My Music Video - Test Footage 2

Below is some sample footage taken from yesterday's shoot, in which I used a GoPro to capture the subject's point of view shots.

This footage was taken before the GoPro died, which resulted in me having to use my iPhone to film with instead.

It was actually as a very good thing that this happened, as when I reviewed this GoPro footage later, I found that the angle was wrong (meaning my hands had been almost completely missed in every shot) and that the footage was uncomfortably shaky and unsteady. 

In contrast to this, the iPhone footage was by far superior,  so I will be using that in the video instead. 

My Music Video - Communication for Organisation

Even though I chose to work alone for this project, I knew that I was still going to have to work with other people, meaning that communication was inevitable.

I've included evidence of this communication below.

        

The above screenshots are communication with my actress (via Facebook Messenger) about her availability to film the projection and river scenes.

The screenshots to the left and right show our communication in regards to filming the scenes in the subject's bedroom.








To organise being able to use the school photography rooms on a Saturday, I negotiated with my media teacher (who very kindly offered to come in and assist), and spoke with the head of the photography department in person to request permission to film. I also had to speak with the school receptionists, so that my presence in school outside of standard hours could be accordingly noted.

I co-ordinated with my male actor (who played the subject's partner) using Whatsapp, and filmed his scenes in one afternoon.

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(This post was updated as and when communication took place.)

My Music Video - Props and Costume

Due to all the greater metaphorical meanings and interpretations of my music video, there are two significant, symbolic items i'm including in the music video.

The Paper Boat

This boat (which is the first paper boat I've ever made, so I'm really quite proud of how it turned out,) represents the relation'ship' between the subject and her partner (who's seen partially in the GoPro footage, primarily in the car ride sequence). 

While initially the boat was supposed to only depict one stick figure (connoted to be the subject), I decided to draw two stick figures, with a heart above their heads, to really hone in on the meaning - that the video explores the subject's memories and relationship to her partner, and that when the subject places the paper boat in the river at the end of the video, it symbolises she's giving up control and allowing life (represented by the river) to take them where it will. 

The writing seen on the boat is meant to denote conversations/messages exchanged between the subject and her partner, further anchoring the symbolism of the paper boat as their relation'ship'.

***

The paper boat seen in my music video is not the same as the one seen above; this is because when I asked members of my target audience what they thought of it, their feedback was that the writing confused them, so i elected to remove it and allow the audience to focus on the stick figures instead. 

The Mask

While my initial choice of mask was going to be the paper Jaguar head (as mentioned and explained here), difficulties in assembling the mask lead me to revert to one of my early ideas.

I went to a local art shop with my actress, and had her try out the assortment of different animal masks, before ultimately selecting the Goat mask. 

I chose the goat mask because it was similar to one of my early mask ideas - the sheep - which was inspired by the sheep mask worn by M.K. in the popular BBC America television series Orphan Black.

I also enjoyed the multiple metaphorical purposes and cultural references I could attach to its meaning; for example, the goat relates to the symbol for the Capricorn star sign which dates from December 22nd to January 20th, and this is a nod to the release date of this song, (which was January 2016). The symbol of the Capricorn/'sea goat' is based on the Sumerian's primordial god Enki, who was the god of wisdom and waters (which links back very nicely to the title of the song.) 

(Other than this reasoning, my choice was also based on the fact that it looked rather cool and creepy against the projections - at the end of the day, a music video has got to look cool, right?)

Costume

While the mask is undeniably the most striking piece of the subject's costume, the other pieces are still significant, especially for addressing audiences and connoting/anchoring preferred readings. 

The fashion of the dark coat, white shirt, jeans, and boots matches that of modern popular styles, so the target audience feels comfortable and subconsciously relates to the subject. The significance of the dark colours is that they provide a link to the darker themes of the song/video, while also providing visual representation of the characters turbulent emotional state. 

