Lip Sync evaluation

The editing Program

At first it wasn't easy going from what i was used to (iMovie) because of the different layout, but after about 20 minutes or so i got to grips with where everything was and how to use the basics. I was quite shocked a how easy it was to cut up a video and place it, however i wasn't too impressed with the quality of the effects. although his maybe due to m y lack of experience with the software and i hope to create more professional effects in my real project. For example i tried to create a very quick time lapse in one of the scenes, eventually i had to make shift one which took a lot of time and it didn't even look all that professional and i hope there is an easier way to do this sort of effect.

What did i learn?

From completing this task i have learnt that, it is always better to film a lot more than you need because you my find that if you only film what you think you need then you may actually end up with not enough footage. Also, anything you do film, you need to do a few takes so you can take the best one. Also i think that if you want to make professional looking effects, it's not as simple as selecting a clip and then applying the effect, it has to thoroughly be edited.

What will i do now?

From the experience I have gained from this task I will do many things when planning and producing my final project. But most importantly I will make A LOT of time for editing as this is a hugely time consuming process if it is to be done properly. I also intend to look up how to put effects in effectively through tutorials on the internet in preparation. I will also know to take more than one take of each piece of action to get the best results, and in addition to that, take more footage than I think I need, such as filming from a whole other angle or film completely random shots because they could actually be very useful even if it doesn't seem that way when filming because I've seen that in the music videos I am using for inspirations, they use countless angles and shot types, so the more the merrier.

Star Image - Richard Griffith

‘No machinery ever of itself and by itself made a star. That takes place in the depths of the collective unconscious’

Basically he is saying that it doesn't matter how much is reenforcing someone to be a star, it is not that reinforcement that makes a star, it is how the audience receives them. Therefore it is not really about talent anymore, and there is only so much a record label can do with an artist, if they aren't widely liked then isn't much else that they can do. The consumer won't look at all the effort that has been put into the artist, whether or not they like the artist is done unconsciously, and if more an people like them, then a star is made.

Star Image theories - Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer says that there are a range of star to audience relationships:

1) Emotional affinity - The most common relationship (and the most healthy), the audience has a lose attachment to the artist.

2) Self Identification - This is when the person puts themselves in the same situation as themselves because they love this artist so much which is much more common than expected.

3) Imitation - This is the most common amongst the youth of our culture, they see the artist as an idol, someone to look up to.

4) Projection - This is when imitation is taken to the extreme, the artist has actually desensitized the audience and they lose touch with reality (very rare)

Star Image Theories - Andrew Goodwin

Andy Goodwin says that: The creation of character identities for stars provides a point of identification for the audience/spectator which is especially important when lyrics often lack depth.

Basically, if a stars lyrics aren't particularly deep or meaningful then it makes it harder for the audience to relate to them, however if they create an image or a character then it makes it easier for people to relate to and increases their popularity and their power to be an idol.

He also says that: The construction of stars is central to the economics of the music industry – only stars guarantee sales and long careers,

In some ways, this is true, stars will have bigger sales and longer careers but this does not always make them the most popular. sometimes smaller artists have much more loyal solid fan bases because they are more down to earth and not surrounded by a bubble of fame much like a lot of "stars" today.

He says that : Star loyalty is a key ingredient – fans are loyal to the star.

Again I would agree with what he is saying, people like Lady Gaga have a huge fan base all of whom are loyal to the artist and will probably side with them despite what other people may think or if the artist does something shocking (like wearing a suit made of meat).

He also says : The record industry is very dependent on stars – many record companies rely on a few big stars (or even just one) to provide stability.

I think this makes perfect sense, some record labels may only have one artist, but if it is a super star then they are sorted, they don't need anyone else, why would they waste time on artists who aren't going to be starts when they could just focus on the star thats going to make them the most money. It seems wrong but thats just how it is in todays music industry.

