This is how i was able to imagine and planned the music video by drawing out specific shots onto a storyboard template that will resemble the scenes we were filming.
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Progress reports
Week 1
This is the first week of the course and we have been put into our groups in which we will film our music videos. These groups were put together by our teachers according to which students will suit each other. I have already had some ideas on what i would want to do for my music video which is an R&B music video as it is a popular music genre but I haven't selected any specific songs yet.
Week 2
After a week of discussion we all met in the middle and decided to create an Electro House music video. As soon as this idea was pitched to the group by a fellow group member it was sold to me straight away as i knew we could do many things with a song from this genre from a narrative based music video to an abstract music video. At the same time we started researching songs and went away individially to find songs and come back to the group in a days time to show and tell the songs we found. One of the other group members came up with Swedish House Mafia's One track which was a massive worldwide hit in the summer. We all thought this was a great plan so we went with it and started to decide what we were going to do for the music video. We thought it would be better if we started planning locations as we would have a headstart from other groups. Late in the week we came up with an idea to make a narrative based music video where there is a sort of "Romeo and Juliet" narrative where the male protagonist is searching for a girl her met the previous night.
Week 3
Today was the first day of our filming. Me and another member of the group went West End to film what was meant to be majority of the music video footage. However, we didn't end up filming most of it as our plan was to film the bits with all the girls in, but our technique in approaching the girls was wrong and didn't attract many people to be apart of our video.
This is the next day and we are back to filming and plan to complete the rest of the filming. We filmed a flash back scene where the protagonist remembers how he met the girl he got the mysterious text message from. We were initialy planning to make this scene a bar/club scene but when we asked around it was hard to convince bars and clubs to allow us to film in them so we had to create a scene where the protagonist gets the number of the mystery girl.
Today is the final day of filming and we have gone to my house to film the beginning of the music video. This is where the protagonist wakes up and see's the text message he has recieved.
Week 4
Today is the day where we started our editting process. We all sat down together and helped with the editting as it would be better to all be there and give advice on what looks best when sculpting our music video.
This is the first week of the course and we have been put into our groups in which we will film our music videos. These groups were put together by our teachers according to which students will suit each other. I have already had some ideas on what i would want to do for my music video which is an R&B music video as it is a popular music genre but I haven't selected any specific songs yet.
Week 2
After a week of discussion we all met in the middle and decided to create an Electro House music video. As soon as this idea was pitched to the group by a fellow group member it was sold to me straight away as i knew we could do many things with a song from this genre from a narrative based music video to an abstract music video. At the same time we started researching songs and went away individially to find songs and come back to the group in a days time to show and tell the songs we found. One of the other group members came up with Swedish House Mafia's One track which was a massive worldwide hit in the summer. We all thought this was a great plan so we went with it and started to decide what we were going to do for the music video. We thought it would be better if we started planning locations as we would have a headstart from other groups. Late in the week we came up with an idea to make a narrative based music video where there is a sort of "Romeo and Juliet" narrative where the male protagonist is searching for a girl her met the previous night.
Week 3
Today was the first day of our filming. Me and another member of the group went West End to film what was meant to be majority of the music video footage. However, we didn't end up filming most of it as our plan was to film the bits with all the girls in, but our technique in approaching the girls was wrong and didn't attract many people to be apart of our video.
This is the next day and we are back to filming and plan to complete the rest of the filming. We filmed a flash back scene where the protagonist remembers how he met the girl he got the mysterious text message from. We were initialy planning to make this scene a bar/club scene but when we asked around it was hard to convince bars and clubs to allow us to film in them so we had to create a scene where the protagonist gets the number of the mystery girl.
Today is the final day of filming and we have gone to my house to film the beginning of the music video. This is where the protagonist wakes up and see's the text message he has recieved.
Week 4
Today is the day where we started our editting process. We all sat down together and helped with the editting as it would be better to all be there and give advice on what looks best when sculpting our music video.
Lip Synching
This is mine and Dujuane's attempt to lip sync as we were the main cast to play the role of the protagonist. We thought it would be handy to make sure our lip syncing skill is good just incase we have to mime the song in the music video.
