Storyboards
A storyboard is a template of plans and pictures to create a visual media product that can be both created in written form or through drawings. In my case to create a music video, we used a storyboard to note each media element we will use for each shot and draw out how we wanted the shot to look. This was for us to put into context and on paper what we wanted to create and the ideas and images we were planning on using to create a particular concept or narrative. The purpose of a storyboard is to plan out every shot I am going to use and in order to put everything together to see how it may match the visual image and what looks right and wrong. It also allows us to put every shot into a sequence and in order of our narrative and how we can match up each element of the shot in terms of having suitable cinematography for each shot, editing styles that will match up and match the shots look realistic and our video be high quality. It also allows us to plan what sounds we will use on the shot and what part of the video suits which part of the song in terms of timing and the necessary mis en scene.
The first thing we did for when planning our storyboards was do our primary research. Primary research is any type of research that we went out and found out ourselves, in comparison to secondary research which involves planning and summarising already existing research. The primary research we done for planning our music video was that we asked 40 people to fill out a questionnaire based on questions related to our planning for our own music video and questions on the indie genre and put our answers into pie charts in order to find out the most popular ones and our target audiences preferences. We also created 5 vox pops, video questionnaires, of people answering our questions in order to take on board their feedback and to get an understanding as to what audiences prefer and expect from existing indie artists and from the indie genre as a whole. This research was carried out in order to get a clear understanding as to what is deemed suitable and relevant in terms of conventions, camera and editing techniques and other media elements when creating our music video and to get an understanding as to what our audiences prefer and want so we can make it as successful as we can and as relatable to our audience as we can. Both of these also helped us when planning the shots of the music video as we had a wide variety of questions based on a number of different elements so it gave us variety when choosing what would suit each shot and when we could use everything that was answered. In terms of secondary research, this was when we took all of our answered data from the questionnaires etc and planned out what would work best for each shot and when we will use it. For example, we would have a idea for a shot or narrative and then use all of the different micro elements required in a music video such as the camera shot, editing technique and use of mis en scene and that put it all together to make it conventional to our narrative and for what our target audience expects to see from the indie genre. As well as this, our secondary research helped us when planning our music video as it allowed us to choose whether our video will have more performance based shots that have been influenced by the structure of our storyboards or whether we will stick to having it primarily narrative and concept based and in the end, because of the data we summarised, we chose to have more performance based shots as our audience would like and expect to see them; this was a big change of our video that was down to the findings of both our primary and secondary research. This primary research method was incorporated into my storyboard when we were deciding what method of style of shot to use for each scene, for example whether the shot will be performance based or narrative based or include content that highlights our video concept. This was also supported by the micro elements we planned around the shot to make it more conventional and show the shot and scene clearer.
When creating our storyboards, we took inspirations from the indie music videos we had already watched and analysed such as Gabrille Aplins 'please don't say you love me' and Ed Sheerans 'give me love'. We chose these videos as they are very similar to the initial idea we had before creating ours and they belong to the same music genre as our own artist, as well as all having similarities to our artist in the way they are represented through their music and their music videos. When analysing these music videos and taking inspiration from them, we looked at the order and sequence of shots and all the micro elements went into them so we could attempt to replicate them. We also looked at visuals in depth as it gave us an idea of the narrative and concept of then videos and whether we could use this in our own music video. We made use of this in our storyboards through our drawings as these would be the visuals and whole creation that our audience would see once we had a finished products. We also took inspiration for our storyboards by planning each micro element individually so we could focus on what looks best and what is most conventional. This also gave us more knowledge on these micro elements and allowed us to create a more in depth and successful storyboard.
