Music Videos-Genre Research

Following on from my previous research into the genres I am interested in creating a music video for I looked at different music videos already created for artist.

Pop:

Hip-Hop:

Rap:

Genre Research

Research into music genres from hannahfarmergsa

Marketing Package-Lana Del Rey

Panic! at the Disco-'Don't threaten me with a good time'

The music video for Panic! at the Disco's 'Don't threaten me with a good time' contains some features that I really like and would like to incorporate into my own video if possible.

One thing that I noticed when watching this video is that the song matches the tempo of the narrative extremely well. For example at 0.27 in the video the tempo of the song slows down so the action in the narrative slows down considerably to just a solo shot of Brendon Urie.

This is something that I would consider adding into my own music video. A result of this effect on the viewer is that the audience feel more in tune with the music, as the music speeds up, your attention speeds up.

I also really like the combination of narrative and lipsyncing. I am considering doing this for my own music video as it is more commonly used in music videos but also I think that narratives are more interesting for their audiences. 

Preliminary-Final Piece

Below is David, Chris and I's attempt at recreating One Direction's song 'Little Things' for our preliminary project. 

Preliminary-Editing

In today's two hour lesson we were allocated time to edit the footage we had shot in the previous lesson. 

The basic construction of dragging the clips into the right order was rather simple and easy. The tricky part of the editing was cropping the appropriate amount off of the clip and making it match accurately with the One Direction clip. Overall, I think as a group we underestimated the amount of work needed to be applied when attempting to edit and construct a short extract from a music video. However, I am extremely pleased with how this project turned out considering we had such little time to plan our costume and props and only a limited time to shoot and edit. 

One thing I have taken from this preliminary project going towards my final project is that planning is essential and must be thoroughly completed but also I have learnt how much editing is required. When making my own music video I will ensure I allocate myself plenty of time to edit as this is rather difficult and requires lots of tweaking to create a professional looking piece. 

Amber Run

When watching music videos of the band Amber Run's music I noticed that each of their videos start with the same logo. This is the official band logo. 

Also, there are a collection of their music videos that connect and continue the story line, for example 'I Found' is continued into 'Pilot'. The videos created for the band have story lines that hold a large narrative enigma, making the viewers more interested to watch the next video. 

Previous Students Work-2012 Ebony Anderson

Ebony's A2 Blog
Research:
Ebony conducted lots of research into directors, previously made music videos and techniques she may want to use in her own music videos. These are clearly shown on her blog and demonstrate to blog viewers the research she has conducted and how she is gathering knowledge that relates to the genre of music she is planning to use. 
Her research into how to create stop motion is shown in a YouTube video:

This practice is a good thing to complete as it allows her to practice what works well and discover what doesn't also it allows her to see how much work is needed to be put into her shots. 

One of the things on Ebony's blog that I think is really good and thoroughly researched is her analysis of the Mumford and Son's magazine advert. 

This demonstrates very detailed research and knowledge of what makes a good magazine advert. This is extremely useful research to have conducted as when it comes to creating her own magazine advert it will help as she will already know what contributes to making a good advert for bands who produce similar music to the genre she is planning to use. 

Another piece of detailed research that has been conducted by Ebony is her evaluation of Lana Del Ray's music video for her single 'Blue Jeans'. This information has been presented in a Prezi and shows a detailed analysis of the shots and camera work; also, it shows that she has conducted research in to the artists previous videos as she mentions how this one is similar to her other released videos. Also, she analysed previous videos created by the band who's music she would be using when creating her video, The Vaccines.

Research into the artist she was creating a music video, digipak and magazine advert for. 

Analysis of another students final piece

As part of my research I have decided to watch and analyse another students music video in order to gather some more ideas for my own final piece and to find aspects that do not work particularly well.

I have found lots of possible characteristics I would like to add to my music video when watching this music video. I really liked the way that the music video had shots between the 'artists' and a story line, this was really effective and the change between colour and black and white added a very effective and interesting twist to the music video as it keeps the viewer wanting to watch more of the story line. I also thought that the extreme close up of the eye and tears at 2:59 was very effective as it showed lots of emotion and changed from the usual close up or mid shot normally found in music videos. Towards the end of the music video there is multiple shots of slow motion props smashing; I really liked this part as it portrayed the actors raw emotion. Something that I would like to maybe add to my music video was the shadow of the lead singer at 1:06, this shot strays from normal shots and I think could add a good dimension to my own final piece. 

During the times I watched this music video there were a few shots or filming mistakes that I am going to try and avoid during the filming and editing of my final piece as they made to video look unprofessional and rushed at times. At 0:09 a black screen comes up for 1 second which shows that the editing may have been rushed or a shot that should have been there has been removed or not added in. Also the continuity of editing is effected slightly when the drummer starts playing and the song starts at 0:17 there is a delayed start, this makes the video look unprofessional. Mid way through the video there are a few shaky shots (2:18 and 2:29) that make the video look a little rushed and unprofessional, if these had been filmed with a tripod or were less shaky I think the music video would have been to a higher standard in terms of quality. 

