Costume and prop ideas.

 I was thinking of having a costume like this which is very countrified with the jean shorts and a checkered shirt tied up. However because my filming is in a bedroom and then on a stage, plus the English weather is not warm enough to wear this type of clothing, I have decided not to use this kind of clothing.

This is an image of Taylor Swift in her pyjamas in her music video 'we are never getting back together' and this is where some of my inspiration for my music video came from. This kind of look can be achieved through the use of normal pyjamas. These can be bought from anywhere, places such as Primark or even Asda.

This is an image of Taylor Swift wearing an evening dress on the red carpet. For the scene on stage I am going to use a going out dress such as this one.

I am going to use a microphone for the end scene when she is on a stage and singing to an audience. 

I am going to use a hairbrush for the bedroom scene where she is pretending to sing into a microphone in front of people. This allows young girls to relate tot he music video.

I am going to use a teddy bear in the bedroom scene where she is cuddling it.

What is a digipak?

Audience Research.

I used wordle.com to make an image of words describing the things an audience would like to see in a music promo video. I have gathered this information through my VOX POP and also my survey.

Mary Sarah.

Mary Sarah is the artist whose song I am using for my music video. These are some screenshots of her websites including some information about her and the songs she has covered or written.

This is her youtube account.

This is information about her on wikipedia.

This is Mary Sarah on sound cloud promoting her music.

These are two images of her album/single image covers.

TOP TEN OF 2012.

This is the top ten most watched videos of 2012.

10. Taylor Swift - We are never getting back together.

This video has 95 million views.




This video tells a story of the breaking up and making up of two young people. This is shown in an exciting way which includes dancing around with people dressed up as different things and in different outfits. This music video is also very easy for young people such as teenagers to relate to. I think that this very is a very upbeat and bright one.

9. Nicki Minaj - Starships.

This video has 98 million views.




This music video is very bright and, like most of Nicki Minaj's videos is full of dancing, little to nothing clothing and strange hair colours. The video is very disjunctured and has nothing to do with the lyrics, and this would be Goodwin's observation. I believe that it is a party jam and so would be very popular for young people.

8. Katy Perry - Wide Awake. 

This video has 107 million views.




This music video, as previously discussed in my blog post about Katy Perry, represents Katy coming back and apologising to her fans for changing her image from a big sister to a sexual predator, which she blames on Russell Brand. In this music video she is very pure, wearing white, and uses a young innocent girl to represent herself. It is also very dark but it has the beat which attracts teenage girls. At the beginning she also uses the music video for 'California Girls' to maybe advertise this. This music video is illustration.

7. Katy Perry - Part of me.

This video has 118 million views.




This music video, when released, was spoken about a lot. This is illustration according to Goodwin's observations and tells the story of a woman who is strong after her boyfriend/fiance cheated on her and she found out. This is a feminist video and song about how women are strong and can be fine after being lied to by a man. This is also done through the use of the women in the army. I believe that this video has a message which Katy is trying to get across and has done it very well.

6. One Direction - Live while we're young.

This video has over 123 million views.


 This music video is just five boys having fun which is also what the song is about so we could say that it is amplified. It does not have a storyline or much of a meaning however it is a very fun and upbeat video and this is probably why is has so many views!

5. Rihanna - Where have you been?

This video has 149 million views.




This music video consists mainly of dancing. I do not believe that this video is all that good however it has had this many views so people must be interested in Rihanna and her dance moves.

4. One direction - One thing.

This video has 183 million views.



This music video is very similar to their other music videos. It consists of the five boys just having fun in their music video. I believe that this makes it very realistic due to them being young and this helps young people to relate to them and have fun.

3. Justin Bieber - Boyfriend.




This music video highlights Justin Bieber's popularity in the music industry due to the beginning of the video where the two girls are watching one of his music videos on their phone. The scene then changes from very upclose shots of Bieber to the song restarting and set in a place where all these young girls and boys are dancing around in a car park while Bieber is with one girl sitting on a car. This is a very repetitive video and Goodwin would say that this is an amplified video. Bieber's intentions in th video are very clear because Justin Bieber's actions fit with the words and lyrics of the song he is singing. I believe that this is an effective video because it includes typical dancing and young people which will also attract other young people to watch his videos.

