Vox Pops

The word Vox Pops comes from Latin 'Vox populi' meaning 'voice of the people'.
Usually the interviewees are shown in public places and are supposed to be giving put-on-the-spot-opinions. Vox Pops are often used on news programmes to show balance. Each person is asked the same questions, the aim is to get a variety of answers and opinions. Journalists are usually instructed to approach a wide range of people to get varied answers from different points of view.

Our Vox Pops will be staged. We will prepare the following questions:
-Do you watch music videos? If so where, YouTube, MTV?
-What is your favourite music video?
-What is it that you like about music videos?
-What do you think makes a good music video?

Task
Record the interviewer asking the questions straight into the camera.

Recored the interviewer asking the question to at least one person while staring deep into their eyes.






Record different people answering the questions.

100 Greatest Music Videos

Elton John 'I Want Love', 2001
-Elton John decided to not continue appearing in his music videos, Robert Downey Jr lip syncs in one continuous take. At the time, Downey was openly struggling with drug addiction.

Talking Heads 'Once In A Lifetime', 1981 

-The lead singer moves around in the video, it's been described as an abstract art piece and has been displayed as contemporary art in the MoMA. 

Sid Vicious 'My Way', 1979

-This video shows punk icon Sid Vicious performing a cover of Frank Sinatra's 'My Way' in an alternative style. Vicious is shown to be performing in front of an audience of white, middle class men. The actual video was filmed in an empty cinema in a two hour slot. The directer wanted to retain the 'punk essence' of Vicious' performance by not taking so many takes.

Johnny Cash 'Hurt'

Product Placement

The company which owns the product pays the production company of the music video to put their product within the video with an aim of advertising their product. A good example of product placement is in Avril Lavigne's What The Hell. Personally I think product placement when done so openly cheapens the video and the artist, portraying them as 'only interested in the money'.

Conventions of a music video

Similarly to my study of films in the thriller genre last year, music videos also have a set of general conventions or 'rules' that directors attempt to follow for an aethetically pleasing outcome. Some conventions can be seen to have negative connotations or be stereotypical and are usually associated with certain genres of music. In the Rap/RnB/Hip Hop genre of music, a stereotype within the video would be expecting to see scantily-clad girls, flashy cars and extravagant displays of their wealth. This is a common example of a negative convention, as most music videos of this genre could be veiwed as quite similar and therefore un-original and prehaps slightly boring.

However it's not always negative, by knowing these conventions, we can learn from them and try to avoid them when making our own music video and create a sucsessful outcome.

Music videos always include several long shots, medium shots, close ups and extra close ups. This is to emphasis the artist or band themself to help promote them. It can also be to highlight the emotions behind the song. Close ups are used to not only show emotion and facial expressions but also to reflect the words of the song with the movement of the artist lips and even their eyes. Johnny Cash's 'Hurt' is a perfect example of using camera angles to reflect emotion.

Shot length can be used to connote the meaning of the song, for example quick face paced shots create a different effect on the audience than a shot lasting more than 5 seconds.

The shots need to be chosen wisely and match the music to the shots. This can make discarding rushes you have grown attached to, difficult to ‘throw away’. Lip syncing is the most common way an artist records a video, it is rare that a video is recorded live....unless it is footage of a tour and includes teh sound of audiences and fans cheering.

The mise en scene in a music video needs to be accurate as it needs to connote the style/genre of the music. All music videos contain props depending on the genre and type of song it is, such as, if it is a performance style video, there would be instruments, and stages and lighting. Also if it was a rap video, the video would usually involve several half naked girls dancing around teh artist with a very expensive car and large house in the background. Costume depends on the lyrics of the song as well as the genre and also to what the artist is comfortable in. For example, Justin Timberlake probably wouldn’t feel comfortable strutting around in his videos wearing what Eminem would wear. The setting for music videos sets the scene immediately and many locations that are used are simple locations where many people can relate to. For Example, Hip hop music videos use quite dark colours, simple settings and there are portrayals of women to show their sexuality, which appeals to males, which means they have a narrow target audience.

Information about Copyright

Copyright is a legal concept which gives the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it. Copyright gives the holder the right to be credited for the work, to determine who may adapt the work, who may perform the work, and who may profit from it. The duration of copyright is usually the whole life of the creator plus fifty to a hundred years from the creator's death, but for corporations can be finite. Most jurisdictions recognise the limits to a copyright, and allow fair exceptions to give users certain rights. The development of digital media and computer network technologies have introduced new difficulties in enforcing copyrights.

