For this section I will be searching and organizing areas that could be a useful place to film our music video.
The ‘Trapped room’
I will be trying to find some building with a simple room that would be a perfect place to give the impression the artist is trapped.
After being ambitious with the storyboard and narrative, Ive asked a local estate agent if they have an building that is being refurbished that we could use, as it would be helpful to have an old white room with no objects within it, the feedback we got from our Estate Agents ‘Brightmoves’ was successful as they mentioned they had an apartment located in stand-ground which the owner agreed we could use of media purposes. We are keeping in close contact with ‘Brightmoves’ to have up-dates in different locations which would be ideal to use, therefore keeping an open mind.
This is the flat in standground that has some potential, it’s an empty house with plain white walls that would be good when creating the blowing letters scene, editing will look more clear again a plain, simple background.
I’ve also phoned our nearest prison in Peterborough to ask if we could use one of the prison cells for the day to get some shots taken. Below is a screen shot from Google maps of the prison that we might consider using if we are allowed to get access in the building.
This is a new-ish building modern prison for both male and female and I think it would be perfect for the idea of being trapped. This area is easy enough to access for all members of my group and therefore is ideal if permission is successful. If we were to use this location we would need to ensure we don’t use an establishing shot of the build with any logos as this could instantly show where we are, which possibly could cause problems with the company. Therefore the best idea is to film in one room that is plain and simple that doesn’t show where we are in the shots.
Nottingham Rail Station NG80 This is a bird’s eye view of a map of Nottingham when Modey and I went to visit Nottingham Trent University. We came across a few buildings that became mysterious locations which we could possibly use in our music video. These locations that we found, we right next to the main railway station where old buildings had bullet smashed glass windows that had been shot, bricks cracking and solid white metal bars across the window to prevent the public from access inside this dangerous building.
From this photo that was taken right next to the train station, we immediately knew that we would need to get some sort of permission to get inside of this dangerous building as it wasn’t been looked after and would be harmful if we decided to hang around there for long. Even though we thought this building looks broken, rough and secure on the outside, we felt like if this would be one of our chosen location areas we could simply film from the outside, as the appearance as a whole would produce an effective piece of work, and will fit well within our theme. Only dilemma was, the location was at a good distance away from Peterborough and therefore hard to get access. If we were to use this location again, it would need to be held in the middle of October/November time; which might not give us enough time to finish and meet the deadline.
Outside the trapped room “The real world”
In some of the shots that we are carrying out is in an alleyway, which would preferably be in Peterbrough Town somewhere for example MilllField as the location can tend to be ‘rough’, which will add a cool effect, as the alleyway will look old and broken.
Alleyways
Pekirk Village
I’ve been recommended to view this alleyway in Pekirk, peterborough which belonged to an old building, which had been noticed as perfect for our music video. This Alleyway is currently in between two detached houses, which means we would need to check with the owners of these two houses if we are able to film for a few hours in this location.
From the image taken by myself, I think it will look really effective in our video, as its a very dark confined piece of space that look really old. I think this would be the perfect solution for our alleyway scene or when the actor is trapped in a tight space, as from the looks of this spaces its extremely narrow. Not only does this dark small alley way effective and syled to our specifications its also a very reachable located for the whole group to get to. Due to our school being located in Glinton, this alleyway is in Pekirk which is only a 15min walk. Therefore if we decided to use this location in our media product we can all work to the location in minutues. Overall its a very convienent, accessible, location which is suitable for what we need, however this chosen location does require permission from the owners of the house in which its built on, which could be an disadvantage.
Queensgate Alley Way…..
These are the main under bridges that are located in Peterborough’s town. They are a few alley ways that allow people who access one end of the main roads to another. I think these would be a good location to consider as its a public place and to some people being in a public place doesnt allow them to be themselves. Therefore in that respect they would begin to feel trapped, not only this but I beleive its an easy place to get access too as the whole group wont have any excuses about traveling arrangments.
Storyboards are a way of showing graphic organisation by the use of serious of illustrations or image which is displayed in a sequence. The purpose of a storyboard is mainly for pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity. For my media course I shall get together with me group and create a storyboard by using a combination of ideas and including it into one illustration story line. By the use of combining all our ideas we have managed to come up with some story plan that will help enhance the narrative of our music video.
This is our story board of some rough ideas what the narrative could be and what time of camera shots will be used.
Shot 1: This song is going to be a really interesting way of representing the songs title. The letters will be blown by a powerful fan and the printed letters will blow away from the fan, entering the this room. The lettering will preferably be still movements used my a camera layering in the editing stages. Each individual letter will begin to create the title of the song and promote the artist. This will be done by using a long high angle shot of the room.
Shot 2: This high establishing shot introduces our character to the scene as he walks through a door from real life to his mind. We have metaphorically used a door as a prop to his mind, to represent different sections or chambers of his deepest darkest thoughts. Within this shot, costume and editing are major influences on creating the right ‘feel’ to our video, and hopefully the audience will see we have drawn influence from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and given it an urban touch.
Shot 3: This will be an extremely high angle shot from the corner of this empty room, as we mainly wanted to give the illusion of the walls climbing higher, with the character/artist looking very vulnerable.
Shot 4: Will be a direct shot of joey (Kid Cudi) looking outside a window, whilst tightly gripping onto the metal bars which represents he is trapped in a prison cell. The lighting of this shot will be very dark, as we shouldn’t film the camera directly at the light otherwise the character will be completely black and hardly visible to the viewers, however this is the effect that we wanted to give.
Shot 5: This will be a very hard shot to create and therefore will be taking a risk. It’s going to be a midshot/close up on Joey’s face, and ith the use of the ‘cookie cutter’ we will split the screen in half, directly in the middle of his face. One half of his face shall be reality and the other side of his face will be animated, or if this is not possible to create with our skills, we will use our innitative and use an alternative idea of having the other half of the shot of him still trapped/or in the real world.
Shot 6: Shot 6 is an early idea at an ending where we reveal to the audience that the man has been living life all along and that all the events show in the video are an average day for him. By using this show we have turned the concepts of work and the stress that city life creates into metaphorical situations in which one person is stuck doing something they don’t particularly like (in this case being trapped). Although this idea may change, we intend to create an ending which interlinks with the beginning, In this example, the man may walk into his office which is in fact the white room at the start (scene 1). This will thicken the narrative and encourage repeatability of the song within the audience.
In this section I will be discussing with my group a range of different ideas that we could do in our music video that might relate to the song choice. This would help us to fully understand the lyrics of the song and with the use of our imagination think of a narrative that could easily link into the song, so everything makes sense. First of all we all sat down and had a hard copy of the lyrics which we read through whilst listening to the music. We kept pausing some parts of the song and then had a group discussion of what ideas we could come up with that chorus we just listened too. By doing this method we could come up with some really good imaginative narrative ideas that will match perfectly with the song we are going to do “Trapped in my Mind”.
Idea 1. The first idea is about a man who is lying in a hospital bed dreaming about something very surreal and usual like an unwanted dream. In this dream he appears to be trapped in a white box with walls too high to climb out of, and he is trying to find a way out of this box or room. When he is in this box he begins to hallucinate and then appear to be falling somewhere. Whilst he is falling weird things happen to him with the use of animations. He will also get flash backs for his life which will explain why he feels so trapped by his insecurities. Towards the end of the song he see’s a big bright white light, and he is torn towards this light which will then have a jump cut to the hospital bed with an extreme close up of the hospital heart rate monitor with the heart beeping then slowly begins to stop with a big beep, signifying that has walked to the bright light and ended his life.
Idea 2. This guy is having a normal day at work stuck in an office and from his appearance he looks a bit like a computer geek, then suddenly he gets sucked into some sort of trapped video game and he can’t escape unless he finishes the game. He need to complete all the challenges that get in his way correctly making the correct choice, otherwise he could be trapped forever in this surreal computer generated world. He is surrounded by so many different options and choices and he need to be clever and think ‘outside of the box’ for the game to be completed.
Idea 3.Instead of being trapped in a white box or room this guy is trapped in a prison cell surrounded by plain, dark walls and heavy metal bars. He forgets about what the real world is like as he has never been outside of this cell. He thinks he is getting crazy but his craziness is normal for him. He wants to get out of this prison but at the same time is scared, as he wouldn’t know how to react and act around normal people. For most of his life he has been surrounded by criminals so he has always learnt to be very defensive of himself. This will be shown my the use of his body language and motion of the song choice. Jump cuts and cut away shots will be shown of the prison cell to the outside world. Where the outside world will be surreal and within the bars will be reality, as this is the perspective of how he is in his life. Normal to him in locked up in a cell. He tries to find a way of escaping but is uncertain of the choice he is about to make.
The Idea that I really like is Idea 3 as I think it will look really effective if it was held in a real life prison as I can imagine a lot of experimentation with lines and shadows with the criminals looking really scary. And then the use of animation and illustrations can be mainly used in the real world. Showing this different of worlds for different peoples perspectives. I believe that this type of narrative can be a lot of fun to create with a very unique ideas and story line, even thought this idea is quite complicated, confusing and ambitious, therefore not exactly following Suzy Davis advice exactly, but i know this idea will give us the ability to use editing to the max. After some sensible considerations we as a group have decided that the whole concept of using this idea would be way to confusing, the decided to drop the idea. However we still wanted to use some elements of the idea to recreate a much better idea. Story3 is mainly based on the confusion of Kid Cudi and is shown by him not being used to the outside life away from jail. So we would have shown how he would of been trapped in society, but like I said this idea was way too complex for what we needed, and it would have been hard to show the confusion, due to jail usually being associated with being trapped and not the outside life.
Development of idea 3: The 4th story was that Kid Cudi wakes up from his sleep. But once he wakes up he realises that he is not fully awoken, therefore being trapped in his mind, this links to the song and creates a cool story to help the video flow. In this dream he is trapped in a white room, this is his dream which he is trapped upon. Kid Cudi looks for ways out and cannot find the exit, and all the video would show his struggling and being trapped in this one room then in the end maybe escaping from this dream that he was trapped in. This story is very simple and seems really cliché to me, maybe I have seen the idea been used and cannot remember, but I do feel that this idea is used and just do not think it has enough to run us through the whole video, whilst still keeping people interested in the music video. This is why we have not chosen to create this idea due to the lack of content available from this story arc.
Further Development/Final: This idea can be developed from our brainstorms (which was done vocally, not written) was the idea that Kid Cudi wakes up and enters a room from his living room that he has never seen before. From this he is trapped in this room, but constantly keeps reappearing in different confined places and once he tries to exit these rooms he re-enters the room he was initially trapped in. The idea is where ever Kid Cudi goes he always ends up in the room he randomly entered at the start. This idea gives us a lot of content due to the different locations that can be used to keep interest in the video. The room at the start initially is his mind, so he actually is going nowhere at the end. But inside his mind he is entering many different places and ending up in the same place (his mind). It is simple and gives us a lot of content due to the availability of many spaces in the music video. It is also relevant to the song and has content from all the ideas into one simple idea to help branch out into the final music video for Trapped In My Mind. This narrative is much more suitable due to its simplicity compared to the start of our ideas which were more ambitious that led to so much confusion, where working as a group became difficult as we all had different understandings. Therefore this one idea is perfect giving us plenty of locations and planning to do, plus adaptions for improvements.
