99dollar Music Video

Research Your Client 99dollar Music Video

What is 99dollarmusicvideo.com?

99Dollarmusicvideos.com is a company that is independent who collaborate unsigned artists with film makers to produce a very well low-fi cutting edge music video with original music and creativity.$99 Music Videos was nominated for a 2010 Webby Award. The company provides $99 for artists who are not signed to create a good and creative music video with a filmmaker featured on their website. The website does also include rules such as the video should be shot in one day (24 hours) , edited in one day (24 hours) and also there should be a good communication and collaboration between the artist/band and the director as both would pitch ideas to each other and then combine them to make a good and professional music video.

What is Their Ethos ?

99dollarmusicvideo.com Ethos which means their values what they present what are their values which is they create music video for unsigned independent artist, who want someone to fund their projects for just 99dollars who . The music video has a collaboration with the artist artist and the person/people who are creating their music video which both side minimum productivity. The production of the music video has to be done within 24hours ( or a day) and will be shot and edited within 24hours ( or a day) , the video have to be very creative and stand out even though their is a low budget, after the production it will the be showcased on the website  $99dollarmusic.com website.

What Type of songs , labels genre appear on their website ?

This site is mainly for unsigned artist, since artist that are signed would not need help from 99dollars if they had a recorded label to help them already, his is their main reason why the It is available to typically help unsigned artist with a low budget It help them finaicallly and provide them with filmmakers. These filmmaker will help the artist by creating a music video for them with creative idea and equal input with the film maker and the artist. Having a low budget should not stop the videos from looking exciting and professional. The Genre that have appeared on their YouTube channel such as, RnB, Punk, Pop and rock ect.. Although they have many Genres that are involved with the 99dollarmusic video i have analysed it and realised there is mostly the genre pop, which is highly demand from them, which is the most reconsider genres within our generation. The less noticed genres such as rock are selling less in the market  that the artist is involved with are least likely to get signed than more popular genres, this means more help is needed from the people who characterise the less noticed Genres, in which you would find the artist on this site 99dollarsmusicvieo.com

Relationship between film makers and artist?

There needs to be an equal input between the artist and the filmmaker to, be creative but intuitive. The relationship between the film maker an artist should be good enough to be able to carry out a production as well was doing it efficiently.As their ethos states that "the video must be a collaboration between the band and the film maker".Which means both party's must come together to create the production and will have to be able to collaborate with each other as one.99dollarmusicvideo would like the music video to be something the artist can be proud of as well as the filmmakers who are producing it. Both party's should also be able to have a say within the video and ideas, so BOTH are happy and BOTH have 'equal input'. If the relationship between the filmmakers and artist are good then the end result of the music video should end up making a decent music video.

Cost included/excluded

99dollarmusicvideo.com provide money which is clearly shown within there website know, with a budget of $99 dollar to and artist and filmmaker to create a music video, but this is only help for artist that are unsigned and need financially help to potentially make a professional looking video with good equipment. The money would be used for filming, props, editing ect. which will them help the filmmakers to create the artist music video efficiently.

Encore audience participation?


For a audience to get involved with 99dollarmusicvideo, they have audience participation by having the video that's been made on their Youtube site. This is a good idea to have as they are able to view and understand what they can do with just 99dollars to create a music video, and that it is possible, they are also able submit their work end result of the music video and it then can be showcased on the site. Audience participation can be by viewing the unsigned artist and film makers production (music video) which influences the number of views as their work will not only showcased on their site but on social media and streaming websites, to participate they are able to view the videos to the site and give feedback.
Can $99 make it professional? 
One of the examples i see a professional looking video

Style and Conventions

Styles and Conventions

Genre

A musical category in which the artist characterises themselves to.

This music video has the genre of 'Grime', which is called 'Look what the cat dragged in'.The video conveys of different elements which help identify the genre, such as a dark setting and large crowed. Most grime music video's consists of this to make them seem almost intimidating and scary, the footage seen in Giggs Music video are very dark the artist is also with a larger amount of people throughout his video. The artist presentation within the video gives of an idea of the Genre , just by the way he is dressed with informal clothes such as hats baggy clothes large chain that he advertise with close ups, and his facial expression/body language that adds to having a imitating and scary image, as we see he does not smile and is made to see as a tough guy. The Video shows various footage of freestyle dancers, this also ties to the genre of the music video, These types of imagery show a sense of intimidation and giving off a thought of the artist being something powerful. The music video 'Look what the cat dragged in'  falls in the category of Grime and shows it typically with the elements that are involved, referring back to the dark scenery that help shows his presentation as an artist and the other is his facial expression and body language which is important as he is the centre if attention and will give off the most influence in his genre than other elements. The impacts of knowing a genre and the artist sticking to the conventions of it helps their audience identify them and their music video.

