(P) Storyboarding

 

Today I started storyboarding my music video so that when it comes to shooting it I will know what I need to film and in what location. The storyboard will also make the editing process easier as well, as with this it will be easier to piece each part together in the right place.

(R/P) Stylistic Influences

Above is an image I created using Photoshop to showcase my stylistic influences. I found all of these images on Tumblr, and I think each one captures something that I want to include in my project, be that my music video, my magazine advert or my digipak. The majority of the images have quite a surreal vibe to them, which I want to be evident in my music video, and there is also a lost vibe present as well.

The below images are included in the above image but I thought I'd post them separately as they are GIFs and therefore couldn't be portrayed properly in the JPEG image.

I really like this image of Del Rey herself and think it could look really good in my music video during Becky's happier moments, as it gives off a childish, carefree feeling.

These images are both really similar because of the sort of 3D effect used on them. I really like how effective they look, although I'm not sure if I'd be able to actually use this in my music video.

(P) Creating Gold Text

Below is a step-by-step tutorial on how to create Del Rey's gold text (from this image).

1) I found a gold texture on Google and opened it in Adobe Photoshop

2) I then duplicated this layer

3) Next, I created an empty layer in between these layers

4) This layer is then filled with white

5) Now I select the duplicated layer and click the 'type' tool and write 'Lana Del Rey' in her signature font and make sure the selected font colour is white

6) This text layer is then dragged below the duplicated background layer

7) Again, I select the duplicated background layer, then go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask

8) Finally, I'm going to add a drop shadow and this is my final result:

I'm planning on using this technique when creating my magazine advertisement or my digipak as I think it looks really effective and professional, and also emphasises Lana Del Rey's style.

(R/P) Non-Linear Storytelling

For my music video I will use aspects of several of these different narrative types. Firstly, I will use

aspects of 'disruptive narrative' as Becky's boyfriend will never actually appear, so it's a mystery to who this person is. Secondly, I will use aspects of 'non-sequential narrative' as the events occurring in my music video will be cutting between two different summers, thus meaning there is no plain, straightfoward narrative. Finally, I will partially use aspects of 'disjointed narrative', as parts of the narrative will be repeated.

Research from here

(P) Practice Magazine Advertisement

Using Adobe Photoshop, I decided to create a practice magazine advertisement, using a picture of Lana Del Rey that I found on Google. For this advertisement I partially stuck to conventions, by including a main image of Del Rey looking confident and sultry, as well as including her name in her signature font at the top of the page, bigger than the song name that is also in the same font. I slightly strayed from conventions by using a drop shadow effect on the type, which Del Rey doesn't generally use on her advertisements, although this is only a slight difference.

(R/P) Existing Del Rey Magazine Adverts

I have created a Prezi in order to analyse existing Lana Del Rey magazine advertisements. This will help me when it comes to creating my own magazine advertisement as it helps me understand the codes and conventions of Del Rey's products.

(R/P) Barthes Narrative Codes

In my music video, there will be a huge enigma code throughout it, but this will remain unanswered which could perhaps frustrate my audience. However, I am still going ahead with this code because I believe that it will make my audience want to know more and stay interested, and they can also make up their own mind. The unanswered enigma will be the identity of Becky's lover/friend that she is mourning for during the whole video - but is she mourning because they are actually dead, or because they have left or, or what? The possibilities are endless and I want my audience to make up their own ideal to satisfy them.

Semantic codes could also feature in my music video, for example Becky will be wearing a red dress during some parts, which could connote danger, passion or romance.

(R/P) The 'Everyman' Character

The Everyman character was created so that the audience can imagine itself in the same situation without having to possess knowledge, skills or abilities outside their everyday experience. These characters act realistically in situations that are often taken for granted with traditional heroes; an Everyman character who gets into a fight would end up getting hurt, whereas an unrealistic hero would come out unscathed.

The name comes from the 15th century English morality play called Everyman.

This term will be relevant within my work, as Becky, the main character, will be illustrating feelings that the majority of my audience should be able to identify with, i.e. she will be happy and in love but also sad and heartbroken.

(R/P) Negotiated Meanings

Barthes deduced that audiences make new meanings when reading a text based on their previous experiences, as well as the text itself. For example, if there was a programme on lower class teenagers it will be perceived differently depending on the viewer; somebody in the same situation may feel differently than somebody of a higher class.

This theory could be applied to my work, because my audience may have to have experienced heartbreak or the death of somebody close to them in order to fully understand the narrative of my music video, as the main character in my video will be suffering from heartbreak after her loved one has died.