Product placements is a form of synergy is its something that can be strongly overlooked as its usually associated with marketing and advertising. Music and advertising have been linked together for a long time now starting with Chevy from Don Mclean in “American pie” to the song “Pass the Courvoisier” from Busta Rhymes. The main reason for this connections is that the music performer heavily depends on advertising money to support their career.
Commonly, the money artists receive from product placement will directly pay for the music video itself, which saves massive amounts of money costs. As the main deal with advertising can help to reduce the ever-increasing cost of music video productions. For example usually more than 25% of production costs can be paid off from the use of product placements deals with big branded companies.
Lady Gaga
Music Videos are now cram packed with product placements. A recent example is Lady Gaga and Beyonce’s track ‘Telephone’. In this video alone there are nine separate plugs:
1:34: Heartbeats earphones. 2:06: Virgin Mobile. 2:17: Diet Coke. 4:15: Virgin Mobile (again). 4:24: HP Envy ‘Beats Limited Editon’ laptop from Monster. 4:28: Plenty Of Fish dating site. 4:44: Chevrolet. 5:37: Polaroid. 6:24: Wonderbread. 6:36: Miracle Whip. 8:31: Polaroid (again).
Its insane how much product placements Lady Gaga & Beyonce uses in this video!! Which makes me question:
when does product placement get “too much”? When does it cross the line and become “unethical”? Or, should it just continue to increase more and more?
Overall, as a group we are thinking about using product placements as it would make our music video stand out whilst also fulfilling the main conventions of music videos. I personally like the idea of using “coca-cola” in our music video as its a cheap product placement to use, plus is greatly recognised and accessible anywhere. Not only is using diet coke a good idea for a placement but big brands like Apple would be good to use too.
In this section I will be exploring some music videos that I thoroughly enjoy but look more deeply into the technical aspects of it. Such as the use of camera angles, editing, mise en scene, and movement that could be beneficial to the music video I will be eventually making. From watching music videos on ‘Youtube’ and ‘MTV’ I have found music videos that have attracted me greatly that have also inspired me within my work. They are Owl city’s debut song fireflies, The Pen story which I thought was amazingly creative and imaginative. Therefore I shall be researching in depth some music videos of my appeal and find one that links perfectly with my song choice.
OWL CITY- FIRE FLIES
Owl city fireflies get really upbeat and catchy towards the end and main chorus. I really love the use of different types of toys that are hidden and shown with in bedroom. It reminds me of when kids have these dreams that their favourite toys come alive in the night when no one is looking. From this video it indicates what goes on in a child’s mind and the surreal of the video makes it appear more fascinating. I do find this video very dark with hardly no lighting as the main lighting if from the toys LCD lights or phosphorescent lighting, however this technique does look effective as does follow my theory of the story line. However this music video links mainly into the category ‘Disjuncture’ as the band prefers to show their originality and uniqueness as an individual group. Therefore Owl City don’t always make much sense due to the heavy use of abstract imagery.
THE PEN STORY
This video instantly attracted me due to its creativity and originality. I never seen a music video much like this as the use of photos makes it so much more amusing. This video is a perfect example of Amplification as it has a very clear narrative to follow. From the first shot it immediately tells me that the song has something to do with a very important anniversary as it says on the envelop “50th Anniversary” which from knowledge means the ‘Gold wedding anniversary’.
The camera angles within this video is not very obvious as the main attention is the use of layering photos to make it look like the character is moving etc. But you can notice some camera movement as the camera is sometimes on a tilt/angle to make it appear like a high angle shot or low angle shot.
KID CUDI – Pursuit Of Happiness (Megaforce Version)
Click on the image to enlarge so text is more visible..
Here I have annotated each shot that I liked and why I think its good. Kid Cudi’s video has been cleverly done from the use of interesting camera angles and movements used in each frame. He has used creativity in a complete different way, without the need to have much animations, he has used a lot of props to make this amazing piece of art which makes it inspiring when I need to make my video. If we decide not use animations or illustrating the use of clever technical props and unusual camera angles will be used to make it appear surreal. This video is an Amplification music video as it follows the story line in a way but uses surreal objects to add creativity and a positive sense of humour.
Videos I don’t particually want to take further!!!
These are some music videos that i’ve looked at that I think might not be exactly suited for our ideas and for other various reasons.
Katy Perry last friday night:
This music video has a great sense of humour with the use of mise en scene and narrative. Which is really inspiring however I felt that the lip syncing at the beginning is really bad, as she is wearing those really big braces its off-putting when she starts signing. Therefore I personally felt uncomfortable. However I like the idea of using bright colours and the sense of comedy humour in this video, I think I would get pretty bored of watching it more than twice. It isn’t my personal type of attraction.
Therefore I don’t think I will be getting much inspiration from this music video when I begin to design my media product.
Ed Sheeran – You need me, I don’t need you
This is a music video from Ed Sheeran. I’ve been observing his music videos and came to notice that all of his official videos are in black and white with a very depressing narrative. From his newest official video “you need me, I don’t need you” uses Disjuncture as the video doesn’t follow the narrative story line for the lyrics. Therefore it appears completely random. What I like about this music video however it the clever way of using a ‘cool, young teenage boy who appear to be doing some dance when it really is sign language used of people who cannot hear. I like this idea as it shows that anyone can watch and understand his lyrics in his music video! However towards the end of his video it began to get extremely boring, this is not a good thing if the audience gets bored and doesn’t want to watch it again. Ed Sheeran also never uses himself in his music video. He will always get someone who is acting then he would occasionally appear towards the last 10 seconds of the song.
From watching this music video, I believe I will not be using inspiration from it as it doesn’t attract me in any way, apart from trying to broaden the target audience.
Group Discussion
As a group we have been using the social networking site Facebook to communicate when out of school. We have been discussing what type of music videos have inspired us, that could give us some inspiration for our media product, also what songs we really like that has a personal meaning. We all have different opinions but this is a good thing as it allows us to have an open mind about what type of music video we can experiment with.
I’ve been posting videos that I think would be a really good idea to use, for example more of the illustration and animation side of the video world, trying to get the boys to realize how the artistic music videos look the most effective.
Whereas the boys had another ideas of music choice as they posted music videos that had a lot of fast movement and a wide range of camera angles continuously. Therefore we all agreed to combine all the ideas of what music videos we are greatly inspired by and use a mixture of animation, camera angles continuously and will be relying on the editing to produce the movement.
Im really glad that we used Facebook as another communication network as we were able to discuss anything, ideas, problems, inspiration and sharing all our ideas that can be put together. Modey and I were also finding videos that were all based on animations and posting tutorials, so we can independently learn a new software that will benefit us for our media product.
“To obtain permission to use a work protected by copyright, you must determine who is the copyright owner of the material you intend to use, contact the owner, and request the right to use the work in the territory and format you intend, and — in some cases — pay the owner a fee. Often the most difficult part of this process is finding the owner to ask permission to use the work.”
Kid Cudi’s personal permission:
In order for our media group to use the song within our music video, we would firstly need to email Kid Cudi for his permission, and any thoughts or issues that he might have on us using his song. From basic knowledge we knew that it would be a legal requirment to get permission from the artist or management for us to use their song for personal purposes. However as we are media students we wouldn’t be publishing it as a copy righted song, but we do feel it would be best to ask Kid Cudi if we are allowed to use his song that is not very well known for our media video
This is the email that we sent to him regarding what we would like to do with his song.
Unfortunately we did not get a reply from him or his management team. Therefore we will still proceed with the making of our media video, and maybe try to email him again something during the course of the project.
Copyright is a law that helps protect creators by giving them exclusive rights to their work. Once a work is under copyright, it is then illegal to use the work without the permission of the copyright owner.
How does copyright effect my decision to use music?
Music that has been recorded on a published CD is normally protected by 2 copyright laws. To have the ability to use the recording of the music within my work, I would need to get permission from both copyright holders. These are the record company and the artist publisher itself.
The second permission is for the recording itself. To get this, you would approach the record company that released the recording. The record company holds the copyright for the actual performance of the song captured and mastered on tape and released on CD. The symbol for this copyright is the letter (P) inside a circle. (look on the back of your own Cds, you will see these symbols in use)
From this information it suggests that having a sync license means you have permission from the publisher to use the music but it doesn’t give me the right to use a specific recording for the work. For that I would need the following:…
What licenses do I need?
Here are the licenses you need for the right to use music in your media project:
Synchronization License – This license is issued from the music publisher. The Synchronization License (often abbreviated as sync license) gives you the right to “synchronize” the copyrighted music with your images and dialogue
Master Use License – This license is issued directly from the record company. Fees can range from several hundred dollars to millions of dollars depending on the popularity of the music.
Overall from this little section of research, I have learnt that even though I’m only using the music for educational purposes. I really just ask for permission first before I can officially use my desired song in my media product. Therefore I will sent an email and write a formal letter regarding song permission use, which will be sent out to Kid Cudi and his personal recording company.
When it comes to planning and researching a song that would be well suited for my music video their were many ideas and suggestions that would be considered. We all decided to make a music video that would fit into the category Illustration or Amplification. The reason we wanted to make a music video under these categories is because it would feel more comfortable to make a music video that corresponds to the lyrics, so some sort of storyline/narrative would match with it. I also felt that using this style of music video would allow us to make a more original final piece, so full imagination and creativity was available. When doing some target audience research the most popular genre surprising turned out to be Alternative hip-hop/rap and Electro, therefore when deciding on what song to pick, we shall be looking at songs in the chosen genre.
OWL CITY
Owl City had two very In-dependable albums which gained mainstream popularity with the 2009 major lable debut album Ocean Eyes which successfully became a massive hut triple platinum single. “fireflies” and “Vanilla Twilight” are the names of the popular songs in this single.
Owl city has been described as a conbination of different genres, there include Electropop, synthpop,indietronica, ethereal wave,emo-pop, Dreampop.
