Initial Planning Ideas...

When I first found out about creating a music video I immediately knew I wanted to do a video to a Paramore song because I love the band and knew I wanted to have a female singer because I didn’t know anyone that would be willing to lip-sync to a male one.

Narrative:

We want our video to fit the conventions of a lot of Paramore videos so we definitely want to tell a story as well as having performance footage. The song is quite angry or sad so I think it’s a good idea to get that across and maybe have the character crying and lip-syncing. I thought it would be a good idea to film by a lake because the lyrics talk about water, drowning and sinking so we could relate the video to the lyrics.

Visual Style:

I think we want the style to be the same as some of the Paramore videos, for example they wear jeans and a t-shirt quite often but in more of the recent videos they wear more than one outfit – something casual and something formal so I want to incorporate that into my video, maybe have a different outfit for the narrative and the lip-syncing in the studio.

I think the lighting should be editing to fit the mood of the song. For example we want to film in the woods so we thought putting a blue filter on the camera might make it look eerie but there would still be enough light to see everything clearly.

Also with the time of year that it is all the leaves are falling off the trees so hopefully that would work to an advantage. We were also thinking of filming the studio recording in black and white because I’ve seen this in videos before and it looks really and keeps the video varied.

We need a lot of detail on the facial expressions more than any other part for this song because it’ full of anger and that’s an important part of the song. I think the camera shots should vary a lot and using high angle shots will show the vulnerability of the character. We’re going to try and get as many shots as possible so we have a lot of footage to choose from.

I’d like to find out how to do certain effects in the post-production stage such as putting two videos over each other to get a merged effect because I saw it done in a music video and thought it was really effective.

Cast:

We’re unsure yet of who will be the one performing in the video as I think we both would like to have a shot at doing it. We came up with an idea that somehow there will be both of us in the video, but the idea hasn’t been developed any more than that at this stage.

We want some shots of guitar in our video because the song is really guitar-heavy. I have a friend who plays guitar and he said he doesn’t mind playing the song for the video as long as his face isn’t shown, so we have permission from him for that.

It’s early stages of planning so we haven’t really thought through if we will need any extras but I don’t think it’s likely.

Practicalities:

We want to go to Apley Wood to do some of the filming because there are some really atmospheric woods and a lake with a pier and I think this location would be really good to film at. The idea of filming at a lake came to me int he holidays when I thought it would fit really well to the lyrics of the song:
'You were my conscience, so solid, now you're like water
And we started drowning, not like we'd sink any further
And I let my heart go , it's somewhere down at the bottom...'
I think this could look really cool being filmed by a lake.We'd also like to film in the recording studios at college because there is often performance footage in this genre. I have a friend that had access to the studio so it shouldn't be too difficult to film in there and I think a black and white effect on the camera would keep the video varied.

 

Storyboard

 

Analysing videos from other artists...

Evanescence - Everybody's Fool 

This video is much more serious than the Blink 182 one and this could be to do with the fact that it is categorised under a different genre – Evanescence are more ‘rock’ sounding – but Paramore have links to both genres because their music fuses the two.

There is purely narrative in this video and no performance footage which is something I didn’t see in any of the pop/punk videos but the lead singer Amy does lip sync most of the way through.

The story is of a woman who is putting on an act that she has a perfect life and everyone falls for it but behind closed doors she’s an absolute mess and hates herself. The whole video strongly links to the lyrics as Amy sings ‘no flaws when you’re pretending’ and she plays all of the characters seen – an actress for the brand ‘lies’ and the actual girl behind the act that is really unhappy.

She sings ‘without the mask, where will you hide? Can’t find yourself lost in your lies’. I think people will relate to people because so many people act like their okay when they’re not.

When doing the modelling shoot and adverts, the character wears formal, glamorous clothes but when she is left to be herself she wears a strap top and tracksuit bottoms and this is really showing the two sides of the person. I think it would be good to wear more than one outfit in my own music video.

The lighting is really dark and this is appropriate for the context of the video. I think the editing is more complex than all of the pop/punk videos I looked at. There are extra bits added to the video post-production. An example of this is when Amy is on the motorbike and the bold writing and the can comes on the screen. There is also cross-cutting between the two sides of the girl’s personality; the part where she is at home crying and the scenes where she is doing photo shoots and TV adverts – this keeps the video interesting because it’s varied. The video seems to be more thought out in this genre.

