Locations

Sophies garden is one of our locations which we have used a framing techinque with a terrace fencing that has an arch with plants over the out line of the arch, we are shooting sophie in the middle of the arch. The garden fits with the tone of the music video that we are hoping to achieve.
Also, there is a tree with a ring of daffodils around it where we will be shooting.

This photo was taken in a park which is rich with fields, wildlife and trees. We wants to keep with a mellow, smooth atmosphere that is in sync with the tone of the song. Fields and nature are often conventionally steretyped with a romantic feeling so we wanted to play on this convention by using one of our locations as a park. Furthermore, because the artist is a woman, we wanted to have a location that would have flowers and nature which are steretypically associated with women.

The last location is a bedroom which has a retro feel to it and also were we can place our props that we want to include into the music video. Additionally, the song is very personal so we wanted to include a space where many people would consider a personal place to them.

Another location is at Rachel's (my) house. This is where I filmed my sister playing PAC MAN which we incorporated into our music video. Also I shot a clip with perfume in my room to match up with a particular part of the song.

We also filmed at Jake's house (the actor) we filmed outside in his garden which again sticks to the nature element of our music video and also we wanted to film him smoking which we had to do outside for health and safety reasons. Also we want to film inside of both actor and actress to create a personal space such as the living room where they both will be sat or interacting with one another like many couples do in a normal environment.

Filming Schedule

Pitch #3

Pitch #2

Pitch #1

Story Board

Moodboard - Initial Ideas

The images shown above are just an insight into the retro theme we would like to have occuring throughout the music video and some ideas of location and narrative we'd like to have in the music video.

Intended Audience For New Song

Our intended audience for our music video is from young adults to any age above. It is broad but we believe that the song choice has retro qualities mixed the modern ideas. This will enable us to expand our audience as the retro theme is coming back into style which gives us a new generation of audience as well as older people. We had to think logically when identifying our audience, the genre of the song is indie pop and we know that that genre is a predominant young adult audience. We wanted to keep this in mind but also we wanted to target the older people so we added retro element such as props and costumes to our music video that the older generation as well as the younger generation can relate to.

This is the Hilton family, Jenny the youngest 18, Craig 21, Molly 23 and the father Tim 56. They all love the song because its new but has the best elements from the 'old' school.
Tim says, 'I love this record as it reminds me of my youth and her voice is very soft which is refreshing from all the screamo dubstep rubbish you hear today.'
Jenny says, 'I love her! This song is so good, it defiantly is romantic which is so cute! She has a beautiful soft voice and I can't wait to hear more of her album!'

Clearly, our intended audience is very broad but because of the artist and her voice we are able to maintain the wide audience that this artist has.

Inspirations

Florence and the Machine is one of our main inspirations. She is all about nature, when people think about her or ask them what characteristics they would say that best defines Florence is the natural, floral romantic personality that she has. She portrays this image by the way that she dresses, her songs, her music videos, props and locations.
We wanted to use elements of nature in our music video, in the costumes, props and locations too so Florence is a perfect inspiration that we could study to successful execute our intended goal.

Leona Lewis is also a big inspiration to us. She also has a very natural presence when she is on camera and she has a powerful singing voice. In most of her music videos she uses the outdoors, animals and real life narratives that make her music videos and songs more understandable to the audience.
We wanted to use certain aspects that she uses such as narrative as we want our audience to relate to it not to wonder what love could be like but to actually know what it's like to experience it. She also uses close up/mid length shots in her music videos which we thought looked brilliant so we decided to use the same method.

Institution

ISLAND RECORDS

Our chosen institution to record our music video with is Island Records. They're a record label owned by Universal Music Group whom deal with artist's singles, albums and DVDS.

The reason for this is because they are a rock/indie orientated label whom record with similar artists to Lana Del Rey. For example...

