History of indie pop music, it all started
in the mid 1980’s originating in the UK., indie pop was inspired by Punk music’s
‘do it yourself’ ethic and the beliefs associated with punk culture. The key
moment n the naming of indie pop as a genre was the release of NME’s C86 Tape
in 1986. It featured other artists in the tape and soon because shorthand for a
genre whose defining conventions were identified as jangling guitars, a lace of
60’s pop, and melodic power pop song structure. The C86 indie pop scene is now
recognized as a moment for independent music in the UK. Indie pop still grows
today, having a strong following and not just in the UK but around the world.
As part of my lyric analysis I have created a mood-board, a collage of images that are used as a visual stimulus for ideas for my music video. The images included in my mood-board relate to the atmosphere of song and what the lyrics represent. I think my mood-board helps me understand the narrative of my video and the clear message I want to convey throught the use of mise en scene, especiallycolour particularly black and white.
For my research and planning I have decided to look existing
videos from the artist I am doing my music video to. The artist I have chosen is
Ed Sheeran and the song I am going to make my video to is ‘I’m a Mess’, for me
to get a clear understanding of how to create a professional and realistic
music video I am going to look at existing music videos that my artist has
already released. From doing this analysis it will help me recognise the style
my artist uses and it will help me develop my genre research. As part of this research I am going to discuss the positive and negative aspects of the videos. I will briefly discuss reasons why I like and don’t like certain aspects of the video and why they are either unsuccessful or successful.
Ed Sheeran - Don't
Like:
The performance element, the choreography is good
The camera movement with the dancer
The silent break in the middle of the song
Smooth transitions from each shot and locations
Dislikes:
No clear narrative
Do not see much of the artist
Quite repetitive
No lip syncing performance
Ed Sheeran - Give Me love
Likes:
Clear narrative
Good use of lighting
The storyline is believable because of the aesthetics
Good editing techniques used
Dislikes
Once again see no performance from the actual artist
Slow to begin with to get into the narrative
More costume change and performance could of been added
During lesson we looked at various successful and unsuccessful music videos from previous students, and commented on the reasons that made these videos unsuccessful or succesful throught the use of codes and conventions. Unsuccessful videos
Video Number
Reasons why it was unsuccessful
Grade
1
Bad framing, the transitions did not
flow, the lighting was too dark was not able to see part of the video, out of
focus, lack of continuity.
E
2
Bad use of framing (cut off parts of
the characters body) green screen was not used correctly, bad performance (no
emotion), same scene throughout no change of location, in terms of mise en
scene it did not match the genre, unnecessary quote in the middle of the
video, lip sync was off, the video was overall rushed and not planned out.
E
3
Filmed in one location, the narrative
does not develop, no costume change, shots where too long, fast editing – the
editing was to the beat, overuse of certain special effects.
D
Successful videos
Video Number
Reasons why it was successful
Grade
1
Easy narrative, continuity editing, a
variety of props and locations used, a running theme used throughout (fire
special effect), a variety of cinematography- camera movements and angles,
lip syncing used correctly and effectively.
A*
2
Repetitive, the storyline reached a
climax, black and white theme used throughout, variety of locations and
costumes, abstract editing, clear of mood and genre, good performance skills.
High A
3
Variety of shots, lip sync used, edits
on the same spot, 100% performance given, costume change that matched the song’s
lyrics.
In the mid 1950’s the earliest music videos and promos were
produced, a music video is short video or film that accompanies a complete
piece of music, most commonly a song. Modern music videos are primarily made as
a marketing device to promote the sale of the record or intended to get the
artist recognised. Music videos are often called promotional videos ‘promos’
this is due to the fact they are promotional devices. With the early music
video they were termed as short form music videos to distinguish them from full
length movies. The earliest music videos or music promos were filmed in the mid
1950’s however, before then, as early as the 1920’s films by animation such as
Oskar Fischinger were accompanied by musical scores labelled ‘visual music’.
An Optical Poem (1938) Classic Short Film
The short film 'An Opitcal Poem’ is by the celebrated
German-born abstract film maker Oskar Fischinger.
