Rizzle Kicks - Traveller's Chant Script (Will Change to Video soon)

RizzleKicks-TravellersChant.docx

YouTube's First Music Awards - Whose in the lead?

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead YouTube nominations

Page last updated at 07:03 GMT, Tuesday, 22 October 2013 08:03 UK

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead the nominations for the first YouTube Music Awards.

The duo are up for four prizes with Justin Bieber, Psy and Taylor Swift also being named in the six categories.

The nominations are based on views, likes, comments and subscriptions over the last 12 months.

From today, fans can choose who will win at the awards ceremony in New York on 3 November by sharing the videos across Google+, Twitter and Facebook.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are up for artist of the year, YouTube phenomenon for Thrift Shop and breakthrough prizes.

They are also in the video of the year category alongside Lady Gaga's Applause, One Direction's Best Song Ever and Miley Cyrus' We Can't Stop among others.

Other awards include the response of the year for the best fan remix, parody or response to an original video and the innovation award, which recognises creative music videos.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Lady Gaga, Eminem and Arcade Fire will perform at the event.

Avicii, M.I.A., Earl Sweatshirt, and Tyler the Creator will also feature.

In the run up to the ceremony, five music events will be streamed from around the world including shows in Seoul, Tokyo, Moscow, London and Rio.

The full list of nominees is as follows:

Video of the Year

Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney - Epic Rap Battles of History

Demi Lovato - Heart Attack

Girls' Generation - I Got a Boy

Justin Bieber (feat Nicki Minaj) - Beauty and a Beat

Lady Gaga - Applause

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat Mary Lambert) - Same Love

Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop

One Direction - Best Song Ever

PSY - Gentleman

Selena Gomez - Come & Get It

Artist of the Year

Eminem

ERB

Justin Bieber

Katy Perry

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Nicki Minaj

One Direction

PSY

Rihanna

Taylor Swift

Response of the Year

Boyce Avenue (feat Fifth Harmony) - Mirrors

Jayesslee - Gangnam Style

Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix - Radioactive

ThePianoGuys - Titanium / Pavane

Walk Off the Earth (feat KRNFX) - I Knew You Were Trouble

YouTube Phenomenon

Diamonds

Gangnam Style

Harlem Shake

I Knew You Were Trouble

Thrift Shop

YouTube Breakthrough

Kendrick Lamar

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Naughty Boy

Passenger

Rudimental

Innovation

Anamanaguchi - ENDLESS FANTASY

Atoms For Peace - Ingenue

Bat For Lashes - Lilies

DeStorm - See Me Standing

Toro Y Moi - Say That

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Making a low-budget music video

(It doesnt want to show on the blog, so here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE8X24soqWQ#t=48 ..... It's a bit lengthy)

I found this video and thought that it was very interesting as it gives in depth detail about how to make a low-budget music video. This I think is important because music video budgets are not getting bigger and are much smaller than what they used to be so for aspiring directors this video would be very beneficial.

Mr Ayoolo - Music Video Director in my School

Mr Ayoolo surprised the class by revealing that he in fact has directed a music video(s) and gave us very useful information that will allow us to create the best possible video. His music video is below:

This music video i think is quite good. This is because it has great shots and the picture itself is very clear and the visuals suit the music and genre of this piece.

One of the most resounding statements he made was "The more footage you have, the more you can work with which will make the final product better and easier to make". In addition to this another key thing to creating a successful music video is by using locations that don't require planning permission and that you can do a lot with a very small budget as all of the locations he used in his music video were areas that he found that were open to the public which looked visually stunning and really suited the music video as it fit what the lyric were trying to convey. He also mentioned that storyboards and actually writing your ideas down is important as it enables you to plan what you are going to do and also gives you a rough idea of what you can expect to see. 

He followed this up by stating that creativity is not limited by budgets as much as we think.  In terms of making this music video budgets were not a limitation and it was made clear that you can make a lot out of a little. The budget he used for this video was very small as it covered travel costs among other little things. The locations were not paid for as they were either already owned i.e the apartment(s) and the locations open to the public i.e the beach. What else didn't need to be paid for was the required costumes as the artists and actress were wearing clothes that they already owned similarly to the apartment. 

