Crazy- Gnarles Barkley

This video is based on the inspirations of a famous psychological test used called the Roscarch Ink Blot Test. The video is entirely created with graphics which has made up a video out of ink. Its truly magnificent how the video is continuously transitioning into different types of visual imagery which can be a form of iconography for the artist.

Rihanna - Man Down

The music video, "Man Down" was shot in the streets of Jamaica in a bedroom, and a quite deprived and rough area outside a nightclub. The genre of the video is considered as reggae as she is emphasises her carribean routes and heritage in the song.

Rihanna uses a primarily narrative-based  and concept-based video for this song as the video begins with Rihanna shooting a man and then a flashback into the past justifying her reasons for shooting the man.

The chorus of the song states, "I shot a man down" suggesting that she had to murder a man for her own personal protection. This video is interesting as it states that men and women are equal. A women is as equal as commiting a crime as men. The video depicts the woman as being a strong independent female who can protect herself through the use of self defense.

This shot portrays the woman being sexually assaulted and it also acknowledges the patriarchal society. The male is controlling the woman in a very violent attitude. The dark lighting illustrates the dull and dark atmospheres that can be seen within the night.



This shot could be considered as a masculine and dark short, as the effect of a red blink is the connotation of a police car siren approaching which suggests that a crime has been committed. The artists face is hidden by the dark shadow which suggests that she is in remorse for her actions and is ashamed that she has murdered a man. I think this is a very successful shot as it really emphasises the mood and atmosphere of the rough area of Kingston.

 This shot illustrates Rihanna in the dark hiding away as she is about to murder a man. I believe that the minimal lighting on this shot depicts the shame and vulnerability which Rihanna felt when she was sexually assaulted by her partner.

This video particularly interests me as it is the only video that I have seen which consists of advertising. This shot demonstrates the advertising of coconut milk. The artist has signed a contract with the compny therefore she has had permission to promote the product within her video.

The music video by far, creates a significant amount of contraversy due to its sensitive issues and violence, I believe that it is quite a negative ifluence on women suggesting tht murder is the way, but on the other hand it is very iconic towards women as it shows that they can stand on their own two feet withiut the support of the male gender. The video overall is quite successful in terms of the shots and effects.

Bruno Mars -Just The Way You Are

Bruno Mars' video "Just the Way You Are" is set in a spacious apartment where the artist expresses his admiring thoughts about the womans beauty. The genre of the song is considered to be R&B and pop, I believe these genres are suitable for this video as it consists of good beat and it could be considered as quite romantic and affectionate towards the  beauty of the women. However, the genre is indirectly stated as it is difficult to acknowledge the genre from the video itself.

This video appeals to me as I really find the concept of the video very creative and attention grabbing due to the originality compared to normal videos. Majority of the video is animated, the reel of tape constructs visual animation which is very interesting to the audience. A very appealing shot within is a bell which Bruno rings with his fingers in synchronization with the chimes near the end of the song. I find this shot imaginative as it looks as if he actually is ringing the bell.

The most effective and interesting part of the music video is when on the table there is an animation of Mars playing the piano and suddenly the camera tilts up and there is an establishong shot where Mars is actually sitting and playing the piano. I like this transformation from animation to reality as it illustrates the idea that the animation was coming to life. I found that it was a very intelligent transition.

 The video is primarily performance-based, we see this when the girl in the video is listening to her cassette player, the artist takes the tape out an begins to perform a live performance.

This shot is cleverly constructed, as Bruno states his affections towards the woman we see the animation still being displayed on the coffee table between them. This looks like a very challenging shot to capture as it takes time and skill to carry this animation whilst the reality is taking place. The shot creates a twist which combines reality and animation which is one of the reasons that the video is successful.

Lyrics

Oh her eyes, her eyes
Make the stars look like they're not shining
Her hair, her hair
Falls perfectly without her trying

She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day

Yeah I know, I know
When I compliment her
She wont believe me
And its so, its so
Sad to think she don't see what I see

But every time she asks me do I look okay
I say

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

Her lips, her lips
I could kiss them all day if she'd let me
Her laugh, her laugh
She hates but I think its so sexy

She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day

Oh you know, you know, you know
Id never ask you to change
If perfect is what you're searching for
Then just stay the same

So don't even bother asking
If you look okay
You know I say

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

The way you are
The way you are
Girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

Evaluation of Preliminary Tasks

After completing my preliminary tasks I have developed many skills which will be of a great use when I start to edit my final product. These tasks have helped me to improve my editing skills along with increasing my knowledge of the effects which could be used on Final Cut.

