Inspirational Music Videos

Before we made our storyboard for our music video, me and Kate looked at different existing music video of artists we like, in order to get some inspiration for our music video. Here are some examples of music videos which we watched and inspired us and gave us some ideas to include in our own music video. 

Ed Sheeran - Small Bump

We decided to watch another Ed Sheeran music video as we are filming a music video for Ed Sheeran's song 'Give Me Love'. Me and Kate got a lot of our inspiration from Ed Sheeran's "Small Bump" Music video. The location of the video is based in a hospital in which Ed is sitting down a singing, meanwhile there are many different scenarios happening with other patients. For example, you see a couple arguing, a child playing, nurses and doctors walking around, etc.  All these scenarios happen at different times with every patient gradually fading away, leaving only Ed in the shot. All speech is muted so only the song playing over the top can be heard, I really like this technique as it adds a sense of emotion and a feeling to the song but also to the narrative of the story line. Me and Kate both agreed on incorporating a similar idea to this into our music video.

Olly Murrs - Dear Darlin' 

 After looking at Ed Sheeran's "Small Bump" Music video, me and Kate were also very inspired by Olly Mur's Music video for his single "Dear Darlin'". The effects used in this music are very similar to the ones used in Ed Sheeran's with idea of a scenario happening during a scene. Although in this video it used as flashbacks. We decided that we are going to be using the idea of flashbacks in our music video to explain to narrative. 

Annotation of Lyrics

This is an annotation of the 'Give Me Love' lyrics. The Lyrics act as our script for our music video. Along sides of the lyrics we have wrote down details of each shot number and shot type. Although this is how we want our music video to turn out like, we know that when filming the real thing, things are going to change and maybe not turn out how we wanted it too and we might have to ad-justify it slightly. Anything that we may ad-justify or change will be done in order to improve the final outcome of our music video.

Our Storyboard

Ed Sheeran Audience Research

For part of my audience research I asked three different people who like to listen to Ed Sheeran's music questions about Ed Sheeran and his songs. I did this to get some sort of an idea of what conventions they expect to see in Ed Sheeran music videos and get some audience feedback.

Interview one

1) What do you like about Ed Sheeran?
A: "I like his casual styled appearance and how he is different from other artists he doesn't 'dress to impress'."

2) What is your favourite song by Ed Sheeran?
A: "My favourite Ed Sheeran song has to be drunk, I like it because I can relate to the lyrics."

3) What is your favourite Ed Sheeran music video?
A: "My favourite Ed Sheeran music video has to be Lego house."

4) What do you expect to see in an Ed Sheeran music video?
A: "Ed Sheeran playing an acoustic guitar. And no quick cuts." 

5) If you were making a music video for Ed's song 'give me love' what would you include?
A: "I would probably get someone to play 'Ed Sheeran' and have them mime the words and play an acoustic guitar. Also have other characters act out a story behind the lyrics."

6) What other artists similar to Ed Sheeran do you like?
A: "Matt Howard"

Interview two

1) What do you like about Ed Sheeran?
A: "He has a really relaxing voice. I never get bored of listening to his songs."

2) What is your favourite song by Ed Sheeran?
A: "I like quite a lot of Ed's song but  I have to say my favourite is 'you need me but I don't need you'. Its my favourite song because it is different from Ed Sheeran's other songs because it is more up beat than the rest."

3) What is your favourite Ed Sheeran music video?
A: "My favourite music video by Ed Sheeran is 'everything has changed' featuring Taylor Swift."

4) What do you expect to see in an Ed Sheeran music video?
A: "I expect to see Ed with a story behind the song."

5) If you were making a music video for Ed's song give me love what would you include?
A: "Ed playing his  acoustic guitar and two characters being all 'lovey dovey'."

6) What other artists similar to Ed Sheeran do you like?
A: "Passanger."

Interview three

1) What do you like about Ed Sheeran?
A: "I like he is unique, he is different from other male artists. He dresses casual and doesn't really care about his appearance. I also like the fact that his lyrics have meaning not like other male artists singing about sleeping with girls."

2) What is your favourite song by Ed Sheeran? 
A: "My favourite song by Ed Sheeran has to be 'Give Me Love'.

3) What is your favourite Ed Sheeran music video?
A: "My favourite music video by Ed Sheeran has to be 'The A Team'. I like it because it because it tells a story of a girls struggle living on the streets".

