Feedback From Interviews

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From the voice recordings of the interviews we were able to generate a word collage on the main themes and ideas that came into the interviewee's head when played the song and asked questions related to the themes, mood, setting and characters.

Main Themes and Ideas communicated to audience 

We found that interviewing 4 people was reassuring in terms of the research we have already done and the storyboard first draft we have created. The ideas that the interviewee's had in terms of setting, characters, and themes were almost identical to those we had come up with in planning. For example, in our first draft we included the main setting of the beach and also a party theme. When asked what mood and theme is communicated through this song, all of the people interviewed said that they envisaged a party, dance theme in a beach setting. They thought of summer and London which is convenient and applicable to the first storyboard draft we have already completed, as there is a summery theme with the beach and also it is being filmed in London, so even though we didn't get any new information from these interviewers it reassures us that we are on the right lines in terms of audience needs and wants and so the music video will be desirable to them.

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Interview Voice Recordings

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Below are two voice recording clips evidencing the interviews conducted.

Leah, Sophie & Sophie (peers)

Mr Duguid

 

We decided to interview to conduct two interviews with contrasting interviewees. The first interview was with peers, Leah, Sophie and Sophie. They are the same age as the target audience, and are also female. They are very familiar with working on the subject of music videos, and therefore we felt that their opinions would be very much valued. The second interview was conducted with Mr Duguid, an older male interviewee. We thought that this was an important interview to conduct. This was because our research has been very much tailored to a specific target audience, and therefore it is useful to find out what other types of people of different ages want to see so that we can tailor our video with primarily our target audience in mind, but also keep any information and ideas we gather from this interview in mind so that our music video appeals to other people outside the target audience in some way.

 

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Feedback from Tutorial

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This following is information and feedback from the tutorial that has taken place with teachers this week:

• Our interviews had successful feedback in terms of further research
• We need to update our blogs with more use of mixed media i.e. videos

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Interviews

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We conducted interviews with people who would fit into the target audience to see, after our first storyboard draft, if there was anything we could add in to make our video more desirable.

These were the questions asked when played the song 'Don't save me, HAIM'
1. What sense of mood do you get from listening to the song
2. In terms of setting, what kind of location do you think of when listening to the song
3. In terms of lyrics, what is the main theme being communicated
4. In terms of characters, what type of people would you expect to listen to this song

** This is an open interview, so although these will be the basic questions, the discussion may be expanded to get further ideas out of the interviewee**
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Character Casting

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The characters which we have chosen for our music video were chosen as they are trust worthy and reliable and are available within the time frame we plan to film within. 

We also picked them due to the audience response from our questionnaire, the actors naturally meet the criteria in terms of style being 'alternative' and are in the same age group of those whom answered the questionnaire. 

We have a male and female character to portray the relationship reflected in the lyrics, we have also planned for extras to appear in the video however none have specific parts or roles therefore if they are not available we can easily arrange for someone else to play their part, or film without them.

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Male Styling Mood board

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In the interview 50% of the interviewees wanted to see characters appear in the video who promoted a alternative/hipster style. However, just under 50% of interviewees also wanted to see a more classical, understated look appear in the video. Therefore I think the character styling is essential in order to aesthetically please the target audience, this way even if the characters cast don't fit the ideal image, we can dress them accordingly so that they do and style them in terms of hair/piercings etc.

Styling Ideas

In terms of style, I believe the characters should be recognisably fitting into the 'alternative' style, but should be dressed in an understated way so that it is not too much to focus on and also so that the attention isn't taken away from the storyline and footage. By making the characters more understated, this will also reach a wider audience, and people will not be put off by the visuals and style. 

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Female Styling Mood Board

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As mentioned in the Male Styling Mood Board below, the audience wanted to see both alternative/hipster styles, and secondly a classical, understated look feature in terms of style in our music video.

We therefore decided to collect images and do some research into how we can style the characters in order to aesthetically please and meet the needs and wants of the target audience. This way we can look at the images for inspiration and also show these images to the cast so they get an idea of how they should look prior to shooting.  

