The public perceive music videos as purely light entertainment. The majority of music videos make the artist seem sexy and as a piece of eye candy to an intended audience. They also demonstrate post-modernism, by using signifiers such as superficiality, irony, playfulness, emptiness and of a serious meaning. Another way a music artist can connect with it's audience is through humour.
However, from the point of view of the record company, music videos are purely for promotion and for advertising the band. Sometimes they advertise other things too, like a film. If an artist agrees to put one of their songs to the soundtrack of a film, most likely the music video will have clips from the film in it. Overall, the aim of the music video is to raise visibility of the band, almost like a visual radio. The music video can then be shown on music TV channels, like MTV; which is famous for beginning the trend for a channel showing only music videos.
The most common element to be used in music videos is some sort of a performance involving the singer and instruments, which usually shows the artist miming/lipsynching live or in a studio. This is important for their star image as it allows them to bond with their audience. A good way of achieving this bond is having the artist singing to the camera. Another element that's frequently used is a storyline/narrative, which conveys some sort of message or meaning. Sometimes both performance and storyline elements are used, using a cross-cutting effect between each scene. For the music video to be successful and praised by critics and the fans, it needs to be stylish. The video's style needs to reflect the style of music, whether that's in the special effects, montage editing, camera use/shots or mise-en-scene. Sometimes artists choose to put extra sound on the video, which isn't in the CD version of the song.
The basic function or purpose of a music video is advertisement. The realisation of the importance of a music video to the industry came in December 1975 when the rock group Queen began its 9-week run at the top of the UK singles chart with the epic single 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' which came with an epic video. Most record companies employ somebody whose task it is to commission videos. This person can be called by a number of titles, for example commissioning editor for video or head of video. A music video usually takes 2 weeks to produce. According to Andrew Goodwin, the 3 different ways in which the visuals in a video can relate to the lyrics of a song are:
The basic function of making a music video is to advertise the song.
Illustration:
The video closely illustrates the song.
Amplification:
The video builds on the song, adding to something to it.
Disjunctive:
The video has no connection to the song.
Friday, 18 September 2009
Section 2: Close Analysis of 3 professional music videos.
Lily Allen- Smile
Genre:
The video forgrounds Lily's performing of the song. The performance combines with the narrative, often merging together in the same scene. The genre of music by Lily Allen is typically British Pop. This is reflected in the gritty, working class, urban mise en scene, with a generally unspectacular cinematography.
Narrative:
The main concept of the video is Lily's revenge on her cheating boyfriend.
It has a beginning, a middle and an end.
Beginning- She is sad and alone.
Middle- She gets her revenge and it is 'sweet'
End- She's finally gotten over her boyfriend but she is still alone.
The narrative illustrates and amplifies the meanings in the song 'with a little help from my friends'. It's generally linear but with some ellipsis and flashbacks to start it off.
Binary Opposition:
Good vs Bad
Sad vs Happy
Men vs Women
Individual vs Group
Sweet vs Nasty
Violence vs Pleasure
Kindness vs Cruelty
Colourful vs Drab
Togetherness vs Alone
The meanings conveyed in this video that the audience can gain is, if you're a boy, don't cheat, and if you're a girl, don't let any boy mess you around.
Media Language:
Mise En Scene
All the working class locations that have been chosen: the flat, the alley way, the club and the street. Lily is very girly, she's feminine but tough, chosing to wear a dress and jewellery with trainers. Lily's flat is also bright and chearful compared to that of her boyrfriends whose is very drab and colourless which, again, emphasises the contrast between the two characters and also the conflict. The final scene where Lily is walking down the middle of the road convey's confidence in herself, shown through the mise en scene.
Cinematograhpy:
We are given a close up of Lily's face whilst she is singing and this creates a bond or connection to the audience as she is singing 'to' them. The mid-shots show the face and hair which is depicting Lily's personal style. The longer bedroom shots emphasise the loneliness that she is feeling at the beginning when she is looking back at the good times with her boyfriend. The frequent tracking shots we are given promotes the stillness and the hand-held camera we get during the violent scenes which shows the gritty realism of the situation. The final reverse track shot emphasises Lily's power and control she is finally feeling. There are no over-dramatic shots as it's all down the Earth.
Editing:
We are given generally fast-paced editing, no dweilling. The open flashbacks is Lily remembering the happy times she used to share with her boyfriend. Ellipsis is used quite frequently to show the passing of time yet continuity is used throughout as we get a sense of progression. The cross-cutting that is used shows Lily smiling while her friends are secretly taking revenge on her boyfriend for her to emphasise the binary opposition between her and her boyfriend. And finally, shot-reverse-shot is used to show the conflict between her and her boyfriend.
