Music Video Analysis: Mise-En-Scene

Mise-En-Scene consists of 5 main aspects, these are:

1. Costume, Hair and Make-Up
2. Lighting and Colour
3. Body Language and Facial Expression
4. Settings and Props
5. Positioning in the Frame

Both Lighting and Colour and Positioning in the frame have been talked about in previous posts, so in this post I'll concentrate on Costume, Hair and Make-Up, Body Language and Facial Expression and Settings and Props.

Costume, Hair and Make-Up

This is a hugely important part of our video. Without costume we would not to use humour in the same way that we did, and it would be very difficult to show that the detective is perhaps out of his depth with what he is doing. This also helps the indie-band image by using interesting colours and fashionable clothing, for example jeans and t shirts, as well as glasses.

Hair seems to be a common theme amongst indie bands. The wilder your hair the more admired you are for making it so seems to be the case. Matt has hair that can be manipulated quite easily, and we picked lee and lewis as they have hair that is stereotypical of an indie-band, long and cuts across the face. My hair, as the detective helps to add to the humour. I didn't cut it so as it stuck out and curled round the sides of the hat in an untidy fashion. If you're going to be laughed at it might as well be for a good reason right :) This all helped us to portray characters and people in the correct light and helped to create the humour we wanted to create.

Our music video used no make-up, none at all, Matt said wearing make-up is where he drew the line and i suppose i had to respect that? what a spoil sport aye! The lack of make up meant that lighting was less likely to be absorbed and be sharper and more drastic in the shots, but this came out fine. In fact, we think we'd prefer it this way :)

Matt Costume, Hair and Make-Up

Me Costume, Hair and Make-Up

I think these pictures are more than embarrassing enough to depict what I've said above, don't you? :D

Body Language and Facial Expression

In my opinion it is body language and facial expression that sells humour. If a funny line is not delivered properly it wont make half of its potential in comical value, so we put huuuuggggee pressure on this aspect of the video seeing as we wanted it to be humorous, maybe even funny!

We decided that we wanted the detective to walk funny, so I put a bit (more) of a bounce in my step in order to exaggerate him being eager and willing. This coupled with a few silly facial expressions when being grabbed makes for some chuckle-worthy moments.

At a few points, such as when he first discovers the wire, the detective is very serious, and this adds comical value to the piece. Knowing that one character is serious about what is occurring makes it funnier for the rest of us. Its a bit satanic but everyone chuckles at someone else getting bruised and bumped for comedy purposes.

Below are some times (seconds) in the our music video for 1984 - Green Eyed Monster (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UdtFS7Xcos) in which body language and facial expression is used:

Serious Detective: 21

Wire Trip: 28

Funny Walk: 58, 65, 76, 86, 107, 170

Funny Run: 115.

Hey Pretty Lady: 200.

Detective Getting Caught: 226.

The body language of the guitar players, Lee and Lewis, is also very important as i think they make it quite believable that they are actually playing the guitars. Thanks boys!

Settings and Props

Music Video Analysis: Colour

With a song title like 'Green Eyed Monster' colour was always going to be very important in our music video and we concentrated on this heavily.

Our main character, the detective, is pretty much void of colour. He has none of it. The other characters and surrounding however have plenty of colour, and we did this to mark differences between the detective and his environment and peers. The detective is out of his depth; this is clear from the narrative and is mirrored through the absence of colour in his person. His surroundings and peers, such as the green parks, the 'woman' in the red dress, the colourful library and even the band themselves are opposite to him. They are colourful, vibrant and fluorescent, a huge contrast to the detective.

The colour green is used multiple times in the video, linking with the title. This links back to the song which is being promoted by the video and makes the audience concious that they are listening to a song as well as watching a video, which could be seen as heavily postmodern due to self-reference.

Green is used;

• When LipSynching

• In settings such as the park/golf range

• In the ending 'EXIT' shot

Green connotes jealousy as well as nature and relaxation. Dark Green connotes masculinity. Both greens are used in the video through setting, character and narrative. This makes the video easy to watch whilst linking with the song and its lyrics. Also its good to be masculine, it is technically a boy band after all ;D

Other Colours

Other influential colours used in the video include pink and red. These are shown below;

PINK T-Shirts

The pink on the band's t shirts contrasts heavily with the green mentioned in the song. This clash matches the lyrics of the song, as although the song's tempo is up beat and sounds rather cheery, the lyrics suggest jealousy and aggression. The colour clash of green and pink is violent and unsettled, which mirrors the lyrics better than most aspects of the video. Pink is also a colour that has become increasingly popular in the last few years and has strong links to femininity, modern clothing and punk rock, which is quite a variety. These aspects of the colour pink help to bring in a greater audience, and increase many attributes of the group, including sex appeal, concentrated genre and target audience.

