Thursday 26 April 2012

British Music Video Directors

Nick Abson - After looking through some of the videos he has made, his main style seems to be quite simplistic and minimal. For example Diana Ross' - My Old Piano and Kate Bush's - Wuthering Heights mainly focus on basic dance movements, Diana Ross dancing round a piano and Kate Bush making a more spiritual routine such as the way Florence out of Florence and the Machine dances today. One of Abson's more well known works is Queen's - We Will Rock You, which again is simplistic but also focuses of the instruments as the music is anthemic. This makes individual instruments stand out, like the part where there is a guitar solo so the only thing shown is the guitar being played in a close up shot. This is probably the easiest video to do as it is low budget and doesn't need a lot of skill to do, it also creates a clear and distinct pattern to follow through the video.

Vaughan Arnell -  He is a frequent collaborator of music artist Robbie Williams, his songs are mainly ballads and portray a high level of emotion or full of energy which are often emphasised in his videos, such as Robbie Williams - Angels (1997), Robbie Williams - Let Me Entertain You (1998) and Robbie Williams - Feel (2002). Arnell had to create videos that expressed more emotion in facial expression as to keep the video as simple as possible, this is difficult as you have to make it interesting enough so that the audience want to keep watching and want to watch it again. However Arnell's earliest music video was Dead or Alive's - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) (1984) which was co-directed with with Anthea Benton, is still a simple video but highly effective as the movement of the lead singer Pete Burns fits in with the quirky lyrics and the camera angles fit with the chorus. There are long shots as well as close up ones so that you can see the full movement of each person, but the close ups still show alot of expression rather than emotion as the song is more upbeat.

Nick Egan - He is a visual design artist, and director of music videos, commercials and film. From the songs I already know and the ones I have looked into, his style seems to be adaptable to suit the type or artists he is working with. For instance Belinda Carlisle, at the time she was an uplifting artist, with enlightening lyrics. So naturally her videos had to be something to inspire people somehow.


Robert Hales (director) - His main style is that of pop or successful R&B music, for example Justin Timberlake's "loveStoned", but before he made the video for Craig David's "unbelievable" in 2006 Hales' main style was soft rock or rock like Stereophonics madame Helga and The Veronica's with Everything I'm Not. It seems that as people have changed their preferred type of music Robert Hales, to keep up with the rapidly changing music industry has changed his preferred style, this proved a great choice to make as he has continued to make videos and now has a wider range of music that he has worked in thus gaining him more experience, so he is adaptable to styles and has the opportunity at more work. I think that as he has changed styles his videos have become more well known not just because the music isn't as old as the others, but because they are so different from traditional video concepts, for instance Gnarls Barkley's "crazy" which has a very distinct and memorable video of ink blot pictures moving and metamorphosising into something different, so that it is something that we can recognise, like a face.

Liam Andrew Wright - He is a Film director, screenwriter, producer and directed his first feature film, Ex Cathedra, at the age of only 23. His style is mainly to do with football as he founded Banter Media in 2010 who released  Green & Gold by the Haglems in May 2010 which was supported by the Manchester United fans. They also recorded the music video for the hugely popular Manchester Hip Hop act, F.O.A.K with their song "Welcome to my City". Other than this Wright hasn't really ventured out into the music video industry, although he still has alot of time to do so and at least has some sort of music video experience.

I would say my style is mainly like Nick Abson as it is simple and low budget, also the music video I shot with Tanya uses the same simple shots like a close up on the dominant instrument, like a guitar, bass, drums or just the singer. However as I get used to this style I would at some point like to try a similar style to Robert Hales as he goes against the norms and stereotypes of a traditional music video, and puts his own mark on the video.

Monday 28 November 2011

Class discussion for "we found love" by Rihanna

As a class we discussed how different techniques are used to keep the audience interested in the video for "we found love" by Rihanna.

This is a narrative video which shows a young couple who are in love, it shows how a relationship evolves into something that they no longer want. Step by step the relationship becomes worse as faults in the persons personality become clearer, the lust clouded eyes seem to open and they realise the truths about each other, that love is no longer enough and that it is suffocating them as it is hurting them both. Although if they are apart they will be upset but being apart will save them from each other. It shows a sense of loneliness in Rihanna and that although they are together she is still somehow on her own. There is a scene when they look at each other in the bath, they both look like they hate each other as if they have gone to war with one another, this creates a sense of tension and conflict inside them both and that at some point something will cause an argument between them.

It starts of showing a block of flats in and establishing shot, this sets the scene and gives a sense of being trapped but although this place seems like a prison or a place of misery even love can prevail, as the chorus lyrics suggest 'we found love in a hopeless place', found being in the past tense which could suggest that it is no longer there anymore, this begins to hint at the possible ways that the relationship could have spiralled into to make end.

