1st draft of music advert by William Wise

Our Media Project- William Wise

For our media project, we chose the song House of fun by Madness. We chose this song as it is light-hearted and we wanted to go for a comical approach. We first had to plan the music video, this was done by creating storyboards and then scanning them onto the blog which we have done. Once all the planning was up to satisfactory, we went out filming.

During filming we had our ups and downs. Sometimes there was conflict in deciding what should be done. I decided to be the leader of the group and made the big decisions on what should be done. The group responded positively and so we worked very hard to try and achieve an excellent music video, this involved filming not only weekdays but weekends as well. Mise - en- scene helped us to give the music video a comical approach. We used bright and weird clothing to achieve this. For example a party hat, sunglasses, a purple suit jacket and other vibrant clothes.

For the media project i decided to be the cinematographer. I tried to be creative and professional with the type of camera shots i chose. One of the shots which i felt was creative was the point of view shot through the sunglasses looking at the book, this took a while to achieve the right shot but in the end i think it payed off. I used a variety of camera shots to really emphasise my camera skills and to show that i am capable of achieving this

Analysis of the Vixens Digipak- William Wise

The Vixens Digipak shows typical conventions associated in a digipak. They have shown pictures of the artists and making them look presentable. They have used big bold and colorful titles to give the digipak a professional and vibrant look. The digipak shows the track-list and the bar code as well. The representation of the group shows them as glamourous, successful and professional. This can be seen by the bright and sparkly clothes they are wearing and the make up. The digipak has a number of strengths as it looks professional due to the visual effects. They showed most conventions associated in a digipak. They also showed the names of the artists in their ow unique style, this is good as it personalizes each character.

Example of Digipaks

Digipak Research

View more presentations from Pieter Jollans.

These are examples of other digipaks in a presentation. It shows various digipaks associated with well known artists such as Eminem and his digipak which shows the typical conventions associated in a digipak such as visual imagery of himself. For example he has a picture of his tattoo and various other pictures, this helps the audience to connect with him and to understand more about his personal life. The digipak also shows lyrics of one of his songs and the track list specific to the CD which is also inside the digipak. I managed to the slideshow of digipaks on a website called http://www.slideshare.net/Pieter1933/digipak-research-3344503

Example of a Digipak- William Wise

The conventions of this digipak shows the artists dominance in the picture. The digipak shows various pictures of the artist. The digipak shows the tracklist, it also has special designs on the digipak to make it look more professional and presentable. The writing on the digipak is professional and gives the digipak a colourful and vibrant feel to it. The digipak shows the lyrics of one of the songs. The Digipak also had the CD inside for the buyer to listen to.

Conventions Of A Digipack- William Wise

Conventions of a digipack
For the first of our ancillary texts we have decided to construct a digipack. The modern digipack is a variation on the traditional plastic CD case for album, it usually consists of a folding cardboard sheet with a certain number of flaps and storage compartments. The CD either stored on a plastic back or a carboard sleave which is very similar to the classic carboard sleaving for vinyl. Not all of the images included in my research are from digipacks, but represent the way that album art is presented in general.

For a description of some types of digipack see: http://www.mediaheaven.co.uk/digipak.htm (hyperlink option broken)

The digipack (or traditional CD case) is just as important promotional tool for the artist as a music video or any other form of advertising. The artwork needs to be able to stand out from the crowd, while at the same time it has to relate to the music or artist. From looking at a range of album covers and digipacks I have managed to piece together a set of common conventions which are present, these are by no means definitive but seem to represent this form of media text.

•Genre Characteristics
•Artwork reflecting the main themes of the album or artist
•Images of the artist (or their iconography)
•Intertextual references
•A consistent design aesthetic
•Information about the product

There is obviously a great detail of variety in the application of these conventions, this is essential to allow an album to stand out from the crowd. For most texts one convention or a combination of few will provide a unique selling point.

Letter to our Record label

Stiff Records Ltd
The Blue Building, 8-10 Basing Street
London W11 1ET, United Kingdom

Dear Stiff Records

I am writing a letter to you, to ask for the permission to use one of your artist’s songs in our own production, for our A level media coursework. The song is The House of Fun by The Madness. We really appreciate it if we could hear from you soon.