• Florence and the Machine
• Annie Lennox
• Cranberries
• Ladyhawke
• Erik Hassle
• Bombay Bicycle Club

All of these Artist's come under the genre of Indie/Alternative which is the same sort of genre of Lana Del Rey's songs and in the case of 'Video Games'. Not only is it perfect for our genre but it is also Worldwide which therefore brought many benefits to our attention when were in the choosing process of our institution. They are also very successful with their artists which is obvious when you look at the other artists that are under their institution. For example...

• Bob Marley
• Amy Winehouse
• Akon
• Devlin
• James Morrison
• Jessie J
• Kelly Rowland and many, many more big named artists in the charts today which is why they are perfect for getting a new artist and making them Nationwide.

Influences

Ellie Goulding - Your Song

A video in which influenced us on choosing an occurring them throughout our music video was 'Your Song' a cover by Ellie Goulding. It displays natural images of nature through parks portraying tree's and hills overlooking nice views; something we considered using in our music video. We also liked the styling of Ellie's outfits. They are very 'old school' and fit in well with the retro theme we would like to use in our music video. Her style is also a lot like Lana Del Rays which is an element we would like to keep in our music video. The genre of her music is also a lot like Video Games as it ties in with the Indie genre that we are using in our music video. 

We also liked the idea of some of the shots being purposefully handheld so it looks more natural and less set up to be a music video which is definitely something we are going to use in our music video along with close ups of her singing the lyrics and flashbacks of real footage that conveys with what she is singing about.                                                        

Codes and Conventions of Genre

Video Games was the first single released from Lana Del Rey's debut album Born To Die. The song falls into two genres; the first being Indie Pop and the second being Baroque Pop.

Indie Pop is a type of alternative rock music which originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s. The genre was popularised by the leading alternative group of the mid-80s, The Smiths. Indie pop generally differs from Indie Rock, it being more melodic and mostly free from angst and aggresion.

Baroque Pop is another Pop sub-genre which emerged in the 1960s as a fusion of pop, rock and classical music. Popular groups producing Baroque Pop music at this time included The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys.

Risk Assessment

The places where we are using to film are; a park, a garden, a bedroom, church and south weald park.

The park has little streams, steep hills, bridges and also rabbit holes. Before we began filming I had to check where Sophie would be acting that there wasn't any rabbit holes in case her foot got caught and injured herself, there were no rabbit holes where we filmed and every new spot were we filmed we both checked to see if there were any glass or sharp objects on the floor as there is a scene were Sophie is laying down. We decided not to film near the streams as the earth around it looked un-steady and we didn't want to risk falling down or damaging our equipment. Lastly, we made sure the steep hills weren't muddy so we could get up without falling and injuring ourselves.

The garden had a dip around the grass line to the soil so we made sure that when Sophie was acting, she wasn't near the edge in case she lost her footing and fell. There wasn't any other risks that were present in the garden so it was a very easy location to film in.

The bedroom didn't have any foreseeable risks however, we made sure that Sophie was sat on the bed not too close to the edge in case she fell or slipped down the side of the bed.

The Church had an uneven pavement, however we didn't use an actor whilst filming but we made sure we watched were we walked in case we tripped up the pavement.

South Weald had a few hills that we needed to climb, one of the hills was covered with stones so we had to take extra care when moving the equipment, furthermore Sophie needed to be wearing heels for the shot that we wanted so we brought a change in shoes so she could walk to the location safely. The stair bridge was quite steep so we had to make sure there were no stones on the stairs whilst Sophie was walking up them. Additionally, she had to lean at the top of the bridge so we made sure she wasn't to close to the edge in case she fell off. We were going to do a shot of her walking down the stairs however, we wanted her to wear heels and we deemed this shot as too dangerous as the stairs were too steep so we decided it was too much of a risk to allow her to walk down them. Whilst walking to the shoot we made sure there was no rabbit holes or hidden tree roots that could result in one of us falling over.

Permission E-mail

Here is the e-mail that we sent to Lana Del Rey's record label, we asked for their permission to use the track for our media production.

