Storyboarding

Before I film the music video I have planned the shots that I am going to use, the images below show the storyboards that I created. The reason that this is useful is that I already know what I am going to shoot, what camera angles and the duration of the shot. All of this means that I don't waste time when on location trying to film.

Intertextual refrences

In the lesson we talked about intertextual references and we came to the conclusion that it may be a good thing to include in our music video. This will not only give us something to talk about in the exam but it will show that we have thought about micro elements as well as the macro. The intertextual reference that I am going go use is a horizontal one which is a similar shot to the original video. I may also use a second intertextual reference which is a number of Paul Weller albums which is also an horizontal intertextual reference.

Organising filming

Due to industrial action on Wednesday 30th November we have a day off school as a result of this I have decided to film the performance on this day. I have arranged with a friend who can play the guitar to assist me with this. I will also try and film some of the narrative but if this is not possible I will film again on the following weekend.

Requesting permissions to use the song

I have sent an e-mail to the record label asking their permission to use 'Brand new start' below is a copy of the e-mail that I have sent to the record label and I will post the reply if i receive one.

Dear Sir/Madam

I am a student at a big school near Cambridge and for my A2 media project I am making a music video and I would like to ask your permission to use 'Brand new start' by Paul Weller from the album 'Modern classics'.
It will only be for educational purposes and I will not generate any income from this project.

I look forward to your response


Joshua Leek

Reprosentation in music videos

How are women represented in music videos with male artists?

There are many different things that are represented in music videos but one that is the most interesting in my opinion is how women are represented in music videos when the artist is male. This can be applied to almost all genres of music and the general stereotype is that men are dominant and women are seen to be either the subject of the song and this can make them seem that they are the men's property or the video has lots of women in it throwing themselves at the artist who's song it is. 

An example of when women are the subject of the song is Paolo Nutini’s Jenny don’t be hasty and the title give a clue to the song it is Paolo singing about a girl called Jenny who wants to leave him and he is singing as a message to her which is obviously don’t be hasty in making a decision. The use editing here is effective as it cuts from the performance to the narrative and this connotes his efforts to get her to stay and what Jenny is doing to get back at him.

An example of when the video shows women throwing the-selves at the male artist is in Snoop Dogg's Sweat; Snoop Dogg plays the pimp and walks around like he owns the place and that includes the women. He is the main protagonist and the camera is almost always on him which makes him seem dominant. The women are all interested in snoop and as soon as they sit down they are all over him and this gives a negative light to them. The use of meise-én-scene and lighting are important here as it is a club with low lighting and this gives the impression of the underworld, however, this is typical of Snoop Dogg videos.

Another example of how women are represented in music videos is Taio Cruz’s Dynamite the reason that women are in this video is as it would appeal to a more male audience. It is used as an aid to sell the song and the use of women is to widen the audience. The use of women in an atypical role works as it is not something that the audience is expecting to see (women working on cars and with power tools). They mise-én-scene consists of a junk yard in what looks like a desert or in a dry American state such a Texas. In terms of cinematography the framing consists of Taio Cruz in the middle and the two women both sides of him this connotes that he is in charge and is dominant.

In all of the examples above the sound is not as important as it is when analysing TV or cinema but it is dominant. Music videos tend to only usually the have soundtrack and this is the centre piece of any music video, however some artists have some diagetic sound before the performance or narrative starts and the video is matched to it. There really aren’t any theories of representations but some academics speculate with TV and cinema that if there are women working in high positions behind the camera such as producers or directors there tends to be a better representation of women on screen.

Album Cover - Original

The image below is the album cover for 'Modern Classics' this is the album that Brand new start comes from:

Here is some information about the album from Island Records' website:

This album was released on 6.02.2007 and for the U.S. market, the word "classics" is perhaps employed here with a certain irony, given that the vast majority of American listeners continue to turn the proverbial deaf ear to Weller's work. (of course, back in England, where he's a god, of course, these songs really were hits.) In any case, MODERN CLASSICS collects the best cuts from Weller's four solo albums released between 1992 and '97, the period when the former Jam-meister finally forged a coherent style out of his love for late-'60s artists like Traffic, the Small Faces, the Move, et al. What's particularly impressive is how the whole thing coheres. Despite the varying recording locations, dates, and personnel, the songs here sound like they were all bashed at one marathon all-night session."

Decision made

I have decided to create a music video for Paul Weller's - Brand new start

Here it is again:

Audience:

The audience for this music video could be anyone but my target audience is Paul Weller fans and I would expect this audience to be men and women in their late 30's early 40's. Once I have completed this video I will ask a wide variety of people what they thing of it. 

Strangers - It was a sin - Editing

After filming the performance we have edited a short amount of the footage as further practice and it also gives us experience on working with a real live band and not something that we put together with other students that don't know how to play the instruments. The final product is in my opinion of a good quality and from the feedback that we received the lip synching was very good and also the transitions between the different shots were also very effective. The reason that we did not edit the whole video is that I am also preparing to film my video for my coursework and as I have done a practice before with Radar Love I do not need to spend lost of time on this.

Here is the finnished product:

Strangers gig

As preparation for filming our music video we had a band come into the school called 'Strangers' and they allowed us to film their performance in a private session. The purpose of this is that it allows us to practice filming a real band and it also allows them to gain publicity. In my group which consisted of Harrison, Becky, Gemma, Alison and myself we filmed their song 'It was a sin'.

Here is the current music video they have for this song,

As you can see there is no performance elements in it which I feel it could do with just to make it a bit more exciting and to capture the audience more.

Video Share

In the lesson today I will be sharing FEAR by Ian Brown, the reason for this is that I think that it is an interesting video. The use of footage that has been reversed so it looks like he is traveling backwards and the use of on-scree graphics to highlight what the lyrics are. The focus is on Ian Brown in the centre of the frame and the surrounding areas have been blurred out lightly.

Click here for the video as it was not on youtube

Class Practice video assessment

In the lesson we watched all of the videos that people had produced for 'Radar Love' and we discussed what where thought were good about the video and what could be improved. The general comment that popped up with pretty much all of the music videos is that to improve the timing needed to be a little bit better as the lip synching was not always spot on.

The feedback that we got on our video was that the good bits were the lip synching, the performance, instrument choice and the pace of shots were all  good but to improve we could work on the frame the shots a bit better, some of the shots are maybe a bit to long which could lose the audiences attention. another point for improvement is the variety of shots used could be wider but as the room that we were filming in is very small this was not really possible to do but when I film the main task the locations will be better so a variety of shots will be possible to achieve.

The two other areas that we assessed the video on are the following;

A)  Matching tempo with action
B)  Meeting audience needs

The reason that this is important is that all music videos have a certain genre and depending on that genre  there are different conventions that the video can contain for example most rock videos are performance, so the audience has chosen that genre of music and they expect the the conventions of that genre, this means that it meets that audience needs.

When it comes to matching tempo with action if there is a fast beat to the song there tends to be a faster pace when it comes to the change of shots. If the beat is slower then the cuts are not as quick.