Friday, 7 December 2012
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Good and Bad music video techniques
Large number of cuts
Large number of cuts are used to keep the viewer watching the video by grabbing your attention and fixing your eyes on the screen.
Take on me starts off as a fast paced video with lots of different cuts, it then slows down but as the song speeds up the cuts speed up as well, it has over 160 cuts in it.
Special effects are used to make something simple look really amazing.
Brian O'Riely starts his video with an animated girl meaning that she has something to do with the video at 0:09 Bertie (boy on the floor) is introduced, he is introduced in a unique way the screen splits into 3 sections and you are left with one of his eyes, his face using a close up and finally him from the side with his eyes opening. The editor of this video uses the same split screen as he sits up, he continues this every now and then throughout the video. As you cant have a real animated character in a field whilst filming she has to be added after.
There is only one special effect used in this video which is the title of the song at the start of the song, there probably could be more like with the blood as the blood in this is very watery and doesn't actually look realistic.
Cutting to the beat adds a continuous flow with the music, if you don't cut to the beat it disrupts the steady flow of the song and looking out of place.
This video keeps up with the beat of the song, for example at the start Robbie Williams walks to the beat of the song and the cuts are on the beat. As Robbie Williams gets thrown through the window of a pub he lands on the floor and has a chalk outline around him, the image fades out 7 times and are on the beat.
The video to c'est la vie doesn't change on the beat, some of them do but not all. There isn't anything wrong with this as it is still a good video as it is creative but it just doesn't flow. The four girls dance to the beat but the cuts dont change on the beat.
Varied camera language
The object/person being filmed allows the audience to feel the emotional side to object/person, and guides their judgement about the person or object on camera.
Conor Maynard's turn around video has a range of different camera angles, this adds the felling that you are there watching what is going on and feeling what they are feeling. Conor Maynard has a moment when he and a girl is in the box suspended in mid air this is filmed from the ground looking up at the box making us feel like we are looking up at the people in there. Also as he is singing to the girl in the box we get a close up of their faces and it makes up feel like we are apart of what is going on.
Having Conor Maynard dancing and singing in the middle of a street gives us the feeling of him being free for example, now that he has found someone to love he feels like the things he used to worry about dont matter now and he is totally free in his mind. Ne-yo and Conor Maynard stand back to back with a purple light going across them. It is eye level so we feel like we are apart of what they are doing/going to do.
Conor Maynard is standing on a moving bus we are standing on the floor looking up at him on the bus. this gives the feeling of being a member of the public watching their love unfold.
In this video there arent many different camera angles there all either mid shot or close up. The main reason this video keeps the viewer watching is because the camera doesn't stay still for long, but if they had low angled shots or high angled shots it may add more to the video and it more intriguing.
Green screen
Green screens are used to create special affects like being able to put the person/people anywhere in the world, or being able to have people suspended in mid air.
Michael Jackson's planet earth song is made by using green screen. You can tell this by the content he has in his video, for example it has him standing in a forest that is being obliterated around him.
At 0:40 the forest has been destroyed and he is left walking round a waste land that was once a beautiful life filled forest. Without the green screen we wouldn't be as affected by this video as we are now, this is because we wouldn't be able to see the forest before and after man has ruined it.
This makes the video appeal to a younger audience however the time cannot be rewound in real life.
Rebecca Black uses a green screen when she is in the car with her two friends at night, the green screen was used to create the look of them driving at night. You can tell they used a green screen as Rebecca Black's hair has a slight green tint to it at the edges but her blonde friend on the left shows the green screen more as her hair is a light colour and very fine. If a green screen isn't used properly it can make whatever your putting in front of it show the green around their clothes or hair.
Lip-syncing
All music videos are lip synced which means the song is already recorded and it is just played over the video to give the illusion that they are singing. Only very few people can lip sync easily, if you get it wrong it looks very bad how ever if it is right it looks like they are singing the song.
Katy Perry is very good at lip-syncing because she actually sings along to the song as they film rather than just mouthing the words, this makes it look like she is singing the song 'live'
Katy Perry made a 4 part documentary showing us how they make Part of me, this includes showing the places she went and talking a bit about the scenes she has to film and a bit about the props she uses and why. At 2:06 in part 2 of 'The making of part of me' you see Katy Perry in a swimming pool singing with the music in the back, the sound will be taken out during editing and replaced with the pre-recorded song giving the illusion that Katy Perry is singing the song whilst film.