Performance

Performance is when you visually see the artist performing to an audience, the video will be made to seem as if the artist is performing live, this can be pre recorded from gigs and shows that the artist has done mixed with footage for the music video. Another would be the Artist just preforming the song in a set or to some sort of audience.Outkast -Hey music video is set up to give off a sense that the artist is performing live, we footage's in the video of the artists in a set made to seem like the artists changing room and even footage's of a presenter on TV within the video who illustrates that they are about to perform live in the begging of their music video, this all leads up to Outkast going on stage to a audience of screaming girls and even people at home who are watching them through TV 'Live'.However their music video is not actually live, their video consists of element that gives off the imagery that it is.This shows Outkast's energy and personality, which is lively that will make their audience want to dance from watching them perform, they also seem to have a funny and upfront personality as the performance doesn't look so serious and they also over exaggerate their audience their preforming to, with the over reacted screaming girls.

Narrative

Narrative is when a music video shows has connections with a story and the artists lyrics in whihc they both relate, this helps emphaises the lyrics to their audeinces as they get a sense of enjoyment and entertainment from a story being told in the their music video.

The Video Eminem- Dear Stan is a good example for a Narrative, the video shows shots of a a character of a female and two males who interact with each other throughout the music video with the use of letters, this gives off the idea of the song title 'dear stan'. He shows how a fan that wants to be like him and be with him, but does not get a response from Eminem, which then leads to his death before the artist gets a chance to do a letter back at the end of the music video, The lyrics are of two separate characters talking in a form of a letter we this is the case as the music video shows them both sitting down writing a letter, the camera language helps the audience to understand what is his lyrics are about as it cuts away to posters and pictures of the artist almost as if Stan has an obsession with eminem, the music video also helps narrate his lyrics as we see stand girlfriend is shocked by what she see such as a picture that her boyfriend (stand) had cut her out for the artists Eminien, all these elements and shots within the video helps his audience to understand the Lyrics more and add visuals to what he is trying to get across in the song. The Music video ends with eminiem actually writing back to the fan which clearly give the audience his opinion to his obsessive fan and then realises that the letter fan he was writing to had died from a car crash. This is a good narrative music video as it visually shows what the artist is meaning to get across from his song as his lyrics could give off another meaning to his audience.

Interprative

Interpreting a is when a music video goes directly with the lyrics which is when visuals in the music video show the lyrics. This imagery has to represent the song by showing different footage of what the artist is singing/rapping about.

Ludacris- Run away is a good example of a interprative music video, It starts of with the shots of different characters that have 'ran away' which is the main subject from the lyrics. The also set the mood of the video by showing shots of the girls expression as they are in destress and sad, showing the auience that the song is meant to be unhappy and a sense of seriousness. The lyrics area bout telling the troubles in the lives of three runaway female's each ending up running away in the end to escape each of their own problems.Ludacris takes three seprate stories to illastarte the message of running away, while the video adds to his lyrics by its imagery of footage of what the females are going through.We see with the first story he tell's is about a nine-year-old named Lisa, who get sexually abused by her mums husband at home, while ludacris rapping about her problems the video shows footages of the girl unhappy and getting abused exactly how ludacris explains in his lyrics going through her problems that interprates what his lyrics are about, this also happens with the other two stories he tells within his lyrics in which his music video heklps narrates.The Music video end with a large amount of girls that have ran away from thier problems here and the audience finally puts two together and links the story line form they actaully see all the girls that have ran away. The music video narrates his lyrics very well it attracts more people to watch his video as i adds more emotion to his song since his audience can personally view it theirselves rather than trying to visualise it from the lyrics.


Surreal/Abstarct
Surreal/abstract videos mean that what is being shown to the viewer has an element of surprise .The video and lyrics do not always have to match called Juxtaposition meaning two random things put together,the video may not go with the lyrics and runs off another idea, this influence the artist audience to think about whats being shown in the music video.

