Research - Genres



Research into Different types of Genres

A genre is a specific type of style. There are many different types of genres in music some better known then others. The genre of a music video is represented through the lyrics, the artist and through the actual music videos themselves


Some different types of Genres

Song Choice we all could not agree on

Short-list of Potential Songs Planning

Dappy - Good Intentions

Cover Drive ft Dappy

Stooshe - Love Me

Rita Ora - How We Do

Estelle ft Kanye - American Boy

Research - Skills Audit

During my AS year i learned many important skills that are going to be very useful when it comes to doing my music video.

Skills I have learn from research -

When doing my research in AS we looked at openings of thrillers and analysed them. I also had a look at previous student work that helped me understand what type of opening I wanted to do myself. Looking at examples of students work really helped me in AS. I am doing the same now and have come up with various interesting idea's that will help make our music video unique but believable.

Doing research before our planning has really given me the chance to learn more about the music industry and people's theory's on it.

There are several skills we have learnt over the past year which allows us to create our music video to a high standard. Here are some of the most important skills we have learnt:

·  how to use the equipment properly (Camera tutorial, how to set up equipment, how to keep it all safe)

·  how to use the Mac's and all editing software (final cut pro, sound track pro)

·  how to work well in our groups

·  how to use blogger (creating blogs, embedding clips etc)

There are several more skills we have learnt through our AS practical work which will apply to our A2 practical work.

Research - Music Industry

Research - Previous Student Video Review

Out of all of the previous students work, this is my favorite music video. I had not heard the song before I watched this which may have been the reason for me liking the video so much but i like it because it is very intresting, clever and actually believable.

Sound
The Lipsyncing in this video is almost perfect. I did not notice any words that looked as if it was out of sync.

Editing
The editing in this video is good as it is edited to the beat of the song. They succeessfully used base tracks throughout the video.

Mise-en-scene
I specically liked the way they used the contrast between dark and light. She had dramtic makeup on which added to the song.

Camerawork
They used various different camera angles which also added to the dramatic effect.

Personally my favorite part of the video was the opening when their was flashing lights. I think that was a really good effect and the lights flashed on her with the rythm and the beat of the song.

Research - Laura Mulvey's Theory

Laura Mulvey's ideas on Representation

 
Mulvey states that women are used as objects in the music industry. Women are portrayed in a sexual manor and are shown in a way that appeals to the heterosexual male. Women are portrayed in the way males want to see them, 'male gaze'. Laura Mulvey developed the idea of the 'male gaze' in 1975, to highlight the power balance between males and females.

Women are used in many music videos these days, mostly in a degrading manor. People would argue that almost everything from camera angles to editing and sound objectifies women.

An example of a specific genre that makes video's in order to appeal to males, and create the 'male gaze' is Rap/Hip-hop. People would argue that the actual lyrics of some songs create the 'male gaze' and suggests the difference between them as people.

Research - Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis

Vernallis looks closely at editing in music videos and looks at how they are different compared to films. She looks at editing to the rhythm and the beat and how closely connected the editing to the specific song. She looks into camerawork and different edits for different genres.

Vernallis had 5 main points in which she summarised her observations on music videos, these include:

1. Special effects and obvious edits
2. Jump cuts are used
3. A master shot
4. Camera moves in time with music
5. Editing pattern is broken to draw attention

Here is an example of a music video with obvious special effects:

2. Jump cuts

Research - Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

 

 

Andrew Goodwin identifies many important features of music videos. He believes that they create a visual element to the song and acts as a link between the actual song and the video. He also believes the genre/style of the artist is portrayed through their music videos. Goodwin believes there are three main categories of music videos these are disjuncture, illustration and amplification.

According to Goodwin’s theory on music videos, pop videos do not follow the traditional conventional narrative of music videos. He believes that pop videos try to be different and take a different approach on the usual structure of the video. They are described as autonomous which gives them the power to do their own thing.

 

 

example of disjuncture

 

 

example of amplification

example of illustration

 

Research - Analysis of Music Video

Amy Winehouse - Black To Black

I have chosen to review Amy Winehouse - Black
To Black, as it is on of my favorite videos.
This is an example of amplification. I really like this video as it adds meaning to an already emotional song.

The fact that this music video is in black and white adds a sadness to the video. The video tells a story of how she is burying her heart. This adds greater meaning to the song.

The camerawork in this video varies, from many angles. This video starts with a close up on Amy Winehouse's face and focuses on her lips as she sings.

In my opinion this music video is a good example as, she uses base tracks and edits with the beat.

Research - Functions of a Music Video

Functions of Music Videos

Here are some main functions of a music videos:

• To promote the song
• To promote the artist
• To give the song extra meaning and dimension
• To portray the artist in a certain way
• To reach their target audiences.

REFLECTING BACK ON AS YEAR

·  Need to upload remake produced in June

Strengths of our remake

We lip synced to an acceptable quality

We tried to use as many base tracks as possible

We followed the actual video very well.

Weaknesses of our remake

We did not use as many base tracks as we could of

We did not complete our remake

Technical skills developed during course of remake

·  We had more practice with using the equipment

·  We learnt how to use base tracks on final cut pro

·  We learnt our to put markers on our lips in order to lip sync correctly

·  We learnt how to add the music to our clips

Overall I believe our remake video was in fact successful, although it could have done with some improvements. This has helped me as I now know what mistakes not to make and it has been good practice in terms of filming, performing and editing.