Location Scouting

Today we began scouting for potential areas to film. In doing so, we found a quarry area surrounded by a forest path. We think this would be a good setting for the depressed character in out narrative, as well as having lots of opportunity for different shot types.

Textual Analysis 9 - Madeon 'Finale' CD Cover

CD Booklet Research

As part of our music package we are creating, we are to create a CD cover and booklet for inside the case. In order to understand the uses and styles of CD booklets, our group looked at a wide variety of inserts for albums.

 

 

Textual Analysis 8 - Madeon 'Finale' Music Video

We decided to analyse the song we are creating a music video for; Madeon's 'Finale'.



We have presented this using the easel below.

Hebdige's Subcultures Theory

Hebdige's theory about cultures was written in 1979 and looked into how cultures, subcultures and counter cultures have evolved over time. He mainly looked at the sub and counter cultures after World War 2, such as Punk and Skinheads, and the common background elements. These include socio-economic, background, ethnicity, regional identity and class. He said that these counter cultures can be seen as a symbolic form of resistance against the mainstream culture and are looked down upon. One example that was seen was the 1990's rave, where many young people or students would gather in a field to play loud music and take drugs. It was frowned upon by mainstream media, and laws were implemented to clamp down on the problem.


This can be related to our audience as our song is likely to appeal to a subculture of fans of electro-house, rather than fans of mainstream pop and hip-hop. However, it may be seen as a counter culture by an older audience as it can be related to the free-willed young who party during the night and cause trouble.

Covergence

Hepworth (2011) wrote an article about the surge of vinyl record playing in recent years, despite it being likely the form of music consumption would die off. He says that people are after a mix of life rather than just the new, fast and portable forms of music like downloads. The public also wants the slow and cherished design of the vinyl record. People are after a mix of large screens on TV and small screens on mobile devices.
According to Hepworth, the 'slow and quick, portable and tangible' duality of the vinyl record is what keeps it as popular as it is. Many may not even play the vinyl's, but like them as an almost collector's item. Many may keep music in the cloud storage for quick access but also want to cherish the vinyl.
This can be applied to our task with the prospect of creating a CD art and the advantages of buying the physical form than just downloading it. It is often seen now that CD's offer more than just the download, such as lyrics of the songs or extra tracks. It is something we have to consider if we aim to sell the CD in physical copy and how to provide a competitor to the downloadable version.

Company Logo

As part of our task to create a music video, we have needed to create a company logo for our production company. We used Photoshop to create the logo.
The logo is simplistic, like many of the company logos we have looked at. It also uses a contrast of bright and dark colours to show that we specialise in house music videos.

Production of the Music Video

In order to gain a better understanding of music videos, we looked into how they are produced. This bubbl.us post below was the information we found out.
Original source: Videomaker.com

Marketing

We have looked into how artists have their music marketed. This will be helpful as it can give us an idea of how to potentially make a website and CD cover and how to promote them.

Marketing Music Videos from Mattw2897

Identifying audience with the Life Matrix.

Created with Padlet

Distribution Process

In order to understand how music videos further, we have looked into the distribution process of music videos. We have created a Prezi to show the information we have learned.

Star Theory

Star Theory is a theory created by Richard Dyer, and is about the creation of a star through media; in this case through music videos. Stars are also dependant on subsidiary media such as magazine articles and television reports in order to help construct the image of the star. Dyer also says that stars are based on two key paradoxes:
- The star must be equally ordinary and extraordinary at the same time,
- The star must equally be present and absent at the same time.

 

One band that I have found interesting to relate to Star Theory is The Arctic Monkeys. The band, led by Alex Turner, originates from Sheffield. This somewhat local area gives the image that the band is quite ordinary as there is little that is associated with the area. As a result, the Monkeys appear ordinary and extraordinary at the same time; meeting the criteria of the first paradox of Star Theory. This niche selling point for the band gave them a rise in popularity overall, and the audience demanded that the stars would reveal themselves. While the Monkeys appear at live events, they rarely appear in their own music videos to prevent them getting an ego. However, this relates to the paradoxes of Star Theory as the band stays present and absent at the same time.

