T4- Understand the techniques of music videos (Cut by cut)

In this task we created a storyboard covering all the cuts in the 'Foo Fighters- The pretender, up to 50 seconds, upon creating this storyboard we took pictures of each shot on the storyboard and uploaded them to the computers upon which time we imported theme into adobe premiere pro and proceeded to edit them together to match shots of the original music video with the shots storyboard to attempt to recreate the original video and then used split screen tools to create a comparison video with the original in the corner and the finished storyboard in the rest of the screen.

This process was a partial success as it captured the basic concept of the original video but with more shots on the storyboard it would match the original slightly better.

Though analysis of the video it was recorded that the music video implements long shots, close ups, mid shots, extreme long shots, panning shots and establishing shots as well as having shots that vary in length from as little as half a a second.

After creating this comparison we discovered that band sequences usually include many shots covering 360 degrees and many angles of the band.




Shooting the footage
in this exercise we only used one angle for all 4 shots we filmed. this required multiple takes to get the timing correct. to get the timing correct the actors sung over the actual song with lyrics while they were recorded therefore it was easyer to know what they had to 'sing'. additionaly we filmed all of the song for each shot we did so we could pick what we needed in the editing process.
Editing the footage
in the same way i edited to the beat i used markers to match up the music with the footage to make it easyer to edit together which i also used in conjunction with cuting parts of the fottage to parts of the music such as cuting the shots such as the elton parts to those sections in the music. additionaly implementing the use of layers helped to diferentiate when the singing was stoping and starting for each person making it easyer to match up the video to the music. additionaly to finish the song a pen tool was implemented to gradualy lower the volume from two specified points to produce a fade out at the end.

T3 - Understand the techniques of music videos (Edit to the beat)

Cutting to the beat

 

The first technique that was implemented was cutting to the beat which is, as the name suggests, cutting the video so that there is a cut on every beat or every certain number of beats to match the change in the music.
This was used by adding markers on the beat and editing the video clips to match those markers.
This technique provides a boost to both the song and the video by matching each other.
Chroma key

 

Chroma key is another technique implemented which removes all colour to black and white apart from a colour that is specified, in this case red. This effect is created by layering a copy of the cut you wish to use the effect on above the original then using the desaturate tool on the bottom layer and the chroma keyer on the top layer and editing the settings of the chroma keyer until the red colour is isolated on the slider.

Split screen

 

A additional technique implemented is split screen which allows several clips to be played on the screen at once such as having a large video and a small video in the corner to compare between the two. To create this the clips which you want to show at the sam time must be layered above each other on the timeline then reduce the size of the videos by clicking the marker in a corner and dragging the mouse until the video is the size you want it to be then clicking and dragging the center of the video until you put it in the location you want it to be.

 

Audio fade

 

The final technique that was implemented was audio fade which as the name suggests makes the audio go from a certain volume to a lower volume or off, in this case off, this is made by dragging the red dot at the end of the audio clip to the bottom of the clip. In the music video this is used as a transition to end the song.

T2-Understand the styles and conventions of music videos, Part 3 illustrative forms

Narrative
Narrative music videos are usually story based and have a storyline that usually  illustrates the lyrics of the song. for example there is a underlying narative throughout the music video of 'Take on me' by a-ha 

Impressionist

Impressionist music videos use artistic concepts to illustrate the song.  A example of a impressionist music video is Adele- Rolling in the Deep.

Surrealist

Surrealism is seen quite often in small amounts on most music videos having sections/ objects or imagery that seems out of place and illogical. however a good example of surrealism in music videos is 'Come To Daddy by Aphex Twin'.

Pastiche

Pastiche is a style that mimics the style or genre of something else an example of such is Christine Aguilera - Candyman.

 

Parody

Parody is near enough the most abundant style of music video ranging from professional parody artists such as Weird Al Yankovic down to many unprofessional parody artists that make them for fun such as Harry Partridge  of which many can be found on video sharing sites such as youtube and such artists make fun and twist the lyrics and meanings of many things including film, music, games and various other mediums. here is a example of parody of michael jackson's 'beat it' by Weird Al Yankovic.

