Music Video Tester

Video Effects

When creating and editing my music video, I needed to figure out how to put a blur around the edges of my video. I asked the technician at my college, and for hours we messed around with effects and certain programmes attempting of how to do it, but nothing seemed to work. After getting very frustrated and angry at the editing suits, I finally googled the problem, and after watching a few videos which were all conveniently all the wrong version of adobe pro, and many were instructing to use Photoshop to overlay a circle to get my desired effect, all did not work. I finally using a last resort youtubed my problem and found this video.

Step 1: Select video, and duplicate the video onto two tracks.
Step 2: Select video on Video 1, and New > Title. 
Step 3: Created desired outline
Step 4: Select clip on Video 2 > Video Effects > Keying > Track Matte Key > Effect controls > Matte > Video 3
 Step 5: Select Video 1 > Video Effects > Blur & Sharpen > Gaussian Blur - Select Blurriness
Step 6: Select Title > Video Effects > Blur & Sharpen > Gaussian Blur - Select Blurriness

Best Indie Pop Albums of 2013

Taken from: 

http://www.albumoftheyear.org/genre/4-indie-pop/2013/

Looking at album artwork that is already out there helps to create idea's of my own and allow me to see what is typical of indie-pop artwork, to try and relate this back to my own work and create a realistic looking artwork piece that people will be able to look at and now why and how it relates to my album name or artist name. 

1. MONEY - The Shadow of Heaven

Released: August 26th, 2013

- This album art work is very plain, however effective. It is in black and white which gives it a vintage feel which seems to be very popular within the indie genre. The image is of a male character jumping in the air with arms spread wide, showing he is free and feeling infinite.  

2. Los Campesinos! - No Blues

Released: October 29th, 2013

- This album artwork with the smoke seems to be conventional at the moment, it seems that smoke seems to be appearing in a lot of music videos recently and it is appearing more and more. This is next to impossible for a media student to create unless I were to find a smoke video on the internet and manipulate them together and colour them over a picture that corresponds to my music video.

3. Youth Lagoon - Wondrous Bughouse

Released: March 5th, 2013

- This type of album artwork is common, but normally difficult to do. It is easier when you are working with an entire album as you have more lyrics to play with so you can create a piece which resembles the entire songs, not just one single song. This type of album artwork I could love to try, but it would take a lot of planning and figuring out what to try. 

4. Tegan and Sara - Heartthrob

Released: January 29th, 2013

- This album artwork would be great for my single artwork. At the end I am planning on having a montage of photos of the artist with the love of the music video. I could then use these photos and create a collage of photos of them both together being loved up showing the lover between them and having it look like a montage of them together like this one shown.

5. Everything Everything - Arc

Released: January 14th, 2013

- Again like the one above, I could take this idea and create a montage of images of my artist and lover. 

6. Daughter - If You Leave

Released: March 18th, 2013

- This album artwork is very simple to do. It seems like a photo has been shot from the music video, and has an artistic spin on it; the artist is shown in the back of the picture and there seems to be a shadow/veil over the image which looks like the sun is shining, but almost looks like hair in places. This artwork confuses me, but looks good..

7. Foxygen - We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

Released: January 22nd, 2013

- This album artwork is very simple, I do not understand what the image is trying to make the audience understand, and it may be a case of the only people that would truly understand this artwork would be the listeners of the band. I on the other hand would like to have any audience which see's my art work be able to understand and relate to it.

8. Big Deal - June Gloom

Released: June 3rd, 2013

- This album artwork is again something that has no significance to the songs, the only thing I can try to understand would be the pinks and oranges in the sky which could resemble June's sunsets. Other than that it may be only the listeners that will understand.

9. Sin Fang - Flowers

Released: February 1st, 2013

- This album artwork is very creative, the flowers on the picture are looking almost as if they are the actors beard. The background behind the talent is almost as if its liquid and moving.

10. Eleanor Friedberger - Personal Record

Released: June 4th, 2013

 - This album artwork is quite plain, it does not seem to match the album title, but without listening to the album i cannot make this judgement. 

11. Camera Obscura - Desire Lines

Released: June 4th, 2013

- This album artwork in my eyes is quite clever, the title is 'Desire Lines' and the tree's are all roughly straight lines. So through the play on the words, this album artwork is simple but effect for what the artist would want out of it.

