A Fine Frenzy - 'Near to you' Lyrics

"Near To You"

He and I had something beautiful
But so dysfunctional, it couldn't last
I loved him so but I let him go
'Cause I knew he'd never love me back

Such pain as this
Shouldn't have to be experienced
I'm still reeling from the loss,
Still a little bit delirious

Near to you, I am healing
But it's taking so long
'Cause though he's gone
And you are wonderful
It's hard to move on
Yet, I'm better near to you.

You and I have something different
And I'm enjoying it cautiously
I'm battle scarred, I am working oh so hard
To get back to who I used to be

He's disappearing
Fading subtly
I'm so close to being yours
Won't you stay with me
Please

Near to you, I am healing
But it's taking so long
'Cause though he's gone
And you are wonderful
It's hard to move on
Yet, I'm better near to you.

I only know that I am
Better where you are
I only know that I am
Better where you are
I only know that I belong
Where you are

Near to you, I am healing
But it's taking so long
Though he's gone
And you are wonderful
It's hard to move on

Near to you, I am healing
But it's taking so long
'Cause though he's gone
And you are wonderful
It's hard to move on
Yet, I'm better near to you.

Yet, I'm better near to you.

A Fine Frenzy - 'Near to you' Cover request

After watching and listening to several music video covers, we decided on a song choice and came across the YouTube cover artist 'Eradecastro', whose version of 'Near to you' by A Fine Frenzy, we would like to use in our own music video. We emailed her to ask for permission to use her audio version:

Questionnaire Results Analysis

Question 1)
Fifty per cent of the respondents were male and the other half female so that we had an equal representation of our target audience - which is not gender specific.

Question 2)
Respondents selected all the genres they typically listen to and results showed that pop was the most popular music genre. Indie and hip hop were also fairly popular, with rock, R&B, classical and country gaining few votes. We will take this into account when making decisions on song choice - bearing in mind the conventions of these genres.

Question 3)
Results show that most respondents watch music videos sometimes, but generally not all the time. This indicates that our target audience are not avid music video fans, but will only watch videos if they are interested in them - which means when we produce our own music video we need to make it original enough that it will draw the attention of the audience.

Question 4)
We found that the most important aspects of a music video, according to our audience, are the narrative, the characters and the editing. While other aspects such as mise-en-scene, effects and filters are also important, we have decided that these will be the focus of our music video because these are what our audience consider most important.

Question 5)
The majority of our target audience said that they preferred music videos that are narrative based. We will take this into account when planning our own video, with a focus on the narrative in order to appeal to our audience.

Question 6)
Results showed that audience members prefer music videos based on romance and symbolic meaning, with less focus on action, humour or irony. We will therefore focus or own video on a narrative with either romance or a symbolic meaning at the centre, in order to appeal to our audience.

Question 7)
We found that our target audience prefer a music video where the narrative focuses on a couple of characters or several protagonists We intend to base our own video around a couple/small group of characters.

Question 8)
Respondents selected countryside, beach and domestic settings are their preferred location for a music video, so we intend to use these locations when filming.

Action Plan

Week 5-
Lesson 3 26/06/13- Today we are going to analyse our questionnaire results now that they have been converted into pie charts and are easier to understand. From this we will be able to understand the requirements, expectations and needs of our target audience. We will then re-watch the interview videos that we filmed and analyse for the same details.

Lesson 4- 27/06/13- We are going to create a large, in detail mind map which will include:

• Narrartive ideas
• Character ideas
• Locations
• Song choice- and looking at the lyrics to make sure that the narrative makes sense
• Shots
• Lighting and filters
• Aspects of mise-en-scene such as costume, props etc. 

After doing this we will then look into finding our choice of song.

Week 6-
Lesson 1- 1/07/13- We will upload the mindmap that we created to our blog. Following the song choice research that we do and depending on the song that we intend to use, we will email Sony Music Entertainment regarding rights to their songs.

Lesson 2- 2/07/13- We will annotate the lyrics to our song/songs to try and develop a narrative that works well with the lyrics. We will then hand this to a member of our target audience to see what their response is and weather they like the approach that we are taking to the song.

Lesson 3- 3/07/13- We will analyse music videos where narrative is the main focus in order to gain an understanding of how they convey the narrative with not much dialogue.

Lesson 4- 4/07/13- We will continue analysing narrative based music videos and upload these to our blogs.

Week 7-
Lesson 1- 8/07/13- Using the annotated lyrics sheets, we will create a draft storyboard for our two favourite songs, one being our favourite and one being our backup, from which point we will expect to have a response from Sony Music.

Lesson 2 9/07/13- We will continue making our draft storyboard.

Lesson 3- 10/07/13- We will continue making our draft storyboard. Once this is complete and we are happy with it we will again hand this out to our target audience and receive feedback which we will record and upload to our blog.

Lesson 4- 11/07/13- We will analyse the feedback that we got and adapt the storyboard where appropriate.

Week 8-
Lesson 1- 15/07/13- Following the feedback and response from our draft storyboard we will then create our final storyboard which we intend to follow through with when making the music video

Lesson 2- 16/07/13- We will continue to make our final storyboard.

Lesson 3- 17/07/13- We will continue to make our final storyboard.

Lesson 4- 18/07/13- We will get feedback from our teacher and once approved we will upload our final storyboard to our blog.

Audience Interviews

Mr Tang Interview:

We decided it was necessary to interview someone who is not within our target audience, in order to contrast between their needs and expectations and the needs of our focus target audience. The differences in his preference around music videos compared to our other interviews was obvious and is impacted by his age. 

