Music video- Bom, Bom

Pre production paper work for music video

Talent releases.



Location releases.



Production schedule & risk assesments and shot list



Story boards

Research and planning for music video

The song we are choosing is Bom Bom by Sam and the Womp, it came out in 2012 and since the music video has generated 31,340,411 and since has gained BPI: Gold and AUS: 4× Platinum and debuted at number-one on the UK Singles Chart with 107,461 copies sold in its first week. 
Sam and the Womp are a British pop group consisting of trumpeter Sam Ritchie and Dutch-born singer Bloem de Wilde de Ligny but is better known as 'Bloom'. Their style isn't tradition mixing with elements of Balkan music and ska with a bit of modern electronic and dance elements. 

The song on a blank piece of paper is literally just nonsense lyrics revolving around the party rave and dance culture, the band has came out and said it centers around the dance called the 'womp' which they reference several times within the song. Ritchie the trumpeter of the band told The Daily Star regarding the song: "It started off as a funky, brassy instrumental. 
Bloem, who's known as Lady Oo, was dancing in the band but was promoted to vocal duties and it became a fully fledged pop song." The genre of the song and band is a twist of ska, balkan music and elements from the dance and techno genre, this is clear in other songs such as 'ravo' and their music videos using strobe lighting and absurd scenery. 



Their style of music definitely links up with their dress style, as seen in the picture they dress quite 'out there' almost abstract. Wearing bright, colourful clothes like the themes in their songs and music videos. 













Planning the video.

Music Video Synopsis

Song title: "Bom Bom"

Artist: Sam and the Womp

First Verse:

The music video will start with introducing the different characters that we will have in the film, we will have several characters ranging from younger people to older all of different styles. The whole theme of our music video will be following the unconventional style that the lyrics portray not really making sense or going with a normal narrative, going down the absurd/surrealist route.  " I'm the cat with the bass and drum" This is the first line of the song and this is where we introduce the main character, this person will continue to return in the song, rather than be shown once.

Chorus:

 The whole theme of our music video will be following the unconventional style that the lyrics portray not really making sense or going with a normal narrative, going down the absurd/surrealist route. 

It will take place in rooms with white walls and backgrounds, an idea we have is using a white sheet, and covering it in different patterns, and weird props and to have people dancing in front of them. during the video the camera will stay stationary, but the camera itself will change, for example using a Go Pro for a 'fish eye' effect, and using different lenses to change the focal points. " I'm so cool and I'm so groovy when I go bom, bom, bom". This is the main chorus lyric, its short and snappy this chorus does not fit the conventional chorus, most songs have at least five lines. 

Second Verse:

The second verse will be very similar to the first,  but we will be changing locations and backgrounds, for example the first verse is against a white background, and a white sheet covered in props. For the second verse, we will be using garages and open fields. 

Chorus:

The chorus will be the same as the first, using the fish eye lens to create a weird mood and using different lenses to change the focal points, for this chorus the props will be used more to create random dance moves. The chorus is repeated again at the end so the last chorus, will be slightly different only focusing on the main characters and cutting from different locations and backgrounds. 

Styles, conventions and techniques of music videos.

There are various different styles and conventions within music videos, not all of them are done for just marketing reasons a lot are done because the artists them self want to bring out essentially a piece of 'art'. 

One of the many styles of music videos are in- concert or 'in concert' footage, these are done almost as something for the fans because it gives them the feeling that they are there themselves. It can also be done to advertise the band/brand by showing what they look like and how they perform, making people feel almost like they should attend one of their concerts. 

An example of an 'as live' music videos is The Smiths- What Difference Does It Make? The music video shows them performing in what seems like a small venue in front of hundreds of fans. This was their new single from the album so was done for advertising but also shows off the brand of the band themselves and helps the fans feel more connected to them. 




An example of an 'as live' music, is Hey-ya by Outkast the start of the video shows the band preparing for a concert, in a green room etc. Then they are all performing on a stage but it is obviously been set up to recreate something like a concert, you can see the difference between the smiths one and this one. The Smiths one is obviously a real creation with the way its filmed being shots from just within the crowds, and the Outkast one being a recreation and showing families and people at home watching dancing etc.

A narrative music video is a music video which will follow a narrative structure, this can show a story or a visual to what the lyrics mean. Artists someone do this to portray a certain message whether it be personal or political, a lot of them will follow for example a set of characters or one specific person throughout a journey usually relative to the lyrics.



