Ident and Title Sequence Evaluations

Raymond Family Production Ident

I wanted to create an ident that expressed the kind of productions I usually make. After throwing out a few ideas I decided that I wanted to include some real life footage, because I usually make documentaries. I looked into some of my well known idents, such as 'Paramount' and 'A very good production'. I realised whilst researching that most idents have a fan fare or soundtrack that they are recognised by, I then decided to use a short piano piece on my ident to denote that my company was proffesional. I then decided that to finish my piece of I wanted to create something to include, so i started playing around on photoshop. I managed to pick out a tree, and turn it into a silouhette with a sunset behind it. With the company having the word "family" in it, I wanted the tree to resemble a sort of family tree for the audience to connect with.  If I was to create the ident again, I think that I would change the name on the ident to 'Raymond Family House Productions" Because having the 'A' to introduce the production company as it is in the clip, only allows the ident to be placed in front of a movie piece, and I wanted my ident to seem much more diverse.

Tv/Film Ident research

A TV/Film ident usually lasts around 30 seconds, and are considered as short artistic films, used to hook the audience in by appealing to their sight and sound senses. In the 1950's, when the BBC started using idents in between their programs, the ident would be simple, in black and white and last around 5 seconds. However idents have now developed in productions, for example the new channel 4 ident. developed by Rudd Studios in the summer of 2012, is a clever artistic way of keeping the same logo, but looking at it from different angles. The progress of the idents also reflects the way that the channels have grown and developed.

Many of the most memorable and successful logo ident originate from Hollywood, including Warner Brothers - The WB shield, Paramount - Majestic Mountain and 20th Century Fox - The searchlight logo.
A Hollywood logo is always recognisable because it includes a massive landmark or something familiar to the audience. It also sells the idea of stardom and excitement, by including a trademark fanfare and lots of flashing lights and stars. Another factor that differentiates the Hollywood logos from others, is the dominant
camera angles. The main logo is shown from a low point of view, this demonstrates to the audience that the production company are in control, and that viewers should sit back and trust that the film will be good because that prestigious company is involved.
 The dreamworks "boy on the moon" is another Hollywood logo, however this one uses different techniques to hook the audience. Using a small child rather than the more well know myth of "man on the moon" alongside a lullaby soundtrack, encourages audiences of all ages to relate to the child-driven movies that are usually produced by DreamWorks. This logo had also been developed for different movies, for example, at the beginning of each of the 'Shrek' movies, the three little pig characters push the fishing boy off of the moon and take his place. This shows how the logo relates to the films that the company produces.
 When artist Robert Hunt was asked to create the logo, he was told to make it "reminiscent of Hollywood's golden age" by director Steven Spielberg, I think that Spielberg wanted to keep the old Hollywood glamour theme in with the new simple and clean idea. Hunt acheived this with the bold font and small fanfare in the middle of the lullaby sequence, I feel that this ident is really iconic because of the hollywood factors that it captures.

Aardman Animations

 This Aardman film logo was shown at the beginning of each of Aardmans productions including "Wallace and Grommit - the curse of the were-rabbit" and "Project Zoo". It ws also used at the beggining of Aardman sponsored video games such as 'Chicken run'.

 This logo/ident id a personal favourite of mine because it includes aspects of the Hollywood logos, whilst still maintaining an independent theme. The ident lasts for only nine seconds, and shows off a variety of comically simple animation, including trees, a running box man, clockworks, cars, fish and a number of other random objects. I think this shows that Aardman Animations is very diverse and therefore this ident speaks volumes about the company.

 An aspect of the Hollywood logos that this logo/ident carries, is the iconic fanfare used in successful logos such as Paramounts and Columbia pictures, this fanfare adds to the comic book nature of the ident and increases the impact of the logo. Created in 1998, this logo was the second of the Aardman idents, replacing the original one that was created when the company started in 1972. I think that the second ident shows how the company have developed as an animation studio and found a genre of films they excell in creating. this is also shown in the playfullness of the 1998 logo, compared to the slightly creepy and dark animations featured in the original logo.

