Music Video Production
You will have selected a song track which excites you. You will have some ideas about how you want to visualise this song.
You will have decided on whether you want to tell a story, create an atmospheric video, or present the song in some new innovative way, or use another form of visualisation such as a parody or pastiche.
It’s a good idea to write down the lyrics, so that you know what the song is about.
Your next job is to create a STORYBOARD of your ideas.
Remember that a storyboard first of all tells a story. Try and fit your video idea into 6 or 8 frames. You do not need to draw a frame for every single shot just the most important ones that advance the story.
EXAMPLE
Your chosen song is Lou Read’s 'A Perfect Day'. Here are the lyrics:
Just a perfect day
drink sangria in a park
and then later
when it gets dark
we go home
Just a perfect day
feed animals in the zoo
and then later a movie, too
and then home
Refrain:
Oh it's such a perfect day
I’m glad I spend it with you
oh such a perfect day you just keep me hangin’ on
you just keep me hangin’ on
just a perfect day
problems are left to know
Weekend’s all night long
its such fun
just a perfect day
You make me forget myself
I thought I was someone else
someone good
One way to get to grips with this song is to highlight the words that interest you. Of course you do not have to make a literal video that just shows pictures of the words, but you can use the words as a springboard to keep your video appropriate to the song and yet different.
A music video needs to relate in some way to the lyrics and the music. The audience should be able to see the relationship between your pictures and the song.
You could make a video that consisted of shots of your own perfect day, which could be a day on the beach, or in a racing car, or at a theme park, or in the garden at home. You would be illustrating what ‘perfect day’ means to you.
STORYBOARD
Let’s say we want to illustrate quite literally some of the words – the words in orange in the song.
Use a blank storyboard with 8 frames and put each of the words under each frame.
click on image to enlarge
What pictures would you video for these words? You will have to capture the pictures on video, so you will need to interpret the ideas so that you are able to video them. The first row may be easier than the second row.
Row 1 Sangria is a Spanish wine drink that is usually made in a pitcher or jug. The zoo, the movie and home are straight forward.
Row 2 you are going to have to think about how you might visually interpret a phrase like ‘forget myself’ . I am sure you can do better than my suggestions.
VIDEO PRODUCTION
You have produced a storyboard which shows some of the central images you want to video. Now you have to shoot the pictures.
• Make a list of ALL THE SHOTS you need – this is called a shot list. Don’t rush this stage of the production process. It is much better to spend time thinking about what you want to shoot BEFORE you take out the camera.
• You may need some props – e.g. a jug of sangria for our Perfect Day shoot.
• You will almost certainly need to go to some locations; even the garden is a location. Make a list of all the locations – this is a location list.
• Now make a final SHOOTING SCRIPT which lists each shot and where it will be done and at what location. It should have two columns:
You may feel this is a lot of work and that you are not sure what you may find at the beach. Believe a shooting script is 100% worth it. When you get there you may find there are more shots at the beach, then that is a bonus of extra material – great, you will need it.
• For a music video you will need at least one shot for every 4 beats of the music. A fast rock and roll number will need more shots than a slow ballad.
• Try to make pictures that have either camera movement or something happening in the shot – or both.
• Use a variety of camera angles – her are some examples of different angles
• Only use the zoom lens for something really important
• If you are filming a band performing a music track, ask them to mime to playback.
• To make a video of a band performing live is altogether different, and should only be attempted if you have a lot of experience with sound and vision.
Experiment with different camera angles – it will make your video more interesting.
Shooting a music video check list
• Shoot many more pictures than you need.
• Try and shoot in sequences that are dependent on the location or on the subject
• Shoot every idea with the camera at different angles
• Shoot Close Ups and Wide Shots of everything
• Keep the camera steady by using a tripod and let the action move within the frame. Filming something static like a flower, ask someone to shake the flower a little as if it is moving in the wind.
• Shoot in strong daylight wherever possible
• Shooting inside - turn on all the lights in the room – you can’t have enough light on video
• Get movement by moving the camera with the subject
• Use film lights if you have access to them.
• Use a whip-pan occasionally – a whip-pan moves the camera very quickly from one subject to another
• Use the zoom - but not too much, it gets so boring!
Good luck with your shooting – then look at POST-PRODUCTION.
Tuesday 23 November 2010
MUSIC VIDEO PRE-PRODUCTION
Music Video Pre-Production
Music videos offer great opportunities to be creative on video using low cost equipment. You can work in just about any genre or style you like, as long as it has some relationship to the song.
Most of the hard work is usually done in postproduction, but that certainly does not mean you should skate over the shooting; it is essential you have enough shot material to work on in editing.
What is a music video trying to do?
A successful music video has to work at two levels – it must sell the song to the audience, and it must reflect the mood, story, tone and musicality of the song. A music video is essentially a selling tool. Its job is to shift shed loads of CDs or downloads – that is the bottom line.
Most artists like to devise dynamic, creative and artistically exciting and adventurous videos, which add energy and a creative visual dimension to their songs. You can too.
Definitions
The song is the name the music business gives to any single named piece of popular music – or track - however long it is.
The artist(s) is the performer of the song, and it may be a band or a solo performer.
The album is a compilation of songs – even if some of them are just instrumental music without words.
The lyrics are the words of a song.
The composer writes the music of a song.
The producer works with the artist and engineers to make and edit the recording.
The arranger adapts the song for particular instruments or for an orchestra or band.
The publisher publishes the words and music of a song – sometimes as ‘sheet music’- and pays the writers of the music and lyrics for doing so.
The recording company (such as Virgin or EMI) makes the recording of the song and issues a CD or download.
The royalties are the payments that all the above receive when a song is bought by you or me, or broadcast on radio or television.
The advance is money paid to an artist for a certain number of albums, by a recording company on signing to a label. It is an advance loan on the royalties the artist will earn by selling the albums and includes all the expenses – such as making a music video - incurred in making and selling the albums. The artist receives no more money until theses expenses are paid
The gofer ‘goes for’ – getit? - the coffee and doughnuts, and makes sure the artist has everything he or she wants during the recording of the song, and gets no royalties.
Let’s look at genre first: remember genre means a type or style of media that is easily recognisable. A very obvious genre used in a very famous music video is Michael Jackson’s video for his album Thriller. Look for the original video on YouTube. It is made in the unmistakeable style of a horror film.
What other music videos can you find in a specific cinema genre, such as sci-fi, western, action/adventure, romantic comedy, high school, crime/thriller, comedy?
Activity
Look at Jackson’s Thriller on Youtube.
• What are the visual clues that tell you this video is in the horror genre - these are known as codes and conventions?
• What or who does Michael Jackson turn into in the video?
• Give three reasons why this video attracted audiences who then went out and bought the album?
The Thriller video is a spoof mini horror film and lasts for 14-minutes. It was released in December 1983 and directed by Hollywood horror movie director John Landis who also co-wrote the script with Jackson. The Thriller video was broadcast on MTV just before Christmas in 1983. It was the most expensive video of its time, costing about a quarter of a million pounds. In 2006 The Guinness Book of Records listed it as the "most successful music video". The album is one of the most successful albums ever recorded.
Choose your song
The first thing to do is to choose a song that you like, by an artist that you find sympathetic. It’s probably not a good idea to choose a song with a lot of repetitive instrumental music such as drum and base. It is much more difficult to devise and edit pictures to a repetitive rhythmic sound, than to devise pictures for a song with lyrics.
For your music video you will not be able to record the band itself. If you are lucky you may have a friend who is in a band and you could video the band playing at a gig. It is more likely that you will be creating pictures that go with a song by an established artist.
There are many types of songs that work well for a music video. Here are some categories of song that make good videos.
Story or narrative. Songs with a story always make good subjects for a video. Love songs often have a story, and a huge number of pop songs are about romantic love. Take a simple song like Michelle by the Beatles. – SEE YOU TUBE
It is basically a story about a French girl called Michelle, whom the singer falls in love with. What will you need to make a video of this song? – well, a dark haired girl who looks stereotypically French, a romantic setting - it could be a local park, or woods – and, eh – that’s it.
You could improve on this scenario by having a nice boy who meets the girl, and then film them in romantic situations. If you are lucky you could go to Paris and film some romantic pictures there, but the local park will be almost as good.
A classic story song is Is This The Way to Amarillo.
(Is This The Way To) Amarillo - Comic Relief 2005 – SEE YOU TUBE
You could have lots of fun with the words of this song such ‘weeping like a willow’, and what pictures could you put to Shalla shalla la la la? Check Peter Kay’s version for Comic Relief. I like the line ‘every night I have been hugging my pillow’ ..there are lots of great lines which would be absolutely terrible without the upbeat melody of the song.
Atmospheric songs. These songs seek to create pictures in the mind of the listener by using words to create an illusion. The Carly Simon song You’re So Vain uses images to explain the vanity of her lover in leaving her.
You're So Vain Carly Simon – SEE YOU TUBE
One line talks about ‘clouds in my coffee’ as a way of saying that her dreams of life with him, became like clouds in my coffee – in other words, just illusions. Good fun to make pictures to go with songs like these. You don’t have to illustrate every image suggested in the song – just choose ones that make sense to you.
Duffy’s no 1 song Mercy really works hard to create an atmosphere with its strong rhythms that suggest the singer is closed in, in a spell, needing release from the clutch of a lover.
There lots more going on with the fast voices that come in to suggest perhaps that she is being talked about behind her back.
Mercy Duffy – SEE YOU TUBE
Songs about something particular that is often referred to in the title e.g. Elton John’s Saturday.
There are lots of ways of showing a Saturday night out in a video, and you don’t have to film them on a Saturday, or in a club which might be difficult – think of other things that make a Saturday special – such as dressing up to go out, arranging to meet friends, etc.
Songs about a place. There are so many songs about New York that you could make a dozen videos, and many people have done using the same old pictures such as the statue of Liberty, Times Square and the helicopter shot of Manhatton, etc.
There are several good songs about Liverpool, such as Ferry Across the Mersey, but you probably have not heard a song about the town where you live.
Why not find a song that would suit your town – you can then take pictures of your local area and fit the music to the pictures.
A ska group in the late seventies called The Specials did this, and were so fed up by what they saw around them that they wrote a song Ghost Town – it’s very doomy, but then this was the time of the 3 day week and the binmen were on strike so rubbish was piled up in the streets.
Ghost Town The Specials – SEE YOU TUBE
The song creates a depressing picture of a town although the upbeat reggae style rhythm suggests that it is not permanent.
Mood music. Many songs create or suggest a mood or feeling; sorrow, loss, desire, happiness, joy, love. One well known song that creates a really upbeat, happy feeling is Walking On Sunshine.
Walking on Sunshine Katrina and The Waves – SEE YOU TUBE
Katrina and the Waves do a strong version, and there’s a better one by Tina Turner, although it does not seem to be on Youtube.
Choose your subject first
The other way to find a song for a music video is to choose what you are going to film first. This only works with certain things like an event.
Songs can be linked to something that happens. It could be an event such as a friend’s graduation from College, or a celebration after winning a football match. Here a song like Tina Turner’s Simply The Best would be a good track to go with pictures of somebody winning something.
So if you know of an event then you can shoot lots of pictures and select a suitable track afterwards. This method does have a drawback. You may not have filmed the pictures you need to illustrate the song you choose later.
It is always best to choose the song first so that you know what pictures you will need. The you can make sure you shoot the right pictures at the event.
'VIDEO TECHNIQUES'
Music videos use many techniques to create an impact. Many of these techniques are borrowed from films or television programmes.
Pastiche – copying images. Some videos deliberately recreate images from well known films or television shows to suggest a link in the viewer’s mind to those films. The video is making you think: these images remind me of a certain well known film. So the song becomes linked with the success of the film.
Spoof or parody. Another technique is to create a spoof video of a well known movie or genre. Thriller is a spoof of a horror movie. Music videos like to parody all genres (e.g. sci-fi films such as Blade Runner) if they think the song suggests a particular genre.
Ridley Scott's Blade Runner Trailer – SEE YOU TUBE
Video directors particularly like to spoof television commercials.
Activity
Look at a variety of songs on YouTube and find videos that parody or spoof films - make a list giving the name of the song and the name of the film or television series it parodies.
Put some or all of the words of the song on the screen. You can do this with the graphics tool in the video editing software or you can have someone hold up card with the words on them. This is most famously used in the documentary film about Bob Dylan’s tour of England in the sixties Don’t Look Back.
