We conducted a questionnaire within our media class to gain a better knowledge of the kind of expectations that are present for a music video by our peers.
Our results were as follows:
1) Gender?
5 of the completed questionnaires were by males and 2 by females.
2)Age?
5 of the completed questionnaires were by peers within the 8-16 age bracket, whilst the remaining 2 fitted into the 17-25 category.
3) How many music videos do you watch per week?
2 people said they only watch 1-3 per week, 4 said 4-7, which was the most common answer, and 1 person said they watch 8-11 music videos a week.
An idea that i have for the music video is to include shots of the artist recording the song in the studio, aside from the main body of the video itself. This is becoming a popular trend in music videos today and i think that no popular music video would be realistic if we weren't to include these trends in our own. he act of performance in music video by the 'star' is a backbone in the majority of music videos.
I have found an example of this on youtube.com, where i searched for a music video that included shots of an artist recording in a studio. This particular example is at 0:29 of the following video link from YouTube.
Songs?
A song in contention for the music video is "Karaoke" by Drake. Drake is an American rap artist who is enjoying a growing reputation in the industry. As of yet there is no video for this song, which would be an advantage if we were to choose this song because because our viewers wouldn't have any pre-interpretations on how the music video for it should look.
The song itself has a soft R'n'B feel to it with a slow beat and little bass, and this gives the oppertunity to introduce negative emotions to create feeling towards the characters in the video itself.
Wiz Khalifa is an artist that is a favourite of mine at the moment and such songs as "When i'm gone" from his new album "Rolling Papers" are attractive to me in terms of creating a music video for them. This song begins very slowly with a long intro, which is fitting because it also kicks off the album as this is the first track. I can imagine a video for this song being set at night, showing bright lights of casinos and clubs as this represents wealth and also the narrative of the song which is him "spending his money up".
"When i'm gone" is basically Wiz telling his fans that he spends his money as if there is no tomorrow, he says "I cant take it when i'm gone". Therefore, my ideas for this song would be to include things associated with the 'high life' such as champagne and gambling.
Research One problem i am thinking about for the filming of the video is that the right amount of shots need to be films so that the video doesnt repeatedly show th same boring shots and the same characters. To help gain a knowledge of the different shots used in music videos i looked at the video for "This Plane" by Wiz Khalifa. "The Race" is the second promotional single by American rapper Wiz Khalifa from his third studio album, Rolling Papers. The song was written by Wiz Khalifa and produced by I.D. Labs.
In this video a variety of different shots are used in one particular seeting whcih is where he is sat on the stairs of a plane. This shows how directors can be efficient in using the same location for a length of time in the video without it dragging on and becoming boring. The particular section i am refering to is 0:43-1:30.
Also included in this video are titles at the start which are edited in at the editing stage of the music video production. There are 2 options if this is used in my music video. The first is that titles are used to introduce the artist, or in this case the actor which is me. Another way in which titles could be used is to show lyrics giving a different affect depending on the fon and colour.
One video that makes good use of titles is "All of the lights" by Kanye West. After a long introduction the the video, the song kicks in and the lyrics at first are covered by titles which give the music video a movie feel, and gives the impression that the song is building. At the end of the song the titles are re-introduced for the outro, so it is obvious that the director has thought of a clear structure in which he has both started and ended with titles, again like a movie, this shows that titles could be used in my own video in either of these instances.
The lighting is also another main factor in this video, the constant flashing and quick cuts are in keeping with the tempo of the song and the genre as a whole. Kanye West is the main star of the video, which is in keeping with conventions of Pop/Hip-Hop videos.
As well as titles, visual effects such as words can be used to provide symbols that link to the story of the song, such as in this song by John Legend-Everybody Knows. In this video there is an effect starting at 0:42 which makes it seem as if there are words appearing and disappearing on his body. This suggests that the words are engraved into him, and also support the lyric - "its written all over my face".
I am beginning the A2 Media Studies course alone as my partner is on holiday in LA. Due to this, communication has been minimal. Fortunately, me and Anjola have a reasonably similar taste in music, and because of this i can press on with the research myself in full confidence that it will be constructive and a positive start to the coursework.
