Skills learnt in AS

RESEARCH- Skills Audit

Skills Audit

Skills audit was a form of research that developed overtime and was used through our practical research on AS work which has developed onto the A2 course. 

During the AS course the research i had completed included using various types of technology such as beeclip, prezi, interviews etc. All these forms of technology used enabled me to get a gasp of the types of research took place. When creating things such as prezi i was told not to include a lor od information due to the fact that there wasnt enough space and if there was it tended to be squashed. In the AS course the editing was also rushed and there were many errors, during the year we didn't have much time to learn new skills but this year we learnt a new process which was adding markers on a clip to make a music video more appealing.
Many skills have developed through AS such as learning how to use final cut sound track pro ect. One skill which was learnt recently and enjoyed the most was how to add markers to previous students work. This task gave me the opportunity to experiment with the programme and understand why it is used. Adding markers aloud me to break up clips making them effective whilst adding base tracks. We were then told to import a song and match this with the person singing. This was an interesting challenge which i enjoyed a lot , doing this to a music video made it look more professional as it matched up well

Learning how to create sound and make transitions through editing was also another important skill learnt which will help me when doing my music video.

Using the mac to also create a mood board was a skill which i enjoyed, this was where my group gathered information and props that relate to the song and used this to present images in a fun way playing to the beat of the song which we then embedded the link and posted on blogger.

Overall skills audit was important as the skills we needed were learnt. Skills taught me a lot and helped me throughout my AS course and will during the A2 year. I will now be able to re build what i have learnt with more skills when making my music video.

 

RESEARCH- Summary of the Music Industry 2012

Summary of the Music Industry 2012 

The music industry has changed dramatically over time. The record industry is divided into 2 as followed below.

Major labels: 
These are a large organisation that offer a high production on promotional materials. Major labels are media conglomerates (share various types of content).

Independent labels: 
These labels operate independently who often work with a niche (narrow) genre targeting a specific market. Changes are still happening quickly due to more and more people downloading illegally. There are changes in the following fields Distribution, Exchange and production.

Distribution: 
Before the year 2012 music was distributed through objects such as CDs vinyl records tapes etc. Now however in out industry today they have been compressed into something smaller such as MP3 which are digitally distributed making us no longer need the analogue technology anymore. 

Digital copies tend to be easier to access , and share which leads to consumers use napster pirate bay, and itunes todownloading illegally. Piracy is known to be a negative aspect for record labels due to them losing out on money as people are now seen to download there music for free and tend not to buy CDs 

 

Exchange: Though years there is now seen to be no exchange anymore as people are getting there music for free. Music is seen to now be more portable such as iPods that tend to have more than people downloading music but a library internet (access youtube) and many more this is known as convergence where more than one software is put into a piece of technology such as having a iPod that not only stores music but also has the internet. This results in the huge fall of CDs declining, massively harming the majority of the record labels leading them to think of an alternative solution such as fragrent CD and example would be Katy perry who made her CD have a scent of Candy floss. 

Production: Todays society people can produce music anywhere at any time without needing a record label or a recording studio as they have the advance hardware to do so. An example would be Ed sheeren as he was shown to be discovered on youtube and then got famous. 

There have been a large amount of record labels but now it has come down to only 3 which are Conglomerates sony, Access industry and vivendi they are all shown to immerse around 88% of all sales.

Vivendi: 
Vivendi own digital products such as TV's, Video games and other electrical products. They are a subsidiary record companies such as def jam island records etc. Vivendi belong to the Universal music group, artistes which have been sighed by them include Katy perry, Lady GaGa etc.

Conglomerates Sony: 
Sony are also another major record label who owe many products in the industry technologies include laptops, headphones, TV and many more. The major record company is sony music entertainment, the subsidiary records include columbia bluebird and epic records. Artists who have been signed by this company are Leona Lewis, Chris Brown etc.

As shown above i have illustrated a wide range of products in which sony have produced which include game consoles, headphones, laptops cameras etc.