During the 1950’s and 60’s, certain artists began to put
visual elements with their music. The key way for artists to do this was to
feature in short feature films. These films could be viewed at the cinema which
showed popular artists playing themselves or characters in documentary style or
narrative films. Specific artists which were featured in these style of films
where Elvis Presley, Cliff Richard and The Beatles.
The Beatles - (1964) - A Hard Days Night (Trailer)
It
is to believe that The Beatles promotional video ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ has had a
lasting impact on modern day music videos. ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ was filmed in a
documentary style, featuring the members of The Beatles each playing themselves.
The plot of the film includes The Beatles the world's most famous rock and roll
band—traveling from their home town of
Liverpool to London to perform in a television broadcast. Along the way they
must rescue Paul's unconventional grandfather from various misadventures and
drummer Ringo goes missing just before the crucial concert.
This was The Beatles first promotional film; it was filmed
in black and white because of the time in which it was made. For people to view
the film they had to attend the cinema, as the television was not popular in
this era. The audience for these feature films varied from all ages ranges therefore
when constructing this film they had to be conscious of what to include as it
was advertising the artist equally to the song.
From The Beatles success with ‘A hard day’s night’ came three other Beatlemania films that
followed, Help! in 1965, Magical Mystery Tour in 1967 and Yellow Submarine in
1968.
The Beatles - (1967 - Magical Mystery Tour After The Beatles success with previous promotional films,
they had become extremely popular after appearing on several TV shows in
America, this increased their fan base. Due to their increased popularity they
no longer had to create full length films to promote their new music, instead
they featured in short promotional films. For example The Magical Mystery Tour (The film was to be unscripted: various
"ordinary" people were to travel on a 1964 Bedford VAL coach and have
unspecified "magical" adventures. The Magical Mystery Tour film was
made and included six new Beatles songs) was produced for television instead
of cinema; this short film was only an hour long. The Magical Mystery Tour was screened
on BBC prime time TV on Boxing Day 1967, due to new advances in technology the
film was shot in colour. However even though televisions were increasingly
popular in households they were not in colour. Therefore the special effects
that were created were not as effective because the film was not shown in
colour, and was savaged by critics. The Beatles initially had the idea to use
the film to promote ideas against the establishment, the proliferation of
hardware like TV and radio now meant artists could use these platforms to reach
mass audiences and express their ideas. Modern day conventional features of
music videos were now becoming apparent in these short feature films, for
example montage editing, certain types of shot (mid-shots and close-ups) and
shots of bands playing.
Cliff Richard - Summer Holiday (1965)
Similarly
to The Beatles, Cliff Richard starred in a promotional film for his music.
Cliff Richard’s promotional film was ‘Summer Holiday’; this promotional film is
a 60’s musical, based on 4 London mechanics that strike up a deal with London
Transport. They do up a double decker London Bus, drive it around Europe as a
hotel and if they make it they will own and be in charge of a whole fleet. Throughout
the film Cliff encounters several problems that give the film narrative.
For the audience to view the film they would have had to go
to the cinema, the song ‘Summer Holiday’ which is the main feature of the film
that promotes Cliff’s music, is part of the narrative and is happy and easy to
listen to. Therefore the song and film can be related to all ages and this is a
promotional way to draw a wide audience in. With links to music videos, this
promotional film includes many conventions that are seen in music videos today.
For example lip syncing, editing to the beat and visual imagery that represents
the lyrics. Examples of visual iconography that help the audience understand
the indication of the narrative are signs on the road that say ‘Paris’ and
people wearing stripped shirts and berets. This indicates to the audience that
they are in France; however the use of these easily accessible props may
indicate that the film was made on a low budget.
Development of the modern music video
The Beatles - Hello, Goodbye (1967)
The Beatles video to ‘Hello,
Goodbye’ was a separate video and not part of a promotional film. The video
contains a great amount of conventions more than what we expect to see in music
videos today, however overall this video is very poor. At the beginning of the
video the curtains open in black and white and then turns to colour, this
indicates to the audience the start of a show and makes them feel they are
about to watch a live performance. The video as a whole is largely based on
performance and has no real narrative allowing the focus to be more on the song
and the lyrics. Throughout the video as I have mentioned they use a wide
variety of conventions, for example they use several different camera shots but
are not executed well. For example in a medium close up shot the framing is not
precise and the top of one of the band members heads is chopped off. Also the
shots are too long. In terms of mise en scene, The Beatles are wearing exaggerated
outfits, which is not usually the way in which The Beatles are viewed, this is
indicating to the audience we are saying ‘Hello’ to the new Beatles.
