Planning - Final Song Choice

We've finalized our song choice and we've chosen Dot Rotten - Overload. We decided that Dub-step is the genre that we want to work with and Overload fits well under that category. We also like the idea that the song begins quite subtle with the piano which will open the video really well and as the song goes along, the dub-step kicks in and the songs pace rapidly increases which we thought would be really good to edit with.

Planning - Short-list Of Potential Songs

We spent a lesson researching and looking into different songs and different genres that may be our final choice. After looking into several different artists and genres, we came up with a short-list of five:
Gotye - Somebody that I used to know

Wretch 32 - Don't go

Angel - Wonderful

James Blake - A case of you

Dot Rotten - Overload

Research - Reflection On Progress

Research - AS Year Research

Since AS media, I have found that the research  process is extremely important and is recognized through your final outcome. Having had previous experience on researching for our project last year, I know how much research needs to go into our music video in terms of researching appropriate mise en scene, camera shots, locations etc. Additionally, researching about music videos itself to fully understand the forms and conventions. 

I found last year that official websites were helpful for example the IMDb for correct information on different films. Having found that website useful last year, I know that official music company websites this year will be very helpful as well as YouTube. 

Researching is not always about findings on the internet as last year for my film opening, I went out to research and take photographs of different appropriate locations which again, I will need to do for our music videos this year. 

Although our project is quite different this year, the skills from research can still apply to our music video project this year. 

Planning - Dot Rotten's website

>>>>> Dot Rotten's Official Website <<<<<

The website promotes the artist in many ways; one being the use of social media sites. The homepage of the website is filled with tweets from fans talking about Dot Rotten himself and his only. This is a source of promotion that is known as 'word of mouth'. These comments hyperlinked so that people can click onto the link and see the video or look at what people are tweeting. For example, one link directed me to a tweeter's tweet including a link to Dot Rotten's video, This is another way of promoting is music from his existing fan base. 

In addition to this, there are links on the website that allow viewers to go directly onto his twitter page, Facebook page or YouTube account to keep up to date with his current position in the music industry.

Planning - Analyse of 3 innfluential music videos

The first video that I feel that has influenced our final planning decisions is Traktor by Wretch 32.

I think the mise en scene aspect of Wretch 32's video Traktor has influenced us a lot in our location choice in particularly. I believe that the factory/warehouse setting in the song would be a good location for us to use as part of our music video as it can assist the amplification aspect of the lyrics of the song as I believe that the song connotes emotions of loneliness, depression and oppression. Also, we would like to incorporate the use of flashing lights as show in Wretch's video into our video.

The second video that has provided us with inspiration towards the planning of our music video is Earthquake by Labrinth.

The editing in the video is very effective and this has influenced and generated ideas that we would use in the editing aspect of our video. We would like to create the shaky screen effect in our video too when our artist sings 'overload' as this can demonstrate the idea of how you feel when pressure and stress rises to a crescendo. Also, we would like to use other obvious edits such as the mirror effect in our music video as shown in this video.

The last video that gave us ideas for out music video is Katy On A Mission by Katy B.

This video stood out for me in many ways. Although this is by a female artist, there are still elements of the video that have influenced us. For example, the use of slow motion would be incorporated in our music. Also the use of light again really show us different ways of experimenting with lighting in our video.

Research - Skills Audit

For my AS practical work less research was conducted because of many factors such as lack of time and lack of planning. I felt that our research into mise en scene, the setting and location of our thriller could have been planned in more detail. Some of the places that we filmed at were not realistic, for example underground stations and on the buses. We found out later on that we needed a license to film on London transport and also when we attempted to film on the bus the camera was shaky even when a tripod was used.

However, I do feel that our process of research has been more successful this year with our music video because of the discussions that we have. This year we created a mood board to suit our artist. In the mood board we gathered ideas of what artists would influence our artist either through fashion or music genre or even hair and makeup. I have also developed skills with the technologies that we will be using. I was shown how to use Camtasia as part of our multimedia programs to blog and recreate short videos and etc. This contributes to our presentation of research. 

Overall, I believe that the level of communication within our group and the organisation of writing down our research has assisted the researching aspect of our music video. 