 Thames Television

This is the Thames Television ident from 1976, it features many iconic landmarks from London, including St Paul's cathedral and London bridge.
 Thames television started as a licensee for the ITV and it predominantly covered the area of London and the surrounding counties.
 Thames was involved in creating television shows that were broadcasted around the nation but were mainly in charge of the TV that created the local network.
This ident is a re-design of the 1969 Thames ident, adjusted only slightly to remove the rippling water reflection that viewers felt was slightly scary. I think that Thames removed the 'Scary' aspect of their ident because they wanted to be seen as a professional, serious and enjoyable for everyone.  The soundtrack to this ident logo is a creation by musician Johnny Dankworth called 'The Thames theme' and is very British sounding, for example it is similar to the soundtrack that was used previously for the BBC news.
 The font used matches the professional approach that the visual enforces, using a bold and simple typeface really enhances the overall feeling of the ident. I personally do not like this ident because I feel it is typically dated with the bad qaulity footage.

Dexter Opening Sequence

'Dexter' is a television series that was first aired on the Showtime network on October 1st 2006. Developed by James Manos Jnr, 'Dexter' is now on its sixth season.
 The title sequence for "Dexter" was created in part by creative director Eric Anderson. In an interview for Artofthetitle.com, Anderson said "We then started examining normal everyday things that could be seen as horrific...". I think that this quote sums up the basis of the entire title sequence. Throughout the sequence, we watch as Dexter gets ready for day, however the things he does coupled with the splatters of blood, quick cuts, dominant angles and slightly ominous music, makes the whole thing seem a little more threatening. Although there is no directed reference to the actual TV series, apart from including the main character, the aesthetics of the room he is in create the feeling of a crime scene. This crime scene relates to Dexter’s job of a crime scene detective/serial killer.

" Its Nice That" - Ski Slope Documentary Evaluation

At the start of this project we were given a brief. Included in this brief was the link to the infamous blog "Its Nice That" and we were asked to chose a piece of work that had been featured on the site that would  inspire us to create our own piece of work. I chose to use a small trailer for a film called "Colony" because it inspired me to create something that I was passionate about and wanted to share with an audience.

 From the start I was very sure that I wanted to create a documentary, to mirror the concept of 'Colony' but with a subject that was personal to me. I first thought about the things that were important to me, for example, my family; friends;snowboarding;pets;work etc. and after planning out a few ideas I realised that I could combine many of the personal aspects of my life together in one.
 I work at the Plymouth Ski Slope, which is in dire need of repair. The slope means alot to me and my friends and without it I would not be able to continue working and snowboarding. This brought me to the idea of an advert (much like the 'trailer' form of 'Colony') for the Ski Slope, asking the viewers to support it and visit to help raise some repair money.
 I started to look at some appeal adverts, such as the 'wateraid' adverts asking for donations. Although I found these helpful to get some techniques on appealing to the audience, I felt that they were too heart-rendering to take too much inspiration from as I wanted my advert to be slightly upbeat.
 I drew out a basic storyboard for the ad, and tried to include many parts of the slope that needed repair as well as the costumers and instructors having fun to show audiences why and who they needed help. I also wrote out a risk assessment because of the dangerous nature of snowboarding and skiing, I was considerate of the risk of having equipment out on the actual slope alongside people having lessons.
 I filmed the footage on an A1 camera, and used a tripod for most of the shots. I also decided to use a mini MuviGumBall camera to capture some onboard footage from some more advanced skiiers. It took around 3 days to take all of the footage as there was some issues with light and glare from the floodlights around the slope. I countered this problem by checking the sunset times to ensure I had plenty of time to film in the day.
 I uploaded the footage onto a computer, ready to start the edit. Unfortunately due to an error by a previous user, the camera had dirt inside of it and most of my footage hadn't been captured correctly. This meant that I was left with a small percentage of the footage I had filmed and had to create an ad using the remaining things I had left.
 I was able to create a fairly decent ad, and I feel like I conveyed the need of the slope and appealed to the audience. However I was dissapointed that piece wasnt as good as it could have been, I would have like to include the small interviews with instructors to convey the feeling of an appeal. I think that the lack of this personal insight restricted the connection that the audience made with the piece.
 If I could have used all of the footage I had captured, I feel that the ad would have been much more successful, due to lack of time however I was unable to re-shoot the footage that was lost.

