Music Video Rough Cut #1 - Feedback

Chloe please upload the rough cut #1 of your music video. Below is the feedback I have posted on Hana's blog as she has posted the video on her blog. Please make this a priority.

1. Hana your rough-cut #1 music video demonstrates an engagement with the set task.
   
   Your narrative structure so far invites the audience into the world of the teenage girl around who your narrative revolves. In your opening you have though deeply about the mise-en-scene in the girl’s bedroom with symbolic cuts to a magazine, mobile phone and photos of the couple featured in the music video. The opening shot of your main character lying in her bed in a close up from a bird’s eye view creates daydreaming or unfocused quality – worlds turning upside down. This is an excellent signifier of the good/bad identity to follow. Could this technique be recurring throughout?
   
   Your editing of your main character in an over the shoulder shot putting on her jacket whilst looking in the mirror before cutting to a close up of her shoes and then to her exiting her home establish the narrative and possibly the disequilibrium to follow. Would the pace of your music video be heightened if more of these cutaways were infused into your music video? Are there other elements/objects/signs within a teenager’s experience that could be included to demonstrate the personality and interests of both the male and female lead characters? Would this continue to engage the target audience?
   
   Throughout you establish a clear link between lyrics and visuals. For example the library scene. Is this a directing choice you will maintain throughout the music video?
   
   Other 5 Seconds of Summer music videos use a great deal of performance based shots – is this something your group would thing about including? Close ups of the ‘lead singer’ with a direct gaze singing to the camera?
   
   Examples of 5SOS: http://www.mtv.co.uk/5-seconds-of-summer/videos/she-looks-so-perfect
   
   Please analyse two more music videos from your chosen genre with your group and include the analysis in a post on your blog. Within your analysis please make detailed reference to editing/pace/timing/transitions/framing. Include a reflection on what you have analysed may impact your finalising of your music video. Please use your media booklet to support you in terms of analysis.
   
   Please don't hesitate to ask should you have any questions regarding the above comments.
   
   Your music video rough cut #1 is a confident production Hana - continue to maintain the drive and motivation you have displayed to date.
2. Your use of still images (from 1m45s) creating a near stop-animation feel has energy, pace and is FUN. Clearly your genre and the experience of your main character is communicated here. Please discuss with your group if a variety of shot types would further enhance this scene and raise its dynamic feel further. 

   
   

Behind the Scenes

                                     

 Director (Taslima), Camera Woman (Myself) & Actor

 Camera woman (Myself) & Actor 

Camera woman (Myself) & Actor - Getting shot ready to film

Location - GoldersHill Park 

Panorama shot of Location

Actress (Hana) & Actor - Setting up props and costume 

Music Video Draft 1

Mise-En-Scene

Mise-en-scene is very important within a production; it could make a large visual difference and draw the attention of an audience. For the mise-en-scene to be successful, it must attract the target audience of the production, by clothing, props, make-up, location, colour and lighting.  The target audience for our production is teenage females, most likely to be 15 years and over as that is when they are in ‘high school’ (which is also a key location within the production). 

Costume: Casual wear, Cool Wear e.g. Leather Jacket, shirts: 

The costumes within our production were picked to appeal to the teenage audience, young, cool and stylish. It's something that the audience could wear therefore they could relate to it. The costumes such as the iconic leather jacket were also picked to connote the meaning of a "bad" girl.

To represent the ‘good girl’ and to become the opposite to the ‘bad girl’, the actress (Hana) wears a school like shirt, buttoned to the top and a checked skirt, in able to look clever and well behaved. The prop used is a chalkboard to also fit the school theme. 

To make the music video more realistic, as a group we went to a photo-booth in the fashion store 'Urban Outfitters'. As well as filming within the photo-booth, we took a panning shot of the strip to add to the music video to add the final result of the video being relatable to teenage girls and add the ‘couple feel’ to the video.

Props: Sunglasses, Bandana, Chalkboard, Mobile Phone, Photo Booth photos, Picture frame, Books (studying in bedroom and library), Magazine: 

These are all item that our target audience can relate with and also the bandana gives the actor more of a 'bad boy' look and this also link with the band 5 Seconds of Summer as they too wear bandanas. 

We have also included some intertexuality within our music video. From researching into other pop genre music videos we wanted to take this idea of the heart shaped sunglasses from Taylor Swifts music video '22', this also gives our video a girly feel likewise with '22' 

Health and Safety/Risk assessment discussion

In our chosen song of 'Good Girls' by 5 Seconds of Summer there is a lyrics which reads "She sneaks out her window to meet with her boyfriend", to us this is a risk to the actress and the filming crew as there is a risk of her falling out of the window and seriously injuring herself and those around her. Therefore, within our music video we are going to have visuals of the actress sneaking out through the use of a door rather than a window.  

The weather also plays an impact on health and safety as we would rather film on a dry day as the filming crew have the risk of slipping over on a puddle or mud which will result in physical injuries and damage to filming equipment/props. 

Making of the Music Video

BEFORE

AFTER

After uploading the shots onto FinalCut Pro, we tried out different levels of exposure and colours to try and make the video colour and style appear softer so that it could fit more into the 'girly' theme of our video.

We adjusted the shadows, highlights and mid tones (-3, -27 and 19) and the warmth of the colour for it to appear softer.

The opening shot shows the girl (main character) lying on her bed with the camera at a bird eye view angle. The miss-en-scene fits well with the genre and target audience. The colours are happy and girly (purple, white, pink, baby blue). The shot also lets the audience question "what is she thinking of?" which is good because it would make them want to watch it and follow the narrative of our music video.

In this section of the music video, the music purposefully goes distorted, as if a microphone has been covered. Therefore we have a shot of the couple covering the camera with their hands when they kiss. To emphasise the "distortion", we added the 'Bad TV' effect on Final Cut Pro the part where their hands go up.

We decided to change the yellow hue of the video into a white hue. We got the inspiration from the music video 'Begin Again' by Pop Artist Taylor Swift. The white hue adds a soft, romantic element to the music video, which suits the young female target audience.

An idea that we had (to add to the realism of the music video) was to incorporate "documentary like" videos of the couple. For example: 

This idea is also similar to the music video for 'Video Games' by Lana Del Rey. Her video features clips that look self-made with a normal, not of great quality, camera. However, the idea adds a sense of it being antique, nostalgic, realistic as well as romantic.