2. Carly Rae Jepson - Call Me Maybe.




This video was the runner up for the top ten of 2012. This is a very humerous video including a girl who fancies a man and tries to make him like her. She then gives him her number and we watch her flaunt around in front of him. She puts on a show in the garage and sings to him and at the end we find out he is gay. This video is successful, I believe, due to the guy being very appealling when he takes off his shirt and the way that Carly herself is wearing shorts withher bra showing and is cleaning the car quite provocatively. This is a very effective video and the song was found to be very annoying but at the same time catchy and a lot of people would hear it on the radio and listen to it. This encouraged people to watch the music video.

1. PSY - Gangnam Style.


This music video was the most watched in 2012. This is because the song was so popular and the video had a very humorous and jokey feel to it. It included a dance routine which many people of the general public and audience to this music video have learned and every time to song comes on people will imitate the dance moves used in the music video. This has enabled the song to become extremely popular therefore people have been talking about it, encouraging others to watch the music video. PSY wears a variety of different coloured costumes and dances around with a load of girls, which I believe attracts an audience. The use of cartoon imagery also attracts people who like cartoon.

Survey results.

I ad a few results for my survey questions on surveymonkey.com. Half the respondants said that the song itself was their favourite thing about music, 25% said the lyrics and the other 25% said the beat.
Each respondant said they watch music videos through youtube and that they like music videos with a storyline.

THE LAST OF THE FILMING.

I have put together the two scenes I currently have for my music video. I wanted to add a scene where she was performing on a stage. I was going to use the stage at Sixth Form. I am going to film that part this week and I am hoping to finish the filming next week so I can get on with editing the new footage I will have into my video. Also, I got some advice from one of the other members of my class, Thea, who watched my video and suggested that I get some different shots. Such as the girl with a boy, due to the song being about her wanting a guy to phone, her sitting on her own and just short clips of her walking or dancing or lip synching. I believe that this will be a good idea and will help with the switching between scenes because switching between just two scenes at the beginning looks a bit annoying. I will change this and take the advice of Thea and film some different shots.

CURRENT EDITING/FOOTAGE.

I have currently filmed two scenes that I am very happy with including the bedroom scene and the outdoor scene.

These are some screen grabs from Final Cut express where I am editing the video how I like it. I can use this to cut out and insert different images from footage I have got.

This is an image of the whole of my final cut express document. As you can see on the left I have many different cut out sections which I can use. 

This is an image of Ashleigh outside dancing around.

This is an image of Ashleigh on the phone from the footage captured in the bedroom scene.

I believe she was dressed well. Her hair was wavy in both scenes and looks very American and girly. She is wearing pyjamas in the bedroom scene which makes it more realistic. 

THE TOP TEN MOST WATCHED MUSIC VIDEOS.

These are the top ten most watched music videos on Youtube and Vevo.

10. One Direction - Kiss You.

This music video has 194,703,977 views and is under exclusive licence to Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited.




This video is really fun and vibrant using different scenes and the typical but effective close up shots of each member of the band. I believe that the video showing the cameras and microphones on the different sets creates a fun and easy-going feel showing that this is not real and they are just five boys having fun together. This makes it look very natural and this is reinforced by the fact that there are no real dance moves suggesting that they are just improvising and enjoying themselves. There are some shots of them also in their swimming trunks which highly appeals to young teenage girls. According to Goodwin this music promo video would be disjuncture.

9. Naughty Boy - La La La ft Sam Smith.

This music video has 228,783,058 views.




This video is the story of a young boy who meets many different people and as the audience we are taken on an adventure with him meeting many different people. It is a very strange video including a dog which looks like a lion, someone with cement all over his face and someone dressed up in a costume. This video is supposed to show signs of the Wizard of Oz journey and discovery. The young boy saves the people he meets on his way including buying the cement man a new heart and saving the man dressed up from being ridiculed by others. This is a video which does not have much to do with the song. According to Goodwin this music video would be an illustration where the video matches the lyrics and tells a story. I also believe that this amplifies the lyrics and the song and gives it more meaning with the Wizard of Oz imagery.

