Instead of taking screenshots through my time creating this project, I decided to sue a screen recorder and just record my screen instead as I will be able to look back and see exactly how I achieved my project more easily. I will link the recording of the creation of my storyboard for my animatic and my first cut of my animatic below, as well as the finished storyboard itself. I decided to plan my animatic through creating a storyboard because it made it a lot easier for me to decide what images I had to create and what order I had to put them in when it came to editing the animatic together and as you can see from my first cut, it is similar to my storyboard. However, I plan to make a second cut as I don't think I have created enough images form the animatic and I think this would look better if the animatic looked more animated instead of just a slideshow of moving pictures. Therefore, to improve my animatic, I plan to use the drawings I did for my first cut and add more images to my animatic, using my original images for inspiration and create a sort of animation, therefore, making my animatic look a lot more professional.
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When you look at Garth Brooks' music it is rather obvious that he is very much a country music artist. Therefore, his audience will be expecting a certain few things from one of his music videos. First, I will explain the stereotypical conventions of the country music genre, when it comes to music videos. I will link several country music videos to give examples of these conventions (not including any Garth Brooks music videos as they are extremely difficult to find on the internet). I have listed the conventions I have discovered, given an example of a music video and I have analysed the convention further, along with the video. However, before I go into analysing the individual music videos, there is one convention I would like to especially mention. Pretty much every country music video I have seen follows a narrative and also, normally features the band or singer of the song. This convention is extremely common within the country music genre in terms of lyrics and music video and therefore, I thought it needed mentioned. Another convention which is extremely common in country music videos is the appearance of an acoustic guitar. This is another extremely common convention of country music and it's music videos. Also, it seems that in most country music, there is either some kind of social issue being discussed or there is a deep message behind the lyrics. This is true in many country songs also. Now I will list the music videos I have selected and the conventions they represent. 1) A Past/Older Era:From the sources I have looked at, It seems that a lot of country music videos will be set in an older generation, for example the 1950s, as you can see in the music video below for Craig Morgan's "This Ain't Nothin'". As you can see from this video, it is set between to eras: the present and the 1950s (I presume). This is very typical of the country music genre and therefore, a lot of country music videos follow it. I may use this idea to create my animatic for Garth Brooks' "Papa Loved Mama" as I can imagine the video being set in an older era very easily. Also, referring back to a previous statement I made in this post, this song follows a narrative and features the artist. The narrative is portrayed through the lyrics of the song but also through the visuals, in country music, these two things are closely knit. For example, when the Morgan (Craig Morgan, the singer) sings the lyrics "And I lost my baby brother, my best friend and my left hand." in the second chorus, a visual appears and it is the old man from the beginning of the video but as his younger self being told his brother has died. As you can tell, again, the visuals and lyrics of country music videos are very much interlinked. The story behind these lyrics I'd say is that you should not put value on material objects because when it comes to it, it doesn't matter and you can get material objects back with money, but you can never get back people you love once they're gone , etc. 2) Partying: A lot of country music videos and songs I have heard/watched seem to talk about partying and celebrating. I would say this is more common in more modern country music however. Just one example of this convention being demonstrated could be Jake Owen's "Barefoot Blue Jean Night". As you can see from this video, there is a party going on. I see this as a typical convention of country music as a lot of country music videos I have seen contain a party or celebration of some kind. This video also follows the typical convention of having the country singer featured in the video, due to the fact Jake Owen actually appears. Yet another convention this video follows is having some kind of love interest for the singer within the video. A lot of country music videos I have seen include some kind of love interest for the singer/a member of the band singing the song. The final convention I can see this video follows is the appearance of an acoustic guitar in the video. There are several points in this video when Jake Owen is playing his acoustic guitar and performing the song within the video. These types of country music videos don't always necessarily follow a particular narrative, instead, they normally just have some footage of people partying/celebrating and a few scenes of performance form the singer of the song. To be honest, when it comes to the lyrics, the deeper message behind them I'd say is the fact that you should enjoy every moment you have and to stay young as long as you can and to always stay young at heart. The lyrics "Never gonna grow up" in this song showcases this sentiment exactly, despite the fact it is a very simple lyric. 