Ideas for my music video

After assessing the song from my chosen artist, i started to think about how I could turn this song into a music video for myself. I felt that I would represent the theme and narrative of a journey. I would also like to present the idea of not taking life too seriously and just to have fun. So therefore I would aim to use hand held camera for most of my shots and use the propagandist to film most of their shots. that way it would almost allow the audience to know how the protagonist is feeling. Also another idea i had was to use fast cut shots in order to create a sense of suspense and excitement. Furthermore in order to make sure the shots were not boring i will add different filter colours and effects. Also in some of my shots i will speed them up and slow them down to slow the movements through time. I also plan to use a wide variety of different shots to show my full range of capability.

Due to this being a house song there is no clear narrative, only themes of a journey, this is similar to many other house songs and videos.

Here is an example of a house song i gathered ideas from:

House culture/genre

After researching many different genres including pop and indie i have decided to go with the genre of house music. I have chosen this genre as i believe that it will be the most practical genre to use with the resources and budget that i have available. Also i believe that house music best relates to me and the life surrounding me. Also i believe that this is massively reliant on flamboyant props. It also gives me the experience of playing around with different shots and effects.
A large proportion of house music videos are based around crazy lifestyles including parties, alcohol, drugs, young people etc. Moreover i believe i can shoot this video on a low budget while adding elements to create a story and sense of identity. Furthermore there is a variety of different music videos I have to analyse many different music videos from all genres to develop a variety of ideas to help me build on my initial plans for the video

Emailing the artist

After I found the band/artist I wanted to use to create my music video i had to email them. I did this as soon as possible so i would be able to start my project and put some ideas together. Also i would need their confirmation and blessing that i was alright to use their song. They replied by asking if they could first see a brief rough cut of the video, however by this stage I haven't even started filming yet. Moreover I explained this and sent them my storyboard after I finalized some of my ideas. The response I was given was fantastic and I had the go ahead to carry on with my project.

House music

House music is a genre of electronic dance music. It originates back to the early 1980s in Chicago. It really became famous in 1985 around North and South America then spread out across Europe and not far behind, Australia. 

Early house music success in Europe saw songs such as 'House Nation' by House Master Boyz and 'Doctorin the House' by Coldcut feature in the pop charts. Ever since the 1990s house music has featured in the charts regularly and has infused with music genres such as: pop and dance music.

Early house music was mainly dance based with elements of different beats and rhythms developed with computerized drums and synthesized baselines. House music has many similarities to disco music, however it is more electronic and techno based, with the rhythm being more important than the song itself.

Modern day house music, while keeping many of its core elements, the kick drum in almost every beat varies with style and influence from soul and suspense atmosphere. Housed music has also fused with other genres to form electro-house, tech-house, jump-house etc.

In the early stages of house music, many local Chicago artists found themselves with record labels as house music really became a commercial success. Furthurmore artists such as Madonna, Janet Jackson and Daft Punk merged elements of the house genre with their songs. 

Audience demographic

History Of Music Videos

The history of music videos dates right back to 1894 when George Thomas, an electrician at the time, along with many others were hired by 'sheet music'  to promote the sale of their song - 'The Little Lost Child'.

Through the use of a magic lantern, Thomas was able to project a series of small images onto a screen, in sync to live performances, which proved to be a form of popular entertainment, known as the illustrated song. This was the first step for music videos.

In 1926 however is where music videos really took off with the arrival of talkies where many short films were produced. They were labelled 'shorts' and featured in cinemas as a short film before the main film started. For example St Louis Blues a famous videos broadcasted until 1932 with Blues singer Bessie Smith featuring in it.

Soundies were musical films that often included short dance sequences and were produced from 1940-47.
Musical films were important in the development of music videos. Many well known music videos have imitated and took inspiration from classic hollywood musicals. For example Madonnas music video for the song Material Girl, was closely influenced by the musical featuring Marlyn Munroe - Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend.

Promotional clips were introduced in the 1950s. The scopitone, which was a musical jukebox, invented in France and produced by french artists such as Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Brel. An example of a promotional clip is Bob Dylans song Subterranean Homesick Blues. This song was a monochrome clip filmed by D.A. Pennebaker in 1966.

