Project 4

Music video evaluation

“Just Dance” Lady Gaga
(The actual video wouldnt load onto my blog).

For our music video Shelley and I decided to base it on the single “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga from her debut album. We decided on this song because we both liked the song and thought we could do something simple but still effective with it. We decided to do a typical dance style video; it was all filmed in a TV studio, the people who performed in the video were Shelley and her friend who did the dancing, where one of them was also singing the song (Shelley), we also had someone else from one of the other groups feature in it to sing a small verse of the song which was sung by a male singer (Grant).
We used a choreographed routine which the dancers already knew. We used a few different shots, and there were 3 costume changes which were all simple dance costumes, although the part when Shelley sings she wears a dance costume for that aswell.

One of the problems we had when it came to editing was that we didn’t have enough footage. The recordings we had only went up to the end of the first chorus and so there was some difficulty spreading it out throughout the rest of the video, especially as the song was 4 minutes long. We cut off 2 minutes of the video to bring it down and make it easier to fill in the gaps so we wouldn’t just be repeating everything every chorus. To make it easier we did use some of the clips twice. Also because there weren’t many different camera views and angles we had to zoom in on quite a few clips so it wasn’t all at long shots. The only medium close up we had was when Shelley was filmed singing.
I think if there was a chance to alter or improve out video, we could have shot a wider variety of scenes, with maybe a different background, and definitely lots of different types of shots and angles. This would just be to mix things up a bit because at times when you’re watching it, it can seem a bit repetitive.

Project 4

Two music videos

The Guillemots – Falling out of reach



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-jZwnj22Rk

This music video is from the band The Guillemots, for their single “Falling out of reach”. The Guillemots are an indie/alternative style band.
The music video features Sir Ian McKellen, he is playing a tired, aging bureaucrat working a very repetitive job, who takes a moment from his work to sit there and realise how much he is living a non-life. Throughout the video he sees himself present, but really not quite there in various situations.
There is a shot of him still sitting in his office chair in the middle of a subway station, watching everyone pass him in fast motion while he still moves slowly. The next shot is of him sitting in what you can assume is or used to be his home, still sitting in his office chair clutching a wooden horse ornament. Men suddenly appear and start carrying off all his possessions again in fast motion while he is still slow, and he suddenly tries to stop them leaving with his things but isn’t fast enough.
In the next shots it just looks like he’s floating through everyday life, but in a way he’s not really there, then he’s lying on the floor and people start picking him up.
Only then is there the scene with the band performing the song in the house of the man, they are just doing a simple performance using a basic set with their instruments. At the end of the video the man straightens his tie, he looks confused, but as though he’s seeing things with a bit more perspective.

I really like this video because I feel that it’s got a really good message behind it, that you shouldn’t let life just pass by, by overworking and getting over tired by something that shouldn’t consume your whole self, and that its okay to rest when your feeling drained.

Alot of the camera shots were medium shots, medium close-ups and close ups. I think this is to help portray the emotion in the man’s face as he’s going through all of these different feelings. There are a couple of long shots where they are showing the man in a location, I think this is just simply to show where he is. The shots of the band playing were mainly medium long shots, to get a good view of their faces and instruments and the emotion on their own faces.


Feist - 1234



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D0aTSkslWY

This music video is from Feist, is a singer/songwriter named Leslie Feist, for the single “1234”. Her music is mainly pop/indie genre.
This music video looks like it’s quite basic. It’s set in what would be quite a dim warehouse, but is brightened up because Feist is wearing a blue sparkly all-in-one suit. The lighting also makes the place look more bright, it looks like the light is coming from a bit of wall just between the wall and the floor, illuminating the shiny floor and the people in their sparkling costumes. All of the dancers are wearing very brightly coloured outfits. The performance is quite active; the dancers are always dancing throughout the song to a very well structured, choreographed routine, Feist is also involved in the majority of the routine, with some individual parts, for example dancers lifting her up while she is singing and doing her other parts.

