Chosen band and song

As I wanted to create an animated music video I researched into what genre of music videos are animated. When researching all the codes and conventions of animated music videos I decided to use a song in the genre of indie, acoustic or alternative as from my research these seem the best types to animate.

For my animated music video I have been in contact with a local band which I know and are willing to let me create their video and are willing to perform in it. The band, Against Spoken Words, are an upbeat indie/rock band from Buckinghamshire that create upbeat indie and acoustic songs. I have chosen to use the acoustic version of their song 'complacent' which can be found on their myspace.

www.myspace.com/againstspokenwords

Codes and conventions of animated music videos

After analyzing all these music videos it has become clear that like all music videos, animated music videos follow a generic set of codes and conventions fitting the intended genre and creating an atmosphere intended by the director. From these videos I have found a list of factors that are common in all the animated videos.

• Very little or no diagetic sound, audio dominated by the music track.
• Either very few shots often with one lasting the majority of the video or shots similar to those of a normal music video.
• Mise en scene is used strongly mainly with props, often relating the the narrative of the story and lyrics.
• The visual narrative of the videos often includes a journey.
• Editing is always matched to the visuals, with fast paced editing for fast paced music and slower editing for slow music.

I will have to consider all these factors when story-boarding and animating my video.

Oren Lavie - Her morning elegance

Band/Artist: Oren Lavie

Record Label: A quarter past wonderfull

Music Genre: Acoustic/alternative/indie

Video director: Oren Lavie

Notes:

Camera: Long shot, Birds eye view ( aerial ), close ups to establish mood/detail

limited variation of shot types

Sound: music track, no diegetic sound, only audio from the track

Editing: slow smooth paced, shot lengths very long,

long shot lengths allow narrative to unfold

Mise en scene : Bedroom props, bed, clothes, pillows used for clouds, socks for fish etc

all bedroom items, white connoting purity/innocence

Narrative: A dream, surreal settings, a journey through a dream, through enviroments

Genre: Alternative, soft rock, pop

This is Oren Lavie's music video for their song her morning elegance. This animated video unlike many animated videos using flash or maya animations has used stop frame.

Apart from some close ups at the beginning ( see 0:08) and one at the end, the majority of camera angles used in the video are long shots from a birds eye view overhead the main characters bed with one shot lasting almost the whole video. These shots give the audience a view of the characters actions throughout whilst see 'seems' to travel and the background environment changes. This sense that the character stays centralized although she moves and appears to travel creates the main focus for the viewer and creates a sense of continuity throughout the animation. This style of minimal shots and shot types gives this video its own unique feel although it is seen in similar animated music videos for example the JCB song by Nizlopi and Radiohead's acoustic version of creep. This has no ambient or added sound at all, just the music track, which seems to be a very similar occurring factor and convention in music videos. The sound, as in all music videos I have analyzed so far, runs parallel to the editing with slow paced visuals to match the smooth calming music, especially in this case. The editing is used well to match the sound throughout where the pace changes and the director has successfully matched the audio to the video so that it is smooth and flowing. This seems to be a crucial convention throughout all forms of music videos as it links what is seen visually to the audio creating continuity, flow and a sense of professionalism often linking the narrative and creating an appropriate mood to the context of the video. Editing in this video is fairly consistent and paced similar to the narrative. As this is a stop-frame animation the video is made by taking hundreds of photos one after another and moving the subject slightly after each one, then when played together at a high frame rate it appears moving. By using this technique the director has alot more control over the editing and certain tasks become alot easier. Mise en scene is used in this piece alot through props to create a certain atmosphere. Household items, especially items found in the bedroom are used to create the settings in this video. Socks are used to create fish (2:34), Pillows to create clouds (0:59) and shirts to create birds (2:10) . This use of bedroom items to create the enviroment further reinforces the atmosphere of the piece and continues to express the fact this is a surreal dream and she is still in her room. The mise en scene has been used in conjunction with the narrative of the song to create a visual narrative that matches so for example at (1:13) when the lyrics say "She looks at the rain as it pours", the visuals then show her looking out a window with the lighting further reinforcing that it is stormy. The good factors of this form of animation are that because they are pictures you can really get a sense of realism from the animation..

