Parkour music videos

If I chose to, I could use the Norwich Parkour Alliance in my video. This would be a brilliant resource, and I really like the idea of combining freerunning with the fire or light effects mentioned previously. Having spoken to a friend (Lukman Hussin) who has created many parkour videos (http://www.youtube.com/user/QuadDamaaaaage), we decided that fire would be too hard and too dangerous to work with easily mixed with parkour, but using effects to create the light graffiti is possible, although time consuming. Although given I have a holiday to do this in, time might not be an issue.

I will be studying various parkour videos to look at the techniques used, and the different styles achieved. If I can find proof that it would be: 

1. Possible to make a successful video that is not just a montage of clips,
2. Possible to make a visually interesting film (as visually interesting is the pivot of the videos)
3. Possible to make with the technologies available to me
4. Possible to create completely different styles, using ranges of music for a different effect

1. A generic parkour video.

This is the basic format of most parkour videos - get footage of performer(s), often shot with a static camera, rarely with any particularly interesting shots, and add music, sometimes cutting on the beat for a flowing effect. Although this video is interesting for a while, I found it got dull long before the 5 minute point. After asking a sample of 10 people when they began to loose interested, the result was 2.07. Most of them stopped watching because the tricks began to repeat. They also said that the video was not very visually engaging besides the parkour, and that it lacked a professional finish. However, given that it is a parkour video, not a music video, it is fairly successful. Linking the shots together with a simple narrative might have made the video much more based around the music, and would have created (in my opinion) a much better video, although it would have been harder to do, and defeats the original purpose of showing off the parkour group, so in this respect they made the right choice. Although I do not like the music used, I do acknowledge the use of a song with a strong beat, which can be synchronised with the film easily to make it more engaging and interesting.

This is another generic video, but the people I talked to found it much less interesting (as did I). We put this down to the lack of action, the tricks which most of the people thought they could have done (visually uninteresting tricks), bad pace when with the music (the music was too fast, and the tricks were too slow), people did not like the music cutting out and starting again, or the failed trick attempts.

This is a third generic video, but held my audiences attention much longer than the others. We put this down to the more interesting tricks, speed of the tricks and cuts (fast pacing holds audiences attention well) and the more interesting shots. However, the audience did start to get bored of the repetition of the tricks, even the more interesting ones, and thought that the music didn't fit the mood, but was much better than nothing, and helped to keep interest a bit. There were occasional cityscape shots that everyone thought were very good, something to keep in mind, and the more interesting backgrounds were generally appreciated, as were the more dangerous tricks.

Although these videos were all slightly different, they all used many of the same techniques, and had similar feels to them. I will now look at the more different videos, which break these conventions, and are what I will learn more from. These videos have given me an idea of what to avoid (film not cut to the beat, uninteresting tricks, slow cuts, lyrics unrelated to themes, create a professional look, do not destroy concentration by stopping half way though).

This is a video that I greatly admire, and watched all the way through, as did everyone I showed it to. It has replay value, and is interesting, due to the unique idea of constant falling. Constant is a key word - it never pauses, giving the audience no reason to look away, although it does repeat tricks sometimes. The music fits well, although is not cut to the beat (the clear beat is still there though, which helps keep the video interesting. Although the "Down" gimmick is very interesting, and holds most peoples attention all the way through, the slow rotation of the video, a small and easy to accomplish thing, is an enormous help to keeping the attention of the audience, and leaves a lasting effect on them (most people said the room was spinning after watching). The small narrative (man shoots himself and dies) is also a real help to the video, leading it somewhere, instead of giving it the 'random shots' feeling of the other videos. However, even though the video is very successful, there are many things to be improved, such as the variation of shots and tricks. besides the parkour, most the shots have nothing else interesting in them, and the lack of variation detaches the audience from the film. Close ups would have been very engaging, although might not have worked with the theme, and would be hard to put in easily. However, shots taken from under what the person jumps over, or the person jumping towards the camera could have made the video much more interesting too, but would have defeated the twisting effect, as the effect only works because the shot types are so similar. The use of new ideas, as well as a narrative, however small, have here been proved vital, and gave the video a very different feel from the others, starting to escape the 'random shots' effect they created. A purpose to the tricks is vital.

Another much more interesting video, I will mainly be looking at the start of this video. The film is cut to the beat, showing seasonal images (this artist often works with seasons), and very pretty shots. The beautiful piano over the soft, natural image combine to create a very beautiful intro, and I feel that this is very successful. The human/cat eyes and the boy playing with the water make the connection between parkour and nature (which is the theme of the video). The titles screen enters as the music fades, and a drum rolls. The shots in this fraction of a second are perfect, blurring the camera to follow close up movement, and a shot of the shoes to show the parkour is starting. However, the actual parkour is not visually that impressive, even if the nature creates pretty shots. This is the main letdown of the video. The song ends half way through, and another starts, this time much heavier, and the video starts again, in a more industrial setting. As the transaction is done fast, it can hold attention, but that tends to be where I get bored, especially as with the natural pretty shots gone, I find the video gets less interesting. The introduction is amazing though. I will need to make sure the song I choose has a slow, soft intro.

