Taylor Swift - Style

A feature in which we used a lot in our music video is overlapping footage. Music videos uses this often in music videos as it is a good way to tie footage together as well as making the footage not look as plan or static, adding movement to the shots which don't move much, adding this effect adds complexity to the video, making it more interesting to watch as well as making it look better.

This is done throughout the Taylor Swift music video, at the beginning the image or her is linked to the music video through the cutaway shot/overlapping

Fisheye Lens

When filming on our last day we though it would be a good break from our normal footage to have a variety of different types of shots, using fish eye lens as a break, creating more complex/ dimintional video. So on our last day of  filmed some of the shots with a iPhone fish eye lens, we did this for shots such as point of you and established to illustrate to the audience a turning point in the video. 

Arctic Monkey's - Arbella

The music video of Arctic Monkey's Arabella, is from the same genre of what our video is aimed for, the indie, rock genre. The video has a grey scale title throughout similar to our video. The beginning of AM's music video starts out going backs, almost like it broken, we created something similar at the end with the sort of flash back sort editing at the end. The video includes a performance element which is a common from this genre, we also in our video did this through having stef perform at a variety of different locations. However the video also had a narrative, adding to the complexity of there music video.

Performance element of the video.

Narrative element of the video.

New Ending Audience Feedback

After changing our ending to what we thought would look and work best we decided to show it to a large group of girl aged 16/17. This is apart of our target audience so it is a good reflection of what others from the same age range would think of our video and if the ending is effective or not.

The general response we got from the audience feedback was that they loved the ambiguity of the ending. As the last thing they see of the main protagonist is her jumping in and then the empty lake.

The Ending and Audience Feedback

After looking over the footage when I was getting during lunch break, I realised that the jump/sliding in of the main protagonist stef, didn't really look that great, and that is one obstacle I faced when editing the video. We want to create the element of 'omg she's dead' or 'omg where did she go', and currently it having the whole clip it wasn't really the reaction we could get. So I though it would be a good idea that we have the 'jump' in slow motion' however never actually see her in the lake. As it was quite shallow near the top it wouldn't create that realistic element of her killing her self.

After during lesson we the whole group was there we addressed the problem and started thinking of having her in the lake as cut away shots. Although I didn't really like this some of the group did she we got some audience feedback. 

This is a video I took after showing them our video ending. 

Last Day of Filming

So we finally (hopefully) filmed all the remainder of our footage need to complete editing our music video. When I was editing on my own, I really thought that our video lacked consistently. Despite that fact that we a few separate locations, I felt that there was no real effect from the video. But as no body else was coming to help me edit, they were unaware of the problem. Therefore after they finally saw the work I had been doing over the past couple days after school they agreed in me. After talking to our classmates and teacher they all agreed with us and we got their feedback on our idea to add  a narrative. We decided to add an ambits ending, this allowed us to not be too explicit in our narrative and allow the Virginia Wolf inspired ending to be up to interpretation.

Me, stef and Ciara went to Hillyfield, a park near our school, which as has a lack in which you can fish and thought that, that location would b e consistent and effective to the current shot in which we had already filmed.

It was a long process of getting our 'star' Stef to get into the pond/ lake and we almost thought it would happened, but after a long, cold, wet afternoon stef took the plunge, literally.

Here are some photos of our day of filming:

Audience Feedback, Adjustments and Shooting Schedule

After showing our incomplete music video to the rest of our media class we wanted to get some feedback and new perspectives on what they thought of our video, and what we could do to improve it. They all agreed that it lack a certain something, and agreed with us in saying that by adding a stronger narrative would help. So we started planning our new story line. We made a list of all the shots we were missing in our video, as well as a plan of how we were going to complete our video. 

Here are a few photos of what we did. 

Music Industry Research - Streaming Music

Technology is advancing every day, therefore influencing the music industry as well. As consumers of this generation we are able to access and buy music in more ways than ever before. Streaming music a relatively new concept, helping new or unknown artists music to be spread. Streaming services such as Spotify and Rdio are allowing to expand the listeners music scope, through suggesting artists, bands and songs through what they had perviously listened to. These streaming services has become more and more popular in certain years due to the increase in Smart Phones such as iPhone and Androids as people area able to downed these apps and listen toy them on the go. These services are a monthly payable service, however people are able to use the app Spotify for free however only on shuffle with the inclusion of adverts. 

Here is a couple of the websites I found useful when researching into Streaming Services:

http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/126892-which-is-the-best-music-streaming-service-in-the-uk-spotify-vs-rdio-vs-deezer-and-more

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/07/27/can-company-save-streaming-music-industry

http://uk.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-explains-why-she-left-spotify-2014-11

Laura Mulvey - Male Gaze

The Male gaze is a term discussed by Laura Mulvey in her essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1975). It is used to describe when the audience is put into the perspective of a (heterosexual) man. Female characters are sexualized, and the camera may zero in on female body parts considered sexual. This takes after the psychoanalytical term brought into popular usage by Jacques Lacan.