Research - The Music Industry 2012

Traditionally, record labels own the music that is released. It is the aim of the artist to help promote and help to sell the maximum number of albums as possible.

Late 70’s – 90’s > the big six

Late 90’s > the big five

2004 > big four (Universal, Emi, Warner, Sony)

2012 > big three (Universal, Warner and Sony) Emi and Universal’s £1.9billion deal

Today, we have the big 3 – Sony, Warner and Universal.

The current situation that the record companies are witnessing is the fall in sales and fall in profit. There has been a shift in consumers as they are now more active in consumption of music, the commercialisation of the internet has introduced new places to buy and download music from and consumers can hear singles on radio etc.  

Traditionally, music videos were to sell a single and make large profits for the record company but music videos today are extremely easy to access from the internet and YouTube allow free access for the fans and allow them to watch it whenever, however and wherever they want to. Music videos are important for the industry as it promotes the artist and the song and sells the single. It also allows the fans to see their favourite artist perform the single and creates a fundamental connection between the artist and their fans. However, there has been such an increasing fall in sales and profit as a result of illegal downloads and other ways of consuming a single.

Current trends:

Itunes – 13% of download cost

Amazon MP3 – legal downloads/convenient and cheap

Illegal downloads – 67 in UK services

"The five worst offending nations (with artist) in the past six months were:"

1: United States, 96,868,398 total shares (most for Drake)

2: United Kingdom 43,314,568 total shares (Ed Sheeran)

3: Italy 33,226,258 total shares (Laura Pausini)

4: Canada 23,953,053 total shares (Kanye West)

5: Brazil 19,677,596 total shares (Billy Van)

The music industry in 2012

Music Industry

It is not hard to see the vast change that has happened over the past years with the music industry. I think that the major change in the music industry is just the way the labels today are approaching the game today. Especially in the middle 90's they were selling a lot of records, music was bright and a lot of money was being made. But then the years changed and people began downloading illegally and with this I think the industry was hit hard. So they were slow to adapt and ended up behind, which now taking time to recover from that. In the 90's there were many new types of music, and music videos, it was free and free with access of the artistsand now today its become easy to get what you want.

Artist today tend to go through the way of mainstreaming, meaning large organisations that are part of conglomerate (also known as majors), aim to saturate markets. This means they have high production values. Artist then are under this market that helps produce their music, style and image. Another side to the music industry is by being Independent. This is small organisations operating independently to major labels, like niche genres and specific markets. Artist are therefore working on their own, producing music on their own with no back up help. The aim of the artist traditionally is to be signed to a label to promote their music to the targeted audiences and sell a maximum number of albums, seen as the record labels own the music.

 The Big 6                     

The big 6 is a reference to all the music organisations that owned record labels and were record labels.

• 1970's to the late 90's there were the Big 6
• In the 90's the big 6 no longer existed, now came the Big 5
• But in 2004 the big 4 came around which included: Universal Music Group, Sony, EMI and Warner.
• Today (2012) The big 3 had been decided, Universal wanted to buy EMI (20/09/12). in order for that happen they may have to sell one of their other groups like Pralaphone.

However the problem now is the falling of sales and profit margins, as the sales for albums dropped over £100 million. In 2008 the albums were selling at £428 million, but in 2009 dropped to £366 million, and became even worse in 2010 to £319 million.

Due to the active consumer behaviour that is no longer passive sales are decreasing, the commercialisation of the internet and the new places to buy and download music instantly effects this. Also the radio and advertisement system. MTV and Youtube are concepts used to access and watch videos, as Youtube is a faster and quicker way to get what you want than sit and watch MTV and wait for your music video. The traditional role of a music video is to promote the artists latest song as a single or Album. But today music videos struggle to have the same impact- Youtube enables this.

In the UK there are 67 illegal downloading services, as 3/4 of all downloading is illegal. This shows how much demand music has nowadays, and the continuous fail of sales in the music industry. Other ways to get music is by social networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter, Google+. Artist also have their own sites to distribute their music as well as Fansites (Arcade Fire, Radioheads Honesty Box).

Over all you can see the complete ups and downs the music industry are going through and still going through today.

Andrew Goodwins Theory

Goodwin believes the traditional narrative style does not usually apply to Pop music videos. He says that music videos are often constructed by the link between the visuals and the song plus the artist.

