Locations

 

Storyboard

This is my storyboard showing my idea of a group of friends going out, starting with getting ready, then going to a bar and following each individual home, finding them collapsed sleeping in different places with the singer waking up the next morning recalling their night before. the chorus will be made up of a montage of the group of friends singing along, cutting quickly between each person.

Target audience profile

Music video pitch

The band for our chosen song is an indie rock band and the song is obviously of the same genre but has an upbeat and poppy element and so the video should be quite upbeat and energetic to match the song.

The overall idea for our music video is to follow a group of friends around Camden on a day out.  They will walk around the stalls, trying on things, looking through records etc. and then ending their day out in a bar where they take photos and enjoy their night.

The performance elements of the music video will be against fun, colourful graffiti backgrounds in London and be performed in a way that exudes confidence and energy to pass onto the audience and make them connect with the video more.

Narrative, Performance and Concept based videos

There are three different styles of music video; narrative based, performance based and concept based and I have chosen one video for each that fits into the genre of the song I will be making a video for.

Narrative based music video

A narrative based music video is one that has a storyline, which is followed throughout the entire video and an example of this kind of video is Fresh Start Fever by You Me At Six.

The narrative of the video has no relevance to the lyrics of the song; however, the story is maintained throughout the video. Surprisingly for a rock bands’ music video there is no performance element whatsoever. The narrative follows a young couple, the man is a motorcycle racer who is injured but dreams of racing again, the couple argue over these desires, all of which is edited in slow motion to emphasise the trouble in their relationship and the severity of the argument. The settings are very rural, set in fields, a caravan park and a run-down motor track. This allows the audience to focus on the relationship, but also it is quite refreshing as the song itself is quite heavy so if offers a breath of fresh air and is atypical of the genre too as usually rock videos are shot in studios or in urban areas. The band members make small cameos in the video, prepping the motorcyclists for their race, parallel to the moments leading up to the male main character who leaves his girlfriend in their home, leaving

 her crying. Again, the emotional moments of the narrative are slowed down to highlight the feelings of the characters as the struggles within the relationship are driving the narrative forward. The bridge and final chorus of the song show the race taking place; this sequence is made up of fast and slow paced editing to bring across the intensity of the race, also it features close ups of the riders, who are all wearing full helmets, as a way of hinting that perhaps one of them is the boyfriend. As the song reaches its most energetic part, the rhythm of the song is matched by the video as the race is coming to an end with the riders fighting for first place, the winner of the race is seen to have a brace on his hand and the audience realise it is the main character. The final shot of the music video is the girlfriend running towards him, again in slow motion, and this triggers the realisation that the slow motion effect was an effect used throughout the audience’s experience of their relationship and so is symbolic of their relationship.

Although the narrative is not relevant to the lyrics of the song, the pace, atmosphere and energy of the song is matched perfectly with the variation of shots and pace of editing in the music video.

Performance based music video

A performance-based music video tends to show the artist performing their song for most if not the entirety of the video. They are usually shot in a plain studio or in a concert-like setting to show off the performer or band in their usual surroundings.

Lower than Atlantis’ music video for Here We Go is an example of a performance driven video. With a purely performance based video there is the danger that it becomes repetitive and boring, however in this video it remains interesting as there is a variety of performances by each band member performing at different speeds to create visual variety. The video consists of a variety of close up shots, 360 shots as the band are performing in a circle, and long shots of the band and this provides a lot of footage to edit the video in a fast pace to match the pace of the song. The colour palette is quite monochromatic as the studio is black and the bands clothing is quite dark, there are some flashes of colour like red and blue and the lighting offers a lot of contrast against the darker tones. This constant theme of colours allows the video to stay in the viewers mind. The editing is timed perfectly to the music, the fast paced shots match the drums and the slow motion shots match the guitar riffs, all of which makes the video more appealing to the viewer. The varying pace provides energy and diversity to a video that is filmed in a single location.

Concept driven music video

A concept-based music video is one that has evolved from a simple idea that is irrelevant to the music, lyrics or genre. Conceptual music videos allow viewers to absorb the video more as they don’t have to try and make links between the music and images, therefore making it more memorable.

An example of a concept-based music video is the Foo fighters-Everlong. The song itself is about falling in love with someone and the music video in no way illustrates this. The concept of the video is a series of dream-like scenarios. The video starts out in black and white, taking a tour through a house; the colour scheme suggests to the audience that it is real life as it is then contrasted with scenes in colour (the dreams) implying that imagination is better and more exciting than real life. The different scenarios in the music video are quite humorous in a sadistic kind of way as much of the humour comes from the suffering of the other characters. However, the other element of humour is that the band are playing the main characters, both men and women. Part of the concept of the video is surrealism-the sizing of objects and setting has been exaggerated or made smaller to create a more surreal, dream-like effect for the video. In addition, another element of the concept is parodying horror films such as the Evil Dead, which is easily recognisable and so this makes it much more appealing and memorable to the audience as they can associate it not only to the song but to other areas of media. 

Deaf Havana – Little White Lies music videos analysis

In support of the Goodwin theory, the artists are taking the roles of the actors and the performers in the video which enraptures the audience as their whole focus is on the band; therefore the video is fulfilling its purpose of marketing the band and their song. The performance is very comical as the band members take on comedic characters and the setting and dancing that takes place is so out of character and seems misplaced in a video for a rock song, however all of these opposing ideas make it more enjoyable to watch.

