Music director Emil Nava; Case study 2

Another example of a young talent who porgessied form the bottom in  the music industry is Emil Nava. He began as a runner for film production companies and worked with the lights if Blink prodcution. He is no successflu as he is a freelance for OB Management.

After working as a runner graduate as Assistant Director where he would manage the video shoots. He signed to Acedmey - who are the biggest music video prodcution company. He then worked for 'Between the Eyes'  and now works mainly for 'Praise'

Emil has now begun to make adverts, which generally have a far higher budget and production value but which allow for less creative freedom














At his busiest Emil has made 24 music videos in one year. When he began shooting videos for independent lables budget would be as low as £5,000 to £10,000. His most expensive video to date has been for Jessie J and the budget was £160,000

Emil's first budget was for the band 'Kid British' and the track 'Our House'. This had a budget of £20,000 and was filmed in Manchester where the casts were literally the local people. This took only a day to film, 2/3days for editing and 10 days pre-production.This displays the very little timescale involved.



The OB Management work as an agents for music video directors. their particular aim is to nurture talent as potential professional artists, work with production companies, work with record labels and match the right directors to the right artists.

Some of the production companies that OB work with are
- Pulse films
- Rocket
- Agile films
- Friends
- Wonda

Another Professional artist who Emil Nava had worked with is the female singer Paloma Faith, Emil contributed in the success of her music video 'Picking up the pieces' as he was the director. This video had a budget of £80,000. The single was released on the 5th April 2012, it entered the UK single charts at number 7 making it Paloma's highest charting single i the UK to date and her first top 10. The video itself is very old fashion due to the in the Paloma and the other actors are presented and the location of video as it is in some sort of castle. Paloma potrays a woman who is an unstable relationship with her boyfirned. As the video progresses it shows Paloma's relationship crumbing and becomes wax-like.



Emil Top tips include:
- Using extreme close up on faces wherever possible
- Do not shoot whole of video in medium shot/long shot

An example of this is Sinead O'Connor 'Nothing compares to you' where sam shot has been used throughout making it not engaging to watch.

Music director Jamie Thraves; Case study 1

Music videos don't just occur via a camera a few actors. Music has its own industry full of professions which specialise in different areas in order to bring about the final product of a music video. The budgeting for these music video's can be seen to be highly costly to us but to a producer it is a small amount. In order to gain a position in the professional music industry such as a Director can be very hard to achieve as it can take years of studying and hard work.

Director Jamie Thraves was part of a ini producing company ran by himself, he started making videos in University with a small budget of £5,000, this is how much h used to make his first three unprofessional music video. This is how the director position process works:

• The commissioner from a record label sends a track to 5-10 directors 
• The directors then each submitted a treatment
• This stage is unpaid 
• The director who has submitted the best treatment is then commissioned to make the video 
• Only then is the directors paid 

Many of these directors liviehood is depend on these commission. Jamie Thraves in this case study submitted treatments for his two best known videos and each was accepted. These were Radiohead's single called 'Just', the budget for this video was £100,000 which was shot in just three days. The music consisted of subtitles which told an interesting little story as the music processes, the video ends with a cliffhanger as we never find the main question throughout the video which is was to find out why the man was laying on the floor. The audience not knowing this makes the video even more engaging as it leaves it up to the audience to conclude on what they think was the reason.

The second was 'The Sciencetist' by Coldplay, this music video took double the amount of his first as the total budget was £200,000, it was also filmed in three days. The music video was very orginal and also consisted of a nail biting storyline. The storyine was played backwards increasing the egerness to find out what happens at the begining of the video which turns out to be a terrifble car crash.

After the successioon if both these videos Jamie Thraves still contined, his most recent up to date video called 'Song ofr Lisa' sung by a Japanese popstar. Currently videos cost an estimated of £20,000 with a shooting period of just 2days. Jamie has used the music videos to get into the film business and has so far shot three feature:
- The Low Down
- The Cry of the Owl
-Treacle Jr

From Jamie himself to other directors wanting to make it professional it gave two most imporant tips.
- Use the lyrics but try not to be too literal
- Most importantly - go with the emotion of the lyrics.