This video is interesting to me because it has looked at filming parkour videos in a very different way. Where the other videos just show unconnected clips so to make each different, holding the viewers attention, this video uses the same mise-en-scene all the way through, using advanced filming techniques to hold the viewers interest. Even though the video, when tested on a sample of 15 people, was deemed "repetitive" and "dull" after a certain point, the sample agreed that the video was very entertaining for the first few minutes (at least, after it got started, everyone thought the intro was much too long). The techniques used makes the video appear more professional, and appears much more as a film than a random collection of shots. The artist is showing off both his parkour and cinematography skills. The slow build up of the song up to the climax in the first two minutes is mirrored by the video - starting slowly and calmly, but with a note of tension - shown in the mise-en-scene by the hiding of the man's face, a very common idea used in films (off the top of my head; how Sylar is portrayed in the first season of Heroes). As the guitar enters, the camera begins to get less static, moving around the figure, faster and faster, as fast cut editing complements the effect. A variety of shot distances are used, a contrast growing more and more as the video becomes more interesting. The song draws to a climax, and a bus drives in front of the camera, and a song begins after the pause. This intro uses some brilliant techniques and has some great ideas that would work with a song with a long, powerful intro.
How the parkour is shot is the next point to analyse. An establishing shot is used to show the viewer the small space the man will use, and a blurry effect is used to hold interest in what would have been a dull shot. As before, the man is presented as powerful by the shot types, mainly low angle shots. The parkour begins, and we are thrown into the action (creating a contrast with the minimal action before) with engaging close ups, and shots being cut on the beat of the man swinging into us (the camera). The video uses fast cuts, dynamic camera movement, fast, impressive tricking, and interesting camera angles to engage the audience in a way familiar to them - the style reminds me a lot of how fight scenes are shot in modern films. However, although this technique is highly effective, it does not show off the parkour as naturally as some other videos, and the shaky camera is very annoying and disturbs the mood. It is worth mentioning the time effects used in the video - some shots are obviously sped up or slowed down for effect, which is worth me looking into.

As well as looking at these videos, I though it would be important to look at the videos for the (slightly disappointing) recent video game "Mirrors Edge", as it was produced by professionals, and so can give a different, and more polished angle of the genre.

Although this video focuses more on showing off the game, there are still many aspects of this video which are not seen in most parkour videos and are very interesting. The first of these is the first person effect. This video pulls it off perfectly, and engages the audience by making them think they are the character. Talking to people who have played the game, many of them complained of feeling ill after playing the game because of the motion, and after researching this further, discovered that the game's creators were forced to place a reticle in the center of the screen to prevent disorientation. The problem with this effect is that it is hard to achieve without shaking the camera, which can ruin the video, and this also places the camera at risk, which I would rather not do. However, it may be worth implementing for small amounts of the film. The game also uses a clear colour scheme, which is visually appealing, and can be used to contrast the character, or as the game does, highlight certain points. However, this would also be very hard for me to achieve, given that Norwich isn't very bright and colourful. The trailer uses a shot right at the start where a foot hits the ground. This is a very powerful effect, and also very interesting, and so I will consider using it for bringing in new characters (it hides their faces, making them ambiguous and interesting) or exaggerating jumps. There are also birds eye shots used, which are used to show off heights, which could be used to make my character more danger-defying, which is again interesting. The last effect I am interested in from the video is the use of slow motion, which is used to exaggerate and beautify shots, making them seen much more epic, and are often used to show off backdrops. In this case they are used for tension - as the character leaps off a building, unknown to us whether she will survive or not, the colours wash, the shapes blur, and the scene slows down, before cutting out. This slow-mo effect could also be very well edited in with the music for a much greater effect, as they have done slightly here.

This is the only 'proper' music video which uses a form of parkour that I could find, and is most interesting to me for this, and so I will need to study the camera work, editing and use of parkour very deeply. Although the video does not technically use much parkour, instead using tricking and freerunning most of the time, combined with a form of capoeira; I will probably not stick strictly to parkour, and mostly use freerunning, which is a mix of parkour and tricking, due to it being the most visually interesting while sticking with my theme of running.