Representation:
Lily Allen is represented as being feminine but tough; her sweet and innocent grain of voice contrasts with her harsh lyrics, and her facial expressions contribute to this representation. The working class youth are generally unsophisticated, they are driven by their urges like revenge or money. The use of violence to get even.
GENDER representation: Males are seen as dishonest and cheats, and females are victims of male dishonesty, yet not too weak as they are capable of being devious and cruel themselves.
Audience:
The target audience for this video, I believe, is more for British females. The song is addressed to 'you' but in the video shes sings to the audience not him, she shares her secret with us, in front of him. The occasional eye contact and sly smiles also help build a connection with the audience it shows her pleasue in sharing her revenge. I think she is trying to tell her audience to be less accepting of a boyfriends dishonesty and she is sharing her thoughts on relationships.
The Golden Path- Chemical Brothers
Genre:
This video has a narrative and no performance, whatsoever, from the artist. The Chemical Brothers have develpoed their own style/genre of video.
Narrative:
The main character goes to work and the lyrics suggest that his work place is 'hell'. He often escapes to a hppy place- and the contrast between the work place and his happy place is very distinct. There is a slight connectivity between the lyrics and the events occuring in the video e.g. the coffee machine 'explodes like a volcano', work= hell, the printer is the devil.
There is a clear beginning, middle and end.
Beginning- Walking to work, everything is very repetetive and everyone does the same trip every day.
Middle- At work he often escapes into a better world, one which is happy and colourful , compared to the dull, colourless 'golden path' of his office.
End- He escapes the dull work place for his happy place :)
The structure is generally linear as we are presented with a sense of progression throughout the song. We don't really have any non-linear aspects in this video. The narrative sticks to the conventions of a story by having the villian as the boss man as he's tough on the main character and gives him really bad wages for doing his work.
Genre:
The video has a narrative but there is no performance, whatsoever, by the actual artists in this video as The Chemical Brothers have developed their own style or genre.
Binary Opposites:
Stress vs Calm
Work vs Play
Colour vs Black and White
Control vs Freedom
Good vs Bad
Happy vs sad
Mise En Scene:
The costume is scruffy showing the fact that he has low wages, and the girls yellow dress helps create that contrast between the happy place and his work place. It also shows the 'hippy' side of it. There are dull lights in the office to emphasise the 'hellish' feeling to the office and then it changes to natural lights outside. The props are very much office like props to show his work place, but the photocopier turns into 'the devil' in this video metaphorically.
'Hippy stuff':
Smiley, yellow campervan.
The record player and the bubble are all connotations of happy or cheerful.
The setting in the office is very dull compared to outside on the field where it is much more happier and cheerful.
Cinematography:
We get a close-up of a man with the sun behind him and this shows how miserable the man is. We get a close-up of the payslip which shows us how terrible this life that he lives day in day out is. An over the shoulder shot we get shows how much the boss has power over his employees. We get a 2shot as the man gets changed and the other workers are confused about what he is doing. Then the full shot is of the hippies to show that no one is unhappy here, its a wonderful, happy place to be so the screen is filled with happiness, it connotes freedom. The handheld shot we get of the boss as he walks into the office shows his anger at the man. And last but not least we are presented with a POV shot as the man and woman are spinning and this shows their closeness and gives a good view of the others happy facial expressions.
Editing:
We are presented with lots of continuity editing as we get a sense of progression, which follows a storyline/fantasy. The slow cuts we get are of the hippy place where time and worry doesn't seem to be a factor unlike the fast cuts in the office to show how much of a catastrophy it is. The wierd transitions as the man gets lost in the shirt turns out to be a clever metaphor.
Representation:
The idea of the video with lyrics shows the Chemical Brothers as free-spirited and the leading male represents this as gonig into a dream world. The workplace is seen as boring with bland colours which shows the main characters lives and style. The dream world is colourful and everyone is having fun and this shows what he aspires to be like.
Target Audience:
The target audience is the younger male orientated and its aids the fantasy of the male gender. it dramatises the fantasies of young people in boring jobs. They may be influence to quit their job and have fun. Dancing= Pleasure.
Red Hot Chilli Peppers- Higher Ground:
Genre:
The performance by the artist makes it a music video, they are performing their song in front of a blue screen and adding images into thr background. There is no narrative in this video as it is focusing on the band, it shows off their instruments and the singer singing. It dramatises the instruments and the band playing their instruments.
Narrative:
The song is about the 'world' going round and round, and people being stuck into wars. The images in the background link to this general narrative. It's montage and not linear. The lyrics somewhat match the images in the background.
Binaray Opposites:
Black and white vs Colourful
Past vs Present
Band vs The World
An Individual vs A Crowd
Mise En Scene:
The colourful costumes promotes the bands images to contrast with the black and white images. It creates a visually exciting picture. The topless look again promotes the band and a 'manly' look with the muscles on show. The props are just the instruments which gives us an insight as to which band member plays which instrument. The blue screen images are black and white footage in a mixture to the colourful animations. The picture of the people round in a circle mirroring the 'world turning round' and the kaleidoscope image helped to emphasise that and the band members lying head to head as the world was spinning.
