Influencing Music Videos

Olly Murs - Dear Darlin'

As a group, we are interested in the effect that is used in Olly Murs music video for 'Dear Darlin' where he uses an identical location and overlays his image to therefore identify how him and his girlfriend acted when they were together and the good times they had. This was done with Olly in the room, sitting on the sofa whilst lip syncing. I really like this effect and I think it would work well with our music choice as its a similar narrative of looking back at the good times of the love story. In order to succeed with this idea, we would have to film it twice in the same location with the camera still running throughout the scene, then we would edit it on Final Cut Express and cut, overlay and alter the opacity of the image to make it subtle but effective.

Daughter - Still

I have selected this video for one of the music videos I am influenced by as it uses an interesting, subtle effect of including the artist's image being presented on the old fashioned TV in the flat/bedroom. Although it is a slightly different genre to our chosen song/artist, it demonstrates how we could have the artist lip syncing on the TV whilst the narrative is working around it but the song being used as diagetically. This effect is creatively used as it not only represents the artists image but presents a disturbing story around the TV. Another idea we liked in this music video was the telling of the story through some framed photos and the ways in which the couple act around each other, as though they don't notice one another.

Ben Howard - Keep Your Head Up

The reason I have chosen this video as another one I am influenced by for our music video is the fun aspect and the various, effective shots where the filter has been altered to create a warm effect as it's a happy and fun video. This video is cleverly made due to the interest of the water slide and how they have created the video using a range of effective shots to draw the listener into the music video and provide the most interest to the water slide. These shots include wormview shots where we can see the characters sliding down the water, it also looks as though the some of the characters have held the camera on their stomachs to capture a reaction shot of their faces and establish how much fun they are videoing this. Another shot is a birds-eye view of the water slide and the artists sliding down it. All these shots help make the video seem fun and all help to capture the listeners attention which is what we need to aim for. The video also looks as though it can be aimed at all ages as most people can relate to it and be inspired by it due to the creativity.

Ben Howard - Only Love

Although we mention Ben Howards music videos a lot on this blog, we really like the creativity he provides and how this attracts the viewers to watch more. In one of his other music videos 'Only Love', provides interest to the viewer due to the amount of different locations and shots, for instance we see Ben first riding his bike but looking from a low angle to capture not only the power but the sunlight shining through the trees to make the video more happy and enjoyable to watch. However then we jump to a shot of urban settings in which the cuts are in time with the beat of the song, including urban shots of a city allows the interest to build up in the audience as they want to know what city is being videoed and where Ben intends to end up at. I particularly like the high angled shots of the shadow of the bike as it shows a clear indication of what's happening at the beginning of the video and establishes the scene.

Horton & Wohl's Theory

Horton and Wohl developed the para-social theory where characteristics of the mass media (television, radio, movies) tend to give the illusion of a face-to-face relationship with the performer from the viewers/listeners. This is the idea that fans have a para-social relationship with the artists they like particularly when they use direct address, real names and cultivate fan appreciation.

Some of the influence of this may be due to the creation of Web 2.0, as it allows the fans to interact with their favourite artists and idols personally through social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, MySpace. Especially Twitter where fans can follow their idols and tweet them so that the artists can occasionally see what they have tweeted. Also the statuses that popular artists make tend to provide their audience with a personal viewing of them, such as when Katy Perry tweets about her personal experiences or writes about her fans, this builds up the para-social relationship with the artist.
An example of Katy Perry's tweets is:

"For that I say THANK YOU. I hope you are enjoying all the colors #PRISM has to offer. I promise to continue to give back.. tour next year..."

From looking at this theory of Horton and Wohl's, I can clarify that we as a group HAVE to know what our fans of the chosen artist expect but also attract a new audience and people into the genre of Indie.

Indie Digi Pack Front Covers

Devlopment of Planning

Development of Planning for the Video

Its clear through research and analysis of different videos, that certain shots, editing and types of mise-en-scene would suit our video perfectly. One of the ideas that came through recently was split screening, have the artist telling the story on one side and having the protagonist and the narrative on the other side. This has been used in a number of indie videos and they all use narrative as well. 

Another idea is to contrast Urban and Natural, by reflecting his feelings and the mood of the song. This is used in Jason Mraz's- I'm yours and it works well in showing the bad and good things in his life (Binary Opposition). 

Another idea that we have come up with for our video is a 'God figure', this has also been used in a number of genres and a countless number of videos. Daniel Powters 'Bad Day' is an example where the artist plays a godly figure and narrates the story. 'Divine intervention' is also a possibility as it would mean the godly figure has a part to play in the story and not just a narrative role. The 'godly figure' also works well with the split-screen as seen in the 'Bad Day' video.

God Figure Idea

Omniscience is known as a micro element for music videos/media; it means 'having total knowledge' of the situation, therefore in the scenes of a music video the omniscient narrator will know whats going on in the narrative and tell the story through lyrics.

One of the ideas my group and I had in mind for our music video was to use the effect of omniscience or a God like figure. The way in which we would use this in our video would be to have the singer as the narrator of the narrative but the characters involved would act as if he is not there.

An example of a music video where this is used is in Daniel Powter's 'Bad Day' where him the singer is the narrative of the love story.

One of the main features of the music video above that we liked the look of is the editing technique of a  cut between the narrative and the performance in the same location. This involved the singer and the characters on the same train but made the video seem as though the narrator was singing  non diagetically but to the audience's point of view they know the lyrics are relating to the couple and the situation.

In relation to our music video, we would like to include this aspect of Daniel Powter's video during the start of the song near lyrics of 'Go to sleep my love, I'll watch over us'. This will help introduce the idea of the narrator being separated from the narrative of the video but showing he has the knowledge of the story through the lyrics and use of lip syncing. 

Meeting 13/10/2013

In todays lesson we discussed about the different techniques we could use in our music video for 'I'll Lie Here' by Mike Dignam. We researched various music videos such as Daniel Powter's Bad Day where he uses a split screen effectively and presents the narrative through an omniscience where he is the narrator telling the story through lyrics.
We also talked about the genreal narrative of the music video where we concluded that it will be a typical indie love story with a stereotypical boy and a girl involved.

Early Ideas For Digipack

From research, I have gathered together some interesting ideas that I think would work and be appropriate for our chosen artist and genre for our Digipak. Considering our genre is generally Indie, we should look into the vintage feel and look for these products, therefore giving the digipak for example a filter over the image on the front cover.

Focusing on the Digipak, from basic research I have discovered that general Indie albums tend to not show the appearance of themselves on their front covers but show a pattern, natural scenery or objects relating to their music. As Indie music is quite different, strange and alternative, most digipaks of that genre are designed around the music. Some digipaks only feature the band name and do not have a title such as the Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand. Also Indie album are sometimes known to have the text on the front cover commonly written in a strange style which help make the digipak stand out and catch a potential customer's eye. Personally I think the digipak would look good with a faded image of the artist on the front cover, in order to do this we have to provide the camera with some filters and use the shift focus effect to make the photograph and artist less recognisable. Perhaps the artist could fade into the sun? -See Daughter's album.