The film is edited very quickly, often cutting twice a second, which adds to the dynamic of the sport, mainly using mid-shots and long-shots throughout, with the long-shots to set the scene and the trick, with mid-shots cut in to get closer to the action, now we are clear with what it is. Unlike the Oleg Vorslav video, the tricks still shown clearly, so that the audience can really see what is happening. As in several other videos, this one uses slow motion to exaggerate tricks, and also in this case to give the audience time to see several people performing at once, which is interesting, and something I have not seen so far. Note that the slow motion is used (as well as the biggest tricks) in the chorus, which is the most powerful part of the song. One thing I don't much like about the video is the washed out colour, which I think takes away a major part of the video. It was likely dulled down because it was not very colourful to begin with, and clashed with other, more colourful parts. The lens flares are very effective at replacing colour though.

The camera work is also interesting, although much more generic than I expected to find, with some shots very similar to those in the videos in the top of the post, although the main difference is the use of angles. Shots are taken from various angles throughout on a horizontal level, for the purpose of creating interesting shots, often with crab camera movement around the focal point. On a vertical level, most the shots used are at the same height as the subject, although sometimes a low angle shot is used to make the character seem more powerful or impressive, such as the backflip at 1.10, or the woman dancing at 1.18. One shot I really like is at 1.47, when the camera moves towards the group of people as they run towards the camera, because of how engaging and powerful this is, especially as they do it at the start of the chorus, which sets it up well. Before the chorus, there is a transition as the camera follows the pole, which clearly indicates a change, which is something else I will need to bear in mind. 

The tricks used are a mix between dance and freerunning, although very little running is done, possibly because it is not very interesting to watch without frequent tricks. The video starts off using exaggerated forms of dancing, which I think look a bit cheesy, although they do work and are interesting to watch. The tricks are all flowing, and often link with other peoples tricks to form a sort of duet. Flips and spins are used in abundance throughout, mainly stationary, and this is probably because of how interesting and entertaining these are to watch, because of how most people cannot do them. The more technical tricks, such as precision jumps, which can be seen in the first video, are not seen in here, because most people would not appreciate the skill, because they are not particually interesting to look at. A lot of break dancing is also used, possibly because of how easy it is to achieve on solid ground, but I will not use it as it breaks the flow of movement, which I think is vital to the pace of a video. Also note that more people are around when less interesting tricks are shown, as a form of compensation.

This list of videos has shown me that every point I highlighted at the start is achievable, and so I have decided to base my video around parkour. I also choose to do this as it is an area not yet exploited, although Mirrors Edge shows that people are starting to. I will look into how best to combine parkour with light graffiti and use the effects together, with the things I have learnt from studying the above videos.

The really big list of things to do:

Cut to the beat.

Movement in camera, although not vital, is important in helping the flow, and can make the video feel as dynamic as the parkour. Hard to create effects with though, so to be used in limitation.

Use a variety of tricks - try not to repeat.

Use an interesting and pretty mise-en-scene if possible - this is limited in a city, but the cityscape and the sky can look good.

A very simple narrative can tie a parkour film together well, and can lead the characters to places.

Tricks must look impressive - the audience will not appreciate the more technical tricks.

Pacing and partnership are important - make sure the style/mood/speed of the video fits that of the song.

Do not let the music stop at any point, it ruins the effect (unless done for a specific effect, and this is very hard to do well) and ruins the flow and distracts the viewer, giving them a place to stop watching (in a music video, the fast pace is how the audience can become hooked, and even a small gap can allow the viewer to stop. Same goes for changing song midway through the video, although this won't be a problem given my task.

Failed tricks must not be used, even if part of the plot, unless it can be well justified and the repercussions worked out.

Fast editing and pace are vital, music videos are created to appeal to the average short attention spanned person.

Try to avoid repeating tricks - a few repeats are fine, but avoid basing a video around one trick.

The more dangerous the tricks, the more appealing they are to the audience.

Try to (at least loosely) relate lyrics to the film.

Professional look is important. Do not use tacky or cheap effects, and film with good lighting using a good camera. Pay attention to framing.

Try to have something about the video which leaves the audience thinking about it afterwards.

Use a variation of shot types.

Use engaging camera angles and shot types to make the audience feel part of the action.

Each trick must have a purpose, not just random tricks for the fun of it.

The intro to the film does not need to be entirely relevant - it can be used to set the scene and move with the intro to the song, creating a contrast between the intro and the rest of the video.

The mood of the mise-en-scene must suit the song.

Intro must not be too long - 15 seconds is plenty, even for a 4 minute video.

Create tension in the verse, which is released in the chorus. This can be done with music and video.

Establishing shots should be considered.

Consider representation of the character.

Smooth camera movement is a must.

Playing with speed can be useful - some tricks are too fast to see properly at normal speed, as well as the various effects that can be achieved by changing the speed.

Colour schemes can give the video an edge, and a professional look.

Use shots to show off heights etc. These can be faked.

Lens flares can give a lot to the composition of a shot, but also take a lot away, as well as doing several other things to a video.

Use transitions in the video to show contrast between movements in the song.

More people can make simple tricks interesting.

Ensure tricks (as well as the shots and editing) all flow together smoothly.