12. Dutch Uncles - Out of Touch in the Wild

Released: January 14th, 2013

- This album art work looks quite plain at first, but as you look deeper into it, it is made up of many levels of photographs and aspects working together to make quite a beautiful image.

13. Young Galaxy - Ultramarine

Released: April 23rd, 2013

- This album art work is very simple, and i do not believe that it links to the album in any way, so I will not be considering this idea. 

14. Lorde - Pure Heroine

Released: September 30th, 2013

- This album artwork is very very simple. But the 'Pure' could be reffering to the fact that the album artwork is very simple. 

15. Ex Cops - True Hallucinations

Released: January 22nd, 2013

- This album artwork is very simple, maybe I would have to listen to the album to attempt to understand the image, but just by looking at it, it has the artists name, the album name and also an image that possibly relates.

16. Phoenix - Bankrupt!

Released: April 22nd, 2013

- This album artwork is very simple, it seems to have no relevance to the album name at all. For an album to be effective in my eyes it must have some relevance to the album name or even the artists name. 

17. of Montreal - Lousy With Sylvianbriar

Released: October 8th, 2013

- This album artwork is quite artsy. The colours are not relatable to the real world, so there can be no connection between real world and this artwork apart from the motorcycle. 

18. London Grammar - If You Wait

Released: September 9th, 2013

- This album artwork is just a photo taken of the band, with their album name and group name. this artwork is effective, as when an audience buys the album they know who the music is created by, and has the relevant details needed for it to be known as soon as someone sets eyes upon it. 

19. Sonny & the Sunsets - Antenna to the Afterworld

Released: June 11th, 2013

- This album artwork is relevant to the album name, as the image is of a rooftop, looking upwards towards the skies as if looking to the after world were people normally relate heaven to be. 

20. Poliça - Shulamith

Released: October 22nd, 2013

- This album artwork is quite simple, But seems to have no relevance to the album name or artists name, which is something I am currently trying to avoid. 

Hypodermic Needle Theory

In class today, we had to present a powerpoint on the theory Hypodermic Needle Theory. We had to find examples of our own and explain this theory to the class and how we could use it for our coursework. 



The reason why I should heavily consider this theory is because it suggests that the creator in charge 'injects' the ideas that they would like the audience to convey. The audience is passive, and are directly affected by what they view but the creator must think carefully to make sure that the audience is subjected to only one view of ideas so they cannot think anything else, or argue back with the ideas given to them. 
The idea the creator injects them with must be clear and laid out well or the audience may not understand.

Location Images

Album Artwork research

All of these album artwork photos all belong to artists under the 'Indie' genre. Some of them are simple photos, for example: Foster the PeopleEP. It is just a photo of a bullseye, but with some lines being taken out of the photo. The Scouting for Girls album artwork is also very simple: The sun in the background of the image with two people using their hands to make a love heart.

The only creative ones that are on here are Neon Tree's: Habits, Foster The People: Torches, and Tokyo Police Club: Champ. These are the only ones that stand out for me, as they are different, and are not like the rest due to being drawings, or lots of instruments and various props.

Imagine Dragons, Bastille, The Fray, Vampire Weekend, and the Kooks all have the fact that they are vintage images which makes them all similar. This may be conventional of the genre 'Indie-pop': and I will heavily consider this while thinking about designs for my artwork. 

Subsidiary Product 1

For my first subsidiary product, I have chosen to do a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package).

 

Filming - 6th December

This is a scene for 7-10. I cannot use this as the lights in the top right hand corner create purple lines across the camera view. It does not have a professional view, and due to the coats in the right hand corner as well it shows that I have either not well prepared my set, or I havent thought about it at all.




This again, is for the same section of filming but again with that single light in the top corner, it creates a purple wave over my film. Also Jack stumbles at the top of the stairs which makes Amelia have to wait for him in order to descend down the stairs together. This stands out on the video so in all fairness I will need to re-film this section.

I then shot it from a different angle as heads were beginning to be chopped off, and the props and lighting downstairs were becoming an issue. So I then shot this, however forgetting about my equipment at the bottom of the stairs, when watching this video back I realised I had left my second tripod downstairs. So this clip cannot be used.

