Planning - Make-Up and Special FX Make-Up

Since the song we have chosen is called "Dreams" we figured that we could make this a very outlandish and whimsical so we are going to use bold and bright make up, using a lot of glitter. We are also going to use Special FX make-up to really make the dreamlike feel more prominent. We have been discussing possible ideas for make-up and costumes but we need to remember that we have a budget to stick to and we won't be able to have severely outrageous costumes like Lady GaGa as it is just not in our budget.

We looked online at make up and fx make up and found some possible inspiration...

The lobster hands from American Horror Story are a weird but simple way to capture the essence of a dream based world, this can be achieved by simply taping the fingers together, covering with scar wax and blending. Scar wax is a cheap product and should fit well within the budget.

Another image we found as inspiration looks rather gory on the actual photo but instead of using fake blood to fill the joker style Chelsea grin, we are going to use glitter to make it less Halloween and more whimsical. This can also be made with scar wax, or could be made with liquid latex and tissue which I already have.

This is the kind of eye make-up I imagined that the extras would have in the music video, something bright and glittery to add the dream like feel but nothing too crazy to distract from the main characters in the story whos make-up will be more intense and crazy.

Planning - Changing Our Song with lyrics

The song we were originally planning to use was an original song by a local band however upon reflection, it would be significantly difficult to arrange multiple days and times when we could get all five members of the band together at the same time as we will need various different shots in different locations and we will also need photo-shoots for the digipak we would have to create also. At the end of this we have had a group discussion and decided to use the song 'Dreams' by Bastille and Gabrielle Aplin, this song is a cover of a classic Fleetwood Mac record, this we feel would not only appeal to our previously intended audience (indie) but may also widen the target audience age range. Joe has already emailed Warner Brothers to ask for copyright permission.




Lyrics:
[Verse 1:]
[Dan]
Now there you go again
You say you want your freedom
Well who am I to keep you down
It's only right that you should play it the way you feel it
But listen carefully to the sound
Of your loneliness

[Gabrielle]
Like a heartbeat drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering
What you had

[Dan]
And what you lost

[Gabrielle]
And what you had

[Dan]
And what you lost

[Chorus:]
[Gabrielle]
Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
Women they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know,
You'll know, you'll know

Now here I go again I see a crystal vision
I keep my visions to myself
It's only me who wants to wrap around your dreams
Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
Dreams of loneliness

[Gabrielle & Dan]
Like a heartbeat drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had
And what you lost
And what you had
And what you lost

[Chorus:]
[Dan]
Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
Women they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know,
You'll know

[Gabriella & Dan]
All we had and all we lost
All we had and all we lost

[Chorus:]
[Gabrielle & Dan]
Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
Women they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know,
You'll know, you'll know
(All we had and all we lost)
You'll know, you'll know
(All we had and all we lost)
You'll know, you'll know
(All we had and all we lost)

Research of Mise En Scene (Costume)

Costumes in music videos are used as much to tell a story as settings I feel, if a video has different cuts and time jumps, the costumes can help keep these ordered and making sense, costume is a very important part in stories and also getting across the message behind the song and video, in the music video for '23' by Wiz Khalifa and Miley Cyrus the entire video is based on a brand of shoes, this will create a hype with the audience over these shoes and everyone will want to be seen in them.


Costume in music videos can also enhance the setting, for example, Taylor Swift's 'Love Story' has elegant, large castles and beautiful backdrops, but the old fashioned costumes like the corset dresses, the curled hair and the man's lose fitting suit with boots really show the time period that the video was trying to create to go along side the Romeo and Juliet themed song.











Another important use of costume in music videos, is to create an identity for the artist. In Gerri Halliwell's 'It's Raining Men' the singer wore very little, tight clothing to show off her new physique after losing weight, Miley Cyrus used her outfit choices to represent that she is not Hannah Montana any more and that she is a grown up woman with a very sexualised personality and she shows this through her clothing. This kind of choice appeals to mainly the younger generation, probably teens and young adults as these will be fans of Miley and they will admire her confidence and want to dress like Miley. These clothes also appeal to males as explained in the Male Gaze theory by Laura Mulvey, showing how women dress and act in a certain way to appeal to men.

