After making a shortlist of songs we thought of creating a music video for (as you can see in the previous post), as a group we decided to choose the video we thought would show our camera and editing skills to their full potential. We decided on Alex Clare's Too Close as we liked the pace of the song, we were sure we wanted a song by a male solo artist and felt that we could create a visually creative piece.
Sunday 30 September 2012
Reflecting on practice music video in AS
Though I do not have the video at hand at the moment, I wanted to take a moment out to discuss my strengths and weaknesses when doing that particular task. Before the A2 year, we had to make a video for a song- in our case, Down with the Trumpets by Rizzle Kicks. We were taught about basetracks and the importance of them, as well as how to lip sync and use markers on Final Cut.
Strengths-
-I picked up on how to use the marker tool to mark the times when I would need a new track to come in or where to cut one.
-From our video, the camera work was quite good and steady.
Weaknesses-
-We did not plan properly, resulting in us not having our video saved in time to put up on the blog.
-Some of the lip syncing was off due to us not timing the music properly or the artist not remembering his lyrics.
Strengths-
-I picked up on how to use the marker tool to mark the times when I would need a new track to come in or where to cut one.
-From our video, the camera work was quite good and steady.
Weaknesses-
-We did not plan properly, resulting in us not having our video saved in time to put up on the blog.
-Some of the lip syncing was off due to us not timing the music properly or the artist not remembering his lyrics.
Saturday 29 September 2012
Andrew Goodwin theory of music
Andrew Goodwin (1993) the most prominent
theorist of music videos, argues that traditional narrative analysis do not
really apply to rap or pop music videos, videos such as drake and rihanna “take
care “do not really tell a story in their music video, but are just there to
entertain us with the use of bizarre colours as well as repeating the main
chorus of the song making memorable to the audience. Goodwin argues the main
reasons why pop music videos are trying to “avante garde” is because they are
trying to approach a narrative structure from a different point of view unlike the films of today. There are
three main reasons why there are different narrative structures they are as
follows;
1. 1. Pop music videos are built around songs; as a
result they do not pose a narrative structure. The music videos that were
successful at doing this really had big budgets such as Michael Jackson”
thriller”.
2. 2. Pop music videos use the singer for more that
one reason, so they can not only sing the song but also be the narrator (tell
the story to the audience) and also be a character within the video itself.
3. 3. The singer often looks at the camera trying to
suck us in making us fell as if the singer is singing directly to us, it grabs
the audience’s attention, very persuasive indeed
Allot of pop videos tend to repeat images
videos like rihanna “we found love” they repeat places that are seen by them as
being hopeless such as the repetition of a dingy degraded bathroom or a derelict
street.
When
songs tend to repeat scenes or even the beats, we as the audience become more
familiar with the type of genre that the artist sings for whether it rap or
rock etc. The song could be repeated in many ways as we are so developed in a
post modern society the use of technology for music videos has advance we could
hear it on the radio, or the intent even on TV making it even more memorable
towards the audience.
Music
videos tend to be autonomous as in you have the power to do your own things
such as lady gaga has the power because of her fame and status, she could on
stage swing on a rope and sing at the same time , the visualisation of the song
may go beyond the original meaning. If we look at music videos such as Linkin
park that provide us with a visual pleasure, in a way it promotes itself in
more memorable way. Music could be used as a tool to help advertise other
commodities such as films; we've seen Linkin Park do it for the transformers
trilogy
Linkin park -new divide
Linkin park -new divide
Goodwin argues
that there are three different relations between songs and videos such as
Illustration
This is when the video tells the story of the
lyrics; dance is often used to express feelings and moods towards the audience.
An example of this will be
Mac Miller - America (Ft. Casey Veggies)
This song is definitely an illustration
because when he is rapping we can see him acting it out as well as showing the american flag and background.
Amplification
This is when the video has a new meaning that
does not conflict with the lyrics but adds a new layer of meaning towards the
music video
This is slightly a difficult one as the song
is about how people hide their tortures but the lyrics expresses it in a deeper
way it goes into to depth.
Disjuncture
This is when there is a little
connection between the lyrics and music video, in other words the lyrics
contradict what the video is telling us as a narrator.
Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror (Original Clip)
This is a
disjuncture as the lyrics (song) is about self- realisation but the video is
showing world events and people that have died for the good.
Carol Vernalis’s theory on music
—
Michael Jackson smooth criminal—!.
Here is a music video that follows carols theory.—Michael Jackson smooth criminal— uses a range of editing to make the
video seem more continuant to the audience such as cross cuts and match cuts.Its almost like watching a thriller as their is suspense within the video that Michael creates with his dance moves.
Music video shortlist.
