PRODUCTION - FIRST EDIT

This was the First Draft of my music video. I felt for my first attempt, that this was a good attempt as I completed a lot of the beginning parts of the video I had aimed to. I started using iMovie to edit, but swiftly transitioned to use Adobe Premier pro which I found easier to use for a number of reasons including the factor I could pull videos into sections without having the need to have video before it, I found it could stand alone which was very beneficial and convenient. I liked this software as I found I could easily edit the visual aspect to each video down to a very fine detail, allowing me to lighten the darker videos so that each fitted and ran smoothly. I put a heavy pink filter on each 'verse' to create contrast to the blue hue on the Diner section.

Upon reflection I realised I wanted to put more of a focus on Henry during the verses - so I aimed to re-edit this next time using shots of Henry lip-singing the song to create more focus on his 'star' appeal.

PRODUCTION - FEEDBACK ON SHOOTING

I shot my music video over a series of three days separately shooting The diner scenes used for the chorus of my song as well as those shot in the dark location with neon lights, The beach and forest scenes used for two verses and The scenes shot at Southend-on-sea arcades and pier. I was very fortunate each day that my actors could travel to location and dedicate the full day or evening to work on taking multiple shots. I began with a shot list which i followed through on each day in order to have 3 angles of each shot, giving me flexibility when it came to the editing stage.

Diner & dark room shoot

GOOD POINTS OF SHOOT

• Location - i was fortunate to be allowed to use the Diner flexibly for my shoot
• Relationship between The actors was strong and they were willing to follow order
• Relaxed environment meant better shots of the actors, especially the shots of henry lip-lipsynching and smiling. 

BAD POINTS OF SHOOT

• The Diner wasn't very busy so less natural atmosphere 
• Lighting was difficult as we had to work with where was natural 

Beach and Forest shoot

GOOD POINTS OF SHOOT

• Weather was warm and sunny and helped make the videos taken look more golden
• Henry and Emily had a great working relationship throughout the shoot
• Accessible location

BAD POINTS OF SHOOT

• There were people wondering around the forest which made it hard to shoot as dogs kept walking in on the shoot 
• Timing was hard as we only had a certain amount of natural lighting left as we shot during the afternoon/evening.

Pier and Arcades shoot

GOOD POINTS OF SHOOT

• Weather
•  relationship together
•  Iconic-ness of location

BAD POINTS OF SHOOT

• 'busy-ness' of Southend made it difficult to shoot without the general public getting into shot 
•  Restrictions on where we could film - We were not allowed inside the arcades

PRODUCTION - USING THE SOFTWARE

EDITING

Throughout the editing process, I used Adobe Premier pro to construct my music video. I found this a great software to use as it was very easy to match up the lip-synching with the song itself. This was helpful to make the piece flow better when played through. Adobe allowed me to place different videos in specific places - I began editing the verses first, leaving the chorus till last.

I enjoyed working with adobe as it had a huge variety of ways to edit the overall image. I filtered each video to be more saturated (to make the intertextuality between 'supersoaker' clearer). I also edited the verses to have a heavy pink filter and the diner scenes to have a heavy blue filter. With adobe, this was easy and sleek.

GENERIC RESEARCH - ARTIST WEBSITE CASE STUDY - TOM ODELL

TOM ODELL
https://www.tomodell.com/

Tom Odell is a suitable case study candidate as he is a similar artist to my own fictional artist 'Henry'. Although he is part of the 'Indie' music movement, he has had multiple singles in the top charts, appealing to the mass markets to even be victorious of a number Ten space on the top 40.

The official website for Tom Odell is themed around his latest album 'Jubilee Road', focusing an interactive section around the street and allowing visitors to the page and fans to 'explore' this.
The website has a strong sense of branding and focus on the artist himself as the heading rotates pictures which he is featured in. Alongside this, the webpage has links to the following sections: 'Explore','Music','Videos','Live', 'Gallery' and 'official store'. These links allow fans to navigate to where they can buy items of official merchandise, look at pictures from gigs and find out tour dates. 'Music' directly connects fans to a streaming service as well.

The 'Explore' feature is what i find most interesting and interactive as fans can 'meet friends and neighbours' as well as explore the house itself features in the animated photo that is displayed on the webpage. This brings a new level of interactivity between Odell and his Fans as they can find out more about the concept of his music and where it has come from, creating a bigger connection therefore to him and his music. I wish to create a similar feature with my own website for Henry by including visual content which is engaging (similar to how the image on this web page feels as though it has been 'brought' to life) and giving the audience more information perhaps on the inspiration for the music video to make it altogether more personal.

Furthermore, The webpage for Odell clearly displays links to his social media, allowing him to appeal to the demographic of a mass market as they are likely to be part of the digital age and using social media to stay connected.

GENERIC RESEARCH - ARTIST WEBSITE CASE STUDY - HOZIER

HOZIER
https://hozier.com/

Hozier is another suitable candidate to act as a case study in comparison to my own fictional artist 'Henry' as he is partially an alternative style singer yet has appealed to the mass demographic with Multiple singles in the chart and He had his international breakthrough after releasing his debut single "Take Me to Church", which had been certified multi-platinum in several countries, including the US, the UK, and Canada.