Don't Look Back Bob Dylan Documentary by D.A. Pennebaker – SEE YOU TUBE
Dylan holds large sheets of paper with important words from each verse written on them. He pulls off each sheet as he sings.
Pick up an idea suggested by the words. This is one of the very best ways to start thinking visually about a song.
Take a song like Dirty Little Secret by All American Rejects – SEE YOU TUBE
In their video they have asked people to write down a secret on a large card. They filmed all these people holding up a card with their little secret written on it. It makes for a good video and takes the technique of using words on the screen to another level.
Tell a story. A good song often tells a story. You can make a visual story to go with the music
Surrealism. You may not have heard of this art movement which was started in the 1930s by a group of artists who were very interested in the new science of psychotherapy which interpreted a patient’s dreams.
The Spanish artist Salvador Dali created surreal paintings based on extraordinary dream-like images, including a soft watch that seems to drip over a table.
Video directors use surreal images in their videos to illustrate songs that appear to have no obvious meaning.
The first music film to do this (there was no video in the sixties) was Strawberry Fields by the Beatles, which uses images of the band walking backwards and singing in trees.
Music videos offer great opportunities to be creative on video using low cost equipment. You can work in just about any genre or style you like, as long as it has some relationship to the song.
In their video they have asked people to write down a secret on a large card. They filmed all these people holding up a card with their little secret written on it. It makes for a good video and takes the technique of using words on the screen to another level.
Tell a story. A good song often tells a story. You can make a visual story to go with the music. See www.newskidsonthenet.co.uk to see how a simple story of a gardener watering his plants is made into a comic story set to the music An English Country Garden. This website also shows you how to make this simple story using a domestic video camera.
Surrealism. You may not have heard of this art movement which was started in the 1930s by a group of artists who were very interested in the new science of psychotherapy which interpreted a patient’s dreams.
The Spanish artist Salvador Dali created surreal paintings based on extraordinary dream-like images, including a soft watch that seems to drip over a table.
Video directors use surreal images in their videos to illustrate songs that appear to have no obvious meaning.
The first music film to do this (there was no video in the sixties) was Strawberry Fields by the Beatles, which uses images of the band walking backwards and singing in trees.
The lyrics are suitable for surreal treatment because the words suggest it – ‘nothing is real, nothing to get hung about’….
Make a mask - perhaps of a politician or recognisable face like Osama Bin Larden or of a historical or mythical character such as Guy Fawkes or Captain Hook. Wear the masks in a choreographed dance to make a lively video.
Creating dance sequences is effective as a music video only if it is extremely well done. Professional dancers spend a lot of time rehearsing for a dance sequence in a video and they know how to dance! A lot of sub standard wiggling makes a very cheesy video.
Animation. There are many successful animated music videos as well as the Artic Monkeys. If you can draw or use your computer to make animated sequences this can make a very effective video.
Stop Frame Animation is another option – this is how Wallace and Gromit are made.
Wallace and Gromit's Curse of the Were-Rabbit – SEE YOU TUBE for the trailer
Stop frame involves making a model out of a malleable material like plasticine, and then moving parts of it or all of it very slightly, and recording a few frames. When the movements are put together the video of the model shows continuous smooth movement. Be warned this is very time consuming, although it can be most rewarding.
Documentary. A video with a suitable subject could have documentary style pictures. This could be achieved using a hand held camera and filming ‘gritty realism’ – poor, down and out neighbourhoods, fly tipping, litter, dirt and grime in an urban setting.
Don’t film the homeless as they will not like it and it is an affront to their dignity. You could film homeless people if they agreed, and it was a serious documentary.
Commercials. Many TV commercials exploit adventurous ideas. It is not a bad idea to ‘borrow’ an idea from a TV commercial, and make your own version as a music video. Think of the Halifax ads or British Airways, or the really inventive Orange cinema advertisements.
'Howard' Halifax Advert – SEE YOU TUBE
Orange Cinema Advert with Darth Vader – SEE YOU TUBE
Music videos offer great opportunities to be creative on video using low cost equipment. You can work in just about any genre or style you like, as long as it has some relationship to the song.
Most of the hard work is usually done in postproduction, but that certainly does not mean you should skate over the shooting; it is essential you have enough shot material to work on in editing.
What is a music video trying to do?
A successful music video has to work at two levels – it must sell the song to the audience, and it must reflect the mood, story, tone and musicality of the song. A music video is essentially a selling tool. Its job is to shift shed loads of CDs or downloads – that is the bottom line.
Most artists like to devise dynamic, creative and artistically exciting and adventurous videos, which add energy and a creative visual dimension to their songs. You can too.
Definitions
The song is the name the music business gives to any single named piece of popular music – or track - however long it is.
The artist(s) is the performer of the song, and it may be a band or a solo performer.
The album is a compilation of songs – even if some of them are just instrumental music without words.
The lyrics are the words of a song.
The composer writes the music of a song.
The producer works with the artist and engineers to make and edit the recording.
The arranger adapts the song for particular instruments or for an orchestra or band.
The publisher publishes the words and music of a song – sometimes as ‘sheet music’- and pays the writers of the music and lyrics for doing so.
The recording company (such as Virgin or EMI) makes the recording of the song and issues a CD or download.
The royalties are the payments that all the above receive when a song is bought by you or me, or broadcast on radio or television.
The advance is money paid to an artist for a certain number of albums, by a recording company on signing to a label. It is an advance loan on the royalties the artist will earn by selling the albums and includes all the expenses – such as making a music video - incurred in making and selling the albums. The artist receives no more money until theses expenses are paid
The gofer ‘goes for’ – getit? - the coffee and doughnuts, and makes sure the artist has everything he or she wants during the recording of the song, and gets no royalties.
Let’s look at genre first: remember genre means a type or style of media that is easily recognisable. A very obvious genre used in a very famous music video is Michael Jackson’s video for his album Thriller. Look for the original video on YouTube. It is made in the unmistakeable style of a horror film.
What other music videos can you find in a specific cinema genre, such as sci-fi, western, action/adventure, romantic comedy, high school, crime/thriller, comedy?
Activity
Look at Jackson’s Thriller on Youtube.
• What are the visual clues that tell you this video is in the horror genre - these are known as codes and conventions?
• What or who does Michael Jackson turn into in the video?
• Give three reasons why this video attracted audiences who then went out and bought the album?
The Thriller video is a spoof mini horror film and lasts for 14-minutes. It was released in December 1983 and directed by Hollywood horror movie director John Landis who also co-wrote the script with Jackson. The Thriller video was broadcast on MTV just before Christmas in 1983. It was the most expensive video of its time, costing about a quarter of a million pounds. In 2006 The Guinness Book of Records listed it as the "most successful music video". The album is one of the most successful albums ever recorded.
Choose your song
The first thing to do is to choose a song that you like, by an artist that you find sympathetic. It’s probably not a good idea to choose a song with a lot of repetitive instrumental music such as drum and base. It is much more difficult to devise and edit pictures to a repetitive rhythmic sound, than to devise pictures for a song with lyrics.
For your music video you will not be able to record the band itself. If you are lucky you may have a friend who is in a band and you could video the band playing at a gig. It is more likely that you will be creating pictures that go with a song by an established artist.
There are many types of songs that work well for a music video. Here are some categories of song that make good videos.
Story or narrative. Songs with a story always make good subjects for a video. Love songs often have a story, and a huge number of pop songs are about romantic love. Take a simple song like Michelle by the Beatles. – SEE YOU TUBE
It is basically a story about a French girl called Michelle, whom the singer falls in love with. What will you need to make a video of this song? – well, a dark haired girl who looks stereotypically French, a romantic setting - it could be a local park, or woods – and, eh – that’s it.
You could improve on this scenario by having a nice boy who meets the girl, and then film them in romantic situations. If you are lucky you could go to Paris and film some romantic pictures there, but the local park will be almost as good.
A classic story song is Is This The Way to Amarillo.
(Is This The Way To) Amarillo - Comic Relief 2005 – SEE YOU TUBE
You could have lots of fun with the words of this song such ‘weeping like a willow’, and what pictures could you put to Shalla shalla la la la? Check Peter Kay’s version for Comic Relief. I like the line ‘every night I have been hugging my pillow’ ..there are lots of great lines which would be absolutely terrible without the upbeat melody of the song.
Atmospheric songs. These songs seek to create pictures in the mind of the listener by using words to create an illusion. The Carly Simon song You’re So Vain uses images to explain the vanity of her lover in leaving her.
You're So Vain Carly Simon – SEE YOU TUBE
One line talks about ‘clouds in my coffee’ as a way of saying that her dreams of life with him, became like clouds in my coffee – in other words, just illusions. Good fun to make pictures to go with songs like these. You don’t have to illustrate every image suggested in the song – just choose ones that make sense to you.
Duffy’s no 1 song Mercy really works hard to create an atmosphere with its strong rhythms that suggest the singer is closed in, in a spell, needing release from the clutch of a lover.
There lots more going on with the fast voices that come in to suggest perhaps that she is being talked about behind her back.
Mercy Duffy – SEE YOU TUBE
Songs about something particular that is often referred to in the title e.g. Elton John’s Saturday.
There are lots of ways of showing a Saturday night out in a video, and you don’t have to film them on a Saturday, or in a club which might be difficult – think of other things that make a Saturday special – such as dressing up to go out, arranging to meet friends, etc.
Songs about a place. There are so many songs about New York that you could make a dozen videos, and many people have done using the same old pictures such as the statue of Liberty, Times Square and the helicopter shot of Manhatton, etc.
There are several good songs about Liverpool, such as Ferry Across the Mersey, but you probably have not heard a song about the town where you live.
Why not find a song that would suit your town – you can then take pictures of your local area and fit the music to the pictures.
A ska group in the late seventies called The Specials did this, and were so fed up by what they saw around them that they wrote a song Ghost Town – it’s very doomy, but then this was the time of the 3 day week and the binmen were on strike so rubbish was piled up in the streets.
Ghost Town The Specials – SEE YOU TUBE
The song creates a depressing picture of a town although the upbeat reggae style rhythm suggests that it is not permanent.
Mood music. Many songs create or suggest a mood or feeling; sorrow, loss, desire, happiness, joy, love. One well known song that creates a really upbeat, happy feeling is Walking On Sunshine.
Walking on Sunshine Katrina and The Waves – SEE YOU TUBE
Katrina and the Waves do a strong version, and there’s a better one by Tina Turner, although it does not seem to be on Youtube.
Choose your subject first
The other way to find a song for a music video is to choose what you are going to film first. This only works with certain things like an event.
Songs can be linked to something that happens. It could be an event such as a friend’s graduation from College, or a celebration after winning a football match. Here a song like Tina Turner’s Simply The Best would be a good track to go with pictures of somebody winning something.
So if you know of an event then you can shoot lots of pictures and select a suitable track afterwards. This method does have a drawback. You may not have filmed the pictures you need to illustrate the song you choose later.
It is always best to choose the song first so that you know what pictures you will need. The you can make sure you shoot the right pictures at the event.
'VIDEO TECHNIQUES'
Music videos use many techniques to create an impact. Many of these techniques are borrowed from films or television programmes.
Pastiche – copying images. Some videos deliberately recreate images from well known films or television shows to suggest a link in the viewer’s mind to those films. The video is making you think: these images remind me of a certain well known film. So the song becomes linked with the success of the film.
Spoof or parody. Another technique is to create a spoof video of a well known movie or genre. Thriller is a spoof of a horror movie. Music videos like to parody all genres (e.g. sci-fi films such as Blade Runner) if they think the song suggests a particular genre.
Ridley Scott's Blade Runner Trailer – SEE YOU TUBE
Video directors particularly like to spoof television commercials.
Activity
Look at a variety of songs on YouTube and find videos that parody or spoof films - make a list giving the name of the song and the name of the film or television series it parodies.
Put some or all of the words of the song on the screen. You can do this with the graphics tool in the video editing software or you can have someone hold up card with the words on them. This is most famously used in the documentary film about Bob Dylan’s tour of England in the sixties Don’t Look Back.
Don't Look Back Bob Dylan Documentary by D.A. Pennebaker – SEE YOU TUBE
Dylan holds large sheets of paper with important words from each verse written on them. He pulls off each sheet as he sings.
Pick up an idea suggested by the words. This is one of the very best ways to start thinking visually about a song.
