Copyright

How does copyright work in music?
When a song or piece of music is written, the person who wrote it owns the copyright and therefore has the right to decide how and when it should be played. Music is released, allowing individuals to purchase a song or piece which they can play at home. However, if an individual wishes to play that piece of music to a wider group of people, for example on their business or organisation’s premises, it is classed as a public performance. If you want to make a public performance you must first seek permission from the copyright owner of that song before you do so. This permission is known as a licence.

That is a brief overlook of how copyright works with music with means that we will have to contact the label/band/artist to ask if we can use their music for our own means. However for educational means we can use copyright music as long we have asked. As long as they don't reply saying that we can't use it, we are free to use it as much as we want.

So we will email the label/company and post the screenshots in a follow up post.

Performance/Narrative Discussion

We decided that for our own video that we should include both a narrative and performance as this is what at least 35% of the people in our target market research said that they would prefer in a music video. However we can see from our results that a story line is very important with 44% of our audience feeling that a 'story line' is the most important part.

We have decided that our performance that we will record the singer in the different locations lip syncing to 'What Would You Do'. These will be the same locations as the story line also. However, we haven't got the singer to play any instruments which is definitely popular in music videos, but the song hasn't got many predominant musical parts. For example, most songs involve a large guitar solo which is focussed a lot on when moving onto the music video.

For our story line, we have decided to rely heavily on the lyrics and what they are saying. The main theme is about a woman being a prostitute to try and keep her son from going hungry. We will try to follow this closely. There are lyrics depicting a club scene which we will replicate and will capture the dancing and the isolation of the girl within the crowds. We will also show her as being on the streets and begging for money or watching the world go by. All of these scenes show her as being isolated and 'lost' in a 'big world'.

Lyric Analysis

"What Would You Do?"
(originally by City High)

[Verse 1:]
Boys and girls, wanna hear a true story?
Saturday night was at this real wild party
There was liquor overflowin' the cup,
About 5 or 6 strippers trying to work for a buck.
So I took one girl outside with me,
Her name was Londy, she went to Junior High with me,
I said, "Why you up in there dancing for cash?
I guess a whole lot's changed since I seen you last."
She said...

[Chorus:]
What would you do if your son was at home
Crying all alone
On the bedroom floor,
Cause he's hungry and the only way to feed him is to
Sleep with a man for a little bit of money?
And his daddy's gone in and out of lock down,
I ain't got a job now,
He's just smokin' rock now,
So for you this is just a good time
But for me this is what I call life

[Verse 2:]
Girl, you ain't the only one to have a baby,
That's no excuse to be living all crazy
So she stared me right square in the eye
And said, "Everyday I wake up, hoping to die"
She said, "They're gonna know about pain
'Cause me and my sister ran away,
So our daddy couldn't rape us,
Before I was a teenager
I done been through more shit
You can't even relate to"

[Chorus:]
What would you do if your son was at home
Crying all alone
On the bedroom floor,
Cause he's hungry and the only way to feed him is to
Sleep with a man for a little bit of money?
And his daddy's gone in and out of lock down,
I ain't got a job now,
He's just smokin' rock now,
So for you this is just a good time
But for me this is what I call life

[Break:]
What would you do?
Get up off my feet and stop making tired excuses
What would you do?
Get up off my feet and stop making tired excuses
What would you do?
Get up off my feet and stop making tired excuses
What would you do?
Get up off my feet!

[Chorus:]
What would you do if your son was at home
Crying all alone
On the bedroom floor,
Cause he's hungry and the only way to feed him is to
Sleep with a man for a little bit of money?
And his daddy's gone in and out of lock down,
I ain't got a job now,
He's just smokin' rock now,
So for you this is just a good time
But for me this is what I call life

What would you do if your son was at home
Crying all alone
On the bedroom floor,
Cause he's hungry and the only way to feed him is to
Sleep with a man for a little bit of money?
And his daddy's gone in and out of lock down,
I ain't got a job now,
He's just smokin' rock now,
So for you this is just a good time
But for me this is what I call life

What would you do if your son was at home
Crying all alone
On the bedroom floor,
Cause he's hungry

Mise en Scene: Props

Our music video won't include a lot of unusual props as it is very closely related to real life. This would be different if we were challenging conventions of a normal music video and were using odd props to make it more abstract. We have five different locations and there will be different requirements for each set and we will try not to cross over any of these as it is important for continuity purposes.

