We decided to create our 'mood boards' on tagul, which creates images out of words related to whichever subject you desire. Obviously, for this one we did it on the genre of our music video. As you can see from the tagul, we included words and artists that relate to the 'indie' genre such as; circa waves, Jamie T, Edgy, Unique etc. By doing this we have began to really get a feel for our genre and it has given us an insight as to which sort of themes and so on we should include within our video. Character
This mood board concerns the type of character we feel is applicable to be in our music video. Using our genre mood board we thought of words that we would associate to our idea of an indie artist and someone who we feel would be suitable to star in our video. Some of the main words and key ideas were; Passionate, powerful, artistic, retro.
Instantly upon watching this video the element that stood out to me was the editing. I noticed techniques similar to that of Spike Jonzes' Pharcyde video in that this particular student chose to show everything in reverse while he was not. This was particularly enticing because it is something different and something I wouldn't have really considered using beforehand. This student also used a three way split screen which I felt made the video look professional and well thought over. Despite the very skilled editing, I feel that the video lacks a varied use of shots. Although there is clear use of different types of basic shots (e.g. long shot, mid shot..), I don't think they were very experimental with them and for me, this bought the video down a bit.
Similarly, the video consisted of narrative only whilst lacking any sense of performance. The video followed the 'artist' round for the entirety of the video which grew repetitive and made the video appear drawn out. With this being said, I will ensure that we include a range of settings and use of both narrative and performance within our video to keep the audience entertained. In addition, I noticed that a few of the shots were slightly out of focus, again, making the video look unprofessional - in order to achieve the highest grade possible I feel it is crucial to decipher through the effective and ineffective shots before starting to edited the video so that if there is a need to re-shoot some parts of the video, you still have time.
In conclusion, this video has given me inspiration for certain editing techniques however, has also made me note the importance of a skilful and artistic eye when it comes to filming.
MNEK - The Rhythm
Initially, I was a little apprehensive about this music video as they used a dance song and I feared that there would be a lack of narrative and just pure performance which, if not done correctly, could end up looking unprofessional. Despite my earlier thoughts - the video is actually extremely successful.
Firstly, regardless of the fact there was not a particularly structured narrative used, they still found the right balance between both performance and just general visuals. There is no 'storyline' as such but the students use clips of them out in their cars, generally having a good time which I feel matches in well with the fun, upbeat song. The opening titles really captured my attention as they match the genre of the track chosen so well. Sometimes I feel that opening/closing titles can make music videos look tacky however in this particular video, it works very well. Following on from this, another successful element of this video is the use of varied shots. The shots that really stood out to me were the tracking shots, they are very steady and give different viewpoints without actually having to include a mass range of different shots. Alongside the use of the tracking shots, the students included wide shots, long shots, mid shots and so on; all of which display their confidence within both filming and editing. I felt the continuity within the video was also very well done - making a video appear to run smoothly is a hard task yet they managed to do it and this is something that I will consider when we film our video. The students integrated the genre of music with their video successfully through the use of clips of dancers - highlighting the fact that the track they have chosen is a dance track. The dancers are present throughout the entirety of the video and add something extra to keep the viewer entertained. The cuts within the video are fairly fast and often match the beats present within the music. It is synchronised very well and it is clear to see that the students put in a lot of hard work. Although the majority of the video is effective, there are a few things I would change. Firstly, a lot of the video was filmed when it was dark which makes the camera quality a tad grainy which seems to contrast against the almost HD quality present earlier on within the video when it was light. To avoid making the same mistake within our music video, I think it is important to consider the times of day in which we film and also think about the possible use of extra lighting. Lastly, there was no lip syncing within this music video. Truthfully, I agree that not a lot would have been needed for this particular song however it would have been nice to see a little bit in order to show the students involvement in the song.
Chase and Status - Alive
Out of all the students videos I have looked at, this one is most certainly my favourite. Straight away there is the use of a time lapse - something me and my group have discussed using - although it doesn't add to the narrative it is intriguing and pleasing on the eye. It shows that you do not need extravagant settings/editing in order to create a successful video.
