Technical Research - Camera Dolly

Technical Research - Green Screen

Research - Lyric Analysis

Hold On Me - Cadence Kid

Lyrics

People want to say that love is just too way crazy. You know they may be right cause love is got a hold on me. 

You've been on my mind all the time obsessively. Tied all up in chains 

your love has got a hold on me. 

A hold on me, hold on me. Things you do so easily. 

Nothing in this world to let me free. Hold on me!

If it's written in the stars I guess it's really meant to be. How the way things are your love has got a hold on me. 

No one can explain it's all just such a mystery And I don't have a clue cause love is got a hold on me. 

A hold on me, hold on me. Things you do so easily. 

Nothing in this world to let me free. Hold on me! 

People wanna say that I've been acting foolishly. You know they may be right cause love is got a hold on me. 

Your love is got a hold, your love is got a hold on me.

Analysis

The song is structured with the composition of six verses separated by two chorus'; after the second and fourth verses.

This song is about the singer being in love and talking about his partner, the feelings he has for them and how love has got a hold on him. The singer is not directly talking to their partner but rather is thinking about the way his partner makes him feel and is expressing these feelings through the song.

The song can be thought to have been written for his partner specifically and this is evident from the lyrics which mimic that of a love letter in the sense that the singer is telling his partner about what their relationship does to him.

In the first and second verses the singer is talking about what people say about his feelings as well as how he feels all tied up with love. He describes how his partner is what he thinks about all of the time and how he can't stop as this is obsessive.

The chorus talks about how the little things in their relationship have big impacts on him to the point where he feels attached to his partner and cannot be set see from them.

The third and fourth verse talk about how their love is fate and was always going to happen, 'written in the stars' suggest that it was determined for a long time, before they were even born that they would be together.

The fifth and final verses again refer to what people say about his feelings and their relationship, as if he's walking into it blindly and acting foolish, yet he does not care what they because he is in love.

Research - Similar Artists

Research: Similar Artists

The song we selected to make our music video/ promo video is 'Hold On Me' By Cadence Kid. The Genre of this song is Indie Pop. This genre combines both the Indie Genre and the Popular music genre.

The songs' lyrics are about the theme of Love and unrequited love. This is a common theme in Indie music. For example, The Kooks and Vampire Weekend write a lot about teenage love and young adults scenarios that people can relate to.




Similar Artists:

Tame Impala 

Tame Impala creates Pop Music and is also a one man recording project just like Cadence Kid.

Tame Impala's song 'Let it happen' is about letting time take it's toll and learning to love again which is similar to the themes mentioned by Cadence Kid. 

Tame Impala's songs also mention being an introvert which relates to Cadence Kid's theme of Unrequited Love.





The Kooks


The Kooks are a British rock band formed in 2004 in Brighton, England. 

The Kooks make songs in the style of Indie music. they would also describe themselves are a Pop band.

The Kooks' songs all have a clear linear narrative which is essential and an industry standard for Pop and Indie music.







Rihanna 

Rihanna is a Pop singer and songwriter who was born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown.

Rihanna's most recent album 'Anti' focuses on the themes of love, betrayal and what it means to be a woman in the modern world and society.

'Work' from 'Anti' is a perfect example of how diverse Pop songs can be and how the fast paced music enhances the appeal of the music, especially with current Pop trends.

Research - Unsigned Artist (New Song)

By using SoundCloud we were able to use tags such as copyright free, indie, free and unsigned. 

Then one of our group members found an unsigned artist called Cadence Kid.