Camerawork is kept quite simple but it’s still effective because the story behind it is sad, the camerawork doesn’t need to be extravagant because it would take away from the story that affects the audience. However the camera does use lots of high angle shots to show the vulnerability of the character.   

The music video uses dark lighting and varied camera shots along with a really sad narrative to portray the anger and depression felt in the lyrics. 

Analysing music videos from other artists...

Blink 182 - All The Small Things

I chose to briefly analyse a blink 182 because for most people they are the most popular pop/punk band. However, there isn’t really much to say because the video is very simple.

There isn’t a narrative with this video like there are with a lot of music video, and basically the video just completely makes fun of boy bands all the way through, it doesn’t really have a story to it at all.

The fact that the band are just having fun really fits the conventions of the genre, it’s not a serious video at all – like a lot of the blink 182 videos.

I’d say the most common convention for this genre is the performance footage – it’s not live footage from a tour, but we do see the band performing with their instruments and a group of fans surrounding them. This can be seen in the majority of pop/punk videos.

The lighting is really bright and it looks like natural light because it’s filmed in the daytime. The costumes they wear don’t really reflect their personality except for what they are wearing during the performance footage. The white suits and combat trousers when dancing are just making fun of bands that are like that for instance Backstreet Boys.

The band aren’t afraid to say what they think or make idiots of themselves (Tom dresses as a girl and Mark dances around in white underwear).

The camerawork is quite simple but there are a range of shots used varying from close-ups, medium shots and long shots. The camera uses a lot of panning across the scene and usually to a different one. The editing is fairly simple too – the shots fit in with the time of the music making them appropriate for the song, and there aren’t many effects used apart from a few quick fade in/fade out’s into a different scene.

Overall it’s a simple, amusing video that fit with the conventions of the pop/punk genre and isn’t too thought out.

Fashion within the pop/punk genre:

People that are part of the pop/punk genre often have the same fashion sense and wear similar clothes. Here is a picture of Hayley Williams of Paramore wearing a Ramones t-shirt. We can also see Alex Gaskarth also wearing one. This is important because the Ramones are known as one of the original pop/punk bands so it’s clear that the band were a big influence for the new wave of pop/punk artists and the musicians are open about what bands inspired them and aren’t afraid to wear what they want, even if someone else in that genre have been seen wearing it.

The brands are also important, for example Glamour Kills, or GLMR KLLS as it is sometimes written. Some of the most popular pop/punk artists even model the clothing for their website and are often seen wearing it at shows etc.

Some of the artists in this genre even have their own brand that they made that is similar to things like Glamour Kills. Some examples of this are the ‘Down But Not Out’ range by Josh Franceschi of You Me At Six and Jack Barakat of All Time Low with his ‘JAGK’ brand that it also advertised on the Glamour Kills website.

The record label’s influence...

Some people will say that when a pop/punk or rock band sign to a major label they ‘sell out’. This means that they go against their original beliefs and change their sound to get a bigger audience and make more money. It also means they are more likely to be influenced by their label.

Paramore signing to a major label caused a lot of controversy – especially because of the lead singer Hayley Williams. When the guitarist (Josh) and drummer (Zac) quit the band, Josh told some truths about what it was like to be part of the band the people didn’t see – Hayley was seen as the main star and the others were extras, ‘riding on the coattails of her dream’, rather than all being equals.

He said publicly that when the band signed to Fueled By Ramen (part of the Warner conglomerate), Hayley (just her and not the others) had already been signed to Atlantic Records as a solo artist; that she was manipulated by her manager and her parents.

However, Hayley said that indeed she was the only one signed to a major label, but she ‘never wanted to be a solo artist’, she ‘wanted to be in a band’. Some would argue that she is cheating the system by being signed to a major label but also touring with a band, and good on her for doing that.

It makes you think about the huge impact the record label has on a band and how they can influence them.

I wanted to put a video on  (it's at the end of the clip) to show that Hayley is wearing a Fueled By Ramen hoodie after finishing the shoot for the Monster video. A lot of fans would say that it's a shame that their label is obviously influencing the band and their freedom – to the point they’re even wearing the clothes. Even the former guitarist, Josh, said that were band were being ruled by the label and ‘Paramore is a manufactured product of a major label’. However, some fans will defend them to the death and say the band are amazing despite anything that happens!

