Monday 21 September 2009
Thursday 17 September 2009
Evaluation of contribution
Monday 14 September 2009
Music Video Analysis- Beyonce- Halo.
In this scene there is a bright white background which is very simple, it looks as though it is enhanced daylight, she is looking at her boyfriend in bed which we saw in the previous shot. The innocence comes across here with the white walls, the clothing and her hair is up.
This shot has the look of a dance studio as there are wooden floors, full length mirrors and windows and the bars along the wall. There is a man standing in the foreground looking down on Beyonce from a window and the light is coming from behind her although it is not as bright as the other scenes. There is the sence of voyeurism from the audience as we are watching the man watching Beyonce and neither of them are aware of being watched. The image of innocence is lost here as she is wearing black, being watched and the lighting is darker.
Here we can see a close up on the face and hands and the background has been blurred although we can make out a white sofa and windows. She looks at her hands and almost in the direction of the camera, however her hands obstruct half of her face so there is no connection to the audience, amplyfying the feel of voyeurism. She is wearing more eye make up and looks less innocent, however she still looks vunerable as her hands are near her face and there is no jewellery or nail varnish, they are very simple.
In one of the final scenes we see her and her boyfriend sitting on a sofa, holding a dog between them. Again it feels like voyeurism as they are sharing a moment and the audience feels as though they are intruding. The lighting is in the background and it comes across as a good relationship due to the light colours they are both wearing and the lighting.
Sunday 13 September 2009
Evaluation Of Contribution
Before filming our music video
We need to:
- Reload our bands infomation onto the blog.
- We need to find a song in our bands genre.
- We need to do some more research into our bands genre e.g watch more indie/rock music videos.
- Then we can decide how we will make the video from te idea we have gathered.
- Decide who we will use in our music video
- We need to discuss what props we will need.
- Then decide which locations we will use and what editing techniques we will use.
- Organise times when we can film together.
Saturday 12 September 2009
Before filming
· Deciding on who we will use to perform in our music video..
· Choose what type of music video we want it to be, whether it will follow a storyline or be abstract.
· Look at each other’s timetables to decide when we will film our video.
· When we know what days we are going to film on , make sure that we have booked the video camera.
· Find the location/locations that we will film the video and make sure that we have permission to film in these places.
· Find the costume that we want to use in the video.
· Make sure we have found any props that we want to use before filming as this may change our video if the props we want to use are not available or cost too much.
evaluation of contribution
Hero - x factor finalists
Friday 11 September 2009
Analysis of music videos
From watching this video lady gaga is promoting a unique wacky image, she is making a statement. Throughout the video she has six different outfits, all of which are individual to her. She also wears statement jewellery, including a jewel on her face. This video is very much about image rather than music. The camerawork used in the video has lots of close ups on lady gaga, which tells the audience that she very much wants to be the focus of attention in her music video and the close ups help to give her own star iconography. A lot of zoom in is used in the video which also makes us focus on lady gaga. Panning is used to follow lady gaga whenever she moves throughout the video. High key lighting is used so that she is always visible to the viewer. In some parts of the video split screen is used and mirrors too, to show more than one of lady gaga, showing that the focus is totally on her. The men dancing in her dance routine are solely there for effect, as they are dressed in dark plain clothes to help them blend into the background, whilst lady gaga is wearing a bright blue outfit and is in the centre of the dance routine. Visual effects are used throughout the video, at the beginning lightning is seen in the clouds, the lightning strikes in time to the music which gives a good effect, also the water that lady gaga throws is put into slow motion to fit in time with the music also. The music video does not tell a narrative however in some parts of the video the words which lady gaga are singing illustrates the lyrics being sung, for example when she is sitting at the table playing poker the lyrics are not actually about playing poker and keeping a poker face. They are more about being able to keep a poker face to hide emotions and feelings between a man and a woman. This video fits Andrew Goodwin’s theory for all the reasons I have given above. This music video also fits the theory of Sigmund Freud “that erotic pleasure may be gained by looking at a sexual object, (preferably when the object is unaware of being watched)”. This is because lady gaga is not wearing much in all of her outfits she has throughout the video and she has been given an airbrushed look and is wearing lots of makeup.
