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!
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
