Purpose of music videos
One of the reasons why music videos are made is to promote the musician, the more popular a music video is, the more money it brings. Popularity will also give the artist more of a platform to advertise a brand or their own merchandise, boosting their revenue and often funding the music video its in.
An example of product placement is the infamous Fast Food Song by the Fast Food Rockers, the entire song is just catchy advertisement
With that platform the artist can also share their beliefs. Music videos usually show the artists vision for their songs and with it the audience can better understand their intentions. Music videos are important for songs that have a narrative as it can properly show it in visual form.
An example of the artist's concerns being shared is Pedophile by Cupcakke. In the case of this song its being used as a way for the singer to vent about her past trauma
A musician can share their beliefs and concerns through their videos, but they also use them to subconsciously present their brand. Rock music tend to be set in dark and grungy places for example. They're also used for rebranding, which is especially present in child actors showing that they've now grown up. Rebranding can also be done to keep up with the current trends or to change something controversial.
An example of rebranding is Rich Brian. He originally went by Rich Chigga before changing it for obvious reasons
Directors often use music videos as a starting point for their career. It's a way for them to express their creativity while they're in a workspace. They can also help aspiring artists join the industry at the same time. Some artists collaborate with others (with usually similar branding) to merge their audiences. A well respected artist joining with a new but upcoming one helps to boost them both.
An example of a collaboration is LILI's FILM, the song Tomboy from Destiny Rogers is used in the video accompanying Lisa from BLACKPINK performing to it. The official video gained alot more views because of LILI's FILM despite it being from 2019
Finally, music videos can be used to flex an artists strength. That strength can be performance, money or anything else.
An example of a music video showing an artists strength is world.execute(me); by Mili. The song is about a robot falling in love with it's creator and in the background of the video the artist uses actual code to show the lyrics of the song
Types of music videos
Types of music videos
Narratives focus on telling a short story, it can range from any tone. Sometimes the artist isn't even in the music video. This type is usually used to present the artists vision or beliefs while making the song.
The Wolf by SIAMÉS uses animation to tell a narrative story. In the video the people are being hunted by a wolf, they try to run but they always get caught. The meaning of the song itself is being unable to stop an addiction, the wolf is a symbol of said addiction in the video
Conceptual music videos can be used to leave an impression on the audience. These videos can gain a lot of traction for being weird and can be used as a way to get famous.
Welcome to Kitty City by cyriak is an example of a conceptual music video
Performance music videos are a recording of a live performance and are used to highlight the artists talents, typically dancing.
Butterfly by loona shows the group doing a dance choreography. Choerry, one of the members of loona, helped create it and then performed with the others
Hybrids are when any two types merge together. The most common hybrids are conceptual narratives and conceptual performances, but all kinds of hybrids exist.
An example of a conceptual narrative is Way Too Far by Phony Ppl, most of the video is conceptual except from the beginning and end. The main part of the video is scaling up from a building with two windows being in each shot. This is used in creative ways like people from other windows interacting and with people being on the building itself later on. The beginning and end of the video focus on two people that the song is presumingly about
Genre codes & conventions
In pop there's a lot of CGI used as many pop music videos are usually set in fantasy or unrealistic settings. Most feature performances in some way but narrative and conceptual videos are common too. The camera is on an even level to give an easygoing feel and long shots are used, especially in performances. Lighting is never harsh for more than one scene at most and the colours are either pastel or vibrant. When there's a sound effect in the song like a bubble popping or a kiss the actors do the motion on screen.
Hip hop videos are normally filmed in a city or a mansion. Many of these videos have cars, money being thrown around and women around the rapper. This is to flex their wealth and popularity. Some hip hop videos also have gunshots that the people in the video audibly react to. Theres sometimes dancers in the background. Lighting can really vary depending on the songs themes, some use vibrant lighting for party scenes while others use harsher tones. They usually have neutral but dark colours. Low angle shots and people crossing their arms are used sometimes for the effect of being powerful.
