Trip To The Rich Mix Centre

Today we went on a trip to the Rich Mix arts centre in Bethnal Green. It was a trip for people who studied media. It was a day experience learning about old and new music videos and talking to music video directors. I had the opportunity to meet a producer from Warner Bros. Company, the CEO of OCR Media studies and a music director called Corin Hardy . The CEO of Media studies discussed different genre of music videos with us for example 50 Cent-Candy Shop .

The examiner gave us tips on making our music videos. We also had to do a task as a college. We had to make a treatment for a song which was given to us and at the end we got to watch what the actually video looked like, we also got to watch music videos made by people at other colleges.

I gained allot of knowledge on this trip which I can use when making my music video

Below are some of the videos we looked at:

Jay-Z - 99 Problems

50 Cent- Candy Shop

We looked at this video in relation to the cuts. This music video has many fast cuts.

The Beatles- Help

The Prodigy- Warriors dance

This is one of the videos we looked at directed by Corin Hardy.

Ben Peters : Music Video Director

Today in my media lesson we had the opportunity to meet an experienced music director that goes by the name of Ben Peters. He has worked with artist such as Davinche, N-Dubz, Bashy and Ghetts as well as many other artists. He talked to us about different jobs which are found on a video shoot set for example producer,cinematographer etc and what each job includes . He also taught us how to produce a treatment which refers to a description of the concept of the music video. Treatments are written to help people visualize what the video will look like.



As a music director one of Ben Peters role is to write treatments. He discussed with our class the process of him making treatments and showed us an example of a treatment that he had done for N-Dubz- I need you. he also showed us some videos which he had directed.

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Ben peters helped me to widened my knowledge and understanding on how music videos are made and what happens on a video shoot. I found it really helpful.


Below are some of the videos that he has directed:


N-Dubz- Wouldn't You




J2K -Danger

Ghetts- Sing For Me

History of Music Videos

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music/song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. The origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium, and later with the launch of VH1.

Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action, filming, documentaries and non narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action.

The first music video dates back to 1894 when sheet music publishers still ran the music business, Edward B. Masen and Joe Stern promoted sales of their song The Little Lost Child with a series of projected still images shown simultaneously with live performances and blurry animations of kittens; in what became a popular form of entertainment known as the illustrated song. This has been termed the first music video.

HISTORY OF MTV

MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs. Today, MTV still plays a limited selection of music videos, but the channel primarily broadcasts a variety of popular culture and reality television shows targeted at young adults.

Before 1983, Michael Jackson also struggled to receive airtime on MTV. To resolve the struggle and finally "break the color barrier", the president of CBS records at the time, Walter Yetnikoff denounced MTV in a strong, profane statement, threatening to take away MTV's ability to play any of the record label's music videos. However, Les Garland, then acquisitions head, said he decided to air Jackson's "Billie Jean" video without pressure from CBS.This was contradicted by CBS head of Business Affairs David Benjamin in Vanity Fair. In any case, MTV began showing the "Billie Jean" video in regular rotation in 1983, forming a lengthy partnership with Jackson and helping other black music artists.

Michael Jackson was the first black artist shown on MTV. Michael Jackson's Thriller is a 14-minute music video released on December 2, 1983 and directed by John Landis, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jackson. Often referred to as the greatest music video ever,Thriller proved to have a profound effect on popular culture,and was named "a watershed moment for the music industry"

Brief Of Production Assignment

From what I understand the task that I have been given as part of my A2 media course is to create a promotion package for the release of an album , to include a music promo video together with a cover for its release as part of a CD package and a magazine advertisement for the CD.

The purpose of this unit is to use my ability to plan and construct media products using the appropriate technical and creative skill. I understand that I have to market a new artist to a target audience. When marketing my artist I need to ensure that there is a brand continuity through the three products. Everything on the CD cover must relate to the artist. The CD cover must signify the artist and there genre of music. When creating these three products to represent my artist I must encounter the artists look for example the style of clothes they wear, and props which may include musical instruments.

My AS Media Assignment

Last years task was to create a new fiction film, lasting a maximum of two minutes. In preparation for this we had to do an preliminary exercise, which was a continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door,crossing a room and siting down in a chair opposite another character, to whom she/he exchanges a couple lines of dialogue.

Last year while filming there were a few things that did not go well. My group had problems with our actors/actress's as we had to keep changing them as some of them were unavailable when we needed them. Due to that problem, we had to start filming again which was very time consuming. Other problems that came about was that I did not contribute as much as the other members of my group as I was not very good at acting, and there was people in my group who could film better than me, so we left the filming to them. However this helped me develop my filming skills as members of my group showed me how to film. Other problems which occured were that our characters found it hard to learn their script. This year i plan to make sure these problems do not arise, by ensuring we have a good plan before filming.

As a group we had to do pre-production paper work for assessment, Which included a plan of everything to do with our film.We had to do three story boards, a two page script, two page synopsis, four main character biographies ,write three locations that we wish to use and essential props we will be using.

Filming was the main task as part of our production. While filming there were many codes and conventions that we had to follow. The film that my group made was a horror, so every time we were filming we had to follow the codes and conventions of a horror film. Our film was different to a normal horror film as it was similar to the blair witch project which is n a documentary format. Editing was probably the hardest part of the production. In a group whilst editing allowed me to understand how what kind of cuts should be use on certain types of scenes and how to use sound and the pace of the film to set the mood. This year we will be using he same program as last year which is final cut pro.

Final Cut Pro 5

This year I will make sure that the problems which occurred last year will not arise again. This year should be easier than last year as I will use all the things I learnt last year and apply them to my production this year.