Friday 30 September, Whole group, Beddington park

Today we headed off to Beddington park, in the strange heat with the intention of filming all of our naturalistic shots. We managed to get a few graphic matches, such as filming the river, to be used with "fish in the sea".

We got a lot of lip synching done, which we felt important as there's a lot more footage of the main character walking about looking melancholy. We also filmed a very interesting shot of the me walking backwards, whilst taking off some clothes. Although this doesn't sound very special, we are going to reverse the footage, so it appears I am walking forward, and the clothes will 'magic' themselves onto me. We think this will be a very good visual effect.

We filming some stock of the guitarist playing as well, which will be interspersed with me singing. We also discussed making him always appear in the background of shots a running theme.

Tuesday 27th September 2011- Whole Group- Croydon Car Parks:


Today was our first filming session, and we headed off to Croydon in order to begin filming of the video. Our first location was Centrale Car park, and after we took a few pictures for use in our digipak, we were asked to move on, as we had not asked for permission to film on their premises.
So we moved across the high street to the Whitgift centre car park. We were a lot more successful here, and we managed to film the entirety of our introduction (which also doubles as our ending), a creative shot involving the opening of an elevators door, and our main character lip synching.
After the filming here, we headed further down the high street to the market, where I began recording of some POV shots, which we hope to add to the video at different points, as these shots can be used very often.
We finished our filming with the main character descending a long flight of stairs, the camera facing him at a high angle. We hope to use jump shots somehow with this footage.
We then filmed a short 'behind the scenes', with Ryan and I talking about what we had achieved today, which will go on the blog at some point.

My inspiration

Hello everybody!

We are just about to begin the filming process, which will mean many long hours of filming, re filming, and 're re filming' in order to get the best shots we can, and I know we will be pushing ourselves hard to make a good finished product.
I have decided to show some of my favourite music videos, as well as some that have features I would love to implement in our own product.

The first is the iconic video to the song 'The Scientist', by Coldplay.





So this video has been critically acclaimed on many occasions, partly due to the storyline, but mostly due to the fact that it is all shown in reverse, that is, we begin at the end, and the world moves 'back to the start'.
Coldplay have made the most out of a video in reverse, Martin often jumps back over walls, bicycle tricks are  performed backwards, and most of all the sadness of Martin' character is not revealed until the end of the video itself.

This is among my top ten music videos of all time, and I would also love an oppurtunity to use reversed footage in our own video, as I love how the effect looks.


The second video I want to show is 30 Seconds To Mars- Closer To The Edge.
This is actually my favourite song, ever, and although I love the video, I do not see very much in there that I would like to try and implement into our own.



The video is comprised entirely of stock footage from the bands concerts, as well as a few short clips of themselves out and about (Miami, Grand Canyon). I can personally say that just by watching this video, it makes me want to go to on of their concerts. The spotlight on lead singer, Leto, drummer, S.Leto and guitarist Tomo helps to promote themselves as a label, as they are drawing attention to themselves, something important in this genre (alternative rock).

We intend for our video to mainly be a narrative, however with aspects of a performance style video on the sidelines, as making sure the story is easy to follow is very important.

Adverts for Digipaks

From looking at this advert, we can clearly see that it has not been made professionally. However, this is not a bad thing.
The title of the song is 'Windows' and the producers here have taken this in a very literal sense, and have cut the advert into little boxes (or windows). We can see the artist through these windows, however some of the boxes have been cleverly used as a way to present important information, such as critical acclaim and release dates.
From looking at the artist, one may assume that the genre of music is 'indie/alternative rock'. This mainly due to his clothing (Branded hoodie, beanie hat, jeans and worker boots).
We can also take note that he is sitting on a bale of hay. This gives connotations that perhaps he is performing country music, or that this particular song has nature based themes and lyrics present.
Finally, the artist could be seen as very friendly, as he is smiling or laughing, and sitting in a very casual pose, facing away from the camera. This could give the suggestion he is laughing at someone else, giving this particular shot a 'candid camera' feel.

Research into digipaks

Islands- The xx

This digipak, designed by 'The xx', features very soft blue lighting. The light is clearly made from a projector, and the band member's shadow is seen behind them.