8. Rihanna - Stay.

This video has 231,425,295 views and is by the Island Def Jam Music Group.

 

This video is very simple and sexy just like the song. This video shows her raw emotion and her with no make up, clothes, or editing. This is a very simple every day setting of a bath, something used by everyone on a daily basis, and also somewhere where people can think about their life. The video reflects how Rihanna is just like everybody else and that she is emotional. This is very effective because fans were not expecting something like this due to seeing her with make up all the time and dancing around. This is a very deep performance. According to Goodwin this music video would be amplified. This is because the images in the video highlight and reinforce the lyrics and give them, again, a deeper meaning.

7. Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines ft T.I., Pharrell. 


This video has 250,713270 views.



This video consists of different women dressed in very little clothing dancing around with three men. This is a video which does not have a story line and does not relate to the lyrics in anyway and it is very contraversial. There has been a lot of public talk on this music video as well as the lyrics of the song. This music video also appeals to teenagers because it has #Thicke appear on the screen throughout the video which relates to Twitter, a social networking site used by many youngsters. According to Goodwin this music video would be amplified because the video reinforces the images of women being vulnerable and sexual, as do the lyrics.

6. Pink - Just give me a reason ft Nate Ruess.

This video has 247,842895 views.




This is a very pure video where Pink is dressed in white and has very white, light hair. This represents purity and is reinforced through the scenes of her on the bed surrounded by clouds, suggesting some type of Heaven. The simplicity of the shots where Pink and Nate are singing to each other communicates the vulnerability of the lyrics and the reality of the conversation which is happening. Goodwin would describe this video as also amplified because the story relates to the lyrics however there is not an actual storyline following the lyrics so this could not be illustration. Also, the video is very moving which allows us to emotionally connect with the song.

5. Katy Perry - Roar.

This video has 316,019,775 views.




This is a very upbeat song with a very bright video. This video is very happy and represents a strong female. The video extremely and completely complements the song and the lyrics with the whole tiger sounds and we see a tiger in the video. Also this highlights the name of the song 'roar.' Katy Perry herself is wearing leopard print and leaves, making her look as though she is living in a jungle. Goodwin would describe this video as illustration because the music video completely illustrates the song and is what we would expect for this song. I believe that it is a very good music video.

4. Rihanna - Diamonds.

This video has 385,022,476 views.

This video would be described as amplified by Goodwin. This is due to the repeated images of Rihanna up close and distant to the camera exaggerating her facial expressions and lip synching to try and get across the lyrics. Diamonds are also used to show the song and what it is all about. This is quite a dark challenging video which has various scenes with Rihanna singing.

3. Will.i.am. and Britney Spears - Scream and Shout.

This video has 327,972,661 views.



This video is complete disjuncture because the events and images in the music video have completely nothing to do with the song or the lyrics. There is use of new updated technology including the iphone and the beats pill speaker. This is completely expected from a Will.i.Am music video however it is strange for Britney Spears to be seen in. The song and the music video both seem to have no meaning.

2. Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop.

This video has 332,833,330 views.





This is one of Miley Cyrus' very recent music videos. This is very unexpected due to her previous image of Hannah Montana, a young girls pop idol and inspiration. She has now outgrown this image and this video represents her growing up and developing her music. The music video consists of various images of her 'twerking' and dancing around in hardly any clothing. Goodwin would describe this video as amplified.

1. Miley Cyrus - Wrecking ball.

This video has 474,380,247 views.




This is Miley's second recent video which became very popular. People around the world were eager to see this video after she had released 'We cant stop'. This video consists of similarities to Sinead O'Connor's famous 'Nothing compares 2U' music video at the beginning with a close up of her face and a tear running down her cheek. This music video does not have a storyline so it is not illustration however it is amplified. At one point she is naked sitting on a wrecking ball which caused controversy with the public and her fans. However, this could be perceived as a sexual suggestion or it could be perceived as her being naked and torn relating to the lyrics of the song.

Survey.

For further research, I have used surveymonkey.com to create a survey asking questions on music videos. I have sent this out to a variety of different people and am keen to see their responses. This will help me to understand what people like about music videos and compare what I have currently been doing to their answers. If you are reading my blog then please take this survey. I am interested to know what you think about music videos!