CAMBRIDGE

- Blanket

- Cardboard signs?

HOTEL ROOM

- Large plush bed with luxurious bedding

- Mirrors

- Chairs

- Hotel style 'shampoos and conditioners'

BATHROOM

- Make up pots

- Wipes/Tissue

- Alcohol bottles

PIT

- Large strobe lights

- Red Cups

- Speakers

STUDIO

- A high chair

- White back drop

- Strong, bright lighting (may be visible)

Cinematography: Camera Shots

Our camera shots are very important as this will help with the showcasing of our star and also the emotion that the audience will feel. We want to make sure that the audience feels sorry for our female character as she is isolated and alone from everyone else. Not even her 'clients' have any connection with her. So instead of listing different shot types without any true meaning and who they are based on, I have listed the shots under the different characters involved.

STAR/SINGER (Miles Newman)
- Close ups (a desirable shot type seen in conventional music videos)
- Long shots (shows costume and also power)

MAIN FEMALE (Honor Chapman)
- High angled shots (shows her own demotion of herself)
- Candid/Rookie filming (shows her not being as professional as it seems)

DANCERS (Seen in the Pit)
- Medium shots (this will be cutting off their heads as it creates a sense of having no identity as people don't want to be know or identified as they are not the main star.)

CLIENT (Miles Newman (face is not seen))
- Low angle shots (to show power and authority)
- Mid shots (shows the female character being close to him and also leaves his identity unknown.)

Mise en Scene: Lighting

Lighting is  key element of any music video as it normally takes place in a  number of different settings with different circumstances.

CAMBRIDGE
- On set light to create a spotlight for the performer as that shows power and admiration.
- On set lighting to create a light from the side on the profile of the female which will show her slightly in the dark.
- We will also be relying on lighting coming from the windows of clubs and bars which will be important to show to busy night life.

BATHROOM
- This will be quite a low key lighting situation as it is the moment she realises that what she's doing isn't good for herself. This needs to be quite gloomy.

STUDIO
- This will be using professional set lighting which will highlight the performer.
- It will also be shining onto the backdrop as this will outline the performer and make him clearly stand out.

HOTEL ROOM
- Much like the bathroom scene, this will be quite low key lighting as it is not seen as accepted in wider society.
- There will be a single light which will hopefully outline strong shadows and highlight key movements.

PIT
- This will be our most difficult feat as we will need to work with large 'club' lights.
- We will mainly be using a strobe which we will slow down in post production.
- We will also experiment with a soft red light or even a clear light so that we can colour correct in editing.

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Target Audience Research

We think that, due to the nature of our music video and its genre, our target audience would range between a 16 to 30 age bracket and consist of an equal amount of male and females. We believe their lifestyle could be seen to be quite downbeat and thoughtful as opposed to care free and wild.

The age bracket was determined between the 16 to 30 age bracket due to the age of the actors and actresses, as well as the rebellious nature that we would want to impose on the audience. The age bracket comes from research that we did into the pop/indie genre of music and who listens to it. It was a particularly young age category, and we suspect this is due to the nature of the song and its messages. Although, we do believe that the fact that our characters our 18 and look like young adults to the audience, means that the audience will be able to relate specifically to the character and their actions. This is important to us as we want the audience to feel involved and within the music video itself.
Also, there is a rebellious nature within our plans for our music video. The lyrics are quite daring and refer to prostitution and smoking various drugs, which is what we would like to portray within our video but in a subtler style. We want to show smoking and sex being a large selling factor as that is what sells within today's society, unfortunately. We will show a non conventional couple that a younger age bracket will specifically relate to as that is the sort of relationships they will be experiencing (not specifically prostitution, but non conventional). An older age bracket would be less interested in this as they would see this as unhealthy and unnecessary for our age. This will be because they will most probably be in long term, healthy relationships and feel that their way is the only conventional, and right way.