This is the debut album from the post- hardcore band “Enter Shikari” named “Take to the skies”

Enter Shikari as annoying as some people find them, sing about real subjects as apposed to “the girl next door”. The lead singer Rou, writes his lyrics about how the world is being destroyed and we’re all sitting back watching it happen. He also writes about rebellions between the people and our government. Some Lyrics to show this are :

“Each nation used to provide its country with security.
With factories providing arms for their country. Now multinational companies compete in the arms trade
to serve any customer, maximizing the money to be made.
So just as farms compete to provide fruit for other countries
so people can live to enjoy the taste of nature
National warehouses compete to provide arms around the world
to aid death
and all hell unfolds.

Our gracious queen
should grasp her crown
and take a good fucking swing at Blair and Brown
for leading her countries to illegal warfare
and trying to pass it off that we're doing 'cause we care”

The picture is quite hard to make out, but when looked at closely we can see we have the earth in right in the middle, surrounded by beasts and an Aztec. And according to Rou, “Shikari was a third generation Aztec”. There is also a crown sitting on the top, this goes along with the fact that a lot of his lyrics are about our monarchy. The face on the earth looks much like a skull to connote that the world is dead. And by the looks of it, it is the beasts surrounding it that have killed it; the beasts are basically representing us as people, and the government, destroying the world together by fighting over it.

Rou is trying to get the whole world to unite to tackle the troubles of the world through his music, the picture could be seen as all these different people and things coming together to unite. They basically talk about how this world is run by the most ignorant twats who will keep plunging the rest of us into darkness just for a few pieces of paper and numbers on a screen. We could've sorted all the worlds problems years ago, but we'd rather spend our time making sure we have a bigger TV than our mates.

Lip Sync song!

In all honesty, the closet thing to a perfect song!

the reason we chose this song is because it's easy to sing along to, it's well known, everyone knows the words, isn't too long, doesn't have to many instrumental passages, but enough to dance along to.

lip syncing inspiration

A song from my favourite band, very simple, much like what we plan to do

Music Video song

This is more than likely the song we will chose to do our final project

Check out music from Weak(end) Arrows

Marketing a fake band

Marketing a fake band

View more presentations from Westhatchmediastudies.

Analysis of Guns N' Roses "Appetite for Destruction" album cover

Analysis of Guns N

Representation of gender in Eminem's "Love the way you lie"

Firstly in this video we see a close up of Rihanna standing in front of flames while singing the words “watch me burn”. This could be to show her being vulnerable which is a common stereotype of females however it’s actually quite biased and unfair. We are not sure as to what it means at this point as it is too early to tell but some may say that she is frustrated or angry and the flames are there to express her feelings. However the most important thing to notice in this video is that the two singers “Eminem” and “Rihanna” are singing about a couple; each of the singers have their own setting for their parts in the song until they finally come together at the end of the song but we also are mainly watching the hideous suffering of the female in the couple’s relationship. In the next frame, the couple lay in bed half dressed and asleep to maybe indicate that they have just had sex but more importantly, the setting looks very dull and dingy which is symbolic of the state of the relationship.
After a quick shot back to Rihanna’s face we then see the female character sitting down in a dark room with a flame in her hand. It could be argued that what she is holding is a representation of how she is feeling inside; as if she is burning and searing with anger. The same thing then happens again; a quick glance back at Rihanna as she sings and then back to our female subject however slightly close to her. Another feature is that at this stage of the song, the tempo and feel is very soft and slow, therefore the rate of cuts is slow and this mirrors how the female character feels, very sad, emotional but not running around in fury. Additionally, the fact that Rihanna’s hair is red is vital to the meaning of the song. Red is hot. It's a strong colour that conjures up a range of seemingly conflicting emotions from passionate love to violence and warfare. This could therefore mean that our female character is in a relationship which is passionate yet with that passion, has a lot of violence and heat.

The violence is a very clear and obvious theme in the video as at 0:34 we see the female character (Meghan Fox) get out of bed angrily and pushing the man by her side away from her to show that she is most defiantly angry at this man. We are not sure why yet but at 0:40 the violence increases and what’s interesting is that we see the female hitting the man which is going against stereotypes such as men being violent and women being weak. The female is very much in control. However the stereotypes come back into play when the male finally takes over, showing his masculinity (also shown by his muscle). At 0:49 we get the idea that the male character is very much dominant and over powering as he does not allow Meghan to leave which is clearly stated in both the lyrics and their acting. All of these little scenes are trying to convey to the audience that they’re relationship is in tatters, the female is very much being suffocated by the over powering man and she physically can’t stop it.

