Music choice - 2nd Music Ideas

Music Video - 2nd music choice

I did this as I was looking for a different and better song and wanted a song that would truly inspire me to make a really good music video. Also I have made the choice to change my original genre and go from an acoustic feeling track. In the post I have made clear where I found the song and why it inspired me to make it the track for my music video.

I have decided to change my music choice and I have finally decided on a song. This song being 'skinny love' by bon iver.

I really like this song and think I could make a good music video out of it and it isn't the most mainstream version of the song. This has therefore changed my music genre of the song as I was originally planning to do a pop song. The inspiration for this long was found on Vimeo, as I was researching for an acoustic music video.

Skinny Love - Bon Iver

skinny love from Mackenna Millet on Vimeo.

I really liked this song and the relaxed kinda of feeling that it has. The video along with it is stop motion, I wouldn't use the same technique but I would try to replicate the beautiful setting and interesting camera angles. I also really like the girl in the videos look, with the natural make up and the simple summer dress and no shoes. I have tried to replicate this in my own music video and with my character.

I did this to show that I have changed my song idea and where I got the inspiration from. The video again confirmed that an acoustic music video requires stunning locations usually the beach. I have stuck to this convention and this music video clip really helped me in deciding that I wanted a single female character on her own walking around. However, I have developed this future by making a plot and a background story to the music video.

I truly really love this song and the different tones and the underlying message thought out it 'skinny love' meaning fragile love that can easily break, it is not the clearest of messages so I think with the idea of my music video shows the meaning of the song and makes the audience realise this.

Screen Grabs - Convention of an Acoustic Video

Examples...

Birdy- Skinny Love

I did this to show the convention in a visual way so you can actually see them instead of having to picture them. I did this for my audience and myself as it will help me to have a visual thing to show the correct shots for a pop music video. I had to do this as well because I decided to do an acoustic music video with the song 'Skinny Love - Bon Iver.' As I have changed my idea I had to make the conventions of the new genre clear to see if I want to stick to them or challenge them. The video that I have chosen to show the conventions is the same song 'Skinny Love' but it is by a different artist 'Birdy' so this showing the convention off and shows me what I can achieve with my video and what conventions look good.

1. Shots of the performer ether singing the song or playing an instrument e.g. In this screen grab the artist is singing and playing the piano. The video is also most of the time focused on one man or women singing about their feelings. I have done this in my own music video but I have chosen not to feature the artist as much I have a few shots of the artist in my video on a plain white background playing the guitar and singing the lyrics.

2. The location tends to be an isolated area ether run down or very beautiful setting. However, the place can also be a place that reminds the person or who/what they are singing about. I have totally stuck to this setting as I though that the this convention is important and the locations around where I live are very beautiful and isolated. This going with my idea of a single girl going and a jounrey confronting her feelings about the divorce of her parents, so her being isolcated shows her own personal trip.

3. Slow pace editing so that it fits with the gentle pace of the song. The shot above shows the run down and isolation of the person and how they are reflecting on their feelings. This is evident in my music video as the average pace of editing is 5-10 seconds so this is a slow pace showing the personal trip though her memories and the feelings that are felt along with the finding of the photos.

I learnt from this that the conventions can either be stuck to or changed they are only guidelines to what a music video might look like taken from ones previously made in that genre so that it is made the norm. I think I have mainly stuck to the conventions seen above as I think if you deviate to much from them the outcome would be to odd and the audience might not understand it, making it not a successful in my prime existence to entertain and sell the artists albums and music.

I like the overall effect of my music video with the conventions that I have used the setting of the stunning natural beauty and the moorland really shows a link between the song and the mise-en-scence and how I have thought about it and what conventions I think will work for the song I have chosen. The song I have chosen is also good as it doesn't have an official music video already made so this challenging me to make the decisions on what conventions to use.

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Conventions of a Music Video

Conventions
 
I did this so that I knew what I was aiming for in my final music video no matter what the genre is. By doing this it will act as a guideline and help me make my music video up to a very high standard.

