Shooting Schedule

Holborn Studios

Today we visited Holborn Studios, a well-known place for artists and celebrities from all over the world for more than three decades. It is currently based in Eagle Wharf Road, London, literally a fifteen minutes walk from Hackney Community College in Shoreditch.

On our arrival we were introduced to staff members, then we took a tour around the studio. We saw different rooms which were wonderfully designed for photo-shoots, performances, and various different activities for artists and celebrities, creating a unique place for shooting their album covers, magazines covers and lots more. 

The studio basically consists of different rooms where you could see plain and seamless white walls, floors and ceilings, with professional lighting and photography props which cost from £300 to £900 a day to rent. The reason for using white paint is because white is a neutral colour and doesn't add any effect or any meaning to the actual object which has to be shot or filmed so artists can add mise en scene to this blank canvas. Normally artists rent photography and lighting equipments in studios instead of buying their own which cost thousands.


The studios have their own changing room, toilet, and a personal computer. The studio keepers, have to redo the white paint all over the surfaces each day to retain the studios' pure white look. As we were walking through different studios we could see lots of construction and rebuilding works going on there, they were expanding the studios into larger spaces to keep up with their customers demand as many professional companies/people would need a larger spaces and different facilities for their shoot. 


Among these studios, there was a unique room with green walls and floors decorated by artists pictures and a pool table, plus a small bar, a changing room and a toilet. This room, which was called the 'green room', is actually a place for artists to relax and chill while getting ready for their shoot and filming, and to spend some times on their own away from paparazzi and cameras. The green color also adds to its relaxation with views over regents canal. There is also a bar and restaurant, or even a boat for relaxing and going around the canal!

Things I learnt today:

• What a studio is and how it looks, what rooms and spaces need to be there and how they function.

• Costs needed for renting the studio and equipment and the assistants per day and sometimes per hour, you can find these cost here.

• Hassles and costs required for keeping the studio up and running, working well and professionally.

• Different pay for staff in different positions, such as studio manager, director, photographer, technician, bar and restaurant staff, etc.

We did a two hour shoot in Studio 4. As you can see in the pictures the studio had white floors, walls and ceiling. One of the shot locations had two boards, black and white, on two sides and a big stood flash light with a special kind of lamp shade  
for controlling the light and 
shadows and preventing it from being reflected. 


There was also a dressing table and a professional computer system attached to the camera used to transfer the pictures to the computer screen automatically after being shot so you could see the pictures at the same time they were shot and touch them up on photoshop.

Textual Analysis Of Avril Lavigne's Album Cover

"What the Hell" Album Cover

Props And Costumes:
She's wearing a black top and jacket, she's dressing casually to fit in with the modern society, however the messy hair connotes her ignoring her boyfriend and relationships. The necklace says "Drink Me" which shows her youthfulness and naughtiness as a teenager.


Background, Colour, and Lighting:
White background, With black script of the artist name which suits her costume. The song name is in red, "What The Hell" which can refer to her being sexy and crazy. The picture is not so happy and tonal which can mean she's a bit sad or heart broken or even tired and wants some kind of changes in her relationships, or her lifestyle, the same thing can be withdrawn from the lyrics when she says: "don't get it wrong, I just need some time to play".

Typeface:
She is staring into space with a neutral and bored look, again ignoring her surroundings, Her facial expression can connote her being heartbroken or sad, as she says somewhere in the song that "love hurts whether its write or wrong", this kind of thoughtful n tired look might refer to her being tired or broken from her last relationship.


She has used couple of pictures as her song cover, but original album cover is the picture on top of the post. I uploaded more pictures of her song cover to have a look at her different shots and photo styles which can all say something about the song.

Ancillary Text

front cover:
we will use a long shot of the Main 2 artists + thier band in the background with their instruments and props, with sharp lights ( Red, or goldbrown ) so that the audience would have a recognition of the charactors takin part in the music video


back cover:
back cover will be more landscape shot with collages of different shots to give the audience an idea of whats actually happening in the music video(narrative)


inside cover:
medium or close up shot of the female artist in black and white, because the music video is more about girls anthem this is preference to what the main message is based on

Global Audience

How can we make the character in the music video a global icon?

