PRODUCTION - Music Video Progress

Music Video Log

These are screenshots from my music video. I have got a base clip of a band playing the song. Then I have different cutaways to show variety of shots and to fit the pace of the music. The second screenshot shows the green screen effect that I have used. I wanted to make the video fairly psychedelic and so I filmed the visualiser from iTunes and then I got a shot of my main subject and edited it to black and white then using green screen was able to put the visualiser behind the subject to make the effect.

GENERIC RESEARCH - Slaves 'Cheer Up London' Music Video Analysis

Cheer Up London Analysis

I applied Andrew Goodwin's theory to the music video for Cheer Up London by Slaves. I found shots from the video that backed up and provided evidence that what Goodwin said about music videos is true.

Goodwin Analysis 2 by Joseph Reeves on Scribd

AUDIENCE RESEARCH - Focus Group

Focus Group

This is my focus group for the first draft of the 'She Said' music video. I have picked four different people who are part of my target audience as they are young people who have different interests and music tastes but my product is aimed at young students.

Focus Group by Joseph Reeves on Scribd

GENERIC RESEARCH - Indie Record Labels

Indie Record Labels

Although seen as ironic as independent bands are meant to be independent, many bands are signed to record labels. They sign to get themselves the promotion that they cannot afford. The Stone Roses are a band who, after great critical success on their self-titled debut album, wanted to capitalise on the success and decided to sign to a major record label, however, their current label (Silvertone) did not let them out of their contract. This led to a long legal debate and eventually the band signed to Geffen Records and produced the 'Second Coming' album which was met with mixed reviews and not nearly as much success as their first album.
There are now multiple record labels who, although are labels, are not pressured into signing a specific sounding band or artist. The only issue with indie record labels is that they do not always have the funding and so the band have to pay for a lot of the benefits such as promotion. However, they have a team who is genuinely interested in the music the band writes which means they care about who they sign and are happy to help in whatever the band want. There is also a closer connection between the band and the team at the record label as there are not lots of popular artists so they can focus more attention on the band. Indie label contracts are known to be more artist-friendly, giving the artist more money for their work through either giving them a larger percentage of revenue than given by the major labels or through a profit-sharing technique in which the band get a percentage and so do the label. Rough trade is a famous indie record label and they are famous for working with The Smiths, The Libertines and The Strokes. All of these bands will be remembered in the indie music scene.

GENERIC RESEARCH - Arctic Monkeys Digipak Analysis

Arctic Monkeys Digipak Analysis

 Instantly there is a running theme of cigarettes and monochrome colours. This represents who the band are and what they stand for.

 The front cover is a close up photo of a man smoking a cigarette. This photo is in black and white to show that the band are different and experimenting with different filters. The name of the band is in the top left of the album front cover and the typography is unique to the band. The album is very simple and this is good for the Arctic Monkeys who are a famous indie band.

 The back cover is very simple. It is the same man as on the front cover. This is from the same photo shoot. The man is clearly tired or hot as he is rubbing his eyes. The cigarette is still prevalent and it could be a vital part of the man's life. The track list is on the top left, much like the bands logo, as it is a vital part of the record. The track names are all in lower case letters which is significant to the band's identity. Also their record label is in the bottom of the album as well as the bar code.

 This is the CD itself. This again has the theme of cigarettes running through it. There are lots of cigarette butts as they are clearly a feature in the band's album and life. The grey colour running throughout could possibly represent the tar and ash that is produced from cigarettes.

This is the inside cover of the album. It is very basic in terms of design as it is a dark colour background with writing on it. All it is is messages from the band and also who was involved in the writing and producing of the album. It follows the brand identity of having lower case letters throughout.
The music video below is one of their most famous songs off this album.

GENERIC RESEARCH - Morrissey 'Everyday is like Sunday' Music Video Analysis

PRODUCTION - Music Video Progress

Music Video Log

I have only started the editing and I have many ideas of what I want to do. The subject is already available and she is going to be involved throughout the video.

GENERIC RESEARCH - Mood Board

Mood Board

This is a mood board for the music video I chose. I wanted to include live footage from a gig to show that they are a real band. I included the colour red as I wanted to represent the target demographic as teens as rebellious. The gig represents the performance aspect I want to use as well as the narrative aspect which is why I included the man and woman fighting in the bottom left corner. The girl in the top left is what I wanted my target audience to be like and also the style is indie so that is what I wanted to include in my music video. The tube shows the journey the characters are taking throughout this song. There is a close up of a guitar as I wanted to have close ups of instruments to apply Kristeva's theory of intertextuality to my video. The woman dancing is to represent the lyrics of the girl suggesting to "go out dancing". This links to the lads drinking beer as they are "drinking in convoy". The bottom right photo represents the male target audience and also how I expect the members of the band to be presented, wearing plain and simple clothing to represent the indie genre.

PLANNING - Permission

Permission

Sundara Karma are a small indie band from Reading and they are releasing an album later this year and they just released a new single called 'She Said' and I think this song is perfect for my video. I messaged them and they said it was possible for me to use their song.

GENERIC RESEARCH - Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin came up with a theory on music videos. Goodwin identifies five main aspects of music videos that the audience should pay attention to:
- Thought beats (Seeing the sound)
- Narrative and performance
- The star image
- Relation of visuals to the song
- Technical aspects of music video

Thought Beats
Thought beats according to Goodwin are in three separate stages. The first stage is to look at the music itself. The structure and the instruments used etc.
The second stage is to listen to the voice of the artist. The sound of their voice will be unique and this can help form a trademark or identification that can work with the star image.
The third stage is the mode of address. A lot of the time this is that the artist is a story teller and the song a story.

Narrative and Performance 
Goodwin explained that music videos should ignore common narrative and they should coherent repeatability. The performance should go hand in hand with the narrative to make the audience focus and not lose interest. Having the artist both lip sync and perform in the video "increases the authenticity" of the video.

The Star Image
This is the artist or band caring more about the performance and becoming famous rather than about the music itself. Michael Jackson is an example of a star as his music videos show his development over time.

Relation of Visuals to the Song
The visuals can illustrate the song. This means they use visual images and moving images to represent the genre and also the lyrics. They can also amplify certain meanings and also effects. They are repeated throughout the video to drum the meaning into the audience. Another way in which the visuals links to the song could be by using disjuncture which is where the meaning of the song is just completely ignored.

Technical Aspects of Music Video
The technical aspects are the camera work, mise-en-scene, movement, angle, editing and sound. These aspects are vital for music videos as they define the genre and the meaning of the song. The editing is key also as it it visually pleasing when the moving images fit the beat of the song.