Evaluation Of Final Filming

During out final filming session for out music video both Nat and I found that there where many issues that needed to be resolved before the video could be filmed.

• Before filming we had issues of costume for our female dancer. Our male dancer was asked to bring a leotard to ensure that there where no limitations in terms of the routine; with a heavy focus on lifts and turns that helped the music video stand out. The main issue was having the having the bottom half of the female dancer covered modestly. With no leotard we had to improvise, shorts where made by cutting full length leggings (with car keys) to make sure that the appearance of the dancer appeared professional without limiting the routine.

• Our second issue, was that the connecting part of our tripod was not attached. This means that we where unable to film using the piece of equipment. Initially the filming quality for the music video was poor as both Nat and I had experience with only a tripod to use. Unsteady angles and shadows meant that we were unable to get the professional aesthetic that we needed. However, this was resolved via experimentation and the image on camera. From this we where able to gather sufficient footage and ensured that what we had created a good video.

Music Video Bloopers

Digipak and Advert Commentary

The digipak I created was inspired by both Taylor Swift's album 1989 and Gabrielle Aplin's English Rain. The reason as to why I was inspired by these were due to the simplicity and delicate aesthetic which is present across both. Unlike the mainstream pop genre albums which focus on the male gaze predominantly, these two albums focus on the theme of the album, in a less 'in your face' way. This means that the professionalism of the product is in a way easier to recreate as a student, due to our artist not being of the aesthetic which Rihanna is represented like in the media.
The warm filtered theme which runs across my digipak and advert is based around the album title 'Autumn Leaves'. Like Gabrielle Aplin's adaptation of the English countryside I decided to keep a theme of the autumn season. A typical convention of a pop digipak and advert is vibrant colour, therefore I ensured I used this where possible to keep to the conventions. However, overpowering of colour is something I tried to divert from as our artist is known as being indie-pop, so simplicity was still key. Unlike most indie-pop digipaks and adverts they don't present the artist generally on either the CD cover or advert. This made it difficult to make the decision as to whether it was important to have the artists image on mine. Due to pop conventions of presenting the artist across both pieces of media I believed it was important to at least have use at least two different images.
Another convention of a pop digipak and advert is the artist's image attracting the male gaze. With research from Aplin and Swift's albums stating this isn't the case I decided to divert the photography away from the idea of attraction and more towards the tone and emotion of the album. I believe in my opinion this would attract the target audience I have, more so than a different 'in your face' gaze style would.
The inspiration of how our artist is dressed came from multiple artists such as Gabrielle Aplin, Birdy, Taylor Swift, Shannon Saunders and Hannah Grace. Regardless of only three of these artists having record deals presently, I believe the two YouTube starts Saunders and Grace put across an individual style which fits the genre they produce music in, and is effectively simply stereotypical. With a target market of teenage girls primarily, I believe the more simple she is dressed the easier the audience will relate to the artist.


My Digipak and Advert:

Nat's Digipak Feedback

It became clear to us both that our digipaks needed a rethink and restyle. This is because the photo we are using for a start ant in enough quality, as well as the whole staging of the photo. This means that we need to book the school camera to have a photoshoot this week with our artist to produce better photos. Also, the regular conventions of a pop digipak haven't been met by both Sanj and I with regards to layout. This means that we would both like to do some more research into layout styles to help us improve our drafts.

Draft Music Video

Representations Of Our Music Video

When creating a music video, it is crucial that we present a clear narrative to the audience that are watching. This means that, when planning we must decide upon how the video will look in relation to the musical genre, mise en scene and overall appearance. Below is a description of how the visual elements would be presented.

Who (compare to artist):

• Through pre-existing research and planning, both Nat and I have based our model/ artist around the singer/songwriter Birdy. This is because, initially Katie and Birdy had similar features that  made them appear identical. We felt that this would look good for the overall appearance of our video, and therefore give the audience a pleasurable viewing experience.

What (existing videos):

• Music Videos for songs already on the music market have features in which we would like to interpret in our own way so that our video is individual. Representations of these videos are all positive, and don't perceive our artist to be looked at in a different way. They also more or less all connect to the song emotionally in some way, which is a representation of our genre we would like to apply to our video. 

Where (existing videos):

• Locations which exist in videos already on the market have locations we would like to mimic. Some of which aren't within the genre we are looking at recreating, however we believe the location type is something that would allow the emotion of the narrative to take place, and have a better effect on the audience.

When (time period) 80's

• A video that Birdy created called 'wings' had an interesting Mise en Scene approach. We believe however that this isn't something we would like to recreate, we feel that the vintage 80's theme that runs through her songs is something we would like to if possible keep. 

Why (Via. Genre):

• Indie Pop is a genre usually represented through simplicity of the video. We believe that this is the most important thing and therefore we would like to ensure that we create this representation. We believe the audience who listen to this genre listen deeply within the lyrics, and therefore this is something we have taken into account with regards to developing our video. 

The Narrative

After receiving feedback from peers with regards to our 25 word pitch, we realised that the narrative within our pitch wasn't as clear as it could be, thus the purpose of this post is to outline it. The narrative of our video will be expressed mainly through the contemporary dance by a male and female, and our artist.

The lyrics of the song are significantly important, so we broke them down to find the meaning, of what we believe Birdy, the original artist, wrote the song about. The chorus which is repeated throughout gave us a large indication:

Main Chorus:
And pull back this fail,
Turn night into day,
Don't know you know you're standing in the way of the light,
Pour oil on these flames,
Speed up my heart again,
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light.

Chorus Change Towards the End of The Song:
Just pull back this fail,
Turn night into day,
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light,
Pour oil on these flames,
Speed up my heart again,
Don't you know you're standing in the way of the light,
So come on come on come on,
We've been living in the shadows too long,
So come on come on come on.


These lyrics suggest to us that the artist is singing about the pain they are experiencing within the relationship, and the person they love is constantly putting obstacles in the way of their relationship, resulting in her misery. This could be down to her fear/paranoia that he has found another girl.

In our video, our artist (Billie-White) sings about this 'girl' she believes is diverting her boyfriends attention away from her, as the female dancer isn't the same person as the girl who plays Billie-White. Through the dance, we then express an atmosphere which would suggest that Billie-Whites boyfriend is cheating on her, when really, throughout the whole video, this female dancer is a hallucination in Billie-White's head, and is in fact not real.

Analysis of Music Videos

Music Video Analysis by Nat Clarke

Analysis of Music Video's by Sanj Patel

Analysis of Music Video's