Editing House Scenes

The house scenes in the music video are to show the main character's life. The lyrics say, 'Looking glass so shiny and new/ How quickly the glamour fades'. With this, I created a sequence of stills of the character in front of the mirror imitating the passing of time. Her appearance alters from glamourous to a nervous wreck. To put emphasis upon her emotions and feelings, I altered the lighting and colour of the shots in the sequence. Therefore, when played, it changes from light to a far more dull appearance. I added more of a black and white wash over the shots of her as the wreck she is. This emphasises the dullness in her life and how depression plays a large part. It also allows for contrast against both the and scenes (her subconscious or narrator) and the bright, unusual world behind the door.

Editing of Band Scenes

When the shots from the band scenes had been loaded into my editing software, there was argument as to how visually they were to differ from both the dullness of her life and the vibrant new world she enters.

I, at first, experimented with brightness and contrast of the band scenes. I however believed that more could be achieved by adding effects and altering the colour.

In relation the the leaves that fall, I created a more orange-like hue upon the picture. I then took a different outlook for the band scenes. When thinking that this band is representing her sub-conscious, I decided to place a white glow upon the band. This however did not seem to work with the spotlights upon the band. The band scenes were then placed into greyscale. Stepping away for a moment, from the editing I began to think more of the contrast of the leaves, entering another world, the spotlights used and her sub-conscious. I wanted to avoid placing a harsh colour upon the band, but for it to appear more unrealistic. A sepia hue was placed upon the band scenes and light rays were added. These allowed for the band to appear to shine. I still wanted it to appear darker at the beginning, before the spotlights lit up the band. I therefore, allowed for only the light rays to appear when the spotlight did. To also allow for emphasis upon the artist, I added darker panels beside the artist, to hide the other band members to allow the audience to not figure what was to happen next.

Camera Quality Difficulties

It was not until all of the footage from both cameras was loaded upon the computer that I realised a difference in quality. The pixels upon the camera borrowed from school were far larger and less detailed than the camera from home.

Unfortunately, I am unable to film these scenes again due to greater commitments of my actors. To create a more professional music video, I have altered the brightness and contrast of my shots. Due to the difference in quality, further alteration and experimentation will have to be made upon the editing of the music video.

The rest of the production will, however be filmed on the camera from home as this gives a better picture.

It was not till later that I realised the reason for the difference of picture quality. This was due to the camera from home being a High Definition camera and therefore was built to produce a better image.

Production of Forest Scenes

Even though the previous plan of filming did not go ahead, it allowed practise of the form of the togas upon the actors and make-up. Therefore, when it came to the day of filming, less time was taken up by hair and make-up and the costumes.

In order to avoid the problem of not finding the location, further investigation went into it's precise whereabouts.

Due to a previous commitment by an actor, I organised for the shots that included him where to be filmed first. Also, due to the temperature outside, blankets and coats were held by a Runner of whom gave the actors, who were not currently in that shot, warmth.

What came apparent was that even though I had given great thought into both the acting and technical sides of the production, little had been done about practise of the camera positions. Therefore, unfortunately, it took a little more time to set up the shots.

Overall, upon reflection upon what was filmed, I believe it to have gone well. I did, however had to use two cameras. This was due to the battery running out.

For this part of the music video I knew it was ambitious to have so many people taking part. When looking through I am very pleased to have so many helping as when not in current shots they were able to throw pictures and leaves into shots. This also quickened the pace in which the forest scenes were filmed. I am very thankful to those who took part.

Forest Scenes Filming Attempt

I had arranged for an early start for filming due to previous commitments of the actors. Make-up was the main priority due to the time it took, therefore this was done first. On the day I did some alterations of the make-up for the creatures. I made the edges of shapes upon the face more jagged and wild to place emphasis that they are creatures and not people. There were also alterations to the female design on the day. This was due to a sudden drop out and the sub-actor was male. Moreover, I avoided dark make-up around the eyes and did not use false eye-lashes as intended.

