Ideas From Other Music Videos

In the music video by The Horrors, for their song "who can say" there are a lot of good shots of the band performing which we could incorporate into our music video. They have shots from the side of the band watching them play, showing only some of the band. Another technique which i want to use is that the band members never make eye contact with the camera, apart from the lead singer and only very occasionally, this makes the band appear to be seriuous about their music and proffessional. The video uses synathesia because the sound of the band sounds like a live performance which intensifies the performance as the sound is linked with the stage setting.

In the music video by Blink 182, "all the small things" there are some good 360 degree shots of the band performing which we would like to use in our video and quite a lot of zooming in and panning.

Genre research

While researching other music video I have been researching some convections within our music genre.Some conventions are:

• There are lots of close ups of the band playing their different instruments.
• There are lots of close ups on the lead singers face, as the fans of the band will want to see their favourite singer.
  
• There is a narrative and performance, but performance being the main thing as many of the audiece who they are targeting want to see this genre playing their instruments.
  
• Some long shots of a band either on a stage or as part of their narative playing at a concert.
  
• In the music video there is lots of pictures of the band so that the audience can see what they are wearing so that they might copy them in their fashion choices and hair styles.
  

Theses convention that i have found will help me when deciding what are target audience want to see so that we can satisfy their phychographics in the music video.

Music Video Deconstruction

Last Request – Paolo Nutini (Folk)

If you were to listen to the lyrics without seeing the video you could think of it in a different way making the lyrics misleading. By seeing the video is makes the video amplify the lyrics as said by Andrew Goodwin in 1992 who states once we watch It we fully understand what message they are trying to put across A lot of Paolo Nutinis music is influenced by personal emotion or experiences that have happened to his friends or family. All of his videos show the visuals illustrating the lyrics. By repeating the verse “I want you closer” helps to show emotion as we can see that they are apart. The mood of the song is very deep, so the choice to have a slow guitar and drum beat along with the vocals together helps to create that effect. As listeners we are also able to associate this combination with a Paolo Nutini song. He always stars in his own music videos but it is not clear if he is playing himself or a character. The video is looking to create an emotional response from the viewer. They do this through emphasising the emotion that the characters show towards each other. At the beginning the girl is shown crying indicating something bad has happened or is happening. A lot of extreme close ups are used to show the deep emotion of both characters. He has a deep thoughtfulness about him where as she is shown crying. This shows the stereotypical woman being weaker than the man and having to cry. The fact that is raining and in a low key light is a sign that what is happening is negative.

The entire video is in the narrative meaning that he is able to show the viewers exactly how he is feeling. The vocals are associated with visuals lyrics for example “ lay down beside me” shows them both lying down on the ground in the same situation but in different places.

By using high angle shots it makes them look very vulnerable along with their terrified expressions. The occasional use of direct eye contact into the camera is another way they create intimacy with the viewer. The majority of the shots are long and slow creating a gentler transition between edits. Many cuts are made on the beat of the drum so able to keep a constant flow and not distract the viewer.



The mise en scene shows all typical things that you would expect to find in jewellery shop robbery. We know it is a jewellery shop robbery but the fact there are surrounded by broken glass which could also indicate that’s they are broken away from each other.

Sexy Chick – David Guetta ft Akon (Dance)

This is an American production by international artist and the first thing we notice is the much higher budget compared to Paolo Nutinis. It is targeted at a teen to mid 20’s audience as this is how they would want to look when on the beach. It is a typical “MTV” video. Just from the name of this song we know that there will be a lot of sexual references.

Akon has developed a star image of being a rich and being a bit of a “pimp” by always having girls chasing after him. He has created this image through media coverage of going out a lot and partying with lots of different girls. This is sort of shown in the video as he has lots of girls trying to meet him but, then he is trying to find another.

The Lyrics are illustrating what is seen in the video. Andrew Goodwin says that there is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals this is proven here as they tell the story of him trying to find a girl who is teasing him with photos, but instead keeps finding other girls trying to act as her. This genre of music is typical of a dance/ chart hit by having lots of naked bodies, alcohol and a party.

We are given the idea that the artist has gone on holiday, this is from the close up of the plane ticket and then we are immediately shown a girl wearing a bikini looking up at his plane. This can represent to us his fame as in the fact she is looking up to him he has more power.

The main story to the video is that Akon Is trying to find the “Sexy Chick” who has been sending him photos of her body parts and he wants to meet her. These lyrics are the main chorus through out.

The video is shot quite naturally and although it is staged it does not look too “fake”. The storyline is made believable which is very important if they want to make a connection with their viewer.