Live footage from the bands performances...

Paramore have really dedicated fans. Some people would say that they band have made them smile everyday, whereas others would say that Paramore have saved their life through the love of the music. I thought it would be interesting to put a video showing this.

In this video, Hayley isn't even present because she couldn't sing the song after her voice went. Josh explains that they will still play Misery Business if the crowd sing.

They manage to get through the whole song without the singer even being on stage, because of the volume of the crowd singing along. I think this alone just shows the dedication of the fans and the sheer love of the music.



There is a lot of energy put into the live performances and the band have a signature 'move' that they do often. In this clip, the bassist Jeremy, falls over rotates and falls to the floor. Although this must have been embarrassing, he gets up and acts like he did it on purpose. This links to the conventions of the genre because the band members seem really cool about everything - they're laid back and relaxed.

Analysing Paramore videos

Video 4: Monster

I chose to analyze this video because it’s the latest one released from Paramore and it’s the one I want to create my own music video for it so it seems necessary. 

This video is definitely the most thought out one out of all the Paramore music videos and I think it has lots of hidden meanings.

The plot behind the video is very complex, but I think speaks out against the two members of the band that left and this is a huge part of the story. The video looks like it has the biggest budget out of any of the videos they’ve done and it’s definitely he most extravagant.

The video ends the same way it starts – with black water flowing, but at the start the three band members are in there and at the end they’re gone.

The video is set in an old hospital (the same place 28 days later was filmed) that is completely derelict but also looks as though an earthquake has hit it because everything within it is on the floor or broken and all the paint is peeling off the walls.

Paramore have three different costumes in the video and this could symbolize three versions of themselves. This is more than the other music videos they have done. The first outfit we see them wearing when in the water is formal evening-wear – Hayley is wearing dress and Taylor and Jeremy are dressed in suits. This could be something to think about in my own music video.

We then see them all wearing a light cream/beige t-shirt and trousers. When wearing this outfit they are trapped in the room and are very aggressive, kicking and bashing the instruments against the walls. This could symbolize that they are the monsters as Hayley has contact lenses in which make her pupils huge so she looks more sinister and her hair has been styled to look wild. The room they are trapped in has a thick line of red around some of the walls, this could symbolize danger?

The anger they are showing in the song, with one version of Paramore being so aggressive in the old room could show the anger they felt when two of the band members left, because the lyrics clearly link to the situation. Hayley sings ‘well now that you’re gone, the world is ours’. I think she is showing Josh and Zac how angry the band were when they left, but that they weren’t destroyed by it and that they would be stronger than ever.

The third outfit we see them wear are just casual clothes all different and this could show the real Paramore. These are the characters in the narrative part of the video – the ones trying to get away from all the explosions. When the version of Paramore in cream are hitting or kicking the wall we see the walls of the hospital shaking and lights exploding etc. so it gives the impression that they are causing it and the ‘normal’ Paramore are trying to escape, from themselves?

The lighting in the video is really good because although the song is quite dark, and the story behind the video is, you can still see everything really clearly – even when the lights are flickering there is enough light to see.

The camerawork is more varied than a lot of their other videos and it fits to the song really well. We see a lot of close-ups of all the band members faces (rather than just Hayley’s like we see in a lot of their other videos) and this could be because the video is telling more of a story than the others their acting is tested more so you need to see their facial expressions. There are also medium shots, long shots, high angle, panning, and tracking when the bands are running.

Something that worked really well was the camerawork being underwater at the start when Hayley, Jeremy and Taylor are lying down. It looked really professional.

The shots in this song are really fast, I think the editing was done this way to put across the urgency of one version of Paramore getting away from the explosions and to show the anger of the other version of them. There is constant cross-cutting from the narrative where they’re trying to get away, and the performance footage of them in the grimy room. The camera doesn’t seem to stay on a shot for more than a couple of seconds – this could also be because the story behind the video is very complex they had to try and cram a lot into a small time so the video overall is very fast pace.

At the end of the video the ‘normal’ Paramore end up running into the grimy room that the aggressive Paramore were in, but they were gone and only the instruments were left. This could symbolize that by the band running into that room the cycle will start all over again and they are destined to be trapped and angry, or showing that they got away from all the explosions and devastation in the hospital and are now safe and stronger than ever.

This video really gives the audience a lot to think about.