Planning: Chosen Song

Ed Sheeran - Wake Me Up

After researching into several song lyrics, mainly of Lucy Spraggan and Ed Sheeran, I found they both often sang songs that linked to a narrative. We chose Ed Sheeran as he has more visuals in "Wake Me Up" than he does in his other songs such as Sofa, and U.N.I and they were more repetition of the same visuals whereas this one has a variety of visuals.

When searching the song on youtube, these are the most viewed clips and Ed Sheeran has never officially released a music video, however it was an extremely popular song from his album, clearly as the lyric version has nearly 10 million views.

Initial ideas upon reading the lyrics: 

I should ink my skin
With your name
And take my passport out again
And just replace it

See I could do without a tan
On my left hand, where my fourth finger meets my knuckle - ring on a males finger     
And I should run you a hot bath
And fill it up with bubbles - close up on bubbles against blue sky with natural light from sun shining through them 

'Cause maybe you're lovable

And maybe you're my snowflakee 
And your eyes turn from green to gray and in the winter I'll - close up of two female eyes. 
Hold you in a cold place
And you should never cut your hair
'Cause I love the way you flick it off your shoulders - over the shoulder shot, back of a woman flicks hair while star watches on in background facing camera. 

And you will never know just how beautiful you are to me

But maybe I'm just in love when you wake me up

And would you ever feel guilty
If you did the same to me
Would you make me a cup of tea - Tea, close up shot, while it steams with a window in background with condensation.
To open my eyes in the right way
And I know you love Shrek
'Cause we've watched it twelve times
But maybe you're hoping for a fairy tale too
And if your DVD breaks, today
You shoulda got a VCR
'Cause I never owned a Blu-Ray
True say

And now I've always been s*** at computer games and your brother always beats me
And if I lost, I go all cross
And chuck all the controllers at the TV
And then you'd laugh at me - laughing woman
And be asking me
If I'm gonna be home next week
And then you'd lie with me till I fall asleep
And flutter eyelash on my cheek between the sheets- eyelash medium close up. 

And you will never know just how beautiful you are to me
But maybe I'm just in love when you wake me up

I think you hate the smell of smoke - smoke image
You always tryna get me to stop
But you drink as much as me
And I get drunk a lot

So I'll take you to the beach
And walk along the sand And I'll - two pairs of feet walking along the sand, low angle shot.  
Make you a heart pendant - heart shaped rock on the sand as the waves wash up to it but before they can carry it away a womans hand picks it up.  
With a pebble held in my hand

And I'll carve it like a necklace
So the heart falls where your chest is
And now a piece of me is a piece of the beach and it falls just where it needs to be
And rests peacefully
So you just need to breathe
To feel my heart against yours now
Against yours now

'Cause maybe I'm just in love when you wake me up

Or maybe I'm just in love when you wake me up

Maybe I fell in love when you woke me up

Research: Analysis of Music Video: 3 - Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift - Mine

This music video uses lots of matched cuts, for example the 2 shot between a couple in a cafe then cuts to the couple arguing in a home situation, then a reaction shot of a young girl, which then gets a matched cut to the current star image of Taylor Swift. This sets the scene very well and implies that the star image has grown up watching her parents argue and love not work. These simple four shots work very effectively one another and creates a strong character and brand for the actor in the music video.

Taylor Swifts music video cuts to different scenes before the lyrics have even begun, setting up the different story lines, one being in this cafe shop which has visual imagery to the lyrics as it is "working part time waiting tables" then cuts to this shock and has a very clear link. This is satisfying Goodwins music video analysis of the relationship between the lyrics and visuals. The mise en scene in this shot is strong as they are scene as old friends from a small town.

The other scene she sets up is the star image in the forest with photos of memories hanging around. The star image is wearing a white dress and appears very innocent.

Janice Winships theory is presented here, as we dont know if this actor normally dresses like that or if he has been presented and had his hair styled with his outfit chosen for him in order to suit society and appear attractive to woman and to teenage girls, who are the majority of Taylor Swifts target audience.

Similarly this shot of Taylor swift may support Laura Mulveys theory of the male gaze as Taylor may be appearing herself in this way to appear attractive to males.


