Video Meaning

My video has quite a deep meaning to it, originally i wanted it to just be a video of a man who remembers his childhood but over time it progressed to get better and better and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.
Here i have explained the different elements that feature in my video and have meanings behind them, that may not be recognised through just watching the video.

Sunsets:
My video opens with the few shots of sunsets, this portrays that the man is coming towards the end of his life like a sunset is near the end of the day, this is a subtle point to the audience as i didnt want to go straight into the shots of the old man.

The Bench:
As you can see throughout my video the bench appears a few times, the first time at the start of the video where the man sits on it, this is where he starts to remember his childhood by looking at the old photograph. At the end of the film the man then walks over to it to see his wife sitting this bench links him to her, whether she is alive or dead, the audience can decide that. The bench is a symbol of a link and love between the couple, as he sits on it to remember his childhood with his wife and then going back to it to see her. When he walks outside towards the end of the video, the colour changes from black and white to colour, this is because when he is outside he feels closer to his wife, and he knows he will see her either mentally or physically.

Inside the house and editing the colour:
When the old man is in the house looking at old photos and the things he does indicates he is missing his wife, the reason why it is black and white is because he is alone and they are not together. His life is dull and depressing when he is not with her. The edit on  the children playing outside is a lot duller than when they are older, this is because i wanted it to look like old footage but didn't want it in black and white because then it would blend into when the man is inside alone and obviously the footage is different.

The Unknown:
The audience can decide for themselves if they think she is dead or alive, whether he goes to the bench because that is the place he remembers her best or just the place they meet up. Its where he remembers their childhood together and growing up, and staying together for a very long time.

Target Audience

Target Audience- Music 

My target audience for my video and chosen song are little different. The song i chose to use my my music video is '7 Years' by Lukas Graham, this is aimed at younger generations, for the ages 14-26. This is because its a current mainstream song in the charts at the moment played on the radio stations such as BBC Radio 1 and Kiss, that are listened to daily. Originally i didn't want to do a current mainstream song because of the expectations of people and what they would think. I asked 20 people of all ages most were 18 year olds but some were 11 years old and some where 40+ majority of them had heard the song apart from 2 who were older than 40. The younger generations are more likely to purchase this song by cd, ITunes, online etc, this means they are my target audience.

Target Audience- Video

The target audience for my video is aimed more at older people because it reminds them of being young and remembering their childhood. This song has been heard by lots of ages and the video can also aim to them. My video has aimed at younger generations linking to the audience of the song but also it is aimed older people who will watch it and remember being young. Elderly people can also relate to the story of feeling alone after the loss of a loved one, the video is aimed at people who are of similar age to my two older actors.

Adding more to my video

Through my feedback I decided to film more to add to my video, after receiving my pointers on how to make the video better, i agreed with what was said and wanted to improve it as best i could. So the Tuesday i received the feedback that afternoon and evening around 3-5 i filmed other parts to my video. I got home from school at 3 and left as soon as possible as it was a sunny day and needed to film inside the farm house at my aunt and uncles place which gave me time to also film outside when the sun was low but still light enough to shoot.
Firstly we went inside the house looking for old photos of my aunt and uncle (who are in the video) when they were young, and other items that linked a couple in particular them together. I used their one of their wedding photos and photos of them as they were getting older. One shot i used my uncle looking at a photo of my aunt when she was young in a frame. I wanted to film him looking at his wedding ring but my uncle didn't have one. I filmed my aunts slippers next to my uncle but kind of set back so i gave the audience as suspicion that she was alive, but was she? I then filmed their shoes together and a chair where my aunt used to sit with a sewing kit. Then i filmed my uncle sitting on the sofa and looking to an empty seat.
I then filmed him walking outside, to the bench where he sat at the start of the video, and my aunt sat on the bench, i think when i edit it together that will be my last shot.

