Song Mood Board

I have created a mood board of images that I feel represent the tone of the song, and have also included some images of ideas I have for my video, including locations.

Audience Feedback

I have added a poll onto my blog to help gain some audience feedback. Using the age range poll and then the answer to the other polls will help me determine what my target age range (18-30) expect to see in a music video and I will therefore cater to their expectations and opinions. I wanted to ask whether they feel a narrative is important in a video, as I do not agree that it is and wanted to make my video abstract, as I personally don't think the song has a clear narrative throughout and it's good to leave it open to the audience's interpretations. Any feedback I gain from these polls in the next month or so will definitely be considered when I make my music video.

I chose these questions as I feel I can get specific data, with it not being too complex.

I have also made a survey on surveymonkey to gain more feedback:

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Conventions of Indie Genre

Lyric Analysis

Lyric Timings

I know to be there 0.30-0.34

When and where, Ill be there 0.35-0.39

You know whats to be said 0.40-0.44

We said out loud, we never said 0.45-0.49

My premonition of the world comes to me 0.52-0.58

A sun in your hands from the middle life 1.01- 1.07

Says I'm alright 1.07-1.09

You said you don't have to speak 1.27-1.30

I can hear you 1.33-1.35

I cant feel all the things you've ever felt before 1.38-1.45

I said its been a long time 1.47-1.50

Since someone looked at me that way 1.52-1.57

Its like you knew me 1.57-2.01

And all the things I couldn't say 2.02-2.05

Together, to be 2.10-2.14

Together and be 2.15-2.19

Together, to be 2.20-2.24

Together and be 2.25-2.29

Together, to be 2.30-2.34

Together and be 2.35-2.39

Together, to be 2.40-2.44

Together and be 2.45-2.49

Together, to be 3.30-3.34

Together and be 3.35-3.39

Together, to be 3.40-3.44

Together and be 3.45-3.49

Together, to be 3.50-3.54

Together and be 3.55-3.59

Together, to be 4.00-4.04

Together and be 4.05- 4.09

TOTAL LENGTH OF SONG: 5:26
TOTAL NON VOCAL INSTRUMENTAL: 3.16
TOTAL VOCALS: 2:10

Chosen Song

TOGETHER- THE XX

Together was written purely for the Great Gatsby soundtrack by Jamie Smith. It was released on the 6th May 2013 and also appears on their 2013 EP 'Fiction'.
This song was definitely not the kind of song I had planned to use for my music video, however the more I listened to it the more ideas I got. The fact that is doesn't already have a music video attracted me  to the song, as there is nothing to compare it to and lets me take a whole new approach to the song with nothing to prompt me. It's quite a long song to produce a music video to (5:26) with minimal vocals and 3:16 of pure instrumental, and I feel like this will be a challenge however I am prepared to do it. Due to the minimal vocals, I feel like using the right locations and people to appear in the video will help convey a message through the song, however will leave it mostly down the the viewers imagination, as I aim to produce an abstract video.

The Beatles

THE BEATLES are a great example to focus on when studying music videos in terms of development, what makes a good and bad video, and the transition from film to video. When the Beatles were getting big, there was a significant rise of proliferation in the number of televisions sold, especially when colour TV was introduced in the early/mid 1970s.



The Beatles released 'A Hard Days Night' in 1964- a feature length film lasting 87 minutes. This film was in black and white, but still attracted a wide audience and gave the Beatles a cheeky, 'jack-the-lad' image that they wanted to display to the public. They released their album 'A hard days night' at the same time, and this gave the idea they were completely in control of their image, a very good marketing strategy (people would watch the film, then buy the album or vise versa)

1963/4 was the years of Beatle Mania, and due to new technology, 85million people watched their first American TV appearance. A pre-recorded performance was shown on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. The fact that such a large number of people watched the show, it emphasizes the true power of the media, as shortly after the Beatles held the top 5 positions in the US chart.

'THE BEATLES ARE MORE POPULAR THAN JESUS' - JOHN LENNON

The band started to follow conventions in their films, for example in their 1966 video for 'Paperback Writer'

• Use of close-ups
• Band performance
• MES relating to instruments
• Musical equipment
• Montage editing

In 1967, due to new satellite technology over  400million people watched 'All You Need Is Love'. Videos are now made for the sole purpose of selling the artist and promoting them, which sure worked for the Beatles. 

