Narrative ideas:

As the final stage of my research and planning, I am going to consider some feedback I received after posting my Animatic video onto the blog. The comments I received included:

-          A problem based on why emotional redemption is achieved. A lack of visual illustration was believed to be in my video so the narrative didn’t make sense.

-          Another issue involving visual illustration was how the song consists of the man sitting there without any movement. It was claimed to appear boring. The suggestion being a more interesting way of getting the man in the video (me) to speak during the lyrics being played while drunk on the floor. Possibly with the girlfriend crying because she seen me in the house in a drunken state. This was considered to be a solution.

-          A problem was raised in the locations used, as well as high I was going to make the scenery AKA my house fulfil its intent to be messy and damaged to create illustration towards the narrative.

The problem was raised that the music video does not make it clear as to why emotional redemption was achieved. It seems that the man suddenly becomes happy, because the video gives no clear indication why the character has become happier. It just happens naturally.

In response, I defend that the video does supply a certain amount of narrative content and illustration to give out the reason as to why the man becomes happier. In my video, as the 2^nd verse ends, the man looks at an image of his girlfriend. This was not demonstrated very clearly in the Animatic, as my drawing skills are poor. The way in which it is evident that the girl is his ex-girlfriend is by the relation of the illustration, and visual events occurring, to the lyrics of the song themselves. E.g. the line ‘could you stand another drink’ is related to my added narrative of the man in the video walking home drunk. In this case, the line ‘do you wanna spin another line, like we had a good time’ if perhaps the best indicator of a relationship crisis. The original Proof video included this line also, and the facial expressions, combined with the content of the lyrics, provided the implication that the man in that video, played by Chris Eccleston, had just been part of and ended a relationship, and was depressed until he achieved emotional redemption. In my case, my added narrative and illustration of the man walking home drunk, being depressed through verses 1 and 2, and now holding an image of a girl his image shortly after those meaningful lyrics played, overall, at least strongly imply that he has been in a relationship and the source of his depression of his loss of that girlfriend. The end montage of the video of his memories with the girl, such as walking with her away from the camera, will further send this implication to the audience. The shots of the man’s memories in the end collage will be identifiable via the stereotypical editing patterns inserted onto those certain shots so that the memory shots appear black and white. Furthermore, the original Proof video did not visually make it clear why the man suddenly got happier either, but the lyrics in relation to facial expressions sent the message very well. With my added narrative, the meaning and strength of this message will only be more significant.

The second narrative issue revolves around how there is a lack of visual interest in certain parts of the video, such s the main close-up shots of my face playing during verses. The suggested alternative being that I sing during the shots, while on the floor, lying down, suffering from a hangover type of condition mixed with visual depression.

In response, while this certainly provides more illustration to the video in places where it is probably needed, this suggestion does not sound like it will work. Since the objective is to make my music video appeal to its intended target audience of soft rock young adults, who are not necessarily educated with vast media knowledge, this approach does not seem appropriate. Keep in mind that to media teacher, experts, and even student, this idea would be preferable. Particular media experts would understand the use of improved illustration in this suggested idea and would be appealed by its usage far more than anyone else. But since my target audience does not necessarily consist of media experts with high amounts of media knowledge that a college teacher would have, the use of this idea would probably not make the video appeal to them. An approach involving the man (me) lying on the floor while singing to the music would probably appear to be somewhat ridiculous and would not interest them in the video at all. However, this does not mean to say I don’t intend to consider this feedback at all. I did look at my Animatic, and it is clear that the fact remains valid that the illustration becomes unnecessarily dull and inactive during certain parts of the video. I do now intend to reflect on this advice and change the parts of the video that contain a lack of visual events, mainly during the actual playing of the verses. Perhaps added use of camera movements, or even new shots, maybe necessary to consider, for instance. Some decision will be made further along in the production of my music video. Most of my footage is original, so flexibility in change and improvements is not a problem.

It has been argued that in my location shots, the rooms and places used look too clean, and to really capture the image I want, I really have to trash up my living room beyond the placement of a spilt beer bottle, etc…

This is a valid point to consider. While my location shots were obviously taken when the locations were not set up and ready for filming, it still seems that the overall appearance of the house does not help me to send the message to the audience that the man in the video is a depressed, drunken wreck who is destroying his life around him at the start of the video.one suggestion was, for the inclusion of the messy shirt I will wear in the video, I should get a cheap Primark shirt and gradually ruin it for the filming. This is what I intend to do as well. Another suggestion is to use other props to mess up the living room such as messy clothes, destroyed objects and furniture, etc… this is another consideration for me.

Schedule list:

This is a schedule list from post Friday the 28th of September. This is a guide on what I can and should do with my time period during the Media coursework. This schedule will consist of when I should be filming practice shots of the video, filming the actual product, etc...

