Group update

In the group that I am in, we have been making good progress. We have nearly finished our narrative story-lines, and also figured out locations and fashion choices that we will be using with our actor.

We have completed a story board to show what we want to use in our video, and also we are going through each line separately timing it and seeing how long we have to perform in each line and what we are able to fit in.

I will be uploading a picture in the next few days of our progress with planning our narrative. We have completed 2 verses and all of the chorus segments, we just have the last verse to decide on.

Music and me class discussion

During the class discussion, we didn't really have any trends between us, with all of us having such different diversities towards music. I had very different choices between the 3 categories. The only trend was that most of our childhood songs where more than 10 years old. Everyones childhood songs where either embarrassing or not so popular with the rest of the group.

We all gave our own opinions on each others song choices and everyone gave each other a short explanation to why you have chosen that song and the link towards your life. We explained if it came from parents, relatives or friends...

08/10/13 Update Entry

In this lesson, I have just been improving my blog and making sure that it looks better than it did. My teacher told me that it wasn't up to scratch so I have been making it more interactive and user friendly to make it more interesting. Also I have been taking an interest in my group blog to, trying to improve and keep that up to date. Keeping both up to date is important so I do not fall behind and have to scrape work in at the last minute.

I also done a new post on Parody. I posted a video as an example to show what a parody is to make the post interactive.  I will do more in tomorrow's lesson and will post another update.

Parody

Parody is mocking a certain product while also making something funny. A good example of Parody is Eminem's song 'We made you' where he mocks many different celebrities, but makes it enjoyable for the audience to watch. Austin powers is a film that is known as a parody, with it constantly mocking people through out, as does epic movie and scary movie. Them films are made for the purpose of being known as a parody.




This video has over 69 millions views on youtube to date, showing that it still remains very popular, even though it is not a serious video. He dresses up as many different characters throughout the video, and exaggerates the behaviour of them, showing parts of their lifestyles and what they are most known for, just not in the best way.

Questionnaire

This is our questionnaire that we have got together to find out what everyone else thinks about of video

Group Blog

This is a link to our group blog. You can click on the hyperlink and go and find all that we have been up to over the past couple of weeks, and see the progress that we are making, all leading up to the making of our final product, our music video.

Andrew Goodwin - Music Video theory

Andrew Goodwin quote - "Music Videos ignore common narratives as they are essentially advertisement. As consumers, we make up our own meaning of the song in our minds, a music video can anchor meaning and give the record company/artist a method of anchoring meaning."

He has 6 different conventions behind his theory, they are.....

1.A relationship between the lyrics and the visual, which illustrates, amplify or contradict the lyrics. (Someone like you by Adele)
2. Thought beats: seeing the sounds (the relationship between the music and the visual, which illustrates the music. (Bounce by Calvin Harris)
3. Genre related style and iconography is present. (JLS chest showing in most video's, Amy Winehouse iconic hair, kisses make up.
4. Multiple close ups of the main artists or vocalist, the creation of the star image to promote a recognisable brand image. (My provocative by Britney)
5. Voyeurism often play a major part, especially in relation to females. (Britney and Rihanna expose themselves in most videos to attract the attention of the males audience to watch their videos)
6. Inter textual references to other media text may be present, especially in humorous references. (Bad by Michael Jackson).

Andrew Goodwin, the man behind the theory. 

In this video, Andrew Goodwin's theories are shown. The video is of a Nickelback song, rockstar. Obviously by the name of the song, you would think that all the people included in filming would be dressed as Rcokstars, but their are girls in bikini's, noraml people off the street etc.

Semiotics

Consummation Stage- The person responds to the sign or action
Perception Stage- This means to become aware of object and or sign
Manipulation Stage- This means that the person interprets the sign and has decided how to respond to it in whatever way they choose


Connotation is when something is the meaning behind something else, rather than it being the actual definition  of something. 

Denotation is the literal meaning of something, just placed in a different context. 
An example of this is some sort of food being called a nutrient. 

Semeiotic Theory can be shown through album covers and music videos. An example of this is Little Mix's album cover 'Change your life' as it has all the trendy clothes and bright colours that would attract their target audience of young/teenage girls. It is obvious that they have made every effort to attract their target audience, and more likely than not it will work extremely well.

Music Video Research

Within my group, we looked at different videos that other people in our position had made and wondered if we would want to do anything of the sort. Our main ideas where either a rap or pop video, as our group has a very diverse liking of certain music. All of us said that we would perform in the video if needed, this being a positive thing as we will need as much commitment and dedication to this task as we can get to produce a good product.

Songs researched
Eminen - Lose Yourself


Tupac- Ghetto Gospel


Olly Murs -Dance With Me Tonight


Olly Murs - Oh My Goodness


Little Mix- Wings


Far East Movement - Like A G6


All of these songs are popular and show different styles within the videos and styles of music 2, from a singer that has come from the X factor, to American rappers that have caused controversy more than once in their musical career.

Video 4

This song is an example of a ballad/love song, that is a very popular song by Jason Mraz. I like the song as it is simple through video and also the lyrics.

The video consists of Jason Mraz in different environments, showing off the nature around him.
This video is easy on the eye, and very enjoyable along with the song.

Video 3

This is personally one of my favourite songs. It reached number 1 in 5 different countries.

