Shot by shot storyboard

The video starts with a close up of a phone vibrating. The text message then reads 'sorry I can't do this anymore' from 'Alex'. Even before meeting the character it is apparent that someone has been dumped. The music starts when the text message appears. Within a few seconds we are introduced immediately to the main character where a pan upwards is used to show him reading the text. Out of anger the main character trashes his room, including messing up the bed, throwing things. The pace of the music is still slow so it would look better if we put these events in slow motion. We still want them to be relatively short shots though to add excitement and movement. Close ups are used to show the main characters distraught. A medium shot shows the character drinking which is then followed by short consecutive shots of showing the amount of vodka decreasing in the bottle. This shows the large amount of alcohol drunk in a short period of time. Then the character leaves the house to buy more alcohol and let off a bit of steam. On his way, he passes a girl and boy, one being his ex. There is flirting which makes it apparent they are more than just friends. A medium shot shows the boy and girl both look over their shoulder and then it cuts to the main character doing the same and looking angry. The music starts to fasten up which goes in time with the main character going crazy in the street including kicking things. A pan downwards shows the main character collapsing to the floor with his head in his hands. This is when he makes the phonecall to a drug dealer, a high angle shot makes him appear weak and desperate. There is a medium shot of the drug dealer and main character meeting and there are various close ups to show their emotions. A shot reverse shot shows the conversation between the two. There is then a close up of them exchanging drugs. There are then a series of shots showing the main character doing the drugs including point of view shots. The main character decides to burn presents and belongings of his ex. This includes using a close up of a teddy burning. You see the main character's body through the roaring fire. There is then a turning point, where the main character decides to get clean. Mid shots show alcohol being thrown away and drugs rubbed away. The main character starts to run a bath. The song starts to slow doing again as so does the pace. A close up of running water is used which emphasises the song title, 'watercolour'. A close up of the main character forwarding the earlier text from Alex, 'sorry I can't do this anymore' confuses the audience. There is a wide shot of the character laying in the bath, putting his head back, closing his eyes. In slow motion, the camera follows a falling photo spiralling down. A close up of the photo reveals that it is actually a homosexual couple. Earlier when the girl and boy was walking, it was actually the boy that was the ex, 'Alex'. When the music slows down, the camera zooms out showing the main character laying in his own blood in the bath. He's got slit wrists and hung arms over the bath.

It is inevitable when coming to filming, that our actual music video will not be exactly like the storyboard above. When filming, we may decide not to include things due to limitations or add things that we didn't previously think of. When editing, we may find that the footage is not long enough and therefore have to film again. We also may want to rearrange the order of the events to make it more understandable.