Schedule:
- 2nd October: Learn about generic campaign conventions for the promotion of my music video.
- 4th October: Conduct research on existing media examples. AKA CD covers, band websites, magazine artists, etc...
- 5th October: Continue to conduct and gather useful research for the project.
- 9th October: Begin annotations and analysis of mock-up ancillary products for media.
- 11th October: Produce a set of drawings and/or photos for the advertisement.
- 12th October: Produce the drawings and/or photos for the advert of the music video.
- 16th October: Create colour palette and collage of images as part of the analysis.
- 18th October: Fully construct a magazine advert using research and ancillary products as part of the featured content.
- 19th October: Finish and complete all research, analysis, ancillary product development, and advertising and submit what is required by 3.10pm.
- During half term: Conduct filming of whatever is necessary and can't be done during school days. E.g. shots of the girlfriend might need to be recorded at this point.
- 30th October: Borrow school camera for filming at home. Most recording for the draft video should be recorded on this night if no problems occur.
- 31st October: If possible, borrow camera for a second night and continue filming and finish gathering essential footage.
- 1st November: Begin editing. Editing will be basic, completion of the draft video may be necessary if time is available to do so.
- 2nd November: Make various tweaks to the video. Submit draft version at 3.10pm to Media.
- 6th November: Recieve and use feedback for the improvements of the final video. Begin editing improvements in necessary.
- 8th November: Make various essential and small changes to the music video. Try to improve it's overall quality and standards to as high as possible. The following night, if any new footage is required, get it by borrowing another video camera.
- 9th November: Finalise adding footage, editing, and producing tasks of the video and submit the final product to Media at 3.10pm.
- 13th November: Recieve marks and feedback from teachers on music videos and use it. If there is time, update blogs with valuable feedback.
- 15th November: Continue and finish adding blogs with feedback. Begin a plan of action for necessary improvements.
- 16th November: Progress with plan of action for further necessary improvements for video.
- 20th November: Continue making improvements to video product.
- 22nd November: Finish any needed filming of added shots for greater production if needed. Also continue with editing.
- 23rd November: Continue to edit the absolute final music video version.
- 27th November: Finalise video product and ask for any feedback. Then reflect on feedback.
- 29th November: Reflect on feedback and finalise the video once more ready for submission.
- 30th November: Complete and submit video to Media by 3.10pm.
- 4th December: Recieve lesson on how to write-up evaluation questions.
- 6th December: Produce draft evaluations in essay form.
- 7th December: Finish evluation drafts and submit them to Media at 3.10pm.
- 11th-12th December: Plan and agree on effective ways to creatively finalise the evaluation write-ups.
- 13th December: Produce question 1 and 2 to creative media formats.
- 14th December: Produce questions 3 and 4 to creative media formats.
- 15th-17th December: Produce remaining questions to creative media formats, and hand them over to Media by 3.10pm at the media office. Coursework is then complete!

Risk assessment:

Throughout the filming production of my music video, various things can occur that cause problems for the production. These issues include safety, problems with equipment, etc...

Risk Assessment

The risk out of 10 measures the likelyhood that something will occur. The assessment measures its significance and level of effect if it does. The risk assessment averages these two figures out of 10 out to reach an overall risk assessment concern level. The higher the number the greater the risk or assessment.
Also in the table is the hazard itself, the judgement of the risk level, or a short explanation of how likely the risk it. Also included is an effect column, explaining the effects of the hazard if it occurs. Finally, there is advice on how to avoid the hazard, and what to do and deal with if it happens...

Location shots:

The location shots are to show what will be used for the filming of my video. I have selected all of the most significantly used locations for my filming and these are them...

This is the street I will use for the first shot of me walking home. The shot will start from here...

And the first shot as we walk with a camera in a handheld shot will take us to the front door of my house. I then go to walk in, as the shot fades out and then in again to the second shot.

This is a shot of the living room. In the actual video, the shot will also shows the floor and furniture below with lots of mess across it to put emphasis on the narrative, such as dirty clothes lying around, possible food lying around. Also signs of rage will be shown, such as some things on the floor that shouldn't be, that have been thrown on by the man in the video, or so pressumed to have been.

This is the table that will be used for the video. Beer will be dropping off the table. The bottle itself will be placed on the table to show that the man has been drinking and is in a great state of depression.

A shot of the living room from another angle. The TV will be shown still working and playing in the video much like in this shot. This will display a lack of focus within the video.

NOTE: These shots were recorded at night with a camera on flash light setting, so the lighting in these images my not be accurate...

Narrative theory:

Part of my research towards the production of my music video is to apply relevant narrative theorists towards the meaning and making of my video. This need is only amplified since my video is clearly going to be narrative...

Andrew Goodwin's theory of analysis:
Goodwin's theory is being applied in many ways within my music video:
- The technical aspects. Goodwin believes that camera movement is important to conisder in the production of a music video. This is being used, as I have carefully planned both the shot type and movement used in each shot. E.g. in shot 1, the camera is going to be in a handheld movement so it captures the life-like feeling and imagery of the scene, this being a man walking home drunk and depressed.
- The use of illustration, disjuncture and amplificiation. As stated in previous posts, is going to be used multiple times in my video. Not only will illustration be used in general as part of the added narrative property, but it will also be used in particular instances. i.e. in the shot where the image of the girlfriend reflects the light to make her look heavenly. This visually shows why the man in the video is depressed over losing her. Amplification will be used in some cases, for instance, when the shirt is shown in a close-up, all messy and worn out. This will amplify the narrative content of the man's new adoptive 'trashy' and self-abusive liefstyle via an assist with illustration. Disjuncture will be used starting from verse 3, when despite losing such a great girl, the man starts to think more optimisitcally, and separates from his depression and despair, and remembers only the good times. He then gradually becomes more happy throughout verses 3 and 4.
- Another important issue from Goodwin's theory is the star image. In this case, the star AKA me, will have to look worn out, depressed, and somewhat dirty. This will be aided in both my depressed look, and my messy clothing which I will wear during footage. The man in the video must look like a wreck to fit in with the video's narrative, which I will do and have planned.

