work for music video

Music video conventions-

Cutting on beat

Close up of artist’s face- ad brand identity, identification with the artist

Narrative

(Performance)

Strong relationships between music video and image of the artist or band

Parallel editing

Narrative tends to be linear

Performance is usually temporal editing

Marshall McLuhan “the medium is the message” – different forms have different expectations and techniques have different meanings.

Goodwins points-

Lyrics relate to visuals:

-       Illustrative- direct demonstration of what lyrics are

-       Amplifying- gives more emphasis, exaggerates lyrics

-       Abstract- lyrics don’t relate to the music video

Music relates to visuals:

-       Visual representation of instruments

-       Cutting on beat

-       Camera movement

-       Dancing/gestures

Demands of record label:

-       Selling brand identity

E.g. close ups of artist, close up of motif- repeated throughout video

Intertextuality:

-       Reference to other texts (films, books television shows)- very personal to the spectator

Reference to motion of looking and voyeuristic treatment of the female body:

-       Voyeurism- pleasure of seeing without being seen

Genre characteristics:

-       Different conventions depending on genre

References to looking/voyeurism:

Camera focuses on exposed parts of the female body i.e. legs, waist, and chest

Midshots of her body while she isn’t looking- voyeurism

Tracking slowly- audiences eyes looking up and down

Camera tends to be positioned in typical male point of view

Appeals to inspirations of females

Star persona- “a star is a image, not a real person, that is constructed from a range of materials” Richard Dyer

‘Materials’ – media materials (films, celeb shows, interviews, mags, radio, music videos, digipack covers, newspapers)

Star Persona

'A star is an image, not a real person, that is constructed from a range of materials' - Richard Oyer

By 'materials', Richard means media materials such as film, celeb shows, T.v Interviews, Magazines, Radio Interviews, newspapers, Music Videos.

"Stars represent the cultural hegemonic (same-ness) 'ideal', either conforming to it or challenging it."

"Celebrity magazines are all about how stars compare to the 'ideal' and how we compare to the stars"

Split Screen and Angles

I like these two different angles of the couples lying in bed- we would like to include a split screen as  the actors will not be together as they are getting ready to meet each other, so we will be filming there individiual routine.

Location

We have decided to film in one location to achieve an effective stop motion, so we believe that a bedroom would be the most practical idea. The room would have to be fairly simple to achieve a whole narrative, and not just the purpose of a bedroom, but big enough to get the best results in filming and composition.

We have not yet decided where this will take place but have had suggestions.

What our star will convey...

Eliza 

Our star will convey....

•  Her USP is her voice/songwriting 
• She challenges cultural ideal as she is a singer/songriter but is trying to appeal to the mainstream market
• Respectable musician/songwriter, not in magazines showing lots of flesh
• Niche Market 
• She is not shown in her own music video as she is more focussed on the music 
• Make-up and hair affects 

This is the digipack cover for Ellie Goulding's album 'Lights' this album including the music videos for some of the featured tracks heavily include 'stars' or the 'lights' that are shown on the album cover. This is an attractive visual and will appeal to younger audiences.

This is the digipack cover for Marina and the diamonds' album 'The family jewels'. This album has very intense visuals and just like the Ellie Goulding album will appeal to the younger audience. in one image she is holding a diamond and the others are shot as if a diamond has been as a camera lens. This is a cool effect that will again appeal to younger audiences.

Her Morning Elegance

This was video was very influential for us as the stop motion is very smooth and the whole video is very creative. We would like to begin ours in this way, with the over head shot in ours and a couple in bed, however we would like to use split screen to show that they are not together and have their own, but similar routine. 

Also like the lighting throughout the video. 

Initial Idea

Our initial idea for the song 'Fly' by Ellie Goulding, is to film using stop motion- we have decided this as there is a continuous same beat throughout the song, and this would fit in well with the genre.

The lyrics and stop motion will allow us to be creative with what we film, e.g using green screen to jump into different scenes, cardboard wings, a fake windowsill and other unrealistic materials to fit with the idea that stop motion is unrealistic with in itself, creating a surreal effect. 

We plan to have a female and a male actor, who would be in a relationship- we want to use split screen throughout the majority of the track, to show the parallelism of their lives, e.g waking up, getting out of bed and getting ready to meet each other, however it will all be shot in one room. 

We have looked at the lyrics and as she refers a lot to 'love' and 'dates' we have interpreted this by creating a narrative of her besotted with her boyfriend, and no matter what happens to them both-, they will always love each other- looking  closely at even the song title, there are connotations of death and heaven, so in our music video the will sadly die in a car crash. due to using stop motion and the surreal effects, we will be able to achieve this using cardboard cut outs. We are keen on creating a car crash but have not decided on which option we will choose to convey this. 

