Email

I emailed my artist to try and gain permission to use his music and to gain more information about his values and beliefs.

He has not yet replied back to me, I am guessing he is okay with me using his music. In addition to this I am unable to find out what his values and beliefs are.

However I will still continue to send emails about my ideas about his music, so that is he does reply I will still be able to get feedback from him.

As you can tell from this email, I have knowledge of how to contact people within this industry.

Progression of Music Video Idea

These are some of the ideas I have thought of after working on my initial idea.

Getting to the club
For my music video, it will be a person and their friends going through the streets of London going to a nightclub. To make it different it will be in first person to create enigmas for the audience when they watch it.

When the person is travelling through London, surroundings will be going faster than normal.

When they arrive at the nightclub music shall stop. Then the audience will hear the nightclub entrance door creaking open and people talking. Music will fade in the background as the person gets closer  to the inside. The music will start again loudly.

I was thinking about a location similar to the picture below.



Club scene

Inside the club the person would look around seeing other people paroding/replicating other music videos. At the bar they will be serving drinks which look like experiments to fit in with the experimental genre. Also, I would be adding other scenes from films and video games. This will allow me to have intertextuality in my music video.

Initial Ideas for My Music Video

My artists style of music is targeted to an audience that like a mixture of different styles. I have chosen to use 'A Sunshine Paradigm' (when clicked on link it's the first track on the right). I was going to use the idea of the 'dance floor' setting for my video as the style in this song is slightly similar to dance music or music you would hear in a club. Here is a few first ideas I thought of for my music video:

Travelling to club

• First person view of someone in a car going to a club in London.
• View will be of the road and buildings - surroundings will be going faster than normal.
• When arrive at club music stops - hear door creaking and people talking.
• Music will start faint in background when approaching doors leading to inside of club.
• When inside the the club music will start loudly again.

Club scene

• Parody of dance moves from other music videos.
• First person view looks left - view of couple kissing.
• Looks right- view of a group dancing.
• Front view - dance floor, people doing the paraody of dance moves.
• Travelling through dancefloor - first person looking left and right - clubbers shouting - waving arms - drinks raised - clubbers hand looks as though patting first person's shoulder. 

Dance Parodies

• Thriller - Michael Jackson
• Gangnam Style (I would have babies dancing to this, I got this idea from the Evian Roller Babies advert)
• Carlton dance (one guy on his own)
• YMCA (costume idea)
• Macarena 
• Singin' in the Rain (outside the club)
• Dirty Dancing
• Cha Cha Slide
• MC Hammer- You can't touch this

My Artist - A Blind Eye to the Future

Jeremy Brian Bush aka A Blind Eye to the Future is my chosen Artist. His style of music falls into the genre of techno, electronica and experimental. He is influenced by all forms of music from Acoustic to Techno. He has been playing instruments since the age of thirteen but has only just recently started to write his own songs.

I decided to use this type of genre as it's not your typical everyday music. Whenever I listen to music which falls into this genre I always have a different idea going around in my head. I like to discover new things that my brain hasn't told me yet. And one way I do this is by listening to this music. This is why I decided to use this genre. As for the artist I decided to use his music because it is very mysterious making me want to discover deeper into his music. In future posts I shall be discussing this further.


I'm happy to be doing this genre and artist and hope to see what I shall come up with for my music video.

Alicia Keys - Digipak

Alicia Keys is a R&B artist.

Here are quotes from Alicia showing her values and beliefs:

Alicia Keys a very spiritual person, though any connection with a traditional, mainstream religion is absent. When asked in a interview she answered:

'I would call it spirituality because I think religion gets very sticky. I think it’s beautiful to have a belief in something and that’s where religion comes in… But for me it’s definitely spirituality in the sense of having integrity and certain morals I stand by.^' 

Many of her political objectives and activity focus around women’s issues. She’s a big supporter of the Democratic Party, and therefore, a big supporter of Barak Obama. And who would blame her?

