The Infinite Mix/ Media Trip

Yesterday, as A2 Media Students we went on a trip to see 10 very unique music videos which was exhibited in Holborn. The Infinite Mix had many different genres of music and it brought together a wide range of works. In all these works the interplay between moving image and sound was crucial. Most of the artists compressed, commissioned or remixed soundtracks that related to the visual element of their work in unexpected ways, and ensure that what we heard was as important as what we saw.

The variety consisted from 3D video to holographic illusions to even multi-screen installations. They were all very unique, eye-catching and amusing. In fact, after the trip, the next day which is today I went to the exhibition again because I wanted to listen and watch all of them and take my time doing it. I particularly went again because I really wanted to visit number 10.

Martin Creed- Work No. 1701,2013

https://vimeo.com/79565323

This video focused on gesture and movement and it was simply a range of people crossing the road in New York City(yellow taxis) and all of the people that were crossing the road had some sort of disability to do with their leg or feet. I really liked how the music video was consistent and the people went from point A to B, then B to A. I thought it was very interesting and also inspiring as it did not make me feel sympathetic towards the people, in fact everything seemed normal as they were normal people crossing the road. I also liked how everything seemed natural as in the costume and the area it was shot in, seemed like nothing was planned out.

Stan Douglas- Luanda-Kinshasa, 2013

https://vimeo.com/94233892

This music video was shot on a set and the genre was jazz. It seemed very endless as there was many instruments playing at the same time however they were all complementing each other. At some points it really made me try to concentrate because I was trying to keep up with the beat but because there was so much going on I couldn't. Whenever one of the instruments was the main one, the camera would focus on that instrument and the musicians facial expressions really added a different touch to the music video as they were very passionate about what they were doing.

Ugo Rondinone- THANX 4 NOTHING. 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5PoOb6RdfI

This was by far my second favourite poem soundtrack and video. It was written on John Giorno's 70th birthday. It's about him looking back at his life, and the events that happened and things that shaped his life and he gives thanks to everyone and everything, talking about friendships, deaths, sex, lovers and his depression. It is a multi-screened installation which I thought as absolutely amazing. Whichever direction you face its as if he is talking directly to you and you almost feel trapped. It's amazing how in one screen it was a long shot and it the other one it would be a closeup. It was a great experience and the poem really did make me contemplate life. I loved how it was black and white and there was two different mise en scenes ( costume). One of them he was wearing a black suit and the other one he was wearing a white suit which contrasted from one another. The soundtrack that was playing in the background complemented the poem and I thought it was incredible. The choreograph included close ups, extreme close ups, long shots, and high-speed editing. I would love to use the high contrasted use of black and white in my own music video as it would suit my genre which is rock/metal.

Kahlil Joseph- m.A.A.d., 2015

http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/27/8292657/kahlil-joseph-maad-kendrick-lamar-moca

This was made in response to Kendrick Lamar's 2012 album good kid. Joseph's work incorporates home videos shot by the singer's uncle in 1992. The interplay between image and sound elaborates a complex, original and compelling vision of a contemporary African-American community. In the music video I loved the establishing bird's eye shots because the clips were taken both during day time and night time and it looked like a very nice place. In addition, in this music video lots of slow motions were used which I am planning to use in my own music video. The parts where there was slow motion, the volume of the music was reduced which made it seem very realistic. Eg when they were underwater and it was in slow motion, the volume of the music was also decreased. Using this technique in my music video would make my music video and the soundtrack compliment each other. 

Jeremy Deller & Cecilia Bengolea- Bom Bom's Dream,2016

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/festivals-series/the-infinite-mix/artists/Jeremy-Deller-Cecilia-Bengolea

This music video was very interesting because of the use of animations and the use of low-fi special effects. It was about Bom Bom's dream and Bom Bom is a dancer. It explores the social character of rituals related to popular music. The soundtrack is an original track from Deller. The dance moves were very explicit and it was very eye-catching. They had definitely used green screen to achieve the added animations. Whilst watching the music video I was focusing on how they had made the music video rather than what was happening because it was very interesting that they chose to use a lizard eating the man. Everything was very surreal and contemporary. 

