Thursday 29 December 2011

Purpose of Music Videos

Music Videos began in small steps to far to date, however they became distinguished in the time of the 1980's once MTV began showing them, setting the showing of music videos as their functional format. This type of media is a short video which is made with the essential features of the chosen song and different types of imagery which ultimately is for advertisment and promotional/artistic purposes.


Types of style within film making techniques:
-live action filming
-animation
-documentries
-abstract film

Friday 9 December 2011

Letter to Copyright

Below is a copy of the letter I sent to the Asylum/Atlantic Records, which are currently the copyright holders of the song 'The City' and the current record label that Ed Sheeran is signed too.  If the holders do not get back to me, I will still use the song for this project, however if the label does reply, and refuse useage of the song, then I will not use the song and choose a new one.


About Ed Sheeran:

Sunday 20 November 2011

Ed Sheeran Music Videos

When trying to find a suitable artist and song that I would create a video for, It was  the style that Ed Sheeran's previous videos followed that attracted me to making one for him.

It took Ed Sheeran 1 EP, 2 Albums and 312 Gigs in the space of a year, to get noticed as a potential recording artist until he eventually got a signing.

I looked at his first proper music video - 'The A Team' which was the video that initially inspired me. The song is based on a true story, and he came up with it after meeting a young girl named Angel when doing voluntary work at a Crisis homeless shelter. 
He recorded the song for under £200 and the video itself for £20, which shows that it is not a high paid/quality video at all, which follows throughout the rest of the video - they look more amateur which I personally think appeals to the audience, than a high budget/unrealistic music video. 

Thursday 3 November 2011

Song Choice

After researching into upcoming songs I believe I have found my final song choice by Ed Sheeran - The City. Now I will watch his past videos and videos in the style of his genre to gather inspiration of the themes I would like to show in my music video. Ed Sheeran is a an artist under a few types of music genres, for example Acoustic, Folk and Hip Hop. Below are the lyrics and a link to the song:


This city never sleeps
I hear the people walk by when it’s late
Sirens bleed through my windowsill
I can’t close my eyes
Don’t control what I’m into
This tower is alive
The lights that blind keep me awake
With my hood up and lace untied
Sleep fills my mind
Don’t control what I’m into

London calls me a stranger
A traveller
This is now my home, my home
I’m burning on the back street
Stuck here sitting in the backseat
I’m blazing on the street
What I do isn’t up to you
And if the city never sleeps
Then that makes two

The pavement is my friend
Hey, and it will take me where I need to go
I find it trips me up
And puts me down
This is not what I’m used to
The shop across the road
Fulfills my needs and gives me company
When I need it
Voices speak through my walls
I don’t think I’m gonna make it
Past tomorrow

London calls me a stranger
A traveller
This is now my home, my home
I’m burning on the back street
Stuck here sitting in the backseat
I’m blazing on the street
What I do isn’t up to you
And if the city never sleeps
Then that makes two

And my lungs hurt
And my ears bled
With the sound of the city life
Echoed in my head
Do I need this to keep me alive?
The traffic stops and starts
But I need to move along

London calls me a stranger
This is not my home
I’m burning on the back street
Stuck here sitting in the backseat
I’m blazing on the street
What I do isn’t up to you
And if the city never sleeps
Then that makes two 

Saturday 29 October 2011

Collage of Ideas


Above is a collage of ideas that came to my mind when I played my chosen song, I instantly thought of London and the city, and the momuments that are well known there. I also thought about Ed Sheeran and his style/previous music videos, and how I was going to portray this. I got a picture of a boys shoes, because I had an idea of, focusing on the boys feet in my video and him walking alot - showing the journeys/travels that he is doing and also because that could resemble anyone, it makes it almost mysterious as he would fade in to the crowd of different people amongst him.

