Children's TV shows generally have very iconic intro's with easily recognisable characters and catchy music, this makes it easy for children to recognise the TV show and they often have sing along sections. The Simpsons
The Simpsons is a longstanding tv series that has been running for quite some time, the series is mainly family viewing orientated with some of the cruder jokes only understandable by adults but also contains a lot of slapstick comedy that is easily understandable for younger children and many children watch it regularly. While the intro has changed a considerable amount, many of the key 'gags' and elements have been retained, if adapted and modernised slightly. This iconic intro contains the five characters the series revolves around; Homer, Marge, Lisa, Bart and Maggie. Some of the hugely famous gags within the intro change the punch-line but retain the core structure of the gag, for example; Bart is always shown to be in detention writing lines of what he will not do on the blackboard and the iconic couch gag, changes every single episode. Having researched into children's tv shows openings, while I decided a while ago on my idea being a music video, this has allowed me some insight into what it would involve and let me make an informed decision to not do a children's tv show opening.
Setting: Setting is the place or type of surroundings where something is positioned or where an event takes place. Setting is a very effective tool within media, and is often part of the generic conventions of a genre, and often defines the atmosphere and mood of the scene, with many different settings having different connotations. For example, a lady walking alone through an alley at night would create a sense of unease or danger compared to walking through a park during the day, which generally would be a pretty mundane task and depending on lighting andweather would set the tone for the scene.
Within short films, setting is key to defining genre, settings such as; cityscapes, warehouses and bars are often associated with action films, the environment offers lots of opportunities for stunts and are often settings associated with criminal activities. The sort of settings often used in short films are easily accessed locations, because a lot of these films are low budget, paying for access to locations is generally not an option, so places like schools, houses and other easily accessible locations are often used. Many different genres have settings particularly iconic of that specific genre, for example haunted houses for horror, urban areas for romance films or on space ships for science fiction. These settings are obviously part of the narrative and help define which genre the film should be a part of and help the viewer to understand what they should be feeling. But how does this apply within music videos? Often within music videos the type of music defines the atmosphere and tone of the video, with most people listening to the music primarily, rather than watching the video. While setting is often part of the narrative-if there is one-generally music videos choose settings based more on pure aesthetic rather than relation to narrative, for example, many bands use shots of them in a dark, empty building/room with high key spotlight lighting, with huge contrast between the light and dark areas while performing or in cramped areas with very high key lighting, while performing. However if a music video is narrative driven then setting generally plays a more key role, especially if there is dialogue.
This music video is a brilliant piece of work, that could have quite easily been filmed by professionals. It uses a mixture of; lip-syncing, narratives and interestingly implements time-lapses as pictured below. The time-lapse is of the clouds passing the sun and the day changing to night, used to indicate the passing of time. The film's narrative seems to be about two boys who assault another boy, for reasons unclear to the viewer and then watching one of them deteriorate as the guilt seems to be eating away at him, before he apologises to the victim of the assault. The video follows a key narrative throughout the short film with many different shots cut in-between, for example, one of the boys is sat in his room lip syncing to the song between shots of the main narrative. The video contains three main characters, with no dialogue, all the sound is non-diegetic. The locations range from a field to a back alley of a town, the mise-en scene of the town creates a more sinister feel to the scene, whereas the open field creates an air of relaxation. The lighting is key in both of these scenes, the natural light of the sun shining through in the field creates a positive atmosphere about the situation. A lot of the scenes picture one of the main characters in environments which make him appear alone, for example the image of him being alone in a field or alone in his room with a pitch black background.
With regards to the footage that I am planning to use, I am thinking of mixing a narrative story with close up instrumentals and hard hitting shots of newspaper headlines hitting a desk or shots cut together of riots and marches. The sound will nearly all be non-diegetic although I'm considering pausing the music to allow the sound of newspapers hitting the desk to play, through amplifying this sound it would hopefully create a very 'in your face' and hard hitting feel. Whether I do this or not depends on how well the footage fits the timings of the song. With the use of nearly no diegetic sound I don't have to worry about any background noise while I am filming as I can just mute it and play the music over the top, this makes filming much easier. However having no dialogue makes it more difficult to tell a story, with the meaning behind events having to be conveyed by the character's body language and facial expressions, it means actors will more than likely have to have some experience and the mise en scene will play an important role in the video to help construct an atmosphere in each scene.
I think the song choice is an important factor for my coursework, as the song sets the tone for the video and limits what you can and can't do with the video. For example if someone was to use the frozen soundtrack, they couldn't then make the video about WW1 soldiers, the video has to be of some relevance to the song. My song for example is about the monitoring of media outlets, phone hacking and invasion of privacy, I could implement security camera footage of someone walking through a city, looking up at all the cameras so people understand just how many cameras there are around. Another thing I could do is show shots of newspaper headlines about the phone hacking scandal repeatedly being piled on top of one another to show just how important of an issue this is. The genre of music I am using is categorised as hardcore punk. I think hard hitting, politically related film making will accompany the song well. A video that has a bit of a dark edge to it, almost embodying teenage angst. Another idea I had was cutting together footage of riots and marches that have been covered by news outlets, but obvious copyright issues may arise and I have to be careful as to how I might implement this.
This video is a narrative driven piece, with no instrumentals or shots of any musicians performing the song. The video appears to be about someone who has become infected with some sort of disease that has turned him into a zombie like character. There are four characters within the piece, all male, three dressed in white, disposable full body suits with weapons and the character that is playing the zombie. All the sound is non-diegetic and only the song is heard, played over the top of the piece. The video takes place in a field that is shown to be private property, the lighting is all natural, having been filmed on a sunny day, while this does create a couple of interesting shots with the rays of sun shining through the bushes, the video would have been more suited to a night time shoot, as some of the guns and acting is a bit cheesy, and the make up and costumes aren't really up to scratch. Having shot this at night or dusk would have taken some of the attention away from the slightly poor costumes and using flashlights could have created some really interesting potential shots.
This video contains two main characters, a young male and female clearly depicted as being a troubled couple with relationship and possible mental issues. The video is a mix of lip syncing and narrative but the entire video is non-diegetic sound, with the soundtrack playing over the top. The video contains no instrumentals or shots of a band playing. There is few locations, most of the video takes place in different rooms of the house, but through the use of the mise en-scene the atmosphere of each individual room is different, use of low key and high key lighting is especially effective at creating a different feel to each scene even though they take place in the room possibly just next door. The video contains dark and slightly disturbing and distressing scenes, which fits well with the mood of the song, and having looked at other videos, generally the video matches the tone and mood of the song, but also I think maybe creating a video with a contrasting mood to the song could be very effective in some cases as well, making the audience unsure how to feel, keeping them engaged and curious. Although I do not think this is something I will personally implement into my coursework as I already have ideas to the contrary.