Audience Types
Audience types refers to the groups of fans that your msuic of music video is aimed at. In lesson we learned the main types of audience which are:
Mainstream: A large audience that watch or listen to one type of music that is culculated by ratings or the Box Office or Billboard 100. The types of artists that belong to this group are stereotypically pop artists.
Cult: Is a small, but loyal following of a particular music type. Grime music in the UK is a popular genre but worldwide it can be seen as a Cult as the fan base is small in comparison to other genres.
Subversive: Subversive audiences watch controversial media texts that could be offensive. N.W.A is a good example as in the 80's their music was seen to be politically incorrect and very offensive.
Abstract: Media text that have no narrative meaning. Understanding is based on audience members ideas.
Alternative: Opposite of Mainstream. Audience enjoy media texts that are similar to mainstream media texts, but differ in various ways.
Genre
Electro House
The most successful artists that broke through to the mainstream charts are artists such as Steve Angello (1/3 of Swedish House Mafia), Benny Benassi, Daft Punk, DJ Antione, Crookers and many many more.
Daft Punk is electronic music duo of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. Daft Punk gained a lot of popularity in the 90's French house movement and continued with success the following years.
Daft Punk created an electronic image for them selfs by performing in futuristic robotic outfits at all their live performances which mirrored their electronic musical style and Tron imagery.
Crookers are an Italian DJ/production duo consisting of Bot and Phra who have been working together since 2003. They broke through to the charts after the hit remix of Kid Cudi's song "Day 'n' Nite" which was ranked #15 the list Best 25 Songs of 2009 by Rolling Stone.
The Crookers have also remixed other chart toppers such as Lady GaGa - Telephone, Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction, N.E.R.D - Hot-n-Fun and U2 - Get on Your Boots.
Electro house is a fusion genre, it's a combination of house music and electronic dance music and several other subgenres. Electro house music became popular in the early 2000's as a lot of new artsits made their way through to the scene. The cultural origins of the genre came from Western Europe in the 2000's as most of the Electro house artists stereotypically originated from Europe.
Notable Artists
Daft Punk is electronic music duo of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. Daft Punk gained a lot of popularity in the 90's French house movement and continued with success the following years.
Daft Punk created an electronic image for them selfs by performing in futuristic robotic outfits at all their live performances which mirrored their electronic musical style and Tron imagery.
Crookers are an Italian DJ/production duo consisting of Bot and Phra who have been working together since 2003. They broke through to the charts after the hit remix of Kid Cudi's song "Day 'n' Nite" which was ranked #15 the list Best 25 Songs of 2009 by Rolling Stone.
The Crookers have also remixed other chart toppers such as Lady GaGa - Telephone, Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction, N.E.R.D - Hot-n-Fun and U2 - Get on Your Boots.
Similar Texts
For the genre of Electro House music, at this time, there are a lot of successful artists in the music industry. Electro House has become very popular since 2009 onwards. One of the Electro House artists/groups that create similar style of music and music video as Swedish House Mafia is David Guetta.
This song is David Guetta - Memories ft. Kid Cudi. The reason why this song is a similar text to my chosen song is beacuse both of the artists have a successful Hip Hop artist featuring on their song. In this case the artist is Kid Cudi in the David Guetta song. But in my chosen song (Swedish House Mafia - One) the featuring artist is Pharrell Williams from N.E.R.D.
Swedish House Mafia (SHM) released a song featuring hot new artist Tinie Tempah in 2010 called "Miami 2 Ibiza". The music video to this song has a similar concept to the music video me and my group are going to create. The concept we are going to use is a POV style camera shot all throughout the music video. The POV camera view is going to protray the protagonists view point throughout his chase to find a girl he met the previous night. This song and music video was the second successful track that SHM released in the final quarter of 2010.
The "All Falls Down" music video by Hip Hop artist Kanye West also follows this technique of the POV camera shot. However in the Kanye West music video the camera leaves the POV shot numerous times, for example, when he goes through the luggage scanner in the airport the camera shot changes.
This song is David Guetta - Memories ft. Kid Cudi. The reason why this song is a similar text to my chosen song is beacuse both of the artists have a successful Hip Hop artist featuring on their song. In this case the artist is Kid Cudi in the David Guetta song. But in my chosen song (Swedish House Mafia - One) the featuring artist is Pharrell Williams from N.E.R.D.