Cadence Kid is an artist from LA and has agreed for us to use his song.

https://soundcloud.com/cadencekid/hold-on-me

Planning - Class Pitch For New Song

Planning - Artist Permission / Song Change

With our original song, we felt that it would be useful that we sent the request before the class pitch, as if we had a negative response beforehand, we would have time to change the song. This is the email we sent to Joacim Kraud

We were able to get a reply but Kraud denied us access to the song, due to various copyright issues. This ultimately led us to changing the song

In addition. we received negative feedback from the Joacim Kraud song because of the lack of lyrics. As a group we reflected on this feedback and decided that it would also be extremely difficult to try and construct a narrative around a song which did not have any lyrics. We decided to take this piece of feedback as an opportunity to better our overall product. We researched the new artist called Cadence Kid and were inspired by his lyrical message and found that each of us had clear narratives that linked to the lyrics.

After we did change the song, we sent a new email to Cadence Kid, with better results

Research - Unsigned Artist

For our music video, we needed to use a song from an artist that was unsigned, This was a challenging experience as none of the group had much experience contacting unsigned artists or even listening to unsigned artists.

What is an unsigned artist?

An unsigned artist, unsigned band or independent artist is a musician or musical group not under a contract with a record label. The terms are used in the music industry as a marketing technique. Bands that release their own material on self-published CDs can also be considered unsigned bands.

To start the process, we searched for 'copyright free music' on YouTube. We found this YouTube which catalogs music from unsigned artists who want to share their music.

Research - Mini Pitch

Research - Audience profile

Male Profile

Research - Audience

Audience Research 

In order to find out what genre of music people most listen to, we produced a survey on surveymonkey.com asking an audience to select which genre of music they liked the most and listened to the most. After producing this survey I posted it on social media; specifically Facebook to obtain feedback.

From the results we were able to identify what genre was most common amongst audiences.



From the audience research, the alternative, dance, electronic, pop and rock genres are the most common genres.
It would be useful to pick one of these genres for our song choice as the music video would be more likely to have a bigger audience. 

Planning - Budget Britney (David McConnell)

Budget Britney Video

Skills learnt

• My role in this project was the director. I learnt that it is important to keep your actors focused as you may have a small time frame to film
• I also learnt about the 3 'beeps' at the beginning. These are important for the editing process
• This project gave me the experience to sync up the song lyrics to the characters singing. This was difficult as sometimes the actors didn't sing the correct lyrics

WWW

• The final project was a lot like the original video
• The lip syncing was mainly done well
• The cuts were to the beat, which made the video look more professional
• Even though in the last scene David's wig fell off, this added a bit of humour and personality to our video

EBI

• I wanted to redo the walking scene as Kyle's lip syncing wasn't perfect 

How this experience can be used in your filming next week

• We can use the experience of pans to incorporate into our video
• We have more time to film. However it isn't ages so we need to keep on track and be efficient

Planning - Budget Britney (James Presland)

Britney Spears - Baby One More Time

Skills learnt from producing and editing this music video:

• Short cut editing to the beat of the music.
• Positioning the camera in certain angles to achieve interesting shots.
• Covering large amounts of shots.
• Sequenced walking and actions .
• To edit in time.
• To be able to use bips.
• How to use transition shots .
• Camera shots to make the actors and actresses interact in an interesting way.

WWW:

• Panning shots and angles of the main actors in the video https://gyazo.com/02c8492a4983f8118263a6499318e28b
• The editing was synced well with both the visuals and the audio.
• We accurately tried to replicate the same camera shots and angles that are in teh actual music video of this song
• The lighting of the video was good and used mainly natural lighting.
• There is no to little noise in the visuals 

EBI:

• More detailed props.
• We had more time to prep shots.
• We need more time so that we could shoot rehearsal shots and potentially use them if the final take was not as good.
• If we had Planned actions.

Planning - Budget Britney (Osbert Menezes)

Budget Britney Video

Skills Learnt

• I learnt a way of aligning the music with the actors lip sync by having a three beep before the music is played out loud when filming. this can mean that I can easily align the music to the lip sync in the editing stage.
• Developed my skills in quick cut editing to make the visuals seem more diverse and show more proficient editing skills.
• Working within timed conditions as the location used for this is commonly used by people and was free for a span of 10 minutes, in which all the filming had to be done efficiently.

What Went Well?

