Weekly Update

Hi everyone it's the end of the week which means it's time for an update. This week I managed to do my Lip Sync video which I found interesting as I thought it'll be 'easy' but when I actually done it I found out this wasn't the case. I then talked about the music videos which were aspiring and explained what made them special. This I also made my own music video (lyrics video) of 'Shake it off' by Taylor Swift. I printed out the lyrics with emojis on it to make it interesting and placed them on the wall and went through the lyrics with the camera which then I edited on 'Premiere Pro' to add effects and make it more interesting and added another post to show you behind the scenes of recording the lyrics video.

Hope you've enjoyed this week and hope to see you all here next week where I'll be looking at conventions of different genres and many more.

Music Video Challenge (BEHIND THE SCENES)

Hello everyone I thought it'll be good to give you some insight into what went on while creating this video and show you some pictures behind the scene. First of all me and my partner initially thought it'll be best if I do the camera work and she directs however after a couple of efforts we switched it around. I became the director and she was handling the camera work. I had to make sure she doesn't get confused and try support her while recording by giving her directions.

Here are some pictures behind the scenes:

Inspiring videos

Today I'm going to show you some shots in music videos which I like and will tell you how I'll be able to recreate it.

TRAVIS SCOTT - ANTIDOTE 

I'll be able to create this shot by taking a low angle shot in the dark behind the singer. I'll have to have the singer facing straight and position the camera so that it looks like the moon is right next to the singer and is on face level with the singer.

FUTURE - MASK OFF

I like this shot as it makes a 'creepy' settings for the viewer before the actual music starts which the song itself is not a 'joyful' song. I'll recreate this shot by putting a 'yellow' bulb in a dark room and have a close shot of the persons eye. 

ZAYN - DUSK TILL DAWN FT. SIA

I like this two shot as a due to the emotions shown in it. Creating this music video will require good actors. I'll firstly ensure the room has a dark setting so it sets the mood as it's not a 'joyful' shot and then have the camera take a two shot and ensure both of the people including the guy shouting express their emotions properly so the audience can 'feel' what they're seeing it.

STORMZY - COLD

One reason why I like this shot is that it fits in with the title of the song 'cold'. I'll recreate this shot by having a snow machine and ensuring that it's shot in the dark as you normally associate snow with winter where it's dark and finally ensure the artist wears something that that'll keep them warm. 

NAUGHTY BOY - La La La 

I like this shot because of the scenery after escaping from negativity. I'll ensure I'll have a wide shot taken in a mountainy area so all of the scenery can be taken in by the viewer so they can see how the people are feeling in the music video as they're walking to 'freedom' as there's no obstacles. 

Music Video Challenge

Hello everyone today me and my partner managed to complete our Music video challenge. We picked out a music video from the hat and luckily (I'm joking by the way) we got Taylor Swift 'Shake it off'. We decided to do a lyric video as we thought it'll be more unique and engaging for the audience. Initially we thought it'll be best to hold the lyrics up and then drop them however after we started recording it we thought that this will be too boring so decided to make it more interesting it'll be best if we stick it to the wall and use a camera to go through each lyric. As a result we managed to print out the lyrics with emojis to make an effect to it rather than just having words on a paper and printed approximately 100 copies and sticked them on the wall.

We hope you enjoy the music video and we do know it's not the best lyric video but we tried our best!

Lip Sync - LAST CHRISTMAS

Hi guys today I've done my lip sync video and chose to do 'Last Christmas' as I recorded it in the festive season so felt it'll be wrong if I don't. Hope you enjoy and try to not laugh too much!

Weekly Update

Hello everyone it's the end of another week of my project. This week I looked into more theorist such as Laura Mulvey's theory and explained to you guys about her 'gaze' theory and also explained Richard Dyer's 'star' theory. After that I made presentations on Cyndi Lauper, Spice Girls. Black eyed peas and Miley Cyrus to show what made these artists/group significant in their time.

Next week I'm looking to make more practical blogs looking into music videos such as lip sync videos, Inspiring videos and much more so for the people who don't enjoy theorists it'll be more fun for you and hope to see you here soon.

10's timeline artist (Miley Cyrus)

00's timeline artist (Black eyed peas)

90's timeline artists (Spice Girls)

80's timeline Artist (Cyndi Lauper)

Hello everyone I've created presentations about different artists/groups from the 80's-10s to explain why these artists were dominant. I will be posting them all differently according to the year they were around. This post will be about my first timeline artist Cyndi Lauper.

Hope you enjoy!

Luara Mulvey's Theory

Laura Mulvey is a feminist female theorist who believed in the 'Male Gaze'. The concept of gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people presented. 