The band is classed under the indie genre, which would generally mean that their fan base takes a lot of stock in the artists image, thus it makes sense that the artists should appear on the front cover of the pack. 

The projected image looks as if it is a view of the water. This would relate back to the name of the single, as obviously an island is on a body of water. 

The simplistic white font could suggest how they are not a band that goes over the top with their music and designs, rather they would stick to producing a very clear and real image, about the CD and the band itself.

Andrew Hone- The journey

 This digipak, which has been created by the artist 'andrew Hone', is very simplistic in design.

However, this works very well. It is a simple panorama of an empty field, with some woodlands in the background. This could give the name 'the journey' a deeper meaning perhaps the journey is one of spiritual value.

It is a very natural scene, so therefore it could be that the song is about nature as well.

This cover seems to break CD conventions, as they largely feature images of the artist. This could mean that maybe this artist is not too concerned with his image.

The font can be described as transparent, as we can still see the sky through the writing. 

I should definitely keep the fact that the majority of digipaks use images of the artist, or images that relate to the major themes recurring in the film. For this reason, it may be an idea to have an image of the main character, and perhaps the band as well. We could also reference an event in the video. 

Mise en scene

ow are we going to utilise mise-en-scene in our music video?

Lighting is often overlooked when talking about mise-en-scene but we want to use lighting to create an atmosphere as well as captivating the audience. One idea would be to use flares combined with lens flares to create a streak of light across the screen. This is a powerful image and something that isn’t done often; it will set our music video apart from others and it is also an interesting and creative technique.

The lead singer plays an important role in our music video because we are following his story and the video revolves around him. However, we also want to make him look vulnerable and make the audience empathise with the character. The use of props and lighting will reflect heavily on the character, as will their surroundings. For example, looking in a mirror in a rundown bathroom will give connotations of his emotions or rundown life.

For costume, as the theme of our song is ‘rebirth’ we feel it would be important to change the costume of the lead singer. Binary opposites of black and white are likely to be used for the costume with changes throughout the song to indicate progression which leads back again to the connotations of change and- with white, for example- innocence.

To communicate the rock/indie genre it is typical of other bands to use instruments as props in their videos so we are likely to do the same as it is a reference to the genre to show we understand different conventions. This can also be said for costume as there seems to be a ‘dress code’ for indie bands with certain clothes being worn and certain clothes being avoided.

The message of our song is the change in life so we can show that through a variety of locations to once again reflect the change in character but it also is an effective way of telling the audience what is going on without explicitly stating it.

To attract, appeal and entertain our audience a lot of unique techniques and elements may need to be used. We are considering unique lighting effects as well as abstract ways of delivering our message and also a unique take on the song through the video. The twists in the narrative are also good examples. The non-linear structure of the video would appeal to the audience. This is similar to other videos in the genre including The Killers’ video for ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’

By Connor Sleet, Bradley Russell, Ryan Almond, Jacob Caria-Preen

Description of Target audience

Our song (Muse-Feeling good) is classed under the alternative rock genre. This genre can be seen as similar to the indie genre, as many of the themes portrayed in songs are the same. The look of the bands in both genres, however, are very different.
Although they have the word 'alternative' branded unto them, the bands in the genre are essentially rock bands. This is echoed in the songs. They tend to be loud, medium pace, with a heavy drum beat and bass line. The melody in this genre is not as important as it is in the pop and hip hop genre.

The majority of rock audiences come from the late teens (16)  and early/mid twenties (20-25/6). The fans of such bands will generally follow these bands for much of their adulthood once they have started listening, as sometimes the artists image is just as built up as the music is. One example of this could be the fan base of '30 seconds to mars'. Although the majority of their fanbase may be in their mid-late teenage years, there are also plenty of adult fans who still follow them. This is because the band was formed in the late 90's, when the fans who are now approaching 30 would only have been 16 or 17. This genre of music tend to to use a performance style video as rock bands rely largely on their public image. 30 Seconds To Mars are no different to this, however their videos often follow concept based videos with a performance aspect. One example is their video to 'This is War'. The band act as US marines on patrol in Afghanistan, with the theme of war being played out. There are plenty of graphic match ups, however the main singer, Jared Leto, is seen singing with the video.