Take a song like Dirty Little Secret by All American Rejects – SEE YOU TUBE
In their video they have asked people to write down a secret on a large card. They filmed all these people holding up a card with their little secret written on it. It makes for a good video and takes the technique of using words on the screen to another level.
Tell a story. A good song often tells a story. You can make a visual story to go with the music
Surrealism. You may not have heard of this art movement which was started in the 1930s by a group of artists who were very interested in the new science of psychotherapy which interpreted a patient’s dreams.
The Spanish artist Salvador Dali created surreal paintings based on extraordinary dream-like images, including a soft watch that seems to drip over a table.
Video directors use surreal images in their videos to illustrate songs that appear to have no obvious meaning.
The first music film to do this (there was no video in the sixties) was Strawberry Fields by the Beatles, which uses images of the band walking backwards and singing in trees.
Music videos offer great opportunities to be creative on video using low cost equipment. You can work in just about any genre or style you like, as long as it has some relationship to the song.
In their video they have asked people to write down a secret on a large card. They filmed all these people holding up a card with their little secret written on it. It makes for a good video and takes the technique of using words on the screen to another level.
Tell a story. A good song often tells a story. You can make a visual story to go with the music. See www.newskidsonthenet.co.uk to see how a simple story of a gardener watering his plants is made into a comic story set to the music An English Country Garden. This website also shows you how to make this simple story using a domestic video camera.
Surrealism. You may not have heard of this art movement which was started in the 1930s by a group of artists who were very interested in the new science of psychotherapy which interpreted a patient’s dreams.
The Spanish artist Salvador Dali created surreal paintings based on extraordinary dream-like images, including a soft watch that seems to drip over a table.
Video directors use surreal images in their videos to illustrate songs that appear to have no obvious meaning.
The first music film to do this (there was no video in the sixties) was Strawberry Fields by the Beatles, which uses images of the band walking backwards and singing in trees.
The lyrics are suitable for surreal treatment because the words suggest it – ‘nothing is real, nothing to get hung about’….
Make a mask - perhaps of a politician or recognisable face like Osama Bin Larden or of a historical or mythical character such as Guy Fawkes or Captain Hook. Wear the masks in a choreographed dance to make a lively video.
Creating dance sequences is effective as a music video only if it is extremely well done. Professional dancers spend a lot of time rehearsing for a dance sequence in a video and they know how to dance! A lot of sub standard wiggling makes a very cheesy video.
Animation. There are many successful animated music videos as well as the Artic Monkeys. If you can draw or use your computer to make animated sequences this can make a very effective video.
Stop Frame Animation is another option – this is how Wallace and Gromit are made.
Wallace and Gromit's Curse of the Were-Rabbit – SEE YOU TUBE for the trailer
Stop frame involves making a model out of a malleable material like plasticine, and then moving parts of it or all of it very slightly, and recording a few frames. When the movements are put together the video of the model shows continuous smooth movement. Be warned this is very time consuming, although it can be most rewarding.
Documentary. A video with a suitable subject could have documentary style pictures. This could be achieved using a hand held camera and filming ‘gritty realism’ – poor, down and out neighbourhoods, fly tipping, litter, dirt and grime in an urban setting.
Don’t film the homeless as they will not like it and it is an affront to their dignity. You could film homeless people if they agreed, and it was a serious documentary.
Commercials. Many TV commercials exploit adventurous ideas. It is not a bad idea to ‘borrow’ an idea from a TV commercial, and make your own version as a music video. Think of the Halifax ads or British Airways, or the really inventive Orange cinema advertisements.
'Howard' Halifax Advert – SEE YOU TUBE
Orange Cinema Advert with Darth Vader – SEE YOU TUBE
Film Trailers
Film Trailers
Definition
A film trailer is a short promotional film for a forthcoming feature film. By showing significant and exciting moments with fast cutting, dramatic music and an intense commentary, it aims to create a need and desire in the audience to see the film.
A film trailer has to do many things in a very short time to promote a film. The trailer has to:
• make the film seem exciting, interesting and a must-see
• raise the expectations of the audience for the film
• promote the stars in the film
• make clear the genre of the film
• generate interest in the characters
• outline the story/plot without giving too much away
• highlight the main action or dramatic sequences
• showcase the USP – unique selling point - of this film
• highlight members of the production team the audience may know
Research 1
Look for examples of good trailers.
Choose different genres of films.
Choose trailers for films that you have seen, and for some films you have not seen. Youtube and IMDB are probably the best sources.
Harry Potter 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Jv5DFQW4M&feature=related
Vampire film that is a love story: Twilight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edLB6YWZ-R4&feature=channel
Research 2
Research some more information about film trailers from Film Education which is good on narrative structure and trailer techniques:
http://www.filmeducation.org/staffroom/film_in_the_classroom/film_trailers/genre_narrative_structure.php
For an article about film trailers.
See http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2005/apr/01/2
This article about the origins of the film trailer asks are trailers the best bit of a trip to the cinema, or just artless commercial spoilers?
To cut a long story short by Oliver Burkeman.
His analysis of the trailer for Independence Day is worth reading:
The well-known trailer for the 1996 film Independence Day is a thing of beauty. Compacting the standard-issue plot into a timeframe of less than three minutes forces a special discipline; the voiceover, delivered in the second person, feels intensely personal. “It is morning. You wake up ... ” it runs, as we see Will Smith wake up. “You greet your loved ones. You grab the morning paper.” It’s quiet - too quiet. “And although it seems like any ordinary day, it isn’t.”…within seconds, the Empire State building has been zapped and is collapsing in flames - one of the film’s most impressive scenes. The military response gets under way. Men in suits shout at each other. “You’re looking at worldwide destruction in the next 36 hours!” someone yells. But the fight soon turns in the good guys’ direction. “We’re going to survive! We’re going to survive!” someone else yells. And before you know it, Smith and Vivica Fox are kissing, silhouetted against the embers of a not-fully-destroyed planet, leaving just a couple of seconds for Smith to end with a self-referential sci-fi movie wisecrack: “Now that’s what I call a close encounter!” (Oliver Burkeman 2005)
Independence Day was a very successful film so the trailer must have worked!
Codes and Conventions of a Trailer
What to look out for:
• The duration of a trailer is under 3 minutes - 2’05” is typical
• Fast cutting creating jump cuts (see glossary)
• Lots of action in each frame
• Many different shots are used
• Use of on screen graphics
• Use of a voice over narration
• References positive reviews
• Ensure the film’s USP is evident
• Includes main producers at the beginning and production credits at the end (although not on the screen long enough to actually read in the cinema but Ok for the inevitable DVD)
• Title of film as a banner
• An onscreen website link
The voiceover and text on screen often feature the film’s USP, its Unique Selling Point. This will be something that can be communicated on a poster.
The voiceover narration is an important element of a trailer often using stock phrases like ‘Coming soon … (creates a sense of anticipation).
The Title (often heard and seen to cement in viewers’ minds)
Film Trailer Analysis
Now try some film trailer analysis using what you know about the key concept of film language.
Some suggested trailers from different genres...
The X men movie Wolverine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCTDVNgNUeY
Harry Potter Half BloodFull movie Trailer 2009 HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Jv5DFQW4M&NR=1
There is some comment on this version enthusing about this trailer.
The Watchmen 2009 trailer is interesting for its use of sound and a song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4blSrZvPhU
One that works very well with students is Hot Fuzz for a hybrid comedy/action thriller low budget British film - nothing beats it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5B8sSBkRF0&NR=1
Activity
In small groups watch one of these trailers several times. Look for one element of the film language and make short notes each time you view. You can draw up a three column table with the film language element on the left, and notes on how it is used in the other two columns.
The third column is for why the film language has been used in this particular way in this trailer – what does it tell you about the film such as – the genre – the mood or atmosphere – who are the intended audience – what expectations are created in the audience?
Trailer name
Slumdog millionaire
Film language How it is used Why it has been used in this way
Camera moving camera shots
close ups of main character a
to create action sequences, and a sense of urgency
to involve the viewer in the thought processes and emotions of Jamal
Sound
Film Language
• use of the camera – shot sizes, camera angles, camera positions
• use of sound – dialogue, voice over, music and sound effects (SFX), diegetic and non diegetic sound
• colour – is there a dominant colour, how is colour used
• lighting – hard or soft (see glossary), shadows, dramatic or naturalistic
• editing – typically very quick cuts and some dissolves – how long is each shot
• mise-en-scène (see glossary) – what is the contribution of the sets, props, costumes and acting
• use of on-screen graphics – what do they do?
Think about how each of these elements combine in the trailer to create an overall impression. Does the music match the speed of the editing or does the music do something else? What do the graphics do – see how they reinforce the voice over in the fist part of the Hot Fuzz trailer.
Activity 2
You are now in a position to do a written analysis of a film trailer. A good way to write an analysis is to remember the three point guide to each paragraph.
1. Make a point (e.g. use of camera angles)
2. Quote from the text – perhaps a shot or sequence
3. Explain what it is doing and why
Whatever you write, do not tell the story of the film or of the trailer.
Analysis Example 1 - Hot Fuzz
The low camera angle of feet walking towards the viewer right at the beginning followed by high intensity action shots convey the hybrid genre of action comedy that the Hot Fuzz trailer uses to attract an audience. On-screen graphics reinforce the stereotypical deep gravely tones of the voice over.
The low camera angle of a policeman’s feet walking towards camera is repeated in the safest town in the country to set up the contrasting comedy aspect of the hybrid genre. An expectation of comedy is contrasted and surpassed by fast cutting action shots with strong thriller elements setting up expectations of an action thriller.
The shock mock horror comedy sequence with the fork in the forehead is contrasted with the narration preparing us for real murder: ‘things are about to get very bad’.
The hybrid elements are seamlessly cut together to attract audiences of both genres. The mise-en-scène of the English small town with its church, graveyard and fete are referenced in the trailer to attract a UK audience for comedic and nostalgic reasons. It also attracts audiences in other countries notably the US by building on the success of popular British location films like Notting Hill.
Appealing to a young audience the trailer device of on-screen graphics gives provenance to the producers : ‘From the team that brought you Shaun of the Dead.’ High tech action scenes juxtaposed with verbal comedy interlaced with a heavy soundtrack convey a potent mix that ratchets up the expectations of the audience promising both humour and explosive action.
The plot is only hinted at, but production values are eye catching and apparently big budget, but the thrust of the trailer is the film’s hybrid genre.
Analysis Example 2 - Slumdog Millionaire Official Trailer (Pathe version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0DKHKVWwkg
Art House Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIzbwV7on6Q
Nice exercise to compare the two trailers
Analysis
Slumdog Millionaire The Official UK Trailer
It is what this trailer does not do that is interesting. It does not start with dramatic action shots, tricky camera angles or names of stars, because the film does not have these typical Hollywood conventions. It starts with the TV game show and a voice over sets up the enigma of the film – how does a boy from the slums know all of the answers? This version of the trailer uses the voice over to grab the audience as much as the cleverly angled shots of India.
This is a low budget all British film with very little initial publicity and no Hollywood style launch campaign. So a cinema audience may have heard little about this film. In my case I had read about this British film set in the slums of Mumbai, but I was not at all sure that I wanted to spend time and money on going to see the film. So the trailer had to do a lot of work on someone like me.
There at least two versions of the trailer. I saw both. According to the ‘art house’ trailer the film won a prestigious international award at the Toronto film festival and this information is used as a promotional device and as a way of giving the audience confidence that the film is something special and really worth seeing.
The film’s successful director, Danny Boyle, is flagged up straightaway which gives the message that this film will be as good as Danny Boyle’s last successful film 28 Days Later. The official version above chooses to highlight the same writer as The full Monty. Also there is an American voice over emphasising the compulsive nature of the quiz show plot.
There are several challenges in this trailer not least that the film is set around a TV quiz show and that the plot is given away by the title. The trailer makes the best use of the enigma of ‘will he get the answer correctly?’ but there is very little room for filmic action or moody drama. On screen graphics and sophisticated non-diegetic music create suspense. ‘Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees – how did he do it?’
The trailer shows aspects of the TV quiz show and then changes direction. The film language becomes playful, and dynamic with fluid camera movements and saturated colours depicting children in India jumping over roofs, climbing into trains and running for their lives. A beautiful girl is seen as the object of the main character’s aspiration and there are strong hints of romance with an enticing line of dialogue: ‘I went on the show because I thought she would be watching’.