We believe that the audience will be of a mix of female and male watchers as we think that there are certain parts of the video that will appeal to both sexes. We think that the rebellious nature of prostitution and smoking will appeal greatly to the male target audience as they will want to seem cool and above others by acting out. They will not want to be seen looking at different love stories within videos as society has pressured males to become more manly and not relate to those topics.
This aspect of a love story however, relates perfectly to the female audience. They will enjoy looking at a love story unfold before them, however unconventional it may seem.
As a whole, whether male of female, old or young, the indie/pop audience are all quite thoughtful and rebellious within their actions as they are stereotyped as being rebellious and different from others. They will want to be able to relate with the unconventional nature of our music video and so this will be the perfect video for them to relate to. 

Test Footage

PRACTICE OPENING SEQUENCE

We decided that we wanted to have short clips when there is a large thumping noise in the music. We will cut between the different locations and try to build up the suspense. We then filled the gaps between the jump cuts with scenes from a music video by Kendrick Lamar. These are the types of shots we really want to replicate when filming inside the pit as it links to the lyrics about the club.

PRACTICE LIP SYNC

We did this to practice my editing techniques when trying to match the lip sync to the music. This proved more difficult than we thought and involved a lot of fine tuning and going back after watching it a couple days after and seeing that it wasn't right. Performance is definitely a large part of making a music video so this is very important for us to get right and we will definitely have to record the performance scenes a lot of times.

PRACTICE TIMELAPSE

We would like to use a timelapse effect either when the main female character is seen on the streets of Cambridge and is watching the night life walk past her. We would also like to use this in the club scene to show her isolation within the crowd. However, the club scene has a lot of slow motion clips already planned for and we think that it could 'overdo' it if we involve a fast motion clip too as well.

PRACTICE BRIDGE

We decided that during the bridge part of the song, we would like to show the female character as 'sorting herself out' in a bathroom and we will try to capture some very emotional scenes which makes the audience feel empathetic for her. We will try to film this in the reflection of the mirror and also at a high angle which makes it seem that she is looking down on herself as she looks in the mirror.

Star Image

Richard Dyer's theory on star image states that the star should be seen as ordinary yet also different. This is so that the audience can relate to the star but also still be in awe and admiration.

WHAT IS A STAR?
A star is the main figure in a music video which the producer will want all of the audiences attention focussed on. It is very important to have a star in a conventional music video as otherwise there would be nothing for the audience to focus on. As a star, they are most probably quite popular in the music industry and the audience/fans will know a lot about them already. They will know their likes or dislikes and possibly their love life and style.

EXAMPLE STAR?
For an example I have done research into the star Calvin Harris. I have looked at his style and how the music videos he appears in creates a strong star.

In his music video 'Outside' featuring Ellie Goulding, he is shown wearing a casual shirt and jeans. This is very important as it relates to Dyer's theory of the star having to be like us so that we can relate to him. The casual attire is what is seen on many boys across an incredibly large age bracket.
He is also seen doing 'wheelies' on a motor bike which is commonly seen on TV or biking programs but is definitely not something you see everyday which makes Calvin Harris seem less ordinary than the audience.

The narrative plays a huge part in this music video for Calvin Harris. As he is involved in the narrative it makes it very easy for the audience to relate real life situations to the video. He is shown arguing with his presumed girlfriend and getting extremely angry. This is very common in most relationships and this means that a large amount of people will be able to relate quite closely to this video for sure.

LIGHTING A STAR?

Typical lighting of a star would be all of the lights focussed on the artist which would then highlight the features that are admired by his fans. This is very obvious in the music video 'Outside' as the low key lighting highlights the outline of Calvin Harris and means that he is highlighted almost in an 'angelic way'.

