Music Video Research-Michael Jackson-Thriller

Michael Jackson Thriller

This music video starts off as a film, where a couple are having a romantic moment. Until they have a full moon shot, the male (Michael Jackson) turns into a werewolf. The girl screams and try’s to run away but at the end Michael Jackson catches her, though before the audience get to see her being eaten the audience in the cinema screams. This leads to reality where Michael Jackson and the girl are on a date. She leaves the cinema as she was scared, Michael Jackson follows her and try’s to cheer her up. When they start to walk home he starts singing and dance around in order to make her laugh but at the same time he tries to scare her.

In the scene 5.10 they walk pass a graveyard, which is relevant as the zombie’s starts to come out. The zombie slowly ends up where Michael Jackson and the girl is, the zombies circle them in the scene 6.42.  This shows that they have no escape route which builds up the tension on what is going to happen next. Which is Michael Jackson turns into a zombie himself and from there it breaks into a dance. The dance that starts at 7.13 which is now an iconic dance that even this day people still remember it and this song is still played at clubs. Along in films, for example 13 Going On 30, within that film they danced the Thriller and this film came out in 2004.

However during the dance the girl runs away, she runs into an old abandon building. After the dance the zombies goes to that house but at that moment the music goes back to being mysterious, in order to build up the attention. As the audience does not know what happen next, as she may ends up like the girl in the film or survives.  

When the zombie gets to her and Michael Jackson about to touch her, she screams her lungs out. At that moment it goes back to the real world, the audience would know this as the location changes into a normal clean, warm house. As she screams Michael Jackson in his normal form touches her to see if she’s ok, she is relieved that it is only a dream. Though when Michael Jackson takes her home he looks into the camera and his eyes glows, which leaves a mystery for the audience as in if what happen in her dreams is about to come true or not.

To match the lyrics I believe they choose to use a horror film in the beginning to start off the mood to scare the audience. As they would not expect it to humours, such as for example when they break into the dance with a serious/straight face, it is generally unexpected.

It is said that Michael Jackson- Thriller has changed the way the MTV music video work, as this music video is the first music video with a short film in the beginning. Along it was only being played during the watershed, due to the zombies and werewolf may scare young children’s. for example the scene in 8.14, where the blood or something is coming out of the zombies mouth, it may produce nightmares for young childrens.

Though it is a really successful music video, it is the first single to be released worldwide. It came in 1982; it came out in a album and seven types of singles. Even to this day it still popular, such as in 2006 this music video has been listed in the Guinness World Record, as the “most successful music video”, which shows how powerful this music video is and how it manage to stay in peoples mind. Which shows all the effort has paid off since back then it is known to be the most expensive music video released at the time. As it cost around $500,000.

On YouTube this music video has gained 120,255,577 views, 160,259 likes and 4,624 dislikes. On YouTube statics it says that this music video is most popular among males within their 30’s+ and young females, around the age of 13-17. I personally think that it popular among older men’s due to the fact that this music video has been out for over 28 years, so this music video must have been out during their teenage years.  But as for the dislikes, it may be due to the people who dislike Michael Jackson, as the person in whole. For example there have been countless rumours that Michael Jackson is a paedophile and the fact that he had a song called “Black and White”. A song which gives out a meaning saying it does not matter whether your black or white, yet he went and got plastic surgery in order to become a white person.  Also the situation he had with one of his son, nicknamed ‘blanket’, Michael Jackson ‘hang’ blanket out in the balcony for people to see. It sent our several kinds of messages to the public.

Nevetheless on YouTube a YouTuber said “the greatest artist ever”, written by TheKingMJ7 and another person said “OH GOD I MISS THE KING OF MUSIC SO MUCH MJ 4ever <3”, by izzyxd117. From these two comments is shows that people love Michael Jackson music video and music as it is different from other popular artist, such as it does not require boobs out and ass out in order to gain views and likes. However overall everyone is intituled to their own opinion about Michael Jackson.

This song can be brought in few albums, such as the Thriller album and Michael Jackson Greatest Hit. Along in seven different kind of singles, or a downloadable version on Amazon but it will only be that song.  

http://www.elyrics.net/read/m/michael-jackson-lyrics/thriller-lyrics.html

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/104604

http://www.billboard.com/news/exclusive-how-michael-jackson-s-thriller-1003990525.story#/news/exclusive-how-michael-jackson-s-thriller-1003990525.story

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/the-beat-goes-on/posts/how-michael-jackson-s-thriller-changed-how-we-hear-music

http://askville.amazon.com/Michael-Jackson's-Thriller-help-change-MTV/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=57298807

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337563/

http://www.feelnumb.com/2011/10/23/michael-jackson-blanket-jackson-balcony-incident-hotel-aldon-berlin-germany/

Music Video Research-The Script-The Man Who Can't Be Moved

The Script-The Man Who Can’t Be Moved

This music video starts off with Danny O'Donoghue wondering in the street, looking around. On his way to the location he met the girl, since 8 second after the video started Danny starts singing and the lyrics is “Going back to the corner where I first saw you
Gonna camp in my sleeping bag, I'm not gonna move
Got some words on cardboard, got your picture in my hand
Saying if you see this girl can you tell her where I am”,it tells the audience what he is doing and what he is aiming to do.  During that time Danny looks around and while he sings the line “Saying if you see this girl can you tell her where I am”, at 0.27 he looks at a person so it seems like he is talking to the people that pass by. More or less from there the audience will see few camera shots where you see different locations such as in 0.24 he is in the main busy street and then 0.42 he is in some local non popular area.

