Inspiration

I began research of other music videos currently already published and find inspiration on the type of music video that I would like to create.

Before I could decide on what genre I wanted my music promo package to be, I wanted to research online the process of how to plan a music video of low budget, so that I could follow the same technique.

I decided to search into the Google search engine: "How to create a music video of low budget" and found several websites relevant.

However, the only website that I found very useful was the following:

https://mygigs.com/blog/how-to-make-a-low-budget-music-video/

I feel that this website would be very helpful and would help me a lot during the planning and pre-production stages that of my music video. Including tips of how to manage my cost and provides ideas for low-budget locations.

Music Video Inspirations -



I found this music vide very inspiring as I felt it was so creative and original, as I had never seen anything like it before.  I loved the brilliant use of special effects and editing throughout the video.



I found this music video inspiring as I really enjoyed the narrative and wanted to incorporate parts of it into my own music video. For instance I enjoyed how the audience were let in on her secret of knowing about the affair and felt that the audience can sympathise with her as they are apart of her emotional journey. I felt that this video connected the audience with the music video really well and want my music video to have the same effect.



This music video really inspired me as I felt the narrative was something that would be able t connect to a lot of audience members and was very similar to the narrative idea that I have. Furthermore, I also enjoyed the special effects included throughout the video, such as the use of slow motion, which I found really effective and would want to incorporate into my own music video.

What makes a good product

As part of my research I went on youtube and watched several music channels to watch a range of music videos to analyse both the positive and negative aspects of them. Below I have included a selection of some of the videos that I watched, spanning across several genres and have briefly summarised them.

The conventions of a good music video are:

This music video does not have a narrative as it is purely a performance and more of an abstract music video. However it does feature some conventional features of a pop music video with the use of costume, props and locations.

Positives:

• Editing pace matches the tempo of the song
• Some events of the music video match the lyrics of the song
• Colourful use of costume and location which is engaging to watch and was considered effective at the time the video was published as colour film was not very popular, therefore demonstrating a lot of money was spent on the video. Also the bright colour allows the band to stand out and suggests that at the time they stood out from all other bands and artists. It also attracts a female teenage audience, which would of been there main target audience, with the use pink in the costume and the background.
• Use of performance - Lip-synching and band iconography of instruments
• With the location of them on stage, and the use of the performance element of them lip-syncing, creates an image of what they would be like at a live concert and sttracts the audience to want to go and see them live.

Negatives:

• Lack of narrative
• Length of shots too long, gets boring
• Bad use of cinematography, shots of band members poor as missing their heads off and extra space not needed.
• Poor camera movement due to lack of editing

This music video is also of the pop genre and also does not have a narrative, it is an abstract video which continually consists of the performance element. It contains many conventional features of pop music videos such as costume, props and locations.

Positives:

• Good use of mise-en-scene, with costume and the colour theme all matching and suiting the pop style.
• Fast paced editing which matches the tempo of the song
• Good use of cinematography which includes a wide range of different camera angles and shots which keeps the video interesting
• Many elements of performance such as lip-synching and dance choreography which is conventional of the genre, but also is enjoyable to watch.

Negatives:

• Slightly too repetitive which could appear quite boring
• No narrative so therefore no relationship between the music video and the lyrics
• Lack of different locations as it was all filmed in a studio, which although is conventional for an abstract pop music video, but it came across repetitive.

This music video also is a prime example of Laura Mulvey's theory of the media portraying women to please men. For example, with the use of camera shots accentuating certain areas of the female body; along with the use of mise-en-scene as the main artist's costume is a short dress which may e appealing to the male audience.



This music video is of the Indie genre and consists fully of narrative as it features no abstract qualities or performance element. In addition, it does consist of some conventional features that you would see in other music videos of the indie genre.

Positives -

• Emotive narrative which matches emotive song and genre, keeps the audience intrigued.
• Editing matches the pace of the song
• The dark lighting and filter matches the sombre mood
• Unexplained storyline, encourages audience's own interpretation

Negatives -

• The music video does not match the lyrics
• Shots on for a long period of time, quite boring
• Not a wide variety of cinematography
• No special effects which although add to the theme of realism, does appear quite boring
• No performance element

Knowing what audiences consider to be a good music video is beneficial to me, as I can apply the results that I have collected from my research and can apply this to the production of my music video, so that it appears professional and aesthetically pleasing.

The Brief

A promotion package for the release if an album to include a music promo video together with two other products:

• A cover for it's release as past of a digipak (CD package)
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD package)

Skills Development Essay

Skills development essay from rubymoorex

Evaluation

11. What did you find the most challenging and why?

Throughout the whole process of producing the product, I found that the most challenging part was learning how to use the equipment and software which I have not used before. Such as how to use the recording cameras and tripod; but especially with the editing software, which I have never come across before. It took me a while to learn how to use the programmes and therefore I found this challenging. Furthermore, the music video that we used features complex editing techniques, such as reversing the video and recording parts in slow motion, therefore I found this challenging to produce.