In the late 1970s the British television programme Top of the Pops aired. Which gave viewers an insight to the videos as they were not able to view them on YouTube! Promo videos were made in order to promote the artist, a famous promo video is David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes.

!980s MTV aired which really took music videos to the next level.

in the 1980s music videos improved and developed massively through the use of video recording and editing equipment, and visual effects. One of the biggest and most successful music videos of all time: Michael Jackson - Thriller which was a 14 minute video that cost $500'000 to make, in spite of this it was a huge success raking in millions of dollars. This song also encouraged MTV to publish videos of African Americans.

In the 1990s music videos were shown in a different light as videos were more artistic and creative. This included videos from R&B groups such as Boyz 2 Men and Rock songs from bandss such as Nirvana.

2000s saw the rise of the internet. Video sharing went huge through the use of YouTube Google and Facebook and MySpace. Here songs would go viral and become internet sensations, with songs such as Crank That by Soulja Boy. Video sharing is still huge today and it allows artists such as Justin Bieber to broadcast themselves to record labels in order to be signed.

Analysis Of Other Videos

After doing some research into Andrew Goodwins theory, I decided to do some research into music videos to see how it applys.

A music video i chose to analyse was 50 Cent - I ain't gonna lie.

1. Genre characteristics 

There are many aspects of genre characteristics throughout this music video. One is the female protagonist being portrayed in the male gaze as a sex icon. We see this with her gold bikini on which also represents wealth and fame which is another characteristic of the hip-hop genre. Furthermore the images of the artist with a gold chain on represents 'rags-to-riches', however the fact that he has his hood up represents that he is still street smart. These are all obvious genre characteristics.

2. Relationship between lyrics and visuals

This characteristic is very clear in this video, it is very obvious from the outset what the plot is and what the message the song is aiming to give out. An example of this is when the artist is singing about buying the female protagonists expensive shoes, we then see a shot straight away of the shoes which give a clear direct link/message.

3. Relationship between music and visuals

This is used effectively in a way that we see the beat to the music being in time with the editing cut shots. Also the fast editing cuts around the money helps to set the mood of the song and links a direct message to the genre.

4. Brand image and demands of the record label

The brand image is emphasized a lot with the strong links to wealth and power. Also most of the shots are of the artist, and there is a mix of close ups which demonstrate emotion, whilst there are medium shots and low angle shots which reinstates power. This will give the record label a chance to brand their image whilst also giving the artist the chance to develop his image too.

5. References to voyeuristic treatment of women.
This point is very evident in this video as is it evident throughout the genre of hip-hop. We see in this video the female protagonist wearing a bikini in the pool and images of her in underwear. This indicates voyeurism. Furthermore the clothing she wears is very provocative, the colour red she is wearing connotes sexual references. 

6. Intertextual references
There wasn't really many intertextual references in this music video.

Props

I don't plan on there being many props in my video despite shots of the protagonist on the skateboard.

Location

History of music

History of Music

Music is the art of combining vocal or instrumental sounds or both to form a harmony and expression of pure emotion. The first ever evidence of music goes back to Prehistoric times which uses flutes based out of carvings from bones and various types of string instruments. 

Daft Punk Analysis

Daft Punk are a French electronic music duo - Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter. Daft Punk reached great popularity in the late 1990's house movement in France and success took on from there. The pair are considered crucial in producing songs inj the French house scene.

In 1997 the band released thier debut album 'Homework' which was a great success followed by the release of 'Discovery' in 2001 which went on to achieve even higher success with songs such as: 'One More Time' and 'Digital Love'. In 2007 they release the album 'Alive 2007' which was famous for winning a Grammy Award for best Electronic/Dance album.

In 2010 they composed music for the film - 'Tron Legacy' which was a film that achieved great success.

In 2013 Daft Punk left record label EMI Records for Columbia and released 'Random Access Memories'. The album lead to five Grammy awards including album of the year aswell as record of the year for 'Get Lucky' featuring Pharrell Williams which was a song reaching international success. 

