Last years video

Reflection on my progress from AS to A2

Already at this stage i believe my blogging activity compared to last year has been massive.  I tend to go over all my blogs at home when i finish them to ensure they are at an excellent standard and i actually enjoy reflecting on what i have done. Last year i didn't really do this, well not enough anyways. So both quantity and the quality of my blogs have increased.  I also am keeping up to date with all my blogs as i know from last year if i fall behind it will be difficult to catch back up whilst doing good quality blogs.

Out of 20 i would probably give myself around 15 marks because all my blogs have been very detailed and at a high standard. However i have not used a lot of forms of ICT so far and most of my blogs have been created on Blogger itself.

If i need to improve my blogging i think the main thing i need to do is start blogging using different forms of ICT such as use prezi's and powerpoint's to get my point across. Secondly i need to start blogging more by using my initiative and not just blog the activities on the checklist. I need to take it a step further. Finally there's not much more i think i can improve but to keep my work at a consistently high level.

Thinking about the lyrics and what we might do

Music videos that have influenced our planning decisions

The original video and how ours will be different

Our original video

This is set in like an empty town, its on the streets with buses, roads, sidewalks and fields. Also shows him in a car as well as a cafe and his bedroom.  He is also at the sea and car garage. Most of this is set in the day where it is bright however there is part of it that is set at night. The costume the artist uses is casual as he is just wearing jeans, trainers, jumpers and t-shirts. He changes his costume with each base track used.

The camera work used is to mainly shows us the setting throughout and they do this by using a lot of establishing shots and tracking so we can get a better understanding perhaps and that the lyrics are linked to these shots. Also used are close ups for the artists to show his expressions and there are loads of mid shots to show him with the setting. Over the shoulder shots are also used to get the scenery in his perspective. When watching the video it feels as if we were the artist at times and we are in the artists position seeing what he is seeing and this is done by the camerawork. 

Throughout the video there are jump cuts used to jump to different scenery mainly and not much but there are colour effects a couple of times where it switches to white and black and when there are bright yellow/orange colours flashing. There are quite a few base tracks used as well which are: Establishing scenery shots, mid shots of the artist in field and in his bedroom and also in his car and the bus. In the bus there are also wide shots used and close ups are more used when in the car.  

The base tracks we plan on using are:
Mid shot or artist walking along river thames
Wide shot of artist walking through the park
Wide shot of artist sitting at the bus stop
Medium close up of artist sitting under bridge
Over the shoulder shot of artist on bench at south bank overlooking the river
Several establishing shots of scenery in central London.

Our video will be quite different to this as in this video it is in an empty town kind of where nobody is about however we are going to be filming in central London with buildings and not with the sea and fields. Also this video is mainly set during the day where we are going to set ours during the night mainly. Furthermore in the original video there are a lot of shots used in the car and bus and as we are unable to do this we will film more in the streets of London and include more shots of that. With editing there isn't a great deal of editing going on in the original video and with our video we are looking to use a lot of editing by using black and white filters and as for our base tracks they are going to be mainly of the scenery and not the artist but the artist will still be shown throughout the video various times.

PLANNING - Mood board

Here is a mood board of our chosen artist Maverick Sabre: 

PLANNING - Website for original artist

http://www.mavericksabre.com/

Analysis:

 

PLANNING - Music videos that have influenced final planning decisions

Mise en scene

Locations/settings etc.:

River Thames

Road side

Landmarks - London eye, Gherkin, Big Ben 

Transport - Cars & Buses

Costumes:

Casual clothing

Change of costume with each base track(at least 2-3 times) 

Props:

Food (pizza)

Camerawork

Establishing shots

Mid shots

Tilts

Wide shots

Close ups

Shaky camera movement

Tracking

Editing

Fast paced jump cuts

Colour changing - Black and white

Fast motion

Basetracks:

Mid shot of artist outside Picadilly Circus

Close up of artist rapping

Establishing scenery shots 

Mise en scene

Locations/settings etc.:

Flats/estates

Bustop

Roadside

Train station

Bridge

River

Trees

A lot of focus on water and sky

No eye contact for majority

Costumes:

Casual (jackets etc.)