• The filming was done fairly quickly and efficiently and out of the way to not be a issue for anyone.
• The sound was well edited to lip sync properly with the visuals.
• The video mirrored the actual music video well while still keeping its parodic tone.
• Accurately used rule of thirds to make the shots more compelling and visually pleasing.
• The continuity editing was well done, as there were no errors to do with continuity editing in the video.

Even Better If

• There was more time to redo some shots so there was more variety to chose from in the post production process of editing.
• More props and better settings to play around with to make the visuals look more realistic of an actual music video.
• Some ideas of shots came up on the spot and were less planned so having more time and effort going into planning would have made it better as well.

Conclusion

• Overall this experience game me a sneak peak of what the filming process of my groups music video will be like and so I can work on any avoidable mistakes in my filming. 
• It also improved my own individual camera skills which will definitely help when film the music video.

Planning - Budget Britney (Kyle Quadra)

What Skills I have learnt:

1. How to sync the music to the visuals in the video.
2. How to cut between scenes on the beat of the music.
3. Positioning camera to obtain well framed shots.
4. Use transitions between different shots.
5. Edit footage in time with the song.

What Went Well:

• The footage was well synced with the music, as jump cuts were in time with the beat of the music.
• The sound in the visuals of the video corresponded with the sounds in the song, for example; the clock ticks, foot tapping and pencil tapping.
• The cameras were correctly set to the lighting in the video, and therefore there was no noise is the footage.

Even Better If:

• We had a longer time to prepare for shots and have a larger range of shots to use.
• We had the chance to re-take shots, as some were not to a high standard and could have been re-shot to improve lip-syncing and choreography.
• We used other equipment to record the footage, for example; a camera dolly to record the walking scene with more stable footage as a result.

Research - Rock Genre

Research - Psychedelic Genre

Music Genres 

1 African
2 Asian
3 Psychedelic
4 Blues
5 Caribbean and Caribbean-influenced
6 Comedy
7 Country
8 Easy listening
9 Electronic
10 Folk
11 Hip hop
12 Jazz
13 Latin
14 Pop
15 R&B and soul
16 Rock

Psychadelic

Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres mainly influenced by the 1960s psychedelic culture. Psychedelic music is heavily dominated by the stereotype that the people who are interested in the culture use drugs such as LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline and DMT. The main reason of the consumption of these drugs is to enhance the listening through the effects of the drugs such as hallucinations.

Psychedelic bands:

Tame Impala: Tame Impala is an Australian psychedelic rock band founded by Kevin Parker in 2007. The group began as a home recording project for Parker, who writes, records, performs, and produces the music.


MGMT: MGMT is an American psychedelic rock band formed in 2002 by Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden. Formed at Wesleyan University and originally with Cantora Records, they signed with Columbia Records and Red Ink in 2006. MGMT found large fame and popularity in their single 'Kids' which linked with the increasingly popular genre of psych pop.





The Flaming Lips: The Flaming Lips are an American rock band formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1983. Their instruments are layered which creates a full sound. Their lyrics contain themes of space and general psychedelic genres linking with space rock. Their expertise and popularity come from their unique style of production which creates lush and smooth sounds which have influenced bands such as Tame Impala and MGMT.



King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are an Australian psychedelic rock band, which formed in Melbourne in 2010. The band are noted for their energetic live performances and their prolific recording output. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's early records were muddy sounding Australian surf and garage rock which combined 1960s guitar influence with the growing genre of surf rock.

Research - K-Pop Genre

K-Pop

K-pop is a musical genre that originates from South Korea and is a genre type that falls under a wide variety of different music genres. K-pop music can fall under sub-genres such as dance-pop, pop ballad, electropop, R&B and hip-hop.  K-pop music is mostly defined by having Korean artists, Korean lyrics or a Korean production companies involved in the music and the videos usually includes a dance number to go with the song. The genre is very common in countries like Korea and Japan but has become increasingly popular in western countries like the USA in recent years.

