her self look pretty and presentable. The idea of her looking quite scruffy and as though she is wearing no makeup also shows how she has almost given up on life and given up on trying, which once more backs up the storyline of the music video.

Costume Ideas

Above is a compilation of different outfits that my main character can wear throughout the music video. As you can see above I have mainly chosen clothes which are black/red/grey, this is to give the clothing a more alternative feel which overall creates the effect that I want. People normally stereotyped as an "Emo" or a "Goth" would normally be seen wearing these clothes. An emo or goth is normally someone steroetyped as being quite emotional, passionate etc however the stereotype of an emo/goth is someone that always see's the dark side of situations and someone who has been emotionally effected by something which could be considered a traumatic event, which has made them have a very "emo" perspective of life, afterall "emo" literally means emotional. The idea of the character wearing this very dark style of clothing is simply used to communicate towards the audience, the idea that the character has suffered trauma and wishes to portray their dark way of thinking because of the suffering they have experienced.




The image is a lovely outfit belonging to Hayley Williams, a

Prop/Cast/Location List

Prop List (Main things needed):
- Pregnancy Test
- Bottles of Alcohol
- Bedroom essentials such as bed, closet, drawers etc.
- Digital Clock/some kind of clock
- Bathroom essentials toilet, sink, etc
- Telephone/Mobile phone
- Classroom Essentials, tables, chairs, whiteboard etc.
- Schoolbag
- Spare clothes and general bedroom clutter (doesnt matter what clothes)
- Laptop or an alternative would again just be a Mobile Phone

Cast List:
- Teacher:
- Main character, the young girl:

Location List:
- My Bedroom
- My Bathroom
- College Classroom
- Some kind of field or somewhere possibly like Hessle Foreshaw
- College Bus

All of the things above are huge requirements within my music video, for the prop list I have just looked at the main things that I will need, I don't want too many props cluttering up the shots, I think the simplicity of the shots will look good and more natural. I will be getting these props either from my own personal belongings or my cast's personal belongings if they are willing to use them and anything that I do not own, I will go out and purchase. For the Locations I have again kept it simple and easy to do, for the bedroom scenes I think it's only natural to use my own room, since in in the shots it will look like an actual teenage girls room, rather than a set that I have made myself from scratch which can be time consuming and highly expensive. Again I am using my own bathroom for the same reason. There is scene nearing the end of the music video when the main character is sat in a classroom falling assleep in class, again I will be getting permission to use one of the college classrooms to do this. I will require a field or something similair to shoot the scene where the main character is on her own drinking away her sorrows, for this I am considering using Hessle Foreshaw however there are places that my friends know of which I will be visiting soon to see if there are other suitable places to film. Again there is a shot where the character is sat on a bus doing her daily life routines, for this I will once more be requesting permission to use one of the college buses.