AS1: Task 4 - Understand the techniques of music videos

The Pretender by Foo Fighters.

The process I went through to create the animatic.

The first thing I did to begin to create the animatic was creating a a storyboard. Before I used the story board I watched the video to have a basic idea of what the video would be like and how I will maintain my timing. To begin with, in every 0.00 seconds - 0.45 seconds I had to draw onto my storyboard the different shots I saw. This was done so that I would get the exact movement of the music video and when my story board were to be complete, it would be the exact image. Once it was complete, in total I had 28 shots which included repeated shots, different shots with different angles, and also positioning.

What have I learned about the shot variety needed when shooting a performance.

When doing this process, I realised that a 4/5 minute music video includes lots of different shot types and movements and drawing the pictures every second made me realise this because of the amount of movement included in the music video. Overall, there is not anything extra included in the music video, it is only and massive empty room, the band and the equipment that they use for the video; such as the drum kits, the speakers, the guitars and the microphones. As I was editing the music video, I came across to a lot of shots such as: 

- Close ups 

- Mid low shots

- Mid close

- Establishing shots 

- Low angles

- Long shots

If you notice, in the video these shots are used more than once. This is done so that the entire video is focused on the band and every action they do and because the music genre is rock, the camera movements are very rapid showing plenty of details of the face and their hands movements. In addition to that, the camera doesn't just move with speed, it moves according to the beat. We see this just before when the lead singer starts to sing and the shots are cut to the beat. This type of editing is effective as well as meaningful to the audience. I say meaningful because the audience would want to move according to the beat of the song and sometimes seeing the same kind of movement in the music video can involve the audience more. Also editing at the pace of the music video requires a lot of focus and accuracy which is something I have particularly learnt during this process. 

AS1: Task 3 - Understand the techniques of music videos

Understand the techniques of music videos 

1) To begin my editing to the beat video, I uploaded all the separate clips of the music video including the sound.  

 

2) I began adding the clips and the music onto the timeline. I firstly added the music onto where it says 'Audio 1' then clicked the padlock to lock it on the timeline. After that was done, bit by bit, I began to match up the clips with the music as I went along.

 

3) As I was editing the clips, there were black bits in them that needed to be cut out which made it very difficult because the black bits would only appear for 3 or 4 seconds, so it was hard to cut it out perfectly. 

 4) After the entire video was completely edited, I wanted to add some effects onto it. To do this I clicked effects as you can see above, and underneath were a variety of folders that had different effects. The first effect I used was the Cube Spin and to get it onto the clip I wanted I dragged it on top of it. in the beginning of my music video where the animals are driving in their car.

5) My second effect that I included was a Lightning effect and dragged it again onto the clip that I wanted. I used this effect in the clip where the animals were doing a dance routine together.

 

6) If I felt like anything needed to be adjusted I would click on Effects Controls and more video effects would drop down for the clip that I want to edit. I didn't edit my video effects any more because I felt like they were fine the way they were. 

7) I re-watched my music video to see if there were any mistakes that could be corrected. 

8) To unlock the music audio I clicked in the square box.

9) Finally I had completed my editing to the beat video. This is a full screen shot of the completed video.

 

My complete music video

My video proves that it is successful because I have instantly included all the technical elements that is needed in a normal music video. Cut to best, special effects and split screen are all included in these elements.

• cut to beat

• add special effects

• use split screen 

Post the finished video on to your blog and then write an analysis of how successful you have been in using each of the techniques listed above.

AS1: Task 2 - Understand the styles and conventions of music videos

Understand the styles and conventions of music videos

Andrew Goodwin:

Music theorist Andrew Goodwin, wrote a book in 1992 called 'Dancing in the distraction factory'.  Andrew Goodwin  has six conventions key conventions such as the different forms of music video.

1) Genre Characteristics: This is where the different genres of music use different key conventions in their videos. For example, in "Rihanna - We found Love" Rihanna's genre is partly Pop and Dance which is this song's genre too. So there is a link between the music and the visual.

  

A) Another example is a girl band 'Girls Aloud'. Here are six screen grab images from their music video 'Can't Speak French' and some screen shots form their other videos to show how their style compared to The Foo Fighters is different. As you can see the major difference between both genres is the way how they dress and the way how the video is presented. In every music video Girls Aloud they are all wearing matching dresses and do a lot of dance routines as it is the most common thing to do in a girl band.

 

B) However, The Foo Fighters stick to playing their guitars, drums and their singing. As their genre is Rock their videos are very fast paced and dark too, so even though they are both bands their conventions are different. In their music video 'The Pretender', I have taken some screen shots from it to show this. I have also taken some shots of their other videos to display the different kind of conventions these two genres have.

2) Relation of lyrics/music to the visuals: This is usually where the name of the music video is used in the lyrics. For instance a great example of this is Rihanna - Shut up and Drive, and the main lyrics of the song is 'shut up and drive'. In the video there are also cars surrounded by her and the people in the video.



3)  Relationship between music and visuals: The relationship between the music and visuals is where the video is effected by the style and tempo of the music. In Beyonce - Halo, her video contains lighting that is very soft and looks very white so it can match with a heavenly look as the name of the song is named 'Halo'. Also the camera shots are very slow and gentle as well.




4) Develop a style: Andrew Goodwin's fourth convention is usually the record label demanding close ups of the artist as they are trying to promote them. These close ups are used to create a visual style / image. Lady Gaga for instance always has close camera shots because her work wear is the centre of attention throughout her work. Another example is Katy Perry as she is very extravagant with how she presents herself and her videos.

