Task 12 - Initial research to discover ideas from your audience - questionnaire/ discussion etc with findings analysed

I have asked several people, to take part in my  questionnaire. So here is a summary.


2 boys and 3 girls said that Pop is the main genre that they listen to and that they would usually discover that type of music from the radio. 2 girls and 1 boy have said that they listen to pop but it is not the main genre that they listen to.

Outline 1 for my video was having 2 singers and the setting would be a house and the whole music video would just be a house party

Outline 2 was just going to be 2 singers and they would be singing in a forest.

Task 12 Research into the target audience

It is likely that I will choose a pop song.

Who listens to it:
Pop music is a very mainstream genre it is the genre that many popular musicians use such as Ariana Grande, One Direction and Adele. It is popular because it gets played on radio stations which draws a huge audience.

Age: 
Pop music is for everyone however it is aimed at 12 -24 year olds because I assume that they would have more time to listen to music on the radio and explore other pop songs on YouTube.


Gender: 
I think that girls listen to pop music more than boys because they appeal to artists such as Ariana Grande and Little Mix but then they also appeal to One Direction and Justin Bieber because the majority of the fanbase are girls. But I think that it depends on the artist and their fanbase and who their songs target.

Task 11 - Inspirations/Directors - Marc Klasfeld

Marc Klasfeld is an American music video director. He has directed over two hundred music videos for artists such as Katy Perry, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Britney Spears, Kid Rock, Michael Bublé, Nelly, Foo Fighters, Charli XCX, Nick Jonas, Shakira, Avril Lavigne, Aerosmith and many others with multiple award wins and nominations.

Example 1: 




I like how this video used similar or the same locations to film Fast And Furious7 and that it used scenes from the movie to honour Paul Walker.


Example 2:


I like how the director used three different situations in the music video and how that the lyrics relate to the video.

 Example 3:

I like how the director had the idea of starting off the video with everything on the table in white and then just when Foxes sings "Let go for tonight" everyone starts throwing eveything at the table which end us making the everything colourful.

Task 11 - Inspirations/Directors - Hannah Lux Davis

Hannah Lux Davis is a music director who has worked with artists and bands such as Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande, Becky G and Lil Wayne

Example 1:






I like how in this video everything matches such as Ariana's hair in music video matches her nails, her surrounding background.

Example 2:


I like the different camera angels and close ups that Davis uses on Becky G and that the locations and weather really suits the song as well.


Example 3:



I like the decoration that they used on the house and that Davis made sure that it represented the band, I also like how the music video relates to the song.

Task 11 - Inspirations/Directors - Director X

What is your inspiration in filming?

I am inspired by directors who create entertaining music videos, such as Director X. He has worked with the most popular artists and bands such as Drake, Justin Bieber and Little Mix.

 

Example 1:

 I like how he has used different locations in this video and the different times of day as well, I think that it makes the video interesting.


Example 2:



For Little Mix's video I also like how the video is telling a story and that it relates to the lyrics.

Example 3:
 


For this music video I also like how the video is set in a exotic locations, where you can see a beautiful beach, mountains and rocks.


I have also noticed that at the beginning of every video that he has directed he uses this editing effect that opens the scene and then at the end of every video the same effect but it closes the scene and it turn into a black screen. I think that Director X has used that editing effect as a signature start and end to a music video that he has directed.

Beginning of "Worst Behavior" video

End of "Worst Behaviour" video

Beginning of "Black Magic" video

End of "Black Magic" video

Beginning of "Glad You Came" video

End of "Glad You Came" video

Task 9 - Analysis of at least 5 digipaks -Shawn Mendes- The Shawn Mendes EP

Front Cover:

The Front cover shows a close up of Shawn Mendes's face. He is looking away from the camera but he is smiling, the whole cover is in black and white. His name is in a big blue font and the album name is in a slightly smaller font but in white.

Back cover:

the back cover is in black, it has the track list in big blue font son that it is easy to see. There is also a long description at the bottom of the cover in smaller font and in white. You can see the record label Island in a slightly big font, so that it stands out.