Throughout the whole song Feist is singing whilst dancing, there isn’t an individual singing performance.
When you watch this music video it seems like there isn’t much meaning to it because the choreographing performance is more eye-catching than the actual singing. The song is about old teenage loves and the boys changing their hearts only now, and instead of making it a more sad song and video, the singer has opted to make it a more uplifting, optimistic sounding song, and to give it a matching style video.

It’s definitely more of a fun video instead of a deep meaningful video which is what most people probably would have done.
In the video they only use one camera throughout the whole thing. The closest shot the camera gets is a medium shot of Feist singing at the very beginning, then throughout after that it is mostly long shots and very long shots, this is just because of all the dancing though. The same camera all the way through just moves around alot to different angles, for example they use a high angle shot when she has been lifted up and the also use a low angle shot at one point. The camera is moving around all the way through the video apart from at the very start and at the very end.

project 3

The key stylistic features of a magazine are the masthead, the lead article and the main sells. The masthead is the name of the magazine and is the first thing you usually see on the front cover as it’s big and bold. The lead article is generally the main story which the photo on the front cover is related to, whether it’s an artist/band/celebrity. The main sells on the front cover are the other stories which are featured in the magazine which are usually interviews with other celebrities or contributors.

Mixmag is a magazine for the dance genre. The slogo is “The worlds biggest dance music magazine”. The masthead is placed at the top of the cover in a bold font. The lead article is on Alison Goldfrapp, a singer, who is pictured on this front cover. There are quite a few main sells featured, like “524 nights out!” and “Gnarls Barkley – Hip hop’s new superstars bit yer legs”.

They are using colours that seem to fit in with the theme for the lead article in this issue, Alison Goldfrapp is wearing a bright pink, and so they are using complimenting colours such as purple, pale pink and white. This magazine is most likely going to be aimed at older teenagers (18+) to people in their twenties, and because it’s more of a specialist magazine people who have a big interest in dance music or who dj is going to be more likely to purchase it.

Q Magazine is a music magazine whose artists and bands featured vary greatly, for examples on just this magazine cover, 2 of the artists featured are The Rolling Stones and Mariah Carey who couldn’t be more different from each other. The slogo for this magazine is “The Worlds Greatest Music Magazine”.

The lead article is for an interview with The Verve, and the main sells include “Kylie vs. Dannii – Love? Hate? Love-Hate?” which is to do with the Minogue sisters, and “What’s in the Box? – Unwrapped: rock packaging goes mental”.

They use quite a basic looking front cover, the colours they use are quite simple, using simple black, white and red colours, and a white background for the picture they are using for the lead article picture.

Kerrang! Is a magazine that features music from bands and artists who are from mainly alternative/pop-punk/pop-rock/rock genres. Their slogo is “Life is loud”.

Their lead article is for band Paramore, their main picture features the lead singer Hayley Williams. Some of the main sells are: “Good Charlotte – the Madden boys are back!” and comes with a picture, and also “Dirty little secrets! – what’s your favourite rock star got to hide?”

This front cover has quite alot going on with lots of bright eye catching colours, and again they look like they’re trying to stick to a theme to go with the lead article picture – Hayley Williams, she has bright red hair and is wearing a matching red top, alot of the font colours are red and orange.

It also shows alot of the bands/artists that are featured in that issue, at the bottom at top of the cover.

From my research on the ABC website I have found that Q Magazine has the highest net circulation, selling 81,240 issues every month in the UK and R.O.I and 103,017 in total around the world, which is probably because of how long they have been around and how they have such a reputable magazine, although it’s Mojo that is selling the most magazines to other countries around the world, selling 44,897 copies of its issue every month, these two magazines are definitely one of the most popular magazines for people who seriously appreciate all genres of music.
The magazine Rocksound is selling the least copies of its issues, selling 12,734 copies In the UK and R.O.I every month and 7,277 copies everywhere else in the world, though this is probably because it’s not as well known as Q and Mojo are, and they usually stick to only one genre of music which is rock.
NME and Kerrang! Magazines are selling the least copies to other countries, NME only selling 3,562 and Kerrang! selling only 2,144 copies, probably because again they’re not aswell known, and have not been around as long as the other big magazines, also its featuring more specific genres of music, for example NME focus more on indie music.

