Monday, 7 December 2009

Ideas for my music video

For my music video i have been inspired by music videos which use a main character and it shows you his story. Justin timberlake hasnt done a song "losing my way" so i cant be inspired by his music videos. I have done a story board with my initial ideas, i may expand on the shots if i feel it will benefit the video. For my music video i am going to use close up and medium close ups, so that it shows more emotion on Bobs face. The first shot was going to be a establishing shot so that it sets the seen.

Wednesday, 4 November 2009

Shooting Schedule

The shooting schedule will be when i can get the rent the camera from wyke college. I have rented the camera for one week and have shot the location of the school and other places, so that i can see what the setting looks like on camera.
First shooting schedule was on the 11th January till the 18th.
Second shooting was on the 27th January, i have got the camera till Mon 30th, i intend to get the first scenes shot and try get through half off the video.

Cast list

For my cast list it would be focused on a main character with extras.
So "Bob" the lead role would be played by Robert Marson.
The extras who are featuring in the video would be
Editing done by Robert Marson
Filming done by

Location list

These are the areas with i am going to use:
* My village south cave, using the signs pointing either way, so that it symbloises that he has lost his way.
* The hills and woods ,show him smoking with a group or friends or just talking.
* Wyke college, showing him at his job, close up on his badge with his name on " Bob "
* A church showing him speaking to god or trying to get across to god.
* A street when its raining.

Prop List

A big brown coat, symbolising that he is addicted and alone. This is all he has, tracksuit bottoms. Along with white training. Earlier shots showing him in jeans and a blue top, when he was younger having fun.

Storyboard






















Conventions of music videos

After analysing three music videos from different music genres I have managed to pick out real conventions used in any music video.
Music Tempo- The beat of the tempo often has a big impact on the editing used and when it is used. This often enhances the tempo through visual image as well as through the diagetic and non diagetic sound.
Lyrics- Lyrics set the mood and general feeling in the song and it is trying to put across to the audience in a textual way.
Camera work- The different angles and distances used in the videos add visual interest to the audience and also represents the band/ artist in a particular light way.
Genre- In a music video you often know the artist and band so you can work out what kind of genre the songs going to be through what other songs they have done. On the other hand if you didnt know what genre the song was then you can tell through mise-en-scene and the way the video has been edited.
Editing- Is always used in way to add visual effect to the images to make it more exciting and appealing to the audience. The most commonly used is the fast cut montage within music videos.

Monday, 19 October 2009

Lyrics of chosen song

I have decided to choose the song " Losing my Way" from Justin Timberlake, this song has always been a favourite of mine, and i decided i would enjoy doing the video for it. Justin Timberlake has never made a video for this song, so i cant rely on his video for inspiration.However, Justin Timberlake has always released songs which i can relate to. His songs always have a purpose, if their to help people or just get a point across. Justin Timberlake has always released songs which adapt to the changing generations. He went through a boy band and came out on top, releasing his own music which has been a firm favourite of most people. I have used the 3 songs which i looked at from the genres of:
* rock
* rnb
* rap
Justins songs use these three genres the most, as his songs are different each time, "Losing my way" is a slow melody which is classed as rnb and rap, as he is rapping through the song but also in the chorus singing. Some of Justins other songs though do feature rock type music. I looked at Michael Jackson song "thriller", Justin has idolised himself on Jackson, by having fantastic dance videos.
Here are his lyrics for the song:
Hey excuse me
Hi my name is Bob and I work at my job
I make forty-some dollars a day
I used to be the man in my hometown
'til I started to lose my way
It all goes back to when I dropped out at school
Having fun, I was living the life
But now I got a problem with that little white rock
See I can put down the pipe
And...And it's breaking me down
Watching the world spin round
While my dreams fall down
Is anybody out there?
It is breaking me down
No more friend around...
And my dreams fall down...
Is anybody out there?
Can anybody out there hear me?
'Cause I can't seem to hear myself
Can anybody out there see me?'
Cause I can't seem to see myself...
There's gotta be a heaven somewhere
Can you save me from this hell?
Can anybody out there feel me?'
Cause I can't seem to feel myself
Losing my wayKeep losing my way...
Keep losing my way...
Can you help me find my way?
Keep losing my way
Keep losing my way...
Can you help me find my way?
Now you gotta understand I was a family manI would have gave anything for my own
But I couldn't get a grip on my new found itch
So I ended up all alone
I remember where I was when I got my first buzz
See I thought I was living the life
And the craziest thing is I'll probably never know the color of my daughter'seyes
And it is breaking me down
Watching the world spin round
While me dreams fall down
Is anybody out there?
It is breaking me down
No more friend around...
And my dreams fall down...
Is anybody out there?
Can anybody out there hear me?
'Cause I can't seem to hear myself
Can anybody out there see me?
'Cause I can't seem to see myself
There's gotta be a heaven somewhere
Can you save me from this hell?
Can anybody out there feel me?'Cause I can't seem to feel myself.
Losing my way
Keep losing my way
Keep losing my way
Can you help find my way?
Losing my way
Keep losing my way
Keep losing my way
Can you help me find my way?
Oh my god please forgive me (father hear my pray)'
Cause I know I've done some wrong in this lifeI
f I could do it all again
Have just one more chance
To take all those wrongs and make them right
Can anybody out there hear me?
'Cause I can't seem to hear myself
Can anybody out there see me?'
Cause I can't seem to see myself
There's gotta be a heaven somewhere
Can you save me from this hell
Can anybody out there feel me?
'Cause I can't seem to feel myself.
Can anybody out there hear me?'
Cause I can't seem to hear myself
Can anybody out there see me?
'Cause I can't seem to see myself
There's gotta be a heaven somewhere
Can you save me from this hell
Can anybody out there feel me?'
Cause I can't seem to feel myself
Losing my way
Keep losing my way
Keep losing my way
Can you help me find my way?
Losing my way
Keep losing my way
Keep losing my way

