Storyboarding Process

In our group we have constructed a storyboard to present our ideas and sequences of camera shots to communicate them graphically. The storyboard conveys the narrative flow of the video in order to enable us to visualise the flow of camera shots, timing, diegetic and non-diegetic sound and mis en scene that will eventually appear in the completed video.

Inspirational Videos

Music videos that have inspired our initial video concept and story boarding process:

Music story board

In preparation for shooting our music video we have draw up a story board including diverse camera shots,styling of the artist and basic music timing. This planning will aid us further in shooting in a organised and professional manner, and most importantly how to achieve the right look and feel of the video by planning sets, costume and the overall composition of the scene.

The storyboard is an important piece of communication between the group as it provides a common outline that everyone can work from in visualising the concept of the music video, and is a clear illustration of how the narrative will flow from one shot to the next as the audience watches the video.

Treatment - The initial concept and narrative for my music video

Oh No!” Marina and The Diamonds

THE OVERALL CONCEPT

The inclusive idea behind our video is to create and ironic juxtaposition of idealised fame and fortune with the hash reality of which life relays. The motifs of drugs, alcohol and money throughout or video shows materialistic obsession that ultimately drives people to commit their own self-destruction. We have chosen this song as it represents how the media has an overpowering and domineering hold over society today. The lyrics “I know exactly why I walk and talk like a machine” and “TV taught me how to feel, now real life has no appeal” expose how certain aspects of the 21^st century media spectrum determine and heavily influence how people act. The character of which the artist plays emulates the ideologies of a stereotypical fame seeking, money-thirsty young and egotistical woman which is asynchronous with the images and shot which we will include in our video. We feel that this will be effective as the lyrics are fairly controversial. The powerful repetition of the lyrics “I just wanna change” is ambiguous as it could represent society wanted to change from a capitalised lifestyle or the ideology of someone with a constant desire to perfect themselves.

OPENING NARRATIVE

The video begins with a clock fast forwarding showing a saturday night which establishes the scene. Then a birds eye view of artist in a 360 degree spin/ dramatic zoom from long shot, mid shot and close up of artist's face. The artist is laying on the floor singing the lyrics "Don't do love, don't do friends". The location is minimalistic to create a focus on the the artist. We are introduced into the artist's material world. All sound in the video is non-diegetic.

Then the camera moves from mid shot to low angle of the artist to convey her status whilst singing the lyrics"I'm only after success". We will use motifs such as her holding champagne glasses to convey ideologies of modernised glamour.

After this lyric there is a distinguishable beat that is repeated four times. On each beat we will include four different images in the style of black and white, paparazzi shots to create a montage of contrast to juxtapose the previous shots, and expose the reality of the process of her self-destruction.

"Don't need a relationship, I'll never soften my grip" is shown in a variety of shots i.e mid shot to extreme close up focusing on styling that conveys sexual empowerment and authority. Artist pushing male away and clenching fist.

The next shot is a repetition of her stubbing out a cigarette. This is an edit repeated to create a montage but also foreshadows the next lyric "Don't want cash, don't want card" which symbolises her stubbing out the remainders of her old life - the person she no longer wants to be.

"Want it fast, want it hard" introduces the setting of the back of a car to depict the journey home from a night out in the back of a cab to represent the pace of her life. The artist dances and lunges around in the back seat of the cab, there is then an extreme close up of the artist's lips to connote danger, and to also portray the artist as an object of sexual desire.

"Don't need money, don't need fame" shows the artist in long/mid shot throwing a handful of money in the air. The camera slowly zooms out and shows the money falling to the ground - representative of her fall from fame.

The chorus of the song "I just wanna make a change, I just wanna change, I just wanna change, I just wanna change, I just wanna change, I just wanna change" is a series of closeup and extreme closeups of eye makeup smeared, taking drugs, drinking alcohol and changing outfits to present the spontaneity of her life.

"I know exactly what I want and who I wanna be, I know exactly why I walk and talk like a machine. I'm now becoming my own self-fulfilled prophecy. Oh, Oh no! Oh no! Oh No-oh!" Back in the scenery of the cab followed by a closeup of her red lips.

In the next verse we have the artist laying on a bed in a high angle shot - simplicity. Simply showing the artist singing the lyrics.

In the next verse there is various shots of the artist being "consumed" by her clothes reinforcing the line "your possessions will posses you". There will also be various extreme close ups to create an essence of the artist talking directly to the audience highlighting the ideology of materialistic desire and consumerism.

There is then a repetition of zooms and extreme close-ups and high angle shots to reinforce her lowered status and authority.

Then the shot goes back to the scenery of the cab in previous verses.

"Oh, Oh no! Oh no! Oh No! Oh No-oh!" is again a close-up on the artist's red lips.

"I'm gonna live, I'm gonna fly. I'm gonna fail, I'm gonna die..." Is a series of shots in long shots and mid shots showing the artist dancing and performing for the rest of the song.

Overall concept

THE OVERALL CONCEPT

“Oh No!” Marina and The Diamonds

The inclusive idea behind our video is to create and ironic juxtaposition of idealised fame and fortune with the hash reality of which life relays. The motifs of drugs, alcohol and money throughout or video shows materialistic obsession that ultimately drives people to commit their own self-destruction. We have chosen this song as it represents how the media has an overpowering and domineering hold over society today. The lyrics “I know exactly why I walk and talk like a machine” and “TV taught me how to feel, now real life has no appeal” expose how certain aspects of the 21^st century media spectrum determine and heavily influence how people act. The character of which the artist plays emulates the ideologies of a stereotypical fame seeking, money-thirsty young and egotistical woman which is asynchronous with the images and shot which we will include in our video. We feel that this will be effective as the lyrics are fairly controversial. The powerful repetition of the lyrics “I just wanna change” is ambiguous as it could represent society wanted to change from a capitalised lifestyle or the ideology of someone with a constant desire to perfect themselves.

Harry, Molly and Yasmine's Lip Sing Exercise

From this task i have concluded that the extensive planning when shooting a variety of shots for a music is essential as no preparation can lead to time wasting when filming shots, and unprofessional looking images. When constructing our final video I have learnt that a story board should be drawn out to give a visual clear guide of what is going to be shot and allowing timing for each frame to be estimated. Also costume and mise-en-scene should be planned pre production to eliminate poor styling and setting, and give an over all authentic aesthetic.

When editing our lip syncing footage we used the software to implement conventions of a music video effectively, such a cutting a variety of angles to the beat of the music and lyrics to create continuity in the aesthetic, and also to synchronise visuals with the audio. From his iv learnt how to time a sound track with the video footage correctly and appealingly in practise preparation for a our final music video.

Problems we overcame included missing footage which we had to re film - this taught us to plan ahead the clips we wanted to film, and shoot them from a variety different angle to jump cut between them to keep the shots diverse and interesting. Additionally we found one of our shots was too bright due to poor lighting conditions, another mise-en-scene factor we will carefully plan before filming in future.

Finally I believe using this software has enabled me to add effects using the variety of tools in final cut such as transitions to keep the video fluid and authentic and also fade ins which made the videos overall image more professional.