This is the sort of fanbase Muse has managed to garner, so it would make perfect sense if we were to appeal to the fans the band has already built up; rather than attempt to gather new fans.

We will be aiming our video at the CDE social demographics. This is because the majority of our fans would be very likely to still be students. This means that although many may be highly intelligant, they do not live a lifestyle that is sufficient to be in the B-A demographics. We will, of course, have some abnormalities. There could well be members of the higher demographics that wil enjoy and watch our music video, as we intend to portray a deep video with plenty of rich and contrasting colours, creating a wide range of visual effects that (we hope) will be stimulating to watch.

From the uses and gratifacations theory, we intend to offer our audience the Identifacation, escape and entertainment uses. We hope that although some viewers will be able to identify with the depression that our character feels, we do not want them to identify with the situation he finds himself in. We hope to change their view on the world by using bright colours throughout, which will steadily increase in brightness and vibrance in order to show how the world can be a bright and cheerful place.
The escape use will be used in the fact that the main character will clearly be enjoying his long walk through both country and city. The vibrant colours should also provide a sense of the world as our character  is able to see it- new and fresh.
The final 'entertainment' is going to be represented through the use of colours, creative shots and interesting locations. We will also use the storyline to keep the viewers interested, and hopefully the final plot twist should give the viewer something to think about.

Music video plan, and timeline of song

Intro:

EXT- Before the music starts we see a man standing on the edge of life in dark clothes on a rooftop who looks like he is ready to jump to his death. It is an eery morning setting just on sunrise and we can hear jumbled voices in the background that sounds like arguments. This then fades out.

Music Starts:

INT- We now cut to a man who is waking up in a messy room and he is represented from a high angle to show his vulnerability. It then zooms out from his face and we the room in more detail. He then gets up to open his curtains to reveal the sunlight shining on his face. He has a new lease on life and he plans to go an a naturalistic journey to 'find himself'.

We deceive the audience by showing his demise (his death not being visually shown) at the very start of the video in the quick introduction and then we gradually progress and see his journey throughout the rest of the video up until the very end where he has made his way onto the rooftop edge. In an abstract way we show a person who is different and who wants to feel good about himself, changing clothes and appearance along the way.

The man now gets dressed but is in a rush to get out of the house and goes through several places on his journey.

EXT- Parks, Woodland, Fields, Alleyways etc.

Music Plan:

Intro Scene (No music)

0.00- 0.12- Music (Intro)

0.12- 0.31- 1st verse

0.31- 0.43- 1st chorus

0.43- 0.49- Plain music

0.49- 1.07- 2nd verse

1.07- 1.21- 2nd chorus

1.21- 1.24- Plain music

1.24- 1.50- Megaphone (3rd verse up to "For me")

1.50- 1.58- "FOR ME"

1.58- 2.17- Rest of the 3rd verse

2.17- 2.25- 3rd chorus (up to "And I'm feeling good")

2.25- 3.11- Various vocals and Plain music

3.11- 3.14- "Feeling Good"

3.14- 3.17- Fading end music- THE END

Andrew Goodwin, Laura Mulvey, and representation in our music video

Focus group

People involved

Bradley Russell
Bradley will be one of our cameramen. As well as this, he shall provide creative input to our video, as well as being part of the editing process. He will also feature as the bands drummer in the music video.

Connor Sleet
Connor will be one of the actors in our video, he will also be one of the cameramen in the group, and will help with the production and editing of the video as a complete product.

Ryan Almond
Ryan will be the main cameraman, as he is the member of the group with the most experience in Media. He will also be onset to come up with some more creative camera shots, and will play a vital role in the editing process.

Jacob Caria-Preen
Jacob is going to be the main actor in the video, providing it with it's storyline. As well as this, he shall be on set to provide input to the filming, editing and general production of the video.

Shooting schedule

Shooting Schedule

Session One: Filming of the short introduction to video (completely diegetic sound). This is likely to be filmed on a rooftop, also dependant of weather.

Session Two: Filming naturalistic scenes, most likely to be filmed in Beddington park, alternate location Richmond park/ Abbey Mills.

Session Three: Filming of urban scenes in London. Perhaps finding the opportunity to include intertextuality? 

