This was our planned concept, a narrative, of a girl going about her day to day activities while Cory follows he around playing his guitar, only we can see Cory, the girl cannot. At the end of the day she gets ready to go out with her boyfriend however he never turns up. However, the girls we had found to act in our music video cancelled on us last minute so we couldn't film it.
Our plan B was to do performance video of Cory and his band. First we needed to book a studio to film the band playing instruments and then a location where the band would just been seen chilling out together at a house or walking through some popular locations in London.The day we had chosen to film was the 22/12/13. I called up multiple studios in central London asking if they do bookings on Sunday, most of them were closing on Friday and weren't opening until after the new years. So we had to look away from Central London, I found a studio called Bonafied Studios in North London about 2 hours away from us which costs 120 pounds including all the instruments we needed for 6 hours. I explained to the woman that we are doing this for our media studies coursework and have little money and that we only want it for 3 hours. Luckily she was very understanding and put the price down to 60 pounds for us.
We produced a rough blocked plan and a small story board highlighting the first few shots that we wanted to use
Blocked Plan
1)Shot of entering the studio Door
2)Close up shot of band Behind instruments
3)Close up shots of instruments-Amps, Guitar, Drum kit, Microphone
4)Out of focus shot of studio lights
5)Medium Shot of Guitarist
6)Side angle shot of guitarist.
7)Out of focus lights
8) Medium shot of Drummer
9)Medium shot of singer
10) Zoom into singer
11) Close of drummer hitting the cymbals
12) Close up of amplifier knobs being turned up
13)Medium shot of singer
14)Group shot of band
15)Medium shot of guitarist and singer
16)Fade out.
After looking through YouTube and garage band we contacted a few artists that we liked. However, some artists seemed uninterested in making a music video with us and those that were interested were not situated in London, the distance was a problem. As a last resort I asked a few friends whether they knew any musicians and eventually made contact with Cory Edwards, a guitarist who started a small band with a group of his friends, to express themselves and talk about day to day issues and problems that working class students may face. The song that we wanted to make a music video for was about a break up from a relationship and how this made the person feel. From here we began planning our Music Video.
Ideas
The song being slow and about a relationship breaking up we thought we would have a narrative in our music video. So we decided that at the start of the video the couple would be together and by the end of it they would be split up. However not everyone in the team agreed with this idea as it seemed a bit basic.
Our second idea was also a narrative, this time just of girl going about her day to day activities while Cory follows he around playing his guitar, only we can see Cory, the girl cannot. At the end of the day she gets ready to go out with her boyfriend however he never turns up.
Our third idea was of Cory proposes to a girl but she walks away from him leaving him heartbroken, he goes for a walk and ends up in a pub, after a few drinks he gets drunk and the bartender refuses to serve him, he walks out the bar in a drunken state through some well known locations in central London, for example the London eye or tower bridge. During his walk he sees couples holding hands or kissing, he has flashbacks of his relationship with his girlfriend. At the end of the video he passes out.
From the feedback we received it was clear that the most popular concepts were the second and third one. Personally, I preferred the third idea but the rest of my group thought the second idea would fit better with the music, so we agreed to go for that.
Albums were very popular in the pre-digital era, between 1950's to 2000's, albums are bought in record shops such as HMV, the front covers were usually visually striking to grab attention of the consumers. As there were no music videos to represent the music, the album art was a visual manifestation of the music. Albums usually included posters, lyrics sheets, 'linear notes' to add to the experience. Good album art and packaging could persuade the audience to buy the album.
Album covers as an art form
There are four main ways in which album covers are presented;
Ambiguous or intriguing imagery, could be interpreted in numerous ways so always intriguing to look at.
Shocking, deliberately controversial to grab attention
Visually dense, lots of imagery to look at.
Minimalist, usually sparse or empty.
Grace Johns-Slave to the Rhythm
This album covers is shocking, the artists head is taking up most of the cover, her head has been stretched out, her mouth open wide also stretched out making her look 'abnormal' and 'weird'.
Her mouth being wide open suggests she is angry and screaming, liberated through music, as well as her eye looking directly at us,shows a direct mode of address making her look intimidating. The breaking glass could represent her rebellious nature making it seem as if shes not an average women from that time, that shes liberated and breaking free.
U2-War
This album cover is quite striking, we see the glare of an innocent child, and the word 'WAR' in big blood red letters, the child's glareand look in his eyes makes us think his innocence has been stripped away by the war and all the Death around him which has hardened him, we feel sorry for him as he hasn't had the childhood that he should have. We see his hands have been placed up behind his head, showing hes surrendering, which makes us think that war effects innocent children as much as it effects adults. The album is clearly an political album about warfare and the effects during it and the after effects of war. The intended audience would be mature adults that would understand the meaning of war.