Me and my group, grouped our storyboards by planning out our narrative in order and deciding what will be shown at a particular part of the song and what order everything will go in, as well as choosing how long each shot will be. We then, between all 4 of us, had a storyboard each and collaborated with each other in who was planning what sheet and what shot, whilst making sure it was in order and still realistic and conventional. For example, we done this by one of our sheets finishing at 1:41 and the others starting at 1:42 and so on, so everything would be in order. In terms of sharing the responsibility, one of us focused on planning out our own individual sheets. We also each focused on our own micro element depending on what we knew the most on and who had the best and most conventional ideas for each shot, for example I focused on the cinematography and editing of each shot and Meghan focused on the drawing so we all worked to our strengths in the best interests of our group and the music videos.
Some inspirations I took from my group members when planning my storyboards for the music video with them were a number of the settings and iconography techniques and examples we could use. For example, one group member of mine mentioned how we could film in a isolated location in Theydon Fields were we filmed the performance scene of the artist sitting under the sunset on an open village field on a tree swing. This proved conventional and successful to my video as it was the main performance scene that is featured a number of times in my video as it looks the most conventional as is the most engaging for my target audience. Another inspiration I took from a group member of mine was to include a variety if close ups and extreme close ups of my artist after and before the break up in our narrative to show the contrast in her emotions and how she has become more depressed and saddened over time. This proved successful as it portrayed a clear connotation and concept of our video that relationships are both good and bad. When planning our storyboards, me and my group focused on different aspects of the shot each depending on what we know most on and who had the best and most conventional ideas, for example one of us focused on the drawing and structure of the shot and another which camera technique we would use.
One problem we faced when using creating our music videos and using our storyboards was that we didn't have our storyboards with us when filming some of our scenes. This prevented us from filming certain shots and meant we couldn't follow all of the micro elements that we had planned for the scene as we did not remember all of them so some of our shots aren't filmed as scheduled or planned. Firstly, we had to change the order of shots for our pub scene as we did not have our filming schedule or storyboard on us so we therefore had to film on what we knew and the shots we remembered. This held us back when filming as we didn't have the exact shot list on us so we didn't know the shot lengths or shot types so we had to improvise with the narrative we had and what we knew yet still make it conventional. For example, we did not film in the correct lighting or at the right time so we had people walking in the background and it didn't look as professional or realistic as we hoped, despite us using the correct shot type and other micro elements.
The first thing we did for when planning our storyboards was do our primary research. Primary research is any type of research that we went out and found out ourselves, in comparison to secondary research which involves planning and summarising already existing research. The primary research we done for planning our music video was that we asked 40 people to fill out a questionnaire based on questions related to our planning for our own music video and questions on the indie genre and put our answers into pie charts in order to find out the most popular ones and our target audiences preferences. We also created 5 vox pops, video questionnaires, of people answering our questions in order to take on board their feedback and to get an understanding as to what audiences prefer and expect from existing indie artists and from the indie genre as a whole. This research was carried out in order to get a clear understanding as to what is deemed suitable and relevant in terms of conventions, camera and editing techniques and other media elements when creating our music video and to get an understanding as to what our audiences prefer and want so we can make it as successful as we can and as relatable to our audience as we can. Both of these also helped us when planning the shots of the music video as we had a wide variety of questions based on a number of different elements so it gave us variety when choosing what would suit each shot and when we could use everything that was answered. In terms of secondary research, this was when we took all of our answered data from the questionnaires etc and planned out what would work best for each shot and when we will use it. For example, we would have a idea for a shot or narrative and then use all of the different micro elements required in a music video such as the camera shot, editing technique and use of mis en scene and that put it all together to make it conventional to our narrative and for what our target audience expects to see from the indie genre. As well as this, our secondary research helped us when planning our music video as it allowed us to choose whether our video will have more performance based shots that have been influenced by the structure of our storyboards or whether we will stick to having it primarily narrative and concept based and in the end, because of the data we summarised, we chose to have more performance based shots as our audience would like and expect to see them; this was a big change of our video that was down to the findings of both our primary and secondary research. This primary research method was incorporated into my storyboard when we were deciding what method of style of shot to use for each scene, for example whether the shot will be performance based or narrative based or include content that highlights our video concept. This was also supported by the micro elements we planned around the shot to make it more conventional and show the shot and scene clearer.
