Hungry Like the Wolf

Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran





This song has the steady beat that we want for our music video, and the upbeat tone that fits our music video idea.

Individual ideas

These were our individual initial brainstorming ideas, and we all had slight variations on the theme of  teenagers finding a map and messing around- with different specifics, but after discussing it we decided on a traditional indie video with low lighting and blue tones.

Group Change

We changed the filming group, and therefore we are changing our music video ideas. We had our initial brainstorming and we decided to completely scrap our old ideas, so that we could bring fresh ideas to the table. So far we have decided on a video that is similar in tone to Kasabian's 'King for a Day' and we are going to bring our individual ideas to a group session soon!

mise-en-scene

As music videos are without speech, this means that the videos, especially narrative music videos, use mise-en-scene to indicate character and circumstance. For example, in Ed Sheeran's 'A-team' shows us the woman using drugs through the use of props, and in Hozier's 'Cherry Wine' it is implicitly stated that the man is abusing the woman through the use of make-up. Indie-pop videos often use bright colours to portray a modern, upbeat tone, whereas traditional indie is typically more subdued.

Narrative

Indie music videos often have narratives to hook audiences. They are used throughout many genres, but especially indie, as the lyrics often have an in-built narrative, or message, which can be conveyed through a narrative.

Live performance

One convention of indie music videos is live performance. This is connected to Andrew Goodwin's theory of the star, where the artist is the focus of the video, and therefore what is being marketed is the star. This is done most commonly when the star has a following, and they are the appeal rather than the music. This is done with stars like Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and Adele.

Music Video VS Film Opening

The film opening had longer shots than the music video, and much less editing. When filming our prelim it became evident just how many small shots it takes to make a music video and how time consuming and detail orientated the editing process is; whereas music videos have longer shots and do not need to be timed as perfectly as music videos, as there is no beat to edit to.

Breathe

Planning with Lyrics

Here's the more detailed planning for our music video




Receiving the letter

I hear the sound - close up of walking feet glitching to flashback
Echoes beneath
Angels and skylines meet - spinning shot of the canopy of trees, glitching to flashback
And I'm straining to reach  - Shot of woman walking from behind
The light on the surface-  walking with lantern, with glitch
Light on the other side

I feel the pages turning - Burning the letter and lip-syncing 
I see the candle burning down
Before my eyes
Before my wild eyes - look at camera

I feel you holding me - meeting and struggling, glitching back to before *
Tighter I cannot see
When will we finally

Breathe x 7 -flashbacks and lead through forest - lots of flashback narrative here
I feel the pages turning - jerk to a stop
I see the candle burning down -time lapse of the fallen lantern burning down
Before my eyes -focus on her looking down
Before my wild eyes - eyes up to camera

I feel you holding me - hands on shoulders and glitch to past hug
Tighter I cannot see - he pushes her to her knees
When will we finally - puts dagger to her throat, she closes her eyes and takes a breath

Breathe x 7 - flashbacks - end at black and white version of *

Instrumental - fighting

Breathe x 7 - still fighting and at the last 'breathe' she is over him and inhales and lifts up the dagger then it cuts

Concept

This is our initial planning for our final music video.

Original Photos

These are the original photos my group took for our moodboard.

Initial Planning

Runaway

We were seriously concidering using 'Runaway' by Ed Sheeran as our final video because:

1. There is a strong narrative running throught the song, which would be a solid base for a video.
2. The beat is prominent so it would be a good song to edit to, as opposed to one with no obvious beat.
3.  We had a promising idea for concepts throughout the video, such as the father being faceless throughout the video.

However, we decided that it wasn't the best option as:

1. The fact that the narrative was written into the song was constricting.
2. It is a popular song, and it would be hard to disengage from the advertising that exists, to complete the coursework.
3. The artist was male and the protagonist in our video was female, meaning that our idea of lip-syncing wouldn't have been  possible.

