Tuesday, September 11, 2018

GENERAL CONVENTIONS 5: Cinematography + Editing


Possible Influences
  • Special effects at drop
  • Have editing pace link to pace of track at some points
  • Large shot variety 
  • Layering in post production
  • Attempt robot arm movement 
  • Have variety of stable camera angles + handheld (stabilized when appropriate) 
Summary
  • Editing pace generally fits pace of track
  • Special effects and cgi implemented at times
  • Large variety of shot types
  • Scope for creativity in post production
  • Goodwin's theory of cutting to the beat
  • Cutting between narrative and performance 
Vodcast
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Cinematography and editing is one of Andrew Goodwin's 6 conventions of music video. Being that there is usually a large shot variety and the editing and pace of editing is generally too the beat. The track I have chosen is Jebroer - Kind van de Duivel.

About Track 
Jebroer - Kind van de Duivel
Genre: Hardstyle
Release date: January 2017
Lyrics

Narrative
A young boy who has a hard family life decides to rebel and get a gun too steal things which ultimately results in his death.

Lyrics 
The main lyrics translated are:
Dutch:
Ik ben een kind van de duivel
Mama, jij hoeft niet te huilen
Feesten, alsof elke dag hier mijn laatste is
Hoop dat je deze draait op mijn begrafenis


English:
I'm a child of the devil
Mum, you don't have to cry now
Partying, like every day is my last
I hope you turn this song on at my funeral

These lyrics give a general idea of the track, and also link into the narrative.
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Analysis of Music Video

The music video ends the same way it started creating an effect of an unsolved narrative making the audience watch it again and again.

The opening shots start out with a little narrative enigma followed with a series of panning shots to establish who has made the track. This is an effective method of keeping the audience engaged with the music video.

The first narrative shot is a long shot slowly zooming into a medium long shot. The next shot is then a close up of the little boy singing the lyrics. Almost a jump cut in a way.

The track starts out fast paced but the editing pace does not relate to the track pace until the first "drop".

At 0:36 there is an over the shoulder shot, that is clearly indicating a conflict between the father and son.



When the buildup for the drop is happening there is a slight earthquake/flash special effect to the first beat which is preparing you for the drop. This is also a medium shot and two shot. The camera is also panning to the right as this is happening.


At 0:47
there is a handheld shot done on purpose for it is the boy who is angrily throwing stuff out from his cupboard. The handheld shot signifies action.


The earthquake/flash special effect with colour correction comes again in this shot with the second major drum hit. The pace has also increased and is cutting to the beat as the drop is getting closer. The earthquake/flash special effect also signifies the anger of the little boy in this video and helps anchor the narrative of the boy having a hard life.



At 1:09 there is a small speed up effect on the shot as the boy walks fast and slows down to a realistic pace. This is quirky but quite effective.


The whole sequence from 1:09 - 1:35 is a series of panning, handheld CU, MS and LS shots because this sequence happens during the drop. The editing pace is not that fast so they have to make up for it with all the different type of camera angles and shot types.


As the second drop happens the same earthquake/flash special effect happens. In a way all of these flashes are foreshadowing what is about to happen if you listen to the lyrics and watch the narrative of the child rebelling.


At 2:03 there is a low angle of one of the producers of the track who is acknowledging the boy. This shot signifies that the boy is still weak and not prepared for what is about to come.


At 2:17 we see a tracking/dolly shot of the boy walking confidently as if something is about to happen.

This shot happens right after a dramatic moment of a gun being fired. The flash signifies a muzzle flash from a gun, this effect is also used to transition the next part of the narrative which is a close up shot of a picture of the boy on top of a coffin. The close up slowly becomes an extreme long shot as the camera slowly panning out from the picture.     


3:13 There are two more close ups before revealing that people are carrying the coffin with a long shot.
The music video ends the same way it begins.


Additional Examples

This music video for PIXIES - INDIE CINDY has some interesting ideas with the whole narrative being in reverse. With special effects that show an old camera flicker, signifying the "flashbacks" of the central protagonist.



*warning: this track contains explicit content*Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar -  Kings Dead
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Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Future, James Blake - King's Dead



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Kendrick Lamar always produces interesting videos in the sense of editing and cinematography and this one is no exception as one of the scenes, has been edited together with many layers put on top of each other, clips being both reversed and played on repeat. Multiple zooms and panning being done in post production as well to the beat.   