Cyprien Gaillard- Nightlife, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBCoC8glE74

This 3D film and audio installation was shot at night over a period of 2 years in Cleveland, LA and Berlin. It was very surreal as although it was shot during nighttime the colours are very bright and vivid. The soundtrack was my favourite because it was repetitive and what was repeated was 'I, I was born a loser'. The fact that it was 3D, 15 minutes long and repetitive it gave me a headache and hurt my eyes however I still wanted to come back and watch it because it was absolutely amazing. The swaying of the windblown trees was on time with the beat of the soundtrack and everything was just on point. The use of vivid colours really inspired me to use bright colours in my music video.

Treatment - Music Video

Starting our Treatment

In today's lesson we started our treatment. We have so far included our case studies and how they have influenced us to use techniques that we are considering to use. We also added the audience and just started to add our location.

My partner's blog link

http://larisacioritaleytona2.blogspot.co.uk/

Evanescence- Bring me to life Preliminary Task

To complete this task, we got into groups and I was working with my partner Larisa. We decided this song will be the best option as it suits the genre we have chosen to do and a lot of people have heard of this song.

Larisa was in the music video and it was a performance based music video. I used many different shots like bird's eye shot, long shot, extreme close up, mid-shot and more. As for the mise en scene, it was quiet unplanned which means the clothes she was wearing was whatever she had on on the day. However in the garden area we found a rope and the use of rope was good as it linked to what the lyrics was saying.

After shooting the video, when editing it we used Premier Pro. It was easy to use because we was shown the basics and we had to discover other things ourselves eg slow motion. I enjoyed using Premiere Pro. Whilst playing around when editing the music video, I also discovered how to crop the frame and how to zoom in and out of the storyboard.

Things that went well was the fact that the weather was breezy which really suit the atmosphere of the music video because in the actual song we can hear the wind. The quality was also very good as we used a good camera.

Things that we could have improved on was the actual shooting. We did not have enough clips which meant we had to keep adding the clip of the rope. Some of the clips were out of focus, eg the Bird's eye shot because I could not see what I was recording as I was stretching out my arms to make it look like a bird's eye shot. Also some of the clips were not on time with the actual song when lip syncing which meant I had to change it into slow motion for it to be on time with the music.

When creating my actual music video, some of the things that I will do is to make sure in each camera shot the person that's in the music video should lip sync the whole song and not just some parts. Also to make sure the shot is in focus. In addition, I will definitely be more organised with timing as we did not have enough time to shoot the music video.

Using Premiere Pro to edit the Preliminary Task.

In today's lesson we shooted the video for our preliminary 1 minute music video task. We shooted the video at the back of the college in the green area because the music video has a windy sound next to it and we thought it would be a great video to shoot outside because the leafs on the trees were moving and it gave a windy effect although the weather was hot.

We tried to make the lyrics make sense with the music video. For example in the beginning I shot Larisa walking down before the lyrics 'Leading you down into my core where I've become so numb''. Also I shot a scene when Larisa was wrapped around a rope and she was trying to escape what she was wrapped around with. When the lyrics were 'Bring me to life' she escaped the rope as if she came back to life.

When using the new version of Premiere Pro, I struggled in the beginning however, after Tom showed us simple things like cutting the video and cropping out some parts and marking the video to add the correct lip syncing parts, I got the hang of it and I was able to work. After experimenting I could add effects and make some parts of the video in slow motion or even flip the video.

However, not all the clips were in focus and we did not shoot enough clips so I had to use a clip that was not in focus.

Camera Induction Day

This is what we were given on our Camera induction day. We had to make sure that the camera was pretty much on the same settings as what is shown on this paper.

The settings made sure the camera was on the video mode, made sure enough light was given and some settings made sure the contrast was not too high or low. It was said that when filming in a dark place the camera quality reduces which meant we were filming outside and as this is just a preliminary task we did not want to have a bad quality video as our first music video.

It was very easy to use the camera and I was shooting the clips I had to make sure I kept checking through the other clips so that the lighting was the same in all videos.

Preliminary Task- Story Board

This is the track we will be using for our preliminary task which is Evanescence- Bring me to life. This image shows our storyboard and shot lists. I decided to use this song because I believe it links to the genre we have chosen and it is a great song to use for when it comes to editing as we can play around with the techniques and maybe use what we would have used if it was our actual music video. Eg Camera shift, 3D effect, Twitch and slow motion. 

