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.