As a result, Keys campaigned for Obama in both 2008 and 2012 catering her message to women. She said:

'I think as women we have specific issues that we care about more because we are the nurtures and caretakers of our families. I believe healthcare, education and equal pay are all important issues for women.^'

(Click here to read more)

 Alicia Keys theme of lyrics are mostly personal as she talks about issues in her life. One example is 'speechless' in which she writes about her son

  [Verse 1: Alicia Keys]

When I wake up in the morning babe
Can't believe my eyes
Sweetest little part of destiny
Oh yeah
Cause you are now in my life
There ain't no man or prize
Oh noo
Can compare to you
Ain't no words to describe the way that I'm feeling
When I look at you

[Chorus: Alicia Keys]
I'm just speechless baby
Don't know what to say
I'm just speechless baby
The poet in me has gone away
I'm speechless baby
Don't know what to say
I'm just speechless baby
The poet in me has gone away

Now I want to talk about her platinum collection album.

The Platinum Collection contains 3 CD albums...
Disc 1: Songs in A Minor
Disc 2: The Diary of Alicia Keys
Disc 3: As I am

The front cover is silver with her name and title also showing 3 small photos of her previous albums which are in this album. there is also a photo of Alicia wearing a silver hat and lace top standing by a white background. The front cover conveys the smooth soulful sounds as of in the 70's style of R&B which is in her music in this album, her photo shows she is being seductive bringing in the edgier street sound of todays R&B.

The image and design conveys sonic texture in a relaxing and feel good mood. mostly showing as seducing men to buy her album by showing Alicia seductivly looking out at the audience.

The album cover is eye catching as it is minimal but showing Alicia as the main focus as the photo of her is big. The silver background matches her hat and stands out from the white background Alicia is standing in front of.

The back cover is also silver with her name and titles of the albums and songs on this album put into sections of the discs. The CD opens firstly showing a piano which will then open into 4 sections to show the  previous 3 albums and the CD's are inserted into each section. The last section is of a photo of Alicia and inserted behind is a booklet showing photos of Alicia and song titles, written and produced - credits.

The CD's are in different designs for example one of the CD's from the section 'The diary of Alicia Keys' has keys on the front of it which symbolises her name. In my opinion is that this could also be another way of saying 'unlocking the music' as keys open locks.

By analysing this Digipak it will help with my own as it is a very effective Digipak. For mine I will have to make sure that it looks interesting at first sight to attract target audience. Also, have to make sure that I have the same affect throughout my whole Digipak.

Music in the 50's

In class we watched a presentation about music in the 50's. This is what I learnt from the presentation:

An example of music in the 50's is a song called Bobby Rydell - Kissin Time.

I created this poster to show the popular Artists and Genre's of the 50's (click on each artist to find out more and if in the poster there is any big spaces or problems with the video, links are provided below).
 

Links:

Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode (Live 1958)

Elvis Presley -  Jailhouse Rock

The Drifters - Save the last dance for me

Aretha Franklin - Never Grow Old

World War 2 caused great distress as music started to reflect this feeling from big bands such as Crooners. They came from jazz in the 20's, Michael Buble would be seen as today's modern version of this.

Originally white people were scared to listen to black people singing. Young white people started in the 50's dared to go to a black part of town and listen to black music.

Boy bands now follow original boy bands of the 50's. A boy band famous in the 1950's were The Platters.

Chuck Berry established Rock and Roll music by his showmanship, guitar solos, and multi-racial audiences.

Sammy Davis, Jr who was black, joined Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin on stage, which helped black and white singers sing together.

 

Elvis Presley

• He was seen as a culture icon.
• Brought sound of African-American to the mainstream.
• Looked up to Chuck Berry.
• Elvis was a style icon, this was seen from his hair and clothes.
• He has showmanship and performance skills.
• Parents at the time were angered by his swaying and movement of his hips - controversial -dancing sexually. Parents wanted it censored. They did not allow bottom half of his body to be shown. Sent girls into a sex crazes frenzy.
• Elvis became a brand - 1st pop-star for this to happen to.
• Elvis was seen as a sex symbol, narcisstic identification - presence Elvis had.

