Story board - Polarize Rough draft

This is the draft of my storyboard for 'Polarize' - the song I have chosen to make a music video on.

I went for a 6 panel approach and didn't go into much detail with the sketches as i knew i would create a better drawing closer to the filming dates.

they all feature a brief description of what is being shown in each box.

Heres the storyboard:


 

Narrative

What is a narrative?- A narrative or story is any report of connected events, actual or imaginary, presented in a sequence of written or spoken words, or still or moving images effectively it is the art of storytelling.

How does narrative work in relation to a music video?
A pure narrative video will feature no lip synched singing.
The narrative will also relate to the song in some way.
The lyrics are often related within the story.

The most common form of music video is Performance / Narrative. This is a video that shows a performance by the band or artist but also has a narrative within it.

• Often the video narrative will mimic a film genre.
• The band will often appear as part of the narrative or as an observer.
• The video will often tell a meaningful story which often features a deeper meaning.

Advantages
Narrative videos can often emphasise an artists insistence that they are more interested with their music than portraying themselves on film.
The simple plot is often easy for the audience to follow and keeps them engaged.

Disadvantages
Often narrative based music videos are very costly to produce for the record label.

Target Audience

The song that I am using is 'polarize' and that is classed as 'alternative hip-hop'

I did some research into what the most common gender, age and ethnicity is for this genre.

Here is what i discovered:

I learnt that the 'IDEAL' audience member is male aged 16-25 and is of white ethnicity.

I also learnt that the 'LEAST IDEAL' audience member is female, aged 10-15 or 41-50 and of Chinese ethnicity.

I also discovered that surprisingly the second most common age group is 60+. This really surprised me as alternative hip-hop is not what i expect 60+ year olds to be listening to. The only conclusion i can think of is that the alternative hip-hop genre is very flexible and you can class many songs as it. OR because there is no cap on the 60+ age group so it has the widest selection of people in the category.

so what should I consider when making my music video when thinking of target audiences?

Well, firstly i should take in consideration the age groups. I want to focus on the youth of the public and target the 16-25 yr old age group as it holds the vast majority of viewers and listeners. I will try and achieve this by using a youthful actor in my music video and make him do activities that appeal to younger people.

Secondly, I need to consider the gender that i'm targeting the predominate consumer is male so i want to focus on them. I will try and achieve this by using a 2 male actors in my video.

Finally, I should take into consideration ethnicity. The main ethnicity for alternative hip-hop is white so i should focus on them right? Wrong. Nowadays with more diverse and flexible cultures all integrating picking out one ethnicity would be stupid. I want my video to appeal to all ethnicity by making it not target anyone in particular and its open to all cultures.

Polarize final shot list

This shot list uses terms like 'singer Michael' and 'hand gesture' in them and I realise that you wont know what they mean. But I do. And that's all that matters at the end of the day, I understand what these 'slang' words mean and as long as this shot list sets out the guideline for my filming and I understand it then to me that's good enough.

The reason I have made my shot list like this is so I'm not restricted to shot by shot filming and it gives me some flexibility on the shoot. This is good because if any external factor affect the shoot then I am prepared. I also feel like I create better work by using this sort of shot list.

Here's the shot list :

Polarize Shot list with timings

0:00 Titles fade from black and a splitting transition to reveal Michael walking

0:07 close ups on Michaels face and his footsteps

0:14 moving car shots behind and side. Cut to singer Michael doing hand gesture

0:21 walking up to house and going into room (camera follows from behind)

0:28 Puts hoodie on and hat

0:39 walks outside follow shot to door, singing to himself walking cuts to singing elsewhere
0:51 singing with lots of energy and emotion cutting to drum hits and singing alone in different places

1:05 walks outside and goes into shop and gets the drink and walks back out and then close up on face walking and behind to side slightly (try to get lens flare)

1:16 sitting on the tennis court drinks drink looks like it tastes bad behind. Stands up drops on floor and pours out.

1:28 –cutting to singing and drums and walking with emotion again and lots of energy

1:44 running away shots from behind and cutting to “we have problems bit” (pits path)

1:55 –slow down walking cuts to singing one just standing there and singing and walking one is also singing and then gets ready for the hand part (pits path)

2:32 - does the hand part and walks past camera looking in the distance

2:41 low swooping shot (bottom left to top right) of signing and performing (mixed shots of performance) and singing guy

3:05 cuts of him walking away and singing guy while performing

3:16 leaves mic and walks away

3:21 Cuts to distance walking away talking to himself, then rising shot and fades to black

Film Dates

I'm currently planning to start filming on the 6th of January

Music Video Footage plan

I'm planning to divide up my footage by having life performance and a narrative story mixed together. I plan on achieving this by creating the story as I would in any other music video but near the end of the song I will make a small live performance scene. This will occur when Michael uses his hands to form a rectangle and looks through them.(I will edit this in after effects using masks) while looking through them he sees a different world and notices a drum kit and a mic stand. He then starts to perform with a drummer after he has 'Polarized' and can see things in a different way. The video finishes with a finale where they are performing and it gives the feel good factor and the viewer can see he's accomplished something and can maybe sort out his life from now on. He finally walks away and the screen fades to black at the end of the song.

I also plan on having small cuts to Michael singing every now and then to remind the viewer that he is the one singing the song and all the words relate to what he is doing in the video. One idea that I have had is to give him a single floor tom from a drum kit and make him hit it 3 times like it does in the song. This is because he can hit it really hard and display all his emotions by taking out his anger on the drum. This also will count as live performance a he will only hit the drum in time to the song when it has the loud 3 hits of the drum.

Audience research

Here is a video of some answers to some questions I asked about music video and film consumption. I also decided to make a questionnaire and I have posted some images of them below. In the video I talk about what these results mean and what I can gather from this information.

initial location ideas

The initial locations have been chosen for my music video. I have decided on 5 separate locations and they are all located in Hethersett. I chose Hethersett as I know the area very well and to make the filming easier as it reduces the amount of travelling needed.

Corner Shop

I want to use a corner shop in Hethersett called 'Premier' to film in. The reason I want to use this location is because I knew the shop owner and he has given me permission to film inside. It also has a wide range of  products inside and they all had vibrant colours so it went well with the music video as it is a shot that is relating to his childhood.



Tennis court

I also want to film a part on a tennis court in Hethersett as a tennis court relates to a game played by 2 people and him being alone is showing that he has no friends and he goes there in the hope of finding someone else or to recall his childhood when he did play there with his friends.






Hethersett skate park


I hope to use the skate park in Hethersett as it represents his childhood and there is a vantage point that I can use to get a good low angle shot when the happy part of the song comes in.







Village Hall field

I would like the Hethersett village hall field for two main reasons. Firstly, because it is close to the tennis court and the skate park so this saves time and travelling. Secondly, because it is a wide open space and it suits what I wanted because there is a wall nearby that I can use when I want the character to lean against it.






House

I will use my own house purely as it was easy to use. The location isn't that important for this shot so my own house works well enough.