The trailer cuts between the familiar TV studio set up of Who wants to be a millionaire and the noise and chaos of the streets of Mumbai. The audience are looking for a familiar film genre or emotional clue to the story. The art house trailer gives an onscreen quote not from a regular film goers magazine but from the Wall Street Journal: ‘a soaring, cloud pleasing fantasy that’s a tale of unswerving love’. The audience are reassured. It is a love story but hard nosed bankers like this film so it must have just that bit extra.
The mise-en-scène suggested by the trailer is the India you know like the Taj Mahal, and the Mumbai you don’t – the back street slums teeming with children.
(The song used in the trailer is from the rather underated band A-ha - The Sun Always Shines on TV - check the full version on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0zPINgTBY0&feature=related )
The camera work is busy, moving all the time showing humorous activity, dynamic chases, delicate characters and poignant moments against a spectacularly colourful Indian back drop.
The editing is fast cuts, juxtaposing wide scenes with close ups.
The music is rhythmic, and emotional with all the bounce and energy of Indian film music and the beautiful Latika’s theme. An anthemic song with a clever hook plays over on-screen graphics highlighting in a huge font Danny Boyle and the writer.
This is a relatively low key trailer hinting and nudging rather than kicking and shoving audience expectations. Both trailers suggest this is a film for the more thoughtful viewer.
The media language with shots of hope and betrayal tells the audience that this a romantic movie, with some clever twists in the plot and stunning performances set in a new landscape of the slums of Mumbai.
Finally it delivers the USP which is that this is ‘The feel – good film of the decade’.
Note: Interestingly the trailer does not hint at the violent first part of the actual film – it is not seeking an audience who like to see violence, rather the opposite. This fact upset some audiences who went to see the film. The trailer does a clever job in not alluding to this violence – could it therefore be seen as being dishonest?
More Trailer Analysis
To read a short analysis of the trailers for Donnie Darko, Whale Rider, Lord of the Rings and Heist visit: http://www.teachit.co.uk/attachments/5119.pdf
For example:
The trailer for Donnie Darko uses contrasts between dark and light very effectively. The opening has high key lighting (see glossary): a very bright sunlight which outlines the figure of the main character. It is like a heavenly light, and coincides with, during the voice over, the word ‘life’ being spoken. There is a suggestion of something supernatural, perhaps even of the after-life by using this lighting (teachit 2007)
Activity
Discussion. How far should a trailer be scrupulously truthful about the film it is promoting? Is it acceptable to only show what the producers think will sell the film? Of course in such a short time not everything can be shown, but some trailers show scenes that have been deleted from the film – is this fair to the audience?
Making A Trailer
You have analysed several trailers, and you know the codes and conventions of a trailer. You now have some preproduction to do before you can start filming:
• choose the genre of the film
• choose the title – keep to it
• write a short synopsis of the plot – discuss it with friends
• write brief descriptions of the main characters
• create a storyboard THIS IS VITAL
• choose where the film will be made – a location near to you where you have access
• choose your cast from your friends or drama students
• select your film crew - could be just you or ideally two of you
• make sure you know how to use a video camera –do the video exercises on this website
• make sure you know how to use video editing software
• prepare anything else you need like costumes and props
Production
Couple of things to remember about making a trailer:
1. you need a great many different shots, with different shot sizes and camera angles
2. you do not need many different locations for the average trailer
Because a trailer is so short – between 2 and 3 minutes – each and every shot has a job to do – that is why you need to plan each shot. Even the best planned storyboards can and do change on the filming day – this is OK, you may think of a better shot as you are filming but without a plan better shots rarely reveal themselves.
Most trailers have an average of 40 to 60 shots a minute or about one shot every second. That’s a lot of shots to film. You may have to settle for less and use on-screen graphics as shots.
Plot
This is a basic story line for a 15 rated hybrid quest film. A young woman/man goes on a quest journey with his friend (male or female) to find his brother/friend/father/fortune who was last heard of in a mysterious text message. The journey involves running, car, train and bike – either all of these or just one or two. At various stages he is held up by unexpected obstacles. Eventually he arrives at what he thinks is the right destination to be confronted by ……a gang, aliens, a robot, dead body, monsters, a mysterious attempt on his own death or his kidnapped brother alone in a prison type house – choose any one, you are not going to show more than a hint of the ending.
Filming Pictures
Remember you do not need to worry too much about the sound with your pictures. Video cameras have a microphone on the front which will record sound, but it will not be high quality. Mostly you will use non –diegetic sound although it is useful to have – for example - the noise of that bus to create a sense of reality in your trailer.
What pictures do you need to illustrate a version of this story?
You need pictures of your hero and his/ her sidekick travelling in all sorts of different vehicles. You don’t need to see all of them move. For a car you need close ups of the characters at the wheel. For a bus getting on, and getting off the bus. If they hitchhike getting into a truck, car etc. You can get pictures of the bicycles easily – make sure they look exciting. Put the camera on the ground and look up.
Use close ups of faces and objects. Use different camera angles.
Tone
You will need to inject a sense of suspense and urgency for the journey. Do this with lighting and with canted camera angles.
Music and sound effects (SFX) also create tone.
Mystery and Enigma
Use music and voice over to create mystery and enigma. The narration often asks a question – will Dale and Tanya arrive alive? Who can stop them now? What is the mysterious presence that is following them? The mysterious presence can be filmed in a mist or fog created by smoke. Rustling in the bushes can create suspense.
Energy
The energy and thrust of a trailer are created through quick editing. You must of course have a lot of pictures in order to create quick cuts.
Energy also comes from camera movement and movement of characters and people within the frame. Think about using some simple camera techniques to create effects such as the ‘locked off’ camera on a tripod shooting a crowded place over a long time. When edited into a 5 second sequence this show lots of people moving very fast in one place like a railway station – ideal for your travel/journey/quest film.
Sound
Whatever you do do not put just one piece of music over the whole trailer. This is not a music video and anyway you cannot use commercial music for an exam. You will have to make your own music – just a guitar or keyboard can work really well. Often a friend will be happy to compose and play some suitable music for your trailer using your basic story idea as a stimulus.
Where possible create your own SFX. Record sounds with the mic very close to the sound – it can be very dramatic. Try it with a dripping tap in the sink. The kitchen must be quiet and the camera mic very close to the source of the noise – not the tap, but where the drip hits the sink. Use the camera mic to record sound because, as you edit, the pictures will help you remember just what sound you have recorded.
The voice over of a trailer is important, and one of the key codes and conventions of a trailer. Make sure each word counts and use short sentences. Typically you will need to say:
What the plot is about: ‘Dale and Tanya go on the journey of a lifetime … meeting unspeakable disasters … but do they achieve their goal…..’
Something promotional like: ‘from the people who brought you’…(refers to established audience) or ‘based on a true story’…(although a fictional film it is based on real life) as well as superlatives such as ‘unmissable…breathtaking….sensational’
Do not forget to voice the title of the film at some point near the end as well as writing it as a banner on the screen.
Record it in a very quiet place with the voice close to the microphone. Speak quietly and don’t shout. Always check that the recording is actually on the tape.
Editing
I have already indicated that you will need many more pictures than you imagine, as you will try to edit a picture every second or so. Even though this trailer will be less than 3 minutes in duration you will need several hours on different days to edit it effectively.
A good tip is to edit the sound track first especially the voice over narration. This will give you a shape to work to. You can then edit pictures of your main characters as the narration identifies them in the trailer, and put the title at the right point where it is voiced.
• Do a long rough cut first where you put down your most effective pictures and the sound without any music
• Edit the soundtrack to time and start making the pictures fit.
• Add SFX
• Add your specially composed music (no commercial music remember )
• Play it to your friends and make minor adjustments for the fine cut
Definition
A film trailer is a short promotional film for a forthcoming feature film. By showing significant and exciting moments with fast cutting, dramatic music and an intense commentary, it aims to create a need and desire in the audience to see the film.
A film trailer has to do many things in a very short time to promote a film. The trailer has to:
• make the film seem exciting, interesting and a must-see
• raise the expectations of the audience for the film
• promote the stars in the film
• make clear the genre of the film
• generate interest in the characters
• outline the story/plot without giving too much away
• highlight the main action or dramatic sequences
• showcase the USP – unique selling point - of this film
• highlight members of the production team the audience may know
Research 1
Look for examples of good trailers.
Choose different genres of films.
Choose trailers for films that you have seen, and for some films you have not seen. Youtube and IMDB are probably the best sources.
Harry Potter 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Jv5DFQW4M&feature=related
Vampire film that is a love story: Twilight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edLB6YWZ-R4&feature=channel
Research 2
Research some more information about film trailers from Film Education which is good on narrative structure and trailer techniques:
http://www.filmeducation.org/staffroom/film_in_the_classroom/film_trailers/genre_narrative_structure.php
For an article about film trailers.
See http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2005/apr/01/2
This article about the origins of the film trailer asks are trailers the best bit of a trip to the cinema, or just artless commercial spoilers?
To cut a long story short by Oliver Burkeman.
His analysis of the trailer for Independence Day is worth reading:
The well-known trailer for the 1996 film Independence Day is a thing of beauty. Compacting the standard-issue plot into a timeframe of less than three minutes forces a special discipline; the voiceover, delivered in the second person, feels intensely personal. “It is morning. You wake up ... ” it runs, as we see Will Smith wake up. “You greet your loved ones. You grab the morning paper.” It’s quiet - too quiet. “And although it seems like any ordinary day, it isn’t.”…within seconds, the Empire State building has been zapped and is collapsing in flames - one of the film’s most impressive scenes. The military response gets under way. Men in suits shout at each other. “You’re looking at worldwide destruction in the next 36 hours!” someone yells. But the fight soon turns in the good guys’ direction. “We’re going to survive! We’re going to survive!” someone else yells. And before you know it, Smith and Vivica Fox are kissing, silhouetted against the embers of a not-fully-destroyed planet, leaving just a couple of seconds for Smith to end with a self-referential sci-fi movie wisecrack: “Now that’s what I call a close encounter!” (Oliver Burkeman 2005)
Independence Day was a very successful film so the trailer must have worked!
Codes and Conventions of a Trailer
What to look out for:
• The duration of a trailer is under 3 minutes - 2’05” is typical
• Fast cutting creating jump cuts (see glossary)
• Lots of action in each frame
• Many different shots are used
• Use of on screen graphics
• Use of a voice over narration
• References positive reviews
• Ensure the film’s USP is evident
• Includes main producers at the beginning and production credits at the end (although not on the screen long enough to actually read in the cinema but Ok for the inevitable DVD)
• Title of film as a banner
• An onscreen website link
The voiceover and text on screen often feature the film’s USP, its Unique Selling Point. This will be something that can be communicated on a poster.
The voiceover narration is an important element of a trailer often using stock phrases like ‘Coming soon … (creates a sense of anticipation).
The Title (often heard and seen to cement in viewers’ minds)
Film Trailer Analysis
Now try some film trailer analysis using what you know about the key concept of film language.
Some suggested trailers from different genres...
The X men movie Wolverine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCTDVNgNUeY
Harry Potter Half BloodFull movie Trailer 2009 HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Jv5DFQW4M&NR=1
There is some comment on this version enthusing about this trailer.
The Watchmen 2009 trailer is interesting for its use of sound and a song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4blSrZvPhU
One that works very well with students is Hot Fuzz for a hybrid comedy/action thriller low budget British film - nothing beats it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5B8sSBkRF0&NR=1
Activity
In small groups watch one of these trailers several times. Look for one element of the film language and make short notes each time you view. You can draw up a three column table with the film language element on the left, and notes on how it is used in the other two columns.
The third column is for why the film language has been used in this particular way in this trailer – what does it tell you about the film such as – the genre – the mood or atmosphere – who are the intended audience – what expectations are created in the audience?
Trailer name
Slumdog millionaire
Film language How it is used Why it has been used in this way
Camera moving camera shots
close ups of main character a
to create action sequences, and a sense of urgency
to involve the viewer in the thought processes and emotions of Jamal
Sound
Film Language
• use of the camera – shot sizes, camera angles, camera positions
• use of sound – dialogue, voice over, music and sound effects (SFX), diegetic and non diegetic sound
• colour – is there a dominant colour, how is colour used
• lighting – hard or soft (see glossary), shadows, dramatic or naturalistic
• editing – typically very quick cuts and some dissolves – how long is each shot
• mise-en-scène (see glossary) – what is the contribution of the sets, props, costumes and acting
• use of on-screen graphics – what do they do?
