Case Study 1- Jamie Thraves

Jamie Thraves is a British director that mostly works on music videos. He used his award winning short film to get recognised as a young undiscovered talent, helping him to get a job in a video production company 'Factory Films' At University he created short films to show off his creative and artistic talent. Once he began to get into music videos they were very low budget (£5,000) spread over 3 days. Some of his most famous music videos include Radiohead's 'Just' with a budget of £100,000 and Coldplay's 'The Scientist' with a budget of £200,000, both shot in 3 days each.
The main theme of the video is based on a lyric in the song "Lets take it back to the start". After Jamie heard this, he created the video in complete reverse, with it telling the story of a mans journey after getting into a car crash. Everything in the video is reversed apart from the singer, who is singing along with the song as if it were playing normally. It shows artistic and creative talent, and this has made this video one of Coldplay's best.

His most recent music video is for The Japanese Popstars 'Song for Lisa', with a budget of £20,000 shot over 2 days. His involvement in the music video industry has led to him becoming a greater name in the whole media industry. This has given him the opportunity to create three feature films; The Low Down, The Cry of the Owl and Treacle Jr.

Branding the Spice Girls

'Branding' is a term used to show a certain image for singers in a band or solo artists. Artist's like the Spice Girls have their own brand, with each individual member having their own personality and image to their character. This enabled for the band to create their own deals with other products like Pepsi, and create their own dolls and action figures based on their own members. This constant image applied to each member is their 'brand'.
 The Spice Girls was formed in 1994 after a magazine advert to create a girl band to rival the boy bands that dominated the charts at the time. After applying individually, The Spice Girls formed and made their first song 'Wannabe'.  This was the beginning of their branding, as their image and style of performing now became famous among the fans. Each member would gain their own identity through the band, with each member getting a nickname followed with "spice", adding to their individual branding. Victoria Beckham became 'Posh Spice', Emma Bunton became 'Baby Spice', Mel C became 'Sporty Spice', Mel B became 'Scary Spice' and Geri Halliwell became 'Ginger Spice'. This massively helped the bands success, as with each member being publicly labelled as different from each other it made them more relatable to the target audience, who was mainly young girls and women.With each person having their own reputation the audience could relate to at least one of the members, helping the bands success.
 Their first song 'Wannabe' is a very energetic kind of song, and with their branding they instantly became popular and a threat to the common chart hit boy bands. In the song their branding is immediately obvious, as each member is portrayed appropriately to how their nickname would describe them; Scary Spice was dressed in leopard print clothes, Posh Spice wore a tight black designer dress, Baby Spice had her hair in pigtails emphasizing innocence, Sporty Spice was wearing sports attire and Ginger Spice was ginger.



In this Spice Girls music video, the branding of each individual member is obvious. As each member of the band is animated in the video, they have had to use their common look and branding to achieve each girl's likeness. As seen before, Ginger Spice is Ginger, Scary Spice is wearing leopard print, Posh Spice is wearing a tight black dress, Sporty Spice is wearing sports attire and Baby Spice has he hair in pigtails and looks extremely innocent.

Initial Ideas

For the selection of the music video, our group split into individual people searching independently for music videos on YouTube and other websites and would feed back to the group different songs that were appropriate.
 This song was one of the possibilities that I chose, as it would be in our capabilities. However, we decided to reject this song as the song in general is too slow and depressing, and members of our group didn't like the style of music. We did decide to keep this as a possibility if our main song was rejected, as this has less views and would be less likely to be taken down due to copyright. If this were the song, it would be a much darker and more serious video that would be filmed, that would more likely be focused on a person inside of their house than people in London.


 This song had the same problem as the other in its style, as it wouldn't fit in with the style of music video that we wanted to create. Once again however, we did choose to have this as a backup in order for us to guarantee that we had a song that we know that we could use if we had to.

Lyrics for the song

"Our Time Now"

Oh oh oh oh oh

There will be no rules tonight
If there were we'd break 'em
Nothing's gonna stop us now
Let's get down to it
Nervous hands and anxious smiles
I can feel you breathing
This is right where we belong
Turn up the music

Oh oh oh oh oh

This is the dance for all the lovers
Takin' a chance for one another
Finally it's our time now
These are the times that we'll remember
Breaking the city's heart together
Finally it's our time now
It's our time now

This is more than just romance
It's an endless summer
I can feel the butterflies, leading me through it
Take my heart, I'll take your hand
As we're falling under
This is an addiction girl
Let's give in to it

Oh oh oh oh oh

This is the dance for all the lovers
Takin' a chance for one another
Finally it's our time now
These are the times that we'll remember
Breaking the city's heart together
Finally it's our time now
It's our time now

Oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh
Now
It's a dance
Get up
Come on brothers
Oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh

This is the dance for all the lovers
Takin' a chance for one another
Finally it's our time now
These are the times that we'll remember
Breaking the city's heart together
Finally it's our time now
It's our time now
(It's our time now)
It's our time now
(It's our time now)
Oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh
Finally it's our time now

Album Cover exercise for the Digipak

This is the Album Cover that I created for my Band, Lovesexy. The Album is called "Lived Authentically and Fully". All of the items in the cover were picked through random quotes, Wikipedia articles and pictures. I feel that the Album cover is a success, as the picture that I found all worked together, and with exception to oddly photoshopped sunglasses on one of the men, all pictures worked to create a fairly decent album cover.