A Practise Cut and Feedback

This is one of my rough cuts, I got some feedback on it on how to improve it. I felt as i watched it the shots of the children playing were quit long winded and they were quite similar throughout.
After showing my teacher and my class my video, of which i thought was very close to be finished, I received a lot of feedback to improve my final cut and i have quite a few changes to make before my deadline which is in a few days, this is a sheet of the feedback i received, i will work on from this feedback to improve my video. I was told to take out the lip syncing of the 2 children and add another part in as the shots of Tom and Harriet are a little repetitive. It was suggested that i add the old man in his house looking at old photos or memorabilia of the young couple growing up and at the end do they audience think she is dead or alive.

My rough cut still has some changes to be made to it, I need to change the colouring of the children, so you can tell it is a memory. Then i also need to add some shots in to it to establish the different time periods and so people understand what the storyline is.
I received feedback from various people on how i can improve my work, i didn't tell them anything about it so i could see if they understood the video without background information.

Philip age 17: "There are a variety of shots, good lighting and focus, however i didn't really understand the link between the man and the kids".

Kate age 49: "You need to put something in between the old man and the start of the children, so people know what the story is about, as you can't always tell people before they watch it, especially the examiner".

Clothing my actors ended up wearing

This is the outfit my uncle wore, i didn't want him to wear anything special, he ended up wearing a tweed flat cap, red scarf and navy jumper and dark trousers. 

 Here are a few shots of both the children and what they wore for my video, Other wore greens and browns, Harriet the little girl wore a skirt and Tom the boy for browny trousers.

These are some examples of what children wore in the 50's:

Adding another Character

I thought that because i used 2 children in the video, i thought i should have some sort of link to the girl. The video is based around the old man remembering his childhood but at the end of my video, it was a bit of a spare of the moment thing but i thought i could add at the end the lady who was the girl now grown up and sits on the bench of the bench with the man, as they are now married, and together or still just best of friends. This shot isn't for very long, about 2 seconds and within that they both look at each other.

Audience Research

I done my audience research in a small group of people, as i felt we could help each other out with the questions and ideas. We asked a few people what they thought were on a couple of questions to do with my work and music videos in general. Over a period of time I have complied an edited together version of videos from my audience research.
The questions were:
1. Which of the following media products do you regularly consume over an average week?
2. Is there a difference between the music you listen to and the music videos you watch?
3. What do you consider to be the definition of as music video?
4. Who do you consider to be the target audiences of each of the following media products?
5. Which of the following ways of promoting music video release attracts you most to streaming it or watching the music video on YouTube/music video channel?
6. What music videos can you think of that you would put into a category of excellent in the way that they use creativity?
7. What do you think to our idea for our music video/question?

StoryBoard

1. Shots of the old man sitting on the bench
2. Doing/looking at something to remember his childhood by
3. A flashback to 2 children playing, messing around, this will be for the majority of the video
4. Finally at the end either a cut back to the man, or just a fading shot of the 2 children playing.

Prop List and Clothing

Prop List
I need both my young actors, Harriet and Tom.
I also need my uncle who is playing the old man.
I need to bring my Camera- SLR Canon, Tripod and an empty memory card.
Yogi the dog is also going to be in parts of the video, he will be playing with the children.

Clothing
Tom and Harriet are supposed to be from the 50's so clothing is important to distinguish between the time periods.
Tom: A checked shirt, a browny jumper, dark coloured trouser, wellington boots.
Harriet: Tweed coat, skirt and tights and wellington boots, hair in plaits.
Both are hopefully going to wear neutral colours so they don't look too bright.
Uncle Maurice: Normal clothes, flat cap, jumper, scarf.
It doesnt matter so much what old man wears because thats set in present time, so we don't need to disguise between time periods.

Rough Cut!!

