research

1. Stage 2
Research + Experiments
Jack Roberts

2. Production techniques research
• Research potential production techniques you might want to use or
feel would be most appropriate – these can be related to camera,
editing, story, sound, etc
• You should look at a minimum of 3 related products in your research.
• You should collect clips/still images/how to guides/etc that might
help you. When watching scenes from films, etc you could also ask
potential target audience what they think.
• You may need to add extra slides!
• With each technique you should assess whether you can use it or
how you might employ or why you may want to disregard it
completely
• Always think about your investigations links to your intentions and
production!

3. Product 1 - Clean Bandit - Baby feat. Marina
& Luis Fonsi
In this music video majority of the video is lip
sinking from the main singer. When putting lip
sinking into a music video you have to make
sure everything is matched up correctly and
looks realistic. I am wanting to have lip sinking
in my video so this is a technique I will have to
learn how to do. When they are lip sinking in
the video they are always framed in a close up
so they can see they are meant to be singing it.
The close ups in this music video are very
similar to the type of framing I am wanting to
have in my music video. In the music video
they use cut away shots that go into the past
of the characters. These clips help the viewer
understand the story of the song as it would
not make sense if there was just a random
person at the wedding the viewer would not
understand why they are there.

4. Product 2 - Childish Gambino - Sweatpants ft.
Problem
Looking at another music video from the artist
I am making a music video for he likes to do his
videos as a one shot or so they at least appear
to look like a one shot. This makes me think
that my idea for a music video for his song will
work well for his music as it is similar to stuff
he has done before. My idea also involves
rewinding which is a bit strange and would stay
out in the music video like how everyone
slowly turning into him in one of Childish
Gambino's official music videos. This is a very
abstract thing to have in a music video and is
something that makes this artists music videos
stand out compared to others which he is in
compotation with.

5. Product 3 - Backstreet Boys - Chances
In this music video the band is telling the story
of two people that have missed their trains.
There are also some shots in the music video
which use some different effects that stand
out to the audience when watching the video
such as the ones I have taken a screen shot of
and put in this slide. This music video uses a
lot of medium shots as the singers use there
hands a lot when singing and it allows the
viewer to see the singer and the characters in
the story.

6. Genre and artist breakdown
• Think about the conventions of music video and which of these you
feel are the most appropriate for you video and why
• Think about the genre characteristics for your chosen artist – how do
you plan to employ these?
• Which techniques and styles do you think fans of your chosen genre
prefer? What should you expect to see in that type of music video?
• Use the following slides to show your ideas and explain these using
good illustrative examples – this is where your research and
explorations should start. Remember to consider the aspects we
looked at in class [and the academic things from Goodwin, etc].

7. Conventions
The conventions of a music video vary depending on the genre of the
music. However, the general conventions include; the style, the camera,
the editing techniques, sound (non diegetic and diegetic) and Mis-en-
Scene.
Most music videos use close ups to help convey the emotion of the singer
or character if the music video has a narrative it will show the emotion of
the character in the story. They also use different angles to show different
things. A low level angle makes the person look empowering where as eye
level makes it more real world.
When editing a music video majority of music videos cut to the beat of the
music as this makes it easier for the viewer to watch as everything is
running in time with each other.

8. Genre Chacteristics
Slow R&B songs have videos are usually in grey scale/sepia and colours
and lighting is very soft. Dark colours show emotion and natural light and
colours are used to show a sense of reality.
Shots will be of a slow and long duration to match the tempo of the song.
Lots of close ups will be used to convey emotion and suit the lyrics to the
song.
Men in R&B music videos wear very fashionable clothing, for example,
baseballs caps, baggy jeans, designer trainers/ sneakers. Male R&B artists
also wear jewellery, but often more subtle and lower key jewellery than
hip hop artists.

9. Chosen approach/justification
For my music video I have decided to make mine in the look of a one shot
as we follow around the character in the video. The shot will be a close up
or medium shot in front of the character as he will be walking towards the
camera for majority of the music video. I am wanting to do this as I am
wanting to make a visually appealing cinematic music video. When doing
my editing I am going to have the video play through with the one shot
which will make it appear like a normal music video but when it goes to
the short interlude in the song the entire video will rewind back to the
start to then watch him walk throughout the house again.

10. Experiments
Camera/Editing/Audio Experiments
This is for you to evidence the filming and editing tests we did.
Be prepared to add extra slides.
You can add more experiments as you do them as the project progresses.

11. Experiment 1
For my first experiment I recorded
some footage of someone walking
towards the camera as this is the
shot I am wanting to use for my
video. This gave me a good look at
the shot I am wanting to do and to
see if it would work with the song
which I think it will. I then went on
to play with the sharpness of the
music video as I am wanting it to
fade in at the start. I then slowly
faded it in by making the
sharpness jump into focus on the
beats. I also wanted to make my
shot more blue so I tried some
basic colour grading.

12. Reflection
From my experiments I think everything I tried worked really well and
will help my get the look I am looking for in my music video. I have
decided to fade the video in slowly because the character in the video
has a hangover so this is imitating things coming into focus for him as
he wakes up. I also colour graded it with more of a blue tint on it as the
album cover has a blue colour pallet and blue is a cold calm more
relaxed colour which will work well with this genre of music.

13. Experiment 2
For my second experiment I try
cutting to the beat and rewinding
shots as these are things I am
considering to using in my actual
music video. I also added some
mute effects to the audio in the
video but I don’t think I will use
this in my final music video.

14. Reflection
In my final project I am going to use rewinding shots as at different parts in my
music video it is going to restart and things in the back ground are going to
slowly change. I think when I do my final music video the rewind will have to
be much faster as there is not much time in which the music is playing without
anyone singing. I don’t think I am going to use the muting effect as when I
listened to this on the song I am going to use I did not like the end product it
gave me.