For our costumes, we decided to have the band wearing casual clothes for
the performance as it would make them seem more “normal” but also the actual
band wear similar clothes when they perform at gigs and in their day to day
life. For the disjuncture parts of the video, we did however have the actors
wearing junk food costumes (pizza, a pack of chips, hot dog and burger) because
it relates to the song, “Junk Food Forever”. Although the song is not
specifically about junk food, we decided to use that idea and expand on it.
The location of a music video also depends on the genre of the song.
Rock videos are typically filmed on a stage at a concert. Whereas, pop songs
are usually filmed in a studio in front of a green screen so that they can use
bright coloured backgrounds. However, Hip-Hop and rap video locations can be
varied a lot, they may be filmed on the streets or in the clubs.
For the performance of our music video we filmed in a stable which
looked like a studio. We did this because it had good lighting and it also
adhered to the style of an Indie Rock location as it is low budget, because the
artists don’t make a lot of money and they don’t wan to spend it all on a
video. For the disjuncture we used multiple everyday locations that the band
members could do random stuff in.
The lighting in a music promo is also very important. The performers or
actors must be well lit in the video to make their emotions clearer to the
audience. Although, in more emotional or darker videos, the lighting can be
dark to express depression or any other emotions. Moreover, the lighting does depend on the
type of music video being produced but also the location as they both determine
what lighting can be used. For example, if it is set outside then natural light
is mostly used and lamps won’t show up much on camera.
The lighting in our video changed multiple times, as our location
changed too. When we filmed outside we used natural sun light. Also when we
filmed inside we used industrial lamps and house lights. We did this because it was cheap which follows the typical convention of an indie rock promo being cheap.
Influences on our promo
One of the biggest influences of ours was ‘Can’t stop’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers. We enjoyed how random the video was and how it didn’t relate to the lyrics. The disjuncture mixed with the performance makes a very effective promo and we wanted to do something similar. Furthermore, we like the cutting to the beat and order of the shots.
For example, the shots would change from them wearing a bucket on their heads,
to performance and then back to the buckets.
We really liked this because it meant that the random scenes wouldn’t
get too boring, but you could still use most of the footage. Therefore, we used
this inspiration in our video, which is displayed when we cut from the band
members at the park, to the performance and then back to the park. We also used
this technique throughout the rest of the promo.
Another influence we had was the video for Super Fury Animals ‘Golden Retriever’.
This promo features the band members slowly transforming into golden retrievers
with really long hair. We liked how this video was very random, yet it still
related to the name of the song and also the bands name.
We therefore used this as inspiration and we had the actors wear junk food costumes which relates to the song name, ‘Junk Food Forever’.
Relating our promo to theories
One theory that our promo sticks to is Andrew Goodwin’s Theory, which says
that there are five different key aspects to a music video. The first is that
the audience have a different opinion as to what the lyrics mean. Our song
relates to this because it could be thought that it is about junk food, or it
could be about a relationship. The second point is that there is a relationship
between the song and the visuals. For example, our promo has a link between the
lyrics ‘Junk Food Forever’ and the image of the band members wearing junk food
costumes. Goodwin’s third idea is that there is a narrative and performance in
a promo, which ours adheres to because there is performance and disjuncture
which is a type of narrative. His fourth point is about technical aspects i.e.
mise-en-scene, sound and editing. Our promo agrees with this as it does contain
all of these aspects. Andrew Goodwin’s final aspect is that there is a star
image or protagonist who is made the main focus by the cameras. Our promo does
this by making the lead singer closer to the camera to seem bigger and
therefore more important.
‘The Semantic Code by Roland Barthes’. His theory states that the
connotation of the story gives an additional meaning to the song. Our chosen
song is about a breakup in a relationship, however, we use the idea of junk
food to make it appear more as to getting over it and living life to the
fullest.
Another theory is Laura Mulvey’s ‘The Male Gaze’, which states that when
men see a female actor they look “at” her instead of “with” her, like they do
with male actors. Our music video subverts this theory because we don’t have
any female actors in it.
Digipak and Magazine Advert
When designing our digipak, we looked at pre-existing digipaks and took
inspiration from them. One that inspired us was, ‘Demon Days’ by Gorillaz
because on the panels there are cartoon drawings of each band member. When we
made our digipak, we had the three band members on three individual panels.
However, we did not make them cartoon drawings.
Another digipak that inspired us was ‘Babel’ by Mumford & Sons. We
were inspired by this because all of the band members are sat together and are
the main focus. For our digipak, we had the three band members stood together
wearing their costumes, which is very similar to this.
Our magazine advert was inspired by this Mumford & Sons poster for
their ‘Sigh No More’ album. This poster features the band being the main focus
of the poster, like they were in the digipak. We used the same idea for four
our poster because it looks very nice and also because it links with our
digipak.
Directors Commentary
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