3) Rural Settings:Typically, country music videos will take place in the countryside (the clue is in the name). Also, mise-en-scene is also focussed on a lot in these types of music videos. Having country music videos take place in the countryside basically just adds emphasis to the genre of music by associating the song with the place the genre originated from or is popular in (i.e. the countryside, in the US mainly. One example of this type of video is "This Ole Boy" by Craig Morgan. This video is evidently set in the countryside, presumably somewhere is the US. The video also has a pickup truck in it, which is very stereotypical of country music. As you can see from this video, there are many shots of a lake, forest and a hill top. This is very common in country music videos because, as I stated before, there are some aspects that are considered stereotypical of the places of origin of country music, and the countryside is one of them (again, the clue is in the name). Another few conventions this video follows are: the appearance of the singer in the music video, the appearance of a love interest for the singer and the appearance of an acoustic guitar (one of the most common instruments in country music. To be honest, I can't really see any deeper meaning behind these lyrics. I see it as just a fun song that basically means what the lyrics say and nothing deeper. However, I may be wrong. 4) Everyday Living:Another thing depicted in many music videos in the country genre is the visualisation of everyday living. A common aspect of country music is the storytelling of everyday living. For example, working. An example of this kind of video and song is Dolly Parton's "9 To 5". Again, this song's lyrics and it's video are interlinked. Pretty much all of Dolly's lyrics in this song are linked to a visual for example, one of the times she sings the lyrics "Working 9 'till 5, what a way to make a living" visuals of people rushing to work in a city (I think it may be NYC) are shown. Every day living is a common aspect of country music due to the fact that it's something pretty much everyone can relate to. This video also adheres to the typical convention of having the singer in the music video and it also has the appearance of an acoustic guitar, which again, is very common. 5) Empowering Lyrics:A common theme I have seen in country music the topic of moving on or moving away from somewhere, normally a small town, home, etc. These lyrics, in my mind promote empowerment and encourage people to grow and go out and experience and see new things, thus, having a positive impact on the world. An example of one of these songs is "Dust" by Eli Young Band. The lyrics especially are very empowering in this song. This song and video also follows a narrative and the narrative seems to be: a girl is sick of the town she's living in, she is unhappy in her relationship and wants to get away form the town she is in as she feels trapped. therefore, she impulsively sets off in a car and drives away from the town and ends up at a truck rally with her friends. In my mind, this song is empowering because of mainly the lyrics because, as I said before, the lyrics encourage moving on and exploring the world and doing what makes you feel happy. Once again, this video follows the narrative of presenting the performers of the song in the video and the video very cleverly writes the band into the narrative of the song by writing them in as the girl's friends at the truck rally she ends up at. I may use this convention my my animatic, however, I am unsure as I am only required to make an animatic for a 60 second long section of Garth Brooks' song. 6) Family:Family is an extremely common topic/convention shown in both country music songs and videos. Also, a lot of music videos I've seen from the country genre that focus on family are actually set in a past/older era. I am unsure however, if that is very common. Nevertheless, an example of this convention being followed, both through lyrics and visuals is Brad Paisley's "He Didn't Have To Be". As you can see from the video, family is focussed on a lot. In particular, it focusses on the story of a son and a step-father and how the step-father supported the song throughout his childhood, despite the son was not biologically his. This song is a beautiful sentiment of family, as it suggests that you do not have to be biologically related to someone for them to be your family, which is something that is considered untraditional (at least fro my experience). The meaning behind these lyrics is pretty clear I think. I think they basically mean that you find family anywhere, whether you're related to them or not. You can have whoever you want in your family, it doesn't have to be your relatives. Yet again, this music video follows the convention of presenting the singer in the music video, and again, the singer is written into the narrative. This convention will obviously be followed in my animatic, as even through the lyrics, you can see that this song is about a family. 