Shooting Schedule

Date and Time	Cast Involved	Props/Mise-En-Scene	Equipment needed	Health and Safety
19/03/2011 2pm – 5pm	AbbieSinger (artist)	Guitar, flowers, Valentines Park,	Stereo/IPod	-          Pedestrians
20/03/2011 2pm-8pm	AbbieSinger (artist)	London Piccadilly Circus and The River Thames, Flowers.	Stereo/IPod	-          Pedestrians
1/04/2011 3.20-4.30pm contingency filming	AbbieSinger (artist)	Guitar, Microphone, Stool,	Stereo/IPod, lighting	-          Wearing heels during dance section of the video -          Be aware of the props being used. Don’t break them

Evaluation

As a group, it is important to consider the ‘team’ decision on the creative background of your work. Consequently, while creating the storyboard and the final concept for the AbbieSinger interview, I felt that the decision to shoot in Piccadilly Circus did not do the video any favours. The initial idea of making AbbieSinger look classy and this to be reflected by a sophisticated video, I felt would be let down by the fast paced scenery of Piccadilly Circus, although in the planning stages it seemed a good idea. The shots varied in quality, some shots were blurry and rushed as the camera followed AbbieSinger while she handed out flowers and walked around Piccadilly Circus, whereas other shots were not.

After day two of shooting, I was not happy with the final results we had come up with as a team and therefore introduced a contingency filming day two weeks later. The deadline day was fast approaching and I had nowhere near enough shots or shots that I wanted to incorporate in my music video. Therefore I had to do something about this, I decided to utilise my school resources and close friends who could give me an unbiased review of my work. Influenced heavily by Beyonce’s ‘Listen’ video (director’s cut version) I decided to keep the concept simple yet effective.  And this could be achieved by using the concept of contrasting black and whites. I did this by using the drama studio lighting to create a dark background and a spotlight to shine AbbieSinger the artist.

Part of my concept consisted of using various shots to tell a simple story, the story being Abbiesinger is here to show you here talent. She can sing, regardless her age, gender or race, she has talent! Thus, it became important that the video (varying in shots) did her justice, the props used: a guitar and microphone gave the music video a classical tone. Her make-up (done by Make-up Artist Pavan Bansal) accentuated her face and made it come alive. I was conscious on how easy it could be for my artist to look flat in the dark background that is why her make-up and hair (done by HairStylist Gladys Kabuanga) was done to make compliment the scene, yet simultaneously allow her to stand out.

These shots alone are most definitely my favourite shots of the entire video. This is because it makes the video look more professional as the lightning (done by light technician Victoria Cummings) together with the high definition quality of the cameras enhances the video’s quality. The most effective shot of the entire video is when the artist is sitting down on the stool wearing her grey/black dress and the camera zooms in. I feel this makes the audience feel closer to the artist as right before their eyes the distance between the artist and them decreases. The zooming lens make the artist grow bigger and closer to the onlooker without having a cut and switch to another shot.

Post-Production Editing

The greatest challenged faced while editing my footage was time. I felt as though time was working against me as I tried to edit the clips to create the story I envisioned. This was not because my teacher did not allocate us enough time, quite the contrary, it was simply because I enjoyed experimenting on Final Pro-Cut and the numerous effects fitted well with my concept. This project definitely became a case of where I had to control my creativity to fit the genre. I deliberately did not go against the conventions of the neo-soul genre as I wanted to introduce to the world what type of artist Abbiesinger is through the Media texts; video and the ancillary album cover and webpage. I used the additive transition to help smooth the cuts between clips and to follow well with the smooth tone of the music. This was, mostly in the beginning of the video as well as the end where I used the fade in and fade out effect. In between clips that illustrated a different story, I also used the additive transition to make sure the transition was not abrupt and the audience were not taken aback by the change of scenery.  Nor were they confused by AbbieSinger singing in one shot and then singing the same line of the song in another scene. I enjoyed the task of creating a music video because it enabled me to study in depth and mirror the work of my favourite director Hype Williams. He has inspired me to see music videos as a creative art form beyond just being a 3 minute long advert. His work on videos like ‘Give It Up’ by Pharell Williams as well as the recent hit of Kanye West ft Rihanna ‘All OfThe Lights’ demonstrate the high standards of Hype William’s productions. His use of vibrant colours and fast cutting rates fist the beat of the music perfectly and keeps me interested. He never fails to use vibrant colours that light up the screen and his consistent use of effects drives the narration and gives the videos a creative tone.  As a result, while drafting my concept, I wanted to use similar effects that blended in well with my music and makes the video look effortless, as the song is a slow ballad, I used soft transitions and adjusted the speed on two clips to fit the words of the song and keep the pace of video slow to fit the tempo. A direct replica of Williams work is the section where the video is introduced with the words ‘ABBIE’ and ‘SINGER’ flashing in various bright, engaging colours, growing smaller through each clip. This was done with Kanye’s all of the lights video in mind and I felt it kept AbbieSinger’s video modernised and playful.