This scene that the music video frequently cuts to is unusual in my opinion and un logical, as it is the star image surrounded by pictures hung on string in the trees, and I'm confused on where that links into the music lyrics and the visuals, and it also isn't clear how the photos got there and how they are swinging. This has informed me to make sure everything in my music video has a logical meaning and will not confuse the viewer.

The music video then tracks backwards and creates a dark shadow around the edges in order to illustrate how they are now fast forwarding into the future of the relationship to link to the lyrics.

The next three screen shots show their relationship progressing matching the lyrics "we got nothing figured out" illustrating that they are young and in love.

There is also another strong link from visual to lyrics as the lyrics state "make our parents mistakes" and shows a clever shot of a picture of the family with the reflection of the star image looking into it, this emphasises the story created earlier in the song.



The two shots on the left show long and medium shots of the two being romantic and proposing with bright lighting, and then it cuts to match the audio music beat and the two arguing in kitchen, so is therefore is a jump cut. The scene is now lit much darker and there is more close ups and the actors represent the situation very well and appear very believable.

There is then another matched cut of the star image in her current situation running away from the relationship and the love, and it cuts to the younger version of the star image doing the same thing implying this is how the star image, Taylor Swift, handles these situation and knows no different.

In this scene, the lyrics state what the male character has said, such as "he said ill never leave you alone" however he is not mouthing those words, which i think is silly not too as it would have seen very effective and is what the viewer is expecting to see when reading his lips however his lips are unreadable.

The next four shots are jump cuts and are showing the future and showing the future for the two star images and shows their happy ending, which is typical for the pop genre to do.

The music video also shows the family at the same scene by the water that the two had been in their earlier relationship, therefore is foreshadowing the future.

                                

This research has influenced my planning, as when planning my narrative music video, I will have the traditional start, middle and end to the music video, but I will also incorporate reflection shots as Taylor Swift did to show the past in the narrative story.

Research: Music Lyrics: 7 - Kate Nash

KATE NASH LYRICS

Play "Merry Happy"

"Merry Happy"

Watching me like you never watch no one
Don't tell me that you didn't try and check out my bum

Cause I know that you did

Cause your friend told me that you liked it

Gave me those pearls and I thought they were ugly

Though you try to tell me that you never loved me

I know that you did

'Cause you said it and you wrote it down

Dancing at discos

Eating cheese on toast

Yeah you make me merry make me very very happy

But you obviously, you didn't want to stick around

Dancing at discos

Eating cheese on toast

Yeah you make me merry make me very very happy

But you obviously, you didn't want to stick around

So I learnt from you

Do do do da do do do do do da do do do do do da do

So I learnt form you

Do do do da do do do do do da do do do do do da do

I can be alone, yeah

I can watch a sunset on my own

I can be alone, yeah

I can watch a sunset on my own

I can be alone

I can watch a sunset on my own

I can be alone, yeah

I can watch a sunset on my own

I can be alone, yeah

I can watch a sunset on my own

I can be alone

I can watch a sunset on my own

Sitting in restaurants

Thought we were so grown up

But I know now that we were not the people

That we turned out to be

Chatting on the phone

Can't take back those hours

But I won't regret

'Cause you can grow flowers

From where dirt used to be

Dancing at discos

Eating cheese on toast

Yeah you make me merry make me very very happy

But you obviously, you didn't want to stick around

Dancing at discos

Eating cheese on toast

Yeah you make me merry make me very very happy

But you obviously, you didn't want to stick around

So I learnt from you

Do do do da do do do do do da do do do do do da do

So I learnt from you

Do do do da do do do do do da do do do do do da do

I can be alone, yeah

I can watch a sunset on my own

I can be alone, yeah

I can watch a sunset on my own

I can be alone

I can watch a sunset on my own

(do do do da do do do do do da do do do do do da do)

I can be alone, yeah

I can watch a sunset on my own

I can be alone, yeah

I can watch a sunset on my own

I can be alone

I can watch a sunset on my own

(do do do da do do do do do da do do do do do da do)

How this research influenced my creativity and planning:

I was extremely disappointed with the lack of visuals in this song, as i have liked it for a long time and due to the "cheese on toast" and "sunset" i thought there was lots of visual imagery however it is just a repetition of the same two things, and in comparison to Lucy Spraggan and Ed Sheeran has very limited imagery.

