Animatic from my story board

Using iMovie

As I had never used iMovie before I had some issues with saving. As there is physically no save option, and i'm not an avid apple buyer, this posed a problem for me. As the Mac's at our college are fairly new the technicians did not know either. This meant trying to learn about it myself, but as I was being timed and racing against the clock I turned to youtube. It seems other people too have had this problem and there are plenty of videos out there.

I found this tutorial:
 
This tutorial was meant for people at the youtube users college, but it still applies to my college so this way works for me. It shows you where iMovie actually saves the movie itself, but also where final products are saved and can be uploaded onto a USB device, and then uploaded straight to youtube. 

Storyboard

Storyboard - Media A2 from kierajowetta2

Male costume ideas

As my genre is indie, my male lead must be wearing a costume that fits within the genre. These are all clothes that a typical indie male would wear. To make my music video look professional, my lead must fit within my given genre.  
As these images have been taken from the internet, I may not be able to use these costumes exactly, but this is just to give me a good idea on what the indie genre clothing is.
The look the lead male will take for one section of my song is smart, but casual. He will be wearing a shirt, black skinny jeans and have roughly messy hair. This will connotate that he cares about his appearance due to the smart shirt, but also wants to be seen as 'cool' and respectable. 
Another part of my music video he will be wearing messy clothes, so it represents how he is no longer happy, he no longer cares what he looks, and cannot be happy and look good. 
Examples of clothing within this genre are as follows:
Ben Montague: Another Hard Fall

Leather jackets, black boots, black skinny jeans, and a plain white T-shirt is used within this music video. These pieces of clothing are very effective, and suit the artist well. They make him look casual, but also smart, which is typical of this genre. The hair is another thing to pick up on is that, it is very styled, and into a quiff shape, which could also be another convention of this genre.

Arctic Monkeys: Why'd you only call me when you're high?

Like Ben Montague, Alex Turner is also wearing a leather jacket, black boots, and black skinny jeans. Alex however is wearing a plain black t-shirt, In the picture below, the other band members of Arctic Monkeys are wearing similar costume, and are all wearing dark T-shirts. Two t-shirts are plain, so this could also be something I should consider when thinking about connotations of my music video. 

Female Costume ideas

As my genre is indie, my female lead must be wearing a costume that fits within the genre. These are all clothes that a typical indie female would wear. To make my music video look professional my lead must fit within. 

My female lead must look attractive but also promiscuous. As the song is about a guy who loves a girl but previously this girl has slept around a lot. Half way through the song the guy falls in love with the girl more, and the girl in my video will begin to love him back so the idea's i'm given I could change her clothing so she is more loveable and more reliable to the protagonist.

Some examples of female leads in indie music videos are:

Focus Group

This video is a focus group I conducted with a few people at my college. It was to help me to understand other peoples points of view, so I not only had mine to go with, but other peoples. The questions I asked were specific so I knew my target audience, what conventions people find typical of a music video, and what story line I should go with to make a successful indie-pop music video.

The first question I asked was 'What age are you?'

The answer from both was 17 & 18. This questions ties in with others, and helps me to understand certain aspects. 

The next question was 'What age range do you believe music videos are aimed at?'

The answer from both of them was that they believe it depends on the genre. The genre I have decided to make a music video within in Indie-Pop. This goes with the question 'what age are you?' as it tells me that 17 year old listen to this type of music. So this tells me that I am aiming my music video at the right target audience. 

My next question was 'How often do you watch music videos and why?'

Both said when a new song comes out. This is because they like how the video can develop the narrative of the song. If the song is upbeat, catchy and good, the viewer will want to watch the music video everyday too, as the video will match the sound. This tells me that I need to make a good video for people to see my perspective but also to try and understand my ideology, compared to what they could think. I could also try and offer the audience a different, almost unusual version of the song so this will make them think. 

The next question was 'What stylistic feature do you prefer in music videos?

One person said mise-en-scene, and one person said editing. The person who said mise-en-scene said that because it can develop the narrative and make it look good and realistic. This is true because because of the mise-en-scene you can begin to categorize the music video into what genre it is. The person who said editing said this because you can create  together and can create a better image for the viewer overall, but it also changes the wa the viewer sees the action. I believe I will concentrate on all areas which are Editing, Cinematography, and mise-en-scene. I believe all these three area's are very important and I will get this across in my work, editing because the genre Indie-pop will have fading edits, and fading shots throughout which I believe is vital to create a realistic looking product. Cinematography because close ups, and medium close-ups are used throughout to show the artist and to attempt to connect the audience with the artists feelings. But then Mise-en-scene because props and clothing are essential in trying to get across what genre this music video is, and to make sure people can categorize my video into my chosen genre. 

