First day shooting- paint powder fight

Our powder paint fight sequence had to be shot in one night as we had a certain amount of powder paint and our actors costumes would get messy and we would not have been able to afford to re shoot. We each had lists of what we needed to bring to make sure we would not forget anything and created a timetable of when we would have to get to our location in order to set up and when we would start shooting, we told everyone to get there at 6pm so we could tell them what they needed to do to get the shots we needed. We started shooting at 7pm because it was dark enough at this point, we set the camera to shoot at 50fps instead of 25fps so when we slowed it down in editing it will smoother, we shot a variety of different action shots of the fight from different angles until we had completely ran out of powder paint and also shots of the actors just standing so we would be able to create the contrast between fast action shots.
The shot went really well and the shots ended up looking exactly how we wanted as we were worried about how the paint would show up in shots due to the lighting, the costumes also fit in really well with the paint powder. If we were to re do this shooting I think we should have got more paint powder in order to get more shots and also try and find more actors as we had to shoot with two guys and three girls as this was the only problem that arose but, I think the shots work well with the number of actors we had.

Shot List-John Newman-Love Me Again

Storyboard- John Newman- Love Me Again

Lighting and Colour Research-Paint Powder Fight

The lighting of our music video is a big aspect, we spent a long time talking about the different lighting we could use as our location was difficult to get electricity at, we decided we are going to use a spotlight that can be attached to the camera as it is bright enough to see the actors and emphasise the paint powder. Our original idea was to have two spotlights one pointing at each lines of actors however, we did not have two spotlights and this may make it to bright and not allow the colours to be seen as well so decided on one spotlight.

Colour of our spotlight is bright white as it will emphasise the powder paint colours and show there true colours when they get thrown.

Actors Research-Paint Powder Fight

We have 3 couples in the paint fight, we wanted to make it realistic so set out to find three actual couples  so they were comfortable acting with each other. We had to choose reliable couples who we know would definitely do it but we also had backup couples, in case of any problems at the the last minute, our actors age range is 16-19 as we wanted young couples but not too young so the relationships looked serious.

Hair and Make Up Research-Powder Paint Fight

The girls hair will be 50's inspired style to show the representation of John Newman's style and the mens hair will be normal. We decided the girls hair would be down to emphasis in their movement when they throw the paint, we looked at different styles of how we want their hair to look and decided on a simple style so that it does not take away from the video. The girls make up we decided to have normal make up with red lipstick.

Costume Research-Paint Powder Fight

We decided that in the paint fight that the men would be wearing white shirt with black jeans and shoes as they would appear to be smart/casual it would also make the powder paint colours stand out as their costumes would show the contrast between the two. We also decided that the girls clothes should make the powder paint stand out aswell so we chose white skater dresses with black heels as this outfit is also smart/casual outfit. Our inspiration for our costumes came from Tyler Shields series of photos called 'Chromatic' as the main focus of his pictures was the paint powder in shot.

Propps Research-Paint Powder Fight

The main prop we will need for the powder paint fight is the powder paint, we had to consider the quantity we would need to get as we would need enough for each actor in the different shots. We also had to consider the budget we had and how much we could afford to spend on the paint powder, we thought about the colours we would need and decided on pink, blue,green, orange, yellow and red we bought 2.5 kg of each colour.

Location Research-Powder Paint Fight

To shoot our powder paint fight we needed to find a location that had concrete walls and floors because it would emphasise the colours and ensure the audiences attention is mainly focused on them and the actors. We went for a drive around Maidenhead to find our location and eventually found underneath the Maidenhead Bridge in arches was the perfect place for us to shoot as they were large enough to fit our actors and a spotlight as we are going to shoot in the dark

Music Video Ideas

We had a wide range of ideas for our music video our initial idea was, to show a montage of peoples summers and different parties, but we thought this idea would be a bit cheesy and also not really relate to well to the lyrics in the song.
We decided that our final idea for our music video we would have 2 scenes, one showing a couple arguing and, the other having 3 couples in a different location having a paint powder fight.

