Developing Skills - Music Website

http://elliewilliams245.wix.com/molly-white 


I created a rough music website using my 'random album cover' artist and theme to help develop my website creating skils, using the website www.wix.com

I decided that my artist was going to be a country/ folk singer songwriter from Georgia. Therefore i tried to keep the themes of the website along these lines, helping to create the artists image and promoting her music.

The album cover had a nature theme so i tried to keep this for the website: using a field as the background. It also helped to reinforce her 'country & folk' genre.
I kept the whole website quite simple only adding a few pages as i though a more neice type of music would probably have a slightly older target audience, so therefore would probably be attracted to a slightly more basic website rather than a really 'in your face' website.

I tried to make the font as similar to the one of the album to keep the theme running through all her products.

From doing this i have developed a few skills ready for when i create my website for my coursework. Some of these skills include:

• How to navigate around www.wix.com
• Knowledge of what a music should look like 
• Knowledge of what the website should include 
• Being able to hold a theme throughout various pieces of work 
• Practise in how to set out a website, learning what should be most prominent and what is slightly less important. As well as thinking about what looks best placed where on the page. 

If i was to improve this website i would:

• Add some pictures of the artist, making sure there was close ups of her
• Add a music player, automatically playing her tracks as you enter the website 
• Add more personalised merchandise that links to her and here genre
• Make the menu smaller, more subtle and fit into the colour scheme of the rest of the website
• Add a subscription area, for fans to sign up to a mailing list and access "exclusive" footage/ music and media

Music Websites

Bruno Mars:

Features - news, tour dates, music, visual, forum, music player, social networking, search site, subscriptions

Interactive - roll over effect, music player, search engine for the website, links to the social networks

Signify the genre - font, sharp pop & maybe a mix of something else, direct eye contact breaking the fourth wall typical for pop artists, red colour scheme stands out, visuals contain a lot of close ups which is also typical for pop genre.

One Direction:

Features - 1D tour tracker, news, music, lyrics, events, 'The boys', photos, videos, newsletter, store, merch, musicstore, 1D book, gifts

Interactive - links to social media pages, tour tracker, music player, link to new single, links to buy tickets

Signifies the genre - font, colour scheme, lots going on on the page, pictures of the band, tracker (for younger 'directioners'),

You Me At Six:

Features -  home, news, live, images, videos, store, social network links, download links

Interactive - links to social media, videos, music player,

Signifies the genre - darker colour, rockier style, chilled out style, laid back, banner not all of band, body language, no bright colours, less excited design.

Overall it can be seen that nearly all music websites, no matter what the genre, include: a news page, tour dates, images, links to their music (downloads, iTunes, amazon), merchandise and links to buy tickets. They all show the genre of the artist very clearly and often have a theme running through them whether that be the colours and themes of their latest album/ single or whether it is just the artists/ bands image as a whole. Therefore when it comes to me creating a website for my band and music video i will try and so the same. I will include the typical pages of a music website and make suer that the theme of my music video and digipack also runs through the website. I will try and portray the genre clearly and make sure that the website supports the band's image.

Random Album Cover

To help develop my photoshop skills ready for when i want to create my digipack we did the "random album cover" activity.
I got the band name from www.wikepedia.org/SpecialRandom
I got the album title from www.quotationspage.com/ random and used the last 4/5 words from the very last quote
I then got the album cover from www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days and used the third picture on the page

Once i had these things i then used photoshop to edit together an album cover. I tried to pic a suitable font to match the name and image. From the picture and name i thought it would more than likely be an acoustic album. Therefore i tried to create an album cover that would reflect this genre.

Digipack

What is a digipack?

A Digipack is the album cover, track listing, photos and lyrics found in the physical CD. It is used to help mould the artists image. It helps to promote the artist and attract the target audience. It helps to signify the genre, making the album more attractive to buy.

The One Direction album's digipack helps to promote the band, making them more appealing and attractive to their young, female target audience. The mid shot on the front cover uses direct mode of address to break the fourth wall, drawing the audience in to make them feel part of the 1D craze. Their body language and facial expressions connote the band as a tight unite, a close group of friends and fun-loving, carefree and boisterous.  The genre is clearly connoted as pop through the fashionable costume choice, the location, soft colours and font choice for the title. The beach location links to the Magaluf, Ibiza scene often associated with teenage lads.

The Killers album digipack is very different however.

• Moody, black and white, not looking at the camera
• Clearly not mainstream - font, not breaking the fourth wall 
• male, slightly older target audience - female on the front
• scruffy, not fashionable
• Indie - random setting of the caravan & goat
• More about the music than the members themselves?