The genre of this music is alternative/pop and the slow paced visuals and naive but sweet narrative mirror the feel of the music. This kind of narrative is something the director has used very effectively in here creating a video that will resonate with audience when they watch it.

Radiohead - Creep acoustic

Band/Artist: Radiohead

Record Label: XL TBD

Music Genre: Rock/experimental rock/alternative

Video director: Laith Bahrani (a.k.a 'Monkeehub)

Notes:

Camera:

This piece uses a remarkable technique by only using one camera shot throughout the whole video, this being a long shot.

Sound:

no added diegetic or non diegetic sound

only audio track can be heard

Editing:

extremely long shot, action on screen matched the pace of the music

quickening when fast and slow when slow.

Mise en scene:

animated props include, office supplies/equipment, additional background characters, buildings, cityscape

Narrative:

sad, dull, dark,

Genre:

acoustic, rock, indie, alternative

This is Radiohead's music video for their acoustic version of creep. This animated video was made by Monkeehub the animation studio that also made the animated music video for Nizlopi's song - JCB song.

Monkeehub have created their own particular style of animation which is clear through both these videos.

This animation  has used a very unique style by using only one shot through the whole video which is a long shot. Just like the JCB song it centralizes the main character drawing attention to them whilst other narratives unfold around them. This style gives the audience a view of the characters singing throughout whilst the background environment changes allowing this sense that the characters stay centralized and don't change creating the main focus for the viewer and creating a sense of continuity throughout the animation. This style of minimal shots and shot types gives this video its own unique feel. Most music videos have very little ambient sound, and this one has none just the music audio. The sound again as in all most successful music videos runs parallel to the editing with slow paced visuals to match the smooth calming music and fast visuals during faster changes in the musical sequence. The editing is used well to match the sound from 2:50 to 3:37 where the pace changes and the director has successfully matched the audio to the video so that it is smooth and flowing. Also editing has been used with mise en scene and the SFX animation to create an X-ray style effect throughout the video, making the props appear layer by layer, seen on the character at 1:41, this draws the audiences attention to key aspects of the mise en scene which in turn link with the narrative of the audio lyrics and help create the interesting changes in the characters environment. The mise en scene has been used in conjunction with the narrative of the song to create visual stimulants to keep the viewers engaged. The narrative of the song lyrics don't particularly fit the narrative of the video as the do so much in JCB song but the overall depressing/sad feel of the song is definately mirrored in the dark and dull colours of this video and the characters dark actions eg. jumping out a window. The SFX is very high quality and follows the style of hand drawn characters ,smilier to the JCB song, rather than complex 3D images and textures, this is possibly due to the fact they are made by the same animation studio and this seems to be their house style. 

The genre of music this band produces is rock and alternative but this version here is there acoustic version of it creating a mellower feel, more suited to animated videos. The slow paced visuals and dark/depressing environment mirror the feel of the music. This kind of narrative is something The director has very effectively used this kind of narrative in here to create a video that will resonate with the viewers when the watch it.

Nizlopi - JCB Song

Band/Artist: Nizlopi

Record Label: FDM records

Music Genre: Acoustic/Folk/Hip hop

Video director: Laith Bahrani (a.k.a 'Monkeehub)

Notes:

Camera:

0:01 mid-long shot, character marginalized connoting inferiority, pan used

0:11 close up zooms in, in conjunction with transitions changes to the pages of the book

0:17 book changed to long shot of characters in vehicle, centralized to draw audiences attention

1:40 long shot changed angle

2:09 reverts back to long shot used at 0:17

3:51 Extreme long shot used to show characters leaving

Sound:

Diegetic sounds of office at start, diegetic sounds of engine when narrative begins

from then on no added sound except the musical track itself

Editing:

Long shot lengths, matching slow paced music of the narrative

change in pace of action on screen as pace of music changes

Mise en scene:

Animated props include, vehicles, background countryside landscape, fantasy creatures robots, dinosaurs, extra characters

all these props convey a naive feel to the video which works in conjunction with the narrative and animation style to create an innocent, childlike feel to the video.

Narrative:

Naive, positive, happy, cliche, simply, upbeat, moral, slow paced

Genre:

indie, acoustic, folk,

This is the music video for Nizlopi's JCB song. This animated video initially was ment just as an animation but after the video got extremely popluar the song was released as a single and became a hit very fast.

