3. 1. THE OPENING OF MY VIDEO
Due to the style of my music video being narrative, I thought it was important
that the story was immediately presented to the audience. With
the first shot taking us straight into the dialogue I felt
it was effective since the core characters were
introduced and the audience got a brief glimpse of what
the bullying is like. I believe this stuck to the
conventions of other narrative videos, an example of
these are Lady Gaga’s videos to “Telephone” and “Paparazzi” which begin with
a long scene that introduces the audience to the story.
By having the scene short it was effective since it kept the
audience interested but also provided them with the
necessary background information they need for the video.
Also by the use of shots showing that the girl was cornered
by the bullies it sticks to the style of “high school” films
where the bullies “dominated” the
space in the scene. Films like Mean
Girls is a perfect example of this,
where the shots would be mainly
focused around the plastics.
4. 2. SETTING/ LOCATION
For my piece I wanted to make sure I had locations that could seem innocent but
that the scenes that occur in this setting are dark. I thought this was effective
since it contrasted the sadness of my piece to the happiness that my main
character sees in her flashbacks. In the music video for “If I Were A Boy” and
“Best Thing I Never Had” by Beyoncé it uses flashback to portray the concept of
the story, they even use the black and white effect in “If I Were A Boy” to give it
an old look as if she is looking back in time. For my main singing location I
needed to have somewhere that was very plain and dull to mirror the emotions
the character was singing, this is why I thought in front of a wardrobe in a
bedroom was good since it helped not only portray the area she is in but the
feelings that she is having through the video. If I could have improved any of my
locations I would of put the bullying scenes in a darker location since
the colour was too bright and made the scene look happier than it
should have been.
5. 3. COSTUME/PROPS
I don’t think that my costumes and props really challenge any conventions of media. Firstly
looking at costumes I went for everyday high street fashion for the flashback moments since
its sticks to what is trending in music videos at the moment and could be seen as what the
teenagers of today would wear. In the final scenes I decided to have my character wear a
white dress to show her getting ready to meet her boyfriend, in the m
music video to “Cough Syrup” by Darren Criss we see a boy who I is
being bullied and is about to commit suicide dressing in a suit, t this
shows that I have stuck to the conventions of your typical in t the pop
genre as Glee is a very successful television program and h has the
same target audience and my music video does. Another r reason
why I used the white dress was to represent that she was in heaven, this was effective as
the boyfriend was also in white and the audience knew he was dead from the start of the
video, so they could assume the girl was too. The colour of white also
could be connoted as peaceful, in the music video to “Take Me To
The Clouds Above” by LMC all the couple are dressed in white and some
even wear wings, implying they’re angels or at peace. For my props I
decided to stick to my concept of “everyday things” being used in a
horrible way for example; a flower being stomped on, or a photo being
drawn all over. I believe the idea of the “everyday” items sticks to
many of Bareilles’ videos as she shoots her videos in city/ urban
locations; sites where props like these would be found.
6. 4. CAMERA WORK/ EDITING
For my video I wanted a feel of climax as soon as the main character kills herself, this is
why I decided to use the editing to portray this, when the piece starts most of the shots
are quite long and there is a lot of continuous editing. As the music begun to climax in the
piece the editing started to get more fast paced with quicker shots until the music
crescendos and the editing goes back to how it did in the start, I thought this was effective
since it helped the piece to flow and give the video a peak before the happy ending. In the
video to “Nessaja” by Scooter there is a lot of fast editing in the party scenes to contrast
the slower, quieter parts, an idea that helped inspire my piece.
On the shots side of things I think my main idea was to portray the contrast
between her vulnerability in the main part of the video and the happiness in the
final scene. I used a lot of high angle shots to show she is weak in the music
video and that she has no where to turn to whereas in the last scene my
character tends to dominate the shot much more as if she is finally happy now
she is with her boyfriend.