*warning: this track contains explicit content* Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE.
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Kendrick Lamar - HUMBLE.


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The effect created here is using a robotic arm as this is not possible with handheld, steady cam or post production to make it so smooth. The robotic arm is programmed to stay focused on a subject and then move in unique ways to create this effect, either with the program or a controller. Its named motorized precision. There is a video created to explain all of the features used for this incredibly unique technique. The is no special effects or CGI added with this robotic arm
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Panic at the Disco - High Hopes 
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In this music video we follow the lead singer walking up a buildings sideways. Many shots are  obviously using a green screen and CGI plus special effects in post production to make this bizarre concept achieve verisimilitude as seen with the GIF below.  ...
Panic! At The Disco: High Hopes [OFFICIAL VIDEO]


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Mötley Crue - Kickstart My Heart
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Editing pace plays a huge factor in music videos. The editing pace in this music video clearly reflects the pace of the track. Special effects, the large variety of shot types as well as cutting between performance and narrative has made some of the sequences extremely fast paced.
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Mötley Crüe - Kickstart My Heart (Official Music Video)
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(JC)Guns N' Roses - November Rain


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The video opens with a close up of a man (Axl Rose) extinguishing a ciggy on his table and takes
some pills, the close up shows clearly the contents of the table and gives a slight idea to the viewer as to what kind of person he is. However because of the height of the camera angle there is narrative enigma as to who it is.







The lighting throughout these shots has a blue color correction, it gives a cold feeling to the shots which matches the content of drugs
 Part of the video is set in a large concert hall, the first shot we see of this is a large establishing shot, it looks over the hall and shows the scale. The orange color correction is a complete contrast to the previous shots.

 There are multiple shots of the band, these include, close ups, medium close ups and medium shots

 These shots are used to show a lot about the band, they show there clothing, props and setting. Again they are shown with the blue light however because the lighting is darker it doesn't have the same cold feel

The setting now changes so the common convention of a extreme long shot, establishing shot is seen
Throughout the video there are multiple uses of cross-fade transitions, these are heavily used and the transition lengths are quite long










Here slash can be seen with a low range of focus, he is completely blurred out and out of focus.
Here is a clever example of a use of special effects in editing, the room Axl Rose is sat in


GENERAL CONVENTIONS 6: UGC

Possible Influences
  • Create competition where "fans" enter with their own UGC 
  • Have a "fan" create lyric video
  • Encourage UGC through social media
Summary 
  • Doesn't have to be another music video
  • Can be any type of music video not uploaded by artist or band
  • Lyric video, Track with picture, paradoy, recreation of music vid, animation etc.
  • UGC can be encouraged by Band/Artist
  • Band/Artist can make competitions for UGC
Vodcast
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User Generated Content is a convention that some artist try to push and some that just happen naturally to bond the audience/fans with the music. UGC can range form recreating or making a new music video for the song to making fan pages about their favourite artist. UGC can be seen as a huge marketing scheme which in some ways it is. As in some cases UGC is more popular and has gathered a larger audience than the official content. Below are some examples of UGC.

Music Videos

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The Unofficial fan made video has more views than the official music video for Sail by AWOLNATION. This is partly due to it being released before the official music video where a fan saw an opportunity and made a music video for this song. There are a lot of slow takes in this music video but the cinematography and narrative is outstanding making people believe it was the official music video.

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The people who made this had this as a "project for high school" according to the description and decided they would recreate the music official music video for the hit song "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots. This is much like what we are doing this year!

Lyric Videos 
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Lyric videos used to be just UGC but has since become popular with artists making multiple videos for one track (Official Video, 1 - take video, lyric video, etc.) The convention started with fans/the audience making these lyric videos. 

(Without) Music Videos
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A bizarre but very funny concept that is a parody of the official music videos created by artists. What this channel has done is removed all non - dietetic sound and added all dietetic sound that is happening in the music video which creates a quite funny parody and shows how quirky music video's are sometimes. 

Fan pages
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This is a Justin Bieber fan page which a fan has setup and attracted an audience which are also fans of him and want the latest news.


