As a group, we have thought up some initial ideas for music videos we can do as our music video project. We put all of these ideas into a powerpoint presentation, which we then presented to the rest of our media class while pointing out some good ideas for an actual music video and also giving good and bad points for each choice. They then gave us feedback on our ideas, and overall gave us their opinion on what song we should do. This was taken into account and we have now decided on our final song idea, which we will develop more.
A music video is essentially a video to go along with a
piece of music. There are a variety of different ways in which a music video
can be made and interpreted. Some of the ways are:
Entertainment
To Tell a Story
To send out a message
To advertise a product
To show off some sort of skill
As a way to get noticed
Mainly, the music videos are produced for entertainment
purposes. They are normally produced by a bands record label and advertised
through them.
When making a music video that tells a story, it is always good to keep the lyrics in account. They can assist in the portraying of the story very well and will make the music video not only easier for the audience to understand, but for the people to make as well because they will already have a template for the video. The lyrics I have posted are for the song “I Don’t Mind” by Defeater, our most probable candidate for our song choice. The song itself does not have a music video created for it, but when looking at the lyrics, it is quite easy to build a rough idea on what a music video for the song will look like.
Let's talk about the old days,
Let's talk about your friends,
Let's talk about the summer
And how you wish it wouldn't end.
Did I forget to tell you,
How pretty you looked in that dress?
In the first time that I saw you,
You cleaned the mess from my head.
And I don't mind,
If we take our time.
No,
I don't mind.
Lets go walkin' on the boardwalk,
Dip our feet into the sea.
Lets find ourselves lost for hours,
Until we find ourselves a drink.
Lets talk that sun into setting,
Just need the sound of your voice.
Need that calming and the comfort,
Something to drown out the noise.
And I don't mind,
If we take our time,
'Cause I'm all yours
If you're all mine.
Something I've been meanin' to tell you,
About three years and a day.
I'd very much like to get married,
Maybe have kids and move away,
'Cause there ain't nothing like your smile,
Your legs and those eyes.
I will beg and steal and borrow
To keep you safe your whole life.
And I don't mind,
If we take our time,
'Cause I'm all yours
If you're all mine.
The lyrics in this particular song portray the story of a man with deep affection for a woman in his life, possibly a girlfriend or wife. The song focuses on how they can enjoy the little things as a couple despite any hardships in life. The song is from the album “Empty Days and Sleepless Nights”, a concept album set during the WWII of a man who unfortunately loses a lot of people close to him, develops an incredibly serious drinking problem and ends up committing suicide on a railroad track. This song is one of the more upbeat songs off the album, as it shows one of the highlights in the man’s unfortunate life, so the video could be bright and upbeat and include close ups and camerawork that portrays how happy the couple are in the video.
Many
videos may have a brief cameo from a celebrity of some sort. This is used to
perhaps attract not only fans of the band itself, but for the celebrity to
enhance his or her career by becoming more diverse. An example of this is Jason
Biggs (American Pie Series) appearing in the music video for “Teenage Dirtbag”
by Wheatus. A common thing in music today is the collaboration of two or more
different artists working on a song together. An example of this is Oli Sykes
from Bring Me The Horizon featuring in the song and also appearing in the music
video for You Me At Six’s “Bite My Tongue.” This can improve a band’s reputation if the band
is not very big, but this is not the case in the example. People from different
bands will also appear in the music videos for another bands song. An example
of this is the guest appearance of several stars within the same genre of music
appearing in the music video for “All I Want” by A Day to Remember. Stars ranging
from A Day to Remember’s former guitarist, Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy), Matt
Heafy (Trivium), Vic Fuentes (Pierce The Veil) and Winston McCall (Parkway
Drive) feature miming the song that the band are playing.
Just like in a feature length movie, a director is required
to monitor the production of the video and ensure everything is going to plan.
The director is there to ensure that the band is doing the correct conventions
of that genre, unless the video is based on something else. They are also the
director of a back story that may take place to go along with the music video,
ensuring all actors and other cast are doing the correct thing, just like in a
movie. These 2 aspects are important in the music video to ensure a video is
developed for the specific genre of music. The director makes sure that the
conventions of the music match the genre of the music the video is applied to,
unless it is intentionally altered for obscurity or comic effect. A popular
director in the metal/metalcore scene called Robbie Starbuck is a director of
bands within that particular genre. He has worked with bands such as Asking
Alexandria, Times of Grace and Escape the Fate and developed music videos that
fit to the various subgenres of music. The video for “Caraphernelia” by Pierce
The Veil appears bright, and has a story relating to the lyrics of the song.
Whereas the video for Asking Alexandria’s “The Final Episode (Let’s Change the
Channel)” has a more gloomy and dark approach to it, hence the style of music
played. Robby has done a good job of working with different conventions of
music video genres. His website (http://www.robbystarbuck.com/)
has all of his various videos on the site.
These are 2 examples of Robby Starbuck's contrasting videos.
As a group, we have thought up some initial ideas for music videos we can do as our music video project. We put all of these ideas into a powerpoint presentation, which we then presented to the rest of our media class while pointing out some good ideas for an actual music video and also giving good and bad points for each choice. They then gave us feedback on our ideas, and overall gave us their opinion on what song we should do. This was taken into account and we have now decided on our final song idea, which we will develop more.