This also applies to the opposite gender, Justin Bieber has recently been releasing more mature songs with videos to match, the provocative video for 'What Do You Mean' with Justin showing off his toned body while getting steamy with his also under dressed co star have caught the eyes of many teens and young adults of all genders, wanting to be them or be with them.

How this research has influenced my planning

This research has really opened my eyes to just how important costumes are in a music video, this has helped me decide that the costumes really need to represent the genre of our chosen song, but also make sense to the story line while creating a star image for our actors and telling the story. We don't want overly extravagant costumes so nothing like these shown above but just simple jeans and vintage shirts etc. 

Research of Mise En Scene (Setting) - Avril Lavigne 'When You're Gone"

Music videos are the main form of representing the story behind the song. The video created is the thing that brings the lyrics to life and gives them a physical representation. The lyrics of songs are meant to entertain and connect but the music video makes it a lot more real and relatable, for example, in the song 'When You're Gone'' by Avril Lavigne, the song is highly emotive and people can relate through a range of different situations be it a break-up, the loss of a loved one and so on, yet the video shows real people experiencing the pain that the intended audience are or have been feeling.
The settings are used in a way in which allows various different view points to be covered, these include...

• A very pink and girly bedroom in which a heartbroken girl has been parted from her roughed up boyfriend. The setting here really brings their story together, the typical yet forever romantic poor boy and rich girl who's parents will do anything to keep them apart. Her room and clothing suggest a sheltered and privileged upbringing but the tidiness shows a firm control. This scene leads to the wood area in which the girl and her boyfriend carved their initials into a tree.

• A dark and tired room, clearly representative of the feelings of this man, the story line surrounding him is that his wife has passed away. In this shot the dark colours and half made bed shows how he feels darkened and in disarray through the loss of the woman he loves, he looks at photos of her and cries and looks through all her clothes finding mementos of her to remember her. This scene leads to a graveyard at the end in which he stands wearing his suit, visiting his wife.

• This scene represents the military families that are missing a part of their lives due to fighting in wars. This is represented by a simple family home with a husband and a very pregnant wife. He is leaving for duty and therefore is wearing his combat gear, but the wife is wearing a white flowing dress maybe to highlight the innocence of her love and unborn child. There is questionable moments which could lead to the husbands death but the ending shows a text saying 'I'm OK, I miss you'.

These are just everyday scenarios that are so relatable to so many people and that's why its so hard hitting and emotional.

(There wasn't any costume changes really in this video so I will analyse costume from another video)


How this research has influenced my planning...
I feel like in our music video, we should use various locations which can portray a vary of different experiences but that also work together.
A list of possible locations we could use is...

• The old train tunnel in Brigg
• Woodlands
• Pebble Beach ft abandoned fishing hut
• the Humber Bridge
• Thornton Abbey
• Graveyard

Research - The Band (Mustang)

The band we have chosen to use is a local indie/alternate rock band. They have their own original song (which we will be making a video for) and they also cover other indie songs such as Pacifier by Catfish and The Bottlemen, Milk by The 1975 and The White Stripes cover of Jolene.

 The band do not have their own website yet but they use social media to advertise and promote their band and upcoming gigs. They have an Instagram page, a Twitter account and a Facebook page dedicated to their band so a wide range of people have access to their updates, but due to the social media platform, their audience is mainly teenagers and young adults as some of their concerts can become rather explicit although their lyrics are not. Soon they are playing a festival in Cleethorpes alongside Scouting For Girls and Reverend and The Makers which will be their biggest gig yet and so they are trying to market this event a lot on social media and they are arranging interviews, photo-shoots and are making a lot of posts on their accounts to create hype around the event. Their logo (pictured above) is featured on all social media sites and also on the badges that they give away for free at their gigs.

