Research - Representation of gender in Michael Buble videos

From looking at a range of different Michael Buble videos, I have come to the conclusion that he does not use a range of different narratives in his videos - if he uses any that is! Most of his videos do not have much of a narrative, and he tries to connote a narrative of itself through performance, representing him as being powerful and masculine through the art of solely performance. Most of the videos that i have chosen to research are upbeat and are mainly performance based, but when looking through my selection I have decided to look at one of his most recent videos 'Hollywood' which has a wide range of different characters being played, so this will juxtapose the other videos that i am researching.

Everything:
During this video, Buble uses both male and female actors; using a specific talent show styled video, which portrays each actor as equal from first view. The females that are used during this video connote to the audience the message that everybody is different, but that is not a bad thing - if anything its a compliment. This was represented through the women that was shown with a range of piecing on her face, using a mid shot of her singing into the microphone, showing her as equal, as though being seen from Buble's point of view - as in pervious shots we have seen him sitting down facing the acts, this could therefore make him of a lower status than the contestents through camera shots. Another representation that is seen during this video is an intertextual reference by one women, who is meant to be seen as a Marline Monroe type figure - this homage was connoted through costume, this being a signifier to the audience, making them recognise the reference to the female icon. I feel that this was done to show female asperation to idolise strong women such as Marline Monroe.

From this video the range of shots that are used it seems that all of the actors are as equal to Michael Buble, this is also shown when we see the shot of Buble taking photos of the actors – making the audience feel that he is wanting to remember this memory. There is one shot of a group of male actors which connotes trust and faith in each other as they are singing together as one group, but also because they are all looking at Michael Buble who is sitting in the chair facing them; giving him power and authority.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPUJIbXN0WY


Compared to Hollywood:
This video is mainly narrative based, but it tells the story following the lyrics of the song. The first main shot of a difference in the male gender would be the young teenage boy, on stage getting interviewed, the low angle shot of him makes it seem as though he has a high status because of the 'Screaming fans'. This is a specific Parody of the singer Justin Bieber, he is trying to represent the teenagers of music and how they become a different person on stage - thinking they are a bigger star than they are, shown through the relaxed posture and  having his hood up. Michael Buble is seen as a fan during this shot as it has something blocking his view on the left of the shot, this makes it seem as though he is in the crowd. The stereotypical female gender of being on a movie set with famous actors is shown during the next few shots, using a long shot of a man with two female 'clinging' on to him, proving who has the higher status, then an over the shoulder shot appears as he stumbles past Michael Buble, where he is looking down on him - this connotes that the male is conforming to the stereotypical drunk rocker connoting him as lower class to Buble. The dress of the females in this shot, are provocative and revealing - this can represent the stereotypical view of females in the company of a famous public, especially as they have matched their clothing to his - hippy styled clothing choices, connoting a care free attitude explaining the way that they are acting towards him. 

Planning - Photograph

We have taken photos of our actor that we feel that we could use for our CD cover and poster, we are planning to look at different styles of art work that we could use on our photos to create a homage of Michael Buble album covers. This will be achieved through the use of colours, and type of photo that we chose to use, for example; the typical stance that Buble uses, we would copy that into our own photos including the way that he is dressed - a suit.

Editing - Clips of Narrative

Seeing as we are having difficulty STILL filming out performance shots, I have started to edit the shots of the narrative - cutting them down and making sure that they are in the correct order to then add the performance once it has been filmed and cut. From having trouble shooting the performance we have decided to use our timings on the script to place the narrative in the correct places with the music, this way we can see whether or not it fits to the music, or if it cuts the lyrics in half on crucial moments. I have been trying to connote to the audience that the music itself might be happy, but the narrative is not all what is expected from a stereotypical narrative of this style of music, compared to his other tracks we always seen Michael Buble sitting alone or looking down whilst performing his track - this is therefore showing the narrative of his video itself. To stop our video conforming with his other types of videos, we are having our performance piece to be quite happy and light hearted, but to then turn the narrative from being happy to sad and then back to happy - this will represent a range of emotions which is what I want to show with my video; the range of difficulties and moments that a couple have to experience together.  


