Research Into Similar Products: Endings

By looking at different music videos and how they end, I can find inspiration for how to end my own music video as I can see how to do it effectively. 
Doll Parts by Hole  ends with a fade to black after Love shuts the door behind the child. I think that this is an effective way to end a video as it is quite emotive and leaves her to her sadness. I quite like the idea of using a fade to end the video so this is something I will consider doing whilst editing my video. 

The video for There Is A Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths ends with the group of guys cycling away with a pan up to a shop sign and a fade to black. I like the idea of the pan away as it's like the audience is being taken away from whatever has happened in the video. 

The Nine Inch Nails video for We're In This Together Now ends with Trent Reznor completely on his own surrounded by empty clothes which I think is a very powerful ending as for the whole video, he was rushing to be together with everyone but ends up alone, so comes away from the initial theme of the track. 

Arabella by Arctic Monkeys ends with a man talking over Turners singing and the tapes are reversed and paused in strange ways and ends with a zoom in. I think that this is a good way to end this video as it focuses in on the craziness of the party and it also zooms in on a womans reflection making it seem like he's being watched, which could make the audience feel a bit uneasy. 

Research Into Similar Products: Anton Corbijn

Anton Corbijn is a Dutch music video director as well as film director and photographer. He has filmed many videos for bands such as Depeche Mode and U2 and is one of my favourite directors.
The video Strangelove by Depeche Mode that he directed, is filmed entirely in black and white, which fits with the dark-wave style music the band produce. He uses lighting to create a secretive feel to the video as the lighting reveals different things throughout the video. These kind of shots and lighting techniques make it seem as though something has happened between the people and the editing helps to show this too. 

 

A shot I quite enjoy from this video is the one below as I like the simplicity of it and is quite a curious shot. It again adds to the sense of secrecy, especially as only Dave Gahan turns around. This is a shot I could quite easily add to my own music video to show the secrecy between the two people involved in the video. 

Another video Corbijn has directed is Lips Like Sugar by Echo and the Bunnymen. I enjoy this video due to the editing techniques he uses. He switches between black and white and being in colour with a blue tone. This is something I plan to incorporate into my own video to reflect flashbacks, but the way Corbijn has used it here is quite simple but is aesthetically pleasing. 

Corbijn also uses coloured lights to help create a fun feeling to the video, which compliments the strange, fun costume the two women are wearing in the video. 

Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana is another video that he has directed. This video is much brighter than the other videos I have looked at by him; for a start it's not in black and white. Instead he uses loud, bright colours which mimic the loud aggression of the music itself. The band also wear bright clothes to add to this sort of effect. These bright colours plus the obscene props used make the video quite eerie for the viewer. 

More recently, Corbijn directed a video called Talk by Coldplay. This video is quite interesting in it's use of colour as Corbijn uses a 3D effect on some shots which I think adds a child-like feeling to the video, especially with the robot and spaceship and the fact that the band are wearing 3D glasses themselves. 

Also the way in which the video ends with the robot whistling after eating the spaceship makes the robot itself seem very human, which is a nice use of additional sound. It also adds to the childish nature of the video and provides a little humour to it. 

Although some of the artists Anton Corbijn directs videos for are outside of my music genre, the way in which he edits his videos is something that inspires me alot and I can incorporate into my own music video too. 

Target Audience: Music Video Pitch

I pitched my idea for my music video to a focus group today and received feedback on my ideas. 

The first piece of feedback I received said that it was good I was taking inspiration from Submarine and that it was a nice link and that the relationship is very well focused in my storyboard. 
The second said that the way in which the song is acoustic is raw and has a natural style and so can link to the nature of my location and the actors actions.
The third said that it is good how I have clearly involved the audiences interpretation in my planning and how I have considered how the shots present emotion.
The fourth said that I have a clear, good idea with a good story behind it. 
The fifth said that my ideas for camera work are well structured.
The sixth said that they like how my idea is very simple but is also very effective. 

