RESEARCH: MUSIC TRENDS

Music through the decades:

1950s - Rock and Roll Genre
1960s- Swinging sixties - Motown primarily featuring African American artists
1970s - Rock Genre with bands such as Kiss
1980s - MTV generation
1990s - Hard Rock and Heavy Metal with Bon Jovi and RUN DMC
2000s - Several diverse music genres Nirvana, Oasis, Blur, Spice Girls
2010s- Still many diverse music genres but more pop/dance influence

Today, in 2012, we have been seeing the particular music trends:

Young Hollywood Stars such as Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepson and One Direction are central in the music industry.

- This music is often orientated to a young audience with the artists being younger teen idols. The promotion of pop music was greatly effected due to the rise in music television channels such as MTV. 

- The lyrics and subject matter of their songs often are about 'love' and 'relationships and tend to be simplistic'. Pop music is popular today since the beats of the music often encourage dancing which is reflected in the upbeat and choreographed music videos.

- The music videos often consist of fast paced editing, straight forward narrative and related situations and scenairos that teenagers would find themselves in, making it relatable to their audience. Other music videos are seen as more whacky and original, such as Fat Boy Slim's 'Weapon of choice' which features Christopher Walken dancing in a office lobby including a touch of ballet and levitation across the room.


My music video is following this latter trend. Our music video will consist of up-beat dancing mirroring the popular trends now seen in music videos whilst being original and having the repeatability needed for music videos to be successful. Audiences will perhaps want to copy such trends which we create- dancing energetically in public.

The song, 'Gangnam style' by PSY has increased in popularity ever since the music video went viral on video websites such as youtube. The 'crazy' and 'energetic' dance sequence meant the internet sensation reached number 1 on the UK charts as well as receiving the most 'likes' on a youtube video ever! As a result, there have been many spoofs copying 'Gangnam style' including korea's third naval area command performing the rodeo-style dancing. It seems to me that audiences watching music videos are now being the producers themselves and putting their feet in the artist's shoes.

PLANNING: SONG PERMISSION FROM BAND

As a requirement, my partner and I had asked the band to use his version of 'Don't Stop' by Foster the People. We used my partner's twitter account to search and identify Fat Rat. He later confirmed that it was OK to use it for our media music video.

PLANNING: MUSIC VIDEO BRIEF

I have decided to choose the music video brief. This will contain a music magazine advertisement, a digipack (a CD album complete with album artwork), and a music video as the final product.

I chose the music video brief for my A2 course work as I already have a large interest in music and film making. I was aware of the choices available at the end of AS year which gave me time to think some basic ideas for the music video and possibly what type of genre to use. Ideas such as up-beat electronica/dance to slow-tempo acoustics have been thought about. Artists such as Darius would provide a more techno beat whereas Bombay Bicycle Club make rather emotion driven music. Both will be considered and reviewed based on ideas that seem original and attractive to the audience viewing.

PLANNING: SONG LYRICS

 My partner and I have researched the lyrics to our song, 'Don't Stop' and have highlighted possible key words in the song that we can convey in the music video to fir our particular theme.

Walk little walk Small talk big thoughts
Gonna tell them all just what I want
That Street two streets I see you and me
Hanging on the empty of swings
'Count high low don't worry my eyes are closed
I'm a superman and it's my show
One shoe two gonna kick with My new shoes
I'm going to kick until I need new shoes
All those hipsters, I wanna dance!

I said don't stop, don't stop, don't stop
Talking to me
Stop don't stop don't stop
Giving me things

 Stop, don't stop, don't stop
Laughing about it

Stop, don't stop, don't stop.....

I run they run everybody run run
And we're all just having fun
Sleigh ride boat ride piggy back ride
I'm going to show them all how I can ride
One two three close your eyes and count to four
I like to hide behind my bedroom door
Crayon on the wall
Color on the wall
Until I've broken every law 

Yeah, yeah

Stop, don't stop, don't stop
Talking with me

Stop, don't stop, don't stop

Giving me thing

Stop, don't stop, don't stop

Laughing about it
Stop
don't stop don't stop 

don't stop 

don't stop don't stop
Talking with me

Stop don't stop don't stop
Giving me thing
Stop don't stop don't stop

Laughing about it 

Stop, don't stop, don't stop....

