Adobe Premiere CS6 Tools/Effects

In order to be able to feel confident when using software such as Premiere I needed to be instructed on how to use certain tools and effects within the program. I used these videos in order to help me colour correct my footage, zoom some shots in and out and also to export it to the best quality available.

Genre in Music Videos

Audience Research

I chose to do my audience research as a mood board as I think it will be easier to show who my target audience is by photos of what their interests and hobbies are. I included various images of places they might visit, clothes they might wear, other music they might listen to and also colours they would regard as their favourite.

What is a Digipak?

Digipak is an original style of CD or DVD packaging, typically consisting of a book-style paperboard or card stock outer binding with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums. However such packaging is less resistant to abrasion than optical disc packaging, so it tends to show signs of wear relatively quickly. Digipak-style cases grew in popularity among record labels and recording artists in the early 2000s.

Analysis of existing Digipaks

Analysis of previous students A2 work

Here is an analysis of 2 previous students music videos. I decided to analyse them so I could try and gain an understanding of the standards that those of a similar ability as me, were able to create. This will help me in the creation and development of my music video as I can adapt the ideas I like and also I can point out possible improvements and make sure that I don't make the same mistakes.

Jordon's music video of We Found Love by Rihanna is a really good video which is a great example of a typical pop music video. It shows only one performer throughout the song which focuses all attention onto her, the singer. Lots of close ups were used to try and create a bond between the audience and the singer. I think that Jordon edited the video with lots of thought in mind as each cut matched the beat of the song and as the song has very fast beats, the quick cuts made sure that the audience didn't lose focus and get distracted. There were a variety of locations used such as a bonfire, rural roads, fields and a few more. The lip syncing was done extremely well and was almost faultless. If I were to give this music video any improvements it would be to maybe include more visual progression throughout but this would be a minor alteration I would make - it's not 100% absolutely necessary and I think that this video is of excellent quality.

The next music video I watched was Ria's from last year. I really enjoyed this music video as the tempo of the visuals matched perfectly with the tempo of the song. The song used was a slow one and this allowed Ria to increase the amount of time one shot could remain on the screen. A variety of different shots were used such as Long shots, mid shots, Close ups, Extreme close ups, Worms eye shot and also high angle shot. Only two characters were seen throughout the video which kept all attention on them. The video had a clear narrative behind it and to keep this story realistic - no miming was used. This created the feel as if it was a short film within a music video – you could connect with the actress as she was showing all emotions through her facial expressions and body language. I particularly enjoyed the interesting shots which made the video look more professional and makes it seem that bit better. These include the worms’ eye shot when she is walking on the bridge and also the close up of her touching the leaf. If Ria were to make any improvements, should she have the time, then I would suggest that she moved the woman at the window to the window above the door as it seemed it didn’t flow and there wasn’t continuity editing. This is a minor improvement and wouldn’t alter the video drastically.

Florence + the Machine in Magazines

I decided to look into how the band was presents in magazine - both music and fashion ones. I have analysed 4 different double-page spreads that the band appears in from 4 different magazines. The analysis is seen below.

Influences of Music Style

This post shows the influences on different music styles - in particular the Pop style. It also shows a PowerPoint of genres  and their overall impact on music and music videos. I think these will help me with the creation of my music video as I need to follow in other artists footsteps who have created similar music video styles to mine.

Music Videos I Admire

There are thousands of music videos out there and I found it quite difficult to pick my favourites. My top 3 are "Everything Has Changed" which is a new release by Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, "If I Were A Boy" by Beyonce and "Thinking Of You" by Katy Perry.



I like this video as it tells a story throughout the song and it builds as the song progresses. The audience can connect with the characters and follow the story with ease. The audience know immediately that there two protagonists are miniature versions of the artists and this is made clear at the end of the video. The concept is very easy to understand and my view is that the video is about how people, lives and everything changes throughout our lives and it is showing younger versions of them but how they can still fall in love - the only thing that doesn't change.




This video is about role reversals and the story is put to the audience by a good use of costume, facial expressions and body language. The visuals run parallel with the lyrics and this creates a story as it is a narrative song. Lots of close-ups are used to show Beyoncés facial features and how attractive she is. This creates an "icon" for her target audience who inspire to be like her.