Session Four: Naturalistic shots, most likely to be filmed in Richmond park. May include the re filming of some shots from previous sessions.

By Connor Sleet, Ryan Almond, Bradley Russell and Jacob Caria-Preen

Analysis of 3 similar products

Swedish house mafia-Save the world


This video tells us the story of 3 separate people, all who encounter some form of violent crime throughout the video. It is possible that the concept of 'mans best friend' comes into play in this video, as it is eventually a group of dogs who 'save the world'.


In the video, the soft singing and melody is played whenever the people are on screen, juxtaposed when the beat becomes louder and more majestic when the Dogs come on screen, suggesting how powerful the Dogs may be. It also suggests that Dogs are a lot more knowing than it seems.
A lot of the video is also filmed in slow motion, making the video even more dramatic. This also coincides with how the song is not always fast paced, therefore the video often matches up with the tempo of the song.


At the beginning of the video, we see how each person we are shown to be in trouble, and obviously in need of some help from the police. One young man is attacked in what appears to be a robbery in a small diner. Two women are assaulted in a violent mugging, and a middle ages man is dragged from his car, which is then stolen from him. As each of these events climax (Baseball bat being swung, women being grabbed and car window being smashed) the chorus then kicks in, almost like an alarm to anyone nearby.
This is when we get out first glimpse of a dog, brilliantly lit up (perhaps showing how each dog will become the saviour) on a street corner. The dog barks, and we then see a close up of several more dogs turning their heads and cocking their ears. 


Each dog then proceeds to help out each individual who has been attacked, by pursuing their attackers one by one, almost as if each dog is a vigilante righting wrongs in the night. After each villain has been chased down and 'dealt with' by the dogs, the video ends with a series of close ups of each dog flashing on the screen, lit up by different coloured lights.


This video seems to suggest that dogs are a mans best friend in any situation, even if the situation may not be ideal for the canine creatures. The video is very surreal, as the title 'save the world' and the early events of the video suggest that a superhero may intervene, not a small gang of dogs.




Strawberry swing- Coldplay

This music video is extremely creative through the use of pavement art and stop motion filming. The entire 4 minute video is filmed from one high camera angle, facing straight down upon a single piece of road. 
The only things that change throughout the video are Chris Martin's character's position and the chalk drawings on the pavement.


Through the use of stop motion filming and the chalk drawings, a highly surreal story is told to the audience. The main character, who seems to resemble a superhero sets out to save a damsel in distress, who appears to be kept captive by an evil (and giant) Squirrel. 


This video creates a popular tale of a woman who needs saving by a man, suggesting she is helpless without one. The story itself is very similar to many stories of women in distress. Their hero suffers a few setbacks along the way, however eventually the man prevails, proving his superiority over the enemies. This music video is no different, after setting off to save the woman, the squirrel cuts his cape, causing him to fall into a great ocean, before being swallowed by a giant cat. He then escapes and manages to fly, on a cloud, to the squirrels floating palace where it is sleeping. After waking it up and nearly falling again, he rescues the girl and kills the squirrel with an explosive acorn. They then fly to the moon and share a first kiss as the video ends.


This video is extremely surreal in content, and the strange outfit worn by Chris Martin, coupled with all of the strange colours used in the drawings amplify the fantasy tale. 


The most notable feature of the video is that although Chris martin may simply be moving very slowly along the road, the stop motion and chalk drawings make it look as though he is flying through the sky, or falling down into a city. The clever editing process has made it look highly professional, as is personally one of the most creative videos I have ever seen.










Touch the sky - Kanye west


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwQbuAGLj4

'Touch the sky' is a 1970s style short film which presents Kanye West as 'Evil Kanyevil', a play on 'Evil Kenievil'. The video is a narrative which is supposedly about Kenievil's failed jump across 'Snake river Canyon'. 


The video appears to be filmed mainly from news cameras, showing off Kanye West as the stuntsman. There are plenty of fans to greet Kanye's character as he emerges from the car, implying how popular he is among the American people. There is added verisimilitude through the filming style and colours. As common in the 1970s, the video has a grainy look to it, as well as sporting a slight sepia tinge to the colours, which may have been a lot more common.