Rock videos are set in a studio or an abandoned looking area. These are almost always hybrids of performances and narratives. Because of the narrative standpoint, most sound effects are diegetic. The lighting is dark and heavy, sometimes the only colours in the video are black and white. Sometimes the camera is moved by the singer themselves. The people in the video are aggressive with their movements. In alot of music videos in this genre the actors break something (usually glass) or there's something broken on set, it can sometimes symbolise the meaning of the song.
Lyric Analysis
Tonight
I just want to take you higher
Throw your hands up in the sky
Let's set this party off right
[Chorus]
Players, put yo' pinky rings up to the moon
Girls, what y'all trying to do?
24 karat magic in the air
Head to toe so player
Uh, look out!
[Verse 1]
Pop pop, it's show time (Show time)
Show time (Show time)
Guess who's back again?
Oh they don't know? (Go on tell 'em)
Oh they don't know? (Go on tell 'em)
I bet they know soon as we walk in (Showin' up)
Wearing Cuban links (ya)
Designer minks (ya)
Inglewood's finest shoes (Whoop, whoop)
Don't look too hard
Might hurt ya'self
Known to give the color red the blues
[Pre-Chorus]
Ooh shit, I'm a dangerous man with some money in my pocket
(Keep up)
So many pretty girls around me and they waking up the rocket
(Keep up)
Why you mad? Fix ya face
Ain't my fault y'all be jocking
(Keep up)
[Verse 2]
Second verse for the hustlas (hustlas)
Gangstas (gangstas)
Bad bitches and ya ugly ass friends (Haha)
Can I preach? (Uh oh) Can I preach? (Uh oh)
I gotta show 'em how a pimp get it in
First, take your sip (sip), do your dip (dip)
Spend your money like money ain't shit (Whoop, whoop)
We too fresh
Got to blame it on Jesus
Hashtag blessed
They ain't ready for me
[Bridge]
(Wooh)
Everywhere I go they be like
Ooh, so player ooh
Everywhere I go they be like
Ooh, so player ooh
Everywhere I go they be like
Ooh, so player ooh
Now, now, now
Watch me break it down like (Uh)
24 karat, 24 karat magic
What's that sound?
24 karat, 24 karat magic
Come on now
24 karat, 24 karat magic
Don't fight the feeling
Invite the feeling
[Outro]
(24 karat magic, magic, magic)
There's a vocoder on the vocals in this part, it's a reference to the early days of electro-funk
[Chorus]
Karats are a way to measure the fineness of gold
[Verse 1]
Flexing his wealth
Threatening (saying to not look into things)
[Pre-Chorus]
Threatening
[Verse 2]
Insulting people while praising himself
Careless
Egotist
Daily diary 09/09
Learned about music types and conventions today. Conventions are basic rules that music videos follow and can help differenciate different genres.
