Elton John Lip Sync And Evaluation

As a preliminary experiment, we were tasked with creating a quick music video of the song "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John. When creating the music video, we filmed the entire sequence in whole takes so editing would become easier (all you would have to do was line up the music to the sequences). In addition to this, and to ensure continuity, we sang aloud instead of miming the lyrics so the mouth alignment would match the music.

In the editing, my partner and I used Premiere Pro. This particular editing program enabled us to use various effects in the music video as well as discover other that we could use in our actual video. During the editing period,  I discovered the use of 'layering' in the program that enabled me to view all of my shots simultaneously and choose which clip should go where. When editing the transition, the pen tool was useful for fades and dissolves.

Unfortunately, there were a few mistakes made during the video, the most prominent being the white-wash back ground and one instance where the lip-syncing was not correct (the wrong lyrics were being sung).

During the making of this video, I have managed to pick up some skills to use in my final music video. I have learnt that it is quicker and easier to use whole takes rather than the usual stop-start routine. It also means that I have fewer clips to edit. Additionally, using 'layering' while editing enables me to compare fewer shots, making editing much easier rather than choosing a multiple of shots one at a time.

Organic and Synthetic Music

Artists can be divided into two distinct categories, organic and synthetic.

Organic:

The term 'Organic' is used to describe bands where the music comes first, they make the kind of music they want to make and then the record labels (if signed) try to sell this music to the correct market segment. 'Organic' music often appeals to a niche, but can appeal to a mass audiece aswell. An example of a popular, organic band would be The Beatles. Forming as a small band of friends, they started in small clubs such as The Cavern Club in Liverpool and eventually started gaining popularity when they signed a record deal with George Martin. They only ever played their own songs.

Synthetic:

'Synthetic' music refes to bands who are paid by record companies to play certain songs to appeal to a majority - the X-Factor of the music industry so to speak. A gap in the market is identified and exploited by the delopment of music, and often the artist, to suit this gap. Money is ultimately the goal in this operation. An example of this would be The Monkees, a synthetic version of The Beatles whose gain in popularity was because of a TV show that accompanied their music in 1966 to 1968. Eventually, the band grew tried of having no control of their music and one band member in particular, Mike Nesmith, created his own single album. Unfortunately, he couldn't get anyone to sign it and eventually created his own broadcasting network with another person that aired particular pop music. Today, this network is known as MTV.

Asking Permission

Gaining permission to use a track is the most vital part of making a music video.



After searching through the internet, I tracked down the artist LOLO's record label at crashmusic.com and emailed Jon Lulloto gain permission.

Major Label Records

The music industry is dominated by four multi national corporations:

- Universal (that co-developed Vevo, a site designed for music videos inspired by Hulu.com, which similarly, will allow for free, ad-supported streaming of music videos and other music content).
- Sony Music
- Warner Bros.
- EMI

   

These are refered to as 'The Majors'. The majority of these are backed by conglomerates with stakes in other industries such as; film, TV and electronics.

Most of these 'Majors' own, or license, a series of smaller subsidiary companise in order to reach different kinds of audiences in different kinds of genre. Collumbia, Island, Syco, RCA, Virgin are all examples of major-independant companies.

  












Independants

There are a huge number of small companies with little or no finantial connections to the majors.

These companies often concentrate on a small number of acts, with specialised niches in the industries.

These are called 'Independants'. An examle of a highly successful independant is 'Domino Records'.

It is often that record labels begin as independants, but then are bought by a major and then become major-independants.

Editing in Music Videos (Foo Fighters Animatic)

Since the music industry and the film industry are two somewhat different businesses, we've been looking into how the two differentiate in their filmmaking - particularly in their editing. What we have found thus  far is that with music videos, the pace is significantly faster. It sets to the pace of the music rather than the situation, like with Foo Fighters 'Pretender', the editing is paced to the beat the music is set to.

Firstly we had to watch the video to 'Pretender' and draw the storyboard for the different shots within the first forty seconds. We drew what the shot consisted of, as well as write down how long the shot was and what type of shot it was and if there were any movements in it. Secondly we took pictures of each shot on the storyboard and uploaded them onto the mac computers onto desktop, then onto Premiere Pro. After this we got the original video and put that into Premiere Pro. After this we then made sure that the original was in the edited video, I put mine in the bottom right hand corner so that the storyboard could be seen beside it. Lastly we edited the storyboard into the video so they ran alongside each other. 

Experimenting with the music video 'Pretender' from Foo Fighters, we discovered just how fast the pacing of the editing is.  Within the animatic, I have found that there twenty one shots in the first forty seconds of 'Pretender', making it approximately one shot per two seconds. This exercise also enabled us to use the Premiere Pro program and practice with the edits.