When sorting out the costumes it was very much improvised as to how the sheets (of which formed the togas) sat upon the actors. Safety pins and knots in the fabric allowed for secure fits.

When placing false eyelashes upon the main character it was apparent that the size of them were far too large. The eyelashes covered the green eye make-up design. I therefore discarded the eye-lashes.

The location I had chosen to shoot the music video was within a woodland area in Eaton. Where we were you could walk to the location, however due to the amount of props, equipment and the fact the actors were dressed simply in togas we decided to drive there.

Prior to filming day, I had shown the location the our driver and how to get to the other side by car. However on the day there was great confusion as to where the location was. We unfortunately wasted time trying to find the woodland. At this point it started to rain. As a backup, we retreated to Eaton Vale, a secondary filming area. Although upon arrival the rain became far heavier and it was clear that both time and nature was against filming that day.

Both I and my actors sat down and discussed the next available time we could film, with hope the weather would be brighter.

Shooting Band Scenes

Upon the run up to the filming of the band shots, it was clear that there was an obstacle. In one of the shots, it consists of leaves falling on the band.

What we created was a net system in which we placed a mass of leaves upon a badminton net. This was lifted by two people on chairs who shook the net to allow for the leaves to fall.

When filming the shots it was difficult to get the leaves to fall evenly and naturally. They had instead the tendency to fall in clumps. The leaves, however fell perfectly after a certain point. Therefore, the track the band followed was played at a part before the selected shot needed.

The time within the studio was limited, therefore more band shots need to be made. Upon reflection of the shots collected, some will need to be filmed again. This is due to lighting problems and the non-continuous editing for certain shots.

Shot Guidance Sheets

In order to organise the production of each part of the music video to decrease the amount of time that it would take flickering through the storyboard I have formed shot guidance sheets.

These divide the forest scenes, band scenes and the house scenes. The time limits of the shots are listed along with what is included within each shot, what shot it is and what lyrics are being played at that moment. Each shot is colour coded, representing each of the actors. This way I know who is in what shot and then I can pick out which shots need to be done first due to a particular actor having to leave location early. At the top of each guidance sheet is a colour key showing which colours represent which character. When listening to the song once again, I noted that in my storyboard I had movements lasting too long. Therefore, with these shot guidance sheets I was able to divide the sequence further to keep up with the pace of the song and lyrics.

Costumes

The following are photographs of the final costumes for the forest scenes. Notice how the artist's costume is far more detailed and interesting than King Midas or his creatures. The creatures' costumes consist of a sheet draped over one shoulder. King Midas's costume is tied at both shoulders forming this dip at his chest. With far more material on his person shows his superiority and wealth. The crown he wears is a golden, glittering, branch that has been looped and tied to fit his head. This shows his connection with nature, but the gold shows his control of gold.

Costume Research

Listening to 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)', the reference to Greek mythology echoes through its lyrics, 'Midas is King and he holds me so tight'. I want the artist's appearance to alter when she goes through to the other world, to use all these changes to challenge her. I therefore, looked at possiblities for her costume. It had to be far more complex than the other costumes as she was almost, always in the shot. Also keeping the idea that she is going through into another world and with the title of the song, 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)', I thought that another theme could be Alice in Wonderland. Therefore, I wish to merge these two themes of Greecian style with that of Alice from 'Alice in Wonderland'.

The top of the costume could be Grecian style, made of a white sheet, draped over one shoulder. The middle wrapped in gold coloured rope and ivy wrapped around the skirt-like part. This would emphasise the fantasy element of the garment. To give fulness to the dress, two petticoats would be placed underneath to give that childlike appearance that Alice has. The shoes would be simple as little black pumps, like that of Alice. The idea for the shoes also came from the image shown above, of the model wearing ballet pumps. It also creates this ease of movement within the forest, but with elegance.