This is the rough cut of my video, i put the shots together and slowed down some parts for example, from 100% to 60%. I need to get some feedback on it so far, I'm thinking of putting the children parts in either black and white or decrease the saturation so you can tell its supposed to be set earlier on in the mans life. Also you can't really tell he is remembering parts of his childhood so i had the idea, of having a photo them editing it to black and white, then i will re-film a small part of it, at the start where he is sitting on the bench, and then gets the photo out, this will stimulate his memory, it will then switch to the 2 children playing. Im really pleased with the editing and filming so far, but it still had some tweaking to be made.
Here are some photos for shooting yesterday!

Photos from the 50's

As i am using a old looking photograph in my video, i need to research into what photos looked like from the 50's.

I created a collage of photos i found on the internet of children from the 50's:

 This is my example of a photo from the 50's, i took it not long ago, a few days before when i shoot my video and then edited it to black and white to make it look old. I don't know if it will be too dark in my video, if not i can edit it to make it look lighter, and so you can see the photo better, I edited the photo in photoshop. 

AFTER FILMING:

 This is what the photograph looked like in the video, as i edited the clip to increase the contrast as it was part of my current time the photo came out a little light of the right of the photo, but you can still see the image clearly. 

Research into Music Video promotion posters

These are some example of promotion posters, some are based on the actual video and others have links, or some are just the band logo like the Arctic Monkeys poster.

This Katy Perry poster is based a lot around the song and video, where as some don't give much away about the video. This poster has an old-fashioned circus style, its made to look hand drawn, using lots of colour but not so its overpowering. i really like this poster style, as its quit art-based. The creme background allows the greens and blues of the leaves to stand out and the animals emerge from them. Katy is dressed like a jungle survivor, the song title has a tiger pattern in it, linking it to the sound a tiger makes which is also the song name.

The Alesso poster, is quite simple in comparison to others, the photograph of the eye is very advanced. The colours have been decreased so its quite monochrome, this adds drama to the photo, meaning this could link somehow to the video. Its got a black border only around the top and bottom, this sometimes appears in films so maybe the video is a short story or has some background to it. The writing is white and bold to stand out from the darkness of the eye.

Madonnas Vogue poster, is very dramatic, the dark background and white foreground, like a light hitting her face, draws the attention initially to her. The name of the song is very big, her name is alot smaller, she expects everyone to know who she is so her name is less important, especially since she is on the cover. Once again the poster is back and white, putting it in a time were colour film was unavailable, but this is purposely like this, based on Vogue a long standing fashion magazine, or has a definition of a prevailing fashion or style at a particular time, which is what the video is based on.

Taylor swifts song is the most recent out of all posters, she released a handful of posters advertising each character in her video, all where famous women and they were released daily, creating suspicion and excitement amongst her fans. Once again the colour scheme is black and white which red blood, linking to the name of the song, it also features a line from the song, and the date of the release.

The lady Gaga and Beyonce song and video Telephone, links also the the poster, during her video they drive off in a truck, which is the one featuring in the poster. The colours are all similar, the natural colours of the road, sky and surroundings. Then the yellow and pink car colours are also used in the song title which is bold and part of it features an old telephone dial.

Filming!

I am hoping to film on the 18th of February, it took alot of time to arrange a date where everyone was free but its finally happening! I need to create a prop list and set out what i need to do when i am shooting.
The weather is supposed to be sunny and its arranged to be done from 3 onwards when the sun starts to lower and the lighting is a lot nicer.

The importance of music videos

Click the link to watch a video on music videos:
https://vimeo.com/47925628

Growing up in the 50's

As my uncle who will be playing the old man in my music video was born in the 50's, i done some research about what it was like growing up in England in the 1950's.
I found an article on the Express website and it gives an insight into being a child 60+ years ago.
Here are snip-its from the article i felt captured the imagination:

Written by Paul Feeney in 2009:

'Despite the difficulties of day-to-day living people had great pride in and loyalty to their country and seemed to share a common purpose in life. Families stayed together through the hard times and everybody knew their neighbours and had a sense of belonging. They would routinely leave their street door on the latch and hang a key on a piece of string behind the letterbox when they were out for their children to come and go as they pleased.