Illustration- where the video tells the story of the lyrics, dance is also often used to express the feelings/moods

Amplification- this occurs when the videos introduce new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning

Disjuncture- when there is  a little connection between the lyric and the video or when the video contradicts itself.

Example of Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture:

Ed Sheeran- The A Team: This song is an example of Illustration, as it is about a girl who turns to prostitution to support/help her drug addiction, as the audience gets the same story from the music video. (Owl City-fireflies also is an example)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAWcs5H-qgQ

The Saturdays- Missing You: This song is an example of Disjuncture, it obviously tells us about the 5 female singers missing someone. However the video does not connect to the song as they show each one of the females in different locations during the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_-UiAwEgbQ

Black Eyed Peas- Where is the love This song is an example of amplification where the song is amplified by reoccurring motif. For instance in the music video the famous question mark is almost every shot. Giving meaning to the song and emphasising on the question 'where is the love'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc

Andrew Goodwin also stated something similar as Laura Mulvey and said recognisable features are also by the way women are presented as objects of male desire. He said this is seen in Heavy Metal and Hip hop videos. artists like Madonna, Beyonce and Lady Gaga show this.
He also comments on Intertextuality, and how the repetition in sons of parts or rhythms, means that the audience become familiar with the genre and have certain expectations. Examples  of intertexuality is Beyonce's - Work It Out video from the movie Gold Member, and another example is Keri Hilson - Pretty Girl Rock and she does this by mimicking of other music videos, and films like Dreamgirls, Cleopatra and TLC - Creep music video.

                                     PGR                                                    CREEP

 

Carol Vernallis

Vernallis’s idea of music videos is creativity. She believes music videos are for entertainment. Obvious edits draw attention, for example jump shots, flashing images and instant cuts and jumps also draw attention. Master shots such as base tracks are frequently used.  Normally the camera will move with the music, involving the audience.

Examples of videos that illustrate her ideas:

·       Tupac – Ghetto Gospel: follows this theory various times throughout. Specially showing the effect the in a fairy fast montage. This video conveys the ghetto and how it is there, signs for entertainment for some. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVq7gOgzqi0

·       Cee Lo Green – Forget You: A ‘master shot’ (base track) is frequently used, giving the video structure.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKxodgpyGec&feature=fvsr

·       Mark Ronson & The Business Intl – The Bike Song: Jump cuts are often used, the camera may move in time with the music.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVELTxKRoHA

Best Example Of A Music video Form

Looking through many videos and analysation, I came to conclusion that Leona Lewis- 'Collide' video has to be the best form for me. The use of editing really worked here, as it is only set on a beach, but the videodoes so much in that one place moving form day to dawn. The use of mise en scene and lighting helped the video form a lot. The speed up and slow motion effects strengthened the video. The camera use was very effective, as the audience was full aware of the artist and her background. This video form had amplification and illustration. The title is called 'Collide' whereby she represented collision through the water and the waves clashing in together. She also worked with Avicii on this track and the up beat tempo really showed through.



The video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4a82LRNdlQ&feature=player_detailpage

Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey’s theory is understandable. She expresses her theory through her feminist point of view. Mulvey coined the term ‘the male gaze’ ‘presenting’ ‘women as image’ or ‘spectacle’ and man as ‘bearer of the look’ ‘Spectator’.  She suggests that women’s worth is purely visual; they are just there to be looked at by men. This means representation of women is dismembered by men, as they objectified and sexualized. The representation of women in the media is corrupted.

Examples of videos:

·      Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, Mya, Pink – Lady Marmalade: This song is very sexualized and the representation of women are seen more sexual and give of the  ‘men look, women are looked at’
      

                   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQa7SvVCdZk

·      Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dog – California Girls: This also is another example that women are feasted on by the use of ‘sweets and candy’. This attracts the male eye even better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57P9C4SAW4

Music Industry

Music Industry

The music industry is controlled by mainstream and independent companies, but mainly by mainstream companies.  Mainstream companies sign music artist to their label intentionally trying to make money. They will fund the artist to make sure they produce the best quality of music videos, album, songs (high production values) and many more intending to make profit, But the internet has changed the strategy of making money in the music industry. Labels were meant to be making money of album sales but illegal downloads has changed this. More people rather go on the internet and download the album instead of paying for it. This means that labels are not making as much money they should be making. Back in 70s you couldn’t have expensive videos, couldn’t listen to music unless it was on radio or television and lastly you had to pay for music. But now you they is more money being put into music videos, promotion for music is now viral, you can listen to what every song you want on sites like YouTube and lastly you can get music for free. Music videos are used to promote the song so that people can by the single. Labels are making more money of singles than album so they are investing more on singles.

