Friday, 25 November 2011

Editing with Adobe After Effects - CCTV Effect


As per storyboard, we discussed the methods we could use to create the CCTV effect. We decided that Adobe After Effects would be our best bet since I had experience with it beforehand. The video above shows how we created the effect.

Monday, 21 November 2011

20th of November 2011 - Converting and Editing the Footage

After 3 days of trying to copy the footage from the mini DVD disk to a high quality common format, we finally succeeded. We used a software called "Any DVD Converter" to convert the DVD into an '.avi' file. However we did notice loss of quality so decided to research further into other softwares that could provide us with footage under an editable format. After looking for quite some time, we found our solution: Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum. This piece of software allowed us to export our footage into the '.mpg file' format without loss of quality. Another advantage that we found whilst using this program was that it converted our DVD into fragments which made it easier for us to edit and remove the bits we did not want. However we did have some problem decoding the audio from the MPG files that we were using in Adobe Premiere Pro. So we went online and downloaded the codec for audio of our footage (AAC format). We then started to edit the footage, including the addition of the CCTV effect. At the end of the day, we managed to complete the first 18 seconds of our music video.

Sunday, 13 November 2011

12th of November 2011 - Day 2 of Filming

On this day we came prepared. I brought a spare battery and told my peers to come earlier, in the morning. I met them at Wembley Arena to film the actors/actresses with break dancers as part of our music video. We plan to use this as a memory (refer to storyboard). We then made our way to Harrow, where we shot discreetly in St.Ann's Shopping Centre and the local vicinity.

It seems to be that even students need permission to shoot video. We find that getting permission will become hassleful and time will be wasted however it is a necessity to avoid trouble.

Tuesday, 8 November 2011

11th of November 2011 - Day 1 of Filming

**Changes to equipment - skateboards were to be used as a DIY dolly**

We went to Brent Cross Shopping Centre after school to film the beginning/end scene of our music video. However we were stopped by security guards and were asked to delete all footage. After this, we were left quite disheartened as this would change our storyboard ideas significantly.

After leaving the shopping centre, we decided to visit a retail park which was across the road. This time we did seek permission from a Next store by the security guard. The light conditions were not ideal - it had become night and quite dark and we were afraid the footage would not come out right. However we did shoot regardless. Before finishing the shoot, we decided to film one more take. However the battery ran out. I also dropped the camera and when I ejected the disk tray to check whether the disk was damaged or not. We found that the disk had been moved from the holder. When we switched the video camcorder we found that the footage had been wiped.

At the end of this day we concluded that despite the fact that we lost the footage, we had learned valuable lessons - we learnt that we were to ask permission from the centre beforehand. Another lesson that we learnt is that we should have carried a spare battery. We now knew how to film the footage with practice that we had on this day.

**Changes to equipment - skateboard-as-dolly idea to be discontinued due to shaky footage**

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Experimental Footage - Moving Picture Test



Shortly after creating the storyboard, we thought that it would be wise to excercise our skills. So by using images found on the internet and a copy of the video 'Just The Way You Are' by Bruno Mars, we created a test of how the moving picture test would look like in our music video.

Experimental Footage - First 18 seconds test



During a classroom session we decided to shoot some experimental footage of a possible composition of the beginning scene would look like according to storyboard details. We have found that timing may be a bit tight but may be manageable when the time comes to shoot the actual footage. The video above shows a possible composition for the first 18 seconds of our music video.

Monday, 24 October 2011

24th October 2011 - End of Research/Planning and Start of Practical Production

I have now finished my planning and research tasks that were needed to help plan and form ideas for the music video and the ancillary texts. Planning and research has helped us understand the way music videos are thought about, the ideas and efforts that are necessary when creating one. This section will hopefully make things simpler in the long run so that time is not wasted and so that ideas may be expanded on later.

We plan to finish the ancillary texts first, before moving on to shooting and filming the footage for our video.

Sunday, 9 October 2011

Practical Production Task Schedule

19th October - 30th October
Taking pictures of artist for magazine advert and CD inlay (various places in central London). Complete both magazine advert and CD inlay. Gather all necessary props.

