Q&A with alumni
Q&A with Alumni
My Film Studies class and I submitted a Q&A with Bangkok-based filmmaker Leena Tangtermsirikul
Leena's website:
https://nanaleenaa.wixsite.com/rinatangtermsirikul
Leena has worked with Thai singer-songwriter Alann8h, and she has helped her create these music videos:
'Burger King Bathroom' - Alann8h
'Damsel In Distress' - Alann8h
As a class, we asked Leena about her creative process. This involved how she came up with ideas, worked with the artist and approached the filming process.
The Q&A
What inspires the narrative behind your music videos?
There are many elements that can be used as inspiration to come up with a narrative for a music video. I could say the song itself inspires the narrative but within the song there are sub-elements that come together to create a narrative. These sub-elements that I would distinguish by are things like the lyrics (what are the lyrics talking about, what is the deeper meaning behind the lyrics).
I personally think that the lyric itself is the narrative, but like analysing a poem, I try to analyse the lyrics to bring out that deeper narrative hidden behind the words where I would then try to visualise that into shots and scenes. An easier way for this is to talk with the artist directly and have them explain the meaning behind their song.
The genre and style of the song is also a big inspiration for coming up with ideas especially to establish a mood & tone for the music video. Tuning in with your emotions while listening to the music is something that I do a lot. I try to dive into what emotions the song evokes within me; how the song makes you feel. Another thing that I try to envision is the scenario or situation that I imagine myself to be in when I’m listening to the song; what vibe does the song give? I personally think that knowing the emotions and the vibe that the song brings out is something valuable that you must project into the music video because evoking emotions within the viewer is one thing that maintains engagement. One thing that I learnt from seeing other people’s work is that a video can be visually exceptional and stunning but if there is no narrative purpose or it does not evoke any form of emotion, it is difficult to create something that engages the audience from start to finish.
In terms of my thought process, I tend to visualise the scenes before coming up with the overall narrative. I often have scenes and scenarios in my head while listening to the song; the composition, the lighting, the theme, styling etc. Then I work my way to form a bigger narrative from those few initial scenes in my head. A note to take is that everyone has their own work flow and thought process therefore this may or may not be the right process for some others. I know people who visualize in terms of editing before anything, or some just simply begin with a storyline. But whatever your initial thought is, I believe that there is always a way to work with that thought, and everything else will come together eventually.
How do you decide upon a theme/how do you choose to represent the artist in the music video?
Oftentimes, artists tend to already have their own style & theme going on. Our job therefore is to bring across that style into the music video with the help of other departments including styling, hair & makeup, art direction. This is of course the simplest way to represent the artist. However in some cases, there are new upcoming artists who still are unsure of their own style and image that they want to portray. In this case I would listen to their music to try to figure out their mood and style. Another option is to go through their social media and try to understand their media image, the type of content they post and the overall style that they put out to the public as an artist. With this information I am able to get a sense of what theme they would fit in, what kind of makeup and styling they would look good in and other elements of creating a music video will come together with the theme that you decide for the artist.
There is a lot of discussing and planning to do with the artists themselves to make sure that every aspect is approved because creating a music video for their song also means creating a star image for them. I personally think that this is one of the important things to do before anything else as it gives you an initial idea for the MV and it is always good to have the artists’ opinion as your main starting point so you can make sure that you are on the right track, which also saves you time if the artist does not favour your own ideas without their input.
Do you make sure that every shot has meaning that adds to the narrative or amplifies the songs message?
When it comes to designing the shots, I will always try to aim to create some meaning with them to support the narrative. A good cinematographer mentor of mine once mentioned something that stuck with me until today: a good way to add more meaning and personality/character to the narrative is to film lots of insert shots (B-rolls) of the environment and surroundings of the main situation. For instance, if the scene is a story of an adult male drinking a glass of milk with a straw. An insert that would create more meaning to emphasize his character and personality might be a single close up shot of the bitten and flattened tip of the plastic straw. This shot would straightaway tell the viewers that this man is a childish man because not only is he drinking milk, the emphasis here would be the bitten tip of the straw which is a characteristic of a child. In this way, I think that it is very helpful and important to always keep in mind to include shots of specific things in the scene and the surroundings because they will not only be greatly appreciated by the editor, but they can elevate the narrative and create a more visually interesting story.
How do you visualise your ideas in pre-production - do you use moodboards, storyboards, shot lists?
I usually begin by browsing for references and inspiration on pinterest and vimeo (sometimes on other social media like youtube and instagram – usually artists with a similar style). After I come up with a brief concept/idea for the MV, I create a moodboard with a few photos and screenshots to sum up the visual idea which helps to gather my thoughts into one single page or slide. The moodboard is also very useful for the team to understand the whole mood of the project, and to keep everyone on the same page.
Once the story is formed and I have a decent idea of the shots that I have in mind, I will begin to create a storyboard finding references for every shot. I tend to be quite detailed and specific with the shots as it will be easier to understand for the team and I believe that having a detailed storyboard leads to a better structured and prepared shoot. It is always expected that finding references will take up a big portion of our time, therefore if I feel like i am spending too long in finding a ref for one specific shot, I will resort to sketching out the shot manually.
The next step after the storyboard is the shotlist. Shot lists are sometimes not necessary in my opinion since we will usually use the breakdown on set, and both are somewhat similar. However it is helpful to have a shotlist for organizational purposes in order to create a breakdown. I sometimes use shotlists to organize my thought process when I need to plan the required equipment, props, casts, wardrobe etc. for each shot. Once the shotlist is complete, I can then rearrange the shots and information required to create a breakdown for the shooting day.
Is there anything differently, technically to shooting a music video than you would do for a short film/advert?
I personally cannot think of any technical aspect to distinguish between shooting a music video and a film/commercial. I believe that you can be as creative with films and commercials as you can with MVs. Regarding the technicalities, there is little to no difference between the type of projects you get, coming from my own observations and experience. However, considering I am still quite young in the industry and still have a long way to go and learn, I am not entirely confident in my response for this part since bigger productions with budgets over millions may have their own technical ways of handling MVs and commercials.
How much coverage do you hope to have before you begin to edit?
To avoid the big issue of not having enough footage for the edit, we try to do a good amount of planning in the pre production stage so that there is no missing footage or the problem of forgetting to shoot something on set. Planning very precisely leading up to the shooting day, in my opinion, is extremely important because everything costs money. There are a lot of expenses put into shooting a commercial or a music video and the budget is set for a fixed amount of shooting days, therefore it would be more or double the amount of money spent if we need to schedule another shooting day just for the missing footage. However this cannot be the case as the budget is usually fixed and confirmed therefore in order to prevent this problem, a delicate plan in the pre production stage is highly important.
From a DOP/cinematographer’s perspective when shooting on set, something that I learnt is that there is no harm in shooting more, in other words, shoot more than what is required. If I see something nice in my surroundings that I feel would be useful to the narrative like a flock of birds in the sky or the intense waves bashing against the cliff, I would go ahead and shoot those for B-rolls. I try to not let the thought of “this footage is not going to be useful anyway” stop me from shooting things in the environment.
If you had to give THREE top tips for students making a music video, what would they be?
Know your budget and be creative with it because there is no limit to creativity in music videos.
Understand the meaning behind the song and its mood & tone in order to figure out the theme and style of the project.
Don’t forget to shoot inserts and B-rolls on set!
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