Planning: Lip Sync Tutorial Experience.

Lip Sync  
Here are some images of me and Rico rehearsing.....

I personally found the lip sync tutorial very useful. It allowed us to experience the difficulty of lip syncing. I would have to say many people might have a preconceived idea thinking lip syncing would be easy . I thought the whole process would be easy however it was quite challenging especially if you don't know the words to a song off by heart it may be a little more challenging.

My group and i found it difficult not to pause the camera whilst shooting. the main reason for this was because we did not know the words properly and we thought it would be fine to pause at certain times. However if you do pause it is very confusing to edit and this is because you find it hard to connect the shots.

Final Cut Pro has many different tools to help you with your editing. There was a particular new tool that we learned how to use on FCP. We learned how to use the marker pen. This tool allows us to mark certain parts on the video.

Overall i really enjoyed this exercise. It was challenging but also very fun, it really allowed me to bond with my A2 media group.

Research: Analysis of a music video.

Black Eyed Peas - I gotta Feeling.

Narrative

The video starts with scenes in Hollywood Blvd, and then showing Will.i.am combing his hair and Fergie putting on make-up while wearing lingerie. It also shows Taboo checking his messages on Dipdive and apl.de.ap. Then it cuts to the party as the first verse starts. In the uncensored version, two women are kissing at the two minute mark, at which point the lyrics "Let's take it...off!" are heard, and a hand grabs the top of the dress of one of the women pulls it down. All members of the Black Eyed Peas are shown dancing. Overall this music video is about loosing control and dancing all night. It’s fun, exciting and entertaining.

Genre

Electro-Hop, Electro House and Hip House.

Media Language 

The video contains many different camera shot from different camera angles.

Representation

This video is sexy, cool and funky. It represents people who love to party and loose control. I think this video is mainly targeted at young adults both male and female. We can also see that there is a mixture of people from different ethnicities in the video.

                                       The Black Eyed Peas 

                        Apl.de.ap, Will.i.am, Fergie and Taboo... 

Research: Examples of Amplification, disjuncture and illustration.

Amplification, disjuncture and illustration.

Illustration

Illustration 

This is where the video tells the story of the lyric.

Eminem - Love the way you lie ft. Rihanna

Every time the lyric has something to do with conflict we see violent acts in the video. For example "I lay hands on her" the guy in the video pulls a punch at the girl.

Eminem and Rihanna. Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan.

Amplification



Amplification 
Occurs when the videos introduce new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning.

The Pussycat Dolls - Buttons ft. Snoop Dog.

In this video the lyrics of Loosen up my buttons is being portrayed in the video through the repetition of certain actions the Pussycat Dolls depict. The video uses sex apeal to attract male audience. Andrew Goodwin claims how some music videos present women as objects of male desire. This video also uses female sexiness to attract men. This clearly reinforces Andrew Goodwin's point.

The Pussycat Dolls and Snoop Dog.

Disjuncture

Disjuncture 

This is where there is little connection between the lyric and video or where the video contradicts the lyric.

The Fray - Heartless.

Disjuncture is a radical technique used and applied by arty bands in order to emphasize their difference and originality. These types of videos don't really tend to make alot of sense and may be based around abstract imagery.

The Fray

Research: Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp was a Russian and Soviet formalist scholar who analysed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales to identify their simplest irreducible narrative elements.

 Eminem ft. Rihanna - Love the way you lie



One of Vladimir Propp's feature is suitable for the music video above, which is:

• The villain causes harm or injury to someone. One member of a family either lacks something or desires to have something.

Planning: Lip Synch Tutorial

Lip synch tutorial was a great experience for us to understand the technique for matching lip movements with a original song. This experience has developed our understanding of lip synching and reminded us of other important techniques that we, as a group need to be aware of during our actual filming process.

By using Final Cut Pro we have edited our video by using different tools. Creating bass tracks and including marks to the beat has allowed us to match lip movements with the original song. Layering each clip on the timeline then allowed us to use razor blade to cut the clip in a form that created a pattern that has allowed us to produce a short music video.

Research: Amplification, Disjuncture and Illustration

Amplification:
Occurs when the videos introduce new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but adds layer of meaning.
Justin Timberlake - Cry me a river

Disjuncture:

This is where there is a little connection between the lyric and video or where the video contradicts the lyric.
Usher - OMG


Illustration:
The video tells the story of the lyric. Dance is often used to express the moods in the song.
Jay-Z|Alicia Keys - Empire state of mind

Research On Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp

He was a Russian and Soviet formalist who analyzed the basic plot components of Russian folk tales and produced these stories in to simple Narrative elements. He studies philosophy in university and became a teacher ( Taught German) he published a book called Morphology of the Folk Tale. the characters he made could be used know and in most stories.

