My favorite previous student video is Florence and The Machine video by Mustafa, Nick, Poppy and Charon. I thought this video was extremely well planned and produced. the genre of this video is upbeat indie.the narrative structure of this video is amplification. the ideas they put in to the video gives a greater meaning to the song and dose not contradict the lyrics.
Base tracking was used throughout the whole video and was done extremely making the lip sync in exact timing to the actor. It can be seen that extreme effort was put into editing of the video as all cuts and editing was in perfect timing and they were in time with the beat giving a great flowing rhythm. the shots of the whole video are very varied but are at great angles. the ideas of setting and props where very well organised. the use of the cave and in forest fits perfectly with the genre. the use of props and lighting has an very
positive impact on the video. the thought put into the costume and style fits perfectly with the video showing that every detail has been taken into consideration. the use of the projector is a very smart idea, it adds in design and certain props or scenery that cant be obtained can be just projected to be used in the video. There is a lot of eye contact with the camera/ audience this is a great way of making the audience feel they are involved the is also certain scene that are quite sexual for male gaze however throughout the video the artist stays very dominant.i think that the video was creative and was extremely well fort out. from every detail and being very well organised.
The link for the video : http://vimeo.com/32963364
Social networkings are very popular nowdays and a lot of people are using them, there for, they are something that is essential to use to promote an artist because with them you can reach a lot of people witouth spending money.
These social networking allow people to be connected and share information and even friends. For an artist. being in contact with his public is very important because it rise his popularity. As Meredith Chin from facebook says in her interview it is pivotal for an artist to use this social networking and each of these gives to the artist different tools that have to be use.
The advice that she gives to the artist to build a fan base in facebook is to have engaging authentic content in the page as an example of this she says " status updates in questions like What do you think about the song?. This kind of status will make the fan answer and being engage with the artist.
She also recomends have two pages, one for the official page of the artist and one for personal profile. For famous artists this helps a lot because can have on one side their music or his profesional life and on the other his personal life; even though they share to the public at the same level.
On her page, we can see how she uses it, to ask her fans if they like a song
This is exactly what Meredith Chain talks about, question like this keep interesting her fans and make them feel close to the artist.
Exclusive Content
The exclusive content is the main item that fans look at on the social networkings. As an example of this is Lily Allen. Rather than using MySpace solely to redistribute her music, Lily embraced the full range of functionality offered by MySpace to deliver exclusive content to fans.She did not just promote her music but also gave to her fans something that they could not find which was a look into her private life; what does she thinks, what does she do, and this is very well recevied by her fans.
My own ideas
To promote my artist I would use twitter and facebook which are the most popular. Facebook would be use to promote his style, what he likes, what he likes to dress, palce that he likes trough visual aids like images and videos, while twitter would be more to follow his everyday life.
In facebook I woul stick with Chin's advice, making a lot of engaging with the fans.
Thanks to the research done for the As practical work. I have learnt how to look at a loot of information and choose what I need. Analizing information and methods of organization have been the main things that I have developed, and these skills are pivotal now. The use of different ICT to present my work and also to manage information is something that I learnt during As.
Two of the most important ICT that I used are:
Prezi
It is very usefull to show a lot of information in a different way, it is very dinamic and organize.
Photobucket
This works a slide show, it is very usefull if some information is presented in images because trough photobucket, the user can created a show with the images and set up a very nice and organize presentation.
During the AS year I have developed a variety of different technical skills.
Click to enlarge the spidergram
I have learned how to use the camera JVC GY-HM100 and to produce standard footage, adhering to the rule of thirds and trying to create a variety of shots (long, close up, mid-shot), and use the tripod to create different angles.
The skills that I believe I have developed the most were the editing skills. I have learned how to use FinalCut Pro effectively to edit out film opening. I used a variety of different filters, colour correcting, slow/fast motion, levels correction to make the lighting better; I have used transitions such as cross dissolve, fade ins and fade outs; I have also edited the titles sequence effectively, moving the titles slightly at each frame so it adds a shaky effect, as well as I have edited the title of the film effectively, moving each letter slightly down in each frame, so that it gives a 'dropping' effect.
I have learned how to use Soundtrack Pro and how to add special effects to the music, how to fade in and fade out, how to match it with the images, how to make a sound louder or lower.
My technical skills also developed in terms of other technologies, like using ClipGrab, Ishowu, MPEG-4, HandBrake, Blogger, Prezi, Photobucket, etc.
As the song we have chosen is by the English artist Ed Sheeran, I think researching about the already existing artist will help me to understand the genre, style, audience better and think about how to differ and also to think about how to create links and familiarity, attending the viewers' expectations.
Ed Sheeran was an independent artist. His fame came when he posted a video that became viral. He has a diverse style and the genre is quite undefined as it overlaps a lot. It can be pop, acoustic, grime, rock...
As an artist he is young and has a casual style, relatable to his audience.
You Need Me, I Don't Need You
In this music video for example, the genre seems to be more rap/hip-hop although it is still slightly popish. I like how the editing of the music video matches with the beat, and I believe the beat is slightly similar to the song we've chosen, although 'The City' is much more pop. I also like the use of the black studio and lighting that sometimes flashes with the rhythm and I think it would be cool to use some of these elements in our music video.
