Case study 3 - Alex Southam

Case Study 3 - Alex Southam

Like Emil Nava, Alex Southam also freelances for OB management. He originally trained as a lawyer but decided to go in a new direction and work in film. He begun making music videos to 'Learn the trade'. When he bugn to film music videos, he undertook all the tasks himself including camera, lighting and editing, he now uses a director of photography. Southam likes the format of music videos as you 'can try new techniques and can have real artistic freedom', he is less keen on commercials as they allow for 'much less freedom'. He uses vimeo to showcase his videos - this is becoming increasingly important platform as it is considered to have 'higher status' than youtube.

His breakthrough came with the video for the track 'tesselate' by Alt J. The budget was £10000 although it only took 1 day to film. The video contains a large cast and after effects were used to add cgi to the video.

Another popular music video that Alex Southam has produced is 'lost and not found' by chase and status. The budget for the music video was £50'000 and was filmed around Los Angeles. He used steady cam to record the music video and filmed it at 35 frames per second, he then slowed the music video down. The music video went for an early 1990s VHS look, and only 3 shots were used in the whole video.

Case Study 2 - Emil Nava

Case Study 2 - Emil Nava

Emil Nava is a music video directed who has directed a number of well known music videos. At his busiest Emil Nava has directed 24 music videos in one year, when he began shooting videos for independant labels, the budget would be as low as £5000 - £1000. His most expensive video has been for the singer Jessie J and the budget was £160000.

He begun his career as a runner for film production companies. After his work as a runner he graduated to assistant director where he would manage video shoots. he signed to academy, one of the biggest music video production companies, he later worked for between the eyes and now works mainly for pulse and freelances for OB management.

His first music video as a director was for the track 'our house is dadless' by the band 'kid british'. The budget for the film was around £20000. He filmed around manchester and used local people for the cast in the video. It took 1 day for filming, 2/3 days of editing and 10 days of pre production.



Since then he has produced a number of different music videos for well known artists, some of them include;

Ed Sheeran - Lego House
 


Calvin Harris & Disciples - How Deep Is Your Love


Advertisements

He has also begun to make adverts, which have a far higher budget and production values but less creative freedom compared to music videos. one example of an advertisement Emil Nava has directed is 'L'Oreal dare to be different'.

Case Study 1 - Jamie Thraves

Case Study 1 - Jamie Thraves

Jamie thraves is a music video director who has made a number of music videos including radiohead - Just and Coldplay - the scientist. Jamie thraves begun his video directing career by shooting 3 very low budget music videos which cost around £5000 each. For a director to be chosen to direct a music video, their must be a number of different steps, this is how the process works:

• A 'commissioner' from a record label sends a track to 5-10 directors
• The Directors then each submit a treatment (this stage is unpaid)
• The director who has submitted the 'best' treatment is then commissioned to make the video
• Only then is the director paid

Jamie Thraves suggests that the best way to make a music video is to use the lyrics to the track but not be too literal.

Sexism in Pop Videos

Sexism in pop videos

Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory

Laura Mulvey suggests that women are viewed as objects through the use of camera shots in film or music videos. The theory suggests woman can more often than not only watch a film from a secondary perspective and only view themselves from a mans perspective. Often in films a female is shown to have no importance to the plot, and only exists in relation to the male character. Laura Mulvey also suggests that The male gaze leads to Hegemonic ideologies within our society, women gaze at other women the same way men do and end up objectifying them.

Mulvey states that the role of a female character in a narrative has two functions

1.As an erotic object for the characters within the narrative to view

2.As an erotic object for the spectators within the cinema to view

Sexism in pop videos

1. Wrecking Ball

Miley Cyrus gained controversy from this music video because people suggested that it was degrading. It was also a contrast to Miley Cyrus's innocent image on the Disney show 'Hannah Montana'. However some people also suggests that it shows Miley Cyrus's transformation from a young girl into an independent women. Whilst some may see the video as exploitative, it may also be suggested that Miley Cyrus is exploiting herself, as the video gained Miley Cyrus a lot of attention, and currently has over 800 million views.

2. Blurred Lines



'Blurred Lines' gained controversy from both its music video and its lyrics. 2 versions of the video were released, a video where the models wear plastic costumes and a video where the models walk around naked. The lyrics gained controversy as some thought that the lyrics were suggestive of rape, such as 'i know you want it'. around 20 universities in the UK banned the song because of the controversy it gained.