François Truffaut's Auteur theory:
The term Auteur translates from Author in France, as the creator of the theory was a French film director and critic.
- This theory tends to focus more on individual stylistic features rather than generic conventions. This is an interesting property from the theory, and my video actually applies to it. My video is inspired by some unique yet simple videos such as Proof and Nothing compares 2 U. Videos like these have specific features such as simple production, low shot quantity, in Proof's case, just 1 shot, and these videos, particularly Proof, use more of visual effects and facial expressions and reactions to amplify meaning of the lyrics than other videos, since other music videos also focus on background scenery, appearance of the star and his/her clothing, high production methods, etc...
- This theory focuses on how texts are determined via an artist's creativity. In the original Proof video, this was not so apparent, however, in my video, with added shots and a narrative property, this will become very apparent. I am the artist, as well as the producer of the video. Since most of my footage is original, it will be up to my ability to not only produce shots and edit them effectively, but also perform in a fitting and visually impressive way that specifically establishes my video as both unique, and appealing to the target audience.
- The artist's body of work and how it helps to emerge a text is another key issue regarding this theory. In my case, I will mostly be focusing on my facial expressions for the making of this video and it's content rather than body movements. I will use my face expressions to tell the story, and make the viewers understand the meaning of the narrative in a much greater depth and feeling. Much like with the original Proof video did itself.

Vladmir Propp's theory:
Propp was a man who composed fairy tales in the 1920's. His theory focuses generally on movies, and books and their characters, but the theory can be applied here as well.
Propp's theory is that the hero (in the video, I will be this) seeks something. In my video, I seek at first to regain the girlfriend (princess in Propp's theory) and later I seek to achieve emotional redemption as part of the video's story. Which happens. The girlfriend in my video (Princess in Propp's theory) is at first what I hope to seek as the hero and main protagonist of the music video story. Later, she suddenly seems to be a helper/donor in Propp's theory fitting as her presence in his memory helps him achieve his redemption. This somewhat subverts Propp's theory however, though in a dynamic way, by the hero achieving his goal with the help of the helper and donor despite them not appearing in the present tense scenes physically or even trying to help the hero. This video plays things differently.

Ronald Barthes' theory:
Barthe's theory is made of 5 codes, these being action, enigma, symbolic, semic, and cultural.
Action is used casually at the start as the man in the video (me portraying my artist Josh U R) is walking home drunk. You see the internal struggle physically via the handheld movement of the camera. Then while you don't see it, action is implied via the view of a messy living room, which has been trashed by the depressed man.
Enigma is used at first as the audience does not know why the man is depressed. The narrative and events that occur later in the video explain this.
Various symbolic things are used in this video to support the narrative. For instance, the shot where the image of the girl reflects the light. This symbolises her as heavenly then the man remembers the good times about her. Also when the sun goes down, this symbolises both the end of the video and the depression. The beer being thrown in the bin also symbolises the man overcoming his depression at the end.

Claude Levi-Strauss' theory:
Levi-Strauss focuses a lot on the use of binary opposites in media texts. E.g. light-dark, peace-war, etc...
In my video, there will be some uses of binary opposites. Perhaps the most significant would be weak to strong. This is what the man will achieve emotionally as the video progresses and he begins to get over his girlfriend. He becomes stronger from an emotional view due to his gained ability to cope with the loss of a great woman. Another example is the binary opposite of light to darkness, and how the video progressively becomes 'lighter' as the emotional redemption kicks in... This will likely also be demonstrated with the use of illustration in my video. The start of the video is set at night, on a road, and then when we enter the house, it has a messy and damaged living room due to off-screen rage by the character in the video. Then we see metaphorical darkness via the depression shown in the facial expression, movements and positions of the man in the video. As the video goes on, while the man begins to feel happy, the 'light' will become stronger, as the song picks up in high tone, the illustration is more positive, the man becomes happy, the atmosphere of the scenery becomes more light and tidy, and the shots from the montages generally become less negative through progression of the video as well. The transfer to a 'lighter' mood and atmosphere in the illustration of the video naturally comes from the narrative story of emotional redemption.

Considering representations:

Who: I will be the performer in the music video, posing as the artist Josh U R. This is due to the artist being only 18 years old, and being a young yet depressed figure in a relative narrative content feature. I will also use a female friend of mine for the secondary protagonist role, as she will play the girlfriend that the man in the song is sad over losing.

What: It will be a narrative video dominantly filmed at my house, with a few other locations which may be used if necessary. The video will consist of 17 meaningful shots, and the artist, me, will be performing in front of the camera.

Why: My target audience is young adults who can associate with the depression/emotional redemption storyline, and of a low middle class socio-economic background. The video was narrative so it would be easier to appeal to them with the use of my original footage and techniques. The video has to be appealing to the audience otherwise all research and planning seems pointless. Which is why I used primary research on the audience to check.

Where: I will be filming mostly at my own house and street for most of the shots. I will use my street, living room and kitchen for the filming of different shots, as I designed in the storyboard and Animatic. This location is so filming is much easier, and because it's how I planned in my planning and research stage.

How: I have selected shots where it won't be hard to film myself. The shot quantity is not unreasonable and will allow further flexibility within production time constraints. The props required won't be too hard to access and the filming should not take too long. The production is easy to follow, yet if managed right, the end product can still be both visually impressive and appealing to the target audience, like I plan...

Music video - production ideas:

Snorricam has been a suggested object for use in production. This device is supposed to be built to allow greater movement and stability if self-made camera shots. The original intention was for me to use handheld camera shot techniques in certain shots such as shot 1 for life-like feeling of movement. In shot 1, the man in the video is walking home drunk based on narrative description. The handheld shot shows the movement in a more life like and realistic manner. The Snorricam seems like a very useful device for most videos, as it allows far more to be filmed in a professional looking way. However, based on narrative relevance, I will probably maintain my handheld shot idea. Firstly, it's easy when production purposes are an issue. Second, the camera movement and lack of stability provides a metaphor which assists to amplify the narrative property of the video. This being the drunken state of the character within the video.

