My First Attempt At Green Screening

When Green Screening I found it easy to learn how to use the Chroma Key and the process of the technique. However with my first two attempts it was hard when knowing where to position the individual. For instance in our my first two attempts some of the keys on the keyboards disappeared and our legs looked a bit weird because we stood too far back and merged in with the green screen almost.









But once I tackled that difficulty it became a lot easier and i was able to expand my backgrounds and think of more imaginative poses.











You could use green screening within a music video (especially one under the spectacle genre), since it would help broaden that imaginative side that artist's such as Lady GaGa are famous for appreciating.











An example can be seen in Lady GaGa -Telephone ft. Beyonce, as they are driving in the car!











One benefit to green screening is the fact that it leaves your options for setting and location open a lot more, as your background imagery could be limitless. Overall I feel green screening may prove very usual in a music video, as it would reduce the cost during production and you could save time when finding a suitable location.    

How do directors use Media Language to produce creative videos?

Real Media Comparison

This medium length shot is from Taylor Swift's 'Love Story' music video, it displays Taylor in a period setting with a lake in the background and her standing on the 'balcony' (referencing the Romeo and Juliet styled lyrics)! We can also see a wall mural on the brick situated behind her with a fern like plant positioned in the bottom left hand corner. She is wearing a cream corset dress with her hair up in curls to maintain the period feel for the audience, whilst also creating a sexual appeal towards the artist.  

Similarly to our own still we opted for a more minimalist background to help focus on the actress, however Swift's video includes a more diverse location but the complex framing of the two pillars and darker tones vs the creams also helps to frame Taylor (who is similarly directly positioned in the center). Another similarity is that both are dressed in a romantic sense with the red connoting love and Taylor's stereotypically 'sexy' corset connoting romance. To improve our shot, we could have included better props like the iconically romantic red lipstick and perhaps introduced a more romantic setting such as Romeo and Juliet's balcony or a pretty garden to help connote a romantic image to the audience. I could also improve the real media still, by introducing red roses within the fern plant, since they are iconic props when referencing a romantic image, since they are largely used to connote love! Both stills reference the romantic image I tried to great with my own still shot for the audience. Taylor has created a romantic image by introducing the romantically iconic balcony used to reference Romeo and Juliet's 'Love Story'!

This long shot has been used in Florence an The Machine's 'Delilah' music video to help establish to the audience that she is performing at Glastonbury festival. A long shot was chosen here to help convey that to the audience, because it displayed Florence positioned off center on a stage with high key lighting from spotlights situated all around. From this shot we are able to see props such as the mic and its stand, as well as other back-up singers and performers.

In a similar way we have shown the upbeat vibe Florence has created in this shot simply through posture whilst on-stage, by positioning our own actresses in an almost identical pose with their hands in the air and body language very relaxed in a dance-like pose. However unlike Florence's music video we have not used high key lighting, disco ball back drop or glittery suit to identify our shot with a performance music video. Therefore if we were to improve this shot, I would suggest including a better on-stage setting with lots of high key lighting and spotlights to replicate larger scale performance to much bigger audience. To improve the Florence and The Machines shot, I would use a camera shot from behind Florence facing out on to the Glastonury audience, as it would confirm the festival performance. Both shots fulfil the performance genre though, as they both show footage of the artists performing with the aid of musical props such as the mic or the tambourine.



In this shot we are able to see Drake in a 'dingy' toilet this is connoted through the graffiti on the side of the hand-dryer. There are various layers that have been built up to reference the use of drugs, explaining the after effects to the audience with the blurred double vision of Drake (which has been created by the overlapping of two separate shots)! A saturated filter has also been applied to again reference the use of drugs.  


Unlike our medium long shot taken from the doorway to display the setting, Drake's shot uses a close up from within the toilet (which is still effective when showing the audience the setting but also allows the audience to feel present, since the hazed blur suggests they are looking at the shot through Drake's eyes). However they are both similarly taken from within a toilet location, suggesting both contain a dark narrative. Another similarity is that both shots have the saturated filter applied, however Drake has saturated whilst we have desaturated. To improve this still, I would use a better angle (perhaps a high angle shot, to connote her vulnerability) and make-up such as runny mascara and a prop like drugs to emphasis her pain (since drugs connote pain relief). To improve the real media shot, I would display more graffiti in the toilet with writing and markings on the walls, in order to create a better dingy club vibe. Although Drake's shot does reference the usage of drugs via overlapped shots, these two particular shots don't do much to suggest a narrative music video besides the fact that they are quite depressive shots which tend to appear in narratives. So I would therefore improve by including graffiti in on the walls of both shots which either have meaning to the lyrics or repeat the lyrics, so the audience can gain more insight to the narrative.

