Choosing A Song and Analysis

Ruby

First verse: the feeling inside is the feeling which you get when you're with or thinking about the person you love, this feeling can be described as having butterflies in your tummy. Goulding is open about how she's not rich but if she was she would use it in order to get a big house for her and her partner to live in; she does this as her main priority rather than spending it on shoes and bags for herself. 

It's a little bit funny
This feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money
But boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where
We both could live

Second verse: it is clear to see that Goulding is nervous about her love as she is rambling on about the detail of the colour of his eyes when all she wants to say is how sweet they are. She is that nervous that she can't concentrate on taking in the details of the colour of his eyes. 

So excuse me forgetting
But these things I do
See I've forgotten if
They're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is
What I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen

Chorus: Goulding is proud of her love with this person because she is encouraging him to tell everybody and show her off. At the same time she hopes that he likes the song and doesn't mind that she is so open about how she feels about him. She wanted to tell her partner how much she loved him even though the song wasn't worth much in value, it came from her heart.

And you can tell everybody,
This is your song
It may be quite simple but
Now that it's done
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is now you're in the world

Third verse: Goulding comes up with the idea of being a sculptor but then thinks bad of the idea and dismisses it and changes it to a more exciting yet still creative idea. She feels like she isn't good enough for the partner although she is trying her best, for this reason she is doing what she is best at, song writing, rather than being something that she is not - a sculptor. 

If I was a sculptor
But then again no
Or girl who makes potions in a traveling show
I know it's not much but
It's the best I can do
My gift is my song and
This one's for you

Oh [x8]

And you can tell everybody
This is your song
It may be quite simple but
Now that it's done
I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind
That I put down in words
How wonderful life is now you're in the world

Amie

The process of choosing a song was one of the hardest because it was hard knowing that which ever song we chose would be the basis of our grade. We wanted to choose a song which we both knew and liked, therefore we stayed away from genres that we are unfamiliar with e.g. rock. 

Whilst listening to the song we had to imagine what our music video would look like. This then eliminated some possible songs that we had. We also had to be realistic, there would be no room for a full blown dance routine because we did not have the people to do this, we could not have things like giant letters or lights as we do not have the resources.

Once we chose a song, something that we had to avoid was copying the official video as we had both seen this, we did not want to be influenced by this. Our first idea was influenced by the official video as we copied the elements of her going on a journey (on a train) and her walking in fields. 

When we had chose a song, we had to make sure that the possible people we were thinking of having in our video would fit the bill. For us, this meant having a female singer with the indie look. 

Risk Assessment

By Ruby and Amie 

A risk assessment was conducted before we started filming across our range of locations we are planning to film including various elements of our video and aspects which needed to be considered for the location. We must consider safety of travelling and timing. Our risk assessment was to ensure maximum safety and prevent any hazards. 

Alterations Made Along The Way

Looking at Possible Locations

By Ruby and Amie 

Before we went to London we research into photos on the internet although we wanted to visit to ensure it looks as good. It was important to go to London to visit the locations we were filming in so we could get a clearer idea of exact locations and how we wanted out video to look. It was really helpful to just go up to London take pictures and explore the area as we came up with more ideas along the way. This helped us with our coursework as we were able to make clear creative choices. This helped the planning stage of our video much easier as we had vivid ideas. 

These photos are from Google as I wanted to see the location before visiting.

Covent Garden:

These photos are from Google as I wanted to see the location before visiting.  

 

Brick Lane:

These photos are from Google as I wanted to see the location before visiting.

 

Trafalgar Square:

These photos are from Google as I wanted to see the location before visiting.

 

Mood Board

Completed by Amie

A mood board is a good idea as you can creatively base your ideas together to get a sense of the style you wish to implement within your video. Ruby and I took a lot of inspiration from our original pitch and found pictures as we looked into different ideas.

Initial Call Sheet & Editing/ Filming Schedule

Completed by Ruby and Amie 

Our Initial Filming and Editing Schedule prepares us to get the rough due in for the end of January. Although the thought of getting it done is daunting as it so important we are more than prepared. We put together a schedule as Ruby and I have realised that weeks are turning into days and we are now counting down on lessons until the exams. A lot of the schedule at the moment remains blank this is because after our first trip as we begin to put together our rough cut we will notice issues that will arise so we have given ourselves enough time to iron this out before our final cut is due in so there is a lot of contingency time but it will cover ourselves incase anything goes wrong.

As Ruby and I begin to get closer to creating our music video we have started going over planning and listing together what props and items we are going to need to take with us as we go out filming.

• Camera
• Stereo
• Filming Schedule
• Maps
• Lyrics Sheet
• Costumes
• Make Up
• Memory Card
• Spare Batteries
• Lens Cleaner
• Money 
• Train Tickets
• Journal
• Flower
• Artificial Lighting 
• Microphone
• Fairy Lights

As plans develop props and equipment will be continued to add to the prop list.