The significance of zooming in for verse 4 in the song has been debated and discussed. The zoom in seems to be irrelevant in the sense of the video’s production techniques. While the original I am Kloot Proof video is one whole single close-up shot that gradually zooms in to the man’s face, my new video is based on a more dynamic narrative story and use of shots. In other words, due to the shots I am placing in between verses 1 and 2, and verses 3 and 4, the redundancy and lack of effect seem to be a problem for the use of a zoom in for the video. I have argued against this by stating that the zoom in only occurs as soon as verse 4 starts, so even though the montage of shots plays after verse 2 and sends the viewers of the video to a new focus rather than one shot, the zoom in afterwards would be ineffective to the video’s progression as the amplification of focus and meaning of the technique would be reduced by the montage of shots switching the viewer’s focus over to the shots rather than that close-up. Despite this issue, I have argued that since the zoom in is not to occur until verse 4, that gives the audience all of verse 3 to regain focus of the particular close-up, thereby adding effect back to the use of that technique. Regardless of this, the more technical side of production is also important to consider, since the filming must be my own, I will have to film myself. This will be hard because I will have to zoom in on myself while I look at the camera. This will be a problem anyway. Perhaps I could slightly change production plans so that verse 4 fades out and in from verse 3 and is automatically a further extent of the already placed close-up of verse, i.e. extreme close-up for verse 4 shot.

The shot quantity is an important issue, too. The original Proof video I have been inspired by is a one shot video. My video will be based on it primarily, with features from other videos and music conventions as well, and be a more dynamic and narrative type of video. My video will have a total of 17 shots, or that is the plan as of late September. However, the point was raised that my video is lacking the all or nothing principle. In other words, it was debated that I am merely taking something so brilliantly simple such as Proof and am pointlessly adding in some new shots and narrative content to make a poorly thought of and produced video. It was further stated that in order to truly create a more dynamic video in the way I was describing, I would require much more than 17 shots, a minimum of over 100 shots. This is not only practically impossible, based on production requirements, and time constraints, but is unnecessary for me to produce the video I want. My intention is to produce a video inspired by and similar to kloot’s Proof. But as well as this, it will use properties from other videos and be more dynamic and visually interesting because of its added narrative, target audience appeal, and use of illustration, disjuncture, amplification, and other media techniques. 100+ shots is not needed or desired for the creation of my video. What is being overlooked here is the presence of Proof’s original predecessor in terms of simply produced videos, and its main inspirational source, the video Nothing compares 2 U by Sinead O Connor. This video consisted of many of the same production and media techniques as my planned video will have, it also contains around the same quantity of shots. This video didn’t use a really small or large amount of shots to be successful, what it did was use each shot, as well as each resource and media technique effectively, to produce an overall, amazing yet relatively simple video that was no. 1 in its time. My video plans to use the same method as this and various other music videos have before. The purpose of each of my shots is to provide meaning to the narrative, amplify the story, supply illustration and interest in visualisation to provide effect towards the video and its overall quality and appealing content to its target audience.

The visual properties within each shot during filming must be accurate to the intention, or must be there only they fit in with the narrative content in the story. (I.e. a house full of flowers is hardly acceptable in a music video with a narrative content of a suicide story.) This is why my video choice is apparent. My plan to create a new video based off a simple video like Proof provides much more flexibility in production. Almost all of my shots, as well as my story, and flexible in development, and there is much more freedom in what I can include, since most of the video properties will be original. For instance, in my shots of the living room, the things within the room in the shot will fit in because the artist is 18, thereby still living at parents’ house most likely, so regular house appliances and equipment being within the shots will not be unfitting in any respect. This is why I chosen a narrative story of my own, whatever it was and it included would be capable of being handled by me during production.

Storyboard animatic:

Images I sketched for the animatic video:
Scan-to-Me from 192 168 255 105 2012-09-25 091456

The animatic is a basic presentation of how the video is supposed to be produced. The shots have been drawn basically in pencil (with unfortunate low skill levels) to show when they will appear in the song.

Explanations: Since most of the footage is going to be original, some confusions of the images and their meanings have been an issue so these are the justifications:
- Shot 1 is a shot which will begin with me walking down the road and up to my house. This is not necessarily shown in the animatic due to each shot being drawn as a single image. But the actual intention is for the handheld camera to move during the first shot.
- Shot 17 at the end shows me and the girlfriend walking together, away from the camera as it rests on a surface. The confusion was what the whole image was. The image I made shows them walking towards the sunset with hills surrounding them. While this may not be exactly what appears in the final product, the drawing was not drawn very well, due to my lack of artistic ability. The hills were mistaken for gravestones during a comment made about the animatic. This is not the intention. Most of my footage is still ambiguous in its exact content and features. The last shot will generally be me and the girl walking off together. To clear any confusion, the things around them were hills and a sun as an example of a slected scenery around them. The actual used scenery is not yet known, but the final shot will probably be filmed in a less spacious and more populated area, and gravestones are certainly not going to be used...
- Shot 2 is supposed to focus on a messed up living room, with more than just a few beer bottles. The image and illustration should be played up more. While the image, as poorly drawn as it is, does actually represent a messy room, te location shots, posted on my blog, display a room, and the house actually, as much more clean and cared for. The location shots were filmed at night on a usual day. When I took the shots, I did not go as far as to trash the room up just for the photos. The location shots are just an example of where I will film most of my video. The actual video will feature the same room but with a much more messy appearance and 'grim' environment.