The talk from Mr Ayoolo was very useful as it helped to show me what can be done without a major budget and that too much film is greater than what is required as it gives you room to work and substitute shots that may work better than others. 

Pictues of Mr Ayoolo's advice talk

The class and I listening as Mr Ayoolo gives us important advice on what we should or shouldn't do when making a music video as he is talking from experience. You can seen from the full attention being given that he has our attention and that what he has to share is very engaging.

   

Editing to the Beat

In class we were giving an audio track with 4 different types of music and we had to edit a music to the beat. I found this to be challenging as the video we had to edit didn't fit all types of the music as the rhythm of the music was sometimes too slow so i had to slow the actual scene down to fit and at these times the cut was slow due to the pace of the music. However when it came to the rock genre i found that if i followed the beat there would of been irregular cuts as the beat of the song was constantly changing which proved to be quite challenging. While this task was slightly challenging overall its proved to be useful as its helped me to be able to cut according to the beat of a song.

Here is my edit:

Here is the original music video that was used against the different audio track

Essay: Dyer - Star Theory

To what extent does a pop stars image influence their audience?

Richard Dyer is currently a professor of film studies at Kings College London. Dyer wrote a book called “Stars” in 1979 which discusses the viewer’s perception of film and the idea that it is heavily influenced by the perception of its stars. He believed that it was not the film which attracted the audience but the idea of the famous people that are in it and that they alongside reviews and the publicity determine the way that the audience experience the film. 

This has been proven through a series of posters such as "Mission Impossible". Due to Tom Cruise being such a high profile actor, rather than the title of the movie being the most eye catching thing its actually his name that the attention is being drawn too and in addition to that a large side profile of him in essence is the whole of the poster. This has been done because a film is more likely to get an audience if they have a high profile actor that the majority of people like.

The image of a pop star, according to Dyer is the most important and influential thing about them. This is down to the belief that stars are not real but have rather been constructed and seen as artificial even if they are portrayed as being real people. They have been constructed by their managers in a way so that they move from being simply a pop performer to a pop star as it gets them noticed. Why managers speed this process up is because being a "True Pop star" means they have significance and brand awareness amongst a wider market over a period of time. Dyer says that not many starts have actually had that impact which results in artificial stars.

Since many pop stars wouldn't be successful due to a lack of uniqueness which would inhibit them from standing out and making a name for themselves, mangers create an image for them that gives them a unique selling point that would help them to gain fans and fame. Pop stars such as Justin Bieber who is well known and a popular artist and he has that unique haircut which he is now known. This popularity he has influences his fans as its what his female fans will start to want men their own age to start looking like and many male teenagers will imitate his hairstyle after seeing this because of how popular he has become and how well his female fans in particular have received him. This is similar to in the 90's when women started to copy Jennifer Aniston's who stared in the show "Friends", hairstyle "The Rachel"

The fans doing this enables them to feel as though they are close to the the artist by surrounding themselves with that are associated with them. However the artists are constructed and these things they associate with the artist may be constructed and may just disappear due to the artist changing so that they appeal more to their market. 

The image of a pop star  is very influential as it can literally make them "stars". The image of a star is what makes them attractive to the audience, it gives them that edge that actually gets them noticed, without it they would get nowhere. Its what keeps the audience interested in that artist as its what the fans want and like. It also allows them to relate to that artist for example if an artist is seen to support something that their fans support it brings those fans closer towards them as the fans feel as though they can relate to the artist and that they sympathise and understand them even though this may not be the case the audience still believes it.

Evaluation of 2 A level Music Videos

When researching music videos, looking at what other students have created gives an insight on what I could potentially do and the two below have shown me what it is like when a music video conforms to the genre of the music and it is apparent to me that it works quite well as both of the videos depict a story that the music is trying to get across. This has given me some ideas on how I could incorporate a small story into my music video if the genre allows it.