Story Board

Make-up Research

As I do not have at hand state of the art special effects, I need for the slaves of King Midas to appear like creatures by the use of unusual make-up. I therefore did some research on what I believed I could develop for the creatures in my music video. I want to use bold colours so the camera camera can pick these up and inhance them. Thinking about the creatures and their part in the music video, I believe I will use red or blue or black colours as these are darker and more menacing colours to heighten their evil in the video. Looking at the images that I have collected, I like the idea of adding unusual false eyelashes to the female creature and features to their hair, to make them seem less human.

For the artist's make-up I will only have her with full make-up for the forest scenes, to make that change from her normal life so much more emphasised. I want her make-up to be more natural and, therefore I will have her with green eye shadow, with yellow tones around her eye socket. The liner around her eye will be delicate and detailed to heighten the imagery of elegance and innocence.

Costume, Hair and Make-up Ideas

Due to the abnormality of the characters involved within the narrative of my music video and for effect to to keep the interest of the audience, the costumes, hair and make-up must be thoroughly researched. Therefore, I have collected images from magazines and the internet to help develop possible ideas for costume, hair and make-up.

When looking at the lyrics, it mentions a character known as King Midas of whom is known in Greek mythology. Therefore, I wish to have a costume theme of Ancient Greece. In reflection of what was said in the Vox Pop, about something being unusual and odd grabbing their attention, I wish for my music video to echo this. When thinking about themes of which are weird and wonderful I came across the theme of Alice in Wonderland. Moreover, I wish for the costumes, hair and make-up to represent both a grecian and wonderland style.

This images shown above is a collection of pictures from magazines. The larger image of the woman in the green dress gave me the idea of using natural colours for make-up for the main character, the atist whilst within this other world. All dresses within the collection use material that flows and creates a sense of elegance which is what I am initially thinking for the artist. The image in the top left hand corner of the lower collection of images, represents a possible idea for the creatures within the narrative. The blue of the eyes stand out and she almost looks ghost like.

When thinking about the theme of wonderland and the costume from the Imogen Heap music video 'Goodnight & Go' I began to look at ballerinas. I like the way the underskirts lift up the dress in a way to create a far more fanatasy look about them. Thinking about this, I believe I will use an underskirt for the artist's costume.

Further Lyric Research

Within the chorus of the lyrics 'Rabbit Heart (Raise it up)', it mentions a character from Greek mythology. The lyrics say, 'Midas is king and he holds me so tight/And turns me into gold in the sunlight'. To get a better understanding and to develop my ideas for the music video I researched the story of King Midas.

King Midas

‘King Midas was a very wealthy king. Collecting gold was his hobby, his joy and his life. One day as he sat counting his wealth he saw an old man asleep under a tree. He saw that it was Silenus from the court of Dionysus, God of wine. Midas was cunning and treated Silenus like a king for ten days before taking him back to Dionysus. Dionysus was grateful for the care lavished on his old servant and told King Midas that he would grant any wish that he made. Midas asked that anything he touched would be turned to gold. Dionysus granted his wish but warned him about his greed. Midas was very happy. He touched a tree and it turned to gold. He touched the walls of his palace and it turned to gold. He touched his horse, then his servant, his food and finally his children. Everything turned to gold.

Midas began to feel very unhappy. He could not eat, sleep, drink or touch anything because everything turned to gold. He missed his children dreadfully.

Finally Midas went back to find Dionysus and told him that he wanted to get rid of his golden touch. Dionysus laughed when he saw the change in the king. Eventually he decided to take pity on him and told him to go and bath in the river Pactolus. King Midas went to the river. He was afraid to get into the water in case it turned to gold and killed him. He got a jug and washed himself down. Little by little the gold washed away. King Midas was so relieved. He took jug after jug of water back to his palace to wash his children, his servants, his horse and the whole palace. He did not stop work until he had restored everything to its normal state.’

Ideas

From the story of King Midas, I wish to take parts from this story and use it as part of the narrative for my music video.

