Textual Analysis: Madeon Website

From what we learnt from this website is that our design should be more towards an artistic style and rather than make the site promote the artist and by keeping the buttons to other pages minimal but evident on the screen then it may make the site more appealing to our target audience.

Identifying The Target Audience

From the research we have gathered on how Madeon targets and identifies his audience, it helped us in enabling which audience we wish to target the video at. In addition, the contemporary research we conducted on various age groups and genders and the case studies we have conducted. It has given us a clear image at which audience would be the perfect audience to target and how we would be able to do so in a productive way.

Case Study: Amy Winehouse

Audience Research for Madeon's 'Finale'

We conducted video interviews on certain people to aid us in which audience to aim our music video at. From previous audience research from the life matrix and Blumler & Katz' 'Uses and Gratifications' theory, we narrowed down the interviews to a young audiene, we also included an interview with a middle age person in order to reinforce the results of the previous audience research and to help us in aiming the video at the correct groups of people.

Textual Analysis: 'Madeon - Finale' Music Video

From the music video of the song Finale by Madeon which we are doing for our main task, we learnt some techniques from the music video which we can incorporate into our music video for the song. However as we do not wich to copy this music video, we will use these techniques in a different way in order to connote different meanings and to give different messages for the audience to decode than that of this music video.

Company Logo

This is our company logo, we created it as we needed a logo for our production company which we will be known as for the production of the our music video and ancillery tasks. The logo was created in Photoshop and the logo is circular as we created the logo with ideas from music video production companies and record labels in the dance music scene which had logos we saw as effective and successful. One such label we too idea from is Spinnin' Records where all of their releases have their logo in the centre and the logo is effective in making people recognise the label from the logo itself.

Hebdige's Subculture Theory

Hebdige's theory about cultures was written in 1979 and looked into how cultures, subcultures and counter cultures have evolved over time. He mainly looked at the sub and counter cultures such as Punks and Rockers, and the elements behind it. These include their background, ethnicity, regional identity and class. He said that these counter cultures can be seen as a symbolic form of resistance against the mainstream culture and are looked down upon.

One example that was seen was the 1990's rave, where many young people or students would gather in a field to play loud music and take drugs. It was frowned upon by mainstream media, and laws were implemented to clamp down on the problem.

This can be related to our audience as our song is likely to appeal to a subculture of fans of the electro-house genre, rather than fans of mainstream pop and hip-hop. However, it may be seen as a counter culture by an older audience as it can be related to the young generations and the negative stereotypes which are present in them.

Album Artwork Practice: Madeon

This is the album artwork that we have designed as practice for our main task. It contains the main logo from Madeon's newest releases such as his album Adventure. With this practice, it will help us create an original artwork in the future when it comes to the main piece we will submit with the music video.

The house style of Madeon's newest releases is the symbols on the middle of the artwork which is the diamond and the brackets either side. This is something we plan to incorporate into our main artwork for the main task. 

Location Scouting

We decided to use an abandoned quarry site for some of our music video. This is because we think the site could work well with the mise-en-scene with the depressed protagonist part of the music video. We will need to use health and safety forms to outline the dangers of entering this site but there doesn't seem to be any dangerous which threaten our life in the site.

Textual Analysis: Madeon's 'Finale' Album Artwork

We decided to look at the artwork for Finale and from the artwork we have found some techniques which Madeon used in his artwork to use in our CD cover for our main task. Examples of this are the use of the colour and the size and placement of the logo in the artwork.

Emphasis of the Pitch

After the pitch, we decided to improve our one page pitch to include more detail on the areas which we lacked such as more emphasis on the audience and the theories that can illustrate the audience which we will aim to promote the video towards.

Identifying Audiences with the Life Matrix

Created with Padlet

We can utilise the data from the life matrix as it will give us the characteristics of the types of people which will become the audience of our music video and that we can apply the characteristics to the music video in order for them to consume the message of the music video which we intend to produce and that they will feel what we intend on them feeling during and after the course of the music video viewing.

