Test shooting

Today we tested out the opening scene for costumes, lighting, and general set up. We ended up having some continuity errors and issues with costume and script. So we decided that at some point we would have to reshoot this so as to have a seamless opening sequence.

Flour test

Today we tested out how flour would appear on camera to mimic what the powder paint would look like. Overall it went well.

Questionnaire

This is the questionnaire we will be using to asses consumption of music video.

 

Planning

Group Mood Board

Today we created a mood board as a group in order to merge all of our ideas and make sure our creative outlooks for the video were the same. The main themes we all settled on were having bright costume and make-up (e.g. nails, lips, eyeliner), the fashion style of the video to be soft grunge (quite edgy-looking but still mainstream clothes (not too alternative), the glow paint to be quite artistic and creative looking, the paint dust to be bold, colorful and fun, and the locations to be picturesque.

Location Spotting

While out in Kingston we spotted a location which might be good to film at as it shows bright and colorful images of well know, popular themes (e.g. my little pony, lego etc) and therefore would link into our video by keeping it bright and vibrant and appealing to the pop audience who would recognize and identify with the images.

Cast photos - Lead Singer

We chose to cast Katy Williamson as the main artist as she has the typical pop artist look (slim, beautiful, fashionable etc.). Katy has also had previous experience with photo shoots and being on camera and therefore we think she would be a charismatic, photogenic and cooperative character to shoot, which is ideal.

Planning

Today in class we continued work on the storyboard. We decided to get down all of our ideas for shots or sequences that we think would be effective and then try to order them and merge them together, rather than doing one linear storyboard for the whole thing as it allows us to be more creative and stop thinking in a narrative based mind set in that one shot must follow another logically. Therefore allowing us to properly brainstorm each section and how they would link together in a creative fun music video.

Pitch

Our concept for the music video is based on the narrative of the song; a couple in which the female is fed up of the relationship and has gone past caring. This links to the main lyrics of the song 'I got this feeling on a summer day when you were gone...' by representing a clear image of the referred to couple. Our video will be performance based with a fragmented narrative, this is because although we want to keep the video visually interesting and fast paced, we feel there must be some sort of narrative behind it in order to provide sufficient meaning to the song.

The video will roughly consist of 3 parts, an opening in which we see the character in the kitchen styled as a 1950s housewife serving tea, the character will then begin smashing plates and ripping her apron off. This is to hint at the relationship between her and her boyfriend, in that she is fed up. We chose to do an opening as this is a common feature in pop videos today and we wanted to stick with the conventions of the genre. Furthermore, in the opening we are trying to play with themes which are big topics at the moment like the idea of patriarchy and voyeurism which show the woman being objectified and seen to serve men, our idea could further be interpreted not just as the female being fed up of the relationship but how society is trying to push back against the dominating male figure.

The second main part to the video will be the powder paint idea which has been a key feature in all of our planning from the very beginning. We plan to have the powder paint come in around the first chorus of 'I don't care...' as we think this will be very eye catching to the viewer and emphasise how the character doesn't care anymore, in that she's getting messy and having fun and couldn't care less, which links in with the lyrics. We had a few specific ideas for shots to be used in this section, for example, the artist would flip her hair forward and then the camera would do a 360 around her before loads of people come into shot and throw paint at her. We also thought of playing with fast forward and slow motion in editing at these parts to create a contrast and captivate the audiences attention (e.g. speed up the footage as a character is about to throw the paint and then slow it down as the paint is mid air). Furthermore we thought it may also look good to use reverse in the section by making it look as if the paint is being taken off the characters (this may be a good way to end the video; with the character being clean again). The overall idea for this section is to create some interest and to just make it look like the character is having a fun time - which is in contrast to the opening.

The final main theme in the video focuses mainly around glow in the dark body paint and glow sticks. This section of the video would come in around the first bridge of the song 'I'm in the Milky Way...'. We wanted this part of the video to look quite futuristic as to link to the obvious imagery of space used in the lyrics. We also thought this part of the video could be used as more glamour shots in which to fully capture the artists creative nature and show off her appearance. Overall we just think that this section will add another dimension to the video and keep the audiences attention.
More recently we were thinking of including dance in this section, as dance is heavily featured in pop music videos, and this would be an appropriate time in the video to add a small choreographed section of dance - however this is still being discussed.  

Copyright Message

Today we sent an email concerning the copyright of I love it by Icona Pop to the record company.

Group Meeting

Today we decided to create a group calendar in order to work out the best dates for filming that would suit everyone and work toward our schedule. We also created a group Facebook message in order to be able to get in touch with everyone quickly.

Conventions of Digipacks

Digipacks or Album Art Consist of the front cover, back cover, spine, inside CD tray, CD and then some form of inside pages (be it a booklet or fold out).

Generally the front cover with feature the artist name and album title, self titled albums just have the artist name. The back cover then consist of the included songs and then the record company, copyright etc.

The inside pages are generally lyric pages (a picture with the lyrics from an included song) however occasionally they show a sort of photo album or collage of just images of the artist.

Each genre has elements to their digipacks which are specific to them, for example, pop artists usually feature a singular picture of the artist (most likely their face) as the cover where as rock bands will usually have some sort of design as their cover.

Marketing

There are many ways to market an artist such as TV, press, online, performances and other things such a merchandising (band merchandise, clothing range, make-up range etc).

Nowadays the best way to market an artist is through TV or online due to the recent advances in technology it is much easier to keep up to date with everything your favourite artist is up too, through TV interviews or youtube, twitter and other social networking sites. These are all incredibly important to keeping fans in on what the artist is doing and therefore keeping their support and loyalty. It also helps to draw attention from new audience members to the artist.

There are also many clever ways to market an artist through viral campaigns or funny TV adverts which include the artist on a personal level (the artist being themselves, or an exaggerated version of themselves), this may be to advertise something not to do with the artist however it will still also draw attention to the artist and get publicity for them.