My final concept was created by me listening to ‘The Awakening’ for hours on end (in one session it was for four hours) and closing my eyes to vividly picture the music video. I wanted a video that looked like it belonged and enhanced the song, rather than have the song own the video.  As a group we suffered a creative block, where for a short period of time, our ideas lacked structure because they were not realistic. We thought why not have AbbieSinger filmed while swimming under water inspired by Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ album cover or our other ideas where boring and a direct copy of childhood films like High School Musical. So instead, as a group we interviewed our friends in the school common room, and asked them to listen to the music and think of ideas that could be incorporated in the video. Some ideas were good like have AbbieSinger walking on the beach in a long ball gown dress (extravagant mis-en-scene) but again this idea lacked structure: south end beach is hardly idealistic. So, once again I went back to the creative board and watched hundreds of videos of artists in the neo-soul genre (Erykah Badu) as well as artists from alternative genres (Coldplay and Take-That). I felt as if I was running out of time as well as ideas! My group had already gone ahead with the concept of having AbbieSinger walking in the park, but this idea just did not sit right with me. Thankfully, I stumbled across Beyonce’s Listen director’s cut video and thought this is it! I need to make a simple, yet effective video similar to this one. My task was to create an effective visual aid to ‘The Awakening’ and I believe, this task has been fulfilled.  

Producing the Webpage

Originally, I was tutored by an IT teacher on using Dreamweaver to create my webpage. At first I thought this would be easy to use, after all basic instructions are easy to follow. However when it came to me doing it alone at home, the format was too confusing. Sometimes having too many options can be a hindrance rather than a help. My Media teacher advised us to use an alternative website if this was the case. This is when I discovered Create & Design free website and Flash Web Content (wix.com) a simple online website that allows you to easily create what should be a difficult concept: a website!

DREAMWEAVER was too difficult!!

I attempted to use Dreamweaver before I switched to Wix, but the structure of the programme is less flexible than Wix. I think this is mostly because Wix allows you to use a template to structure your ideas, whereas Dreamweaver relies entirely on you creating your own boxes and template. Furthermore, Wix looks more media friendly; the online format uses colours and helpful tutorials to guide you through the process of creating a website whereas Dreamweaver confuses a new user with embedding codes and splits. All I wanted to do was make a webpage; perhaps in the future with more experience, I will be more appreciative of these extras.

                                        

So I used Wix instead: so much friendlier and flexible!!

What I like best about Wix.com is the high level of interactivity it allows the audience to have with the webpage. When the picture in the moving slide show is clicked it enlarges and pops out, this allows the audience to physically get and therefore feel closer to the artist and it enhances the quality of the pictures.

Out of the two, I would most likely use www.Wix.com in the future!

Audience Feedback

From the outline of my webpage here are a few opinions;

AbbieSinger: I really like the way my name is emblazoned across the top of the webpage in bold font. This page looks like a professional webpage, because of the way you structure the different sections – you would find this on a real webpage.

Pavan Bansal: The changes that I think you should make keep writing to a minimal and use lot of illustrations to portray your artist.