The scenes switch from a slow one, to one filled with a lot of energy like the one where there is a
crowd around them and they are dancing in mud. To me this shows that even though they are not in particularly nice place they are 'high' on the presence of each other, so that 'love' is their drug.
This video is clearly telling certain aspects of her very public relationship with Chris Brown, as even the main male character looks like him, although some key details were left out, such as when she was physically abused, they do show an inseperable bond and tolerance of his behaviour by her.
The clothes she wears shows a different side of her character as normally she is seen in highly fashionable clothing that is expensive to keep her image 'fresh', but in this video we get to see a more relaxed and natural side of Rihanna. This could be her going back to her 'roots' or simply that she didn't have to pretend to be anyone else when around him, and that her true beauty could show and she could truly be herself.

As a group we noticed that each clip within the music video was no longer than 2-3 seconds long, each cut was in time with the music, this is the most common type of editing as it keeps the audience interested as the younger generation have shorter attention spans, and don't usually watch with their full focus.

Some scenes have been tried to be partially merged so that not every clip is shown with discontinuity, such as the clips where there is lightning then Rihanna is stood in front of a projector where the same lighning clip is being projected onto her. Although there is discontinuity all the way through it gives the effect of seeing a before and after of the life of Rihanna as it shows her on her own, singing, and then shows clips of her and the lead male character, as the song progresses and reaches the end the clip shows Rihanna walking away as if leaving the past behind her, and she is moving on to forget about it. This also suggests that she is telling the audience to forget about it as she is critisized for forgiving Chris Brown, and he is still shown in a bad light for his mistake eventhough he has appologised.

Monday 7 November 2011

Timeline of the main sections of the whole song.

0:00 - Introduction
0:11 - 1st verse
0:36 - 1st Chorus
0:57 - 2nd verse
1:20 - Pre Chorus
1:26 - 2nd Chorus (x2)
1:50 - Bridge (x2)
2:10 - Pre - Chorus (x2)
2:39 - 3rd Chorus
2:50 - Outro 
3:06 - End

Monday 31 October 2011

presentation reveiw

Group 2 Haris and the dudes:
beautiful lasers - lupe fiasco
theater and the roof
how will the colours create a modern image?
good use of clear steps as to what you are going to do.
How will you tell the narrative?
Munashe is dancing wow!
creative ideas very clear to all members of the group.

Group 3 - Marian and THEE dudes
good song ideas, made by shuab
clear ideas, clear to all members of the group
good presentation, clear, confident

Group 4 - Neepa, Josh, Zak
concept - vain
performance, narrative
theatre, lighting
what effects do you need the green screen for?
clear on how they are going to get people for their video.
why this song? considering the lyrics.

Group 5 - the girls
good idea of doing different songs, but not sure how well it will fit together as the songs have different tempo's and the lyrics don't really sound like the go with the lyrics of the other songs.
Good ideas for settings as they are different and haven't been done that much before.
I like the idea of using different songs so that everyone has a part that they like and can have an individual part.

Thursday 13 October 2011

music video composition planning 3-10-11 tanya

We watched a few clips on YouTube by Tyler Ward such as a cover of LMFAO's party rock anthem and a cover of Lil Wayne's How to love , which has influenced the type of video that we will make. We decided to make a video that looks like a homemade video without making it look amateur such as the video for Ed Sheeran's video for The A Team. The video will be performance based as we will be filming an artist whilst they play various instruments.


10/10/11
In today's lesson me and Tanya have begun putting together a mood board of the the types of shots that we would like to use in our video which were taken from clips on youtube. We have talked about locations and different shots and thought about filming some of the video in a car park, so that we can capture a certain amount of light from the headlights and get a better angle for the camera to create a more in depth background. This could also be in monochromatic tones to create a vintage feel to the video.

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Weapon of choice - Fatboy Slim

I don't feel their is a set storyline, to me the video shows an adult man who when alone can revert back to when he was younger, and just dance without having to worry about what other people might say. It's about being able to let go of stress, and just let go of commitments and have fun but knowing at some point you have to back to reality, but for now make the most of your time.
The dance is a mix of styles including jazz, tap and contemporary which fit with the rhythm and beats of the music, so although it doesn't look like it's choreographed well, after a while of understanding the timing it does fit together. Also the movement isn't fluid so it's easier to relate to, as not many ordinary people can dance professionally, so the video almost looks like it's made by an amateur. This gives a homely feel as Christopher Walken is a famous actor and people often see him as a serious person, but by him dancing in this way people feel it is more acceptable to do this in their own time without judging others, the overall message is to teach people not to take themselves too seriously. One of the lyrics is 'walk without rhythm' and in some areas he is dancing out of sync with the music.

He wears a smart suit to help emphasise that everyone at some point needs to relax and just let go of everything even if it's just for a few minutes. One thing I think is important is the location as it's in a huge empty hotel, which suggests that when your on your own you can act like yourself without having to pretend or act like someone else.
The camera pans in and out on Christopher's face to exaggerate on how 'normal' he actually is as he is making faces while dancing, also the camera moves with him to show how much he is using the space available as he is able to move around freely.

This video shows how certain people/cultures act as the lyric 'walk without rhythm' indicates how some people walk with a limp sometimes to show their authority in areas where they live.