Music Videos Presentation

Unfortunatly I couldn't finish this prezi off as the program i was using stopped working but i did as much as i could.

Finished music video

Below is my finished music video. I hope you enjoy.

E4 Final Esting

Above is the final Esting I created for this unit.

 

Claymation Exercise in preparation for final Esting

Stop-motion exercise in preparation for Esting

Animation Evaluation

STEP ONE

Here are the results for the survey I asked people to fill out about my E Sting that you can see below.

Below is a screenshot for the results for the question 'What is your age?'

Below is a screenshot for the results for the question 'What is your gender?'

Below is a screenshot for the results for the question 'Do u regularly watch E4?'



 Below is a screenshot for the results for the question 'What genre esting do you think the ESting is?'



Below is a screenshot for the results for the question 'Do you understand the narrative?'

Below is a screenshot for the results for the question 'Do you think this idea is creative/imaginative? If so what makes you think this about it?'

I have decided that for my final evaluation I will produce it as a written report as appose to an oral presentation or an audio commentary. The reason why I have decided on a written report because I feel it is the best way for me to go into detail about my work as I can embed pictures and clips to show my points more clearly. All of my project has been exhibited through YouTube to the audiences. I used YouTube as it is popular and therefore lots of people could watch my work and leave me feedback. I could have put it out on a few more social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and put it out to the public a little more, for example, big screens in popular towns/cities etc. 

One way I did obtain feedback from the audience was through a questionnaire on survey monkey (the responses are shown in graphs above).

This is our protagonist, we would have framed him better if we shot this again - we would have captured him from a different shot length, e.g., a long shot, so we could see him movement better.

During my project on my esting the only constraints I believe I may have faced was the technical work with the bear we used. All of our legal and regulatory issues were covered and so were financial constraints. For example, we faced constraints from the ESting guidance/rules; we were told that we were only allowed to use certain music from the E4 website, provided by them, so that we did not infringe copyright which would have been a legal issue. We were also mindful of the Ofcom Broadcasting code and sections such as 'Harm and Offence' and Protecting the Under 18s' so we made sure that we were careful what we planned and filmed so that it would not leave us in trouble with Ofcom. For example, "1.1 Material that might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of people under eighteen must not be broadcast". We were also held to a time limit of 10 seconds.

Judging Criteria and Constraints from E4.

Over the course of the subject I feel I managed my time very well and worked to deadlines really well. We were given plenty of time to complete the task and we prepared by practicing claymations and live action animations before the final project. We were given one week to plan (pre-production), one week to film (production) and one week to edit (post-production) and I feel that as I did have some time off ill I managed this brief quite well. Managing myself during this project went quite well and I believe I kept myself on track throughout this unit. 

The requirements of this brief’s content were to create a new E4 Esting for the channel E4. For this unit I created a short video of a little animated bear walking along the corridor into a room and producing the E4 logo out of his bag. This meets the requirements because it keeps the viewers entertained and advertises E4's channel. I did conform to the guidance set-up on the E4 ESting competition website as I used all the correct soundtracks and went by all the rules provided. The feedback I obtained was from peers around and friends I have in the course and around. The general tone was that it could have been a little smoother but overall they understood the gist of it and thought it advertised E4 well.

From this project I feel I have learnt how to produce smooth animation pieces and how to capture them as well. I also feel that I have learnt how to work to a brief and work to a deadline. Working to a specified brief was a little challenging at times as you might want to step outside the brief and you can't as it can constrain you, this did throw me but overall I feel it went quite well. My creative side was quite restrained in the form that I could not pick and choose what I could do in each part but I still had a little freedom to pick what kind of animation I would produce. I believe I could be a suitable candidate for work with the media industry where working to a brief is common because I feel I work well when given briefed tasks and would work well among others working on a brief. If I was given a brief in the industry that I felt I could do better if I was allowed to tweak it, I would try to change it as long as it fit with what the client was asking for. After this project I feel I would not like to take animation any further as I didn't really enjoy creating this piece as it was really hard work and I don't have the patience for it. I do not believe it would be a viable career option for me either though it was a good brief to undertake.

Below are a collection of screenshots from both the E4 website and the E4 competition.

Finally here is the final product itself.

Generally respondents found the ESting confusing and didn't understand what was going on, and I agree with what they said. I don't feel we captured/framed the shots well enough to show what was happening and it did not show the effort we put into animating it well enough. Overall, I do not like my animation and I wish I had spent more time composing/constructing each shot although I am glad we attempted what we did as I had not done it before and it was a good experience to learn from.

Research and Planning

Step 1: The song I have chosen for my music video is Jack Johnson- Better Together

Step 2: 

MEANING/CONCEPT/CONTENT

The song I have chosen to do for my music video has a deep meaning. It sounds really superficial about young women just as the song says getting 'high' and staying that way just to forget the truth of the real world. She wants to stay high to 'Keep you off my mind' as she sings for the final line of the song. The content is here messing around and getting away from it all.

IMAGERY

The imagery the song creates for me is some sort of pain and hurt caused by a lose.

NARRATIVE

The story behind the song is a girl in pain finding anyway to block out the truth of what is really going on in the real world and she has turned to drink and drugs to block out the pain. The narrative is very clear and the lyrics say it all.

GENRE/STYLE

The genre of this song is house/pop/rnb it is quite a popular song and is currently in the charts.