Treatment

Our music video is 'Bastille - What Would You Do'. We chose this song because of the indie/pop genre and how wide that leaves our possibilities of filming abstract and emotional scenes. It also has an extremely strong underlying narrative which we really think we can use in all of our shots.

Our narrative consists of the main star alongside a female actor. They have a relationship which becomes apparent throughout the music video as it transpires. The female character is essentially a prostitute. This will be made clear through costume and props which are stereo-typically associated with prostitutes and their line of work. This will be done subtly as we are predominantly searching for the emotion from the video as opposed to focussing on the nature of the job. 

The target audience is definitely within the young adult and teenage bracket as a lot of Bastille's music is very popular with that. This works in our favour as we are young adults ourself and can add elements that we think would appeal to us. We were then also able to use characters that are from that age range too which is especially helpful when we have a lot of strong performers and actors at hand to us from our school.

We predict that our video will have a strong dark nature to it. This will include the collection of props, the settings and the lighting. We will use low key lighting along with a low saturation level in post production so that the audience can experience the sad feelings that will be coming from the actors and actresses. The costume already has quite a dark nature as the clothes are predominantly black or grey with parts of white or in the case of the female character, the showing of skin will be the only other colour we see from her.

Costume

HONOR - Female Character

'Clubbing outfit'

• Mini skirt
• Blouse or crop top
• Ripped fishnet tights
• High heels

'Streets outfit'

• Old, broken shoes-could use converses
• Ripped jeans or over sized jeans 
• Over sized coat/ possibly fur coat, over the top of her clubbing outfit
• Big jumper

Makeup & Hair:

• Full coverage makeup for clubbing and bedroom scenes-To all be wiped off and to look messy for the shots in the streets
• Red lipstick
• Messy/big hair

MILES - Star/Client

• 'Star image' clothes
• Plain t-shirt
• Black skinny jeans
• Leather jacket or denim jacket
• Black or brown boots

Generic Research & Analysis of Music Videos:Greek Tragedy

I have done research into this music video as it is of a similar style of the video we wish to create ourselves. The theme is quite dark and gloomy which is what we would like to recreate, This is seen firstly through the colour correction which is particularly desaturated to create an eerie style to the song. 

As a group we have decided that we would like to start our video with slow mo 'club' clips which are cut between fast paced clips that change to the beat of the music. This can be seen in the music video 'Greek Tragedy' right at the start when the main girl is swaying with her arms out wide and it has been slowed down to look like she is in some sort of trance. This is what we'd like to do with the dance scene within the club as we feel it would look like the whole club is in a trance and unaware of the situation that is unfolding within. 

Another part of this music video that I feel would translate well into our own clip would be the fast paced sequences which appear between the slow mo shots at the beginning. This would be good as it would show the tension and intensity of the situation and how pressure is being focused on the main character.

Our own sequence would consist of many different clips that we would use from throughout the music video but it would be in time with the beat of the music at the beginning of the song which sounds like three knocks against a door.

Generic Research & Analysis of Music Videos: A Team

I have analysed this music video because the style and narrative is quite close to our own when depicting the scenes of her living on the streets and being a prostitute.
Firstly we would like to replicate the shot of the girl sitting on the street whilst other people are moving around her. It is done as a time-lapse which makes the girl seem isolated and lost within the crowd.We would do our own shots on the streets of Cambridge as the street lights and lights from the buzzing night life will make her seem even more alone.

Another idea which we particularly liked was when she is scene looking in the mirror before she goes to meet her client. 

We like this idea because it shows her reflecting on herself and possibly realising what she is doing to herself. We would do this with our main female character but we would make it seem as though she is cleaning herself and getting ready for a better life. This would be when the lyrics are saying 'Get up off your feet and stop making tired excuses.'

Locations

WE HAVE CHOSEN 5 DIFFERENT LOCATIONS TO ADD A WIDE VARIATION OF CINEMATOGRAPHY AND MISE-EN-SCENE. THIS WILL HOPEFULLY CONFORM TO THE CONVENTIONS OF A INDIE MUSIC VIDEO AS THEY NORMALLY CONSIST OF A VARIETY OF INDOOR AND OUTDOOR SCENES...

