Location & Cast

Location

Throughout our video we used a range of locations to help tell the story. A lot of the music videos professionalism depends on the locations it is shot at. For this reason we spent a long time planning where we were going to film.

We decided that we use the following locations:

Stefs House

Range Rover

Hilton Hotel

New Barn Park

Drama room

Cast

Rory Phelan

Stef Jansen

Henry Goldsmith

Letter of consent

Dear Ram Records,

We are A level students and are writing to request your permission to use one track Pieces by Chase and Status ft. Plan B. With your permission, this track would be used in our current A-level Media Studies project, which involves creating a music video for a popular music track, as well as producing an album and a magazine advert for the artist.

If I received your permission, this track would ONLY be used in an educational context and be viewed by my media class, my teacher and the OCR exam board moderator. It would NOT be released to a large audience or uploaded to any public video websites.

The artist and your company would of course be fully recognised throughout pre- production and the final video itself. A copyright notice, with wording supplied by you can be included in the records of the project. If this is required, please send full details.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Lauren Clarke
Stef Jansen
Sam Facey

Target Audience

Now that we have decided the genre and song it is important to identify our target audience. It is necessary for your audience to recognize that you are talking specifically to them. It also creates a sense of a brand and gives its members a sense of belonging to a certain community. During our research a website which has been particularly useful is UK Tribes.com. The website is a project which looks at youth culture and offered a tribal breakdown based on the social glues (music, sport, fashion, technology etc) around which young people gather. One of these "tribes" labeled Mainstreamers is the market we will be aiming at. Not only must our music be relevant to it's genre but as this website has shown us young people take themselves very seriously. It is important to them to feel like they "belong" and we must therefore cater to what it is they are familiar with.

The Mainstream is the biggest part of the market, but with alternative/trendy lifestyles and music now much more accessible, the various Mainstream Tribes also lose much of their membership in later years. Those who remain tend to specialise into more aspirational subsets like Casuals, Boy Racers and Sports Junkies. Siege mentality makes the alpha males among Mainstream tribes suspicious of trendy music or clothes and quick to criticise peers who seem to be standing out. Big brand sportswear and high street fashion predominates with Mainstream tribes and music, even for Ravers, is mostly commercial.

I also found that the media consumption for this group is very large;

From this we can see that TV is by far this tribes heaviest media consumption by far! Which gives us the idea that the visuals are important to this audience, therefore our music video should be relevant to the song and include an interesting story or twist.

The brands that this mainstream 'tribe' like to shop for the most is as follows;

From these brands we know what our characters should wear in the video to interest our target audience.

Animatic drawings

After we had completed the main steps of our research we decided to create an animatic. The idea of an animatic is to create a storyboard of our music video and then put this sequence of images into the song that we are using; Pieces - Chase and Status. These are our drawings so far which we will then scan or upload separately to put into final cut and edit them into our chosen song including cuts and how long each scene will be through this.

Lyrics

Conventions of a music video

Camera Shots: Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and mid shots. This is to create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Also, close ups are used not only to show emotions but to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist.

Camera Movement: The movement of the camera is used to follow and trace the artist or band. Camera movements include tilts (such as in daniel beddingfield's - never gonna leave your side video where the camera tilts up the building away from him), pans, tracking (also in the same video where the camera tracks her galloping) and crane shots.

Mise-en-scene: This refers to the arrangement of performers and props on stage or in a scene for a production of a music video or any other media text. Mise-en- scene puts importance on the representation of something. An example is, ‘Mad’ by Neyo. The mise-en scene involves him walking down a road alone, being in an isolated room. This reflects the isolation from his lover. Also, the props include hats and dark clothes which represent the down mood of the song. Similarly, the lighting is kept very dark as it is black and white; this connotes the angry and depressed mood.

Editing: Jump cuts is the predominant editing technique used in music videos. This is because this allows a sudden change from one scene to another. Similarly, transitions such as fade and dissolve are very common in music videos as they create a different effect to cuts for example in JLS video beat again where the scene fades to jump to the next scene.

Lighting: Some music videos are black and white which help emphasise a particular mood like in Nelly's video just a dream and some videos have artificial lighting which put the artist/s in an enhanced look for example in Beyonce's video she is lit up.

Sound: Sound is mainly the vocals or the song but in some cases such as Michael Jackson – Thriller, the producers can make the music video into a short film.

Props: These are vital in aiding to add to the scene and create significance on particular objects or people like in JLS video one shot the microphone is an important prop.

Costume: This goes with the scenes in the song and reflects the genre - for example they are dressed in smart yet old fashioned clothes that make them look upper class in Beyonce's video naughty girl. Costume is an important factor because it has a slight influence on how the viewers will dress because they use some of the celebrities as role models.

