Editing - Day 1

On our first day of editing we put all the clips we had in order that we wished to use them during the film, and using the storyboard we worked out what would work well where. Once the clips were in order we could tell if we were missing any clips. After many times of re-arranging the clips and trying to find the right sequence, we had decided that we needed a few extra clips to work well with the sequence. Therefore, we cut down the clips we already had to an appropriate length. We cut out the fade in/outs and got rid of clips that were no use to use. We then decided what we were missing and stuff we needed to re-film.

Digipak Analysis

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• The band name is shown on the Front cover along with the album name.
• Again both artist name and album name is shown on the spine of the cover.
• List of the song names from the album are on the back cover of the digipak.
• List of the song names from the album are on the Cd itself.
• An image of a guitar that represents the album is on the front cover immediately shows the genre of the music.
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Digipak Analysis

After reasurching the conventions used for the digipaks, i have here shown an example of a digipak used professionally for a CD. It uses most of the conventions for a digipak, showing a successful example.

• This particular pack shows several pictures of the artist with the artists name, instantly showing the audience who the particular artist is.
• This type of pictures also show the genre of the music on the CD.
• Inside of the digipak there is also short credits and information on the artist.
• The light colours used together with the scenery in the image, showing the theme to the audience and grabbing the target audience.
• The artist name and album are on the spine of the CD.

Dimensions of a digipak

This a 4 panel digipak. This is the most simple design given you 4 panels, where you have the cd inside and one extra panel for information inside. The outside panels could be used for design, representation of the artist/band, and must haves such as a barcode. The dimensions for this digipak are 5.53" X 0.25" X 5".

Here is a 6 panel CD digi tray pack. The 6 panel digipak offers a inside front cover tube pocket. Information can be inserted into here and printed onto this sleeve. 6 panel digipaks are useful for adding more information, also looking very good. The dimensions for this digipak will be 5.53" X 0.25" X 5".

This is a more complicated digipak. It has a number of sleeves which could contain various information about the album, artist, or the album/single itself. A continuous theme throughout all the sleeves will need to be carried out.

Digipak Analysis

• The front cover easily lets the audience establish the name of the artist.

• The front cover has the name of the album easily visable

• The colour scheme is linked throughout the digipak

• It has a book pack with it with reviews, lyrics, words and many information about the band and its belives.

• The CD which holds the tracks on it have the name of the tacks on it in addition to the same color scheme which is presented throughout the whole digipak.

• There is an image of the artist which seems to look like a live photo shot of him, this also has his name easily established next to the image

• Throughout the digipak there is images which link to the meaning of the tracks maid in the digipak, the meaning is easily recognized by the front cover 'songs to lift your spirit and inspire your soul' this is linked with the images of jesus which is found on the CD and the image on the park of the digipak which the CD is held in.

• The representation we recieve from the Digipak of the artist is that he is a spiritual person who likes to express his feelings and thoughts through song.

by Harry Boland

Chipmunk - Superstar

Chipmunk is rapper who got singed last year after being seen on youtube and mc battles and songs on westwood. He's just turned 18 and this year he performed on the big stage at wireless. His genre is more of a hip hop style to rapping,. With four songs coming out once he had been signed, he has grown massively in the music industry doing a song with Elton John. The video ‘superstar’ is a mix of story and performance, where there’s shots of him on tour and images of all of the celebrities his met growing up and images of him performing at a young age before he got the record label. He’s done this because in the song he talks about wanting to be coming a superstar and the steps it took him to get a record label.



This was Chipmunk at age 16 in school with his mates before he got signed, this chip is shown when he talks about growing up in the lyrics of the song.



This is Chipmunk with rapper Dappy from N-Dubs, a well established group of rappers who have made many albums and had many number one hits.

The Music Video has stuck to the given conventions of a music video using conventions such as the video is cut to the beat of the song, the flow of the video matches the song with plot inactive as well as performance where chipmunk is dancing and lip syncing to the song. The film is 3.59 minutes which is the normal time of a music video which the music video conventions have decided. The video itself is advertising the artist himself as well as the song, through the lyrics and the clips it shows how he has made it in the music industry but also shows the struggle of making it. The advertises the song and the artist as it shows his character which will be a benefit to him gaining new fans. The target audience for this song would be for both male and females ages grouped from 14-30 i feel this is the target audience because the lyrics in the song are calm but cleaver where young people who are trying to become rappers can be inspired by them and people of age groups can enjoy them as there in a bit of a story form.

