When creating an artist and his artistic image, clothing is very important as it introduces the signer visually to the wider audience. This also helps the band or artist in selling themselves on the music market. After researching of Jamie T's clothing (the original artist) and any other artist that have the same style of the music, we decided to take some test footage for different number of outlooks in variety of locations. Our intention was to use several costumes and still be able to communicate the artist's style to the fans and other people. We came up with many other options, but because we wanted our artist to also be able to communicate some message to the "ordinary" people, we thought that more varieties would confuse the target audience.
Jamie T (Our original artist)
Freddy from the band (Sam Barnham)
But in the music video there are many other costumes that stand out from the crowd. One of the examples is: Devil Costume which brought some kind of humour into the video. Another set are the police costumes used for the kids.
This was used to pass a message of dready/maturity/age which links to our artist.This was also used to show people contrast between Freddy and the kids playing the police men. The girl's leopard jacket was meant to show seduction/animal instinct side of her and it made her look like she was not the person who would pass him the disease.
During filming of our music video we used a number f different props to add some kind of realism into the shots we were making. Most of the decisions were made in the last minute. This is because we had to many options when it came to the props and we wanted to make out of the symbolism of the the props too. The props we have used are:
1. Bottles at the pub scene 2. Cigarettes [only as cut aways] 3. STD letter/envelope
There were also many other things that added symbolism to the whole scene like eg. the colourful block used in the club scene. This was used on purpose to symbolise and imply the character's drug use and the way he sees the world.
The block in the Club Scene [back]
The block in the Club Scene [front]
We used a number of props to add realism to the shoots, with much of the
decisions being made instantly and incontestably, such as the empty
bottles at the pub, cigarettes to add to the self-destructive character
of our artist, and the STD letter envelope. We were not allowed to show any smoking/alcohol consumption or drug taking in out music video, as the result of it being right to watch by our target audience.
An example of Artist applying make-up on to their face!
Because we wanted to make our artist suit the teenage reality as well as represent masculine image, make-up was not a big concern for us when we were creating the music video. This is because we thought that by him having make up on his face would create an mental image of our artist and people might not take him seriously. Another point is that people would have concentrate more on his look rather than the overall artistic side eg. music/music video. So we decided to create an effect using great lighting which was also more important for us.
This time, I have chosen to analyse Rihanna's Loud Album Cover. This is because I did not want to fall into one music style category and by exploring different styles like: Alternative/Pop/Hip-Hop, you can get the sense of different interpretation of symbols/colours etc. The front cover is full of red colour and the only thing that we can visually see is the artist face. By this we may think, by her putting the face on the front cover, she is reassuring us and guarantees us about the quality of the album and that everything we find there is worth buying it. Another point is the use of red colour. As we know the red colour signifies love/sex/romance. In this album cover she is having purely red lips which are "sex" symbols in some way. This may be used to attract wider audience mainly focusing on male between the age of 18+ or even lower. The other thing is the hair she is showing us which is also red. This is the same symbolism that appears in case of the lips. So the front cover is full of the sexual symbols which are really easy to sell to random individuals. Having her eyes shut may make us feel that she is hiding something inside and that it will be all revealed when we buy the album and listen to the music. Another thought is that she is hiding all the emotion behind her shut eyes. The name of the album " L O U D " at the bottom shows the simplicity everything is kept. The white colour of the writing may represent the purity of the songs/artist which is complete contract to what is visually seen above.
The music video that are being made in today's society are most likely to be considered as postmodern videos. They are likely to be focused on the existing text and media from industries like: 1). Television 2). Cinema 3). Theatre 4). Videos 5). Costumes 6). Fashion/Art/Photography
This is used to inspire new ideas and authors are most likely to be influenced by the things listed above. This then impresses and attracts the existing and new audience. So therefore some of the existing music videos may be related and contain the references of the list already mentioned by me. It can reference to the text/genre. This might create greater pleasure for the audience when they watch the video they like.