Looking at both the lyrics and the story, I believe to keep the interest of the audience and to promote the band of Florence and the Machine I will emerge both my ideas with the theme of Greek mythology. As there is reference to King Midas, I believe it would well into the music video if I included the very character of King Midas. Perhaps by adding other unusual parts to the video along with the theme of Greek mythology, the originality of the music video should entertain the audience greatly.

Lyrics

Analysis and breakdown of the Lyrics

Copyright

The majority of music today has a copyright. This means that all rights are reserved by the record label and so the artist gets the credit they deserve. Piracy or breech of copyright is a serious offence and if caught you would pay a hefty fine and may face a possible ban and/or prison sentence. In order to not disrespect the work of Florence and the machine I have sent an email to Island Universal Studios Ltd requesting permission to use the song I have chosen for my music video.

Pitch and Treatment

Pitch

One woman's extravagant journey from her struggling life to a world of Greek mythology.

Treatment

Looking into her mirror she sees of what was before. A glamorous, confident woman. Brought back to reality, a nervous wreck stands before her. Hair unbrushed, face bare par the darkening circles beneath her tired eyes. To rid herself of the throbbing in both her head and body, her hand delves into her medical draw. In her haste she swallows whatever pill she grabs hold of, unaware of a possible fault. She runs, hurrying her things into her handbag. She reaches the front door to discover it is locked. Fubbling with her keys she turns to see a door that was not there before. Seeing this door she drops her things, the drug within her taking hold of her mind. She touches the door curiously, her fingers walking up the door. Suddenly, she grabs hold of the handle and opens the door. She is swallowed by bright, white light till she finds herself within another world. She looks at both her hands and the forest around her. Her appearence now altered to an unusual, but stunning woman, her clothes a cross between Grecian and wonderland. As autumn leaves fall from above, soon these are mixed with photos. Curious she picks one up. It is the silhoutte of a man. She looks up to see that the photos have formed a path in front of her. She follows them, then suddenly she catches a glimpse of another. Terrified, she hides behind a tree. She peers round to see odd creatures, clothed in robes, drag a man through the forest. She turns back again and glances at a photo. As her confidence mounts she grabs a spear like stick and follows them whilst in the shadow of the trees. The party of creatures halt at a clearing, the woman peering behind a tree. Within this clearing is a grand table, a white cloth draped upon it. Beside this is a throne and there sits King Midas. Upon his head is a golden, wired crown, his Grecian clothes of greater quantity and grandeur. The creatures thrust the man to Midas' feet. In a rush of adrenaline, the woman throws a fallen apple at a creatures head. He falls instantly and she rams some of the creatures against a tree trunk with a stick. Suddenly, her hands and arms are forced behind her back. The once fallen creature throws her to the King's feet. Beside her is the man, yet his face unseen as he focuses upon the ground. Furious, King Midas touches her forehead with his finger. She looks at her hands to see that a glittering substance blows from her palms. Panicking, she looks up as she is transformed into a miniature, golden statue of herself. Beside her is the man although, now a golden reflection. Grinning, King Midas picks her up above the table. Suddenly, she begins to wiggle in his hand. Terrified he drops her into his water filled glass. The glass tips and the woman transforms. Whilst the party stare, stunned, she grasps hold of the golden man and runs from the clearing. The creatures, however soon follow. She quickly finds shelter by a tree, and places the golden statue down. From a puddle beside her, she drips the water from it upon the statue. The statue transforms into the man, his face now visible to her. In thanks he holds her hands and lifts her up. Now in the sunlight, he pulls her close and their lips edge closer together. Suddenly, the nervous wreck falls to the floor in her hallway. She feels something within her grasp and opens it. There, in her hand is a key with a label attached. It reads, 'I'm yours'.

Vox Pop

To further my research I turned to the public of Norwich to discover certain tastes and see if there is a correlation for certain specifics for a music video to be of great quality.