After listening to various songs from different genres, we came up with a shortlist of songs we liked that could be our possible choice to make a music video for. From that we will choose the song. These are a few songs we liked and thought about basing our music video on:
As a group chose Too Close by Alex Clare because we liked the genre (alternative rock) of the song. We felt the lyrics were very clear and easily memorable, which would make editing and lip syncing easier and more precise. We knew we wanted a male lead so we focused on male artists and boy bands. The pace of the song is quite fast in some parts and slow in others, which was good as we felt we could add a narrative to the video and tell some sort of story. We would be able to do a range of different edits on our video to this song and show our editing skills.
Alex Clare- Too close
We put this song in our shortlist because the lyrics tell a very strong narrative which would make the video more interesting and visually pleasing to the audience. The song was also set in the streets of London meaning it's more practical as we're in London too. The group came up with lots of ideas for this video rather than others we've seen- so this became a strong candidate in which song to create a video for.
Just Jack- The day I died.
This song by Coldplay is very upbeat and faced paced. We felt this would be a good song to make a video for as it would show off our editing skills. However, we felt it would be more time consuming as the faster the pace of the song, the more editing and base tracks we would need to do. We also felt it would be better to choose a song with a male vocal or solo artist as it would be more practical for us.
Coldplay- every teardrop is a waterfall
We chose this song mainly because of the male lead. We felt the video would be fairly simple, with camera work being the main contributor to the video.
Ed Sheeran- Lego House
She's so lovely by Scouting for Girls was our last option. We've kept it as a backup just incase all else fails. This is because we felt the narrative of the song was fairly complicated and not straightforward like the other songs. Also, we worked out that we'd need more props and people to place in the shots which would be harder to do as we can't rely on others from outside the group. The pace of the song is also very fast, which would mean we'd have to show more images and base tracks in the video; this would take much longer to edit.
Scouting for girls- She's so lovely
As a group chose Too Close by Alex Clare because we liked the genre (alternative rock) of the song. We felt the lyrics were very clear and easily memorable, which would make editing and lip syncing easier and more precise. We knew we wanted a male lead so we focused on male artists and boy bands. The pace of the song is quite fast in some parts and slow in others, which was good as we felt we could add a narrative to the video and tell some sort of story. We would be able to do a range of different edits on our video to this song and show our editing skills.
Alex Clare- Too close
We put this song in our shortlist because the lyrics tell a very strong narrative which would make the video more interesting and visually pleasing to the audience. The song was also set in the streets of London meaning it's more practical as we're in London too. The group came up with lots of ideas for this video rather than others we've seen- so this became a strong candidate in which song to create a video for.
Just Jack- The day I died.
This song by Coldplay is very upbeat and faced paced. We felt this would be a good song to make a video for as it would show off our editing skills. However, we felt it would be more time consuming as the faster the pace of the song, the more editing and base tracks we would need to do. We also felt it would be better to choose a song with a male vocal or solo artist as it would be more practical for us.
Coldplay- every teardrop is a waterfall
We chose this song mainly because of the male lead. We felt the video would be fairly simple, with camera work being the main contributor to the video.
Ed Sheeran- Lego House
She's so lovely by Scouting for Girls was our last option. We've kept it as a backup just incase all else fails. This is because we felt the narrative of the song was fairly complicated and not straightforward like the other songs. Also, we worked out that we'd need more props and people to place in the shots which would be harder to do as we can't rely on others from outside the group. The pace of the song is also very fast, which would mean we'd have to show more images and base tracks in the video; this would take much longer to edit.
Scouting for girls- She's so lovely
Copyright clearance.
We found that Alex Clare wasn't signed to a record label at the moment so our alternative was to post directly onto his Facebook page in the hope he'd get back to us. We did this with the other artists too.
 |
Analysis of a music video
One of my favourite music video is Beyonce - If I were a boy because of the fact it tells a story. It gets your full attention because of how the music video is contructed, the fact that this music video tells a story throughout you emotionally connect with the song, as if you were going through the same exact experience.
This video is also has special effect, this music video is in black and white, this potrays the artists emotion is the video as it doesn't need colour to show the full potention. In addition it attracts the audience more as it makes it more intriguing.
Function of a music video
The function of a music video is to promote the artist and their single, to see the musicians in a different way, because without musicians there is no way to preserve the music. It can also be a way to get our emotions more involved by visualing it. It can also tell the story of the artist better, and sometimes make the audience like the song itself better. There is many many different kind of music videos nowadays, as there is now a massive variety of artists.
An example of this is;
Kanye West - All falls down
This video potrays Kanye West as an artist who is lost and trying to find his way, the lyrics tell a story of what type of person he is, for example "We're all self consious, I'm just the first one to admit it" This shows that he ain't afraid to tell the world who he is and what he is about.