Cinematography:
There are a lot of low angle, dutch angled shots which create a weird sensation of the world spinning. The tracking shots gonig towards and around the performers as we get a shot of all the band members not just the main singer. The high angled shots lookin down on the group of people walking around to show the full circle of the world going round and also to look down on the band as they are performing so we get a variety of different shots on the performers.
Editing:
We are presented with fast paced editing and this reflects the heavy or fast tempo of the song. Montage editing in the backgroun when using the images to link to lyrics and the lipsynching of the singer helps in creating fluidity.
Target Audience:
A young audience but in the late 80s as this is an older video. The bright colours and energetic performance by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers is what is appealing to the younger generation's values. The pleasure of watching a high energised performance with a charismatic singer and musicians is what attracts the younger audience to this band. It could possible influence a new fashion statement as the clothes are very individual and unique.
Genre:
The video forgrounds Lily's performing of the song. The performance combines with the narrative, often merging together in the same scene. The genre of music by Lily Allen is typically British Pop. This is reflected in the gritty, working class, urban mise en scene, with a generally unspectacular cinematography.
Narrative:
The main concept of the video is Lily's revenge on her cheating boyfriend.
It has a beginning, a middle and an end.
Beginning- She is sad and alone.
Middle- She gets her revenge and it is 'sweet'
End- She's finally gotten over her boyfriend but she is still alone.
The narrative illustrates and amplifies the meanings in the song 'with a little help from my friends'. It's generally linear but with some ellipsis and flashbacks to start it off.
Binary Opposition:
Good vs Bad
Sad vs Happy
Men vs Women
Individual vs Group
Sweet vs Nasty
Violence vs Pleasure
Kindness vs Cruelty
Colourful vs Drab
Togetherness vs Alone
The meanings conveyed in this video that the audience can gain is, if you're a boy, don't cheat, and if you're a girl, don't let any boy mess you around.
Media Language:
Mise En Scene
All the working class locations that have been chosen: the flat, the alley way, the club and the street. Lily is very girly, she's feminine but tough, chosing to wear a dress and jewellery with trainers. Lily's flat is also bright and chearful compared to that of her boyrfriends whose is very drab and colourless which, again, emphasises the contrast between the two characters and also the conflict. The final scene where Lily is walking down the middle of the road convey's confidence in herself, shown through the mise en scene.
Cinematograhpy:
We are given a close up of Lily's face whilst she is singing and this creates a bond or connection to the audience as she is singing 'to' them. The mid-shots show the face and hair which is depicting Lily's personal style. The longer bedroom shots emphasise the loneliness that she is feeling at the beginning when she is looking back at the good times with her boyfriend. The frequent tracking shots we are given promotes the stillness and the hand-held camera we get during the violent scenes which shows the gritty realism of the situation. The final reverse track shot emphasises Lily's power and control she is finally feeling. There are no over-dramatic shots as it's all down the Earth.
Editing:
We are given generally fast-paced editing, no dweilling. The open flashbacks is Lily remembering the happy times she used to share with her boyfriend. Ellipsis is used quite frequently to show the passing of time yet continuity is used throughout as we get a sense of progression. The cross-cutting that is used shows Lily smiling while her friends are secretly taking revenge on her boyfriend for her to emphasise the binary opposition between her and her boyfriend. And finally, shot-reverse-shot is used to show the conflict between her and her boyfriend.
Representation:
Lily Allen is represented as being feminine but tough; her sweet and innocent grain of voice contrasts with her harsh lyrics, and her facial expressions contribute to this representation. The working class youth are generally unsophisticated, they are driven by their urges like revenge or money. The use of violence to get even.
GENDER representation: Males are seen as dishonest and cheats, and females are victims of male dishonesty, yet not too weak as they are capable of being devious and cruel themselves.
Audience:
The target audience for this video, I believe, is more for British females. The song is addressed to 'you' but in the video shes sings to the audience not him, she shares her secret with us, in front of him. The occasional eye contact and sly smiles also help build a connection with the audience it shows her pleasue in sharing her revenge. I think she is trying to tell her audience to be less accepting of a boyfriends dishonesty and she is sharing her thoughts on relationships.
The Golden Path- Chemical Brothers
Genre:
This video has a narrative and no performance, whatsoever, from the artist. The Chemical Brothers have develpoed their own style/genre of video.
Narrative:
The main character goes to work and the lyrics suggest that his work place is 'hell'. He often escapes to a hppy place- and the contrast between the work place and his happy place is very distinct. There is a slight connectivity between the lyrics and the events occuring in the video e.g. the coffee machine 'explodes like a volcano', work= hell, the printer is the devil.