Another artist that is relatable to Star Theory is Miley Cyrus. When she was younger, she appeared as a well known artist; then going on to appear in a Disney Channel show as a popular singer. However, to continue interest and Cyrus in the spotlight, she changed her image to appeal to a more mature audience by appearing in her own music videos in a 'sexual' way that raises questions and keeps her a star. Cyrus is also a star often seen in subsidiary media as she is already a well known artist that most people already know and the fans of the star wish to know more about her; what Star Theory says that the star relies on to be of continued interest.



 



The Pitch

This is the pitch we took part in to share our ideas about the music video we are going to produce on our song of choice, Madeon - Finale. From the advice of music video director Frank Maloney Maloney Maloney Jr., we need to focus our attention to our audience; who they directly are and how to target them with the music video.

One page pitch

As part of our preparation for making our music video, we have been assigned to make a one page pitch and present it to a 'music video director'. We needed to include the song, genre and audience as main features; plus the synopsis of the music video. Below is the one page we used as notes for the pitch.

Vevo case study

We have chosen to do a company case study on Vevo to help understand the distribution of music videos further.
Resources - Vevo - Wikipedia

Preliminary task - Sound Remedy & Savoy 'Leaving You'

The preliminary task was to create a one minute music video from a song of our choice. We chose 'Leaving You' as it was from a genre we enjoyed and had some initial ideas about how to create the music video. The story is about a young man trying to find his true self, shown by the different jackets. We focused heavily on editing rather than shot types as it was understood that the genre of the song, Drum and Bass, was known for many editing techniques such as quick cuts and audio matches. We also took more footage than what was needed, which proved to be helpful during the end stages of editing when we could use the extra footage we had to lengthen out the video.
However, the video needed many improvements. Many of the shots were out of sync with the audio due to a lack of time and trying to match up two different singers to sing at the same time proved to be rather difficult. Another issue was that the narrative was initially different as well, originally involving the male searching for a female rather than himself. This was due to a lack of planning of film times and can easily be improved on if we chose to include outside influence in our video again. Finally there was camera quality difference in some shots due to different cameras being used, making the work look quite unprofessional. This can be organised better by making sure the same camera is used each time.




We then had create a website for our band and a way to promote our music video. The website we chose to use was Weebly. The website creator was simple and easy to use, but ultimately lack control without a subscription fee; resulting in a lacklustre website. It was enough for this task, we will definitely use a different website creator for the main task. Savoy & Sound Remedy Website




The CD cover was the final part of our task, creating one for the single we made the music video for. The art shows the protagonist of the video on one side, but an empty space on the other; showing he is looking for something. The CD I am pleased to say was a large success. While there were multiple sizing issues with the use of Photoshop, the art was successful in showing the house-like style of the song with bold font. The font was interesting to work with, especially with the positioning of it.

Textual Analysis 7 - Katy Perry 'California Girls'.

Katy Perry – California Gurls from 09robebr

Best music videos and CD covers

One of the music videos that I have looked at that is highly regarded as one of the best music videos is 'Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun'.



The music video is described by NME as 'One of the classic WTF? vids'. This I agree with, as it uses a lot of weird distortion editing techniques which matches the dark nature of the song about the apocalypse. The editing, (for its time) is quite effective and supports the nature of the song as a whole, as well as having visuals matching lyrics at times with 'shoes' and 'youth'. The shot choices also match the creepiness of the song, constantly changing in angles and characters in the town shown.


NME 10-1 of Greatest Music Videos




Another song that was highly regarded was 'Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box'.

This music video uses very simple green screen effects and costume to display a religious message, going between good and bad. While it didn't personally make sense to me, I understood the Jesus reference and I presume that the young girl represents innocence; though I am not quite sure. There are a lot of close-up shots of the lead singer, especially when he says, 'Hey. Wait.' However there are a lot of blurred shots of the artist as well, which could infer he is unsure about his standpoint on religion.

NME 30-21 of Greatest Music Videos

When looking at the greatest music videos, I found one that I personally thought was interesting, and that is 'AC DC - Back in Black'.

The CD cover was the first made after their lead singer Bob Scott died. It is filled with depression and sadness, despite it appearing to be simply for visual purposes. It is very simple and effective, standing out easily from many with little to nothing but the name of the band and the album name.

 

Another CD cover that is highly regarded is 'Queen - Queen II'.

