Since we are making a music video, there will need to be plenty of things that will need to be thought over such as the actors who will be included into the filming, the props that will be used and the costumes that the actors that we are going to choose are going to be wearing. Now the original idea for the actors was to be the people who are involved in our media group but we also needed another person who could be the main star. So after consulting with the group, we decided that we would use the same person that we used in our project last year. The next thing that needed to be considered and talked about with the group are the kinds of costumes that we are going to wear. Now since the song that we are performing to is of ska genre we decided that we need to fit the part as well. So each of us needed to purchase a ska tie and if we didn't already have one, a black shirt. Next we needed to considered having instruments in our music video as the band will probably be using them in the music video as well. We then needed to consult some of the teachers in the school if we could use one of the professional music rooms and some of the instruments such as bass guitars and an amplifier for the main actor Tomas. This isn't a necessity for the music video but it would be a nice feature to have included. Luckily, there were extra props that we available which we could use which is the black hat at the top of the page. This is exactly the kind of headwear that most ska artists would wear so this fit in perfectly. With the lyrics to the song that we are trying to make the video for, we have also tried to tie the lyrics to what we are doing and the surroundings that we are in. For example, one of the lyrics says 'pretending I'm a supermam!', in our video the main actor and singer begins to pretend that he is superman and tries to fly away from our group.
Finally the first thing that needed to be thought about before any filming could commence is where exactly are we going to film for the music video. Since we are really close to London we thought that the best idea would be to film in central London and get all of the most well known landmarks such as Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Westminster Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral. This way at least that anyone who is watching the video will know where we have been and filmed.
Rough Sketch/Explanation of location and key points to note: - Have to pay train fee - We will be going at an off-peak period in order to avoid crowded trains - When going to this location to film we will go to Westminster station as it is very close to the bridge
Access to location via:
- Parental permission
- Pay for train fee to Westminster station
Name and number of location contact: - Westminster Bridge Rd, London Borough of Lambeth, London SE1
Health and Safety Issues to note:
- We ensure that we don't drop any of the filming equipment and instruments as the ground will be concrete - We must ensure that we are not too close to the edge of the bridge as filming equipment or even ourselves can trip and fall off
Potential Filming Problems:
- There may not be enough space on the pavement to fit all of us
- Cars passing by may interfere with our music which will mean we will not be able to sing along to the music when performing - Members of the public may interfere with our filming
Additional Notes: (map of area/weather forecast etc)
Rough Sketch/Explanation of location and key points to note: - Have to pay train fee - We will be going at an off-peak period in order to avoid crowded trains - When going to this location to film we will go to Westminster station as it is very close to the bridge
Access to location via:
- Parental permission
- Pay for train fee to Westminster station
Name and number of location contact: - Westminster Bridge Rd, London Borough of Lambeth, London SE1
Health and Safety Issues to note: - We ensure that we don't drop any of the filming equipment's and instruments as the ground will be concrete
Potential Filming Problems: - Cars passing by may interfere with our music which will mean we will not be able to sing along to the music when performing - Members of the public may interfere with our filming
Additional Notes: (map of area/weather forecast etc.)
Potential problems and how to overcome these problems:
There may be many problems when filming and editing. These problems need to be avoided as much as possible to ensure that our finished product is exceptional. The first possible problem could be the day we film. We need to communicate as a group and find a day where we are all available to film. In our group, some of our members are involved in activities outside of school such as football and rugby teams and even also weekend part time jobs. We will need to make sure that we find a date that is comfortable for all of our group members. In addition another potential problem could be transport funds. We will be filming in London so this means that we will be taking the train their which obviously costs money. We will need to be aware of these costs so that we do not delay our time to film.
At the beginning of the video, Nicholas will be wearing a grey coat over the top of his usual sixth form shirt and tie as the park scene takes place during a normal day at school. When the band relocate to London, Nicholas will be wearing a black shirt and checkered Ska tie with black trousers and shoes, the same as the other boys.