(P) Treatment Script

My Treatment Script

To make my 'final idea' video easier to understand I have decided to write up a script for it using Scribd.

(R/P) Encoding and Decoding

In the 1980s, Stuart Hall, a British sociologist, developed a theory which highlights the importance of active interpretation when it comes to the creation of meaning. This theory is called 'Encoding and Decoding' and it focuses on how meaning is created and then understood by the audience.

Encoding

The director/creator's intended meaning is encoded based on their ideologies, aims and intentions and the technology available to them.

Decoding

The audience decodes the meaning based on their ideologies, aims and intentions and the technology available to them.

How can this be applied to my music video?

This theory can be applied to my work because I will be encoding the video with my own ideologies and intentions. In the video, my intent will be that Becky is mourning over the death of her boyfriend after he died tragically and young, although it won't be clear in the video why she is actually sad, but there will be enigma codes, i.e. her giggling and smiling at the person behind the camera, which gives the audience the impression that this person is no longer around when she is appearing sad and mournful. This 'person behind the camera' can be anyone the audience wants them to be: a lover, a friend, a family member; male or female - whoever they want. The reason for this person not being around anymore is also a mystery, so the audience are left to decode that how they want to as well in order to create their own ideal.

(P) Final Idea / Treatment

Above is a video of me explaining my final idea for my music video. Several things I've realised I've missed out however include:

1. The time of day that I will be shooting my video - I've researched when the best light appears, and dawn seems like a very effective time of day to shoot 'dark Becky', as this is when there's a very blueish, cold light which could give off a very effective, 'sad' feel. Furthermore, for shooting scenes of 'light Becky' I could use sunrise, as the colours are generally very warm, as well as dusk when the camera shoots colours richer than what the eye can see.
2. The overall narrative of my music video will be quite simple - dark Becky will be illustrating her pain from losing her loved one, whereas light Becky will be illustrating her happiness from being with her loved one. It will be a very simple tale of romance and tragedy, which although cliché, can be very effective and appealing to audiences.
3. Dark Becky and light Becky are binary opposites, so in order for my audience to understand one, they have to understand the other.
4. When editing my video I want to try a layering effect with shots, so that one shot is a couple of seconds faster than the same shot. This effect gives a very surreal, disorienting effect which I believe would look very effective in my video.
5. In the video I said that I wanted to create a time lapse of 'traffic lights'. By this, I meant a time lapse of cars moving with their lights on. Although I also wanted to create a time lapse of the sunset or sunrise as this would look very peaceful in my video.
6. The fast, dance parts of the music will illustrate Becky's happiness, whereas the slower bits will illustrate her pain.

(P) Equipment

Equipment

Above is a video I made using Animoto to give an idea of the sort of equipment I will be using throughout my project. The video is quite short however, as the website only allowed me to make a 30 second video for free (any longer would be quite costly) so therefore I showed the most technology that I could.

Shown in the video firstly is a video camera and tripod which I will book out from sixth form, although I will also use a DSLR camera of my own (a Sony a350) in order to take photographs for the digipak and magazine advert and also for the time lapse effect. Shown next in the video is an Apple Mac which I will use at sixth form as on the Mac there are various different applications that I will use (Adobe Photoshop CS5, Adobe InDesign CS5, Final Cut, etc.) that will ensure my finished products look as professional as possible. At home I have a laptop which has Adobe Photoshop which I could potentially use in order to create my ancillary tasks, although all my video editing work will probably have to be completed at sixth form on the Macs.

(P) Risk Assessment

Before beginning my filming it is essential that I complete a risk assessment so that I can gain an idea of all the potential risks that might effect my filming. By creating the below table, I am able to notice any risks and then provide solutions of how I will ensure that these won't be a danger to my filming progress.

(R/P) Existing Del Rey Albums

This post is to display a couple of Del Rey's existing albums so that I can get a better understanding of the codes and conventions when it comes to creating my own digipak as one of my ancillary tasks.

 

This first image shows Lana Del Rey's 'The Paradise Edition' album. This was Del Rey's third EP, released on the 9th of November 2012 by Universal Music. The box set pictured above was limited addition and could only be purchased through Universal. It was gold embossed and featured a special digipak of 'Born To Die' The Paradise Edition, a remix album containing remixes of all the singles, four card prints, a 7" picture disc of 'Blue Velvet' and a DVD containing all of Del Rey's videos.

