3. research
• Face - The video is sped up at times which connects to the song being about
rejection, the people being sped up could represent racing thoughts, or
feelings going all over the place, this is backed up even more since they’re
destroying things behind the member who’s singing. The only type of camera
work we get is a mid shot and a close up. The members that sing all look
miserable and down; which fits with the black and white filter they put over
the video. They never really act as anything else, the ones behind the
members though all look hyper and excited.
• Sweet - This video doesn’t use any jump cuts, it takes place in one shot.
They keep the pacing going really well considering that. It’s faced paced
when it needs to be and it’s slower paced when it needs to be. They’re all
acting happy and upbeat in the video, even when the slower hook comes in
they’re smiling. The video is a mix between light and dark, one half of the
area they’re in is bright and the other half is dark, this is only in the
background though, everything the members are wearing is light.
4. Research
• Boy Bye -The video is paced really well to the song, jump cuts only
really come in when a new member starts performing or when we’ve
lingered on one shot for too long. The cinematography they use in
this music video is some of the best they’ve ever done, in the image
used for example. They all have different performances since all their
verses talk about something different.
• I Been Born Again – Camera work stands out the most here, a lot of
the video takes place in one shot, the camera rolls around on the
ground for three quarters of the video, it’s only changed when the
song picks up later on. It’s mostly in a black and white filter the entire
time. All members appear to be in a good mood the entire time.
• New Orleans – Standard music video, all the members are
surrounded by a crowd that’s jumping around to the song. They use
mid shots to show how many there are in the room, the lighting is
actually gloomy in this which is strange considering how happy
everyone looks in the song. They use standard jump cuts, but not too
much in this video.
5. Potential Songs
• Rise Up- Imagine Dragons
• Jumpsuit- twenty one pilots
• Powerless- Linkin Park
• The Nights- Avicii
• Toxicity- System Of a Down.
6. Potential techniques
• Panning from one shot to another, it can’t be too slow to take away from the pacing
of the song.
• Try and stick to the typical mid shot and close ups since those are the most common
in music videos. If using long shots, they shouldn’t be drawn out too much.
• The editing should be kept to a minimum because too much could take away from
the song.
• Try and include a variety of colors that come to mind when you think of the song; a
mix of light and dark can be used at varying segments.
• If using actors, make it clear what they should be doing and why.
• Try and include some more shots that people will remember, one that stands out
against all the other shots but one that still goes with the song.
• The speed of the video can be different at some points, if the song is more fast
paced I can speed the video up at points, and the opposite for if the video is slowed
down.
• Shoot in different locations otherwise the video will be repetitive and boring.
7. Conventions you plan to
use
• Some shots of someone singing into the camera, don’t plan on overusing it
though since that’s what a lot of modern music videos do.
• Jump cuts when a shot has lingered for too long.
• Mid shots and close up’s since those are the most common shots in music
videos.
• Actors or the singer going along with the mood of the song.
• The singer would have to be doing poses and postures otherwise watching
them would be really boring.
• The style of music the video is going with will be a more recognizable genera,
pop or rap.
9. Summary
• 5 opportunities of your ideas:
• I have the opportunity to record some scenes at night with some songs, which
helps me add to the atmosphere the song has already set up.
• In most of the videos I have the opportunity to tell a story that goes along with the song, or
I could bring a different meaning to the song by telling a different story in the video.
• I have the opportunity to include other people in some of the video ideas. These would be
in more of the upbeat ones with a happy overall meaning, like in ‘The Nights’ I can have
some brighter shots of people just enjoying themselves.
• For one of the songs, I can include a variety of different colors since the instrumentals
have a kind of bipolar feeling, sometimes they’re upbeat, but as it gets to the chorus it
calms down a bit and is more sad.
• Each song has it’s own pacing, some of the slower songs have faster moments, which
doesn’t mean I need to speed up the video, it just means there should be more going on in
the scene.
10. Summary
• 5 restrictions to your ideas:
• Some of my ideas for stories I want to include would mean that I can’t use too many
different locations since people don’t want to move around too much. So if I want to
use a variety of locations some of them will have to just be the singer on their own.
• The night shots I want to do could be too dark and difficult to see what’s going on,
on screen. So I might need to compromise and go with evening shots when the sun
is setting, it has a similar effect to night shots.