In the late 70s- late 90s they were 6 major mainstream labels available

Late 90s – they were 5 major labels available

2004- They were 4 major labels available

2012 present- 3 major labels available

Because labels are not making as much money from the music industry as they used to; most of the majors have decided to divert there market

Favourite Previous Student Video

Andrew Godwin

Andrew Godwin

Andrew Godwin came with a theory about how the structure of pop videos.

He believes that a narrative structured music video does not apply to pop video. The reason why he believes this is because pop videos are usually built around the song.  The second reason is because pop videos usually have the singer playing the role of the narrator ad the character. Lastly the singer looks into the camera most of the time in the video which involves the viewer into the music video more.  Pop videos approach a narrative structured video from a different perspective instead of using the novel and film type of structure.

They are three different forms of video structure which are illustration, application and disjuncture. Illustration is when a story is told through a music video. Amplification is a video is a video introducing a new meaning without contradicting the lyrics of the song. Disjuncture is when there is n relation between the video and the lyrics of the song.

Another feature you will expect in a pop video is sexual attraction. Artist such as Beyonce, Lady Gaga , Madonna, Rihanna and many more tend to use this a lot. This is used to attract the opposite sex, to make sure people watch the video even if they do not like the song because sex sells.

Music video/songs which are written for a particular movie tend to always show scenes of the actually movie in the music video. This can be a way of promoting the movie.

Analysis Of Music Video That You Consider To Be The Best Example Of The Music Video Form

Tinie Tempah

I enjoy the video “Written by the Stars” by Tinie Tempah and believe it uses loads of convention you will expect to see in a normal video. I have noticed that this video is an illustration structure video. The reason why i believe this is because there is a story being told throughout the video about a child getting bullied whilst there is other scene of Tinie Tempah is performing to the camera. Tinie Tempah often looks directly into the camera whilst he is performing. This involves the audience/viewers at home with his performance. All the shot in this music video change with the beat which is an important aspect in music videos as it makes the video run smoothly. The location with the big building behind is beautiful.

1

Research - State of the music industry

The music industry has changed hugely since the last 10 years in all areas of production, distribution and exchange. Before, the music industry was divided clearly into two sides; one being mainstream which are large organisations, saturate markets, had high production values and were known as Majors. The other side to the music industry were independent companies which were small organisations, they operate independently and work with specific markets. Also, record labels own the music, not the artist.

The aim of the artist primarily is to get signed to a record label so they can make money and to do this they promote their music online. Also, another aim of the artist is to help them sell loads of album by releasing a single and promoting the song.

However changes have been made over the years because of development of technology and new strategies of production, distribution and exchange. Changes in mainstream music:

• 1970 -1950s there were the 'Big Six'
• late 90s - reduced to the 'Big Five'
• this was because of the development of conglomerates and merging of companies
• 2004 - 'Big 4' : EMI, Sony, Warner, Universal
• 2012 - 'Big 3' : Universal just bought EMI, $1.9 billion deal and they have to sell 'parlaphone', Warner and Sony

Between 2008 and 2012 sales for albums dropped over £100m.

• 2008 - 428m
• 2009 - 366m
• 2010 - 319m

Consumer behaviour has changed over the years too. Customers have become more active in their consumption of music as there are new places to buy and download music. The comersalisation of the internet has allowed people to download music online illegally and stream music online for free. 

People now use the internet to get their music including downloads from itunes, putting music onto their MP3 players or music devices, using google/amazon and etc. Illegal downloads have become a very popular method of getting music for free. There are 67 illegal download services in the UK and there are 1.2 billion illegal downloads in the UK. People also use YouTube MP3 converters to rip their music off from music videos. Streaming is another popular method as music can be delivered to use on demand. With some being free and some that require paid prescription. The free sites cover coasts with advertising deals with labels. 

