Copyright clearance

Here is a draft of the email I planned to send for copyright clearance of the song:

Moodboard

Copyright Clearance for Final Song

Below is a screenshot of the email we sent Misha B's record label and we are still awaiting their reply.

Final Song Choice

Our final choice of song was Home Run by Misha B. We chose to do it because it is a quick, up-tempo song which gives us lots of freedom to be creative when it comes to editing. We also thought that this song fits a performer who is within our group. This is going to guarantee the reliability of the performer.

Potential songs for music video

When thinking of potential songs for our video we had to bear in mind that it had to be a British artist and at least one of us could be the performer in the video. Considering this, we came up with the following songs:

1. Rita Ora ft Tinie Tempah- R.I.P

     2. Lily Allen- LDN

3. Alexandra Burke- Elephant 

4. Misha B- Home Run

5. Alesha Dixon- He does nothing

5. Cheryl Cole-Promise this

Reflection On Progress

Reflection on Progress

BLOGGING! BLOGGING! BLOGGING!

Its been four weeks into second year (A2) and I'm enjoying this unit of media so far. I do feel like compared to last year my blogging is more detailed and are being posted more regularly, still need to work on meeting the deadlines in class but I'm doing good. I'm on task which I'm happy about.

Three blogging entries I'm pleased with are:

•  Andrew Goodwins Theory: This is because I understood this to an extent. I can clearly distinguish between the three types of videos he explains. I'm happy with this level of understanding.
• Summarising the music industry 2012: I already did the music industry in AS so this was just recapping my knowledge making it easier for me to blog what I already understood. Plus I've always been interested in the whole music industry & labels.
• Re-edited version of last years student music video: Editing the music video of last years student was another thing I  think showed me how much  I've improved. Last year I wasn't really confident using final-cut pro on my own but doing this re-editing made me more confident, its like it was kind of easier.

Three targets to improve my blog:

• Use different types of technology to post blogs, e.g. wordle, prezzi etc
• Blog regularly
• Put more effort in posts I don't really understand, could be better if I seek for help

Re-edited version of previous student music video

This was a previous students remake of Ellie Goulding- I'll hold my breath'

 

In the lesson we had to re-edit this previous student music video. We used final cut pro, and all the clips were mixed up. first of all I found the actual soundtrack and placed it on the timeline.

 

 

 

 

 

Then grabbed a clip and put marker exactly when she starts to sing to match in time with when the actual singer is about to sing.

 

Sometimes when I was watching the clip I found it hard to see where the girl had started to sing so I switched the clip to stereo which made it easier as i did not need to look at her mouth but hear it first.

 

 

The clips of them videoing also had some irrelevant sounds so after I marked where they started singing, then after draging it down to the timeline with a button which looked like a house I then muted that clip.

When I finished using all the clips and placing them on the timeline I got the eraser and marked points tried to do it on the beat so it would change between scenes neatly.



Re-Edited version of last year's music video

Skills audit

Planning music video - potential songs

Alexandra Burke - Elephant in the room
Cheryl Cole- Promise this
Rita Ora and Tinie Tempah - Rip
Adele- Cold Shoulder
Ellie Goulding- Stary eyed

Final Song Choice

Misha B=Home Run 

The State Of The Music Industry in 2012 (Summary)

Re-Edited version of a student last year student work

a screen shot of the girl starting to sing in one of her base tracks

closeup of the singer

low angle closup

 

 

Above are a few screen shots and a re-edited version of an ex-students work that we did in lesson.

What I found difficult was trying to get the girls lips in sync with the music and also in this video in particular she doesnt really move her lips so its hard to make out what part of the song she is at. In the end I got it in sync kind of but i found it extremely difficult. I found it good practice, when we were re-editing it we used final cut pro which is the software we use for editing clips.

 

This year and last year I found using Final cut pro hard software to work with however i have enjoyed learning how to use a new type of technology. The advantage we had re-editing before we began hooting our movie is we know a few of the difficulties we could face when filming and also we knew more of what the video needed to include. The difficulties we found were obviously were to make sure you sing and move your mouth so its easier to edit. Another difficulty we found we may face was the issue with lighting as we wanted to film a section of our video in the night time and that issue was raised. Another advantage was the use of base tracks although there was a flaw to the way the singer was mouthing the words, this group from last year had at least twenty base tracks and costmes and the setting mached the music very well so all of this was good to see before we began shooting.

