Evaluation Of Music Video

Evaluation Of Music Video

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My music video does demonstrate the songs genre characteristics. For example the male character performs and lips-syncs to the song, which is the case in most indie bands music videos. There is also a narrative to the video about the relationship between the male and female looking at how they find out they their true feelings for each other, which, again follows the indie genre theme.

The video also shows conventional genre camerawork, editing and mise-en-scene. In the music video for the song ‘When the sun goes down’ by the ‘Arctic Monkeys,’ another indie band, they use medium and close up camera shot types at a level angle looking at the subject against a plain background. (1).

The same type of shots can be seen in my video when the party scenes are taking place as well as when the male character is lip-syncing. I used simple cuts to change between a shot, which goes with convention; I also used transition effects to the video, which goes against the genre convention, as they aren’t often used.

The video develops and conforms to ‘Andrew Goodwins’ theory of video forms. His points are as follows: Does the music video demonstrate the genre characteristics? Are there any relationships between the lyrics and visuals? Are there any relationships between the music and visuals? What are the demands of the record label? Are there any reference to/of voyeurisms? And are there any intertextuality references?

I feel that there are quite a few relationships between the lyrics and visuals of the song. An example of this is that there are seventeen candles on the birthday cake at the end of video, the name of the song is ‘Seventeen Candles’ and this is a also a lyric in the chorus. Another example of this relationship is that when the male singer says about the female in the video it cuts to her and shows her reaction to what has just been said.

However I feel that the strongest relationships are between the music and visuals. The main of which is that the male character sings to the lyrics of the chorus throughout the song, also the song matches what is being seen. For example when the lyrics say about ‘party favours’ a parts scene is shown.

There are many references to the notion of voyeurism, as the female character doesn’t look at the camera throughout the song. The effect that this has is the female character is made to be the protagonist as she is unaware that the audience are looking at her. The male character follows the same suit apart from one chorus when he follows the camera as it pans/ tracks around him. The effect that this has is the audience become more involved and take the role of the female.

There are no purposely placed intertexual references about what to film in the video, as I wanted it to be unique and new. The only reference to another film or music video is the technique from ‘Sin City’ where they have a greyscale background with only important areas in colour.

The demands of the record label can be clearly seen in the video. One of these demands is to make the artist a tool of promotion. An example of this is that there are areas of the video when the male character, who is the artist, is on his own. This means that the audience’s full attention is on that character which will allow them to notice him.

There were many challenges that my group and I faced over the months that this project took to finish which I feel that we overcame well. The worst was that on the days we had planned on filming outside it rained throughout the day and because it started to get darker earlier we had less time to film as each day passed. Because of this we had to change the location of some scenes almost instantly and had to think about how we were going to get props to the new location. An example of this is that on the day we wanted to film one of the party scenes outside, it rained. Meaning that we had to film indoors, the effect that this had on the scene was that it didn’t have the same look as we had planned on and as a result took a smaller part than planned in the final video.

How effective is the combination of your ma

in product and ancillary tasks?

I feel that the relationship and continuity between the three media forms: the music video, magazine advert and the DVD cover are very strong. The main reasons for this is that I have used the same style and image as has been used to produce/ compose them. An example of this is that the same image, a picture of the male character has been used as the background on the DVD cover and magazine advert. In add

ition to this I have also used the same style of font at the same size and in the same colour that, again links the three products together. This is important when trying to advertise or sell the artist, as the viewer needs to be able to see the same style of work at a glace among other artists in a shop or on a music channel like MTV. There are also relationships between the video and the advertising products; these are shown through the same style of images on the DVD cover and the magazine advert as there are in parts of the video. Another major link between the video and DVD cover is that ha

ving the female character on the back of the cover allows the audience/ buyer an insight as to what to expect when watching it. There are also some genre characteristics shown on the DVD cover and magazine that link them to the genre, artist and the music video. For instance the text on the DVD cover are highlighted pink, which connect that with the name of band, ‘The Pink Spiders.’

Some of the buyers may also follow a certain celebrity or like the views of a particular magazine and television channel. This allows me to use this as a marketing point, I have placed three quotes on the magazine advert from: ‘NME’, a TV music channel and online media centre, ‘Q’ another music channel and online medium

and ‘play.com’ an online shop. Having these quotes means that the audience/ buyer may think that if these people/ shops/ music channels think that it is a good song then I will buy it. Also if the quote is from a radio or TV channel they will likely play the song or video and so the viewer would be able to see it before they buy it.

Also because there are both a female and male on the DVD cover it appeals to both male and female buyers, again promoting the artist as the product will not be fixed to when it can be advertised. For example a toy or product that has been designed for a boy would be advertised during a programme or among other toys that are for the same gender and/ or age range.

What have you learnt from the audience feedback?

After my peers had viewed the video along with the magazine advert and DVD cover they wrote their views on my groups blog. However because my class is not the target market for the video, young teenagers aged 13 – 16 their views may be different. From the feedback I learnt that they thought that the video did follow the genre conventions and that the seventeen candles on the cake at the end was a good idea, as they like how ‘it added to the party elements which the song exploits, and explores’ (2). They also felt that there was a strong relationship between the visuals and the music, although they felt that the demands of the record label to be improved by having more variety of shot types especially close up’s of the artist as this would help see them.

I also learnt that the audience thought that the DVD cover looked very professional and that they really like the layout as they felt that it was ‘unique.’ (3). They also felt that the continuity between the different media forms was successful and worked well as well as it containing all the necessary information and features. However, they did feel that the text between the DVD cover and the magazine advert did not match which prevented the continuity continuing between them.

Apart from that drawback I learnt that the target audience felt that the magazine advert portrays the artist positively through having the focus him solely as a clean and new background image. They also liked the quotes and ratings from various important music industry professional advertising, critics and television music channels or magazines. To add to this they also liked the information on where to get and download the video/ song that said ‘available on iTunes now’

After the roughcut feedback, again by my peers, it was clear that there were areas of the project needed to be resolved. The biggest of which was that we were missing a lot of footage, especially for the chorus, which we were going to have a performance and lip-syncing by the male character. Also it was picked up on that some of the footage was repeated which meant that we, again had to film more to fill the gaps where repeated scenes had been.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

In the research stages the main new technology which I used was the Internet and the website ‘Youtube.’ I used this to view other indie bands music videos, which allowed me to see how professional directors used the genre conventions, which camera angles/ shots were used and how these portrayed the artist. At this stage I also used ‘Google’ as it gave me a worldwide search into each point, giving me a greater variety of information from which to continue my research.

In the construction stages I used ‘Final cut express’ to edit my imported video which I filmed using a video camera and tripod. The advantages of using this software are that it is easy to operate, view you product as well as adding video effects, transitions and if desired, text. Also using this makes it easy to convert and upload onto the blog, which I used throughout the whole process, especially the planning stages by documenting my progress, decisions made and responses/ reactions to theses decisions. The blog allowed my group and I to stay in contact with each other outside of lesson times which mean that we could plan when we were going to film etc as well as writing the meet times down and where to meet so we didn’t forget. I also used ‘iPhoto’ to import the images that I inserted on the DVD cover and magazine advert. I chose this software because it is very quick to upload the photographs and easy to add them to ‘Photoshop’ which I used to edit and create the Digipack.

In the evaluation stages I again used the blog to view what my audience and peers said about my video, DVD cover and magazine advert. From this I could then use ‘Microsoft Word’ to write the evaluation containing quotes and information from what had been written.

I feel that since I started Media Studies at Long Road I have improved a great deal in every aspect of filming, editing and producing various media products. From the very first prelim task I undertook in my AS year to the final music video project in A2 I believe that I have developed a good understanding of how to use a variety of different camera angles/ shots, different editing techniques as well as how to manipulate images in Photoshop and the different look/ atmosphere each of these can have on the finished product.

Bibliography

(1) Youtube, The Arctic Monkeys when the sun goes down video-(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W_hEdt1Xes&feature=related)

(2) And (3) Blogger, group 43 blog - (http://43musicvideo09.blogspot.com/)

Screen shots of The Arctic Monkeys when the sun goes down video from Youtube (same URL as the video)

Images of my DVD advert and Magazine advert from Blogger (same URL)

lesson Update

In todays lesson we started work on our digipack. We chose to have a picture of the person who is singing in the video as the background for our magazine advert.

Reviewing Digipack - Take That, The Circus

'Take That, The Circus' Poster

On the cover of the advert i would expect to see the artists name along with a picture of them. I would also want to see the name of the album and the tour name on the cover making it clear to be identified and selected by the public. These visuals will also give the audience an idea of what to expect, for example in the image above, a poster promoting the 'Take That The Circus' tour bright colours are used and as well as an elephant, a common circus animal with the band members riding it. The line which runs under the name 'Take That' also appears on the CD of the tours album which invokes continuity to the tour.