Additionally, with a music video, the there are significantly more angles used with one 'scene'. With 'Pretender', there are over ten different camera angles, shots and movements on Dave Grohl in the first forty seconds alone.

Potential Tracks and Artists' Profiles

Choosing a final artist and track to work with can be a time consuming process. It takes careful consideration to choose a track that will allow you to make the best possible music video. Here are two possible candidates:

Mz. Hyde - Halestorm

Halestorm is an American hard rock band from Red Lion, Pennsylvania, consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist Elizabeth 'Lzzy' Hale, her brother drummer and percussionist Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger and bassist Josh Smith. The group's self-titled debut album was released on April 28, 2009, through Atlantic Records. Their second album "The Strange Case Of ..." was released on April 10, 2012. The song "Love Bites (So Do I)" from that album won their first Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance on February 10, 2013.

The song 'Mz. Hyde' focuses on the seperate, darker side that people hide within themselves, the 'monster in your head' so to speak.

The band's target audience focuses on people who enjoy the hard rock genre, particularly women (given the style of the music and the lyrics). 

Initial ideas (Inspired by DNA - Little Mix and Dollhouse - Melanie Martinez):

The issue with using this track is that multiple settings would have to be used, meaning production would take longer.

Narrative - A woman and her number of plots to murder various people.



Sarcasm - Get Scared (Nightcore)

Get Scared is an American post-hardcore band from Layton, Utah.

However this is a alternate version where the voices have been altered to sound female.

The song's mainly talking about being in relationship and then having it all come crashing down in front of everyone ... and being judged by everyone no matter what the truth is.

The band's target audience focuses on people who enjoy the hard rock genre, like Halestorm, except the band's audience is more diverse in the sense that it appeals to all genders.


Initial ideas (Inspired by Gorgeous Nightmare - Escape the Fate):

The issue with using this track would be dealing with the costumes and make-up, to create a sense of realism with the psychological monsters.

Narrative - A young girl wanders around a 'Monster House' searching for a way out.



LOLO - Heard It From A Friend

Lauren Pritchard (born December 27, 1987), also known by her stage name LOLO, is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Born and raised in Jackson, Tennessee, Pritchard began writing songs when she was 14 years old. She then moved to Los Angeles at 16, where she lived with Lisa Marie Presley and tried to make it as a singer in a reggae band. She eventually succeeded as a musical actress, by originating and playing the role of the 15-year-old runaway "Ilse" in the hit Broadway show 'Spring Awakening' for two years. Pritchard later settled in the United Kingdom, and signed with Universal/Island Records. In August 2010 she released the single "Painkillers", and the song was also released in a remix with rapper Talib Kweli. Her debut album, 'Wasted in Jackson', written and produced with Eg White, was digitally released on October 25, 2010 and debuted at #84 in the UK. It was also scheduled for physical release in the US on February 22, 2011. Pritchard mentions Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, Al Green and Candi Staton as some of the influences behind her music.

In 2013, Pritchard adopted the stage name LOLO and has since signed with DCD2 Records. Her other songs include: 'Hit and Run' and 'Gangsters', and featured in Panic! At The Disco's 'Miss Jackson' and Fall Out Boy's 'Centuries'.

In this song, LOLO is confronting her cheating husband with the evidence of his affair and vents all of her rage toward him.

Initial Video Ideas: The video will focus on a girl struggling with being involved in an affair, and becomes terrified of the boy's other girlfriend finding out and so starts to see her everywhere. The other girlfriend will be on an abandoned stage with a grand piano singing the song. 

The issue with using this track is that it already has a music video and, along with that, despite the artist being relatively unknown, she is signed.

Looking for an Artist

In terms of finding a suitable song to use in my music video project I have to search for unsigned artists or bands who are unheard of. This has lead me to look on websites like mobygratis or YouTube for unsigned bands. 

During my search, I have found three potential bands; Get Scared with the song 'Sarcasm' (altered to sound like a woman is singing), Halestorm with the track 'Mz. Hyde' and LOLO with the song 'Heard It From A Friend'. 














Now that I have found my potential bands, all that leaves me to do is contact the bands for permission to use their songs (to avoid being sued).

Styles Of Music Videos

There are many different categories of music video, including:

- Narrative
A music video with a storyline. The story line progresses through the video along with the music. Sometimes the artists may cameo in the video however some do not.

- Cinematic

A cinematic is a music video that is of high production and has a film like quality. Often referred to as a mini film. Good aspects of films such as cinematography and mis en scene are used. Cinematic music videos are similar to narrative however they are usually on a bigger scale and can lack a story line. They are also commonly pretentious and over the top. 

