The document provides guidance for stage 2 of a research and experiments project. It discusses researching potential production techniques and analyzing at least 3 related music videos or products. The document instructs the student to collect clips, images, guides, and get feedback from potential audiences. It also advises assessing whether techniques can be used or employed for the student's intentions and production. The document then provides an analysis of 3 music video products. The first is analyzed to understand the artist's typical storylines and productions. The second is chosen for its illustrative style. Details are provided on shot types, scene changes, and literal interpretations of lyrics. The third video is analyzed for its realistic portrayal of a story through consistent close-up shots.

1. Stage 2
Research + Experiments
Your name here

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, COCOON
The first video I’m analysing is a song by the same artist, I chose to do this song because I thought analysing it would give me
an opportunity to understand the way they’d usually produce their story and also the type of storyline they’d include in their
music video.
When I was researching I was surprised to see that their music video was unrelated to the song lyrics. The music video I have
chosen to analyse is Cocoon by Catfish and the Bottlemen. The song is a story about two people meeting and how the boy
falls for the girl as soon as he first meets her. The song is about how they meet and fall for each other and then meet
difficulties.
The music video relates to the song lyrics but not in the way obvious boy meet girl in a bar, that the audience was expecting.
The video starts with a over the shoulder angle following a doctor into a old-fashioned Psychiatric Hospital. The setting and
colour scheme is dull to emphasize the lifelessness of the building. When the lyrics are introduced we start a tour of the
room and the people in it. He opens the song with ‘I fell straight into your arms’ which means he literally fell into her arms
because he was drunk but also meaning in the video that he fell for her as soon as he saw her. Throughout the video there
are subtle associations with the lyrics, for example, when it says ‘I fell straight into your arms’ there is a old women waving
her arms whilst dancing in the middle of the room. This isn’t how the audience would’ve imagined the lyrics but the dancing
is still a reference. As well as this in the first verse, when the lyrics ‘on it’ are sang there is a scene in time of someone putting
their finger on a draughts piece. Although these are very loose connections and may have not been done purposefully. The
room has 4 patients in with no one talking and all the patients seem to be empty and unaware of their life going on around
them. Through the first verse the man is admiring the women sat looking out of the window, the women looks hollow. Then
as the story advances and we move on to the chorus when it says the lines ‘I remember when we swapped names’ it goes
back to the past where they first meet and she looks full of life. In this video they use face expression to portray most of the
feelings, there is a lot of lingering looks and his eyes are always on her, this shows the amount of admiration he has for her.
When the pace of the song increases and the backing instruments get louder the scenes get shorter and change from one
scene to another a lot faster, also with the faster pace the story line is moving a lot faster compared to at the beginning when
the two people were just sat now they’re running through the corridor.
This song starts in the same way as Twice, with loud drumming as an introduction then as the lyrics start it takes a slower
pace and the drums are quieter so you can hear the lyrics clearer.
The video is recorded professionally, like a film, the shots used are clear quality and the video contains a wide range of
different shots. For example, close up shots are used throughout so that the audience is focussed on a particular thing. There
are a lot of features in the video that a referred to multiple times, for example a white flower is significant and used when
the girl is happy, the white portrays innocence and a flower as being delicate and then later in the video when she has no
energy he puts the same flower next to her in a vase but now it portrays what she used to have and the flower can now be
interpreted as wilting and the white as something ill. The other shots used are medium shots, long shots, establishing and
medium shots.

4. For my second product I decided to research a music video that was very different from my first
example, this is because I wanted to explore new ways and techniques that different artists have
used for their video. The music video from the song is Riptide by Vance joy. The video is an
illustrative music video, which means with each scene there is a different image which follows the
exact words of the song.
The scenes with the lyrics are extremely literal, in each scene the lyrics sang are matched with a
visual link of the line. The video doesn’t follow a storyline, and if the video was watched without
sound then there would be no links with the scenes.
At the beginning of the video the video includes obvious links to the lyrics but throughout it the
scenes still link however the scenes become less ordinary. There is one scene which involves a
model singing the lyrics and the lyrics with it are ‘I’ve got a lump in my throat ‘cos she’s gonna sing
the words wrong’ and then at the bottom of the screen we see the lyrics and she’ singing the
wrong words, then later on in the video when we return to her she has her makeup smudged, then
in the next one she is bleeding with no explanation or link to the lyrics, which could be showing
that not everything is as it seems. I think that this format for the video is very interesting and
works well because it’s random and unlike other music videos.
The changeover of the scenes is also interesting because when another scene starts it isn’t a blunt
changeover, it uses different techniques to change the scene, which keeps in tone with the
strangeness of the video. For example the screen will rotate around until it comes to the next
scene or multiple scenes will use the same black background. I want to include scenes like this in
my video as I think it makes the video look more effective and introduces unordinary aspects
setting the videos apart from others. However I would have to find out how to add these
techniques on premiere software.
The music video is strongly influenced by the 70s and the clothes and fashion are heavily inspired
by 70’s fashion. I think this is an interesting approach to the video because the song doesn’t relate
to the 70’s at all and also the singer wasn’t born until 1987 so therefore didn’t experience the 70’s
first hand has just included these elements to differentiate his video from other music videos. I
would like to incorporate a different generations’ style in my music video but due to lack of budget
I think if I attempted it then it wouldn’t look very affective.
It is obvious the misen-en-scene has been considered in each scene because in each scene the
background- setting around the main aspect of the video- is rarely repeated and has obviously had
a lot of thought included to make sure that it fits the lyrics as accurately as possible.
PRODUCT 2, RIPTIDE