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Analysis of 3 videos i looked at





Analysis of thriller:
Thriller was noticably the most famous video from Michael Jackson. Thriller explores the genres of funk, disco, soul, rnb and pop. Thrillers lyrics explores the themes of paranoia and the supernatural. Thriller lasts 12 min, and was classed as a short movie.
Thriller is diagetic with him "mickey mousing" over the top, whilst he is able to perform, this is what the audience want to see. As Michael was renown for his dance ability.
The opening sequence of when a car is driving up, you can hear non-diagetic sound, the non-diagetic sound is off frogs crocking. It then goes to diagetic sound with michael talking to the girl in his car. It is diagetic because you can see them talking. Once they have finished talking, you hear michael scream and fall down, this again is non-diagetic. Michael falls down, and the camera close ups on the girl, showing us that she is frightened. Now he has transformed to a monster. With the camera going to a shot reverse shot, this is were the camera is a close up of their faces, between michael and the girl. The shot shows the girl been terrified, whilst the monster is angry and screaming. The shot then progresses onto close ups of each part of michaels body transforming into the full monster.
Once this has happened, the shot moves onto a medium close up off a theatre with alot of people sat watching a film, so the begging sequence has tricked you thinking it was really happening. The misenscene is truthfull to real life, with them both wearing clothes at the time which was popular. The girl is in a tight jeans and a top and a denim jacket. This is giving the impression she is confident in herself as the time is set in the 80s this was the style along with big hair. Micheal however is in a leather jacket and tight jeans. They walk along with micheal singing and her dancing to the beat. The way micheal it is dancing it is suggesting that he likes the girl and that he his flirting with her. Him and the girl start walking past a grave yard, with smoke coming from the graves, this is showing the audience that their is somthing going to happen. It is making you tense, along with the non-diagetic man talking about how "they wont your blood". Now the audience are wondering what is going to come to micheal and the girl. The costumes are set so that the zombies look old and battered, their is a dark scene around them, showing you that it is horror .Along with how the zombies are moving, as their is a dark background behind them. The camera goes from zombies to the girl and Jackson. This is to create tension and to show that their scared. The camera goes to a 180 degree shot, showing you what is around them, that their surrounded and in trouble. Once this has happend, it goes on a close up of the girl, showing the audience that she is frightend. However micheal isnt in the shot at this time, meaning he has changed. Micheal is then turned into zombie like them. Through misenscene, micheals clothes have been made more shaddy and torn, making him look more like a zombie. Their is some light behind the group dancing, symbloising they arent all bad, as their is dark around them, that normally symboliss horror, and light suggesting purrity.