22. What will you do differently when you make your A2 product next year?

Next year when I produce my A2 product I will make sure that I plan a lot more thoroughly and in advance, as I felt that a lot of time was spent on debating with my group members on who would perform what roles and on deciding which video we wanted to replicate. So next time I will make sure that I plan the procedure well in advance so that I have a lot of time to thoroughly decide how I will film and also make sure that the video is best suited for me.  Another process would be to get organised and prepare the video sooner, as I felt the video was rushed and was not produced to the highest standard due to the time limit. For example, we could not fulfil the exact same costumes and props that we had planned, including the male's costume was not casual clothing, instead it was school uniform which was not the plan. Also, we did not have access to a breezeblock s therefore we had to compromise with a brick instead, which did not connect the video to the lyrics

33.    How has doing this task helped you and why? What have you taken away from this experience?

By doing this task it has helped me in several ways; such as it has helped me improve my filming abilities and understand and learn new processes that I will be able to take forward into other projects. In addition, I have also become familiar with how to use new software’s such as creating our video on ‘Final cut pro’ on an apple mac, which I have never used before and therefore have learnt the basics of how to use it. Furthermore, this has helped me to develop my editing skills and has allowed me the opportunity to be able to use the software when working on my A2 project. Moreover, I will make sure that I plan and prepare for my music video in advance so that I can produce it to my best ability.

4.     How successful was your product? Why do you think it was successful or unsuccessful?

I felt that our video was quite successful as we managed to film the majority of scenes that were in the original video to a good standard and we were able to film in similar settings to the original video. However I feel that more time needed to be spent on the filming process as we were unable to film all of the minor scenes due to timing and it did not feature all of the costumes, props and locations that we had planned. Furthermore, some of the scenes that were filmed could be improved to a better standard so that they look as effective and realistic as the original music video.

5.     How do you feel about developing to A2 level now you have completed this task?

Since I have completed this task I feel a lot less nervous about the whole procedure as I now have a vague idea of what shooting my music video will be like, such as I am now familiar with the software that I would use to edit with and how to work the recording camera’s and tripods as I have never used them before. Also I feel that am able to understand the mistakes that I made when filming this time and would be able to learn from them and improve when working on my A2 project. After this experience I have become very excited about developing to A2 level and feel like I can prepare in advance for the task.

6.     What do you like most/least about your final product?

With my final product, the factor I like the most is how we have creatively been able to edit the video so that it is similar to the original video. For example, the original video is edited after it has been filmed so that it is in reverse. We wanted to be able to incorporate this technique into our video as we felt the style was very creative and we wanted to be able to keep the video as close to the original as possible. Although we found this challenging I felt it made justice to our video and appeared very aesthetically pleasing. However, the factor that I liked the least about our final product is the quality of filming, which I think let the product down. For instance, due to us not planning for long enough we had very limited time to film the video. Therefore this affected certain scenes as they did not look as good as the scenes in the original video. Initially, all of the clips with water running from a tap in reverse was not captured well as the audience is unable to identify that the video is reversed. Furthermore, the quality of the acting could be improved as in certain parts the actors would go out of character for example.

However overall, I am happy with the progress that I made whilst producing this task and am happy with my final product.

Lyric Analysis

Lyric Analysis

Lyric Analysis of Breezeblocks by Alt J

/ = cut

“She may contain the urge to run away but hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks” This line last 5 seconds

(This line coincides with the first shot of the video where the woman is laid in a bath filled with water with a breezeblock on top of her. (To recreate this safely, we will film the shot similarly to the original however we will have someone holding the heavy object outside of the camera shot so that the actress doesn’t get injured.)

To create the dark image that the lyrics portray we are going to use low exposure on a camera. Also we are going to reduce the colour contrast post recording to create disorientation and confusion

There’s a 1 second pause, then there is a cut to the next scene with the guy with his head in his hands- with the lyric “Cetirizine, your fever’s gripped me again, never kisses, all you ever send are full stops” from 06-11 seconds

Then there is a cut to a close up of the guy’s wedding ring during the “la la la la” bit at 0.12 seconds

There is then a cut to a tap running in reverse “do you know where wild things go? They go/ along and take your honey/” with shots inbetween of the woman in the bath and shots of the tap.

Next there is a “La la la la” bit where there is a short, second long shot of the woman in the bath with the water sloshing around with a shot reverse shot from the tap to the woman.

Then there is another shot of the man with his head in his hands at a medium close up when the lyrics are ”break down and weep, build up breakfast now let’s eat, my love, my love/( cut to close up of man with head in hands), love/(cut to close up of woman’s hand), love”/ ( cut to shot of her in the bath with water swirling around)- these scenes coincide with the rhythm of the song- every beat is a new shot in this part

The next line is “muscle to muscle and/ toe to toe, /the fear has gripped me but here I go.” –the shot starts with the man just after he throws a breezeblock at her. It then cuts to another shot of the woman in the bath with the water swirling around, then back to the man just before he throws the block at her. There’s then another shot of the water running in reverse whilst the lyrics are “my heart sinks as I/ jump up” with a cut to the man chasing her into the bathroom at “jump up” also theres a shot of the man chasing the woman for 9 seconds whilst the lyrics are “Your hand grips hand as my eyes shut and ohhhh ohhhh oh.” Theres a second set of “ohs” straight after which cut to the kitchen where he first starts chasing her with a breezeblock.

A2 Media Studies - Breezeblocks