There is a clear beginning, middle and end.
Beginning- Walking to work, everything is very repetetive and everyone does the same trip every day.
Middle- At work he often escapes into a better world, one which is happy and colourful , compared to the dull, colourless 'golden path' of his office.
End- He escapes the dull work place for his happy place :)
The structure is generally linear as we are presented with a sense of progression throughout the song. We don't really have any non-linear aspects in this video. The narrative sticks to the conventions of a story by having the villian as the boss man as he's tough on the main character and gives him really bad wages for doing his work.
Genre:
The video has a narrative but there is no performance, whatsoever, by the actual artists in this video as The Chemical Brothers have developed their own style or genre.
Binary Opposites:
Stress vs Calm
Work vs Play
Colour vs Black and White
Control vs Freedom
Good vs Bad
Happy vs sad
Mise En Scene:
The costume is scruffy showing the fact that he has low wages, and the girls yellow dress helps create that contrast between the happy place and his work place. It also shows the 'hippy' side of it. There are dull lights in the office to emphasise the 'hellish' feeling to the office and then it changes to natural lights outside. The props are very much office like props to show his work place, but the photocopier turns into 'the devil' in this video metaphorically.
'Hippy stuff':
Smiley, yellow campervan.
The record player and the bubble are all connotations of happy or cheerful.
The setting in the office is very dull compared to outside on the field where it is much more happier and cheerful.
Cinematography:
We get a close-up of a man with the sun behind him and this shows how miserable the man is. We get a close-up of the payslip which shows us how terrible this life that he lives day in day out is. An over the shoulder shot we get shows how much the boss has power over his employees. We get a 2shot as the man gets changed and the other workers are confused about what he is doing. Then the full shot is of the hippies to show that no one is unhappy here, its a wonderful, happy place to be so the screen is filled with happiness, it connotes freedom. The handheld shot we get of the boss as he walks into the office shows his anger at the man. And last but not least we are presented with a POV shot as the man and woman are spinning and this shows their closeness and gives a good view of the others happy facial expressions.
Editing:
We are presented with lots of continuity editing as we get a sense of progression, which follows a storyline/fantasy. The slow cuts we get are of the hippy place where time and worry doesn't seem to be a factor unlike the fast cuts in the office to show how much of a catastrophy it is. The wierd transitions as the man gets lost in the shirt turns out to be a clever metaphor.
Representation:
The idea of the video with lyrics shows the Chemical Brothers as free-spirited and the leading male represents this as gonig into a dream world. The workplace is seen as boring with bland colours which shows the main characters lives and style. The dream world is colourful and everyone is having fun and this shows what he aspires to be like.
Target Audience:
The target audience is the younger male orientated and its aids the fantasy of the male gender. it dramatises the fantasies of young people in boring jobs. They may be influence to quit their job and have fun. Dancing= Pleasure.
Red Hot Chilli Peppers- Higher Ground:
Genre:
The performance by the artist makes it a music video, they are performing their song in front of a blue screen and adding images into thr background. There is no narrative in this video as it is focusing on the band, it shows off their instruments and the singer singing. It dramatises the instruments and the band playing their instruments.
Narrative:
The song is about the 'world' going round and round, and people being stuck into wars. The images in the background link to this general narrative. It's montage and not linear. The lyrics somewhat match the images in the background.
Binaray Opposites:
Black and white vs Colourful
Past vs Present
Band vs The World
An Individual vs A Crowd
Mise En Scene:
The colourful costumes promotes the bands images to contrast with the black and white images. It creates a visually exciting picture. The topless look again promotes the band and a 'manly' look with the muscles on show. The props are just the instruments which gives us an insight as to which band member plays which instrument. The blue screen images are black and white footage in a mixture to the colourful animations. The picture of the people round in a circle mirroring the 'world turning round' and the kaleidoscope image helped to emphasise that and the band members lying head to head as the world was spinning.
Cinematography:
There are a lot of low angle, dutch angled shots which create a weird sensation of the world spinning. The tracking shots gonig towards and around the performers as we get a shot of all the band members not just the main singer. The high angled shots lookin down on the group of people walking around to show the full circle of the world going round and also to look down on the band as they are performing so we get a variety of different shots on the performers.
Editing:
We are presented with fast paced editing and this reflects the heavy or fast tempo of the song. Montage editing in the backgroun when using the images to link to lyrics and the lipsynching of the singer helps in creating fluidity.
Target Audience:
A young audience but in the late 80s as this is an older video. The bright colours and energetic performance by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers is what is appealing to the younger generation's values. The pleasure of watching a high energised performance with a charismatic singer and musicians is what attracts the younger audience to this band. It could possible influence a new fashion statement as the clothes are very individual and unique.
