The Response to Our Music Video (via Facebook)

Me and Rafal also used Facebook to show everyone what we had created. We found that we got a lot of positive feedback from our Facebook friends. The screen captures below show myself and Rafal sharing our video on facebook and the comments and likes that we received.

From the above pictures of me and Rafal posting our video, that alone received 24 likes, a positive comment and two shares from our friends who wanted other people to see our work.

Below shows the feedback our video got from the friends who shared our video:

We were both extremely proud of the feedback we had received, and over a very short period of time (ranging between the 26th and 29th of March - only a couple of days after uploading the video onto YouTube!).

The Response to Our Music Video (via Tumblr)

I use a very youthful, current and popular social networking site which allows young artists to broadcast their work over the internet. I decided that considering I have a fairly large amount of followers, that I could share mine and Rafal's production over Tumblr and see what feedback I received.

As you can see from the image above, I posted the video twice, overall receiving 10 notifications from different people. Three people decided to share the video with their own followers, six people liked the video and one person commented on our good work.

The Finished Video

Both myself and Rafal are extremely proud with the outcome of our production. We have been receiving some amazing and positive feedback since this was uploaded, not to mention a large amount of views on YouTube in such a short period of time.

(The feed back and view count will be uploaded in a later post.)

Behind The Scenes

We felt that it was important for us to share a behind the scenes video with our audience. This will give the audience an insight to the filming and the personalities behind those shown in the video. This will help to also build a relationship with the audience themselves, which we believed is an important factor in the music industry as this will help maintain or perhaps even increase the fan base for the artist.

The Digipack

Our first idea for our digipack design was quite complicated, however, we put our best efforts into making it work. The video below explains our idea and shows the behind the scenes footage of the creation of our initial digipack.

However, as you can see from the video and from the image below, our idea hadn't worked out quite how we had expected. Our idea was to join all of the images together to create the cartoon styled sad face that we used on the template, however different sections of the cartoon face were painted onto Rafal's face, however unfortunately a lot of the painted lines did not match up once the images were put together.

Although our initial idea for our digipack did not work as well as we had hoped, we did create a design that we felt comfortable with and felt it was one that would even be a popular choice. This not only was an interesting and unusual album design, but we also felt it reflected some of the emotions that are portrayed in the song we had chosen for our music video. We were able to put some of the images I had taken of Rafal's painted face to good use, as we still decided that this would be a successful album cover.

Below shows the final design that we have come up with using these images:

With the editing to the colour on the images this allows focus to be drawn to certain parts of the images and even allow the album to stand out. We both feel that our album is rather unique and does therefore stand out to the audience. We feel that although our initial idea had not worked as we had expected, that we perhaps have had a better outcome with using only a couple of the images taken.

Costume

The costume for our character and dancer, Ellen, is very important to the mise en scene. The bedroom scene features two costumes, an ordinary everyday costume in which you see her walking over to the ringing phone and answering it. The second costume is seen as she is putting it on in front of the mirror, this is her performance costume shown in the image below. As you can see, the dress she wore was very elegant and the design of the dress was loose and the light weight netted fabric allowed the whole dress to float as she moved. This was an ideal costume for our ballet scenes as we were aiming to have this style of dress to give a more dramatic effect against the lighting, the slow motion and the silhouette.

Lighting and Mise En Scene

The lighting for our music video was crucial to arrange and get right, as we wanted to create a certain mood for our characters. The lighting for the dancing scenes was extremely important as we intended to show a silhouette  figure for some of the performance. After experimenting with the lighting we found a lighting sequence that was soft and gave more elegance to the ballet dancing.

The video below shows the lighting and the camera filming the performance below. As you can see, the lighting gave our dancer a dark silhouette figure.

In the bedroom, where Ellen was getting ready for her performance, we needed fairly bright lighting as it was important to see what was happening clearly. We found the location that we had chosen to be ideal for the entire setting, including the lighting. However, the lighting when filming the phone needed to be dim in comparison to the shots of Ellen, this is so we could see the phone screen clearly. We created the dim lighting for this shot by simply experimenting with the curtains until we found the most accurate and effective lighting we could. We felt that natural light would perhaps make a change to that of most music videos that are filmed indoors, as they usually have mostly artificial lighting.

The artificial lighting used so we could see Ellen clearly was done by the spotlights above the mirror in the bedroom, which became an important factor in our overall choice when deciding and securing the location for filming this scene.

The Artist's Website

A website for artists are of huge importance as it's a way of communicating directly to fans, allowing them to hear the latest news, songs and see new videos and behind the scenes as well as getting updates on the artist. This allows the audience to form a relationship with the artist themselves, as sometimes when a membership can be purchased, they find themselves on a more personal level. Following these reasons, we have created a website for Gotye, our chosen artist.

As you can see from the image above, we have created several pages which allow the audience an insight to different pieces of information about the artist. The Home Page was created, using the name we have given ourselves, the artist's name and a still image taken from the music video we have created.