Finally, Katy Perry's 'Thinking of You' is an excellent video as it is very emotional but not too much that the audience find it too hard-hitting. It has a 1940's theme and this is clearly seen by the costumes, mise en scene and the camera filters. I like it because it opens the audience up to a whole different era of time and those of the older generation can relate and reminisce and those younger can get a small insight to what it was like and how different it is to the 21st century.

Further Research into the Band

Above is the various different magazines that Florence Welch has appeared on the front cover of. This shows the success of her music and also how that she is the main focus of the band and is as well-known as a solo artist. The different styles seen in each cover shows the style of the magazine such as "Scarlett" looks like a teen mag and uses pinks and yellows and she is dressed in gold, playful and colourful clothes whereas in Vogue, which is an adult, civilised magazine - she is wearing a duck egg blue satin dress with natural makeup.

Magazine Advert Analysis

In order to help me gain an idea as to what I need to include in my Magazine Advert I have had a look at some existing Adverts that I enjoy from current artists and bands of a similar genre. Overall, the basic codes and conventions are the same and I hope to follow these guidelines in order to make mine look profressional and realistic.

Mag Ad Analysis

Research Equipment

As I mentioned earlier on, I will be using my 600D Canon camera to film my music video which means that I will not have to wait for a camera to become available. This will speed along the process nicely. I will also use this camera to take the photos for my Digipak and will have to use additional lights and attach a flash onto it to get the best possible quality photo.


I will use the lights seen to the right of the post which are available from school for me to use and to borrow and take to my locations. I will also require to use a tripod from the school in order to keep the camera still when filming various parts of my video. This gives the footage a more professional look as it will not be unsteady and distract attention away from what is happening in the video.

Analysis of Music Videos

This Prezi shows 3 music videos being analysed. I chose Best Song Ever by One Direction, Firework by Katy Perry and You've got the Love by Florence + the Machine. The reason I chose these videos is because they are all of the pop genre and will help me when choosing appropriate angles and shots for my music video so it fits in with the codes and conventions of other similar ones.

 

Audience Psychographics and Demographics

I think the target audience for my music video is likely to be females aged 15-30. This is because the song is about both performing and love so will be attracted by both ends of the target audience. I think that the concept of the song fits more to a female audience as it is from a females point of view and her love story. The lyrics are about putting faith in someone you love and finding that person - this will inspire young girls about the stereotypical fairy tale love story and also relate to those older women who have their own love lives and stories.

As a big part of the target audience is young adults, the majority of them won't have experienced the working life and will not be associated with a social class as they will still be in full-time education. However for the older members of my target audience, they would most likely would fit into the social classes B-C2 with skilled, managerial positions. I think the younger members of the audience would seek an insight into the lyrics by looking up to their parents or those at the older end of the target audience.

I can imagine that the music video and song would appeal to the majority of young girls as well as many girls at the older end of the audience I am targeting. As the song is of the pop genre, deriving from 'popular', the artist is going to have mainstream success and likability. Therefore the psychographics of my audience would be 'mainstream' and I think that they would be looking out for the type of music that is topping the charts but also keeping up with trends. 

Research into the Band

This prezi is an insight into the band of Florence + The Machine and their successes, members and other facts. This will help me when creating my music video as I can really understand the band of who I am researching and get a clear indication of their perspective of their songs and how they want them portrayed. 

Research into Music Labels

Music Video Directors (3)

Jake Nava 
Is an English music video and film director  His videos for Adele "Someone Like You" and Kayne West "Moster" landed him 5th place in Entertainment Weekly's Top 10 Music Video Directors in 2011.
He is known for his collaborations with Beyoncé for "Crazy in Love" and "Single Ladies" which was recently listed as #3 in The 25 Most Influential Music Videos of all time. 
Jake has worked with many celebrities from the music, fashion, film, & sporting worlds including Georgia May Jagger, Jay-Z, Shakira, David Beckham, Maria Sharapova, Lisa Maffia, Jessica Alba, Janet Jackson, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Halle Berry and the cast of Glee in a TVC for US Vogue magazine’s charity FNO. 


Paul Hunter

Notable Videos: D'Angelo – “Untitled (How Does It Feel);” Christina Aguilera/Lil' Kim/Mýa/Pink – “Lady Marmalade;” Notorious B.I.G. – “Hypnotize”. Hunter started his career shooting spec commercials, and went on to direct one of Michael Jackson’s final music videos from his last album, Invincible. Hard work will get you everywhere.