In his acoustic version of Small Bump, the music video shows him playing the guitar in a moving boat. We can focus on Ed Sheeran as an artist and pay attention to the music. As the version is acoustic, it goes well because it is a calm song. Ed Sheeran seems like a casual artist, in his music videos there aren't very much the use of expensive props, clothes, houses, cars or places, which makes it more accessible for our group to create a new low budget music video for this style of music.
Social
networking websites have become a very useful way of promoting and marketing an
artist. Seeing as the artists are very popular this enables direct connections
with billions of fans worldwide.
Click onto the icons to open up the website.
Here is an example of a popular social networking website, MySpace which many artists used to use
for promotion. But for the past years it has lost its recognition.
Therefore recently Facebook and Twitter are the main ones, which are popular to
create a fan base as it ensures the artist to share multimedia, and furthermore
this enables the fans to support and interact with the artist. YouTube is another popular social
networking website which successfully promotes artists as it allows YouTube
users to subscribe and then they can share videos and fans from all around the
world can comment, like and favourite videos.
Lily Allen is one of the more famous examples of this, although she did start of by using the dissappearing MySpace site to
build her fan base(along with Chemical Brothers and Artic Monkeys).
Lily Allen was one of the first pop stars to emerge through social media,
developing a fan base via MySpace before the release of her 2006 debut
album, Alright, Still, which features the hit song "Smile." In 2005, Allen signed with Regal Recordings, though the label had scarce
resources to promote her work. Allen then took matters into her own
hands, posting demos on MySpace. The demos attracted thousands of
listeners, and brought Allen mainstream media attention for the first
time.(source: http://www.biography.com/people/lily-allen-20935273)
"You see, Lily Allen is one of the original MySpace rockstars. While she
wasn’t exactly the epitome of a struggling musician before she joined
MySpace in 2005 (she already had a lowly £25,000 record deal) it was her
ability to connect with and create a huge MySpace fan base that
propelled her towards international stardom." (source:http://www.vanseodesign.com/social-media/lily-ann/)
Ed Sheeran was an independent artist at the start, but he was not famous until he
posted an online video displaying his various styles through sbtv.co.uk. By
doing this it led the rapper Example to invite Ed Sheeran on a tour with him. Form
there on Sheeran’s fan base grew via YouTube and was gradually becoming more popular through
the internet (worldwide).
Nowadays
Ed Sheeran uses Facebook to promote himself and keep in touch with his fans. He
posts comments, videos, pictures and links directed to his fans explaining what
he has been doing; this allows the fans to be kept updated daily.
Below I have put together a collage of screen shots of Ed Sheeran's Facebook posts. They include comments, videos and website links which allows the fan base to interact with the artist.
We have decided that we will produce a music video for the song "The City" by Ed Sheeran. He is an English artist, the genre of this song seems to be indie pop and it is from the album '+' released through Atlantic Records.
We have chosen this song because we think it has a nice beat and it is quite catchy, and also, the song does not have a music video yet, therefore we can innovate and be more creative. We also believe that the audience for this song would be a bit wide, since it can appeal from teenagers to young adults of both genders.
Here is the e-mail Fabiolla sent to Atlantic Records in order to try to obtain copyright permission:
Carol implies that usual rules which apply to continuity editing are broken in music videos in order to attract attention of the audience to what is happening on the screen. They appear more frequently than in films. The edits might be very obvious done on purpose in order to draw attention to them such as the use of special effects or transitions. A base track is frequently used to give the video a structure and the camera and editing might be in time with the music to give a close rhythmic connection to the song.
Tinie Tempah when I’m gone uses continuous editing and jump cuts which are obvious.
Wretch 32 Unorthodox uses base track.
Here is a screen shot of a base track used in the unorthodox video
Godwin implied that narrative analysis traditionally does not rely relate to pop videos. This is because they are presented at a different angle to films and novel narratives. Because songs do not have traditional narratives their music videos won’t as it is based on the song. The singer looks directly at the camera trying to involve the audience this is an act of performance. Music videos are very repetitive. Repeating scenes and images because of repeated verses or choruses. Structure of the video is to build up hitting a climax and then fade away slowly. So music videos are said to me autonomous according to Andrew Godwin meaning it goes beyond the song. Repeated for visual pleasure and can be used for promotional reasons such as film.
Godwin said there is 3 types of relations between songs and music videos.
Illustration:Video tells the story of the lyrics One example of this is the Madonna Pap don’t preach music video
Second type is Amplification: new meanings being introduced which doesn’t contradict the lyrics: example of this is Wretch 32 ft Josh Kumra - 'Don't Go
The last of the 3 is disjuncture which there is little connection between the lyric and video where the video contradicts the lyrics. An example is Michael Jackson man in the mirror. The video shows many different world events when the song is about self realisation.
My favorite previous student video is Florence and The Machine video by Mustafa, Nick, Poppy and Charon. I thought this video was extremely well planned and produced. the genre of this video is upbeat indie.the narrative structure of this video is amplification. the ideas they put in to the video gives a greater meaning to the song and dose not contradict the lyrics.