I found that various thing went well with this piece of work. Firstly the performance itself was well constructed. This is because it showed a clear narrative and I could tell that the students behind this has put a lot of work behind it which is something that I will try to do as it really shows in your final piece and its one aspect of the video that made it successful. What i also found that worked really well was the mise-en-scene as it has matched the genre which is Indie. The locations used (large field, coffee shop(possibly) and the park/lake) were all conventions of this genre as these locations are often used when the artist is thinking deeply about something that is affecting them.  The coffee shop works really well as it is a common place for break-ups to occur which happens at the very start of the video which worked very well. I also found that the appropriate us high-key lighting was also an aspect that made the video successful as the characters were always clear to the viewer and it shows that they have thought about the continuity of the shot as the lighting is constant which gives this video a professional feel to it. Another convention that this video conformed to was the artist performing alone alongside the story (singing on the wooden gate). This worked really well as the connotation of this was that the artist had just broken up with her boyfriend and that she was alone and thinking about it while pouring her heart into her song. The edit also suited the pace of the song as they were not fast paced and jumpy but calm and well placed to reflect the mood of this piece. The only negative to this piece was that sometimes the lip syncing was not very prominent as sometimes the words she was mouthing was hard to see.

Similar to the last video this has a very good narrative and the lyrics have an noticeable relationship with the visuals. As the lyrics are being said for the majority of the song the visuals follow the lyrics of the song such as "I was waiting in the queue looking at the board" and the visuals showed an over the shoulder shot of a menu board. What also went well was the stop motion technique used as the main character was walking into the shop, it was executed quite well and it reflected the pace of the lyrics as they are jumpy and this reflected that. The animated text bubble that sprouted up next to the bartender was also a good technique used as it went alongside the lyrics which I think is a good show of their technical skill as it can be quit difficult to pull off and make it look good like they did. The blur effect used was used to reflect the character being drunk as at these times he was drinking alcohol and that it connotes that he could be disorientated as it looked as though he was dizzy. The costume used was also a good representation of the kind of sound of the song. The way the song sounds gives of a cockney accent that was represented by the character stereotypical Cockney Brit.
However what I think didnt work so was there was a lack of continuity. When he as in the fast food shop the girl who was "with" him in the shop had her hair down and was by the counter and wearing one style of clothing but when he saw her "out of the corner of his eye" she was sitting at a table looking completely different that before then and what made it worse was that is seemed as though they had change location completely. In the next scene she was looking the exact same way she looked before which was just not working. Another negative to this was that the lip syncing was often out of time which made the piece seem amateurish.
There are some aspects that i could use as I think they worked well such as the stop motion and the blur effect but what i will have to look out for is the out of time lip syncing. 

R. Kelly: Happy People - Goodwin's Theory Applied

In order to understand Andrew Goodwin's theory fully the class was tasked with creating a presentation that applied the theory to a music video of our choice. I chose to use this music video as R Kelly music videos tend to conform to the theorists that I have learnt and so I found this music video and looked at how it conformed to every section of the theory.

Hype Williams - Auteur Theory

This particular piece of works was putting the Auteur theory into practice and we were assigned an "Auteur" but we had to find out what made them an auteur such as a technique that is unique to them like Hype William's fish eye lens which dominated his music videos until he lost production activity and dropped it. What I learnt during this task is that Auteurs often direct films and their unique techniques can often seep into the film enabling the audience to identify who actually created the film or music video before their name is revealed.

Wait, More Theories - Dyer and Goodwin

The  task at hand was to create posts or numerous posts about the theorist that we can later look back at and use to either challenge or conform against in our media texts. The theories themselves are not as complicated as I thought they would be making it easier to use them when I think they are appropriate.

Even More theories - Auteur and Barthes

The  task at hand was to create posts or numerous posts about the theorist that we can later look back at and use to either challenge or conform against in our media texts. The theories themselves are not as complicated as I thought they would be making it easier to use them when I think they are appropriate.

Auteur Theory

In the 1950s, the French magazine Cahiers du Cinema instigated a new way of 'reading' movies - what later came to be called 'auteur' theory. The idea was that film was a work of art; just like a novel or painting, meaning it is the product of an individual's imagination. It's been used by French film directors like Francois Truffaut who put the focus on the contributions that directors made to the film, in terms of style and creative interpretation. 

