Prelim Task - The Setting

For our prelim task we used the horse stables and a field in Woodford; here are some behind the scenes pictures that we took while we were shooting our prelim task.

Preliminary Music Video

Bijal:

The song we had was Jolene sung by Dolly Parton, Dolly is known for being a country folk singer - therefore this is a country song. The idea we had for this song was to have a country theme to it - and so we wanted our characters to be dressed that way.We thought 'country' costume were boots, checked patterns, and jeans. Our location also followed this theme and we filmed in stables and a forested area.

The conventions we planned to use were lip syncing, performance and narrative. Luckily we managed to use all three of these conventions, mainly using performance and lip syncing. We didn't get quite as much narrative as we would have liked, and this is down to our planning being rough.

The main strengths of our prelim task, I would say was the lip syncing and performance, since the lip syncing for the most part followed the track on time. And the setting and costumes we used, as they went with the song we were given.

The audience feedback we received said that we had a good variety of shots, and the setting was effective as it related to the mood of the song, the costumes worn also had the same effect. The lip syncing mainly worked however it was sometimes out and there was a good narrative as it was simple but it could have been clearer.

What we've learnt through this task I believe is that, planning properly each shot will help establish the music video. Also towards the end of the song we ran out of footage and need to re-use some of the footage we had already put in the video, and eventually had to just fade out the song, next time we will get more footage than needed to make sure this doesn't happen.

Stephanie:

The song we was given was Jolene, by Dolly Parton (released in 1973) – she is a well known country/folk singer and this song followed that genre. The ideas for our video was to keep it country based and follow a narrative. We originally wanted to have two girls and a boy, one playing Jolene, one playing Dolly and the boy being Dolly’s old boyfriend; however this didn’t work out and we only had the two girls. As there was no original video we had to research Dolly Parton to find out all the information we needed. We wanted to keep the country theme so we thought filming in a stables and forest/field area would be appropriate - as for costumes we thought high waisted shorts, checker shirts and boots would suit this well.

The conventions we planned to use were narrative and performance as these are what you would usually expect in a music video. In the video we mainly used performance, having ‘Dolly’ lip sync in different areas. During editing we realised we didn’t film enough narrative sequences due to not planning thoroughly enough.

I think the strongest part of our prelim task was the camera shots used. We managed to use a wide variety of shots to keep our video interesting, so the audience don’t get bored watching. I also think the costumes and locations were a strong point as it made our genre recognizable and helped the video to flow.  

The audience feedback we received was mostly good. One good point was that we had a variety of shots that were at good quality making the video more interesting. We were also told that the setting was very effective as it helps to reflect the genre, and the costumes also helped to set the country/folk mood. Another group had said that they liked the idea behind our narrative but that it could have been made clearer. This would be something to improve on, if we had filmed more footage we would have been able to show more and make quicker cuts; as some shots were held for too long. Our feedback also taught us that our lip syncing was done very well, however it was out in some parts – this could be due to our lack of editing skills, but for the main task we know what mistakes to avoid.

Overall, we have learnt what we should and shouldn’t do for our main task. We have realised that planning is very important if we want to get enough footage for our video as we don’t want to be repeating clips, which we had to do in our prelim. Finally, we need to leave enough time for editing to make the final piece look as good as we can.

Evie:

Or song was Jolene by Dolly Parton, which is a country/folk song released in 1973. This song has never had a music video put to it, so we had to come up with original ideas and we could not get ideas with the setting or props used. We done some research on Youtube, and found Dolly Parton doing a live version of Jolene, so this gave us an idea of the costume we could use to fit in with the theme of the song to make it realistic, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1plvBR02wDs .

The idea behind our video was to keep it as country as possible, so first of all, we planned to have 3 characters within the video, two girls and a boy. One of the girls would be Dolly Parton who would be singing and be getting upset as she see’s the other girl, Jolene, and the boy, Dolly Partons boyfriend getting close. However, we were unable to do it, so we had just two girls in the video and to keep it within the country genre we set it in a horse stables and also in a field. As the lyrics in the song state, we see that Dolly is jealous of Jolene, so we wanted it to seem like she was following her to see what she was doing to try and be more like her. We dressed the two characters in country clothes, such as cheque shirts, high waisted shorts and boots.