"Its Nice That' Planning and Pre-production

Treatment - Plymouth Ski Slope documentary
We open on a low shot, the side of a dry ski slope is visible, and a skier is slowing coming towards the camera on a lift. The words "A Portrait" appear in bold white writing, close to the skiers feet. Emotive music starts as the words fade and the skier moves out of frame.
 We then move to a time lapse of multiple skiers moving up the lift, and exiting onto a fully visible ski slope. They move in a comic way as they wait for their friends to re-group, they then move off onto the slope and disappear from view. More skiers replace them, the slope is fairly busy. We can also see lots of grass, and untidy work equipment on the each side of the slope, the feeling is run-down.
 As the music picks up, we then start to see other parts of the ski slope area, the shots move in time to the music in a rhythm. We see part of the beginners slope, and a sign that proclaims 'Skiers and Snowboarders only beyond this point" This is a learner slope. We see a tyre left lying on the slope, this enforces a feeling of run-down and not looked after. The shot changes so a sign for "the cresta run" comes into view, and we see a bin and an old shed with broken equipment in it. We move back to the low shot of the lift, this time with no one on it, the matting is worn and mossy. A close up view of the "end of run" sign is shown, the writing is fading and the sign is torn. The music becomes more upbeat and we see a pair of ski's moving, a close up of a snow-boarder sorting out his shoes and board. As the music gets even faster we swap to a shot of some freestyle snowboarding, groups of people playing around with ramps and rails. We see one is an instructor, and the shot switches to multiple shots of instructors completing daily tasks such as changing into uniform, completing level cards and checking the diary for lesson times. As the music slows down again, we watch as people par-take in lessons with instructors on what appears to be a zigzag path and also the main slope. The shot then moves inside to the 'lodge'. We see instructors again, showing the costumers how to set up ski's, they laugh and joke with the young children. The music slows and fades, we listen as the instructors speak to each other and the camera about how the slope needs help. "less people with money to spend on hobbies" and "slope needs upkeep" are some sentences that are worded. We then see costumers, talking about the brilliant qaulity of the instructors and about how the slope needs to promote more to encourage people up.
  The music then picks up again and we see more costumers having lessons and using the slope, some are well practiced and some need more help. As the pace of the music quickens the shot moves again to freestyle and we see instructors showing people how to use the rails.
 We then see a final long shot of the main lodge, and the view from the high parts of the slope. In bold white writing we see the words "Help support your local ski slope in 2012" the music and words fade out together and the scene ends.

Risk Assesment

Risk - Snowboarders could fall and hit the camera and risk possible injury to themselves and also damage equipment and injure crew members.
Likelyhood - Is possible but unlikely as sportsmen feature are of advanced levels and in control.
Prevention of risk - Ensure all particpants know where the cameras are, and reduce risk of a crash by keeping cameras an appropriate distance away from freestyle features and lessons.

Risk - Sport is exhausting, participants could risk overheating and fainting.
Likelyhood - Participants are usually aware of how much fluid they need to consume.
Prevention of risk - Make sure that water is readily available and breaks are taken regularly.

Risk - Filming outside could pose a potential risk because of changeable weather. Equipment could get wet or overheat.
Likelyhood - Possible put easily prevented.
Prevention of risk - check weather on the day of filming, take appropriate covers. Allow time for the camera to be switched off and put away at points during the day to prevent overheating in a hot sun.

Risk - Filming takes place in a situation where children are present. Parents might not be comfortable with their children being filmed.
Likelyhood - Very likely
Prevention of Risk - Check before hand which parents would be ok with their children being filmed, ask them to sign a consent form. If not, blur the childrens faces out or do not include them in the filming of scenes.

