Planning my Storyboard

My Storyboard...

During lesson we were set a task to plan our storyboards for our coursework. It enables us to develop and structure our video more precicely, step by step and to help plan out each stage effectively, dividing it up into 6 sections per sheet.
I found the storyboard very easy to plan, it is simple to understand and has been helpful for me to develop a rough structure of what my overall video will look like; i have planned out my storyboard into the different sections of the song i am focused on, a couple of pictures per verse. This allows me to refer to my storyboard and understand the continuing verse, without going into any major detail.
Underneath each picture i have described what is happening and what the picture represents, and how i will go about it when editing my video; i have included a couple of the lyrics also to remind me of how the picture and the verse link.
Throughout my remaining lessons, i will use my storyboard to look back on, whilst i develop my ideas further, through practise of filming following my storyboard as a target for my final piece.
Below is my storyboard...

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Focused Analysis

Character

For my focused analysis i will be analysing four specific aspects to consider for my video. This section is about characterisation.
I have analysed a number of Katy Perry's music videos as i am focusing on her music. I find that characterisation is very important, there are many aspects in a character that you need to consider when making a video, for example what type of character you re looking for to attract your target audience, the age of the character or character's depending on the genre of the song you are focusing on, also the personality of the perfect character you wish to portray.
Jess and I have asked a number of our friends to appear in our video, they are free every Friday and a couple of week nights also. We have already began planning our video, the fact that our friends are acting in it helps us a lot as we can now begin as soon as possible to plan our video and begin shooting.
The type of character i would like to portray in my video is similar to Taylor Swifts video, 'You belong with me'. I particularly like her character in this video for a number of reasons. She plays numerous characters in her video, along with the number of different costumes she wore whilst singing into the mirror portraying different characters, she also plays two contrasting characters throughout the video, 'the innocent girl' and ' the mean girl'. She has blonde hair whilst conveying the innocent girl, and wears light colours to symbolise innocence. In comparison to this whilst playing the mean girl she wears darker clothes and also pulls up in a red convertable, this symbolises being the 'popular' girl from school, and the colour red suggests she is mean emhasising the stereotypical aspects of the video. As well as this, the typical captain of the cheerleaders also suggest she is better than the innocent girl.
I think that both of these characters add excitement to the video and are interesting and fun characters keeping the audience hooked on the video!



Sound/Music

The genre of the sound and music i have focused on is Pop. I wanted to use an up-beat, fun and lively song as i enjoy this type of music in particular, and had many ideas and influences from recent pop videos on television. We researched songs such as Taylor Swift 'You belong with me', Lady GaGa ' Boys boys boys', Beyonce 'Single Ladies' as well as the Katy Perry songs below. Both Jess and I preferred 'Waking Up in Vegas' the song is catchy and we also preferred this video to the others as it has much more activity going on. We particularly liked the songs storyline, as we have discovered that we are able to use and perform the storyline effectively within our video adapting to the quality of our video.
Another reason why I decided overall to choose this song, was because of the target audience of the song, I wanted to create a video where I was aware of the target audience, that they were going to understand and enjoy it. Pop is one of the most popular and most listened to genre of music, interesting a wide variety of audiences which I thought would be helpful to attract attention and the video become a 'hit'.