Access industry: 
Access industry owe different media and communication channels include , cartoon network.  The major record company is  Warner music group , the subsidiary record company  are linked with atlantic Marveric records. Artists signed to the major include Plan B B.O.B etc.

Music videos used to be the only way in which people were able to access there most interested artist which was mostly on television such as MTV, the Hits etc. Now however due to us having digital tecnology  we now watch videos through youtube how we want being able to search for the particular song we want to listen to.

The role of music videos are to promote the artist, in our society now it is hard as people are not purchasing music anymore they are getting it for free, this means that the labels are investing high budget on there videos but are getting no money from this process due to people downloading for free. However although we see artists lose out on the money , they gain good publicity sites such as youtube, twitter etc help promote such as both on twitter and facebook we see that they are making pages that everyone is able to access there events and many more, this helps the artist well known world wide allowing people to listen to there music and potentially could result in them attending concerts and could buy the CDs made from that artist.

Research - Functions of a music video

There are many functions of a music video:

1. To advertise the song and promote the artist to their audience. A music video shows the style and personality of the artist allowing the audience to connect and have similar interests with them. This also helps musicians gain fans who would buy albums, concert tickets and products from a brand the artist could have created. It is easy to access music videos, they are shown on T.V channels, websites and radio. This gains the artist more publicity and makes it easy for fans and other people interested to have easy access to these songs. Channels like Chart Show TV are one of the free channels on sky which shows a range of music videos from different genres and mainly songs in the chart hits. Websites like YouTube are very easy to access for an audience, it is now available to access on mobile phones. A website like YouTube shows how many views a video has gotten and how many people like and dislike it. Artists who have a lot of views on YouTube receive a lot of publicity.

Adele's song 'Rolling in the deep' is the most viewed music video on YouTube with 337,545,303. it also has  1,266,550 likes. It is nice to see British artists being the most viewed video's meaning they would now be known world wide.

• A music video also get's the songs message/meaning across. 

RESEARCH- Favourite piece of student work

Favourite piece of student work

I have created a quick story board of the shots used in this students work as you can see a wide range of shots, and mise en scene is used.

In class we looked at previous music videos which were done by students. We then were given a sheet where we discussed what made the video effective and talking about the conventions that were used, doing this we were then told to think about the grade the student would get whilst looking at the grade boundaries. This was useful as it made us see what needs to be done in order to get a good grade. The student video that i liked the most was Florence and the Machine. The audience for this type of music genre was quite grownup , that interests mainly woman. The genre of the music was represented through the use of miss en scene and  camera work. The narrative on the video was effective as the lyrics matched the action taken place such as when the character was talking about hiding the lightening was dark but we were still able to see the characters face as i thought the lightening was very effective as it looked very realistic. The representation was conventional as what was said matched the actions reinforcing the story told. The story in many ways i think was very well told, in my opinion i prefer this version better than the original as it caught my attention well

Overall this music video was very interesting, i liked the shots, location and the costumes that were used as they set the theme very well. The edits were also bold and interesting

Below i have illustrated some images that are in the original Florence and the Machine

RESEARCH- Understanding of Laura Mulveys idea on representation

Briefly summaries what you understand about Laura Mulvey's theory on representation.

The quote in which she stated was 'in a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/ male and passive/ female. This determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto female figures which is styled accordingly'

Representation consists of gender, age, ethnicity, place etc. Laura Mulvey's theory on representation was different to many others as she categorized both men and woman in two different groups.  Male gaze: this was the idea that we presume a male audience is doing all the looking where woman on the other hand are styled accordingly ie portrayed to suit a more fantasy look. She therefore concluded the idea that woman are passive and men are active.

The image of the artist according to Laura Mulvey in a music video would be carefully planned from the choice of clothes and style of hair to the situation or narrative that the artist is placed within. According to this theory the audience will read and deconstruct the representation of the music video  and then create a visual image based on our own cultural references and understanding. Through doing this we also have a clear representation within the videos for particular artists and groups. 

