Cover art blog

Animatic

Storyboard

Animatic

 This is my groups Animatic for our music video project. Which will help us plan exactly what we want in the video. 

Audience Research

For my audience research I will be asking a lot of different questions.  These could be some of them.

What genre of music do you like?
What makes an artist memorable?
Do you watch music videos?
Why?
How often do you watch music videos?
What makes a good music video? 
Name an artist?

There I may present this information by using a:

• Survey 
• Vox Pop
• Focus Group
• Questionnaire 
• Interviews

Artist use their music video as a way of promoting their song. Especially if they are a new artist and want to create a fan base and have more publicity. 

An example of synergy would be the artists Ariana Grande and the weeknd collaborating, as they are two different types of artists. Although they came together and made this song, to connect their fan bases together and for higher youtube views.

A model of the media

Creating an image (Mood board)

This are the pictures of my group creating our mood board and sharing our ideas for our music video.  It was decided that our location would be the London eye and Winter wonderland. Our Mise en scene will be Christmas themed jumpers and black jeans. 

Treatment

Risk Assessment

Group Members:Stacey Talbot, Michael Rhodes, Royce Balogun & Laura Bankole         Location: London

Hazard	Person(s) at Risk	Likelihood of Hazard 1 – Extremely Unlikely 5 – Extremely Likely	Severity of Hazard Outcomes 1 – Very Low Risk 5 – Very High Risk	Risk Level (Likelihood + Severity) 2	Measures to Take to Manage Risk	Risk Managed? Y/N
Open fires	4	2	1	3	Make sure that you are a few feet from the fire	y
Tripping on wires	4	3	1	4	To make sure you don’t trip and hurt yourself	y
Loads of people	4	3	3	6	You could be trampled on.	y
Fall in the water	4	2	2	4	The water is open	y

Contacts

Emergency Service: 999        
Robert Clack School:017086143738
Other Contacts:            079781635893

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule Day Scene Location Equipment Costumes Props Cast +Crew 1 2 London Eye Winter Wonderland camera and tripod   camera       and tripod   Christmas jumpers and normal jumpers, black jeans, beanie and white t-shirt.(girl)...nice shoes, dressed up hair and make up done and nice winter clothes. jeans, shirt, jackets and hats. microphone microphone Stacey Talbot,Laura Bankole, Michael Rhodes, and Royce Balogun Stacey Talbot, Laura Bankole, Michael Rhodes, and Royce Balogun

Costumes and Props

Character Name: Royce
Costume:Christmas jumper, black jeans, beanie, and a white t-shirt	Props:
Character Name:michael
Costume: wooly jumper, beanie, black jeans and a white t-shirt	Props:
Character Name:girl
Costume: matching christmas jumper, jeans and heels	Props:

1st Production meeting

The first production meeting did go well, as we were able to decide what type of music video we wanted and where is should be done. As well as identifying the risks that may occur when we film our music video, and how to avoid them. 

Gaining Permission

We manged to get a reply from Excellent, they were fine with us using their song.

Excellent Gentlemen lyrics

Verse 1

From the time that we met baby

I could tell you had things that a guy like me needs

You didn’t have to front to make an impression

Though my feelings followed you through a natural progression

Now you hold all my dreams inside this too/tool

So I wish I could lay beside/inside of you

It’s your personality that I miss when you’re gone

So strong I gotta sing a song

Baby x 4

Chorus

Girl this is just to show I care about you

And you can guess these things that I wanna do with you

Wish that it could be that you were here with me

Baby you gotta believe

Verse 2

I didn’t know baby

The effect of your love on me

Don’t you know I still see the light?

No matter how far apart we could be

Chorus. 

Artist profile

Excellent Gentleman

Band Members: Jefferson Sechs, Steveland Swatkins, David Valentine, Dominic Phenomenal and PJ Snaxx
Genre: R&B/Soul/Funk
Location: Oregon, America
Been Active Since: 2009 


Excellent Gentlemen plays danceable, vocal soul r&b music. Think '70s block parties and the foundations of golden-age hip-hop records. Their music stands for positivity, love, happiness and getting sexy; this is definitely NOT the drudgery of mediocre Indie-Rock. Their adopted home of Portland, OR has welcomed with open arms the injection of real live dance party music played by real live musicians. On the strength of their incredible live show, the independently-run band has ignited an adoring fan base and has become the hot touring funk act in the Pacific Northwest.

Don't go breaking my heart

We filmed this sequence in a couple whole takes with both Leigha and Michael in the shots at once, as it helped give us a basic platform to our editing piece.  To film the shots, we played the music out loud and got Leigha and Michael to sing out loud, so it would be easier to sync in time.  The equipment used was a camera and a tripod, which enabled us to get different shots at different angles of the song. The dancing had to also be synced to the beat of the music. A lot of shot types were used which is the standard of a music video, the most used one was the close ups as it showed how the they were actually lip syncing with the music. The microphone was used as a prop to add to the music video feel, to make it more realistic. 

