Feedback from Luke for Pitch #2

Today we presented our treatment to Luke. He liked the tunnel idea with strip lights and the idea of being claustrophobic within that area. We presented the idea of silhouettes and how out it would be a party vibe, but he got confused by this. The idea he didn't understand was how we were going to link the silhouettes to the contrast of the light ending scene.

He suggested that we need to make more connections within the narrative of how the darkness of the video turns into the brightness and how she has found someone she wants to connect with.

So therefore we need to brainstorm about how we are going to link the narrative of a love story in essence.

BUG56

Last night I went on a school trip to the BFI to see BUG56 Director's Cut. It was amazing and I enjoyed it very much. The presenter Adam Buxton had a lot of humour and kept us on our toes the whole time. The music videos shown were very diverse going from hip/hop to alternative music. They were all created my independent music video producers, which inspires me even more to go into that kind of business.

The things I took from the conference was that regardless of the song, if you have an interesting music video a viewer will keep on watching it.

Key tips:

Keep it visually interesting

Keep the audience on their toes at all times.

Here are my favourite videos shown from that night:

ELEMENT. by Kendrick Lamar directed by Jonas Lindstroem & The Little Homies

This video was intertexualised with a photographer in the 1960's called Gordon Parks, which created really cool visuals for the video.

Up All Night by Beck directed by CANADA

I loved the narrative in this because it has many elements to it and strong visual strands.

Moonlight by Jay-Z directed by Alan Yang

The strong narrative of creating a black version of friends really shows outrage of the African American society on 'white washed' shows. The song is called Moonlight because of the mishap which happened at the Oscars.

Every Time I Die - Map Change directed by Kyle Thrash

I didn't necessarily like the song itself, but I loved the visuals that Kyle Thrasher created.

Here is the synopsis of what was going to be on that night.

Pitch #2 - Treatment for Ignite Me

Pitch nr 2 from franek zato

Here it is: our second pitch/treatment.

New Song!!! Ignite Me - Anna Straker

Here is her explanation of the music video:

'Ignite me is the story that you tell your friends the morning after a night out. I wanted the video to be just that: really simple, hungover and unglamorous. No makeup, no crazy set. This way it allows you to focus on the lyrics and the story that I wrote, which was inspired by The Streets'.

Biography of the artist:

20-year-old musician from London.

Fairly unknown - 1.2k subscribers on YouTube

Only 39k views of her song

Changing our idea completely!!!

We have thought about the idea as a whole after our pitch and feedback and realised that the idea will not work at all if we don't have a bathtub. The RGB idea will not work if we do not have those 3 exact elements.

We tried to work through it and changing up our mirror ideas, but we simply could not stick to the RGB colour scheme. We considered changing the trio of colours to something like blue, pink and green but we didn't like that idea either. Some people in our group didn't like the song, so therefore we felt it was best to re-evaluate

Therefore, we have decided to drop all 3 initial elements and start from scratch. The song 'Doses' will also not be used because we feel as if it would only go with the initial idea and doesn't suit anything else we have discussed.

We have changed the song to 'Ignite Me' by Anna Straker.
It is similar to the original song 'Doses' and has a lot of potential to make a great narrative out of it.

Anna Straker & Just Jack

I feel like Just Jack and Anna Straker have very similar star images and genres of music they produce.

Adjusting our mirror's idea

Instead of doing eyeline shots for the mirrors element of our video, we could do aerial shots where the camera will not be seen at anytime. This would look amazing for visual shots with her standing in all of the corners of mirrors, her body being reflected in all different directions.

Here is Yayoi Kusama's exhibition in an art gallery. I was searching for this image and also found these:

I think that this idea could be amazing because its dark and in essence the camera will not be seen because the camera will be blended with the background.

Feedback from Luke from our treatment

Luke initially liked our idea, but he said that it may be complicated in changing sets 3 times within the space of 4-5 hours.

The mirror scene we thought of will not be possible because the camera will be seen in the reflection, ruining the shot. We thought maybe instead we could get some type of semi-opaque mirror material instead, but it would just lose all the authenticity of the shot. This element will have to be re-thought ASAP.

The bath idea was also criticised because of health and safety issues, water/substances around lights, cameras and a studio would not end up well. We will have to look into this more and think through how we can get around this problem to keep everything safe.

The vogue dancing idea was fine with Luke, he just mentioned that it may be boring to just watch a performance of people dancing in front of a green screen - not much to see during it, it is quite simple.

We will have to have a rethink about all our elements and work our way around these problems because our group is dead set on keeping them.

How can your star image be branded across the campaign?