The Male Gaze can be thought of in three different ways:

•       How men look at women
•       How women look at themselves
•       How women look at other women

Gaze and the feminist theory

Laura Mulvey coined the term ‘Male gaze’ in 1975. She believes that in film audiences have to ‘view’ characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male. This makes it more appealing to the audience as when they see male who are 'sexually appealing' they can be encouraged to watch the video more as the female act in a seductive way.

Features of the Male Gaze:

• The camera lingers on the curves of the female body, and events which occur to women are presented largely in the context of  a man’s reaction to these events.
• Relegates women to the status of objects. The female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.

This theory is shown in the video of Justin Bieber 'Sorry'. In the music video we see girls who are dressed and dance in a 'seductive' way. This makes it more appealing for the male gaze as they're more intrigued to watch the music video and they enjoy the voyeurism.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRh_vgS2dFE

Richard Dyer's Star theory

Richard Dyer is a music video theorist who was born in 1945 in Leeds but was raised in London. Throughout his career he has taught courses on variety of subjects such as Italian cinema, representation, film and stardom. 

He believed that the viewers perception on film/music video is influenced directly by the perception of those who star in it. The term 'Pop performer' and 'Pop star' was not seen as the same thing in Dyer's eyes as he believed 'Pop stars' have a higher significance and have 'brand awareness'.

Richard Dyer believes Pop stars are constructed as artificial images instead of being represented as 'real people'. It helps if a Pop star has a USP as in the music video they can be copied or parodied because of it. As a result pop stars have an advantage as they have a constructed image which is consistently the same over a period of time so they don't need to be dependent on creative input of others.

Richard Dyer even stated this by saying "Star is an image not a real person this is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is).

However the construction process is neither automatic nor fully understood. Record companies think they know about it - but witness the number of failures on their books. TV programmes such as The X Factor show us the supposed construction process of how an ordinary person is groomed and coached to fulfilling a record company and market expectations.

Industry and Audience

Stars are manufactured by the music industry to serve a purpose to make money out of audiences who respond to various elements of a star persona by buying records and becoming fans. The stars are the cogs in which record companies shape them as we have seen in TV talent shows. They tend to manufacture what they think audiences want. Pop stars, whatever their nature, are quite clearly the product of their record company - and they must be sold.

Richard Dyer said "Stars are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings"

Historically, the industry has provided us with a range of commodities all with different appeal. One way to achieve this is by producing new stars of different types playing constantly mutating genres of music.

The other way is to produce a star with a long lasting appeal so once they're brand is established they can attract audiences for years and years such as the way U2 have done it. However, these methods are oppositional. The 'convey belt' approach to stars means that talent is developed and that the stars may be very short-lived (such as only two albums or two years).

If there's too much focus on the 'old generation' this could lead to younger fans not being able to identify with stars as they see them belong more to their parents generations and is not relatable. That's why the industry develops both types of talent and ensures it has a diverse range of stars so it's relatable to different audience segments.

Ideology and Culture

Stars are represented in shared cultural values and attitudes and promote a certain ideology which then the interest of these values enhances their 'star quality'.

Star could initiate a fashion trend which then this can be copied by their fans such as their hairstyle and clothing. The increase of social media gives the stars the opportunity to establish their views out of music which can increase their interaction with fans such as Lady Gaga on social media when she talks about LGBT issues can relate to some fans.

Character and Personality

As stars are portrayed begins as a 'real' human, possessing gender and race characteristics, and existing against a socio-historic background. The star transformation process turns them into a construct but the construct has a foundation in the real. We tend to read them as not entirely fictional as are very much of their time and culture. 

Weekly Update

Hello everyone the first week of my project has flew by! This week I talked about some of my favourite music videos and explained my reasoning behind them and also explained about theorist such as Frith and Goodwin as their theories are used in the music videos nowadays. Next week I'll be talking about more theorist and some major artists from the 80s-10s and will be analysing their success.

Hope to see you soon!

Simon Firth's Theory

Today I'm going to look at the theorist Simon Firth and his way of looking at how a music video will be successful. He was one of the most important theorist in music videos. In 1998 Firth believed that music videos will be characterised by three broad typologies such as narrative, performance and conceptual.

PERFORMANCE

The performance videos was one of the most common type of feature and was when a 'star' or a group singing in a concert to fans. Firth believed this made a music video successful as it conveyed a sense of in the concert experience which made the fans feel more engaged to the music. In addition to that he believed that performance videos that displayed the star or the group in the studio reminded the viewer that the soundtrack is important as normally we don't see much of artists behind the scene so by us seeing the artists we like listening you could argue it makes us have more of connection with them. One example of this is shown by One direction in the little things music video where it's them in the studio this showed all the One direction fans something they rarely see and as a result made them more connected to the song and made it a successful music video.

