Thursday 15 December 2011

Ideas for Album Cover

As a group we decided that we wanted to incorporate the idea of having the main part of our front cover as an idea from the video itself. This is the reason we have chosen to add in the images of the balloons as this is a main theme of the video and will help viewers to make a correlation between video and album.

The one below is an idea that I thought of personally which is how someone can have different personalities within themselves which make them who they are, hence the reason i made the face from different pieces of people's skin and different eyes, noses, and mouths. I wanted to keep some of the same elements of the video so that is why I added the images of the balloons and cake. 



The idea below was by Ashley she thought we could have the name of the album in bold with images from the video placed inside so it would give an insight to the video before actually being able to view it. 



The idea below is again one of Ashley's ideas she thought we could incorporate our idea of bringing people together by including images of different people in different squares on the top of the CD cover. Then she thought we could include images of our footage on the bottom part of the CD, with the text of the album name and artist below. This is a way of again linking the video to the cover. 




The CD cover below is another one of Ashley's ideas. She noticed that the letters can be used to fit together so she used the font that Calvin Harris has previously used in his own covers so there is a link there. Also she incorporated the idea of the balloons that we use in our video. 


The below test CD cover is one I personally don't think works for our music video as it has no correlation with our video. We just created it as it looked quite effective but I think a lot of our other ideas would work better with what we are trying to put across.


Advert Analysis

Digipak Analysis

Digipak Analysis

Digipak Analysis

Digipak Analysis

Digipak Analysis

CD Cover Analysis

CD Cover Analysis

CD Cover Analysis

CD Cover Analysis


Ideas

As the group are focusing on the CD album as well as the filming, I came up with an idea for the album cover. The idea was to put masking tape on a white wall and flick loads of different coloured paint on the wall so that when the masking tape is taken off,  you can see 'feels so close' outlined in paint. As I am decorating my room, we decided that it was a good idea to do it at my house one week in the christmas holidays. As this idea was talked about, we thought it would be a good idea to have the painted 'feels so close' at the end of our music video, fading out as the music fades.
It should create this effect...
l.jpg

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Black Eyed Peas Album Analysis















Week Ten Meeting

This week we have mainly been focusing on the album cover design and also creating a rough copy of our music video ready for our Thursday's lesson where we can show our progress and then get feedback. I think it's very important for our group to get feedback as we can make things better and also get more ideas from our target audience, which is 15-18.
We haven't yet finished filming because we are struggling to find a boy that would be in our video. But after our meeting today we have brought some other idea's forward to try out so it will fill in the gaps that are missing. The idea that we had is to have a paint fight and also flick paint at a blank wall that will spell out 'Feel So Close' which is the title of our song.
We plan to film this over the christmas holidays at Ashlee's House as she is decorating her room and would be a good opportunity. We will use what we film for the album cover and also for the end of our music video.

Inspirations


Rihanna's video 'We Found Love' has given us lots of inspiration and ideas that we could use in our music video. As the music speeds up we see quick random shot's of traffic in the dark, people walking, fireworks being set of and eye balls moving. So we decide to go for a similar thing. In our chosen song 'Feel So Close' the music speeds up the same way as it does in Rihanna's video. This mean we was able to do the same sort of effect, which is random shots of different things with very quick cuts.



Tuesday 13 December 2011

Progress

Recently we have been working at a group to get most of our editing done for the rough cut of our video. Next week we are showing the class the rough cut of our video so we can get feedback from the other members in our class who are creating videos and we will also help them so everyone can improve on their ideas. This will be a great help for us and will hopefully improve our video vastly. We hope everyone is honest and gives us constructive criticism as this will help us in the making of our video.

Thursday 8 December 2011

Analysis of CD Advertisment

Filming 2- Wednesday 7th December

This was our second day of filming for our music video. We started early in the morning, around 9.00, went to school to get the equipment and then went back to Jessica's. At Jess' we used my ipad to film Jess and Chloe singing into the Ipad. Once we had captured the footage we went on a train to Brick Lane and found a graffiti wall to film in front of. Once we had found a suitable wall to film in front of, myself and freya were filmed with my ipad in front of our faces with Jess and Chloe's previous videos playing to create  a voyeuristic effect, screen within screen. Once this was filmed to our satisfaction, we got back on to the train and went to Westfields in Stratford. At Stratford, we found a bridge that had loads of people walking over. We filmed on the bridge and above the bridge in order to later on create the effect of people walking really fast. This will fit in well to one of the fast parts to our song. Now we only have a few more bits to shoot and we can edit all of our footage.

