How we used conventions of the genre
Directors' Commentary
Influences on our work
A
big influence to us was the Mumford and Sons video Whispers in the Dark. We
were very keen on the style of editing in this video. This promo is kept
constantly interesting and watchable because the screen is split into quarters.
We felt that this was a very effective technique because it means there is
always something to watch, because four different things are happening at once.
The shots change at different times, but usually cut to the beat which is
another idea we were inspired by. We liked that the shots change one after the
other rather than at the same time. This would be quite challenging because we
would have to almost create four different videos that are engaging to watch.
While we used this idea throughout the video, we thought it would be effective
if at some points we returned to just one shot on screen. We though this
emphasise certain lyrics or mark the turning point of the song when the girl
starts to sing very angrily.
Having
studied the editing of Whispers in the Dark quite closely, we also adopted the
idea of having the shots come onscreen one after the other, and having the
moments when the shots change staggered. Again, this would ensure that audience
interest is maintained. The pictures below show how we had the shots appearing
one after another. We enhanced some of the ideas we got from the Mumford and
Sons video by trying different techniques. For example at some points we had
the same shot but four of them on screen, sometimes we had the same shot but
mirrored it and other times we paused shots so only one would be in motion.
Another video that inspired us was
the iconic Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel. We found the use of stop motion to be
very interesting and would bring another element to the video. A lot of videos
use the same sort of techniques throughout the entire video, buit we were keen
to keep ours changing. We thought about ways to use stop motion in our video
while not making it comical like in Sledgehammer, and making relevant to the
tone and themes of the song. We chose to link it to the lyrics ‘ink settling
in’, ‘they crack and bleed all over again’ and ‘piercing in my spine’ by having
lines drawn down the performer’s arms and back like crack in her skin. This was
very successful because it is quite a dramatic image, and it was especially
effective when the cracking happened to the strumming of the guitar.
The
mise-en-scene of our video was inspired by Adele’s Rolling in the Deep. The
styles are quite similar because we have the idea of lots of symbolic occurrences
seen in the video, like how in her video we see china smashing, glasses
vibrating and her singing alone, and in ours we show paint dripping, objects
being destroyed and the singer alone. These events have connotations of anger
and heartbreak and we though images like this would work the feeling of our
chosen song. The performance and narrative are closely combined in the style of
these videos.
Gotye inspired our music video as well as our ancillary tasks. Because he is an indie pop artist whose music shares the acoustic feel that our song had, we looked at how the video suited the sound of the music. It is a video entirely filmed in one room - much like our video. We also liked many of the shots used; close ups to see the emotion of the singer and mid shots to see the body and the action of the video while still seeing the singer's face. This is another video that used the stop-motion technique, and our use of it ended up being quite similar. We drew cracks along the performer's body while they drew lines from the walls onto the body. I think that looking at how this video executed this unusual and quirky tone, and the events built up as the music did, was a good guide for us and our own planning.
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