Helpful Vocab

It's not that I have a brain like a sieve, but its nice to have terminology set in stone before I forget something.
These terminology words include the descriptions from visuals on the music video to behind the scenes and in the music industry just like Promotion or Target Audience.

Promotion

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Image

• The visual appearance of the video
•  The colours and characters that are displayed.

Aspiration

Symbolism

Showcase

Abstract

• Something that has no meaning / message
• Something that is not obvious or clear to the viewer.

Narrative

• The narrative is the story of the video. The sequence and the flow.

Target Audience

• There are several target audiences that can be used such as, genders, ages, the interests of the viewer - pop, rock, reggae. It is the aim of the video that it is made for, for a certain group / fan / gender.

Publicity

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Technical & Symbolic

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Connotation & Denotation

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Illustrative

• Is Illustrating the music visually, explaining and displaying through the video.

Amplifying

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Contradicting

•  This means to contrast against the lyrics with the visual elements.

Motif

•  A motif is a symbol or a series of symbols that reoccur during the music video. Such as, in Fat Boy Slims' video 'Weapon Of Choice', the artists face is shown in frames in the set of the video multiple times.

Voyeuristic

• Voyeurism is the view from a male, of how they view and look at a womens' body. I.e Flo Ridas' music videos consists of women only dressed in minimal clothing.

Intertextuality

• Lots of different texts.

Iconography

• Something the artist develops over time which means the rememberable i.e Lady Gaga, bold clothing choices.

Editing Time

We have started to film the main segment of our music video, which is the running. The 'running' takes up around 50% of the video as the other half is 'home scenes' preparing the character for the run and the remote controlled car transformation. We do have an issue at the moment for grabbing a remote controlled car but at this moment in time, I am asking relatives and friends if they have one that we could borrow.

During filming, we have included long shots and mid shots as well as a low shot for a jump shot. I had hesitantly placed the camera on the ground hoping that I wouldn't break it. 

Because the weather is constantly changing; if we need to shoot some more running scenes and the weather is not good enough, we may be in consequence of not being able to finish the music video. On the other hand, we have edited our recent scenes together and have applied the music on top. We decided to use a straight cut because its simple and effective. The continuity is smooth with this effect too because if a fade or dissolve was used, it would look to busy and unfitting.

Also in editing, we have chosen to make the music copy the characters movement, i.e when the character stops, so shall the music. During the pauses of movement and music, we've kept the diegetic sound from the video to keep the realism and natural sounds in the background.

A video I chose to analyse is a new song from the biggest british boy-band; One Direction. The new song is a 'feel good song', being very upbeat and positive. The video is taken through out the day and shows different time zones from the afternoon to some time after dark.
The video represents a summer party, full of active people and events. Also, the video includes lots of different props which includes things from inflatables to military style land rovers. As One Direction has had an upbeat, loveable album in the past, this song shows the potential and difference in which the boys will be showing in the up-coming album this year.
In this analysing, I will cover all macro elements and also other videos that are and can be linked with this video such as, behind the scenes.

Mise-en-Scene

Locations

Exterior-

Kent; field, lake

Interior -

Tent

Lighting

Soft - This is used in the tent to make the atmosphere warm and attractive.

Warm
Natural 

Dark - Although it is dark, it is lit with lanterns and glowing lights.

Props

Sleeping bags

Tents

Guitars

Football
Trampolines

Swimming pool

Characters

Casual, Jeans, T-shirts, Jackets.

Smart

Energetic

Happy

Editing

Straight cut

Slow motion

Fast cut

Camera Work

Dolly

Close ups

Long shots

Mid shots

Panning

Sound

Diegetic and non- diegetic

This video is the behind-the-scenes; it shows the artists singing and acting. It also shows the view from the director and producers within the process describing what is included and what they'll be planning to do.

Video Details

These are some of the examples of macro elements that we will be including;

Mise-en-scene;

Props

Alarm clock

Tooth brush

cereal & milk 

Remote control car - This prop is still being dicussed.

These props here will mostly be used in the beginning of the video as it is running through the characters daily routine of college but at a fast speed as a consequence of being late.

Locations;

Interior - Home - 

Bedroom

Bathroom

Kitchen

College

Exterior -

Streets

Traffic lights

On site of college

'Streets' is listed as not a specific place because there is no set plan of which roads we will be using. When we begin to film, we will need both quiet and busy streets to make it realistic as well as 'unlucky' to the character, showing a 'bad' morning, this can be related to teenagers during their casual routine to school or even work.

Lighting

Natural & Soft.

Soft lighting will be used during filming the home scenes in the bedroom and kitchen , then when there is movement from interior to exterior, natural light will take over. No back lights or key lights will be included because the video will need to be simple and genuine to suit the basic story line. The video its self is almost like a video diary.

This photo has been taken using a soft lighting preferably in front of the model. This type of light will be used in our filming to make an attractive scene and picture. Although we are not planning to use a key light we are able to experiment will techniques and effects on the programme Final Cut Pro.

Change Of Plan

Through trying to research for MotorHeads contact address, to ask for permission to use the song 'Aces Of Spades', I have officially found out that the band does not actually own a contact address. Through the process of trying to find a copyright free site to use, www.freeplaymusic.com is a very good site that I've never seen or used before.