AS practical work skill development

Last year we filmed during the winter so we had to be careful with the equipment as it snowed on one of the days we were planning to film this caused us safety issues and also we were held back because of the camera and we were filming outside. We were filming a thriller and obviously the purpose of a thriller is to thrill the audience, the lighting for our group was a big issue because where we filmed (CULPEPPER) was a small park and a few shots in a block. We made the practical error of filming the park scenes in the day and then the block scenes in the night which made the thriller very unrealistic and didn't catch the attention we needed from the viewers.

In this shot we blurred the image to make the scene more distorted and like a thriller 

In this scene we have taken an establishing shot in order to set the scene 

we tried to make our movie as realistic as possible and the use of the low angle shot
in the night turned out to be very effective

again with the use of mise en scene with the prop of the bat and the dark clothing our actor was in 

the use of the special effects blurring from one scene into another and also the use of the yellow eye.

Analysis of a music video explaining my views on why its a great example ?

                                                  CAMERA ANGLES=

High angle shot of missy Elliot to show her dominance as a women with dignity and who generally keeps her clothes on in music videos.

This shot is of Ciara they are dismembering her - this is cutting to just sexual parts of the female body this is rarely done to men and is always done to women. This is an example of disjuncture-(this is where in music videos mostly toward women certain parts of their bodies are in the camera). This is what Laura Mulveys theory is all about – the male gaze

                                                   MISE EN SCENE= 

This shot Ciara only takes up a little part of the screen and is also dressd in next to nothing this again shows society and the male gaze also the rule of 3rd. Ciara only takes up 2 3rds showing her not to be as dominant as the male singer should be. If the main singer was male it would have him taking u much more of the frame.

Framing the women in this shot are not centre screen and do not take centre stage which they should all of the empty space in the shot is a way of showing their femininity even though the song is all about working like a man does. The costume for this shot also fits to the stereo type of the male gaze as the women are dressed like builders but in a sexier style where more skin is showing

Props - the truck in the background of the shot is seen to be a man’s tool and the shot makes Ciara the artist look so little and completely not dominant in the shot

EDITING&SOUND=

*Throughout this short extract I took of the original, its the start of the video and we see several types of editing shots. There are several jump cuts and then we see the black and white bold writing and the quick jump cuts to that work very well with the sound in the song.

*The sound in the video is very fast paced and the editing shots help to show this when the camera moves to the beat for instance in the beginning of the video when the music is just starting and the pace is slow the editing and jump cuts are not as noticeable as they are in the chorus for instance

The audience: the audience for this type of video will be women and young girls from the ages of about 14 - 28 and obviously it will attract young boys and men because of the costume within the video and also the dancing. The way women hold and look on the television present themselves really has an affect on the profit and how well a video or artist does. 

Music Industry 2012

In the music industry this year there are 3 big record companies previously known as the 'Big 4'. 75-80% of theses companies are the music industry. The 3 big records are

1. Sony Corporation:  They own sonyTV, hardwares,phones,headphones etc. The major record company under this label is 'Sony music'. Where under them there us columbia and epic records. Artists such as Beyonce, Usher, Adele are signed to the major.
2. Acess Industries(AIT): They own TV gold and lots of other real estate properties. There major record company is Warner Music who have subsidary companies like; atlantic, sire, grand hustle. Artists such as Madonna, T.I, PlanB, Bruno mars etc are signed to this label.
3. Vivendi: They own telephone communications, tv channels, video games etc. The major under them is Universal music group. This is the largest of the big 3 since it bought out EMI. Subsidary lables under them are; GOOD music, def jam, roca-fella, cash money etc. Artists such as drake, Kanye west, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna etc are signed to these subsidaries and major.

Each one of them are called a conglomerate. This means when there is a big umbrella label which contains and own lots of tiny other labels.

