Planning: Lighting and Colour

What is lighting and colour?

Lighting and colour are a part of media that helps to create various meanings within a scene, whether it be a film or music video. Lighting can also help to convey unique but relatable moods and atmosphere, e.g. a certain type of lighting may make audience feel as if the character is represented by the colour and contrast of the lighting, bright – angelic. The use of colour in a music video can help support, in creating deeper meanings to a scene through connotations and interpretations.

Angles of lighting

Top lighting- This lighting style makes the character look rather innocent, glamorous and can help to identify a clearly prominent protagonist, the source of the lighting generally comes from above or a raised level and looks down on the character rather than looking up to the character.

Under lighting- This makes the character look scarier, have more fear, obvious antagonist, as the source of light comes directly below. An example of this is The Dark Knight Rises as the light appears below him making him look more superior. Not many music videos may use under lighting, it is common in rock however as it is used to show the dark tension within the room.

Back Lighting- This is where the light source may be directly behind the character or object, whether very little or no light is used, a silhouette forms. It is rare music videos use silhouettes but if executed greatly then it can create something of the highest quality.

Types of lighting

Low-key- The lighting is dark with small areas of light, which also creates shadows. The lighting, often a scene set in a dark room, may have the effect of expanding on the darker areas of the character in the room if there is one, and can create the type of element that action films use when introducing the audience to a villain, or their secret lair.

High key- When the lighting appears more natural and realistic to the naked eye. This specific lighting effect creates an angelic view of the character and exercises on the emphasis that this character is either a protagonist or innocent. Due to its common use, the audience will rarely see it on the antagonist in films or music videos due to the message it conventionally sends.

Conventional Lighting in music videos-The lighting used in music videos from the first day to now has changed and lighting has widely become a common element of music videos. Natural lighting, such as from the sky, street lights when its dark, cars driving by and even the sunlight, are drawn upon for assistance in a music video, with no extra effects or authentic lighting used as they have the ability to have as much impact as authentic lighting. High key lighting is the most conventional as directors use it to retract from the negativity; darker lighting brings to a music video. Back lighting is commonly used in indie genre music videos.

Conventional colour in music videos- The problem with mainstream music videos is that different genres use different lighting and colour, to create a different effect and feeling within the video. Colours also play a fact, as it would be very unlikely for a heavy rock band to wear bright colours in their music video, and it is more conventional for them to use darker, surreal colour mixes. A pop music video would often consist of primary colours and the lighter shades of secondary colours, whereas a genre such as Jazz would be more suited to royal, darker shades of the colours purple, gold, blue and other colour associated with royalty.

Conclusion – For my groups music video we have constantly instigated that we use natural lighting and top lighting to carve an angelic silhouette out of the main character rather than record it outside with the weather not being reliable enough, as a sunny day would be a most preferable time to record our music video. After carefully looking at other hip-hop music videos with an upbeat tempo, rhythmic groove and innocent vibe, which is primarily what my group has gone for, it is safe to say that they have acquired the director to film with brighter colours, and conventional lighting for hip-hop, which are commonly the primary colours on the colour wheel. 

Planning: Research into similar videos

In relation to our music video we decided to analyse other videos, in comparison to our plans and storyboard, we will take other videos that are similar in terms of content, visuals and style. We have gone for a performance and concept based music video with our song, this is due to the emphasis and realistic views of the lyrics. In order to do this we had to further analyse different videos from different genres, artist representation will also be considered. I am going to analyse content and visual style, for Alabama Shakes - Sound and Colour, I will be looking at the artist representation and apparent themes behind the music video.

                   Alabama Shakes - Sound and Colour - Content and Visual Style

The video for this song is in most ways linked to the lyrics, allowing for the use of a narrative and concept based platform. The narrative is centered around a male character waking up in what appears to be a space pod. Confused and dazed as to why and how he got there, he stumbles around the ship excited, yet disheartened by his environment, the colour used in the screen shots are used to emphasize the tone and emotions.


Colour and Lighting
Asap Mob - Yamborghini High


Apparent Themes
The themes within the base of the music video, are enlightened to show the nature of his situation. The theme of hope is very clear in this music video from the contradiction of his facial expressions to the use of colour and lighting in the video. It has been shown through his shocked expression set against the bright white lighting glistening across his face.

Setting
Alabama Shakes used the setting of, an ice white space pod for the backdrop of their music video, the white lighting in used to scan across the male characters body is used to interpret the innocent, smooth and soulful background. We have also decided to include the use of bright lights, and natural lighting on a bright day to create a similar effect, provoke the audience emotion to feel the same happy, soulful feeling that this video creates. It is sad yet happy, and the audiences emotions have been triggered to feel the sadness and pain of this character, but his happiness as he sees the light at the end.

Colour and Lighting
As I have already stated with the colour and lighting in the music video, it has been used here to emphasize on the feelings and emotions the audience may feel towards the music video. The colour white is often associated with humility, faith and heaven most notably, and with that colour it is what my group have been aiming for and trying to achieve through the choice and use of white lighting also. Natural lighting will be a precedent force for us, as it will be used to instigate to the audience that artificial lighting isn't needed to express the emotions and joy of the character in the music video, rather the natural surrounding can provide a perfect backdrop for the best lighting. 

                                               ASAP Mob- Yamborghini High

We looked for different hip-hop/pop artists to analyse the way in which they represented themselves, regardless of the genre these artists belonged to. Certain artists look at modern society and attempt to transfigure a way to gather ground and aspire to be recognized as a mainstay within youth culture.

