Storyboard

Music Video Analysis- Regina Spektors 'Us'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fczPlmz-Vug
This video is the most interesting and thought provoking acoustic video that i have come across. It uses thousands of still images at the start, to combine together to create a scene. It shows Regina unpacking a box to create a room. The items that she is connoted with is a piano, this happens to be the first thing she unpacks from the box. this could emphasize the importance of a piano within her music. As the music video begins Regina enters the room through a window, this could be a link to her album cover which has the image of a closed window behind her. This could suggest that she is breaking free, or is entering back into a restricted room where just like the album cover she is enclosed in a tight room with just a piano. There is then a mid-shot of Regina, which puts emphasis on her being a solo artist and is establishing that this video is solely about her and her music. The still images become slower, however the transitions become quite harsh as images of darts hits a map. This creates  complex thought in my mind, as i feel this could suggest that because the images that are not of her are hard hitting and have a different pace and transition, it could show that the outside world to her is completely in contrast to being alone with her piano in a room. This transitions by the music video director could emphasize this. Like most acoustic videos, this video includes a variety of close-ups, i think this is used so the audience pay attention to the detail as this type of shots helps to convey the themes of the song. There is then a controversial image of Regina creating a cartoon city and watering it, this is a powerful shot as i believe this could be hit at urban life and how it needs nature and nurture in order to survive. This is common of acoustic videos, as they want to show a bucolic and idealised view of nature and portray a negative view of urban modernity. There is fast paced long shots used to show images of past iconic leaders, and men in archaic clothing. I think Regina wanted to portray the past in a positive life, and shows how we should pay more attention to the ideals and nature of the past. Extreme close-ups of her lips show a very sensual and femine side of Regina, the bright red lipstick she is wearing could symbolize that she is a powerful and dominant woman, the emphasis on her lips suggests that we should listen to her. The repeated image of a spinning globe could connote that the themes of her music ca reach world wide, or a different interpretation could suggest that this is a reference to how quick time passes. Another contreversial image used is a suited man with a pigs head, i think this yet again is mocking the wealth and modernity of society and how we have become 'pig headed'.

How we gained permission from the artist

From knowing Lucy Dines socially, i knew that she was a talented singer/ song writer. When asked the create a music video i immediately thought of her as i wanted the music genre to be acoustic. I shared her YouTube videos with my group and they agreed that she would be perfect for our genre and videos idea. I messaged her using a social networking site and asked if she would consider letting us film her and stated that once the video was complete that she could have a copy of it as well. As i know that she is interested in pursuing a career in music. I asked if she had any gigs coming up and she invited me to watch her band 'Bella Diem' perform at the 02 academy. We have arranged many meetings with Lucy in order to gain information on her strengths and weakness's, to make sure that when filming her we capture the best of her. From the gig we obtained a CD which included four of her tracks, and we used this to help us decide on which song we would like to create a music video for. In the end we went for Lucy's own song 'bullet' as we felt this would portray the music genre excellently and it a heartfelt song that comes with powerful evocative imagery.

(a photo from the gig they played that we went too)

Music Video Analysis- Laura Marlings 'New Romantic'

Laura Marlings 'New Romantic' begins with a zoom shot that shows her sitting on a wooden chair in a spotlight playing her guitar. In my opinion this directly shows the simplicity of acoustic music. The beginning zoom shot ends with a close up of Laura's face which captures the raw emotion of her singing the first line  'i know i said i loved you, but I'm thinking i was wrong. I'm the first to admit that I'm still pretty young'. Whilst singing this line, it is clear from the close up the realisation that Laura is feeling at this moment, this makes the lyrics and performance of the song even more real and evocative for a viewer. Slowly a mid-shot is used showing Laura from the side with images projected on the brick wall behind her. The images are of hearts and music notes, this could be a symbol for the most important things in her life- love and  her music. The director then uses a long shot, showing Laura alone on the chair playing her music. This is quite a sad and powerful image, as it suggests the insignificance of her and could also highlight that when creating her music she is alone and lost in her own thoughts. The theme of complex love occurs when two icons of male and female shadows are projected onto the wall, the use of these symbols to represent each gender could connote the idea that both male and females are the same when it comes to love. Throughout the video a variety of images appear on the wall, but the most striking one in my opinion is the close up of her hand plucking the guitar strings. Even though it is just a simple image, it believe that is shows how isolated she is in her music. Another long shot is used again, to change the tone and atmosphere of the video, within this long shot occurs shadows and images- the time they are on the floor. 'Sorry' is projected in bold letters, this could be to convey the message of the entire song. A shot that doesn't occur right until the end of the video is an extreme close up, this is of Laura's eyes. This is the first time Laura looks directly at the camera, this could suggest that she finally gains to power to believe in her lyrics. The clothing and overall presentation of Laura is bland, wearing a simple grey top and black skinnies. The could connote her simplicity and show that she doesn't rely on her looks to gain fame is the music industry.Overall i have gained knowledge and ideas from this video. I enjoyed the simplicity, location and the images on the wall and floor. These are suggestions that i will share with my group. I do however think the clothing she was wearing created a very bleak and uneasy look to her, and will use this negative impression to make sure that the clothing our artist wears is suitable for the video and creates the right vibe.