What features of the music video have a global appeal?

Avril Lavigne, is an international superstar, whose fans are from almost every country across the globe. She goes on different tours and performs in different continents.

This video shows Avril Lavigne's fans in Hong Kong on her Black Star Tour, and she explains the rest of the tour on South East Asia being to Beijing, Shanghai, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and then to South America.

Globalisation is the idea of the world becoming a smaller place due to technology and media, and is transformation of traditions into a fusion of traditions. For example McDonald's McArabia's meal is a popular pita bread sandwich in some Arabic countries, or Coca Cola being the world's first popular word. 


Globalisation in music may result into disposal of local instruments and music. However globalisation can bring together people from all around around the world and unify them in the way they live, they dress, they talk or even they way they think.


One of the ways to makes a music video successful is to make it internationally attractive to it's viewers.


This is how we tried to make our video globally popular:

Shots locations:
The video is filmed on the streets of London, an international destination which makes it globally significant. Youths from all around the world might be interested in London so it would be attractive for them to see how Londoners live their lives and how they dress up. 


Lyrics with a universal theme:
Lyrics are about relationships, people breaking up or cheating one another, something that anyone has experienced somehow in their lives, it makes the lyrics easier for people to relate with. The lyrics are about a relationship, she is breaking up with her boyfriend and wants to have her own freedom.


Universally recognisable characters: 
young people wanna have fun! We feature people with different races in the music video. The protagonist is an Iranian girl. A young, attractive and dynamic pop star who girls will want to be and guys will want to get with. The antagonist is a Somalian boy.  

The language of the music video:
The language in the music video is important in terms of making it understandable by a majority of people all around the globe, as English is the most popular second language, it makes the music video internationally viewable.  

Target Audience

In order to make commercial success in media productions, the first thing for a producers to consider before making decisions on production and mise en scene is the target audience. It involves researches into the age, gender and ethnicity and their expectations and interests.

The target audience that ties in with our song is teenagers. We then did a questionnaire asking people about their favourite songs and generall information on music videos.

Our questionnaire is as followed:

Dear Friend, Here Is A Confidential Questionnaire For My Music Video, As A Part Of The Production Work For A2 Media Studies, I Appreciate You Cooperation.

Age..........  Sex...........  Ethnicity......

Favourite Music Genre.....................

What A Pop Star is?

..................................................................................................................................................

How Do Pop Stars Dress Like? 

..................................................................................................................................................

What Language Do They Normally Speak? 

..................................................................................................................................................

How Old Are They Usually?

..................................................................................................................................................

What Are The Songs About?

..................................................................................................................................................

Have You Ever Heard Of Any Song Called “What The Hell”? What Can The Song Be Possibly About, whether Or Not You Have Heard It?

...............................................................................................................................................

What Do You Like To See In Music Videos?

..................................................................................................................................................

Do You Like To See Bands Playing And People Dancing In Music Videos?

..................................................................................................................................................

Can You Make Up A Brief Story About The Song “What The Hell” ?

..................................................................................................................................................

Rough storyboard

I have created a rough storyboard which shows a rough outline as to what I would like to see in our music video. The first shot is an establishing shot which introduces the main male and female characters. They are enjoying themselves throughout shots '2' '3' and '4', attending parties, watching fireworks together and going out for Halloween, just like a young couple would do.

I would also like a shot of the female character doing her hair in the mirror, this is a unique type of shot which would work well with our song choice. Young females who would watch the music video would also feel a need to put make up on like their favorite artist does also the lipstick makes her seem naughty. 

Finally the relationship takes a U-turn, the female character begins cheating and making out with her boyfriend's mate although the couple work though their problems eventually.

