Above is the latest single 'Good girl' by pop arist Alexis Jordan, seen as our genre is pop I thought I would watch it the whole way through and look out for any editing ideas for influence.

Immediately, it caught my eye as a split screen is used which is a technique we hope to use using Final cut pro. Also, there is use of fast paced editing with fragmented shots to correspond to the beat which I took a particular interest to. As a whole, the video was simply just performance shots but it is the way it has been edited that makes it appealing to an audience.

Whilst watching music videos on television now, as well as watching them for entertainment I also look out for any interesting or different editing techniques. I came across an Example song and seen as one of his songs was our initial idea I paid particular attention to this.

At around 40 seconds into the video, a dubstep type beat comes in and the faced paced and fragmented editing corresponds with this. Short clips are used and it is edited very quickly that as an audience you are just about able to grasp sight of the shots on screen. Although our music video is a slow paced song I still liked the idea of the editing and as this was media related I thought I would blog about it...

Voyeurism...

After realising that we need an element of Voyeurism in our music video of the artist, I decided to undertake some research into how artists reflect Voyeurism in their videos.

Tinie Tempah Feat. Kelly Rowland-Invincible...



In this video, the two artists are reflected onto illuminated buildings singing and this is filmed from a low angle shot to show their power and importance as an artist.

Black Eyed Peas-The Time...





In this music video, the artists are a group of mixed genders and all use the same form of Voyeurism. They use the still body of an artist and a different artists face and reflect it in a 3D box which is illuminated.

When we were experimenting with the new editing software 'Final Cut Pro' we found an effect we could use for our element of Voyeurism which is a television and we can insert a video within the tv to show a moving image. We really liked this idea and thought it fitted with our music video as it could be a point of view shot of the artist watching television but really her mind is occupied with the break up of her relationship so she is seeing this in the television.

Rule Of Thirds...

Imaginary lines are drawn dividing the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. You place important elements of your composition where these lines intersect.

As well as using the intersections you can arrange areas into bands occupying a third or place things along the imaginary lines.Good places to put things; third of the way up or third of the way in from the left. It is not advised to place things; right in the middle, right at the top, right at the bottom, away in the corner.




Using the Rule of Thirds helps produce nicely balanced easy on the eye pictures. Also, as you have to position things relative to the edges of the frame it helps get rid of ' tiny subject surrounded by vast empty space' syndrome.


The Rule of Thirds is fairly structured but there are a great many methods you can employ which rely on your ability to 'see' things and incorporate them into your composition.

Conventions of a music video...

Lyrics:

• Tend to help establish a general mood/feeling/sense of subject matter, rather than coherant meaning.



• Key lines may play a part in the associated visuals but very rarely will a music video simply wholly illustrate the lyrics.

Music:

• Make use of the tempo of the track to drive editing



• Emphasise particular sounds from the track by foregrounding instruments-e.g guitar/keyboard

Genre:

• Some music videos do transcend genre while others can be categorised



• Some music channels focus on a particular genre

Camera Work:

• How the camera is used and sequenced and the significant impact it has on meaning



• Camera movement' angles, shot distance..



• Camera movements may accompany the movement of performers



• Close ups create intimacy with audience-close ups purpose to sell the star and dominates the video

Editing:

• Most common is a fast cut montage



• Meaning is ambiguous at first viewing images could be unclear to encourage multiple viewings



• Use some images, but add digital effects to offer audience different satisfaction-e.g. split screens.

Voyeurism...

A voyeur may observe others without them being aware of it by a number of strategies:

• The voyeur may observe the subject from a distance, or use stealth to observe the subject with the use of peep-holes, two-way mirrors, hidden cameras, secret photography and other devices and strategies.
  
• Secret photography may involve the use of normal cameras, but with the photographer being concealed. Sometimes the camera itself is disguised or concealed. The use of telephoto lens enables the distance from the subject to provide concealment.
  

Lip Sync Research...

Lip syncing is a very important element in the production of music videos so before we actually film for our music video we undertook some research and from this we will do some practical lip sync practice which will follow shortly...

• Elle in our group will be 'Pixie Lott' for our music video so she will need to learn the lyrics
  
  
• We need to pay particular attention to pronounciation of the words in the lyrics.



• We found that it works better to mouth what the word sounds like coming out of Pixie's mouth rather than the exact word written in the lyrics as it will correspond better.



• When we go out filming we need to play the song when Elle is singing and then edit it on the Macs in post production and use and uploaded version.



• We need to practice with the tempo so that Elle can keep in time and keep up with the speed with the singing and the beats



• We shouldn't lip synch throughtout the whole of our video but we should edit the best parts and use them.

Andrew Goodwin writing in ‘Dancing in the distraction factory’ (Routledge 1992)

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (stage performances & dance routines)

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (illustrative, amplifying, and contradicting)

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (illustrative, amplifying, and contradicting)

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style)

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There is often intersexual reference (to films TV programmes and other music videos)

Research on 'Audience Theory'

Audience theory -

• An element of thinking that developed within the academic literary theory and cultural studies.
• Focussing specifically on rhetoric, some, such as Walter Ong, have suggested that the audience is a construct made up by the rhetoric and the rhetorical situation that the text is addressing.
• Others, for example Ruth Mitchell and Mary Taylor have said that writers and speakers can target their communication to address a real audience.
• Some others like Ede and Lunsford attempt to combine these two approaches and create situations where an audience is "fictionalized," as Ong would say, but in recognition of some real attributes of the actual audience.
  

Effects Model

The Hypodermic Needle Model - The intended message is directly recieved and wholly accepted by the reciever.

Two-step flow - The people with most access to media, and highest media literacy explain and diffuse the content to others and is a modern version of the hypodermic needle model.

Uses and gratifications -People are not helpless victims of mass media, but use the media to get specific gratifications.

Reception theory - The meaning of a "text" is not inherent within the text itself, but the audience must elicit meaning based on their individual cultural background and life experiences

Obstinate audience theory - This theory assumes that there is a transactional communication between the audience and the media and the audience actively selects what messages to pay attention to. The Zimmerman-Bauer study found that the audience also participates in the communication by influencing the message.

Hypodermic Syringe Effect - The hypodermic needle model (also known as the hypodermic-syringe model) is a model of communications also referred to as the "magic bullet" perspective, or the transmission-belt model. Essentially, this model holds that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. The model is rooted in the 1930's behaviourism and is largely considered obsolete today.

Mike Posner-Cooler than me

During the half term whilst browsing through the music channels, a song by a new artist 'Mike Posner' with his debut single 'Cooler than me' caught my eye. The music video is strictly a performance video with no specific narrative and I would say it fits in with the 'Electro Pop' genre with an element of rap which our chosen song also has so I felt as though as an audience and a media student I could relate to this song.

At the point of 2:06 seconds the artist puts on his 'shades' and keeps on taking them on and off and as he does this, the video has been edited so that the mise en scene changes each time he looks into the shades.

Later on in the video, someone in the video slaps the artist causing his shades to fly off his face and this zooms into the screen and the shades are used as a transition to take us into the next scene which shows how the shades are a continuous prop used as it is relevant to the lyrics; 'You got designer shades just to hide your face'.

These are a few of the techniques in the song which I took particular interest to and would like to add to our own music video once we reach the editing process.