Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Micheal Jackson is a well known pop singer all over the world, he is referred as "the king of pop". Micheal Jackson is famous for his music, his dancing in his music videos and his red jacket. Micheal Jackson started his career as a young boy in a pop singing group with his brothers, they were known as "The Jackson 5".

Rockin' Robin (1971)

The early videos for the jackson 5 were very experimental, as pop videos were not as popular at the time. The videos were usually basic and were simply used to promote the band/song. Most people at the time would of listened to the song on the radio, as services like youtube did not exist at the time.

Rock with you (1978)


Rock with you was Michael Jackson's first single in his solo career. the video showed Michael Jackson's dance talent, and further emphasised the fact that he was going solo, with the use of the camera focusing only on him and the unique costume making him stand out.

Billie Jean (1982)


billie jean was the first Michael Jackson video that included a story. This trend was continued in Michael Jackson's later videos, which also shared a narrative theme. this video also included Michael Jacksons trademark of lighting up the pavement as he walks.

Beat It


This music video aims at telling a story between two fighting gangs, the focus is not on Michael Jackson as he doesn't even appear at the start of the video. Like Michael Jacksons later videos, this music video is heavily choreographed, with professional dancers/actors accompanying Michael Jackson. The video shows a creative use of dancing to reflect the fight between the two gangs, and also features Michael Jacksons iconic red jacket and fashion, such as short trousers with white socks.

Thriller


Thriller is considered the most famous music video of all time, it was one of the first music videos to appear in the library of congress national film database in 2009., and is also one of the most successful, selling over 9 million copies. The main music video also acted as a short film, and appeared in cinemas even though it was only 13:20 long.

Black or white



The music video for 'black and white' was released at the time when racism in america was a big concern. It was also released at the time where criticisms were shown towards Michael Jackson, who was accused of bleaching his skin. The video shows how the colour of someones skin does not affect who they are.

Scream



At the time of its production, Scream was one of the most expensive music videos ever made. however some criticisms were shown towards the video compared to his previous videos, including the fact that it was in black and white and didn't include aspects of the dance choreography from other videos. The song was released to show anger towards the tabloid media, and the controversy surrounding Michael Jackson at the time.

Case Study - Katy Perry

Case Study - Katy Perry

Katy Perry is an american pop singer who became famous in the year 2008. She got famous with her songs which we all know around the world. These songs were 'I kissed a girl' and 'Hot N Cold'. She currently has sold over 11 million albums, 81 million singles and has attained 5 number #1 singles so far in her music career.

How her pop videos appeal to her target audience and reflect her private life?

Katy Perry's target audience are young teenage girls, in a age group of 14-17. To be able to appeal towards her age group she has to be like an older sister/friend, be able to reflect some of the anxieties that young girls have, and be someone that the young girls can admire, look up too and want to be when they get older. (Looking sexy in a non-threatening way)

How her pop videos appeal to her target audience and reflect her private life?

Hot N cold (2008)

Katy Perry's earliest song is Hot N cold. This is a parody song of the 'runaway bride' stereotype. Katy Perry plays the bride who is stood up, this is whilst the man acts as the 'runaway bride'. This shows Katy Perry in a empowering and strong way, this is as she is chasing after the 'runaway bride'. This is what the man usually does, chase the woman.

Last Friday night (2010)


This music video is a intertextual, the reason for this is because the start could be compared to the opening of a movie, this is as well as the credits at the end. This video shows the audience that it is fine to be different, as despite the fact that she has a makeover, she comes back to her original appearance at the end and earns respect for throwing her party.

Firework (2010)



This music video is slightly similar to 'last friday night', the reason for this is because it shows the same message that it is okay to be different. The use of the fireworks is to show her target audience that they all have something special about them.What this does is it presents the video as being empowering to females, however the use of men in the video may also present the video as being empowering to people in general.