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Thursday 1 December 2011

First Day of Filming - Wednesday the 30th of November

We all met at Jessica's house at 10 o'clock, from here we went to Debden shops to buy all of the props that we need throughout the day. This included 24 balloons, a bouquet of flowers, selection of confetti and heart shaped sweets, a big selection of cakes and a bottle of champagne. Once we had all of these, we went  back to Jessica's house to prepare for filming. The first thing we shot was the close ups of our lips with different coloured lip stick. This went very well as once the camera was in position all we had to do was to make sure it was focused and then sing into the camera. We had an idea to have a cake fight so we decided to have shots of the lips but with cake around them. After this we wanted to take a shot of the balloons going up into the air. We had to make sure that we could see balloons as they went up, so we did a couple of test shots. Unfortunately because the sky was too light, the camera could not pick up the balloons as they went off in the distance, so we decided to wait until it was a bit darker to set the balloons off. For the line 'Your love pours down on me surround me like a waterfall' we wanted to have a waterfall effect. For this we had to use a clear shower screen and have Chloe behind, again we had some problems so we decided to do it a bit later on. In our story board, we had imagined a shot of heart sweets and confetti falling slowly which we tried to do but due to technological reasons, we could not use this shot. We then decided to use stop motion of the heart sweets and confetti making a heart shape and then the confetti sliding off the surface like a snake. This worked well, however, we may not use the stop motion snake, but this will be decided when we come to editing our footage. By this time, the sky was getting darker and the lighting of the sky was dark enough to set the balloons free. This was a success. We had bought flower which we wanted to make it look like a bride was throwing them. We talked about how we would do this when Jessica realised that we could use her mum's wedding dress. Ashley wore the dress so she was the one to throw the flowers. This went well as each time Ashley threw the flowers the same so we could shoot it from different angles. This is when the rain started which meant we could not do any more. We still wanted to do a close up of the flowers falling another time. It was now getting late and we were all very tired so we decided to do the last two shots and call it a day. Because of the type of shower we needed we decided to pack up at Jessica's and go to Freya's house. While Ashley helped Chloe get her make up and hair ready, Jessica and Freya tried to get the camera in the right place and sure the water poured right. This all went well and the lighting also made the shots look good. We then decided to run a bubble bath and take a couple of fun shots with the champage. From this, we actually got a few good shots we can use. The last thing we decided to shoot was the cake fight. We already had the cakes and Freya had a light in the back garden so the lighting wa not a problem. We put all the cakes on the floor and had a bottle of squirty cream each and started to throw them at each other. Chloe, who was filming, used some hand help shots and some on the tripod. This is so when we come to edidting we can use the different shot. After the cake fight we were all very dirty and tired so decided to pack up. We had now done alot of the shots we wanted to do and now we will have to arrange a day to shoot the rest.

Problems we Faced on our First Day of Filming

On our first day of filming there were a few problems to which we had to find solutions. Firstly we had problems with the focus on the shots of our lips when singing, but after a while we figured out how we could change the focus on the camera so that the close up shots were just as clear as the long shots. Freya was a big help to us during this time as she was the one who learnt how to use the camera.

The next problem we faced was the weather. The rain caused us to change our schedule, which was very difficult as the shots we had already filmed were in a specific light and if we waited any longer it would have been a different light so we had to reshoot all of the material in the different light.

Whilst we were waiting for the rain to clear we started to film the shots in the bathroom which involved the shower, but the line that separated the two pieces of glass in the shower was in the way of the shot which we felt ruined it. We decided to then go to Jess' dad's house to try the shower there but we also had the same problem. The last place we could try was Freya's house so we went there and the shower was perfect so we filmed these shots there. These changes of plan caused a lot of hassle for us as a group and it meant that we couldn't go up to Brick Lane to film the shots of the couple in front of the graffiti wall, or up to central London for the other shots.

We will be doing a second day of filming to get these parts done.

Also the shots that we planned to do with the sweets and heart shapes did not work as planned so we decided to change the shot.

