Song Choice

The song I have decided to use is Jack Garratt's 'Breathe Life'. The song has a beat that walking to will work and the collaborative sounds work together well. It has a soft start and then builds up to the chorus.
Style of Music
"It would be unfair to categorize Garratt’s music simply into one genre, given that his vibrant sound is a stellar blend of alternative and electro-pop with rock and soul swirled in.

And now, he’s continuing his successful streak with the release of his latest single “Breathe Life.” The track consists of everything Garratt’s known for– hypnotic vocals, rich production and energetic electronic flourishes."

-From http://www.euphoriazine.com/blog/tag/jack-garratt/

Euphoria, by Christine Mathewson on 15th October 2015.

Verse 1
I wouldn't compliment myself for what I've become
Tell her I owe it to her
Tell her I owe it to her
I wouldn't praise myself for every good thing I've done
Tell her I owe it to her
Tell her I owe it to her

Pre-Chorus 1
Tell her I owe it to every heartbeat
Tell her I owe it to every exhale
Tell her I owe it to, owe it to her
Hands upon my chest

 Chorus
Oh, won't you breathe life into these dead lungs I keep under my coat
And keep life warm against the cold night as our bodies grow old

 Verse 2
I know when to give up and I know when to breathe
Believe me, I owe it to her
Tell her I owe it to her

 Pre-Chorus 2
Tell her I owe it to every heartbeat
Tell her I owe it to every inhale
Tell her I owe it to, owe it to her
Hands upon my chest

 Chorus
Oh, won't you breathe life into these dead lungs I keep under my coat
And keep life warm against the cold night as our bodies grow old
Oh, won't you breathe life into these dead lungs I keep under my coat
And keep life warm against the cold night as our bodies grow old

Bridge
Take my silence as a warning
I will not deter your mourning

 Chorus
Oh, won't you breathe life into these dead lungs I keep under my coat
And keep life warm against the cold night as our bodies grow old
Oh, won't you breathe life into these dead lungs I keep under my coat
And keep life warm against the cold night as our bodies grow old

A bit about the artist- Jack Garratt

Hailing from London, the 24-year-old multi-instrumentalist has quickly gained fans across the globe with a pair of EPs and another pair of singles over the last year. He’s gone on to open for megastars like Mumford and Sons while simultaneously selling out his own solo headlining shows across Europe and America. Using only his own musical and production gifts, he crafts a sound that sits somewhere between alternative indie music and the current R&B vogue, something that’s as likely to draw comparisons to Disclosure as Ed Sheeran.

Interview with ' Consequences of Sound' 15th October 2015
On new single “Breathe Life”, however, he’s presenting another case that making comparisons is a fools errand. At first glance, the cut is a watery slice of rhythm and blues, a slinking sexuality and snapping coolness slowly building underneath. As the chorus comes in, however, guitars reveal shades of funk and piano adds a theatrical pacing. By the time the halfway mark comes around, the whole thing has been reborn as an electronic storm of fuzzy synths and thumping low end.
You’re never quite sure where the instrumentation is going to turn next, but thankfully, Garratt’s breathless coo is there to lead you through the maze, singing “Oh, won’t you breathe life into these dead lungs/ I keep under my coat/ And keep life warm against the cold night as our bodies grow old.”
“‘Breathe Life’ is a song that came out of nothing,” Garratt tells Consequence of Sound. “I was stressing in the studio, panicking on my own as I usually do and this song came out of the room to hug me and let me know that for now, I was gonna be ‘ight.”

Inital Location Ideas

As I hope to film in the countryside and have lots of options of where to do it, I don't want it all to be on tracks along a field but hope to change it up in different areas in the countryside. I could possibly visit the beach and a forest.
I want it to start with the person waking up in a field, and then cut to various locations with the person walking whilst miming, then between each miming part will have various shots of the location. Gradually more and more people will come along. Until at the very end where they will start to run towards the camera and then it will just stop to a black screen.

A beach is one of the locations I hope to use, this beach is Southwold, I want to use one with lots of sand space.

Breakthrough Idea!