Chris brown- Dont judge me is an example of a music video that creates a surreal image all the way to the end of the video, the lyrics is about Brown encourages his lover that there is nothing going on between him and his ex-girlfriend as he sings, "You're hearing rumours about me / And you can't stomach the thought / Of someone touching my body / When you're so close to my heart / I won't deny what they saying / Because most of it is true / But it was all before I fell for you whereas the video isn't a typical love video as, It begins with Chris Brown walking through the desert, while intercut scenes of himself sitting in front of a couch. As the chorus begins for the first time, Brown is seen catching a ride from an army truck. He eventually arrives at an army base to prepare for a "suicide mission", which involves him riding a spacecraft into outer space to save the world from an alien ship invading Earth. A news reporter at the base (Brown's girlfriend) runs to him with the question, "People are saying this is a suicide mission, why are you doing this?" Brown replies, "I'm doing a service for my country and my planet. If that means saving the people I love and I care about, then that's what I'll do. As the spacecraft takes off, tears run down Brown's face before the spacecraft crashes into the alien ship, killing him.This is a creative way to give his audience something to think about, which would be the first thing for the viewers to think about on how the video links and the meaning of it. This type of video attracts a lot more attention then producing a normal one, so taking this as an example would be that it went Viral online an attracted many views. Producing videos such as this helps with exposure and people talking about you or the video .

Impressionist
Impersonate is when the music video has visuals an imagery which fit the mood of the song. The lyrics and the video do not need to go together but the pace and the mood does.These videos can also be surreal or animated but the tone of the song matches the video.
                                   

David guetta -She wolf is an example of impressionist , This video is a very mysterious video which shows  the back of a naked woman who is meant to be the 'she wolf' which is the title of the song, it then shows snow wolfs getting hunted down by arrows, the music video complements the song, as wee see all the way through a wolf running, the movement of the wolf running goes well with the tempo of the song, it then leads up to the climax of the song, as we then see within the video, explosion to the hunters that was magically created from the wolf. This video comes across as a dark and very gloomy adding to its mysteriousness. The video creates the mood that the lyrics put you in as everything in the video is dark and almost sad as you see the wolf running with a worm from the hunters is , this is a contrast with the lyrics and the location of the video. and at the end of the music video it then shows that the artist was the wolf as she changes back to the naked woman that was shown in the begging, with the worm on her back.The use of impressionist encourages her audience to feel emotion from not lyrics but the video and pace of the song.
AnimationAnimation videos are either stop motion and digital. Animation is a more detailed but maybe more rare category that artist tend to fall in .Animation goes with anything from narrative to interpretive.

This video Kayne west- heartless is an example of Animation ,The video portrays Kayne West wandering through a city alone at night, with scenes of various women shown throughout the video. The video features pictures of The Jetsons and was the first animated video directed by Williams. The song is about a boy who talks about how a woman that is a character in the artwork of the music video is heartless good time. The pace of this song is slow and so is the cartoon which just shows the artist animated and the heartless girl that has hurt Kanye. The song has a more deeper meaning and thought to it but the imagery and how it ties in with the animation in the video is very well played off. The audience are drawn into it from the start as its a cartoon , the cartoons are made to look like a real life people such as Kanye, which appeals to his audience the This is when the magic of animation takes place as any one can create something with animation and also if someone has an artistic skill then it would be a lot cheaper than producing an actual music video.

Homage

Homage means when one media text duplicates or even has some similar features to another. Homage can have similar style and motives and also be a copy of the original by having the same features from the original copy. This videos pay homage to the classics of horror cinema in its own way. This video is called 'Monsters' by porcelaintoy. Their song "Monsters" is set to the classic Bela Lugosi film  white zombie. This is a pretty impressive use of special effects. The band is inserted right into the movie and you can barely tell. This video contain many different types of horror movies, as you see zombies a vampire ect.. which are key charaters of the Genre Horror.The impact this has on the viewers is that they get a sense of familiarity within the music video which they will most likely appeal to as they have a understandign of what they video is showing them.

Parody

This is a comic version of an original video, it interprets the music video and lyrics in a humorous way and is exaggerates some points in the video and most commonly changes the lyrics to a more humorous one.Many people have their input on a parody music video, that they then post on youtube where it is most common.

