Angus & Julia Stone- Mango Tree

These are one of my favourite bands and I really love the way a constant style can been seen within their music videos. I especially love all the filters used and the way they have added a grain to the film to make it look like old footage, like a memory. This style is something that i would really like to use within my video. 

Thriller - Micheal Jackson

I have decided to analyse this video as it is probably the most revolutionary music videos ever, because of the length but also the style and unique mix of narrative and performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_MuUcxHATo

Smoke & Mirrors - Paloma Faith

The video I analysed was not available for embedding so follow the link below to view it:

Paloma Faith- Smoke & Mirrors Video 

Paloma Faith is a Pop artist with a soulful voice who is reminiscent of old school blues artist such as Eartha Kitt, Ella Fitzgerald and Etta James. She is a very talented artist who has many strings to her bow; as well as being a succesful Pop artist she is also an accomplished actress starring in the the hit film St. Trinians, where she player a character that is Polar to her in every way.

I watched the video and analysed it, here are my notes below:

I love the way that throughout the video the artist has a constant representation that is in keeping with her  image. I also the way the video has a mix of performance and narrative, I especially like how the chorus is mainly performance and the verse is narrative, this separates the chorus from t he verse and it emphasises the importance of the chorus. This is something that i will be looking to implement in my own video.

My favourite element of the whole video is the way the video is bibliographical and it is a constant reference to the artist past when she was a a magicians assistant and it shows her feelings about her old life and how she dreamed of bigger things. By making these personal references to her old life she is showing something about her to the audience which i think is key to get the audience to understand you as an artist and it will help the audience warm to the artist. I am going to try and make my artist video like this and use bibliographical elements as the song is about something personal to the artist.

PROGRESS

Over the past two weeks I have been concentrating on developing my ideas and story boarding for my  music video. I have been thinking about the narrative for the music video and to be in keeping with the song and her target audience I have come up with the narrative of a teenage girl breaking up with her boyfriend being upset and it will show the story of her coping with the break-up and different ways she coped with it. The lyrics say "Don't forget your home", this is directed at her boyfriend and she is saying that his home is with her.

Whilst doing this I have also completed some more research into music videos. I am going to post my research and my ideas about the video and about Ellie and her image.

Music Video Analysis

To help me better understand the codes and conventions used in music video production I am going to analyse some music videos. It will help me to further my knowledge on conventions and the effects they have and this will enable me to select the most appropriate shot, mis-en-scene etc. to gain the desired effect for my music video, to create a successful media video that includes conventions of that music genre and also portrays the artist in an appropriate way.

Leave Before The Lights Come On - Arctic Monkeys

This is the video of the bands third single in the UK and was released in 2006. 


In this music video we see a constant narrative without any heard dialogue. The video follows the narrative of a woman about to jump off a building who is then saved by a passing man. After saving the woman the man finds the woman a bit obsessive and she won't leave him alone. He ends up getting violent and she then becomes quite depressed again. We see her return to the roof top where she drops her shoe again grabbing another man's attention ( this is how the first man comes to rescue her). It gives us an insight into the woman's thinking and gives the video a very cyclic feeling. If we were to see the story of the woman and the second man play out we would expect it to play out exactly the same as the first and in the end the woman returning to the rooftop.


In this video the director uses many conventions and codes to convey a desired message about the band and their music. In this video establish actors are used to act out the narrative. By doing this the band are making a statement about themselves, saying that they are now an established band. We see this also in Eminem's Love The Way You Lie, where he uses world renowned actress Megan Fox.


The Band give us a further insight into there views and there own ideology by not featuring themselves in the video. By doing this we are asked to focus purely on their musicality and they want the audience to realise that they are not interested in fame or acclaim. 


Due to there being no speech from the actors within this video, the director has had to use certain codes and conventions to display the feelings of the characters. One method we see employed frequently are close-up shots. This shots are conventionally used to show detailed facial expression which in turn shows emotion. This is used a lot within this video, especially to show the expression of the female character, for instance in the cafe when she is staring at the male character. Also a series of stills are used, as well as showing the characters emotions it makes the audience aware that this is a film, which in turn makes us realise the craziness of the story.


