Pitching our idea

On Friday 23rd, we pitched our idea to Luke. He thought that it was too simple and straighforward - a couple arguing and then getting back together - it was nothing out of the ordinary.
He said that we needed to come up with more exciting for it so that it doesn't seem too cheesy.

Choosing a final track

After everyone was done with their pitch, we were divided into groups. I'm in a group with Emma Styles and George Spooner.

We further developed each one's idea and after a lot of discussion, we decided to settle for George's idea.

His idea is of a man and woman going to troubles in their relationship, but eventually getting back together. This is also connected to a performance element where the main character (the man) is playing his guitar and singing at a bar.

This idea is for the acoustic version of the song Wheels by Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters.
There isn't an official video for this song which is a good thing for us.

Response to Initial Pitch

After my pitch, we had a feedback session from the people in my class. This was useful especially because they were part of the age group of the target audience that I had in mind.

In terms of the comic book themed idea, most of the people really liked it. They thought it was original and unique, however the technicals of animating the footage would need to be figured out.

These are some videos that I was suggested to watch. They have the same comic book theme that I would want for my video.

In terms of my multiple-narrative idea, it wasn't liked as much as the first one.
It sounded complicated, but mainly, it needed to be developed more. 

Pitching Initial Ideas

After coming up with our initial ideas, we had to do a powerpoint pitch to introduce them to other people in our class.
This is the presentation I put together:

Pop video pitch

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Initial Ideas

As the first step to coming up with ideas for our A2 Pop Video, I looked up different songs I would like to use for it. Not only do we have to like the song, we also have to make sure the video treatment for it is going to be different from the original one.

The initial idea I came up with was to have three different narratives that seem completely incoherent however towards the end of it, they all turn out to be linked.
The first narrative concept that I had was to have it set in a shelter in a war zone and perhaps have the start of a love story between a young boy and girl.
The second narrative was to have a man at a wedding altar, waiting for her fiancé to turn up.
The third narrative would include a man sitting on a bench in real time, while the background (maybe a street) behind him would be fast forwarded.
Towards the end of the video, we would find out that the people in all three narratives are the same, however they are in different stages of their life.

I really like the song Open Your Eyes by Snow Patrol, and I was keen on designing a video based on this song. The current video for this song is a footage from a French film called C'etait un Rendevous. It consists of a car driving around Paris throughout the song until a man comes out of his car to meet his girlfriend at the end of it.




The song Zombie by the Cranberries is another good one, however it didn't match the concept I had in mind and so it had to be ruled out eventually.



Another concept I had, was to have the whole music video in the theme of a comic book. Real characters could either be animated to look like a comic book character or the narrative could actually be a comic book film.

The song Bulletproof by La Roux would be a good song choice for this concept because it is quite upbeat, energetic and fun.
Their current video might be similar to the one I have in mind because it focuses around a unique visual concept - in this case the special effects with the maze-like set. However, the actual concept is different.

Keith Negus

Keith Negus on Prezi

Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer is a cinema theorist who came up with the concept of a star being a constructed image that behaves as a commodity that is produced and consumed based on its meaning. This image is constructed by record companies and are designed to appeal to a specific target audience.

Richard Dyer

A star is an image, not a real person, that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (e.g. advertising, magazines, etc. as well as films (music)).
They are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings.
Their star image must be seen as fixed for an audience to identify with meanings contained within.

A star persona is a preferred 'constructed' image of HOW the star wishes to be seen; not their real personality.

It must also maintain some fluidity - as in the image must be able to shift within certain fixed parameters.
The image will reflect the expectations of the audience and should move within the times if the artist is to keep their popularity and credibility.
Once an image has been 'fixed', it is difficult to shift audience expectation - it may desirable for artist but not for the record company.

Another aspect of Dyer's theory is the concept of being present and absent at the same time. The star seems to be present with their audience for example, due to close ups of the star looking at the camera - it makes it seem like they are connecting with us. Also, we follow them on twitter, read articles of them in magazines and newspapers which keeps us updates about their lives.
However, we do ultimately know that they are not physically with us but we are inclined to know everything about them and we therefore 'feed' on their star image.

<include example - gaga?>

Dyer also talks about the idea of being ordinary and extraordinary at the same time, similar to the concept of absence and presence. The stars come across as ordinary, so that we as an audience can relate to them however they are extraordinary in the sense that their image is crafted to look the way it does.

<include example - adele> 

Analysing a Pop Video Product

In    this  essay    I    will    be    analysing    the   video   “Dynamite”  by  Taio  Cruz  who  is  an   English    R&B   singer.  

    

The  image  that  Taio  Cruz  has  managed  to  put  across  through  this  video  is  that  of  a    conventional  womanizer,    which  is  common  among  R&B  stars.  His  masculine  character  is    shown  in  many  ways:  Firstly,  his  opening  shot  in  this  video  is  of  him    riding  a  motorbike.    He  then  takes  his  helmet  off  and  puts  on  some  sunglasses.  These  objects  are  associated    with  power  and  masculinity,    thus  establishing    Taio’s  manly  character  portrayal.    In  terms    of  editing,  the  juxtaposition  of  the   BMW  symbol  on  his  motorbike  reinforces  this    masculine  stereotype.  

There  are  a  lot  of  women  in  this  video  who  are  dressed  in  skimpy  outfits  

establishing  a  sexualised  representation  of  them    and  reinforcing  Taio’s  

‘womanizer’  image.  There  are  a  lot  of  close  ups  of  the  women’s  bodies  drawing    

attention    to  this  portrayal.      

Taio’s  image  is  carried  on  throughout  the  video  in  various  ways:  he  performs  stunts    on    his    bike,  he  performs  on  a  stage  with  fire  blowing  around  him,  he   always  walks  in  front  of  all    the  women  and  he  is  given  the  most  privilege.  Also,  he’s  almost  always  placed  at  a  very  low    angle  putting  him    in  a  high  ‘star’  status  in  comparison  to  the  women  where  the  attention  is    drawn  mainly  on  their  bodies.  

    

This    song    falls    into    the    R&B  category     and    the    video   is   quite   conventional  in   the    sense  that  it  portrays  Taio  Cruz  as  a  manly  figure  that  the  audience  of  this  product    will    look   up    to    as  an    idol    and  star.  It  doesn’t  challenge  the  norms  in  any  way  since  the    main  element  is  the  performance  element,  which  is  done  in  a  style  that    adds  to  his  image    that  conforms  to  the  generics.  

    

This  video  would  be  aimed  at  teenagers  (mainly  male)  who  would  look  up  to  his    masculinity  and  maybe  even  wish  to  be  like  him.  The  sexual  content  is  done  in  a  rather    safe  way,  making  it  available  to  the  young  teenage  audience  as  well,  thus  widening    the    target    audience.  

Researching the Prelim Video Artists

Since we had no experience of shooting a video for a song of this genre and the band didn't have many other videos from where we could understand the style and themes for what the video should look like, we decided to research similar bands (in terms of song genres) as part of our planning.

We looked at bands such as Green Day and watched the different sort of camera shots and performance elements they had.

We quite liked the editing and shot types that Green Day had in their American Idiot video. This gave us an idea of the kind of snappy editing the video should have so that it fits the band's star image. However, due to the time restrictions we had, we couldn't capture the ambitious shots that are found in this video. We instead did multiple steady shots which were easy to film and edit for our situation.



In addition to that, we also looked at the band's myspace, twitter and facebook accounts to get a better idea of their star image.

Music Video Analysis - Star Image

Star Image analysis

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