The overall image of the advert should be eye catching, unique, clean and, more importantly appeal to it's target market.

'Take That, The Circus' CD

On the cover i would expect to see much the same as the advert which, again will show continuity and help the public recognize that both media forms are for the same band/ group. Also both the CD cover and Poster use the same colour blue as the background and white font colour, again keeping the image of the band the same.

'Take That, The Circus' CD Cover

Lesson Update

In todays lesson we edited our video further: Firstly we finished gray-scaling the remaining parts of our video. We also began to add video transitions throughout our footage.

For next lesson we plan to capture the last shots, which are the band performing the chorus at the party.

We will also start to design and produce our digipack which involves making a poster with tour dates and information on the band and DVD cover with track names, where it was filmed and on which tour as well as design for DVD image.

Review of last years music video - Group P2-38 'Lotus'

We feel that what makes the video effective and memorable are the low lighting conditions at

the start of the video and when the band performs. This is because using technique hides the

identify of the band which makes the viewer want to see the rest of the video to see what the

band members look like. They also use a technique of back lighting which again creates the

same response.

This video meets the criteria by demonstrating excellence in the following areas:

• holding a steady shot
• framing your shots
• variety of shot distance
• shooting appropriate material
• selecting mise-en-scene
• appropriate set/ locations
• using varied shot transitions
• using sound with images

how does it address goodwins points?

From this video we have seen how variety and the amount of shots can improve a video and

make it more interesting. We have also seen how lighting has a big effect on the overall

atmosphere of the video. We also learnt that using a lower camera angle improves the videos

image as it changes the shot variety and earns points on the advanced criteria. Because of this

will be looking into using different camera angles among other techniques which are displayed

in this video.

Additional filming

After we submitted our roughcut it was clear that there were some large portions of footage missing. We plan to fill most of these gaps with the band singing and performing the chorus of the song. We will also include more shot variety (close ups, long shots etc) as up to now we have only really been using medium shots.

Extreme Close Up:

Close Up:

Long Shot:

Feedback Feedback

We read through the feedback we were given by other groups in our class and have taken it all into consideration. We realized we still need to fill a large section of our work in which we thought lip syncing was the best way to fill this. This way we also stick to the Goodwin's points.

We had positive feedback about the different colour filters which was good as we were most proud about this and it took us a long time to do.

We decided to film some close ups of the female as we haven't got any yet so thought this would be a good idea to include some. This gives it a variety which was mentioned in a feedback from group 48.

Also filming different shots we will be able to replace the scenes which are repeated in the video which some groups did pick up on.

The lip syncing will be demonstrated by the band playing the chorus which we also still need to film.

Review Of Roughcut

Although our roughcut has most of the components which we wanted to include there are still some missing. These include: 

• lip syncing 
• the band playing (performance)
• various editing transitions 

We will plan to shoot the parts missing after half term during one of our media lessons as the shots which we want should not take long. We will fill the gaps with the performance and lip syncing by the band. 

Roughcut

This is our roughcut video, as you can see, we are missing quite a large amount of footage. This would be because of all the problems we ran into when filming and some confusion about the direction of the piece. We have thrown together some rough footage so we wouldn't miss the roughcut deadline, whether all or any of the footage used in the piece will be in the final thing, we are unsure.

One thing we are proud of is the editing of the colour balloons on a black and white filter.

When we first tried to upload the video to the blog, we didn't follow the instructions as well as we thought we had so it wouldn't upload. We cancelled this and started from the beginning and this time managed to upload our rough cut.

Location

As we had a bit of a problem shooting at the start, we finally managed to get a perfect place for our party. It may not be an actual garden but it looks the part. Here are some shots of what we

 used in our "Garden";

....Editing continued

As we had mentioned in our last blog, we had trouble trying to keep our females face in black and white whilst changing the colour of the balloon as they were similar colours. We found out with some help that we could crop some of the footage so it shows different sections of the two video slides. This way we could keep her face looking normal instead of badly sunburnt. 

We cropped the ballon in one slide and put this over the original slot so we ended up with just the balloon red and rest black and white. Once we knew we could do this and got it sorted out, we were able to use this technique in the other places we wanted to change colour and it turned out to be a better quality of colour as well so it worked out better in the end.

Call Sheet For Day 2

Below is the call sheet for the second day of filming with information on filming times, who is needed and when, equipment and props needed and transport details:

Call Sheet For Day 1

Below is the call sheet for the first day of filming with information on filming times, who is needed and when, equipment and props needed and transport details:

Lyrics to our chosen song

Below are the lryics for our chosen song, the pink spiders 'seventeen candles' which we will need to learn before filming our music video.

Every day’s a distraction
All the animals just looking for action
And Emily’s free-styling rhymes
Smoking in the girl’s room to kill some time
Cause all they want is a girl who
Parties hard and doesn’t bother to argue
And nobody’s worse for the wear
Everybody’s cool with the “I don’t care”

Seventeen candles are burning bright tonight
But I’ve a feeling
That she believes she’s a bit old for cake
And gifts and party favours
Emily, everyone told her it don’t get much better
Which only upset her
Could this be as good as it gets?

Just as loud as a half-stack
Of vodka tonic bottled up in her backpack
She’s badder than big heavy Jane’s
She turns it all out but the fact remains
That all we do is talk about the future
Like there’s some way to control it
Why not just enjoy the ride?

Seventeen candles are burning bright tonight
But I’ve a feeling
That she believes she’s a bit old for cake
And gifts and party favours
Emily, everyone told her it don’t get much better
Which only upset her
Could this be as good as it gets?

She said if this is the nightlife I’d rather stay in
You call this a good time I just call it a trip
If this is as good as it gets
Then I’m packing up my shit and I’m gone

Seventeen candles are burning bright tonight
But I’ve a feeling
That she believes she’s a bit old for cake
And gifts and party favours
Emily, everyone told her it don’t get much better
Which only upset her
Could this be as good as it gets?

Seventeen candles are burning bright tonight
But I’ve a feeling
That she believes she’s a bit old for cake
And gifts and party favours
Emily, everyone told her it don’t get much better
Which only upset her
Could this be as good as it gets?

Response..to..feedback.

We've looked at the feedback we've received and there has been some good points made. We have taken these on board and have improved on what has been said.

We have had a lot of constructive criticism concerning the state of the storyboard which will need to be rectified. We will: 

• retake the photo of the storyboard, time sheet and annotation to story board making sure that they are of better quality and in a higher resolution which will make it easier to read and understand 

We will also add more information to the analysis of professional music videos as this will help us to understand techniques which they use. This way we will be able to take these points and use them in our video so it has that professional look to it.

Music Video Analysis

We decided we should look into another song from The Pink Monkeys called "Modern

Swinger". We wanted our bad to be shown in some of the footage in our video. This 

music video shows the band singing and playing the instruments which is what we 

intend to use in our music video. 

They are also dressed as one of our ideas to how we want our band members to wear 

which is another reason for picking this music video to look at. The skinny jeans and 

shirts will go well with our video as its a stereotype in this genre and it is shown in most 

of the groups that are associated with this genre.

This is the link to the music video "Modern Swingers by The Pink Spiders;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcO3D62mH8c  

This picture below is another example of what we intend to have our band look similar

to;

Digipack - magazine rough idea

For our Digipack, we have chosen this because it matches the theme of the music video and incorporates music/lyrics to visuals which will be shown in the video. The DVD cover will follow the same feel as the magazine but will have a different image/ text. Below is what we plan to have as our Digipack cover;

Filming time amendments

We had planned to film our music video outside in a local field. However on the day of shooting the weather was against us and rain was due, because of this we have decided to film our video inside. The props and requirements which we will need will be different from that if we were going to film outside, these differences will be:

• no need for a tent 
• will need a large table 
• space for the band to play 
• dance space 
• lights

filming Times

We will be filming our video on wednesday the 7th october 2009 from 5:00pm onwards as this is the time which it starts to get dark. This way we can have the fairy lights stand out more and make it seem more realistic.

We expect to film it within one evening as we want to have the same clothing, props, food etc throughout the whole video instead of it changed at a point in the video. However if the weather is bad then we may need to carry on on another night but make sure we have everything as last time. 

Props

For our shoot we will need: 

• cake with seventeen candles
• fairy lights
• table
• food and drink 
• marque 
• instrument (2 guitars, bass)
• flood lights 
• guests