Think about how each of these elements combine in the trailer to create an overall impression. Does the music match the speed of the editing or does the music do something else? What do the graphics do – see how they reinforce the voice over in the fist part of the Hot Fuzz trailer.
Activity 2
You are now in a position to do a written analysis of a film trailer. A good way to write an analysis is to remember the three point guide to each paragraph.
1. Make a point (e.g. use of camera angles)
2. Quote from the text – perhaps a shot or sequence
3. Explain what it is doing and why
Whatever you write, do not tell the story of the film or of the trailer.
Analysis Example 1 - Hot Fuzz
The low camera angle of feet walking towards the viewer right at the beginning followed by high intensity action shots convey the hybrid genre of action comedy that the Hot Fuzz trailer uses to attract an audience. On-screen graphics reinforce the stereotypical deep gravely tones of the voice over.
The low camera angle of a policeman’s feet walking towards camera is repeated in the safest town in the country to set up the contrasting comedy aspect of the hybrid genre. An expectation of comedy is contrasted and surpassed by fast cutting action shots with strong thriller elements setting up expectations of an action thriller.
The shock mock horror comedy sequence with the fork in the forehead is contrasted with the narration preparing us for real murder: ‘things are about to get very bad’.
The hybrid elements are seamlessly cut together to attract audiences of both genres. The mise-en-scène of the English small town with its church, graveyard and fete are referenced in the trailer to attract a UK audience for comedic and nostalgic reasons. It also attracts audiences in other countries notably the US by building on the success of popular British location films like Notting Hill.
Appealing to a young audience the trailer device of on-screen graphics gives provenance to the producers : ‘From the team that brought you Shaun of the Dead.’ High tech action scenes juxtaposed with verbal comedy interlaced with a heavy soundtrack convey a potent mix that ratchets up the expectations of the audience promising both humour and explosive action.
The plot is only hinted at, but production values are eye catching and apparently big budget, but the thrust of the trailer is the film’s hybrid genre.
Analysis Example 2 - Slumdog Millionaire Official Trailer (Pathe version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0DKHKVWwkg
Art House Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIzbwV7on6Q
Nice exercise to compare the two trailers
Analysis
Slumdog Millionaire The Official UK Trailer
It is what this trailer does not do that is interesting. It does not start with dramatic action shots, tricky camera angles or names of stars, because the film does not have these typical Hollywood conventions. It starts with the TV game show and a voice over sets up the enigma of the film – how does a boy from the slums know all of the answers? This version of the trailer uses the voice over to grab the audience as much as the cleverly angled shots of India.
This is a low budget all British film with very little initial publicity and no Hollywood style launch campaign. So a cinema audience may have heard little about this film. In my case I had read about this British film set in the slums of Mumbai, but I was not at all sure that I wanted to spend time and money on going to see the film. So the trailer had to do a lot of work on someone like me.
There at least two versions of the trailer. I saw both. According to the ‘art house’ trailer the film won a prestigious international award at the Toronto film festival and this information is used as a promotional device and as a way of giving the audience confidence that the film is something special and really worth seeing.
The film’s successful director, Danny Boyle, is flagged up straightaway which gives the message that this film will be as good as Danny Boyle’s last successful film 28 Days Later. The official version above chooses to highlight the same writer as The full Monty. Also there is an American voice over emphasising the compulsive nature of the quiz show plot.
There are several challenges in this trailer not least that the film is set around a TV quiz show and that the plot is given away by the title. The trailer makes the best use of the enigma of ‘will he get the answer correctly?’ but there is very little room for filmic action or moody drama. On screen graphics and sophisticated non-diegetic music create suspense. ‘Jamal Malik is one question away from winning 20 million rupees – how did he do it?’
The trailer shows aspects of the TV quiz show and then changes direction. The film language becomes playful, and dynamic with fluid camera movements and saturated colours depicting children in India jumping over roofs, climbing into trains and running for their lives. A beautiful girl is seen as the object of the main character’s aspiration and there are strong hints of romance with an enticing line of dialogue: ‘I went on the show because I thought she would be watching’.
The trailer cuts between the familiar TV studio set up of Who wants to be a millionaire and the noise and chaos of the streets of Mumbai. The audience are looking for a familiar film genre or emotional clue to the story. The art house trailer gives an onscreen quote not from a regular film goers magazine but from the Wall Street Journal: ‘a soaring, cloud pleasing fantasy that’s a tale of unswerving love’. The audience are reassured. It is a love story but hard nosed bankers like this film so it must have just that bit extra.
The mise-en-scène suggested by the trailer is the India you know like the Taj Mahal, and the Mumbai you don’t – the back street slums teeming with children.
(The song used in the trailer is from the rather underated band A-ha - The Sun Always Shines on TV - check the full version on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0zPINgTBY0&feature=related )
The camera work is busy, moving all the time showing humorous activity, dynamic chases, delicate characters and poignant moments against a spectacularly colourful Indian back drop.
The editing is fast cuts, juxtaposing wide scenes with close ups.
The music is rhythmic, and emotional with all the bounce and energy of Indian film music and the beautiful Latika’s theme. An anthemic song with a clever hook plays over on-screen graphics highlighting in a huge font Danny Boyle and the writer.
This is a relatively low key trailer hinting and nudging rather than kicking and shoving audience expectations. Both trailers suggest this is a film for the more thoughtful viewer.
The media language with shots of hope and betrayal tells the audience that this a romantic movie, with some clever twists in the plot and stunning performances set in a new landscape of the slums of Mumbai.
Finally it delivers the USP which is that this is ‘The feel – good film of the decade’.
Note: Interestingly the trailer does not hint at the violent first part of the actual film – it is not seeking an audience who like to see violence, rather the opposite. This fact upset some audiences who went to see the film. The trailer does a clever job in not alluding to this violence – could it therefore be seen as being dishonest?
More Trailer Analysis
To read a short analysis of the trailers for Donnie Darko, Whale Rider, Lord of the Rings and Heist visit: http://www.teachit.co.uk/attachments/5119.pdf
For example:
The trailer for Donnie Darko uses contrasts between dark and light very effectively. The opening has high key lighting (see glossary): a very bright sunlight which outlines the figure of the main character. It is like a heavenly light, and coincides with, during the voice over, the word ‘life’ being spoken. There is a suggestion of something supernatural, perhaps even of the after-life by using this lighting (teachit 2007)
Activity
Discussion. How far should a trailer be scrupulously truthful about the film it is promoting? Is it acceptable to only show what the producers think will sell the film? Of course in such a short time not everything can be shown, but some trailers show scenes that have been deleted from the film – is this fair to the audience?
Making A Trailer
You have analysed several trailers, and you know the codes and conventions of a trailer. You now have some preproduction to do before you can start filming:
• choose the genre of the film
• choose the title – keep to it
• write a short synopsis of the plot – discuss it with friends
• write brief descriptions of the main characters
• create a storyboard THIS IS VITAL
• choose where the film will be made – a location near to you where you have access
• choose your cast from your friends or drama students
• select your film crew - could be just you or ideally two of you
• make sure you know how to use a video camera –do the video exercises on this website
• make sure you know how to use video editing software
• prepare anything else you need like costumes and props
Production
Couple of things to remember about making a trailer:
1. you need a great many different shots, with different shot sizes and camera angles
2. you do not need many different locations for the average trailer
Because a trailer is so short – between 2 and 3 minutes – each and every shot has a job to do – that is why you need to plan each shot. Even the best planned storyboards can and do change on the filming day – this is OK, you may think of a better shot as you are filming but without a plan better shots rarely reveal themselves.
Most trailers have an average of 40 to 60 shots a minute or about one shot every second. That’s a lot of shots to film. You may have to settle for less and use on-screen graphics as shots.
Plot
This is a basic story line for a 15 rated hybrid quest film. A young woman/man goes on a quest journey with his friend (male or female) to find his brother/friend/father/fortune who was last heard of in a mysterious text message. The journey involves running, car, train and bike – either all of these or just one or two. At various stages he is held up by unexpected obstacles. Eventually he arrives at what he thinks is the right destination to be confronted by ……a gang, aliens, a robot, dead body, monsters, a mysterious attempt on his own death or his kidnapped brother alone in a prison type house – choose any one, you are not going to show more than a hint of the ending.
Filming Pictures
Remember you do not need to worry too much about the sound with your pictures. Video cameras have a microphone on the front which will record sound, but it will not be high quality. Mostly you will use non –diegetic sound although it is useful to have – for example - the noise of that bus to create a sense of reality in your trailer.
What pictures do you need to illustrate a version of this story?
You need pictures of your hero and his/ her sidekick travelling in all sorts of different vehicles. You don’t need to see all of them move. For a car you need close ups of the characters at the wheel. For a bus getting on, and getting off the bus. If they hitchhike getting into a truck, car etc. You can get pictures of the bicycles easily – make sure they look exciting. Put the camera on the ground and look up.
Use close ups of faces and objects. Use different camera angles.
Tone
You will need to inject a sense of suspense and urgency for the journey. Do this with lighting and with canted camera angles.
Music and sound effects (SFX) also create tone.
Mystery and Enigma
Use music and voice over to create mystery and enigma. The narration often asks a question – will Dale and Tanya arrive alive? Who can stop them now? What is the mysterious presence that is following them? The mysterious presence can be filmed in a mist or fog created by smoke. Rustling in the bushes can create suspense.
Energy
The energy and thrust of a trailer are created through quick editing. You must of course have a lot of pictures in order to create quick cuts.
Energy also comes from camera movement and movement of characters and people within the frame. Think about using some simple camera techniques to create effects such as the ‘locked off’ camera on a tripod shooting a crowded place over a long time. When edited into a 5 second sequence this show lots of people moving very fast in one place like a railway station – ideal for your travel/journey/quest film.
Sound
Whatever you do do not put just one piece of music over the whole trailer. This is not a music video and anyway you cannot use commercial music for an exam. You will have to make your own music – just a guitar or keyboard can work really well. Often a friend will be happy to compose and play some suitable music for your trailer using your basic story idea as a stimulus.
Where possible create your own SFX. Record sounds with the mic very close to the sound – it can be very dramatic. Try it with a dripping tap in the sink. The kitchen must be quiet and the camera mic very close to the source of the noise – not the tap, but where the drip hits the sink. Use the camera mic to record sound because, as you edit, the pictures will help you remember just what sound you have recorded.
The voice over of a trailer is important, and one of the key codes and conventions of a trailer. Make sure each word counts and use short sentences. Typically you will need to say:
What the plot is about: ‘Dale and Tanya go on the journey of a lifetime … meeting unspeakable disasters … but do they achieve their goal…..’
Something promotional like: ‘from the people who brought you’…(refers to established audience) or ‘based on a true story’…(although a fictional film it is based on real life) as well as superlatives such as ‘unmissable…breathtaking….sensational’
Do not forget to voice the title of the film at some point near the end as well as writing it as a banner on the screen.
Record it in a very quiet place with the voice close to the microphone. Speak quietly and don’t shout. Always check that the recording is actually on the tape.
Editing
I have already indicated that you will need many more pictures than you imagine, as you will try to edit a picture every second or so. Even though this trailer will be less than 3 minutes in duration you will need several hours on different days to edit it effectively.
A good tip is to edit the sound track first especially the voice over narration. This will give you a shape to work to. You can then edit pictures of your main characters as the narration identifies them in the trailer, and put the title at the right point where it is voiced.
• Do a long rough cut first where you put down your most effective pictures and the sound without any music
• Edit the soundtrack to time and start making the pictures fit.
• Add SFX
• Add your specially composed music (no commercial music remember )
• Play it to your friends and make minor adjustments for the fine cut
Monday 15 November 2010
Music Video Post-Production
Opening and closing.
In any video production the beginning is very important. If the opening is weak and boring the audience will stop watching.
Start with a sequence that is arresting, dramatic, visually exciting, has plenty of movement and will hook your audience. Once you have their attention, you have to hold onto it. If the action peaks too soon, the rest of the production may go down hill, and you will lose your audience.
Don’t forget the ending. This is the last thing the audience will see, so keep something special for the last few shots. A strong ending will leave the audience with positive feelings about the music video.
Create a narrative and your audience will want to know how it ends, so give them a dramatic ending. Tears always work, or a final kiss or achieving something memorable, like finding the Holy Grail
The pace of the editing.
The cuts and transitions should have a similar pace to the music, or they should reflect the mood and tempo of the music. You will see in professional music videos that fast music has lots of cuts – even if it is telling a story – and romantic or slower music has fewer cuts. The chorus of a song will probably have a slightly different pace to the verses, and this should be reflected in the editing.
Editing a dramatic scene for a movie the editor will often cut on the action. If a cut is prompted by action, that action will divert attention from the cut, making the transition more fluid. A character gets up from a chair to confront his boss – cut as he rises and the scene will have dramatic tension and the cut will appear seamless. You can do the same in a music video, although a music video can be altogether more imaginative. You do not need to follow any logic except where the music takes you.
The general rule for editing pictures is that edits work best when they are motivated by something in the narrative or by a look or gesture from a character
The motivation in a music video is the tempo of the music, or the words of the song.
Making a cut or transition from one shot to another risks breaking the audience’s concentration and subtly pulling attention away from the story or subject matter. On the other hand cutting or making a transition is a way of gaining the attention of the audience. Use transitions sparingly. A cut often works as well as a transition.
In a music video, cuts and transitions are a way of keeping the audience hooked on the visuals and listening to the song. Does that mean that you should do lots of cuts? For a music video, yes you should, and vary the number of edits for each sequence.
Cutting to the rhythm
Editing a music video involves cutting the pictures in rhythm with the music. At a basic level this means cutting on the beat. You don’t have to cut on every beat but your picture cutting should be in tune with the rhythm of the song.
For a fast song this will probably mean cutting on the dominant beat of the music – the one you tap your foot to. Certainly start off by cutting the pictures to this beat. THE MUSIC PROMO VIDEO
In any video production the beginning is very important. If the opening is weak and boring the audience will stop watching.
Start with a sequence that is arresting, dramatic, visually exciting, has plenty of movement and will hook your audience. Once you have their attention, you have to hold onto it. If the action peaks too soon, the rest of the production may go down hill, and you will lose your audience.
Don’t forget the ending. This is the last thing the audience will see, so keep something special for the last few shots. A strong ending will leave the audience with positive feelings about the music video.
Create a narrative and your audience will want to know how it ends, so give them a dramatic ending. Tears always work, or a final kiss or achieving something memorable, like finding the Holy Grail
The pace of the editing.
The cuts and transitions should have a similar pace to the music, or they should reflect the mood and tempo of the music. You will see in professional music videos that fast music has lots of cuts – even if it is telling a story – and romantic or slower music has fewer cuts. The chorus of a song will probably have a slightly different pace to the verses, and this should be reflected in the editing.
Editing a dramatic scene for a movie the editor will often cut on the action. If a cut is prompted by action, that action will divert attention from the cut, making the transition more fluid. A character gets up from a chair to confront his boss – cut as he rises and the scene will have dramatic tension and the cut will appear seamless. You can do the same in a music video, although a music video can be altogether more imaginative. You do not need to follow any logic except where the music takes you.
The general rule for editing pictures is that edits work best when they are motivated by something in the narrative or by a look or gesture from a character
The motivation in a music video is the tempo of the music, or the words of the song.
Making a cut or transition from one shot to another risks breaking the audience’s concentration and subtly pulling attention away from the story or subject matter. On the other hand cutting or making a transition is a way of gaining the attention of the audience. Use transitions sparingly. A cut often works as well as a transition.
In a music video, cuts and transitions are a way of keeping the audience hooked on the visuals and listening to the song. Does that mean that you should do lots of cuts? For a music video, yes you should, and vary the number of edits for each sequence.
Cutting to the rhythm
Editing a music video involves cutting the pictures in rhythm with the music. At a basic level this means cutting on the beat. You don’t have to cut on every beat but your picture cutting should be in tune with the rhythm of the song.
For a fast song this will probably mean cutting on the dominant beat of the music – the one you tap your foot to. Certainly start off by cutting the pictures to this beat. THE MUSIC PROMO VIDEO
THE MUSIC PROMO VIDEO
First of all this is not a music video of the performance of a song; it is a news style promo focusing on the band, their name and brand, and the record label Nutune Records. Yes it can and should have original music, but this is not a MTV type video promoting one song.
Pre-Production
Create a band/artist – sometimes it is best to go for a fictional name even if students are using their own band – remember marks are given for the synergy between the name of the band and all these aspects below which have to look related to each other.
• the band name
• their brand logo or USP
• the album sleeve/cover
• the music genre
• the live act
• the record label Nutune Records.
This research will result in two media products – the video, and print products or e-Media pages. The details you create in preproduction will inform all products. So they better be good!
Research Successful Artists / Bands
The BBC website is a great place to start.
This blog from Fraser McAlpine about female star COCO’s new song Self Machine is useful because it gives a simple introduction to how metaphor and similes are used in songs.
The video set in an empty swimming pool is both spooky and arty.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/chartblog/2010/07/i_blame_coco_self_machine.shtml#more
Students can make their video about a single artist such as Coco. In some ways this offers more opportunities for creating an interesting and original biography. Assuming the artist is a student then making the video has many less logistical problems than getting a four piece band together for a shoot in an exciting location.
Look at bands/artists on MySpace. Here is a band with a video that is near to the sort of thing that this brief envisages – don’t copy it slavishly.
Mystery Jets Secret Show
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=105643312
I also like the video for Scouting for Girls song Famous which is a simple song and the video actually illustrates the lyrics in a fun way.
http://www.scoutingforgirls.com/gb/home/
What you need to create…
Artist’s Name
It should be short just one or two words and must not class with the genre of the music. For example The Clash is an ideal name for a Punk band as is The Sex Pistols. Coco is clearly not the name of a Goth inspired group or heavy metal band. Face up to it long names don’t work – name one that does.
Logo, USP, Brand Identity
This is not initially easy and needs research. The best way in to creating a brand identity is to take the name and really brainstorm it. E.g. If you really want to call your band WHAM how do you promote it – check on any Wham website. Even more extraordinary is that Q – Tip can work as a name. It is better to research established bands like Gorillaz or Arctic Monkeys and see how their name is promoted.
By the way a cartoon band is a great idea for any artistically gifted media students.
It is simpler to create an image based logo around a single artist just think of Pink or the ultimate brand de nos jours, Lady Gaga.
For an historic perspective look at the way a huge international brand was created around the Spice Girls, and it is still going strong in 2010 with the creation of a musical stage production based on the Spice Girls see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8473024.stm
For an example of album covers and picture associated with artists see the BBC top 40 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles/
Promotional Techniques
Now research promotional techniques from how advertisers promote their products to viral advertising on the internet – see this site Understanding Advertising.
On this site look at Stephen Hill’s excellent article on Popular Music Promotion.
Pre-Production
This is when all your virtual ideas are finalised and become reality.
So you have a name, and a format, a genre, and a brand identity. Let’s say you are going for one artist. My example is going to be very obvious, but your artist/band will be much smarter and cooler.
Name: Leonie
Brand ID/Logo: based round a photo shopped lioness picture together with the artist. The o in Leonie has a stylised lion’s head inside it.
Use the same font for all text associated with this product to ensure continuity. Try to harmonise the colours and use the same ones throughout. For Leonie we are going to use gold’s, creams and desert colours – as in the lioness photo.
Genre: soft rock/soul mainstream. Describe exactly what sort of music will be on your artist’s album.
EG: Leonie’s music is based on postmodern northern soul with punk undertones. Her trademark song the up tempo Wilderness has a funk-rock underscore with a strong lyrical hook in the chorus line: Wild to be free/ in the wilderness… Her sultry voice has been compared to Dusty Springfield, and she is not afraid of the high notes.
Album cover. Full details at CD Cover Design & Analysis on this site.
Click here for ideas on analysing a CD/album cover from Teachit http://www.teachit.co.uk/attachments/5881.pdf
Album tracks – an album has about 12 tracks. You will need to write about 1 minute of a song for your artist. This will be the music you use on your video. In my illustration the song Leonie is going to sing is called Wilderness, and the delightfully cheesy lyric goes like this:
The wilderness is calling calling calling from afar
My heart is lonely and cries in the night
I am falling falling falling from a star
you are so far so far so far
Refrain: wild to be free/ in the wilderness / I ‘m waiting for you/ to be near me
Ok it’s ultra cheesy, but you wait to you hear it sung…. the words of Mercy are pretty simple on the page, but sung by Duffy the lyric is transformed into a hit. That is what a lyric should do – only really work when it is set to music and sung, otherwise it is a poem.
My advice - keep the lyrics really simple. I love the Beatles song I wanna hold your hand – how simple can a lyric be, but it’s a great pop song with terrific harmonies.
Enjoy the rhyming of ‘hand’ and ‘man’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iim6s8Ea_bE
Of course you may be the new Bob Dylan and be able to write complex songs full of metaphors and illusions that rhyme, and have a narrative. Listen to Mr Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan – could you write something similar that is also popular?
‘Take me on a trip on your magic swirling ship….’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIAZMayobcI
Locations for video shoots – two/three are enough. Be exciting but be safe – the beach is always good, or a park or the back garden.
Street scenes are difficult (H and S) unless you can find a really quiet road or a pedestrianised area.
Indoor locations like a gym, or a friendly house, or a tourist attraction like a castle are good. See MediaEdu Production Zone.
List of tour dates and towns – this is easy copy and adapt one out of the music press
Biog information – make it interesting. Leonie was born in South Africa and came to England when she was three years old; she likes the music of …..; vanilla ice cream and retro clothing etc and plays 4 instruments including the vuvuzela.
She sings about animal rights and has set up her own wild life sanctuary in Greenford!
She had a part in a video made by the Spice Girls when she as 8 – see the connection with your research? And much much more – put down every detail of her life including her TV viewing habits, magazines read, and views on serious debates such as spiritual beliefs, violence on the internet, capital punishment etc
Who is her backing band or perhaps she plays everything herself – perhaps that is her USP.
Does she use video in her act – of course she does and it is a very exciting video about, yes you have guessed it, being on safari.
Where do the pictures come from – your research visit to London zoo and that is where she got the inspiration for her latest single – Night Calls – (is there a pun in there?).
Promotional techniques – what is your promo philosophy for this musical phenomenon.
You are going to use Myspace and the ‘wild life in danger’ connection because you are going to donate 10p from each download to a wild life charity. This could get you noticed by a mainstream radio programme or a TV show.
Your luck really changes when a cosmetics company who are keen not sell products tested on animals, uses Leonie’s song Wilderness in one of their ads. Put 15 seconds of this ad in your video - you are aiming for a top mark.
This brief is trying to get you to move your marketing from the niche Nutune Records to something more mainstream using the same label.
Audience
The brief states that your audience should not be a niche audience but more mainstream.
All your marketing should therefore be aimed at a general young audience of both sexes who have bought similar products in the past.
For our example we are looking at a mainstream audience for female artists – people who might buy Duffy albums.
http://www.iamduffy.com/index2.html
Create a picture in your mind of the type of person who buys this genre of music – will this person like the music of your artist? If not what are the differences?
For the purposes of making good coursework it is probably best to find an artist who is like your artist so that you can compare and contrast, and go for the same audience.
It might be Rihanna with street wise songs like Disturbia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1mU6h4Xdxc
Top Tips
One
Photographs – during pre-production take a lot of photographs – on your phone camera if necessary - as a record of any research trips you make at weekends – London zoo for example – and particularly early doc style pictures of your artist.
Photograph everything you do - it will be useful I promise you. You will need to do a fairly sophisticated front page type shoot for your print or E-page option. This should look different to these ‘at home type’ pictures which will be very useful throughout the project.
Two
Keep a production diary in a large folder with everything in it. Use those plastic see-through pockets to put in loose items like tickets etc
Three
Keep a budget. Create a real world budget for promoting a new artist/band and then see how much you can do it for.
Making your own T shirts can save thousands - well a few - pounds and CDs can be copied on your computer.
Print can all be done on computer – the live gig may cost you a bit but you can share the cost.
Four
Make the video with a group as you need a team to make a video properly, but do everything else individually. You have to submit your portfolio as an individual.
Video Production
See this site under Production Zone for lots of tips and ideas for making good videos. Remember you are making a video for a social networking site such as MySpace not for television – what might be the differences? MySpace is more intimate and personal.
For this brief you will make a newsy style video for MySpace. You will need to do some or all of these:
• An interview with the artist/band
• An excerpt from an ad, or one of the artist’s songs for the actual album you are promoting. This will only be a short part of your video.