Audience Research

John Newmans target audience is 10-20 year olds although his actual audience is 5-50 year olds. Our target audience for our music video will be the same as John Newmans aged 10-20 we will be using bright colours to match the upbeat music and this will grab the attention of our intended audience  

Lyric Analysis: John Newman-Love Me Again

John Newman- Representation, style and apperance

Appearance- In John Newmans music videos and pictures he wears clothing that looks 60s retro i.e. Love Me Again he wears black jacket, white shirt and black trousers and in Cheating he wears black jacket, black and cream jumper

Style-His style is retro this maybe due to his love of artists such as Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye and Adele, he avoids using bright colours and mainly uses blacks, dark reds this can be seen in his album and single covers

He has said that " I design my clothes and build my own outfits and have tailors around me, I like to keep control, I never want to be a created artist or be the pinnacle of pop music. I want to do my own thing"

Research-Island Records

Island Records signed John Newman when he was 20. Founded in Jamaica,1959 by Chris

Blackwell and Graeme Goodall partially financed by Stanley Borden. The company then relocated to UK in 1962, Graeme Goodall left to start Doctor Bird-label in 1965, until being sold in 1989 to PolyGram by Blackwell, Island Records was the largest indie record label in history. Island had a major influence on the progressive music scene of the UK in early 1970s. The label now operates as a dvision of The Island Def Jam Music Group in the United States and as a standalone label in the United Kingdom, since 2007 there has also been a label in Australia known as Island Records Australia, run by Universal Music Australia. Island Records remains one of UMG's flagship record label along with Interscope Records and

Republic Records. Island Records also has signed other artists such as:
-AlunaGeorge
-Avicii
-The Bravery
-Drake
-Florence and The Machine
-Ben Howard
-Kid Cudi
-Willy Moon
-Mcfly
-John Osho
-Rizzle Kicks
There is a wide range of artists of many genres signed to Island Records, and has previously had signed well known artists from Bob Marley and The Whalers to Amy Winehouse.

John Newman- Early Life and Career

John Newman is an English singer and musician. He grew up in Settle, Yorkshire Dales and started playing guitar and writing his own songs at the age of 14 and soon learned how to record and produce himself, making his own house tracks and DJing. At 20 he moved to London, started a band and was signed to Island Records. He often talks about his love of Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye and Adele.
He is best known for his track "Love Me Again", from his début studio album which peaked at number one in July 2013 on the UK Singles Chart as well as being featured on "Feel the Love" and "Not Giving In" by Rudimental in 2012 which also peaked at number 1 and number 14 on the chart. In October 2013 he released "Cheating" as his second single from Tribute his début studio album.

Song Choice

Our song choice for our music video we decided to use John Newman-Love Me Again. We emailed his management asking permission, shown below.

Synaesthesia

Synaesthia is the process of picturing sounds in the minds eye it can also be known as 'thought beats' or 'seeing sounds in your head'

A.Goodwin says synaesthia is "a clip that responds to the pleasures of music, and in which that music is made visuals, either in new ways or in ways that accentuate existing visual associations"
The visualisations can be created in the format of a music video by using camera, colour, editing and mise en scene. For example when you have an upbeat pop song you would expect to see bright colours.

Steve Archer stated in 2004 that with the process of Synaesthesia you need to start with the music. To begin, the lyrics don't need to be analysed word for word  but the main lyrics that pop up in the chorus for example, create a sense of subject matter. So these key words  and phrases will have a part to play in the part of play in the kind of visuals associated with the song. If the songs are stories, then the singer is the storyteller and this obviously makes the music videos stand out, as they feature a first person mode of address rather than the invisible 'fourth wall' of television narrative.

Director Analysis- Anthony Mandler

Anthony Mandler is an American music video director. He has directed music video for artists such as:

-Lana Del Rey-National Anthem

-Rihanna-Diamonds

-Cheryl-Under The Sun

-Jay Z ft. Justin Timberlake-Holy Grail

Mandler directed Lana Del Reys, National Anthem with his direction to create a memorable experience. According to Mandler the image of an artist is as important as the music i.e. Beyonces dance moves, without seeing their representation of the artists a large amount of what makes them would be lost.

