This pictures shows the two main bits of feedback we received from our peers. Near enough all of our class mates said they liked the way the video seemed to flow, which was our main target really, so this gave us alot of satisfaction. They all loved the originality of the concept and they all knew what we were capable of so it wasn't a great suprise when they saw the standard we achieved. The negative feedback was from one of our slower students, Joe, who couldn't understand whether there was two storylines or one narative and the band. We didn't foresee any problems with our layout but we did explain to Joe that there was just one storyline and the band.
Whilst doing this project we really enjoyed ourselves and if the opportunity ever occurred again, we would happily have another go. One major thing that threatened our sanity was the technology that we used. As this picture shows we did use a vast range of software. This group of products were generally very good. The cameras were very reliable, Blogger was great, Itunes was fine, Bluetooth was flawless but it was Imovie HD that was the source of a lot of frustration. We uploaded our footage without a problem, we even got the song into the program with relative ease but the main problem was that after getting about a quarter of the way through the editing process the program decided to start crashing every 5-10 minutes which meant we lost all unsaved work. This was easily overcome but it was very irrating but worst of all, when you get into the editing you do find yourself forgetting to press save after every little change. This meant we got a nasty reminder to save and we lost all of our previous progress. Despite these little discrepancies we had a really good time and did look forward to working on our video. The main thing we learnt and will always remember is to plan what you are doing very precisely and know what you need to film and complete everything punctually, this will give you enough time to edit and set you free from stressful times. Although you do need to plan, I do feel that using a little bit of creativity is also necessary and can often make a project that little bit more special.
Once we had done our planning we were given a HD video camera to start the Shooting of our music video. Our editing software was the very,very unreliable I-movie HD which to this very day I hate. The first scene that we shot was the one with Iron Man waking up. This was always how I saw Iron Mans introduction to the Video. He wakes up and goes down stairs for breakfast. However, he cannot eat his toast, this makes him feel low and his day just gets slowly worse from then onwards. During these early stages of our video the music is very slow and we purposely chose the shots needed to help portray this. During the early stages of the song we try to use dull settings and to keep the colours neutral. This helps to show how Iron Man is feeling, as later on the tempo picks up and the colours brighten up. We always tried to keep the visuals and the music corresponding with one another as we felt that a good music video flows and that you shouldn't find yourself noticing when changes happen so much. The opening shot of the Video is Christian looking out over the channel. This shot is very aesthetically pleasing. This was another one of our creative shots that was not planned but ultimately helped to improve the look of our video. As you can see from this picture, the shot is a very nice, bright looking shot and it acts as a great way to show the viewer what is to come. Shortly after this shot you get to see another well thought out shot. This is Christian walking away from the camera. This shot started as an accident but did prove to a masterpiece. We wanted to just show him walking away from the camera but as it was a bright day the camera had to refocus and we ended up with this; This effect makes the shot look as if someone has woken up on a bright day and 'opened their eyes' which links with the name of the song. This shot was a technically brilliant shot as we used the technology of the self-focussing camera to create this bright white haziness. As we progress through the video we start to see Iron Man leave his house and step into the harsh world where people who are not conventional can be punished for it by some small mind people. For this scene we used some of our 6th form peers and also small younger peoples, one of which is my brother. They acted as the 'Gang' who don't appreciate different people. We got my brother to throw an object at Me (Iron Man) this made Iron Man react, which he doesn't like doing. As he tries to grab the youngster, the gang pile in and begin to kick him. The way we filmed this was to actually allow the actors to kick iron man in order to get the realism. This was painful but I was willing to take it. As a superhero Iron man could over powered them all but as he is a peaceful soul he decided to take it. Just as the beating is coming to an end we switched to a 1st person shot. This allowed the viewer to be put in Iron Mans shoes. as he looks up he sees a Girl holding out her hand to help him out. As he gets to his feet the chemistry is clearly apparent and they walk off together. He also recieves the invite around this time. This is where the tempo of the song begins to pick up. One of the best technical shots we used was the one in the auditorium. We left the camera in the same position and also left it recording while christian changed seats and walked around. we then cut this clip and used an overlap transition to make it seem as if christian transports to different places. This makes him seem superhuman just like Iron Man. This shot was one that caught the eye of our peers during our showing of the video and recieved alot of compliments. I knew about this setting from previous visits and we subsequently went there to film Christian singing, this idea eventually changed and we quickly filmed this shot before we were found in the auditorium. Moving on in the video the music starts to pick up therefore we decided to up the amount of cuts. This made the whole scene seem more action packed and lively. Not only did we increase the amount of cuts, we synchronised them with the beat of the music. This really helps the viewer to become emerged and it all flows which is vital when making a music video as the viewer doesn't want to notice that the cuts are out of sync. The whole party scene is possibly the main part of the video as this is where the colours brighten up and Iron Man is finally accepted. There is a clear difference between the beginning of our video and the ending simply down to the colours in the shots. The brighter colours at the end symbolise Iron Mans mood, he is now happy and content with his life and girlfriend. The end of this video is my personal favourite part of the whole project. We started to move away from the party and we show Iron Man laying on his bed and we used the same overlap effect as in the auditorium and make his girlfriend appear next to him. This just shows how he is no longer alone and that a space has been filled in his life. Then we show the lead singer painting on a wall, he writes the words 'The Incredible Snow Patrol' This helps sell the artist/group as the viewers get reminded who they are listening to. We also use an overlap to speed up the whole sequence of the painting, so not to bore the audience. This scene just seems to fit in with the whole feeling of the video. The final shot you get to see is an absolute beauty. It is a beautiful shot of the sky in Dover, this was filmed with our last 10secs of battery and we were very lucky to have caught this on camera.
