Research - Examples of Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture

Illustration

Amplification

Disjuncture

Illustration: This is where the video tells the story of the lyrics.

Amplification: Occurs when the videos introduce a new meaning that do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning.

Disjuncture: This is where there is little connection between the lyric and the video or where the video contradicts the lyrics.

Research - Summary Of Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Propp/Todorov

Research - Analysis Of A Music Video

Enrique Inglesias - Tonight (I'm Loving You)

Dance-Pop

• This music video shows typical examples of dismemberment for this type of genre. where women are only shown as a bundle of legs and bodies.
• Alot of the women in this video are shown as dressed 'inappropriately' or shown to be very 'sexual' and therefore are only shown and hardly listened to.
• Women are all young possibly in their early 20's. 
• The artist is particularly good looking and is very common in this type of genre.

Research - What is the function of a music video?

What Makes A Good Music Video?

1. Rhythm Editing
2. Attractive Artists
3. Interesting Locations
4. A Good Message
5. Choreography
6. Image & Song/Music Should All Match
7. Strong Narrative
8. Fast Edits (Obvious Edits)
9. Originality
10. Tempo
11. Attractive Bodies
12. Repeated Central Image

Research - Copyright Clearance

I have not recieved a reply from them yet

Reflecting Back On The AS Year! -->AS Skills That Have Developed

Camera Skills:

• Using Manual Focus rather than Automatic Focusing to avoid losing focus during a shot.

• Avoid using Zoom as it will ruin the quality of the shot and help improve anti-camera shake. (using the tripod to avoid this too)

• The Switch to let more light into the camera when filming in dark locations and to lighten up the footage.

Film Making:

• Planning the shots and location

• Making sure there’s at least a few seconds in and out of the shot to make it easier to edit footage.

• To help make continuous editing easier and flow, continue filming onwards from the point stopped.

• Reviewing footage after it has been shot to avoid disappointment when going to edit the footage and realising certain imperfections.

Editing:

• Cropping footage

• Using transitions effectively

• Merging two different shots into one using ‘overlay’

• Fading into a shot

• Slowing down footage to show/emphasise certain information to the audience

• Using filters to show feelings through the main character, for example paranoia

• Using text over footage effectively, including animations

Sound:

• Choosing certain sounds to give the impression of mystery/tension/horror etc

• Syncing the sound to the shot or vice versa to make the shot seem more natural and less obvious

• Fade in and fade out

Research: Final shortlist of songs

During our planning process we managed to reduce a shortlist of songs down to three songs these were 'Noah and the Whale - 5 years time,' 'Two door cinema club - What you know' and 'You me at six - Kiss and tell.' These songs made the shortlist because we enjoyed their quirkiness and thought we would be able to create a strong music video for any of them. Also because we wanted to be unique and create an indie rock video instead of the common trend to produce a R 'n' B video.

'Two door cinema club - What you know' is one of the songs and our favourite due to its exciting pace and the way the chorus comes in also we have a lot of ideas on ways we can make the video work well for us.

'Noah and the whale - five years time'  this is a song that we thought we would have fun to create a video for but we may have struggled to be serious and dedicated for as it may become just having fun.

'You me at six - kiss and tell' this was our least likely choice as it may have been the most difficult to edit and film. Another reason for us not doing this song was because of the song pace we thought it would be hard to perform and get the lip sync correct.

Research // Analysis of a Music Video

Dizzee Rascal - Holiday

As a class, we looked at 'Holiday' by Dizzee Rascal. We discussed the video and decided if it was the right video for the genre.


These are the bullet points we came up with:

• Dismemberment - women as just legs or bodies
• All women are in bikinis and are young (early 20s)
• Double standard as men are dressed up
• Goldie eyeing up women as she enters 
• Never hear a female voice - even though they are seen talking
• Typical for the genre

These elements are what makes the video attractive. The artist already attracts a major audience because of who he is but the use of semi-naked women attracts a further male audience.

Reflecting Back on AS year Lip-sync Tutorial 2011

During the lip sync tutorial we learnt how to effectively sync the footage to the song.

we listened to the song and matched the footage accordingly and created several tracks with different layers of footage which all matched the song.

we then learned how to created markers based on the song to help make cutting the footage easier and easily cut the shots to the beat, to make the editing more interesting.

the effective use of mixing different shots together and making editing more obvious was the key to creating a good music video, oh and lip syncing is also very crucial! :)

Reflecting back on the As year: lip sync

I did not attend the lesson on lip synching but I have conducted some research in my own time. From my research I found how important lip synching is to  make a video professional. Some key aspects of lip synching are to not mime but to actually sing the words to the song so knowing the lyrics are vital and also to make sure you pace the song correctly while filming as it will not look right when it is time to edit if the way the lyrics or the timing of the lyrics is off.

Reflecting back on the As year: Technical skills

During the As year I attained a variety of technical skills both before and during the production of my cinema opening. Here are some of the skills I was able to pick up during my As year.

• I was able to learn how to operate both the JVC camera and the tripod to a relatively high standard
• I learned how to use the MACs appropriately and efficiently 
• I also learned how to use final cut pro, soundtrack pro and livetype to edit the clips, add sound and add text to my thriller all these elements helped to make my thriller seem a lot more professional  

Reflecting back on the As year: Digipak

My class was not involved in making a digipak therefore i am unable to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses.

