Here are our set designs. It is important to do this so we get an understanding of how the sets should look and the people who are designing it get a good visual representation of how we want it to look.
In the lesson on Wednesday Emily (who commissions pop videos for Polydor Records) Came in to speak to us. She told us an overview about her job she said that she over sees what happens with the video process, give brief to director, check with director and helps to see what visuals go along with the track.
These are some notes I made:
Once everyone is settled on the idea they go to 5-10 directors depending on how specific the brief is.
The director then puts in treatments, Emily's job is to see what videos the director are coming back with.
Really important for them to make sure everyone has a rough idea of what the video will be.
Decided on directors based on the brief - more performance or more storyline
Directors are generally picked by production company.
Sit down with artist and label to get an idea, decided which one suits the artist
Prep the shoot (2-3 weeks) see director of photography, editor, locations, casting, art direction. Over see what happens. Keep the budget in check - keep expectations
Styling alone can cost £3,000
Directors want to push it so far to get as much out of producers as possible.
Music videos - have fun - directors want to have this on their CV
The video normally goes to Vevo - offers more promotion then just putting it up on the band YouTube, get adverts on side, get more views
Process takes about a month and a half from when they get the track
Editing can take 5-6 weeks
Year and Years - King (MUSIC VIDEO) made last December in LA
Director took on board most important things - dancers, LA, etc
have 5-10 treatments pick best one that artist and production company like
Storyboard so they know what to shoot when they get there
Digital Department - Thumbnails are negotiated
day late may miss one of their thumbnails on the side of a Taylor Swift video
lost millions of views if don't get it done on time
Side of video gets you more publicity
Use dancers as metaphor for relationship
Incorporate other members of band in but make them look comfortable in front of camera
Production wise better shooting in LA (Years and years)
Budget was £20,000-40,000 so they had more money (up for awards, breaking internationally, selling more records) more pressure to make video good
Colour grade to make it look more white and milky
Used colour grade to mute colours to fit with the song
Other notes:
Label funds video
Very rare to get good subtle product placement
Budgets are 50% recuperable (artists will pay back with funds they make)
Vevo not just about money more about views
Radios will play videos with more views to go with their age bracket
Labels spilt up so loads of different departments to make one video
Make most money off of Vevo platform
Depends on artists permission
Some fans don't trust Vevo so want to release on their own channel to make fans feel that they are discovering the music
Try and get an edit that is safe (no nudity, alcohol, etc) Artists always want to push this
Ellie Goulding:
On shoot day shot exactly exactly same shots but without guns and alcohol to have a censored and un-censored version
They make videos that are represented of the artist.
Setting the tone of whole campaign
Simple concepts are best
Lucky Charms feat. Wiley
got inspiration from up and coming directors who have filmed cheap documentaries
Like the colours and style
Shot in South Africa - same look as london but different lifestyle and not like all the other videos
Just sent the camera man out to shoot the video in South Africa
Under £10,000
Trust your director and ideas - everyone has different ideas on what its going to look like
Shooting on location or studio:
Studio good for controlling light and using graphic
Location often gives a lot more texture and depth on limited budgets
Main stream audience loves a road trip video, not original but can make it different depending on location
You Call It by Dusky
Animations leading on to different parts and different ideas
Using posters as inspiration
Really trip
That director doesn't alway do animation - mind is inspired by all sorts
Got animator he liked to visual his idea
Animation is always tricky with budget and time cause it takes a lot time to make
Wanted it to look vintage but at the same time modern
Visual should always reflect musicality of track
Build towards something at end
Years and Years - underwater bit during the middle 8 is the bit that keeps it non - repetitive
First verse - setting tone seeing artist
Chorus you want choreography and main bit
When in treatment phase they are for styles of videos that are like the video they are going to make
Go to colour grades - to balance out and make some parts different
Colour grade is important for the video image - can change minds because of the style that it gives
Look is planned in advanced so they can know the style and feel of the video
We've had a change of direction so instead of having an actual backdrop we are having projections instead. We decided that this would be easier to film and gives us more space to do more creative shots.