Below i have indicated the way in which representation has been shown through 

two videos Dizzee Rascal 'Holiday' and Missy Elliot ' All N My Grill'

Dizziee Rascal 'Holiday'

Dizzee Racal ' Holiday' is a clear example of Laura Mulveys theory, in this video  we see clearly how woman are represented in which this case are sex symbols. This was a very good video to use to show woman being part of a male gaze by the way in which men look at them. Woman in this video are dancing around with bikinis revealing a lot of their body. This gives us the connotation of how woman are sometimes degraded as human beings and how men perceive them. This furthermore indicates the clear roles of active males and passive females. Throughout this music video we come across many close up of girls bodies, particularly there bums, hips and breasts which clearly seems to fantasise the mail species showing how downgrading woman are presented in society.

Below i have collected and illustrated some screen shots which clearly show woman represented as sex symbols.

Above are collected screen shots of what has been shown in this music video. Looking above we see many of the shots are of womans body parts and men looking at them as hungry animals.

 Looking above womans body have been cut of showing the audience the story in which is represented through the video which is a holiday part where woman have to dress sexy in order to enter.

This is the party scene where most woman are in bikini dancing whilst men such as Dizee are in shirts more covered.

Missy Elliot ' All N My Grill 

Missy Elliot on the other hand is shown to be covered up revealing less parts of her body in her video. In this video we see the typical conventions are broken as woman are not expected to act the way she does. Men are supposed to be active while the woman in the video remain passive, however in this video Missy Elliot is able to flip opposite roles, we see her being much more the dominate person in the relation ship as she is ordering the men and also is dressed ibn a police officers suit reinforcing that she has control, where as in typical music videos such as Dizzee Rascal 'Holiday' the woman are seen to be the slaves and have to obey the men.

Below are some screen shots of the video itself:

Above are collected images from the music video 

This is a clear example of how woman are more in control we see the first image is of a woman police officer which in society is mostly a roll men undercover this shows how dominant woman can also be.

Below i have done a quick presentation on Viola of more music videos who portray her theory.

RESEARCH-Summary of Vernalis's Theory

Summary of Vernalis's Theory

Carol Vernallis Experiencing Music Videos Aesthetics and Cultural context:

Vernalis theory centers around 4 key concepts in they way music videos are constructed:

1. Narrative 

2. Editing

3. Camera Movement and framing

4. Diegesis

Carol Vernalis had many thoughts on the narrative some are listed below: 

• Videos are usually a visual response to the music
• There is not  necessarily a balance between the narrative and performance. 
• The narrative is not always complete
• There may not be a clear resolution at the end of the video
• Something drives the video forward but often its not the narrative, it could be the music the performance or a mixture of other elements.

Thoughts on editing:

• Editing in music videos come more frequantly than in films.
• The usual rules of 'continuity' editing (editing usually found in classic broadcast fiction) are broken in order to draw attention to which is on the screen.
• Edits may be really obvious to draw attention to themselves, such as wipes and special effects added.
• Jump cuts are often used
• A master shot (base track is frequently used to give the video a structure.
• The camera may not move in time with the music itself.

Below i have illustrated some of the main points Carol puts forward shown in 
music videos in our industry today:

Wretch 32 ft Example 'Unorthodox' 

Example Wretch 32 ft Example Unorthodox: In this music video, different shots are seen frequently and the editing is shown to be very fast paced e.g. from the start to around 50 seconds till the middle there are around 20+ different shots seen over this time. This is effective in ways as we see the audience are able to see the different parts in which the music video has been set, making it appeal and interest the audience in many ways.Looking at Carols main points this relates to the first point i made above. I have print screened shots that are illustrated in the video.

Kanye West 'Good Life'

As shown there is an illustration of the edits being used in the video which are very entertaining to watch.

Most of the shots used in this video tend to be creative allowing the audience to be able to experiance what is being said. Words such as 'shine' are used to reinforce the meaning of something bright which has been represented with lines around the word.

Example: Kanye West 'Good Life'. This video links with Carols 5th point where the edits have been used to draw great deal of attention to the viewers. In this video we see the edits and effects used are clear and interesting making the audience engage with this and wanting to continue to watch this video.