Section 3: Close Analysis of 2 professional music videos
Paolo Nutini- New Shoes.
Genre:
The genre of 'New Shoes' by Paolo is acoustic. The artist performs in his own video but he doesn't play his instrument in it which is unusual for an acoustic artist. The video has a slight narrative in which he wakes up, puts on his new shoes, goes and parties and goes outside because he feels confident now he is wearing his new shoes. This links to the lyrics.
Narrative:
The song is about a man (Paolo) who wakes up and feels something is missing so he puts on his new shoes and everything is fine, and he has a good time. The video also shows the artist's grown confidence now that he has his new shoes on because he walks down the middle of the road singing and dancing. The video has a linear narrative, and is a performance video aswell.
Binary oppositions:
New vs Old
Cartoon vs Reality
Boy vs Girl
Morning vs Night
Mise-en-scene:
The start of the video begins with an animation of the camera rolling down the road which links to Paolo walking down the middle of the street throughout the video. A set of titles introduce the video and the artist which give it more of a short film type of video rather than a typical music video. All the people in the video wear casual clothing to give a relaxed and down to earth look. Also Paolos leather jacket signifies that he is cool and his new shoes make him look attractive, shown by the interest he is getting from the girls in the video. In the video there is a tramp (shown through his tatty clothes) which Paolo associates himself with, by patting him on the back, this signifies that he doesn't care about poverty (lyrics-'short of money'). The way that the artist walks down the street, now that he has his new shoes on, shows that he has become bold and brave. In the bedroom there is a guitar on the bed to relate to the genre of music- accoustic.
Editing:
The titles roll in from the side. There is also a match-on-action shot from Paolo closing the fridge door and opening his wardobe door. Little lights are used as an animation to float around Paolo to make his new shoes look that bit more special. This effect would have been put on after.
Cinematography:
There is a point of view shot of Paolo looking into the kitchen at the partying people to make it feel like we are there and involved. A hand held shot in the party also does this, and could also signify the drunken stumbling from the party members. At the start of the video there is an aerial shot to show the messy room and Paolo as the centre of attention. A pull focus is used to show a point of view of him focusing on the time, matching the lyrics in the song.
Audience:
Girls or teenagers would be the main audience of this video because they may find the artist attractive. The video also has a fun and party theme, which could influence that side of the audience into liking the video.
You Belong With Me- Taylor Swift:
Genre:
American pop/country music
Narrative:
The video foregrounds Tayor's performance of the song. Performances combines with narrative, iften merging to two together in the same scene.
The narrative of the story is that of a young teenage girl is in love with an attractive teenaged boy and in the end she gets the boy. It has all the typical American-esque stereotypes that are associated with highschool, the girl is part of the 'marching band' making her a geek of the school and the boy is on the football making him a 'popular' kid. The boys girlfriend (who is actualy played by Taylor again, but wearing a wig) is head cheerleader which therefore makes her part of the popular kids too.
Beginning:
The two are talking across houses via placards about life in general.
Middle:
The main girl sees the nice boy going out with his 'slaggy' girlfriend.
End:
The main girl ends up going to prom, after telling him she has too much homework and can't make it, she eventually plucks up the courage to show the boy the placard baring the words 'I love you' on them to find out that the boy in fact has the same placard with the same words written on them but in his own hand writing, and she ends up with the boy of her dreams and the 'slaggy' girl ends up with nothing!
The narrative is generally linear, however it does contain lots of ellipsis and jump cuts to show the passing of time.
Binary Opposites:
Geeks vs Slags
Bandies vs Cheerleaders
Scruffy vs Fashionable
Blonde vs Brunette
Innocence vs Experience
Love vs Lust
Meanings:
Don't judge a book by its cover.
Be confident.
Take risks and life is usually rewarding.
Be yourself.
Media Language:
Mise En Scene.
Locations:
Houses, personal bedrooms, school, football field, prom hall, and in a nice red car.
The sets and locations are all stereotypical 'highschool girl' locations, like for example the prom hall is all decorated, and her room is very girlie with posters and pictures and light pinks everywhere. Whereas the boys room is very guy-like with american footballs lying around and american football jersey's. The prom scene the 'slaggy' girl wheres a bright red dress which automatically has pejorative connotations to it, and the dress is very low cut, whereas Taylor Swifts character comes in with her angel-like, white dress with long wavy blonde hair and she looks stunning.
Editing:
The editing throughout is generally linear, except for the scene in her bedroom where we are presented with a lot of jump cuts to show the passing of time and also the different outfits that Taylor Swift's character has in her wardrobe, also a very stereotypical way to perceive a young teenaged girl, obsessed with clothes, shoes, hats and make-up.
