Rough edit of Sweater Weather

Here is my rough edit of my preliminary task of filming to music. I have tried out different effects to make it similar to the artist and there videos that inspired me. Matching the actors miming to the song was easy in some parts but others were more difficult and I have struggled. This is particularly badly in sync at the beginning. I have even tried slowing and speeding up the pace of the certain clip to match but still it was hard. This is something that I need to improve and practice doing for my next task.


Sweater Weather from Charlotte Greaves on Vimeo.

Filming first task

Today I went shooting my task to film a short clip to music. I used my friend callum to star in it and I chose a song that suited both our preferences. I chose a song called 'Sweater Weather' by a band The Neighbourhood. Their style and genre is indie rock. I particularly liked their video for this song they did themselves. I liked the cinematic look to it and how it was edited to black and white with a white cinematic border. I decided to mimic the look of the lead singer a little with the choice of clothing and the use of sunglasses and the hairstyle. I filmed near the train lines near my housing estate and the back roads where there is fields etc. The idea was that it would be edited using different effects and filters to give it a certain look and make it appear effective. I filmed certain parts with the actor miming the words and other shots of him doing various stuff such as skating and shot parts of the sky and scenery. I imagined this to be edited to the beat and quick paced to run the footage smoothly together and match the miming parts to the lines of the song. I used the praktica camera to film but I was contemplating on using my iphone for the clearer quality on the camera, however my dog annoyingly knocked a glass of water over it so I was unable to use it for filming later on in the day and had to make use of the camera I had which turned out fine as I wasn't planning on using the sound from the camera and was playing a track over the top, and the image was rather good quality.

Notes for filming task

A couple of nights before i was going to go out and film, me and Callum got together to discuss ideas and plans. We listened to various songs of various genres and I took into consideration any ideas or preferences Callum had. After about an hour, I showed him my final choice and he agreed that he would be comfortable miming and learning the words as he liked it. Which was my main aim before starting to film, making the actor as comfortable as possible.

Here are the rough quick notes I took during the discussion:

Choice of song for task

This was my choice of song as they are one of my favourite bands, but also because i really took a liking to their music video and it began to generate ideas on what kind of music video I may want to create myself and has enabled me to research different bands and singers that are similar to The Neighbourhood and the different types of music videos they make and the similarities and differences so I may be able to apply them to my own project. The song has a great beat to it and I wanted the challenge of editing to it and experimenting with different shots.

Laura Mulvey Research

Laura Mulvey is a British film theorist and feminist. She came up with male gaze theory in 1975. This began from an essay named 'Visual pleasure and narrative Cinema' that she wrote, where it coined the term 'male gaze'  and then it became a very well known theory. The concept of 'gaze' is how one deals with how an audience views the person being presented. For feminists, there are 2 ways in which it can be thought of 1. How men look at women, 2. How women look at themselves and 3.How women look at other women. She believes that in film, audiences have to view the characters from a heterosexual males perspective.

Features of the male gaze include,The camera slows down and stills on a woman's curve's in a shot; imitating how a man stares at a woman. Denoting women this way on screen causes viewers to think that women are just objects of sexual desire within society. Another is where it relegates women to the status of objects. The female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.

Mulvey says that mainstream narrative cinema manipulates visual pleasure by coding the erotic into the language of the dominant patriarchal order, introducing the male gaze; because of the active male and passive female, women are forced to see music videos and other forms of media through the perspective of a male.

This is most commonly known to occur in pop videos and mainstream chart music and it appears a lot all over music channels.

Here is 2 examples of a music video where this occurs is:


Beyoncé- Partition

This over the shoulder shot, of a man reading a newspaper suggests that Beyoncé is being viewed from a male gaze to viewers. Further more from similar angle Beyoncé  is denoted slowly opening her night gown and running her finger along her chest in zoomed in shot. This series of shots at the start of the video again reinforce the  idea that she is being viewed from a male perspective. Beyoncé is denoted carrying  out sexual acts and her body lingers on screen in long takes, which also sexualises her in the video. All in all this music video is an extreme example of how  women are sexualised on screen from a heterosexual man's point of view.

Nicki Minaj- Starships

The camera lingers on the curves of the female body, such as Nicki Minaj's video for 'Starships' and events which are occur to women are presented largely in the context of a man's reaction to these events. It relegates women to the status of objects.The female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the ale.