Colour is a very important way of conveying messages to an audience, this is due to the connotations attached with certain colours, for instance RED; has the connotations of passion, love, blood and anger. In this video the woman is wearing a blue t-shirt when we see her on the roof top. This is code for depression, sadness and loneliness and therefore the director is making a statement about the way this character is feeling. 


To make the audience believe this story, the director has used realistic mis-en-scene, a short time span and we follow one character (the woman). Another way the director created the realistic feeling was by using hand held cameras and realistic/ natural lighting.


This video has a lot of similarities with videos of La Nouvalle Vague (French New Wave Cinema). Similar techniques such as long tracking shots and dolly shots are employed, along with Jump-shots and graphic matches. Jump shots and long tracking shots were used in this style of french cinema to highlight the absurdity of situations and Graphic matches were used to establish links between characters. 


Although having much in common with the French New Wave style, the video has more in common with the modern day music video, using conventions like edits in sync with the music and have shorter amounts of time between edits when the pace of the music is increased. 

Star Image

Kate Nash

To help me in the creation of my media product I decided to look at how another artist has constructed her image. I have chosen to look at Kate Nash because her music is in a similar genre to Kate Nash and the same target audience. 

Kate Nash has a very hand made aesthetic to her image, with her some of her album artwork comprising of drawn images and handwritten style fonts. Both Ellie and Nash play guitar and therefore the musicality of the artist should be an important part of both their images. 

I personally enjoy they way Kate Nash uses old styles with a modern twist. One way she does this through clothes. She often wears vintage styles with more modern and brighter colours. When filming our video I want to use possibly a floral style dress with a some sort of fur shrug possibly to give a more sophisticated feel. This contrast will be popular with her audience as it is very fashionable at the moment and her target audience would be very into fashion and keeping up with trends.  Her style is really rough-chic. 

Kate Nash has really inspired me for all of my media products and I think her brand model is something that I can use to model my construction of Elli's Image around.

Target Audience & Demographic

When I am constructing my artist’s image I also have to bare in mind her demographic and her target audience. I will have to think about who will be the people that will listen to Ellie’s music and what will appeal to them. Here are some ideas I have about her demographic:

• Age 13- 35
• Youthful
• Fashionable
• Shoreditch type of person (young, cool, fashionable)
• Festival goers
• White British/British
• Artistic/experimental
• slightly anti-establishment
• indie-pop-folk
• Vintage lovers

These are things that I want to convey within my album art, website advert and video. 

My Chosen Artist

For my music video I have decided to use Ellie Tanner's music. She is one of my friends and when I played some of her music to the group, we all agree that her music has lots of potential to create a music video. 

Ellie's music has elements of many genres. It has a pop, folk, indie, alternative feeling. 

Camera Work

Dolly Shot
A dolly shot is a travelling shot where the camera moves, usually on a wheeled cart, mounted on a rail.
Match Cut
An action that is started in shot A and completed in shot B or an action started in Shot A is mirrored in shot B. A very famous example of this is from 2001 Space Odyssey.
The bone is thrown in the air and then as the bone falls it changes to the satellite in space.

30 degree Rule
This is a basic film editing rule, which says that the camera should move at least 30degrees between shots of the same subject. By doing this we can stop the change in shot feeling so harsh and it creates a smoother change when altering the shot distance (medium to close-up)
180 degree Rule
This is another basic principle of filming, it involves shooting two objects/ people and making sure that they're always on the same side, as if there is a line down the centre of the two subjects. Conventionally this rule isn't broken as it can cause confusion for the audience and disorientation. 

Cross Cutting

Cross cutting is a technique that is often used in films to establish the idea of two events happening at the same time. This would be an interesting technique for my video as if I choose to do a song with a "love" storyline I would be able to portray the two sides of the relationship.

Jump Cut

A jump cut are two sequential shots of the same subject within which the camera moves slightly this creates a feeling of discontinuity and adds a feeling of movement of the subject.