Bob Dylan - Don't Look Back - (1976)
Bob Dylan’s – ‘Don’t Look Back’- Directed by Pennebaker. Following
Dylan’s 1965 UK tour he released the video in a documentary style; this video
is to be considered the first modern music video even though it follows a documentary/film
style. The beginning of the video starts off with Bob Dylan standing in the
right hand side of the frame holding cue cards that place in the centre of the
frame. On the cue cards are selected words and phrases from the lyrics of ‘Subterranean
Homesick Blue’. There are intentional misspellings and puns throughout the
clip: for instance, when the song's lyrics say "eleven dollar bills"
the poster says "20 dollar bills". It is argued that this was the first time in which a song
had been put with moving image which wasn’t part of the narrative in a promotional
film. Even though it is considered to be the first music video it does not
follow key conventions that we see in modern day videos, as it uses one continuous
shot and only one single performer.
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody - (1975)
Originally when the song was relesead it had no success in the charts, however Queen made a video for the song and aired it Top of the Pops. The reason the video was made and shown on the popular British music show was because, the song was to complex to perfrom live and more accurately, be mimed live on TOTP. The video turned out to be a masterstroke, providing far more promotional punch than a one-off live appearance. Top Of The Pops ran it for months, helping keep the song atop the charts. This started a trend in the UK of making videos for songs to air in place of live performances.The video was very innovative. It was the first where the visual images took precedence over the song.
Timeline of music videos
Micheal Jackson - Thriller (1983)
Madonna - Vogue - (1990)
Weezer - Buddy Holly - (1994)
The Impact of MTV
On this day in 1981, MTV: Music Television goes on the air for the first time ever, with the words (spoken by one of MTV’s creators, John Lack): “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.” The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” was the first music video to air on the new cable television channel, which initially was available only to households in parts of New Jersey. MTV went on to revolutionize the music industry and become an influential source of pop culture and entertainment in the United States and other parts of the world, including Europe, Asia and Latin America, which all have MTV-branded channels.
In MTV’s early days, its programming consisted of basic music videos that were introduced by VJs (video jockeys) and provided for free by record companies. As the record industry recognized MTV’s value as a promotional vehicle, money was invested in making creative, cutting-edge videos. Some directors, including Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Three Kings) and Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), worked on music videos before segueing into feature films. In the 1980s, MTV was instrumental in promoting the careers of performers such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince and Duran Duran, whose videos played in heavy rotation.
My technological knowledge has progressed throughout the year;
my skills and expertise especially in Photoshop have predominately improved. At
the beginning of the year we was set the task of creating a College magazine,
my skills where only limited as I started media knowing the basic’s to using
Photoshop CS5 such as using the Quick Selection tool to isolate one or more
parts to a selected image. However when it came to editing for my College
magazine I clearly needed practise to develop my skills further, so when it
came to establishing my music magazine front cover I was able to use the
various Photoshop tools effectively, such as the lasso tool to cut objects and
the spot healing tool to create a convincing product. Additionally throughout
the year I developed my camera work skills and uploaded video footage to my
blog of feedback peer groups, these groups helped me gain outside knowledge on
how to improve my existing products. Further techniques I have learnt throughout
the year are how to present my work on my blog, at the beginning of the year I
simply wrote up my planning and research on a blog page which was boring and
lacked technological skill. Nonetheless as the year progressed I was taught how
to use various other platforms to present my work such as on Prezi. Prezi is a
cloud-based presentation software and storytelling tool for presenting ideas on
a virtual canvas.