I am Kloot research:

Research I have conducted on the original artists and producers of Proof, the video I will recreate, or at least be inspired by for the video I create. I will take some images from Google and explain their meanings in relation to the band itself, and therefore conclude what makes their videos well made and what I should try to look out for during my recreation of the video:

I am Kloot band analysis:

This is an image analysis on the band whose song I will use for this coursework.

General analysis: These images represent the people of the band I am Kloot. Based on the content of these images, this band seems to be a group of middle aged men who perhaps associate with younger males, since they wear street clothing. The band seems to be a trio of ‘cool’ men with a passion for certain things.

A few images in particular have been analysed as well…

Image of spray paint behind artists: This shows their street, youthful side since they are laid back against a wall that has fallen victim to youths. This shows how they can appeal to younger audiences as well as people their own age.

Image of trio inside with lights: Another image where they are wearing low class, street clothes. The coats represent them as being a group of common men, and not fancy pop star singers like most stars in the music industry. Perhaps they are using this to attract lower socio-economic groups to their songs.

Black and white image at top right: They are in a spacious colourless room, or so it seems, where they appear to be acting casual. This applies the image that they are once again, common men who do nothing spectacular; they’re just like a normal group of men.

Image of the guitar: This asserts their soft rock image into illustration. They don’t bang their head, swing around the stage, or play heavy metal. They just use soft, casual themed common light instruments like classic guitars.

Image of the tree: The tree symbolises mystery, enigma, and abnormality. The tree, in contrast, is in black and white image setting, which implies dull and brogan nature. The two combined average out to a normal level of interest. In a way, it metaphorically represents I am Kloot as a band of normal, common people once again who appeal to low average socio-economic groups. Also, the tree symbolises softness and casualty. This comes with the soft rock/alternative genres that the band uses.

How this helps me?

It appears that, based on the analysis of some images from Google about the band, I am Kloot is a trio of common men, who do not spectacular, that play soft rock, and appeal to young adults within low socio-economic groups. This helps me because…

-          I am appealing to a low socio-economic group. My narrative feature involves a story based on an artist who is drunk and depressed because of a great loss/tragedy. Due to his drinking obsession and self-abuse, and bad life conditions, the video’s narrative will naturally appeal to low social groups, much like how I am Kloot do with their videos via their image. It seems we have a similar target audience. Since it worked for them, history implies I will be successful in using my young adult target audience to gain interest for my video.

-          I am aiming at an audience of young adults. Mostly male, late 20’s and early 30’s. I am Kloot appeals to comparably younger adults via their image, their street nature, and their clothing and background. (literally in some cases) Since I am Kloot have been successful with this to some extent, it implies my idea to aim at a young adult audience with my video is generally a beneficial one.
-     While they tend to aim at lower middle class people, it seems that these people are still generally highly educated, and these people are able to respond to the melancholic image that I am Kloot sends to them very positively. The audience they have can relate to a lot of the lyric content, featured narrative, and other properties in a music video produced by the band in a very efficient manner that makes them a passionate fanbase and ensures greater success for the band. Again, since my audience will have seemingly similar qualities, my amplification of narrative and story will only seem to strengthen audience support.
-     This analysis helps me to understand what my target audience requires. It allows me to realise what I must include in my video of Proof. To say I am going to 'recreate' Proof the music video is not as accurate as it seems. What I am actually doing is creating a music video that is inspired by various other music videos including Proof. The fact that my video will be produced differently and with added narrative implies that it is more than just a remake of a simply produced video. For instance, the original Proof video was just a single close-up shot of Eccelston staring at the camera and showing his facial expressions for illustration needs. In my remake, I will add new shots and footage to supply a narrative context to the video. This will help to amplify my audience. Despite using the Proof track in my song, I will also include features from other videos, such as using image collages like used in Sinead O Connor's nothing compares 2 U. Basically, my video is a list of video inspirations placed into an idea rather than an instant remake, though I reference my video as a remake for informative purposes. Since my video is based on inspiration of various other music videos, it is necessary to conduct analysis on the videos, the statistics, reception, and other details based on content, as well as analysis on the bands, which produce and succeed from them. Since I am Kloot is the primary band to focus on in my case, it seemed like I should study their markeitng technqiues, imagery and ways of attracting an audience so I can influenced to attract audiences using the same or similar effective techniques.

Basic storyboard:

This is basic, rough planning for the production of my video...
A series of diagrams and basic descriptions of each of my shots to be used in the Proof video. keep in mind most of these shots will be original:
Storyboard Ideas

Market research:

This is some research based on my new proposed target audience. This research hyas been conducted to discover whether or not my new audience is correct to use or not. I interviewed a few people in that age group. These were the results:

Primary Research Results

From this research, it has been evidenced that most people in that age range are appropriate to use. Very few other market segments would be an improvement, if any.
- Firstly, most people in their late 20's and 30's are generally people who are into rock and pop genres, with some liking classic or metal. This implies a few fan favourites though the age range has a casual variety of genres. I interviewed 4 people from the age of 27 to 31 and all 4 agreed that considering the situation and properties of it, my idea to aim at young adults is a good idea.
- Most people were okay with the soft rock/alternative rock genre, though with a few complaints. Some stated it was too quiet and one jokingly said 'not enough head banging.' These are similar complaints to the teenagers. However, on a relative scale, the results were generally positive for the thoughts towards the used genre. Most of them tolerated and or accepted it as a good genre. Though some of them thought it was too quiet. Regardless of their personal opinions, they said it would be a good idea if I used this target audience for my music video.