The Day of Filming









Here are some photos of our first day of filming. In the morning of the 30th of November we went to Debden and bought all the props for the day of filming. We bought 24 helium balloons from the party shop to let of in the sky. This cost £24 for 24 balloon. Then we went to a flower shop and asked if they had any flowers that they were throwing away and were not needed anymore. They kindly gave us a bunch of red flowers to use for free. Next we went to Iceland and bought some cakes for the cake fight we were planning to film. We also bought a bottle of champagne that we thought we could pop and also film it. 
Once we were finished buying all our props we had to make 2 trips to get all the balloons home. When we got home we started filming our first scene. 

Tuesday 29 November 2011

Learning to use the camera

As we are filming tomorrow, I learnt how to use the camera. We went through how to set up the tripod to make sure it was level and stable. Then we were taught how to put the camera onto the tripod as we had to make sure it was facing the right way to film. We had used the tripods before so this part wasn't that hard it just refreshed our memories. The camera we used was different to the one we used last year so we had to learn all the basic skills and also how to make sure the white balance was correct. This was to make sure all the colours were as they should be. We did this by zooming into something white in the room and pressing correct. This then automatically sorted out the brightness of the colours. Now all of this was sorted we were all ready to go out filming tomorrow.

Roles

Ashley- Director and actor
Chloe- Director and actor
Freya- Cameraman and actor
Jess- Producer and actor

Week Nine Meeting


This is our final group meeting before we go out and start filming. As our group are using our own camera, we spent a short time going through how to work the camera so it would save time on going through it on the day of filming. As well as going through the camera, we spoke about the routine for the day of filming, when we are going to start, what we are going to need and at what location we will need to be at. Finally, we spoke about what needs to be finished before we start filming, such as things on the blog and to get them finished in this lesson.

Friday 25 November 2011

Call Sheet

Things We Need For Our First Day Of Filming

For the first scene of filming, we will need:

Location: Brick Lane graffiti wall
Actors: Jessica and Danny
Props/equipment: Camera, Tripod

For our second scene of filming, we will need:

Location: Jessica's house
Actors: Jess, Chloe, Ashley,Freya
Props/equipment: Balloons, ipad, Cake, Lipstick, Camera, Tripod

For our third scene of filming, we will need:

Location: Canary Wharf
Actors: People at the ice rink, Jess, Freya, Ashley and Chloe
Props/equipment: Camera, Tripod, Scarves, Gloves

Make Up

The make up that we use in our video is generally natural looking as we don't want it to look fake or too much. We also, do a section where the make up stands out and is the main attraction of the shot. For example, for the first chorus we are using an extreme close up of four peoples lips with different coloured lip stick. This shot will be in black and white apart from the lips.



Wednesday 30th November- First Day of Filming


From MTV to YouTube Trip

As a class we went to Brick Lane to a place called RichMix. We listened to the head of the examining board talk about music videos which would hopefully help us in our coursework.

History of Music - Music Videos
A music video last the lenth of the song (sometimes longer)
Normally it will feature the artist in the video
They can sometimes tell stories
Music videos need to have an impact on the audience to make them watch is again.

The first time music videos were experimented with was in the 1930's
This was the colour box, Len Lye created which turned out to be sponsored by the Post Office. The music was being shown throught the videos. Most of the images Lye ued were scracted onto plastics.

In the 1940's music videos were developed. The video juke box was created which meantas songs were being played, the juke box would also show a promotional film. 4000 of were installed round the united states. Many people thought that some of the films being shown were 'too sexy' to be shown. Nat King Coles promotional video shown performance and also a male gaze where the camera tilted up the woman. this video also showed screen in screen visuals which was very advanced editing.

The 1960's brought a new development in the video jukebox which was the new colour image on it. this was called the scopitone. most of these were created in France. there was a very low budget in making music videos but with the new colour screen, real promotional videos started to get made by big artist like Elvis Presley and the Beatles. The Beatles video was taken from a film but camera tricks like slow motion and fast motion were used.

Music videos really started to take off in the 1970's and the 1980's after Queens - Bohemian Rhapsody took of and people relised that making these videos could make some money. shortly after MTV was made wich showed ownly british artist for the first 2 years.

The first music video to be shown on MTV was Video Killed the Radio Star, and soon after people like Madness with there vidoe our house. Madonna was the first female artist to be shown and Micheal Jackson was the first black man to be shown on MTV. After people started to love Jackson, people realised that there was money to be made in black music. and now today people like 50 Cent and Jay-Z are very well respected.

we then went over Andrew Goodwins Theory which had already covered in class. he then gave us Ten Top Tips on how to do well in the exam.