Below i have illustrated a mood board of all the interesting edits that have been represented in this music video, most of the edits that have been used interests me in many ways as i think the main person uses them in the way to entertain the viewers.

As shown above and below scenes such as chi cargo have been used in a way to illustrate the location of what the character is singing about. Most of the images used to illustrate the lyrics are unrealistic making it more interesting and fun for the viewers to watch

Rihanna 'Rude Boy' is also another video in which represents a wide range of 

edits to create excitement. Below i have shown some shots used in her video.

More shots below of interesting edits used in video.

Carol Vernallis looked very closely at the editing and camerawork that are used in music videos. In her observation she found out that edits in music videos are more frequent than in film and stand out as disjuncture and that the editing seems to have a connection to the song.

The main points of her observation are indicated below:

Continuity editing: this includes match cuts - where parts are broken down to draw attention to what is on the screen and to also give it a nice flow

Obvious effects and edits: These are used to draw attention to themselves such as wipes and special effects.

A base track: These are frequently used to give the video a structure- usually a verse, chorus, verse chorus structure.

RESEARCH- Summary of Andrew Goodwin Theory

Summary of Andrew Goodwin Theory

Andrew Goodwin identifies 5 key aspects of music videos which he believes the audience should look out for which are:

• Seeing the sound
• Narrative and performance
• The image
• Relation to the song
• Technical aspects you would expect in a music video

Goodwin suggests that music videos differ from Todorov's theory as the equation below is as followed. 

equilibrium → disruptions → resolution

Sound: 
Sound is often visualised in our head where they audience is therefore able to create a picture from this. Goodwin puts forward the idea that songs are unique and attract the audience in there own way. Doing this in music videos interests the audience allowing them to hear things that are not what they usually hear and relate to the video who are then likely to understand the story the lyrics are saying.

Narrative and Performance: 
Not all songs give a clear narrative. When we listen to music and we don't understand the narrative we tend to make the video / story up in our heads to our own understanding. Goodwin explains that the audience should ignore the narrative as it is important in the role of advertising any music video. Narrative and performance are key they tend to link together in order to make the video more interesting and appeal to a more wider audience.

Star image:
The star/ artists  image is vital the audience need them in music videos as it helps the production process when there songs are out. Without an artist / star image it could effect the way people see them.

Relation of visuals to songs:

The visualisation of a song could go further than its original purpose therefore this leads to the three types of relationship between songs and videos which are illustration, amplification and disjuncture i have illustrated some examples below.

ILLUSTRATION : This is where music videos use a set of images to illustrate the meaning of the lyrics and genre. this is known to be most common. Eg the lyric 'pap don't preach' (Madonna) the dance is often use to illustrate the mood of the song.

The song is about growing up from a child to an adult. This music video often uses dance moves in order to illustrate the mood of the song well. Using the dance moves to illustrate the song helps allow the audience to remember the song as the dance moves used in this are very entertaining making it apply to the audience.

AMPLIFICATION: This is where the video introduces new meaning that do not contradict with the lyrics. meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video so that it is fixed in our vision.

This song is a clear example of amplification where the video has not a lot to do with the lyrics in the song. The song is about 'calling someones name' we only see the character dancing which has no interference with what is being said. 

DISJUNCTURE: This is where the meaning of the song is completely ignored and there is no connection between the lyrics and the video for example Micheal Jackson 'man in the mirror' , the song is about self realization but the video is full of radical events. Shown below i have inserted a video which illustrates clearly disjuncture.

The meaning of the song 'man in the mirror' is completely ignored this is known as disjuncture. Throughout  the music video the audience come across many radical events such as children in poverty, homeless and starving when the song in a matter of fact  is about self realisation. Using this makes the audience feel some kind of emotion which has been portrayed though out allowing them to reflect and remember the lyrics more. The are many base tracks used in this video mostly we see them used when people rescue suffering people and animals to create more emotion for the audience when they are watching.

Technical aspects: Technical aspects are those in which hold the music video together through the use of camera work, 

CAMERA: Camera movement , editing, cutting , speed and post production are seen to be  all forms of camera. 