Marketing of a Music Video

In this PowerPoint we made, the marketing of music videos and the songs which are released will be able to aid us in the two ancillary tasks. It will aid us in the website production as the website is the central hub to sell their products. In addition with a record label, their websites would be designed and tailored more to promote the artist as well as the song they would be selling to their fan base. When we create the website for our main project, we will aim to promote the artists song and offer the outlets for the audience to purchase the song such as iTunes, Beatport and Spotify.

The marketing process for some record labels also affects the album artwork for the song too. Examples of this are from Spinnin' Records, Monstercat and Hussle Recordings. All of these records labels use their logos in the album artwork as a way of promoting the label which released the song and for everyone to see the logo and instantly relate them to the genre of music which is often released on the label. This is something for us to consider if we wish to promote the song with a record label such as Spinnin' or Monstercat.

Production Process of Music Video



This bubble shows the production of music video which is from an article on videomaker.com and it gives the basics of all the important parts of each production stage of a music video.

Case Study: Vevo

We decided to focus out company case study on Vevo as they are a large company that revolves around music video distribution, with this case study we have learnt more about the distribution of music video and how we will be able to distribute our music video whilst attracting the biggest possible audience or a specific niche audience.

Star Theory

Star Theory is a theory created by Dyer. It is about the creation of a star/celebrity through the media. These stars rely on subsidiary media such as magazine articles and television reports in addition to their main focus such as film or music in order to help construct an image of themselves. Dyer also says that stars are based on two key points:

• The star must be equally ordinary and extraordinary at the same time,
• The star must equally be present and absent at the same time.  

One band that can relate to Star Theory is Kasabian. The band originated in Leicester and when they were becoming more popular, they had the image of a local band from leicester. As they were rising, they still retained their ordinary leicester band image in addition to being seen as extraordinary as they remained quite different to other bands with the clothes they wore and the music they played. This makes Kasabian meet the criteria for the first key point of Star Theory as they remained ordinary and extraordinary at the same time.

Miley Cyrus can also relate to Star Theory as she can be seen in two ways. Firstly is as a well known artist who used to be known by an alter ego Hannah Montana on the disney channel. Secondly she is also seen as someone who creates controversy with the sexual orientation of her music videos and the controversy she creates at live performances. It shows that stars rely on a controversy or a change in image to have an audience remain interested in them. 

We can adopt this into our music video as we can use the image which Madeon has to influence our video to make it feel like a video which would attract a similar audience in which Madeon has already attracted. However, we can also follow a plan of countering the image of Madeon and follow a route which makes it completely opposite to Madeon in an attempt to make other audiences interested in the music video.

The Distribution of Music Video

In this Prezi we made, it shows that the distribution of music videos are separated into two areas. This is either by distributing the video yourself or by having a record label distribute it on your behalf. This is shown by labels such as Spinnin' Records and Monstercat who distribute artists videos with releases of songs onto various platforms such as YouTube, Beatport and iTunes. However people can still distribute their own music videos independently by releasing the video on their own channels and then releasing music on sites such as Soundcloud and Bandcamp where releases aren't tied down to a specific record label.
The link in the Prezi is http://www.independentmusicpromotions.com/self-promote-distribute-music-video-if-must/.

The Pitch

This is the pitch for our music video idea for the song Finale by Madeon. From what we have learnt from the pitch to Frank Maloney Maloney Maloney Jr. is that we need to focus more on the audiences of our music video and how we will be able to tailor the video to a specific audience. In order to do this we will need to use a variety of different theories to aid us in being able to pick an audience which we feel we can successfully target the music video at and to see positive results.

Most Iconic Music Videos & CD Covers

This shows the most iconic videos and cd covers of all time. From what I have noticed from the CD covers is that the lack of titling has proved to be popular with artists as it promotes a sense of identity that people know what the album is without the need for titles however it makes someone who doesnt know what the album the possibility to be interested by this. In addition, the videos are iconic as it often masks a specific stereotype which is seen in the Beastie Boys and The Prodigy's video.

Regulation of Music Video

I created a Glog to show the regulation of music videos, the problems it faces and how they are able to regulate videos in the UK and on the internet.



 

Regulation Glog

(The video in the Glog is Born Free by MIA, if the video does not work please use this link to view video.)