0. Limber Up:
1. Choose a track
2. Write a treatment (Pitch) 
3. Plan for everything
4. Set up a Blog
5. Know the equipment
6. The shoot
7. Capture your footage
8. The edit
9. Screening
10. Analysis

Thursday 24 November 2011

Media trip notes

On Wednesday 16th of November, my media class and I went on a trip to Rickmix Education in Brick Lane. Once we arrived, we were ushered ino a theatre room where we were then seated. We were welcomed by Thalia Cassimatis, the Rickmix Education Officer. She then introducted Pete Fraser, who was presenting our morning session. Here is what was included in the morning session:

What is a music video?
  • It lasts the length of the song, sometimes longer
  • Generally features the artist
  • Can tell a story but it does not have to
  • Needs to be visually memorable and worth repeat viewings
1981- The rise of MTV

The track exists first and the visual.
Music video's started of as feature films.
We were shown Len Lye- A colour box, which is a mini feature film made by an the artist Len Lye

We were then shown a feature film from Nat King Cole- Frim Fram Sauce. In the feature film, we see features of the male gaze when the camera pans up a womens legs, which wasn't common in feature films of that time. We also see Nat King Cole looking at himself singing in a 'Soundie'. Soundies were video juke boxes in diners.
Scopitones were later started in France. Scopitones were a more modern version of a Soundie.
1960- Mainstream videos became more popular

We were shown The Beatles first feature film- hard days night.
The feature film is made for promotional videos for tours as well as to give the band an image.

By 1970, feature films began to become more popular with bands. However, in 1981 MTV was dominated by British acts. Many of which were male. Although, this was the start of the breakthrough for women. Madonna made a breakthrough and budjets started to go out. Black acts found it hard to get their videos made, which meant that no black acts appeared on MTV. Although, it did not take long for Michael Jackson to be the first black act to appear on MTV. His first feature film, Thriller was shown on MTV.

After Michael Jackson's appearence on MTV, black music became more popular. Acts such as Jay-Z (99 probmels) and 50 Cent (Candy shop) made a huge breakthrough.
Method of analysis-Andrew Goodwin
  • Genre Characteristsics
  • Visual relationship with lyrics and music
  • Need to see the atrist as the star- star image is important
  • Voyeurism/looking- frames within frames
  • Intertextuality
Pete went on to talk about 'Mash ups' of music videos, Machinima. We watched various video's such as a Sims version of Telephone by Lady Gaga and Beyonce, Lego Starwars and a 'mash up' of Michael Jackson's Thriller, made by prison cell mates. We also watched Dangermouse-The Grey Video.

We then talked about World Wide Web Cam which is where people make home videos and upload to YouTube. Low budget films have been made by many different people such as Cellpone Sky by The Turn Back. The video was shot entirely on an iPhone.
Roles of technology and money have changed hugely:
  • Roles of technology and money
  • Conventions and characteristics
  • Viewing contexts-Where and how we watch music videos.
Top Ten Tips
0. Limber Up:
  • Do some exercises with found footage
  • Lipsync
  • Do a karaoke multi angle
  • Remake an existing video
1. Choose a track
  • Can be a mistake to go for well know artist/your favourite artist
  • Make it short
2. Write a treatment (Pitch)
  • Pitch for the material with a strong and simple idea
  • Have a clear concept
  • Be realistic
3. Plan for everything
  • Storyboard
  • People, places, props, costume
  • Shoot early
  • Rehearsed-know the words
4. Set up a Blog
  • Use it to link to ideas
  • Videos that influence you
  • Research the genre in detail
  • Photos that give you ideas
  • Location shots
  • Anamatic of your story board
  • Put all your ideas on an e-notebook
5. Know the equipment
  • Test Shots
  • Check the camera
  • Tripod
  • Make sure the tape is loaded
  • Do you know the editing software
  • Make sure u have the music and an audiable source e.g. i.pod or stereo
6. The shoot
  • Shoot the performance at least 10 different times with different set ups
  • Make plenty of cuts
  • Experiment with different angles
  • Lots of close-ups
  • Enthuse your performers
  • Shoot more than you think you will need
7. Capture your footage
  • Lable everything you capture
  • Organise it so it is easy to find
  • Dont capture stuff you don't need
  • Break it into manageable chunks
8. The edit
  • Synch up performances first
  • Get the whole picture rather than tiny detail
  • Cut and Cut again
  • Aim for a dynamic piece of work
  • Effects work-LAST!
  • Upload a rough cut to your blog and get feedback
9. Screening
  • Big Screen
  • Get feedback
  • Upload to your blog via YouTube
  • Get the artist to look and give you feedback
10. Analysis
  • Evaluation!
  • Take advice
Before the lunch break we were played a song 'No Rest' and our task over lunchtime was to prepare a pitch for the music video.