Previous Student Review

This is a previous student music video which is my favourite. They focus on the three main technical areas in a music video; camera, mise en scene and editing.



Mustafa, Nick, Poppy, Charon from 283goswell on Vimeo.


The genre of this song is indie-rock. I think the whole video is amazing, I felt connected and intrigued into the video right from the beginning it just grabbed my attention.
The video represents the artist as a solo artist. It could also be said to represent women as free, running free in the video could explain the freedom.

Relating this video to Andrew Goodwin's theory, it is evident that this is a disjuncture music video. It expresses the opposite between the lyric and the video, very little connection between them.
The editing and camera shots/angles in this video can also be referred back to Carol Vernallis's theory. Her statement that "edits in music video come much more frequently than films." This is backed up in this music video and being disjuncture also creates this to stand out as the edits are to the beat what she calls a 'rhythmic basis'. I think there not being any continuity editing draws a lot of attention to the video.
I also liked the amount of jump cuts, movement of the camera and also the effects used. This in my view contributed to the success of the video.
The locations they set there music video was also interesting, they made very good use of them. My best one was when she was in front of the projector where the background changed quite frequent. made it effective.

I also liked the way they edited this part in the beginning she was in the same location but on the beat again they edited it so she was at different positions but in the same location.

Music and making it without a label

Grime aritists are the ones who have established themselves without the help of a record company. They have found new and excting way of getting their music released to their audiences. Grime established itself using Pirate radio and mixtapes and dvd's

 

Grime artists have been inspired by Artists like Jay-z. These aritists has an illegal lifestyle that they pumped the profits into their music to create their own buzz. Jayz is now a multi millionaire and he has still kept himself down to his down to earth roots that started his career.

JME seen in the picture below is another grime artist he is a north london (rapper,producer,director and label boss) Jme is a prime example of a grime artist he resisted the recording contracts offered to him to enjoy his own creative freedom and the freedom to market any way he wanted.  Jme has a personal connection to his fans and he found a brilliant way to market his music with his self promoted mix tape. Jme offered a free ipad to a fan personally delievered by himself to help create an create an edge for himself and keep his buzz going and to help his audience aged from 16-late 20's keep buying his music.

TOPSPIN

This is a service that is used to help keep artist independant while keeping the components of a campaign professional. Topsins ides is to protect and manage any part of the campaign which doesn't have any personal essence to it. Topspin fills in the gaps of the project and the artist can expect efficiency and at a good price. Your only independant when you own more of your act or group then a record company does.

Vernalisis' Theory

Carole Vernallis studied the editing and camera work of music videos. She found that the editing in a music video is much more frequent than in film, that the cuts are usually to a rhythmic basis and that most stand out as disjuncture.

Her main observations were:

• They don't follow the usual rules of 'continuity editing'.
• Edits can often be very ovious to draw more attention to themselves.
  For example, wipes and special effects such as slow motion.
• Jump cuts are used often
• Structure is usually made up of a master shot (base track)
• The camera often moves in time with the music

Examples of this are:

We Are Young by Fun ft. Janelle Monae

This video uses obvious use of slow motion and a clear base track of the band performing on stage.

Rolling In The Deep by Adele

The base tracks used in this vary between her sitting in the chair, the dancer in the smoke, the glasses full of water and the broken china. The camera pans slowly but increases with the tempo with the music and the cuts between the shots are in time to the beat.

Function of a music video

Music videos were created  for many reasons one of the biggest is to entertain, the other is to make money for the artist and the record company they are with. The music industry is money hungry and will try all they can to produce profit. Due to the piracy uproar in the 90's the music industry lost loads of money which has resulted in  deals like the 360 ( this is where artists have movie deals,perfume etc) The music videos are now made more extravegant to attract more fans as the music and the buying of music has dropped tremendously the last few years.

360 DEALS-Essentially it involves artists sharing every type of income stream they generate, whether it is from the sale of recordings, songs, live performances, merchandising, sponsorship or endorsements. 360-degree deals are now recognised as an important business model for the music industry. With declining physical record sales and widespread digital piracy, they provide a potential opportunity for labels to work in conjunction with artists to help maximise income from publishing, merchandising and sponsorship

Madonna and jay-z are well known artists that have got 360 deals. 

