Music Video Evaluation: Question 4

Here is the original link to this presentation: https://www.canva.com/design/DABzGij3sFo/XQzUvXv259CmYqJ88y8jDg/view?utm_content=DABzGij3sFo&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton

Music Video Evaluation: Question 3

 

Below I have shown the video that I created that develops evaluation question 3 and details the results I gained from my questionnaire.

 



As well as this video, myself and my group also interviewed a male and a female who fit the criteria to be part of our target audience and recorded their answers.

 



Music Video Evaluation: Question 2

Below, I have shown my emaze presentation that develops Question 2 of my music video and ancillary task evaluation.

Music Video Evaluation: Question 1

 

Below, I have shown the emaze presentation that I have created to develop Evaluation Question 1.

 



Ancillary Tasks: Posters and Digipak

For our ancillary task after the creation of the music video, we were required to create a digipak and a poster for our created artist.

 

 

Firstly, the digipak is shown below.

 

 

For this digipak, I decided that I wanted to create an album that would suit the genre of the music, with its gritty elements but also wanted to emphasise the image that we gave to the artist within our music video. On the digipak, I included images from the music video so that I could create a link between this product as well as the music video and people that would wish to buy this artists album would be familiar with the images shown on the digipak after watching the video. I have used bold and clear text so that the artists name, the title of the album and all of the track names etc. are clear and easy to read.

 

I also created two posters which are both shown below.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I created two posters so that I would have a number of examples of products in which I have linked to the music video and the artist themselves. I have, once again, used stills from the music video itself in order to emphasise the artists image as well as create familiarity between products; the music video and the digipak. I have also used the same text for the titles and tour dates that I have on the digipak so that I boost this connection even further and create even more familiarity between my products; the text used is also clear and easy to read and so viewers are able to understand it easily.

Final Music Video: Railings pt.2 by Apex

Music Video Research: Record Labels

There are many record labels within the music industry that specialise in different artists that make different genres of music. The main group of Record Labels include labels such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. As well as these record labels that are often run by conglomerates; there are also numerous independent record labels that deal with smaller artists, such as the ones that we are creating a music video for.

Roni Size, the artist that we are making a music video using their song, are a part of Full Cycle Recordings, Dope Dragon Records and V Recordings which are all independently run record labels.


Often, major record labels such as Universal Music Group will not allow their artists to have rights or control over their music and where it is used whereas independent artists on independent labels, such as Roni Size on Full Cycle Recordings etc. often are allowed to have rights and control over their music and where it is used.


Along with this point, another difference between major and independent labels is the difference in royalties that go to the artists themselves. On an independent label, the majority of the royalties made by the music (40%-75%) go to the artists themselves, whereas, on a major record label, only around 10%-15% of the royalties will directly go to the artists. This shows that artists on independent record labels are often better off being on these types of labels as they will make more of a share of their earnings from their music. However, due to the fact that they are on an independent label, it is often the occurrence that the artists on these labels are less well known and so will not make the type of money from sales that an artists on a major record label would.

Often, major record labels are run, as I have previously stated, by large conglomerates. These conglomerates often also own companies that allow them to distribute their artists music on an international scale. For example, Universal Music Group is a conglomerate and owns their own separate distribution company called Universal Music Group Distribution. In comparison, independent record labels do not have this type of an empire within the music industry and so they have to distribute their artists music through other means such as through free downloads and donation pages such as Kickstarter. Independent artists will often be more "in-tune" with social media and interacting with their fans on a more personal level in order to boost the sales of their albums; social media platforms such as twitter help artists to do this by giving independent artists a platform to interact with their fans in a more personal way; sharing their life as they go.

Music Video Planning: Locations and Character Bios

Below, I have posted an emaze presentation that I have created which details the locations we are planning to use; which parts of the music video will be filmed in each location and the biography of each of the characters that will be used within the main narrative of the piece.

 

 



Music Video Planning: Test Shots

We have created a series of test shots of the various locations that we wish to film our music video in.
These have been filmed with the Sony HDR - CX Handycam.

These are the first shots of the a location that we plan to film in. This is the car park in which we have decided to film the majority of our performance shots in.



These are the next collection of shots of the Gym that we are planning to film parts of our music video within. These shots show off the areas in which our protagonist will be filmed and give an idea of the lighting that will be given when filming these shots.



The next collection of shots shows the Studio in which we may be using to film various parts of our music video. These shots show off the areas of where the performance sections of the video could also be set. These shots show various lightings and angles we could use.



These are all the majority of the various locations that we are able to get test shots of. Other locations that will be potentially filmed within will include: an old factory/industrial area; a housing estate and a built-up, urban area.

Music Video Planning: Equipment and Lighting

In order to shoot the music video that we plan on creating; we require a collection of equipment that will allow us to film the video efficiently.

Camera(s)


The camera that we initially plan to use to film our video is the Canon 600D. This will give us a good quality resolution to our footage and will allow our music video to look as professional as possible.

However, if there becomes a problem with us using the 600D, we have planned that we will use the Sony HDR Handycam's. This camera is a smaller, more portable camera that will be easy to transport to any locations that we plan to film at, however, it will give a slightly worse picture quality in comparison to the 600D.


Lighting


In order to light the scenes that we will be shooting, we have a variety of options.

For the scenes in the car park, where we are hoping that lighting will be scarce, we are planning to use either the natural light from the street lights. However, if this becomes a problem, we have planned that we will use a car's headlights to light up the scene and a rotolight is also available.

In terms of the chase scenes and other various scenes that will be shot outdoors, we simply plan to use the natural lighting of the scene. However, if any enhancements to the lighting need to be made, we will use one of the afforementioned options (headlights/rotolight)

During the scenes in the gym, we plan to use the lights that are built into the room. These will give a good amount of light to our video, without over exposing the shot. The walls of the gym are also white and so the light will bounce from them, giving an even lighting to the scene.

If we use the studio for one of our scenes, we have various different lighting techniques available to us. We plan to use the "barn door" lights and face them towards the bottom half of our performers to give them a more threatening look.

I will be providing an extra blog post showing location test shots of these areas.

Music Video Research: Why do bands make music videos?

There are many reasons as to why bands and music artists in general make music videos and these vary within their reasoning.



By making a music video, artists are able reach a wider audience by creating a music video. Music videos can be viewed by audiences in the traditional way through TV programs such as MTV. However, due to the increase in popularity of the internet and websites such as Youtube, artists have begun to make music videos more often that will get uploaded to these sorts of sites. These videos will then gain views and the more views these videos get; the more money the artist will make from the revenue that the adverts on the videos earn. More artists are now able to upload their videos to youtube and reach a wider audience whilst also making the same money that they would if they were to only show their video on television etc.


Music videos also allow artists to create themselves an image. Audiences are able to view music videos which means the artists are able to make themselves appear however it is that they, or their record labels, wish for them to look. This image can then be progressed throughout their career and as their fans grow older, the image of the band often tends to grow more mature also. One prime example of this would be the band One Direction who began their careers as more "childish, teenage heart throb" type people, but have nowadays, progressed into being seen as a more mature and serious group.

Music Video Planning: Animatic

Below, I have shown the animatic that we created to show the general idea of the shots that we will be using in the final music video piece. We created a series of post it notes that relate to the timings in the song and took photos of these; I then edited them together in Sony Vegas to match up with the music.

Music Video Research: Product Placement & Synergy

Product Placement is the act of placing real life products into fictional media texts. Product placement is commonly used in the most famous media pieces across the planet, the most famous of these is the countless brands of lager that are shown in James Bond films.

However, product placement is also found quite often in music videos. Examples of this are in Lady Gaga's "Telephone" which showcases different brands such as "Wonder" bread, the "Beats by Dr Dre" and "Miracle Whip".  The products she has chosen to place within the video have been carefully selected to show a representation of the artist and the type of brands in which she would wish to be connected with i.e. Diet Coke; a drink that is seen as being stereotypically for younger women etc.

As well as these examples, this music video also shows examples of synergy as it references other media texts. The video for "Telephone" pays homage to pieces of film by using the "Pussy Wagon" from Kill Bill and by copying the final scene from the film "Thelma and Louise", the female protagonists in each of these films are represented as being strong and independent which would suggest that she wants to be associated with such characters and films.