The four cards include symbolic images of Del Rey from previous music videos, such as the powerful image of Del Rey and her evil boyfriend (as seen in the Born To Die video that I analysed previously). The album cover itself is pretty basic, featuring a medium shot of the singer herself, including her iconic red lipstick and usual long, wavy hair that is very relevant to her style and makes her recognisable amongst her fans. Her name is printed in large, bold letters across the top, as though her name is more important than the album name, as the album name is printed in the same type but a lot smaller at the bottom of the cover.

For the Born To Die and Paradise digipaks, the imagery is a lot more abstract and colourful, which are words that can also describe her music videos. For my digipak, I will probably draw more inspiration from these two covers, as I love the abstract side to her music and think the potential to create something beautiful and abstract using different photography techniques is huge.

Furthermore, I really like the water reflection technique used on one of the photo cards, and would like to reenact this myself, although I'm not sure how I'd go about it. I think the overall appearance of the water reflection is really abstract and beautiful, and because I'm wanting to create a semi-abstract piece I think it has the possibility to fit in really nicely.

This second image is features Lana Del Rey's original Born To Die album. This one is just a very simple, basic album as opposed to the above one, featuring just the one disc. The disc itself is very unconventional, although I really like it and find it very aesthetically pleasing and conventional of Del Rey's style. The roses could represent beauty and romance, whereas the red could connote danger and even blood. The medium shot of Del Rey on the cover is very prominent, and shows her looking very strong and determined, which is how she appears in the majority of her music videos. Because of this, I would like to carry a very strong vibe throughout my creations. The colour scheme is quite girly, but uses colours that contrast nicely together so that the songs and the titles stand out.

Throughout all of Del Rey's products, whether that be her album art or her music videos, there is a very colourful, Instagram vibe, which is an element I want to be present in my creations. Pastel colours are also quite prominent throughout her works and they are also very in trend right now, so including these tones could help me adhere to the latest trends and appeal to my target audience.

(P) Mise-en-Scene

I created a mind map using MindMeister in order to show my ideas for the mise-en-scene in my music video.

(R/P) Time Lapse

The above video shows time lapse photography done with a Sony A350 DSLR camera which is the camera I have.

Time lapse photography is where the camera takes multiple shots of one scene with time intervals between each shots (e.g. 10 seconds or even a day). Then, when the photos are played back, the interval of time is speeded up to create a shorter time.

In order to do this technique, a camera and a tripod is needed. Most cameras can take time lapse sequences, some even have the ability to take timed shots where the user sets the length of time. This feature allows the user to leave the camera to photograph the scene instead of needing the user to manually take the pictures. A remote release can also be bought for some cameras, which make it so that the user doesn't have to touch the actual camera which would therefore reducing camera movement. A tripod is a vital piece of equipment, as it allows the camera to be set up in a fixed position, as when taking a time lapse it is important that the camera doesn't move or the effect will be ruined.

I'm thinking about using this technique in my music video, perhaps using scenes of traffic, or maybe just a scene of a lake; whatever setting I use I think this technique will look very effective.

Information from here

(P) Mood Board

Here is a mood board I created in Photoshop, showcasing the different segments of Lana Del Rey's style, from her clothes to the Instagram effects used in her music video. The aim of this mood board is to remind me of the style Del Rey encompasses and therefore what her and my target audience will also embody.

(R/P) Binary Opposites

Levi-Strauss said that the way we understand certain words doesn't depend on the meaning they have themselves, but by understanding the difference between the word and its opposite, e.g. the difference between good and evil helps us understand what each word actually is.

One side of the binary is seen as the more valued one by a particular society or culture over the over.

This theory could apply to my work because in my music video the main character is going to be switching between sad and happy states, so in order for the audience to understand her current state of mind they will need to know the difference between both the words happy and sad, so that they can pick up on the codes that signal whether she is happy or sad. For example, if she's smiling and jumping around, they'd know that she's happy, or, if she's frowning, or stood still staring into the distance, then the audience should pick up that she's sad.

(R) Music Video Analysis

I've chosen to analyse another of Lana Del Rey's music video so that I stick with the same sort of genre of music as what I'm planning to create for so that I have a greater understanding of the codes and conventions. I will also then go on to analyse one of her digipaks and also a magazine advert promoting her digipak release.

(P) Planning Tick List

Below is a list of the subjects I will aim to talk about within the planning segment of my portfolio:

• Equipment list
• Shot list
• Drafts
• Storyboard
• Copy/Content
• Name > typography > graphics
• Techniques (bokeh, long exposure)
• Time
• Mise-en-scene > costume > setting > lighting > props
• Character profiles
• Mood boards
• Sound effects?