An example of a music video which follows a narrative is Just by Radio head, the music video follows the journey of one man starting from his house where he gets up and gets ready for the day getting dressed etc. It then has cut away's with the band performing in an apartments he eventually starts walking down a street, then we see his emotions change as he stands there in shock and falls to the floor all whilst we hear the lyrics 'You do it to yourself, you do'. A guy trips over him and then they have a conversation but we don't hear it as it all has subtitles whilst Radio head continue playing in the background it carries on the man refusing to say why he is laying on the floor, 'And that's what really hurts is that you do it to yourself' continues to play in the background' 

Interpretive music video are music videos that take a literal expression, the lyrics of the song will compliment what is happening in the video for example if a lyric says 'I fall over' the performer in the music video would literally fall on the floor. An example I found was Rebecca Black- Friday in the video it shows her waking up, getting ready for school and the journey there etc all the time whilst she is singing what exactly is happening '7am waking up in the morning' and we have a zoom in of her alarm clock reading 7am whilst she shoots out of bed.



Surrealist music videos are the ones that will often look abnormal and different, they will be absurd and won't usually follow any kind of narrative having weird imagery that confuses and disorientates viewers at times. They can have an artistic feel to them sometimes looking as though as a piece of art, containing mixes of live footage and animation. 
An example of an absurdist and surreal music video is by the artist Marilyn Manson, it shows him and a variety of people doing odd acts such as people on big stilts with no faces and no hair. Also the people featured all have some kind of props added on to give them a surprising and shocking look to them, odd metal harnesses of types that attach to mouths and body parts as well as neck braces, goggles etc. 




Another example of a music video which could be interpreted as absurd is by Leningrad, a Russian rock band the video shows the events of a circus but it has been done in reverse order and shows all the disaster unravelling and how each thing leads to the other. Apart from being rather brutal and gory it is also absurd, with a tiger eating on a women's leg a mans head being amputated and people dying in brutal ways. The lyrics having little to no correlation with the music video instead singing about a 'tattoo artist' with lyrics such as 'tattoo my eyebrows, tattoo man. In memory of big love' 




Impressionist music videos are done often to give across a certain emotional tone, they're meant to make the audience feel a certain way and will often use abstract and deep shots to bring this theme across. This is instead of using a literal meaning of the lyrics, it makes them seem more artistic such as how it makes the artist feel rather than accurately recording the world itself the style usually focusing on colours, objects and any kind of scenery. An example is the music video Beautiful by Christina Aguilera it features her and various shots of people who could be considered 'different' crying and seeming distressed. The shots are all dimly lit and take place in run down places, the depressing tone of the song almost being shown through the use of the scenery a common theme within impressionist music videos. 



Intertextual music videos are videos which will refer to other subjects either choosing to shed light on a certain subject/product or can have reference to certain films or acts themselves. They can also allude to other media texts such as historical events, a certain character or cultural reference, they can also parody which are often made of existing songs poking fun at the artists song/style. 

Using a certain product or even direct clips from the films themselves this is synergy it uses two or more forms of media to promote something like a film for example a song can be done exclusively for the film. A music video would then be released and will include direct clips from the film, this is done to promote both the artist's song and the film itself, an example is Happy by Pharrell Williams this song was used to promote Despicable Me 2 and in it we see references such as dancing minions the main characters and the voice actors throughout.




Referencing in music videos is when they reference another media text, an event, a person or some other historical or cultural reference, this is similar to an homage or a pastiche they each reference and pay some what of a tribute to something else. A music video that references a music video is Iggy Azalea's Fancy, directly copying scene to scenes from the 1995 teen hit film Clueless. The film being a popular and famous teen rom com of it's time it is still spoken about today and the outfits from the film, being popularised and worn today. 

The main characters in Clueless

Iggy and co star in Fancy music video

A pastiche is the respectful kind mimicry of a particular artist, style, director. It will aim to pay homage to the style, director, artist. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is a mini horror movie the video doesn't just mimic another video, but a whole filmmaking style. The time it was released (1982) films such as Hell of the living dead, An american wearwolf in London, The evil dead and loads of other films containing zombies, gore and other worldly scaring creatures were shown on the big screen. You can see the direct emulation of that style of filmmaking and work I've put in some direct examples of the films and the music video itself to show the correlation. 

Hell of the living dead (1980)

An American Wearwolf in london (19810

Evil Dead (1981)

A parody is very similar to a pastiche but will mimic something in a more funny matter and sometimes pokes more fun at it, mocking the video itself and/or the creator. An example is Blink-182's All The Small Things it parodies popular boy bands and pop music videos, it features them parodying The Backstreet Boys, N'Sync and 98 Degrees as well as parodies of Britney Spears' "Sometimes", and Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle" videos. 