Katy Perry:

• Pop - font, pink colours, teenage females can relate 
• Darker background - contrast to the font/photos - maybe shows her darker side
• She uses her sexuality to attract a male audience as well as female
• The girly / candy like font connotes the pop like music and attracts the younger typically pop target audience 
• Eye line directly at audience (direct address)

This has affected my ideas for my digipack and i will make sure that:

• My band do not use direct mode of address as that is more associated with pop rather than indie rock 
• it has a grungy feel with low key lighting and a darker colour scheme. I may even use black and white 
• it reflects that bands attitude and their characteristics
• that their costume is suitable and that they stand out from their backing 
• have an urban location 
• with it being indie i feel that there should be something quite random on the cover like The Killers had the goat
• Use props that connote the 'sex, drugs, rock & roll' look. 
• 
  

Ideas & Inspirational Music Videos

After looking at various music videos it was clear that the most achievable video to make was likely to be a performance based video with cut aways. Many mainstream artists as well as other genres take on this technique for their music videos and it has almost become what we expect to see when we watch a music video, no matter what the genre of music is.


Some music videos that have contributed to my ideas are:




I really liked the used of shadows and projection in this video. The dark colour scheme but with hints of colour through the image being projected and the lights worked really well, giving it that indie feel. The simplicity worked really well and the bands body language and facial expressions gave it that slightly grungy feel of indie/rock music. They are not peppy and trying to act like pop stars, clearly connoting the genre. This therefore means that when creating our music video we should keep the concept simple and not over the top as this would draw the attention of our target audience. Furthermore we should pay close attention to our bands body language and facial expression, making sure that they are giving the correct message and fit within the genre.

This video gave us the idea of using a rural area. However for more indie rock music they usually use more urban, dingy areas. However I really liked the camera shots in this video. The close ups of the artists face help the audience to identify with the musician with out  him being 'in their face'. The pans along the guitar as he played it worked really well and I felt we would be able to replicate this with our band. I also really liked the 'letters in a bottle' linking back to the name of the song. It's subtle as well as being completely explicit. This gave us the idea of maybe using some sort of prop in our music video that links back to the song name/band name that is subtle but also can't be missed. We could also try out some of the shots of the artist and the instruments in our video as well.





The first thing I liked about this video was the filter used at the very beginning. It gave it almost a retro feel as if the footage was like a flash back to summer, which instantly gave it that young, care free feel often linked to indie musicians. However it then cuts to the low key lighting of the performance footage. Again the mise-en-scene is dark but they add hints of colour through the spot lights which I really liked as it gave it the live feel as if it was the lights on the stage. The other thing that this video inspired me with was the cut aways. They were all footage of the band 'chilling out' as if the viewer was seen them in their own / backstage / private time. This made it seem as though you were getting to know the band better, making the video more appealing. I liked that in the cut aways they were seen being themselves and they connoted the cheeky, carefree attitude of the band. Therefore in our cut aways I feel like we should try to show the characteristics of each band member and what they are like as individuals as well as a whole band. Furthermore they used urban locations again, which we should also include in our video as it will help to clearly present our genre.





   The first shot in this video is a long shot of an urban street presumably in a large US city. This could also be an idea for our first shot, using an establishing shot. Again the low key lighting was one of the first things I spotted. The use of hand held camera right at the begining to introduce the band made the video feel raw, which is the complete contracts of the 'perfect' videos produced for the big pop artists, which clearly helps to introduce the genre from the outset. My favourite shot from the whole video is around 0.48 where we can see his silhouette standing. As he is against a black background with a spotlight between him and the wall. I thought this shot was great for something a bit different and to create an impact. Therefore this has inspired me to try and make good use of shadows and silhouettes in our video.

Initial Music Video Research

Andrew Godwin's Theory - Handout and presentations

Andrew Godwin's six elements of a music video:


1. They demonstrate genre characteristics
2. The lyrics are represented through the visuals
3. The tone and atmosphere of the visuals represent that of the music
4. The demand of the record label will include many close ups of the artist
5. There is often reference to notion of looking (screens, mirrors, stages)
6. There is often intertextual reference

Notes from the handout:

'[ a music video is] a clip that responds to the pleasures of music, and in which that music is made visual, eiin new ways or in ways that accentuate existing visual associations' - Andrew Goodwin, Dancing in the Distraction Factory 

1. 'Thought Beats' - The process of Synesthesia, where you picture sounds in your mind's eye. First person mode of address.Personal trademarks dominates the performance.

2.Songs rarely tell complete narratives. Performance is more important than storytelling and there need to be repeatability.