From this feedback, I feel that I am on the right tracks to reaching my target audience and that all my research has been very useful and effective; especially because of my links to Submarine. 

Drafting and Planning: Second Draft Storyboard

Although the changes are fairly minimal, I feel they will make a great difference to the feel of my video overall. I have changed the type of footage I will want for the first chorus of the song so that I can make a better use of my location e.g. the bridge, and I think that sad shots like the new ones are much better than the happier shots that would have been out of place. Instead I plan to keep the happy shots for the end of the video. 

Research Into Similar Products: Music Video - Alt J - Sense Of Mystery

Alt - J released a video for their track Breezeblocks which has become one of my favourite music videos. The video is in reverse and slow motion the whole time and so is quite mysterious to the viewer as it is difficult to tell who is in the wrong in the situation that has happened. I also plan to create a sense of mystery in my own video, but not in such a dramatic way as shown here, but from this, I have observed that the editing, particularly in this video, plays a very significant role in creating this mystery and so I should pay close attention when editing my own. This is quite relevant too as I plan to include some slow motion shots in my video, similar to those used in this video. 

The way in which the lighting is used in this video is quite significant too in terms of creating mystery. The lighting is very low key and has a blue tone to it and so adds a sense of gloom and makes the viewer realise that something terrible has happened. So the lighting used for this is parallel to the scenario. However for my own video, I plan to go against this idea and use natural lighting as the problems that occur pre-video to the couple are natural problems where as the problems projected in Breezeblocks are not something you see everyday, and therefore requires the dark tone to the video. 

The shots used are also important as there are many close ups on the characters faces and each time, shows some sort of distress or anger and so this is important as it makes the audience wonder what has happened to make these people so mad. I plan to adopt a similar approach to my own video, showing lots of shots of the actors faces to show the guilt and sadness in their faces to make the audience wonder what has happened between them. 

 

Organisation: Music Video Storyline

The story line for my music video is quite a simple one but I intend for it to convey powerful emotion. My video will follow two people, a boy and a girl, who could be seen as a couple or just friends depending on the viewers interpretation. These two people have experienced some sort of guilt or sadness because of each other but the reason will be unknown to the viewer, so a distance between the two people will be quite clear. Throughout the video, there will be various flashbacks to when the two were happy and friendly with each other; before anything went bad for them and I plan to shoot these in black and white to create a nostalgic feel to it and to also make it clear that these are flashbacks rather than present day. 

Research Into Similar Products: Narratives

Music videos have a wide variety of content and these tend to include either a narrative, a live performance or both. Sometimes when a video contains a narrative, it can be linked to the song based on theme, or song content or just simply based on an interpretation of the song. Elvis Costello uses a narrative for his video Watching The Detectives which follows a detective and some criminal and mysterious activities that occur, so links closely to the lyrics and title of the song quite nicely. Costello does not appear in this video and so keeps it's focus solely on the narrative. I plan to use this type of narrative for my own video as it will help reflect the emotion of the song and won't draw too much attention away from the song and story so will have the desired effect I would like. 




Performance can also be linked into the narrative of a music video, just as Nik Kershaw does in his video for The Riddle. The video follows Kershaw being involved in a physical riddle and trying to find his way out whilst singing the song. This method unifies the narrative and the song and makes the link between the two very clear for the viewer, whilst showing the importance of the artist themself.



Another way in which performance and narrative can be linked is through the use of cuts to performance in between the narrative. This is the case in the Smashing Pumpkins video for Bullet With Butterfly Wings as, from my own interpretation, it follows a group of workers who have been treated unfairly and throughout cuts to shots of the band performing, mostly of Corgan singing. The rage shown by the 'workers' in the video matches the powerful emotion shown through the song and so the video helps to emphasise the emotion. 




Many videos simply feature a performance which reflects the bands passion for their own track. This was done by Oasis for their video Whatever as it shows them enjoying themselves whilst performing their track and therefore shows the link between the song and the band as it shows how they are freely enjoying what they do.