Conventional methods such as above and below the line marketing using newspaper interviews, billboards, gossip stories are also still effective. Performances on TV/radio or at collaborative events and touring all draw focus to the artist.

Marketing our artist

Our artist is a young female mainstream pop artist and is signed to a big record company, so has the availability of a huge marketing campaign.

As her target audience ranges from 14-25 this is quite young and so it is important for her to be active online. Therefore we would set her up with a Twitter account and Instagram account run by her. Have a fan Facebook and Tumblr account run by the record company. She would also have a VEVOyoutube account for her recent music videos and behind the scenes footage.

It has become increasingly frequent for female artists to have their own make-up ranges and therefore she would have one too. I think since we are giving the artist such a particular style that fans would emulate the way she dresses and so it would be fitting for her to have own clothing line.

She would also have frequent radio/TV interviews and performances, and the conventional advertising e.g. billboards, magazine adds. Also due to her age I would anticipate that there would be a lot of tabloid gossip stories surrounding her love life which would add to her marketing.

Audience

Our Audience

We believe our key audience to be females between the ages of 14-25, this is due to the genre of the song being pop, meaning it will most likely be played a lot on radios such as Capital who's target age ranges from 15 to 30 year olds. Therefore the song would reach a wide range of people. We also thought that the audience would be people who connect with the song and since it is sung by a female it is most likely to appeal to females as they may gage more with the themes of the sing, however the song is just generally quite a universal party anthem and so would most likely be enjoyed by both genders and possibly even people of old or younger ages than we anticipate. However our target audience remains as 14-25 year old females and this is the most likely audience for the song and so this is who we will target in our film, album art and websites.

 

I believe our key demographic areas to target would be C1 down to E as they are most likely to be aware of the song through the radio and/or when it is played in bars/clubs or just around shopping centers. However I feel that as the song is such a universally enjoyed song (a pop song) that it could probably be appreciated by most demographics; everyone can relate to the songs message of wanted to let loose, even the A class demographic likes to let their hair down. However, as the main target audience still remains as C1 to E this is who we will target with our marketing campaign.

I believe our audience would look to seek out our music video and so would follow the uses and gratification model.

Star Image

Mood Board

Star Image

Star Image Theories

Stars are extremely important to the music industry, they ensure a long careers and guarantee sales. Which is why it is always important to present a certain image of the star as being someone special, someone who the audience can emulate, look up to and desire. Creating influential stars who the audience look to model behaviours of has always been important. Painting certain genres of celebrity in a certain light, for example the norm for a rock artist would be to be portrayed as extremely rebellious, in order to fit their music style and what their fans might expect. Members of pop boy bands being shown as heterosexual and highly available in order to sell more records to idealist young female fans, as with the case with many artists such as George Michael.

However in more resent years this idea of the untouchable superstar has been deconstructed by shows such as 'The X Factor' giving rise to the new ideas of stars just being normal people. Perhaps killing our faith in such stars and so the music industry as a whole. However it has been shown that conversely we seem to desire that 'normal' lifestyle more, as it is selling something ordinary and achievable.

Goodwin's theory on stars states:

-The creation of character identities for stars provides a point of identification for the audience/spectator, which is especially important when lyrics often lack depth.
-The construction of stars is central to the economics of the music industry - stars guarantee sales and long careers.
-Star loyalty is a key ingredient - fans are loyal to the star.
-The audience knows its own tastes but the music industry has long been able to work around this - The construction of stars is one way they do this.
-The record industry is very dependent on stars - many record companies rely on a few big stars (or even just one) to provide stability.

Richard Dyer's theory originally on cinematic stars can be used to explain music stars too and it states:

-Stars are a phenomenon of consumption - that is they are a result of our modern culture of consumerism
-There are a range of audience-star relationships

• Emotional Affinity- Most common, where the audience feels a loose attachment to the artist
• Self Identification- When the audience member places themselves in the same situation and persona as the star
• Imitation- This is most common with young audience members and takes it beyond ordinary. The audience member sees the star as a model of what they should do in their life and imitate it.
• Projection- This is the extreme version of imitation; when the audience member's behaviour becomes more that simple mimicking of clothing, hairstyle etc.

Other Influences

Although not in the pop genre the music video for Move Along by The All American Rejects which shows the lead singer in many different locations, has influenced the idea to have lots of different people lip sync a part of I Love It and cut them all together.

We also thought about slow motioning paint on speakers, just as another visual draw to the video.

We also were influenced a lot for the costume of the artist by the character Effy from Skins as she has a very rebellious attitude and grungy style which fits the meaning of  the song (I don't care). We are, however, having our artist wear more colorful clothes/ make-up than Effy as we still need to make the music video bright and fun.  

Audience

Audience Pleasures

All media texts keep the audience in mind and serve to offer the audience pleasure. There are many different audience pleasures each genre of of music video uses in different combinations to satisfy there specific audience.

Emotional Pleasures - These are generically designed to create a strong response in the audience, for example, horror (mainly used in the metal genre) comedy, melodrama to state a few.

(the video bellow is extremely graphic view with caution)


Visceral Pleasures - Is a physical feeling created within the persons internal organs and is defined by how the media text elicits a physical effect upon its audience. For example, many music videos of the 'hippy' or 60s genre look to create a psychedelic feel within its audience, so they feel as though they are on a trip.



Intellectual Puzzles - These pleasures come from being able to decipher a plot or being surprised by something unexpected in the story. This tends to happen during narrative based music videos.



Audience Theories

The Effects Model - The idea behind the effect model is that the audience is powerless to what the media put out, they are force feed the messages from the media. It is the media that has the power and the audience just receive the information.

