Before I presented my initial ideas for the music video I wanted to look more into the performance type of music videos to see what can be included and how it will look.
A performance based video shows the artist/band throughout the production. This type of video is good for a low budget as it does not require many extras. Performance music videos can include the artist lip syncing to the song, dancing or showing other talents they have. In particular I wanted to look more into dance and how it is represented in R&B.
Female dancing in the R&B genre can be seen as provocative and 'sexy' to appeal to the male audience which includes hair flicks, bent knees, swaying and hip movements. This is to target the most appealing areas of a females body to males.
WHAT I FOUND ON YOUTUBE?
When researching information about H.E.R's song 'Say it Again' I found that many dance groups have choreographed a routine to this song. I wanted to show what I discovered on my blog because I think it will give me some inspiration of what type of music video I want to produce when planning my initial ideas.
The choreography in this video is very powerful yet smooth and it flows nicely with each other. By looking at this routine I already have a range of ideas for lighting, mood and pace for my music video. Since the dance is very gentle yet sharp I want to ensure that the pace is very light and soft yet the scenes to be sharp and seductive with a lot of attitude and colour. Generally many dancers perform with mood lighting such as blue, red, orange, so I will incorporate this into the settings I choose. The lighting creates a fun yet mysterious atmosphere keeping the target audience intrigued and thrilled.
Lip syncing is when an actor or singer move the lips silently in synchronisation with a pre - recorded with a pre - recorded soundtrack. Many music artists lip sync to their music while performing live at concerts, especially if they are involved in a dance routine or interactivity with fans. However, to ensure the music is in sync with the individuals lips, much practice is needed before.
WHY LIP SYNC IN MUSIC VIDEOS?
This is because the raw sounds from recording the video will not be as high quality as the final version edited on top of the footage. However, sometimes it depends on the type of video for example, if it was in a live setting the singer will be singing. Therefore, narrative and performance based music videos require other talents and plots.
PRONOUNCIATION?
This is a diagram to show how your mouth should look when pronouncing certain letters. Vowels tend to required much change in expression as they have a strong and forceful pronunciation. Therefore, when producing the music video I will ensure the actress follows the correct movements required for each word otherwise, the final edit will not look professional and correct.
HOW WILL I MAKE SURE THE LIP SYNCING IS PERFECT?
To ensure the actress will lip sync perfectly to the song in the music video, she will be required to learn the lyrics and perform her lip syncing to the song which will be assessed carefully while editing. I will record her lip syncing and editing an uncut version of her performance. If she fails to put all her energy and expression into the trial run, she will have a few more days to learn and perfect it.
This is the song I am using to make the music video.
I am going to analyse the music and vocals of the song so I can understand the various beats and electronic sound effects used and how certain transitions would look with them. H.E.R is a very soothing and gentle female R&B artist who's music enlightens her fans, therefore, the sound of her work is very atmospheric.
{ANALYSING VIDEO}
This is the written version of what I am talking about in the video.
SPOTIFTY:
H.E.R is very popular on Spotify and has many individuals listening to her music. The artist receives great feedback from her songs which is good for her future career.
Gabi Wilson aka H.E.R. (acronym for “Having Everything Revealed”), is a 20 year old, American Singer-Songwriter from Vallejo, California. She was born on June 27th, 1997. Her birth sign is Cancer. Her father, Kenny Wilson, was a member of a local band called, “Urban Bushmen”. Her mother Agnes Wilson is a native Filipina. Gabi is an American by nationality and belongs to Filipino-American ethinicity
Before fame, she started singing at an early age and her parents supported her love of performing. Alicia Keys was her idol while growing up. Gabi became popular with her song, “Something to Prove”, which was released in 2014. After that, she released another single song called, “Prove” in 2014. Her 2015 song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” made her more popular on the media and fans.
It was after this performance that she developed a relationship with her idol and mentor Alicia Keys.
Alicia even tweeted this:
She was signed to RCA Records and has released two extended plays under the label, H.E.R. Gabi Wilson was founded by Alicia Keys, Wyclef Jean and Bryson Tiller. She did really well with the first album entitled, “H.E.R., Vol 1 which achieved a number 1 slot on the iTunes R & B Chart which then kicked off her success.