Yours sincerely

William Wise

Mornington Rd
Woodford Green
Essex IG8 0TP

Pitch

In the end we didn't use this idea as it lacked narrative and our feedback was quite negative. The feedback received in our group felt that we lacked creativity and that we didn't plan thoroughly enough, as the music video was based around 4 monkeys running around in different places. We decided to change our music video to House of fun by Madness as we have a better narrative and fits our idea well. The previous song we were going to do didn't have a music video as well, this made it difficult for us to think of a music video, whilst House of fun by Madness had a music video which gave us a couple of ideas o what to do and to help us follow the style they achieved in their music video.

Target Audience

Our target audience is to the younger generation. We wanted to show the pressure that younger kids have on their appearance and to be popular. In this case our protagonist becomes something he's not. No on turns up to his party so he assumes he is too young for his age and that he needs to grow up. He then leaves his house and begins to mature and grow up. When he arrives back at his party everyone is still young and childish. He then realizes that he is trying to be something his not and enjoys his party with his friends. This music video could also appeal to an older audience as no matter what age you are you can still be childish and enjoy yourself.

Research into our band

Madness are a British pop/ska band from Camden Town, London, which formed in 1976. The band continue to perform with their most recognised lineup of seven members, although their lineup has varied slightly over the years. They were one of the most prominent bands of the late-1970s 2 Tone ska revival.
Madness achieved most of their success in the early to mid 1980s. Both Madness and UB40 spent 214 weeks on the UK singles charts over the course of the decade, holding the record for most weeks spent by a group in the 1980s UK singles charts. However, Madness achieved this in a shorter time period (1980–1986).


The album House of fun was released in April 30th 1982. Their label is Stiff Records.

The song was originally recorded under the title "Chemist Facade", without the "Welcome to the House of Fun" chorus. However, while the song was being recorded, head of Stiff Records Dave Robinson demanded that the band add a chorus, to ensure the song was a hit. Upon hearing this, band member Mike Barson immediately wrote the "Welcome to the House of Fun" refrain on his piano.
However, at this point, the song was already recorded, and the management decided not to re-record the whole song. Instead, the recording was edited, and the chorus instruments and vocals dubbed onto the recording. This proved to be difficult, mainly due to technical limitations at the time, and it resulted in the first part of the word "Welcome" being cut off. Due to this, the chorus seemed to begin "Elcome to the House of Fun", so lead singer Suggs was forced to overdub the word "Welcome". Although this proved to be a tough task, it was completed successfully.

Shaggy- It Wasn't Me- William Wise

"It Wasn't Me" is a 2000 number one hit song by reggae artist Shaggy, featuring Ricardo "RikRok" Ducent. It achieved a huge success in many countries, topping the charts in the U.S., France, UK, the Netherlands, Austria, Australia and Ireland.

The video starts out with Rik Rok running to Shaggy's mansion to explain to him what just happened to him. Rik Rok tells him that he cheated on his girlfriend and got caught. Shaggy tells him to tell her that "it wasn't me." The video then cuts into a flashback to earlier that day. Rik Rok had been caught sleeping with another woman, and his girlfriend was outside the apartment in her convertible when two women pull up next to her on their motorcycles. The three women go into the building and Rik Rok sneaks out the window, takes one of the motorcycles and leaves. The women come out and the girlfriend and one of the friends get in the convertible and the other women got on her motorcycle and chase after him. Rik Rok gets on a bridge over the highway when the friend rides on the bridge in front of him. He then hits the brakes to stop while she stops her motorcycle. Rik Rok then hears a noise behind him and it's the other friends and the girlfriend driving the convertible on the other side of the bridge. On the highway below, an 18-wheeler drives by and Shaggy leaves him a text message telling him to look behind him. He notices the truck and jumps off the side of overhead and lands on the truck. He is then dropped off at Shaggy's mansion, showing the same scene from the start of the video.

Eminem-Sing for the Moment- William Wise

"Sing for the Moment" is a hip hop song by American rapper Eminem from the album The Eminem Show, released in 2002. It was released as a music single in 2003. Sing for the Moment" deals with the themes of rap music's effect on society and the misunderstanding Eminem claims critics and parents have towards his message. Eminem uses the song to refute critics who have accused him of promoting violence to young people, saying that committing a crime is ultimately up to the offender. He also explains that his music has an advantage to young people, claiming that his music is a relief from boredom and depression. The song reached #14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, #6 on the UK Singles Chart, and #5 on the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart.

