3. Mind Maps
matthew dillon cohen
Music Video
Performance
Aesthetic Story based
The strength of making an aesthetic video would
be that it would allow me to create something I
would enjoy and I think would look really could if I
could nail it. The weakness is mostly if I have the
needed resources and ability to make an
aesthetically pleasing video
Story based all though I feel like it would be a lot
easier to create I think overall these videos are a
lot less effective and I think for my song choice it
wouldn’t very fitting if im honest. I wouldn’t be
happy if this is all I created
Performance videos would not fit my song choice
at all, making the main weakness of this the fact its
more tailored towards bands as it gives them all a
fair share of viewing and doesn’t offer much in the
way of entertainment. The only strength would be
that its easy
4. Inspiration and
Influence
Matthew Dillon Cohen
He's worked with some of my favourite artists and
made some music videos that id also call my
favourite. Although all his videos and films are
different based on the artist, they all seem to focus
more on visuals and the aesthetics. His music
videos and promotional videos with Gus Dapperton
is some of the most beautfully shot work ive seen,
more like a short film rather than a music video
The idea of a short film is something I would really
like to represent in my piece however im torn
between a purposely grainy footage or trying to
make it as high quality as possible
6. Do you enjoy music videos?
Observations: A majority of the interviewees said that they enjoyed music videos
What this says: The targeted audience enjoy a visual aide alongside the song
Product Appeal: This is good to learn that the audience will have atleast a little interest in what I plan to create
7. Are you more likely to look into an artist
or a song if theres an accompanying
video?
Observations: The decision between the interviews was a split.
What this says: The target audience arent going to look into the artist just because theres a music video.
This is probably to do with different ways to reach the meida such as spotift and apple music
Product Appeal: 50% of the target audience are still going to have an interest in what I create
8. How old are you?
Observations: The sample group was all roughly the same age but that’s due to the range of people I was able to
gather
What this says: The split betweem the 2 main age categories could be the reason for the split in other questions
Product Appeal: I know what the lower section of my target audience have an interest in
9. How often do you watch music videos?
Observations: There was spread of answers but rarely and sometimes were joint most popular
What this says: The recorded group have somehwat interest in music videos as it is a part of their week
Product Appeal: our target audience has an interest in our piece
10. Do you find shots or a narrative the
most interesting feature?
Observations: Shots was by far the most popular option (11) compared to narrative (3)
What this says: The audience are fairly passive in this sense as they accept what is given to them and don’t try
to delve too much into the video and take it apart
Product Appeal:
11. What other features do you enjoy?
Observations: The most popular answer
was something to do with the visual of the
video
What this says: It further backs up that shots are
the preferred over a narrative.
Product Appeal: What I can take from this, I can
appeal more to an audience by creating a video
that focuses on impressive visuals and have a
loose narrative throughout it.
12. Do you feel a sense of involvement
when theres a reference you understand
Observations: Although close there was a slight lean towards yes (8) rather than no (6).
What this says : It shows the audience range we are trying to attract are more of an active audience as they
like to be able to connect with the artist, and feel that they have some form of similar interests.
Product Appeal: Have references embedded into the video that people of the age group would recognize.
13. Overall Summary of
Audience
Research
Overall our audience are interested in the projected idea of a
visual based video, the range of people we had do the survey fit
our desired audience. All though we didn’t get a range of
different ages to see if we should narrow down the target we
could figure out that the younger side of our audience spectrum
would be interested and be able to get involved with what I want
to create which is good. It gave me a good idea on what to
create and what to focus on. Most answers I was able to get a
specifc idea on what to focus on, however a couple were split
decisions which does make some parts challenging.
