Tuesday 20 September 2011

History of pop music

For the past 50 years, pop music has been a great success. For generations many pop stars have been famous and well known by almost the whole population in many countries.


1960's. Starting in the 60’s. This is the era of music we will be doing for our music video. Manfred mann released the song ‘Do wah Diddy’ in the 60’s. Do Wah Diddy Diddy" is a song written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich and originally recorded in 1963 by the American vocal group The Exciters. In 1964, it was covered by British R&B, Beat and pop band Manfred Mann. Manfred Mann's version, which was more commercially successful, was recorded on June 11, 1964.



‘’Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Manfred Mann were chart regulars in the 1960s, and the first south-of-England-based group to top the US Billboard Hot 100 during the British invasion’’. – Wikipedia





1970's. In this year, Jackson 5 became extreamly famous worldwide. The early pop song  "ABC" was the first single from the second Jackson 5 album, ABC. It is considered one of the Jackson 5's signature songs. It is one of the shortest titles to hit #1; and, it is the first song alphabetically in the list of #1 hits of the Billboard Hot 100.



‘’Founding group members Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael formed the group after performing in an early incarnation called The Jackson Brothers, which originally consisted of a trio of the three older brothers. Active from 1964 to 1990, the Jacksons played from a repertoire of R&B, soul, pop and later disco’’. - Wikipidia.






1980's. The 80's are well known for all the romantic power ballads. The 1980s are associated with the use of synthesizers, and was the introduction of sampling and hip hop/rap. Wham - Wake me up before you go-go, is a song by English pop duo Wham! which was released in 1984 and became their first UK number one hit. It was written and produced by George Michael, one half of the duo.



‘’ Wham! sold 25 million certified records from 1982 to 1986. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK because of a naming conflict with another existing U.S. band.’’







1990's. Britney Spears became known in the year. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album ‘Baby One More Time’ in 1999.


''The album was successful on the charts, reaching the top five in several countries, while reaching number one in Canada and the United States. It also received several certifications around the world, including a fourteen times platium certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments over 14 million units in the country. ...Baby One More Time is Spears' most successful album to date, selling over 26 million copies worldwide.''

2000's - Demi Lovato had released three albums in this century.




''As a solo musical artist, Lovato released her debut album Don't Forget on September 23, 2008. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 selling 89,000 copies in the first week. It has since shipped over 500,000 copies, earning a gold certification in the United States. Lovato released her second album, Here We Go Again, on July 21, 2009. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 108,000 copies in the first week. Her third studio album, Unbroken, was released on September 20, 2011 and peaked at number four on the Billboard 200.''






Q. If music critics are worried that pop videos are becoming necessary to enhance a musician's career, why are they not concerned about the impact this has on emerging artists?

A. Do this creates a remembered vision of the artist, it gives them a better chance of being popular, and if the artist is popular, this means that they can afford;
. Exspensive locations
. Good Promotion
. Great Set up
. The best extras/dancers
Unlike emerging artists who have a limit on there money spending as they will not have a big of a budget. So their way of promoting themselves is using social networking sites such as Youtube, Twitter, Myspace and other sites. They also will not be able to afford the best quality equpment or locations. So this can at times be a struggle.

Q) What is the primary purpose of the pop video?

A) The main purpose of a pop music video is to entertain. Along side of this, it also is a good promotion for fashion, accessories, good for people who are looking for inspiration. Music videos are also there to help people gain popularity, and also promote, the song, album and artist, this meaning that the song will gain fast recognition and if successful reach the charts. Music videos also create competition within the music industry, artists will be competing with one another to create the best music video, therefore they become more creative when writing songs and filming the video.

To get the viewers/listeners attension, the music video will have to be, catchy, creative, interesting, memorable, loved, and be attractive to a large audience. The song may also have a strong narrative, so making the music video will help others undestand what the song is about, or create a clearer understanding to the audience.

Q) How have the public come to react to the videos themselves?


A) After watching the video, the audience have their own opinion on what they think of it. Some may enjoy one music video to another due to gender type, music genre or actors. With the competition being so strong within the music industry, the competition i believe also rubs off onto the audience, meaning they are often always looking out for the best music video, and comparing one with another. Putting more strain upon the artist. Some artists go to the extream to entertain their audience and stand out from the rest, for example; lady gaga, a female artist who is known for what she wears and or what some may say her extraordinary amazing voice.

Before videos where on the television, they could be bought in music shops in the town. Now you have the music video that comes with a DVD of a tour/live performance at a venue with behind the scenes footage and the audio CD of the live performance. They are also broadcasted all over television.

Friday 16 September 2011

The Best And Worst Genres To Work With.

Pop/Rock

                                                                              


Best.

Pop and Rock are most likley to have a better turn out when making a music video. This also depending on the narrative. You can use both hard and soft rock, however soft rock can be difficult in terms of editing.