Swedish House Mafia (SHM) released a song featuring hot new artist Tinie Tempah in 2010 called "Miami 2 Ibiza". The music video to this song has a similar concept to the music video me and my group are going to create. The concept we are going to use is a POV style camera shot all throughout the music video. The POV camera view is going to protray the protagonists view point throughout his chase to find a girl he met the previous night. This song and music video was the second successful track that SHM released in the final quarter of 2010.
The "All Falls Down" music video by Hip Hop artist Kanye West also follows this technique of the POV camera shot. However in the Kanye West music video the camera leaves the POV shot numerous times, for example, when he goes through the luggage scanner in the airport the camera shot changes.
Initial Ideas
I'd be lying if i said that my group have had the same idea from the moment we walked into our A2 class. But we have followed the same lines from the first idea that we had. The first idea was to do a point of view music video and had these steps:
1. The protagonist wakes up confused with blury eyes
2. He gets up out of bed to see his clothes from the previous night are on the floor
3. He finds a tissue paper with a girls number on it on his dresser
4. He then gets dressed and leaves his home
5. He walks to the train station and gets onto a train
6. He arrives in West End (Oxford Street)
1. The protagonist wakes up confused with blury eyes
2. He gets up out of bed to see his clothes from the previous night are on the floor
3. He finds a tissue paper with a girls number on it on his dresser
4. He then gets dressed and leaves his home
5. He walks to the train station and gets onto a train
6. He arrives in West End (Oxford Street)
This is where our story didn't make any sense. Questions were raised such as "Why is he going West End for no reason?"
So...we had to scrap that opening to the video and create a more logical opening - back to the drawing board.
So...we had to scrap that opening to the video and create a more logical opening - back to the drawing board.
The ending of the music video wasn't changed by this opening, but the middle part had to be changed as we planned to have a club scene to showe where he got this number from but we were advised by our teachers Rob and Rosie that it isn't a great idea.
Instead, we decided that intead of him have the number we will have he recieving a text message from a person (being the girl) telling him to meet her in westend. This will work better as the viewers will be told what is going on.
So what happens next is:
1. The protagonist recieves the text
2. He goes onto the train and reaches westend
3. He then gets a flash back of the girl
4. He walks around looking for the girl he met before but can't find her
5. He gives up and goes home when he gets another flashback of how they met
6. Just about to get home, the guy gets a phone call from the number that texted him
7. Surprisingly the girl is standing to the left of him.
So what happens next is:
1. The protagonist recieves the text
2. He goes onto the train and reaches westend
3. He then gets a flash back of the girl
4. He walks around looking for the girl he met before but can't find her
5. He gives up and goes home when he gets another flashback of how they met
6. Just about to get home, the guy gets a phone call from the number that texted him
7. Surprisingly the girl is standing to the left of him.
F-Word
For our preliminary task we were required to create a short sample music video of the song F-Word by Babybird.
Visit to Rich Mix
On Thursday 18th November 2010, my media class took a trip to RichMix : Studying Music Video. Here we got a presentation by Pete Fraser who is the Chief Examiner for OCR A Level Media Studies. He gave us the history of the music video, codes and conventions and top tips for making our own music video. Amongst the material shown:
A Colour Box by Len Lye was one of the very first music videos made.
Frim Fram Sauce by Nat King Cole was a video performance with a depiction of himself performing in a video jukebox.
The Beatles keeping up the continuity in their music video for Can't Buy Me Love with their iconic black suits used various camera shots including a point of view style.
Jay-Z 's music video for 99 Problems caused a lot of controversy for it's explicit content and imagery of Jay-Z being shot down. It was also ranked in the top 500 music videos of all time and had over 800 camera cuts.
A Colour Box by Len Lye was one of the very first music videos made.
Frim Fram Sauce by Nat King Cole was a video performance with a depiction of himself performing in a video jukebox.
The Beatles keeping up the continuity in their music video for Can't Buy Me Love with their iconic black suits used various camera shots including a point of view style.
Jay-Z 's music video for 99 Problems caused a lot of controversy for it's explicit content and imagery of Jay-Z being shot down. It was also ranked in the top 500 music videos of all time and had over 800 camera cuts.