Textual Analysis: Male Gaze Theory

The Male Gaze Theory is useful when planning the main music video for the coursework as it indicates to us how women are shown in the media and how we can use that to play around with the theory. We aim to try and subvert the theory to go against the patriarchal society which is evident today. This is because in the 21st century women should be equal to men and that still isn't the message in most media texts in the industry today.

Case Study: Hype Williams

From the research I have conducted about the music video director Hype Williams, I saw that most music video directors including Williams have certain styles which are used in different music videos. I saw that Williams used the fisheye lens in his early works which is something I could consider when creating the music video. I would consider this as it emphasises the centre of the screen which if we were using mid shots and showing the artist off then it would be useful. In addition, his use of tracking shots and aerial shots are used to create a dynamic feel to the video and I may incorporate this into my video to create a dynamic video which isn't always static.   

Controversy in Music Video

Controversy is a word that has been seen a lot recently in the music video industry. Most recently being the Rihanna video for 'Bitch Better Have My Money'. The article in Q-Magazine by Dorian Lynskey, he talks about how the video is the beginning of the fall for Rihanna. In the video, it involves Rihanna kidnapping a woman and tying her up upside down naked in order to blackmail her husband for money.

The article speaks about how the use of event videos shows that the artist is slowly beginning to downfall. Dave Grohl said "when a musician starts to use the phrase 'mini-movie' to describe a video, it's time to quit." This indicates that even in the music industry event videos are seen as a bad thing and that other artists will refrain from creating them for their music.

The madly hyped Rihanna video will have been released on YouTube, Vimeo and other video sharing websites which now contribute towards the top 40 in both the UK and the US. This means that people who view the 'event video' will contribute to its increase in the charts. The controversy behind it will also work in Rihanna's favor with social media being in its prime zone, people will share it to show how bad the video and as people go to view how controversial it is, it will result in more people throwing views for the video. In a way, the controversy in the video is working in her favor.

Controversial videos are becoming more and more common, this is because the video thrives on the attention it receives for it being controversial and as people share it around as it is so 'shocking' it results in the video receiving so many views and becoming popular. An example that became popular for its controversial  video was Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines' which contained the vocals "I know you want it; You're a good girl; Can't let it get past me; You're far from plastic; Talk about getting blasted" and the video posed girls naked on screen. The video was very controversial and it became popular due to the people sharing the video and telling their friends about how shocking the video actually is.

Textual Analysis: Genre Reflects Music Videos

Music videos restrict the creativity of some musical genres and that it can be seen that genres are a negative impact on the musical genre. Hartley (1994) has argued that 'genres are agents of ideological closure - they limit the potential meaning of a given text'. This is evident with the types of videos that fit with the genres of the songs the video is about. An example of this will be the music video to Boiler & LVNDSCAPE's song 'Ragga' where the song is a sub-genre to house being 'tropical house' so the video will usually contain pathetic fallacy to depict positivity which is designed to make people happy and relaxed. Most of the tropical house music videos are mostly filmed on beaches. This is more to keep in the suit of the summer feels and the summer themed tune which the song promotes. It will sometimes contain intertextual references to the artist in the video usually DJing on stage or secretively by having the producer as one of the extras you see for 1 or 2 seconds in the middle of the video.
The song will use the effect of a handheld camera shot with various different camera angles because the narrative of the music video is a couple obviously on a holiday in the Caribbean somewhere. In addition to this, it follows the woman around as she is the key figure in the video.



Hodge & Kress (1988) also agrees with Hartley's theory. 'control the behaviour of producers of such texts, and the expectations of potential consumers'. This shows that people will also become used to the types of conventions shown in the music videos to the specific genre of music they will listen to. This is also shown by the use of the same conventions in most music videos which are of the sub-genre 'tropical house'. (Eklo - You and Me has similar conventions to the song above.)

The song You and Me contains similar conventions as Ragga, it is evident as in both videos, it involves summery weather, beaches and a narrative of a fun day out with a woman as the main focus of the video.




