Music Video Evaluation
Three months ago, my class was assigned to create a music video that could be from any music genre and by artist or artists that we wanted. We were divided into groups of two or more to create the video. Our first task was to create a mind map about what song we were going to base our video around, what the narrative was going to be about, the possible locations where we would film the music video and what the props/costumes would consist of.
Firstly, my class were assigned to research and create a PowerPoint about genre, sub-genre and hybrid music. The sub-genre that I researched was techno, a sub-genre of dance. The group that I used as an example of techno was The Time Frequency. I also researched hybrid music, a combination of two or more musical genres. The type of hybrid music that I choose was electronic soul, a combination of electronic music and soul music.
What I think went well about this assignment was that I researched different artists/groups from many different types of music and I discovered that there are genres and sub-genre types of music. I think that there are areas for improvements, such as: I could have expanded more on my findings.
Secondly, we were assigned to analyse two music videos via mise-en-scene, which translates as “everything within the scene”. The two music videos that I chose to analyse were ‘Rock And Roll’ by Led Zeppelin and ‘Shine’ by Take That. I analysed every aspect of the music videos, including the type of location where the video was filmed, the characters in the music video, the props that were used, the costumes that the characters are wearing, whether the characters are wearing any make-up or not and the lighting source.
I think what well with this assignment was that I analysed every aspect of the music videos in great detail. What I think is an area for improvement is that I could have gone into greater detail about some of the assets within the videos. The lighting, for example, could have been elaborated upon.
In the following lesson, the class was assigned to create a PowerPoint about music channels and the different genres of music that they represent. We were also assigned to research three narrative music videos, two performance music videos and two successful music videos. The music channels that I chose were: MTV for pop, 4 Music for all music genres, Scuzz for rock and Viva for pop.
The three narrative music videos that I selected were ‘November Rain’ by Guns & Roses, ‘Come to Daddy’ by Aphex Twin and ‘Sugar’ by Maroon 5. The two performance music videos were ‘Shine’ by Take That and ‘Chikasaw’ by Tinder. The two successful music videos were ‘Gangnam Style’ by Psy and ‘Uptown Funk’ by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars.
In the next lesson, the class was assigned to create a logo for our own fictional music channel on Adobe PhotoShop. The name of my music channel was Disco Dynamite and the logo consisted of two large balls with light showing from them, a TNT box and a large dark red text box with ‘DISCO DYNAMITE’ written on it. I also took some screen shots about where I found the shapes on PhotoShop and put them, along with my finished logo, onto my Weebly blog.
Moreover, the class was assigned to create a PowerPoint presentation about the purpose of music videos, complete with an audio segment for every slide. These slides would contain information about: how artists promote themselves, how they expand their income, how different sources of media co-operate, the strategies that major record labels use, how artists create their own unique brands, how music branches out into other platforms, what major independent record labels are, what independent record labels are, how artists make themselves available for events via music videos.
In the proceeding lesson, we were assigned to analyse two music videos via mise-en-scene. The music videos that I analysed were ‘Uptown Funk’ by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars and ‘Crazy In Love’ by Beyoncé and JayZ. I analysed various assets within the music video, such as: the costumes that the characters were wearing, the props, the settings and the lighting.
In addition, I created the proposal for my music video. I had to explain the various features of the music video including: the narrative, the tone of the video, the visuals, what I hoped to achieve from the music video, how I came up with the idea, the locations, the camera angles, the sound in the video, how the music video will comply with copyright laws and the costumes that the characters will be wearing.
Furthermore, I created my own pre-production paperwork by hand using the templates from my previous Level 2 course. The paperwork contained a personal production log, recce, storyboard, risk assessment, shot list, call sheet for each of the days that filming took place. I also added an actor release form for all of the people who played a role in my music video.
With the paperwork completed, my group began by filming at the Tameside Memorial Gardens. The filming was mostly successful, aside from a few re-takes. Also, at the start of the session, we had trouble affixing the camera to the tripod. However, we soon discovered that the tripod had a lever that needed to be twisted to slide the camera onto the tripod.
Furthermore, in the next lesson, we went to the studio and filmed a student lip-sync to the song ‘See You Again’. We filmed from many different angles and used different shot types. Unfortunately, the student experienced difficulty trying to lip-sync the exact lyrics. So we used one of the College’s iPads to find the lyrics on YouTube.
Due to the completion of the previous task, I began to edit my music video on Adobe Premiere Pro. During the course of this edit, I learnt a variety of different skills on Premiere Pro, such as: how to increase the height and width of footage, how to create still text, rolling text and crawling text and implant onto a document. I used still text as the opening screen and rolling text for the end credits. As well as this, I also used the Dip To White and Dip To Black editing features on my opening and ending credits respectively.
Once I felt that the music video was suitable, I uploaded it to YouTube and I completed a Survey Monkey questionnaire and tweeted a link to the questionnaire via Twitter.
On reflection, however, I noticed that the lip-synching of the video was not quite out of sync sometimes and the shot transitions were quite jumpy as well. So I edited the music video again on Premiere Pro and used the Dissolve transitions to make the shots flow more smoothly. I also added a handshake shot near the end of the song when the lyrics “When I see you again” are sung for the final time.
In summary, I think this unit has been really interesting as I learnt many different things about the music industry and how the companies within it operate as well as the origins of the music video. I also acquired many skills independently on Premiere Pro, for example, where I learnt how to install transitions, credits and how to fade shots to both black and white. Although, I did find some areas difficult, such as where to find implanted audio on Premiere Pro and where to put transitions onto shots in order for them to work.