Homage

Homage is the style of referencing somthing within the video to pay respect an example of this is Thirty Seconds To Mars - The Kill (Bury Me) which references the film The Shining in setting and the lead singer sits at typewriter alike jack nicholson's character in the film.

Intertextuality

interectuality is the reference to other media texts such a example of this is in the music video of Robbie Williams - You Know Me which makes refererence to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer logo with Robbie's head with a rabbit mask on replacing the lion.

T2-Understand the styles and conventions of music videos, Part 2 Tecnical forms of music video

Forms of music video;

• digital animated- which is the sole use of computer generated imagery for the whole music video. A example of this is "Weird Al Yankovic- Trapped in The Drive-Thru" This is used mostly by music videos of Electronic music however there are exceptions including the example that use this type of music video.

• live footage- music videos that include footage of the song making person/group doing somthing behind the scenes. Shown here by "The Beatles- Come Together" which is used quite often for boy bands.

• stop motion- videos created by taking many still images and changing something between every image to then compile and play at a speed to give the sense of animation. This is shown in "Peter Gabriel- Sledgehammer" This being a type of music video that is rarely used in the music industry.

• Studio footage-  these music videos simply are made of recorded sessions of the song being sung in a studio. a example of this is "Take That - Rule The World" this is used by many different artists and groups of various genres.

• Cinematic- follow the lyrics to create a film level production values showing the situation described in the song to provide a more story based music video. this is shown in "The Cardigans- My Favourite Game" used quite often in mainstream pop music such as Rihanna and Lady Gaga.

• In concert- music videos are where the band is recorded playing the song live throughout the whole music video a example of this is "Nirvana - Smells like Teen Spirit" which had the bad playing with the crowd destroying the set around them. this style of music video is more commonly used for metal and rock bands such as Metallica

T2-Understand the styles and conventions of music videos, Part 1- Andrew goodwin's 6 music video conventions

Understanding the styles and conventions of music videos

Andrew Goodwin's book "Dancing in the Distribution Factory(1992)" gave information on many different conventions and similaritys though music videos. 6 of these conventions are;

1. The book highlights the conventions that are used for nearly all music videos such as specific genres using nearly the same characteristics as eachother.

• For example Girl bands usually have a lot of closeup/mid shots with constant eye contact, lots of suggestive touching throughout the video as well as a lot of dancing in formation. as seen below in 'Girls Aloud - Biology' and 'The Saturdays- What About Us' respectively.

• Rock bands on the other hand have Very little movement apart from the main singer and are usually set in big empty areas with the instruments and band playing. as seen below in 'Foo Fighters- The Pretender' and 'Green Day- American Idiot' respectively.

• Indie Folk tends to have more natural settings in fields, parks and forests with usually the band playing with more acoustic instruments and walking around. as seen below in 'Mumford & Sons - Hopeless Wanderer' and 'The Paper Kites - Bloom' respectively

• Boy bands have generally the same characteristics as girl bands with constant eye contact at short to mid shots. as seen below in 'Westlife- I Have a Dream' and 'Take That - back For Good' respectively.

2. The book also points out the fact that there is either one of 3 types of music videos for songs;

Illustrative

• This type of music video literaly illustratrates the lyrics to the song with no deviating from the face meaning

 

Amplifying

•  Amplifying music videos take the lyrics and accent on it to give them more meaning than they have on face value.

Contradicting

• Contradicting music videos make no link to the lyrics of the actual song and are in no way related.

3. Another point is that there is a relationship between the music and visuals in the sense that the tone and atmosphere of the visuals is either Amplifying, Contradictive or illustrative in relation to the music.
These type of music videos match the tone and theme of the music in a exact or similar way.

"Pharrell Williams - happy" has a slow beat in which the music video illustrates the tone by matching the beat in cuts and pace.

"Skrillex-Bangarang" has a fast beat which the music video amplifies the tone by cuts to the beat and fast cuts and the setting being a robbery of a ice cream van which in itself is fast paced.

4. another of goodwins's points is that the record labels demand a artist to come up with a visual style.