Marketing an image; Comparison Lady Gaga vs Adele

In the music industry Artists are marketed in a variety of different ways depending in which image in more suitable for their reputation as an artist. The difference is evident between the artists Lady Gaga and Adele, more specifically there music video's Bad Romance(Lady Gaga) and Someone like you(Adele).




Lady Gaga's music video bad romance gives an impression of an hedonist lifestyle as it displays a party atmosphere and sexual references. The male figures in the video at the beginning are shown sexually as they look attractive and are topless, they also seem to have been presented as some sort of sex toys, this is because Lady Gaga is sat on a throne like a queen in a position of power whilst a number of men are positioned behind her. The women in the video are also sexually presented due to there clothing as there legs and thighs are visible. The lyrics in the video correspond with the video as they are very explicit as Lady Gaga says things such as ''I want your disease'' and ''I want your loving''. In addition to this the video portrays Lady Gaga in a unique and supernatural way due to the use of costumes and acting.

 

In comparison to Adele's music video- Someone like you there are a number of differences as she is marketed in a different image to Lady Gaga. Adele's image is more suitable for her, she wont be as effective as an artist if she was presented like Lady Gaga. This is because Adele is a much larger figure whereas Lady Gaga is a more thin with a sexy figure which many other teenage girls would want to immature. On the other hand women/teenage girls are able to verbally relate to this single 'Someone like you' by Adele as many if not every girl has been heart broken before which this song echo's. This portrays Adele as an 'ordinary girl' unlike Lady Gaga who is marketed as a supernatural person. Across Adele's work her song tempo are very much slow and soothing which displays a calm and gentle vibe whereas Lady Gaga displays a wild and hedonic image as her songs very bubbly and dance orientated.

Purpose of a music promo video part 3

Often artists/groups are sold as a brand and the music video acts as a product of the brand in the hope
that the audience will be inspired to buy into the brand. For some artists the image is of a greater    
importance than the quality of the product. The current boy band One Direction are a good
example of this, outside of the music they have also participated in charitable events in order to be
more appealing and gain a positive image which will attractive people and increase their fan base. 

Other times it is the song and the meaning of the song that is sold, and the artist image has little to do
with the sale of the song. Chris is a good example for this as even though he has a bad history including
the assault on the female artist Rihanna. Due to this people can easily judge and decide not to listen to
his music because of his negative image, this is not the case as Chris Brown produces entertaining
music and engaging videos and because of this people buy this albums and listen to his music which is
why he receives thousands of views on the lights of YouTube.

Purpose of a music promo video part 2

In addition to part 1 of purpose of a music promo video producers like to make a music video along with  the concept of the single in order to raise the audiences awareness or profile of the artists/ group. Another reason why artists make music videos is not just to sell there own records but to also advertise and sell products. This is evident in the Britney Spears video 'Circus' as the video promote a perfume. This could also be beneficial for the artist as women/young girls in particular would want to watch the video to see which perfume Britney Spears is using so that they can imitate by getting the same one. This will also help the producers of the perfume make money as it will be another way of them advertising there product, this will more likely be more effective beacuse it is done by a well known worldwide artist.



Some music video's tend to become memorable by the audience not neccessarily beacuse of the music but beacuse of the ideas behind it. This can be shown in the video 'Ok go' by White knucklers. This is n example of memerable music video because it is based around dogs doing funny and well rehesered tricks which is all done in one tacke, so when the word 'dogs' is mentioned or brough up in a conversation this music video will come to thought.



Another example of a memerable music video is 'Born this way' by Lady Gaga. This is beacuse the video is almost like a mini film as it tells a story in the begining with a long into. The prodcers/artsist will make money from doing this beacuse people will want to buy the music video beacuse of the video rather than the music on iTunes beacuse its is long, intresting and entertaining to watch.