Other methods of sharing music would be through social networking sites such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Also, fan sites and artist websites are a good way of sharing music. 

The role of music videos today is to either promote a new artist or to promote the latest single to sell the album. This is usually aired on MTV in the form of a play list selected by the channel. However, viewers have become more active instead of passive in the way they interact with the media. Hence why many people choose to use music channels such as YouTube to listen to music as it is fast and effective. 

Research - Favourite Previous Student Video

This is my favourite previous student video. 

This is a previous music video to a Dub-step song. The most noticeable aspect that I admire from this video is that it is in black and white and it works really well with the song and the lyrics. There is several special effects in this video which determine the lighting and makes everything look very ghostly and distorted which again links to the lyrics of "Darkness". Another aspect is the flashing light effect which ties in well with the Dub-step beat in the song which carries right through to the end. Overall, I think this music video is very successful and it kept me engaged throughout.

It has inspired me and gave me several ideas for our music video, especially as we have chosen a Dub-Step song also. It's shown me that Dub-step songs with a lot of beat within it requires quite a lot of editing and a lot of base tracks. 

Research - Laura Mulvey On Representation

Laura Mulvey

“In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is style accordingly.”
In other words, we live in a world with sexual imbalances as there is a divide between active males and passive females.

Women are represented in a very sexual and passive way in music videos. A particular genre that women are represented sexually in is often hip hop and RnB music videos. Mulvey’s opinion is 100% still relevant to today’s society. Women are still represented in a sexual way and most videos that involve passive women are targeted towards men. 

The image of an artist in a music video is carefully planned. From the choice of clothes, hair and make-up to the ‘narrative’ and it is up to the audience to interpret the representation based on our cultural references and understandings.

The Saturdays - Just Cant Get Enough 

In this music video with The Saturdays, the women are represented sexually through their mise en scene and performance predominately. The women are wearing revealing attire such as netted tights, bralets, short skirts and shorts. Therefore it will trigger a male gaze. 

Beyonce - Dance For You 

Similarly, in this music video, Beyonce is represented in a sexually passive way. Again, she is wearing “seductive” clothing and her performance also has sexual references and ultimately, will trigger a male gaze.

Despite there being many music videos that represent women in a passively sexual way, there are also some videos that represent men in a passively sexual way, for example the music video for Bad Boys with Alexandra Burke. 

In this music video, Alexandra Burke is wearing a black leather jacket and black wet look leggings. In some shots she is in a silver short dress but that compared to many other videos makes her represented less sexually. However, some of the men in the video are topless and are very toned and greased up making it somewhat a female gaze. 

Research - Vernallis Theory

Carol Vernallis 

Vernallis's studied editing and camera work. Through her studies, she found that the common rules of continuity editing are broken to ensure that the main focus is on the performance of the music video. She also establised that edits may be noticeable to bring attention to the performer e.g. wipes, special effects and jump cuts. Base tracks which are also known as a master shot is commonly used to form a structure for the music video. Lastly, the camera may move in time with the music. 

Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love includes an example of the camera moving in time with the music and the use of special effects as well as base track. 

Angel - Wonderful illustrates the use of heavy special effects (Lights, colour, and flashes etc), base tracks and the camera moves with the music (slow motion). 

Ben Howard - Only Love involves special effects (blurs, saturation), use of base tracks and jump cuts (shot from the bike handle followed by the man setting off on the bike).

 

Research - Andrew Goodwin Theory

Andrew Goodwin 

Andrew believes that traditional analyses do not particularly apply to pop music videos. The reasons for the different narrative structures are:
1) Pop music videos are built around songs and usually songs do not include traditional narrative structures. 2) The pop music video uses the singer as the narrator as well as the character. 3) The singer often looks directly into the camera and this is to involve the viewer with the performance.
Pop music videos rely on repetition. Usually, the video repeats parts in the way that songs repeat in choruses or lines. The repetition also allows the audience to be familiarized with the genre and have specific expectations. Also, the song would be played on television, radio or there maybe an advertising film or television tie-in making the song very familiar through the use of repetition. Therefore, music videos have form of closure and ending.