Props are vital for our music video as we cannot rely on the location alone to bring our music video to life. When we go out filming the necessities are of course a camera with a memory card and back up batteries and a lens cleaner. We will need a stereo so that we can play the song and get a feel for it, it will also be needed to help our artist sing along. Another way in which we ca help our artist is by providing a lyrics sheet so that there will be no slip ups as we cannot afford to make mistakes. As we have pre-planned our filming schedule, we will have to bring that with us so that we can be confident that we won't miss any scenes out. In order to get to our locations we will have to bring a map as we don't want to waste time getting lost in busy London. In order for our artist to look the part, Amie and I will have to become make up artists for the day; the look we are going for is quite subtle and natural. We will also have to bring the costumes for the outfit changes which will take place during the day. As we are going up London we will need money and train tickets to last us for the whole day. 

Model Test Shoot

Before we made a trip to London and started filming we thought it would be a good idea to see how one of our models in question looked in front of the camera. Obviously, there were a few silly giggles but Ruby and I were quite pleased with the outcome. Our model Emily was a little shy but after a little bit of practice we made her at ease. By the time we took a serious test shot although she remained uncertain half way through she got quite into. Presenting our ideas to her using our story board etc she is seems rather excited about the concept and to be honest she looked the part according to costume etc without even being asked! She is willing to dedicate some of her time to this project and we think it could work really well. She did express nerves and excitement and suggested that she would feel better when she was given more sense of direction and was physically doing stuff as the test shoot was rather daunting but only because all eyes were on her and she was only to mime. 

Initial Planning Ideas

Copyright Permission

Completed by Ruby and Amie

We used Ruby's email address to message the record company to ensure that we were allowed to use the music for educational purposes and that we would not be infringing any copy right they may have.

Ellie Goulding is under the labels of Neon Gold, Polydor, Cherrytree and Interscope. In order to get copyright permission we had to contact a record label and this proved very hard due to the fact that there are next to none contact details. 

On http://www.codaagency.com/artist/53-ellie-goulding it gave us the email addresses for the agents, we have emailed them and are awaiting a reply.

Despite resending to various addresses we keep checking the inbox but afraid we still have no reply.

Storyboards

Initial Story Board

For us a group it was vital to produce story boards as this would allow us to ensure that our creative work would look effective and follow the forms and conventions to develop style and iconography within our video to ensure that it looked like a real media product. We were also about to look at how our video would need to be edited and we could have a look at the range of shots, angles etc we had to see if we would need any more. It was important to produce an initial story board as we were then able to see what could be improved on. 

Animatic Story Board

Our final animatic story board puts all our ideas together of how we want our music video to look like. It will become the structure of our work once we begin to edit. It will also be used on set to look upon what shots must be taken.

Final Animatic Story Board

Comments on Our Animatic Story Board

Editing Schedule

This is a brief summary of how video needs to be edited within to the song if it works alongside our animatic story board. We thought this would make the editing process a little easier as we are more organised. 

  

Photographs and Raw Footage of Locations

By Ruby and Amie 

Ruby & I went on a little adventure yesterday to Camden and Brick Lane to take photos and raw footage of the locations we wanted to use for our music videos and we didn't let the rainy weather stop us! We took plenty of shots with our camera and really became familiar with the area by walking around for hours on end which really enabled us to come up with ideas for a music video following our previous pitch strengthening the ideas we already had and creating images in our minds of what we wanted to produce and where.

DARTFORD➡LONDON WATERLOO EAST➡CAMDEN➡BRICK LANE➡WHITECHAPEL

 

CAMDEN➡

CAMDEN MARKET➡

CAMDEN HIGH STREET➡

CAMDEN LOCK➡

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVKvJjxS-0A

Pitch

Ruby and Amie 

The feedback we received was a lot more positive as we now have a more concrete idea which we really cannot wait to get on with. Rather than our original idea of more of  field we have decided to film in trendy Camden and Brick Lane as the song cries out indie the location and visuals would be amazing and really fit in with our style. 

It was reinforced that our actress could potentially look too young also we must consider a test screen shot of whom we are going to actually use to ensure that they are the part. Although the oufits we have picked are well suited and work very well alongside the genre. 

 

Learning To Use Final Cut

Amie

It took a while but I got there in the end with countless tutorials on youtube and asking friends but in order to be able to produce videos it was vital that for my coursework. Although not quite a pro (yet) I began using it for various mini project to test it out then finally alongside Ruby produced the History Of Music Video for my research which despite originally taking to long we got there in the end. I now feel confident with using the software and hope to continue to develop more skills and discover news ways of presenting my blog across a multi media platform!

Ruby