The subject's partner is dressed similarly, in keeping with modern fashions of the punk-rocker/indie genre, again with the purpose of sticking to conventions of the genre and to appeal to the target audience. 

Any other individual who appears within the video will have been captured spontaneously on the GoPro/iPhone footage, and so the clothes they appear in will be their own. This is useful however, as it means I'll be including the fashion choices of real teenagers, instead of having to manufacture them myself.  

My Music Video - Shoot Schedule

Having finally completed the prep work for my music video project, I now have a better understanding of the time frame in which I will be realistically able to complete this project.
While in my revised plan I made the (naive) proposal to have all my filming completed by December, I've since realised that this is not sensible, and that pushing myself for a deadline as such may result in me rushing the process and producing unsatisfactory footage.
I've set for myself the end goal of having all filming complete before February 2017's half-term at the latest, (with the plan of editing what I have as I go.) I've set this goal as it allows me to be accommodating to my actors' needs, and as it incorporates the Christmas holidays - during which time I return home - to obtain the footage I need for the memory montages.

At this point in time, my rough proposal is:

• English GoPro footage - by November 30th 2016
• River Scene, Bedroom, Going to Concert - by December 16th 2016
• Cayman Footage - between December 19th 2016 and January 5th 2017
• Projection Room - by February 2017

I will be keeping a production log, and will upload the shoot schedule (in its final revised edition) below when shooting finally wraps. 

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3rd February 2017

Today saw the last day of shooting! 

I'm very pleased that I managed to stick more or less to the outline of the shooting schedule that I drew up back in November. It's been quite the process, but I've certainly enjoyed it. 

(The finalised version of the shooting schedule for my music video - please note, this schedule was adjusted throughout the process, as needed.) 

My Music Video - Overview

A (not so) brief summary of what will be seen in my music video.

Opening with extreme long shot of Subject by river, watching it run. Cut to close up of her face, which is concealed by a mask - she's contemplative, looking down beyond the camera.
Cut to close up shot of a paper boat, held carefully within her hands.
Cut back to medium long shot of subject, looking down at river.
Fade to black.

Moment of silence/blackness.

*****
Verse 1
[In the 'Projection Room'] 
The song begins and we see multiple extreme close ups of different parts of the Subject against a plain background appear in time with the repeated line "Like a river". We see each body part lit briefly before the light cuts out, leaving blackness, and the next shot is introduced and so on.
On the line "Shut your mouth and run me like a river" we see the subject in a close-up with shallow field depth, standing still, looking defiantly into the camera.

[Scene change to Subject's bedroom] 
With the line "How do you fall in love?" we see footage of the Subject moving about in her bedroom, getting ready to go out. As the verse progresses, we see her come to a stop, and look off-camera to the distance, connoting her as contemplative. She inhales deeply and there's a blurry/haze effect placed over the footage (to suggest a breach in reality.)

*****
Chorus (takes place within the 'Projection Room' (which is symbolic of the Subject's inner mind, the projections being her memories). Cut with the GoPro footage as appropriate.)

Subject in 'Projection Room'; staring at camera, dancing/spinning, watching projections, looking at something off-camera in the distance etc. (Refer to shot list for more details)

Go-pro Footage; street signs from a car window, riding bikes, climbing trees, walking a dog, jumping into water, trampoline, bonfire, mosh pit at a concert, running for a train, building a fort, reading a book, playing a record, eating pizza with a group of friends, fairy lights and candles, drawing, baking etc. (Refer to shot list for more details)

*****
Verse 2
GoPro footage from Subject's point of view; she's riding in a car with a driver, who's then connoted to be her partner as a shot of them holding hands is revealed. Sequence consists of subject looking about, and ends with her staring ahead down the road. 

*****
Chorus (same idea as the first)

*****
Vocal Interlude 
Subject and her partner exit the car and enter a building (where a concert is taking place).
After entering the venue we see a cut to iPhone footage of a mosh pit at a concert.

