Inspiration for Digi Pack

Recently the group has been playing with the idea of glow sticks in our music video. While reading a magazine I saw these shots, which have a similar kind of feel to the music video. Personally I think this is great inspiration both for the video but also for my digipack. We are creating a promotional package for the artist, including shots from the music video creates a brilliant link and adds a wholeness. Lady Gaga recently used a shot from her music video as the album cover for Applause. Doing something similar could be effective. 
I really like the look of these photos. I think they provide some great inspiration. 

Setting up the Kitchen Sequence.

We set up the Kitchen scene to try and make it look old fashioned as it was meant to be 1950s esque. The tea cups, the cake stand, the teapot and the flowers all create an old fashion scene. When I looked at 1950s kitchens they had often had splashes of color. I used splashes of blue, this also gives the scene a masculine theme suggesting the male figure has more power.

16/12/13

Today we decided on what we would be doing over the Christmas break. We have the two weeks of Christmas followed by study leave. We decided that we would do some filming in the study leave as this fitted peoples calendar better due to family arrangements etc. We will be communicating with each other over the Christmas holidays and organizing the shoots.

PLANNING MEETING

The past few meetings we have been discussing ideas for our storyboard, and drawing up ideas. We have also been researching locations, looking at them and discussing practicality issues. Recently we have also been trying to work out our filming schedule. The last few meetings have been extremely stressful, and I feel that we have taken a while to get into the swing of planning etc, also some of us have been ill for a while so it means meetings have been missed. This is very frustrating, as I feel that we should have been filming awhile ago. We have drawn up a schedule for the week, this week we are doing a practice with Micheal the technician, learning how to use the better cameras. We are also doing a test with the powder and paint on Thursday to see if that is possible. We are also starting filming our opening kitchen sequence on Friday.

A little bit on the History of Music Video: Part 1- Modern Music Video

The Videographers Guide Ep. 1 - The Music Video from Hypebeast on Vimeo.
Here are some notes I made while watching this video. I found the video very intresting and I feel after watching it that I have a better grasp on making the promotional package for my artist. Alot of what I noted links in to audience and their consumption of music video, but also of the production of actual music videos etc and what the president is.

• Music videos were originally designed to sell albums. This meant that a lot of money would be put in to the video. 
• However, there has been a shift in recent years. The industry now focuses on selling singles- this means that they are not as willing to spend huge amounts of money on music videos anymore.
• This has advantages and disadvantages.
• Changes consumer habits- more downloads 
• You can’t really make a living out of it- but anybody can do it.
• Sites like YouTube, it’s no longer what people tell you to watch, but you can watch your favourite artists, and it’s not corporations telling you any longer, it’s the people because the popularity of a video on YouTube is down to the audience.
• Traditionally record labels were the ones that financed music video- unless you’re a massive star- however, they don’t have the money.
• This lack of budget  teaches people to be creative and efficient.
• It also means people are more likely to shoot in areas closer to home, therefore it some ways its more interesting because people start to think about things in different ways, props, locations etc. It also means you get a bigger variety in feel, because different areas have very different feels.
• Music video is an all encompassing  art for-music,art,film, dance.

STAR IMAGE

THEORIES ON STAR IMAGE:
Andrew Goodwin on Stage Image in 'Dancing in the distraction factory'.

• The creation of character identities for stars provides a point of identification for the audience/ spectator which is especially important when lyrics often lack depth. 

• The construction ofstars is cental to the economics of the music industry- only stars guarntee sales and long careers.

• Star Loyalty is a key ingredient- fans are loyal to the star.

•  The audience knows its own tastes but the music industry has long been able to work around this- the construction of stars is one of the ways they do this. 

• The record industry is very dependent or stars- many record companies rely on a few big stars (or even just one) to provide stability. 

 Example of Star

Beyoncé has been a pop star for many years and she is regarded as the queen of pop. Thoughout her career in order to maintain being successful she has had to change her image. This keeps people interested in her and and human beings crave neophilia so it is necessary for her to show her creativity. 