Stop motion music video

We are planning on using stop motion in our music video, so we have watched a few online. This was our favorite. I really like the ideas used in this video especially the picture with the moving eye. It is a very simple idea but at the same time it is very effective. It gives a very surreal sense to the video, which is emphasized by the stop motion. We like the idea of the main character holding a board which is animated.

Notes on Cheryl Cole video:- 'under the sun'

• Temporal editing - night then day in five seconds
• Continuity editing during dance routine on car
• Lots on cutting on the beat- makes the video run smoothly
• Newspaper dropped to the beat
• temporal editing- sun setting and rising

References to looking/voyeurism

• camera focusses on legs- waist!
• costume encourages voyeuism
• mid-shots of her body while she is not looking
• tracking slow
• she mirrors eyes looking up and down
• positioned in male point of view
• increase target audience:
• appealing to aspirations of females
• What they 'should' look like and how males should look at them

Andrew Goodwin- Music Video Theory

Andrew Goodwin was a director of Music, and was an Organist for thirty seven years at Bangor Cathedral. He states that there are five key aspects of a music video we as the audience tend to look out for:

1.       Lyrics relate to visuals

2.       Music relates to visuals

3.       Demands of record label

4.       Intertextuality

5.       Reference to notion of looking and voyeurism

6.       Genre of Characteristics

Coldplay – ‘Paradise’

The clip opens with sun-drenched shots of the South African plains, wildebeest silhouetted against the setting sun. We then cut to Martin (as an elephant) jailed against his will in a London zoo but planning an escape. When he finally busts out, he hops on the Tube, makes a beeline for Heathrow Airport and sneaks aboard a plane bound for Johannesburg, his home. After procuring a unicycle (some interpretive dance is involved), he rides through the countryside — at one point removing his elephant head to prove that, yes, it's him aboard the unicycle (this is the moment in the video denoted as ‘star image’ making it unique that it is him) — until he discovers his band mates, who, of course, are also dressed as elephants. The bass-heavy-beats makes the thought beats easily recognizable. The heavy beats are used in telling this story as it is very powerful and moving, showing how someone is making their way home.

Relation of visuals to the song shows someone trying to escape, on a humorous note, instead of a sad video showing a young, lost girl. Also the lyrics comment on ‘life goes on, it gets so heavy’- connoting heavy as an elephant. Goodwin’s theory on narrative and performance has the same conventions in ‘paradise’ as the elements are working together to keep us interested in this video, also the artist is working as an actor also, which makes the video more original and authentic. The technical aspects of the video are generating a meaning that it meant to be humorous, as a lighter note to the serious lyrics. Lighting and colour is setting the mood as a ‘paradise’ and subtle as in the lyrics she is dreaming. The editing at the beginning of the music video shows a lot of cuts, especially when the elephant is holding up different signs, helping emphasize the pace of the song, and the idea of ‘running away’. Towards the end of the video, when the elephant is reunited with his family, we see the shots in slow motion, as we are being made to take in this ‘paradise’.

Adele- ‘Rolling In The Deep’

‘Rolling in the deep,’ is another powerful song written by Adele, that has a heavy drum beat running through it, which is strongly shown in the visuals too. This is shown through a drummer being shot from behind, playing the beat for the track, which then shows a room filled with glasses of water, which then begin to bounce with the beat. The track has to have a strong beat as the lyrics comment a lot about her ‘heart being played to the beat’ and being ‘beaten.’ Other visuals in the video having links to the lyrics of beat are china and other plates being thrown at a wall from some stairs, and smashing to the ground rapidly, which are in perfect time with the drum beat.

On top of this, other thought beats include the lights flashing towards the end of the song when it reaches a climax. Also we are in view of a close-up shot of the drummer hitting the pedal on the bass drum whilst the lights flicker, which is referred back to a couple more times in the song.

Narrative and Performance is quite simple in Adele’s video. She appears to be sitting alone in a house opposite an empty chair, which should be occupied by the person she is furiously singing about. This is the only room we see her in throughout the video, however we are shown different shots, specifically close-ups to show her mixed emotions of angry and sad.

Technical aspects of the video have been considered to set the mood of the song, such as the dim lighting and use of shadows to show the miserable atmosphere, yet the little use of flashing has connotations of the highs of their relationship and how they almost ‘had it all.’ I think it has been set in an overly large, empty house to show how alone she feels and how she doesn’t want to make it homely without him.