Intertextua references may also be presented in many other forms. They may be presented as parodies which are:
1). Humorous 2). Satirical 3). Mocking
The idea of intertextuality was introduced by Julia Kristeva who is Bulgarian-French philosopher. She was arguing against the idea of a text as a isolated medium which operates withing self-contained manner. She says that: "Any text is the absorption and transformation of another".
The first music video I have chosen to analyse is made by a group of student from my school. Throughout watching the whole music video we can see a good editing techniques. The thing which is not perfected and is very evident during watching is the lipsing of the lead singer. At some point the movements of his mouth are completely off the lyrics and if this would be perfected, the whole music video would look better. Another point that I have is the narrative in the music video. This one does not have it at all. The only thing that we can watch on the screen is the performance of the lead singer at three different location which links most likely to the outlines of the preliminary task that was done in Summer 2011. I think that we must not only hear, but also see what is being sung through the lyrics of the song. The editing is really good and it is sticking to the beat of the song. It is using couple of close-ups which are meant to sell the artist. If that music video would be made to just sell the artists image, it would do it in 100%, because it just focuses on him and no narrative is included. We get just fly-by shots of the other band members, but they are not that frequent.
This video is almost completely narrative - performance is limited to
just the vocalist - telling the singular story of a bank robbery gone
wrong by the band. They ignore music video conventions by having no
relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, and shooting in a
continuity rather than a montage style. Also, there are almost no
cutaways from the main narrative to any other location or storyline,
making the promo feel more like a film or TV drama than a music video.
Through the camera movement, editing pace and use of colour, the
director manages to 'split' the video into sections linked to the
sections of the song (ie verse/chorus/bridge). The first verse has
slowed-down footage, with a sepia, heat-haze effect applied, with
lethargic camerawork and editing pace. The chorus breaks into black and
white CCTV footage, with chaotic and exciting fast editing across the
action of the bank robbery, despite the limitation of static cameras.
These two sections are repeated for the second verse/chorus, then in the
bridge it changes into blue-ish footage of the safe, enforcing the
diegesis of the setting and storyline. The video ends with a 'shootout'
and the getaway. Despite not following the stylistic conventions of a
music video, 'Fire' still uses plenty of close ups, especially of the
lead singer - enforcing his star persona.
The key memorable concept of this video is the gimmick of using
instruments instead of weapons during the bank robbery. This seems
entirely original and is completely effective, yet is actually a sly
intertextual link to the video for 'Breaking the Law' by heavy metal
band Judas Priest (link).
It is also important to recognise where this song falls in Kasabian's
release history. 'Fire' was released as a comeback single from their
award-winning third album. In a shot towards the end of the video, it
shows that the band were not stealing money, but sheet music, fitting
the idea that they are "taking back the music". The video helps to not
only reestablish the band, bust also create the new image to go with
their new album.
I have chosen to analyse Madonna's popular music video which is "Sorry". It is very interesting, because it shows really strong image of masculinity/strenght/militancy showed by women who are trying to combat the male race in many different ways. The music video also contains all the symbolism that is needed in order to attrack the wider audience. The sexual symbolism is used a lot of times which might attrack attention as well as the quick cutting techniques between the scenes which make it look like it's a tape from school/city disco.
The music video starts with the close-up of the main artist (Madonna) singing in Italian which is her native language and the country she was born in. The colour of the background is very feminine and might represent and introduce us to the world of woman. It is really detailed to say it, but the dots at the back seem like maybe every each of them might represent a woman and the image shows their unity and sticking together. By dancing and being very attractive she is being "labelled" as the main sexual attraction and symbol of the whole music video. The lights make it look like she is on the stage and is about to reveille her real face. This happens exactly at the same second when the main beat comes in.