Still Shot Analysis

Image Genre: Before Editing

This medium close-up shot represents the image genre of a music video, as image related music videos
are built from a series of clips which focus on an individuals look and the type of persona that this look creates for the audience. For this medium close-up shot we have created a romantic image. We chose a medium close-up because it not only focused on her facial looks but her taste in clothes. In the shot you can a see a young girl who is smiling of into the distance, she is wearing a casual stripy top representing the fact that she is a 'normal everyday person'  (whereas someone who wants to be perceived as Gothic might wear black in a creepy setting, imaginary: in bizarre outfits and peculiar settings, tough; in camouflage with knuckledusters...)! The fact that her top is red also signifies a romantic theme to the audience, as it is a stereotypical colour to connote love. We have chosen to position her with a simple brick wall in the background, as it stereotypically seen as quite a plain, dull and ugly thing in comparison to the girl (making her seem even more romantic). We wanted to show her smiling, as it connotes the happiness in her relationship, the fact that she is starring of into the distance suggests to the audience that she is looking at her partner (hence the reason she is looking at eye-level).  

Image Genre: After Editing

After editing this medium close-up you are able to see that we have enhanced the natural lighting with the colour corrector filter (making it a little bit more high key), this helps create that romantic image since her looks are highlighted more as the main feature! We have also added text from Taylor Swift's 'Love Story' track ("Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone"), this helps relate the shot to a romantic image (as this particular song is about a romance).  
 

Performance Genre: Before Editing

This medium long shot belongs to the performance genre; we decided to replicate a Glastonbury type scene (as they are well-known for their wild performances and artists quite often use footage from their performance within their own music videos)! A main video we focused on whilst creating this shot was Florence and The Machine 'Delilah' which also used a lot of medium long shots of the artists. We replicated this type of performance by choosing to take the location in front of a metal wire fence, bushes which are quite often found at festival venues (since they tend to happen in the countryside farmyards) and a white building which could easily be portrayed to the audience as a farm house or barn. We used musical props as well, so the audience know the two individuals are indeed performing (perhaps to their own on-site audience). We chose casual clothing as that is what people tend to wear to festivals and they are sporting an upbeat vibe with their positioning (which is described as jumping/ dancing), which represent the fun side of a festival performance.   

Performance Genre: After Editing

When editing this medium long shot we decided a split screen would be an appropriate filter, because a performance is usually full of life and creativity. Therefore by choosing a split screen we were able to enhance that energy in the multiple shots by giving the audience a lot to look at (reducing the negative space and creating a busy image).



Narrative Genre: Before Editing

This medium long shot has been taken under the narrative genre, it has positioned a girl crying on a toilet floor. We chose this type of shot as it focused on the location as well as the girl. We chose to use this setting as stereotypically narrative songs are used for sad songs about negative things like break ups... which tend to be set in a depressive location such as a toilet. We used a girl that was crying, since girls are stereotypically the victim of narrative music videos. For example Marvin's Room by Drake which uses a toilet scene to reflect on the sad narrative. 

Narrative Genre: After Editing

Whilst editing we chose to desaturate the medium long shot, as we thought it more fitting for the depressive narrative music video. With the darker tones reflecting the tense storyline. We also thought that it could reflect the fact that this particular still is from a past event which a lot of narrative music videos include, so the audience can be filled in on whats been going on.

Analyzing Music Videos And Their Genres

Some examples of Goodwin's Rules directly linked to Genre

This prezi explores Goodwin's Rules in some of the key genres such as Performance/Narrative, Image and Intertextuality.

Music Video Genres

There are multiple music genres to pick from when producing a music video, along with numerous genre theories to pick from.

The genre theory this prezi is based on is:

Goodwin's Rules - which suggests there are six main genres to select from when chosing to produce a music video, these are:

1. Performance
2. Narrative
3. Image
4. Spectacle/Concept
5. Intertextuality
6. Romanticism/Sex 

(Other key theories range from Roland Barthes to Vladimir Propps!)

Introduction

Hello my name is Rhianna Henson-Smith. Currently I am studying A2 Media, Psychology and History at St Peters School in Guildford. This blog will contain my progress of A2 Media on music videos where I shall upload individual and group work, in working towards my final product. Last year I enjoyed working on a 2 minute thriller film opener which I called 'Doctor 6:19', so look forward to learning more about the music industry and the marketing behind it, as well as making my own music video.

Introduction

My name is Madeleine Fox and I am a Year 14 Media Studies student at St.Peter's Catholic School, as well as Media Studies I take A2 Art and A2 History. This blog will be for my A2 Media Studies music video coursework and how I was able to create the final product along with the rest of my group via research and planning... I really enjoyed producing my thriller opening sequence last year (Doctor 6:19) and hope this year I will be able to broaden my knowledge for the music industry and hopefully create a successful music video.