Thursday 21 October 2010

Actor's Poster =]

Using Photoshop, Elliot has created a Poster for us to put up around school, asking for two female actors who can play the sisters in our video. Hopefully it will attract some attention and we can find some reliable actors to be in our video. Here is an image of the poster; as you can see we have kept to the style of the video by putting it in black and white, showing an image from our didpack and using the same font as the digipack.

Storyboard =]

We have started to storyboard our music video using a bedroom as our main location. We made it using a USB tablet attached to a Mac, where you can use a pen to draw straight onto Photoshop, we found this was easier to edit our shots and quicker as we can just copy and paste the same background into each box, we need to vary our shots more otherwise it will become very boring, however this will be a guide storyboard and parts will probably change when we start shooting.

We are going to change the scenes by having parts of the narrative contrasted with shots of the a band, we are going to try and edit this so all you can see is a guitar and the fingers playing it, then just the lips and eyes of the girl singing will be seen.

Monday 18 October 2010

PJ Harvey =]

We researched PJ Harvey as she has a similar genre of music and lyrics, to the song we are using, 'Girl with one eye.' This is her official website. She writes her own song lyrics which are quite dark and serious. This is very similar to Florence + the machine.









 

 

 

 

THE DEVIL

As soon as I am left alone
the Devil wanders into my soul
and I pretend to myself.
I pretend to myself.
I go out to the old mile-stone
insanely expecting
you to come there, knowing
that I wait for you there.
That I wait for you there.
Come, come
come here at once!
Come, come
on a night with no moon,
because
all of my being is now in pining.
What formerly cheered me,
now seems insignificant.
Insignificant.

Here are the lyrics to one of her songs, they show a dark and moving song, similar to Florence, as they both write their own music. They have similar vibes and interesting music, and the instruments add to the effect of the song with guitars and drums. Her album covers are really original, and she is also has a split screen shot one which is the type of effect we want as the back cover to our digipack. Both have the same genre of music and just listening to their lyrics means you can create images in your mind as it was easy for us to analyse Florence's lyrics and create a narrative for the music video.
This is an album cover from PJ Harvey. This is where we got the idea of having a split shot, although hers is of the same person in different colours, it gave us the idea to split our album cover having a split screen of the two sisters. However instead of using this idea for the digipack it has now been used for our poster, making it look like a torn picture instead of just a split screen.

 






Thursday 14 October 2010

Photoshop Eyes =]

After researching images of eyes, we decided to take pictures of our own eyes to edit on Photoshop to use in our Digipack. We took photos in the Photography studio so we could use bright lights. Elliot is now editing our eyes in black and white, and taking out the pupils etc, but me and Lucy also started to experiment on Photoshop editing the eyes with different colours and making them look grainy or painted and cartooned.



The first eye is Lucy's where she edited her eye so that it was still quite natural but the colours are contrasting, with the warmth of the red and the darkness underneath the eye, we wanted it to look like she had a black eye to show the abuse, it looks scarier as its very bold and the light just catches the side of the eye showing almost how she could be crying as the eye looks wet.

The second eye is mine, and i edited it by contrastinf the colours to give it an abstract feel, it looks like the eye is no longer part of the face which is a very artistic and striking look but i don't think it would work for us as it is too bright, but i still like the experimental look and if we had a really abstract video with no narrative then this may have worked better.

The third eye is also mine and i edited it so it was black and white, and i used the artistic grain affect. I thought this cover is the most effective of the three as it relates to our video the most, yet i don't think the grain works as it needs to look more naturalistic. But i still thought it was an interesting affect to use.

Group Changes =]

We have decided to merge our group together, so Me and Lucy are now working with Elliot to, as this will make it easier for us to split tasks between the three of us. Elliot is also has good skills for editing and Photoshop which will be useful when making our digi pack.