Examples of K-pop

"Daddy" - PSY

"Run Devil Run" - Girls' Generation

"Who's your mama?" - J.Y. Park

Research - Pop Genre

What is Pop Music?

The definition of pop music is flexible as the music that is identified as pop is constantly changing.

It is very common for people to confuse the Pop genre for 'popular music', however they are very different.  Pop music, on the other hand, has primarily come into usage to describe music that evolved out of the rock 'n roll revolution of the mid-1950's and continues on a definable path today.

Typical Song Structure

One of the most consistent elements of pop music since the 1950's is the pop song. Pop music is not usually written, performed and recorded as a symphony, suite, or concerto. The basic form for pop music is the song and usually a song consisting of verse and repeated chorus. Most often the songs are between 2 1/2 minutes and 5 1/2 minutes in length.

Pop Music Today 

Today's pop music has been heavily influenced by the development of recording technology. Electronic music played and recorded digitally permeates most of today's top selling pop music. However, in a shift from the mainstream, Adele's "Someone Like You" from 2011 became the first song featuring only piano and vocals to reach #1 on the US pop chart. In 2014, with her album 1989, Taylor Swift became the biggest country music performer ever to shift to recording an album that is entirely pop music.

Top 10 Pop Artists

1) Michael Jackson

2) Katy Perry

3) The Beatles

4) Taylor Swift

5) Pink

6) Adele

7) Lady Gaga

8) Elvis

9) Maroon 5

10) Enrique Igleasias

Research - Conventions of Music Videos

Seminal Music Video

"Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson

What Genre is the music and how is this reflected in the video?

Disco/Funk - Everyone is dressed to look "groovy" and the footsteps match the music to give a disco feel.

How do the images relates to the lyrics?

Newspapers mention something to do with "Billie Jean".

How do the images relate to the music?

He moves his feet to the melody of the music and the cuts and editing is timed to the music.

How is the artist presented to "sell" them? How important are the close ups?

The artist sells through his clothing and his walk style, as well as through the dance moves. there is no close ups, only medium shots which reflect his style.

Is there any reference to "looking"? Are females presented voyeuristically?

No accept for the bed scene at the end where the guy in the brown coat is looking through the window.

Can you spot any inter-textual references?

Looks like an old 1940s detective film by the set and the costumes.

Is there a narrative? How is the video organised and structured?

Yes. The artist is being followed and finds a way to escape while getting the guy who is following him to get into trouble.

Contemporary Music Video

"Closer" - The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey

What Genre is the music and how is this reflected in the video?

Pop/ Club - Its not really reflected in the video but the style of the music itself gives the vibe of this genre.

How do the images relates to the lyrics?

The lyrics are displayed on top of the visuals and there are scenes where they are driving and a "rover" is mentioned in the lyrics.

How do the images relate to the music?

its a love story in the lyrics and in the music video as well.

How is the artist presented to "sell" them? How important are the close ups?

the artists present to sell them selves as very gender neutral by not targeting to a specific gender and making a generic nightclub song. 

Is there any reference to "looking"? Are females presented voyeuristically?

there is a woman in a bikini at the beginning but its not seen to be very sexual, but rather a part of the story shown in the video.

Can you spot any inter-textual references?

No- the video is a very generic music video love story with no inter-textual references.

Is there a narrative? How is the video organised and structured?

The narrative follows a story of a couple madly in love with each other and about their travels to different places.

Controversial Music Video

"Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke ft T.I & Pharell

What Genre is the music and how is this reflected in the video?

Pop - The artists and characters are singing and dancing to the camera.

How do the images relates to the lyrics?

The artists are sexually singing the lyrics to the girls and getting intimate with them.

How do the images relate to the music?

The artists are clicking their figures and dancing to the beat of the music.

How is the artist presented to "sell" them? How important are the close ups?

They present their music as sexual as there are a lot of close ups of the artists and the women dancing around them.