A example of this point is lady Gaga who from her first song has built a image of having strange  and surreal music videos and also dresses and acts strangely in all of her public appearances.



5. The cameras in music videos have a constant sense of observing the subject especially women in a voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

Using this form of music video makes use of women as a tool to draw in male audiences a example of such is Britney Spears - Toxic.




6. Music videos often use interexual references of other media such as Tv programs, other music videos, news at the time and films. 

This can be done for a number of reasons such as having a promotion deal to promote different the media and linking the music video to the other media to promote themselves and gain a bigger audience. a example of this is daft punk punk making songs for the film Tron Legacy as well as making a music video for one of them in the style of the film as shown in Daft punk - Derezzed.

T1- understanding the purpose of music videos

Music videos have various different uses and the focused uses variate with artists artists.

Promotion-
Some artists use music video as a platform to grab the attention of the audience and therefore promote the song in there video, a example of this is Lady Gaga's music videos which have striking imagry and usualy lead to controversy.

Getting the attention of the audience can also be obtained in unusual ways without being offecncive, an example of such is "Ok Go" with just entertaining and imaginative content.

Availability of artist-
Music videos are also important to provide somthing to show on shows when the artists are not avalible such as queen's 'Bohemian Rapsody' which Brian May had once said that the music video was made because the band didn't want to mime the song because it was so complex and they wouldent be avalible to perform because they had just started the first week of a 9 week tour.

Additionally another reason for making the music video is because queen didn't want the song to be misrepresented and given the wrong image by the use of Pans people who were a dancing group used to fill in for bands when they couldent perform on top of the pops. Such was felt progressively thought more and more artists after the release of queen's music video.

Extension of income-
Some artists use music videos to make more money for there songs by inciting audiences to buy not only the song but the music video as well as well as any other products related to them that they put in the video such as miley cyrus - "we can't stop".

Additionally Christina Aguilera uses one of her music videos "Not Myself Tonight." to advertise for her perfume range to gain more sales via the video advertisement.

extension of outlets-
Most artists use music videos to allow there song to have exposure on more mediums to build up interest and awareness such as, CD/DVD, online downloading, allowing the song to broadcast on a music channel and lyric videos. a example of this is Michael Bublé who has multiple ways to access him and his work. this can be in the form of his official website, his youtube channel and his singles and albums on CD and iTunes.

Synergy-
Some artists use synergy, which is when things work to benefit each other in this case advertisement, in the form of product placement and links to other content for example having the music video set in the world of the film its linked to, for example in TRON: Legacy the soundtrack features work made specificly for the film by Daft Punk and also includes them in the film as a cameo. 

Daft Punk - Derezzed (from TRON: Legacy)

Another example of synergy is Adele and the James Bond franchise with the song for the film with the same name "skyfall" which provides advertisement for the film and song in eachother.



The strategies producers use-


Major 4- Universal, sony music, warner brothers, EMI The majority of which are part of conglomerates with devisions in TV, film and electronics.an example of strategies used are universal's and sony music's partnership in a music video website and channel on youtube named 'Vevo' which conglomerates all the artists signed under the companies including EMI Records and artists who buy into the system this action was taken to create official locations for most artists on the internet and to reduce the number of unofficial releases of songs on video sharing sites such as youtube reducing the available ad revenue. instead of joining this group Warner Brothers formed a partnership with MTV.

Major independents- most of the majors own or licence smaller companies to reach more varying audiences such as- Columbia, island, Syco, RC and Virgin.
Indipendent- studios such as 'Warp Studios' have no financial links to the majors and focus on a small nice of certain genres such as hip hop, rap, electronica and dance they usualy start as indipendents and are then usually bought up by majors and become major independents when they become successful.
In the case of independents the strategies used are in the case that music videos are seen more of a art form rather than an advertisement platform. additionally independents usually only work with a few artists in specific niche music genres which such as Hip hop/Electronica/Rap/Dance.
Artist self produced- are as said artist that make and produce there own music and usualy use video sharing sites such as youtube to get there music heard and doing such they can become very sucsessful and famous in the mainstream music industry or just on the video sharing sites.