Tuesday 5 October 2010

Album Cover Ideas =]














This image was edited on Photoshop, we used the background of an eye from Photovault and added another layer of a dolls face over the top to create it. Our friend Louis helped us create this image of Photoshop.
This is a collection of Indie Rock album cover, they are quite artistic and and bold colours, we have made our digipack distinctive with the use of eyes and images from our photo shoot, using the actors that will be in the video. Our Digipack is different to the original Florence + the machine album cover, yet it is still mainly black and white which gives us that rebellious look that relates to our main target audience

Analysis of Lyrics =]

Music Video Concepts

I took a knife and cut out her eye
I took it home and watched it wither and die
[At6] 
Well, she's lucky that I didn't slip her a smile
[At7] 
That's why she sleeps with one eye open
That's the price she paid


I said, hey, girl with one eye
Get your
filthy fingers out of my pie
[At8] 
I said, hey, girl with one eyeI'll cut your little heart out cause you made me cry
[At9] 

I slipped my hand under her skirt
[At10] 
I said don't worry, it's not gonna hurt
Oh,
my reputation's kinda clouded with dirt
[At11] 
That's why you sleep with one eye open
That's the price you paid

I said, hey, girl with one eye
Get your filthy fingers out of my pie
[At12] 
I said, hey, girl with one eye
I'll cut your little heart out cause you made me cry
You made me cry
You made me cry
You made me cry
[At13] 

I said, hey, girl with one eye
Get your filthy fingers out of my pie
I said, hey, girl with one eye
Get your filthy fingers out my pie
[At14] 
I said, hey, girl with one eyeGet your filthy fingers out of my pie
[At15] 
I said, hey, girl with one eyeI'll cut your little heart out cause you made me cry
[At16] 
(Narrative shows to interpretations of this story of the siblings. Both of the sisters mime separate lyrics to express different feelings and issues) 



 [At1]Mental and physical abuse from sibling. These lyrics could insinuate the real her underneath.

 [At2]Physical abuse.

 [At3]Jealousy and Sibling rivalry. The mean, controlling sister pulls an innocent face with horrid intentions and stops the other sibling in her tracks leaving her room perhaps.

 [At4]Sister cut the dolls eye out which is symbolising the other sibling. So now the doll sleeps with one eye open.

 [At5]Depressed look upon her face. Whilst the doll is on the shelf looking towards the girl with one eye.

 [At6]Takes knife and cuts out the dolls eye. The horrid sibling keeps the eye in her room and watches it wither and die, suggesting her sister.

 [At7]The horrid sister walks up to the sibling and wipes her lipstick from her lips across her mouth to suggest a smile. (The joker inspired type image)

 [At8]This could be suggesting to die. Maybe the lyrics ‘pie’ symbolise life.

 [At9]Nightmare- Older sibling cutting her heart out and terrorising her.

 [At10]The horrid sister slips her hand under the dolls skirt and breaks one of the legs off violently.

 [At11]Close up shot of the horrid sisters face miming the lyrics nastily. Something suggesting her past.

 [At12]The horrid sister slaps sibling across the face for leaving her room or doing something she didn’t like e.g.: stealing her doll back.

 [At13]The terrorised sibling cries with her back leaning against her door and slides down, breaking down in tears.  Self-harming, drug abuse or alcohol.

 [At14]To the beat of the music have one girl being hit across the face repeatedly.

 [At15]Other sibling ends being a heap on the floor maybe to signify suicide.

 [At16]Horrid sister has the last word. One tear runs down her face and she wipes it away briskly as quickly as she can as if she’s ashamed of crying.


Concepts for the Video =]

Girl imitating guitar at beginning and mouthing lyrics when they start. Mouth lyrics.
Girl winks to suggest one eye theme.
Then walking. Show effects. Showing cracks in the walls and a creepy atmosphere.
Girl sleeping restlessly then when lyrics sing ‘girl with one eye’ she opens one eye.
Show money to link with lyrics ‘that’s the price she’ll pay’ and have her pleading with money for example.
Show knives to suggest cutting her eye out. Then show an eye in a jar of water floating around, and then shrivelling up in an empty jar.
Girl crying.

Slip hand under skirt to suggest sexual abuse.
When the music gets more upbeat with drums and base… imitate people playing instruments on stage with girl singing. Rock image.

