"Carol Vernallis Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context (2004) Columbia University Press" was published as papers of Carol Vernallis studies of editing and camerawork in music videos. Carol's theory was that edits in music videos came much more frequently than film, the editing has a rhythmic basis connected to the song as most videos will stand out as disjuncture.
Here are Carol's main points:
"Jump Cuts are often used"
"The Camera may move in time with them music"
"The usual rules of 'continuity' editing - usually found in classic broadcast fiction - are broken in order to draw attention to what is on the screen" for instance Mark Ronson's 'Bike Song'
"Edits may be really obvious to draw attention to themselves, such as wipes and special features added" I have chosen an example of Marilyn Manson's 'Sweet Dreams' this video is based ONLY on Marilyn and the background band. Here's a link:
"A master shot (base track) is frequently used to give the video a structure" for instance Cee Lo Green's video where we have a clear beginning, middle and end = he wants the girl, she rejects him, he becomes rich and thinks now he's too good for her: character positions invert.
Since the beginning of the AS year i think my research skills have developed and improved. For one, i found it really hard to do the research at all last year as it mainly consisted of watching trailers of horror movies, 'creepy little girl singing' videos etc on youtube and (as I don't particularly like horror movies, or scary children) I spent most of the 'research' time hiding in the corner. This year however, I am more experienced in the task of 'researching' music videos, as I usually spend most of my time on sites like youtube listening to music.
Also, last year we changed our ideas on what we were going to do in our final film many times, so we didn't really get a chance to research things like costume or lighting, or even which location to use. In the end, we only used 2 locations and we had to improvise with the costume and lighting on the day; we ended up using my £3 morrisons lamp to give a 'soft' lighting effect (which ended up not looking too bad) this year however, we have researched exactly what kind of costume, lighting, angles etc. would be most appropriate for the genre and 'mood' we wanted to create in our music video.
Andrew Goodwin feels that traditional narrative analyses don't apply to pop videos. They aren't like the thrillers that we made last year where you portray the beginning of a story, his theory is that we ought to approach music videos differently to novels and films. His reasons for the difference in narrative structures are as follows:
"pop videos are built around songs - and often songs do not pose traditional narrative structures (normality-problem-resolution)."
"the pop video uses the singer both as narrator and as character"
"the singer often looks directly at the camera - this is an extension of performance and trying to involve the viewer at home with the performance."
According to Goodwin's theory "pop videos rely on repetition". The video normally repeats images throughout choruses or specific lines in the lyrics. Music videos often use intertextuality which means that the singer allows us to become familiar with their genre and let's us develop certain expectations. "Pop songs, and therefore videos, do have a form of closure and ending. The three minute single that a video is based on must end and this is often reflected in the structure of the music - it builds to a climax or to a constant repetition before fading away."
There are different types of music videos, and according to Goodwin there are three types. "The visualisation of a song may go beyond the original meaning. Sometimes the video provides a visual pleasure that encourages repeated viewing which therefore promotes the music."
Illustration:
This is when the video tells the story directly to the viewer in accordance with the lyrics. This is usually where the lyrics are directly related to the video.
Amplification:
Usually occurs when the video introduces new meanings to the lyrics, they do not contradict but add layers to the idea of the video. Lady Gaga's 'You And I' demonstrates this well, also the intertextuality factor applies as this video reminds me a lot of Marilyn Manson's 'Tourniquet'.
Disjuncture:
There is very little connection between the lyrics and the video, I think the perfect song to illustrate this is 'Mona - Listen to your Love'. I'd definitely score this video somewhere near the top of my list, it is edited brilliantly to the pace of the song, have a look for yourself...
"In some videos the different instruments in the music are represented by different objects. An example: Rock the Casbah by The Clash, where every time the piano plays an armadillo is shown trundling along." Videos try to appeal to all ages of audiences. Videos that are including older artist's often use clips from when they were young to make it appealing to and older audience as well as the youngsters. Sometimes even songs are created for particular films and the video incorporate the general idea of the film. A good example is Celine Dion 'My heart will go on' for 'Titanic' or a more recent example would be Leona Lewis 'I see You' for 'Avatar'.