"Its Nice That"

"Its Nice That has one main mission in life - to champion great creativity" is the first sentence that a viewer would read on the 'about' page on itsnicethat.com. Founded in April 2007 by Will Hudson, "Its Nice That' is a worldwide blog and magazine that features creative pieces of work from artists and filmakers from everywhere and anywhere. Hudson first created the blog as "a platform for him to record and document his love of the creative industry..." and I think that even at a quick glance of the quantity of high standard work featured on the website, it is easy to tell that director Hudson is very involved and passionate about the arts. He was joined the following year by Alex Bec, a friend who he had already established successful blog 'if you could' with. Bec reinforced Hudson's love to explore the independant arts and helped to promote "Its Nice That" turning it into a global platform.
 We were asked to find a video or piece of work that inspired us to create our own "Its Nice That" piece, and develop our ideas into a short video that was creative. After watching an exensive amount of videos, and looking at multiple works, I came across a trailer for a movie that had been posted assistant online editor Bryony Quinn - http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/colony. The feature film 'Colony' documents the lives of bee keepers in America. The focus of the film is on the Seppi Family, and shows their way of life with the bees, and how when the 80 million Bees disappeared, their whole lifestyle did too.  Out of all of the art peices, I liked this one and it stood out to me because of it's hard hitting and very personal content.

Video Takeaway Evaluation

"Video takeaway" was a new concept to me. I had not previously heard of a project that was as artistic and unusual as this one. The basic idea was to create a short piece to be shown in takeaways across Plymouth designed to fit the "context of the host takeaways".  We were given a brief that was inspired by this project and asked to create our own version of a video takeaway.
 After looking at the brief I immediately decided that to create a piece that would suit the project, I needed to be creative. It was specified in the brief that the piece should ideally be short and silent but still hold the viewers attention whilst they waited for their food, so I started to plan out some idea's that could be relevant.

 My first idea was to use a variety of still images depicting different foods that could have been served in the various takeaways, I wanted to feature these images all cut up into pieces to provoke thoughts from the viewers and therefore "allowing them to create their own meaning" - Hillary Lawson. The pieces would appear slowly on the screen in a random pattern and encourage the viewers to guess what the item of food was, it would not always be the obvious answer and provide an entertaining wait.

 This idea however seemed too complicated to produce with the issue of trying to make some food resemble others and also seemed like it could be a little bit tedious to show to the adult audience as the concept was more a child's game. Instead I decided to explore other ways of presenting food. I had previously completed a pixilation (stop-motion) project and so started to experiment with different movements in a comic way.

 I decided that instead of being a random collection of food moving, I would try to tell a short story. I wanted to use a Chinese theme because I think that a Chinese is what comes to peoples minds when you say "takeaway".

 I drew out a storyboard that included noodles because I felt that this was a traditional Chinese food. The storyboard shows the journey of a "noodle cruise" which sets sail into a sea of knives and forks, it crashes into a plastic cup ice-berg and sinks, losing its noodles and oars. I think that this was a good idea and it fit the brief because it was comic, short and needed no sound for narration.

Come to ours description of the real video takeaway - http://cto.independentplymouth.info/video-takeaway

"Come to Ours" - Video Takeaway

Video takeaway was a project devised by a group of independent artist called "come to ours". It was aimed to make use of the city's spaces and appeal to customers and staff at takeaways. 'Come to ours' chose two of their favourite takeouts in Plymouth and on two existing TV screens, presented an array of short films and animations from independent and student filmmakers from around the world.

 A short brief was posted by the artists collection on criticalnetwork.co.uk, detailing how the short film work should appear, and what specifics needed to be included. It also outlines details on how to post the video to 'come to ours' vimeo page.

 Some of the specifics include that the film must be filmed in a 4:3 format, and be silent. They also stated that the piece should be "made for the specific context of a TV monitor in a takeaway (or existing works that would be interesting to be seen in this context)". The only piece of advice the collective gave was to try and limit the amount of time the piece runs for, as a longer piece might become less interesting than quick, snappy works.

 I think this brief was perfect for what 'come to ours' were trying to achieve because it outlined the exact audience they wanted to target, and also let the filmmakers know clearly what the expected. These elements all constitute a good brief.

Video painting is a form of expressive video art, a relatively new concept that is now being showcased in galleries around the world. The concept is to present footage on a LCD screen or projected onto a wall, framed like a real painting.

 In 2001, a philosopher named Hillary Lawson played around with the idea of footage. A documentary filmaker himself, Lawson wanted to explore the idea of film having no real meaning and so set up a motionless camera so as not to introduce meaning, and left it rolling for a few minutes. After looking at the footage he decided that he was captivated by the idea and spent the next few years exloring the idea further.