The tempo of this song is fast with a constant beat maybe representing a heart beat. David Guetta is well known for being a DJ so instead of having instruments they have his track playing.
Voyeurism is a key part in this video as it seems to us that the girls do not know that they are being watched. Men would enjoy watching this as said by Sigmund Freud who believes that pleasure is gained from watching a sexual object. Women would enjoy listening to the music, rather than watching women in bikinis dancing. Laura Mulvey also says that the presence of women is often solely of the purpose of display which is true in this video as they play no other part than to look sexy.

The takes are very short and quick. They also use some fast-cut montages to keep in time with the beat of the song.

This song follows the theory of Steve Archer who states that music videos will cut between narrative and a performance from the artist.

Music Video Analysis

I Believe In A Thing Called Love by The Darkness

The bands image portrays the message as if the band likes to push boundaries and don’t care what others think of them. This is achieved by the way the lead singer of the band has long hair, wears an all in one outfit which shows his chest and the way the video is different to other videos as it has a dream state to it. The display of the singer’s chest and the way he moves adds a type of sex appeal to the video.

The target audience would be males, ages 13 to 18. Their appeal to their target audience is the way they have odd videos with strange monsters and unrealistic situations, weird lyrics and added sex appeal into the video.

In the screenshot to the left the singer is wearing white when the background around him is in dark colours, making him seem like the centre of attention. This is emphasised with the blur around the edges of the shot. The blurred edges also make the shot seem more like a dream than reality. The features, like the statue that are in the background also make it seem like the band are in space.

In the screenshot to the left the space theme is continued with the science fiction monster in the background. The singer is giving a sense of dominance as he’s in the foreground and this big monster is in the background.

In the screenshot to the left the singer is almost showing off the ‘alpha male’ side to him by lifting the big rock, showing off his strength while looking almost defiant while singing the words of the song, but he singer is also friendly as he defends the audience from the monster from the previous slide. The way the singer’s hair is blown back, it makes him look majestic, which is also showing of power to the audience.

In the screenshot to the left, the shot is still continuing with the space theme. The way the background is basic and the band are in slightly darker/lighter colours, makes the band stand out as their costumes are more complex than the background. The bands old fashioned rock and roll styled music reflects the look of the band, for example the singer is wearing flares which is thought to be an old fashioned style. This specific shot challenges normal conventions as the band is quite recent and the drummer is in the centre of the shot making him the centre of attention, rather than the rest of the video where the singer is focused on the most.


Waking up in Vegas by Katy Perry

Katy Perry’s image constantly changes in this video, this could symbolize Katy wishing to be someone or somewhere else as she changes clothes, haircuts and roles often. This image varies from a ‘girly-girl’ to looking like a tomboy, but this shows that audience that she can take up any role but yet have the same outcome to that specific situation as the same situation of gambling arises when she assumes the particular roles as the video is about choices that you make.

The target audience for Katy Perrys music is females, ages 14 to 19. Her appeal to her target audience is the way she has clothes that take advantage of her figure, but yet she still looks classy. Also, Katy sings about real life situations and sets her videos in situations which people can get themselves into, although they may not be likely to happen, it’s still possible to happen and so people can relate to what she’s singing about.

In this shot, the lighting focuses on Katy Perry making her stand out the most. Her costume is quite masculine but with the exception of her cleavage. The background and props suggest a casino which relates to the title and the song. The number of people that surrounds her makes the shot seem busy and lively, adding to the casino vibe.

In this shot Katy has done the stereotypical thing in Vegas by doing the ‘quickie’ marriage done by an evil impersonator. Katy is wearing a dress of a playing card which links to the casino theme and it also isn’t what people regard as proper wedding attire. The background is simple, yet extravagant which relates to the idea of being in Vegas as Vegas is seen as bold.

In this shot Katy is wearing a bright, flamboyant outfit while acting quite reserved in the video making a contrast within this shot. The amount of chips and the amount of people surrounding her make it seem like the place is really busy and that Katy appears to be winning lots of chips.