The website for Hozier has a strong sense of 'branding' as the featured video played behind information on page navigation is taken from the 'Wasteland baby' Album artwork he has most recently released. The video is engaging as it shows Hozier underwater with repetition of this imagery across all the web links aside tour dates which features a strong, red filtered photo of Hozier performing at a gig.

The deep blue theme of the web pages links to the themes of his music and his Logo for his stage name 'Hozier' is boldly displayed at the heading of the webpage.

There is a sense of strong interactivity between the artist and Audience as there are clear links to his social media accounts at the heading of the page, this encourages more fans to stay up to date with news on Hozier and encourages more to listen to his music therefore. 

The page with merchandise displays the sale of vinyl records, which are old fashioned discs used for listening to music on vinyl players. In modern culture, The use of vinyl players has increased due to a resurgence in admiration for all things 'vintage'. Therefore, due to how I plan to portray my artist 'Henry' to be an old fashioned loving rockstar, i also will take inspiration from Hozier to offer 'Merch' on my own web page centred around vintage terms like vinyl records. 

PLANNING - COSTUME

COSTUME

Costume is a very key element to my piece as I wish to create strong bonds of intertextuality A way i can best achieve this is through costume. I will ensure to dress my cast members in 50's and 60's inspired clothing to give the illusion they are part of a different era in time. My main aim I aspire towards is showing how the theme of 'young love' is timeless and so relatable and desirable to a 'mass-market' audience. By setting it in a 'retro' time period I hope to also create a sense of nostalgia. This is increasingly demanded by the mass audience in terms of fashion trends, what is their TV program content and movie narratives.

I will need a minimum of four clothing sets for each main actor to my piece as well as a single set of 50's inspired clothing for background actors/actresses.

Costume mood boards:
Mood board of clothing for my main actor -

 Mood board of clothing for my main actress -

PLANNING - PROPS

PREPARATION FOR PROPS

• Fender squire guitar - Lights and diner scenes - Emphasises Henry's 'rockstar' image 
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• Microphone - Lights and diner scenes - To make the performance more realistic
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• Amp - Lights and diner scenes - To make the performance more realistic
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• Pink 50's glasses - Diner scene - Intertextuality ('retro')
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• Milkshake glasses - Diner scene - Classic diner milkshakes will emphasise interetxtuality and make scenes natural
  
  
  
  
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• Lipstick (retro) - Diner scene - Iconic to the 50's/60's in a new age of makeup and femininity. 
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• Polaroid Camera - Beach scene - As well as being interetextual (vintage), it will imply young lovers want to create 'memories', which is an idea audiences will understand and recognise to be part of love.
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• Bucket and spade - Beach scene - Makes scene more realistic
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• Picnic blanket - Picnic date scene - Adds to the overall image of a 'perfect' date
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• Fudge/food - Picnic date scene - old fashioned packaging is interetextuality
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• 'pink lemonade' - Picnic date scene - Big hint to the song itself
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• Note with number written on it - Final diner scene - Important to narrative and iconic to romance films.

PLANNING - LOCATION

LOCATION

Location is important within media as it will often put action and narrative into context. It is also important for me to assess Location choices as I may need to request permission to film in certain places.
 For my Music video, I aim to use mostly naturalistic settings to emphasise the realism of the narrative and ensure focus is on the young couple starring in the video. These locations will then either look 50's/60's inspired or be free of any periodic influence (as in a beach viewed in the 50's essentially will look the same now).

However, this use of naturalism I also aim to mix with a sense of surrealism with the intention of making my stars 'rockstar' image more defined.

Location will be close to where the actors are based to allow for more accessibility.

I have chosen to shoot all my scenes during strong daylight in order to fully benefit from the natural lighting, This is as I am intentionally creating a very 'real' feeling piece.

Location from candidate5209

PLANNING - CASTING

Casting from candidate5209

PLANNING - MIS-EN-SCENE

Mise en scène 

This term encompasses the most recognisable attributes of a film – the setting and the actors; it includes costumes and make-up, props, and all the other natural and artificial details that characterise the spaces filmed.  The term is borrowed from a French theatrical expression, meaning roughly “put into the scene”.  In other words, mise-en-scène describes the stuff in the frame and the way it is shown and arranged

I want the overall mis-en-scene of my own piece to be an aesthetically pleasing music video which resonates the vintage/retro era of the 50's and 60's. I aim to achieve this assisted by use of heterosexuality to play on the mass-audiences ideas drawn from iconic retro films like 'Grease' and 'Dirty Dancing'. During the editing phase of this videos production process, I wish to use turquoise, Bubblegum bright filters as in Kings of Leon's 'Supersoaker' to further aid the fun, upbeat lyrics and tone of the song and connote a colour iconic to the era of American diners and Jukeboxes. Furthermore, I want to convey the emotional aspect of the song through my actors expression, telling the romantic ups and downs of love at first sight in a true fantastical and 'cheesy' way. I want my mis-en-scene to be over the top and obvious in this way. I hope this will relate to the audiences ideas of 'young love' and appeal to the 'mass markets' thirst for nostalgic, retro imagery as well.