Since I had a lot of trouble thinking of a suitable idea to make a successful music video, I have come up with the idea of starting off with one person waking up in a field, or not, I haven't yet decided. But the first person will start to walk and to mime to the song, slowly more and more people will join them, it will cut into different locations in the countryside and maybe in more public locations.

Then at the end they will start to run and I will use slow-motion of film them running. At each location a band will appear as the people walk past, the band may not fit in with the style of song, but they will just be in the background so if they don't match up completely it wont be a massive problem.  I may use the effect where at the end of the shot, spin the camera and then do it for the next clip at the start and end so it merges into one. By this idea I can combine my ideas together of wanting it to be based in the countryside, someone running and using Wes Anderson's style.

This music video played a small part in my video inspiration, the gradual add of people, but the people will be walking rather than cycling.
 Its called 'Bat For Lashes - What's A Girl To Do'

The Video called Arrow- by Fences and Macklemore is in the style of Wes Anderson an inspiration.

Success of Music Videos

Music videos are becoming world-wide phenomenon's with artists paying a lot of attention to the story told and the creation of it.
Music videos use a wide range of styles of contemporary video making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation, music, and live action. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the song's lyrics, while others take a more thematic approach. Other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the song's live performance.

Consumption of music videos

In the early 90's the only real way to view music videos was in MTV, by the early 1990s, MTV was playing a combination of pop-friendly hard rock acts, chart-topping metal and rock acts such as Metallica. During this decade, MTV saw the rise in popularity and strength of the music video industry. It provided one of the only outlets for music videos and, with it's rapidly increasing popularity, allowed the rise of the music video directors. Even several noted film directors got their start creating music videos. From the 1990’s, music video consumption was a common thing but in a very different way from the 21st century. The way people used to consume videos are very out of date. MTV became a popular method of viewing music videos, and with the inability to view them on the internet, it was one of the most common methods and frankly, one of the only methods. The MTV age influenced people’s views of ‘popular music’ and determined which videos they watched and viewed as they didn’t have a choice.

2004- Vimeo, a U.S.-based video-sharing website on which users can upload, share and view videos. This is now being used by people all over the world and is an additional way to watch music videos through high quality resolution in 720p and 1080P/1080i. As of December 2011, Vimeo attracts 65 million unique visitors per month and more than 8 million registered users. As of February 2013, Vimeo accounted for 0.11% of all Internet bandwidth, following fellow video sharing sites
 like YouTube and Facebook.

2006- For five years, YouTube and music industry companies like MTV struggled to understand how their content was being displayed for free on YouTube, and attempted to implement measures to ban the content. The huge rise in views for music videos on video sharing site YouTube meant that they were able to make huge amounts of money through advertising. his has resulted in the total number of displayed YouTube Ads going up 50% in the last year and their revenues soaring to $450 million.
 

2009-The launch of music video channel Viva was, similarly to 4Music, a brave move in the changing climate of music video consupmtion. Viva's television hours were severely cut back and is no longer a 24 hour broadcast station, but only from 9:00 - 3:00. This shows again the dominance of the internet in music video viewing, people don't sit down and watch them on the television anymore. Also Vevo has developed music consumption  once again and more specifically music video consumption because people are able to watch anything they want providing the artist is signed with any of these
conglomerates or their subsidiaries.

Looking at Student made music video

This music video is in rewind it which was one of my MANY undecided ideas. Its set in a bar, about a story of a girl and boy obviously in a relationship.

History of Music Videos

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a song or piece of music. Modern videos are primarily are primarily used as a marketing device intended to promote the sales of music recordings.

Bessie Smith-St. Louis blues

This is one of the earliest examples of music videos that we are familiar with today. It was shown in theatres in 1932, however we are able to access music videos almost anywhere now and shows how much technology has changed.

The earliest music videos were filmed in the mid 1950's, however before then in the 1920's, films by animators such as Oscar Fishcinger, were accompanied by musical scores labelled 'visual music'. In 1940, Walt Disney released 'Fantasia', an animated film based around famous pieces of classical music.