These are 8 Characters he discovered using Russian folk tales he analyzed
These are:

• The villain- struggles against the hero
• The donor-prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object
• The helper- helps the hero in the quest
• The princess- the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain.
• Her father-  Usually gives the task or order.
• The dispatcher- character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off
• The hero- reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
• False hero-takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess. 

This Video Shows Aspects Of Propps Theory in the sense that there is a hero and is fighting not for a princess but or the world, conveyed as the princess. The hero also has two helpes, however there is no false hero in this video. i also noticed the herop had super powers this could be used a the Doner. this supports my statemen that his theory still exist and can be used today.

Lip Sync Tutorial

In This Tutorial we where given a track to Lip Sync Over (film the performance) in three different  angles all the way through without stopping, the challenge was learning the song.

During this tutorial i learnt that when filming our music videos make sure everybody is in shot and make sure the framing is perfect or it will look amateur, i also so learnt that if you don't want to be in the music video don't be in it or you will look awkward and effects the mise-en-scene.

 when transferring the clips onto final cut pro i notice we made mistakes by stop starting, this was a problem because it was hard to cut to different parts. this is important in music videos because without fast cuts it will look boring.

Final cut pro i a good software because its easy to use once you get the hang of it and you can use affects like fade out, to boost the look of the video. although we also needed fast cuts in our thriller we had to make it hard for the viewer to guess what it was about, however with our music videos it all about the perfomance and how good the shots are framed.

Research: Summary of the main points of Andrew Goodwins theory.

Andrew John Goodwin (born in Hillingdon, Middlesex) was Director of Music and Organist at Bangor Cathedral for 37 years.

Andrew Goodwin reinforces that traditional narrative analysis don’t really apply to pop videos. He highlights that there are a several reasons for this, however he also underlines that the reason for this isn’t because pop videos are trying to be avant garde – it’s simply due to the fact that they approach narrative from a different angle to novels and films.

1. Pop videos are built around songs – and often songs do not pose traditional narrative structures

(normally-problem-resolution).

2. The pop video uses the singer both as a narrator and as a character.

         3.The singer often looks directly at the camera – this is an extension of (music hall) performance and trying to involve the viewer at home with the performance.

Pop videos rely on repetition

For a pop video to become popular it is vital that the audience is familiarised with the song alongside the  video.  Repetition in songs of parts and rhythms of other songs creates intertextuality, which means the song and video is recognisable. This allows the audience to understand the genre and have certain expectations. There are many ways to make the song familiar through repetition. For instance, the song would be played on the radio, the video would be played on TV and possibly the song could be used to advertise a film or TV tie-in. The structure of the music is significant - as it builds to a climax or to a constant repetition before fading away.

There are three types of relations between songs and videos:

Illustration

  This is where the video tells the story of the lyric “Pap don’t preach” (Madonna) for example. Dance is often used to express the feelings/moods in the song.

Amplification

   Occurs when the videos introduce new meanings. These do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers of meaning.

Disjuncture

    This is where there is little connection between the lyric and video. In other words it’s where the video contradicts the lyric. Michael Jackson’s Man in the mirror is an example of this. This song is about self-realisation but the video is full of radical world events.

Recognisable features in Pop videos

    Female stars such as Madonna and Beyonce use their sex appeal to attract males. However in their Pop videos they come across as being passive, this is mainly because they directly look back at the viewers through the camera. Female artist tend to be presented as objects of male desires. Michael Jackson used to give a bit of a yelp and/ or twirl in his videos.

Different instrumets used in music videos

   Instruments in the music are represented by different objects. For example Rock the Casbah by the clash, where every time the piano plays an armadillo is shown trundling along.

Summary of the main points of Andrew Goodwins theory.

Andrew Godwin Analysis- The structure of music video

Goodwin has identified a number of key CATEGORIES in music videos. They are:

-The singer is used as a narrator and a character.
- Artist often looks directly at the camera to involve viewers to give them a full performance.Andrew Goodwin who was director of music at Oxford University seperated music videos into 3 groups; Illustrative, Amplification and Disjunture. The following videos are three examples of these.

Illustration
This is where the video tells the story of the lyrics,Jay-Z empire state of mind shows this:

Amplification
this occurs when videos indroduve new images,that give a deeper meaning of the of the video through the lyrics. In 'Look what the cat dragged in' by gigs, it shows people coming into the club with suggest this is what hes talking about. 



disjunction
This is where there is little connection between the lyrics and video contradicts the lyrics, in giggs gont go there, they state don't go there but dont show why.

Research: Analysis of Music Video

Dizzee Rascal - Holiday



The image of an artist or artists in a music video will have been planned, this will include their choice of clothes, style of hair and the 'narrative' the artist is placed within. As an audience we will view the representation and will imply within our own culture and understanding.