The Uses and Gratification Model - This theory states that it is the audience that has control. That they actively seek out specific media for their own gratification. They control their own media consumption. There are four main uses the model states the audience has for the media:

Diversion - escapism and emotional release
Personal Relationships - the audience has a relationship with known media and discuss this with people
Personal identity - reflection upon ones own life compared to the media texts
Surveillance - See what's happening in the world

Goodwin

Institution

Pop Genre - Influences

Openings

It has become a growing trend in recent music videos to have an opening before the song starts, some examples shown below. This is what influenced us to have an opening to our video. Each opening adds something to the video, either further narrative (as with Avicii) or a better understanding of the concept behind the video (as with Eminem and Lily Allen).



As each opening clearly has a reason behind it, it is important that ours adds something to the video and would not present the same message without it. Our original ideas were all to have something that adds to the narrative as our video doesn't really have a clear story behind it. We initially thought off the artist throwing clothes out of a window and then storming out of the house. This then created a thought behind the whole music video of shes just left her boyfriend because she wants to have fun. Therefore bringing meaning to the video instead of just the artist having a laugh. After the lyric deconstruction we were all clear that the video had to, yes, be fun and upbeat, but have the underlying narrative of the girl leaving her significant other because she was fed up of him bringing her down and not allowing her to just have fun. We then came up with the idea of a young girl being trapped in the life of a 50s housewife (because of the line 'you're from the 70s... I'm a 90s...') and being subservient to her boyfriend who doesn't allow her to do what she wants. And so we decided to make the opening of the artist serving tea to her boyfriend who is mumbling about something dull and then the beat of the music kicks in and she snaps and shoves a cake in his face (adding a slight bit of humor to keep it light-hearted) and then storms out before the lyrics come in. This added the underlying narrative that we wanted so that the video can have some meaning behind it.

We also thought that this also could show further insight into some issues in today's society such as voyeurism and patriarchy. Showing how woman are being objectified and seen to have to serve men, not only literally but in the way the look and act; to please men. Therefore the act of her going against him could not only show how she is fed up of the relationship but how women of the 21st century are trying to push back against the domination that males have over them.  

Pop Genre - Influences

Wings by Little Mix is so bright and colourful, with the make-up, costume, setting and lighting. It gives off a fun and youthful feel to the video. With our video we are trying to get across the same amount of colour and fun.
Also the very fast paced editing style is similar to what we hope to achieve.



Another good example of this is We Are Golden by MIKA which has extremely bold and bright mise-en-scene, and includes a lot of colour and fun, which again is what we want for our video.

Pop Genre - Influences

3.44 - 4.20

There is a specific part in the music video for Battles Ice cream which we thought would look really eye-catching in our video. It's the part in which footage has been shaped into silhouettes and is playing on top of another clip. We thought it would look good if, drawing on this idea, we shaped the words I LOVE IT out of footage and put it on top of another clip just as the final lyric of I Love It is heard and then the footage flickers off. We feel this would be a captivating way to end the video.

Pop Genre - Influences

Take It Off by Kesha shows an interesting use of powder paint and has influenced our idea for the powder paint fight in our music video. The use of the paint alone creates an incredibly visually interesting, eye-catching image, the video furthers this by involving rewinds of the paint and body parts exploding into powder. We want this part of our video to just be a messy party and so we wont be trying any of the cool special effects (such as the person turning into powder) during ours.

For our video we aim to play with the speed of the clips e.g. speeding up the clip and then putting it into slow-motion just as it hits a person, and rewinding the clips to fully maximize the impact of the powder paint and make it as eye-catching and interesting as possible.  

 

Pop Genre - Influences

The music video for I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas features the use of glow in the dark body paint. This influenced the glow paint idea for our music video as it looks fun and eye catching on screen. However, we were thinking of making the style of how we put on the paint look more sophisticated and creative. As in I Gotta Feeling its more funny and party-like, where we would be using it during the more slow parts of our video to add a more pretty and delicate dimension to the music video. Slightly more like Kesha in Your Love Is My Drug, but less tribal.

Pop Genre

The music video for Poker Face by Lady Gaga is typical of the pop genre. It focuses heavily around the artist, shows her in exaggerated, provocative outfits (bold mise-en-scene), has fast paced editing, uses lighting the enhance the video, constant camera movement, lots of glamorized close-ups of the artist. The video uses all possible attention draws to keep the focus of the audience on the artist, as most pop music videos do as it is a from of promoting the song and hence the artist and their image.

 

Pop Genre

Editing

The video for Roar by Katy Perry uses a lot of editing techniques and special effects. It is themed around the jungle and starts off with a cartoon - styled title which gives a sort of Tarzan-like feel to the video, as Katy Perry slowly becomes a sort of 'Jungle Jane'.

The editing pace at the beginning of the video is slightly slower than the rest of the video, this is probably to subtly reinforce the idea of her being frightened at the beginning. Although it is slower it is still quite quick, which is common for this genre of music video. The rhythm of editing follows the beat of the song and the specific lyrics.

The video also features a lot of special effects, for example, the fireflies, the wall paintings. Special effects such as these aren't necessarily specific to the genre, however, they do feature a lot in Katy Perry's music videos, e.g. Firework, in which it is made to look like fireworks are shooting out of her chest. There is also added glare from the light onto the camera which has been put on to enhance the natural feel to the video, this has also become more common in recent videos.

The final editing technique used is the brightening of the footage, the footage after the fireflies scene has been made lighter and brighter in order to create a more visually eye-catching image for the audience. This is typical of pop music videos.
    

Pop Genre

Camera

The use of camera for most pop music videos is very similar, in that it's constantly moving. This is generally done to keep up the fast paced feel to the video and maintain the audiences attention. An example of this being Jessie J's Wild, in which even when it seems like the camera is steady there is still slight movement. This also helps to create a more realistic feel to the video.

In the video for Wild there is also a sense of synesthesia as the camera movement sometimes follows the sounds of the music (e.g. shuddering moving down, or slowing down when the music gets slower.)

There are frequent close ups used and the majority of shots are either mid-shots or close-ups show the artists lip-syncing, which is again a typical feature of the pop genre. With occasional long shots to show dance moves or gestures.

