Task 14 - Research into digipacks

This task will be very influential in the planning of my own digipack. I like the mystery and the simplicity of The Weeknd's covers and CDs. creates by the plain black backgrounds and negative space. I also like the conventional overlaying of images done by The Weeknd and PARTYNEXTDOOR to give the impression of distortion influenced by drug use. I like the arrogant direct address as well as the mysterious looks away from camera in the album covers and I think I will have to look at both in planning. The traditional representation of men is a key theme but they are often the only person focused on in the cover. Looking at these conventions is inspirational as well as helpful and will be very useful in my planning.

Task 13 - Tracking Pharrell Williams

I think tracking this artist has been helpful.I think during my planning I will take into consideration image and representation of gender. The image of my artist is very important to the success of the song and the video. It is important to see how this changes or influences your audience. It was important to see how Pharrell has become so widely successful with such a broad audience.

Source: Pharrell Williams wikipedia

Task 12 - Music Channels

From this task I have learnt about how my music video will be consumed by my target audience. This will influence me massively during planning as I will have to plan features of my video that will stand out on online music channels such as VEVO to give it a good chance of getting lots of views through word of mouth and online sharing. Learning about existing music channels and the history of MTV has helped me see how my target audience's consumption of music videos has changed and this needs to be thought about.

Source: MTV wikipedia

Task 15 - Magazine adverts

task 15

From this task I have learnt a lot about the conventional magazine adverts in my genre. The artist, in the majority of adverts, is very much the centre of attenition, featured in a close up or mid shot in the centre of the frame, taking up the majority of the space. This helps the viewer recognise the artist and idiolise them as the most important thing. I think this relates to the nature of the lyrics in the genre as they make the listener want to live the lifestyle of the artist and look up to them. Common colour schemes are the blue and red used conventionally in the videos as well as gold as a clear sign of wealth. The adverts are vey simple and reflect the demand from the target audience that don't want to have to read lots of information. Some of the mystery in the adverts came across as arrogant and made you feel like you should know things like the re;ease date or the best songs. It will clearly help my planning as I will be making my own and trying to reflect the representation of the artist in the same way that the real artists are reflected and also give the target audince the same things they expect from the real artist.

Task 11 - Audience

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Task 10 - Analysis of student's work

Task 10 -

From This task I have gained a much better understanding of the marking criteria. I have learnt a lot about what does and doesn't work in a final video and in the research and planning. I think doing this task will influence my planning greatly as my own tasks can now reflect what I have learnt about the mark scheme and what I have taken as inspiration from these videos such as the framing from the first video and the the conventional effects in the last video.

Task 9 - Inspiration

From this task I have been inspired by lots of different elements from different videos. The film trailer for Sin City 2 was inspirational to me because of the lighting and contrast as well as the significance of the colour red. I was also inspired by the fast cuts and the extreme close ups. Childish Gambino 3005 music video was inspirational to me because of the interesting lights but also the slow pace of movements that were used. These also created some really abstract and interesting angles of the structure that I am inspired by. GoPro:One night with the Weeknd was really inspirational to me because of the flashing lights and neon symbols. The silhouettes and flashes to the beat were very conventional of his videos as well. The lighting really isolates him with a spotlight but the smokes adds to this as well. I think all of these inspirational factors will be things that I want to recreate or influence my planning and construction.

Task 8 - Theory

Andrew Goodwin: 'Music videos are simply an extension of the lyrics'

His theory is that music videos mirror the lyrics in a way that tells the same story or reflect the emotion in the lyrics. There are videos that prove and disprove this theory. Some music videos such as Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me, have a very literal interpretation of the lyrics as what you are seeing on the video is exactly the story being told in the song. Some videos can take a more metaphorical approach to Goodwin's theory and reflect the lyrics through connotations of imagery. Justin Timberlake - Cry Me a River is a good example of this as the dark colouring and the rain reflects the emotions of the lyrics rather than the lyrics directly narrating the video. However, some videos seem to bare no relation to the lyrics of the song. This is a strong convention of dance music and Duke Dumont - Won't Look Back is a good example. The majority of the time, Andrew Goodwin's theory can be applied however it is not always true as videos can purposely try to go against this convention in an artistic or abstract way.