I edited this sequence by using different layers for different shot types. This helped make editing easier, as you could easily cut out all the bad clips with the razor, and fill it with another shot type, without the sequence losing its timed sync and tempo. 

Although this sequence was our second sequence. As our first sequence had too many mistakes, which that it made it harder to edit. There was no whole takes so the editing sequence had no basis, so when it came to editing all the bad footage out, there was no actual good footage left. This lead to my group going back out to film the whole sequence again. There is still a couple more mistakes we made in the second sequence. There wasn't a variety of shot types as there was in the first sequence. 



What I have learned from the filming the performance is that i need to apply a lot more shot types to  my final production. As it will create a special feel to the production, as repetitive shots can make it boring and easily forgotten. 

Relation of Visuals to Song

Goodwin's categories can help analyse music videos. These are the different ways of promoting a song. 



Illustrate: uses sets of images to paint the meaning of the genre and lyrics. This is the most used way.

Amplify: uses repeatability which manipulates and repeats the same meaning throughout the music video, all the time.

Disjuncture: the lyrics and meaning of the whole song is ignored throughout.




Although a lot of music videos do not give any narrative. This leads to the audience making up their own meaning and narrative to the song, instead of being shown what it is.  Godwin does say that in order for songs to be advertised, artists should stay away from common narrative videos.

Music video's should have clear repeatability, as it makes the audience more interested into the music video for a longer time.  

Potential Tracks

0 Not my day - It matters

Not My Day are extremely proud that two of our songs have been chosen for the soundtrack of Philip Pullman's forthcoming feature film 'The Butterfly Tattoo'! 

The producers have picked 'Stronger Than Any' and 'Happiness Will Spell The End' to each play over two important montage scenes during the movie.
'The Butterfly Tattoo' will be premiered at the Cannes Film Festival next May, but you can see a teaser trailer now by visiting here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TTu0EWG3tmoWG3tmo   (www.unsigned.com) 

This could be a good track for a music video as the beat is quite fast meaning that it will be easy for us to lip sync. 


Excellent Gentlemen

Growing up together in New York forged a bond between these musicians that is evident in their lock-tight pockets and seemingly telepathic stage interactions. From their roots in the East coast neo-soul and hip-hop communities, these friends have forged a signature sound that is steeped in vitality and celebration. (Unsigned.com)

Genre of characteristics

Music Video's show a genre of characteristics.  This is proposed by Andrew Godwin. 

Relationships are created between lyrics and visuals. As they also contradict and illustrate. 

The Pompeii video does have similarities to the lyrics. As there are many locations that are visited. This is shown through the low wide angles which show the open space and make the character smaller, as he feels and is alone. Every scene the character is by himself  looking for someone. 

Demands of the records ensure that music video have a lot of close ups, as well as the artists having their own certain visual style. 
There is a constant reference to the impulse of  looking at screens and telescopes. Which is a bit of a voyeuristic treatment of the female body.  Laura Mulvey would agree with this, as she believes that men gaze at women as "objects of erotic desire". 

In the Jennifer Lopez booty video, herself and Iggy Azalea are in swimming suits shaking their bodies with different fast close ups on their female parts. This supports Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze, as women are sexually portrayed for the male attention. 



The blurred lines video doesn't fit in with lyrics. As there are just three girls barely clothed dancing around Robin Thicke, Pharrell and T.I. This again supports the male gaze theory, the women are just sexual objects to look pretty. While the men are all dressed up in actual suits. 

History of pop video

From Bing to the Beatles:

1940's: Bing Crosbry was a famous 20th century world star, famous for his bass-baritone voice. His singing style was so good it later influenced many other popular singers, but the only ways his fans could see him was in films. For an example White Christmas.



Although in the 1950's Bing Crosby was replaced by Frank Sinatra who was a young talent which the girls loved compared to other famous singer who were mostly older. Frank began he career in the swing era, this is where he found his success.  Frank Sinatra  is still one of the best  selling artists of all time, as he has sold more than 150 million records worldwide. 


However, Elvis was the birth of Rock and Roll. He was one of the first to popularise rock and uptempo songs, which he mixed with country and rhythm&blues. He later became a leader of rock and roll in the 1956 with a number one hit. His way of dancing which was energised and sexually provocative made him controversial and popular. 
An example of his music is in the film Blue Hawaii.

1960's the Beatles were the first to make pre-music videos  that were popular. In 1966 they were sick of touring due to their fans screaming so loud and the music not being heard. Which lead to 'Top of the pops' being aired on BBC1 so that British fans could see their music. 
Rather than appearing live the also made short films to promote their double record 'paperback writer' and 'rain' . This was the first  pop video ever, and also the lyrics also echoed their lyrics.