Editing to the Beat

In this task i attempted editing to the beat for the first time. I was given a song to edit to and a small group of people in animal costumes dancing and pretending to sing. This would involve multiple skills in order to do successfully, such as decent enough timing and attention to detail. I also included a shot of footage in reverse and the beginning part was in black and white, which was then copied by other members of the group. After showing to some people in my group they commented that it was an alright attempt, but towards the end the editing is too fast for the song. As this was my first editing attempt in a couple of months, this was a refresher on how to edit and for me to develop new skills which will be useful to the final music video.

This the the raw clips of the people dancing that I would put into the music video.

This is the beginning of the editing process, with limited editing to the beat which would be improved on later.

This was the toll that was used in order to create the shot in reverse, a useful tip for the later editing that I will do.

This was the title screen that I used at the beginning, except it is on a black background now instead of the animals.

Research into the song choice

 The group that I am in, consisting of me, Azimul and James, has decided on a few songs that we could use to create a video, The majority of the videos are on Youtube and are by bands that either have very little recognition, or have had one song do well, yet the group didn't gain much popularity from it. in addition, we also searched for royalty free music on the internet that the artists wouldn't mind if we created a music video on it.

Music Videos- Added Value

The Primary functions of all music videos are to showcase and promote the artist and to advance the sales of the music. As part if this, the industry of creating music videos often rely on a good song in the background so that people will watch the video regardless. Despite this, the following two examples are both songs that weren't particularly well received by the public on their release, yet the music video given to the song has helped to increase their popularity inexplicably, even to the point of the songs and videos still being popular today.
A-HA- Take on me

The music video of A-HA's "Take on Me", directed by Steve Barron, cast the original idea of having most parts of the video inside of a comic book, making the majority of the frame in the video with hand drawn characters and backgrounds of the characters. The smooth transitions between reality and comic book style  blew this song into popularity, considering that a year before the video was released the song was released on its own and didn't gain much of a following. Part of the beauty of this video was down to the stop motion animation that took place in it, as nowadays the amount of time and money that would be spent attempting to recreate such a video would be too great to be reasonable to produce.

Sinead O'Connor- Nothing Compares 2U

Sinead O'Connor's music video "Nothing Compares 2U", a cover of Prince's song, instantly became her most famous music video, as well as one of the greatest music videos of all time. This is due to the real emotion portrayed by her during her close up. before the music video was shot, Sinead's mother passed away, and combined with the emotional lyrics of the song, caused for her to actually cry over the song. This created a problem for the director, as prior to filming her close up he had spent £40,000 shooting in France. The tears added incredible amounts of emotion to the video, so most shots of France were scrapped and the majority of the video is Sinead's head, forcing you to stare into her eyes as she cries.

Deconstructing Two Music Videos to Identify Characteristics of the Music Video Genre

Rihanna- Shut up and Drive

The music video to Rihanna's "Shut up and Drive" holds a narrative structure that is also performance based, as Rihanna holds a massive part in the video. As is the case with most narrative music videos, the video is based in a particular lyric in the song, in this case it being the actual title of the song. As the song has a fast tempo, the pacing between each shot in different parts of the video doesn't differ much from around 1-2 cuts each second, keeping the audience involved and forced to look at Rihanna on screen. The video features a great contrast in the mise-en-scene between the masculine background of a car garage and Rihanna, dressing and acting relatively sexual and feminine and in contrast to her surroundings. In many ways therefore, the target audience for the video could be aimed to me men, using a combination of sex appeal and masculinity throughout the video to attract men. On the other hand, with multiple forms of women doing what are typically perceived as "men's jobs", such as car mechanic, can be viewed as empowering to women, while also putting women as the focus of the video rather than men.

Daniel Powter- Bad Day

This music video is also mostly narrative based, as it does tell a story about two people that have troubles in their everyday life. This story also is adapted from the songs main lyrics and title, making the video appropriate for the song, yet not completely distracting from the music as Rihanna's was. We do get to see Daniel Powter throughout the video singing and playing the piano when appropriate, but the main focus on the story is on two other people separate to the song. While the song does not contain a very fast tempo or energetic styling, the cuts between each shot are very quick in certain parts of the song, taking between 1-2 shots per second on average. The mise-en-scene in the music video is appropriate to the song, as when the music gets slower and the atmosphere gets more depressing in the song, the video follows with slower editing and generally dark tone. We also are told through the video that the two main people are meant to be together in the video through the constant foreshadowing and parallels that the editing draws upon, such as the split screen at the beginning of the video, showing their similar routine at the beginning of the day. In contradiction to Rihanna's "Shut up and Drive", the target audience is not clear due to the appeal to all ages, sex and nationalities. This make the song more accessible to a wider audience, while it is debatable if the video to "Shut up and Drive" can find an audience in groups of all ages, sexualities or ethnicities. 