Pitch feedback:

I have recieved feedback today based on my pitch for the music video I am planning to produce.
These are some of the comments I have recieved:

Feedback From Pitch

Frequent issues raised from the feedback:
- Target audience. Most criticized the audience being too wide spread and varied. Both 16-20 and 40+ seems like too much of a gap to appeal to both. The original intention was that the new video would maintain it's current audience due to the original video appealing to 40 year olds, then the added illustration and sequences in my recreation would also attract a new, younger audience. Most of the students have not yet seen the original video, neither are they completely aware of my intentions, since my pitch presentation only consisted of my Animoto video. It seems overall that I may require a change to my target audience. I will plan to aim for a common ground. Since my artist is younger, the remake may not appeal to a 40+ audience anymore. I would have therefore remained with my 16-20 audience, but the feedback has convinced me otherwise. I will now aim for a common ground audience demographic in that of people in their late 20's/early 30's, young enough to still relate to the narrative story and artist in my video, but not too young that they do not appreciate the genre. Most people in the feedback claimed that soft rock was not their type of genre...
- The genre itself was a common issue raised by the feedback responses. Most people, in fact almost all of them, stated that soft rock was not their type of genre and therefore would not watch it. This raised the issue of the target audience. So I will now change my audience to target as it is clear both my intended age ranges are not going to be appealed by my music video for certain reasons. I will aim for a common ground audience as previously said. To make sure this decision works, I will conduct some market research via a questionnaire survey to see if my new audience (late 20's, 30's) are really going to be interested in this type of video. It seems more likely compared to 16-20 year olds, who tend to be stereotypically more into hard rock, rap, bass and other more 'hardcore' genres.
- The story. Some of the females students criticized the idea because it seemed too depressing and sad for a narrative video. However, despite what my animoto video represented, the original video actually presents a path of emotional redemption. The artist, Chris, feels sad, but later he felt better as the lyrics and tune picked up. The same song will be used in my remake. So the emotional redemption pathway is automatic in my video. Therefore, this criticism is not fully accurate in its meaning and intent. This is an issue with the entire feedback, as none of the students have actually watched the video before.
- The artist and the filming. This was not actually brought up in any of the evidence of feedback above, but was generally brought up as an issue nonetheless. This video will require an artist who appeals to the audience. At 17, I appealed perfectly to the audience of 16-20 year olds. However, in the market research I will have to discover if a slightly older audience will also be interested in watching a younger artist. It seems so since the storyline and the illustration that the artist goes through in the video can still relate to this age group, if handled correctly. The filming is another issue. I have to film myself in the video or I lose marks. The issue raised here is 'how can I film myself?' The advantage I have is that my music video 'Proof' is incredibly simple in its production. Only a single close-up face shot for the entire video. The rest of the added illustration I will place into the remake is completely original. As long as I can make it work, it doesn't matter what it is. Basically, during the rest of my planning, I will have to find a way to produce the remake in a way that its possible for me to actually film myself... I may show how I will do this during my 'animatic' task.

- It's noteworthy to say that the feedback above is not accurate or significant in it's content in general because the students have not actually seen the original video. Therefore they have little understanding of my idea besides my moodboard...

Artist idea: Biography:

The artist's name is going to be 'Joshua' AKA 'Josh, you are' in a self-meaning term. Basically, this name is a 'spoof' or parody of the name Will I am from the artist himself. This was the inspiration for the title of my solo artist.
The artist will be a solo performer, so the band name I originally intended was 'The Winning' which was based on the Charlie Sheen Fad 'winning.' As a solo artist, it seemed that a personal name rather than the winning was suitable.
Since the artist I am creating will be placed into a recreation of a music video starring actor Christopher Eccleston, Josh you are will have to be portrayed as a successful and highly talented actor beyond the field of just music. To match the content and meaning of the video itself, josh will also have to be able to appeal to the low class, drunken man with a ruined life. Since my actor will be significantly younger than Chris, Josh you are will be able to appeal more to the intended new target market segment of a younger, teen audience.
Since the genre will be based on soft rock, Josh will have to be protrayed as an emotional, perhpas traumatized character, who can appeal to the youhtful audience as a teenager with many problems and goals, like them. Also, since Josh will be a young artist, he will have to inspire and appeal to young audiences similar to how other young singing artist like Bieber and Jedward do, only a lot better since those artist's recieve a lot of criticism.

Biography:
Name: Joshua Jackson. (Josh U. R.)
Age: 18 years old.
Address: 7 Brook street, Enderby, Leicester.
Education: Lutterworth College.
Background: Josh is an adolescent individual who is struggling through life. Born in a lower class background, Josh is just a normal teenager living a bad life. Josh has always struggled in most aspects of his life. His school work and academic pathway have lead him to constant failures and dissapointment. He claims to have never been able to get where he wanted to. Now at 18 and just finished college, Josh believes he didn't achieve what he was working for to get where he wanted to go next. But his social life is no easy thing either, he says. Josh claims to have never found it easy to make friends. Which ever school or club he would join, he would always be the disliked outcast due to his limited social skills and understanding of other people's personalities and expectations. Josh currently has a job working in a car repair garage and is trying to pick up his life with every opportunity he can find. He is trying to find the right 'soul-mate' so he can restart his life, settle down, and move forward...
Musical interests: Josh was never really into music as a child, but currently his is far more into certain genres. His favourite genres include rock, soft rock and rap whenever it is performed well. Josh's 'pipe dream' was to become a music star when he grew up. He thought he would fail at that like everything else. Josh has certain favourite songs. These include Proof by I am Kloot, for it's simple, yet emotional approach at an emotional video, also larger scale videos such as Forget You and various AC DC and Limp Bizkit songs. His favourite bands are I am Kloot, AC DC, Limp Bizkit, The Kills and solo rapper Eminem.
Likes and dislikes: Likes include healthy food, a social life and friends, computers and media entertainment, good exam results and qualifications, and a girlfriend. Dislikes include loneliness, failure at trying to achieve goals, certain music types, losing friends, bullying, some common liked foods.

