Directors

  The Director is the driving force of the music video. He or She takes charge in overseeing the running of all tasks which are involved with producing a music video.

Jake Nava is an English music video and film director. He is best known for the production of the music video Adele - Someone Like You and Kanye West - Monster. Nava has worked with many artists such as 

Destiny's Child - Cater 2 U

Beyoncé feat. Jay Z - Crazy In Love

Usher - Burn

Shakira - She Wolf

Spice Girls - Holler

Britney Spears - My Perogative

...

Jake Nava is recognised in the music industry for his iconic pop videos. He is responsible for the music video of Beyoncé - Single Ladies which is the 3rd most downloaded single in the world. The ability of a Director to produce a strong music video is based on their ability to transform their own creativity onto camera for the audience to see exactly how they had first imagined it. I decided to use Jake Nava as an example as in my opinion he has been able to successfully do this many times and highlights the importance of the music video in the music industry. 

Representation

Generally all media is a form of representation and those involved in creating representations are influenced by their own beliefs, values and attidtidues.

Laura Mulvey suggested that females are represented as images with a 'visual and erotic impact' as classical Hollywood films presumed the audience as male. Mulvey said that woman are viewed as 'voyeuristic' or 'fetishtic'.
However in my music video females are represented as individuals faced with decisions, the audience take notice of my female because of what she's going through rather than image being the sole purpose.

Development's of the Gaze: There are several different types of gaze which take place around media products. The spectators gaze is the audience view of the subject on screen, the male gaze involves the male view of females (it relates to Laura Mulvey's theory) and the female gaze exists when a female accepts that females also gain voyeuristic pleausure from looking at a subject which can sometimes be enhance by film techniques. Also the inter-diegetic gaze, the look between characters or subjects within a media product and the extra-diegetic gaze which exists when the character or subject breaks the fourth wall by looking at the camera/audience.

Typical Representations

Gender Is the character male or female? Which gender holds the power?

Age Does the character follow stereotypical behaviour of their age? Does role reversal exist?

Disability Is the character limited by their disabilites? How do they behave in relation to able characters?

Ethnicity Do characters of different ethnicities behave differently? Are they treated differently because of their ethnicity?

Breaking Representations

A popular music video: Christina Aguilera - Dirty

Females are typically displayed in music videos as a visual object beside the dominant male figure. However Christina Aguilera presents herself in her music video as the predominant character as all attention and power is focused on her whilst playing the role of a voyeuristic and fetishtic object. Christina voiced her opinion to critics 'I'm in the power position, in complete command of everything and everybody around me. To be totally balls-out like that is, for me, the measure of a true artist'

Narrative and Performance

Narrative in songs tends to suggest a storyline or complex fragments in a non-linear order. Narrative usually leaves the viewer with a desire to watch the music video again. Steve Archer emphasises the fact that music videos usually use both narrative and performance. Elements such as choreographed dance, which help visualisation for the audience, current examples of this are Gangnum Style and the Harlem Shake. These dances have a strong repeatability factor and encourage the audience to get involved and try the dance routine. Also the use of lip-synch and the miming of playing instruments.

A music video offers the audience the chance to present themselves to the audience in a new way. The music video is a very different performance from a live show or a band interview. The artist has the opportunity to manipulate factors that will give them a completely different image such as mise en scéne.

Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages:

 1. a state of equilibrium at the outset
2. a disruption of the equilibrium by some action
3. a recognition that there has been a disruption
4. an attempt tp repair the disruption
5. a reinstatement of the equilibriu,

Following the theory of Todorov, my music video generally follows the stages of a conventional narrative. However the first stage is not included, my main character is seen by the audience at the behinning on my music video in a state of disruption from her normal equilibrium. My music then shows the audiences stages 2 - 5 as my character recognises her problem at home, then instead attempts to find happiness surrounded by nature which leads her back to a state of self-content.

Some of the most successful and most memorable music videos have strong narratives, they encourage audiences to watch them more than once and provide an opportunity to see artists in a different light to their light performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914

Brit Awards 2013

Ben Howard attended the Brit Awards on the 20th Febuary 2013. He took home 2 awards, which marks a strong start to his career in the music industry. The Brit Awards which took place only 2 days ago have already impact on Ben Howard's music, sales of his number album have increased by 320% also advertisments online showing his new album and his awards are running on many videos on Youtube today.