When creating our storyboards, we took inspirations from the indie music videos we had already watched and analysed such as Gabrille Aplins 'please don't say you love me' and Ed Sheerans 'give me love'. We chose these videos as they are very similar to the initial idea we had before creating ours and they belong to the same music genre as our own artist, as well as all having similarities to our artist in the way they are represented through their music and their music videos. When analysing these music videos and taking inspiration from them, we looked at the order and sequence of shots and all the micro elements went into them so we could attempt to replicate them. We also looked at visuals in depth as it gave us an idea of the narrative and concept of then videos and whether we could use this in our own music video. We made use of this in our storyboards through our drawings as these would be the visuals and whole creation that our audience would see once we had a finished products. We also took inspiration for our storyboards by planning each micro element individually so we could focus on what looks best and what is most conventional. This also gave us more knowledge on these micro elements and allowed us to create a more in depth and successful storyboard.
Me and my group, grouped our storyboards by planning out our narrative in order and deciding what will be shown at a particular part of the song and what order everything will go in, as well as choosing how long each shot will be. We then, between all 4 of us, had a storyboard each and collaborated with each other in who was planning what sheet and what shot, whilst making sure it was in order and still realistic and conventional. For example, we done this by one of our sheets finishing at 1:41 and the others starting at 1:42 and so on, so everything would be in order. In terms of sharing the responsibility, one of us focused on planning out our own individual sheets. We also each focused on our own micro element depending on what we knew the most on and who had the best and most conventional ideas for each shot, for example I focused on the cinematography and editing of each shot and Meghan focused on the drawing so we all worked to our strengths in the best interests of our group and the music videos.
Some inspirations I took from my group members when planning my storyboards for the music video with them were a number of the settings and iconography techniques and examples we could use. For example, one group member of mine mentioned how we could film in a isolated location in Theydon Fields were we filmed the performance scene of the artist sitting under the sunset on an open village field on a tree swing. This proved conventional and successful to my video as it was the main performance scene that is featured a number of times in my video as it looks the most conventional as is the most engaging for my target audience. Another inspiration I took from a group member of mine was to include a variety if close ups and extreme close ups of my artist after and before the break up in our narrative to show the contrast in her emotions and how she has become more depressed and saddened over time. This proved successful as it portrayed a clear connotation and concept of our video that relationships are both good and bad. When planning our storyboards, me and my group focused on different aspects of the shot each depending on what we know most on and who had the best and most conventional ideas, for example one of us focused on the drawing and structure of the shot and another which camera technique we would use.
One problem we faced when using creating our music videos and using our storyboards was that we didn't have our storyboards with us when filming some of our scenes. This prevented us from filming certain shots and meant we couldn't follow all of the micro elements that we had planned for the scene as we did not remember all of them so some of our shots aren't filmed as scheduled or planned. Firstly, we had to change the order of shots for our pub scene as we did not have our filming schedule or storyboard on us so we therefore had to film on what we knew and the shots we remembered. This held us back when filming as we didn't have the exact shot list on us so we didn't know the shot lengths or shot types so we had to improvise with the narrative we had and what we knew yet still make it conventional. For example, we did not film in the correct lighting or at the right time so we had people walking in the background and it didn't look as professional or realistic as we hoped, despite us using the correct shot type and other micro elements.
You have provided a sound post as you have stated what you did for the storyboard, and where you took ideas and inspirations from, but not referred to enough examples to support points made.
ReplyDeleteYou need to:
1) Perhaps mention a couple of inspirations from different group members
2) State where you have taken inspirations from and where they can be seen within your work (specific examples).
3) You have mentioned your primary and secondary research but not referred to how they have been incorporated into the storyboard (again examples needed for both)
You have mentioned some inspirations from group members and secondary research and where they can be seen making this a good post
ReplyDelete