She began her solo career in 2003, after being a part of the girl group "Destiny's Child". She has been very successful releasing 4 Albums since then. 

Beyonce's Albums from Left to Right: Dangerously in Love, B Day, I am Sasha Fierce, 4

.

Beyonce's Star Image.

I think Beyonce image is 'the perfect woman'.

She is portrayed as a sex symbol, she has an incredible figure and this is often shown; lot of skin showing, but she is also very 'real' her body isn't that of  a runway model, she is curvy and I think a lot of her audience (in particular women) are inspired by her. She connects to her audience as they can relate to her. Beyonce is also hugely successful, she is a singer, model, actress, and business woman. A lot of her fans can also admire those sides to her. She balances being a sex symbol with being powerful and smart. Beyonce is also a mother and wife, again providing another level of reality to her. She demonstrates that it is possible to be successful and have a personal life. Beyonce also does good, she is altruistic, doing events for charity etc.  

Beyonce with her baby

A shot from her famous song Single Ladies.

One of her adverts for her perfume.

Sex Symbol

With her husband J-Z being a normal couple.

Some of her charity work

What Elements could we borrow from Beyonce image that we can apply to our artist?  

• I think it is important to try and create the image for our artist, as someone who is real, who has a connection with their audience. This connection sells, as the audience don't feel that they are buying the material.The sale is more personal than that. I think this friendliness and openness is one of Beyonce's key selling points. Our song "I love it" is all about not caring, and being reckless, if we show the artists image to be like in our promotional package we will attract a young audience. This reckless tone doesn't easily lent itself to being sweet and caring. However,  I think that done a certain way the two could mix. 
• Beyonce's image is quite glamorous and sexy, while I don't think it would fit our artist or song to be shown as glamorous I think that ultimately sex sells, so there need to be aspects of that in our music video.

Discuss what ideas do you have for your artist/band's star image- a mix of an existing artist/band's representation and something you have constructed to create a unique artist.

Videos that have inspired you: 1

Regina Spektor-Fidelity
I saw this music video a few years ago, and loved the entire of the powder and black and white. It was originally what sprung to mind when I thought about making a music video,  The music video has a narrative but is largely performance based. The black and white at the beginning is definitely something we could look into doing.

Kick the PJ- Colour Bandits

This video is another one that uses the coloured powder, it is not a music video, but it still inspires us. I love the sheet that is behind him, it has a lot of fluidity and the slowing down of the power looks really good. Also this piece uses a white background something we could use, as it looks good on camera.

Paramore- Now
This music video has a really unique idea, my interpretation is that the main singer is in love with a boy and her father does not permit it, she saves him by hugging him in the middle of the war that surrounds them.This video inspires me as I love the narrative behind it. The video in my opinion is also very beautiful, it is set in a very bleak landscape with hues of blue.The first shot of color is a similar shade of red to her hair color, which pops because of the white make. Different colors get added in later. I think that we could use this is our video, use one color that matches with a item on the artist, then add in other colors etc.

Paramore- Still into You
This is video is by the same artist as the last. What inspired me about this video was the performance and upbeat style. I also love the balloons and pastel colors used in the video. I think the performance would be a good model for us to use in the video.

Bastille- Flaws
I really love the skeleton makeup in the video, it is very creative and fits the song. Doing some similar to this might be effective in our video, although it depends on what we decide is the route we are taking when we have our planning meetings.

Ellie Golding- Figure 8
This video is one of my favorites, it has many elements that really inspire me. Firstly I love the reverse at the beginning where here feet are turned upside down and the feathers look like they are falling back towards the sky. We have been considering doing parts of the video backwards. Secondly I love the black and white and pops of colour, we could use this in our video to display the paint dust, by having our artist in black and white with the colour hitting her in color. Finally, I love the overlaps of her, so in one shot she is lying down and then she sits up but both images are there. I would love to use something like that in our video.