History of Music Video
Although the history of music videos date back much further, music videos became popular in the 1980's, especially when MTV opened their doors and swept the TV. Prior to this time, music videos were called "illustrated song", "promotional (promo) film" or "film clip".
Music videos have a wide range of styles or filming techniques. These are animation, live action filming, documentaries and non-narrative techniques or abstract films. One of the early creations of music videos started in the late 50's when the Scopitone was invented. The Scopitone is a visual jukebox that allows artists to have a short film to accompany their music that was invented in France.
Music videos have a wide range of styles or filming techniques. These are animation, live action filming, documentaries and non-narrative techniques or abstract films. One of the early creations of music videos started in the late 50's when the Scopitone was invented. The Scopitone is a visual jukebox that allows artists to have a short film to accompany their music that was invented in France.
Artists such as Serge Gainsbourg and Francoise Hardy utilised this and made videos that played all over France at the time. In 1964, The Beatles starred in their first feature A Hard Day's Night directed by Richard Lester. The execution of the film made it a hit and had many musical performances in it.
Ben Peters
Early in the year we had a visit from Ben Peters the music video director. Ben Peters has had a successful career in the music video industry and has directed many music videos. Some of his most popular music videos are:
One of the first things Ben said to the class was "The shorter the better". He said he had learned from experience that if your music video is too long, the label will cut it no matter how stupid the ending of your music video seems. This was something i considered when editing my music video.
He told us that there are 2 types of music videos - Performance based and Story based. Most music videos will follow these lines according to the artist. For example, this is a typical and and famous performance based music video:
This music video is performance based because the band is perfoming the song on the roof top as if they are on an ordinary stage like they would be in a concert.
Ben also gave the class a break down of all the people and eqipmentSteadycamthat are involved in the making of a music video, from the Director to the to the Runner. The list goes like this:
Director - the decision maker
Producer - at the top of the tree. Decides who is going to direct the video
Spark (Best boy) - the electricians assistant
Grip - is the person who builds the dolly
Steadycam - the camera that is attached to a person for smooth moving shots.
Gaffer - the lighting expert above the sparks.
Grader - the person that will master the video and enhance the quality of every shot to create a particular style.
Colorist (Jet) - the person that will tweek the colour of the video. They will ask for no less that £2000 per music video.
DP - the person that will operate the video camera.
Art director - will find every prop that you will see in a shot.
1st AD (Assistant director) they will schedule the whole video and decide what to shoot and what time
Runner - will learn to make tea and coffee for anyone above. WILL WORK VERY LONG HOURS!
One of the first things Ben said to the class was "The shorter the better". He said he had learned from experience that if your music video is too long, the label will cut it no matter how stupid the ending of your music video seems. This was something i considered when editing my music video.
He told us that there are 2 types of music videos - Performance based and Story based. Most music videos will follow these lines according to the artist. For example, this is a typical and and famous performance based music video:
This music video is performance based because the band is perfoming the song on the roof top as if they are on an ordinary stage like they would be in a concert.
Ben also gave the class a break down of all the people and eqipmentSteadycamthat are involved in the making of a music video, from the Director to the to the Runner. The list goes like this:
Director - the decision maker
Producer - at the top of the tree. Decides who is going to direct the video
Spark (Best boy) - the electricians assistant
Grip - is the person who builds the dolly
Steadycam - the camera that is attached to a person for smooth moving shots.
Gaffer - the lighting expert above the sparks.
Grader - the person that will master the video and enhance the quality of every shot to create a particular style.
Colorist (Jet) - the person that will tweek the colour of the video. They will ask for no less that £2000 per music video.
DP - the person that will operate the video camera.
Art director - will find every prop that you will see in a shot.
1st AD (Assistant director) they will schedule the whole video and decide what to shoot and what time
Runner - will learn to make tea and coffee for anyone above. WILL WORK VERY LONG HOURS!
Brief
A2 G324: Advance Portfolio in Media
1) A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following:
a) a cover for its release as a part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)
b) a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package
Introduction
Hello, I'm Sagar Patel, I'm a A Level student continuing on to A2 Media Studies, English Literature and Language and Psychology. My hobbies are listening to music and going out with friends on the weekends. However, I also work part-time on the weekends at Argos. My current favourite music video is The Statement by Wiz Khalifa.
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