Andrew Goodwin
Andrew Goodwin identifies different aspects in music video's nowadays, the beat of the music, the narrative and performance, the image of the star, visualisation of the song to the audience and the technical aspects of the music video.
He says that the music videos are usually constructed by the links between the visual and the artist themselves. He believes that music video tells a story, a music video that supports his theory is Beyonce - Best thing I never had
Another music video that supports Andrew Goodwin's theory is Leona Lewis - Happy
Carol Vernallis
Carol Vernallis's theory is about the way a music video is constructed, the narrative, editing, camera movements and diegesis. She says that the video is a visual response to the music and the editing either matches the musical phrases or the beat, she says that this is all done to get the viewers full attention.This is more frequent is today's music video, rather than back then.
A music video that supports Carol Vernallis's theory is Mr Hudson ft Kanye West - Supernova
Another music video that supports the theory is Kanye West - Golddigga, this video is a clear example of how the edit matches the beat.
Summary of the state of the music industry in 2012
The mental outlook of the music industry in 2012
varies in many ways compared to previous years such as 2009 and 2010 where
there was not much difference, Traditionally a music video is structured into
two aspects, these aspects have the same functions but are opposite in terms of
their size. They are
1. 1. Mainstream (the
most financially successful) firm in the music industry, they are large
organisations that saturates the market; they take up the whole market. Without
the mainstreams the music industry wouldn't be an industry at all. It’s
all about revenue and how much profit is going to be made. Mainstreams are
known for having high production values they are very expensive forms of
promotional media. Mainstreams are also known as being the “Majors” of the music
industry and could be compared to a conglomerate (group of diverse companies
under one common ownership).
2. 2. Independent
record labels –they are smaller than the mainstream organisations, however they
deal with very specific genres to meet its “niche audience”.
Record labels own the music industries as a result
the artists may feel that they are losing allot of profit but they do get money
from promotional records such as tours. In 1970s to late 1970s we had the big 6
which were six major companies that own the music industry. However as of 2012
the big 6 was now the big 3 they are warner, Sony and universal music groups,
universal is the process of buying out another company for example universal
music group wants to buy out EMT, if they do proceed to buy out EMT then this
could result in the market monopolising. It will cost universal music groups
approximately around £1.9 billion to buy out EMT; the only way they could buy
this company is by selling one of their record labels such as Coldplay which is
very risky.
Billy Corgan argues that "there is nothing wrong with manufactured music,
however some music videos do not embrace the values of “DIY culture”.
since 2012 has not reached the end yet, its best to
rationalise my point of view and others in terms of the state of the music
industry as of now (September) as things could change for the worse or for the
better in the months to come.2012 has been a OK year so far for the
music industry with new hits and number one singles from Linkin Park to
platinum sold records from artists such as Chris brown and Justin Bieber.
 |
| Chris brown |
 |
| Linkin Park |
 |
| Justin Bieber |
However the question still lingers in the atmosphere, are we buying less or downloading more? The truth is really all just to do with technology and how the world has advanced itself (modernise) into such a way we as teenagers and adults are able to use technologies such as a computer or laptop and just simply download for free. As of 2012 there have been many negative situations such as falling sales and falling profit margins because of the use of illegal downloading and downloading in general. From 2008 to 2010 sales dropped over £100 million. Statistics report that:
In 2010- sales were 319 million
In 2009-sales were 366 million
In 2008- sales were 428 million multiply 2008 figure
by ten it is clearly allot of money being lost as of now.
The use of CD’s to sell music has decreased due to
the fact that there has been a changed in consumers behaviour, there are about
67 illegal downloads in the UK ,figures for 2012 show that there are about 1.2
billion downloads in 2012 so far.
 |
| Notice that there is a slight increases in the amount of music being sold from 2007 to 2008 despite having a constant increase from 2001 to 2006.This is a contradiction as in 2008 we had the recession, surly there should not be an increase in demand!. |
Ownerships
The music industry has really changed within the last decade, through Production, Distribution and Exchange. Back then the process of making music, how the music gets to people and what changes hands between the people who own the music was mostly the record label.
In the 90's there was the big 6 ownership, it reduced in the late 90's where there was only the big 5 and in 2004 there was only 4 big ownerships left, they were, Universal, Sony, EMI and Warner. However between that time and now, it's not the big record labels who makes all the decision. In the Production, now the artist are a big part of the process of the making.
Social Networks, Youtube, Festivals/Concerts/ Pod Casts are some of many ways the music is distributed. Finally Itunes, the artists, Youtube are some things that changes hands between the people and the music.