3. The Star - Meta- narrative is a term that describes the development of a stars image over time. Music videos are one of the most important tools in shaping an artist's image.

4.The way videos relate visuals to the song - illustration, amplification and disjuncture.
Illustrate: proving sometimes over literal set of images.
Amplification: see as the mark of the true music video Auteur, the director as artist. The video retain a link with the song and work to enhance or develop ideas.
Disjuncture: Music videos that intentionally seem to work by ignoring the original song and creating a whole new set of meanings.

5. Technical aspects of music videos -

• speed of camera movement, editing pace and digital effects mimics that of the song
• Cut to the close-up of the artists face 
• cutting on the beat of the music or key rhythm
• Lighting and colour - emphasis key moments, show developments in the song, creating effect
• Mise -en -scene - often to guarantee the authenticity of the video. 

My group

My group:

Anouska Tarren, Me & Lauren Gill

Skills Developing

Today we edited a practise music video to develop our skills in editing. I tried to take in some of Jake's tips by cutting on the beat of the music, not holding the same shot for too long, the framing of shots and having a variety of different shots.

I leant how to edit over a number of time lines, changing the opacity to cut between shots. I liked this way of editing as it was easy to compare the footage that i had to work with, finding the best shot to use.

After editing this video I now have a clear idea about how to go about editing my video. Some of the improvements I would make are:

• Make sure there is a large variety of shots to make the video more exciting to watch.
• Make sure that we try and keep the other camera out of shot as much as possible not to waste any of the footage.
• Listen to the track plenty of times to understand where the song builds and where it drops so that we can film the footage to match.
• Edit the footage on a multiple time line. 

Developing editing skills 1 from Ellie Williams on Vimeo.

Editing Skills Development and Jake Wynne's tips

After spending the morning filming we came back to an editing exercise. Jake gave us many tips on how to edit footage to a track to the highest standard. Some of these tips included:

• adding clicks to the start of the track when filming, so when it comes to editing it makes it easy to sync up all the footage and audio.
• Cutting in time of the beat and changing the shot when the verse/ chorus changes, so it is almost like starting a new paragraph. 
• Edit the whole piece together, making sure it is all in sync, then look at the detail.
• Make sure the footage matches the pace and beats of the track.
• Use effects such as reversing the footage, blurs, and fades to make the footage more interesting. 
• add small narrative but it is more implied rather than just telling a story.
• Make sure there isn't any frame clips (blank, black bits between the clips)
• Looking at Jakes videos, i saw that he didn't hold on one clip for very long, making the videos exciting to watch.
• He told us to save something till the end, don't give everything away in the first 20 seconds. 

From these tips i have a good understanding of how to go about creating and more specifically editing my music video. I think overall throughout the day i learnt the importance of developing a good visual concept for the video, something we can work with and develop our ideas as we go. I also learnt the importance of planning and being organised. Pete explained how it was important to make sure that our actors have rehearsed, we have organised costumes, cameras and making sure everyone knows what they are doing and when they are doing it in order to utilise our time and use our filming time for only filming, to be able to get as much footage as possible. This will subsequently make editing easier as we will have enough high quality footage to fill the whole three minuets. Another one of Jake's tips was that you want to be struggling to get all your footage into three minuets rather than not having enough. You want to not be able to choose between which shots you use and which you don't.

Music Video Event

Yesterday we had a media workshop with the chief examiner and Jake Wynne. Throughout the day we  created Robbie Williams' Let me entertain you. While producing the video we were given many tips to help gain knowledge on how to create the best music video we can to achieve the highest grade. We learnt many useful tips about lighting, camera set up, the amount of shots to take, performance and direction.

Some of the tips included: making sure you have a number of different camera set ups to be able to capture the shot form different angles and directions. They also advised us to film the whole song all the way through for each shot. and that we should film the song at least ten times if not more. Therefore we will have covered all areas, from all angles and directions so have plenty of footage to be able to select the best bits for the music video. We were also advised to play the track out loud while filming. This helps when it comes to editing the footage by making it easier to sync the footage with the track, making it look sharper and more professional. Regarding lighting they taught us to place lights behind the artist to brighten the shot. We also had a light shining on the face of 'the Robbie' to make him stand out and have that extra 'sparkle'. Performance wise Jake was very encouraging and they made sure we evaluated each performance directly after shooting it, discussing what went well and what we could improve on to get the best footage possible. Similarly we were able to observe Jake directing which helped us understand the right way to go about directing our actors on the day to get the best result and performance from them we can. We also learnt that costume is extremely important for the genre and we should make sure to plan what our artists are wearing thoroughly and make sure it fits with the genre we are filming.

