2nd Filming Day

This Tuesday we filmed the shots at B&Q for our music video.
The concept was to make Jana look like she worked in B&Q and capture some shots of her lifting material and running errands,and we also see her being a little distracted on the phone,resulting in her losing her job as a consequence.

A problem that we found whilst recording these particular shots was the timing that we had available as it was private property,which meant we had to rush our shots and had a limitation on how long we could spend filming.

Below are some of our shots that we collected:

USP for Our Music Video

For our product, we wanted to have a USP focusing on the financial struggles people face, in particular young adults as our central character is played by a young adult who is seen doing various unconventional jobs in order to make a stable living.In some ways we introduce the possibility of poverty and the consequences this situation can result to e.g deteriorating mental health. 

We have chosen this as our USP as we felt that this topic is not commonly spoken about on products like music videos  and also the fact that this is such a realistic topic, the audience are easily able to relate to this and this destroys the status difference that is usually created with singers and their audience,as our USP will not make them feel inferior.

Dealing with financial struggles is a very common reality as articles have indicated that "Young adults are the age group most likely to be living with a debt problem, according to the MAS. Among 25- to 34-year-olds, one in four live with debt problems."

Camera File Problem

After having our first filming day during the Christmas holidays,we returned to select and cut the footage that we would use and discard of.However when it came to importing the shots onto the Mac we found that we were not able to import it into IMovie as the file format was an 'AVCHD' when we were recording on the camera and we figured out that it had to be changed on the camera to an MP3/4 in order for us to import it. Therefore as a result we were unable to use this footage and decided not to re-shoot it.

The positive to this was that we were in the very early stages of editing and did not have a large amount of footage that we had loss.Therefore we avoided having recorded all of our footage in this file format and realising at the very end.

We figured out how to alter the file format on the camera and will have this as an automatic setting.

Plan B-'Prayin' Music Video Analysis

Plan B is an artist that combine the soul genre with other genres in order to create a mixture of sounds. In the music video 'Prayin' there are definitely aspects of the soul genre heavily present specifically the sound of the song is very reminiscent of a gospel song mainly at 0.31 as we can hear an instrument in the form of a brass band, these are a key trait of soul music.  Also the way he sings is very expressive we can tell this from the tone of his voice and the desperation that he clearly puts across in his lip syncing.

In addition to this the mis-en-scene is typical of the soul genre as the low-key lighting has been included in the majority of shots but on the other hand there is also a juxtaposition as the use of high-key lighting is used,by challenging the traditional black and white effect on the shots,I think it is effective in highlighting the more contemporary feel of the song. Also the fact that the video is set in prison shows a darker side to his music which connotes his very rough up bringing in London. 

The shots are a mixture of close-ups in order to emphasise the emotions o the artist and draw on the intensity of the lyrics as well as mid-shots and use of depth of field is also  evident in the music video at 0.50 in order to create a focus on the singer .

New Idea: Audience Opinions/Queries

After deciding to change our idea I thought it would be useful to collect the opinions of my audience as to what they thought of our new song 'I Need A Dollar' and the narrative that we envisioned for it.
Some of the responses I received were...

This qualitative data is useful as I now how my audience feel towards my new idea in terms of narrative as they had more clarity and suggested some elements to think about before filming.I am also more confident now that my music video will appeal to them.

Narratives In Soul Genre Research

The narratives within this specific genre are often focused on how the artist feels regarding problems to do with love,which a large majority of their audience will be able to resonate with or the narrative may talk encourage the audience to find or look for love.An example of this can be seen in Leon Bridges 'Coming Home' as he sings about coming home to "tender and sweet loving".




However the narrative could also be around struggles and hardships in life and could either be complaining about these or take an inspirational route.An example of this is 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.



Our narrative takes a negative approach to the hardships in life and the artist talks about drinking alcohol in order to rid his sorrows however we made a decision to not illustrate but juxtapose the lyrics at this point as we follow the female protagonist and embed shots which show her as happy and not sulking,as we wanted to incorporate Goodwin's theory about the visuals illustrating,amplifying or opposing the lyrics.

Amy Winehouse -Back To Black

The mis-en-scene was very typical of the soul genre as the singer opted for a smart and sophisticated dress and the men were wearing suits,as the narrative followed a funeral,which is further emphasised with the low key lighting adding a melancholy mood to the music video.The locations consist of a living room,bedroom and church graveyard which add to the sombre atmosphere.

In terms of narrative it was focused on the theme of love and heartbreak and  a woman wrestling with herself which is similar to other songs within this genre as it focuses on realistic and meaningful experiences.

The editing is again very distinct to the genre as the monochrome shots throughout the entire video is a convention associated with the soul category alongside the slow paced shot's resulting in a more dramatic and exaggerated narrative.Also I noticed that the shots were edited to the beat which helped the sequence of shots flow together cohesively.

The cinematography involved close-up shots in order to capture her expressions and high angled shots in order to capture how isolated the singer felt.
Furthermore I noticed the tilt shot on Amy,which conform's to Laura Mulvey's idea's on the male gaze and is an exemplar of how the female singer is hyper-sexualised at the expense of male desires.