Fireflies song lyrics:
You would not believe your eyes If ten million fireflies Lit up the world as I fell asleep
‘Cause they’d fill the open air And leave teardrops everywhere You’d think me rude But I would just stand and stare
I’d like to make myself believe That planet Earth turns slowly It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay Awake when I’m asleep ‘Cause everything is never as it seems
‘Cause I’d get a thousand hugs From ten thousand lightning bugs As they tried to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head A sock hop beneath my bed A disco ball is just hanging by a thread
I’d like to make myself believe That planet Earth turns slowly It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay Awake when I’m asleep ‘Cause everything is never as it seems When I fall asleep
Leave my door open just a crack (Please take me away from here) ‘Cause I feel like such an insomniac (Please take me away from here) Why do I tire of counting sheep (Please take me away from here) When I’m far too tired to fall asleep
To ten million fireflies I’m weird ’cause I hate goodbyes I got misty eyes as they said farewell
But I’ll know where several are If my dreams get real bizarre ‘Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar
I’d like to make myself believe That planet Earth turns slowly It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay Awake when I’m asleep ‘Cause everything is never as it seems When I fall asleep
I’d like to make myself believe That planet Earth turns slowly It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay Awake when I’m asleep ‘Cause everything is never as it seems When I fall asleep
I’d like to make myself believe That planet earth turns slowly It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay Awake when I’m asleep Because my dreams are bursting at the seams
We considered using this song to help us create our music video as it has really interesting camera shot and movement in every shot. The lighting was also used in a clever way making it really interesting and enjoyable to watch. This song is really upbeat and jolly, making the target audience want to jump in and sing along to the words. Listening to this songs puts a smile on my face and instantly makes me happy, so If we were to consider this song, the narrative needs to be something that can signify the happiness of the song. When listening to the lyrics of the song I instantly get the vibe of creativity and fast shots repeated continuously, also if we were to do this song I would defiantly fit some childish animations using ‘flash’ or something to make the video just as exciting and fun as the actual song.
TINIE TEMPAH
Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper from South London, England. His debut album, Disc-Overy, debuted at number one on 10 October 2010 and was preceded by the number-one singles “Pass Out” and “Written in the Stars” and the top-five singles “Frisky” and “Miami 2 Ibiza”.
Genres: Hip Hop, Electro, Rap, Grime, Drum & Bass
Let go feat Emeli Sande
[Chorus] If you can see me, then you’re probably a little too close So you think you could love me, well you gotta be stronger than most Cause my ex didn’t like it, didn’t like it, no my friends they don’t like it, they don’t like it Somebody remind me When’s the right time, when’s the right time to let go
[verse 1] Uh, dear whoeva the fuck is listening, Tell me of the pleasures of being a normal citizen Cause all these fittins’ and Vivians keeping me from fittin’ in Why do I feel safer on stage than in my own living room My grandma say that if I leave my drink I shouldn’t sip again Ooh this tour has got me feeling tired like I’m itchin’ and uh even though it’s physical differences in my siblings that’s why I feel so down even at the top of the ____
[Chorus]
[verse 2] Uh, dear whoeva the fuck is witnessin’, Disturbing London independent black businessman Based on the work and the effort I’m gunna give this year Everybody’s getting the presents they want for Christmas, yeah Life is only ninety nine winters So I’m tryna bond with daddy even though I don’t like Guiness Don’t be confused by my image, I’m no fuckin’ public pin-up
But my heart won’t let me say no to a picture
[Chorus]
[verse 3] Uh, dear whoeva the fuck is, Fuck it, this is discovery hate it or love it I’m now officially the property of the public since licensing my album And signing a deal to be published But none of these songs are written for me, nor am I a puppet Journalists come for interviews but don’t stay on the subject Yeah, no, yea – are we done yet? Questions you’ve asked me hundreds, now can you grant me some rest Because I’m tired of it, I’m living out my dream, and I’m tired from it If music needed saving, I’d die for it Music’s where my heart is, I’m alive for it I promise
[break] If I’m never liked my heart might break Here in the dark, yeah, we’ll be safe I don’t care, no looking back I’ve never been, never been, this far from home
[Chorus]
This song kind of means something to me, its a song that I always listen too when im a bit down or stressed, as I personally believe it helps me relax. However the lyrics are catchy with a good beat that we could experiment a lot with. Tiny Tempah does have some fast rapping in some areas of the song but its broken down but the soft singing from Emeli Sande, which I personally believe makes the song more interesting. As the woman voice is a song makes it more amusing that having just non stop rapping, which somethings gets on peoples nerves. Also from the questionnaire research rapping wasn’t the most popular and therefore this song would be good as its broken down cleverly. When it comes to thinking of a narrative when listening to this song I instantly imagine a love story when a couple breaks up and they possibly have some flash backs to the memories they had together. or about Tinie Tempah not being able to fit in with his surroundings, feel alone and insecure.
KID CUDI
Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi(born January 30, 1984), better known by his stage name Kid Cudi sometimes stylized KiD CuDi, is an American rapper, singer and actor. He first gained major attention after the release of his debut mixtape A Kid Named Cudi. In 2009, his single “Day ‘n’ Nite” reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts. “Day ‘n’ Nite” is part of Cudi’s debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day. Cudi has also worked with Kanye West, Common, David Guetta and other artists signed to the GOOD Music label.
Kid Cudi has various types of subgenres these include: Hip Hop, Alternative hip hop/rap, Alternative rock and Neo-Psychedelia
The Prayer My heart thump not from being nervous
Sometimes I’m thinking God made me special here on purpose
So all the while ’til I’m gone make my words important so
If I slip away, if I die today the last thing you remember won’t
Be about some apple bottom jeans with the boots with the fur
Baby how I dream of being free since my birth
Cursed but the demons I confronted would disperse
Have you ever heard of some shit so real
Beyond from the heart, from the soul you can feel
And if I die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take But please don’t cry, just know that I have made these songs for you And if I die before I wake I pray the lord my soul to take ‘Cuz I’m ready for a funeral
My mind runs I can never catch it even if I got a head start God please tell me I am feeling so alone way I don’t need to worry ‘cuz I know the world’ll feel this nigga Blessing in disguise but I am not hiding who I am open your eyes bro If I ever met you, I appreciate the love yo Girls that I dated, it’s ok I am not mad yo Unless you stabbed me in the heart, no love ho, this shit is so I’ll Play it back from the top if you recognize real
And if I die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take But please don’t cry, just know that I have made these songs for you And if I die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take ‘Cuz I’m ready for a funeral And if I die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take So please don’t cry, just know that I have made these songs for you And if I die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul take ‘Cuz I’m ready for a funeral (I’m ready for the funeral, I’m ready for the funeral)
When I first heard this song the theme of being trapped occured to me. I am determinded to find a song that has good lyrics that could include some form of realism and surrealism that could have different forms of media like illustrations for the scene to be surreal, and being trapped trying to escape from this nightmare. This song is quiet slow and therefore if we were going to create a music video, we would need to make the footage slow too, so its contrasts perfectly. I’m uncertain about this song as its not my ideal choice however with my imagination and ambition to succeed, I can see this song being good for an interesting unique narrative that will attract the audience from the use of the video.
OR
Trapped in my mind
You see, I’m trapped in my mind, oh, I’m going trippy
Oh, I don’t think I’ll ever go
You see the walls are so high that I couldn’t climb them
So I don’t know which way to roll
Well, I’m stuck in rewind though I’m looking forward Damn, I wish I knew what went wrong I’m sick and I’m ill, my mental got me Oh Lord, please help me pull through
You see the sun seems to shine when I am not looking Oh, it seems a trick every time Things do get out of hand once a while inside my mental Hey, I took a hell of a run
When I see what a soul I know I am not lucky Yeah, I like to pat my own back It’s a gift and a curse since my birth, I’m in a prison Oh, I’m happy right where I’m at
I’m trapped in my mind and I know it’s crazy Hey, it’s not that bad at all When you think of the world, I know it’s crazy Hey, I’m not that bad at all
You see I’m trapped in my mind and I know it’s crazy Hey, it’s not that bad at all When you think of the world, I know it’s crazy Hey, I’m not that bad at all
I’m trapped in my mind and I know it’s crazy Hey, it’s not that bad at all When you think of the world, I know it’s crazy Hey, I’m not that bad at all
Oh, I’m trapped in my mind, baby I don’t think I’ll ever get out Oh, I’m trapped in my mind, baby I don’t think I’ll ever get out, yeah
I am trapped in my mind, baby I don’t think I’ll ever get out
I don’t think I’ll ever get out
This song also links in really well with the theme of being trapped ” you see the walls are so high that I couldn’t climb them” signifies that he is trying to find a way to escape but there is no way out. So it occured to me of the idea of being trapped in a small white box with high walls travelling quickly higher and higher the longer he is in there for. Another idea that I came up with from these set of lyrics was the idea of Kid Cudi being trapped in a cell in jail, locked behind bars. As I believe that if you were trapped in a small room in jail there is no where to escape as your fully surrounded by metals bars and cement. “Im trapped in my mind and i know its crazy, its not that bad at all, when you think of the world, i know its crazy, hey its not that bad at all” when it says “when you think of the world” this is what gave me the idea that he is trapped in a cell, wanting to know what the real world is like, as he has forgotten what it is like to be free.
As you can tell from above these lyrics to this song has given me an overload of ideas that we could use, even though personally I dislike the song as its not my type of music, however the boys in the group love it and believe its the perfect song to do with my ideas of the narrative. For my next post I will be discussing all my ideas of what we can use, and looking at some existing music videos that can inspire us even more.
Therefore Kid Cudi – Trapped in my mind is the song that we as a group have decided to use for our media studies music video A2.
After we had asked our target audience what music genre they prefer to listen too, we have decided to widen this knowledge and ask people who their favourite artist is and why? This will hopefully help us find some songs that has potential to be used in our final music video. By getting more target audience research on people’s thoughts about the music industry and what music artist they most like to listen too, we are able to connect with the audience in a more personal way. We have tried to ask a range of different age groups who were willing to give us some feedback, as this will broaden up our knowledge about music artists/bands and work out which artist or band is the most popular to our chosen audience. By asking people why they like their chosen artist or band will allow us to find out what impact the music industry has on people, and what makes a music video more effective? Is it the bands itself or is it the way the video brings emotion and meaning to their appearance, lyrics and narrative that is shown in the videos?
This is a video of the results we have managed to get.
It majority of people have mentioned Kid Cudi as their favourite sola artist that is currently storming the charts. We could now go even further into detail are ask random people whats their most liked/played song of Kid Cudi to give us our final result of which song to do. However some of Kid CuDi’s songs aren’t published like his mix-tapes that isn’t very well known, due to it now having any music video along with it. If we would decide to use Kid Cudi it would be better to find a song that isn’t well known to allow us to gain full potential of creativity and originality to our final media product.
For this section I have done some market research to get a rough idea what people want when it comes to music videos. In my group we were indecisive about what song and music genre we could do, therefore it was hard for us to pick what type of song we were greatly interested to do. So we asked people about what type of music genres they most like to listen too.
Below I have created a questionnaire that will help me decide what music genre to choice to the most popular answer. I’ve asked 50 random people in my school and the feedback I was given was very interesting.