To give it more feel and a variety of shots, to make it less dull than just Danny wondering around. The music video also shows the audience some scene’s of the band playing their instruments while Danny sings. To make it fit in with the story locations I believe they choose a empty car park like location for the band in order to fit in with the urban style.  Along I personally think they shown the band in order for the audience to recognise the band more and not just Danny, so they would be known at The Script not just Danny O’Donoghue.  

Nevertheless after the few shots of the band, it goes back to the story where Danny reaches his location and has his sign next to him. At this point there is a close up shot of Danny putting down a watch (at 1.05). Along another shot has Danny with a sleeping bag, to prove that he is not going to move until he finds that girl, in 1.07.  I personally think this is done to represent time going by and he is not going to move. As in the scene 3.05, the watch time ticks fast along the different lighting shows that time is going by. Along the speed of people moving tells the audience he has been there for hours and the sky changes colour from night to morning, it represent days gone by. It express that Danny is determined to stay there until he finds that girl, no matter what the weather condition will be. For example the scene of him in 3.19, the weather condition is terrible yet he still stays there waiting for her.   

Which cause people to pay attention to him and give him weird looks, which lead to him being popular and ends up on the news.  In the scene 2.41, it shows people are crowding Danny and are taking pictures of him. Then a news woman appear, she interviews him and from the scene 2.52 her facial expression seems like Danny answers has emotionally touched her heart. I think this is done to make it seems like his love for this girl is extremely strong, strong enough that the media is going to help him to find her, by broadcasting him on TV in hoping she will see it and know where to go.

Overall to match the lyrics more with the video, from the scene 1.26 to 1.47 it shows a police woman looking at Danny. The lyrics for this sections are “Policeman says son you can't stay here
I said there's someone I'm waiting for if it's a day, a month, a year
Gotta stand my ground even if it rains or snows
If she changes her mind this is the first place she will go”, Danny sings this to the police woman. Which makes sense as it follows the story. Unlike some music videos where the video does not match the song, for example Lady GaGa Born This Way.

On YouTube this music video has gained 42,833,168 views, 134,355 likes and 1,173 dislikes. A fan said “Dear The Script. I am srorry for hitting your replay button 500,000,000 times. Sincerely TheSkillScope”, by TheSkillScope. From this the audience can tell that this person is addicted to the song. Another fan said “I would do that for my girlfriend…………….. IF I HAD ONE!!”, by dancycle. It shows that this person is a male and can relate to this situation or is as loving as Danny within the music video. Along it proves that the music video is important as this person watched it carefully, since there are scenes where Danny is out in the cold and the rain. Yet this person still says yes in doing this for his future girlfriend.

Also I believe this music video is popular due to some comment that are written on YouTube, that there are some guys out there that do exist in doing something like it. For example GianAngeloAgustin said “yep, I know of someone like this, he got featured in our university newspaper on the article about him a police officer even told the interviewer “When his hair was black he’s here on the same spot, now that his hair is white, he is still here, and when we try to move him he gets angry and spank us with his “stick” even if the circumstances needed so he doesn’t care, rain or shine he’s there on the same old spot.”, it proves that situations like this does exist but very little has been seen. Some people may be able to relate to it or girls simply love this song and wish their man would do something similar like this for them.

Though from another point of view, the 1,173 dislike may be due to people think that a guy like this is too good to be true and something like this can never exist. Along according to some people, apparently nowadays it is hard to find true love but sex is easier to get.  This website explains some of these matters.

http://www.lovepanky.com/love-couch/romantic-love/dating-facts-interesting-relationship-facts

At the end, this song can be brought alone on Amazon for 89p, but it will be a digital download copy. Or it can be brought within the album known as the The Script and as a single.  

For the lyrics http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/t/the_script/the_man_who_cant_be_moved.html   

Music video research-Offspring-Kristy, Are you doing ok?

Off Spring-Kristy, are you doing ok?

The video shows the audience the location, such as by showing classrooms, hall ways. To set the scene, while Dexter (the singer) is sitting on a sofa in a rough looking building, with a guitar and singing.  Within the Dexter singing scene you can see on the wall the papers of which the girl in the video was writing and drawing on. I believe this is to show that Dexter is remembering the time this has happen and he never forgot about it. In the video it shows the girl is trying to fit in and pretend she is the same as everyone else. Such as their few scenes where she with a group of females laughing away and they wait for her when she put make up on, showing everyday normal life in this century.

While deep down she is not actually happy as it seems like something is happening to her. Such as the scene in the changing room, she waits and make sure everyone left before she gets change.  Along within her locker her photos with her friends, she starched out her own face. This is normally a sign that she dislikes herself and the affect of it is normally due to abuse, which leads to depression. Along with the fact there are scenes where she drawing or writing in her book, showing her emotions. Example the scene where she drew an eye with tears coming down it, it tells the audience her feelings. Nevertheless there are few extreme close up shots of words within her writing. To give out messages that she is actually hiding her feelings and something bad is going on for her. Example the first word being shown was “Dear dairy”, it shows that what she writing goes into her book and how she keeps it a secret. Such as the word “bruises”, was also shown towards the end of the music video at 3.07.