The "Who?" page is a page which allows the audience to find out more information on the artist, but not too much. It informs people of his talents and his inspiration and also features a documentary which again allows the audience to feel as though they are on a more personal level with the artist, as they can see him being himself.

The following page is dedicated to the music video that myself and Rafal have produced.

The fourth page "Album" is a page which gives information to fans and possible customers on the album release. As you can see from the screen capture above, the information giving is on different editions of the CD that is available for purchase along with the details and the price. We also included the digipack that me and Rafal made to advertise the album.

The final page is perhaps the most interactive page we have created as far as the fan base is concerned. We have not only added recent updates onto the page - such as the release of his album Making Mirrors- but also attached Gotye's live Twitter feed, which allows people to 'tweet' the artist himself and feel as though they are almost involved with the artist. This gives the audience the idea that they are on that personal level with Gotye, which could easily enhance his popularity and fan base.

Location

For our music video it was crucial to find a number of locations that we felt were appropriate for the story line and also for the mood of our characters that we are trying to set. As we began planning out our ideas for out music videos we came up with a number of ideal locations and later narrowed it down to locations that we felt would be most successful.

Our first location was at a phone booth. We chose this location as we needed to show Rafal dialing the number to call his love interest. This shows him in the phone booth, talking (singing) the lyrics down the phone once she has answered. This location was chosen with continuity in mind, although it is on a road with stores behind it, we knew it would be quiet around the time that we decided to film. This then allowed us to make sure that no cars or pedestrians would be driving or walking past while we were filming and therefore allow us to have better continuity.

The second location was a bedroom. This gave an insight to our second character, Ellen's, private life. It showed her ignoring the phone call from Rafal and continuing to get dressed and ready for what later is shown as a dance performance. We had chosen this room in particular because we found it was mature and would say a lot about our character, also the mirrors in the room and the space allowed a lot of room for us to film and a lot more different angles to experiment with.

The third location is a stage-like room. It appears all dark and the lighting gives an incredible effect on our dancer, Ellen. The room has a balcony where we also set up a camera to show Ellen dancing from a different angle, along with where I did the lighting. Where the lighting board was placed allowed me to see from looking down what worked best for our ideal lighting and mood.The choice of this location was decided over many reasons, such as the ideal lighting, the black curtains that were surrounding the stage area, the balcony that would allow us to have more camera angles and also the large amount of space around the performance area that allowed Ellen room to dance and for Rafal to film from different places in the room.

The drama studio also had a staircase which was used in the filming of our music video. This is shown as Rafal reaches Ellen's performance location after travelling to find her, and he runs down the stairs before opening the curtain to find an empty room.

The final location used in our production was a train station, we had chosen this location as we found it was quiet in comparison to the station in our town. This would allow us to film without interruption from other passengers. This is where Rafal is seen singing through the windows of passing trains, and also where he gets on the train in which you see in the video.

Our Pitch

Below shows a video of mine and Rafal's video pitch, which explains the following points:

• Our reasons as to why we have chosen to produce a music video.
• The basic outline of the story.
• Our market research and what we have found.

Goodwin's Theory

Goodwin took huge interest in the conventions used in R&B and Grime music videos. He came to the conclusion that R&B and Grime music videos were based on eight main principles. These were as follow:

1. Links between the lyrics and the visuals (what is on screen) - this would mean that what appeared on screen would happen in relation to the lyrics of the song. For example, if the lyrics commented on an argument, this would be shown on screen.
2. And if the links between the lyrics and the visuals are used to compliment, contradict or to amplify one another.
3. The characteristics of the genre.
4. Intertextual reference - This would mean linking the music video with something else well known, such as popular films. This could be the set, costume or props used to give an indication of this intertextual reference.
5. Objectification of women - This convention would made the video to be aimed at men, as it would show the woman/women in a sexual nature. This could include showing of the skin via costume (or lack of) or being positioned in what could be considered as sexual stances rather than a stance that would reflect an emotion or a more simple standing and performing stance. This could also include promiscuous dancing throughout the video. The objectification of women in music videos is to make it appeal to men, and therefore widening their audience.
6. Voyeurism - Having the insight to the life of the person on screen, this is mainly the artist. This can be shown looking through mirrors to see their reflection, other people looking at them and watching them or even screens being shown watching them.
7. Demands of the record label - This would most commonly be the representation of the artist. In order for music to sell and for the artist to gain popularity and interest, labels try and set up an image for the artist that is unique and appealing to the audience. This will make the artist become more noticed and heard of in the industry, thus making more money for the label. The representation of the artist can come through in their music videos, as a demand from the label, to show this image of the artist on screen.
8. Performance, narrative or concept based - For performance based videos this would mean the artist singing and dancing to the camera as if they were performing for an audience in front of them. A narrative based video would show more of a story line throughout the video, this doesn't always link with the lyrics of the song. A concept based music video would show an idea or a thought, this could make it quite unusual and perhaps even random, it could be nothing to do with the song but could however be thoughts and ideas interlocking to come up with an overall unique and unusual concept and meaning.