An example of the editing that has been completed so far would be when the couple are on during the flash back, on the green, with the necklace being put on the girl. Where we can see the grey section with the incomplete narrative is where the performance is going to be, all of the narrative is perfectly in place and in sync with the lyrics. After the performance shots have been analysed, cut and put in place with the lyrics i will re upload the same time line to show the differences that have been made and the changes that i found that i had to make for the performance to fit. 

Filming - Narrative

Yesterday, 4th December, we were able to film our narrative clips, the actors that we had originally decided to use in our narrative could not make it on that day as it was at such short notice. Although this was an issue we found that we had planned that Tom and I would be the back up actors incase our original actors were unable to make it. I felt that we were focused and committed to the tasks that were given and because of this we feel that our footage will have come up well. 


Our locations stayed the same using the photos that were taken, found in my planning. the field that we were using was perfect as the weather held off for us and it was not neither sunny nor dull, which worked with that specific shots that we were taking. 


The contrast between the two different types of bedrooms that we were using connoted a range of feelings for example; the red and white walls showed passion but also loneliness compared to the light that was found in the other bedroom as it is dark, using colours such as blue and black which again shows loneliness but the blue connotes sadness and lack of emotion. 

Planning - Problem!!

We have had a few problems with our actors, we were planning to film our Performance part of our music video today and everything was fine, until the bus which our actor had to take to arrive at the school was cancelled and had been taken in for service. From this we have decided to change the date of filming to tomorrow (friday 2nd december) but this will be a problem as we will have limited time to film, we feel that we will be able to get most of it done and if anything has not been filmed by this time we will have to arrange another date to film the parts that we feel that we need.

Planning - Copyright Permission E-mail Has Been Sent!!

Planning - Date has been decided

We know have decided the date that we are filming is going to be on the 1st of December which is a Thursday, so we had to go round to the sign management team to make sure that it would be okay for us to book out 'the pit'. We was originally booked to film on the 29th of November but we felt this was not going to work as it was too short notice and our actor could not get to the school. By choosing our new date we know for definite that everything has been booked and we have our location.

Research - Weather

We are planning to film our music video within the next two weeks, so we have to check that the weather is going to be appropriate to match the scenes that we need to film. As our performance aspect of the piece is going to be filmed inside - in 'The Pit' - we do not need to worry about filming outside, but as the venue is in Saffron Walden and our actors as well as me are situated around Dunmow, we must make sure that it is not going to snow or have storms so that we are able to get thebus to Walden. If during the next two weeks it were to snow then we would have to change the date of the filming - depending on how servere the snow would be - as we would not be able to get to our location.

But we have discussed that the narrative when the girl is walking out of the house would suit if the weather were to be dull or raining as this shows Pathetic Fallacy - the emotion matching the weather. 

Our plan was to film the whole of the music video in one day including the narrative, so we thought that we would come to the school and film the performance part in 'The Pit', which times are not discussed yet but we thought around 11am until 2-30pm, which gives us enough time to filmthe song several times trying out different ideas. Then we would be getting the 3-26pm bus back to Dunmow where we would go to the two houses to film the narrative. By doing all of our filming in one day we thought it would be helpful as all of the actors will be in one place at one time for a day, instead of filming over a range of days. The other option we have is to film the Narrative on one day and the performance on another. Also by doing all filming in one day if there is any more footage needed we have the time to ask those actors to come back and film it.

Research - Michael Buble Live

Yesterday i was able to catch 'This is Michael Buble' on tv which is a documentation of his work so far when he was touring the country and what it is like to be 'hanging out' with Michael Buble. I thought it was particularly interesting how he interacts with the audience and all of his fans, compared to his music videos where he more professional and serious when performing. Below is a clip from one of his concerts that was seen on the programme, and from this clip i thought that it showed the side to him that is the fun but loving which is portrayed in his music and lyrics.



Compared to his music video performances he is not shown as a fun and out going person whereas in this documentary; we are able to see the real him. Other than a few of his videos; such as the song Everything (which can be found below) - most of his material is jazzy and slow which connotes emotions that he might have dealt with. I found this interesting as it shows that he is always seen in a suit at his concerts as well, which is a recognition for the audience - relating back to his videos and his posters/CD covers and other merchandise. 


