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.