California Girls (2010)


Unlike her previous videos, this music video presents Katy Perry in a sexualised way. The music video was shot at the time when Katy Perry was  married to controversial actor/comedian Russell Brand. The marriage to Russell Brand and her new image may of alienated some of her younger fans, who saw Katy Perry as empowering, without the need of a man.

Wide Awake (2012)


This video was released soon after Katy Perry's divorce to Russell Brand. It reconnects with her female fans and may act as an 'apology' video towards them. The music video also shows the message of female empowerment, with Katy Perry punching the man at the end, who may represent Russell Brand. The younger version of Katy Perry may represent Katy Perry as regaining her innocence.

Roar 


The message of this video is similar to fireworks, which is self empowerment. The video shows how Katy Perry does not need a man to be powerful, as we see that Katy Perry survives in the jungle on her own.

Audiences - Reception Theory

Audiences - Reception Theory

This is a way in which we react to different types of media texts. This is a theory which was suggested by Stuart Hall in 1973. Stuart Hall Suggested that a audience receives to an text and then responds to a text differently. The different effects which are generated are varied responses. It is a way to be able to characterise and be able to group together different audience interpretations. 

Encoding/decoding theory

Stuart Hall suggested that a media text produced encode. A meaning in a text, which then the audience decode. This is the meaning if the text which might be decoded though things like the body, or a certain expression which may of been used in that media text. Some audiences may accept or reject the producers meaning of the media text. There three types of ways the a audience may decode a media text.

1. Preferred reading - audiences agree and accept what the producers are encoding

2. Negotiated reading - audiences partially agree with the encoded messages

3. Oppositional reading - audiences reject/disagree or decode the text differently

Example

The preferred reading of this text would be that the audience like both the watch and the actor. The negotiated reading may be that the audience like the actor but don't care for the watch. The oppositional reading may be that the audience have a dislike for both the watch and the actor, which means they dislike the whole advert.

(Worked with Ross)

Editing to the beat

What we had to do during this lesson, was to be able to take different parts of a music video, which was given to us, with the the music, and editing the clips to the beat of the music. The reason why we had to do this, because when it comes to making our own music videos, it would of given us some practice to edit the music video on the beat. This makes the video look more professional and better presented.

In this lesson we were also taught a few skills which could come into good use when it comes to creating our own music video. One of the skills which were taught to us was to be able to put two videos onto one frame.

Star Theory - Richard Dyer

Star Theory And Pop Videos

There are 3 ways in which music videos work to promote a song;

• Illustrate - the music video matches the lyrics to the song
• Disjunctive - the lyrics/meaning of the song is ignored
• Amplify - the video portrays the artists narrative but there is no clear distinction between the video and the lyrics. Layers of meaning are added.

Richard Dyer believes artists are constructed through artificial images e.g through advertising, films, magazines and music videos. He also suggests that icons and celebrities are manufactured by institutions for financial gain, they do this by appealing to the celebrities/icons target audience. Record labels have to market different artists to cater for certain target audiences. Dyer claims that certain artists can also act as trendsetters, the wider audience and their fans will follow their clothing and hairstyle.

Britney Spears

One example of a pop star who has been constructed is Britney Spears. She was originally viewed and constructed as a role model to teen girls, as she appeared on the disney show 'mickey mouse club' along with another well known singer, Justin Timberlake.

However as she begun her singing career, her innocent image was changed into a more sexualised one. An example of this is in her music video for the song 'womanizer'. 

This video could be related to Laura Mulveys male gaze theory. This is the theory that women are viewed as objects of male erotic desire in media. This is shown through various camera angles, and reflects patriarchal (male dominated) society. An example of this in 'womenizer' could be shown within the first 16 seconds. The camera angle and mise en scene of Britney Spears do little to move the plot forward.