Storyboard of final idea

Storyboard of music video idea #3

Storyboard of music video idea #2

Storyboard of music video idea #1

Detailed analysis

I thought it would be very useful to analyse an existing music video in the drum and bass genre as the song for our music video is that genre. This will enable my group to establish conventions of this genre which we can include in our own music video. This song is 'End Credits' by 'Chase&Status featuring Plan B'. The first convention we noticed is at the start they include the title of the song and band. This clearly shows this is a music video and therefore if we include it it will make our music video seem realistic. The music starts off very slow paced and a character is falling very slowly. This will be intriguing to the audience as we do not know what is going on. The lighting is dark which relates to the sad and gloomy song. The lyrics do not start until 43 seconds, when the character stops falling. We are then introduced to 'Plan B' by a close up and he starts singing. Plan B is an estabished, extremely popular rapper. He is featured in the song and plays the main character which will attract the audience due to his popularity. The combination of Chase&Status and Plan B combines different genres. This will appeal to a mass audience. The band itself, Chase&Status do not appear in the music video which is a common convention of drum&bass. Plan B is a lot more popular than Chase&Status so the use of him as the main character will appeal to a larger audience. Obviously we cannot use a famous person in our music video to attract a large audience which is why we will be focusing ours on a story. A lot of very short shots of different locations are used which creates a rush of excitement as the story starts to unravel. We are then introduced to a police station by a wide shot, where Plan B is getting questioned. Stereotypically, rap and drum&bass are associated with crime and things relating to that. The audience will know this and therefore they can relate to it. A special effect is used where Plan B is used twice in the same shot. You can see him as the character being questioned by the police but there is also Plan B singing but the other characters do not take notice of him as it is not like he is actually there. He is in the character's head. This is very effective because it looks realistic. It is like he is explaining the story through lyrics. The pace fastens up and you can hear non-diagetic sound effect over the song which create drama. There are high angle shots of hoodies beating up someone in a street. The audience will start to realise what Plan B's personality is like and perhaps consider this is why he is in jail. We are then introduced to Michael Cain playing an onlooker looking out of his window where hes sees the fighting incident. Michael Cain again attracts the audience because he is classified as an A-list celebrity. There are a combination of shots including close ups of Plan B on the ground, street fight and close ups of Michael Cain. This shows the variety of action and adds excitement. You hear a police siren which illustrates danger and crime, again relating to the stereotype mentioned above. We then move onto a new location, an underpass. This location has grafitti on the walls and is dark, scummy, scary, dull and unpleasant. The smug look on Plan B's face shows that all of those adjectives relate to features of his personality. The music quiet downs so you can hear a new character say "He's got a gun". This character is again famous, mainly for his role as 'Cook' in 'Skins'. His face is covered in blood and his line makes the audience know that something bad is going to happen. There are various gunshots by both Plan B and Michael Cain. Micheal Cain is trying to make an end to the criminals. You can significantly hear the gunshots over the music which makes the powerful and dramatic. Gunshots relate to violence and death. There are cutaways to police station where there is a shot reverse shot. You cannot hear the dialogue but it seems like Plan B is explaining the story. This is made apparent by his body language and the use of him making a gun sign out of his fingers. The pace of the music slows down and the lyrics are repeated from the start of the song. Another special effect is used showing Plan B's body rising. This portrays to the viewers that he is dying. This relates to the lyrics 'blood dries in my veins' and 'I'll be on my way to heaven's door'. There are a lot of short shots with the use of powerful sound effects including crashes and car alarms. It is almost like it is flasbacks and on several times you see shots of his face looking distraught. The pace fastens up again. This is a common convention of drum&bass, when the pace changes from being slow to fast, slow again and then fast and then slow. Short shots show Michael Cain in hosiptal and police with shields. Wide shots shows an outbreak of a riot as people are retaliating and rebelling to the police. A wide shot enables you to see the large volume of people involved. This is a very dramatic and exciting sequence as a variation of shots show fires, smashed cars, people going crazy and things being thrown. Plan B is singing infront of the action but he is not actually there, he is a figure of the imagination. The song starts to slow down again so therefore the pace of the music video slows down. The slow speed puts emphasis of the injured and dead people. A cut away shot shows people being told something which creates alarm. A point of view shot follows them running. The camera is shakey which creates apprehension and worry. A point of view makes the audience feel more involved. A wide shot shows Plan B in the air where he has stopped rising. This related to the last lyrics 'the end' which makes it clear the character has died. The location is a quiet, deserted area which portrays escapism and lonliness. The music stops and you can hear the friends come running down to where they find Plan B laying there dead. The last shot is an unstill over the shoulder shot to engage the audience in the action and to make them sympathise. You do not see the friends emotions as they are not significant characters and so the full emphasis is on Plan B, like it has been the whole way through the music video.

Detailed music video analysis

OK GO - "This too shall pass"
The music video seems to be one long continuous unbroken shot, similar to the famous sequence from Goodfellas. However, they used special effects in order to edit the video. It is cleverly constructed so that you can't notice that it is not one shot. The video is a sequence of connected tricks that leads to the band members being covered in paint. It resembles the game 'mouse trap' as one thing triggers another thing and this process repeats. There is one location and only use of the 4 band members. The video is cheap to produce but highly effectively. More importantly it is original and memorable. This is significant because a music video can promote the band. This is proven to be correct because it was "here it goes again" that made OK GO famous.




OK GO - "Here it goes again"
The video was first posted on the internet and it was only after that OK GO became popular. This video shows the band doing a dance routine on 8 treadmills. It is one long continuous shot which means there would have to be a lot of training beforehand because they can only film it in one take. Even though it is only one shot, it is highly interesting to watch because the routine is difficult and original. Again it was cheap to produce but involved a lot of imagination and therefore is memorable and unique. Only the 4 band members are in the video which the audience expects due to all of their other videos. They are wearing old fashioned, bright coloured clothing such as red jeans. These clothes stand out and therefore make the band members prominent. The vibrant colours relate to their fun and interesting image which their music videos are influenced by.