The band used to be a four piece but have recently gained a new member to add to their sound. The band now consists of...
- Andrew Thompson (Lead Singer and Guitar)
- Fraser Macdonald (Lead Guitar and vocals)
- Owen Peart (Guitar)
- Rob Brealey (Drums)
- Josh Peart (Guitar and Synth)

The bands style is very stereotypically indie. They clearly take inspiration from bands such as Catfish and The Bottlemen and The 1975, the all black outfits and striped tops are very in fashion with indie music recently so they are staying on trend in the photo from a shoot shown above. Their most recent photo shoot took place to announce their new member, in this photo their 'indie' styled long hair is show cased and the black leather and denim jackets with browns and neutral tones present a very modern indie/alternative style which will really appeal to the fans.

Social Media Links;

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wearemustang_/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/_Mustangggg

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Wearemustangband/?fref=ts

Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/wearemustang/paralysed

Research - Chosen Song

The song we have chosen to make a video for is a song by a local indie band. The band have been using a recording studio and have released a single which I really love and that needs a video. The band is a five piece named Mustang and their single is called Paralysed.

Lyrics:

That girl take me away into the street lights
her eyes were damned from the start, As we enter the forest' dark,
sacred heart I'll be torn apart,
you can't be afraid of the dark.
Cos I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed like a moth to a flame
burn and feel the shame I will never feel the same cos I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed like a moth to a flame
burn and feel the shame,
I will never feel the same.

That girl take me away into the street lights
her eyes were damned from the start, As we enter the forest' dark,
sacred heart and I'll be torn apart,
you can't be afraid of the dark. Cos I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed like a moth to a flame
burn and feel the shame I will never feel the same cos I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed like a moth to a flame
burn and feel the shame,
I will never feel the same. That girl take away into the street light
her eyes where damned from the start.

Research - Music Video Analysis 3 - 'It's Raining Men' Gerri Halliwell

Immediately, the music video for Gerri Halliwell's 'It's Raining Men' strikes a resemblance to a well known movie, The songs video has been known to have created a strong resemblance to the famous films 'Footloose' and 'Flashdance'. The synergy created to these films helps the music video establish a narrative concept.

A particular image of Gerri is obviously trying to be shown in this video. Through her Spice Girls career, Gerri was known as 'the fat one' and so, when she stormed into the solo business, she wanted to be able to show off her new phyique with her intensely toned body and legs. This shot of her behind helps not only promote her new, fantastic image, but also helps to create The Male Gaze (Laura Mulvey), in which women are shown in a certain way to be provocative and attractive to males. However, this song is not mainly aimed at men, the lyrics are clealy aimed at women with the words 'girls' and 'women' being repeated throughout,

Intertextuality is continued here through the repeated references to Flashdance. The judges shown in a row here at a long table re-enacts the scene from the famous dance film, this adds narrative to the video.

This is the first shot in which we see Gerri's face. This has been left for a few shots to build up a little bit of tension until we finally see the new Gerri with her make over and new hair style through a close up shot.

An awful lot of the shots included in the first sequence of the video show off Gerri's body. She has clearly worked very hard on losing weight and toning up, even releasing fitness DVDs to help others achieve her image related success.

Voyeuristic bodyshots are repeated frequently throughout the music video as she is really trying to highlight her new, slimmer figure and show everyone that she has lost a lot of weight and is no longer the 'fat' spice girl.

This low angle shot shows Gerri looking down into the camera which gives her a sense of power and authority, the off the shoulder jumper is again showing a sexualised image, relating to Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' theory as she is appealing to men with her feminine and attractive image.

The synchronised dance routine is a convention of pop music videos, especially when the video is so strongly intertextualised with films like Flashdance and Footloose.

This close up shot is highly sexualised and voyeuristic as it shows Gerri in a very tight fitting shirt and she is running her hands through her wet hair and over her body.

How This Research Has Influenced My Planning

This kind of voyeuristic and sexualised artist is very post modern, as effective as it is, it is not suitable for the type of indie music we have chosen to make a video for. The shots in this video are really effective, especially in the close ups and extreme close ups as they are conventions of pretty much every type of music videos.