Demo vinyl
People would hear an artists work and if they liked it, it would be put on radio creative platform. In the 50's a record label 'sun records' was originally a country and western label. Sun Records became well known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis their first recording contracts and thus launching their career.

Sexualised music videos

In media we looked at a video called 'Stacy's Mum' - Fountains of Wayne and linked it to traditional and post feminist views.

This is what we found out:

Traditional feminist:
In the video women are being exploited by the lack of clothing they are wearing i.e. short gym skirt, brief bikini (swim wear), sexy underwear, short dress while cleaning, pole dancing wearing leather boots and stockings scantily clad. Throughout the video of Stacy and especially Stacy's mum are seen as sexual objects.

Male desires also come into play with this video as one of the locations is very significant. This is after 'Stacey's Mum' is cleaning in her kitchen and then it turns into a night club. The night club location can also imitate a strip club by the flashing lights and loud music. Also through the whole video it is seen through the eyes of a male's perspective. This relates to the 'Mulvey's Gaze'. Voyeurism can also be seen in this video as it shows the boy looking at her - daydreaming about her.

We then wrote how a post-feminist and a radical feminist would react to this video.

Post-feminist:
In the video women are using their sexuality to overpower men / boys. This would be seen when Stacy's mum was pole dancing when she knew the boy was staring at her putting him in a daydreaming trance. This can also be seen when the boy was mowing the lawn and Stacy's mum was getting a massage naked and the masseur was making eye movements to the boy suggesting 'nice' which could make the boy feel like he is missing out on something good, whist staring at Stacy's mums bottom when he lifted the towel. All of this shows the boy is seen as weak as his crush on Stacy's mum is all seen as fantasy.

Also in this video women are seen as showing they have confidence in their bodies. This would be seen when Stacy's mum is receiving a massage from the masseur and she is comfortable lying their naked. Her big house, nice car, swimming pool and her business suit (looks as if she has come back from a business trip) shows she is a dominant female and looks as if she is a very successful woman, because of this power her masseur looks as though he is her servant.

During the last scene of the music video we see the boy in the bathroom looking at Stacy's mum coming out of the pool, the boy closes his eyes and his fantasy starts as he is thinking of Stacy's mum walking through the rain undoing her bra, he uses these images to 'pleasure himself'. He is then caught by Stacy walking in on him making him look stupid and depowered.

We also looked at another example which was called Shakira - She Wolf. We did the same as Stacy's mum and analysised it by looking at post and traditional feminist views.

 

Traditional Feminist
This video shows that women are exploited as she is wearing skin coloured and skin tight body playsuit which is extremely revealing to her body. Also thoughout the whole video she is in a cage where two messages can be perceived. One of the messages that can be seen is that she is an animal on show like in a circus, even though you do not see an audience, you can imagine that there is an audience looking at her. Another message that can be seen is that she can be portrayed as being a sex slave to male desire locked in a cage. This can percieved as women being degraded and not having the same rights as men.

Also in the video, Shakira uses provocative movements and behaviour in order to stimulate sexual behaviour. This would be strongly suggestive of male desire.

Post-Feminist
In the video she comes across very confident and looks as if she is enjoying herself. She is also comfortable about being the centre of attention and confident about her body as she does not mind other people watching her dance provoctively. This can also been seen as her using her sexuality to have power over men making them want to watch her.

Change in Gender Roles

During one of my media lessons we had to answer a question which was 'How have perceptions of sex and gender changed over the past century?'. To answer this question we went through historical context for feminism and other changes. I made a timeline of what we learnt:



Also in the lesson we watched a clip from Dynasty centered on a woman who comes across as very dominant and very empowered over men.

 

 

 We then answered questions on this, these were:

 

Why would men feel threatened by this woman?