To make you feel more apart of the video Katy Perry has at the start of the video her reason for joining the army; you see her sitting in her car spying on her boyfriend flirt with some other girl. She gets out the car and confronts him about it she then drives off to a shop and sees something about the army and decides to join. Throughout the rest of the video you see flash backs of her life with her ex-boyfriend. This makes you feel more apart of her life and how she feels during her time in the army getting over him.
The Atomic Kittens are good at lip syncing together but when they do their solos their mouths move too slowly and you can tell they aren't singing the song. This downgrades the video during their solos, in other songs from the Atomic Kittens their lip syncing is better even during their solos. I think if a song is too slow or too fast it can make it harder to lip sync to it.
Large number of cuts are used to keep the viewer watching the video by grabbing your attention and fixing your eyes on the screen.
Example 1:
Take on me starts off as a fast paced video with lots of different cuts, it then slows down but as the song speeds up the cuts speed up as well, it has over 160 cuts in it.
From 0:00-0:37 it is all cartoon and very fast, it has around 35 cuts in the first 37 seconds, after that they start to slow down and become less, but getting to the chorus it speeds up again, this repeats throughout the song however at the end of the song (3:20) it speeds up again there are around 20 cuts in the last 25 seconds
when the cuts slow down you can see the different angles but when they are faster they cant really have complicated ones otherwise you wouldn't be able to appreciate them.
Example 2:
Good morning sunshine has around 100 cuts in it, this beats A-Ha's 160+ cuts. Although one song is faster there is a huge number difference between the two songs. At 0:36-1:08 there are 20 cuts most of them are made up of shot reverse shot; Chris (the boy in yellow) is sitting on his friends shoulders, he then meets people he has known throughout his life like his first crush, holiday mates, grand parents, and ex girlfriends. Each time we see a new person the camera returns to Chris and we move on to the next person.
the video starts with Chris laying in bed this shot last for 10 seconds but the longest bit is 14 seconds long. The video speeds up and slows down, as it get faster there are more cuts, this keeps the video for becoming boring or uninteresting.
Having this part in the video stops it from being repetitive, it also fills out the video meaning there are more cuts in there. This also makes you feel apart of the video as you feel like there looking directly at you.
Special effectsSpecial effects are used to make something simple look really amazing.
Example 1:
Brian O'Riely starts his video with an animated girl meaning that she has something to do with the video at 0:09 Bertie (boy on the floor) is introduced, he is introduced in a unique way the screen splits into 3 sections and you are left with one of his eyes, his face using a close up and finally him from the side with his eyes opening. The editor of this video uses the same split screen as he sits up, he continues this every now and then throughout the video. As you cant have a real animated character in a field whilst filming she has to be added after.
BriBry has in the video a teen-aged boy looking for an animated girl. This wouldn't be possible without the use of special affects, however instead of having Bertie look for a real girl, it adds a sense of confusion and emotion to the video having an animated girl.
When Bertie is lying on the floor as he opens his eyes you get a close up of one of his eyes then one looking down on him and one from the side, this makes you focus more on what is happening as it is broken down into sections. The video also makes you ask yourself why he is laying on the floor and chasing after an animated girl.
Example 2:
There is only one special effect used in this video which is the title of the song at the start of the song, there probably could be more like with the blood as the blood in this is very watery and doesn't actually look realistic.
This effect lasts for around 3 seconds, it doesn't need to be up for long as it gets the point across that this is going to be a horror styled video with the font and colour. This give you the impression it is going to be like that all the way through.
Cutting to the beatCutting to the beat adds a continuous flow with the music, if you don't cut to the beat it disrupts the steady flow of the song and looking out of place.
Example 1:
This video keeps up with the beat of the song, for example at the start Robbie Williams walks to the beat of the song and the cuts are on the beat. As Robbie Williams gets thrown through the window of a pub he lands on the floor and has a chalk outline around him, the image fades out 7 times and are on the beat.
Example 2:
The video to c'est la vie doesn't change on the beat, some of them do but not all. There isn't anything wrong with this as it is still a good video as it is creative but it just doesn't flow. The four girls dance to the beat but the cuts dont change on the beat.
Varied camera language
The object/person being filmed allows the audience to feel the emotional side to object/person, and guides their judgement about the person or object on camera.
Example 1:
Conor Maynard's turn around video has a range of different camera angles, this adds the felling that you are there watching what is going on and feeling what they are feeling. Conor Maynard has a moment when he and a girl is in the box suspended in mid air this is filmed from the ground looking up at the box making us feel like we are looking up at the people in there. Also as he is singing to the girl in the box we get a close up of their faces and it makes up feel like we are apart of what is going on.