I have chosen to analyse this video as the song is part of the rock genre and to get a better understanding of construction of narratives in rock music videos.

Firstly, it contains all of the forms and conventions of a music video, there is a performance by the band featured in the video, including lip-syncing, the video is set in more than one location: a block of flats and a bar/club. Every edit is cut to the beat of the music, making is more comfortable to watch and the editing is continuity editing as it follows the band in a single narrative.

In terms of the conventions of the genre, it rejects some conventions as typically rock videos tend to have quite a dark atmosphere to them and are mostly performance based. However, the simple narrative drives this music video; set in 1982, the band is celebrating a win in a football match and goes to a club, completely irrelevant to the song. Due to this element, the video also adopts one of the main forms of a rock video: that the narrative is usually completely irrelevant to the lyrics and so the visuals are in disjuncture with the song.

Analysing this video has been extremely helpful as I now know how that my narrative can totally ignore the lyrics of the song and still be successful, but also that rock videos always have a whole band performance as this is a key convention of the genre.

Andrew Goodwin's theory

Andrew Goodwin identified key features and themes that most music videos contain and commented on how their narratives tend to be constructed.

Firstly, the key features that he identified were:

·         There is a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics whether they illustrate them, amplify them or contradict them

·         There is a relationship between the piece of music and the visuals

·         Each genre has its own style and iconography

·         There is likely to be an element of voyeurism, particularly when it comes to the treatment and presentation of women

·         It is very likely that there will be a number of close ups of the artist usually by demand of the record company

·         There is likely to be intertextual references either to other music videos or to TV and films

  

In terms of the narrative and performance aspects of music videos, Goodwin states that typically songs fail to give the complete narrative and so a music video contributes to creating a whole product. Goodwin says that music videos should ignore common narrative, they should be more striking and interesting as this is important in their role of advertising the song and artist. In addition, narrative and performance go hand in hand in making a music video successful; they make it easier for the audience to repeatedly watch the video without losing interest. Furthermore, if the artist is the actor in the narrative as well as performing, it increases the authenticity of the music video, this is crucial as the audience need to believe it is real to ensure the most success.

A music video can have one of several relations between the visuals and the song:

·         Illustrate- the visuals can illustrate the lyrics and the genre

·         Amplify- meanings and effects throughout the song are manipulated and constantly shown to enhance the song

·         Disjuncture- the meaning of the song is completely ignored in the making of the music video

Auteur - Joseph Kahn

Auteur theory
In the film-making industry, auteur theory signifies that a director's film reflects the directors personal style and their own creative vision despite interference from studio or production companies - their style is distinct enough to still be translated in the production 

Auteur-Joseph Kahn
Joseph Kahn (born 1972) is an American film and music video director.
Since 1999 when he started his own production company, he has worked with a wide range of artists such as: Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Muse, Blink 182, U2, Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, The Black Eyed Peas, Maroon 5 and many more.
He has also won many awards for his music videos including a Grammy in 2002 for Eminem's video 'Without Me'. Kahn was also nominated for 7 MTV Video Music Awards and has also won several.
He has now gone on to direct the films Torque (2004) an action film, and Detention (2011) a teenage horror comedy.

Joseph Kahn has a very distinctive style to his music videos-they always have a strong narrative to them which sometimes relate to the themes running through the song itself in some way. Many of his music videos tie in one specific emotion or feeling within each video to create a strong experience for the audience. 
cinematic
                    
Blink 182-Always analysis 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvtJVku_mJw 

This video for Blink 182’s song ‘Always’, directed by Joseph Kahn is a narrative driven music video along with several performance pieces.

The narrative of the music video amplifies the lyrics and the genre of the song and although the narrative of the song is incomplete, the video provides closure and ends the story for the audience. The narrative follows the three band members arguing with who the audience assume is their girlfriend, illustrating the lyrics as they are very direct to a sing person, and so it makes sense that they perform it to one girl. 

Visually, this music video is very exciting; the video is made up of three horizontal stripes made up of the same scene taking place with each section features a different member of the band, all of them feature the protagonist female re-creating the exact same scene three times. The video begins with a shot of a vase with a flower in it, this establishing shot fools the audience into thinking that the frame is made up of one shot, however once the camera pans around the room, we are able to see that it is made up of three shots. Although these shots are of the exact same piece of action, they are all slightly out of time with each other, despite this, it makes the video more exciting to watch and makes the concept more understandable as the story line of each band member varies slightly in terms of their relationship with the girl.


The performance aspect of the video continues the visual theme, they are each performing with their instruments, but the final video is made up of the three different shots of them playing in the same way but in different locations within the same apartment to offer slight visual variation. In addition, the lip-syncing is obviously completely in sync with the track, even though the videos are out of time with each other. 

I personally really enjoyed the music video because it was always engaging for the viewer and I always had something to focus my attention on, and although the idea is quite repetitive as the camera just circles the one location, there is a different scene happening each time.

Afterglow lyrics mood board

The Crookes - Afterglow lyrics

Lose yourself in lights and we'll always have tonight
Can't these days hold fast? We're not the only ones to ask
Save us when we're old blinded in the afterglow...

Faded memories
They're all we'll have, they're all we'll need
I'll remember you just as you'll always want me to
So find us when we're old
Laughing in the afterglow...

When did my friends slip right through my fingers?
And you, you were all I ever knew
You were all I ever knew
Laughing in the afterglow...