Music History

To find out about the stages of music in history and how music videos have developed overtime, I have researched into the decades to find the transformation of the music industry. By doing this, I now have a basis of understanding how music videos came about and the styles within the decades. I now understand more about music videos from seeing their history. 

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The Good

This is one of the best previous student’s music videos that I have found. Throughout the whole of the video, the singer sync lips perfectly to each lyric making the music video look very effective and professional, almost as if it is their song. The lighting in all the different locations is very good as it sets the mood of the dark song. The lighting used when the band is in view, highlights them in a dark room, adding to the effect whereas the narrative has a dark tone added to it in the editing process. Another good thing about this video is that it has a lot of close ups of the artists, which is one of the main codes and conventions within music videos for the audience to be able to see emotions of the artists. The ‘two worlds’ of the band and the narrative complement each other well and the visuals match the lyrics of the song with its own unique twist. The special effects add to the high quality of the music video by using effects such as overlaying of visuals and the rhythm of the song matching the rhythm of the editing, which is very important. They use a lot of camera angles which add emphasis to the beat and also the band members are perfectly in time to the beat, making the whole music video look great in all aspects.

This music video is very good in all aspects. They have managed to pull off a very famous song and make their own music video just as effective as if it were the original. This is mainly due to the very good and well thought out narrative. It matches to the lyrics very well in the visuals without going for the obvious representations of the song. The acting throughout the music video is of very high standard and makes the audience believe in the emotions that they are portraying. This is a very creative music video with all the locations that they used, such as the dark room with only the bodies illuminated, the open spacious field and in the girl’s home, adding to the effect. The lip syncing is in perfect timing to the lyrics and the clothes, hair and make-up match the rock style genre that they are trying to work with. Close-ups are used so that the audience can see the emotions of both artists when in the narrative and when singing. A great thing about this video is that they have the artist in both the narrative and singing, making it feel more personal and giving an insight to the emotions of the artist. Lastly, the special effects that they use make it all come together. They use split screen to show the two artists, fading in and out (matching the rhythm of the music), the unsteadiness of the camera to emphasise the emotions and they use darker colours in the editing to separate the ‘two worlds’.

The Bad

This is a music video that I have selected to be bad(ish). The narrative of the story is alright, but it doesn’t communicate fully to the lyrics of the song, they seem to just be randomly placed. The idea of the video seems to be a bit simplistic. The special effects such as the fading and the black and white editing help to separate the ‘two worlds’, and look quite effective. The acting of the girl is good in most places but when she lip-syncs she seems to be embarrassed and uncomfortable, making the video not look as professional as it should be. The lip-syncing is in time, but acting when singing ruins it. The locations of when the artist is singing are very random as she just walks around streets and parks. However, what do make this music video look good are all the different uses of camera angles, such as close-ups, panning, long-shots and medium shots. The fact that it is a slow song doesn’t make the editing rhythm match the song rhythm, making it not look as good as it could be.

The Ugly

Within the codes and conventions of music videos, this one is one is really bad. The first thing that ruins the music video is that the lip-syncing is majorly out of sync throughout the whole thing, making it look really untidy and unprofessional. The narrative is alright, but a bit simple and easy. One of the worst things is that the band does not have any instruments but pretend that they do, which looks awful. They insisted to use the green screen as the background for the band but have not put it to use and you can see the edges of it, which is untidy and pointless to even use it. They do match the editing of the visuals to the rhythm of the music for the most part but the acting, both in the narrative and band parts, ruin it. The camera is also really shaky, making the video appear sloppy and not a lot of thought has been put into it. The song choice is good but the way they have presented it makes the video look careless and, in some parts, random.

This students attempt at producing a  music video for ‘Slim Shady’ is careless. First of all, the lip-syncing is really bad and obvious to the fact that the singer does not know all the lyrics to the song and is out of sync. The special effects are really random and amateur, such as the wording of the song randomly put on the screen, which is out of sync anyway. The narrative follows the lyrics too closely, which is very unimaginative of the students to basically copy what has already been done. The narrative is also really weird and quite laughable. The acting is awful as they are always laughing and messing about. The rhythm of the editing does not match the rhythm of the song which makes the whole music video look careless and unprofessional. It is not very well thought out with their own ideas and the camera angles are quite sloppy.