This CD cover has Queen with their most recognised image on the cover of this from the music video. This immediately shows who the band are and what to expect; Queen still incredibly popular at the time of this albums' release.

Greatest CD covers

Music Video Director - Hype Williams

I have made an evernote post on the music video director, Hype Williams, and his style of videos.

Music Video Director - Hype Williams

Textual Analysis 6 - Darude 'Sandstorm'

The music video for the song 'Sandstorm' uses a lot of the genre conventions for a dance song. One of which is the uses of movement; with the cast of the music video running through the streets of a large city. The camera shots reflect this as it follows the cast running, with a combination of high angle and low angle shots, tracking shots as well as shot moving away from the characters in the music video.


These different shots, along with the fast cuts, keeps the video with the fast pace of the song; conveying towards Goodwin's 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' theory (1992), where the music reflects visuals.




The editing used in the music video, as mentioned before, matches the visuals. The cuts are usually in time with the song and its beat, along with the pulsating of the screen in time with the beat allows this music video to maintain its pace throughout. There are even shots with the dog used to bark in time with the song.




The music video uses a mini movie for the video, which involves a woman that appears to have stolen a briefcase and is chased by a man and a double agent who turns on the man near the end of the video. There is also a man, (presumably Darude), who is seen throughout the video and allows the women to escape into the sunset via a boat. The only problem I have with the video is the lack of sense it makes. Due to the lack of lyrics, the video tries to have a storyline but doesn't seem to work. However, other dance music videos have mini movies as well, which is likely where the video takes inspiration from.

Controversial Music Videos and Regulation

I have a Glog in the link below about the purpose of Controversial Music Videos.
Glog for CMV

Preliminary Storyboard

This is our initial idea for the Preliminary Task, and storyboarded out. It took several days to get the right idea, but we think this will work well for our song choice.

Band website introduction

Today we looked at Band Websites as one of our tasks is to create one for the song we make a music video for.

Band websites are used for a number of reasons. It helps promote the band itself, but also gives the band a positive image. It is easy to make and control what information goes on the website; making it the main information hub for all about the band. The band website also gives directors a place to look at the band when deciding to help in their career, which also makes the band appear more professional. It also can act as social network for fans for the band where there can be forums set up for them to talk about the band: helping the band learn about their audience and their feedback.

Band websites will follow the three 9 rule, where any part of the website is accessable in clicks from the homepage. It will also have links to social media that the band has official pages on for the viewers to look at and like or follow. It should have all new and relevant band information such as tour dates and album release dates. Most band websites will have links or embeded videos about them or of songs made by them. It should also have a place to purchase the songs from places like iTunes.

Looking at Lana Del Ray's website, it fulfils this criteria. The homepage has tabs at the top of the page that take you to other important areas of the website such as the shop. It has embeded music videos throughout the homepage of the website, making the artist feel as if the website was personal and made to suit her. It also includes tour dates for when she on tour. Overall the website is effective at promoting herself and int interacting with her audience.

Textual Analysis 5 - Televisor 'Find That Someone'

As a way to understand the genre that our group is doing, I have analysed Televisors' 'Find That Someone', as our song choice does not have an official music video. The song is of a similar genre to our own, as well as having some mention to romance.

The video introduces the artist in a literal way by using a zoom shot of an old T.V. with the artists name on in before zooming in. Despite the voice artist being male, most of the lip syncing is done by the females that appear throughout the music video; perhaps showing that relationship issues occur for both genders and not being biased.

The music video focuses on a number of things; one of which is colour. Pink, blue and green backgrounds are mostly used for each female to show the difference between them; constantly cutting to each shot quickly to match the pace of the song itself. The shot changes at least every line, if not quicker to keep with the pace of the song.

The video is also very literal shown in places such as where it says, 'You can tell me secrets' and has someone whispering into anothers' ear, and it saying, 'But I could never love' with a broken heart on the ground. There is also a look of shots of the women looking, particularly where it says, 'Find thae someone'. The majority of the lip syncing done is in the lines 'Just like you', where it cuts between each female to show their differences.
There is also relation to Vernallis' 'The Kindest Cut' Theory. This is due to the editing matching the beat of the song and lip syncing of the song between different characters, as well as cuts to different shots in time with the beat.