Here is a video of me explaining how my star image would be branded across a campaign.

What star image do you want to produce for your artist/group?

Here is a video of me explaining what star image I want to produce for my artist.

Treatment for 'Vitamin C'

Piitch from franek zato

Treatment for 'Doses'

Treatment for 'Doses' from Kate Shillitoe

Pinterest Moodboard for Doses

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/kateshillitoe/music-video/

Pinterest Moodboard for Vitamin C

Contacting Bonzai as a potential part of our cast

Today we contacted Bonzai, the artist of the song 'Doses' to ask her if she wanted to take part in our music video. It would be a great idea to get the actual artist to perform in the video as it would make it x10 more synthetic.

Audience profile for Bonzai and Nao

I would say my star would be signed to Island Records, a subsidiary of the recording company called Universal Music Group.

The 2 initial ideas for the red group

Idea 1:



Song: Doses by Bonzai
Colourful, mirror with spots on the floor, bath tub full of one liquid colour (blue because it contrasts red), studio, 90's clothes, dunagrees, close up shots of her lips, visual strands in the pre chorus, dancers, mirroring editing and lots of camera twists and turns. Chorus, in the mirror room her lying down in all the red spots. Red green and blue as 3 factors to the video. Red - spotty room Green - studio green background (lip sync) Blue - liquid blue in bath

For a replacement for the blue metallic paint or blue pigmented water, we came up with the idea of using Gelli Baff, a substance which changes water into gooey slush which can be easily cleaned up afterwards.

To go with the idea, 'Vogue' dancing came into my head for a potential idea for a performance element. The dancing consists of very rapid movements, nothing that is subtle and smooth, there are only individual routines which can go well with a quick beat. We would do this in the studio, with lots of lights and maybe even some lasers.

Idea 2:

via GIPHY

Song: Vitamin C by CAN

1st element: Narrative of a young girl lying on a pile of clothes in mirrored room, her lip syncing with the males voice, causing confusion to the audience as its not meant to be her voice. 

2nd element: Band in studio with dark clothes and background.

The lyrics tell a story of a girl who is brought up in a rich family. She is 'living in and out of tune' as it says in the lyrics of the song:

The lyric: 'you're losing, you're losing, you're losing, you're losing your vitamin C' has an interesting analogy of getting lost at sea. In the past, sailors used to get scurvy from the deficiency of vitamin C and this makes a metaphor of being lost in life. In the video there will be many different shots of a female character experiencing her lavish lifestyle. The message we are trying to portray is that money can't buy you happiness and can really damage people. As visual inspiration we are going to be using the work of Yayoi Kusama, a mentally ill artist that uses her work as a form of therapy. The shots we would take would be quite extravagant, for example we want an aerial view of a person in a room full of mirrors and clothing lying everywhere on the floor. It would make a perfect shot. The character is brought up in a wealthy family, the mirrors symbolising she has an infinity of what she can do with her life, but also the feeling of being trapped as it is psychological that there is no end to the walls. For the costume, she would wear something simple and we would have preferably a pretty girl.

'Her daddy got a big aeroplane
Her mommy holds all the family cash
A beautiful blows, I stay at the corner
She is living in and out of tune'

Star Image for Idea 1 and 2 - Bonzai, Nao & The Rolling Stones

Idea 1 Star Image: Bonzai

For my intial ideas I am still very stubborn about doing a pop/r&b/alternative song. I want it to be very abstract and visual, but still including a narrative. The song 'Nuggets' by Mura Masa still plays in my mind when I think about a music video I want to film.

Bonzai, the artist who features on the track has a very intriguing star image and I wanted to research her. First thing that i noticed was her bright red hair. This is very organic and individual. You can tell that she has not been told to do this by her record label called 'Columbia Records', the subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. She has a very unique look and portrays herself as a very laid back person. She is from Ireland and does mostly dance/electronic genres of music. She mostly only features on bigger artists albums like Mura Masa, but has recently released a new single called 'I Feel Alright'. I love this music video because it is quite a basic narrative with cuts of her singing in-between, but very addictive to watch. I love the aerial view of her red hair contrasting against the grey concrete. These are the kind of visual strands I would like to replicate in my video, but I know I would have limits on locations I can shoot at, and I do not own a drone so it would be difficult to achieve. She has 90's vibes as well, which contributes to the star image I want to contribute to.

Her 'Did It' music video is very weird and full of fantasy and imagination. It is all a cartoon and the editing matches with the music. I wasn't a fan of this music video because it is too psychedelic and eccentric.