Three months ago, my class was assigned to create a music video that could be from any music genre and by artist or artists that we wanted. We were divided into groups of two or more to create the video. Our first task was to create a mind map about what song we were going to base our video around, what the narrative was going to be about, the possible locations where we would film the music video and what the props/costumes would consist of.
Firstly, my class were assigned to research and create a PowerPoint about genre, sub-genre and hybrid music. The sub-genre that I researched was techno, a sub-genre of dance. The group that I used as an example of techno was The Time Frequency. I also researched hybrid music, a combination of two or more musical genres. The type of hybrid music that I choose was electronic soul, a combination of electronic music and soul music.
What I think went well about this assignment was that I researched different artists/groups from many different types of music and I discovered that there are genres and sub-genre types of music. I think that there are areas for improvements, such as: I could have expanded more on my findings.
Secondly, we were assigned to analyse two music videos via mise-en-scene, which translates as “everything within the scene”. The two music videos that I chose to analyse were ‘Rock And Roll’ by Led Zeppelin and ‘Shine’ by Take That. I analysed every aspect of the music videos, including the type of location where the video was filmed, the characters in the music video, the props that were used, the costumes that the characters are wearing, whether the characters are wearing any make-up or not and the lighting source.
I think what well with this assignment was that I analysed every aspect of the music videos in great detail. What I think is an area for improvement is that I could have gone into greater detail about some of the assets within the videos. The lighting, for example, could have been elaborated upon.
In the following lesson, the class was assigned to create a PowerPoint about music channels and the different genres of music that they represent. We were also assigned to research three narrative music videos, two performance music videos and two successful music videos. The music channels that I chose were: MTV for pop, 4 Music for all music genres, Scuzz for rock and Viva for pop.
The three narrative music videos that I selected were ‘November Rain’ by Guns & Roses, ‘Come to Daddy’ by Aphex Twin and ‘Sugar’ by Maroon 5. The two performance music videos were ‘Shine’ by Take That and ‘Chikasaw’ by Tinder. The two successful music videos were ‘Gangnam Style’ by Psy and ‘Uptown Funk’ by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars.
In the next lesson, the class was assigned to create a logo for our own fictional music channel on Adobe PhotoShop. The name of my music channel was Disco Dynamite and the logo consisted of two large balls with light showing from them, a TNT box and a large dark red text box with ‘DISCO DYNAMITE’ written on it. I also took some screen shots about where I found the shapes on PhotoShop and put them, along with my finished logo, onto my Weebly blog.
Moreover, the class was assigned to create a PowerPoint presentation about the purpose of music videos, complete with an audio segment for every slide. These slides would contain information about: how artists promote themselves, how they expand their income, how different sources of media co-operate, the strategies that major record labels use, how artists create their own unique brands, how music branches out into other platforms, what major independent record labels are, what independent record labels are, how artists make themselves available for events via music videos.
In the proceeding lesson, we were assigned to analyse two music videos via mise-en-scene. The music videos that I analysed were ‘Uptown Funk’ by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars and ‘Crazy In Love’ by Beyoncé and JayZ. I analysed various assets within the music video, such as: the costumes that the characters were wearing, the props, the settings and the lighting.
In addition, I created the proposal for my music video. I had to explain the various features of the music video including: the narrative, the tone of the video, the visuals, what I hoped to achieve from the music video, how I came up with the idea, the locations, the camera angles, the sound in the video, how the music video will comply with copyright laws and the costumes that the characters will be wearing.
Furthermore, I created my own pre-production paperwork by hand using the templates from my previous Level 2 course. The paperwork contained a personal production log, recce, storyboard, risk assessment, shot list, call sheet for each of the days that filming took place. I also added an actor release form for all of the people who played a role in my music video.
With the paperwork completed, my group began by filming at the Tameside Memorial Gardens. The filming was mostly successful, aside from a few re-takes. Also, at the start of the session, we had trouble affixing the camera to the tripod. However, we soon discovered that the tripod had a lever that needed to be twisted to slide the camera onto the tripod.
Furthermore, in the next lesson, we went to the studio and filmed a student lip-sync to the song ‘See You Again’. We filmed from many different angles and used different shot types. Unfortunately, the student experienced difficulty trying to lip-sync the exact lyrics. So we used one of the College’s iPads to find the lyrics on YouTube.
Due to the completion of the previous task, I began to edit my music video on Adobe Premiere Pro. During the course of this edit, I learnt a variety of different skills on Premiere Pro, such as: how to increase the height and width of footage, how to create still text, rolling text and crawling text and implant onto a document. I used still text as the opening screen and rolling text for the end credits. As well as this, I also used the Dip To White and Dip To Black editing features on my opening and ending credits respectively.
Once I felt that the music video was suitable, I uploaded it to YouTube and I completed a Survey Monkey questionnaire and tweeted a link to the questionnaire via Twitter.
On reflection, however, I noticed that the lip-synching of the video was not quite out of sync sometimes and the shot transitions were quite jumpy as well. So I edited the music video again on Premiere Pro and used the Dissolve transitions to make the shots flow more smoothly. I also added a handshake shot near the end of the song when the lyrics “When I see you again” are sung for the final time.
In summary, I think this unit has been really interesting as I learnt many different things about the music industry and how the companies within it operate as well as the origins of the music video. I also acquired many skills independently on Premiere Pro, for example, where I learnt how to install transitions, credits and how to fade shots to both black and white. Although, I did find some areas difficult, such as where to find implanted audio on Premiere Pro and where to put transitions onto shots in order for them to work.
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