The male that the audience see in the music video, I believe it represent Dexter when he was younger. As the song lyrics relates to him being sorry that he never told anyone or did anything when he clearly knew she was suffering. So he hopes she is ok now.

According to YouTube there are 2,147,346 views, 10,306 likes and 109 dislikes. From this information you can tell that this music video is popular, as within the 2,147,346 views 8,357 people have marked this video as their favourite.  YouTube statistic says that this music video is most popular to both genders around the age of 13-17. From experience and looking around, a young adult tends to think that no one understands them and that they are going through a lot while everyone else is having a perfect life, and they don’t fit in. Therefore I believe this music video is popular to them as they can somehow relate to this song or they are witnessing a situation like the music video.  As a comment on YouTube by Wafflessmellgood said “Goes to show you never know whats hiding behind a smile”, this comment gained 35 likes.

  To back this opinion up, there are few comments where someone said they can relate to this song and how it emotionally affects them. Example LS50622 said “I don’t know why I cry so hard after I listened to this song!!!! QAQ”, while on another website Kayla Louisville said “This song has helped me out so much from dealing with what it talks about and I never thought a song could get to me like this one did and I love it and inspires me to help other people who went through what I did”. It shows that this music video is powerful, as it manages to help some audience or emotionally move them.

Nevertheless Dexter said so himself that this song is dedicated to a girl he use to know who went through abuse and everyone knew about it, but no one did anything. Now he regrets for not doing anything back then and he now hopes that this song can help other victims to speak up or overcome their problem.  Such as in the song in the chorus “Don’t waste your whole life trying to get back what was taken away”, it tells people don’t grieve about it, they should be strong and move on.   

Which is an advantage as it can help others to move on. Along spreading the word that there are people who go through this everyday and that people should help them.

 Yet the disadvantages are that it may make some people remember the bad times and end up in depression again. 

Overall this video is kept simple, by not having special affects or wackiness or any flesh revealing scenes. This shows that this music video is a serious one with a message. Also it shows that you do not need any flashy scenes or flesh revealing scenes in order to gain a good music video and rating. A good music video requires a good song.

This song can be purchases in their album Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace album that came out in 2008. This can be brought in HMV or in other CD selling stores and on their website. For this song only, it can be purchased on itune. Or you simply can go see Offspring live to hear this song.     

Reference-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AULaJdMPmIw

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=11932 

Music Video research-Love Never Dies-Beneath A Moonless Sky

Love Never Dies-Beneath A Moonless Sky

Beneath A Moonless Sky music video is actually a scene from Love Never Dies. Featuring two people, the Phantom and Christine Daae, the location is Christine Daae hotel room. It started off with Christine being concerned, fearing something may happen, which build up the suspense. As the Phantom dramatically walked in and Christine fainted, the Phantom carries her to put her on the chair.  He watches her dearly; it produced a feeling that tells the audience that the Phantom still has feelings for Christine. However when the Phantom touches Christine face she wakes up in shock, at this moment it breaks out into the song. The song started off by the Phantom tries to reclaim Christine back but she refuses him. The song is displayed in the form of them talking to each other. But while they are singing, their facial expression is filled with full emotion of the character. For example 3.00 in the music video, while Christine was singing her line, the Phantom looks up in the sky remembering that night he spent with Christine.

To add more emotion to the music video to suit the song, Andrew Lloyd Webber made Christine and the Phantom have a lot of close and intimate scenes. Such as in the scene 4.48, Christine is holding on to the Phantom dearly, as they sing about that night they spent together, showing there truly feelings to each other. Since the song is about how the Phantom and Christine had sex. The Phantom and Christine had sex the night before her wedding and that was also the last time the Phantom saw Christine. Then 10 years later the Phantom once again see’s Christine and they talked/singed about that night they had sex and they confessed their true feelings to each other and how the Phantom regrets leaving her that night. For people to understand the story more of Love Never Dies, people should watch The Phantom Of The Opera. Since that story tell the audience the story of what happen to Christine and the Phantom.    

Furthermore this music video is mainly relying on the characters facial and body language. For example in the scene 6.04 Christine sings “And I loved you, Yes, I loved you, I'd have followed anywhere you left, I woke to swear my love, And I found you gone instead”, the audience can see the Phantom’s head lifts up in shock and then his face lightens up with a smile. But it quickly changes into a facial expression that passes on a message to the audience that he regrets leaving Christine that night. As he just realised that if stayed that night Christine would have been by his side forever, instead of being with Raoul.

The lighting, it was more of a spot light and Andrew Lloyd Webber made it blue in the beginning and at the end of the Phantom entrance and when Christine wakes up. I personally think that Andrew Lloyd Webber has done this in order to create a mysterious atmosphere and dramatic entrance for the Phantom. Since in the story, the Phantom is known as dead to the world, as he was the cause of the fire of the Opera Populaire in Paris ten years ago. Using the colour blue instead of black, as the colour black would of portray something evil and harmful is about to happen while blue gives out a no harmful feeling but just mysterious. However when the shock is over, the light went bright, bright enough to see the colour of their clothing’s. I think this was done to fit the mood as they calm down and are thinking back to the old time.

