Part 1: Concept Work

Brief

Your task is to create a music video of between 3-5 minutes (it can be slightly shorter, but the suggested minimum for the 1.6 production standard is 3 minutes). Your music video will be considered for selection in the NOSCARS event at the end of Term 3. It should have a narrative and be appropriate for this audience. The Noscars, now well into its second decade, is a highlight of the school year, attended by a fairly diverse audience of present and former students, staff and parents. As such, your music video should have fairly broad appeal and contain content that would likely be rated no higher than M. As this is a showcase of homegrown filmmaking talent, you are encouraged to choose a song from a New Zealand artist.

1) Idea: Brainstorm + Plot Synopsis 👥

Once you have chosen your song, do a brainstorm of ideas to go along with this. Consider doing one or more of the following to get you going:

print out the lyrics double spaced and annotate them
think of Todorov/Levi-Strauss/Propp’s narrative ideas (you might apply one of them more strongly than the others)
Make a list of the actors, props, locations and equipment that you can access easily by the second half of Term 2. Think of ways to incorporate some or all of them into the plot of your music video.
match the plot to the themes/lyrics of the song, either literally or by mood.
Listen to the music closely. Are there any images that spring to mind that would match certain parts of the song? For example, in Asleep in the Deep:

Jumpcuts match the beat of the drumming in this scene.

Parallel sound is used when the image closely matches the sound, in this case the rising, high pitched sound when the rat jumps on the monster.

Plot Synopsis

Describe the idea (concept) you have for your video - this is like a plot summary or the premise of your music video. In this you can make reference to the song and music you have chosen and how this matches your idea. This should be a decent sized paragraph and could be broken up into Todorov’s sections of narrative structure (recommended).

Example answer:

Concept

The music video starts off with Harriet running through a forest, covered in blood and screaming for help. A flashback occurs to a party which Harriet joins and ends up getting into trouble with her mother. Harriet then finds a letter, which through a cut to a man in the white room is shown to be related. Harriet then asks her mum about the letter and another cut shows a car, suggesting that they are linked. The video moves forward by Harriet being asked and agreeing to go camping with her friends. A cut then occurs, jumping to the mother in a dark room lighting a candle. This adds to the confusion of the viewer and more tension as the mother opens the box. The video then switches back to the forest, where only the tree tops can be seen. After another cut it goes back to the man in the white room and ends with his chair being empty.

2) SWOT ANALYSIS 👥

Write a SWOT analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats which would show a careful consideration of factors that could be obstacles during your production process

These factors could include but are not limited to:

o Group dynamics, time management, location, budget, cast and crew, experience, equipment, weather, upcoming events, safety (physical and emotional)

· outline strategies to overcome identified Weaknesses and Threats from the SWOT analysis that may have been obstacles to your production process.

Try to have 2-3 things in each section in detail, with particular attention to how you will address weaknesses and threats (this is key for Merit and Excellence).

STRENGTHS: Within group members

A STRENGTH is a factor that already exists in your group which will help you toward the successful completion of your media product. E.g. existing knowledge of a medium and its codes and conventions.

Eg - A strength is the fact that I take drama. I am going to be one of the main actors and have done assessments where I had to be filmed. I played a character in an assessment this year where I had to be distraught and sobbing, so some of the emotional scenes in the trailer are things I’ve already practised doing.

WEAKNESSES: Within group members

A WEAKNESS is a factor that already exists in your group which could undermine the successful completion of your media product. E.g. unfamiliarity with a new piece of software that would be needed to complete the media product.

I am not always good at directing people - I have found it really hard in the past to get people on task and have been very frustrated.

Overcoming weaknesses:

I have only cast people in the video who are good friends and who I have worked with well in the past. My friend who is playing the other lead role is in my Drama class and we did a duologue together for an assessment. The other people in the video are my mother and one other friend and they should also be very easy to direct.

OPPORTUNITIES : Places, people etc - external to group members

An OPPORTUNITY is a factor that is external to your group which you could take advantage of in the successful completion of your media product. E.g. the chance to use a school event like swimming sports or athletics finals to get crowd footage needed in the final media product.

Eg - There is a really great location near my house. It is an old fort that is now just part of a public park. We have scripted one scene for that area.

Eg - I am in a basketball team so I have set one scene at a game. My team have agreed to be filmed for this and we have games every Friday night next term.

THREATS: Places, people etc - external to group members

A THREAT is a factor that is external to your group which could be an obstacle in the successful completion of your media product. E.g. a group member’s involvement in tournament week when production was going to happen.

Eg - Two of the scenes will be weather dependent. If it rains we won’t be able to film them.

Overcoming threats:

Eg - I have managed to book a back up day for filming (in Week 4). I will check the weather forecast at the beginning of the week and see which day is looking best and try to negotiate from there. If the weather continues to be bad I could shoot the fort scene at the back of the pavillion on the top field at school instead (all of the people involved in filming go to East and we could do it at a lunch time on a day that is sunnier).

3) AUDIENCE AND TONE👤

Describe your target audience and explain how you intend to appeal to them, for example, “Young people from 15-25 will like this because of the high school setting and young actors and the idea of a happy ending will appeal to fans of uplifting pop music like this”.