There is a dancer that is frequently shown throughout the video which appears to be in a room with powder on the ground? A symbol of Adele trying to fight it, and brush it out of the way?

The shot of her is only shown when Adele calmly sings: ‘Don’t underestimate the things that I will do!’ imagery of the sword and the limits she will go to.

Demands of record label through lots of close-up shots.

Conventions of a Music Video

There are conventions that are shown through a majority of music videos these are:

-Cutting on the beat
-Close up of the artist's face to show identification and through advertising
-Instruments shown through a performance
-Narrative (tends to be linear but in a performance etc it's temporal editing)
-Parallel editing-spacial editing between different scenes/spaces
-Strong relationships between music and image --> pace of editing reflects song, movements of artist/dances, movement of camera

Marshall McLucken- 'The medium is the message'- different forms have different expectations and techniques have different meanings.

Goodwin's Points

Music videos- Goodwin’s Points

Goodwins Points:

·         Lyrics relate to visualsà illustrative, abstract, amplifying

·         Music relates to visuals

·         Demands of record label

·         Intertextuality

·         Reference to notion of looking and voyeuristic treatment of the female body

·         Genre Characteristics

 

Indie Music Videos-

A majority of Indie music videos involve the band/artist performing. There is a lot of focus on instruments such as guitars and drums being focused on with mid shots. They can also tend to break conventions and be more abstract and out there compared to other genres. However many still include the idea of a narrative within.

All time low-‘I feel like Dancin’-

This video backs up numerous of Goodwin’s points. The video includes intertextuality throughout by being almost a parody of other famous videos. For example they include references to famous pop stars such as Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. They have taken recognised parts of their famous music videos and have used them as a parody for their own video, it is like taking the micky out of pop videos and showing stereotypes to the genres videos eg. a dance routine. However the video also includes conventions and characteristics for the indie genre with the band performing with their instruments. The music also fits to the visuals with the representation of instruments. The editing is being cut on the beat with a fast past to fit with the music pace. The video also fits with the demands of it’s record label, there are numerous close-up high angled shots of the band to give the video an edgy and indie feel, yet as an audience we can see they are selling their brand identity especially as he lip syncs the words in these shots.
 

Franz Ferdinand- ‘Take me out’

This video is abstract as the visuals don’t match up to the lyrics. There is a lot of animation involved in this video which can also be a convention of the indie genre.  There is quite a definitive beat to the some, therefore the cutting is regular and on the beat. There are many close ups of the band members playing there instruments, these are from different types of angles again to create the edgy indie effect.  This is to give their brand identity again to their audience. Even the images of the band members are almost cartoonised with their real faces but robotic body etc. In both videos I didn’t come across references to voyeurism except from the band members looking away from the camera at points which could suggest them looking at their other band members while they are playing their music to keep in time with each other possibly. This seems an unconventional characteristic for an indie video compared to the rap genre.

Pop Music videos

Pop videos tend to focus on the artist themselves and promoting themselves as an individual rather than their music. They can follow a narrative and are illustrative in relation to their lyrics, They also follow characteristics of dance routines and lip syncing.

Beyonce- ‘Single ladies’

This follows typical character genre characteristics to pop videos. Throughout the video is a dance routine which is a fast pace which is in sync with the music, this means the cutting is on the beat to this pace also. The editing is linear as there are no shifts in time, just the dance routine in order. The camera movement is following the artist and keeps up with the energetic dance routine. There is references to a modern 20s cinema feel with the black and white lighting and a single spotlight and 3 ladies wearing the same clothing.  The artist is wearing quite provocative clothing which links in with the artist selling herself rather than her music. There are little close ups as she is selling her brand with her body and dancing, however there are a few close ups of her lip syncing which is selling her brand too. This video follows loosely to the lyrics of the song which means it is a mixture between illustrative and abstract.

One Direction- ‘What makes you beautiful’

This video includes a lot of selling their brand identity. There are close ups of each individual band member so we can relate to each member and all are being included within their music. There is an element of fun within their video with is a characteristic of the pop genre. They are selling their identity again as if the audience sees the artist having fun they will want to relate and have fun listening to their music. There are elements of voyeurism within the video with the group of girls in the video. Each sex group have moments of looking at the other group.  There is a reference to teenage beach parties which is to appeal to their teenage audience. The video is a illustrative as the lyrics mainly are based to the lyrics and there is a narrative within the video.  The band members are wearing bright and casual clothing to fit with characteristics of the pop genre which seems fun and easily relatable to their audience. There is some temporal editing used when the scene goes from daytime to night time.