Hello!
My name is Dan Opie and I am an A2 Media Studies student at Aldenham School. Welcome to my Media Studies A2 Music Video Blog. Over the next few months I will be using this blog to post my media coursework over the A2 course. Please feel free to use the navigation bar to browse through the various posts I put up regarding research I have found on music videos and near the end my own music video aswell as an evaluation of this end piece. Thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy my blog!
Here are some of Justice's existing video's which I will take into account when making my own, as I would like my video to associate well with the rest of Justice's videos.
Justice - Phantom Pt. II (2011)
A concept/performance video of the duo live in various clubs as well as them clubbing, meeting girls and getting in trouble.
Justice - Stress (2013)
A narrative video of a gang creating havoc in their city.
This video actually has part of the song I am doing featured in it, the D.A.N.C.E. chorus is heard playing in the cars radio before the gang smash it.
Justice - DVNO (2011)
A lyric/concept video made up of really well made graphics of the songs lyrics.
Justice - New Lands (2012)
Concept video of a new futuristic sport that involves American football, cycling and lacrosse.
Justice - AUDIO, VIDEO, DISCO. (2011)
A performance video simply consisting of Gaspard and Xavier playing various instruments and singing the lyrics to the song.
After watching all of the videos by Justice I have found that they often make videos which go against the norms of pop and other popular dub-step artists videos and instead focus on the unique and concept style video's. I would therefore like to try and replicate this in my own video.
I have recently done some research on music video's that might give me some inspiration for my own. When doing this I realised that most of the best videos and my own favourites (examples below) involve quite a lot of dancing in some way or another, sometimes being the main theme. This is even more relevant to me due to the name, lyrics and message of the song being about Dance.
For example the music video voted the best ever made was all to do with dance:
Michael Jackson - Thriller (1983)
As well as my personal favourite Jackson music video which involves all dancing:
Michael Jackson - Black or White (1991)
The song and video won many awards including the Billboard Music Award for Number 1 World Single. Which means that other people are interested in the idea of equality through dance which is what I am trying to get across to my audience. Click here for Michael Jackson's Black or White lyrics relating to equality.
Another video that tries to narrate the meaning of the song through dance is one of my favourite music video's:
Sia - Chandelier (2014)
Although the video is very controversial (as explained in my post about this video link here) it does translate the message from the lyrics well to the audience just through the medium of dance. And I would like to try and replicate this in my video.
Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice
Another song made famous by its conceptual dance music video. This song by Fatboy Slim was accompanied by a conceptual dance video that starred Christopher Walken. It was so popular simply due to the usually reserved and posh Walken dancing weirdly to a song not easily associated with his acting roles. A good song made viral by its unique video.
After a good amount of research on dance videos, I have come up with an interesting idea for my video to accentuate the theme of equality in dance and therefore equality in life. I will post my idea and plan for it in the next few posts.
Below are the lyrics to Justice - D.A.N.C.E (2007) taken from AZLyrics:
Do the D-A-N-C-E
1, 2, 3, 4, fight
Stick to the B-E-A-T
Get ready to ignite
You were such a P-Y-T
Catching all the lights
Just easy as A-B-C
That's how you make it right
Do the D-A-N-C-E
1, 2, 3, 4, fight
Stick to the B-E-A-T
Get ready to ignite
You were such a P-Y-T
Catching all the lights
Just easy as A-B-C
That's how you make it right
Do the D-A-N-C-E
Stick to the B-E-A-T
Just easy as A-B-C
Do the dance, do the dance
The way you move is a mystery
Do the dance
You're always there for music and me
Do the dance
The way you move is a mystery
Do the dance
You're always there for music and me
Do the D-A-N-C-E
1, 2, 3, 4, fight
Stick to the B-E-A-T
Get ready to ignite
You were such a P-Y-T
Catching all the lights
Just easy as A-B-C
That's how you make it right
Do the dance (Do the dance)
The way you move is a mystery
Do the dance (Do the dance)
You're always there for music and me
Do the dance (Do the dance)
The way you move is a mystery
Do the dance (Do the dance)
You're always there for music and me
Do the D-A-N-C-E (Do the dance, do the dance)
Stick to the B-E-A-T (Do the dance, do the dance)
You were such a P-Y-T (Do the dance, do the dance)
Just easy as A-B-C (Do the dance, do the dance)
Under the spotlights
Neither black nor white
It doesn't matter
Do the dance, do the dance
As strong as you might
Working day and night
Whatever happens
Do the dance, do the dance
Under the spotlights
Neither black nor white
It doesn't matter
Do the dance, do the dance
As strong as you might
Working day and night
Whatever happens
Do the dance, do the dance
The way you move is a mystery
Do the dance
You're always there for music and me
The way you move is a mystery
As you can see I have no worries about offending anyone with the lyrics of the song and it is completely clean with no swears or offensive language.