Previous Student's Work-2015 Jacob Maud

I am looking at blogs from previous students to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. By doing this I hope to discover different types of media I can use when presenting my work and collect ideas on what I may be able to include in my own blog. 

I will be accessing these blogs on my centre's Weebly page.

I have chosen to look at Jacob Maud's blog as I have watched his final music video and thought it looked professional and contained lots of aspects I would like to incorporate into my own final piece. 

Jacob's A2 Blog

Research:
During the planning stage it is obvious that extensive planning had been taken in order to decide what genre of music he wanted to create a music video for. Also, Jacob conducted a large amount of research into his target audience and what his target audience would want to see in his music video. His research into defining audiences is something that I will need to do before creating and planning my own music video as it will really help me when trying to distribute open ended questionnaires to a niche audience. This research shows to the examiner or viewers of his blog that he is committed to meeting his audiences needs and wants in a music video. One aspect of research Jacob conducted that I thought worked very well was first conducting a closed question quantitative questionnaire followed by an open question qualitative questionnaire on a more niche audience. From his evaluation of this research I was able to see that this was a successful way to discover what a specific target audience would prefer in a music video not just their preferred music style. 

During this stage in his coursework, Jacob conducted lots of research into different artists and their music videos, digipaks and magazine adverts. This allowed him to look at their strengths and weaknesses and gather ideas from artists from the same genre of music he is interested in. This is something that I will need to do when I start further research into songs from genres that I am interested in creating a music video for as it will help me gather ideas that I know their target audiences already like. 

His research has all been conducted in the same format of just written blogs, if he had used more than one type or several types of media to present his findings I would have found his blog much more interesting. I am planning to use more than one form of media when presenting my findings and plans on my blog, for example creating a presentation on emaze.

Planning:
The first piece of planning Jacob conducted was a mind map of ideas for possible story lines. This contained lots of details and allowed Jacob to make an informed decision. Once this decision had been made Jacob planned out his music video in great detail, this must have made his planning of each shot much easier. I would like to do this once I have decided on an idea as it will make the process of planning my shots much easier. 

When attempting to find a location that would suit his theme, Jacob researched into lots of different locations he could film and visited them beforehand to get a feeling of what the location looked like and to see if it fit the vision he had in mind. This extensive research left him with a lot of different locations to work with, making him have the best location possible to carry out his filming. When posting this on his blog he displayed each of his possible locations even if he wasn't filming there, this was a really good idea as it showed how much research he has conducted. 

When planning the actors he was going to use, Jacob found and documented his ideas and reasoning behind his ideas of possible people. This has been presented on a slide share, this change in media creates an interesting viewing of the information he is presenting. 

Jacob planned out the costume and props he would be using in each shot and location he would be filming in. This detailed documenting would provide him with a plan of what is needed for which of his multiple locations and which props would be needed each day. I would like to adopt this idea when planning out my own music video as I believe it is a great way to keep track of what is happening in each shot and also there will not be any last minute issues, that may waste valuable filming time, with trying to find props or costume as they will have already be planned out and gathered. Another aspect of Jacobs planning that has been detailed thought through was his filming schedule, this ensured that all the actors knew where to be and let the people who's caravan and pub he was using know when he would need there locations and what times he would be using them from. Jacob's planning of each stage of the song makes the filming and editing process easier as each aspect of the song has already been thought of. 

Before filming Jacob created some practice shots to see what his shots were going to turn out like. Also, he planned out what type of lighting he would need, he was able to create this plan through revisiting his locations and ensuring everything worked well. Before he started filming Jacob created a risk assessment on Prezi, this is a good idea as it allows you to identify and prevent any risks that may arise. 

Throughout the planning stage Jacob thoroughly planned out each stage of his production and what he would be needing to complete his filming as quickly and efficiently as possible. The presentation of this information on his blog shows how well thought out his production is and demonstrates to the examiners how much work he has put in and the knowledge he has of what goes into producing a music video. 

Music Video:

Jacob put together a first draft of the music video, consisting of the instrumental and the cuts of the shots accompanied by transitions. This first edit contains an interesting story line and the instrumental sound track matches the mood of the characters. At times though the story line gets a little bit confusing. 

After his filming Jacob showed people his first draft to collect their feedback on ways in which he could improve his music video so far and to gather positive feedback on things he does not need to change. The feedback is presented in a soundcloud document and provides Jacob with ways in which he needs to improve his storyline.

Jacobs's final music video has been completed to an extremely high and professional standard! His final draft has a better developed story line which was part of his negative audience feedback. The instrumental and lyrics of the music video work really well together and compliment the story line. The shots used in the music video are very conventional to regular music videos which makes it seem more professional. 

Digipak:

Before capturing the images needed for his digipak Jacob drew some of his ideas on what he would like his digipak to look like. This gave him the opportunity to plan where he would like to shoot the images and the positioning of the writing and the pictures. 

Jacob presented his first take of his pictures in a gif on his blog and explained his reasoning behind not using them. Once he had re-shot and chosen a new theme for his digipak he posted them on his blog and described why he has chosen to use these shots instead. 

Jacob then edited the images before reposting them onto his blog to document his progress so far in terms of his digipak.

