Contact for actors

Recces

Case Study 3

ED SHEERAN- A TEAM

Directed by Ruskin Kyle

Released- 22/04/2010

The video focuses on a young girl in her early 20’s who is homeless trying to find ways to make money. The song itself talks about the struggle she’s going through describing the emotion and feeling. Hence the title name of the song ‘A Team’ describing the class A drugs which she is taking.

Unlike the first video I looked at ‘Ed Sheeran’ only features in the video once, creating a different effect and both tell different stories. There is one main character and has extras featured throughout the video but the focus still remains on her and the story that is supposed to be told. The music video simply starts introducing the main character and follows her journey throughout. Few techniques were used through the video. There is a clear structure to the video which is beginning, middle, end and has a fluid flow. The video begins with a close up shot of the main character introducing her character, then goes into showing how she lives and the journey she takes, lastly it ends showing where her journey has left her.

The theme is clearly understandable and a continuous flow was carried out. This was able to be done with the various shots that were used. A lot of close ups were used to capture her emotion. However not a wide range of camera angles were used and stuck to using long shots and medium. The long shots were used to show the audience her surroundings. A brief medium shot was also used when Ed Sheeran made an appearance in the shot. Special effects were not the highlight of this music video unlike ‘small bump’ however in both the videos they both used the fast forwarding effect. It simply reflected how time was passing by her while she was just at standstill.

The whole video was shot in Black and White which connotes the sadness and pain she’s going through, making the  audience empathetic to the story been told. The locations used were places that the general public pass daily such as parks, trains station and seeing homeless on the street. Few props were included but the props used were in sync with lyrics. Costumes/make-up, were very basic.

‘And in a pipe we fly to the motherland’ for example at this point in the video we see the young girl taking drugs, this just reflects how the lyrics were in sync with the character even though there is no lip synching. Close up shot were used to capture the girl taking the drugs and how she was feeling at the point. An extreme close up was used to show the girl purchasing drugs which makes the scene more effective. The shots/techniques varied between close up, extreme close ups and medium shots throughout.  

A mature target audience would have a better understanding of the video and realise what the video is trying to portray without having the artist featuring doing lip synching.

After viewing the video features I may include would be to have my main focus on a certain issue or story that is supposed to portrayed, also to capture emotions to make an overall effective video.

Case Study 2

ED SHEERAN- SMALL BUMP   

Directed by Emil Nava

Released- 10/05/12

Small bump talks about someone who has suffered a miscarriage, however it’s written in first person and given from his point of view. The lyrics reflect a lot of emotion and tell a story or a journey that he is going through.

Throughout the video it mainly concentrates on Ed Sheeran and has other characters around him. Since the video was set in a hospital the extra characters featuring had to carry the same emotional aspect as Sheeran to make it more effective. Been set in a hospital gave it a realistic element as  patients were coming in and out, children running and showing nurse/doctor working. The clothing was basic reflecting a basic sad day. Wearing simple clothing made the video more realistic and easy for the audience to relate to. The performance aspect of the video is still very simple and doesn’t try to focus on many things as the purpose the video is to convey a serious topic. Focusing on to much areas diverts the important message been portrayed.

A range of camera techniques were used. They varied between close ups and extreme long shots. The close up been used to show his emotion and the long shot been used to show his setting and what the characters around him were doing. For example at the beginning of the video there was a close up of Ed Sheeran. Few editing techniques were used however the fast forwarding effect was used and so was fading. Fading technique was used to remove the characters out of the scene it was done in a professional and uniform way to take them away from the shot. The cutting rate was at a normal speed which continued throughout the video. As explained in first paragraph the video is simple and doesn't try to incorporate to many elements and is reflected in the cutting rate of the video.

Lip synching was used although the singing was not the main focus, it moved in and out of shots showing him singing as well as showing other features of the video. The performance aspect was simple. His emotion matched what he was singing making the meaning of the song even more affective.  

The target audience may appeal to youths or mature viewers because of what it’s trying to show also that it has a serious aspect to it. However it can appeal to a younger audience they just need to see the link between the lyrics and video.

Ideas I may take when filming may be the fading technique as it’s an effective way to take a character/object out of the filming.  Having a main focus in the video may be something I may choose to incorporate. Also using one main character throughout the filming. 

Case Study

THE SCRIPT- BREAKEVEN  

Directed by Aggressive

Released- 29/08/08

The song talks about the breakdown of a relationship from the guy’s point of view and how he’s dealing with the situation. The video itself starts off with Danny O'Donoghue from the script (guy) driving, then varying from different location. A shot of his girlfriend is included capturing the happy moments they had together. However the lyrics and emotion been portrayed was effective as it had to make the audience able to relate to the heartbreak he was going through.

Looking at this video there is a clear story which is been told even though they didn’t focus on just one character. The story is about a relationship which ended and the guy reminisces on the good times before the breakup. Shots varied between the guy and girl then to the band as whole. The shots varied between the past and present, it was clear that the scenes including the girl were flashbacks.  

Camera techniques featured were mainly medium, long; close and extreme close up shots. When viewing the video you realise that these are effective as it shows the emotion been portrayed. A shot was used in the beggining introducing the video then varied between all others. Also long shots were important as it showed the other members of the band and there surroundings. Another important camera technique that was used is the bird’s eye view. It captured both the guy and the girl lying in bed together making the clip realistic.  A brief moment of slow motion was incorporated. The video was filmed in both colour and black and white, capturing the happy moments in colour then the unhappy moments in black and white.

The target audience for this particular song/video may be considered for an 18+ age group due to the story its telling even though its about heartbreak the lyrics and acting in the video may be more suitable to a more mature audience. However a younger audience is still likely to understand what is portrayed.  

Lip-synching was used in certain clips of the video it wasn’t continuously used. However when there was lip-synching it came across real and natural something which is important when aiming to have an effective music video.

Ideas I may take when planning my music video is using two colour effects to portray different emotions, also using a range of camera shots. 

Audience Feedback

Feedback

In order to improve our music video getting audience feedback was important as it would give an idea on what type of things should be improved. Also to see whether the ideas thought of are interesting enough to capture an audience’s attention.  

The audience were curious to find out how we were going to get the birds and what type of birds would be used to portray what we’re representing. However birds wouldn’t be an issue to find as there are many type of birds in the park such as pigeons etc. At first they were unsure of how the video was going to work with the women been an alcoholic but then with an explanation they understood what the aim was. Overall the feedback was positive and not much was said to be changed.

Media Treatment

The narrative idea

A boy and girl is in a relationship but the boy finds out that she is a secret alcoholic and so breaks up with her. During the breakup the girl try's to change her ways and at the end of the video the boy and girl get back together.

The music video will show the boy lip singing on the park bench having flash backs of what happened in the relationship.

Performance included in the music video would be the boy who would be lip-singing in the video. Conceptual elements included in the music video would be the birds that would appear in the music video as the song is titled 'little bird' and so the bird would be a metaphor for the girl.
 
Professional music videos that inspired us were A-Team and Small bump by Ed Sheeran. Also 'breakeven' by the script.

For our music video we would have to audition students of performing arts as the music video includes a lot of acting.

No ethical considerations.

The song is 3mins:44secs long; the musiv video would probably run for 4 minutes.

The audience of the music video would be people who listen to folk music.

Music video would appear on YouTube.