3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
I also introduced this question and started the first few points on it. Jack then gave the next few points. This method worked well for this question as we could each introduce one question of our audience feedback forms and then the other person can comment when they wanted.
We are very close to completing our music video and are underway with developing our myspace and album cover. We have a band name and album name. Band Name: The Ones They Left Behind, Album Name: Trust The Conclusion. Our editing has been going well and after our re-shoot we seem to have really picked up the pace. We've had feedback from Ms Dymioti who liked the video had only had one or two issues now we are waiting for Mrs Blackborow's feedback.
Editing has been going well. We have a solid sequence which is really starting to come together. The only issue is our lack of beauty shots/close-ups so we are probably going to have to re-shoot which we plan to do on tuesday the 10th of November. This will also give us a chance to take some stills as evidence of production and also we can start stills for the band website, album cover and promo shots.
On the 26th of October we shot our music video. It went really well and was really fun as we got to use 3 studio lights that we hired as well as a generator. We've capture the footage and it looks really great. For the next few weeks we will be editing hard.
Caspa and Rusko- Fabric 37
Conventions:-
Categories:-
Purposes:-
You have provided three good examples, Shaun, and demonstrate a good understanding of conventions and purpose, but your notes lack close semiotic analysis, which is a requirement of A2.
Our group hasfinally split. We have had 3 group meetings discussing whether we working well enough as a group. NOw its Me and Jack as a group and Loren and Nisha as another. Me and Jack already have our song Stockholm Syndrome-Blink 182 and are well underway with creating a treatment on the group blog.
http://www.thekooks.com/home
Black Background, white writing expecpt for blue writing to highlight improtant links. Main page has a video taking up most of the page. This take s u straight into the music of the band aswell as news. At the side it haslinks to new, sound and vision, on tour, biography, gallers, stuff, shop, forum, mailing list, street team. Under the sound and vision it has this very interessting way of playing music and showing videos. It gives the audience snippets of the music and videos as well in a unique way through an amp which connotes live music and rock which would interest the audience as it targets their unique 'indie' ways.
http://www.myspace.com/gymclassheroes
The website has a border round it which is stylized to the album 'the quilt' and creates the same feel as the album cover through use of colour, and font styles. It shows the album at the very top as well as having the video for their newest song. It then has links to pictures and videos below as well as a music player and tour dates. The album is shown as 'availble for$9.99 at Target' which shows how there trying to sell it straight away. It also has links to other artists under their record labels which acts as a way of the record label not only selling themselves but selling their bands.
http://www.myspace.com/blink182
This website has their picture at the top straight away showing the bands image. It has their logo but in a new shiny mettallic style which shows how their more mature now. It has a grey background with the logo on but it is hard to see. The colours used are are black, grey, blue and white creating a very proffessional and serious finish to the website. It doesn't contain much information about the band but it has a little interactive box which shows tours, news, twitter, a/v, and you can share it on your own myspace, blog, facebook, as a way fr fans to show their appreciatino and also give the band free advertising.
1. Product: What band/artist related products can audiences buy? CD, video, tour DVD, badn merchandise including t-shirts, hoodies e.c.t, posters, mp3's.
2.Place: Where can audiences buy/listen to music/merchandise/hardware?Web, CD, shopes, mobile, itunes, download websites, youtube, radio, gigs, concerts, festivals.
3. Price: Give 2 or 3 examples of paid-for/subscription based and free products. Napster, itunes, and CD's are examples of paid-for/subscription based products and promotional giveaways in newspapers, bonus tracks when you buy an album and competitions for gigs are example of free products.
4. Promotion:List between 5 and 10 examples of creative music marketing strategies (including at least 3 internet based examples). Mission Metallice: a subscription based website offering newsletters, gigexclusives, album info, competitions. Nokia adverts used song lyricss to promote their new mp3 phones showing synergy. Sprite endorsing new bands to target a wider audience of music fans. Radiohead offer album for any price. Topman CTRL gigs where the bands take control of the shop.Coke Cola release a song with multiple famous artists.
