Ideas for Music Videos

Pros and Cons of our early music video ideas:

A pro of our ideas so far is that we have used a number of generic conventions from the rock genre. Also all of the locations which we have chosen are available to use.

The idea of the fading out the other band members is good as it should show the passing of time well, however this may be hard to achieve through the editing process. 

Planning Ideas

Conventions of my chosen genre - Rock

Copyright Purposes

For copyright purposes I have contacted the artist for permission to use their track.

This is the reply we got back

Wordle - Conventions of Rock Music Videos

The purpose of a music video is to promote an artist, song or album. To do this the video needs to fit into a clear genre and be attractive to a target audience. It does this by creating elements that are recognisable and explicit but there will also be implicit and sub-textual meanings.

I decided to create a wordle with keywords, when coming up with ideas this will be helpful as if we use ideas from the wordle we are creating recognisable elements from the rock genre.

Wordle for the Conventions of Rock Music Videos. . .

Song Choice - Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams

We chose this song as it is from the rock genre and we both know a lot of the conventions connected to this genre, we also feel that the lyrics produce ideas and you relate images to them, which means we shall have a number of different ideas for different camera shots which will keep the audience interested in the video. The song also only lasts around about 3 minutes and a half, which means that the video won't drag on too long and become boring for the viewer, it also meets the required specification. Finally, its a song which we both like so we won't get fed up of it at sometime through the course, this means we will be able to do work relating to the song well.

Here are the lyrics...

I got my first real six-string

Bought it at the five-and-dime

Played it 'til my fingers bled

It was the summer of '69

Me and some guys from school

Had a band and we tried real hard

Jimmy quit and Jody got married

I shoulda known we'd never get far

Oh when I look back now

That summer seemed to last forever

And if I had the choice

Ya - I'd always wanna be there

Those were the best days of my life

Ain't no use in complainin'

When you got a job to do

Spent my evenin's down at the drive-in

And that's when I met you yeah

Standin' on your mama's porch

You told me that you'd wait forever

Oh and when you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

Those were the best days of my life

Back in the summer of '69

Man we were killin' time

We were young and restless

We needed to unwind

I guess nothin' can last forever, forever, no

And now the times are changin'

Look at everything that's come and gone

Sometimes when I play that old six-string

I think about you, wonder what went wrong

Standin' on your mama's porch

You told me it would last forever

Oh and when you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

Those were the best days of my life

Back in the summer of '69

Choice of songs

When choosing our song which we was going to create a music video for we looked through each others iPod's as this would make us realise if we had any particular songs which we both liked. The artists and bands which we both had on our iPod's were Scouting for girls and Bryan Adams.

We decided to choose a song done by either of these two artists/bands.

The song choice for Scouting for Girls would be 'famous' which was released on their second album 'everybody wants to be on TV'.

The song choice for Bryan Adams would be 'Summer of 69' which was released on his fourth solo album 'Reckless' (1984)

The reasons that we are going to use one of these songs is that we both like each of them so we won't get fed up of them after a long time, and they also have lyrics which you are able to link with visuals. 

What is a Music Video?

What is a music video?

A music video is a short film integrating imagery and song. The first music videos came up during the 1980's. Music videos are made to promote a song or album as well as the artist in an appealing and interesting way. This is done in order to make as many sales as possible. The majority of music videos tell a story or deliver a message, this is done to embrace the audience and grab their attention, this is to make them more interested in the song/album and to persuade them to buy it. Music videos are a good way for directors/film makers to express their creativity and passion. They use a wide range of techniques and styles in order to promote their video. A music video helps the artist/band become famous as the video not only promotes their song but also their acting skills within the short vvideo. Music videos aren't only made to promote a song or atist but also promotes the director and sometimes products which are placed within the music video. This is called product placement.

Product Placement

One example of product placement within a music video is The Black Eyed Peas video which feacutres a Nokia phone, Beats By Dr Dre Hedphones and a HP laptop. The use of product placement is well known in music videos as it is an effective way to help promote manufactures products to a much wider range of people. Manufacturers allow music videos to do this as they know that the video will be popular therefore more people will see their product, which helps promote the product and therefore make more sales.

Styles

There are many different styles of music videos, these help make the video interesting and unique compared to other music videos. Below are the different styles;

- Narrative

A narrative is a music video that tells a story throughout the video and describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events, normally shown as a short story or film. These music videos are normally very popular as it engages the audience in the story and the story can often relate to the audiences experiences. A large range of artists now include narratives in their music videos as its different to usual music videos and the story that the artist has chosen may be a special topic for them.

