Oliver Turner A2 Media Studies

1) conventions of certain genres shown in their music video
Pop:
The main convention of pop music videos is hat they are very upbeat and happy videos taking place on exotic locations and tend to revolve a lot around the singer themselves. There is normal a lot of bright warm course shown with quick choppy editing techniques, this editing style add to the usual fast pace of pop music.



The opening to this video is very colourful, all of the costumes are made out of sweets and so are bright colours that stand out and catch your eye. The special effects are used very well to create the impression of this taking place on clouds and having these sweets come to life. as with many pop songs this revolves around the artists themselves, not having a very linear narrative.

Rock:
rock music tends to revolve around the band and has less narrative than other genres of music, the videos are also simplistic a lot of the time being in abandoned buildings or wide open spaces, the lack of narrative in the video means that your attention is focused on the band a lot more.



This music video doesn't have a narrative at all and like most rock songs revolves around the band entirely, the cost sin this video are very casual and there isn't a dress code for the band that would suggest anything to the narrative. Like a lot of rock music videos the band is situated in a big open space, the lighting adds to the video a lot as it is dark in this building apart from an large circle spotlight on the band themselves.

Punk:
the conventions of punk music videos are normally a lot more aggressive than pop for example, they can have either a strong narrative or also can be about the band a lot. as well as being aggressive the narrative is often also quite jokey and that of a relaxed nature. the editing style on these music videos reflects the songs and has quite sharp cuts from one  location and scene to another.



This music video follows the conventions of the genre perfectly it has a small narrative following the band diving, but still revolves around the band. it is very aggressive and has a defiant feel to it. The video cuts between the band and there narrative story. This video has a lot of the joke side to it as well showing the band mocking professional divers, even the location of a swimming pool where they are playing followed this jokey narrative.

 2)what genres work well in your chosen area

I think that the best genre for our chosen area the rock/indie genre would work well for us as our initial idea has a strong narrative which the indie genre has a lot of, although we would like the music video to have the pace of the rock genre with more narrative.

1. Immediate idea on what brief you would like to choose?

We have decided to create a music video for our A2 media piece. We believe we can best create this type of product as it is something we are all exposed to through the internet and other forms of social media. Music videos are crucial for supporting a bands music and I think it would be great to create our own media product. We will take influence from current music videos across a range of genres but also introduce our own creativity to the product.

Things to produce include:
A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with the two following ancillary tasks: 
- a music video
- a digipak for the albums release;
- a magazine advertisement for the digipak.

2. Who are you looking at working with in your group? why? What skills can each person bring?

To produce the A2 music video I have decided to work with three other students in my media studies class. Their names are, Matt, Will, and Drew. Each of us bring a range of different skills and uses to the production of the piece making the entire process quicker but also to a higher degree of quality. For example, I am confident with editing techniques within programs such as Adobe premiere pro, after effects as well as creating posters and advertising campaigns including CD covers etc. However, Matt will focus on things such as the narrative of the music video, helping write blog posts as well assisting with filming. Both Will and Drew can drive which is an immediate help considering we can venture much further distances e.g. London. I think this will in turn create a more believable impression as we can really fit the locations into the storyline. Will and Drew will both help with filming the music video as well as setting up props and certain scenes. All of these skills combined together should mean are music video can reach a better standard. By working as a team as opposed to working on my own will mean I can really focus the creativity of the video but this also mirrors the real life development of how media products are created simultaneously involving editors, cinematographers, and script writers. Also I believe the fact that we are all confident with technology

3. From the examples you have researched, plus your planning, filming and editing experiences from the AS coursework, what are you hoping to achieve this year? What can you do better at? Do as well at? Want to do the same? Want to do completely different?

From last years AS work we have all learnt a significant amount in terms of how to produce successful media products not just practically but also in theory practise. We developed skills on how to film and how media works in industry. With this experience I am keen that we will be able to create an even better A2 media piece. I believe this first hand practise with cameras and digital technology will be key to developing our work throughout the next year. We have already started to plan ahead and have an idea of what are music video will be about. Collectively as a team I think everyone will work together well meaning we can purely focus on the creative aspect.

In terms of things we could do better this year:
 However, I think this time we need to plan ahead a little earlier to ensure that we reach deadlines
 and meet targets. If we manage to complete things like the blog work early it will mean we can focus on the media product. We must also account for editing time which always takes longer than expected. Furthermore, we are planning to use quite a lot of editing techniques in our music video meaning the filming editing time together will most likely take place over a matter of weeks, possibly months before the final cut is created.

Things we would like to do differently this year:
This year I would really like to experiment a little more with cinematography and filming techniques to a higher standard. What I mean by this is using techniques like: push/pull focus, rule of thirds as well as investing in better equipment to improve the quality of the video. I really want this music video to look as professional as possible so filming to a high resolution will certainly help with this and overall make the feel of the product that bit better.

Dark Necessities- Red Hot Chili Peppers:


This music video is unique as it uses both a non-linear narrative and band performance that does not belong on a stage. The music video uses around half of the video to show band performance and narrative blended in together. Within this music video, there is a sustained amount of lip syncing by the band when they are performing 'live' and are also seen to be as some key characters. However in the linear narrative, we get no perspective of a protagonist character but one of a protagonist lifestyle instead with a varied amount of characters. There is no dialogue at all as the song is played throughout the entirety of the music video. Within the locations aspect, there are two overriding locations that are used. These are a house for the band performance and the poverty stricken areas associated with American cities. They also use sub locations, for example in the house they use various rooms for individual and group shots of the band.

Bubblegum- Mystery Jets



The next music video differs to the one completed by Red Hot Chili Peppers above. This music video solely focuses on the bands 'live' performance within a unique setting. The majority of this video is lip synced, as around three quarters of the film is solely focused on the band. The key character within is the lead singer of the band. Whilst everyone in the band has a part to play in the music video, the lead singers lip syncing takes up a vast amount of the coverage, as a result of this being a live band performance, no dialogue was used in the music video. Most importantly, the credits at the start of this music video are modern and vibrant to such a song. This could be influential into what credits we use in our music video.

Why'd you only call me when you're high?- Arctic Monkeys  


This music video differs from the rest of these as it solely focuses on a linear narrative, thus as a result of this, there is no lip syncing between the lead singer and the vocals. We see throughout that there is a sole key character for where the narrative focuses on, thus it is not too dissimilar to our idea of what we will complete our music video on. In the music video, there is dialogue produced by voice at the start before the song has started to play over the top. However, most creatively, the rest of the dialogue is produced by text talk, giving us another idea that we may have to consider when creating our music video. There are three locations used, at the start a bar is used and at the end a house is used to create the drug fuelled emotions. The protagonist location used is the inner suburban streets, thus giving us an idea for the use of one location whilst we are location hopping in our music video. There are no credits used throughout either.