Afternoon Session

When we returned to the theatre after lunch, we were introduced to Liz Kessier, a video producer and Corin Hardy, a music video director. We began the afternoon session by telling Corin, School by school, our pitch for the music video we heard before lunch. Corin and Liz then gave feedback and told each school what they thought of the different ideas. Corine then showed us a few of the music video's he had directed, low budget and high budget. E.g. A couple of Olly Murs' videos, Britney spears and a few not as well known groups.

We were told about product placement- A brand pay money to advertise their product in the music video. To finish off the session, Corin told us a bit about being a director and how he got to be a music director.  

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Costumes and Props for our Video



We have watched a variety of different videos to get ideas for what costumes we would like to incorporate in our music video. As it is quite an upbeat song we want to incorporate a variety of different colours, this also link in well with our ideas because the music video will be full of happy and positive throughout, so it makes sense to add in coloured clothing so there is a correlation. It would not make sense for us to have dark clothing with negative connotations as it would not work with our video. Below are some images that will be similar to the clothing that the people in our video will wear. Despite this we do want our video to be quite realistic so the costumes will be clothing the actors would normally wear. Also as our video is aimed at teenagers/early twenties, we want the clothes to be stylish so people want to be like the individuals in our video.

Main Couple in the video 

Sarah Groves & Jack Latchford



Rest of the individuals in the video


Jessica Staplehurst
Chloe Spillane
Ashley Stump
Freya Catmur-Hill


PROPS


-Balloons
-Flowers
-Love Hearts (plastic)
-Love Heart Sweets
-Barbie and Ken
-Barbie Car
-Ring box and ring
-iPad x2
-Cake
-Make-up (Foundation, Blusher, Bronzer, Eyeshadows, Lipsticks, Mascara, Fake Eyelashes)

ABOVE IS THE FIRST PROP LIST THAT WE ORIGINALLY PLANNED TO USE WE CHANGED OUR IDEAS AND BELOW IS THE PROP LIST WE USED IN OUR ACTUAL VIDEO


PROPS


-Balloons
-Flowers
-Love Hearts (plastic)
-Love Heart Sweets
-iPad
-Make-up (Foundation, Blusher, Bronzer, Eyeshadows, Lipsticks, Mascara, Fake Eyelashes)

Our first Prop list was just from the ideas that we thought up at the beginning we realised that some of our ideas would not work with our video so the Prop list above is our final one with the props we ended up using.