Spike Jonze

Notable Videos: Kanye West - “Flashing Lights;” The Pharcyde - “Drop;” Björk – “It's Oh So Quiet”

Jonze has a unique style to his filming. Maybe it’s his dual role as a big-budget movie director as well, but his videos always have a cinematic feel. Turning Biggie, Puff, and Faith Evans into swagged-out toddlers in the “Sky’s The Limit” video? Genius.

Inquiring about Locations

For my music video I need an empty dance studio and a performance stage. I began to phone around my local gym and dance schools to see whether their prices were reasonable as I would need to use it for a long period of time. They all turned out at about £24.50 which I decided was too expensive - especially if I needed to re-film another time if the first filming wasn't sufficient.
After phoning several places I decided to ring up some local Youth centers. I managed to find 2 which both had a dance studio and performance stage; Northwood and South Ruislip. When I inquired about pricing and whether it was available in the summer so I could get it filmed before we start school again in September. Luckily, as I am under 19 and it's for educational purposes it was going to be free and I could use it when I needed between 7-9.30pm. I am hoping to go and see both studios to see which one I prefer and will choose one to film in next week sometime.

Music Channels

VIVA
VIVA is a free-to-air music television channel, it's first broadcast was on 1 December 1993 in Germany. The channel is led by Time Warner, Sony Television, EMI Music and Polygram Records. 

The channel recruited DoRo Productions, producers of music videos for notable acts such as Queen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, in the design of the music channel. VIVA became an immediate success with the audience, while ultimately providing German artists with a music channel that could help expose their music to the German audience. This popularity then spread worldwide.

The concept behind VIVA originated in 1992, when major record labels were frustrated by MTV Europe's decision to program mostly English-language music videos to the German markets, in what was perceived as its refusal to play major German-speaking artists. Time Warner, Peter Bogner analyzed MTV's market position as vulnerable, and "while MTV is betting on a diet of pure Anglo-American video clips, VIVA should broadcast at least 40% more German music."

After many years of fierce competition for audience share, MTV Networks Europe acquired VIVA on 14 January 2005 after it had outran its own efforts for better ratings. MTV today operates VIVA channels across Europe, in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

4Music
4Music is a music entertainment channel in the United Kingdom. The channel launched on 15 August 2008, replacing The Hits. It is the only Channel 4-branded channel within the Box Television network.

The channel launched with an on-screen countdown counting down from ten minutes down to zero. During the countdown, clips from popular music videos were faded through the screen including clips from promotions for the channel.


The channel then launched at 7pm with a promotional advert for the channel then fading into "Davina and Steve's 20 Big Ones"; the first song at number 20 being "The Pretender" by The Foo Fighters and Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" at number 1.

4Music has coverage at festivals during the Summer, with highlights repeated frequently throughout the Summer. The channel also has stages at both events. At T4 on the Beach since 2007 (renamed the "T4 and 4Music Stage" in 2010) and at the V Festival since 2005 (then known as the "Channel 4 Stage", renamed to the "4Music Stage" in 2008). 

MTV
MTV, is an American cable television channel that launched on Saturday, August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by Benjamin Wicker accompanied by Chittum and Bolt known as VJs. In its early years MTV's main target demographic were young adults but today, MTV primarily broadcasts are targeted at adolescents and teenagers.

MTV has spawned numerous sister channels in the U.S. and affiliated channels internationally, some of which have gone independent. MTV's influence on its audience, including issues related to censorship and social activism, has been a subject of debate for years.

MTV launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll," spoken by John Lack, and played over footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia, which took place earlier that year, and of the launch of Apollo 11. Those words were immediately followed by the original MTV theme song, a crunching classical tune composed by Jonathan Elias and John Petersen, playing over photos of the Apollo 11 moon landing, with the flag featuring MTV's logo changing various colors, textures, and designs.

As MTV expanded, music videos were no longer the centerpiece of its programming. Conventional TV shows came to replace the VJ-guided music video programming. Today, MTV presents a wide variety of non-music-related television shows aimed primarily at the 12 to 18-year-old demographic.

Music Video Codes and Conventions

Codes and Conventions of Music Videos