Our final song choice

We finally decided on our final song choice; Jessie J - Who You Are. Our reasons for not choosing the other songs were that we felt our idea's for the music video to 'Who you are' were much stronger and appropriate to our budget and reasonable given to us. Also, we felt that the other songs were more upbeat, required a choreography and their original video's were too memorable to the audience for us to make a music video to. 'Who You Are' however does not have a music video. Below we have the copyrights permission we emailed to Island Records, but have not yet received a reply from, and our final song choice.

Mood Board

In the process of making our mood boards..

Our finished mood board..

RESEARCH - Copyright Clearance

Here is my evidence of me contacting the record label, although there is a group  member's copyright clearance letter.  Fingers crossed for feedback!

 

Research for Music video- Skills Audit

Skills audit

In AS we used many social networking sites like Facebook to show our thriller opening. Through this we managed to get feedback from people on how we could improve our video and also the good things about it.

Our group found that Youtube was particularly helpful when advertising our video. We got lots of feedbacks and many 'likes'. It was also very helpful in the process of our planning and research. We were able to view many thriller opening which inspired us. I think that Youtube will still play a major role in our planning and research this year as we will need to view many music videos in order to have an idea for our one.

Research for Music video- Favourite student video

Previous student work

We looked at different examples of  past student work. We saw some really good music videos but other that not so good. I think this lesson was useful as we were able to get a better idea of how to do our music video. We now know what we should do and not to do in order to make a good music video.

Here's a video that I really liked: 

I thought this video was very creative in using the motif of the colour red. The red holds connotations of love which is what the song is about. The video does not illustrate the lyrics of the song but it amplifies the whole meaning. When viewing this video, I was inspired to do something similar as I think it's very creative.
The shots are also very varied and follow the beat of the song this makes the video a lot more effective

close up shot

Close up- low angle

Mid shot

Extreme close up

Looking at this video I was also inspired to use a variety of shots as it makes the video a lot more interesting to watch. The close up shots usually appear when the pace of the music is faster which is very effective.

Research for Music video-The music industry

The music Industry 

A brief History

How was the industry Structured?

The record industry is divided into two parts- Main stream labels and Independent labels

Mainstream labels- Large organisation with revenue available for different acts and are therefore able to saturate markets of high production values on promotional material.

Independent labels- They are separate and operate independently of the mainstream labels. Often operate within niche genres and later to a specific market.

How has the ownership changed over the years?

Between 1980's and 1990's  the industry was dominated by "the big 6', however the late 90's saw the merging of companies into bigger companies to create 'the big 5'. In 2004, Sony, music, BM6 merged and the market was dominated by 'the big 4'. Now in present times 'the big four are: Universal music group, Sony entertainment, EMI  group and Warner music group.

Each of these won smaller subisidury  labels that specialise in different genres/areas of market, which enable 'the big 4' to dominate most markets.

Current Situation

Falling sales, falling profit margines- The record companies in 2010

Sales for albums-drop of 100million in 2yrs

>2010-319m

>2009-366m

>2008-421m

This is due to the shirts of consumer behaviour. The commercialisation of the internet and web 2.0 has seen a wider shift in how fans consume music.

Web 2.0> Technology enable

             > Sharing Functions

             > Enables consumer to create and share their own products.

Current Trends

Downloading MP3 Format

- 67 legal music download services available in the UK alone.

-Amazon and i tunes are convenient and cheap

Illegal downloading

-3/4 of all downloading music in the UK is illegal

-1.2 billion illegal downloads in the UK in 2010

-Youtube converter MP3 software

Streaming

-Allows music to be declined to a user on demand

- Sites can be free or by paid subscription

-Free sites often cover their costs with advertising revenue.

The role of a music video in the current situation

-To promote the artists latest single

-Aired on MTV and other music elements

The music video today

-Struggle to have the same impact on record sales.

-Youtube means that fans can access the video ans song n demand for free.

-Without the video, does the song have the same impact?

-Videos need to give the artists exposure and engage new existing fans.

RESEARCH - Analysis of Music Video

Kanye West featuring T-Pain - Good life, is such a simple but amazing video.  Most of the time the two are probably just standing infront of a white or black screen, but it's the use of edits and special effects that make the video so interesting.  It's one of my favourite videos ever.  It is an example of amplification and I think these are the best form for several reasons:

- The viewers' interest is maintained because of the eye-catching detail in the video linking the scenes together. 

- Because the real images are black and white, the colour on the special effect stands out more

- It focuses on the artist's image in a simple way, for example they're just standing still or walking about, it's not a fancy video that requires loads of expensive props

Adding to that, with music videos in the amplification form, you don't have to follow the story of the lyrics exactly.  This makes it a little more challenging, but they managed to make the video look really good with words flying around in the air.