Styles of Music Videos

Pastiche-
Fall Out Boy- Centuries
 Pastiche as a genre of music video uses and manipulates different periods throughout history as inspiration in the respective video. This music video in particular uses the Roman Empire as inspiration, using the Colosseum and shows a battle between the band members and a Roman warrior.

Cinematic-
Michael Jackson- Thriller

 Cinematic music videos are often well received by the public audience, as while we can listen to music and get a story that many people can enjoy, music videos such as "Thriller" are designed to be watched multiple times for the elaborate and detailed story, while other cinematic music videos take priority in creating a simple story that people can enjoy while listening to the music while not drawing the attention from it.

Narrative:

Imagine Dragons- Radioactive

 Narrative music videos are often created to complement a song through a fairly simple story that the audience can watch while listening to the music. In this example, the story is of an illegal fighting den with teddy bears, showing a rough and dark side of a happy premise. This video is a good example of one that can be watched repeatedly for the music, yet only a small number of times for the video before the gimmick runs dry. Despite this, it is still a successful narrative video in its rewatchable structure to an extent.

Parody:

White and Nerdy-Wierd Al Yonkovic

The parody genre of music videos are mostly dedicated to creating different songs entirely using the track of already existing songs. This example shows Wierd Al Yonkovic create a parody of "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire in order to put a comedic twist on a comparatively serious song. The parody does it's job very well, given that it even parodies shots use in the actual video for "Ridin'", creating a greater comedic tone to the video through highlighting the differences in the cultures and lifestyles of the targeted groups.

In Concert:

Imagine Dragons- Demons

This particular genre of music video is done to create an atmosphere around the song that isn't given through a story or characters to follow, as this type of video focuses mainly on the group singing the song to their audience instead of it serving more as background music to a story. In this instance however, while the main focus of the video is the band singing, it is also littered with small details of other characters in order to fit the song. The way that this is done is successful in spreading the songs message, as well as giving the music video the feeling of being at a concert spliced with mini stories for eh audience to follow.

Abstract:
Justin Bieber- Where are U now

Justin Bieber's song "Where are U now" can be considered an Abstract video due to the little relevance between the songs lyrics and the video. While the song portrays Bieber's feelings about being alone, the music video is almost exclusively single shot pictures of drawings over videos of Justin singing and dancing. There is no obvious reason that the video may enhance the songs emotional influence on people, making the video a relatively redundant or abstract video.

Performance:
Tinchy Stryder & The Chuckle Brothers- To Me To You

The music video to "To Me To You" is mostly Performance based as the main artists in the song appear in the video. While this song isn't completely serious in its premise, it does feature all of the vocalists in the song and in the video. The song is very basic in its story, with Tinchy Strider doing an interview for SBTV and ends up meeting the Chuckle Brothers, with their conversation taking place in the rap and song sections of the song.

Animated:

Arctic Monkeys- Do I Want to Know?

"Do I want to know" by the Arctic Monkeys features an animated video best described as psychodelic to accompany a song that is calm and easy to listen to. This makes the video easily rewatchable as background noise, or if a person particularly likes the genre of 'Stoner Rock' as it is popularly known. The video itself contains many different visual effects, all with the effect of flowing and perfect transition between different scenes in the video, again lending to its easily rewatchable tone to the video and song.

Production team

 Due to our group having five people in the group, we have decided to split into two different groups, with the sub-group I'm in also containing Azimul and James. We will still be helping each other in our whole group with each music video, but credit will be given to the two separate groups. Given our music video, we plan for me to be the main singer and help with part if the editing, a role that should be divided between us equally as possible. We all will also be collaborating on the decisions of the location, props and costumes.

First music video- I Got You Babe

This music video was created by me, and is one version of the multiple types of this, with the other people in the group having alternate takes. While I am aware that the video does have some issues within it, such as problems with the syncing in some places, I am still relatively happy with the outcome. Next time I edit I will attempt to use more camera angles and move more, which can lead to more cuts and angles in the video and a better music video. The video also could have been improved with more enthusiasm and seriousness in the tone of the video, as I kept smiling during the performance due to my costar performing with me.

Brief

Our task is to produce:

-  A music ‘promo’ video

-  Up to 5 minutes

-  Either working on your own or in a group of up to four members

We also need to produce:

- A ‘digipak’ (Six panels) for its release on CD

- A magazine advertisement for the digipak

 In addition to our ‘promo’ video we will have to produce:

- A critical evaluation

Welcome

Welcome to my blog, we are going  to be making a promotional package for a new artist/band, including a music video, digipak and an advertisement in a magazine. During the research, planning, filming and editing, our main group will consist of five different people, me (Samuel Dell), James Chege, Azimul Hoque, Destiny Ogbeide and Jack Broadbent. However, our main group that will be credited for the work is me, James and Azimul.