Eminem-Encore
Most of the album art is a blueish colour, blue generally being a calm relaxed colour which suggests his music in this album will be more calm and relaxed. The artist is wearing a dark suit which suggests a more eerie atmosphere to his style of music. The album name being Encore and the image being of the artist taking a bow towards the audience suggests he has large fan following, is very popular and knows it. It also suggests his music videos will be performance based as he is on stage on the front cover. The parental advisory label tells us that his music contains strong language, judging from the artists costume of the dark suit and eerie look, the strong language would be used to get his point across or to show his anger or frustration. The 'E' in Encore being the wrong way around would capture the attention of the consumer and they will straight away know that this Eminem's Album as this is his Signature E, as all of his Albums have a flipped E in them, be it in his name or in the name of the album. For those that are looking for Eminem's albums they will recognise it from the flipped letter E in the name.
In the 1960s Rock n Roll continued, Elvis became increasingly popular and continued to break social norms, being a white man dancing and singing like a black man. The beetles also came together around this time. At the same R&B started, artists such as Marvin Gaye and The Jackson 5 were found. R&B had a major significance in terms of the civil rights in the 60s.TV shows were created that show popular tracks on tv allowing the audience to listed to tracks on another platform other then the radio to get a taste of the music before they buy an album.
1970s
In the 1970's Disco became increasingly popular, Disco Divas such as Diana Ross, Donna Summer,
Gloria Gaynor, Anita Ward came about. Hip-Hop was also born in the streets of New York, Block/street parties would involve Hip-Hop music and Break dancing competitions. It gave a way for the youth to express themselves through music and dance.
1980s
MTV and Top of the pops came onto to TV at this time, allowed advertising of artists music, R&B and pop Music increasingly grow in popularity. Micheal Jackson became famous for his moonwalk as seen on stage, thousands saw this and went to buy his album as tapes/cassettes could now be bought in record shops. New artists were found in pubs and clubs, record labels would go to these pubs to find good performers to sign up. Popular artists from this time were ABBA, Lionel Richie and Queen.
1990s
Pop music grew in popularity due to artists such as Britney spears and Usher. Pop-punk was formed a collaboration of the genres as well electronic music. Hip-Hop also continues to grow, best selling arts of this time were Jay Z and Missy Elliot also showing a rise in female rappers. Tupac was also a very known artist of this time. The idea of Girl power came about, the spice girls were formed and Madonna gained fame. D'angelo forms a new genre of Neo Soul. A new way of distributing albums as the CD was invented a more convenient alternative to cassettes.
2000s
Internet access becomes quick and easy due to broadband, website such as YouTube allowing consumers to watch there favorite music videos online. iTunes allows people to download music directly so that they don't have to go out to buy it, as well giving a preview of the track before you decide to buy it. Popular Genres of this time were Pop, R&B, Hip-Hop, also UK garage, Emo, Indie pop music started new trends and cultures in society. Popular artists of this time were So Solid crew, Coldplay, Justin Timberlake, Kanye west, Drake, Eminem. Britney spears had two hit songs 'hit me baby one more time' and 'Oops, I did it again'. Tv shows such as X factor, Pop Idol and Britain's got talent allowed new artists to get a chance in the limelight.
Stars as Constructions
A pop performer keep to just the music and is known for only their music. Pop stars have an identity/personna that isnt restricted to just music. Their known for other social things, for example having a famous girl/boyfriend, their attendence to parties or featuring in a magazine. The audience is more aware of their lives. A true Pop Star adapts to changes in the music industry, survive and create their own brands.
Dyer proposes that:
'A star is an image not a real person that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (eg advertising, magazines etc as well as films [music]).'
A stars image is constructed and usually unique to that specific artist.
Its constructed through marketing, advertising, magazines, music videos etc.
Teenagers are styled and coached into pop stars rather then being their own constuctions, this is done by shows such as Xfactor. Industry and Audience
Record companies manufacture stars to the image that they think the audience wants rather then allowing the artists to grow into there own image. The purpose of this is to simply make money from the audiences that respond to this image and become fans which leads to buying albums. Hence the 'photocopied' nature of many boy bands, teen bands etc.
Dyer says:
'Stars are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings.'
Ideology & Culture
Stars represent shared cultural values and attitudes, and promote a certain ideology. Audiences interested in these values enhances their 'star quality', and it is through conveying beliefs ideas and opinions outside music that performers help create their star persona. A star may initiate a fashion trend, were their fans copy their hairstyle and clothing. Social networking(e.g. Twitter) give pop stars the opportunity to establish their own values outside their music.