Shot list

1. Couple(Jess and Danny) standing facing each other about 6ft apart infront of a graffiti wall, Brick Lane. (Long shot) [2 beats] stop motion
2. ''        ''   5ft apart, same location. Long shot. 2 beats. (Jess and Danny)
3. ''        ''   2ft apart, same location. Long shot. 2 beats. (Jess and Danny)
4. ''        ''   Close together same location. Long shot. 2 beats (Jess and Danny)
5. Facing the camera (long shot). Graffiti wall [2 beats] (Jess and Danny)
6. Facing the camera, both peoples hands come out slightly (mid shot) [2 beats] (Jess and Danny)
7. Close up of their hands coming together [2 beats] (Jess and Danny)
8. Hands changing to different people and positions (Close up) [2 beats] (Random people)
9. Hands change to different people and little fingers linking (Close up) [2 beats] (Random people)
10. Hands change to different people and normal hand hold (Close up) [2 beats] (Random people)
11. Close up of faces, girl first, plain face, still image [2 beats] (Jess)
12. Close up of girls face. Smile, still image [2 beats] (Jess)
13. Close up of boys face, plain, still image [2 beats] (Danny)
14. Close up of boys face, smile, still image [2 beats] (Danny)
15. Panning shot of feet, close up (Jess and Danny)
15. Big close up of lips miming the lyrics 'I feel' (Me)
16. Different lips miming 'so close' (Jess)
17. ''                              ''  ' to you' (Chloe)
18. ''                              ''  'right now' (Freya)
19. Split screen of the 4 different lips 'It's a force field' (All 4 of us)
20. Panning shot of the legs, close up (Jess and Danny)
21. Boy and girls looking at each other, close up, 'i wear my heart upon my sleeve like a big deal' (Jess and Danny
22. Mid body for the pause, panning shot, close up (Jess and Danny)
23. Girl with water trickling down in front of her, mid shot. ' your love pours down...waterfall' (Chloe)
24. Pause, Close up again of the boy and girls faces (Jess and Danny)
25. 'Theres no stopping us right now' Long shot of boy and girl kissing (Jess and Danny)
26. ' I feel so close to you right now' close up of girl of firl over the boys shoulder saying them words
(music goes fast and there is loads of cuts to many different ideas) (Jess)
27. Long shot of balloons being released into the air (Jess' garden)
28.  Various shots of people in an ice rink, holding hands and skating round (dark) (Canary wharf)
29. The camera quickly cuts back to the balloons floating in the air, Long shot (Jess' garden)
30. Establishing shot of loads of people walking, fast paced. (West end)
31. Shot goes back to the balloons even higher in the sky, now becomes an extreme long shot (Jess' garden)
32. Long shot of Barbie and Ken in a toy car (Jess' house)
33. Final shot of the balloons as they begin to separate and disappear (Jess' garden)
34. Fast paced show of people walking again. Establishing shot (West end)
35. Long shot of hearts falling and other things falling from the sky (Jess' garden)
36. Fast paced shot of traffic in the car, shot from above (Random busy road)
37. Quick shot of girls laughing and joking around, Long shot (Jess' house, all of us girls)
38. Back to the fast paced shot of traffic (Random traffic)
39. Back to the toy car again. Long shot (Jess' house)
40. Split screen of 4 lips with cake round them (All of us girls)
41. Loads of different shots of cake fight, Close ups, long shots, Mid shots (Jess's house, Us 4 girls and loads of different boys and girls)
42. Slow shot of a horse and rider jumping over a horse jump, long shot (Terri's stables, Terri and her horse)
43. Shot of girls getting ready for a night out ( Me, Harriot and Freya, Freya's house)
44. 9 various shots of the club and 8 various shots of the girls (Pacha nightclub, Me, Harriot and Freya, Freya's house)
45. 6 different shots of someone holding an ipad and each time they hold it up, there is someone elses face in the ipad. This will be shot from a mid shot. ( Random people from West End)
46. Close up of a ring box, closed
47. Close up of the ring box open
48. Again the ring box is closed
49. again the ring box is open
50. Close up of a bunch of flowers
51. Worms eye view of long grass swaying in the wind
52. Bouquet with petals falling off, close up
53. Close up of grass with some ones feet running through it (Random Park)
54. Bouquet of flowers on floor with petals surrounding it, Long shot
55. Long shot of 'just married' Barbie and Ken driving off and then the shot fades with the music

Tuesday 22 November 2011



The reason that Beyonce-1+1 inspired us was because of the various close ups to her face and lips. We wanted to include close up of our faces and lips as it is one of Goodwin's 6 point analysis, and if our music video was to be aired, it is required for the star(s) of the music video to have close ups. Another reason was because we liked the idea of having loads of different mouths and coloured lips to lipread the words. Another things that inspired us about this music video was when the water trickles down infront of her face and she is behind the glass, which, in a way, is sexual which links to being close to someone, hence the lyrics of the song 'I feel so close to you'.

Trip to RichMix

A trip was organised for all Media students in our year to go to a place in Brick Lane called Rich Mix. I went onto the Rich Mix website to see what it was about before we went on the trip. The website says that
"
Rich Mix is a charity and social enterprise that offers live music, film, dance, theatre, comedy, spoken word and a range of creative activities for people of all ages and all cultures". We went to the there to listen to speeches from a variety of different people who were involved in the Media Industry. The first part of the trip was all to do with the history of music videos.

History of the Music Video

The typical conventions of a music video are:
  • It lasts the length of the song (or longer)
  • Generally features the artist but sometimes doesn't.
  • Can tell a story
  • Needs to be visually memorable, worth repeat viewings

-Video started in the 1930's where people started experimenting with film.
-Colour Box- Len Lye:- This is a video advertising the Post Office. They sponsored the people to create the videos if they advertised the Post Office.
   -The video was made with images being scratched on

From MTV to Youtube


What is a music video? 

