Other Media That Influenced Me

Other Media

Artist For Idea 1

Gerry and the Pacemakers

Gerry and the Pacemakers were an all male English beat group who produced the majority of their music within the 1960's. The band were from the iconic city of Liverpool, In common with the famous Beatles. Gerry and the Pacemakers were managed by Brian Epstein and were recorded by George Martin. The band are most remembered for being the first music band to reach Number One in the UK Singles chart with their first three singles. Within these three singles includes the song I have chosen to do for my video, 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. 

The band was created by Gerry Marsden in 1959 with his brother Fred Marsden and friends Les Chadwick and Arthur McMahon. However in 1961 Arthur McMahon was replaced on the piano by a man named Les Maguire. The band was originally named Gerry Marsden and the Mars Bars but were then forced to change the name due to company Mars complaining about naming rights. Gerry and the Pacemakers were soon signed to Columbia Records after going through Brian Epstein.

Gerry and the Pacemakers next two singles went to number one this included the famous 'You'll Never Walk Alone' After this song was released it soon became the anthem to many sporting clubs around the globe. Most famously it became the iconic song of Liverpool Football Club. You'll Never Walk Alone remains the famous anthem to this present day and is still known famously world wide. 

My Song - Idea 1

You'll Never Walk Alone

You'll Never Walk alone was written by a man named Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. The song was originally written for their musical Carousel in the year 1945. It was performed within their musical by a character named Nettie Fowler. The lyrics in the song were written by Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers was the composer of the music.

After the song was first produced and used within the musical, the famous Liverpudlian band Gerry and the Pacemakers reproduced the song in their own way. The song was then released in 1963, after the song was released it was then adopted by many sports clubs around the world as their clubs anthem. The most famous of which include both Liverpool Football Club itself and also the Scottish club Glasgow Celtic. The video that I have added below shows the fans of Liverpool singing the anthem in their own way in the FA Cup Final in 1965 only two years after the song was released.

Over the years there has been massive debates as to which club sang the song first, Liverpool or Celtic? although the debate has been going on for many years there is definitley more evidence to suggest that Liverpool was the club that adopted the song first. It would only have been right for Liverpool to have been given the song first as the song was produced by the famous band from Liverpool. Below is evidence from a former player giving us his view - 

According to former player Tommy Smith, Gerry Marsden presented Liverpool manager Bill Shankly with a tape recording of his forthcoming cover single during a pre-season coach trip in the summer of 1963. “Shanks was in awe of what he heard. […] Football writers from the local newspapers were travelling with our party and, thirsty for a story of any kind between games, filed copy back to their editors to the effect that we had adopted Gerry Marsden’s forthcoming single as the club song.”

When the song was released in 1963 by Gerry and the Pacemakers a music video was released with it.

Although this video was released when the song was released in 1963, there has been many speculation over the years as to which video was the official one as there has been two videos famously used over the years.

You'll Never Walk Alone appeared on the Gerry and the Pacemakers album 'How Do You Like It' with 24 other songs. This song was one of the most popular and was one of the three first singles to go to number one in the UK Chart. Below is the album cover that You'll Never Walk Alone appeared on.

The Song

You'll Never Walk Alone Lyrics - 

When you walk through a storm

Hold your head up high

And don't be afraid of the dark

At the end of the storm

There's a golden sky

And the sweet silver song of the lark

Walk on through the wind

Walk on through the rain

Though your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on walk on with hope in your heart

And you'll never walk alone

You'll never walk alone

When you walk through a storm

Hold your head up high

And don't be afraid of the dark

At the end of the storm

There's a golden sky

And the sweet silver song of the lark

Walk on through the wind

Walk on through the rain

Though your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on walk on with hope in your heart

And you'll never walk alone

You'll never walk

You'll never walk

You'll never walk alone

The song can be interpreted in many different ways and the lyrics can have many different meanings to different people. I would say the song can have a massive personal meanings to people, the song brings people together whether it be 55,000 people at Anfield watching the football or a family being brought together by the lyrics within the song.

