Ten Steps to success - Making a music Video for A Level

1) Planning: Planning gives the whole group a clear understanding of what they are filming the day they film. It also speeds up the whole filming operation.


2) Groups: What should you find about potential group members? When in the group what should you do to help coordinate?

All members in the groupd should be organised, motivated, determined to complete the whole music video with success. All jobs should be shared equally, and fair to everyone. Everyone should have contact details to one another; mobile numbers, facebook, msn, email addresses ect. Share each others strengh and weaknesses, so everyone is comfortable with their role and do a good job of it! We should work together with Schedules and planning as well as our blogging making sure we are up to date.

3.) Tracks: What should you not do? Why? What tracks are better to work with?


When picking a song to make a music video for the main things we should not do is;
. Choose a popular song - This will make the music video extreamely hard to make as it will be compared to the original.
. Choose an original song without asking for permission off the artist - This can cause copyright issues.

Our brief is to promote an artist with no recognition when it comes to CD covers, magazines or photoshoots ect.

4.) Pitch: What benefits are there from preparing a pitch?


A pitch shows us a variety of gendres we can do, but also shows us what we can and can not use, it also lets us see the different ideas that the group as, to see which is the most possable as well as looking at the best ideas and combining them together.

5.) Viewing: After looking at other videos for ideas you should get a sense of what NOT to do. What pitfalls should be avoided?


When watching other student videos we were able to see what is effective and what is not. When watching the videos we noticed things that we should try and avoid, such as;
. Over done lip syncing.
. Not in time with the song.
. None matching narratives.
. Un needed miss-en-scene.
Doing things like this will make our music video a failure and less appealing to the audience.

Using a hand held camera would only suite certain music genres, to suite that certain style of the video.


6.) Planning and Shooting: What is important about timescale?


Getting the best out of the time you have and using it wisley. Keep a strong schedule and sticking to it and meeting deadlines. Along side of making time for filming also make time for editing the footage you've shot.  You need to make time to shoot plenty of footage, sticking with the storyboard. This will save lots of time and give you a good understanding of what you have to film next.

7.) Why Storyboard?

Storyboarding is important as it lets you know exactly what you need;
. Camera shot
. Angle
. Location
. Who is in it
. Props 
. Lighting
. Sound

They also helps when editing, if there is a colour filter needed and shot duration. They also acts as a timescale as they;
. Help to complete tasks.
. Keep up to date.
. See what needs to be done.
. What needs re-doing.
. What needs editing.


8.) Checklist: What should you check before and during shooting?

Before going to a location before filming, we need to check; 
. If wehave all the equipment.
. Make sure the battery is charged, plus a spare.
. Have your tape that is labeled yours.
. Check you have tripod.
. Shoe for the camera to stand on the tripod.

When leaving location or leave from filming make sure you have all of your footage and you are happy with it, and make sure you've packed up all your equipment before you leave.

9.) Why shoot cutaways?

Cutaways should be shot because not only does it keep the audience interested and engaged, but it shortens the editing time, and also sometimes makes them more effective than the editing version. Also allows breaking up performance and narrative to balance out the variety of visuals.

10.) Editing: What should you do when downloading footage?

When downloading footage, save it in a folder in the right location on the computer, check that everything is all there. This will ensure that your footage is always there to use when editing.

11.) Are effects important?


Yes, i effects are important when editing depending on the genre. If you have a very upbeat and fast pacing song, then bright colours and colour filters will be effective as well as any shining effects to make it look glamorous or stylish. Effects also keep the audience interested as well making the music video less boring.




13.) How useful are cutaways in this process?

They help to keep the video going, they keep the audience engaged and keep the narrative going. It allows to see the story, performance and to see the locations, characters etc in different camera angles which also allow the audience to become more interested and makes it less boring.

14.) Why would you use lighting and filters?

Lights and filters create atmosphere and effects. They help create mood as well as keeping with the style of the music video. It also shows the time of day to set the scene. Blue filters give the music video a dark atmosphere and would probably be used in a metal genre such as a video from Evanessence to give it that dark gothic feel. Red is used for a pop genre of a video about love. Lighting such as natural light shows the video was outside and looks natural.