For a link to the lyrics click here.
Recently I have completely changed my mind on which song to make a music video for. My original idea (as posted below) was to do a video using Alesso - Years. However a few days ago I decided that the song is a little plain and boring. So I decided to go a different route completely and focus on upbeat and unique songs that I could make a unique and unusual video out of.
So after a few days of researching possible music I have landed on this:
Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (2007)
Justice is a French Electronic dance music DJ due which consists of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay. The two DJ's started signed under Ed Banger Records in 2003 and are one of their most successful artists. They have only released two albums: † in 2007 and Audio, Video, Disco in 2011 however the due have recently announced (22 June 2014) that they are working on a third studio album. D.A.N.C.E. is Justice's second single but the first and most popular single in their † album. Justice admitted to the inspiration of their song being from Michael Jackson as they are both huge fans. Many references and tributes to Jackson can be found in the lyrics of the 3:29 song. Such as "Black or White", "A.B.C.", "Working Day and Night" and "Music and Me". The song has won many awards including the 4th best song of 2007 by Rolling Stone Magazine, and was number 1 in the UK dance charts. Due to the surprised popularity of the song the label decided to release an official video in 2011. It has since reached over 11,000,000 views.
It is directed and filmed by a French directing duo known as Jonas & François and the animations on the shirts was later added by animator So Me. It features the two artists Gaspard and Xavier walking down hallways with the graphics on their shirts constantly changing and you never see their faces.
Personally allthough I quite like the video and it is really well made, I dont think it relates well to the video and I dont believe it effectively gets the message of the song accross to the audience. Having listened to the song and reading the lyrics I believe the song is about equality in Dance representing equality in our lives. And if I am to do a video on this song that is what I would like to base it on.
Questionnaire time!!! I have written out a few questions that I will ask my school friends, family and general public to try and gather more information on what type of music videos are most popular. This will hopefully give me some ideas on what to do for my own video. 1. What gender are you?
Male Female
2. What age are you?
Under 16 16-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 50+
3. How often do you watch music videos?
More than once a day Once a day Once a week Once a month Less than once a month
4. What devices do you most usually watch music videos on?
Ipod Phone Computer/laptop Tablet TV
5. What is your favourite music genre?
Pop HipHop/Rap Country Electro/Dubstep Rock Indie Jazz Other
6. What type of music video do you like? (show examples)
Narrative Performance Conceptual
7. What type of things do you like to see in a music video?
_______________________________________________
8. Do you prefer music videos in black and white or colour?
Black & White Colour
9. Do you like special effects and editing techniques used in music videos?
Yes No
10. What is your favourite music video?
_______________________________________________
I will ask as many people as possible today to fill out my questionnaire and enter the results into various graphs so the results are easier to understand. The graphs will be made into a powerpoint and posted onto my blog using SlideShare.
Music videos can still be weird and controversial but ultimately be seen in a good light. These videos use unusual lyrics, beats and scenes in the music video and this captivates the viewers interest and hopefully markets the song well just through word of mouth through social media etc. without them having to pay a thing. Here is an artists music video which did just that:
DJ Snake & Lil Jon - Turn Down for What
Turn Down for What was released on the 18th of December 2013 and instantly received an explosion of attention. It is co-produced by both DJ Snake (DJ who originally produced the track) and Lil Jon (a rapper who wrote the lyrics to the track).
The song is 3:33 seconds long and just repeats Lil Jon singing his lyrics "Fire up that loud, another round of shots!" and "Turn down for what!" The song popularised the phrase: "Turn down for what!" and is used by people at raves and parties as slang to not stop partying or get sober.
Lil Jon had this to say about his role in the song:
"When DJ Snake sent me the track with a sample of Redman saying 'bang the underground,' he wanted me to redo it with my voice. When I heard the song I was like this beat is too crazy for that sample. I wanted to make it hip and current, and the first thing that came to mind was the phrase 'Turn Down for What!"
Turn Down for What has sold over 3,000,000 copies in the US alone and has reached the top ten in music many music charts around the world. A reason for this success is partly down to the very popular music video released for the song on March 13th 2014. It has since been viewed over 133 million times on YouTube. The accompanying video was directed by lesser known filmmaker duo DANIELS comprised of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. The video shows what seems to be a sort of "Virus' where anyone who watches someone contaminated dancing then becomes infected. The video stars Daniel Kwan (the director) and Sunita Mani. Daniel Kwan explains how he got inspired for his strange conceptual music video:
"For a while Daniel and I had been wanting to explore male sexuality in a
really weird way. For some reason our brains came up with this image,
and this other universe where dudes are so pumped up on their own
dicks—and they’re so into their testosterone—that the way that they show
that is by breaking shit with their dicks. So, whatever happens, that
would just be a funny logical progression."