The results that came back were really interesting as the most popular genre that people loved to listen were Electro and Alternative Hip-hop/Rap. This helped narrow down what type of music we could use for our music video.
Now we have found out what people enjoy listening to it will help us massively to find a song that people will enjoy in the suited genre. There are loads of very popular well known artists and bands that are specified in this genre.
I have also gone around to random people and asked them what genre they enjoy, as I personally wanted to make sure I was doing as much market research as I could to receive a solid, clear answer. This is the results I’ve managed to get, please watch the video below.
There are over thousands of music genres within the music industry, here I have narrowed it down to a few. I am also taking into account that I am aiming at a target audience of between 16 to 20 year olds, so therefore I will be focusing on the more relatively modern music genres and trends which are most likely to appeal to this age group. I will be again using Wikipedia as my trustworthy reference to define and generalise the terms of these music genres.
Below I have created a rough brain storm of the genres that I think will suit this audience with some artists that I know fit well into each genre:
Art Music (Classical music (European) Religious)
“Art music (or serious music or erudite music) is an umbrella term used to refer to musical traditions implying advanced structural and theoretical considerations and a written musical tradition. The notion of art music is a frequent and well defined musicological distinction, e.g. referred to by musicologist Philip Tagg as an “axiomatic triangle consisting of ‘folk’, ‘art’ and ‘popular’ music’s.” He explains that each of these three is distinguishable from the others according to certain criteria. In this regard, it is frequently used as a contrasting term to popular music and traditional or folk music”
Examples:
This is a music video of Katherine Jenkins. I fell in love with this song when I heard it as I knew it was originally from the rock band “Evanescence-Bring me to Life” song, however Katherine managed to turn this rock band single into a classical opera song. Therefore I believe if links perfectly with arts music as she was very clever and creative in turning an opposite music genre into her own style.
TRADITIONAL MUSIC
Traditional music is the term increasingly used (e.g by the Grammy Awards) for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at theterminology section of the World music article. Other organizations have made similar changes, although it remains common to refer to traditional music as “folk music”.
ELECTRONIC
‘In the mid to late 2000s, bands formed that mix elements of post-hardcore “with a hybrid style drawing from both screamo and electronica.These bands and others have introduced the use of synthesizers and keyboard instruments in post-hardcore music. Auto-tuned singing vocals and synthesized screaming vocals are attributes of this style. These “newer hardcore/electronica hybrid bands” often play songs that contain “dancable beats, with some breakdowns splashed in,”and are known for “mixing… metalcore drums with electro beats, dissonant guitar chords with infectious leads, and poppy synths.”In this fusion style of music, it is not unusual to hear a “heavy shout ring out in the middle of a collection of technical guitars and pummeling drums.”‘
Examples:
BLUES
“Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre[1] that originated in African-American communities of primarily the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads.[2] The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, roots rock, is characterized by specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blueschord progression is the most common. The blue notes that, for expressive purposes are sung or played flattened or gradually bent (minor 3rd to major 3rd) in relation to the pitch of the major scale, are also an important part of the sound.”
“The blues genre is based on the blues form but possesses other characteristics such as specific lyrics, bass lines and instruments. Blues can be subdivided into several subgenres ranging from country to urban blues that were more or less popular during different periods of the 20th century. Best known are the Delta, Piedmont, Jump and Chicago blues styles. World War II marked the transition from acoustic to electric blues and the progressive opening of blues music to a wider audience. In the 1960s and 1970s, a hybrid form called blues-rock evolved.”
This video is from the famous blues composer Eric Clapton.
COUNTRY
“Country music (or country and western) is a blend of traditional and popular US musical forms traditionally found in the Southern United States and theCanadian Maritimes that evolved rapidly beginning in the 1920s. Distinctive variations of the genre have also emerged elsewhere including Australian country music.”
“The term country music gained popularity in the 1940s when the earlier term hillbilly music came to be seen as denigrating. Country music was widely embraced in the 1970s, while Country and Western has declined in use since that time, except in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where it is still commonly used. However, in the Southwestern United States a different mix of ethnic groups created the music that became the Western music of the term Country and Western. The term country music is used today to describe many styles and subgenres.”
Examples:
This music video is of Taylor Swift and her song “mean”. Her style of music is very unique as her voice is country like but not all her music are country style, as she also does contemporary pop.
HIP-HOP
“Hip hop music is an American musical genre that developed as part of hip hop culture, and is defined by four key stylistic elements: rapping,DJing/scratching, sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing. Hip hop began in the South Bronx of New York City in the 1970s. The term rap is often usedsynonymously with hip hop, but hip hop also denotes the practices of an entire subculture”
Examples:
This song is from the Black Eyes Peas! normally these days they are creating music that now belong in the dance genre, however before dance became the new fashion all their old songs were really urban hip hop style, which made them very original. People liked them because of ‘different’ style of music. There single ‘Lets get it started’ inspired me the most as the beginning of the song is extremely catchy with the boys saying ‘Runnin Runnin Runnin Runni’ in an repetitive funky way.
JAZZ
“Jazz is a musical tradition and style of music that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th century American popular music. Its West African pedigree is evident in its use of blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation, and the swung note.”
Examples:
Well, Micheal Bublé! where do I start? He has a very distinctive voice that is very lovable. His genre of music is jazz with a touch of pop as this is what was being played the most in the 20th century. If you were to become a famous artist then you will need to merge into trends which the audience wanted to listen to. Therefore Micheal Bublé used his own style of music that still fitted in perfectly with what the target audience wants.
The second link of Micheal Bublé song he sang called ‘feeling good’, is a massive hit that has been sang by loads of other artists. These artists include Nina Simone, Muse, Sammy Davis Jr., Bobby Darin, Traffic, Michael Bublé, The Pussycat Dolls, George Michael,John Barrowman, John Coltrane, Toše Proeski, Adam Lambert, Joe Bonamassa, Frank Sinatra Jr, Jennifer Hudson, Stephen Williams, and Alice Russell with The Quantic Soul Orchestra.
REGGAE
“Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.”
“Reggae is based on a rhythmic style characterized by accents on the off-beat, known as the skank. Reggae is normally slower than both ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually accents the second and fourth beat in each bar, with the rhythm guitar also either emphasizing the third beat or holding the chord on the second beat until the fourth is played. It is mainly this “third beat”, its speed and the use of complex bass lines that differentiated reggae from rocksteady, although later styles incorporated these innovations separately.”
Examples:
ROCK
Heavy Metal
‘Heavy metal (often referred to simply as metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in between 1968 and 1974 , largely in the United Kingdom and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity and machismo’
This is video is Jadas Priest which is a very popular heavy metal rock band.
Punk Rock
‘Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars.About.com has described contemporary pop punk bands as having “a radio friendly sheen to their music, but still maintaining much of the speed and attitude of classic punk rock”.’
Examples:
This green day isn’t the most punk song that they have created as their genre is based in pop punk. However its the one I think its really successful. The video’s special effects makes it really eye-catching and attention grabbing to watch. As you can tell for the use of mise en scene, Green days clothing/hair style automatically shows what type of music their band plays.
Alternative Rock
“Alternative rock (also called alternative music, alt rock or simply alternative) is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became wildly popular in the 1990s. Alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have emerged from the independent music scene since the 1980s, such as grunge,Britpop, gothic rock, indie pop, and indie rock. These genres are unified by their collective debt to the style and/or ethos of punk rock, which laid the groundwork for alternative music in the 1970s.[1] At times alternative rock has been used as a catch-all phrase for rock music from underground artists in the 1980s, and all music descended from punk rock (including punk itself, New Wave, and post-punk).”
Examples:
This video is from the Veronicas, as I immediately knew that their genre of music is Alternative rock. I love their music because the Veronicas uses lyrics that happened to them in their normal lives away from the paparazzi. But also I feel that I connect with their music as some times are very inspiring with the use of language that I might of experienced or the people around me.
Versamerge is a band that I recently heard of when I went away to the Netherlands and caught my cousin listening to their music. I really like this group as they are a band that I enjoy listening too. Also their use of lyrics are meaningful which helps get the audience to connect and bond with the group more.
DUBSTEP
‘Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music, originating from London, UK. Its overall sound has been described as “tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals”.The term “dubstep” in reference to a genre of music began to be used by around 2002, by which time stylistic trends used in creating these remixes started to become more noticeable and distinct from 2-step and grime.’
Examples:
Skrillex is very popular with the young generation of people as dub step is widely listened to by teenagers. Skrillex has some really original funky computerized sounds within the music that makes it really fun to listen to. All the songs have been made my using special computer software with some added voices to make it interesting.
DRUM & BASS
‘Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated to D&B or DnB) is a type of rave music which emerged in the mid 1990s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats (typically between 160–190 bpm, occasional variation is noted in older compositions), with heavy bass and sub-bass lines. Drum and bass began as an offshoot of the United Kingdom rave scene of the very early 1990s. Over the first decade of its existence, the incorporation of elements from various musical genres led to many permutations in its overall style.’
Examples:
Pendulum is an Australian-British drum and bass and electronic rock band founded in 2002.
While Hold Your Colour holds true to the drum and bass genre, Pendulum have since experimented with mixing other genres into their work. This can be heard on their second album In Silico, as well as the third album, Immersion. Immersion has a mixture of drum and bass and rock, as well as electronic influences. Their newer releases incorporate styles from genres such as alternative rock, heavy metal, dubstep and house music.
Pendulum are also known for their live shows, with a live band setup and advanced visual displays adding to the incorporation of their infusion of drum and bass with rock.
DANCE
“Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance music.”
Examples:
There is a wide range of different artists and bands out their who aim to do dance music as its becoming very popular along with dub-step. However I came across Plan B with Chase and Status and immediately fell in love with this song. It is dance style that becomes really upbeat in the main chorus.
Inna is a dance artist who makes catchy and very provocative music videos. her style is to be very sexy and sassy within all her music videos but also uses upbeat tempo tunes that people like to listen to when ‘clubbing’. Therefore dance music like Inna will be mostly heard and played by DJ’s in all the night clubs as her music is good to dance too.
URBAN
“Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely ofhip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica and Caribbean music such as reggae, reggaeton, zouk, and sometimes soca (In Toronto, London, New York City, Boston and Miami). Urban contemporary was developed through the characteristics of genres such as R&B and Soul.[1] Virtually all Urban contemporary formatted radio stations are located in cities that have sizeable African-American populations, such as Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Fayetteville, North Carolina, Charlotte, and Norfolk, Virginia, etc.”
For this section of analysis, I shall be exploring the ITV documentry of “Mirrorball” which is about looking at work by various music video directors during the late 19th century. I shall also be looking at some of the most professional examples of work by ‘Spike Jonze’ & ‘Jonas Alerlund’ in depth so I can further develop my knowledge and understanding of what the music video directors organisation entails.