Many great Rock music videos such as;
. Queen        - Bohemian Rhapsody
. Airosmith   - Dream On 
. Pink Floyd - Emily 


This is one of the first music videos to be released. A lot of editing has been used throught the video, however it also shows you the dress code in which should be used in the genre too! This song has 'beats', therefore a great song to use when making a music video as you can use cuts whilst filming.

Pop Videos


This pop song is a perfect example of a great music video. However for my music video this song is a bad idea for me. I will not be able to use a song as great as this, as people will compare it to the original.

Classical/ Slow Power Ballads

Worst.

There are many slower power ballads specially from the 80's that are great and successfull, however pulling it off is the hardest to do, there are not many editing skills you can use to make the video more fun and exiting. However the ones that have been successfull are most to the likes of Celine Dion who had big budgits. Songs such as;

 It's All Coming Back To Me Now - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDxoj-tDDIU
My Heart Will Go On - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNIPqafd4As&ob=av2n
Eyes Wide Open  - http://www.youtube.com/user/christyangeletti?v=amnTZOlpBS8&feature=pyv

Although the song 'My Heart Will Go On' is a known famous song, it gained the popularity through the famous movie 'Titanic'. Most of the clips from this music video are from the movie. This meaning not many effects had to be used apart from editing.

Thursday 15 September 2011

Planning A Music Video At A Level

Planning - Not all music videos share the same conventions.

Groups - Share mobile numbers/E-mail addresses
            - Decide Group Roles
            - Schedules
            - Planning times to meet.


What not to do;
- Tracks - No well known songs.
- Pitch - Prepare at least 3 pitches.
- Viewing - Avoid bad lip sync, slow songs and bad style.
- Planning & Shooting - Timescales are important as you will know what to do and when.
- Storyboard - This shows you what you have planned.

Before and During checklist;
- Check battery
- Check Camera
- Check Tape
- Check Tripod
- Cutaways - Gives you more variety.

Music Terms and Studying Music videos

In this lesson we learnt many words that are related to a music video and learnt there terms..

What is illustration?     - Lyrics used as script.
What is amplification? - Over the top video.
What is disjuncture?     - Lyrics do not relate to video.

The lyrics in the music video help the audience understand the moral of the song and give a clear understanding of the meaning of the song and video. Narrative and Performance is extremely important in music videos such as pop music. This is due to authenticity. Also in a music video star image is important too! It can be helpful when establishing the lead singer.

Technical Aspects

Speed  - How fast the shoots are.
Meat    - Close Ups
Beat     - Cuts on beat.
Colour - Sets the scene on music video.

What elements are common in terms of mis-en-scene in pop videos?
- Running theme - Colour, Clothing and Style.

Throughout this lesson we also analysed other students Music Video examples and guessed which grade 'A,B,C or D' they got. Through this exercise it showed me what techniques in a music video work, and which ones do not. For example; we watched a music video and none of the students were dressed for the song. So i learnt that dress code is very important and noticeable to the viewer. Another i watched showed girls that had filmed in the dark. Although they were wearing white clothing and all matched, you could not see their faces very clearly and make the video in my opinion annoying to watch. Also I’ve learnt that when shooting the music video do many different shots and angles, this preventing me repeating the same shot over and over in my music video making it boring and not exiting.

Preparing for Production

 Before we begin our media production, and make a music video, we first need research and have a good understanding of each music and genre. We need to know the basics of editing and effects used for each of these genres. To start we answered many questions that give us a clearer understanding of music and their videos. Here are a few things that I had learned and taken notes of during lesson;

1.Pop is the most played music and has a large fan base. It has been a great influence to youth for over 50 years!
2. Emerging artists like Indi rock bands have a low budget. This meaning that they are limited for equipment. So for this being they try to make a music video which will allow it to be memorable and in some cases enjoyable to other audiences.
3. The primary purpose of a pop video is to promote both the artist and the song.
4. The public reacted to the music videos first being released in a positive way. As there were not many music channels when they were first released, the majority of the public would go out and buy the videos.

                                                                                                 
Music Video Culture & The Roots Of Music Television.  

1. Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the first music videos to be made. With also added effects.
2. Viacom was behind the launch of MTV. It was the television industry.
3. There was a lot of American soft rock in the 80's. Such as Duran Duran, Genesis, Wham, Michael Jackson and Madonna.
5. MTV Became a global sensation. It got its publicity through satellite television. This was the only way to become recognised during this time period as the television was one of the most owned media products.
6. Thriller - Michael Jackson. This was the first successful music video due to great dance routines and costume.

Media Project


In media it is up to is to create a music video. The music video will be a whole song.


Due to us already having experience in filming and using the equipment, we do not need to perform a preliminary test. I had no problem shooting the footage last year, so i believe i will have no problem this year.