Throughout the video is dancing and special effects to attract the viewers attention. Editing with slow motion and close ups on the dancing allow the audience to really get involved with the video and makes it easier for the dancing to relate well to the beat. The dancing in the video is based on sexual positions and movements and although many have complained about this, I believe the directing duo did it to create a 'buzz' over the video and generally increase the songs popularity since it is targeted towards teens and young students who engage in these types of activities. The video has won a number of awards for DANIELS including Best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects at the MTV Music Video Awards 2014, and it has since been used many times in various media forms including, commercials, touch down songs, television and film including 22 Jump Street and Horrible Bosses 2. It was even used to help promote US youths voting in upcoming elections (the lyrics were changed to "Turn Out for What") All of this media usage was to help raise the songs awareness.
Watching the video what really stood out for me was the mise-en-scene and lighting used. This is because the apartment where the video is set comes across as dirty, unorganised with dust in the air, cheap dated furniture and rubbish around the room. The same goes with the characters clothes being dirty and plain as well as them not having any makeup on. And the lighting makes the apartments seem dark and unloved. I believe the video was filmed like this so that it relates to the audience they are targeting. Students who cannot afford expensive furniture, buy new clothes and clean up the apartment regularly. This inspires me since I have a very small budget for my video so using normal backdrops, people, props and clothing etc might actually help me reach my audience allowing them to relate with my video.
Recently I have been trying to decide on a song that I will make a music video for. Inspiration through research has brought my interests to doing an Electronic Dance Music (EDM) , Dubstep or a Trap music video.
Various songs have come to mind while looking for a suitable choice. I had an idea of using a favourite song of mine: N.A.S.A - Hide ft. Aynzli Jones (Tropkillaz Remix). Which is relatively popular but does not have a music video.
I then decided that this song was not for me as it included no lyrics and many of my video ideas need lyrics in the song to work. I also believed that for a first time music video without lyrics would be too boring.
Keeping this in mind another song I liked also had no music video but was surprisingly very popular. It is by the 23 year old internationally famous Swiss DJ Alesso (Alessandro Lindblad).
Alesso - Years ft. Matthew Koma
The song is 4:38 long and features lyrics sung by an unknown female artist, the video which is just the album cover's picture (Alesso made up of pictures of him performing live with YEARS spaced out above his head) was published onto YouTube on the 4th of August 2012 and has since raised over 17,650,000 views. I really like it and would like the chance to improve on the video.
Over the next few days I will try to gain inspiration on possible music video ideas for the song. And I will soon write to Alesso and ask his permission to use the song for my video.
Below are some famous music videos that gain attention all for the wrong reasons! But as they famously say in the media business: "There is no such thing as bad press!"
Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball (2013)
This was a huge single in 2013 bringing so much attention, complaints and abuse all aimed at Miley Cyrus. It was originally written by MoZella, Stephan Moccio, Sacha Skarbek, Lukasz Gottwald, and Henry Russell Walter for the singer Beyoncé. But it was realised while making the song that it would not suit her singing style and was instead offered to Cyrus.
Wrecking Ball was Miley's second single from her album 'Bangerz' (2013). Her first being the equally controversial "We Can't Stop" (2013)
In both videos Cyrus was praised for her originality and Wrecking Ball's lyrics were pleasantly received as emotional and moving. However the increasingly provocative image that Miley was portraying in her video's, moving from good girl country singer with Disney's Hannah Montana, to bad girl pop queen was worrying many people and creating allot of controversy and attention for Cyrus. Something that she was most likely aiming for, as bad attention can make a career much more successful and therefor better than good attention.
What most likely made the videos so famous were her very provocative live performance at the VMA's in 2013. She dressed in two very revealing outfits (both of which have become costumes which you can buy due to the huge amount of reach and attention it got). And her doing sexual dances.
This was Miley's view on the video:
I think the video is much more, if people get past the point that I'm naked and you actually look at me you can tell that I actually look more broken than even the song sounds. The song is a pop ballad. It's one of these songs that everyone is going to relate to, everyone has felt that feeling at one point. If people can take their minds out of the obvious and go into their imagination a little bit and see kind of what the video really means and the way it's so vulnerable and actually if you look in my eyes I look more sad than my voice sounds on the record it was a lot harder to do the video than it was to record the songs. It was much more of an emotional experience.
Rebecca Black - Friday (2011)
Annoying, repetitive, disturbing and awful. All words used to describe Rebecca Black's "Friday". The song has received all negative response from critics since its release on March, 2014. The response is mainly due to the unimaginative, pointless lyrics as well as Black's singing skill.
However all that the negative response did was create a huge hype over the song and has since been viewed on YouTube a total of 239 million times! The original video that was posted up by Rebecca's record label ARK Music, took it down after legal disputes with Black. However it was later re-posted a few months after.