Deadline for genre codes & conventions is tomorrow at 10:30am and this diary entry. I have to come one hour earlier next Wednesday to the TV Studio
I remember most of the camera shot names but not all of them, so I'm going to write them all down
I really liked making this website and stylizing the home page. I hope to get to doing this page properly as well but there's barely time. So far I am not super thrilled about the long hours here today but you know
When it comes to finishing tasks and homework, I'm really slow. If I knew how to be faster I'd simply BE faster
I did well for my purpose of music videos task and I'm glad because I was up at 2am finishing it
I didn't finish this diary in school and the canvas website isn't letting me go into the lessons so I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to write. Ignore the video below I just need to put that somewhere
The initial ideas mind map
Music Video Analysis
Title of Music (Video): Fear & Delight
Artist: The Correspondents
Year released: 2013
Director: Naren Wilks
Where can this video be viewed: YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify
Critical Reaction: The music video won an award for Best VFX in the 2014 Berlin Music Video Awards and Wilks was the winner of Best Production because of this video as well
The video is a hybrid of performance and conceptual and was originally inspired by Collide-o-Scope, a short film the director did prior. This is a performance as the video features dancing more than anything else and its also conceptual as the way the cameras are set up is unorthodox, making for weird visuals. An example for both is the entire video but 0:59-1:06 has Mr Bruce (the actor) dancing while being filmed from a birds eye view
The visuals compliment the song itself well and could possibly represent the thoughts of the singer, with how he's toying around with something dangerous. The original inspiration for the video is similar in meaning albeit with less danger, Wilks described it as the character in the video "only [having] a few minutes to play with this magic"
The Correspondents have done many live shows even before making music videos. When they started doing videos others compared them by how different they were to their live shows, which they said they disliked in an interview. This song (Fear & Delight) helped solidify that they don't just do live shows and that their music videos are different from them
Another purpose of the music video is to show their talent. Wilks said he "wanted to combine the multiplication effect with dance" and had an idea on how to improve Collide-o-Scope. Mr Bruce (the singer and dancer of The Correspondents duo) has always performed for his music videos and in live shows
They purposely don't label their music with a genre as they feel its limiting but they have many influences, such as jazz and drum n bass. However Fear & Delight strays from both genres. Jazz videos are just live performances as that was all they could do at the time, an example being Here's That Rainy Day by Wes Montgomery. Drum n' Bass music videos are either narratives or just videos of the weather, usually edited to the speed of the song. An example of an edit of the weather is Tramontane by Boxplot. Fear & Delight is a performance but is absolutely not stationary like Jazz videos are and unlike Drum n' Bass there isn't a narrative in the video either, at least one that’s obvious
The music video is a performance and conceptual hybrid which goes with their music also being a hybrid of different styles. Overall though the music video isn’t trying to emulate either style and does their own thing instead. The only thing Jazz videos and Fear & Delight have in common is a stationary camera angle like in 0:10-0:28, Jazz videos sometimes do close ups of the instrument being played while Fear & Delight has different camera angles entirely like in 2:48 and 2:58. Drum n’ Bass videos don’t have anything in common, they have narratives while Fear & Delight doesn’t
The video is shot in a green circle with 8 cameras around the inside (Wilks calls the technique "composite camera") and they use this in very creative ways. The reason the cameras are set in this way is to do a multiplication effect, which is used for most of the video with the cameras and green screen. There isn't any CGI in the video and its done in real time. This could also represent the character in the song’s emotions as they feel like they’re walking in circles between literal fear and delight
0:11 to 0:30 is an example of the multi effect, it starts off with one person and by the end there's four same people in the room. This could also be a reference to Collide-o-Scope as the maximum that video had was four of the same person. The scene afterward has eight, double than before and showing that there's much more space this time
The birds eye view is used a few times (notably in 1:27-1:37 and 2:51-2:59). This is done with a camera with fish eye lens being held up above the circle that the video is being shot in
In 2:51 to 2:59 they use this creatively with the archer in the middle making the clones disappear by shooting them. They also use this to create a kaleidoscope effect in 2:04 to 2:06
In 1:39 to 1:44 and 2:41 to 2:50, the cameras are spun in the middle. This is done by the cameras all being on a beam that’s being rotated manually. Wilks did it by pulling the beam around with a piece of string. He described the camera as having a "tracking shot”