- Earth: Grass, trees, forest (forest wall)
- Fire: Flames all around or a bonfire and her standing by it
In todays lesson we shot our animatic. This is where we have our storyboard and we film each shot for about 10 seconds. We then go up to the editing suite and edit the shots in the order we want and to the pace of the song. An animatic is important because it enables us to get a clear image of what we want our video to look like and we can have a idea of how repetitive the song is.
We have decided to go in a different direction to the glass box because when we talked to Luke (creative director) he said that we don't have any reason to put our 'elements' in the box and it was a burden to our group.
Therefore we have decided to go with using the elements and create an idea based around that. Here are the ideas that we have come up with:
Earth:
- Nature background with vines and leaves all around her
- She is being intwined by the vines
- Leave falling on her?
Water:
- Lying against a wall with water running down on her, black background to make the water look more subtle
My teacher found a piece a perspex and said that we could experiment with it for our glass box idea.
We decided to try projections are our first test. We found that this looked good when we filmed from the singers point of view on their face so we now have to question whether we actually need the perspex to make our video or if it will look just as good without it.
We had to think about how to construct our glass box. Here is a rough idea of what we want to do:
We need to plan the size and how thick we want the glass to be. This is going to be a challenge because we don't want it to be to expensive or not thick enough.
A timeline is a good way to plan your music video because you can easily see what goes where and the structure of the song.
Negus will say that this timeline is important because we can see the repetitive structure of music videos, the performance element and the extensive use of shot types.
A timeline helps us to plan out and see the conventions of our music video e.g the performance element. This is good because when Ollie Allgrove from Passion Pictures came to speak to us he said that planning is key and you should have each shot planned out. He also said that we should have more footage then we need so we will shoot more shots then we state on the timeline.
Here is our main timeline from the rough copy to planning out our vague idea:
Here is our more detailed timeline:
This is a good way to plan out our music video because it is very detailed so we can see exactly what we see in the song. However, I still need to add the timings of when each shot will be.
Yesterday in the lesson we had a guest speaker come in to talk to us about our music videos.
This speaker was Ollie Allgrove from Passion Pictures. He is an executive producer for this company.
He spoke to use about what Passion Pictures does, what is his role and about music videos.
Passion Pictures "tell stories" they do this by using animation, live action, design and visual effects.
He explained to us about the things Passion Pictures do for example they make the Compare the Market adverts with the meerkats in and he explained that it takes 25 people to make one meerkat.
Music Videos:
Ollie Allgrove has worked on music videos for Goldfrapp and Joe Lean.
He said that some inportant things to consider were to:
- listen to the words
- interpret the music visually
- offer unique visual voice
- have a creative point of view
He also talked about how 10 years ago videos were really important to promote musicians and they are the same now.
However, he said that the way we interact with the music has changed (e.g using Youtube and the Internet)
When we come to shoot our music video:
Ollie also talked to us about what we should consider when we shoot our music video.
He said that we have to have enough footage to fill 3mins. So, therefore we need to shoot more then necessary.
In edit here are some main point he told us:
- Craft the narrative
- Dont fix it in post
- manage colours
- do visual effects (however he said to make sure that we know that we are using visual effects when we shoot it)
[Verse 1] You're different I like it You're from another planet, huh? I'd like you to take me there You can fly your alien spaceship
You're different Don't hide it That's what made me notice you
There you were Sitting by yourself There you were Hey, hey, hey
[Hook] You are a white light Stepping out of the dark You are a white light But you cover it up
Do you wanna fly me miles away And be alone, alone? Cuz I don't mind if we never go Never go home Stepping out of the dark
[Verse 2] We're shoulder to shoulder Leaving for your universe And I can't control you (No I don't no I don't) Yeah, I can't control you
And there you are So self-contained There you are there
[Hook] You are a white light Stepping out of the dark You are a white light But you cover it up
Do you wanna fly me miles away And be alone, alone? Cuz I don't mind if we never go Never go home Stepping out of the dark
You are a white light Stepping out of the dark You are a white light But you cover it up
Do you wanna fly me miles away And be alone, alone? Cuz I don't mind if we never go Never go home Stepping out of the dark Cuz I don't mind if we never go Don't mind if we never go Never go home