Girl crying, tears running down her face, showing make up running for dramatic effect. One girl going mental and really acting.
Show the girl with her hands in a pie.
Basically a girl is being terrorised and bullied repulsively throughout certain shots. The video can suggest sexuality as well. Maybe this is why the victim is being terrorised by the other girl.
Get pigs eyes and heart to use as props.
Maybe show drug abuse.

Costume
Rock, punk image. Leather and black. Dark make up. scars.
              

Research Task =]

I have chosen the music genre which is made apparent through the key concepts. The genre of the music video is love, which can be seen through the choice of shots, locations, character, facial expressions and the actual song.
I have chosen Taylor Swifts video ‘Love story’ which portrays the classic story of Romeo and Juliet. The narrative works by mixing a modern day high school scene with the olden day Castle where supposed Juliet (Taylor) lives, at the high school two students first meet (love at first sight) Taylor and boy, which then cuts to her being Juliet and meeting Romeo at the royal dance, not knowing who he is till after, creating the concept of forbidden love, and that they are both young. Obviously the song ends with her last verse stating that Romeo asks to marry her,
yet then Taylor comes back from her fairy-tale ending back in high school where she starts talking to the boy that she has just met, it shows the love can be seen as a fairy tale and most girls can relate to these situations when they are young and fall in love for the first time. The ideology shows the story of Romeo and Juliet, every relationships has its ups and downs. People fall in love and someone is always against it or they supposedly live happily ever after in the end.
The main target audience for Taylor Swift would be teenagers to young adults, predominantly female. This is because most of her songs are based upon adolescent memories and previous boyfriend relationships. Representation is used in the video through the characters and location. The song is called ‘Love Story’ therefore the audience would realize before even watching the video that a love story would be represented in the video. In this aspect the video shows the representation of a stereotypical High School scene
  
with a young adolescent boy and girl, it then stereotypes the traditional setting of romantic scenes of a castle and forestry with the use of Shakespearean dresses and menswear this shows a typical young girl fantasy of love. The use of the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet is what teenagers would study at school and a play that is well-known to most. It uses the connotations of betrayal, forbidden romance and rebellion, which can still be seen in schools today on a much smaller scale. The old castle is a beautiful romantic location to set a love story, and many can relate to this fantasy and its every young girls dream to live happily ever after.

The video has a linear narrative, with an intertextual reference to Shakespeare. The beginning of the song has them meet at a party in the first verse. The second verse where she has snuck out to the garden to see him “We keep quiet ’cause we’re dead if they knew” seems to imply that something is going on. In the very next bridge she refers to herself as a scarlet letter, which could easily imply that she’s pregnant. When they finally meet on the outskirts of town and he tells her that he has spoken to her father, and he has apparently consented to the marriage. One good reason for this quick turnaround may be to save the shame of a baby out of wedlock. If this is the case though, there is a very ironic suggestion to “pick out a white dress,” though this could be intentional to keep up her image of virginity. This has the potential to be a very ironic representation of a girl’s infatuation with a guy, which leads to an unfortunate marriage of necessity. Also it is perhaps a satire of how people always seem to believe that their own romances are worthy of Romeo and Juliet (which we all know does not end that well) and are always blinded by their position within their own relationships. At the end the song returns to present day where she goes and talks to the guy for the first time, showing the audience that this could be the beginning of the fantasy she has just imagined in her head. The Shakespearean references could be used to over dramatize the narrative, and as we all know they die in the end, instead of living happily ever after. However the ‘scarlet letter’ reference could also show her desirability but that she is off limits as seen in the video at the grand ball.
This is the foundation of Swift’s lyric–that any ‘love story’ is rife with complications, peaks and valleys, extreme joy and unbearable heartache. And by comparing the song’s characters to Shakespeare’s, she’s simply alluding to the idea that all love stories are fundamentally the same, regardless of their origin or outcome. There is a relationship between lyrics, visual and the music. There is also lots of close ups of the artist as she is the main character in the video. The institution of a music video would be the record label, company as they have the main role of making the music video promoting the artist to their audience and fan base. The video helps market the artist and wants to create the most profit, as videos can cost an extortionate amount of money. “Love Story” was first released as the debut single off Swift’s second album, Fearless, in 2008. In an article for Billboard, Swift described “Love Story” as “a love that you’ve got to hide because for whatever reason it wouldn’t go over well. I spun it in the direction of Romeo and Juliet; our parents are fighting. I relate to it more as a love that you cannot really elaborate on — a love that maybe society wouldn’t accept or maybe your friends wouldn’t accept.”