The costumes in the video are suits, this makes the black and white visuals stand out more. The lighting used is bright to highlight the lack of colours aswell. They also use a bow for some scenes like in 2:52-3:00 when the archer shoots the duplicates of Mr Bruce to make them disappear, which may represent the singer’s fascination with the person they’re talking about to end up with her eventually killing him in the end. A piano is in all the scenes with Chucks (0:29-0:46 and 3:03-3:19) to represent that out of the duo of The Correspondents that they’re the one who makes the music
The Correspondents are known for doing out-of-the-ordinary music videos, usually featuring choreography with black and white visuals. The entire music video is just in black and white which can be shown by all the picture examples used from the video. When making music videos they always use manual and hand made techniques to create visuals like no other, Fear & Delight in particular being their magnum opus
Another music video that’s similar to it is Inexplicable, also featuring black and white visuals mostly throughout the video and dancing like in 2:15-2:16, 2:21-2:29 and 2:59-3:27. Unlike Fear & Delight the black and white visuals are not done in post and Mr Bruce was wearing makeup in that video, shown when its chipped off at 3:44-4:05. Inexplicable actually has a narrative going through a different characters life and the bad things that happened to them, which follows the lyrics such as in 1:36-1:54
I think the message of the video is to try to have fun in life but to not get caught up in something too dangerous but that’s just my interpretation. I came to that conclusion from the archer in the video and from the chorus of the song itself. The Correspondents have never said what the actual meaning of the music video was
In my opinion this is one of my favourite music videos and researching it made me respect it alot more. I never knew how they did those effects so learning it was actually in real time with no CGI was amazing to me at first. I learned that you don't need expensive things to make something great, just knowledge with the things you're using and creativity
Heasman, C. (2011) Interview: The Correspondents. Available at: https://www.crackintheroad.com/interviews/13070-interview-the-correspondents
Liquicity. (2017) Boxplot - Tramontane. [Online Video.] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG1Hz0p6eL0
Saag111. (2013) Wes Montgomery - Here's That Rainy Day - Live London 1965. [Online Video.] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iVgONy8kMY
The Correspondents. (2013) The Correspondents - Fear & Delight (Official Video). [Online Video.] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABS-mlep5rY
The Correspondents. (2016) INEXPLICABLE by The Correspondents. [Online Video.] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcmBowQsVrg
The Correspondents. (2013) The Making of Fear and Delight. [Online Video.] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzVWUYjGoDg
0:20, an example of the multiplication effect
2:58, an example of the bird eye view
2:48, an example of the rotating camera
an example of a jazz music video
an example of a drum n' bass music video
Production Meeting 2
In this production meeting we talked about the music developing table while filling it in
Version 1
Version 2
Daily diary 14/09
Today I had to do an analysis of a music video. The deadline for it is tomorrow but I've pretty much already finished it. I liked learning how the video was made but actually writing about the techniques was a bit difficult for me. I'm not good at explaining things in general and the only reason I'm decent at it is because of English
There was a part of the music video I left out specifically which was the lighting in some scenes (1:37 in particular) because I didn't fully understand what was going on in it, I doubt I would've been able to explain it well either. And it took me the whole day to finish writing all of the analysis, I'm still bothered by how slow I am. I know I can ask for help when it comes to time but if everyone else can do it then I'm not sure why I can't
I think I overall did good on the analysis, especially since I'm not the hugest fan of The Correspondents. I've only listened to around five of their songs in the past but I've liked all of them so far. I can still think of more things to add (body language and colour mostly), but it just hit midnight as I'm writing this and I won't have any time tomorrow before the deadline to add anything else. English forces you to be really analytical and find the meaning of every little thing, I got a better grade in Language than Literature because of it I think, but I think I did alright doing it here
I don't have any other assessments right now but I'm going back to college tomorrow so.. And I have to go to maths too now. I had to come in an hour earlier to the TV Studio which was fine, but now I have to come at 9am for both days and I don't think I'll be able to make it everytime since two of my other brothers go to school at the same time. Its why I really liked 11:15am but it can't be helped I guess
Harvard Referencing Task
Atwood, M. (1998) The Handmaid's Tale. New York. Penguin Publishers
Collins, S. (2011) The Hunger Games. London. Scholastic Press