Thursday 20 October 2011

Analysing a music video 1




As I was researching into older music videos to gain further knowledge and inspiration, I came across 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' by Bob Dylan, released in 1965 and of the genre of folk rock so it relates in terms to my chosen genre. Although its a very early video it is also very well known, and remembered, known and listed as one of the first modern promotional film clips, now called music videos.

Bob Dylan himself came up with and made the cue cards that are featured through out the video, which present to the audience the lyrics - however some are purposely mispelt or slightly changed. He stares into the camera whilst holding the cue cards, as they show in sync with the music, however he is in different locations and still has people around him creating scenes for the audience within medium and wide camera shots. The video is in black and white due to the time period it was made in, however I like the effect it gives off.

The signs personally made me focus on the music itself much more, because the lyrics where placed infront of me, I found myself looking at the lyrics taking in what was being said within the lyrics, along with the music.

Friday 7 October 2011

Target Audience Survey

On the 30th September 2011, I had completed my survey and sent it out to a variety of people using social networks like Facebook and Twitter, where people of the youth age would see it. I asked a variety of questions that I would benefit from when collecting all the information, my first question was asking if the person was female or male,  too see what response I got from which gender. I then asked different questions on their fashion interest/shops, favourite film genres, how they gain their information and many questions on music styles and favourite music videos. Below are some screen shots of the questions, once I have gotten a few more results I will collect the data and analyse it.








The most common favourite film genre was Romantic Comedy then second next Musicals/Dance films, this has made me thought about the context/story of my music video in relation to the common themes that run through the genre. Also I have learnt that around the middle is where most people sometimes read newspapers etc to gather their information however with 50% on the highest rating Online is the most common place that the people find and go to to get their information. Next was the question of favourite music genre, the top four results where Dance, Pop, Indie and RnB. My area of interest for my song however leads towards Indie and slightly pop, however this has helped to see what people of the target audience are listening/watching, so to gain more insight in these genres and their popularity I am going to watch music videos of each genre to gather some inspiration of ideas to help towards my own planning. I also asked how people typically watch music videos, Myspace has 0 votes, the next popular was TV a 50% response and the top vote with 84.6% was YouTube. I have benefited from putting this question in the survey as I have found out where my specific target audience typically go to watch music videos, so having it on YouTube will guarantee views as the most popular site. I also asked what devices people use to watch videos, and again the most popular was using the computer/Internet. I also wanted to know which types of music videos people liked when it came to the pace of the  video, if it is simple or energetic/ funny the most popular was Energetic/Rapid so I would have to think about how I could use elements of this in my video, or if I was to even use this. The last question I asked was a optional question,  where I asked if they had any favourite music videos and why it was. Most of the answers are very famous and popular music videos that each have its own signature that make the audience remember key points of it for example; Beyonce's music video 'Single Ladies' which is memorable for the three ladies dancing, the moves and gestures. Also more recently Ed Sheerans music video to 'You Need Me Man, I Dont Need You' where Ed Sheeran himself makes a small appearance, and the rest of it is simply a young boy in a simple studio showing the lyrics in sign language, which is very clever and unique for his type of genre.



To view my survey click the URL here, My Media Lifestyle Survey

Sunday 2 October 2011

Music Channels


There is a growing number of worldwide music channels that in which present the knewest and top songs to its audience, the biggest being MTV. The channel shows a variety of music genres, below is a list of the channels shown in the UK alone;

MTV
MTV +1
MTV HD
MTV BASE
MTV HITS
MTV DANCE
MTV Two
VH1
VH1 Classic
Viva (replaced TMF)

Friday 30 September 2011

Welcome to my blog!

Hello and welcome to my blog, my name is Alice Owens and I am currently in the process of completing my A2 Media Studies Course at The Nobel School. My task is to plan, prepare and create my own music video and a digipak for it, this means I have the freedom to pick a song of my choice and create a music video for it. I have looked at some songs, and have a couple in mind but I am still not sure which I would like to do, however I do know that my target audience will be for the Youths. My next step is to research into that specific target audiences for my production, and then to pick a final song.