Daft Punk are well known and credited for its emphasis on using story and visual components in association with their musical productions. They are also known for their descuise when coming onto the public scene or performing with their helmets and gloves to assume robot personas which signifies their type of music being an electronic/house band.

Moodboard

This is a moodboard surrounding the music genre of Hiphop.

As you can see from some of these images,


This is a moodboard surrounding the music genre of Indie.

This is a moodboard surrounding the music genre of House.

David Guetta Analysis

David Guetta is a French house music producer and disc jockey. Originally a DJ in nightclubs during the 80s and 90s. He cofounded Gum Productions and released his first album in 2002 - 'Just a little more love', followed by Guetta Blaster (2004) and Pop Life (2007). 

Rise to Stardom

Dvid Guettas career really kicked off in 2009 when his album - 'One Love' became a success with songs 'When Love Takes Over', 'Sexy Bitch' and 'Getting Over You' all reached number one in the UK. His next album - 'Nothing but the Beat' followed in the same footsteps and saw great success. 
David Guetta sold over 6 million albums and 15 million singles worldwide. Guetta was voted number 1 DJ by a fan poll in the 'DJ mag top 100 DJ's. In 2013 'Billboard' crowned Guetta's song - 'When Love Takes Over' as the number one dance pop collaboration of all time. 

Spike Jonze: Music Director

Music Director Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and screen play writer. His work includes music videos, TV adverts, film and television. Spike Jonze is well known for music video collaborations with Fat Boy Slim, Beastie Boys and Jay z. Furthermore he is the co-creator and executive producer of MTV’s Jackass. He has been nominated for four academy awards including Best Director.

Spike Jonze Directed Fat Boy Slims music video - Praise You. He shot the the film in a guerrilla style which is a form of low budgeting film making. Simple props were used only, for example - chairs, hats etc. The video only cost $800 to make with most of that money being spent on food and drink for the crew. Scenes were shot without any warning, quickly in public locations (without the permission from landlords and owners). This was to create a sense of shock, excitement and amusement. Jonze was praised highly for this style by other directors by the simple creativity of this video. The video won three major awards at the 1999 MTV Music Video awards, including: Best Breakthrough Video, Best Direction and Best Choreography. However it was voted for Best Dance Video but didn't win.

Search for a song

While searching for a song i came to the conclusion that it would be best to chose a song from a band or someone who was unsigned, as this would prevent any possible restrictions and allow me to be unique with the way i want to shoot my video.

 After searching many websites i figured that SoundCloud and unsigned.com were the best websites to use as this is where bands upload their music with their aim to gain recognition.

I also asked friends for advice on what song i would choose and i found this band called Pears and Till's on SoundCloud. I liked this band and studied the song 'On the Ground' as i could picture myself creating a music video for this song as it had a great tech/house sound which i liked and felt i could do something effective and vibrant with their music.

Another band I found on unsigned.com - Baby Stepz Music had a song called Feeling you, Feeling me. I liked the way this band had combined elements of house with hip-hop and R&B, this I felt really pushed boundaries and had its own sense of identity which I liked.

Another artist I liked was Jordan Morgan who made a song called Obsession, i came across this song whilst searching on SoundCloud. I particularly felt that this song was right as I felt I could create a clear plot-line. Also it had a good beat along with vocals in there which i felt would be effective.

However after some in depth research into artists I finally found the one i thought i should use, from an artist with the stage name - LarsM who had a song called criminal. I really liked this song as i could visualize different shots i would use to the beat of the music. Although there were no lyrics in this song I feel I could use it to my advantage and challenge the points made by Andrew Goodwin.

Target auidence

As I have decided to go for the genre of house I did some research into the audience that may enjoy this type of music. The listeners of this genre I believe would be mainly young adults with a mixture between male and female fans, however the male audience is probably more prominent. Important factors when aiming your product at an audience demographic is trying to get to know them, and what they do in their spare time, with their money etc. A major source of entertainment or social factors surrounding this audience is that they go to a lot of clubs/bars to listen to different music played by DJ's and also to dance and socialise. Moreover most of the target audience would fall under the NRS social class of grade E, therefore they would be seen as working class/students and would have much money to spend. Most of their money would go towards a big even such as a festival

I decided to do some in depth research into the type of clothes that may be worn by this target audience so when  it comes to doing my filming I'd be fully prepared and know how to costume my protagonist. Some items I came across when searching included, jeans, casual shirt and sunglasses.