Carol Vernallis

Narrative: Vernallis says 'The visual should be based upon the lyrics'. Whether it is through the performance or narrative or a mix of both she feels as it is always relevant to the lyrics. She also says regardless to the narrative everything will draw you to the performer for example if the song is a literal story the shots of the artist/performer will be more dominant to idiolise the performer. This is commonly found in music videos however Ed Sheeran - Don't is a good example of how artists can use actors as the main focus of the video and not idiolise themselves. 

Diegesis: 'How a story is created with in a video' ' The world within the music video'. These views can be shown through repetition, gaps in time, performance and narrative.

Camera shots: Music videos try to avoid mid shots. Adopted speed of filming and camera movements. Meaning that the camera movements will be at the speed of the music. I think a good video to disprove this theory is Frank Ocean - Novacane as almost the whole video uses mid shots. 

Editing: 'Will be left in a state of disjuncture'. This meaning that the editing is disconnected and can cut back to shots already featured or the used of fast cuts between various shots


Much like Goodwin's theory, Vernallis is backed up by the large majority of music videos. However i think that they do not allow for the more abstract videos that challenge convention with unusual music videos.

I think it is important to look at the theorists as it helps me look deeper into what makes up a music video and I will have to plan my own narrative and will have to think about Goodwin's theory. I will also have to plan the ways in which Carol vernallis' theory is going to apply to my video as the large majority of videos do. 

Task 7 - Research into Alternative Hip-Hop

From this task I have learnt about the origins of the sub-genre from Hip-Hop and how some conventions of the larger genre were kept and some were challenged. It has helped me realise the certain ways in which the genre represents men and women as well as how the artist is idiolised and how this has come from the ideas of the hip-hop genre. When I think about the ideas I have for my music video, I can now look at the things that have influenced my artist such as the first hip-hop video and some of the most inspiring. I think some of the outfits in the Run DMC video are very retro and will help my planning of costume as I can be inspired by the retro look. I can take inspiration from the way artists are represented in early Hip-Hop videos from the low angles and the way they have a lot of support and seem to be enjoying themselves. The Frank Ocean Novacane video will really influence me with the slow movements and the constant mid shot.  The video uses differences in opacity to create overlaying images. These give the impression of drug use and make the audience identify t=with the artist and the way that they are feeling due to the influence of drugs.

Task 5 - Research into 'The Weeknd'

I think analysing the videos, website and album covers related to this artist have given me a lot of ideas on not only how to make my own coursework look good and effective but also how to make them look like something my artist would use. I plan to use The Weeknd's video style a lot in my video incorporating the hard lighting and high contrast as well. I could adopt the simplistic black and white style or the colour filters in my video. I plan to use the same style of cuts matching the pace of the song. I plan on developing this simplistic theme in my digipack as The Weeknd has in his album covers with a dark feel and a focus on the artist using a mid shot.

Task 3 - Resarch into Companies

Artist, 'The Weeknd' was discovered at Drake's OVO fest in July 2011. The Toronto based rapper was signed by the record label, Republic records to produce his first official album, Trilogy. The record company is owned by Universal music group and other artists on the label include Drake, Nicky Minaj, Tyga and Lil' Wayne. It was founded in 1995 and is distributed by Universal Music and Virgin EMI. The Weeknd also has his own imprint label called XO. Republic records is a large profit organisation under Universal. The Weeknd's label XO is small and has not been around long but is building as The Weeknd becomes a lot more popular. However his features with Drake feature the combination of their two labels OVOXO.



























PARTYNEXTDOOR is a Canadian singer from Ontario is signed to Drake's 'OVO sound' label. His first extended play, 'PARTYNEXTDOOR' was released under this label in 2013. Drake's label was founded in 2012 and is based in Toronto. The label formed a partnership with it's parent company Warner Bros. records shortly after being founded. Warner bros are also the labels distributors.






















  


Drake is another Canadian artist based in Toronto. He is signed to Republic records as well as Young Money, Cash Money and his own label OVO. Cash Money was founded in 1991 by the artist 'birdman'. Today it acts as a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and is distributed by Republic records. Young Money, founded by Lil' Wayne in 2005 is an imprint of Cash Money. Both labels have signed artists, Lil' Wayne, tyga, Nicki Minaj and Drake achieving 8 No.1 US albums since Young Money's founding. Drake's OVO record label is still growing and signing more artists but it is fairly well know as he shouts out to OVO on many of his best selling songs and sells the merchandise on his website.