Who is our demographic?

Our demographic is young adults but, the song has an 'old school' feel to it which could draw in middle-aged/elderly people that like the nostalgia of the song. The 'retro' feel of songs are coming back into style especially in the indie genre. Many teenagers listen to the pop/indie music which the song 'Video Games' by Lana Del Rey shares the same genre. She is a relatively new artist, but already she has a big young adult following. The song will reach our target audience because it is a new kind of melody that established artists fail to cover. Young people like to discover new things, so therefore our demographic is young adults.

Lana Dey Ray - Video Games - Analysis Of Music Video

The video begins with a mid-shot of Lana Del Rey then cuts a hand held shot of two couples on bikes which immediately portrays to the viewer that the song is going to be about love/ a lost love. It then cuts to a shot of people jumping into a swimming pool and then to a shot of a cartoon Disney character highlighting the playfulness of the song and conveying with the title 'Video Games'

This random shot of a rose is shown in between shots of Lana singing, it flows the the music as it opens up and expands, roses also suggests love accompanied by the subtle pink colour. This has inspired us when we do our music video to have small clips of things they may accompany the footage nicely and that don't make the video too boring conveying the the conventions of a music video which is to also have the location and shots changing.

The video also uses a lot of Black and White to portray a memory or old time filming. This, we found very inspiring as we thought that looking back on a memory or reminiscing could really be emphasised and made clear to the viewer by showing a clear contrast using black and white or perhaps sepia/old film.

This mid-shot of a couple is something else that we really liked. It also (like the b/w shots) portrays a memory and represents the running theme in the long which is love. For our music video, we thought that we could use images of a couple to also convey the meaning of the song.

The music video also uses random shots of America, it shows yellow taxi's, Hollywood, the American flag, stars on the floor and the streets. This we felt was inspiring for our music video so we thought that when took a trip to New York, we could film some footage there and then use the recycled footage from London to show a variety of locations without making it look totally random because of the narrative.

In between all of the shots above they show close ups of Lana Del Ray singing. She is shown wearing different costumes and not always in the same location although some are repeated which conveys with the conventions of a music video. This is great for the viewer as they can see who the narrative of the song is relating back to along with her being the USP of the song for her fans.

The video uses literal imagery. This shot of a boy falling off of his skate board is shown when the lyrics 'watching all our friends fall' is sung. We found this very interesting as it gives a different take on what a music video is about and takes on a more controversial role of being unique. We thought we could use this in our video and make it a running theme throughout for example, a shot of a church when we hear the church bells at the beginning.

The shots of the car journeys we thought could be interesting for our music video as it gives a sense of reality, making the lyrics seam more real and meaningful rather then fake and completely edited.

The video displays shots of Paz de la Huerta (an American film star) falling over whilst intoxicated. We thought that the paparazzi footage worked well for the randomness in the video but didn't feel we could use it in our music video due to the fact that we would like to be original.

Purpose of the music video: Lana Del Ray filmed the music video using her web cam. She was inspired by a quote that her ex boyfriend had said,  "I think we came together because we were both outsiders. It was perfect. But I think with that contentment also comes sadness. There was something heavenly about that life – we'd go to work and he'd play his video games – but also it was maybe too regular."

Lana Del Rey - Video Games - Lyrics analysed

CHANGE OF SONG

When we filmed our footage for our Nero video we used a HD camera, but then when we came to edit at school the software couldn't cope with the higher resolution. By the time the school had installed new software the deadline for both the video and blog was too close for us to possibly make a quality piece of work so we instead have entered our coursework for June 2012.
 We have used this setback to our advantage, and decided to use a different song. 'Promies' by Nero is very fast paced and we thought it would be in our best interests to use a slower song, which would make things like lip synching a lot easier. The song we have chosen to now use is 'Video Games' by Lana Del Rey. Video Games is a love song and is in the 'Pop/Indie Pop' genre.