At some point in the video, Kanyevil is shouted at by whom appears to be an ex girlfriend, claiming he left her for a ' a white girl'. This suggests that Kanyevil is a bit of a womaniser, something that the media commonly portrays men as, while women are more often a lot more innocent than the men are. 
Kanyevils ridiculous aim to jump the grand canyon in this video suggests that he is a very cocky man, another trait commonly shown by the media. The man is very eager and very certain that he will pull off the near impossible jump, showing his cockyness and arrogance to the audience. Everyone is also very shocked and appear saddened when his mini rocket crashes and burns at the bottom of the canyon, once again showing how loved a man he really is.


Kanye includes verious references to his own work throughout the video. For one, the Black woman he shouts at him says 'that's right, girl, I told you, when he get on, he gonna leave yo' ass for a white girl', which is a reference to his own song, 'Gold digger'. Another reference comes during the simulated 'lost transmission' screen, where the audience can see Kanyes trademark teddy bear.


The video also has a $1 million budget, making it the 25th most expensive video of all time.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is essentially, a way of paying homage to another song, artist or idea in an artists music video(s). Intertextuality is not always a common sight, as most music videos are an original idea that has not been done before, or perhaps the artist and recording company simply do not wish to pay homage to another idea.
One such example is that of Coldplay's "The Scientist" music video. This was an entirely new approach to the making of the video, as the lead singer Chris Martin learned the entire song backwards, as well as singing it twice as fast in order to make a story that would unfold chronologically in reverse look professional.



One example of intertextuality in music videos would be the video to "Goodbye Mr A", performed by The Hoosiers. In this video, the band pays homage to the graphic novel (comic book) industry, with all the bands members becoming superheroes with an evil plot. There are also many other references to popular culture scattered through the video, one of the characters is seen playing a game of FIFA ( the song was featured in the FIFA 08 soundtrack), and a slight pun on 'who you gonna call' is made when one of the band members answers a phone labelled "Hoosiers gonna call".

This video is just one of many that includes such references, and for the music video I am creating, I am eager to try and include some sort of reference to popular culture if possible, however including such references can sometimes be tricky, and it is very important that if we do try and create intertextuality in our own video, it matches the context of our song, video and film style.

List of equipment/props

We are going to have to use muliple pieces of hardware in our filming process in order to record a successful music video. This will include, of course, different cameras and lighting equipment (among others).
Hardware:

HD hand held video camera- provided by CBSC (school)
(Possible) Digital SLR with HD recording (in order to save time and create focus pulls)
Lyrics and Storyboarding- To know exactly what we’re going to shoot
Time Schedule- To stick on task and not run over schedule.
Light stand
Microphone Boom
Mp3 or music playing device (Phone)
Make-up set: Blusher to reduce shine on band.
Tripods

Software:

Final cut express
Adobe photoshop
Adobe illustrator
Livetype

Props:

Band Clothing (varying dependant on the day)
Instruments ; Guitar, Microphone, drums.  Microphone Stand.
Lighting ; Flashlight, flare
Mobile phones, and other personal effects the character may use in the video.

By Jacob Caria-Preen, Connor Sleet, Bradley Russell and Ryan Almond

Our letter to Warner

To Warner Music,


For our A2 Media project we are considering using Muse’s song ‘Feeling Good’ as you are the relevant copyright holder and hold the rights to Muse’s material we are requesting your permission to use the album version of the song in our final piece. The title ‘Feeling Good’ and the band’s name will also be used on our adverts and digipaks but they will not be used for promotional purposes or monetary gain and will simply be used as a piece of non-profit work.

The music video will not be released or be sold in any way, shape or form. The music video will only be seen by the OCR Exam Board and anyone in my media class but no one outside this circle. A copyright comment will be placed at the beginning of the music video to ensure no disputes with both Muse and Warner Music namechecked.

Yours Sincerely,

Bradley Russell, Ryan Almond, Jacob Caria-Preen and Connor Sleet

Locations

Urban Locations

For our urban locations, we have plenty of choices available to us. We plan on shooting plenty of urban locations as they will compliment the story line and add to the verisimilitude of our main character being a businessman.

