Copyright Permission

In order to get permission to use the song, I emailed the produced of my chosen song 'Teen Idle' - Liam Howe. This allows me to receive full permission to use the song for my music video without any copyright issues.

Pitch Audience Feedback

After I showed my pitch I got some feedback from my class mates about what they liked about it and what else they wanted to know.
I got a few comments that people liked the surgery lines idea and the use of the hand held camera so I know that's something I definitely want to do. Most questions were about what actors I want to use. I haven't thought about that yet but I need one female, teenage lead and maybe two or three males.
I also got a lot of questions about how I want it to end. The answer to that is that I want her boyfriend to help her through it - to help her realise her worth. Thus revealing the message of the video that social media shouldn't pressure you to feel any differently about yourself, that you are worth it.

Treatment Pitch

Today we presented our pitches for our music videos and got a little bit of feedback at the end:

Inspiration - Cosmetic Surgery

While planning my music video pitch, I began watching a few other music videos for inspiration. I came up with an idea for my music video; to make the female lead draw the lines thats surgeons do to represent where they want to do cosmetic surgery, this'll represent where she wants to change her face/body in order to look "beautiful". Then I came across this music video which shows my idea really well at 2:37 - 2:47.

 

Planning The Pitch

Today, I spent the whole morning planning my pitch. I listened to my chosen song over and over, thinking of shots and ideas to do for each beat/lyric.
I also thought about what I can do with my shot composition, mise-en-scene and iconography to subvert the electropop/indie genre conventions to make my music video stand out amongst my target audience.

Film Opening Vs. Music Video

There are many differences I have learnt of since starting A2 between shooting a film opening in comparison to a music video.
In a film opening, the shots are pretty long (3-5 seconds) compared to shots in a music video which are mostly short (1-2 seconds). Also the pace in music videos tend to be alot faster in comparison to a film opening. These two factors meant I had to shoot a significant amount more shots in A2 to make a music video of the same time frame as the film opening.
Music video conventions state that to make a video effective, the visuals have to be edited to the beat. From editing my prelim, I have realized why this is but I don't dispute the fact that it makes a music video vastly more difficult to edit. There is also the aspect of lip-syncing which is difficult to shoot and edit, whereas in a film opening, the audio comes from the video and is not layered on top.
To conclude, when creating a music video, you need to pay alot more attention to detail in each shot compared to a film opening.

Music Video Questionnaire

I made a questionnaire to research what people of different genders and ages prefer in music videos. I think I got a good variety of results which will ultimately help me make some major decisions in my own music video.

 

Mise-en-scene

I am in the process of coming up with my music video idea and today we learnt about mise-en-scene. Mise-en-scene is the arrangement of the scenery, props, etc. on the stage of a theatrical production or on the set of a media text. Mise-en-scene continuity is very important in real life music videos so I am to replicate that as best as possible.

Music Video Moodboard

I've been doing a little research into my chosen genre: electropop and the types of music videos that accompany songs of this genre. The backgrounds/locations in these videos are always quite abstract so I tried to think outside of the box via locations for my song.

My friend told me of this art exhibition, called Gods Own Junkyard, with vintage neons lights that I think would be great to use in the video. As far as I am aware, photography is allowed in the establishment so I'm planning to go with my friend to just film a couple shots to add into my music video.

The variety of lights is huge so I want to get shots of lights similar to the ones on the top row of my mood board. I like these ones because they are great visual representations of the song I want to do. The 'sweet like chocolate' light portrays how the female has a sweet facade but inside isn't what see appears to be, hence the 'error' light - showing the error inside her mind. Also, there are many sexual references in the song so I think the 'sex, drugs and bacon rolls' light would be very good to represent that.
I added some photos of newspaper titles because I had an idea that to show the chaotic state the females mind is in, I wanted to have her bedroom wall covered with newspaper articles, words and images all to do with death, suicide, murder, etc as a visual representation of the lyric "feeling super, super, super suicidal".

"Teen Idle" Lyrics

I wanna be a bottle blonde
I don't know why but I feel conned
I wanna be an idle teen
I wish I hadn't been so clean

I wanna stay inside all day
I want the world to go away
I want blood, guts and chocolate cake
I wanna be a real fake

Yeah, I wish I'd been, I wish I'd been a teen, teen idle
Wish I'd been a prom queen fighting for the title
Instead of being sixteen and burning up a Bible
Feeling super, super, super suicidal
The wasted years, the wasted youth
The pretty lies, the ugly truth
And the day has come where I have died
Only to find I've come alive

I wanna be a virgin pure
A 21st century whore
I want back my virginity
So I can feel infinity

I wanna drink until I ache
I wanna make a big mistake
I want blood, guts and angel cake
I'm gonna puke it anyway

Yeah, I wish I'd been, I wish I'd been a teen, teen idle
Wish I'd been a prom queen fighting for the title
Instead of being sixteen and burning up a Bible
Feeling super, super, super suicidal
The wasted years, the wasted youth
The pretty lies, the ugly truth
And the day has come where I have died
Only to find I've come alive
Come alive, I've come alive

I wish I wasn't such a narcissist
I wish I didn't really kiss
The mirror when I'm on my own
Oh, God! I'm gonna die alone
Adolescence didn't make sense
A little loss of innocence
The ugly years of being a fool
Ain't youth meant to be beautiful?

Yeah, I wish I'd been, I wish I'd been a teen, teen idle
Wish I'd been a prom queen fighting for the title
Instead of being sixteen and burning up a Bible
Feeling super, super, super suicidal
The wasted years, the wasted youth
The pretty lies, the ugly truth
And the day has come where I have died
Only to find I've come alive
Only to find I've come alive
Only to find I've come alive
Come alive

Feeling super, super, super!
Feeling super, super, super!
Feeling super, super, super!
Come alive