The Process of Creating the Music Video

Whilst filming my Music Video, Me and my Partner took some photographs of the setting, props and actioning involved filming the music video. These Include action shots of us filming on set, shots of the setting and shots of the parts and props we used to create the music video such as chairs, mirrors, microphones and the guitar.

Making a Music Video

Using the video camera and starting to edit on the computer

The first part to make my music video is to video each part. So first I need a camera. I need to book my camera at least 24 hours beforehand to make sure it is charged and ready to go. Most of the videoing should take up about two full days. Once I have the camera I need to place in the tape. To place the tape inside the video camera I need to press the eject button which opens the case, when putting the tape in, the magnetic strip must be facing downwards. I need to place the tape in lightly as not to cause damage to the video camera itself. Then I push the ‘push’ button inwards to close the case. Before filming I need to make sure the tape has rewound to the beginning. To do this I need to flick the switch on to ‘play’ mode and then I can press the rewound button.
Once everything has been prepared I can start filming. Firstly I need to switch the button to ‘camera’ mode. To start recording I press the white button. However before I start filming my actual piece it needs to have a few moments to play and then the movements start. To do this properly I need to count down from ten out loud and then when I get to three I need to mime it so it doesn’t get captured on camera. To make sure the filming is steady I need a tripod, this help for when I need to turn and get a straight shot. A main priority is that the camera MUST start before the soundtrack is played. If I had to do a lot of moving around, it would be best to leave the tripod and use my arms by tucking my elbows into my stomach and have the camera flat on the palm of my hand. This gives it an even surface and it is easier to hold the camera steady. When everything has been videoed I need to download everything on to the computer and edit it. I need to open final cut express; save my music file into my folder and then bring all the video clips and the soundtrack on to Final cut express to edit everything. I need to remember to keep saving the process as I go along as to make sure I don’t lose any footage etc.

Getting Permission

Permission to use my setting

To use the location I want for my music video I needed to get some form of permission to use it. The location is at one of my friends’ house. I wrote her a letter to ask for her permission.

Dear Alex,
For part of my media course at school, I have to research, plan and create a music video. I intend for my video to be based in a bedroom, and as I feel that your bedroom would fit the role for my music video, I am writing to ask for me and my group to use your bedroom as part of the setting for our music video and also if you would be able to play a part in our music video, playing the part of a little girl. Please get back to me
Hope to hear from you
Jade

Once I had sent the letter, I waited for the reply. The letter read;

Dear Jade,
Of course that’s fine, I’d be happy for you to use my bedroom. If you could just let me know when you would like to video, we can arrange for you and your group to spend the day videoing. Also I would love to be in your video, it would be great. So make sure you let me know when you want to come and we can get started. See you soon
Alex

Treatment

Intro
Establishing shot of the house; zooms into the little girls window we see her writing in her diary whilst sat on her bed
Peter Peter was your name
A close up of the diary; the little girl writes the lyrics in her diary, some of the lyrics are all ready written
Peter Peter whats your game
Leaves diary on the bed and walks over to the mirror; long shot and a close up shot
I'm head over heels head over heels
Walk over to the mirror
I'm head over heels head over heels
Close up of singer sat on the window sill
And I'll teach you how to fly
Camera is still on the singer; wide shot
And how to sing a lullaby
The little girl turns her head away from the mirror as she thinks she has seen something
And I'll teach you how to fly
She looks in her drawers; close up and long shot
And how to sing a lullaby
She is still looking in her drawers
And I'll teach you how to cry
She skips over to her wardrobe and opens the doors looking in; mid shot
And understand why tears don't dry.
She skip over to her bed and kneels on the floor; close up and long shot
And I'll teach you how to cry
The camera looks up on top of the bed as the little girl looks under the bed
And understand why tears don't dry.
Then the camera joins the little girl looking under the bed
And my shadow won't stay upon my bones
The girl looks up again to find a little animated peter sat on her bed.
Drifts away into the day unknown
Shot of singer walking down the stairs; side shot and close ups
And sewing kits can't help me,
Camera still on the shot of singer
No needles
There will be a close up shot of needles and thread on a set of drawers
And a thimblefull of cotton thread
The thread will twist into the words ‘Follow him’
Will surely run right through my head.
Still on shot of the words ‘follow him’
And I'll teach you how to fly
Still on shot of the words ‘follow him’
And how to sing a lullaby
Still on shot of the words ‘follow him’
And I'll teach you how to fly
The little girl heads towards the door; side shot and close up
And how to sing a lullaby
She puts on wellington boots; close up of the wellington boots
And I'll teach you how to cry
She then opens the door and walks out then closes the door behind her again.
And understand why tears don't dry.
Shot of singer on a wooden gate; close up and wide shot
And I'll teach you how to cry
Still on the shot of the singer
And understand why tears don't dry.
Still on the shot of the singer
And I'll teach you how to fly
Shot of the little girl skipping down a country lane
And how to sing a lullaby
Different shot of the little girl skipping down the road
And I'll teach you how to fly
Close up of Animated peter pan on a fence
And how to sing a lullaby
A shot of the little girl walking along the fence; side view, close ups and wide shots.
And I'll teach you how to cry
Still on the shot of the little girl walking along the fence
And understand why tears don't dry.
Still on the shot of the little girl walking along the fence
And I'll teach you how to cry
Still on the shot of the little girl walking along the fence
And understand why tears don't dry.
Still on the shot of the little girl walking along the fence
And I'll teach you how to fly
Very wide shot of the singer walking down the country lane towards the camera.
And how to sing a lullaby
Wide shot of the singer walking down the country lane towards the camera
And I'll teach you how to fly
Mid shot of the singer walking down the country lane towards the camera and then quickly turns into a close up shot
And how to sing a lullaby
A mid shot of the singer from the view of the back
And I'll teach you how to cry
A close up shot of the little girls face; and a wide shot of her and mid shot
And understand why tears don't dry.
Establishing shot of a tyre swing; and the little girl playing on it.
And I'll teach you how to cry
Mid shot of the little girl playing on the tyre swing
And understand why tears don't dry.
Close up of the little girl playing on the tyre swing
And I'll teach you how to fly
Another establishing shot of a tyre swing; and the little girl playing on it.
And how to sing a lullaby
A close up shot of Peter Pan smiling watching the little girl playing on the swing
And I'll teach you how to fly
Cut in of the little girl walking home slowly; close up shot and wide shot from the side
And how to sing a lullaby
Focus upon the singer in the little girls bedroom
And I'll teach you how to cry
A wide shot focusing upon the singer in the little girls bedroom
And understand why tears don't dry.
A long shot focusing upon the singer in the little girls bedroom
And I'll teach you how to cry
Another close up and wide shot of the singer in the little girls bedroom sat on a chair
And understand why tears don't dry.
A shot of the little girl sitting up in her bed, then a quick shot of the star outside. A close up of the little girl smiling and as the music ends we see her fall back onto her pillow and fall asleep again.

