Inspiration
Indie pop has always been one of my favourite music genres, and I have a big interest in music videos in general, ranging from production to post, and would love to experience working on-set professionally someday. The indie genre is relaxed and artsy, and I like how their music videos don't tend to create a fictional storyline like other music videos, instead focusing on creating an aesthetic to compliment the song. This is why I chose to create an indie music video, inspired by music videos from artists such as Men I Trust, Hatchie, Beabadoobee, Barrie, and Fazerdaze. I started off by creating a moodboard, and noting down some ideas, as I do with every project. This allowed me to further analyse the common conventions and mise-en-scene of indie music videos.
To begin, I did some research into the aesthetic of indie style music videos to give me some ideas for my own production. I had already decided on a non-copyright song (Mollie Coddled - Lonely B*tch) so kept the feel of the song in mind when looking for inspiration. I knew I wanted to shoot the video in exterior locations and in sunny, natural lighting to reflect the indie feel, so the two weeks of good weather in early April came as a perfect opportunity. I shot over 2 days in 2 different locations - Brighton beach and South Downs fields. I wanted lots of different angles so that it would not be boring looking at one static mid shot. Regarding editing and effects, I wanted to include light flares, double exposure effects, and good colour grading.
This is a screenshot from a music video by Barrie for their alternative indie song 'Darjeeling'. This was a massive influence to shoot at the South Downs fields, as I loved the empty space and composition in this shot by Barrie. We also decided to dress my artist in red, to really stand out against the vast fields and blue sky. I think costume is always important in all visual texts for maximum effect.
This capture is from the Fazerdaze 'Lucky Girl' music video. This production inspired me to really focus on framing and rule of thirds, as I found 'Lucky Girl' very visually pleasing. I also liked the use of the sky as a coloured backdrop - I used this technique when shooting one of the lip-syncs on Brighton beach. I also used the prop of sunglasses to relate to the beachy, summery vibe.
This snapshot is taken from Men I Trust - 'Numb'. I love the aesthetic of this music video in general, and decided to replicated this sunset scene on the beach. I like the movement of the shot, so had my artist walk towards the camera whilst I walked backwards holding the camera as steady as possible. I think the sunset lighting turned out to be my favourite in my production.
I also like the film effects throughout, which I recreated using stock footage of film reels and light flares.
Production
BA (Hons) Media Production is a production-based course, meaning it was massively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that I haven't had much of an opportunity to work with different cameras, so I stuck to what I know which is Canon. I shot the footage with a standard 18-55mm lens and Canon 700D using manual focus, and brought a spare battery. As we were filming outdoors, I made sure to adjust the ISO per location.
We chose Brighton beach as one of my exterior filming locations because we thought I could complete some nice cinematography at sunset hour. When it came to filming the lip-sync walking along the seafront, it turned out to be quite busy that evening so I had to ensure I was not getting any members of the public in the background because this would ruin the ambience of the shot. For my second shoot location we chose the fields in the South Downs, due to their vast amount of space and green grass by the sea - we thought the grass and sea would make a picturesque backdrop, especially alongside my artists long red dress which would really stand out. After we had got off the bus and walked to the location, I directed us to a quieter spot to eliminate any chance of passer-by's getting in shot.
The first critical incident I faced during production was the issue of wind - because I was filming in large open spaces by the sea it turned out to be extremely windy, which is something I did not consider prior. This meant that my artists hair was constantly blowing in her face, so to overcome this I had to often adjust the angle to which I was shooting, so that her face was visible. We also had to move towards a more sheltered spot. In the end, I actually like how the wind looks throughout the video as I think it helps to create a sense of movement.
Throughout my music video, I also used my own VHS style footage, shot on an app on my phone called 'VHS Camera'. This footage was shot throughout lockdown, and I had previously made it into a video, which can be viewed here. I decided to use this footage to relate to the old school vibe of the TV at the start, and the other VHS effect I used throughout on some clips, using an overlay from YouTube. I felt like it would match with the aesthetic.
Post-production
I edited my production using Adobe Premiere Pro because this is the editing software I am most familiar and knowledgeable with. As I had creative freedom, the part I was most excited for was editing - to introduce my video I felt like doing something different to capture the viewers' attention immediately. I saw a lot of old school and retro vibes in indie music videos, and the use of older technology such as 90s TV's and 00s headphones. I found the TV overlay on YouTube, used at the beginning of my music video, and simply used the Ultra Key to remove the green screen. I then layered two free glitch effect overlays to give it that static effect, after changing the blend mode to Screen. I made the text of the song title (which appears on the TV screen) using an app on my phone called 'VHS Camera', to fit the aesthetic. I then used the motion scale and position toggles to create the zoom-in effect. I'm pleased with how the opening turned out and I feel that it sets the tone for the video well.
As you will have noticed, all of the music videos discussed regarding my inspiration above are formatted in square. This is a reoccurring theme in indie and alternative music videos, so I felt it would be fitting if I followed this style, and I also like the square format. To do this, I used the mask tools in Premiere. To top it off I added a slight vignette and grain effect. I especially like the rounded corners, which links to the old school TV I used in the opening.
The first critical incident I faced during editing was aligning the lip-sync clips to the soundtrack. Instead of filming one constant clip I had filmed lots of short separate clips, which was a mistake on my part as this meant it took a lot longer to match up the lip-syncing. Another issue was that because the wind was so loud, it was difficult to hear what part of the song my artist was singing. In the future, I will make sure the on-site music is a lot louder so that I do not experience this problem again.
When editing I decided to include lots of cross dissolves, film dissolves, and light flare transitions, to help create the laid-back feel. I also chose to add some on-screen graphics of the lyrics at certain times, to both emphasise the words and create some more visuals. I did this by firstly finding and downloading a font from DaFont and installing it into Premiere. Again, I wanted an indie-style font with a casual feel so the stamp-esque font was ideal. I also added some transitions onto the text using a transition pack, to give the copy a bit of life.
Moving forward
In summary, I enjoyed this production and my production group were very helpful and full of ideas. It has been a useful experience which has shown me that my music video skills have progressed since GCSE and A Level, and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. At times I questioned if I should get helped from my production group with the editing because it was taking quite a while, but I can be very picky so figured it would be best if I powered through individually.
Upon completing my degree, I hope to be able to expand my skillset as I enter the media industry. I would also love to be involved in more music videos in the future, as I begin to start my career and diversify my portfolio.
Comentarios