The music industry has changed considerably over the last 10 years, I can remember only a few years ago when everyone was listening to CD's on their walk-mans and now hardly anyone even buys hard copies of tracks anymore, and even fewer people bother to pay for mp3 versions; preferring instead to download as much music as they like for free on illegal websites such as lime wire, or video2mp3
Because of the fact that people no longer pay for the actual songs they are listening to, the music industry has had to find new ways to make money; they mostly do this by promoting the artist themselves as well as the music, this way money can be made through tours and merchandise etc. so the artists are promoted through music videos; this is why the videos are so crucial and so much time and money is spent on them in comparison to music videos in the 90's. In fact, some videos are even being made into short films e.g Lady Gaga- 'Telephone', or Katy Perry- 'Friday night'
Artists also make money through advertisement; for example, The Saturdays' video for 'Notorious' where they advertise the make up brand 'Barry M' as it would appeal to their target audience of 16-21 year old females.
The music industry has also tried other approaches to make people actually buy the music they are listening to; the band Radiohead has recently released an album with an "honesty box" approach, where the fans could pay however much they thought the album was worth: fans would pay enough to support their favourite band and this was their approach to making more money, they also released a 'special edition' of the album with added extras including a host of artwork, which went on sale for £33. However, i think this approach will only work for very well known artists with a strong fanbase who would be willing to pay for that little bit extra.
My favourite music video from the previous students is the group that did 'Fix you' by Coldplay, i found this video on the hall of fame, apparently it got an A and you can see why: I think the way they created a whole story throughout the video without making it too complicated or confusing was very effective, I also think that it was a good idea to have the artist as a sort of narrator to the story line, with different characters playing out the plot. That way the burden of filming/acting is equally shared and there isnt one person doing all the work.
The group also used lots of different shots and different locations to make the video more interesting to watch. And the 'artist's lip syncing looked good, he looked like he was really feeling the music.
The change from black and white to colour when the music goes faster and more happy, is also really effective and symbolic for how the people are feeling and gives a sense of hope, which is what the song is all about. Also, the editing effect that they put in with the boxes was really good, you could tell they spent a lot of time and effort on it and that they went to the trouble of using lots of different locations.
So, last year my class sent emails to a few British artists that we admired and asked them if they would give copyright clearance for one of their songs so we could use it for our music video this year. A few of the artist/record labels I emailed were Adele and Lily Allen, because I liked their songs and thought it would be quite fun to make a video for them. (I haven't got the actual screenshots of the emails right now because i couldn't log into the NAS thing at college, so i will try and find them and put them up next week)
This year however, I found out that Jessica has gotten clearance for an amazing song by an unsigned artist, which is perfect because that means that no one else will have the same song as us, and also seeing as Jess knows the artist, she was able to get permission from the artist herself rather than just sending an email to the record label with no chance of it ever being answered.
I loved the opening shot of the DJ Fresh song 'Louder'. It is where the camera is shot directly toward the Sun as the light and it moves across the scene to create a shadowed effect. It looks really cool and its a prospective idea to the opening shot of our video.
Another element of a video I liked was the location of the video 'Don't Go' by Wretch 32. I loved it when the girl sat down in front of the black angel wings. This is because the angel wings are a big part of our video as our visual aid. This is because we imagined our main character to wear the wings as our repeated motif and it reflects a fallen angel (this dark feel can be reflected in our song). I also liked the reflection of the man in the water, as we would like to use that too. However the character will look into the water and the reflection looking back at her will be her in the dark costume with the wings.
The idea of us having a motif is from the video 'Where is the love?' by the Black Eyed Peas. The use of the question mark symbol was effective because it was seen throughout the video and the audience began to look for it. It became an important part and sort of built its own characteristics, that it was like a person.
The idea of us using an animation from our desired picture on the wall originally also came from the Vauxhall Corsa advert in which they used plush toys as real people. And we wanted to make a real life model of this character.
This was the video that my group made in our summer lessons. (I was finally able to access it on the NAS-thingy :) so sorry that it was late Mr. Moderator)
It is highly embarrassing for me because I am the artist in the video.
I think that for a first trial this was a really good video, considering we could only film inside the college and we don't have many locations used, just mainly the canteen. The framing of the shots are not done very well, because we tried to crop the back round out although it resulted in the top of my head being cut off in many of the shots.