Her website is very simple and colourful:

It is very up to date too, she has all her social medias in clear view and audio effects whenever you hover over a title. I love this kind of website, as it shows her individually as this is not how a synthetic artists website would be like.

Heres her soundcloud too: https://soundcloud.com/b_o_n_z_a_i]

Twitter: https://twitter.com/b_o_n_z_a_i

I noticed all her social media accounts have the same layout, a banner of her face up close and the same profile picture - it is consistent, which fans need.

Nao

Her music and style has a very 90's aesthetic to it. Her genre is R&B/soul. Her stand out feature is her very voluminised hair, which makes her stand out to fans. She has been praised by the billboard charts. She has a very unique, retro voice.

"Alternative-R&B has emerged in recent years featuring ethereal, wispy vocals on top of eccentric, borderline dance production. Nah nails the R&B/electronic space with a voice reminiscent of vocals MVPs like Fantasia and futuristically fresh like Janet Jacksons's sound crafted a la Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis" - billboard

Her twitter: https://twitter.com/thisNAO?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Her facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisnao/

This music video has a weird narrative to it, a man walking around in an orange space, being flung around by an invisible force. It is just sequences of him being tugged in various directions and beating up an invisible person.

'Girlfriend'  was one of her first official videos, and she is barely even in the video, it is just abstract shots of people and the place they live with a little narrative of a couple. Not a very interesting video, but I like the way the people involved are dress and the visual strands.

Here is her website, very simplistic just like Bonzai's website. Her social medias are clearly shown which indicates she is active on them

Idea 2 Star Image: The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones were an iconic rock band in the 70's. Their look was very vintage and they have the star image I expect my star to look like.

Group Idea Cloud

Individually in our group we wrote down all the things we want to be included in music video. I wrote down mostly things that make up a pop video but one that isn't fast paced in the actual camera work, but in the editing.

Red Group Photo

Here is our team, (left to right) Miranda, me (Kate), Hope and Franek.

Music Video Idea #3

Idea: Green screen, fun colours, 360 camera spin snapshotting the star, town shots
Song: Shake it by Metro Station
Genre: Pop/Alternative/Indie
Narrative: Boy chasing girl around a town, her rejecting him overtime up until the end
Star: Boyband with one main singer, bassist, drums, keyboard
Performance: In studio and out in town
Visual Strands: girl swinging her hips with hula hoop, wearing something bright and colourful (in a dream of the boys), roses falling in studio, sad expressions from rejected boy, in studio all members of the group individually have a 360º snapshot of them in the air, 360º spin of camera onto band members, green screen with their names on it in a tile fashion
Costume: All black, leather jackets, pretty clothing for the girl
Song fits in how?: Boy is very determined to make her his, dreams about this girl everyday and he finally does in the end, jumps around and preaches about it, shows how keen he is

Beginning: 00:00 - 00:43

Introduction of song lasts for 00:18 seconds, this will be a sequence of the band playing its instruments, close ups on their hands and the way they are rocking to the music in the studio. When the star starts to sing, it is a close up of him, singing directly to someone in the audience, someone who is on the production team. We pan around the camera to this beautiful young lady wearing headphones and glasses looking at the star puzzled and she walks away. Continue a sequence of the band singing and they then drop all their instruments to follow this dream girl. Sequence of them trying to find their way out of the studio, using flashlights on them to exaggerate the darkness. Slam open outside door to follow her

Middle: 00:44 - 02:01

Finds the woman, walks up next to her, and sings the words dramatically to her. Goes back to the studio when the lyrics say 'Now if she does it like this, will you do it like that?' cutting to a 360º snapshot of her turning from a business woman to a carefree babe. Then back onto the streets of him confessing his love for her, she walks away, rejecting him. Back into the studio where it shows him dreaming on a sofa, fading into a dream like sequence of her spinning her hips with a hula hoop. He is abruptly awoken by his band mates and they get back on stage quickly, picking up where they left off.

Ending: 02:02 - 02:59

Girl gets called into an office by manager of band, and manager is firing her, she is protesting for her job, star bursts in trying to save the day, narrative of manager and star fighting. The star is put down and goes out of the room in a sulkish way. Final chorus he sings his heart out to the girl, jumping to sequences of her hula hooping and them meeting for the first time. The band is full of energy and bouncing to the music.


Inspiration:

The So Random! introduction video includes a 360º snapshot of all the characters beginning at 00:32 - 00:36 in the video below:

Day'n'Night by Kid Cudi is also a colourful inspiration for me, I loved the way he had his name plastered all over the walls, it is a great promotional for him in the music video.