Is there any reference to "looking"? Are females presented voyeuristically?

There is a version of the song where all the girls are topless, but even in the censored version (above), the women are still showing a lot of skin and acting in a very flirty and sexual way.

Can you spot any inter-textual references?

There are giant texts on top of the visuals at intervals saying "#THICKE" and "#BLURED LINES", in reference to social media platforms to promote the music through these platforms.

Is there a narrative? How is the video organised and structured?

No - The characters and artists in the song are just dancing and no real narrative is shown.

Research - Conventions of Music Videos

Seminal Video

Madonna - 'Like A Virgin'

Lyrics

'I made it through the wilderness
Somehow I made it through
Didn't know how lost I was
Until I found you
I was beat
Incomplete
I'd been had, I was sad and blue
But you made me feel
Yeah, you made me feel
Shiny and new
Hoo, like a virgin
Touched for the very first time
Like a virgin
When your heart beats
Next to mine
Gonna give you all my love, boy
My fear is fading fast
Been saving it all for you
'Cause only love can last
You're so fine
And you're mine
Make me strong, yeah you make me bold
Oh your love thawed out
Yeah, your love thawed out
What was scared and cold
Like a virgin, hey
Touched for the very first time
Like a virgin
With your heartbeat
Next to mine
Whoa
Whoa, ah
Whoa
You're so fine
And you're mine
I'll be yours
'Till the end of time
'Cause you made me feel
Yeah, you made me feel
I've nothing to hide
Like a virgin, hey
Touched for the very first time
Like a virgin
With your heartbeat
Next to mine
Like a virgin, ooh ooh
Like a virgin
Feels so good inside
When you hold me
And your heart beats
And you love me
Oh oh, ooh whoa'

Controversial parts of the lyrics

'you made me feel

Shiny and new
Hoo, like a virgin
Touched for the very first time'

The sexual nature of these lyrics hints to an underage relationship between the older man and the younger woman. She wants to feel innocent and this implies a sense of vulnerability. 

'Gonna give you all my love, boy

My fear is fading fast
Been saving it all for you
'Cause only love can last
You're so fine
And you're mine'

These lyrics aren't controversial as the woman has matured and has made the decision on her own to not be forced into sex. She has taken control in an important part in her life, which would influence younger fans to seriously consider when the time is right.

'Feels so good inside

When you hold me
And your heart beats
And you love me'

These lyrics are very sexual and imply a lot. Madonna's music reaches all ages and parents may not want younger children listening to such lyrics, hence a controversial nature of this song.

Controversial parts of the video

The lion represents the predator nature of the man. He is stalking her with a view to be in a sexual relationship. Being a lion, he has a vicious nature that might harm the innocent virgin. However, this view of the man as the lion, may be the virgin seeing the man as strong and courageous.

The poses that Madonna are in are very suggestive and highly sexual. She wears provocative clothing, and stares directly at the camera - breaking the 4th wall. She is wearing white to symbolise her purity and virginity. 

In this scene, she is no longer wearing white, but is wearing dark colours suggesting that she no longer 'pure'. Her dancing is provocative and is of a sexual nature



The lion panting is a representation of the mans thirst for her.

Goodwin's features

1) What genre is the music and how is it reflectd in the video?Pop music which is evident from the bright clothes and the flashy dancing

2) How do the images relate to the lyrics?
She wears a white dress to symbolise her virginity

3) How do the images relate to the music?The cuts between shots are in time with the beats of the song

4) How is the artist presented to 'sell' them? How important are close ups?Close ups are prominent and offer further insight into the sexual nature of the song

5) Is there any reference to 'looking'? Are female presented voyeuristically?There are no screens within the video, however there are man shots of the female body in certain poses

6) Can you spot any intertextual references? What are they? The mask is similar to those worn in films where the protagonists go to royal balls, like in the Renaissance era.