OK GO - "White Knuckles"
This is typical of an OK GO music video as it is one long continuous shot. The video involves the band members doing a difficult rountine with dogs doing impressive tricks and using obstacles. This means that a lot of time would have to be put in beforehand as they can only film the video in one take. This includes a lot of dog training, patience and perfect timing. You can see the band's concentration and determination from their facial expressions. Only 4 band members are used which is a continuous theme for OK GO so the audience expects this. At the start of the video a caption says 'OK GO WITH FRIENDS'. This makes the audience curious but then it is made apparent friends refer to the dogs once they enter. All band members are in white clothing which relates to the song title. Also it makes them stand out infront of the blue background. As all the band members look the same, emphasis is maintained on the dog's impressive routine. One location is used but the video is so interesting that it doesn't matter. Also it means that the video is cheap to produce but nevertheless there is a lot of imagination and time put into making this music video. This is portrayed through there highly original and memorable music video.

Music Video Analysis

"We used to wait" by Arcade Fire

This music video is converged with the internet/web2.0. You visit this website www.thewildernessdowntown.com where you type in your childhood's address. The video shows one of the band members running for the entire duration of the song. Using google images, photos from the typed address appear. This takes the focus away from the band member because the audience is overwhelmed by the google images. Towards the end of the music video you have a chance to write a personal message/postcard to your home address. This clever, technical process makes the music video unique and very memorable. Word of mouth about the street images makes people intrigued so therefore they visit the website. This means more people are listening to Arcade Fire's song and therefore the music video is successful in selling the band and song. 

Analysis of moodboard

A moodboard is a collection of photos or words that represent something. In this instance, the moodboard represents things I associate with my music video. The colour scheme of the moodboard is mainly dull black and greys which you associate with misery. This reflects my music video as it is a sad story and therefore we will use similar colours. There is a picture of a phone which is highly significant as my music video starts and ends with a text message. There are various pictures of alcohol including bottles of jacques and whisky. This is because in distraught the main character turns to drink. The song we are using is watercolour by pendulum which is a drum and bass, house song. The young target audience are sterotypically associated with alcohol and drugs. This is why I used pictures of alchololic drinks. There are also a few pictures where people don't look fully in control like they are on drugs which again represents the target audience for house music and drugs will be involved in my music video. Another stereotype is that the target audience usually have large and bold tatoos. This is represented by the man in the far bottom right hand corner of the moodboard. There are pieces of clothing such as a denim shirt and pair of converse. Our main character will be wearing similar clothes to these as they are modern, fashionable and familiar to the target audience. The dark picture with the person in smoke respresents that we want to do a lot of our filming at nighttime. I think this will be more dramtatic and fit in with the miserable story line. There is a small picture of a speaker which conveys loud, upbeat music. Our song is very fast paced and hectic. I have smeared the white parts of the page with red to represent blood. Blood is involved in the twist of the dramatic ending of my music video.

Brainstorm of a music video

Coursework option

After analysing both teaser trailers and music videos, my group decided we wanted to create a music video. We thought the most easiest to create and popular genre of a trailer would be a horror. Therefore we found that it would be very hard to make a trailer original and memorable as so many other groups would be doing the same. We decided to do a music video for the song 'watercolour' by 'Pendulum' which fits into the music genre of drum&bass. We thought that this would be a very unique idea which hopefully will be memorable.

Detailed analysis of a film trailer

Pan's Labrynth

Firstly, the caption for the company fades onto the screen and fades away, only lasting a few seconds. The slow, eery music starts straight away. The tone and sound of the music already illustrates to the audience that this film is going to be mysterious and fantasy. There are 4/5 shots that only last a second each. These are setting the story and creating atmosphere. It is important to note that they are not telling the story because that will ruin the mystery and then there will be no point in actually going to see the film. It keeps the audience hooked and interested. Already there is another caption. 'what happens'. This blunt caption is thoughtful and again creating a mystery. It is shown in a white font on a blue background. It is a typical convention for scary film trailers to use captions as it is exciting and involves the audience. The same slow paced music is still used. The shot then fades into the next shot which is followed by numerous short shots again. The 3rd and 4th caption follow the same font and background as the previous captions. Putting all of the captions together actually says 'what happens when make believe believes it's real?' This would be very confusing and mysterious to the audience. However, this is the point to make the audience carry on watching to find out what is going on. There is a much longer shot than previous shots which indicates that something is going to happen. Nothing happens then all of a sudden there is a scary creature jumping onto the screen. The audience identifies this would happen because it is a typical convention of a film trailer. The music fastens up and the editing is quicker making the sequence of events dramatic and exciting. The director cuts shots bluntly as it fits in with the fast hectic pace. There is a repition of shots fading, then cuts, then fade. This shows different locations and characters. There is a long fade from the final shot to the final caption which is the title of the film. It is highly likely that the last thing you see will be the thing you remember the most. This is very significant because the whole purpose of this trailer is to sell the film. Therefore it is highly important for the film's name to be memorable. This is then followed by quotes, release date and the website. Quotes indicate to the audience whether it is worth going to see and if it had good reviews. The background is different to the other captions which clearly distinguishes the seperation between the trailer and credits. The music gently fades away.