CD:

The CD is in black and the Mendes's name is in blue and the title is in a white font. Identical to the front cover.



Task 9 - Analysis of at least 5 digipaks - Calvin Harris - 18 Months

Front Cover:

The front cover for Calvin Harris's album"18 Months" is a long shot photo of Calvin sitting on a pavement looking away from the camera, behind him is a brick wall which the title  of the album and his name are edited in front of the image. His name and the title "18 months" are very easy to see on the cover, to draw attention to the person that will buy it.

Back cover:

The back cover of this is similar to the front cover, it is still a long shot of Harris but this time he is looking at the camera, but you still can't see his face that well because it is more of an extreme long shot. There is also the track list written in white so that it is easy to see. You also have the barcode and a list of record labels such as Sony Music.

CD:

The CD is in black and white, it has Harris's name in the biggest font and the album name in a slightly smaller font. The CD is black and the font is in white. 

Task 9 - Analysis of at least 5 digipaks - Lady Gaga - Born This Way

Front cover:

This is the front cover of Lady Gaga's album "Born This Way" it has a close up of Gaga's face looking straight at the camera everything is in black and white except for the red lipstick. At the top left of the cover you can see Gaga's name and title of the album all in black and white, however the font is a bit small, the main focus of the cover is to grab the person's attention to the picture of Gaga.



Back cover:

for the back cover you can see the track list. It still has that black and white colour scheme. There is the same close up of Gaga's face from the front cover but it is edited onto a motorbike, this is to capture the surreal, unique images that Gaga likes to show off to the world.

CD:

The CD again follows the black and white colour scheme, the CD is black and Gaga's name and album title is in white, big font. 



 

Task 9 - Analysis of at least 5 digipaks - Miley Cyrus Bangerz

The front cover

There is a long shot of Miley standing with her back to the camera and looks directly at the camera. She is wearing a black dress. Behind her is a purple background and 2 pictures of palm trees. On the top left there is the title of the album "Bangerz" which is easy to see. Her first name is at the very top of the cover in red font and her last name is at the bottom of the cover in blue. 

The back cover

The back cover follows the same colour scheme as the front with the purple ombre, There is a high angle photo of Miley sitting on a chair she is looking straight which is not at the camera, you can see her wearing a different outfit from the front cover however she is still wearing black, it looks like she's wearing a glossy black jacket and some black shorts with some writing on them.

The tracks are also on the back cover and it is in an orange font which will help it stand out, ti gives more of a summer vibe which could suggest that this is a summer album. 

CD

The CD is plain white no special drawings, it has her name in a pink font at the top, at the bottom with the same font is the title of the album"Bangerz"  in the middle you can see in a smaller font the producers, "Miley Cyrus And Mike Will" 

Task 9 - Analysis of at least 5 digipaks - Rihanna, Loud

Front:
The front cover of the digipak of Rihanna's album is a extreme close up of her face, she is not directly looking at the camera she has her eyes closed, The reason why they might have done this is so that it is easy for fans to find her. She doesn't have any dramatic make up on, she just has eyelash extensions and a red lip that goes with her hair colour.

On the top of the album cover you can see her name in a small white font, they probably chose this colour  because it doesnt clash badly with the photo and it goes well with the album cover. Then at the bottom you see the name of the album which is "Loud" and it is also in white but it is in a bigger font so that it is easy to see and that the attention is drawn more to the title of the album name.

Inside cover and CD 

The inside cover is a long shot photo of Rihanna laying in a rose bush, the roses are red which goes with her hair and the red colour scheme that the creator was going for. You cannot really see her face as well as the front cover but you can see that her hair and makeup hasn't changed from the front cover.

You can now also see that she has a 2 piece light pink dress on and the light pink goes as well with the extreme close up of the light pink rose that is printed on her CD. You can mainly see the petals of the rose and it just shows that there is a light pink, red, green colour scheme going on. The CD looks very artsy and it kind of makes the owner of the product want to listen to the album.