Peter Pan – Jose Vanders

Final Idea

My final idea came from taking various points from each video idea. I found that this idea fitted with the idea of peter pan, so this is why I came up with this particular idea. I added a few extra parts to make it different and hopefully more interesting. The video will start off in the bedroom of a little girl, she will be sat on her bed writing a diary entry, which will have a close up of the diary where she will write the first line of the lyrics ‘peter, peter was your name’. She will then get up from her bed and walk towards a mirror and see something in her reflection, she turns around to see that there was nothing there, she then sees an animated peter pan, then all of a sudden he vanishes. She then goes round her room looking for him, looking in drawers and out her window. Then she climbs onto her bed and then bends over to look underneath, she doesn’t find anything, so she gets back up to find peter sat on her bed. At this point Peter flies out the window. Then there will be shots of cotton, thread and scissors on top of a dressing table and then they will twist in letters to spell the words ‘follow him’. So she walks towards her bedroom door; puts on the wellington boots; walks out of the door and closes the door behind her. The next scene is her walking down a road and peter is next to her, they both jump in puddles. As they are walking down the road they do several things together. They try and walk across the fence; they run down the road together, they sit under a tree together. The last scene is of the girl looking at her watch and there will be a close up of her watch, then they go there separate ways. The next shot we see is the back of the girl walking home on her own down the road; the final shot is of her in bed; she sits up looks at the star, smiles, and then falls back to sleep again. The star is linking to the peter pan film as in ‘the second star to the right’. Throughout the film there will be performance parts to the video, where there will be the singer will be miming the lyrics whilst sat on a window sill. Throughout the performance part of the video there will be a variety of camera shots.

Peter Pan – Jose Vanders

Idea Two

My second idea was to have a girl sat in her bedroom, thinking of past events that she has been through, like flashbacks of seeing this boy at school that she fancies. She would find a picture on her mirror and sees something in the mirror, then looks back and nothing is there. She has illusions that she can see this boy in her bedroom, then he keeps disappearing and she runs and skips around her room looking for him. There would be close ups of her face for the male gaze and also wide shots to show the setting and how she has to look for this boy. There would be parts when she is tired out and has flashback to when they were in the cafeteria or in the library together. In between all of this happening there would be parts where the singer would be walking down the stairs and around the house whilst performing however from a distance we would see the girl running around her bedroom looking for this boy. In the end she would end up at school and they would kiss and then when she goes to bed at night she looks out the window to the second star on the right, linking it to the film peter pan. Throughout the video there would be discreet links to peter pan, just to match the song however not too noticeable.

Peter Pan – Jose Vanders

Idea One

For my first idea I thought about setting my video inside of a old fashioned, traditional toy shop and the idea of the toys coming alive. The video would begin focusing on the door bell in an old fashioned shop then would focus just on the child entering the shop, perhaps a close up of the child’s face which would then move to a focus of the child’s back walking through the shop. A motif would be used in order for the toys to come alive perhaps following on from one another as one toys moves another would until all the toys have changed their position. This would be done by pausing, then recording and then following on from where the video had been paused. The child would walk through the toy shop and the camera would focus on the child’s face staring up at the toys ideally for the teddy/ragdoll to wave which would be done again by pausing and carrying on the shot. The shot would then zoom in on the child perhaps grasping hands with the toy and then a flashback into previous events before with the toy and child. This would then spin off into a flashback of the child and ragdoll or teddy spending time with the child and expressing times they had shared together and the child looking after the toy. Some ideas for the flashbacks could be the child and ragdoll playing at the park or having a tea party or running through fields together and having fun. When the scene is done it would then focus back on the child in the toy shop choosing the toy and then the child handing the money over at the toyshop and purchasing the toy. In between each of these narrative shots, there would be in between shots of the sing performing in the shop but not necessarily at the same time as the child. There would be a place in the shop where she would stand and sing, but on her own and everything would be still apart from her, whereas all the toys come to life when the child is there in the narrative section.