Risk Assesment

I have completed my risk assessment below which shows possible hazards, the severity, the likelihood and its risk rating. Most of the hazards are related specifically to my storyline as well as having hazards, some are incidents which will occur naturally everyday.  I have then made corrective measures on how I will be able to prevent the following hazards from occurring.

Shooting schedule

Here is my plan on when, where and what I will need to shoot, so that I am organised and can tell my cast exactly what days I am going to need them and plan ahead what equipment and clothing I need to have.

Reece Information

Location (reece shots)

Below are a few pictures of possible locations where I will shoot my footage:

The forest is a good place to film due to the fact that it is aesthetically pleasing with varied colour and it is an easy place to shoot different scenes with lots of space.

 Due to future weather predictions I may take the opportunity to film in the snow as this I believe will look great on film.

I think if I had my characters against a graffiti wall it could show off their moods for example when they are angry and upset.





Costumes (reece shots)

I want to keep my characters very casual with everyday wear, so I will make sure they bring cloths such as jeans, jumpers, coats and trainers. The only specific clothing requirements I have when shooting the boxing scene, I need my character to be dressed in workout out clothes and maybe put boxing gloves on him or hand wraps. Below our some images showing the types of clothing I want my characters to wear.

 
Here shows casual clothing, workout clothing, hands wraps. boxing gloves and also workout trainers.













Equipment I will use:

• HD Panasonic video camera
• Nikon D60 camera
• Ipad
• Tripod
• Different forms of transport

The storyline and Storyboard

The storyline

The song that I am using is about finding something that is wonderful. When you find something that is beautiful or wonderful to you, which can be an object, a place, a memory, a relationship or many things. To me this message translated into what I believe love is. I wanted to show a typical relationship which has its ups and downs, arguing and making up so that audiences can actually relate to the situation and feel that it is real. My video will be about a couple who are very much in love with one another but I will show how quickly a relationship can turn sour. I will start by showing how happy the couple are, but how rapidly an argument can start and the after effect it has. The argument will lead to the boy running away from the situation and turning to his hobby which is boxing and running to relieve his anger. Whilst the girl gets very angry, she is frustrated and sad about the situation and reacts in a slightly aggressive way and she smokes to relieve the pressure of the relationship.  The boy goes out to party to take his mind off of the situation. He eventually realizes after some thought and flash backs of the time they spent together that he loves his girlfriend and what they have is wonderful.

Storyboard

Below are images and a little description of each shot that I plan to shoot. This helped me plan out my story, when it comes to shooting and editing I will be able to see where each of my shots should go.

                   

Treatment sheet

Synopsis of song lyrics: To me the lyrics translate to a story about the many different aspects in life and how people make their own opinions on you, but when you finally find something that is beautiful to you, take advantage of it and do anything to keep hold of it without caring  if you are judged or named. 

In an interview Angel expresses how he interpreted his own song and what the real meaning behind the song is, here is what he said:

Where I’m coming from I dunno if it’s the way I dress, the way I speak, the hand gestures I make… I dunno what it is. But sometimes you go into places and you’re just automatically stereotyped.

People percieve you in the way that they just think it’s cool too and that’s not the case sometimes and the majority of the time that is the case, reality it is the case. And it doesn’t matter and I’m not the sort of guy who says ‘Do you know who I am’ ‘Do you know what I do’ or ‘I work with this person’.

Sometimes even up to today, even when you cross the road and you’re going across the road, pass a car and she’s locking her doors… Sometimes they get the wrong perception.

The whole thing with Wonderful is like, saying like… That’s not gonna change me. It doesn’t take for me to have to wile out on the street for you to know who I am… So my whole thing is, whatever’s wonderful in your vision that’s what you go by don’t let anyone change you

Website Reference (http://pappzd.com/2012/07/angel-wonderful-song-meaning/)