Our strengths of this video is that the lip sync is done very well, this is because I was very familiar with the song (so to carry this onto our actual music video we have to ensure we learn the lyrics of the song) it made the editing the song to the video very easy, because it was in time and accurate. We also made sure we used different shots of other people, eg my backing dancers and the customer in order to break up the video. The use of the master shot of me behind the counter was good because it gave the video a structure. I think our video uses amplification because we added extra layers of meaning.
On the whole I think for a first try we did pretty well :) and hopefully you enjoy watching our video.
Sadly, i haven't been able to find the preliminary task my group did in the AS year, so till i find it on my old video drive here's a nice picture of a turtle instead :)
Lykke Li is my favourite artist. I love her image, her style and above all her musical talents. She is a Swedish singer-songwriter working with pop, indie-rock and electronic. She also uses fantastic various beautiful instruments such as the violin, one of her most fascinating songs 'Until We Bleed' featuring Kleerup has an incredible violin solo, it makes my heart race! This video of all her videos is my absolute favourite; 'Get Some'.
The brilliance of the video is self explanatory. There is no illustration matching the lyrics the video in my opinion is disjuncture. I think this video also challenges the typical conventions, whilst Lykke Li is dressed down, if you pay attention to the story happening behind her, men in chains and women leading them this video no longer gives in to females being 'perfect and dressed down' to attract a male audience. The video was quiet obviously made on a rather small budget. It has been shot fabulously, with a huge variety of shots and editing techniques that were used don't let you turn your eyes away from the screen as each shot isn't in view for longer than 1second. Most are edited faster. The mise en scene obviously was not much in this video, which I think just makes the video even better, and with it being her first, what a great way to sell the artist. The camera doesn't focus on anything more but her, and her mirror reflection, creating a variety and a small break from her focus.
The Mise en Scene...
The Setting of the clip is extremely dark, with the lighting only coming from the presentation that is playing behind her. This way light only falls on her, this is how she becomes our main subject. The costume that she uses also isn't iconic but it has been specifically designed for this video whilst she looks like she is in a pair of underwear, it is made of 'metal' with chains and knives on it implying that she cannot be touched so easily as men expect her to be. The close-up on this emphasises the idea and repetition of the shot makes it clear to all audiences. The props that she uses also, is pretty much just a microphone, candles, knife, marker, book, voodoo doll, water, bowl, odd herbs, chalk, all very little and simple things that give meaning to her genre and style. Her body language in the video changes a lot because of different types of shots taken, most of the time as the camera focuses on her she's standing which I think either in level with us or looking up keeping 'eye contact' to make the viewer feel engaged.
The camera shots selected are incredible, a perfect example is the picture to the left. The mirror reflection behind her of two women being attached to one another creating a dysfunctional feel with her being positioned in the middle with a shadow reflecting that looks like dark evil wings, carrying negative connotations. It's adding an 'evil twist' to the video, that just makes it stand out. Also the fact that the video is filmed in black and white almost all the way through, adds great definition to it. Also the bit that is filmed in colour blends in well because it's not overdone as a drastic change, the scene almost looks as if it is lit by candles which makes the video flow because the candles are in the shot.
After doing our mood boards, we decided to make cute figures out of blu-tack (as you do)
This gave us the idea of grabbing this image, and making a model of it so that it can come off the wall and embrace the girl in our video. However this would be really complex because we would have to make the model and we would have to use animation in order for it to move and it could end up looking tacky. It is an idea that we would like to persue but it will take a lot of planning and time and may not work out.
The images that we have on our mood board also reflect some location ideas and mise en scene ideas that we have for our video.
Lykki Le's video to her song 'Get Some' is a big inspiration to our video. We really like the use of the black and white and the mix of different transitions and patterns. It is a style that we are considering
For our icon we decided to use a dove. It is an element that we would like to include in our actual video and have a shot of the actress in the video releasing it. The dark angel wings are very symbolic also.
This is a brainstorm of the main locations that we would like to use., as they go well with our concept
The colours are in regard to us filming our actual video, we were highly inspired with using the fish eye lens after seeing a model student video.
These are our main ideas that we've developed so far through our research, including costume, locations and the general concept/mood of the song itself.
Their rendition of Nas 'The World is Ours' is a really good music video.
I loved the use of the black and white to give it that rough rapper feel and the use of the fish eye lens is really effective. It draws attention to the actual action for the video. The choice of locations and mise en scene was accurate as they connote the whole gangster feel of the video.