Colour: Colours tend to set the mood of the song through creating an atmosphere. For example, dark colours are used more in rock songs such as Kings of Leon and bright colours are seen to be used more in hip hop and pop videos such as lady gaga's video telephone.

Moodboard

We decided to create a mood-board to put our ideas into pictures so that they are easier to understand. Whilst Sam and I searched for pictures we thought most represented our music video theme, Stef carefully put them together adding text which related to the video and also the lyrics of the song.

Song Choice

When searching for songs we was looking for something with meaningful lyrics and a song that was not well known. We listened to a few songs and thought of what we could do with them before we watched the actual videos for ideas. After listening to a number of songs and watching their videos we decided we had the best ideas for 'pieces by chase and status' and brain stormed ideas before going on to write ideas for the whole video from start to finish.

Researching songs

We began our search for the perfect song for our music video by listening to music on our ipods and also others as everyone listens to different genres of music. We heard a few that we thought would make an entertaining music video and wrote those ideas down, but we still was not definitely sure with what we had chosen so we searched further looking on websites such as Youtube.

We listened to the music without looking at the video so that we could picture what the music tone and lyrics was saying. It was hard to think what to search so we searched an artist that we had heard already on our ipods and then Youtube itself makes other video suggestions of the same genre.

For a song to catch your ear the lyrics have to have a story or mean something whether it is to do with love, hate, memories or cheating to be able to make a video out of it.

- Song Choices - Chase and Status ft. Plan B - Pieces/ End creditsThe Script - BreakevenBloc Party - One More Chance/ FluxKillers - Mr. BrightsideArctic Monkeys - When The Sun Comes DownFree Widgets

After searching through these songs we chose Chase and Status ft. Plan B - Pieces. This choice was made because it tells the story of a boy and girl who are not together anymore and the boy is saying how 'you don't care about me anymore'. We imagined seeing the two together and then the boyfriend finding out that she is cheating by finding different 'pieces' of clues and putting them together.

Chase and Status ft. Plan B - Pieces

You don't care,
About me,
Anymore,
Thats why you, you wanna break my heart,
Into pieces on the floor.

If you don't care,
About me,
Anymore,
Why do you, you wanna break my heart,
Into pieces on the floor.

You don't care,
About me,
Anymore,
Thats why you, you wanna break my heart. (echo)

I remember when i used to feel sutin, i remember when i used to feel sutin.
I remember when i used to feel sutin, i remember when i used to feel sutin.
I remember when i used to feel sutin, i remember when i used to feel sutin.
I remember when i used to feel sutin, now-o-ow-o-ow i'm just cold inside.

I remember when i used to feel sutin, i remember when i used to feel sutin.
I remember when i used to feel sutin, i remember when i used to feel sutin.
I remember when i used to feel sutin, i remember when i used to feel sutin.
I remember when i used to feel sutin, now-o-ow-o-ow i'm just cold inside.

I remember when i used to feel sutin, now-o-ow-o-ow i'm just cold inside.

I remember when i used to feel sutin, now-w-w-w i'm just cold inside.

If you don't care,
About me,
Anymore,
Why do you, you wanna break my heart,
Into pieces on the floor.

You don't care,
About me,
Anymore,
Thats why you, you wanna break my heart...

I remember when i used to feel sutin, now-o-ow-ow i'm just cold inside.

I remember when i used to feel sutin, i remember when i used to feel sutin.
I remember when i used to feel sutin, i remember when i used to feel sutin.
I remember when i used to feel sutin, i remember when i used to feel sutin.
I remember when i used to feel sutin, now-o-ow-o-ow i'm just cold inside.

You don't care,
About me,
Anymore,
Thats why you, you wanna break my heart.....

Digi-pak Research

"Digipak is a patented style of compact disc or DVD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI Media, a MeadWestvaco, Inc. resource, which acquired the original trademark holder, IMPAC Group, Inc., in 2000. MeadWestvaco licensed the name and designs to manufacturers around the world".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digipak

For our project we will make a digi-pak to relate to our video. A digi-pak is an album which we will create, designing the front cover, back cover, inside design and the cd design. I decided to research different album and cd covers to get a good idea of what we need to design.

I like the design of Kano's album cover. It is very affective as the background is dark (black and white) with the pattern in coordinating colours. The writing is done so that his name stands out to the audience. The font of the album name and songs on the back is matching but hard to read. This example gives me the idea of the back and front matching and also to include the name and album cover down the spine.

I then went on to look at Plan B's recently released album. I found images of both the album cover and the cd. This album is by the featuring artist of Pieces which means we can relate to the design more. The cover is very dark showing black around the outside and showing the title in an American style theatre lit up which also lights him up in the centre. On the back of the cover the list of songs is also in the same style as the title. The cd has no images just two bold colours; red and cream.

