Friday 23 October 2009

Group Animatic

The link above will take you to our animatic for our music video - this will be the foundation of our plan when we go on shoot, and it has given us a great indication as to what we need to do when on shoot...All that is left now is to shoot and edit...

JB - Shot Ideas: Part 2


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZBQwHd_1Vo

As you can see, above are just a couple more ideas of ways to carry out certain shots, and emotions that we want to convey on screen. The black and white photo from East 17's 'Stay another Day', shows how using black and white on flash back narrative sections can have a huge impact to the type of mood it gives, mainly a sombre feel adding to the theme of love in boy band songs. Also the CU's of *Nsyncs 'Girlfriend' shows how it adds to the sexual magnetism of the boy band which is one of Richard Dyers key terms when thinking about 'Stardom'.

JB - Autuer Directors




An Autuer music video Director is someone who breaks the boundaries of typical conventions characteristics and norms of music videos. This makes the director more of an artists, hence 'Autuer'. This means that the director will have his or her own style when creating a film or music video, and will have all of the control over what is happening in the video. I have looked at the work of Chris Cunningham (known for his videos with Bjork) and Spike Jonze. Bjork's style matches the ideas of Chris cunningham as you can see in the first image, as she tries to portray a very futuristic feel to add to her meta narrative and star persona. This is why the futuristic, robotic style of Cunningham is seen to work well. As well as this, Autuer Directors may wish to use iconic actors and actresses when making the video. For example in Spike Jonze's Fat boy Slim Video 'Weapon of Choice' in which he uses Christopher Walken.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hDGAvqwgdk

‘The Kooks’ Product Analysis JP

I have chosen to analyse a different type of band to what we are going to be doing for our own music video. ‘The kooks’ are a band who is widely recognised by many people in UK indie music. I have decided to take a different approach to find out more about what kinds of camera shots are being used in different videos which we could possibly use in our own music video. By looking at a different genre of music it has opened more doors and given me more ideas to make our video more successful.

The music video I have chosen to analyse is by The Kooks ‘naïve’. The reason why I chose this music video is because it is familiar to me and it is a song I enjoy. At the beginning of the music video there is a medium long shot of the main artist walking down the stairs in a party atmosphere. This shot is used to set the scene to an extent, showing the main artist and his surroundings, giving the audience a clear understanding of what the video will entail. Right from the start there is a feeling of youthfulness and all the stereotypes which surrounds youth culture in today’s society. Throughout the music video there is a number of close up shots of the main singers face, this gives a true indication of the singer’s facial expressions allowing the audience to tell what mood he is in and more of an understanding of what is going on in the video. The music video is mainly narrative based because there is a story relating to the lyrics which are being performed throughout.

Throughout the music video there is a representative of young teenage people and the stereotypes surrounding youth drinking and parties. It is almost trying to put forward a certain message for people to look at and perhaps relate to the situation. I feel the video is aimed towards a younger audience because these are the types of people who may have been in a similar situation themselves and will enjoy the song as well as the video. It has proved to be helpful by analysing different types of music to that of a boy band. The shot types are mainly the same; there are a lot of close up shots of the main singer, lots of panning shots, MCU shots of the singer and a narrative to fit the lyrics which is what we are trying to create in our own.

However unlike boy bands, the idea of cult of youth and beauty is not being portrayed. Furthermore the band member’s looks are not being put on show; the song is not being sold further and does not generate a huge fan base through the way they look. In a boy-band music video, the female audience are drawn in because of the male’s sex appeal. During this video ‘naïve’ there doesn’t seem to be a promotion of the main singers looks, he isn’t being portrayed as a sex icon for women.

Thursday 22 October 2009

Story board/Animatic

When we began story boarding our animatic, it became apparent how many shots we need to think about in order to create a good music video. We have to keep our shots originality to create the right effect. We divided up tasks amongst the group in order to finish them by the deadline. Each of us took a section of the song to story board and think up ideas which we could involve in our animatic. Mitch began editing the animatic why Jon and I story boarded our ideas and began to film what we had done.

Wednesday 14 October 2009

JB - Product Analysis #2

Music Video Analysis #2 – Blazin’ Squad ‘Lets Start Again’


Blazin’ Squad’s Video for ‘Let’s start again’ is very urban and contemporary when looking at typical forms and conventions of boy band music videos in the pop genre. The Boy band does display typical conventions, and characteristics of the genre, but they use an urban base for their video which enables them to take away the cheesiness of the genre. The music video is a performance based one and starts with a series of establishing shots on the artists, and also shows us the location in Tokyo, Japan. The notion of looking is used a number of times throughout the video where the artists look at the camera towards the audience, for example when the second artist enters into his verse coming up the steps. This shows us that they are singing towards the audience, trying to create a connection and relationship with their fans. This is an emblematic convention in pop genre videos, particularly performance based, because it is all about conveying to the audience the star persona of the artist and creating that bond. A link is shown between the lyrics and the visuals, mainly through the main chorus ‘Let’s start again’ in which the boy band are literally walking through the city in despair as if they are lost without their love. The lyrics “you don’t see what I see, girl’ also relates to the visuals which connotes the band are always in different cities just leaving their girlfriends at home. This shows examples of illustration and also there is a link with the time of the beat and the time of the cutting and editing. The very first shot is defiantly showing a link between the visuals and the lyrics also as it shows the passing of time. The simple image of a clock brings many connotations, most of which relate to the songs lyrics. This video combines both performance and very slight narrative, adding to their grand narrative/meta narrative, and yet with the street dancers in the video this makes it, to some extent, post modern, combining both advertising and art for the band to sell their track. This is used, according to Emap’s research on music video audiences, for both ambient viewers and focused viewers, where subconsciously the audience become attracted to the video and song, resulting in hopefully some sort of purchase of the track or more tracks from the same band. The music video also helps give viewers the opportunity to get to know their artists more, and build on that personal bond.

Visual techniques are used throughout the video through the range of shots, shot sizes and shot angles, and also through lighting. Straight from the beginning with the establishing shots we gain the location through shots of Japanese shop fronts, traffic lights, and pedestrian crossings, crowds of people, car lights, and street lights. These street lights signify an urban feel, and the traffic signifies a busy street which can be related further to connote the busy lifestyle that the boy band leads. Camera movement is also used in the first establishing shots and a slight handi-cam movement is used as the band artist walks away. Another visual technique is the way that the camera moves into and out of focus creating this blur effect. A common convention of boy band music videos is to have the camera tracking towards and away from the artists. By adding on the blur, or out of focus effect it creates a much more atmospheric feel, giving connotations that seem more emotional and this anchors the genre of music whereby the common theme throughout the song is ‘love’. A series of close up shots, medium long shots and medium shots in the taxi are used, making the location seem accessible for the audience, and creating a feel that we as the audience are actually perhaps in the city or with them in the taxi. This suggestion of the band in the taxi actually makes the band seem more like everyday people because it makes them seem like typical British lads, as oppose to rich boys that go everywhere in a limo. The quick paced editing anchors this camera work, by moving with the music, and also there is more post production editing with the colour wash that denotes the night life that they live as boy band members. In certain points in the video we see use of intertextuality and references to popular culture with the use of the street dancers, underground tube stations and mainly the clothes that they wear which are mainstream from shops such as Top man – which may show possible star motifs and iconography such as the necklace of one of the members.

The location chosen by the production team is one that definitely enhances the boys meta-narrative. The location shows the three English boys, making it internationally. They are showing to the audience that they are becoming increasingly popular throughout the international scene, perhaps more than they are in England. The group were originally a 10 member boy band, who concentrated mainly on the UK hip hop scene. The video shows just three of them continuing in the band. However, rather than choosing an obvious over seas location, such as the United States, the band chose one that is never really seen in music videos - Tokyo, Japan. This tells us that the video has its own originality and creativeness, which may add to certain star motifs of the members.
This whole ideology of what the slight narrative is trying to convey is shown through the mise en scene of the band members. The clothes the band where are very mainstream which tells us that they want to be seen as everyday normal characters. This makes the band seem both extraordinary and ordinary, one of Richard Dyers key paradoxes. Other mise en scene such as the shops that we see the boy band drive past in the taxi seems very tourist like, which connotes that they are like any other tourist when they travel to different countries and also the underground tube station emphasises the type of urban genre they have and how they still want to be known as a less mainstream boy band and more of a grime boy band. Other mise en scene such as the coffee cart in the surroundings of one of the locations give this implication of ‘late night’ and tells the audience that they do stay up late, maybe because they are bothered, worried or disturbed by the love in the theme of the song. This is anchored by the other mise en scene such as late night take away stalls and the vacant tube station.

In the video we see dominant ideologies of the working class background of the boys, being reinforced, however challenged in the sense that they choose to keep that appearance in their video. They could have gone all out and sat in limo’s, instead of taxi’s and gone to posh restaurants instead of small take away stalls and vending machines, but instead they wanted to show the audience their true nature. They want to be seen as people that work hard for what they achieve and they certainly achieve the two paradoxes of Richard Dyers theory. Richard Dyer said that the term ‘stardom’ all came down to a set of semi-mythological meanings containing different values of stardom. Blazin’ Squad achieve some of these by showing, international success, sexual magnetism, youth, and some rebellion. Dyer also talks about what roles the stars play, and he says that they are commodities of the business, and stars depend on subsidiary media. He says that ‘the star image is incoherent’ based upon two key paradoxes. The first being a star must be both ordinary and extra-ordinary and the second being the star must be both present and absent to its audience. This video is a great example of showing both these qualities of a ‘Star’ as the location and mise en scene they have chosen all adds up to give this overall representation.

This music video product, would most certainly be targeted towards young females much like most boy band genre products. The age range being from young teenagers from the age of 10 till possible some older people in the age of about 18-21. The product would be sold in all worldwide mainstream shops as oppose to niche market shops, and would be in shops such as HMV and shown on music channels for example KISS, MTV Base, Channel AKA, and FLAVA.

Tuesday 13 October 2009

MH- product analysis 2

JLS- Beat again

From the beginning of the video, it is evident that this video is for a boyband. It has all the typical conventions of a boyband video and is executed in exactly the same style as most other videos of this pop genre. Furthermore, in boyband videos, sometimes there is a link between the visuals and lyrics, however in this video, there is evidently no link. In fact the whole video is performance based as the band are dancing and singing in synchronisation with the song and so this video is an example of amplification. Furthermore, a first person mode of address is used throughout the video, which indicates that this is a boyband video, as this technique creates a voyeuristic aspect for the sequence. This further reinforces the typical conventions of a boyband video as boyband’s are generally represented as young attractive males, as this supports the cult of youth and beauty, ultimately creating more of a fan base. The video therefore, is post-modern in the way that the video has no other reason than to promote their music and sell their product, ultimately meaning that the video is an advert for their product. This is why the band is represented as perfectly moulded young males, so that the appeal to the band is broadened.
The video is very upbeat and fast pace, therefore, the shots are cut very quickly and there are a lot of shots used, throughout the performance there is a consistent pan from left and right of the performance area, and also a consistent zoom in & out, these shots are alternated so that the visuals are constantly changing, this is so the video is open to repeatability. Every now and then the shots are cut with a blink effect; this is used so that the shots can jump easily to another shot. For example, there is a close up of Astons face, then the blink is used and the next shot is of the band performing. Close ups are used throughout the video so that the audience can get a detailed look at each of the young men’s face, this could be viewed as quite provocative in the sense that young females may be attracted to the group.
The only social group represented in the video is young males. And this video connotes that all young males are attractive, athletic men. Furthermore they are represented like they should be iconic for the younger generation, and in many ways this becomes true, for their recent success has boosted their popularity in the younger generation. They are all represented as likeable characters as they all smile throughout the performance, and create this first person mode of address as i mentioned previuously. There is no idealogical discourse as such which is used in this video, only the cult of youth and beauty which promotes the band as an astheticaly pleasing group of young males. no other institutions or groups are represented throughout the video which creates this focus on just the band, which would glamourize there fame and stardom.
This video would be played on all music channels that play general pop and recent hits, as this channel spreads out to a wider audience than those that just focus on hip-hop/soul/R&B videos, although the video could be played on those channels also. the target audience would probably mainly be teenagers or young adults as these groups are more likely to be interested in commercial music.

Pitch Slide show

Thursday 8 October 2009

MH- Brighton Reccie

This was the video from brighton, we practised using the camera and familiarising ourselves with the equipment. we took various shots that would be conventionally used, in a boyband. we tried to perform to some extent, but our performance skills were limited due to lack of dance practice, and choreography.

.

Wednesday 7 October 2009

JB - Lighting Problems We May Encounter Out on Shoot

Since choosing a more edgy and urban path for shooting our music video it is evident that a major aspect that will anchor this feel is to shoot at night. This however, comes with certain lighting issues.

The Media Studies Department has some small lighting equiptment, however this will not do considering where there is light, it needs to be powered by some sort of generator, therefore we cannot walk around public places with massive generators. Whilst trying to come up with some ideas in a discussion between the whole group, it came to my attention that I have some battery powered Bright light strips at home that are used in the event of things like Blackouts, and powercuts. These lights are especially designed to brighten up entire rooms, and there power is very substantial. This is something we shall use in our shoot.

JP Audience Research Discussions

Mitch and Jon, i need up-dating on what target audience we are producing our music video to? Are we going for the younger generation? middle aged? i think that we should focus more on the younger generation but giving small reference to older people in our video for the song title 'everybody in love'. We have had brief discussions about what we should target our music video to before but it seems unclear?

MH- Outfits

After researching the typical outfits and type of clothing for the boyband genre, i came up with some ideas for what our boyband could be wearing. most of the clothing would be very new, modern and in fashion. furthermore, each look would need to be repeated for each member of the boyband, to create some sort of correlation. most of the time boyband's use this correlation, futhermore sometimes they each have their own individual look. this applies to the colours also, either all of the colours match or all of the colours are different. here is a collection of outfits i gathered together, to show tyhe type of clothing that we would be wearing.

Group Discussions

After a lot of consideration on locations as to where we will film our music video, we have decided to take a different and less 'cheesy' approach. Before hand, we planned to conform to the conventions of a boyband but now however, we have decided to take a more 'urban' feel. After discussions we have decided to shoot more shots at night time and play with different lighting techniques to give a professional and stylish effect. We will shoot a lot of our shots in london and greenhithe castle to generate the right look for our music video. Lots of fast, quick paced shots of things such as shop fronts, buildings, cars driving in the dark, street lamps and generalistic things which gives a more urban feel to our video.

Saturday 3 October 2009

JB - Shot ideas: Part 1

The image above is one take from the music video by Blazing Squad 'Let's Start Again.' Throughout the video it involves the boys walking around a City Centre, which is similar to some of the ideas we have had as a group. Whilst watching the video, certain shots became evident as the most effective, and this example of an establishing shot of the traffic, lets the audience know they are at the city centre.


This one here is CU of the wing mirror, with the headlight in the background, and the rest of the background appearing blurry. Blurring is an effect I have seen in a number of boy band videos and is something that we would like to add in the editing of ours. The view in the wing mirror lets us know the location as Hong Kong.



This is a MS of the singer/artist walking along the street. The angle on the member of the band is good, and as he walks the lights of the passing traffic creates a good effect. This is also a good angle on showing the emotions of the character being portrayed in the video.

Here is another example of an establishing shot on another member of the band:



This shot shows the artists looking disparingly at the vending machine, perhaps at his reflection. This gives the idea of the notion of looking in a music video, something that we may consider when shooting and framing.



The two shots above are some examples of establishing shot. The shot of the clock connotes the turning back of time to 'start again' and the shot of the car lets us know that a member of the video will be in it. these Establish the scene and anchor the lyrics in the song.

To view the full video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3DLgsoZnWY