Media theorists suggest that the huge amount of social media attention and humour of a terrible singer and video but done professionally is what caused such a large hype surrounding it and what ultimately brought the views up. Is it a successful video? Yes completely! Despite the cliché's, cheesy uninspired lyrics and awful singing this video has seen more views and generated more sales than many artists could only dream of. So is this the way forward for artists to keep pushing the boundaries and making more and more provocative and untalented performances? Quite possibly yes, otherwise how will the audience's attention be caught, many believe that traditional marketing methods are out of the window and this generation is a new age of increasingly controversial 'art'.
Other examples of weird and controversial music videos in the wrong light are:
Avril Lavigne - Hello Kitty (2013)
The song by Lavigne was first critisized of having immature lyrics and emabarrasingly weird. When the music video came out however the focus fell on Lavigne's racist portrayal of Japanese Culture (e.g. Kawaii culture) and the use of Japanese women in her video like toys. However Lavigne had this to say about her 'misunderstood' video:
"I love Japanese culture and I spend half of my time in Japan. I flew to Tokyo to shoot this video...specifically for my Japanese fans, WITH my Japanese label, Japanese choreographers AND a Japanese director IN Japan."
M.I.A. - Born Free (2010)
This song by M.I.A. was relatively unknown and passed off as just another pop song by the artist. However when the music video for the song was released (without prior notice to M.I.A.'s record label) it shot up the charts and the video was viewed millions of times. This was all a result of the backlash and critics response to the highly controversial music video. Its main storyline was that of a mass genocide of red haired (ginger) people. M.I.A. was inspired for the video by the news and mobile phone footage of the Sri Lankan Army killing Tamil males in an inhumane and disgusting manor. I for one actually like the video, since I believe the message of the song and video is to try and show what actual genocide is like to previously unaware public. Even though it features over the top violence and footage of people being shot in the head and blown up etc. It still enlightens people into what has actually happened before and inspire them to help. However the majority of other critics disagree saying that it is a disgusting display of demoralizing red haired people and almost making fun of genocide and using the shock of it to make money.
Doing some research today I came across a free presentation service called PowToon. It allows users who sign up to build professional cartoon presentations of whatever topic they like.
Knowing that I have some evaluation questions coming up soon of which I would like to present in alternative ways, I gave this service a go and I think its fantastic! It's free, easy to use and gives great results with a really professional feel and finish to presentations.
As you can see the program is very similar to Final Cut Pro, so when trialing it I was very used to the type of layout already. I am almost certainly going to use this for my evaluation questions at the end of this project.
Artist - Sia Album - 1000 Forms of Fear Music Genre - Electropop Year Released - 2014 Video Length -3:51 Video Director - Sia & Daniel Askill Video Type - Concept Based Views on YouTube - 227 million +
Sia's video for 'Chandelier' received huge amounts of critical acclaim when it was first released in 2014. The reason being is the use of mysterious and dark yet very artistic and captivating dancing featured in the music video. The audience (with me included) cannot take their eyes off of the young girl performing strange yet beautiful ballet and gymnastics as she acts out Sia's lyrics, her dancing was choreographed by Ryan Heffington.
The song basically tells a story of how Sia's childhood experience of alcoholic parents have affected her throughout her life and the video is made as it to resemble this visually. I think the video is filmed really well without having to literally act out the lyrics it still gets across to the audience the torment and distress that Sia went through in her childhood. No special effects are used in this video, neither is there lip synching, luxury locations etc. It is a simple video with very little editing either that effectively gets across the message of the song to the audience and this is why the video inspires me a little to keep my own relatively simple with a message.
Fact - This video has received allot of complaints as well as acclaim due to the over sexualisation of the dancing child (Maddie Ziegler a contestant on Dance Moms an American TV show) since she is wearing a nude leotard that is supposed to resemble her nakedness and therefore innocence and vulnerability.
However this is what Maddie had to say about the dance:
"I like the whole dance. It was really different and weird for me,
because I usually don’t, you know, be a crazy person every time. It was
so fun to do and it was really out of the box and it expanded me a lot,
because I’m used to competition dances where you’re like, Point your
legs! But this time it was like, you just need to let go and feel it."
- Maddie Ziegler, New York Magazine (2014)
Number 6:
Nickelback - Rockstar (2006)
Artist - Nickelback Album - All the Right Reasons Music Genre - Alternative Rock Year Released - 2006 Video Length - 4:14 Video Director - Dori Oskowitz Video Type - Performance/Concept Based Views on YouTube - 61 million +
Rockstar was first released into the USA in 2005 with no music video. The song became so popular so fast that Nickelback re-released the single with a brand new music video to the world in 2007. They were both a success with Rockstar reaching number 2 in the UK charts and has reached number 1 in the UK rock charts as well as successfully staying in the UK rock charts for 359 weeks! I believe the music video has allot to do with the songs success.