Music videos are an advertisement and a statement about who the artist is and they allow the audiences whoever they may be to feel a connection to the artist. An example of one of my favourite aritists is Michael Buble. He is big band artist nd his videos vary but his type of music is the same constantly. Michael sings about women and romance.

The reason Michael Buble and his music stand out to me is because of his videos are shot in different and strange setting and all of his songs are about real love not sex and about discriminating against women and using their bodies as sex objects. As shown in the photo bucket below screen grabs of a few of Michaels videos you can see that the women are all dressed and the women are strong and equal and this is different from the usual women and the way they are portrayed in the media. 

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin's theory was pop videos don't follow the same approach as novels or films; he believes that traditional narrative analyses don't apply to pop videos.

The reason for this is because

1. The videos are built around the songs
   Usually the song does not follow a traditional narrative structure (of normality - problem - resolution) and so having a video that does this is often unnecessary
2. Usually the singer is used as both the narrator and as a character
3. The singer will often look directly into the camera
   This is to make the viewer at home feel involved with the performance.

The videos will often on repetition of the same images (in the same way that the song will repeat the chorus or lines). The audience are often showed familiar images through intertexuality, too, which gives an impression of what genre the song will belong to. Ultimately, the video is used as advertisement and repeating the same thing over and over is a way to make it stick with the viewer.

There are three types of relations between songs and videos

Illustration - where the song tells the story of the lyric.

eg. Thriller by Michael Jackson

Amplification - where the video does not contradict the lyrics, but adds more layers of meaning.

eg. Lego House by Ed Sheeran

Disjuncture - where there is little/none connection between the lyric and video.

eg. Somebody That You Used To Know by Goyte ft. Kimbra

Music video analysis

I think that Frank Ocean's video for Thinking About You is a good example of a well made music video.

The video tells the story of a doctor (Frank Ocean) telling his patient, the little boy, a made-up story to soothe him after his parent's were severely injured. The video cuts between these wild, magical-feeling shots (that are tinted with a grainy feel) and the shots in the hospital room.

The video is unusal and it took me viewing it more than once to understand the plot properly.

That being said, technically the video is very good. It has a range of very interestings shots, for example, this extreme close up:

The video also uses lot of movement (eg, pan shots and p.o.v shots) in the 'story telling' scenes to add to the fantasy theme.

Similiarly, in the scenes in the hospital room, to make the little boy seem more small and vulnerable, lots of long-shots are used.

Functions of a music video

What makes a good music video?

• It should be a good reflection of the artist/brand.
  
• Relevent to the atmosphere
  
• A variety of camera shots and angles
  
• Quick editing to the beat
  
• Creative
  
• Interesting costumes/clothing
  
• Reflection of the lyrics

Reflection on AS year

Over the summer, to experiment with the idea of making a music video, we remade the video to Vogue by Madonna (http://www.summerworkprojects12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/nevin-clinton-aisha-take-two.html). Overall, I would say that the standard of our music video was poor due to many aspects (such as limited time, space, performers) but there were both strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths:
- We had a good performer which meant that when it came to editing, it was much easier to put it in synch with the music. This task showed me how much of an impact the actual performer themselves can have on the work.

Weaknesses:
- Some of the framing of our shots were very poor. A lot of the shots had a lot of access space that could have been cut out so that more of the attention was on the performer.

- We didn't have much footage itself and so cutting between basetracks was difficult as there was only so much to use.

- The lighting and setting was very bad. More than once I noticed where we could have cleared the background quicker or moved the light slightly.

Skills I learnt from this task:

- I learnt the importance of having a wide section of solid base-tracks. It makes the editing process much easier.

- I learnt how to edit cuts on the beat.

- I learnt the importance of making sure you have a strong performer that lip synchs well so that when it comes to editing it is easier to match up.