After we jump to a wide shot of Madonna and the rest of her "girl team" walking down the street just after they left the party which represents them being very independent and don't really need men to have good fun, the only thing they need is themselves together and the music which is played from the old tape player which is also the symbol in the music video. After the group gets into the old white van which also creates contrast between the simple colour white and the variety that they are wearing as their clothes. There are many more close ups on the tape player which also implies its importance again and the artistic image.
In the image on the left, you can see that the music video creates a lot of sexual symbolism even more when you see the main singer undressing and putting herself into very tight costume. This creates it even more shocking. This happens in the scene inside the white van, the editing and the music which is nearly coming to the chorus makes it seem like something is going to happen there. The artist undressing and putting herself into other costume might represent the preparing for the fight/battle that she is going to experience. The green colour of the cloth represent the calm image of her.Later she also wears white which represents purity of her as a character and a person.
Different kind of people are being dragged into the car which is meant to represent all the types of man, or the way women see men. In the music video you can see: - black rap/hip-hop type - obese man - little mixed race kid - really strong (muscle) man - boy focused only on education
If this is what the music video is trying to say then it is really critical of man and old fashioned, because in today's society a lot of things have changed. In the lyrics Madonna is singing: "You're the man, you think you are". This implies that she thinks she is stronger than all the men and they got everything about themselves wrong. The image below represents that image quiet well.
On the image you can see the women sticking together very closely, looking sexy in the new costumes and attracting the audience, mostly male by the sexy movements they are doing. This shot was made on purpose to show some contrast between them seating on one side of the van and all the types of men seating on the other waiting for them to be judged by Madonna.
In the other scenes, more men appear in the van. Madonna is trying to seduce them but at the same time play with them which represents the weakness of men and the strength of the character she is and the kind of music she is making. You can see it in the images on the left.
Later the music video jumps to a scene with cage fighting involved in it where we can see Madonna and all the girls fighting/dance fighting against male race. This scene was made on purpose to show that there is a lot of disagreement between the two kinds of people and the only way to resolve the problem is to do by the way of dance fighting which can also lead to real street fighting.
As we approach the finale of the video, we are introduced to a scene/shot where all the men and women are dancing on one floor which might represent that the agreement was reached and they can all co-operate which each other in some way. Even thought the image of men is shown in a good light, we can see some cut-aways where the music video is taking mock out of some of the characters.
So the overall message of the music video is to say that all women are stronger than men and there is doubt about that and we need to accept it, so as Madonna says: "Please forgive me".
This scan of the lyrics is only evidence of the work. When working in the class, we used hard copy to combine all of the ideas for the music video which was then later transformed onto a storyboard.
The scan above shows how our lyrics are linked to music video plan that we have. This means that whatever is sung in the lyrics, the audience are able to visually see it on the screen during watching of our music video.
During our next group meeting we have decided on making the song choice list a bit shorter. This would make it easier for us to make a decision on a final song that we are using for our music video. We made a shortlist of bands and solo artists who's songs we have listened to for the past 2 weeks. The next step in out brainstorm was to choose a song which actually does not have any music video associated with the song at any point. We found out that the song (Jamie T - Ike and Tina) has no music video made for the song and it fits perfectly to our criteria. So this is our final selection:
The first idea that came to my head is that this song will let me and my group to explore new ideas and give us more space to experiment with the camera and the angles as it has very specific style. We have also chosen this song as it stood out from the other ones that were included on our list. Jamie T's song had its own style which is what we wanted as well as pace and tempo. In case of the style of the music, we have also decided on choosing it, because we felt that it also reflects on the style of our artist that we are trying to create on the line with the music video. Choosing this song, we had to do more research about different type of music video with a rapper in it which would give us more ideas on the process of film making. We decided to only focus on the most important aspects of a rap/hip-hop music video which are the performance of the rapper and the lyrics of the song. We decided on ignoring a "normal" type of music video with cut-away to the band member or a musical instrument, because that would waste a lot of valuable time in which we can show/reflect more of the lyrics by just using the rapper performance.