A YouTuber said “I agree 120% How can a human voice be so angelic? I adore her but I’m unbelievably jealous! Ben sounds remarkably beautiful too. : )”,by AStarAlmost, 2 weeks ago. This shows that not only the song is important, it has to have a voice that match or suitable for it. As it is not easy to sing opera and make it seem easy to flow from high note to low, along showing a lot of emotions, which inspires people like this YouTuber.

To people who not seen The Phantom Of The Opera, they would not truly understand the story of the Phantom and Christine.  Such as on YouTube aeromilagro85 said “Go back to the original and watch “Past the Point of No Return……” :D It covers the same topic this song does. Tehehe.”, this comment shows this person have watched The Phantom Of The Opera and understand the story of the Phantom and Christine.  As they are right, in Past The Point Of No Return it’s a duet they have that they express their true feelings to each other, which is similar to Beneath A Moonless Sky but it’s 10 years later.   

 Though this music video appeals more to those who likes The Phantom Of The Opera and are a Phantom fan. As it is mainly about him and not Raoul, which gained some critical opinions from some fans, for example a YouTuber HollyCaddick. She said “I think Webber concentrated a lot more on the other characters in this sequal and I like it :D Christine POTO was so weak as a character, Raoul was stero-typically ‘Knight in Shining armour’ The only character that had any real deapth was Eric lol which is probably because he was the main character. Im loving seeing Christine with a backbone, and Raoul flawed. Altho Im confused when they had the time to get it on (only time I could think of is before she takes off his mask and freak out?)”, from this comment it shows others that this person knows the story and characters very well and have read the book. Since the Phantom real name (Eric) was not revealed in the film and the theatre production, it was only mention in the book. Along in The Phantom Of The Opera Christine did not have much say in what was going on, she mainly did what she was told while in Love Never Dies and in this music video it shows that Christine is willing to stick up for herself now and fight against the Phantom.

Overall this music video gained 64,010 views and 435 likes, along sadly 5 dislikes. From this it suggests that this music video is quite popular and when I create my music video, I can pull something similar to this off.  This song alone can be brought on itune or on the Love Never Dies CD. However the Love Never Dies CD is sung by the original cast, which is the London version. While this music video song is the Australian production version, which I personally prefer more. As when I watch this and listen to the song I can feel more emotion, compare to the one in London. Along the stage is much better compare to the London version, but this is just my personally opinion.  

Music Video Research-Christina Aguilera-Bound To You

Christina Aguilera-Bound To You

In this music video, the first few scenes show’s Christina getting intimate with a guy. From there the music starts and blurs into the time where she’s back to the stage where she sung Bound To You. While she sings the song, Christina manages to express a lot of emotions, enough that even the audience can feel it. For example in 3.59, where she is belting out the word “fall”, the power of her strong voice can make the audience feel it, her pain of being scared of her relationship falling apart.

There are two types of scenes within this music video,  the reason for that is that the scenes separates from pass and present. Such as in the scene 2.04 it shows Christina on the stage singing, which represent the current. While the scenes of her with the guy, is the pass. To know this, the song lyrics tell the story, for example around 3.07 the lyrics are “And I embrace myself, please don't tear this apart, I found a man I can trust and boy, I believe in us I am terrified to love for the first time”, the scene at 3.07 shows the audience that Christina is getting close with a guy and chatting away with few drinks. This tells the audience that they are flirting and it is leading to the start of their relationship.

In the beginning where Christina is getting intimate with the guy, the start of the song is orchestral music; I personally think the scene matches it due to the fact that the music is emotional and fit the mood. While if a happy beaty song is played at that moment, it would not seem right nor would it fit in with the mood. As that scene leads on too them doing the deed, which can be seen in the scene in 1.15-1.35 where they practically are lying naked on the bed. From there it cross fade to a close up shot of her face, to show it is back to reality, which is on the stage. You can tell she is on the stage by the camera angle in 2.04 and 2.54, the over head shot, which makes her the dominate one within the scene. I believe this is done to make her stand out more and it is all about her right now. Such as in the end (4.45), the stage lighting made her into a silhouette. Which her body language tells the audience that she is committed to her relationship and she just expressed all her feelings out, along it made her body figure stand out.

On YouTube it has gained 167,181 views, 1,287 likes and 17 dislikes. From the comments on YouTube I believe most of these views are from Christina Aguilera fans. Such as from dtheriault51, they said “say what you will, but the girl has got some pipes!, and another YouTuber said “OMG THAT WAS SOOOOO GOOD!! I was like “girl you sing it”. At the end I as clapping in my mind ( its really late and parental units….) so much and then to hear the audience clapping,and there’s like five people clapping, was soo mean. I mean she busted her hump singing for you at least qivers her a standing O?!! I was like “NO SHE DESERVE BETTER THAN THAT!”. But anyway she was beautiful and amazing as always and I hope to someday be as great as her (impossible I know) but check my channel”, by Lauren Brown. This comment gained 4 likes.  From these two comments it shows people are more interested in her voice than the actual video itself. Along her body language is important within this song, as her body language can express more emotions as well when she is singing. It also shows that some people enjoys her singing so much that they don’t actually care about some scenes, such as for example the scenes where Christina is getting intimate with the guy.  

However the 17 dislike may be due to the reason that they have intimate scene and close to naked scene, which is not censored. Parents may dislike their children’s watching it as there are chances it may encourage their children’s to do it.  