Alt J- Breeze blocks
Initially we were experimenting with the idea of using a reverse narrative, but one that still made sense. This was the video that inspired that idea. I love reverse videos as they make me want to watch the videos multiple times, and closely too, whereas most videos I switch tabs on my computer  while watching.

Past Music Videos

(from 2011-12) 

The first music video is 13B-(Rewind.) 

This music video displays some good qualities, such as the concept behind the narrative, however, I feel that the idea was not very original and fell a little flat in places. I also think there were areas where they could have made it a lot better, the two girls at the end showed a spark of creativity that was not developed, they could have made the video more interesting if they had included the ideas of other people in the song consistently, rather than randomly which made the video confusing. I think that the person they used for the song fit though and the different locations worked and there were a lot of them, which kept it somewhat interesting.  The lighting was also good in all the shots; however, I felt that the students could have used colourisation on some of the shots, to give it a more moody feel. The music video also showed no interesting editing technique. What really let it down for me was the fact that not all the lyrics were synced to the music, and that occasionally the singer would look at the camera awkwardly, when he wasn’t meant to, this meant the performance looked a bit amateur.

13B3.

This music video, has occasional lapses where you can see a good idea, but the video is discordant in this. While the group used many different shots and locations, the music video wasn’t terribly exciting, again they went for a boy loses the girl style music video, which felt too overused. The camera work in places showed potential however the camera looked shaky in some shots. I like the ideas behind the music video, for example the rain part, but I think it could have been much better. 

13B4- ( Lost again)

This shows moments of creativity and originality however, the music video fell a little flat.  I liked some of the aspects of the video, the fact they filmed in Brighton, but again the narrative was far too boring. Individual elements worked and the camera was good, for example I liked the shot where we see the birds and the shot from the bath tub. However, the other elements like editing and lighting don’t work as well, the lighting wasn’t especially good, they had the sun behind her in the beginning shots, which means we can’t see her face well. They could have colourized the video in editing to make the colours more interesting: however what they have now fits the mood of the song. The girl they picked works well with the song though, however, her performance is lacking.

13B6- (Ike and Tina) 

This is by far the best that I have watched so far. They cover lighting, camerawork, performance, editing and mis en scene well, something that a few of the others were not so consistent on. However, and most importantly there video was enjoyable to watch, the narrative had enigma with use of different settings keeping you interested. Use of the children as police was also something that made me smile, and really demonstrated a good music video; it contrasted nicely with the adult themes and kept the video light. The performance was also particularly good, it didn’t feel at all staged and the actors matched the song. The only fault in my opinion shots of the protagonist from a low angle these to me felt slightly awkward.  

13E7 (12 Rounds)  

This video showed a good performance from the actor, who fits the role and had presence however, the others in the video didn’t add anything. There was also no narrative, and the video didn’t really add any new meaning to the song, there was only three different locations and I found myself wanting to turn it off after a minute. The lip syncing, camera and lighting was good, but the video generally had no spark. 

13E9 (Today I cried)

I liked the locations in this video and feel they matched the song, as did the actors. However, again the editing and lack of storyline made the video pretty dull to watch. The lighting wasn’t also particularly good, most likely due to shooting outside on a cloudy day but it gave the footage a grey feel. The editing wasn’t particularly good, I feel when there is no narrative effects are a must.  I liked some of the shots, in particularly the static shot where both actors are in shot.

(from 2012-13)

 13A1 (Sparks Fly),

This video again wasn’t the strongest it could have been, while I liked setting of the snow turning into spring, I didn’t feel that the actual setting was that different, and that the fact they had snow was pure luck as they couldn’t have planned that, I presumed the video must have been last minute.  Nothing is really added to the song, the narrative is predictable and cliché, and doesn’t really fit the song in my opinion. The lighting in some of the shots isn’t great, and the performance becomes a bit boring after a while. Some of the shots aren’t syncing perfectly with the lyrics and the effects such as the page turns look a little amateur. However, the colourization on some of the flashbacks is effective.