I have chosen to analyse the artwork of this band, because through doing wider reading about them I found out that they actually have the same style of music as the artist we have chosen by group - Jamie T. The band falls into a category of indie/rock and the their first album actually examines human behaviour in the clubs, which links to some of Jamie T's lyrics eg. Ike and Tina. The album art work uses very limited colours. It is mostly dark and in the windows of the house, we can see colourful painting which may represent the style in which the album is written in or the whole story of the band. In my opinion, the house represents the front of the album cover and what we see in the windows is what we will experience during listening of their songs.
We began by quickly creating a slightly disjunctive narrative idea for
the Little Red Riding Hood brief given to us, and sketched out a full
storyboard. We then removed roughly half of the frames at random,
creating a fragmented narrative with lots of space for other shots, such
as cutaway. This slightly montage technique, with
some elements of narration and an (on paper at least) chaotic
storytelling style is extremely conventional for a generic music video.
Finally, we chose four frames out of these, which we then storyboarded
in more detail to discover the actual number of different shots we would
need to have filmed if we were doing this for a real video. This was an
eye-opening experience for us as to the amount of footage we will need
to shoot if only for a single second of video, let alone the whole
thing. This exercise also taught us much about the types of shot used
in conventional music videos and the way that a narrative idea can be
presented in a fragmented fashion to create enigma and maintain interest
compared out work last year with conventional dramatic narrative
storytelling in films using continuity editing techniques.
A a result of us having different music tastes and different types of how our music video should be filmed we had a real problem in order to choose the right song for our project. It was harder that we expected, because from this point (song choice) everything would kick off. So we decided to make a list of songs and artists that we think are appropriate and would work quiet well in creating a music video. This was however even harder as whatever was put on the paper was crossed out straight away as we assumed that we are able to find a better song and that song choice brainstorm should take a bit longer than that. In the process of the song choice brainstorm we listened to song of a great bands and solo artists which then were scrapped due to their popularity or the lyrics itself which were not suitable for the type of music video we are planning to create.
Below I attach a scan of a list of bands and solo artists that we considered, but eventually rejected:
The record label I decided to research is Virgin Records who Jamie T (our artist) is currently signed to. Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson who owns and run the whole "Virgin" business. During it's years of success, Virgin Records grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon with a number of signed platinum performers such as Genesis, Lenny Kravirz, The Smashing Pumpkins and more. The record label brought a lot of attention in the music business which resulted in the company being sold to Thorn EMI in the early months of 1993. Thorm EMI was a major British company involved in consumer electronics, music and retail.
The company went thought a lot of modifications. In June 1992, Virgin Records were sold by Richard Brandson to Thorn EMI for a total sum of $1 billion which is around £560 million. After being taken over by Thorn EMI, the company launches several subsidiaries like:
- Realworld Records - Hut Records - Innocent Records
Real World Logo
Old as well as new artists begun work with the music company. One of the most important musicians are:
30 Second to Mars Janet Jackson Tina Turner Rolling Stones Spice Girls etc...
Capitol Records Logo
In 2000, the company opened another root of its company called" Virgin Nashville which were focused on recording country music in United States.
Capitol Records and Virgin Records were merged in 2007 to create Capitol Music Group.
Andrew Goodwin analytically outlined his theory and put it all into context in his book: "Dancing in the Distraction Factory" which was published in 1992. He says that the music video represents genre characteristics for example: stage performers/dance moves.
an example of dance-based music video...
an example of performance base music video...
an example of story/narrative based music video...
an example of concept based music video...
There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals in the music video...
Close up used to promote the artist in the music video...
The idea explains the gendered pleasures of cinema,
referring to the idea of looking in order to gain sexual pleasure from the things we are watching on the screen. It
has been argued that the male viewers' gaze at the screen is geared to
notions of voyeurism in that it is a powerful controlling gaze at the
objectified female on display. An example of the music video that links to this idea the most is Eric Prydz - Call on me.