However when Rihanna’s chorus kicks back in, we see the couple passionately kissing against the wall which the man had just punched. This could be to show that even though they fight like they do, they do still love each other. This is also enforced by Rihanna’s facial expressions; they half look as if she is in pain, but at the same time look as if she is enjoying the pain, and slightly sexual.

A very typical scenario in this type of song is seeing a man in a pub on his own with a bottle of beer looking sorry for himself and this video has a perfect example at 1:41. It could mean that when men are having a hard time, they result to alcohol although not all men do that so it’s differing between different types of men and we get the impression that this man probably drinks quite a lot and has had a rough time. In contrast to this we see Meghan Fox crying in the corridor of her own home to express her anger and distraught feelings. Typically men are associated with being angry and when they do get angry they really do show it, especially men like the one in this video; this is perfectly displayed at 2:06 as we see him shout to himself with his hand in face as if he is in incredible pain but it clearly something he is feeling inside, obviously to do with his relationship.

The male gives Meghan a teddy bear and a flower. In some aspects it’s sort of humorous, has he given her these things to try n make things better as a joke? Or on the other hand are these sentimental and something that mean a great deal to Meghan and therefore make her look much more feminine. Another thing that men are associated with is the idea that they are very protective over their women; something that the director feels needs to be shown very clearly when we see Meghan talking to another man in a bar and our main male character attacks him with a bottle in fury. At 2:52 there is a great deal of symbolism. We have the male holding a piece of broken mirror which he caused himself and in its reflection is him with Meghan behind him which is something very common in horror films but in this case, he wants to see what’s behind him, he wants to see that she is still there.

I believe that even the characters themselves have been very carefully chosen. Meghan Fox is a very attractive lady with a good body and the director may have felt that most girls would aspire to look like her and from seeing her previous work; she is actually a very likeable character so seeing her looking so distraught is actually quite traumatic for some people. However it is saying that women should look like that; no excess weight, perfect physique and highly attractive. The male played by Dominic Monaghan is classified as a very macho man due to his build and personality and previous works. The director way be trying to sum up a large range of the male population with this one man which is a very bold statement but in saying that, I am sure that a lot of boys and young men would like to grow into something like Dominic.

We then see a series of scenes in which the true male anger comes out; he tears the house apart and strikes Meghan Fox which is something quite sever in today’s society so maybe the audience will judge him for doing that, but they most defiantly get the impression that he is not in a fit mental state and he takes his anger out with violence. While all this is going on, their emotions and feeling are mirrored in the setting of the singers who have now merged and it set to look like they are standing outside of the burning house that the couple are staying in; the flames are blazing and their movements are quite fast and uncomfortable. Then something vital happens. We go back to the scene at the start where Meghan is holding the flame. Except now we see her close her hands to put the flame out which signifies that she has had enough and isn’t going to take this anymore; she is going to fight back (the rise of feminism). To end the song we see a series of shots where lots of things are on fire. Dominic is on fire which could either be to show that he is so angry he is now alight, or that now Meghan has finally stood up for herself he is burning away. Meghan is also engulfed by flames at one stage while she is cuddled up on her bad looking sad which could show that all the burning up that was going on inside is now coming out as she releases it from herself. Just before the end we see the singers turn to face the burning house which is showing that audience the destruction that this relationship has caused. However, to finally end, we see Meghan waking up in the same bed we saw her in at the start, so maybe all of what we saw was a dream, or a hope? But we know that their relationship status was very much real.

Functions And Meanings Of Music In Editing - Carol Vernallis

"quick cutting on the beat"

This is simply where every time there is a cut it is in time with the music, this doesnt mean on every beat, and it could infact be on a "double time" which means the shots change twice as fst as the beat but it will still stay in time with the music.

"Edits in music videos come more frequently than that in film"

"Music video editing bears a far greater responsibility for many elements than does classic Hollywood film editing"


In films there could be a shot of about 5 or 6 seconds on average but having a shot this long in a music video is quite rare. A music video has to tell an entire story in only the length of the song so alot has to go in.