Advertising - Facebook

Advertising is a very important part of marketing in the music industry because it gives people the chance to get exclusive photos, interviews, previews and film paraphernalia. Facebook is a very good way to advertise our music video because basically everyone who is our target audience has a facebook account. It is modern and it is a successful way to market a music video.

Britney Spears 'Toxic' Music Video Analysis

Lyrics
Baby, can't you see
I'm calling
A guy like you
Should wear a warning
It's dangerous
I'm fallin'

There's no escape
I can't wait
I need a hit
Baby, give me it
You're dangerous
I'm lovin' it

Too high
Can't come down
Losing my head
Spinning 'round and 'round
Do you feel me now

With a taste of your lips
I'm on a ride
You're toxic
I'm slipping under
With a taste of poison paradise
I'm addicted to you
Don't you know that you're toxic
And I love what you do
Don't you know that you're toxic

It's getting late
To give you up
I took a sip
From my devil cup
Slowly
It's taking over me

Too high
Can't come down
It's in the air
And it's all around
Can you feel me now

With a taste of your lips
I'm on a ride
You're toxic
I'm slipping under
With a taste of poison paradise
I'm addicted to you
Don't you know that you're toxic
And I love what you do
Don't you know that you're toxic

Don't you know that you're toxic
Taste of my lips and having fun
With a taste of your lips
I'm on a ride
You're toxic
I'm slipping under
With a taste of poison paradise
I'm addicted to you
Don't you know that you're toxic
And I love what you do
Don't you know that you're toxic

With a taste of your lips
I'm on a ride
You're toxic
I'm slipping under
With a taste of poison paradise
I'm addicted to you
Don't you know that you're toxic
And I love what you do
Don't you know that you're toxic

I'm intoxicated now
I think you'll love it now
I think I'm ready now
I think I'm ready now
I'm intoxicated now
I think you'll love it now
I think I'm ready now

Music
The music of toxic is the kind of fast-paced dance track that made Britney famous, which is reflected in the rapid editing of the video. The lyrics are more sexual than her previous music videos and have drug implications to them, for example "I'm addicted to you" and the word "Toxic" this could suggest that because she is getting older, she wants to try new things that are dangerous.

Mise en Scene
Being a pop song, the music video for Toxic is based around choreography and dance routines. The dancing is mostly simple, which appeals to the target audience of young girls and 'tweens' because they can learn the dances themselves with their friends. However, the dance routines are more sexual which could suggest that she is trying to expand her target audience to young women and young men. There are many props that she is using during the music video.

The plane is the one of the first props that the audience will see, this prop connects together with the first character that she is portraying which is an air hostess. This helps the fact that she is in that costume make sense and also gives a feel of luxury and difference to other music videos that were around at the time the music video was released.

Here the prop is a motor bike, like the picture above, this prop connects with her goth rock costume that she is wearing whilst on the motor bike. The bike is new for the time that the music video was set and its clearly expensive. Also its shows materialism and how she can have expensive things, furthermore there is colour coding again of red which suggests danger and passion.

 Here the characters are portraying 'hookers' in a shop window. This is again establishing the sexual theme and almost shows women as sexual objects that can be purchased.

 Here is the prop of a key to get into the place where she can get the "Toxic" that she wants. It is important to show that she has the key to what she wants in the palm of her hands. This prop shows danger because she is breaking into a volt to get the item that she needs.

Here is shows a close up of here collecting the prop that she needs. The prop is a small bottle is filled with a green liquid. The colour green is commonly associated with poison and it is green so the audience can identify that this is the poison that she needs.

 Here the black leather gloves are used to kill which stereotypically criminals use to kill their victims. This is the same for Britney as shows danger and power. She uses her sexuality to seduce her victim then uses the prop of the toxic bottle to kill him.












