Music video inspirations- Miss Georgiou

As part of my planning for my music video I have been researching many different music videos to gain ideas and inspirations to use in my own music video, this research will help me a lot in producing my music video as it will show me how professional music videos look and what they include. I have watched 3 music videos and these have given me a lot of inspiration. The first music video is 'Blame' by Calvin Harris Feat John Newman, my main reason for getting inspiration from this music video was because I am using this song for my own music video so I wanted to see what shots and editing they used for the pace of song, this research was vital as I will use the fast editing used in this music video to match the fast tempo of the song. However the music video is not all fast editing as parts of the song, which are slow paced are matched with slow editing, which I will take on board and add to my own music video. This fast editing is conventional for electronic/dance music as always the video matches the fast pace of the song, this is to create euphoria for the audience and make them want to dance. Bright flashing lights and smoke are also used in this video, which are also conventional to the electronic/dance music genre this helps create a party scene and adds to the effect of fast editing, this also makes the video look more appealing to the audience.  I found these two conventions are commonly found in this type of music genre so I will use this inspiration and include these conventions into my own music video to make it appealing to my audience

In this video their are various wide shots showing people partying this is found in many videos from this music genre and can help create a party atmosphere this song is trying to create.. The artist representation in this music video shows them to have a party lifestyle and with loads of girls dancing sexually this gives the audience an image that Calvin Harris lifestyle is full of girls and partying and even though throughout the video we can not see Calvin Harris he makes a cameo appearance in the video in a shot showing him with all girls, this is to further produce an image of this is what Calvin Harris' lifestyle is like. Through Mise-en-scene we can see the girls around Calvin Harris and throughout the music video are wearing hardly anything and look very sexual this is also commonly found in dance music videos with girls dancing around sexually. This is the one convention I doubt I will be able to include into my own music video but all the other conventions found I can hopefully successfully include in my own music video.


My second music video I took inspiration from was 'Chandelier' by Sia. This music video is very unique and completely different to the other music videos I had researched, this music video is performance based and does not represent the artist at all instead the video is there for the audience to enjoy as the music video is one continuous shot of a young girl dancing around a house, which makes it unique this means the audience would start talking about it to others and means their would be an increase in views of the song because it is different. The dancing is not sexual as well, it is more or a ballet dance and the dancing also matches the beat of the song. The Mise-en-scene used is simple with the clothing being a skin coloured ballet costume and the location in a normal house, this simpleness helps add to the effect of the music video being so unique. The inspiration I have got from this music video is sometimes simple is better as this video has a greater effect on me than one which has flashing lights and fast editing. Also I like how they filmed the video in one simultaneous shot, which I thought looked really good and if somehow my group could do this I think we would have a really good music video.

My third music video I took inspiration from was 'Out the blue' by Sub Focus, this video is another electronic song so helped me with my own music video as my song I have chosen is from the same music genre. Even though this music video is from the same music genre as my first music video inspiration their music videos are completely different. This showed me that I do not have to just make my music video fast paced editing as this music video is not. The artist does not appear in this music video as well, this could be because they want their fans to be more focused on their music than their own image, which is common with DJ's. Fast editing is commonly found in this type of song, however this music video does not follow this conventions as instead the music video is mostly in slow motion to help create a hallucinating effect. This music video does follow the conventions of bright flashing lights and bright smoky colours, these are always evident in dance music videos no matter if the editing is fast or slow, so this has helped show me this is a vital convention to include in my own music video, these flashing lights help make the music video more entertaining for the audience.

The song my group have chosen is 'Blame' by Calvin Harris Feat John Newman for our music video, this song is in the music genre electronic/dance. In my group we both have our own individual inspirations that we want to include in our music video. As a group we are going to have meetings to come up with a collective idea which includes inspirations from both of us. It is important that both of our ideas and inspirations are included to create a successful music video.

Applying for music copyright-Miss Georgiou

Copyright is a law, which allows artists to have full rights of their own work and allows only the artist to have rights of how their work is used and distributed, also the artist has the right to be identified as the creator of the piece of work at all times, which stops other people taking credit for the artists work as their own piece of work which is illegal. It is illegal without the consent of the artist to copy the work, perform or broadcast the work to the public and adapt the artist work. 