The screenshot above is of a few comments that i came across on a website that contained the lyrics to the song. As i mentioned the song has man different meanings to people in original ways.

Meaning Behind The Lyrics

When you walk through a storm

Hold your head up high

And don't be afraid of the dark

At the end of the storm

There's a golden sky

And the sweet silver song of the lark

No matter how hard life gets, you need to keep going and don’t let it beat you down. Because when a person goes through hardship, they will always come out better for it. “What doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger”.

Walk on through the wind

Walk on through the rain

Though your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on walk on with hope in your heart

Even when things get hard, you need to stay focused and hold out hope. When it rains it pours, but hope in your heart helps you through any bad times.

When you walk through a storm

Hold your head up high

If you're going through tough times, keep your head up. Relevent to football fans who can go through bad spells with their clubs. Or in relevant in life when you go through difficult situations and times get you down you need to keep your head held high.

And don't be afraid of the dark

At the end of the storm

There's a golden sky

“It’s always darkest before the dawn”. Again with the theme of hope, hard times never last and you can get through it.

Walk on through the wind

Walk on through the rain

Though your dreams be tossed and blown

Go through tough times, no matter how tough they seem.

Walk on walk on with hope in your heart

And you'll never walk alone

If you walk on with the hope you succeed, you won’t go on that walk alone. This line conveys a sense of togetherness and has a nature of teamwork, whilst still maintaining individuality.

Top 5 Music Videos Of All TIme

Top 5 Music Videos Of All Time

5. Aha - Take On Me

Take on me was a classic 80's pop hit, the song was released in 1985 but is still seen as one of the greatest songs and music video ever. The video is very creative by the way in which it incorporates the cartoon characters within the comic book and brings them to life as they interact with the humans. This song relates very well to its lyrics, the whole 'Take On Me' is played upon very well when the cartoon character holds out his arm and pulls the woman in to become part of the comic book story.

4. Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

'Bad Romance' by Lady Gaga is one of the most famous songs from the twenty first century. Although the song is very famous for the quality of the song it is also very famous for the crazy music video that she produced. This song is very good example of a conceptual type of music video. Although the music video plays upon the lyrics 'Bad Romance' by having the men within the video, the craziness and imaginative kind of things that are happening throughout the video are very strange but it catches the audiences eye, this is what makes 'Bad Romance' such a good video.

3. Linkin Park - Breaking The Habit

Linkin Park are one of the most famous bands of all time, they have been awarded the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Rock in 2011, 2012 and 2014. This music video is one of their most famous pieces of work however. This music video is very popular as it comes across as a sort of cartoon programme as the song plays through. This would be seen as a narrative type of music video as the cartoon plays a story of the lyrics of the song. This is very clever and is why it is number 3 of the top 5 best music videos of all time.

2. Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal

Michael Jackson, one of the most famous artists of all time who produced song after song that were all globally successful. The video for 'Smooth Criminal' comes across as a sort of theatre production of a musical. It could be seen as a performance type of music video as throughout the video Michael Jackson the artist is in the middle of the screen as he dances and performs throughout the song. His iconic dance moves are what the audience look out for and why his music and music videos were so successful over the years.

1. Michael Jackson - Thriller

It is no surprise that Michael Jackson appears twice within the top five music videos of all time, not just the number 1 music video of all time. Again like his music video 'Smooth Criminal' the song and music video 'Thriller' is very similar in the way in which that it is a narrative video. The 'Thriller' video lasts thirteen minutes long. The video again looks as if it is a scene from a musical within the theatre. 'Thriller' was one of Michael Jacksons most famous songs ever produced, the iconic dance that was and still is recreated by everyone around the world proves that the music video was a massive success.

Music Video Directors

Michael Bay

Michael Bay attended Wesleyan University. After finishing university he spent the majority of his 20's working on advertisement and music video productions. After finishing film school he went into the music video business, he created music videos for the likes of Tina Turner, Lionel Ritchie and many more. His work was one of the best within the industry, he was awarded with a number of MTV award nominations. In 1995 he was awarded by the Directors of Guild of America as commercial director of the year award.