The video consists of mainly point of view shots or hand held shots, capturing the students experiences first hand, almost as if we are seeing exactly what he is. The video is interactive in a sense, for the few minutes it is on, we are made to feel like we are with him. The student uses a montage of clips he has clearly collected throughout his many travels and this adds a personal touch to the video. The clips all merge together extremely well and the continuity is phenomenal - despite the use of varied settings, he has filmed himself in such a way that allows him to edit the clips together with him appearing to be stood in the exact same position in every place.
Another element of this particular video that stood out to me was the synchronised visuals to the beat of the music at certain parts of the song. The student claps with each beat and with every clap, the visuals reveal a new setting - wether that be the sky line of New York or a football stadium.
There are only a few minor adjustments that I would make. The first of which is the possible use of artificial lighting; although I understand that this may have been difficult with regards to the extravagance of his settings, the flash on his camera may have even been efficient in order to brighten up a few of the scenes when it was a little bit dark. Secondly, I think the video could have been improved if the student incorporated a section of lip syncing. I feel that if he were to do that it would express more involvement within the song and make the continuity just that little bit better.
R Kelly - Ignition Remix
This was my least favourite video. Although the camera work and editing is not bad, I felt the song was totally inappropriate for the narrative of the video (which in itself is quite hard to grab the concept of). The visuals look extremely odd in comparison to the song and from the onset, this put me off. In regards to the editing, the cuts are quite slow which again, I do not feel matches the context of the song. The cuts fade to black screens which is effective however, personally I think that the students left it on the black screens for too long at a time, which left me wondering if there was a reason behind it.
A positive aspect of this video was the students use of different shots. Pans were used regularly in order to display the setting and give us, as viewers, an insight as to where the video was actually located. I will suggest the idea of using pans in our video to my group as I felt that they were successful in this video and so may also be effective in displaying the settings in our video too. Additionally, there was the use of high angled shots which again, I found impressive considering as it was a shot that I had not noted in any other student videos I had watched. It clearly showed that the students had thoroughly considered which types of shots they were going to use and what effect they would have on the audience. In continuation there was also use of the more basic types of shots such as mid shots, long shots and close ups. I felt these were successful in ensuring the audience had a clear view of exactly what was going on.
Lastly, the costumes used may have been suitable and representative of the students age personally, yet I don't think they suited the genre of music. The song contains some quite mature material and I felt that the students involved sometimes appeared too casually dressed to be in a music video. For our music video, costume will be a big aspect of it as we feel that the costume helps to set the scene and makes for an overall better video as it looks professional.
Fat Boy Slim - Praise You (Directed by Spike Jonze)
Both of the above videos were directed by Spike Jonze - a well known American director, producer, screenwriter and actor who's work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. His work differs from the stereotypically perceived ideas normally present within music videos (A lot of these stereotypes evolved from Andrew Goodwins music video theory which I will attach a link too directly below). http://www.slideshare.net/07weeksjor/andrew-goodwins-music-video-theory-28408660 As you can see from the SlideShare above, Goodwin feels that music videos have set structures that are followed religiously. I do feel a lot of his points are relevant and are present within a lot of music videos released now a days. Jonze's work however, appears to go directly against what Goodwin connotes as being 'successful' elements of a music video. Instead, he takes his own personal approach and the outcome is usually extremely effective. A lot of his videos are conceptual, meaning that he takes one big idea and applies it in an abstract way to a music video. He disregards the 'norms' and goes with what works and what will attract an audience and this is evident within both videos above. To me, his videos are appealing based purely off of that reason. In order for a music video to be appealing it needs to stand out from the rest. By following stereotypical conventions, videos tend to lack originality and all seem to blend into one. With this being said, it is important for music videos to have a sense of individuality and extravagance in order to gain views. Viewers will not want to be continually watching similar videos over and over again, they need something new and enticing. With this being said, I feel it is important for us to go into our project with open minds - willing to take risks whilst still following a few of the basic conventions needed. In order to create a successful piece that makes ours stand out in comparison to other students work, we need to think outside of the box and try not to stick too rigidly to what we feel is expected of us.
