Choice of track/artist

Researching the different type of music genres, we came to the decision to work with the hip-hop/R&B genre.

As we wanted something that had a new look, we have decided to use the local rapper Blaze Boy, this also clears up any copyright issues. It also makes our video better to do as it isn't living up to a big bugdeted video in the media.

Studying types of music videos

1) The lyrics in a music video tell the story so the audience understands the narrative.

2) The narrative is important if songs are stories, then the singer is the story teller. Music videos are often cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by a band. In a Pop video the performance aspect is much more important to keep viewers interested. Pop videos usually consist of a choreographed dance.

3) A star image is important in respect to a pop videos success for recognising the star with a specific look. The star may then become a fashion icon.

4) Illustration in terms of a pop video is knowing the meaning of the lyrics and the genre, providing a sometimes over literal set of images.

5) Amplification in terms of a pop video is seen as the mark of the true music video Auteur, the director as an artist.

6) Disjuncture is a term used to describe those music videos that seem to work by ignoring the original song and creating a whole new set of meanings.

Music culture and roots of music videos

1) There are arguments that music video's in the 50's and 60's are actual videos, and whether music videos in the 70's are the first music videos. A classis is Bphemian Rhapsody.

2) Viocan were behind MTV, which was the television industry.

3) Artists such as Bon Jovi and Madonna dominated early 80's music videos.

History of music

1)Pop music has being the greatest influence on youth for over 50 years because of music shows such as Top of the Pops in the UK, American Bansfand in the US and Beat Club in Europe which were centre pieces in the emergent youth culture revolution.

2) Music critics are worried that pop videos are becoming necessary to enhance a musicians career, however they are not concerned about the impact this has on emerging artists because you do not necessarily need a big label backing you because genres such as indie rock do not need to spend money on exotic locations.

3) The primary purpose of a pop video is to promote an artists music.

4) The public have come to react to the videos themselves, strickly aimed at teenage audiences, it is a common misconception.

Pitch Three

Pitch Three

Christmas Themed - Wham, 'Last Christmas'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8gmARGvPlI

                                                             

For our third pitch we thought it would be fun and refreshing to do a christmas themed video, for promotion purposes. Although it could of been different and creative, again we don't have the resources to use, to make the video seem like Christmas! It also could have got expensive, which we don't have the budget for. We wanted to have various christmas sterotypes like elves, father christmas, etc but we don't have the people to furfill these roles. Also in a real music world, a Christmas video probably wouldn't work to promote a new artist, which is what we are meant to be doing. So again this isn't a practical idea and we wouldn't want to be marked down for not going with the specifications.

Pitch Two

Pitch Two

Wham

For our second pitch, we thought it would be interesting to work with the song 'Wake me up before you go' by Wham. This is because not many people work with an 80's genre, so it would be different and a change from what examiners are used to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIgZ7gMze7A&ob=av2e

As we were trying to plan what we would do within the video, we realised that it wasn't totally pratical, this is because would don't have the people that would want to work with this kind of video, and really we wouldn't know where to start designing, to try and make it look like and 80's video.
We also thought as Wham are a well known band people would have a perception and critise, as our artists wouldn't look anything like the real thing, also as we don't have the same budget, it couldn't really compare to the real thing. Overall it wasn't the most pratical idea.

Pitch One

Pitch One:

Blaze Boy:

Blaze Boy is a local rapper in Burnley, we thought that he would be good to make a music video for, as he has his own material and the hip-hop genre is very relevant to todays generation. Although he isn't a famous rapper he is recognised by the local people as this Lancashire Telegraph states: http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/8487915.Burnley_teen_flying_flag_for_hip_hop/

If working with Blaze Boy, we would like to shoot the video in a much more urban scene, different from the American flashy videos. This is because English rapping is much more grimey, yet still a little glamourous.

                                   

We would use a more performance based video rather than a narrative as for his type of music, we thought it would be better to just watch what he does best! If working with him we would use a few girl street dancers, and one young breakdancer. Which would fit in with the stereotypes and conventions for the hip-hop genre.

The type of scene we would choose to use would again be quite urban, like the graffitied subway above. Also with a carpark with fancy cars, again to fit with the stereotype. For a special effect we thought it would be good to have Blaze Boy rapping with people in the background speeded up. We thought this would be attractive and would show that we can work with different effects. 

10 steps to success - making a music video for A level.

To get a better understanding on what the examiner actually wants from our music video and promotional package we researched the Top 10 tips from Pete Fraser, the cheif examiner. This will also help throughout making our video, to come back and look at what we need to do. 

1. Research- before starting to plan a music video, it's best to know the history of music videos. What works and what doesn't... To do this as stated in my first blog we looked a t a variety of music videos, where they started and what they are like to this day.
2. Getting in a group- Who to work with is a crucial decision, choosing to work with friends may not always be the best idea for your own grade. - We have a strong group with each member having a different quality. This has proved effective as we are able to work together and get things done.
3. Choosing a track- It has become apparent that choosing a well known track and artist wouldn't be the best, this is because our videos will never compare to the high budgeted videos, and the use of a popular artist would cause criticism, beacause the people in our videos won't be like the actual star. Fortunatley for us our artist Blaze Boy produces his own music, so it wouldn't have been done for.
4. The pitch- this is part of the planning towards your music video, it shows that you are planning and can give a preview to the what your video is going to look like. I also think it's best, so you can get all your ideas down, not forgetting anything.
5. Look at previous students work - This is so you can get the feel for what works best. We looked at a variety of music videos, bad and good, so that we could come up with an idea what we wanted to do, you learn which type of videos don't work as good, like the well know big budgeted videos. After this research we decided to use the hip-hop genre.
6. Planning and shooting - The timescale is the most crucial here. Like in the real music world, you have to treat it with the same importance to meet downloads. To have planning done will make the making the video much smoother, for example knowing what shots you'd like to use before actually shooting.
7. Editing- Looking at all your footage you have filmed, needs to be edited sensibly, it's better to break the work down, and get rid of things you definitely don't want then it will become easier. Again plan how you want to edit your video, a crucial thing that needs to be perfect is the lip syncing! If planned well you will recognise that it comes along easier!
8. Screening and feedback- This is the part where you get feedback from your class, this can be positive as if things need changing here's the chance to! It's good to know what people think of your video too. Ask questions on what they thought of the video and the artist. Take detailed notes on the feedback.
9. Writing-  Follow guidelines you have been given for the A level specification which you are working towards. Certaining write on a electric format, like this blog.  Don't fill writing with excuses why it went wrong. In the blog cover the whole of your process, technical language, feedback and comments on your video, examples and influence, and include an analysis of the finish product.
10. Marking- Leave the marking to your teacher and hope you've done well!

Media Production, first blog.

Our brief is to produce a promotional package for a new album, which includes a music video accompanied by a CD cover, and a digipack, also a poster for the CD.

 To start off thinking about the production of our package, we have started to research the music industry by looking at what works for the different kind of genres. Including past music videos, like Micheal Jackson's 'Thriller' and how this had a great impact on viewers and also looking on various arcticles on the start of the music industry. Including an article on the history and development of music videos by Stephen Hill.

We have also looked at what makes a music video popular. Further research took us to an article named 'I Want My MTV by Matthew O'Neill, on distributions of music video's to the public. We looked at some of the first videos released on MTV, such as 'Video Killed the radio Star' by The Buggles. http://www.virginmedia.com/music/video/player/the-buggles/video-killed-the-radio-star/590222875001/#vid-590222875001