The presentation of Jacob's digipak on his blog show cases his progress made throughout the progress. I really like Jacob's digipak, it has an artistic design and creates an interest for his audience. However, I do not think that this reflects the same feel as the music video. The music video and song used have a more alternative vibe where as this has a more thriller or rap video vibe due to the balaclava.  

Magazine Advert:

The first part of the magazine that the examiners see when looking at Jacob's blog is his mock up of the magazine advert of Paper Shop Dave's new album. He completed a rough drawing of what he envisioned for his magazine advert. 

 This is then followed by the raw images he had taken. 

Next Jacob uploaded his final images for his magazine.

The final magazine cover was then uploaded.

Overall I really like Jacob's final magazine cover, it creates a mysterious image and matches nicely to his digipak. Also, again the way in which Jacob has documented his progress throughout the making of his magazine cover makes it easy for the exam board to see how he came to the decision of his final image and what was done to reach that stage. I would like to adopt this idea of presentation into my own blog when presenting my final pieces of work as it allows the examiner to see how much work has been put into the work and how much progress has been made.

Evaluation:

Jacob presented his evaluations of his coursework process in 4 different types of media. This made his presentations of information interesting. 

In his first question, in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?, he presents normal conventions in media products first followed by how he followed or broke these conventions. This is a really good technique to have as it demonstrates to the examiner the knowledge of typical conventions you have and then how your product has managed to stray away from these conventions.

Question 2, how effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?,

was presented in a Prezi format. This evaluates how he ensured his main products and ancillary texts have been combined and how successful this has been. 

Jacob's third evaluation question, what have you learned from your audience feedback?, was completed on slide share. This showed to the examiner ways in which he distributed his music video to gain feedback and how he improved from his feedback, both negative and positive. 

Question 4, how did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?, the media used for this evaluation is a written essay into his blog. I think that this is the weakest of the four evaluations as it is very long and becomes a little tedious to read. However, he does answer the question in great detail and provides the examiner insight into how he overcome challenges faced when using new technologies. 

Preliminary Task-Reflection on filming

During today's 2 hour lesson David, Chris and I went and filmed our 60 second extract of One Direction's song 'Little Things'. This filming went well as we were well prepared. This preparation included printing out our story board and bringing that to our filming location, also we played the music video before we filmed each shot to ensure that we had the correct props in the shot and the positioning of the shot was as accurate as possible. 

We managed to film in a music classroom at college that had similar equipment that was used by Vaughan Arnell when he directed the music video. As a result of our filming location we were able to use similar props used by One Direction, and any props we weren't able to obtain, for example the sound board, we substituted with another item, in this case a piano.  

Sound board used in 'Little Things' music video.

We managed to film all of our shots in the time we were allocated so we will have plenty of time to edit the footage and ensure the lip syncing is as close to the soundtrack as possible. If I was to film again I would spend more time watching back each shot to ensure that everything in the shot was in the right place and the shot was as accurate as possible. 

Analysis of music video-I love u I hate u

To get an idea of camera angles, movements, shots and colours conventionally used in music videos I am conducting some research into how the first 30 seconds of a well-known music video has been constructed. By conducting this research I am hoping to feel inspired and gather some ideas on different shot types I can apply to the music video I will be creating in the future.

'I love u, I hate u' is a song released by American singer/song writer Gnash featuring Olivia O'Brien. The single is from Gnash's album Us. This is a rather new song being released on February 17th 2016 and the music video being released onto YouTube on March 7th 2016. The director of this music video is 

The music video that I have chosen has a duration of 3 minutes 48 seconds and contains 58 different shots in total; they all have the same transition of a straight cut. Each shot lasts between 2 and 6 seconds, the longest shots are of the two artists singing and the shortest are of their surroundings and nature used to portray their feelings. 









The first 30 seconds of this music video contains lots of different shots of trees and the ocean, these are shown using a simple transition of straight cuts. The shots are only on screen for a short period of time, ranging from 3 seconds to 5 seconds in length. During the clip the shots used are often of similar things or the same surrounding but have a slightly different camera angle. 





From my analysis of this music video I have drawn up some ideas for when I create my own music video later on in the course. When creating my music video I would like to use more transitions, such as fades, when introducing new shots as I believe it is more interesting than simple straight cuts conventionally found in music videos. Also, I liked how the shots became longer in duration when the artists were on screen, I am going to try and incorporate this into my own video. Another feature I liked about this video was the mood of the music was demonstrated through the duration of the clips. Also the calmness of the waves portrayed the slow down in pace of the music, again this is a feature I would like to include into my music video if possible. 

Preliminary Planning-One Direction 'Little Things' 2012

The preliminary task that I have been tasked with is to recreate a short extract from a music video in a small group. This will give me insight into how much work needs to be completed and what needs to be done to create my final music video. For the preliminary task we have decided to use One Direction's song 'Little Things' from their album Take Me Home.

       Original Video. We have chosen to copy 1 minute of the original music video.

We have created a story board to plan out the shots we need to film in order to recreate the section of this song. We discussed equipment, props and costume we would need to create similar shots used in the original video.