Introduction To Final cut pro X

I was completely unaware to how difficult it would be for the actor to match the song in time, and how when filming the actor may not be singing perfectly in time.

First we had to import all the clips into the software and wait until they were all in 100%, so we were able to edit and chose the correct clip to put into the story line.

We could do this by dragging the clip and placing it, or we could use the button that I have screen shotted which would place it into the correct place.

I found that gaps that could be put in place very interesting and very useful when trying to time the songs and actor, for example for some reason, perhaps due to not using the same audio, we didn't have as long of an instrumental as the audio we which we dragged in had a longer instrumental, so therefore we inserted a gap to delay through the generator, this caused a delay to match up both the singing and the audio.

We made sure they were in time accurately by using the bars in the screen shot, and we had a zooming tool to ensure they were completely accurate. To do this we would press space bar exactly when the audio began , and press L to leave a blue border to remind us where. 

I liked the use of the keyboard and how that plays a role in the cutting and editing. I also enjoyed learning about adding each clip and the simplicity of dragging the clips down. For example they also had a blade tool which would ensure to delete the first and last bits of the clip, for example of the teacher shouting action and cut. 

Another tool is the use of disabling and enabling either the audio on the music version of Glee, this would make it easier to only focus on the sound that comes from clip to understand exactly when they sing, otherwise we could disable the lips to leave a blue mark exactly when the certain lyrics we were looking out for begun.

Overall i am eager to develop my skills further, and enjoyed my first experience.

Filming on location

Filming on location was very interesting and surprised me as I was unaware with the amount of planning required and the unexpected inconveniences that would appear.

For example the speaker which was playing the music stopped working at certain points, causing the music to have to be played out of a phone, therefore not being loud enough for the actors to hear at times and causing the editing process to be more difficult. For example in this shot on the left, the actor was having to sing along to a phone speaker causing her confidence to reduce. 

This experience has taught me thats crucial to use the same song to use on final cut pro x and that the actors here. I also found it was very important to get the actors and performers in the right mood to perform in order to give the video personality and avoid awkwardness.

I also found that as we were filming in a public place, spectators are not under our control so we have to bare that in mind as that can have a negative effect on the actors. For example in this shot on the right, the pub across the lake had people watching which may have altered the actors ability. 

Another issue was the tripods for the camera and it is crucial they are adjusted well and have the correct height in order to film what it is aimed to film. For example in this shot on the left, the top of the girls head are cut off and also the camera had to be zoomed in, which reduces the quality, so it is vital that the tripod os positioned well.

Framing and backgrounds are also very important, as in this shot the lake and the trees work well for framing and the back of the path creates a good setting for the actors.

In this shot however the scene was busy with cars going past, but also very open on the left hand side. Again I did not position the camera well enough, and when the actors formatted into a line the camera was having to move on the tripod and didn't appear very effective.

I feel the framing and the lighting in this shot work well together, and although it wasn't planned the paint and the graffiti work well with on another to split the two characters, this has taught me to work well with natural features of the setting and improvise to create good shots.




Whereas in this shot, which was behind the camera of the shot above, although the framing was good underneath the bridge, the lighting was very poor and contrasted with the light and reflection on the lake, and didn't show enough of the characters well enough.





The location in this shot is okay, however we should have made more use of the paths behind. And I also didn't really like the Lidl in the background as it is a distraction, so in the future i would ensure there are o distractions in the back.

The lighting in this picture and working with the location of the pavement with the lake behind worked well with the group dance to end it.

Research: Music Video analysis: 2 - Geri Halliwell

Geri Halliwell - Raining Men

This video has strong pop characteristics to emphasise the genre such as the bright colours.