Summary of the state of the music industry in 2012
The mental outlook of the music industry in 2012
varies in many ways compared to previous years such as 2009 and 2010 where
there was not much difference, Traditionally a music video is structured into
two aspects, these aspects have the same functions but are opposite in terms of
the size. They are
1. 1. Mainstream (the
most financially successful) firm in the music industry, they are large
organisations that saturates the market; they take up the whole market. Without
the mainstreams then the music industry wouldn't be an industry at all. It’s
all about revenue and how much profit is going to be made. Mainstreams are
known for having high production values they are very expensive forms of
promotional media. Mainstreams are also known as being the “Majors” of the music
industry and could be compared to a conglomerate (group of diverse companies
under one common ownership).
2. 2. Independent
record labels –they are smaller than the mainstream organisations, however they
deal with very specific genres to meet its “niche audience”.
Record labels own the music industries as a result
the artists may feel that they are losing allot of profit but they do get money
from promotional records such as tours. In 1970s to late 1970s we had the big 6
which were six major companies that own the music industry. However as of 2012
the big 6 was now the big 3 they are warner, Sony and universal music groups,
universal is the process of buying out another company for example universal
music group wants to buy out EMT, if they do proceed to buy out EMT then this
could result in the market monopolising. It will cost universal music groups
approximately around £1.9 billion to buy out EMT; the only way they could buy
this company is by selling one of their record labels such as Coldplay which is
very risky.
Billy Corgan argues that "there is nothing wrong with manufactured music,
however some music videos do not embrace the values of “DIY culture”
since 2012 has not reached the end yet, its best to
rationalise my point of view and others in terms of the state of the music
industry as of now (September) as things could change for the worse or for the
better in the months to come.2012 has been a really good year so far for the
music industry with new hits and number one singles from Linkin Park to
platinum sold records from artists such as Chris brown and Justin Bieber.
However the question still lingers in the atmosphere, are we buying less or downloading more? The truth is really all just to do with technology and how the world has advanced itself (modernise) into such a way we as teenagers and adults are able to use technologies such as a computer or laptop and just simply download for free. As of 2012 there have been many negative situations such as falling sales and falling profit margins because of the use of illegal downloading and downloading in general. From 2008 to 2010 sales dropped over £100 million. Statistics report that:
In 2010- sales were 319 million
In 2009-sales were 366 million
In 2008- sales were 428 million multiply 2008 figure
by ten it is clearly allot of money being lost as of now.
The use of CD’s to sell music has decreased due to
the fact that there has been a changed in consumers behaviour, there are about
67 illegal downloads in the UK ,figures for 2012 show that there are about 1.2
billion downloads in 2012 so far.
|
| Notice that there is a slight increases in the amount of music being sold from 2007 to 2008 despite having a constant increase from 2001 to 2006.This is a contradiction as in 2008 we had the recession, surly there should not be an increase in demand!. |
Laura Mulvey
Laura Mulvey's theory on representation is that she believed in 'The Male Gaze' She believes in the conception that women are not seen in the same way as men, she argues that the women's role is passive, whislt the men are the controlling subject. Women are to be looked at and is just an object or desire, especially in most music videos where women are seen as props.
A music video that supports her theory is Dizzee Rascal - Holiday
This music video shows lots of girls and 4 men, the
ratio probably being 50-1 to girls, moreover all the girls in that video are in
bikini's (hardly any clothes on). This supports Laura Mulvey's theory because
the video implies that the women are there to be seen at, hence the clothing.
In addition to that, the lyrics suggest that women are easily brought,
supporting the theory as women not being seen in the same way as men.
A music video that argues with her theory is Ciara
- Like a boy
This music video goes against her theory because
Ciara is dressed as a boy, acts like a boy and isn't seen as passive but
dominant. The lyrics also implies that women should be more like men, for
example..
'Ladies, I think it's time to switch roles'
This suggests she knows that she wants the males to
see how women are seen from an outside point of view.
Music Industry
Summary
of the state of the music industry in 2012
The mental outlook of the music industry in 2012
varies in many ways compared to previous years such as 2009 and 2010 where
there was not much difference, Traditionally a music video is structured into
two aspects, these aspects have the same functions but are opposite in terms of
the size. They are
1. Mainstream (the most financially successful) firm in the music industry, they are large organisations that saturates the market; they take up the whole market. Without the mainstreams then the music industry wouldn’t be an industry at all. It’s all about revenue and how much profit is going to be made. Mainstreams are known for having high production values they are very expensive forms of promotional media. Mainstreams are also known as being the “Majors” of the music industry and could be compared to a conglomerate (group of diverse companies under one common ownership).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)