Angel 

Proposed storyline and characters: After picking the song and listening to the song numerous times, I decided to base my video around love and a relationship between two people. Within a relationship people go through very different stages. I wanted to show that in a relationship sometimes you can hit rocky patches which doesn't always make for a happy time. The two characters I will use is Issie and Joe who play the roles of boyfriend and girlfriend in a teenage relationship who are shown firstly to be very much in love and happy. But quickly I will show in my video how within seconds you can go from, having a loving relationship to having a big argument. The argument which is caused allows for us the audience to see a roller coaster of emotions throughout the video such as frustration and anger which the teenagers deal with in different ways. For example the male character deals with his frustration through boxing and running compared to Issie the female character who smokes. At the end of the video we see how the characters become to realise that really they are in love and it can be wonderful despite some of the negative aspects. Throughout the video I have included many random shots to show how time is passing, how life's moves quickly and also just some beautiful shots to allow a direct links to the lyrics. Finally I decided to put in a performer Ollie as this generally the codes and conventions of a music video shaping the artist.

My female and male character

Setting: I mainly used my home and my local area for example the Forest to shoot my video which gives it a sense of realism. Over the months I videoed random video footage such as the Bullet train in Japan, moving feet in Grand Station in New York and different lighting sources from Istanbul and Dubia. I also filmed in many different weather condition including weather such as snow.

Length: The length of my song is exactly 3.08 minutes. In the process of making my video it worked out best that I cut about 20 seconds off of the song, otherwise I felt that the storyline and song ran on to long due to the chorus, that is very repetitive. However I have a small introductory of the artist at the start which will make my video around 3.18 minutes.

Format: Digital and edited on Imovie

Style:

Genre, mood etc: The genre of the song is classified as Rock, RnB and Breakbeat (electronic) however I do not believe that my visual portrays this song as a rock genre but mainly all RnB with a small dose of breakbeat. The mood of my video is fast paced and energetic to represent the many emotions shown.

Camerawork/type shots: I will include many mid close up to close up shots of the artist singing, as well as long shots of scenic places. The two main characters will be shown by mid shots, long shots, close ups, shot reverse shot and both high and low angles. They may also be a notion of looking involved in my video. I will lastly film by tracking backwards and sideways.

Length of shots/editing: The video will contain a mix of long shots plus short shots. As the music gets faster and towards the end as the storyline moves on, the jump cuts and straight cuts will get much quicker. I will use a small limited amount of fades and dissolves within the editing stage of my music video.

Movement and action: The artist will stay in the same spot for the performance part of the video but the characters will appear in many different locations for example in a house, in the forest, in a garden with snow and in a car etc. The characters will also be moving around for example walking, cycling and even driving.

Visual qualities: The video will be shot in colour,  I have thought about making some scene's black and white during editing but will evaluate this when in the final stages. There will be some colourful scenes like different colour lights and lanterns which hopefully will be very effective.

Handling of narrative: The storyline will be clear to the audience that it is about a relationship that goes through rocky patches and my video will be mainly continuity. Flashbacks will appear in order to show other moments in time and what the characters are thinking about. Shots of different places will show time passing and will also have a direct link to the words.

Target Audience: My projected target audience is teenagers and young adults typically ranging from 16-24 years old. It is equally aimed at both genders who would be interest in both this type of music and the artist Angel himself. 

Technical aspects:

Equipment:  Equipment that I am going to use will include a video camera and an iPad to film my footage, plus a Nikon D60 to take images for my ancillary packages. I will also use a red head lamp as well as a tripod, and I will need software such as iMovie to edit my music video.  

Production methods: I will act as director and make sure my cast are prepped thoroughly on what they will need to do before filming the scene. This should make my time more efficient and hopefully not have to keep repeating and filming the same scenes over and over again. I will also concentrate on lighting so that my shots will look good and I will also use many suitable props whilst filming.

Locations/Studio: The locations will include the inside of my house, my front drive and my garden. The local forest, inside a car and some other outside local areas. I have also filmed footage that I may use from places such as Dubai, Japan, Hong Kong, Istanbul and New York City.

Resources:

Actors: Ollie Stone as the artist Angel, Joe Carter to play the main male character and Issie Curtis to play the main female character who are both in a relationship. I may also have extras that are just in the background of some shots.

Time: Rehearsal time plus the performance time, but occasionally there will be limited time to film due to outside lighting. 

Budget: My budget is very low so I am going to use normal everyday props that I already have, plus normal clothing. The only thing that may cost will be petrol in order to get to different locations.