Film Riot. (2019) 10 Years of Film Riot. [Online Video.] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsW0xG85t8s. Accessed at: 15.09.21
How you add a source to your Bibliography, depends on the type of source it is
However, all sources go on one consecutive list (the same Bibliography)
Sources must be in alphabetical order according to the authors surname
The punctuation full stops, commas and brackets are essential in Harvard referencing
Daily diary 15/09
Today I learned about primary and secondary research and the differences between qualitative and quantitative research. Primary research is going out and conducting the research yourself while secondary is taking from already done research, this is what data gathering agencies are for. The difference between qualitative and quantitative research is how the audience answers, for qualitative the audience can be more creative with their answers and quantitative there's set answers that can be sorted easier
Homework is researching the artist we're doing the music video for (Bruno Mars), the deadline is tomorrow at 10am
As this is my first time doing Harvard Referencing, I want to be able to remember it. I'll be practicing using it more often in my own time to be able to understand it better. The skills I've shown today is mostly just memorisation and being able to write key notes down
I enjoyed learning about marketing in media and I think its something I'm interested in, I've always preferred the creative designs in media like posters and advertisements more than filming. I don't like the Harvard Referencing so far since its a bit confusing but it might also be because its something new and I'm not good at memorising
The target for tomorrow is to hopefully get all of this done before then.. and maybe try to talk more in the production meetings
Musician Research
Bruno Mars originally started out as a songwriter for famous artists such as "Right 'Round" by Flo Rida and "Wavin' Flag" by K'Naan. He became a singer with his song "Nothin' on You" which was released in 2010. Ever since then he's been a famous pop artist with hit tracks such as "Uptown Funk" in 2015 and "That's What I like" in 2017. His main influence is 90's R&B
His actual name is Peter Gene Hernandez, he was born on the 8th of October in Hawaii. When Jamie, his older sister, was asked about his nickname she said "The name Bruno came from baby times. Bruno was always so confident, independent, really strong-willed and kind of a brute [...] and it kind of just stuck." Bruno's family was very music centered with his dad being a Latin percussionist and his mother being a singer. He was asked about how he learned how to play music instruments and said "That's just how I learned, just being surrounded by it my whole life."
One accusation people had used against him was that he lip synced in his live performance on The X Factor, an accusation he was "extremely insulted" by. In response he mentioned how hard he had to rehearse for the performance
When he plays with his band, they don't actually perform and they just play their music. When asked about it Bruno said, "The concept is that as long as we have our instruments and our mics, my band is able to kill anywhere. We’ll play a party sometimes, and we do a residency in Vegas that’s more of a free-for-all, and the band will sweat no different than we’re gonna be sweating at the O2." The reason they perform the exact same everywhere is to not be tired by the end of the show. It could also be done so they don't have to worry about doing any extravagant performances like others do
Bruno takes making music extremely seriously, he constantly tweaks a song until he loves all of it. For example with his song collaborating with Skrillex, he was worrying over a part of the song that tuned him out. He said that "I don’t know if radio is going to play it. But what I don’t want to have happen is I put it out and say, ‘Damn it, if I’d just done this and this, maybe it would have had a shot.'" This is why he stresses over his music as much as he does
A&E Television Networks. (2014) Bruno Mars | Biography. Available at: https://www.biography.com/.amp/musician/bruno-mars
Eells, J. (2016) Bruno Mars: The Private Anxiety of a Pop Perfectionist. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/bruno-mars-the-private-anxiety-of-a-pop-perfectionist-191397/
MacBain, H. (2016) Bruno Mars – The Full NME Cover Interview. Available at: https://www.nme.com/features/bruno-mars-nme-interview-1857997
Smyth, D. (2017) Bruno Mars, interview: 'I’m a s***-talking guy living his dreams'. Available at: https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/bruno-mars-interview-i-m-a-s-talking-guy-living-his-dreams-a3520476.html
Production Meeting 3
Audience
profile sheet
Research List
Primary Research: Questionnaire
Secondary Research:
- Artists image and beliefs
- Analyse other music videos from Bruno Mars
- Research into likes and dislikes of Bruno Mars music videos
- Analyse his competitors music videos
- More research into pop codes & conventions
- Job role (producer)
- Costumes and props for music video
- discuss what you've learnt
- monitor progress against deadline
- outline gaps in knowledge and how you'll acquire it
- what are you enjoying most/least
- discuss problems/challenges encountered and how youll rectify
- discuss successes and explain why something went well
- outline skills/qualities you've shown today
- do you have any work outstanding?
