Inspirational Videos- Mumford and Sons "Gentleman of the Road"

Within this shot, the silhouette of the tree against the gloomy sky with clouds stands out really well. The sunlight coming through the clouds once again helps the colours and also giving connotations that a better time is coming. The use of an image being shot looking straight up into the air offers something different to a reasonably simple kind of video.

Being able to see the instruments being used allows the audience to connect with the musicians further. Contrasted with nature shown in the background, the overall feeling portrayed is that the band is simple and just enjoy playing their music.

The use of the rule of thirds being used for the main singer allows them to be centre image and therefore centre of attention. The use of colours in this particular shot is beautiful, giving off connotations of an older world through the effects put on it. Generally the shots within this video are fairly simple, however being able to maintain the sophistication and maturity needed to reach their target audience.

The use of the photograph in the wallet allows the viewer to instantly be able to follow the narrative available, however still keeping an air of mystery.

Inspirational Video- Mumford and Sons "Little Lion Man"

 When looking at this video, we really enjoyed the lighting that was used to create certain moods and focus in on certain areas of the shot. The angle of the shot used on the left is interesting and offers a different feeling for the audience than a straight on shot would. The use of shadows in the screenshot below creates a moody atmosphere and looks incredibly professional.

This is the first shot where the band is seen in a full shot. The lighting is once again very effectively used, creating shadows but also highlighting the band themselves. Fairy lights around the stage help to create a feeling of night time and also magic, as well as the simplicity the band has.

We belived the shot of the piano offered something different to a straight forward close up of an instrument, as the angle is slightly distorted. The lack of identity from the musician (only being able to see his hands) also adds to the shot and its overall effectiveness; offering something different to a straightforward shot.

This particular image on the left is a shot we greatly wish to incorporate into our own music video. The lack of people or things in the foreground offers feelings of loneliness, which is greatly reflected in our song choice. Towards the end of the video however we will repeat the shot, but with his lover stood in view.

Preliminary Task- Dido "Life for Rent"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL-Si9zkCZQ

In order to practice my camera skills again, we created a "practice" music video from a song of our choice. The song we chose to use was Dido-Life for rent as we wanted to test the waters with a slower song in order to allow the lip sinking to be less quick and therefore more accurate. As a final result, I am reasonably happy with the final video and believe that the lip sinking was as effective as possible for a first attempt, and the range of shots were appropriate to the video.



Shown below are some screenshots of my video whilst being edited on "iMovie";

Information on Genre- Acoustic/Rock

Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acousticmeans, as opposed to electric or electronic means. The retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the advent of electric instruments, such as the electric guitar, electric violin, electric organ and synthesizer.

Performers of acoustic music often increase the volume of their output using electronic amplifiers. However, these amplification devices remain separate from the amplified instrument and reproduce its natural sound accurately. Often a microphone is placed in front of an acoustic instrument which is then wired up to an amplifier.

Following the increasing popularity of the television show  MTV Unplugged during the 1990's, acoustic (though in most cases still electrically amplified) performances by musical artists who usually rely on electronic instruments became colloquially referred to as "unplugged" performances.

Writing for splendid, music reviewer Craig Conley suggests, "When music is labeled acoustic, unplugged, or unwired, the assumption seems to be that other types of music are cluttered by technology and overproduction and therefore aren't as pure."

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as bluesand folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources.

Musically, rock has centred around the electric guitar, usually as part of a rock group with bass guitar and drums. Typically, rock is song-based music with a 4/4 beat utilizing a verse-chorus forum, but the genre has become extremely diverse and common musical characteristics are difficult to define. Like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. The dominance of rock by white, male musicians has been seen as one of the key factors shaping the themes explored in rock music. Rock places a higher degree of emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and an ideology of authenticity than pop music.

By the late 1960s a number of distinct rock music sub-genres had emerged, including hybrids like blues rock, folk rock, country rock, and jazz-rock fusion, many of which contributed to the development of psychedelic rock influenced by the counter-cultural psychedelic scene. New genres that emerged from this scene included progressive rock, which extended the artistic elements; glam rock, which highlighted showmanship and visual style, and the diverse and enduring major sub-genre of heavy metal, which emphasized volume, power and speed. In the second half of the 1970s, punk rock both intensified and reacted against some of these trends to produce a raw, energetic form of music characterized by overt political and social critiques. Punk was an influence into the 1980s on the subsequent development of other sub-genres, including New wave, post-punk and eventually the alternative rock movement. From the 1990s alternative rock began to dominate rock music and break through into the mainstream in the form of grunge, Britpop, and indie rock. Further fusion sub-genres have since emerged, including pop punk, rap rock, and rap metal, as well as conscious attempts to revisit rock's history, including thegrarage rock/post-punk revival at the beginning of the new millennium.

Rock music has also embodied and served as the vehicle for cultural and social movements, leading to major sub-cultures including mods and rockers in the UK and the "hippie" counterculture that spread out from San Francisco in the US in the 1960s. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the visually distinctive goth and emo subcultures. Inheriting the folk tradition of the protest song, rock music has been associated with political activism as well as changes in social attitudes to race, sex and drug use, and is often seen as an expression of youth revolt against adult consumerism and conformity.

Story Board

Music Channel Ratings

MTV was expected to be the highest rated channel, as it has many branch of channels such as "MTV Shows" and "MTV+1", and also more specific channels such as "MTV Base" and "MTV Dance"; which are more specific to a certain audience, yet still an MTV channel. Not only this though but it contains many different genres of music and therefore appeals to a wider variety of people. Scuzz for instance, has lower ratings due to its niche market, appealing to people who prefer a certain type of music, generally with a genre of rock/screamo.

Because of this, we would aim for our video to be put onto MTV's mainstream channel, as it is most popular and also mainly watched by people that meet our target audience. MTV's ratings would increase the success of the video and help to make the band more public.

" MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York that launched on August 1, 1981. At one time, MTV had a profound impact on the music industry and popular culture. Slogans such as "I want my MTV" and "MTV is here" became embedded in public thought, the concept of the VJ was popularized, the idea of a dedicated video-based outlet for music was introduced, and both artists and fans found a central location for concertmusic events, news, and promotion. MTV has also been referenced countless times in popular culture by musicians, other TV channels and television programme, films, and books." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV

Typical Audience

A typical audience for our music video would be teenagers, aged 16+ up to adults up to the age of around 30.

Our target audience will be able to refer to intertextual references from their culture which will appeal to them within the video, and also appreciate the narrative and shots in detail. They must have an appreciation for the genre of music itself, and contents involved within it such as live music.I aim to learn more about the target audience by producing a questionnaire.



Here is an example of a questionnaire that I made and gave to around 20 people of different ages;

My results are shown in graphs below;

From these results, I can see that their needs to be quite a few shots of the band within the music video, and the video needs a fairly strong narrative to keep the audience interested. The music genre of song we chose tneds to fit with the audiences opinion well so therefore our song should be reasonably appealing to many different people.