The video is simply celebrities and members of the public lip synching the songs lyrics. It is very effective since it relates to what the audience is probably doing, singing with the song. These are celebrities and average people alike singing the same song in well known locations, it cant get much more relatable. That in my opinion is why it is so popular, this gives me some inspiration into getting the audience to relate to my own music video.
Justin Bieber - Beauty And A Beat ft. Nicki Minaj (2012)
Artist - Justin Bieber Album - Believe Music Genre - Electronic Dance Music Year Released - 2012 Video Length - 4:52 Video Director - Justin Bieber Video Type - Performance Based Views on YouTube - 414 million +
Justin Bieber is not usually my music taste ... But I cannot deny that I like both this song and the music video. I am even more impressed that Bieber scripted, directed and shot this video on his own! A GoPro Hero 2 (high definition extreme sports camera) was predominantly used to film the video due to its water and shock proof characteristics. This really interests me as the extremely high definition footage was recorded on a budget easily affordable camera which I could possibly therefore use to get better quality footage than the camera's we use at the moment.
The video is all just of Bieber filming himself performing his song and dancing in a waterpark. This is a very simple idea yet it works very well mostly because the audience can easily relate to it and understand it since its somewhere we have all been (a waterpark) and something we have all done (danced and partied). I think therefore the reason the video is so popular is because it relates so well to the audience that Bieber is targeting. And what the fans mainly came to see is Justin so this is the perfect way of making a great video while also keeping Bieber's image up. The video also interestingly starts with a montage of small clips showing Justin doing various activities and with text stating the footage was stolen. This is obviously not true but is a great way to raise conspiracy and hype to get more video views.
Number 4:
Clean Bandit - Rather Be
Artist - Clean Bandit Album - New Eyes Music Genre - Electronic Synthpop Year Released - 2014 Video Length - 4:28 Video Director - Anna Patarakina Video Type - Narrative Based Views on YouTube - 142 million +
The music video for this song much like Justin Bieber's above, was made by the group Clean Bandit themselves. The video is set in Tokyo, Japan and basically tells the story of a Japanese Clean Bandit fan that becomes 'crazy' and starts to hallucinate by randomly seeing the bands logo and members everywhere she goes while going about her day to day life. I really like this video as it features a bit of every type of music video in it. It has a narrative story of the Japanese girl getting more and more distressed. It has the performance part to it with the group members suddenly appearing while playing their instrument. And it also has a concept touch to it with the strange dances, and situations the girl gets her self into.
I really like the use of brand placement in this video, I think its a great idea to put the bands logo and members in this video as they were not particularly a well known brand but are now much more famous and I believe this is most likely due to the huge amount of brand awareness created through there uses of placement. I would like to possibly use brand placement like this in my music video to raise awareness.
I thought this quote from Clean Bandit about their video was quite interesting:
"Filming in Tokyo
was an amazing experience: we spent almost a week there and everyone
was so helpful. We made it ourselves as always, which was quite scary as
we've never produced anything so far away before. We had a bit of
trouble filming the scene on the train though. Turns out it's considered
incredibly rude to make noise on a train so when we started dancing
around to the track in the carriage with the extras, it didn't go down
well! Got shouted at"
The following are a few of my favourite music videos ever! I have many that I enjoy but only a few stick with me and make me think about what I am watching and how it relates to the song.
I generally like a music video that has a story line to it, but that is not always the case and I do like concept and just performance based music videos as well, so long as they are interesting and enjoyable to watch. I hope to get some inspiration from these following videos and realise what I like about them so I can incorporate them into my own video!
Number 1:
Avicii - You Make Me (2013)
Artist - Avicii Album - True Music Genre - Electronic Dance Music Year Released - 2013 Video Length - 3:51 Video Director - Sebastian Ringler Video Type - Narrative Based Views on YouTube - 45 million +
This music video is narrative based with a story line. The video features a type of Romeo and Juliet story where a man finds he is interested in a waitress at a roller rink in America. He tries to get to know her but her ex boyfriend the antagonist (also a worker at the roller rink) see's them together and gets jealous. He does everything he can to stop them getting to know each other and even ends up fighting the protagonist with martial arts. The protagonist wins and falls in love with the waitress he fought over.
The reason I like this video is because of the interesting take on traditional story line. It has the classic romance story of a man falling in love with someone lesser than themselves but coming across someone jealous. Except in this video it has a modern feel to it which reflects well with the lyrics to the song. In terms of props, using roller skates I think gives the video a happy vibe as it gives the audience something to relate to (dancing and partying at a club and roller skating).
The use of camera shots was noticeable for me since it features allot of long and mid shots to show the roller skating, fighting and back up dancers which is not typical in most music videos. Also the use of lighting in this video is very intriguing for me since it dark but the lyrics and song are happy and upbeat. I believe the lighting is like that since they are at a club and want that type of atmosphere.