Audience:
The audience is generally girls, teenaged girls who have a very fairy-tale aspect on love and friendship. Its shows the right girl ending up with the boy of her dreams and she 'lives happily ever after' It's every girls dream come true ending.
Genre:
The genre of 'New Shoes' by Paolo is acoustic. The artist performs in his own video but he doesn't play his instrument in it which is unusual for an acoustic artist. The video has a slight narrative in which he wakes up, puts on his new shoes, goes and parties and goes outside because he feels confident now he is wearing his new shoes. This links to the lyrics.
Narrative:
The song is about a man (Paolo) who wakes up and feels something is missing so he puts on his new shoes and everything is fine, and he has a good time. The video also shows the artist's grown confidence now that he has his new shoes on because he walks down the middle of the road singing and dancing. The video has a linear narrative, and is a performance video aswell.
Binary oppositions:
New vs Old
Cartoon vs Reality
Boy vs Girl
Morning vs Night
Mise-en-scene:
The start of the video begins with an animation of the camera rolling down the road which links to Paolo walking down the middle of the street throughout the video. A set of titles introduce the video and the artist which give it more of a short film type of video rather than a typical music video. All the people in the video wear casual clothing to give a relaxed and down to earth look. Also Paolos leather jacket signifies that he is cool and his new shoes make him look attractive, shown by the interest he is getting from the girls in the video. In the video there is a tramp (shown through his tatty clothes) which Paolo associates himself with, by patting him on the back, this signifies that he doesn't care about poverty (lyrics-'short of money'). The way that the artist walks down the street, now that he has his new shoes on, shows that he has become bold and brave. In the bedroom there is a guitar on the bed to relate to the genre of music- accoustic.
Editing:
The titles roll in from the side. There is also a match-on-action shot from Paolo closing the fridge door and opening his wardobe door. Little lights are used as an animation to float around Paolo to make his new shoes look that bit more special. This effect would have been put on after.
Cinematography:
There is a point of view shot of Paolo looking into the kitchen at the partying people to make it feel like we are there and involved. A hand held shot in the party also does this, and could also signify the drunken stumbling from the party members. At the start of the video there is an aerial shot to show the messy room and Paolo as the centre of attention. A pull focus is used to show a point of view of him focusing on the time, matching the lyrics in the song.
Audience:
Girls or teenagers would be the main audience of this video because they may find the artist attractive. The video also has a fun and party theme, which could influence that side of the audience into liking the video.
You Belong With Me- Taylor Swift:
Genre:
American pop/country music
Narrative:
The video foregrounds Tayor's performance of the song. Performances combines with narrative, iften merging to two together in the same scene.
The narrative of the story is that of a young teenage girl is in love with an attractive teenaged boy and in the end she gets the boy. It has all the typical American-esque stereotypes that are associated with highschool, the girl is part of the 'marching band' making her a geek of the school and the boy is on the football making him a 'popular' kid. The boys girlfriend (who is actualy played by Taylor again, but wearing a wig) is head cheerleader which therefore makes her part of the popular kids too.
Beginning:
The two are talking across houses via placards about life in general.
Middle:
The main girl sees the nice boy going out with his 'slaggy' girlfriend.
End:
The main girl ends up going to prom, after telling him she has too much homework and can't make it, she eventually plucks up the courage to show the boy the placard baring the words 'I love you' on them to find out that the boy in fact has the same placard with the same words written on them but in his own hand writing, and she ends up with the boy of her dreams and the 'slaggy' girl ends up with nothing!
The narrative is generally linear, however it does contain lots of ellipsis and jump cuts to show the passing of time.
Binary Opposites:
Geeks vs Slags
Bandies vs Cheerleaders
Scruffy vs Fashionable
Blonde vs Brunette
Innocence vs Experience
Love vs Lust
Meanings:
Don't judge a book by its cover.
Be confident.
Take risks and life is usually rewarding.
Be yourself.
Media Language:
Mise En Scene.
Locations:
Houses, personal bedrooms, school, football field, prom hall, and in a nice red car.
The sets and locations are all stereotypical 'highschool girl' locations, like for example the prom hall is all decorated, and her room is very girlie with posters and pictures and light pinks everywhere. Whereas the boys room is very guy-like with american footballs lying around and american football jersey's. The prom scene the 'slaggy' girl wheres a bright red dress which automatically has pejorative connotations to it, and the dress is very low cut, whereas Taylor Swifts character comes in with her angel-like, white dress with long wavy blonde hair and she looks stunning.
Editing:
The editing throughout is generally linear, except for the scene in her bedroom where we are presented with a lot of jump cuts to show the passing of time and also the different outfits that Taylor Swift's character has in her wardrobe, also a very stereotypical way to perceive a young teenaged girl, obsessed with clothes, shoes, hats and make-up.
