Draft Music Video

http://youtu.be/akIHnIrEEE8

CD Cover Draft

Auxiliary Task Draft: Website

http://australiaisbettertha.wix.com/mediaweb

Fiona the Turkey

Transcription incase you missed any of it:


Mark has been busy filming. He prepared a green screen last month and filmed all the shots where it was required.
Now he has been extra busy filming at his house. The video requires a messy living room where the character can be a slob. Luckily he had had the house to himself all week so it was already in a slob-ish state.
Filming went well and did not require too many takes. However, it still took a couple of hours!

Miley Cyrus Album Covers

Party in the USA features a purple background which shows that it's target audience is girls. She has a very cute, innocent face. This is supported by the purple background. However her punky accessories contradict the look, perhaps to appeal to a wider audience.

It's interesting that three fonts have been used. I would have thought that it was more professional to be consistent in the font and font size but Miley pulls this off well. I think the inky pen style in Miley really suits the tone of the design and album itself.

Miley is placed in the center of the cover, perhaps to show importance but more likely because there isn't much else going on. Note she is in decent clothing that an everyday girl might wear.

In this album Miley looks much more relaxed. She's sitting down with her golden microphone and looks very happy and at ease. She still has a slightly punk look with the gloves. However her main outfit is a pretty normal female outfit. The gold star above 'breakout' matches the gold/cream theme of the cover. I like how 'Miley Cyrus' is written along the side of the cover. It follows her body upwards giving a symmetrical and even appearance. There is differences in the fonts again, this time in colour. This is, again, interesting because I would have naturally chosen to keep the font the same throughout.

Miley is placed to the right of the album with the titles to the left. This cover is again very simplistic and features just an image of her and the titles. She has remained with the same target audience as the last two covers. Although appealing mostly to girls, her appearance is highlighted on the cover to appeal to teenage guys.

Two fonts have been used again. This works well for Miley.

Here Miley has broken free of her good girl image. She 'can't be tamed' and her clothes show this. Her slight punky bad girl image has taken over and she's in full costume. She's no longer in clothes worn by everyday girls. She still looks beautiful but has chosen to show off some more tummy.

She has moved to the center of the cover as again nothing much is going on. 

Interestingly the same font and colour is used for the first time. It's also printed across her body rather than to the side. I like the look of this one because it's bold and ties in well with the title. 

Miley has returned to the side again, but this time the left. She's kept the rougher look, in leather trousers and sharp high heels.

For the first time the visuals link obviously to the title. She's holding a rose and looking sad as the title suggests. As she's maturing so is the nature of her albums and her musical style. She's clearly trying to break away from her Disney girl connotations as seen in the first album. 

Again the same font and colour is used, and it's actually the same as the previous album. I like the idea of choosing a font as a kind of motif. I also like how there are many more links inside the album. The colour of the rose matches the text.

Here Miley has changed completely. She's become pretty radical, as shown by Wrecking Ball. Her new hair style is unique and is usually worn better than in this album cover. The layout of this cover is very different to her previous albums. She's placed in the center in just a rain coat which has strayed very far from her old casual with a hint of punk style.

The title of the album is made to look like a bar sign which is obviously aimed at a more mature audience. Her previous audience probably wouldn't know what this was. Bangerz also has some more adult implications.

The font chosen for 'Miley Cyrus' is unusual for her. Both words are placed on the top and bottom respectively. They are also different colours. She has gone back to using different colours for her title and ditched the 'motif' font.

Green Screen

Today I spent two of my free periods ironing and then filming the schools green screen. I managed to rope in two of my friends who were actually much better ironers than me. Shortly we were joined by one of our school caretakers called Linda. She gave us ironing advice and told us be should be using steam! So we watered our irons and it got very warm very quickly.
Once we'd ironed the green screen we had to get it up on it's frame. This wasn't too hard but still took us a few tries.
That took us all of the first free period, so in the second we began filming. We only had about 50mins before the tech crew wanted to clear it all away, so we go going. It actually didn't take long to shoot.