Props: A musical instrument (In the band scenes)
Character Name:Dapo
Costume:
At the beginning of the video, Dapo will be wearing a dark blue coat and backpack over the top of his usual sixth form shirt and tie as the park scene takes place during a normal day at school. When the band relocate to London, Dapo will also be wearing a black shirt and checkered Ska tie with black trousers and shoes.
Props: A musical instrument (In the band scenes)
Character Name: Connor
Costume:
At the beginning of the video, Connor will be wearing a grey fleece over the top of his usual sixth form shirt and tie as the park scene takes place during a normal day at school. He will also wear his trademark Adventure Time hat in this scene. However, When the band relocate to London, Connor will drop the hat and wear a black shirt and checkered Ska tie with black trousers and shoes. In the scene where Connor exits his house, he will also be wearing a scarf and gloves.
Props: A musical instrument (In the band scenes)
Character Name: Aaron
At the beginning of the video, Aaron will be wearing grey coat over the top of his usual sixth form shirt and tie as the park scene takes place during a normal day at school. When the band relocate to London, Aaron will be wearing a black shirt and checkered Ska tie with black trousers and shoes, the same as the other boys.
Character Name: Tomas
Tomas is the only exception to the established dress code as he will be dressed in a red cape in addition to his ska gear throughout most of the video. This is because he fits the ‘Superman’ description best and is also a good actor. At the beginning of the video, Tomas will be wearing his sixth form clothes like rest of the band.
Props: A Mobile Phone, and a musical instrument (In the band scenes)
Vox Populi is where an interview is conducted in the strets. This is more comonly done on news channels where they are trying to get the genuine view and voice of the public. These people are normally just picked out of the audience to answer questions. In America, they call this the M.O.T.S aka ' Man On The Street'. TV personality Steve Allen as the host of the Tonight Show further developed the meaning of "man on the street" where he would interview and with audience paticipation became a common place on night time television. Usually the people who were askd the questions would be seen in a public place and were giving spontaneous opinions. Many of the U.S broadcast journalists prefer to use the abbreviation M.O.S while outside of the U.S, many people prefer the term Vox Pop. Since on occasion the results of the inerview can become unpredictable, the material was generally edited down very specifically. Although Vox Pop seems very close to the term survey, the aim of a Vox Pop is to ask the general public the same question but to get different reactions. This is why on the television you will rarely see when the interviewer asks a group of people a question, you are very unlikely to get the same answer because they are looking for a variation. The interviewers need to make sure that the group of people that they are asking the questions to are of various ages, sexes, classes and communities. Normally the vox pop question will be asked to different people in diferent streets or areas but there is an exception if the question does not apply to the general public, it will only asked to a small group of people; for example asking a group of students about their education.
Now over the years there have been some music videos that have created some controversy and can be labelled as completely bizarre. Recently there have been two key music videos that have made the headlines and they are Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines and Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball. But first we have to think about whether women in pop videos are just used as sexual objects? As Andrew Goodwin as said that the camera which is used to film the female artist can be seen as a man looking through the camera making the woman look as sexy as possible. This is the main reason why there can be some many female artists and why they dominate the charts. But on the other hand, you still have the women who do not try to be sexy but still manage to sell their music, people like Adele and P!nk.
Now on to Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines. This music video isn't only sexist because of the video but because there are several hints in the lyrics that can be tied to sexism. The song has been labelled as sexist because some of the lyrics have been hinted to suggest rape. The lyrics indicate somewhere within that even though a girl says no to having sex really she means yes. This song was also banned by the University Student Union because it seemed to glorify rape and violent sex. Although there was one university which was in Exeter which did not ban the song but condemned it saying "A song that implies a woman is 'an animal' who 'wants it' because of the way she is dressed is not acceptable." As well as being banned in different universities, there are also two versions of the song with one of them being fit for viewing while the other is more explicit with topless women. Personally i believe that the explicit version has not been shown mainly because it isn't for the viewing of the younger audience, in case they see it but also because it may give the teenage audience that may be watching the wrong idea; who can see the video and tie the lyrics together which may in fact make rape and violent sex isn't exactly that bad. Lastly, the women in the video initially may seem to be as sex objects but upon further analysis of the video and from the words of the director and the actors, apparently this isn't all the case. In fact the women in the video are supposed to be seen as the power figures because they are the ones who are in control and will tease the men but then eventually say no.