Furthermore Pete talked to us about planning and the detail of our blogs. I learnt that planning is extremely important and that we need to blog everything that we discuss and plan to create a clear collection of evidence of the journey to the final music video. We should be aiming to write around three really detailed and thorough posts. We should be creating storyboards and taking tests shots, evaluating them as we go to see how we can improve the final product. He also told us to avoid really famous songs and artists, pick a song you can create strong visual ideas and concepts to and keep the video to around three minuets or under. He also encouraged us to embed rough cuts into our blogs and also to gain peer feedback as well as embedding 'behind the scenes' shots and stills to clearing show the development of our product.

Moreover Pete said it would be a good idea before we come up with pour own idea, to analyse and evaluate real music videos from the genres we are interested in, to be able to get a clear idea of what is expected when creating a music video for that particular genre.

Music Video Studay Day from QE Media Studies on Vimeo.

Holiday homework - Evaluating skills development

Evaluating Skills Development

During A2 fortnight we re-created three 30 second clips from three different music videos. My group selected to recreate: Bruno Mars’ lazy song, Paolo Nutini’s new shoes and One Directions’ kiss you. Through creating these three music videos we developed a number of different skills that will help us when producing our A2 coursework and also taught us a lot about the process of creating a music video.

Some of the things I have learnt through the creation of these videos are: time management, the importance of planning and rehearsal, and finally the difference between music videos depending on their genre and subsequently their target audience. In regards to time management I learnt that I needed to make sure that there is enough time to plan, rehearse and then film the video. I also learnt that, in the future, I need to take into consideration the possibility of mistakes being made, and therefore allow enough time for numerous takes of the same shot to gain the best and most accurate shot possible. With planning and rehearsal it soon became clear that this was the most important factor of the video making. I learnt that practising the dance routines and lip-synching well in advance to filming saved time further down the line and made filming the video much easier and quicker. Similarly to this making sure that everyone knew what they were doing and handing specific roles to each individual speeded up the process and made it quicker to achieve high quality results. Furthermore the planning of props and costume helped when came to filming as they were already in place and ready to go. Finally our planning helped when it came to post-production as we had captured some of the footage needed in our own time at home, so it moved us onto the post-production stage quicker meaning that we could spend longer on editing, therefore creating a higher standard piece of work. During the process we also learnt about the difference in genres of music and how that affects the music videos created for them. Paolo Nutini’s video had a much slower editing pace with longer duration of shots, as it was a much-chilled song, although still upbeat and happy. However the One Direction and Bruno Mars videos both had a much quicker editing pace with more shots throughout due to their pop/ mainstream origins. Furthermore costume and props also clearly contrasted. Paolo Nutini in his video wears scruffy, worn clothes and is not presented as attractive. Whereas One Direction and Bruno Mars are much more groomed due to the difference in their target audience. However both Bruno Mar and One Direction wear silly costumes during their videos suggesting they are trying to appeal to a younger, slightly less mature audience.  This will help me create the right type of video for the music I selected during my A2 coursework.

 

Throughout the process I also developed a few skills in cinematography and editing. Due to creating a film opening for my AS coursework I already had many skills when it came to filming and editing the music videos, however some of the new skills I learnt include using the track when filming, creating split screens, changing the opacity of the footage during editing and importing stills into the videos. I also had to edit the sound and image in sync, which I had not previously had to do. Other skills I developed included lip synching and acting, both of which play a crucial part when trying to produce a professional looking music video. One issue we had when trying to film the music videos was trying to fit everything in frame without loosing any detail. Subsequently we developed our problem solving skills and had to overcome issues that a raised during the process. This has prepared us for when we create our own music videos, to be aware that issues you may not have previously considered may occur, and we will have to make sure we have time to find solutions.

By creating these three 30 second clips we are now more aware of how to go about creating our own coursework. It has helped because I now know I need to do detailed research into the genre of music I will be creating the music video for and look for generic themes and ideas. I will need to select an appropriate location, actors and costume and props. I will have to think about the editing pace of the video to make sure it is parallel with the genre and make sure it will appeal to the target audience. I have also learnt that I will need to be careful with time management and make sure that I can complete the task to a high standard in the time I have to do it, this will mean I will need to plan my video thoroughly and make sure it is well rehearsed before I start filming. Furthermore I will need to create a detailed storyboard and shot list to be organised and save time. I also realised during the creation of these small music videos that most time will be spent on editing and post-production, so therefore I will need to plan to leave plenty of time to be able to edit my footage to a high standard.

In conclusion the process of creating these three 30 second clips has helped me to develop and enhance my skills, taught me about the importance of planning and time management and has prepared me to be able to create a high standard music video.