This is an example of an parody music video, which is their comic version of ths song 'Call me maybe' , they completly changes the lyrics to the song with some copied visual features from the actual video.The lyrics to this song is completely changed but the beat and tone is kept the same. This music video has two males that play the part of a woman a male, whihc is just alike as the orginal video but  present the female as someone ugly and obbsessive.This is used to make a more funnier verision of the song that the audeience can reconise but also laugh at, such as when they take the mick out of the charcter that is made to look like an ugly female and then finds her way into the males house that she is singing the song to, all of these together show the elemnets of a parody. Parodys also totally twist things around in whihc they feel the audience can laugh at. This type of parody are posted online to sites such as Youtube so other can enjoy the humour and also give there opinions on what they think of it. Some comedians have even successfully made a breakthrough online and created a fan base from the back of just creating good parodies.


Intertexuality

Intertexuality means when one media text has some similar features to another part of vthe media industry, in which they take advantage the audiences understanding of other media texts such as a cartoon or horror movie, for example if it was to take feature from a horror movie you will then see props and scenes from a horror movie.This is an example from Beyonce- Check on it, beyonce uses the colour pink throughout her music video to an etreem extent, that is reconised from a cartoon character  'The pinkpanther'. The pink panther was a orginally made for a cartoon, an then adventally realised as a movie which beyonce stared in. Beyonce uses her this to her advantage as her audience would easliy identify her reasoning for the theme pink all the way through her music video, since the advantage comes from the artist actually taking part in both industries the music video and the movie pink panther, so this allows her to tie them both together efficently.The impact on this is that her audience can find some kind of appeal from the links with another media text such as pink panther, and also may attract the fans of pink panther, whihc will increase her viewers of this video.


Referring
This is an example of referring is when a music video ties in with a movie. This cross media reference is very popular as many artist make a sound track for a particular movie and when it comes to music videos the artist and some shots from the movie are shown.

Example of reffering would be Adele-skyfull. The video shows Adele the artist who features of the movie skyfall, when the film first released the movie , the video shows clips form the movie and cross reference the lyrics to whats actually happening in the movie clips an example of the would be to show the emotion behind the song between the high and the low parts of the song. The video has a buisness tie between Adele and the programme Skyfall, they both join together to promote both elements within the music video,  the advantage of this is they both work together to promote both elements such as the Artist and the new movie release, this showcases both institutions within the music video to a greater audience increasing the awareness of the artist and movie, in this case Skyfall is a very successful movie. The artist also gets recognition for taking part in a films music video as it gives them exposure to the film industry plus the audience who are going to watch the movie as sometime the music video is played at the end of the film which amplifies the music video and also means a wider audience are being shown this without them even realising.

Case Study

Case Study



Good & Bad Music Video Techniques

Large Number Of Cuts

Good Example

Kanye west - All of the lights

Kanye west video all of the lights has up to a large amount of cuts within his video this is to adds to his song as it is a up fast up tempo beat, the effect it has on the views is that it gives a playful engaging imagery as if the cuts are meant resemble flashing lights which is said in his lyrics , the cuts in his  video  are edited together at every fast paced and shows fast graphics that are said within the lyrics. The structure of the video was to get the audience to understand what his song is about by using these fast cuts. This has a good effect as you see  the fast pace cuts as it engages the viewers to keep watching. They successfully put this together as you still see the main artist with the the fast pace lyrics from his collaboration Rhianna.The audience is also dragged into video by the imagery since this technique is done very creatively by the use of colourful flashing graphics the large amount of cuts emphasises this.

Bad Example

All i want for christmas is you-Mariah Carey

 

This is a bad example of large amount of cuts, Mariah Carey's video has a cut between every 3-5 seconds throughout her video, this drags out her video making it look very slow and boring. This can have a bad effect on who views her video as they are most likely to lose interests and stop watching the video since there is not anything to keep them entertained, the video is made to seem like a lullaby as its slow and soft along with her tempo and imagery within her, the video show Mariah singing in the same location with long dragged out shots,however it sets the mood of the video giving the videos a relaxing soft mood that comes across from the video.Although this can be presented as uncreative as they did not experiment with the cuts,especially as there isn't much movement from the artist or location.

Cutting To The Beat

Good example

Pow-Lethal B

This is a good example of cutting to the beat.The cuts is not only cut to the beat but by the lyrics as well they all work together well as there's a lot of movement as well as a fast pace beat.The video does not cut to the beat all the way through but mostly does within the chorus.The cuts help the visual of movement although the camera does not move allot in this video.. Even though the camera does the move entirely in this video, the cuts that are in sequence with the beat makes the video look visually intriguing to the viewers.The video trys to create the effect the artist moving by putting together fast shots without their actual movement within one.The beat goes really well with the video especially when the chorus kicks in.