16. Shot ideas
I really like the idea of this shot, broadcasting a
video onto an old tv or at least editing it to look
like its been broadcasted onto an old tv. After
seeing the old tv in studio room. However I want
to add a grainy overlay or some form of distortion
to make the film look old and suit the tv its
projected on. I also want it to look like its just by
itself in a dark room. I haven’t decided if this
would be an intro, outro or just a reoccurring type
scene throughout the video
17. Shots Why
Close up I feel if im able to do this correctly itll display
more emotion
Mirror Reflection I like the idea of the mirror reflection shot as
it shows the a second part of the character
feels trapped, same as using the tv
Underwater This was something I wanted to try but
ended up cutting it out of my original idea
Mid air pan Again this is something I wanted to try but
cut it out due to time
Vehicle shots I really like how they look and done well I
think they can be effective to show off an
area
18. Resources
Equipment/ Props/
Costume needed
Locations needed
Equipment
• Camera
• Tripod
• Miror
Indoor
Living room
Studio
Bathroom
Props
• Old Tv
• Hose
• Car
• Lights
Outside
Field
Roads
Costume
• Tie
• shirt
Other
Car
19. Health and Safety
Potential Issue How will the issue be
avoided?
Covid While being outside there is always a risk with
the general public and especially during the
pandemic this results in a risk of catching covid
19
General risk of Public While working outside there will always be a
general risk from the public. Wether this is
physical or not there always has to b concern not
to aggravate or cross any lines. Especially with
potential trespassing
Drowning One of the potential scenes involves me with my
head underwater, being irresponsible with this in
a worse case scenario could lead to drowning.
Studio Working in the studio hosts a potential safety
concern, sticking to the rules and not going
behind the screens will prevent this.
Roads and Cars Roads and cars are always a risk to safety. The
best way is to be sensible and not mess around.
Wear clothing that can be seen especially when it
gets darker.
20. Contingency Planning
Potential Issue Solution
Lighting in outside settings Attempt doing the filming at different points of
the day on different days to make sure to find
what works the best
Camera quality Attempt some filming with camera I have, if I
decide it isnt what I want then request
borrowing one of colleges for filming or buy
one myself.
Camera battery Hopefully by making sure I charge it the night
before we can prevent the risk of this
happening
SD card issues ( Full/Corruption) I know that the SD card is under half full so it
filling up wont be an issue. I'm not sure what to
put for corruption as its something that cant be
helped. However at all possible opportunities ill
back up footage so we can minimize potential
risk. And then cry.
24. I'm Just Snacking-
Gus Dapperton
My Favourite Fish –
Gus Dapperton
First Aid – Gus Dapperton
Bluebird – Gus Dapperton Post Humorous -
Gus Dapperton
Prune, You talk funny-
Gus Dapperton
25. I'M JUST
SNACKING
I'm Just Snacking is a song about two ex-
lovers, who dont care for materialism. The
main protagonist feels like they can
reconnect all though nothing is showed to
happen.
The music video its self uses a lot of
colours to express emotion and to show
off characters personalities and their
importance.
The video isnt filmed in the traditional
format, its more rectangular than square. I
like this as almost all his videos are filmed
differently but all look more like a short film
rather than a music video. Its a refreshing
take on this area of media.
I'm just snacking
26. First
Aid
First aid although its yet to be spoken
about my gus in any detail, appears to be
a very close song to him. It feels like he
talks about his close relationship with his
sister and how he feels he can contantly
rely on her to bring him out of his lows
The outfits and character design are all
made to match the video, it begins with a
shot of the female character out in the sun
and her outfit is a lot brighter, the male
protagonist has a lot more mundane and
darker clothes and his pieces of the video
are all a lot darker, from him looking upset
in a bathroom to him being beaten by a
character dressed all in red
The video features a more fantasy style
narrative which isnt fully explained helps
show off the sinister feel to the song. Its a
lot darker than most of his other videos
and again feels like a short film
First Aid
27. Prune,You Talk
Funny
Although never explained it feels like a
reminiceant song about a past lover
maybe from his childhood who made him
feel embarassed about who he was and
this also kept him from really expressing
who he was throughout high school
A lot of the shots so the farmland
and vast country along country
roads, its where gus was from
which was a farming village.