A key example of a badly made video is 'Hello Goodbye'. There is a significant lack of camera shots, with lots of wasted space. Although conventional close-ups are used its the only effective camera shot. There are key messages running throughout the video though, with John Lennon's body language being prominent. He is pointing at the audience, which is always been associated with Elvis. It could be implying that they're now more well known than him. 

BOXING DAY 1967- THE BEATLES MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR- a film for TV. The magical mystery tour  was made for BBC1 and shown in black and white, Millions of people watched it, but it did not come off well, due to fact it relied upon the colour to get the full effect, but the BBC was not yet in colour TV. The plot had absolutely nothing to do with the Beatles as a band, but was still promoting them and their music. One of the songs within the film 'I am The Walrus' has a very psychedelic video, and the song was actually banned for incorporating the word 'knickers'. However, at the end of the song you can clearly hear the words 'everybody smoke pot' being chanted, but the critics did not pick up on this. This shows the fact that the Beatles still had some sort of say in how their music was presented, but truly reflects their personas, 

The conventions of a music video

Possible Song Ideas

NEW DORP NEW YORK- SBTRKT FT EZRA KOENIG

SLYD- !!!

ANGELS- THE XX

SWEET DISPOSITION- TEMPER TRAP

LUNA- BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB

TOGETHER- THE XX

5 Video Analysis

As part of Becky's lesson, we had to choose 5 different music videos of different genres and state what we liked and disliked about them, and if the video included a narrative, what is was.

AZELIA BANKS- 212
LIKE: The video is very simplistic, and in black and white. I think this was an effective technique for the video as it contributed to the simplistic approach and there is no bright colours to distract the audience from the song. The producer used several close-up shots of her mouth while she was lip-syncing and I feel although this is a simple feature, it keeps the audience engaged throughout the video. I also like how there is only 3 people that feature in the video, as too many people make it look too busy and tacky.
DISLIKE: There is no obvious narrative in the video, and this is a negative as a good narrative keeps the audience engage throughout the song and allows them to understand it more. There is also a choreographed dance all the way through the video, which makes it slightly cheesy.

TOM ODELL- ANOTHER LOVE (SHORT FILM)

LIKE: This video is purely narrative and tells a love story from start to end. From the video, I inferred that the narrative is about a man who feels like he has lost the love his girlfriend once gave him and therefore feels like he has lost the girl she once was. This would explain the MISSING posters in the video. The girl doesn't feel like she's lost who she is, and although trying constantly to get his attention, she cant. The end leaves it on a cliff hanger and is open to the audiences imagination. There's hardly any lip-syncing in the video, which helps the narrative flow nicely and it goes in chronological order- from day to night. 

DISLIKE: There is nothing I particularly dislike about this video, and this narrative type is an option for me in my own work. 

KATY PERRY- ROAR

LIKE: The theme of the video fits the song well, and the main singer performed it accurately. Conventional of a pop video with all the bright colours.

DISLIKE: The video is very gaudy, with too much going on at times. However, this is very conventional of a pop video and therefore conforms to the conventions well. Katy constantly lip-syncs, and i'm not a fan of this in videos. I think its effective to only have the chorus or bridge performed, and have the main focus on the narrative. There appears to be no meaningful narrative throughout the video, and the meaning behind the song isn't clear. 

VAMPIRE WEEKEND- A PUNK

LIKE: The editing of the video fits the beat of the music perfectly, which makes it flow better and is therefore more effective. It's a really simplistic video using the same location throughout, but it's not boring at all as the editing is moving so fast, its keeps the attention of the audience. 

DISLIKE: It doesn't have a narrative, and although I think it works for this video, it would be more conventional to do so. 

CANT- TOO LATE TOO FAR

LIKE: Originally, this was the song I was planning to produce my music video to, however, on discovering the song already had a video and then watching it, it was everything I envisioned my video to be so chose not to do it. The video is really warped and quite trippy, and this choppy editing really works with the song. The main person in the video's appearance deteriorates throughout and I would like to incorporate it into my video. 

DISLIKE: There's alot going on in the video, and I think it's verging on too much. Perhaps abit less being featured would be better 

Brief

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with;

• A cover for it's release as part of a digipack (CD/DVD package)
• A magazine advertisement for the digipack (CD/DVD package)

Richard Dyer's 'Star Theory'

Laura Mulvey- Male Gaze Theory

VIDEOS THAT SUPPORT MULVEY'S THEORY