In terms of creativity, I took inspiration from various
existing music magazines and believe my creativity has enabled me to generate
continuity throughout my products whilst still keeping them interesting and not
becoming repetitive and boring. A key feature I believe is important in the
creativity of my products is the colour scheme; I chose to follow a scheme of
three main colours that where associated with my chosen genre and they were
gold, black and white. From choosing these colours I used my creative skills to
style my model around these colours, for the costume and make up and knew the
importance of continuity so used the same makeup and hair styling for each shot
however changed the outfit to keep the audience interested. Finally the style
of the text was important for the image of the products, therefore I used my
create skills to make a stylish text to flow with genre using a text creator
website.
Before creating my music magazine products I researched and
planned everything in advance, this helped me to understand codes and
conventions used to create a successful music magazines. For the research
element of the task I bought several existing music magazines such as Q and
Billboard magazine this allowed me to decode the key conventions that make up a
professional magazine front cover, contents page and double spread. From doing
this I was able to draw up box drafts of each of the elements I had to create,
I then advanced my skills further by scanning in the hand drawn drafts and
uploaded the images from the scanner onto the computer and onto my blog to show
my research and planning. For my college magazine I followed the same process
for planning however for the research I used another medium of medium and
googled ‘college magazines’ and looked up other people’s products they had
created in Media from previous years. Furthering my planning and research I
created a reader profile for my music magazine, a reader profile is a piece of
text that describes what people read a magazine. It was useful for me to create
a reader profile because it helped me decide on the content I should include in
my magazine in order to attract my target audience. In post – production after
choosing my genre and colour scheme, I took several practise shoots with my
model in order to get the right idea and framing I would use when it came to
actually producing my magazine. Looking into the technical side of my media
magazine products I explored the demographics of my piece and decided whom I
wanted to aim my products at. After the first drafts of my three pieces of work
I did a peer review, this helped me understand where I was going wrong with
certain aspects of the magazine and how I could improve them further. I also did a series of other tasks for my
planning and research, market research, price and publication, sociographics
and LIIAR analysis on existing music magazines, all these tasks helped me
construct my music magazine effectively for my target audience.
When designing my products, I took inspiration from various
other existing magazines that I had analysed and their use of conventions that
make them successful music magazines. By looking at magazines such as Billboard
and Q magazine I wanted to create a house style for my magazine in order for it
to look conventional and professional. Another key convention used throughout
was continuity, to follow continuity I chose a specific text and throughout all
three areas of my magazine this text was used to show the audience continuity
and it helped the magazine flow and look skilled. The majority of existing
magazines use a colour scheme of three, so therefore I used this convention on
my magazine and had the colour scheme black, gold and white, this linked to my
models outfit and make up which added to the continuity of the magazine. To
make my magazine look specialised I added features to my front cover, for
example I added plug in the top left hand corner, a footer and cover lines that
are conventionally put in the first third of the cover. Adding to this I added
a barcode at the bottom right hand corner of the page, I found this to be the
conventional way of placing the barcode from studying other existing magazines.
Additionally to this I also placed the price and issue number around the
barcode this made the layout of the magazine look well thought out and neat. An
additional convention also used is the use of a medium close up, this is the
most common shot used in magazines because it allows the reader see most of the
models outfit and their face in enough detail. Moving onto the contents page, I
similarly used another image of my model in the same outfit and make up but in
a different pose this is a conventional way of showing the reader continuity
and making the magazine easy to follow. I also checked on the positioning of
the page numbers and found that there were located in a certain order, for example
with the double page spread, they would not be placed at the beginning of the
magazine but would be seen later in the edition. Usually between page numbers
14-28, that is why I chose my page numbers for the double page spread to be
24-25. My double page spread also consisted of an interview, I found this was
the conventional way to present a double page spread article. In order for the
interview to look professional and conventional I used a question and answer
format using the letters Q and A to indicate to the reader the exact part of
the interview they are reading. Overall I feel that from using conventions from
real media texts it enabled me to get the professional standard I was aiming
for with all three pieces of my music magazine. In conclusion from the start of
course my skills where very limited in terms of digital technology, creativity,
research and planning, and understanding key codes and conventions, however
after relevant practise I feel confident in my skills and they have developed
significantly making me feel that I am now ready to be able to produce good
pieces of work for my A2 portfolio.