It doesn't really produce humour, it actually focuses a lot on the lyrics, especially because most words are shown in the video.  It's an easy way for the fans to learn the lyrics of the song, and also a good way for the meaning to stick in the viewer(s) head(s).  It's important for a music video to keep the artist's audience involved and entertained, otherwise they will change the channel, which might also lead to them not liking the song itself.

I liked the song when I first heard it, but then when I saw the video, I fell in love with it even more.  I hope to do a video of amplification, so we can bring in our own meaning, whilst relating it to the lyrics without telling the story.  

                         Full video for Kanye West ft T-Pain - Good Life

RESEARCH - Skills Audit

In AS, our thriller sequences were promoted a lot over social networking sites like facebook, twitter and youtube.  It was a good way to get feedback from others outside rather than just students and teachers in the college.  I also used vimeo and youtube alot for research, and to view previous thriller openings.  

'HurtwoodHouseMedia' on youtube had a lot of good videos that inspired me and my group to use similar aspects from particular thriller openings.  When we went to see our films in the cinema, that was also a good way to get feedback, because we got to experience what it would be like actually watching our film in the cinema.


Music videos are available everywhere from television to the internet - there's a wide variety of sources for my research.

RESEARCH - Favourite previous student video

Nigel, Beverley, Camilla, Irene from 283goswell on Vimeo.

This is my favourite student music video because the lip synching is INCREDIBLE!  It looks so authentic, if I didn't know it was a student video, I would believe that she was the actual artist.  The use of different camera shots as well as the use of different camera movements made the video more engaging.  The editing also draws in the viewers attention, making it more interesting.  This is an example of amplification, as the song doesn't illustrate what is being said in the lyrics, but it does create a new meaning which links to what's being sung.  

I like the sort of cartoon effect with the logo they used at the beginning and end to represent their label 'AG', again this feature made it look more real.  The use of mis en scene especially with the lead singer, fitted the genre very well.  Another thing I liked was the use of transitions, a lot of dissolves and fades were used.  This worked well between the scenes because it just made the whole video run smoothly. 

Another part of the video that worked effectively, was when the boy jumped to the side whilst flicking his arm out to one side, and then the camera followed his movement.  This just added that 'cool' effect to the video and again, it suited the genre well.

Although the story of the video is more or less about love, I would agree with Laura Vulvey's theory.  She did dress quite 'seductively' but it was to an appropriate level.  One thing they could have done better was the scene where they were suddenly outside a church.  It could have made a bit more sense if they were at the place where they first met, or if this shot was used within the middle of the song.  Other than that I think it was fantastic - 100% realistic.  Well filmed, and edited.

RESEARCH - Music Industry

Record Industry consists of two labels:

Mainstream labels 

who have a lot of money, and are able to offer high production values in their music videos, e.g Sony Entertainment

Independent labels 

who do not have as much money as the mainstream labels.  They often operate with niche genres, e.g Soul Jazz


OWNERSHIP:

- Between the 1970s and the 1990s, ‘the big 6’ dominated the music industry
- By the late 90s, due to more media convergence, ‘the big 5’ then dominated
- In 2004 Sony & BMG merged and as of 2010 the four major labels are
(SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, EMI GROUP, WARNER MUSIC GROUP & UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP)
 
Each of them own smaller labels that specialise in specific genres/areas of the market

CURRENT TRENDS:

Due to the shift in analogue to digital, sales are falling.
Sales for albums have dropped over £100m in two years
2010 > 319m
2009 > 366m
2008 > 428




Illegal downloading plays a major role in the decline in album sales, for example youtube converter.
¾ of all downloaded music in the UK is illegal
In 2010, there were 1.2 billion illegal downloads in the UK

However:
There are 67 legal music downloading services in just the UK
(Amazon, iTunes, Spotify are convenient and affordable)

STREAMING:


- Some websites can be free to get music or by paid subscription
- Allows music to be delivered to a user on demand 
- Free websites cover their costs by advertising, e.g youtube

OTHER POSSIBLE SOURCES:
- Social networking sites are a very popular way for artists to promote new upcoming music videos, music albums and anything else music orientated.
- Facebook has fan pages, where the artists managers are likely to be controlling the page.  Famous hip hop musician Eminem has over 47million 'likes' on his facebook page, and all these people can be updated with his latest news whenever visiting the page.

   

Eminem's facebook fan page

- Twitter has a similar structure to Facebook, but instead of liking a fan page, you can 'follow' the artist's account.  Following the artist keeps you updated with their latest news, and if you're lucky they might even 'follow' you back, which means you will be allowed to inbox them privately.  But with artists that have MILLIONS of followers, it's very rare to get a follow back.  Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, are the two artists that have the most followers on twitter:  Gaga has nearly 14million, and Bieber has nearly 13million.