Birth Name: Elizabeth Woolridge Grant Birth Date:June 21st 1985 Origin: New York
Education and Career:
Lana initially attended a Catholic elementary school and for one year, she attended a high school where her mother taught. Her first spark of interest within the music scene was highlighted when she began singing in her church choir. At 15 she was sent by her parents to Kent School in order to deal with her alcohol abuse and partying. After finally graduating high school, Lana took a gap year living on Long Island where her uncle taught her to play the guitar and this was when she realised that she could one day, become famous.
Shortly after this she enrolled at Fordham University where she majored in philosophy. However, alongside this she began writing and performing her own songs in nightclubs around the city.
From here it was onwards and upwards for her. She signed her first ever recording contract with 5 Points Records in 2007 and released her first digital album 'Lana Del Rey' under them in January 2010. She later went on to buy herself out of the contract with 5 Points in April 2010 and then signed a joint contract with Interscope, Polydor and Stranger Records in July 2011.
She released her second studio album 'Born to Die' in January 2012 which debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was the 5th best selling album of 2012. A remix of one of the featured singles 'Summertime Sadness' became her highest charting track on the U.S. Billboard hot 100 after peaking at number 6 in the country. She then went on to realise her 3rd extended play 'Paradise' that November and her 3rd studio album 'Ultraviolence' was released in June 2014 which debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200. In December 2014 she announced her headlining tour, taking place in the summer 2015.
Her music has been noted for its cinematic sound and its references to various aspects of pop culture, particularly that of the 1950's and 1960's Americana. She states that she draws influence from many well known stars; Elvis, Amy Winehouse, Nirvana etc. Lastly, Lana is the most streamed woman in the U.S. on spotifiy, which clearly connotes just how popular she is! Below is a video of Lana performing before fame under her old stage name 'Lizzy Grant'
In the Prezi attached to this post, we discuss our top 5 Lana songs. Within each branch of the mind map there is a different song of which we list the pros and cons.
Similarly to Lana's video, Shannon Saunders' video for 'heart of blue' is also included in the alternative/indie spectrum of genres. However, as Shannon is under her own, individual label and is not particularly well known - the budget was significantly lower for this video in comparison to Lana's budget. With this being said, I felt this was an appropriate video to analyse as it is applicable to us in the fact that our budget and equipment is fairly minimal.
This video consists mainly of narrative rather than performance. The lyrics outline the idea of Shannon being lost, quite literally within the city but also within her relationship. The video almost matches the lyrics - we see Shannon running around London, appearing distressed and lost - and I find that this works well. Although I usually think it looks unprofessional when artists try to literally match the visuals to the lyrics, some how this works. The use of quite minimal performance helps to keep the video professional and classy, she is more bothered about expressing the true meaning of the song rather than keep all the attention focused on herself.
Similarly, the mise en scene in this video is very basic. Shannon keeps to one simple outfit and little make-up, this is effective in connoting the idea that although she loves what she does - she isn't fame hungry. It also contrasts against the stereotypical views of music videos; When we watch them, we expect the artist to be very made up and have extravagant clothing. However, the fact that Shannon has gone against this makes her more relatable to her audience in a way, she shows that you do not need money and all those nice things in order to be talented and well liked. In addition, the setting is very easily achievable and this was something that drew me to the video as despite the lack of extravagance, the video is still intriguing and fits the song well. The only thing that I personally would change is the use of just one setting. Although London is a large, exciting city, the frequent appearance of it grows a little tiresome near the end. In response to this, I will ensure that my group uses at least 2 settings in order to change it up a little bit and keep the audience involved.
Regardless of the fact that this video is of a considerably lower budget than the others I have featured on this post, the camera work and editing is extremely well done and professional.