Music Video Branding - The Spice Girls

Music Video Branding - The Spice Girls

When it comes to branding, it is a process of assigning a brand name towards something. Branding is important, this is because it leads to a better marking process for the artist, or a band, in this case "The Spice Girls". "The Spice Girls" are a heavily branded band. They were formed in the year 1990, competing against a large amount of dominant boy bands. When it came to "The Spice Girls" over 100 girls auditioned to be part of the girl band. Six girls we accepted, but then later reduced to only five girls. The five girls were Victoria Beckham, Melaine Chrishelm, Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown and Emma Bunton.

Every girl was given a different portrayal in the media. They were known as baby spice, posh spice, scary spice, sporty spice and ginger spice. The marketing of each girl in the band was successful around there personalities. There were lots of products which were to do with them, some examples of this were including dolls. It could be argued that without them heavily branding, they may of not been as successful as they turned out to be. They were also popular because of the competition they had with other boy bands, boy bands used women as their sex appeal to attract a female audience, on the other hand "The Spice Girls" used girl power to show that a female audience that women are more than just a sex appeal.

Music videos - added value

Primary function of a music video
There are lots of primary functions of a music video which can be included. The reason for this is because it allows to showcase the artists and bring more attention to the artist or band to grow there audience. It allows the artist to promote the song and there other songs, then they make a profit from selling there music.

A-Ha Take On Me
A-Ha made one of the most memorable music videos there is on there song "Take On Me". There are lots of reasons for this, and one of the reasons are for the use of animation. Back in 1986 this music video grew a big attraction to the song because of its visuals, it was unique and it caught peoples attentions. The video was done so well, it took 3 months to make the video, there were over 1400 different drawings which were put together to make the whole video come together. The song hit top of the charts and won six awards at the 1986 MTV awards, all because of the music video.


Sinead O'Conner - Nothing Compares 2U
When they were shooting this video the director spent over £40000 on shouting different shots all over France, then the director wished he never recorded in France and used so much money, the reason for this is because he recorded Sinead O'Connor on a close up shot and she cried during the video, this made the video gold and so good that the director wanted to just use the shot of the close up, but he had to use some of what he recorded in France because it would of been a total waste of money.

Styles of music videos

Narrative Based
A narrative based music video is a video that shows you a story. This type of video tends to involve a main actor and what happens to that that character throughout the video. There may be other actors in the video to help portray the story of the video. The narrative of the song is not always lyrically literal, but sometimes it can be. A example of a narrative based  music would be "What Goes Around... Comes Around" by Justin Timberlake. The reason for this is because it shows a story about two characters, one male, one female, and the story is about how they met, and how he put her trust in her.


Cinematic



Animation
A animation music video can be digital or stop motion animation. I have used Michael Jackson's "Leave Me Alone". The reason why I have used this as my example is because the video is fully
animated using stop motion animation to put the video together.

Music Video Analysis

Music Video Analysis

Daniel Powter - Bad Day

This is a narrative music, however it does include some performance elements as we can see Daniel Powter playing on the piano at some points. The video uses split screen to show the story of two different people who seem to be having a 'bad day', however they seem to be destined to be together at the end of the video. The video includes fast editing, for example in the first 30 seconds there are around 30 cuts, which means there is a cut every second, which is typical of pop songs. The use of split screen is done well, for example at 2:06, where the drawings of both the characters match up. The mise en scene is also done well, for example the couple at 1:11 are not a typical couple, but they still have love which the main character does not.

Rihanna - Shut up and drive

This video is very different from the 'bad day' video. the music video is set in a garage, which is usually associated with males, however all the mechanics are female in this video, this is an example of female empowerment. A high angle is also used to show female empowerment at 0:15, this shows women as dominant and may make men seem as inferior. However there is a contrast to this, as Rihanna is often shown in a sexual way. For example mid shots of Rihanna leaning on cars means the camera and therefore the audience focuses on her body. This may relate to the 'male gaze theory' which is the theory that the camera is the focus of a men, and that women are sexualised in music videos. This music video also features a band shot at 3:01, which gives of the impression that this is a live performance, even though it is not.