Number 2:
David Guetta - She Wolf (2012)
Artist - David Guetta Album - Nothing but the Beat Music Genre - Electro House Year Released - 2012 Video Length - 3:57 Video Director - Hiro Murai Video Type - Narrative Based Views on YouTube - 271 million +
This is one of my favourite videos ever due to its very simple story line in the video yet with much deeper song lyrics that seem to match perfectly with each other. The video starts by showing the back of a naked woman who is watching the sea (this is evident by the sound of waves crashing into the cliffs). It then suddenly cuts to a wounded She Wolf running away from two human hunters on horseback. When the main chorus beat from the song drops the she wolf causes the hunters to 'fall to pieces' which is created using a special effect. This gives a sense of a digital world and reality where there is a "bug" of sorts affecting the video.
Once a long chase by the hunters across long grass fields and over rocky pits the wolf ends up where we originally saw the naked woman. The hunters completely vanish into pieces and the wolf magically turns into the naked woman.
What I really love about this video is how the video and lyrics tell such a powerful story in such a different alternative way. In my eyes the video tells a story of a woman (the wolf) who was once in love with the hunter. He became guilty of being with her since he was already with someone else, so he wounded the girl/wolf and shunned her out of his life. This caused her to 'fall to pieces' and as the video shows all her softness turned to razor sharp edges (the effect on the wolf, hunters and surroundings). She is cornered so therefor destroys anyone who once loved her and is therefor left in depression and mourning looking out to sea.
I also really like the special effects in this video but I am not sure I can use these in my own since they are so professionally made. However I am inspired to possibly use a story line such as this which relates to the lyrics and really tells a secret deeper meaning.
Camera Movement in music videos are used to illustrate the video and help the viewer to understand the message and tempo of the video. It is also used to keep the artist or protagonist of the video in prime view for the audience. In music videos carious camera techniques are used including:
Tilts
Pans
Spinning
Tracking
Crane Shots
Camera Shots:
In music videos the camera shots tend to include and frequently jump from long shots to close ups to mid shots and extreme close ups etc. All of these shots will be used to place emphasis on an artist or character, location, event or emotion. Wide shots are used if there are backing dancers in the video and close ups will most usually be used to show the artists lips singing the lyrics.
Editing:
In music videos the scene will generally change every 5 seconds but many times it will be even shorter. These rapid changes in scenes will require jump cuts to be used predominantly as the editing technique.
Mise-en-scene:
Mise-en-scene is the use of props, costume and makeup etc. to put importance on the representation of something, it also involves placing performers in certain places and roles to achieve this. Costume would generally represent the artists style and genre for example a rapper in a video may wear loads of jewellery and expensive clothes to make them seem wealthy. Whereas dark or rock music artists will wear more plain clothes to concentrate the viewers attention on their music.
Again depending on the song genre and location of the music video different props and makeup styles will suit different videos. e.g. if someone is crying their makeup would be styled in that way.
Lighting:
Lighting can be used in many different ways to portray a certain style or mood across to the audience. For example darker lighting will most likely be used in a gothic rock bands music video to get across the message of unhappiness to the audience. Light can also be used to highlight a specific artist or prop and make them the center of attention this is evident in many of Hype Williams signature style videos which use a coloured background which gets lighter in the middle to create the effect of the foreground subject illuminating light. This can be seen in both Kanye West's "Gold Digger" and Jamie Foxx's "Digital Girl"
Sound:
The sound is usually the artists song and them singing the lyrics. But in some cases music videos will have intros or mini clips with a script of words that are not in the actual downloadable song. For example Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is first styled like a thriller movie. Another example is Katy Perry's "Birthday" (2013) which features Perry in various comical disguises having an interview.
Colour:
Colour in music videos again can be used to set the atmosphere and mood of a song to really draw the audience in and help them relate the video to the song. e.g. Pop songs which feature happy and upbeat lyrics will most often have brightly coloured music videos whereas rock songs with unhappy lyrics will usually have dark colours.
Huge news in regards to new music videos! From Friday the 3rd of
October 2014, British made music videos will get age-rated certificates
similar to the ones given to movies by the BBFC (British Board of Film
Classification) and will feature certificates with age ratings of 12, 15
and 18 as well as a preview of the type of content in the video and
advice for the viewer. This is only a trial pilot concept at the moment
but it is being widely accepted right now as a sensible addition to
protect children from unsuitable content.