*****
Chorus (same idea as the first two, but now also cut with footage of the mosh pit)

*****
Ending 
The song ends and it cuts to medium long shot of the Subject by the river. Subject is still watching the water, but then she sighs, and floats the paper boat into the water.
We see a shot of the paper boat floating away.
Medium close up of Subject watching for a moment.
Back to starting shot position, extreme long shot of subject walking away (fade out of focus, to blackness.)

My Music Video - Animatic

With my storyboard (relatively) complete, I downloaded the song "River" and used FinalCut Pro to create an animatic, allowing me to get a rough visualisation of what my music video would like in real-time playing against the song.

(I accidentally posted this video on the wrong YouTube channel) 

My Music Video - The Storyboard

After I created the shot list I was able to draw up the storyboard for (most parts of) my music video.

This story board depicts the opening and ending scenes of the video. The "video video video" box in the middle represents the music video that happens in between.

The above story board (starting with the fairy lights and ending at the mosh pit/concert) depict what the action that takes place during verse 1 & 2.

As I have not decided on the ordering of the chorus I decided not to storyboard it, especially as I feel that the visual I have in my head, coupled with my detailed shot list, will be enough for me to know what shots I want to get when it comes down to it.

I've also made a  minor adjustments to shot types between the shot list and the story board (the storyboard showing the new shot types), as they're more appropriate. 

(Please excuse the inaccurate perspectives of some of the drawings - art is not really my forte.)

My Music Video - Shot List

After annotating the lyrics it was time for the shot list!

The shot list follows the order that things will appear within my music video, (I've linked to lyrics, noted on the side in pencil).

As the chorus is the abstract section, I have simply noted that it will be a compilation of GoPro footage (the memories) and shots from the 'projection room' (the literal place, which is metaphorical for the subject's mind.) I have also included a detailed list of all the shots/footage I intend to take for both. I can't know what order the footage will appear in as of yet, but at least I know what I have to film. 

The "Easily Achievable" GoPro footage will be filmed between the 12th and 20th of November, so that I can edit it in time to be used for the projections.

The "Organisation Needed" GoPro footage should also be attainable, but if it's not achieved by the 20th (I intend to film the projections the following week), I shall place it in afterwards during editing. 

The "Cayman Footage" is a personal touch. While I intend for the majority of my filming and editing to be completed by the Christmas holidays, I will be returning home for Christmas and I want to include GoPro footage of my time there, as a sort of tribute to my home. I want to slip clips of this footage into the memory montage, especially as the tropical setting adds a unique touch to my video.

My Music Video - Lyric Annotations

Using the initial music video plan I present in my pitch post, I have begun to solidify said plan (with some changes which will be detailed below) in my annotations of the songs lyrics.

Firstly, I have to note that I found this extremely difficult. 

The reason this was so difficult for me was that my original intention for the music video was to explore the memories of the subject (the girl in the jaguar mask), with the conclusion of the video being that she'd embraced and appreciated the good times, but was ready to move forward in life (hence releasing the boat into the river (it's all metaphorical fluff)). Given this, I initially wanted to have the memories (GoPro footage presented projection style) appearing in abstractly in random order, but edited to fit the beat of the song. 

Of course, I can't just write "I'll figure that out later", so I found myself trying to link my abstract ideas to the lyrics. 

The result was that a story began to form - essentially, the subject attending a concert with a character connoted to be her partner -  and after a *grudging deliberation I decided to just run with this twist on the narrative. It didn't require a change in the footage I plan to acquire, just a different perspective to present in editing (easily done.) 

I'm not entirely casting off the abstract though. Instead, I've made the appropriate notes within my lyrics annotations and shot list to account for it; the abstract clips of memories (meant to represent the inside of the subject's mind) will be presented during the chorus, with the concert story taking place during the verses, and the river scene either side of the song. 

I never intended to have three different main narratives, but as they all connect to one another it's workable. 

