Proposal for music video

Sweet Dreams TN  by the Last Shadow Puppets

Length of song: 3 minutes 56 seconds

Potenial music video length: 5 minutes (ish)

Concept: The idea is to mirror the lyrics of the song in my music video. This means I am going to make the music video about love and romance.

Target Audience: The target audience is the same as the Last Shadow Puppets target audience. This is mainly teenagers, mostly girls because despite them not being a pop boy band, they are still followed by a large amount of screaming teenage girls. But I still want my video to be unisex because the Last Shadow Puppets are still followed by teenage boys as well as girls.

Genre: The genre of music video will be love. This is because the song I'm doing is a love song so I didn't think any other genre would be appropriate. 

Synopsis: The story behind my video will be a girl who is in love with a boy but she wont talk to him about it, until one night she has a dream and her mind played by a boy sings the lyrics and she realises that she needs to go and talk to the boy she likes. When she runs outside the boy is walking up her path and they instantly hug. Emotions fly as the song ends and the girls mind fades to black and the final shot is the girl and boy hugging/kissing.

Locations: I will use two different locations for my music video. The first one will either be a recording studio or a stage, so one of the characters can perform the song. The second location I will need is a house with a front garden and path. This where most of the video will be shot and this will be where the most of the narrative will be filmed. 

Areas I need to research: The only area I feel like I need to research is similar videos. This is because I can take inspiration from there videos and maybe incorporate some of there ideas into my video. 

Legal and Ethical Issues: I will have to consider legal and ethical issues mainly during post production. The main one is that I will have to get permission to use the song from Domino Records. They own the rights to the song I want to use so I will have to ask for permission to use the song. If I want to use someone else's footage as B roll for my music video, then I will need to get permission from the owner.

Cast and Crew: My cast and crew will change over the two main scenes. The actors playing the characters will Cameron Calvert (myself) playing the role of the conscious. Jayne Ralph as the worried girlfriend, and Catherine Slater as the girlfriends lover. Matthew Taylor and Jayne Ralph will help me out with filming, but I will also do some filming. 

Schedule: I aim to get this filmed in two days, the first day will be the first scene which is me singing the song in the studio and I will film plenty of angles of the performance. I will perform the song 3/4 times and I will need two camera's on that specific day. On the second day, I will be filming at a house and Jayne and Catherine will act out there lines and movements. I may get two cameras for that day but I shouldn't need many different angles for there bits. 

Green Screen Research

For my green screen research, we went down to the main building so we could use the green screen that we have at north notts college. Whilst we were down there, we filmed multiple things such as Matthew on a surfboard, and different people dancing. This was really fun to do because we got to laugh at people dancing in front of the green screen. Once we had filmed the footage, we put the footage on skinner so everyone could use the footage. I then imported it into adobe premier and got to work. I used ultra key to get rid of the green screen so it had a transparent background. I decided that I wanted a black background to make my video a bit creepy. I then messed around with the colour balance to give Daniels head a red effect. I then downloaded some scary music and an evil laugh to finish it off. Here is the finished product:

Proposal and Ideas Generation (Idea 2-The idea I probably won't use)

Song:
Who the fuck are Arctic Monkeys? (Arctic Monkeys)

Lyrics:
We all want someone to shout for,
Yeah everyone wants somebody to adore,
But your heroes aren't what they seem,
When you've been where we've been,

Have I done something to trigger,
the funny looks and the sniggers?
Are they there at all,
Or is it just paranoia?

Everybody's got their box,
Doing what their told,
You pushed my faith near being lost,
But we'll stick to the guns,
Don't care if it's marketing suicidal,
Won't crack or compromise,
Your derides and individes,
Will never unhinge us,

And theres a couple of hundred,
Think they're Christopher Columbus,
But the settles have already settled,
Yeah long before ya,

Just cause we're having a say-so,
Not lining up to be play-doh,
Oh in fives years time will it be,
Who the fucks Arctic Monkeys?

Everybody's got their box,
Doing what their told,
You pushed my faith near being lost,
But we'll stick to the guns,
Don't care if it's marketing suicidal,
Won't crack or compromise,
Your derides and individes,
Will never unhinge us,

(La la la la la, la la) x3

And all the thoughts that I just said,
Will linger round and multiply in their head,
Not mad to start with I'm not angry,
I'm just disappointed...

Its not you its them that are wrong,
Tell them to take out their tongues,
Tell them to take out their tongues,
Its not you its them that are wrong,
Tell them to take out their tongues,
Tell them to take out their tongues,
And bring on the backlash!

