My one minute task video is complete and I'm very pleased with it! I filmed it the other day and edited to following day. The video has turned out exactly as I described it in my previous post to every detail. I also decided to make the video black and white because it reflects a convention of Selena Gomez's other videos such as 'Kill 'Em With Kindness' and 'The Heart Wants What it Wants' which i will embed below.
There are, however some faults with my video, for example I didn't use a camera stand again so some of my shots are wobbly. Also during the section with the roses, I couldn't fit the girls whole head in due to the fact that there was a bed behind me so I couldn't get any further back. Furthermore, I don't particularly like the fade transition used the link together the last two shots, however i used it because I don't like the second to last shot as I don't think it fits with the video.
On the contrary, I really like the first half of the video, specifically this rewinded clip. I am very happy with the progress i am making as a film maker.
Saturday, 23 July 2016
Introduction to 1 minute task
Exciting things are happening, we are now to create a one
minute long original music video, for a song of our choice. I have chosen to
create a video for Selena Gomez’s song ‘Revival’ as the beginning of the song
creates an interesting visual in my head due to its opening monologue and
enticing build up. I am not going to storyboard my music video as I already
know exactly what I want to film. I want to film a girl sat on a white floor in
front of a white wall, starting off with smudged makeup on her face, but after
the she lip syncs the opening monologue about rebirth and revival, there with
be a reverse shot of her un-smudging her makeup as a symbol of her fresh start
as mentioned in the song. The rest of the video will be filled with shots of
the girls face and body, including sped up shots of her moving her head, and
stop motion sequences involving white roses (symbol of purity).
Watch this space as I will be posting the video when it’s
done!
30 Second Video Update
Change of plan. For my 30 second recreation video, I have done a similar version of Adele's Hello video. This decision was made last minute, when I went to my friend Bayley's to film, when we came across Adele's video online and thought it would be simple yet interesting to film.
I compiled a selection of shots mirroring those used in the original video with a twist, for example I used a male in the video as opposed to what can be seen in the original.
During the editing process, I added a sepia filter to the whole video which links in with Adele's video as that is a key feature to it.
There are a few things I would change if I could, for example the sound quality is extremely poor and at times out of sync with the shot (the sound of the fire igniting is in the wrong place) as well as the fact that I didn't have a camera stand so some of the shots are very wobbly.
Despite these faults, this task has really helped me develop my skills as it has been the first time I have worked entirely by myself so I had chance to express entire creative control and not have to include other peoples input. Also I got a chance to get more used to the editing process and develop my skills as an editor.
I compiled a selection of shots mirroring those used in the original video with a twist, for example I used a male in the video as opposed to what can be seen in the original.
During the editing process, I added a sepia filter to the whole video which links in with Adele's video as that is a key feature to it.
There are a few things I would change if I could, for example the sound quality is extremely poor and at times out of sync with the shot (the sound of the fire igniting is in the wrong place) as well as the fact that I didn't have a camera stand so some of the shots are very wobbly.
Despite these faults, this task has really helped me develop my skills as it has been the first time I have worked entirely by myself so I had chance to express entire creative control and not have to include other peoples input. Also I got a chance to get more used to the editing process and develop my skills as an editor.
30 Second task
So our first practical task of A2 is to create a 30
recreation of a music video. Most of my peers are going with the crowd and
recreating a section of Pharrell Williams’ Happy video as instructed by the
teachers at school, however, due to the fact that I am working by myself, I
have chosen to recreate the opening of Vance Joy’s Riptide for my video. I made
this decision based on the fact that working on my own, the video would be more
of a manageable, as the video is a series of clips embodying the visuals of the
words the artist is singing, as well as the fact that it is not a video that
focuses on actors, so I wouldn’t have to find loads of people to star in it,
which I could see being an issue for me.
In my video, I will feature multiple copies of what Vance
Joy used in his original video for Riptide, including images of a swinging
ceiling lamp, a girl in a dentist scenario and a shot of the sky. I feel like
this clips in this video show a wide variety of shot types, therefore exhibiting
my skills as a film maker.
Friday, 22 July 2016
Music Video History
What do music videos mean to you? Tough question I know. Do you
watch music videos to put a visual to the music? Do you watch them to admire
the art that lies within? Or just to leave on while the song is playing?
Personally I do all three. Mainly I guess I like to see a visual representation
of a song to form an overall aesthetic and feeling towards the song.
Throughout the years, music videos have evolved and become
significant in many ways for different reasons.