- set targets for next day
- description: what happened?
- feelings: what were your reactions and feelings?
- evaluation: what was good and bad about experience? make value judgements
- analysis: what sense can you make of the situation? what really happened? bring ideas from outside experience to help
- conclusions: what can be generally concluded from the experience and analysis? what about own specific and unique situation or way of working
- personal action plan: what are you going to do differently in this situation next time? what steps are you going to take from what you learnt?
Musicians' Other Music Videos,
Reactions & Their Competitors
The music video for Leave the Door Open is a performance that's entirely set in one place, unlike 24k Magic. The video is Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak and Silk Sonic in a music booth as they record their song. This music video is an outlier in Mars' music videos as most feature a few sets and dancing, this video however is just pure performance
Despite how different my music video will be, I will use this video to remind myself to not be too fast paced with mine
That's What I Like is also a performance music video that's set in one place. Lighting is used effectively with Mars being completely dark at the beginning and being lit up when the song starts, plus there's small animations that react to the lyrics and Mars himself as he dances
Both music videos have a reaction to the lyrics. Almost all of the animations in this video link to the lyrics (an example being in 0:15 with bubbles being popped with the lyric "Go pop it for a player") and 24k has a camera zoom every time for the lyric "Players, put yo' pinky rings up to the moon". When I edit my music video, adding effects that would "react" to the song would make the video more lively and give it more of a character
In a video ranking their top 10 favourite Bruno Mars music videos on WatchMojo, 24k Magic was ranked 1st. They called the video a "fun-fueled Vegas-inspired night of magic and partying". As my music video is meant to be a parody of this music video, this helps me because I can safely incorporate parts of that music video in mine while knowing people like the original
While talking about Bruno Mars' most famous music videos, TheTalko gave 24k Magic 5th place. They complimented the music video, saying "The video has great fashion and aesthetics". In my music video I will make sure our aesthetics will be similar
A small complaint a person had about his music videos (specifically the music video for Finesse) are the frames, he uses 60 frames per second. Keepem on Reddit says that the 60fps "kinda hurts [their] eyes". I won't use 60fps on my video as I don't want to hurt peoples eyes
Another complaint people have is with his objectification of women in both his lyrics and videos. In the music video for 24k Magic all the women are barely clothed while the men are in baggywear. I will be aware of how I present people in my music video. I'll also avoid actually sexualising someone in the narrative of my music video
One of Bruno Mars' competitors is Beyoncé. She's a pop musician like Mars. Her recent song OTHERSIDE is very different from his newer music videos as it has a narrative. This may be because the song was for The Lion King since most of Beyoncé's most famous music videos are performances like Bruno Mars is. However, in his older videos, he has also done narratives like in the music video for Grenade. This helps me as I now know a narrative story has been done for a Bruno Mars music video and isn't out of place
Another pop musician is Lady Gaga. Born This Way is a performance, but there is a narrator telling a story at the beginning. It's also conceptual, using symmetry to create an abstract retelling of birth. The closest Mars music video to be conceptual is Liquor Store Blues
Some codes & conventions of pop music videos include: fashion, makeup, lip syncing and dancing. Majority of pop music videos are performances. Other times it can also include narratives but unlike usual narratives, the main character of it is usually also the artist. OTHERSIDE by Beyoncé is an example. The narrative of pop videos are normally either about breakups or parties, in general the plot of them is very simple. My music video is more of a parody than anything else. The narrative for my music video is also quite simple, so with this knowledge I know my video would fit into the codes & conventions of a pop music video
Beyoncé. (2021) Beyoncé – OTHERSIDE (Official Video). [Online Video.] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxK0v3V4udk. Accessed at: 21.09.21
Bruno Mars. (2021) Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic - Leave the Door Open [Official Video]. [Online Video.] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adLGHcj_fmA. Accessed at: 16.09.21
Bruno Mars. (2010) Bruno Mars - Grenade (Official Music Video). [Online Video.] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR6iYWJxHqs. Accessed at: 21.09.21
