Foo Fighters "The Pretender"

I have watched Foo Fighters' music video ("The Pretender") to learn about the pace of editing a music video. While watching it, I created a 45 second storyboard. By doing this, I realised that I'll have to film many shots of one particular action to make it interesting to watch. "The Pretender" changed pace as the song changed tempo which made it engaging to watch. By having many shots I can vary the pace of editing from slow to fast depending on the music track. Also, these individual shots will have to vary in type and movement- at the beginning of "The Pretender" there were wide/establishing shots with little change in angle and movement, many of these shots lasted 2/3 seconds. However as the song progressed in pace, there were fast tracking shots with a mix of high and low angles that lasted less than one second. There was also a variety of close ups of the band members and the instruments.

Editing the music video will be different to the thriller in several ways. Firstly, the thriller had more shots that lasted longer than 2 seconds because of dialogue or for dramatic effect. The music video will have many shots per second which would not have been particularly suitable for my thriller opening. Certain close ups of the band members/instruments in the music video was also not necessary in my thriller.





foofighterssequencesaanageorge from Saana Kujala-John on Vimeo.

Selection of potential tracks

For inspiration I have researched a selection of potential tracks to use for my music video. To do this I have browsed Soundcloud for possible unsigned artists.

Pearl - I Know (4:11)

RnB

Pros:

Upbeat
Simple illustrative music video

Cons:

Too long
Only minor change in mood/tempo @ 2:50

Maliavibes - Sunny Day (3:25)

RnB

Pros:

Positive, feel-good music
Smooth yet upbeat

Cons:

Requires some guitar playing
Difficulty in finding appropriate location/setting to match tone and lyrics


IYES - Breathe (3:57)

Mainly female singing, small part for a male
Electronic pop

Pros:

Upbeat throughout
Changes in mood and tempo on various occasions particularly towards the end of the song
Catchy chorus

Cons:

Slightly long

IYES - Toys (3:19)

Requires both a male and female singer
Electronic pop

Pros:

Relatively upbeat throughout to allow creative editing/shots

Cons: 

Doesn't really change in pace
Repetitive

Looking For An Artist

In order to create a successful music video I must take into account several issues. They include:

Copyright issues

To avoid any issues with copyright laws I should approach unsigned artists as they are more reliable in giving permission to use their track. Well-known and popular artists like Beyonce, Katy Perry and One Direction are unlikely to respond. Therefore I should think of approaching new, unsigned "indie" bands that have a smaller fanbase as they are more likely to respond to emails and will have little/no issues with their music being used as part of an A Level student's project.

Where to find artists

These artists are easily found on streaming sites such as Soundcloud as they often have contact details such as an email which is a quick way of contacting them for permission. 

The ideal track

The brief suggests that the music video is no longer than 5 minutes and no shorter than 3 minutes. Therefore an ideal track should last approximately 3-3:30 minutes. The track should be upbeat with a possible changing tempo to make it interesting to listen to as this will make it easier and more exciting to translate visually in music video. It must have enough vocals to show lip syncing and performance.

Genres to avoid

Music genres such as rap, country/western, dubstep and trance should be avoided. 

1. Rap- often contains bad language and sexual references and is hard to lip sync to as the tempo is often very fast. This also makes it hard to learn the lyrics.
2. Country/western- due to the conventional setting of the rural landscape and props/costumes typical to that of a 'cowboy' it is difficult to create a music video this genre effectively. I live in a town with little access to a rural area and being on a small budget it would be hard to get the correct costumes.
3. Dubstep/trance- this genre of music often has little vocals that are highly synthesized/edited. This would mean that my music video would have little performance and the lip syncing would not look as effective as it would for an indie/rock song where the vocals are not edited as drastically. 

 

Styles of Music Video

Narrative Based

Narrative based music videos follow a storyline. The artist can feature in the "story" but this is not always the case. This form of music video is common in the pop genre and often tells a romantic story for example Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day". Daniel Powter does not feature in the narrative and instead uses actors to perform.



However some artists do create music videos of them involved in the narrative like Plan B in "She Said".

Cinematic

Cinematic music videos have high production values and like a narrative based video feature a storyline. The difference is that cinematic music videos have a "film like" quality to them. An example of this is Green Day's "21 Guns".

Studio Based

Studio based music videos are filmed in studios. Atoms For Peace's "Ingenue" was filmed in a studio.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality music videos refer to other existing texts. For example "Walks Like Rihanna" by The Wanted refers to The Backstreet Boys and Take That.

From 1:42 to 1:56, The Wanted make reference to Take That's "Back For Good with the black and white appearance, the props (car, rain) and the costumes (hat, over-sized coats).




They also refer to Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way".

The theatrical puppet part is referring to N Sync's "Bye Bye Bye".

Parody

Parody music videos mock another text. For example, Hot Chip's "I Feel Better" mocks the typical boy band and the conventional "fan-girls" who scream and cry as they perform dance routines while singing on stage.

Pastiche

Pastiches are based on/contain features from another genre/time frame. Unlike parodies, pastiches do not mock these texts. Coldplay's "Magic" uses influence from early 20th century silent films. 

“As Live”

“As Live” music videos contain concert footage to give the sense that the entire music video is filmed live. An example of this is Muse's "Follow Me" which uses of them actually walking onto stage and performing the song.

Animation/Stop Motion

Animated music videos either use digital or stop motion animation instead of "real life" footage. Peter Gabriel's entire music video for Sledgehammer uses stop motion animation with photographs, plasticine models and digital animation. This method is time consuming however allows the artist to create effects that may not have been possible, particularly if they are on a tight budget.

Brief

My task is to produce a music 'promo' video that is up to 5 minutes (no less than 3 minutes) either working alone or in a group of up to 4 people. Alongside the music video I must create a 'digipak' for its release with a magazine advertisement for the DVD.