 

 

- Studio Based

Studio based music videos take place in one location and can even be done in one take.



- Pastiche
A video that works seriously with another genre/time frame. The song would associate with the music video. It is also a respectful mimicry of a particular artist, style, director. It will aim to pay homage to the style, director, artist. Something that copies without being designed to mock. (E.g. Maroon 5's 'Animals', though it gets a little abstract towards the end, shows intertextual links with the film 'American Psycho').


- Animation

The use of animation and cartoons in a music video.

- Parody

A parody music video is a video that makes fun of another text. It uses the same idea that they have seen in another text (for example, this video created by the comedian Harry Hill, is a parody of Take On Me by A-ha).

Purpose of a Music Video - With Reference to Synergy

As we know, 'Synthetic' music is all about the money making, but the purpose of a 'synthetic' music video is:

- Promotion/publicity of the artist/band
- To make money - increase sales - persuade audiences to buy the CD/download
- Product placement (publicising merchandise) - collaboration collaboration collaboration collaboration collaboration products promotes the buying and selling of the two merchandises.

Synergy:
- Music videos exits only as one strand of a multimedia campaign. It is just one way in which a song is promoted.
- The music industry as a whole has a relationship with a number of different media: radio, TV, print media, film, new media, ect...
- There is often a clear sense of synergy across a number of platforms e.g. film.

Examples of this includes:

Bryan Adams - Everything I Do which was promoted by the film 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGoWtY_h4xo&list=RDZGoWtY_h4xo

Note:

- The location where shots the band were playing was on the actual set where the film was based.

Adele - Sky Fall was promoted by the James Bond film 'Sky Fall'

Note:

- Adele was not a part of the actual video, perhaps because she lacked the qualities a typical 'Bond Girl' usually has - namely her size and figure.


Leona Lewis - I See You was promoted by 'Avatar'

Note:

- The song was created on a quote from the actual film.

- Not only does the music video have scenes from the movie, it mimics some of the elements projected into it as well. Notice some of the light on Leona was used to create a tone on her skin matching the cool colours on the main characters in the film.

Narrative Theory

Narrative is the way a story is organised and it connects different element of the plot to create a logical order. Its generally broken down into several segments by Tzvetan Todorov.

Equilibrium is the balance, or peacefulness before the conflict, which then leads into the disruption, the problem which then leads to a resolution, the conflict ending by some means, creating the new equilibrium, which is not the same as the old equilibrium, as the characters and scenario have been changed due the events of the films.

Elements of a narrative include:
- Time (e.g. real time - chronological time)
- Closure (the relief the audience feels at the end of the movie)
- Enigma (problems that need to be solved - questions that are asked - to achieve closure, all of the questions must be answered).

What Makes A Great Music Video?

In my opinion, a great music video isn't just about the popularity of the song or how well the artist(s) singing and/or playing is known. Which begs the question; what makes a great music video?

The Storyline:
Not all music videos need a comprehensible plot, though the storyline needs to be imaginative, to convey a powerful emotion or expression and  to have a unique concept or a unique selling point (a marketing concept first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern in successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s).

An example for this can include:

The Mise-En-Scene:
Like with any film, the location, props, costume, hair and make-up are all essential in film-making. Mise-en-scene creates an ambience or tone with the film, so with a music video, if you are using music with a certain tone, you would need elements such as costumes, lighting, ect... to mach the music.

An example for this can include:



Editing:

The pace of the editing has to match the beat of the music. However, that is not all that has to be met perfectly to obtain the status of a great music video. In a good music video, there should be a variety or an interesting use of effects.

An example of this can include:




Cinematography:

A narrative is a music video with a storyline. The story line progresses through the video along with the music. Sometimes the artists may cameo in the video however some do not. A good music video, in my opinion, should use a variety - or at least an interesting use - of a variety of shots, camera angles and movements. 

An example for this can include:


Promotion and publicity:

Usually the most popular music videos are the ones that are promoted the best, weather through adverts, charts, sales or word of mouth.

An example of this includes:

Brief

The task this year is to produce a music 'promo' video, lasting up to five minutes, either working on my own or with others.

Examples of previous students' work:

We also need to produce a Digipak for the song's release on CD and a magazine advert for the Digipak. 

In addition to my ‘promo’ video you will have to produce a critical evaluation.

Welcome to me Blog!

Hey guys, welcome to my blog, this is where I'll be posting my A2 coursework all based on the music industry and making music videos, which (hopefully) I will be creating and posting sometime next winter or spring.