Props:

Mobile phone

Camerawork

Panning

Tracking

Establishing shots

Mid shots

Over the shoulder

Close ups

Shaky camera movement

Editing

Steady paced

Jump cuts

Match cuts

Colour change - Black & White

Basetracks:

Mid/establishing shots of artist at bustop

Mid shot/Tracking shot of artist walking

Establishing shots of scenery

Mid shot of artist in front of railings

Close up/over the shoulder of actors hand by the river

Mise en scene

Locations/settings etc.:

Park

Train station

Busy London road

Trees/birds

Cars/buses

Bright lights

Lack of eye contact with camera

Costumes:

Big jacket(indicating poor wealth)

Props:

Duvet

Money

Camerawork

Wide shots

Low angle shots

High angle shots

Tracking

Zoom

Mid shots

Medium close ups

Editing

Steady paced

Jump cuts

Colour change - Black & White

Fast motion

Blur

Basetracks:

Wide shot of actor outside train station(on the floor)
Close up/medium close ups of actor(showing facial expression and emotions)

The main features we are looking to use:

Black & White shots

Night time scenery

Busy London roads

Wide range of different shots, mostly establishing shots

The river

Landmarks

Buses

Lack of eye contact

Casual clothing

Fast & slow motion

Over the shoulder shots

Tracking

Bridge

Focus on the sky

PLANNING - Analysis of original video and how ours will differ

Mise en scene

Locations/settings:

Road side

Bus

Cafe

Field

Car 

Bedroom

Mix of daylight and nightime

Costumes:

Casual clothing(t shirt & jeans, jumper, jacket)

Change of costume with each base track(at least 4 times) 

Props:

Notepad

Camerawork

Establishing shots

Mid shots

Close ups

Shaky camera movement

Tracking 

Over the shoulder

Editing

Slow/steady paced jump cuts

Colour changing - Black and white

Basetracks:

Wide shot and mid shots of artist on bus

Mostly mid shots of artist on bed in room

Mid shot of artist in field 

Close up and mid shots of artist in car

Establishing scenery shots

We don't plan to replicate this music video exactly. The majority of shots in the original are filmed during the day however we want to include an equal amount of day and night time visuals. Also, a large quantity of this video contains filming in cars and buses. As this won't be possible for us we will have to compromise and film mostly on the streets of central London. Furthermore in relation to editing, we are going to do a lot more with motions than in the original and we plan on using filters such as black and white for a few of the shots. Lastly, we aim to create most of the base tracks using scenery and not the artist singing. Despite this, there will be a number of shots in which the singer can be seen to promote themselves and their album. 

The basetracks we plan on using are as follows:

Mid shot of artist walking along River Thames

Wide shot of artist walking through park

Wide shot of artist sitting at bus top

Medium close up of artist sitting under bridge

Over the shoulder of artist sitting on bench at south bank(overlooking river)

Several establishing shots of scenery in central London

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

PLANNING - Copyright clearence

PLANNING - Change of song choice & reasoning

Following a discussion with our teacher, we have decided against choosing Devlin - London city. This is because the song contains reference to drugs and may not be suitable to replicate. Instead, we have concluded that Maverick Sabre - I need is a good choice. It differs slightly in terms of genre and despite the fact the two videos are very different we still feel we can include similar visuals as this is what attracted us so much to our initial choice. We would class this track a soul/urban track. 

Copy right clearance

PLANNING - Copyright clearance

PLANNING - Final song choice

Our final song choice is

Devlin - London City

The reason why we have chosen this song to produce a music video for is that we think it will be interesting to replicate. We have a rough idea of what settings/locations to use and they are realistic and easy to access. Also, we like the visuals in the video and will attempt to create similar ones. Furthermore, everyone in our group is interested in this genre(grime/rap) and therefore will be motivated to re-create a video for this particular song. We have all agreed that our project will be similar to the original in the way that the visuals will illustrate the lyrics. In the original, Devlin has many shots of London town to match the words in which he is rapping about London city. 

PLANNING - Potential songs

We also considered looking at:
 the streets - blinded by the light
 pro green ft maverick sabre - jungle
 k koke ft maverick sabre - turn back

Artist branding and synergy

An artist brand themselves through the use of synergy which can be seen in music videos and things around the music video such as digipaks, teasers, magazine covers and more. They brand themselves through different ways such as location, oculars, fonts, graphics, costume and props. These all help to promote the artist and helps to determine the artist himself. 

In the Album cover we see :

• Black and Gold colours mainly
• The artist himself
• Gold Jewellery 
• Gold antiques
• Candle
• Smart casual clothing

In this video we can see that some of the key features from the album cover are used in this video.

These include:

• Similar colours (Black and Gold)
• The artist is in the video 
• Jewellery
• Candle
• Smart casual clothing

analysing music videos

I like this groups music video because I felt that they used effect graphics when filming to help make the video interesting to watch. I also felt it was edited to a speed in which keeps the audience engaged at all times. I felt that there was good locations which helped suit the mood of the song and it was also shot at night which also suited the mood. I felt the costume could've been more creative but the casual clothing did suit the type of the song. I felt they used a variety of mid shots and close ups which helped identify the artists. I particularly enjoyed the bit where they edited both artists to fade together because it was interesting to watch

Mulveys theory

The Male Gaze:
The gaze is how the audience look at what is being presented.
Some features of the male gaze is the way the camera lingers on women's body and stuff that happens to women in videos.
She argues that this objectifies women making them come across as sexual objects.