Music Video Analysis- Jack Penates 'Have I Been A Fool'

Typically music videos start with a stationary shot, but interestingly Jack penates 'have i been a fool' starts with a ped-up shot of him running down a street with a bunch of flowers at his side. This could have been used to emphasize that he is a solo artist and not part of a band. This is typical to the acoustic genre, as most acoustic singers create there music solely by themselves. This shot automatically entices the audience, and makes them ask questions such as 'what has happened prior to this scene in the video?'. This is a common but useful technique found in quite a few music videos in which we will consider using it in ours. After the introduction of the song, Penate knocks on a front door and begins to sing the lyrics to the song. We are then introduced to a character in the music video who clearly shows that the clothing in this video has been well thought out. She is wearing typical winter fashion, which includes a woolly hat and a military coat. By wearing layers it could suggest that she is trying to protect or hide herself. This type of analysis helps you empathise with the characters in the videos and relate to their experiences which makes it more evocative to watch as an audience member. When this character opens this door, the directors have included two quick close up shots of hers and Penates faces, by using these shots we are able to almost become each of the characters and see through their perspective. By using this shot in the narrative it makes the video become more personal to the audience. Penate leads her to a car and then we she enters the taxi, the character becomes another women. This creates a promiscuous image of Penate and suggests he fits the typical 'lads-lad' image. I think that this breaks the stereotypical image of a male acoustic singers, as typically they are portrayed as being emotional and heart-felt and create and idealised image for female viewers. Using quick mid-shots of Penate and the original female character leaving the taxi into a natural environment shows certain images in more detail but creates an overall impression of the scene to the audience. Penate picks up a guitar and serenades to the girl, this is very typical of an acoustic based video, as it shows that he is capable of playing an instrument and writing the songs. It also gives a more performance based side to the video. Long shots are then used to show Penate with a number of different girls walking off in front of him, i think long shots were used to suggest that Penate has no intimacy or emotions towards these girls however the original girl from the start of the video is repeated image. This could promote the idea of there being that one person who you continue to love, this is a very typical idea of an acoustic video as they mainly promote the theme of everlasting love.

Our Narrative

Our narrative is a montage of nostalgic memories from a previous relationship. We have decided that our video gradient of black and white will convey the antique and idyllic idea of their forgotten history. Our aim is to create a music video that captures the heartbreak of teenagers first love, and the importance of letting go. The themes of love and loss will be reflected through our video being a performance narrative, when filming Lucy performing we will give her defined direction of expressing hurt through her facial expressions and getting lost in the lyrics.  Our narrative will include largely close up camera shots, as this will allow us to focus on creating an emotional connection with the audience. We will include clips of the lovers memories, we may continue with the idea that when editing this video we will use slow motion. By doing this we hope to create a sense of the characters longing to go back to these memories and it will foreshadow the idea that these short idyllic memories don't last. I gathered inspiration from watching and analysing acoustic videos such as, joshua radins 'i'd rather be with you'. The idyllic setting in this video would be ideal for our video, as nature appears untouched. The simple video of Laura Marlings 'new romantic' suggests that music videoes shouldnt have a complicated narrative, and the video should be more of a powerful performance. In this video there is shadows and words projected upon a brick wall, this helps to convery the story of the narrative. From watching this video we are agreeing to keep our video simple, and focus on the themes that consist within our lyrics.


When closely analysising 'new romantic' by Laura Marling, we have realised that our lyrics contain the same ideas and themes. The song lyrics refer to how when we are children we are given the misconception that love and romance will just happen and it will be easy and wonderful, just like in fairy tales. However as shes grown up and experienced love in its true form for the first time ('You'll always be my first love') she realises that it is very tough and complicated which is all new to her because she was never aware of how hard it actually is. So she's seeing romance in a new light and she doensn't like the harsh reality of it. This is similar to the lyrics used in our video as Lucy sings 'I cant stand those feelings you have given to me', like Laura Marling Lucy is showing the complications and distress of love. By analysising Laura Marlings video, i have gained a deeper insight into the acoustic genre and this has helped me immensly.

Audience theories

Considering how the audience will respond to our music video has been a crucial starting point for planning our filming. Believing that our music video is a commodity has forced us to consider different audience variables, such as the geographic location of the setting. We have made a group decision that the audience will typically be from England, as they will be able to relate to the locations and language of the lyrics and since we are from England the music video will be more accessible to people that are of our nationality and region.We are creating our music video with the ability to reach large numbers of people, and hope to expand it to America as there will be a wider audience and this will help us to become a global success. Our demographic variables are very broad as our audience hasn't been completely defined. We believe our music video will be accessible to a variety of audiences, but our priority is will be creating a video that teenage girls around the age of 14 onwards will be able relate to. The lyrics and acoustic genre of our music may cause our audience to be empathetic because they may have had similar life experiences that are typical of our audience age range. Adjacent to age is occupation, we believe that the experiences involved in the lyrics are associated of that of a student but feel that as long as the audience appreciate the acoustic genre than people of any occupation can enjoy it. The physchographic variables include personality, lifestyle, values, activities, interests and opinions. We feel that the type of person that would watch our music video would be trendies, as they typically crave and seek attention and acceptability. Overall our music video will contain themes and lyrics that will be accessible to everyone and will be able to reach a large audience and we will not just target specific groups.