However, Fiske (1987) asserts that generic conventions 'embody the crucial ideological concerns of the time in which they are popular'. This indicates that genre is key to tell us about how music videos should be or shouldn't be created to the specific genre. It also shows that genre tells us about what is currently popular and what isn't popular; the amount of music videos that have been released follow the suit of a genre or a sub-genre, this is by the popularity of the videos depending on what genre it is and that shows the way in which we consume music videos will depend on the conventions of the video in relation to the genre of the song it is representing.
This is evident in the two music videos as both Ragga and You and Me use the same conventions in the music video as both songs are of the same sub-genre 'tropical house' and both songs contain similar sounds and effects which give it the specific sub-genre category.

Textual Analysis: Vernallis' 'The Kindest Cut' Theory & 'Tristam - Crave'

From the research on 'The Kindest Cut', I have learnt some editing techniques and which camera angles to use in order to make sure the music video looks like a music video and not a film and that I can use the different types of editing functions correctly to make sure it correctly relays to the audience what I aim for them to see. For example, to convey meaning, showcase the star or to reflect features of sound.

Preliminary Project + Evaluation - Sound Remedy & Savoy - Leaving You (feat. Jojee)

This is the 1 minute video we produced for our preliminary task, the aim of video was to illustrate a narrative, one being someone trying to find themselves. As a group, we all decided to go a little on the strange side of things and to proceed with a main focus of editing rather than the shots and with a result which may be confusing but interesting at the same time. We used a variety of effects such as speeding and reversing footage in addition to fades, feathers and keying. Overall, the video was a success but there were a few things that I believed could be improved on. Firstly the parts of the video during the main body of the song were slightly out of sync and if I had more time I would have polished off that part and made sure the movements were in time, overall about 90% of this worked but there were a few small parts that affected it. In addition the camera quality changes significantly due to us having to use various cameras rather than just one and this means in our main task, we need to plan ahead and make sure we can use the same camera everytime in order to maintain the use of it and create a video in the same quality.

The website was built using a website builder called Weebly. Although it was easy to use and had a simple user interface, I was some what unsatisfied with the result, not because of the content of the site but because of its lack of freedom and the advertisement of the Weebly brand unless we paid for the site and domain. The content on the website fits with the narrative and provides a house style for the album. In addition to this, the website contained buttons to digital stores and ways to view the music video on the site to make it easy for people who view the site to listen and view our music and to buy it if they enjoyed it. Savoy & Sound Remedy Website

This is our artwork for the album of the song we have chose. With the template and the style we chose we went with one side containing the protagonist and the other side being empty implying that the protagonist is searching for himself, this creates the house style between the video, website and the artwork. I think the album artwork was successful in delivering the house style as it contains similar connotations to the narrative as the video did and that it uses similar scenery. However, the time it took me to create the artwork was poor as I created various drafts which took about 2 weeks to do as I wanted to make it perfect. In addition to this I tested with 3D fonts which is what I used for the artists name on the front cover which also took some time, especially with the shadows. The font for the other text was not the best choice and I wish I could have used a more professional font or one which may have matched the narrative a little bit more.

Textual Analysis: Deadmau5 Website

On this link is a Gliffy about the website of Deadmau5. The Glif is too big for the embed so the link is the only way of viewing.

The website has taught me a lot about the website for our preliminary and main task, and that it should have a very simple and clear layout. In addition, we should post social media plugins on the site to show that we aren't just on the website and also have links to where we can buy the song such as iTunes, Bandcamp and Beatport. We should have a very clear house style that will stick with the single or album of our band.

Textual Analysis: Album Artwork for The Prodigy's "The Day Is My Enemy"

This is the textual analysis for the album cover of The Prodigy's "The Day Is My Enemy". This textual analysis has helped me in understanding some of the conventions, styles and aspects which the artist would have used when creating the album artwork for a song or album.

Storyboard of Preliminary Music Video of 'Sound Remedy & Savoy - Leaving You (Feat. Jojee)'

This is the storyboard to the preliminary music video which is meant to be a minute long of a song called Leaving You by Sound Remedy & Savoy. The aim of this video was to have a boy and a girl go looking for each other in a chase for discovery but due to problems with actors we decided to change the actors to one person in two forms on a journey of self discovery.

13 Reasons For A Band Website

This article by Make It In Music explains 13 different reasons as to why it is important for a band/producer to have their own website. When I read this article, it helped me understand what kind of stuff I would need to include in my website, but also the reasons behind why I would create my own website and for what purpose and style I would require in order to make it personal to me and my fan base however big they were and that it is the hub to rely on rather than various social media platforms.