Camera Shots…

The camera shots used in music videos are very varied as different genres uses different camera shots so it can be anything from a long shot to an extreme close up. Also with the more modern and different music this means the videos are becoming more strange and distorted. On most music videos the shots are used to show the artist, the tone of song, emotion and location. Long shots are more used to show the location of the artist. Close ups are used to show the emotion of the artist and usually to see them singing the lyrics.

Camera Movement…

On a music video they are always following the artist or band so it will have this like panning, tracking, tilts and craning shots. The Camera movement speed with depend on the artist and the tone of the song e.g. if the artist is running around in an upbeat way for example ‘Olly Murrs, My Heart Skips a Beat’ the camera movement will have to a lot faster to keep up with the artist. However, in something like ‘Leona Lewis, Happy’ she is moving around and the camera is following her at a slower pace as well.

Mise-en-scene…

Mise-en-scene is very important in a music video as it is basically most of the video. This is seen in the song ‘Next to you’ by Chris Brown and Justin Bieber. They are both stood on their own with the crumbling building and the dark and dangerous weather around them, this showing the isolation of the 2 men from their loves. There is also a big crack in the ground showing they are distanced from them to. There aren’t many props as they are both just running around and standing on building singing. The lighting is partially important in this video as it shows the mood, very dark and depressing as the lighting is very dark and gloomy with the frightening strikes of lightening. (I have now changed this to an acoustic music video but this shows how important mise-en-scence is in all music videos.

Editing…

The main edit used in music videos is jump cuts usually cutting between location and person if more than one. In addition, fades and dissolves are used as a different way to jump cut and make it more interesting going from one shot to the other, also going along with the music and the beat.

Storyline…

It is common in music videos to have a plot it may not be long but you can still tell a story. The story is usually directly linked to the song and lyrics. An example of this is ‘What if’ by Jason Derulo. The story line behind this is that his girlfriend and he are just moving in and then she gets hit by a car. He is saying in the video that if he never met her and they never got together that would have never happened to her.  

Lighting, props, costume and colour…

All of the things above are very much determined by the genre of the music video with the more indie music having black and white videos, whereas the pop videos would be full of bright colour. The lighting in a pop song would be very bright and happy, but in a heavy metal video it would be very dark and grungy.

Conventions of a Pop Music Video…

. Very bright and colourful

. Close ups – to show the artists face singing and their emotion

. Very upbeat

. Usually teenage audience

Example is pop artists like: Pixie Lott, lady gaga etc.

Conventions of an Indie/Rock Music Video…

. Mostly done in black and white e.g. Razorlight

. Band is shown all the way through the video

. Dark location

. Some special effects used

Example is: Snow Patrol, Kings of Leon etc.


This had helped me in finding out what I want to feature in my music video and what the conventions are that I should stick to. Also, this has also made me think about the genre of what song I am going to pick.

In the end my music video ended up being an acoustic music video which is why I have had to do a different post to show what conventions are in that sort of music video. This shows the planning and how it has developed and changed in my project to different things. However, the top part of this post is relevant to my music video with things like the a range of different shots such as close ups, mid shots and long shots. Also, this has made me think what convention I have challenged in my music video with the focus more on a character than on the artist. The camera movements do not follow the artist as he is not the main feature in my music video.

History and Development - Music Videos

History and Development

I did this so I could get an understand on where music videos originally came from and their development through time. Leaning about where they are mainly found with help me do target research and get inspiration for my own one. I have done this show that I am doing my research as if it was going out into the public domain in the real world which is helping me in finding what conventions and how they all started in the first place.

How did Music Videos begin?

The music video started as a method of promoting acts on an Australian programmer called ‘Countdown’ the music clips would appear on the show and therefore promote the artists and their music. The clips got more and more popular and so the music industry was born. This was around about 1974. The show became very popular because of this and was aired in 22 countries. One of the most popular music videos shown was ‘It’s a Long Way to the Top’ by AC/DC.