Costume, Hair&Makeup
You see within the video, that they are dressed in camouflage, holding weapons and standing amongst mother nature. The costume can be used to reiterate their appeal to the audience, as a sign that they are blending in with current popular culture of smoking cannabis and being violent, they may not participate in acts of violence in or away from the music scene but by promoting it, its a sign that they are trying to be a part of popular culture. The dramatic changes in colour, the constant blurring and distortion of the moving images allow the audience to assume this is the vision of those that tend to get high, it can be interpreted by audiences that, getting high is such a perfect experience and it encourages the youth to want to participate in such actions.

Body Language and Facial Expressions
The way in which the characters acted within this video can be directly linked to artists image also, as they are seen in the thumbnail holding guns yet they don't take a direct approach to say that they are promoting gun violence or crime, it can be perceived into their image that they want to be viewed as being a feared group of society, or even placed in a small minority of artists in the music industry that aim to create a social image that represents fear rather than violence. 

Structure
The video was set up not with a dark message but one of high clarification, as it can be related to our song as the name 'Angels', can be interpreted to say that with getting high, having angels around you is a synonym to be feeling or experiencing similar interactions. The message of this song may be different but the constant use of bright colours enhances the positivity around the structure, as with our music video, we will be looking into videos of this calibre to reiterate the strong positive vibe we are attempting to express.

Artist Image
The artists image has been clearly advertised and promoted within this video due to the constant visualisation and CGI. ASAP Rocky, seen as a man to break the rules, with the rest of the ASAP Mob throw an image to the audiences that they are rule breakers, they walk away from society's norms and do what the minority participate in. This allows them to appeal to a more niche yet modernized audience, as the song reciprocates the hidden but popular actions of the underground youth, "Ganja", also known as Cannabis among several other names, a drug intended for medicinal use, yet with youths and even minorities of the older generation using at as a psychoactive drug, the song reiterates that Cannabis is positive by promoting it indirectly. 

Conclusion
With looking at research into similar videos, the concept of our music video suggests that our artist is a good person rather than someone with the intention to take out a negative perspective towards the audience. My group will take the meaning of the song and use it to portray our character as a man of faith, respect and necessity rather than somebody who may be trying to fit in the norms and common conventions of modern society. 

Planning: Editing

Introduction.
One of the most important parts of the music videos is the editing in the post-production process. They are various types of editing techniques that we can use to make our music video more effective the audience. In this post, I will be discussing what techniques I am planning to use to ensure the music video is entertaining to the target audience.


Fast paced editing.
Since the music video itself is at a fast pace after the first 20 secs. I need to ensure that when editing the music video. This is important especially during the lip-syncing. Because of the nature of the song and the lip-syncing needs to be on point. Additionally, some scenes will need to be sped up which can be done in final cut pro.


Seamless editing
The music video must be also seamless throughout the music video. For the final music video, we need to ensure that it feels seamless. It allows the artist to stand out more in the music video as well as avoid confusing the audience especially since the fast-paced nature of this video and allows a smoother video. It is important that Seamless editing also have a big impact on the audience since it does not confuse them compared to jump cuts (which are usually purposely done). In addition, during our research, task one of the most popular editing techniques in music video. Is making the music video look seamless.


Jump Cut
It also nesccary at some points in the music video to have a jump cut. In the music video, they are several scenes that require jump cuts. This includes the third scene in which the artist is walking down Tottenham retail park while rapping in which there are several jump cuts to show flashbacks. In addition, there are several plot points in the narrative in which that there is a need to be a sudden dramatic change.


Slow Editing
One scene in particular that stick out requires us to have an establishing shot however this scene needs to be at a slow pace. This can be achieved by using slow motion editing. One of the options I can achieved is slowing the clips down so its playback slower.

Planning: Pre-production paperwork

Production Schedule 

Date 10/01/2017 – Production Name: SKA – Angels. 

Location	Talent	Time	Scene/Shot No.	Equipment.
Enfield	Cast: Emeka Data Moore  Crew – Gulustan Edebak, Elliot Kinkead	15/01/2017 – 09:00 – 13:25	1 and 2	Camera and Tripod
Dance recital room	Cast: Emeka Data Moore  Kayne Gordon Crew – Gulustan Edebak, Elliot Kinkead	16/01/2017 – 15:00 – 17:00	3	Camera, iPhones and Tripod
Stratford	Cast: Emeka Data Moore  Crew – Gulustan Edebak	22/01/2017 – 13:00 – 15:00	6	Camera and Tripod
Enfield	Cast: Emeka Data Moore  Kayne Gordon Crew – Gulustan Edebak, Elliot Kinkead	29/01/2017 – 07:00 – 11:30	1, 7, 8 and 9	Camera and Tripod
Stratford	Cast: Emeka Data Moore  Crew – Gulustan Edebak	11/02/2017  12:30 – 15:00	4 and 5	Camera and Tripod
Tottenham Retail Park	Cast: Emeka Data Moore   Kayne Gordon Crew: Gulustan  Edebak, Elliot Kinkead	23/01/2017 – 17:00 – 19:00	11	Camera and Tripod
Meeting	Cast: Emeka Data Moore  Crew – Gulustan Edebak	02/02/2017 – 11:00 – 19:00	10	Camera and Tripod

  

Additional Information. 

Director – Gulustan Edebak 

Producer –Emeka Datha Moore  

Camera Person – Gulustan Edebak and Elliot Kinkead 

Lighting – Elliot Kinkead 

Phone Number: 07957408740 

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