Post Modernism - self reflexivity

A music video that is aware of its own construction

Check out this video as an example of post modernism

- the video uses captions at certain points to demonstrate what section of the somng it is - this is self reflexivity.  The music video is 'self-aware', it is not covering up the fact that it has been constructed for advertising purposes to the song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38by00DGid0&ob=av2n

Song structure & timings with lyric analysis

Layout the structure of your song including timing of the different sections

Include an analysis of the lyrics and mood of the music attaching ideas for your visuals - what part of the narrative (what scene, what plot point and when in the song)

Highlight the key words you are using to interpret the visuals.

See other student examples for help with this on previous posts 'Lyric analysis'

Image & Concept IMP

Hi All

Just a quick reminder about your ideas for your music video

By now you should have researched IMAGE of artists. In lesson 1 we established that your job in making a music video is to SELL the artist & their music.

Your target audience must be attracted to and identify with the values and identity that you are creating for the band. So who are you saying that they are - what do they personify? SEX? REBELLIOUSNESS? INDEPENDENCE? TRAGEDY?

Setting is of paramount importance as is having a CONCEPT or THEME for your video.

Shooting in the following locations will NOT sell an artist to the international or British market

Dartford
Your house
In the high street
In a park

You are looking for aspirational or hyper-real locations that generate MEANING - there must be a symbol reason for their performance being in this place - a high street says nothing about an artist.

PARIS is a location that symbolises LOVE, not a awkward scene shot in Nandos

LONDON is the capital of this country and a world-wide recognised skyline of landmarks - it is the centre of the 2ND BIGGEST MUSIC MARKET IN THE UK.

AMY WINEHOUSE lived & died there, PUNK started there, GRIME came from there.

The audience for the artists music will include your age as part of the audience but is likely to extend to 30 year olds - that is a over a decade between you! You wouldn't speak to a 5 year old the same as a 17 year old, so you need to be thinking about mature themes that this audience can relate to for your content

Genres have expectations
AGGRESSION, REBELLIOUSNESS & ANTI-AUTHORITY = PUNK
SEX, DRUGS & ROCK N ROLL = ROCK
SENSITIVITY, ARTISTIC EXPRESSION, UNIQUENESS = ALTERNATIVE
BEAUTY, SEX, RELATIONSHIPS, PERFECTION = POP
REALITY, MASCULINITY, URBAN CULTURE, POWER = HIP HOP
FEMININITY, SEX, RELATIONSHIPS, URBAN CULTURE = RnB

These must be satisfied in order to successfully construct an IMAGE that will SELL the album to the audience.

Think outside of your own lives & the everyday locations

These Videos need DRAMA, IMAGINATION, SYMBOLISM, MEANING, HYPER-REAL (exaggerated, distorted, surreal) FILMLIKE not what is accessible to the experiences of the everyday teenager.

Your key resource is Ideas from films, adverts, games, tv shows, cartoons, and other music videos, so get thinking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_sBOsh-vyI&ob=av3n 

Good luck
Mr.B

RESEARCH & PLANNING - layout of your group blog

• • 1. Boot Camp Digipack (Individual) & evaluation
    
    2. (Individual Blog) My music video x 3 Ideas
    3. Research into Image & Genre  (Annotated images of promotional photos commenting on Genre conventions & Image)
    • 4. Lyrics Analysis*
    • 4. Timecode
    • 5. Ideas Brainstorm
    • 6. References and Inspiration; Music Video's
    • 7. References and Inspirations; Artists Image
    • 8. References and Inspirations; Promotional Campaigns (Album, Videos & Websites from a recent album release looking for continuing of design/image)
    9.Boot Camp (Individual Blog) Music Video Analysis (3 x videos applying Goodwin, Intertextuality, Hyper-reality & Voyeurism*) extended from class lessons
    10. Boot Camp E-Mail to copyright holder & evidence of you pitch with your 'Test Footage'
    • 11. Group Meetings (weekly - brainstorms/ideas etc)
    12a. Target Audience Profile – collage & commentary (age, gender, subculture, fashion, values, attitudes, what appeals to them)
    12b. Target Audience evidence - Artists Social Networking sites 'Friends & Likes' 
    