• A small section of the artist/band singing as if live – you must create all the music for your artist – no covers, no previously recorded music. If this is really too difficult then use music from a copyright free source but use it in less than 10% of the video. You must indicate your music source in the evaluation.
• Pictures of the artist relaxing doing sports etc, at home, or on holiday. Differentiate between the artist/band relaxing and having fun and the artist/band on stage in full stage gear – use props, make up, and costume to make a strong stage persona e.g. Lady Gaga.
• A new band on stage in tacky shorts and T shirt as I saw recently, is not what you want for this project – they may not like it, but its your video, you are the producer so stick them something startling, provocative or sensational.
For ideas on Music Video Production see Music Video Pre-Production on this site.
Evaluation
This is not what you did and what you did not do or why the group dynamics made everything such as rush –that will get no marks.
It is an evaluation of your video based on how it stands up to other similar products on Youtube or social networking sites. You can say how you went to great trouble to make it look professional and how you did this.
You must try and evaluate how your product works as a promotional video for your band/artist.
Pre-Production
Create a band/artist – sometimes it is best to go for a fictional name even if students are using their own band – remember marks are given for the synergy between the name of the band and all these aspects below which have to look related to each other.
• the band name
• their brand logo or USP
• the album sleeve/cover
• the music genre
• the live act
• the record label Nutune Records.
This research will result in two media products – the video, and print products or e-Media pages. The details you create in preproduction will inform all products. So they better be good!
Research Successful Artists / Bands
The BBC website is a great place to start.
This blog from Fraser McAlpine about female star COCO’s new song Self Machine is useful because it gives a simple introduction to how metaphor and similes are used in songs.
The video set in an empty swimming pool is both spooky and arty.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/chartblog/2010/07/i_blame_coco_self_machine.shtml#more
Students can make their video about a single artist such as Coco. In some ways this offers more opportunities for creating an interesting and original biography. Assuming the artist is a student then making the video has many less logistical problems than getting a four piece band together for a shoot in an exciting location.
Look at bands/artists on MySpace. Here is a band with a video that is near to the sort of thing that this brief envisages – don’t copy it slavishly.
Mystery Jets Secret Show
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=105643312
I also like the video for Scouting for Girls song Famous which is a simple song and the video actually illustrates the lyrics in a fun way.
http://www.scoutingforgirls.com/gb/home/
What you need to create…
Artist’s Name
It should be short just one or two words and must not class with the genre of the music. For example The Clash is an ideal name for a Punk band as is The Sex Pistols. Coco is clearly not the name of a Goth inspired group or heavy metal band. Face up to it long names don’t work – name one that does.
Logo, USP, Brand Identity
This is not initially easy and needs research. The best way in to creating a brand identity is to take the name and really brainstorm it. E.g. If you really want to call your band WHAM how do you promote it – check on any Wham website. Even more extraordinary is that Q – Tip can work as a name. It is better to research established bands like Gorillaz or Arctic Monkeys and see how their name is promoted.
By the way a cartoon band is a great idea for any artistically gifted media students.
It is simpler to create an image based logo around a single artist just think of Pink or the ultimate brand de nos jours, Lady Gaga.
For an historic perspective look at the way a huge international brand was created around the Spice Girls, and it is still going strong in 2010 with the creation of a musical stage production based on the Spice Girls see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8473024.stm
For an example of album covers and picture associated with artists see the BBC top 40 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles/
Promotional Techniques
Now research promotional techniques from how advertisers promote their products to viral advertising on the internet – see this site Understanding Advertising.
On this site look at Stephen Hill’s excellent article on Popular Music Promotion.
Pre-Production
This is when all your virtual ideas are finalised and become reality.
So you have a name, and a format, a genre, and a brand identity. Let’s say you are going for one artist. My example is going to be very obvious, but your artist/band will be much smarter and cooler.
Name: Leonie
Brand ID/Logo: based round a photo shopped lioness picture together with the artist. The o in Leonie has a stylised lion’s head inside it.
Use the same font for all text associated with this product to ensure continuity. Try to harmonise the colours and use the same ones throughout. For Leonie we are going to use gold’s, creams and desert colours – as in the lioness photo.
Genre: soft rock/soul mainstream. Describe exactly what sort of music will be on your artist’s album.
EG: Leonie’s music is based on postmodern northern soul with punk undertones. Her trademark song the up tempo Wilderness has a funk-rock underscore with a strong lyrical hook in the chorus line: Wild to be free/ in the wilderness… Her sultry voice has been compared to Dusty Springfield, and she is not afraid of the high notes.
Album cover. Full details at CD Cover Design & Analysis on this site.
Click here for ideas on analysing a CD/album cover from Teachit http://www.teachit.co.uk/attachments/5881.pdf
Album tracks – an album has about 12 tracks. You will need to write about 1 minute of a song for your artist. This will be the music you use on your video. In my illustration the song Leonie is going to sing is called Wilderness, and the delightfully cheesy lyric goes like this:
The wilderness is calling calling calling from afar
My heart is lonely and cries in the night
I am falling falling falling from a star
you are so far so far so far
Refrain: wild to be free/ in the wilderness / I ‘m waiting for you/ to be near me
Ok it’s ultra cheesy, but you wait to you hear it sung…. the words of Mercy are pretty simple on the page, but sung by Duffy the lyric is transformed into a hit. That is what a lyric should do – only really work when it is set to music and sung, otherwise it is a poem.
My advice - keep the lyrics really simple. I love the Beatles song I wanna hold your hand – how simple can a lyric be, but it’s a great pop song with terrific harmonies.
Enjoy the rhyming of ‘hand’ and ‘man’:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iim6s8Ea_bE
Of course you may be the new Bob Dylan and be able to write complex songs full of metaphors and illusions that rhyme, and have a narrative. Listen to Mr Tambourine Man by Bob Dylan – could you write something similar that is also popular?
‘Take me on a trip on your magic swirling ship….’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIAZMayobcI
Locations for video shoots – two/three are enough. Be exciting but be safe – the beach is always good, or a park or the back garden.
Street scenes are difficult (H and S) unless you can find a really quiet road or a pedestrianised area.
Indoor locations like a gym, or a friendly house, or a tourist attraction like a castle are good. See MediaEdu Production Zone.
List of tour dates and towns – this is easy copy and adapt one out of the music press
Biog information – make it interesting. Leonie was born in South Africa and came to England when she was three years old; she likes the music of …..; vanilla ice cream and retro clothing etc and plays 4 instruments including the vuvuzela.
She sings about animal rights and has set up her own wild life sanctuary in Greenford!
She had a part in a video made by the Spice Girls when she as 8 – see the connection with your research? And much much more – put down every detail of her life including her TV viewing habits, magazines read, and views on serious debates such as spiritual beliefs, violence on the internet, capital punishment etc
Who is her backing band or perhaps she plays everything herself – perhaps that is her USP.
Does she use video in her act – of course she does and it is a very exciting video about, yes you have guessed it, being on safari.
Where do the pictures come from – your research visit to London zoo and that is where she got the inspiration for her latest single – Night Calls – (is there a pun in there?).
Promotional techniques – what is your promo philosophy for this musical phenomenon.
You are going to use Myspace and the ‘wild life in danger’ connection because you are going to donate 10p from each download to a wild life charity. This could get you noticed by a mainstream radio programme or a TV show.
Your luck really changes when a cosmetics company who are keen not sell products tested on animals, uses Leonie’s song Wilderness in one of their ads. Put 15 seconds of this ad in your video - you are aiming for a top mark.
This brief is trying to get you to move your marketing from the niche Nutune Records to something more mainstream using the same label.
Audience
The brief states that your audience should not be a niche audience but more mainstream.
All your marketing should therefore be aimed at a general young audience of both sexes who have bought similar products in the past.
For our example we are looking at a mainstream audience for female artists – people who might buy Duffy albums.
http://www.iamduffy.com/index2.html
Create a picture in your mind of the type of person who buys this genre of music – will this person like the music of your artist? If not what are the differences?
For the purposes of making good coursework it is probably best to find an artist who is like your artist so that you can compare and contrast, and go for the same audience.
It might be Rihanna with street wise songs like Disturbia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1mU6h4Xdxc
Top Tips
One
Photographs – during pre-production take a lot of photographs – on your phone camera if necessary - as a record of any research trips you make at weekends – London zoo for example – and particularly early doc style pictures of your artist.
Photograph everything you do - it will be useful I promise you. You will need to do a fairly sophisticated front page type shoot for your print or E-page option. This should look different to these ‘at home type’ pictures which will be very useful throughout the project.
Two
Keep a production diary in a large folder with everything in it. Use those plastic see-through pockets to put in loose items like tickets etc
Three
Keep a budget. Create a real world budget for promoting a new artist/band and then see how much you can do it for.
Making your own T shirts can save thousands - well a few - pounds and CDs can be copied on your computer.
Print can all be done on computer – the live gig may cost you a bit but you can share the cost.
Four
Make the video with a group as you need a team to make a video properly, but do everything else individually. You have to submit your portfolio as an individual.
Video Production
See this site under Production Zone for lots of tips and ideas for making good videos. Remember you are making a video for a social networking site such as MySpace not for television – what might be the differences? MySpace is more intimate and personal.
For this brief you will make a newsy style video for MySpace. You will need to do some or all of these:
• An interview with the artist/band
• An excerpt from an ad, or one of the artist’s songs for the actual album you are promoting. This will only be a short part of your video.
• A small section of the artist/band singing as if live – you must create all the music for your artist – no covers, no previously recorded music. If this is really too difficult then use music from a copyright free source but use it in less than 10% of the video. You must indicate your music source in the evaluation.
• Pictures of the artist relaxing doing sports etc, at home, or on holiday. Differentiate between the artist/band relaxing and having fun and the artist/band on stage in full stage gear – use props, make up, and costume to make a strong stage persona e.g. Lady Gaga.
• A new band on stage in tacky shorts and T shirt as I saw recently, is not what you want for this project – they may not like it, but its your video, you are the producer so stick them something startling, provocative or sensational.
For ideas on Music Video Production see Music Video Pre-Production on this site.
Evaluation
This is not what you did and what you did not do or why the group dynamics made everything such as rush –that will get no marks.
It is an evaluation of your video based on how it stands up to other similar products on Youtube or social networking sites. You can say how you went to great trouble to make it look professional and how you did this.
You must try and evaluate how your product works as a promotional video for your band/artist.
A2 Media Studies Video Production
SELECTED SONG
You will have selected a song track which excites you. You will have some ideas about how you want to visualise this song.
You will have decided on whether you want to tell a story, create an atmospheric video, or present the song in some new innovative way, or use another form of visualisation such as a parody or pastiche.
It’s a good idea to write down the lyrics, so that you know what the song is about.
Your next job is to create a STORYBOARD of your ideas.
Remember that a storyboard first of all tells a story. Try and fit your video idea into 6 or 8 frames. You do not need to draw a frame for every single shot just the most important ones that advance the story.
EXAMPLE
Your chosen song is Lou Read’s 'A Perfect Day'. Here are the lyrics:
Just a perfect day
drink sangria in a park
and then later
when it gets dark
we go home
Just a perfect day
feed animals in the zoo
and then later a movie, too
and then home
Refrain:
Oh it's such a perfect day
I’m glad I spend it with you
oh such a perfect day you just keep me hangin’ on
you just keep me hangin’ on
just a perfect day
problems are left to know
Weekend’s all night long
its such fun
just a perfect day
You make me forget myself
I thought I was someone else
someone good
One way to get to grips with this song is to highlight the words that interest you. Of course you do not have to make a literal video that just shows pictures of the words, but you can use the words as a springboard to keep your video appropriate to the song and yet different.
A music video needs to relate in some way to the lyrics and the music. The audience should be able to see the relationship between your pictures and the song.
You could make a video that consisted of shots of your own perfect day, which could be a day on the beach, or in a racing car, or at a theme park, or in the garden at home. You would be illustrating what ‘perfect day’ means to you.
STORYBOARD
Let’s say we want to illustrate quite literally some of the words – the words in orange in the song.
Use a blank storyboard with 8 frames and put each of the words under each frame.
What pictures would you video for these words? You will have to capture the pictures on video, so you will need to interpret the ideas so that you are able to video them. The first row may be easier than the second row.
Row 1 Sangria is a Spanish wine drink that is usually made in a pitcher or jug. The zoo, the movie and home are straight forward.