Review of my favourite previous students video

Below is my favorite previous students music video. They re-created Florence and the Machine - Howl. The genre of the music is Indie Rock and I feel the most suited idea of Goodwin's for this video would be Disjuncture as there is little connection between the video and the song. However, in regards to editing the video had an excessive amount of shots and base tracks which I admired and it moved exactly to the beat. Additionally, in terms of representation, I feel the performer represented freedom and she was breaking free from something that was holding her back. Also, I think this video will present her as a solo artist.
 
Mustafa, Nick, Poppy, Charon from 283goswell on Vimeo.

The best example of the music video form - Analysis

Functions of a music video

Copyright Clearance

Structure of the record industry & record labels

The importance of music videos to the Industry & Fans.

Pitch Simulation Activity - Pitching for a video contract

Laura Mulvey

Carol Vernallis

Andrew Goodwin

Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey looks at the representation of music videos. she quotes:

"In a mans 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 styled accordingly"

 

 

From this quote we can conclude that:

• women are passive and men are active in music videos
• women are styled accordingly, portrayed to suit the 'male gaze fantasy'
• when talking about 'male gaze' it is that we presume the male audience/ man is doing the looking

This view of Mulvey could be seen as relevant in todays society, especially when it comes to genres such as hip hop, rap, grime.

Mulvey also says how women are disemembered, that is a focus not on a woman as a whole but parts of their body, while men are shown as a whole.She expresses this is the case in all forms of media.

Laura argues that this is because of the obsession that us women have with specific parts of our body. (E.g bum, legs,breasts etc)

 

 

This video is a perfect example of what Mulvey is talking about.
 

Carol Vernallis

Vernallis observed that edits in music videos come much more frequent than in films, they have edits which are on a rhythmic basis closely connected to the song.
She also says:

• Match-cuts in music videos are broken-this is done in order to draw attention to what is on the screen
• Edits are at times obvious to draw attention to themselves. e.g. wipes, fade outs-ins, other special effects.
• Lots of jump cuts are used
• Slow motions are used
• Base track (master shot) which is used to give the video a structure.

1. Jay-Z & Kanye West: N*ggas in Paris- This video illustrates her idea of the edits, they are so obvious.

 

 

  2. Beyonce: Countdown

 



 

  3. Chris Brown: Turn up the music

 

 









Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin believes that the traditional narrative analyses don't apply to pop music videos. He says three things to explain:

• Pop videos are built around songs
• Pop videos use singer(s) as the narrator& character
• Artist often looks dirctely at the camera, involving the viewer at home with the performance

He also explains how pop videos are repetitive, they repeat images in the way that songs repeat choruses/lines. The reptition acording to Goodwin is how we become familiar with the genre of the artist then start to build expectations.
The three minute song a video is on must have an ending, which is reflected through the structure of the music.

Andrew also distinguishes 3 types of relations between songs and videos:

Illustration: This is where the video is not always literal. It often tells the story of the lyric, in most cases dance is used to express the feelings&moods in the song.

 

 

 

Amplification: This is when the video adds new layers of meaning to the song that do not express with the lyrics.

 



 

Disjuncture: This is where there is little connection between the lyric and video or expresses the opposite between the lyric & video.

 

 

Music Video Analysis!

A good example that I feel shows the functions of what music video should have is Rihanna- 'We Found love' ft.Calvin Harris.
This video was actually shot in the England, so I think they really made a good video despite she is an american based singer.

The storyline of the video shows a love-hate relationship between Rihanna(singer&main character) and her boyfriend. We see how in love they are with each other in the beginning, then to the middle of it all they begin to experience difficulties argue and it gets a bit physical. After having enough of it all she then decides to leave him. Throughout the video you can tell that drugs have a big influence on both of their behaviours. I thought this was portrayed throughout the video.

Looking back at the functions of a music video, this video:

• Reflected the lyrics
• It was interesting & matched the theme in terms of costume.
• Video reflected the atmosphere of the song
• It wasn't all that creative, I feel like the editing made it seem creative.

