1. Production diary – Week 3
This week I have completed another three of my research tasks. These three
tasks include:
Research into a music video director
Influences of music style
Analysis of a music video
Research into a music video director
When choosing a director for music videos to do research on, I wanted to
make sure that the music videos which this specific music video director had
directed would be similar to the music video which I am planning to create
myself so that I am able to see his techniques of how he directs his videos
and how effective they have been in the particular choice of song.
Because of considering this factor, I had decided to do my research on the
music director Jonas Akerlund. This is because I had found out that he is one
of the most famous and most popular music video directors. As I still had no
idea about what my music video should be based on and what song I am
going to use, I had chosen Jonas in particular because he has directed music
videos from all sorts of artists from a variety of genres, from pop to rock and
R&B. This will enable me to have an idea of the different techniques he had
used for the different music videos and how they differ from others.
To research Jonas, I had used the internet to look up on information about
him. I came across his official website which included a variety of information
about him as a director but also about his career and awards that he has
achieved.
From the information that I had found out about him, I had found out about
what makes him unique as a director. Factors that make him a different music
video director to others is that he uses existing short-films and trailers of
movies as a platform to work a music video on meaning that his music videos
include a lot of Intertextual factors. This has given me an idea for my own
music video as I can think about whether I want to have an existing platform
to work on.
Influences of music style
The second piece of research that I had carried out this week is the influences
of the different styles of music out in the music industry today (genre) and how
it has developed over time.
I did my research on three of the most significant music genres which are pop,
rock, alternative and R&B. However there are more genres, I have decided to
base my research on these genres because the song that I am thinking about
using for my music video will belong to either one of these genres as I am
more comfortable with using either one of these as they can have specific
factors that will make a good and effective music video.
2. From my research on the different music styles, I have discovered how other
genres of music have been significant in the influence of how the genres
developed (e.g. pop music was influenced by a mixture of gospel/soul, jazz,
country and rock music. I have also found how they have developed over time
and how they have had an effect on their audiences and how it has influenced
them.
This will be useful when it comes to the construction of my own music video
as I will already have had an idea of what genre to use for the song of my
music video and also what factors are significant to that specific genre such
as the use of instruments if I am planning to have a performance video.
Analysis of a music video
My last post that I had completed this week is an analysis of a music video. I
had chosen a typical music video which is wake me up by Avicii because I
believe that it has all the typical conventions of a music video which I will be
able to analyse and look at how a music video has been constructed.
However, in one of my posts I already talk about the different conventions,
therefore for a change I decided to focus more on the different camera shots
and the narrative for a typical music video so that I am able to know more
about those two aspects which I yet not have looked into therefore my
research will be more effective and I will therefore not have to repeat myself.
From this research I have found how the narrative factor of a music video may
be effective if I choose to focus on that factor more than the aesthetic aspect.
Also how the editing of the scenes are effective and should be relevant to the
vibe and the narrative of the music video. Also, the different camera shots and
angles used could also be significant in demonstrating the narrative of the
video. For example, if there is a specific prop in the video that is of
significance in a particular scene, then a close-up shot would be significant as
it would come to the attention of the viewer.
This would also be useful when it comes to constructing or planning my own
video because it has made me more aware of the narrative and camera
shot/angle aspects of the music video. It will make me think more about how I
want my narrative to be like and therefore think of what will make that
narrative more effective by using editing factors to make it more significant
and relevant.
