Coursework: Preliminary exercise 2026
1) State the song you have chosen for your preliminary exercise.
SEOUL CITY - JENNIE
2) Choose at least three music videos similar to your concept and watch a clip or more from each. Make bullet-point notes on everything you watch, commenting on camerawork, editing and mise-en-scene.
Overall, these music videos have the same visuals of city life at night time and car scene. I want to do this in my music video in order to match with my artist's identity, paired with capturing the feeling of freedom these videos create for the fans/ audience also match up with my target audience as they are succeeders and aspires as argued by Young and Rubicam.
SEOUL CITY - JENNIE
- The introduction starts of with a high key lighting view of the city from a plane window, paired with the star posing in a homey style environment holding a toy plane, suggesting the binary opposition between reality and fantasy with is established with the closeup and mid shots
- Scene transitions to a closeup of her under water paired with warm lighting to suggest comfort, she looks up to see a ceiling of the plane which links to the first scene, incidating traveling and city life provides comfort and satisfaction
-The medium close up of the reversed video of water pouring on her head then going back up suggests a healing process
- Close up of her face and medium close up of an upside down shot of the star portrays the regulation of emotions through the use of high key lighting- creating enigma codes as argued by Barthes as there isn't really a true narrative or performance which is supported by Goodwin
- Mise en scene elements such as costumes of the pink angel wings creates a sense of femininity as argued
- Setting and views of the city as nighttime creates a link with the lyrics as argued by Goodwin
- Low key lighting verus the high key lighting as seen before creates a binary opposition
- The high angle paired with the low key lighting of her on the streets walking with people around her froze creates a difference between her and others, with her being different because of star power
- Challenges Mulvey's male gaze because she is portrayed as a strong, independent women and not submissive.
PBT - TRAVIS SCOTT, TYLA, VYBZ KARTEL
- Starts off with mid shot of a meet up in a hotel with two of the stars transitioning to a party with a night camera giving sneak peaks of what is to come later on the video
- Written codes such as the title of the song shows up with a high angle drone shot of the more undeveloped areas of London creating a sense of being relatable in order to connect with audiences
- Low key lighting of the hotel, and the actor shirtless as lip syncing creates a sense of vulnerability, however this is contrasted through the props of the cigarette and chain around his neck suggesting high class, wealth and also the 'gangsta' ideology to attract the target audience
- The female star looks like she is in the same hotel getting ready with transitions to male star getting ready also suggesting that they may be going on a date
- Follows Mulvey's male gaze due to mise en scene elements such as women in mini dresses, high heels and bold makeup, paired with the close up
- It is a narrative video as argued by Goodwin as it takes audience on a journey from a meet up to a party in different locations
- Also can be argued it can be performance base as there is dancing
- Binary opposition is created between high and low key lighting in order to portray realities of life
BLINDING LIGHTS - WEEKND
- The lighting transitions to red, which symbolises blood (denotation) carrying connotations of death and desire
- Flashes black to the artist's name(in red to link to the start of music video with the theme), foregrounding his identity as a mainstream artist in the music industry
- Behind the view shot of him behind walking in the city at night time which is the vibe I want to portray in my music video to establish the high-end, luxury identity
- Technical codes such as the title of the music video paired with a midshot of him walking to the car which builds up anticipation to see what he does supporting Goodwin as visuals match lyrics of the song
- The high angle, close up, mid shots e.g. of the car at high speeds encapsulate a sense of freedom from the city life
- There is objectification of females which supports Mulvey's male gaze theory because women are communicated in a way to attract men.
- Narrative based video as argued by Goodwin
3) Write a short music video treatment for your extract (this is basically a script for your TikTok music video). You can find an example of a treatment here. If you are making your real coursework then feel free to use the treatment from your summer project.
0:00-0:50 seconds
Scene 1 : The video begins with a wide shot of the city at night, establishing the location through streetlights, buildings e.g paired with a mix of different scenes such as the backseat of car and running in a carpark, in order to create an interesting intro by combining it into a montage.
Scene 2: A POV shot from the car boot with the artist grabbing things such as a coat and handbag from the boot too create the start of the narrative of engima codes as argued by Barthes
Scene 3: Close up video of details of the car which syncs with footsteps, transitioning to the full shot of the artist walking around the car
Scene 4: Another POV shot from the driver's view of the car door open with the artist walking as the car is driving, lip syncing to the song.
Scene 5: Artist in the trolley being pushed away from the camera, as the next scene pops up and zooms onto the screen, creating a smooth transition to the next after this.
Scene 6: A collection of videos and images following Goodwin's music theory of concept being involved as at the end of the collection, it zooms to a certain clip of the artist holding a phone which zooms into the next scene.
Scene 7: Is a different location of the artist behind a white background posing and lip syncing to the song mixing close ups and midshots
Scene 8: Black flashes into the next scene with close up of getting into the car/ starting it up. As turning the wheel...
Scene 9: ...Shows the outside of the car driving
Scene 10: Full body shot of the artist lip syncing as leaning on a lamppost and walking away
Scene 11: Close up shot/ details of the car
Scene 12: Car driving away with written / symbolic codes explaining where you can stream the song (industry context)
4) Write a shot list containing EVERY shot you plan to film AND additional shots to create flexibility when editing (in a music video you will find you need FAR more shots than you think, particularly close-ups). These additional shots can be close-ups, alternative angles or something more creative. I advise using a simple table on Microsoft Word/Google Docs to set out your shot list - you can find an example here (this is from narrative filmmaking but the same format can be used for any video project).
- Setting will be a mix of 3 locations - Central London, Ealing Car Park, White background
- Costume at Central London - Blue jeans and cap, black crop top, Fur jacket and at white background green jeans with green cap, jacket paired with designer accessories to link to my artist's identity of targeting succeeders and aspires as argued by Young and Rubicam
- Makeup will be simple to give the music video that casual feel e.g. eyeliner, lashes, highlighter
- Lighting will mostly be low key lighting with a few scenes such as the white backdrop setting having high key lighting in order to create a binary opposition and difference
6) Plan a shooting schedule that will ensure everything is filmed by the deadline. Include when, where, who is required, planned equipment and any other aspects you need to arrange.
- Filming completed on 11/10/26
- Editing completed on 13/10/26
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