POV style in my music video

For my music video, I intend to film it in a POV (Point-of-view) perspective.

False Alarm

This is a filming technique where the audience watch the events of the narrative play out from the perspective of a character present in the narrative as if the camera are the eyes of the character. The Weekend's music video 'False Alarm' (right) uses this format to show a group of individuals robbing a bank using aggressive military techniques to escape from the responding police force with hostages.

Bad Motherfucker

This filming technique is a highly effective way of making the audience feel as though they are a part of the narrative and are in fact present in the moment of the events and have an able hand in influencing the narrative. Take for example in Biting Elbow's music video 'Bad Motherfucker' (left) that emphasizes this feeling for audiences by having weapons pointed towards the camera to evoke a stronger sense of danger to audiences and a higher desire to want the protagonist to survive and be successful during the fighting (as audiences feel as though they are the protagonist and wish for themselves to survive and not die at the hands of the antagonists).

Bad Motherfucker

The structure of this music video is also quite similar to that of a video game in first person format where it is clear to audiences the short term goals for the protagonist by having them clearly in sight (e.g. the audience can see the man that the protagonist is chasing). This helps to keep the audience constantly interested and keeps their focus on the events of the narrative.

Bad Motherfucker

The inclusion of less realistic elements such as parkour during a chase, falling from tall heights and using a vertical zipline to ascend a building (left) add to the entertainment of the music video with the POV style element allowing audiences to be able to suspend their disbelief and still treat the music video as something that still feels realistic. This, accompanied by the use of occasional sound such as gunshots and punching noises adds further to the audience's ability to suspend their disbelief.

Smack My Bitch Up

The effect of a POV perspective is achieved by the audience often not being able to see the face of the character they are seeing the events of the music video from. This can either be for the whole music video such as in The Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up'. In this music video, after leaving their home, going to a fast food establishment and then to the club until the end of the video, the face of the main character is not seen which allows the audience to put themselves in the position of the main character and feel as if they are the ones leading the narrative themselves.

False Alarm

This is not always the case however, music videos such as The Weekend's music video 'False Alarm' (left) hides the identity of the main character up until the ending where the face of the main character is revealed in a mirror. This is used as a way to end the narrative by having the character commit suicide and so this music video keeps to the general use of hiding the identity in POV music video apart from doing so to cap the narrative and resolve the events of the music video.

Smack My Bitch Up

Overall, I can see that the use of POV style shooting of my music video is quite appropriate in reaching out to audiences in quite a unique way that would be best for my music video. All examples above seem to prioritize violence and other taboo type topics such as sex (controversially lesbian sex in 'Smack My Bitch Up') and drug use (present predominantly in The Prodigy's 'Smack My Bitch Up' as seen right). The reason for the inclusion of this type of behavior by characters in these music videos I believe is due to the fact that it further involves audiences compared to just more mundane actions by the character with violence in the first person being more exciting and exhilarating for audiences due to the heightened realism brought on by the POV style perspective. As a result, I will likely use similar elements of violence and drug use in my music video to achieve the same effect as other music videos have achieved.

Music video changes

Following my creation of my music video for the song Nightcall and supporting ancillaries of digipak and album advert, issues with these pieces were discovered.

Firstly, it was found that the front cover of my digipak was of a lower quality than what was expected and required as they had been screenshots from the music video itself. This required the shaving of my head a second time to get a higher quality picture for the front cover.

Secondly, the inside cover of my digipak of the credit page needed improving and a 'do over' as the inclusion of the phone seemed random, out of place and irrelevant to the music video itself. This would mean to replace this with imagery more relevant to the music video.

Thirdly, as well as other minor (and some more large scale changes), the final change to the digipak was to change it to a color version as opposed to the black and white version style present in the music video itself.

Fourthly, it was recognized with the music video that there were issues with the video's narrative and lack of referencing to the lyrics of "Something inside you" that made it feel like there was a disconnect between the imagery and music. As a resolution to these issues, the recommendation was that the video be re-shot at points (where the shots of the male and female characters lip syncing to the song were kept). This new version had to be re-written, re-shot and needed to be logistically easy to film in the required time whilst simultaneously being able to make the video more comprehensible when inter-cut with elements of the existing music video. In planning for this, it was recommended that I create a mind map, consider abstract ideas and concepts and plan a story with flashbacks.

