lip syncing- lyrics

"Jammin'"

Ooh, yeah! All right!
We're jammin':
I wanna jam it wid you.
We're jammin', jammin',
And I hope you like jammin', too.

Ain't no rules, ain't no vow, we can do it anyhow:
I'n'I will see you through,
'Cos everyday we pay the price with a little sacrifice,
Jammin' till the jam is through.

We're jammin' -
To think that jammin' was a thing of the past;
We're jammin',
And I hope this jam is gonna last.

No bullet can stop us now, we neither beg nor we won't bow;
Neither can be bought nor sold.
We all defend the right; Jah - Jah children must unite:
Your life is worth much more than gold.

We're jammin' (jammin', jammin', jammin')
And we're jammin' in the name of the Lord;
We're jammin' (jammin', jammin', jammin'),
We're jammin' right straight from Yah.

Yeh! Holy Mount Zion;
Holy Mount Zion:
Jah sitteth in Mount Zion
And rules all creation.

Yeah, we're - we're jammin' (wotcha-wa),
Wotcha-wa-wa-wa, we're jammin' (wotcha-wa),
See, I wanna jam it wid you
We're jammin' (jammin', jammin', jammin')
I'm jammed: I hope you're jammin', too.

Jam's about my pride and truth I cannot hide
To keep you satisfied.
True love that now exist is the love I can't resist,
So jam by my side.

We're Jammin' (jammin', jammin', jammin'), yeah-eah-eah!
I wanna jam it wid you.
We're jammin', we're jammin', we're jammin', we're jammin',
We're jammin', we're jammin', we're jammin', we're jammin';
Hope you like jammin', too.
We're jammin', we're jammin' (jammin'),
We're jammin', we're jammin' (jammin').
I wanna (I wanna jam it wid you) - I wanna -
I wanna jam wid you now.
Jammin', jammin' (hope you like jammin' too).
Eh-eh! I hope you like jammin', I hope you like jammin',
'Cause (I wanna jam it wid you). I wanna ... wid you.
I like - I hope you - I hope you like jammin', too.
I wanna jam it;
I wanna jam it.

Michael Jackon- Thriller Essay

Michael Jackson’s Thriller

Thriller which was MTV’s first world premiere music video was released in December 1983. It was also voted the most influential music video of all time and earned itself a top 5 spot in MTV’s greatest music videos of all time.
Directed by: John Landis
Produced by: George Folsey Jr, Michael Jackson & John Landis
Starring: Michael Jackson
Co-Starring: Ola Ray
Choreography: Michael Peters & Michael Jackson
Costume Designed by: Kelly Kimball & Deborah Landis

Thriller was said to have a budget of around a million dollars and is looked at very differently from other music videos of its time. It was not just seen as a piece of music with lyrics and dancing; it was a short film with an enticing storyline. The first part of the story is a short horror film where Michael Jackson turns into a werewolf and attacks his girlfriend. The horror theme is not something people would have expected from young Michael Jackson who is now referred to as ‘The King of Pop’, most popularly known for his funky style and up beat tracks. The next part of the story cuts to a movie theatre where Michael and his girlfriend are watching the clip we have just seen, the girl then storms out and expresses her resentment to the film. When the music starts it somewhat contradicts the spooky scene of the dark street that Michael and Ola are walking down, but the lyrics however do not.
In the song we hear lyrics such as ‘something evil's lurking in the dark’ and ‘there's demons closing in on every side’ which fit in with the spooky atmosphere that is trying to be created. Sound effects are also used frequently to add to the theme of a horror film, we hear creaking doors and floorboards, footsteps, howling dogs and thunder which all emphasise that it really is a short film and not just a music video.
Although the video is based around a horror story it still contains many elements of a pop video. It has the basic structure with verses and the repeated chorus and also has a dance routine. The Dance routine is recognised all over the world and is re-enacted when the song is played. The Dance routine is iconic to Michael Jackson as when we think about the routine it is automatically linked to him. 
The clip is not what we expect to see when we think of zombies and horror films, and is very iconic when it changes from a spooky scene of a girl surrounded by zombies, to a group of them dancing with Michael Jackson at the front. This is a counter stereotype and contradicts the spooky lyrics and sound effects.
After the movie theatre scene we see a wide shot of Michael and Ola walking, the shot shows us Ola walking away from Michael showing no interest in him, but Michael carry’s on following her. Michael carries on singing to her trying to impress her and earn her trust. The lyrics Michael sings are supposed to be scary, but Michael is singing them in a playful way whilst smiling. The way he is singing contrasts with the lyrics we hear.
We also see a close up of Ola’s face. The close up shows her fear when she is about to be attacked, which reminds us how the video is again a short film and not just a song with dancing. The purpose of the music video is to entertain, which it is successful in doing with its gripping storyline and catchy lyrics.
The video does not have just one target audience; it can appeal to people of all ages, but mainly teens and young adults because of its pop elements. Pop music is one of the most popular and diverse genres for people of any age.
Overall I think the video is very successful, as it has proved winning many awards and being viewed millions of times worldwide. It has advertised Michael Jackson and pop music and has entertained people, which is the main aim of most videos.