• Traditionally a man not a woman would be giving orders.
• Her words get straight to the point.
• She speaks with a lot of confidence.
• Straight faced - no funny business.
• She is smart and wearing professional clothing - this makes her look as if she has authority and power so therefore people will listen to her.
• She is elegant with a beautiful face.

Why would radical feminists dislike her behaviour?

• They do not believe in equality.
• Men should be like men and women like women.
• The men should be giving out the orders and women complying.

What does this tell us about men's status in Britain after Thatcherism?

• Women had more equal rights.
• Mens status was lowered.
• Factories were closed, which meant that men were out of jobs.
• Women began to work more which made them see more in control. 





Copyright

During a media lesson my peers explained to us about 'coyright'. This is what I found out:

What is Copyright?
This is the exclusive legal right given to the originator to print. These include:

• Protects types of work: music, photography, film and recordings.
• No one can copy without the owners permission.
• Determines who may adopt their work, perform it and financially benifit from it.

The Intellectual Property Office (I.P.O)
 By having this it protects your creation or invention. This could be a brand, invention, design or song.

Advantages

• Right to authorise
• Protection
• Income

Disadvantages

• Inability to share work
• Copyright does not allow you to permit others to use your work or to distribute it, even if you aren't doing it for profit.

What is Piracy?
This is the unauthorised use or reproduction of copyright or patented materials. Piracy is a big issue within organisations as there is:

• $12.5 billion has been lost on piracy.
• 71,060 jobs have been lost though piracy.
• There is 42% illegal downloadable software.
• 95% of music is downloaded illegally.

 Top 10 music which is pirated

1. Jay Z
2. Kanye West
3. LMFAO
4. Adele
5. Rihanna
6. David Guetta
7. Lil Wayne
8. Neyo
9. Flo Rida
10. Rita Ora

Disadvantages of piracy

• Each year the industry loses about $4.2 billion to piracy worldwide.
• Artists lose out because they do not get the royalties they have earned.
• Record companies lose 85% of recordings released don't even generate enough revenue to cover their cost.
• Consumers lose- illegally downloaded music drives up the cost of legitimate product for everyone.

The RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America is an organisation that supports and promotes the creative and financial vitality of the major music companies.

Legal downloading and streaming!

In media I produced a presentation about legal downloading and streaming. Here is what I produced.

Legal downloading and streaming! from Isaac Harvey

'Music, Money and Hip Hop Honeys' cont.

While watching this documentary we made more notes about how women are represented in music videos. In the documentary there was a specific example which really showed how women and men are represented. This was Timbaland - Carry Out ft. Justin Timberlake. 'Sexual Equality Expert' Julia Long explained how the women were represented during this music video. I shall now explain in more detail.

How are women represented?
Women are seen as sex objects. This can be seen from the type of clothing the women are wearing, for example, some of the women are wearing costumes such as maids outfits. Some of the resons for this is:

• The maids outfit is seen as a service for the men by giving them what they want. 
• The clothing of the maids outfit gives sexual fantisies as a soft porn image is shown.
• Pornographic imagery is shown by how the women wear and show the clothes e.g. breasts hanging out, short skirts, bending over etc.

It dehumanises women. In other words it takes away human qualities from women. This would all link into the cultivation theory as audiences would be influenced by 'opinion leaders' (in this case it would be Timberlake and Timbaland). So, anyone who admires or aspires to these artists would think that it is fine to treat women like this as they would want to be like them.

The women are also seen as disposable objects. It is like the men pick up the women, use them when they want, and when finished they throw them away. This would also link into one of the locations shown in the video. This would be the fastfood places shown as in fastfood restaurants food is dispoable, in this case the food would be seen as the women.

During the video there is close ups of the womens body parts. This sends out messages to men that women are there for the taking and that men can lust after them like they would in a pornographic film.  However this video is not a pornographic piece of work, but a video that is used for mainstream audiences.  Due to this video being accessable to the mainstream audience means younger children are able to watch and so more vunerable and then able to imitiate what they see in the media, this would link to the copycat theory.