I also looked at some house artists that were

similar to mine in order to see how they dressed.

Lip Syncing

This is my lip syncing trial for my music video. Even thought there wasn't any lyrics in my song, i felt that it was still important to do a lip syncing trial in order to familiarize myself with the camera a little bit more. Furthermore doing this lip syncing trial i was able to use a variety of different shots and test out what i thought may look good in my video.

                                        

Richard Dyer Star Theory

History of MTV

MTV Timeline:

• MTV airs it first music video in 1981 with The Buggles' song - Video killed the radio star.

• The first annual MTV video music awards show airs featuring appearances from Madonna to Cyndi Lauper.
• The first episode of The Real World premiers featuring seven cast members picked to live in a house in New York. 1992.
• MTV 2 is launched in 1996.

• Total Request Live (TRL) airs for the fist time on MTV featuring the top 10 most requested videos as voted by fans. 1998.
• Jackass first airs on MTV in 2000.

• Ozzy Osbourne goes from video star to mumbling, bumbling reality-TV curiosity, thanks to "The Osbournes." 20002.
• MTV launched The Hills in 2006. A reality TV show based around the glamourous lives of young adults living in Beverley Hills. This was the start of fast growing TV shows, targeting teens.

• MTV "celebrates" its 25th anniversary. Not on the air, but on mtv.com - where it rebroadcasts the first hour of the network. 2006.
• Reality kills the video star, once and for good - thanks to "Jersey Shore." It becomes MTV's highest-rated show to date - more than 10 million viewers and five times the entire reach of the network when it debuted in 1981. 2009.

Music video analysis

Here is an analysis of a music video surrounding the genre of house music.

Analysis Of DJ Fresh - Louder (Video)

I have done some analysis into DJ Fresh's video louder which really seemed to inspire me as it also surrounds the genre of house.

I decided to choose to analyse this music video as it really inspired me. This is very similar in the way which i wish to create my video. This idea put across as a fun atmosphere and almost like a celebration, there is also emphasis on not taking life too seriously.

The music video for this song was released in May 2011. The song also debuted at number 1 in the UK charts. The director for this video was Ben Newman who is credited for his style of catching the essence of youth and contemporary culture in his videos, as you can see here.

This video was filmed as par of a sport campaign for Lucozade Lite. 

One thing i really liked about this video is the chemistry feel that it gave to audiences. I felt that it brought people together and encouraged them to go out and enjoy life. This is one of the main aims of house music, therefore this song is fitting to its genre already.

The setting of this video was something special, the beach/sea in the background helped establish some form of journey. Also the weather used to film in bought out a feel good factor and inspires you. The video also reinstates the simple factors in life - enjoying the company of friends and there isn't really a strong emphasis on wealth which would be more suited to a hip-hop song rather than house.

Another thing I liked was when the visuals seemed to slow down as the beat got quiter, the sped up as the beat dropped, i felt this was a very effective filming method that I would like to use in my video.

Genre

A standard definition of musical genre is:

A conventional category that identifies pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style.

In the modern day music can often cross between two or more genres. For example Indie/Rock or RnB/Hiphop. This is done by combining conventions of genres to create new or unique sounds. Pitbull is an example of someone who uses two different genres combining Hip-hop and House music.

Also new music genres are being created such as Drill which is gritty rap based around slow and heavy rhymes which are often seen to be of an aggressive or violent nature. An example of an artist that uses the genre Drill is Chief Keef.

Another music genre is Rock music.

Andrew Goodwins six point theory

Welcome

Welcome

Hi my name is Marco Ciaurro and this is my A2 blog. For my coursework i will be producing a music video. Along the way i will be updating my blog by posting it with relevant information surrounding the topic. All of my post are listed so you have an easy way of navigating to each page.

Thanks, i hope you enjoy.

Brief

For our A2 media coursework we have to create a promotional package for the release of an album, which includes a music promo video, together with a digipak for the album's release, along with a magazine advertisement for the digipak.