What music means to me

Childhood

When I was little my mother used to blast James through the house every weekend, and I'd sing it at the top of my lungs whenever we went out to the amusement of any fans, and we also went to see them live. I maintained that they were my favourite band until about age 10 and they still have sentimental value today - in the summer we were in a cafe in France with a band who did requests and played 'Sit Down' for us.

Early Teens




Although I can't remember ever not knowing this song, about 3 or 4 years ago a couple of friends and I went to an Irish festival that Bob Dylan was headlining, he was not fantastic of course but we'd had such a good day and we'd managed to get fairly close to the front of the crowd and he started playing 'Like a Rolling Stone' but almost very slowly rapping it and the whole crowd seemed to object and sang the version we all knew and he had to keep up with us.

Now

My best friend introduced me to the Cat Empire which she knew from her sister and this was our favourite song for ages and we'll still play it and sing along whenever we're together. Her boyfriend, another friend and I are taking her to see them for her birthday in fact, so hopefully she won't read this blog!

Prelim Evaluation

Question 1

I really enjoyed the workshop day. It was very interesting seeing the professionals in action and there was a good atmoshpere as everyone seemed to be having fun. Dancing was fun, although very hot, but the bits I most enjoyed were helping out the crew:

Runners:
Since the runners were very busy on shoot, we got asked to help out where we could. I helped on playback, showing the dancers their original bits so they knew what moves to do in the video, it was pretty simple but it was nice to have a minute to sit down whilst doing it.

Camera:


Laying out the dolly track

I did some cable bashing for the dolly, and it was interesting seeing how it works but even more fun actually pushing it along and getting some practical experience.



Adjusting the pink grunge lighting

Lighting studio:
My favourite part of the day had to be learning how to use the studio. We learnt about the monitors all over the school and how to control what was shown in the Seward studio as well as a little about the TV mixing capacities. The lighting panel, where you could  control the colour and intensity of the light was especially cool and I hope to learn more about it next year.

Question 2

Task 1: From analysing a music video myself I learnt more about the structure and conventions of music videos and put into practice what I'd learnt in class to heighten my understanding.

Task 2: When we created our lipsync, it helped our confidence in performing as well as helping us understand more how to synchronise videos with lyrics since we realised how much it helped to sing instead of miming.

This is the audition video we created to practise lipsyncing

Task 3: Learning the performance helped me realise how much effort is involved for just a short time of performance and how much you have exaggerate moves to look good.

Task 4: Planning the costumes showed me how much goes in to making just a single shot look good and how much is required for a whole music video.

Task 5: From the workshop I learnt about real roles on a shoot and how much time, thought and effort as well as different scenes and set ups go into what seemed at first like a really simple video. I also learnt what it feels like to be a performer so I know more about how to act/treat a performer next year.

Question 3

Overall I am mostly pleased with the edit. Given the details of the videos and sheer quantity of split second shots, it was difficult to get all the shots we needed and there are some discrepancies between the real video and our remake but I think the overall effect is good. As well as this, the video is much more complex than I first thought and so many distances and specific moves made it tricky to edit accurately and that is something I am a bit dissatisfied with. The quality of the lighting, especially in the individual shots is so good that we did not have to do much grading which made the edit much easier for all the individual shots except Perrie's. As Olivia and her background are so pale and she moves around the set, almost every shot needed individual grading which was very time-consuming. The group shots were similarly tricky because we moved around the set so much and there were so many of us. 

The lighting and size of the group set

Question 4


Group costumes and set  

Pink grunge: I'd like to be able to
recreate a similar effect

From the preparation leading up to the workshop, I will make sure I am very organised next year. There are so many aspects of mise-en-scene that I have decided to make sure I am not relying on anything at the last minute. I have also learnt about how much the pre-production phase is crucial; the more planning we do, the easier the shoot and the edit will be. I will also make sure we have a large variety of costumes and settings, since they add texture to the video, making it seem more professional. Lighting is also something I will consider more carefully, since the lighting was such good quality that little grading was needed for the edit which made it much easier. Another consideration will be who is in my group, we were lucky to have so many good dancers in the year, however depending on the strengths of my group next year I may choose go for a more narrative based idea rather than a totally performance based video since it seems best to use group members to star, given the time and complexity required for the prelim project.





DYM homework 1: Key Features of a Performance Music Video Analysis

For this homework, I have chosen to analyse the video for the music video of the song 'Roses', by Outkast.

Analysis of key features:

1. Caroline's character from the song is introduced and later a rose is given to her during the chorus about roses.
   The play concept is used to match imagery to lyrics, such as the spaceship coming down for the line 'down to Mars'.
   The video is cut in time to the music.
2. Performance of the play showcases the artist's dancing talent.
   Interest is maintained with the high school story.
3. The lip sync is maintained till the last minute when it degrades to drive the narrative.
4. Andre 3000's high school character is related to his stage name by the yearbook.
5. There is singing and dancing on stage almost throughout, which showcases his talent.
6. High concept settings and interesting narratives keep the audience engaged throughout the video.
7. The high school concept is highly stylised.
8. Video is moved on by performance developping into a high school brawl to prevent the audience from getting bored.
9. There are references to the album the song was released on as well as the beginning which features an excerpt of another song from the album and yearbook photo caption links the video persona with the artist.
10. Use of CUs and yearbook photos showcase the performers.
11. Opposition is presented between the gangs, who represent the band members and album.
12. Although it has strong narrative aspects, it cuts discontinuously in several places, for example the cut from the girls to the cars to the stage near the beginning.
13. There is a clip where the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz is referenced.
    The typical American high school concept is recognisable to audience.
    References to the artist's own work are present.
14. The story narrates the lyrics as well as representing the wider message of the song about overvaluing appearances whilst incorporating performance with the stage.
15. Provokes audience to think as well as being humorous and entertaining.