Hiro Muari

Hiro Muari is an incredibly talented director, he has a very high level background in illustration and visual effects. Within the videos he has created he adds very subtle tricks and motifs that forces the audiences eyes into every part of the screen. Muari made people within the music video industry that videos do not need to have excess special effects to create something visually engaging.

'DANIELS'

Daniels is the name given to the famous directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. The two create music videos that use incredile body or work that combines both physical comedy, bizarre performances and immature charm!

Andrew Goodwin Theory and Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin was the creator of the Theory of Music Videos. Goodwin claimed that there are five main aspects of a music video that viewers focus on whilst watching them. These are essentially the main areas that music producers focus on when creating a music video as it will increase the chance of the music video being popular. The areas that the producer will focus on are;

• Technical aspects of the music video
• Relationship of visuals to the song
• Star Image
• Narrative and Performance
• Thought beats - seeing the sound/beat in your mind

Technical Aspects hold the music video together (these include camera angles, shots, movement, mise-en-scene, editing, sound and special effects)

The use of camera covers a lot of areas within the music video, this includes the speed at which the camera moves, the way in which the camera moves (camera movement) editing, cutting and also post production are all forms of camera use.

The mise-en-scene is the setting, this is key to producing a good music video. Having a music video that is created with huge amounts of editing and looks entirely fake is going to put the viewer off watching or listening to more of the artists music. Videos need to look realistic this is why mise-en-scene is so important within creating a music video.

Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory

Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory is about the visual pleasure and narrative cinema. The theory was created in 1975 and then went on to become a very famous theory within the music video industry. The male gaze theory is essentially when the audience is put into perspective of a hetrosexual man. For example a scene within a music video may focus on the curves of a womans body, putting the audience in perspective of the mans view. The male gaze theory is only put into place if the correct conventions are used such as deliberate camera movements, cuts away and slow motion. The theory that Laura Mulvey created suggests that women are objects to admire for their physical appearance.

http://www.slideshare.net/guestc6d43a4a/andrew-goodwins-theory

Generic Conventions Of A Music Video

What Are The Generic Conventions Of A Music Video?

Music is split into different different kinds of genres. A music genre is defined as a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Here below is a list of music genres

• POP 
• Dance 
• R & B 
• Hip Hop/Rap 
• Rock 
• Punk 
• Country 
• Folk 
• Jazz 
• Electric 

and many more...

Characters

Characters within music videos are often a good indicator as to what type of genre the music is. Within pop songs the characters are often happy, doing stupid immature stuff that links to the lyrics of the song. Your stereotypical Rock video will see a crowd at a concert acting crazy and going wild.

Lighting

Lighting in the music videos is another great way of drawing the viewers in. The lighting will either be low, high or natural. Each of these types of lighting will create a different atmosphere/environment within the video. For example a natural light may be used within a video where the artists are in a natural environment such as a beach or the city. A type of music video where there would be low lighting is a rock band or heavy metal group performing at a concert for instance.

Camera

Camera shots within a music video usually jump a lot from shot to shot, to make it have more of an impact on the viewer the camera shots normally range from long shot, close ups and extreme close ups. An example of when these types of shots are used are when the artist or band is shown on screen a close up is usually used. An example of when an extreme close up is used is when someone within the video is lip synching the lyrics. Different camera movements are also used within music videos, from fast track shots to overhead shots to follow the performers or artist whilst they are dancing or moving around.

Editing

Editing is seen as both an artistic and technical process. The artistic part of creating a music video is the selection of what parts of the music video are going to be kept as well as how they are going to fit together. The technical aspect of creating a music video is the editing and copying all of the clips into one single video tape. 

There are two main types of video editing that can be used when creating a music video. These are 'Linear Editing' and 'Non-Linear Editing'. Linear editing is when the producer creates a video in one cut at a time or a series of clips put together to create the final product. 