    
             13. Mood Board for your Concept (and any note-paper diagrams of your final idea)
             14. Your Final Pitch (video)
             15. Marketing & Campaign Strategy
    (Here is the guide for above)
    
    
    16. (Individual Blog) Digipak Analysis 
    17. (Individual Blog) Website Analysis 
    18. Timeline 
    19. Storyboard
    20. Animatic Motion Storyboard
  • Over half term:
  • Planning:
    
    21. Production Schedule
    22. Shot Lists
    23. Assets List
    24. Test Shots  
    25. Risk Assessments
    26. Location Recce 
    27. Call Sheets
    28. Weather Check (if required) 
    

    
    

    Feedback Deadline for R&P 1-20 is Mon 7th October

    Final Deadline for R&P 21 - 28 is Mon 4th November
    
    All marks are final - there is no opportunity to resit this module or submit late.
     
  • Examples of monitoring the planning & construction

• • Second Shoot Day
  • Positives and Negatives from the First Shoot
  • First Shoot Day
  • Group Meeting 26/10/10
  • Storyboard of My Verse
  • Group meeting 22/10/10

  This is

Performance, Narrative or Conceptual - Which should I do?

Hi

Just a quick thought about the above based on some questions this week

All 3 have their strengths & challenges.

The exam board tend to reward music videos that demonstrate your technical ability & your creativity, as well as understanding of conventions and form.

Performance demonstrates your ability to lip and instrument synch, lighting, choreography, as well as coverage (angles & close ups) and beat editing

...But this is difficult to do well, and requires time, planning, rehearsals and lots of footage (therefore editing time) to look professional.

Narrative demonstrates your ability to in tell a story with a concept based on the themes or mood of the song that you are then associating with the artists (Image)
See pendulum - what theme/story - how much footage (loads!)

...But this can be hardest of all as it requires you to write in effect an entire short film, with characters, drama, meaning, plot development etc which last 3 mins plus with fast paced editing. (linear, non-linear etc). This puts pressure on your choice of a song to inspire a dramatic and interesting story.
 
Conceptual demonstrates your creativity with only the relationship between your concept and the music. It can be animated, surreal, and contain lots of opportunities to use Goodwins theory (voyeurism, intertextuality, hyper-reality, self references).

But this requires structure and for you to have an extremely strong idea, and for you to have a very specific concept that matches the changes & different layers in the song.

To summarise the exam board have suggested elements of Performance & Narrative to give you the opportunity to cut back to the performance if you don't have enough story, and a strong concept to back it up. However if you are confident a good conceptual video is really interesting, clever and can incorporate some performance (baby lip synching teardrop) & narrative.

Ideas & Concepts NEXT WEEK

Hi All

Here is a short demonstration of how to come up with ideas for visuals for your music video

Obviously the key approach here is to watch as many as possible, which we will be doing next week where we focus on Post Modernism: Hyper-Reality and Intertextuality

Have a look at the following videos

Thanks
Mr.B

REMINDER - 1st LESSON NEXT WEEK 3x Initial Proposals

This week you will be shooting & synching a performance video. Please ensure you look at the instructional video on the previous posts to learn the correct techniques and procedure for covering performance.

By now you should have chosen 3 songs from myspace artists or bands/artists you know personally.

You should upload these tracks to your individual blog and now create a PROPOSAL for the Visual content (include a commentary on your decisions)

Next Week in the class session you will be asked to discuss your 3 proposal tracks and present your concept for the video. You will then develop one of these ideas over the next 2 weeks in class to build towards your pitch.