Lyrics Analysis

"What      The      H E L L "


You say that I'm messing with your head     


All cause I was making out with your friend     >>>>     cheating her boyfriend 


Love hurts whether it's right or wrong     >>>>      heart-Broken Girll


I can't stop cause I'm having too much fun     >>>>     


You're on your knees     |
Begging please             | >> Boy beging
Stay with me               |
But honestly


I just need to be a little crazy   >>>>    Girls crazy

All my life I've been good,
But now


I'm thinking What The Hell


All I want is to mess around    >>>>   Girls playing


And I don't really care about


If you love me
If you hate me
You can save me
Baby, baby
All my life I've been good
But now
Whoaaa...
What The Hell

So what if I go out on a million dates   >>>>   lots of Dates


You never call or listen to me anyway   >>>>    being ignored


I'd rather rage than sit around and wait all day


Don't get me wrong


I just need some time to play


You're on your knees
Begging please....
You say that I'm messing with your head
Boy, I like messing in your bed
Yeah, I am messing with your head when
I'm messing with you in bed..."

"A personal message for freedom" is how Avril Lavigne  - a 27 years old Canadian singer and songwritter -   describes her song WHAT THE HELL  which she wrote herself . 

In an interview, Avril talks about the music video: 

"The music video for 'What the Hell': It's kind of a guy chasing me around, and I hop into a random cab, and he's chasing me. And I go through a clothing store and he chases me, but at the end of the video, it's really just me having a bunch of fun with him, and he's my boyfriend, so I like him in the end. The music video's in 3-D, and my favorite part of the video is the rock-out scene at the end where I jump onstage and I'm with my band. When we shot it and I got to watch it back in 3-D with the glasses and actually you can see the crowd's hands and it felt like you were live in a crowd, so it was kind of cool."

Song Choice

The song we have chosen for our music video is 'What The Hell' by Avril Lavigne. The reasons for choosing this song is:


1. It's a happy song.
2. It's contemporary.
3. It's popular (over a 100 million viewers on youtube).
4. It's a teenage song, suitable for our age-group, so it will be easy for us to produce.
5. Avril is one of Vida's favourite singers to whom she can relate well to as well as her songs and lyrics. This will result in us having  better understanding of the song's message and its audience.
6. It's a song which doesn't obviously require expensive props such locations and outfits to which we don't have any access.

Textual Analysis 3

The last music video that I will be analysing is Pink’s – Just Like A Pill

           

This music video unlike the first two music videos is a narrative/performance music video, Pink is the main singer and the narrative revolves solely around her. During the performance the band is hardly recognised even though they playing the instruments, the camera is focused on pink whilst the band are blurred.

The music video begins with a close up of keyboard magically playing itself along with the beat, the camera pans to the left as the notes played is lowered. We then see Pink laying on the floor wearing a long sleeved black dress clearly showing her chest and stomach region, black nail vanish and has black hair, the colour black symbolises darkness/emptiness/and sadness which are all themes which run through the music video.

The song ‘Just Like A Pill’ is about Pink trying to escape a painful relationship by taking pills and morphine, instead of the pills making her better its making her worse.

The video is dark and gloomy which creates a sinister feeling; it felt as though I was travelling though a dark tunnel with no escape route trapped all alone 1000 meters below the surface, however as the song progressed I found hope and made it out the tunnel just as pink climbed a staircase to a blinding light and got over her relationship.  Just by using the correct light the producer was able to create such a massive effect as to what the viewers were feeling.

The music video is shot in an abandoned building the size of a church, the reason that location has been chosen is because the mood and atmosphere of the song is depressing therefore choosing an abandoned building really fits the mood well. The mise-en-scene of the music video is really important because it’s what the viewers will be seeing, if you want to get your point across to the viewers you must do it though: props, costumes, lighting, characters etc.

Again as in all pop songs with female singers, the main emphasis of the music video was her body, in every scene she was barely dressed and she would perform sexual dance routines rubbing her hands slowly across her whole body. Her target audience would absorb the material she produces into their sub-conscious mind which in turn will lead them to believe this type of behaviour is acceptable.

The music video did not cut from scene to scene during the whole music video but instead used a quick sliding transition (either to the left, right, upwards or downwards) I found that unique as the majority of music videos out there does not incorporate this technique.