Album Art Exercises

In this exercise I went onto Photoshop to create my own album art, the way I did this was by choosing the image I wanted to use, what I then did was change the colours and the saturation of the image, I wanted the image to work with the titles which were generated for me. So I changed the colours of the image, then I went online and downloaded and installed a font, the font is called "freedom". What I then did was put the titles onto the image in such a way that it would standout. Once I have finished that, I went online and found a transparent image of eyes. The reason why I wanted the eyes to be transparent were because I wanted it to blend in with the image and the text, then I lowered the opacity to make it blend it even more. The image at the top is the finished album art.

History of the Music Videos

History Of The Music Video

1929

Bessie Smiths "St Louis Blues" could debatably be one of the earliest examples of a music video. This music video was released in 1929, the video was a demonstration of the original song. It was so popular that it was shown in lots of different theatres in America. It stayed in theatres for about 4 years. 

1942

A little bit like Bessie Smith, the singer Bing Crosby also had one of his songs appear in a movie. The name of the film is "Holiday Inn" which was released in the year 1942. The song is known as "White Christmas" which was performed by Bing Crosby and Martha Mears. This song on its own was able to sell over 50 million copies. It made the song one of the worlds biggest selling single world wide. It was the highest grossing film musical.

1965

In 1965, a singer called Frank Sinatra replaced Bing Crosby as one of the worlds biggest star. On June the 20th of 1965, thousands of people had turned to watch "The Rat Pack" perform. They were a group of singers that Frank Sinatra was actually a part of. The performance was shown through movie theatres across America.

MTV/1981

MTV is music television channel, which was launched in the year 1981, and is still around to this present day, but there are also many more music channels in the present day. It was a channel which was aimed at showing music videos all day and night. The first music video that MTV released was a video called "Video Killed The Radiostar".

Present Day

In our present day, there are music videos all over TV, internet, portable devises and much more. The internet has made it so much more easier to access music videos. On YouTube there are music videos all over it, just type in the music video you would like to see and it will come. Todays music videos are fun, but has a very sexualised nature. This song "So Freakin' Tight" is such an enjoyable song, and it wants to get people moving, and it has been on the charts many times, but it has a sexual view on women, unlike videos would back in the past.

Don't go breaking my heart

This is a second attempt at lip-syncing, the fist attempt was pretty bad, but on this attempt we had more angles, and we would keep re-recording a angle if we thought it wasn't good enough. This is a more successful attempt at lip-syncing and editing a music video, it's not perfect, but there is still more improvements which will be needed in the future.

Sonny and Cher

This was my first attempt at lip syncing to a a song and the editing it into a music video. The synching seemed to have gone well in my first attempt, but there is a part where it looks like he is not singing at all. This was a my first attempt and will defiantly improve for the future when it comes to make my own music video.

My Prodctionn Team

The people that I will be working with in my production team are me and Ross McDermott. What we will be doing is making our own music video to a existing song, but the snigger that we will be using isn't known very well, and the sniggers song has never been on the radio.

The Brief

My task for media a2 this year is to be able to produce a promotional package for a release of a album. In this album it will include a music video together with a digipak for a DVD release. In the blog I must include all the planning, research, construction and evaluation.

My task is to produce:

¡  A music ‘promo’ video

¡  Up to 5 minutes

¡  Either working on your own or in a group of up to four members

My also need to produce:

¡  A ‘digipak’ (Six panels) for its release on CD

¡  A magazine advertisement for the digipak

 In addition to your ‘promo’ video you will have to produce:

Welcome to my blog

This is my A2 media blog, and what I will be doing on this blog is making a promotional package for an new artist or a band. This will include a music video.
I am going to chart my progress as I research, plan, contrast and evaluate my A2 portfolio.
I have learnt a lot from blogging from last year, so I will make sure this blog is better.