Its not you its them that are wrong,
Tell them to take out his tongue,
Tell them to take out his tongue,
Its not you its them thats the fake,
I wont mess with your escape,
Is this really your escape?
Yeaaaaahhhh!

Why I have chosen this song:

I have chosen this song because, it is currently one of my favourite songs to listen to. In addition, the song doesn't currently have a music video, this means I can start from scratch and make the video anything I want, without it being compared to the original. I think that I could do pretty much anything with the music video because, its a bit of a love song, but I think theres quite a broad direction I could take it.

Genre:
Urban; because Arctic Monkeys (when they first started) were a very Sheffield based band a wrote a lot of there songs, including this one, based on Sheffield. 
Narrative:
The narrative of my video will be the main character walking, and going about his daily business, but it will not only focus on him/her, but will also show the bigger picture. The idea is to show a lot of the urban surroundings. They see different people doing different activities and often the character will give them a weird look.
What my video will include:
My video will be a similar take on the Arctic Monkeys video Why'd you only call me when your high? I will try and make sure that I keep it fairly slow paced (walking pace). 

I won't be choosing this idea because I feel that my other idea is better.

Proposal and Ideas Generation (Idea 1-The idea I will most likely do)

Song:
Sweet Dreams TN (The Last Shadow Puppets)

Lyrics:
I just sorta always feel sick without you baby,
I ain't got anything to lick without you baby,
Nothing seems to stick without you baby,
Ain't I fallen in love,

Its just the pits without you baby,
Its really just the pits without you baby,
Its like everyones a dick without you baby,
Ain't I fallen in love,

And all my pals will tell me that I'm crazy,
You bet I'm loopy alright,
And I just don't recognise this fool,
That you have made me,
Whoa I ain't seen him for a while,
And as your shrinking figure blows a kiss,
I catch and smash it on my lips,
Darling I can't seem to quit,
Completely falling to bits,
I really might be losing it,
The idea that you've existed,
All alongs ridiculous,
I don't know what to say,

Baby we ought to...
Fuck seven years of bad luck out the powder room mirror,
Could I have made it any clearer,

Its love like a tongue in a nostril,
Love like an ache in the jaw,
You're the first day of spring,
With a septum piercing,
Little miss sweet dreams...
Tennesse!

Why I have chosen this song?
I have chosen this song because, it is currently one of my favourite songs to listen to. In addition, the song doesn't currently have a music video, this means I can start from scratch and make the video anything I want, without it being compared to the original. I think that I could do pretty much anything with the music video because, its a bit of a love song, but I think theres quite a broad direction I could take it.

Genre:
 Love; because the song is a love song and I want to keep a long with that theme.

Narrative:
The story behind my video will be a girl who is in love with a boy but she wont talk to him about it, until one night she has a dream and her mind played by a boy sings the lyrics and she realises that she needs to go and talk to the boy she likes. When she runs outside the boy is walking up her path and they instantly hug. Emotions fly as the song ends and the girls mind fades to black and the final shot is the girl and boy hugging/kissing.

What my video will include:
For my video, I want certain shots in my video. The main shots I have in mind are shots of the stage performance. I want about 6/7 different angles such as a close up, wide shot, and a shot from behind the performance. I want it to look like a real solo performance of the song and I want the audience to be able to the scene clearly. Similarly to the scene with the girl, I want to start with a wide shot then as the song moves along, I want it to be mainly medium shots and close ups. For the scene when the characters are outside, I want to use a 50f/s camera so I can shoot some of it in slow motion.

I will be choosing to do this idea because i feel it is better than my other idea and i am looking forward to producing this music video.

50f/s Camera

Today we used a 50 frames per second camera so we could learn how to film in slow motion. This camera is perfect for filming in slow motion because, it records double the amount of frames than a normal camera, so when the footage is slowed down, then the image movement is not a jittery as a normal camera.

Once we had got to grips with the 50f/s camera, we filmed a short scene in slow motion, and edited it, and then put it on YouTube. The short film is about a boy that gets bullied and beaten up by his college classmates. Here is our creation:

I found this work very useful because, it has given me some extra ideas for things I could do for my music video. I may think about shooting some of my video in slow motion. I thought that this activity was a success because, I got be used to using slow motion because, I'd never worked with it before and I really enjoyed it, even if it did include me getting beat up.