Who is frukt uk and what is their mission statement/company ethos?
They are a specialist music marketing agency who combine music artists/bands with other companies using clever and unique ways to target their audience.
Lil Wayne-Prom Queen
1.Lil Wayne-Prom Queen. Rap/hip-hop
2. The song is mainly illustrated, in the first verse where it shows the 'prom queen' and 'she's popular with all the guys', it shows the character doing these things. The song becomes amplification in the second and third verses where it gives new meanings to the lyrics by sticking to the lyrics of how 'everything can turn around' but it shows how its changed. It illustrates the main point of the song though but not every word.
3. The video cuts to the beat in a lot of places like at 2:50 where the drums get a bit crazier it starts editing a lot more in time with the music. The guitar solos are shown by having Lil Wayne perform them in a room on his own rather then in the performance at the end. The drums are also shown close up for fills and when it gets more lively and rocky. The video does change pace with the song e.g. it holds on the first shot for quite a while and then when the song kicks in there are a lot of quick cuts and then it slows down again with the music.
4. The company is selling this song by showing a spin off, of typical lil wayne by showing him having a more rock music interest. They also show a side of him saying that he wasn't that cool in high school and couln't get the girls but then his life took off which would be aspirational to many young men. They also have Lil Wayne playing the guitar which they've shown in other videos such as Mrs Officer and Lollipop. This broadens his target audience as it now shows him having musical talent and maybe appealing to guitar players and other musicians. They also have carried on Lil Wayne's image from Lolipop of a black tux unbuttoned and very messy. This gives the audience familiarity and creates his image. They use a beauty shot of him playing the guitar a lot as this is the important shot.
5. I think it isn't that much of a sexual thing but more of a statement as him getting back at these girls that treated him bad at school. He is meant to be attractive to the femal[e audience but he isn't making effort to sexualise himself. The girl is attractive but she isn't dancing seductively and is wearing normal clothes which is unusual for rap videos. However, it does sexualise at the end with a kiss, to attract the female audience more but also as part of the narrative. It doe sshow voyeuristic pleasures as in the first few scenes he watches her from behind and stares at her fancy underwear as it is illustrative of the lyriccs, 'I loved her fancy underwear, I sat behind her every year'
6. From 1:35 it goes through showing high points of Lil Wayne's career such as 'Lil Wayne's Tha Carter 3 Goes multi-platinum'. This shows how he is an acclomplished successful artist, which illustrates the songs meaning of how he changed after time.
7. The video has performance and narrative. The performance is made relevant to the narrative so the narrative seems to be the most important.
We've finally picked a song and are well under-way with the treatment on our group blog and in our meetings. The song is Maroon 5 Featuring Rihanna- If I Never See Your Face Again
These will be last 2 track ideas as I am producing to many and need to narrow the list down. But so far these two and one other are the faveourite ones I've thought of.
Never Had It- The Flobots
I think this song would work well for our group as we have a girl and boy part we can use. It could use 3 singers aswell by actually using the right amount of male singers but it could be done using 2.
On My Own Time-Gym Class Heroes (sorry for poor quality, could only find live version)
I love the feel to this song, and if we could use animation like in the 'Example-Watch The Sun Come Up' video I think we could make a very interesting video. I was imagining quite literal at points, as in where he unzips his skin the lead singer becomes drawn and literally unzips his skin. I also had an edit idea where he says 'turn the page' where the singer is singer and then when he says that line becomes drawn and the image is folded over to a new shot. The song is about struggle in life but music helps him through it so i see the video being about him writing songs and performing them. The video would be based more aorund the clever effects.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones-The Impression That I Get
I've just reads Jack's treatment for this song and i really like the idea of showing other people having all these things going wrong but not for the singer. I think this could work really well with the idea of zooming into photos where the band are performing and showing it aswell as maybe having during the verses, the lead singer who's walking along the street in which when people walk past it zooms into them and shows how somethings gone wrong. The lead singer walks along the street really happy where as everyone else is miserable. It also cuts between shots of the band performing which is where the singer eventually reaches. I think at the end something bad could actually happen to the lead singer, which is really unexpected and over the top. Another idea could be that as he walks down the street he seems to avoid bad things really closely, like a flower pot falls down and just misses him, or he nearly gets splashed by a huge puddle.
