Depression Research

Eminem - Not Afraid

Depression and frustration is shown in this video through the way the man is sitting. Having his head in his hand and elbows on his knees produces the idea that he is frustrated and unhappy. The desolated building he is in reflects his mood as everything is in disarray. The setting produces the idea that he is self-destructive as he is struggling with his thoughts via his actions as reflected by the destruction of the setting. The camera angle is low which makes the chairs a large focus which acts as a frame for the model. This makes the eye focus in on the important feature of the scene. 

Kendrick Lamar - Swimming Pools (Drank)

Depression is shown in this video with the use of the scenery and lighting. The room is completely empty to represent the sense of something missing which is a common reason for depression. The lighting is dark yet not black and white which ensures the scene is dingy rather than bright. This produces a shadow on the man which puts him in darkness; this is successful as darkness is a connotation of depression. 

Alcoholism Research

Leaving Las Vegas - Lonely Teardrops

This clip largely relates to the story of our music video as the story is based on alcoholism. This is shown in ‘leaving Las Vegas’ at the beginning of the clip when he happily puts alcohol in his shopping trolley and further along the clip he goes in a depressing drunk mode. This highlights how he is hiding from his pain through the use of alcohol. This is what we want to show in our music video. In this video being drunk is also shown with the main character lying on the floor looking at his hands.

Travie McCoy - We'll Be Alright

Alcohol is shown in this music video through the use of red cups which automatically gives the viewer an idea that they drinking alcohol. This is due to red cups being commonly used in music videos that involve drinking, therefore, they are stereotypical. The scene is at a party which gives an idea that because they are teenagers, they will be drinking alcohol. It is also shown by the way they are acting as it is different to the way people usually act if they’re not drinking. 

The Black Eyed Peas - The Time (Dirty Bit)

Alcohol is shown in this video with people holding cups of drink at a club which the viewer presumes is alcohol. Alcohol is also shown being poured into a cup. This is a simple method that is common throughout many music videos. The difference between these videos is how the clips show the effect of alcohol; as some use parties and some use destructive drunks.

 

Eminem - Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna

The use of alcohol is used a lot in this video. One way this video shows alcoholism is through the behaviour of the characters as they become aggressive (which is shown in picture 5 above.) Another way to show that alcohol is a part of this video is to show alcohol bottles even though they may not be focused. In picture 1, the man is looking into the beer bottle which suggests that he is in deep thought. In picture 2, the man is holding a bottle of beer in front of the girl which suggests he is drunk; by using the girl in the shot it indicates how the alcohol is affecting his relationship. In picture 3, there is a bottle of alcohol in between the two characters which looks empty, therefore, suggests that the two have been drinking. In picture 4, there is a bottle out of focus behind the girl. Although it is out of focus, it automatically brings attention towards the bottle as it takes up a large part of the screen. 

Lighting Researcch

The lighting for our video will vary as our models are a variety of race. Our research helps us determine how to use the lighting in order to create the right tone yet also capture the model correctly. There is a blue tone to this video which promotes his feelings as it appears dark and dismal, this emotion is enhanced by his gestures and the close up of his head in his hands. We will do something similar to this when we create his conscience in a scene, he will use his hands and facial expression to create the tone as he will shut his eyes and drop his head in his hands. We will also experiment with a blue gel over the lens of the camera to create a similar effect as our research. The blue tint will be minimal as the room will be dark as we will control the lighting to highlight certain areas, therefore the black and slightly blue areas will create a cold tone that reflects his depression and his reflective mood.

These shots in the same video use a red tint this is a stark contrast to the blue tint that comes before these scenes. The colour red is brought in through the lighting, the colour alcohol and the red cups. This makes the scenes appear quite ominous as red is related to danger and sinister moods. We will use red cups in our video as a lot of our research uses them in parties, we will have some girls wearing red and we will use a red gel over one of the cameras to get footage with a red tint as well as normal footage from the other cameras. As it will be a party in a dark room the light source will be minimal with only fairy lights hanging up therefore the red tint wont be too overpowering it will be seen the most on skin which is similar to the footage in our research.

This video brings the red in by using a red light in the corner when it is mostly blue, the red scene then appears as if the reason he is feeling down, emphasized by the blue light, is because of the scenes emphasized by the red light. We will create something similar as our message is blaming the party and his drinking for our models depressive state therefore we will practice using torches that have a red gel around them to determine whether we can create a slight red light to ease the red scenes into the video in a way that will relate. 

I have used this video as research into how an enigma is shown. This relates to our video as we will use footage that is created by our models mind therefore we need to highlight this so that people are aware this is a fabrication of his mind. We are using a girl similar to this video and we are using a boy that cant stop thinking about her. Therefore our plan and this video has a lot of related footage that we can take ideas from.

This woman is shown in white and it is blurred to show a fuzzy image to emphasize what he’s seeing isn't real. The man that thinks he is seeing this woman turns quickly and uses his facial features to show disbelief as he is aware what he’s seeing isn't real. This will be similar to our video as the girl will never be in it properly therefore people can question her existence and whether she is dead or not.