My Favourite Videos And Those That Influenced Me

Best Of All Time

This song was created for the artist Katy Perry, the video was released in 2010. The video was nominated for MTV Video Music Award For Best Pop Video, Teen Choice Award For Summer Song and finally NRJ Music Award For Video Of The Year. One of my favourite music videos of all time would have to be Katy Perry's famous song 'Last Friday Night' There are many reasons as to why this music video is one of my favourites of all time. The first reason as to why it is one of my favourites of all time is because it is very relatable to our age group and generations as the song is all about a party that happened 'Last Friday' The second reason as to why this video is one of my favourites of all time is because of the way in which it is filmed, it makes the viewer feel as if they are part of the party within the music video. As the party goes on the camera follows the girl around the room and in someways tells the story of her night. From reading about the three types of music videos I would say that this particular music video would come under the category of Narrative videos. As I mentioned before this video tells a different kind of story as it follows the teenagers party throughout the night. 

Yungen - With That

This is one of my most recent favourite music videos. The song was originally produced by Young Thug, in 2015 Yungen joined up with Sneakbo another popular english rapper to create a cover of the song 'With That' the music video is under the bracket of a conceptual video. It is one of my favourite videos as the video has very little relevance to the song itself. This draws the viewer in as the artists are just seen to be having fun and messing around but they are actually attracting the viewers into the music which will ultimately make the viewers want to go and listen to more of the artists music. In someways you could say that the music video itself is a marketing tool for the artist.

James Arthur - Say You Won't Let Go

This video is very up to date and has only recently been published, this video really relates to all of the lyrics of the song. As the song progresses the generations of the actors increases at the start we see the young new born baby then as the video goes on we get to the death of the elderly mans wife in the hospital. This part really influenced me as it related to the lyrics so clearly - 

'I'm gonna love you till My lungs give out,I promise till death we part like in our vows'

As we can see from this picture the elderly man goes and visits his wife in the hospital as he has promised 'till death we part' the video has done a really good job of telling a narrative within itself. All of these music videos are a small selection of the huge amounts that have influenced me in the past. From these videos I will take inspiration and ideas and hopefully input them into my own music video. Each music video gives its own twist and has something unique that could be taken and used within my own whether this is a type of camera shot or the use of environment within the video all the aspects play their own part.

Research

What Is A Music Video

A music video can be defined as, A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. When music videos were first produced, they were created with the intention of music becoming more available through television. This opened up an entire new market allowing the likes of brands such as MTV to form. As music videos became more accessible for people to see directors and artists soon began to introduce the use of narratives into the music videos. The music video itself allows the artist to clarify a message or focus that the song itself has.

What Are The Three Types Of Music Videos?

Within the music video industry there are three main types of music videos, these are;

• Narrative
• Performance
• Concept 

Narrative

A narrative music video is one that has a story line which is based upon the songs lyrics and genre. Having the visuals to go along with the music allows the artist to engage the viewer in a different way other than them just listening to the music. The storyline within a music video allows the viewers to follow the song throughout a good example of this would be Timberlands song 'If we ever meet again' the videos tells the story throughout engaging the viewers as they are drawn in and are excited as to what happens throughout.

Performance

A performance based music video is simply where within the music video, it consists of the band or artist performing to either a camera or an audience. this is commonly done from songs that are played at concerts. The high energy that is created from this increases the viewers adrenaline which makes them feel like they are more involved within the music video and part of the action, a good example of this is Oasis' famous 'Wonderwall'

                                        

                                     

Concept

Concept videos are based around a single idea or theme. These ideas or theme are often very unusual and different to your standard music video. The use of a conceptual music video is so unusual and different for the viewer that it actually attracts them into watching the whole clip itself. The aim of these types of music videos is to keep the audience entertained and unsure as to what is going to happen next within the video.

As well as the three main types of music videos there are three other types which would be seen as a type of sub-genres.

mashable.com/category/music-videos/