After our second group meeting with gone back on all our original ideas and realised none of them would be that great for music video. So we've all been sent home to just gather a list of songs we think might work well then throw them together in our next group meeting.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones-The Impression That I Get
You Me At Six-You've Made Your Bed
The Specials-Do Nothing
The Rocket Summer-Never Knew
Lupe Fiasco-Fighters
The Devil Wears Prade-Still Fly(cover)
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova-When your mind's made up
Example-Watch The Sun Come Up
I really like this video. It creates the atmosphere of the song and anchors the meaning of the song of the song and illustrates the words. However, the main thing I like is the use of animation over the top. It creates a really interesting effect and creates some create transitions between shots. It gives a seamless feel where it all runs together. It also anchors how he doesn't want to be at home and would rather be on this holiday, by being able to seamlessly cut between it makes it feel like they're being compared in his mind. I also like how the lighting goes with the mood of the song, as it starts off at night time but then towards the end where it gets more upbeat and the narrative becomes happier it becomes daytime and the shots work really well to show this with the use of sun reflections and glimmers of light from behind the characters and through trees. It creates the feeling of 'another day'/ a new day, which is what the song is saying the singer wants. I especially love 0:43-0:48. This is a great piece of editing where it completely changes location seamlessly and by him being in the same place seems to connote that he is there in London, but is dreaming he was there on the beach.
Just Jack-The Day I Died
This video is very interesting as it has no performance or lip syncing. However, this works as the video illustrates the words and tells the story so a performance isn't needed. It is as if the music is the narrator of the video. The video completely illustrates what the words are saying. Normally this is very cheesy but it works completely in this video due to the great acting and song being very much a story. However, not every line is precisely right to the video, which works well as it helps to add meaning, as your getting the original story but some extra as well. It also works very well due to the actor James Nesbitt, being very well known. This creates familiarity and also he normally plays an average family guy so it seems very believable. The editing also captures the mood of the video as it is very slow, almost mellow a lot like the song.
Jose Gonzalez-Cycling Trivialities
This song is beautiful and I absolutely love it but I think if making a music video there could be an issue as the song doesn't completely end till around 7 minutes 18 seconds however it carries on the guitar from about 4:35 till then without changing much at all so it could be possible to cut some out. But this would still mean it is a long video. However, I think the song could work really well as it has a really strong meaning of how our lives are so small compared to how big the universe is and how we might think all our issues are huge but they won't even make a difference to the future. I think in a music video this could be represented through an everyday scenario of how a family man has all these decisions to make and seems to put a lot of thought into them and gets stressed about them but every so often their is something much larger and meaningful which he ignores i.e he is on the phone trying to make a buisness deal and the news is on about a tragedy and he flicks it off to concentrate on the phone. Another example is that he is choosing a suit to buy and after purchasing one he walks past a homeless person who has tattered clothes and asks the man for help which he ignores. The video would show how people think so much of their lives and the little things when much more important things are happening around them which they pay little attention to.
Kid British-Hot n Cold(cover)
I had no idea for this song, of the story of a girl and boy, where the girl is constantly playing around with the guy. She'll leave him then want him back. Throughout the story she can't decide what she wants whether she wants the guy or not untill the end where the boy gets a new girl. This would cut between shots of the performance who could be performing in locations similar to that of the narrative, so they'd be performing in a living room whilst the couple have an argument. Also they might appear in parts of the narrative but be like part of the background and not be interacting with the narrative.
Kid British-Sunny Days
I think this song could work really well for our music video. It can have a good bit of performance as well as a narrative. I was thinking that the song could just be about a guy who's on his way to work and just a normal day in London. It's really rainy, dark, just not a very nice day. He see's a really pretty girl and gets turned down. Nothings going well for the guy. I think it would add another meaning to the song, and really make people listen to the lyrics as it does say 'No more sunny days'
Carol Vernallis says the camera in music video seems to mimic the way we view sonic space... do you agree? Do you think we are conditioned by music video to read sonic space in particular ways?
