Research For Shoots

I am now starting to look at the requirements for music videos which I can begin to reiterate in my own product. I am going to look into the requirements for hair, make-up, costume, props and locations.

I thought the best place to start looking was on YouTube for behind-the-scenes footage of already existing music videos. I chose Katy Perry's Wide Awake Video as I know that she is one of the more outrageous performers when it comes to mise-en-scene, thus I knew I was likely to find out a lot about these elements from her.

I chose this particular video as she talks quite a lot in this one about the symbolism in her costume and the importance of some of the props and characters. In the first few minutes she talks about wearing a dress decorated with butterflies, which symbolises the idea of freedom which is highlighted in the lyrics of the song. With my music video, a lot of the themes involve love, friendship and death. If I can, I will use costumes which reiterate these themes like in Katy Perry's video, such as dresses with flowers or butterflies on them. To also highlight the overall theme of the video 'Autumn' I will mostly look at costumes which have a lot of autumnal colours and motifs on them, especially as I will no longer be shooting during the autumn months. Costumes in music videos are important as they convey ideas or themes within the narrative, and also help audiences to identify personalities in the characters. 

I want the costumes to have subtle hints to the song's title, whilst still keeping quite a girly, fun image. However, I don't want all of the costumes to be too glamorous as it doesn't suit the slow, sad tone of the music. 

Make-up is a heavily important element within music videos, but again it depends on the genre of music the video is for. Make-up really goes hand-in-hand with costume as it further helps to convey personalities of the characters and the genre of the music. For example, in Lady Gaga or Katy Perry's music videos, they tend to have very strong coloured make-up to convey the bold pop genre. During music video production, make-up is continuously touched-up in between shots to ensure that the look is consistently 'perfect'. No matter how clean the actors' skin is, professional make-ups like foundation and concealer are used on men and women as it helps to smooth the skin out when presented on camera. It is also useful for toning down shiny or oily skin which helps when there is strong lighting in the shot. In my music video, as the genre is quite minimalisitc, I will use on plain colours and minimal cover-up if I can to portray the idea of very natural down-to-earth characters. I do plan to have some more fun, 'party-like' scenes, which may require slightly stronger use of make-up, but I will use only simply, earthy colours to link in with the message behind 'Autumn Leaves'.

This look is much more appropriate for minimalistic music genres, and younger musicians and actors. Examples include Selena Gomez, Leona Lewis and Beyonce.

Hair again is very similar to make-up and costume. Some people may believe it is one of the least important elements in the mise-en-scene of any filmed media, but actually it helps to represent who the characters are and their background. When I was looking at behind-the-scenes footage of music videos, very little of them actually talk about the styling of the actors's and musician's hair, especially not in any depth or relevance to my research. I then thought about similar filmed media footage, such as, The X Factor. The contestants all have to go through a rigorous hair styling session before any performance, and there is only one main hair stylist so everything has to be planned out beforehand...

By watching this video, I learnt that all people have to be considered before thinking of any hair styles, and so does what is happening around them and who they are. Mood boards are often created to discuss potential stylings with the contestants and they often bring their own twist on the styles too. When I think about the hair styling in my music video, I will have to consider many factors, including the type of hair my actors have. Like in the above interview, the stylist stated that he had to work with Afro, European etc. types of hair, so they were limited to the styles they could use. The hair also plays a part of the performance itself and how they are being presented in the scene. The dancers for example, who were briefly seen in the above video, had to have their hair in an up-do to prevent their hair from interfering with the performance, which I would have to consider if I were doing a dance/pop genre music video. As I am having a very quiet, simple plot, I want the hair styles to be very basic, they can be up or down, and they will also have to be very current and on-trend as the two central female characters will be typical down-to-earth teenagers. Like I stated above, there will potentially be a 'party scene' where I can then take some more creative and fun hairstyles.

I want the hair-styles to be very simple and low-key, possibly inspired by younger actresses such as Emma Roberts and some of Jennifer Lawrence's red carpet looks.

The props within a music video usually come from what type is being produced, and the basic narrative of the lyrics. For example, in a performance-based music video some of the main props used will be the instruments and/or a microphone stand. This is essential as without them, it wouldn't have that key performance element, like in the video example below. Again like in the video below, music videos will also include what seems like very random props at first, but really they are often used to give the song or artist a particular image, or to make the video exciting. In Lawson's video for Learn To Love Again, the performers dance with fire, which is an element the band has begun to build-in to their live performances of the song as it is so characteristic. This particular element also makes the video more exciting and gives it that 'WOW' factor. 

Other props in music videos might link directly in to the song's lyrics or the title. For example, in my music video for 'Autumn Leaves' I am going to make actual leaves part of the main imagery of the whole footage, and I will often have my 'characters' interact with them. The artist, Ed Sheeran, also has certain performance characteristics such as his decorated guitar, which I could try to duplicate in my coursework.

Leaves will play a big part in the video and the present is also symbolic within my plot. The guitar will definitely play a big part in the music video also to give it a performance-based element. 

One of the last important factors of the mise-en-scene element that needs to be researched properly is the use of location within music videos. The location helps to set the scene for the narrative and also helps to give the music video itself an identity which also links in with the song's genre. Reading an article on the BBC, I didn't realise that shooting in some public places requires a permit, and if I wanted to legally shoot on the London Underground, it would cost £300 for two hours, so location has to be really thought about. Using studios can also be costly, but luckily if I use the stduio, we have one in the college which I will be abel to use for free. Lighting can also tie-in with the location, and I found this behind-the-scenes video of The Script on the shoot for one of their videos, and at the start they briefly discuss the importance of the particular location...

They picked the location because it reflected the sincerity of the tone of the music, and the black shiny decor and flooring reflects the studio lighting in a reflective manner, which becomes symbolic for self-reflection. The location should also reflect the genre of music, for example country music, should be shot in the country somewhere. Urband or grime genres of music, would ideally, be shot in urban-city areas. Pop music videos might require a studio more as these tend to use graphic backgdrops and plenty of props to fill the set. When I shoot for my music video, I am thinking that I want to use mostly outdoor locations as it links in well with the idea of autumn and nature - a central theme in my song. I will also use a studio for my 'performance' elements as I want the strong lighting to be able ro focus directly on my performer.

These are the types of locations I want to use in my music video to convey the themes within the lyrics and my narrative.

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13.12.13

All of the concepts I have explored above can be easily adapted to suit the imagery I want to portray in my Ancillary products, especially as I want the images I use on both my Digipak and my website to match what I shoot in the music video, to create a sense of brand identity.

For the Digipak, I will look at the singers' existing album and single artwork pieces to create something which may also tie in. Often with Ed Sheeran's single's, they are all hand-illustrated, and the image matches or symbolises the lyrics. For example:

When it comes to designing my Digipak, I will take in the previous artwork into consideration to make mine look more realistic, and images I may use might include a few autumnal leaves in a pile, or two people holding hands for example. If I continue to use balloons in the plot of the music video, I could also use the balloons for the album artwork.