5. Product 3
My third product is Habits by Trove Lo, The artist has a grunge influence on pop music. The song is about
using drink and drugs as a way to escape her mind and forget someone. I’m using this music video to
analyze not because of the lyrics but because of the way it is filmed. The video is filmed using a
medium/close shot with the camera in front of her face for the video. The video is filmed as though the
actress isn’t aware she’s being filmed, so there’s no eye contact with the camera. The video follows her life
over a few days. In the video the setting changes from going out to walking around different places in the
dark then getting into a taxi and going to different clubs. The setting being dark throughout the video
creates a late night, mysterious atmosphere.
Even though the videos only main camera shot i a medium/close up of the women the video still includes
other close up shots, with high definition quality, that help to the structure of the story. Also for some of
the scenes we have the singer just singing against a black wall and we see her emotions through the way
she’s singing.
The video follows the story line of the song. The scenes in the video are quite risky and they are included
to make it look as realistic as possible and it works well and tells an accurate and relatable story for
someone going through heartbreak in their 20s.
I like the idea of having as watch her as her life goes on and to see how she changes and how the night
treats her. And how we see the world going on around her but we just focus on her. I think I might include
this aspect in my video. Only she knows she’s being watched by the camera while the people around her
are unaware.

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
Different types of music have different conventions for their music videos and follow
different stereotypes for their videos. For example, a pop song from an artist in the
top charts most likely would follow the stereotype of :
• having young, attractive actors/actresses
• enjoying life and going out late to parties
• Usually under the influence of alcohol or drugs
• Establishing shots to set a tone, e.g. time lapse of sunsets and close ups to show
smiling and having a good time
• Or about a boy and a girl meeting, then throughout video breaking up
• The lighting is usually bright and colourful to convey that they are young and
happy
However my song wouldn’t fall under pop music and therefore wouldn’t follow their convention. Catfish and the
Bottlemen is an indie/rock band and therefore follows some similar aspects but is mainly approaching a different
audience and caters for them by following different conventions. For example:
• The band/artist is usually involved
• The setting is in darker/grunge locations
• Don’t follow a specific storyline, more technical shots
• An instrumental part where the band plays and there’s no lyrics
For my video I need to follow the conventions of an indie/rock band. I will try to accurately follow the lyrics as much as I
can, and try to recreate the person that the song is about, but to do that I have to accurately recreate the same
environment making it realistic and believable. I think to make it look most effective I would include a band because my
song has an instrumental bit were there are drums and guitar playing. There are a lot of potential bands in York that I
could include in my video for this aspect, I could go to a gig and record the band playing then include it in my video and
edit it so it looks like they’re playing the song, however as I don’t know any of them personally I don’t think I would be
able to get good enough footage from the audience.

8. Genre Characteristics
Catfish and the Bottlemen are a unique band. The songs usually
follow the format of a boy falling for a girl storyline with the song
about heartbreak. Unlike other popular modern artists Catfish and
the Bottlemen create the backing music all themselves using their
own instruments. Catfish and the Bottlemen have official music
videos for their songs but most of them are of different artistic shots
of the band performing the song.
They share quality traits with other similar indie bands like The
Kooks, they both have quite upbeat songs and the same style
singing with the two main singers, Van McCann and Luke Pritchard.
The lead singer McCann said ‘I feel like everybody started thinking
too outside the box trying to be arty and different. We wanted to
stay inside the box’ which I think portrays their type of music.
The genre indie/rock doesn’t fit a typical, traditional definition of
rock, they are also experimental. So in my video I need to make sure
that I don’t create a simple straightforward storyline like other pop
videos. This is because the band doesn’t want to be categorized with
other bland music they want to be individual and not follow the
modern day stereotype for music.
Also the videos all usually have a dark colourisation on the scenes
giving it a dull feeling throughout the video or the full video is in
black and white, contrasting from the stereotypical pop video.