Overall the music video produces and expresses strong feelings about love. Many females may be able to relate to this song due to the fact that some may have had bad relationship and are scared to fall in love again. When they get close to another guy, they be scared in the same thing may happen again or similar and not sure in whether to risk being in a relationship again or not. Along this song is written by Christina Aguilera, Samuel Dixon and Sia Furler, which can mean that these lyrics and feelings can be based or true story. Such as recently Christina Aguilera got a divorce, this song may represent her once love life.

This song can be brought alone on Amazon, which will be digital download copy or on a CD. The CD is known as Burlesque as the song Bound To You is from the film that Christina Aguilera stars in. Which can also be brought on Amazon or HMV. This song cannot be brought in another Christina album.   

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20446427,00.html

Music Video research-Boyce Avenue featuring Kina Grannis-Fast car

Boyce Avenue featuring Kina Grannis-Fast Car

This music video shows the 2 people singing (Alejandro Manzano and Kina Grannis) and a person on percussion, in everyday normal clothing. The location is a studio with the microphone set up for recording.

There is no story or featuring other people within this music video. It is purely focusing on the singing, to show the passion. Each time a person sings the camera focus on them only and blurs the other person out. Also the audience will see the occasional extreme close up shots of a guitar. Example in the shot 1.18 you can see that Alejandro Mazano is in full focus while Kina Grannis is not.

While at the end of the song they did a credit and advertising, since Boyce Avenue is a self promoting band and Kina Grannis is signed with another company. Boyce Avenue and Kina Grannis, both write and create their own songs along their own music videos.

I personally think they did this to make people appreciate this all time classic beautiful song. As the song was originally sung and written by Tracy Chapman, Boyce Avenue and Kina Grannis made a acoustic version of it. Tracy Chapman Fast Car was written back in 1988, it was a hit. It was number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.  She first sung Fast Car at Nelson Mandela 70tb Birthday Tribute concert in 1988, June 11. Tracy Chapman is still singing today, her newest album is called “Our Bright Future”, it was released in November the 11 in 2008 and now she is touring. According to her website it says that in every concert she will sing Fast Car. Due to the fact that it is her most famous song and millions of fans have said that they can relate to it and how it inspires them.

Such as Boyce Avenue and Kina Grannis, they remade an acoustic version of it. On YouTube it gained 12,944,606 views, 68,509 likes and 441 dislike. I personally think the reason of the 441 dislikes is that, those people may prefer the original only and believe that the original is always the best.  Also this is a duet acoustic version, while Tracy Chapman sung this song alone.

However within the 68,509 likes, xHeartProdigyx said “Im trying not to listen to this every 10 minutes so I don’t get sick of it”, this comment on YouTube gained 57 likes. This shows that people don’t mind what the music video is like as long as the song is good and so is the quality. Another YouTuber, 7722h said “you guys make the songs so much more special ! ur voices are just soothing I LOVE YOUUUU <3”, once again it shows that people are appreciating the song mainly and doesn’t mind about the way the music video is. It also shows that even to this day people still remember this song and like it. Along how they can relate to it. 

Boyce Avenue, featuring Kina Grannis in Fast Car can be purchased on itune and their CD. Or you can simply go see them both live in Los Angeles currently. For the Tracy Chapman version, you can purchase her CD or see her in one of her concerts and she will guarantee to sing it.

http://www.about-tracy-chapman.net/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4zCOHFrLVY

PHOTO-The Thought

Looking around these days...when some people receive gifts it has to be something expensive like a ipad or something, in order it to be counted as "thoughtful". 

What happen to the "The thought that counts"?

Where the price of the item does not matter aslong there is a thought to it or it is something that someone likes. For example... one of my friend was given a iphone for his birthday, me and my friend we baked him a variety of cupcakes and we turn it into a giant tower and spell out his name with mini cupcakes. We choose cupcakes as he loves them.... The look on his face was much more happier than when he was receiving the iphone from his parents, according to his parents....

In total it did not cost me and my friend much, buying all the ingredient but it's the thought that count right, not the price?

To me...something being made or be given something simple is better than receiving something expensive. As people who tends to buy you something expensive put lack of thoughts within it, as they know it is something you want and like, but you simply cannot afford it but they can. While something simple or hand made, is done with care and alot of thoughts. Since they will have to spend some time figuring out what to make and how to do it, along being patient. Or figure out what is best to get to you such as what you need or is worthy for you to have OR something that represent each other, like something represent your personal joke...

Another example... a leaving present, a photo frame or a hand made photo album tends to be a good gift as it holds valuable memories of good times...

So what would you pick? Expensive gift with lack of emotion to it? Or something different and simple but is filled with love and care?

Showing that you appreciate the gift, matters...

But...yet....there some people out there who does not care or appreciate any item they receive... sad thought really....

Thriller editing evaultion

Our thriller is about a successful businessman who is on his way to work like any normal day. However he meets an accident and ends up in a coma, where his conscious haunts him. He does not realise that he is in his dream world and not reality. However within the dream world, his life depends on it, as another mistake can lead him to death straight away.   

This project was edited under the program Adobe Premiere Pro, in the setting of DV-PAL, Widescreen 48 KHz (UK format).  We created a new project in the program and imported the files in. From there we sorted out the clips, separating them into folders, making them easier to search for when it comes to editing that part.

 For example Damian (Tony) accidents shots, we put all the footage for it together. 