The two awards which Ben Howard took home were:

Best British Break Through Act

and

Best British Male

First Draft of my music video

Above is the first draft of my music video after working on final cut pro. Even though this is only my first draft I have started considering audience feedback. Following this feedback I am planning to do further editing an filming for my music video.

Top Music Videos 

 NME have listed their top 100 greatest music videos. Below are the top 5

 5. Bjork - All is full of love

4. Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

3. Chris Isaak - Wicked Game

2. Radiohead - Just

1. Johnny Cash - Hurt

My Top Music Video

My favourite music video is Michael Jackson - Thriller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA

I like this music video because the scale of production and the initial idea for the storyline work so well on screen. The use of narrative performance before, during and after the soundtrack effectively deliver the storyline to the audience. These factors combined with the performance based element of dancing and  the mise en scene makes it an exciting visual piece for the audience. This music video reaches the standards of short film productions and is memorable for its audience.

Updated Action Plan

As I have only a few weeks left to complete my coursework I have decided to follow an updated action plan to ensure that all my work is completed and I am satisfied with it before the deadline.

11th - 15th Febuary:   Complete Treatment Sheet
                                   Upload Risk Assessment

18th - 22nd Febuary:  Complete all blog work for Pre-production and production
                                  Begin planning Digi Pack
                                  Organise final filming for music video

25th - 1st March:       Do Photoshoot for Advert and CD cover
                                  Film final scene for my music video
                               
4th - 8th March:         Complete Editing for music video
                                  Edit my Digi Pack
                                  Get Audience Feedback on all products

11th - 15th March:     Complete editing on digi pack
                                  Evaluation
                             

18th - 22nd March:    Tidy up blog posts
                                  Audience feedback on all products

DEADLINE 22ND MARCH



The Big 5?

This term refers to the 5 major firms within the music industry which have a significan power in the market over smaller firms. They benefit from strong brand recognition in the market, their ability to diversify in production and also economies of scale.

Universal Music Group (American label found in 1934)

Warner Music (American label founded in 1958)

Sony Music Entertainment (American label founded in 1929)

EMI (British label founded in 1951)

BMG (American label founded in 1987)

The big 5 was reduced to the Big 4 when BMG sold the majority sold the majority of it's assets to Sony Music Entertainment in 2004.

As an individual artist in the music industry or hoing to enter the music industry it is helpful to understand the structure of the industry and potential competitors.

Risk Assessment Sheet

It was necessary to complete a risk assessment sheet before taking my cast out to film in location where there were potential risks. Below are images of the risk assessment sheet which I completed.

Editing

Above is a screenshot I have taken to show the process of editing my music video. I have uploaded footage from filming onto Final Cut Pro X. Firstly, I put my footage into linear order on the programme and the added the soundtrack. Afterwards I began to edit scenes, which involved trimming the beginnings and edings of scenes.

I took this secondscreen shot to show how I incorporated the effects on Final Cut Pro X into my music, to speed up and slow down the pace of scenes also to strengthen or weaken the lighting in the shot.



YouTube

YouTube is an established social networking site which was founded in Febuary 2005.

Why is YouTube relevant for Music Artists today?

It is a free form of online distribution - it is open to all artists regardless of their available finance for distribution

It is used by millions of viewers and potential fans everyday

It creates the opportunity for an artist to be found by potential record labels

It is an open platform for artists and fans to interact - An artist can improve from audience feedback and also understand what their fans like and want them to produce

Before the development of Social Networks

Artists were dependent upon the hope of obtaining a record deal, which was extremely difficult

Music was distributed on TV - music channels (MTV) and live programmes such as Top Of The Pops were the main forms of distribution. However they were not accessible for individual and new artists

Beat Sheet

Below is an image of my beat sheet for my music video. This basically shows when the chorus and verses take place and helps me to plan my scenes and storyline with the soundtrack.

Filming

Below are some images showing the filming process of my music video

Inspiration

I had two main inspirations for my music video, which I was to use as a textual reference for certain scenes in my music video.

I was inspired by the film Forest Gump, particuarly the scene where Forest Gump is able to walk without his supports. The emphasis on low level shots which show his legs and his ability to walk and run for the first time were useful for the ideas which I had for my music video as I wanted to inclde an element of dancing in my music video and also show that my actor was moving forawrd. These images can be seen on my music video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2-MCPa_3rU

I also liked an idea from the music video Avicii - I Could Be The One, where the main actor is seen cross days off her calendar which symbolises a new day, time in the music video has progressed. I used this as an intertextual reference also to show that time had moved forward, and explain the change in the footwear of my actor throughout the music video.