Images of Inspiration for Female Styling

I think that the female character needs to be unique looking in order to stay in the audiences memory. Also, i think she needs to be attractive so that both female and males attention is captured and maximum attention is paid to the story line. I think as people are quite fixated on looks of celebrities and icons, having an attractive individual, but yet elegant and pretty looking female is essential to the music video. We need to keep this in mind when casting character roles. 
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Similar Artists and Their Music Video Ideas

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I have decided to look at similar artists and tracks in terms of genre and overall sound and analyse them for any interesting features that I think could be used in our music video production

1. Baby Got That - Bondax
Effects and Editing

Style is very important to this video. The song itself doesn't have a very strong narrative, and so I think the video is very suited to this as it doesn't hold a strong storyline or portray a particular message. However, I do think it is useful to us in terms of camera techniques and lighting. On a low budget, techniques used could come in useful. Lighting and aspects of lighting like shadowing/reflections is used very well, and also camera effects like the water ripples are used with good taste and prevent it from looking un-professional. This makes the footage more interesting and enhances the colours also. The characters used are attractive females, and I think this is important to this video to gage the audiences attention. There are props used and most importantly a lot of shot variation which is important. We need to keep this in mind when filming and ensure we get enough footage to make it varied. Black and white/colour filters are blended well. 

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2. Crave You - Flight Facilities 
Character Casting and Storyline

I think the characters used in this video are well suited to the subtle romantic storyline. They are angelic and innocent looking which fits the genre of the song well which is important. There is focus on both characters, and I particularly like the way they are both introduced and shown in different settings. I think the editing at the beginning of the video is something to take note of; I particularly like the way the titles appear, and the background is changing with the beat of the song. Much like the song, there is something very calm and angelic about this video. Even though the chorus is quite repetitive, there is a successful romantic storyline portrayed through the footage and this is something I want to imitate. There is a very pure, blue tone throughout the video that is particularly memorable and works well with the video as a whole in terms of its calm mood.

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3. The Wave - Miike Snow
Framing of Shots and Editing 

This music video differs from our production in terms of the fact it is based around a somewhat fantasy/surreal/satirical theme. However, I was drawn in by the camerawork and framing of particular shots. I think the way in which the whole video is framed is effective, it being landscape with a black surrounding made the shot look more professional and also gave off the idea that it was an insight into something. I think this would be effective in our production as it is an insight into reality and somebodies life. I particularly liked the way the repetitious shot of the slow motion running was used. This demonstrates how we can make a relatively simple shot which is achievable, something more interesting. I think we should focus on how we can make basic shots more effective by adding effects like the reverse and the slow motion onto them, and I think this could make our video a lot more interesting and varying. 

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4. Losing You - Solange

Costume and Setting

The aspect of this music video that is most appealing to me is the setting. I think it is unusual and works very well alongside the song. In the busy setting, there is a lot of chance for interesting varying shots at varying angles and depths, and I think this will be very useful to us as we are filming in busy areas with lots of scenery and need to make the most of it. I think this video shows how effective costume and setting can be and how well it can communicate a theme. However it does pose the idea that the characters and costume need to be consistent, and the consistency of the mise-en-scene of this video, and the syncing of the film with the beat of the song is what makes it so interesting and successful in my eyes. The costume is very appropriate to the genre of song and the audience, and the female singer is shown in a very iconic way, she is memorable and stylish. Although the shots are very varied, the focus is still always on her. I think we need to keep this in mind when filming, we want the shots to be varied but still want the focus to be on our two main characters. The surroundings are used to their full potential, and I particularly like the inside filming in the car. I think we could use this in our production.

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Andrew Goodwin

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Andrew Goodwin Music Video Theory

Andrew Goodwin says that there are 5 key aspects of a music video that audiences look for. These are thought beats, narrative, star image, relation to visuals, and technical aspects.

Thought beats involves the moving image in the music video expanding on your thoughts and interpretations of the lyrics alone. This explains why in the questionnaire the audiences may have favoured wanting the storyline of the video to work alongside the lyrics instead of contrasting them.

Narrative involves performance and the main aim of this is to keep the audience interested in the music video to prevent them from being bored by it. The narrative and performance have to work together to do this. Miming makes the video more realistic and original, and Goodwin said that a music video is most effective when the artist stars in the music video as the actor/singer as well as the participant. The miming needs to look as real as possible and this aspect links to our questionnaire and supports the fact the target audience wanted to see the artist miming. However, our findings also contrast the aspect of performance as the target audience did not want to see instruments being played.

Star image is the idea that the artist is the vital aspect of the music video. Therefore they have to look unique and be easily distinguished from other artists.

The next aspect is relation of  visuals to the song. This is where the meaning of the song is not considered when creating the music video. This doesn’t apply to our music video as we are working the lyrics and their meanings alongside the music video.