(JC) What is UGC?

UGC (User generated content) is one of the conventions for the industry and audience of music videos. There are many examples of this online, for example fan made music videos, covers of songs online or any content posted by users such as on social media or wikis.

UGC is one of the most popular marketing methods and utilises visuals taken by real people. Audiences are tired of seeing the same type of marketing campaigns with similar-looking people, set to the same backdrops. 

Instead, they demand more authenticity and want to feel a stronger connection with brands. This is where UGC plays a vital role; it’s a way for consumers to see people just like themselves in marketing promotions.

MGMT - KIDS

Music Videos

Original Video
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UGC...
 
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Above is a example of a UGC for the music video "KIDs" by MGMT, despite being made for a school project it amassed a total of over 52 million views. This is a brilliant example of why UGC can be so effective because of the potential reach it can have to people.

Examples:

Radiohead "In Rainbows"

In 2008, Radiohead started a competition for their album "In Rainbows," that gave fans a chance to make a music video of one of their songs and win a prize. This meant fans had a chance to be personally recognised by the band and to share their work.
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This use of UGC by Radiohead was made to market their new album and get people engaged with their content. This seemed extremely effective and had many people interact with the band.

Drake "In My Feelings"

Another example of a artist interacting with fans through UGC is Drake's "In my feelings challenge," in which fans would get out of moving cars and dancing to the song "In my feelings," and upload it online, clips of this were then put into the end of drakes official video for in my feelings.
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Fan Made video compilation
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Official Video

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The use of UGC for in my feelings blew the video up, at the time of writing this it add over 120mil views and multiple in my feelings UGC videos ha dwell over a million views.

Fan-Made/ A-level videos:

More examples of UGC is the videos made by A-level students for Media Studies, such as the ones we are trying to make, a good example of this is a Bring me the Horizon video made by students at our school.
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Depeche Mode - Its No Good:

Another example of fan-made videos is Depeche mode, below is a official video published by the band and the other is a unofficial, fan-made, alt video using footage of the band. The fan-made video has more views with a total of over 26.5million views whilst the official only has 12.5million.
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Official video
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Fan-made
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Mannequin Challenge:

The mannequin challenge started in 2016 and went extremely viral, based around the song, black Beatles by Rae Sremmurd, the videos feature a camera panning around locations with people frozen in a pose.

This is our Mannequin Challenge from our school:
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(SS) UGC 
For this convention i will be discussing the UGC made for Silentó's Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)
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This song blew up in the summer of 2015 due to the distinct reference to popular African American dances. The distinct references led to a specific "challenge" started with the hashtag "WatchMeDanceOn". This first got popular by the YouTube channel 'Tianne King". And since then numerous #WatchMeDanceOn compilations have been made by youtube channels by gathering videos from individual uploads and compiling them to a massive compilation
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This is a screenshot from the video above where the little girls are doing the infamous 'Nae Nae'
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Here is Silentó demonstrating how to whip and Nae Nae C
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GENERAL CONVENTIONS 7: Alternative Videos

Possible Influences

  • Create 1 take video
  • Create lyric video 
  • Have 2 music videos
It is becoming more common to have alternative videos to one track created by the artist. The most common is having a lyric video and a music video. The track that will be analysed is U2 - One. U2 made three music videos for this track all different to appeal to a wider audience. All music videos were directed by different directors as well.
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This playlist has all three music videos in.

Directed by Anton Corbjin
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The first video in the playlist was filmed in Berlin at a studio. Featuring the iconic Trabant which is now an iconic car used in Eastern Europe and East Germany. This was very cleverly thought of mise - en - scene There are shots with the band memebers dressed in drag as the opposite sex. This visually striking video was removed as the band members felt that critics would link it to AIDS and sexuality being linked.

Directed by Phil Joanou 
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The second video in the playlist is set in a nightclub. It is following the main singer who is sitting alone smoking and drinking. There a cuts to both females and males dressed as the opposite sex. Transvestites. There is also a performance from the band to cut up the video. This is the video they chose as their main one and is uploaded to their official YouTube channel.