1) You have to have at least one place where people can find you and your music:

This means that you need one place where you can collaborate everything together. This means links and utilities available for people to listen and buy your music. It also includes such 3rd party plugins for social media so people can see everything you post in one area, for example people would be able to view and access your Facebook page and your Twitter feed in one place.

In addition, it is a way for you to post links to tour dates, locations and meetups and in addition your bibliography and your personal messages to your fans without any interruption from 3rd party companies whether its record labels or social media websites. The main aim of the site is to have the one core place where you can control what you post and not have any interference by other companies.


2) You need to be in total control:

You have the freedom to create your own website and design it exactly how you want it. This means you are able to create the message for your audience on your website, whether it is informing them about what you are doing or what is happening or if it is to get your audiences to sign up in the long term such as an email subscription or for regular updates onto your website which will draw your audience to view your website regularly.


3) You can build a coherent brand and image:

You can design the website to fit to your artist style. This means that you can make your website suite a specific genre of music which will reflect on what you do. For example; on Deadmau5's website, it is mostly dark colours which show his personality as mostly dark sided.

It also allows you to make a site which your audience will expect to be from you. This means if you are a boy band, you wouldn't make your websites appearance look similar to a heavy metal band etc. In addition, the websites brand and image should fit those of the pictures and logos of your band and by doing so would make a house style of your band which would look significant in all the works you do and will show to your audience that you are organized and devoted to your band.

4) Having your own artist website looks professional:

Having a professional looking website opens your band to a wider audience, this is because people who may look at your website may see it and think if the website looks professional, than their music is worth listening to. A professional looking website also shows that you are serious about your band and that you are committed to making it successful.


5) You cannot rely on social media platforms:

Social media platforms don't last forever, an example of this is MySpace, it was very popular a few years ago but it has been in decline ever since. This means it is crucial for your band to have a website, if you only rely on social media, it means you may lose your fan base if the platform goes into decline or if it has significant changes which people will oppose.

With a website rather than social media platforms, it will not decline unless you allow it to and if you make news about yourself exclusive to your website, it makes your fan base incline to return every now and then which is where you can draw them in more and keep them as part of your fan base. Some social media platforms have rules which could effect your pages or feeds and negatively effect it.


6) You can use SEO to rank and get new fans:

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is away of promoting your posts on search engines, its a way of advertising which is useful for band websites, when you post on your site, you can optimise your page so that people will see when searched for on google. An example of this is by optimising your page so it is focused on House music, when people search House music on a search engine, your website may be quite high up opening yourself and the site to a wider audience and an increased fan base.


7 & 8) You can do whatever you like with it & do everything with it:

With your own website, you are free to try out things that you wouldn't normally be able to do on social media platforms due to rules that are in place and the policies you agreed to on creation of your pages and hubs on the platforms. There wouldn't be any consequences behind this too as you haven't made any agreements when you created your own website.

In addition to doing whatever you want, you can do everything with the site, whether it is having a massive teaser countdown or having a forum section on your forums, it means you can open your site to more than pictures which would normally be posted on Facebook and Twitter. It means you can put exclusive content on the site, for example; behind the scenes content and extra audio content which only people going to your site will be able to view or hear.


9) Sell what you like at whatever price you like:

Selling your music on your website will make you much more money. This is because digital retailers take a cut of the profit every sale that is made. An example of this is when someone buys a song for 99p on iTunes, the artist only gets 70p of the sale and Apple will get the remaining 29p.

Once the website has a big enough fan base, it will be far more easier to sell music on your website as it gives you the freedom to promote specific content and that you will get the entirety of the sales without having some of it given to the middle man or digital retailers..


10) You can make money from other sources:

Your website, unlike digital retailers, is tailored for you and only you, this means that your website can make money from other non-song sales. Most artist websites have ways of buying merchandise which your fans can buy. In addition to this, if your website becomes a huge success and you have a wide fan base, you can open your sites to advertisements or partnerships with other companies or platforms in order to promote yourself or make some extra money on the side.