The video starts of slow paced with clips ranging from 5 seconds to 10 seconds, however as the song progresses the music tempo speeds up and the editing becomes rapid.

There was this one scene at the end where she was running from all her problems, a computer effect was used to make it seem as though she was running though a dark portal which seemed pretty cool, this type of effect can be easily manipulated by using a white board and a video from YouTube.

The target audience of Pink would be teenage girls who are experience relationship problems as they will be able to relate well with the song she creates. The song ‘Just Like A Pill’ may also help young females find their identity as Pink dressed as an Emo/Goth with purple highlights in her hair and with many piercings, this type of behaviour is seen rebellious and defiant.

Overall, Pink’s – Just Like A pill contains too much sexual images therefore trying to replicate any scene into my music video would be inappropriate for an A-level project.

Textual Analysis 2

The next music video that I will be analysing is ‘Kesha’s – Tik Tok’, this is also an extremely popular song which features dancing and singing which are themes that run through my chosen song.

The song begins with Kesha waking up in a bath tub staggering her way out to the sink to brush her teeth, during this short moment there are flash blacks which last a split second of the previous night from this I can assume that she has been drinking excessively and partying to hard as she cannot manage to make it to her bed. Just as in Miley Cyrus’s music video Kesha is also wearing extremely short shorts which show off her long legs, a white T-shirt which hangs around shoulders so as to reveal her bra strap and an extreme amount of jewellery.

The music video is shot in America and includes a few locations. The first location is within her parent’s house, as she comes down stairs she is acting rebellious and shocks her family by the way she is dressed, a close up of her mother with her jaws wide open is shown next cutting to a shot of her legs as she drops the children’s breakfast followed by a wide shot of the entire family sitting elegantly around the kitchen table. Kesha then rides of on a golden bicycle followed by a long drive with a stranger who picks her up from the street, during her drive she is dancing in a wild manner from this I can infer that she is rebellious, childish and care-free.

Like in most recent pop songs the lyrics are meaningless and the voice of the singer is semi-decent, they would use auto tune to enhance their tone and give a better performance however the singer would generally have attractive figure which would be emphasised in the music video, the boys would want to get with her and the girls would want to be like her. The music video would often include a male partner but he would be just there to make out with the female.

Only two video effects were used during the whole duration of the music video; one of them were a black and white shot when she was pedalling her bicycle down the streets of America and the other was a slow motion shot when she was grinding on the ground, the slow motion effect enables the viewers to focus on her sexuality as everything seems ‘sexier’ when slowed down.

Clubbing, drinking alcohol and partying is all represented in this music video as being enjoyable, it seems as though they are having a blast when in reality they could be bored to death. We don’t get to see a true representation because the speed of the footage is too fast, a lot of quick cuts are used when she is partying which keeps the viewers eyes glued to the screen as they won’t want to miss a second.

The video is bright and colourful which attracts younger people’s attention, the colour yellow (gold) runs through the music video and that colour symbolises wealth and prosperity. The lighting is all natural except for the scene where she was partying at a friend’s basement, a strobe light was flashing vigorously causing a slow motion effect, there was also a giant projector which beamed lights of many colours into the room and this dramatically changed the mood of the room.

The primary target audience of Kesha would be 12-16 year old school girls and a secondary target audience of 17-20 year old females, the reason why girls are the main target audience is because they enjoy pop songs where the main actor would be  ‘rebellious’ and ‘fun’ as they could also implement certain aspects of her behaviour into their lifestyle.

The music video was fast paste and contained a variety of shots; I could include certain shot types the director has used in this music video such as the long of Kesha when she was sitting in front of a plain yellow singing, this type of footage is easily replicated as no expensive equipment is needed to move the camera eg a crane shot.

Overall, Kesha’s – Tik Tok music video fits perfectly with our song choice as it includes codes and convention of a general pop song.

Textual Analysis

Here I will be analysing existing music videos that relate with the genre of my music video (pop). I would be looking at certain aspects the director/producer has used to produce a successful music video which relates well to their primary and secondary target audience.
 

