Music Video Conventions

One of the options for me to complete is a music video, I am unsure whether to do this or create a short film therefore I am exploring both of the options.

In the lesson we looked at two music videos, one from 1962 and another from 2011. We did this in order to compare the videos and look at how typical they are.

"Tell Him", The Exciters (1962):

• The artists are in the video
• They are looking at the camera, like they are singing to the the audience
• There are a variety of camera shots used
• Close up of the person singing
• Sychronised dance/movement
• Miming
• No music equipment, making the video seem natural
• Tracking shot of the the artists
• Zoom in on the main singer

However there was quite an irrelevant setting with not a great story or narrative behind the video.

"What Makes You Beautiful", One Direction (2011):

• Close up on the person singing
• Changing of the setting
• Look directly at the camera
• Panning on the whole band
• Someone of the opposite text involved
• Eye catching opening shot
• Cross dissolve between scenes slowly
• Time changes occur quickly
• Mobile camerawork
• A narrative behind the video

Looking at both of these videos there are clear differences between the two, showing how things have changed overtime from the overall quality of the filming to the money spent on music videos. However we were also able to recognise the conventions that have developed or are continued over time. In most performance music videos, which both of these were, the artist(s) will look directly to the camera throughout the whole video, or the majority of it.

Institutional Mode of Representation (IMR)

In film theory, the institutional mode of representation (IMR) is the dominant mode of film construction. This style was developed after the turn of the century and became the norm, most notably for Classical Hollywood Cinema, in about 1914. 
The IMR is characterised by the attempt to create a fictional world on screen that the audience can become completely imaginatively involved in, instead of feeling separate  This is created by using close up's, these are something that were never used in the Primitive Mode which was the used for early cinema. A three dimensional space is created as well as new cinematic techniques such as lighting and editing to preserve the illusion of spatial integrity that is lost with close ups. 
The close ups make the characters psychologically individuated therefore the audience interpret the motivations of characters and involve themselves in the films. 

Umbilical

Camerawork:

• The use of a panning shot from the umbilical cord to the child shows the audience immediately that the child is attached
• The low angle shot of the child looking toward the window, suggests that the window is where the child wishes to be, meaning that they want to be outside.
• Close up of the drawings and crayons shows to us that the child is lonely and reinforces that they wish to be outside.
• A high angle shot of the child is used when they realise they can't get out, builds sympathy.

Sound:

• The childs excitiment when they are playing with the ball in comparison to the more sombre music that plays when they are colouring. This suggests the excitement a child holds for new things and also reinforces their boredom
• The music increases in volume as the child gets futher away from the point it is linked to and then suddenly there is a bang and the child is pulled back in.

Mise-en-scene:

• The drawing that you see relatively early are important in understanding the context of the film.
• The crayons are also signifcant because drawing seems to be the one thing this child can do and when she stand on the crayons she has sttod on her happiness in a way.
• The umbilical cord is also important as it is always holding her back.

Editing:

• The animated effect is all edited and therefore there is editing throughout the whole film.

Pudding Bowl

Camera Work:

• Panning extreme close up of magazines initially deliberately foregrounded to create an impact when the audience therefore later in the film you feel empathy for the her.
• A low angle shot with both Ivy and Jack makes him seem more superior to Ivy as he is positioned in the background. 
• The high angle shot of Ivy, almost birds eye view, makes her look quite sinister and you know something is going to happen.
• The worms eye view of the hair falling on the camera suggests that her dreams of the people in the magazines is disappearing.
• Shallow focus showing Ivy's dream on her bike emphasises her dreams.

Sound:

• Lack of dialogue throughout the short film
• The silent pauses between Ivy's response shows her vulnerability
• The sound of the piano playing creates sympathy when Ivy looks at her new hair. However this begins to have little hints of mischief into the music. 
• When Ivy goes to steal the bike the music seems to be very loud and doesn't appear to fit the style.

Mise-en-scene:

• The positioning of Jack when he sits on the chair in the background suggests he is superior to her, which is heightened by the slight low angle shot.
• The choice of characters was quite signifcant to portray the correct sense about the person. Also due to Ivy's image sympathy was built by the audience towards her.
• There was a consitency in the short film where Ivy's was riding of her bike dreaming as it showed a similar red dress, making it quite effective.

Editing:

• A clockwipe was used to show the change in time and how quickly her hair was gone.
• Leading up to Ivy's hair being cut the cuts were faster and therefore showed that something was going to happen but also showed that like the clockwipe her hair was quickly cut off.
• The effect when Ivy removed her glasses made the audience feel as though they were in her position and therefore built sympathy for the charaqcter once again.

Research Methods

There are four different types of research method that I can use to collect information on research and development of my music video. These are:

Primary Research
This involves collecting data that doesn't already exist, it can be used to collect answers to questions related to marketing or can be used to find out target audience opinions of certain topics. Examples of primary research include; questionnaire, interview, textual analysis or a focus group. I believe that primary research will be important when researching because I could construct an interview with the music artist or give out questionnaires about the progress of my music video and could use it to ensure it would appeal to my selected audience. This type of research would definitely be the most reliable as it is data that I would have collected myself and not through reading books and looking on the internet. However there are disadvantages of using primary research, peoples answers can be easily bias if they know how someone else has answered the questions. I will try and resolve this problem by making every questionnaire or interview confidential and private.


Secondary Research
This type of research is more the collection of existing research, it uses existing research to answer questions. Examples of secondary research include; books, websites and newspapers. In order to create the best music video possible I will need to look into directors and conventions of the the genre of my artist, which is likely to be collected using the internet and search engines which means that I will be using secondary research for a large amount of my research. The advantages of this is that it is cheap and very easy to find because you simply use a search engine like Google  The disadvantage is that sometimes people write their opinions and these are not reliable therefore when collecting secondary data I will need to ensure that all the information we use are facts.



Qualitative Research
This type of research is one that data is obtained from a quite small group of people, and is not analysed in a statistical way. Example would be an interviews and focus groups. This type of research is one that we are least likely to use because we would like to find clear conventions of our genre of music, which would mean asking quite a large group of people and therefore making it quite statistical. However we may if possible use
an interview as a way of understanding our music artist.


Quantitative Research
This research is the opposite to qualitative in the sense that it statistically analyses larger groups of people. Examples of this type of research are: surveys and questionnaires. I think it will help to use this method during the researching and the making of our product, this will be useful as it will help us to make sure we are making a music video conventionally. The disadvantage of this being that we won't have detailed responses.