Laura Mulvey analysed the way mainstream films 'construct an ideal viewer'. She analysed the way men and women are represented in films and speculated how this would appeal to the spectator. She said 'spectatorship' and the act of looking itself, provided a form of sexual gratification. Mulvey suggested the cinema was the ideal place to get 'scopophilic' pleasure because; the people in the film aren't aware the spectator is watching(so cant be made to feel guilty, this is called voyeuristic pleasure) and no one else can see the spectator getting pleasure as the theater is in darkness, also everyone else will be focused on watching the screen to.
Mulvey believes that popular films 'are obsessively subordinate to the neurotic needs of the male ego'. She believed this because she thought that mainstream films are all made by men for men, Male characters are usually in the main role and are active, whereas the female characters are passive (often seen as a prize or an object that males fight over, they don't act or think for themselves). Therefore women are presented as 'spectacles' something pleasurable for the male spectator to look at. Mulvey also stated that male spectators narcissistically identify with the male character and gets pleasure by feeling similar to the hero( he is a man too therefore there the same) and admiring/loving the idealised image of masculinity.
Mulvey also noted that sometimes there were active female roles, however these characters weren't for female spectators to identify with, instead their power seemed to be based around their beauty. She said that female beauty was fetishised. A fetish according to Mulvey is when a source of fear becomes a source of pleasure. Humans don't like feeling scared so, psychologically, they sometimes turn a source of fear into a source of pleasure. So according to Mulvey a male spectator, made anxious by a female characters empowered actions, can turn her into a source of visual pleasure by concentrating on her sexiness and beauty, therefor she is fetishised or sexualised.
50 Cent-Candy Shop
This music video supports Mulveys 'Male Gaze' Theory is created by males for a male audience, by objectifying women. It supports the theory that viewer gains pleasure through scopophilia and voyeurism.
The music video and lyrics objectify women in a sexual way as all the women are simply there for his pleasure. 'I'll take you to the candy shop
I'll let you lick the lollipop Go 'head girl, don't you stop
Keep going 'til you hit the spot'
The lyrics tell us that the man is in charge here, he's giving her permission to give him oral sex as if he already knows that's what she wants to do, this tells us that the women in the video are there only for pleasure. Therefore Mulvey would say that the male audience are being told that women are there to be used by men which objectify women.
The women are wearing tight clothing, and shorts and dancing seductively, thrusting and making facial expressions usually seen during sexual intercourse. Males may also 'voyeuristicly objectify' the women as they can look at the women without feeling guilty, as they dont know there being watched. Allowing them to gain pleasure from desiring the women freely without the guilt.
Mulvey would suggest that the Male audience would 'narcissitically identify' with the 50 cent, the males identify with him being a male and having a penis like they do, they aspire to be more like him as they want what he has, the nice car, power over women, commanding them to pleasure him and money.
Adele-Rolling in the Deep
This music video does not support Mulveys theory's as the lead role is a female there's only one male shown very briefly simply hitting a drum. Adele is seen sitting in a chair and singing and is in no way sexualised, therefore cannot be fetishised by the male spectators, she is not trying to seduce the male spectators at all and nor are the lyrics referring to sex.
Advertising Lots of products utilize sex in some form to advertise their products. Music videos are like adverts of the artist as its all about them and their music so these are sexualised too. Some adverts show sexual intimacy between couples, some show men or women posed in a seductive way or experiencing sexual pleasure, or some feature semi-naked women who aren't sexualised but there bodies may desire and gaze at, some may feature parts of the body so we focus on that specific part of flesh usually the breasts without acknowledging the whole person. Why are sexual adverts successful?
Implied sexual success-the products is linked to images of attractive couples or sexually successful individuals, the adverts make the consume feel that the product will make them more sexually attractive/successful. Primal Impulse- Sexual desire is the driving force in nature, a primal impulse that cannot be rationalised or explained. Freud called this sexual impulse the libido. Therefore by appealing to a primal emotional impulse, advertisers are able bypass rational decisions about buying products. Scopophillia is the pleasure derived from looking at other peoples' bodies. Our minds form a subconscious link between
the pleasure the spectator gets from looking, and the product. So the subliminal suggestion is
that consuming the product will create the same pleasure.Because of the controversies surrounding
gender and sex in the media, there have been many writers, social scientists
and theorists who have tried to offer more complex ideas about how images of
men and women and sexuality are portrayed in the media
Pop Music
The Pop Genre conventions in a music videos are usually all about performance, often they have choreographed dance or have a narrative storyline to do with the lyrics. The artists tends to be lip-syncing throughout the video. Pop music is usually upbeat, fast paced, and fun, the artists image conforms to what the mainstream audience finds 'normal' wearing trendy clothing, pop music generally appeals more to a younger audience however young adults also listen to pop music. Some example of Artists/Bands that are part of the Pop Genre are; Bruno Mars, JLS, and Katy Perry.