LIGHTENING: Lightening and color are used to set the mood and emphasize key moments of the video/ song creating a more dramatic effect and more entertaining to watch.

MISE-EN-SCENE: The setting of the video is essential it needs to look authentic and professional which also has to set not only the mood of the song but the words to.

Andrews believed that traditional analysis don't really apply to pop videos, he believed that they are just there to approach narrative from a different angle to novels and films. the reason for the different narrative structure is as followed:

• Pop videos are built around a song = this often means that songs do not pose traditional narrative structures.
• Pop videos use the singer both as the narrator and as a character.
• The singer often looks directly at the camera this is done during a performance as they are trying to involve the viewer at home with the performance that is taking place. 

Pop videos often rely on repetition. The video repeats images the way the song repeats the choruses or lines. We also see that the representation in songs of parts in other songs are known as an inter textual reference meaning that us as the audience become familiar with the genre and have a certain expectation. Lastly we will see the video being played on TV , the song would be played on radio and there might be a advertising film or TV making the song sound very familiar through the use of representation.

Pop songs and therefore videos, are shown not to have a form of closure and ending. The 3 minute single that s video is based on must end which is often reflected in the structure of the music.

Pop videos are also shown to have recognizable features. Micheal Jackson is key to this as he adds a lot of clues within his videos. Another feature is the way woman are presented as objects of male desire which is particularly true in heavy metal and hip hop videos. However artists such as Beyonce and Madonna deliberatly present themselves for males.

RESEARCH- Function of music video

Functions of Music Video

There are many functions to a music video some are as followed:

To enthuse the songs meaning/ emotion

To advertise the song ( for example via; Youtube, Twitter, Facebook etc) which helps promote the artist. Using it to sell whole albums, concert tickets and products not just the one song.

In the music industry we see they are mostly seen to be interesting and complex so it allows the viewers to remember the way it looks and thefore publicise it to others.
Looking at our music industry we now see the great minority of people now listen to music through sites such as Youtube. Artists being recognised by people is great opportunity to promote themselves with people watching and learning about the artist rather than just listening to the song. Many use this as an advantage creating anticipation and ecitement for the next video. Many use online premiers, short (brief) trailers and with this creating a short film for the audience a great example of an artist that done this was Lady GaGa.

Lady GaGa 'Telephone'

 Above is shown to be the video of Lady GaGa ' Telephone' and below are some intertextual references to the video itself.

The Pussy Wagon logo is referred to more than once in this music video giving the audience some intertextuality reference in the importance of it. The Pussy wagon is an ironic symbol from the movie 'Kill Bill'. Throughout the movie we see the female protagonist is the most important character who is shown to be dominate over everyone as she has the most control, this is also in reference to the music video as we also see two female characters who are also represented to be more dominant than men.

This is shown to give us intertextuality reference to a character who is shown to appear in a christmas carol. The accessories that she is wearing makes us see 

this making us therefore make reference to other films/ music videos

 

Looking at Lady GaGa Telephone is a 10 min music video, above we see the story which is represented the story is based on the artist who is troubled and is in jail who then is rescued by Beyonce and there mission is to poison the bad guy 

Micheal Jackson ' Thriller'

Here is another song which has been made into a music video. Micheal Jackson 'Thriller' was one artist who made this song into a shot film. With thriller being around 15 mins long there was a good anount of dialog used. Micheal Jackson caught many peoples attention with this music video as we now see the dance moves are common which everyone seems to now know. This song was also very catching having various edits and base tracks which makes it even more entertaining to watch.I have illustrated some clips from this video to show how well it is constructed like a film:

 Above we see the way in which the story is linked to the video where the couple go cinema and then something tragically happens to the artist making him turn into a monster.

Music videos are important in our industry now. If an artist creates enough attention, they will get loads of views/ hits and most people in society will end up talking about it. It is also very important as depending on how entertaining/ catchy the video is they could be getting millions of free advertisement with people posting it up on networking sites such as twitter Facebook and so on. Such as Ed Sheeren he made a video and has now ended up going viral as people tend to enjoy his music and now contact his fans through advertisements such as twitter and Facebook.