Directed by Mark Pellington 
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The third one in the playlist is a live performance cut up with blooming flowers and buffaloes running in a response to the "Falling Buffalo" photograph by David Wojnarowicz, taken as natives are chasing them off a cliff .Wojnarowicz who was a homosexual artist in the 80's, died in 1992 with complications of AIDS. The "Falling Buffalo" also happened to be the single cover to the track as it represents the American Dream in its broken state. The band loved the meaning behind the video but did not believe it was good for promotional material.


GENERAL CONVENTIONS 8: Distribution, Social

Possible Influences

  • Advertise upcoming video on social media
  • Have sneak peaks post on social media
  • Upload music video to multiple platforms 

Simon: Foo Fighters

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With the Foo Fighter growing older they don't appeal as much to a younger audience and realising this they have created a new platform on their website and if you go on the mixtape section of the homepage it takes you to an interactive site where you can build your own Foo Fighters "Mixtape" depending on your mood and the Foo Fighter Era you want to listen to.

Foo Fighters have done this because they want to introduce their older audience to streaming, where they would usually just buy CDs, and also introduce younger audience to the Foo Fighters with a cool new concept.
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Here you can see all the songs in your mixtape that the website has mixed up for you, you can rearrange the tracks 

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Here is the option to name your mixtape

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Here you can share your newly made custom mixtape. You can share it on Facebook, Twitter, or send it to your email or add it to your Spotify playlist. There's also an option to subscribe to a newsletter

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James: Big Shaq - Mans not hot

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Social media has a huge influence over the popularity and success of a track/ music video. A brilliant example of this is Big Shaq - Mans Not Hot. This was a hugely viral hit back in 2017 in which Micheal Dappah, an English actor made a skit on Radio 1 as one of his characters (big shaq) which quickly went international bringing in millions of views.
Micheal Dappah saw the opportunity social media brought him when the skit went viral and proceeded to create a full music video boosted by his recent success and current status. This video ended up getting over 300 million views.
This is the google trend for Big Shaq, as you can see there is a huge spike where his career quickly boomed.
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Instagram:Social medias such as instagram play as massive role of the promotion of music videos for artist, it is a way of artists showing people there work and communicating with there audience to create a community of fans.
This is Michael dappahs instagram, he has about 1.5million followers and uses the platform to promote his content and stay as relevant as he can
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This is an example of him telling people about his music video, thanking them and telling them to go watch it and support him
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This is another example of him interacting with his fans, he's thanking them for their support, this helps to create a community and fan base for him.
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This is a post about Big Shaqs success from the viewpoint of his record company:
Link to page

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Christian: George Ezra - Paradise
Distribution of a track and music video is becoming more and more important as social media is having a larger impact on peoples lives. The music video can be posted on multiple different platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion and sometimes even Spotify. There can also be links or videos on other social media as well! The video I have chosen is George Ezra - Paradise.
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He uploaded the video to YouTube as it is by far the largest platform for video content, there are no official uploads on Vimeo and Dailymotion however there are fan made (UGC) uploads.

Social Media
George Ezra has advertised his music video on all the mainstream social media sites. He has also built up hype by saying there is a video "coming soon" on all his social media aswell.

Instagram
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As you can see this post has nearly 80,000 views (counts as likes) and has 680 comments with very positive feedback from his audience and fans!

Twitter
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Twitter seems to be the least popular social media where he has promoted the video due to the small amount of likes (2.1k) and comments (110). This may be due to his target audience more commonly use Instagram.

Facebook
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This promotion on Facebook has slightly more likes and comments than Twitter. With 3.4k likes and 308 comments. Again Facebook is not as popular for his target audience as Instagram is.

These numbers on social media are surprising as you are about to see the amount of views of his video on YouTube.


The amount of views he has on the official video are a huge amount greater than any of his other social media combined. Apple music also streams his music video however it doesn't show the amount of views or streams it has.
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Spotify
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On Spotify the song has nearly reached 100 millions streams with it counting upwards everyday. It is nearly twice as much as

Conclusion
The target audience that heavily use social media are T(w)eenagers and it is obvious which one of the social media platforms is most popular for him. Which is Instagram. The most popular streaming service is also Spotify. However YouTube is the platform for most views on his music video (not counting TV). The distribution and "advertising" of the music video on the other social medias has defiantly helped the song gain traction and become a hit.