31st October - 20th November
Green screen and local shooting including refilming to make changes to scenes if necessary (in school and in Wembley area)

21st November - 20th December
On location filming of narrative. Refilming of narrative if required (Central London famous landmarks, Westfield Shopping Centre, Shepherds Bush)

9th January - 22nd January
Any refilming if required

23rd January - 27th February
Post-production - all editing and soundtrack editing

Saturday, 8 October 2011

Dropping in on Katy Perry's Music Career

Possible Ideas for Ancillary Texts - CD/Magazine

CD Front Designs

Draft 1: This is our first idea for our CD front cover. We tried to emphasise on the album name; 'Still Not Broken' by portraying the artist on one side broken however on the other side she is complete. The themes that we integrated into this design were soulmates, relationships, incompleteness and loneliness. We strongly based this sketch on the storyline of our music video to help reinforce the themes and emotions that we aim to convey to our audience. 




Draft 2: This was our second design of the CD front cover. We decided to use a close-up of Sandhya so that the minor deails of the effects we used could be seen. This deisgn makes our cover unique, as close-ups are not used too often. The effects that we will use on Photoshop to make her face look 'cracked' will hopefully make this design eyecatching.





CD Inlay Designs
 
This design was inspired by the inlay of Bruno Mars' Doowoops and Hooligans album (below). We thought the digipak overall could portray a number of feelings and emotions. We thought that by using a cartoon effect, it would give out positive thoughts in comparison to the music video which we plan to have a lot of negative emotions incorporated into it.

Another design that we had was that we thought about getting an extreme close-up of our artist and use image editing software to put in a tear and make the picture seem like it had been shattered. This was inspired whilst thinking about glass:



Another idea that we had was to take a shot of our artist against a brick wall. It is often the norm to have simple pictures of the artist as an inlay insert so we thought that by sticking to conventional inlay designs, it may actually look as professional as a real inlay:



CD Back Designs
 
Using pre-existing knowledge of back album inserts, we created a design which incorporated the basic conventions like barcode, artist name, album name and track list. This design was inspired by the back album insert that we found on the internet:
 



Magazine Advert Designs



After drawing and analysing the designs for our magazine advert, we decided that when it comes to actually producing the print media, we should combine these designs. This is because some of the elements from one design are conventional whilst elements from the other more appealing.


Other magazine designs
 

Thursday, 6 October 2011

Props and Locations List

Equipment List


Mood Board

The Storyboard

Storyboard

Composition of Video - A Narrative Breakdown

Video Planning - Narrative v2



Video Planning - Narrative v1

  1. Sandhya waits at a restaurant and guy doesn’t turn up
  2. She gets upset and leaves
  3. She sees him with someone else
  4. Guy and other girl see her
  5. Sandhya leaves and guy walks after her trying to explain himself she jumps onto the train leaving him stranded at the station
  6. She starts crying
  7. And the song starts with a split screen of Sandhya, the guy and a person playing the piano. Sandhya is crying (close up), the guy is writing an apology letter. With cross cuts of Sandhya singing to the camera with a white background.
  8. Sandhya walks around various locations
  9. Cross cuts between guy and Sandhya walking and Sandhya singing
  10. Flashback (verse 2) – flashback of guy and Sandhya together [of what?]
  11. Guy writing letter (chorus after verse 2) and Sandhya watching TV and sees a romance scene which leads to another flashback where Sandhya and the guy are in a similar shot to the one on the TV screen. Back to Sandhya on the couch, who gets up and throws things off a table nearby.

Video Planning - Themes for the Music Video

Music videos, similarly to films, can incorporate themes. In the video we plan to incorporate the themes of love, lack of commitment and anger.

Love is a theme that is widely used across many mediums like books, films and music. I feel that it is very important to incorporate an important theme like love because this theme is easy to understand. The song that we chose is about love and how it is broken. So through the broken love, we see the introduction of anger. Our main character would be really angry because before she had loved someone who she had trusted. But because her boyfriend was unable to commit time to her and she is 'stood up' regularly, she dumped him. We though that love song with elements of anger in it would make our video unique as the norm is to feel upset or happy when matters regard love.

The song itself, accompanied by the lyrics, is full of very negative feelings. This justifies the choices we made for the themes that should be involved with the video.

Music Channels Research - Exhibition

Sandhya Acharya - Artist Profile

Sandhya Acharya is just an ordinary teenager who comes from Wembley. She is 17 years old and was born on April 30 th 1994. Her interests into the whole music career stems from her father who inspired her from a very young age. Her successis further enhanced through her coming from a singing background. Currently she is a Grade 7 singer and a Grade 4 pianist. Sandhya is an Artist who doesn’t specialise in one genre; she performs and enjoys different types of music. This allows her to target a wider audience as they can get a variety in the music she performs. Her favourite artist is Demi Lovarto as her “voice is amazing and her song writing is inspirational”.. She also has a YouTube account where on a regular basis she uploads new singles..