Creation of MTV… The first 24-hour music channel


In 1981 MTV was developed and launched and it started the now current thing of 24-hour music channels. MTV was now being used as a tool for artists to market their music and their self image. Madonna used MTV for this with the music video it was the whole package that could be seen and marketed. MTV was reasonable for the success of the 14 minute Michael Jackson Video ‘Thriller’. MTV is now a very popular music channel and is still going strong. This is still seen today as one of the most successful music videos in history. My music video I would expect to be seen on MTV as this music channel is still around today and shows a range of different music such as acoustic music video, like Ed Sheeran - Lego House.   

More Music Channels…

In 1985, MTV launched the channel VH1 which featured softer music for an older audience than the typical young MTV audience. MTV was now such a success that it was developing things like MTV Europe and Asia. MTV in now considered a globalisation channel. There are now more music channels being made such as VIVA and 4MUSIC that shows different programmes though out the day with programmes such as 'the charts' these are the sort of things I would expect my music video to be shown on with the main steam look of the artist and the acoustic/popular song I would really think it is a package to be shown a lot of music channels. In 2009 there was a new music channel realised called 'VIVA' this was all new channel as it didn't just show music and at other times through the day would show shows but the main focus would be about main stream songs and promoting new artists and their music.

Technology advances…

As technology has advanced so have music videos with better equipment such as HD quality cameras and more high developed editing software has made music videos a lot easier to make and at a higher quality. As well as this, the advance of the Internet age has meant that there are many website devoted to music videos and they are all over the Internet such as ‘Youtube’. In addition, they are also available on social networking site which means they are passed around a lot and a lot of people see them. My music video would be seen on YouTube as most mainstream music videos and ones like mine are shown on there even before they have been launched onto TV/Music channels.

Image above shows west country rising star 'Seth Lakeman' and an example of his music video online on 'YouTube'.

The image above shows the technology advances of online music videos and how this helps the artist to sell there music and themselves as a complete business product. I really think this would help my artist if my music video was a real media text in the real world, as like Seth Lakeman in the image above my artist is a not so well know artist and from the west country so this showing that new technology is helping music videos to become more widely shown on the www.

I learnt a lot of things about music videos and I think is knowledge will help me to create my own. Knowing the background information on music videos is good for me as it will help me understand where they came from and the standard they are up to today. I learnt mainly from this that new technology's can really help me in finding examples of other music videos from sites like Vimeo and YouTube, so this making the research part of my project easier than if I didn't have it.

I really liked learning about what music channels are out there and what ones I would think my music video might be shown. It really was interesting finding out that music channels haven't been out that long and yet they are very successful and are still going strong and developing. This helped me look at other video and get a concrete idea on what my music video would be like and where is would be seen, therefore also helping find a specific target audience.

Music Choice - 1st Music Ideas

Music Video –  1st Ideas for Music choices

These are the 5 songs that I have chosen as a first choice for my music video throughout the course this may change and I might find I better song. The two songs that I am favouring are ‘This is the first day of my life’ and ‘Dirty Funk’ The first one is a more relaxed and acoustic sounding song and the second song is very upbeat and more a pop song. I am undecided between these two as they are quite different and both have good qualities that I could produce a good music video from. I chose all of these songs as they are good songs that are not so well known and I think are catchy and each have a good concept that a music video could be made from.

Bright Eyes – This is the first day of my life

Red Hot Chili Peppers – Wet sand

Steve Appleton – Dirty Funk

Amy May - ? This will an option I will consider if i do not get the permission of the copyright owners.

The Script – Science and Faith




If I cannot use a copyright I will have to contact someone like Amy May on myspace or by email to get a copyright free song without a record label. (see above)

I learnt that there are many songs out there that are good for a music video and it is very hard to pin point what sort of song I would like to use and I am still not sure. After this, I decided to change my idea for the song as I got inspiration from Vimeo (see on another slide).

