Aphex Twin - Come to daddy!

In yesterday's lesson, our teacher told us to go onto youtube and look at Aphex Twin - Come to daddy. I thought that this video was extremely weird and strange, and to a certain extent it started to scare me at points in the clip. However I liked the way in which the whole video was set in a dark gloomy place, how the head of the person was on every character in the film even the little young girls which made it scary and weird for me; not only this but at the end of the clip the man is standing naked and is basically screaming in the elderly woman's face which made me feel as though I was her and it made me cringe a little.
Watching the clip showed me that this artist has used all the conventions of horror, and has used shock tactics. By an artist doing this type of video for their music, it therefore proves that you don't always have to produce a video that has anything to do with the music.

Talking about Jamie Thraves!

In class last week, we started to discuss the man Jamie Thraves who in which is a British film writer and director born in 1969. He himself is responsible for the production of music videos for such artists as The Verve, Blur and Coldplay. His video for Coldplay's 'The Scientist' won three Moon Men at the 2003 VMA's.

A Model of the Media

 TEXT    
    |
    |
    |
  Film
  Leaflet
  Magazine
  Computer games
  Music
  TV programmes
  Website
  Advertisement
  Poster
  Radio programme
       |
       |              Text is consumed by audience                                 
       |
   AUDIENCE – why?
       |               when?                                                     
       |               what happens?
       |
       |
       |                                                                                                                                                     
INSTITUITIONS   A financial transaction takes place     
      |
      |
      |
   MGM
   Sony
   Paramount
   BBC
   Warner Brothers
   MC Donald’s
   Microsoft
   Radio stations
   MTV
   Google
      |
      |         Produce, Distribute, Market and Exhibit
      |
   TEXT

Conventions of genre.

What are the conventions of the genre?

·         Lip sinking

·         Dancing

·         Music

·         Instruments

·         Artist

·         Band

·         Name – bottom left, beginning and end

·         Extravagant costumes

·         Hair and make – up (particular image produced)

·         Extremely fast editing

Music Promo Video: Purpose and Success Criteria.

During our last lesson, in class we looked at an old music video by the 'Talking headds 'Once in a lifetime'.
When we first saw it, the teacher asked us what we thought of it, many of the students stated that it was very weird and strange and that quite frankly it wasn’t really a music video; there was also a lot of controversy that came with this music video as it received critical criticisim.

This then lead us to ask ourselves questions about music video which include;

What is the purpose of a music video?

·         Advertisement

·         Draws attention to the music/song

·         Illustrates the song

·         Appeals to a visual audience

·         Expresses an individual’s emotions

·         Tells a story

·         Markets an image

·         Promoted the artist/single/albumn

·         Persuades audience to buy- CD/download

·         Raises the audience awareness or profile of the artist/group

·         Add a meaning to the song

·         Create feelings

How might we measure the success criteria of a music promo video?

·         How memorable and discussed

·         Sales increase

·         Word of mouth

·         Media coverage

·         Downloads

·         Video views on YouTube

·         VMA’s

·         MTV awards

·         Influential on other music video’s

·         How many times shown on television

·         Charts

·         CD sales

·         Amount of publicity

·         Last word

What factors must be taken into consideration when planning a video?

·         Relevance between the story and song

·         Locations

·         Ethics

·         Actors

·         Actresses

·         Mis en scene

·         Lip sinking

·         Weather

·         Continuity



A Favourite Music Video!

I would say that one of my most memorable music viedo's today would be Katy Perry E.T ft Kayne West. It is not only the fact that I am a fan of Katy Perry herself, but for the fact that the way in which her music videos come across are very appealing.

Katy Perry is an American singer-songwriter and actress and is not only well known in the United States but she is indeed very popular in the United Kingdom. Katy’s first album is of the gospel music genre as she stated that at this time her perspective was very enclosed and strict; she then moved through to different genres such as rock and featured more pop songs. On various occasions Katy Perry has appeared at the MTV Music Awards and has been nominated for two awards including, the ‘Best Female Video’ and ‘Best Pop Video’ for one of her songs ‘California Gurls’. As well as this, at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards Katy was nominated for an outstanding ten awards and so forth won one for ‘Best Special Effects’ for her music video E.T. I feel as though after releasing this song as a single as part of her album, Katy Perry has increasingly become popular in the UK. At the beginning of the viedo, the lighting is very dark and therefore contrays a very dark and gloomy atmosphere as well as this we as the audience hear digetic sound of a very strong wind, this sound interacts with us as it personally makes myself feel cold as though I'm part of the world we are watching.As soon as the music kicks in and the video starts to play, the beat we hear in our ears is very strong and hard and gets me in the mood; this is another reason why this music video is a favourite. As well as this, throughout the music video there are a lot of close up shots used in which give us more detail and allow us to see the facial expressions and body language of the artists. Lighting used later on in the video is very bright and therefore means that key lighting is used and also back lighting as the characters are created to be darker; making them seem more visible. I also love the way in which an image is created by the half body of the woman and the troll. The special effects that are used throughout the video are amazing as everything looks so real and natural.E.T makes use of the key conventions of genre which include lip synching and musical instruments and this is done brilliantly throughout the video.Not only this but I think it is very creative how a story has come out of an artist promoting a latest single.