Victoria Cummings: Make sure the colour scheme keeps focused so it does not distract the audience; no one wants to go on a website with an overpowering colour scheme that would annoy me!

On the Final Product

James Evans: I like the way you use black, white and yellow only. It makes your webpage look professional and therefore I would enjoy using the website

Gloria Ade: you have managed to sell your product: we see her name in bold and are reminded of the purpose of the website. I like the way we can click on the pictures to enlarge them and the use of multimedia, having the music and other ways to follow the artist as a fan, I really appreciate this!



The Webpage

       Final Product

http://www.wix.com/mz_robyn/abbiesinger2011

As oppose to the main production of the music video and one half of the ancillary task- the album cover, I tried to stick to my plan more accurately. Where I had more time to explore the programmes ‘Photoshop’ and unlimited editing time working with ‘Final Pro Cut’ I could afford to subtract some areas of my plan and put in new things that I discovered post planning. However, I left the production of my webpage to the allocated time of just under a week; this meant I had to stick to my thorough and well structured plan. Because of this, I felt it was important to incorporate most, if not all of the ideas mentioned. Thus, the final product does not differ too much away from the original concept. The only change made was the ‘Sign Up Fans’ box; this does not appear in my final product as Wix.com does not have this installed in their content. Alternatively, I tried to find a Fans box from a real artist website, but their style did not fit my theme.  

My artist’s values are reinforced in all three media texts of the main video and the ancillary tasks. I felt it was important to consistently remind the audience, new and existing fans that my debut artist is who she presents herself to be. With the continually evolving music world an artist can change with the fashion, but should always keep their values and beliefs consistent if they wish to create a loyal fan base. I learnt this from the nine inch nails case study, where the band have existed for over a decade, this must be as a result of consistency. In particular, the webpage reinforces my artist’s belief that music is her passion and her number one priority. This is shown by the several pictures of AbbieSinger performing at gigs with her guitar and the website allows users to listen to her debut song, The Awakening as soon as they enter.

Videos that relate to my final piece!

Jill Scott: Hate on me

It’s similar to my final video because AbbieSinger will be walking in London, river Thames and Piccadilly Circus. She uses various effects to make her video interesting, it’s not just about a woman walking along a side street, but instead she the effects used enables her to bring in surreal objects like a world on a silver platter.

Kanye West ft Rihanna: All of the lights

This is a Hype Williams production and I am inspired by the use of writing, I like how he uses different fonts, colours and effect in order to keep the audience interested. Similarly his cutting rate matches the songs tempo, so it makes the video look sharp and interesting.

Video Concept Part 2

I’ve always been heavily influenced by Hype William productions. His managed to work with the hip hop and RnB giants like Jay-Z and Beyonce, but it wasn’t until he produced my favourite video “golddigger” by Kanye West, that I appreciated his work. Ever since, I have an admiration as well as an obsession with criticising and scrutinizing videos that are made by the great Hype Williams. Consequently, in my final concept I have decided to use a split screen in my video as it often a contrast in colours or patterning can keep an audience attracted to watching the screen. Williams also uses various effects to keep his videos modernised and entertaining, this is often achieved because the effects on screen matches the tempo of the song, sometimes it even helps to make the lyrics dominate more. E.g. YouTube - Kanye West - Gold Digger ft. Jamie Foxx

While researching mainstream artists such as Nelly Furtado, Adele and Leona Lewis, I found out their videos typically have a main story line that unfolds throughout the entire video. Normally this one story line will be the only one and it fits closely to the words in their songs. However I don’t envision AbbieSinger’s video to follow suit because I purposely want to go against the conventions of a slow song but at the same time I want the video to make sense. As this is an A2 piece I feel it would be inappropriate to film naked women/ men simply to shock the audience, instead I have chosen to have my video seem simple yet effective.  