 Narrative

The song "Toxic" illustrates to the audience how Britney is changing into a woman and how her interests are changing as she gets older. There are more lyrics with sexual references than before and lyrics that have drug/sex/danger connotations to them. She is breaking out from her "hit me baby one more time" days and is showing how she has matured. Also it could be said that she is showing, through the characters within this music video, how she wants to escape and become different people and also how she has a split personality.

 Here Britney starts the music video as a air hostess but the costume that she is wearing is more "sexed" up than you would expect a real life air hostess to wear. When she walks down the isle in this costume the audience gets a glance of her underwear which shows how she is breaking out from a cute teenager to a mature woman. When the audience sees her underwear, the action is purposely there, despite the fact its subtle, and to force the audience into seeing her in a different way than they had before and this action carries sexual connotations.

 Here her costume has more of a goth rock feel to it, this suggests that she has many different styles and she even has red hair which could be colour coding and red symbolises danger or passion. In this particular scene she is on the back of a motor bike which stereotypically ties in with her costume.

 One of the last scenes in the music video is Britney climbing a huge building to seduce and poison the man inside. Here she has dark brown/black hair and has her stomach exposed and has black leather gloves on. This costume, again, has sexual connotations to them and is more of a dark and dangerous character that she is portraying.

In all of these photos, the audience will clearly see that Britney is playing women in different roles which all are powerful and use their sex to get what they want. Furthermore it could suggest that she has many personalities and likes to portray them in her music videos, additionally, she uses the theme of playing different types of women in music videos that she does after "Toxic". All of these character changes have a close up so the audience can identify that Britney is playing all the women within the music video.

Camera Shots
The Camera work that is used show many shots such as close ups, establishing shots, two shots, medium length shots, extreme close ups, long shots and montage.

Here we have an establishing shot, this shows the audience that Britney is on a plane and also shows that the plane doesn't look like regular planes that you would see in day to day life. This shows that the music video has mixes of reality and fantasy.

 Here is a med-length shot that shows Britney on the phone dressed as a air hostess which is the first character that the audience will see and also the last. The med-length shots helps the audience realise who the character is and what she is portraying.

 Here is a med shot of a character that also is playing a air hostess like Britney, also they are almost dancing whilst attending to the people who are on the plane. These characters only have a small part within the music video as the most part of the video is focused on Britney and the storyline which these characters help to illustrate.

Here is an extreme close up of Britney's face which shows how she has her make-up and also the look that she has in her eye which is important for the following scene when she sets her eyes on the man that has the key to the volt. This shot also helps the audience identify that the character is Britney and keeps the focus on her.

 Here there is a two shot of Britney and the man that she is seducing to get the key to the volt. This scene is electrified with sexual movements and actions which keeps the theme of sex.

Here is a long shot of Britney which shows what she is wearing and a character change. Also it shows the Eiffel Tower in the background which is a establishing shot because the Eiffel Tower is a famous land mark in Paris. This shows the viewer that she is now a different women and shows the look that she is going for within this particular scene.








Editing

There is rapid editing throughout the music video which keeps up with the fast pace of the song. The editing is in sync with the song lyrics, for example the first lyric is "baby can't you see I'm calling" and she is on the telephone whilst she is singing this lyric. This helps the audience understand the story that she is telling and makes the music video easier and more pleasurable to watch.

Analysing A Magazine Advert

This magazine advert for Beyonce's perfume 'Heat' is completely based around the picture of her. She is the unique selling point for this product -- you do not need anything else to sell the product because she is so highly looked at.

The fact that Beyonce is wearing red accentuates her sexual nature and creates a desirable attraction for both male and female; even though it is for the female sex to use, when males look at this advert they will automatically remember it and therefore think of it when buying a gift for a female.

The perfume bottle is highlighted. This draws attention to the product being sold. However, because it is smaller than Beyonce is portrays that they are not only trying to sell the purfume but are selling Beyonce as well.

The tag line 'Catch The Fever' emphasises the sentual feel of the advert and displays the main selling point of the purfume which is all about heat and catching on to the new trends.

Examples of Magazine Adverts