Researching Music Video's

I will write about and research four music videos so I can compare them and gain some ideas for my future music video. I have decided that all my music videos will be by Arctic Monkeys because, they are my favourite band and I have watched the following music video's many times so I feel comfortable talking about them. Despite the video's being by the same artist, they are all very different.

1. Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?

In this music video, all the band members are in a bar having drink. A very drunk and possibly drugged up Alex Turner sends multiple texts to a girl called, "Stephanie" without a reply. He then leaves to pub and heads towards her house, but on his way he hallucinates and see's Stephanie everywhere he goes. He eventually knocks on the door (of the wrong house) and continues to text but she still doesn't reply.

This music video is a narrative as it tells the story of Alex Turner. In this music video, they follow some typical music video conventions, because the artists are in the video, and specifically follows the lead singer. In addition, the music video relates to the title of the song. This is because, the band (mainly Alex Turner) are drunk and drugged up, referring back to the word in the title "High" which is a term used if someone has taken a drug. Also, Alex tries to text a girl in the video referring to the words in the title, "Why'd you only call me". If you put the two together it makes the title, "Why'd you only call me when you're high?". If the girl Alex tries to call in the video answered her phone to him, she may even ask, "Why'd you only call me when you're high?".  In this video, they're lots of effects to make it look like the audience are seeing what Alex is hallucinating. One example is when Alex has to phone on the palm of his hand and it made to look like part of the phone is stuck under a layer of skin. The camera movements are very simple as they just follow Alex's journey around the pub and streets, and the cuts are slow paced, to follow the song.

I think that this music video appeals to its audience because, it suits the song, as it is slow paced editing. In addition, you can see all four band members so that will appeal particularly to Arctic Monkeys fans. I also think that people will enjoy the narrative as everyone over the age of 18 has probably had a similar experience. If I had to be critical of this video, I think that you may have to watch the video more than once to fully understand the entire video. But overall I think that this video is a well made video that and tells the story of the lyrics really well.

2. Brianstorm

This music video is meant to be a filmed performance of Arctic Monkeys performing in sparse sepia set. Not only this, they're are fast paced cuts to different angles of the bands performance, clips of female dancers, stock footage from old medicine educational video's, and brief flashes of objects that are in the lyrics, such as, "Brian", "Jacuzzi" and "Lightning" in place of thunder.

This music video is a performance based video with lots of choreographed dance routines. Because it is a performance based video, it follows the basic music video conventions. It does this because it shows the artist, Arctic Monkeys, in the video, and in addition to this by adding images into the video that are in the video such as, "Brian", "Jacuzzi" and "Lightning" in place of thunder. This video is edited to the beat of the song. This means the video is very fasted paced to keep up with the quick beat of the song. This means they're are lots of cuts and required a lot of post-production work to edit it all together. There is lots of colour blending and amplifying so make it stand out to the audience. The camera shots are very still with little, to no camera movement. The camera angles change a lot, they use everything from an extreme long shot, to a close up.

I think that this music video appeals to its audience because, it suits the song, as it is fast paced editing. In addition, you can see all four band members so that will particularly appeal to Arctic Monkeys fans. I also think that this video will appeal to people because the video showcases what the band can do. If I had to be critical of this video, I think that adding in stock footage is all well and good but I don't think that in this case, it doesn't make sense to add in footage of medicine footage. But overall I think that this is a very good video as it shows off the band and it is well edited to fit the beat.

3. Cornerstone

This music video shows the lead singer of Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner, singing/lip syncing the song alone in a white room during the whole video. There is no camera movement and when you watch it, it feels that you and Alex are on your own and Alex is giving you a private concert.

This video is a performance based video that is well played by Alex Turner as he shows a mini narrative with his actions. It is well choreographed even though Alex doesn't have to do a full dance routine, but just simple gestures. Alex Turner is in this music video but the rest of the band members aren't. This is a good thing because it makes to video more personal but it might be a bad thing because so fans might want to see all the band members in the video. In the video Alex Turner talks about his rejection by women he meets and when he says the lyrics "No, you can't call me her name" he writes out the word, "No" in the air. This video is all done in one shot so there isn't any editing required. The camera angle doesn't change, but instead, Alex moves closer and further away to keep the interest of the interest. If I had to be critical of this video then I'd say that it is a bit plain and some people may find it boring.