RED Dress

The red dress worn by the very attractive young lady (that would be Matthew) in the dressing/changing room scene contrasts to the detective heavily. It reinforces the thought that he is out of his depth in the whole situation, as he is in a woman's changing room and is so different from its only inhabitant, the woman. The colour red connotes passion and love which is ironic as this is clearly not going to happen here between these two characters. What is even more ironic is the fact that red also connotes danger and warning which can also be applied here seeing as the apparent woman is a man in drag. This all adds to the humour and fun of the video and worked well we think.

Music Video Analysis: Lighting

Lighting was one factor that was very hard to control in our video, but we tried our best to make sure that the best lighting was used for tone and mood we wanted to create at any particular time.

Most of our video was filmed outside in the surrounding area at different locations, for example;

• Central Park, Dagenham
• Heath Park, Dagenham
• Trefgarne Road, Dagenham
• Civic Centre, Dagenham

This made for some miserable weather conditions, and sometimes delayed filming, but for pretty constant lighting which went in our favour.

The scene in which we were particularly

happy with was one of the opening scenes that introduces the detective. It is on the steps of our local town hall and was on a bright day. The light is very clear, meaning that for the short time the detective is on screen at this point, it is very easy to see all of the attributes shown. The quick but clear introduction meant that less time was needed to initially present the detective, and more time could be spent on his journey to band practice. As well as this, the quick introduction matches the pace of the song; quick, playful and energetic. This helps the audience get an idea of what the rest of the video is going to be like and is used to great effect.

We weren't so fortunate with other scenes. For some scenes we needed to use simple lighting, such as regular indoor hall lighting. But at other times we needed to use more technical lighting.

Inside scenes that required specific lighting include;

• Band scenes
• Green Lip Sync
• Library Scene
• Female Dress Scene
• Cinema Scene

For the Band Scenes we used all available lighting in the hall that was in front of the the boys on stage. This meant that the faces, guitars and microphones were all perfectly visible, and that the white and pink of the boys t shirts could be seen in detail. If the lights behind and on top of the boys were on, the camera could not easily distinguish between the white and pink on the t-shirt and gave a blurred effect that in our opin

ion did not look as professional. In addition to this, this made the backdrop of the band scenes look a lot darker, almost as if the boys were performing in front of a black screen. This meant that the audience would focus more on the band and on the song, and in the end it is the song that we are trying to promote.

The Green Lip Sync section of the video needed bright lighting a the green tint decreases the brightness of the shot in the editing period and we were aware of this when filming. We used all the lights available to us and shone them directly on matt's face from in front of him so as shadows were decreased as much as possible for a clean shot. This worked well and the colour links perfectly with the song and the lyrics. Magical :)

The Library Scene was indoor and required thought with the lighting. There were lights all over the place and we decided to keep them all on so as to create as few shadows as possible between the bookshelves. This also means that the detective can be seen the whole time, as in parts long shots are used and it would be hard to see him without good lighting. The bright, positive lighting also contributes to the happy and fun nature of the video.

The Female Dress scene needed some attention with regards to lighting, but came out VERY well. We had to make sure that both the 'woman' and the detective were distinguishable yet independent. We didn't want the brown of the detectives coat clashing with the red of the 'woman's' dress and making for a bad shot. One aspect i really like about this is our choice of light positioning. We used a spotlight to light the area between the curtains to make it look like a changing room. We positioned it slightly to one side so as the detectives shadow precedes him. This means that you know where the detective is going to be before he is there, and perhaps gives the impression he is destined to be there, it is inevitable. This soon becomes true as in the next scene he ends up where the band are practising, fate?

The Cinema Scene was definitely the hardest to film with regards to lighting. It was hard. I mean HARD. We knew from the second we decided to include a cinema scene that we would most likely be working with silhouettes due to the backlighting from the screen. This was the case for filming from behind the cinema audience (Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt and Matt) but when filming from the front it was hard to get a good capture. We used two spotlights to light Matt's face but this made the capture grainy, so we resorted to one spotlight with a wider beam and increased the brightness of the screen and this helped to increase the clarity of the capture. I think that, in the en

d, we got a very good capture and made a very good replication of the cinema atmosphere, purely by using lighting. The more real it seems, the greater effect the video has. We did this to the best of our abilities and think it came out looking professional and good quality.

Overall we coped very well with the lighting and was lucky that the weather in our area stayed reasonably constant throughout the filming process. Lighting helped to set the fun, energetic and humorous mood of the video and translates into the song, which strikes back with a fast chorus and emotion-filled verses. With regards to lighting, our video matches the song perfectly.

Music Video Analysis: Camerawork

The camerawork in our film was rather good, with a variety of different shots being used.

Something we toyed with quite heavily was the distance of the camera from the detective, and this was mainly to emphasize the effect of the environment upon.

The shots above show the varying distance with which we show the detective, they include mainly long shots and medium shots so as to show the full character and his humorous mannerisms. This reinforces the importance of the costume in our piece.