Pop Genre

Lighting

The use of lighting in the music video for Heart Attack by Demi Lovato is used effectively to help enhance the style of the video.

Her eyes are faintly light up using a circular light behind the camera, this is a very common thing in pop music videos. It helps to glamour the artist and creates a little more interest to there face, therefore if the video is mainly lip syncing it helps to maintain the audiences attention.

In one of the shots in the video Demi Lovato is heavily lit both from the front and the back giving a very bright image, which is also common to pop videos, however it's generally done with a coloured background e.g. Mcfly - Love is on the radio (bright back light blue backdrop). It is also specific to the song though as it links to the lyric 'you make me glow' and then as it begins to be covered in black ink (as is she) it further links to 'but i cover up won't let it show'.

The main use of lighting which helps to enhance the video is during the performance shots, when the lights in the car park are flickering during the verses, turn off at the bridge and then completely light up during the chorus. This type of lighting effect is often used in the pop music video genre (e.g. Move by Little Mix - the lighting flickers) and helps to add another dimension to the video and keep the attention of the audience.

Pop Genre

Mise-en-scene

The colours in this video are very bold and bright, giving a young, light-hearted feeling to the music video and making it very eye catching. It also features a lot of young, slim, attractive people in it as it is aimed at a younger audience, so is therefore trying to visually relate and also give them something to aspire to be like and admire. The costumes are very brightly coloured and trendy, with lots of chunky bold accessories. The make-up is glamours-looking, however they keep it young and fun with hints of colour in the eye-shadow or on the lip. The general feel of the mise-en-scene in the video is bright and colourful which helps to keep the video fun and happy, giving it a feel good vibe - which is what most pop video aim for.

Genre

Each genre of music video has specific features and themes which are common to the genre. For example, the metal genre heavily features performance (showing the band playing) and the pop genre focuses around bright and colourful mise-en-scene.
Some key example videos from each genre are as follows:



Bring Me The Horizon's music video for Shadow Moses is typical of the metal/alternative genre. It centers heavily around the bands performance with a slight hint at a narrative with the girl walking. It also has quite a cold look and feel to it (probably a filter or colourisation, but also heightened due to the setting) which is common to the genre (sometimes dulling down the brightness of the video to get more of a dark look). It also plays with themes of delicacy and violence with the juxtaposition of the feathers (with shots of the drummer playing really hard surrounded by them) and fire. These again frequently appear in metal music video by showing for example dead animals (e.g. bunnies).



When The Sun Goes Down by Arctic Monkeys is a key example of a rock/alternative rock music video. It is solely narrative based telling the story of the song, as is the same with a lot of videos of this genre. There's generally also performance or some sort of involvement from the band in this genre however it depends on the song. For example, Teenage Icon by The Vaccines is basically completely performance. The majority of videos from this genre generally have a either dulled down look (as with When The Sun Goes Down) or appear to have a sepia (or vintage styled) filter over them (as with Teenage Icon).


Rihanna's iconic music video for Umbrella is typical of the RnB genre. It shows glamorous mise-en-scene, (for example, raining sparks, the mansion backdrop, painted silver) some dance, with the camera tending to stay stationary and primarily the artist lip syncing the song with a lot of close ups. These are all key features of the genre.



The video for Lose Yourself by Eminem common to the rap music video genre with a gritty feel to the video primarily shot at night and in the more run down parts of urban area, with contrasting shots of how he lives now. It shows a lot of the artist story - trying to make it - which is a typical topic in rap music videos showing the artists 'roots'. It shows a lot of performance with the artist lip syncing to camera and also playing to big crowds - themes which are common to the genre.



Little Mix's Move is exemplar of music videos in the pop genre. Featuring a lot of dance, bright and bold colours, and the technique of using a circular light behind the camera to give a reflection in the eyes making them stand out (all specific to the genre). They also played with light a lot, hiding the singers in shadow until the song starts to kick in, and then the rest of the video is really bright. The camera also continually moves even though it constantly stays in the foreground (in front of the artist) this works in turn with the fast paced editing to create a very captivating video as its constantly changing (camera, costume, setting, lighting.)

The genre of our music video is pop, so will will be sticking to many of these codes and conventions.

Lyric deconstruction

Initial Ideas

We discussed whether or not to include a narrative in our video. I personally think that a full on narrative would not work with our song choice as I think the lyrics lack enough depth to draw a captivating narrative from.
The rest of the group think that it is important to have a narrative as the majority of music videos have a narrative and generally that a narrative is important to making our video good.

We have decided to go for a loose narrative based around a boy and girls relationship in which the boy is older and more boring and the girl is fed up and just wants to have fun. It is loose in the sense that it is an important part to the video but that it won't be the predominant feature of the video.

What makes a good music video? - in depth

Director - DANIELS

The DANIELS directing duo are made up of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. They work together to create innovative music videos, one of their more famous videos being Don't Stop (Color on the walls) and Houdini by Foster The People, which are actually some of their more subdued videos.




They frequently work in the indie genre creating groundbreaking videos which are often based around hypnotic themes which give a psychedelic feel to the videos. In the video for Pigeons by The Hundred In The Hands, the use of editing and camera work help to make you feel like you are experiencing what the character is feeling by giving off a disorienting feel.



This is typical of their work, much like the video for Underwear by FM Belfast which again uses editing as a key feature in keeping the attention of the viewer.



Most of their videos use the idea of synesthesia to help carry the video, for example in the video for Cry Like A Ghost by Passion Pit the flow of the video is purely dictated of the movements of the character and camera which are controlled by the sounds of the song.


They often are seen to appear in their own videos, for example here they are shown in Houdini by Foster the People.

Director - Marc Webb

Marc Webb was born on the 31st of August 1974 and made his first music video in 1997 for Canadian Rose by Blue Traveler, the video consists of the band performing the song in front of an american flag and inter cutting of a couples relationship. This was around the time music videos were music videos were just starting to become popular and so it is understandable that the video is a bit basic. He also directs short and feature length films with his debut film 500 days of summer coming out in 2009 leading him to later directing The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012.