7) Religion:After listening to a lot of country music, I have noticed that a rather common theme in some country songs is religion. Many country artists I have come across seem to identify as Christians and they do sing song about their faith. One example of this convention is "My Heart Is Yours" by Passion ft. Kristian Stanfill. I wouldn't say this song or video follows any kind of narrative. However, it does follow the convention of having the song's artists within the music video. However, this song does follow the convention of singing about religion too. The reason being, the lyrics literally say things like "I give you my trust, Jesus". I find the topic of religion an interesting one and despite not being a person of faith myself, I find this topic being presented through country music, or any kind of music is an interesting thing and I think these songs still great songs in terms of musical value and the videos are also great in terms of visual value. Finally, I would like to give an overview of the country genre and it's conventions, along with some audience expectations Garth Brooks fans may have for the music video (bearing in mind I do not have any music videos of Garth Brooks' songs as they are very difficult to find). It seems that within the country music genre (at least when it comes to the music videos) there a several very common conventions. They are as follows: - The videos follow a narrative. - The artist is in the music video . - An acoustic guitar is in the song and appears in the video. - A social issue is being discussed within the lyrics. - There is a deeper meaning behind the lyrics of the song or of the visuals in the video. There are also some less common conventions but still visible within the country genre when it comes to music videos. They are more topics I'd say than conventions. However, they are as follows: - The videos ares et in a past/older era. - The video visualises a party or celebration of some kind. - The video is set in the countryside. - The topic of everyday living is discussed in the lyrics or visuals. - The video and/or lyrics inspire empowerment and moving on, exploring, etc. - The topic of family is discussed within the lyrics and/or video. - Religion is discussed within the lyrics and/or video. Overall, the above points basically state all the conventions I have looked into (and provided examples of) and therefore, I think I have a pretty good idea of what Garth brooks fans would expect form a music video for his song "Papa Loves Mama", taking into account the research I have done and the lyrics to the song itself. Overall, I believe that Garth Brooks fans would expect a music video maybe set in and older/past era, I think fans would also expect Garth to be in the music vide, along with his acoustic guitar. The parts of the video with Garth in it however, would be him doing a full-on performance of the song and I would take inspiration from his live show performances to organise the sections of the music video he'd be in. Overall, I believe I know what Garth Brooks' fans would want. Sources:
http://unit29musicvideoproduction-mb.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/task-2-understand-styles-conventions.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSdItuvBxc8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRh-vBOS-dU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imMGsbwrl38 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbxUSsFXYo4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN5QgYuuxs4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjO1F6oCab8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBI4WDfRh6E In the end, I decided to create a second cut of my animatic, due to the fact that the animatic didn't flow too well. Therefore, I created more slides for the animatic and I think it now flows a lot more smoothly than it did before. Below I will include my final curt of my animatic. I personally believe that this version of the animatic flows much better compared to the first cut. The reason being, this cut is less like a slideshow of pictures and is presented more like an animation. I also think that the way I have edited this cut follows the beats of the music much better also. The creation of this animatic did take much longer than the first cut however. I worked for around 4 and 1/2 hours on the actual animatic. I screen recorded the full process of making the animatic, which I will now include below. First up is the creation of the actual drawings, which I went on to screenshot before I imported them to iMovie to edit them together. As you can see from the speed drawing video above, I used keynote (mac's equivalent to PowerPoint) to draw my characters. I decided to draw my animatic digitally due to the fact I had technical difficulties with my scanner and because I am not a very good artist and drawing my characters digitally seemed like the easiest way to do it. Editing together the actual animatic took around an hour. I used iMovie as I have the software at home and I have a lot of experience with it. You can see the full process of the edit above. As you can see (and also as I mentioned before), this cut of the animatic flows a lot better than the first cut. It also appears more like an animation due to the fact that each slide last for around 0.3 seconds to, once again, help the animatic flow. Overall, I am happy with the outcome of my animatic and the only thing I would do to improve it is to add more angles to give the animatic more variety and possibly add in more camera shot types as the only shot I really used was the extreme long shot/landscape shot.
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About17 year-old Creative Media Student, documenting my work throughout my second year. ArchivesCategories |