Research: Types Of Shot

(Research by Katie) 

Research: Locations For Filming

Our locations for filming our music video will be Hall Place (specifically the gardens) in Bexleyheath, Erith Pier and Erith High Street. Hall Place will be used at the start and end of our music video whilst Erith Pier and Erith High Street will be used in the middle of the music video for the concept of helping people.

Hall Place:

Erith Pier:

Planning: Hair, Make-up & Styling Ideas

(Slide Pub by Danielle)

Planning: Timeline & Storyboard

Below is our timeline with the descriptions of what we wish our video to be like:





We also constructed a storyboard video with pictures from the internet of what we wish our music video to be like:

Planning: Designation of Roles Within Our Team

In order to make sure that our team worked effectively and managed to complete all of the tasks we needed to, we designated roles:

Katie - Researcher/Lighting
Hannah - Filming/Producing
Rosie - Editor/Director
Danielle - Costumes/Mise-en-scene

As a whole team:

• Planning
• Casting
• Timeline
• Storyboard
• Location

Planning: Song Permission

For us to be able to use "People, Help The People" by Birdy, we had to seek and gain permission from the record label to use the song. Birdy herself is signed to may different labels, however we decided to contact the British record label: 14th Floor Records, a joint record label with Warner Music UK.

The picture below display proof that we contacted the record label and left a forwarding email address.

This is what was written to the record company:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am an A-Level Media student working in a group with 3 other students, and for our A2 coursework we are required to make a music video.

We have an idea of using the song "People, Help the People" covered by your artist Birdy but of course we need your permission to do this, this being the reason for my email. 

If you could please contact me with a response by the email address above then this would be most helpful.

Many thanks,

Katie Murphy 

Research: More Music Videos

We then also looked into more music videos which focus on the journey, particularly with multiple walking shots. The Verve- Bitter Sweet Symphony, showcases exactly this, with the lead singer miming to the song whilst walking down a busy street. The music video location is particularly urban, shown by the shutters of the shops, the road sign and multiple people walking. We will use this urban mis en scene in our music video, as both the Birdy video and the verve video incorporate this. We will use the high street as our 'urban setting'. 

The location shots in Sinead O'Connor- Nothing Compares 2 U are also something we would like to use as inspiration, particularly the use of the water which is reflective and matches the theme of our song. The video also shows images of the lead walking through the park which we will try to recreate. 

As we plan to change our video from black and white to colour, we researched into music videos which were mainly in black and white. There were many videos which used this feature yet limited ones which changed to colour. We found the scripts- If you could see me now as this used both colour and black and white in the final cut. The black and white is inter-changed throughout the video, rather than the black and white changing to colour as we are interested in trying to achieve. We do, however, we do like the fact that the colour is used symbolically, during times of happiness which we also want to use.  

As we were interested in initially incorporating dance into our music video. We struggled to find a dance video which used a soft ballad rather than a full dance to a club song. We settled for Pink- Try as this used the contemporary dance which we liked. The music video uses a vary of angles when shooting, which makes the overal look dynamic. The music video also has other features other than dancing, meaning we can also add a narrative which seems to be a usual choice for most music videos. We will have to look further into the dance filming as the sequence will have to be choreographed around the camera to ensure fluidity.  


(Research by Hannah)

Research: Music Videos (Extended)

After deciding on our idea for our music video, I decided to do more research focused on the idea we are hoping to achieve with our music video. This research included looking at the official video for our chosen song "People, Help The People" by Birdy.

"People, Help The People" by Birdy

The opening scene of this music video is a wide shot of London with a taxi driving past in slow motion. This is effective as the sun slowly creeps through into the video as the taxi drives more into the shot. This idea is one which we would consider using in our video, however we would open in a field and have the sun shining through leaves in a tree instead.

The middle close-up shot of the lead female is a shot that is usually used in many music videos. It is effective in this video as it introduces the lead female and makes the audience know who she is.