I think that this music video appeals to its audience because, it suits the strip-backed vocals as it is very personal. In addition, the lead singer is in the video which will appeal to Arctic Monkeys fans as they will instantly recognise him. I think that it also appeals to the audience because, it shows a more laid back style to what people had see before, and inspires Alex to go through with his solo side project. If I had to be critical of this video then I'd say that it is a bit plain and some people may find it boring. But overall this is a good music video as it shows off a side to the band that Arctic Monkeys fans hadn't seen before.

4. Do I Wanna Know? 

This music video is animated by Blinkink and begins with a simple black background and simple visuals of white wave sounds that move in synchronisation. Firstly, moving along to the sound of the guitar, and then to the voice of Alex Turner. Coloured waves come in later in the music video, which illustrates other voices. The simple sound waves then turn into more detailed animations that morph into a variety of objects such as, a woman, a car and racing images. The video ends with the familiar white line morphing into the "AM" initials. This video creates an unusual experience that is rarely seen in a music video. 

This music video is clearly animated and is based around women and racing. It could even be described as random because of how the animator seems to get every image to link to another and interact together, as if they were in their own world. None of the band members are in this music video but are at times, represented by their own sound wave, for example; Alex Turner is the white wave, Matt Helders (drummer and backup vocalist) is the blue wave, Nick O'Malley (bass guitar and backup vocalist) is the yellow wave, and Jamie Cook (guitarist) is the red wave. This helps the audience recognise their roles within the song. This video has a lot of lyrical interpretation for example, the lyrics say, "I wanna know what time it shuts, simmer down and pucker up", the animation goes to a woman closing her legs to her lips pouting. The idea of this video is to use sound waves to help the video progress, the video moves with the beat and tempo of the song. 

I think that this music video appeals to its audience because, it suits the song as it follows the beat very well. In addition, even though the band aren't in the video, the video gives them there own sound wave so it feels like they are in the video. If I had to be critical of this music video, then I'd say that it can look a bit complex at times and may seem difficult to understand. But overall I really like this music video because its something different to what they had done before and theres not many music videos out there like it. 

Conclusion

Despite all these video's being by the same artist, they are all completely different. Brianstorm is based on a performance with the band, plus dance choreography and shots of old medicine video's. None of the other video's have this. Do I wanna know, is all animation which makes it completely unique from any other Arctic Monkeys video. Cornerstone breaks plenty of conventions because only Alex Turner is in the video, plus it is all filmed in one shot and there is no camera movement. But my favourite video is Why'd you only call me when you're high, this is because it has lots of effects and really tells the story of the song very well.  

Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry is an independent film director, screenwriter and producer. He was born in Versailles, France on the 8th May 1963. When he was younger he wanted to be a painter or inventor. Went to an art school in Paris during the 80's. He made a pop-rock group called, "Oui-Oui" and they released two albums. He is famous for directing music video's.

The music video I am going to look at is "Hardest Button to Button" by the White Stripes.

The key thing about this music is that it uses jump cuts and stop-motion to tell the story of the video. They make the characters move around by cutting up the footage so it appears that the characters have "jumped" into a different position. They not only move characters but they also move objects, such as the drums and amps with move along with the characters. 

As you can see from the screenshots above, the two characters have moved from right to left, as has the drum kit which one of the characters is sat on.

The jump cuts are all done in time to the beat of the song so it feels like the objects and characters are moving to the tune.

Music Video Notes

Song: Sugar Water
-Split screen
-Backwards and flipped footage

Song: Come into my world
-Started with one Kylie, finishes with many Kylie's
-Double Exposure
-Camera on a track

Song: Hardest button to button
-Jump cuts
-Stop-motion

Song: Let forever be
-Dancing
-Dream-like
-One women turns into several identical women

Song: Bachelorette
-Black and white (at certain parts)
-Pastiche

Guest Speaker Project

For this task, I did lots of primary and secondary research about Robert Popper. Firstly, I needed to find out more facts about Robert Popper, and I did this by looking at websites (secondary research) so I could find out all the basic information about him eg. when he started his career and productions he's worked on. I wrote all the facts that I found out in my blog. In addition, as a class, we asked Robert Popper questions over Skype (primary research). I did this research verbally because I didn't ask them him too many questions about himself so it was easier to remember and write down there responses. I also asked my friends and family members about him to get another persons perspective of him.

For my secondary research, I mainly used Robert Poppers website because it had plenty of information that is reliable. I knew it was reliable because its his website, so the facts are going to be accurate. I thought that this was the best way to get my information because it was the most reliable. My primary research was useful and helped me as much as my secondary research but, it was easier for me to get the information off his website, rather than asking people that didn't really know too much about him. But I did enjoy speaking to him over Skype and he answered questions which couldn't have been answered on the internet.