Audience:
The audience is generally girls, teenaged girls who have a very fairy-tale aspect on love and friendship. Its shows the right girl ending up with the boy of her dreams and she 'lives happily ever after' It's every girls dream come true ending.
Section 4: Target Audience Research
Questionnaire
Age?
16 and under
17 to 20
21 and over
Gender?
Male
Female
What genres of music do you like?
Rock
Indie
Classical
Metal
Pop
Jazz
R'n'B
Hip hop
Dance
Other
Do you watch a lot of music videos online or on TV?
Yes
No
What is your favourite music channel?
Who is your favourite artist?
Do you like music videos to contain a narrative?
Yes
No
Where would you prefer a music video to be staged?
School
Stage/Gig
Outside
Beach
Park
Other
Would you like to see the artist appear in the video?
Yes
No
Would you prefer a music video to be linear or non-linear?
Linear
Non-linear
Results
The majority of people we gave our questionnaire to were aged between 17 and 20, which is our intended audience for the music video. This is because, the artist we have permission from is only young, therefore the audience will be able to relate to his lyrics because they will be a similiar age to him. However, he has quite a mature sound to his music, which would eliminate an audience in their early teens. Also, the majority of people who filled out the questionnaire were female, which isn't related to our target audience because it's not gender specific. However, I do think the artist would appeal that bit more to women because of his appearance. Most people chose indie as the genre of music they prefer, and they also said that they watch music videos alot. 4music turned out to be people's favourite music channel. This could be because it's more accessible; it is available in all basic television packs. Another reason could be because it is branded under popular Channel 4, which mainly shows teen programmes. In the open question of who is their favourite artist, Rihanna was named twice and Beyonce three times, compared to the other artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Calvin Harris who came up just once. Most people said that they would like a narrative in a music video and that they would prefer it to be filmed outside. Also, they would like to see the artist appear in the video and have a linear structure. These answers have given us a clear idea of what our target audience prefer, therefore we will try to incorporate as many of the ideas, they have indicated that they like, as possible to keep them happy and interested.
Age?
16 and under
17 to 20
21 and over
Gender?
Male
Female
What genres of music do you like?
Rock
Indie
Classical
Metal
Pop
Jazz
R'n'B
Hip hop
Dance
Other
Do you watch a lot of music videos online or on TV?
Yes
No
What is your favourite music channel?
Who is your favourite artist?
Do you like music videos to contain a narrative?
Yes
No
Where would you prefer a music video to be staged?
School
Stage/Gig
Outside
Beach
Park
Other
Would you like to see the artist appear in the video?
Yes
No
Would you prefer a music video to be linear or non-linear?
Linear
Non-linear
Results
The majority of people we gave our questionnaire to were aged between 17 and 20, which is our intended audience for the music video. This is because, the artist we have permission from is only young, therefore the audience will be able to relate to his lyrics because they will be a similiar age to him. However, he has quite a mature sound to his music, which would eliminate an audience in their early teens. Also, the majority of people who filled out the questionnaire were female, which isn't related to our target audience because it's not gender specific. However, I do think the artist would appeal that bit more to women because of his appearance. Most people chose indie as the genre of music they prefer, and they also said that they watch music videos alot. 4music turned out to be people's favourite music channel. This could be because it's more accessible; it is available in all basic television packs. Another reason could be because it is branded under popular Channel 4, which mainly shows teen programmes. In the open question of who is their favourite artist, Rihanna was named twice and Beyonce three times, compared to the other artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Calvin Harris who came up just once. Most people said that they would like a narrative in a music video and that they would prefer it to be filmed outside. Also, they would like to see the artist appear in the video and have a linear structure. These answers have given us a clear idea of what our target audience prefer, therefore we will try to incorporate as many of the ideas, they have indicated that they like, as possible to keep them happy and interested.
Section 5: Planning Materials for Video
Click picture for full size.
Lyrics for Marching Band by Joe Brooks:
Notes on the band:
Joe Brooks is a UK singer-songwriter from Southampton. He's signed to Lava Records and has received media coverage based on his topping the UK Myspace charts. While unsigned, he gathered 12 million plays on Myspace which built up a strong Internet following. Brooks has a fan base that ranges from Europe to the United States. Tickets for his shows are currently being sold for 12 times their face value.
Treatment:
Our video mainly consists of a man grieving over the loss of his girlfriend. There are constant flashbacks, shown in black and white, of happier times with his girlfriend and imagining that she's still there. An example of this is in the scene when they're both sat on a bed, watching a film in black and white, then his girlfriend disappears and the colour changes from black and white to normal colour to show the transition between past and present. We allow the audience to come to their own conclusions about what happened to his girlfriend: whether she died or she's just left him for another person. He is also shown trying to deal with the grief by consulting in his friend, who just angers him even more because he doesn't understand. In the end, he decides that he can't cope anymore so he decides to end his own life with pills.