Project 3 - Magazine

http://www.box.net/shared/3y6xssxle4
(link to show if image below does not work)

Project 2; part 2

Joe Brooks Myspace page

Joe Brooks is the 2nd most popular unsigned act on the Myspace Website.
What information is there? The information available is a biography of himself and his music. His biography is more personal than the one on the Feeders Myspace.
There is also a mailing list you can sign up to for news updates and a detailed blog which is updated daily. On his page there are adverts for companies in which he is endorsed in, for example “Adobe” and a children’s charity called “Invisible Children”.
Like on Feeder’s Myspace, there aren’t any songs available to download, however there are many YouTube videos again for fans to watch.
There are a few fun things for the fans to have on his page, there is a program you can download where you can add his handwriting to your own writing program on your computer called “Joe Brooks hand” there are also banners and backgrounds for your own Myspace page. There is also a link for his clothing store.
Joe Brooks uses the comment and message facilities on all the websites he is on to keep in touch with fans, there are links for his web pages on YouTube, Facebook and his official website, and also a link for his Twitter.

Project 2; part 2

Feeder Myspace page

On Feeder’s Myspace page there is a large amount of information on the band, for example there is a biography, blog, photos, Mp3’s and videos from YouTube. Although it isn’t possible to download any of the Mp3’s playing on the page there are links to where you can download albums, there is an iTunes link advertising their new album and an exclusive live set from a festival.

There are also lots of different video’s to watch from the YouTube website.

On the page there are links to various outside web pages, for example their Bebo page, and also for their official website and their street team website.

The only way for the band to keep in contact with their fans is through simple messaging and commenting on the page.

Project 2; part 1 - Music industry

What impact has new media technology had on the way people listen to music?
· Apple iPods
· Mp3 players (e.g. Zen, Sony)
· Nearly all mobile phones now have Mp3 players and fm radio built in


You can also buy music online, e.g. hmv.com – where you can also download music legally now. Apple let you download things legally to your iPod, for example: photos, videos, film, TV shows.
A downfall is that it encourages criminal activity: peer to peer file sharing – e.g. Limewire.

What impact has the Internet had on the way people access music?

· Internet: A lot of people now use websites such as YouTube and MySpace to access and listen to music, but people also download illegal file sharing programs like Limewire.

There are still people who buy actual CD’s, but much more people opt for purchasing online because it’s usually cheaper and more convenient.

Internet singles on iTunes are cheaper 79p versus £1.99 physical single
Often there may also be a successful music group who can afford to give away their music for free online, for example, Radiohead gave their album “In Rainbows” away online.


How have the music labels responded to new media technology?

· Home recording: reason, audacity, fruit loops
· Apple are the world leaders in digital downloads: iTunes, iPods, iPhones
· Rupert Murdoch owns MySpace; his company News International own Fox, Sky, The Sun and many global media companies.
· Google bought YouTube.

How do musicians use new media technologies such as MySpace to promote themselves?

Many musicians and bands use the internet to promote themselves and their music, there is a very large number of signed and unsigned music acts who use MySpace and YouTube to promote themselves and their upcoming gigs.

Single track downloads, the most popular digital music format, grew by 53% to 1.7 billion (including those on digital albums)
Digital sales now account for an estimated 15% of the global music market, up from 11% in 2006 and zero in 2003. In the world’s biggest digital music market, the US, online and mobile sales now account for 30% of all revenues
There are more than 500 legitimate digital music services worldwide, offering over 6 million tracks – over four times the stock of a music megastore
Tens of billions of illegal files were swapped in 2007. The ratio of unlicensed tracks downloaded to legal tracks sold is about 20 to 1
(Taken from http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/DMR2008-summary.pdf )