Importance of Mise-en-scene

Mise-en scene is an important and essential element of the codes and conventions that consists throughout the most of music videos. Mise-en-scene covers and represents a varied amount of items such as what costumes the actors are wearing, lighting, props, settings etc. The importance of mise en scene is that it clearly demonstrates the setting including the mood and tone of the scene as well as the characteristics of the artist or protagonist displayed throughout. Likewise the use and extent of mise-en-scene can illustrate the quality and background of the video. For example a music video consisting of big, extravagant costumes and outfits will display a figure of sophistication whereas a music video including an artist dressed in damaged poor looking clothes can visualize the setting being performed from a place that is poverty stricken.

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin looks for 5 different aspects when viewing a music video. These are

• Narrative and Performance- Songs fail to give us the complete narrative. We only tend to get a gist of the meaning of the song andthen we tend to make up our own idea of what is being told. Goodwin explains that music videos should ignore commonnarrative. It is important in their role of advertising. Music videos should coherent repeatability. Narrative and performance work hand in hand, making it easier for theaudience to watch over and over without loosing interest.The artist acting as both narrator and participant helps to increase the authenticity, however the lip sync and other mimed actions remains the heart of the music videos. The audience need to believe this is real.
• Technical aspects of the video- Technical aspects hold the music video together through set of camera work, movement, angle, mise-en-scene, editing, sound and special effects. Speed, camera movement, editing, cutting and post-production are all forms of use of camera. Lighting and colour help set moods and emphasise keymoments of the song for dramatic effect. Mise-en-scene: the setting, props and costume of amusic video is a vital element – it needs to lookauthentic for dramatic effect. Beats: music videos use cuts to go along with the beats or rhythm making the video more entertaining.
• Thoughts beats (seeing the sound)- First step: look at the music itself. You must take into account the structure of the song (chorus and verses). Second step: look at the voice of the song. The artists voice is extremely unique and can form identification ortrademarks that work well with the star image. Roland Barthes theory of the "grain of voice" can be related to this, he sees the singing voice as an expression and an instrument so is therefore able to make associations of its own. Third step: Goodwin points out that the artists mode ofaddress can be seen in the song, they can be seen as stories and the artist becomes the storyteller, making the music video a two communication device – them telling us a story and us listening.
• The star image- The star image is a vital aspect of music videos. Metanarrative which is a story that describes thedevelopment of the star over time; it has an importantpart to lay in the music video production process. Star image is a vital aspect of music videos. Artists want to look unique in order to stay current and for audiences to remember them. by standing out. and making a statement. The star image develops overtime and plays a big role in the production process of music videos.
• Relation of Visuals to song-These are three ways in which the music videos work topromote a song. Illustrate: Music videos can use a set of images toillustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre; this is the mostcommon process. Amplify: This is similar to repeatability. Meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video and drummed into our vision. Disjuncture: This is where the meaning of the song iscompletely ignored.

Goodwins six features of music video are:

• Music videos demonstrate e.g iconography
• There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. the lyrics are represented with images.
• A relationship bewteen music and visual aspects. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.
• The demand of the record label will incldue lots of close ups shots of the artist. the artist may develop motifs across their work.
• There is voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
• Often inter-textual reference to films, TV programmes, other music videos and other forms of media.

"Music videos ignore common narrative as they areessentially advertisements. As consumers, we make upour own meaning of a song in our minds: a musicvideo can anchor meaning and gives the recordcompany/artist a method of anchoring meaning.”Andrew Goodwin

Sven E Carlsson

Sven E Carlsson

Sven E Carlsson's theory is that he believes that everything is perceived as opposites e.g male or female, art or trash, hero or villain. This links into Claude Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposites. He also believes that there are two music videos:

-Performance
-Conceptual

Performance:

He believes the performer is made into a materialization 'commercial exhibitionist'. Tgis means that the the performer in the video is almost made into selling an item. This is done by using someone that fans aspire to be and look at and the scenes are made extremely high quality and usually have a gloss to them.

Another type is the televised bard, which is a singing storyteller who uses on screen images instead of inner, personal images.

The third type is the electronic shaman, sometimes the shaman is invisible and only their voice can be heard.

A good example of this is singer Rihanna's music video Rude Boy.



This video includes and consists of shots of the singer dancing and singing only. There is no narration. Rihanna is made to appear as a sexual object which is obvious through the choice of moves and her choice of clothing in the video. The constant close up shots, give the impression that the aim is to put all focus on her so that her fans interact with the video and enjoy it.


Conceptual:

The aim of this is to out focus on something else artistic, not the performer. 

Lil Wayne's music video for 'Lollipop' captures confectionery sweets and the art of it. This is achieved by the amount of sweets spread everywhere behind the women in the video. The video also uses big, extravagant props like swimming pools to narrate the video. The camera pans on and off of Lil Wayne frequently throughout and this emphasises the fact that he lacks significance compared to the sweets in the video. He is not the most important part of the music video. 