Leaflet

There looks like that there is a small leaflet that goes with the digipak, it looks exactly the same as the front cover of the album



Back of digipak

This has all of the track names, The colour scheme is more pink and the font colour is in purple, on the right hand side you can see the record label "Def Jam", there is a long shot photo of Rihanna she is sitting down, she is also looking down, she looks like she is wearing a different outfit to the one that she was wearing in the inside cover.

Task 8 - Analysis of at least 5 videos - Shawn Mendes - "Stitches"



Camera:

There are multiple over the shoulder shots and close ups of Shawn Mendes. This is probably to show off his surroundings, which is an empty parking area.



Editing:

There  is a quick change in camera angle every time Mendes's gets hit, this is  to show the different angles in how he gets hit and to also make the video interesting.

 

Sound:

The only sound effects is at the beginning where you can hear the car parking in the car park and also at the very end where you can hear the tap running, everything between that is the song's audio. 

Mise En Scene:

The music video is mainly at a parking area that is empty, Shawn is wearing a leather jacket and some black trousers, throughout the video he is getting injured, so there is false blood and make up to make him look like he has bruises on his face. 



Task 8 - Analysis of at least 5 videos - Calvin Harris ft Rihanna "This is what you came for"

Camera:

There are many close ups and long shots of Rihanna singing, the reason that they put this is because they probably want to show off the background of the different lights.



Editing:

There is a change in scenes, for example when there is a scene where Rihanna sings it then switches to a scene of someone driving a Lamborghini, then that image transfers to the screen behind Rihanna.

Sound:

At the very beginning of the music video you can hear studio lights switch on and also the sound of the atmosphere when they show the forest, the rest of the music video is just the song's audio.

Mise En Scene:

The main setting for the music video is in a studio where you can see Rihanna and Calvin Harris. there are other locations like a forest and a road.


Rihanna is only in one outfit, a grey baggy jumpsuit

Task 8 - Analysis of at least 5 videos - Galantis - Runaway (U & I)

 What is the realtionship between Lyrics and visuals

The relationship between the visuals and lyrics is when the lyrics say "I wanna run away" the female in the mask is looking outside the window and outside that window you can see a view of a city that has a lot of lights and that could represent the freedom that the song intends to mean.

 When the lyrics go "You and I" it shows the scene where the female in the mask and the male in the mask finally meet in the streets because of their ray of light guiding them to eachother.

  Genre Characteristics

This genre is progressive house, it suits the characteristics because usually in a music video for this genre there is a club scene where the DJ is playing their song live.

Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?

There are no close ups of Galantis but they make brief appearances in their video, only in the night club/concert scenes. 

Camera 

There is a over the shoulder shot when the female in the mask looks out the window. This is to show the view and to also make the video interesting.

Editing

There is a purple/pink laser effect, they put this in video so that the visuals make sense with the lyrics.

Sound

There are no sound effects in this video however at the beginning of the video there is an interview between with the female in the mask, they did this to set the story of the video. Also halfway through the video there is also a interview with the male in the mask.

Mise en scene

In the beginning it is set in a celebrity interview room, then it is set in a flat, then on the streets and finally in a nightclub/concert.

for costume, there are cat masks for the two actors in the video.

Task 8 - Analysis of at least 5 videos - Leona Lewis Bleeding Love US Version)

     

   

What is the relationship between lyrics and visuals?

At the start of the song where Leona sings "Before you know it you're frozen" Leona's background of NYC and the people walking freezes just when she says "frozen" I think that they have added this effect to make the video look interesting.

Genre characteristics

The song is pop and the song and artist are both very popular. At the time this was released this song would have been playing on so many radio stations and music channels.

Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?

Yes there are many close ups of Leona in this video, there is just Leona and a guy who seems to be her partner in the video and just the general public of NYC. There are no dance routines unlike other pop music videos but this video is trying to tell a story.
 

Camera 

There are many switches in the scenes, this is to show the story and how it's progressing throughout the entire video, for example when the partner is packing his things whilst in another scene she is in a taxi on her way to the house, it seems that she is trying to get him back.