I would agree as we are more likely to just listen and view the images as more of something to keep your eyes busy rather then being the main focus. Even though music video can alot of the time be very jumpy and not continuous, we manage to make the links between images.
She suggests that the jumping camera focus is like the camera in place of our eyes, doing what we do when we listen. However, this is predefined for us by the Director - we have even less choice to look away/outside of the Director's choice than we do in film - do you agree?
I would agree because in film you can choose to focus on another subject in the shot as the shots are normally longer giving your eyes to intake more where as music video throws shots at you very quickly so normally it would take many viewings before the audience can start to notice other things to that of the dominant reading.
She says music video is more like listening than viewing - do you agree?
I would agree as I don't know anyone that would choose to watch a music video because they like the video if they didn't like the song, however unlike normal listening your ears are pushed to listen to certain things by the images. Such as when a music video shows a drummer doing a fill your more likely to listen into that then the singing or guitar at that one point.
"We compensate imaginatively for what we do not see in the frame" - Agreed?
I would agree as music video is very disjointed so when we see two things which don't run into each other completely we create a link between the two. It's like if we see a ball and then a smashed window, it would be natural for us to create the link that the ball smashed it.
The constant motion in a music video and the variances it shows mean that a strong CU is a stable point. The music video "brings us towards these peaks, holds us against them, and then releases us" - do you agree?
I disagree as I can't see that a CU is always needed as a stable point as it is much more interesting to carry on at these 'peaks' rather then getting there then showing less exciting imagery. Music video isn't meant to be completely stable so why would it need to have this shot throughout. It is good to have beauty shots and CU's as it is the artist who needs to be shown off, however it doesn't mean this has to be compiled of only one type which it constantly goes back to.
Is the viewer "sutured (stitched) into the diegesis of the film world through the editing"?
I think to a degree they are as with performance it makes the audience feel they are actually there singing and playing there music, however i don't think it can be said that they feel too involved as it jumps around too much and doesn't have to have continuity which creates unrealistic videos.
Music video is freer in terms of viewer identification and perspective - agreed?
It depends on the video. Some directors will display a video which has many different viewings but another may only have one reading which the director forces on the audience. One video may be based on a concept where one person reads it as showing sadness but another may read it as happiness. I believe that both film and music video have the scope to be free but it is up to the director whether it is or not.
Carol Vernallis believes the image alone cannot tell the story - do you agree?
Definately. The music should always come first and the video second. Sometimes the image can tell a story but it is not the whole story that you get from seeing the video and hearing the music.
1.Dizzee Rascal is an East-London born rapper/producer. He first was very much a 'grime' artist (english rapping style) but has now started to blend his songs with catchy dance music. His newest album shows the change in his style as he is no longer a grime artist but now he is alot more mainstream with the sudden rise in dance music.
2. Originally the fans were youths of around 13-21 who like grime music or rap. Now his music targets a much larger audience due to the catchy chorus' and dancefloor hooks. The change of genre is obvious from the collaborations on the new album, from dance artists such as Calvin Harris and Armand Van Helden. His new album coverwork, shows a more 'new rave' side, with bright colours, strange fonts and cartoon like style. This shows how the company is trying to advertise to the new audience. The videos are also very wacky and very different from the old ones. His earlier music included songs like 'sirens' where he was shown trying to escape from the police and 'fix up look sharp' which is a complete performance video. Now however, he is showing himself in parties raving and dancing showing the difference between audiences.
3. Dizzee Rascal offered a free album 'Foot N Mouth' for people who pre-ordered his new album 'Tongue N Cheek' from HMV, giving snippets, skits and songs from other artists from Dizzee Rascal's music label Dirtee Stank. This shows how he uses his own album to support his label and other artists. By giving out this free product he is giving the audience the chance to hear them and showcasing the other artists. He had a track called 'Jus' a Rascal' which featured on the soundtrack of Kidulthood. This shows synergy as the movie gets to use the music to create the atmosphere and Dizzee gets free advertising. He has collaborated with many artists to widen his market including Artic Monkeys on the song 'Temptation' which meant he could advertise to indie fans aswell as Artic Monkeys being able to advertise to grime fans. He also had a contract with Ecko and also created his own shoe for Nike.