The last aspect of Goodwin’s music video theory is the technical aspects of the music video. These hold the music together and include:

•         Camerawork
•         Movement
•         Angle
•         Mise-en-scene
•        Editing
•         Sound
•         Special Effects

All of these aspects will contribute to communicating a specific mood and feel to the music video. They can help communicate key themes and even emotions of the characters and also they can emphasise or introduce new aspects to the storyline. The mise-en-scene is really important to us as when creating our music video it needs to look as realistic and natural as possible. The camerawork and editing need to work alongside the beat of the song, i.e. rapid cutting when the song is upbeat. This all needs to be considered in planning.

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Uses and Gratifications Theory

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Uses and Gratifications theory

The uses and gratifications theory was devised by Bulmler and Katz and suggests that users play a role in selecting and using media. The theory suggests that individuals look for media that fulfils their needs as a consumer.

These needs as a consumer are:

Diversion: The need to escape everyday life

Personal Relationships: The need for companionship and social relationships with others

Personal Identity: The need to compare and find out more about yourself

Surveillance: The need to know what is going on around us, i.e. celebrity lives

In terms of our music video, we need to keep the uses and gratifications in mind when planning and creating the storyboard.  The video needs to allow the viewer to escape their own life and any stressors and follow a story and situation that is not happening in their own life.  However, if they are following a situation in the video that is similar to their own in real life then this will link to personal identity as they will be able to compare what they’re seeing to their own situation, which may in fact make the video more successful in conveying a storyline. As well as this, even if the viewer is not experiencing the situation proposed in the video, they will still be interested because their need of surveillance is still fulfilled. Viewers get satisfaction from viewing and following other peoples lives even if they are staged. We already know that the actors in the video will be characters of similar age to the target audience, therefore the need of personal relationships will be easily fulfilled.

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Todorov

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Tzvetan Todorov

Closed Narrative Research

Todorov put forward a theory of a structure that all narratives should follow in order to be successful. This structure consisted of 5 stages being:

1. A state of equilibrium from the outset

2. A disruption to the equilibrium in some form

3. A recognition that the equilibrium has been disrupted

4. An attempt to repair the equilibrium

5. A re-instatement of the equilibrium

This type of narrative is very familiar with the audience, and is seen in many films and also in music videos. 

In our research, the audience suggested that they wanted our music video to have a closed narrative. Therefore, we can use this structure to base our storyboarding around.

We already know from the lyric analysis and inspiration of the story-line from the lyric analysis of our chosen song 'Don't Save Me' that we want the equilibrium to be the happy relationship. The disruption to this is what causes the relationship to spiral, and so we need to consider showing recognition it has been disturbed and an attempt to re-pair it. An idea for the attempt to re-pair has already been addressed as it could be that the female in the video is trying to fix the problems and put in the extra effort. I think that the re-instatement of the equilibrium is the most important thing to keep in mind. Whatever story we tell needs closure, and a final ending with no doubt as to what has happened; which in this case will be the female walking away. Therefore we need to make sure through camera work that this is very obvious and no alternative interpretations can be made, so that there is definitely a re-instatement. 

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Stuart Hall

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Stuart Hall's Narrative Theory

Stuart Hall looked at the role of audience positioning on the interpretation of media texts. He said there were 3 ways in which we could interpret a media text:

1) Dominant reading - This is where the reader fully accepts the reading thats given to them by the author, and interprets the text in the way that was intended

2) The Negotiated Reading - The reader partly believes the reading that is given to them, but they also modify it in a way that reflects their own opinion, experience and beliefs.

3) The Oppositional Reading - The readers position in society places them in a position that opposes the dominant reading that's suggested to them, therefore they reject the media given. 

When producing our media, we need to keep these concepts of media in mind. The reading needs to be clear and concise so that the audience don't have any oppositional readings, or chose to reject the media all together. However, we are aware that this will not be possible to create a dominant reading for every viewer as viewers will interpret given situations and readings in different ways. 
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Feedback from Tutorial

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This following is information and feedback from the tutorial that has taken place with teachers this week:

• Mood boards that have been created are effective and enhance blog
• We need to include further research into the music video
• We need to keep ensuring that our audience is mentioned and considered