Moodboard

Lyrics

Lyrics to 'Breathe' by Fleurie

I hear the sound
Echoes beneath
Angels and skylines meet
And I'm straining to reach
The light on the surface
Light on the other side

I feel the pages turning
I see the candle burning down
Before my eyes
Before my wild eyes

I feel you holding me
Tighter I cannot see
When will we finally

Breathe x 7

I feel the pages turning
I see the candle burning down
Before my eyes
Before my wild eyes

I feel you holding me
Tighter I cannot see
When will we finally

Breathe x 7

Instrumental

Breathe x 7

Prelim Feedback

Very good shots and looks very similar to the real thing :)

www. Amazing shots! It was really effective. a really creative alernative use of the coloured paper rather than the flag.

Q1. If you had more time, would you have found another alternative to the tears?


www: Edited the abuse scenes in time with the actual video. I like the low angle shot of River in the forest.

Q2. Why didn't you pick a song with lip syncing?

Loved the pace of shots, edited together so well.

Q3. Would you use a similar style/ genre for your real music video?

A1- We originally tried to make the tears from icing sugar and water, but it wouldn't stay in place, so we decided not to use it.
A2- The songs with lip syncing that we found didn't have the same quick shots that we wanted to use for practice, whereas 'Boys Will Be Boys' was exactly what we were looking for.
A3- At the moment, we are planning to use a video of the same genre for the real music video.







  

Prelim

Props

We had to find props such as

• glasses
• A sheet
•  Wax in the shape of tears

The first was relatively easy to find, the second was harder and we eventually used a sheet of paper for the same effect.

The wax tears were harder, and we eventually gave up. We tried to use actual wax, but it broke too easily. Then we tried to use icing sugar and water, which held together. But when we tried to stick it to River's face it wouldn't hold. As that was the day of filming we decided to forgo them, as they weren't essential to the video.

Flipped

We used the software on i-movie to flip some of our footage so we kept the continuity throughout. We couldn't initially film part of the music video from the right angle as we didn't have the blank wall space on the correct side.

Casting

We were lucky that one of our group, River, looked a lot like the main actor in the music video, so we cast them. Unfortunately, we couldn't find an actor for the Father, so a member of our group stepped into the role.

Filming

Filming

Location

We were extremely lucky to find the perfect location for the tree branch in our prelim fairly quickly. It was large enough to sit on, and had stable ground in front of it so that we could film.

Unfortunately, we had less luck with the indoor filming as we couldn't find an indoor venue that had the right amount of space. Eventually we had to film with the camera flipped.

Vida La Vida, Coldplay

This is a typical Rock video, focused on performance. It has a star image of the band, and is edited both to the beat and with religious imagery that connects the lyrics to the video.

Chasing Cars, Snow Patrol

This video is very much focused on the 'star image', so much so that this is the only one of Goodwin's characteristics that it adheres to.

Youth, Troye Sivan

This video is intrinsically linked to the pop genre, with it's upbeat tune and music video lit with flashing, multicoloured lights. It is edited to the beat and has multiple close up shots of the singer, emphasising the image. However, as is common with pop videos, there is no correlation between the lyrics and the video and no voyeurism or intertextuality. The main focus in this video is lip-sycing, as it is done throughout the video, and is an extension of the 'star image' theory of Andrew Goodwin's.

Unsteady, X-ambassadors

This song is an indie song and it follows the typical conventions of this, with a narrative music video. However it also had elements of performance, and flicks between the two styles. It also has a relationship between lyrics and content, and it is edited to the beat. As there is a performance aspect of the video there are constant close ups of the band to create a recognisable image that can be marketed. However there is no voyeurism in this video, and no intertextual references, and therefore it only follows four of the six conventions of music videos; as theorised by Andrew Goodwin

Cherry Wine, Hozier

I particularly like this example music video, as it highlights an important issue (domestic abuse) in a really engaging way. It also follows 4 of Andrew Goodwin's Music Video Conventions. It is an indie music video and it has the soft lighting and narrative video that is usual for the genre. There is also a clear link between the lyrics and the content of the narrative, and the video is edited to the beat of the song. There is constant voyeurism- with 3 mirrors placed around the main actress. There is multiple close up shots of the actress, but as she is not the singer it doesn't fit the convention of the 'Star Image'. There are also inter-textual references, as it is focusing on a relevant issue.