Storyboard

Here is my 10 shot sequence of the storyboard of shots 11-20 (in the boudoir)

Inspiration from other music videos

We took inspiration from other music videos that were similar to ours in narrative and genre.

The video that gave us the most inspiration was Christina Aguilera's 'Aint no other Man', as this video shows a strong, female figure, who is similar to our main character. The video, although not the same genre as our track, uses similar locations, such as boudoir and bar, which we used to give us ideas for shots.

We were also inspired by Moulin Rouge 'Lady Marmalade' and the makeup that Christina Aguilera wore, as well as creative shots, like silhouette dancing. Other music videos in the same genre as our track are Shakira's 'Hips don't Lie', in which Shakira wears an outfit, similar to our main character's.

The video for Ricky Martin's 'Livin La Vida Loca', also inspired us to film girls and boys dancing, as this is a common theme in Spanish/Latino music, in particular Salsa music. Another similar and inspirational video is Geri Halliwell's 'Mi Chico Latino', where Geri Halliwell dances, surrounded by men, which we incorporated, having our main character dancing whilst the boys dance around her, to show how she is fun, dominant and desirable.

Spanish/Latino Music Videos

We decided to use a song called 'Takin it over', which is a lively and upbeat Latino/Spanish song. Our idea for the video is to show a strong, dominant female, who dances regularly at a Mexican bar. Similar Spanish/Latino music videos are:

Shakira - 'Hips don't Lie'


Geri Halliwell - 'Mi Chico Latino'


Ricky Martin - 'Livin La Vida Loca'


Jennifer Lopez - 'Aint it funny'

A list of possible songs

This is a list of songs that i think we could use, as they are unique and upbeat and none have a music video.

Darude - 'Sandstorm'
Trisco - 'Musak'
Shaft - 'Sway'

The first song, 'Sandstorm', is a club/dance track and we could possibly use it, although the song is quite repetitive and it may be hard to make a music video for. The second song, 'Musak' is also a club track, and the music is quite dreamlike, although again it is very repetitive and may be difficult to make a music video for. However, the last song 'Sway' is more of the Latino genre, and is very upbeat. The opening of the song sounds like monkeys, and it would be a good song to use for our original idea of having people dressed up in monkey costumes. This song, although having a few repeated lyrics is predominantly music-based and is also repetitive, which may make it hard to sustain audience attention.

Latino genre in Music

Latino/Spanish music, comes under many catorgories, such as Salsa, Samba and Latin freestyle, taking influences from various countries, predomninantly South American. Salsa is a dance-orientated genre, and is described as the "essential pulse of Latin music", being the most played style at Latin dance clubs. However, like most catorgories in the Latino genre, Salsa is mixed with other styles of music, such as pop, jazz, rock and rnb.

Salsa is a combination of Spanish and African music, adapted by Latin musicians with 'diverse musical tastes'. A salsa song begins with a 'songlike section', followed by vocals and interspersed with instrumentals and jazz solos. It is popular amongst youths due to its dance vibe. The percussion in a Latino song is the most important instrumentation and includes claves, cowbells, timbales and conga. The other core instruments are trumpets, trombones, bass and guitar, with usually minimal lyrics.

Spanish/Latino musicians:

• Jennifer Lopez
• Shakira
• Ricky Martin

Examples of Myspace marketing

Here are three examples of artists, ranging in genre and style who have used Myspace to market their music, and have since increased their fan base remarkably.

1) 'Caleb' - Caleb are an indie group, and since joining Myspace, have had more than 30,000 song plays, gaining thousands of new fans every month, nearly 24,000 fans, just from Myspace.

2) 'Black Star and Frost' - are an 'alternative pop duo', who have also achieved global exposure on Myspace, leading to managers and radio promoters offering them gigs in the USA. As the duo have an alternative music style, described as "mellow, modernist, country gospel", Myspace has proved beneficial for reaching the niche audiences.

3) 'Mesh29' - are an acoustic rock group, who have had almost 70,000 song plays, since joining Myspace. The band were lucky to appear on Myspace's 'featured artist', selected from thousands of artists, which helped to increasingly boost their popularity.

Myspace Promotion

Myspace is used by millions of people worldwide, and is a free, fast and efficient way for artists to market their music. On the artists homepage, they can upload tracks, which can be listened to, downloaded or added to other users myspace page. They can also include information about their band/self, such as who they are, their genre and information about gigs they are playing.

The website is one of the most popular ways for artists to market themselves, and has been used by such artists as Lilly Allen and the Arctic Monkeys, although some fans set up their own page, dedicated to artists.

Myspace is such a popular marketting method, due to it being easy to use. Viewers, searching for a band/artist, can go to the music homepage and then search by genre, location or name. According to one music promoter, 'myspace is more personal than official websites', as the artist is updating their myspace page themselves.

Music Magazine - Mixmag

Mixmag is a leading music magazine dedicated to clubbing and dance music, set up in 1982 and has a readership of 304, 000. The magazine focusses on dance/club events, as well as music reviews and artist features, targetting people who enjoy club music and the dance culture, and claims to have created the words 'superclub' and 'triphop' . The magazine is a monhtly edition and supplies readers with a mix CD of different artists/ djs.

The magazine, having launched in 1982, was relaunched in 2006, with a new design set to target both males and females and an older readership than previously. The editor of the magazine had said it's previous focus was "on a young, committed hardcore nutter clubber, but is now a magazine for the entire world of dance music." Mixmag covers a wide range of dance music, targetting audiences who like "hard boshing music", chill out music, or people who like to keep in touch with the music but have grown out of clubbing.

According to Mixmag, the UK dancescene has "grown up", reconnecting with it's roots in glamour and underground, and so the magazine is committed to new music ranging from electronica to house urban providing a guide to its cultured/elitist readers on great nights out.

Mixmag describes its readers as 'the leaders in clubbing' who are the first at 'cool new clubs', 'informed about the top djs' and 'are the biggest downloaders of music in the UK'.

Music Video Director - Nima Nourizadeh

Music video director, Nima Nourizadeh has a very different style to Ras Kassa, and one of the latest videos he has worked on is Mark Ronson feat. Lilly Allen 'Oh My God', where Lilly Allen is a digital character. Nima, like Kassa, had always been interested in art, and also enjoyed photography, and from a young age had wanted to work within the creative industry. Nima approached production companies with a showreel of his various works and started working on low-budget tracks, which led him to setting up his own collective with two of his friends and signed with production company, Partizan, who later signed Nima on as a solo director. He describes his work as 'diverse', where people tune into his ideas, rather than a style, provided with a blank canvas when he listens to songs and opens Nima up to different types of music.

Nima's work on the Mark Ronson video combines animation with live action and is a unique style to him, which he also uses in Hot Chip's video 'Colours', which is entirely CGI.

Music Video Director - Ras Kassa

Ras Kassa, also known as The Guru, is the first Jamaican music video director, working with artists such as, Damian Marley, Willie Nelson and Gentleman. Ras Kassa was born in Jamaica in 1974, and always had a keen interest in art, considered a gifted painter, which reflects his creativeness in the music videos he directs. He describes that the best part of making a music video is "going into the fountain of creativity after listening to the song.", explaining that he listens to the instruments for inspiration.

The video he created for Damian Marley's 'Welcome to Jamrock', which he edited and coloured himself, was an international success and is now studied in universities in North America and the Carribean. Ras Kassa is a creative director, well known for his 'feral directional style', vibrant emotion and maintaining the reggae culture in his videos.