Update in gaining permission

Transcript of my email to Anna:

Thank you and I’m happy to answer your questions. 

So I haven’t made any story boards yet, I’m in the very early stages of planning but I will tell you what I was thinking of doing so far. The lyrics strongly reminded me of a woman who is trying to conceive a child but so far has not been successful. The words ‘lord know what i’d do if i met you…if i saw you’ remind me of a longing for a child and a family, the lyrics ‘a picture perfect family’ supported this idea for me. I thought I could show this longing by the use of children’s drawings and colouring in pictures stuck to a fridge, along with imagery of a family and possibly a child’s hand print. ‘Times that change’ made me think that the characters age could be important to her if she is trying to conceive, as her body will be changing and reducing her chances over time. I thought I could show her age and her feelings towards it by showing footage of a surprise 30th or 40th birthday party. As the video goes on and the story is unravelling I thought showing images of IVF letters and bills would emphasise the physical, emotional and practical problems she was facing. The longing for a child could also be shown by scenes where she is sitting or walking through a children’s park, negative pregnancy tests, seeing other couples with their baby scans and flicking through children’s tv shows. 

I thought that I would add a little twist to the story by making it about a lesbian couple who can’t conceive. However I don’t want this to be the main focus of the video, which is why I have only mentioned one woman because I thought that I could be subtle about it by careful placement of things in scenes i,e a shoe cupboard full of women’s shoes or pictures around the house that are of the couple. There is also an advantage of not showing the woman’s partner and this is that its adds to the idea of the character feeling alone and/or incomplete without her child and family. I also thought that if I could show the strain the IVF is having on the couple through the use of letters or text messages.

I haven’t got any idea yet about the order of the scenes (I’m going to start figuring that out today hopefully, once I have studied the lyrics more) and I may end up adding a few more ideas or taking some out. I hope that you like the idea. If you don’t like it then I can try to think of something else. Or if there is anything you don’t want me to include then I can change it :) 

Of course i don’t mind you using it on your social networks, it is of course your song and I am happy for you to put it wherever you want. Once I have finished it and uploaded it to my blog I will email you the YouTube link so you know were to find it :) 

I am based in Norfolk so its pretty hard for me to get to London or Birmingham, mainly because it would take up a lot of time and I have college 5 days a week along with work and many medical appointments which I can’t miss. It would, however be great to meet but I would need to wait until I get my college timetable and know when I have a free day or two to spend travelling and of course it would have to fit in with you. Thank you for the offer of your time, I really do appreciate it. 

That leads me on to your question of would I like you to appear in the video. At this moment in time, I haven’t considered casting. However due to the distance between us I don’t know if it would be practical (money and time wise) for you to be in the video. The only time I can think of that might work is if I came to London in october half term and did the shoot with you then, however that would really be playing with time and my deadline. I think what Im trying to say is that at this point in my planning I don’t know who will be in the video but if I could get back to you in the future about it, that would be grate. 

Of course I totally understand that trusting me with your work is a big deal because, like you said, it can effect your online reputation, so please feel free to tell me your ideas about what kind of video you would like and what part of my ideas you like and don’t like. 

Thank you for all of your help and for giving me the go a head to try and produce something great with your work. 

I hope you are well,

Grace.

p.s If you have a typed up copy of the lyrics that you could send me, I would really appreciate it because then I know for sure that I have the lyrics correct and it makes planning and editing a lot easier. Thanks :)

Gaining The Artists Permission

I have decided to use the artist Anna Chung and her song 'God Knows What I'd Do' (pending response for permission) as my Unsigned British Artist. Below is a copy of the message I sent to Anna through the 'Contact' tab on her blog. You can also find out more about Anna and what she does here

Similarities in Music Videos

To help me plan my music video I looked at a number of music videos by the artists Bastille, Frank Turner, Kanye West, Kaiser Chiefs, 1975, Macklemore, Arctic Monkeys and Beyonce. I was looking for similarities in the videos that could help me in creating my video. For example, the types of shots most frequently used, the type of video i.e narrative based and any intertextual references. 

I found that in most of the videos at least 3 of the following shots were frequently used:

Cut Away (this was used to cut between the artists and images or two time scales (the present and past) that added to the narrative) 

Establishing Shot/ Long Shot

Pan

Tracking Shot

Close up (most frequently used to show the artists face or an object of relevance e.g Shoes in the song 'Wings' by Macklemore) 

It was also noticeable that the majority of the videos had people looking out of windows  or sitting in a cinema which signifies the notion of looking which is very important in a music video and is intended to keep the viewer watching. 

In most of the videos there was, at least once, images of the artist The exception to this was when the video was purely animation/ CGI ( Arctic Monkeys 'Do I Wanna Know?'). Images of concerts were also used in some videos (Macklemore 'Victory Lap') and in the videos where the artists were shown, the instruments were also seen. However this was not true for rap artists like Macklemore and Kanye West 

Other noticeable things included the use of old footage to show a progression of time i.e old sports clips or clips of when the artist was younger.  Many of the videos were narrative based and included images of being on transport such as bikes, cars, boats etc which suggested going on a literal or metaphorical journey. There were also many open spaces and Dark lighting was often used possibly to takeaway your focus from the back ground and put it all on the artists. I didn't find many intertextual references but 'Wings' by Macklemore is basically one giant intertextual reference that is put together with great skill. It doesn't throw the reference in your face but it really gets you thinking about the company 'Nike' and the way people develop themselves around a brand and the effect this can have on society. The word in this song are very closely linked to the images we are shown and at one point we are shown 'Nike Town' and through out the video we are shown different types of Nike shoes. 

This research was very helpful because I know now that it is important to include as many of the variations of shots as I can. I have seen the effects of a well shown intertextual reference and I also have had the chance to see how they have shown the progression of time and how frequently the idea of travelling is used. I hope to use these things when I create my video to make it the best I can.  

More Unsigned British Artists

14corners

1wr

Angry Towns People

Annadefiant

Anna_chung

Daniel Oakley

Not My Day

1984

Jack Mercy

01_kemm

The Weeble