9. Chosen approach/justification
Why I want to make it how I want to
For my project I have decided to include a range of different shots types. For example in my
video I want to include a range of establishing shots to set the scene and create an
atmosphere in the video and to split up parts of the video instead of just continuous
recordings of the same person.
In my video I want to include different editing, I will change the colour of the videos so that it
can fit in with the grunge stereotype of a indierock band. The colour will be less exposed as
it usually is with darker tones included in the editing. I also think that I might include some
black and white scenes during the chorus because in a lot of Catfish and the Bottlemen music
videos the scenes are changed to black and white. I also will use the same feature that Tove
Lo did in her ‘Habits’ music video where the camera follows her life because I think for my
song the lyrics tell the story of someone's day to day life and therefore I think this filming
technique would look effective.

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 - Process
Lip syncing
For my first experiment I wanted to explore the process of
how to create a realistic lip syncing scene. I wanted to
learn how to do this because in my video I think if I
introduce this technique in my video it’ll make it look more
professional.
To start the process we had to adjust the camera so that it
was on the right setting and the exposure and focus was
correct for where we wanted to film. We decided to record
against a white screen with lights focussed on the white so
that we could get the most clear picture. We then decided
on the song we were doing at made sure we had the lyrics
available in case we needed them. We included props and
different people from my class so that we had a range od
shots we could use. We also filmed them at different
shots, medium, long and close so that we could practice.
We filmed people singing/or miming along to the lyrics
with the song playing in the background so that nobodies
performance was out of time with anyone else. Then in
editing we would cut out the background noise and put
the original song behind so that they were in time and it
looked as though they were singing to the song.

12. Reflection
• What elements of your experiments will you include in your final
product?
To make it look most effective the person miming along had to put effort into the
performance as therefore it looked realistic but if the person was just stood there and miming
effortlessly it would be obvious they weren’t actually singing the song. So, for my real video I
will make sure that the actor I use in it will act professionally so it looks most effective.
I’m happy with the range of different shots we took as it made the video more interesting
however I wish we had done more as there are only two different shot angles, during the
filming I thought I had included more. Next time I also want to film them from different places
around the room, for example from the side or from an angle where they don’t know I’m
filming them. Overall I think the filming went well, I’m glad we introduced different people
miming the same part because it gives us diversity.

13. Experiment 2 - Process
My second experiment was practicing editing on premier software to explore different features I can
include on my real music video and also how to edit a lip syncing piece so that the audio and the
miming synced seamlessly. I used the same scenes I had recorded early with the baby shark audio
because I wanted to use something I had filmed myself so I could see how the whole project would
work doing it all myself and not using someone else’s clips.
To start the editing I had to upload all my recordings to the computer, this was simple and took next to
no time. After I had downloaded them all I had to find a version of the audio, for my project it was the
‘Baby Shark’ song. I found the audio for the song online and downloaded it through a website. Then
when I had all of my recordings and clips I needed in premier I could start editing the video. I edited
the clips by changing the color and having a look through different effects I could include in the video. I
didn’t use any of these features as I was only using them as practice and thought the video looked
better without the effects. If I wanted to use an edit that I didn’t know how to all I had to do was
watch a YouTube video about it and this helped a lot and gave me a wider knowledge of the software
and how to use it.
I added the audio and had to edit all the clips so they started at the same time so they would correctly
sync with the song. This took time but in order for it to be precise it needed time and it was the first
time I was doing it so would’ve taken longer. After this I looked at where the beat dropped or there
was a beginning of a new line and cut the recordings so they changed as a new lyrics came on, I did
this throughout the video so it had a range of shots.

14. Reflection
I’m happy with the outcome of my editing because I don’t think it looks too messy
and before starting I assumed it would look quite unprofessional as Although I’m
aware of how to use the premier software I’m not very skillful at it yet. In my own
video I will include the same technique where I take a lot of different shots
including long, medium and close up to include a range, I’ll always include
different shots of different things happening, for example in one the person will be
miming along and then in the next they’ll be acting natural like they don’t know
there’s a camera. As I see this on a range of music videos and think it would look
effective.
I will remember from the process that the editing at the beginning to make all the
audio in time with the scenes takes longer then expected and is tricky and precise.
So I will make sure I keep that in mind when I am leaving time to edit my project.