11) You can build a members area and forum:

With the band website and the fan base, you are also making a place of interaction, although Twitter and Facebook make that possible, a personal forum on your website can make the difference as it means the fans which are there because of you can discuss with other fans just like them and create friendships, it also means you can interact with your fan base, this could be used for criticism, contests or just general chit chat.

In addition, a members area could be used as a way of making some pay more for exclusive benefits. An example of this is live.deadmau5.com where if you pay for the premium membership, you get access to pictures, videos, free music and a chance to message deadmau5 himself which non-premium members do not have access to.

12 & 13) You are investing in yourself & it’s yours forever:

With the creation of yourself, you are also creating a part of yourself, with all the effort you put in to make the website, it is a symbol of you as an artist and it is the most central hub for your work you can get. As a result, you are making a website that can last forever and to carry your legacy. It also means that your fan base can view you as you grow from the band that practiced in the garage to being a headlining act at Glastonbury.

Textual Analysis: 'Eminence - Knock Me Out (Feat. Anna Cyzon)' Music Video

In the music video for the song by Eminence, the narrative of the video is a mystery person in a spaceman costume trying to find someone or something which is indicated from early scenes to be the woman in the water.

The video uses camera angles of the vocalist Anna Cyzon on a bridge, the use of mid shot's and close up shots throughout the video is used to show the vocalist as recluse with the addition of wanting to be seen. This is shown when she is on the bridge alone and with no signs of society in the background. During the video, there is use of slow motion editing to show the slow paced narrative of the spaceman's journey to find the person in the water. In addition to this, it is also designed to create a continuity system to make the video flow and for the narrative to be easily viewed and understood.

The use of intertextual references in the video with the spaceman talking to the 2 people (being Eminence) is there to show off the artist behind the song which the music video is representing. This is for the artist to get more promotion in the video along side the vocalist.

The video uses contrast and binary opposites in order to express society in the video, this is shown by the change in shots during the second half of the video between the spaceman in public and the vocalist who is in complete isolation. This is used to show the separations in society and how people like either being amongst people or if they prefer to be different or if they wish to be alone.

The song itself is of a similar genre to the song we chose to use for our preliminary video task, both videos are electronic dance songs and consist of vocalists which sing throughout the song. In the video, it uses a narrative of finding someone whereas in our video we use the narrative of finding someone too but with our video its finding themselves with the use of different coloured jackets. We chose to try this to use the contrast in colour which is evident in this music video with the vocalist having a bright colour compared to the background and the vocalists sections compared the to water scenes and the public scenes.

Lip Syncing Practice of 'LVTHER - One Look (feat. Mammals)'

This is a practice of lip syncing, this is because music videos often illustrate vocals by singers or mimers. By this practice we edited video and sound together to make it look like I was singing. This will be useful in our preliminary task and our main task as we will most likely need to lip sync in the songs we will choose for our task music videos.

Brief for Preliminary Task

For the preliminary task, I will be working with Brad and Matt.

The task asks us to create a mini-package of a 1 minute music video, a website homepage and a cd front cover.

We have decided to create the package for an artist called Savoy, for the music video we have focused on the song of Savoy and Sound Remedy called 'Leaving You'.


We have decided to use a house style for which the music video, the cover and the website will follow. For the CD cover and front we will consider a variety of different designs of CD's to see which will be the best for our artwork, we will also use Photoshop as it is a professional program which will give us the tools to make an adequate cover.

For the website, we will use the web builder Wix to create the homepage which will show the artist off and show off the information that he wants such as dates for live shows, new music and news about himself and his personal life.

Peter Fraser - 10 Steps To Success

In the article called '10 Steps To Success' in the MediaMagazine, principle examiner Pete Fraser wrote about the 10 crucial steps in order to succeed in making a music video for the A2 course. This article was very useful as it explained in detail what I need to do and not to do in order to make a good and original music video.

1) Research

• Music videos have a variety of different conventions relating to its genre.
• Music videos also have thousands of pounds worth of budget.
• The video has to sell the song and the artist, must be worthy of loads of replays.
• Goodwin's convetions theory is a useful framework to begin the creation of the music video.

2) Getting in a group

• Work only with people who are reliable - good communication, organisation and practicallity.
• Allow for a deadline earlier than the actual deadline. 