The Documentry of ‘Mirrorball’ itself offers a auteur approach in which the central focus is based around the directors, rather than the band/artist or genre. This helps seperate it from all the other documentries. This defines houw music video directors are never recognised amonst the viewers and are never noticed for thei achievenemt, which often can cause some controversy.
Mirrorballs became significantly important due to it showing of several controversial music videos, which helped revolutionsise the critics of their overall perspective on how music videos should be portrayed. Then suddenly the audiences began to realise what was and wasnt acceptable within music videos, and then new limits of what should be viewws were provided and taken into consideration. However this did cause some issures with the censorshop and its authorities. Despite all this, Mirrorball has successfully managed to win its viewers by its use of modern socidety. A new lighting came upon music videos and it is now allowing new and more content to exsist.
Thoughtout this documentry it strongly explaines the process to the view how to construct a hight standard music video, by using the effectiviness of editing. As a part of the audience we can gain an insight of how the directors mind works and the creativity that happens behind the production stages. From this documentry I personally feel that the audience gains a good genral knowledge as we begin to understand how much technical skills and hard work is put into directing and constructing a successful music video.
SPIKE JONZE
After looking at Spike Jonze earlier on in the blog, I thought it would be a good idea to explore his carrer and achievements in more details.
“Spike Jonze (born Adam Spiegel; October 22, 1969) is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Charlie Kaufman, which include the 1999 film Being John Malkovich and the 2002 film Adaptation, and for his work as director of the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are. He was also a co-creator and executive producer of MTV’s Jackass. He is currently the creative director of VBS.tv. He is also part owner of skateboard company Girl Skateboards with riders Rick Howard and Mike Carroll.”
These are some personal favorites music videos that he directed:
Weezer – Buddy Holly
The Happy Days inspired video that launched Spike Jonze into the public eye. Before this Spike had done a number of solid videos, but this was the one that got him on MTV and pushed him to scale the heights he has. There is no doubt that you know every second of this video by heart and remember the days of waiting for it to come on MTV every half hour. Simply put this may just be the best music video ever made.
Kanye West- Flashing Lights
“Flashing Lights”; In 2;46 seconds, Spike Jonze and Kanye West manage to captivate our attention with a beautiful woman, a beautiful scene, and some traumatic, unexplained violence. It makes for a video you cannot turn your eyes away from.
Fatboy Slim – Weapon of Choice
Fatboy Slim – “Weapon of Choice”; Speaking of odd dance choices, who thought Christopher Walken could move like that before seeing this video. Sure, some of the moves are done by stunt doubles, but this video is absolutely incredible almost solely for the performance Walken gives in it. When you consider his most recent film work this might just be the best thing he’s done in the last 15-years!
JONAS AKERLUND
As Jonas Akerlund is one of the key aspects of Mirrorball controvery. I am going to explore him further into his career, and able to understand how and why his musicn videos have become such a controversial with our society. Below is a summers that I have taken from Wikipedia.
“Jonas Åkerlund(born November 10, 1965) is a Swedish film and music video director, and drummer. He is best known for his stylish music videos, which are often mock forms of movie trailers and short films. His video for Madonna’s song “Ray of Light” won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form, and a record seven awards at 1998 MTV Video Music Awards, including the Video of the Year. He more recently directed the video for Britney Spears’ 2011 single “Hold It Against Me”.
These are some of my favorite music videos directed my Jonas Åkerlund:
Britney Spears – Hold it against me
This is a music video that he recently directed most recently, Britney Spears – Hold it against me. He has also directed Lady Gaga- Telephone which was recently too. The one things I’ve noticed that these both have in common is the extreme use of product placement. I think he has gone over the top with the amount of product brands that are being used to advertise in a 4 min clip.
The Prodigy- Smack my Bitch up
This video has been made banned due to inappropriate use of content.
Overall I found Mirrorball a fascinating source of information as I have explored further to understand music video directors individual styles and techniques , and I believe this will hugely contribute towards my final product. There are a range of fantastic ideas which I can take onboard. I have learnt about how music videos can change critcis perceptions due to shocking content and also how it can benefit a video directors career for the better because of sucessful editing and directing. I also discovered that I couldnt post music videos on Wordpress, as the embedded rights belong to youtube and also the artists record labels, so therefore links were directed back to youtube’s original website.
Michael Joseph Jackson was born in August 29th 1958 and died in June 2009. He was a very successful American recording artist, dancer, singer, song-writer, and musician. He was mainly known as the ‘King of Pop’ as he was mainly recognised as the best entertainer of all time. His passion for music, dance, and fashion made him a global figure in pop culture of the years. He was the 7th child of the Jackson family and therefore decided to create a professional music band along with his bothers. They called their debut The Jackson 5. Once they had become a massive successful singing band they decided to go their separate ways becoming solo artists in 1971.
Micheal Jackson has had some long and complex jouney’s throughout his career over the years. As Michael Jackson was first established in the Jackson 5 which became the central focus of the media music industry he eventually gave ‘breaking news’ t0 the media by his ambition of creating a solo career, meaning the Jackson 5 was going their separate ways creating their own music or accomplishing other future goals and options. Michael was able to develop himself into a global superstar due to his iconic image and trade mark sound. He managed to create ground breaking music through the use of music videos such as the famous ‘Thriller’ and ‘Beat it’ these are the most famous music videos up-to-date meaning he has generated huge successes and his popularity increased dramatically with his music career quickly unfolding.
However all wasn’t so bright as during the 90’s Jackson career suddenly turned for the worst, transforming his unique star image to a freakish child-like nature. His abnormalities led to him becoming an object of a media frenzy, in his music career and personal life, tarnishing his iconic status in the process. From then on he became a massive down fall in his career, as he was seen in a different way to the population of the world.
In Jackson’s later years, allegations of child abuse were made against him, resulting into a series of court cases, which were never solved. Now that his death has suddenly occured, Michael Jackson once again became a media frenzy, generating sympathy and hatred amongst his critics. An album has been made in his rememberance of existence, which will be released in December.
From extracting this information I have learnt what a meta-narrative really entails, and how artists careers can vary due to their success with thei music but also their personal issues which have affected their life in the process, especially when it comes to the media, as a frenzy is normally made.
‘Thought Beats’ or seeing the sounds in your head.
Synaesthesia is the basis of visualising images from a psychological process where an image is created in the mind from the use of sound.
Its central to understand music videos as they build up the soundtrack’s visual associations in order to connect with the audiecne and provide additional pleasure.
Using the approach its important to start with the music, understanding the way the music works. Taking into account that the song has been merged with other sounds and techniques.
Lyrics within the song do not need to be analysed word for word like a poem, its mainly applied by the way they introduce the mood and general emotions.
Its rare to have coherent meaning in songs
Key phrases and lines are mainly found in the chorus will have a big part to play in the song.
Roland Barthes’ theory of the ‘grain of voice’ is relevant with the signers identity as the singer’s voice is known as a more expressive instrument, with a more personal and unique to the singer, like a fingerprint and therefore able to create associations in itself. The voice of a song may even establish trademarks.
If songs want to tell stories then the singer is the storyteller where this makes the music videos stand out on worldwide television channels like MTV.
Goodwin compared pop singers to stand up comics in the way the artist uses personal trademarks or signature that may dominate the overall performance.
The music is arranged in the song as it might include instruments, mixed effects and may include various samples that generally work with the lyrics and grain of the voice. This helps the us (the audience) to analyse the key sounds like the change of tempo within the sound and the structural meaning of the verses and choruses
The visualisation of the videos might become more personal to some people and therefore will receive different responses from certain individuals. For example the strong link to past memories and images of your own life will help set a template of the music video creativity.
Narrative and Performance
Some songs don’t always tell the complete narrative so they have been study with visual texts.
The narrative in the song affects the way the stories are used in music video representation of a songs meaning. Therefore we often get a hint of the drama unfolding
Music videos should avoid a classic realist narrative as it can been seen as their role in advertising.
Music videos have repeatability built into them.
Sometime the videos will be cut between the narrative and the performance of the song by the artist/band.
Careful choreographed dance might be added as it can be a big part of the artist performance or an extra aspect of visualisation and repeatability factor.
The artist can be apart of the story for example acting as a narrator.
Lip sync close up and mimed playing of the instrument that remains at the heart of the music video.
This is one of the most well known best choreographed dance routines that has been designed creatively that has considered simplicity.
In the music industry it souly relies on big names to fund any activities that are being organised to take place. This usually fails to connect with the popular audiences as only 1 in 10 acts are put out by the music business actually managed to make money being successful. Therefore the meta-narrative of the star image will have the important part to play in a role of a music video production process. Meta-narrative is a technical term that describes the development of a star image over time, the stories that surround a particular artist.
For example Michael Jackson is a star icon over the decades. He started off as a small group with his brothers and then developed a solo career. His appearance and his personal life made me a successful star icon that is well known all over the world. I have done a little case study on Michael Jackson for my previous post.
Three ways in which music videos relate visuals to the song.
We can identify three ways in which music videos work to support or promote the song. These are illustration, amplification and disjuncture and I find them extremely useful in attempting to generalize the effects of individual music videos.
Illustration – An illustration is displayed visualization form presented in a graphical way that helps create a elucidate or dictate sensual piece of information. Therefore within music videos they can illustrate the meaning of their lyrics and genre with the use of graphic imagery, that can also make the whole visual appear much more entertaining and enjoyable viewing.
This is a music video of the band Coldplay and their song strawberry swing. This is a music video that from first glace immediately interests me and grabs my attention due to the creativity that has been used. The colours and studio set out is really good as it has a strong narrative with the use of graphic imagery. The Illustrations in this example are used continuously throughout the piece. All the objects are hand drawn carefully with a clever actor that uses special positions to give the illustration of it being 3 dimensional.
Link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb9X5jMofEo
Amplification is seen as the mark of true music videos Auteur, director of the artist is becoming an increasingly common way to view music videos creatives. (VH1s Best 100 videos clearly placed Spike Jonze in the Auteur catergory as his work is always amplifying the original songs meanings and adding a ‘surreal’ sense of humour). This technique that Spoke Jonze used created a division from disjuncture and amplification. Due to amplification consists a link with a song to enhance & develop ideas rather than completely changing them.
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Here is one of Spike Jonze’s music videos; ‘ISLAND IN THE SUN- WEEZER’ which helps capture the more lighter side of surreal humour, through a happy and emotional connection between humans and animals.Here is a video of one of Spike Jonze’s music videos. Its called the ‘Island on the sun – by Weezer’. This music video helps capture light with a good sense of humour, with the use of happy and emotion connection between people (humans) and animal creatures that don’t really bond with our species. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C3zgYW_FAM&ob=av2e
Disjuncture is known as a technical term that describes how music videos ignore the original song and create a whole new set of meaning that basically takes out the relevance out of the lyrics and meanings in the song. This is a very radical approach used by arty bands to show their originality and uniqueness as an individual. These types of music videos dont really make much sense due to the heavy use of abstract imagery.