1. WHITE ROOM
- This room is for the performance of the main star (Miles Newman) to be singing in.
- He will pictured against a plain white wall either sitting on a high stool, commonly seen in music videos, or standing/leaning against the wall.
- We are trying to make the star have the "cool" appeal which is highly sought after when watching music videos. Hopefully the location paired with the costume will achieve that.

2. CAMBRIDGE BACK STREETS
- We have decided to use this location as in the night time where the streets are lit by the night clubs and street lights, it looks quite dark and lonely when outside on the streets. This is what we are aiming for as we would like our female character to be seen as isolated from the inside night life.
- We have found these ideas from research into 'The A Team' by Ed Sheeran.

3. THE PIT
- Some of the lyrics describe a club scene where the main girl will have been first found by the lead singer. We are planning to do this in the pit at school which is equipped with lights and a sound system.
- We will get a larger group of people and gets shots of the group dancing together.
- We will then slow these shots down so that the dancers look like they are in a sort of trance.

4. BATHROOM
- Whilst the bridge is playing we wish to shoot some clips of the main girl (Honor Chapman) wiping her make up off. We'd like to try and shoot some very emotional shots to try and complete the video.
- It is meant to be hard hitting and thought provoking. We have chosen to do this in a derelict bathroom as it will be a representation of the cracks in the girl's surface.

5. HOTEL HALLWAY
- The lyrics describe the main girl as being a stripper/prostitute to try and make ends meet and look after her boy. We would like to shoot some footage inside a hotel to show a man coming up to a room and meeting her.
- We would also end the music video in this location as we can show it as a flash back of her being exhausted and fed up whilst in the room by herself.

Theorists

STUART HALL

- Hall believed that the audience could take one of three main positions when watching a film/music video.

- DOMINANT - This means that the audience will read the text the author has intended them to do.

- NEGOTIATED - The reader will partially believe the message but sometimes modifies to to suit themselves and to see it in their own way.

- OPPOSITIONAL - The author's message places the reader on the opposition. The do not accept or believe the code.

JUDITH BUTLER 
- Butler believes that gender is performed as opposed to biology. This means she believes it is part of our identity and personality instead of genetics.
- This leads on to her objectification of the notion of 'voyeurism'. She believes that the concept isn't just specific to men objectifying women.

LAURA MULVEY
- Mulvey believes that there is a visual pleasure in the media which is defined as 'voyeurism'. She believes that women are only there for male pleasure.
- This has been highly criticised recently as current new trends consist of a lot of feminist topics. Which has slightly changed a woman's appearance in the media.

Actors & Actresses

ACTORS - Miles Newman (main singer/performer)
ACTRESSES - ~Honor Chapman (lead female role)

Group Roles

ESTHER GRIMWOOD - Camera Work
- From reviewing last years tasks, we decided that Esther would be more suited to this role as she was the main camera woman then too. She did a very good job and is extremely inventive when thinking of shot types to express the genre.
- Esther would be in charge of: remembering camera equipment, ensuring that clips have been saved, ensuring that clips have been uploaded.

ANNA CURRAN - Mise - en - Scene
- Anna has developed a great eye for pairing costume and props with the appropriate parts of the music video. She has thought of many different ways to express emotion through the Mise - en - Scene.
- Anna will be in charge of: bringing props, bringing costume, dressing the characters, bringing lighting.

ELLA SANDERS (myself) - Editing
- Last year I found myself becoming more confident with my editing skills as opposed to the camera work and Mise - en - Scene. This aspect is great for me as I am very capable with using technology and timing.
- I will be in charge of: making sure the video is in time to the music, colour correction, continuity, storyboards, and bringing any extra props to the scene.