The conventions we planned to use within our music video was to use both performance and narrative, so that we could tell the story of the song so it was clear, however, we also wanted to include performance so that it was a recognisable music video, as if we didn’t have performance within the music video then the audience may have thought that it was just a short film. As we wanted to use performance, we would of course want to use lipsyncing, which we tried to make work effectively.

In my opinion, the main strengths of our prelim task was the variety of shots we used, we wanted to concentrate on this, as if you don’t use a variety of shots then it may start to bore the audience, also we needed a variety of shots as it is quite a quick and up tempo song so therefore we would need a lot of short shots in order to edit the video together to the beat of the song. Also, I feel that the choice of location and costume worked well as it made the music video genre very recognisable and shows we put a lot of thought in to our planning.

The audience feedback we received was generally very good. The good points that the audience pointed out was that it was a good narrative as it was simple, however we could of made it abit clearer maybe with a few more shots with the Dolly character following Jolene. Another good piece of feedback we received was that we used a variety of shots to make it more interesting. The feedback that will help us improve is that some of the lipsyncing was out of time, so we need to concentrate on the editing part more, and I felt that with the lipsyncing we could of made it clearer while filming, and to plan what parts we shall lipsync to. Another piece of feedback we can use to help us is that we should cut the clips sooner, as some clips were out of time, this was due to our editing and not having enough time to quickly change that as the rest of the music video would be out of time, however, we will concentrate on this much more in the real practical.

This prelim task has helped us in the future for our real practical as it made us realise that planning is extremely important and we need to plan every little bit of detail so that we get enough footage and so the music video is not repetitive. It has also helped us with the fact that we need to allow ourselves more time with the editing to make it look more professional and effective. 

Louise:
Our song we used for our prelim task was Jolene by Dolly Parton which was released in 1974. Dolly parton was an American country woman and her style of singing was country folk so we decided to keep out video in the theme of her and her singing style. We filmed the video in the local stables and dressed the characters in checkered shirts and denim shorts which is a stereotypical for country people to wear.

The conventions we planned to use were lip syncing, performance and narrative. The lip syncing in our prelim task wasn't the best so that gives us something we need to work on for our final music video. I feel we used performance and narrative well as we told a story which matched the lyrics but also had various shot types, different camera angles and camera movement. Unfortunately when my group needed to film the prelim i wasn't available but i did help plan the stable idea and also i also helped with the editing.

The audience feed back we received was generally very good in the sense that we had a variety of shots, the setting and costumes worked well with the song as well as the narrative. The lip syncing was quite poor but that is something we will work on for our final video.

Research on Music Video's 4

LMFAO-party rock
this song is very fast paced, and the shots show that they have fast cuts and are only held for a few seconds. The video doesn't really have narrative but they have chosen to do a dance video which is very entertaining for the audience and a good promotion tool as people will want to learn the dance and cop it. the music video is 6 minutes long which is quite long for a video but it didn't disappoint audiences as it reached number 1 in the charts.

Louise

Research on Music Video's 4

Pink-Raise your glass

Pinks video matches the lyrics of the video showing the video has narrative. the excellent lip syncing and the roles she got people to play in the video shows a good performance and good casting. raise your glass is cut to the beat of the song and is just over 3 minutes long which is average for a music video. Pink also looks into the camera and sings to the audience directing them which i another common convention for music videos.
Louise

Research On Music Videos 3

Bijal:

David Guetta - Where Them Girls At ft Nicki Minaj & Flo Rida
Where them girls at follows most conventions of a music video. For example the length of the music video is determined by the length of the song, although there is a few seconds at the beginning of the song before the song begins. This music video also combines the use of performance - shown by Nicki Minaj & Flo Rida and the narrative which is shown by David Guetta. The narrative of the video is quite simple and fun rather than over complicated. It is a very fun and upbeat video which works with the song which also follows these characteristics. As well as that it is a fast paced energetic song therefore conventionally the video is cut the beat of the song - changing shots at a steady yet quick pace. Finally the video contributes to the reputation of the three artists. None of the artists music have a particular serious tone therefore this video works in their favour.