Health and Safety Measures

 

These are some measures that need to be thought of, and made aware of when I am filming. These are some of the obvious ones, and throughout filming if I believe an issue is putting peoples health, or lives at risk. I will immediately stop filming and think of how the issue could be solved.

First set of filming: 6th October

I have planned with my lead female, that I will be shooting a section of my music video at her house tomorrow. I will shoot scenes 7-13, in various angles to see which I prefer. I will be filming after college, and I will book out a camera with tripod and a memory card. 

Audience Profile

An Audience profile helps me to understand my readers in trying to gather all of their passions into my music video. I can incorperate all of these thoughts into my production.
For example, Tv programmes could be on in the background of my shoot, so when my talent is walking past the tv, or watching the tv. These programmes or films could be displayed on the screen.
Props such as books, films, coffee, phones could be displayed on counter tops, and bedside tables.
This would make my music video seem more relevant to the given genre of Indie-Pop.

Final Male costume ideas

Final Female Costume Ideas

My Talent and Production crew

For my music video I needed to look for people who would fit the role of the 'Indie' look. I looked for people who would be comfortable in front of a camera, and if anything had experience with media before.

Talent: 

The female that I have chosen to be my female lead is: Amelia Rothwell
Amelia is a photography, Art and English student of Wyke College. She is confident in front of a camera which is perfect, and is helpful throughout filming and can help me with lights during scenes that she does not appear in. 


The Male that I have chosen to be my male lead protagonist is: Jack Bell
Jack is a media, English and Sociology student of Wyke College. He is confident due to appearing in his own music video this year, so seeing him behind a camera is what initially made me approach him with an email, inviting him to play the lead for my music video. 


The second male which appears in my music video which is the antagonistic guy, that the female lead is sleeping with. I have chosen Connor Carter to play him. Connor is a Fim Studies, Media Studies, and English Student of Wyke College. This shows and tells me that Connor is very confident of himself, via doing both film and media studies, and to be would play the perfect antagonistic. 

Crew:

My make-up artist is Zoe Rothwell I've known her for awhile now, and I like the style that she uses on a daily basis. She uses very little make-up but makes herself look pretty and outlines her eyes which stand out. This is good, as it means that my lead female's eyes would stand out on camera and would give me a good effect. I approached her, and asked her if she could then transfer this make-up technique to her Big Sister (Amelia Rothwell) and for some scenes, create a more 'promiscuous' style with my Talent.

Casting

When it came to trying to find my Talent for my music video I needed to look for people who would fit the role of the 'Indie' look. I did not want to broadcast my need for a Talent as my music video casting would be purely on looks, and this could raise issues within the public. I looked for people who would be comfortable in front of a camera, and if anything had experience with media before. This then led me to look at people who are in either the arts department or the media department a lot, who would suit this role.
When I found two people, I sent them both emails. These emails are shown below:

Sending these emails formally meant that the person could decide on their own whether they would be up for the part or not.

There was no confrontation needed, so they could easily turn my offer down. Luckily on my behalf, they both agreed.

Making a Music Video

Initial idea's of Locations.

Bed shot/ Bedroom shot - My house
Stair shot - Amelia's house
Kitchen shot - Amelia's house
Living room shot - Amelia's house
Different Living room shot - Connor's house. or Jack's house
Street Shot - Arcon Drive
Garden Shot - Amelia's House
Stage set - Fruit / College theatre. 

Animatic from my story board

Using iMovie

As I had never used iMovie before I had some issues with saving. As there is physically no save option, and i'm not an avid apple buyer, this posed a problem for me. As the Mac's at our college are fairly new the technicians did not know either. This meant trying to learn about it myself, but as I was being timed and racing against the clock I turned to youtube. It seems other people too have had this problem and there are plenty of videos out there.

I found this tutorial:
 
This tutorial was meant for people at the youtube users college, but it still applies to my college so this way works for me. It shows you where iMovie actually saves the movie itself, but also where final products are saved and can be uploaded onto a USB device, and then uploaded straight to youtube. 