The scheme is
already being voluntarily participated in by world renowned record
labels such as Sony, Universal and Warner. the concept has also been
endorsed by British Prime Minister, David Cameron who announced last
August this idea to the public. The use of age ratings in music videos
have been in the public domain for a while now, especially with the ever
increasing use of "Pornographic", sexist and racist material, in modern
music videos as well as increased use of strong explicit language such
as Katy Perry's California Gurls (2010):
Or Rihanna's video for her song "Pour It Up" (2013):
The following is a link to a song (without the music video) and a link to the songs lyrics with extremely explicit and rude language that can be easily accessed by children of young ages:
Born - October 15, 1970 (age 43)
Years Active - 1996 - Present
Chris Cunningham is a British video artist. He primarily directs music videos for less popular ambient music and electronica acts. Before becoming a director Cunningham was head hunted by Stanley Kubrick to help design and supervise tests of the robot child character in Kubrick's film A.I. Artificial Intelligence.He also took part in various film jobs such as model making, prosthetic make-up and concept illustrations for films such as Nightbreed, Dust Devil and Alien 3.
Hype Williams is an American Music video and film director. He was born in New York City and is from African descent. He attended Adelphi University, with his big break in directing came when he set up his first video company: Filmmakers With Attitude (FWA). Williams is considered to become so big due to "tagging" his early work on billboards and storefronts etc. using HYPE as his graffiti tag. Williams focuses his work mainly on rap videos.
Best known videos directed by Williams:
Usher - "Think Of You" (1994)
2Pac feat. Dr Dre - "California Love" (1995)
R. Kelly - "I Believe I Can Fly" (1996)
Missy Elliott - "Sock It 2 Me" (1997)
Puff Daddy feat. Faith Evans & 112 - "I'll Be Missing You" (1997) *52 million
Kelis - "Caught Out There" (1999)
Ol' Dirty Bastard - "Shimmy Shimmy Ya" (1995)
Will Smith - "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" (1997)
Busta Rhymes feat. Janet Jackson - "What's It Gunna Be?!" (1999)
Kanye West - "Heartless" (2008) *91 million
Beyonce feat. Lady Gaga - "Video Phone" (2009)
Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx - "Gold Digger" (2005) *65 million
Kanye West - "Stronger" (2007) *126 million
Coldplay - "Viva La Vida" (2008) *163 million
Beyonce feat. Jay-Z - "Drunk In Love" (2013) *201 million
Jonas Åkerlund is a Swedish music video director, he has a memorable style of music video which often mocks forms of movie trailers and short films. Åkerlund was a member of the Swedish black metal band Bathory from 1983 to 1984. He then directed his first ever music video: "Bewitched" by Candlemass.
He is now most famous for collaborating with Madonna, directing many of her most famous music videos.
Best known videos directed by Åkerlund:
Roxette - "Run To You" (1994)
Roxette - "Vulnerable" (1995)
Madonna
- "Ray of Light" (1998)
Metallica - "Turn The Page" (1998)
Metallica - "Whiskey in the Jar" (1999)
Madonna - "Music" (2000)
Ozzy Osbourne - "Gets Me Through" (2001)
U2 - "Walk On" (2001)
Christina Aguilera - "Beautiful" (2002)
Maroon 5 - "Wake Up Call" (2007) *37 million
P!nk - "Sober" (2008) *76 million
Lady Gaga - "Paparazzi" (2009) *118 million
David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland - "When Love Takes Over" (2009) *86
Jake Nava is an English music video director, Born in North London. He is also well known for his TV commercial directing. Nava gained his film degree at the University Of Westminster. He has won many awards for his work including: Winning music video of the year with Beyoncé's Single Ladies, Placed fifth in Entertainment Weekly's Top 10 Music Video Directors list, and many more.
Nava will most often work with Beyoncé and he has directed music videos to some of her most famous songs.
Best known videos directed by Nava:
Spice Girls - “Holler” (2000)
The Rolling Stones - “Streets Of Love" (2005)
Kylie Minogue - “Red Blooded Woman" (2003)
Leona Lewis “Run" (2008)
Adele “Someone Like You” (2011) *396 million
System Of A Down "B.Y.O.B." (2005)
Mariah Carey “Shake It Off" (2005)
Kelis “Milkshake” (2003)
Usher “Burn” (2004) *68 million
Shakira “She Wolf” (2009) *111 million
Britney Spears “My Prerogative” (2004)
Beyoncé "If I Were A Boy" (2008) *144 million
Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z “Crazy In Love” (2003) *122 million
Beyoncé "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" (2008) *322 million
Born - April 18, 1973 (age 41)
Years Active - 1998 - Present
Anthony Mandler is an American film director, television commercial director and professional photographer. He is also particularly well known for his music video directing. His most frequent collaborator on music videos is Rihanna.
