Storyboard ideas

To complement my Moodboard and to begin fleshing out my initial idea, I have designed a storyboard of significant shots, detailing why they have been chosen and what they represent. The proceeding post will include a shotlist, which works along side the Storyboard, but goes into much greater depth and will, ultimately, aid me in completing the final Music Video.

Click the images above to enlarge them

Moodboard

To express a few ideas for the Video and to convey some direction, I created a small Moodboard that prefaces my next post which shall be a draft storyboard of ideas. This Moodboard shows much more visually the outfit and choice of mise-en-scene than storyboard as they are obviously limited by the drawings. I have, however, ensured to include sufficient detail in shot descriptions.

Small Preliminary Task - Always by Bon Jovi

In a small amount of contingency time, a colleague and I decided to make a short snippet of a performance Music Video as an exercise of synchronising lip movement. The Video was shot and edited on an iPhone, so have sync'd the music fairly well, we are quite proud of it. The instrumental shots were created without backing music, in a very short amount of time, so they do not synchronise very well, but were composed as best we could. Ross helped in acting and camera work, though I edited the video on my phone. 

Audience Survey Results

As a form of research for my Music Video, I decided to devise an Audience Survey that would enlighten me as to what my Target Audience preferred in a Music Video. This proved very useful as it has resulted in my contemplating whether a multi-strand narrative would be an interesting addition to my plan and, if I can devise a good enough narrative and storyboard, something I will most probably produce. The survey is to test my chosen plot which I provided the participants with and is situated below before the Survey files:

In a nutshell, I plan for the Music Video to begin with the ending of a party where difficulties have caused a fall out between one of the performers and their partner. After the scene is set that the party is over and all bar the two performers have gone home, one begins to perform the song and the other joins in. To reveal the falling out, there are flashes back to events throughout the night and other days where cracks are forming. By the end of the song; however, it turns out the partner has been listening from the exit and has returned.

Audience Survey

Compiled Survey Results

The data that can be found in the latter is very difficult to understand out of context, so below is a breakdown of each question and the responses I received. I have decided that my target audience will be predominantly Males between the ages 16 and 25 so these are the results I value most, though the others are good feedback for a general response.

Would you consider yourself a fan of acoustic music?

35% No      65% Yes

The majority of the participants that I canvassed expressed a positive opinion towards acoustic music. This is encouraging as a standalone question, though it's purpose was really to then determine the significance of their later answers. The majority of people in my target age demographic also enjoy acoustic music.

Do you enjoy watching Music Videos?

100% Yes

Again, though it reveals that I have chosen the correct brief for my target audience, this question is to determine the level of significance of further answers. 100% of my participants enjoy Music Videos, so the brief is obviously a good choice for all, not just my demographic. This means that I can value all other answers as they will be from people with experience and, more importantly, an interest in watching Music Videos. 

Is it important to see the artist and have them involved in the video?

30% No      70% Yes

70% of my participants felt the artist should feature in the music Video, a view I agree with which was a good result to obtain as I can follow my own beliefs while still catering to a large audience. 80% of my target audience, also, believe the artist should be involved so that solidifies my decision that they will be involved in both narrative and performance.

Do you feel the narrative of a Music Video is more important than the showcasing of performance?

40% Performance 40% Equal
20% Narrative

A number of my younger participants felt the performance side of a music video was more important, though as I am aiming the video at a slightly older audience, I feel their views are more representative of my audiences. I am also making an executive decision, despite there not being an overwhelming majority wanting it, to focus on narrative equally if not more than performance as I feel it will allow me to produce a Music Video more representative of my skills in film making and storytelling. 

What is your favourite Music Video?

It's difficult to represent open questions such as this in results, though I made a note of all responses - found below - and chose to watch all of the videos to gain inspiration, which I will do again when I come to draw my storyboard and shotlist; drawing from the successes of others. Two of the responses I actually chose to analyse for this blog which can be found in earlier posts.

• Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve
• Radioactive by Imagine Dragons
• All the Small Things by Blink 182
• This Too Shall Pass by Ok Go
• Hurt by Johnny Cash
• Teenage Anarchist by Against Me!
• Buddy Holly by Weezer
• Pillow Talk by Wild Child
• Parklife by Blur
• Wicked Game by Chris Isaak
• Telephone by Lady Gaga
• Let Her Go by Passenger
• Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men
• Only Love by Ben Howard
• Billie Jean by Michael Jackson

Would you rather the Music Video involved Humour or was more Poignant?