I think that the media industry is that vast that there are plenty of opportunities available for someone to get into the industry. I think if you're not too picky about what area you want to be in, it makes it easier to get your career started. On the other hand, if you want to do a specific job, you might find it hard to get that job straight away if you don't have much experience. For my own development, I feel like I have a long way to go before I can start in my preferred job role in the media industry. I need to improve in all areas of the media, whether thats filming, editing or whatever.

My Questions and Responses:
1. How did you get into the industry?
Robert Popper went to Manchester University to study French and Italian. He was always interested in the media industry. To make him stand out from other people, and to get noticed, he wrote mad and crazy letters to loads of producers in an attempt to get a response. He did get responses and that was the turning point in his career. 

2. Do you prefer to work behind or in front of the camera?
Robert Popper often prefers to be behind the camera. But he said that he's not all that bothered as he enjoys doing both. 

3. Whats the favourite thing you've worked on?
Robert Popper said his favourite to work on was a TV show called, "Look Around You". He also said that he enjoyed writing the "Timewaster" books. 

4. How do you get your inspiration?
Robert Popper often got his inspiration for most of his ideas from his friends and family. Mainly by remembering the funny things they'd done in the past. He said some of the ideas for "the Inbetweeners" and "Friday Night Dinner" are based on things that happened to him or someone he knew.

5. Do you get much input with the actors?
Robert Popper works with lots of people not only the actors. In addition, he also gets some say in what actors are used in the production and gets to hand them notes before they perform to help them get into character. 

6. How do you end up working with the same actors?
Robert Popper has plenty of friends in the media industry, a lot of them are actors. When he meets an actor for the first time, he gets to know them so if he works on a different production and thinks that they are suitable for a certain role, he can easily get in touch with them and see if they want the job. He finds out if he likes a certain actor and also judges them, and often he can trust an actor to come into a role very quickly.  

7. Can you tell us about your role in HotFuzz and why it wasn't a bigger role?
Robert Popper is good friends with Simon Pegg and when Simon Pegg was working on his film, "HotFuzz" he asked Robert if he want a role in the film, and Robert said he would come down. Simon Pegg explained his role and Robert was shocked that he only had to say one line ("I'm not Janine") but did it anyway. He told us that after he was told to rerecord the line in post-production. 

8. How does script editing work, and were you on the set for the Inbetweeners?
Robert Popper was allowed to influence some of the storylines on the Inbetweeners and base them around real things that happened to him when he was younger. He also said that he wasn't on the set but he said that its often really boring being on the set. 

9. Whats it like to be a producer?
Robert Popper said that he enjoys being a producer as you get to be in charge of everything. This included things like, costumes, budget, casting, notes and lots of other things. He enjoys it because he gets to creatively run the show in his vision.  

10. Whats it like being a commissioning editor and do you regret not commissioning anything?
Robert Popper said that being a commissioning editor can be good and bad because you get given shows that you really like, and others that you really hate. He remembers a lot of the bad ideas and he used to look forward to hearing the worst ideas. But he doesn't regret not commissioning anything. 

11. Has the industry changed over the past 20 years?
Robert Popper started as a runner, and he said things were a lot different to nowadays. He said that there was no internet and not many people used phones back then. In addition, there was a lot more weird things getting commissioned and made that would have been consider today. But he said its more easier to get noticed nowadays because theres so many places to put your work, social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.  

Robert Popper

-Robert Popper is a multi-award winning writer, producer and performer, and best-selling author.

-Robert produced Peep Show for Channel 4, winning a BAFTA for series 4 and British Comedy Awards for both series 3 and 4.

-Robert created, starred in and composed the music for the BBC 2 science comedy, Look Around You, winning the Rose D’or for Best Comedy in 2006 plus a BAFTA nomination.

-Robert has written on a number of shows, including BBC’s BAFTA-winning Harry & Paul, and The Peter Serafinowicz Show.

-He has also script-edited the multi award-winning The Inbetweeners, Graham Linehan’s EMMY award-winning IT Crowd, Peep Show series 5-8 and BBC’s Him & Her.

-He was the commissioning editor for comedy at Channel 4. 

-He also appeared in Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s movie, Hot Fuzz, saying just three words – “I’m not Janine”, and worked in Los Angeles as a writer on Sacha Baron Cohen’s movie, Bruno.

-In December 2008, Robert set up his own production company, Popper Pictures, to make comedy TV shows.