He later progressed to make other videos such as Move Along by The All American Rejects which includes clever editing cutting together many different shots of the lead singer Tyson Ritter in different outfits in the same frame to make it look like he is playing many different people that all have struggle. With the climax of the Ritter falling backwards into an empty swimming pool, but being caught by a crowd and then crowd surfing; I think this is one of my favourite videos by him.


He also directed videos like Call Me When You're Sober by Evanescence and 21 Guns by Green Day which featured more elaborate mise-en-scene and concepts, both still showing performance which is typical of the rock genre.



Webb developed a signature of a white lamb which features in some of his videos, such as 'Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades' by Brand New in which it appears on the door of the bar and a girls top inside the bar. It is also present on the black briefcase in 'Rough Landing, Holly' and 'Ocean Avenue' by Yellowcard.



Although the vast majority of Webb's music videos are of the indie rock genre he has made a few pop music videos such as Wait A Minute by The Pussycat Dolls and London Bridge by Fergie.



Marc Webb's most recent music video for Last of The American Girls by Green Day clearly shows his progress and his innovative concept ideas and editing. But still remaining the same with the inter cutting between performance and narrative.

Initial ideas

We have settled on the song I Love it (I Don't Care) by Icona Pop. I am happy with this decision as I think the beat is really good and that we should be able to make a really fun, interesting video with it, I also think that the simplicity of the lyrics is good as it allows us to be creative with our ideas and just have fun with it.

Our main ideas focus around a powder paint party, artistic glow paint and toy cars. I think that our concept is good and would create a really visually interesting piece.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality is essential the idea the of using other texts to inspire a new one which creates feelings of nostalgia and reliability within the audience or whole new meanings. Music videos can link to many different things including cinema, fashion and photography.

A classic example of music video intertexuality would be the video for Material Girl by Madonna which refers to the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

The music video for Without Me by Eminem uses a lot of intertextual references to popular TV programmes and news stories, however the main theme of the video is the intertextual link between the video and comic books/ superheroes in which he dresses up in a similar outfit to Robin and gives himself the name 'Rap Boy'. The video aims to make a humorous link to comic book heroes by poking fun at saving a boy from listening to his music, this would appeal to his majority male audience who may have read such comics when they were younger and also just creates a funny video for all audiences to enjoy.



What You Waiting For? by Gwen Stefani is based around Alice in Wonderland, showing things such as the mad hatters tea party and the queen of hearts.

Music videos can also use other previous music videos as reference for example Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus, although aimed at a completely different generation, uses the iconic scene from the music video for Nothing Compares 2U by Sinead O'Connor in which there is just a close up of the artists face looking sad with a single tear.


This could either be the artists trying to expand her audience by creating an affinity with the older audience or it could simply be bringing new meaning to the original text and using a theme that was popular before to become popular with a new generation.



Artists tend to develop and grow over time by changing their image and sound. Avril Lavigne's video for Here's To Never Growing Up plays on the nostalgic feeling of the song by reverting back to her old image from videos like Sk8er Boi, this would help to make consistent fans feel nostalgic about her past and their own creating meaning for them, help bring back old fans and just give new depth to more recent fans.





Generally when artists use intertextual references to other music videos they tend to stay within the same genre, most likely because those were the videos they probably grew up with and so draw inspiration from. As was shown with Wrecking Ball (staying within the pop genre), Situations by Escape The Fate draw an intertextual link to the video for Hot for Teacher by Van Halen, which essential shows the same thing.

Voyeurism

Voyeurism

Voyeurism is based around the concept of viewing to gain pleasure and is usually considered under the idea of the male glaze. Under this theory Goodwin says women are portrayed in music videos as sex objects with the use of fragmented body shots, use of camera (e.g. angles), editing and costume (i.e. little to no clothes).

An obvious example of this would be Satisfaction by Benny Benassi which shows sweaty women wearing provocative clothing and operating power tools. The video includes a lot of fragmented body shots of the females bums, chests, legs etc. There are frequent close ups of their mouths singing the lyrics and also licking their lips in a sexual manor. Also there are a lot of low angle shots to emphasise their bums and there is a tracking shot which scans up the females body as if it were a eyes looking her up and down. Also as the women are using drills and other power tools it makes their bodies shake further showing them as sex objects. It has been suggested that the overly sexual, almost pornographic and voyeuristic nature of the video could actually be recognizing the theory and poking fun at it. This is furthermore supported by the captions which explain how to use and operate the machinery as it is clear that men watching the video would not be reading the captions and therefore it is a little humorous.



Women are also commonly used as adornments in many videos to help flatter the male ego. An excellent example of this is Blurred lines by Robin Thicke, in which the women are wearing revealing clothes (and in the uncensored version are seen topless) dancing around the 3 male artists provocatively. The video is completely voyeuristic as the only thing holding the audiences attention at all is the sexualised images of the women and the misogynistic behaviour of the men.




Voyeurism is evident in most music videos, even if it is not as obvious as the previous examples. An example of subtle voyeurism would be Burn by Ellie Goulding, the video is not at all commonly voyeuristic, however there are a few subtle techniques used to help keep the attention of the male viewer and to sell the artist. The video shows occasional fragmented body shots of females, which help to maintain the viewers gaze. Also although the artist is shown to be a strong woman she is still shown sexually as she is wearing subtly provocative clothing which reveals her stomach and cleavage area. Furthermore, the use of occasional slightly high angled close ups help to flatter the artist, it could also

be argued that the slight high angle could give the audience more of a powerful controlling gaze on the artist especially in this shot where the artist appears vulnerable. Also the way the camera moves closer into her face is as if it is inviting us to look at her and admire her.