Functions of a Music Video

• It must have a message
• It must be creative
• It should reflect lyrics
• It must include good editing
• Editing is quicker than doing a thriller. Music videos edit on the beat.
• Must include lots of different camera shots
• Must be interesting and match the theme in terms of costume
• Video must reflect the atmosphere of the song. For example a summer tune would be set in an appropiate place, not in the snow.
• It should have a good storyline
• You expect the artist to be in it, but it does'nt always have to be like this.
• Promotes the music & artist
• Creates a brand

Copyright Clearance

These are a few record lables/ artists that i have asked for permission to use their songs. They have been mainly artists from genres that I listen to.

So far, I've had only one reply which was from Wretch32's management, still awaiting a few others.

Technical skills developed over the course of AS

Skills I think I developed during AS were things like:

• How to use final cut pro- not just learning how to use it but being able to try new things to make my thriller look better such as the effects we used & moving clips around if we didn't think it looked good there.
• Camera skills- Learning how to make sure your shots are tight, remebering things like rule of thirds and 180 degree rule which is used during conversations. Also knowing the meaning of some shots, like high angle puts pressure on the actor where as a low angle would make that person look supreme in most cases.
• Mise en scene- Knowing that location is really important, films/music videos have to be set in a location where props, lighting and everything else make sense to what the thing is all about. Mise en scene is really important, it sets the mood/atmosphere which gives a lot off to the audience.
• Editing- This was probably what I think was the hardest part of AS, but its the most crucial part which I feel I really learnt about throughout the year. Remembering stuff like cutaway's, cut in's, cross cuts, match cuts this I think has stuck through me and I hope to be able to put it in when doing my music video this year.

Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey said that

"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."

To me, what Mulvey is saying is that in film or tv, even today, the assumed audience of a film or music video is always male. This means that the portrayal of women will always be for the benefit of men (ie. as sexual objects or comedic relief). In music videos, this theory is evident in mostly rnb and pop muisc.

An example of this would be Dizzee Rascal's Holiday.

This music video follows many typical representations that we would expect to see in this genre of music. For example, it's set at the pool side in a the sun, there's lots of materialistic objects (ie big gold jewellery, phones) there are a large amount of female dancers in almost every shot - all of which are dressed in bikinis - while the male performers have on full clothes.

Mulvey also has the idea of dismemberment in the forms of media - where the focus is not made on the woman as a whole but on parts of her body (eg. her legs, or bum, or stomach). She argues that this is the reason for women's obsession with their body parts while men are usually shown as a whole.

This video follows this idea - the woman in the bikini is rarely shown as a whole, instead it cuts to close ups of her legs or stomach or bum or chest while Dizzee Rascal, the performer, is always shown fully dressed.

Reflecting back on the AS year

The music video remake that I produced along with my group in summer, can be found on www.summerworkprojects12.blogspot.com I would say it was very bad.

3 technical weaknesses of this video:

• The editing: Editing was not done properly. There was times where the lip syncing was too slow or it was just cut in a way which made it look a bit messy & at the end you could see the performers walk off the green screen, making it look rather unprofessional.
• Camera shots: There could have been more shots, especially because editing is rather fast on this song but the we tried to get most shots like the original one.
• Mise-en-scene: I felt like the location was good as it resembled the actual video a bit but I just think we didn't have the right or all the props that was needed for the video, so this is something I feel will be sorted out when doing another one this year.

Strengths of this video:

• Camera shots: They were tightly framed a bit when needed. e.g the close up when someone is playing on the keyboard/gituar. That was a good shot.

Other than that, I don't really see the technical strengths this video had it wasn't good now looking back at it. I hope that during the A2 course pick up more skills so that my video can be way better than this practise remake.

CopyRight access research

RITA ORA

The artist that I decided to email and ask for permission to use their song was Rita Ora. She is an up and coming young British singer songwriter and actress, born on the 26th of November 1990. She was born in Yugoslavia and then moved to England and attended Sylvia Young Theatre school and then got her a-levels in St Charles Sixth Form College. The reason I chose Rita Ora as my artist was because she is hip and trendy and her songs are fun wild and interesting, another reason was because she is like an idol to those who dream of fame. She attended a college where many people I know attend (St Charels) and she was just a lucky young women and is very inspirational in the way that she shows people who work hard enough can make it.

http://rocnation.com/about/