The editing in the music videos works hard to ensure that no single element (narrative, setting, performance, star, lyircs, song) gains the upper hand.

Basically this means that everything has to be balanced and in proportion, too much of one thing will ruin it and the central focus will be lost.

I will bear these theories in mind when creating my own video

Lip Syncing Task

We have been asked to create a short music video to work on out lip syncing ability which is vital for our final projecting as getting the "mime in time" is crucial. We wanted to do "Zzzonked" by Enter Shikari because it would be very fun to do but realistically it would be very difficult as its almost just a passionate shout for most of the song. We have also just found out that song should not be more than 3 minutes, be hard to sing or have too many instrumental passages so this narrows down the field. This task will also help us in editing, a huge part of our final exam. We will mime the song filmed as a long shot, a mid shot and a close up, and effectively mix them together to make a rough music video which we can learn from and improve what we have done to make our real one.

ideas for the song will be on a later post...

How bands market themselves

I have chosen to look at Arctic Monkeys; as they apparently "broke the mould on marketing strategies".

They got started using whats known as "viral marketing" this is basically word-of-mouth marketing via blogs, internet forums and social networking websites.They were one of the first bands to realise that giving away their music for free could potentially be very beneficial to them; they started off by giving it to friends, who gave it to their friends and so forth. Before they knew it, they were topping the charts. They were not bothered that people were copying the music and giving it away, they saw it as a good things, more people were hearing them and liking them! they just accepted this as something they had to do as a step towards ultimate fame. They didn't need to sing any record deals with big companies as there was just no need, they had everything they needed by this point; giving away their music lead to a solid fan base, who sometimes out of loyalty brought their album, the word of mouth buzz meant sales increased on their album, the money from these sales went to paying for live gigs, the profit made on these gigs went towards making a new album, and after a short while, they had it all, and all without a record label.

another inspirational video

Again, this simple yet effective video is something along the lines of which we wish to create. It's all about the band, its easy to do; this one however more looks like a liver performance because everything flows in motion as if it has been done in one take which is probably not a technique we will use but the general idea of the band being the complete main focus is generally what we are going for.

Inspirational video

i love the simplicity to this video and the minimal yet effective narrative. I want to try and create something similar because 1) it doesn't take as many resources (people) as if we was to do a miming live performance which is very common in music videos of our genre, 2) the narrative wont take much time to write, which means the time can be spent on more important things and 3) it wont be expensive nor overly time consuming because of its simplicity.

Music Videos - Issues and Debates

Are music file sharers criminals? Does this mean that if you share your physical cds with your friends you're a criminal?

a very common question but not one with a simple answer. If for example someone has purchased the artists music then I believe that it is fine if they then lend this to a friend; however I think that if they buy it with intentions of distributing it on mass then yes there is an issue, whether or not it is illegal is debatable. But looking a it from another perspective; a file sharer may have purchased the music originally in order to share it this means they have rightly paid the artist for the product, but it is then the people are getting the music for free that aren't paying the artist, so are they the ones in the wrong? But they haven't intentionally ripped off the artist, they would just rather lend a friends CD or download it from the internet because of all the benefits, ie, its free, they don't have to make the effort of actually going out to get it, thus saving time and they can lose the risk of wasting money on something they don't actually like. To sum up, if I buy an artists music, I believe i should be able to do what I like with it, if I want to lend it to a friend then I should be able to do; if anything, I am doing the artist a favour, I'm publicising them, if i lend this album to 10 people, and they all like it, that's 10 more fans they have, those 10 can then pass it on, and so forth, creating a bigger fan base.

Whilst the internet allows bands to bypass the major companies, who acts as the 'gatekeeper'? How do you stop the 'dross'?

If anyone can post their music...how do you find the 'good stuff'?

