Lip Sync Exercise

24.06.2015

Lip Sync Exercise

What we did to prepare:

• There wasn't much preparation involved for this shoot, it was mainly for people to learn the lyrics of the song otherwise the exercise wouldn't have worked.
• Also, if people wanted to, they could bring in costumes and props to have on the day but very few people ended up doing so.

What did we do in the studio:

• In the studio there were three different areas that we would film the short 30 second sequence in they included;
• An area using the green screen, 
• One with a fake rock wall and a camera on a dolly 
• The final set up was a sofa using a DSLR camera.
• We were split into groups of 7 and were given around 25 minutes in each area, getting around 6 different shots in each.
• There was also a floor manager who had to make sure that everyone was ready before we began each shot because there was a clapper board that had to sound before the music kicked in and to make sure everyone was in time, they had to be in control.
• We made sure that in our group we all had turns both behind the camera doing the filming and also being the people who were being filmed.

What did I learn?

• I had never used a dolly before so that was one of the things that I learnt how to work.
• Also working with a large group of people was really complicated because different groups would be ready to film at different points so there was a lot of communication amongst people that had to take place to ensure that everyone was ready to begin when the clapper started.
• Using the fixed lens camera was difficult because there was no zoom so if we wanted a closer shot we had to change the lens and in order to focus we had to use a tape measure to see what focus we needed to change the camera to.

What did I learn in the suite, what steps did I take to cut the video, and did I make any mistakes?

• In the filming suite as a group we were taught how to match up the voice over of Taylor Swift on the soundtrack to the way people's mouths were moving on the shots that we took.
• It was tricky because a lot of the time things didn't quite match up, so it was quite a slow progress.
• They advised us to begin by choosing all the shots that we wanted to use and match them all up with the music using the timing on the clapper board.
• We made the mistake in our group that we began to cut all of the clips as we placed them on the timeline instead of syncing them in the first place.
• The problem with this is that we didn't manage in the end to put the whole sequence together, however we didn't really understand the other way and by the time that they explained it again we had already done most of what we did, but next time I will definitely try the other approach as it seemed to save a lot of time for the other groups who managed to finish their,

The Final Product

Andrew Goodwin: Illustration

Illustration

This is where the video tells the story of the lyrics that are written down.  Dance is often incorporated as to express the feelings/ moods that are evident in the song.

A good example of a music video that follows the idea of illustration is Katy Perry's 'Last Friday Night' that was released in June 2011.

Images in the video correspond with what the lyrics say, below are some examples of when this occurs within the video.  The lyrics are about someone having a wild Friday night and they are reliving it through the lyrics in the song. 

'There's a stranger in the bed.'

Just before the music beings to play there is a short scene where a person who had obviously been at the party the night before goes into Katy's room and thanks her for the night.  The automatically sets up in the audiences mind that the video will be exactly what the title suggests, about 'Last Friday Night.'

'Is this a hicky or a bruise?'

When she poses the question in the song she shows the audience what she is talking about and there is no need for the audience to try and picture it in her mind.

'Pictures of last night ended up online, I'm screwed, oh well.'

Again another short clip showing exactly what the lyrics are saying, there is nothing abstract about the images or complicated to understand it is just straightforward.

There are a couple moments in the video in which one boy that the party imagines himself and Katy together, although not in the lyrics exactly it is only a short sequence, and is just part of the fun of the whole video.

'We danced on table tops...'

She talks about dancing in the video and not being able to remember much which is reflected with how much she is drinking, to many teenage girls watching the video they would be able to relate to a video like this about a night that they may of have that they can't quite remember.

'TGIF, TGIF, TGIF!'

There is also a moment where they get a saxophone player, playing of the roof at the garden party, this is trying to create the idea that it is diegetic music that is playing, making the song brome more of a reality and the lyrics coming to life.

Overall it can be seen that the video reflects what the lyrics in the song are talking about, with many of the images being shown exactly reflecting what the lyrics say that are written down on the page.

Andrew Goodwin: Disjuncture

Disjuncture

This is when there is little connection between the music video and the lyrics of the song.  Sometimes the music video may completely contradicts that lyrics are saying.