Reflecting back on the As year: Digipak

My class were not given the assignment to create a Digipak last year.

Research // Requesting Copyright Permission

Here are two photos of my attempt to gain copyright permission for two songs.

I have yet to receive permission.

Research // Genres We Could Use

There are many different genres we could use for our music video. Listed below are a few genres with examples of videos:


R&B: Rihanna - What's My Name 

Rock: Paramore - Misery Business

Pop: Girls Aloud - Call the Shots 

Metal (Death or Heavy): Bullet For My Valentine - Your Betrayal

Other genres are; Grime, Reggae, Soul, Hip Hop and Dubstep.

Research // What Is The Function Of A Music Video?

The function of a music video is to entertain the viewers. It can also be used to portray the meaning behind the lyrics so they can be fully understood.


What makes a great music video?

• Rhythm Editing
• Attractive Bodies
• Interesting Locations
• Good Message
• Choreography
• Image, Song and Music should all match
• Strong Narratives
• Fast Edits
• Originality
• Tempo
• You can see the meaning of the song in the video
• Attractive Artists
• Repeated central image

Reflecting back on the AS year: Lip sync tutorial

Last year in June we done a lip sync tutorial where we had to match up the sound of a song to a video that was shot. The task sounded easy at first, however i soon realised it wasn't as easy as i seemed. It took a lot of patience and precision to get it correct. If you are even 0.1 second out, it ruins the video becuase when the lip sync is out it is very noticable when the singers mouth is not moving in time with the words.

So what we basically done is creat a music video with the footage by editing together loads of shots of the band. In a music video you need to have a lot of edits to make it more entertaining and interesting to the viewer as having the same shot for more than 8 seconds will bore the viewer. We then matched up the sound of the music with the sound of the singer, which in turn made it look like the singers voice was the same as what was being played in the music.

Reflecting back on the AS year: Technical Skills I Developed

Last year while working on making a thriller film, I developed a lot of technical skills. These skills will be very useful this year when making my music video as I will be able to use existing skills that I know to edit and shoot, while also gaining new technical skills that will help make my music video better.
The skills I learned last year include:

• Learning how to use and set up the LVC camera and tripod.
• Using the video drives: for storing all footage, pictures, sounds and any other data.
• Mac computers: we used these for all our work.
• Using Final Cut Pro: this was for all the editing of footage and editing it all together.
• Soundtrack Pro: for creating the soundtrack for the Thriller Openings.
• Handbrake: for converting video files into mp4 format.
• Livetype: for creating interesting titles to include in the opening.
• Blogger: for posting, keeping a record of planning, embedding videos and keeping track of deadlines and other changes.
• Flip cameras: used for recording feedback from other groups on the finished pieces.

Reflecting back on the AS year: Digipak

The class I was in last year did not make a digipak, therefore I cannot evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the digipak.

However here are some examples of digipaks that I have researched 

The Killers - Greatest Hits 

 

Rihanna - Loud

From these two images above you can see that though they are very different in their styles of music, their digipaks share some similarities. For example both of their main images are of the band or artist, this is to promote the artists image and so that when on the shelf, the customer can instantly tell who the album is by and what style the artist is going for. Moreover colour is very important in the albums image, as you can see The Killers which are an indie band have more dark colours and Rihhana, who is a pop artist uses a lot brighter colours.

Reflecting Back on the AS year! ... Lip-sync Tutorial June 2011

During the lip-syncing exercise in June, I learnt how to accurately match footage with sound. I have learnt that you really have to pay close attention to the footage to match the sound in the correct places, as one little piece out of sync tends to muddle the whole thing. In addition, it is not all about having a straight on shot of the artists in the video, you have to use a wide range of shots, and these do not all have to be of the artists! It is a good idea to have a few shots of someone else or even multiple people, as this can be more effective depending on the song choice.

Lip-syncing is not as easy as people think. It is not all about filming the footage and editing the song on later, you have to have the pacing of the song right during the filming otherwise you won't be able to edit the song on properly later! It is always better to sing the song on camera and mute the sounds after, that way, the pacing will be right and you are less likely to forget to move your mouth! This happened to my group at the end of the AS year, we had no previous experience and tried to mime the song on camera. Unfortunately, the footage we had showed our singer mimed the wrong words in the wrong places.

Reflecting Back on the AS year! ... Technical Skills Learnt from AS

During the AS year, I developed many technical skills working on the Thriller Opening. I can use most of these skills during the creation of our music videos. These skills included:

• Using and setting up the LVC camera and tripod.
• Video drives: for storing all footage, pictures, sounds and any other data.
• Mac computers: we used these for all our work.
• Using Final Cut Pro: this was for all the editing of footage and editing it all together.
• Soundtrack Pro: for creating the soundtrack for the Thriller Openings.
• Handbrake: for converting video files into mp4 format.
• Livetype: for creating interesting titles to include in the opening.
• Blogger: for posting, keeping a record of planning, embedding videos and keeping track of deadlines and other changes.
• Flip cameras: used for recording feedback from other groups on the finished pieces.

Reflecting Back on the AS year! ... 'Digipak' Strengths and Weaknesses

The class I was in last year did not create a digipak; therefore, I cannot evaluate the strengths and weaknesses.