Everything - Michael Buble

Research - Finished Live Performance Edit

We have now finished editing our live performance video, and i have learnt a range of new skills for editing as well as filming. One of which is if you mark where the clip needs to be in the music and then find where the lip syncing is in the clip and mark that it is easier when trying to piece it all together, to get it in time. What i am going to take away from this filming experience will be that, you definitely need more than two cameras - to then give you a range of different shots, as we found that our footage was good, but a lot of it was the same shots; although because the track was a slow track it worked well but it might not have work if we had used a fast song. 


Positives from this experience:
- Lip syncing was mainly in time other than a few little bits, we thought that we worked well and done a good job when trying to get it in time with the track - which was made easier when we found out how to use markers on our work.
- Although we did not use a wide range of shots, the shots we did have were suitable for the track that we had chosen.
- We did not leave a shot on for too long, so we were always changing to make it different and show the whole band.


Negatives from this experience:
- We could have planned more, it was more a decision in the moment where the cameras were going to be - from this we did not get a great range of shots and we also had other people in some of our films.
- We did not have a chance to think about the lighting, but if we did we could have used a new coloured lights to give it a more of a dream like sequence as the song was quite melodic and slow at times.
- When using the dolly it needs to be controlled very well, as seen in some of my footage it was shaky at times as i was taking my time and slightly rushing trying to stay out of other peoples footage. 

Planning - Michael Buble Album Covers

Now that we have thought about how we are going to produce our music video, we have to now focus on what are ideas are for the other tasks; the cd and poster. Before we had our artist completely figured out, we looked at what Muse cd covers looked like and their similarities with the artist or other cd covers that they have produced. We now know that the song we are doing for our music video is 'Crazy Love' by Michael Buble, so it will be important for us to produce a cover that is similar to the music video that we make, not only the music video but also the research that we find out about from his other album covers - are there any similarities? what are the differences? what songs are on each and is this the reason for the difference? From looking at the cd covers, when constructing our own we will know whether or not we are conforming to our target audience or are we going to be attracting different sub groups.

One of the cd's that i looked at from the Michael Buble collection was 'Call Me Irresponsible' I noticed that some of the themes that he had used in his music videos were used in this album cover - such as the colour scheme of black, white and blue. This album cover is compared well to Michael Buble's video of 'Feeling good' where he is portrayed as a character such as James Bond, with the girls and the big fancy gadgets and cars that appear in the video. During this video the colours were not always bright alot of them were Black and white which is why it relates well with this cd cover, also the professionalism of Michael Buble in the suit, it shows the sleekness and clean cut feeling that the audience receive from his music. In contrast to the 'feeling good' video the image that is on the cover of this album, as he looks sad and disheartened - but this fits well with the songs that are found on this album as most of them are slow and about loosing or gaining love and faith.

Compared to the 'Call Me Irresponsible' there is a similar colour scheme, which connoted how Michael Buble is trying to make it recognisable to his target audience; they will be able to recognise it from a glance. On this album the songs are mainly upbeat and fun, which is why i think they have chosen to use a light blue background, over black. This also makes Michael Buble stand out, also making his audience recognise him - especially with the black suit, which is found on a range of different albums that he has brought out. The suit is fitting to a professional and serious vibe but due to the stance that he is carrying it makes the album look as though the music will be more jazzy and up tempo. Therefore proving he can sing a range of different styles; appealing to a large audience. 


This is all important to keep in mind when creating our own CD covers and posters, as we need to make it recognisable to the audience who the artist is and what type of music they will find on this album. It will help us when we decide what type of mood we want to connote to the audience; such as a sad or happy vibe, if it is going to be a fun and upbeat album or a mellow and jazzy album. Also we need to take into consideration what type of clothing we will have our actor in, which in the video for 'Crazy Love' is jeans and a top (more casual than any of his other videos) or if we are going to stick with his original image to keep it in the same style. We have decided that in the video he will be wearing a suit as the actors of the narrative will be in casual clothing, so we will probably use a suit for the overall CD cover image.