The language used in the video is modern day love lyrics except for the use of ‘Scarlet Letter’ in the lyrics, the narrator alludes to Romeo and Juliet and The Scarlet Letter to describe a lover whom her father will not let her see. In the end, however, the father reconciles and the lover proposes to the female narrator. The proposal is accompanied by a key change.

The camera is constantly moving to show that the narrative is always moving on to something new. It keeps the audience entertained with a quicker paceas the audience become more excited of how the characters relationships evolve throughout the video. The camera angles change as they like to show different perspectives of the narative. They use closeups of Taylor and the Boys faces, to see their emotion by making it vey intimate to eachother and for the audience to be involved with that intimacy. There are also tracking and establishing shots of places and people. And this is a birdseye view of the dancing to make vary the shots to make them more interesting and enjoyable for the audience. The music directly correlates at time with the footage. As the song progresses the editing gets quicker as the shots cut from her on the balcony, to a close up of them holding hands, to the forest back to the balcony.

Here Taylor is in the forest as she has seceretly come to find Romeo. The camera likes to zoom into the action and focus in on Taylors facial expressions. It brings in the songs lyrics ‘we’d be dead if they knew’ showing how they cant be seen together so the mise-en-scene of the forest, night time and the lantern emphasises the secret love they share.
A white horse is shown in the video obviously the one the man rode to see her on, the use of an animal shows the gentleness and romantic nature of the video. The shots are repetative but put into different orders. When she is on the balcony she engages with the audience by looking directly into the camera as if she is telling you this stoy of her love personally just to you.
This shot is just after she has seen him running to her balcony, she smiles and then there is a typical dramatic almost slow motion running scene, where they run to eachother and have a full on romantic kiss scene.
I like this image as it shows the secretness of their relationship and that the audience is involved in this secret. It uses iconogaphy of being quiet by putting a finger to his lips. So that nobody hear them, and setting their meeting in the dead of night shows the exciting and typical routine of secret meetings. This single part of the video links eveything together by showing the fairytale she dreams of and the love she has for him.

This is the final shot, where she comes back to reality, where in her fantasy she thinks he asks her to marry her, to her real life where this guy actually comes up to talk to her instead, the scene then goes to a black out as the music fades.

Initial Ideas =]

Staight away we wanted to do something that had a good beat, and a popular song which we could use to potray a prominant issue. At first we looked at songs by Beyonce as we liked her use of black and white videos, where they always have a meaning to them, such as ‘if i were a boy’ as this shows the story of a woman playing out the life of her husband, something that most women can relate to. This interested us about using a prominant issue. We then looked at more dance pop music, looking at Lady Gaga videos, which are very interesting and fun, yet still hide another meaning. We really wanted to use the song ‘Paparazzi’ as although she had already made a vey intrigueing video, we thought of a good basis of the video. We thought about incoporating the actual media of womens issues, such as weight, dressing up people as maniquines, to portay the issues surrounding women in the media, we thought this would be really effective as it would relate to the paparazzi, as in the song lyrics, as the girls would at like dolls, with just their mouths moving. We thought this would make an interesting video.

However, due to not be able to really use anyone famous we were looking on the copyright free music sight ‘Jamendo’ but we were unsuccessful in finding something that we really liked. Now we are looking at ‘Ellie Goulding’ to find a song that hasn’t been released or had a video made for it yet. As this would be an easier solution for us. But we are going to keep looking until we find something that will really work for us.