Below is a picture of the ironing process and my glamorous actor/model

Locations

Today I've been thinking about settings for each green screen room. In my film the person will explore the great indoors and enter each room, finding a new place. These are just four ideas I've found. I think I will film the actor actually in the scene, rather than using a still image as a background. I may use a bit of both if the location is unachievable in real life. 

The locations must be very cool and exciting, because at the end the character would rather stay home than leave the house.

Artist Analysis - Who Says

I really like this video. Nothing really happens, but it just shows Mayer going out with his friends and doing random activities. The idea of the song isn't about getting stoned. It's more of a libertarian statement of 'who says' I can't do what I want in my own home.
I really like the parts where he's sat at a restaurant table, and one shot he's acting as though the camera isn't there but the next he's singing into it. My first reaction was 'thats pretty cool', so I'm thinking if I can use it then my audience will have a similar reaction.
It has the short opening part (actually the longest one yet, at 46 seconds) at the beginning, and yet another bridge for him to walk along! During the start there is really quick flashes of all the locations to be shown later on. I like this idea, and it could actually work for my video.
I like how he goes to each location with his friends but then half way through he'll become invisible to them and just sing to the camera. It makes it quite personal.

Artist Analysis - Waiting on the World to Change

'Waiting on the World to Change' was the single from Continuum. The video also starts with a short clip before the song kicks in.
 

This video has Mayer walking along a bridge while singing his song. It's interesting because the song is a kind of protest song, but not really. It kind of says we need to change the word, but do it in your own time. Rather than telling us to change the world it's just suggestive.
I think this is why they didn't choose to use a theme of changing the world. Instead they chose to show a bunch of artists who spend time planning a mural and then going out and doing it. It shows people taking action, but avoids the cliched 'lets change the world' kind of theme. Instead one of the tags says WAKE UP!
I really like some of the over the shoulder shots while he's looking over the bridge. I also like the walking shots.
I also like how the camera is never still. It's constantly moving, whether it's following somebody or just has a handheld effect. This helps keep the video interesting and keep things flowing.
Did they cross the line at 2:13? Seems like he's facing the other way.

Past Student Analysis - Effects

This is a video from last year by Lew Parker. 

I love how important style is to the video. From the band's clothes to the effects applied in Final Cut, everything in the video is about looking cool.
I love the very beginning of the video where the band are faced backwards. The singer of the group is highlighted from the very first shot and is seen pulling his collar up.

From here we head straight into performance footage. This is so vital to this video. It takes up a good amount of screen time and is, perhaps sub-consciously, very expected of this genre and music videos in general. This links to one of Goodwin's theories.

The quality of this video is very professional. I'd obviously love to achieve footage of a similar standard, although I'm not sure my camera is quite that good. Different motion speeds are used over and over, whether it's fast or slow. This is a kind of motif and it used very well. It's somehow escaped being gimmicky, which means it's been used carefully and considerately.

Other effects are used on some shots, such as the one above. This lens flare effect is used on all the shots at this location. This creates a feeling of familiarity and also looks very cool, which continues the idea of everything being stylised.

Another effect used is this kind of wobbly 'faulty camera' effect. It's often applied for a very short period of time to make a boring shot more interesting.

My favourite part of the video is the end or last half, where the whole video is replayed backwards to the beginning part of turning up the collar.