- Interpretive

Interpretive means something that looks like something else, but has a different meaning. Interpretive music videos normally want the audience to make their own interpretation of what they think the music video is about.

- Parody

A parody is a spoof and is an imitative work created to mock, comment on or trivialise an original work. Its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous or ironic imitation. Parody music videos aren't the most popular way in which an artist chooses to promote their music however it is becoming more popular especailly amongst the audience.

- Performance

A music video that features a live performance or footage from a live performance. This is effective at promoting the artist.

- Surreal

Surreal is something that is so strange so you can't believe its real.

A music video can be a mixture of these styles.

Music Industry

The music industry consists of companies and individuals that make money by creating and selling music. Within the industry there are:

The musicians who compose and perform the music

The companies and professionals who create and sell records

e.g. music publishes, producers, studios, engineers, record labels, retail and online music stores as well as performance rights organisations.

Those that present live music

e.g. booking agents, promoters, music venues, road crew

Professionals who assist musicians with their music careers

e.g. talent managers, business manager and entertainment lawyers

Those that broadcast the music

e.g. satellite, Internet and broadcast radio

Journalists

Educators

Musical instrument manufacturers

As well as many others

The purposes of a music video are. . .

To promote a single or an album

To promote the artist and/or band

Creates, adapts or feeds into a 'star image'

Entertains the audience

Sets the 'meanings' of a song by the use of images

Student Video Analysis

I chose to analyse a student music video becuase then I would be able to see what was done well and what was done not so well. This should help me when it comes to our music video as I shouldn't make the same mistakes that a previous student did.

For a student video analysis i chose to analyse "Girl all the bad guys want".

I chose to analyse this song because it is classified as part of two genres and one of these is rock, the same genre as what our song is from. The song is sung by 'Bowling for soup' and is from their 2002 album 'Drunk enough to dance'.

The things i liked about this video were. . .

The performance part on the trailer was effective; it looked as though they were on CCTV due to it being in black and white and having the numbers at the bottom of the frame, i think that this works well because it adds a humorous side to the performance which is different to the majority of other music videos.

Things that i would have done differently were. . .

 The part at the end when the two characters are walking away into the sunset. I think that the green screen doesn't work as well as it could do. Therefore i would use a different tone of colour on the green screen to make it look more realistic. However the green screen still works well for the video as it adds to the overall mood created by it.

Overall. . .

I really like this because it isn't your typical music video and doesn't meet all the conventions of rock such as having no live performance but just the band practising instead. I think this makes the video more intersting to the audience as well. 

Music Videos Analysis' (Nickleback - When We Stand Together)

When We Stand Together
Band: Nickleback
Genre: Alternative Rock

Directed by: Justin Francis
Released: 3rd November 2011

The main theme of this song is standing together for a better life for ourselves and others. The sub themes within for this song are; War, Poverty and Love between people. The themes of the song are portrayed by the narrative of the video, there are many still images of people around the world who are in a variety of bad situations but the narrative ends with them 'all standing together'.

The costume of the band members meet the conventions of rock, they are wearing t-shirts with big bold logos on. They are all wearing jeans and the lead singer is wearing bracelets and a necklace, this separates him from the other members of the band. Through the narrative the people of the stills are wearing the stereotypical clothing for what they are representing, for example the army people wearing army clothing and the poor wearing not very good quality clothing.

For the performance the lighting is daylight, it is very high-key which makes it more aesthetically pleasing than the stills which are much darker and lower key.

The props used by the band are those which are generic conventions of rock, instruments including 3 guitars and 1 set of drums. The props from the narrative relate to the themes of the song well, there are water bottles, bullets, rubbish heaps, hospital equipment and fire gear.

The setting is a natural environment which is associated with peace, this is the message that the video is trying to put across to the audience. I feel that the lone tree next to them adds to how vast the space around them is and is an effective technique to use. There are numerous different settings for stills varying from train stations to 3rd world country's, this it to emotionally pull in the viewer.

There are lots of fades used to switch between the narrative and the performance and this sets a good pace to the video and it matches well with the tempo of the song. There are many moving camera shots as well as most of the shots of the band being focused on the lead singer which is typical for music videos as they are trying to promote the artist.

Music Video Analysis (The Script-The Man Who Can't Be Moved)

Our group

We have chosen our groups for the music video, In my group there is myself and Henry Inman. We both thought that it was a good idea to work together in a group as with there only being two of us it should be easier to time manage for when we are both free/available. Also we both live in the same town so it will be easy to meet as there shouldn't be any transport issues.

Brief

Brief

A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

- A website homepage for the band;

- A digipak for the albums release;

- A magazine advertisement for the digipak.