Choice one: Croydon town center

Croydon is a very good choice for our group. This is mainly because it is a big town, and is therefore quite easy to find interesting shots. There are also a lot of side roads, which would help us try and paint the picture of a gritty urban scene, which we are very much aiming to do, as opposed to any naturalistic shots we plan on doing later in the video. 

Croydon is very near to our school, which is most likely where our group will meet before going anywhere to film, and is easily reachable from there by either the 157 bus route or  a tram line from Mitcham. There is also very limited cost of filming here as we all receive free travel. 

One drawback of filming in Croydon could be that it is often very busy. Because of this, we may experience a lot of people crossing in front of the camera while filming, which would mean taking more time to reshoot, wasting valuable filming time.

Choice two: London city

We have chosen London as a location as e feel we want to feature famous landmarks, which will hopefully cause a lot of people to identify with the settings, and (hopefully) our main character. The picture above is a shot that we definitely want to try and do, as the background is very interesting, and should look very good when our character is walking down the bridge.
One problem with traveling to London is that is may not be cost effective in terms of the amount of footage we could gain from a single trip. For instance, it can be expensive to travel to London on a regular basis, so it would be vital that we get most of our planned shots done to perfection in a single trip. It is also a very busy area to film in, and it is possible people may get in the way of our shots constantly.

One major positive is that we can get some impressive shots from anywhere in the city, as there are plenty of interesting shots scattered around, from Trafalgar square to the millennium bridge,  we can definitely find some great places to film.



Naturalistic Locations

We plan to film in several natural places, in order to gain some graphic matches to the songs lyrics that depict 'sea' and 'sky'.

Location 1: Beddington park.

This location has plenty of spots where filming would be perfect. The river wandle flows through the park, so therefore we may be able to use this as a graphic match for 'fish in the sea'. There is a lot of light, as most of the park is an open space, although there are also wooded areas that can be used for darker scenes.

Advantages include it's accessibility. Like Croydon, there is a bus that goes directly there within 5 minutes walking distance of our school, and within twenty minutes on foot. This means if we were to make a mistake whilst filming, we would easily be able to return here and re film that particular shot.

There is a large disadvantage in the fact that there are a lot of pedestrians that could potentially ruin some shots, once again like Croydon.


In conclusion, most of our potential locations are easily accessable, however some may incur  slight cost. There is also the risk of members of the public ruining a lot of our shots, so therefore we would have to be very careful not to get in anybody's way when out filming in busy areas.

Questionnaire analysis

By Connor Sleet, Jacob Caria-Preen, Ryan Almond and Bradley Russell

We decided a questionnaire would be an extremely valuable resource for audience feedback which we could build upon in our discussions. The audience were varied with different age groups and genders being queried. Our questionnaire (as shown in the scan) incorporates a general idea of what the audience like in music and music videos so we can gauge what catches an audience's eye in a music video and what techniques we can use.

The first question was: What kind of music video do you generally watch? The majority of the answers were predominantly indie and pop- following the trend of the general public but some transcended genres and simply listened to songs that appealed to them or songs in the charts. It was interesting to see there wasn't the wide variety of genres that we expected as genres such as country, classical and metal were scarcely represented or not represented at all.

'Why do you watch music videos?' was our second and probably our most important question as we are in the process of creating a music video and the audience's opinion is vital. The music video, according to the feedback, heightens the meaning of the song and adds emotion and extra depth to the lyrics. A storyline or visual representation of the lyrics is deemed to be a main reason why people watched music videos but it can also be broken down, again, to something as simple as liking the song.

The third question was 'What genre do you listen to?'.  Although we are doing an indie/rock song it is important to classify our audience by what genre they listen to. Rock and indie were up there with the most popular genres but there was a wide variety of genres compared to the first question. Another interesting trend would be the similarity in answers between questions one and three.

The question 'Why do you listen to this genre?' can be described simply as striking a chord with the listener. The Uses and Gratifications Theory comes heavily in to play as escapism and entertainment seems to be a main reason for listening to the genre. The style of the song in relation to the general characteristics of the genre seems to help, as does relating to the person's feelings.

The final two questions explore the audience's favourite music videos and why. The videos tend to stick to the genre given in the previous questions but the reasons why differ massively. Some said the idea of the music video stuck with them whereas other felt the idea and concept of the music video helped enhance the message of the song.