7) Is there a narrative? Yes, the woman is having a sexual relationship with the man, who follows her around

Contemporary Video

Bastille - 'Good Grief'

Lyrics

'Watching through my fingers, watching through my fingers
Shut my eyes and count to ten
It goes in one ear out the other, one ear out the other
Burning bright right till the end
Now you'll be missing from the photographs, missing from the photographs

Watching through my fingers, watching through my fingers
In my thoughts you're far away
And you are whistling a melody, whistling a melody
Crystallizing clear as day
Oh I can picture you so easily, picture you so easily

What's gonna be left of the world if you're not in it?
What's gonna be left of the world, oh

Every minute and every hour
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more
Every stumble and each misfire
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more

Watching through my fingers, watching through my fingers
Caught off guard by your favorite song
Oh I'll be dancing at a funeral, dancing at a funeral
Sleeping in the clothes you love
It's such a shame we had to see them burn, shame we had to see them burn

What's gonna be left of the world if you're not in it?
What's gonna be left of the world, oh

Every minute and every hour
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more
Every stumble and each misfire
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more

You might have to excuse me
I've lost control of all my senses
And you might have to excuse me
I've lost control of all my words
So get drunk, call me a fool
Put me in my place, put me in my place
Pick me up, up off the floor
Put me in my place, put me in my place

Every minute and every hour
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more
Every stumble and each misfire
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more

Watching through my fingers, watching through my fingers
Cause every minute and every hour
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you more'

Goodwin's features

1) What genre is the music and how is it reflected in the video? Pop music which is evident from the quick cuts in the shots and the flamboyant dancing

2) How do the images relate to the lyrics?
The images don't reference the lyrics in any obvious manner, however the meaning is seen in the confused images

3) How do the images relate to the music? The cuts between shots are in time with the beats of the song

4) How is the artist presented to 'sell' them? How important are close ups? There are many close ups of the lead singer and there is an elevator scene that has all 4 band members in

5) Is there any reference to 'looking'? Are female presented voyeuristically? There are scenes where the camera flies over the naked body of a woman. Moreover, this woman appears in other scenes, in which she is being saved by a man

6) Can you spot any intertextual references? What are they? From my knowledge, the video doesn't reference any other videos, however it does reference itself on multiple occasions

Controversial video

The Prodigy - 'Smack My Bitch Up'

Lyrics

'Change my pitch up
Smack my bitch up
Change my pitch up
Smack my bitch up
Change my pitch up
Smack my bitch up
Change my pitch up
Smack my bitch up
Smack my bitch up
Eaaaheeyheeaheyyyee
Aaahaaahaaaaaaaaaaahha
Eaaaheeyheeaheyyyee
Aaahhaaaaa
Aaahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Smack my bitch up
Change my pitch up
Smack my bitch up
Change my pitch up
Smack my bitch up'

Goodwin's Features

1) What genre is the music and how is it reflected in the video?
The song comes under the 'Dance and Electronic' genre, and this is evident from the theme of the music video. There are multiple quick cuts used in the video which creates a chaotic and energetic atmosphere that further compliments the music. 

2) How do the images relate to the lyrics?
None of the scenes throughout the music video correlate to the lyrics of the song. 

3) How do the images relate to the music?
Some of the scenes in the video have no direct correlation to the song, however when the pace or the style of the music changes, the video closely follows to visually enhance and support whats been heard.

4) How is the artist presented to 'sell' them? How important are close ups? 
There are no close ups of the artist or band. The video is shot is a point of view, so the only close ups that occur are of irrelevant actors in the video.

5) Is there any reference to 'looking'? Are female presented voyeuristically?
There are moments in the video where there are references to 'looking'. Women are highly sexualised during the video.

6) Can you spot any intertextual references? What are they?
As far as intertextual references go, none can be identified in this music video.

Introduction - Welcome

Welcome to our Media Studies A2 Blog

We are 'Dave&Co'.

Our names are (from left to right) Kyle Quadra (6145), Osbert Menzes (6109), James Presland (6142) and David McConnell (6106).