Music Channels

(click image to enlarge)

After carrying out this research into some of the different music channels, I have noticed that MTV has a channel for the different genres of music stated above and more. Therefore I believe MTV would be appropriate to promote our music video.

Different Types of Music Video

Music Video's can be made in various ways. They may or may not:

• Film real People
• Include the singer/ band themselves
• Be animated
• Include the songs lyrics
• Use special effects

Special Effects
An example of a music video which uses special effects is 'Earthquake' by Labrinth. The video is almost completely special effects which would have been added during editing, after the artist himself had been filmed.

Animated

An example of a music video which has been animated is 'Heartless' by Kayne West. This video has a cartoon style but animated video's can also be in a 3D style, like Justin Bieber's 'Santa Claus is coming to Town'. Animated music videos do no require filming using a camera as they involve using a computer to create the different images and put them together.

Music Videos With Lyrics

 Some music videos add lyrics of the song, either on their own or with footage of the band/ artist. Neyo did this in his music video 'Closer'. Not all lyrics were shown and only one or two words were put on the screen together at the same time, keeping the artist himself as the main focus of the video.

Most Common Music Videos

Many music videos do not include any of the above qualities; showing just people and different settings. However, these can either include the artist/ band or feature actors who do not actually have anything to do with the song. An example of a music video in which the artist barely features is 'Lego House' by Ed Sheeran. Though his picture is shown in the video and he can be seen walking out of a lift for a few seconds, the rest of the video features a boy.

Contrastingly, Take That's music videos always star the band, but manage to include them in a story rather than just filming them in a studio.

Researching Colour in Music Videos

Many modern music videos edit the colour of the films. This can include making the music video black and white which can either make it appear classy and glamorous or portray it as sad and emotional. Many vidoes also use colour filters to tint the video a certain colour. This could make it appear warm, cold, summery, lively or calm etc. I have researched videos using these different methods to see how the video portrays the characters.

Black And White Music Videos

Classy and Glamorous

Along with the outfits chosen and settings of these two music videos, the artists are made to appear wealthy and glamourous.

Evoking sympathy

In both music videos above, the settings and outfits are very basic, portraying the characters as lonely and sad.

Colour Filters

Rihanna, Only Girl in the World

Katy Perry, Teenage Dream

Both of these videos has had the colour altered, using a colour filter. While the top one has a pink affect, making it very girly and warm, the bottom one looks quite old with a subtle blue filter. This gives quite a calm appearance.

Researching Music Videos

For our own music video, my group have decided that for some scenes we will be filming a band we know, while for other scenes we will film a girl and two boys to link with the lyrics.

Firstly, I have therefore researched music videos which film the band. I have found there are various different styles/ methods when filming bands. Some have singers miming lyrics, some film the entire band together and some film only individuals at once, or their instruments.

Ignorance, Paramore

The first music video I thought of which I know only features the band and not a storyline is 'Ignorance' by Paramore. Paramore, being a rock band, make a similar style of music to JET. This music video could therefore influence our choices of setting, costume and lighting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH9A6tn_P6g&ob=av2e

 The music video for 'Ignorance' is set in a basement where the only feature is a single plain light bulb. This effectively keeps the audience’s attention on the band and not the setting. The lighting has clearly been considered during the making/ editing of this music video as the setting would be naturally dark. The band, however, can be clearly seen and appear to be illuminated by the single light bulb. Two different settings are used in this video; both are dark and look similar with the bulb present, however, one is very confined while the other is an open space. This makes the video more diverse with the open space allowing the bands instruments to be seen clearly.

This ain't a Love Song, Scouting for Girls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=886AQqcM8Tk

'This ain't a Love Song' is a lot calmer than the previous song which I believe is refelcted in the filming. While parts of the song involves filming the band, other parts tell a story which based in an airport. Different instruments and band members are filmed individually, but never altogether like in ‘Ignorance’.

 The main focus of this music video is clearly the story at the airport, rather than the band which is shown in the way only parts of the band/ instruments are shown. I believe this is effective at preventing the attention being drawn away from the story and onto the band and will therefore use this in my own work if we decide the story should be the main aspect of our music video.

This is how you remind me, Nickleback
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cQh1ccqu8M&ob=av2e

Like Scouting for Girls, Nickleback have chosen to film both the band and tell a story in their music video but contrastingly have made the band the main focus. This is shown in the way the band is continuously being cut back to, with only small clips of a story. In addition, the whole band is shown while individuals are generally shown when it cuts to the story.

Like Paramore's music video, 'This is how you remind me' is shot in a fairly dark setting but with the band clearly shown. I believe this makes the video quite sleak and, along with the costumes of the band, provides a rocky atmosphere.

Adobe Premiere Trial

In today's lesson we were introduced to Adobe Premiere Elements which we will be using to put together and edit our films. With no models available I took various shots of my cat; I also tried out camera movement and have put these clips together on Premiere to make a film.

Using different effects and transitions I edited the film so the clips run smoothly and makes the cat look menacing.

The final product



Choosing music

Along with my group, we planned our prepared a shortlist of songs to which we can make our music video. Firstly, we decided the best genre would be indie as indie music is quite upbeat which is the style we wanted. RnB or rap music can often have inappropriate lyrics, while rapping may be too fast for the audience to follow. Contrastingly, soul or classical music we felt is too slow and not the style we were picturing.

After narrowing down some rock songs we were left to:

• Nickleback, Photograph
• JET, Are you gonna be my girl?
• Paramore, Ignorance
• Paramore, Misery Business

These songs are of the same genre and for each we considered a storyline. 'Photograph', however, is very specific, describing the bands own lives. The lyrics include descriptions of their high schools and friends and so we decided against using this song as it would take a lot of editing to cut out names and detailed memories which we did not feel we should use.

Initially, my group decided to use JET 'Are you gonna be my girl' as our final song. However, this proved to be a difficult song to plan a video to as it involved using a band who were unreliable due to other commitments, while the fast lyrics meant the action had to be sped up, making it very fast moving which we did not feel met our storyline too well.

 We have consequently decided our final song for the music video will be 'Ignorance' by Paramore. This song is fairly upbeat and sang by a girl which is appropriate as the people we have planned to use in our film are mainly females. Therefore the song will appear to be sung from their point of view.