Best known videos directed by Mandler:
Black Eyed Peas feat. Chali 2na — "Get Original" (2001)
Snoop Dogg — "Ups & Downs/Bang Out" (2005)
50 Cent — "Hustler's Ambition" (2005)
Eminem — "When I'm Gone" (2005) *240 million
Rihanna — "Unfaithful" (2006) *192 million
Fergie — "Big Girls Don't Cry" (2007)
Rihanna feat. Ne-Yo — "Hate That I Love You" (2007) *120 million
Rihanna — "Don't Stop The Music (2007) *213 million
Akon — "Right Now (Na Na Na)" (2008)
Drake feat. Lil Wayne — "Miss Me" (2010)
Nicki Minaj — "Starships" (2012) *206 million
Justin Bieber feat. Big Sean — "As Long as You Love Me" (2012) *213 million
Rihanna — "Diamonds" (2012) *475 million
Taylor Swift — "22" (2013)
Shakira — "Dare (La La La)" (2014) (FIFA World Cup Song)
The following posts rank the 5 best music videos ever made in order:
5. Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime (1980)
Artist - Talking Heads
Director - David Byrne
Producer - Brian Eno
The music video features a bespectacled David Byrne dancing much like a marionette. Byrne is shown making sudden flings of his arm, tapping his head, and getting on his hands and knees to pat the floor, much like simple tricks which can be done with actual marionettes. In the background, clones of Byrne dance in perfect synchronization; in the foreground, a larger Byrne is getting further and further out of synchrony.
he music video is the most iconic for a band that was never commercially successful or had huge radio hits. But when MTV debuted a year after its 1980 release, “Once in a Lifetime” became one of its most rotated and popular clips, giving many music fans their first look at Byrne’s brilliant bizarreness.
The video is exhibited in the New York Museum of Modern Art. Some of Byrne's mannerisms (such as physical spasms, unfocused eye movements, and sharp intakes of breath) were inspired by his choreographer, Toni Basil, showing him footage of epilepsy sufferers.[5]
The video also made an appearance on an episode of the 90s Beavis and Butthead.
Artist - a-ha
Director - Steve Barron
Producer - Simon Fields
The first release of "Take On Me" in 1984 includes a completely different recording, and was featured in the first video, which shows the band singing with a blue background. The second video was directed by Steve Barron, and filmed at Kim's Café (now called " Savoy " cafe )and on a sound stage in London, in 1985. The video used a pencil-sketch animation / live-action combination called rotoscoping, in which the live-action footage is traced-over frame by frame to give the characters realistic movements. Approximately 3,000 frames were rotoscoped, which took 16 weeks to complete
The video's main theme is a romantic fantasy narrative. It features one of the band members in a comic inviting a girl into the story where they are chased by men. The girl is allowed to escape the comic but misses her cartoon friend. He manages to escape by banging on the sides of the comic until he falls into reality.
Artist - Björk
Director - Chris Cunningham
Producer - Björk, Howie B
The music video was directed by Chris Cunningham and featured two intimate robots.
The video won multiple awards, including two MTV Video Music Awards for Breakthrough Video and Best Special Effects. It was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video (it lost to Korn's "Freak on a Leash"). It is on permanent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The video also placed in "MTV2's 100 Best Videos Ever" coming in at number 1.
The video starts with a robotic Björk lying on a white platform in
the center of a sterile room being assembled or repaired by mechanical
arms in what appears to be a clinic for robots. Even before finishing
the assembly, the first Björk robot meets another Björk robot, who joins
in the song with her. They start to kiss passionately as machines work
on assembling electronics in their backs.
According to the website of Glassworks, the company which did the special effects for Cunningham, SOFTIMAGE and Flame software were used for 3D elements and 2D compositing, respectively.
Contrary to appearances, the two robots in the film were non-working models. When the film I, Robot
screened in 2004, some people found the robot design in that movie to
be similar to the design of the robots in the video directed by
Cunningham — he has not commented.
Artist - Lady Gaga
Director - Francis Lawrence
Producer - RedOne, Lady Gaga
During an interview with Rolling Stone, Gaga confirmed that film director Francis Lawrence had directed the music video for "Bad Romance" and that she was impressed with the final version.She explained
"I wanted somebody with a tremendous understanding of how to make a pop
video, because my biggest challenge working with directors is that I am
the director and I write the treatments and I get the fashion and I
decide what it's about and it's very hard to find directors that will
relinquish any sort of input from the artist. ... But Francis and I
worked together. ... It was collaborative. He's a really pop video
director and a filmmaker. He did I Am Legend and I'm a huge Will Smith
fan, so I knew he could execute the video in a way that I could give
him all my weirdest, most psychotic ideas ... But it would come across
to and be relevant to the public."
The main idea behind the video is that of Gaga getting kidnapped by a
group of supermodels who drug her and then sell her off to the Russian mafia for a million rubles. It takes place in a fluorescent white bathhouse.
In 2011, "Bad Romance" was voted the best video of the 2000s by readers of Billboard, narrowly beating Britney Spear's "Toxic". Time magazine also included "Bad Romance" on its list of best music videos since the 1980s. The video and its choreography also drew many comparisons with the music video of Michael Jackson's Thriller, both having robotic, zombie-like arm movements and morbid themes.