Synergy

Synergy is an effective way which producers use to conbine an artist music to a film or tv programme. This works to the mutual benefits of both film/Tv programmes and the music. This is evident in the Jame Bond film 'Skyfall' as the theme song was by Adele which was called 'At the Skyfall', this single won best song osar and just marginally failed to reach the number 1 place in the UK charts. This success was brough ablout beacuse of the film as when people went to see the film the were influenced by the catchy theme song which then led them on to downloading the music or purchasing CD's. This success also worked the other way song contributed in the success of the film as the musci video was played on serval music channels on TV meaning a large amount of people would see it. Exciting glimpse of the film could be seen which posed as an advertising tool beacuse it motivated people to go and watch the film due to the action and adventure footages.



There is a number of ways to measure the success of a music video;
- By word of month. In conversations about a particular song people will often rate and disaplay theire opinion on the music
- Number of hits on YouTiube. Music videos with thosands of views are evidently the best ones as is is more popular worldwide and favourited. The most viewed music video up to date is the single 'Gangnam style' by PSY as it has a record of over 1.5billion views.



- Newspapers articles / TV reports. The most popular and well known songs will be on these.
- How many times shown on televison. The most popluar music videos will be shown on a numbe of channels as they will be on also of the charts.
- Download(legal/Illegal). People will only want the songs which are the most appealing.
- Charts position. Top position songs are will be the most rated in that current time
-CD sales. The more expensive CD's are expensive for a reason, beacuse the song(s) on it are highly rated.

Purpose of a music promo video

Artists tend to use music promo videos for a number of reasons. Such as to get there music out to the public in order to gain fans and a reputation of being a good artist. They also use this to extend there income as many viewers may be engaged by the music video if this is the case then it will persuade them to listen to the music more often and even by the single if is available on CD. In addition to this it also an extension of outlets and makes finding the artists music more diverse as it will be accessible on music channels, or direct DVD or CD, websites such as YouTube and also site where users can downland such a iTunes.

Producers also tend to use synergy to combine films, Tv programmes with the artists music video. This is the idea were producers will try to link a song with a film in order to create a sort of energy around both so that they can attract/ persuade the audience to go and see the film because they have seen it in a good music video. This is evidentual in the music video 'I do it for you' by Bryan Adams.

Music videos can also be seen to be a producers stratergy whether it is via a major label, independent or artists self produced. Music videos have been proven to progress form nothing into something. This can be seen in the current artist Justin Bieber who started of as a self producing artist  as he simply use to upload music videos on to YouTube without being signed to a major record label or anything. This resulted in him beeing signed into a major record label as a signed artist spotted him on Youtube and like his music. After being signed he released his first single 'One Time' which became number 1 in the UK charts at one piont.



Music video funtion affectively in a number of ways
- They draw attention to the music
- They illustarte the song
- Appeals to the visual audience
- Tell a story, this funtion can be seen in the artist Coldplay music video called 'The Scientist' as it tells a story backwards from a acar crash which happened in the begining.


- Markets an image, for an example the arist Miley Cyrus, the way she portrays her self in her more current music video's is different from the old videos. She does this in order to show that she is no longer a child therefore she potrays her self very sexually with a new look as she now shows oof her tattoos and new hair style in order to echo this transistion she want to demontrate from a girl into a women. Below you will see one of her old music videos followed by one of her most recent.



You can immediatly see the difference in apperance and attitude via these music videos which music videos can do.

Andrew Goodwin's Key Features Part 2

Andrew Goodwin in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (1992) has identified the following features of music videos

Andrew Goodwin says that an artist may also develop motifs which recur across there work. This is evidently true as in many of Michael Jackson's music videos he wears a silver glove on his left hand. This became a trademark of himself as an artists as when fan hear about the glove or see the glove they immediately know that it is Michael Jackson. This can be seen in many of his music video's and on live performances.

