About my artist

For my coursework I am using a song from the artist Frank Turner, and it seems like a good idea to give an overview as to how this artist fits into the musical world, so that is what this post is for.

Frank Turner is a British singer/songwriter from Winchester. He became involved in music initially by being involved in the punk rock scene in the early 2000's, being the singer of the now deformed band Million Dead between 2001 and 2005. Following this he started performing solo, using an acoustic guitar to fuse his original punk sound with a more folk inspired one, creating his current style of music, which is normally linked to the Post-Hardcore sub-genre of rock music. His songs normally centre on life in Britain ('Once We Were Anarchists'), touring as an artist ('Nashville Tennessee') or his personal beliefs ('Try This at Home').

Since becoming a solo artist in 2005, Frank Turner has released 4 full length albums, titled Sleep Is for the Week (2007), Love Ire & Song (2008), Poetry of the Deed (2009) and England Keep My Bones (2011), with a fifth, currently untitled, album in development. There have also been 14 official music videos made from his songs.

About my coursework

For my coursework I am going to use a song by the artist Frank Turner, who is a solo folk/punk singer, to make a music video. I am going to use his song 'The Road' for my task, and my aim is to create a more literal video than the official video for this song. This will also prevent me from copying the original, as I will have to create something which avoids the original video

Music video budgets

The video for Michael Jackson's 'Scream' is the most expensive music video of all time, costing roughly $7 million to make in 1995. While this would suggest that the video would be very technical and impressive, the video itself is very bland and boring, and it does not look like it cost $7 million to create.

The videos for the band OK Go's song 'This Too Shall Pass', on the other hand, are very technical and impressive, using a lot of things going on in the shot to keep the viewers attention, and the entire filming being done in one take, which would be difficult due to the technicality of the videos. These videos cost far less to produce, for example the Rube Goldberg Machine (a machine which performs a task in an overcomplicated way, usually involving chain reactions) video only cost $90,000. While it is significantly cheaper than the Michael Jackson video, it is much more entertaining and impressive. This shows that the budget of a music video is not important as long as it is an enjoyable video.

Goodwin's music video analysis

In ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992) Andrew Goodwin explains that music videos have defining characteristics, such as:

(1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics

(e.g. stage performance in rock music video, dance routines for pop band)

(2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals

(this could be illustrative – being performed ‘literally’, amplifying – exaggerating the meaning or contradicting – goes against the meaning, perhaps ironically or satirically)

(3) There is a relationship between music and visuals

(either illustrative, amplifying or contradictory again)

(4) The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work

(e.g. the artist creates a distinct visual style for themselves, to allow intertextuality through their work)

(5) Frequent references to looking or watching, along with voyeuristic or erotic treatment of the female body

(depends on genre, and can also be applied to males in a video)

(6) There are often intertextual references

(e.g. referencing films, TV programmes, over music videos etc.)

I think that this information could be useful for when I make my own music video as a coursework piece, as it allows me to use ideas already used in proper music videos.

Types of music video

There are several types of music video, each having a different way of promoting the band or song. Examples of these are:

• Performance video – band ‘perform’ the song (e.g. Falling In Reverse - 'Raised By Wolves')

• Story videos – can be related or unrelated to song (e.g. Hadouken! - 'M.A.D')

• Hybrid performance + story – perhaps the most common, story intercut with band performing (e.g. Pierce The Veil - 'Caraphernalia')

• Animated - video is animated rather than using actors (e.g. The Flobots - 'Handlebars')

• One-take video - all the video is filmed in one take (e.g. OK go - 'Here It Goes Again')

• Artist absent - the artist does not appear in the video, often story videos as well (e.g. Funeral For A Friend - 'Roses For The Dead')

• ‘Random’ video – video is unrelated to songs theme (e.g. Motion City Soundtrack - 'Her Words Destroyed My Planet')

• Intertextuality - video references other forms of media, like film (e.g. Atreyu - 'Her Portrait In Black')

• Amplified emotions - video overdoes the emotions expressed in the song (e.g. Ed Sheeran - 'small bump')

• Humour - video is comedic (e.g. Blink-182 - 'All The Small Things')

• Extended video – video goes way beyond the length of the song (e.g. Michael Jackson - 'Thriller')

• Low budget – the video has low production values, either deliberately or by necessity (e.g. Get Scared - 'Sarcasm')

• High budget – the video is very expensive and has high production values (e.g. Thirty Seconds To Mars - 'The Kill')

• Subverts or contradicts central theme of the song – e.g. if the song is happy the video is sad or angry (very rare)

People required for a film

Films take huge amounts of preparation to create and there will be a lot of people needed to help plan, produce and edit the film. For this reason, a lot of people are 'hired' in the film-making process to help make the film. Some of these would be:


Director
Assistant Director
Producer
Planning & Scheduling
Legal & Financial
Accounts & Pay Roll
Distribution
Production Designer
Art Director
Costume Designer
Make-Up & Hair
Casting Director
Actors
Second Unit
Animation & Effects
Director of Photography
Camera Operator
Gaffer/Lighting
Sound Production
Film Editor
Colourist
Sound Designer

This amount of people would only be required if you were making a full-length feature film. However, short films would require fewer people to take on more roles, to allow the limited budget to be used more evenly.

Genres Throughout History - Fantasy

1910 - 1920's
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1910)
- The Thief of Baghdad (1924)
- The Insects Christmas (1913)
- Dante's Inferno (1911)
- The Phantom Carriage (1921)


1930 - 1940's
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- the Blood of a Poet (1930)
- Its a Wonderful Life (1946)
- Fantasia (1940)
- Bambi (1942)

1950 - 1960's
- The Seventh Seal (1957)
- Orpheus (1950)
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
- The Raven (1963)
- Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

1970 - 1980's
- Eraserhead (1977)
- Heaven Can Wait (1978)
- The Princess Bride (1987)
- Ghostbusters (1984)
- Labyrinth (1986)

1990 - Present Day
- Pans Labyrinth (2006)
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- Monsters Inc. (2001)
- Toy Story (1995)
- The Lion King (1994)