Establishing Shot

This type of shot establishes the context of the scene and the setting. This shot is used a lot in narrative music videos and if I create a narrative video this will be a useful tool to establish and build the story and location of the narrative. Avoidance establishing shots is done when the feeling of mystery is wanted.

Up Shot

This gives prestige to the performer by making them appear larger and as if they're above us and it gives the feeling of a live performance as it simulates the feeling of being in a crowd looking up at the stage. 

Here is an example:

Marketing A Fake Band

To help me understand how to market an artist, I have decided to practice marketing a fake band. I had to research the ways in which I can market an artist and construct their image. I presented my ideas to the class:

How The XX use the Internet

How does the artist market themselves?

• official Band website thexx.info
• myspace - myspace.com/thexx
• Amazon
• last.fm
• Youtube
• Place tracks on myspace for free listening (enables listeners to sample the music and encourages listeners to buy if they like it)
• Post gig info and band info on official website
• posters, billboards
• Gigs 
• Band Shop (selling t-shirts , 7” vinyls, bags and even skateboard decks)

The Bands Online Shop

2 ways the band use the internet, how they do it and how effective it is?

• The internet allows the band to sell they’re music. They can do this in 2 ways, digitally by using iTunes and sites such as spotify. Also the can sell their music products like the CD’s through online retailers such as amazon.com and play.com. By selling the music in the two different ways the band are able to maximise their selling potential, as it allows people to download the music straight to their computers or they can order the CD and get it sent to them.

The Bands Myspace Music Page

• MYSPACE.com -  Myspace provides a platform for the artists to promote themselves, it allows fans to add them as “friends” making the fans feel more involved of with the band, they can use it to inform fans (myspace friends) of when their gig dates are. They can post videos to the site and the can load up previews and samples of their music. By doing this fans are allowed to sample before they buy which can lead to an increased fan base and more sales

This research will give me ideas and help me when I come to market my fake artist, Chloe Shaw.

An Introduction To The Music Video

What is a music video? 

Music videos are short films that are used by artists as a vehicle to promote and the artist and boost sales of their single and album. The music video as we know it came to the forefront in the 1980's, with the development of MTV. MTV was a channel that specialised in showing music videos, this provided artists with new platform to promote themselves on.

The different Types 

A wide range of films styles and techniques are employed in the production of music videos, with every artist having a different style and aesthetic. Some try to  mimic other videos within the same musical genre and some strive for something original and unique.

Some film making techniques include, animation, live action, documentary, bibliographical, narrative and un-narrative or abstract, although music videos are not limited to one style per video, with videos such a Green Day’s “When September Ends” which is a blend of narrative and footage of the band performing outside of the narrative. This is a difference between cinematic film work and music videos, as music videos break the usual conventions we see within film by often combining different styles with one video.   Combining more than one style provides the audience with excitement and sparks an interest within them, as this is not something seen within cinema. 

Beginning Of The Music Video 

In 1964 one of the first music videos was made. It was made by The Beatles and directed by Richard Lester, for the song “Hard Days Night”. It was a mock documentary, mixing dialogue between the band and musical interludes. It was a foundation upon which many of thew videos we see today are from. 

“ ... He influenced many other films. Today when we watch TV and see quick cutting, hand-held cameras, interviews conducted on the run with moving targets, quickly intercut snatches of dialogue, music under documentary action and all the other trademarks of the modern style, we are looking at the children of A Hard Day's Night"

Roger Ebert (film Critic), talking about Richard Lester.

Nowadays we are seeing new types of music video ever more frequently, particularly “fan vids” . These are videos made by the artists fans and they often include footage of the artist, but sometimes the videos are a completely random collection of images or pieces of footage that are pieced together and synched with the music. Videos like this are becoming ever more popular and frequent with the development of technology, in particular the internet, as it allows fans access to software and materials that would have been unavailable to fans of the Beatles back in the 1960s. 

(Facts & Figures taken from Wikipedia)