The reason we use music from Un-Signed.com is so we do not violate the copyright of artist's work. This means we cannot use the music to make another video for the work. Artists on sites such as Un-Signed have not copyrighted their music, due to either lack of money or they want people to use their work, which can increase the profile of the band and song.

Case Study: Emil Nava

Nava began as a runner for film production companies. After, he graduated to assistant director, where he would manage the video shots. He signed to Academy, the biggest music video production company. He then worked for Between The Eyes, Now Works, and Pulse. He now freelances for OB Management. 
Nava has directed a number of advertisements, for clients such as L'Oreal, which generally have a larger budget and production values, however they do not allow for as much creative freedom as music videos.

At his busiest, Nava has made 24 music videos in a single year. When he begun shooting music videos for independent labels the budget would be as low as £5,000-£10,000. His most expensive video to date has been for Jessie J, the budget was £160,000.

Nava's first music video was for the band Kid British, and their track 'Our House'

-The budget for the video was £20,000.
-Filmed in Manchester.
-The cast involved local people.
-One day was spent filming.
-2/3 days for editing.
-10 days for pre-production.

This demonstrates the tight timescales involved when filming a music video.

My Favourite Music Video

My favourite music video is 'Dissolve Me' by Alt-J, a British, indie pop quartet formed in 2007. Their debut album An Awesome Wave was released in May 2012 in Europe. They are one of the favourites to win the 2012 Mercury Prize.

The Process

The starting process of a music video

A 'commissioner' from a record label sends a track to 5-10 directors whom each then submit a treatment (a storyboard or brainstorm of ideas). The director who has submitted the most-liked treatment is then employed to make the video.
For many directors in the industry, this can be seen as a precarious existence their livelihoods depend on these commissions.

Case Study: Jamie Thraves

Jamie Thraves is a British film writer and director.

Thraves began making early short experimental films in 1989 at Hull University, having previously studied illustration. His graduation film Scratch (1991) and The Take-Out (1993) (made under the BFI New Directors scheme) both went on to win numerous awards at short film festivals worldwide.

He joined the Royal College Of Art in 1993 where he made another award winning film, The Hackney Downs (1994). After leaving the RCA he joined Oil Factory, a music video company, making his breakthrough video for Radiohead for their song 'Just' where a man lies on the pavement and is confronted by an angry crowd, this video got Thraves a lot of attention for its strong narrative structure and use of subtitles, what the man says to make the crowd lie down at the end of the video still manages to cause great discussion amongst fans some fifteen years later. 

Thraves has continued to make music videos for such artists as The Verve, Blur and Coldplay. His video for Coldplay's 'The Scientist' won three Moon Men at the 2003 VMA's in the US, including Best Direction and Breakthrough Video.

Coldplay's 'The Scientist'

Thraves' most recent video is 'Song for Lisa' by Japanese Popstars. The video took two days to shoot and cost £20,000. Thraves has said that he used music videos as a stepping stone into the film business.

Music video success criteria

Purpose of music videos

There are many different purposes of a music video, one important factor is to promote the artist, album or single. The video could be used to change the meaning of the song, for example Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails 'Hurt' changes the meaning from a song about drug addiction to a sort of eulogy of Cash's life as he was suffering from terminal illness, similarly the video can be used to express powerful emotions as seen by Cash.

A good music video can also add value to an (otherwise rubbish or un-interesting) song that needs to be illustrated. Artists such as George Michael make a statement with songs such as 'Outside' which draw on events in the artist's life that cause controversy in the media, while other artists market their image; Madonna shows many different clothing styles in her raunchy videos.

Some artists make an artistic statement in their videos, Talking Heads 'Once In A Lifetime' was displayed in the Museum of Modern Art as an abstract art piece as it was so different to other music videos of the time.

Artists also use product placement in videos, companies pay to have their products shown in videos, to subconsciously encourage viewers to remember the video and buy the product. In Christina Aguillera's video 'Not Myself Tonight' she advertises perfume.








How might we measure the success criteria

-How many people buy the song after the video is released
-YouTube views
-Word of mouth
-Newspaper articles/ TV reports- could be positive or negative
-How many times the video is shown on TV
-Downloads- legal and illegal
-Position in charts
-CD sales

There has been a massive switch in the importance of YouTube from TV channels such as MTV. The majority of the viewing of music videos is now online.