Questionaire

This is the questionnaire I gave out to gather more information research for making my music video.

1: Gender    

   M/F

2:Age             

19 and below             20 -29           30 - 39           40+

3:What type of music do you prefer

Metal         Rock       Indie          Pop         RnB           Hip Hop      Rap        Dance   other

4:When watching an animated music video what musical genre do you expect it to be on.

Metal         Rock       Indie          Pop         RnB           Hip Hop      Rap        Dance   other

4b:If it was that genre what props would you expect to see

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5:What effects do you like to see in animated music videos

....................................................................................................

6: What narrative style do you prefer in music videos

Narrative             Dual Narrative           No Narrative 

6b: Give reasons for this choice

...................................................................................................

Character designs

These are my initial character designs for the band members. I found these images of the band and created my charactures from them and what I know they look like. I'm particularly pleased with the ones of Tom ( singer ) and Sam ( guitarist ) which will be the main characters seen in the animation as these are the two playing the acoustic version however the other two will feature.

Here are my character designs for Tom and Sam. Tom is the singer who is at the front of the top picture in blue and is the character on the right of the bottom image. Sam with the guitar can be seen in the top picture as third from the front.

After showing these designs to friends, fans of the band and the band themselves, all the feedback has been positive and it has become clear that my designs do represent the band members in an accurate and positive way.

Initial ideas for Complacent music video

After listening to the acoustic version of Complacent which can be found on their myspace page :

www.myspace.com/againstspokenwords

I have decided to create an animation along a similar line of those created by Monkeehub, who created the animations for JCB song - Nizlopi and Radiohead's acoustic version of creep. I chose to make a animation in a similar style to these because I feel the general feel of the songs are similar. The similar natural singing styles and use of just a guitar for melodies, shows a correlation through these songs, also the use of flash animation software, used to create these Monkeehub animations, I feel very confident with using. I have no idea of a narrative yet to use in the animation but I will begin brainstorming ideas soon then create my initial storyboards.

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.