History of Music Video

Doing this activity has made me learn about how music videos have evolved and how that the more recent videos have become more narrative based rather than based on performance, with the pivotal change which was 'Thriller' by Michael Jackson. I LIKE CHEESE SOMEWHERE IT SHOULDN'T BE

Conventions of a Music Video

Clare Maguire - Ain't Nobody

Camera: There are lots of establishing shots and extreme close ups especially on the performers body parts like hands, face, hair and her shoes. There is very little camera movement but they’re mainly noticeable on the extreme close ups.

 

Lighting & Mise En Scene: The lighting use in the video seems to be all natural apart from one or two shots that use glow sticks in the dark. There is also a lot of props used in the video like chairs, ribbons, glow sticks and other things.

 

Editing: The editing is extremely simple in the video but it’s incredibly smooth throughout the entire video.

 

Performance: The performance aspect is included with the video and its happening at the same time as everything else in the video. The video itself has no narrative to go along with the song.

Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans

Camera: Quite a lot of close ups and very little camera movement again. There is a massive variety of camera angels used especially towards the end of the video.

 

Editing: There are lots of ripples added to enhance the water effect and the whole video is mostly done in slow motion rather than real time. The video was also edited in black and white which makes it difficult to identify what type of lighting it is.

Mise En Scene & Lighting: The video was shot at a house but mainly in a pool. There was also very little props used other than a cigarette and some crocodiles. The lighting I think is mostly natural but it’s hard to tell because of the ripple effect and the black and white effect.

    

Performance: Much like the other two, the performance s mainly included in with the video and isn’t shot in a separate studio. In this video, the performance is mainly happening in the pool.

Sia - Chandelier

Camera: The camera in the video is permanently moving whether it’s with a pan or a zoom. Most of the time there is also a low angle on the dancer apart from a few specific shots. The whole video looks like it was taken in one shot because of the editing.

Mise En Scene & Lighting: The lighting varies throughout the whole video from dark to light, but it seems to be artificial lighting when it is light. There is also no props used  and its set in a flat.

Performance: Unlike the other two videos, there is absolutely no singing performance involved in the video, only the dancer.

Paloma Faith - Can't Rely On You


This video is different to the others as it has an introduction which isn't involved with the song. The into includes video clips which link to the main video and a woman talking, presumably Paloma Faith herself, in a different language with English subtitles being shown on screen.

Camera: There are lots of pans and zoom throughout the entire video. There also seems to be a small amount of handheld camera. When the singer is with other people in the video, the camera mainly focuses on her as she’s singing.

Editing: Throughout the whole video there is a lot of slow motion that has been edited in. The editing itself seems quite simple and it seems to be matched to the pace of the song. It also seems to be edited so it fits with each storyline.

Mise En Scene & Lighting: Because of the amount of storylines, there are different locations/sets so it varies the mise en scene each time. The lighting in each set is different each time, but all the way through it seems to be mostly low lighting. There are some points where it does get massively lighter, so it’s led me to believe that it’s all artificial lighting.

Performance: The performance is merged into each specific storyline so it happens fluently throughout the whole video. However, there are two specific sets which are just for the singing rather than adding to any storyline.

Marina & The Diamonds - Hollywood

Camera: Close up on facial features, as well as lots of pans and zooms with a variety of camera shots and angels. Throughout the entire video, the camera never seems to be completely steady; it almost feels like its hand held camera.

Editing: The editing, again like the other songs/videos, matches the pace of the song; there are also lots of cutaways to different parts. There is also some slow motion added in at various points.

Mise En Scene & Lighting: The lighting is artificial all the way through even though it does vary in lighting. It seems like one setting but because of what the song is about, lots of props are involved. The video seems to follow the stereotype as well.

Performance: Like the others, performance is merged into the video and there isn’t a set place where all the singing happens.

I have learned doing this task what genre I would like to do my music video in, which is Alternative Pop, and the main conventions of the genre. I've also noticed what main things are noticable in each music video and how they carry across all five videos, like not really having a seperate studio for singing and it being merged in all together.

Research Into Exsisting Music Labels

Interscope Records

The American record label was founded in 1989 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field and has finacial support from Atlantic Record which owns 53% of the stock in the label.

The labels first release was Mo'Ritmo by Gerado and the labels original focus was on hop hop and Urban but breanched out to different genres like Industrial Rock with artists like Nine Inch Nails and Marylin Manson, by the mid 1990's. The label has been mainly focused on Gangsta Rap.

Interscope has merged with several other record labels including Geffen Records and DreamWork Records which means they all share their own artists.

In 2013, Interscope became the number one charting label based on MediaBase and also with the largest label share on over four radio formats.

