2.2 – Interpret

Task 1

Last week, I did some primary (surveys/focus groups) and secondary (Internet browsing) research on four different topics that interest me. I carried out research on music, films, animals and friends/family. This research went well as I managed to work out what kind of route I’d like to go down in terms of filming for my final major project. I found researching music the most enjoyable as it’s something that I have a very strong interest in and already previously knew a lot about. I was specifically researching this generation’s opinion on current music as I had a theory that many people my age slate current and mainstream music and think it’s “not as good as older music”. I was pleased to see that the answers I got from my survey backed this hypothesis up nicely. One of the questions in my survey was asking if people thought the quality of music had declined in the past 20 years and every single person who took the survey (10 people) said yes.

I researched film after this, which I also enjoyed. I looked into the topic of genre which interested me as well, but my research on this wasn’t quite as specific as my research on music. I created another survey on people’s favourite genres and found out that horror and comedy were the most popular (as I expected they would be). After this, I went on to research animals as my next interest. I didn’t carry out a survey for this, but did a small focus group instead, consisting of myself, Ollie, Amber, Ed and Lewis. I asked them if they like animals, what their favourite animals are and why, if they own any pets, if they have fears of any particular animals and if they have ever done anything to help the prevention of animal cruelty (becoming vegan, joining campaigns etc.) All the answers were fairly similar- they all liked animals, most had pets and three out of the four people I spoke to were vegetarian. The reason I asked these questions was because I wanted to know if people like animals enough to be interested in a potential video about animals.

After looking back at the research I did, I decided that the path I’d want to go down in terms of my final major project is music. I’m not completely sure what kind of video I want to make, but I’m thinking either a music video or a documentary on music (maybe the music course at the college as it would be the most accessible thing to film).

Task 2

• What is it that makes me do my project?

I have chosen to do my project because my main interest is music and I was torn between doing a documentary on music or a music video (I went with the latter). I want to create a visually pleasing and gripping  video which involves a story (to maintain an intense level of interest for the viewers) and also demonstrate my knowledge and experience of all the filming techniques that I have learnt this year.

• My personal experiences that influence my choices (idea for the project, my role in the project, how it relates to my future career)

I have always thought that music can completely change the mood of a scene/video if used effectively and I think that the most powerful scenes in any film are completely down to the music used in them. This concept has always fascinated me so I wanted to produce a project involving both visual media and music. Besides media, music has always been a huge part of my life and a huge interest of mine and music videos (and their creation) has always been something that has interested me also.

I wanted to be both director and cameraman for my project because I’ve always been interested in the directing and producing of music videos so I wanted to give it a try myself (also I know exactly how I want it to look in terms of shots, angles etc.) I’d like to look into becoming a music video director in the future as I think it’s something I’d definitely enjoy.

• What is the basic premise of my project?

My project is a music video with a story behind it (the song being Ten Tonne Skeleton by Royal Blood). The video involves two people and starts with one person walking down the street looking paranoid after seeing someone behind them- it soon becomes clear that the main character in my video thinks they are being followed by the other. The video follows the main character in a long, anxiety filled journey as they are becoming more and more aware of the person behind them who is (coincidentally) taking the same route as them. At the end of the video it becomes clear that they were never being followed and were, in actuality, were just being paranoid. Shot-wise, it will consist of mostly close ups/medium close ups of the main character as it is important that the audience can see their facial expressions clearly. I want the whole feel of the video to be dramatic, action filled and gripping, to fit the upbeat song.

• What do I seek to achieve and how it relates to my target audience?

I want to achieve the creation of a gripping and exciting music video that fits the song nicely and is visually pleasing to its target audience (fans of rock music and the band-Royal Blood). I think that if someone is a fan of the band who sung the song in the video they will want to watch my video and be interested in it).

 

Task 3 – Use Findings to Contextualise Your Project

What are similar media products and how does you work relate to them? (position yourself in relation to similar media products)

I have been researching chase scenes from films to get a better idea for what my video will look like and to influence my idea. I have two scenes that I have been particularly influenced by- these are the chase scenes from the films District B13 (2002) and Point Break (1991). My work relates to these because I researched them during my researching period to get ideas and therefore I want my project to include elements from one or both of these two scenes as I think they are very iconic chase scenes.

How have similar media products influenced your project?

The two chase scenes I have previously mentioned influence my project because I want to include elements from these scenes in my own video. I have been watching these scenes over and over again to get inspired for my own chase scene. I want my video to be fast paced and exciting, like these two scenes.

What can you learn from similar media products? Compare similar media products, have they influenced your perspective and ideas for the project – talk about both script and techniques

Point Break (1991) is a fairly simple chase scene, including a lot of action- this is the one I have been influenced by the most, as I want my video to be fairly simple, but with a lot of action involved to keep it exciting and interesting.

District B13 (2002) is more of a parkour orientated scene- climbing up buildings, jumping off high surfaces etc. My video will not include any of this, although I really like the amount of action included in this scene. During the chase, there is no spoken word, which shows the characters are all incredibly caught up in this chase, which I like.

Task 4 – Content Research and Production Research

Content research and Production research

(taken from 2.1) I wanted to research music, as the song I am doing my music video for is Ten Tonne Skeleton by Royal Blood which is a fairly heavy rock song. I found this research:

Firstly, I researched people’s opinions on music “then vs. now” and found some interesting evidence. I visited a site called “ibtimes” and came across an article about how music has changed in the last forty years. I found an interesting and helpful quote that said, “The difference between pop music produced today versus pop music produced in the ‘60s through the ‘90s is true sound, poetic lyrics, and a real passion for the music, not the money.” (by Haley Weigman, journalist from patch.com) A couple of sentences later, the paragraph ended with “today’s most famous musicians are auto-tuned, bubble-gummy, and emotionless.” This was exactly the kind of quote that I was looking for in order to back up my previous statement about a lot of people nowadays disliking current music.

I found this interesting as the song in my video is quite dark and the lyrics have meaning (as I want my video to have).

My content was fairly basic as I didn’t include any props- all I needed was my character. I had him wear his own clothes as I wanted it to be as casual as possible, and it was all filmed in public so there was no need for certain costumes or particular clothing.

Crew

I won’t need many people in my crew- only myself and two other actors. I will be doing the camerawork and Edward House and Ollie Hood will be my two main characters. I feel that my project will be a relatively easy one to film as I don’t need a lot of people and as the only audio in my video will be the music over the top of the footage, I won’t need to record any audio.

Locations

I have four locations planned out- these are: Canterbury High Street, Canterbury (near West station), Ramsgate and Ramsgate beach.

Other materials (props, costumes, scenery etc.)

I don’t think I will need any extra props. All I need are my actors, equipment (camera) and my locations. My video is going to be very simple and will focus just on the people involved.

 

Reflective writing

This blog post was quite interesting to do as I planned my FMP and what I’ll be doing for it- after a lot of research and planning, I have a stable idea that I am quite confident about proposing my clients/lecturers. I am very excited about beginning filming as I have ideas in my head about what I want it to look like and I feel that it will be quite impressive once it is filmed and edited. I also liked comparing my project idea to other similar scenes, as they gave me ideas for my own future project.

Bibliography

Mahapatra, L., Varandani, S. and Halleck, T. (2014b) Lyrics, now and then: The history of music in charts. Available at: http://www.ibtimes.com/lyrics-now-then-history-music-charts-1556137 (Accessed: 21 June 2016).