Miguel - Candles in the Sun

Artist: Miguel
Song: Candles in the Sun
Album: Kaleidoscope Dream
Release: September 25th 2012
Label: RCA
Genre: R&B, Soul, Pop



This video is completely in black and white. At first I didn't really realise which was strange. This video is very powerful and pretty emotional. It's a kind of protest song about needing to stand up and do something. It was nominated for the MTV award of Best Video with a Message. I'm considering doing a video with a message.
I'm not sure how this video fits with Goodwin's seven. In the genre of the artist there should have been some scantily dressed women, a focus on muscles and bling etc. There was a focus on the mix of races - and black people dominate the R&B/Soul scene.
There was definitely a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. In fact the visuals emphasise the song a great deal. There was also many shots of the artist, which could be pushed by the label. They are interesting shots because he is ignoring the camera very obviously. He stands to the side in some shots, whereas in others he may stand facing the camera. He makes interesting hand gestures too. They make sense when he is looking into the camera, but look strange when he's stood to the side.
I like that parts of the soldiers and the use of America as an example of what he's singing about.

In this video Miguel is not represented as black men stereotypically are in the R&B genre. He's well dressed and is singing a song about caring for others and 'taking a look around' and wanting to change what he sees. He appears to be anti-drugs from this song, or at least anti-children-taking-drugs.

Artist Analysis - Your Body is a Wonderland

I've chosen to do Great Indoors by John Mayer. John Mayer now has six studio albums, of which there have been fifteen music video's made. I'm going to look at some of my favorites, as well as some of the most popular ones.

His first hit single was 'Your Body is a Wonderland' which established him as 'cute singer/songwriter guy'. The video reflects this, with him hanging out with a girl and occasionally filming her. Lovely scene where he plays guitar for her in the bath!

The video is about two characters. The singer and his lady friend. My idea for 'Great Indoors' is either about a fictional character who acts out the song, or the singer and a lady friend.

The whole video is of some kind of live performance. Whether this is footage of Mayer singing one on one to the girl, or raw footage of his live performances on tour. This shows both sides to him, one as the soft singer/songwriter and the other as the best guitarist on the planet.



There is a tiny intro at the start before the song plays. This will become a kind of motif of his videos. I really like how it sets up the video before the song kicks in. It allows a character, person or place to be established without using up the start of the song.

Song Selection

Wildfire - John Mayer

It's currently the summer and this is my summer song. I would love to do this song for my music video because it's got clear narrative and it would be great for costumes.
The principle of the video would be a love story where a guy and girl are on a date by the river. They're cowboy types and carry drinks flasks and such.
The video would carry on through their date and show them having fun, doing different activities and messing around by the river.
As I'm typing this I'm realising that there is less actual material I could film for the song. Also the time of filming would be closer to winter, so it may be hard to film for a summer song.

Song Selection

Dave Matthews Band - The Stone

This song is fairly long - although not by Dave standards. It may have to be cut back if I choose it. When I listened to this song with a video in mind it was quite creepy. Through the verses I've pictured a chase or hunt. Perhaps an old fashioned hooded person with some kind of mask.
The chorus changes the mood of the song significantly. I thought this could be interesting, as I could follow with the video. Perhaps changing from fast to slow or from colour to black and white or vice versa.
A different idea is that the chorus' could be flash backs to a better time in the character's life - before he had to "go alone".
The picture in my mind for this song is very dark and set at night time.
This would definatly be a fun song to do and the idea in my mind would be amazing. However, as I know from past experiences, it's important to be realistic and to remember what is possible.

Song Selection

Great Indoors - John Mayer

This song is from Mayer's 2001 debut album Room for Squares. There's currently no music video, so it's easy to start with a blank canvas.
This is a song I know very well, but upon listening to it with a video in mind I thought of something different to what I'm used to.
I imagined a person sitting in a living room - a kind of couch potato - who doesn't leave the house. The song begins and it tells the story of when the character pulls all the shades and wonders the great indoors. Next comes a kind of Narnia moment where she opens a dusty door to reveal an amazing world all within the home.
The video would continue with a trip through the great indoors until they return back to the grubby living room they once loved. It's here they decide that actually they're going to leave the house and step out into the great outdoors.

Film Riot's advice and help and tricks and tips and stuff on pre-production

Another couple of videos from Film Riot. This is a great run through of the pre-production process. I am defiantly going to check out the advice on story boarding, its always the hardest part for me. The idea of a casting call is also pretty cool. Not sure acting schools would be interested in this production but its worth a shot.

