Storyboard

Analysis of The Script - 'Breakeven'

The music video "Breakeven" by the Script was released on the 12^th December 2008 and was directed by the film director ‘Aggressive’.  The song includes references to the genre of soft rock followed by elements of folk rock and acoustic music as the main singer Danny O'Donoghue's describes his feelings and emotions towards his break-up between him and his girlfriend.

The music video includes conventions of both performance and narrative based music videos to present the protagonist very differently. The narrative elements of the video portray him to be a ‘normal’ person with real feelings as he is just a man in love who misses his girlfriend, providing audiences with para-social intimacy. The performance based sequences, however show the singer with his band in front of crowds of people presenting him as a star. This adds to his ‘meta-narrative’ by making him appealing to audiences through showing this down to earth side.  

The lyrics of the song match the visuals of the music video as the song includes themes of heartbreak. In the first verse when the main protagonist is shown to sing the lyrics “Cos I got time while she got freedom” a low angle shot of his ex-girlfriend in a field is used to connote her sense of freedom as she is no longer in a loving relationship with him no more.  The lyrics “They say bad things happen for a reason” are emphasised in the visuals of the music video as the audience see his lover walking out of the front door with her bags packed illustrating this scene to be a ‘bad thing’.  The lyrics of the song are further emphasised as the main actor sings “While I’m wide awake, she’s no trouble sleeping” conveying him to be sitting on the edge of the bed with his hand on his head which suggests he is unable to sleep due to the breakup between him and his girlfriend.

Throughout the music video, flashbacks are used to show the difference between the past and present. This is displayed through the different variations of colour as the flashbacks are shown to be much more colourful and slightly brighter than the real-time shots to give the audience the impression that they are looking back in time from O’Donoghue’s memory. The constant change of colour conveys him to be much happier when he is with his girlfriend and sad and miserable when he is alone. Visual techniques are used to assist this, for example the room is lit by a flickering light which gives the impression of flames as if the artist is telling a story and reminiscing from the past. The rule of thirds is also used in the black and white flashbacks which make the shot feel like a photograph, reinforcing the idea that the audience are looking back in time from the singer’s memory.  Furthermore, a black and white shot of the lead singer sitting alone in a room looking at a colour video of his love divides the two aspects of the video to avoid any confusion of the audience.

The female character is described to adhere to the Madonna vs Whore complex which was first identified by Sigmund Freud as she is seen by the male as something he desires. This is reinforced by the apparent use of close-up shots of the lead singer and his girlfriend in bed together implying the male singer misses this kind of connection and intimacy between them. A close-up shot of the female figures lips is also used which again includes references to Freud’s theory.

The ideological discourse of the video shows that it is ok for a man to show his emotions by expressing his loss for the one that he loves. The main singer is shown frustrated by the absence of his love as he is shown to be walking along the seafront singing this as if he cannot hold this in any more. The lyrics “I’m falling to pieces” and “what am I supposed to do” reinforces the confusion and sadness he feels. This side of emotion conveys the 'new man' ideology found in contemporary society, reinforcing a hetro-normative discourse.

Music genres

This is a video I made on the programme PowToon of the different genres of music. 

Research into the Band/Artist

Animatic Storyboard

Before starting the production of my music video, I created an animatic video of my storyboard, which consisted of drawing out each individual frame, scanning it in and then placing it altogether to fit the lyrics of the song. I think this will be very beneficial when it comes to creating my actual music video as it will give me something I can constantly refer back to, to ensure I am on the right track. Also, this gives me a brief idea of what my actual music video will look like, I plan to show this to people that fall within my target audience and try and get some feedback on how they think my video will look once it’s filmed and edited together based upon the animatic. 

Moodboard

Lyric analysis of Ed Sheeran - Afire Love

Production diary - 19/09/14

In my free time at home I've been looking at a selection of music videos from a variety of different genres of music as I found myself still unsure on what song I want to use for my final music video. I've also been looking at music videos which include a narrative sequence as I am now thinking of producing a narrative music video. I believe this will be more effective than my initial planning ideas of  a performance based video as an narrative sequence will include a story behind which I can convey through the visuals of my video. From my research, I really like the song 'Afire Love' by Ed Sheeran as the song was recently released earlier this year and is not overly popular which I like. Furthermore, the song does not include a music video which I believe is beneficial as this will not influence me on the production of my own music video. 

The song entails the story of the tragic death of Sheerans' grandfather who had suffered with Alzeheimer's disease for twenty years and how Ed wishes he knew him better. The song involves a slow melody as he explains the aftermath of his grandfathers death, with his family reuniting for the funeral, and describes his heartbreak and sorrow. Sheeran did not finish writing the lyrics of the song till the funeral.

