Green Screen

As green screens are becoming more commonly used in today's media world I wanted to test my ability on removing a green screen from a video as part as my research, from this research I can later apply my knowledge to my music video if needed.

I used this royalty free video:




I used this royalty free image:

With these resources I was able to remove the green screen from the video successfully, though it could look better, this is then something I can experiment with when it comes to creating my music video. I did this on Adobe Premier Pro CS4 using the 'chroma key' effect on the video containing the green screen.

 

Analysist Research - Theorists

Adorno
Adorno had a very marxist view on the music industry and believed it was controlled by capitalists and their aim was to control the public by brainwashing them through media.
People had false needs generated by the culture industries and these needs are satisfied by the capitalist system, these replace peoples true needs.

Hebdige
Hebdige had views very much opposite to Adorno's as they were too pessimistic and he believed we have our own say and are not easily manipulated when it came to media.

Negus
Negus believed that their are two distinctive ways of looking at artists within the music industry, these shape the way artists' images and careers are developed. These two ideologies are called organic and synthetic and the names speak for themselves.

Music Video Tips

After watching film-makers, directors and editors give tips to young film-makers as part of the MTV Boom! competition I picked up many useful pieces of information that will help  me when it comes to making my music video and conventions that I can incorporate into mine.
The thing I learnt first and foremost is that you can make a music video with pretty much any camera and budget it doesn't necessarily have to be high end and commercially produced, this can be backed up by the video I used to for my shot count analysis which was produced by and indie director.

•  Before you start planning it's best to have a "good idea" of what you want to create and a way to do this is by jotting down random ideas for inspiration and from this you can pick and choose.
  
• Although not necessary, funny aspects and/or sexy aspects are good to have in a music video as this can allow you to be very experimental.
  
• Having a basic story board can always aid in visualising how your video will look and will become extremely useful when it comes to the filming process, this is also a good method of preparation.
• Preparation and time management is key for something like this, setting yourself deadlines and having things well prepared will make the process easier and much more stress free.
  
• Experimenting can change good ideas to incredible ideas, even if it's experimenting with simple aspects such as angles for example.
  
• Capturing an enjoyable process is very important, the actor(s) need to be comfortable in front of the camera and making eye contact with the camera (audience) this will create a confident atmosphere.
  
• One of the last and very important things I learnt was that a good concept and strong visuals are key, this is something that can be shown very simply through the use and understanding is mise on scene.

Shot Count Analysis

Track: Oceans

Artist: Coasts

Director: Duncan Roa

Release Date: 11^th January 2013

Length of video: 3 minutes 51 seconds

Number of shots in entire video: 104

Average length of shot: 2.22 seconds

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Number of shots in 30 second segment: (1.00 -1.30) 17

Within the 30 second segment there are-

Number of CU: 0

Number of ECU: 1

Number of LS: 7   

Number of MS: 6

Number of panning shots: 1

Number of tilts: 1 

Other shots: 1

Shot Number	Shot Type	~Shot Length (Seconds)	Description	Edit to next shot
1	Long shot	4	Shot from a low angle This is the shot before the chorus kicks in	Straight cut
2	Medium shot	2	Shot as the chorus kicks in	Straight cut
3	Medium long shot	3	Slight low angle	Straight cut
4	Long shot/tilt	2	Pulling in and out of focus	Straight cut
5	Extreme close up	1	Detail of legs moving as someone jumps off tree branch	Straight cut
6	Long shot	1-2	Action match of previous shot (shot 5)	Straight cut
7	Medium shot	2	N/A	Straight cut
8	Medium long shot	3	Slight low angle Continuation of shot 3	Straight cut
9	Medium shot	2	Continuation of shot 2	Straight cut
10	Long shot/tilt	2	Pulling in and out of focus Continuation of shot 4	Straight cut
11	Long shot	2	Continuation of shot 6	Straight cut
12	Long shot	2	This is the shot where the chorus finishes	Straight cut
13	Long shot	3	Very low angle	Straight cut
14	Panning	2	N/A	Straight cut
15	Medium shot	3	N/A	Straight cut
16	Tilt	4	N/A	Straight cut
17	Other shot (unaware as what this would be classed as)	4	N/A	Straight cut

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All of this video was shot or edited into slow motion which made the shot lengths longer than most videos in some places but, despite this, when tempo in the song started to speed up so did the actions in the shot i.e. when the chorus kicked in people when from sitting/walking to jumping off things and running. Another thing that sped up during these shots is the editing, in the 30 second segment that I analysed it took place in the chorus so it had more shots and faster editing than ones during the verses or bridges. The shots in general consisted mainly of long shots and medium shots so you can see the actor/band members torso and/or entire body, in addition to this I noticed all the shots of the main singer singing to the camera are in a medium shot. I specifically used an indie director as the promos they produce are more realistic to something a student such as myself could produce,when considering finance and skill set, so analysing their video can give me a practical representation of how mine should turn out, as I don't have the ability and funds for a high tech operation.

Music Video History

• Music videos generally started with experimenting by Oscar Fischinger in the 1920s and have since been a growing media experimentation and large part of the music entertainment industry.
  
• One convention that seemed to crop up a lot the early 'short films' is sexually explicit content, such as a high level of female display which is something we still commonly find within music videos in modern day. Overt sexuality has always been recognized and accepted within music videos.
  
•  Another feature that began to make its way into music videos around the 60s is to pastiche moments from Hollywood in their music videos and this has also become increasingly common.
  
• The Monkees introduced a new style to music videos to the insularity which included surrealism, jump cuts, wacky comedy and lots of action mixed in with the music performance by the band; these are now concepts that are extremely widely and commonly used within music videos today, so a lot of past experimental methods used in the past have worked to influence our present and future music videos.
  
• Around the 60s it would cost on average $8000 to produce a music video and by the time we reached the late 90s budgets for music videos were ranging in the millions. The higher budget videos also in turn generated record sales and as these extravagantly priced videos were generally of the Hip-Hop genre it led to Hip-Hop effectively replacing Rock as the dominant music genre.