Preliminary Task - Why Does Love Do This To Me? The Exponents

We were asked to make a video utilising all the skills we have learned on Final Cut. This includes green screen, split screen, key frames, colour manipulation, editing to the beat, transitions and filters. We don't like transitions (especially the ones on Final Cut Express) so we shoved all those in at the beginning.
The song is a disease.

Chroma Key Tutorial

In preparation for our preliminary task, Aidan and I have put together a video tutorial on how to chroma key.
Aidan's voice is funny so we used his voice for the instruction.

Prance to romance to (John Mayer's new single)

This lyrical video is the official release. Quite repetitive in her movements but it clearly works!

Goodwin

These are my initial notes on Goodwin. There will be more specific posts which follow up on each specific element.

Stevie Wonder - Part Time Lover

Artist: Stevie Wonder
Song: Part Time Lover
Album: In Square Circle
Release: 1985
Label: Tamla
Genre: R&B, Soul, Pop



The video begins with live performance, which Goodwin suggests of the hard rock/metal genre. However Stevie obviously doesn't fit into either of these. Perhaps the area where the fusion between Goodwin's suggestion and Stevie Wonder takes place is to do with the location. Stevie is in a club, whereas the majority of hard rock or metal bands would be shot on stage. This also emphasises the synth-pop part of the song, which fits another of Goodwin's suggestions, the idea that the music fits the visuals. For Goodwin, this video may break the mold and go against some of his theories. In terms of representation this could suggest that black people enjoy breaking the mold and introducing new or controversial (50 Cent..) factors in both their music and the videos. It could also show how black people are usually in the minority (in this case in genre).

The club is full of both white and black people. By this time racism in American had died down but there were certainly still remnants left over. Perhaps this video is making a political statement about racial equality. There could even be an aspect of black supremacy, as the best dancers are all black. However this is probably because black people are generally better dancers than white.

Slightly low tilted angles are often used on Stevie. This helps to reinforce the ideas of equality and also show Stevie as the most important person in the video. Stevie's disability has zero effect in this video, and rightly so. Stevie is an icon and inspiration of how disability doesn't alter talent. Stevie also is the most lit person, and is in front of neon coloured lights. This is a reflection of his personality both on and off stage.

Survey

Music Videos Through History

Record Label Posters

A wonderful vid from Film Riot

Just watched a Film Riot video on YouTube. Great insight into how a professional looking music video is made. Although we may not have access to the kind of equipment used, as said in the video music videos are entirely visual. I feel confident that I can make a great video if I use great visuals.

Danny Clinch

Danny Clinch is renown in the popular music scene for being a top class photographer and film director. He has been involved with many artists from a variety of genres over his career, from the likes of Johnny Cash, Tupac Shakur and John Mayer. His photographs have been successful with many magazines including Rolling Stone, Esquire and Vanity Fair, and also appeared on many album covers. In his directing career, Clinch has recieved two grammy nominations. One in 2005 for Bruce Springsteen's "Devils and Dust" and a second in 2009 for John Mayer's "Where The Light Is - Live in Los Angeles" full concert video (which is the best DVD I own). He has also directed for Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam, John Legend, and Foo Fighters just to name a few. 

John Mayer's Slow Dancing In A Burning Room - Where The Light Is

Clinch's Artist History:

• Eddie Vedder
• Spoon
• Ryan Bingham
• Kris Kristofferson
• Charlie Mars
• Ben Harper and Relentless
• John Legend
• O.A.R
• Melissa Etheridge
• Chris Daughtry
• Tom Waits
• Pearl Jam
• Bruce Springsteen
• Willie Nelson
• Van Morrison
• Dave Matthews
• John Mayer

Above is Daughtry's Home, another video by Clinch

Showcase 01

Clinch's most successful work is arguably his grammy nominations, Springsteen's "Devils and Dust" and Mayer's "Where The Light Is". He has also released other successful music documentaries and full length concert videos, such as "Immagine in Cornice" which followed Pearl Jam throughout their tour of Italy and 2006's "Skin and Bones" which tracked the Foo Fighters. 

