Account of music video prelim task

On monday I did my music video prelim task. My group went to the studio to film different people lip-syncing to Jessie J (price tag). We had three different locations set up in the studio: The green screen, a room with a fireplace and rocky cave. We started the filming in the cave set up. For this set-up we had the lip-syncer walking while the camera is taking a tracking shot. For this shot we had to use a trolley where 1 person would push it while another is filming. When we filmed the living room set-up we used a gold reflective sheet which we placed out of the shot.We did this because it gave the place a warm feel. With the green screen shot we had to light it so that the green screen didn't have any shadow. For this to work we used two tier lighting. In our group we had four different roles which we alternated after each shot; camera man, director, music playback and a person to help with lighting or pushing the trolley. In each location we filmed at we took a medium shot, close up and extreme close ups. The hardest shot to film was the extreme close-up while tracking the singer because her face was hard to keep in shot. My favourite role was filming because it was quite challenging.

Editing the music video was quite challenging as we had to match up the real music with the lip-synced version. We did this by listening to the first beat of the song in the video where it was lip synced and cut everything before that, and did the same with the real music that we used. This made it a lot easier to put together and mean that all we had to do was put all the videos together and then just cut each video at a beat in the song. I felt that this method of editing was the most efficient.

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin is a media theorist. When analysing music videos, these are the conclusions that he came to:

• There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics).
• A relationship between music and visuals.
• Particular genres may have their own video style and iconography
• A demand from the record company for lots of close-ups of the main artist
• Reference to voyeurism (screen within screen, binoculars, camera...)
• Intertextual references

Codes and conventions of a music video

All music videos have technical codes and symbolic codes. Technical codes include the sound, editing and the different camera angles. The music and the editing relate to each other because the music video is usually cut in time to the music. The pace of the cuts in the music video can show what genre the music is. Different camera angles can be used to show dominance and power of the lead singer and can also emphasize lyrics if there is a close up of the singer. Symbolic codes of a music video invludes the mise-en-scene. This means everything that is seen in the shot e.g. clothes, instruments, lighting and location. Lighting and clothes are a key indicator of the music genre of the music video. In rock and metal music you expect to see the band performing in dark clothes and in a dark environment with perhaps flashing lights. However in a mainstream, synthetic boyband you expect to see the band dressed in white and is a bright location because they target a completely different audience. All music videos attempt to create attention, interest, desire and action (buying the song). This can be achieved by making a music video which has a narrative. Apart from some dance music, most music videos relate to the lyrics of the song as they are being sung.