To create memorable videos, Mandlers key to achieving a level of impact is, bringing a cinematic feel to music videos, he also looks deeply at the image the artist is trying to convey i.e. Jay-Z vs. Sean Carter. When a video starts to come together in the right way lyrics and music become the soundtrack of that story and imagery and music work together.

His inspirations often come from iconic directors like Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham as these videos became bigger than the brands.

Mandler applies the idea of eventful videos to his work, this can be seen in Lana Del Reys National Anthem music video as it was Mandlers most creative and controversial music video portraying A$ap Rocky as JFK and Lana Del Rey as Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe its controversial themes touched on JFKs assassination and interracial issues.

Mandler believes that music videos today often have little thematic value and more often than not have no narrative structure.

Director Analysis-Melina Matsoukas

Melina Matsoukas is an American director of music videos known for her abstract and iconic shots. Her work has been described as chalk full of bright colours or crisp black and white images, smooth spotlights and retro video models. Melina Motsoukas says that expensive equipment is not necessary for a quality video, "a good video has the right visuals, a well conceptualised story". Her videos are often lit with only a single light mounted on the camera, this is her trademark. She has directed music videos for artists such as:
- Wild Belle- Keep You
-Solange- I Decided
- Beyonce- Diva
-Missy Elliot ft. Ciara- Work
Matsoukas has been noticed for her work on Rihanna's, We Found Love which she won a grammy for also, Lady Gaga-Beautiful, Dirty Rich, Keri Hilson-Energy and regular client Beyonce's-Why Don't You Love Me.
Melina gets her inspiration for her music videos from imagery and scenes from movies and photography, art,culture, landscape, everything. She said when breaking into the field of directing "build up your work, invest in your work, invest in yourself and have confidence. Educate yourself and go for it. It will happen if you don't stop believing and don't stop working hard for what you want"

Director Analysis-Director X

Director X is a Canadian music video director, he is protege of Hype Williams and has been noted for his high-budget, visually distinctive music videos for popular music singles including:

-Drake- Started from the Bottom

-The Wanted- Chasing the Sun

- Kelis- Trick Me

-David Guetta ft. Estelle-One Love

-Sean Paul-Get Busy

His trademark is tweaking the letterbox format, instead of using black bars on the top and bottom of the frame to frame the image, many videos by Director X feature the bars opening vertically to reveal the video and closing vertically at the end, like a letter box.

Director X has said he thinks music videos are not widely regarded for storytelling, but finds it a good ground for narrative storytelling, music provides a topic and mood. The stories are intelligent, detailed and well structured.

His work has been awarded by the MTV music video awards and MuchMusic Video Awards.

Director Analysis-Hype Williams

Hype Williams is an American music and film director, his work was first seen by tagging local billboards, store fronts and playgrounds using HYPE as the tag.
He has created a number of music videos for many artists such as:
-The Notorious B.I.G.- Warning
-Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams- Get Lucky
-Kanye West- Gold Digger
-Coldplay-Viva La Vida
-Ke$ha-We R Who We R
A signature style used by Hype Williams is the Fisheye lens which distorted the camera view around the central focus this was used in The Rain(Supa Dupa Fly) by Missy Elliot. Another style used is placing shots in widescreen ratio while a second shot is split and placed in the upper and lower bars i.e. Check On It by Beyonce. Since 2003 Williams has adopted the style of combining centre camera focus on artist body from torso upward and sold colour background with soft different colour light being shown in centre of background to give a sense of illumination of the background by the foreground subject i.e. Gold Digger by Kanye West
Williams has received for his music videos including MTV Video Music Award in the Best Rap Video (1998) for Will Smiths- Gettin Jiggy Wit it, MTV Video Music Award for Best Group Video (1999) for TLC's-No Scrubs and BET Award for Best Director (2006) for Kanye West's- Gold Digger.