Ideas for the music video:

Ideas for the music video:

My idea for the music, basically, is to recreate the I am Kloot video, Proof. This video was selected because it is simple to produce. It is a one shot video with a man staring at the camera while meaningful lyrics play. However, in my planned remake of Proof, I plan to make some changes…

Changes to production:

The production will be progressed differently in a way that will help my recreation to look more ‘dynamic’, in other terms; I will provide greater levels of narrative and illustration than the original.

For instance, unlike the original, my video will consist of an opening segment that occurs before the lyrics begin playing, the shots will consist of the outside of a pub, the inside of a house with beer dropping to the ground, and a few shots of the main artist, AKA me, being depressed. These features will be added as they provide a greater amplification of the story and meaning. In the original, so much was ambiguous or mysterious. Was the man depressed because he was hung-over? Or was he dumped? Has he lost a friend or family member? My version will provide greater evidence of what the storyline to the video actually is and it will amplify its significance to the story. In this process, it will also make the video appear to be more interesting from an illustration perception.

Another thing I will do is provide extra shots and collages in the video whenever the main verses pause, and these images will also be relevant to the narrative objective. This will also achieve these aforementioned goals. However, the main production type will remain, as the majority of footage will still focus on the close up of my face.

Changes to artist and audience:

My audience has expanded against the original. While the original audience had a single, narrow audience, in middle aged men primarily, my video will be aimed at a comparably broad audience, this being both the middle aged men, as well as youthful men and women. I did this because my video will allow large audiences to be gained. My narrative and illustrative techniques and tweaks to this video alone will make it appeal to the younger audience in additional to the already gained one. My theory being that this video conforms to stereotypes that teens are people associated with drugs, romance and depression, and this should appeal to the majority of the people in this demographic.

While my video aims at two separate audiences, the target audience overall is still more narrow than some videos. I decided not to aim for an audience too broad otherwise there would be too much casualty in the present fan base. The audience for target has been selected based on audience expectations, marketing techniques, and my video type.

My artist will be myself, despite not quite being the age of Chris Eccleston, the original performer. Firstly, I figured if I was to appeal to a younger audience in addition, it would be appealing if the video featured a younger main artist to it. Also, the age of the performer in proof is not so significant. The important qualities here are that the artist can look depressed and display emotions and facial expressions easily.  The artist must also be able to match expressions with the change in lyric meaning throughout the song, which I will be able to do.

The 25 word pitch for my video idea:
'A video of simplicty and emotion recreated into an innovative video of amplified illustration and musical experience. It is Proof, but visually upgraded in style.'

Music video moodboard:

The moodboard is an Animoto presentation. This video contains the basic pitch and idea for my music video. The images seen within it relate to the ideas and thoughts that I have for my remake of Proof by I am Kloot.

Song choice and target audience:

Media Studies: Song Choice for coursework:

My overall decision is to go with the’ I am Kloot’ video named ‘proof’ originally starring Christopher Eccleston. The music is of a traditional British rock variety mixed in with a bit of alternate and soft rock. I have chosen this video primarily due to its simple production. I am lacking a large amount of time, resources, or people to use for my music video so this seemed necessary. However, the intention I have is to recreate the video in a more ‘dynamic’ and interesting way so that it not only supplies more illustrative quality, but it also appeals to new target markets and an overall larger scale of audience, a key objective when producing a music video. I will also while recreating the video, add in some new camera shots or angles that not only provide more visual effect, but also reflect on the emotions and general ‘feel’ of the video, thereby providing amplification as an effective result, this should therefore draw in the already formed audience even more for my remake. There may also be some added scene and shots that were not present before so that, 1, the video I make can meet the required length for this project, but 2, so that I can contribute even more to the schematic of recreating the video in a more dynamic way. The I am Kloot video has ultimately been selected because of how I can handle my time and resource while producing a video. It’s simple, but emotional and can still drag in an audience. It’s also so I can use this dynamic schematic in order to present my skills and understanding as a media student throughout my coursework.
Overall, my main inspiration is Proof. My music video is not actually a remake, though it may occasionally be stated as a remake during my planning. What I am going to do is use this video as a main source of inspiration, while using other videos for inspiration as well such as Nothing compares 2 U, and create my own video using inspiration from other texts, media conventions, stereotypes, and narrative theories. And of course, my target audience.

Media Studies: Target audience for my video:

Due to my scheme of re-inventing and redefine the I am Kloot video, that being my song choice, I have decided to not only keep the already developed target audience (middle aged men who could relate with performing artist and actor Christopher Eccleston) I will also recreate the music video so that it can relate to and appeal to younger viewers of the music market. This means that I can develop a video with superior narrative qualities to the original and make new audience segments be interested in the video.

The target audience is very important to consider in this case, as both my song choice and production quality will depend on having an appropriate audience. I considered the factors of my plan, and it seemed that young adult viewers would be a benefit to the audience if I got to them. That is why my music video will contain shots of pubs such as the nags head, as well as a shot of a beer bottle, and possibly a collage of various youthful but depressing things such as drugs and other concepts regarding a youth’s interest. Not only does this make my remake my interesting than the original, but it appeals to an entirely new market. Furthermore, I will also be the artist instead of Chris in the video, since I am a young adult, this edition will also appeal to the new audience segment.