What to get across:
3 x written initial Proposals for a music video for 3 different tracks

What to do:
Use images & as examples of anything that will help you express your idea or footage of anything that has influenced your ideas to make a poster annotated with comments and Key Words

See Sean's blog from last year as an example of a written proposal -

You could make your more visual with a poster or mood board

Use http://www.glogster.com/top/

http://seansomala2.blogspot.com/2010/09/music-video-three-initial-ideas.html

Comment on your ideas for:
1. The Concept & the Content -

What Theme will you work with? 

What will we see?
Where is the Drama/Interest
The relationship of music to visuals (mood/lyrics/sounds - editing, choreography, movement/animation, lip synching?)
Narrative/Performance or Visual?

2. Style -

What shots & camera movements
Editing effects
Colours
Costume
Setting
Lighting

3. Image -

How is your video representing the artist - are they in the video?


Look at examples of videos - focus on what makes them interesting.

Good Luck
Look forward to Seeing/Hearing your ideas

Mr.B

How to shoot a peformance

Lets review -

4 x Band Members

Singer/guitar
Lead Guitar
Bass
Drums

1st performance
Master Shot = Wide angle of the performance all the band throughout the song

Master Shot 1st performance

2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th performance
Shoot closer 1 shot (individual shots) of each member of the band/artist

Shoot Mid Shots & Shoot Medium Close Ups of individual members - start with singer

MS Drums 5th performance

MS Bass 4th Performance

MS guitar 6th Performance

MS all members 3rd Performance

MCU Singer 2nd Performance

MS Singer 3rd Performance

6th 7th, 8th, 9th

Shoot Close Ups and Extreme Close Ups 1 shots (individuals) of the artists - FROM VARIOUS ANGLES (down the guitar neck, above the kit)

These are really effective so don't leave them out

ECU Bass 8th Performance

ECU Guitars 10th Performance

ECU Lead Guitar 10th performance

CU Drums 9th Performance

CU - CU Singer 7th Performance

Then...
Shoot B-roll (contextual, atmospheric footage)

KEY POINT TO REMEMBER

Record the performance of the whole song all the way through - this means you have enough footage

8 Different angles of the whole performance

'B-Roll' - Cut aways of atmospheric filler material - where they are not performing

If you don't do this...

It won't be complete

It will be uninteresting & repetitive

You won't have enough footage to fill the timeline

Good Luck

Mr.B

How to shoot music videos

Hey hey

This is the video we watched in class demonstrating how to go about recording performances in a music video

Remember:

The more footage/angles/takes/ CUs = better result

Shoot ought to take hours not minutes

Know what you are going to shoot before you get there

Locations need to be dynamic and suit the image of the artist, genre, concept/theme and mood

Keep the energy up across the day - lay on food & coffee!

Make sure you have the track and speakers so the artist and camera can hear it for synching

Rehearse the artist before so they know what they are doing

Lighting is absolute for it to look convincing - get experimenting - Strobes, filters, gels, shadows, shooting into lights - otherwise it will look like a school music performance

Scout and find attractive and suitable locations and Get permission!

LONDON IS ON YOUR DOORSTEP SO MAKE USE OF THIS FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITY!!!

More tips to come

Peace y'all

Mr.B

Initial research Image & Genre

Hi Gang

6 initial aspects to investigate and consider in your research:

1. Who is your audience?
2. What content would you expect in a music video of this genre - conventions?
3. What does a band webpage & album digipack look like - conventions?
4. What Image (rebellious, sexy, artistic, tortured etc) do professional artists in this genre have?
5. What influences are inspiring your ideas?
6. In what ways does a campaign for the release of a new album use promotions across different media to gain attention (competitions, spotify, magazines, web, radio (BBC 6 Music, Radio 1), TV (MTV etc), films, merchandising, guest appearances, youtube, facebook, twitter, freebies etc...)

As a start look at the websites for Kasabian & Noel Gallagher who both have albums out this month

http://www.noelgallagher.com/#home

http://www.kasabian.co.uk/gb/home/ - (cool video with easy to reproduce effects in the studio)

Chiao

Mr.B

Youtube quote: "I'm sick of everyone comparing Noel Gallagher to God, He never wrote anything as good as Champagne Supernova."