A good example of a music video that shows disjuncture is Lady Gaga's song 'You and I' that was released in August 2011.

Lady Gaga revealed in an interview at the time the video was released that the song was about her relationship with her on-off boyfriend at the time Luc Carl.  At the time is was written Gaga had just gotten back together with her boyfriend.

Although in later interviews Gaga revealed that the storyline of the video was meant to be about her walking a long way to get her boyfriend back, the video is hard to make sense of with lots of different and quirky elements going on throughout the film.

There are short moments within the music video where the lyrics and the video do actually have some sort of connection. For example in one of the short sequences that is shown, Gaga is in a wedding dress and she appears to be in love with another man.

Lyrics such as 'It's been two years since I let you go,' and 'This time I'm not leaving without you,' give a sense that she once did love someone and now that love is gone, perhaps the man in the video is meant to portray the person who she once was in love with but lost, or 'let go.'

The whole rings seems to be about some weird science experiment, the audience jumps between different scenes so it is hard to make sense of any one thing at a time.  

There are moments of the supernatural within the video, and Gaga turns herself into a mermaid. How this relates to the idea of her wanting to get her boyfriend back is hard to make sense of as there really doesn't seem to be any connection between the two.

Overall the video doesn't really relate to what she is saying in the video at all, unless you did some research into the background of what the song was meant to be about or the messages behind it the video doesn't correlate in any way that is apparent.

However, with Gaga being such an eccentric artists, audiences aren't really surprised about the fact that the video is really out there and over the top.

Her star image has made her to be the type of artist that the audiences never really know what to expect from her.

Andrew Goodwin: Amplification

Amplification 

The images on the music video amplify the lyrics and a narrative may be used to convey a deeper meaning that would not be picked up from the lyrics alone.  The artists may take on fictional roles within the narrative.

An example of this is Sia's music video 'Elastic heart that was released in January 2015.

The images shown in the video enhance the message that Sia was trying to convey in her music.  Individually the video nor the actually lyrics make much sense, but when putting the two together the audience better understands what Sia was trying to portray. 

Sia chose to use a cage in the video to represent the skull and the actors represent different emotions. It has been suggested that she wanted to show the mind of someone who is bipolar and can't decide between their free and fun loving personality and their side that makes them see sense and reason.

Shia LeBoeuf is meant to represent the reason and thought of an adult mind, and the young girl, Maddie Ziegler, was meant to represent the freedom and carefreeness of a young child.

The whole video seems to portray the two different characters in some sort of fight, thus suggesting that adulthood and childhood can't work together in harmony. No matter how childish one wants to be, reasoning always seems to find a way through to try and tame that childishness.  However, it has been noted that in the video no matter how many methods 'reasoning' tries in order to overpower freedom, freedom always seems to have the upper hand and just won't disappear.

Towards the end of the video there is a moment where the two elements seem to combine together, could be portraying the realisation that in order to be successful in life you have to combine the two elements together.

The final image of freedom trying to pull reason out of the cage, urging him to do something more, and although the gaps in the 'head' are big enough to step through something is pulling reason back, not allowing him to take the leap.

Without knowing what the lyrics were about, a lot of controversy was created around the video with many people complaining that is seemed to be portraying paedophilia.  It isn't until you read into the lyrics that you would realise it is about self awareness and development.

The Lyrics:

[Verse 1: Sia]
And another one bites the dust
But why can I not conquer love?
And I might've thought that we were one
Why not to fight this war without weapons
And I wanted it and I wanted it bad
But there were so many red flags
Now another one bites the dust
And let's be clear, I trust no one

[Pre-Chorus: Sia]
You did not break me
I'm still fighting for peace

[Chorus: Sia]
I've got a thick skin and an elastic heart
But your blade it might be too sharp
I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard
But I may snap and I move fast
But you won't see me fall apart
Cause I've got an elastic heart
I've got an elastic heart
Yeah, I've got an elastic heart

[Verse 2: Sia/The Weeknd]
And I will stay up through the night
Let's be clear, I won't close my eyes
And I know that I can survive
I walked through fire to save my life
And I want it, I want my life so bad
And I'm doing everything I can
Then another one bites the dust
It's hard to lose a chosen one