 On the other hand of having no song to produce with, and that I successfully found a copyright free website, I found a very fitting rock song which fits for our initial ideas. I gave several song choices to my group for those to decide whether the songs were good enough and if they would fit the narrative and visual ideas. The song that was chosen is quite similar to what MotorHead would play with electric guitars and a heavy bass line.



The website 'Freeplaymusic.com' offers free content of every genre. There are endless choices to download from and they are all easy to access. 
Freeplays' aim is to help set new standards for music productions and also help students in need of a specific song and genre within education.
The site is not too advanced for a new-comer and has easy access to everything. The page is simple, interesting and bold, with lots of different sub-headings and information about the songs - it describes what you will hear and the instruments included- and it also explains the use of the site and the validations it has.
http://freeplaymusic.com/about/

Bruno Mars Construction

I am going to be choosing Bruno Mars to analyse and research, to find out how this artist has been constructed over the years of performing and producing good quality music. Bruno Mars is a worldwide selling musician since working with the Smeezingtons in 2005 - an independent music company in Hawaii, until Atlantic heard his voice in the song ‘Nothin’ On You’ featured in B.O.B.s’ song in 2009 and was given a contract. He is also signed to Elektra. Since then, his fame has risen and he’s become one of the most favourite male artists in the past two years with over 12m followers on twitter and an amazing number of 333m views on his bestselling song, ‘The Lazy Song.’
The Smeezingtons is a record production and it is located in Los Angeles. They cover many genres of music and these include, hip-hop, soul and reggae. Most of the genres that they have been working with have been included in Bruno's album and his album moves from ballads to rock and reggae with hip-hop and dance in his earlier music.
Bruno Mars decided his stage name with the help of his fathers choice of nickname at a young age, he was said to resemble the look of Bruno Sammartino, a professional wrestler as he was a chubby baby. Mars was chosen because he joking Bruno has also worked and collaborated with many artists, co-working and producing songs such as Flo-Rida's 'Right round' and Cee-lo's 'Forget you.' 

 The star construction for Bruno in the music video ‘It Will Rain’, portrays and explains the meaning of love, to his target audience of mainly teenage girls and boys; he speaks, ‘I’ll never be your mothers favourite… if I was in their shoes,’-i.e. the characters parents, - ‘I’d be doing the same thing, saying there’s goes my little girl walking with that troublesome guy.’ These lyrics explain to the viewer that after a situation dealt in a relationship, other people, i.e. the parents spoken in the lyrics, look at the other in a different light, but there is a positive note within the song saying ‘Bruno’ is optimistic and willing to change their minds and prove them wrong. The lines in the chorus also say, ‘There’ll be no sun light, if I lose you baby,’ this can be relatable for the teenage audience optimizing that there is always a way out.

Only two characters are shown in the video giving a more personal perspective to the viewer, keeping the motive between the lyrics and the visual story strong. Close-ups are a main used camera angle in the video; this is helpful for the viewer to understand how the character is feeling.

Voyeurism in the video is displayed through the costume, as she only wears a long white shirt. The women in the video is filmed in long shot, so this displays her full shape and ‘perfect’ features, as a typical view for a man is toned, tanned and pretty.

Bruno’s chosen album cover represents his name and his aim for his work. The rocket represents the movement of his fans increasing throughout his music and achievements that he wishes to grow and with this it shows a contrast from the beginning - working in an independent company to being a worldwide phenomenon.  The colour of the album cover is very bright and eye-catching, this can sales and direct fans straight to his music and merchandise which includes, clothing, posters and jewellery. 
He is also quite personal with his fans, giving them closer looks into his work and behind the scenes of his projects. On his official website, he created a 'Doo-wops & Hooligans' fan base club that enters the world of himself and the band. To be part of his online fan base, you pay only £30 for a year of membership and along side this, you receive a welcome pack which includes, an official poster, a introduction letter and a t-shirt. 
He gives opportunity's to his fans for 'meets and greets', merchandise competitions and more. Also, starting from last year, he decided to create a vlog of his movements touring around the globe. He posted pictures via twitter, instagram and on his website giving almost everyone access to them. 


http://www.brunomars.com/#

http://www.brunomars.com/member

Music Video Plan

Through discussing our song choice and type of technique we'll be using to film, we will be using stop motion with the song from Motor Head called Ace Of Spades.
The narrative behind the video will be explaining a daily routine of a student preparing for college, but this is no ordinary day. As soon as the character steps into college he will transform into a Lego piece. This is create an abstract effect making it out video to be both an abstract and a narrative video.

The macro element of mise-en-scene costume, will either be unorthodox or casual like a regular student. With using a full dress costume this could help the video become more abstract, but the group and I are still discussing. Locations that will be included be only based around college and streets as they are our main priority. Another location we may need to use is a bedroom and kitchen, displaying the character getting ready. Consequently, the group and I are not all local or even close; so if we do need several clips of acting shots of the character, we will have to agree on doing independent filming. With this, we can review the shots through editing when we gather in class.
One aim to do is to pick a 'back up' song in case we do not receive permission by the artist to use the song. The genre we need to keep to is rock because the pace of the video will be fast as the character will be running and rushing. With this, it will need to be fast paced yet not to heavy otherwise the video is look out of place and will contrast too much.