Secondary video which i am analysing is "Rockstar" by Nickelback this song features lots of celebritys plus non celebritys singing the words to his song. The first shot is a fade from black to a young boy "micky mousing" the words of nickelbacks song. The shot is then on the camera moving backwards from a close up to a mid shot. The shots each time quickly move onto the next, by a cut no distortion just straight to it, also each shot is an important place or has some important use, for example a baseball field, a restaurant, popular land marks, the beach, limos. These scenary choices are unique, for example the celebrties are in limos, or at a mansion or in a bikini. Also the shots feature ages from youth to elderly. The shots each time seem to be either a close up or a medium close up, with the camera coming back. The misencene is that the clothes worn is what they would wear normally when they were doing that. A police officer in a police uniform, or a young lad in gangsta clothes or army soldiers at an army base. Or with girls at the play boy mansion in bikini or little short clothing. The lines "I'll trade this life for fortune and fame,I'll even cut my hair and change my name" could suggest people give up their life and lose who they really are to be famous and rich. The video features people from all ethnicities and sexes and sterotypes for example the shot of three men in tattoes in a bike garage. The camera angles vary from a medium close up to a close up to a tilt with the camera down looking up to the people in the video this could symbolise that they are getting fortune and fame. The shot is showing power. The final shot is off an audience who is at one of nickelbacks concerts it shows thousands of people singing the song, meaning it is very popular and everyone knows the words, like the video. Then finally it goes on to Chad the lead singer and he sings the last words. This could symbolise he was like them an average person who went to fortune and fame.


Brendas got a baby is based on a true story it is about a fictional twelve-year-old girl named Brenda who lives in a ghetto, has a baby, and is incapable of supporting it. The song explores the issue of teen pregnancy and its effect on the young mothers and their families. Like many of Shakur's songs, "Brenda's Got a Baby" draws from the plight of the impoverished. Using Brenda to represent young mothers in general, Shakur criticises the low level of support from the babies' father, the government, and society in general. Shakur wrote the song when he read a newspaper article about a twelve-year-old girl who got pregnant from her cousin and, because she didn't want her parents to know about the baby, threw it in a trash can. The opening consists of a duet singing the song’s title repeatedly. Much of the rest of the song is one long verse performed by Tupac. The verse begins with him telling a group that he has heard about Brenda’s pregnancy. He also notes that the girl has had virtually no education in her life, having only barely obtained minimal skills in writing, and calls this a "damn shame", criticizing and has little hope in life. Her family is very poor, and her father is a heroin addict. Brenda is impregnated by her unnamed boyfriend, who is her cousin, but she is successfully able to hide her pregnancy. Tupac explains that it wouldn’t matter to her family if she gave birth, as long as they got their cut of the government assistance.
Although she believes that her cousin will stay with her and help her raise the child, he is merely a molester, and abandons her before she gives birth to her baby on a bathroom floor. Brenda disposes of it by throwing it in a trash bin but later retrieves it as she hears the baby's crying. Her mother scolds her severely, and Brenda becomes so ashamed of herself that she runs away from home.
Brenda now begins a life on her own, and unsuccessfully seeks employment. Her attempt to illegally sell crack cocaine results in robbery, and eventually she views prostitution as her only way to make money. This life path leads to her murder. What becomes of other characters, such as her family, her boyfriend, and the baby itself, is uncertain. The final minute or so of the song consists of a chorus singing “don’t you know she’s got a baby” repeatedly.The video of the song is black-and-white. It was made to visualise what Shakur narrates. The first part shows Shakur and Money-B talking about Brenda, and then the actual story starts.Next their is a young man who has trapped up his arm so that he can inject himself, the camera is a close up then goes to a tilt with the camera going down showing another man in the room with him shaking his head suggesting he doesnt agree with it. Also the needle which he is injecting himself with is glowing with light showing to the man that drugs is his heaven his purtity his everything. It then cuts back to 2 puc talking, this is non diagetic sound as he is the narrater. It then cuts back to brenda walking with the baby, but it is out of focus and doesnt show 2puc behind until the focus becomes clear and the shot is over the shoulder and you can see 2puc. The camera then goes on the 180 degree shot where it is following a straight line and is showing the men on the line playing poker. One of the men has light shining on him with his arm round brenda this could suggest that he is a good man trying to help her. Next it cuts to a scene with brendas boyfriend and brenda arguing with the boyfriend in all black suggesting he is an evil man, yet their is still light on brenda but it has fading suggesting that she maybe will turn bad but she has a little light meaning she is still a little good. It cuts back to 2 puc with a close up showing him talking about brenda. The camera then follows 2puc hand on a close up, the camera then goes to a fade and a cut back to 2puc. 2 puc is then sat on the floor holding a baby, this could be brendas.