Planning - Script Changes

We looked back over our script and thought about the narrative and timings of the lyrics and found that a lot of it was not going to work how we would have liked, so we have changed some of the narrative to fit better with the music. We also had to think about whether it made sense to just start the narrative in the beginning of the song, from looking at it we found that it did not make as much sense as we would have liked, so we have added narrative before starting the music.


Added narrative of the letter coming through the letter box at a birds-eye view shot before the music starts
Different shots of the performer have been added - panning shot.
no match on action shot of her opening the letter, using a reaction shot instead when she is reading it
over shoulder shot of the letter
boy looking at letter and then girl waiting for reaction, reaction happening and then looking down at the letter
high angle shot of performer
Girl putting her things away looks up at the photoframe on the drawer, back to close up shot of performer then back to girl
Low angle shot of girl looking at the photoframe blurry going into a flash back
Back and girl walking hand in hand down the path, angle starting at their feet walking towards the camera as it zooms out
performance in the middle
high angle shot os boy and girl, boy turns her around and puts a necklace on her, using a range of shots to show it and emphasising how much it means to her then she turns back and he is gone
performance - sitting on the stool
Boy sends text to her but she didnt take her phone with her to University
shot of her phone on the side lighting up
Editing have to had a caption
Back to back shot is still in there, but he is playing guitar and she is looking at her phone
she sends a text back
After she has left her house and it has gone back to the performer there is a shot of her walking down the road and going round the corner
Back to performance for 6 seconds
we only changed that it would be an extreme close up of her knocking on the door
over shoulder shot of him answering the door
mid shot of him coming outside slowly approaching her
back to performance again
instead of a close up its a over the shoulder shot of him looking at her as he places his hands around her face
mid shot from the side with sun in the background as he moves in to kiss her
no shot of the girl looking at him
close up on the kiss
back to performer before black out!

All of these are changes that have been made during the timing process as we found that our narrative did not completely make sense, so we have made it more clear with a range of shots and changed the narrative to flow better. These changes can also be found on the timings script, and the original script is also on the blog.

Research - Live Performance Editing

My group and I have now finished piecing together our live filming, to the track, which is now all in sync with the singing and instrumental sections. We used markers on the video clips to keep it all pieced together and show where we needed the video the end for it to fit with the music. This was an easier way of keeping in track with what parts of the video went where and at what times, by doing this it became more in sync with the music as it was exactly in line with the track. Today we will be showing our work to see if the other group feels that the work we have done on it is good enough and it is all in sync with the track. From working on this i have found that it was more difficult to keep the video in sync with the lyrics, i did not think it would be as difficult as it came across, but i have learnt that from using markers it keeps in track where the video needs to be on the music. 

Planning - Storyboards

Planning - location ideas

The field is a location close to where I live and we though it would be a good location for our narrative, especially when the girl has to walk away from the boy - long shots!


The other photos are of 'the pit' which is the drama room in school, we thought with some moving of set an setting up staging with a White background this would be a simple but perfect place for the vocalist, especially with the lighting desk which is the final picture.

Planning - Shot list

1.)Before music, letter falls thought letter box, birds-eye view of it falling to the floor.  Fade up of the vocalist 2 seconds (0.02) using a zoomed in high angle shot from the balcony 9 seconds (0.11)


2.) Point of view shot from the girl walking to pick up the letter 8 seconds (0.19)


3.) Back to performance using a panning shot with vocalist looking into the camera at all times 6 seconds (0.25)


4.) POV of her picking up the letter 2 seconds (0.27) close up reaction shot - front on - 3 seconds (0.30) zoomed in over the shoulder shot of the letter 3 seconds (0.33)


5.) Mid shot - seeing the door at the side knowing someone is going to enter - girl enters holding letter he gets up and picks her up 7 seconds (0.40) over shoulder shot of her handing over the letter 6 seconds (0.46)


6.) Over the shoulder shot from boy looking at letter 4 seconds (0.50) close up of her looking at him waiting for a reaction 2 seconds (0.52) mid shot when he starts to look up at her putting the letter down 3 seconds (0.55) over the shoulder shot from her to him 4 seconds (0.59)