There is also a good relationship between the lyrics and the visuals because as she sings the chorus, it begins to rain and men are around her. I am aware when I am creating my music video that I will not have the funds to create fake rain, or have the equipment to take out whilst its raining so wouldn't be able to link the lyrics and visuals as strongly as this artist did, however it did show me that it is essential there is visuals with the chorus of the song.

There is also a good relationship between the music and the visual, as the quick shots match the quick beat and cuts to different close ups and costume changes. The shots cut on the beat. The music video has lots of shots, has three differnt scenes and three different outfits.

The star image, once known as ginger spice, has revealed her new image, and therefore there are several close ups revealing her new figure. There is also close ups of her talking directly into the camera saying "can i start again?" this breaks the tension and may be implying that she wants to start again with her fame and create a new image for herself, this also shows her confidence. This also breaks convention as there is diagetic sound, which is extremely rare however I would like to incorporate.



There is a strong intertextual reference to flash dance at the start of the music video and almost replicable, its a similar approach J- Lo had to hers. Also has strong link to fame at the end. The mise en scene is near enough identical, as the close ups of the feet tapping, the record. Intertextuality is created from the beginning in this music video as the establishing shot shows the feet of a dancer wearing dance shoes and leg warmers. This shot is extremely similar to the opening shot of the last dance scene in the movie 'Flashdance' from 1983. The use of intertextuality will also appeal to the slightly older target audience of 30-40 years of age because they will recognise the similarities as soon as the video begins because the same medium close up worms-eye-view shot has been used.

I think the shot reverse shot in the song works very effectively to help with the story line of the music video, and will definitely be using these, this is very interesting as although it is a performance music video, the talking makes it much more linked to narrative.






 This is a reference to 'Flashdance' as this was used to show the increased interest of the judges. Although a very small action this is used to symbolise that they cant help but join in on her performance.







The artist is also seen as very voyeristic by blowing kisses directly into the camera and looking into the camera giving a sex appeal. This links to Mulveys "male gaze" as there are lots of medium shots of her body.







  

Research Influenced my planning

• Consider the use of intertextuality and getting inspiration from famous iconic films in order to make the music video have a different edge to it.
• How important it is to cut on the beat
• Crucial to have several locations and outfits to show the artist better

Research: Analysis of Music Video: 1 - Nick Jonas

Nick Jonas - Close

The music video begins with a close up of the artists eyes, towards the female in the video. This establishes the star image, which reinforces Andrew Goodwin's theory of one of the five aspects of a music video. His theory is also reinforced later in the video with relation to visuals.

After the close up of the eyes it tracks downwards to the lips as the star image sings, which may link to Winships theory of the gaze between cover model and female viewers,  therefore the female and the star images female fan base may be appreciative of these close ups.

The outfit the star image is wearing is torn and worn out, this may be representative of how the relationship is being ruined and he is being torn in the middle deciding what to do, which links to the lyrics of debating whether to be close to their significant other. This links to Barthes semantic code as the lyrics are being signified in the video.

It then cuts to a point of view shot the star image has which is of a woman, and the close up of the body emphasises Laura Mulveys theory of male gaze, as her outfit can be seen as provocative.

The setting in which they are in is an abandoned warehouse which is representative of the pressure and the intensity of the two in the relationship.

The lyrics are signified, and Andrew Goodwins theory of the visual images matching the lyrics are as "close" is used to be the opposite and pull the artists further away from each other.






The female artists outfit and make up and hair, is seen as messy and dark, insinuating she has anger in this relationship about not being "close" with their other half.

Her outfit represents her as being stripped from her self and is now very desperate for the love of her other half to help her feel better.






They use digital effects to blur the image to appear that their is  force pushing and puling them back together from one another and they are getting stripped of their clothes as thats how strong their force is.

The two shot of them almost touching each other represents their affection as well as their
eye contact with one another.







The music video ends with a low angle shot and them two connected with one another, an their positions in the music video have reversed as the male on the left is now now on the right, this shows they are intertwined in their relationship.




How this research has influenced my planning and creativity:

• I like how the first how of the music video is of a close up of the star image
• feel it introduces the star image well
• I also like how well the costume and the setting matched the lyrics and emotion in the song, 
• will try and do this when creating my video to create a strong theme and synergy.