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This is one of the funniest and most creative music videos I’ve seen in a long time. Their music videos strongly relies on the use of props to add their humour. Each shot contains a bright contrasting prop in every shot. Red hot chili peppers have been really imaginative and creating throughout this music video to keep the audience amused.
The last really essential aspect of the music video is to study the technical. This includes camerawork, movement and angle, mise-en-scene, editing and sound. It is important to remember that the more general features of music videos already mentioned when trying to work out the technical effects, especially those that are postproduction effects. Broadly, the technical conventions can be summed up as follows:
Speed – Speed is visualized by camera movement, fast editing (montage) and digital effects.
Camera Movement is often motivated by running, dancing and walking performers.
Fast Cutting and montage editing creates a visually decentred experience necessary for music video consumption, with the images occasionally moving so fast that they are impossible to understand on first viewing and thus need to be viewed several times (repeatability)
Post Production digital effects – a staple of music video where images can be colourised, multi split screens appear and son on, to complicate and intruge, providing pleasure again and again. Not all camera movement is about speed though, some use slow pace through dissolves or static shots. This kind of editing – like Sinead O’Connor’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ – is striking and effective is setting the song apart from the hustle and bustle of most pop activity.
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Meat – The meat of most music videos is the cut to the close up of the singers face. This is because the voice is seen as the most important part of the pop video.
. This is a screen shot taken from Rihanna’s new song ‘California King Bed’. As this song is really slow and emotional, from this close up it represents her emotions. Also throughout this music video close ups are only focused on Rihanna as she is the centered main focus
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RIHANNA – California King Bed (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhBorPm6JjQ) .
Beats – Often, the video will try and represent the music through the use of the cut to go with the beat or the key rhythm.
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Lighting and Colour is used mainly to emphasise the key moments in the songs lyrics. With the use of lighting in live performances or just lighting that has been specially edited create a dramatic effect to the overall visual appeal. Colour may be used to show the development of the song, going from black and white vice versa with the main chorus kicks in. Sometime change in the mise en scene or camera work often signal the same type of thing.
. This music video is from OWL CITY – Vanilla Twilight. Its ironic to see that the title of the song is Twilight as the music video has a lot of edited artificial lighting. This is a screen shot of a scene on the video. The main singer is playing his piano when light beams are shining directly at the camera. The light beams are supposedly meant to be from a lighthouse that was displayed on the first shot of the song.
. OWL CITY- Vanilla Twilight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIz2K3ArrWk) .
Mise-en-scene – As we know the setting for every music video is extremely important as it guarantee’s the authenticity of the clip rather than anything. Mise en scene can be filmed in a concert hall or a rehearsal room to emphasise the realness of the performances. Computer generated imagery (CGI) is commonly used, mainly for dance genres which don’t need to reply on being ‘Real’.
ADVERTS OR ART
From the research above I have emphasised how complex music videos actually are, looking into depth how they have been thought and designed out. I’ll be now looking at what people think of art or adverts? Music videos our days tend to use soft porn to attract their audiences. Laura Mulvey looked at the female fragmented body parts to attract the male gaze. Do artists/bands give the message of romance in a genuine positive way or is it for spiritual experience of star worship? However music videos can be a great way of extending the song by adding creative ideas and pleasure on top of the primary wonders of popular music. Then end results concludes to the success of the all the different media together, along with the increasing influence on the internet, that makes popular music.
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Overall I feel I have used this article effectively to develop my knowledge about the music industry and how music videos have been produced and constructed. Also finding out new technical terms I have managed to understood what they mean by detailed definitions and how and when you would use this technical language. Therefore this article was extremely helpful and is highly beneficial in satifying their audiences.
From the start of Alevel media studies to the Final cut, Suzy Davis has become a very successful well earned music editor due to her hard work and ambition. Therefore its a pleasure to explore her journey to get where she is now. She is well known for her famous work with artist such as Dizzee Rascle, The Streets, Will Young, Benny Benassi which has all got amazing music videos that is well known. Below I have analysed some of the questions that were asked during the interview..
HOW DID YOU GET FROM BEING AN A LEVEL MEDIA STUDENT TO BEING A MUSIC PROMO EDITOR?
After Suzy did her A levels, she went to a Reading University to do a course in languages which she chose to study Italian along with Film Studies. This is when she became to learn the impact of sound quality, editing, mise en scene, etc which she could analyse and pick up certain aspects of a film. The course that she was doing where more theoretical rather than practical however this didn’t become an issue as she was taught to become an editor working her way up to the Final Cut from runner to assistant editor over the years (roughly 9 years). After she had completed university she decided to hand out hundred of CV’s out begging to some sort of work experience that she could gain to benefit her dream career. She eventually found herself in production at LWT for a while then finally in post production where she identified her true interest. Her 9 year apprenticeship at ‘final Cut’ began as a runner up for 2 years and an editor for 3-4 years. Within these year Suzy had learnt the main aspects for the job that includes quoting, invoicing and cutting. She eventually started her very own business after 4 years. This shows that Suzy finally had the chance of becoming an editor when she presented a music video to her boss which she had made for the band “The 80s matchbox B-Line Disaster”
WHAT WAS YOUR ‘BREAKTHROUGH’ MUSIC PROMO EDITING JOB?
Suzy Davis first breakthrough was when she made a clever decision to partner up with a new director called Dougal Wilson in 2003 for the dance outfit called Benny Benassi. This new Benny Benassi music video called Satisfaction featured women in a revealing bikini wielding with large power tools, which made the video appear more ironic with a good sense of humour. This was a very ‘cheesy’ dance video that was nominated at the CADS awards for the ‘Best editing in a video’. This was a massive achievement for Davis as it was only her first year of being an editor, so she founded herself propend into the world of promo cutting and then managed to quickly build up a name for herself, producing 36 promos videos in total. For the satisfaction video there was hardly any planning or storyboard, it was just some outrageous footage and an appealing introduction which made it very funny showing her creative flair and freedom.
DESCRIBE A TYPICAL JOB WORKING ON A PROMO AS AN EDITOR?
An average day for a promo editor would begin with reasonable hours, then a selection process for a music video would normally take up a whole day, including the rushes. Then Suzy will tend to strengthen a good performance before she would add the narrative elements as the second layer once she is completely satisfied. With the help of the director on the second day they will work together as a team to get all the shots in different places and sometime re structure the edit to improve it in any way possible. She will always find herself cutting and changing takes as the works takes on, ending up with the heavy effects work building scenes from the use of a green screen and matting people and object into the scene. This is what happen to the Will Young’s head onto Simon Grooms Body! Once all the necessary changes and improvements have been completed, finalisation is normally concluded on the third day as the promo cut is presented to the artist and the record company. This is where any final changes can be made to everything can work smoothly, fitting perfectly together. The biggest and hardest part of the job is trying to please all parties and departments that are involved with the project. The worst thing that Suzy has came across is letting someone take the DVD home and the next thing she knows she is getting a phone call to say the wife doesn’t like parts of the videos and demands her to change it. This is not always the case and some artists are very good and trustworthy for example Will Young is a very intelligent man when it comes to his videos.
HOW REGULAR IS WORK AS AN EDITOR?
Davis generally will ‘feed off’ the Final Cut bookings which helps her create work for herself. When working with five director who always cut with her, its important to maintain a really good relationship with them as it will help sustain a constant work load and keep the environment workable and manageable. Suzy has done about nice promos with Dougal Wilson as he has helped produce videos during the development over time.
IS THE PAY ENOUGH TO LIVE ON?
I would say that jut cutting soley music videos would not be much of an income. To give an example, last year I cut a big budget Will Young Promo (£150,000). For the amount set aside for editing (which took fourteen days as it was an extremely effects heavy job!) Was just £2500. This my sound ok but when you consider Final Cut takes 50% that leaves me £1250 before tax for half a months work for a top end video! The average video will take about 4 days and have between £500 to £1000 to complete edit costs divided between the house and the editor. In order for Final Cut to run to the high standard it does, the main work we do here involves high end commercials which can be very lucrative. In the past year I have found myself working on 95% commercials and 5% promos in order to meet the targets that are required to run my suite, my assistant and all production costs.
Because of the state of music video budgets, young editors often use promo cutting as a pathway to a decent show reel as this genre allows a great deal of creative freedom. I guess that to make a decent living from promo editing you would need to build up a name as a freelance editor so that any work you did get would be paid in full. There are of course pros and cons of being freelance.
HOW MUCH CREATIVE FREEDOM DO YOU GET?
The amount of creativity varies depending on the job, something she is told to ‘ignore the storyboard and do whatever she thinks’ allowing her imagination to overload, allowing her to work by herself for 3 days. Whereas other times the director will always be over her shoulder making sure he is restricted and doing everything she is told and checking things are running smoothly to plan. In other situations Suzy tends to edit think on her own and present them when the job progresses further. Suzy explains that the director employs you for vision, creativity input as a journey of the edit can be fascinating to experience.
WHAT DIFFERENCE IS THERE FOR YOU IN EDITING PROMOS TO OTHER KINDS OF JOBS SUCH AS ADS, TRAILERS ETC ?
My work in commercials can be far more intensive than that which I do in music videos, often purely because of schedule. I will have for example five days to edit 60 seconds of commercial but only three days to edit a three and a half minute promo. The approval process for commercials can drag for weeks with many layers of the ad agency and finally the client wanting to give their input. So patience is the key here (or having a great assistant that you can palm a dragging job off onto). In general I gain a lot more instant job satisfaction from cutting a promo than going over thirty takes of a guy eating a mars bar in the right way.
HAVE YOU EVER EDITED SOMETHING THAT HAS THE NOT BEEN USED?
Davis explains that it does happen time to time. She was allowed to cut a really interesting one for the Dogs, which the band loved but the record company objected due the shocking inappropriate nature.
WHATS YOUR FAVOURITE KIND OF JOB?
I really like to do rock performances with a real rough and ready feel. Sometimes you can cut quickly which gives you the chance to go with the flow and let your hair down. I made three like that for Queen Andreena which I really enjoyed.
I also enjoy something with a technical challenge though. I think that it shows in something like Will Young’s ‘Who am I?’ We had to go through the fifty hours of old Blue Peter footage, classic moments and son on then do lots of work on individual frames painstakingly painting his face onto the original presenters.
