Channel 4's 100 Greatest pop (music) videos Part 3

#40 Missy Elliot: Get Ur Freak On
#41 The Spice Girls: Wannabe
#42 Bjork: It's Oh So Quiet
#43 Dire Straits: Money for Nothing
#44 Kylie Minogue: Can't Get You Out of My Head
#45 Aerosmith: Crazy
#46 Adam & the Ants: Prince Charming
#47 The Prodigy: Firestarter
#48 Johnny Cash: Hurt
#49 Jamiroquai: Virtual Insanity
#50 Paul Simon: You Can Call Me Al
#51 Run DMC & Aerosmith: Walk This Way
#52 Massive Attack: Teardrop
#53 Wham: Club Tropicana
#54 Daft Punk: Around the World
#55 Fatboy Slim: Praise You
#56 Eminem: Without Me
#57 Meatloaf: I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)
#58 The Cure: Close to Me
#59 Abba: Knowing Me, Knowing You

Channel 4's 100 Greatest pop (music) videos Part 2

#60 Eurythmics: Sweet Dreams
#61 The Prodigy: Smack My Bitch Up
#62 Blur: Parklife
#63 George Michael: Outside
#64 Bjork: Human Behaviour
#65 Aphex Twin: Windowlicker
#66 Bob Dylan: Subterranean Homesick Blues
#67 The Beastie Boys: Sabotage
#68 Madonna: Ray of Light
#69 Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Two Tribes
#70 The Police: Every Breath You Take
#71 Bjork: All Is Full of Love
#72 Robert Palmer: Addicted to Love
#73 Basement Jaxx: Where's Your Head At?
#74 Wu-Tang Clan: Gravel Pit
#75 Duran Duran: Rio
#76 The Beatles: Strawberry Fields
#77 MC Hammer: U Can't Touch This
#78 Godley and Creme: Cry
#79 New Order: True Faith

Channel 4's 100 Greatest pop (music) videos Part 1

#80 Radiohead: Just
#81 Ultravox: Vienna
#82 50 Cent: In Da Club
#83 Shakespear's Sister: Stay
#84 The Boomtown Rats: I Don't Like Mondays
#85 Sid Vicious: My Way
#86 The Streets: Fit But You Know It
#87 Talking Heads: Once in a Lifetime
#88 Elton John: I Want Love
#89 Smashing Pumpkins: Tonight Tonight
#90 The Pet Shop Boys: Go West
#91 The Specials: Ghost Town
#92 Herbie Hancock: Rockit
#93 The Rolling Stones: We Love You
#94 Bonnie Tyler: Total Eclipse of the Heart
#95 The Cardigans: My Favourite Game
#96 So Solid Crew: 21 Seconds
#97 Cornershop: Brimful of Asha
#98 Bronski Beat: Smalltown Boy
#99 Supergrass: Pumping on Your Stereo
#100 Musical Youth: Pass the Dutchie

Cornershop - Brimful of Asha

I think this music video is original and unique because the idea of a girl playing her records and just having fun. The band name Cornershop appears repeatedly throughout the video. This appeared to be accidentally controversial as some people thought this was some kind of subliminal messaging but the band deny this accusation. I enjoy the idea of the images of the band on each record moving it gives a sense of energy and encourages the audience to get involved with the song and the beat.

Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime

It is probably because of this music video by Talking Heads that has raised arguments whether music videos are an art form and an expression of art. It is clear however that this particular music video is considered to be the first music video to be considered art, this was a big deal. I enjoy the video but probably for the wrong reasons. Even though the video is serious and shows different cultures as well as representing victims of "shell shock" from world war I in dance, I thought the dancing was highly amusing.

Ultravox - Vienna

The music video of Vienna by Ultravox has been considered to be one of the strangest encountered. The story in the video has nothing to do with the lyrics of the song, however the video has some interesting features. The entire video gives a sense of surrealism, especially the dinner party scene where the is a man with a terrible disease, a one handed man and a tarantula crawling across another mans face. The video chanegs colour regularly from a blue/purple colour background to a normal coloured scene. Parts of the video give off a "Film Noir" look to givea older look to the video. I'm not sure what to make of the video myself, I am not a fan of this video but I do like the editing, camera shots and angles to emphasize the status of the charcters.

Getting music

We decided on our music to use for our video, (One more year) by Fij.
we felt that the lyrics (see below) were easy to follow with the exception of one word that can't be made out so i did my best to write down what I heard. I asked several people of their opinion of what the word was but I was met with confusion. We have decided to not lip synch that part of the song. Ryan and myself made the final decision to use this music rather than the other contenders because the tune was catchy, thus helping the audience visually associate the music with the video. In addition the chorus is slower than the rest of the song and can be exploited in a number of ways for excellent ideas for our video. All that is left to do is plan our video and film it. Our next task however is to create a preliminary task to practice our lip synching skill so we can be much better at it when coming to the making of the real video.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

what's that...oo wha ah ooohhhh
ill go oo ohhhhh
you know oh ohhhh... ill see you again soon

we got one more year 'till we disappear,
there will be no more days just sitting here,
in a nice *niglybubblyteer,*
try so hard but i cant suppress the fear of so many people that I call my friend
one or a few more that its fun to pretend
while i done a bit wrong that I try to amend
and I'm so-so sorry if i hurt you but
this life is a life of Ecstasy I know that they're always next to me
say what they like it brings out the best in me

1 2 3 4 sing the rest with me

what's that...oo wha ah ooohhhh

ill go oo ohhhhh

you know oh ohhhh... ill see you again soon

oo wha ah ooohhhh

ill go oo ohhhhh

you know oh ohhhh... ill see you again soon

Missed the last train but its not surprising
Ain't no trains when the sun is rising
Hoods up checking each others eyes and pay a high price for the socialising
Jaw is aching, my dawn is breaking
Real life is overtaking, historical night in the making
Here comes the come down conversation