Blink 182

98 Degrees

Backstreet boys

N' Sync

Paying homage is when a band or artist pay's respect to the artists or the directors, they can also pay homage to a film or existing piece of media this makes it very similar to a pastiche and referencing. An example is a music video from the X Factor the finalists done a rendition of Heroes and done it specifically for the charity 'Help For Heroes' the video features all the finalists singing as well as clips of soldiers in the war and the acts themselves meeting and interacting with them. 

Wagner a contestant with a previous soldier

A women soldier at a tribute wall.

Animation music videos are videos which are wholly or partly animated in some way, it is a cheap and more convenient method sometimes as it only takes a software to produce them and you can bend and morph whatever image or creation you want with more creative flow available not having to face any budget issues. It is usually done to make the narrative that is being shown is more interesting and draws in a wider audience, with kids taking an interest in all things animated. An example is Tame Impala with Fells Like We Only Go Backwards, the video looks like it has come from hand drawn pieces and painted work that has then been digitally uploaded the directors are also directors of the popular distorted psychedelic piece 'don't hug me i'm scared' the video reflects the band's 'trippy' and 'psychedelic' like style of their songs.

Screen capture from music video

Screen capture from the music video

There are different types of animation stop motion and digital, the Tame Impala music video is all digital animation whereas other videos use stop motion where parts are live footage and they morph or transform into animation of some kind. An example of this is Bruno Mars- Just The Way You Are he starts by taking the reel out of the tape recorder and moving it around to spell out words and eventually her face and then himself and they start moving his animated character singing along to the song. 

Bruno Mars animated 

The animated piece can be seen in the background.

Techniques 

There are various techniques used within music video productions things such as lip synch, different editing techniques and post production effects. In music videos a video in which the act is performing will usually require the artist to mime the lyrics so they are synched to the track, even sometimes singing them out loud on set. An example of a lip syncing is the music video for Rockstar by Nickelback it features celebrities and members of the public in different locations all lip syncing along to the track this will be done to usually directly promote the band and song.

member of the band kiss 

women standing at the holly wood sign

Sometimes the piece can be sped up or slowed down for various reasons such as having a fast paced video with normal paced audio, this is done by having the artist to sing the song at half of the speed for the video then doubling the footage speed so it synchs up, it can be done to fit in with the lyrics or the beat of the song. An example is A- Punk by Vampire Weekend they have really fast movements but their singing is still synched up to the speed of the song, this gives a fast paced and energetic feel.
















Editing is used in music videos but can sometimes be used to edit things in an interesting way, sometimes even challenging the conventions of a classic continuity a popular one is cutting to the beat it is where shots of the footage are cut to match the beat of the music, it helps establish a rhythm to the edit. 
An example is The White Stripes' Hardest Button To Button every time the drummer in the video hits the drum it is cut along with the drum beat in the song, it also moves forward and has been cut to move to each drum beat.



Post- production effects refers to the use of visual effects in a music video, they're used for a number of reasons can be to enchant and impress the audience into watching it or making it more memorable and stand out from other music videos. You can also attract a wider audience because if the effects are mesmerising or iconic people who don't particularly like the song or artist could still choose to watch due to the visuals. An example of a music video which has a large amount of post-production effects is E.T by Katy Perry for the first half she is portrayed as an alien like figure obviously CGI imputed and it's been transformed to sing along with the track. The song being about an Extra Terrestrial being it makes sense that the whole video takes place in space, effects such as space ships, planets and moving robotic things, the music video won the MTV award for Best Special Effects in 2011 so it is clear the reception and production was well received. 

CGI robot and background 

CGI spaceship with Kayne in.

The purpose of music videos

Introduction.

This essay is going to be discussing the purpose of music videos and the function of them, the first start of music videos was in 1941 when clubs and bars in the USA had the Panoram which was a jukebox started playing video clips along with the music, then came music centered films such as Elvis' famous Rock Around the Clock. The essay will inform you of the history of music videos, promotion the artists and directors do, strategies, synergistic marketing and why they're so popular. 

Certain music videos can be made to promote the artist directly like they are a brand and they're advertising them, for example if a band is just starting out and it is their first music video they will most likely go down the 'promotion of artist' lane. By having the artist in the video it promotes their name, style and brand as well as the song they act as a product of the brand in the hope that the audience will "buy into the brand" artists usually having a consistent image across all of their platforms.


An example is a music video by the band 'The Smiths' in which is features the whole band playing the instruments on a stage, they're also performing in front of a live audience. The camera as well as just filming the band shoots the audience and shows young girls waving their arms around and dancing/singing along this is promoting them as well as the fan base, the song done was also the single from their new album. 