By Harry Boland

Tinchty Stryder - ‘take me back’ ft. Taio Cruz

Tinchty Stryder - ‘take me back’ ft. Taio Cruz

Tinchy Stryder is a wrapper who was signed to record label ‘Cloud 9’ in 2009, since then he has made around 8 songs all of which have been in the top ten of the charts. He has also brought out his own clothing line ‘Star In The Hood’ which he advertises in all of his music videos especially within this song. As the opening shot in this music video is him facing away from the camera where you then see his jacket with ‘Star In The Hood’ on the back.

 

The music video is 3.22 minutes long which stays to the conventions of the music videos as the conventions predict it to be from 3-4 minutes long.The music video is filmed with minimum surroundings and minimum props where all you see his Tinchy Stryder and Taio Cruz lip syncing throught the movie. This is not the usual music video that has stayed to the conventions of a music video, but yet they keep the audience interested by the amount of camera angles and shots which they use.

The music video is cut to the beat of the song where the camera shots switch with beat and the performance goes with the tempo of the song. In this video the artist i presented as someone with wealth and a healthy living, you know this from clips of the video showing him with jewlery and images of cars, which was a Rang Rover sport showing his wealth.

The video itself unsettles sexual norms as in the music video it has female models showing off their bodies and doing sexy dancing with close up’s and long shots showing both the artist and the models and some shots of just the models. They are in the music video once again to preject the artist and his personality showing his likes for women and also to attract the attention of males watching the video.

By Harry Boland

History Of The Music Video

1930-1940; TVs were produced which helped build up the music industry. many record label's created a video to go with the artist or bangs song which was called a 'Soundia' where there was the song being played in the background to an action which normally consisted of the artist or band miming to the song.

1950's; This year was the rise of the teenager where the music industry grew by artists aiming there music to the high population of the rebellious teenagers. Artists such as Elvis aimed most of his songs to the teenagers with songs such as 'Love Me Tender' which sold highly because all of his target audience of the teenagers bought the record as it was aimed to them.

1960's; This was the year of the 'Beatles' where most of there songs were aimed at the rebellious teenagers which helped in the growth of the band as all of their records sold massively because all teenagers had the record as they related to the music the band made. In this year Beatles also brought out a music video called 'A Hard Days Night' where they were recorded at shows and traveling. This was aimed for all of there fans who weren't able to come to the shows. In this video they show the rebellious teenager from showing them and other teenagers in the film there actions towards older groups.

1970's; This year was a big year for the change of the music video industry, documents films were made showing live performances and interviews of artists and groups. Rolling Stones brought out a document called 'Give Me Shelter' where they were recorded playing live at gigs and shows for example when they had a charity performance in Hyde Park. In the Film they had interviews where they answered questions and spoke to the audience, they made this film for all the people who couldn't follow them on tour just so that they can ensure to keep hold of all of there fans. In 1977 'Queen' brought out the first music video which changed the music videos from then on. They included action, dancing, and scenes in the music video. The song was called 'Bohemia Rhapsody' which was No1 in the charts for 9 weeks the longest a song has been No1 for and this was mainly due to the music video which advertised the song.

1980's; The music video industry was then changed and the music video conventions were made every song had a music video created by keeping to the conventions. 'Micheal Jackson' changed the videos which artists and bands would create with his song 'Thriller' where the video was a lot longer then the actual song where he made it more like a film with action, acting, dancing as well as singing. The song was different in the video to the album which he brought out which sold a record of 35 million sells. In 1981 M.T.V (music television videos) in america which was a Tv channel which played music videos of all artists, this helped with the advertisement of the artists and bands songs. The channel came over to the UK in 1984 where the first music video was 'Money For Nothing' the Tv program is still here today showing videos which have generated through the years but which all still use the same conventions which were created in 1980's.

By Harry Boland

Conventions Of A Digipak

• Visuals are key to the production - including images of the artist, shots from concerts, instruments etc.

• Band / Artist name and album title, making the band easily identified.

• Name of the record label branding.

• Can be included along the spine on the main cove, a list of songs including o if for a dvd scene selection.

• Basic Information about the Artist / Band - background information, type of music the band produces ect.

• Reviews from newspapers - good reviews are often printed on the back of the cover.

• Normal have credits on the album of people who have helped create the album.

• Price is usually on the digipac for advertisement purposes.

By Harry Boland

Digipak

Before researching digipaks, we used the google search engine to discover the image of digipaks, here is a screenshot of some digipaks. Once we knew what they looked like, we researched further into digipaks, and by getting specific examples we were able to view a real digipak with the conventions used.