Yes obviously now anyone can put music on the internet and distribute it without the use of a big label and in actual fact, the "gatekeeper" is the consumer itself. There are millions of tracks out there that people into certain types of music wont listen to all because of taste, so this filters out un-wanted dross. People distributing music online will use a source specialised to their style or if they use something generic such as Youtube, then they will have tag words which when searched for, brings up their music. So for example say a Drum n' Bass band were putting a video on youtube they might use "tag words" such as "Drum, Bass, dance, club, disco, rave". People who are into say indie bands for example, wont search for such things and therefore wont find them. So a combination of internet and consumer act as the gate keepers or the sieves of the mass online music market.

How do you think Music Industry companies are harnessing the power of the internet? How has the industry learnt to see the internet as a 'friend' rather than a 'foe'?

When music shared over the internet became the biggest source of obtaining music for the every day person, Music industry companies panicked. "If nobody is buying our products and more then how can we make money?" they asked themselves. And they have a point, if people can get the music for free then why should they pay. Victor Keegan sums up what's happening perfectly:

"In fact it is easier to make the case that the music industry, far from imploding, is one of the great success stories of the recession. The most dramatic example of this is in what kids are supposed not to be buying any more: single tracks. Last year sales of singles soared to an all-time record of 152.7m units, an astonishing 33% rise in a year when the whole economy (GDP) contracted by 3.3%. If the music pundits seriously think that these are not being bought by kids, then it shows how out of touch they are with their customers. These same youngsters who were – and probably still are – massively downloading free music from the internet were prepared to pay up to £3 a pop for an insipid ringtone (interestingly, not included on the industry's statistics unless they are full-track ones). Why? Because there is an easy payment system on phones which didn't exist on the web. Now there is an easy payment system (iTunes et al) on the web they are starting to pay again. If the big music companies had spent their energies dreaming up a payments mechanism for web downloads instead of suing their customers they could have swept all before them. Instead they were like the crew of a sinking boat that blames the sea instead of trying to mend the leak. If they were in the bottled water industry, they would probably be urging the government to stop free downloads of tap water at home as unfair competition. Yet the bottled water industry should have been their model. It got away with charging us lots of money for a product that was no better than free tapwater through clever marketing."

He is basically saying that although the companies are fretting over such things, the actually facts and figures show that they have nothing to moan about because they are still selling CD's.

However it was the smaller record labels who noticed that in fact, this could all be very beneficial. If they were to release an artists work onto the internet, available for free download, this means they can distribute it much easier; as its free more people are likely to download it. In doing thins, a larger audience is pulled in which meant sales on songs and albums not available for download increase. This then lead to a bigger loyal fan base who were the audiences at live shows and the ones buying merchandise. So they basically saw the internet as a perfect way of starting the multiplier effect. Better still, it doesn't actually cost the record label anything to put music on the internet. Now the bigger companies have caught on that this indeed the way forward, and now they are competing via the internet! But to sum up, after much needless moaning and complaining, the music industry companies have realised that the internet is actually their best chance of success.

Other peoples work

I thought a good place to start would be to look at work done by other people for the same coursework to see what people have come up with. I found this...

I think they have done a very good job besides the fact i hate the song and their style of music video. Not my style at all however they have handled it very well. I particularly like their use of lighting which is maybe something i could use. The dancing however is a bit novice and should only be put in a video if it is done properly. The lip syncing is very good and everything is nicely in time and I would say that they have managed to make it look like an actual music video as apposed to a school project.

Music Video inspiration

This is new single from Enter Shikari called "Destabalize". The style in which they have filmed the this video amazes me. There is no real story line but the camera work is excellent. Lots of fast cutting and subtle effects keep this video as lively as the song. I particularly like the moving vertigo shot made famous by Alfred Hitchcock, caused by moving the camera away from the action on a dolly but then zooming in at the same time; this creates a strange depth illusion. I will probably use this in my own video.

First post

Well, the brief shows that we have to create a music video; instantly I had a brain wave.

I'm in a 3 piece, indie-punk band who have just recorded 2 tracks and I thought that using one of those tracks would be brilliant seeing as I know the song inside out, which makes lip synchronizing and instrument miming much easier. Also I know the meaning to the song so I can make a video more relevant. I've had some ideas as to the style of the music video i am looking for which i will describe in another post.

ta ta

Intro

Well my name is Sam and I'll be updating this blog pretty frequently to show my progress on my coursework.