But everybody knows, the highs are worth the lows
Thats just the way it goes, thats just the path we chose
So let me take you back to half past 8
Waiting at a station and the train is late
I'ouda allowed myself to anticipate
So bring on the drums, bring on the base
A few hours later and the music was blaring out
Man there was nothing I cared about
Right then I'll say it again
Love my life and I love my friends

Like... what's that... oo wha ah ooohhhh

ill go oo ohhhhh

you know oh ohhhh... ill see you again soon

oo wha ah ooohhhh

ill go oo ohhhhh

you know oh ohhhh... ill see you again soon

ill see you again (x3)

But everybody knows, the highs are worth the lows

Thats just the way it goes, thats just the path we chose (x4)

what's that... oo wha ah ooohhhh

ill go oo ohhhhh

you know oh ohhhh... ill see you again soon

Finding music

Once getting myself into a partnership with Ryan we needed to decide on what music we want to use. We were told to not use copyrighted music like songs that were in the charts and those that had contracts and were owned by recording studios. This meant we had to turn to unsigned bands and artists for musical talent. We had to find a website where we could get a hold of all these things... such a website existed called www.unsigned.com which had everything we could ask for. The hard part was to know find a piece of music we liked and that would be a good foundation for a great music video.

Our search started with genres of music we generally like. Genres like rock, indie, acoustic, funk and pop. We had to take into consideration that we couldn't use music had had hardly any or no lyrics. This is because we need to be able to lip sync effectively throughout the video. Our search led us to several songs and artists. These include:

-The 99s
-SCAR
-1984
-Fij
-Oh, my glory days!

We decided that we needed to send out e-mails to these bands and request permission to use their music and ask for their lyrics so we could learn the songs to help us with our lip synching.

Unsigned

This website has been useful in trying to find music for our video.

We know that we can't use copyrighted music for our video in case we get pulled up and have our video removed.

The only problem with this website is that although there is a huge selection of artists and songs they aren't very good.

This limits what we want to use to film, because we need to like the music to be able to create a video to promote the track.

My Top 5 Music videos

These chosen music videos are my personal favourites and I feel that these are some of the videos that add the most value to their song.

#5 - Train (Hey Soul Sister)

This is a fairly recent song that has been released but I really like the song's lyrics as well as the music video. This still shot provides an excellent example of a graphic match where the letters on the people are already painted onto their shirts from a white out which I think is very clever. Throughout the video there is a cartoon element where the writing is shown to be written on the brick walls and smudges it as the words move along the wall.

#4 - Newton Faulkner (All I Got)
This is one of my favourite songs as well as the music video that goes along with it. The setting for the music video is within a guitar world shown by the still shot. The use of special effects here has made this music video memorable because the idea of an acoustic song within an acoustic world is a perfect setting for the song. Also the actions of the performer Newton Faulkner are related to the lyrics within the song that expresses the individuals emotions.

#3 - Bloodhound Gang (The Bad Touch)
This music video is very interesting, I am not sure what to make of it but I really enjoy it. Although there is some relevance to the lyrics the majority of the video is pretty strange. The whole idea of this video is to make the audience laugh and associate the song with the video. Also this type of video is a great example of a video that would be marketed through word of mouth. The still shot expresses a scene within the video which is very amusing to watch.

#2 - Vanilla Ice (Ice Ice Baby)

I think this is such a classic music video. The outrageous Vanilla Ice, in my opinion has created a gem of a music video. What I enjoy about this video is the very questionable dancing which is so bad its good, I find it very amusing. However the video has very good aspects in terms of media studies. The lighting within the video is very effective which creates distinct shadows, this technique is called chiaroscuro. The still shot shows this technique very clearly in addition to a very high angle long shot of the men dancing.

#1 - The Lonely Island (Jizz in my Pants)
This is my number 1 favourite music video. Although this band started their career on "YouTube" they have become a huge hit from this very song and music video. I find this video hilarious and recommend it to anybody aged between 16 to 30 years. This music video is the most relevant to the lyrics than any other song I have listened to in my life. To carry off this video the singers had to deliver a comical performance and I believe they pulled it off.

Music Video Brief

My task is to:

-Create a Music "Promo" Video that lasts up to 5 minutes, working in a group or on my own

-In addition a critical evaluation on the blog which includes research and planning

-Also create a "Digipak" for the music videos release on DVD

-A magazine advertisement for the DVD

The purpose of a Music Video and its success criteria

What is the purpose?

-Advertises the artist and song
-Draws attention to the music and song
-Illustrates the song
-Appeals to a visual audience
-Expresses an individuals emotions
-Tells a story
-Markets an image
-Persuades the audience to buy the CD or download the song
-Raises the audience awareness or profile of the artist/group
-To make an artistic statement
-Product placement

How do we measure the success of a music video?

-Word of mouth
-Number of hits on Youtube
-Newspaper articles/TV reports
-How many times its shown on Television
-Amount of Downloads (legal or illegal)
-How long it is in the charts for
-CD sales
-Amount of nominations or awards given for video

What is a Music Video?

A music video can be many different forms of expression, from the weird and funny to the serious and mundane.

Music videos can range from simple lip syncing of the band, the weirdest and craziest, the outrageous, the controversial and the humorous.

In my blog I will be reviewing and analysing many different music videos to better understand them and to create my own music video with my partner.

On our first lesson we was asked what we thought a music video was and give a few bullet points. These were my answers:

- A visual representation of what the song is about
- A way of conveying the singers thoughts and emotions
- Something that people can associate the song with
- A different form of art that can be expressed