Music Video

A music video is a commercial videotape featuring a performance of a popular song, often through a stylized dramatization by the performers with lip-synching and special effects.
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery produced for promotional or artistic purposes Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings Although the origins of music videos date back much further they came into prominence in the 1980s when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980s these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song" "filmed insert" "promotional film" "promotional clip" "promotional video" "song video" "song clip" or "film clip" Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques including animation live action filming documentaries and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film Some music videos blend different styles such as animation and live action Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the song's lyrics while others take a more thematic approach Other music videos may be without a set concept being merely a filmed version of the song's live performance.

A History Of Music Videos

1929- Bessie Smith- St. Louis Blues

This is one of the earliest examples of music videos that we are familiar with today. It was shown in theatres in 1932 and this just sjhows how much technology has improved that we can now view it online in our own homes, but back then, you had to visit a theatre to access it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpVCqXRlXx4


1956- Tony Bennett- Stranger in Paradise 

This music video was filmed in Hyde Park, London. It was played across UK and US television stations. However, Bennett later claimed that his music video was the very first. This was the first example of using music videos on TV, this would lead on to create channels like MTV and Top Of The Pops.



1964- The Beatles- A Hard Day's Night

This video was a crucial moment in the development of music videos as The Beatles 'A Hard Days Night' is the influence of majority of the filming of videos that many contemporary artists use today. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70QfHtKdh_0


1967- The Beatles- Penny Lane

The Beatles took music videos to another level with their next video and started using the codes and conventions that modern post productions teams know today, such as dramatic lighting, unusual camera angles and rhythmitic editing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU1rQYlLD_c


1973- The Jackson Five- I Want You Back

The 1970's saw the music video change with more emphasis on just the artist singing. This style lead to music videos to the "Cross-Cutting" stage where the song would portray a story that accompanied the lyrics and "cross-cuts" to the artist singing it. However the key to this innovation was the edting process, dealing with more professional techniques like "Chroma-Key".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_tR1INvY7o


1972- Devo- The Truth About De-Evolution

This was early example of a self-made music video, this started the devlopment of the music video genre "Experimental". However this music video was seen as the first 'Long-form video production'.


1975- Queen- Bohemian Rhapsody

This style started a whole new era for the music video and the introduction of "Top of the pops" which would promote the music and then created a competion between artists for the first time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ


1980- The Buggles- Video Killed The Radio Star

In 1981 it was the introduction of "MTV" and the first video aired was "Video Killed The Radio Star", it was a real break-through in the evolution of music videos and as you can see it was a very high-budget video in which we can see more devlopment in editing such as "Over-laying". MTV was responsible for the succes of artists like Madonna as it played a central role as marketing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8r-tXRLazs


1983- Michael Jackson- Thriller

This video was the pioneer of the 'Storyline' video which has a plot, almost like a 'mini' movie. It contains sophisticated visuals and it took the music industry to another level. Now music videos were really being seen as promotion and made into high-budget productions. It was directed by John Landis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA


1985- A-ha- Take On Me

The comic book/live-action combination is called rotoscoping and took 16 weeks to complete. This just shows how the song relies on this type of promotion, mainly because it was the only the form of marketing for a song in the 20th century.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914


2012- Emeli Sande- Next To Me

Music video enthusiats often like the aesthetic appeal of them and often watch them muted. Moden artists like Emeli, whose contemporary 'soul' music needs to have their music video reflect the genre and many artists do this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nwdjQmc_N8


2013- Iggy Azalea- Work

In the current music video era that we live in today the adoption of the 'Sex Appeal' of females has monoplised the music industry, rather than choosing the more traditional methods becuase they are less profitable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zR6ROjoOX0

Hello!

Hi there, welcome to my brand new A2 Media Studies blog! AS has been an interesting experience and I am looking forward to beginning A2 and starting a totally different project. Here I will be posting throughout my new project and informing you on every aspect of it. I will be blogging accounts of my experiences and also my research that I will be making right along the journey.

After the introduction lesson to A2 I have decided to choose the Music Video project this year as it is very different to my previous one that was a film opening. We have looked as a class at previous A2 music videos which were extremely impressive and it has really made me find a huge interest in it. I am very eager to produce work at a high quality and watching those videos made me realise that I am capable of that.

I haven't decided on a specific genre of music that I would like to use and therefore I am going to research different genres and songs and the music videos that compliment them and then make a final decision to go fourth with.