13A2- (Life Happens)

This video was one of the better ones. The music really suits the singer and you believe that it is really her singing. Her performance is very convincing. They use lots of locations which was really good because it fits the conventions of real music videos and shows they were organized in planning. The mise on scene fit the song as well. The camera work is good , and keeps you interested as the use a variety of shots. There is slight over exposure when they are filming outside in the park, they could have avoided that. However, on the whole the piece is well constructed.

(Nine2Five), 13E4

This another good one. The locations in this piece are well chosen, and the idea behind the video is really cleaver. I like the actors used and felt they match well. The video really adds something to the song. The piece can’t really be faulted. I like the locations, and the costumes fit well. The camera is good. The opening is perhaps a little cheesy but fits the piece. There are areas when the lyrics aren’t perfectly synced, which is a little frustrating.

Questionnaire

Here is the questionnaire I compiled to find out a little more about our audience and their habits.

Marketing

Our presentation on Marketing using the fictional artist Chloe Shaw.
 I am really proud of our work as I think we covered everything really well. It gives us some practical knowledge for when we market our artists for the promotional package.

What song have we chosen?

We have chosen the song "I Love It" by Icona Pop.

• "I Love It" is a song by Swedish synthpop Icona Pop featuring British recording artist Charli XCX.
• It was released in May 2012 as a digital download in Sweden, where it peaked at number two on the singles chart. 
• The song received positive reviews from music critics, and publications Rolling Stone and Pitchfork.
• The song went on to become Icona Pop's first US hit, peaking at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
• The song charted at #1 on the UK Singles chart. It has gone on to sell 2.6 million downloads.
• The song was originally written by Charli XCX, whom Icona Pop met several times in London. 

Intextuality

Intertextuality is the  shaping of a text meaning by another text. The idea of this was first introduced by Julia Kristeva, she believed that a text is not an isolated entity "any text is the absorption and transformation of another". Direct intersexuality where texts refer directly to one another offers the pleasure of recognition to the audience .



There is often intersexuality in music videos. One example is Miley Cyrus "Wrecking Ball" the opening closely resembled Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2U".
This references another music video that an older audience may recognize, therefore it might have been used to reach out to that audience.
However, I think it is more likely that it is a recycling of a good idea, with a new generation.




Music videos dont soley just reflect other music videos. Lady Gaga's applause references film, tv and art. 


Lady Gaga's telephone is rich in Intertextuality. The video references the Director Quentin Tarantino a number of times, the first is in the titles at the beginning, the yellow writing with red drop shadow references his film "Jackie Brown". The video later goes on to use the "Pussy Wagon"that is used in "Kill Bill" that Tarantino lent to Gaga while they were discussing the video. Beyonce's name "Honey B" is also a reference to the diner robber in Pulp Fiction "Honey Bunny".

 Among the myriad of Tarantino references are homages to Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. The video also facilitates numerous product placements, whether or not these are real or more a commentary on consumerism is debatable. Andy Warhol is nodded to with the colour scheme but also the excessive amount of product placement a reference to his Campbell Soup work (culture and advertising).

The diner scene also takes influence from many comic books with the subtitles and fonts, which also ties in nicely with Beyonce and Gaga's costumes which match Wonder Woman.




The cooking sequence is also a mash up of Japanese shows and comic books, Gaga is reversing female stereotypes here acting as the "Perfect Housewife" but actually killing man.

The video also provides a few extra references for fans, one being a reference to popular belief for a while that Lady Gaga was a man, "I told you she didn't have a dick."another being a nod to a photoshoot that Gaga did with David LaChapelle. Iconography of the USA is also very strong in the video.

Ideas.