Fifth, it was pointed out that my evaluation fro questions 2-4 needed adding to in terms of detail in my response.

Overall, when conferring with others as well as self-evaluating, I have decided to create a new music video and ancillaries with a new Synthpop song that will keep within the conventions of Synthpop music videos I identified with my research.

Draft Evaluation

Below is my evaluation for my A2 coursework.

A2 Media Studies Evaluation Question 1 from Samuel Pilsworth on Vimeo.

A2 Media Evaluation Question 3 from samuelpilsworth

Draft Music Video

Music video

Draft Album Advert

Here is my final album advert as part of my ancillary tasks. When designing this album advert, I felt that it was important to include both the male and female characters to show the contrast between the two. However, I decided to make the male character dominate the advert in terms of size as I felt it best represented the relationship between the characters. I have overlaid an altered version of the back cover of the digipak with just the image, title and song list onto an altered version of the digipak's front cover. I have added "Debut album out now" and a link to the artist's website. This message above entices readers and the message below invites them to learn further about this new album. I have also moved the title further down to overlap with the top of the male character's head to cover the whole width of the page. The reason for this was because it met conventions of other album adverts that use more center-stage titles and text.

Draft Digipak

Front cover (Page 1)- This is the front cover of the digipak, portraying the main meaning behind the music video of the both confrontational yet vulnerable male character changing as a result of the female character. I have used a similar font as Kavinsky uses on their album for Outrun as it stands out and is easily recognisable to their target audience. I chose to keep the black and white color pallet in the image as I felt the way it contrasts with the title. This makes the title seem brighter and bolder and stand out further for audiences. About half of the man's face can be seen and this style is in the style of the artwork for the Synthpop song "Nightcall".

Inside left cover (Page 2)- This page thanks the individuals that contributed to the original "Outrun" album. I have used a red font for the sections that individuals contributed in and white font for the people's names. This red font matches the letter "K" in the Kavisnky title and contrasts nicely with the white font. This has a similar effect in terms of contrast that the font on the front cover has. I have implemented the phone and money from the music video as I feel that this is important in terms of meeting as it instigates the communication between the male and female characters.

Inside right tray cover (Page 3)- This cover acts as the tray cover which is located behind where the disc is placed in the digipak. This is a simple image of the shot of the man's head and has no writing or overly specific details in it. This makes it appropriate to go behind the disc as it is revealed when the disc is removed. This also draws a contrast between the image on front cover that shows the man's face and this shows the back of the man's head.

Back cover (Page 4)- The back cover of the digipak again features the bold colorful Kavisnky title that is instantly eye catching and recognisable to the target audience. The track list of the album is then listed below in chronological order of the songs on the CD. At the bottom of the page, Kavinsky's and his record maker's website addresses are present, allowing fans to check out their website. The image of the girl is in a similar style to the front cover with about half of her face shown but with a different character. This represents the similarities between the characters and how they behave. 

This is the final digipak that I have put together that is made up of 4 pages for the front, back and two interior covers.

Audience feedback

I have asked a number of people their opinion on their opinions of my draft as well as reviewing it with my teacher. As a result of this, I have got an idea of what I need to do to improve this draft. Below is a list of ideas for changes:

• A need to revise the exterior shots ("overly domestic looking") of the back yard to be replaced with a female singer.
• A change for a larger majority of the shots to be in back and white.
• A change in the nighttime driving shots to make the shots not black and white but more saturated and to emphasize certain details in the shot without influencing the quality of the shot.
• Rejection of the direct religious iconography in favor of a candle burning down over time in a time lapse way as well as a time lapse of the sun setting behind a hill. This can also be inter-cut with the woman as well.
• Removal of the shots of the burning paper but potentially replace with burning paper with writing on it to add more meaning to it.