The first music video that I will be analysing is ‘Miley Cyrus – Party in the USA’ this song is extremely popular and is known by numerous people (especially teenagers), the category the song falls under is also pop and the main singer is a female teenager.

The first seven shots of the music video basically set the scene and introduce the singer as she exits her expensive car. The first shot is of a Las Vega/Hollywood style sign from a low angle, from this I can connote that a party or an event of some kind is going to take place. The opening shots were rapid almost like a mini montage.

The song ‘Party in the USA’ was shot at a drive in but instead of watching a movie the main attraction was to see Miley Cyrus perform.

She has on a pair of hot pants which reveal her legs in a sexual manner, in addition she has a brown low cut tank top which show most of the upper reign of her chest. Her hair has been recently done up and she is wearing many accessories such as watch’s, rings and necklaces, lastly her eyebrows are neatly plucked and her teeth seem to be whitened, I can conclude that Miley Cyrus fits the appearance of a Hollywood celebrity.

The music video is divided into two sections within the first section she is arriving at the drive-in dancing casually with a few sexual hip movements however as the music video progresses she ends up performing to a crowd, pole dancing and grinding on a microphone stand.

The first three paragraphs of her lyrics seems as though she was writing from an underprivileged perspective, she is just arriving at Los Angeles for the first time and is feeling rather nervous. The catchy chorus is repeated many times and every time she sings the chorus there is a dance and bop to go along with it. She is only a teenager yet she discusses clubbing and ‘fitting in’ with famous people, this type of message would inspire her young audience whom admire her to live this type of lifestyle.

Like most female pop songs the director would emphasis attractive perspective of the singer thus ensuring that male eyes stay glued to the screen even though the song targets young females. Miley Cyrus is being portrayed as a young star however certain elements of her dance represent strip teasing and pole dancing, this is not suitable for a younger audience.

A few intertexuality references were recognisable when watching the music vide, During the last scene the theme form the movie grease was replicated as she swings and sings at the drive in. She sings about her favourite singers (Britney Spears and Jay-Z) and how they made her feel comfortable:
"My tummys turnin and I'm feelin kinda home sick
Too much pressure and I'm nervous,
That's when the taxi man turned on the radio
and a Jay Z song was on". 
Also during the first few shots, she is exiting a pricey car where the company which made the wheels were noticeable (Cooper Cobra). 

 

Steve Archer's Theory

Music videos will incorporate certain elements which will determine the type of the music video for example if a music video contains a band performing their act (“The Nearly Dead’s – fact and friction”) would be known as a ‘performance’

Mostly rock and indie bands would shoot their music video as a performance as there is an emphasis on the instruments and individual players, it is also much cheaper and feasible for a low budget music video. If the music video predominately shows a story of some sort then this type of music video is known as a ‘narrative’; In this type of music video the the musician would often tell the story of thier past be it love, lost, relationship, partying e.t.c.

  Steve Archer's Theory states that “There needs to be a strong and coherent relationship between narrative and performance in music promos” our production will feature a extremly strong and coherent relationship. Our music video is about love and being young, certain aspects which you would see in our music video is lust, cheating, relationships and fun.

“Music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band.” This will be completed using iMovie (a editing software found on mac), hopefully the audience would be able to follow along.

Goodwin Entry

Andrew John Goodwin  was Director of Music and Organist at Bangor Cathedral for 37 years. After living in Oxford and then in the West Midlands, Goodwin studied at the University of Liverpool and was subsequently a postgraduate student at the University of Wales Bangor; he obtained degrees in Music at both Liverpool and Bangor.  

Andrew Goodwin has identified a number of key features which distinguish the music video as a form: 

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band)

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artists and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5. there is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body...........................................

6. There is often intertextual reference (to film, TV programmes, other music videos etc).................................