Brenda is having a fight with her boyfriend again but behind the bed its all black, suggesting that its going to be bad for her and its going to lead to prostitution. She is then in the toillet with the camera facing down on her meaning she is nothing not important. She then gives birth to a baby, then puts it in the dustbin, but the maybe is wrapped up in white suggesting purity, and Brenda is now in grey and black. She is a bad person now. The camera then tilts at an angle showing 2puc and the baby, the camera then disolves onto 2pacs face talking to the baby.

The camera then cuts to the camera at a fixed point looking at brenda, then the camera zooms onto Brenda, Brenda looks behind and the camera shows you what she is looking at the dustbin, the camera then cuts to brenda in a bed with the men dark and her in the bed lights, suggesting youth and that she is better than this, the camera then dissolves and comes into focus at a hospital with a body bag. Then the camera dissolves again on a close up of the sheet of blood. Meaning she is dead. 2 pac then is in a shot where he is in the bathroom where she gave birth and at the place of her death, the shot cuts to a picture of Brenda and with light shining onto it, the end scene shows a close up on 2pacs first.

Monday, 5 October 2009

3 music videos

I have decided to look at 3 music videos, from the following genres :
* rock
* rnb
* rap

I have decided to look at these 3 genres as i feel that they are the most likely to be wacthed. Their is a broad selection of music videos in these areas, so i am going to choose the most popular videos from these genres. This is because if i see why they are so popular than i can take what iv gained from them, and transfer it to my music video.
Rock videos are often entertaining, rude and have foul language. This targets its type of audience by drawing them in. Music videos often determine if the band will do well, because you see them on music channels and if you dont like the video, you often say you dont like the song as you dont like the video. Theirfore most popular songs have popular videos as you like to watch them, so you like the song. Rnb songs, often have a video were the artist is in love or after a girl. The girl is pretty and starts to fall for the artist who sings it. Rap videos are seen as rude, offensive and violent. Rap videos often feature the use of drugs and gang violence. Rap videos are often sterotyped to be with black people, showing them in a negative light, with girls dancing with money over them, or in a bikini dancing all over the artist. But each genre has to attract an audience so by them having videos in certain ways will attract a certain audience.

First video which i am going to analyse from the "Rock" catergory is the song "rockstar" by Nickelback. On Youtube this has been viewed over 4 million times. A link to this song is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3dG6cpvvV0
The video which i am going to analyse from the "RnB" catergory is the song "thriller" by Michael Jackson. This is voted Vh1's number one greatest video.
Thriller spent the majority of 1983 at the top of the LP charts and into 1984 (a total of 37 weeks at #1). Thriller sold over 51 million copies worldwide (25 million in the U.S.) and is the best-selling LP in history. Thriller also revolutionized the concept of the music video. Jackson was the first major black artist to appear regularly on MTV, and pop/r&b music was now beginning to replace MTV's devotion to heavy metal bands. Jackson's videos were also presented as mini-movies with dazzling and daring contents. Jackson's awards for Thriller began in 1983. He won 13 Billboard Awards, 5 Billboard Video Awards, and was named Rolling Stone magazine's #1 Artists of the Year (Reader's Poll). The awards for Thriller continued with 7 American music awards including Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, Favorite Pop/Rock Album (Thriller), Favorite Pop/Rock Video Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Album (Thriller), and Jackson was honored with the Award of Merit. All these awards where up to 1985, since than he has become the greatest Rnb/Pop star ever. The video thriller is the most watched off all time.
The thriller video has great dance ruitines and a great video, looking as though it was a short movie. The dance has become very famous with many people now knowing the dance.
A link for this song on youtube is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyJbIOZjS8
This video is most popular with females and males from the age of 13 to 54.

From the Rap genre i am going to do the song "Brenda’s Got A Baby"from 2pac. 2 pac died at an early age, but was one of the greatest rapers ever. Whatever word one uses to describe the late, great Tupac Amaru Shakur, they can never, ever come close to an accurate articulation of this man’s pure genius. "He is the only rapper to show every side of a man; the lover, the fighter, the friend and the foe and not lose credibility on any front. “Brenda’s Got A Baby” is the perfect example of that".
( from this source)
http://raphiphopmusic.suite101.com/article.cfm/top_rap_song_part_ii#ixzz0T8tSJZPj
Brenda's got a baby is from 2pacs debut album 2Pacalypse Now, which features R&B singer Dave Hollister, is about a fictional twelve-year-old girl named Brenda who lives in a ghetto, has a baby, and is incapable of supporting it. The song explores the issue of teen pregnancy and its effect on the young mothers and their families. Like many of Shakur's songs, "Brenda's Got a Baby" draws from the plight of the impoverished. Using Brenda to represent young mothers in general, Shakur criticises the low level of support from the babies' father, the government, and society in general. Shakur wrote the song when he read a newspaper article about a twelve-year-old girl who got pregnant from her cousin and, because she didn't want her parents to know about the baby, threw it in a trash can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl54ABY8VgY link for the song atww.youtube.com

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

History of the music video

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music/song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium, and later with the launch of VH1. The term "music video" first came into popular usage in the early 1980s. Prior to that time, these works were described by various terms including "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional (promo) clip" or "film clip". In Chinese entertainment, music videos are simply known as MTVs because the network was responsible for bringing music videos to its popularity.
Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action.