General analysis of music video #3

Smack my bitch up by Prodigy

Story: Unlike many dance videos it has a clear narrative which builds up to a twist at the end. The basic narrative is following a young person throughout a day/night of their life. A twist makes the video more memorable and very unique.

Setting: Locations include Soho, clubs, an appartment. These locations fit the genre as the target audience go to these places and does these type of activities. It is nightime which relates to a young teenager as the enjoy night social life. Sterotypically, most teenagers are in bed for most of the day and then go out at night.

Characters: Like many dance videos, the band doesn't appear in the video. However, Prodigy normally does but not in this video. The audience thinks it's a man the whole time but the twist is that it is actually a woman. This makes it acceptable about domestic violence referring to 'smack my bitch up'.

Lyrics: Lyrics are minimal which is common for dance songs. The audience is more interested in the actual beat and tune rather than if there is any lyrics. Lyrics include the name of the song 'smack my bitch up' which has a slight link to the narrative.

Special Effects: Special effects are minimal but again this is not important to the target audience. Special effects have to be used to express drunkeness because we can't see the character. This includes blurred and spinning shots.

Camera Angles: Point of view shots are vital in this music video. Firstly, to hide the character as that is the twist which we only find out at the end. The second reason is because it makes it fast, hectic and dynamic. This fits the song and genre.

General analysis of music video #2

The Scientist by Coldplay

Story: There is a clear narrative told in reverse. It is a slow, dull song so the plot makes it interesting. It also allows the audience to see Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay and enables him to be portrayed as 'the hero'.

Setting: There are multiple locations, mostly outdoor. Again as the song is very slow, different locations makes the video more interesting to watch. It also enables the audience to follow the story.

Characters: The main character is Chris Martin, frontman of Coldplay. He is very well-known so he sells the band. If the main character was another member of Coldplay, the target audience probably wouldn't recognise them. A girlfriend is used because it's a love story. The target audience largely consists of women so they will like the concept of a love story.

Costume: Clothes are standard, plain, modern and dull colours which relates to the band and story. It wouldn't work if they wore bright, fun clothes as they respresent happiness and joy. The song is sad and miserable which is represented through dull grey and black clothes.

Lyrics: The lyrics are sad, slow and based on a love story. This relates to the mood of the song and the music video.

Special Effects: The whole music video is shot in reverse, meaning that Chris Martin had to sing the song backwards. This is a clever and difficult process as the actual video shows Chris Martin singing the song normal but everything else is in reverse. This effect makes the video interesting to watch as you want to see what happens at the end. It also fits in with the slow paced song.

Camera Angles: A lot of close ups are used to show the character's emotion. This is very important because a love story involves a lot of emotion. Editing is slow due to the slow pace of the song.

General analysis of music video #1

Buddy Holly by Weezer

Story: It is a simple story because the target audiencee is more focused on that Weezer are appearing in and episode of 'Happy Days'. There is no need for a complex story.

Setting: There is only one setting used which is Arnolds bar featured in Happy Days. This reflects the simple story and it is easy and time-saving to produce. This relates to the technical aspect of finding it much easier to combine old and new footage.

Characters: The main characters are the band, Weezer. They are the selling point and the audience expects to see them. We also see familiar characters from Happy Days to make it clear that it is an episode from happy days. There are extras including people dancing and watching the performance, representing the fans. This also makes the sitaution seem more realistic.

Costume: The characters are wearing old 70s clothing which resembles Happy Days and the period. Again the relationship between too makes everything seem realistic.

Lyrics: The plot does not follow the lyrics at all. However, this does not matter because the Happy Days episode is selling the band's image. The audience does not focus on the lyrics, instead interest is aimed towards the actual band and Happy Days episode.

Special effects: The video shows a current band, Weezer appearing in an episode of 'Happy Days' which was a 70's series. This is a skillful process of combining new and old footage so you cannot tell that Weezer actually didn't appear in Happy Days. Again the music video appears very realistic.

Camera angles: Close ups show members of the band which the audience is interested in. It shows their facial expressions, emotions and ofcourse they are very attractive to look at. There are a lot of close ups of characters from Happy Days which the audience will be familiar with. Wide shots show the band, happy days characters and crowd which establishes the setting and atmosphere.