I used YouTube to watch other music videos and get other ideas, I also used youtube to watch my very own chosen song for my music video which is This woman's work by Maxwell.
Video Camera
I used a video camera to video my music video from school, I enjoyed recording.
Prezi
I used Prezi to create presentations for music video interests and I also used it for my evaluation Question 2, This wass a fun way to create a presentation.
Google
I used Google to get information on soul music and information on ideas. Google allowed me to find out when my chosen song came out and the information on the record company.
Survey Monkey
Survey allowed me to create surveys to give to people so that I can find out what the majority of people listen to. Also the survey allowed me to ask people what they expect to see in a soul music video.
Blogger
I use my blog to post research and planning for my music video and images and ideas. I always update my blog to post videos and my survey.
Photoshop
I use Photoshop to edit and add special effects for my magazine cover and Digipak. This allowed me to make my magazine cover and Digipak professional.
Adobe premiere pro
I used adobe premiere pro to edit to my music video, this also allowed me to add special effects and add transitions to smoothen out my music video.
The feedback I got was mostly was positive feedback, they understood the storyline which is really important. Most people said they understood that the artist is the little boy. They also mentioned that they could see the meaning and message throughout the music video. They understood that the mother developed cancer after a load of struggles and the artist was coming to terms with it by singing this woman’s work. A lot of people mentioned that we had good actors which made it look more realistic.
I was also told that my music video conforms with the convention of soul music because soul music is supposed to touch people’s heart and emotion and my music video did exactly that. Soul music is about having feeling and showing emotion, the pace of this song already showed the feelings of the artist and it should be able to touch other people’s souls. Overall the music video was good and a lot of our feedbacks said the music video is very sad and people found it very emotional.
The negative feedback
However some people has also said that to make it conform more to the convention of soul music because it could of have pictures flashing and the mother should of show more emotion towards her son to show she loves her son.
My chosen song for my music video is ‘this woman works by Maxwell’, and the genre of my music video is soul,to an extent I have conformed to the conventions of soul music within my music video; however I have included some subversion to give my audience something different.
My first frame is in black and white which is showing the mother walking into the hospital; just about to find out she’s got cancer. The reason why it’s in black and white is because It is a flashback, the artist it looking back at the past. Black and white is used t show emotion, dull and simplicity. This conforms to the convention of soul music video’s being in black and white. Another music video example is ordinary people by John Legend, this shows different people’s lives and the troubles they face, it was also filmed in black and white to express the artist emotions and make a viewer feel sad. Soul music is usually in either in black and white or sepia to show the passing of time. The mother is wearing a long cardigan, jeans and a hang bag to show how a typical mother from a lower class background may dress. The location represents struggle, danger and sickness because it’s a hospital and usually a viewer will automatically assume that there is something wrong if they saw the mother walking in a hospital department with her head facing down. This frame also helps you to easily identify that it’s a soul music video, the pace of the music video is very slow so for this frame I made sure I made the mother walking in slow motion so that it could match with music pace.
Example of soul music video, ordinary people by John Legend
I also choose to subvert to the convention of soul music by focusing on the mother’s and son relationship rather than it being about a typical man and woman relationship. Mainly soul music video now is mainly about relationship issues and the artist is usually expressing their love for someone. An example for this is the song ‘I can’t make you love me’ by Tank
Another good example of a music video that also shows the passing of time is ‘like you never see me again’ by Alicia keys
My second frame is an ultrasound of the artist when he was born; I chose this frame because this shows the beginning of his past going back to the day he was born. This frame is very symbolic because it allows the viewers to understand that the music video is based on the start of the artist and his mother’s relationship. This frame was used in slow motion so it could match with the songs pace.
My third frame is of the artist singing, this is an important frame because it shows the artist singing behind a white wall. The white wall symbolises the emptiness and loneliness the artist feels for the loss of his mother. The artist is dressed in casual clothing and he is also wearing a hat. This shows the realism and the fact that he is dressed in casual clothing shows thee every day feeling he feels for his mother. As you can see in this frame it also shows a light shining on the artist, the reason for this is to remind the viewer that he’s the artist. In my music video I wanted to sell out the artist as well as sending a message.
My fourth frame is the mother in heaven; she is wearing a white dress. The white dress symbolises that she is in a peaceful place and she has become an angel. I chose to make this frame very bright by using the special effects on adobe premiere pro so the viewer can know that mother has passed away and she’s in a much better place. This frame is shown in slow motion to express emotion, when the mother is smiling it reflects how relaxed she is, the other frames are dull and dark indicating the stress and struggles she faced in her life. Furthermore this frame been shown brighter and she looks more healthy and happy suggesting that in heaven she’s happy with god. This also supports the convention of soul music being religious by creating a heaven scene.