The key innovation in the development of the modern music video was, of course, video recording and editing processes, along with the development of a number of related effects such as chroma-key . The advent of high-quality colour videotape recorders and portable video cameras coincided with the DIY ethos of the New Wave era and this enabled many pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply, in comparison to the relatively high costs of using film. However, as the genre developed music video directors increasingly turned to 35mm film as the preferred medium, while others mixed film and video. By the mid-1980s releasing a music video to accompany a new single had become standard, and acts like The Jackson's sought to gain a commercial edge by creating lavish music videos with million dollar budgets.

Michael Jackson-thriller

This video was the pioneer of the 'Storyline' video which has a plot, almost like a 'mini' movie. It contains sophisticated visuals and it took the music industry to another level. Now music videos were really being seen as promotion and made into high-budget productions.


Music videos now hold stories and put the technological advances to good use by highly creative videos. But some artists want the audience to focus on the music rather than the video so has a very simple storyline.

Setting

Setting is critical in all films. It helps convey the theme of the film, create atmosphere and helps make the story credible. Elements of setting may include culture, historical period, geography and time. Along with plot, theme, and style, setting is considered one the fundamental components of fiction. A setting is the time, place and social environment in which a story takes place.
Some of the most famous settings are:
Home Alone House
Hogwarts
Notting Hill, Notting Hill
New Zealand, The Hobbit

Character

Movies tell stories about people. In every script, the writer has to create one character (or a set of characters) that the audience will root for or hate. This special character is known as the main character, often referred to as the protagonist. He or she will be the character with most obstacles and normally the one with most screen time.
Creating interesting, realistic characters is an art in itself. To find the right dose of believability and novelty to mix together and form an exciting, plausible character ranks as one of the hardest tasks in screenwriting. Something that the audience can relate to or all grow a hatred for where you follow their story either with or against them.
Some of the most famous characters are hero's, but others are sometimes to comical ones or their strange behaviours.
Some of the most famous movie characters are:
-Indiana Jones
-James Bond
-Elsa
-Forrest Gump
-E.T
-Harry Potter
-The Joker
-Darth Vader
-Spiderman
-Ferris Bueller
-Cinderella
Majority of the main characters are males, this shows the film industry is male dominated pushing women to the less important roles
Some leading female characters are:
-Princess Leia
-Dorothy Gale
-Mary Poppins
-Hermione Granger

Music Video Specific

Song Choice

-Song choice is very important in a music video because this is what you base the footage filming around, people are not going to listen to the song if it isn't something people will remember or listen to. There is a wide spectrum of genre of songs and there is an audience for all, so you are not going to be short of listeners but the song needs to be catchy and something people will want listen to.

-The genre of music I am thinking of using is Indie rock/pop or alternative rock. I regularly listen to this style of music and think it will fit best with my video ideas.

-I will mainly use a hand held camera so the shots are slightly wobbly, but will use a tripod so shots are also steady. The video will be quite fast so a lot of movement, I also want to slow down some sections in the editing process. As I looked at Wes Anderson and his symmetrical work, I think
I want to add an element of precision into which also links to me as an art student.

- I have multiple song choices, but I need to look at the lyrics as well, to see how I can link them in with a video idea.
This is a list of possible song options:
-Coasts, 'Ocean'
-Jack Garratt 'Breath Life'
-Ben Howard 'Esmeralda'
- Kodaline 'Ready'
-Elmore - One Man Town
-Vance Joy - Georgia
-Vance Joy - "Mess is Mine
-The Vaccines - I Always Knew
-Fences- "Sunburns"

Footage

I am planning to have mostly footage of the narrative story and some parts will be lip syncing, it will probably be a ratio of 75:25, narrative to lip syncing.

Narrative:

Pro: Lots of stories/ideas to use.
Con: Could be difficult to make the music fit the footage, and making it an effective video .

Lip Syncing

Pro: Adds some interest rather than just a story
Con: Editing can be hard and life syncing can sometimes look too enthusiastic.

Theories of Narrative

The three main narrative theorists Todorov, Barthes and Propp,  all have different ideas on how narratives work.