Using this research as inspiration we will blur the footage we use of the girl as it will show her existence is questionable as the picture isn't as clear as the others. We will put her in clothing that doesn't suit the rest of the footage such as a white dress when she is in the bath and school uniform in the images of her. She will only ever appear when he is seen to be thinking therefore showing how he produces her with his thoughts. His facial features when he thinks he sees her at the party will show disbelief as if he knows she couldn't be there, this will ensure the audience is aware of what she is in the video.

This is another video which uses similar methods in the video to incorporate a certain colour that reflects the mood. This is using red in a different way as it is a vibrant red which grabs the audiences attention. The tone is lively in this video as the bright red is creating a fun atmosphere rather than dangerous. This shows how the brightness of the colours can determine the tone therefore the lighting is crucial in terms of the message we want to convey. This video uses red cups, red lights and red liquor which is all the same as the other video therefore these are common features in music videos that would fit into our own as it will show how our research influenced our video.

These clips highlight how the main person has entered the party, the camera remains still in order to watch him in the crowd to show his popularity and importance within the video. This video uses the camera to capture the back of him walking in, we will do something similar however the camera will be on the front of him as he enters and then the back of him to create an array of shots that capture his entrance from different angles in order to vary them in the editing. 

Costume Research

This research is useful as the costumes need to portray our message throughout the video. The costumes are important as they set the tone and mood for the scenes. The costumes throughout will be quite similar as the boy will either always be in white or black. These colours ensure he stands out in white, while the black highlights depression as the colour connotations are what we are relying on to deliver our message.

The school uniform will be used for our main girl a few times as she needs to appear innocent and young as she needs to be portrayed as helpless and vulnerable. The Baywatch costume is to highlight how his mind is revolved around her as she is practically haunting him.

The Baywatch outfit relates to the lyrics and makes her stand out in a way that proves she is in his mind not present in reality. We will use other girls in this costume to highlight how he is going insane due to the alcohol and his depression.

Costumes are an important part of a video as they convey messages and tones that can either improve or hinder the video if they are not throughout correctly.

Script

Script 1

Once we decided the song we wanted to do our video to, we printed off the lyrics to the song. As a group, we came up with idea for the video and what we could use to relate our video to the lyrics. By doing this, we were able to come up with a story for our video and the message.

Script 2

After we came up with a brief idea of what to include in our video, we went into a lot more detail and came up with scenes that we could do for each line. By doing this we could then begin to make a story board and work out who and what we need to use in our video.

Final Idea

After many meetings and long discussions with the group, we decided that our original idea would not work as well as we thought it would. We also could not find enough research to back up our ideas and reasons for doing certain things in our video. We felt that it was too difficult to explain our ideas and so we had to come up with a new idea that we could explain clearly. We decided we wanted to re-create it with a story to explain it.

We first changed our song to Swimming Pools by Kendrick Lamar. After deciding that our original video idea wouldn't work, we decided that we needed to have a message behind our video. We decided that the message would be alcoholism as it relates largely to the song we have chosen.

We looked at the lyrics of the song to some up with a story behind our video and so we linked it largely to the lyrics. By doing this we haven’t copied anything from the video as it doesn't relate to the lyrics as much as our video does.

The story of our video is that the main boy in our video has drinking problems to hide away his pain. Some people are worried about him and others are being bad influences. We show the difference in his behavior by having some parts of him in a room on his own and the mise-en-scene and the model shows his feelings. Other parts of the video will show him at the party enjoying himself. We also have a main girl who is his enigma. We never explain why our main boy has this enigma. We leave it to the audience to find out for themselves which leaves the audience feeling curious.

The message of our video will be portrayed through a teenage boy that from the start has a lot of issues within his life. We show this through his extensive use of alcohol and partying, however, the reason behind his drinking is never clear as we wanted to intrigue the audience. We create an enigma in the form of a female model which will be in many of the scenes but in a way that is faded and confusing. This makes it clear that the girl is on the boys mind which raises the issue of her being the reason for his alcohol problems. In our video we will be making him appear secluded as he will alone in the party scenes and his conscience will be talking to him when he is alone in an empty room. At the end of the video he will be alone walking along an empty street as the audience need to be aware of how alone he is feeling. This highlights the different stages of dependency to the audience as he ignores a text from his mum worrying about him to go to a party instead. The reason behind his alcoholism will always be left a mystery despite the video hinting that it has something to do with the female model. The video will shoot back and forth from the male model to the female which will make it quite erratic to show how he is feeling inside. 

Brief

For our A2 task we have been given the task of either choosing to create a music video, a new film trailer, the first level of a new computer game or a promotion package for a new computer/video game. We decided to focus on creating a music video and these are the requirements for this:

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

·         A website homepage for the band;

·         A cover for its release as part of the digipak (CD/DVD package);

·         A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

NOTE: All material for all tasks are to be produced by you yourself with the exception of acknowledged non-original sound or image material used in a limited way in video / radio work.

Formats: Video work must be in DVD format and must be playable on standard domestic DVD players for moderation purposes. Audio work must be in CD format. Print work should be presented as a jpeg or pdf. Games should be either in Flash format or playable on an existing console.

REMEMBER:

Maintain a consistent house style throughout all 3 platforms i.e. same colour schemes, page layouts, mode of address etc.

Maintain a tangible link between all 3 media products e.g. use still frames from a video sequence within a poster or DVD cover and or embed clips of video within a webpage.

Create a logo that will brand the product across all 3 platforms.

Incorporate the expectations of your audience into your product