My fifth frame is the artist of when he was little young boy, he’s looking down with his face down looking upset. I chose not to add any effects to this frame because the frame was perfect enough. The little boy is in a basket ball court and you can see the green court behind him, this shows his frustration and the basket ball court creates an image of him being trapped within his thoughts, almost implying that he can’t escape away from his life being a struggle. The little boy is dressed in an orange hoodie and black trousers, this costume states that the boy is a typical little boy from a lower class background by wearing a hoodie; it’s a stereotype of how a young little black boy from a lower class background should look.
My sixth frame is an image of the a sign saying ‘ Cancer Outpatient, Oncology Outpatient’ this is when the mothers finds out she’s got cancer and by letting the viewers realise this, we wanted to show the department name from when the mother is walking towards it. This easily allows the viewers to understand what’s happening and why is she in hospital; I wanted to make my music video as clear as possible. The colour in this frame is very dull and depressing because it shows how exactly the mother is feeling having to face this sad news.
My seventh frame is a shadow of the mother’s hand asking for help from god by having her hands together. This shadow doesn’t show her face just her arms; this is because I wanted to touch other viewers that may be going through the same thing. The fact that the shadow didn’t also shows her face suggests that anyone can have cancer and feel like they have nobody to turn to a part from god.
My eighth frame is of the mother behind a white wall expressing her feelings through dancing. The white is also the same wall the artist is singing behind, which shows how close they could have been if she was still alive. The mother is dressed in a white top with a black cardigan and jeans; this frame is meant to show her in her dreams which states that the only time she can express her emotion is when she’s sleeping. This crack on the wall also shows that her life isn’t perfect because if it was then the wall would have been very clean and not damaged. The cracks show the damages in her life, she’s not happy and she gives up with her life.
My ninth frame is a picture of Jesus with candles around it and a little letter saying ‘Mum’ this lets the viewers know that the mother has passed away. This frame was used to show a memorial remembrance of the mother. I uses adobe premiere pro to adjust he light because when you see candles and religion, it’s always shown in the light. This frame also conforms to the convention of soul music because the music video goes back to Christianity with the crosses and the pictures of Jesus. Soul music is a combination of R&B and gospel, soul differentiates from R&B due to soul music use of gospel-music’s use of gospel-music devices, its greater emphasis on vocalist and its merging of religious and secular themes.
This is my music video digipak and my chosen song is called This Woman Works By Maxwell. Above is my storyboard of how I imagine how my digipak is going to look like, whilst creating my digipak i have made some changes on the way. These are some of the reasons why I have made some cetain changes.
Frame 1
This is my front cover and I have chosed to put the artist name at the very top with the Artist place in the middle, this is because you can easily identify the artist. The whole idea of it was to show the simplicity of soul music and how it suits with my song choice which is calming, slow and emotional. I wanted the artist to have a afro just like Maxwell because the afro symbolise its natural simplicity, the natural feelings that soul music express. however due to the struggles of finding an artist with an afro, I used the artist that I filmed with to be shown on the front cover so it fits in with the music video. I have also chose to you use two colours for my digipak which are gold and black. I chosed these two colours because gold symbolises strengh and power, this fit in perfectley with my genre, my music video is about a sing mother trying to be strong in a difficult situation. Black symbolises the deep thoughts the artist expresses throughout the music video about his mother.
Frame 2
This frame is one shot of the mother with her hands out to show her expressing her emotions and giving up with life. In the music video, the mother kills herself when she finds out shes got cancer and is struggling to pay her bills and just automatically gives up in life. This shot also hints out what the mother is going to do and it makes a viewer remember the song and appeal to people that can also relate. The background of this frame is gold to show then strengh she needs. I thought this frame looked very plain so I decided to use one of the establishing shot of the estates where the mother and her son is living to show that they are from a lowerclass background.
Frame 3
This frame is one shot of the son upset and fustrated, I used this specific shot because it was one of the best shots I filmed and I wanted to show the son by himself because he is the main important character and the son is the artist when he has grown up. I wanted to show the shot of when the son was given the chain by his mother and him putting it on. The reason for this is the chain shows the artist wearing it clearly stating that hes the was the little boy. Unfortunately this shot didn't look clear enough on photoshop so I decided to use the shot when he's upset showing you his emotions. I chose to stick with the colours and make it bright so it doesn't look boring and the same as the other frames.