PACE

The song is quite pacey but not too fast it’s a chilled out song really in terms of pace and beat

DURATION

The song itself is 4 minutes and 17 seconds.

Below is all of my pre-production work for my music video. 

The Purpose Of Music Videos

INTRODUCTION

In this essay I will be discussing the truth behind a music video for example its promotion, its purpose etc. Music Videos have become more and more in demand over the last decade especially for new upcoming bands. A music video's purpose is to promote the artist and the song, create a visual buzz and enhance visual pleasure.

PROMOTION

Making a music video for a band can let them take huge advantage using it as a method of promotion. Some bands choose to include their name in the music video in some way and some bands chose to create a symbol/icon to represent their band in the video using it as some sort of identification. One band in particular that do this a lot is H.I.M especially in the video below their symbol. Below is also a picture of their symbol.

 

The director usually find a way for themselves to be promoted in some way through the music video and that is usually by putting input into how the music video is made. In the final outcome you can usually tell what director has directed it because of the way the video works. Below is a video from the band Falling In Reverse the song The Drug In Me Is You directed/produced by Michael Baskette who previously worked with Radke on Escape The Fate's Dying Is Your Latest Fashion. His visual style seems to be quite dark and gothic. In most of his videos that he directs you can notice some sort of band playing. 

STRATEGIES

Different style artists will be marketed in different ways due to many different reasons, one artist could be mainstream, independent or even self produced. The mainstream artists connected with majour labels will have a lot of publicity and their image is usually the stereotypical perfect look. with the sex appeal, attractive women and a lot of glossy high end locations. A great example of this would be Robin Thicke's Blured lines. This particular video is sexy and glamorous because it is completely covered in females using their body yo promote the song with next to nothing on.

Videos produced by artists connected with a major label will be shown on websites such as Vivo, Youtube, Vimeo and iTunes. The channels videos created by major labelled artists would be 4Music, MTV Hits and Viva. Independent bands never really have the same finance as a a major label artist therefore the chances of them backing a large project is pretty slim so they therefore produce and release videos paid for by their independent record labels. A great example of this would be Awake Awake's Harbor Lights.This is a great example of independent bands because it shows just how hard it is to not just create the music on your own but also how hard it is to create the videos.

Videos produced by Independent bands will be shown on websites such as Youtube and SBTV. The channels videos like this will be shown on Scuzz, MTV2 and Kerrang. Self-produced bands and artists are probably some of the most hard working artists and bands around and they are able to produce and distribute all of their own music via the internet using sites such as facebook youtube and twitter the list is endless. Three big artists now who started their career through youtube or social networking are The Midnight Beast, Christinna Grimme and The Lonely Island. The advantages of self-produced artists is that they have complete artist control over the video and the music they produce, they have access to all platforms of distribution and exhibitions and all earnings go straight to them no middle man. The disadvantages of producing your own music videos is that your budget may be a lot lower which means your a lot more limited  and you will be incredibly saturated. A great example of an artist would be Christina Grimme's Advice.
Some artists really go the other way and do not exist for the purpose of commercialized work. Their aim is to create a piece of art or visual masterpiece through the beauty of music videos and songs. Therefore can be used to promote maybe a movement in art or a statement. These videos usually feature abstract locations, bright colors and bizarre story lines. The websites you'd usually see these types of music videos on is YouTube, VH1 and Late night TV channels. A great example of a music video like this is Apex Twin's Come To Daddy. This is a statement because it uses a lot of powerful imagery in the video showing how the world around us works.

EXTENSION OF INCOME
Whenever an artists record is played on either the radio, television or another media platform in theory they should be given some sort of royalty or payment in exchange for the use of their record. The reason for the 'in theory' is that 9 times out of 10 the artist wont be paid in anyway as its impossible to track every time a record is played. Instead there is an estimate made and this is made by figuring out how popular a track is and how well it is selling. The mainstream artists are most likely to come out on top as they are quite obviously most played and most popular. The trouble with alternative/non-mainstream artists is that there is way too much risk playing their music compared to playing it safe and sticking to what they know. The best way to air new talent is to put them on YouTube, by doing covers of songs or showcasing their own material, also do some free Exhibitions and Distributions such as street performances and putting your music onto SoundCloud.

EXTENSION OF OUTLETS/PLATFORMS

There are a numerous amount of outlets that allow us, the public to listen to listen to music. These include the Internet, Tv and Radio. The Internet includes YouTube, SoundCloud, Vevo, Spotify and Shazam. Television includes 4Music, Viva, MTV, Kerrang, Scuzz and The Box. Radio channels include Radio 1,2,3, Heart and Kiss. The advantages of the growing media outlets is that we have more chance to listen to the music we want to, more promotion for the artists and more opportunity for money. The disadvantages are that there is more chance of saturation, its a lot harder to be unique and the chance of piracy is increased.

SYNERGY
Synergy in the music/media industry is all about the promotion and sale of a product. For example it could be like a logo or a character advertising and enticing customers to view the music video and maybe buy the track. A great example of this is the Rolling Stones with their lips and tongue logo. Below is the logo itself and this logo has really sold it for the group.

CONCLUSION

Nowadays music videos are so popular and create such a fuss with the public eye. They are so popular more now then ever because there is such a variety available, the quality of the music video has grown dramatically and there is a lot more ways to listen/watch them.

Script Second Draft