[Pre-Chorus: Sia/The Weeknd]
You did not break me
(You did not break me, no, no)
I'm still fighting for peace

[Chorus: Sia]
I've got a thick skin and an elastic heart
But your blade it might be too sharp
I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard
But I may snap and I move fast
But you won't see me fall apart
Cause I've got an elastic heart
I've got an elastic heart

Oooh~

[Chorus: Sia]
I've got a thick skin and an elastic heart
But your blade it might be too sharp
I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard
But I may snap and I move fast
But you won't see me fall apart
Cause I've got an elastic heart

I've got a thick skin and an elastic heart
But your blade it might be too sharp
I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard
But I may snap and I move fast
But you won't see me fall apart
Cause I've got an elastic heart

I've got an elastic heart

As it can be seen from the lyrics, she is talking about not letting anything break her down.  The metaphor of having and elastic heart shows that she won't be destroyed by her struggles and she will just snap right back to the way that she was.

When comparing this to the video, it connects in that it portrays the parts in the mind 'fighting' agains one another to try and find out what is best to do but neither gives up on what they want.

'Marlow', 'Testcard' and 'Roja' Album Covers

'Marlow', 'Testcard; and 'Roja'

In class we were asked to look at different album covers and in groups discuss what we thought about them and come up with questions to ask a member of the band about the different designs that they have chosen to use and the progression of the band.

Marlow

'Marlow' was the first group that was put together and they came out with 3 albums and an EP.

'it's turning me on e.p.' 

• This was the bands debut E.P.
• The title of it had quite sexual connotations associated with it, the colour scheme also help to enhance this idea as red is usually associated with love and romance.
• The white writing that is used stands out on the red background, due to the fact that this was their debut they needed to make sure that their name stood out and so therefore is memorable.
• Questions we would ask:
• Why did you put this girl on the over instead of the artist considering that it is their first album?
• Why use the colour red?

'Darksparklecorner'

• This was the band's debut album.
• The name of the band has been written very small in the corner of the cover, the font remains the same as the first.
• The young boy in the image looks scared and yet the word 'sparkle' has good connotations, doesn't sound like something to be scared of.
• There is something creating a light which is lighting up the young boys face, whatever is creating that light is presumably what is scaring the young boy.
• The wallpaper and duvet covers suggest that the image is from the late 1990's or early 2000's.
• Questions
• Why are there no spaces used in the album name?
• Who is the child that was used?
• What or who is he scared of?

'a day in july'

• They have used the white font on the red background again as they did in their e.p.
• They also have used the same font, which suggests that it is the font that they have decided to go with the band and they aren't likely to change it.
• The image is a much happier one that in the album before, and again they have used an actual photo that has been taken instead of a drawn image.
• Questions:
• Who are the children?
• Where was this taken?
• What is the font that you use and why did you decide to use that one?
• Do the changes in image reflect that change in the type of music on the album?

'deep breath fake air'

• They have used white on red once again.
• The artists name is a lot larger than in all of the previous album covers.
• Seems like the image is quite an organic image, it is showing exactly where the music is coming from.
• The image isn't too overly complicated.
• Instead of using a photo again this time they have decided to use a drawing instead.
• Questions:
• What is the significance of the red on the white background?
• Who drew the image?
• Is it meant to be an outline of one of the members of the band?

Testcard:

After the band Marlow broke up a new band was created with new members called 'Testcard'

'Lines'

• This was their debut album for the newly formed band.
• The font is a lot different than the ones used in the previous album covers.
• There is now a use of capital letters in the title.
• Compared to the albums that they had previously it is very dull, notably the colours that are used.
• Questions:
• Is there a reason behind the much more simple image?
• What type of music are they now creating?
• Why is the album called lines and then there is a circle at the bottom of the image?

Roja

Again the band split up and a new band was created.