There are three different types of relations between songs and videos; Illustration, amplification and disjuncture.
1) Illustration is where the video tells the story of the lyrics in the song, literally.
2) Amplification is when the video introduces new and deep meanings that do not contradict the lyrics but adds more meaning.
3) Disjuncture is where there is little or no link between the lyrics of the song and video.

Pop music videos usually have recognizable features for example, Michael Jackson used to have signature dance moves. Also, the way women are represented as an object or male desire. Music videos try to attract a large audience without dismissing the core target audience.

Illustration
Katy Perry - Last Friday Night (TGIF) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlyXNRrsk4A
Illustration is the literal way of visually interpreting the song’s lyrics. Katy Perry’s song “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F) is a very good example of Illustration music videos. The video tells the story that unfolds in the song and it illustrates several parts of the lyrics literally, for example the beginning of the video starts with “There’s a stranger in my bed” and visually, there is a man in her bed. Also the lyrics “Pictures of last night ended up online” plays as we see a picture of her on the internet. Overall, the video links entirely to the song’s lyrics. 

Amplification
Beyonce - Run The World http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBmMU_iwe6U

Amplification is increasingly common. It is separate from disjuncture as it still has a link to the song that allows it to enhance the songs meaning however does not literally illustrate lyrics from the song. Beyonce’s song “Run the World” is an example of amplification as the director and producer use mise en scene and camera to enhance the songs meaning. The women in the video are dressed in bold and fierce attire and there are various different props included such as a tiger, a horse and a large burning car. The camera angles are used to show Beyonce’s superior role in the video and signifies her power.

Disjuncture 
Adele - Rolling in the deep http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYEDA3JcQqw 

Disjuncture music videos do not illustrate a connection between the song and the performance. Adele’s music video for her single “Rolling In The Deep” is an example of disjuncture as the music video shows her sitting in a random room, several glasses of water, smashed plates, a drummer, a sculpture being burned and a dancer. All in all, there is no connection between the lyrics and the performance in the music video. 

Research - Analysis Of Music Video Form

Angel - Wonderful

I consider this music video to be a great example of the music video form. Given that Angel is quite new into the charts, I feel that the video fulfilled the music video form particularly well in promoting him as a "new" artist. The camera work in this video works very well in promoting him as an artist. The close ups of him is very consistent throughout the video to ensure that the audiences main focus is on him and it makes him more recognizable. The mise en scene as a whole is very simple and again, allows Angel to remain the main focus in the video. He also looks and sings into the camera several times which creates a connection between himself and his fans/viewers. Additionally, the dove is a main prop in the music video and contributes to making the video memorable.

Research - The Function Of A Music Video

Today, music videos are produced to sell the single and to promote the artists' profile. A good music video will be visually memorable and pleasing for the viewers therefore it will increase the number of sales and the artist will potentially gain more fans. The artist will be predominate in the music video and the director and  producer will use mise en scene and camera shots to keep the main focus on the artist. This will ensure that the fans get to see their favourite artist which is very important.
Music videos can also be produced to visually interpret the meaning of the song or help create a better understanding. Additionally, music videos can also showcase talent such as dancing and acting which many songs will involve (for example, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Rihanna).
All in all, music videos are produced as a marketing strategy to promote the song and the artist.

Research - Best example of music video form

I think Next To Me by Emeli Sande is a great example of music video form. This is because it promotes the artist clearly by the use of camerawork, mise en scene and editing. The simplicity of the video allows the viewers to just focus on the artist instead of focusing on the glamourisation of the music video. This is a clever way of promoting the artist. The location and setting of the music video reinforces this. Also, I think use of close ups and extreme close ups are good ways of showing and promoting the artist as the viewers will have to look at her face. Emeli Sande's hairstyle is bold, stands out and is very recognisable and therefore this makes a statement and makes her unique.

Research - Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey discusses the idea representation of woman in society and how music videos depict this. Mulvey suggests that due to the sexual inequality enforced in society, it is seen as acceptable for males to actively look at females lustfully whilst females have a passive role. This idea of the male gaze has been exhibited explicitly through music videos. In these music videos we expect females to be shown through the perception of males. Females are sexualised and objectified through camerawork and the clothing aspect of mise en scene. When females are shown as subjects of a man's point of view, I'd expect them to be dressed in short tight dresses, bikinis and basically in little clothing. Also, the camera would shoot close ups or extreme close ups of only parts of their bodies such as their legs, breasts, bums and etc to objectify the females. Pop, grime and RnB videos are prime examples of delivering music videos through the perception of males. 