Animal Costumes
This task has improved my editing skills as it involved matching footage with a song of my choice and shortening clips to go with the music. In this task I experimented with the speed of the clips and I used the reverse technique where the original clip is repeated and reversed. I also used the wireframe where two different clips could be shown at the same time.

 Here is a screen grab of my experimentation with the use of wireframing to portray two different clips at the same time.

This shot demonstrates my trials of using the reverse technique which is a very effective technique to use when you want the same clip mirrored.

This shot demonstrates the manipulation of the speed and how it can be slowed down and speeded up.








Radio Head Mash-up

This is where I experimented with the pen tool within the software where you can create this shadow effect shown in this shot simply by tweaking the levels on the clip where using the V1 and V2 you can duplicate the clips and create delays to create a faded shadow effect. I think this effect is extremely successful as it adds a twist to the video.

 This shot demonstrates the mirror effect which divides the clip in half and mirrors what can be seen, the effect is good when trying to create an artistic music video.










This shot illustrates the blink effect which I experimented with using Final Cut Express. I really enjoyed using this effect as it adds emphasis and exaggeration to the visual aspects in the video, which can draw the audience in.


















Lip Synch
I developed lip synching skills as well as using the marker in Final Cut Express to help match the sequence to the audio. The use of markers helped us match the visuals with the lyrics. When producing the lip synchronising task I was most happy with the performance throughout as the visual imagery was very accurately synchronised to the audio and it looked very professional. However, when shooting the imagery for the lip synch we did not record a long take which we could use throughout which meant that we had a few point within the footage where we are just standing there doing nothing which looks very unprofessional and as we did not have any long takes, we could not replace these errors with suitable imagery.

Marketing Stategies

Fact file on the Album Releases

The beauty of the album is for the artist to create a collection of music tracks which is then distributed to the public. The question is what marketing strategies are used to help the albums become recognisable to its potential audience.

Through deep research, I have found that there are two main ways of which the albums are distribute; commercial and direct distribution.

 The typical route for promoting a new album is to record an album and then tour to support the album as well as doing radio promotions to promote the album. However, this routine is too traditional nowadays as the music industry is continuously transforming and becoming very competitive. Furthermore, artists would have to create their unique marketing strategies in order to stand out in the industry.

In 2007 the band Radiohead promoted their album “In Rainbows” using a pay what you want pricing strategy where their album was launched onto their website and their audience could download the album for however much they believed was suitable from nothing to $99.99. This method was successful with other artists such as Girl Talk. The artists found that the fans paid more when they were given the freedom to choose the price.  This method is becoming very popular many artists believe that this is the future of music distribution.

However, some bands did not pay at all for their music; Nine Inch Nails was one of the first high profiled bands to do so. After releasing the digital album for free, they followed it up with a limited edition CD version; this was sold to fans directly. This method is good as it can increase the revenue as fans can lead to new fans.

Another method of promotion is Fan Pre-Funding where the artists reach out to their fans to fund their new projects. Most bands do this by setting up websites which fans can make financial donations so that the artists can record an album, shoot a video or map a tour.  If the fans give donations, in return gifts such as signed CDs and private concert tickets are given to them. This route has been taken by Public Enemy.

Majority of artists nowadays acknowledge the importance of having their music featuring in a television programme, advert or film soundtrack, artists believe that this is a very powerful marketing tool rather than having music heard on dozens of radio stations. The industry believes that this benefits the independent artists as shows and films are more open to independent music as it is cheaper and the artists are recognised for their featuring in the films or programmes.

Video games are a great source income for artists as the most popular video games out there are music related such as Guitar Hero. If an artist can get their music featured in an average video game, they can make a profit of several thousand dollars in advances.  Also the artist is given exposure.

The artist, Lady Gaga released her new album “Born this Way” using a new marketing strategy, she has collaborated with major co-operations such as Starbucks and the company which made the famous game Farmville which was a huge hit on facebook. Farmville players can now play a special game known as Gagaville which plays her songs as well as her upcoming tracks. Starbucks sold copies of her album in their coffee shops as well as launching a special contest for her fans. Furthermore, Lady Gaga appeared on the covers of major magazines such as Rolling Stone and Vogue. She made appearances on talk shows including The Oprah Winfrey Show, Saturday Night Live and Good Morning America in order to promote her album.

Preliminary Task 3: Radio Head Mash-up