 

Interscope Record Artists within the Alternative Pop Genre:

Lana Del Rey        Gwen Stefani        Natalia Kills

Nelly Furtado        Eva Simons        Fergie

Maroon Five        Aloe Blacc

Polydor Records

Polydor Records is a British Label that was founded in 1924, and orginally began in Germany. The label was linked to HMV (His Masters Voice) and the Gramaphone Company whic was based in Germany. Gramophone Records exported out of Germany were released on the Polydor label.

 

Polydor signed more popular modern artists where as Gramophone became a classical label. In the 1960's, the company signed unknown acts like the Beat Brothers, which became known as The Beatles. In 1972, Polydor merged with Phillips own Phonogram Records to create PolyGram in the United States.

The reason why the company became so sucessful in the UK was because of the band, Slade.

 Polydor Artists the fit within the Alternative Pop Genre:

One Republic        Clare Maguire        Elbow

Demi Lovato        Ellie Goulding        Esmee Denters

Both Labels have Universal Music Group as Parent Companis.

Analysis of Music Videos

From this task I learnt about the length or shots and how they can vary. I learnt that as the song builds to its chorus, the pace of the editing tends to get quicker and becomes a lot more frantic.

Influence of Style

Doing this task has made me look at what influences me and how I would dress my performer in my music video. It's allowed me to make some desicions as to how I would do the performers makeup, what they would wear and how I would do there hair. It's made my decision a lot easier as I now know what to base my performer on.

Research into the Relevant Genre - Alternative Pop

From this task I learnt about the main conventions and how alternative pop is interpeated in different videos and different songs.

Theory - Andrew Goodwin & Carol Vernallis

Andrew Goodwin



Carol Vernallis



From this task, I have learnt how editing can effect the music video and how different types of editing can convey different meanings. I also learnt how sometimes music videos are created so that they convey different meanings to what the song meaning is.

Research an Artists - Lana Del Rey

     


In this task, I leant that an alternative pop music video, is quite big and has a cinematic feel so it seems like a big budget video. This is going to have quite a bit of an impact on what I do for my music video, as I know what sort of video to create now.

Inspiration & Influences

Influence & Style - Music Video on PhotoPeach


From this task, I have learnt about what inspires me from other singers, like Florence & The Machine and Paloma Faith, other tv shows like Teen Wolf, 2 Broke Girls and Vampire Diaries and films like 10 Things I Hate About You and Notting Hill. It also made me think about what specifically inspires me and how I think that could influence my final construction.

Music Channels

MTV

MTV is an American based music channel that was launched on August 1st 1981 with the idea of playing music videos for 24 hours a day. The first music videos to be played on the channel was "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggles, "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar and "She Won't Dance With Me" by Rod Stewart.

It was mainly rock bands/performers that got the most airplay in the beginning of MTV but the channel did start to branch out and play more heavy metal bands to new wave, bands like Bon Jovi, Blondie, Euthymics and The Police as well as the channel started playing Weird Al Yankovic who parodied other artists.

Very few black artists were being played on the channel other than Prince and Eddy Grant. The channel refused to show the video for "Super Freak" by Rick James, claiming it was out of their music range, which spurred James to demand a channel be created just for black artists. Whilst in an interview on MTV, David Bowie also questioned the lack of black artists being aired on the channel.

Before 1983, Michael Jackson also struggled to get airtime on the channel but the colour barrier, as its referred to, was broken when Les Garland, the head of MTV at the time, decided to show Michael Jackson's video for Billie Jean.

MTV has changed who it plays since it started airing, and the channel has gone through phases;




The Channel stopped airing music videos in 2008 and began introducing TV shows especially reality based ones like Jersey Shore, The Hills and 16 & Pregnant. However, MTV started showing more scripted shows as well like Teen Wolf, Awkward, Faking It and Finding Carter. The channel has several spin off channels like, MTV Hits, which do play music videos 24 hours a day.







Viva

The UK broadcasted channel was launched on the 26ths October 2009 with an exclusive performance from Alexandre Burke of her single at the time "Bad Boys." The first music video to be shown on the channel was Alphabeats "The Spell" in the Official UK Chart Top 20 Show.

It was originally broadcasted for 24hrs a day until Nick Jr. (an off shot Nickelodeon channel) was removed when the hours went down to 09:00 to 06:00. The unused hours are now used for teleshopping.


As well as airing music videos, it airs shows that are originally shown on MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central ( shows llike Pretty Little Liars, The Hills, Jersey Shore, Two and a Half Men and Scrubs).

4Music

The channel, that is broadcasted in the UK and some parts of Ireland, launched on the 15th August 2008. Its the only Channel 4 branded channel within the Box TV network.