Some music videos portray the less frequent notion of the female gaze, in which the idea is reversed and so it is the females who are viewing the video and gaining some sort of sexual pleasure from it. In the video for Rock DJ by Robbie Williams it does contain some fragmented shots of the females to please the male viewer, however it primarily features the artist in the center of all of the woman, dancing provocatively and trying to get there attention and admiration. As dancing does not work he begins removing all of his clothes, as they still show no interest he begins to rip off his own flesh in order to please them, the video is meant to portray the message that being a sex symbol can sometimes go too far.

The video for How to be a heart breaker by Marina and The Diamonds is probably the best example of the female gaze and voyeurism, in which it shows the males wearing next to nothing, being used as adornments, fragmented body shots (including a crotch shot), and camera work and editing to objectify the men. Throughout the entire video we are shown many shots of the men's bodies frequently in slow motion to emphasise their physique and to help create a lingering view of them as if we are watching
something intimate. The fragmented shots help to sexualise the men and show them as purely objects. The shot in which the artist is shown holding a served head helps to amplify the meaning of the entire video, in that she is in control and that the men are her play things and that we are being urged to join her in her games. Although the video is seemingly all about the sexualisation of the men, the video still sells the artist as it is showing the men as her adornments and that they constantly have their attention on her and so she is seen as the object to be desired. The video is all about how she is playing the men and so it shows her as being the most important person in the video. This idea is further supported by her being the prominent image in all on the shots she is in, e.g she is show in the foreground of most the scenes, she is generally in the center of the shots, she is seen on top of the man when they are laying down and also in the scene by the car she is dancing around and so your attention is on her.



Voyeurism also refers to the idea of screens within screens and is captivated by the idea of people within the textual world of also being viewers. A good example of this is I Wanna by The All-American Rejects in which the video tells the entire narrative through phone screens.



Another example which shows the idea of people in the fictional world being the viewers is Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls in which it shows the artist looking through a number of different telescopes and portrays him as a voyeur of the world from a secluded building top.

Initial ideas

The groups has decided that we would like to do our music video in the pop genre.

Lip Sync Task

For our lip sync exercise we used Icona Pop - I love it. We tried a variety of different shots (e.g. close up, mid shot, long shot) to help improve our lip syncing technique. Overall I feel our lip sync went quite well however if we were to do it again and do it with a more photographic mind set, rather than seeing it as just a task to get done, I should try to use a setting that is better lit and maybe use a variety of scenic locations to make the piece a more visually interesting and generally better. Also I think that some of the edits could have been a lot better in that they didn't seem to be synced well enough. This has taught me that for our actual video it is very important to be precise in editing because even just having one frame out of time could ruin the entire thing.

Synesthesia

Synesthesia is used in music videos to accentuate the song by creating the shape of the music in the camera work and editing. An example of this (although animated) would be Do I wanna know by Arctic Monkeys which uses the sound wave animation to show the shape of the sounds.

Stay - Rihanna

Stay by Rihanna is a simple, heart-felt video set in a bathroom and centered around the artist portraying the emotions of the song in a very honest, vulnerable performance. The room is dimly light which helps to show the sadness of the song. Rihanna is naked throughout the video which helps to present the image of vulnerability. I personally like how raw and emotional the performance by Rihanna is, which is amplified by the use of close-ups and extreme close-ups, and feel that this is what keeps the audience watching as it is a rare view on the artist who is usually shown dancing around to an upbeat song.
This has shown me that for our music video performance can be key to the video and we should not try to over complicate things.

Rock N Roll - Avril Lavigne

The music video for Rock N Roll by Avril Lavigne is an upbeat, light-hearted, narrative based video. It begins with an opening before the song comes in which shows Avril having conversation which references and pokes fun at her early song 'Sk8er Boi'. It then goes into a comic book styled world in which Avril is fighting to save rock and roll. The video features funny things such as Avril hitting a baby away, a knife wielding lobster and a bear-shark. These unusal humourous things are what keep the audience watch and also rewatching the video as they may have missed things. I think this is a good video as it is really fun and silly, it is the type of video you'd want to share with people which is part of its success.
Technically, the editing is quite fast paced which keeps up with the tempo of the song on the light-hearted nature of the video. The lighting and style of the video is generally quite bright which links in with the comic book style it is trying to portray.




The video has been thought to be a tribute to Guns N Roses as the video features an intertextual reference to the iconic video November Rain in which there are multiple shots of the guitarist outside a church from a helicopter.

Can you feel my heart - Bring Me The Horizon

Can You Feel My Heart by Bring Me The Horizon is a video typical to metal genre. It is performance based video with a shocking side narrative of a male being chased by menacing hooded creatures which climaxes with the boy being held down and cut open. The performance shows a lot of close-ups of the lead singer Oli Sykes as it tries to connect with the audience, there are also close-ups and slow motions of the band playing to try to emphasize the importance of the instruments. The shots which involve the band play a lot with lighting, allowing it to be gloomy but at the same time have streaks of bright light, which I think my be symbolic of hope as the song and most of the album deal with issues such as suicide, so I think it may be trying to show that there is still hope. The main thing that makes you want to continue watching the video is the narrative.

Personally I think that the narrative is based around the lyric "I can't drown my demons; they know how to swim." as the creatures chasing the boy could be symbolic of how he is trying to fight his own demons, which is a subject that occurs in a lot of Bring Me The Horizon's music videos and songs e.g. It Never Ends which features the lyric 'you said this is suicide, I said this is a war, when I'm losing the battle' and shows Oli allowing the demonic people to kill him.

Domino - Jessie J

This video is all about star image and performance as it consist of purely the artist singing and dancing around with changing backgrounds. Green-screen and editing are key to keeping the interest of the audience. The editing is extremely fast paced with a cut being made at least every 2 seconds even during the slower part of the song, this paired with the interesting mise-en-scene, bright lighting, star performance and animated backgrounds helps to keep the viewer watching.
This is typical of the pop genre as the majority of pop videos look to sell the artist and project the artists image rather than using maybe a concept or narrative as it is to sell to the masses and it is easier to project an image of the star for people to connect with than a story. Also, narrative would not suit this type of song as it is easier to keep up the tempo with just shots of the artist than a story as a story would need more time in order to be understood properly.
This has shown me that concept and narrative are not necessarily key to the success of a music video.