Next describe the tone of your proposed video (for example, funny, serious, curious, romantic) and explain which codes and conventions you will be using to create this tone. You could also refer to any genres you will employ in your music video (eg if you are going to have a horror, sci-fi or rom-com reference) or if there’s a key influence you are going to use (eg Wes Anderson’s visual style and themes).

Exemplar – Audience Appeal and Tone

Target audience: While parents and staff members attend the audience, most of the 750 people will likely be teenagers attending Newlands College, so that is who I am specifically targeting with my music video.

Tone: At previous Noscars events that I have attended, the films that really worked well with the audience tended to be ones that got a really strong emotional reaction such as laughter, fear, sadness, etc. We will provoke interest by trying to evoke an atmosphere of fear. We will do this by using low key lighting to try and create the feeling of the unknown. The convention gore will be used by having blood, violence and screaming, suggesting pain and death. The isolated setting is used for vulnerability and alienation, so the audience knows that the character is helpless in what is happening. This will appeal to the audience as the conventions will help evoke an atmosphere of fear and terror of what will happen. This will hopefully get people jumping out of their seats, similar to the how the film Night Light got a strong audience reaction a few years ago.

4) Setting 👤

a) Mood Board - put some pictures of examples of similar settings and ideas (OPTIONAL)

b) Outline your setting - take pictures, give practicalities

Describe the setting for the video (include photos and/or sketches) and explain why this setting appeals to your audience and/or fits with the product. Be as specific as you can be (eg - don’t just say ‘a scary house’ say ‘my aunty’s house in Mt Victoria - it has gothic style architecture and is two stories high so it looks like it’s looming over you)

You need to describe any setting you will be using - with details about where it is and why you are choosing it.

Exemplar - Setting

Forest

A small forest area in Newlands, it has tall trees, very little undergrowth and lots of pine needles, etc on the ground. It is quite dark in there and little wind. This park is near where me and my partner live so will be easy to access for shooting. THere is a path right near where we want to film, so it is still public enough to be ‘safe’ for us as long as we film before it’s completely dark.

Basement

A large but cramped room under a house. There are little shutters at one end that lets only a small amount of light through, meaning dim lighting is already achieved. Lots of dust as well and dead spiders. This is at grandmother’s house in Miramar.

White room

A small room with light walls The walls and windows will have white sheets hung up to achieve the look of being “white.” It is supposed to look a bit like an asylum, but one she has created for herself. My bedroom will be used for this - we will just have to move the furniture away from that side of the room.

5) Conventions👤

Describe at least five conventions of the genre you will use from the list below. You should describe what the convention is and what effect it creates in general and then say how you will specifically use it in your music video (give detail about what scene it will be used in etc). Choose five of these technical codes and conventions to write about and apply to your music video. These must be chosen from at least three different categories in the "Conventions List" section below (eg from Music, Symbols and Camerawork) to show a range.

For the ones you choose, give specific detail about how you will use it (at what moments, describe in detail) and why it will be used there (what effect will it have, relate to the audience). Think back to the music video you studied for the video essay task in Term 1 - everything was deliberately designed in those videos.

This section will be strengthened with ‘mood-boarding’ where you take gifs or still-frames from actual music videos that use a similar technique in order to really illustrate your understanding and intention.

If you are working in a group, you can use the same conventions, but the write ups for each one need to be your own.

Low Key Lighting exemplar

Lighting will be used to show the time of day or mood or what type of place the characters are in. In the party scene the lighting will be low with predominant use of shadows in the frame. The main reason is to show the mood. For example when Harriet enters the party scene it is red and black to show the different environment that she is in and how it is “dangerous”. The look will be similar to the gif on the left, but more ominous. Low key lighting will play a big part as it helps to create tension as darkness often suggests the “unknown” and the audience doesn’t know what will happen.

Conventions list

Music

Linking the visual to the music (in terms of themes/lyrics)
Rhythmic editing - matching actions to the beat or cutting to the beat

Treatment of time (structure/editing)

Cross cutting (or split screen)
Flashback or flash-forward
Montage
jump cuts or match cuts
Having fast paced editing at the crescendo (peak, exciting bit) of the music
Deliberate transitions between scenes (mask-wipes, match cuts, fade outs, etc.)

Symbols

Use of colour to symbolise mood or ideas.
Recurring motifs
Use of symbolic prop/location/action
Use of parallel scenes (scenes that echo each other, perhaps with a slight difference to either show change/contrast or lack of change/similarity)

Characters

The use of ‘stereotyped’ characters (eg the ‘dreamer’ or ‘outsider’ that appeal to your audience)
The use of some of Propp’s typical characters (hero/villain/heroine etc)

Camerawork

The use of specific camera movement at key points
The use of specifically chosen shots at key points (eg extreme close up, wide shot, over-the-shoulder

Dialogue

The use of dialogue at key moments only (eg the start/end/middle)

Lighting

The use of symbolic lighting (eg darkness/shadow at key moments)
The use of hued lighting (eg black and white or sepia-toned or overly bright and saturated) at key moments or to show change

Special Effects

Slow or fast motion at key moments
Stop motion or animation at key moments
Green screen shots
Use of prekeyed effects footage such as from the “Action Essentials 2” package.

Breaking the Fourth Wall

Having the character look or talk straight at the camera (aware of the audience)
Have characters mouth the lyrics as part of the narrative

Text as narrative device

Instead of dialogue, having things like text messages or social media or signs to help propel the narrative

Page updated

Report abuse