Click here to take survey

Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, was and still is one of he most popular and famous pop artists of all time. As a young boy he was in the group 'Jackson 5' his brothers. He was admired and was the lead of the group, the one who could sing and dance the best.



This is the video of The Jackson 5 with 'Rockin Robin' showing different cuts of them dancing and singing to the song in different places. The video consists of different clips of them performing this song for example live on Top of The Pops. This also shows Michael as a very young boy when he first began his career in music.

After Jackson 5 Michael decided he wanted a career of his own. He knew he was able for it and released his first Album 'Got to be there' as an adolescent and then his first released album as an adult was 'Off the Wall'.This was his fifth album which included 'Rock with you' and 'Dont stop til you get enough'

'Rock with you' was a popular music video of Michael's showing his normal true self when he hadn't changed his image at all. He is dressed in a glitter suit and looks very handsome as a young teenage boy. This video was one of his first videos which consists of him just dancing and singing. Special effects are used however to show two of him at one time.


His next album, however, was the biggest and most popular of all time. This caused a public uproar and millions of people became obsessed and interested by Michael Jackson at this point. This was also the album which his most famous pop videos came about.

The first video I will discuss is the music video for 'Billie Jean' which was one of the biggest songs of all time. This video told a story for the first time, and captured the eye of the public. It has become famous for the image of Michael lighting up the floor. Michael was a big believer in magic and wanted magic to occur in this video and this is how they done it. This video really launched his adult career and began his popularity.


However, I still believe that to this day Michael's most famous video was 'Thriller', which everyone waited up until midnight to watch. It was made like a mini movie and was a music video milestone introducing elaborate choreography, costumes and dialogue and the concept of the long-form music video. The long version of the video is 14 minutes long and has had over 1 million views when uploaded onto Youtube. MTV usually showed the short version which was around 5 minutes and still had at least 1 minute of non-music storytelling. The video cost around $500,000 to make and Jackson's record company had no intentions of paying for it since they had already funded two of his songs on his album. John Landis, the director, knew Michael wanted to turn into a monster and decided to pay for this himself. Showtime got to air the 14 minute video and 'the making of' documentary for the first time due to helping fund the music video for Michael. MTV heard about this however and did not want to lose Michael's video to Showtime so they paid $250,000 for exclusive rights to broadcast the video once Showtimes window was ended. The video won the Best Performance Video, Best Choreography and Viewers Choice at the first MTV Music Video Awards in 1984.



 The next video is 'Bad' which was released after Thriller had made Michael Jackson extremely famous. People were eager to see his new image.

The next video I will discuss is 'black or white.' There had been rumors of him bleaching his skin and this song really told the public of his opinion but portrayed him as a hypocrite because they believed it was due to him not wanted to be black. This is a very random video with images of Michael in a safarian desert with black Africans dancing around him. It was used to try and resurrect his career after these allegations about him had been put in place.

FILMING.

Over the Christmas period I began filming the bedroom scene of my music video. I used a different person to be my main character, however, and this did not work out too well. The girl I used was Taylor, a girl who is very shy and not too good at acting or lip synching. This meant that my filming was not very good. I realised that she was not the right candidate for the job of being in my music video and am currently trying to get hold of the previous girl I wanted to use for my final music video, Ashleigh. Hopefully I will have finished my filming by the end of this week. I am using the HD camera provided by Robert Clack sixth form and its tripod. The bedroom scene that I have already filmed has consisted of mid-shots, long shots and point of view shots. In my next filming session I need to make sure that I include the shots close ups and over the shoulder shots. I also wish to use a panning shot while filming the girl walking from the bed to the window. I also want to change the setting to being in the bedroom when it is dark outside, whereas the filming which I currently have is filmed during the day time and the bedroom is lit up.

Storyboard.

On a big piece of paper I created a storyboard of the idea I have of shots I am going to take. I wrote on the side of the image in a little box the shot type/movement and additional notes on clothing or events taking place within this shot.

I used the images from each box I drew in and took photographs of the individuals pictures. I then uploaded these onto Photobucket and used Final Cut Express to make my animatic video. This is a basic overview of my idea on the storyline of my final music video.