15.) Is there a set rule about transitions?

The transitions must fit the style of the video. If its a 60's style video the transitions can be funky and stylised to entertain and fit its conventions. The transitions also help to make the narrative move along as well as moving to the next sequence of events.

16.) Feedback: Do you need anyone else's opinion?

Yes, feedback is good when editing and creating music videos, this is because not only do they show other peoples opinions, but also show you what you need to improve on or add to your videos to get a wider audience, as it is improving them for the best.

CD Covers - Bad

Sometimes artists have CD covers that do not match the genre or anything to do with the song. Sometimes colours get over used, the cover is too crowded, over use of design, the picture is not correct, mise-en scene, too much writing or the font is too large or too small.

Here is one example of a album cover that does not fit the genre or songs.


Monie Love - Down to Earth

I think this is a bad cover for a 'hip hop' album cover. I think it is more 'hippy' and too colourful for this genre. The girl in the photo does not represent 'hip hop' to the full. The baggy jumper does work, however i don't think the hat does. I also think the cartoon flowers do not represent 'hip hop' either.

CD Covers - Good.

In this session i looked on the internet and researched many Covers artists of different genre of music use. I noticed that Colour has a huge impact when it comes to the different genres of music. Here are a few covers i looked at;

Genre - Pop, Pop Rock

Demi Lovato - Don't Forget

Demi has used Two colours Red and black for the writting and one picture of herself alone. As you can see she has used a guitar as a prop in this photograph with connects with her genre of 'Rock'. She has chosen to wear plan clothes that are both 'Rock and Pop'. The colours she has chosen are mixed and create a good sence of the type of music she has written. This cover is fantastic for the genre she used.






Genre - Alternative Rock, emo, pop punk

Paramore - Riot

Paramore have a mixed genre of music on thier album 'Riot'. Again, same as Demi Lovato they have only used two colours of the same 'Red and Black' theme, however they have no pictures of the band on the cover. This cover gives all a mix of rock and emo. The word 'Riot' itself shows something that is disturbed - this could be emo, also Rock. The way the word is repeared in all directions of the cover can be the punk side of things.

Genre - Country   

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is a country singer. In her cover she is looking beautiful and posing with a guitar. This guitar instantly shows the viewer that she plays a acoustic guitar and sings. It looks to be in a home environment as we can see the lamp. Home symbolizes close to the heart. Theres no place like home. So it shows that the songs in this album have come from her heart. Overal this cover if a nice cover and is excellent to show the audience that she plays the guitar. However it does not show them that the album is country related.

Genre - Hip Hop

Styles P - Super Gangster

This is a good 'Hip hop' cover as it shows in the mise'en'scene. He is dressed in a cap, hoodie and has the streets of america behind him. This shows a sense of being street wise and just being plain ganster. This is a fantastic way to represent hip hop and rap music.











Genre- Southern rock, alternative rock, garage rock revival

Kings of Leon - Only By Night

I think for this CD cover, kings of leon has concentrated more on matching the design with the name of the album cover more than they have matching it with thier genre of music. As we can see they have used a part of all four band members face plus using an owl. Owls are nocturnal animals and come out at night. Hence the album name 'Only By The Night'. They have used one basic cover to fill the picture. It is dark, which also matches the theme of 'night time'.

Genre - Pop rock, dance pop, electropop

Selena Gomez - When The Sun Goes Down

Selena Gomez here has embrassed the look of all the genres. I think that there is an element of all Pop rock, dance pop, electropop in this album cover. She has used very light colours and nothing too bright. Although there is a hint of femininity within the picture with the colours Pink.








Genre - Souls, blues, pop

Adele - 21

As we have chosen an Adele song to use for the music video we think that this is the best inspiring CD cover we can work off. Adele is very soulful and sings beautiful songs about how life can effect one another and how people feel. As we can view from the Cover, adele has used a very basic black and white theme with just a dingle picture of herself in it. I think this is excellent for us to use as insiration as it is not too bright, colourful or over done and is not too heavy.