I think these songs were good but they didn't really make me excited and I didn't get inspired to make a music video for any of them. Some of the songs above like 'This is the first day of my life' do have the same sort of conventions for the song that I chose in the end, so it makes it clear I was having the ideas of doing an acoustic music video even this early on.

Mood Board - Ideas for Music Video

Location, Make-up, Costumes and Hair styles

I did this so that I can get an idea of what music video idea I want to go with I am thinking more the relaxed and acoustic, but it could also be pop. The location that I want is defiantly a beautiful and beach like setting. These are just some of the things that I liked and so put them in a mood board.

I did this mood board for the locations to shows that the ideas are and I have stuck to these ideas with the evidence of the beach and woods. I think this shows from the beginning that I was adamant that these were some of the locations that I wanted to use as I new the new artist or band that I created would just be from the west country. So these sort of locations are easy for me to get here as I live in the west country.

I did this mood board as more of an ideas board, as at this time I wasn't sure what make up and hair that I wanted the character to have. This is why there is a range of edgy make up and more glamorous and then the more natural, simple look. In the end my music video had a girl character that had the more natural look with limited make up and simple curled hair down. This going with my eventual choice of song and the locations that I went with are natural, so it made sense for her to be natural.  

This is a mood board of what costume that I wanted for my artist in the end my music video had a male artist in it so this mood board is not relevant to the male character. I stuck to some of the examples above with my girl character. the dominate image above is very similar to the costume of the girl character in my music video with the white, plain, flowy, summer dress. In my music video there is a character that goes through a journey and different seasons so the outfits that my character is wearing goes along with that.  

I have learnt from this that there are many different types of music, genres and music videos out there. The ones that I am looking at mostly are pop, indie and acoustic.

Email - Asking Permission

Re: Music permission

This is the email that I am going to send off to the record company to enquire about the copyright music permission. I have made my letter using complex vocab to make myself and the school look professional and so there is a higher chance that they will reply. Even if i do not get a reply from this, i think this is good evidence that i have attempted to contact them. I did this to show that i have made an effort to contact the copyright owners.

The image above shows the web page of the record label that owns Bon Iver and the song 'Skinny Love'. You can see this from the image of the artist on the web page and the artist name.

The image above shows the email that sent as proof that I have made an effort to contact the record label to get permission to use their song. (See Above).

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am a year 13 student doing A-level media at Tavistock College in Devon.

I understand that you are the owner of the copyright in the musical composition of the song ‘Skinny Love’ by the artist Bon Iver. I would like to use this song in the production of making a music video as the featured song. This is only to be used for the practical area of my A-level course.   

The song used for my music video would only be viewed by teacher and the examiner. Also, would be put on a password protected site called ‘Blogger’ on this site it will only be viewed by my teacher, me and the examiner. This is the only viewing that the track would be used for and would not be put anywhere else. We have a limited budget at my school. We are hoping that you will allow us this use without any charge.  If this is not possible, please let us know what fee would be required for this use. 

It would be much appreciated if you could send a conformation email back to me as soon as you can with the information that will indicate that you will agree to permit this use song. Please let us know if you have any questions concerning this agreement.  Also would you please let us know as soon as possible if this song cannot be licensed so that I can change the song choice for my coursework.  You can reach us in care of Darren Bird Tavistock College, Crowndale Rd, Tavistock, Devon, PL19 8DD Phone number – 01822 614231

Thank you for your help with this matter and I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours very truly,

Student - Bethany Neave

Teacher - Mr. DBird

I have learnt from this that it is important to make an effort and make the letter sound professional so the record label may reply. I did not get a reply from this record company so I carried on with the song of choice and I have made it obvious by sending this email that I have made a clear effort to contact them.

The email that I have written describes what the situation is and that I would like to use the song that they have copyright ownership of the song. I think that I have shown a keen interest in using there song and am disappointed not to get a response.

I was disappointed that I didn't get a response but it might have been for reasons like I may have the wrong email address, they are to busy to reply or my email didn't get looked at in the first place. However, I have still sent it to show I have tried to get permission for the song.