Here is a simple design of a digipak, with a few of the conventions shown:

• Image of guitar as the background, showing genre of artist, therefore representing them.
• The name of the band on the CD, representing and advertising them.
• Logo in the top left corner
• Credits in the bottom left, crediting productions and record label.
• Track listing
• The dark colour scheme represents the style of band and genre of music.

Animatic Storyboard

Permission Email

Filming Day 3

On the third day of filming we took the long journey to Fyfield, taking full advantage of the rural landscape. Due to previous knowledge, we knew of a field containing old telephone boxes and tractors, which was perfect for our music video. We shot some establishing shots in the surrounding area, and then made our way over to the field. We requested permission of the land owners and they agreed so we took to filming numerous shots in the field. We also used a bonfire they had going for our video. The fire was a touch of luck as we were doubting that shot in our storyboard, but we got to film with the fire and the shots looked very good.

Filming - Day 2

On our second day of filming we had decided to carry on with the narrative part of the video, by filming the short clips which we could with the current location and time we had. Now understanding how we could film the piece, we used the storyboard to look at which shots we could create. By using varying shots from extreme close ups to long shots, we were able to create a narrative from the music video.

Filming - Day1

On our first day of filming we had a good idea of what we wanted to create from a music video. We had preiously decided that due to the genre and type of the song that we would not use any lip synching, so an abstract and narrative video is what we wished to create from the song. We started by looking at the storyboard we had created, and identifying the shots we could film in the location and time we had on that particular day. We shot a few abstract shots to fit in the song at different times throughout the piece. By filming as many shots as we could, we decided there would be enough to play around with come editing, and enough to create a successful music video by having a lot of short shots to fit in with the genre of the song. We also filmed a few shots of civilians being chased by the animal masked people, to get an idea of how we can film showing the masks and the chase scene and creating an eery mood from the video.

The Prodigy

The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group established by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers and The Crystal Method, as well as other acts, members of the Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre. They have sold over 25 million records worldwide. The brand of big beat music makes use if various styles such as rave, hardcore techno and breakbeat. In 1997, the release of their second album brought a number of hits such as: Breathe, firestarter and smack my bitch up. It was a very successful year for the Prodigy. They then stormed world festivals, headlining stages usually reserved for rock establishment. These was a major event as dance acts were normally unwelcome at festivals. They have gone on to produce a number of hit albums with a number of singles.

Treatment

What we plan to do for our music video, is create a music video to the track 'Invader Must Die' by The prodigy. To create a video in the style of the Prodigy's own music video's. This will take as many shots as possible to create as the pace of the song is fast, so we need short cut shots. Also we will try and create the video to be as abstract as possible, by using abstract shots to create the style our chosen artists use. Similarly we will not be using any performance or lip synching as the type of video The Prodigy create use very little of either.

OK GO-Here we go again

Here we go again comes off of Ok GO's second album, Oh no. OK GO are popularly known for their performance videos, often giving a funny take to a music video. One of their other singles 'A million ways to be cruel' relied on them doing a dance in front of a household camera for three minutes. This video for Here we go again shows performance, using treadmills. The dance is cut to the beat and planned out to perfection in order to fit the beat and mood of the song. The use of the band themselves fits into the convention, this video is a reflection on the band, representing them in the video.

The silver background highlights the simplicity of the video, showing they rely heavily on the performance on their song. As well as the dancing shown, there is also lip syncing involved, adding to the performance in the video.

Video Analysis: The Prodigy - Warrior's Dance

Warrior's Dance by The Prodigy, is there second single from the album Invaders must die release on the 18th February 2009. Unlike their other videos 'Warriors Dance' relies heavily on the use of CGI, as the whole video is showing unfolded cigarette packets in the shape of small people, dancing in a shop. This is the first video of this style that i have seen from the Prodigy, but i believe it now markets to a wider audience range as some of there videos can be very bleak and dark.

As all music video's, this particular video is cut to the beat of the song being played over it.

However 'Warriors Dance' does not include any performance from the artist, nor does it include the band at all during the video. Although it does include an abstract narrative, that being the folded cigarette packets dancing throughout the length of the video.

Music video conventions...

A major convention used in the creation of any music video and possibly the most important one, is to edit the shots in time to the beat of the music, this is done to create the flow of the video to the music played.

Another convention of the music videos is that different genres have their own style of video to fit in with the genre of the song or artist.

Many music videos also feature a performance of the artist who's song it is which would include lip synching, movement and more. However not all do they could also show a narrative showing a story being played to the song, or an abstract video.

A two minute music video will contain twice as many camera shots and edits as a feature film.

Our music video pitch, for the song invaders must die by The Prodigy.