(From here the links are optional)

Clinch is also heavily involved in photography, perhaps more so than film. He has photographed anyone who is anyone in the music business, and held a photo room at the 53'rd grammy awards ceremony. On his website there are numerous show cases to be viewed. He has also delved into advertising, taking on the fashion work of John Varvatos in which he photographed many famous musicians wearing Varvatos, such as Dave Matthews, Slash, Joe Perry, Paul Weller, Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop. He is a great photographer, and his work speaks for it's self. 

Varvatos Fashion featuring Dave Matthews and a monkey

Clinch's music video style is very much about filming performances. When compared to someone such as Jonas Akerland (Lady Gaga's Paparazzi) which has a narrative and character based play, Clinch takes a very laid back, "unobtrusive" approach", for example in Dave Matthews' "Save Me". The video is casual and relaxed, and tried to pass over the personalities of those involved rather than create new ones or tell a particular story. He is very much into limited effects, and appears to enjoy working with black and white. Clinch very rarely uses anything further back than a mid shot, in both is filming and photography. 

Clinch has also set up his own production company called Three on the Tree, and all his full concert films and documentaries are produced through his own company. This means that the success of his grammy nominations is also linked to his production company. 

I love Danny Clinch's work and he happens work with some of my favorite artists. I love the minimalist style of just recording shows and studio work. I also admire that he has stuck to what he enjoys and still found success. He hasn't followed other directors in forcing narrative lines and such.

The Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger

Artist: The Police

Song: Wrapped Around Your Finger

Album: Synchronicity

Date of Release: 1983 (UK), '84 (US)

Label: A&M

Genre: Pop Rock, New Wave

The video begins with a shot of a single candle, but then pans up to reveal a whole field of them. We the see Sting doing a crazy Sting-like dance in the centre of them.

Next, we see Stewart Copeland on his kit and Andy Summers on guitar. It's interesting how Sting is doing a dance rather than playing bass. This 'New Wave' genre was new and exciting, and the video is slightly unconventional in the sense that Sting isn't playing his instrument. This video is again probably closest to Goodwin's heavy rock/metal from band setup perspective. There is a lot of live performance as Goodwin suggests. The first shots we see of Copeland and Summers are of them playing. This shows that for the genre and band playing is important. 

The visuals and lyrics do not really match up. The weakest link is in Stings dance/run, which is slightly suggestive of breaking free. The song is about relationship manipulation and how relationships can turn and become a power game. The candles are over the top (as there are thousands) and perhaps suggest romance which is slightly contradictory to the lyrics.

The music and visuals work well together. The song is slightly spacey and the visuals are too. However there isn't any strong links between the music and visuals. Shots are often cut in time to the music.

The Label doesn't seem to have had too much of an influence. There are many shots of Copeland and Summers, although the prevalence lies with Sting. His dance seems pretty genuine and as singer he naturally comes to the front of the band.

There is no reference to the notion of looking, as no screens feature in the video. This is perhaps to draw away from technology and pop culture and focus on the music. There are also no females in the film, again because attention is focused on the music and Sting.

Dave Matthews Band - Satellite

Artist: Dave Matthews Band (DMB)

Song: Satellite

Album: Under the Table and Dreaming

Date of Release: 1995 (Live version released in '93 on Remember Two Things)

Label: RCA in the US, V2 everywhere else

Genre: Well DMB are kind of their own genre, but I guess it's umbrella'd into Rock

This is another really cool music video. Goodwin suggested that hard rock/metal video's will feature live performance. Although DMB is neither of these, the video's main narrative is watching them perform the song. The demands of the label are also shown through the prevalence of Dave Matthews. Any DMB fans know that in this particular band the usual hierarchy is ignored. Each member is valued the same by the band and fans alike. Obviously the label want Dave to be at the forefront and as the singer/guitarist he need to take up most of the shots. There are interestingly two other parts to the video. One of a lady blowing bubbles outside, and the other, played by Johnny Galecki (Leonard from TBBT, although much younger), of a man watching multiple screens flicking through channels.