I'm apprehensive about the amount of work I'm about to attempt in creating this, but I'm satisfied with the story I'm going to present in my video and I'm looking forward to seeing the end result.

*(My deliberation was grudging as I did not want to create a love story. It's so common a theme in music videos, and I had no intention of following the trend. 

But I have. 

I've reasoned it out with myself though that it's alright for two reasons: number 1, the song's lyrics link to love; number 2, the story holds memories of getting ready for a concert, with suggestions of love - it's still primarily about good times and memories, not their love story.)

My Music Video - Legality

Above is an email that I sent to Bishop Briggs, asking permission to use her song within my music video.

My Music Video - Artist Research

Bishop Briggs

Sara McLaughlin (known by her stage name Bishop Briggs, (a name inspired by her parents home town of Bishopbriggs, Scotland)) was born in London on the 18th of July, 1992.

While British, she's now a musician in Los Angeles, California, and best known for her debut single, the hit song "River", which was released in January 2016.

Although relatively new within the industry, Briggs' is already signed to Island Records, and her song "River" was a significant success.
"The song quickly made it to number 1 on 'Hype Machine's' Popular Charts, and reached number 2 on Spotify's Global Viral 50. It also received an Honorable Mention on Shazam's predicted 'Songs of the Summer 2016', which was featured in Billboard. As of May 2016, "River" was steadily climbing the Shazam 'Future Hits' charts. "River" has so far climbed into the top 10 on the Billboard Hot Rock, Rock Airplay and the Alternative Songs charts." (Source: Wikipedia)

On iTunes, Briggs' biography reads as follows:

In my personal opinion, Briggs is a fresh new artist - of whom I've become a fan - with great promise for producing more distinctive music.

Bishop Briggs website is http://www.bishopbriggs.com/ and on it you can find her shop (selling her merchandise), and a link to tour dates and tickets.

She can also be found on the following social medias:
SoundCloud
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube

Her music can be found on the following websites:

In the space of just a year, Briggs' has released 6 songs and 4 music videos, all of which are available on iTunes. 

All the music videos released are appropriate to the genre, and feature Briggs within the video.

In terms of Briggs' audience, I have researched them as extensively as possible (given the scarcity of information due to the infancy of her career), and have detailed my findings here.

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As the course requires me to create a brand for the artist, and as I don't know Bishop Briggs personally, I'm going to be using the subject of the video to promote the brand (with the mask she wears becoming the key iconography with metaphorical meaning for promotional purposes.)

My Music Video - Genre

In the endeavour to gain a better understanding of this genre of music - so as to be able to create a more informed, professional standard music video - I watched various music videos from within this genre, helping familiarise myself with some of the most common conventions.

Example Music Videos of the Genre

The music video for the song "Backslider" by Wild Belle features the band's vocalist standing/singing/dancing in front of a screen which has various artistic images projected onto it. As I mention in my previous post, this is a similar concept to what I have decided on for my own music video.
The 'old film' style is one that seems to crop up fairly regularly within the alternative genre - specifically with female singers - for example, it's also used frequently by Lana Del Rey, in videos for songs such as 'National Anthem', 'Young and Beautiful', and *'Summertime Sadness'.

*(This particular video is very similar to my proposed concept, with Del Rey exploring a love through point of view footage and implied memories. The use of projections and 'old camera' footage is a very stylised effect, and is almost exactly the type of effect that I have in mind for my own video.)

Certainly from videos such as these I can predict that my concept will work, as it fits very well with these pre-existing media products.

The music video for the song "Kamikaze" by MØ  (which is technically not indie, but pop - however, the relevance of this is that MØ is a female singer with fans similar to Briggs, and therefore what appeals to audiences in her videos is likely the same as what will appeal to fans of Briggs,) is typical of videos produced by artists in the pop genre.
It features a semi-apocalyptic, rundown mise-en-scene, lots of young adults wearing grungey urban clothing, and purposefully shaken hi-def quality shots.