7.) Low angle shot of performer, maybe zooming in? 8 seconds (1.07)


8.) High angle shot of girl packing her belongings away for university, with a drawer open - shuts the drawer and looks at a photo frame - camera looking in on her 12 seconds (1.19)


9.) Back to performance close up shot of his shoulders and face - maybe zoom out - 5 seconds (1.24)


10.) Low angle shot of her face and holding the photo frame 4 seconds (1.28) fade it out - blurry - going into shot of boy and girl walking, starting at feet zooming out to show a long shot of them walking together in the location seen on the blog 6 seconds (1.34) 


11.) Cut to performance, panning shot, suiting the mood 4 seconds (1.38)


12.) Back to narrative, boy and girl looking at each other high angle shot with sun in background 2 seconds (1.40), boy turns her round, POV shot of boy putting necklace on her - only seeing his hands - 4 seconds (1.44) she turns back POV shot of where boy would be 2 seconds (1.46), then long shot of her standing on her own looking at where he would have been. 4 seconds (1.50)


13.) Back to performance, sitting on the stool facing front but looking to the side at the camera, mid shot 6 seconds (1.56)

14.) Mid shot of him sitting on his bed looking down at the floor head in hands 2 seconds (1.58) over shoulder shot, 'I Miss You' text...sending...3 seconds (2.01) high angle mid shot of phone lighting up 2 seconds (2.03)


15.) Close up shot of performer sitting on stool 'Yes, I want to throw my arms around her
And kiss and hug' 10 seconds (2.13)

16.) During editing add a caption of how much time has past. 2 seconds (2.15)

17.) Back to back shot of boy and girl at their homes, boy playing guitar and girl reading his text, 4 seconds (2.19) then sending a text back and boy receiving it. 4 seconds (2.23)

18.) High angle shot of her coming down the stairs - only showing her legs 4 seconds (2.27) . Match on action shot of her opening the door 2 seconds (2.29), stepping out 3 seconds (2.32) and closing it behind her. 2 seconds (2.34)

19.) High angle shot from balcony, vocalist standing! 7 seconds (2.41)

20.) Long shot of her walking down the end of the road and round the corner 6 seconds (2.47)

21.) Close up shot of performer 6 seconds (2.53)

22.) Extreme close up of her hand knocking on his door 2 seconds (2.55), over the shoulder shot from her answering the door. 2 seconds (2.57) 

23.) Mid shot from the side, as he walks towards her 5 seconds (3.02)

24.) Performance, turning to face the camera - which is at his right side - looking into the camera; mid shot. 4 seconds (3.06)

25.) Over shoulder shot from him looking into her eyes as he places his hands around her face 6 seconds (3.12)

26.) Mid shot as he moves in to kiss her 3 seconds (3.15) 

27.)  close up as he kiss her 6 seconds (3.21)

28.) Back to performer in 'The Pit' for last line of the lyrics starts as a close up and starts to zoom out as song ends, Fade out to blackout! 5 seconds (3.26) 

Planning - Actors

We thought about who would we use for our actors, and who would be a good reliable person and whether they went to our school, but i remembered that one of my close friends from my old school is a massive Michael Buble fan, but also took drama. We thought that he (Tommy) would be perfect as he has the acting skills from drama and the fact that he is a big fan of Michael Buble helps us; knowing that he will know the words. We have already asked him if he would do it and he has said yes, he lives around where i live so it will not be a problem to lift share to get to places and he is mainly always available other than Wednesdays.Our other actors we still havent completely decided on, but all three of them are willing to do it, or at least help out with being in the video, and one of them also took drama along said Tommy, which also shows that she (Vicky) will be capable to act along side whoever we cast to be the male role of the boyfriend. She lives around my area we well as so again it will be easy to life share, if we decide that we are going to film in Saffron Walden/Cambridge/Bishops Stortford etc.

