Olivia's Media Blog

Introduction Clementine and I prepared a pitch, presenting our ideas for our music video to the class. By the time we made our pitch, we had decided on a song by Fiona Apple, called 'Under the Table' from the album 'Fetch The Bolt Cutters'. We decided on this song as the lyrics left some interpretation for an interesting narrative, and we both liked the pace and sound of the song. We used our padlet full of initial ideas to create a slide showing our inspiration. We also made a mood board to show some of our concepts for imagery. Clementine and I also made a slide dedicated to 'our vision', so that the class could understand what we were trying to create. The purpose of the pitch was so that we could get feedback and constructive criticism before we started in-depth pre-production. Pitch We based our ideas on the lyrics featured in the chorus, "Kick me under the table all you want, I won't shut up". This i...

Introduction In order to improve our pitch, Clementine and I looked at professional examples before we began work on our own. We also looked at articles and helpful guides on how to prepare a music video pitch, such as the video below, so that we could put one together effectively. We also used a blog which had some good tips. Tips While reading and watching these guides, we made use of the most common and useful tips so that we could refer to this list while we created our own pitch.

  Introduction Andrew Goodwin was a theorist who came up with codes and conventions of music videos after analysing and comparing a variety of examples. He is most well known for the concept of the visuals within music visuals linking up with the music and the beat, and that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. His work is something to bear in mind while creating my own music video. Music Video Theory Andrew Goodwin's theory consists of five key points that combine to create an successful music video. The points listed below form a base on which to start filming, making his work relevant to our coursework. Example Lady Gaga - Telephone ft. Beyonce Lyrics and Visuals Throughout the music video it is clear that the visuals do match the lyrics and the beat of the music. One example is the gif on the left, showing Lady Gaga singing about a phone call while acting with a phone prop. The lyrics in the scene say "Wha-w...

  Introduction In order to understand how to structure a short film we looked at conventional narrative structures. The main structure we looked at was Tzveten Todorov's 'linear narrative', which divides the narrative into 5 different stages. Another popular structure is the three act narrative structure. This follows the theory that every story has a clear beginning, middle and end. Similar to Todorov's theory, it shows that there must be a confrontation during the story, before ending with a resolution. After looking at these theories, we applied them to both short films and music videos, so we could see how it applied in both scenarios.  The Lunch Date (1990) The Lunch Date is an academy award winning short film directed by Adam Davidson. This was one of the short films that we looked at when applying narrative structures. Arctic Monkeys - 'Leave Before The Lights Come On' Leave Before The Lights Come On  is a song performed by the band Arctic Monkeys. The ...

Introduction In class we were given the task of recreating the first minute of Bruno Mars' music video for his popular song 'Uptown Funk'. We were given a few lessons on this task, spending a total of 4 hours on the project, filming and editing. We completed the recreation in groups, however there were some challenges we needed to overcome. One problem was our group size, as we didn't have enough people to create some of the dancing scenes. Another problem was our limited time-frame, so had to be very organised with sticking to our plan for filming and editing.  Overall, I am pretty happy with the results and I think that we were quite successful with matching camera movements. To help line up the timing between our shots and the actual video, I put a small version of the original in the top left corner while editing and this really helped when I was putting together the final cut (this can be se...

  Introduction Over the last couple of weeks we have done research into music videos and short films, so that we could make an informed decision on which we wanted to do for our coursework. Today we had to make a decision on which project to pursue. Since I am working with a partner, Clementine, we made the decision together. Decision Clementine and I decided to work on the Music Promotion Packet project. This was predominantly because we have worked on short films in the past, and wanted to try something new. Music videos don't have a defined narrative structure which most short films follow, which allows for more creative freedom. Music videos are short and engaging, often to help promote a song. They can be more liberal with their use of imagery and cinematography, which will allow Clementine and me to be more experimental. This will also provide a good opportunity to try out different techniques that aren't conventionally used in short films. Additionally, I found the task ...

  Introduction In order to understand different styles and influences within the filming of music videos, we looked at examples from some well known autuers, such as Chris Cunningham, Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry and Paul Thomas Anderson. I chose to look at more of Michel Gondry's work, as I liked his style within the music video for 'How Are You Doing?' by The Living Sisters. Along with directing music videos, he also has experience with directing short films which is especially useful as I haven't made a final decision on whether to create a music video or short film for my coursework. Michel Gondry Michel Gondry is a French Filmmaker, who won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his role in writing and directing the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). His career took off after directing the music video '...