TASK ONE – WHY DO ARTISTS USE MUSIC VIDEOS?
Before you start to mind-map your ideas you might want to create a quick list of different genres of music and think of specific tracks and videos that fall into various categories, as well as the various TV channels you might find them. This should help you organise your thoughts before starting your research.When mind-mapping ideas as to why music videos are made, it may help you to think of the different audiences they are appealing to.
Your mind-map doesn’t have to be very big, but it should certainly get you thinking.
Hint: If you haven't already, sign yourself up for a bubbl.us or a Spider Scribe account, both are free mindmapping websites whereby maps can be embedded into webpages!
You shouldn’t spend too long on this task – it is really a ‘starter’ to get your brain considering some of the key things that will be important throughout the project.
Don't be a mug:
Simply put...
If you have access to music channels at home then this is a good place to start, failing that the website of the music channel. If you do use YouTube then use diligence. Look at the description at the side and see if there’s a reference to it being the original video.
Hint: If you haven't already, sign yourself up for a bubbl.us or a Spider Scribe account, both are free mindmapping websites whereby maps can be embedded into webpages!
You shouldn’t spend too long on this task – it is really a ‘starter’ to get your brain considering some of the key things that will be important throughout the project.
Don't be a mug:
- The answer is not just: 'to get people to buy the song'
- Don't spend longer than half an hour doing this task!
TASK TWO – RESEARCHING music videos
A sizable proportion of time will be spent on researching Charity Adverts. This research not only informs the planning of your own charity advert but is also discussed in your Evaluation.Simply put...
- You cannot get a decent grade in your evaluation without decent research
- You will not come up with decent ideas for your own charity campaigns without decent research
First things first, where to look?
Try to watch as many different videos from as many different genres as possible. Look at videos throughout the past twenty five years (when the music video became really important), see if you can notice changes in the conventions of music videos over the years and if there have been prominent directors in the field.
...to name but a few.
However you won't find a better place than this:
The Internet Music Video Database,
In addition to these things there is also the TV show Bug - written and presented by the comedian Adam Buxton. The programme is a silly, lighhearted but genuinely affectionate look at music videos and some of the newest and most innovative directors in the business at the moment.
All of the episodes from the first series can be found on YouTube, here is the first one, finding the others shouldn't be too difficult after this...
Of course the most important element of your research is to analyse them – this will dramatically improve your understanding of how they work and what makes them interesting (and a chance for you to use all the new skills that you’ve developed this year!), this list is not exhaustive but should give you an idea of all the things to make notes about…
Once you have analysed one music video, the others will become easier. Look at:
- Conventions (typical features) of a music video.
- Genre of song – does the video match the tone and pace of the track?
- Narrative
- Mise-en-scene
- Representations - groups within the video, the band/artist and the audience.
- Does the video meet or break audience expectations?
- Target audience for the video.
All your research must be blogged.
You can hand write them first and then blog them, or put them straight online - that's up to you.
Here is the information that needs collecting...
Use this template to make notes on - and every time you see a new charity advert - write it up with the advert embedded (or linked to) your post.
Blog research with the Labels:
Your Name and Music Video Research
Click here for an example research blog.
This is essential - it proves to me that you are actually doing the research - and it means that you will never lose your research because it will always be on the blog - when you need it to complete your evaluation it will be there.
Click here to return to list of pre-production tasks.