Todorov's theory:

He believed films are split into 3 sections,
first the Equilibrium, the start of the film where you are introduced to characters, setting etc. Nothing exciting really happens.
Disequilibrium comes second, this is when a big event happens usually a negative thing, where the story becomes interesting.
Then the Equilibrium which is when the story is resolved and all the problems go away or the ending isn't so happy but it comes to a stable end.
Films that follow Todorovs theory are:
The Mummy, Spiderman, Titanic, Shrek.

Propp Theory:  

This theory consisted of character style occurring in most films: these are the Hero, Villain, Doner, Dispatcher, False Hero, Helper, Princess, Her Father.

Barthes Theory:

5 codes in film:
Action code - applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example, a gunslinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be.
Enigma code - refers to any element in a story that is not explained and, therefore, exists as an enigma for the audience, raising questions that demand explication.
The semantic code - any element in a text that suggests a particular, often additional meaning by way of connotation .
The cultural code - any element in a narrative that refers to a science or a body of knowledge. In other words, the cultural codes tend to point to our shared knowledge about the way the world works.
The symbolic – annoyingly difficult to explain. You will only understand it if first we look at binary opposites.

Genre

The genre of the movie can be told in the first few minutes of it, by the different elements- the props,setting, characters etc. Genre means the style of what the film entails, due to the conventions set in.
The most common film genres are:
Horror, Romance, Comedy, Documentary, Rom-Com, Western, Action, Thriller, Sci-fi, War, Family, Drama, and Fantasy.

Prezi of Ideas

As I had lots of ideas I wanted to brainstorm them down, this Prezi gives just a few ideas of the area I could possibly focus on.

Click the Link to go to the Prezi or just view it through the images below: https://prezi.com/kj2-c_pyca2m/edit/#4_24309637

Music Influences

The British brand Burberry, have alternative and upcoming artists perform their songs, I really like the style of the songs and artists that perform. This kind of music is my basis for my video, the songs are striped back to instruments and not auto-tuning or much editing. Each of these songs are a possibility to use, and are all British artists.
This is George Ezra performing an acoustic version of 'Did you hear the rain?' live on the Burberry runway at London in Los Angeles event.
















This video is also live from the Burberry runway of British musician James Bay performing 'When We Were on Fire' at the Burberry Prorsum Women's-wear S/S15 show.

      
                                                                     

Ideas

Filming ideas and examples- Windsor

On the weekend of the 3/4th October I visited Windsor park and had the opportunity to take photos and do films some shots of the scenery which is the basis for my coursework video. I will also create a montage film of various shots I took from that day.

Narrative

Narrative in essence is story-telling, its the way the different elements come together to tell a story. When looking at lots of different films you can see the likeliness that occurs in different genres.

Narrative is delivered to the audience by suspense, expectation, tension and closure.

-A closed structure is a story that has a satisfactory ending, this occurs in most films, unless there is more than one film that leads on with the finale at the end of the last film.
-An open structure ending means there is no final conclusion of a story, but has minor endings, this occurs in a television soap such as Eastenders.
-A multi-strand structure is when multiple narratives are going on at once, this is very common in television such as Holby City.
-Point of view structures are often in documentaries where there is one main focus the video has.
A popular narrative structure is an enigma, the plot constructs a puzzle in which the audience have to solve while the characters act out the story.

NARRATIVE IS INFORMED BY LOCATION, CHARACTERS AND ACTION.
-Characters have functions in which they inform the audience by helping/hindering other characters to form the story
-Action determines how the events in the narrative occur and the influence they have.
-Location is very important in a film or television its sets the scene and helps the story unfold, this also can help the audience know what genre the film is.

Inspiration and brainstorming

In class I was stuck for ideas for my coursework, I wanted to base it on the countryside and waking up in a field. We went around the class starting off with the sentence 'Harriet wakes up in a field....' then we all wrote our ideas down passing the papers around, conjuring up ideas for a music video. Most of the ideas were more comical and silly which I didn't really want to use, but snippets from some of them could give me ideas for a video.
This is a list of some of the ideas that people came up with:
Waking up and seeing a long winding road....
Waking up and finding a key in my pocket...
Seeing children dressed up in animal costumes....

Here are some images of them....