The Making of Katy Perry's Video: California Gurls

 

This has given me a true insight in how 21^st century music videos are produced, the complexity that has undergone in blending the animation together with the live action of Katy Perry and the props on set shows how there are no boundaries in making a music video today. Even though, with the equipment I have available, I could not make a video of this detailed animation, it has inspired me to think outside the box. Katy Perry has illustrated a fictional world into her music video and as a result it has made for an interesting, vibrant video, as quoted from Wikipedia, music videos today do not interpret images from the song’s lyrics, instead they create a fantastical world. 

What is a music video?

According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video a music video is a short film/ video that accompanies a piece of music, it is a marketing device used to promote the sale of music recordings. Many music videos use a wide range of styles, such as animation and live action and many modern music videos do not interpret images from the song’s lyrics, making it less literal than expected.

The first Video to play on MTV’s 24-hour- day music on television was in 1981, The Buggles "Video Killed the Radio Star". The rise of 24-hour-day music channels helped the success of mid 1980s acts such as Madonna and Duran Duran, the revolutionary marketing tool that became the music channels allowed global audiences to watch the highly demanded music videos all day long. Often the same videos would repeat on the channels and with the skillfully constructed and seductive appeal that they the video’s had, audiences had no choice but to be captivated by the phenomenon.

Video Concepts

My first thought was to make a video that mirrored the London culture. By using famous landmarks in London like Piccadilly Circus back drop and the water fountain in Hyde Park, this links to AbbieSinger's culture as she is; a British born Neo-Soul artist.

Another concept that I personally came up with was portraying the life of a bullied teenager who leads a troubled life both at home and in school at the hands of her bullies. The protagonist (AbbieSinger) wants to become a famous musician but she is constantly put down by those who are jealous of her ambition. She is constantly attacked and loses faith in her ability to pursue a music career, this faith in reignited when her only friend enters her for the school talent show and she manages to win the audience votes. * my group like the concept of AbbieSinger being bullied as it works well with the lyrics of her song, however they thought it was too cliché/high school musical and peer assessment in class showed this view was mirrored by three other people.

1st Storyboard

How have subcultures influenced music?

According to the CCCs  there are three theories on how subcultures are formed.
1. The working class and middle class young culture believed the mainstream values are fake. 2. A significant group of people wanted to dress in a manner that reinforced their class origins and displayed their roots.
3. there are counter cultures who need the mainstream values and beliefs as a platform to react against. The resistance is in short an intense burst, before the members re-enter the mainstream. This is also known as Quadrophenia. 


The difference between a subculture and a counter culture is; the subculture depends on the mainstream for something to rebel against while the counter culture desires a revolutionary change.

Mods: 50s Sasha

The Mods were a subculture of the working class late 50s / mid 60s England. They dressed in suits, neat trousers and pointed shoes emulating the middle class generation. Female Mods adopted a boyish image with short hair and dark eyes in order to look more masculine. In the mid 60s there was an employment boom which resulted in teenagers having greater disposable income to spend on weekend away and music. These weekend away were often spent fighting other subcultures such as rockers as this helped both groups reinforce their identities. The film Quadrophenia was a typical interpretation of a Mod lifestyle and the soundtrack music featured such as ‘The Who’ reinforced the Mod values. The music often represented the emotions and feelings which Mod people felt, they rebelled against their parents as they did not want to be like them and so they liked the black culture and music. Consequently dancehall music was popular at soul nights and jazz music was most appreciated by the Mod crowd. Mod fashion was heavily influenced by the European fashion of Italy and France, the band ‘The Who’ wore tailored suits, mohair clothes and thin ties. The revolution of the miniskirt was worn by women for the first time and the big hype behind liberated dressing began.

Hippies: 60s Zara

Hippies were a subcultures derived from the middle class background in Sans Francisco USA. Their ethnic look consisted of head bands, beads, crafty accessories and tie-dye. Their values were more relaxed and casual then other social groups and this was reinforced by their actions of causal sex, taking LSD and smoking weed. Their values often questioned society in an educational manner and had a willingness to conform if they were right, unlike Punk’s they did not necessarily want to attack society.  Although hippies smoked weed, they were oblivious to the negative health implications and instead the hippies used the drug to explore different states of consciousness and alleviate music into a different dimension then it already was within from 50s Elvis Presley era. Music was one of the central means of hippies diverting their values to society and artists such as The Beetles as well as Jimi Hendrix are examples of hippie superstars.  Jimi Hendrix was a black guitarist/singer who performed to the majority Caucasian audiences  and he managed to blend the racist lines through the means of music.

