Me and Ella created this rough list of different ideas which is a brain storm. We did this to think of different places and ideas which could be used in our music video. I really like the idea of having Ella to be the narrative and for me to do the lip syncing. I think an edgy vibe would be really interesting and would appeal to the young adult audience.
Here is the lyric analysis for the song which we are currently thinking of doing by Adi Sulaman. After doing this I think that it could be quite confusing and may not look that original as it is all about love as many common music videos are.
There is a number of things which I would do to improve my banana phone video, these include:
Make sure you do shots from different parts of the music video, lip syncing, this is because I tended to play the music from the beginning each time I did a recording, therefore not getting that effective lip syncing.
I would also make sure that I did not move the camera at all when I was doing the shot with the different screens put together with Ella in it, this would therefore make it look more clean and not chopped up.
I would try to use more editing techniques to play around with the software and improve my skills on premiere.
I would also make sure that the parts go with the beat of the music and therefore do not look out of place at all.
There are certain things which I felt went really well:
I think the shots of Olly singing were really successful, this is because I decided to do it on a wheel chair, which meant I could move Ella (who was filming) to get the right angles and move with Olly whilst he was walking, this created a clean professional look.
I think the lighting looks very good and makes the music video look good.
Below I created some different places where we could do filming. The forest areas is where I am planning to most of narrative filming, this is where we will be following Teddy around. The abandoned house is where Brook will be doing his lip-syncing.
Brook Johnson has agreed to follow our idea in the music video and help us therefore create a final outcome. I do think he would be really interesting to be in our music video, but however I think that it could possibly be more difficult to use him in the video, rather than using someone in the group. I have put together some outfit ideas for if we did film with Brook which I will show below.
Below is the music video which I made for the song Banana Phone, I had to complete a number of different shots and then put them together in a sufficient order, going along to the music.
In lesson today we looked at the different types of women which are protrayed in music videos, the example of these are shown below: Burlesque Girl stereotype characteristics:
Feather Boas
Fishnet stockings
Corsets
Show hats
Gloves
An example of a burlesque dancer style in a music video is in Bad Romance in the Lady Gaga music video, as you can see from the pictures below, both of the two are wearing similar outfits.
The stripper characteristics:
Bra and G-strings
Stripper type shoes
The open crouch - crouching with legs open
Bum shot
Poles, or walls
Below you can see that Beyonce has taken the stripper role in this music video, Beyonce often wears stripper like clothing, or does them kind of dances.
The final stereotype is the gangster hoe, the characteristics of these include:
A cap
Bling
Bikini tops and short shorts
Tattoos and piercings
Sexual positions
A key example of this is Nicki Minaj, when you think about the gangster hoe Nicki Minaj usually comes to mind because of her sexual music videos.
In the different music videos there are different representations of women, however, most of the representations which are shown are women showing their sexuality and showing their bodies in a revealing way, by doing sexual dances, or wearing risque clothing, to hope to sell the songs, there are some different theories which have been made of the time for why this is done, this includes...
Exhibitionism:Female performers being at once sexually provocative and apparently in control of and inviting sexualised gaze, an example of this is Nicki Minaj in her music videos, it seems as though she is in control of how she acts and she actually wants to be seen as a sexual object. Voyeurism:Sigmund Freud concluded that erotic pleasure can be gained by looking at a sexual object, this is usually done when the object is not aware that it is being watched (usually a female in a music video) this is the opposite to exhibitionism. Raunch Culture: Andrea Levy goes against the increasing sexualised culture which objectifies women in her book Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. She states that women are encouraged to see themselves as objects and to see sex as their only source of power, whereas this should not be the way it is. Male Gaze:Laura Mulvey proposed that because filmmakers are often male, the presence of women is often for the purposes of display rather than narrative. This is to facilitate a voyeuristic response in spectators, which presumes a make gaze (regardless of the spectator's gender) one that is or may feel like a powerful controlling gaze at the female on display who is effectively objectified and passive. In male performance videos the voyeuristic treatment of the female body is often apparent, with the use of dancers as adornments to the male star ego. STEREOTYPICAL TO REPRESENTATION Blurred Lines - this video is very stereotypical to what you would expect a music video to be like now days, in the video the three men are fully dressed for the whole video and in smart/nice clothing. However, the women which appear in the video are always in very revealing outfits, in what looks to be underwear. The girls are dancing around the men and looking as though they are obsessing over them, therefore making the three men look as though they are superior to them.
COUNTER-TYPE TO REPRESENTATION
Ex’s and Ohs – this is a counter-type to usual music videos and instead of showing girls in inappropriate outfits and dancing, whereas in this music video for once it is the opposite – the girl is fully clothed and the male characters are the ones who are not wearing any clothing and are the ones who are also dancing provocatively. Which therefore is different to what you would usually expect to see in a music video. Most of the time the males look as though they are more dominating than the female characters and in this video it is opposite.