Font ideas for Album

Here are a few fonts that we looked at for our Album Cover.

Costume Ideas

Girls Fasion in the 60's

As you can see with the picture below, the girls often worn short dresses with a very simular design in shape. These clothes are very plan in colour and bold. There is no range of illuminess or colour.

The picture below shows the fasion then and now.

Here is a view of the dresses the ladies worn. As you can see, they are all very simular and not a wide range of designs.

Male Clothing in the 60's

As you can see below, the male clothing is as bold as the Female clothing. This is smart wear for men, but just plain colours such as black, grey and white.

Looking at these pictures it has given my group a clear idea of what we are going to dress our performers.

Music Video Production

Music Terms & studying music videos

1.) What use do you think the lyrics are put to when making a video?

They share the message/song meaning to the audience. They help the audience understand what the song is about. Lyrics can also be catchy, so if the audience catches onto the lyrics the song, it will become more listened to and share amongst others, therefore become popular.

2.) Narrative & Performance: How important is the narrative to the pop video? What relevance is the performance aspect of the pop video?

The narrative engages the audience, and keeps them watching the video. It also allows the artist to show off their talent and/or the talent of other people on the screen making it more engaging, interesting and entertaining.

3.) Star Image: How important do you think the star image is in respect to a pop video's success?

Star image is extreamley important during a music video. we as an audience watch the vidoes to see the star, we want to seem them in different styles of videos, allow us to see the development of an artist, to see their
.Dress code
.Ideas/inspiration
.See different things from that artist
.new and different styles of videos to their new material

4.) Visuals to Songs:

A.) What is Illustration in terms of a pop video?

It's to tell a story to the audience. It can create an emotional reaction upon the audience as it is something they can relate to.

B.) And what is Amplification in terms of a pop video?

To exaggerate the lyrics, e.g. taking gigantic steps, this is applied through the editing process, where sections of a take are taken out to show a person for example walking down a corridor at different times, without it taking up all of the time it took to walk down the corridor, speeding up the process to move on with the narrative.

C.) What is disjunture and is it a good idea to use it in a pop video?

It is where part of the visual/narrative as no relation to the video/lyrics but makes for a fun/qurky video, which can catch an audience out as well as keeping them interested.

5.) Technical Aspects

A.) What is meant by the term "Speed!" in relation to pop videos? Give Examples of their use.

It is the cutting rate within the video, within the editing proccess how long one piece of footage is to another. Usually pop vidoes are fast paced, with their up beat sound. So the cutting rate is important to keep the audience watching as you dont want to keep on the same camera angle and the same scene/narrative/performance for too long, as this will become boring and less engaging.

B.) What is Meat! in relation to a video?

These are close ups on the face, mainly on the artist/band members, to see emotion and to give variety of camera angles as well as to engage an audience through narrative and performance.

C.) How are Beats! used in a video?

These are used when actions are cut to a beat, for example, where an action that the artist/actor does within the video goes with the beat of the song, or with to cut each frame to the beat to the song. Overall actions through editing or visual on screen to the beat of the song.

Posters - looking at other posters and what works best

This poster does not captivate the audience in anyway. Its a simple one showing the artist, the album and saying that it is out now and that you can buy it from Amazon and they have a website. The sort of art that has been used in this poster, is different to how a recording artist would use. 

 This poster is the most eye catching. They have star ratings and comments from magazines and music companies. Although the colours are very dull and ae not bright and eye catching, the bold lettering grabs the audiences attention, as well as this they have a banner of their album art work on their poster to give a more extra boost to their advertisment.

Again, this poster does not have eye grabbing colours or anything that will attract anybody to look at it, however the artist and its album are split up between each line, the ZLY is on the right hand side as the EST is the on left hand side, to show the balance.
This also has star rating from magazines and music companies. the bright and querky background makes the white font stand out and also shows the style of the band.