The first examples of music videos started in 1926, when
musical short films, made by Warner Bros. were made to showcase the music of the
time, not unlike the purpose of music videos as we know them today, however,
only five were made compared to the hundreds we see on daily basis. An example of one of these
videos is Milton Charles’ “Crying for the Carolines”, featuring art deco style
animations combined with performance shots, very much ahead of its time.
During the 1930’s, music within films became extremely
popular and the scenes featuring the popular music were often used as
promotional material for the film. Also, music was used frequently in cartoon,
particularly in early Walt Disney productions such as Fantasia (1940). To this
day, Fantasia features one of the most famous scenes in movie history,
including the classic music to go with it. Some people consider this scene to
be a music video, whereas others do not, either way, it made a huge impact on
music video history.
Musical films became hugely popular in the 1950’s, where
music videos were created within the films which was hugely significant because
to this day, many modern artists take inspiration from these musicals in their
own work and imitate them in some way. A prime example of this would be
Madonna’s music video for her single ‘Material Girl’, where she mirrors Marilyn
Monroe’s ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’ classic from Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes.
The next major step in the music video world was the creation
of the widely popular British music chart television programme Top of the Pops
in 1964. The show was introduced to help people enjoy the popular music of the
time by getting the artist/band to perform on the show. If the artist/band
could not be on the show, their spot would be filled in with a group of dancers
named ‘Pans People’ performing over their song being played. In order for a
song to be more of an important part of the show, artists started making music
videos to be played when they were unable to attend the show, this made music
videos more significant as they were an essential marketing tool.
In 1965, The Beatles released their video for ‘Help!’ which
was album promo for their album of the same name. This video was more artsy and
conceptual than any music video people of the time had seen before. Following
the huge success of The Beatles, a similar US boyband was manufactured to
compete with them named The Monkees. They were totally controlled by the
industry and had no input as artists which eventually proved boring to the
public and their popularity died down.
A huge trailblazer in the music industry came in the late
1960’s, and was known to the world as David Bowie. As a huge Bowie fan, I don’t
struggle when describing the ways in which he innovatively led the way through
the music industry and the music video industry. His music was extremely
conceptual and he used multiple personas (Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane etc.) to
create depth and stories that his fans could enjoy, the same way someone
reading a book could enjoy its narrative. This meant that Bowie’s videos had to
further tell these stories, so his videos became just as important as his
music. Also David Bowie liked to create art with his music videos, so it became
a significant turning point in the music video industry where the videos
themselves were to be appreciated in themselves rather than just to be used as
a promotional items for the songs. This was also exhibited by rock band Queen
in 1975 with the release of their video for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, which was so
iconic for its new use of technology that it will go down in music video
history.
In 1981, a television channel called MTV was introduced,
which was the first and only music video channel at the time. Due to MTV being
launched, more pressure was put on artists to make memorable music videos so
that they would be chosen to be aired on the channel and be seen more.
In 1983, Michael Jackson released a music video that would
soon be known as the most commercially successful video of all time. Thriller
will go down in history as it was a convergence between music video and film.
It combined the typical music video with a story in a spooky thirteen and a
half minute long masterpiece of cinematic art. This begun an era of cinematic
music video, followed by artists like Lana Del Rey with her short film
‘Tropico’, and BeyoncĂ© with her hour long spectacular visual album ‘Lemonade’.
Another music video first was Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer
released in 1986. The video was compiled entirely of still shots/stop motion
animation. The video was directed Nick Park, who would later go on to create
stop motion classic ‘Wallace and Gromit’. At the time it was unlike anything
people had seen so it went on to win nine MTV Video Music Awards.
And that brings an end to my journey through music video
history, hopefully now we can appreciate the artistry and legacy behind the
music videos we now know and love today.
Introduction
Aloha! Konichiwa! Bonjour! Hola! Ciao! Namaste! Or simply in
the words of Adele, Hello. Due to the subject matter of this blog, I think an
Adele reference isn’t totally irrelevant (that being said, an Adele reference
is never irrelevant). So yes you might have guessed, this blog is about music,
more specifically music videos. For my A2 main task, I am to create a music
video for a song of my choice, fitting into the conventions of my chosen genre
and my chosen artist. I have already made the decision that I am going to be
working on my own for this project, as I want to prove myself to people that
believe I rely on other people too much, as well as the fact that I am a
perfectionist and I like everything to equate to the image I have in my mind. Along
the course of the year I will update this blog with the details of my film
making and the challenges I’m sure I will face down the road.
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