When we started to do our subsidary tasks we wanted to keep everything linked together so we decided to carry the Iron Man theme on. We chose to do a Digipak and a Website homepage. Our first idea was to use a Comic book theme as Iron Man was originally a comic book. With this in mind we began searching for a suitable comic book to modify and use. We had found a few but we had a very strong vision for a certain comic. This is the Comic and The picture we wanted to combine. This picture shows the band and their current theme. This helps to sell the band. The picture below show what we came up with. Our second subsidary task was the website page. This wasn't as good as our first task but it does the job. Our peers agreed with this opinion and told us so. This was the main critisism and we were happy to act upon this and subsequently add some more to it.
When we had to decide what we wanted to do we didn't really have to think to be honest, we had already done a music video for our extended project which meant we knew how to go about it. So now we had chosen to do the music video we had to decide what song to do. This did take a while and we did pick a song which was Snow patrol - You could be happy. We had an idea in mind and we knew our story line but once we had drawn up the storyboards, it started to dawn on us that it was extremely boring and stereotypical, we didn't like the idea of being conventional or run of the mill like some other A level students can be. So we began to brain storm. Eventually something just happend and I thought of a Super Hero theme, I don't know why but I did. This really got our imaginations flowing and the storyline just wrote its self. We chose Snow Patrol - Open Your Eyes as the song was just perfect for our idea. The idea was that we would portray Iron Man as a normal kind of guy, who wanted to fit in but the rest of society just wouldn't allow it. Until he meets a girl who shows some empathy and take pity if you like. This starts to change things for him and they organise a party for him, to show that he has finally been accepted. After this we didn't really do much more planning, we just jumped straight in and filmed. This was possibly why we were very unorganised and always blagging the shots although this isn't very clear in the video due to its high quality. Many of the shots were 'off the cuff' and spur of the moment. We were very lucky to have creative members in the group as these individuals were the making of this video.
"Scream" by Michael Jackson featuring Janet Jackson was recorded in 1994 but released in 1995. It is the most expensive music video ever to be concieved, at an astronomical cost of seven million dollars. This crazy cost, in my opinion, seems to have been wasted and not used affectively. Its impossible to know exactly what they spent that fortune on but one website breaks it down like this ;
Computer-generated spaceship: $65,000
Breaking guitars: $53,000 <<< they must have been platinum!
Morphing artworks: $50,000
Michael's makeup: $3,000
Janet's makeup: $8,000 a day <<< Jealous women everywhere
Choreography: $40,000 <<< thought they were amazing dancers?
Giant video screen: $80,000 <<< surely could have used CGI ?
Lighting: $175,000
Total cost of 11 sets: $5,000,000
Now to me that is absolutely staggering! A complete waste of money. With his massive reputation and respect, for his musical abilities, surely he didn't need to use so much money on promoting his video. He could have got an A-Level student to make a video with a £500 camera and still sold millions! But if you take a different a outlook on this, you could argue that this was not actually a music promo but a piece of artwork. They decided to spare no expense and make it look exactly how the envisaged. If they were trying to make this video an artwork, they succeeded because it won multiple awards for it. Although it would have won more if the song was actually half decent.