'You probably didn’t get your first black and white television set until the late ­Fifties. After all, only three million British households had one by 1954, with numbers increasing to almost 13million by 1964.'

'But it didn’t matter if you had no television because you could play in the streets without the fear of traffic or the obstruction of parked cars. Buses and bicycles were the most popular modes of transport. In 1950 there were just under two million cars in Britain, with only 14 per cent of households owning one. The most ­popular models in the Fifties included the Ford Prefect 100E and the Austin A35 saloon.'

'Many of us who grew up then have memories of houses that were draughty in winter with curtains hung behind the street door to reduce the flow of cold air and frost that formed overnight on the inside of bedroom windows.'

'Outside, the larger urban areas suffered with dense, yellowish smogs – known as pea-soupers – caused by fog combining with coalfire emissions. In 1952 a particularly thick smog shrouded London and caused the deaths of an estimated 12,000 people.'

'However, life was certainly not all doom and gloom. You grew up in a much safer environment than we can ever imagine these days. Children were able to enjoy the freedom of outdoor life. They played lots of rough-and-tumble games, got dirty and fell out of trees. The purple stains of iodine were always evident on the grazed knees of boys in short trousers.'

'There was no such thing as health and safety or children’s rights. We were taught discipline at home and at school and ­corporal punishment was freely administered for bad behaviour.'

'There was no mugging of old ladies and people felt that it was safe to walk the streets. There was very little vandalism and no graffiti. Telephone boxes were fully glazed and each contained a set of local telephone directories and a pay-box full of pennies.'

'Youngsters respected and feared people in authority such as policemen, teachers, and park keepers, knowing that they would get a clip around the ear if they were caught misbehaving. Home life was much different from today. Everyone seemed to have a gramophone, an upright piano and a valve radio in their front room and there were ticking clocks all around the house.'

My photography in the style of Wes Anderson

I thought i could experiment with Wes Andersons Style of work, but through photography. I haven't had any time to take new photos so here are some i have taken over the past year or 3! Some images aren't exactly in Wes Anderson's style but most have the main object in the centre of the frame.

Poster inspiration

My poster was inspired by this album cover by 'Ghost Hotel' called 'do you feel it'. I liked the idea of layering the image but didn't realise how hard it would be to get the hang of it. This album cover has used an image and if you look closely its been mirrored so its exactly the same, i wouldn't be able to do that for my image because there is a main object in it, the car which isn't completely central, this photo is just of the sea and sky, which looks very effective as a mirrored image. They also put a filter on the original background image which isn't within the shape, so the colours contrast upon each other. Their titles are small and in white text too, there focus also isn't the name of the album but the image in the middle of the cover.

My promotional poster

This is my poster for the song of my choice '7 years'. I used a photo from 3 years ago of my holiday in the USA it was taken on the way home from Clearwater Beach. I had to learn new skills on photoshop. I created new layers and decreased the size each time making 7 layers which represent each of the years in the name. I used this photograph because at the start of the video i put in sunsets representing the closing of the mans life, and this photograph is of a sunset too. The photograph was taken from the back of the car and is looking back on the traffic, representing the old man looking back on his life as a child. I wanted to keep the writing basic so put it in a simplistic font in white so it stands out from the dark road but not drawing too much attention away. I put the name of the song '7 years' in bigger and bolder writing because that is the main link between my work. The car represents the man, because sometimes life and bring problems but they can always be fixed, to get to your destination in the end.  Also around the photo is a simple littered border to give it a sense of completion and that life is like a never ending cycle. The car is also in the centre of the photo, like in the style of Wes Anderson who is partly my inspiration of my work. 

How i made my poster 

Firstly the photo was taken 3 years ago in Florida, on a SLR camera, i then imported onto my phone where i used one of my favourite apps, (you can also use it on the internet) VSCO which you edit photos and upload them as a kind of blog for aspiring photographers, the editing options on it are really classy and capture the lighting really nicely. I used the editing option 'C1'.