In this shot it links back to the beginning as this shot is shown at both the beginning and end of the video, making it seem like when you’re in Vegas, you’re trapped in a vicious circle until you lose. The blue tint and the smudged makeup suggests Katy is upset with losing but yet she is smiling as she rests her head upon a mans shoulder, this suggests that she doesn’t mind losing as she’s with that certain man or that she knows what’s in store

History of Indie Rock

Indie rock takes its name from "independent," which describes both the do-it-yourself attitudes of its bands and the small, lower-budget nature of the labels that release the music. The biggest indie labels might strike distribution deals with major corporate labels, but their decision-making processes remain autonomous. As such, indie rock is free to explore sounds, emotions, and lyrical subjects that don't appeal to large, mainstream audiences - profit isn't as much of a concern as personal taste. It's very much rooted in the sound and sensibility of American underground and alternative rock of the '80s. Indie rock separated itself from alternative rock around the 1980s . Mainstream tastes gradually reshaped alternative into a new form of serious-minded hard rock, in the process making it more predictable.The general assumption is that it's virtually impossible to make indie rock's varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes. 

Star Image

The star image of an existing artist in the indie rock genre.

The Arctic Monkeys

• They have decided to go for a smart but not formal look. They wear tight jeans or trousers with pointed shoes which creates a smart look. To make the look more casual they wear a simple polo shirt along with cardigans. The band keep the same kind of look by wearing a similar style it keeps a symmetrical look. The look depends on the situation they are in for example they would smarten up to a black suit for a red carpet event but for general music video shoots and performances they wear the polo shirts with cardigans.
• The lyrics they sing are to create a personal relationship with the target audience. They sing about their own experiences.
• Most of their live performances follow a similar pattern where they have the whole band on stage performing. They look to be having more fun rather than that of a pop genre where there is more attention paid to dance routines.

Star Construction

For our band, we decided on the following points:

• The songs are about real life situations which is how they relate to their target audience.
• The record covers include them doing various poses while looking interesting to their target audience.
• Their media coverage is generally the next big things in music magazines like NME and Q.
• Their live performance is usually conventional and mainly about the music rather than the performances.
• Their music videos are usually them performing with a narrative intercut.

Existing Promotional Material

Again this artist has decided to use a hand drawn,old fashioned look to the cover. This is because it relates to the fun music on the CD.

 

 This album features artistic designs rather than photos. This links to the type of music as it is sort of quirky and individual. On the shelf of a music store this would stand out from other covers as it in a comic style.

Foo Fighters promotional material

 

 This Promotional poster, compared to the music DVD above, catches the audiences attention by making the band name bigger than most of the pictures with a bright background. Both covers give the impression of a 'cut and paste' feel with the pictures which give the connotation that the band have made an effort to give the audience what they want.

Arctic Monkeys

These are 3 dvd cover for the band Arctic Monkeys which I got from Amazon.com 

The second two covers are quite minimalist and artistic probably because they are the official covers and the other one was made by someone else. The arctic monkeys try and look proffessional on their covers by making them simple and aesthetically pleasing.

Adam Burns Video Work

Viewing And Textual Analysis For Two Music Videos
The Horrors: She Is The New Thing
The Horrors represent themselves as a serious art-punk band. They made a violent video because they do not care (or wish to give the illusion that they do not care) if it does not get shown that often, either due to censorship or its graphic content. They would like to be perceived as a rebellious band. From the video you can learn that the band is a dark and scary band as they have made their music video violent, the content of the music video helps illustrate the sound of the band’s music. You can learn from the video that they are an arty band due to the way that all the animations are shown are drawn to look untidy to match the band’s iconography.
Andrew Goodwins theory is that in music videos, the visuals illustrate the lyrics and I think that this video fits into Goodwins theory, for the reasons that the visuals illustrate the lyrics and music. The Horrors Genre is their own music style.
The narrative for the music video is that the band are playing and then they start getting attacked and killed by all manner of strange creatures and monsters. It is not a complicated but it is a technical problem as it is difficult to have real people and animations interacting without looking unprofessional. This tells me that it required a lot of work.
The band image is completely black clothing, skinny jeans and over the top hair cuts. Their image fits the stereotype of Goth; they use their image to appeal to that certain target audience. It attracts fans in that if the audience look like the band, they can then relate to the band. Other aspects of The Horrors image are that in this video they look cartoon-like and like they have been animated. The video is part animation and also including the real people from the band. Eventually they become animated themselves.
The target audience for the video as previously mentioned are Goths, they appeal to Goths as they dress in a typical gothic style, also because of the gruesome subject of the video. The age of the viewer could range from anything between 14 and 50 because the band are not very conventional and appeal to younger people with alternative music tastes and older people who remember the original punk music, which the horrors imitate.
The video is quite artistic for the reasons that it only uses three main colours, red black and white, and it is animated in a wild style so it looks like it was scratched into the paper, this fits with the bands scary style.
The visuals illustrate the lyrics since the song is called "She Is The New Thing" and in the video a zombie girl attacks the band and they keep referring to her as "the new thing".
The camera work in the video is very simple. It is mainly static medium shots of the band, various members and the animated monsters. There are many close-ups of the vocalist as he is meant to be the leader of the band and the record company desires the vocalist to be the centre of attention. A high angle shot is used on occasion to look at the small creatures like the beetles and the insects. There are close-ups of the vocalist, the band members and the various creatures throughout the video.