-Performance -Artist/band lip syncing -Narrative -Repeated Locations -Quick Cuts/ Multiple Cuts and transitions -Dancing/ movement -Choreography -Cconcept -Unusual locations -Lyrics match visuals -Mise En Scene styled to genre
The first picture above is from the album which Ed Sheeran bought out, and the screenshots below that are from the music video which he brought out, following the release of the album; named Drunk. Throughout the music video the use of orange is at a high, this fits in with the album cover, which is bright orange.As you can see from the two screenshots orange is shown, in the first photo there is a orange tinge to the whole clip, as well as this, you can see his orange (ginger) hair, which might be the reason for why he chose to have the album cover as orange, to fit with his stlye. He also has messy hair in front of his face in the whole video, this is to once again fit with the album cover and connect the both together. In the second picture it is the cat playing on the guitar, which is the colour orange, to once again fit in with the album cover.
ELLIE GOULDING
You can see that the album cover and the music video are linked, this is because the theme of pink is featured throughout the whole of the music video. It is seen on her hair, as well as in the clothes she wears, in the album cover the main theme which stands out is the colour pink. As well as this, the genre of love is shown, and pink is a commonly used colour to show this emotion and therefore it fits in well. Also, in the screenshot I have posted from the music video on the left you can see a sunset, this is synergy to the album cover because the fade of colour from pink to purple makes it look like a sunset. Finally connecting the album cover, magazine artical and music video together is the hairstyle, in all of these three she has got her hair in the same type of style to link them all together.
1) Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you? I worked with Chris Page, Aaron Hunt and Charlotte MacDavid. At the start we all set ourselves tasks such as shooting plan, props list, shot list and frame list. Therefore the work was split evenly between the four of us. We made sure that we spoke to one another about each of the work that we had completed so we each understood everything and furthermore this allowed us to start filming our prelim music video as soon as we had completed our tasks.
2) How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? We planned our sequence by using a shot schedule to make sure we had filmed everything in order as this made sure it was easier to film each scene without trouble that is not needed. Therefore this meant that once we had filmed a scene we knew which scene we had to film after. We made sure any hard scenes we filmed more than once in case of any mistakes. 3) What theories could you apply to the video you chose? Wonderwall Oasis shows a lot of the 'Star Image' theory as the artists of the song are the main aspect of the video as Chris is in the centre of the frame, therefore presenting the Star Image theory of Andrew Goodwin. The video heavily emphasizes on the Goodwin's Star Image theory as every Oasis artist is in the music video. The main focus throughout the video is the artists and the instruments, as well as the mise en scene is focused on as there are several different angles and locations throughout the video. 4) What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it? The technologies we used to create our prelim music video includes camera, other equipment used to create the scenes and an editing software. The camera we used to film our music video for Oasis - Wonderwall was a Nikon D3300. We had to use black sheets to create a black background to create the saw scene to simulate the background in the actual music video. We used a standing light to create the singing in the handheld mirror whilst using the black sheet to remove the background. We also used a editing software called Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. We imported the videos from the camera onto Adobe Premiere Pro to begin putting the clips in order and then Chris began editing each clip to make sure it was as similar to the original Oasis - Wonderwall clip. We had to make sure that the clip ran smoothly and in order without any issues or freezing of the scenes. 5) What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing? The factors we had to take into consideration when filming was making sure we did not miss any scenes from the music video. During creating the shooting schedule we had to make sure that we did not miss any scenes that are even less than a second clip and we also had to consider when our group were available to film and when we had available frees to work together. We chose to make sure we filmed as much as we could during lesson time and any other work such as blog work we completed in our own spare time. By doing this we made sure we had all the footage we required to create the final prelim music video. 6) How successful was your music video copy? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently? What did others say about your production? Overall my teachers thought that our prelim was really successful but could still be improved because we had girls playing the act of a man's scene therefore not an exact copy and we could not create one scene of the woman pole dancing as it was not appropriate for a student to recreate this scene. Therefore there was room for improvement as we could not film a scene and we should have used a male to recreate the males scene. 7) What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing your music video, do you think? I have learnt that I have to make sure that the shots used matches the final song that I choose to use therefore the scenes do not look out of place or that the scene should not be used. I have also learnt that using a variety of shots and framing will make the music video more interesting. I have also learnt to split the work between each person in my next group evenly the same as we done to create the final prelim. 8) How does it compare with filming an opening to a film? There are many differences between filming a film opening and filming a music video. Our prelim last year was more of a challenge compared to this year. This was because there was very little experience compared to the experience I have now. Last year we had to create a script and our own film opening, this year we were asked to copy a music video of our choice which was easier. However the production of the music video was more difficult as there were more effects used in the music video prelim. It was also harder to match the clips against the music exactly which took time to make sure the clips we had filmed matched with the lyrics.