Storyboard

Storyboard - Media A2 from kierajowetta2

Male costume ideas

As my genre is indie, my male lead must be wearing a costume that fits within the genre. These are all clothes that a typical indie male would wear. To make my music video look professional, my lead must fit within my given genre.  
As these images have been taken from the internet, I may not be able to use these costumes exactly, but this is just to give me a good idea on what the indie genre clothing is.
The look the lead male will take for one section of my song is smart, but casual. He will be wearing a shirt, black skinny jeans and have roughly messy hair. This will connotate that he cares about his appearance due to the smart shirt, but also wants to be seen as 'cool' and respectable. 
Another part of my music video he will be wearing messy clothes, so it represents how he is no longer happy, he no longer cares what he looks, and cannot be happy and look good. 
Examples of clothing within this genre are as follows:
Ben Montague: Another Hard Fall

Leather jackets, black boots, black skinny jeans, and a plain white T-shirt is used within this music video. These pieces of clothing are very effective, and suit the artist well. They make him look casual, but also smart, which is typical of this genre. The hair is another thing to pick up on is that, it is very styled, and into a quiff shape, which could also be another convention of this genre.

Arctic Monkeys: Why'd you only call me when you're high?

Like Ben Montague, Alex Turner is also wearing a leather jacket, black boots, and black skinny jeans. Alex however is wearing a plain black t-shirt, In the picture below, the other band members of Arctic Monkeys are wearing similar costume, and are all wearing dark T-shirts. Two t-shirts are plain, so this could also be something I should consider when thinking about connotations of my music video. 

Female Costume ideas

As my genre is indie, my female lead must be wearing a costume that fits within the genre. These are all clothes that a typical indie female would wear. To make my music video look professional my lead must fit within. 

My female lead must look attractive but also promiscuous. As the song is about a guy who loves a girl but previously this girl has slept around a lot. Half way through the song the guy falls in love with the girl more, and the girl in my video will begin to love him back so the idea's i'm given I could change her clothing so she is more loveable and more reliable to the protagonist.

Some examples of female leads in indie music videos are:

Focus Group

This video is a focus group I conducted with a few people at my college. It was to help me to understand other peoples points of view, so I not only had mine to go with, but other peoples. The questions I asked were specific so I knew my target audience, what conventions people find typical of a music video, and what story line I should go with to make a successful indie-pop music video.

The first question I asked was 'What age are you?'

The answer from both was 17 & 18. This questions ties in with others, and helps me to understand certain aspects. 

The next question was 'What age range do you believe music videos are aimed at?'

The answer from both of them was that they believe it depends on the genre. The genre I have decided to make a music video within in Indie-Pop. This goes with the question 'what age are you?' as it tells me that 17 year old listen to this type of music. So this tells me that I am aiming my music video at the right target audience. 

My next question was 'How often do you watch music videos and why?'

Both said when a new song comes out. This is because they like how the video can develop the narrative of the song. If the song is upbeat, catchy and good, the viewer will want to watch the music video everyday too, as the video will match the sound. This tells me that I need to make a good video for people to see my perspective but also to try and understand my ideology, compared to what they could think. I could also try and offer the audience a different, almost unusual version of the song so this will make them think. 

The next question was 'What stylistic feature do you prefer in music videos?

One person said mise-en-scene, and one person said editing. The person who said mise-en-scene said that because it can develop the narrative and make it look good and realistic. This is true because because of the mise-en-scene you can begin to categorize the music video into what genre it is. The person who said editing said this because you can create  together and can create a better image for the viewer overall, but it also changes the wa the viewer sees the action. I believe I will concentrate on all areas which are Editing, Cinematography, and mise-en-scene. I believe all these three area's are very important and I will get this across in my work, editing because the genre Indie-pop will have fading edits, and fading shots throughout which I believe is vital to create a realistic looking product. Cinematography because close ups, and medium close-ups are used throughout to show the artist and to attempt to connect the audience with the artists feelings. But then Mise-en-scene because props and clothing are essential in trying to get across what genre this music video is, and to make sure people can categorize my video into my chosen genre. 

