Group meeting

IN our group meeting we divided up the work load and decided who was going to have what roles when filming and editing our music video. We also decided on filming locations, and filming times. We decided that we will film on weekends.

Adam- Editing/Directing

Aaron- Directing/ filming

Sam- Directing/ Filming

Audience Profile

Audience profile

Name: Jamal Thomas

Ethnic origin: Black African

Age: 17

Location: Hackney

Favourite genre of music: Grime/ Hip hop

Favourite TV programme: Match of the day

Favourite music channel: Channel AKA, MTV Base, Kiss

This person would watch to our music video because the genre of the music reflects his lifestyle. This persons rough upbringing and experiences relate to the lyrics in next hype.

Editing Research

This is a clip found from Youtube which shows the difference between normal video footage and then shows the footage when effects have been added. The editing has given the video a much more professional appearance mainly from the lighting being reduced makes everything in the frame look a lot darker.

Tom Jones lip syncing exercise

This task was set to practice lip syncing. Our media class was filmed in various locations, carrying out different tasks such as singing in time with the Tom Jones soundtrack, or  dancing. The footage was then imported into final cut and the best shots were chosen to included in the video. A variety of lip syncing shots were included with cutaways to dancing and other clips. To successfully lip sync the soundtrack to the footage, I had to play the track over the footage and match up the lyrics in the song with pupils miming performances. To get the effect of the students singing with a field behind the I had to change the chroma key settings and merge the two shots together but keep the field as the background. Also to get the effect of people disappearing at the end of the video, I had to put two of the exact shots together and cut and crop it so that it gave the impression of people disappearing into thin air.

Pink panther exercise

To create this sequence we had to import images and the pink panther soundtrack into the viewer on final cut express. We then added markers to whilst listening to the soundtrack. Markers were added to the sound of the saxophone. Every other clip was then cut and another image was added. 

Music Video Anaylsis - Giggs

This music video was directed by Oliver Whitehouse for the British Grime music artist Giggs’ song called Monsta Man, in which the video was released on March 29^{th 2011}. The video conveys typical Grime genre characteristics through the use mise-en-scene, being very casual and urban clothing along with big pieces of jewelry such as necklaces. As Grime is an upcoming genre many of the Grime artists were underground therefore not making much money whereas now they are making many more record sales and making more money. Artists such as Giggs try to be very “flash” in their videos with the big house and suits which are used in the video which promotes the fact he is making a lot of money and this is becoming very popular with Grime videos. Also a lot of Grime music videos usually use girls in their music videos to be shown off and used to add sex appeal to the video, which therefore can attract a larger audience, mainly the male audience.                                                                                                   
In the music video there are no real references in which the visuals match the lyrics and I believe the reason for this is possibly due to the video mainly being focused on Performance by the artist.                                                                
Yet I have identified a small reference from the music to visuals as there are several points in the video where an effect is added which makes it appear as if the camera is shaking and it could be seen as matching the beat to the music.                                                                                                                  
The music has intertextual reference to the music video for Candy Shop by 50 Cent as both video are set in a large house showing the artists wealth as they both are made to seem as if they are the owners or they live there also they both have loads of girls in the house and are used to be seen as a sex object who want the main characters, being the artist, in this case Giggs.                                                                  
The record label in which Giggs is signed to or who worked with him to produce the song and video would have had specific demands from the video towards the artist. Watching the music video I have identified some key areas, which may have been some demands such as many close ups of the artist shown throughout the whole video. Also a demand may have been to show the artist being seen with girls surrounding him, which may have been due to it leading the audience to see him being masculine and charming by having him shown with loads of girls covering him and in the house who all want him.

Overall the music video has performance as the artist Giggs is shown a lot in the video in which he is looking at the camera and lip-syncing. Also the video has a concept as it gives the idea that all the women used in the video want Giggs which is also reflected in the lyrics She’s calling me the monsta man, I can see that’s what she wants from man”.

Music Video Ideas

This clip is from the the 1994 film "Pulp Fiction" directed by Quentin Tarentino, as a group we have taken the idea from this clip to have a a form of container, in our case we will be using a bag as opposed to the briefcase in the film, to have something which every in our music video wants. Yet in the video we will not find out what is in the bag as it makes the audience suspicious and intrigued to find out what is in the bag. We are also planning to have a gold/yellow light shine from the bag when it is opened, the same effect which is done in the film clip.

Music Video Ideas

From 2:54 there is a camera shot type used known as a Tracking Shot in which the camera follows the characters and circles them as they move around the room but also the clip is fast forwarded and a wide angle lens is used to film the shot to create a fish eye effect. I found these effects very useful and like the look of them as they add interest to the video instead of simple shots and camera use.

Individual music video by Adam White- Johnson

Before filming this music video I had to write the lyrics to the song and then go to a studio to record it. After recording the song and mixing it on garage band I encountered a few problems opening the file after exporting it because it wasn't a MP3 file. I had to find an online file converter to convert it. I then planned the video sequence and decided on locations to film. I then filmed the video in the studio, in a car park, and took moving shots whilst driving. I used the moving shots of nightlife and other scenery as cutaways. The video is mainly performance with little narrative. I then encountered more problems when uploading the footage because my video camera saves the video to a format that final cut does not recognize. So I had to use a file converter to convert the files into quicktime movie files. After converting the files I then edited it on final cut and then exported it into an mov. file and uploaded it onto youtube which took 180 minutes.