Example 2:
In this video there arent many different camera angles there all either mid shot or close up. The main reason this video keeps the viewer watching is because the camera doesn't stay still for long, but if they had low angled shots or high angled shots it may add more to the video and it more intriguing.
The video starts with these four clips, the final is or the singer, these are the main camera angles used throughout the video and although the cuts get faster but the camera angles don't change. The more variety of angles put in the more entertaining.
Green screen
Green screens are used to create special affects like being able to put the person/people anywhere in the world, or being able to have people suspended in mid air.
Example 1:
Michael Jackson's planet earth song is made by using green screen. You can tell this by the content he has in his video, for example it has him standing in a forest that is being obliterated around him.
At 0:40 the forest has been destroyed and he is left walking round a waste land that was once a beautiful life filled forest. Without the green screen we wouldn't be as affected by this video as we are now, this is because we wouldn't be able to see the forest before and after man has ruined it.
At 3:37 the video starts to rewind in time, again this wouldn't be possible without a green screen. However to get the wind in the video to make it look like Michael Jackson and the other dancers are being affected by the wind they have a fan on set which they aim towards them.
Example 2:
Rebecca Black uses a green screen when she is in the car with her two friends at night, the green screen was used to create the look of them driving at night. You can tell they used a green screen as Rebecca Black's hair has a slight green tint to it at the edges but her blonde friend on the left shows the green screen more as her hair is a light colour and very fine. If a green screen isn't used properly it can make whatever your putting in front of it show the green around their clothes or hair.
Lip-syncing
All music videos are lip synced which means the song is already recorded and it is just played over the video to give the illusion that they are singing. Only very few people can lip sync easily, if you get it wrong it looks very bad how ever if it is right it looks like they are singing the song.
Example 1:
Katy Perry is very good at lip-syncing because she actually sings along to the song as they film rather than just mouthing the words, this makes it look like she is singing the song 'live'
To make you feel more apart of the video Katy Perry has at the start of the video her reason for joining the army; you see her sitting in her car spying on her boyfriend flirt with some other girl. She gets out the car and confronts him about it she then drives off to a shop and sees something about the army and decides to join. Throughout the rest of the video you see flash backs of her life with her ex-boyfriend. This makes you feel more apart of her life and how she feels during her time in the army getting over him.
Example 2:
The Atomic Kittens are good at lip syncing together but when they do their solos their mouths move too slowly and you can tell they aren't singing the song. This downgrades the video during their solos, in other songs from the Atomic Kittens their lip syncing is better even during their solos. I think if a song is too slow or too fast it can make it harder to lip sync to it.
Friday, 30 November 2012
The purpose of a music video
To promote a new music video release.
Record labels may release a new music video to promote the artist and to raise awareness of the artists new album or single. Music videos also raise the artists popularity in countries they haven't been heard of in yet.
Ed Sheeran is very well known in the music industry he has been around since 2005 but only become more popular in recent years. When you think of Ed Sheeran's music you think of quite calm songs or intriguing videos. With his new give me love video you can tell the video tells a story that relates to the lyrics. The video for give me love is a very intriguing video, this adds to the excitement of the fact that it was released the same time as they song. The song was released on the 21 November 2012, but the video was first played on youtube on the 9 November 2012.
To create a visual representation of the artist.
Most artists have their own style of dressing or acting or even both, fans want to know what their artist may look like so having a video is a good way to see this.
Kiss are known for their dress sense and makeup, they express themselves through
their fashion. Their videos show their uniqueness. When you think of kiss you instantly think of the four men that are in the band, they all have their own makeup design.
To extend the playability of and provide additional income from a song.
The more the artists video is played the more money they get,whether it be on youtube or music channels. The money they receive from people watching it allows them to make CD's and more music videos. This helps the artist stay in the public eye.
Justin Bieber's baby lyric version was released on the 18 January 2010 and the video was premiered exclusively on vevo on the Friday, February 19, 2010 and currently has over 2billion views, this has helped make an album and keep him in the public eye for longer than other artists that have less views.
To create synergy (business tie-ins) with other media sections.
Artists sometimes pair up with the film industry to help promote the film and also their music, without noticing people like the songs in the film so they look the song up and maybe even listen to the artists other songs which raises awareness for the artist.
Bruno Mars sang a song for the Twilight saga, this raised awareness for both Twilight and Bruno Mars. When Bruno Mars sung it will rain it got Bruno Mars fans wanting to watch Twilight so they could hear his song and it got Twilight fans wanting to listen to Bruno Mars' songs.
To be art in their own way.