As I have come up with my final song idea I can now begin to plan my initial planning ideas for this particular song. After I have completed my initial ideas, I will then analyse the lyrics of the song to see what else I can include which is emphasised in the lyrics of the song.

Production Diary - 16/09/14

This week for homework I caught up on research tasks that I had not completed in lesson.I first finished Music Record Labels which I found very interesting researching the different major and independant music record labels includng the 'Big Four' - Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group and Warner Music Group. I believe looking at different music labels was essential for the research of my final music video as it gave me further information on how the music industry works and the business aspects of why artists make music videos. It also gave me a better understanding as to how a music video can provide branding and identity as well as how the music industry is doing currently regarding loss of profits.

I also completed the research task 'Music Festivals' looking at different festivals relating to the theme of music. I first looked at Glastonbury Festival, a five -day music festival that takes place every year during the last weekend in June. The festivals is known as one of the largest greenfield festivals in the world and is now attended by around 175,000 people. I also looked at other festivals including Download Festival and Creamfields. Download Festival is a British Rock festival which involves music from the genres of heavy metal, rock and punk. The festival is held every year at Donington Park in Leicestershire and is considered to be one of the two major and most popular British summer rock and metal events.  Creamfields is also a big event featuring a wide range of DJs and live acts from all over the world. I also looked at V Festival which is represented by the Virgin Group and is sponsored by the mobile, television and broadband service Virgin Media. Overall, I found this task very helpful as it gave me a better insight to the different music festivals targetted towards different genres of music which will hopefully help me decide corresponding to my own specific target audience for my music video.

Music Channels

Music Record Labels

Music Festivals

Similar Product Research

Production diary - 11/09/14

In class today we were given a tracking sheet where we had to write down all of the research tasks which we needed to complete by certain dates which I have been working on in class and for homework. I also looked at the updated coursework checklist and saw my research of a digipak had a low grade and so decided to improve and film my own video explaining the basics of a digipak for homework.  My teacher kindly lend me one of his examples ' The Twilight Sad', a Scottish indie rock band which was published in 2009.  Before filming my video I did some general research, outlining what was included in a digipak and the conventions of one. I then used my camera - Canon 700D and filmed my sister giving a tutorial of the different panels included in a digipak. I also did a voice-over instructing the viewer of the different parts and pages involved in this digipak.

What is a digipak?

This is a video describing the basics of a digipak. The written version of this presentation can be found below:

A digipak is a style of packaging usually used on CD singles or special editions of CD albums. The packaging typically consists of a gatefold paper board or outer binding with several different plastic trays to hold the CD or DVD included inside. Other materials which are included inside involve a lyrics book, list of songs and photos of the artist or band. The sole purpose of a digipak is to help promote the music industry and bring awareness to the artist or band by encouraging consumers to buy and listen to their music. 

The front cover of a digipak typically embodies what the artist represents and what their predominate genre is.  The front cover of this digipak includes aspects of futuristic idealism to convey the lyrics and visuals of the music and to create an obscure and contemporary look. Like most digipacks the front panel is colorful to attract and stand out to the target audience. The mix of the colours pink and black shown on the front panel emphasize what genre of music the album is from – soft rock and pop. The band name is shown to be written in bold font which corresponds with the pink background reflecting the genre and atmosphere the band have created in their music. The bold font also enables the title to stand out and make the font recognizable to fans of The Twilight Sad.

Inside, there is a CD and lyrics book. The CD follows a simple design only showing the band’s name, the name of their single and an artistic image which is also shown on the back panel of the digipak. The small font shown on the inside panel includes legal details and copyright notices prohibiting people from using the same style of digipak and songs listed on the album. There is also a credit list of everyone involved in the production of their album as well as a thank you note written by the band thanking family and friends. 

Like all digipacks, the back panel consists of a track list which gives the names of each song the band have produced. The colours pink, black and cream are used again to show a consistent colour scheme throughout. The barcode and record label logo ‘Fat Cat Records’ are shown at the bottom of page. This is an important convention of a digipak.

The spine located on the far right of the back panel includes a small version of the band’s name and single. Although the text is of a smaller font, the design still enables buyers to identify the digipak as a product made by The Twilight Sad.

Production diary 9/9/14

Today, I spent my day designing different logo's to use for the production of my music video. I ideally wanted something creative and eye-catching that would make the viewer remember my logo but after creating several different designs I found the more simple layouts to be more effective. I also asked  peers from my class for feedback, asking what design they most liked. The majority of them preferred the first one as they believed it looked more professional. I will perhaps think about using this design for my final logo.

Production logo designs