This music video is, for the audience, really embarrassing to watch. The singing is entirely out of sync; the acting of the artists is awful and does make the video look good. The camera angles are all the same, either medium shot or long shot, which is not very well thought out. The actors/artists all seem really embarrassed and it appears to look as though it has been rushed and not been planned. The concept of having a good time (the lyrics) is shown but it is not exciting like the songs intent and does not show any editing skills other than a random slow motion. The costumes have obviously not been thought about as the students are in their uniforms. It may be that they wanted it to be school based, but it has no relevance to the song in regards to this.

To find out what previous students had done for this same project, I went on Youtube, picking out my favourites, middles and worst music videos I could find. I have analysed them to see what they have done right and wrong, gaining knowledge of the things I should and should not do in my own music video. 

Music Records Presentation

This is a presentation I have made containing the research I conducted on the famous music records. From this I have been able to see what record labels are out there and what kind of music and music videos they produce. 

Analysing a Music Video

After researching Goodwin's theory, I have gained knowledge enough to analyse a real music video in the industry. From this I can see the typical codes and conventions of music videos within a actual product by We Are The In Crowd. 

Goodwin's Theory - Analysing Music Videos

Goodwin's Theory - Analysing Music Videos on Prezi

Here, I have research Goodwin's theory in how he thinks a music video should seen and made like, helping me to analyse music videos myself. 

Understanding Editing Software: Lip Syncing + Green Screen

For this project, we have found that lip syncing is essential when making a music video and that getting everything precise and on time is very important when trying to make the music video look good. Here, we filmed ourselves singing and lip-syncing to practise the skill. 

We filmed both on a green screen, which when we uploaded onto final cut pro to edit, and edited in backgrounds to expand our skills. We lip sung to the words with the music in the background to help us get the timing exact. However, we found that it is essential that you have to know the song completely as, like what happened at the end of the rockstar video, it does not look good when you do not know the words. 

By doing this we learnt more about the editing software; Final Cut Pro. 

Understanding Editing Software; Jelly Baby Music Video

First Practical Task

To start off the practical side of this music video project, we made a jelly baby music video. We did this to practice our skills of using the camera, keeping in time to the beat of the song and to be able to use the editing program; Final Cut Pro. 

We did this by taking images of the jelly babies in different places to make it seem as though they will be dancing to the music. When being edited, we put all the images together one after another, changing the seconds they needed to go on for by the beats of the music.

We chose the song 'I Don't Feel Like Dancing' to reflect the idea of this task, and as it is a upbeat dance song, it makes the video look more effective. 

With this, we learnt how to use the basics of the editing software; Final Cut Pro. 

Classic/Unique Music Videos

Here, I have posted a few music videos I have found on Youtube. I have chosen them as they all have their own unique looks, showing different editing skills and stories etc. 

This video is very unique and original as the background behind the singer has been edited to look as though it is made out of round sweets. They move around to make it look as though she is walking and the surroundings are changing. It also makes the video look bright, reflecting the upbeat tone of the song. 

This video is an animated video. The animation makes the video look child-like and reflects to the theme of the christmas music that it has been made for. This is a skill that has been used frequently in music videos to give a new perspective on how the song is portrayed. 

This is a unique video by Lady Gaga. As the artist is very unique and original, her music video of 'Bad Romance' reflects her personality completely. Each shot is edited to the beat and there is a dance sequence, showing another element that can be included in music videos. 

In this video, the part where the faces are edited so that they are moulding together is a very original idea. The use of this reflects the song about how everyone is similar, showing a fancy way create a unique approach to a music video. 

This is music video of 'Rockstar'. This is unique as the band is not actually featured in it, they have got many people in many different locations and ages and cultures to each sing Nickelback's a section of the song. It gives the music video a sense of realism, adding to creative ways to show off the band's music. 

This is Michael Jackson's music video of 'Thriller'. This is a classic video as it is made to be a short story with the song in the narrative. It is a eye catching, memorable music video that has been noticed for being unique in making into a short film. 

By doing this task, I have been able to see what music videos are like and the many ways that make them unique and mesmerising to the viewer.

Music Video Literal Understanding

 Definition: 

A filmed or videotaped rendition of a recorded song, often portraying musicians performing the song or including visual images interpreting the lyrics.

Wikipedia explanation...

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes.^[1] Modern music videos are primarily made and used as amarketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTVbased their format around the medium. 

Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos interpret images and scenes from the song's lyrics, while others take a more thematic approach. Other music videos may be without a set concept, being merely a filmed version of the song's live performance.

Here, I have found out what the literal understanding is when talking about a music video. I have learnt  what it is and the purpose of it to start the process of conducting more research on the way to making my own music video for this project.