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Mood Board: Issues

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Settings
We have focused primarily on outside public areas. This could raise several issues:
1) We need to consider which areas will require us to need permission to film. Therefore when finalising locations, our next step will be to identify the locations we need permission for and get this permission in advance.
2) The second issue is that because the settings such as the nightclub/concert setting and Brighton beach are public, it will be very difficult to exclude members of the public from shots. We need to tackle this by firstly minimising the public we do get in the shot by adjusting the frame of the shot, and if we do happen to get people in the shot, which is more than likely, we will have to make sure we go to the trouble of asking their permission to use the film. If they said no, this would be a big issue to overcome.
3) Because most locations are outdoors, we need to consider weather conditions. If it is too bright and sunny, we may struggle with the glare from the sun on the camera. If it is too windy, or worse rainy this will be a huge issue to overcome as we will not be able to predict the weather way in advance. Therefore we will need to put in a plan of action for each weather circumstance.

Characters
There are also issues raised by the characters, however these may be easier to overcome. They include:
1) making sure the characters give off the right image. This may be a problem if we are unable to cast the right people for the characters, however we will need to ensure things we can control, like clothing, hairstyles etc. are planned in advance and the cast know what they need to wear.
2) we need to plan back up cast to fill in for our two main characters if they are unable to make it, as this would prevent filming.
3) we need to ensure characters we do chose are attractive and fit the image set by the target audience and style research as well as possible.

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Settings Moodboard

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This moodboard is a collection of images to communicate the ideas we have about where we are going to film our music video. The main location we are hoping to film at is Brighton, where we will have access to the beach, fair and surrounding scenery and locations. This setting will allow us to get high quality professional-looking footage in terms of mise-en-scene, and we hope to shoot over one day so that the weather and lighting is consistent. As well as this location, we want to merge this with several other scenes such as DJ and nightlife shots,  which works well with the genre of the music. We also want to get shots on transport, such as the train or car we will travel in.

Issues have been noted about the reliability of the weather, so we will plan in advance as much as possible in terms of the weather to assure the lighting and quality of the footage. 

Also, getting instruments and heavy equipment to the beach will not be an issue as we eliminated this idea through our questionnaire, as the target audience did not want instruments to feature in the video. 

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Character Moodboard

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This character moodboard is a compilation of images to reflect our ideas of what sort of characters and image we are going to portray in the video. There is a strong look communicated by these images in terms of style, clothing, make-up etc. We were inspired by artists such as M.I.A, Iggy Azalea, and AlunaGeorge in regard to style and image. This is the image that was most popular amoung the target audience when questioned, and is also relevant to the genre of the track we are going to use.

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Feedback from Tutorial

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This following is information and feedback from the tutorial that has taken place with teachers this week:

• Again, positive feedback on work completed so far
• We need to include on our blog more picture and media based tasks 
• A suggestion made was to include a mood board collating our ideas so far

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Lyric Analysis of Chosen Song: Inspiration for Production

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I have discovered that the lyrics of a song play a key part in making a successful music video.

We identified a clear beginning middle and end for our music video, and also the overall themes we wanted to communicate through the video. W

Beginning: we decided the beginning would show the couple at happier times in their relationship, having a good time and enjoying each other's company so that she can 'long for the way she was' 

Middle: we want to show the male becoming un-happy in the relationship, and add in subtle camera work techniques and footage to show the couple's relationship deteriorating. The relationship suggested by the lyrics shows the male is not giving her all his attention and putting his all into the relationship; therefore we want to use this as the trigger for the relationship going downhill. This would explain why she wants to be 'taken back' to the beginning when they were happy. 

End: The female will finally get the courage to walk away from the male. She wants the love she had before but realises she is not going to get it. It's all or nothing and he wont give her his all so she feels she has no choice but to walk away. In the end we want to give the message that the female has in fact 'saved' herself by walking away from a relationship which was less than she deserved. 

During the middle section, this is where the lyric 'take me back' is repeated. This is where we had the idea to cut back to the scenes from the beginning of their happier times as this is what she desires. 

However, when the relationship starts to have problems we want to make the males ignorance and lack of interest as obvious as possible to the audience. We have had ideas of doing this through both shots to make his body language towards her obvious, and also through shots of arguments and anger towards one another to make it obvious the relationship is not working out and something is wrong.  We want to show the female gaining independence and therefore the courage to walk alone. 