Bruno Mars. (2011) Bruno Mars - Liquor Store Blues (feat. Damian Marley) (Official Music Video). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iBm60uJXvs. Accessed at: 21.09.21
Bruno Mars. (2017) Bruno Mars - That’s What I Like (Official Music Video). [Online Video.] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMivT7MJ41M. Accessed at: 16.09.21
Cissé, A. (2020) Bruno Mars' 10 Most-Watched Music Videos On Youtube (& How Many Views They Got). Available at: https://www.thetalko.com/bruno-mars-most-watched-videos. Accessed at: 21.09.21
Lady Gaga. (2011) Lady Gaga - Born This Way (Official Music Video). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV1FrqwZyKw. Accessed at: 21.09.21
MyPaperWriter. (2019) Bruno Mars And The Objectification Of Women. Available at: https://mypaperwriter.com/samples/bruno-mars-and-the-objectification-of-women. Accessed at: 21.09.21
Reddit. (2017) 60fps used effectively on new Bruno Mars music video "Finesse". [Online.] Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/videography/comments/7o1hef/60fps_used_effectively_on_new_bruno_mars_music. Accessed at: 21.09.21
Trampezium. (2013) Conventions Of A Pop Music Video. Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/Trampezium/conventions-of-a-pop-music-video-26096998. Accessed at: 22.09.21
WatchMojo. (2021) Top 10 Best Bruno Mars Music Videos [Online Video.] Available at: https://watchmojo.com/video/id/18288. Accessed at: 21.09.21
Research & Methods
Primary research is conducting research yourself or hiring a research company to do it for you. An example is the questionnaire that I'm currently doing, but another is a face-to-face interview. Because you're the one doing the research you don't have to worry about the results being lies and you know that all the answers will benefit you. Primary research is flexible and can allow you to do both qualitative and quantitative research. However because you must do the research yourself it also takes longer to get and you also have to rely on getting a lot of responses
Secondary research is using research already done by someone else. For example TV companies use research from data gathering agencies like BARB and OFCOM to help make decisions about new shows. It can also be gathered with journals, government statistics and official reviews by someone else. The good thing about secondary research is how it takes significantly less time to acquire since the research is already done and its free to access. The research is usually done with massive audiences as well, sometimes bigger than one person could’ve done. But since its owned by someone else you also have to blindly trust that the source didn't skew the results or purposely lie and you have to check that the source is up to date and recent enough, otherwise it isn’t useable
Qualitative research is when the audience is given the option to freely articulate their answers which can make them more detailed, typically seen in questionnaires. For primary research this can be acquired with test screenings and interviews, with secondary research this can be seen in YouTube comments and newspaper articles. This type of research allows more personal and articulate responses, which helps the people using the answers to make a more accurate result. The downside is that because of how detailed the responses can be, it also takes longer to read through all of them. It can be harder to realise patterns in peoples answers for the same reason
Quantitative research is when there are set answers that the audience has to choose, also seen in surveys usually based on feedback and reactions to something. The answers can then be sorted into charts and graphs easily, creating data. This significantly speeds up the process of reading through them and because of how linear the answers are, it makes noticing trends in the responses easier. However its sometimes harder to make specific conclusions because there's not much details with the answers
Daily diary 16/09
Today I did research on Bruno Mars, his music videos and explained the different types of researching. I have until next Wednesday to complete everything in the research list and the questionnaire with a minimum of 50 responses
One problem I have is my speed with finishing tasks. However I will say today I managed to completely finish one in class, I had to explain types of research and give examples. This shows my understanding of what we're being taught in class. And as today was my first time learning about research, this shows how quickly I can do my work. As time goes on I will get better at being fast and efficient at work
Job Role & Props
My job for the music video is being a producer. A producer is someone who works overall on a project, overseeing everything about it. They help with gathering funds, make sure the product doesn't go over its budget and sometimes work to market the product. Most producers work behind the scenes, making sure the other jobs like camera operators and directors can actually do their jobs safely. They do paperwork and confirm which places will be used for filming. Producers don't just work for filming, they can also work in radio shows and theatres. Producers and directors work closely together to produce a shared vision. Working hours are often very long and breaks are difficult as the industry for producers are naturally competitive