4) What do you expect to see in an Ed Sheeran music video?
A: "A character in his song acting out the story behind the lyrics." 

5) If you were making a music video for Ed's song 'give me love' what would you include?
A: "Two characters in love and show the highs and lows of relationships to portray the meanings of the lyrics."

6)What other artists similar to Ed Sheeran do you like?
A: "James Arthur" 

Actor and Costume

For our music video we have decided that we're only going to have one main character. We have decided to use a boy (Luke Barnett) as the artist because the lyrics of the song are sung by 'Ed Sheeran'. This could link to a convention of music videos having the 'artist' to be the main character in the video. We will be using other characters in our music video but just as extra's. Theses other characters that we are going to use, will be picked at random this will depend on who is avaliable at the time. 

Luke Barnett 
 We have decided to use Luke because we thought that Luke had a look that we wanted to use in our music video. As Luke is our main character there will be a variety of different shots that include him in several different locations throughout the music video. Luke will also have shots of him singing and playing the guitar in the studio. 


Costume
We are probably going to use two costumes for Luke mainly because in the music video we show Luke in two different locations - In the drama studio performing and in the narrative part of the music video. As we want people between the ages of 16-20 to be able to relate to our music video, we have decided to keep our costumes young and but trendy to show this we thought that we would use clothes that people our age would wear. In order to keep our character looking young, we have decided to get Luke to wear jeans and t-shirt. We think that this gives a youthful look and also a costume that our audience can relate to. When we film the flash back of Luke having an argument with his girlfriend he will be wearing dark coloured clothing to represent his mood, but still keeping the costume young and trendy. He will be wearing black skinny jeans and a dark blue checkered shirt with some trainers.

Dani Owens

We decided to use Dani because we needed someone to play Luke's girlfriend and it needed to be someone Luke was friends with so that it wasn't difficult or awkward for them to act like a 'couple'. Dani will be used in the flash back shots throughout the narrative part of the music video of her and Luke breaking up.

Sam Harper and Megan Maunder

Sam and Megan will be playing the other 'couple' that features in our music video. They will be shown after Luke breaks up with his girlfriend and goes for a walk around the marina. During this Luke will see the couple being all 'loved up' and will make him angry and it will then show him having flash backs of his argument with his girlfriend.

Planning

Narrative

Throughout the song the audience will see clips of Luke singing the lyrics in the drama studio. We also see 'flashbacks' Luke and his girlfriend having an argument and her leaving him. We will also see Luke in different locations around Portishead, these locations will be places where he has happy memories of being with his girlfriend. But we will see a couple being all happy and 'loved up' with Luke in the background at these different locations which make Luke feel lonely and guilty about the argument he had with his girlfriend. We will also see flashbacks of Luke and his girlfriend arguing to reflect the lyrics of the song.

Performance

Luke will be singing the lyrics to the song in the studio whilst playing the guitar. The boy and girl who play the couple in the music video will also have to act out different scenes in different locations.

Costume and Props
Luke will be dressed quite indie as it is the style of the music, so he will be wearing skinny jeans, Nike shoes and a top. The boy and girl who are going to play the couple in the music video will also just be wearing quite simple and casual.  

Location

The location of the music video is going to be filmed at different locations around Portishead. The main locations are Portishead docks, Royal beach and Battery point. We chose to stay in Portishead as not just me and Kate live in Portishead but our characters all live locally as well so they are  all easy locations for us all to meet. We also chose to film in Portishead as we will have a lot of equipment with us such as camera, tripod, props etc. Because of this it would be difficult to commute to Bristol and back with all the equipment. We have also to shot a large amount of the music video in a studio. There is a drama studio located in school that would allow us to have access to lights. We have asked for permission to film in the studio and have been granted access to it on particular days after school.

Camera Angles

Throughout the music video we will be using different camera shots. In the studio we will be using a lot of close ups of Luke when he is singing so it emphases the lyrics of the song. We got this idea from Miley Cyrus' music video 'Wrecking Ball' which has lots of close ups of Miley's face to show the emotion of her face. We will also do mid shots to long shots to also get shots to emphasise Luke playing the guitar. 