Case Study 3- EVANESCENSE 'MY IMMORTAL'

The music video for "My Immortal" begins with Lee sitting on a fountain. Her legs and arms are covered with bandage as she puts them in the water. She is wearing a long white dress and is seen walking around the fountain, surrounded by children and other people. Shots of Moody follow and he is wearing a suit and his feet are bare. His head slumps forward as he delicately plays piano, and he later picks up his jacket as if he is about to leave. When the bridge starts, the band is shot performing in one room while Moody is in another, playing on the piano. Throughout the video, Lee is never filmed on ground level. She walks along the ledge of a fountain, sits in a tree and sings lying on top of a building to show that she is basically dead but alive singing a song. It's her spirit that is alive that never dies because she never hits the ground.

The music video is black and white throughout the whole video which relates to the song because it is a very sad and emotional song. The cutting rates are very slow as it is not an energetic song. There are many extreme close ups to show Lee's facial expressions and her hand that is wrapped with a bandage and many other things. Extreme close ups are usually used to show emotion and add tension to specific areas and this video does this very well. The black and white video does not have a strong contrast it is always washed out grey which makes the video look effortless and it does not have a focal point. It is almost how you would see something after crying so much. 

There is no eye-contact which I usually think is important to have in music videos. Lee never looks straight into the camera as if she is hiding/ running away from something "Your presence still lingers here, and it won't leave me alone". Almost as if she does not want to face what is waiting for her. In this case she is running away from herself as she is the spirit in the video( it makes sense after watching the video). 

The song is performance based and narrative too because in some scenes we can see Lee lip syncing however in other scenes we can see Moody who is the man playing a piano and doing other things. Also the kids playing outside all tells a story.

There any many shallow depth of fields used focusing on one part and blurring other parts. For example focusing on Lee and blurring out the background.

Case Study 2- FALLING IN REVERSE 'ALONE'

This music video is also a performance based video as we can see the whole band performing and the lead singer lip syncing. This is also a metal/rock band however this song in particular includes rap. This was a big step for the band because the lead singer has always wanted to become a rapper however ended up in a metal band and this is their only song that includes rap in along with their metal/rock genre. They have received lots of criticisms from their fans because of this.

I have noticed that there are lots of low angle shots to show that the band members have lots of power, especially the lead singer Ronnie. There are some scenes of just Ronnie and the camera angle is taken from a low angle facing upwards which makes Ronnie look powerful have make him look like he has a higher status. The cutting rates of the song is not extremely fast and there are some scenes where you can see Ronnie lip syncing until a sentence is finished so the cutting rate does not disturb the scene.

The music video contains the band performing while girls dance around them. Also we can see Ronnie walking down an airport runway with a Ferrari 458 Italia driving beside him which again shows wealth and ability to afford these things. This song is for hater because in most of the lyrics he talks about how everyone wants to be like him, how everyone can say things on twitter but face to face they have nothing to say and there are lots of bad language which adds power to the lyrics.

There is a black and white scene with just Ronnie and the Ferrari, scene with all of the band members on stage and a scene with a white girl dancing. Near the end there is also a scene when Ronnie is splashing paint on the wall showing his anger. The song involves lots of flicking hair, bending up and down, lots of extreme close ups of the guitar and the girl's showing off their body.

In my opinion this is a very aggressive, disruptive and disturbing. As it is aimed at the haters, you almost get scared of him because he looks extremely angry. 

In one of the scenes Ronnie is wearing a Navy suit which made him look very professional and attractive. In another scene the whole band is wearing white when they are performing in a dark stage which contrasts because they stand out because white and black signifies two different scenes. There is also a scene where brown filter is used which i thought was extra because it made things look messy and I thought there was too many scenes to concentrate on. It also makes me think this was done on purpose because this is meant to be a disturbing song and because of its messiness and the excess amount of different scenes used it seems very disturbing. 

Case Study 1- BMTH 'SHADOW MOSES'

This music video in my opinion is one of Bmth's best music videos. When the music video starts straight away we see a technique used which is called 'camera shift' which creates motion sickness. It looks like the camera is moving from side to side and this makes the audience feel like they have a headache. This is created by using two cameras filming the same thing and emerging both of the recorded videos together which creates motion sickness. I would love to use this in my music video as it fascinates the audience and grabs attention. In addition it also matches the genre of the song.

