copyright

Do I need to copyright my material?

Technically, a song is copyrighted at the moment you write it down or record it. However, you should always register your copyright with the Copyright Office so you can PROVE that the song is yours, and when you created it.

How do I copyright my songs?

The copyright office now allows you to register online or you can request the forms. You can contact them via phone at (202) 707-9100 if necessary.

What are the chances my song will be stolen?

Pretty darn slim. I've been in the business for thirty years, and I've never personally known anybody who really had a song stolen. I've met the occasional person who had a song that did bear resemblance to another song, but there was no connection between the two writers that would have permitted the theft.

Have you ever noticed that most of the big copyright infringement cases are against huge stars like Michael Jackson? My guess is that people who are looking for a quick settlement from a wealthy star in order to avoid the embarrassment of a lengthy court trial bring many of the high-profile suits.

That being said you should always register the copyright to your material. You don't want to be the first person to prove my theory wrong.

Should I copyright my material before submitting to TAXI?

Yes. You should copyright it before sending it to anybody. But, don't wait to for the registration confirmation to come back to you if registering via snail mail rather than online. The copyright office takes months (often 6 months or more!) to get the confirmation back to you when you mail in the forms. As long as you've sent the form(s) in, you're good to go.

100 greatest music vidoes

1. # Michael Jackson: Thriller
2. # Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer
3. # A-ha: Take on Me
4. # Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody
5. # Madonna: Like a Prayer
6. # Robbie Williams: Rock DJ
7. # Michael Jackson: Billie Jean
8. # The Verve: Bittersweet Symphony
9. # Madonna: Vogue
10. # Nirvana: Smells Like Teen Spirit
11. # Coldplay: The Scientist
12. # Michael & Janet Jackson: Scream
13. # Pink Floyd: Another Brick in the Wall
14. # Christina Aguilera: Dirrty
15. # REM: Everybody Hurts
16. # OutKast: Hey Ya
17. # Blur: Coffee & TV
18. # Beyonce: Crazy in Love
19. # Madonna: Material Girl
20. # Gorillaz: Clint Eastwood
21. # Queen: I Want to Break Free
22. # Justin Timberlake: Cry Me a River
23. # Britney Spears: ...Baby One More Time
24. # Radiohead: No Surprises
25. # Madness: Baggy Trousers
26. # TLC: Waterfalls
27. # David Bowie: Ashes to Ashes
28. # Foo Fighters: Learn to Fly
29. # Electric Six: Gay Bar
30. # Weezer: Buddy Holly
31. # Eminem: Stan
32. # Chris Isaak: Wicked Game
33. # U2: The Sweetest Thing
34. # The White Stripes: Fell in Love with a Girl
35. # Sinead O'Connor: Nothing Compares 2U
36. # Red Hot Chili Peppers: Give It Away
37. # Guns N Roses: November Rain
38. # Fatboy Slim: Weapon of Choice
39. # Pulp: Common People
40. # Missy Elliot: Get Ur Freak On
41. # The Spice Girls: Wannabe
42. # Bjork: It's Oh So Quiet
43. # Dire Straits: Money for Nothing
44. # Kylie Minogue: Can't Get You Out of My Head
45. # Aerosmith: Crazy
46. # Adam & the Ants: Prince Charming
47. # The Prodigy: Firestarter
48. # Johnny Cash: Hurt
49. # Jamiroquai: Virtual Insanity
50. # Paul Simon: You Can Call Me Al
51. # Run DMC & Aerosmith: Walk This Way
52. # Massive Attack: Teardrop
53. # Wham: Club Tropicana
54. # Daft Punk: Around the World
55. # Fatboy Slim: Praise You
56. # Eminem: Without Me
57. # Meatloaf: I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)
58. # The Cure: Close to Me
59. # Abba: Knowing Me, Knowing You
60. # Eurythmics: Sweet Dreams
61. # The Prodigy: Smack My Bitch Up
62. # Blur: Parklife
63. # George Michael: Outside
64. # Bjork: Human Behaviour
65. # Aphex Twin: Windowlicker
66. # Bob Dylan: Subterranean Homesick Blues
67. # The Beastie Boys: Sabotage
68. # Madonna: Ray of Light
69. # Frankie Goes to Hollywood: Two Tribes
70. # The Police: Every Breath You Take
71. # Bjork: All Is Full of Love
72. # Robert Palmer: Addicted to Love
73. # Basement Jaxx: Where's Your Head At?
74. # Wu-Tang Clan: Gravel Pit
75. # Duran Duran: Rio
76. # The Beatles: Strawberry Fields
77. # MC Hammer: U Can't Touch This
78. # Godley and Creme: Cry
79. # New Order: True Faith
80. # Radiohead: Just
81. # Ultravox: Vienna
82. # 50 Cent: In Da Club
83. # Shakespear's Sister: Stay
84. # The Boomtown Rats: I Don't Like Mondays
85. # Sid Vicious: My Way
86. # The Streets: Fit But You Know It
87. # Talking Heads: Once in a Lifetime
88. # Elton John: I Want Love
89. # Smashing Pumpkins: Tonight Tonight
90. # The Pet Shop Boys: Go West
91. # The Specials: Ghost Town
92. # Herbie Hancock: Rockit
93. # The Rolling Stones: We Love You
94. # Bonnie Tyler: Total Eclipse of the Heart
95. # The Cardigans: My Favourite Game
96. # So Solid Crew: 21 Seconds
97. # Cornershop: Brimful of Asha
98. # Bronski Beat: Smalltown Boy
99. # Supergrass: Pumping on Your Stereo
100. # Musical Youth: Pass the Dutchie