Rationale: This will open up Angels fan base and will interest a range of viewers.  I feel the video will engage the audience by the many emotions shown throughout, which i feel my target audience can relate to. Angel's fans will get to see him more than usual, hopefully he will become to a greater extent more well known and popular, leading to more desirable album sales and views on his music videos.

Preperation

Throughout my video I will cut to different scenes of the main character training physically participating in boxing and running as well as other types of exercise for example press ups. I am considering editing these scenes in black and white so I decided I needed to do some research into other music videos that have used black and white to see what this effect looks like. I will also need to film some footage, transfer it onto my laptop and see how the lighting is potrayed when my video is changed into black and white. Above are two videos one called Raging Bull which was actually a film and the second being an Ed Sheeran music video for A Team. Both videos are in black and white which I think looked very effective and it will be good to contrast these black and white productions to the possibility of using colour.

Below is a lighting tutorial as I was unsure about the lighting in my shots and how to make it look more professional. I will also research tutorials about filming techniques as there were some shots that I think could be enhanced by looking at the different possibilities here.

Beat sheet

Here is my beat sheet which shows different events that I should take into consideration when planning my music video.

Target Audience

Gender: Female/Male

Age: 16-26 years of age

Nationality: British/American

Hobbies: Listening to music, spending time online, watching tv, searching youtube and going out and socialising. They may also actually play an instrument like the guitar or maybe even sing.

Music taste: RnB/Dance/Electro/Pop/A little bit of rap.

How they listen to music: Listen to music via iTunes, youtube and mp3, also watching music videos on these applications, as well as watching music channels e.g. MTV, Box, Viva, 4Music.

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On the whole, my target audience will be of both genders around the ages of 16 to around 26 who enjoy listening to RnB and dance/electro music. They will also be fans of my artist Angel and will have followed him as his career was developing. My audience will be keenly looking for the latest music being released either by searching around on youtube or watching music channels or lastly by word of mouth from friends and family. My audience will also be likely to be very fashion conscious , outgoing and sociable members of the public who will often go out with their friends and have lots of fun.

My Conventions and genre

My actual song and artist

Angel-Wonderful

Sirach Charles born on October 31st, 1987 is known as Angel within the music industry as a singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer. He is from West London, born in a place known as Shepards Bush and he usually produces music around the genre R&B, Pop and Grime. Labels Angel has been signed too include Island, Universal Republic, Republic (US).  .http://thisisangel.com/

In deciding which song that I wanted to use I felt it was important to be mainstream and be of an RnB based genre which is so popular . When researching different aritists and listening to a number of songs I realised that I could make a punchy narrative storyline out of the image of the artist as well as the beat of the music.

Audience feedback

Here are a number of bar charts summarising my target audience questionnaire. I gather from this information that my audience have a strong preference to see a mixture of narrative and performance based action within the video. RnB was a good choice in song because it is very popular with the audience as well as many people liking the artist Angel. Lastly my target audience are a mix of genders and are
                                                             around the age of 16-25 
                                                             years old.

Permission

I have emailed Angel's record label in order to ask for permission to use his song in my work. I will wait for a reply.

Audience Research (Questionairre for target audience)

Above is my audience questionnaire which I will give out to as many people as possible so that I can gather some reliable information to what content my audience will like to see included in my music video.

Media language (notes)

Music videos are separated into three different types of style:

• Narrative Based
• Concept Based
• Performance Based

Andrew Goodwin suggests (in Dancing in the Distraction Factory 1992) that there are a few features within a music video that are:

1. There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals.
2. There is a relationship between music and visuals
3. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g dance routine for girl/boy band or stage performance in metal video.)
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style)
5. There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos, etc)

Andrew Goodwin 

The reason to why I have re-visted Andrew Goodwins theory is too compare and see what content will appear in my music video. My music video will be based around a narrative and a performance from the artist and I have not gone against stereotypes of RnB because the narrative revolves around love. In my video there will be a a direct link between the lyrics and visuals as well as a direct link between the music and visuals for example as the beat gets faster so does the action (argument scenes in fast pace music). 