Sacrilege - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The video for Sacrilege by Yeah Yeah Yeahs is purely narrative based in which we slowly see a story pieced together of how a group of people end up shooting a man and burning a woman alive from end to beginning. The pace of the video is quite fast with each shot being explained by the next, which is of the same shot but moments before and from a slightly different perspective. This is what keeps you watching and keeps you interested as you want to know what would push a group of people to go so far and also to seemingly take pleasure in burning a woman alive. The fast paced cutting helps to keep interest, yet with the cuts only showing what happpened moments before it helps to reveal to story at a slower speed (keeping the audience in suspence) but still keeping a fast paced feel to it. The video ends with a light image of the girl as a bride about to walk into the church, this is very contrasting to the opening dark image of the towns people gathered around the fire.    
The video has a very powerful concept which highlights the hypocrisy of the people who are shaming woman as they themselves are the adulterers. It is open to interpretation, however, with many people seeing the shots of the girl having relations with the people in the town as just the peoples own fantasies rather than real affairs, as the girl is being seen to take on many different roles e.g. a sophisticated woman, an innocent teen, a housewife. And so when the girl is found by them to actually be having an affair they take pleasure in hunting her down and killing her as to them she is seen as an object that they posses and that only they should be able to have such a relationship with her.

Why'd you only call me when you're high? - Arctic Monkeys

Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High by Arctic Monkeys, much like a lot of other recent music videos, has a opening before the music comes in. In this opening we hear 'Do I Wanna Know?' playing diegetically, this is a subtle way to promote the rest of their album, this is done by a lot of artists nowadays. The opening helps to set the scene, in which Alex Turner (the lead singer) is out for a drink at the pub. We soon find out from the video effects (the clock smiling/ frowning at him, the multiple reflections, the fire) that he is high. This captures the audiences attention and keeps them watch the, what should be very boring, video. I say it should be boring because it simply shows Alex walking from to pub to a girls house, however, it is what he 'sees' (e.g. a man jumping off a building and running away or the multiple sexual acts the female character 'Stephanie' is seen in) on the way which keeps us watching as we are wondering what might be shown next. There is a humorous ending, in that we are being led to believe that it is the girl who is texting him whereas when we finally see Alex arriving at the wrong house, which is made funnier by an old woman peering through the curtains, we find that it is actually him who has been texting her and that she is just ignoring him which links in with the song lyrics. I like this video because i think it is quite cleaver how they have made such a mundane of walking home into the entire music video, and that it is not boring but actually holds the attention of the viewer as it is seen to be quite unusual.

In one ear - Cage the elephant

In One Ear by Cage The Elephant shows the band trapped in a mental hospital in which the lead singer Matthew Shultz eventually escapes from. This video is mostly performance based as the audience is captivated by Matthew's exaggerated portrayal of someone with mental health issues, in which he makes weird faces and generally acts insane. This could be linked to the meaning of the song in that the song is about people criticize them, yet they don't even care to understand the music. This is shown by them being in a mental hospital as people don't get them, so they just think they're crazy. In this video I think it is the performance, fast paced cutting (which is tied in around the music. e.g. at the beginning of the video as each new instrument comes in a cut is made) and key concept which keeps the audience interested.

There are two other music videos for this song, one American release and one which was released at a much later date. Both in my opinion aren't as good because they aren't very concept based they mostly just feature the band performing. In the later release it does also feature shots of people messing around and a few weird shots (e.g. the topless man with an owl head) however I still personally think that the first video is better as it has more meaning behind it and is generally a more unique video.

 

What you want - Evanescence

As with most videos in the metal genre What You Want by Evanescene is mostly performance based, featuring the band playing an intimate gig. However, the video does inter-cut between the main performance and shots of the lead singer, Amy Lee, running through New York City. This slight bit of narrative helps to keep the audiences attention as you are wondering where she is going, which later in the video is shown as we find her joining up with the rest of the band who all then begin to wade out into the ocean. Other than this the rest of the video is kept interesting by the lighting, editing and camera movement which all fit in with the song perfectly.
The entire video has a dark and gloomy feel to it created by a sort of sepia or just dark/cold tint to it. Some of the shots of Amy running through the city have an after effect on them which makes it look like an old video tape, this makes it feel as though we are watching her on CTV maybe, which helps to create a sense that she is doing something that she shouldn't be; sort of links in with the song lyrics of do what you want as she is possibly rebelling. The lighting of the performance has a lot of contrast going from very bright light to darkness with the beats of the drums, this helps to keep audience interest. There are also a lot of close-ups on the singers face which helps to show her strong emotions. The general editing varies from fast to moderate paced, however even when the shot is not being cut during the performance shots the camera will being continuously moving helping to keep the audience interested and in a state of suspense.
There is also a lot of iconography of the metal genre shown in this video from Amy's dramatic make-up and outfit to the shots of the guitarist head banging and the crowd using the devil horn hand which is symbolic to the genre.

Panic cord - Gabrielle Aplin

The music video for Panic Cord by Gabrielle Aplin is a standard narrative based video for the singer/songwriter genre. It features the singer playing the song to herself in the same bedroom of the couple who is also played by the singer. There are many close-ups of her when singing, as the song is about a break up and so it is essential to convey her emotions. The narrative begins with the couple being happy and in love which helps to keep the audience watching as we know that the song is about how they break up and so we are drawn into wanting to watch how things will end.
I really like the overall light and airy look/feel of the video which is created by the soft natural looking lighting and probably some after effects on colourisation to give it a slightly more warm tone. I think this really helps to portray the homely feel to the video which is quite common in the genre of music video.
I think the main thing that keeps people watching and re-watching the video is the narrative and sad performance of the singer as you feel connected to her as a person and want to watch what happens to her (even though the narrative is most likely fictional). It is also a relateable theme and so most people will be able to have some sort of emotional connection to the song and or the video. I feel that this is further enhanced by the editing as it is cut on beat and even further amplified by cutting on the words when she sings 'doe ray me far so la tea doe' as it creates a hightened physical response within the viewer drawing them in more.