Next we will move onto Wrecking Ball. This song is really controversial because of the massive change the has come over Miley. Since she was the main star on the TV show Hannah Montanna which showed on Disney Channel, i has come as quite of a shock that she has now emerged she is older and that she does not want to be seen as a little kid anymore. She is trying ti recreate her image by using the music video and ultimately, it has worked. She has managed to claw her way back into the limelight to say that she is not a kid anymore. Although she is trying to recreate her image, in the beginning of the video she used a technique that had already been used. She copied a section of Sinead O'Connor's song Nothing Compares 2U when there was a section of the song where she cried and this has been used in her video. Responding to this being used in Miley's video, Sinead came out to say be careful and to "Not let them prostitute you!". Although sometimes the aim in a female video is to make the artist look as sexy as possible, sometimes they can go over the bar and some people may only think that they are basically sex objects.
The success rate for a music video mainly depends on how many views that it gets but there are also other things that they the directors may be trying to get across. For example, in Katy Perry's videos in most of the videos she may have a secret message but what she is really trying to do is appeal to her target audience which ideally are girl teenagers. This is primarily the objective when an artist makes a music video. But then there are the exceptions where the video has absolutely nothing to do with the video but it is still successful. Psy's Gangnam Style is a perfect example as it is has the most views song on Youtube but yet the video is in korean and I am quite sure thatmost people who watch the video do not know what he is saying. There are different elements that can effect the successfulness of a music video. Youtube can be seen as a positive but a negative thing because althought it is positive because it will allow the artist or group to publish and advertise their music but on the other hand, this will allow all of the fans to be able to watch the video and listen to the song for free. Therefore this means that the artist is going to lose a lot of money apart from the downloading piracy that is obviously going on then the music video business I believe is sadly declining.
Youtube has changed the way that anyone can view music videos because in this day and age, it is simple to just be able to go onto the internet, open Youtube and simply search for the video. Before Youtube people would have to wait for MTV to present the music video. An example of this is Michael Jackson's Thriller,when the video was aired it seemed like a movie preview because it was only shown at one time which means that it could be weeks or even months before the video could be shown again. To contrast both MTV and Youtube, it is a lot easier to be able to watch the videos that you want whenever you feel like it.
There are any key things that need to be considered during the filming of a music video. Since nearly all music videos are unique in their own way, they will all use techniques such as the extreme close up, mid shot etc. The extreme close up is generally used when the main focus of the video is on the artist. It is to ensure that the audience that is watching is clearly shown the reactions of the artist. An excellent but yet not purposely used extreme close up is in Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2 U where throughout the whole song it is just an extreme close up with a few transitions of different locations that the director was planning to film at. The key iconic thing that worked with the extreme close up and the artist was the fact that when she began crying the audience could obviously see the emotion that she was portraying was real.
Next it is the mid shot that is typically used in all music videos. This shot normally is quite farther away from the artist or group so that the audience can see their face and part of their body. Typically whenever the artist is lip syncing the lyrics to the song, mid shot is generally used. In some music videos there will be additional instruments that the audience can see the artist playing. It can tell the audience that it is them that can play the instruments and that they don't just sing; this adds a more personal touch to the song. Some of the most successful songs are actually the most basic ones where there isn't any special effects such as cuts and wipes or even different shots or angles. For example in Christina Aguilera's The Voice Within the whole song is simply one continuous shot with the camera occasionally zooming in and out. As well as the video is just one shot it is also only in black and white, even though this generally doesn't make a difference the the audience to this or colour but it is still recognised as a different style.