MØ also receives star treatment, performs in the video, and utilises looking to 'connect' with her audience.

Codes & Conventions

While certain elements of this genre - such as looking, star treatment, performance (both artists sing) - are common features of all music videos, regardless of genre, I have noted that there are certain themes and ideas that seem to be more prominent within the broad confines of the 'alternative' genre. 

The themes of such videos often deal with 'young adult' issues, exploring things like being 'different' or rebelling against societal expectations. 

While in some ways videos within this genre are artistic expressions designed to explore the 'realness' of being human, they're also very much just a way of crafting a new identity of sorts for the millennial generation. 

Certain common features of videos in this genre:

• Abandoned places, devoid of other people - empty buildings, forests, deserts
• Unfocused style of filming
• A mix of performance and 'story acting'
• Manipulation of light
• Colour themes - e.g. red to connote love, blood, pain etc.
• Unusual clothing, make-up - makes a statement
• Symbolic object - again, designed to make a statement 
• Story lines involving love, fights, rebellion, 'contemplative' scenes, death, surreal scenes

My Music Video - Audience Research

As Bishop Briggs only released her first single (which was "River") in January of this year, she's still fairly unestablished within the industry, meaning her fan base is still relatively small.

After spending ages searching around unsuccessfully for information on her audience, I decided to conduct my audience research working on the presumption that her fans would intersect as fans of other dark pop musicians. I chose Halsey and Melanie Martinez, as Bishop Briggs seems closely matched to their styles.

I must note that I do already feel as though I have a solid understanding of my target audience, which I intended to be females aged 17 to 24 (and my research has confirmed this), as I am myself a female within this age demographic, so I've got first hand knowledge of what this demographic is interested in. My secondary audience would be females aged 25 to 29.

To conduct the following research I used YouGov

Melanie Martinez's Audience

As the primary audience is female, my decision to make the subject of my video female was a good one, as it means my audience will be more able to connect with her. Also, the "monthly spare" suggests my audience are generally well to do; from this it can be assumed that they're likely to go to concerts and engage in such activities as I intend to depict in my music video (e.g. exotic holidays). 

The interests of the audience are very much what I expected; conveniently enough, I'd even already planned on including some of these activities (such as cycling, swimming, and travel) into my video.

While most of this can be disregarded, I noted how this says that the audience would occasionally describe themselves as "lonely" - these feelings and self-perceptions are important, as they can link to themes of my video.

The typical fashion brand choices; once again, these correlate nicely to what I'd expected to base costume style on.

Halsey

The information I found on Halsey's audience matched very closely with the information on Martinez's audience, once again confirming my knowledge of the fan base.

My Music Video - Audience Research Questionnaire Results

And the results are in!

Overview
I obtained 23 questionnaire responses (9 online and 14 hard copy). Of these responders 12 were female, 9 were male, and 2 individuals who preferred not to specify their gender. It was also the case that all of save 2 of the responders were between the ages of 17 years - 19 years, meaning that their answers are relevant to my particular video as they're the age of my target audience.

For the responders aged 17 years - 19 years the typical job was either a shop assistant or a worker in the food service industry, and all (except 1) within this age range in current study of A-levels. 

The music

The first thing I learnt from my results is that I'm bad at designing surveys.

I'd foolishly chosen to let people use comment boxes, so that they could write in their answers without being affected by predetermined choice lists. However, this meant that I got an enormous range of answers (for example, a collective 24 different styles of music as answers to "What music genres do you like/listen to?" as people tended to list multiple genres, some of which I'd barely heard of!) The issue became how to consolidate these to be useful to me, and my solution was a crude tally sheet (that took ages). The results of this tally sheet (which was a combination of the online and hard copy responses) showed the following: 

While it all boiled down to being a lot more fiddly and number-y than I'd planned, the important thing about these results is that they show me the top three most liked genres: Pop, Rock, and Alternative, while Indie came in at a close 4th (tied with Hip Hop). 