Conventions of music videos

The conventions of music videos tend to vary between different genres and even between artists (to an extent). As well as there being 'set' conventions, there are also 3 main types of music videos: narrative video, concept based video and the performance video.

Although you often see the artist performing in the majority of videos, the performance video will mainly focus on the artist performing the song to a crowd, or to no one in particular. This is a very common video format in the rap, indie and rock genres and a lot of what makes the artist popular is their image and relationship with their fans.
The concept video is also very popular with the rock and alternative genre, often due to the nature of the lyrics. One example of a concept based video is 'crazy' by Gnarls Barkley. This video uses the Rorschach test as the concept, with each inkblot becoming the lead singers face. The use of the Rorschach test coincides with the title and lyrics, as the test uses inkblots to determine somebodies personality and whether they may or may not be insane,
The third (and probably the most common) type of music video is the narrative video. This video will tell the story of a character, often using the lyrics as a guide to what will happen to the characters in the video. One of the most famous uses of this could be 'Stan' by Eminem. The song itself outlines the messages of a highly obsessive fan who eventually commits suicide. The video consists of this fan writing the messages to Eminem, and getting increasingly frustrated when his letters are not returned. Anyone who has heard the song before viewing the video would most likely have some idea to how the video ends. Unlike performance and concept style videos, the narrative seems to be spread evenly throughout the various genres of music, as a lot of songs are about events rather than an idea.

There are also conventions in terms of camera work in the music video industry. Once again, these are mainly spread out throughout the genres of music, and often coincide with the type of video being filmed. The colours, characters and locations used are yet another form of convention used in the music video industry.
Close ups can be very common within music videos as they suggest a sense of intimacy, either between the characters, or even between the band and the viewer. Medium shots tend to dominate the music videos as  this way, most of the band is fitted to the shot, ideal for performance videos.

Depending on the song, music videos tend to be slightly longer on both ends of the song, especially in narrative videos, as it is essentially a short film, giving time for the characters to be introduced. One example of this could be 'The kill' by 30 Seconds To Mars. This video pays homage to the Shining, and there is both an introduction and an ending to the video. There are also short breaks in the song to allow for the story to unfold, unrestrained by the  songs length. This can be very common among some artists (30 seconds to mars have done this plenty of times in their music videos) therefore some artists often have their own conventions set out.

Research into music videos

Music videos were first created as a means of promoting an artist, with the use of still images being projected onto a sheet of canvas to accompany the performance of the song.

The first ever recorded use of a music 'video' was through the pair Edward Marks and Joe Stern, who hired George Thomas (among others) to help promote sales of their song 'the little lost child'. Thomas proceeded to project a series of images whilst the song was performed to an audience.  Although this was extremely simple, the music video would soon progress to becoming what many artists consider works of art, with plenty of time and money being spent on creating them.

Music videos can and often are censored by the BBFC, as they are basically a short film. Examples of censored videos include: The Kill ( 30 seconds to mars) and Stan ( Eminem FT Dido). The two videos were censored for either explicit language or content. If videos are censored, then they will simply not be shown during the day, and only after 9PM will the full version of the video (and song) be shown on television.

The television channel, MTV was the first channel that would continuously broadcast music videos throughout the day. This channel became a major competitor when it came to listening to and viewing music videos, as it is easily accessible by the general population.
In recent years, the introduction of Youtube to the internet has revolutionized the way music videos and songs can be viewed. For free, anyone with internet access can now view official music videos. Although the videos were initially uploaded by members of the public, copyright laws were eventually put into place and now official music videos can only be uploaded via the artists 'channel'. This has shown that companies are always in control of their 'products', and youtube has become a way of advertising their artists songs once again.

Music videos are created in very much the same way as a film or television programme may be made. More often than not, the video will be shot on location with an extensive lighting array ranging from lighting rings to spotlights and floodlights. The cast will also be on the set and ready for filming. Interestingly, the band may not always be 'the cast', especially during a narrative video, however in almost all cases the band will make an appearance as the music video is essentially an advert for the band and their image, as well as promoting revenue from royalties and sales.