Set/Location details:
Most of the music video is set inside a house as we needed to show the main characters doing homely, couple-like things such as arriving home, watching a film or playing video games to convey their happiness when they were together. The scenes that were set in the present, when the boyfriend was by himself, were mainly located in the house to portray his feelings at losing his girlfriend. He was enclosed inside, which shows that he was bottling his feelings up. We then moved some locations outside to stop the video looking to cramped and isolated. This was shown when the boyfriend was walking along the street and miming to the words of the song. We wanted to show that he was now willing to open up his feelings to his friend, by being outside. A theme that was recurring in the music video is the theme of doors. This relates to the theme of death that was also present in the video, because we wanted to show that death could lead to doors opening to another life, or doors closing on living.
Shot List: Inside shots:
Shot 1: Tilt up from Kit's feet, and then back down again.
Shot 2: Panning shot of face.
Shot 3: Mid shot of Kit's face, singing.
Shot 4: Steady camera mid-shot, Kit get's up and out of shot.
Shot 5: Long shot in bedroom Kit storming in.
Shot 6: Mid-shot of Kit and Sarah in bedroom playing x-box.
Shot 7: Close up of two linked hands.
Shot 8: Long shot of two actors cuddling on the bed.
Shot 9: Close up of the two cuddling on bed, low angle close up.
Shot 10: Long shot of two actors walking towards the camera, holding hands.
Shot 11: Close up of hand dropping and pill bottle, with pill rolling.
Shot 12: Hand-held panning shot in bathroom.
Shot 13: Close up of actors face singing.
Shot 14: Hand held shots to portray anger and to build tension.
Outside shots:
Shot 15: Tracking backwards shot, hand held of Kit singing.
Shot 16: Long shot with interesting mise-en-scene, singing to song.
Shot 17: Hand held shots of Kit walking home.
Shot 18: Over the shoulder shot of Kit turning the key in the door.
Shot 18: Close up shot of door closing.
Shot 19: Close up of Kit's face singing.
Shot 20: Panning shot of two lads meeting eachother.
Shot 21: Mid shot of the two boys arguing and fighting.
Shot 22: Long shot of Kit walking home towards to gate and opening it.
Casting notes:
Kit Phillips
We cast Kit as our leading male because we know from past experience (working with him before) that he would give a great performance, he's hard working, determined to succeed and is very reliable. He's a very good looking guy who we believed would fit the role perfectly. The emotions we needed from our leading male were very raw and upsetting and we knew that Kit would be up for a challenge.
Sarah Cramp
Also, from past experience we knew that Sarah would not get irritated with her lack of being in the film and we knew that Sarah and Kit have great chemistry together and would be able to pull off being a couple deeply in love.
We also had a little cameo from our good friend Mark Farrent who is best friends with Kit in real life so we needed a strong bond between the two male characters and these two pulled it off exceptionally well.
Costume details:
We went for the casual but 'cool' look to show that our main character was an attractive, well dressed guy. However, because of the flashbacks in our music video, we needed a few outfits, although the change was subtle as all the outfits were similar, but fashionable.
He wore a leather jacket- black.
Neutral colours, nothing too extreme- blues and blacks.
He wore stylish blue jeans.
Section 6: Planning Materials for Ancillary Products
Here is an example of a magazine article advertising a album, this picture inspired our final ideas as we wanted to use the overlap tool using our artist, yet make it look artistic at the same time:
Another example that sparked our ideas for a final design was the artistic flair in this picture:
We were also inspired by the enigma codes that this advert provides and hope to be able to create a similar sort of feel:
Digipak research:
Digipak is a patented style of compact disk or DVD packaging. Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside. Digipacks are a type of CD packaging made out of card stock or other heavy paper/cardboard material. Digipacks can flip open like a book, or it can have three parts, so that one portion of the packaging opens to the right and one to the left, with the CD in the center portion. Usually, the portion of the digipack that hold the CD is made of plastic like a traditional jewel case CD - the plastic part is simply attached to the paper background.
Our albums track list:
1. Apple
2. Palm Trees and Lost Souls
3. Superman
4. Dating Game
5. Hold My Breath
6. Strange
7.Time Machine
8. Marching Band
9. The Master
10. This Is Not War, This Is Pest Control
11. Sleepwalking
MARCHING BAND THE ALBUM's FIRST MAGAZINE ARTICLE:
This is the finished version of our magazine article, we decided to keep it big, bold and simple, because we thought that the 'The Crooked Voltures' article was straight to the point and very effective in catching out attention as potential buyers. Keeping ours as simple as possible, using big bold lettering with bright, contrasting colours for emphasis.
Here is the final design for our digipack:
Album cover:
The inside cover of the album is our 'Marching Band' lyrics page:
The back cover:
The inside of the back cover is a 'Special Thanks to' page:
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