Every artist has their own definition of art, sometimes the artist just wants to make a memorable video which will get people talking which also helps promote the artists work. The video's don't always have to fit in with the lyrics of the song, this creates enigma.
Record labels may release a new music video to promote the artist and to raise awareness of the artists new album or single. Music videos also raise the artists popularity in countries they haven't been heard of in yet.
Ed Sheeran is very well known in the music industry he has been around since 2005 but only become more popular in recent years. When you think of Ed Sheeran's music you think of quite calm songs or intriguing videos. With his new give me love video you can tell the video tells a story that relates to the lyrics. The video for give me love is a very intriguing video, this adds to the excitement of the fact that it was released the same time as they song. The song was released on the 21 November 2012, but the video was first played on youtube on the 9 November 2012.
To create a visual representation of the artist.
Most artists have their own style of dressing or acting or even both, fans want to know what their artist may look like so having a video is a good way to see this.
Kiss are known for their dress sense and makeup, they express themselves through
their fashion. Their videos show their uniqueness. When you think of kiss you instantly think of the four men that are in the band, they all have their own makeup design.
To extend the playability of and provide additional income from a song.
The more the artists video is played the more money they get,whether it be on youtube or music channels. The money they receive from people watching it allows them to make CD's and more music videos. This helps the artist stay in the public eye.
Justin Bieber's baby lyric version was released on the 18 January 2010 and the video was premiered exclusively on vevo on the Friday, February 19, 2010 and currently has over 2billion views, this has helped make an album and keep him in the public eye for longer than other artists that have less views.
To create synergy (business tie-ins) with other media sections.
Artists sometimes pair up with the film industry to help promote the film and also their music, without noticing people like the songs in the film so they look the song up and maybe even listen to the artists other songs which raises awareness for the artist.
To be art in their own way.
Every artist has their own definition of art, sometimes the artist just wants to make a memorable video which will get people talking which also helps promote the artists work. The video's don't always have to fit in with the lyrics of the song, this creates enigma.
t.A.T.u created a very memorable video for all the things she said by not relating it to the lyrics. They could have decided to relate it but they didn't, therefore creating something really unique.
Monday, 26 November 2012
The outlets of a music video
Mainstream TV
Loads of people watch TV as it is an easy way to find out the top 10 plays for the week ahead, its on repeat all day so if you work during the day or at night you can always see it. Its easy to access, you don't need the internet you just need a TV and free view. Most people know about and its well known. However The video's aren't played for forever, they only play the top 10 of that week, and you cant choose what they play.
Music channels
Direct CD/Special edition CD/DVD releases
Loads of people watch TV as it is an easy way to find out the top 10 plays for the week ahead, its on repeat all day so if you work during the day or at night you can always see it. Its easy to access, you don't need the internet you just need a TV and free view. Most people know about and its well known. However The video's aren't played for forever, they only play the top 10 of that week, and you cant choose what they play.
Music channels
All music channels show the latest music video's, they get you to watch the channels by saying exclusives that they may have or giving you reminders of things that my be coming up in the program every five minutes, it only shows music videos, they frequently repeat the songs, has different channels for different genres of music. However you cant choose when you want to watch that specific song you want, there are often long breaks, it doesnt play all the songs on the play list, it may only plays the yop 10-20.
Direct CD/Special edition CD/DVD releases
There are different reasons for why people want to buy or may not want to buy a special edition CD, the first positive reason is that you can watch back or listen to the music on the disk for as long as you have the CD however people wont want to pay loads of money for it so people would rather buy the normal edition. Another reason why people buy the special edition is because you don't need the Internet to listen to it, but most people have Internet and can either download the music illegally or legally or just watch it on music websites, also you cant listen to the songs on there before you buy it so if you don't like half the music on there you cant change it.
Streaming website (e.g youtube)
Everyone is able to use sites like youtube, however with youtube to find out if the artist or band has uploaded a new music video you have to be subscribed to them.
Artists websites
Most artist have an official website that they put their music onto with the videos so their fans can watch it whenever they want, the only downside of this is most website need you to be signed in and if you don't have an account for you to view them then you cant watch or listen to them. It is very easy to find the website which makes this appealing to the audience as you don't have to go onto loads of different websites just to find the artist you want. If you don't have the Internet you have to wait and buy it when you see it in the shops.
Downloads (legal/illegal)
Downloading music is the easiest way to get a song or alum as most people have the Internet so it isn't hard to find the song or artist you want, however most people download music legally so they will buy it off of somewhere like iTunes when the artist brings out the album but there are some people who download it illegally this means they are breaking the law buy downloading it, although some people would say there not, they are because they haven't paid for that song or album.
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