STORY BOARDS

Before I start filming for my final video, I think it would be a good idea to create a storyboard for my video. This will allow me to figure out what footage I need and the different shot types and camera movements i will have. By doing this, I can understand if I have enough variety of shots and how much I will need to film.
It is likely that this will change while creating my music video, due to adding in new shots, fitting the shots with the song and various other reasons.
Here is my final storyboard:

This is my rough, first edition of my video.  Though this is basic, it will be very useful for me when I start to create my music video when deciding and filming specific shot types and camera movements. Throughout the process of filming, creating and editing for my music video, this storyboard is likely to have changed to a certain extent. I am not expecting this storyboard to be parallel to my final music video because it is likely that I will change my mind throughout the process.

QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS

After handing out 30 copies of my questionnaire to students of my focused target audience, I received feedback that I can now use to help me with the making of my video.

This is a copy of one of my questionnaires that were answered:

This is one of my final scanned questionnaires. From these specific results, I can see that the artist Im using is popular and is liked within my target audience. The feedback I recieved overall was helpful and now has allowed me to think about my ancillary tasks as well as things to include in my music video.
Overall I found out that my target audience like to listen to music and sometimes or very often watch music videos which is important because it shows that they are popular in the music industry.
Overall, regarding the ancillary tasks, the majority of my audience say that it is important to have clear images of the artist to promote the album cover and posters, as well as titles of the songs/albums.

There was also a clear majority of my audience saying that music videos and album covers play an important role in persuading the audience to buy the song or album. This is important because it shows that the music video I am to create would be imporant for the artist' success.

PRIMARY RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE

This is an example of primary research I used during my planning and research into music videos. I thought it would be a good idea to hand out a questionnaire to my target audience. I handed out around 30 copies of these.
This questionnaire is helpful because it will enables me to find out about my target audience and what they prefer within the music industry, including their favourite genre and any specific songs they like.
It also will help me for my ancillary tasks that I will be creating after I have finished my music video.
It was important for me to send these questionnaires out to my target audience because I will beable to receive relevant feedback that will help with my specific task.

FINDING ACTORS TO USE

Now that I had decided on a song and had an idea of various settings that I will possibly use, I need to decide who my actors will be and how many of them I will need.

Once choosing my song, I immediatley thought about having my sister for my main actress. Though she is nearly 21, I think that she looks young enough to be in the music video, because I didnt want the actress being too young. I also chose my sister because she has long hair, which is something I wanted for my actress.

As the song I have chosen is related to a relationship, I decided that it would be good for my sisters real life boyfriend to play her 'ex' boyfriend in the video. I think this is ideal because it will be more comfortable for them to act as a couple in the video.

After realising that I had two actors for the narrative I was to include, I realised that I needed a actress to sing the song itself. I decided that I wanted my sister to be the singer too because this was my original plan.

With regards to this, I figured that it would be a good idea to have my sister play both the singer and the actor in the narrative. This way it will represent her personal story. This is a very common technique that Taylor Swift uses in her videos, including the Back to December video.

This is my sister, who will be the main actor for my music video.

This is Will. He will be my male actor in my music video.

DECIDING ON A LOCATION FOR MY SINGER

After my feedback on the song choice and starting to come up with ideas to use in my videos, I had to start thinking about different locations to use.
I wanted to use more than one location because the video could become tedious otherwise because the locations add variety to the video.

My first idea was to use a funfair that was happening in Central London at the time. I thought this would be a good idea to film at night time because it could be seen as magical, which would be ideal for a love story. This would be used for the shots that are 'looking back in the past' in my music video. Unfortunatley, once I was ready to film, the fair had moved on and after thinking about it, I realised that the lighting would not be suitable and I would prefer to set my video during the day.

After deciding on this, I wanted my singer and that element of the video to be focused around a country/boohoo chic theme. With this in mind, I decided to use my garden as a starting point.

As you can see from this image, there were some challenges and things that could possibly get in the way during my filming. Though the trampoline could be used in some music videos, I did not think that it was suitable for my particular song. With this, I had to work around the different challenges, which limited me to different settings within the garden.



This is a tree in my garden. I thought this would be good as a scene to use. Though it looks haunting here, In the light I think it will be a good location, which fits in well with the country theme. This will allow me to have a good low angle of my actor/actress.



With this in mind, I decided that it would be good if I located somewhere else for the singing. I decided to go to the local park, which would be bigger and would provide more space for me to film.



Not only did the park provide me with a large green spaced area and other elements such as benches that I could incorporate into my video, but there were also woods that I thought would make a change to my settings.

At first I was eager to find a play park because I thought it would be a different setting that could easily connote lonliness. In regards to this, I was unable to find a local play park that had the resources I wanted.

I also decided to use a bedroom in my house. This was a good location because I wanted a scene that involved the artist crying/being sad and looking at old photos.

As well as this, I wanted to use the window seat in my bedroom.. This is an ideal location because I wanted to incorporate a sad scene, which shows the artist looking out of the window.

FEEDBACK ON THE SONG

Once choosing the song I was going to use, I asked friends and family on feedback about the song. I asked them to all listen to the song and write what they think would suit well with the song in a music video. I need this to allow myself to find out other peoples ideas and to try and incorporate these into my own music video.

These are some of the feedback I receieved:

Though I only received a small number of feedback, the overall impression was that the song was popular and people enjoyed listening to it (as shown above). The ideas and thoughts I received were parallel to the ideas that I have thought of, which is positive. There was mention in the feedback of the song being very long, but I was unable to find a shorter version to be able to cut the music.This may be something that I will need to think about when starting to create and edit my music video together. Though I think that the song may be challenging because it is long, I believe that I am ready to take on the challenge.