Justin Bieber's twitter page

Lady Gaga's twitter page

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My developed research skills

• I have learnt to use the internet to my advantage. Google holds the answer to everything I just have to go and find it.
• I've learnt to ask my peers to find out more information.
• I've learnt that for media studies, everything we need to know is much more accessible to us than any other subject so if i watch MTV and analyse their music videos I'm researching what sells.

My favorite previous student video

My favourite music video from previous media students is the one above. Here is a list of what i liked about it;

• The lip syncing was in time and to the beat.
• The filming and camera work was good as shown above with the different shots.
• I thought the music video complimented the song. For example; the repeated lyrics 'everybody needs love' was complimented by the random pedestrians singing it, implying that they are 'everybody' and they need love.
• I liked that the video was black, white and red. The red particularly stood out. They had thought the colour they wanted to be emphasized carefully as red is the colour of love, so it matches the song lyrics. 

Carol Vernallis' Theory

Carol Vernallis closely studied editing and camerawork in music videos. She decided that edits in music videos come much more frequently than in films, that many stand out as disjuncture and that the editing seems to have a rhythmic basis closely connected to the song. 

• Continuity editing -  such as match cuts- is broken down to draw attention to what is on he screen and give flow.
• Obvious effects and edits to draw attention to them such as wipes and special effects.
• A base trak is frequently used to give the video a structure - usually a verse, chorus, verse, chorus structure.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin’s theory on music videos is “traditional narrative analyses don’t really apply to pop videos”, there are three reasons for this: 

1.    Firstly, he believes pop videos are built without conventional narrative structures (normality, then the problem, then the resolution)
2.   Secondly, in pop videos the artists’ role is both the narrator and the character.
3.    Thirdly, the artist directly addresses the audience by looking straight at the camera (also known as ‘breaking the 4^th wall) as an attempt to involve the viewer with the performance.

There are 3 types of relations between songs and videos:

1.       Illustration

When the link between the lyrics and the music video is very clear, the music video almost acts

out the lyrics.

2.      Amplification

When the videos add new meanings that do not conflict with the lyrics. Metaphorical objects are used in videos to symbolize certain words in the lyrics.

3.       Disjuncture

When there is little/no connection between the music video and the lyrics. 

RESEARCH - Function of music videos

Research for Music video- Laura Mulvey's theory

Laura Mulvey's Theory (1992) 

“In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between actvive/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto female figure which is styled accordingly”

1.       Briefly summarise what you understand about Laura Mulvey’s theory on representation.

Reading Laura Mulvey’s theory I can understand that we –the audience of music videos are forced to see images that are determined by “male gaze”. The camera crew are usually men which reinforces Mulvey’s point as they usually film what they believe is ‘sexy’ such as women in swim wear and as a result it creates a particular image of women being passive but at the same time they are being objectified by men.

2.       Find a videos that you feel illustrate your understanding.

Dizzie Rascal ‘Holiday’- This RnB music video follows Laura Mulvey’s theory. In this video woman are not seen as objects to men and portrayed as passive but also shows Mulvey’s idea of women being ‘dimembered’ as they do not focus on women as a whole but there’s a focus on parts of their body such as their legs. However men are shown as a whole just like Mulvey argues.

Eg: At the beginning of the video the woman in a bikini is wearing sunglasses which immediately shows that the camera is not focusing on her as a whole. The camera then begins to move to her legs and bottom which shows there’s meant to be a particular focus on them parts of her body. However as we enter the mansion we can see men who are fully dressed and shown as a whole.


However a video that challenges Laura Mulvey's theory is Alicia Keys 'Superwoman' as the video shows her as an intelligent determined woman who can multi task This is seen through her playing the piano. She is also appropriately dressed which instantly goes against Mulvey's theory of women always being dismembered. All  the women shown in this video are portrayed as fighters and are independent which contradicts another of Mulvey's  idea of women being objectified by men. 

Research for Music video- Vernallis's theory

Carol Vernallis Theory

Carol Vernallis believes that music videos are edited in a different way to films. She argues that in music videos there is a lot more editing involved and that the editing is closely based to the song (editing to the beat).

Examples of music videos:
The camera moves in time with the music: Eg The Saturdays ‘All fired up’ - when the pace of the music slows down the camera movement is also slow and sometimes there is and obvious edit of slow motion.

A master shot:  Don’t Go- Eg. Josh walking towards the camera and Rech sitting on the staircase are the main shots giving the video a structure.