I then transferred it onto my macbook where all of my editing is happening. I opened the image into photoshop and instantly duplicated the layer. Then i selected the duplicated layer and went to the Elliptical Marquee tool, holding down shift and dragging it until i got the oval shape i wanted. i then went to the 'select' tool at the top, and clicked 'inverse' then using the eraser tool i deleted all the background of the duplicated layer (NOT THE ORIGINAL LAYER). Leaving me with just an oval shape. Like this. 

This would be the larger oval of all 7. I then duplicated the layer with the oval on another 6 times.

Each time i only selected one, and clicking the little eye next to the layer name so it was off, and that i could only see the layer i was working on. On the 2nd duplicated layer with only viewing that one, i decreased the size a little holding down shift so it would equally go down. then putting the delicate layer and original back on viewing so i perfectly line up and size my smaller oval. I done this another 5 times so in total i had 7 layers of oval with car in getting smaller each time only by a little bit, because if not the car would get too small. 

I added a small grey dotted border around the outside by creating a rectangle then removing the block colour inside only having the outline showing. This is what it looked like without the text. 

Once i was happy with the layering and border i added the text 'Lukas Graham' 

in the font 'Avenir Next Condensed Regular' in the size 72pt and 'Avenir Next Condensed Medium' for the song name '7years' in the size 120pt.

This is the original edited image before i started to manipulate it. 

This is my poster so far, i am very pleased with it, but need to make sure that nothing else needs to be on it, such as ratings or 'coming soon'.

Planning album cover

This is a plan of my cd cover, its a basic drawing of what the cover will look like. I will take a photograph of the old man looking at the young boy, this will represent the old man looking back at his childhood. They will be sitting on the same bench that the man was on in the video. 

looking at the Lukas Graham cover

The single cover for Lukas Graham's '7 years' is him and his dad, mine is going to be similar but instead of it being a father and son its going the boy i use looking at himself in the future, about 50 years later, or the old man looking back at himself when he was 10 years old. They will be sitting on the bench the man in sitting on for most of my music video, so there is continuity.

Lukas Graham reseach

Their music genre is known as Pop, Soul and Funk.

Wikipedias introduction to my chosen band:
'Lukas Graham is a Danish soul pop band consisting of Lukas Graham Forchhammer (vocals), Mark "Lovestick" Falgren (drums), Magnus “Magnúm” Larsson (bass) and Kasper Daugaard (keyboard). Launching their debut album in 2012 on Copenhagen Records Lukas Graham quickly became the most popular live act in Denmark. That success translated to the rest of Europe and caught the attention of Warner Bros. Records who co-signed them in 2013. The band’s music was first introduced worldwide with the release of their two singles "7 Years" and "Mama Said" in October 2015. "7 Years" resonated with many listeners and quickly made its way up numerous Spotify Top 50 Viral and Country charts. Their second album is expected to be released in 2016.'

Chosen Song!

The song i have chosen to use in my music video is Lukas Graham '7 years' because the song is about being young. This is the official music video:

And this is the official lyrics video, this one links more to my idea, its a timeline of his life, whereas my idea for a music video is an old man looking back on this childhood. 

LYRICS
Once I was seven years old my mama told me, 
Go make yourself some friends or you'll be lonely
Once I was seven years old

It was a big, big world but we thought we were bigger
Pushing each other to the limits, we were learning quicker
By eleven smoking herb and drinking burning liquor 
Never rich so we were out to make that steady figure

Once I was eleven years old my daddy told me, 
Go get yourself a wife or you'll be lonely
Once I was eleven years old

I always had that dream like my daddy before me
So I started writing songs, I started writing stories
Something about that glory just always seemed to bore me
‘Cause only those I really love will ever really know me

Once I was twenty years old my story got told
Before the morning sun when life was lonely
Once I was twenty years old

I only see my goals I don't believe in failure
‘Cause I know the smallest voices they can make it major
I got my boys with me, at least those in favor
And if we don't meet before I leave I hope I'll see you later