• Coming up with my own story might take away from the song, so if anything I come
up with is taking away from a song too much, I’ll need to go back and try and come
up with a story from the lyrics, which would make the video suffer as a result.
• Filters can be too distracting at times so I shouldn’t use them too much, but I have to
use them enough to have an impact on the video, which can take up too much time
in editing.
• It’s easy to have too many shots of the singer standing there not doing anything,
even having shots like that at all can take away from a video with a story, so I should
try and space them out so they don’t come up too much, but with that they would
seem like they’re getting in the way since the audience will most likely keep
forgetting about them.
11. Final idea – artist/title/info
Powerless - Linkin Park
The song was released in 2012 on the album ‘Living
Things’ the song wasn’t released as a single and doesn’t
have a music video. It’s the closing track on the album
and is one of the more impactful songs on the record.
It’s similar to songs by other bands like twenty one pilots
or slipknot.
The Genre of the video is alt rock and electronic, it’s a
more experimental genre that is often described as just
typical pop, while sharing some similarities with pop the
two genres are different. Artists like Linkin Park have
shown that the genre has more to offer then just radio
hits.
12. Final idea – track
summary
• The song meaning is up to interpretation, the generally accepted meaning is this:
• The song is about someone that is watching their friend slowly give into their mental
illness, or their life is falling apart and they aren’t doing anything to fix it they used to
have a lot going for them but they did nothing to keep that happy mental state. The
person who’s telling the story is trying their best to help them and get them through
their hard times, and as a result the person telling the story is suffering as a result,
because nothing they’re doing is helping the person so the storyteller feels
powerless.
• This could also be the lead singer saying he sees all his fans that are suffering from
a mental illness, that are using his music as a coping mechanism, he’s by their side,
but he isn’t their physically so he’s technically powerless to do anything. The song
could have a double meaning in this sense.
• The evidence is in the song lyrics “you held it all but you were careless to let it fall”
“and I was by your side powerless” “you woke the devil that I thought you left
behind” and “I watched you fall apart and chased you to the end”.
• The pacing of the song is a slower one, it picks up the speed near the end as the
singer gets gradually and gradually more emotional. The track only lasts for 3
minutes but they managed to include a lot of content and emotion. It leaves a lot of
room for a story to be told in a music video.
13. Final idea – your idea
• I’ll be going with the idea that the song is based on someone watching their friend slowly fall apart. The concept is obviously a really
sad one, but there is a way to go about it without making the video TOO sad.
• The concept I came up with is also kind of dark, but you’d need to watch the video all the way through to understand that. The idea I
have is, the storytellers friend is gone, they passed away, and the video is the after affects of that, we see how the person singing has
reacted to it. The song serves as a reflection for the one singing.
• This concept is a good way to have as few people in the video as possible, the most that I might need is 3. While most of the video is
the friend reflecting back, there will be some flashbacks, that jump back to the present time. Those flashbacks will need at least 2
other people.
• I don’t want it to be too obvious what the narrative of the video is until near the very end, maybe the last time the chorus is sang.
There will be hints throughout the run time, but it won’t be spelled out.
• With this narrative I’ll be able to include various locations of the singer looking back on the time they had with this friend.
• As the song picks up I’m going to try and have the singer look more and more angry and torn up, since that’s what I hear when I listen
to the song.
• The pacing can change at some points as well, I don’t the entire video to be a dull and gloomy thing to watch, the flashbacks can be
really colourful and happy, and as they fade back to present day, some of the colour can be lost.
• Some scenes can be cut together really quickly, to show the rush of thoughts the protagonist is having, there can be alternate
versions of scenes that flash on screen which shows things the protagonist is thinking about in that rush.
• The video takes place over a day or two, it starts just as the protagonist has found out what happened, I want to try and capture the
reflection of that person in protagonist’s face.
