GROUP: "Lonely Boy" - The Black Keys (Group Music Video) & Evaluation Questions

 

Evaluation Questions:

1. Analyse your work, consider connotations, effect, genre, metanarrative, star image...Consider any of the theorists you have used and apply implicitly to give your work depth. Include:

·         Specific camera techniques

·         Editing - Cutting Rate, Illustrative/Amplified/Disjunctive

·         Mise En Scene - Costume, Location, Characters

·         Narrative/Performance/Concept - Narrative Fuzz 

2. How did you develop your skills during this exercise? What advice would you give yourself for the music video task? What ideas do you currently have?

 

BBK:

1.       My group's section of the music video (Section 2) has developed representations of youth within a star image, conforming to Dyer’s identification of star qualities such as rebellion and violence as a means toward attracting an audience for the band as a product. This can be seen through the fight between the two bands. This use of playful violence was taken from previous videos by The Black Keys such as ‘Tighten Up’. Therefore this could be seen as a continuation of a motif or metanarrative for the band of quarrels between the two members. The concept and themes follow genre conventions of performance mixed with narrative associated with alternative rock music videos. Using an adapted cutting rate to follow the tempo of the song in sections with more action. Our costume was chosen to replicate clothes that the band are seen to wear as part of their style.

2.       Whilst filming and editing we learnt that it is important to plan the lengths of shots in detail when trying to keep parts of the narrative along with lyrics otherwise timing during editing is difficult. In future shots must be planned thoroughly to ensure the editing process is simple and organized.

 MB:

1.       My section of the group music video (Section 4) decided to take an amplified approach to the song, taking inspiration from the lyrics and adding a degree of narrative fuzz through our editing technique of video merging, to replicate the “psychedelic” style of music from the 1960s. We also observed similar music videos by The Black Keys and tried to replicate the conventions of their videos, such as performance, but also featuring the band as the main characters in the narrative. The concept followed the idea of a boy chasing a girl, but being rejected, a theme that also features in the video “Tighten Up” by The Black Keys

2.       This filming task allowed me and my group to experiment with super-slow mo in order to capture our water-balloon shot. I would advise myself however, to be thorough in the planning stages as some shots had to be cancelled due to incorrect equipment. Currently my ideas are mainly based on the narrative, focusing on the storyline before deciding on shots

 BS:

1.       My group were assigned the first section of the track “Lonely Boy” by The Black Keys. We created an amplified representation taking some lyrics of the song and acting them out using a narrative story line. Our inspiration for this came from the band’s original music video in which erratic disjunctive dancing is shown throughout the duration of the track, with no interruption. Taking inspiration from existing Black Keys music videos we added some performance aspect, using a facial close-up of someone lip syncing the lyrics to the song, apart from this the majority of our shots were long shots to emphasis the feeling of being lonely; whilst filming we also didn’t want the different characters to be in the same shot, so did each separately and edited them together afterwards.  

 

2.       During this exercise I developed my skills using both the shooting equipment and editing software. When shooting our footage we used a range of different shots, including a mirror shot (which we didn’t include), from this I gained experience using a wider range of shot types, and also learned filming with a static camera is as effective as using moving shots. During the editing process I learned that the editing becomes much more advanced when synchronising the visuals to the lyrics and beat of the song. From this experience I have learned that I may need to allow myself longer during the editing process as editing the footage accurately is more time consuming, and also learned that different lines of action work well in conjunction and is perhaps something myself and my group need to consider and perhaps think about incorporating into our work.