Goodwin on Voyeurism
He says that the female artists and actresses will be objectifies in the way they are now at all the time. This will be done by a combination of different types of shots with close-ups and extreme close-ups used the most time. The camera work will also contain some part of their body which will have an effect of sexualisation or sexual treatment of the star.
Laura Mulvey
Mulvey says that they are also three different ways or forms of 'looking':
- camera to
characters
- between characters on screen
- the audience looking at
the screen
All of this forms make up a 'controlling gaze' for a male audience for the specific music video.
The Male Body
But there is also the evidence in the media that male image is represented in the music videos in the way so the actually make up scopophilic
pleasure which the female audience can benefit on and it shows complete contrast to the Godwin's theory.
Below you can see the example of the music videos that contain some of the theories listed above:
Mark Romanek was born September 18, 1959. He is an American
film and music maker as well as director. His main directing
work includes feature films and commercials, but mainly
music video shooted for famous musicians. He has worked
with many top-selling recording artists from different
genres of popular music, and his videos have been given
credit for making stars out of some. He is known for making
some of his music videos a bit disturbing, demonic and
demented. This is the reason why he's videos are so popular
amongst the band's fans.
He is mostly known for notable music videos, for example:
- Hurt - Johny Cash
- Closer- Nine Inch Nails
- Michael and Janet Jackson - Scream
His latest music video production is Coldplay - Speed of
Sound in 2005. After this year, he focused more on his
feature films including: Never Let Go released last year.
By his music video work, he gathered around 19 MTV Music
Awards for awards dedicated as a "Best Music Director" for
Jay'Z's "99 Problems" filmed in 2004. He's awards also
include Grammy Awards for Best Short Form Director. No
other directors won as many awards as Mark Romanek did.
The music video by Coldplay shows the audience really strong narrative of escaping/feeling free. We can relate it to the issue concerning Africa which we can see in the first seconds of the video where we are being introduced by the various number of the animals. It also shows us the landscape of Africa with the title : Paradise in the middle. The music video shows how people can be related to animals and how we can also free ourselves from the issues and problems that are going on around us. The video begins with the music straight away and cut aways to the animal as well to introduce the character.
After we are being bombarded with the shots and close ups on the elephant who is in the jail and has no way of escaping. This image is really strong as it shows the main message of the music video which links with the lyrics as well. The elephant acts and behaves like an adult, so we can see the relation between ourselves and the character of the animal in the music video.
After we jump to a scene where the elephant is being chased by the guards and he is escaping from them. This is really strong scene as it relates to the title in 100%. There is always a contrast between it but it is easier for the audience to connect everything together. The sense of Paradise and escaping from somewhere we were forced to stay makes us think about the issues concerning the world like: slavery in many African countries which is still going on until now.
After just seeing 36 seconds of the music video we can see the first prop that can help us to relate it to the society we live in today and the place we live in which is London. In the shot you can see the elephant finding a Barclays Bike (ordinary bike) which is used by many Londoners around the city, so the people that watch it recognise the logo straight away and links it with the capital. As London has a huge population of people with different needs of music, this music video is attracting the audience really nicely by setting most of the scenes in the Central London and showing the most recognisable logos and signs by the people living in the city.
In the underground we can see that the character is using placards to express he's feelings. This makes an effect of trying to understand the character more and he's trying to say something to us. This jumps quickly to the scene with the plane departing from the airport. This is another really strong image which relates to the title of the song and the feeling of freedom and getting away from something/forgetting about things. The plane represents the symbol of freedom and flying away from place to place. As the audience we are still not sure who is hidden under the elephant costumes and the whole magic is broken for a minute when Chris, the lead singer takes the head of and shows his face.