15. Guidance:
Pre-production Assessment
You need to assess the viability of your production and
investigate what is required to enable you to make your
music video
Much of this task is hypothetical, which means you will
need to investigate standard costings for such a
production and apply these to your planned production
considering which equipment you would need and
resources, etc
Resources to support this are in the Pre-production
assessment folder on Blackboard
Delete the questions on each slide and insert your
responses
16. Title of production/production
outline
• The music video is going to tell a story about a person who struggles to live life on their
own without their friend, so whenever they feel worried or scared they go to their mental
‘safe space’ which is a parallel scene except their friend is there this time, it’s never really
explained what happened to the friend but it should be clear to the audience. The message
is saying, that some people struggle to get through things on their own, and sometimes
when their one crutch goes away, they have their own ways of getting through things
without that person. The video is going to start out with the context, it’s going to show the
main character with their friend, who at that point is struggling mentally, and who the main
character is trying to help, the second half of the video is going to show the main character
dealing with life without their friend, and how they’re suffering mentally, like the roles have
been reversed.
• The music track that’s going to the song is ‘Powerless’ Linkin Park, the song can have a
few meanings, the lyrics do indicate that the person telling the story and singing the song
has lost someone close to them, they tried doing everything they could to save them but
they lost to themselves, and as a result the person telling the story is now also suffering
mentally.
• The most I’ll need from equipment is a camera and something to edit, the technical
qualities are going to be the cuts that fade from one another, the lighting is going to be light
and dark throughout the video. When the friend is still alive at the start of the video the
lighting is going to be lighter, the sun is obvious in the background. In the second half of
17. Locations
• I don’t plan on having too many locations in the video, the 4 main ones that I want to go to,
are college or some surrounding areas hopefully somewhere that has enough space to film
at least two people. The other places I need are, my house, the woods, and maybe a
street.
• I want the weather to be sunny at some times and duller and greyer in others, it won’t
affect the product too much but I think it would add to it because of pathetic fallacy.
• There are some risks with one or two of the locations, like in the woods I plan having a
shot of someone up a tree, which has the obvious risk of the person falling out, so it
shouldn’t be too high up or maybe I can substitute the tree for something else slightly high
up.
• If I choose to film in the streets at some point there is the risk of other people being in the
product that won’t want to be, which means i’ll need to film at night when it’s quieter, or just
not include any scenes that have a street.
18. Equipment
The only equipment that I really need is a camera which I already
have one, and maybe a tripod, I don’t think I’ll need anything else.
If I don’t get the right kind of shot that I need then I might need to use
a green screen however that’s a last caser scenario.
19. Facilities
I can edit the video at home and at college, all I need is a mac or
computer that has access to editing software. I will have enough time
to put the whole thing together.
I’ll have the song already available to put into the software I just need
to make the video flow with the song and make sure I don’t lose the
pacing of the song.
20. Personnel
• CREW: The crew has a few members, one is really good with
using a camera and a few are really good at coming up with
better ideas on what include in a project like this, and the other
is good at editing.
• CAST: No external performers will be needed.
• I may ask for help for some people outside of the project, but
that would only be for ideas on developing the story if what I've
planned out doesn't end up working.
24. “You hid your skeletons when I had shown you mine
You woke the devil that I thought you'd left behind
I saw the evidence, the crimson soaking through
Ten thousand promises, ten thousand ways to lose”
The opening doesn’t have as many jump
cuts. The scene opens with the two friends
just hanging out and talking to one another.
There’s a few jump between shots that
shows the two hanging out in different
places, the lighting is hopefully going to be
bright and colorful.
One of the friends is clearly not as happy
and ongoing as the other, which at first gives
the impression that the person who is
singing the song is supposed to be them.
There’s only a few jump between
locations, there’s nothing that
looks too different, by the time the
end of the verse comes around
there should still be a few
seconds left of the friends
hanging out.
25. And you held it all
But you were careless to let it fall
You held it all
And I was by your side, powerless
By the end of the chorus one of the
friends should’ve faded away from
the group, the rest of the video is one
of the friends dealing with the loss of
the one who’s gone.
As described, from this point forward
plan on having the rest of the video
be about the reality the friend is now
living in.
I only want a few jump cuts at
this section, on the last line I’m
going to slow down the footage
to really emphasize the friend
fading away.
26. I watched you fall apart and chased you to the end
I'm left with emptiness that words cannot defend
You'll never know what I became because of you
Ten thousand promises, ten thousand ways to lose
I want a filter over this scene, a kind of
differing light and dark one, it only shows
up every so often and it’s inclusion
should be obvious.