There will be lots of close up shots of the artist in order to promote himself and develop a motif across all of his work. Fans also may feel closer to the artist as it will be direct in the way he sings to the camera. My music video will also include some notion of looking for example shots of the male character running through the woods seen from outside the forest.

Representation (notes)

What is representation?

  In my music video I have featured a trendy stereotypical male pop star Oliver Stone singing a song called 'Wonderful'  and in the video I have represented a story of two young adults who are very much in love but they also have a very intense and volatile relationship which sees them arguing very heavily before ultimately realising that they are in love and making up with each other. I have represented the two main characters in a fairly equal way showing them both to be strong willed, passionate but also with a loving and sensitive side to each of them.
  The video begins with a representation of a fast moving train and clips of lots of people walking around a station showing the world to be a fast moving and sometimes confusing place to figure out which sets the seen for the introduction of the main characters and their loving but volatile and often confused relationship.
  Joe is represented as a strong, handsome and stereotypical young male character. In various scenes he is in seen as being a little volatile, passionate and intense in his arguments with his girlfriend and someone that can lose his temper quite easily. The boxing scenes as well as his running through the forest show typical young male physical strength and these energetic scenes show him relieving himself of his anger through his physical exercise. The video also represents Joe as being romantic, loving and sensitive and there are a number of scenes of him with his girlfriend having fun and being as the song title suggests wonderfully in love and he makes the first move to text his girlfriend to make up with her.

  Issie is also represented fairly equal to Joe in the video and less stereotypical of a young adult female in the sense that although she is beautiful she is also very strong willed and in the video is seen to give as good as she gets during her arguments with Joe and to be very much his equal. She deals with her own frustration in a different way to Joe by smoking and kicking the wall during one scene which is less typical of a female character. She is also shown to have a loving and sensitive side to her in many scenes where she is having fun with Joe and enjoying being in love with him and the scene where she is looking at his picture lovingly shows her more feminine soft side.

Narrative (notes)

What is a narrative music video?

A narrative music video is a type of music video which shows an account of connected events also known as a story. The story lines are often fragmented and presented in a non linear order to make them really interesting for the audience to figure out the story.  This often leads to them watching the video over and over again. The video allows the viewer a more varied access to the performers and gets to see them in different scenes with the effect that the characters are portrayed to be highly interesting. The music used in the video also strongly complements the storyline and is critically important in making a successful video. In classic pop music video's the interplay between the music and storyline are important in a successful outcome and often dancing is used as well.  Steve Archer's comments in 'Teaching Music Video's'  summarise the above well "music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band. Additionally, a carefully choreographed dance might be a part of the artist's performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the 'repeatability factor"

My music video will be made up of both a mixture of performance and narrative based footage. I am including both because generally in the genre of music I am working with music videos are often based around the performer and a story to do with their lives. In my video I  have taken a different approach due to the fact my performer Oliver Stone is a completely different person to the young man Joe who is actually the main character acting in the video. Narrative music videos appeal strongly to the target audiences because the audience typically likes to follow a storyline while at the same time enjoying the music and seeing the performer at various points in the video. In my video the music is high energy and tells the story of a young adult man Joe who is in love with his girlfriend Issie although they have a intense and volatile relationship and argue heavily before getting back together. The title of the song is called 'Wonderful' which describes the feeling of a passionate and loving relationship and how great life can be when two young people are in love. I think the story line and the interesting scenes shown during the video keep the audience keenly engaged in the story and the interjections to different scenes of the performer singing are highly important in capturing the audience attention and this interplay between the story and the performer strongly add to the repeatability factor of the video.
  I have used a linear set of clips in the video to make the story clear to follow for the audience with a number of injections of the performer singing the song and dancing which add to the likelihood of viewers wanting to watch over again.

Gwen Stefani- Cool is a prime example of a narrative and performance music video because it has a clear storyline from beginning to end and also has a good direct link to the lyrics. It shows a real life situation which the audiences will be able to relate too very well and the dancing adds to the the entertainment factor and likelihood of people wanting to watch over again.