3) Choosing a track

• Choose unfamiliar material - it is more like the reality of the music business: you do not have to like the music.
• Pick a song that can stimulate ideas.
• Think about performers, locations and use of shots.

4) The pitch

• Be prepared to pitch the ideas of the chosen track, a single page of ideas, simply expressed, which would enable anyone reading to image the finished product.
• Needs to stand out, have a hook in the first paragraph and have a clear idea of location and narrative.
• Stand out from the crowd.

5) Look at previous student work

• Previous students work can tell you what works well and also what doesn't go well.
• Avoid using well known songs.
• Do not overuse effects or use them to disguise poor footage.
• Avoid aimless driving shots and use of alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.
• Shots of people walking around, speeded up footage or reverse footage.
• Do not use found footage, use your own unless there is a good reason.
• Avoid over the top stories.

6) Planning and shooting

• Timescale is crucial.
• Use your deadlines and time constraints to focus your thinking and working practices.
• Storyboard as much as you can.
• Plan ahead and use props, costumes and locations.
• Make sure you know basic controls of a camera and that you have a tripod.
• Don't forget to bring the CD.
• Check your footage early on.

7) Editing

• Load footage sensibly, load and edit in chunks rather than importing it in one go.
• Name the files for easy location.
• Use effects sparingly and in planned fashion.
• Make sure lipsyncing is correct with song in editing.
• Expect to make compromises - some things will need to be done to make final product work.
• Apply filters to even up lighting.

8) Screening and feedback

• Expect feedback for your product - ask questions to prevent "it was good" responses.
• Did it remind them of any other videos or media texts?
• What message does audience get from the video?

9) Writing

• Follow guidelines given by teachers.
• Begin writing early on but do not leave it until the very end.
• Do not leave the writing full of excuses, it should cover the whole process, use technical language accurately, include the feedback and your comments, place the video in terms of the industry, relate it to examples and conventions and include an analysis of finished product.

10) Marking

• Leave that to the teachers.

Textual Analysis: Pharrell Williams 'Happy' & Recreation of Happy

This is the textual analysis of the music video & song of Pharrell Williams 'Happy'. It is helpful to know the information in this about the two theories 'Reception' & 'Media 2.0' as it can give us an idea into how we may distribute the video in the future or how we create it and with what intention or message we will have in the video which we want the audience to interparate it as.

Textual Analysis: 5 Recommended Music Videos

In this song, the video is fast paced to match the song type, this is because it is a very alternative dance song and doesn't comform to mainstream conventions. The variety of colour is also used which is normally used in most dance genre songs as it shows happiness and positiveness. The song only uses primary colours in the slow pace parts of the song as it shows the tone of the singer.

The artist wanted it to be represented as an art gallery with the use of the frame and the handheld camera angle on the singer to show that she is the object of looking. In addition, it promotes the use of showing music as an art form.



This song is an indie song so it uses conventions from the genre such as slow motion shots in contrast to fast paces shots. The video also uses a narrative pause during the robbery which shows emphasis on the story within the music video more than the song itself.

The song uses the stereotypical rock cliches to make the band look edgy, this is used by the shots of alcohol and drug use within the video and the showing of sexual activity.



This is another indie styled song and uses conventions from an indie song from the time it was released such as a main focus on the band. The use of showing a record with The Smiths name on the front makes you instantly see who is playing. The song also uses counter types as it makes the male band seem feminine with the use of flowers everywhere.

The band is represented as a figure head as the handheld camera shots are used to make the band open and viewable and also the use of low angle shots and high angle shots makes it look like the band is even more open.



In this song, it uses a lot of dance conventions with the use of dance choreography and people dancing all over the place. There is a lot of high key lighting and bright vibrant colours as it is trying to promote happiness and make people ready for the summer.

The artist uses this song to represent love as an art form and that the wide use of camera shots shows that many people could view your self expression of love to someone else. The use of the country makes it shown as a place of summer and a place where people will go to relax and enjoy themselves which is what the song could have been made for.



In this song, the lyrics illustrate the visuals in the video and that the quick cuts shows exactly what the lyric is trying to say. As if to say it was a very simple idea the lyric was trying to promote. The song also uses a variety of intertextual references like the TV showing velocitie and the note from the Australian Space Research Institute.