These results are encouraging to me, as the song these are the genres that my song/music video are closest to. 

The other significant music information that is required is the disliked genres. I analysed the information I received in the same why I did with the liked genres, and here's what I found:

The Heavy Metal genre was the clear winner for 'most disliked music genre', particularly within my female responders, while Rock took second place (curiously enough, as that means it's the 2nd most liked and disliked genre according to my results), followed by Rap and Classical (you couldn't find two more different genres) tying for third. 

While my questionnaires also probed for other information (such as favourite/least favourite movies/tv shows/genres, and hobbies) the results are too varied to include in a concise format. 

I'm not going to ignore the information though,  as I've read through all the answers and am paying attention to them so as to give me the possibility to include certain 'easter eggs' within my music video. For example, one responder stated their hobby is "playing on my roller skates"; so I'm now going to try and include GoPro footage of rollerskating in my music video.

My Music Video - Masks and Iconography

Since the conceptualisation of my music video, I wanted to use a mask to obscure the identity of my singer, primarily as it means I can use audience address and looking without having to include performance, but also as I like the enigma that this creates in association with my artist.

Before my pitch I'd already done a quick google for potential mask options, and found myself favouring some curious, plain, geometric animal masks - their simplicity was soothing, and I liked the connotations that presenting my singer as semi-animal can create.
I returned to searching for those masks tonight, and quickly discovered their source. They're available for purchase from https://wintercroft.com/ and come in the form of a PDF file, allowing customers to download and assemble their chosen mask for themselves. With fantastic customer reviews and a website as smooth and sharp as the masks, i bought one straight away.
The only difficulty I had with the process was choosing which one of their many beautiful designs I wanted most.

Firstly, the fox. This half mask is delicate in design, and presenting my artist in connection with a fox has potential to link her to the associations of foxes as being quiet and mysterious animals. However, foxes are also associated with being sneakily clever and pests. My main reason for not choosing this mask (despite my love for it, irregardless of the negatives about foxes) was that it wouldn't cover my artists mouth, and I intend to totally obscure her face/identity, (with the exception of her eyes.)

I also considered the wolf mask. I liked the idea of the 'lone wolf' character type, which could metaphorically represent the isolation of my music video's subject. However, I was uncertain about the open mouth and eye slant of this mask - while I personally really like it, I'm aware that it looks slightly aggressive and predatory, and I don't want to present my artist in this way as it may turn potential fans away.

And so I chose the Jaguar. I felt this mask still has enough animal wildness to it, but that the backwards slanted ears and high brow made it seem softer and more timid somehow. Jaguars are also generally more mysterious animals, and are associated with a sense of simultaneous grace and power. 

My downloadable PDF template for the jaguar mask was sent to me immediately upon purchase (a mere £4.50 - (which i guess could be seen as steep considering it's only a template, but there you go, I have a poor concept of money)), so as soon as I get my hands on some cardboard and a printer I'll begin my attempts to assemble this.

Fingers crossed all goes well! 

My Music Video - Locations

Due to the subject of my music video being an abstract exploration of memories, its needless to say that the range of locations is going to be vast.

Already, I have filmed the scenes needed for the concert, which of course was done at the location of the actual concert, the O2 Academy in Leeds.

Another location that will be featured heavily within the music video is Ilkley river. I very much planned the opening and closing sections with the river in mind, although I did have to spend an hour or so walking up and down to find an appropriate spot of the river at which to film.

The left image was a point I had considered filming from, but when it came down to practicality I found it would not have been possible to obtain the shots that I required. The above image is at a point slightly further down the river, and on the opposite bank; this part of the river (at low tide) proved far more appropriate for filming.

For the scenes in which the subject gets ready for the concert, I chose to film in my own bedroom, as the mise-en-scene was already conveniently set up to connote a teenaged/young adult female's living space.