As an idea of what we are aiming for with our digi-pak we created our own using photoshop with the actual artist on it as a rough draft of what pictures we need to get.

We found templates of a digipak which will help as a guidline of shapes and sizes.

After researching these templates we knew what to aim for and decided to create our cd first as we were not going to use images. for the other covers we needed multiple images of our artist so we could choose the right one to put on it.

The album covers above demonstrates the selling point of their album is a close up of the artists face. This is an effective form in targeting their audience as they can easily be recognised. Also the album covers clearly state the name of the artist, catching attention from the audience.

For the front cover of our album we have decided to go for the same idea as Olly Murs' album and have multiple images of our artist in different posing positions. Although we are using ideas from this album the clothing of our artist will not be the same as this but the same as what is worn in our music video. Such as a hoody, jeans and shoes.

Video analysis The Script - Talk You Down

I can feel the color running

As it's fading from my face

Try to speak but nothings coming

Nothing I could say to make you stay

Grabbed your suitcase called a taxi

It's 3 a.m. now where you gonna go?

Gonna stay with friends in London

And that's all I get to know

Just a cigarette gone

No you couldn't' be that far

So I'm driving in my car where I hope you are

Maybe I can talk you down

Maybe I can talk you down

We're standing on a tiny ledge

Before this goes over the edge

Gonna use my heart and not my head

And try to open up your eyes

This is relationship suicide

'Cause if you go I go

Taking shortcuts through the alleys

While your racing through my mind

Cops can chase but they wont catch me

Not before I get to speak my mind

If there's still time

Just a cigarette gone

No you couldn't be that far

So I'm driving in my car where I hope you are

Maybe I can talk you down

Maybe I can talk you down

We're standing on a tiny ledge

Before this goes over the edge

Gonna use my heart and not my head

And try to open up your eyes

This is relationship suicide

'Cause if you go I go

'Cause if you go I go

'Cause if you go I go

'Cause if you go I go

We're standing on a tiny ledge

Before this goes over the edge

Gonna use my heart and not my head

Just a cigarette gone

No you couldn't be that far

So I'm driving in my car where I hope you are

Maybe I can talk you down

Maybe I can turn around

We're standing on a tiny ledge

Before this goes over the edge

Gonna use my heart and not my head

And try to open up your eyes

This is relationship suicide

After viewing a number of videos I decided that this music video most resembles the genre of music my group and I were looking at.

The opening scene shows diegetic sound of the first instrument played. The piano is heard and seen being played before there is a close up of the main vocalist as he begins to sing. The audience sees a flash of the last scene which is not understandable until the end.

The first scene of the video is dimmed light while the music is slow showing depression and upset. The video starts to tell a story when there is a women shown in a long shot walking down the street. The scene is over-cranked so that her movement is slower and to the pace of the music. As he sings 'grab your suitcase, call a taxi' she grabs hold of her suitcase in a close up shot and we see the taxi pull up in-front of her which shows the visuals mimicking the lyrics. The scene shows a blued effect to it which gives the feel of melancholy.

The music then speeds up along with the number of cuts so the video moves quicker. The video becomes brighter as the streets light up. We see a close up of the woman sitting in the back of the taxi looking sad before it cuts to the main vocalist bursting out the door and rushing to his car giving us the idea that he is running after her. The whole band is shown in a long shot when the guitar and drums are being played. The pace of the music speeds up again and a number of different shots are shown to understand the story - flashes of the woman in the taxi, to the busy town, to him in his car and to the band singing. He goes through a red light to show the urgency of him trying to get to her, but there is a shot of a police car to show he was spotted. 'Cops can chase but they won't catch me' is shown him singing this line in the car with police lights in the distance.

'Racing through my mind' - the car he is driving races past the camera. He turns around to look and the camera goes into a close up shot of his foot pressing the accelerator right down. There is a close up of a photo of the couple before it cuts to a side on shot of her crying looking out of the window. Throughout the song it says 'cos if you go, I go' which relates to him chasing her. There is a crash between the lead vocalist and the taxi with a third car. We hear the diegetic sound of the tyres screeching and the initial crash. There is then a shot shown which was seen in the beginning of the video.

We then see a shot of both of them coming through the windscreen but heading towards each other with their arms out and glass shattered all around them - they are both lit up like angels from the car headlights. They grab hands and he pulls her down towards him - 'talk you down'.

'Cos if you go I go' is repeated four times as they hold hands looking at each other and the camera pans out. Throughout the video the mise en scene shows the two main characters to be wearing black, grey and other dark colours which mirrors the tone of the song being melancholic. The music ends with a final hit of the drums and keyboard then all the shattered glass drops and we hear the diegetic sound of it hitting the floor with a police siren in the distance the scene fades out as the video finishes.