45% Humour     55% Poignant

This was a fairly definitive question; in the conception of my narrative as their are two basic themes of all texts, the Comedy and the Tragedy. I know that my main plot would work with either, so I decided to obtain which would be most appealing to others. 55% agreed that it should be poignant, though this is only just above half, so the views were fairly equal. Due to this, I may add aspects of humour to please all, though the video will focus mainly on the telling of the story and conveying of emotions.

I plan to use black and White for flashback scenes; would this appeal to you or would you rather they were graded (coloured) differently to express this?

30% Graded   70% B&W

This question is specific to a certain aspect of the video to which I did not know how to create the effect. The majority of the people asked thought Black and White would be a good effect, though a small minority liked the idea of grading the video differently. Of my specific audience, the weightings were fairly similar in opinions so I may use Desaturation and grading to appease both, but also produce an effect I am happy with.



Are you a fan of my idea? (see introduction post)

A resounding majority were fans of my initial idea, which is beginning to flourish as a more fleshed out narrative, so I am happy that I am going the right direction with production. Those that did not like the idea only expressed their scepticism as to keeping interest, which I can hopefully do. One, also, suggested that the story may not be weighty enough for a full video, which began my contemplation of a multi-strand narrative covering a number of the party guests - focusing on the musician and his partner. 

The final question wasn't answered by many as it was very open and optional, though I did receive some good suggestions - including the multi-strand narrative. One participant felt venue was very important, a view I share, so in location hunting I must be sure I have the correct place. 

Camera Crane (Jib)

It's important to me that the shots I use in the Music Video are as well created and professional as possible, so not only do I have to plan them meticulously, I have begun searching for the best equipment to attain these shots. Due to this, I recently began work building a Camera Crane to film smooth, swooping shots that are conventional to the Music Video text and also the acoustic performance genre.

Many of the parts were sourced from spares around mine and my Uncle's house, so we were able to create a high quality piece of filming apparatus for very little cost. The build consists of:

• Old, sturdy tripod
• 4m Aluminium Square Tubing of varying widths
• 2 Aluminium L brackets
• 2 Bearings
• Meccano Pulleys
• Insulated Cabling
• Dumbbell weights (Varies according to Camera weight)
• Miscellaneous Bolts

Some parts were actually machined especially to specifications for parts to fit, such as washers and separators for the pivot and unfixed pulley (at the camera end.)

We quickly realised that to control the movement of the Camera platform, we would need to connect the tripod to the end of the arm in some way - a pulley system where one pulley was fixed and one moved proved the best method so that is how it was designed. Due to the parts being quite small, we decided to use bearings for maximum smooth movement and ease of use; this was the most difficult aspect as pieces needed to be machined to accommodate. 

After the design and creation of the bearing pieces, however, the assembly was fairly straight forward and it didn't take too long.

Below is a video of the crane working, complete with footage filmed on it. The camera shakes on occasion as it is moving very quickly. This would not be an issue if I had planned the shot and was actually moving it to achieve this.

Textual Analysis - Broken by Jake Bugg

Broken by Jake Bugg is a very cleverly produced Music Video as, at first glance, it seems like a performance video merely set in a realistic setting. The video, however, not only has one narrative, but follows a multi-narrative structure - subtlely following a number of groups, inferring a storyline and offering a glimpse into their realistic lives. The lack of detail and ambiguous nature is revealing of the complexities of people and, ultimately, their relationships. To convey a full story arc, reminiscent of Todorov's description, would be very unrealistic and, I believe, that is the Producer's justification. The following is a step by step analysis of shots and audio:

Textual Analysis - Pillow Talk by Wild Child

My second textual analysis was of the Music Video for Pillow Talk by Wild Child. This is a very good example to analyse, because it is very saturated with imagery, despite the lack of characters or definitive settings. The use of lighting is stellar and is of a standard I would love to be able to replicate in my own video. The narrative depicts another love story ending, which is fairly thematic across the acoustic genre, which is the direction I believe my narrative will take. I've produced a flash slideshow again to show my annotations, shot for shot and to represent the meaning I defer from the choices the Producer made:

Textual Analysis - Let Her Go by Passenger

The above video is the official Music Video for Let Her Go by Passenger, which is a song of the acoustic genre, which is the area I wish to make my video for. The nice twist in this video, however, is the fact that the producer has used real life footage to infer a narrative. Shots of Passenger with the female vocalist are interspersed to imply that she is the subject of the song. This is a fresh take on the narrative of a music video, as it includes performance seamlessly and the story has increased validity due to the documentary style composition. Below is a step by step annotation of the whole music video - clicking the arrows to the side of the screenshots will progress and move backwards through the notes: