lip synching

I found lip synching extremely amusing as you can see in the videos. the hardest part is getting over the embarrassment of singing without any sound. After that its pretty fun. It is vital that you know the lyrics of the song back to front as mistakes are clearly shown.....which you see in the first attempt.

1ST ATTEMPT

2nd attempt

Much better, but I need to concentrate a bit more.

Initial Ideas

Here is a clearer view on a spreadsheet.

So first lesson on ideas and already we know the kind of genre we want to do. ROCK/PUNK/POP ???????? So next is brainstorming ARTISTS

Notice how these are all female artists ? Well that is because our group is made up of 4 females therefore its only right we do a song by a woman right ?

These images sum up our intial ideas. We wanted to do something different , rocky and fun. We wanted to deviate from the norm of what a typical college student does for a music video.

I see Kat Von D as a classy yet edgy and unique woman, therefore making her one of my idols. I like the fact that shes not afraid to be herself and this is exactly how i want our band to be like. BECAUSE IF YOU LIKE WHO YOU ARE THEN OTHER PEOPLE WILL !

With the image of Kat in my head the artist that immediately came to mind was P!NK !!! The two are so alike in terms of personality and originality. So it was decided that we would do a pink song !

There are 4 girls in our group, so its only right we become a rock band! This means GUITARS, DRUM KITS, and more GUITARS!

So with our genre and artist chosen, its left to choose the song and what better P!NK song to express your greatness than "SO WHAT"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XKZh3vWeGc

History of Music Video

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music/song. These days music videos are made purely as marketing device to promote the sale of music recordings. Music videos first came into their own in the 1980's, when MTV based their format and then later with the launch of VH1.

The term 'music video' only became popular in the 1980's. before that they were called 'Filmed inserts' , 'promotional film', 'promotional clip' or 'film clip'. In China music videos were knows as 'MTVs' because the network was responsible for bringing them popularity in the country. They are now known as MVs in China.

Music videos have a wide range of styles such as :

Animation

Live Action Filming

Documentaries

Non-narrative

Many music videos do not interpret images from the songs lyrics, making it less literal than expected.

In 1981, the video channel MTV lauched, airing 'Video killed the radio star' thus began the era of music 24/7 on TV.

This new outlet for material allowed the music video to become very popular in music marketing.

Iconic moments on the chart are Michael Jackson's thriller. It is the most successful and influential music video of all time. The video is nearly 14minutes long and set new standards for production as it cost $500,000 to film. This video also played a key part in getting videos by other African American artists played on MTV. Thriller was directed by John Landis (a film director).

Visit to Rich Mix

"Located in the heart of East London, Rich Mix is a social enterprise that offers live music, film, dance, theatre, comedy, spoken word and a range of creative activities for people of all ages and all cultures. All profits go back to support education, arts and community activities which nurture new and emerging talent"

On we went to Richmix which is an arts center near Liverpool Street. The entire class went and the purpose of the trip was basically to meet the Media examiner who will be marking all our coursework.

He told us about the six key elements which could be seen in almost every music videos and these six elements are:

The video lasts at least as long as the track (can be longer if you have an intro or outro or both)
The video features the artist/band quite prominently
The video features some element of performance- singing and playing instruments (usually miming) and often dancing or acting too
The video has some kind of concept along with the track
The video does not feature a complete narrative but the concept may involve fragments of narrative
Different genres of music produce slightly different visual conventions in music videos

He also said that it can be a mistake to go for something too well known as the image of the original will always be hanging over you, particularly the image of the artist. There is plenty of material available from relatively unknown bands which you could use from MySpace or elsewhere; you can create an image from scratch with your own performers adopting the role of the band.

He advised us to choose a track which stimulates some visuals and which isn't too long. Three minutes for a music video is enough of a challenge, so don't go for some five minute epic- you'll struggle to sustain it for the viewer.

EXAMINERS BLOG

We also met a director called Corin hardy. In 2003, he created an award winning stop motion short called 'Butterfly' which he showed at the Edinburgh film festival. A band called Keane decided they wanted to use 'Butterfly' for their first music video. In the end he directed their music video and created a different animation which fit the style of the artists.

Here is the video by Keane

Another video which Corin has directed is Paul Nutini's - Pencil full of lead

An interesting fact is that this video was actually filmed without Paul being there. Corin shot the video twice. Once with a man there and then without. The Animation was then added in post production.

Ben Peters - Music Video Director

Our media class was visited by Ben Peters who is a music video director. He is famous for directing videos for artists such as N-Dubz and Skepta.

"Ben Peters is an innovative, up and coming director best known for his work producing UK urban music videos with stunning visuals and high production values. His cinematic flair and high production values, even when working with low budgets put him in increasing demand in the shrinking music video industry. Some of Ben Peters less known work has become recognizable for his signature cameos, long stedi-cam shots and experimental narratives."(Hiphoppress.com)

During his visit, he spoke to us about various things that are of importance in the music industry. For example short music videos are preferred to longer ones as channels are more likely to accept it. This is because the sorter a music video is, the more that a channel can play in an hour therefore they make more money.

During the session, i also learnt that a music video usually takes around a day or two to shoot, which is a small amount of time compared to shooting a full length feature film.

He also spoke to us about jobs on set of a video shoot. Some had funny names and i was shocked to learn that they were actual jobs. For example

SPARK - electricians assistant

GAFFER - head lighting technician

GRIP - builds a Daly (moving camera)

GRADER - colourist

BEST BOY - another word for spark.

Overall, his visit was very interesting and informative as it taught us a lot about the music industry.

Here is one of his music videos. Its by N-Dubz and its called 'best behaviour'

Brief/Outline

Brief

A2 G324: Advanced portfolio in Media

1) 1) A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options.

a) Website homepage for the band

b) A cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)

c) A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package)

Introduction

My name is Rachel Owusu-Dappah, and I am currently studying As Levels at Haringey Sixth Form College. The subjects I am enrolled in are: English literature, Media, Psychology and Drama. I currently play basketball for the school team, Enfield Phoenix team and also for Middlesex University. My other hobbie's include: reading, writing short stories and poems and public speaking/debating.

I want to be a film director in the future and it is my dream to write, direct and star in my own film.