Synergy is the act of placing references to other media texts into a specific media text. For example, a music video could use a scene within it that is a direct reference to a film etc.

Music Video Research: Focus Group

 

Below I have shown the focus group that we carried out to gain ideas for how we should carry out our music video.

We collected together  a group of our target audience and pitched the ideas that we had for our music video to them and asked them to give us their feedback on the ideas they found that they would like the best and why they thought that way. We used this as a platform on which to build the main idea of our music video.

 

Music Video Research: Digipak Analysis

 

Below, I have shown the video of myself and my group analysing the digipak for David Guetta: Nothing but the Beat 2.0.

 

 

Music Video Research: Intertextuality

"Intertextuality is the shaping of a texts meaning by another text. Intertextual figures include: allusion, quotation, calque, plagiarism, translation, pastiche and parody."

Intertextuality can be used for numerous reasons. One way in which it can be used in music videos is in the way which shows the artists cultural standpoints. For example in Lady Gaga's "Telephone" music video, the Feminist film "Thelma and Louise" is strongly referenced in order to show that she is a strong and independent woman and feels strongly towards feminist vies.

Another way in which intertextuality can be used is in a way to make a mockery of other media texts. Artists sometimes create scenes which look similar to other music videos etc. within their own music video but change vital points within that scene to make a mockery of the original. For example, in "Energy" by Drake, there is a single scene in which he mocks Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" by creating a makeshift Miley Cyrus character which he as morphed with his own face.

Music Video Research: Focus Group - Music video idea presentation

 

Below, I have posted the emaze slideshow that myself and my group will be presenting to our focus group to help them decide the best idea for our music video.

We have created this presentation in order to gauge an idea of how our target audience feel about the genre of the music that we are creating a video for as a whole and to give us an idea of the music video that would suit it best, in their eyes; we feel that our target audience are the perfect people to request feedback from as they are the people that we are aiming to please with our video. This will give us a base on which we will be able to build our music video from.

 

Music Video Research: Conventions of Music Videos and Electronic Music Videos

Within each genre of music, there are codes and conventions in which the music videos for certain tracks commonly follow. This is the same with indie, rock, rap, folk etc. and each genre of music will have different conventions that are commonly used within its music videos. For example, in indie rock videos, an audience would expect to see live instruments such as guitars and drums being used in a performance; black and white, gritty scenes and locations and dark colours being used etc. Good examples of this would be music videos from bands such as Arctic Monkeys and Royal Blood.

The genre of the track that I have chosen to carry out my coursework on is Electronic music. This genre of music has many sub genres within it such as House, Drum and Bass, Dubstep etc. and so Electronic Music videos seem to carry the same conventions with them. These conventions include things such as:

- The use of live performances within Electronic Music Videos is a common theme throughout. Often, huge crowds are shown to be dancing wildly at live gigs that the particular artist is playing; whether this be at a festival or a gig at a certain venue. This convention is shown in music videos such as Benny Benassi - House Music.




- Commonly, electronic music videos do not make a lot of sense to the viewers. This convention is shown in music videos such as Rudimental - Feel the Love.




- However, in some electronic music videos, there is a large emphasis on narrative and often when narrative is used, it is a narrative about a couple and a relationship. Examples of this are in Passion Pit - Carried Away and Wilkinson - Afterglow.

Music Video Research: Analysis of 4 Music Videos

Above, I have analysed 4 music videos, 3 of which relate to the genre of the music video that I plan to do as part of my coursework and 1 that does not but was good for me to analyse.

Music Video Research: Andrew Goodwins Theory of Music Videos

Andrew Goodwin devised a theory in which all music videos could be analysed by using. This theory includes 5 technical aspects that are used to analyse music videos; these are;




1. Thought Beats


2. Narrative and Performance


3. The Star Image


4. Relation of visuals to song


5. Technical aspects of music videos





I will be using this in the future to analyse a variety of music videos that do and do not relate to the genre of music that I have chosen to carry out my media coursework.