Bad Example

Gold Dust- Dj Fresh

                                         

Gold dust - Dj fresh is a bad example to cutting to the beat in his video he drags out his cuts so viewers can see the movement within his shots, without long shots it would be difficult for him to show what is in his music video e.g people doing impressive skills while skipping rope,  he if he was to use a large amount of cut he would have to shorten the movements as well as getting the people within his video to repeat their stunts for different angles and shots taken, which could be a long process, however the long shot amount of shots works well for his video as there is a lot of movement seen in his shots so this along makes his video exciting without the need to cut to the beat as you see people doing stunts and dancing to the beat.The cuts do not go with the beat within the fact that he had the movement within his shots to back him up, to make it look like a music video and not just random.

Varied Camera Language

Good Example

Dappy-Ying Yan

Dappy- Ying Yan has many different type of camera language throughout his whole video we see the camera does a good amount of movement and hardly keeps still, the entertainment it gives off is by emphasising the imagery shown from this camera angles. For example at the beginning of his music video we see dappy laying down in a empty forest, we see this as the camera is placed high above him as a birds eye view. The movements and angles of the camera language also emphasises his set location in a forest/jungle and sets the mood to be very uncomfortable a creepy, this all works together very well with the music as well as his video as its a up beat along with the movement of the camera language it give of a sense to the viewers for the need to move/dance.

Bad Example

Bat for lashes- All Your Gold

This video is a bad example of bad camera language. In the artist video we mostly see mid-shots of the artist showing her shoulders an facial expression, with a few landscape shots that show her location, her shots work well with her song as the lyrics seem to be very down and sad and to emphasis this the camera shows the artist face alot throughout her video, which is seen to be in a un-comfort pain expression as you can tell as she does not smile.  Although it works well with the song viewers can find this to be boring and less creative than other videos. The video does not use different ranges of shot types but does allow the artist to be viewed in different angles.

Special Effects

Good Example
Missy Elliot-Work it

 Missy elliot work it uses special effects massively throughout her video.She uses special effect's  in this video to create a image of her doing stunts she would not actually be able to do as an artist, it si a benefit to her as it allows her to have control over what she would like to achieve through her videos as an artist e.g within her video we see her face on another persons body who is actually doing the stunts, but is shown as if the artist is doing the stunts from this effect.The video works really well and a s theres well thought out stunts and  unexpected moments presented by the artist by using special effects.This gives the viewers a reason to watch her video as it has very entertaining elements to it.

Bad Example

Green Screen

Good Example
Beyonce ft. Lady gaga - Telphone

The use of green screen in this music video is used when Beyonce and lady gaga are seen to be in a car, the green screen is used as imagery for the outside of the car windows to make a more realistic effect that the car is driving down a road, this works well as they cut away to the outside of the car as if their is actual movement, this gives both artists the freedom to do stunts and movement within the car without the risk of the safety as they are on a fake set of a moving car.This works well for the viewers and the artist as their able to create a fake set on a driving car without the risk of safety and in a way it looks cool and creative to the viewers.

Bad Example
Twist & Shout

This is an example of a very bad green screen video, the use of green screen was not very creative and looked very unrealistic as it cut half of his body off most of the times rather tahn making his look as if her way infront of this moving background, he also has a white outline around his body which indecates that the green screen was not used and done well. When artist are using green screen within their video's it is important that they make sure it is used and done well, as it can have a big impact on their viewer it can come across visually irratating and unprofessional.Although green screen helps the artist to do and visually make imagery that may not be possible for them to do in real life, using green screen can be a big disadvantage to the artist videos.

Lip-syncing

 Good Example

Dynamite- Dy-Na-Mi-Tee

This video is a good example of lip-syncing, as we see the artist on stage singing through a mic, and also a large amount of close ups to her face having a clear view of her lip-syncing. The way she uses this well is through her body language and makes it seem as if she is actually singing it live, this is edited very well.Their is a high importance of good lip-syncing in music video's it can determine on a professional music video that looks good, rather than a video that is not made well and suited to their song, this can have an impact on how many views the video gets.

Bad Example

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