After that shot we already know that the artist hides behind the mask, but he reached the paradise. This might also pass a message of the band reaching their aim by making this album and letting it out to the public. The paradise might also imply the state the band is in and the success they gained by publishing the album and the main song which is Paradise. The mood of the music video changes when after the long journey, the elephant finally finds his "family" who is represented by the rest of the band hidden behind the costume.
The scene might also imply the idea of reuniting together and sticking together so everything will be all right and we all be secure. This might also relate to the elephant animals that are under threat of being killed by other people in the African deserts. Those cases might link together to create an image, or it might just simply be the audience unusual interpretation.
At the end of the music video we are travelling between the desert and the actual Coldplay concert where all of the band members are wearing the animal masks and all stick together to bow in front of the audience. This might create a message that the problems that were represented before are not really happening in our society and people need to be more aware of the issues that are being happening around the world. Or maybe my interpretation is just too brutal and they just wanted to make fun of their work and do something new to just simply promote/sell their album.
During the editing process, we have used iMovie HD. We used the same software when we were doing our "Low budget opening scene" back in the year. There were many problems which I/Group have experienced during the proccess. On the same time we also learnt a lot of things which helped us and will still do in the making process of the music video this year.
As the software is not really complex it was really hard to edit scenes where there is a lot of cutting skills needed. You can't really zoom in and the tools that are there to cut the clips between or split them are not always doing it on the point you want to do. So this causes us to redo the action and try it again. This is quiet long process and wastes some time, but can be worked through without any major time shifting.
Another point is that there is not a lot of effects when it comes to special effects/ lighting and texture repairs there is no way you can do as this software does not include such options at all. The only effect that you can get are the transitions eg. fade away, zoom in, shuffle etc. If I would compare this software to Final Cut Express, software that we are using this year there is huge gap between them. The Final Cut is really professional software which I liked to work on.
Things learnt during editing process [Preliminary Task]:
Things that I have learnt throughout this process is to always save my files in one place, especially film footage. Every time I am makingsome changes to the film time line I need to remember about saving it in case the computer system breaks and all the software might delete. I am writing about this because this is what happened to our friends. they had to do everything again from the top including capture/export of the entire footage again which takes some time.
Separate all the clips and put them in to some kind of order so you don't get everything messed up and take time to find the useful clips that you want to use in the specific scene.
The most important thing that I learnt was to put the film type and format correctly so after I finish editing and export the movie into appropriate file, the movie looks really good with good quality and can be played on other computers around the country and on web eg. YouTube
Start-up screen of iMovie HD - software used to edit Preliminary Task
The minute we have started planning the Preliminary Task, we begun to thought about what kind of music video we would like to make. We decided to use a band which represents a British music in Indie/Rock kind of music. We picked a band called: Noah and the Whale which perfectly reflects the genre we intended to use for this task. The band is currently singed to Mercury Records which is part of Universal Music Group. This led to them making better and kind of big-budget videos that appeal to wider variety of audience.
The one minute "Pop Music Promo" which was meant to last only one minute in time required the same amount of work and preparing as the final A2 Music Video. In order to make it worth the marks, we planned and storyboarded our ideas according to the requirements. We were told to shoot more than one location which cannot include any types of park, set of costume changes and the most important thing - the camerawork which had to show a lot of close ups which would lead to artist being more appealing to the audience.
One of the main ideas that the Preliminary Task was based on was the use of "signs" representing different letter. This idea came up after exploring the original music title which is L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. They would be used in the main chorus jumping from one to another, highlighting the name of the song very effectively. This effect would make the music video attractive and the song would become more memorable by the people watching it.
In brief, our music video opens with a shot of sings hung on a washing line which put create the title of the song. The initial idea was to make it look like it's a stage banner during the performance in order to introduce the band, but at the end it was used just as a background for the mis-en-scene.
Below I paste a link to our Group Blog (Freddy and The Letdowns). In order to check the process of filming and making our music video just subscribe to it, or click on the link which will re-direct you to the blog.