How are men represented?
The men in the video are seen as powerful, strong, have a voice and dominant which puts them immediately in a position of power.  Throughout the video Timberlake and Timberland are seen either standing in the middle of the women or sitting surrounded by women.  This can be seen in a variety of places during the video.  One of these places was when Timbaland was sitting in a car with women serving him with food or dancing around the car and him.  This almost shows that they are worshipping him as it looks like he has a lot of power. By this it seems as if the men get the girl just for sex. Another place was when Timberlake was sitting on a throne and women were feeding him while dressed provacatively in their maids outfits this links to Roman times when Kings were fed by their harem of women.

Also in the video both Timbaland and Timberlake can be seen as rich, from the type of clothing that they are both wearing, this being expensive suits. This also shows that they have a lot of power as it gives them importance. Another way they can be seen as rich and have power is the throne that they sit on in the video. This is because thourghout history someone who sits on a throne is seen to have power and a lot of respect.

During most of the video the men can be see in control. This links to how the men / women are treated by each other.  The women in the video are serving the men by giving them what they want / need, by bending down to their level. Whereas the men are just their waiting on the women to do what they please.

What effect might this have on an audience?
This would encorage men to view women as objects instead of a real human being. This then result in disrespect, anger and frustration as real women don't behave in this way. Sexual violence then could arise as some men may think it's cool or the right thing to do to women. The hypodermic model would relate to this as it would be seen as this type of behaviour would be 'injected' into the minds of the viewers.

Genre

In class we worked on genre. Here is what I learnt and how I shall use it on the music video that I shall be making.

What is Genre?

The type / style / catergory / streotypes / story / conventions of a product.

Why do we feel we should place texts into genres?
This helps give an artist guidelines depending on their video / music.

Who decides what genre a text belongs to?
This would be the artist / companies (producer / manager) / creative media producers (these people would be influenced by other artists) / marketing.

Are 'genres' objective catergories that are out there in the world?
NO! They're created by people.

Who decides what genre a text belongs to?
Creators / producers - This then leads on to the question why would they want to create a 'genre' text? This would be because it makes it easier to create a product; in other words they would have guidelines to follow to attract target audience.

Crictis + analysts - This gives them a guideline of what a music genre should contain.

Audiences - They use text for different ideas which leads on to the audiences expectation. By this they know what there getting and also where to get it from.

So - why do people like them?

Some theorists say that:

Deborah Knight - Satisfaction of having expectations fulfilled.

Steve Neale - "repetition and difference", enjoyment from the subtle deviations and innovations of what is expected.

David Chandler - Interpretive comunity - using tastes to create collective identity.

Steve Neale, John Fiske, Tom Ryall (and others) - Oraganises texts and meanings (Johnathan Culler said genre is a "contract between creator and viewer to make meanings operative").

How institutions use genre?

• They use them as roles for successful films, band, magazines etc. This speeds up creative process.
• It is a good way to market new texts to audiences.
• It is a reliable structure within which innovation can 'safely occur' without risking profits.

Here is a video of different music genres.

 

For my main music video I shall take genre into great consideration as if I can notice which genre I use then I can follow the guidelines for the genre.

'Music, Money and Hip Hop Honeys'

In media we watched a documentary called 'Music, Money and Hip Hop Honeys' and it is about a woman called Nel Hedayat who investigates the questinable world of music videos and meets the girls who dream of being in them. We then made a table of what we found out. Here is what I found out and I put it into a Prezi presentation to make it more interesting.

'Music, Money and Hip Hop Honeys' on Prezi

Radical Feminism vs Post-Feminism

What is Radical Feminism and Post-Feminism ??

Radical Feminism is a current way of looking within feminism that keeps their attention on the theory of patriachy as a system of power. This means that it organises society into complicated relationships based on true-false statements that male supremacy has the exercise of authority, cruelity or unjst manner to women. They aim to challenge and overthrow patriachy by going against standard gender roles and oppression of women.