'Promises I Should Have Kept'

• This was the debut album released by this band.
• The album holds a very hispanic name.
• The font is completely different then the two previous ones, quite a medieval look to it, not so block like.
• The name of the band is a lot more prominent on the page.
• The spanish looking lady gives the sense that it will be some sort of bull fighting sounding music that will be on the album, very different then what perhaps have been on the previous albums that have been produced.
• Questions:
• What type of music is on the album?
• Who is the lady meant to be?
• Why have such a drastic change this time?
  

WordPress vs. Wix

WordPress vs. Wix Website designing

Wordpress Review:

The set up and initially getting started with the program was quite complicated and when I left the website and went back onto it a few days later I found it difficult to find my saved work.

There were many different templates to choose from on the website so unfortunately, within the hour that we had to try and set up a home page I spent most of my time trying to chose which template I wanted to use.  The one downside to the software was that a lot of the templates had to be paid for and so there was quite a limited choice between the free ones. 

When trying to add images and text to the homepage a lot of error messages kept on coming up on the screen.  This may have been down to the fact that I had little experience with using the website so it was a case of trial and error, however, the software was rather hard to come to terms with and in the class I wasn't the only one who appeared to be struggling with it on the day. Images that I tried to add were continuously blurry and adding test to the page was a lot more complicated as you had to type what you wanted into the sidebar and couldn't just type it straight into the page.

After an hour, this is the homepage that I finally came up with.  There isn't much there as I found the software overly confusing and complicated.  Obviously if I decided to continue using it, over a certain amount of time I would come to grips with it, but for the hour we were given to try and work out how everything works I struggled to understand.

Wix Review

The Wix website was a lot easier to set up that Wordpress and the choice of templates was a lot more.  Furthermore, the templates were put into different categories and due to the fact I was making a website for a musician I just looked into the music category and found what I wanted.  The choices were also a lot more versatile and there were a lot more free ones available to use.

I decided to look into Carrie Underwood, who is a country singer.  The adding of images and text was a lot easier to do as you just had to click on the existing image/text and then press 'change image/text' and you could just add text straight away on the page without having to fine some other way around it.  Moving text and images around was also very simple as it was just a click and move format. 

I managed to pretty much create an entire homepage with the hour that we were given in class, including links to other websites to buy tickets for the concerts that I was advertising on the homepage.  I didn't really come across any problems when try to create those links as it was all very straight forward and basically took you step by step on adding them in, it was very hard to go wrong, even for me who isn't usually very good with learning how to use new websites.

Creating links to Facebook, Twitter and google+ pages was very simple as you just had to click on the slogans at the bottom of the page and then this image popped up and you just had to add the html code in the small box and a link was automatically created.

As you can see I had a lot more screen grabs when using this website because I managed to do a lot more in the time that we were given.

Overall I would much rather use Wix when creating the websites for the bands that we will be doing as I found it a lot more straightforward and easy to use.  From the moment that I set up my account in Wix, to going back and continuing working on the website everything was easy to do and I came across hardly any problems in the creating of my homepage.

Introduction to Negus: Organic vs. Synthetic

Keith Negus

Organic vs. Synthetic

Negus identified two distinct ways of thinking about potential artists from within the music industry.  These two ideologies shape the way in which the artists' images and careers are developed, and the way that they are marketed towards different audiences.  The two ideologies are;

1. The Organic Ideology of Creativity

Examples of artists who are know as organic artists include; Tom Odell, Ed Sheeran and James Bay.

• Organic artists is a 'naturalistic' approach to artists. Their success are within the artists, who have o be 'nurtured' by the record company. 
• Their image is 'enhanced' by the company, and they are given time to develop as their career progresses.

1. The Synthetic Ideology of Creativity

Examples of artists known as synthetic artists include; Justin Bieber, Iggy Azalea and Nicki Minaj

•  Synthetic is a combination of an approach to both the artists and their material.  Executives will attempt to construct successful acts out of the artists and the songs that they have at their disposal.  
• The artists image is most likely constructed by the record company and the artist will be given a short time to prove their success or different combinations will take their place to be tried out by the record companies.

Dyer: Star Image Introduction

Richard Dyer: Star Image

 

Who is he and what does he say?

 

He has written extensively about the role of stars in film, TV and music.

