Possible Location

During the summer holidays I visited Alexandra Palace and saw it as a potential location for our music video due to there being a boating lake, skate park and graffitti wall. This fits in with the edgy vibe of the song and as the skate park is very colourful this will add to the effect of the video we wanted, mkaing it look urban and quirky. The boating river will also be a great aspect for us to use due to the quirky swan boats available and we think the river looks really scenic and will look really effective for the last shot in which the characters go off into the sunset together. We will definitely consider this location and maybe do some practice shooting there.

Location Ideas

In todays lesson we brainstormed diferent locations in which we would like to film for our music video. We came up with some great places that are set in London as we want our video to be based in the city due to its quirkiness and exciting vibe.

Hyde Park BoatHouse:  We liked the idea of using the boathouse as we feel we could either use this as the end shot and show both characters going off into the sunset on the boat or we feel it would be another good place for the boy to pop up and try and impress the female character where the girl cannot escape.

Southbank We really liked the idea of using the Southbank as it has many different elements to it. One part is the skatepark which we feel will be really effective as it fits in with the urban feel of the video. We also had an idea of the boy dressing up as a skater trying to impress the girl. We also loved the graffitti wall and thought it would be a good place for the female character to sing as a background. We also wanted to use the city skyline at Southbank to fit in with the city theme and also we wanted to encorporate the river and boats into the video in order to give the video varied scenery of London.

Waterloo Station  we thought Waterloo would be a good location to use, firstly because it is next to the Southbank in which we want to do other filming but also because the station is perfect for our idea of the girl running to find the boy who is leaving in order to fit in with the lyric 'dreamt you were on a train'. We also feel the announcement board would be a good element of teh video as we follow the narrative of the girl trying to find the boy after she realises she actually likes him.

Oxford Street: We wanted to use a busy street like Oxford Street in order to film London surroundings and maybe use it for the panning shot we wanted to do of the female singer walking around London. Also as we wanted to encorpare the cliche of Jeans into the video we feel we could film different fashion and people wearing jeans.

Hopefully we are going to visit all of these locations during the Summer and take some practice shots and also just to see if they will fit in well with our music video.

Ke$ha Prelim

Here is our pleminary excercise of Ke$ha Tik Tok in which we had to mimmick and copy each shot of the original music video. We feel we have had achieved this although some parts are not exactly the same we feel we have learnt from this and it has given us the experience we need for doing our own music video.

In order to make the video we worked chronologically by looking at a storyboard, we understand that in our actual music video we will not be able to work like this as it will be too time consuming. We overall found making the prelim partly difficult as it was hard to copy each shot but we understand we will not have to do this in out final music video as it will be our own ideas. We also found it difficult as the shots were extremely fast pace and there vere various shots within a second, therefore making it hard for us copy exactly. We also found it challenging editing the music in time with the lipsyncing due to the quick shots, and also it was hard to make it so it was the same as the original Tik Tok video we were copying.

Overall I found the task enjoyable and am looking forward to making and filming our own music video! If we were to do this again we would choose another video with less shots as it was difficult to film the variety of shots in order to look the same as the Tik Tok video. We feel we did well in editing the short prelim and feel the music and lip syncing were well edited and in sync. Overall, we are proud of our final product.

Today we filmed our kesha prelim and followed our storyboard and copied every shot. this was difficult but we achieved this. This made me realise how time consuming making a music video is and has prepared me for the difficulty we will face in making ours. We have begun to edit the video and hope to have finished it by next week.

Lip Syncing Practice

In order to practice for our lip sync practice task in todays lesson we did a 30 second practice of me miming to Kesha. This was in preparation for the video we will do of Tik Tok, in which we will copy every scene and shot from the video. Today was not using the same scenery or shots as the video but this was purely to practice our editing skills and miming skills in keeping in sync with the music.

Analysing Lyrics

Here I have reserached the lyrics to Skinny Genes in order to see if we can use the words in order to create a narrative. For example, 'your 99% of embarassment' we could use as the boy in the video may easily embarass the female lead. Also the lyric 'Dreamt you were on a train' we could use a shot of a train and film at a train station. Also as the lyrics feature the word 'dream' we could use a graphic of a thought bubble in order to portray dreaming and the characters different thoughts. Also the word dream could allow us to show the boy dreaming of perhaps the girl being in love with him, or perhaps singing with him as he plays the guitar due to the instrument being easily recognisable to hear in the song. Also the whistles in the song could be mimed by the boy character in order to show his annoying narrative.

I really don’t like your point of view
I know you’ll never change
Stingin' me with your attitude
I've got the mind to walk away

I really don't like your arrogance
Or your policies
You're ninety-nine percent an embarrassment
With just one quality


[Chorus:]
I don't mind it when you [whistles]
Brings out the best in me when you [whistles]
Show your expertise
When the night always ends with a fight
I'm excited that you wind up next to me


I like it when you [whistles]
Can I have some please of that [whistles]
Satisfy my needs
Sometimes I fake that I hate you and make up
So you wind up next to me


I really don't like your skinny jeans
So take them off for me
Show me what you've got underneath
So we can do this properly


I really don't like the way you smile
When you think you're right
But I will forgive you, the yolk is in the middle
And I'm chewing through the white


[Chorus]


dreamt that you were on a train
you were leaving, you were leaving
You made me think of what I'd miss
You were leavin', you were leavin'


I don't mind it when you [whistles]
Brings out the best in me when you [whistles]
Show your expertise
When the night always ends with a fight I'm excited
That you wind up next to me


I like it when you [whistles]
Can I have some please of that [whistles]
Take off your skinny jeans
Sometimes I fake that I hate you and make up
So you wind up next to me

First Idea

In todays leson we came up with our first initial idea. We really liked this song by Eliza Doolittle as it is quirky and fits in with the indie genre we set out to do a video on. We thought we could create a narrative with this song and came up with the idea of a 'geek gets the girl' with a awkward teenage boy trying to impress the girl, who will be the singer in the video.

We looked at this video by Sandi Thom and really like the dolly shot following her through London, we liked this idea and thought we could use this, with the boy perhaps coming up behind her using different techniques to woo her. We thought London would be a good background setting to use as it is exciting, vibrant and the background would be interesting. We also thought we could contrast the video by using a garden setting for her to be set free away from the boy. We also thought we could use a green screen in order to show different backgrounds we could not necessarily film.

Link to Sandi Thom video

Storyboard

I went through each frame of the Tik Tok video and print screened them, making a storyboard in order to help us with our video. Here are some parts of the storyboard.

Practice music video

In todays lesson we were set the task of making a practice music video, lasting a minimum of twenty seconds. After searching on youtube for videos we could easily mimick by using the same shots and similar mise en scene we looked at Ke$ha's Tik Tok video. We thought this video was easily achievable as it starts off in a bathroom setting which is easily accesible to us as we can use our own homes. Also as the beginning of the video is set within a home this is easy to shoot, although some aspects will be difficult such as the flashback party scenes at the beginning but we believe this is achievable with some hard work. Also the shots in the video are easy to achieve, with not many difficult shots. This short video will give us the practice we need in lip syncing and also in editing in time with the music. Wish us luck!