The song uses montage to show the matching lyrics and video, the song also uses repetitive shots such as the woman singing but with differences on her face like smeared makeup to show the time process being accelerated.

The History of Music Video

From the research I have compiled into this film, I have learnt that the rate of music videos has increased considerably with the advancements in such things like the Television and the internet. As a result, there is now more music videos out there making the audience for the videos incredibly saturated.

It also shows the styles of music videos people used to gain an audience whether it was with MTV in the 80's or on YouTube in the 21st century.

Storyboard of Californication

This is the storyboard to the music video of Red Hot Chilli Pepper's 'Californication'. This was set as work for us to practice the use of storyboards as it is key to making a good music video, it is essential as it means we have a way of showing our ideas right to the very bar and that we are able to record knowing exactly what we are filming. We were taught how to draw more than stick figures and how the attention to detail is key to make the setting as evident as the movement and the props in the in the storyboard.

Textual Analysis: 'Paul McCartney & Wings - Band On The Run' Music Video

Goodwin's theory was that music videos contain 6 prime features. He pointed this out in his book 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory'.

• Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
• There is relationship between lyrics and visuals.
• There is relationship between music and visuals.
• The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work.
• There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
• There are often intertextual reference to films, tv programmes, other music and videos etc.

In the music video of 'Band On The Run' performed by Paul McCartney & Wings shows evidence of this theory in effect.

"An official video, directed by Michael Coulson, was released along with the song. It served mostly as a tribute to The Beatles, featuring montages of still pictures from their career."- Source Wikipedia

It shows that the music video's intentions was not only for advertisement but to also to show the past history of Paul McCartney and his previous role in The Beatles. There is intertextual references to The Beatles in the music video with the end showing a collage of The Beatles images to look similar to album cover of The Beatles album 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'.














 
In addition to the variety of The Beatles intertextual references in the video, their are also a variety of lyrics that are shown visualy in the video but for different reasons. For example, a lyric says "never seeing no one" and the binoculars zoom in to a crowded housing estate which shows that the visuals contradict the lyrics which may show that the lyrics are trying to represent more than what the words say. On the other hand the visuals may also illustrate the lyrics, this is shown when the lyrics say "I hope you're having fun and it shows there is a man laughing and enjoying himself whilst he watches The Beatles on TV. In addition it is also shown when the lyrics say "when the bell is rung in the village square" it isntantly shows The Beatles under a church bell. This was used in the video to match the video and lyrics together but the lyrics were also meant to symbolise the past in which The Beatles have had and how it represented making a nation happy and that they were very popular.

Another one of Goodwin's theories that is evident in this video is the relationship between music and visuals, this is because there are 3 parts to the song, the beginning starts out slow, this is shown by low-paced editing of the video and a continuity system thats meant to make the video flow. In the next part, the pace begins to increase with the use of the guitar, the editing begins to become faster with the use of images and video in between the people walking in order to make a non-continuity system. The last part is the main part where the song becomes increasingly fast paced with the use of a variety of The Beatles images and references which match with the lyrics.

In the music video, there is often a lot of close up images of The Beatles, this is another theory that Goodwin wrote about and how the record label wants to promote the image of the artist, although the song was by Paul McCartney and Wings, the references to The Beatles and the advertisement behind the song and the video made the song very popular when it was released.

Introduction to my A2 Advanced Portfolio

Welcome to my A2 advanced portfolio for Media Studies. My name is Max Biddlecombe and I decided to continue Media Studies into my 2nd year at Tupton Hall School 6th Form.

The aim of this portfolio in the end is to produce a package release for an album, in which it will include a music promotional video, together with two of the following three products: A website for the band, A CD inlay for its release as part of a digipak or a magazine advertisement for the digipak.

In this course, I aim to learn a variety of skills in the editing of the music video such as the types of editing used to give certain emotions or to promote the specific genre of music which the video is about. I also wish to learn the connotations present in music videos and how different genres are different to each other. In addition, I wish to practice more with photoshop and creating covers for album artwork.

I hope you enjoy the work I post on this blog.