This song is meant to be a retaliation towards the media, over their handling of the accusations that were made against Michael Jackson regarding paedophilia. Throughout the song there are many examples of their disgust towards the media, here is an example of this ; 'You (the media) tell me I'm wrong, You better prove your right'. This is a quite blatent dig at the media. This just shows how angry they were, this is also represented in the look of the video. It is black and white which gives it a dark feel. Janet Jacksons make-up is extremely dark. Her eyes are surrounded by a very black make-up and her hair is wild and it gives her such an angry feel to her persona. Although the lighting is very bright in all the shots, you can still sense the anger that is being portrayed by the siblings. There is numerous hints towards the media such as at 2.05 'Media' comes up on a small screen. There is also a visual representation of Michaels skin changing from Black to White at 0.34 one of them scrapes a tar like material off of their legs. This is obviously relevant to the media because they covered his illness intensely.
Now on to the mise en scene. Im just going to break it down into sections.
Lighting → It is very very well lit by unnatural light. I don't really see a connection between sexuality or gender regarding the lighting.
Costume → They are both dressed in similar attire which makes them seem as if they are the same gender. Janet wears a top which shows her breasts, this shows she is definitely a woman.
Make-up → There is lots of it, they are both covered. This maximises Janets femininity, destroys Michaels masculinity and possibly throws his sexuality into considerable doubt.
Set → This is very futuristic and it is in space. This just shows how Jackson wanted to leave this planet and get away from all the media attention he received on a daily basis.
Blocking → some of Janet's movements are rather sexy at times which doesn't really represent these things but with Michael his movements are really feminine which goes against the conventions of a man.
Props → The only prop that assists the understanding of gender is when Michael is smashing the guitars up, he almost looks more manly.
décor → The décor is very bland. Black, Grey and white. These colours are very usually more masculine because women are drawn to colours.
In summary Michael is made to look like a man really badly. The only way I can think of is when he smashes the guitars, this is a pretty aggressive act which is usually associated with men. But to be honest he even smashes the guitars in a feminine way added to his long hair a masses of make-up he really doesn't portray masculinity very well. With Janet they do a good job of making her look feminine even though she is clearly angry. She is wearing make-up which is definitely a girl thing, she also has a very revealing top on which definitely accentuates her feminine parts. This is for the male viewers because without this little glimpse of her breast this video would have no sex appeal for straight men.
In this task I will be referring to Goodwin's 6 Areas of analysis which are as follows;
Conventions - These are the generic things that occur in specific genres. Links between Lyrics and Visuals - Do the words match what you are seeing. Links between Music and Visuals - Do the speed of cuts increase as the tempo increases. Selling the Artist - Does the video portray the artist in a good light. Intertextuality - Is there references to other people in the song or video. Voyeurism - is there nice things to look at, like women in underwear.
Master Shortie - Dead end.
This video is a very upbeat, urban track. Master shortie is a relevantly unknown artist who has got a few well known records but this one is definitely a more mainstream approach by him. The song is about him seeing loads of attractive women and wanting them but he then has to remind himself that he has a good girl at home. The shots used give the video a light hearted feel to go with the fairly funny lyrics such as 'Like a toaster I collect dough'. He also says 'I clock Bnp argh no!' which is a bit deeper given the light 'heartedness' of the video because the BNP are a white supremisist political party and he is black. This is a good example of intertextuality.
Another reference to race is at 1.26 and there is a poster with Mussolini and this is a clear reference to this. There is also a theme that runs through this video and that is that he sees a beautiful woman and then next shots are him with the girl in her underwear crawling around in a bed. Which was probably his idea.
The shots in the bedroom are quite hazy and may be representative of him imagining these scenes. All of the scenes and shots are very well lit, they are all bright and airy. The voyeuristic values of the shot above are clear. This helps to portray the happiness and fun of the video. In regards to mise en scene, the lighting is bright and as I mention before it makes it feel happy and upbeat. The costumes that he wears are all very 'indie' and modern. He looks very casual and comfortable which makes it look like an every day occurrence for him. The women in the video all wear their every day clothing until the shots wear they are in their underwear, which is very nice. All of the women are wearing make up which helps them all to look flawless. The set is made up of a very bright town, possibly an italian town, which as i said before adds to the positive feel of the video. The other scenes are in a bedroom as he is fantasising about being with these women there.
Chase and Status ft Plan B - Pieces.