*Instrumental*

don't stop 

don't stop don't stop
Talking with me

Stop don't stop don't stop
Giving me thing

Stop don't stop don't stop

Laughing about it
Stop don't stop don't stop

PLANNING: FILMING LOCATIONS

My partner and I have discussed areas which could be both appealing and interesting to audiences viewing our music video. We have composed a list consisting of locations which are both local and situated in London.


Kingston (phone boxes)
Hampton court palace
Hampton and Richmond football club 
Bentall Centre
Dorking Roundabout

London:
Trafalgar square
Buckingham palace
London eye
Lonndon bridge background

We can go locally such as our own school:
Claremont mansion
Claremont tunnel
Car park
Local park
Island/garden

PRODUCTION: CREATING A COMIC BOOK

After confirming a 'super hero' will feature in our music video it came to my attention that a comic book customised to our needs would have to be created. I therefore researched ways of creating a comic strip without having to use any complicated or expensive software. I googled 'making a comic strip' to which marvel had their own game to which the user is able to create his/her own design. After selecting a template i was able to create my own title, 'The Dance Chronicles'.

I then researched images of dancing characters and other images that would suit our scenario. For example, the image of the man's head shaking form side to side is what we intend to use in our music video. Our character will 'feel' the music in him and start to move his hands and feet, ultimately leading him to a dance trance. The character will read the comic in the opening of the song and everything that features in the comic we created will become a reality for our character.

The comic is also important at showing particular words to the audience such as 'He couldn't stop'. These sentences on the comic will be shown to the audience as our character reads the strip. This helps reinforce our idea that the fantasy world that our 'geek' character reads about will turn his world upside and become a reality for both him and the audience.

PRODUCTION: INTRODUCING A 'GENRE' OF MUSIC VIDEO

Me and my partner decided that we were to create a super hero theme in our music video. We originally came up with the concept when we thought about films that were becoming more popular. Super hero films and themes, along with sequels and prequels, are becoming more common in the film industry and we thought that we could attract this film audience to our music video by injecting the same theme. 

The idea of a 'geek' or 'nerd' becoming almost a hero with dance in a music video transgresses the boundaries. It is a concept not many of us would immediately think of in terms of how music videos used to operate in the past. Music videos such as Gin Wigmore's 'Man like that' revolves around a woman who dances in a 1940's office set. Whilst dancing center stage with many other background dancers it still possess originality due to the theme applied to the video. This is our approach. We wish to incorporate different themes to our 'geek' character since he dances in many sets and locations.

PLANNING: A PREZI ON DISCOVERING WHAT MAKES A MUSIC VIDEO

Please view my prezi by clicking on the play button.

Steve Archer's Five Things To Look For In Music Videos on Prezi

CHECKLIST OF PRODUCTION

Now my partner and i have agreed on the treatment we can now move on to the detail planning of the production. This includes everything from the storyboard to the permission of the band. We have composed the following checklist of what we now need to achieve in order to fully plan our production:

• Original ideas - this includes research on dance videos, with particular focus on Nathan Barnatt.
• The treatment - more detail on what the music video will show/purpose
• Storyboard 
• Lyrics
• Locations
• Dress/costumes/props
• Comic book creation/production of mise-en-scene
• Dance moves
• Titles
• Permission of the band
• Music Editing of track (Garageband)
• Shot editing

TREATMENT

I have discussed with my partner what sort of treatment we shall create for our A2 music video. We began with deciding what type of music to use in the video. Ideas were exchanged such as electro-dance and (in contrast) slow acoustic sounds of Bombay Bicycle Club. We thought that choosing electro-dance would 'stand out' from many music genres and thus give us a more exciting and experimental project to work with. With previous knowledge of the electro-dance genre we decided to use a remix of one of Foster the People's new song, 'Don't Stop'. 