The ending of the video should focus on the fact that the girl has realised she does not need to be 'saved' because his love is not 'strong' enough anymore. She will realise she deserves better and he will be the one left alone. She has always wanted to be 'saved' by him, but now she doesn't coinciding with the last lyric thats repeated 'so baby, don't save me'

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Feedback from Tutorial

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This following is information and feedback from the tutorial that has taken place with teachers this week:

• Positive feedback from Questionnaires
• The pie chart imagery used to analyse the questionnaire was a good idea for the blog as is shows use of mixed media
• We need to begin work on lyric analysis and mention our song choice, and get granted permission if we had not already done so. 

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Lyric Analysis

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On the previous post are the lyrics to the song we have chosen (Cyril Hahn - Don't Save Me)

Within the first two verses of the song, a clear sense of love is communicated to the audience. However, it does seem through the analysis of the lyrics in the first two verses that this feeling of infatuation they got from the other person has died down, and they want things to go back to how they used to be 'Take me back to the way I was before'. Therefore, there is an element of the relationship breaking down introduced very early in the song. You get the impression as the audience that things are still on track, but they are not as good as they used to be between these two people in question 'Now I'm longing for the way I was'. 'I would hold it up to my cold heart, feel the way it used to start up' This is a very early line of the song and it would be interpreted in the sense that this person is the only person that can make her feel this way, but the word 'used' suggests that this feeling is a thing of the past.

'Say you will save me' is the main line in the song that is repeated frequently throughout. We cannot know what she wants to be saved from, but one could assume and interpret from reading the lyrics that she wants to be saved from falling out of love, or loosing these feelings towards this other person. She wants to be saved and captured again in his love. 

The next verse is essential to understanding the song. We find out that the person in question may not in fact be willing to put 100% into the relationship, possibly why it is breaking down 'cause I can't go on if your love isn't strong' The chorus emphasises and builds on this idea, as saying 'baby don't save me now, no, if your love isn't strong' suggesting if this person isn't going to give there all, then don't bother at all. 

'Screaming for what was to come, now I'm dreaming 'bout the way I was' There are several lines throughout that suggest maybe she has changed or her opinion towards this person has changed because they are not giving there all, or maybe they're not what their first impression suggested. She wanted more when she was with them before, but now something has happened and she wants to go back to the way they were; maybe inferring she has taken them for granted. 

However there is another strong reading that she is trying to induce emotion and love from him but he is not prepared to give her it 'And if I had to beg for your love, would it ever be enough?'

The song ends with repetition of lines along the same line as 'so baby, don't save me' inferring that she has decided she is better alone.   

All of these readings will be key in deciding the storyline and narrative we want to communicate through our footage for the music video, as the target audience want a video that corresponds tightly with the lyrics. 

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Lyrics

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Never thought that I would grow so old of seeing the gold
Still I never want it to go
I would hold it up to my cold heart
Feel the way it used to start up
Take me back, take me back to the way that I was before
Hungry for what was to come
Now I'm longing for the way I was
You say you will, say you will save me
You say you will, say you will save me
You say you will, say you will save me
You say you will, say you will! Ah oh!
Take me back
Give it up, give it up to me
Cause I cant go on if your love isn't strong
See I want it all
Give me, give me all your love
But if you can't hold on
Then baby, baby don't save me now, no
If your love isn't strong 
Baby! Don't save me now, no, no

All my life I wasn't trying to get on a high way
I was wondering which way to go
Spending all of my damn time
Leaving all the weight behind yeah
Take me back, take me back to the song, how'd it used to go?
Screaming for what was to come,
Now I'm dreaming 'bout the way I was
You say you will, say you will save me
You say you will, say you will save me
You say you will, say you will save me
You say you will, say you will! Ah, oh!
Take me back
Give it, up give it up to me
Cause I cant go on if your love isn't strong
See I want it all
Give me, give me all your love
But if you can't hold on,
Then baby, baby don't save me now, no
Baby don't save me now, no, no
And if I had to beg for your love
Tell me, tell me
Would it ever be enough?
Tell me
And if I had to beg for your love
Tell me, tell me
Would it ever be enough?
So baby, don't save me
No Baby, don't save me
Baby, don't save me now, no, no
Baby, don't save me now, no, no
Baby, don't save me now no, no
Baby, don't save me now no, no, no
Don't save me
Don't save me
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Song Choice

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Song Choice and Permission

After emailing a variety of record labels and publishers enquiring about getting permission to use tracks signed to their label, we were successful in gaining permission to use the track 'Dont Save Me' This is originally by HAIM but we are using the Cyril Hahn remix of the track.

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