GENRE:
H.E.R's music consists mainly of contemporary R&B and she often talks about heartbreak and love. Gabi does not make music videos to accompany her talent purely because she prefers to keep her face hidden. However, I will be one of the first to create a music video for her song 'Say it Again'.
CONVENTIONS of the R&B GENRE:
Fashion – Minimalistic clothing as the singers’ target is older teenage girls/boys.
Jeans – If the male artist is pictured topless, they are usually wearing jeans; slightly hanging low so you can get a glimpse of their boxers. They will also have a designer belt on which a few closeup shots will be done on as a form of advertising for that particular item.
Tattoos – A lot of male R & B artists have tatoos, a majority of the time they are on their chest, if not, it will be on their arms. They will also have multiple tatoos.
Jewellery – R & B stars are subtle with their jewellery in their videos like a watch, chain and earrings.
Iconography – Videos are usually very sexual and the topless men in the R & B videos connotes that sense of sexuality. A majority of R & B videos these days are filmed in greyscale/sepia tone which adds a sensual tone to imagery in the videos.
Target Audience – A majority of R & B fans are teenagers/young adults roughly between the ages of 13-25.
ALBUM COVERS:
H.E.R sells her music through the particular use of colour and style. Most of her artwork has meaning which is a common aspect for the R&B genre, having a 'narrative'.
GOLD [connotations]
Extravagance
Wealth/Riches
The colour gold is a warm colour that can be either bright and cheerful or somber and traditional. Illumination, love, compassion, courage, magic and wisdom. Sparkle, glitz and glamour.
The typography is thin lined and fairly simple.
The wording on the digipak is in capitals to bring attention to the artists name.
There is a soft white glow around the artists name to emphasise it. White also connotes to illumination therefore, the artist is trying to be seen and noticed to her audience.
The digipak is simple yet effective. This is similar to her song titles which are very straightforward and short.
SILHOUETTE
The silhouette of the artist is efficacious. The black contrast with the gold and white is very bold and outstanding. The way she is standing is not provocative therefore, this reflects her as a person being fairly reserved. The artist has never made a music video and seems to not like showing her face therefore, the silhouette represents much more than just being bold and eye catching.
Altogether the colours and shades work well together specifically highlighting the gold. Gold is over represented in the R&B genre as it connotes to wealth, and most R&B songs are about money.
Some artists prefer doing a photography shoot for their album cover, whereas others prefer to have animated, drawn or artistic images that convey a message to their audience about the music on the album. I think both are as effective, however, since I am producing an R&B song I will need to look more into album covers of that genre so I can understand more about the effects, colours and style of the digipaks.
H.E.R promotes her music primarily on social media including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. This is becoming a more popular way of targeting an audience because most of the younger generation have an account on these various social media websites. Since H.E.R does not like to reveal her face, she prefers to hide behind the screen and connect with her audience that way.
TWITTER:
The diagram above shows how H.E.R promotes her music through Twitter, cleverly connecting to a large audience. Her account is public to those who do not have an account on Twitter, therefore, anyone can access her page to see what she has been posting.
FACEBOOK:
The diagram above shows how H.E.R promotes her music through Facebook which again connects many people as Facebook is one of the most used social media sites. (See post about the different social media sites).
The artist I have chosen a song from is H.E.R "Say it Again".
Firstly, I went on Instagram to search for the artists profile to find her contact details. Please see below a annotated diagram I made in Powerpoint to show the various steps I took, to contact H.E.R.
The red annotation represents the certain steps I had to take to ensure the permission message was sent to her profile. Unfortunately, H.E.R did not reply or give me any form of contact to give me permission for her song. Therefore, I went on a different platform to see if I could find any other ways of contacting her.
TWITTER:
GMAIL:
Lastly, I tried to email H.E.R's official email to see if I get a response. Finally, I received a response from one of her managers, it was a very kind email mentioning that I could use the song for my A2 coursework. I am very pleased at the outcome.