However, the original middle aged audience will not be abandoned as the general sentiment behind the video, of a man being hung over and depressed over the loss of a loved one will remain intact. The storyline will still appeal to older low class men in their 30’s and 40’s because that is a large audience portion in the music market. Statistics show that most people in society are that age, so purely on financial and quantitative grounds; I should keep my main audience. At first I considered targeting just at young adults to keep specific, but then I decided to target multiple age ranges. Since the lyrics are relative to British low class lifestyle for men, and the narrative sequences I add are to include shots of pubs and British beer, in order to target young people, the audience will generally be that of British people primarily. This also means the video will maintain its property of having a traditional British rock genre.

3 x music video analysis

Video no.1: I am Kloot: Proof.

This is the start of the video called Proof. This video is a British traditional rock video which plays on a certain stereotype that low class British men, like the man which Christopher Ecclestone plays in this video, are all drunken, wrecked up men who constantly have hangovers and suffer from lost relationships and a lack of love from more mature women.
This particular scene is showing us the effects of what a bad, unhealthy lifestyle involving drugs and beer can do to a man. This scene represents the man's depression after seemingly being let go from a relationship, and his eyes being closed provide emphasis towards the issue that he has problems. The visual effects provide imagery that his life is hard and unable to be dealt with, and that gives the audience sympathy if the character, and allows them to follow him emotionally as a character, much like a TV or Movie product, except it's a music video in this case. This is a technique of illustration usage in the video, and since no actual speaking is involved, this video uses illustration to draw in the audience. Ironically, despite this video playing on emotions, the video seems to be targetted more at a male audience, subverting the stereotype that females are the one's who relate to emotions more and should be the audience to follow.
Past the main drinking verse, this is the verse the confirms, or at least implies that the man has just expereicned a break-up, the cause for his despair and self-pity. The entire concept of his drinking over a loss is confroming to the stereotype that life is an incredibly hard thing to cope with, and both natural and 'artifical' causal issues will always cause problems for the average being. Chris's character plays the role well as an emotional trainwreck.


This is the video ending, this is aided by two visual effects, the camera closing up on the man to emphasise his change in emotions, and the actual facial expression itself. The lyrics are also synchronous with the visuality as well, since they became more positive sounding along with Chris's smile...

Video no.2: Sinead O Connor: Nothing compares 2 U.

This is the start of the video, a simple montage reflecting on the casual yet seemingly happy scenery. This is of contrast to the actual video itself, which conforms to sadness, espeically intensified when Sinead lets a tear drop go into filimg. The scenery is perhaps a metaphor to describe how great and perfect her partner is in every way, and this would certainly represent Sinead's point that she is unable to compare to the one she is speaking of.

This is a part in the video in which the girl pauses and thinks on what she is saying as well as how she feels, this further produces the image that she is unable to compare to him. Therefore she is unhappy with the status quo of he lack in quality as an overall individual.
The whole message of the video possibly conforms to the general stereotype and possibly to the status of society and its class strutcture. Perhaps Sinead seems sad because as an average woman, she cannot compare to what could be a rich, good looking business man of sorts that could have even traded her for a better woman. This theory is further evidenced by the montage at the start.

The ending of the video does 2 things, firstly, thanks to Sinead's performance, she lets a tear drop go into the filming and allows further intensity to become visual in the video towards the sympathetic viewers, another example of a simple video playing this towards audiences. This is an example of amplification via the tear drop being mixed with the illustration to create effect.  Though unlike Proof, this video targets females primarily so it conforms to the stereotype that females are more emotional.
Another thing is the final montage. It shows images of angel statues. Perhaps this is another way to represent the perfection of this person she is speaking of in the video, and how she cannot compare to him. On the other hand, another implication is that this man is dead, was her husband, and she's lost him and is in despair, so she is saying nothing will ever be as good as him. This is a media convention that some things in music videos have more than one meaning.
Basically, the whole idea of this video's concept as well as its featured lyrics use the media technique of disjuncture, but use it in a more literal way. The words and visual effects combine to form a separation of the woman protagonist and the one she refers to...

The way both of these videos are produced is generally simplistic. However, the emotions and visual effects, as well as the meaningful lyrics, are what draw in certain audiences. However, this 3rd video is slightly more dynamic and complex in its production. It's called Carrie and is an 80's style video.

Video no. 3: Europe: Carrie.
The video is based on the main artist of the band performing on stage, lacking any narrative approach. The production seems relatively simple compared to most videos. However, the way in which the performance is played with is certainly abnormal. The man is singing a song of mixed emotional content, AKA when the light goes down (negative) I see no reason for you to cry. (Changes to positive) and while he is performing the camera changes to focus the piano.
The entire video focuses on synchronous sound effects and well as relations between sound and illustration. The lyrics are always reflecting the illustrative movements and overall style performance in all of the moments of the video.
The reason a piano is being used is a representation of the genre, this song is of a soft rock variety. The lyrics and loud voice tend to dominate over the soft piano tune in this video. Perhaps this is an intended contrast in sound, so that despite the tune itself fits with the lyrics, the tone and the instrument used do not. Again, this is possibly another way in which the performance contains contrast in both song and feel.
Carrie is presented by a fairly large band, Europe, who also produced the Final countdown song, so a song choice like this would be wise if a large, broad audience is desired.

Music Video ideas for coursework: