Today in class we continued the 100 greatest music videos;
89. Smashing Pumpkins - "Tonight Tonight" - 1996
88. Elton John - "I want Love" - 2001
This video is different as Elton John himself does not star in his own video, this is because after 30 years of producing music he decided he no longer wanted to star in them, so instead Robert Downey Junior started in this video. This was a good choice, because at the time he was struggling from a drug addiction and was in rehab, so in the video real emotion was shown, even though it took 16 takes. Also other celebrities such as Justin Timberlake starred in the video. Finally the music video is different because it was shot as a continual take and there was no editing involved.
87. Talking Heads - "Once in a Lifetime" - 1981
86. The Streets - "Fit but Don't you Know it" - 2004
85. Sid Vicious - "My Way" - 1979
84. The Boomtown Rats - "I don't like Mondays" - 1979
83. Shakespeares sister - "Stay" - 1992
82. 50 Cent - "In Da Club" - 2003
81. Ultravox - "Vienna" - 1981
80. Radiohead - "Just" - 1995
79. New Order - "Faith" - 1987
This music video is a very abstract as the people who created it had no interest in creating music videos, they believed the music should be about the song and not the video. This meant that they hired people who had no clue on creating a music video and wasted a lot of money. Because they used people who had no idea it meant the video had nothing to do with the song and the music video had no meaning.
78. Godley and Creme - "Cry" - 1985
77. MC Hammer - "Can't Touch This" - 1990
76. The Beatles - "Strawberry Fields" - 1967
75. Duran Duran - "Reo" - 1982
Friday, 23 September 2011
Friday, 16 September 2011
Channel 4's 100 best Music Video's 100 - 90
To help our understanding of music videos we were shown the beginning of channel 4's 100 best music Music Video's. We are going to work our way down to 1 of the 100, this is because we will be analysing them, and gaining ideas for what we could possible use for our music bideos. I will be updating them on my blog as we watch them each week
100. Musical Youth - Pass the Dutchie - 1982
This song is important as it was the first black band to become a hit in America and the UK, it was also the first black group video shown in the UK.
100. Musical Youth - Pass the Dutchie - 1982
This song is important as it was the first black band to become a hit in America and the UK, it was also the first black group video shown in the UK.
99. Supergrass - Pumping On Your Stereo - 1999
98. Bronski Beat - Small Town Boy - 1984
This video tells a story of personal experiences and shows the isolation of being gay and pretending to be someone else. This music video is important as it was around the time which Elton John was getting married even though he is gay. It also meant the band could show that they were gay even though people knew they were openly gay.
This video tells a story of personal experiences and shows the isolation of being gay and pretending to be someone else. This music video is important as it was around the time which Elton John was getting married even though he is gay. It also meant the band could show that they were gay even though people knew they were openly gay.
97. Cornershop - Brimful of Asha - 1998
96. So Solid Crew - 21 Seconds - 2001
95. The Cardigans - My Favourite Game - 1998
94. Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart - 1983
93. The Rolling Stones - We Love You
92. Herbie Hancock - Rockit - 1983
91. The Specials - Ghost Town - 1981
90. The Pet Shop Boys - Go West - 1993
The video is very important as it is about being gay but its portrayed as cheesy and commercial. It was created by a computer graphic environment, also it reflected how Russia was feeling after the cold war. It was a hit as a gay anthem and was a way of celebrating freedom
93. The Rolling Stones - We Love You
92. Herbie Hancock - Rockit - 1983
91. The Specials - Ghost Town - 1981
90. The Pet Shop Boys - Go West - 1993
The video is very important as it is about being gay but its portrayed as cheesy and commercial. It was created by a computer graphic environment, also it reflected how Russia was feeling after the cold war. It was a hit as a gay anthem and was a way of celebrating freedom
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Preliminary Exercise
In lesson today we done a preliminary exercise, although our group has already filmed with the camera's this time we were doing lip syncing, which we have not yet practised.
We got off to a slow start as the 2 members who were singing were very nervous and didnt like to be infront of the camera. We were told to actually sing and not mime as the overall effect would be greater. The fact the 2 people had to sing infront of people was embarrassing for them.
However as i was one of the members i knew i would have to overcome this embarrassment as I am starring in our actual music video.
In the lesson we didnt have time to cut the actual sound out and place the real song over the top, so we will be doing that tomorrow. Once we have the footage complete it will be uploaded.
Before starting our music video the first thing we had to do was make sure we were able to hear the song when we was filming, the song we were given to practise with was 'Don't go breaking my heart' Elton John and Kiki Dee. We were supposed to go onto the Imac computers and then bluetooth the song onto a portable music player such as an ipod or a mobile phone. However our group managed to skip this process when we began to film in a classroom, this meant that we could just play the song out loud off of a computer on Youtube. This meant it was easier for us as we had the lyrics on screen and could turn the music up louder so we were not embarrassed about the fact that you could hear us singing. Also because the lyrics were on screen it meant we were less likely to get the words wrong so it made it more believable that it was us singing.
Once we had loaded the music video onto Youtube we set up the camera and could begin filming. We originally planned to use Yemi and Leon in our preliminary exercise. Although they were going to star in this they re not actually working with us with our actual Music Video. It soon became clear to us though that having the 2 boys in the music video was not working. This is because they didn't know the lyrics and couldn't read as fast as they were changing on screen. This lead to us changing the people in the exercise. Because we wasted a lot of time on trying to film with Yemi and LEon it meant that myself and Connor (the 2 new singers) had less time to film. To make our lip syncing seem more believable we had to sing out loud, this proved to be embarrassing and in the footage it is probably noticeable. We will have to work harder and try to get over our nerves during the actual music video, so that it doesn't show to the audience we are nervous.
The editing process for the music video was a lot different to that which we done last year. This is because last year we took very small clips from different paces, whilst doing this we were told to take minute long clips and only cut them up 3 times, that would make it easier to match up the lip syncing. We used the pen tool to shorten the length of the clips without cutting it, this made editing much easier.
We got off to a slow start as the 2 members who were singing were very nervous and didnt like to be infront of the camera. We were told to actually sing and not mime as the overall effect would be greater. The fact the 2 people had to sing infront of people was embarrassing for them.
However as i was one of the members i knew i would have to overcome this embarrassment as I am starring in our actual music video.
In the lesson we didnt have time to cut the actual sound out and place the real song over the top, so we will be doing that tomorrow. Once we have the footage complete it will be uploaded.
Before starting our music video the first thing we had to do was make sure we were able to hear the song when we was filming, the song we were given to practise with was 'Don't go breaking my heart' Elton John and Kiki Dee. We were supposed to go onto the Imac computers and then bluetooth the song onto a portable music player such as an ipod or a mobile phone. However our group managed to skip this process when we began to film in a classroom, this meant that we could just play the song out loud off of a computer on Youtube. This meant it was easier for us as we had the lyrics on screen and could turn the music up louder so we were not embarrassed about the fact that you could hear us singing. Also because the lyrics were on screen it meant we were less likely to get the words wrong so it made it more believable that it was us singing.
Once we had loaded the music video onto Youtube we set up the camera and could begin filming. We originally planned to use Yemi and Leon in our preliminary exercise. Although they were going to star in this they re not actually working with us with our actual Music Video. It soon became clear to us though that having the 2 boys in the music video was not working. This is because they didn't know the lyrics and couldn't read as fast as they were changing on screen. This lead to us changing the people in the exercise. Because we wasted a lot of time on trying to film with Yemi and LEon it meant that myself and Connor (the 2 new singers) had less time to film. To make our lip syncing seem more believable we had to sing out loud, this proved to be embarrassing and in the footage it is probably noticeable. We will have to work harder and try to get over our nerves during the actual music video, so that it doesn't show to the audience we are nervous.
The editing process for the music video was a lot different to that which we done last year. This is because last year we took very small clips from different paces, whilst doing this we were told to take minute long clips and only cut them up 3 times, that would make it easier to match up the lip syncing. We used the pen tool to shorten the length of the clips without cutting it, this made editing much easier.
The pen tool enabled us to cut clips without cutting the actual take, we could therefore chose the length of the clip and if we made a mistake it could easily be reversed.
Another advantage of editing this was being able to use split screen, we decided to use split screen for our video to remove part of the video we didn't want and then replaced it with another image.
Friday, 9 September 2011
Case Study on Jamie Thraves
In class today we done some work on directors and in particular Jamie Thraves. About him;
- He is a director
- Made hort films at University
- Used award winning short film as a 'calling card; to get a 'foot in the door' with the video production company factory films
- Began by shooting 3 very low budget music videos around £5000 budget
- A 'commisioner' from a record label sends a track to 5-10 directors
- Each director submits a treatment (unpaid)
- Director with the 'best' treatment is commissioned to make the video
- Only then is the director paid
Coldplay - The Scientist
The third video we saw in class today was my favourite of the 3, this is because the whole song was filmed in reverse, it was also produced by Jamie Thraves and shows the lyrics as a picture the lyrics say 'back to the start' and the image on the screen is in rewind so everything is going backwards so he is rewinding time.
This film also took 3 days to shoot and hd a £200,000 budget
This film also took 3 days to shoot and hd a £200,000 budget
Radiohead - Just
Another song which we were shown in class was this one;
Jamie Thraves was the director and producer of this video, it took him 3 days to film and had a budget of £100,000. It is different to other music videos as it displays confusion, by the end of the music video it has the audience asking questions about it. Jamie Thraves and people who helped produce this video refuse to share what the man said at the end of the video. This can be seen as both genius and disappointing, it can be seen as genius because it gets people asking questions and talking about the video and advertising it. However it can be seen as disappointing as the person may not have said anything at all they are just pretening they got him to say something and are in fact making a big deal from people's imaginations.
Jamie Thraves was the director and producer of this video, it took him 3 days to film and had a budget of £100,000. It is different to other music videos as it displays confusion, by the end of the music video it has the audience asking questions about it. Jamie Thraves and people who helped produce this video refuse to share what the man said at the end of the video. This can be seen as both genius and disappointing, it can be seen as genius because it gets people asking questions and talking about the video and advertising it. However it can be seen as disappointing as the person may not have said anything at all they are just pretening they got him to say something and are in fact making a big deal from people's imaginations.
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Today we looked at different music videos in class, this is one of the ones we were shown, it shows a great deal of emotion and has had a big affect on many people. The video also has clips from his life, which expresses emotion, as he filmed the video as he was dying to apologies to people and show his regret for things he had done in his life experiences. In a way it was his way of saying sorry.
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Research: Editing and Filming Technique: Rihanna - Cheers (Drink to That)
Towards the end of our music video we will be including a 35second montage, this is going to include past memories of the man and the woman. We want to edit this quite differently to the rest of our video to show that they are memories and that it is someone reminising. In order to find a good way of editing this we looked at Rihanna's song 'Cheers'
The music video looks as though it involves different footage from different dates and locations, home footage, and tour videos. The camera seems to often be handheld or held steady with the use of steadycam. In order for our music video to look effective like this we will be using various different shots handheld and on the tripod. However the shots on the tripod will have to all differ, from example panning and editing faster when on the tripod and different angles it is placed at to cause more effect.
The music video looks as though it involves different footage from different dates and locations, home footage, and tour videos. The camera seems to often be handheld or held steady with the use of steadycam. In order for our music video to look effective like this we will be using various different shots handheld and on the tripod. However the shots on the tripod will have to all differ, from example panning and editing faster when on the tripod and different angles it is placed at to cause more effect.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Research: Props used in Music videos
Different types of music videos often use different props, you can often determine a genre of music due to the prop used.
Instruments; these often include piano's and guitars, they are usually the most common
(Shut up and drive video)
Instruments; these often include piano's and guitars, they are usually the most common
DJ Decks; these are often used in clubland and dance music, David Guetta often uses them i his videos as he is a DJ.
Expensive Cars; These are often used in Rap and urban music
(Shut up and drive video)Monday, 5 September 2011
Planning; Costume, Hair and Make Up
In order for our music video to be effective we must plan some elements of the mis-en-scene, this ables us to be in control of how the person is displayed, we will also explain the meaning behind each costume choice.
Costume;
We will not only be focussing on the female character but also the male character, we feel that he should be in casual clothes. This is because we do not want him to seem out of place with the video. A simple t-shirt will make sense for the man to wear. However we feel that him wearing a t-shirt with a skull or skeletal design on will have a large affect, we hope to dress our male character in clothes such as this;
Costume;
We will not only be focussing on the female character but also the male character, we feel that he should be in casual clothes. This is because we do not want him to seem out of place with the video. A simple t-shirt will make sense for the man to wear. However we feel that him wearing a t-shirt with a skull or skeletal design on will have a large affect, we hope to dress our male character in clothes such as this;
Our female character will be wearing different dresses, this will make the costumes constantly changing and the dresses will enhance her feminine role within the video. We will be opting for a floral type of dress, this will enhance the femininity of the female character. We are hoping to place the girl in a blue or purple dress. We believe that this will make her stand out from the background as she will be darker within the frame. The flowers on the pattern of the dress will give sarah an aspect of delicacy, which she wants to portray to the audience.
Another dress which we want sarah to wear is a white lace type dress, this will give sarah a sense of innocence and purity. We feel this would mirror the interpretation of our song.
Hair;
During the time of filming it will probably be windy, this is why we are hoping for the main character to have her hair down, either way or straight. This would mean that her hair would be blowing in the wind preferably swept away from her face, and represent emotional scenes such as the one from Pocahontas, below is a gif that a group member found which we will try to replicate it;
Make Up
We want the make up of our female character to be natural, this is because we don;t want it extravagant and to take attention away from the music videos meaning. The image below shows Selena Gomez wearing natural make up, her eyes and lips seem to be the most emphasised feature on her face, her eyes full of emotion and her lips stand out well. We are hoping to mirror this as we want our main characters eyes to be full of emotion and her lips to be portrayed well when she is lip syncing.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Planning : Chosen Locations for the Montage
We have came up with different Locations for the montage at the end of our music video, the locations in our montage will be different to the ones that we use in the rest of the video. This is to show clear difference between the montage and the other sections of the film. We will not be making a storyboard for this section of the music video but will be adding some extra information and description under each location. Here are the locations which we will be using;
Central Park
Central Park
- Swinging on the swings
- Sitting under a large, solitary tree
- Having a picnic
- Running through long grass
- Feeding the ducks
- Sitting by the lake
- Kiss?
- Opening birthday presents
- Making cakes
- Waving into camera
- Feeding/playing with dog
- Train together
- Train alone
- Run amongst pidgeons
- Site seeing
- Arcades
- Pier
- Beach houses
- Sitting on wall - boy hugs girl
Planning: Chosen Locations
Within our music video we believe thre sould be a variety of different locations, these can include, a tranquil area, a cemetary and places which can be classed as memorable.
For our tranquil area we are hoping to go to Walton-on-the-Naze, we thought this would be a good place as it is a beautiful beach and has different landscapes, also it is only a few hours away and we have all visited it and some point before.
The cemetary we have chose to film at is one which is local to us and only a short bus journey away. It is based on quite a main road so when we film the part where the girl is walking with the flowers there is space for us to film without us getting in people's way.
The memorable places which we have chosen to use include, London, a local Park and a house.
We are going to travel to London at a reasonable time but hope it is dark, this means things such as the London eye will be lit up and look romantic which is the impression we are looking for as it is supposed to be a date between the male and female
The park and the house were chosen as they were quite smple places and they will be easy to access, also they are places which you expect people to visit and expect these locations to be in a persons memories.
For our tranquil area we are hoping to go to Walton-on-the-Naze, we thought this would be a good place as it is a beautiful beach and has different landscapes, also it is only a few hours away and we have all visited it and some point before.
The cemetary we have chose to film at is one which is local to us and only a short bus journey away. It is based on quite a main road so when we film the part where the girl is walking with the flowers there is space for us to film without us getting in people's way.
The memorable places which we have chosen to use include, London, a local Park and a house.
We are going to travel to London at a reasonable time but hope it is dark, this means things such as the London eye will be lit up and look romantic which is the impression we are looking for as it is supposed to be a date between the male and female
The park and the house were chosen as they were quite smple places and they will be easy to access, also they are places which you expect people to visit and expect these locations to be in a persons memories.
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Planning: Cast
Now that we have came up with an idea for our music video we have to settle on a cast.
We have previously tried to think of some friends which we can use, however faced some issues when we could not find a male character, each time we went to film one of the 2 cast members were busy.
We decided as a group of 3 that 2 of the members will be in the music video, we were hoping to have 2 members of the group behind the camera at all times, however as most of the music video is just of the female it means that the male can help the 3rd member of our group behind the camera.
Also because all 3 of us are in the same group we know all the ideas and the way we want to show the music video, this way we are all thinking the same and will not have much trouble to direct the cast.
Cast;
Female; Sarah Warnock (Me)
We have previously tried to think of some friends which we can use, however faced some issues when we could not find a male character, each time we went to film one of the 2 cast members were busy.
We decided as a group of 3 that 2 of the members will be in the music video, we were hoping to have 2 members of the group behind the camera at all times, however as most of the music video is just of the female it means that the male can help the 3rd member of our group behind the camera.
Also because all 3 of us are in the same group we know all the ideas and the way we want to show the music video, this way we are all thinking the same and will not have much trouble to direct the cast.
Cast;
Female; Sarah Warnock (Me)
Male; Connor Murray
Planning: Provisional Idea
We have recently came up for the idea of our music video. We agreed that the video will tell a story with the song, this is different to the 'Skinny Love' video which inspired us, but is similar to 'Your Song' and many other successful music videos.
Our music video will involve two people, a male and a female
The video will start by seeing the female alone in a tranquil environment, she will appear to be slightly upset. As she sees the male of the video approaching her mood will lighten and we will notice that he is her love interest, this will explain the reason of why she began upset and her mood changes when she notices and meets the boy.
The next time we see the female she will be seen walking alone with a bouquet of flowers with a distant or blank look on her face. She walks into cemetary and will lay the flowers on a grave, when the boy places his hand and then slowly fades away. This is when the audience will realise that the male has passed away and its his grave she is laying flowers on. As the boy fades away a tear will roll down the girls face. When this happens we are shown a montage of all the memories the girl had spend and shared with the boy, which will express the dependance the girl had on the boy. The memories will be shown as the mood of the music becomes one more positive and happy.
The final shot will be of the female more than likely still crying but looking happy to show that she is still upset but she is happy and greatful for the memories and the tim she had spent with he male.
We believe the video will show the song in great emotion and will result in a high quality music video.
Our music video will involve two people, a male and a female
The video will start by seeing the female alone in a tranquil environment, she will appear to be slightly upset. As she sees the male of the video approaching her mood will lighten and we will notice that he is her love interest, this will explain the reason of why she began upset and her mood changes when she notices and meets the boy.
The next time we see the female she will be seen walking alone with a bouquet of flowers with a distant or blank look on her face. She walks into cemetary and will lay the flowers on a grave, when the boy places his hand and then slowly fades away. This is when the audience will realise that the male has passed away and its his grave she is laying flowers on. As the boy fades away a tear will roll down the girls face. When this happens we are shown a montage of all the memories the girl had spend and shared with the boy, which will express the dependance the girl had on the boy. The memories will be shown as the mood of the music becomes one more positive and happy.
The final shot will be of the female more than likely still crying but looking happy to show that she is still upset but she is happy and greatful for the memories and the tim she had spent with he male.
We believe the video will show the song in great emotion and will result in a high quality music video.
Friday, 2 September 2011
Research: Location; Demi Lovato - Skyscraper
We decided to look at this music video as it is set in a scenic location and shows the effect it has, we have got some good ideas from this video as it shows us how to use a scenic location affectively.
This video uses a variety of different shots including extreme long shots and close-ups this shows how deserted the location she is in and the different emotions on her face.
This video uses a variety of different shots including extreme long shots and close-ups this shows how deserted the location she is in and the different emotions on her face.
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Possible Controversies in our music video
As a group we have recently discussed if our music video could or does involve any controversies. We have decided not to involve any controversies as we believe it would be too much work for us to constantly be trying to xplain every point which we include. We would rather concentrate on on the quality of our video without making it too confusing and analysing everything. However some controversies which we have though about however include;
MolestationThe lyrics of our song give a sense of someone experienceing something negative, this can include a unwanted sexual experience or another traumatic event. However this is a sensitive subject and will be hard to portray well, we decided not to do this, as not to offend people.
Natural DisastersA natural disaster is also a negative experience and could be shown well with the lyrics 'when your worl trembles and quakes' if they are taken literally. However this would be expensive for us to film, and getting actual footage of a natural disaster would be most likely impossible as they often happen in tropical countries, and are usually unexpected.
Same-Sex Relaionships
Having a same-sex relationship in our video may cause problems because although they are now looked upon as 'normal' a great deal of society can still be prejudice, this could cause a problem as the music video wouldn't be as popular as some people may not like the idea of the same-sex relationship. Also by including this it could distract people, including ourselves, from the actual point of our project, making the overall outcome of our music video to a lower quality to which we would like.
MolestationThe lyrics of our song give a sense of someone experienceing something negative, this can include a unwanted sexual experience or another traumatic event. However this is a sensitive subject and will be hard to portray well, we decided not to do this, as not to offend people.
Natural DisastersA natural disaster is also a negative experience and could be shown well with the lyrics 'when your worl trembles and quakes' if they are taken literally. However this would be expensive for us to film, and getting actual footage of a natural disaster would be most likely impossible as they often happen in tropical countries, and are usually unexpected.
Same-Sex Relaionships
Having a same-sex relationship in our video may cause problems because although they are now looked upon as 'normal' a great deal of society can still be prejudice, this could cause a problem as the music video wouldn't be as popular as some people may not like the idea of the same-sex relationship. Also by including this it could distract people, including ourselves, from the actual point of our project, making the overall outcome of our music video to a lower quality to which we would like.
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