preliminary task

A-ha "Take on me"

This is probably one of the most well known music videos and is number 3 of the 100 greatest music videos.
When the song was first released it disappeared in the charts, it wasn't until the band decided to make a music video that the song became a real success.
The video uses rotoscoping, which is a type of animation where you draw over the film to create this matte, hand drawn effect, this was expensive but at the same time the effects were revolutionary. The video won 6 awards out of its 8 nominated.

Queen "Bohenmian Rhapsody"

This was the group's first hit single and first number 1, it stayed at the top of the charts for 9 weeks which caused a problem when they had to perform the single at Top of the Pops each week and they were on tour at the time. So to defeat this problem the group made a promotional video to play instead whilst they were on tour.
The video itself costed £4,500 and took 4 hours to film, the opening of the video with the four members in formation has to be one of the most famous images of all time. The special effects at the time were cutting-edge and impressive to audiences.
The video will always be recognised as one of the greats, and is ranked number 4 of the 100 greatest videos.It became so popular, that Radio 2 decided to continue this as an annual tradition, dubbing it the radio event of the year. Currently, about half the Dutch population listens to it, and for 2011's edition the number of votes was around 20% of the population. It creates a feeling of nostalgia that perfectly fits the last days of the year. And it seems to fill a need for people to feel some good old "gezelligheid" or coziness in this individual era.

Madonna "Like a Prayer"

Ranked the 5th greatest music video of all time (Channel 4).
Madonna's "Like a Prayer" video tells the story of a man wrongly accused of rape which Madonna witnesses, however she is threatened and runs to the church for guidence. There a black Jesus comforts her and she now knows she must tell the truth to help set free the innocent man.
The music video caused outrage within the Catholic church because Jesus was represented as black, as well as she makes love to the black Jesus in the video. The video caused even more trouble for Madonna as Pepsi withdrew their sponsorship however Madonna kept the money.

Nirvana "Smells like team spirit"

This video in more or less words speaks for the generation of the time and represents this anger/rebellion of youth. Kurt Cobain wanted the video to be like the film "Over the Edge" (1979), the director took his ideas and interpretted them (which we see in the video). However Kurt and band were not happy and reluctant to co-operate with the director of the day of the filming. The music video captures the band's anger and the extras (who tear the set apart at the end) and somehow make something magical as 'a moment' has been captured.
Following the release of the song/video, the band became very successful and had more hit songs.

Radiohead "No Surprises"

No Surprises" comes from the successful album 'OK COMPUTER' in 1997, and is number 24 of the 100 Greatest music videos.

The video itself is filmed in one take, the shot is an extreme close-up of Thom Yorke's face in a plastic bubble. As he sings the lyrics scroll upwards mirrored, as the video goes on there is water slowly filling the plastic astronaunt dome. For about 50 seconds Thom Yorke holds his breathe which makes the audience sympathetic as he looks like he is suffering/uncomfortable.

Eminem "Stan"

This music video is unlike most music videos as it shows the darker side to fame as we follow a obessive fan who feels he is living a duel life with Eminem. The song itself is very personal as Eminem writes of an event in his own life. The song uses samples from Dido's song "Thank You" at the time Dido was a little known star but after this video/song was released she rose to stardom.

The real challenge for the actor of the video, played by Devon Sawa, was to act and lip sync good at the same time. The music video ranked 31 in the 100 Greatest music videos, and here it is:

Emil Nava

Emil Nava begun as a runner for film production companies. He worked for Blink productions, now he freelances for OB Managment.
He graduated to Assistant Director where he managed video shoots. He was then signed to Academy (the biggest music video production), then worked for Between the Eyes; however he now works mainly for Pulse.