Within this photo you can see it named under as “Damian accident dead scene”. We originally used a normal camcorder to film most of the scene's, however at one point we had to use the mini HD camcorder which made Premiere Pro crash, but not as bad as we thought, which we were lucky.  

When we started editing this project, I started of the block cuts, so we have an outline of the story. Which made it easier for us to edit as the whole story is there but just need fine edit on it and add on extra few scenes or touches up.

When we were picking out the clips, we double click on a clip and a mini box would pop up and play the clip. Watching the clip in this way is much easier and more convenient, than dragging the clip and loading it on the timeline and then watches it.  As that way waste more time and knowing Premiere Pro, loading a clip on the timeline every time then delete it, it will increase the chances of Premiere Pro crashing more often.

Though there is times where we reused a clip more than twice, for example the scene where you see Hannah (Margaret) appearing everywhere. You see Damian (Tony) turn around countless of times; if you look closely it is the same two shots of him turning around. The reason we did this, was that it was sadly the only footage we have left of that scene, as we lost some footage and could not get time to refilm. 

However within this section I edited it all mainly. I went through several clips of Hannah (Margaret) appearing everywhere and picked out the ones that suited that situation the best. In these footage’s I did quick cuts of it, so you don’t get to fully see the scene but yet enough to understand the situation that Tony is going through.  Along with the quick scenes going, it makes the situation seem tenser and build up the suspense. If you look at the photo above you will notice that there is no affects added between the shots, neither in the audio either. But the sound of the wind in the footage gave it an effect of quick passing sound.

But as for sounds, I mainly edited the sound, making it level or some parts not to over powering. Such as for the scream for example, I wanted it loud and stand out but not exactly piercing. Otherwise it would hurt the audience ears and make it too dramatic. If you look at the photo you would notice that scream audio bar starts of from low and fade in and then gradually go louder. This is to make it easier for the audience to hear and as the scream fades towards the end. As making it louder towards the end, it will not make a big difference part from making it stand out a bit more.  

 But speaking of sound levels, I listen through to the audio countless of time to make it sound natural. If you look in this image, you can see that not all the audio level is the same. Due to the fact that some audio bars are naturally much louder than others, the heartbeat audio for example. I put it low so it would blend in better with the other audios, though it is still much louder than other audios. Which is not too bad as this heartbeat audio meant to overpowering, to make the death of Margaret scene more dramatic and so that the audience can feel what the characters are feeling at that moment too.

If you look at this photo, you can see that in some footage I added affects, such as fade to black. To link it with the following scene, using black for that scene in the photo. Black is a colour where it is mysterious and creates questions, you never know what could be in there and what may happen. So I choose fade to black in the aims to lead the audience to Margaret pass. To the point where Tony see’s Margaret, just before she dies. To make the audience see for themselves in Tony place and understand how that moment feels for him and her.

Too show that we try to make the audience feel what the characters feels was a success. Was that when we showed it to our class, people seems to be interested in watching it and some people even got freaked/scared of Margaret when she appeared everywhere or go up close to the camera(example shot in the photo).  

Also people understood the storyline this time. Which is a complete success and better outcome compare to the children drama we created before, where not many people understood the storyline. Also for a good couple of days people kept singing the song “Sweet dreams” by Marilyn Manson, which was played towards the end of our thriller. From this we can tell that people remembers our thriller.

Overall I mainly did the first edits and some edits during the point where it is nearly finish, then the final touch ups.

As I was in Berlin, I could not take part in the final editing, so I mainly did them when we started editing it. In order to make it fair for others, such as we all edit the same amount but in different sections and time. For example, due to the fact that I was in Berlin while one of the members of the group was not, it is only fair if I edited in the beginning instead of her, since I won’t have any other time to edit. Also the fact that she will be in college still when myself and another member of the group is away in Berlin, so she would have plenty of time to edit.

I personally believe I edited better this time as I manage to edit shots where it is the final cuts (Margaret appearing everywhere), compare to the children drama where I did not do any final cuts. However I still continue in doing the final little cuts along dealing with the sound levels. From looking at some second year work, I now know how to improve on my sound editing as some of them shown me how it works and the reason why. However In improving the thriller, I would personally try to get rid of the wind sound in some footage and refilm some parts. In order to make it flow better and much easier to listen too.    

       

Dreamworks Studios-Pair work

Within this work, I worked with my friend Hannah. Doing research on DreamWorks.  

HISTORY

DreamWorks Studios was originally founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. Their first film feature was “Peacemaker” an action thriller released in September 1997. After this Steven Spielberg released his first film for his studio “Amistad" which earned him four Academy Awards and his eighth Directors Guild of America (DGA) nomination.

In 1998, DreamWorks released the critically acclaimed World War II drama, “Saving Private Ryan,” as well as its first two animated features, “Antz” and “The Prince of Egypt.”

“Saving Private Ryan” which was a co-production with Paramount, was the biggest movie release of the year and was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and out of them won five, including Best Director for Steven Spielberg.  

The studios have made a lot of big movies over the years - Academy Award winning American Beauty in 1999, In 2000 Gladiator (which won them a Best Picture Oscar), Almost Famous, The Contender, Castawayand Meet the Parents. These films in 2000 by DreamWorks made $2 Billion worldwide at the box office.