A music video for "Sing for the Moment" was made and released in 2003. It consists of a collage created with various clips, including shots from the Anger Management Tour. It also contains cameos appearances by various fellow rappers, including Dr. Dre, D12, 50 Cent and Ludacris. The video is very similar to the 50 Cent music video "If I Can't".

Sing for the moment consists of lip synching and live performance. The video also features the artist throughout the music video. It also features the audience in one of Eminems live performance. The video follows typical conventions as lip synching is used, live performance and a small narrative. There are various shots which shows woman being objectified as well.

Pitch-Song choice and Artist Background

Song title/band: "House of Fun" by Madness

Genre/Style: Ska/Pop

Band Members:
Graham "Suggs" McPherson
Mike Barson
Lee Thompson
Chris Foreman
Mark Bedford
Daniel Woodgate
Carl Smyth

Record labels: Stiff, Virgin, Lucky 7 Records

Years together: 1976–present (on and off)

Song Released in 1982 and was their only number 1 UK hit.

We decided to change our idea from The Monkees (see below), as we felt that our idea was not specific, would cost a lot and the performance side of it would be too hard whilst wearing the suits. And whilst the song fitted in with the Monkey suit idea, we decided to do "House Of Fun" instead without the Monkey suits and with the idea stated above.

Original Idea
Song/ Artist- Hey Hey, We're the monkees (theme from the monkees) By The Monkees
Target Audience- Teenage girls
genre/Style-Bubblegum Pop (which was targeted at a teenage girl audience between 1967-77)

Our idea was to go around in Monkey suites doing different things and creating a narrative through the lyrics of the song, as well as incorporating performance.

The history of the music video- William Wise

Many musical artists made their careers a success by using music videos. As an important part of the music industry, music videos not only showcase an artist's singing talent, but also how they perform. The history of music videos shows how the use of the videos transformed the music industry.

Premiering in 1974, the Australian TV show 'Countdown' played an important role in the development of the music video industry. Music video clips were used as a method of promoting acts that were to appear on the show. As the popularity of the video clips grew, the music industry began to realize the marketing potential of these music clips. One of the most notable video clips features was the AC/DC hit, "It's A Long Way to the Top." During the 1980s, 'Countdown' aired in 22 countries.

In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV was launched and it began the age of 24-hour music television. They launched the channel with the video, "Video Killed the Radio Star." Throughout the 1980s, MTV expanded to become an important tool used in music marketing. Singers like Madonna not only used music videos to promote their albums, but to create their images. In 1983, the almost 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson's song "Gay," was released. It became the world's most successful and influential video in music video history.

In 1988, the MTV show, Yo! MTV Raps was launched. The show helped to bring hip hop music to a nation wide audience. Two of the videos that are most famous for being two of the three most expensive music videos of all time are Michael and Janet Jackson's "Scream," which cost $7 million to produce, and Madonna's "Bedtime Story," which cost $5 million. "Scream" is still the most expensive video ever made.

No More Mr Nice Guy - Alice Cooper

Evaluation Questions for practice music video- William Wise

1.)Identify the task as well as the song/artist

1.) The task was to make a music video based on the track we were given. For our group we were given No more Mr nice guy by Alice Cooper.

2.) How have you used digital technology during the construction of your video?

2.) We used digital technology during the construction of the video as we used a video camera to film the whole production, once we had finished our production we used Apple Macs to upload and edit the production.

3.) Discuss the planning stage of your production and the steps that you went through

3.) We planned by creating a storyboard which contained a list of shots and a story line for our music video. We also researched other music videos of the same genre to see what type of codes and conventions they used, and to see what feel of style we needed to use. We researched the artist on Youtube but unfortunately there was no music videos just live shows, but Alice Cooper gave us the attitude we needed for the music video.

4) How did your research into music videos contribute to the development of your own production?

4.) When we looked at other AS music videos this helped us as we realized we had to base our music video on a story. We also looked at lip synching and fitting the music in time with the production.

5.) What do you think are the main strengths/weaknesses in your production? consider your audience feedback.

5.) The main strengths for our production was the type of camera shots we used as they looked professional and unique. There was a nice structure for the music video and the length of the clips were good. Some of the shots looked realistic. For example when the victim was running towards the door. Our weaknesses was we should have a made a better ending as the bullies should have put up more of a fight and the pushing should have been more realistic. The lip synching didn't work as expected as it was not in time and we was not in time with each other. We should not have filmed on the webcam as well as it looked poor and didn't fit the story line.

Published by William Wise