An example of this a video by Flo Rida - Whistle.

This video is shown through the male gaze as women are shown as sexually and as objects to males. All the females in this video either wore little bikinis by the beach or short tight dresses in the party. This clearly supports Mulvey's idea of representation of women. The editing in this video, however, is very effective as many techniques have been used such as split screens, wipes and transitions. There was one shot where there was a split screen of three girls shown. I think this really highlights the idea o female representation.

What is the function of a Music video

In class we discussed what and how does a music video function. I came across many ideas, for instance, music videos are functioned to promote the artist, gives control for the artist to express and show their face and style to create a fan base. Music videos are short film integrating a song and imagery. Modern videos are primarily used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. However the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into attention in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium. In the 1980's music videos were labelled according by Illustration, Amplification or Disjunction. Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques.
A music video will be promoting the artist or a band in an attempt to get seen and noticed so normally they are of a high quality.
We discussed that record labels normally give the ideas of the music video they want the artist to star in. The artist are signed to a certain record label.

Entertainment is also another use for a music video, for the fans and those who do not know the artist. A successful music video will gain more fans.

Music video like Beyonce- Best I ever Had has its own function. For example it is targeted at those in relationships or out of one, or those who want to get married. It has a more emotional vibe to it. So this video functions on emotion and mood. This also again promotes the artist on a more emotional side. The second picture is an image of the artist that I found on Google just typing her name, which implies this artist has already an image set for her.

Copyright Cearance

This is my copyright clearance email that I wrote. However I did not get a reply back.

I was not sure if this was the right way to go about the email, so I looked up a few examples to help use the right terminology.

Technical Skills Learnt from AS

In the beginning of AS, I had only a small scale of skills using the Macs.  throughout the months in AS my skills expanded and now I can say I know how to make a film, edit a film with added sound effects and features. These skills took quite a while to get use to but, came out great in the end. Using Final Cut pro, QuickTime Movie, Soundtrack Pro and many more helped me develop more understanding  and skilful knowledge.
Skills such as:
- Importing/exporting files
-Print screening
-Using what Final cut pro has to offer
-Using Soundtrack pro to make new sound
-Using the editing system 
-Camera use
-Features on the Mac's
-The basic and more skilled knowledge on how to make a film and music video

 I can now carry these level of skill over to A2 and develop even more on it.

Research - Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis studied editing and camerawork in relation to music videos. Vernallis said that edits in music videos are much more frequent than the edits in films hence why many videos stand out as disjuncture. Editing in music videos have also have a rhythm connected closely to the song. 

Vernallis also suggests that the rules of continuity are broken in order to draw attention to what is on screen. Obvious edits such as wipes, special effects and the high number of jump cuts are used to draw attention to themselves. The base track, also known as the master shot, is used to give structure to a music video. 

Examples:

In Nicki Minaj and David Guetta's video - Turn me on, plenty of obvious edits were used such as photo shopping the face of barbie dolls onto human actors in the video and loads of special effects and jump cuts.

Another example is the music video for Opposite of Adults by Chiddy Bang. I really like this video as the editing is really interesting, engaging and effective. Some techniques include freeze frames, base tracks to add structure, plenty of jump cuts on the beat to the song and rewinds of certain shots. I think the Photoshopping techniques used here were very engaging and different. The editor placed the head of the artists on small bodies throughout the majority of the video. This mirrors the title of the song and the idea of being a child again. 

Lastly, the third music video that supports Vernallis' ideas about editing in music videos is Earthquake by Labrinth and Tinie Tempah. This video also used a lot of obvious edits. The video is based on special effects and have used edited back drops to create the video. When the screen gave a shaky illusion whilst Labrinth said 'earthquake' was a very clever thing to do as part of the edit as it shows the creativity of music videos. Mirror effects and jump cuts were also used as part of the editing. The use of camera movements was especially significant as it varied a lot in the video and this can also assist the base track in adding structure to a video.