Row 2 you are going to have to think about how you might visually interpret a phrase like ‘forget myself’ . I am sure you can do better than my suggestions.
VIDEO PRODUCTION
You have produced a storyboard which shows some of the central images you want to video. Now you have to shoot the pictures.
• Make a list of ALL THE SHOTS you need – this is called a shot list. Don’t rush this stage of the production process. It is much better to spend time thinking about what you want to shoot BEFORE you take out the camera.
• You may need some props – e.g. a jug of sangria for our Perfect Day shoot.
• You will almost certainly need to go to some locations; even the garden is a location. Make a list of all the locations – this is a location list.
• Now make a final SHOOTING SCRIPT which lists each shot and where it will be done and at what location. It should have two columns:
You may feel this is a lot of work and that you are not sure what you may find at the beach. Believe a shooting script is 100% worth it. When you get there you may find there are more shots at the beach, then that is a bonus of extra material – great, you will need it.
• For a music video you will need at least one shot for every 4 beats of the music. A fast rock and roll number will need more shots than a slow ballad.
• Try to make pictures that have either camera movement or something happening in the shot – or both.
• Use a variety of camera angles – her are some examples of different angles
• Only use the zoom lens for something really important
• If you are filming a band performing a music track, ask them to mime to playback.
• To make a video of a band performing live is altogether different, and should only be attempted if you have a lot of experience with sound and vision.
Canted Angle This is an underground shot with the camera at a canted angle (turned slightly to one side) to show a sense of unease. The torches shining into the camera lens also give a sense that the characters are lost.
Side Shot A beautifully lit side shot of a little girl being an angel. This is visually more interesting than the usual head on shot of children from in front of them.
High Angle Shot of Tom Baker as Dr Who. If you can take a shot from a high angle – especially good for a ballad or slower music.
Experiment with different camera angles – it will make your video more interesting.
Shooting a music video check list
• Shoot many more pictures than you need.
• Try and shoot in sequences that are dependent on the location or on the subject
• Shoot every idea with the camera at different angles
• Shoot Close Ups and Wide Shots of everything
• Keep the camera steady by using a tripod and let the action move within the frame. Filming something static like a flower, ask someone to shake the flower a little as if it is moving in the wind.
• Shoot in strong daylight wherever possible
• Shooting inside - turn on all the lights in the room – you can’t have enough light on video
• Get movement by moving the camera with the subject
• Use film lights if you have access to them.
• Use a whip-pan occasionally – a whip-pan moves the camera very quickly from one subject to another
• Use the zoom - but not too much, it gets so boring!
You will have selected a song track which excites you. You will have some ideas about how you want to visualise this song.
You will have decided on whether you want to tell a story, create an atmospheric video, or present the song in some new innovative way, or use another form of visualisation such as a parody or pastiche.
It’s a good idea to write down the lyrics, so that you know what the song is about.
Your next job is to create a STORYBOARD of your ideas.
Remember that a storyboard first of all tells a story. Try and fit your video idea into 6 or 8 frames. You do not need to draw a frame for every single shot just the most important ones that advance the story.
EXAMPLE
Your chosen song is Lou Read’s 'A Perfect Day'. Here are the lyrics:
Just a perfect day
drink sangria in a park
and then later
when it gets dark
we go home
Just a perfect day
feed animals in the zoo
and then later a movie, too
and then home
Refrain:
Oh it's such a perfect day
I’m glad I spend it with you
oh such a perfect day you just keep me hangin’ on
you just keep me hangin’ on
just a perfect day
problems are left to know
Weekend’s all night long
its such fun
just a perfect day
You make me forget myself
I thought I was someone else
someone good
One way to get to grips with this song is to highlight the words that interest you. Of course you do not have to make a literal video that just shows pictures of the words, but you can use the words as a springboard to keep your video appropriate to the song and yet different.
A music video needs to relate in some way to the lyrics and the music. The audience should be able to see the relationship between your pictures and the song.
You could make a video that consisted of shots of your own perfect day, which could be a day on the beach, or in a racing car, or at a theme park, or in the garden at home. You would be illustrating what ‘perfect day’ means to you.
STORYBOARD
Let’s say we want to illustrate quite literally some of the words – the words in orange in the song.
Use a blank storyboard with 8 frames and put each of the words under each frame.
What pictures would you video for these words? You will have to capture the pictures on video, so you will need to interpret the ideas so that you are able to video them. The first row may be easier than the second row.
Row 1 Sangria is a Spanish wine drink that is usually made in a pitcher or jug. The zoo, the movie and home are straight forward.
Row 2 you are going to have to think about how you might visually interpret a phrase like ‘forget myself’ . I am sure you can do better than my suggestions.
VIDEO PRODUCTION
You have produced a storyboard which shows some of the central images you want to video. Now you have to shoot the pictures.
• Make a list of ALL THE SHOTS you need – this is called a shot list. Don’t rush this stage of the production process. It is much better to spend time thinking about what you want to shoot BEFORE you take out the camera.
• You may need some props – e.g. a jug of sangria for our Perfect Day shoot.
• You will almost certainly need to go to some locations; even the garden is a location. Make a list of all the locations – this is a location list.
• Now make a final SHOOTING SCRIPT which lists each shot and where it will be done and at what location. It should have two columns:
You may feel this is a lot of work and that you are not sure what you may find at the beach. Believe a shooting script is 100% worth it. When you get there you may find there are more shots at the beach, then that is a bonus of extra material – great, you will need it.
• For a music video you will need at least one shot for every 4 beats of the music. A fast rock and roll number will need more shots than a slow ballad.
• Try to make pictures that have either camera movement or something happening in the shot – or both.
• Use a variety of camera angles – her are some examples of different angles
• Only use the zoom lens for something really important
• If you are filming a band performing a music track, ask them to mime to playback.
• To make a video of a band performing live is altogether different, and should only be attempted if you have a lot of experience with sound and vision.
Canted Angle This is an underground shot with the camera at a canted angle (turned slightly to one side) to show a sense of unease. The torches shining into the camera lens also give a sense that the characters are lost.
Side Shot A beautifully lit side shot of a little girl being an angel. This is visually more interesting than the usual head on shot of children from in front of them.
High Angle Shot of Tom Baker as Dr Who. If you can take a shot from a high angle – especially good for a ballad or slower music.
Experiment with different camera angles – it will make your video more interesting.
Shooting a music video check list
• Shoot many more pictures than you need.
• Try and shoot in sequences that are dependent on the location or on the subject
• Shoot every idea with the camera at different angles
• Shoot Close Ups and Wide Shots of everything
• Keep the camera steady by using a tripod and let the action move within the frame. Filming something static like a flower, ask someone to shake the flower a little as if it is moving in the wind.
• Shoot in strong daylight wherever possible
• Shooting inside - turn on all the lights in the room – you can’t have enough light on video
• Get movement by moving the camera with the subject
• Use film lights if you have access to them.
• Use a whip-pan occasionally – a whip-pan moves the camera very quickly from one subject to another
• Use the zoom - but not too much, it gets so boring!
GENRE
Genre
Genre gives the audience expectations and determines the way they interpret the text. Genres are used in a whole variety of texts from tabloid newspapers, radio chat shows to soaps. A well known genre is that of horror. The audience expects to be scared, and the mediators play with these expectations. Mise-en-scène is vital in helping an audience determine the generic expectations.
Characters are often generically determined in certain texts. Audiences recognise these key elements of a genre and respond accordingly, if they read the text in the way the mediator prefers. These key elements can be called paradigms and two types have been identified:
1. Iconographic: signs and symbols
2. Structural: how structures in the text deal with issues such as ideology and gender.
Generic subversion is becoming stronger and stronger in contemporary texts. A good example of this subversion is in the film Scary Movie where virtually every generic code is first identified, then played with, to the delight of many audiences.
Genres tend to become ‘tired’ over time, with audiences becoming less interested. The theorist Christian Metz identified four phases in this process: the initial phase, the classical phase, the declining phase and finally the parody phase. The disaster genre is a good example with The Towering Inferno in the classical phase and Airplane! as the final parody. To survive, genres mutate and join with others to form hybrid genres, such as Blade Runner, which was a hybrid of the Sci-Fi and Film Noir genres.
Going further
Genre can be linked firmly to the key concept of institution in media studies. Genres appeal to certain target audiences, for example, soap operas tend to have a gendered appeal (to women), which allows institutions to precisely market goods and services to this audience during commercial breaks. Genre also allows institutions to save money by standardising production – using the same sets, actors and scriptwriters for a series keeps costs down in a business where costs can spiral upwards and audiences can become easily bored. When costs can be accurately predicted, financial planning is easier and long-term contracts can be awarded to suppliers and actors. This generic approach to production can lead to predictability and can stifle creativity, as happened under the old Hollywood studio system that began to collapse in the 1970s.
A contemporary development has been genre hybridisation and the creation of cross genre texts where different genres are combined together to create a newer, fresher genre, which appeals to a new audience. A good contemporary example is the popular TV series CSI that combines the police procedural, crime and whodunit genres to create a new genre. Genres are no longer separate and unique, they increasingly lend and borrow from other texts; this is known as intertextuality and can be seen as a defining aspect of post modernism.
Genre can link naturally with the key concept of audience. Audiences like genre texts and actively seek them out for their own pleasure. Genre texts are reassuring to audiences because of their familiarity and promoting a God-like understanding of knowing roughly what the outcome will be. Audiences know what to expect and usually get it from a generic text. A genre that pleases audiences is reality TV; a good contemporary example is Big Brother that has predictable elements such as interactivity, where the audience votes unpopular members of the house out, and engineered disputes between the different characters, which are focused on in the editing phase of the production. The producers of the show call the genre a format, which seems to have become an interchangeable term.
Genre gives the audience expectations and determines the way they interpret the text. Genres are used in a whole variety of texts from tabloid newspapers, radio chat shows to soaps. A well known genre is that of horror. The audience expects to be scared, and the mediators play with these expectations. Mise-en-scène is vital in helping an audience determine the generic expectations.
Characters are often generically determined in certain texts. Audiences recognise these key elements of a genre and respond accordingly, if they read the text in the way the mediator prefers. These key elements can be called paradigms and two types have been identified:
1. Iconographic: signs and symbols
2. Structural: how structures in the text deal with issues such as ideology and gender.
Generic subversion is becoming stronger and stronger in contemporary texts. A good example of this subversion is in the film Scary Movie where virtually every generic code is first identified, then played with, to the delight of many audiences.
Genres tend to become ‘tired’ over time, with audiences becoming less interested. The theorist Christian Metz identified four phases in this process: the initial phase, the classical phase, the declining phase and finally the parody phase. The disaster genre is a good example with The Towering Inferno in the classical phase and Airplane! as the final parody. To survive, genres mutate and join with others to form hybrid genres, such as Blade Runner, which was a hybrid of the Sci-Fi and Film Noir genres.
Going further
Genre can be linked firmly to the key concept of institution in media studies. Genres appeal to certain target audiences, for example, soap operas tend to have a gendered appeal (to women), which allows institutions to precisely market goods and services to this audience during commercial breaks. Genre also allows institutions to save money by standardising production – using the same sets, actors and scriptwriters for a series keeps costs down in a business where costs can spiral upwards and audiences can become easily bored. When costs can be accurately predicted, financial planning is easier and long-term contracts can be awarded to suppliers and actors. This generic approach to production can lead to predictability and can stifle creativity, as happened under the old Hollywood studio system that began to collapse in the 1970s.
A contemporary development has been genre hybridisation and the creation of cross genre texts where different genres are combined together to create a newer, fresher genre, which appeals to a new audience. A good contemporary example is the popular TV series CSI that combines the police procedural, crime and whodunit genres to create a new genre. Genres are no longer separate and unique, they increasingly lend and borrow from other texts; this is known as intertextuality and can be seen as a defining aspect of post modernism.
Genre can link naturally with the key concept of audience. Audiences like genre texts and actively seek them out for their own pleasure. Genre texts are reassuring to audiences because of their familiarity and promoting a God-like understanding of knowing roughly what the outcome will be. Audiences know what to expect and usually get it from a generic text. A genre that pleases audiences is reality TV; a good contemporary example is Big Brother that has predictable elements such as interactivity, where the audience votes unpopular members of the house out, and engineered disputes between the different characters, which are focused on in the editing phase of the production. The producers of the show call the genre a format, which seems to have become an interchangeable term.
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