Analysis of still

I have taken this still image from Nicki Minja's performance based music video to the song "Superbass" which is one of her biggest selling songs so far. I am going to analyse this image and I do believe that from this still shot you can tell a lot about her character. The stills conotation makes it looks as if she is siutated in a type of heaven with the blue skys and clouds set behind her in the backdrop. Nicki Minaj is the only female figure in this shot surrounded by men in not very much clothing showing her dominance and how powerful she is. The man in the pool with Nicki is staring at the star as if he is in love with her and admires her whilst she looks directly at the camera with her hand on her hip showing attitude. This goes against the stereotype that men are the more dominate figure in society today. The contrasting colours in this shot are very bright and girly. The costumes used in this shot are also very revealing  showing lots of skin and making Nicki Minaj a sexually attractive character which will draw audiences attention when watching this video as she has lots of sex appeal to both genders.

My favorite director

Melina Matsoukas
Born: January 14th, 1981

Melina is a very famous American director of music videos and commercials who is from a Greek, Jewish, Jamaican and Cuban descent. She is a graduate of the American film Institute and New Yorks University Tisch school of the Arts. She started out at Black dog film, then the Gorilla Flix film production company and is now working as a director at Prettybird which she signed to in 2011.

She has made a number of music videos with a range of artists from Rihanna (RnB/Pop) to No Doubt (Punk) and has made videos for a huge range of very well know artists like Whitney Houston and Beyonce.
Matsoukas videos are known as "chalk full of bright colours or crisp black and white images, smooth spotlights, and tasteful retro video models."Melina Matsoukas believes that you do not need expensive equipment in order to make a good quality video, she quotes that "A good video has the right visuals, a well conceptualised story and should be exciting and elicit reaction." 

Two of my favourite videos which are We found love and You Da One both sung by Rihanna were directed by Melina so here below are some links to my other favourite music videos directed by Melina Matsoukas.

Beyonce-Why Dont You Love Me
Neyo- Do You
Beyonce- Diva
Eve- Tambourine

Top 100 music videos and My favourite top 5

After re-searching I have come across a couple of different websites that are specifically aimed to show music news, reviews and has a dedicated section to music charts and videos.

http://www.nme.com/

http://www.theenemy.com/

http://vimeo.com

http://www.billboard.com





On the following link Nme Website it shows the top 100 greatest music videos of all time.

Below our my top five favourite music videos of all time.

1. Rihanna- We found love

Why is this my favourite video? I think that this music video is very edgy and was not a safe move from Rihanna. Involved in this video is a lot of explicit scenes involving drug, alcohol, and sexual content which I believe was risky to release to the public. Throughout the whole video, the action captures my attention and amuses me for the whole 4.36 minutes that is playing for.

2. Beyonce- Single ladies

The reason to why this would be my second top video is due to the Beyonce exquisite dance routine throughout the whole of this video. I also loved the fact that there was a great audience response to Beyonce's hit single in which many of the public made their own versions of the song. Above is an example that members of the public imitated Beyonce dance routine.

3. Macklemore- Thrift shop

I love how random this video is and how mad the artist comes across. It is very much performance based and I like that the lyrics directly relate to the actual image on the screen. I also like the fact that even though Macklemore sings the song in the video it isnt all about him. There are other factors and things we focus on for example the many people in the background and even his clothing is outrageous. 

4. Justin Timberlake- Senorita

As well as loving Justin Timberlake I also really enjoy his music video,  it grabs my attention the whole way through. I believe that towards the end of the song when Justin asks the audience (ladies and guys) to join in with him singing it makes us as the viewers really get ourselves involved in the video.

5. Lady Gaga ft Beyonce- Telephone

This is one of my favourite music videos due to how controversial it is as well as its format and its style of a movie. Another reason to why I really like this video is due to the use of colour throughout as the video is very bright and uses many different colours which really captures the eye and is aesthetically pleasing.

Rihanna-You da one

Lastly I would like to mention another one of my favourite videos which is You Da One by Rihanna mainly due to its brilliant editing and filming. I think this video is good mainly due to the black and white effect which has been carefully styled with the items and clothing to make the video bright. Also throughout the clip we see Rihanna in the background with lots of different styled text poping up on the screen infront of her which is very modern and trendy.