The Library Scene

One of my favourite scenes is the library scene in which the detective travels through the bookcases getting closer and closer to the camera. This is the best example of us using distance with the camera in our music video. The shots can be seen below;

These next shots are possibly the best example of distance use in the whole film with the detective remaining within one channel but getting closer and closer to the channel. Editing helped us create a 'jump shot' so as the whole of the detectives path is not seen, but he gets closer to the camera in accordance with the beat of the song.

Most of our shots show the detective right in the middle of the shot and of the frame, as he is the focus of the story-line.

However at the characters introduction we place him at the side of the frame so as we only see approximately half of him. This gives the feel that there is more to be known about this character and intrigues the viewer/audience, making them watch the rest of the video and increasing enjoyment.

Hiccups

Unfortunately, we didn't find all of the camerawork easy. One piece in particular that we found tricky was obtaining a smooth motion whilst zooming and tilting towards the 'EXIT' sign right at the very end of the video. This took a few goes and required us to go back out during the editing process to recapture better footage. It was tricky but we pulled it off and it now looks good. Im glad we re-shot it.

Pre-Zoom

Post-Zoom

Overall, the camerawork used in our music video was good and we think very effective for what we wanted to portray. The framing of the character and the illusion of time and distance contribute to the humorous nature of the video and we are happy with how the camerawork looks in the finished product.

1984 - Green Eyed Monster: Finished Video

Deadline Day

Today is deadline day and its very good news, we finished with lots of time to spare. Potentially, we could have finished earlier in the week, but in order to be as good as possible we went and re-filmed a few more shots including the ending 'EXIT sign' shot, which we thought was an appropriate shot to end on. Now we just have to upload the video and the deadline would have been met :) wooo!

Nearly Done!

We're nearly done with the editing, we only have one part left to do, and that still has to be filmed which we are going to do today. After that we have to edit it into place and all is done! So excited to see the finished piece and then we can crack on with the digipak. Lets hope all goes smoothly!

Drumming Shots!

Today we went into the music room and filmed the drumming shots that will fit into the video, as we couldn't use them with the band scene. Below are some screen shots we got of the drums that will be used in the video.

High-Hats:

Going a bit nuts:

Drum Sequence:

Drum Number One:

Bass Drum:

Getting There

This week we started editing and its coming along GREAT! Final Cut Express is turning out to be really good and once you get the hang of it its simple, as long as you want to do simple things at least!

We've edited the first verse and chorus which are almost complete, we plan to go into the music room on monday and film the drumming shots which will fill in all the blanks. I'm looking forward to it because not being able to use the drums in the band scene the other day was a real downer, and I wasn't the happiest little film-maker you ever-did-see on that particular day, but hopefully its going to turn out good.

All is not too bad with the video at the minute, I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product :D Its just a matter of taking the time to work on it, and I've got plenty of that!

Drums :@

We have had so much trouble trying to use a set of drums in the band sequence. Yesterday we filmed the band sequences and borrowed some instruments from the music department, these included two guitars, two amps, two microphone stands and a microphone (we used another microphone but that came from the Media Department). We used all these instruments, but we weren't allowed to take the drums from the music room, stupid huh?

Seeing as I REALLY don't want to film the band sequence in a pokey little music room with computers and desks all over the place, we're going to have to film the drums separately, so they will not feature in the band sequence, but will be edited in respectively. Im not extremely pleased about this, as I had a good few shots in mind and had it all planned out, but this has upset that quite a bit. Oh well, lets hope it looks ok . . . :/

Logo!

I am so proud of this Logo! I used a program called 'LiveType' which is quite complicated. It took some effort but it looks really good, I think. In order to get it as a stationary logo I will just screen shot the last few seconds so as to use it on the advert or digipak. Logos like this are inspired by artists such as 'Pendulum' and 'The Prodigy' who use them frequently, and Ipersonally think they look awweesssooommmmmeeee.

Below is the video logo I created:

The Band!

Today we got some pictures of us in the attire we'll be sporting when we film the band scene. We've gone for white and pink so as we're al wearing similar clothes, plus we're cool like that. Below is a picture of each individual 'band member' and a picture of us all together.

Matt - Lead Singer:

Lewis - Bass Guitarist:

Lee - Lead Guitarist:

Me - Drummer:

Band:

ACDC - The Best Example Of Costume

Above are pictures of the band ACDC, and more specifically the lead guitarist, Angus Young, who i think is the best example of why costume is important. On stage and often in their music videos, he wears a school uniform, either green or black. This is one of ACDC's biggest assets as they are very famous for it, and it has gained them a great deal of work. For example, the film 'School Of Rock' featuring Jack Black uses many of the songs by ACDC due to their connection with school, Young's costume/uniform. There are very close links to ACDC in the film.

This shows the importance of costume; it can be an extremely positive aspect of the band, so needs to be thought about carefully.

Below is a picture of Jack Black in School Uniform in 'School Of Rock'. How postmodern is that!?;