When he began shooting videos for independant labels the budget varied between £5000- £10,000; again which isn't a lot of money when producing a music video.
His first budget was £20,000 making the video for Kid British's song 'Our House.' The video was filmed in Manchester, local people were cast to appear in the video. It took one day to film, 2/3 days to edit and 10 days of post production; which just demonstrates the very tight timescales within this line of work.

Emil has also directed:
'30 minute love affair' and 'Picking up the pieces' by Paloma Faith,
'Lego House' and 'You need me' by Ed Sheeran,
Rita Ora's 'RIP'
and Jessie J's 'Do it like a dude' and 'Price tag'

how the music video industry works

A Comissioner from a record label send a track to 5-10 different directors, the directors come up with some ideas for a music video and send back a treatment, at this point the director will still be unpaid.
The director who submits the 'best' idea/treatment is then selected and comissioned to make the video, then the director is paid.
As for many directors in the business, it is a precarious existance where their livelihood is dependant on each comission.

dont go breaking my heart lyrics

Lyrics:

Don't go breaking my heart
I couldnt if I tried
Honey if I get restless
Baby you're not that kind

Don't go breaking my heart
You take the weight off me
Honey when you knock on my door
I gave you my key

Nobody knows it
When I was down
I was your clown
Nobody knows it
Right from the start
I gave you my heart
I gave you my heart

So don't go breaking my heart
I wont go breaking your heart
Don't go breaking my heart

And nobody told us
`cause nobody showed us
And now it's up to us babe
I think we can make it

So don't misunderstand me
You put the light in my life
You put the sparks to the flame
I've got your heart in my sights

video ideas

my song is called back and silver by ace and it is from the song black and yellow by wiz khalifa
the nature of my video would look similar to this but i will use different ideas from different videos as my song is about the basketball team spurs.

Micheal jackson's Thriller

Of course Michael Jackson's "Thriller" had to be the Greatest music video of all time. 
The music video cost $700,000 to make and the director of An American Werewolf in London directed the music video, who was a big director of the time and his films were known for their special effects. It was a big scale production as there were special effects, a well-known director, the different sets, make-up and costumes and dancers/extras.
The video itself is a short film, and has an old style horror elements like what you would expect in a Hammer Horror production (e.g. suspense and eerie sets) and included the respected actor, in both Hollywood and the horror community, Vincent Price.

The UK premiere of the video was on Channel 4 at midnight, it was an event everyone awaited for and was an instant impact. The famous thriller dance routine had everyone in the clubs up and dancing, the routine itself is still legendary even now and had featured even in films like '13 going on 30,' everyone was sucked into the 'Thriller Mania.'

The album is the best selling album of all time and Michael Jackson himself is one of the biggest recording artists to date.

what is digipak

A digipak is a type of CD packaging and are mostly used for special CD editions etc, they are however more expensive compared to traditional CD packaging.
Digipaks are made of card stock with plastic trays attached inside that hold the disc(s), they are almost book-styled as they either flip open or can have three or more parts. 

OB managment

OB Management work as agents for music video directors, their aims are: 
To nurture talent (such as Emil Nava),
To work with production companies and Record Labels,
and to match the right director to the right artists/ song.


These are some of the production companies that OB Management work with:
Pulse Films
Rocket
Agile Films
Friends
Wonda

case study jamie thraves

• director-jamie thraves
• made short films at university
• used award winning short film as a calling card to get a foot in the door with the video production company factory films
• began by shooting three very low budget musicvidoes-cost about £5,000 each 

this is how the process works

• a commissioner from a record label sends a track to 5-10 directors 
• the directors then each submit a treatment this stage is unpaid 
• the director who has submitted the best treatment is the commissioned to make the video 
• only then is the director paid
• as can be seen for many directores in business it is a precarious existence where thier liveihood is dependent on each commission
• jamie thraves submitted treatments for his twobest known videos and each was accepted 
• jamie thraves-most recent video japanese popstars-song for lisa
• currently videos cost about £20,000
• shooting time was 2 days 
• jamie has used the music videos to get into the film business 

advanced prtfolio in media

• advertisement 
• draws attention to the music or song 
• illistrates the song 
• appeals to a visual audience 
• tells a story
• markets an image 

music promo video

• promotes the artist/single/album 
• persuades audience to buy CD/download
• raiser the audience awareness or profile of the artist/group
• to make an artistic statment -e.g talking heads 
• product placement e.g christine agullera and perfume(not myself tonight)

how might we measure the success criteria of a music promo video?

• word of mouth 
• number of hits on youtube
• newspaper articles/tv reports
• how many times shown on television
• amount of publicity
• downloads(legal/illegal)
• charts 
• CD sales
• last word 
• it is worth noting how there has been a massive switvh inthe importance of youtube from television channels such as mtv 
• most viewing of music vidoes now appears to be online 
• vma awards