 "A video painting constitutes a motionless image, with no dialouge and no sound, and allows each viewer to create their own meaning, rather than a meaning that has been played out to them".

ED Ident Evaluation

At the beginning of this project I was unaware of the work and planning that went into creating the perfect ident for TV channels and other similar projects. It was interesting to be introduced to idents for the first time, having not previously had experience creating them, and I was excited to start a new challenge.
 We started to do research on the different types of ident, such as the BBC's old and new creations by Martin Lambie-Nairn, and also other TV channels such as E4 and Channel 4. We looked into the reasons behind the styling of each ident, and how the colour, soundtrack, movement represented the channel it was advertising. We also looked into the cost of producing an ident, and further into how Lambie-Nairn changed the BBC ident from italic to straight boxes to save almost 1/3 of the cost each year.

 When we were given the brief to create an ident for our ND television and film course to encourage school leavers to apply for a place at PCA, we had to plan what we wanted our ident to advertise about the course. Working together with Tash, we decided that the main aspect of the course that appealed to us when we first applied was that the course wasn't just for people who already knew everything about cameras and film, but for people who wanted to learn those things as the course progressed. So we started to look into various existing course ident such as the popular animation ident for a year 1 course in Birmingham that was circulated on youtube.com. We didnt get much in the form of inspiration from our search so we started to list all of the pro's of the course. Eventually we came to the decision that we wanted to include everyone from the group in the ident, to enhance the feeling of "Everyone is welcome" and set about creating a storyboard.    

 At first we wanted to have each person say one word about the course, but as we realised that this might not make sense, we changed the idea. Instead we decided on a pre-written paragraph that was created with the help of some words chosen by members of the class, read out by a few people at a time and filmed in different parts of the college. We wanted to paragraph to be short and snappy, but grab peoples attention at the same time, so we decided on a few short words such as "creative" and "imaginative" and then go more in depth about who we are as people and why we enjoy the course. After giving our pitch to Tim, he asked us some questions and challenged us to think about why we had chosen to present the course like we did. He also gave us some advice on who should say what and where we should place them to give maximum effect.

 During filming we changed some of our plans last minute because we came across a few problems with sound being recorded and timing with a few groups, to counter the problems we simply got the groups to practice counting to three and then saying the words together. It took around an hour to film all of the Ident, I think this is a relatively short production time but because the idea was so simple, it didnt take very long for us to get a few takes of each part. When we started to edit we realised that we should have left a few seconds on either side of the speaking, to ensure we could have edited each piece together easily. Because of this the editing is a little jumpy and not as smooth as we wanted it to be.

 If I was to re-film this ident I would leave enough time to edit and also would have tried to include more people from the group in the ident. Overall I really enjoyed learning about the work that goes into idents, and feel that our ED Ident really expressed the course well, and showed what we had learnt from the research that we had looked at.

ED Ident Pitch

Pitch
We showed our idea to Tim with a thought-out storyboard, we also had page of notes with the words and shots we wanted to include in our 10 second video.
 The idea was to shoot lots of different people from our class, each saying what they felt about the course and how it had helped them. We wanted the end shot to be the whole class, with the tag line of "this is what we do" designed to inspire younger teenagers to try something for themselves.
 After talking to Tim about our idea, he showed us how to time-line our project, and also gave us some advice to make the words quicker therefore allowing us to add more in and make the video snappy.
 He also gave us some ideas on how to include different people from the group, and where we should place them for filming, this encouraged us to think more about how we wanted to film to look in each part, rather than as a whole.
 We wanted to create this ident, including everyone from our class, to promote the fact that anyone with a good portfolio can get onto this course, no matter what their personal interests are, everyone is welcome.

Ident - BBC four

Self described as "Intelligent televison', BBC four was launched in March 2002 as an alternative to mainstream TV channels. Broadcasting for ten hours a day, between the hours of 7pm - 4am, BBC four was designed to produce a very vast variety of more cultrally enriching programs such as documentarys, opera shows, art and science programs and more. BBC 4 was marketed as a considered and diverse channel with the tag-line "A place to think'.