Andrew Goodwin also identifies the aspect of there being a frequent reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescope etc). Goodwin is correct about this as we can see this in Outcast's single 'Hey Ya'. There is also a comic persona to this music video as the artists makes fun of the typical girl backing singers actions by imitating them.  



In addition to this Goodwin says we get a voyeuristic treatment of the female body. The camera is often used in a male's point of view as it examines a women's sexual body parts. This is highly common in the current music and is mostly displayed in the rap genre than any other as many rap male artists tend to have multiple numbers of loosely clothed women sexually dancing or just in the background of the video like some sort of decoration. This is act can be seen in the rap artist Nelly video called 'Hot In Here'. The women are sexually displayed in this music video to the fact that one could even mistake it as being pornography.



Goodwin furthermore identity's intertextual references that are made in curtain videos. Some are more obvious that others depending on the individuals taste in music and humour as they may not understand curtain references in a particular music genre if they don't listen to that curtain style of music at all. Goodwin is correct in this aspect as we can see so in The Wanted's music video 'Walks Like Rihanna'. For an example if your into boy bands and know your band music then you will be able to identify the different imitations being made in this music video, but if not you would find it harder to understand.



In the music video about you can find intertexual references to bands such as Insync, Westlife and even Take That's dancing in there old music video 'Back for good', this video imitates the individual artists in Take That looks and even the black and white setting.

Analyse by Andrew Goodwin; Key features

Andrew Goodwin in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (1992) has identified the following features of music videos

Music videos demonstrate genre characterise's (e.g. Stage performance in metal video , dance video routines for boy/girl band)

These feature identified by Goodwin are evidently correct as their are a number of bands and artists which demonstrates this. Heavy mental do tend to have the bands performing in their music video, this can be seen in the group Rage Against The Machine music video called 'Killing in the name of'.

This video is typical of all heavy metal video as it is performance based and consists of individuals in the band with long hair, tattoos and loose/none clothing.



Music videos also demonstrate the charactertic of having dance routines from boy bands. This is evident in the current boy band JLS in one of their single called 'One Shot'.


As you can see in this video each individual artist is dressed differently with a unique look. This is done in order to appeal to a more variety of females as each girl has a different persona to men. The close-ups in the video are also effectively used to show off the artists looks, the use of editing contruibutes in the act of increasing fan members.

Girl bands also tend to have dance routines in their music videos as well as boys. This can be seen in one of the Girls Aloud music video called Sound of the underground



In addition to this some routines were coriagraphed as so in order to sell more records. This is evident in the Spice Girls's single called If you wanna be my lover. This is beacuse young girls at the time when this classic single was relased many of them would immertate some of these dance move routines in school discos or sleepovers. Simply beacuse of this muscic video the artist's tracksuit bottoms also became a popular item of clothing amougst young girls as every girl and friends got these joggers in order to mirror the Spice Girls.

Dance routines can signifcantly contribute in the success of a music video. The important of this can be seen in the current single by PSY called Gangnam Style. This music video achieved record blowing views of over 1billion worldwide on YouTube and number 1 spot in the Top UK Charts even though the lyrics are Korean, this achievement was significantly because of the dance routine which is reconisable worlwide.



Andrew Goodwin also idenfifies a relationshop between lyrics and visuals (either illustrate, amlif ying, contradicting).

A relationship between lyrics and visual can be seen to illustrate something in the music video 'Beat It' by Michale Jackson as the visual aspects illustrates an act of gangwarfare whilst the lyrics is also on the same subject on gangwarfare as the summary of the lyrics is seprating the warfare.



This relationship can also be seen in the Spice Girls music video 'If you wanna be my lover' as one of the girls in the video kisses a boy but then immediatley walks away to her girl-friends, this act illustrates her firends superiority which corresponds to the lyrics as it is a song about the importance of friendship

.