  1. Last the length of a song but sometimes longer
  2. Features the artist of the song
  3. It can tell a story
  4. Needs to be visually memorable so people want watch it again

History of Music Videos
Experimenting with film in the 1930s
Colour Box - Len Lye 

  • Music is being shown through the visuals
  • Quick movement
  • Funding from GPO
  • Following the rhythm of the music




Images of the first music video, people began to experiment by scratching images on the film.



Experimenting with music in the 1940s


Soundies 

  • Juke Box were installed in 4,000 diners in the USA
  • The song was withdrawn because it was to sexy straight after the war
  • FRIM FRAM SAUCE
  • Black + White
  • Performance based
  • Performer watching themselves on screen
  • Ladies legs shown (The Male Gaze)



Experimenting with music in the 1960s 
Scopitones 
  • Colour Images
  • Performance
  • Feature the artist
  • Tells a mini story
  • Low budget
  • Feature dancing

The Beetle's - Hard Days Night 

  • Wacky
  • Showcase for song
  • Give band an image
  • 60's bands made promotional videos for tours

Experimenting with music in the 1970s


Queen

  • Band have small film for latest release

Madness - Our House 
  • Wacky
  • Speeded up footage
  • Song relates to the visuals
  • Performed in a house


History of MTV

  • Created in 1981
  • Was dominated by British acts
  • 1st song played on MTV was Video Killed the Radio Star
  • Madonna broke through as the first female artist on MTV
  • Set a new level
  • No market for black music
  • Michael Jackson only black act on MTV
  • First black song was Thriller which made millions
  • Then MTV decide to make different channels for different genres of music
50 Cent - Candy Shop 

  • All a dream
  • Displays sexuality
  • Features a Big house, Bling and Super Models
  • Characteristics for MTV

Jay-Z 99 Problems 



  • Pushed things to the edge
  • Displayed violence
  • Sexual display


Genre Characteristics 
Boy Bands- Dress the same, include a dance routine, keep to the characteristics 

Rock - Live Performance (sometimes made up) 
Country Western - Video Outdoors, in the sunlight 


Star Image
  • The star features again and again
  • Demand to have a lot of close ups of the star
  • 75% of the video should be of the star

Voyeurism 'the look' 
  • Male point of view
  • Female on display looked at by males
  • Screens within screens
  • Madonna watching herself on display
Intertextuality 
  • Madonna as Marylin Monroe
  •   Robbie Williams as James Bond





Youtube
Started to show mash up of videos example Footage from Hard Days Night with Jay Z music 
Machinima 
Telephone - video made using the sims 
Lego videos - videos made with Lego characters 
Homemade videos - Thriller video made by inmates in a prison (people sometimes prefer watching them more than the actual video)
Also homemade videos are made with a very ow budget but can be very funny

Summing Up

  • A long history of music videos
  • Technology + money are big inputs
  • Conventions + Characteristics
  • Where and how we watch (Viewing Contexts)

10 Tips for making a Music Video


Tip 0

  • Do some exercise with 'found footage'
  • Lipsync with old student footage
  • Do a karaoke using different angles
Tip 1 
  • Choose a track
  • Can be a mistake choosing a well known track
Tip 2
  • Pitch for the material
  • Have a clear concept
  • Be realistic
Tip 3
  • Storyboard your video
  • Plan people, places, props and costumes
  • Get every ones mobile numbers
  • Shoot early
  • Know the words
Tip 4
  • Link ideas
  • Photos of location
  • Animatic of storyboard
Tip 5 
  • Test shots
  • Make sure you have tripod
  • Is the tape loaded
  • Do you know the edit program
  • Need music with you
Tip 6 
  • 10 performances shoot from different set ups
  • Plenty of cutaways
  • Experiment with angles
  • Close ups
  • Much more than you think you need
Tip 7
  • Label all the shots
Tip 8
  • Cut and cut again
  • Do any effects last
  • Get feedback
Tip 9 
  • Big screen premiere
  • Get feedback
  • Upload to blog + YouTube
  • Get artist to look and give feedback
Tip 10 
  • Analysis

Product Placement


People pay money to advertise their products in the video
In Britney's video she sprayed her own perfume on herself and is also wearing
                                                                                         a brand watch