Making The Music Video - Top Tips

Making The Video

Top Tips

In order to make a successful music video, it is mandatory that your group follow these rules and guides. By abiding by this guide, we will be on the right road to making a good and effective music video.

1. You must have lip synching

2. The performers MUST learn the song.

3. When filming play the music and sing out loud otherwise the mouth will not look realistic. 

4. Look into the camera. 

5. Sing the whole song. 

6. Film as above in different locations and from a variety of angles. 

7. Create layers on Final Cut and edit between the different layers. 

8. Do NOT use the zoom. 

9. If you need to get closer or more distance - move the camera. 

10. Use the tripod - no hand held shots.

Star Theory - Richard Dyer

Richard Dyer
Star Theory

Richard Dyer believes that artists aee made through artificial images such as advertising and films. He states that consumers prefer artists that show their "true" self and not be manipulated by businesses who tend to attempt to portray artists in a way that will ensure maximum profit and this can lead to an artists being given a whole new images. An artist that is true to themself can use this as an advantage as it would be considered to be there unique selling point which gives them more credibility as there are just being themselves and not being manipulated by music companies. Richard Dyer believes that musicians are manufactured to produce maximum profit for their record labels. The record labels do this by targeting a specific target market and evolving the artist to make them a product to the market. Arguably, an example of an artist being manufactured by record labels is Miley Cyrus who has created nothing but controversy since being manipulated by the record label Sony Music. Another one of Richard Dyer's ideas in his star theory concept is that he believes that artists become role models and trendsetters to the audience they are marketed at which causes the audiences to imitate and behave as their role model artists behave.

Purpose of the Music Promo Video

Purpose of the Music Video

The primary purpose of a music video is to actually sell the song. The video is supposed to help the song by providing visual scenes. The producers of music videos aim to draw attention and advertise the song to its targeted market whether it is young girls or middle aged people. A good example of an excellent music video is Coldplay's "The Scientist". I have previously written about this video on my blog but the video is extremely good as it adds emotion to the song. If you where to watch the video without listening to the song, you will see that the video adds sentimental value to the song which consequently makes you like the song.
There are many aspects of promoting a music video in today's society. Artist such as Britney Spears will try to promote their songs by also selling fragrances. A good example of this is in Britney Spears' song "Circus" she actually promotes her fragrance. The purpose is to earn excess income along with the income from the song itself and it also increases her fan base and popularity if people actually like the fragrance.

Organic and Synthetic

Organic and Synthetic

In music artists and groups are usually categorised into two groups; Organic and Synthetic. I will provide you with examples of Organic and Synthetic groups to help you to understand. The Beatles are an example of an Organic band. This is because they knew each other before they decided to form a band, they also formed the band through friendship. They also toured different countries before they were signed. In Organic groups, the music they make usually comes from them and everything they choose to do is from them.

An example of a Synthetic Group is One Direction. A Synthetic group or artist as been put together by a company to get maximum profit. Each member of One Direction auditioned for the music show 'X Factor' as singles and where put together by Simon Cowell to form the group which is know globally famous and successful. These artists have been put together to compete in the industry amongst other established groups. Synthetic groups usually are put together to obtain maximum profit from the industry. The music industry is constantly evolving so more and more groups are being formed to fill the hole that is in the market for profit.

Record Labels - Majors/Independents

Record Labels
Majors and Independents

Similarly just like the film industry, the music industry is arguably dominated by a collection of Major companies. There are four major national Majors that dominate the music industry and they are:

• Universal
• Sony Music
• Warner Music
• EMI

Recently with EMI progressively coming through there are now only three major companies with the left over profit made by the independent companies. It is quite common now for most of these major companies to now own what is known as Major-Independnt companies. This enables the main conglomerates to obtain various audiences with various genres. Examples of these companies include Virgin, Syco and Columbia.

Pop Videos Marketing An Image - Miley Cyrus

Pop Videos Marketing An Image

Pop videos really market an image. By the way they are presented to the audience, it has a huge effect on how the world responds and reacts. For this blog, I will be looking at Miley Cyrus otherwise known as Hannah Montana. She is a great example of the not only the development of music videos but also how music/pop videos are marketed. Miley Cyrus used to do a show called 'Hannah Montana'. It was a show targeted at young teenagers that displayed Miley to be living a double life with a normal school life and a famous singer life. The show has stopped and is rarely shown on TV now but it is a good example of how Miley's image has changed from the 'good friend, happy girl' image in 'Hannah Montana' to the recent letter from Sinead O'Connor warning Miley not to "let the media prostitute you".

Here is the old image that Miley portrayed in the show 'Hannah Montana':

This is a YouTube video of her performance of her opening show song. You can see the innocence of a young girl and the image shows Miley being an inspiration to younger teenage girls.

However having looked at the 'Old Miley' let us begin to examine the new one. The old one is portrayed in her music videos to be very social, kind and caring, will we be able to say the same thing for the new one? Lets find out.
Miley Cyrus has been under fire with the media recently in 2013 due to her controversial behaviour in the VMA awards. I happened to be watching it live myself as it is a hugely popular event with many famous performers. During her first performance she sang the song 'We can't stop' which has received heavy criticism from the media due to her obscure and unattractive lyrics. Lets watch the video:



In the song, I'm sure its very easy to see the overwhelming comparison between her old image and this new one. In the song lyrics, Miley makes a reference to the class A drug Ecstasy. She says "dancing with Molly". "Molly" is a hidden name for the drug. This is a new stepping stone as we are 100% sure that the old Miley would not have had these lyrics in her songs. The strange thing is she is still aiming her songs at the same fan base which is young teenage girls. With the new Miley continuing to behave in such a way, one would only assume she would lose her fan base. Her deviant behaviour continued as she performed this song at the VMA awards in such a way that would only receive negativity from the media. Miley performed the song with a parade of giant bears dancing around her and also "twerked" on Robin Thicke in his song "Blurred Lines".

The Pitch

The Pitch