Directors of the music video themselves can be promoted by a certain auteur style that they have, Michel Gondry is a famous example of a music video director who promotes himself through them. He has a certain style usually involving people as props or almost visual pieces of art that are made almost like a film instead of promoting the music itself, starting off with music videos he has then since gone on to direct movies with a similar style.  An example of is the Bjork video for human behavior it has his name at the start and is very visual with props and green screen being used to create an almost different universe within the music video. His feature length film The Science of Sleep is definitely a promotion of him as a auteur with a lot of visuals such as big props and an almost 'trippy' look and feel to it, he is now well known within the industry with a lot of bands requesting him to direct their videos. 

There are various different strategies when it comes to producers, certain artists can be produced and marketed differently dependent on the level of fame and target audience. In major music labels such as Universal Music Group who have labels such as Capitol music group, Def Jam Recordings, Republic Records anymore. These labels contain big branded artists such as Katy Perry, 5SOS, Justin Bieber, Kayne West, Ariana Grande, and many other big name artists. These artists are all mainstream artists so will be marketed in a different clean, professional way this is due to the demographic they are targeted towards usually being the mainstream pop young adult audience. Some have spent years building a certain image and music videos are a major part of it, an artist like Ariana Grande starting off on a Nickelodeon TV Show a majority of her audience came from there her music videos are very high production usually including choreography a convention of a mainstream artist and will have an over the top finish to them. 

Producing strategies will differ with artists and labels, for example an independent band or artist will have a completely different music video mainly due to not having money for a large production therefore releasing music videos which are paid for by their independent record labels. Because of this artists are free to venture out more from a polished look and it can promote them more individually than just a glossy professional image, an example is Chance the rapper who has been approached by executives across the industry who wanted to sign him he sticks with Sound Cloud it being a free platform to release his music on. In the caption of his first music video on youtube it says
 'Download The Album "#10Day" for Free here: http://goo.gl/PlViD
Order "Hey Ma" Tee's here: http://shopchancetherapper.com/
@ChanceTheRapper
Directed by @AustinVesely'

current views for Work music video

Another reason music videos are produced and made is for an extension of income for the artist and the record label, every time a song is played the artist and label will receive royalties and payment for the use of their song. If a music video is made to accompany the song when it is watched the artist will in theory receive a payment in the form of royalties, its in theory because it's near impossible to be able to track the consumption of every music video, this means mainstream artists will tend to top the charts because of the radio play received due to popularity in general. In 2016 top artists Rhianna and Drake released a music video for the song 'Work' generating 13.5 million in just 24 hours the song remained at number-one on the Hot 100 for nine consecutive week. This makes it harder for independent artists to rely heavily on media outlets to get their songs heard and brand recognized, YouTube is now a popular place where bands will start out it having a wide reach to the majority of the population using social media. 

the vevo website, showing all new
music video releases for it.

 
There are several media outlets and platforms which allow us access to music videos, they are vastly growing due to the easy and free access they give to fans and audiences. The main one around today is YouTube hosting channels such as VEVO which give access to artists music videos, and also behind the scene things and exclusives. A lot of artists began to release their products on YouTube before releasing them on TV because of the wide reach, also a lot do countdown specials to the music video release this creates hype around it. The second biggest platform music videos are shown on is music channels such as MTV, launching in 1981 and broadcasting music videos daily and having exclusives now they are more  reality show based by music video channels still exist like 'The Box' 'Starz' 'Kerrang' and 'Scuz'  The big platform reach will come at a cost as they must give the outlet a certain percentage to have a place on their platform it means all the money it makes from being distributed will not all go to the record label. 




Synergy in media refers to the promotion and selling of a product, through existing products through licensing deals. Walt Disney being the most famous one when he granted other companies the rights to use Mickey Mouse in various products, now we can see him on clothing, accessories and even other films. An example I found is the song Mad World originally performed by Tears for Fears director Richard Kelly commissioned Michael Andrews to compose it and had Gary Jules sing it. It was completely remade and bought out as a single before the films release to create hype and promote the artist and film, also Michel Gondry director we spoke about earlier directed the video. Synergistic marketing is so popular because of how it can benefit everyone involved if well done, those featured will get promotion while those who own the product get advertising and association with a popular brand or artist.

I think music videos are so popular and are growing rapidly because of the various platforms they are viewed on and it what context, more and more artists are releasing them with bigger production values and are advertising them before they are even released. With Youtube, Twitter and Facebook allowing them to be viewed for free and easily, they're reaching a wider audience and are creating a trend for them. They also create an almost piece of art for the artist that creates a brand and insight for the fans with artists having visual artists such as Beyonce with Lemonade she dropped the album as "a conceptual project based on every woman’s journey of self knowledge and healing" it has sold 1.52 million copies in the US, making it the country's third-best-selling album of the year.