 

[Here are some screen shots from Katy Perry's video E.T]

                                      

5) Frequent of motion and looking: In a music video everything will be angled towards the artist normally drawing their eyes. The artist will usually wear costumes that'll attract the audience mainly because the whole idea for it is to create sex appeal. A good example of this is Nicki Minaj - Starships. In the video she wears outfits that exposes a lot of her body as she purposely wants the visuals to notice it and have mixed emotions about it.

6) Intertextual references: This is the final convention which states that the music video will include media products such as film, or music videos such as Tv programmes. In Eminem's ' 'Guess who's back' he has various interpretations of Elvis and BinLadin. His videos were comedy based and so when he interpretated these two individuals, he turned something very factual and serious into a fun joke which was entertaining for the public and probably still is. 

AS1: Task 1 - the purpose of a music video

The purpose of a music video

Over the years, music videos have developed dramatically. The style of editing them and the quality of how the videos are shown from back then up until today. The huge music band such as the Beatles were very massive in the 1960's and were the only big attraction at that time for music. The Beatles became very popular and were expected to be at different countries where their music made a big hit, so going to these different countries in such a short matter of time would have been impossible. So, because of that they created a music video but very different from how us today know music videos are produced.

Availability of the Artist

 In 1964, The Beatles starred in their first feature film 'A Hard Day's Night', directed by Richard Lester and a year later in 1965, promotional clips for distribution and broadcast in other countries. The Beatles did this to enable them to promote their record releases without having to make in-person appearences as I explained in my introduction. 

Only after the success of Queen's "Bohemean Rhapsody" that it became regular practice for record companies to produce promotional videos for artists' single releases. These videos could then be shown on TV shows such as "Top of the Pops", without the need for the artist to appear in person.

 

Before promo video's became popular if the artist was unavailable they would have their music broadcast and accompanied rather than dancers such as Pan's people. Brian May the singer and songwriter stated that the video was produced:

A) So the band could avoid miming.

B) As they were unable to appear on the programme every week as they were scheduled to appear on tour (it was number 1 for 9 weeks).

Promotional

Music videos quickly became a key promotional tool for the artists and for some time this was there main function. Fundamentally, a music video is an advertisement. This is also designed to draw attention to the music and illustrate the song. This method of music video appeals to the audience, and makes it more interesting for them to watch. 

Creating a Brand

Artists and groups are sold as a brand and the music video acts as a product of the brand, in the hope that the audience will be inspired to "buy into the brand". They often do this through the "Misen-scene" and extended the "look" of the video into the rest of their lives. 

The artist aim to have a consistent "image" across a range of platforms, music video, websites, CD covers, etc. Also, for some artists the 'image' is of greater importance than an example of this are the spice girls as they each had their own identity. There was Scary spice, sporty spice, posh spice, ginger spice and Baby spice. Each member had their own identity so there wasn't really just one main person that could be liked in the group but all of them had their own individual identity, easy to become a favourite. 

Extension of income

Music videos provide great opportunities to increase income. By the audience watching the video this encourages them to purchase a number of items; singles, albums, merchandise such as t-shirts, wristbands and more. 

The advantage of this is that it raises the profile of the artist/group and this encourages audiences to attend tours and/or festivals. It can be an opportunity for 'product placement' eg. Christina Anguillera & perfume, song - Not Myself Tonight. 

Another example is "Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me". Compared to Christine Anguillera's video Britney Spears shows her perfume more clearly as the perfume is shown straight away in the beginning of the music video.

The music video allows the artist to extend the outlets, for example:

- Music Channel
- Website
- You Tube
- Smart Phones

Each of these increases the possibility of the audience becoming a fan as it is shown anywhere and everywhere. Not every video shown will be loved by the audience it could be hated more than and so this could easily be remembered by people for whatever personal reason.

Synergy

What is Synergy?

Synergy is what happens when two media product work together to mutually benefit each other. An example of this is a song by Adele 'Skyfall'.

Pros

In this video we see that the film SkyFall uses Adele as she is a huge singer that can make songs that is easily liked by the public. Adele benefits from the video because there may be people who have always been a fan of 007 and would want to find out who sang a great song that matches with this great film which is how the film promotes Adele. So both benefit from each other. The music video for the film purely sticks to the whole purpose of the video, Adele is not shown in the video only clips from the film and it does make the audience want to watch the video because the audience would be tempted to know how interesting the film may be. By Adele's voice only being heard is the thing that aids her popularity for those who may not have known her before. 

Cons

The disadvantage of this are for the people who have not watched Skyfall before. The audience may not appreciate the fact that the video had to be a music video so regardless, this will be seen a number of times on YouTube, Music Channels and other outlets. Furthermore, the fans of Adele may have wanted to see more of her in the music video, making her whole image seem forgettable and not worth remembering and so this will cause a loss of interest in the singer which could bring a downfall to her career.

Major record labels

The music industry is dominated by four multi national corporations such as:

- Universal
- Sony music
- Warner Brothers
- EMI

These corporation are referred to as 'The Majors". The majority of these are backed by conglomerates with stakes in other industries such as; Film, TV, and Electronics.

Major labels strategies - VEVO 

The purpose for major labels are direct as they provide a strong online presence and openly allows them to make as much profit through advertising. For instance an online platform like VEVO where it  is owned and operated by the Universal Music Group, Google, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media. It was first launched in December 2009, the company makes profits by advertising that plays before each music video. 

Independents 

On the other hand, there are other small companies that have very little financial connection to the majors. Companies which fall into this category essence on a small number of acts, within specialised  niches in the industry, HipHop/Rap/Electronica/Dance. These are known as 'independents' a successful independent is 'Wrap Records'.