Pre-Production: Storyboard

Today we brought the props that we need and finalised the actresses that we were going to use in our video.

We also made the wise decision to change our song, since the artist "TK" was proving to be unreliable.

For the new song that we have chosen, we already have the go-ahead to use the song from the artist, as well as the actors to perform in it.

The actresses will remain the same, but the main protagonist/people who are lip-syncing will be different.

Song: Addicts by Yung Stunna & Supreme.

Length: 3.08

Below is the storyboard of the music video, shot by shot

Pitch Feedback & Write-up

              

So today we presented our pitch for our music video, to our media class.

Questions:

• "You guys said you were going to use a motorbike as a prop, who's riding it, where you getting it from and is the person going to be of the legal age to ride it?" - Our response: It's a prop, so no one will be riding the motorbike, it'll just be there for decoration/to set the scene. And as we said in the pitch, we know a guy named Michael, who's 20, that has a motorbike - he said he'll let us use it.
• "It seems quite similar to the 'Day Ones - Manu Crooks' music video, how will you make it more unique. - Our response: The concept of our music video will be different, as both songs are about 2 completely different things. We use different/more locations, compared to that music video, so an office, block of flats, etc. And just as a little disclaimer, we already came up with the concept/props/locations way before we saw the Day Ones music video, but we wanted to showed it just as a visual representation of what we hope our music video to look like.
• 
  

Strengths:

• "It was good.."
• "Your idea's were really good.."

Improvements:

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Pitch

      

Today's Progress:

This lesson was a lot more productive as we finalised what song we wanted to do, after a lot of going back and forth about which genre/song we were going to choose.

However, deciding what song we wanted to do so late, meant that we didn't get to start our pitch until after college that day. And since we were both unable to access Emaze at home, we didn't get to finish it in time for the pitch on the following Monday (25th).

Today's Progress..

Today our group discussed possible genres that we could do, as we couldn't come to a final decision.
We were deciding between Rap, Afrobeats and R&B.

Complications of doing R&B:

• Difficult to make it look professional and not 'cheap'
• Us keeping ourselves interested in the production since R&B songs can be slow and tedious.
• A lot of the songs we were looking at were too short or already had a music video to it.

Songs we were looking at:

• SZA - Caretaker

Complications with doing Afrobeats:

• Creating a narrative/having a storyline for songs in this genre would be difficult.

Songs we were looking at:

• A-Star - Eggplant

Complications of doing Rap:

• Some group members found Rap to be too generic.

Songs we were looking at:

• TK - I Can

Treatment

Treatment - Rough Plan:

Song: TK - I Can




Summary of the narrative idea:
It's gonna be a performance type video. 

1. How does it link to the lyrics/tracks sound
2. The role of performance
3. Any conceptual elements/what type of video is it.

Which professional music videos inspired you and how?:

Dave - Wanna Know:
The cutting rate of the song is quite fast paced to go along with the beat, something we aim to successfully do. We also hope to mimic the mise-en-scene when it comes to stance/location.

Nav - TTD:
The use of special effects was really good, it made the music video seem a lot more conceptual. We plan to use similar special effects in ours.

Casting:
Since Antonia knows the artist, we can just get him to perform the song for us. 
(We've actually asked him and he's agreed to it).

So TK will be the main actor, but we'll have his friends in the background dancing and hyping up.

When it comes to the props, we'll just have about 3 coloured-smoke cartridges/pellets.

They can be purchased for www.smokepellets.co.uk for £6.50 a can & we'll all pitch in.



It'll be across various Locations in London.
Location 1: Barking & Ilford: Estate, Park, Shisha Lounge
Location 2: Stratford: Car Park

Any Ethical considerations?:

There is mild swearing/imagery in the song.

Length:

The length of the song is 3.28, but our video will probably be over 4 minutes in the total.

Audience:

16 - 20 year olds.. So the same age demographic as the artist - which is 17yrs old.

Channel for broadcast (inclu. youtube/others):

Youtube: GRM Daily -  Which regularly uploads UK rap, grime and drill music videos.

Initial Ideas Task

Today, Antonia and I brainstormed what raps songs we could possibly use and whether the potential artists would be available to perform the music video for us.

Songs discussed:

Dre Marsh - Rob My Shine
Dre Marsh - Nobody
D-Radar - Enigma
TK - I Can
However we realised that D-Radar's song already has a music video so we couldn't use it.

*Pictures*

We're thinking of using 'ThingLink' to present our treatment.

Lip-Syncing Task Evaluation

Below is the lip-syncing task video, for the song Love Galore by Sza:

Weaknesses/Areas of Improvement:

• Not enough screenshots or pictures were taken of the production and editing process. Which is an issue since everything needs to be proved with photos. 
• Some of the lip-syncing didn't match up with the song. This could've been due to bad editing, as well as the lip-syncing going wrong when it was being filmed.
• Not a variety of cuts were used, meaning that the transitions were quite basic and repetitive. So when it comes to the real music video, whoever i'm working with, we will have to make sure that different editing techniques are incorporated.
• The exposure was too high when filming the MLS.