The majority of camera angles used in the video are long shots tracking the characters and their journey. These shots give the audience a view of the characters singing throughout whilst the background environment changes. This sense that the characters stay centralized and don't change much creates the main focus for the viewer and creates a sense of continuity throughout the animation. This style of minimal shots and shot types gives this video its own unique feel. Like most music videos this has very little ambient sound, with only the brief engine sound at the start and the office environment sounds before that. The engine sound then creates a smooth sound bridge into the beginning of the track. The sound then runs parallel to the editing with slow paced visuals to match the smooth calming music. The editing is used well to match the sound from 2:42 to 3:15 where the pace changes and the director has successfully matched the audio to the video so that it is smooth and flowing. Also editing has been used with mise en scene to create limited colour throughout the video mixing black and white imagery with colour to draw audiences attention to key aspects of the mise en scene which in turn link with the narrative of the audio lyrics. This use of limited colour is seen clearly in 1:49 and throughout the video with the truck in yellow. The mise en scene has been used in conjunction with the narrative of the song to create a visual narrative that matches so they included the appropriate props to create the feeling of a surreal fantasy world. The SFX is very high quality and follows the style of hand drawn characters rather than complex 3D images and textures. This style of hand drawn characters and creatures connects with the narrative and music creating a naive yet peaceful feel.


The genre of this music is alternative/acoustic and the narrative is something the director has used very effectively in here creating a video that will resonate with audience when they watch it. Also slow paced visuals and naive but sweet narrative mirror the feel of the music. All this makes this video a very enjoyable watch.

Genre's of music

A music genre is a categorical construct which helps to identify musical sounds as being of a particular pace,style and meaning. This category and type of music can help it be distinguished from other types of music. Here are some examples of the main genre's of music:

Classical
Rock
Pop
Hip Hop or Rap
Jazz
Indie
Dance
Alternative

These can then be separated into sub genres for example dance music can be separated into trance, euphoria, hardcore and techno. These sub genres further help the audience to identify what they are listening to and help to create stereotypes around each genre. As I am creating an animated music video I need to identify the genre of music which is most likely to create a video like this. 

Choosing my brief

Music is a huge interest of mine as is animation. In our AS media coursework I took the role of creating the animated title sequence, this is due to my previous experience and success in the digital art field. When making this opening I had to create continuity and flowing through the extract by making the audio run parallel to what's on screen, running fast paced editing with fast music and slow paced editing with slow music. This was achieved very successfully in our groups final piece and was a key point to creating its atmosphere.

After reading through the possible briefs and analyzing my skill-set I have narrowed down my choices to the music video task and the short film/animation. I made this decision due to my skill-sets of what I'm interested in. I think that the skills I have learnt through my AS media project will help me in this project for example; creating a link in the extract between the pace of editing and pace of music. I feel strongly to create a music video because I'm in contact with a local band that would be willing to not only let me use their song but have agreed to appear in it. But then I also feel I would struggle alot less if I made a short animation which I feel is my strongest attribute. 

Final Decision

After careful deliberation I have chosen to do a slight cross-over and create an animated music video. This way I can do something that both interests me and that fits my strongest attributes.

I will research into the codes and conventions and the genre of music videos and in particular animated music videos. I intend to choose my song before I start researching so I can find songs of a similar pace/genre and analyze their music videos. After and during this research I will develop my initial ideas and decide what sort of narrative I wish to create. Because I have chosen the music video brief I also have to smaller objectives to do. These will be :

• a cover for its release on DVD
• a magazine advertisement for the DVD

I think I will be able to cope with these fine as well because I am confident with Adobe Photoshop which will probably be the software I use to create these smaller briefs. 

Possible Briefs

Today we were given the list of possible tasks to undertake for our individual A2 coursework.

These were :

Brief 1 :

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, no longer than five minutes duration

Brief 2 :

A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer

Brief 3 : 

An advertising package for a new product or service, to include two TV advertisements

Brief 4 :

A promotion package for a new soap opera, to include a TV trailer

Brief 5 :

A selection of materials related to an original children's TV drama, to include the title sequence to the TV programme

Brief 6 :

A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animation or a combination of both

Each brief also has a number of smaller objectives to be completed. These range from cover designs for the film cases, magazine advertisements, radio adverts and web pops. My task over the next week is to pick my objective based on my interests and skill set.