Performances

Many video's have the female performer walking on the street whilst singing along to their song by their selves, this gives them an image of strength and in dependency.

This will be incorporated into our music video to make our artist represent strong women.

Competition

When selecting our song for our music video one of the key advantages was that there was no current video, and as it was published more than 10 months ago so we thought there never would be one.

That was until the other day it was announced she would be launching 'never be another' as her albums debut single, meaning there would be a likely chance of a video coming out very close to when ours will be launched.

This was Found released as a audio on a blog page as I was searching for music video inspirations...

Feedback

Performance practice

After watching my performances I came to realise that it needed a lot of improvements so i've been watching out for the the performers in music videos to try and help my performance more believable.

Hers's a few shots I picked up on 

Hand gestures, facial expressions and body language are all essential in order to give a good performance

I will have to keep that in mind for the next time I perform 

Inspiration shots

I watched the video Don't judge me By Chris Brown and here are a few shots that grabbed my attention 

I like the low angle shot and the way he looks away from the camera this gives it quite an illustrative video as its not only a performance because he's looking away from the camera suggests more of a motive.  

I liked he cuts between the last shot to this establishing shot because it gives the viewer a bigger idea of his surrounding and clearly shows what he was looking away to/

This shot is interesting because the performer is not in the centre but focuses more on his surrounding. I think this is quite important because the location sets the mood. 

I captured this shot because as I will be performing, his expression was very dramatic and realistic which is something I'll have to practice with. 

Solving our problem

We came across a few issues mathematically but then our teacher helped us and and worked out the problem so instead of guessing what speed to change the footage to we found out a mathematical way to accurately synchronise our final work.

So if we speed up our sound by 130% we then need to stretch out our video by 77%

This is the equation we used

Rounded up we get 77%

Short Practice clip

As we wanted to slow down movement through our video we would need to speed up sound so we filmed and edited a short clip of our music video to practice this process.

Problems with speeding up

practice speeding up

Converting youtube video into mp3

Changing speed in order to match footage with song  

Using markers to match the song and video together 

Changes to our Production Schedule

Unfortunately, as it is raining we were unable to film in the alley way today so we will have to arrange a day during the half term after the 1st November which is when we have booked the camera and hopefully the weather won't be a problem 

Fig Rig

New Equipment

As we were practicing speeding up our footage we also had a go with the Fig Rig which allows the hand held camera to be a lot more smoother 

Delilah Never Be Another

We have chosen the song never be another by delilah and because there is no official music video we can take advantage of this and be more creative as it wont be compared to anything. However, we found out recently that Delilah is in the process of making a music video for this song therefore we are going to have to be careful with how are target audience approach our music video.

Research

This is a heavily edited video from which we can get idea's of editing styles from filters, to slow motions and etc.

Pitch

Planning: Test shots in our location

Planning: Updated Animatic

Planning: changes to our production schedule

As we have booked the camera for Thursday 25th October which is a college admin day we have decided that instead of filming on our day off we will filming on Friday 26th October, which is a 3 hour lesson.

Planning: Practicing more shots

music video pitch

Vlog progression 2

Presentaion

Interesting Fact

The artist of the song we have chosen also came to the same college as we did (City and Islington)

Planning: Ideas for make up and props

Summing up our Music Video

Style Research

Delilah's instagram shows some of her daily activities, styles and outings.
Being that she is of a similar genre as our artist we can get idea's of fashion looks from her

Research: Delilah and her fans

Planning: Costumes

Production scedule

Final Location

Second Location 

Visiting our locations

Visiting our first location 

PLANNING: Location

PLANNING: Music video disjuncture

Our Music video will follow Goodwin's theory of disjuncture, it will be performance based rather than narrative. We will create an interesting and engaging music video through the actions of the performer and the use of interesting locations and effects. 