On the other Andrew Goodwin also mentions the relationship between lyrics and visuals condracdicting. This act in a music video is rear to find as the whole piont of a music video is to tell some sort of story of some how relate with the lyrics in order let the audience know what the song is about.

Andrew Goodwin also identifies a relationship between the music and visual which i agree to, to some extend. The 'music' is refferation to the beat/instrumental in the video, if the music is fast the editing will correspond to it likewise if the beat was slow.

Andrew Goodwin can be proven to be wrong on this as the editing to the music video 'Beat it' by Micael Jackson was the case as the editing was very static due to the limited rage of shots whilst the music was very vibrant.

On the other hand Andrew Goodwin can be seen to also be right as in another music video by Michael Jackson called Scream the rapid music matched with the editing as the shots were constanting switching and in motion.

A Brief history of the pop video/pop music

In the 50's America dominated the pop industry as many of the top artists such as Elvis highly successful as were known worldwide. But due to copyrights the BBC was only allowed to play a few hours a week where they played well known artists music such as The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, these hours a week were called needle time. This consisted of series such as 'Top Of Pops' where pops most rated songs where played in ranking order from the best to the not so good. The rest of time outside of needle time were knockoffs of songs performed by other artists instead of the original producer.

Suddenly in Britain pritate radio stations came about due ton the success of Needle time in America. Because of this a location outside of the illegal borders was a radio station were the copyright declaration was violated as a number of artists music were played via this station without any expectancy from the music producers.

The boy band The Beatles had problems performing live on tour because of the level of voice the crowd were producing making it very hard to her any of the lyrics being sung. Because of this The Beatles came up with a method which brought about a new evolution in pop whereby fans can see artists perform and artists are able to get there records out to the public without the hazel of going on tour. The Beatles done this by producing short films of the records to their fans, there first records they produced via this method was 'Paperback Writer' and 'Rain'. This brought about the birth of pop videos which is still in use up till today and will so in many more years to come as it has become so successful in attracting and pleasing fans.

Idea for music video; Failure

After deciding which the track we wanted to use to make our music video on a number of ideas occoured to me in the editing aspect in order to make the video more engaging and original. My inital plan of action consisted of a band performance with a led singer, a drumer and someone playing the piano, just doing this i felt would make it plain and lack orgianity as may other music videos are consist if this. To make it more intresting i thought about having the same person playing the drums, piano and also the lead singer in the video, so when filming it will look like mulitple numbers of the same person is doing all three at once, i thought this could look really effective and different from other A2 past music videos ive watched, i got this idea from ther artist Outcast's music video called 'Hey Ya'. Due to the lack of avability of resources in order to do with we will most likely not use our Option 2 track.



Unfortunately I later on discovered that this idea could not be applied due to the lack of faciliates as it would be very hard to achieve effectivly using editing programmes, the best way to go about doing this was to use a green screen which the school does not have access to.

Track And Lyrics

So here I am

doing everything I can

holding on to what I am

pretending I'm a superman

I'm trying to keep

the ground on my feet

it seems the world's

falling down around me

The nights are all long

I'm singing this song

to try and make the answers

more than maybe

And I'm so confused

about what to do

sometimes I want

to throw it all away

So here I am

growing older all the time

looking older all the time

feeling younger in my mind

And here I am

doing everything I can

holding on to what I am

pretending I'm a superman

I'm trying to sleep

I lost count of the sheep

my mind is racing faster

every minute

What could I do more

yeah I'm really not sure

I know I'm running circles

but I can't quit

And I'm so confused

about what to do

sometimes I want

to throw it all away

Controlling everything in sight

I'm feeling weak

I don't feel right

you're telling me

I have to change

telling me to act my age

but if all that I can do

 is just sit and watch time go

then I'll have to say good-bye

life's too short to watch it fly

to watch it fly

So here I am

growing older all the time

looking older all the time

feeling younger in my mind

And here I am

doing everything I can

holding on to what I am

pretending I'm a superman