With the arrival of the sound films and talkies in 1926, many Musical short films were produced. Vitaphone shorts (1926–30), which were produced by Warner Bros, featured many bands, vocalists and dancers. The series entitled Spooney Melodies was the first true musical video series. The shorts lasted about six minutes long and featured art deco style animations and backgrounds combined with film of the performer singing the song. This series of shorts can arguably be considered to be the earliest music videos.
Animation artist Max Fleischer introduced a series of sing-along short cartoons called screen songs, which invited audiences to sing along to popular songs by "following the bouncing ball". Early 1930s cartoons featured popular musicians performing their hit songs on-camera in live-action segments during the cartoons. The early animated films by Walt Disney, his Silly Symphonies, were built around music. The Warner Brothers cartoons, even today billed as Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, were initially fashioned around specific songs from upcoming Warner Brothers musical films. Live action musical shorts, featuring such popular performers as Cab Calloway, were also distributed to theatres.

Another early form of music video were one-song films called "Promotional Clips" made in the 1940s for the Panoram visual jukebox. These were short films of musical selections, usually just a band on a movie-set bandstand, made for playing. Thousands of soundies were made, mostly of jazz musicians, but also of "torch singers," comedians, and dancers. Before the Soundie, even dramatic movies typically had a musical interval, but the Soundie made the music the star and virtually all the name jazz performers appeared in Soundie shorts. The Panoram jukebox with eight three-minute Soundies were popular in taverns and night spots, but the fad faded during World War II.One of the earliest performance clips in 1960s pop was the promo film made by The Animals for their breakthrough 1964 hit "House Of The Rising Sun". This high-quality colour clip was filmed in a studio on a specially-built set; it features the group in a lip-synched performance, depicted through an edited sequence of tracking shots, closeups and longshots, as singer Eric Burdon, guitarist Hilton Valentine and bassist Chas Chandler walked around the set in a series of choreographed moves.

The beatles are very important in the history of music videos, as their music videos took it to a whole new level, using techniques which influenced other films "Today when we watch TV and see quick cutting, hand-held cameras, interviews conducted on the run with moving targets, quickly intercut snatches of dialogue, music under documentary action and all the other trademarks of the modern style, we are looking at the children of A Hard Day's Night". a quote from film critic Roger Ebert.

Producing a music video

Producing a music video

I looked at how the media key concepts could be applied to produce a Music video . To so this I used the acronym LIIAR - Language, Institution, Ideology, Audience and Representation.

L- Language
Is the layout and structure of the work such as the text, text colour, photographs and the theme of the picture eg. black and white and sepia, the Masthead, and basically putting the message across in a visual way to the audience.

I- Institution
The band the record label, and everything to do with the band.

I- Ideology
The cover should not include extreme explicit language or graphics as these values are inappropriate and could be deemed offensive by some readers. The idea is to get across that the music video is open to evryone who wants to listen to it.

A- Audience
As I am producing a music video it is aimed at and will be seen by people who listen to music and are fans of the band, the age group could vary from of around 16-30. The video will need to be entertaining, so that it isnt boring to attract the target audience. Fans may feel uninterested in the video, so they may feel the band is uninteresting, so loose interest in the band and wont buy or watch anything to do with them therefore i need to make sure it incudes exciting features that the target audience can gain from and enjoy watching to appeal to this type of audience.
R- Representation
How the text, presents reality, in a mediated version of the real world. So how is the artist trying to get his point across. What he is representing, so for example in "def jam" black hip hop male artists are seen in sterotypical ways, drugs, fancey cars and women dancing. What the words represent and tell the audience.

Brief

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:
* a website homepage for the band;
* a cover for its release on DVD
* a magazine advertisement for the DVD

This is the chosen brief which i have decided to do for my A2 media studies. Out of the three options i am going to do the following:
* a cover for its release on DVD
* a magazine advertisement for the DVD