There are also many different types of producers like an assistant producer, executive producer and co-producers to name a few. Assistant producers work with the main producer and help them. An executive producer gives money to a film but isn't really involved with the actual making of the production. Co-producers can mean different things depending on the context, if the film they're working on is in co-production and the producer is apart of another production company then they're counted as a co-producer. They can also be a person working with the executive producer to manage finances. Overall producers usually work on a few specific things of the project, but they can sometimes work generally on all parts other producers would do
Things needed for the music video are: a carrot costume, many carrots in general and fake chains. We will use the TV Studio and various shops nearby as our set piece
AGCAS editors. (2020) Television/film/video producer. Available at: https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/television-film-video-producer. Accessed at: 21.09.21
Careerexplorer. (Year unknown) What does a producer do?. Available at: https://www.careerexplorer.com/careers/producer/. Acessed at: 05.10.21
Questionnaire Analysis
Most of the people who answered the questionnaire were teenagers, the second most were young adults. This means majority of these responses are from teenagers and could also possibly mean that pop music videos tend to attract a younger audience, but I'll have to do more research on that. However the intended audience we we're going for in our music video is that demographic, so overall this is fine
Most of the responses were different but the majority who answered were female. Overall I distributed this questionnaire well enough to have many diverse responses. Our music video isn't aiming towards a specific gender regardless though
The rest of the questions were done qualitatively as I wanted to read through peoples personal responses and allow the audience to justify their answer
Out of 52 responses, an overwhelming majority of them like how creative and memorable conceptual music videos are. Creativity and memorability are mentioned in twelve responses each, some together. The third biggest reason was that these music videos can help the artist express themselves
Our music video is already planned to be quite creative with the carrot theme. Pop music videos aren't known to be conceptual but many responses praised them for being unique, which is what we're doing
Most people said they'd expect a parody of 24k Magic would use carrots because of the word karat. This is exactly what our music video is about and shows that while our idea may sound a bit abstract, it actually does make sense and is reasonable
A few others mentioned rabbits and magic, which was something I haven't thought of. I may add a scene in my music video with a carrot surrounded by rabbits because of this, but I would need to find somewhere with many rabbits
Another answer mentioned special effects which I also hadn't thought of yet. If I do special effects I will follow what the response says and make sure it correlates with the lyrics as well, possibly doing something similar as the original music video
Majority watch music videos on YouTube, which isn't surprising as most of the people answering are teenagers. We were planning to put our music on YouTube as it's also the platform we use to consume music videos but we will possibly consider doing other services like Vevo, Instagram and Facebook
Majority of the responses mentioned things like being rich, other metals and jewellery. One also mentioned capitalism but since this is meant to be lighthearted and fun, I wouldn't include that in the video
I hadn't thought of adding other metals because our video is turning the gold in the original into a carrot, however I will consider adding it in as another scene in the video
Another of the answers talked about gold being used as a tasteful way to flaunt wealth, which is ironically the exact opposite of what the music video is about
When asked this question, people mostly said the same thing. Smiling, dancing, stimming and sharing what makes them happy
In our music video the main character is planned to be smiling and dancing throughout the video. The results helped confirm that we should do it. One thing we talked about in our production meetings is an interlude where the character originally watching shows they like before the song begins. In the next meeting I'll try and ask about it
The most important finding was the answers for "What do you think a parody of 24k Magic by Bruno Mars would look like?". People shared innovative ideas I hadn't thought of yet and I will absolutely consider adding them into the music video. But I will need to research some things, like for an example I will need to find a place with many rabbits that will allow us to film there