My Chosen Song.

I would like to create a music video for  'How To Save A Life' By The Fray.

The lyrics to this song can mean a lot of connotations one being of losing a friendship, to losing a lover, family member, pet, anything. However, another connotation could be starting a new life and becoming someone new even through the hard times of watching someone else change.

This song has a lot of meaning and I would like to create a music video on the basis that two people have broken up and would like to try and fix their problems. I would like to create this within different locations but keeping it simple enough for the music video to feel simplistic yet very effective.

Songs I want to use.

Here are a list of songs that I would like to use. Overall I would like to use one song out of this list because all of these songs have strong emotions, and portray different atmospheres and feelings for the audience.

Hometown Glory – Adele

Apologize – One Republic

How to save a life – The Fray

Sweet disposition – Temper Trap

Battle scars – Lupe Fiasco and Guy Sebastian

Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol

Time after time – Cyndi Lauper

Back to Black – Amy Winehouse

Good Riddance – Green day

Each of these songs may suggest one type of emotion but I would like to choose a song that had multiple meanings. Therefore, I would be able to choose how to portray my specific meaning by using this song.

Lip syncing - audience feedback

Lip-syncing:

Targets set by my audience.

•Direct my actor more to create the desired shot.

•Arrange for a particular actor that suits my style, and someone who is confident to be in front of a camera.

•Explore different shots that may create a better video.

•Make sure that there is no background sound that will interrupt my music video.

•Make sure I am taking on the director role and leading within my project.

Lip-syncing video.

I have decided to practice editing lip syncing. 

Lip-syncing Within Music Videos

Lip-syncing is when there is a shot of the actress or actor singing to the song. However, the voice that we hear is not them singing at that moment in time as music has been played on top of it. It is one of the most popular shots used within a music video.

This is also seen in Ella Eyre's Came here for love.

Ella Eyre - Came here for love.

Sound Within Music Videos

In a music video we as an audience often only hear the sounds of the music. However, in some cases we here non-digetic sound at a point were the song stops, at the beginning or at the end. This may be a narrative, the sound of props or people talking.

Dua Lipa New Rules
Calvin Harris - One Kiss

Planning for a lip-syncing video.

I am going to create a draft lip-syncing video that will allow me to learn how to create a lip syncing videos, how to match the song with the screen, how to direct the video.

I will be using my friend Natalie to do this and I would like to try it with different songs to see the different emotions using the two different 'New Rules' by Dua Lipa and 'Havanna' by Camilla Cabello, these both have different stories which will allow me to see if facial expressions help create emotions. 

I am going to be focusing on these emotions and the lip syncing rather than location and costume.

Editing Within Music Videos.

The editing of a music video usually consisted of cuts from different scenes after a short period of time. However, the editing can speed up if the song is a fast paced song. In my music video, I would like to include both fast and slow paced editing to create my desired affect.

Olly Murs Music Video.

Camera Angles Within Music Videos.

Throughout music videos it is common to come across many different camera angles, expressing emotions and to show locations...



Wide shots can create a different atmosphere. 

Close-up shots showing the actor/actress lip-syncing to the music.

Extreme close-up shots showing lip-syncing.

Long-shots showing the artist and the surrounding area.

Two shots – showing the artist/ actor having a conversation or singing to each other

Actors Within A Music Video.

In most music videos it is a common convention to include the singer, band as well as dancers or people to fill the scene

I think I would like to challenge this throughout my music video and focus on two actors.

Portraying Emotions Within A Music Video.

   
   Emotions can be portrayed by different shots. Like portraying a heartbreak could be zooming out of a town to create the idea that they are lost.

   The directors could often show the type of story using costume, sound, number of actors as well as props and facial expressions.

   The audience can also be directed to by lip syncing within a close up.

Locations In A Music Video

Some music videos are based on a live performance. Therefore, the music video will take place in a venue with an audience.

On the other hand, some locations that would be relevant to the music video may be used like a house, dance room, studio, coffee shop…

Lastly the music video may be in fields or not have any types of building or be completely based outside.

Performance In Music Videos.

Some music videos portray a story using a narrative, showing what they are singing about. They may use different shots and actors to create the desired story they are looking for.

Some music videos also show live performances of the band singing. A band I found that, that like to do this is Lawson.

Costume And Props Within A Music.