In this music video women are presented as sexual objects and are filmed in a sexual way. The male gaze is demonstrated here clearly because of the way women are presented.


Mulvey is criticised for failing to understand that some women choose to be presented in this way. Artists such as Beyonce or Rihanna like to present themselves sexually in order to entertain their audience and gain more viewers.

Carol Vernalis theory

Carol found that editing comes a lot more frequently in music videos than it does in films. Sometimes it can be used to match the rhythm of the song or to act as a disjuncture. 

Music videos break the traditional rule of continuity editing. They do this by using montage editing and using obvious edits such as jump cuts, special effects and more. 

They also use base tracks which the camera moves to constantly and interchanges between different base tracks usually in time with the music. 

Here is an example of these ideas being demonstrated: 

Andrew goodwin

Goodwin argues that there are three different types of relationships between songs and its video:

1) Illustration: this is where the video tells the story of lyrics. Here is an example of a video that demonstrates this: 

Krept and Konan - My Story

 

2) Amplification: this is when the video adds new meanings which adds layers to the meaning of the lyrics rather than contradicting them. Here is an example:

Naughty Boy ft Sam Smith - La La La 

    3) Disjuncture: this is where there is no connection between the video and the lyrics or where the video contradicts the lyrics. An example of this is:

Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror

Artist branding/synergy

Artist branding/synergy  

Artist promote themselves and their music by making sure their is something symbolic of them across their media products, this includes their music videos, digipaks, teasers and promotional advertisement. They make their branding distinctive through props, costumes settings colours and appearance. This creates a rememberable theme by the artist which can be related by the audience. 

Example i chose: 

2 chains a American hip hop artist 

Album cover 

 image from a music video

Features Highlighted: 

- dark colour theme 

- Artist himself 

- Chains are symbolic he always is wearing them 

- Album can be indentified as 2 Chains because his name is the image on the cover

- unique album cover 

copywrite clearance

In order to be able to do the video I am considering to do with my group. I had to email  a member from the record label for copywrite clearance. 

Veranalis theory

Carol veranalis theory

Over view: 

Continuity editing: Broken edits to draw attention to the screen and what is happening

Edit: allowed to draw attention to the selves deliberately to be interesting eg special effects 

Jump cats: used a lot to speed things up - songs are usually around 2 -4 minutes 

Master shots: Also known as base track, gives the video structure 

Camera: usually moves in time with the music to give it more rhythm 

Editing: 

The simple system of MV cuts to the beat but it can be more subtle and vary to form this - its prime purpose is to reflect the experiential properties of sound. Actions are rarely completed and stories suggested but not given in full. The camera movement can produce the illusion of an edit where there hasn't been one. 

Types of camera shot:

Certain edits and visuals elements can mimc the movement of sound - the main and framings fir this are;

1) extreme high and low angel shots 

2) canted or titled shots 

3) long tracking shots 

4) usual pans and titles 

5) lively features in frame 

Image of artist:

CV states that at the moment of the starts breaking the fourth wall we no longer view the face and body as an object. the singer is mostly at the front and centre of the frame but other parts of the body can have equal weight/ significance.

The most common camera position in MV is below the subject and to one side

Often the flow of images is too rich or quick for us to acknowledge or make sense of so a close up gives us something we can focus on or remember

Here is an example

Laura Mulveys theory

Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory

The gaze is a Feminist theory developed to highlight the power imbalance between men and women analysing the way men see women, the way women view themselves and other women. The theory suggests that an audience are forced to view the text from the perspective a heterosexual male, films constantly focus on women’s curves and events that happen to them are portrayed at a male angle. The male gaze denies women human agency, relegating them to the status of objects. Therefore the female viewers experience the text narrative secondarily, by identifying with a man’s perspective (male gaze). In addition she argues that sexism can also occur in the way the text is presented. Moreover, people are encouraged to gaze at women in advertising that sexualizes a woman's body even when the woman's body is unrelated to the advertised product.

Mulvey suggests that the audience view the films in two ways: voyeuristically and fetishistically. As audiences watch films without being watched by the characters they become onlookers of their lives. Therefore they become voyeurs of the people on screen. This can lead to two effects: objectification and narcissistic identification. Voyeurism involves turning the represented figure into a fetish so it becomes increasingly beautiful but more objectified.

It has been contended filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock objectified his female subjects, positioning them to merely arouse the audience.

An example: 50 cent - how we do

Skills ive gained from as to a2

Ive picked up several skills from AS which I will need in A2.
Ive learnt how to edit clips using the final cut pro software. I learnt how to cut clips, put clips together, add transitions and effects etc. I will  be using this skills in A2 to edit my music video. Ive also learnt about different types of editing such as continuity and montage which i found out can have a huge impact on how good the video is.