Rihanna - California King Bed
California King Bed starts with a 30 second introductions of the different settings of the video. This is not a typical convention of a music video. However the rest of the video generally follows the conventions. The song is slow and romantic an the shots used reflect this, cutting shots at slower paces in order to emulate the beat and tone of the song. This music video also uses both performance and narration. During the performance section Rihanna is shown lip syncing directly into the camera and away as part of the narrative. The narrative used here is quite simple and easy to understand echoing the tone of the song.

Research on Music Videos 2

Stephanie:

Justin Bieber ft Chris Brown - Next to you
'Next to you' does and doesn't follow the conventions of a music video for example it has a narrative, which directly relates to the lyrics - we also see performances from the artists which most video's now have. The video starts with some dialogue, this could show it not following conventions although many video's are now starting to do this. The video is cut to the beat, with a large range of shots being used - the opening shots are very slow as the mood is quite calm, but once the beat starts to pick up the editing is much faster with some shaky shots to add to the effect. Although the editing is quite fast, the mise en scene is still shown very well by the different type of shots used. At 4.34 the narrative picks up, and quick fast shots are used to show what is happening, this isn't a usual video convention. Lip syncing is used during the performance parts, and the artists occasionally look into the camera, to make the performance more personal. Finally, a typical music video would last 3-4minutes, however 'Next to You' challenges this by lasting 6.04minutes.


Jessie J - Nobodies Perfect
'Nobodies Perfect' does use most typical conventions of a music video. This video has a narrative, however some viewers may find it hard to understand. This could be due to the different settings used and the fast paced editing. It also starts with dialogue, which doesn't have reference to the song. The video is defiantly cut to the beat - as i said before the editing is very fast so we see many different things quickly, so we don't have long enough to understand what is fully happening. At the beginning there is a medium shot held for 6seconds, this shot helps us to establish the 'setting' of the video, which isn't a typical convention. At 1.37minutes the song is interrupted by clocks making a noise, it follows the mise-en-scene; however this doesn't usually happen during a video. Lip syncing is used throughout the video, as performance and narrative are both used at the same time- something else most videos do not follow. During the performance parts, she looks directly into the camera, which makes the audience feel more connected, a typical convention. Lastly, the video us 4.13minutes which is the typical length for a music video. 

Research on Music Video's

Evie:

Chase n Status - 'Let You Go'
Chase n status - Let You Go, uses some typical conventions such as it uses a narrative to tell a story that it fits the song, however it doesn't use performance and the artist does not feature in the video. Throughout the song there is dialogue to tell a story, this interupts the song and this isn't usual for a music video. The video is cut to the beat, as when the tempo gets faster quick cuts are used, this is also represented at the begining of the video as it is slow tempo and the camera movement is slowly zooming in, and the shot is held for 12 seconds. No lip syncing or direct contact is used withing the video as it is centred around an ironic situation and can also be seen as offensive to some people. The typical convention which is obvious is that the music video is 3-4 minutes long. 


Evie:





Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song
Bruno Mars  The Lazy song, goes against typical conventions, for example the whole video is filmed as if it is a webcam, and so it is one consistent medium shot, which is very out of the ordinary for music videos, as with varying shots it keeps the music video from now being boring, however as there is alot of choreogrpahy and a comedic effect it keeps the audience entertained. This also relates to that the video isnt cut to the beat of the song as there has been no obvious editing technique used. The music video is all performance with no narrative however it includes a full dance routine in a 'living room' setting.However, one convention used within this video is that you can tell the style of the music through the images seen, as in this video you would be able to tell that it is a light hearted medium tempo and relaxed song. Lastly, another convention used is that the video is 3 and a half minutes, so it is within time keeping of conventional music videos.