Filming a Lip-sync Video

 The first location we filmed in was an ally called "Ghost Passage". We felt as though this was a good location as it was a light passage and we we didn't need any extra lighting. The wall we used is rather old, which was suitable as it matched up with the lyrics of the song we was doing. This being 'run down'.

The second location was nicer and more bright, almost as if to suggest that there's good in the bad, this was filmed in front of the local museum and castle, in Wisbech.

I felt as though the filming was successful and we learnt how the same location with different angles can be rather effective and make it seem as if it is not in the same area. I felt it was useful to experiment with different locations, However at the same time I feel as though next time this should maybe not be used as it can make things awkward for editing.

Different Formats of Music Video

In the basics there are three different types of music video. These are narrative, performance and performance/narrative. I have looked at examples of each of these and will list them down as the following.

Narrative Example: Bangarang by Skrillex

from watching this video I have learnt that narrative video's tell a story of some kind. In general narrative video's are to tell a story weather it be related to the song or the artist. This video clearly shows a representation of the artist within the story instead of a story about the song it's self. This music video suggests that the artist is someone who is seen as a bad person, only to be revealed at the end that he is really a good person who does good deeds. This particular video also follows the beat of the song with it's shots. The best example of this would be when the man in the ice cream van bites down on the cone he is eating as a beat hits.



Performance Example: Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye

Performance video's often focus on the appearance of the artist and what they look like. Shots often follow the face of the artist in order to promote that artist so that they gain a larger following and will become more popular. Where performance videos focus mainly on the performers to make the audience recognise the artist, the video also brings a focus to the lyrics of the song through lip-sync. This gives an impression to the audience that the artist is actually singing the song that is in the video. This can also be an advantage for the artist as the more times that a viewer watches the music video that they have produced the more that fans can link the voice of the artist to their face and automatically recognise who it is.

Narrative and Performance Example: Countdown by Beyoncé

This music video's purpose is to not only tell a story but to get the lyrics across to the viewer and to get them to focus on the artist. Beyoncé's video for her song countdown is a good example of a song that is both a video that displays narrative and performance as a format. The narrative aspect of the video comes from the shots that suggest towards the accusations made towards her about being someone who copies others. Throughout the video it shows Beyoncé copying other people and dances. Examples of this can be dressing as or like Audrey Hepburn, or doing the dance Rosas Danst Rosas. The performance aspect can be shown from the use of Beyoncé being in the shot at all times so that the viewer can relate the song to the face of the artist. This makes it easier for people to recognise the performer. This is also so that they can see the artist singing the song.

The History of Music Video's

The 1950's

'Music video's' first came around around about the 1950's when songs were first introduced in films, giving the first idea to audiences of band performances. Even though this was started as a B-movie ( a movie that is on low budget which was used as a supporting feature in a cinema programme) called "Rock Around the Clock" starring Bill Haley, it was one of the biggest hits of 1956. The film is made up of band performances by Bill Haley, The Platters, Alan Freed and Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys. Other artists such as Elvis Presley would appear in a film to promote that film's album soundtrack. In turn this would also promote the artist.

The 1960's

The 60's is when further development of music videos came about, with the release of several feature length films by The Beatles such as A Hard Day's Night and Help and other things. Although short music-films already existed, The Beatles were the group that put the two ideas into the concept we know today as the music video. The made a short "standalone" (a film that has no relation to other films) film of a musical act presenting a current song that may or may not be a live performance. The idea of a music video in this time was to help promote the artist; to make their very tight schedules more free. This was to help as instead of having to make appearances on TV and in shows around the world, artists could simply send their music video's instead. These music video's took a extremely similar format to modern day music videos. Other than The Beatles, other British artists such as The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd also release films to promote singles that they have.

The 1970's

The 1970's produced one of the most important music video's to history; Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. This music video was one of the very first and in turn helped the record have an even longer run as the best selling single. When the late 70's hit, the style within pop music became far more important than the content. This brought in new fashion within makeup, clothes, hair and other aspects. Another change was the inclusion of new pop stars within popular star's videos, examples of these new artists being Duran Duran, Adam and the Ants and The Culture Club. These were the type of artists that understood that the visual style was just as important as the music was - sometimes being more so. As an outcome of this their promotional videos lead to the creation of MTV.

MTV, The 1980's and 90's

The most vital piece of the evolution chain for music videos is and was the creation of MTV. The very first displaying of MTV was on August the 1st, 1981. The very first song that was broadcast in that session was 'Video Killed The Radio Star' by Buggles. This announced a new era in history of music video, this being called the MTV era. Ironically this songs music video ended up winning over the radio! The success of MTV was evidently shown when record stores began selling the music that customers had heard on MTV, instead of on the radio. Music videos became the new piece of media that everyone was talking about. The new service of music video allowed the artists to reach out to and gain new audiences. This lead to the second success of British artists such as Billy Idol and Duran Duran in America.

The video industry developed into a massive sensation when the video for Thriller by Michael Jackson (that is 14 minutes long) (1983) ended up turning into a production that was worth $800,000. This video made it possible for the album to sell forty million copies and generated one hundred and eighty million dollars for CBS/Epic record company.

The 1990's ended up seeing a series of epic music videos such as November Rain by Guns and Roses (1992, directed by Andrew Morahan) and I Will Do Any-thing For Love by Meat Loaf (1993, directed by Michael Bay). Music videos also ended up being coming what was called an "auteur" (a film director who influences their films so much that they rank as their author as well.) 's medium. Such directors would be that of Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry, Mark Romanek, Floria Sigismondi, Spike Jonze and Hype Williams, who brought their very own unique vision and style to the video's that they directed. Some of these people ended up becoming the directors of feature films. This is a trend that started off with directors such as David Fincher and Lasse Hallström.


The Transition from MTV to YouTube

According to Danny Goodwin who is from Search Engine Watch (https://searchenginewatch.com/), YouTube (which was founded in 2005), is the second most used search engine that has about four billion videos viewed every day. YouTube easily became one of the main online video steaming sites overnight, especially for music videos. This enabled fans to post archive clips and videos from TV shows, as well as television recordings of professional music videos from establishing artists. However other new formats are multiplying, such as karaoke styled miming to well known songs, montages of still images such as photographs, as well as live concert footage that are taken on a mobile phone are examples of how audiences are altering and redefining the typical conventions of a popular music video. The way the YouTube works with video order, which is sorted by date added, makes the user able to view the content  within seconds of it being uploaded to the website. Therefore it's obvious that YouTube influenced the understanding of popular music video's.

Though MTV reached many people, everyone across the world who has a device uses YouTube and can obtain any video that has been uploaded to it making it more easier for videos to be viewed. This also goes for music videos, giving them more views than ever before, making them more popular, more accessible as well as giving the artist more publicity so they earn more money.