Question 1 Evaluation Script and Directors cut.

 Shane
Hannah
Lisa

Shane Throughout our A2 course, whilst creating our music video, we came across a range of conventions of which we could use, develop and challenge.

The song begins with a medium close up of one band member playing guitar, the video then cuts.  Here we tried to link the lyrics and visual together – when the song says ‘’alarm clock rings’’ we showed a shot of the lead singer in bed, with an alarm clock ringing next to him. This follows convention as it clearly links together lyrics and visuals.

Hannah  As the camera pans down towards the clock the video cuts to a wide shots of the band performing together, by the side of the street. This is a very bright daytime shot and we used colour correction to bring down the exposure.

We chose to use singing into camera all the way through our music video. It can first seen in a medium close up of the lead singer. This convention is a good way to connect to the audience as it is as if you are looking directly towards them. For this shot ‘’I’m going out of my mind’’ we added a blur around Liam’s head, this symbolised how he was feeling.  The video then cuts to a wide shot of Courtney walking down the street towards Chris with the band in the background this happens as the song says ‘’until she walks in’’.  We slow-mowed this clip as it shows that you are focusing directly onto Courtney, it also makes you realise that this girl it ‘Emily’. 

Lisa  The video soon says ‘’when I look in her eyes’’ it then cuts to a close up of the female actors face, again linking lyrics and visuals. We added a ‘ken burns’ to this so that the camera zooms slightly and slowly into the face.

The video then cuts on the beat to bring in the chorus. We chose to cut on the beat to follow convention however, we decided to mainly do this during the chorus as we though it fit better since the music became more upbeat. For the first chorus we used a series of fast shots, this consisted of a range of medium close ups and wide shots. We think this was successful because it fits well with the genre and speed of the song.

Shane  During this first chorus we mainly used performance shots, this is because this part of the song especially is from the bands point of view. We used short clips of the female actor to strengthen the narrative. We think this was successful because without these short clips the narrative would not be as clear. We have also used walking into camera, again following convention. We think this works well as it makes you feel that you are a part of the video, and you are walking with them. We used a dissolve as transition from the shot of the couple walking towards the camera then away from the camera. This gives the impression that time has passed. We used a dissolve for this part of the song as we felt it was calmer than the rest of the song which is faster paced.

 Hannah  We used cuts to go to the next shot as the song continued to be upbeat. During the next verse the lyrics say ‘and I’m on a short lead’ we tried to link together lyrics a visuals by getting Courtney to pull on a band members guitar strap. This shot was at night therefore we used car headlights to create a glow a mysterious atmosphere. One problem we came across, when filming, it was not possible for us all to meet up before 4 o’clock therefore when it came to filming it was very dark – we overcame this problem by using car headlines, this was very effective as it was as though the band were performing in a spotlight. We also added colour correction to make this shot a touch lighter as it was too dark, this made it harder to see the location.

Lisa  During this verse, for the line ‘you don’t even know my name’ we used a short close up shot of Liam’s face in the tunnel, we feel that this was a good way to show that the singer was sad and that he felt alone therefore, overall we thought this was really effective.  We then cut to a 2 second wide shot of one band member playing guitar in the tunnel, this was a really interesting shot, the silhouette could connote sadness or loneliness - something the band members may feel when they are not with Courtney or ‘Emily’ as the song suggests.

Shane  When the song says ‘I must be invisible’ we connected lyrics and visuals by making Courtney walk straight past one band member, ignoring them – this makes you feel sorry for the band member and almost make Courtney look like the villain – this is where we used Vladimir Propp.

Hannah  The song then cuts to a two second wide shot back in the tunnel, this is a short build up to the chorus. As the song cuts to the chorus a low angle shot of the band appears, we edited this so that as they jump they jump on the beat. This is followed by a series of low angle and wide shots of the band, these shots are very upbeat, the band are very energetic, our target said that the performance shots were ‘exciting’ this proved that we were successful.

The band continued to sing into camera for this part of the song, this is really effective as it is a good way for them to portray their emotions to the audience.