My next question was 'What narrative do you prefer when watching a music video?'
Both people answered with Narrative, they said this because it allows the audience to understand the song better, and allow the action to match the lyrics. This not only draws the audiences attention to the video but also to the lyrics themselves. Normally a narrative music video allows the audience to see a different  narrative to the song than they originally thought it was about. I love this idea so I will follow this, but also add in performance shots to link in with my chosen genre. 

My poll results

I put a poll up on my blog, this asked a variety of questions to people who went on my blog. These questions were based on things that would help me develop my music video, determine certain factors such as what my target audience should be. What stylistic features I should focus on to create a product that people within my target audience will like.

The first question I asked was 'what is your Gender?' depending on the results would determine what story my music video would take. The results were as follows:

The results that I gathered were that more females took part in my poll, however this was only by one vote. This shows me that I should aim my music video to both genders, as I am going to go with a narrative music video I need it to appeal to both genders to be successful. The storyline that I believe I am going to create, follows the life of a boy. It shows how he is in-love with a girl, and how he believes she is always with him. This could attract a male audience as it is shown from the boys perspective, the element that would attract the female audience would be that a girl is shown all the way through the musi video, but she is shown with the main star(the artist) but also shown with other various men, showing that she is not in a relationship, but see's a lot of different men and is seen as 'carefree'. 

My next question is 'what age are you?'. This shows me what age range I am dealing with. The results were as follows: 

The results show me that the majority of people that took part in my poll are between the ages of 15 and 24. However, all ages did complete my poll, so this shows me that other people are interested within the media. This question then links with the next which is 'What age do you think music videos are targeted at?' The results for this question are: 

This comparison between the two show me that even though all age ranges took part in the poll, the majority of people believe that music videos are aimed at the age range of 15-24. This tells me that if the audience of my blog believe this, I should take this on board, and have a young cast. Preferably that falls between this age range, this would attract an audience of similar ages to the cast, and would give me higher ratings. 

The next question I asked was 'What do you think is the most important stylistic feature in a music video?' This question can allow me to understand what an audience want from a music video, and what music videos they prefer overall. The results are as follows: 

The results were that Editing and Mise-en-scene are considered the most important features in a music video. This evidence then shows me that I should focus on these two areas the most, but personally I believe all three key areas are very important. So Overall I will focus on Cinematography when it comes to my storyboard so I can create a realistic looking video, but I will concentrate and plan what my mise-en-scene will be. This is so I can create a good product which will fall between the genre I have chosen. I will then look at a lot of Indie-pop genre music videos so I can gather what edits they use within the videos.

The next question I asked was 'What music do you listen to the most?' This can tell me what the majority vote is for the people who look at my blog. This will give me an idea what genre is most popular. The results were as follows:

According to my poll, it shows that the majority of people listen to the Indie and Pop genres. This is very good as this is the genre that I have chosen for my brief genre. I have chosen 'Indie-Pop'. This shows me that I am appealing to the correct audience already which is very good. 

The next question I asked was 'What music videos do you prefer?' This will tell me what I should involve within my video, if I should have it of narrative nature, matching lyrics or even telling a story within itself, or maybe I should create a performance video of the artist performing, writing, or producing the song itself. My third option is abstract, which isn't very conventional of the Indie-Pop genre, but if the audience of this genre would prefer to see this in action with an Indie-Pop genre, then maybe I could get more views through challenging these roles. The results were as follows:

The results of this poll tell me that the audience of Indie-Pop genre would prefer to see the artist perform the song, or have a narrative setting within the video. As the votes are exactly half I believe I am going to combine both ideas, and have both of them feature in my music video. I could combine these, and have the narrative be the main element of the video, but within the music video have shots where the artist is seen performing the song. I could incorporate this to be within the narrative itself, or just show the artist in a setting that is conventional of an artist performing. 

In conclusion all of these questions have helped me develop my ideas for my music video, they have also given me new ideas which I can involve within my product, and how I can relate it back to my target audience.