The channel has several programmes including;

• 4Music Top 10
• Your official Top 20
• UKHot 40
• From The Beginning

The Channel launched with an on-screen countdown from 10 minutes down to 0, with clips from popular music videos faded through the screen. The channel launched with a promotional advert for the channel before going into "Davina and Steve's 20 Big Ones." The first music video to be shown on the channel was "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters as apart of the countdown, with "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" by Kylie Minogue coming number one.

The Channel also airs some performances of T4 On The Beach and V Festival. T4 On The Beach was ended after T4 Closed down on 30th December 2012.




Kerrang! TV


The channel is loosely based on the magazine, and it launched in 2005. As of 2005, all of it's content were music videos of the pop punk/state punk although there are some unusual exceptions.


Some acts like Tenacious D, get a higher airplay than other artists but the channel is the only channel that plays music videos by request from the viewers rather than vote. The channel, still shares the same ethos as the magazine but sometimes will play un-signed artists.

Video countdowns are often showed including;

• A - Z Punk
• Today's 10 Most Rockin'
• Overdrive
• Rock 100

The first broadcast of Kerrang! TV had a countdown of voters most desired videos. The most popular and the first video to be shown on the channel was "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.

KISS TV


The channel launched 26th June 1998 and is based on the same format as the radio station and plays mainly hip-hop,trance and R'n'B.

Within one year of the channel being launched it was beating MTV in time slots and gained a status for it's low budget coverage of dance music.

As well as showing music videos, it also features chart shows like;

• UKHot40Big Beats Chart
• Top 20 Productions
• Class of 2008: The Best so Far
• A-Z of R'n'B

Youtube & VEVO

VEVO launched on the 8th December 2009 and has become a part of Youtube and shows music videos from two of the big three record labels, UMG and SME. In June 2012, VEVO launched its Certified awards which honours artists with at least 100 million views on VEVO and it's partner website, like Youtube.





The channel itself is only available in North America however it is
looking to branch out to other countries. Unlike it's main partner, Youtube, VEVO can be viewed by anyone.

Analysis of Previous Students Work

I have learnt from looking at previous students work that the research and planning tasks are massively important in able to get a good grade but also that all of the areas, so planning, construction etc., combine overall to get a grade and that if one thing is particularly worse than the other areas, that it can bring your whole grade down.

From watching the other students videos, I have been given some inspiration that I can use for my own music video. I noticed how all three of the students editing within the videos was quite good and that each editing matched the pace of the song. I also noticed how not every music video has to have lip syncing in it, but it it does it has to be really good and seamless.

Tracking An Artist Through Their Career - Florence & The Machine

I have learnt from doing this task about how an artists has changed over several years and especially where they can mostly get their material for an album from, such as relationships. It's also made me look into a specifics artist career and how they're perceieved amongst the audience.

Digipak Research

Digipak research from louisenicholass

In this task I have learnt about looking at albums/digipaks and how they fit with the genre. 

Digipak Research - Magazie Adverts

From doing this task I have learnt that most album posters have a black baground with block capitals for the text which are shown in contrasting colours whether thats red, white or blue. Most posters are landscape
aswell, even though some are portrait the majority I looked at where landscape.

Audience Research & Voki

For my survey, I asked 7 questions and sent it to about 10-15 people. Only 7 people came back with responses but I found the answers to the questions interesting and I can hopefully incorporate that into my music video.

My Survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?PREVIEW_MODE=DO_NOT_USE_THIS_LINK_FOR_COLLECTION&sm=MF7R_2FZQlCgWeC5ixdRgYsznQ5N26zFCPbEO2oNy0Y8c_3D


I have taken a few print screens from the survey and analysed the results.

 

I asked about the clothing that my performer should wear. In my head I had a vague idea of what I wanted my performers to wear and it seemed to fit with the 'Smart Casual' category which seemed the majority of the people I asked, wanted to see.

 

 

I noticed how some Alternative Pop artists use short films with their music video incorporated, especially artists like Lana Del Rey. I asked this and was surprised to see that everyone liked the idea. However, I'm not sure how I would be able to in-corporate a mini short film along with the music video, mainly because I struggled to find a storyline just for the music video and I'm not sure how I would be able to extend it to maybe a 10 minute short film.

 

 

The last two pictures kind of went together as I was interested in how many people enjoyed a storyline aspect to a music video and was surprised to see that the majority said that they enjoyed watching a storyline evolve rather than watching a performer.

 

 

After finding 100% of people wanted a storyline in the music video, it defiantly told me that I would have to look around at similar artists, like Lana Del Rey and Sam Smith, and see what storylines there using.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the Voki I made to represent my audience.