Lisa  From high angle shot of the drummer, the video then dissolves to a shot-reverse-shot of the couple in an argument. The location in which this takes place is where they were walking previously in the song, but this time the location does not connote romance instead it shows distress and sadness. This is a very harsh scene as it shows an argument between the couple and that it ends with violence.  We chose for the girl to push the boy first, this was challenging stereo-types as usually the man is the more dominant in the relationship but we tried to twist this and show the girl as stronger therefore creating a representation of a modern day woman. We chose to slow-mo the girl pushing her boyfriend as this emphasises her movement, we wanted the audience to realise that the girl pushes the boy first. We colour corrected this scene to make the grey colours stand out more, this is because this scene is sad and we wanted the colours to emphasise this.

Shane  Throughout the whole song, Chris does not sing to Courtney at all – we chose to challenge this convention and I think it worked well overall as the narrative is still clear, this shows that the main singer does not have to be the one to sing directly to the girl all the time.  

When the video cuts to the next shot, the band in these shots look sad, this is because we tried to make what had just happened link with the band and show how all their emotions are linked. This is all done in a wide shot.

Hannah  Next the video cuts to a high angle close up shot of one band member playing a solo. We colour corrected this so that it is brighter and there is not too much exposure making it unclear. In the next cut we used the ken burns tool to zoom into the band member’s guitar, this gives an extreme close up of him playing. It then cuts to another high angle shot of the same band member, this gives an all round view of him playing, giving a range of angles and views, this worked well for the solo, as it was effective and shows off his skills. We are still continuing to use performance shots here meaning we are still adhering to the convention. This high angle shot moves round revealing the other band members playing therefore it goes from a medium shot to a wide shot of the band.

 Lisa The video then cuts to the whole band playing, this is shown in a wide shot. This is only shown briefly, before it cuts to the tunnel. This again is another performance shot, like before we see a silhouette, I do not think that seeing a similar shot again is boring, therefore disagreeing with Steve Neale’s theory on repetition. We next see a series of cut as the camera dollies towards the exit, this again cuts between the silhouette of the band member and this, until it goes back to the band all playing together.

Shane  The next cut one band member finishing the solo as the camera pans up and round to reveal the others members it quickly cuts again to the whole band. The camera then dollies inwards towards the lead singer, at the same time he sings, the wide shot becomes a medium close up - we colour corrected this shot and added a mask around the lead singer so that we only corrected him, we needed to do this as his face was too over exposed whereas the colour for the location was okay.

Hannah  As the song then says ‘’such a pretty face’’ the video cuts to a short medium close up of the female actor smiling – this is a cute shot that shows that the band members are attracted to her – it also links lyrics and visuals together.

The couple seem to have made up after their argument, we do not see this happen therefore this relates to Bordwell and Thompson, because the audience do not see what happened to them during the time the band were playing.

Lisa  The video then cuts back to the chorus. During these cuts we showed a close up of one band member singing the lyric ‘next to me’ we chose to using him here as you can see the power in his face and how much this girl means to him. I think that the range of shots after this are good as they blend well together and do not cut too fast.

We used a handheld camera for some of these shots, this shows their movement and energy.

Shane  After these fast cuts we then chose to use a fade, this brings back the romance portrayed from the couple as the audience assumes they are back together again. We used a fade to bring in the low angle shot of the couple, the camera pans as they walk past a park gate and then dissolves to bring back the band. I like this series of shot because as the camera pans across the gate and dissolves, the shot of the drummer appears as the camera continues to pan, adding a calm effect.

Hannah  Towards the end of the video we realise that no band members end up being with ‘Emily’ this makes you feel sorry for them as throughout the video you think they are the heroes of which you expect the girl to go to, when in reality her boyfriend may be the hero as he wins her back.

Lisa  We see this sadness portrayed from the lead singer when he says ‘I was barking… up the wrong tree anyway’ this was shot in the tunnel location therefore it is very dark, this emphasises the sad feeling, and makes you feel sorry for this member.

Shane  The video then cuts between multiple shots, one of the lead singer in the dark tunnel then to the couple, who seem to be talking. We colour corrected this shot of the couple to make it so the couple were slightly brighter, making them easier to see.

Hannah  The couple contrast with the lead singer, as the couple look happy but the singer looks sad. Again, making you feel sorry for the singer but happy for the couple.

Lisa  In the end, we realise that the band member definitely do not get to be with ‘Emily’ and the couple make up, this is shown through them hugging. The boyfriend holds out his arms and the girl steps forward first to hug him, we chose to point the camera towards the girls face as it was her emotions we wanted to capture at the end.