Post-Feminism is a term which is not very well explained. However, they belive that the sexism struggle has been partially resolved by men and women having more equality.

Similiarities

• They both believe that women (throughout history) have been dominated by men - thus meaning they has always been a sign of inequality.
• The Male Gaze is when the audience, or viewer, is put into the postion of a heterosexual male. In other words the audience gets a romantic or sexual attraction or behaviour between persons of opposite gender, in this case we are men looking at women in this way.

Differences
Radical Feminism

• Militant approach - This is when activists change must be forced.
• They wish to challenge and overthrow patriachy.
• Patriarchal culture exploited womens sexuality. This is when women are 'victimised' by male desires - objectified and dehumanised. Men are encouraged to see women this way.

Post-Feminism

• Not as militant - celebrate victoriesas they think we live in a more equal society.
• In a more equal society women are in control of their own sexuality (not 'victims').
• Men do not have the same desires, which were forced on women.This means mens desires have weaken men, meaning that women can exploit this.

How will this affect my descions when planning my own music video?
When doing my own music video I shall have to make sure that we look into feminism more as this shall affect the outcome of the music video.

Innovative Music Videos + Sven E Carlsson Music Theory

Innovative Music Videos is the opportunity to experiment with technology visuals, narrative and audience - artist image (i.e. videos which deliberately break with conventions). This means:

• Audiences are open to risk as they don't need to pay for it.
• It targets the 'underground audience'.
• The videos are usually short so it is easier to take risks.

Top three intelligent Music Video conventions (if for some reason the arrows in the presentation don't look right click here)

Top three intelligent music video conventions on Prezi

Here are examples for each:       
 

Commercial Exhibitionist

Nicki Minaj - Starships is an example of a Commercial Exhibitionist as she is selling herself by wearing swimwear throughout the video. (Sorry for big space but I can't seem to fix it).
   

Televised Bard

  

Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends is an great example of a Televised Bard as during this video we have the artist telling a love story during the video.

Electronic Shaman  

 

Katy Perry - California Gurls ft. Snoop Dogg is an Electronic Shaman because the worls is seen as magical.

All of these examples relate to Sven E Carlsson Music Theory. In his theory he also believed that binary opposites drive the narration of the video forward, for example a black and white theme. Music videos, fall into two main groups this is what Carlsson believed. The two main groups are:

• Performance Clips - This is when the music video mainly shows either the artist (or artists) either singing or/and dancing. The performance can be of three types - Song performance, Dance performance and Instrumental performance. An example of this is Rihanna - Rude Boy this is because the audience can see her dancing and singing in the music video.
• Conceptual Clips - This is when the music video shows something else during it's duration it is usually with artistic ambitions. Kids - MGMT is an example of this as there is monsters created and a lot of artistic ambitions when the child in the video watches the TV screen.

This then follows onto the three pure forms of visual tradition in music videos. These are the top three intelligent music video conventions seen at the beginning of this post.

There are many other interesting facts about music videos such as:

Voyeurism - Is pleasure from looking at other people often in state of undress or sexual activity. An example of this would be Uniting Nations - Out Of Touch because there are girls who are in a state of undress. Also, they are playing strip poker with a guy.

Archetype - Is the original copy which is then copied.



Andrew Goodwin Theory

Here is Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos.

Andrew goodwin from Isaac Harvey

Formal Conventions of a Music Video

Here are formal conventions of a music video:

Depends on the Genre
Many conventions of a music video vary depending on genre of music. However, the majority of music videos apply to general conventions. For example in a R&B music video the men would usually be topless as they usually want to target young teenage girls. However, in a Heavy Metal they are lots of quick camera movement to give the video lots of energy.

Artists Performance
Most music videos have an artist performing in them whether acting or on stage. One of the purposes of a music video is to raise awareness of the artist. It is beneficial and also helps the artist to provide the audience with real and believable performance.