Prior to the discussion with my partner, we realised that such a choice would suit our desire for creating a music video in the style of Nathan Barnatt's 'Pop Culture'. Both the up-beat tempo and lyrics work together to create a similar sound which features in 'Pop Culture'. 

Once we agreed on the song and style, we could then discuss the treatment. The lyrics, 'Don't Stop' are important in the sense that we can incoporate the words so they relate to dancing. Our video would therefore form around one boy who reads a comic book and whilst he reads about super heroes who specialise in dancing, the story comes to life and he almost becomes the super hero himself. He continues to read the comic but starts to shake uncontrollably by some force. He then starts to dance on the spot. This is where the influence of 'Pop Culture' begins to take place. We use many locations for the background whilst keeping the dance moves the same so when we cut to different locations the dance moves will seemingly flow. If the editing, energy and music is used effectively the final product will be both bizarre yet original and intriguing. We are very excited!

ORIGINAL IDEAS FOR OUR MUSIC VIDEO

I have decided to work with Henry McPherson. 

We have discussed what sort of genres we shall look at. We started at looking up-tempo types and more specifically, electro-dance. We have previous knowledge and understanding of this type of genre and are familiar with mainstream artists such as Nero and indie artists such as Darius. When looking into this genre we discovered a video by Nathan Barnatt who has taken the song 'Pop Culture' by Madeon and has made his own music video to the song. It simply features him dancing energetically centre stage to the beat. It has proven effective and popular with over 3.5 million views!

Another genre that we looked at was more slow-tempo music such as acoustic/pop. An idea would be making a video to Bombay Bicycle Club who's music is quite the opposite to that of Madeon. If we are to choose this instead then we would be aiming for a more symbolic and emotional music video to compose with the song. Moreover, the whole process will be a completely different journey in terms of pre-production, filming and post-production- and so we face the choice of two extremes.

A hyper and energetic video or a slow and moving one?

Sec A 1(a)

Describe and evaluate your skills development over the course of your production work from Foundation Portfolio to Advanced Production in relation to creativity

My prelim was a limited, prescribed task involving an establishing shot, two-person shot and shot / reverse shots: some room for creativity in that I learned to shoot, capture and edit in iMovie
 I felt the real creativity came with the thriller opening task: my challenge was to devise a thriller which focused on a father protagonist, involving repent, mystery and the supernatural. The mise-en-scene (a house in the woods), character casting (father, son), props (such as Christmas cards and dripping taps) all required creative planning; creativity is nothing without organization and i learned the importance of detailed storyboards, recce shots, call sheets, equipment lists and cast meetings. For example, the storyboard, formed although not 100%, the main body of the thriller opening. These fundamentally formed the organisation required throughout the process. These were all part of my creativity because they turn visualization into reality. 

From the start of my thriller, i used original raw home footage to open the scene using certain codes to emphasise a dream-like state. These codes included post production effects, such as slowing down the motion and using colour correction so i could produce a more vivid and surreal world for the viewer. The mise-en-scene was carefully thought about and scenes, such as the father walking through the kitchen were planned carefully in terms of prop use. For example, symbolism can be seen by the dripping tap in the background as the motion is mysteriously started by someone or something unknown. It also connects the previous scene of the water almost violently falling in the sink when the father leaves it on. I decided to incorporate this to also suggest the motion and action is forever moving almost like events in a lifetime and the notion that these are unstoppable to hinted. Moreover, the flora butter and cup left on the table also conveys the idea of unknown presence in the story- the father is as curious as the audience.

Perhaps my greatest achievement was towards the ending when the father moved outside the house. For this scene i realised incorporation of different camera techniques was vital in order to make it work. Without any prior knowledge of filming, i decided to 'trial and error' and found myself using techniques such as hand held to use for scenes of running and high tense shots. The overall outcome was positive and it seemed to work well in finding a way to entice and draw in the audience whilst telling the story i had created. This was another point in the story where i used the effects (colour correction) to emphasise meaning and again, symbolism. The aim for this particular section was to recreate the fantasy world whilst making it seem real and ordinary. The result was very vibrant bright colours whilst neutralising some colours such as my protagonist's face.