Frame 4
This frame I wanted to show the characters that are in my music video so that as a viewer I would have some idea of what the music video may be about. This frame is very simple I wanted to use two silhouette of the son and mother, to show a mother and son relationship. After playing with the effects with the image and changing it to a silhouette I decided to change my mind, instead of using a silhouette I came across another good shot of the mother in a white dress. This was from the heaven scene to show after her death as if she was in heaven, this was to show how the artist pictured his mother in his head. This image had a nice background of her in a garden with flowers on the side and her smiling, I made it brighter and a bit faded so it looked as if she was an angel up in heaven or in somones dreams.
Frame 5
This frame was for the CD, I came up with an idea of creating a CD template and writing words in it that has to do with the music video. That was my first option then I changed it to another graffiti shot of when the mother was walking past it in the music video. My teacher also mentioned how the graffiti is a good shot to put in because it looked and cool and fitted in. It also expresses the issues with the strong colours. I didn't want this shot to go to waste and I think it made a good frame for the CD.
Frame 6
This frame is my back cover and I wanted to show a silhouette of the mother's hand praying, i wanted to use this show because the theme of soul is to do with religion and this shows that the mother is praying for help and has faith in god. This compliments with the theme and how deep and emotional the music video is. However I realised when using one of the shots of the son and mother together, the silhouette didn't look the way I pictured it on photoshop therefore i decided to use a better shot of the mother walking past a graffiti which aid life is to short. I also made the back cover in black and white becasue it showed the passing of time, before she died and the struggles the mother was going through message on the graffiti helped a lot becasue it almost sends the viewer a message and teaches you no matter what your going pain your going in families, life to short to be waste time being stress and forgetting how to love people. This is why I thought it would of been a great back cover.
Digipak is a style of compact disc or DVD packaging. Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums to sell the Artist/ Artist’s music. The Digipak has a self-contained package that protects the disc from damage. It is shatter proof and allows for greater graphic display and market impact. The three section digipack sleeves opens up more design options because there is more room. However, they're more expensive than traditional liner notes and jewel cases. Digipacks can be more environmentally friendly than jewel cases because they can be made of recycled paper.
This is Maxwell’s CD cover as he didn’t have a Digipack when he released his single. (This is my artist for the music video)
This music video is an R&B song and has a storyline which is relates to my music video,throughout this music video it sends a message showing a single mother struggling to cope with her child and being around negative people. The song used a variety of shots like long shot, close up, medium shot, establishing shot. i liked how they use the close up on the mother's face to show her emotions and the state she was in. I also liked the way the artist had a different background and was separated from the stotyline because it shows that he is telling the story and that the music video is also selling out the artist. This relates to my music video because the artist this music video because the storyline quite similar, both music videos have a single parent mother who is struggling to cope. I also liked the fact that they had signs to show what scene was located at for example 'Rico Groceries' I have decided I am going to also use this in my music video, particulary at the scene where the mother has cancer, I could use the a sign at the hospital which says 'oncology' The song expresses the feeling of being alone and not letting people put you down. I chosed this music video to give me ideas of different type of shots I can use. What I really did like was the black and white which i would like to use for flashbacks in my music video. I also liked the smooth transition from the storyline to the artist. Also they had signs for a specific area to show where they are setting which was really cool and prevent confusing the viewers.
Do you think of me by Misha B
I really liked this music video; it had a good beat and energy. The storyline is about a daughter not seeing her father for a while and don’t understand why he never sees her. They also had a lot of different types of shots such as high angle, low angle, establishing shots and close ups. They used various props like a photo which I am going to also use in my music video to show the good memories of the daughter being young with her father. The setting is base in a house and the artist is singing in the basket ball court and on a roof top which makes the Artist look glamorous and important because you’re also selling out the artist.They also use flashback of the good times and the relationship the mother and son had which is also what I am going to use but in black and white to show the difference.
Beneath your beautiful by Labrinth ft Emeli Sande
This music video is very unique and didn’t have a storyline but it still appealed to me because I found the way they had one of the artist on a projector and the other artist playing the piano to show he is singing to her. The song is called beneath your beautiful and the use of having a huge projector of Emeli sande face express where the beauty is. I like the way is they made it look different from other music videos, it went well with the song. This gave me and idea for my music video by using a projector to show the good memories of the son and the mother at the background whilst the artist is singing. This will be a great shot because not only I am selling out the artist, the viewers can understand the story and show the artist relating to the story.