Christina Aguilera –Beautiful
From watching this video by Christina Aguilera it portrays completely different messages to lady gaga’s video that I previously watched. This video gives the audience the feeling that Christina Aguilera is making this video to express her feelings, more than promoting her image, as there are other people shown in her video when she is not, and overall she probably appears in only half the video. This is also shown by the costume which she is wearing, they are simple, black and loose fitting. She is wearing makeup, but it is not extravagant it is natural looking. High angle shots and long shots are used when she is singing; this could mean that she wants viewers to concentrate more on the words of the song than on her in the video. However some close ups are shown of her face; this is to show her emotion about what she is singing. Low or natural lighting is used throughout most of the video, which gives the video a less showy and more casual look. The music is always in time to what we are seeing in the video, when the symbol is hit in the song, a mirror is smashed in the video, this gives a good effect, also when the music gets louder Christina Aguilera also sings louder which makes her voice sound powerful. The video shows different situations in which people may be discriminated against, for example sexuality, weight disorders and race but she is singing that everybody is beautiful however they are or choose to be. By the end of the video all the people are smiling, which shows that they are proud of what they are. The video does tell a narrative, it begins with showing a dead flower, which represents the people shown in the video, they are represented like this because they are worried about what people think of them, but by the end of the video the flower has bloomed which shows that they are happy with who they are and should not listen to what other people think of them. This video fits the theory of Steve Archer’s “need for a strong and coherent relationship between narrative and performance”, also “the video cuts between narrative and performance of the song by the artist to show ‘real connection’ with the music”.
Animal House to do list before we start filming
There are many factors that we, as a group, need to approach and adjust before we can start making and creating our music video. The obvious ones being :
1. Choosing a suitable time slot for when we all have free time and can all commit 100% to filming the video.
2. Deciding on a final idea or expanding on our original pursuit idea and creating a storyboard so that we know exactly what we are doing and what we want to film.
3. Choosing a suitable location so that the video looks convincing and how we will get there.
4. Getting the costumes arranged. We had one idea that we were all going to be in suits. If so, where will we get them from and on what kind of budget.
5. All group members must also be up to date with work set or that is on the blog so that they can be fully committed.The more complex factors are:
1. What camera shots and angles do we want to use to create the exact bands image that we want.
2. Making sure that we can get the tempo and the video in time which each other in the editing stage of the project.
3. Making sure we have permission from land owners etc if we want to go running through the countryside if we want to expand on our pursuit idea.
3 bands
3 bands
3 bands
The Fray
50 CENT
Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Viewing and Textual Analysis - Analysis of Music Videos
1) Crying Lightning - Arctic Monkeys
2) The day I Died - Just Jack
1) To start off with, the arctic monkeys are trying to create a whole new image for themselves by becoming more of a indie rock band than the pop type image that they started out with in their first two albums.
The video starts with strange colouring in the clouds as well as a strange font showing the name of the track 'Crying Lightning'. It gives the impression of something like an old fashioned ghost story. Then the font turns into fog or cloud as the camera tilts up into a long shot to show the band in a boat in the middle of an ocean.
At the start of the song, the music is quite slow and calm. This is also the case in the water. It is very calm and still to start with. But as the song gets into the first chorus with the words, 'Your past times...' the colours in the cloud turn red indicate that the storm and the song are going to get heavier. Also, during the first chorus, the drummer is beating on the snare drum and after very 2 beats there is a change in camera shot. These shots go around all members of the band showing the audience their faces and what they look like.
