Laws on Music Videos/ filmmaking

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/before-you-start/legal-faqs

http://www.reelseo.com/copyrighted-music-in-video/

I used these webpages to find it what I can and can't include in my video. These webpages are very useful for later reasons as I don't want to breach copyright laws.

Exploring Music Videos

I have been researching into different types of music/music videos for inspiration for my own video, I have found a few which I believe show a lot of originality, which makes them very interesting and unique.

I really enjoyed this video because of its simplicity, the video works very well with song because of the dark and deep themes, the slow zoom out corresponds with the song because as you get further into the song you find out more about the story, you get to see more and learn more about whats going on, this feature intrigues the audience. The fact that it is filmed in black and white connotes the depressing nature of the song, it resembles the darkness and how the artist waned to present his emotions visually.

This video by The White Stripes, contains a lot of animation and effects. I think the use of the bright red triangles really stands out and is very eye catching for the audience. The continuous use of triangles represents infinite space, it connotes that music will never die out, and there is infinite possibilities in what you can achieve.

Choosing a Song

1) 2) 3)

I have narrowed down my song selection to 3 songs, I think because of the lyrics, the songs can help me creatively on how I will like to produce my product, it can help me with the themes and how I will like it to look. All three of the songs are quite dark, therefore i may present my video in black and white, to match the theme of the song, I could also have dark/scary things being featured in my music video.
  4) However this last song is a lot more up beat, therefore I could use brighter themes when creating a video to this, I could colour enhance the video to make a happier feel to the song. It would help draw in a audience, because the song will make them feel good, so the make them feel happy.

Film Noir Music Video

Over a few days a 5 of us were given the task to make a music video, in the style of film noir. The main thing we had to focus on was the lighting, so we could get the best shadows. At first it seemed almost impossible to make a music video in the film noir style, but however as we all worked together we figured out how to create it applying to the conventions.  I wanted to achieve a video with great lighting as in film noir I think it is crucial that you achieve sharp images and shadows, to gain the suspense.

The only problems we came across was trying to get the key lighting, but as we tried different angles and methods we slowly worked out what to do. Overall I was happy with the outcome and I think I video was good considering the amount of time we had to finish.

Film Noir (Low Key Black and White Lighting)

I think that Low Key Black and White Lighting is a good way to present a film, it adds a suspicious theme to the feature.
I like this technique as it creates an ominous feeling in the film, and makes the audience feel un-easy. However as I will be creating a music video I highly doubt I will be using this because it isn't linked to that genre of media.

Activity 12

 The product is aimed at people from the UK, specifically London. This is because of the language (slang), which is used specifically people from that area, so that the audience will get a better understanding of the lyrics. The audience will be a small population of people from the UK who are particularly interested in this genre of music, however even though it is aimed at a small audience, as the song has grown in popularity, it has reached places such as USA. As the artist is small, audiences try and share the product as much as possible throughout social media, this may make them feel closer to him. They find pleasure is this because they feel like the are helping out with the product t make it grow in popularity. This is an example of users and gratification The video could act as a stereotype for black people, as they may be seen as they are all interested in rap music. I believe that this music product has no main music, its just a way the artist felt how he wanted to represent himself. The audience is close with the artist because of things like Twitter and You Tube, the audience are more passive as they are not engaging with the product they are jut absorbing the information.

Personally I like the video for its dark themes, its lighting and cinematography, i think that it really adds to the song and the culture the artist is trying to prevail.

Genre

Over the last week in AS Media I have been learning about the word "Genre". I have learnt about it's effects and importance on the film and television industry. I learnt that with certain genres you would expect to see certain things, for example, in 'Star Wars' you would expect to see lightsabers, aliens and for the film to be set in space, this is because it is a Science Fiction film, where as in a western, you would expect to see guns, remote areas and cowboys. This makes genres easily identifiable because of the fact that they have different conventions.

However in films, the plot needs a twist. This is too keep the audience hooked. A twist differentiates a film from other films within the same genre. A film needs a twist to keep the audience intrigued, because they don't want to watch the same film of a certain genre over and over again. 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Lord of the Rings' are very different and very similar at the same time but they are both fantasy films. This is because 'Alice In Wonderland' is aimed at children where as 'Lord of the Rings' is aimed at 12 year olds and up wards, however they both contain similar props and they both have mysterious and exciting creatures. Despite the fact that both films are aimed at different ages, the films are based on books, which means that both films could be aimed at universal age groups, because different generations may have been brought up by these books.

Also I learnt how genres can be diverse, they are not static and can be mixed with other genres like a "rom com" film or a Science Fiction Horror film, like 'Alien', both of which are very popular. This is to add variety to entertainment, which is similar to having a twist in a film. Writers do this to appeal to a wide audience, because they main reason for a film, book, television programme being made is too make a vast profit.

Some actors like Jason Stateham stick to one role. He mostly plays a muscular action hero, this is because audiences like repetition, and they would find it weird if he played a different role, because they know him for being one specific character in most of his films, this fact will lure in fans of his work and his films. However actors like Johnny Depp can play various different roles, for example 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and 'Blow'. In both films Johnny Depp plays a leading role, in one film he plays a crazy pirate where as in the other he plays a drug dealer. He gets away with this because he is known for being a very versatile actor.