Planning - Costume

This shot is from Michael Buble's hit 'Cry Me a River' I thought this could show the type of costume that we want our actor to wear for our music video for 'Crazy Love'. Looking at a range of Michael Buble's videos; other than crazy love' he mainly always wears a suit, I think that this makes the video look for professional as well as it conforms with the other videos that he has made, so why change it? Also because we have a narrative in our 'Crazy Love' video with two actors in casual clothing, if we were to use casual clothing on our actor then there would not a complete divide between who is who. Another example of when Buble does this is in his 'Feeling Good' video, which relates to a 'Bond' theme, with the figures of the women and the action and suspicion of what he could be carrying in the case. But compared to his other videos, these are both very fast and dramatic songs, after looking at his other videos such as 'Home' and 'Everything' we see that he is still wearing a suit in both of them, so from this it made us question why chose not to wear a suit in 'Crazy Love' which is the main reason that we are having a suited actor.

Planning - Narrative

Our overall narrative for our piece is about a boy and a girl relationship, seeing if they can manage with being miles apart - as she is going to university. We thought that this would be a particularly good structure for a narrative as it did not completely conform with the lyrics, it only connected with the lyrics by the different emotions that will be shown. We will not be fitting the film word for word with the lyrics, for example, if it were to mention they were on the telephone, we would not show a clip of them on the phone. This gives us more of a range of material and creative ideas to work with, other than sticking to it as thought it were like a script.  


For out narrative we want to use a range of shots, especially when she is telling the boyfriend that she got into the university that she wanted, but we want to capture his initial reaction, when she is hugging him. This would be effect as the audience see the emotion that he is going to experience, but also that he does not want to show her how much it is going to hurt her leaving. This is technically showing the lyrics through his emotions, which we thought would be effective as in a range of music videos they do look at the women's stories more, as the men are seen as the masculine and proud ones, but here if we show his emotions of her leaving it does not conform with the specific music video narratives.

Live Performance Editing

In class we started to edit out live performance piece of 'Strangers', we had to match up the music track with the video footage that we had taken. From looking at this the performs did not make any mistakes with their vocals or instruments, which made it easier to piece together with the music. We are going to carry on editing this for another two lessons and create the first 30 seconds to 1 minute of a video. 

Planning - Different Scenes

Before music, letter is posted through the door, birdseye view as the letter falls to the ground.
(Light fading up on the performer) I  can hear her heartbeat for a thousand miles             
And the Heavens open every time she smiles

(POV shot of going to pick up the letter) And when I come to her that's just where I belong
Yet, (performance) I'm running to her like a river strong

She gives me love, love, (Match on action, girl opens letter from uni - seeing reaction) love, love, crazy love
She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love

(boy sitting watching tv, girl arrives he picks hugs her - she shows him the uni letter)

She's got a fine sense of humor when I'm feeling low down
And when I come to her when the sun goes down
(mid shot of them standing in the living room - tv on in the background; normal life - his head down and her taking his hand - match on action shots) She takes my troubles all away, takes away my grief 
Takes away my heartache, in the night like a thief

(performance) She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love
She gives me love,(Packing away her belongings and finding something that reminds her of him) love, love, love, crazy love
She gives me love, (back to performance) love, love, love, crazy love
(match on action shot of her picking it up and putting it aside)She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love

Yes, I need her in the daytime (sending texts - no reply - or photo album over shoulder shot)
(performance, sitting on a stool facing the camera) Oh, but I need her in the night
Yes, I want to throw my arms around her
And kiss and hug, and kiss and hug her tight

(Girl gets home and throws her things down picks up her phone) And when I'm returning from so far away
(back to back shot of both of them looking at their phones) She gives me some sweet lovin', (receives text 'i miss you' over the shoulder shot of the phone, puts it down on the counter.)brighten up my day
(grabs her coat to walk out the front door)Yes, it makes me righteous,(cuts back to performance) it makes me whole
(her knocking on his door)And makes me mellow, (back to performance) down to my soul

She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love
(he opens the door and picks her up and spins her round) She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love
(back to performance) She gives me love, love, love, (close up over the shoulder shot of him looking into her eyes) love, crazy love
She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love
(I need her her love, love, love, love, crazy love)

Crazy love
(girl looking up at him) Crazy love
(Kisses her) Crazy love (back to end of performance with a fade down to black out)