From researching the labels and companies it is clear that the common companies are Republic records who are The Weeknd's label and distributers for drake's label OVO. OVO is also a common label with Drake as the founder and PARTYNEXTDOOR  signed. From this I have an idea of the type of label that would produce and distribute my video.

Task 1 - History of the Music Video

History of the Music Video

It has been important for me to study the history of the music video and see how videos have changed over time. I think it is important that my video looks very modern but I can take inspiration from key components that made some of the first music videos stand out and inspire others. I have learnt about how the rise of MTV pressured a vast improvement on music videos with more cinematic aspects. I think the online audience are creating a similarly competitive market via YouTube and VEVO. Artists such as Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry create risky and memorable videos to get a lot of views. In my planning and construction, I will have to think about how to stand out in such a competitive industry.

Task 6 - Influence of Style

Influence of Style on PhotoPeach


I picked these photos as influences of style. I think they have inspired the type of music video that i want to make. I looked a bit at my artist and another artist from the genre. The artists both wear all black costumes excluding accessories such as chains and I think this is the modern day look for the hip-hop style where as an older hip-hop style might be a lot more flashy and bright. I think in my video I will mainly be looking at the modern style as the artist is very modern and my choice of song will be as well. The costume also goes with the type of video that the artists make which are usually very dark. They use hard lighting and colour filters to show a very dramatic video. I looked at some of the styles in the artists such as influences from 80s style arcades and oriental influences. I also looked at a photographer called Brassai who I think will be really inspirational to my video because of the lighting. I like the silhouette style long shots as well as Brassai's two shots with a romantic theme which is used in a few of the videos in the genre. I also added the film Sin City 2 as an influence. I feel the black and white style can be conventional in the genre but I also like the hard lighting and high contrast. I also like that they use the colour red to symbolise violence as I have found is conventional in the genre. From this, I feel I have a much better understanding of what I want from my video and have been inspired by other sources that I will be reffering to throughout the construction faze.

Task 4 - Timelines

From analysing the videos and making timelines I have learnt the conventional pace of editing including narrative and performance. I have learnt that conventionally, the pace of the editing will relate closely to the pace of the music and really exaggerate the effect (linking to Carol Vernallis). There are lots of flashes in the genre when the music is fast with multiple cuts in a quick second or even flashing titles or shapes overlaying the video. When the music is slow the movements are either very slow or the shot is completely still. Any narrative that is used does not tell a story and is usually shots of a different character in a mid shot or close up. These are quick clips lasting 1 or 2 seconds making the majority of shots performance. Titles slightly challenge convention however they are used in the 'Live For' video. They are used overlaying the first shot. It is clearly conventional for the first shot to come in straight away even if there is no performance until the intro is finished. I can use this analysis to make sure my video matches convention and gives the same dramatic effect on the audience achieved by the pace of the shot.

Task 2 - Conventions

Convention

   In this task I looked at six different music videos that relate to my chosen genre, alternative hip-hop. I learnt about different conventions from the mise en scene, camera and editing from the task.
    I found that a main convention in the videos was hard lighting and high contrast to give the video a dramatic mood. I found the costumes were conventionally black all over and very casual. The main props were traditional signs of wealth such as jewellery or cars but the lighting was also used as a prop in a few of the videos to add to the grungy scenery. A lot of the editing was very fast paced however on a few of the slower songs the cuts were slow to match. The videos often featured colour filters in blue or red as they signify power and masculinity as well as replication the feel of a night club scene. Otherwise it can also be conventional to edit in black and white. A very conventional camera shot type is the extreme close up often focussing on the artist's face during performance. The rest of the video is often mid shots and longshots with one long shot in the video making the performer look isolated possibly as a silhouette. Some of the angles can be very abstract as well as the movements to recreate a nightclub scene and make it look hectic.
    From researching these conventions I have a much greater understanding about the look of he videos in the genre and what effect they have on the audience. These are the effect that I will trying to recreate and this research has helped me think about how i will do that.