The editing technique here of blurring the close object (this time the lead female's face) and focusing on a object in the background (this time an old woman's face) is one in which we would consider using as it is quite a sophisticated technique and would suit the style of our music video

This shot of the street in the video is one in which we would use as an idea for our video is to have the lead female walking down a street. The shot of the street is one which we could use to convey where the video is taking place and to show people in need.

'The A Team' by Ed Sheeran

This close-up on the actress in the video is a good use of a close-up which would be good to use in our video as it manages to show the emotion on the actress face and how this will influence the audience.

This shot is like an idea we would have about our lead female handing over money to a homeless person, as this would fit with the whole idea of helping those in need.







Also from this video, we like the idea of having a homeless person on the floor and speeding up the people walking by them:

(Research by Katie)

Planning: Song Choice: "People, Help the People" by Birdy

For our chosen song, there are two official videos: a British one shot in 2011 and a French Extra one shot in 2012.

British Video:

French Extra Video:

Introduction: Planning Ideas for the Music Video

We were originally set the task of researching music videos ourselves and deciding on what idea we thought would be best. I was looking at more of the 'pop' area with artists such as Taylor Swift as I feel this is what I would enjoy more. 
However, we were assigned teams of who to be with and I was placed into a group with Rosie Acton, Hannah Griffin and Danielle Scott and discussed our ideas which we had individually thought of. Whilst Hannah and Danielle did have their individual ideas, like me, they were unsure of how to pursue these ideas. We therefore decided to use Rosie's idea as it was the strongest and most well thought out one.

Rosie's song choice was 'People, Help the People' by Birdy, a 2011 song which fits into more of the indie genre. Rosie's original idea was mainly focusing on a girl who had been in a broken relationship but at the end finds her boyfriend again. However, after discussing this idea in a group we decided that this did not particularly fit with the lyrics of the song, which are more noticeable about helping the people of the world due to the slow tempo of the song. We then decided to follow the narrative of the lyrics about helping people. As Danielle was rather interested in a dance idea, we decided on using contemporary dancers into the instrumental section of the song, as using the dance scene would be easier to shoot as miming would not be needed as much, which is difficult for non-professionals due to timing issue.

We discussed ideas such as:

• Fading from black and white to colour
• Slow motion
• Dance section
• Manipulating the narrative/playing with time (starting at the end and finishing in the same position)
• Female lead - most accessiable for us and suits the feel of the song
• Walking through the streets - require outside shooting
• Handing help to people
• Miming - this would only be in a small part of the video as this is rather hard to pull off

Research: Music Video (Original)

'22' by Taylor Swift
The '22' video by Taylor Swift is a music video released this year and from Taylor Swift's latest album 'Red'. The video features Taylor Swift herself and a group of friends and cuts between them in front of a screen to getting ready to go out somewhere. The video is filmed with a black frame around it and this last for the whole video. 

The video opens on Taylor Swift standing in front of the screen. By using her as the starting shot of the video, the audience automatically knows that this is the main character of the video and who the focus will mainly be on through out the video.

The other scene featured in the video is of a group of girls getting ready for a night out. The setting is a kitchen with drinks and food around them and the group are having fun and just messing around. 

The group of friends are also shown in front of the screen. They are featured wearing red heart shaped glasses, with pom poms and jumping around and dancing and posing. I think this concept manages to reflect the idea of the song being a fun and good time for girls.









This shot is important to the video as it shows Taylor Swift making the number 22 with her fingers, conveying the name of the song.

From this video, I like the idea of using the screen and having a group of friends in front of it, having fun by posing and using props as I think this would be something that an audience could relate to. I also like the use of the frame being featured through out the whole video as I think it adds a vintage theme to the video and is like a picture being taken of the video.

'Me and My Girls' by Fifth Harmony
The 'Me and My Girls' video by Fifth Harmony is a music video released this year by American girl band Fifth Harmony. The video is focused on the idea of the girl group having a girly night in but then also cutting between them being out at a party. From this video, I would use the concept of having a girly night in.

The scenes which show the girls having their 'girly night in' are in one of their bedrooms with the girls wearing funny props and having a good time.

(Research by Katie)