Music Videos That Add Value
A-ha: Take On Me
Originally, the song "Take On Me" by A-ha was released in 1984, but was not successful in the slightest. It didn't make it into the charts alone, so generally at this time it was a song that flopped. However, after the music video was released in 1985 it shot to number one, even today it is the 3rd greatest music video of all time. The thousands of drawings and shots put together for this video took at least 3 months to make, but in the mid 80s this was extremely original and new to audiences which is what made it so excellent. The song was given so much value after this music video boosted its reputation and made it an instant classic to watch over and over again mixing cartoon sketches with real life.
Sinead O'Connor: Nothing Compares 2U
This video did not attract audiences with fancy editing, but simply with the emotion behind the video. "Nothing Compares 2U" was not an original song by Sinead O'Connor, but was by Prince. However, her cover to this song contained so much emotion, especially in the music video. £40,000 was spent on the original footage in this video in Paris, but then when the director experimented with close ups of Sinead's face, he realised that her natural emotion and beauty was a whole lot better than the shots in Paris. The tears she cried in this video was all real because she happened to be very emotional at this time, which is what made it so successful and added so much value, because you can tell that she is really feeling the lyrics. Also, her expressions force the audience to "look into her eyes" as the director said.
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Monday, 22 June 2015
Music Video Styles
Music Video Styles
In class we have recently been researching different styles of music videos. We watched a few examples as a group to get a good idea of what different styles of music videos there are.
Parody
"All The Small Things" by Blink-182
This is Blink-182's music video released in 2000. Although it was released almost sixteen years ago, it has some relevance today. The video shows Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker and Tom DeLonge parodying every stereotypical boy group in the music industry. It is supposed to be amusing as they are making fun of common things typical boy groups do in music videos. Like most parodies, it is not supposed to be taken seriously.
Pastiche
"But It's Better If You Do" by Panic! At The Disco
This music video performed by Panic! At The Disco is pastiche because it isn't set in the present day. The props used, editing used, costumes worn and the general musical sound gives the audience the impression that this is set in the 1920s, perhaps early 1930s.
Narrative
"Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus
The timeless classic Teenage Dirtbag is a simple narrative music video, telling a typical love story of two kids in high school. Music videos with narrative concepts is just like storytelling, so they are interesting to watch and the lyrics are often vital to listen to if you want to understand the video properly.
Animation
"Right Back At It Again" by A Day To Remember
Right Back At It Again is a music video by A Day To Remember released in 2013. Personally I love this video because of how creative it is. Props and background images are animated in this, but the actual people in it remain the same. So it's almost like real life merged with cartoon sketches, which makes it such a imaginative animation video.
Performance Based
"Lost In Stereo" by All Time Low
All Time Low generally have a habit of creating music videos with shots of them performing live to audiences across the world. This is one of their most famous ones in their earlier years, Lost In Stereo was released in 2009. It includes shots of them on tour, meeting fans and mostly performing on stage. I think performance based music videos are a good way of using recorded videos and merging them together. Although their is practically no editing or special effects involved, it is fun to watch.
Cinematic
"Kings And Queens" by 30 Seconds To Mars
Cinematic videos are often like short movies. Kings And Queens is just an example of a 30 Seconds To Mars song which has been extended simply for music video reasons. Its intro even introduces the band and the director, which makes it seem so much more like a movie. Jared Leto sings most of this song in a sunset silhouette, which shows audiences that cinematic style videos require a lot of editing and special effects. My guess is that unlike a performance based music video, this was quite expensive to make.
In class we have recently been researching different styles of music videos. We watched a few examples as a group to get a good idea of what different styles of music videos there are.
Parody
"All The Small Things" by Blink-182
This is Blink-182's music video released in 2000. Although it was released almost sixteen years ago, it has some relevance today. The video shows Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker and Tom DeLonge parodying every stereotypical boy group in the music industry. It is supposed to be amusing as they are making fun of common things typical boy groups do in music videos. Like most parodies, it is not supposed to be taken seriously.
Pastiche
"But It's Better If You Do" by Panic! At The Disco
This music video performed by Panic! At The Disco is pastiche because it isn't set in the present day. The props used, editing used, costumes worn and the general musical sound gives the audience the impression that this is set in the 1920s, perhaps early 1930s.
Narrative
"Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus
The timeless classic Teenage Dirtbag is a simple narrative music video, telling a typical love story of two kids in high school. Music videos with narrative concepts is just like storytelling, so they are interesting to watch and the lyrics are often vital to listen to if you want to understand the video properly.
Animation
"Right Back At It Again" by A Day To Remember
Right Back At It Again is a music video by A Day To Remember released in 2013. Personally I love this video because of how creative it is. Props and background images are animated in this, but the actual people in it remain the same. So it's almost like real life merged with cartoon sketches, which makes it such a imaginative animation video.
Performance Based
"Lost In Stereo" by All Time Low
All Time Low generally have a habit of creating music videos with shots of them performing live to audiences across the world. This is one of their most famous ones in their earlier years, Lost In Stereo was released in 2009. It includes shots of them on tour, meeting fans and mostly performing on stage. I think performance based music videos are a good way of using recorded videos and merging them together. Although their is practically no editing or special effects involved, it is fun to watch.
Cinematic
"Kings And Queens" by 30 Seconds To Mars
Cinematic videos are often like short movies. Kings And Queens is just an example of a 30 Seconds To Mars song which has been extended simply for music video reasons. Its intro even introduces the band and the director, which makes it seem so much more like a movie. Jared Leto sings most of this song in a sunset silhouette, which shows audiences that cinematic style videos require a lot of editing and special effects. My guess is that unlike a performance based music video, this was quite expensive to make.