We are still deciding as a group what to do for our music video, while we have a few ideas we still need to work out what elements to include because we have a few such as toy cars, a young girl and an young boy, color powder, glow in the dark paint, and throwing a boyfriend characters clothes out of a window. Because we have so many ideas I thought it might be helpful to put together the song and one of the ideas to see if it fits the song and see also how other people who have used the girlfriend throws out boys clothes did it and how we might. For this I used clips from the song Honestly. Obviously this is a very rough and short edit, however, i think it will be useful and is some inspiration for when we come to story-boarding.

Lyric Analysis

Lip Sync task.

We decided to use the song Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus as we both knew the lyrics well. This wasn't so much of a creative task more practice based, however there were certain shots that needed to be included like close ups and long shots. Although we filmed long shots we didn't include any of them in the video, this is partly because we also had to include both of us in the video and we had difficulty recording the right parts of the song we needed, which means that in order for it to flow we had to cut some of the bits out. To make sure that this doesn't happen in the final project, we will film more footage, and also I think it that we should film all the song in each scene, so that there aren't these kind of issues in editing.The lip syncing of the video isn't perfect throughout, which obviously have to be smoothed out in our final, to make sure we can do this we will keep a note of which track we use to film with so that when we put it in editing its seamless. Another thing we will be sure to do is make sure the formatting on the camera is correct as we had some issues where the frame size is different than we originally shot it, for example some of the top of our heads are cut of.
This practice was really useful and I think some things worked well, the performance and lighting both being such things. The setting we chose also worked well with the song.

Films, videos, photos- real media texts that have influenced us

The first image is a mood board I created to show some of the things that are not music videos that have inspired me, such as the neon fashion trend of summer, the Holi Festivals, Paint Parties, and the photographer Lara Jade.

The second is a advert made by Persil, this has been on TV alot recently and shows a young girl in a pale white dress being hit by a number of staining foods. I really love how simple this is, the nature with the food. This has definatley been a huge inspiration for some of my ideas for the music video.

Genre Research: Pop

Inital Ideas: 1

One of the ideas we have had is with the song "I Love It" by Icona Pop. Although we haven't got a clear idea of what we would like with this idea, it features coloured powder that would be thrown on the artist in different locations, possibly areas in London and also glow in the dark paint. In preperation for this we have been trying to think of how we want the music video to look, and how we could manage it if this is our final idea. Some of the questions we have been thinking about are:

Music Video Director: Tim Pope

Timothy Michael Pope (born 12 February 1956, London, England) is a film director most famous for his music videos, having directed feature films, and for a brief pop career.
Pope studied at the Ravensbourne College of Art & Design, after deciding that his interest in film was something he wanted to devote his life too. 

One of his first music videos was Soft Cell’s song "Bedsitter". The video had Pope’s trademark individuality, as it featured the band’s singer, Marc Almond, wearing shirts that matched the walls behind him. In many ways, it is considered this video bears all the major hallmarks of a Pope video: individuality; linear progression in terms of story; a slight psychedelic feel. (Pope has many names for different genres of videos and this type he calls a narrative/atmospheric. 



This video was one of many that he did with Soft Cell. Gaining a "bad boy" reputation after directing entire album of videos for "Non-Stop Exotic Cabaret" with one of the videos being banned. Later however, he met the cures singer Robert Smith and their work together would shape pop videos forever, it proved that directors to be constantly innovative. Pope ultimately directed over 37 videos for the group, including many of their most famous songs – "Let’s Go To Bed" (1982), "Close To Me" (1985), "Just Like Heaven" (1987), "Friday I’m In Love", (1992), "Wrong Number" (1997). 

 He was invited to America for the first time in 1983 by Neil Young who asked him to film the video for his song "Wonderin’".Pope shot many more videos for Young until 1997.

He also shot many other videos in the USA with many artists including Hall & Oates, Iggy Pop and Wendy & Lisa, as well as more bands in the UK: The The, David Bowie, Strawberry Switchblade, Men Without Hats, Talk Talk, Paul Weller, Siouxsie and the Banshees and others.

Aswell as Music Videos, Pope also does commercials and shortfilms, his first short film "Phone" won him many awards around the world.