He found that no matter what medium they are in, stars have different key feature all in common, these include;

• A star is an image that has been constructed out of a range of materials (which include; videos, artwork and media appearances) and not actually a real person.
• Stars are commodities which are produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings.

A star has to depend on all types of media- magazines, TV and radio- to try and make an image for themselves, which then can be taken and marketed towards their target audiences.

There are many common values of music stardom, including;

Youthfulness

Rebellion

Sexual magnetism

anti-authoritarian attitude

originality

Creativity/Talent

Aggression/Anger

Disregard for social values

Success against that odds

Dyer believes that the star image is incoherent, incomplete and 'open'. He says it is because it is based on two key paradoxes

1. The star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer.
2. The star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer.



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Madonna: Like a Prayer

'Like A Prayer' (1989)

'Like a Prayer' is a pop rock song recorded by the American singer, Madonna.  The soundtrack also contains elements of gospel music giving it a more spiritual feel. The music video, which was directed by Mary Lambert, created a lot of controversy at the time that it first came out, and remains a very controversial video to this day.  Images of crucifixes being set alright, the Ku Klux Klan and what seemed to be a black Jesus, made the video very unpopular with religious groups.
Three main reoccurring themes throughout the video are sex, race and religion.

The narrative of the video shows a white girl being murdered by a group of white supremacists, however a young black man gets framed although he was trying to help. Madonna hides in a church to try and find courage to go to court as a witness of the events.

Religion
As mentioned before, Madonna looks for guidance once entering the church as to what she should do, so it is no wonder that it is a reoccurring theme throughout the video. 

The video has some very quick shots of different religious iconography at the beginning, such as the crucifix, and along with her being inside a church, the audience is being given the idea that it will be a very religious video.  

Images of Stigmata are also used, the appearance of injures o the body that Jesus would have suffered, to show that Madonna is going through a religious experience in an extreme case.

The problems with religion begin to arise when in the video she is stood by burning crosses, which gives the connotation of the KKK. The violence that is connoted with a gang goes against what Catholics believed and that is why it was a risky decision to include that in the video.  Perhaps by doing it Madonna was trying to draw more awareness to the racism that was about at the time, and the video is her way of saying that it isn't right.

Race

The use of race within the video caused a stir amongst the population when they watched the video, notably with religious groups.  The saint that is used, Saint Thomas, was seen by many as being a 'black Jesus' and many devout Catholics thought that it wasn't right.  

The video subverts the normal stereotypes of a black man harming a young white woman, and a white man coming to her rescue.  In this case it is a white criminal and a black man comes to her aid, however racism is still involved in the video when the man gets caught and charged with the murder although he wasn't the one who committed it in the first place.

Futhermore, the idea of Madonna having a relationship with the black man in the video could have also caused quite a bit of controversy when it was first released as it wasn't common for a white girl and a black man to be together.

Gender + Star Image

The video shows the objectification of women when the young girl is harassed and killed by the group of young men.

Also Madonna gives herself a very sexual image throughout the video.  In one hand the audiences sees the religious aspect but on the other what Madonna is wearing totally goes against the Catholic idea of remaining pure and innocent until marriage.

We are given very sexual images, with many different close up on the tight dress that she is wearing and her chest area.

Other Images

The imagery of the roses and the dagger within the film portray romance, as they relate to the story of Romeo and Juliet.  

There is a dream like element to the video, Madonna falls from the sky and is caught by a a woman dressed in chorus robes.  This adds to the miracle element of the video, and the idea that Madonna is being 'saved' by the church spiritually and they put her back on course.

The use of the gospel choir at the end of the video, as Madonna explained herself, 'As the choir sings, she reaches an orgasmic crescendo of sexual fulfillment intertwined with her love of God. She knows that nothing's going to happen to her if she does what she believes is right. She wakes up, goes to the jail, tells the police the man is innocent, and he is freed. Then everybody takes a bow as if to say we all play a part in this little scenario."

The final scene ends with a curtain closing on all of the 'actors' within the video, including Madonna herself. The idea of this I believe would have been because Madonna knew that the whole video would have caused a lot of controversy that by turning it into a 'play' at the end she could pretend that it was all just to please the audience.