 The Ident for this channel really incorporates the tagline into the enviroment they create within the short, serene like adverts. The BBC 4 logo is featured at the beggining of each ident, the original small black box with white writing showing B.B.C and in large 'four' is written below it. They show small clips of relaxing things, such as the sky, waterfalls, library's which really enhance the thought of 'thinking'. These idents reflect the Channels target audience, which lies around the middle-age+ market.

Ident - E4

Launched in January 2001, E4 is the 'sister channel' to Channel 4, created to be a companion for the already popular TV channel. E stands for entertainment and E4 was devised to appeal to the 'lucrative 15-35 age group' that Channel 4 was otherwise forgetting with some older generation programs. It also allowed the Channel to feature some American import tv such as 'Gilmore Girls' and 'Desperate housewives'
The E4 Idents are always recognisable because every single one includes the colour purple. The E4 logo is also very prominent in each Ident, it starts off small, and then takes over the whole screen. Within each 10-14 second clip, a vast variety of random things happen in a random location. This reflects the kind of programs that E4 feature on the channel, and also the target audience. By using musical techno sounds within the ident combined with artsy and imaginative visuals, a teenage/young adult audience is captured. 
  The E4 logo also incorporates the famous '4' from Channel 4, allowing viewers to know that they are channels run by the same company, and with the reputation that Channel 4 has, viewers can see that E4 will also be new and innocative, creating programs for the majority and minority of viewers.

Ident - Channel four

Channel four was created in November 1982, specifically to cater to a minority audience and to take risks. Channel four do not create any of their own programs, realistically they are a commissioning house, designed to show creative and diverse programs.

Channel four ident 1982

 The first Channel four ident was created by Martin Lambie-Nairn in '82. Lambie-Nairn had to travel to America so he could use the computer technology that allowed him to create the logo that "became regarded as a revolutionary identity for Channel four."

Channel four ident 2011

 The basic four that Lambie-Nairn designed roughly around 28 years ago, is still prominent in the Channel four idents today, however the new idents include artsy, specific pictures in the background which represents the nature of the Channel.
 The idents are a 'film' that includes the logo, and are more animated that the orignial one but are less recognisable as animation, they are more interesting, daring and entertaining.

Mind Map/Planning for "The walk" - Take two

Storyboard

Mind Map and short plans

Treatment part 1

Treatment part 2

Risk assesment

Mind Map/Planning for "The walk" Original Idea

Mind Map

Storyboard page 1

Storyboard page 2

Storyboard page 4

Storyboard page 3

Song-timings

Music video 6 - Video which includes band/artists in a creative way

'Brave bulging buoyant clairvoyants' - Wild beasts
Wild beasts are an indie rock band from Kendal, England. Established in 2002 by Hayden Thorpe and Ben Little were signed by Bad Sneakers Records in August 2006, two years after drummer Chris Bert joined them. In 2005, Tom Flemming joined as bassist therefore completing the band.

  'Brave bulging buoyant clairvoyants' was first released in 2006 with Band sneakers records, and then again in 2008 with Domino records, which the band signed with in February 2007. The second version of the music video if very different from the first, although both feature the band in a performance, the more modern second video is much more technical and artistic. The music video, directed by OneInThree, features members of the band spiraling in photo frames, the frames change every couple of sentences and the scenery in the background also changes. The video uses a very complicated technique named the 'Droste effect'.

 I think that the Wild beasts chose to re-release the song with this video because they wanted to re-invented themselves as a more modern group with a more interesting group. The song was released for the second time to coincide with their tour with 'Foals'.

Music video 5 - Abstract representation of Music score

'Grindin' - Nobody beats the drum
'Grindin' is a stop motion animation by Rogier van der zwaag, a director and animator.
Zwaag, who is co-founder of production company 'Nobody beats the drum' Originating from Amsterdam in Holland, they have created many music videos, but 'Gridin' was one of their first real challenging stop motion videos.

 The video includes a good representation of the musical score, for example, the blocks change size and colour when the pace of the music changes, they also move around in time to beat giving the viewer something to focus on. Because the music is slightly repetitive, Zwaag was clever in how he made the blocks fit the music so that the viewers do not get bored.