Frith's theory of performance was also supported by Gow who said "Performance oriented visuals cue viewers that indeed, the recording of the music is the most significant element” (Gow, 1992)

ONE DIRECTION (LITTLE THINGS): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGPeNN9S0Fg

NARRATIVE

    

Another typology Firth believed was that Narrative can make music videos successful. This is because the viewers when listening to music which is emotional such as a love song if you put a story to it this can make the viewer more emotionally attached. Schwichtenberg also backed this up by saying "Video may tell any kind of story in linear, cause-effect sequencing. Love stories are the most common narrative mode in music video and normally follow the pattern of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Males who do things and females who passively react or wait for something to happen dominate action in the story" (Schwichtenberg, 1992).

BEYONCE (If I Were A Boy): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWpsOqh8q0M

CONCEPTUAL

The final typology Firth believed in was conceptual which relied on poetic form, primarily metaphor so they can be metaphysical poetry articulated through visual and verbal elements. Another theorist Lorch also said "These videos make significant use of the visual element, presenting to the eye as well as the ear, and in doing so, conveying truths inexpressible discursively” (Lorch 1988). Good music video example is Sam Smith 'La La La' where in the music video it portrays 'the wizard of oz'.

NAUGHTY BOY - La La La FT. Sam Smith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O1_3zBUKM8

KEY WORDS:

Typology: Classification according to general type

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

Andrew Goodwin believes that pop videos do not follow the traditional structure of novels and films; instead they are approached from a different angle. Goodwin believes the reason for this is as follow:

•        Pop videos are based around songs and songs do not follow a certain structure
•        The artist of the song is used as a narrator and a character
•        The singer breaks the fourth wall and looks directly at the camera creating an instant connection with the viewer by involving them.

Andrew Goodwin came to the conclusion that some music videos visualisation may go beyond the original meaning of the song or sometimes the video may provide visual pleasure that may encourage the viewer to repeatedly watch the video over and over and sometimes the video may promote other things such as films.

Goodwin then grouped these conclusions into 3 categories

·      Illustration

·      Amplification

·      Conjuncture

Illustration: 

If a music video tells the story of the lyrics and expresses them through their literal meaning, then this is called Illustration. An example of this would be the music video of ‘whatever you like’ by T.I. This is an good example because during the music video he shows his lifestyle. In the start of the video you can see that he's a confident guy as he starts to flirt with the girl and then later on when he talks about his wealth we can see in the music video of him living the luxury life. This is could make the viewer be more engaged as they're 'feeling' the lyrics.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQJACVmankY

Amplification:

It occurs when the video adds new meaning to the song however do not contradict the lyrics, some may see this is as a ‘deeper meaning’. An example of amplification is Amy Winehouse ‘Back to Back’ music video here Amy Winehouse sings about an end to a relationship with a partner she loved however the music video is set out as 'black' and 'grey'. During the whole video we feel her sadness as you see everyone dressed in dark clothes and also her putting her heart in the grave makes the people feel the same emotions as the song would like us to feel.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJAfLE39ZZ8

Disjuncture:

Disjuncture is when the video has little to do with the meaning of the song and does not interpret the lyrics or it may even contradict the lyrics and seen as not making sense. This is shown well in 'Elastic heart' by Sia. The music video is two people just moving weirdly in a cage and have no meaning to the song at all.

LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWZGAExj-es

Intro

Hello Bloggers!

My name is Diyar Kurnaz and this year I'll be a creating promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with a digipak for the album's release and a magazine advertisement for the digipak. Hope you're excited as I am and will join me on a weekly basis as I update you with my progress. 

My favourite videos

Today I'm going to show you some of my favourite music videos and will be explaining you the reasons why I do like them.

Coldplay - Adventure Of A Lifetime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtXby3twMmI

This music video is a really interesting as it's performed by Chimps. It makes it stand out from many other music videos as first of all it seems like they're representing the actual band 'coldplay' as there's four chimpanzee and it seems like they're having all having a great time which makes it enjoyable to watch.

The Lumineers - Ho Hey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvCBSSwgtg4

I enjoy watching this music video as it has a chilled vibe. In the music video you can see the lighting goes along with the beat of the song and also the flowers hanging down and group of people singing together makes you happy from the inside and boosts my mood personally.

James Bay - Hold Back The River

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqiH0ZSkM9I

One of the reasons why this music video is enjoyable to watch is because it's simplistic. It's just James Bay recording in a studio which I think was the best way to record the music video as it's a sad song so I think it worked perfectly and makes it one my favourite music video.