Genre
Hip hop/R&B

Representation
Representation refers to class, age, gender, ethnicity, places and even objects and many more. The music video (Dizee Rascal-Holiday) has the spotlight on women with their apperance as throughout the video we get a repetition of same images, women in bikiny with shots of their body. This is certainly used to bring forward the sexual attraction of woman, which creates a low-status of women.

Media Language
The video contains a minimum use of techniques that creates a illustrative outcome with the use of repetition. Women are always shot in mid-shot for the audience to get a clear view of their body whereas Dizzee Rascal is shot in close-up as he is the narrator. At a point we get a mid-shot of Dizzee Rascal as he is positioned in centre of all women wearing bikiny whereas he is dressed, this certainly emphasises the sexual appearance of women. The name of the song fits well together within mise-en-scene, where the atmosphere implies as they are on 'Holiday'.

Research: Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin Theory

Andrew Goodwin has identified number of key features in music videos. Many of these features are present in all music videos, depending on the genre of the song and the aim of the record company/artist.

Thought beats

First step is to look at the music itself, the structure of the song (Chorus/Verses). The relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating , amplifying or contradicting the lyrics. 

Secondaly, the voice of the song. The artists voice is extremely unique and can form identification or trademarks that work well with the star image.

Goodwin also points out that songs can be seen as stories and the artist the storyteller, making the music video a two communication device, them telling us a story and us (audience) listening.

Narrative and Performance

Goodwin explains that we only get a little of the meaning of the song and then tend to make up our own ideas of what is being told. Music videos should ignore common narrative and their role of advertising should overcome. The artisit acting as both narrator and participant helps to increase the authencity however the lip sync and other mimed actions remains the heart of music videos. The audience needs to believe that is real.

Star Image

The star image is another vital aspect ofmusic videos. Meta narrative which is a big story that describes the development of the star over time, it has an important part to play in the music video production process.

Relations of Visuals to Song

There are three ways in which music videos work to promote a song.

Illustrate
Music videos can use a set of images to illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre.

Amplify
Meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video and drummed into our vision. This is similar to repeatability.

Disjunction
This is where the meaning of the song is completely ignored.

Technical Aspects

Technical aspects hold the music video together through use of camera work, movement, angle, mise-en-scene, editing, sound and special effects. Speed, camera mvement, editing, cutting and post production are all forms of use of camera.Lighting and colour helps to set moods and emphasise key moments of the song for dramatic effect. Mise-en-scene, the setting of the music videos is vital, it needs to look authentic to attain professionalism. Beats, music videos use cuts to go with the beat or rhythm making the video more entertaining.

     

What is Andew Goodwin doing currently?  

Andrew Goodwin is Professor of Media Studies at the University of San Francisco. He is currently working on a book about the music of Led Zeppelin, and a novel based on the Depeche Mode album Violator.

Analysis of a music video of your own chioce or one studied in class, focusing on the 4 key concepts of narrative, genre, media language and rep.

Representation

The reaction of Men to women is sexual, the reaction of women to men are also sexual. this video is coveying that women are mens desire, this video also shows that men have a lust for women. the audience for this video is for both men and women there isn't really a set audeince.

Media language

Everything is fast paced, with fast cuts of the same scene makes it interesting to watch, its also a mixture of performance and blurred edits. This gives it a relaxed dance mood, usuing fast cuts makes it feel vibrant.

Narritive


Non-linear doesn't follow a story, however he show how they become 'LOVE DRUNK' in the video, there is an solo dance section as the istrumental plays which doesnt realte to the video however looks because of preformance, Loick Is the Narrator in this video as is K Koke.

Genre

I would say this song was Hip-Hop and RnB, it is set in a studio with differant back drops and props, the props would signify it was a pop song also the swagger of the video. lights dark, sets the mood.



Loick Essien ft. K-Koke - Love Drunk RMX found on R&B

Letter Requesting copyright clearance for your shortlist of songs (planning)

285 Liverpool Rd Flat T Pugin Court
Islington
London
N1 1NE
22ND September 2010-09-22

Atlantic Records
1290 Avenue of the Americas, 28th Floor
New York City
New York
10104

Dear Atlantic Records,
I would like to ask permission to use MOST Estelle’s Track American Boy Ft Kanye West.
I am A Student At A Level Media Studies and for my advanced portfolio I will be working in a group to produce a promotional package for the release of a new album track. I would like to request permission to use the above track for this project.
The finished project will not be made publicly and will be used solely for coursework purposes the holder of the original copyright will be fully acknowledged in the finished project.
If you do not hold the rights of this song i should be grateful if you could forward this request to the appropriate person , or return it to me with the contact details in order that I might approach the copyright holder directly.
Yours faithfully
Rfrancis
Rico Francis
Rico.francis@hotmail.co.uk