As the 2nd verse kicks in, the close up, birds eye view shot shows that it has started to rain. This also indicates that the storm and song are being to get heavier. The sea also gets notably rougher and the waves get bigger and start crashing against the boat.
there is also a laps or shifting of time where the background goes from day time to night time. This could show the audience that the band have been on this boat for a while and be lost at sea or something similar. As the guitar solo starts and the track really starts to kick in, lightning in the cloud starts in reference to the song name. Also, large figure of the band rise up from the water wearing sunglasses. This is another image editor. They want to be seen as cooler and probably a little more mysterious than the images they have portrayed in the past.
Referring to Andrew Goodwin's theories of distinguishing a music video as a form, I think that the visuals amplifying the lyrics because to lighting in the sky towards the end of the song. Apart from this, there is no real concrete link from the visuals to the lyrics. You see a lot of the artists faces so that they identifiable for the audience. This can be related to John Stewart's theory of the video being like a television commercial. The cameras showing lots of close ups of the product, prompting it as much as possible.
2) The first thing that anybody will notice is that James Nesbitt is the main role in this video. This is completely unexpected and gives a little extra surprise to the fans. It can be linked to the song, 'Weapon of Choice' by Fatboy Slim that features Christopher Walken dancing around an empty hotel.
Another immediate thing that i noticed was that that the whole video is narrative and tells the story of this man going through his everyday routine of going to work.
At the beginning where he is eating breakfast at the table with his children, i saw that the children blinked in time with the music as well as moving things like the toy cars on the table. this was also done in tempo. There is also a shot a toy ambulance linking to the end of the video. The costume is strange because he is in clothes that are ripped and dirty as well as blood on his head. Like he has already been run over. I thought this may be him reliving the best part of his life before he dies. Like the saying 'Your life flashes before your eyes when you are about to die.'
As this a typical daily routine of man going to work, this means that the audience can relate to what he is going through. While walking down the street when the chorus is playing, the shot changes in ever 2 bars to give a different perspective on what he is doing and his facial expressions. (He is always smiling).
My favourite piece of camerawork in this video is when there is a man painting on the pavement. James Nesbitt stands on top of the painting of the globe as the saying suggests, 'On top of the world'. This also gives us an indication of how the character is feeling. This could tell us how he is feeling even if we were not listening to the lyrics. This video is defiantly illustrating the lyrics of the song again relating to the theories of Goodwin. And it is so narrative is unbelievable.
Lighting turns grey when he starts to die. It has turned form fantastic sunshine, (all the way through the video) to looking like its going to rain extremely hard. And it does when the doctor played by Just Jack pronounces James Nesbitt dead. This video can be related to Steve Archer's theory. He said that there is a need for a strong link between narrative and performance in music videos.
Thursday 10 September 2009
Contribution to final album cover
In the editing stage of creating the album cover, I said that, because of the album name 'chill zone', we should try and make the it look a little unusual. So, we tryed to blur the brick work so that it looked a little like camoflage netting but red brick colour. We also experimented with a colour over the top of the picture. We all liked the ideas that we had brought forward, so we did both. The obvious part being that the album cover is yellow and if you look closely, you can see that the band members have been tampered with.
We are using this as our final CD album cover.
I have also taken a major part discuss what our music video is going to be. We decided that a persuit or race to something would be a good idea. I said that they could be running to something really important and when they get there is will be something rubbish like an easter egg or a cuddly toy. This would add comedy to the video and give the audience something extra to look forward to.
Evaluation of contribution
When it came to making the CD cover i made alot of suggestions into what i thought should be included in the colour scheme. I also thought that to incorporate the butterfly would create an ironic twist to their type of music which is quite dark and butterflys are not.
My skills on final cut express are quite basic, so i suggested someone with more experience should take over ,while i gave input into where things should go. I able to change the colouring and edit the pitcure and font, but to give a more professional look we needed different skills.
We all decided between us on the font as this was very impotant in protraying the bands image.