Problems with uploading footage

I came across problems with uploading my video shots for my individual music video onto the apple mac because my video camera had encrypted the files. This was an annoying feature JVC decided to include which makes it difficult to work with on macs. I found numerous on-line file converters that converted the mpeg files into quick time movie files. This however took a long time.

Analysis of Amnesia by Skepta

Amnesia by Skepta

Skepta is a UK grime artist that has broadened his audiences by diversifying his style of music he produces. This song Amnesia, is a mix between grime, and club (house) music. The lyrics are performed over a house instrumental which gives the song an unusual twist but it is done successfully with the help of the video.

The video has mainly contextual and narrative ideas in it with a bit of performance. The narrative in this video is so strong that you could fairly understand what has happened in the video without hearing the lyrics. The basic idea of the video is that people gout, binge drinks, get drunk, do something embarrassing and in the morning when they are hung over they always say they will never drink again. ‘Here come that classical line, I’m never drinking again’ that line from the song is repeated throughout verses and before the chorus.

Goodwin’s 6 point analysis on music videos is clearly been put into practice in this music video. Genre characteristics of a house music video would require the setting to be in a club, which it is. It is set in one of the most renowned clubs in Ibiza (the party capital of Europe) Amnesia.  Genre characteristics of grime had to be non-existent as this song is for mainstream audiences.

Another point Goodwin made in his music video analysis was that there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. In this video this technique is used on multiple occasions. Skepta says ‘last night was sick, oh what a city I lost my phone though oh what a pity’ and the camera takes an extreme close up shot of an I phone with someone flicking through pictures of the wild night. Also Skepta describes waking up with a note from a girl that he doesn’t remember which is a common occurrence that happens after wild drunken nights out. ‘I woke up with a note that said sorry I had to go ILY’

The demands of the record label usually are that there are lots of shots of the artist in the video. This is definitely the case in this video with Skepta appearing in every shot with a variety of camera angles, mainly close ups.

There is a use of a screen inside a screen effect in the video. The stolen I phone displays images of what has just happened in the main narrative of the music video.

To conclude, this music video by Skepta has successfully used Goodwin’s six point analysis to meet the demands of the record label and its target audience.

Stop Motion Research

In our music video we aim to include stop motion techniques to create surreal and strange effects which will suit our theme of non-reality. To gain more information and techniques we researched famous stop motion artists such as Jan Svankmajer, a self-labeled surrealist known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. In the research we found from Svankmajer, we saw that he uses claymation in his works which is animation created by changing clay models (e.g clay faces) into different shapes and positions. We continued our research to find animators who use stop motion in music video's. In this research we found a music video directed by Eric Gunther and Jeff Lieberman. The song is 'End Love' by the American rock band OK GO. This music video uses stop motion to create the appearance of traveling without moving the body. From this research we hope to develop our own techniques fitting into our genre to use in our music video.

Analysis of 6 foot 7 foot

Lil Wayne 6 foot 7 foot

Hip Hop superstar Lil Wayne stars in this solo track called 6 foot 7 foot. The video is more contextual than narrative as there is no story line to follow in the video. The video features a series of images that correspond to the lyrics in the song. When Lil Wayne says ‘glass half empty half full, ill spill ya’ the screen straight cuts to a close up moving slow motion image of a wine glass full of a clear liquid that then falls to the ground and smashes.

Mise on scene is used in the video to incorporate sex appeal which is widely used in hip hop videos. The women in the video are dressed in provocative outfits. One woman is dressed in a red satin dress which is seductive because the colour red is a connotation for lust, passion and sex. Red is also associated with danger and the woman walks with an attitude which could suggest she is dangerous. Lil Wayne is dressed in a military commissioner’s outfit as he says ‘young money militia and I am the commissioner.’ This technique was used to introduce his entourage in an entertaining and surreal way. The video incorporates Goodwins 6 point analysis. Firstly, The lyrics are represented by visual images in the video. Genre characteristics are represented in the video by the use of women and mise en scene. Women are used in hip hop videos as a sex symbol to attract male interest which hip videos are targeted towards. The demands of the record label are clear in the video. The artist Lil Wayne is showed in every shot unless there is a cutaway to an image of what he is rapping about. Record labels invest a lot of money in their artists so they try give them as much publicity as possible.

 A mirrored effect is used on the women in the video to make it seem like there is more of them than there is, amplifying there attractiveness. A mirrored effect is also used when Lil Wayne says ‘talking to myself because I am my own consultant’ The mirage of images make the video more enticing. The cut away to Lil Wayne in a car moving backwards and forwards in a slow motion jerking movement and when he falls into a bath tub full of water makes the video somewhat of an enigma.

Different camera shots are used with straight cuts to create a fast pace to the video. The video has to have a fast pace as it has no narrative and is set in one location a white room. Extreme close ups are used when there is an emphasis on a specific subject in the lyrics. Women are the focal point of a lot of the lyrics so there are a lot of extreme close ups and close ups on the faces of attractive women.  Lil Wayne shows his superiority in the video as the camera is shot from ground level as he says’ I think you stand under me if you don’t understand me.’ 

Although there is no narrative or costumes as such, this video is successfully incorporates contextual ideas with a variety of camera shots and edits that make the video fast paced and thoroughly entertaining.

Music Video Draft Timeline