Sunday, 21 June 2015
Music Video Analysis
Research
Daniel Powter - Bad Day
Rihanna - Shut Up And Drive
Rihanna's music video for Shut Up And Drive contained many female empowerment elements. The idea was for women to be doing a stereotypical man's job (e.g. fixing motor cars) and still being able to give off that "sexy" look whilst doing it. Lots of symbols in the video allowed us as an audience to be able to see what the video was all about. Rihanna walks in wearing leopard print heels which symbolises a certain "fierceness" about her, as well as the black leathered outfits she wears throughout.
In class we looked at a couple of music videos with elements that we should include within our own video. This includes things like fast-paced editing, a narrative, and everything in our video needing to have a specific purpose for it all to make sense.
Daniel Powter - Bad Day
This music video includes a lot of key elements that we are sure to include when we start filming our music video. We looked at how everything in this video has a sense of purpose and and overwhelming sense of symmetry. The artist is featured quite a lot in this video along with 2 people with different lives who the audience know are going to meet at the very end because they keep accidentally bumping into each other without realizing. I suld say that this particular video is a narrative; it tells a story and can easily refer to the phrase "you've had a bad day".
Rihanna - Shut Up And Drive
Rihanna's music video for Shut Up And Drive contained many female empowerment elements. The idea was for women to be doing a stereotypical man's job (e.g. fixing motor cars) and still being able to give off that "sexy" look whilst doing it. Lots of symbols in the video allowed us as an audience to be able to see what the video was all about. Rihanna walks in wearing leopard print heels which symbolises a certain "fierceness" about her, as well as the black leathered outfits she wears throughout.
Saturday, 20 June 2015
History of the Music Video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes.[1] 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 to musical short films that first appeared in the 1920's, they came into prominence in the 1980s when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980s, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip" or "film clip". -Wikipedia
One of the early examples of a music video would be St. Louis Blue's by Bessie Smith in 1929.
In 1940 Walt Disney released Fantasia, a cartoon based around classical music.This could be thought of as a music video as the cartoon was created around the music to fit it.
One of the earlier examples of a music video would be St. Louis Blue's by Bessie Smith in 1929.
One of the early examples of a music video would be St. Louis Blue's by Bessie Smith in 1929.
One of the earlier examples of a music video would be St. Louis Blue's by Bessie Smith in 1929.
Friday, 19 June 2015
Album Art Exercise
Digipak Exercise
Today we experimented with Photoshop in order to practice our skills for when we create our real digipak for our finished music video. We visited a website which gave us a name generator, an album generator and an image generator and then we edited and manipulated the image and text to make it look like original album art that we created. Here is what I came up with.
Thursday, 18 June 2015
Lip Syncing Test 2
Lip-Syncing Test 2
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart"
This is the second lip-syncing test we worked on as a group for A2. We used the song "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John and Keke Dee. I filmed this music video and then Joshua edited it.
I feel that as a group we have improved since the lip syncing test we did before. The lip-syncing used here is quite accurately edited and we managed to make it look convincing. I feel that to improve we could ask our actors to actually sing out loud to make their vocal skills look more accurate. Sometimes the lip syncing is a bit off here mainly because we didn't know the lyrics very well and sometimes our actors said the wrong words or mixed them around. But I feel that there are a few shots here which I edited quickly and accurately.
To improve, we need to be able to edit faster and more efficiently, within the space of a few seconds as most videos are edited this way. I also need to make sure that the editing is more accurate so that the actors lip sync in time to the lyrics or the music. This is compulsory because we are most likely going to edit a music video in the future with a song that is harder than this, so this is good practice for us, and the more we experiment with easier songs, the better we can get for when we film our real music video project.
I feel that as a group we have improved since the lip syncing test we did before. The lip-syncing used here is quite accurately edited and we managed to make it look convincing. I feel that to improve we could ask our actors to actually sing out loud to make their vocal skills look more accurate. Sometimes the lip syncing is a bit off here mainly because we didn't know the lyrics very well and sometimes our actors said the wrong words or mixed them around. But I feel that there are a few shots here which I edited quickly and accurately.
To improve, we need to be able to edit faster and more efficiently, within the space of a few seconds as most videos are edited this way. I also need to make sure that the editing is more accurate so that the actors lip sync in time to the lyrics or the music. This is compulsory because we are most likely going to edit a music video in the future with a song that is harder than this, so this is good practice for us, and the more we experiment with easier songs, the better we can get for when we film our real music video project.
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Lip-Syncing Test
Lip-Syncing Test
This is the lip-syncing test we used at the start of our A2 Media course as a practice. We used the soundtrack "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher. There are a few mistakes that I have made whilst editing and filming, and these are areas in which I wish to improve when we try this task again in the near future.
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Tuesday, 16 June 2015
Production Team
Last year in Year 12, I worked with Joshua Collier, Michal Cendrowski and Samuel Hannigan. This year I will be working with Josh and Michal, as Sam has left the group. I am hoping that he will still be able to take part in any filming that we wish to do for Year 13.
I think it would be a great opportunity to use a song that isn't very famous for our music video in A2 - perhaps a song from an alternative music genre would be interesting to use also.
I think it would be a great opportunity to use a song that isn't very famous for our music video in A2 - perhaps a song from an alternative music genre would be interesting to use also.
Monday, 15 June 2015
Brief
The Brief
A promotional package for the release of an album to include a music promo video together with:
- A digipak for its release on DVD.
- A magazine advertisement for the DVD.
- All planning, research, construction and evaluation on a blog.
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