Ravers: 70s Me

Ravers enjoyed having dual lifestyles, one fitted into the mainstream norm while the other was the raving aspect that found blasting a mixture of base and house music entertaining. The raving subculture was derived from the working class homes, and the majority of Ravers found solitude with football. They rebelled against institutions and often had no boundaries to having fun. In the 70s football hooliganism was at its peak and the Raver’s collective identity of loving the passé time of  football resulted with the subculture being involved in the world’s biggest football related riots and fights. Their music is timeless as the Ravers ability to switch between their dual lives will always exist in the world we live in as an alternative to the mainstream is inevitable with varying opinions. In today’s generation the song ‘Flowers’ by Sweet Female Attitude is still hugely enjoyed by Ravers as it was in the 70s.

PUNKS: 70S Zara

The punk culture emerged in the 70s, they were a reaction to the 60s hippies and their physical appearance was to shock and rebel against mainstream society. They achieved this by dyeing their hair bright colours and shaving different parts of the hair and allowing the rest to stand tall and scary. Like many sub-cultures the punk cultures was derived from a poor working-class background. The type of music which they enjoyed listening to were loud, violent music that help put across their values which were often angry and critical of the society they lived in.  In addition to the wild hairstyles they liked to express themselves through cosmetics such as tattoos and piercings. Their nihilistic views of life; doesn’t have to have an objective meaning, often help their artist such as the sex pistols stand out from the crowd. The basic name of ‘sex pistols’ combines the two taboo subject of violence and sex,  and objectifies themselves but in so doing they are in control of empowering themselves.

Goths: 80s Mimz

The Gothic culture was made in 1980s england , it collaborated a mixture of punk, death and Victorian fashion. The values of Goths were spurned by the mainstream perception of normality. They like being ostracised by society and are empowered by the isolation, this is evident through the way they dress in heavy black with platform boots that make them taller and more dominating.  They are a mistaken subculture as many mainstream views of them being sad, unhappy people are often misconceptions as Goths enjoy not being a part of society and are fascinated by the concept of immortality. They are also non-violent pacifist and tolerant people who put up with society’s critique of their elaborate dark clothing  and their music mirrors this. Often the messages sent in their music are deep, dark thought-provoking messages that the Gothic society feel need to be addressed and explored.

Diversity: 00s

Today’s generations has resulted in a number of subcultures growing out as the young generation become the old generation and society’s liberal ways have resulted with very few cultures existing. Inevitably the views of previous subcultures exist, but the desire to rebel against society has died downed because the Youth of today have little worries of being like their parent’s Youth generation. In fact their parent’s Youth generation was far more cooler then the present Youth generation and effectively music has diversified so much that different genre’s are overtly influenced by other musical genres. The Black Eyed Peas an RnB group now make music to cater for the electro fans as well as house fans, this is mainly done through the collaboration of artists such as David Guetta but it also has been done so that music evolves with its time. The Youth of today embrace change and do not like everything being the same as two years previous, but they only like change in small dosage and change that is not extreme. Technological advancements have also helped audiences gain various means of outlets to rebel e.g. Blogging and Facebook allow teens to express their views in a safe environment more easily.

New Methods of AdvertisingView more presentations from msrmedia.

Music Timeline

SubculturesView more presentations from msrmedia.

60s MusicView more presentations from msrmedia.

Advance Portfolio: Deborah Holdstein

Advance Portfolio: Deborah Holdstein: "Music Video Theorist: Deborah HoldsteinDeborah HoldsteinView more presentations from habigail."