General information on Music Videos

A music video is as the name suggests a video that is produced to go with any particular song. The actual video does not have to be related to the song and can be as creative as possible, however many successful music videos are closely linked to the lyrics of the song and takes many months planning and shooting, an example of this would be ‘Michael Jackson – Thriller’ which was voted as the most inspirational music video to date. Normally an artist would seek external help from a professional whose job is to create music videos; this person is called the director. They would brainstorm ideas collectively for content of the music video then his/her role is to put the pieces together and make the music video possible, however not everyone is able to afford to work with a director as they are particularly expensive but can create equally amazing music videos with a hand held camera.

 

The very first step towards music videos was at 1894 where Edward Marks and Joe Stern hired electricians and various performers to promote the sale of their song ‘The Little Lost Child’, using a magic lantern Thomas projected a serious of still images simultaneously on screen to live performances. One of the earliest videos of a top hit is ‘Jan & Dean’s – Surf City’; produced in 1963 the video captures the vibe and atmosphere of southern California beach.

People always tend to believe that a music video's primary objective is to generate profit however the number 1 reason a music video is actually created is to 'Promote the artist'. The majority of music videos available today would show close ups shots of the artist performing. Depending on the type of music video, the artist could be dancing to a pre choreographed dance routine or even playing an instrument with a band or alone (e.g. John Legend). The picture above clearly shows how the main emphasis is on the pianist as he is located directly in the middle of the shot and he is situated at the front of the orchestra.

A successful music video would first grab the attention of a viewer and keep them entertained throughout the course of the song right until the end, a song that does just that is 'Radiohead - Just'

 The reason I chose this music video is because the narrative grasped my attention from the instance I started viewing this music video, and throughout the whole music video I did not get board and the climax built up until the end where there was a cliff hanger which left me curious; the music video also engages the viewers as the narrative requires you to read subtitles to fully understand what is going on.

Music videos also help young viewers/teenagers find themselves what I mean by this is that by watching music video's they see how the artist is acting within society and they begin developing traits of the artist for instance many youths listening to 50 cent's music will aspire to live the life of a gangster and may join gangs and sell drugs to make money just like he did. Not only can teenagers aspire to be like the artist they can also relate to the artist, a person who likes to express themselves by dressing in a crazy manner may watch lady gaga's music video's and find the confidence the need to dress how they want publicly without humiliation.

Music videos would generally follow forms and convention to construct meaning in media text, codes and conventions are a set of rules or ways of doing something, these could be challenged so that artists can come up with innovative ideas however the scale should not be too great as forms and conventions allow the audience to become accustomed to certain genre's as they get used to seeing certain things. Codes and Conventions can be divided into two categories (Technical & Symbolic). The technical section refers to how equipment and technology is used to construct meaning for instance, the way the camera is moving (pan, tilt, track, zoom), the types of shot used (close up, establishing shot, wide shot, medium close up), the sounds used (diegetic, non-diegetic, Sound effects), and the types of editing used (continuity editing, cross-cuts, flash backs, slow motion, cut away, montage editing). The symbolic section refers to the meaning created beyond what is obvious to see, this can be created using objects, body language, setting, colour and clothing.

Introduction

For my A2 project we will be creating a full length music video with a small group (Mohammed Ibrahim and Vida Tankas). To document my project I have set up a blog which I will update thoughout the course of the year. Within the music video I will incorporate all the knowledge I have learnt from AS to make my project as professional as possible. For example, we used specific tools on photoshop to create a music magazine front cover at AS such as the 'airbrush', 'magic wand' and 'background eraser' and blended many layers of images to create the final front cover. This will be useful for producing the ancilary texts.

After we have decided on a song we will look at existing music videos and analyse them carefully considering the mise-en-scene (everything on the screen such as editing, camera angles, props, location, characters and costumes) in these video's and think how our project could resemble or duplicate their conventions. 

Obviously we have to be realistic considering the budget of the task. For instance, we will not be able to afford to rent a helicopter for an aerial shot of a location in the Sahara desert! However, I can certainly afford to re-create a low angle shot or montage editing. To complete a successful project we will maximize the use of the technology available to us and consider what the target audience would want to see in our music video.