ASKING FOR PERMISSION

Before editing and filming for my video, I had to email the record company to ask for permission to use this song. This is essential to stop the use of copyright. The record label that I had to contact was Big Machine Label, who are the record company for Taylor Swift and various other musicians. To contact the record company, I decided to email them, explaining the situation and how I would be using one of their artist' songs for my media coursework.

This is the email I sent to the company:

THE ORIGINAL BACK TO DECEMBER MUSIC VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLK2bpJixLA

After choosing this song, I decided to look at the original video made my Taylor Swift. Before doing this I brainstormed my ideas so that I can compare these with the way the video has been created. By doing this, I am able to see if my ideas were like those in the videos and if so, work out how to adapt mine so that it doesnt look the same.
These were some of my ideas I came up with:



These were some of the ideas I brainstormed before watching the video

Once watching the video, I realised that my ideas were different to the way the original video has been created.

              

The Back to December video links to the lyrics of the song, like I would like mine to also do. In the original video there is a young female singer, who is singing but also being the actress in the video. I was going to do this too because I thought it would be more relevant to the lyrics as it can represent the singers own personal story.
The locations and the persona of both characters in the video are represented fully and are easy to interpret. The snowy setting is very effective and is something I would like to incorporate if possible. In the original video, there is also the appearance of  a male actor, who the song is linked to. In the video, you only see the male actor in short shots and there is not  a joining of the two actors at any moment in the video.
When thinking about my video ideas compared to the original, I think that my music video will be very different to the original, so I am still going to choose this song.

CHOOSING MY FINAL SONG.

Though I was originally decided on 'Love Story' for my final song, I then listened to 'Back to december' and was again undecided because I felt that using 'Back to December' would be more appropriate. This is because for the time of the year, we are entering the winter season, so it would look colder, which shows a clear link to the song title.
Firstly, I looked at the lyrics to the song, to help me decide on initial ideas and shots I could possibly use, which are:

I'm so glad you made time to see me.
How's life? Tell me how's your family.
I haven't seen them in a while.
You've been good, busier than ever,
We small talk, work and the weather,
Your guard is up and I know why.
Because the last time you saw me
Is still burned in the back of your mind.
You gave me roses and I left them there to die.

So this is me swallowing my pride,
Standing in front of you saying, "I'm sorry for that night,"
And I go back to December all the time.
It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you.
Wishing I'd realized what I had when you were mine.
I'd go back to December, turn around and make it all right.
I go back to December all the time.

These days I haven't been sleeping,
Staying up, playing back myself leavin'.
When your birthday passed and I didn't call.
And I think about summer, all the beautiful times,
I watched you laughing from the passenger side.
Realized that I loved you in the fall.

And then the cold came, the dark days when fear crept into my mind
You gave me all your love and all I gave you was "Goodbye".

So this is me swallowing my pride
Standing in front of you saying, "I'm sorry for that night."
And I go back to December all the time.
It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you,
Wishing I'd realized what I had when you were mine.
I'd go back to December, turn around and change my own mind
I go back to December all the time.

I miss your tanned skin, your sweet smile,
So good to me, so right
And how you held me in your arms that September night --
The first time you ever saw me cry.

Maybe this is wishful thinking,
Probably mindless dreaming,
But if we loved again, I swear I'd love you right.

I'd go back in time and change it but I can't.
So if the chain is on your door I understand.

But this is me swallowing my pride
Standing in front of you saying, "I'm sorry for that night."
And I go back to December...
It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missing you,
Wishing I'd realize what I had when you were mine.
I'd go back to December, turn around and make it all right.
I'd go back to December, turn around and change my own mind

I go back to December all the time.
All the time.

After looking at the lyrics, I decided it would be useful for me if I printed and annotated the lyrics. By doing this, I will be able refer back to my ideas while working and filming for my music video.

This is my initial Plan and some ideas for my music video:

DECIDING ON A SONG.

I originally started looking at 'Love Story' and 'Our Song' by Taylor Swift and made notes on both lyrics, to start coming up with ideas for my video.

I began analysing Love Story (I wrote the wrong title) and I found it very easy to beable to make a music video too.





I also looked at doing 'Our Song', but I found it harder to imagine and work out things that I could do for this song.

After thinking and listening to more of her songs, I decided against both of these and decided to do my music video on 'Back to December', a love song that allows me to explore many different emotions and scenes.

INITIAL SONG IDEAS

After I decided that I wanted to use one of Taylor Swift's songs, I decided to listen to a range of her songs from her current two albums. When listening to her songs, I found them easy to interpret and create a narrative to because they are talking about her life story in song.
From listening to a range of songs from her albums, I limited the choice down to either 'Our Song' and  'Love Story' as a starting two possibilitites.

MY TARGET AUDIENCE

After deciding on Taylor Swift as my artist, I had to choose a target audience. Having a target audience will allow me to find out what this specific audience would like to see and would help me decide what to include in my music video that will appeal to this specific age group.
After thinking about the target audience that Taylor Swift has, I decided that it would be best to target my audience at younger generation, especially younger females. I think the age range of this audience would range from around age 11 to 20. Though this is a wide age range I think that it will be suitable for my song choice and my choice of artist. I also think that this would appeal to anyone who enjoys a mixture of pop and country music because this is the genre.

TAYLOR SWIFT

I finally decided on Taylor Swift as my artist for my music video. This is because I like her music and the songs that she has written. As well as this, I felt that when listening to her music, I would be able to create a narrative, because this is what her songs revolve around - her life story.
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.
(Wikipedia)

She is a young singer, who is popular world wide. Her genre generally focuses around the genre of country/pop, which is something i will incorporate into my music video.