Once the scenes were edited into a rough order, Will Young filmed his performance over two days in a recreation of the Blue Peter studio. Each shot required matching the angle and lighting of the original footage using either white or green screen. The studio scenes were filmed on video while all the exteriors were shot on 16mm resulting in slightly grainy images that allow him to be seamlessly blended into the scenes. The streets video was a major job too, really comprising of four jobs in one, the first layer comprised of all the feet walking along and all the edges of the frames in lots of different environments, matching up street, park, pub and so on. The second involved all the hands turning the photos on green screen. This all had to be very heavily storyboarded to know when each change was coming and to get the timing right. The third involved the narrative element with wider shots and performance and the fourth layer had the photographs in place with the freeze frames of the digi beta footage. It was a very complex job. When the record company saw it in the early stages they thought it looked a mess and couldn’t see how the whole thing would happen from the photos. But they allowed Dougal to go online and build it up and we were all very pleased with the results.
WHICH OF YOUR VIDEOS ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
Her most priced and proud video was Satisfaction because she did some amazing pieces of editing that she picked up from A level and it has become an iconic piece of work. This wasn’t the only video that she was greatly proud of; Suzy also liked the one she did for the band ‘Chikini’ ‘Assassinator 13’. This was completely opposite to Benny Benassi in that they knew in advanced exactly what to do with a cut on every single beat, signifying the much organised and well planned nature.
In each verse and chorus played a ‘mathematical formula’ was produced, for shooting woth the four band member and four beats to the bar, four guitars. She believed she had enough permutations to get it to work and then overlapped these aspects with the melody on top of the bead isolated some other stiff which were timed. Experimentation began with ordered shots until a correct pattern was assembled; this has lead to a huge amount of fun in editing.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO STUDENTS EDITING THEIR OWN VIDEOS?
As I am a media student myself I will definitely been using Suzy Davis advice that she has said during this interview. As she clearly stated that you should avoid complicated narratives, and simply think about the use of lighting to create effective effect in the camera. If the shots taken don’t look as good as you imagined there are tricks you can use that professional editors have to resolve the image, for example colour grading tools which can be applied to every shot taken or the use of flash frames, linking 2 boring shots and flipping them upside down to help avoid visual boredom. All these little things can be solved by special software that can make any video more appealing.
In conclusion I think this interview as a source of information was extremely inspiring and useful due to the fact it allowed me to gain direct insight into the way a normal media student transformed into an well known respected media editor. This made me realised that anyone’s dreams can come true if they work hard enough for it and aim high. Ive learnt and understood the style, work and determination that are put into editing music videos, and will help prepare me for when I edit my own music video. I have also learnt that who you work with can have a big effect on the final result due to the fact there could be clashing opinions and tense moments in editing. I have learnt some professional advice from Suzy Davis, and will be sure to take that into consideration when making my music video. On the whole the more experience someone has, the better they will get at it and the more success they achieve.
Cultural critics have viewed music videos in a variety of different ways, which reflects how diverse and problematic they can be to define as an art-form or media text:
Mercer looks at them as a kind of cinematic genre
Fry and Fry view them in terms of adverts
Fiske as a new form of television as classic postmodern texts
Walker sees them as visual art
Lewis sees them merely in terms of shopping mall culture
Marcus views them as semiotic pornography
Dancing in the Distraction factory explains how hard it is to define what a music video is, and how criticism is leveled against them. It may be easy to argue against the compelling argument to establish a balanced argument. This is what MTV has done and got blamed for the modern society short attention spam and obsessions with imagery. However MTV have enabled black artists such as Michael Jackson to become a global sensation and without MTV he would be the media phenomenon is has become. This shows that this global channel is the most recognisable music channel providing increasing popularity.
In the book it describes how Madonna cleverly set about turning herself into a successful style icon from the use of her music videos in a marketable product by creating a star persona. Meta-narrative describes how this collection of promo videos that an artist such as Madonna releases builds up a kind of story and develop an artist or person. Again Madonna’s transformation from sex symbol to role model of female empowerment or Michael Jackson’s rise and fall artist and (Black man).
Dancing in the Distraction factory is a very useful secondary source of information which shows that it is very beneficial for media students, like myself that are greatly interested in working within the music video industry. The textbook explores various different perspectives that have very detailed case studies within them of particular artists and promo videos that feature a video timeline dating from the 1921. However the Distraction Factory has shown to have a limited degree level to media students, as it can often become hard to follow. It mainly focuses on music television rather than focusing on the technical side of production and construction of music videos. This is helpful to establish important background information but this is not always helpful in terms of inspiration to help product creative ideas.
Overall from learning and reading this textbook I found it very helpful as I now know how to explore balanced arguments about how music videos are judged. Therefore this knowledge and understanding can be extremely useful when it comes to addressing the target audience for my music video that I will eventually create. It has also helped me explore other artists who have been established over the years by Meta-narrative’s success. Learning in dept how people can promote their selves in different ways to create success and wealth.
Over time MTV has successfully become the most popular TV channel of all time reaching 400 millions householders in the 166 countries via 42 different channels. Therefore these sasisitics indicate that MTV is a well known global television brand. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs.
MTV was established by an organisation of enthusiasts called Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Company (WASEC) , which was know to be a joint cable venture between Warner Communications and the American Express. One inspiration that was mention for the channel was from Mike Nesmith who is a former band member of the 1960’s band called ‘The Monkees’. He had been pioneering pop videos for his solo recording and for other artists. People decided to approach Nesmith and asked him to make a test version of MTV, which was shown on children television channel Nickelodeon.
Although viewers were receptive to the idea, Nesmith eventually decided that he did not want to be involved in a ‘channel full of commercials for records’. But Lack was convinced that music television had a future. He managed to persuade Wasec’s conservative owners that, as record companies usually provided promotional videos free, the channel would be cheap to run. Then he surrounded himself with like minded people, including Tom Freston, now chairman of MTV networks, who was hired as the channel’s regional marketing director.
Freston began to with the music industry trade of journal ‘billboard’, when he suddenly came across an article about an ”unamed music channel’ that was searching for enthusiastic people, therefore he applied as soon as possible. The final idea of one of his biggest ideas was selling the idea to other cable operators, who were enigineers into sports and were off by the idea of a rock/pop music TV channel. Even record commpanies did not like the sound of the idea at first due to naturally being cautious about providing free content.
Freston knew from the start of creating MTV it would succeed if it was published. As TV never really had brands as before people just tended to watch programme’s rather than channels as it appeared to be more entertaining. With the format of the radio, with videos playing the role of records. The had managed to create a sense of cohesion so that the audience would identify the channel and stay with it.
Edgy and raw
Identity/Appearance
The most important aspect in any business is to have an successful logo that people can instantly recognize. The MTV’s logo is simply a large block letter “M” in graffiti style lettering that has been designed purposely to look raw and edgy on the wall. The words “music television” underneath suddenly became ubiquitous and instantly reconisable in popular culture. Over the last 3 decades MTV’s design have brought some changes and evolution to the iconic image and branding.
The logo was first released on 1st August 1981 which established the opening moment of the channel which featured a domumentry footage of Neil Armstrong planting an MTV flag on the moon. The first ever music video that was identified and shown was called ‘Video killed the radio star’ by The Buggles, which became the famous landmark in TV history. MTV Europe went on air six years later marking the beginning of the brands long evolution US product into 42 individual channels that have become available all over the world in a short space of time. The president and chief executive of MTV networks Europe ‘Brett Hansen’ admitted that it was extremely hard to understand the diverse range of the pan-European audience. The channel was mainly aimed at the younger generation of people with mobility rather than a certain nation, so it had to maintain an ‘international flavor’. However there was one problem with this, is that it would occasionally end up with an Scandinavian blonde talking about Italian music in English to a German audience, so there would be a confusion of the language and culture. Even then MTV knew that this would need to be resolved by making it regionalized.
The next aim for MTV Europe was to be able to build an European Distribution which will be able to provide revenue for the more advanced regionalisation, whilst also finding a way to help create an advertising base. This would help spead the word that MTV has now become global for all the European audiences. From the support of the broadcaster, they made events for local artists to help familiarise certain viewers with their culture, creating MTV Europe Awards in the process.
Youth Lifestyle Entertainment
MTV has been evolving over the years since its birth in the early 1980’s and continues to adapt itself to the technology demanding world by using a multiple of platforms. Another current mission MTV strives to achieve is a wider range of entertainment on a number or platforms other than just TV, including online entertainment and also mobile phones – this mission is called ‘ The 360 degree MTV experience’.
As mobile phone use becomes increasingly popular with viewers, MTV has developed ways in which their viewers can interact with them by allowing viewers to submit votes for their favourite artists. This connection between the audience and the producers is vital for understanding what the audience want to see, and how they can stay entertained. Of course traditional medium remain as vital as ever as MTV release branded books, CD’s and DVD’s regularly.
In additon, digital technology is enabling the company to target even smaller audience niches. While it continues to regionalize, it has also begun to home in on pop cultures disparate tribes, launching specialist dance, rock and rap channels. Bill Roedy says ‘In the UK alone we have nine channels, and there is no reason why we shouldn’t continue to expand. Digital allows you to reach a specific demographic groups’
Censorship on MTV
MTV has edited a number of music videos to remove references to drugs, sex, violence, weapons, racism, homophobia, or advertising. Many music videos aired on the channel were censored, moved to late-night rotation, or banned entirely from the channel.
In the 1980s, parent-media watchdog groups such as the Parents Music Resource Center criticized MTV over certain music videos that were claimed to have explicit imagery of satanism. MTV has developed a strict policy on refusal to air videos that may depict devil worship or anti-religious themes. This policy led MTV to ban music videos such as “Jesus Christ Pose” by Soundgarden in 1991 and “Megalomaniac” by Incubus in 2004.
This is the BBFC Logo with all the certificates and classifications listed.
The British Board of Film classification (BBFC)
is an massive well known organisation who gives classification certificates to practically every media from available before the media is published to the public view. This is a very good things that the government is going as a restriction can protect certain people (mainly young children) from shocking inappropriate imagery in some content. However some people might see a restriction as a deary and fun idea to see what they are missing out on, however not everything can be prevented internally. If a type of video is unsuitable for a mislead target age group then it can immediately destroy the artists reputation in seconds.
With the ability to have a Certificate and Classification it will disallow specific and certain content from a music video and only release it on certain channels in specific hours of the day. This is not a good thing for the artist/band as it could reduce the revenue but it is a reason why many artists should avoid inappropriate content if they don’t want to make a loss on profits and decrease in popularity.
Examples:
Here is a video that I tried to search for on “YouTube” but wasn’t allowed to view the music video by Rihanna due to some content material being inappropriate. This is a good example of ‘YouTube’ using restrictions so people under the age of 18 cannot view the video without difficulty.
Below is an article that I found explaining why here music video was banned from certain users……
“Rihanna has never shied away from being sexy in her videos, but it seems she’s gone too far for some with her colorful video and lyrics for “S&M.” Not only has the video been deemed “inappropriate for some users” by YouTube, where viewers must verify they are 18 or older before watching it, but a handful of radio stations are also reacting to the song’s racy lyrics.