The first person seen in the video is a bubble blowing female. She circles around blowing bubbles for all of her shots. One particular shot displayed a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, when she blew a string of bubbles into the air while the lyrics were 'Rest high about the clouds, no restriction'. The bubbles have no restriction and float up to the couds. 

The footage of the video is generally 'feel good'. The band look happy and the girl is enjoying herself. Galecki's character is perhaps slightly frustrated that there's nothing on TV. This is a clear relationship between the music and visuals, as the music is also blissful. 

Galecki's narrative is based on the idea of screens within a screen, as he's staring at multiple screens looking like a bit of a nerd. This is another relationship between the lyrics and visuals as the song is about the 'Television we bounce round the world'.

This also links to pop culture and obviously television. The lyrics are reflecting on the amount of TV that's accessible and the idea that the tabloids are like vultures and we all love to follow them following certain high profile names, for example 'Peeping Tom for the mother station'.

Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble - Couldn't Stand the Weather

(Click 'Watch on YouTube')

I am a huge Stevie Ray fan and he is a massive influence on the music I play outside of school. Couldn't Stand the Weather was released in '84 and is Stevie's best work since his rehabilitation. The video for the title song was frequently shown on MTV, clearly because it's such a cool video.

Chroma keying features heavily in the video, supplying the background weather imagery for SRV and Double Trouble. In the 80's green or blue screens were popular, especially with presenting the weather (perhaps a small link). The use of this obviously allows for the appearance of stormy conditions without having to submit yourself to an actual storm. However, SRV decided that he would use real weather conditions anyway. They must have had a blast filming, trying to keep the cameras and such from getting soaked. This must also be one of the only music video's around where the band get covered in rain and play against a gale, which shows a clear relationship between the lyrics and visuals. So cool.

The video is iconic amongst blues lovers, mainly because SRV is held as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. For me, he is the greatest of all time. Interestingly Stevie puts aside his preferred Fender Strat and picks up a Hamilton, probably so that is doesn't get wet. I like the close up shot towards the beginning of the video in a kind of dated way, where Stevie grabs the neck and as he pulls it upwards in comes a shot of the headstock. It seems quite a clever shot as it seems to be one piece of footage, but obviously it isn't.

The video features a lot of band performance as well as a sequence of conflict or confrontational scenes with two people standing in front of their flag. SRV and Double Trouble's performance fits Andrew Goodwins genre theory of the heavy rock/metal genre. Blues features a similar band setup as these genres, in this case a trio. There is heavy instrument focus, such as the close ups of the drum kit, bass and guitar towards the beginning.

The sub-narrative of the conflicts taking place infront of difference flags is perhaps aiming to make a political statement of some kind. I think this is free from interpretation. It's interesting, however, that similar to Bowie's 'Just Dance' (which also features SRV for the guitar solo :P), this seems to perhaps have weak relations to the song itself.

The video also features accurate lip syncing, although perhaps sometimes a little behind. Lip syncing is present in nearly every music video. The shots are also usually cut in time to the music. This makes the video easy to watch because it flows and rolls off the music. It also helps the music to be the audience's focus.

SRV is wearing clothing that is very iconic of himself. He is using his favourite guitar strap, and wearing baggy 'Hendrix' style clothing. He was often seen in his hat, and this is used well in the shot where the rain is dripping onto the peak. This clothing style is reoccurring in all his videos and live performances, and so is perhaps a motif or icon.

Overall, I have a very biased view of this music video. Being a huge SRV fan I automatically love the video. That aside, I think it's a pretty cool video anyway. Who else would play in the rain?

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