Lip Syncing
This is very important as it links the images to the sound. If there is singing it is vital in these types of music videos.

Visualizing the Lyrics
What is shown in the video should relate to the lyrics. For example Pink - So What is about her ex-husband and how she is better off without him. The lyrics in this song are related to what is happening in the video.

Pace of Editing

Depending on the tempo, the editing will be seen to be either long or short. For example Italobrothers - Stamp on the Ground has a fast and upbeat tempo. This means that shots are short and there are quick cuts.

Italo Brothers - Stamp On The Ground on MUZU.TV.

 

Mise-en-scene

This is very important as it should match the mood of the song. For example, if a song was sad and depressing, the music video would not have lots of bright colours, bright lights, smiling faces and other joyful features.

 

A example of mise-en-scene used in a sad music video would be Bone Thugs N Harmony - Crossroads. This is because during the video they are in a funeral and also there is a death.



 

A example of mise-en-scene used in a upbeat music video would be Girls' Generation (SNSD) - Gee. This is the total opposite of the video before as in this video it has bright colour backgrounds, mixture of colour clothes and happy faces.

 

How will this affect the descions when planning the music video?
When I do the music video I would need to make sure that the formal conventions are followed. This would be making sure that the music video is properly made. Also by following these conventions it makes it easier as it can be seen as a guide to be followed.



Preliminary Project 2 - Music Genre

For our second Preliminary Project we had to produce first verse and chrous of a new music video for an existing song and artist following the stylistic convention of a different music genre. Our genre we were given was Gangsta Rap and we had to use this genre for the song Duran Duran - Girls on Film. So we researched different conventions of a Gangsta Rap. We identified them in different marketing products for a number of artists (more than three!).

(There is a link to each music video either embedded on this post or there will be a link on the music video name. Also, some of the videos may have some explicit language.)

Convention 1
Stylish Cars

Example 1
Artist: Dr. Dre
Song: Kush ft. Snoop Dogg, Akon
Where did you spot conventions: There is a nice looking car in the beginning as Snoop Dogg exits the car.

Example 2
Artist: Snoop Dogg
Song: Nuthin But A G Thang
Where did you spot conventions: During the video there are cars which are using hydraulics.

Example 3
Artist: T.I.
Song: What You Know
Where did you spot conventions: T.I. driving down the road in a Bentley.

Why do audiences like stylish cars in these videos?
Audiences like this as most of the cars are quite expensive by this it makes people more interested in the videos as it shows they have loads of money. This makes audiences get aspired by them.#

Convention 2
Dominating figures (police, teachers, government)

Example 1
Artist: C-Murder
Song: Down 4 my N's
Where did you spot conventions: Police cars are going after the music artists during parts of the video.

Example 2

Artist: Chamillionaire 

Song: Ridin Dirty

Where did you spot conventions: Throughout the video there are police officers who look like they are targetting the rappers.

Example 3
Artists: Kool G Rap & DJ Polo
Song: Road To The Riches
Where did you spot conventions: Rappers are in court with the police and a judge in a courtroom.

Why do audiences like to see dominating figures such as police, government or teachers in these music videos?
Audiences seem to like this because they maybe in the same situation as the rappers as they were growing up. Audiences could also have the same view as the rappers, for example, a rapper may feel that the police are corrupt and bad meaning the audience would feel the same way. This would link into the theorist Deborah Knight, she states that you get 'satisfaction of having expectations fulfilled'.

Convention 3
Scantily Clad Women

Example 1
Artist: Eminem
Song: Superman
Where did you spot conventions: In the video there is a woman who is flirting and taunting sexually with Eminem.

Example 2
Artist: Ludacris
Song: Area Codes
Where did you spot conventions: There are women throughout the video dancing wearing not much clothes.

Example 3

Artist: Snoop Dogg

Song: Boom ft. T-Pain

Where did you spot conventions: As Snoop Dogg is rapping there are girls in the club who are dancing near him. 