A lot of the camera work is handheld and this particularly caught my eye because not only is it achievable for us to copy, but again,it also goes against the stereotypical understanding of music videos. We would normally expect for the camera to be steadied. However, I thought the use of a hand held camera was very enticing and added a personal touch to the video - it helped me as a viewer to feel more involved. The video also features a lot of mid shots and close ups of Shannon singing directly into the camera, again, involving the audience and making them feel as though Shannon is singing to them. The editing is very precise and there are a mass amount of fast paced shots moved. I found this interesting as the fast cuts act as a juxtaposition to the slow song, despite the contrast, I don't think it takes away from the music video, in a way it just sort of hightens the action involved within the video.
Kate Nash
Kate Nash is an English singer/songwriter who, like the other artists I have used would be classed as an Indie/Alternative artist. I chose to analyse her video for 'Do Wah Doo' as it differs from the others I have chosen and offers an alternative to what I would normally expect from a music video from her. The video is a mixture of both narrative and performance, however the real focus is on the performance. I got the impression that the video was made to look a little like a film as well as a music video. The video opens up with edited titles "Kate Nash In..." etc and ends in "The end" - highlighting the fact a film like theme has been incorporated within the video. I personally do not feel that this is particularly successful, the credits do not add anything to the video and the video would still be successful without them. The costumes and makeup featured are very 'film star' like and Kate is made to look almost like a pin-up girl with the classic red lip. The costumes are beneficial to the video and not only just help to set the scene but are also successful in attracting viewers. e.g. males would be likely to watch the video regardless of whether they like the song or not purely because Kate looks attractive. The setting of a plane is unique however, similar to Shannon Saunders video - the use of just one setting grows a little tiresome. However, something that did capture my attention was the CGI of the plane in the sky. CGI is not regularly featured within music videos yet within this video it is captivating and matches well with the context. Despite this, I don't feel CGI is something that I personally would want featured within our music video as although it works well within this particular video, I don't think it would look as good within ours as we would only be able to achieve it at a less professional standard which may make our video look cheap and tacky and this is something we do not want to run the risk of happening. One particularly successful element of the video was the use of multiple camera shots. The thing that stood out to me most was the use of focus pulls; for example, at the beginning of the video when Kate is looking over enviously at the pretty air hostess - the focus goes from Kates face to the other air hostess talking to one of the captains and then back to Kate's face to show her disgust at what she is witnessing. The use of the focus pulls connote the impression that the video was thoroughly thought through and it makes the video look very professional. Alongside the use of focus pulls, multiple close ups were used to display Kate lip-syncing. The use of such close ups were compelling, allowing the viewer to get a feel for Kate's bubbly, comical character. This helps to keep the video interesting but also gives Kate that likeable tendency that will attract new fans and please older fans. Lastly, I noted the use of numerous wide shots. I feel that these were used in order to set the scene. Seeing as the setting was on a plane, it may have been difficult to achieve an overview of it without the use of the wide shots. These shots allowed for the 'passengers' to be seen and also allowed for full vision when the air hostesses and Kate were dancing. Florence and the Machine
The last video I chose to analyse was Florence and the Machines' 'Dog Days'. This video was appealing to me because it is one of the 2 videos made for this particular song. This version is the 2008 video, it was the bands first single to be released and so they didn't have a massive budget for it. I chose this video over the funded 2010 version because I felt that it was more similar to the standard of video that we will be able too/want too produce ourselves. As with the other videos I have featured, Florence and the Machine are also classed under the Indie/Alternative genre. A striking element of this video is its individuality, the band clearly aren't afraid to be a little bit different and colourful and to an audience, that is attractive to viewers because it is intriguing. The video focuses predominantly on narrative rather than performance. The lyrics connote the idea of not reminiscing on the bad days and appreciating life for what it is and what it can offer. The video follows Florence waking up in a wood, assumedly holding onto negative thoughts, however; the comically dressed characters influence her to enjoy life and let herself be free. The costumes used are extremely effective in setting the scene, the majority of characters are dressed as clowns and are almost a visual representation of what happiness should look like. Although I think this is effective, I feel it works well personally for this song yet I don't think a similar idea could be applied to all songs. For example, this type of costume would not match the narrative of the Kate Nash song. We would only consider this type of costume if it matched our song, otherwise it would look out of place. The setting of the woods is something that stood out to me because it is quite a basic setting however is broad in the fact that you can bring whatever you want too it and it's free - this is something that is suitable for us as students. The editing is also very well done in this video. A prominent feature to me was the use of synchronised editing. Near the beginning of the video, the beat of the song is matched to the visuals of the clowns clapping - this is something that is very pleasing for the audience too see, it is clear to see that a lot of thought has gone into the making of the video and this makes it more appealing. If possible, I think I would like to include this within our own video as I feel that it shows advanced skills and will give the video a professional feel. Similarly, the camera work is interesting. I noticed that a lot of the camera work looks hand held. This stood out to me as I believe it gives the video a personal touch and allows you to see it from a different perspective - to me the video could be interpreted as being almost like a visual diary, someone is following Florence round and capturing all of her memories on film.