A music video that follows a similar idea is The Prodigy- No Good Start The Dance

RESEARCH: Record Label

Young Turks will be our record label, they have similar bands to ours under their label already such as The XX.
They are a British  independent label founded in 2006 by Caius Pawson.

theyoungturks.co.uk

These are some of the bands they currently have under their roster. 

PLANNING: Animatic

Planning: Location

 Email from louisa telling us about a possible location that fits our demands..

The actual website for the location we desire..

Brief Group Meeting

The State Of The Music Industry

brief history: 

There have always been two sides the music industry. The Mainstream and the Independent  The Mainstream side has large organisations, they saturate (wide variety) their markets, they have enough money to afford high production values, and they're considered the "majors". On the other hand, the Independent side operate interdependently to major labels, their genres are niche and they have specific markets.

In the late 70s to the 1990s, there was "the big 6". 

In the late 90s, there was the big 5,

in 2004 there was the big 4 = Universal, EMI, Warner, Sony.

Before the generation of the internet, there were many ways to get music;

1. From the radio (either listening straight or recording the songs on a recorder.)

2. Going into a music store and purchasing a single or an album.

3. Pay-per-view on MTV.

The current situation:

Nowadays, there are falling profits. People download music/don't pay for it, listen to songs for free on youtube, have their music stored on listening devices and don't need to go into stores and pay for their music. 

Sales for albums dropped over 100 bmillion pounds between 2008 and 2012, because there are shifts in consumer behaviours. People find singles they heard on the radio and while they are more active in music consumption, this because they are downloading and watching on Youtube, rather than idly sitting at their T.V or radio. 

Artists are trying to re-create some money through endorsements and a new revenue stream, and creating new places to buy music such as iTunes.

Universal just bought out EMI, so now, in 2012, there are only a big 3. Universal will have to sell Parlaphone in order to regenerate cash flow. 

Trending: 

The record labels own the music. The aim of the artist is to be signed to a label, to promote their music, and to sell a maximum number of records. This can be achieved in a number of ways.

There is legal downloading:

MP3 format, iTunes, AmazonMP3

Illegal downloading:

67 illegal download services, 3/4 of all downloading in U.K is illegal, Youtube-MP3 converters, 1.2 billion illegal downloading in the U.K in 2012

Streaming: 

Allows music to be delivered on demand, sites can be free or not, free sites cover costs with adverts.

Social Networking:

A way that people can find out about music is through viral sharing, a.k.a social networking:

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Youtube, Artist Websites, Fan sites.

Role of a Music Video:

- To promote the latest single.

- To sell the album

- Aired on MTV

- Youtube enables to view for free

- Give the artist exposure

- Cross media promotional packages (gigs etc.)

- Without a video, the song does not have the same impact.

Prosumers: 

These promote and consume at the same time. Making fan-based work for example a meme is producing, telling their friends is distributing/promoting, and uploading the video is exchanging. 

Lady Gaga:

Lady Gaga is able to do all of the new revenue in order to get money, even in today's poor situation. She:

- Is signed to Interscope records (Universal)

- Is distributed by Konlive

- Has over 53 million fans on Facebook.

- Has over 10 million followers on Twitter.

- Has her own website.

-Has a Youtube VEVO

- Has won 13 MTV awards.

Functions of a Music Video

Functions of a music video on Prezi

Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey focuses on women and their representation in media. She argues women are used in the media as objects to be looked at and enjoyed. She calls this "the male gaze" She argues that this can be in two forms.

• Voyeuristic: When you gain pleasure from looking at these women.
• Fetishistic: The sexual desire to have something, seeing these women portrayed in the media as sexual objects of desire.

She states that the constant exposure of women as idols of desire have created a mainstream culture where this is now the norm. By challenging the concept of the male gaze in music videos is to go against what is anticipated. Especially if the genre of music video is known to idolize this concept.

 

These two music videos are designed to fit the ideals of a male fantasy, by using hyper-sexualized women and  provocative performances to entertain the heterosexual male viewer.