The use of edits such as jump cuts are effective in keeping the audience engaged because it highlights the variation of camerashots, such as long shots and close ups. I like the last zoom in shot and tilting shot because it highlights the artist and perceives him as very powerful. The editing to the beat is done really well and is obvious to the audience which intrigues them more, in the way the shots are edited to the scratching record and moves with it. And the use of fast editing and slow motion contrasting each other is good because they fit into the timing of the music.
The video is also good in the way that its genre conventions of hip hop and rap, suit perfectly to its target audience which is young urban males. Also it doesn't use direct illustration, however it does highlight and reflect on the key lyrics very effectively.
Mulvey's theory is based on the representation of gender roles.
In the world today there is a sexual imbalance where men are seen as dominant and the women as inferior. The male gaze has a fantasy of the female figure, which should be styled accordingly to fulfil their fantasy.
The image of the artist is carefully designed to accord their style to the situation. The audience then builds a particular opinion due to the way they are represented and also how the opposite sex are represented in the video.
The video 'GoldDigga' by Kanye West and Jamie Foxx represents women in a way that shows them to just be sexual objects that will take your money. They are presented as sex symbols, and are heavily made up to look attractive to the male gaze. They are not shown to be dominant or have any sense of respect or intelligence.
However some male artists do not portray women in a sexual way but give them a sense of respect. This can be shown in Bruno Mars' video. She doesn't dance or dress in a provocative way that is shown in most male videos, like the previous example.
A female artist Nikki Minaj portrays herself as a sex symbol in order to attract males to her. It is also a part of her identity so she objectifies herself. Nikki is her sexuality. However as she is the artist; her backing dancers are male and she is the one in charge and dominant over them, instead of the other way round which is the stereotypical view.
An artist who opposes Mulvey's theory is Alicia Keys, although she is attractive she does not use her body or sexuality to entice her audience but just focuses on her talent and her voice. In her video 'Superwoman' she presents females in a dominant and positive way by highlighting all the amazing things they do and not demeaning them in any way.
Carol studies the use of editing and camerawork that is used in music videos. Music videos use edits very often and is used based on the rhythm that is connected to the song. Videos can edit to the beat.
An example of this...The video is edited in time to the beat and the lyrics.
There is still the use of Continuity Editing like in our thriller openings, however it is always broken down to draw attention to particular aspects of the music video and highlight what is on the screen...
Edits are generally very obvious so cause attention to themselves, these can be transitions such as wipes or different special effects. Jump cuts are often used in order to break up footage, it is also used in order to condense time as some videos generally last 3 to 4 minutes but can show stories that can last a number of years.
This can be shown in Skriller Equinox because there is a blatent use of special effects ...
A master shot, also known as a base track is used frequently because it gives the video a structure, and it can be edited around that footage.
In Andrew Goodwin's Theory he thinks that traditional narrative analyses are not used in pop videos. This is because they approach narratives in a different way, that the videos are structures around the song itself.
Also because there is a sense of repetition due to the function of promoting the artist.
The video repeats images and particular actions according to the repetition of choruses and lines. The video also has expectations due to the genre and the individuality of the artist.
There are 3 main differences between the songs and videos, because the visualisation can go beyond the meaning of the actual song. The main aim is for the video to be entertaining and bold to encourage repeated viewing.
Illustration: The video tells the story of the lyrics and actions can be used to express the moods.
This song by Ed Sheeran, 'The A Team' portrays the story to match the lyrics, and there is no viewing of the actual artist himself.
Amplification: This is where the video brings new meanings to the song that do not contradict the lyrics, but can also add different layers of meaning.
This song by Lady Gaga 'Pokerface' does use imagery that relates to the meaning
Disjuncture: This is where there is very little connection between the video and the lyrics or it can contradict the lyric.
'Walking on Sunshine' by Katrina and the Waves. This contradicts to the video because they are filming in gloomy weather and the locations and actions dont really match the lyrics.
Carol Vernallis observed that edits in music videos come much more frequently than in film, and that the editing has a rhythmic basis closely connected to the song itself.
The rules of 'continuity editing' (e.g. editing in TV dramas such as eastenders) are broken down in order to keep up with the speed of the song. For example, in 'the bike song' by Mark Ronson, the shots are cut down so we only see the parts that are necessary for the narrative e.g. when the bike thief tries to steal the bike.
Edits are made really obvious to draw attention to themselves, wipes and special effects are added and jump cuts are used often; Rhianna 'Rude boy'
A master shot is used to give the video a structure, and the camera moves in time with the music e.g. Chris Brown 'Beautiful People'
Laura Mulvey's theory on representation states that in a world where men have all the power, every aspect of the media is directed towards a maletarget audience; which generally consists of the objectification of women. Also, in an industry where 'sex sells' women are forced to dress according to what is attractive to men in order to be successful. This theory is particularly relevant to the music industry, where we can often expect to see women presented as possessions of the male singers/rappers. Genres of music where these representations are particularly expressed are heavy metal and hip hop/RnB videos.
In E40's music video for 'Candy paint', women are very closely compared with the cars, this gives the impression that women, however beautiful and attractive, are still possessions for males to take pleasure in.
There are a few artists however, who challenge this view/theory; Alicia Keyes, Adele, Missy Elliot etc. Most of these artists have emerged quite recently, which proves that today's media is moving further away from the objectification of women in music videos in favour of promoting an image of strong, independent women, who are their own person rather than someone's possession.
Alicia Keyes 'Superwoman' shows how women can be strong and support themselves & their families; it shows women aren't just objects for men but can work for themselves.
Music videos aren't structured like films, tv dramas etc. This is mainly because they are built around songs which don't have traditional structures (beginning-middle-end) but tend to be quite repetitive throughout. Andrew Goodwin's theory suggests three ways for a music video to base it's narrative:
Illistration-
where the video clearly tells the story of the lyrics, e.g. Ed Sheeran 'The A team'
Amplification-
the video introduces new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but add new layers of meaning e.g. cee lo green 'Fuck you'
Disjuncture-
where there is little connection between the lyrics and video or where the video contradicts the lyrics e.g. Michael Jackson 'Man in the mirror'
The best example i can think of to describe the music video form is 'You need me, I don't need you' by Ed sheeran.
I think this is a really great example of how music videos are changing: more and more often, they are going against the conventions of the classic music video. For example, rather than just having the artist singing into the camera in different locations, this video shows a young urban guy narrating the song through sign language; similar to an illustration narrative where the video tells the story of the lyrics, it is made even more exiting by using quick cuts to keep the audience on their toes and trying to catch up with the video, which of course, makes us want to watch it again and again.
Ed sheeran is notorious for not starring in his own music videos, like he is narrating someone else's story rather than his own, this also goes against the normal purpose of a music video; to promote the artist. However despite not trying to promote himself in his videos, the music sort of does that for him; he is still very well known for his clever lyrics and infectious beats, you could say he is going old school and trying to sell his music rather than himself, which is what i think makes this video so good. The fact that he only makes a small special appearance in the video encourages us to love the music, rather than be forced to like it because of the artist.
The main function for a music video is and always has been to promote the artist; a series of clips are put together and cut to the rhythm of the song to make the video; and therefore the music and the artist seem exiting, interesting, weird or fun but the main purpose is to capture the audience's attention; some music videos have even been lengthened into short films in which the artist specifically promotes themselves rather than the song, seeing as there is no music for a short period of time, only acting.
Some artists have been made famous by the outrageousness of their videos, and they use that to promote a certain image, an example of an artist who does this is Lady Gaga.
Her controversial videos have given her a reputation and she has consequently become one of the most successful female artists of today; her song 'the edge of glory' was the fastest selling single in the history of itunes, selling one million copies in five days.
Some music videos even become iconic and are sometimes what the artist is most remembered for: the music video 'Vogue' made Madonna a fashion inspiration and role model for many.
Back in June, we did a lip sync tutorial so that we could learn how to match the video clips and what the band was singing and doing to the music/song that went along with it.
We were given a series of clips shot for a music video; all the band members (guitarist, drummer and bassist) shot at different angles, and several of the lead singer from different perspectives, from the back, front and side. We were also given the recording of the music to go along with the shots.
First we had to line up the music with the shots we wanted to use, we did this by putting a marker at a certain part of the music, e.g. when the first word is sung, and do the same on the shots used, then line the markers up so that the music is in sync with the video.