Why do audiences like to see scantily clad women in these music videos?

Audiences like to see this as it makes the music artist look cool and popular. Men especially watching them want to be like the artist. This resembles to their lifestyle therefore audience gets aspired by the artists.

Preliminary Project 1

For our Preliminary Task we had to remake an allocated sequence from a classic music video (first verse and chorus), shot-for-shot using toys. This was feedback we got after showing it to the class.

Good points:
Editing - Matched the shots and pace of track was good.
Resourceful - Costumes were put together well.
Shots steady - Attention to detail.
Excellent lighting. 

Improvement
Maybe could of been controlled by strings etc.

While doing the production we used some of the 5R's. 

Here are some of the R's that we used.

Resourceful bringing in props that were added to the original props we were given, dressing the characters.
Resilient - Banners with backgrounds didn't stop us from going on 'stuck to it'.
Reasoning - We made careful decisions with shots and props.
Responsible - Each person held a job and all jobs were successfully done. Everyone met deadlines.
Readiness - Everyone was ready to do something for the team.

Innovative Music Videos - The xx

The xx - Islands is an example of an Innovative Music Video.

Here are some conventions which are followed and are broken in this music video.

Deborah Holdstein - Music Theorist

Deborah Holdstein is a music theorist; here is what she has to say.

Three striking qualities of a star in music videos:

·         The seer/prophet

·         Political commentator/narrator

·         Mediator of social conflict.

Videos seem to divide into two categories: those with allegedly explicit political themes and those which revive the traditional U.S. film musical.

Videos are used to bring fans closer to the performer. Holdstein says performers can sometimes wear outfits on stage which are the same as in their videos, so the fans feel like they are familiar with them. 

Celebrities such as Lady Gaga do this to familiarise with the audience. 

The audience like this as it makes them feel like they know the performer better, as they look the same as they looked in the music video.

Fantasy themes are based entirely on performance. Holdstein states that this format puts ‘the group or star in a mythical, medieval, exotic or surrealistic series of images or locations’

An example of this is would be from Katy Perry - California gurls. This is because it is in a place where it is not real life. 

The audience appreciate this because they are more likely to be interested as it takes them away from real life.

Music videos give fans a chance to see what the artist is like, whereas before they only got an idea about the artist by going to see them, or from album covers and pictures.

The audience like this because it gives them a chance to get to know the artist without having to see them in real life or having to spend lots of money.

Holdstein says that nowadays ‘The video image is quicker and more powerful.’

Michael Jackson - Beat It

 

Holdstein: “Is Jackson portrayed as a fantasy” a political commentator or as a mediator of social conflict?

During the song it addresses racism and social class. “They told him don’t you ever come around here, don’t wanna see your face, you better disappear”.

It doesn’t need words, it had faces, gestures, emphasis and a narrative one could easily follow without “beat it” on the soundtrack.

Jackson the mediator has become a surreal “fantasy” figure involved yet detached from the action he seems to resolve.

Music Videos

What is a Music Video?

 

A music video or song video is a short film incorporating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes.

 

Different types of Music Videos

Performance Based Video

These types of music videos feature the artist/band/group performing the song through most if not all of the video. By doing it this way it is probably the easiest to do on a budget provided you can get a suitable location for filming. An example of this would be Adelitas Way - Invincible (Performance Version).

Narrative Based Video

A narrative based music video generally contains footage that attempts to tell a story throughout the video. Usually it involves actors, the story is occasionally linked to the lyrical content of the song, but this isn’t always the case. This sort of music video has a habit of being popular for a song that’s featured in a movie and you will often see scenes cut into the music video. An example of this type of music video would be High School Musical 2 - What Time Is It.

Concept Based Video

This is a style of music video that is based around a particular concept or idea. These types of videos are likely to be fairly unusual or use a specific editing or filming method. A music video which would show this would be Christina Aguilera – Dynamite.