In 2001, DreamWorks and Universal Pictures produced the Academy-Award winning film; A Beautiful Mind.  In that same year, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks partnered to executive produce the landmark HBO miniseries, “Band of Brothers.” Other film releases for 2001 included A.I: Artificial Intelligence and everybody’s favourite ogre Sherk and that film won them their first ever Best Animated Feature Film Oscar. 

It wasn’t until 2004 after a lot of good movies did the Studios build a spin-off company – DreamWorks Animation which solely produces animated feature films and television programs. One of the founders Jeffrey Katzenberg became its CEO – the head of the company.

Now that Jeffrey Katzenberg oversees the animation movies the other two founders Steven Spielberg and David Geffen focuses on live-action movies. In January 2006, the company was sold to Paramount Pictures. The movies that they produced and developed together earned them eight Oscar nominations including a win for Dreamgirls (Best Supporting Actress for Jennifer Hudson)

A few months after Paramount Picture bought DreamWorks, Stacey Snider joined the team with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen. Stacey Snider had been Chairman of Universal Studios so it wasn’t surprising that after her arrival as CEO and Co-Chairman made notable run for the new company. The first four movies after Stacey Snider’s arrival – Norbit, Blades of Glory, Disturbia and Transformers all went to Number 1 at the Box Office and each earned $100 million worldwide.  Transformers alone made $700 million worldwide.

It wasn’t until the end of 2008 that David Geffen left the company, while Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider charted a path for their new partnership. With David Geffen’s assistance, they found a financial partner in Anil Ambani, chairman of The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. After a year of deal making, DreamWorks secured $325 million from Reliance, which was matched by a consortium of investment banks.

In 2009 after the studio is secured with more money to make movies, they and Walt Disney made a deal, they will handle distribution and marketing for six live action DreamWorks films a year and with that they began the process of ramping up their slate. Movies since then with Paramount Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment and Walt Disney were Dinner for Schmucks, Real Steel, Cowboys and Aliens, The Help and War Horse.

DreamWorks Studios is currently making these movies – People Like Us and Lincoln. There is also the remake French/Canadian movie Starbuck currently in the pre-production stage with Vince Vaughn as its star.

HOW IS IT FUNDED?

DreamWorks Studios is a motion picture company formed by partners Steven Spielberg, Stacey Snider and The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The studio currently has a worldwide distribution deal with The Walt Disney Studios, who will market and distribute their films. In the past though they have partnered with a lot of famous film companies – Universal Studios, 20^th Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony, Touchstones and so on – the list could go on forever. Partnerships like these are the best to combine forces and together make a lot of money to make more movies.

I say that the amount money they get the most is from The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group as they helped DreamWorks in 2009 and 2011 for money problems.

With Walt Disney they made a distribution deal saying that with DreamWorks they will market their films 6 times a year and since Walt Disney has been famous since the 1920, there is a lot of money behind them to help DreamWorks out. It also helps when Walt Disney needed to replaced the deal with Universal Studios that fell apart in a few weeks when the deal was made. This was due to DreamWorks when they asked for help from The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group for money to financing their movies.

 They also partnered up with Fox in the upcoming movie Lincoln which is based on Abraham Lincoln’s life and with Touchstones they have made a 30 distribution deal with DreamWorks.

THE DELEVOPMENT IN TECHNOLOGY

  

In 2007 both DreamWorks/Paramount and DreamWorks Animation support HD DVD Movies on a worldwide basis, for at least 18 months. Movies like Transformers and Shrek The Third were HD movies only. They then went to Blu-Ray as the sales went sky high.

When it comes to 3D format there are a few movies in 3D (Sweeney Todd, Cowboys and Aliens) so far there isn’t any word that more movies are going to be made in 3d as Cowboys and Aliens is the last film that was released in 2011 however it was released on Blu-Ray and HD when it was came out on DVD.

Most of the 3D movies however are released from DreamWorks Animation and even the CEO is having doubts about the whole 3D thing. He quoted in an interview for The Guardian online "It's really heartbreaking to see what has been the single greatest opportunity that has happened to the film business in over a decade being harmed," Jeffery Katzenberg told the Hollywood Reporter. "The audience has spoken, and they have spoken really loudly.”

IS IT PART OF COMPANIES?

DreamWorks studios are formed by a group of partnerships; Steven Spielberg, Stacey Snider and The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. One of the DreamWorks first productions was the long running sitcom “Spin City” in 1994, and then in September 1997 they produced “The Peacemaker” starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman. Though DreamWorks was originally founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffery Katzenberg and David Geffen, as the years gone by everyone went their separate ways such as Jeffery Katzenberg became the founder of DreamWorks Animation and became CEO of it.

However DreamWorks has produced some well known films such as Saving Private Ryan. Dream Works does a lot of co-produced work with a variety of companies such as Paramount, Universal, and Warner Bro. For Example Saving Private Ryan is co-produced with Paramount Pictures.

IS IT OWN?

It used to be group of partnership, Steven Spielberg, Stacey Snider and The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. But in January 2006 DreamWorks Studios was sold to Viacom and Paramount Pictures where they have developed Dreamgirls.

DOES IT OWN OTHER COMPAINES?

It does own other companies, though many people mistake DreamWorks Animation to be part of it but it is not.