Strengths:

• We used the 3 different shots that we were told to, so LS - the table, MLS - in the football goal, CU - behind the fence
• The clarity/focus in the LS was really good.
• The editing technique of fading out the music and the shot, at the end, was successful.
• Initiative was used to add words to the end of the video, to make it different.

Production Schedule

Ideas Task: Potential Music Vid 3

Potential Music Track 1:

Song: Caleon Fox - In The Hills ft Romey Rome [2:43] https://youtu.be/O1-XBq2UXfI

Proposal Summary:
This will be a narrative/conceptual type video.
It will be all part of a daydream.
The main guy, is invisioning himself hanging out with this girl that he likes. He wants to know if she feels towards him/about him, they same way he does with her. He asks her to meet him in the Hills. (Ref. to LA)

Lyrics:

https://genius.com/Caleon-fox-in-the-hills-lyrics

Examples of some of the shots that I'm hoping to do:

"Yo I'm really hella ill, like really hella ill"
Zoom in from a long shot to a mid-close up: of him sitting on the sofa

"She got me rolling down the hills"
Sharp depth of field: she's standing at the top of the hill while he's in the background rolling down it

"Like double-take, no pill"
Shot reverse/shot: on the girl

"But this view is hella nice, even though you afraid of heights"
Over-the-shoulder: shot of them on top of the hills.

"Tell me how you feel, can I be the one to tell"
Slow-motion: girl running through the woods (teasing him), dressed in a long, white flowy dress

Locations:
Hills
Field & Forest/woods (Most probably Epping Forest)
Fairground (Ferris Wheel)

Actors:
Main guy - Doing the lip-syncing. Has a hipster look, wears "geeky" vintage glasses
Main girl - Wearing white, representing innocence and purity.
Extras:
Possibly group of girl friends - in ref. to the line "Only hot mamas stay upon on the hills"

Props:
Sofa - The only concept of the video is that he's daydreaming so he'll be sitting in the sofa before he falls into the dream.
Packet tissues/Rolled up "used" tissues - When he refers to himself as being "ill" in the song, it's a double-meaning. Obviously ill as in sick (which is why he sounds like he has a stuffy nose and talks about needing to 'clear his throat'. Then ill as in cool, which is the American slang definition.


What makes the promo vid different?:

It's a daydream. It's narrative but has a sort of conceptual element to it, since it's a dream.

Where did the inspiration for this idea come from?:

The first case study I did (Nav - 10 Toes Down), in that video he was asking the girl where they stand because he was unsure, which is quite similar to this song.

I may also use similar special effects to the ones he used. So having shots where it's just his silhouette and against a background.

Ideas Task: Potential Music Vid 2

Potential Music Track 2:

Song:  Azealia Banks - Chi Chi [2:38] https://youtu.be/0QTQ2YtciB4
The song is based off of the 1983 movie 'Scarface' starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana and Chi Chi, who's his henchman. At one point in the movie, mid-fight, Tony asks Chi Chi to "get the yayo" i.e. Cocaine
Proposal Summary:
Have the main girl, acting as Azealia, to be just lip syncing and dancing about, since it's going to be a performance type video.

<div id='rg_embed_link_3079862' class='rg_embed_link' data-song-id='3079862'>Read <a href='https://genius.com/Azealia-banks-chi-chi-lyrics'>“Chi Chi” by Azealia Banks</a> on Genius</div> <script crossorigin src='//genius.com/songs/3079862/embed.js'></script>

Lyrics:
Read “Chi Chi” by Azealia Banks on Genius


Locations:
Car park - In verse 2, she says to "watch my Lexus purr"
Inside a car - In the bridge, she says "sitting in the drop top". In verse 2, she refers to her car interior being leather.
Zoo - Verse 3, she mentions it being "live from the zoo"
Library - Verse 2, "bet you read all about it"

Actors:
Lead Female lip-syncing "Azealia Banks" Costume will be all black, with a fur jacket "divaish"
Extras:
Male "Chi Chi"
Group of girl friends - just dancing in the background throughout the video
Group of guys with "high tops & waves" - Verse 3

Props:
Money - She references money quite a bit in the song
Cheque - Verse 3: "Uh, Put that cheque in my name" Have her waving a cheque around
Globe (Spinning) - Hook: "Island hopping in Bahamas, helicopter to Jamaica.."
"Yayo" (cocaine) - Have baking soda in a briefcase
Briefcase
Umbrella - Verse 3: "Weather advisor, we can't stop the rain"
Car(s)

What makes the promo vid different?
I guess the fact that it's going to have a dark, eerie element to it.
Aswell as the fact that it's based off of a movie.

Where did the inspiration for this idea come from?
The second case study I did (Syd - All About Me) It had quite a mysterious element to it and it was just mostly about her.