Copyright is the legal right given to the person who creates a certain piece of work. For example, Lana Del Rey holds the rights over her song 'Without You'. These said rights give the person control over who uses their work and who can reproduce it.
As a group it became apparent to us that we needed to ask for permission to use the song we are wanting to use before we carry on with the planning. Because of this, I have emailed Lana Del Rey's record label, 'Stranger Records' to confirm that we can use 'Without You.'
Below is a printscreen of the email that I sent the record label. As you can see I clearly stated our reasoning for wanting to use the song and I highlighted the fact that we would not be using it for any money making purposes, this way the record label will be aware that we will not be making any profit from a piece of work that does not belong to us personally.
As you can see in the video below, myself, Millie, Kate and Evie took it upon ourselves to do a little bit of research into which sort of genre and artists we preferably would be interested in using. As I mentioned before, we all have a shared interest for alternative/indie music and therefore a lot of the discussion sways towards those types of artists.
Despite the variety of artists we whittled them down to 4 potential choices: Lana Del Rey, Shannon Saunders, Florence and the machine and Kate Nash.
By definition, a Digi -pack is "A type of packaging for CD's or DVDs, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more disks".
As part of our coursework we have to create a digi-pack for our artist and the song that we have chosen. Digi-packs are very similar to regular albums, however, they are made out of cardboard rather than plastic. They tend to be more expensive than regular CDs due to their design (they open up like a book). This design allows for more room for inserts such as lyric books or multiple CDs. They are usually used when an artist releases a particular special album, due to the fact that they offer a more professional, luxury look. When creating our own digi-pack we need to consider elements such as colour schemes, style and fonts and the way in which it will represent our artist.
I have chosen to work with Millie, Evie and Kate and as a group we have decided to go with the music video brief. I chose these particular group members initially because I worked with them for the AS coursework in which we created a very successful final product and I felt we worked well as a team without many issues throughout both the planning and production stages. We all have individual skills which we bring to the team - My camera work is particularly successful therefore this is something that I would be able to bring to the team, Millie excels in her editing skills and is very conscientious of her work, Kate is exceptionally organised therefore is able to control both the group and things such as dates and times for filming and when we should begin editing and so on. Lastly, Evie has a very tasteful, artistic eye and so is amazing with the mise en scene side of things; she co-coordinates outfits that match well to the context of the video and can decipher through multiple settings for the video and select the one that is most successful and intriguing. Above all of these factors, I chose them because they share a similar music taste to myself (Indie music) and therefore I felt that it made sense to work together as we all share a similar vision as to how we would like the video to watch - In conclusion, working as a team will allow us to share the workload and hopefully, produce another successful piece of coursework. We decided to go for the music video brief as it was the most suited to us. We didn't want to do the trailer brief as we felt it was too similar to the AS coursework and concluded that we would rather try something different. Additionally, the music video seems like it might be a challenge and we want to push ourselves in order to create an interesting, individual piece. We have already began researching other students A2 music videos and have started to get an idea and feel for the coursework. The music video brief is the most appealing to us and with a little bit of research and team work, we feel we can produce an distinctive final product.
