The Style of Video
Our music video , is quiet unusual as it is based upon a love story between shoes. As this was the case of not using humans our video is heavily based on the narrative , about two shoes falling in love and the man shoe going off with someone else. In order to represent the narrative in a clear way for the audience to understand we used alot of iconography by using symbolic representation for example- when the shoes were waving to each other the front of the shoe was lifted and would move from side to side. The aim of our video was to make the humans seem like humans which was a difficult tasked but the end production showed we pulled it off quiet well. Our music video has elements that challenges the forms of conventions of a typical music video, because the obvious one is using shoes instead of humans or using the actual artist. The video also shows a degree of authenticity, as we have not yet seen a A2 music video using the representation of shoes to symbolise the emotion of human beings.
Settings/Location
For the busker scenes , we used an urban style setting to match the style of the video , this uses the conventions of a typical music video because most music videos use settings to match the style/genre of the song. We felt this urban setting of Bricklane matched the style of the video because the brick wall effect and musty colours eg. Brown emphasised the rustic sound of the song and mirrored the colours of the two shoes in the love. In normal society we associate a love relationship with either a park or a beach , this is what we tried to accomplish , the main setting around the love story was a bench with a bright green field behind it, we did this in order for the audience to relate to the setting and we made it simple so the audience did not get confused we all kinds of different settings. This example uses the conventions, because most music videos have a iconic setting that the audience remember clearly, therefore making an impact on the target audience.
Costume and Props
The props we used developed the conventions of a real music video, because with the busker we used an acoustic guitar this not only emphasised the genre of the song (Indie pop) but showed a representation of a typical busker. We felt this worked well because it was a clear indication to the audience, how we anted to portray the singer. Also by not using people we relied heavily on props to enhance human characteristics, for example: Bowl of crisps in the movie scene and the shoes eating an apple. Here we used conventions of a typical music video as we used props in the correct scenes to enhance the performance. In relation to the costumes , we again used an urban style for the busker/singer to represent the genre of the song. The singer ( Scarlett) wore reds and browns which emphasised the colour scheme throughout out the video, digipak and advertisement.
Performance
The performance aspect in our music video, is a representation of a Busker, singing for money on the streets. This uses the conventions because the performance should reflect the genre of the song, which in terms of our video worked really well. The busker displays the calmness and simplicity of the song which the audience can relate to. The is also a performance by the shoes , the shoes acting like humans brings about a non-traditional feel and challenges the conventions as most music videos using the artist or other people. However in the modern day music videos there are increasingly more videos that are animated and different due to new technology and ideas used from all over the world.
Camera work
We used a variety of shots to incorporate our ideas of what we had in the storyboard into the final video. We used long shots to set out a scene. For example when we had a shot of the artist performing. Close ups were used a lot through the video as we were emphasizing the connection and the relationship between the two pairs of shoes portraying emotions. We also used close ups at the start of the video so that the cuts could go with the pace of the music in the introductory bit before singing started.
A pan shot was used right at the end of the video to identify that the artist was one of the characters in the relationship between the two pair of shoes in the video.
Editing
During the editing process we had to come across the lip syncing the cross cutting and the stop motion. First of all we had to cross cut the beginning footage. This footage(much like we did in the rest of the video) we cross cut it to the beat of the music. So for the beginning we wanted to quickly introduce the artist so we did this by using 2 second cross cutting that are according to the beat of the music. we did this because it was a clear and important convention that we picked up in in all the music videos because of this we thought that cutting all of our footage to the beat of the music was definitely a factor that had to be considered and had to be used. We thought that we did this very well and that all of our cross cutting fits to the best of the music.
next was the stop motion with the first 3 stop motions moments in our video (shoes) it went extremely well and we were very happy with how they turned out. However with the fourth stop motion it did not go so well at the begging this was due to the footage that we had collected. the footage when we stop motioned it was bad because the lighting and on that day it was too muddy so that all together the images were not appealing to the eye make our video look unprofessional. so to change this because we were so unhappy we went out again to redo the filming. when we came back with the footage it was so much more better this was due to the fact that the lighting had improved and there was less mud in the shots, then it was much better and the sots when slop motioned made much more sense in the fact that it went in order rather than before. in the finishing stages of this stop motion process we felt very proud of what we had achieved the introduction of the shoes and the eating of the apples all in stop motion and we felt that it was successfully done as a group.
Next was the lip syncing the lip syncing was done very well we thought with the editing, it went well with the song and with all the shots of the artist it goes in time with the music which was a definitely convention that would have to be used. This once again was a convention that we stopped in every single music video that we had watched so we felt that if we did not include this feature that we would not achieve a good music video that would be viewed. So including lip syncing agreed with the conventions of the music videos. we felt that with this we were successful once again and that we did this to a high standard and to the best of our ability that we could have.
How the Video suggests the Music genre of the Track
Best Coast are categorised as an Indie Pop band; their song 'Feeling of Love' has a melodic, calm but quirky sound which is reflected within our original Music Video, through the use of Mise-en-scene (Actors, Costume, Location and Props). Our narrative is the typical romance genre (well suited to the title) but with a twist - using shoes as representations of people.
The use of colours brown, red, and black were continued throughout our music video, Digipak and Advertisement; these neutral, dark tones also highlight the Indie Pop genre.
The use of Editing consisted of stop motion; which added an interesting, quirky style to our video, slow cross cutting; to enable the audience to focus on one scene and relate to the characters, the longer scene shots also showed our well matched lip syncing, Annotation over shots editing was also used to highlight specific characters.
How does your Video reflect research done into the style of Artists other Videos?
Having researched into several Music Videos both of the band 'Best Coast' (artist of our song) and others. We are able to identify our similar use of conventions.
Camera Shots:
Music Videos tend to include many longshots, close-ups and mid shots. This is create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Also close-ups are used no only to show emotions but to reflect the words of the song with the artists lip movements.
Camera Movements:
The movement of the camera is used to follow and trace the Artist/Band. Camera movements include tilts, Pan, Tracking and Crane Shots.
Mise-en-Scene:
This refers to the arrangement of the performers and props on stage or in a scene for a production of a music video or any other media text. Mise-en-Scene puts importance onto the representation of something.
Editing:
Jump Cuts is the predominant editing Technique used in Music Videos. This is because it allows a sudden change from one scene to another. Similarly transitions such as fade and dissolve are very common in Music Videos as they create different effects to cuts.
Other Main General Conventions consist of:
Lighting - Some Music are in Black and White which emphasis a particular mood and some videos have artificial lighting which put the artists in an enhanced look.
Sound - Sound is mainly the vocals of the song, but in some cases such as Micheal Jacksons 'Thriller' Producers can make the video into a short film and add Diologue and VoiceOvers.
Props - Props are vital to add to a scene, they create sinificance on particular objects/People.
Costume - Goes with scenes in the song and reflects genre. Costume is important is an important factor because it has slight influece on how viewers will dress because some see celebrities as idols.
Colour - Tend to set the mood of the song through creating an atmosphere. Dark Colours used more in Rock genres and colour in Pop/Hiphop Videos.
Music Video Conventions for the Majority of these Specific Genres
Indie/Rock -
- Tends to be Black and White
- Artists/Band Shown throughout Video
- Extreme Close Up's and Long Shots
- Dark Locations
- Some use of special effects