History of the Music Video

In the 1930's, T.V's started becoming common appearances in households, pubs and bars etc. When the T.V was introduced, the music industry took a big knock, and people lost a lot of interest in the music industry. To help battle this loss of interest, a soundie was introduced. Soundies came about in the 1940's and short music video's. They were played on jukeboxes in pubs and bars, and brought interest within the music video back alive. They covered all genres from Swing, hillbilly novelties to patriotic songs. They normally just consisted of the artist lip syncing to the song.

In the 1950's, the rise of the teenager began. A main part to play in the rise of the teenager was the king himself, Elvis Presley. Elvis' songs and short films targeted teenage girls. This craze became popular with the release of 'love me tender' Elvis' first staring role featuring his hit single 'love me tender'.

The 60's also came with the introduction of the beatles. The beatles, like Elvis Presley, main target audience where teenage girls. They also released a number of films, one being 'A Hard Days Night'. This began the rise of the rebellious teenagers, taking control over their ungrateful adults. Youth orientated films dominated the 60's and continued the rise of the teenagers.

Documentary films are something that were born in the 1970's. Documentary films are films that would follow a band showing a mixture of both their performances and interviews with band members, fans and people associated with the band. A famous example of the documentary film is 'Gimme Shelter'. This was documentary that followed The Rolling Stones US tour, featuring footage of their performances, but also showing footage of interviews with band members, such as Mick Jagger. Also in the documentary film 'Stones in the Park', also a Rolling Stones documentary, there was an interview with Hell's Angels who were actually used as security for that performance.

In 1975, music videos were changed forever with the release of Bohemian Rhapsody. Queens single went straight to number one on Top of the Pops and stayed in that position for 9 weeks. A huge risk was taking when this video was released, being 6 minutes long. The first music video longer then around 3/4 minutes. However the risk took of as everybody loved the video, being the main reason it stayed at the top of the charts for so long.

In 1983 came the release of 'Thriller' the Michael Jackson video to his song. The original song was only 4:37 seconds long, however his music video is a 14 minute long video directed by John Landis. The video differed from the song, almost making it a short film. This video changed pop culture and has been known to be called 'the watershed moment for the music industry'.

Invaders Must Die

We have chosen to do the song Invaders Must Die by The Prodigy. The prodigy make electronic dance music, and this song is a very upbeat dance electronic song. Therefore in our video we want to keep the the idea of an upbeat tempo, but also create a dark atmosphere for the audience when watching. This will be done using both abstract and narrative. There will be a narrative throughout the video, however abstract images and clips will be used in-between the narrative.

Production Tips

Whilst viewing previous years videos, as a group we took notes of the conventions used by the groups that scored the highest marks. The groups with the highest marks used a number of different conventions to get the highest marks available to them.

• Multiple angle shots- the groups that scored the highest marks used a range of different shots in there production, unlike the ones that used as few as 5 and scored the lowest mark.
• Careful choice of location- choice of setting is vital, as the location reinforces the genre of the song and artist.
• Costume- similarly to the location costume reinforces the genre of the production.
• Use of editing- editing will be vital as the production will be cut to the beat of the song to create a successful music video.
• Performance- the actors will also represent the genre of the production and the performance from them will enhance the production as a whole.

Music Video Evaluation

In process of research, we chose to watch previous years A-level music videos to understand what had worked well in the past, and not so well. Watching these will benefit us when producing our own music video as we now know certain aspects that will work well.

One particular video we watched, there was A-level group performing 'you can't hurry love' by Diana Ross. This was a poor example of a music video and as a group we gave this the lowest mark (level 1) available in the marking scheme. This video contained 5 different shots, showing the lack of effort put into the production of this video. No shot range, and 4 out of the 5 shots contained the same performance. Lip syncing was used in this video, however, it was not effective. The performer did not know the words to the song, therefore the lip syncing did not look good. There was no thought into mise-en-scene. Costumes were very plain, and was filmed in a house and school. This made it look un-professional. This is why we marked it as a Level 1.

A very good example of a music video was a performance of the song 'streets on fire' by Lupe Fiasco. Paradoxically to the previous video as a group we gave this the highest level possible (level 4), as we thought it marked all the criteria necessary to gain this mark. It started with a montage of historical events. This was edited well and gave a good effect to the video. Good establishing shots were then used of London. They went to great effort to achieve good shots. There was also good performance by the student, lip syncing was completed well and look very professional. It was completed to a good standard, looking very professional and a lot of effort was put in to the production.

Sunny Afternoon- practice task

This is our A2 media coursework practice task. We were given the song sunny afternoon by the Kinks and we produced this video within our group of 4 people.