 Niki Minaj, uses her sexual appearance in order to attract male viewers to watch her music videos. Even though she looks like a dodgy knock off barbie doll that was repeatedly chewed by a dog and left to sit in the sun too long and then have a 5 year old colour her in with crayons. Her recent explosion in popularity has shown this concept to work. Because we know it was not her singing that made her famous.

Genres such as RnB are renown for having skimpy women in their music videos. If they were to stop this practice they will risk alienating the fan base of that genre. Often even without listening to the song it is possible to watch a RnB music video and still know its genre with out prior knowledge.

Current state of the music industry

With the recent split of EMI assets given to both Universal and Sony, the current number of major labels still existing today has gone down to 3 from the previous 6 that existed a decade ago, With Warner trudging along side the former two.This downfall of EMI has increased the share that each major label has of the world market. Universal now controls 36%, Sony 23% and Warner 15%. By moving assets to two of the biggest labels many have argued that this will increase exposure of the artists currently signed, as it will allow for a greater reach into the global market.

Competition has now shifted from major labels v major labels to instead  Majors v Independents. With many bands such as Radio Head also shifting to a do-it-yourself production. Leaving major labels behind. With the drop of CD sales in the last 10-20 years many companies are now shifting to digital mp3 but Internet piracy and the shift from high-profit CDs to low-profit digital singles have forced thousands of label layoffs and drastic artist-roster cuts. The move to digital over physical has caused continuous growing piracy problems, costing the music industry over $12.5billion annually.

Although many mega-stars such as Katy Perry and Lady GaGa are still turning a profit for their labels, it is not ticket sales or music sales that is the cause, It is rather the image of the artist and the products they indorse.

Many have argued that the method of production used by major record labels is out dated. It is not following the times and is finding the shift to a digital market difficult, This has caused a number of independent record labels to set up, bridging the gap between a major label and free distribution. A number of artists such as Nine Inch Nails have already shifted to creating their own label and allowing their music to be downloaded freely. Trent Reznors "Ghost" album was one of the most profitable that year by using a donation scheme. 

Carol Vernallis Theory

Carol Vernallis studied in depth about the editing and camera work specifically in music videos. She noticed that edits in the music video's were more frequent than in film and that they stood out as disjuncture. She also noticed that the editing had a rhythmic flow following the beat of the song.

The main things Vernallis pointed out was the rules of continuity editing which are broken in order to draw attention to what is on the screen. There are also obvious edits such as swipes, transitions, split screens and special effects which are purely there for drawing more attention. she also mentions that jump cuts are also used, and this is extremely common for music videos, where we may appear to have something random or unexpected. The base is used a lot, to give the video more structure and the camera is usually handheld so we rarely ever see a still image, It's constantly moving in time with the song.

Laura Mulvey - Representation

Laura Mulvey's view on music video's focus on the representation of females.

The quote she uses is:

"In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly"

In other words females are dressed and presented in the way male's want to see woman. Therefore, females are forced to see what men want to see. The female is passive, meaning she is being looked at while the active male is doing the 'watching'.

This is not uncommon in music video's in fact we ear so used to watching these representations of woman that we longer question anything about it. It's very normal to see an attractive woman in music video's specifically for men. There are so many video nowadays and here is one example of many....

Many RnB, Hip hop and Dance video's project these 'male fantasies' in there video's. Music video's are now recognisable of the genre with how the females are presented.  For example Mario an RnB artist, we know it is RnB just by watching the video..

Another example is Hip hop, So many hip hop video's include females and its seems that they are now an essential ingredient to Hip hop video's. A few example of hip hop video are shown below and they are all similar in the sense that females are portrayed in the way males want to see them. 

Face it girls..we're living in a male dominated society :'(

Although music video are insanely guilty of exploiting females there are some artists who challenge this for example Missy Elliot. She never dresses provocatively or attracts male attention through being sexy but purely on her music and the quality of her music video.