 Zwaag takes a prominent role in the production team by being part of the "collective and (I) make all the visuals." and he wanted to take on the challenge of creating a music video using just a camera and hundreds of building blocks. During the comic video 'The making of grindin' that's featured on the teams vimeo page, Rogier is shown as a passionate film-maker who slowly goes crazy over making his video and although its a slight tease at zwaag, it also demonstrates how much planning and work has to go into a project like that for it to work.

Music video 4 - Video as parody, reference or homage

Reference - To refer. 

Parody -  A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.

Homage - a public show of respect or honor towards someone or something.

 In the music video genre, there are many examples that illustrate each of these sub-genres.

Reference

Marilyn

Madonna

A particularly well-known 'reference' is Madonna's 'Material Girl' that includes a large amount of similarities with Marilyn Monroe's 'Diamonds are a girls best friend'. Both are an example of a music video that reflects the artist and features them in a performance. There are many similarity's between the two and it is clear that Madonna wanted to reflect Marilyn, for example: They both wear pink dresses and fancy jewelery, and also are both performing on a stage with stairs and with male dancers who are wearing suits.
 Another comparison is the beat and pace of the song. Madonna's 'Material girl' was confirmed to be a mimicry of Monroe's hit from the 1953 film 'Gentlemen prefer blondes' and reports also claimed that she had created the video to seem as powerful and elegant as Monroe therefore "promoting Madonna's image". (wiki) Madonna also claimed that she was "curious" of Marilyn Monroe's "sexuality..that I can relate to". I think that this statement shows that she was striving to be as good as a previous star, and by creating a music video that contained large amounts of reference from a different famous video, she herself would gain more popularity like Marilyn did.


Parody
 A more recent parody is the 2010 "overnight Internet sensation" spoof of 'Empire state of mind' is the Welsh hit 'Newport state of mind' which features actors singing about the love they have for their home town, another comparison is also the visual for example: the collection of photographs of the cities, which both including a bull statue, buildings and general sights. Director M-j Delaney was a fan of the original song, and the idea for a spoof came around whilst she was with two of her friends. They wrote it as a joke but Delaney claims she wanted it to be a "celebration, something the people of Newport could enjoy"(BBC interview July 2010). Starring Alex Warren and Terema Wainwright, the parody follows the exact same melody as Jay-z and Alicia's 2009 3x platinum hit but with the lyrics changed to comic information about Newport, Wales. After posting the song on YouTube, the song received over 500,000 hits in the first few days and Warren states in BBC news interview just a few days after the video went global,"we weren't expecting that at all, we could never have predicted it". 

New York

Newport

Although some press releases have described it as a "tribute" to the original song, all involved agreed that it is supposed to be a parody and "a gentle ribbing of Newport, not designed to be harsh, but funny instead".

Homage

In March 2011, Chris brown released his new album 'F.A.M.E' that contained the single 'She ain't you'. Brown used this single to pay tribute to Micheal Jackson, who passed away the year before, by putting a small quote - "Dedicated to my biggest inspiration of all time, I love you, R.i.p Micheal..", at the beginning of his video. The viewers then see Brown dressed in an 80's suit, much alike the one that Jackson wore in the hit 'Smooth criminal', he also includes some famous Jackson moves in his modern choreography.

  During the song, Jackson's 1983 single 'Human Nature' is sampled as the background melody, mixed in with a few new instruments to give the song a fresh twist. "Browns new video is the ultimate nod to the late ledgend"- (http://blog.music.aol.com/chrisbrownjackson), this is clear because of the obvious attempt to re-create Jacksons dance moves and the heartfelt message at the start of the official video.

  Brown notes that Jackson was "his inspiration to become a performer" and it is clear the Brown really looked up to the "King of pop", at the 2010 beta awards CBS news reported that after Brown paid tribute by singing 'Man in the mirror' on stage, he got "Emotional almost immediatly after the song started" (cbsnews.com), I think this really shows that Brown wanted to make his idol proud, and he did this by creating a video that reflected Micheal, but also showed what he could create by himself.