My next question was 'What narrative do you prefer when watching a music video?'
Both people answered with Narrative, they said this because it allows the audience to understand the song better, and allow the action to match the lyrics. This not only draws the audiences attention to the video but also to the lyrics themselves. Normally a narrative music video allows the audience to see a different  narrative to the song than they originally thought it was about. I love this idea so I will follow this, but also add in performance shots to link in with my chosen genre. 

My poll results

I put a poll up on my blog, this asked a variety of questions to people who went on my blog. These questions were based on things that would help me develop my music video, determine certain factors such as what my target audience should be. What stylistic features I should focus on to create a product that people within my target audience will like.

The first question I asked was 'what is your Gender?' depending on the results would determine what story my music video would take. The results were as follows:

The results that I gathered were that more females took part in my poll, however this was only by one vote. This shows me that I should aim my music video to both genders, as I am going to go with a narrative music video I need it to appeal to both genders to be successful. The storyline that I believe I am going to create, follows the life of a boy. It shows how he is in-love with a girl, and how he believes she is always with him. This could attract a male audience as it is shown from the boys perspective, the element that would attract the female audience would be that a girl is shown all the way through the musi video, but she is shown with the main star(the artist) but also shown with other various men, showing that she is not in a relationship, but see's a lot of different men and is seen as 'carefree'. 

My next question is 'what age are you?'. This shows me what age range I am dealing with. The results were as follows: 

The results show me that the majority of people that took part in my poll are between the ages of 15 and 24. However, all ages did complete my poll, so this shows me that other people are interested within the media. This question then links with the next which is 'What age do you think music videos are targeted at?' The results for this question are: 

This comparison between the two show me that even though all age ranges took part in the poll, the majority of people believe that music videos are aimed at the age range of 15-24. This tells me that if the audience of my blog believe this, I should take this on board, and have a young cast. Preferably that falls between this age range, this would attract an audience of similar ages to the cast, and would give me higher ratings. 

The next question I asked was 'What do you think is the most important stylistic feature in a music video?' This question can allow me to understand what an audience want from a music video, and what music videos they prefer overall. The results are as follows: 

The results were that Editing and Mise-en-scene are considered the most important features in a music video. This evidence then shows me that I should focus on these two areas the most, but personally I believe all three key areas are very important. So Overall I will focus on Cinematography when it comes to my storyboard so I can create a realistic looking video, but I will concentrate and plan what my mise-en-scene will be. This is so I can create a good product which will fall between the genre I have chosen. I will then look at a lot of Indie-pop genre music videos so I can gather what edits they use within the videos.

The next question I asked was 'What music do you listen to the most?' This can tell me what the majority vote is for the people who look at my blog. This will give me an idea what genre is most popular. The results were as follows:

According to my poll, it shows that the majority of people listen to the Indie and Pop genres. This is very good as this is the genre that I have chosen for my brief genre. I have chosen 'Indie-Pop'. This shows me that I am appealing to the correct audience already which is very good. 

The next question I asked was 'What music videos do you prefer?' This will tell me what I should involve within my video, if I should have it of narrative nature, matching lyrics or even telling a story within itself, or maybe I should create a performance video of the artist performing, writing, or producing the song itself. My third option is abstract, which isn't very conventional of the Indie-Pop genre, but if the audience of this genre would prefer to see this in action with an Indie-Pop genre, then maybe I could get more views through challenging these roles. The results were as follows:

The results of this poll tell me that the audience of Indie-Pop genre would prefer to see the artist perform the song, or have a narrative setting within the video. As the votes are exactly half I believe I am going to combine both ideas, and have both of them feature in my music video. I could combine these, and have the narrative be the main element of the video, but within the music video have shots where the artist is seen performing the song. I could incorporate this to be within the narrative itself, or just show the artist in a setting that is conventional of an artist performing. 

In conclusion all of these questions have helped me develop my ideas for my music video, they have also given me new ideas which I can involve within my product, and how I can relate it back to my target audience. 

History of music videos.