Webpage Outlines

Other Music Theorists

Andrew Goodwin Goodwin stated that there were 5 key aspects that music videos can be broken down into:
1) Though beats (seeing the sound)
2) Narrative & performance
3) Star image
4) Relations to the visuals of the video
5) Technical aspects of the video


Akon and Eminem's 'Smack That' is a music video that conveys most, if not all of these elements to an extent: from telling a narrative which somewhat corresponds to the visual stimulations, to the importance of the star's image.

Unique Videos!

and the one which inspired me most:

 I felt it was most appropriate to study this video in depth and to see how an artist singing to the camera can be effective and entertaining. Even though Beyonce is not dancing in the video or their isn't a story line, she still manages to bring what Sven Carlsson considers the performance aspect to the camera. Similarly 'The Awakening' is a song that would not fit a cherographed dance video, and consequently Beyonce's Listen video inspired me to think of ways in which I could make an artist still perform and seem interesting without cherography.

Feminist VS Post Feminist views on WOMEN!

Are women REALLY objectified?

There are two angles in which you could challenge this question, the obvious being a feminist angle where women are sexually objectified. Laura Mulvey a radical feminist believes in a film narration women are often voyeuristically objectified for the male gaze. How the female behaves on screen is determined by the fantasy of males and what they would like a passive woman to be like. While on the other hand Post feminist look at the portrayal of women’s sexuality on screen in an empowering angle. Women choose to embrace and show off their sexual dominance to the inferior males whose desires control them

Case Study Shakira She Wolf

From analysing this video from a post-feminist view these are a few points I have found:  

·         Shakira uses her sexuality to exploit the male onlooker as oppose to being a victim of the male desire. This subverts the typical passive female victim role as the male becomes the victim and Shakira is empowered

·         Shakira is confident with her body and knows she is sexy, this is shown by the way she dances sexually in the video and the fact she is dressed in a tight skin toned body suit also emphasizes her femininity

·         The narration of the play is Shakira being liberated as she leaves her boyfriend in bed and leads a double life at a night club. This is where her inner wolf comes out and her erotic pleasures are displayed to the audience

·         The cage is placed in the video as a prop rather than to restrict Shakira, her sexuality comes out through her thrusting dance moves  

·         Shakira knows she is being watched and is toying with the male spectator. We know this because she is performing to the camera (the audience) rather than a male character in the video

·         Shakira empowers women because she is secure within herself to allow men to sexually admire her body. Consequently a female audience with low self-esteem can aspire to be as confident as Shakira is with oneself

Although AbbieSinger’s character in her music video will not necessarily be sexually focused, I believe it is important to study how women and men are presented in current and past music videos.  It’s clear women in different genres have different roles, for example in a Nelly’s Tip-drill video women are openly objectified, while in Shakira’s She Wolf video she has more control over her actions. In fact she dominates both the narration and performance of the video, I hope to embrace AbbieSinger’s sexuality and empower women but not in the same ways Shakira manages to do so in this video. In order to keep this video appropriate to a young audience I will make sure the content of my music video is suitable to a continental audience of all age.

Nine Inch NailsView more presentations from msrmedia.

Artist: Nine Inch Nails

Controversial Music Videos

It's important to have a target audience in mind while coming up with the concept of our group music video. It is the job of music censorships to regulate music videos so that they are not offensive towards different people. This may be a sexual or racial offence or even gender conflicts that often arise with shocking/controversial music videos.

Studies by OFCOM (2005) points out that parent are worried with the context of music video that can be watched by young children at all hours of the day. Often these videos have explict sexual scenes and glamourize the adult appropriate concept. I linked this finding to a contemporary music video; Rihanna's S&M music video. The video supports the idea of sex and violence pleasing the role model that is Rihanna. Not only do her lyrics confirm her desire to be 'whipped' but the narration in the video explicitly displays this to the audience.

Distressing scenes of violence and sexual innuendos become problematic when Rihanna's young girls/young teenage fan base are influenced by the context of her video and find it 'OK' to behave in similar ways. The music video regulator has restricted the viewing of this video on YouTube - Rihanna - S&M to over 18s only and MTV is considering re-editing it for daytime TV plays. http://www.nme.com/news/daily-gossip/54791