The pacing of this section is a lot faster
then the others that were before it. It
jumps between a few scenes every few
seconds, hopefully still keeping the
pacing of the song.
There should only be one person in the
video from this point, maybe there’ll be
someone else, but it would mostly be in
terms of flashbacks.
As this section is coming to an end I
plan on having the pacing really pick
up and have way more frequent jump
cuts as it leads into the chorus.
The audience should be able to tell
the emotion that the person is
having.
27. And you held it all
But you were careless to let it fall
You held it all
And I was by your side, powerless
The rest of the song from this point is just
instrumentals and the chorus being
repeated.
The pacing of the song doesn’t slow down at
all though, if anything it only gets faster from
this point.
This does give me the chance to cut
together a bunch of scenes really quickly, but
what I actually plan on doing is having longer
scenes that have something fast going on in
them, it spaces the video out while at the
same time, still going with the flow of the
song.
This section also includes the longest
instrumental break in the song, in that
time I want to change between only two
or three scenes, all of them are
connected but they aren’t direct
continuations of one another. They
could be three separate versions of a
similar scene, or it could jump between,
what the friend is going through and
haves a flashback to when the friend
that’s gone is still around, this proves to
only make the main character even
more upset.
28. And you held it all
But you were careless to let it fall
You held it all
And I was by your side, powerless
Powerless, powerless
This is the point where the song is coming
to an end, the main character at this point
is clearly really upset and distraught about
missing their friend, the video jumps
through a few scenes again, at this point
the song is at it’s most intense moment,
so I need to reflect that in the video.
There aren’t too many different locations
at this point, by now there should be only
2, but the lighting and mood of each
should be similar to one another.
Now the jump cuts is only jumping
between two different shots, one where
the main character is really upset and
emotional, and one where he’s a bit more
calm, it look like this scene is taking place
after the one it keeps jumping to.
29. Shot List
Your shot list should contain the sequential breakdown of what
you need to shoot for your video
It should work in partnership with your storyboard
It will be your working document when you film
It should contain the shot number, scene number, shot
description, framing and action you will see
It should also have information on performers in the scene and
other props, etc
Shot list template is on Blackboard in the pre-production folder.
31. Production Group Info
Luke- Actor (first scene)
George-Actor (first scene)
Georgina- Actor (first scene)
James- Actor, Director (all scenes except first)
32. locations
• Some locations on college
• One scene will take place at home, all others will be
somewhere outside
• Woods
• If for some reason I can’t film at the woods I plan on filming at, a field or somewhere
close by that makes someone look isolated
33. Risk Assessment
Risk Assess each separate filming location using the
table in the camera H&S PP on Bb as a staring point
Completing a generic filming assessment would be a
start, then you can add specialist/site specific risks as
you progress your production
Remember, a Risk Assessment is an ongoing document,
you should evaluate if anything changes in production
and when you put control measures in place
You should add the table to each call sheet for each
location
34. Risk assessment
Risk assessment
Weather may not match for the day I'm filming which will cause
setbacks
Might lose out on people while filming the first few scenes, as a
result the video won't make much sense.
There's a risk of myself or someone else getting hurt while
filming the video, since I am filming in a confined forest I could
trip or run into someone.
Could potentially film somewhere I'm not supposed to, so will
have to make sure that everywhere that I plan on filming is
okay and open to the public.
Equipment could stop working or could run out of battery life in
the camera I'm filming with, which will not only set me back but
will also have to pay for new equipment/battery.
36. schedule
Filming week
Day 1 Film the first few scenes
at college
Day 2 Reshoot the first scenes
for extra footage
Day 3 Film a few scenes at
home as a segway scene
Day 4 Go to other locations to
film forest scene
Day 5 Go back a few days later
with different weather to
get extra footage
Day 6 Edit
Day 7 Edit
Day 8 Edit
38. Production log
Day 1-filmed for half an hour
Day 2-filmed half an hour
Day 3- Filmed 45 mins
Day 4 filmed for an hour
Day 5 filmed for an hour, had a break filmed for another half
hour
To finish all the filming on time I tried to not get distracted and only
focus on finishing the project, despite how bad some shots ended
up being, causing reshoots, I managed to film everything in time.