There is also a large use of eggs during the video that didn't seem to be relevant to the video at first, but made more sense as it went on. The eggs were used as metaphor for how people feel after unsuccessful relationships shown as there was use of the egg being crushed and a fried egg being place on the eyes and the yolk being broken to show crying.

Stop motion was used in the video to make not only inanimate objects such as string move, but also was used to make the females move in a jumpy way at the end of the song. The inanimate objects often spelled out 'You' when it was sung; continuing in the literal theme.

The video overall was interesting as it used lots of shot types and shots in general that helped support the lyrics. It was fast paced to fit the song and was unique that it was one that was memorable through the use of colour and interesting metaphors.

Original Music Video below:

Steps to Success

Recently, we learned about some tips from the exam board to make a successful music video. To show my understanding of these tips and their importance, I have made an Evernote post linked below.
Steps to Success

Preliminary Task Brief

For our Preliminary Task, we have to create a one minute music video for the song of our choice as well as a CD cover and back for the song along with a web home page.
I am expecting to use Photoshop to help make the CD cover. It will likely use lots of colour for the dance genre of song as often seen for the genre.
I have chosen to work with two very reliable people for the task, Max Bradbury and Matthew Wells. All of us have agreed to do a dance mix song by Savoy known as 'Leaving You'. We chose this song as, not only did it not have a music video, but we had initial ideas what could be done for the music video.

Textual Analysis 4 - S Club 7 '7'

As one of our tasks is to make a CD cover, I have chosen to analyse a CD cover to help gain an insight on what a CD cover needs. The example I chose was S Club 7's '7'. It has very simple ideas behind it and is quite an easy cover to create, simply being mainly a photo of the band members.

Textual Analysis 3 - 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams

I have created a Glog about Pharrell Williams' 'Happy' and its link to Web 2.0.
Glogster

'Happy' by Pharrel Williams

We were set the task of creating a 30 second recreation of the music video of 'Happy' by Pharrel Williams. The result was a full length video that was shown across the school and we are very proud of, including many members of staff, lip syncing and the practice needed before the 1 minute task that is to be set soon. Enjoy the video.

History of the Music Video

We were assigned the task to research the history of music videos, their origins and their evolution over time. I created a timeline using TimeToast to show what I believe are very significant events for the music video.

Textual Analysis 2 - Recommended Music Videos

In this lesson, we all recommended music videos to watch and analyze briefly. Below is a link to of Glogster post I made about the music videos I thought were the most interesting and creative.

Recommended Music Videos

Textual Analysis 1- Close to Me

The video for the song ‘Close to Me’ by The Cure involved the band going to the bottom of the ocean by falling off of a cliff in a wardrobe. The setting matched the music as it appeared a very relaxed scene underwater as the group were exploring the deep, (somehow without any breathing equipment).

There was a small amount of relevance between the visuals and the lyrics, the only exceptions being the ‘close to me’ whiles the group were in the wardrobe together and the close to me when the octopus is holding the lead singer. This also led to many close-ups of the lead singer both in and out of the wardrobe as he struggled to get away from the octopus. The rest of the song had little relevance to vocals; however the song itself did only consist of a six verses.

Despite the lack of lyrics, it made up for it in using the music and linking it with the visuals well, timing sways to the beat of the song as well as cuts to new shots consistently when the bar moves on. This can also be seen with the octopus as when the brass instruments play, the shots shift focus to it with a set of brass instruments playing.

There were no intertextual references found in the piece itself, but critics describe the scene as a ‘Goth pop version of The Little Mermaid’, despite the film being released after this. There were little aspects seen of looking. Very few shots had the cast looking at the camera itself, and were more interested in their surroundings.

Task Overview - Introductory Post

During my A2 Media Studies, I shall be creating a music video within a group for the song of our choice. My preliminary task is to make a shorter music video of about one minute in length to help understand the complexity of the main task and how to improve on it.

I hope to improve on the skills I learned in AS involving editing as that is one of my better areas, but I also enjoy being in front of the camera and I am likely to play a role in the film itself.

I am very much looking forward to the task as I am an interest in music and analyzing music videos has already been interesting, but very deep and complex. Despite this, I am ready to proceed with this task.