Throughout many different music videos there is often a costume change to show the audience a change in setting, location or mood. This contributes to the common conventions of the music video an I would like to use this idea in the music video. To create the idea of different scenes and emotions.
 

Common conventions of a music video.

A main convention of a music video is being 3-4 minutes long with the music video portraying the story. However, sometimes the music videos are longer than this, this can be when there is acting prior to the music video. 

Olly Murs - Unpredictable

Rudimental - Waiting all night ft. Ella Eyre

Rudimental - Not Giving in ft. Sam Smith

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis - Wings

Analysis of an album.

Most album covers follow the conventions of the main band, singer being on the front cover. They use a lot of different shots, depending on the emotion the album would like to portray. For instance Demi Lovato sings emotional, with a narrative. This is portrayed in the album cover as we see a medium close-up and a serious looking singer.

On the other hand, this is completely different for Olly Murs as he is clearly showing of his style.

These conventions are changed for the scripts album as we don’t clearly see anyone/band on the front cover.

As well as this, they all follow a colour scheme of about 2-3 colours.

It also includes: the title, band, picture.

Album promo video research.

Including the artist name and album. I will use this in my music promotional video to show who the band/artist is whilst hearing the song straight away. Showing the audience exactly who they are listening to in a shorter song.

Next I will make the Album name/ song name stand out so that the audience can easily see what they see are listening to.

I create this in my video to promote both my artist and song without spending a lot of time on advertisement.

I will include a date of a release showing the audience when they can get the full song. A long with this I will have a second showing ‘Pre-order now’ and also a ‘famous'

Some promotional videos:

Zara Larsson - Debut Album

Olly Murs - 24 Hours Album

Lady Gaga - Born This Way Album

Pixie Lott - Turn It Up Album

Music Video Research.

I have created a power-point using Microsoft office 2013 and then uploaded it to slide share to create a presentation of all the conventions within a music video.
https://www.slideshare.net/AlexandraHannah/conventions-of-a-music-video-80826657

Digi-pack for the album

A digi-pack often contains four different panels throughout the album. Each panels shows something different.  

Most digi-packs will have the first panel as the front cover to show what the album is about. This will often contain the artist, the title of the album and also the name of the artist. Sometime the album front cover may contain the name of the featured song or artist on the particular album.

The back of the album would show the song and the number of it on the CD. This will make it easier for the audience to see what is on next. It also contains the barcode, as well as the production company and any other companies that worked together.

The inside front cover may contain another picture to do with the album or just a blank page containing a thank you to their audience or to their production team. 

Lastly, the section containing the CD will normally be a blank cover or contain a picture that when removing the CD is visible to the audience.

However, the outside covers of the album are the most important to the audience and must contain synergy to the music videos or other advertisements and this is the main thing that the audience focus on when buying an album. 

Research For A Website Homepage.

Even though this isn't to my chosen ancillary task, I have researched websites promotions of albums. This form of advertisement allow the audience to see all their latest music, tour and merchandise they are selling. It is often that when you click on the web-page for your favourite artist they are advertising their latest album like here on the Olly Murs website which clearly shows his latest album and below his latest singles and where to buy them. This is also the same for the Jonas Blue website where his newest album cover is the front page of the website.

His page is currently promoting the latest album that he has out, telling the audience when it is out as well allowing the audience to keep up to date with new things out from him.

In different sections of the page we are shown to a drop down menu of new singles from him and merchandise for the audience

Other artist website links:

http://www.demilovato.com/

http://www.ellaeyre.com/

Album advertisements. ( add images)

An artist will usually release a small poster or an A4 size poster within a magazine that may help to promote their album. This can be seen on a billboard, music magazine or a bus stop. However, they are very simple and have similar conventions.

• Album cover 
• Artist 
• Release data
• Title
• Artist name.

These very simple conventions are very effective to drawing in their target audience.

Promotional Music Video Research.

A promotional video for an artist advertises their newest album in a 30 second video containing information for their audiences.

Throughout these promotional videos they often contain:

Olly Murs - Album Advert 2013

• The artist/band name.
• Album name.
• Date of album release.
• Featured songs in the album.
• lip-Syncing of music video.
• Artist appearance.
• Clips from music videos.
• Different camera angles.
• Editing - fast/slow.
• Album cover.
• Production company.