(R) Bokeh Effect

Bokeh is the blur in out-of-focus areas of an image and has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light". Bokeh occurs for parts of the scene that lie outside the depth of field. The term bokeh comes from the Japanese word boke, which means 'blur' or 'haze', and is also used in the sense of a mental haze.

In order to create bokeh in an image, a fast lens is needed - one with at least an f/2.8 aperture. The lens will need to be wide open, so a shooting mode of Aperture Priority or Manual will need to be selected. Manual mode lets the user select both the aperture and shutter speed, whereas Aperture Priority allows the user to choose the f/stop while the camera chooses the appropriate shutter speed for exposure.

To increase the amount of visible bokeh in photographs, the distance between the subject and the background needs to be increased, e.g. by decreasing the distance between the camera and the subject. Highlights hitting the background will show more visible bokeh as well, so if a backlight, side light or a hair light is used, the bokeh will be more aesthetically pleasing.

(R/P) Plato's Theory of Forms

Plato was a theorist born in Athens c. 428BC. He laid the foundations of Western philosophy and science.

Plato believed in a 'creator' who created the physical world. He said that the creator made only one of everything which is known as the 'form' or the 'idea', and that everything else is just a copy and therefore imperfect. Ideas (or 'forms') only exist in the mind, but once they're produced they are only a copy and thus imperfect.

 

This theory could be applied to my work, as I have lots of 'perfect', 'original' ideas for it in my head, but once I actually put them into action they will just become imperfect 'copies'.
 

(P) Ink Effect

Whilst watching previous A Level student music videos, I picked up on an another effect that I really liked and would want to try and replicate in my music video. It's a simple, dramatic effect which could be used as an overlay or as a filler between shots. All it consists of is black ink being dropped into a jug of water and filmed from the side so that the viewer has the full advantage of seeing the ink flowing and making shapes through the water.

(P) Initial Ideas #3

Artist - Lana Del Ray

Song - Summertime Sadness (Cedric Gervais remix)

Setting - Clumber Park

Character(s) - Becky Hughes

Costume(s) - Red dress, high heels, denim shorts, baggy t-shirt, girly, frilly socks

Make-up - Red lipstick, smokey eyes, black nail varnish

Hair - Back combed, long, wavy

Accessories - Nose ring, small necklace?

A basic plan of Becky's costume

There will be two sides to Becky - her 'dark side' (where she wears the dark make up and red dress) and her 'light side' (where she wears the white top and shorts). The dark side will be shot at night/nearing night, whereas the light, innocent side will be shot during the day and will be showing Becky at happier times. Levi-Strauss' Binary Opposites theory could be applied here, as in order to understand one side of Becky's image, the audience will have to understand the other as well.

Shot ideas -
Night -

1. Walk along road with heels in hand
2. Walking past chapel - long, extra long and medium shot
3. Walking through woods - long and medium shot
4. Close up of Becky on the bridge, just stood staring
5. Stood in field with trees behind her - twirl around, dance, etc. - long, medium and close up shot
6. Sprawled out along front seats of car - camera through open driver window
7. Close up of Becky pouting and blowing a kiss

Day (will be shot in the style of a home video) -

Feeding the ducks - long shot and close up
Pretending to push camera away - smiles shyly
Riding a bike through the woods
Running away whilst looking behind her
Sat on the grass beside the lake
Playing with hair, smiling cutely
Twirling round, smiling

Effects/Overlays/Cuts, etc. -

Water splash
Pan of chapel
Pan of woods
Telephone wires
Bokeh effect
Sparkler - spell out a word relevant to the song, maybe 'sad' or a sad face, or 'summer' (this would be a long exposure effect)

(P) Interpreting the Lyrics

Click the picture to enlarge it.

Level 4 Mark Scheme

• Planning and research evidence will be complete and detailed
• There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience
• There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding
• There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props
• Time management is excellent
• There is excellent skill in the use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation
• There are excellent communication skills
• There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning 

Above is the Level 4 mark scheme that I will keep looking back at to ensure that my work does everything it says in order to help me attain level 4 work.

(P) Long Exposure Photographs

On Bonfire Night, I thought I'd test out the long exposure photography technique, below are my outcomes that I minimally edited on Adobe Photoshop (increased the vibrancy so that they stood out more against the dark background).