Laura Mulvey's opinion is very mush relevant into days society because music video's are very guilty of representing girls in a negative way. Music videos are very carefully planned, the choices of clothing and style of hair suits the situation or narrative that the artist is in. An example of this is Dizzee Rascals video - holiday. 

The girls in the video are dressing in bikinis and set somewhere sunny with pools and drinks. Nonetheless, the audience would deconstruct this representation and will interpret it based upon their own cultural references. Through doing this, we become familiar with these representations within videos for certain artists or groups.

Editing of dance test

Dance Test

Copyright Clearance

I sent off permission asking for clearance to use Machine gun by Portishead, I did not receive a reply however. Never the less it was not the song we ended up choosing

Previous Student Music Video: Review

• It uses disjunction with a hint of amplification
• The lighting and effects are fantastic
• Each base track in interesting to watch on its own
• The pacing of the editing is suitable for the genre and beat of the music
• The costume is superb

Favourite Music Video

Right here Right now

Fatboy slim

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin has 5 key concepts that he has identified in music videos.

These concepts are:

 

Though beats (seeing the sound)  

The voice is one image of the star and should be an identifier as to who is singing. It should generally fit the image of the singer. Such as a deep heavy singer with a rough voice having the image of a rough and worldly person.

The music video can also be seen as a story making the artist take on the role of the story teller, this allows the music video to become a  two communication device, we both listen to the music and see a story

            The performance or the narrative of the music video

Goodwin also states that music videos should ignore the common way of narrating a story. Such as what you see in films. This is due to the fact that the artist should be present in the videos performing  for marketing purposes and the fact that music video should coherent repeatability (encourage repeat viewings with out getting stale) Both a performance and narrative is needed. The star needs to be seen performing!

 The singer and their image

The star should be easily recognizable, the music videos should show the development of the star over time.

                                                The Relations of the visuals to the song

Illustration: When the music video is used to tell the story of the lyrics.

Amplification: Introduction of a new meaning to the lyrics that do not contradict the lyrics, but instead add a new layer.

 

 Disjunction: When the music video has little connection to the lyrics. 

 

 Technical Aspects

The music video's pace and rhythm should go along with the beat of the song, every edit should be in time with a beat or when the beat changes.

The camera should also be moving, creating a sense of rhythm and flow to the music video. 

The lighting and effects should also be used to emphasis the mood of the video and should be used to amplify key parts of the song for a greater and more entertaining effct. 

Skills Devolped

Previous student work

Carol Vernallis Theory

My favourite music video

I'm a great fan of Yasmin and this is by far her best music video. Its shows off her great sense of style and gives her target audience a better understanding about her fashion. The location is amazing as it sets a great tone throughout the music video and its very different compared to her other music videos. This video really takes Yasmin out of her shell. As she is an new british artist with a very small fan base I think that this video promotes her in an exceptional way by the use of her sense of style and it's great to finally see her somewhere our of the UK.

The Music video is perfect example of a good music video, they use of base tracks are very clear and used appropriately, the framing of each shot promotes Yasmin really well as we have many close op of face and she very frequently looks directly at the viewer. There are a variety of different shots and the shots cut to the beat. Overall the purpose of this music video is to engage the viewer and it does through  a number of technical area.

purpose of a music video

The purpose of a music;

1. Sell the song, and invoke a reaction so it leaves you remembering the song
2. To give the listener a better understanding of the song (is it is an illustrative video)
3. To entertain,  show off other talents the musician may have. For example dancing of acting.
4. To sell CD's and DVD's to viewers. Creating a memorable visual for the song increases its chance to sell

Despite all of these being factors in why music videos are important, some people argue that the end result still has to serve one purpose: promotion. The music Video is promotional tool for the artist. its sometimes serves as a conduct for attention from a label. but more often it is a catalyst for CD sales or artists song downloads. 

Jay Z and Kanye's video night in paris meant more promotion. Teenagers and young adults around the world went through a craze about 'night in paris' and the video added a lot extra contributed to all the cold out tickets to watch the throne concerts.