This is my animatric which I made from the storyboard which gives me a clear idea of how my video will look and it helped me work out how long each shot would be. I cut the first 10 seconds of electronic noise off the track because with it I feel that the video starts to drag because some shots were too long at first. I also tried as best I can to edit this on the beat of the song but will focus on doing this properly with my actual footage.
I have gone with the idea of a party and made a simple love story narrative around it. Since it's only a three minute song I wanted to keep any narrative I have as simple as possible. I think the purpose of most narratives is to keep the audience watching so they can find out how it ends which I why I have included it rather than just shots of the band. The main focus of the video though is of the band as they are in nearly every shot with them having there own band performance scene and they follow the characters around the party narrative. I also feel like this video matches the lyrics well without them being too literal.
I have created a scripted storyboard before creating by final drawn one as this gives me a clearer idea of what will happen in my video and the pace of it instead of jumping right in and drawing it up and risk making big mistakes.
For my music video I would like to have a mixture of narrative and performance set around a house party. A boy and girl are shown both getting ready for the party which is shown in the first 50 seconds of instrumental music. By the time the lyrics start they are both at the party and fall in love over the course of the song. The two band members follow the protagonists in the video whilst performing the song without them seeing, inspired by Look For The Woman Video. In the end the protagonists walk out together holding hands and so do the band members.
To capture the surrealist vibe of MGMT videos I would like to project images over the bands faces and the party as a whole. These screenshots are taken from the video Doubt by Delphic and capture the effect I will be going for. I would like to get patterns from the effects used on windows media player which already follow the beat of the song. Actually producing this effect will be difficult as I will have to look into using projectors attached to a computer or look at doing it in post production.
Checklist - Actors - Band - one girl, one boy - Protagonist - one girl, one boy - Extras for the party, will try to show only select angles so it looks like more people are there than there actually is.
Sets - Two bedrooms for the protagonists to get dressed at - House for the party
Props - Guitar - Keyboard - Party clothes and smaller props can be gotten easily - Digital projector (?)
EDIT-
I have been looking into how to create a digital projector effect without actually having to use one and found this: http://tinyurl.com/3y5cmo6 which looks very useful but I will have to look further into this and see how it works and if I could create one myself using a computer instead of a television.
Here are my analysed lyrics to Boogie Down. The song itself is simple and there did not need to be a lot of analysis as there are no metaphors or deeper meanings, its just a song about having a good time. I have also included the timings of each line which will help me when creating my storyboard for the video.
Personally this song reminds me of house parties, the one which instantly comes to mind is the Skins party with lots of people and a band playing. The atmosphere seems very raw and has lots of sexual connotations which reflect this type of crazy house party.
My target audience will be students of the average age of 20. This will include both male and female students but primarily male as stereotypically men are most interested in music. I have chosen specifically students as they typically known for going out a lot with lots of friends and having fun which is what my chosen song and music genre is about.
These features all come under the Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation psychographic profile of the Explorer. The Explorer is typically students and the younger demographic who value energy, individualism and experience. They want things with instant effects and are the first to try new things. I will keep this group in mind when making making my music video, digipak and advertisement so it appeals to this audience.
The third video I am analysing is Electric Feel by MGMT from 2008, again the embed code has been disabled but I have included a link. I am analysing another MGMT video to get a feel for what type of videos they make and if they are any common themes. The video is directed by Ray Tintori who has worked on previous videos with the band which share the same style. His videos use raw special effects rather than flashy ones which make it obvious to the audience that they are fake and the video is fictional. This is also very apparent in this video as it is highly surreal and hallucinogenic.
The video starts with an establishing shot looking over tree tops in a forest to establish the diegesis. The sky quickly changes colour from daylight to sunset to show that the video is set at night time. It then cuts to the singer walking through the forest into a party filled with strangely dressed people. The mise-en-scene of the forest itself seems magical as the colours have been altered and the edges of the screen have been slightly blurred to make it seem dreamlike so the audience know this is a fictional diegesis. Cartoons and animations are used in the video as well such as drawings of bats which fly across the screen throughout the video to re-enforce the fact that the video is not real.
The costume within the mise-en-scene are clothes associated with hippies and match the setting of the forest. A band member is seen sitting on a motorcycle with a girl which connotates the rebellious and rock star image of the band. This could of been used to show that they are not actually the conventional political hippies but instead have the same free love and drug attitude. This party band representation is re enforced when the singer is handed a bottle of what the audience assume is alcohol. Close-up shots of the band are used as it is a convention of the music video. Also a medium long shot of the band playing so the audience can see them as a whole. As the chorus starts the scene is shown through sweeping pan shots over the party to show how vast it is. People dance in a sexual way with each other which matches the lyrics and the mood of the song.
Like in their previous video I analysed surreal and things happen in the video, the most random being the shots of bears playing the music. The music video features an appearance by the Rock-afire Explosion who are the bears in the video. They are an animatronic animal band that played in American pizza restaurants in the 1980's and 90's. During the second verse the dream like psychedelic vibe is re enforced again when the moon is brought down from the sky and they open it up. Bright flashing colours come out of it which everyone covers themselves in.
The vibe is the video is very similar to paintings by an artist called Gauguin. His painting also show strange landscapes which don't aim to be realistic like in the video. Comparing this video to one of his paintings it could be said that the video is a reference to his work. The colour scheme of blue mainly blue and green and the soft edges are used in both. This painting also reminds me of lyrics of the song, 'Standing there with nothing on, she's gonna teach me how to swim'
The second video I has chosen is Flash Delirium by MGMT, unfortunately they have disabled the embed code on their YouTube account so I can only paste the link. I have chosen this video as the song I have chosen for my music video is also by MGMT. MGMT are an alternative psychedelic pop rock band and this song is from their 2010 album Congratulations. The director, Andreas Nilsson, decribes the video as "lending a visual clue into the maelstrom and chaos of modern times."