In order to test Goodwin's theory, I have decided to take the following R&B music video, What You Waiting For by Gwen Stefani, and make a thorough analysis of what I have seen that can be linked to the theory itself.

As the video starts it is clear that a story is being formed as it shows the artist in a studio struggling to write lyrics for a song, this creates the idea of a narrative based video. The idea that you can see into what is intended to be the artist's private life in the studio shows the convention of voyeurism that Goodwin had included in his theory. As this is forming Stefani is also shown wearing a cropped top with a fairly low cut vest top underneath, revealing a lot of skin. This could be shown to be objectifying her as it would be more for the male audience's interest in her. (Screen capture shown below)

When Stefani is shown back in the studio at her piano, a large pocket watch is shown and you hear a faint ticking. The lyrics then begin, opening with "tick tock, tick tock". This could be considered to show a link between the visual and the lyrics as the ticking of the clock turns from the original sound into lyrical ticking. The pocket watch also shows intertextual reference (screen capture shown below), which at first might not be noticed straight away, however as the video continues and moves on to different locations, settings and costumes, it becomes clear that it was in reference to the well known children's story Alice in Wonderland. This unusual and abstract themed video could perhaps be considered to be seen to be making the video a more concept based music video.

Once Stefani appears to be sprawled across bushes in an unusual realm, there is another sense of objectifying her, as you could consider the positioning of her body to be more sexual than anything else. This becomes more apparent throughout the video as she makes some rather promiscuous "dance" moves in this position. (Screen capture shown below)

Throughout the video a story book is shown (screen capture shown below), as the lyrics are heard the words appear in the pages of the book - as if it is writing itself. The old fashioned font of the writing in the book is a very typical style that would appear in fairytale books, again linking to the idea of the Alice in Wonderland intertextual reference. This also shows another link between the lyrics and the visuals. Although this is shown in a different way than what would usually be seen or expected, it is still linking the two together and in a very appropriate way that meets the theme of the overall video.

A lot of the dancers in the video, and Stefani herself, are shown in costumes that not only match the innocent children's fairytale, but are also quite revealing. They are seen in hot pants with very large, high heeled shoes, low cut tops and dresses which are very tightly fitted which enhances their curves and brings more attention to this. The dancers are also seen fairly often throughout the video from behind as they are dancing promiscuously in these revealing clothes. (Screen capture shown below)

The idea of a performance based music video is shown all throughout the video, starting at the beginning where the introduction is shown as a few short acting scenes. After the acting has finished and the music begins, Stefani is singing to the camera, which is giving the effect that she is singing to the audience. Further into the video the performance aspect becomes stronger as the dancers appear and the music becomes more upbeat, making the on screen dancing and cuts quicker to match the beat, which gives off the impression of a very fascinating performance.
Further into the music video, a tea party scene appears on screen. This scene is a very obvious intertextual reference to the tea party in Alice in Wonderland. Not to mention another sign of the objectifying of women is shown as Stefani can be seen walking along the table in very short shorts and a very tight, low cut, strapless top. Not to mention that as she is strolling over the cups and saucers whilst singing, she bends down towards the camera, which is a more sexual stance as it then becomes apparent that she is wearing a rather revealing top. (Screen capture shown below) This is all shown from a high angle, which is angle that looks up to her, which only makes her legs look longer, therefore being very complimentary to her figure and drawing attention to this. Also not forgetting that the high angle shown, also gives the impression that she is in power and has dominance over the audience.

At the end of the music video it cuts back to Stefani in her studio singing, she grabs a microphone and starts dancing around, in her considerably revealing clothing, whilst singing the song to a group of four girls. (Screen capture shown below) This not only gives more of the impression of a performance based video but also shows another form of voyeurism as it shows people watching the artist in her studio as she dances and sings.

To conclude, from testing the theory I have found that the theory can relate to this music video in many ways as several of his listed conventions have been used throughout the video. As I have chosen an video that is a few years old and was also a popular R&B song at random, and have successfully compared what I see to the points and conventions Goodwin mentioned in his theory, I have found and do believe that his theory is correct for this genre.

Call Sheet

Each person involved in our music video received a copy of the filming call sheet. This allowed us to all be aware of where we needed to be at what time and what equipment would be needed for the filming. Below shows the filming call sheet that we organised and created.

Our Inspiration

We are taking inspiration by Adele's Rolling In The Deep music video (shown below) for our own production. There are scenes in this music video showing a dancer in a room, however they are shown as a silhouette - which is what we desire for our production. The filming in this music video when focused on the dancer also varies from slow motion to normal speed, which is also something that we are hoping to experiment with. Also the dramatic dancing in the video for Rolling In The Deep has given us a huge amount of inspiration to add our own dramatic effect to the dance performance scenes in our video.