I'm an A2 Media Studies student also studying Textiles and Photography. I am really passionate about Media Studies as I enjoy being creative and imaginative.
Today we filmed in a car park on Oxford Street as it contained the spiral staircase that we needed for a particular shot. We went in the evening as this was a less busy time, allowing us to film more easily with little disruptions. We wanted to film the staircase as its spiral shape enforces the idea of 'hypnotism' linking the visuals of our music video to the lyrics of the song. The location also helped us to portray our narrative of escaping as the protagonist, played by me, can be seen desperately running up the stairs, the spiral aspect making it seem as though her hopes are in vain as the staircase appears to have no end. The majority of our shots from previous locations were purely shots of the artist lip-synching, this made it difficult to start editing the footage as we were unable to show the narrative and the progression of the video. Today's shoot was extremely successful and we now have many shots that will help to tell the story of our music video, hopefully we will be able to edit the footage soon. We have one more location left, the Capel Manor Maze, we are planning to finish filming by the end of the week.
On the left is a shot looking up the staircase, capturing its spiral structure. I like the disorientated look of the shot due to the difficulty in distinguishing whether it is looking upwards or downwards, this mirrors the confused mindset of the character. By making the audience feel disorientated, they will be able to empathise with the protagonist on a greater scale.
I found the music video for HAIM's 'Forever' to be very inspirational. The video's shots are predominantly of the artists, identifying them as the most important element of the video. The emphasis on the artists helps to make them more memorable and recognisable, creating a 'star image'. This video is very similar to our music video, as we have also mostly included shots of our artist.
We want to ensure that we include many close-up shots of our artist in order to conform to Andrew Goodwin's music video theory that states that close-ups help to create a 'star image'. By making our artist a 'star', she will be more recognisable and, therefore, more popular and successful.
Our video is currently more performance-based as we are yet to complete filming in some of our locations, such as the Capel Manor Maze. So, at the moment, our narrative isn't very clear. HAIM's video has also shown me that, despite being performance based, a narrative or idea can still be conveyed. This has made me less anxious about not having an obvious narrative in our music video.
As a group we decided that we like the idea of filming in a maze, I feel that this would be a great location as it is very symbolic of our character's disorientated mental state and her desire to escape. I think that a bird's-eye shot of the maze would look very effective and would help to present ideas of hypnotism through its circular shape and repetitive, winding paths. We also wanted to include a more rural, natural location to contrast the urban locations that we hope to film in, such as Brick Lane and Camden.
We had the idea for our final shot to be our protagonist emerging from the maze in more sophisticated clothing, juxtaposing her previous outfits, this reveal would be symbolic of her finally escaping and feeling free, her clear-mindedness being shown through her costume as she abandons her former, reckless self. Below are photographs of the Capel Manor Maze, a nearby location that would be easily accessible:
I really liked Kodaline's video for 'High Hopes' as it has a very clear, and emotional, narrative. The story starts with a runaway bride interrupting a man's suicide attempt. Throughout the video their relationship is seen growing. Towards the end, the woman's previous fiancé is shown shooting the couple. The audience is then lead to believe that the woman has died, this is due to a close-up shot of her bloodied body and a shot of an empty hospital bed. However, at the very end it is revealed that she is alive.
I like this idea of a plot twist as it makes the audience more excited, particularly as this video is very emotional so the viewer forms a deeper connection with the characters, this makes the events of the video more impactful.
I like the simplicity of the music video and think that it is an excellent example of a well-executed narrative video. The video has the very clear overall message of love and hope, shown by the couple's strong relationship, and enforced by the lyric 'high hopes'. The idea of 'beating death', such as the man's failed suicide attempt and the couple's recovery from the shooting, also adds to the 'hopeful' atmosphere.
This video has been very inspirational and will help my group when we come to storyboard our music video in order to create a clear narrative.
After finalising our song choice, we started to brainstorm ideas for the narrative of our music video. One lyric that jumped out at us was 'Make me feel like someone else', we want to show two different sides of the character in the video, her 'normal' side and the 'hypnotised' side. The lyric 'I don't wanna come back down' has connotations of being high, however, instead of drug use we are interpreting this as not wanting to return to reality from her 'hypnotised' state caused by her overwhelming emotions, we have the idea of presenting her as quite a reckless character. We though that, in order to shock the audience, her 'normal' side should be revealed at the end of the music video, showing the character to be a strong, professional woman, this would allow us to explore themes of feminism and what society thinks a woman should be.
We also started to think about location, we decided that we wanted to include urban areas to appeal to younger audiences as well as to create a busy, confusing atmosphere.