The video tells the narrative of the band going to the keyboardist's, Ben's, home after the success of their first album for a homecoming party. It is obvious that they do not fit in with the family as they are all middle aged or older people who seem very upper class due to the mise-en-scene such as their costume and the stately house they live in. The characters all seem very quirky which is shown through their costumes for example the old man with an eye patch and the girls dressed as if their from the 1960's. This 1960's reference could show the fact that the band are psychedelic as the genre originates from the 1960's.
There are clues that the family are not what they seem and have a sinister undercurrent, an example being right at the beginning when the driver looking in his rear view mirror at the band with suspicion. Another example is when the video cuts to the bald man sat with what looks like satelites and radio communincations which connotate he is listening or spying on people.
The video is very surreal with random dance routines, ventriloquist dummies and even a man with breasts at the end. This matches the representation of the band as they have surreal lyrics and their songs often change tunes many times as with this song. An effect used a lot through the video is blurry shots which then come into focus. This adds to the surreal and dream like nature of the video. The strangest thing in the video is the fact that Ben has a singing hole in his neck (?!) which he tries to hide from his family throughout the video. When they find out about this they pull an eel from the hole. For most people this would seem totally random and again surreal but for fans it is an self reference. The band often talk about how they don't want to be a mainstream band and one of their most popular songs has lyrics about an electric eel. This eel is then pulled out and destroyed in a machine which represents how they want to lose the mainstream image of them as it is not who they really are.
The climax of the video is when the eel is being destroyed and the family start to dance. The lighting keeps changing colour and paper is blown around the room for dramatic effect and to show the machine is having an effect. The editing pace quickens and jumps rapidly to the different characters to see their reactions. Different camera techniques such as handheld shaky camera and low angles are all used to disorientate the audience and show the chaos of the scene.
At the end the video turns almost nightmarish when they start counting. Different images quickly flash on the screen which correspond to the numbers including the family members crying or looking sinister. This shows that not all is perfect within the family and there is a sinister undercurrent to them. Seemingly random images are juxtaposed together with very fast paced editing to add to the chaos and nightmarish nature of the video. Old film footage is shown of children within this which seem to connotate the ideal American suburban living with hot dogs and face painting. This again backs up the idea that not all is what it seems within the family.
Overall this video represents the band well as it matches the surreal and alternative music style of the band. It entertains none fans because of the random nature of it but there are also self-references in it for bigger fans.
The first video I am analysis is Look for the Woman by Dan le sac vs Scroobius Pip released in April 2008. They are a British hip hop duo who combine beats with spoken word. This video represents the band as not an average hip hop duo, the conventional hip hop videos usually includes big parties and girls in bikinis whilst this one has a message to it and is set in a run down urban area.
The video starts with a conventional establishing shot or a city skyline at daybreak which sets up the diegesis for the video. It is set in an anonymous industrial looking city and lots of big buildings and colours like grey and brown are used which portrays as boring and dull.It then cuts to the singer Scroobius Pip with angel wings over someones bed. Throughout the video he is the 'guardian angel' of the protagonist whose day we follow. The protagonist never sees him and this lets Scroobius Pip be placed in the background of different scenes in order to have a performance in the video. This also connects the song with the narrative. The narrative fits the song as it is about a failing relationship and the video follows the protagonist on the day he is splitting up with his girlfriend. The idea of having guardian angels following them around makes this rather ordinary video idea more unique.
Another unique part of the narrative is that the main boy and girl have televisions on their heads. This could be used to show how distant they are from each other and also disconnected from life. The audience can see that the man is disconnected from the rest of society as he is always shown walking on his own and he is the only person, apart from his girlfriend who has television set.
Jump cuts are used whilst the protagonist is getting ready in the morning to speed up the narrative, these jump cuts also go to the beat of the song which is a convention of a music video. Another convention used is close ups of the artist which is used a lot. The camera lingers on a picture of him and his girlfriend which shows the audience that she is of some significance to the narrative.
At work he is shown in a cramped office surrounded by technology such as fax machines, computers and telephones. This connotates that the technology doesn't make him happy and feels like it is in his way. The office is very plain and filled with papers which shows how mundane work and life is to him. Again the camera lingers on a picture of him and his girlfriend, the picture is then cast in darkness, this could be symbolic, meaning that their relationship has also been 'cast into darkness' and is ending.
The browns and greys of the industrial landscape contrast with the introduction of the girlfriends guardian angel who has bright orange hair. This shows that she stands out and from the rest of the deigesis and the camera pans across to her to show she is also important. This shot could also been seen as a point of view shot as it is from where scroobius pip was standing, so this means she is important to him. As the couple walk away holding hands there is a close-up of their hands falling by their sides which shows there is no emotional contact with each other anymore.
As the protagonist goes to bed he looks at the picture of them both one more times and turns the light off into pith black. This finalises that their relationship has ended. However the video ends on a high note as the two angels meet up after and walk off together holding hands. This shows that not all is lost and there is still love to be found. Although the video shows a couple breaking up it still ends on a optimistic note to make the audience feel happy rather than sad at the end.
Like in their previous video I analysed surreal and things happen in the video, the most random being the shots of bears playing the music. The music video features an appearance by the Rock-afire Explosion who are the bears in the video. They are an animatronic animal band that played in American pizza restaurants in the 1980's and 90's. During the second verse the dream like psychedelic vibe is re enforced again when the moon is brought down from the sky and they open it up. Bright flashing colours come out of it which everyone covers themselves in.