In this Music Video we see Bruno Mars performing Choregraphed dance moves, in a fun imaginative way that would appeal to young audiences that enjoy the pop music, we can also see he is wearing a checkered shirt which was 'in' at the time this music video came out, therefore conforming to mainstream fashion. The background is bright and the beat is kept at good pace to create a cheerful, happy, atmosphere.
R&B
R&B are more to do with adult subjects and are often aimed at an older audience then pop music. R&B music videos usually focus on the artists themselves, there may be backup dancers but most of the time we see the artist on screen. Male artists are sometimes seen topless with tattoos on there bodies and usually show off there wealth through wearing gold rings and trains, showing off there luxury cars in the videos, however this also used to advertise products to the audience, the fans of the artist are likely to buy the products the artist is associated with. Female artists usually have minimal clothing on or tight clothing, to show there stomachs and curves off, most R&B songs are quite sexual now, this was not always the case, there is a lot of emphasis on sexuality and looks in the videos. Examples of artists part of the R&B genre are; Chris brown, Usher, Beyonce.
This music video Chris Brown-Sweet Love, fulfills the R&B genre conventions as it is a performance video, with dancing, but also shows sexual scenes illustrating the lyrics making 'sweet love'. We see Chris Brown topless showing off his tattoos and body, we see a female in the video who is sexualised by wearing minimal clothing on showing off her curves. We also see him in a limousine which symbolises him being a wealthy man.
Rock/Metal
The Music videos for this genre are usually presented in a mysterious ways to create and edgy atmosphere. Usually performance based, with a band but the mostly focused on the main vocalist. Music videos are either narrative or just of the band. Bands/Artists have a stereotypical rock look, tattoos, long hair, black clothing, holding/playing electric guitars. The editing in the video bes fast pace as the tempo of the song is usually quite fast.
Indie
Indie music videos are usually a mixture of narrative and performance base, the narratives are usually more symbolic rather then illustrating the lyrics,some indie songs are fast paced and some are slow, the editing depends on the temp of the song. The artist dress code can range from jeans, trousers,shirts, leather jackets, presented in a casual manner. An example of an indie Band is, Kaiser Chiefs.
This music video by the Kaiser Chiefs-I Predict a Riot, is a performance video, the video itself doesn't have much to do with the lyrics, however the sort of pillow fighting might symbolise something like a riot being out of control like the pillows stuffing flying everywhere without any control.
Sven Carlsson Theories Sven Carlsson believes that there are two main types of music videos, performance and conceptual. Performance
clips are where the video focuses mainly on the artist shows an singing and dancing. Conceptual clips are videos that are somehow connected to the song, usually has some kind of symbolism or meaning behind it. Performance Clip Performance clips are usually music videos with a dance performance or song performance or an instrumental performance by the artist. If we can see the artist in the clip then it is most likely a performance clip. Commercial exhibitionist The artist can be used as an commercial exhibitionist. This is when the artists image is used as an selling item, by looking sexy, or by there wealth, there fans see them and want to be look/be like them. For example in the Video of 'Suit & Tie' by Justin Timberlake at the very start of the video we see Timberlake in a room playing a grand piano, it is clearly a performance clip, then the lyrics start and we see him looking back at a woman waving her legs in the air on his bed, and another woman giving him a massage, then we see him pouring himself a glass of which looks like an expensive alcoholic drink, We then see Jay Z sitting on the coach smoking a Cigar. The alcohol and cigar make Jay Z and Timberlake look like wealthy people as generally cigars are associated with rich wealthy people. Timberlake then slides onto stage and sings about wearing his 'Suit and Tie' he looks stylish and smart, his dance moves are smooth and looks good while doing them, the black white setting makes him look all the more stylish the song is also quite catchy. Audiences that want this image of wealth, girls and style would like this video and want to be like Justin Timberlake and Jay Z. Electronic shaman
Another type of performance clip is the electronic shaman this is when the artist is portrayed in a magical way as a character, usually set in an fantasy world and the artist is able to do things they cant in the real world, for example shape shifting. In Katy Perrys 'California Gurls' ft Snoop Dogg we see Snoop dog place a figure into the castle board game, then we go into a colorful fantasy world made of sweets and see Katy perry wearing a dress made of sweets singing, she comes across many challenges that Snoop Dogg creates for her by clapping and clicking his fingers which shows he has magical powers. In the end Snoop Dogg comes into the fantasy world and brings out his army of gummy bears from his castle to challenge the girls but gets defeated. None of this video is in the real world and all in an fantasy world. Televised Bard This is when the artist is telling the story of the music video, the lyrics are usually connected to the images we see the artist is almost like the narrator of a story. This Music Video by R. Kelly 'Trapped In The Closet Chapter 1' is the start of 22 part story of how things pan out after having an affair for the character he is playing in this music video, everything he goes through is sung by R-Kelly in the video as we see he is lip syncing. The audience may enjoy the story and may be able to relate to it in a few ways.