This video is a bit darker and 'Grittier'. It features some sexual scenes and a little bit of fighting. This video shows the anger coming from both sides. It isn't a very conventional video and it does push the boundaries of what is acceptable. The video starts with Plan B singing and playing the guitar, this is a direct link between the music and the visuals as is the amount of cuts that occur when the tempo increases, as the music picks up so does the amount of cuts to make the video seem more action packed. A link between the lyrics and the visuals happens when the words are 'I remember when I used to feel somethin (repeated) but now I'm cold inside!' when its says the remember bit, the shots show old memories of Plan B's birthday, which is when the crazy ex felt something. When the lyrics say now I'm just cold inside, the shots begin to show the ex ruining his flat. This is a very clear link. The shots in the flat have a green tint which is saying that it is dark and they are using night vision to film it. This picture shows how the night vision is used and also how angry she looks. The video is not really one to sell the artist but just to aid the meaning of the video. Chase and Status are the two blokes in the studio with Plan B and they are not particularly shown as a main character or even hightlighted as important. Plan B is a main character and it does sell him as a good actor as the emotion he shows looks very realistic. The Voyeurism in this video is the girls touching eachother and a few other 'sexy' shots but the main bit is when the mental ex is having intercourse with a man in the toilets, some people may find this arousing if they enjoy spying on people 'making love'. This is the 'Love Making' scene.
The lighting in this video is dark throughout apart from in the memories of Plan B's birthday, this helps us differeciate between which is which. The costumes are all average clothing which makes it feel like a normal house party, other than one man in a costume which does add to the craziness of the party. The sets were Plan Bs flat and the music studio, these are two very fimiliar places for B.
The two videos I have chosen to compare are Chipmunk - Muhammad Ali and Bashy - Who wants to be a Millionaire. The reason was because I like the two songs basically. As i did in the first task, I will compare them on the 6 different areas.
The conventions for this new Grime genre are not very clear but i think i know what they are. Both of these videos have shots in the streets, this is definately an occurance in all grime videos. This is because the genre originated from the streets and estates of London, therefore they like to show where they come from and however wealthy they become that they won't forget where they have come from. In both of these videos they are seen going through a market , chipmunk was jogging and bashy was pushing a trolley. In these sequences they use fast cuts, this is because the songs themselves are fairly upbeat and lively. Bashys song is the quicker of the 2 and this is represented purely by the vast amount of cuts. i had a rough count and within 30 seconds there was about 30/40.
One thing that stands out to me, being a follower of the genre, is the amount of intertextuality that is included in these two tracks. The lyrics have a few examples of this but the video does have some as well. In bashys video the first example in the lyrics is when he says 'Lemme see ya go down low, Wit ya head shoulderz knees n toes!' The second half of the line is from another song from a group called K.I.G. and they appear in the shot when he says this line. Also Adam Deacon, an actor in aDulthood which bashy made the main song for, made a brief appearance. In Chipmunks song the most obvious part is when he says 'i float like a butterfly, sting like a bee' an obvious tribute to Muhammad Ali. Most of chipmunks stuff is in the visual stuff such as at 0-50 he bumps into skepta, a more experience MC in grime, at 1-30 he is with tinchy stryder who is also an MC, 1-37 he is with Bashy who sing the song i am compare this to, 1-44 he is with ghetto i am sure you can guess what he does and at 2-27 he bumps into DJ ironik. All of these artists are from London and it shows he has links with other big stars from this genre.
In Bashys tune there is a couple of examples of links between the visuals and the lyrics as there is in chipmunks. the most obvious in bashys is when the chorus starts and he is collecting the bags of money from his followers another is when he say 'I'm on my grind ima grizzly bear' and his head changes into a bear. The next is when he says 'Bashy! big beard No trim... big hair' and it shows two people with a big beard and big hair. In chipmunks the most obvious one is whenever he says Muhammad Ali, there is a graffiti portrait of him with Muhammad Ali scrawled underneath it. Other than that there isn't many more examples of this.
In both videos there is attempts to sell themselves. Bashy shows himself to be fun and versatile. He just looks to be enjoying his time and this will have a positive effect on the person watching this as they feel the urge to move. He even has a little dance, which is very unusual for a rapper to do. Normally they just stand there acting gangster but he threw a few shapes. Chipmunk is made to look hard working and serious but with a funny side which likes to have a laugh. The hard working bit is when he is in the gym and jogging, which is a metaphorical representation of how he practices his rapping. The fun side is shown by his general look on his face, he always looks to be enjoying it and having a laugh.
In conclusion i feel that they videos do have quite a few similarities and it is obvious that they have the influences. Yet they do have their differences which makes them unique in their own special way.