Ive also learnt how to use the camera properly such as the focusing. I realised this was a huge determiner on the quality of the video because in AS i had several shots which was out of focus and therefore was not included in my final work.
I learnt how to set up a tripod properly and safely in AS and obviously will be using it again in A2 to film my music video.
Ive learnt about different types of shots such as close ups or long shots and this will help me to film my music video in A2 to look even better.

Ive learn about mise en scene which involved costume, setting, props. This will be effective for my music video because it will make it look better and engage the audience more.

Ive also learnt how often to blog and how much to blog which can make a huge difference on my grade. At the start of AS I was behind on blogs because I didnt know how and what to blog but as time i went on i figured out how to do it. This will be effective for me in A2.

Andrew Goodwins Theory

Andrew Goodwin Theory

Andrew Goodwin has identified a number of key features in music videos. They are:

- A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.
- A relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.
- Genre-related style and iconography present.
- Multiple close-ups of the main artist or vocalist.
- Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation to females.
- Intertextual references to other media texts may be present.

He says that music videos are often constructed by the link between the visuals and the song plus the artist. Relationships are built between these in the video, and the close-ups of the artists gives them the representation and publicity they require. Voyeurism is used to increase the video’s attractiveness, particularly to males, whilst intertextuality is often employed in humorous videos.

Many of these features are present in all music videos, depending on the genre of the song and the aim of the record company/artist.

an example would be beyonce if i were a boy

RESEARCH - Reflection on progress

Overall, i feel i am progressing quite well with my blogging compared to last year. Detail-wise i have done good as i've been looking into theories and ideas deeply and displaying them to real life (music videos) to understand the relevance. Also, i've been trying to make links between conventions and genres to make it more specific. In addition i've been keeping the blog updated with new reserach and ideas that i have. Out of 20 i'd give myself an 8 for the use of different ICT. I don't think i have used a wide enough range of different media yet as most of my blogs are majority text based. 

RESEARCH - Skill development

Thinking back to the research that i conducted for my AS practical work, I believe my skills in research have developed since then. 

Although I looked into the same sort of areas as i am now e.g: functioning, conventions, targets etc. the detail I go into has definitely increased. For A2 practical research i have not only looked into the basic conventions of a music video but also looked at a number of different theories. To ensure i understood them, i applied them to different videos which support or contradict the main ideas. Back in AS, I would not do extra research to consider there was more than one view on thriller openings. Furthermore, this year I have been researching music videos in general but also specific to the genre we might want to use whereas last year I looked as thrillers very generally and did not put much focus on researching the subgenre we used and how it differed. Lastly, I have researched a lot into costume, setting, location and props and the impact they have. This is something i did not spend a lot of time on in AS. 

RESEARCH - Examining the appeal of music videos to audiences

Music videos use certain costumes, props, locations and settings for different audiences. Indiviudals of different genders, ages, nationalities and social classes are pulled in by a large number of different visuals. Depending on the genre of a song, music videos will be produced in such a way that cleverly appeals to a direct audience.

Some examples of what commonly appeals to each audience:

Gender

Males - Female artist, dressed in revealing clothes, conventially good looking, sexual body language, refrence to things like money and cars

Females - Male artist, good looking OR female artist, role model, extravagent settings & locations, bright colours

Age

Children - Bright colours, dramatic dream-like locations, fun and exciting costumes, gadget props

Social class

Working class - Local settings/locations(familiarity), casual branded clothing, casual transport OR cars(usually the case for grime/rap videos)

Class variation:

Upper middle class

Middle class

Lower middle class

Skilled working class

Working class

People at lowest level of income

Young and Rubicam's Four Consumers:

Mainstreamers
Aspirers
Succeeders
Reformers

Analysing a music video using theories

Analysing a music video using theories

This music video created by Jem, zakaria, Courtney and fuzail has been created successfully by fitting the theories of Andrew Good, Carol Vernallis and Laura Mulvey.

The video related to Carols theory because there is a lot of continuity within the scenes also there are a lot of jump cuts in the video jumping from different scenes with a change of costume, camera also moves with the music.

Laura Mulvey’s theory of ‘male gaze’ doesn’t apply to this video done by previous media students because the video only contains males and doesn’t portray women as ‘objects’,  however it could be argued that because there is no female presence in the video that would be the reason why male viewers would concentrate on the actual video its self because they aren’t distracted.

I noticed a lot of strengths this video has using the four elements of Camera. Editing, Mise en scene and sound.  The video contains a number of different shots including mid shots and close ups of the guitar, a number of props have been used such as the guitar also different costumes have been worn by the characters in relation to the different settings, also i notices a lot of jump cuts have been used in the editing process, to conclude i think this video has been successful.