Once I was twenty years old my story got told 
I waswriting 'bout everything I saw before me
Once I was twenty years old

Soon we'll be thirty years old, our songs have been sold 
We'vetraveled around the world and we're still roaming
Soon we'll be thirty years old

I'm still learning about life, my woman brought children for me
So I can sing them all my songs and I can tell them stories
Most of my boys are with me, some are still out seeking glory
And some I had to leave behind, my brother I'm still sorry

Soon I'll be sixty years old, my daddy got sixty-one 
Remember life and then your life becomes a better one
I made a man so happy when I wrote a letter once
I hope my children come and visit once or twice a month

Soon I'll be sixty years old, will I think the world is cold
Or will I have a lot of children who can warm me
Soon I'll be sixty years old

Deciding on a song and feedback

I have finally chose the song '7 years' by Lukas Graham, struggled to find a song that was about growing up and looking back on your childhood. Many songs were too old for my liking. Here is a list of some that i found while doing research.

I was listening to the radio and heard this song, its a new popular song, which i wasn't particularly happy about doing, i didn't want to use a mainstream song because of the expectations of what i would produce by lots of people because many would have heard this song, in all age groups. But particularly young people aged 13-25.
I got some feedback on the song choice and majority of it was positive, saying i should definitely go for that song choice and the ideas works really well with it.

i

I decided to go with the song and really hope it works!

Final Locations

I have started putting a few clips together, they are of sunsets and scenery as it shows its coming to the end of the old mans life, the final chapter in life, like the final part of the day is the sunset.

I used surrounding areas by my house to shoot the early shots if the scenery. 

For the shots of the old man sitting on the bench, i will use someones garden, probably my aunt and uncles garden who live in a large house close to me, I can make it look like a nursing home. 

I will also use fields and parks to make it look old, it will be quite difficult to go into a public place as it needs to be based in the 50's when the old man/people were young.
The location i have chosen is my aunt and uncles far about 2 minutes from my house, There are lots of fields and open space for the children to play in and it was easily look like it was from the 50's.

This is the entrance to the farm, further round there are multiple fields and if i was to shoot some of the house it wouldn't matter so much because there are lots of old fashioned buildings.

This is the image from a birds eye view from google maps, as you can see its in the countryside surrounded by greenery and large areas of grass. 

Linking idea to professional video

This video is from Pixar's 2009 'UP', its a well known children film based on an old man who loses his wife and takes his house to live in Paradise falls, while facing many obstacles in the way.

This video is the part in the film which shows the progression of the love story, from what Carl looks back on. This is similar to my video idea of the old man looking back at his childhood.

People i will be using in my video

I need to use 2 young people a boy and a girl, preferably around the age of 10/11.
I have 2 young children i can use;
Tom Cugnoni:
Age 11
Blonde hair
Blue eyes

I will also use a family friend called Harriet Prior, she is also the same age 11, blonde, they are very good friends so will get on well in the video.


















I also need 2 older people, I have my people i can use. But i think my grandad who is 80+ years old, this is the age i need, as he is going to be sad and alone thinking about his youth.

CHANGE of Final Idea!!!!

I have a new idea to create more of a narrative to my music video. I will keep with the theme of countryside, but have the story of an elderly person, probably a male sitting outside where he will see to little children playing, there will then be a false back of his childhood when he had his best friend who passed away, at the end he will get out his wallet and in their is a folded up image of the 2 best friends. I will also take photos aswell as footage which will edit together as a quick montage to break up with image as i wanted to keep a part of my old idea in this video too.
 This will be easier to create because the people will be less busy, and i don't need to arrange loads of people together.
The song choice will also be based on growing up or being young, at the moment I am swaying towards Lukas Grahams song, because its a male singing it and if i want to include some lip syncing/miming the majority of the actors in my music video are male.
Adele- 'when we were young'
Lukas Graham- '7 years'