Call It What You Want - Foster The People

Call It What You Want by Foster The People is a typical music video of the indie genre. It opens with the phrase 'Idle Minds Are The Devils Workshop' this paves the way for the rest of the video which features seemingly random shots of the band doing abnormal things in a mansion. The song itself is about how fed up the band is about wanting to fit in and how if you don't follow the social norms you are considered weird, and so the lack of normality in the music video is a perfect fit. This is one of the reasons why I think this video is good, in that although all of the acts portrayed in the video seem really weird and random they all somewhat link together and have meaning in terms of the song, for example the fangirl groupies are an image carried throughout the video and are symbolic of the bands new found fame and when the lead singer Mark Foster is seen to shot them it could represent the rejection of such fame. Another image show in the video is of Mark with his head inside a goldfish bowl, which may on first viewing just seem odd but it does link in with the lyric of wanting to be free as he is trapped in the bowl.
The style of the video is also linked to the style of the music in that the music has a sort of new age electronic feel to it which is shown in the video with things like the shining of the lights into the sky, the fireworks and also the general effects toward the end of the video which they use to create a sort of psychedelic feel.
Also it is cut on beat and as the pace of the music becomes slower the amount of cuts decreases, this decrease in tempo is also show by the drummer beginning to slowly come down from when he started levitating at the beginning of the video.
I think the video is very good because it has a lot of variety to it and interest which helps to keep you watching and also makes you want to re-watch it as you might not have understood it the first time, or that you might have missed something, or just because its a really unique video.

History of Music Video

A Brief History of Music Video

Visual material has always been important to music with a close relationship between the two as far back as the 1920s, with Oskar Fischinger experimenting with sound and visual synchronisation in some of his experimental films such as his early Komposition in Blau 1935.

 

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Ever since then there has always been a link between the music and some sort of visual representation from 'soundies' (short films) through the 40s, followed by the rock'n'roll movies of the 50s and the 'Scopitone' in France in the 60s. The Scopitone by far being the most similar ancestor of music video with unnatural colour, fantasy sets and highly suggestive sexual dances, even showing close ups of female crotches. Which directly relates to the extravagance and voyeuristic nature of contemporary music videos today.

The first official 'music video' to be made was arguably Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen in 1975 which brought forward this idea of music television. Further prompted by the use of music on many popular TV shows such as The Monkees showing many of the forms and conventions of music video today (comedy, action, surrealism mixed with performance), promoclips being made to advertise TV shows and the rapid growth of cable TV. Lead to MTV finally beginning to broadcast in 1981, however there was insufficient material to actually fill the channel but New Wave British Pop quickly took advantage of this and used the channel to break into the American market. Noticing the potential of the medium American artist followed the British artists lead and began releasing their own promos. Followed by black artists led by the director Hype Williams, who by the late 1990s were releasing high budget videos which in turn generated huge record sales. Which shows how important the invention of music video is as it effectively revived the music industry promoting record sales and establishing image as the key promotion of stars, e.g. Madonna who was propelled to super-stardom by bypassing live performance and making herself known through high profile, provocative music videos.

By the end of the 1980s music video was seen as something that is pre-requisite in an artists success and the promotion of music in general. And has remained as important up to now, with MTV being a major brand which is available in all corners of the globe, its own award ceremony 'video music awards', and now potential film directors using music video as a starting point for making feature films .

Preliminary task

Our Preliminary task was to create a 20 second music video. Our Group chose the song 22 by Taylor swift.
When we presented the video to our class the majority said that the performance, editing and effects were good, and that we also successfully managed to lip-sync the video. However, we could have tried to use other post effects such as colorization or attempted to use the green screen as the point of the preliminary task was to try out techniques that we didn't quite know how to use and I personally already knew how to do the effects which we created. Also, we rushed the filming and did it in two days at our school, whereas it could have been good to use different settings and go to specific places like some other groups did.

Evaluation of last years work

Last years foundation production has helped me to develop many skills which I will be able to draw upon this year and help avoid past mistakes. The research and planning section of the project took up the vast majority of our time as it took us quite a long time to initially settle on an idea which we were all happy with, and then more time to actually storyboard and plan filming. Looking back I feel that we may have ignored a few important elements in the planning stages due to lack of time, such as having a sufficient storyboard as ours was quite rushed. In out up coming project I hope that we are able to efficiently and effectively plan as I feel that this would have helped to make our past project run more smoothly and so would help greatly in this years work.

I feel that my personal organisation skills during the foundation project could have been better as although I was quite good with arranging group situations, my independent study was a little stunted as I found it difficult to keep up to date with deadlines. This year I know now to not allow my work to slide as I will fall behind and it will seriously effect the project.

Personal I felt quite at ease during the filming and editing process as that is what I enjoy doing. However, I did find that I have a tendency to take over, but I have learnt from this to respect that other people need to be able to learn and have a go themselves. Generally to work better in a team, without becoming a control freak. There were a few issues with the editing software being changed half way through the project due to the robbery, however I quickly learned to use the new software and I actually preferred it to the old software. To improve on this stage next year I would suggest getting everything filmed more or less around the same time as missing footage can lead to problems in the editing room. Also to film earlier on in the project to allow for the possibility of reshoots.      

The blog work and evaluation tasks from last year have helped me a lot with showing how dedicated I need to be, helping me be precise and to the point, and helping me to use many different media forms to present my ideas in a creative way. The main thing I have drawn on from my experience with the blog work from last year is how important it is to keep up to date with posting, which is definitely something I really aim on improving during the upcoming project.