Music Video 3 - Video director as "Auteur"

James Houston - 'Big ideas: Don't get any'
 In James Houston's last year as a graphic design student at Glasgow School of Art, world renowned English rock band 'Radiohead' posted an online competition, encouraging people to remix the song "Nude" from their 2007 album 'In rainbows'. Houston, entered the competition as part of his final project and what he created was "All kinds of amazing"- (Shapeandcolour.wordpress.com)
 Basing his idea on lyrics taken from the song, he decided to wire old computer parts together to recreate and mix-up the song. He used a Sinclair ZX Spectrum for the Guitars (rhythm & lead); An Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer for the Drums; A HP Scanjet 3c as the Bass Guitar and a Hard Drive array that acted as a collection of bad speakers to represent the Vocals and FX - (http://www.youtube.co/watch?v=pmfHHLfbjNQ)
 Houston describes it "doesn't sound great, its not supposed to" on his YouTube channel, where the video has received over 730,000 hits. I think that the video reflects James's take on the whole competition, he saw it as a joke but a challenge that he wanted to set himself. Houston, being a last year university student, had total control over what went into his video, this is common when it comes to being a director.
  Depending on the circumstance of the Music video, whether its Hollywood or low budget, a director almost always has the final call on everything. A case study from the Guerillas film makers movie blueprint (Chris Jones 2003 continuum books), on director Julian Richards (Summer scars) outlines the responsibility that a director has and with that comes power. "Unstoppable" is the word that he uses to describe himself, and he illustrates that the more you become involved in every little process from the script writing to the casting of the actors the more a director can familiarise themselves with the crew and therefore allows them to take charge more. By working closely with every department, a director can oversee everything and give their own opinions also. Chris Jones also writes "Lead, don't rule".

Music Video 2 - Video which reflects the image of the group/artist/act

Moderat - Rusty nails
" Rusty nails" is an electronic performance video and is a collaboration of Modeselektor and Apparat, together they make Moderat.
 Founded in 2002 in Berlin, Germany, Moderat is an electronic music project. After creative disagreements they finally released their first full length album in 2009, seven years after their first EP. Since then, they have toured Europe and released several other singles that were worked on during their tour, in which they played mainly at festivals.
 Rusty nails is a contemporary, non linear music video "its not a film, it has no narration" that explores the use of camera effects rather than using computer software to enhance the video in post production. This is a common trait within Moderats music videos, and the outcome is simple yet beautifully effective visuals. By using these simple uncommon ideas, the listener is drawn to the music and whilst not being distracted from the sound by a bright and crowded video they can appreciate the sound and yet still be visually stimulated by what they are seeing - "we just wanted more space in the music".
 Moderats passion for creating computer based sound technology is reflected in all of their music videos, and also the press reports on their website. They describe themselves not as artists but "three producers" that use the moderat studio as "a playground where we can live everything out."
 The music video itself is representative of not only them but also their lifestyles, and the logo of the band is prominent throughout the video, as well as some cult symbols. This could show that they are trying to appeal to smaller, more defined group of listeners rather than the whole general public - "I hope it effects people, gets under their skin."
 In conclusion, this music video was to promote Moderat as producers and essentially filmmakers as well, not for commercial gain and popularity.

Roles in the industry - Set designer

A set designer is, in basic, an architect who draws out and helps to create each structure or space that is required for a project, a set designer is also sometimes know as a production designer.
 Work begins in the basic stages of the planning for the project and a set designer must work with the director to understand what environment the director has envisioned for each scene. They must then communicate their ideas to props, make up and costume design so that everything is in keeping with the whole feeling of the scene.
 A set designer also has the task of working out where lighting structures are able to be placed, they must allow room in their designs to accommodate the amount of equipment that the crew will have to bring into the space. Another obstacle that a designer will face is the budget and although the money given for sets is usually quite high, the materials that may need to be purchased are quite costly and the designer must work out how much money they will spend on each scene. They can then work out if any parts of one set can be used in multiple scenes to cut costs.

Example of a scale model.

 The set designer must then start to plan exactly what the sets will look like by drawing out a storyboard, scene by scene they draw the background in great detail, and then work with props to add in any items that will be included in the design. The designer then shows these carefully drawn pictures to the director for any changes to be made. Once the director and producers have given their input and the drawings are complete, the designer must then start to build and photograph scale models to work out the dimensions of a set.
 The set designers final job is to oversee the building and decoration of every set that is needed, they will also assist in any changes that are required on the day of filming.