Production diary (week 1-4)

Before the six weeks-

In our last few lessons we first found out what we would be doing for our A2 task and doing some research into music videos. We were also told to write an essay with the title "Music videos have changed drastically over time and are now unrecognizable from their historic counterparts". We were given the holidays to finish these. 

Week 1-

On our first lesson our teacher went through what this year would involve and how the lessons would be planned out. We got a task sheet of what we need to do each lesson and our teacher explained how we would go about the lessons to make sure everything gets done. 

Another lesson we spent doing a task in groups of 3/4 researching music videos from the 1980's. It went well and we all met the deadline, our work was put on the display board to use as a study guide.

We also done our preliminary tasks on the first week, the class was split into two groups and we were told to go away and research the music video 'Hit me baby one more time' by Britney Spears. We then had to recreate the music video in our groups. The task involved research, planning, filming and editing and everyone was given something to do. I think my group worked well together and everyone played a part. We met our deadline and Miss was impressed with our work as a team. It also gave us experience in lip syncing, which was new to most of our class.

Week 2-
We were soon given another essay to write, this one involved analysing a music video. I chose to look at Michael Jackson, Thriller. Analysing the music video gave me an insight into the conventions of Music videos and ideas that I could use in my own work. After deciding what groups we would be working in for the rest of the year to make our Music Videos we started practicing some lip syncing. We done this individually and all chose our own song to use. I chose to use a song by Bob Marley because i enjoy his music and know all the words to his song. This not only helped us to practice, but also helped us decide who in our group would be the best person to star in our video. 

Week 3-
On our third week we started doing some research into digipak's. First we found a current digipak from an artist we liked and analysed it. We said what was good and bad and we also wrote about the conventions of digipaks and what they involved. My group chose to look at the Digipak by Eminem for his album 'The Eminem show'. We then had to re-create Eminem's digipak giving our own interpretation of it. The task went well and it helped us to gain some experience in using Photoshop, which i had never used before. We also started doing some research into possible song choices we could use for our Music Video. We found a few songs which we liked and emailed the people who own the rights to the song to see if we could use them.

Week 4-
We had been given some feedback on the work we had completed on our blog and was told to look over the comments our teachers had made. The comments helped us to go back and improve some of our work and also how to improve and what to do differently in future tasks. I realised i was missing some pieces of work from my blog which meant i had to go back and complete the tasks in my own time. In one piece of work we had to create a mood board which was linked with our song choice, i created a House music mood board as we were going to use the song 'Dancin' by Aaron Smith (KRONO remix), however we could not get permission to use this song. I also spent a lesson doing some editing practice. I took a short clip of someone cliff diving and used the editing software to slow the clip down and also play it in reverse. These are some skills which i will also use in my music video. 

Teacher assessment - summer essay

A Level Media Progress Check - Bobby
Assessed by	NSE - Teacher
Focus of assessment		Summer essay
Relevant assessment criteria		There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience
Evidence of progress/ evidence of meeting criteria		You have analysed some of the videos in detail and have begun to incorporate basic theory into your essay. You use media language well.
Areas to work on next/ ideas to consider		If you could use a wider range of theory and compare the videos in more length, considering how effective they are and their similarities/differences.
Additional comments

Teacher assessment - Britney task

A Level Media Progress Check - Bobby
	Assessed by		NSE - Teacher
Focus of assessment		Britney task
Relevant assessment criteria		There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience
Evidence of progress/ evidence of meeting criteria		You have uploaded the video and all the shot-by-shot analysis you had completed.
Areas to work on next/ ideas to consider		You need to ensure you reflect on these two things and say what it has taught you about creating a music video. Ensure these two posts are together (add the shot analysis underneath the video).
Additional comments

Music Video Essay

“Music videos have changed drastically over time and are now unrecognisable from their historical counterparts.”