Using unsigned artists & where to find

Hi All

Hopefully by now you have started considering who you are going to work with and are trawling myspace or your contacts for friends in bands/singers etc.

This has several key advantages over using established artists:
1. They will have developed some idea of image but may not be too clear on how they want to come across - this is where you come in.

2. You have a wide array of established artists from over 50 years of the Popular Music Industry to use as influence. This is a golden opportunity for 'Intertextuality'

3. Your will be able to contact your artists directly - obtaining permission to film a music video & to have a dialogue (if you don't know them I recommend that this is over email than in person) where they can give you advice and direction which you can incorporate into your ideas - this is how the process works in real life!

Top tip: when shooting the performers for your digipack/music video/photoshoot take control - Get them to not be afraid of the eyeliner and foundation and keep the hairspray & straighteners handy - this is key to a flattering image when shooting on HD!


Where to look
www.myspace.com

www.Unsigned.com

www.Overplay.com

Cheers
Mr.B

Previous students' music video

Hi Guys

For your consideration a selection of music videos A grade I worked with from my previous college in Nottingham

Think about how the better ones have an interesting concept/theme as well as well shot performances and a purpose to the effects to hold your interest.

You don't need to rely on a green screen or effects to be interesting - if you choose to you must have a reason for using them.

Our next session is to develop your ideas and get surreal!

Enjoy

Mr.B

Links to successful previous students blogs/videos

Know what success looks like!


To give you a clearer idea of what you are aiming to (re)produce.

think of this as an electronic portfolio - keep it loaded with your comments, decision-making, analysis and examples. Evidence what you have done and comment on how it was, will it work, what have you changed, what inspired you.

http://latymermediamusicvideobrief.blogspot.com/ - explore this: lots of good advice and resources

http://www.wix.com/latymermediamv4/thefix - boyband example in class website constructed on wix.com

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F2F0069B64163D84 - their group's blog

Last years Leigh students:
http://seansomala2.blogspot.com/ 
Sean A-Grade 99/100!!!!

http://Katieoakhama2.blogspot.com

Katie B Grade 77/100

http://emilyramsella2.blogspot.com/

Emily C Grade 67/100


Know what you have to do for an A grade - think about the differences, where do the marks get missed?


Next Post: Previous students music videos

Mr.B  

Unit Overview & Deadlines

Welcome to the media Blog for the music video coursework. Stay tuned for further updates, information and weekly reminders. Both yr13 classes can see this blog so you can share ideas and feedback on each others projects.

This is a reminder of how the unit works. You must produce: 

A Promotional Campaign for the release of an album

Research & Planning (20 marks)

Construction - (60 marks) consisting of Music Video plus Ancillary products: (Digipack & Website templates in wix.com) 

Evaluation (20 marks) - shared group activity

The Research & Planning must be displayed on your group blog, along with comments reflecting on and monitoring your decisions - if you can relate this to show what you have learned and analysed about music videos even better! Include photos, youtube videos, sketches, costume, rehearsals, website and digipack images that relate to your research.

Get in the habit of blogging regularly - it will support your grade.

Deadlines: These are non-negotiable, and missing these reduces and limits your marks - see the marking criteria where it specifies 'time management'.

The following must be uploaded to your blogs by the date specified:

See the attached images of the Level 4 criteria so you know what you are aiming for - and look at the selected links to A grade projects from last years Media students. 

Key Tip: You are making the campaign for a new album so look at artists that have albums being currently released and look at their campaigns - promotions, adverts, websites, guest appearances, documentaries, pop ups, merchandise, magazine photoshoots, album covers, flyers etc. 

One Love.

Mr.B

Brief for the assignment

Division of grades for music video & ancillary productions

Music Video Success criteria

Research & Planning (R&P) Success criteria

4 Evaluation questions to cover as a group

Evaluation success criteria