Source:http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Male_gaze

The Male Gaze Laura Mulvey from Mr Smith

Music Video Analysis - Sia: Chandelier / Elastic Heart (Richard Dyer)

In reference to Richard Dyer's theory of Star Image, the artist is a icon manufactured by institutions for finanical gain, evoking emotion from audiences, through reflecting 'real people experiences' creating fans to sell too. When using Dyer's theory we are able to apply this to exsisting artist, and bands. Many artist identities are not bound to their music, branching out to other factors such as films, adverts, perfumes and so forth- therefore selling themselves as a product rather than the music. However the artist Sia as recently proven to audiences that this is subjective and does not apply to all. Sia is known for her absences in her music videos as well as her live performances. Her recent conversional yet record breaking music videos hit, 'Chandelier' and 'Elastic Heart' help challenge Dyer's theory of Star Image. The music videos do not conform to the stereotypical music video as the artist is absent, there is not singing performance and is not set in various locations. The video is focused on the young dancer, who is performaing a dance to the beat of the song helping convey the emotions, creating link between the lyrics and visuals.

The music video elastic heart is a sequel to the hit 'Chandelier'. This is made clear to the audience as there is a consistency in the tone of miss en scene, the colour scheme is melancholic, keeping to the colours of different shades of dark greys and cremes, mimicking an industrial vibe. The protagonist of the video is wearing the same flesh coloured leotard paired with blonde bob wig. The main element of dance is constant through both videos. Long camera shots are use to reflect the emotions of the dancers in both video. The videos are not edited to the most prominent beat, which is clear to audience which is typically done in music videos, however this is consistent through the video and therefore does not look out of place yet adds to the emotion of the dancers, highlighting the dancing as the main feature, which helps emphasis the song as it is a reflection of the lyrics, through  the link that the dance made with the visuals. 

Here is the music video along with other links I found helpful when researching into this topic: 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2916310/I-cry-watching-kid-doing-kind-choreography-Sia-talks-controversial-music-video-Elastic-Heart-includes-Maddie-Ziegler-12-actor-Shia-LaBeouf.html

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/sia-apologizes-for-controversial-elastic-heart-video-with-shia-labeouf-20150108

These videos are revolutionary as there has never been sequel music videos, which rises the question are music videos slowly becoming short films?

Digipak Research

Digipacks are a type of CD packaging made out of card stock or other heavy paper/cardboard material. Digipacks can flip open like a book, or it can have three parts, so that one portion of the packaging opens to the right and one to the left, with the CD in the center portion. Usually, the portion of the digipack that hold the CD is made of plastic like a traditional jewel case CD - the plastic part is simply attached to the paper background.

Digipacks were first created by MeadWestvaco, and their product, called Digi-Pak, is trademarked. However, as the format became more popular and began to be used by more manufacturers, the generic "digipack" came to be used to describe all soft CD packaging.

Source: aboutcareers

Iconography/ Props

In the music video we use the symbol of mirror throughout to show the artist, stef, reflecting on her character in the video. The use of mirrors is common in music videos to show voyeurism, this feature is used in television and film as is recognised by audiences to be effective in representing the artist.  The still shot of the artist looking in to the mirror presents a reflecting aspect, creating a melancholic and sad tenor between the audience and the artist, without having an explicit narrative.

I was thinkning that it would be effect ot have the footage flipped after the raw footage as it would create a tone of the person in the mirroe, the artist, looking back at the artist, almost reflecting a conversation like element, creating this feel of argument between her self. This however would my preferred reading (Staut Hall) .

Cutting Down the Song Length

After talking  it over with Stef and Emily and listening to the song over and over we have finally come up with a solution to our dilemma of having a long song. Here's a quick vlog of us explaining what we are planning to do.

The 1975 - Digipak Analysis

Front

• Conforms to the grey/black and white convention which is popular within the indie/pop-rock genre.
• Subverts from the Richard Dyer theory of 'Star Quality', as none of the band appear on the front cover. Suggesting the sold fame/fan base of their band, through their iconic logo of the bands name, 'The 1975'.
• The light from behind the door or black back drop highlights the band name as well as suggesting a melancholic tone to the music of the album. 
• the colour scheme is consistent to the the music video in which they realise, such as 'Sweater Weather'. Showing the audience that this is one of the bands conventions.

CD/Back Cover

• The CD use of gloss against the matted band name highlights the logo, as well as following the current colour scheme and style of the band. 
• The back of the cover uses a numerical listing for the different songs, which is an common feature in all album covers.
• The inside of the cover references to  their social media such as Facebook, highlighting other ways to find out information on the band. 
• Throughout the whole album the font is centred, showing consistency from the band. 
• There is a sort of cynical tone to the album as the back of the album mirrors the front of the album, only differing in the text.

Treatment Pitch for Final Music Video Concept

Here is our treatment pitch for our final music video concept, to the song 'White Nosie' by Prvis.

Indie Record Labels

An indie record label which our artist 'The Sound' which might have been signed to could be 'The End Records', an independent record label located in Brooklyn, New York, that specializes in rock, metal, indie and electronic music. Signing many new up coming artist and helping them break into the charts. Advertsing their artist music, music videos, shows and merch on their website as well as third party websites such as Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook to help increase and grow fan based, allowing them to profit from the 'star image' (Richard Dyer). 