A music video is defined as a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. In this essay I will explore how music videos have changed significant amounts over time.

           Although the origins of music videos date back a lot further, they were introduced around the 1980’s, when MTV based their format around the idea. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by television personalities known as "video jockeys”. In its early years, MTV's main target audience were young adults, but today, MTV's programming is primarily targeted at teenagers in addition to young adults. MTV played all sorts of music videos from all different genres such as hip hop, heavy metal, classical music or rock. The very first music video MTV broadcasted on August 1, 1981 was ‘Video killed the radio star’ by The Buggles which made a huge impact on society. The track topped sixteen international music charts, including the official singles charts of the group's home country of the UK and other nations such as Australia, Austria, France, Italy Ireland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The music video however is very basic, with three main singers standing on a stage and a keyboard player who also features in the video. They use basic cut and dissolve transitions and zooms throughout the video with simple camera work. Not many advanced camera shots are used, just basic mid shots, close ups and long shots.  This is probably because the cameras and editing technology they used at the time were nowhere near as advanced as they are today. The lyrics in the song had a message that video would take over, which is exactly what happened as radio got less and less popular. It is ironic that this was the first video played on MTV as it sort of predicts that video would capture audiences and almost eliminate radio.

Another historical music video, Michael Jacksons ‘Thriller’, which was released in 1983, was MTV’s first world premiere video. It was voted as the most influential pop music video of all time and was outstandingly different to the Buggles music video which was released 8 years before. Thriller explored new ideas and used different aspects, for example a story line, to engage viewers. They also used props and costumes to create a more theatrical video. It also cost a lot more to make than the Buggles video, using more up to date software and equipment which was improving as time went on. The video cost around 500 thousand dollars which at the time was a lot and sold over 9 million copies and set new world records. The music video is based around zombies and werewolves who were popular in movies and TV shows at the time. Creating a storyline for the video really engaged viewers and sort of made the video into a short film, rather than just a music video.

             More recent hits, like Miley Cyrus’ ‘Wrecking ball’ which made a very large impact on the music industry, use different ways to entice viewers.  In the video Miley is seen wearing nothing but her boots, this is an obvious way of attracting male viewers to watch the video. She uses her looks and figure to engage the audience; however some people think the video is too graphic and shouldn’t be accessible to young children. This video supports Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory and that the camera is putting the audience in the position of a heterosexual man, as it lingers over the curves of a woman’s body. It also relegates the status of a woman to an object. This video shows how media is becoming more and more graphic and is it almost a normality nowadays to see some nudity, or very little clothing used in music videos, films or television.

             With Music Videos becoming more popular over time, and developing in technology, more music videos were being used as a way of promoting other media, like films and TV shows. A recent example of this is the Alicia Keys track ‘It’s on again’ which is featured in the latest of the Spiderman series ‘The Amazing Spider-man 2’. Because of this, parts of the film are used in the music video and the track can be heard during the end credits of the film. Both the song and film advertise each other successfully, with the video having over 11 million views on YouTube, and the film making more than 90 million dollars on its opening weekend.  People who see the film may hear the track being played at the end and want to go and buy it and vice versa. 

            Another approach to music videos that has worked incredibly well recently is comedy. Including an aspect of comedy in a music video is becoming a new way to attract perhaps a younger audience. A good example of this is the ‘Gangnam Style’ video which was the first video to reach 1 billion views has now had a shocking 2 billion views on YouTube. The video features the singer PSY dancing in a number of strange locations, including a public coach, a tennis court, some horse stables, a boat and a number of other public locations. The popular music video is seen as random and bizarre by some audiences, but it is clearly very effective, with its catchy beat and PSY’s amusing dance moves.

         From looking at some of these modern music videos I feel that they have definitely evolved drastically over time, however some music videos do still resemble their historical counterparts and have the basic structure and content used in some of the very first music videos ever released.

Hit Me Baby One More Time - Bchs A2 Media