Conceptual clips Narrative Clip
A narrative clip is a music video in which the artist is just singing and not seen in the video, he or she is the narrator of the video and the lyrics link to the Video. An example of a narrative clip is 2Pac-'Ghetto Gospal', a song about a drug dealing black man that gets shot on the streets, and his story, it goes through his life, how he had a wife and kid that he loved but in the end he gets shot by a rival gang. The video ends with a quote 'remember to keep yourself alive, there is nothing more important then that'. The reason 2pac made this music video would have been to target young black man that are stuck in this gang culture and make them realise that this could happen to them. The story is easy to follow for anyone and is quite emotional so makes an emotional impact on the audience. Art Clip An art clip is usually a music video that is quite abstract and creative, visuals are important in an art clip. There is usually no lip syncing in an art clip. In this video by Coldplay called 'Atlas' the images we see are telling a story using animations we see artistic images come to life, the video has lots of striking images that look interesting. The audience would enjoy the creativity of the visuals. Andrew Goodwin Theories Andrew Goodwins theory says that there are four key aspects of a music video; thought beats, narrative and performance , the star image, relation of visuals to song of a music video. Thought beats This is how we see the sound in our head, the structure of the song, for example music videos would have different scenes/images for the verse and different images for the chorus. The voice of the artist is also a very important part of the music video as the artist voice is unique to that artist only and can form identification and trade marks that work with the stars image.
In this music video we see Eminem rapping the verses later on joined by Dr.Dre, and we see Skylar Grey in a kind of spirit form floating in the air, singing the chorus every time. When we hear the verses we picture Eminem shouting at Dr. Dre to wake up from his coma and when we hear the chorus we picture Skylar Greys ghostly spirit form singing. Narrative & performance Goodwin says that the audience tend to make up there own ideas of what the song is about as audiences only partly understand what the songs are about. Through narrative and performance of the artist, the audience stays interested in the video, however lip syncing and mimed actions are still the main parts that make the audience feel that this music video is real. Star Image A stars image is how the audience identifies the star,the audience would link certain clothing or dance moves with different stars, so its vital for the star to do wear or do certain moves in there music video as that is how the audiences identifies them.
In smooth criminal we see Michael Jackson's iconic Moonwalk, his famous dance move called the moonwalk, it was first seen by the world 30 years ago at the end of his performance of "Billie Jean" at the Motown 25th Anniversary special. The audience was blown away by it and Michael became known for the Moonwalk.
Lady Gaga, is known for the way dresses, audiences are attracted to her
by the 'weird' sense of style, they want to see her new music videos
to see what crazy outfit shes going to wear next. This is a picture of
her wearing a dress made of meat at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards Relation of Visuals to Song Most music videos illustrate the meaning of the lyrics by using images to do with the words. Other music videos amplify the meaning, by repeating lyrics and images and drumming them into our vision. Some videos ignore the meaning of the song, where the lyrics may have nothing to do with the images being presented in the video, this is called disjuncture.
The Script-The Man Who Can't Be Moved, is a good example of illustration, as he sings about 'see me on the news' and the news reporter is showing him on news, the video shows what the lyrics are saying by showing him as 'The man who cant be moved'.
Deborah Holdstein
Holdstein has two main theories the first called the 'Star' is very much the same as Sven Carlssons,Televised Bard, Commercial exhibitionist and the Electronic shaman. Her other theory is that music videos have specific themes, political, religious, romance etc
In this music video, John Newman- Let me love you again, the running theme is Forbidden love, as they were part of two different groups there love was forbidden by the members/family so they had to run away, however they ended up getting hit by a van where we assume they died, which shows there love was forbidden, as even after escaping they weren't able to be together.