Again like all his
videos its almost a
cross over between
a short film and a
music video, the
shots are all
beautiful. It features
a lot of Tracking
shots, close up, mid
shots and long
shots. There is a
range of different
locations and
settingsa, it also
features a very loose
narrative of him
chasing feelings for
a girl
His style is shown in this video with his
matching makeup and clothing and the
variety of outfits he wears, his group that
he is seen with are all very similarly
dressed and all have matching haircuts, i
think its to show the contrast how
expressing your self and being socially
different can really be normality and is
slowly being more accepted into the
mainstream
PYTF
28. Bluebird
One of Gus' only videos that doesn’t feel like a short film, the
visuals are a lot less tame and theres no hint to a loose narrative
like the others. With him being a small artist its hard to find exact
dates and great amounts of information as to when he films buti
feel like this is due to being in lockdown he cant have the cast, set
or cameras he usually uses due to restrictions
Despite this we are still treated to
some incredible shots. The video
seems more laid back and like
gus is just enjoying himself. It
features a grainy edit on top of the
image which creates a very nice
effect.
BlueBird
29. My Favorite
Fish
The Video is main colour scheme is rather
mundane mostly dark moody colours. It’s a
cloudy sky, the pier they are on is blue and
brown and the street when hes cycling down
is only slightly lit by streetlights at night. It’s a
very cold feeling video. This is other than the
excpetion of clothing of some of the
characters. Wearing very vibrant yellows
reds and whites it goes against most of the
settings and back drops. It helps the obvious
key roles stand out as individuals which is
what Gus' brand is like. Normalizing
Individuality.
The shots themselves again are beautiful, I think
especially the night scene uses shadowery and
the focus on the lights which creates the glare
looks exceptional. Its almost hiding him so only
the trousers stand out. There is also clear use of
the rule of 3 which makes the visuals a lot more
digestable and aestheically pleasing to wathc.
My Favorite Fish
30. Advanced
Experiment
Overlaying Videos onto a
screen
I needed to figure out which way I am able to overlay some
footage onto an old looking tv, I thought id be better off
figuring out if I am able to do this before gathering the
needed footage for this so I decided to do it on the first day
of production. I am happy with the way it turned out so now
its just a case of swapping it over into the actual footage.
By changing using the “arithmetic”
effect I was able to change the colors
of the video on the screen to make it
look more like a vhs tape recording.
31. Advanced
Experiment
Turning day footage into a night setting
Again the focus was heavily
on using a blue tint, I also
lowered the temperature and
again the exposure, using a
negative contrast and
removing some blacks and
increasing whites
This was for the adjustment layer
which let me change the majority of
the sky without affecting the coloring
of the lower half of the image. For
this I focused on dropping the
exposure and the whites and upping
the blacks. I also dropped the green
and red in the rgb and focused on
having more of a blue tint
I wanted to see if It was possible to create a night
scene using footage during the day. I wanted to see
the possibility of this as it would mean I could use
natural lighting which allows some of the best quality
with the camera I have and means I wouldn't have to
lug around a lighting with me when I need to film
Although I think it went well I am not sure if its worth
the amount of time it took and how long it will take
per scene. The parts of this I didn’t like very much
was where there had been sun shining down, this
means that even when you turn down the exposure
and cast the blue overlay it still looks lot brighter and
than it should.
32. Doing this just allowed me to blend the darker color of the
sky into the the rest of the video. It was part of the tutorial
I watched on Youtube however I then parted and did my
own thing after getting a whereabouts on how to start
This the the mask overlay
on the adjustment layer.
This let me edit the sky
and and leave the ground
so I wasn’t just making
the whole thing pitch
black. This let me have a
contrast between the sky
and the buildings. It
would’ve been a lot easier
if I hadn’t filmed against
such an intricate sky line
with all the different sized
and shaped buildings and
trees. This caused several
anomalies within the
skyline
Continued
Advanced Experiment
Turning day footage into a night setting
Here
33. Style sheet
For most of my video I want the scenes
to be quite dark and ominous, I like
these scenes from ‘First Aid’. Although
dark its still very clear. The blues add
the idea of it being quite cold and not
a nice feel, adding a presence of
hostility.
Editor's Notes
Explore colours, fonts and image styles similar to what you want to produce. Discuss all three elements in relation to why you chose them and where you may use them in your project. Go over as many pages as you need to