In this screen shot you can see the band, they are playing to the viewer but they have no real background. There are lots of tears and scuffs to make them look like a drawing. There is also a giant animated spider in the bottom left corner of the screen to show that this is not just a performance and that the band are also part of the narrative.
















This Screenshot shows the band interacting with the animations, for they are part of the narrative. The image also shows that the band is wearing entirely black clothes to add to the black and white effect of the video. The background of the entire video is basically bare apart from the shading of the background to make it look like paper; there is not a lot of mise en scene.
















This Screenshot shows the animations killing the band in gruesome ways; the video has a similar appeal to gory movies. This image shows that their target audience is mainly for people who are not frightened by gore and blood and definitely not for children. This helps narrow down the videos target audience, it is more evidence that this music video is for those who are not frightened by gore. The violence is cartoon gore and meant to be tongue in cheek.
















This screenshot shows the band being killed by monsters. This is also when the band themselves become animated. This image is more evidence that the band is trying to appeal to a certain type of person. The fact that they are animated gives the connotation that the band has become monsters themselves.

Steriogram: Go
The narrative for this music video is that it is a group of friends going on a road trip in an old car which begins to fall apart. The video is almost one continuous shot of the band messing around in the car with the occasional close-up of a band member.
Stereogram represents New Zealand. They pride themselves about originating from that country and becoming popular. The band also represent young people having fun, this is for the reason that the song is all about running away, escaping due to boredom. This is illustrated in the video by showing them in a car, driving very fast. The fact that the band fall out of the car one by one could signify friends lost on the way which in the end causes the lead singer to be on his own in the car. This is a possible reference to road movies and other driving videos, e.g. Maddness.
The camera work involved in this video is again quite simple and uncomplicated. The video is mainly made up of lots of close up shots of the band members individually; medium shots of the entire band and the occasional long shot of a band member falling out of the car. The scene uses high key lighting to make the scene look naturally lit and as if it was outdoors. The colours are generally bright greens for the grass, blues for the sky, darker colours for the band and an old yellow colour for the car. The backdrop is meant to look fake and unrealistic.
The band’s image is a casual relaxed image, perhaps slightly bored due to being on a long car journey. They are dressed in a slight pop punk style with a good few piercings between them, a Mohawk and general untidiness. The band does not look very threatening and they all look quite happy, which shows them as a fun band rather than serious.
The mise en scene in the scene has some intertextuality; for example there is a Playstation 2 in the video and an "AA" sticker on the front of the car. The Games console connotates that they are a playful band and that they don’t take things too seriously as the band use it in a relaxed manner. The "AA" sticker is there for ironic humour because the car is falling apart and breaking.
The target audience is quite diverse as the song is very catchy and the music video is easy to watch and to enjoy because it contains some humour. The target age could be quite wide because it is just a catchy rock song and the ages could range from 12-40.
The video could be analysed using John Stewart’s theory that videos are more like complicated stage performances. The video is like a stage performance but offering more than a real stage performance can.















In this screen shot it shows how most of the video is filmed, making it quite a simple video to film because its mainly just green screen, a camera and a car. This demonstrates that the band have not hit it big yet and are still trying to save money by having an inexpensive video or making it appear cheap on purpose so they do not give off the impression that they are a huge rock band.


















This screen shot shows that the lead singers are at the front, in the driving and passenger seats, the record company may have requested this. It is a medium shot from the side of the subject of the image (in this case the performers). This shot was filmed on a dolly, after a brief look at the front of the car, the camera pans left to look at the rest of the band playing on a games console in the back seats.


















In this screen shot it shows one of the band members falling out of the car using a long shot. Whilst he is falling he is making a funny face which is more evidence to say that they are a humorous band. To do this shot they used wires and a green screen, which would probably be most of the money of the music video.
I can conclude that Stereogram and The Horrors have taken two different approaches to making a video, as they are almost opposites. The Horror's video is dark whereas Stereograms video is bright and colourful. The Horrors have aimed to be arty whereas Stereogram’s is fun, and they have different types of humour, black humour in contrast to light.

due to unknown reasons i am unable to post the screenshots of the two videos