Then we had to choose which part of the video would be shown at what time, our teacher told us to make markers at every beat of the song, this way the shots could be changed every four beats to keep the video interesting and constantly changing, but also keeping in rhythm with the song. There was also a master shot (base track) which we would keep going back to throughout the song, this is used in most music videos, I chose the profile shot of the lead singer as I thought it looked really effective with the style of music being played.
This was very helpful as now i know how to edit my music video so that it completely fits in with the song.
The best example of the music video I can think of in this generation is Lady Gaga, 'Bad Romance'
I feel that this music video is brilliant because it definitely showcases the artist Gaga for who she is, which is slightly eccentric and very creative. She has not used simple illustration to show the lyrics but used disjuncture as the video does not fit the song at all! The video is like a spectacle as she sort of advertises herself as her own brand.
The series of jump cuts to different perspectives and to the dancers keeps the audience entertained and the camera often goes back to Gaga. The routine is very iconic due to its simple yet bold steps and with its outrageous costume design. It is a video that will not be forgotten as not many artists do the same thing as she does or as dignified, although their genre of music may be similiar.
This was a highly popular video that everyone was talking about and even went viral as soon as it got released. It can be shown because this video has 416, 314, 742 views on youtube..and counting!
My favourite A2 music video was: http://vimeo.com/17557972
This is because of the way the group used the idea of disjuncture to create the piece. I liked the way the edits fitted in well with the slow motion and base of the song. With having extravagant costumes and props added to the scenes it all worked really well!
Ideally the function of a music video is to promote the artist and to entertain its audience. Artists may also perhaps think 'outside the box' in order to try and broaden their target audience so that it can appeal to a larger crowd.
Music videos are very popular and are generally a way to showcase and present the artists' style, presence, and land them with their specific mark on the industry. It can also be a way to distinguish a particular artist from others. For example, "OMG did you see the new Lady Gaga video? She's gone crazier than ever with her outfits"
Music videos are everywhere, most popularly viewed on youtube or that have perhaps gone viral such as by streaming on social networking sites. They are also shown on music channels like MTV, VIVA etc.
By witnessing these videos you are exposed to the artist and now have a particular view on them, they receive popularity and it encourages audiences to buy their albums and visit them in concert as some videos now are like specialist events that draw people in.
A good example of a music video is Cee Lo Green, 'Forget You'
Thinking about what kind of music video I wanted to portray my main priority was that no other groups opted for the same song selection as I did. So instead of going for the obvious choices, such as indie rock or hip hop grime I wanted a dubstep song with a good beat in the backround. This way it could allow us to be creative in our video as there is not much of a relevant story behind these songs as they rely heavily on the bass, so the convention of illustration could be avoided to not create a simple narrative.
In choosing I decided to go for an unsigned artist, Emel (this is a friend of mine who sang the vocals) the producer of the song, Krafty is also unsigned.
This is the video of the song I chose. "Falling"
This is a copy of the copyright clearance for the song, a simple blackberry message (because im technological like that)...
From the beginning of the AS Year and making our thrillers we have developed many different key skills.
These include:
Filmaking:
I remember using the Camera and Tripod for the first time was slightly daunting, seeing as I'd never seen one with so many different buttons before, and the Tripod well clumsiness doesn't work well with a tall object like that and falling down; breaking the camera before I'd even started was my main fear. After getting acquainted with the equipment, it all became very simple to use. With the Camera I learnt how to zoom in and out, frame the specific shots and record our footage remembering to keep it rolling in order to not miss anything important, as the 5 second rule before and after your shot made a real difference and made it alot easier for editing too. As none of us have nerves of steel the tripod was really useful in order for us to keep the camera still to ensure that quality of filming was good, the moveable head was good for tilting (so moving the camera up or down) and to track certain movements ( so left or right)
Final Cut Pro
This software tool was needed for us to edit our footage into a thriller opening sequence. It allowed us to crop our footage, add different sound effects and perhaps backround music, and add different transitions and visual effects to ensure that we were able to achieve our desired result. Which leads us on to...
SoundTrack Pro
This goes hand in hand with Final Cut. I because familiar with this as this software allowed me to create the soundtrack for our thriller, in my group we chose one of the defaulted sounds and repeated it throughout the sequence, however using the cropping tools I managed to edit it so that it sounded like one flowing tune throught so it didn't appear to jump in places. Also I added effects such as distortion to give it an eerie feel, I managed to add different sounds such as footsteps, screams etc.