7. 5. STYLE OF MY VIDEO
My video is a cross between both performance and narrative since I liked the
idea of a performer telling their story in a song. I have one main location to
differentiate the styles, the bedroom which is the place where my performer sings
the song and then the other locations which help to tell the story. I thought using
two styles was effective because I felt it gave a deeper look into the character’s
life since you get a look at her when she is being bullied and then you see her
when she is by herself and the sadness she feels. I believe that I challenge real
media products as in Bareilles’ video to “Gravity” and “Love Song”
they just use a performance style with little storyline behind it. I
didn’t like this because I felt it made the song very repetitive
and didn’t really dig deep into the lyrics whereas I think in my
video you can really feel a sense of the emotion behind the
words. A video that I believe is very similar to my piece is
“Concrete Angel” by Martina McBride as it is both
performance and narrative and involves the artist singing the song
whilst the story is told throughout. It also uses a sort of
“flashback” technique as if the artist is looking back on the
story and remembering the memories.
8. 6. STORY AND HOW THIS WAS TOLD
My story is about a girl who is badly bullied at school and feels alone after her
boyfriend died. In the end she ends up committing suicide to be with him. My
story sticks to the normal convention of narrative videos and follows the steps of
Todorov’s theory.
Equilibrium- The girl lives happily with her boyfriend.
Disequilibrium- The boyfriend dies and she is alone.
Recognition- At the graveyard the girl realises that she has nowhere to
turn without being in danger
Reparation- She commits suicide.
New equilibrium- She appears in heaven where her boyfriend is waiting
for her.
I felt like the narrative of my piece was the most important part
of my music video and I believe I portrayed this idea very
well due since I good a lot of good comments from my target
audience, one girl even commented “she cried more than she
cried at war horse”.
9. 7.GENRE AND HOW THE VIDEO SUGGESTS IT
The genre for my video was Pop. I knew I had to appeal to a wide audience since
many songs that have a pop genre are the once that get into the charts. I went
along with the normal conventions of a cute couple that the audience could fall in
love with and want to be together. I also needed an actor that a varied range of
audience could connect with to feel the emotions she is feeling. Looking at the
video for “Need Your Love” by Calvin Harris we see him and Ellie Goulding going
on dates and having fun, this reflects the couple in my music. Also I believe that
people who have been in relationships can connect with this music video which
then reels in a larger audience, a convention of Pop videos. I could also say that
my video has aspects of the Indie genre in it due to the fashion that some of my
characters where such as the bullies. In the music video to “1975” by Chocolate
there is a dark tone to the video which gives it a sad and depressing feel to
it, an idea I also portrayed in my video.
10. 8. HOW THE ARTIST IS PORTRAYED
Just like in Sara Bareilles’ music videos I wanted my actress to send
out a message to her target audience. I wanted the audience to realise
how far bullying can push someone, this why I mainly portrayed my
actress a weak, vulnerable and trapped. I thought this was effective
because it makes the audience asks what this girl has done wrong to
be treated this way. I was very pleased with my actress Susie Barton
as she played the role perfectly and helped bring not only the
innocence to the peace but also the strength at the end of the song. I
believe that when an audience member watches my video the will
realise the importance of not letting
bullying get to you and that wherever you
are, there is always someone who cares
for you.
11. 9. SPECIAL EFFECTS
Although I didn’t use many special effects in my video I do believe the ones I
used stuck to other music video’s conventions. The first effect I used was the
black and white effect to make the scenes look like they were back in time, as I
have already mentioned in the setting/ location slide. Another effect that was
used quite prominently in my video was speeding up and slowing clips down, I
thought these were effective since they helped to bring pace and tension to the
fast parts and also helped cause a climax to the piece when I slowed things
down. The last effect I used was a lens flare in the final scene, this helped
emphasise the visual idea as heaven since it was bright. I’m happy that I didn’t
use much special effects in my piece since my video was very much about the
story and I think if I have had added a lot of effects into it, the story would have
been overlooked.