 Sound 

At the start of the music video there is the sound of the busy NYC streets, then the music starts after that there are no sound effects other than the audio of the song.

 Mise en scene 

There are different locations such as Times Square, an apartment and building, taxi
and finally a little studio where Leona sings on her own. 

Editing: 

There are a lot of changes in scenes for example there would be a scene where the partner is packing his bags then the scene would change to Leona singing in a taxi. This could have been used to show the elipsis of time and to help tell the story. 

Task 8 - Analysis of at least 5 videos- Adele Send My Love

1. The first music video that I am going to analyse is called "Send My Love" by Adele






What is the realtionship between Lyrics and visuals
There is no major relationship between the visuals and the music video, the video does not show Adele physically singing to someone, however hand gestures and movement is used to show expression when she sings.

 

 Genre Characteristic

This song is Pop, it suits the genre well because Adele is a well known artist therefore her videos get millions of views and her songs get popular really quickly as well. 

What is the relationship between music and visuals?

Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?

Yes there are many closeups of Adele in her music video, the video just shows her singing and it doesn't inlcude anyone else. From Pete Fraser's theory on star image Adele has never really changed the way that her videos look, they would always include her in it weather alone or with other people. Also her videos don't show any dance routines unlike other pop artists I think Adele uses this image that she has created to show that she has a chill personality and that she can make a simple video and still be relevant and popular in the music industry. 

 

 Camera 

At the very start of the music video there is a zoom in, extreme long shot of Adele this is used to show her dress and that it suits that plain background well and because this song could be a diss song to her ex at the beggining it shows that she has a straight face which could suggest that she is being serious.

 

There are a lot of extreme close ups of Adele's face, from Pete Fraser's theory it could be because the director of the video wanted to emphasise the meaning of Adele's lyrics for example movements of her hands, face expressions. For example when she say's "Im giving you up" she closes her eyes and moves her hand, to express her feelings to make it look like that she really is giving up on her ex. Another example is when she says "You set me free" Adele raises her hand and they have done this to emphasise the meaning of the lyrics and to showing that she means it.

"I'm giving you up"

"You set me free"

There is a mix of a long shot and a mid shot but you can mainly see the mid shot. In the song Adele sings "you were falling down" and she moves down just as she sings it. As mentioned before she is doing this to emphasise the meanings of her lyrics and also to make the video seem a bit interesting as well. 

"Your were falling down"

Sound

In the music video there are no sound effects it's all the audio of the song however at the very start of the video you can hear Adele say "Just the guitar ok cool" and then the music starts, she says it very quickly but you are still able to hear cleary what she has said, it's a statement that could confuse us because you don't see any guitars in this video but again this could be to show that this is an acoustic song which could again make sense. It could also hint at fans that there could be two versions of the song, a guitar version and maybe a fast paced version with louder instruments?

Editing

The editing in this is interesting because it seemed as it was very easy to film but it must have taken a very long time to edit. As you can tell they have probably filmed Adele singing the song multiple times but using different movements each time to create the effect that the editor has done, shown in the Gif bellow.  Also you can see the different colour transitions going from the natural colour of the dress and everything to a teal colour, from teal to a gold/orange/red colour, then at the very end a mixture of the teal and orange/red, when she stops singing everything is back to the normal colour. I think that the colours and the different versions of Adele singing could probably make the video look interesting as well instead of it just being Adele singing infront of a black background, they made it interesting by making these effects. These effects can make the song seem dreamy, at the end where all the effects stop it kind of makes the viewer snap back to reality again.

     

Mise en scene

The video seems to be shot in what could be a studio with a black background, which helped the editor create all the effects and make them look good as well because it is a simple background choice. 

Adele is wearing a floral, long, flowy dress, which goes well with all the effects. She has shimmery gold eye make up on and is wearing red lipstick which goes well with her dress.

Task 7 -Prelim photography task

 Realism vs Surrealism

Realism: used with the flower symbol, close up of flowers.

Realism: portrait mode

Surrealism: Portrait mode 

Surrealism: landscape mode