Planning: Makeup Tests

 

This is a basic sketch that I produced when coming up with ideas for the 'tattoos' that will appear on both actors skin during the video.

 

'Octane OK' hand tattoo for final shot.

 

Using eyeliner to draw on motif.

 

Final motif (part of) for male performer.

 

Final motif (part of) for female performer. Using ink. More delicate.

Planning: Casting

When selecting our actors for both the narrative and performance sections of our video, it was important that we considered our target audience. For example, we felt it was appropriate for our actors to have relatively plain hair colours with no extreme haircuts or hairstyles, as this would be a similar style to that of the audience of the idie/pop punk music scene.

Planning: A Theoretical Approach to Pop Punk

Our chosen song ('The One' by Octane Ok), fits within the pop punk/indie genre. This post hopes to identify fitting elements for this genre in a theoretical manner.

Conventions of the Pop Punk Genre:
Location:
Pop punk videos are regularly shot in towns or calmer, more rural areas near towns (eg. forests with houses set into them). This can be seen in many of the videos I've studied so far. Eerie forests seem to used regularly.

Props:

The videos which show all of the band in the performance section (not just the frontman), generally include instruments. These tend to be the only props included.

Costumes:

Costume in pop punk videos are usually relatively basic - usually consisting on dull, monochrome themes (black, greys, etc.). The males are mostly dress in skinny jeans and tshirts to keep with the casual theme. The women are sometimes dressed up a little more. This is shown perfectly in the clothing styles of bands like PVRIS.

Lighting:

The lighting varies widely in music videos within this genre, depending on the themes of the song and the general house style of the band. For example, despite both being three pieces with female vocalists, Paramore has a far lighter theme than PVRIS.

Narrative and Performance:

The majority of pop punk videos contain both narrative and performance at a ratio of around 60:40 (narrative:performance). However, some videos (eg. 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' by Futures) are exclusively performance, those these aren't as common. There are very few pop punk videos that use conceptual videos.

Shot types:

Pop punk is one of the few genres that include a lot of long shots, or shots that show most of the subjects body. As well as this, the shot types are usually extremely varied. Close ups are regularly used in the chorus performance parts of these videos.

Editing:

Pop punk videos usually stick to the general conventions of most pop music videos - meaning that the editing cuts to the beat of the song.

Goodwin's Theory:

Which areas of Goodwin's theory we intend to include:

• Synaesthesia. We hope to link our visuals in the narrative to the lyrics.
• Genre characteristics are sensible to use, so as to appeal to our target audience.
• Close-ups of the main artist during chorus, to reinforce to band identity.

Areas we will do NOT intend to use:

• We won't use male gaze in our video, as pop punk generally doesn't sexualize women as much as other genres.

Planning: Five Sections of Our Music Video

Section One:-
- Male performer introduced.
- Sequence of implicit shots of his body.
- Gradually showing more of body - portrait becomes clearer.

Section Two:-
- Walking begins.
- Not clear where he is going or why.

Section Three:-
- First marks appear on his skin.

Section Four:-
- Walking to more destinations.
- Acquiring more marks.

Section 5:-
- Couple meet.

Planning: Narrative Arc

First Section (0:00 - 1:00)

- No clear storyline.

- Mystery.

- Sort of ambiguous.

Second Section (1:00 - 1:15)

- Men in basement shown.

- Slight understanding of what's happening.

- Still unclear why.

- Dark colours.

Third Section (1:15 - 2:13)

- Tempo slows, minor riff.

- Brighter, funner colours.

- Negative music juxtaposes with happy colours.

Fourth Section (2:13 - 2:39)

- Harsh wall colour (difficult to look at).

- Mirror - voyeurism.

- Simple shots focus on emotion.

Fifth Section (2:39 - 3:19 (end))

- Colours a lot more complimentary.

- Longer takes.

Planning: Storyboard Animatic

Planning: Pitch Feedback

We pitched our music video idea to three students varying in ages between 16 and 18, who fit within our target audience. We then asked them to write down their answers to our feedback questions as a group. These were the results...

1) Do you think our idea links to our genre or pop punk/indie? And why?

- Yes, because narrative fits the genre well.

- The costumes are appropriate to the genre.

2) Do you think our idea is realistic?

- Yes.

- Using local sources/landscapes.

- Using appropriate equipment (camera & tripod).

3) Do you feel that our idea is achievable with college equipment?

- Yes, because you will have access to photography and graphics equipment through the college.

4) Do you think anything in our pitch is not going to work? If so why?

-  Everything seems achievable but be careful with tattoo design so it doesn't look tacky, otherwise no. 

Planning: Pitch

Time Management Update

I am currently running around a week behind my original action plan. This is mainly due to unavoidable issues and illness. I will work extra to hopefully catch up to where I'm supposed to be in the course.

Planning: Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin's theory relies on the use of six main conventions of music videos. Each of these conventions can be demonstrated easily through many pop videos.

Firstly, synaesthesia - this is when there is a clear link between the visuals and lyrics. The visuals could either illustrate (which is the main technique used in this video), amplify (regularly focuses on connotations), or be presented in conjuncture with the lyrics (ignore the meaning of the song).
An example of a link like this can seen clearly in Kanye West's music video for 'Gold Digger'. In this video, the lyrics are written on the magazine covers.

('18 Years' magazine title to correspond with lyrics: '18 years, 18 years

She got one of your kids, got you for 18 years'.)

Secondly, the relationship with the music - similarly to the previous point, this is where the music is shown clearly in the visuals. In 'Gold Digger', this is shown when Kanye 'bobs' a little to the beat of the music.

Thirdly, genre characteristics - each genre has a few specific conventions and characteristics that is unique to that genre. For R&B, these conventions include sexualized women and a keen focus on money and power. These are quite obviously demonstrated in 'Gold Digger'.

(Sexualization of women fitting to the genre characteristics).

Next, close ups - close up of the artist(s) - especially in the chorus - are a key convention of almost all types of music video. Even in 'Gold Digger', when Kanye wears glasses to mask his identity a little (his own signature way of connoting his superiority) - the record label demands that these close ups be included to promote sales.

(Kanye rarely shows his face clearly, front on, without his trademark sunglasses).

Next, voyeurism and the notion of looking - many music videos focus of the idea of looking (using key features like mirrors, windows and cameras, as well as screens like computers, phones and televisions). The notion of looking is most commonly demonstrated through direct or indirect address. The performers will often purposefully look into the camera a lot (this is most common), which is known as direct address, or not look at the camera at all, usually to create a feeling of distance and voyeurism, known as indirect address.

As well as this, voyeurism can be used to make the sex appeal of the video more noticeable. This is also known as 'male gaze' (when the camera focuses on specific, sexualized areas of the female figure.

Finally, intertextuality - this is when something in the video makes a reference to something else in pop culture (usually). For example, in 'Gold Digger' there are references to the old retro magazines.