While the majority of my room was left alone, I did rearrange the set up of this corner (which usually has a bean bag chair in it) so as to be able to display the record player and the collage of personal affects on the wall.

To film the projections I intend to use one of the school photography rooms, as it has blackout blinds and a white background onto which I want to project the 'memories'.

In regards to the memories footage itself, it's going to have to be acquired throughout a range of locations within the Ilkley/Addingham area and from places in Grand Cayman (I've made the decision to include footage from Cayman so as to give the video a unique twist, in the way of mixing two significantly different landscapes). I have a few ideas on where/what I will shoot, such as in my own back garden, but I'm planning that the majority of the footage will end up being spontaneous. 

My back garden in Grand Cayman (home). 

My Music Video - Concept Inspiration & Influences

I knew from the very start of this project that I wanted my music video to be related to the 'teenage experience', so it was only natural that the inspiration for what footage to include in my music video would stem from my personal experience. 

For example, the concert footage was acquired from a rock show I attended, and while I have changed the specifics of that night, what I want to portray are the feelings - the excitement of concerts, the emotions of being a teenager, and the experience of having an intimate connection with someone. 

The 'River Scene' is meant to symbolise the subject's appreciation of these memories and her acceptance in moving forwards in life (which is represented by the river), with the stick figure in the paper boat being a simplistic and innocently childish representation of her doing so. 

In terms of the actual style of the video, part of my inspiration came from the music video for Wild Belle's song "Backslider"

I admired the way in which the lighting was used, making it more of an art piece than a music video; I became excited by the idea of being able to use projections to make a more abstract, artistically free video. 

I was also inspired by the music video for Wild Belle's other song "Our Love Will Survive". I was particularly fond of the effect that was placed over the footage to make it seem like old film with faded colours - it had a softness, making the overall feeling really intimate. This intimacy is exactly what I want to capture and portray in my music video, and I think that a similar filter over my own footage will be very effective in achieving this. 

(Above and to the left: screenshots from Wild Belle's music video "Our Love Will Survive". These screenshots demonstrate the filter effect.)






Another idea with which I had played since the beginning was creating obscurity over the artist's identity, which performers such as Deadmau5, Sia, and Daft Punk are known to do.

DeadMau5

Sia

Daft Punk

This lead me to consider ways in which I could obscure the identity of my performer. I knew I didn't want to present my performer as futuristic - the genre of the music is wrong for that - so initially, I considered plain, white plastic masks with humanoid features. I liked the idea of plain coloured masks because it left me open to the possibility of changing their colours within the video, (for example, with spray paint or glitter etc.)

However, one reservation that I hold towards a humanoid mask is that they show no emotion. While this can be beneficial for anonymity and generalising the subject to present her as 'anybody' (making it easier for the audience to connect with her, by allowing them to see themselves in her,) I feared the lack of emotion may send the wrong message to my audience. This lead me to consider the possibility of making her mask animalistic, as it is primal emotions that the music and my video explore, and an animal mask would create this raw, primal sense. 

I was encouraged with my idea of using an animal mask by the Orphan Black (the BBC America fiction-drama about clones) character known as M.K. 

In the show, M.K. is a social outcast living off the grid, who wears a sheep mask (which is a nod to Dolly the Sheep) to obscure her identity during her cryptic video posts and while she's on the run. As a character, she's isolated and scared of the world - I want to address these themes within my music video, as they're common things that all young people will feel at some point or other within their lives. I'm not certain yet as to what type of animal mask I'll use, but I would happily use a sheep mask in my music video, as an intertextual nod towards M.K. and her struggle.

M.K. as seen in her mask

In summary, my video has been influenced by various modern media products, both in terms of style and concept. There is also a significant influence by the genre of the song; after all, creating a music video that doesn't match the musical genre would be ineffective and most definitely disliked by audiences.