As part of our media coursework we had to choose a song to go with our music video. My group chose 'Blame' by Calvin Harris Feat John Newman, however to use this song we had to email the record label to see if we could use it otherwise it would be a breach of the artists copyright. To use the song we need the record labels permission so we can then put the song on YouTube with our music video. If we did not get in contact with the record label we would have been breaking laws by breaching the copyright. To apply for the music copyright I searched Calvin Harris' record label on Google, which was Fly Records and found their contact details on Facebook, I then emailed the record label, which can be seen below:

We are still waiting for a response from the record label, but we understand record labels are extremely busy, so my group and I are continuing to plan and create our music video for Blame Calvin Harris John Newman.

Censorship- Miss Miller

Censorship is the supression of speech and public communication in a variety of different contexts such as books, music, films, the press, radio, television etc that may be considered to be harmful or sensitive. A variety of methods are used in channels such as mtg or aka in order to solve for this example: There has been a lot of controversy based around censorship within music videos and the music itself. We had a classroom debate and students within my class were playing the roles of the artists, fans, recording label, parents and radio stations. The debate was based on Eminem and the type of music he uses within his music videos and way he presents his music. This should allow me to understand all the opinions of the people that listen to offence music.

The law on censorship that Ofcom enforce is that they make sure people in the UK get the best from their communications services and are protected from scams and sharp practices, while ensuring that competition can thrive. There was a communications act that was introduced in 2003, the act says that Ofcom’s general duties should be to further the interests of citizens and of the consumers. Ofcom make sure that people who watch television and listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offence material. People are protected from being treated unfairly in television and radio programmes, and also from having their privacy invaded. However Ofcom do not deal with disputes between people and the telecom provider and they do not deal with the content of television or radio adverts.

In class we had a debate about Eminem, people within the class were representing different characters that were associated with the artist. The character that played Eminem explained how he had a hard life growing up in a caravan. Therefore the music should not be censored as it is about his life and he has overcome many things, so his song relate to his life experiences and people can learn from his mistakes. Both of the fans agreed that his music should be able to be played as it educates teenagers but he could do it with out being too explicit. The feel as if it should not be censored but there could be more done to make sure that he does not swear or talk about violence as much as he does. Eminem's record label supports him, as they are representing the artist. They said that he has sold many albums world wide therefore his music is respected, his album Marshall Mathers LP sold over 10 million copies, which shows how well he followed.  This therefore shows that his music should not be censored as people like what he doing with his music, which is evident from this amount of copies that his album sold.

The parents have mixed views about the artist as some are for and some are against. The parents that are for his music explain that it is down to the parents whether or not they allow their kids to listen to that type of music. It would also be up to the parents of the children to teach them right from wrong therefore they cannot say that the music has an effect on the children. It is how they have been brought up and what impact this has had on the child. Children can draw positives from his music as he has overcome many obstacles and he is where he today, which shows to the children that listen to it they can reach any goal that they set or themselves. However, the parents that are against his music explain that the explicit language and music that he has often offends young children therefore it should be censored. Also they parents explain that his attitudes may be adapted by children and they may look up to him as a role mode. They may follow his attitude of not really caring about society.

The radio station kiss 100 agree and disagree with his music. They agree with the language that he use but they don’t agree with the lyrics that explain about him killing people. They feel as if ration stations censor things that do not need to be censored. MTV support the censorship as they don’t want to offend any of, their large audiences and lose viewers. They don’t want complaints from audiences, as they are the biggest music channel in the world. The radio station AKA want to represent the true artist and what they represent therefore they disagree with censorship. Radio stations are channels that are often played in public places because of their reliability to play censored material. Many radio stations agree with censorship as they believe it protects children from harmful content, it also ensures that listeners will enjoy listening to the radio as uncensored material can often make a listener very uncomfortable depending on the amount of swear words and inappropriate references there are in a song. Censorship also allows far more artists to be played on the channel opening up to different genres and encouraging an even wider range of listeners to the radio station.

I think that artists should not be censored as they educate people on their experiences and they help people not to make the same mistakes they did, it also their expression of music and by censoring their music you are censoring the artists meaning behind their lyrics. However, I think that they can still educate people but they can do it without being to explicit as children listen to the music and they may adopt the views of the artist. For example if a artist talks about rape or mugging then the child may adopt this if they are not educated by their teachers, parents or music. In conclusion. the artists are telling the story behind the song through the music video, therefore i feel as if they should be shown to some extent. Finally, if some music videos do show violence or drug use then these music videos show be shown at a later time, so children will be asleep and therefore they are protecting them but still showing the music video after a certain time. 

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