Mise-en scene

The Mise-en scene is one of the most important aspects involving media as a whole. I believe it is important for my music video as it determines and emphasises the genre, mood and also the target audience of the song. It is very useful as it creates life and excitement to the video and allows the video to attract attention, particularly from the target audience.
The Mise-en scene includes the camera and it's arrangement, the set, props, actors and the costumes. The costumes I would like to include in my video are colourful, fun and fashionable, attracting attention specifically from younger viewers and catching their eye, acting as a benchmark for the video. Concerning the props and set, we have decided to include a variety of props throughout our video; in one particular scene we are set in the actors bedroom, giving an impression of 'the morning after the night before'; we will include typical everyday props such as clothing, shoes, bottles, and even people! Suggesting the events of the former night, and also adding an aspect of humour to the video.
Camera angles are essential in making a video succesful, we have thought and planned about the many differing camera shots we wich to include, giving variety and a professional look to our video; again I have researched some videos with many impressive angles and shots, which i will list below.
As the Mise-en scene developes the storyline, we have thought carefully about what aspects we would need to include in order to create a succesful and more advanced video.
Christina Aguilera's video 'Candy man' impressed me a lot, it includes every aspect of Mise-en scene that could be considered in a video, such as, costumes, props, location, characters. Each of these things are included in her video, making it a perfect video to analyse and get inspiration from. This video influenced my perspective of my music video, giving me a number of ideas i could use for the Mise-en scene, making it look professional and include everything needed to make it an effective and inspiring piece of work.



Location

To decide the location of our music video, I wanted it to look exciting, busy and colourful. The location for the original video 'Waking up in Vegas' is set in Las Vegas; However, Jess and I wanted to keep the same outline involving busy streets, bright lights and a lively feel. Therefore, one of our locations we have decided is going to be set in Trafalger Square, (the closest we could get to Las Vegas!) keeping the atmosphere of the video roughly the same.
Another location also in London we are using is Carnaby Street; this is because we liked the idea of the busy street and the cobbled flooring, when set at night would give a very artistic look to the video, initially conveying the actors isolation and confusion matching the lyrics, 'I lost my fake ID, but you lost the motel key, spare me your freaking dirty looks now dont blame me' we thought this was a good idea as it matches our storyline.
The rest of our video we will do in one of our bedrooms, and also when out and about, ie walking down the street.
The impression I am aiming for is a professional one, involving many locations adding variety and not to bore the audience. The location is a key part of the video and will help determine the outcome.
I have focused on a particular video for location, i have chosen Pinks video, 'Who Knew'; i have decided to focus on this as i like the fact that her video is different, and stands out from others i have seen. The location is of a fun fair, making it busy, and colourful allowing the audience to become interested in the video immediately. Taking into consideration the theme of my music video, pop, and the type of character and genre i am including, this video really impressed me, and i shall continue researching for extra knowledge and ideas about how to produce my music video.

Film Analysis for my video...

Here is a clip of scene 7, shoed from the film 'Kidulthood'. Approximately between the times 5.50 and is an excellent clip i came across whilst watching the film. The clip emphasises the many different camera angles and editing techniques that have been used to portray the effect they want shown. I love the way the camera is directly in front of the actors face, and also close up; making it seem as if we are within her movement. This technique i would like to use at the beginning of my music video, during the lines ' It's all a blur last night', portraying the fact that she is hung-over.
I am also very interested in the way that they have sped up the public, whilst they are not quite in focus and the camera is wobbling, as if we are looking from the protagonist's point of view. I would like to include this somewhere in my video, ,as i believe it gives off a sense of confusion, and isolation from the actors point of view.




'The Hangover' is a perfect example of the theme i am trying to portray throughout my music video of 'Waking up In Vegas'. The title of the popular comedy compliments many of the lyrics in the song in my music video. With lines such as ' It's all a blur last night'. From about 0.41 seconds to 0.43 is a very short yet effective close up shot, similar to the one i am aiming to include in my video; the front shot emphasises the actors drunken state as, similar to the analysis of the film 'Kidulthood' also, shows the camera as if it is attached to the actor, moving with his head and looking directly at him. Through the camera angle we as an audience recieve the impression that the actor is off balance, and unsteady, the camera jogging to add to this effect. Just after this we discover a establishing shot of the apartment and how it has been wrecked the night before; this is exactly what i am aiming to convey in my music video, moving from a close up shot like this one, to an over the shoulder shot viewing the room as a whole.