From what was said in the Vox Pop, even though only eight interviews took place there is still a variety of opinions upon the subject of music videos. I can, however make a correlation to the reasons why certain music videos stay in their mind. In the discussion of music video, words such as, 'arty', 'weird', and 'different' crept up in many of the interviews. This has given me insight to the types of things I need to keep in mind when creating my music video. In response to the conversations with the market the video must be different, orginal, something unusual and new. Upon the discussion of narrative or live band within the video, there has been some who have the strong view of having simply the band playing otherwise it detracts from the lyrics. The rest of those responded that they prefered a mixture of the two, with both a narrative and the band playing. I have therefore decided, in order to interest a wider range of the market to merge both a narrative and the band playing together.

Inspiration and Analysis

Smirnoff Vodka Range Avertisement

Hatter's Summer Nigh..
Watch the ad...

The themes for my music video errupted when I watched the unusual Smirnoff advert. The advert itself consists of a mix of Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream and Alice in Wonderland. The narrative for the advertisment was the gathering of people for a fancy dress party, whilst socialising and drinking Smirnoff. The mise-en-scene of the advert is based within a forest, the autumn leaves, the carpet upon the earth and the trees glowing with fairy lights. What really grasped my imagination was the variety and the originality of the costumes. It very much reminded me of another world, a different group of society, with varying rules and ways of life. What may be different in repicating similiar mise-en-scene is that it would be difficult creating a scene with limited light sources.

Music Video Research

Imogen Heap - Goodnight & Go



Even though the music video mainly takes place within a small room, the mise-en-scene together with the lyrics keeps the attention of the audience. Imogen Heap acts like an unusual china doll, revolving round whilst her wind-up key turns. The room itself consists of cluttered toys and dolls giving it a sense of innocence. Along her collar bone is a vine of leaves giving the idea of fantasy. Later on in the video, her skirts lift up to reveal a dolls house. This reveals more of the narrative. Within a little room is a miniature doll representing the artist. The doll is dancing with a man. In the shadows is a crooked, old doll. To me, I believe the narrative is that she is trapped by an evil old man, but has fallen in love with another. I particularly like the theme of finding love in a dark place, where you wouldn't expect to find it. I may use this as part of my narrative for my music video.

Creating a Music Video

What we see as the audience is that of post-production. Even though the end result lasts only a short time, the planning and researching can last for months before anything is filmed. Seems like a waste of time? In order to create amazing and interesting videos of which grasp our attention, every angle and detail must be recognised and shaped into being.

The person known as a Video Commissioner is in the thick of it, joining the link between business and artist. Firstly, the Video Commissioner must have an understanding of the record labels need as well as the artist's. Many artists have specific ideas about what they want in their music videos in relation to their lyrics and taste.

BUDGETING A MUSIC VIDEO

The Video Commissioner must also have an understanding of the budget given. Depending upon the artist or artists, the budgets for music videos can range between £5,000 to sometimes over £200,000. They must set up the financial barriers for certain properties of the music video e.g. Costumes, effects etc. These figures can be determined by the current success of the artist or artists and the amount that the video may generate.

SELECTING A DIRECTOR

The Video Commissioner works closely with the artists, therefore creating a better standing of ideas they may have or the made points they wish to express in the video. The next step is to find a director to finalise these ideas. Some artists are very particular about whom they wish to direct their music video. Viewing the works created for other musicians, many have directors already in mind. Sometimes, however artists may choose a director of whom is far too expensive to hire. It is then the video commissioners responsibility to find an alternative director or directors. Once both artist and video commissioner have created a list of possible directors, the record label contacts the reps of each director giving them the information so far collected about the project. The reps in turn give this information to the director who writes a descripted concept for the music video. All concepts are read by the video commissioner who decides which treatment along with the director would be best for the artist's, labels and budgets needs. Once all of this has been decided, only then does preproduction begin.