Archer's Analysis of Music Video's

Steve Archer writes the ‘5 things to look for when deciding a music video is any good’.

 1) The feeling and images that you get from a piece of music should be used as this creates a connection with the audience. The first thing to think about isn’t the literal meaning of the lyrics but the general atmosphere and feel of the actual music. You always need to start with the music. The lyrics don’t have to be taken to seriously however they are not to be ignored. Taking the main sentence and using that to create some kind of subject will give the lyrics a part to play.

 2)The is a narrative fuzz in songs that effects the way we create a music video and how it represents a meaning of a song. There is therfore usually only a hint of a story or drama. Music videos carry a role in advertising and therefore needs a repeatability. A music video needs the ability to be replayed on MTV as many times as possible in order to advertise the artist and the song, if the video has a complete narrative the consumer will not what to watch it over and over in the same way you can eventually get bored of a film or the same programme over and over.

 3)The music bussiness relies on the few big names to fund its activitys. The ‘meta-narrative’ of the star image has an important part to play in the music video. Developing the star image over time and story that surrounds them is very important.

 4)Music videos can support or promote a song in three ways.
 Illustration, amplification and disjuncture, you can use these to generilise the effects of the music videos. A music video can illustrate the lyrics or genre, providing and over literal set of images. It is the most straightforward technique where everything is based on the source of the song.

 5) including camera work, movement and angle, mis en scene, editing and sound.
The technical conventions can be summed up as follows: Speed- speed of the song visualised by camera movement
Camera Movement- motivated by running. dancing and walking
Fast-cutting and montage editing-the images moving so fast you cannot make out what they are so you need to see them more than once
Post-production- images being colourized, split screens etc. Intriguing things that give visual pleasure. Not all camera shots are about fast paced though, some need to be slow.
Meat!-The closeups of the singers face (the meat of the video) Beats!- The music video representing the beats through the use of cut
Lighting and colour- Used to emphasize key moments in the song, could also show a development of story
 Mise-en-scene-The setting for the music video is very important for the authenticity of the video.

Music video narrative from ksomel

Music Video Analysis - Rihanna What Now Music Video

Rihanna's 2013 music video for her song, what now is a good representation of a female artist in the pop genre (subjected to being presented as a indie artist depended on the songs). The video is a performance based video which is similar to what we want to do, with short snappy shots of abstract shots, with most of video highlighting the 'star', we waned to do something similar to this as we are presenting our artist to the public therefore want the audience to have a face to pair with the song, increasing the fan base, creating a well know artist, increasing the brand identity, that institutions are able to profit from (Richard Dyer).

Another aspect of Rihanna video which is effective is the use of cutaway shots/ the layering of shots, this is something we are replicating in our video are it creates a more three diminutional feel to the camera work as well as being visually pleasing.

The artist, Rihanna in the video is isolated locations, creating a sole focus in her as the artist rather than a busy/packed mise en scene. This is a common feature in slower/ballad like songs as it reflected the tone of the song, which is similar to Privs 'White Noise', which is the song in which we are creating our video to.

Near the end of the song, as the song climaxes, to the beat of the song, what I believe to be secondary footage is used such as wild animals, lions and metal tools. This creates a harsher tone reflecting the lyrics to the audience.

Lana Del Rey, Born To Die - Digipak analysis

Lana Del Ray's album, Born to Die was interesting to look at as she is a female artist in the indie genre. Her distinctive style is effective as her audience/fans are able to identify her work, this is illustrated through her actual CD as there is no title, album name or an image or the artist. In contrast however throughout the digipak there is numerous photos of Lana.

The digipak is consistent in style, font and colour scheme, creating a simplistic, organic element to the album which it could be argued is a reflection of how are music videos are.

Nature which is highlighted in her miss en scene, in the cover and in other pages of the digipak, which is a common feature in the indie genre, other artists such as Florence and the machine and 2 door cinema club, we have incorporated this element in our video, therefore conforming to the code and conventions  of the indie genre.

Cutting Down the Song Time and After School Editing

So the other day when I was editing on my own after school, I realised the limitation of having a long song. Editing is especially hard, as there are a lot of long instrumental bits to the song with no lyrics, therefore due to the lack of a strong beat during these sections in the song, I find it difficult to edit to this, and to match the footage we do already have.

 This is a quick vlog I did summing up.

 

Intertextuality in Music Videos

Music video have recently began to for their narrative to micic previous popular stories and films. We can argue this is due to the them having being popular and being received well with the audiences, therefore arguable will be an success. We can see this recent music videos.

Avicii - Addicted to you and Lady Gaga's - Telephone featuring Beyonce. Both these music video follow two female 'characters' or 'stars' part taking in a crime following the popular toxic love story of the criminals Bonnie and Clyde (During the Great Depression went on a two year crime spree from the years 1932-1934. During that time in America society were against the government using them to their advantage). As in both music videos crime is used as a theme illustrating the forbidden / dangerous side of love.

 Video One - Avicii - Addicted to you

Video Two - Lady Gaga's - Telephonew