During the final scene of the famous film 'The Graduate', there are a number of different techniques expressing the passing of time. I found this scene particularly interesting and useful to gain ideas from in my own music video as the camera angles and shots are performed excellently. From the beginning of the clip up to about 1.20 into the scene, we have simply one camera shot filming half the scene in one. This not only useful but extremely effective as we discover his journey to the church, and follow his every step there. I am aiming for a shot like this one in my video, as i wish to have a shot of the actor walking away from the camera, acting as a long shot. This clip is perfect in representing the actors journey as said above, it also shows the techniques and camera angles you would have to consider in order to stay with the actor throughout that time.
I think it s very effective and professional how at the beginning of the scene the car adapts to the musics pace, gradually slowing down in time with the music. This is a brilliant way to portray the actors situation he now faces, not through words, but through music.
This piece has influenced my ideas for what i am aiming for in my video, allowing me to consider further editing techniques, improving my video.

Katy Perry music video analysis

Katy Perry's 'Waking up In Vegas' is the song I will be using for my media project. Jess and I have decided to create a music video for our coursework this year, and have been inspired by the many interesting and experimental music videos that Katy Perry has produced and released recently, some of these listed below.
We decided to use Waking up In Vegas as our final song for a number of reasons; It is a fun, upbeat and catchy song which also has an interesting storyline behind it which we will benefit from. We intend to make our video reflect the storyline, with a few twists along the way!
I was particularly impressed with the video because it has many things going on making it packed with lots of colour and different locations, most importantly, many different camera angles, which we can use to reflect in our own video.
There are certain shots in the video i find very effective to use and could benefit from when shooting my own video, shots such as close ups, establishing shots, long shots and effects such as focused and unfocused shots, adding character and excitement to the video. I am intending to use this video as a basis, gathering ideas from it and twisting it to direct a different version just as effective and successful.
One of the things i like most about the video is the fact that it has a lot of character, Katy Perry has planned her video carefully, as it holds every aspect that would attract the viewing public; she is fashionable and what she is wearing will appeal to others, the location of course is buzzing with excitement and is lively, and most of all the character she is portraying; through analysing this video i have found that she is not just singing to the camera, but she is also acting, she portrays many different facial expressions, these being humourous towards the audience and making her video fun to watch. These aspects are what i am aiming for in my version of her video, hopefully being able to do each of these effectively and succesfully.

'Hot and Cold' was one of the songs we considered working on. I really liked this video because the costumes in it were fun and colourful, giving me plenty of ideas for my video. I was inspired by the clothing as it refelcts a suprising and unexpected look to the video, for example, when she rips off her wedding dress and is wearing a funky and tight shorter dress. The video is very busy, and there are lots of things going on at the same time. I like this because there is a lot to take in, keeping the audience's eyes occupied at all times. In this particular video there is more choreographed dancing then her other videos, this i think is nice to have and adds to the style of song, this time being very upbeat and fast. I like the way they have considered the main aspects of making a music video, locationm character and mise en scene, adding an extra something to the video and enhancing the quality. The theme is pop, and i think that Katy Perry's make up definately reflects this, this i believe is an important detail added, giving the video that much more colour and attracting younger girls also to the pretty make up! I think it's important to reflect the particular song as much as you can, and it is these ideas that I will benefit from when organising my music video and will think about including.

This video i found extremely useful for ideas when shooting my video. At the very beggining of the video you will find roughly 4 or 5 different camera shots within the first 5 seconds! This adding variety already to the video, keeping the audience interested. These camera shots continue throughout the remaining video. This inspired me to think about using a variety of angles and shots regularly throughout my video.

'Thinking of You' is quite the opposite to the previous three videos I have posted of Katy Perry's. It is a slow and emotional song, aswell as 'Waking up In Vegas' reflecting a storyline. The video is a lot more subtle than the others and also dislike the others it reflects back to one place a number of times, her bedroom. I gained some ideas from this video too about camera shots, i noticed there are many close up shots and extreme close up shots in the video which i shall use atleast a couple of times throughout my video.