References

http://www.dreamworksstudios.com/about/history
http://www.dreamworksstudios.com/about/faq
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-02-09/entertainment/dreamworks.disney_1_dreamworks-with-steven-spielberg-hollywood-studios-walt-disney-studios?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ
http://www.digital-digest.com/news-60630.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jun/10/hollywood-3d-profits-jeffrey-katzenberg

Regulatory Issues-Taste and decency

Taste and decency is referring to the fact that TV should not broadcast anything that may cause an offence in anyway. Such as offending disable people, age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation.

For example South Park, it makes fun of all kind of people in all possible way that is possible, yet they still get away with it. For example a while ago South Park was going to do about Tom Cruise being in the closet, but their lawyer told them that Tom Cruise can sue them for defamation. In order to get away with it, the creator of South Park did an animation of Tom Cruise in the closet, refusing to come out. Interpreting that Tom Cruise is gay.

Another situation that offended the public in general was the fact that South Park made fun of ginger people. This caused a large hate and bullying to ginger people. However a ginger kid made a YouTube video about him being ginger and how South Park hurts his feeling. Along people don’t know him therefore they should not judge him. It gained over 1000 views which made South Park reply to it, by making an animation version.   

The people who watch South Park will get still the reference. Even though this program is offensive people still enjoy it and have a large fan group, especially appealing to the younger generation such as around the age 18.  

But due to the fact that people have the freedom of speech, this made South Park gets away with it. Along with the fact that it has a large audience so it is making a lot of money. The good thing about South Park is that it makes people laugh and manages to make fun of people in a smart twisted way. In the style where the audience can easily figure out what they trying to say or where they got the reference from.

However the bad side about South Park is that it offends people and may encourage people to do bad things. As they see it on TV and see’s it that it’s fine and they can get away with it when they truly don’t in real life.

Overall within a program there is always something to offend someone, there is never a perfect program. Along nowadays, people sense of humor has changed.

Pros
-Made the kid famous
-Knows boundaries by not pushing it even more

Cons
-Emotionally hurt that kid
-Made the kid known world wide
-Made fun of him in public

In my opinion South Park should be not be allowed to be shown as it teaches kids to behave badly. For example if they copy a scene from a episode they will find it funny and so will their friends. Since they know where their friend got the reference from, but the victim will not find it funny and it may mentally scar them from life. Such as losing confidence or be scared for a period of time, which may prevent them from doing something. Such as this episode where it makes fun of gingers, gingers kids in school will get bullied for it. It can get out of hand, to the point where they may self harm or have depression and hate themselves for being born ginger.
From this action from Family guy, the consequences could be that child would have been emotionally hurt and may consider suicide. Or he could take action and sue Family guy. Which in my opinion, it is better than him trying to kill himself.

Links-

www.bci.ie/gaeilge/documents/taste_and_decency.pdf

http://www.copyadvice.org.uk/Ad-Advice/Advice-Online-Database/Taste-and-Decency-General.aspx

http://www.libertyunbound.com/node/749

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY39fkmqKBM&feature=fvwrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-Owf9U19Nc

Regulatory Issues-Consumer Choice

Consumer choice is where the public gets to choose what they want from a company. The company allows the customer to choose in order to gain more business and to show that they care and listen to what their consumer wants.

For example ASDA, “chosen by you section”. Andy Clarke said “We’re empowering our customers in a  way that no UK retailer ever has. From today  ‘our’ own brand becomes ‘your’ own brand,”

 Referring to the fact that the public gets to vote for the products that they like and thinks it deserves to be on the list. For a product to be on the Chosen by you list, over 200,000 UK customers get to taste test the product and bench market it.  But this shows that ASDA cares and listen to their customers, to the point where their product became their customer’s product.

The good point about Chosen by you section is that other ASDA buyers/ consumers will appeal to it and it shows that they have a say in what they want and think. Along the price is reasonable, so they can easily afford it.

They will also trust other buyer’s decision and think the product is worth buying as it will be “good”. Along the product self advertise, as the Chosen by you section makes consumers believe that all the products on the Chosen by you section has nothing to do with the company, the public controls it. While the company simply listen to what the public has to say and put the product on the list.  But truly we all know deep down it does not work like that and there is a large profit being made out of it.

The downside of Chosen by you, people said that they replace old product and higher up the price on the new and old remaining products. Making people struggle to buy it when they are limited to how much they can spend on their food shopping.

Overall the public are given the right to speak up for what they want and think, while a variety of products are being erase and replaced with higher price products.

Pros
-Help people with little money
-Public get a say in what they want

Cons
-Other company may copy 
-Not all customers say get through
-Some products get replaced or stop producing without notice

In my opinion this brand Chosen by you is not very trustworthy, as each product it does not tell you how many people vote Yes for it. Along it does not tell you when the vote was done, so there are chances that the product vote is out of date. If it's out of date it will need renewing since people taste may change as the year goes on. Along what is the point in have Chosen by you section product if they plan on erasing products and replace them with new ones in a period of time. If a product is in the Chosen by you section, then surely they should keep the product instead of erasing it and replacing it with others. Since the public may dislike it and send in complaints, asking for the old product back or no longer buy as much product from ASDA any more. If ASDA ignore what their customer say even when they state that their customer opinion matter, the consequences will be that they would lose their customers to another shop. Such as to their worst enemy, Morrison.  

Links-

http://mktsci.journal.informs.org/content/7/3/299.abstract

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/asda-own-brand-is-chosen-by-you/3018416.article