Andrew Goodwin Task - AfroJack

AFROJACK

This music video is a sure fire pop genre due to its many stereotypical traits. This is down to the different aspects of mise en scene which have been used. For starters, much like the Anna Sun music video, there is a red cup party which is focused on a lot. This is done because drinking is seen as ‘cool’ and the ‘cool thing to do’ and so it would have to be in a pop music video so that people could relate to it easily. Whilst the party is going on, there is a large focus on the male female dancing that is occurring, this is because love is a large part of a pop music video as it almost gives the viewer and favourite and someone to root for, much like a film.

Focusing on certain aspects is different in every music video. In the walk the moon one, there was a large focus on the surroundings and the misfits dancing. Whereas in this video, there is a huge focus on the main singer as that is what the viewers are there to see and they would want to make the singer appeal to everyone. However, the camera is not the only person/subject that is following the male singer. The females in the video are all seen to be touching him or staring at him the majority of the time which shows the viewer that he is attractive and lusted after by others, almost competitive. 

A large object that occurs in almost all music videos is the cars and the girls. There are almost always cars and in this music video it is no different. There are a large amount of posh expensive cars which show wealth and power within the group of men.

Andrew Goodwin Task - Walk the Moon

WALK THE MOON

This music video is of the indie pop genre as that is Walk the Moon’s style of music. To start with, the viewer would notice straight away that the filming is somewhat amateurish and it has a slight VSCO cam or old movie style filter. This shows that it isn’t as clean cut and full of harsh dark and bold colours as pop music videos seem to have. This is a lot softer and shows through that alone that indie music is slight less offensive and abrupt. Alongside this, you can even tell it is an indie music video just from the setting. In pop videos you are normally paired with bright lights and a studio set up, whereas this video is set outdoors and starts with views of the skies which show that the music is almost ‘dreamlike’.

Secondly, the people involved in the video are a collection of what society would call misfits and this is to illustrate the lyrics. The video is all about being a child and wanting to stay a child, almost a ‘Peter Pan’ style. They are dressed individually and very expressively. This is very important as it is almost highlighting the fact that they are the misfits but together they don’t have to worry about judging from society, they can all be individuals.

However, despite this being an indie music video, certain aspects are particularly stereotypical of a pop music video. A few scenes are shown the misfits drinking from red cups which are a typical American party ideology. This shows that they still conform to pop stereotypes possibly to show that we are slight misfits in our own ways. Also, much like the Bo$$ video, They are seen to be doing a well-choreographed dance which is a common trait of pop music videos as people are certain to try and copy it.

Andrew Goodwin Task - Fifth Harmony

FIFTH HARMONY

This is a very popular music video which has been widely acclaimed for its power for women. Different aspects of the music video converge to the strong topic of feminism that is around in today’s society and how it is looked upon. This is shown firstly in this video through the mise en scene by their costumes. They are seen to be wearing suit jackets which are stereotypically seen on men to demonstrate power and authority in the workplace. But here it is seen paired with revealing shorts or skirts which shows that women have power whatever they are seen to be wearing. As recently women have been criticized for their attire in the media and so this would be a perfect in for a pop music video as it creates sex appeal whilst also providing links to popular topics.

A dance routine is very typical for a pop music video in association with a girl or boy band. This is because an extremely wide audience will be watching this genre, and so this video, including younger female generations. And young girls are constantly seen wanting to learn the dance moves from the new ‘hottest’ songs, much like young boys are eager to follow fashion trends which they see in pop music videos also. The girls in the music video are seen to be doing dance moves that are quite provocative but are used to show power and dominance of the female generation. This is shown because they are dancing on a stage with nothing around them, all focus is on them. This will be particularly popular as it means a younger generation will look up to these girls when watching this video as they will see them as strong and powerful and not afraid. It would be different if these girls were seen to be doing ballroom dancing or similar with a man; it would show that the woman is depending on the man instead of being independent.

Following on from the idea of independence and feminism, this is also shown when the girl group challenge the group of boys to an arm wrestling competition. These boys are seen to be wearing hoodies or tight vests with snap backs which is seen a lot in male music videos as it makes them see, “hard” or “scary” in some cases. The girls in the video are however showing that this isn’t the case. The girls are seen beating the men in the competition which once again exerts power for females.