Group Meet-Up: Genre Choice

Using Facebook group chat today, my group and I decided that the genre that we would be creating our music video in the style of would be Indie Rock. The reason for this would be that we find this genre to be the one that allows us to make a music video that contains the professionalism and creativity of a real one, as well as giving us interesting experimentation in terms of cinematography, camera angles, mise-en-scene, and contrasts in narrative and performance to name a few. Below is an extract of the concluding part of our conversation that led to us choosing this genre.

Lip Syncing Preliminary Task - Final Product

After all of our lip syncing was finished, we used computer software such as iMovie on the schools Macs to cut and combine the different parts of our footage that, in our opinion, suited the song's lyrics the best, and synchronized it to the MP3 of Busted's "What I Go To School For". Below is the finished product of which Sam and I are very proud of.

Lip Syncing Progress

Today, in lesson, our group was split into two (Callum and Elliot/Sam and I) to see what each group could do differently with the same amount of footage. Sam and I finished the exercise, with Callum and Elliot having to do a little more to finish before we can continue with the overall task.

Vampire Weekend Website Analysis

Preliminary Task Preparation: Practicing Lip-Syncing

Today in our double lesson of A2 Media Studies, my group (Sam Shaw, Callum Birchall, Elliot Robson, and myself) were asked to prepare for our preliminary course task of making a shot-for-shot remake of "What I Go To School For" by Busted by going to different locations and lip-syncing the words into a camera. Callum brought in his own camera and recorded all of us lip-syncing the words, with Sam, Elliot and myself's recording taking place in the sixth form canteen, and Callum's taking place in an empty classroom. We are very glad and amused by our respective lip-syncing and look forward to cutting it all together to make an accurate and clear representation of what our preliminary task needs to be like.

Different Types of Music Video

There are three main different styles of music video which artists tend to use in their music videos: Narrative, Performance and Conceptual.

The narrative focuses more on the storytelling of the video as opposed to the performance side, being more heavily based on the acting elements and mise-en-scene of the scenario shown in the video. An example of this would be the music video for "30 MINUTE BREAK" by The Luka State, featuring actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Game of Thrones, Nanny McPhee) as the lead actor. The narrative of the music video focuses on a domestic violence storyline, but with a twist in that it is the male character that is the victim, not the female.

The performance aspect simply shows the song performed, be it a staged recording or live performance, tending to not have a storyline that the video follows. Examples of this would be the music video for the song "LOVE IS ON THE RADIO" by McFly, that features the band performing the song and messing around in an empty room, or "DEAD AMERICAN WRITERS" by Tired Pony, which simply features actor Joseph Gilgun (This Is England, Misfits) lip-syncing the words whilst looking at the camera.

 
The conceptual music video consists of artificially generated imagery through the advanced used of computer software, resulting in a surreal/psychedelic final music video. An example for this would be the music video for "TEARDROP" by Massive Attack.

Music Video Analysis - "What I Go To School For" by Busted

As part of the research that I need to conduct for our music video production assignment, we have been  looking at the different types and lengths of shots used in music videos. As a result, our class have been tasked with a preliminary task - to make a shot-for-shot remake of the first 90 seconds of the music video for the hit song "What I Go To School For" by Busted. For this preliminary task, I have counted the different amount of shots used in the first 90 seconds of the music video and have found out that that the shot number is approximately between 38-42 shots. As a result, I have a clear understanding of the shots needed to be used, giving me an advantage in the recreation of the music video for the preliminary task.

As the music video can't be found on YouTube, here is a link to it on MUZU.TV:
http://www.muzu.tv/busted/what-i-go-to-school-for-music-video/253222/

Andrew Goodwin's 6 Features of a Music Video

Andrew Goodman stated that music videos ignore common narrative as they are essentially advertisements and, as consumers, we make up our own meaning of a song in our mind. Many different themes and conventions can be found within different music videos, with Goodwin labelling the following 6 features as the 6 conventions of a music video:

Relationship between lyrics/visualsA relationship between the lyrics of the song and the visuals of the music video can be used to illustrate, amplify or contradict the music and video. This is a convention nearly every music video uses. An example of this would be the music video to song "AVOCADO, BABY" by Los Campesinos!. This is illustrated the most evidently with the music video being based around a washed-up presenter of a television chat/game show, complimenting the lyric "And I feel like I'm the host of a terrible game show, and the guests on today's quiz are celebrities. Won't respond to any clues, they're just cracking jokes for views and the answers to these questions mean everything."

Seeing the sounds (thought beats)
These are visuals that are edited in time to the rhythm and lyrics of the song. This is similar to the first convention stated in that it further accelerates the relationship  between the music and visuals, albeit in a more visual way, as opposed to the symbolic way that the first convention uses. A notable music video that uses this would be the song "DO I WANNA KNOW?" by The Arctic Monkeys that has a visual animation that moves in time to the lyrics and instrumental of the song.

Genre-related style/iconography present
This is where music videos become more distinct as a result of the conventions of their respective music genre. This reflects the different ways in which music genres are given recognition as a result of conventions found in that specific genre, in that the music videos for each genre have different codes and conventions that they abide by. An example of this in a music video would be the indie song "TINY LEGS" by Then Thickens. The video features actor Joseph Gilgun (Misfits, This Is England) lip-syncing the song whilst being humiliated on camera. This can signify the lack of theatrics in the indie music genre, as well as the lack of recognition that the indie music genre often receives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ySalXvHEJc




Multiple close-ups of main artist/vocalist
This is a convention used in most music videos to signify the artist/frontman gaining more recognition within the public eye. An example of this would be the music video for "AMERICAN IDIOT" by Green Day, which has multiple close-ups of the band's frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong. In doing this, the video gives the audience an insight into the voice of the band, as well as the angsty/punk vibe that the band will emit in their music.

Voyeurism plays major part
An attractive (usually female, backing up Lara Mulvey's "Male Gaze" theory) person who is portrayed as a sexual object throughout the video. An example of this would be the female dancers used in the music video for "BLURRED LINES" by Robin Thicke feat. T.I. and Pharrell Williams, where the dancers are increasingly sexualised as a result of their actions and the attitudes of the artists towards them.

Intertextual references
This means the referencing of another type of media within the music video, such as a film, a book or another song. An example of this would be the music video to "MOVIES" by Alien Ant Farm, that pays homage to the films 'GHOSTBUSTERS', 'WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY', 'EDWARD SCISSORHANDS' and 'THE KARATE KID'. Another example would be the music video to the song "PORK AND BEANS" by Weezer, which features several different people that are well-known throughout the popular video-sharing website, YouTube, as well as paying tribute to YouTube culture as well.

Media Theories

 In this powerpoint, I have detailed in-depth several different media theories. These theories are: Propp's Character theory, Todorov's Narrative theory, Strauss' Binary Opposition theory, (Thomas and Vivian) Sobchack's Genre theory, Bandura's BoBo Doll study, Instant Gratification theory, Dyer's "Star" Theory, Laura Mulvey's "Male Gaze" Theory, Uses and Gratifications Theory, Hypodermic Syringe Model, and Cohen's Moral Panic theory.

Song Choices I'm Considering for my Music Video

In this blog post, I will be including 3 songs I believe would be good song choices  to use in my final product (and their already established music videos) due to the fact I believe they suit the music genre I want to be portraying/representing in my final product, and include conventions I think link quite well to both the genre and music videos in general.

The first song/music video I have included is to the song "Avocado, Baby" by the Welsh, six-piece indie pop band 'Los Campesinos!', directed by actor Craig Roberts (Submarine, Bad Neighbors, 22 Jump Street). The reason I am considering using this song is that it has quite an upbeat, catchy tune, yet depressing and cynical lyrics which I believe would be something quite interesting to portray in a music video. As well as this, the music video itself uses an unedited, single take for the entirety of its runtime, showing itself to be a well-made video with lots of thought gone into it, making it challenge to possibly create a final product that matches the original. Finally, the song itself would be a good one to match both the story and performance parts of the video.

The second song/music video I have included is to the song "Not Drowning but Waving" by Oxford, 5-piece guitar band 'Spring Offensive', starring actor Matt Stokoe (Misfits, The Village). The reason that I am considering using this song is that it mixes harmonies with dark lyrics and rhythms, creating a dark tone that again would be interesting to portray in a music video but also script and act out something that matches the tone. As well as this, the song itself has a slow build, meaning for more chance for the music video to grow bigger as the music does.

The final song/music video I have included is the song "Momentum" by Dancing Lotus feat. 2 Deep. The reason I am considering using this song is that it combines different music genres such as alternative, hip hop, rock, and rap, which would add diversity to our final product and be fun to play out. As well as this, the song also uses a variety of musical instruments such as guitars, violins, drums and a choir which we could use in our final product, adding more to the conventions of a real music video, giving our music video an added depth of professionalism.

Introduction to my Blog

In our introductory lesson of Year 13 Media Studies today, we found out that our assignment would be to create a music video which is to be completed over the course of the year. The music video itself will be to an already published song but we aim to create a final product that matches the creativity, professionalism and interest of a real music video.

The music video will be part of a promotion package for an album release, which will also contain two of the following three options:
-a website homepage for the band.
-a digipak for the album's release.
-a magazine advertisement for the digipak.

In order to accomplish this assignment, we will have to work and complete tasks within a group so the final product can be an accurate and professional representation of a real music video. My group consists of 4 members - Sam Shaw, Callum Birchall, Elliot Robson, and myself. The reason that we all chose to work together on this assignment is that we all have mutual respect for each other and listen to each others ideas, meaning it would be easier to create a high quality music video with everyone's point of view getting across. Another advantage would be that we all have an understanding of the work that goes into a real music video, with myself having knowledge in acting and directing; Sam, Callum, and Elliot all having an understanding of the musical side; and all of us having an understanding of camera work and scripting. As a result, we all have professionalism in each aspect we can bring to the music video, giving us an advantage in gaining a high quality finished final product.