Music Video Idea #2

Idea: Exploring london, night time
Song: Nuggets by Mura Masa
Genre: Electronic Dance
Narrative: getting ready to go to a party, on the tube, in the street, having fun with friends
Star: Main female with friends (dancers?)
Performance: dance group (trio) doing funky dance
Visual Strands: London, tube station, street view
Costume: funky bright colours, 90's theme, lots of loose jewellery, fur coats
How to make star image: shows her attitude and her style in the video

Beginning: 00:15 - 00:59
Showing surroundings of getting ready, makeup scattered around in the flat. When it first says 'bam' the camera quickly swooshes in movement from surroundings to the main star with two girls behind her. Track movement until they are out of the flat all slammed up. close ups of girls in pre-chorus and under the lights of london, street view.

Middle: 01:00 - 01:34
Another swoosh of the camera of them in the tube station in a line of three with the main star slightly further forward than the others. Sassy scan through the oyster card checker and all walk out in sync. Views from the escalator too. They get onto the tube.

End: 01:35 - 02:40
Now on the tube, they sit then stand up and the two girls behind the main star have a routine to the chorus. They get off the tube and are now back onto the streets of London and are still making their way to the 'party'. Many establishing shots of bokeh lights and the nightlife of London to show their whereabouts. Close ups of their outfits and faces, shots of behind them all walking the streets of London.

Inspiration: Justin Bieber 'Sorry':
This dance group are dressed in the type of costumes I want my music video to include. But this video also has too many people, I would want a maximum of 2 dancers.

Kiesza's 'Hideaway' shows her dancing on the street, first alone, but then is joined by others. This inspired me to have the girls dancing down the street.

Music Video Idea #1

Here is his official website too: https://www.zedd.net/echo

He has a very modern vibe to him, which I love.

Idea: Projections + underwater camerawork
Song: Clarity by Zedd ft. Foxes
Genre: Pop
Narrative: Girl realising she made a mistake losing her lover
Star: Young adult female
Performance: girl singing dramatically underwater and in room of projections
Visual Strands: slow motion plates smashing, balloons being thrown, glass smashing (cool hues of colour on this)
Costume: white floaty dress for underwater, plain clothes for projection and colour coordinated clothes for set.
Song fits in how?: clarity = vision, projections showing videos of burning, flashing lights, flowers and sunsets.

I went on holiday and took my underwater camera with me, and took lots of pictures. This inspired me to want to take moving images of people floating underwater with long dresses which exaggerates the slowness of being underwater.

Inspirations:

Based on the idea of Rihanna's 'Stay' music video, I loved the way that the intro to the video had a slow motion pour of water into a bath. As an introduction to the music video, it intrigues the viewer into wondering what the water is filling up, and makes them continue to watch.

Another example is Cailee Rae's music video called 'Anchor' created in a set with powdered paint thrown at her, but also kept to her songs name and performed underwater with chains to show that she is being brought down by an anchor funnily enough.

I've always been fascinated with music videos which use blank walls with projections to splash the artists faces with colour and movement. For example Rihanna's 'We Found Love' has a lot of cuts of her in a room with projections on her body in between a narrative of romance.

You see here the two contrasts of love, one side of it is happy and lovely, and the other side is anger and pain.

The same is portrayed in Ariana Grande's 'The Way' music video where videos of romance between lovers are projected on her body. I like the way that there are cuts in between the splashes of colour and a room that is just plain white with Ariana dressed in white too, it creates a cool contrast between both sets.

How the sequence would go:

Beginning: 00:00 - 01:09
Starts with intro of girl floating in water with floaty clothing, back arched. Once music begins it cuts to her on set with coloured background, maybe blue or green to keep with a colour scheme, fully lit face and bokeh lights hanging in background of the star. Projection of stars/galaxies/sunsets on her full body against white wall, singing dramatically. Many long, mid and close shots for the projection set. Cuts to her still swimming around, could be lip syncing underneath water too in beginning of chorus of the song.

Middle: 01:10 - 01:54
Dramatic smashes of plates/glasses/powder/glitter on the ground to exaggerate the beat drop of the song. Cut back to underwater scene and speed it up/reverse/jump cut/mirror effect it to sync with the music's composition. Some scenes cut in with close up shots of her singing on set, maybe with tear running down face(?).

End: 03:01 -03:47
Slow down the editing, cut out the last verse of the song to make the music video much shorter than original because it gets quite repetitive. Edit lots of jump cuts towards the beginning of the beat drop to hype up the audience of the underwater scene, projection, violence of glitter/glass/china thrown around. Once beat drops, it'll be the girl plainly on set singing 'why are you my clarity' and it will fade out and end there.