Next you will have the video or videos that will make absolutely no sense. The most recent and most talked about song has to be Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball. This is simply because the song has no emotion and no meaning to it what so ever which can also be indicated in the lyrics. Some artists will use songs to be able to boost their standing in the public by making controversial songs. As for Wrecking Ball, most people are to believe that this song was used to be able to change her image, so that she could not be seen as the same child that was once on Disney Channel. But then on the other hand, you have other artists who know what they are doing and know what the videos reaction will have on the public. Madonnas Like A Prayer is such song because although she knew what the song was actually about, she also knew how the public would react. In the video she has sex with a man that the public believes is a black Jesus but Madonna referenced the apparent 'Black Jesus' as a saint.
Next is the very self explanatory dance videos. This is a very simple type of video in which the artist or group is just seen dancing. A well known example of this is Beyonce's Single Ladies. The video is very simple and easy to produce simply because all that the director needed to worry about was the filming and the costumes that the dancers and Beyonce were going to wear. The dancers in the video normally have their own dance set list and the dance routine is different from any other kind of video. The dance routine is normally very simple so that the audience that is watching can mimic the the moves which in turn will also make the song more popular. You also have the Modern type of music videos which is very popular amongst female artists. Normally used when in a girl group but then there are the occasional female artist who will hire professional artsits to dance with them that know the dance routine. Usually the back up dancers and the main artist will have different costumes so that the audience can know who is the main person. This will also help if someone who hasnt seen the artist before so that they can reference the person who has the different outfit as unique.The background is generally a basic room or wall in which the group dance.
Finally you have the artist that dress up during their music videos. In some of these videos there may also be a hidden story or meaning to the video; although sometimes it can be said in the lyrics. Some of the music videos will make more snese than others. For example, In Katy Perry's Part Of Me, she is a woman who I believe that recently lost her husband which can be seen at the beginning of the video who then gains courage and decides to join the marines; I'm guessing since her husband/boyfriend died in the military. There are other videos however that show experiences that either the artist has gone through or by one of their fans. Another example would be Stan by Eminem. The video and song lyrics are about a fan of Eminems who kept sending him fan letters byt since Eminem was so busy he didn't get a chance to reply back. Seeing as the fan thought that he was being ignored, he decided to tie his pregnant wife in the back of his car and then drive it off a bridge. These kinds of videos are really touching to the fans and to the audience.
Since we are making a music video, there will need to be plenty of things that will need to be thought over such as the actors who will be included into the filming, the props that will be used and the costumes that the actors that we are going to choose are going to be wearing. Now the original idea for the actors was to be the people who are involved in our media group but we also needed another person who could be the main star. So after consulting with the group, we decided that we would use the same person that we used in our project last year.
The next thing that needed to be considered and talked about with the group are the kinds of costumes that we are going to wear. Now since the song that we are performing to is of ska genre we decided that we need to fit the part as well. So each of us needed to purchase a ska tie and if we didn't already have one, a black shirt. Next we needed to considered having instruments in our music video as the band will probably be using them in the music video as well. We then needed to consult some of the teachers in the school if we could use one of the professional music rooms and some of the instruments such as bass guitars and an amplifier for the main actor Tomas. This isn't a necessity for the music video but it would be a nice feature to have included. Luckily, there were extra props that we available which we could use which is the black hat at the top of the page. This is exactly the kind of headwear that most ska artists would wear so this fit in perfectly. With the lyrics to the song that we are trying to make the video for, we have also tried to tie the lyrics to what we are doing and the surroundings that we are in. For example, one of the lyrics says 'pretending I'm a supermam!', in our video the main actor and singer begins to pretend that he is superman and tries to fly away from our group.