LiveType
This is the software that we used in order to create the titles and credits for our thriller film, I found this particular software quite tricky and annoying to use. However we managed to make basic titles that worked effectively in our film, we used a basic font and colour but took advantage of the flashing effect that we made with the text.
Handbrake
This funky pineapple allowed us to be able to turn the Final Cut Pro video into the format of an mp4 so that we could upload it into our blogs. Its lame jokes also helped ease the tension of the upcoming deadline as we new this was the last stage :)
At the end of the AS Year we were introduced to the interesting and exciting topic that is MUSIC VIDEOS :) *cheers loudly and claps*
The first thing that we had learnt to do was how to edit lip syncing in time with the music. This was taught to us by none other than our Media Technician Micky...
We were given a music video of a band performing their song in different perspectives, such as from the back; the side; the front and showcasing the different players like the guitarist; bassist and drummer. However most of the footage was of the lead singer. Also we were given the audio of the track in which the band were performing.
Firstly, we chose the different videos of the footage that we wanted. These were slightly longer clips, which needed to be shortened in order to keep the audience entertained and to have the conventional jump cuts that all music videos have. These videos needed to be muted as we only use the sound from the audio.
A master shot (base track) of the lead singer was used to give the video a structure, so from there we made base markings on every fourth beat in order to cut to a different shot on every fourth beat and for the lip sync to remain accurate in all places because the markings were made from the very beginning of the video in line of the same place at the beginning of the audio.
The presentation of the video on the timeline was completely different to how the timeline looked in our thriller sequences. This is because there are more cuts and the footage is generally very short and rigid. I also learned that timing in the lip sync is clinical because if there is even a slight off beat it can look very messy and can be noticable with the audio.
Hello blogger, since most of the others have introduced themselves, thought i would do an introductory blog as well; as Jess said, its nice to put a face behind the blog :)
Name: Valeza Bakolli
Age: 17
Nationality: Kosovan
Can't live without: my phone, shopping and KFC
Hates: hollyoaks, cold weather and empty coat hangers (don't ask, i don't know why)
Fact 1. Music Videos are nothing like Thriller openings! There are three types of music videos:
Illustration video - this is the simplest concept to base a music video around, it is the literal meaning to the songs lyrics in visual form.
Amplification - this is closely related to disjuncture. Amplification doesn't necessarily illustrate the lyrics however it does have certain relation to them.
Disjuncture - visual arts that have been created to contrast with the meaning of the lyrics.
Fact 2. Music Videos are created to entertain but most of all to PROMOTE THE ARTIST! In class we looked at Madonna's 'Vogue'. A song well known to all, the video manages to keep everybody interesting with eyes on screen throughout the entire video. I would personally categorise the video in amplification. The reason for this is the video is not strictly related to the lyrics however other aspects do relate "strike a pose" - and everybody in the video strikes a pose. Having analysed the video as a group, we discovered that in fact Madonna's video doesn't consist of anything more than herself and her dancers, and even the locations were not chosen to be particularly interested, the director of the video is obviously trying to focus everybody on her that's why there isn't much else to see but a wide shot of Madonna, a close-up of Madonna, an extreme shot of Madonna... I could go on and on. This video is simple but it works because the angles used to shoot the video make her look a star. Mission: Sell the artist. Result: Success, now classified 'Queen of Pop'.
Task: Obtain Copyright Clearance for a British artist/band.
Copyright clearance is obtaining the artist's permission to use their music. By claiming this you have the right to copy and distribute the work. However if you don't have clearance it is illegal for you to distribute the work. During the summer I have looked into different genres and styles of music videos and I had decided to write to Kate Nash asking for copyright clearance. Her song 'We get on' inspired me to create a great music video. I came up with a few plans for it and wrote to Kate Nash's associates asking for permission of the song.
Here is a link to the song on Youtube, you can have a listen and see what you think:
The reason Kate Nash was such an inspiration at first is mainly because I like the style of her music and the videos that have been produced for her previous work have a lot of twisted humour, which is something that I like that goes with her relaxed style, one of her most famous releases was 'Foundations' in 2007.