Wednesday 9 September 2009
sams cover review
This process mainly involved me coming up with idea having ago at them and then Adrian enhancing not only the idea but the overall image as well this in turn let us see the product with different ideas being displayed
We both made our 3 band ideas and together we both compared the good and the bad sides of both for example I had a idea for the market side of the band not to have the bands identity reviled to the public and for the whole product to be based on and around graphic designing we soon realised this would not be possible with the budget or with the time span we had
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Evaluation of Contribution
Monday 7 September 2009
Sunday 6 September 2009
Evaluation of Contribution
Wednesday 2 September 2009
Music Video Notes
* To make the song more interesting
* Advertise the artists and market their songs (make money)
* Create or re-create an artists’ image
* Get other people in their videos to boost their image.
* Some people don’t listen to radio
* To get in on the viral marketing craze (youtube is fun!)
Different Types of Music Videos
* Give meaning to the lyrics (Michael Jackson).
* Follows conventional storyline or storyline is the same as the lyrics (Narrative Videos).
* Abstract - doesn’t feature artist or has no bearing on the song (Dance Videos).
* Promote a particular image of an artist (Any X-Factor contestant).
* Technical - to show off a new technical style (A-ha – Take on Me).
Conventions of Music Videos
* Synchronised editing or action
* Off beat editing
* Short shot length
* Heavy use of tracking dollies/gliding camera angles
* Intertextuality
Music Videos List to Watch
Artist and Song | Features | Why should you watch it? |
Blondie - Maria | Security cameras, night-visions, shots through videos | Because it works for voyeurism and shows techniques masking an older singers age |
Darkness – I believe in a thing called love | Futuristic, cheesy, heavily costumed, deliberately poor parody of B movie | The style of the video reflects the style of the music, the band the Darkness is a parody of Glam/Stadium Rock circa late 70s |
The Killers – Mr Brightside | Costumes, dancing, rhythmic cuts, a narrative, effective lip-sync | The mise en scene! And because trying to work out the narrative leaves you thinking and the band being both performers and in the narrative |
Streets – Fit but don’t you know it | a narrative, unusual editing, twist on voyeurism, | For the great editing which not only links with the lyrics but also has a narrative – appeals to the typical audience |
Bon Jovi – It’s My Life | Not going to tell you | I counted 20 techniques in this video, see how many you get. |
Arashi – We Can Make it | Dancing, editing, limited mise-en-scene, total band image, costume, long takes | Because the Japanese practically invented band image are having songs in different language make you focus on the video techniques. |
Ian Van Dahl - Castles in the Sky | Rhythmic cuts, voyeurism, artist anonymity, dancing, futuristic, fragile objects being destroyed, sexy women, chase | Because it’s a typical dance video (as a comparison watch Sash – Stay or Mysterious Times) and employs a lot of the typical techniques (such as a pursuit) |
Girls Aloud – Sound of the Underground | Cuts between girls posing and performing, musical instruments, costume, voyeurism (sexy), | “We’re multi-talented, honest!” – a typical girl video showcasing their talents. |
Apocalyptica – Life Burns | Fire, musical instruments, changes in focus, black, special effects, destruction – ARTIST IMAGE | Baby’s First Rock Video. It pretty much ticks every single box from the mankind causing destruction to the artists thrashing the rubbish out of their instruments. |
Black Eyed Peas – Where is the Love? | Pursuit, news report style, hand held camera, question mark motif, the security-style mise en scene, a narrative of sorts, children doing the singing | Both it’s unusual for an RnB video in that it isn’t about material goods or violence – also very big on singing to the camera |
The Fray – How to save a Life | | because there are two versions and it’s worth comparing. |
Mika – We Are Golden | Cuts, total chaotic mise en scene – various editing styles used such as reverse shots and slo-mo, not totally linked to vocals – ARTIST IMAGE | because it is not a narrative video and it is visually interesting to watch – it also is aimed at the 18-30 market who would recognise some of the visual clues. |