Jump cuts: Mark Robson/The Saturday’s ‘All fired up’- Eg. While he’s singing there are a lot of jump cuts which moves to the pace of the music. There are usually these jump cuts when the pace of the music is fast. Also in these two videos a motif of the colour can be seen. The Saturdays use black and white as their motif while Mark Robson has different colours but still manges to create a motif. Eg: boy wearing red has a girlfriend wearing red and owns a red bicycle.

Research for Music video- Andrew Good wins theory

Andrew Goodwin’s Theory.

Andrew Goodwin believes music videos are made in three different ways:

Illustration:  When the video tells the story of the lyrics.

Amplification: When videos introduce new meanings that do not contradict the lyrics but add layers of meaning.

Disjuncture: When there is little connection between the lyrics and the video or when the video contradicts the lyrics.

Examples of music videos for each category:

Illustration: The streets-  Fits into this category as the artist is constantly looking at photos which come to life while illustrating the lyrics he is singing.

Amplification: Amy Winehouse ‘Back to black’- itfits into this category as it shows someone has died but adds extra detail through the slow motions and her constant narrating while acting out the lyrics.

Disjuncture: Bat for lashes ‘Whats a girl gotta do’- it fits into this category as the acting is completely irrelevant to the lyrics she’s singing.

Laura Mulvey's Theory

“In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly”

-      Laura Mulvey, 1992

My understanding of this is..

“Today, (active) men project their sexual fantasies of (passive) women, through the ‘male gaze’ otherwise known as the view of the cameraman”

A music video which supports Mulvey's theory is Akon - I wanna love you

As you can see the female representation is very seductive; they are wearing minimal

clothing, slow seductive movement, particular emphasis on female features like lips, hair

and breasts.

This theory I think applies more to RnB, Rap & Hip Hop artists as they seem to be

portrayed in their music videos as 'womanizers'

There is no music video that challenges this theory. The closest women can get to not being portrayed at the sex symbol, is if ;

• She is being represented as a strong, independent women

• She is involved in a sexual activity with the man she is supposed to love

RESEARCH - Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey's theory on representation is more or less about the way females are portrayed and objectified in music videos..  Women are 'looked at' and 'displayed' in a sexual way mostly through the use of mis en scene, costume and camera.  Females tend to be wearing outfits that expose the breast and/or bum area, and the camera usually has extreme close up's of them.  Her theory starts off with the person who usually does the filming being called a 'cameraman', so it is usually a male that films music videos.  So he projects his fantasy on to the female object of desire, thus leading every other male who will watch the video to do the same.  

Adding to that, it's not only the males who are watching that experience the 'visual pleasure', it also the man in the video being portrayed as the 'dominant' one.  This normally occurs in the music genre Hip Hop, but has lately been occuring in other genres such as R'n'B and rock.  A good example we watched in class is 'Dizzee Rascal - Holiday', and another video I have come across is 'Wiley - She Likes To'. 

Scene from Wiley's - She Likes To video

This wide shot clearly focuses on the girl's body, and her short clothing reinforces Laura Mulvey's view of women being objectified in music videos. Her face also not being shown again suggests that her body is the main focus.

Scene in Dizzee Rascal's - Holiday

 Another wideshot and also over the shoulder shot used.  Similar to the Wiley video, we don't see her face, the viewers only see the reaction of the man who answers the door.  Just from the way he's staring at her, the viewers see that visual pleasure is once again created.

However, musicians such as Ne-Yo tend to have females fully clothed in his videos and instead of gazing at them, they are all performing the same or a similar dance routine.  Although, women are still trying to be seductive and such, Ne-Yo shows that women can be sexy without being half-naked.  The three main women in the video are reasonably clothed and although some shots are of their body parts, the use of close ups on their faces draws attention to their prettiness rather than their sexiness. 

 Ne-Yo - Miss Independent

Laura Mulvery's theory can be challenged because many modern music videos tend to be the female trying to portray themselves in a sexual way, with less attention from males (in the video anyway) and this is because 'sex sells'.  It can also be argued that a 'sexy' video can draw away attention from a song that may not be so good.  An example of this is 'Ciara - Gimme Dat', with a not very good track but a very sexy video.  Although there are small parts where her male dancers are looking at her, this music video is more based on the artist showing off her excellent dance skills as well as her skin.

 Ciara - Gimme Dat

Adding to that, musicians such as Lady Gaga have challenged this theory, as she turns it around and the male is the object of desire.  Women have the power to do this also, but most of the time it is women who are portrayed in the 'sleezy' way.  Missy Elliot has also done this with her video 'All N My Grill' and Alexandra Burke with her video 'Start Without You'

 Missy Elliot - All N My Grill

Alexandra Burke - Start Without You won't upload but here is a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWKchS0GAyo&ob=av3e