Task 3- Mind mapping of initial ideas (Pheobe Ryan)

When looking for possible artists and songs in the planning stage of my A2 production, myself and Darcy started off by looking at quite famous, mainly British artists. However, every song we seemed to listen to didn't quite fit our idea for what we would like our narrative to be about. Most of the lyrics we analysed seemed to be very similar and didn't have the resolution at the end of the song we were looking for. We decided that we should start looking at songs that still had a similar message but were more upbeat to add to our range of song choices. We also thought that we should begin looking for less well known artists so that we could make our video more distinctive. Darcy then told me about Phoebe Ryan, an American singer who had recently brought her debut album out that i had never heard of. Darcy told had found out about her when her YouTube recommendations had advertised the following video:

After watching her cover this mash up of R.Kelly's 'Ignition' combined with Miguel's 'Do you like drugs?' Darcy listened to a few more of Phoebe Ryan's songs from her album. Once i had found out about Phoebe Ryan i listened to a few of her songs including 'Mine' and 'Dead'. We chose not to use 'Dead' as it was harder to relate the lyrics to the idea's we had for our narrative. 

We found that 'Mine' fitted perfectly with what we had wanted for the narrative. It has room for a resolution at the end of the narrative, the lyrics aren't specific to a certain story line so we could bend the to what we would want and it is fast paced and not downbeat like the other songs we had listened to. Using Phoebe Ryan for the artist also has it's advantages, she isn't that well known so our production won't be compared to the original video very much. In addition to this it would mean that we wouldn't feel we would need to copy many aspects of the original video to make it successful and therefore we could create it in a way we feel would be best rather than following certain conventions which we may have had to should we have used another song/artist.

These are the original music video and the lyric video:

When looking at both of these video's we decided that the original video is more of the style that we would like to incorporate into our production. We had already decided that we want a mixture of narrative and performance much like the first video. The lyric video is more like Johnny Cash's 'Hurt' which i felt didn't have enough of a narrative and therefore wouldn't connect with the audience as much should we use that style. 

When looking at the lyrics for 'Mine' I made the following annotations in order to begin to make connections with an idea for a narrative. 

Tasks 3 and 8- Mind mapping initial ideas and final proposal

For my A2 coursework I have decided to do a music video rather than a short film, documentary or a game advert. I made this choice because I didn't feel confident enough with writing a script for a short film and I felt that all of the ideas for a short film I came up with in the planning stages of coursework were highly unrealistic in the short time frame we would have to film and edit. I also ruled out a documentary for similar reasons. I had thought of doing a documentary about how technology has affected children and their upbringing over the past decade but decided against this due to it taking too long to film and to find children and parents to interview. In addition to this there are a lot of safeguarding issues around filming children which I felt would be a problem too big to deal with when there were other options available. Finally, I don't have much of an interest in video games so I felt I didn't have enough of an understanding or interest in which i could produce a good overall product.

After researching and looking into the above options I decided upon making a music video. From the start it was the option that had intrigued me the most mainly because I enjoy listening to various types of music and i was interested in the making behind the videos I have watched in the past. 

Once I had decided upon a music video I began to research the different types of videos I could make, the different genres of music and different artists. Inside and Outside of class I began to look at AS and A2 students past work from a variety of schools, I compared their work to the original video to see the similarities and differences. I found this useful as I realized that I can change and interpret my video depending on what I like, which is useful as it has given me freedom to do as i like with the video from scratch. 

Here are some of the videos that i initially looked at when researching other students work: 

I had already decided from my earlier research that a performance and narrative based video would be the best for me, so when looking for existing products such as the above this was what I aimed to look for in my research. From looking at these videos and the originals I found that I needed to incorporate a number of different locations within my music video. In addition to this the students work allowed em to understand the different/most common camera angles used, the types of editing I could use and the narratives that i could choose from. All of this research helped me when I was story boarding and brainstorming my ideas for my video as you can see below:



After I had mind mapped a few of my idea's and did some additional research into Birdy and Phoebe Ryan I found that Phoebe Ryan's song 'Mine' would be the best song for my video. I came to this conclusion because Ryan's song is less well known and therefore easier to brand as i wish. Also the lyrics could be analysed in many different ways leaving room for a number of different narratives to be used depending on what I felt would be most suitable. Compared to 'Skinny Love', 'Mine' is a lot more upbeat which is what I felt would be best for my video, as many of the other A2 productions i looked at were a lot slower and I don't want to conform to this.

Once i had decided upon a song the narrative came very quickly. I didn't feel as though I had to storyboard any other ideas because myself and Darcy had very similar thoughts on the narrative and just talked it through, debating ideas rather than mind mapping or making a list. Our initial idea was just to have one actor- a female who had argued with a family member and was trying to get as far away from home as possible. We took some initial idea's from Ed Sheeran's 'The A Team' which has a similar plot. However, after we began our first storyboard we realized that we wanted our video to be more original an I felt like we were copying 'The A Team'. With this in mind we discussed the rest of our options and thought that a narrative of a couple arguing/splitting up would be more fitting with the lyrics. Since then we have added more detail into our story line as you can see from my storyboard. In addition to this we have decided to keep a few shots in our final product similar to some in 'The A Team' for example:

Finally, I have planned out the props,costumes and equipment  we will need when it comes to filming, this should make it easier on the day because we will have it all there ready. 

Task 2.2- Research into existing products (print artefacts)

Before creating my own print artefact I decided to look at a range of different popular album covers, two of which were Phoebe Ryan's. I analysed and annotated the covers as you can see above so that I could gain an idea of what I could use for my print artefact. The last picture is the most similar to my idea as I think a close up of the artists face is more personal to the artist compared to some of the other covers that I researched. I also thought that I would like the artist's name and the album name on the cover unlike the first picture because it would allow the target audience to remember who the artist is and what their album is called, much like in the last picture where the title is bold, clear and easy to read. However, I also like the idea of the cover being in black and white much like the first image as I believe that it will stand out compared to many other albums at the moment. 

Overall I think the album cover will probably be best compared to Adele's '21' cover with elements of Phoebe Ryan's 'Mine' and Rihanna's 'Loud'. This is mainly because of the black and white theme throughout all of Adele's albums, but also the picture that I wish to use of our artist is a close up of her with her eyes closed. I also like the idea that Adele uses a different colour for her album name to put emphasis onto it. Despite this, I also like the green, natural colours coming through in Phoebe Ryan's cover, therefore I shall probably incorporate some more green too, perhaps leaving  the background of the trees green and the central image black and white. 

I also like the first cover (Ed Sheeran's 'A team') because you can see how the image connects to the video, I think that should I include a picture on the back of my cover it should be one like this as it gives the audience an insight into the narrative and genre of the album.

Pitch feedback

Preparation needs to be more thorough. Three cells in a storyboard leaves you looking poorly prepared for a pitch to an audience.

You showed the music video and clearly explained your choice of artist due to her being unknown and covering well known artists. I like this idea as it gives you a blank slate to brand the artist. 

The lyrics provide you with ideas and I need to see them annotated evidencing development of ideas. 

Schedule effectively so that you gain momentum at this point.  October half-term is late to start filming, begin now.

Publish storyboards on the blog

How ill you brand the artist, come up with some mood boards and descriptions of style, costume, hair. 

Prepare for a photo shoot with your artist.

Could we record the artist here if she is a friend. Use the recording studio and make your own cover of the song.  This will improve your grade and allow a performance element to be filmed.