9) What are your strengths and weaknesses as a group member? As a member of a team I have my individual strengths and weaknesses. Fortunately our group members had a large variety of strengths in creating the prelim music video. I was good at the blog work and making sure everyone stayed on top of their own tasks and made sure that there were not any tasks left uncompleted and ensured all deadlines were met. Molly was very good team supporter and made sure that each task was completed. Charlotte was very good at completing any tasks set of her and made sure they were completed on time. Chris was very good at editing the majority of the clips and made sure the majority of the scenes matched the lyrics. I completed the final parts of the editing to ensure all lyrics of the song matched with the lip syncing and the videos were in the correct order. Even though we were not all present in completing the tasks set we made sure each task was complete and to make sure each deadline was met. 10) Looking at the other group's videos which do you think were most successful and why? We viewed each other groups music videos and we all could see who's video were successful and who's were weak and why. The groups that were successful were because each group member had put in lots of commitment in the video and made sure all issues were overcome and the filming matched the sequence and lyrics. I was able to see the effort of each group member in some music videos to make sure all deadlines were met and made sure the video was as accurate as possible. A very good group was the One Direction: History as the four members as well as the blow up doll for the entertainment worked very well together. However some of the groups had weaknesses such as using the original clips rather than their own clips which made the music video weaker as they were not as time efficient and not as organised as well as they possible could have been.
In class today we first got given the mark scheme on how to mark music videos, we then annotated and highlighted on the mark scheme so that we would be clear on what it meant. After going through the mark scheme we then looked at some past videos from other schools. The first video which we looked at is the one below, which claims to have full marks, but however we marked it and thought otherwise.
I gave my thought of the grade which this music video would have got, by looking at the mark scheme, I believe the grade which it would have got is a level 4 and would have been around 34/40.
The whole video had dark colours, which made the mood seem dark, dull and depressing. This definitely fits the mood of the song which is quite an emotional, sad piece. But however, although this is good because it fits together, in some points in the song it actually gets happier and starts to build back up, but even at this point the colours are still dark and cold making it still seem sad. At this point they could have had a chance to make the colours warmer and not so dark but they missed the opportunity and therefore it didn't go as well.
The performance of the boy who was singing was really good the whole way through, as he put in his fullest amount of effort and tried to make sure it was a performance. But however in some parts it seemed as though the miming didn't match up because in some points he almost tried to hard to make it into a performance so that when there was slow parts in the song he was still singing as though it was a dramatic part, therefore not making it look like it matched up correctly.
Some of the chasing sequences don't match up with the genre, this is because it is meant to be quite a indie song but instead it has been made to seem more urban, by the urban settings and the fast pace movements.
The narrative was a clever idea, but I think it was confusing because too much happened and there was too many different people involved which therefore made it difficult to follow.
The shots were good, this is because there is a large amount of different kind of shots by the way they have positioned the camera, as well as this there has been different positions in the frame, this therefore makes the music video look very professional and similar to those which are already out.
The second video which we looked at is the one above. I do not think that this video is anywhere near as good as the first video, but still does have some good points about it. I think I would score this video a grade 3 but probably a high level, around 26 or 27.
The video looks more like a film opening instead of a music video in some of the parts, this needs to be worked on to make it more clear.
The tap scene in the beginning of the video is interesting and makes the viewer interested as to what is going to come up, as it is fast paced and goes with the music, but however after this clip has been shown the video quickly changes and becomes more slow, which doesn't really fit with the pace of the music.
When the male is singing and he is standing still, he is placed in front of a black background, this looks really effective as they have made sure that he is well lit up. I like the way that this looks and think it adds emotion to his singing.
The narrative is good, but can be a bit slow, it is a good idea to do a story but it can result in the video looking film opening like, just as this one may have.
I also had a look at this video above. I thought it was a really interesting concept and different to others which I have looked at. This is because they have really tried to play around with different materials and effects. I think this video would probably be a level 3, in the middle of level 3, probably about 24-25/40. This is mainly because it can get quite boring when the location stays the same throughout the video.
Some of the times the boy performer doesn't have a straight face when the glitter or feathers is being thrown over them, this makes it look as though it is a joke, whereas the song makes it seem like it is a serious matter, they should fit together more.
I really love the effects, especially when the glitter is thrown over the couple and it rewinds.
Although the shots are interesting and they have done different things, a lot of them are quite dull and the fact that every shot has been filmed in the same location makes it seem more boring, and they could have added some different places.
I think some of the shots look quite armature for example when they just zoom in on certain parts, like the girls shoulder, I do not think there was much need for that and looks like it is just gap filling.
The speed of the transitions from the different shots look very effective as it is all changing very quickly, this fits in really well with the speed of the song and the feeling made from listening to it.
I really love how the singer is a different person to the people who are performing.
I think that the performers play a really good part and I think the narrative is a good amount so that it seems like a music video instead of a film opening, which is good.
The camera work is really good in this video and the quality is really amazing.