In the video, Adam Levine plays a young boyfriend that is attracted to his girlfriends mother, who is desperate for some attention as her husband is not bothered about her.

I think this video is really good as it tells you a full story in such a short amount of time and you are not just interested in the music, you are interested in the video too.

This song was released in 2004 as part of the 'Songs about Jane' album. This being the bands first album.

Matt Wallace was the producer behind this video, while Adam Levine (lead singer) and James Valentine (Band Member) wrote the song.

Album Covers

Album covers did not used to be used when Vinyl records where around, they where just in plank plastic sleeves.

An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially realised audio recording product or album. It can be used on CD's, or 10" or 12"records.

The features on Album Covers can change dramatically as every band is different, but even then, the band won't necessarily do the same style of cover every time.

When an album cover is being produced, then it has to be sent to the record label before it is released to see if it is appropriate for release and to see if it will relate to the target audience that is most popular for the band.

My favourite album cover!

Recovery, was released in 2010 by the American rapper Eminem. This was his 7th studio album, yet probably his least controversial to date.

The message behind Recovery was showing he has turned over a new leaf. As he has stated, when writing album the album encore, he was "on drugs' and while writing relapse, he was "flushing them out". This album is made up of songs that express his feelings of when he was in that state of mind and how he is showing improvement in lifestyle now.

In one of his songs "Space Bound", it is believed that it is to show how you can be seen in many different ways, as Eminem has been over his years in the music industry.

The album fits into Eminem's theme, because it is the story of his life, showing how he is as a person in the past and now, and how he has had a troubles life.

It appeals to his target audience as he will always have adoring fans that have read and listened about his life for years and years and have been there following his career from the start.

This is our lip syncing task, where both Me, Liam and John performed the song learn to fly by the Foo Fighters. I personally found this task difficult I didn't know how to use the software and I had never done anything like this before.

Video 2

This video is shot on the top of skyscraper, i.e this is in relevance to the name of the song, 'Rooftops'.

This song is by a band called Lost Prophets, who are from Wales but are well known by across Britain and also America.

It was directed by Ryan Smith and involved all of the band throughout the video.

There where lots of different angles and lights used in this video and it makes it very enjoyable to watch as not one shot is the same as previous.

Video 1

JRA is a solo Youtube artist that posts video's and his written songs online. He has a very popular youtube channel and has over 11 million views on his video to date. He also covers certain songs by artists such as Drake and Kanye West.

In the video he is portraying how a relationship is not working because of a lack of affection between the couple. He uses one camera shot throughout the whole video, to show him purely singing and putting passion through the song.

This song was written and the video was made in 2010, with JRA directing it himself.

JRA performs with other youtube artists but has never performed with any signed artists on his videos.

I like this video as it is a peaceful song that tells a story at the same time. It is a nice calming track to listen too.

Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham is a film and video director that has worked on many famous pieces.

He has worked with companies such as Playstation and Gucci, as well as artists such as Madonna and most recently Kanye West.

He works on short films, as well as commercials and music videos.

For a time, Cunningham worked for Warp Films, and had a partnership in place with them so he had funding to produce films. He then left his post at Warp Films to create his own company called CC Co. This was so he could produce his films and work independently. 

In his video's he likes to include canted angles and like to show he is technically gifted behind the camera. This is shows in the video for 'Frozen' by Madonna. He also shows this in his Bjork video. 

 

Director Chris Cunningham

Inspirational Song

This song always inspires me, as the lyrics determination, even when he is down and out, he picks himself up time and time again.

Favourite Song

This song has been my favourite song ever since the first time I heard it. The song, the lyrics, the music,  is just perfect. It is my pick me up song and it always will be.

Adam Levine is a great individual and role model, and I feel he just a great lead singer for such an awesome band.

Childhood Song

This is a song that is related to my Childhood as I was brought up with Queen music all around me. My dad has seen Queen perform all over the world, including in Wembley stadium. There was never a day in my childhood where I wouldn't hear the tone of Freddie Mercury's voice. Whenever I here queen, it always reminds me of my childhood.

What makes an effective music video? Bruno Mars 'The Lazy Song'

This is clearly a humorous and fun song, which is also shown in the video which is not just these two, but also a very energetic performance from Bruno Mars himself.

It shows what a good job they have done as clearly there wasn't a lot of budget needed to make this video as it was all shot in the same place, with Bruno and 5 other dancers/actors. They a comically dressed in regular clothes, but also monkey masks. This inferring to the fact that Monkey's could be said to be lazy animals. But this will catch the attention of audiences whatever age, as it is still a comical gesture.

Again, which most video's have now a days, it has regular dance sequences, as it is very popular among the public. I mean what would you rather see, a energetic dance sequence that has been choreographed perfectly, or someone stand there for 3 minutes singing into a camera?

The dancing also goes in time with the song that is really important so that the song matches the dancing. As you can see right from the start, this is the case. The music is simple, the dance is simple, the lyrics are simple, yet so so effective.

All of the above combined will entice the audience to continue watching right from the start, and this is what makes this music video effective.

DigiPack, what do I have to do?

I think that I will have to research various different genres of music to get an idea of what type of video I want to produce. I obviously want to produce a professional and exciting video, but at this moment in time, I do not have much idea of how to produce a music video, I will have to research this in length. I like genre's of music such as Rock, hip hop and indie. I think that my video may be based around that, but in time I will research more and more and see where I go from there.