In the video — while singing lyrics like “Sex in the air/ I don’t care/ I love the smell of it/ Sticks and stones may break my bones/ But chains and whips excite me” — she dances around in latex, poking fun at the ball-gag-wearing media. The clip includes whips, a dog-leashed Perez Hilton and Rihanna being handled by the press.
According to the U.K.’s Daily Mirror, 11 countries have already banned the video from airplay, and BBC 1 Radio won’t play the track before 7 p.m. A rep for the radio station said they are considering airplay for the Loud track: “We are waiting for an edited version before deciding whether it will be played in the daytime.”
As for rumors that MTV was looking to re-edit the clip, reps for the network told MTV News that the Melina Matsoukas-directed video was approved as is.
The singer herself is responding to the reaction and YouTube’s decision to include a parental warning on the video, tweeting, “U can now view the S&M video on Rihannanow.com UNFLAGGED!!!” Also tweeting, “They watched Umbrella … I was full nude.””
What are your feelings about the soft porn used in the music videos today?
In my opinion I don’t like the use of woman figures in nearly music videos that exists. I don’t fully understand why swear words are blocked in the lyrics but it’s ok to have half naked woman creating sexual pleasures in a music video, when children are the biggest target audience in the music industry. I don’t think its right to have children sexually aroused when viewing a video at a early age. But blocking swears words are going to help?
There is porn music videos being created that are actually getting published over the internet for anyone to watch. When I first saw this video I was shocked and disgusted how a famous celebrity thought it was normal to create a vile porn video to advertise the new release. Luckily the BBFC have band this video from being published on YouTube after thousands of complaints.
I strongly and passionately believe it’s wrong to have naked woman in videos on MTV and think something should be done about it. I think that artists should think how they can direct the lyrics in a different artist way to get their point across. Having music those children can watch so they can learn from right and wrong. Like crime, gangsters and self harm is all wrong and should happen in this world. Instead of having artists like Dizzy Rascal who is a stereotypical view of a gangster by the use of his appearance and style of music genre.
Overall in this sections I found found out how important it is to think carefully about the inappropriate content I use to target my audience. Therefore when creating and planning my music video I will make sure im extra aware of how I use the actors actions and lyrics with the use of existing classification regulations. I’ve also learnt how not having some sort of protections of the content can be dangerous to the audience and the repetition of the artist and whole production team.
For some secondary source of information Ive decided to use the textbook ‘Sound & Vision: A Music Video Reader’ edited by Simon Frith, which is a book that is specifically designed for Degree level media students.
Commodification – Refers to the way that music have a reason behind the productions stages and its not just produced for its own sake. This is because people want to make music, but a product or service that can be packaged and sold by others.
Textual ‘schizophrenia’ – Defines the type of style in which music videos may appear to have an artisitc creative mode in them. By the way the music jump from one idea or image to the next. With this type of method it will making it more attractive and interesting to watch.
Postmodern approach: This means music videos that have been specifically merged with media connection between ‘high art’ and ‘popular cultrue’. For example the way they might borrow other cultural trends like fashion and musical style and combine them both to become a postmodern approach.
Postmodern disappearance of reality – people can grow wings or turn into cartoons or whatever – as long as they look cool, that’s all that matters…
Erosion of authenticity:
Lawrence Grossberg tends to use the phrase “the ideology of authenticity”. The music is basically considered as authentic when people are actually physically playing instruments or singing in a live stadium. However in music videos this is not the case as the artists are just performers, lip-syncing to their songs that they sometimes claim to write or miming along to the pre-recorded music. Therefore are a viewer, we know that the musicians are not actually performing but we go along with this so called inauthentic authenticity because sometimes we get too caught up getting concerned with the visual spectacle of the video, rather than looking into depth to notice if its ‘real’?
Is music video’s killing and destroying the rock culture?
In the music video industry they are not killing the rock culture as some critics suggest. However it is changing in some ways in that the audience will relate to the music, as the music is less significant that it was a few years ago. Music videos are know made in an ‘image’ which is today is just as important than the experience of music itself. This is a really bad thing as it is not fair for the artists who have a ‘poor’ image for example ‘Fat, Ugly, Spotty, etc?. This is a big disadvantage as people should enjoy the sound of music that worrying and judging the artists by their appearance.
Are music videos criticized due the limit of imaginations and freedom?
The answer is YES, they are criticized becuase the limit of imagination of the fans are taking away the listener’s freedom to interpret a song how they want it, by imposing too much visual or even narrative interpretation of the song upon them
Overall I have widen my knowledge of how people look at music videos. For example Lawrence Grossberg has inspired me in the way people perceive the authenity of music videos and how the authenity can hugely have an impact of the music. I’ve also widen the idea of how the shots are jumped from one to another to make it appear more attractive and creative. Which is called Textual ‘schizophrenia’, so when planning my music video I shall be taking these techniques & methods into consideration.
When it came to planning in this section we first started off creating a brain storm spider diagram of the different types of conventions there are in music videos up-to-date. The spider diagram includes all the most important technical conventions that we must consider when researching how music videos are constructed.
Music videos are very hard to describe due to there being so many conventions to produce high standards. Music videos tend to have diverse range of shots and camera angles but mainly will be the use of closes ups on the artist or band performing. Producers often use a feature or a montage effect which compiles short clips together, to help jump from one image to the other. In the modern day more and more music videos tend to be fast paced with quick edits enabling the clips to flow more smoothly. Post production effects are also key features of an effective music video. Throughout time producers label the title of the song, artist and album at the start or end of the video. This helps promote either the song, record label or the band itself thus generating more fans in the process to help establish recognition. Vibrant and bold images are vital, as it uplifts the quality of the song as the storyline merges together, making the song appear more realistic and attractive to the viewer’s eye.
Camera Shots:
Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and mid shots. This is to create emphasis on the artist, location and emotions. Also, close ups are used not only to show emotion but to reflect the words of the song with movement of the lips on the artist.
Camera movement:
The movement of the camera is used to follow and trace the artist or band. Camera movements include tilts, pans, tracking and crane shots.
Mise-en-scene:
This refers to the arrangement of performers and props on the stage or in a scene puts more importance on the representation of something. An example is, ‘Mad’ by Neyo. The mise en scene involves him walking down a road alone, being in an isolated room. This reflects the isolation from his lover. Also, the props include hard and dark clothes which represent his mood of the song. Similar, the lighting is kept very dark as it is black and white; this connotes the angry and depressed mood.
Other main conventions consist of:
Lighting
Some music videos are black and white which help emphasis a particular mood and some videos have artificial lighting which put the artist in an enhanced look.
Sound
Sound is mainly the vocals or the song but in some cases such as Michael Jackson – Thriller, the producers make the music video into a short film.
Props
There are a vital in aiding to add to the scene and create significance on particular objects or people.
Costume:
This goes with the scenes in the song and reflects the genre. Costume is an important factor because it has a slight influence on how the views will dress because they use some of the celebrities as role models
Colour:
Colours tend to set the mood of the song through creating an atmosphere. For example dark colours are used more in rock songs such as kings of Leon and bright colours are seen to be more in hip hop pop videos.
Music conventions in Indie/Rock
Tends to be black and white
The artist/band is shown throughout the video
Use of extreme close ups and long shots
Dark locations
Face paces
Some use of special effects
Music conventions of Hip hop
Locations tends to be party, club fancy location
use of alcohol
Recognised brands and clothing
Expensive cars and houses
Camera shots tend to be long and establishing to show the money involved. Close ups to show the jewellery and assets of the artist.
Attractive women
Does not follow a storyline, only follows genre.
Music conventions of POP
Bright and colourful
Close ups to show cheerful and upbeat emotions
Extreme close ups– these tend to show the purity and innocence’s into the personality of the artist.
For my research and planning I have used some information from “Wikipedia” to expand my knowledge of this project and produce work to the best of my ability.
Used Wikipedia for:
Definitions
Examples
Artist Research (DOB, Career, History etc)
etc
Here is a definition of what a music videos is know as founded in Wikipedia:
“A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 80s, these works were described by various terms including “illustrated song“, “filmed insert”, “promotional (promo) film”, “promotional clip” or “film clip”.
Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos do not interpret images from the song’s lyrics, making it less literal than expected.”
My knowledge of what a music video is?
Music videos are very difficult to define because they are so varied in style, form and content
Basically music videos are glorified adverts and their primary purpose is to buy released single, however some music videos are technically in native and visually amazing.
Media Critic disagrees on the best way of viewing music videos.
Views as trivial pornography
Videos are also critized for creating a huge gap between fans, artist, and for turning music into another product (connodification).
Music videos are another way of postmodern media from as they place style over substance, because they borrow heavily from other media forms & uses a lot of intertexual references to other texts e.g. Budi ~Holly-Weezer.
Music videos are very varied but usually feature a performance, narrative.
They also tend to be edited to enhance the beat and structure of the song.
Music videos are also critised for taking away the listeners individual freedom to the song and picture is in their own way.
For my Media Studies A2 coursework, I have chosen to take on the challenge of music promotion. The OCR brief asks me to produce:
A music video and two from these three:
· Home page for the band
· DVD cover
· Magazine ad for the DVD.
Therefore my research will be based on the medium of music video; through this I will gain a better understanding of how to produce my own music video, and an insight into the forms and conventions within them. My aims and objectives for producing a quality media product throughout this project are clear, by challenging the forms and conventions of real music videos I will be able to produce my own using the knowledge gained through this research.
From the image taken by myself, I think it will look really effective in our video, as its a very dark confined piece of space that look really old. I think this would be the perfect solution for our alleyway scene or when the actor is trapped in a tight space, as from the looks of this spaces its extremely narrow. Not only does this dark small alley way effective and syled to our specifications its also a very reachable located for the whole group to get to. Due to our school being located in Glinton, this alleyway is in Pekirk which is only a 15min walk. Therefore if we decided to use this location in our media product we can all work to the location in minutues. Overall its a very convienent, accessible, location which is suitable for what we need, however this chosen location does require permission from the owners of the house in which its built on, which could be an disadvantage.
These are the main under bridges that are located in Peterborough’s town. They are a few alley ways that allow people who access one end of the main roads to another. I think these would be a good location to consider as its a public place and to some people being in a public place doesnt allow them to be themselves. Therefore in that respect they would begin to feel trapped, not only this but I beleive its an easy place to get access too as the whole group wont have any excuses about traveling arrangments.
Here is a video that I tried to search for on “YouTube” but wasn’t allowed to view the music video by Rihanna due to some content material being inappropriate. This is a good example of ‘YouTube’ using restrictions so people under the age of 18 cannot view the video without difficulty.
Lawrence Grossberg tends to use the phrase 
For my research and planning I have used some information from “Wikipedia” to expand my knowledge of this project and produce work to the best of my ability.
Rachel Louise Taylor 