I really like this song and really like the idea of going with a song from this sort of genre of acoustic rap as I think its very niche and never really been attempted before by a student.
Lyrics:
I know times seem rough
but for a 100 bad years is a thousand good ones
and that's real
(Chorus)
Oh, feel like the road so hard,
struggling right trying to stay strong,
I know, keep ya head up, oh, keep ya head up, keep ya head up
Never give up, Keep ya head up.
Everything going so wrong, got on one knee
Praying to my god
keep ya head up, keep ya head up, I never give up, never give up
(Verse 1)
This goes to ever dreamer, as a motivation,
The motive is to motivate, and indivually make it
I still made it, crusading, through the hating
the ocean waving, got me thinking of upgrading
mic skills like still, and the displacement,
my environment far out like strong safeties,
help me back like wave braces,
oh wait I forgot, no time to waste like aid patients,
so i keep going, on my own,
its like every morning I keep falling
when I'm barely crawling,
feel like my life on tall glasses, slow moments, I'm Paul Walling aw man
(Chorus)
(Verse 2)
Never let them judge even when its admitted,
I admit my past had lots of bad in it,
shouldn't stopped me being copied by the world should it,
I mean would I be wrong if I didn't evolve from it,
shit, my darlings got me up like slow signals,
saying I need my visual, I put my all in it,
tyga man's best friend slash no contenders
no competing, no one man league, one born one man leave,
is part of being from these wicked streets,
city thieves, commit trouble, eventually end up, in dirt shovelled
but stay focused you'll reach a higher level above abuse and baby sitters, wave setters
now better stage setters, rocking show, never regreting,
pricey clothes but always remembered when you had no dough
now you see the same folks living with hope, i told you so
(Chorus)
So you reached the end, or what I like to call, the beginning
so lets begin
just keep ya head up, and never give up
thats how I got here
What I like about the song is the mood to it, and i think it'd be really interesting for in a music video to have a guitarist and the rapper. Its also a very good feel good song so many ideas could be based around the idea of a struggle or things going wrong. Another idea is to have the video as very contrasting too the lyrics where everything starts to go wrong in the video but at the end the character is still happy.
Tupac Ft Nas-Thugz Mansion(Acoustic)
I find this song and video incredible. It combines to genres which are quite extremely different. There is a huge gap in the market for something like this as it turns what is normally seen as people shouting about guns and girls into something a lot more deep and meaningful. The video also works very well as it uses a very simple idea to convey a strong message. I think it is trying to portray the message of how anyone can get hurt by shootings and gang rivalry as well as showing that so many people are affected. By changing character faces but having the same goal it connotes a feeling of society and as every race is represented it powerfully shows how everyone could be affected. The pace is very slow to work with the song, and there is only a small focus on the performance putting emphasis on the narrative and message being portrayed.
Metallica-Frantic
I find this video brilliant as even though im nto a fan of the song, the video really conveys the song very well. The pace of the video works perfectly with the music which achors the songs sense of calm and then chaos. I really find inspiration from this as I think some of the techniques used are great. Such as at moments such as 3:17 where the chorus comes in, they edit between different CU's of the lead singer. This works in parrallel with the words of 'Frantic, Tic-Toc' and gives it a 'frantic' pace. Also the contrast in the verses, where everything moves fast except the character of the narrative moves very slowly. This works well as it this emphasises the slowness and change of pace.
A good start to your background work for this project Shaun, but please try to avoid posting videos without any commentary/analysis - it's important to write something about them!!
You are a bit behind though, on some of last term's work - you need to catch up fast, as it will be so busy when we get back to school.