Camera Movements

Throughout the music video we will also be using a variety of different camera movements as well, such as circle panning to emphases Luke playing the guitar at the beginning of the music video. We will also use a tracking shot to follow Luke when he is walking away at the end of the music video and goes out of shot and we can see the couple in the distance.

Lighting

When we are filming outside the lighting will be natural so if we film on different days we need to make sure the weather is similar so the lighting looks the same as on the previously filmed footage. We will also be filming in the studio so will be using a spot light on Luke whilst he is performing. Artificial lighting we are planning to use is in the studio, we are planning on using a spotlight, and light produced from a projector. We got the idea for the projection light from Ariana Grande's music video "The way". 

Song Choice

Me and Kate decided that our song choice is Ed Sheeran's song 'Give Me Love'. We decided to choose this song as there is a wide range of story lines we could develop from this song, with many different opportunities. We now need to focus on creating a narrative to fit in with our chosen song.

Give me love like her,
'Cause lately I've been waking up alone.
Paint splatted tear drops on my shirt,
Told you I'd let them go.
And that I'll find my corner,
Maybe tonight I'll call ya,
After my blood turns into alcohol,
No I just wanna hold ya,

Give a little time to me, or burn this out,
We'll play hide and seek, to turn this around,
All I want is the taste that your lips allow.

My my, my my-y oh give me love,
My my, my my-y oh give me love,
My my, my my-y oh give me love,
My my, my my-y oh give me love,
My my, my my-y oh give me love

Give me love like never before,
'Cause lately I've been craving more.
And it's been a while but i still feel the same,
Maybe I should let you go
You know I'll find my corner,
And that tonight I'll call ya,
After my blood, is drowning in alcohol,
No I just wanna hold ya,

Give a little time to me, or burn this out,
We'll play hide and seek, to turn this around,
All I want is the taste that your lips allow,
 

My my, my my-y, oh give me love
Give a little time to me, or burn this out
We'll play hide and seek, to turn this around
All I want is the taste that your lips allow

my my, my my-y, oh give me love
my my, my my-y oh give me love,
my my, my my-y oh give me love,

M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover

M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover (Ah! )
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover (Love me, , love me)

M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover (Give me love)
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover (Give me love)
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover (Give me love, love me)
M-my my, m-my my, m-my my, give me love, lover (Give me love)

my my, my my, oh give me love
my my, my my oh give me love,
my my, my my oh give me love,
my my, my my oh give me love,

Questionnaire Feedback

I handed out my questionnaire to 20 people. I used a questionnaire because it is the quickest way to get feedback because it isnt time consuming and only takes a minute to answer my questions. I sent out my questionnaire to different ages so I could get a variety of answers from different age groups. I then used the results from the questionnaire and put it into bar charts and pie charts to demonstrate the answers. I have also analysed them to give an explanation as to what they mean.

Question One - Are you male or female?
This graph shows that 9 males and 11 females answered my questionnaire. I asked this question so that I could have different genders answering my questions. If I had asked just one gender to answer my questionnaire, I may not have been able to get a variety of answers that I received.

Question Two - How old are you?
As I wanted a variety of answers from my questionnaire, I asked the ages of the people who took it because I wanted to make sure that I got a range of ages answering my questions. This way I can see how different ages use music videos in different ways.

Question Three - What is your favourite music genre?
The pie chart shows a large proportion of people preferring the 'pop' genre of music. This could link to the high level of 17-19 year olds that answered my questionnaire, as this could be the most popular genre among them. This also could reflect that pop artists music videos are the most popular in the industry. Also, those who are pop artists need to ensure that their music videos target the majority.

Question Four - Where do you watch music videos?
YouTube and Vevo were the most popular way in which people access music videos. YouTube has 100,000,000 videos watched daily and this includes a high percentage of music videos.

Question Five - How often do you watch music videos?
A high amount of people watch music videos once a day. This means that over the years, the music video has become more important in selling the music of a particular artist. From the results it shows that if music videos are popular, so are the songs. This is why many artists have started to create unique videos, that they will increase the popularity of their music.  


Overall, after looking at the results from the questionnaire feedback it is clear that the increase in people accessing music videos mostly online. This means that artists need to make their music videos more unique in order to stand out from the other music videos. The pop genre also seems to be the most popular, meaning that any pop artists need to make sure their video targets a wide percentage of the population all over the world.