“A true film auteur is someone who brings something genuinely personal to his subject instead of just producing a tasteful, accurate but lifeless rendering of the original material.”

This theory tells us, that every frame, every piece mise-en-scene, has been deliberately composed as a result of a series of artistic decisions made by the auteur and that these are distinctive and creative techniques that they carry from production to production which helps the audience to  identify their work as a director.

 There are many known directors that this theory applies to such as: 

Tim Burton and his dark stylised films with the dark humor that accompanies them. Quentin Tarantino who is known for his pop culture references and mixture of humor, violence and some controversial things such "Django Unchained" and its frequent use of a derogatory word for black people.

Barthe's Theory

Roland Barthe was a french literary theorist who suggested that narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it. Also used denotation and connotation to analyse images.The codes are:

• Action - A narrative device by which a resolution is produced through action e.g. a shoot out.

• Enigma - Narrative devices which tease the audience by presented a puzzle or mystery to be solved. It serves to delay the story's ending pleasurably.

• Symbolic - this type codes are the connotations of the images or imagery presented i.e the hidden meaning behind it.

• Semiotic - The denotations of the image/imagery which is strictly what you can see.

• Cultural - A device which the audience recognise and associate with a particular part of culture.

More Theories - Levi-Strauss and Mulvey

The  task at hand was to create posts or numerous posts about the theorist that we can later look back at and use to either challenge or conform against in our media texts. The theories themselves are not as complicated as I thought they would be making it easier to use them when Ithink they are appropriate.

Strauss' Theory

Claude Levi-Strauss, examined how stories unconsciously reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture  Expressed in the form of binary oppositions. It was adapted by media theorists to reveal under lying theme and symbolic oppositions in media texts. Binary oppositions include:


Old vs Young
Rich vs Poor
Strong vs Weak Male vs Female
Savage vs Civilized
Good vs Evil
Dark vs Light

Based upon those examples given there are many more that can be named and binary oppositions I believe can be seen in every media text. 

Mulvey's Theory

Laura Mulvey coined the term "Male Gaze" She believes that in media texts such as films and music videos, that they were designed by heterosexual men for heterosexual men. The concept of the theory is how the audience view the way females and males are portrayed in the media. 

Mulvey states that they are thought of in 3 ways:

1. How men look at women.
2. How women look at themselves.
3. How women look at other women.

 The Male gaze theory applies when films and music videos relegate women to objects instead of people. IN addition to that the female viewers must experience the secondarily.

Narrative Theories - Todorov and Propp

Todorov's Theory

Tzvetan Todorov stated most narratives start with a state of Equilibrium in which life is normal and protagonists happy. There are 3 stages in his theory:

1. Equilibrium - Where everything is normal and everything is as it seems
2. Disruption  - This is something that has altered what the equilibrium was originally like which could a tragedy such as a death.
3. New Equilibrium - The new equilibrium would be that the death of a character has been accepted and everyone around them has adjusted to it.

However it has been argued that there are 5 stages in this theory which are:

1. Equilibrium 
2. Disruption
3. Recognition of Disruption - The characters in the narrative have actually noticed the change thats occurred 
4. Attempt to repair Disruption - The narratives characters try to undo what has been done by the disruption.
5. New Equilibrium - (or return to equilibrium depending upon the disruption)

Propp's Theory

Vladmir Propp generated the idea that all media texts, specifically folk tales, have 8 character types. These are the following:

• Hero  - the main protagonist who has to  perform a dangerous task/journey that  involves rescuing the princess.

• Princess - Someone who the hero saves from and is usually the hero's prize at the end of an arduous task.

• Princesses Father- Acts to reward the hero for helping his daughter, can often be the daughters hand in marriage.

• Helper - Someone who helps aid the hero in completing their task of saving the princess.

• False Hero  - The false hero is someone that takes credit for the hero's good deeds in order to gain a reward.

• Villain - This is the person who openly tries to inhibit the hero's progress and is normally the one who the princess needs to be rescued from.

• Donor - This is someone who helps the hero on the journey by offering something of use.

• Dispatcher - This is someone who sends the hero on their way.