We also need to get you using/applying advanced theory more explicitly when you analyse music videos, think Vernallis for now, although you will also need to get to grips with Goodwin in the new term.
For now, your short term targets are:
1. Post your workshop and lip sync evaluations
2. Post the work you have done for Miss T on Vernallis (see her post on the main music video blog for specific details)
3. Post your track research/ideas – we need to see what tracks you have in mind for your own video
4. Put some inspirational/useful weblinks up
5. We need a photo please!
All instructions are on the main blog if you are not sure what you should have done. There will be a lot happening when term starts so the sooner this outstanding work is completed, the better.
Good effort so far, keep up the good work - more writing though please! - and see you soon!
This is our version of Wheatus' Teenage Dirtbag. Jake Wynne, came into our school with all his incredible equipment and filmed this in a day. Then a week to edit in small groups of 4. This was a very hard process as not only were we working with limited footage as it wasn't a perfect match, but we were also trying to complete copy the original video. This made it hard as instead of adding the best looking shot, we had to add the one which looked most like the original. This was especiallhy hard for the tracking shots as they were barely ever going in the same direction, right positioning and looking at the right person all at the same time. This meant sometimes shots were put in which weren't perfect. However, it was a great experience to see how the professionals worked and I've learnt a lot about how to save time whilst filming and about efficiency. Aswell we got some inside tips like using a trolley to make a track!
Jack and I did a lip sync pratice for the song, 'Since U Been Gone' By A day To Remember. This has helped us a lot in seeing what works when lip syncing and what doesn't. One really helpful thing we've learnt is that to make it look effective, you have to sing. If you don't sing your tongue doesn't make the right movements. Another thing is doing the right maneurisms so it actually looks plausible that this person is the singer. Another thing that was useful from this process was learning how hard and time consuming it can be to align the words with pictures in the editing process. However, we worked out a good method where we'd put the clips in, get them in sync, and then remove from there. It made it a lot quicker and easier.
Alexisonfire- This Could Be Anywhere In The World
This video concentrates on the band's performance. It has no narrative but skips between two locations and different weather conditions. This jumping between elements, of water, fire and wind, creates the feeling of chaos which really works well with the type of music.
As I Lay Dying-Through Struggle
This video is also very concentrated on the performance however, unlike the first it contains a small narrative which only makes sense at the very end. What I think works really well in this video is the location, as it is very atmospheric, showing a horrible area, which kind of represents the music, as gritty and darker then most music genres. another thing i notice from looking at these types of videos is how it focuses on the instruments and singing. The instruments are a lot more central then in other genres like rap and pop. This means there are a lot more beauty shots as well as ECU's of instruments.
Dr Dre- Still Dre
Dizzee Rascal & Calvin Harris - Dance Wiv Me
Ludacris Ft. Young Jeezy-Grew Up a Screw Up
From looking at these videos i can see 3 things typical of rap videos. These are money, cars and girls. The main role of rap music videos to show off their riches, doing this through flashing jewellery, show themselves splashing out money and having loads of girls. All this builds on the artist being aspirational for children as they are being shown as wealthy with all the things a child could want.
The Meaning:
The song is very poppy and very upbeat and even though it is quite indie it makes you want to dance and jump around. I think the song is trying to say that even though Joy Division's lyircs and songs were very depressing and emotional songs, their music made many people very happy. It is trying to comment on how even the sad songs still manage to make people happy showing the power that music has.
The Treatment:
I had the idea for a man to be walking down the street and around him there are numerous situations where things just go wrong i.e. a couple fighting or an old lady dropping her shopping but then when the chorus comes in everyone starts dancing really happily and when it ends they go back to the bad moment their having. It would also cross-cut between shots of the band who are playing a really small venue, maybe a pub where it looks like they no fans but they are really playing their hearts out and enjoying it. At the end for maybe the last chorus about 30 people rush into the pub and everyone goes crazy for the band.
This is the first of many great posts for the new blog. I will be studying music video across all genres from Metal to Hip Hop to Folk as well as exploring different types of music videos such as animation, ones with a narrative and pure performance.
Enjoy