Joanna Interview:
We interviewed a female member of our target audience in order to gain her perspective and preference in relation to music videos. She actually made it very clear that she preferred real narrative with no cliche elements, which especially did not appeal to her. We will take this into account when we produce our own music video, as it is a deciding factor on whether the audience like a music video or not.In relation to characters, Joanna preferred real people, and not predictable stereotypes as it is over used. This means that when we select actors for our music video, we will avoid and take into account this view. 

Lewis Interview:
We finally interviewed a male audience member, because as a typical teenage boy the way he looks at music videos is very different from a girl of the same age. He said that attractive women were a big appeal to his music video taste, which supports the theory of the male gaze, regarding the objectification of women. Whilst some of his views were the same, this obviously made a difference to his music video preference. 

Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire

1. Select your age group

Select your age group   10 or below  11-14  15-18  19-25  25 or above

2. What is your gender?

What is your gender?   Female  Male

3. What genre of music do you typically listen to?

What genre of music do you typically listen to?   Hip-Hop  Pop  Folk  Indie  Country  R&B  Classical  Dance

Other (please specify)

4. Do you watch music videos?

Do you watch music videos?   Yes, always  Sometimes  Rarely  Never

5. What aspect of a music video do you consider most important?

What aspect of a music video do you consider most important?   Narrative  Special effects  Characters  Lighting and filters  Costume  Editing

Other (please specify)

6. What is your preference in relation to music videos?

What is your preference in relation to music videos?   Choreographically based  Narrative based  Both

7. Which do you prefer videos to be...

Which do you prefer videos to be...   Dance and action  Romance  Symbolic  Humorous  Ironic

Other (please specify)

8. How many characters involved in the video do you prefer?

How many characters involved in the video do you prefer?   One  A couple  Several  Large group

9. Which location do you prefer? (Select all that apply)

Which location do you prefer? (Select all that apply)   Countryside  Rural town/village  Urban town  City  Hall  Warehouse  Beach  Domestic setting

Other (please specify)

10. What's your favourite music video and why?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Questionnaire Link

Following a meeting with our teacher, we decided to carry out a questionnaire to variety of audience members in order to gain an understanding of the needs and expectations required of a music video. We  distributed digital and physical copies of the survey.

Link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/C29MZJL

Preliminary Task

We carried out a preliminary task to familiarze ourselves with different camera techniques, angles and editing, required for making a successful music video.

Featuring:
Samiul, Lijo, Sean, Sophie, Sophie, Leah and Marko

Taylor Swift ft Ed Sheeran - Everything has changed analysis

The song was written by both Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran, from her fourth studio album 'Red'. Both artists feature as cameo parts in the video itself, this helps to illustrate the everlasting friendship that the narrative and the lyrics center around.

This video maintains the stereotypical American elementary childhood ideology with the use of the typical yellow school bus, dressing the leading girl in while to convey innocence, using natural sunlight with bright colours, familiar settings and shots of light through tree leaves that have connotations of summer etc. The camera pans a lot, capturing the sunlight reflections, which is an effect that makes the shots almost seem reminiscent. Panning also makes the video more enjoyable to watch as it is not made up of still shots.

Varied shots such as close ups to allow the audience to focus on specific actions or objects that are significant (such as the wooden iphones that are a comment on generational changes and for the audience's amusement) alternated with long shots to show the characters in context make the narrative of the video flow smoothly and the audience are unlikely to lose interest.

There are several scenes with dimly lit, warm lighting is sourced from torches and fairylights beneath a tent the protagonists have constructed - creating in an intimate atmosphere.

The shots cut between a variety of moments, settings and actions but still follow a narrative - despite cutting back to scenes throughout the video - lasting only a few seconds each, which keeps the audience interested and creates a montage of the character's everlasating friendship. 
The camera pans upwards to show a low angle shot of the protagonists, this separates them from the other children playing below, which is a feature that is maintained throughout the video, to show that the love and friendship they have, sets them apart from everyone else.

Ed Sheeran - Give me love analysis

Synopsis:
The video deals with the idea of Cupid -  she is seen watching over couples, using her bow and arrows to ignite people's passion for each other. So after watching many human intimate displays through her work, Cupid becomes overwhelmed with the need to find someone of her own to love and for them to love her in return. She becomes obsessed by love and  literally builds and creates the kind of person she wants to love and when that’s not enough she goes out looking for it wherever she can find it. When all her attempts fail she is broken, done with finding love, it kills her she shoots herself believing that she’ll be by herself forever. but when she least expects it, Love finds her, literally awakens her and opens her eyes.

The song was released as the sixth and last single from Sheeran's debut album '+' in november 2012.

The obsession in which the protagonist (Cupid) expresses over love, is amplified through the use of mise-en-scene. The use of blue, desaturated filters convey the cold and lonely emotions she feels towards the idea of love, which is further enhanced by the distorted effect created by the smoke and blur in which she is concealed by. Her clothes she wears are plain, colourless and bland which may reflect her view on life, they also appear torn in a mid close up shot, which could suggest that she is damaged and broken herself. Use of harsh, bright artificial lighting emphasizes that the lack of warmth and happiness in her life, which reflects the narrative.

By utilising close up shots, the audience can clearly see her emotions expressed, which evokes empathy from many audience members. The close ups focus on significant objects, such as the wooden mannequins, help to illustrate the plot line for the audiences.
Structurally, at the beginning of the video, the shots are longer and use slow panning and dolly shots. However, when the song reaches the climax, the shots are much shorter with rapid editing, which builds suspense. The cuts between the different shots, appear random and are not in sync or in a particular rhythm, which also conveys her disillusion and confusion.
The beginning, establishing shot shadows the ending of the song, and therefore, is a non-linear structure.
As the camera zooms out from the establishing shot, it cuts to insignificant, material objects such as a fan, and an old kettle, this is used to show that this is all she has and that her life is pretty empty. The only love she seems to have is framed pictures of strangers in love.