The cutting rates are very fast because it is a fast and energetic song. The genre of this song is Metal/Rock. Although there are fast cutting rates there are also many slow motions to almost let the audience breath before going into the motion sickness again. This music video is very powerful as it makes the audience feel involved. The target audience is teenagers/adults as mostly teenagers listen to songs from this genre. In the past listening to metal was a bad thing as only 'emo' people would watch it however now it is a lot more accepted. The music video is performance based as we can see the band all together performing and in some scenes there is only the main singer.

As for mise en scene the video begins with a shot of lead vocalist Oliver Sykes standing in the snow while holding a lit flare. The rest of the video switches among scenes of a girl walking alone through the snow, the band performing "Shadow Moses" in the snow, the band performing on a beach in front of the ocean, and of Sykes holding a flare while standing in the snow at night. The lit flare is a reddish pink colour which contrast with the white colour of the snow. White signifies purity and innocence wheres red signifies passion, death and danger. The props used are the instruments.
An interesting shot that I like is the drummer Matt Nichols playing the drums in slow motion with flares. This is interesting as this is the only point where the cuts are not fast and don’t match the beat of the song. However because it is a small snippet it still looks professional and very cool.

In the beginning of the music video there is an establishing shot of the ocean with the girl standing on the edge which echoes the lyrics used in the song which is ' Can you tell from the look in our eyes, we're going nowhere'. This is because the establishing shot shows that there is no ending. Later on there are many long shots to show the band members and the surroundings followed by many extreme close ups of Oli Sykes lip syncing with the microphone very close to his mouth which signifies passion and pain.

Conceptual, Narrative and Performance Based Music Videos

Conceptual Music Videos

Conceptual videos are based around a single idea or concept and are usually unusual and obscure, even surreal for the audience. This unusual content is an attraction to many consumers, which draws them in. A successful concept video will keep the audience entertained and constantly looking at what or who is on the screen. No particular genre or type of music is more likely to use concept videos, in fact a range of artists covering all genres have used concept/ art based videos. The audience does not only watch what is going on but it often makes the audience think about eg the actions that a dancer might do and what you can understand from it. However some people find them confusing and often random because the audience sometimes gets confused as we don't know what is going on. It requires thinking not just common sense.

Narrative Music Videos

A song with a narrative based music video the song includes a narrative story of the lyrics/ words being acted out in some way. This style relies on imagery to produce a story for the audience to follow and some narrative videos include clips from films that the song has been featured in. This seems to be used a lot in slower songs, and often tend to be love stories. Narrative music videos. This might be the artist or lead vocalist of a band, but it is usually an actor as the artist or band would be performing the song. A purely Narrative music video would show no singing and will have a beginning, middle and end. The story may not show everything, like a movie would, but important parts of the actors life.

Performance Based Music Videos

A Performance based music video shows the artist or band performing. Although the artist or band doesn’t have to move and dance, if they are singing, or playing their instrument, than the music video is Performance based. This style of video uses the band/artist/group throughout the majority of the production and the artist, band members are often miming the words to the song. The genre of music where performance videos are common is indie and rock. The costing on this type of production are also most likely to be the lowest as the producers are in effect giving the audience the most realistic image of the band as it is only the band they are showing. The downside of this is that the band will need to be relatively established to pull off the video, or else interest will become saturated.

  

Research/Case Study

In today's lesson we had the opportunity to think about the songs that we might want to make a video to. We were also given a task which was to look at 3 case studies that MUST link to your chosen genre. The 3 case studies I have looked at during the summer holidays does not link to my genre which means I will need to look at 3 more case studies from genres like Metal, Rock or alternative rock. I will definitely look at music videos from the band BMTH because I am sure I can find many techniques that will inspire me whilst creating my own music video.

Quick Research on some songs and genres

I done a quick research on some songs that did not have a music video from some genres that I might be interested in doing. I have also researched techniques that I would love to use in my music video like Twitch and using the projector. I feel that with the genres that that I have done research on, I can be very creative.

Time Toast

Time Toast