A music video is a video or film which accompanies a piece of music or song. The role of the modern music industry is to create a song and accompany it with a film, this is to get the music video out there onto tv channels to eventually sell more. Most people listen to music these days via youtube and tv channels. Every week a music channel show does the 'Top 40' and if a song which may be in the top 40 for example: Number 9, does not have a music video, the song will not be played. This then leaves the audience to either wonder what the song sounds like, and to research it, or the other half of the audience will forget about it and not be bothered. Music video's these days are becoming more outrageous so they catch more media coverage. for example, Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball, was in the top 40 for weeks due to so many people watching it because it was her debut music video showing the change of how she has grown up since Hannah Montanan to now. Audiences are growing constantly and demand artists to make music videos so they can easily watch them and feel like they interact with them more along their journey to fame.

1. In 1894 sheet music publishers Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern hired an electrician (George Thomas) and various performers to promote sales of their song 'The Little Lost Child'. Using a magic lantern Thomas projected a series of still images onto a screen simultaneous to live performances. This is now known as illustrated song - A step towards the music video.

2. In 1926 with the arrival of talkies many musical short films were produced.(Vitaphone shorts - warner bros) Animation artist Max Fleischer introduced a series of sing-along short cartoons called 'Screen Songs'. Walt disney went on to produce 'silly Symphonies' and especially 'Fantasia'.

3. Soundies, produced and released from 1940-1947, were musical films that often included short dance sequences, similar to later music videos.

4. Another major aspect that helped was musical films. Several well known music videos have imitated the style of the classic Hollywood musicals. An example of this is Madonna's - Material Girl.  In this video she is imitating the well known singer and actress Marilyn Monroe as she was seen as an iconic figure of her time. Her is doing this is by conveying to the audience that she is as good as Marilyn.

5. 1958: The oldest music clip as we know it today was 'Dame si do bytu' - Ladislav Rychman. 

6. With that and the invention of television more artists came to the public eye because of programmes such as Top of the Pops. These types of tv shows promoted artists due to their looks and music, and to get them out into the public to showcase their talent, making them more money. 

7. In 1981, music videos breached onto mainstream TV with the launch of the US channel MTV. By the mid 1980's, and now playing a major role in music marketing, this channel begun the era of 24 hour a day music on TV.

A theorist that we have studied is called Michael Shores. He came up with a theory in 1984 which said that all music videos have recycled styles within them. The styles that are considered recycled are the narrative of the music video itself. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, boy can't be with girl, they find a solution to be together in the end. It could also be recycled styles within the three categories of cinematography, editing and mise-en-scene. This theory means that every music video has things in common with one another, It could be a music video of the Pop genre, or a music video from the rock genre.

Bob Dylan was the first artist to produce a music video which we recognize as a music video today. This video is beneath and is called 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' which was produced in 1965. This video is very important as it allowed the music industry to see what they could produce. This built the foundations of music videos for generations to come.

An example of a music video which has recycled the style of Bob Dylans music video is 

MaLLy & The Sundance Kid - Heir Time 

  
It uses the idea of cue cards, however the artist uses a tablet instead of card written on. This shows how our technology industry has grown throughout the ages. Also half way through the music video he swipes the screen and a video appears and then the camera zooms into the tablet and the video plays, so this is a progression from Bob Dylan which is typical and what we would expect. Most of the video is also just one long shot, like that of Bob Dylan's. 

Another example of this is The Midnight Beast - Booty Call. however 

The reason why these two music videos are similar is because both videos use props to develop the narrative. The video shows the artist, in a realistic setting, with props they use frequently, this creates verisimilitude for the audience so they can engage further into the product.

My genre that I have chosen is indie-pop, within this genre the most recycled styles are that there is a fade edit at the beginning, and the most common theme of songs are about love and sex. Most of the music videos that fall within this genre are normally of narrative story line with clips showing the artist performing.

Two examples of this idea are as follows:



Both these music videos have a lot in common in terms of recycled styles. Both songs are about love, both begin with a fading edit. Both show the artist performing the song, both have narrative other than the performance factor. Within both videos they wear the same type of clothing, which is conventional of the genre. Music videos have progressed from 1965, to now. Videos are also becoming more abstract which is giving the artist free roam on what they would like to explore. This factor gives the artist the opportunity to experiment and change the laws and expectation of the media. However, within the genre of Indie-Pop the conventions stay the same, they have stayed the same for the last few years, and will probably continue to for the next few years too. This is what the audience seems to like and engage most in, and this works as the sales for Indie music are very high at the moment and are becoming increasingly popular.