In July 2010, she performed ‘You might need somebody’ by Randy Crawford at Wembley Arena. This was a musical event where many Artists performed. Due to her successful performance, she was then on the cover of The Brent Magazine (July Edition). Furthermore, she performs in many family events in East London. This gives her the chance to develop become more cultural by performing cultural songs.

Sandhya has participated in many charity events inside and outside her local school; Preston Manor High School where she is representing her whole school aswel as other students. In ‘One World’ she performed with a band called ‘The Opposites’ which are a group of talented musicians who play instruments such as drums, guitars and keyboards. Alongside with their help, she successfully sung ‘Breakeven’ by The Script. This had an optimistic event as she was better known in her area due to people outside of school attending this charity event.

She is part of ‘The Band’ which is known as The Institute Of Contemporary Music’ in Kilburn. In these few hours every week, she writes new songs and rehearses for upcoming gigs. A recent gig The Band performed was in summer 2011 at Gladstone Park which was a festival of music. As a lead singer she sung Jessie J- Price Tag and a song produced by the band.

‘Tell me your sorry’ is the recent song she has posted on many sites. The message of this song can target teenage girls who go through what she is conveying. In the future she plans to record an EP which is an album without being signed. A few songs to come out soon are: ‘Don’t wanna leave you behind’ and Rise up (with an Indian twist).

Sandhya Acharya - Tell Me You're Sorry (with lyrical analysis)




Tell me you’re sorry’ is single sung and performed by Sandhya Acharya, an upcoming R&B artist. The song reflects the view that the ‘love’ is fading away thus the relationship is not what it seemed to be.

The opening verse in the song instantly reassures it is a love song and this can be seen through the song laid out in a form of a love letter. ‘Dear you, you really messed it up this time’ connotes the singer is talking about a relationship with a male and this can adhere R&B stereotypes as these videos are usually focused on male and female relationships. The repetition of ‘you’ emphasises who the song is aimed at. Already from the first few lines of the verse, many audience members can relate to the words of the lyrics due to personal experiences. ‘Mate you’re not worth the wait’ suggests that she was waiting for the right guy to come into her life and when he did she realised he was not the right one for her. ‘I won’t forgive or forget’ shows that the audience is gradually developing an understanding of the male protagonist was unfaithful towards her. This can show conventional stereotypes of R&B videos which are usually based around this topic. Furthermore, the artist can show a typical view of how women deal with men in a relationship. For example, ‘Here I go explaining to you, what you’ve done why it was wrong’ can highlight that she has perhaps done this more than once and it reinforces stereotypes of men that they’re always in the ‘wrong’.

The chorus makes the reader reinforce the meaning of the song as it is a part that is memorable. The beginning line of the chorus: ‘I don’t care, what you say’ implies that she actually does care and this is shown through the alternate tonal shifts, her emotions are conflicting. The thought of love is one that leaves you unsure and confused towards your emotions. There is also emotive language used in ‘you’re under my skin and I swear I will never let you back in’ which can show she still has a sense of passion for him but it is not enough for him to accept. The lyrics also show that the artist believes that in many relationships it is usually the male character that is in the wrong.  The male character and her feelings towards him have left her physically and mentally insecure. This is shown in ‘You don’t deserve me you’re not worth this I won’t make amends’. The representation of Sandhya we see in this chorus reflects the stereotypical representation of relationships in R&B music videos. It can also be argued that she maybe actually wants to be with him. This is shown in the repetition of the line ‘Tell me you’re sorry write me you’re sorry’ which makes the audience remember this part of the song. The emphasis of the word ‘sorry’ indicates that an apology, just being a simple word can change everything in a relationship. In a form, this doesn’t only relate to love relationships between a male and female but in fact relates to a wider audience.

In the next verse, is the artist signifying herself through the line ‘I see you writing on the envelope dear me it reads’ which can show she is not going to open her feelings but it signifies her body as the letter signifies her emotions inside. We also hear from Sandhya in this verse that she is physically broken through the emotive language: ‘You’ve broken me’.  In the middle 8, there is a conventional representation shown of female artists where they want to ‘Plan my revenge but you aint worth my time’. This indicates two different meanings. Firstly it can convey that she is moving on however it can also show she is scared to face him. She says ‘Burning the pictures all of the letters’ which is a personification of herself that connotes she is getting rid of physical memories in order to disguise her emotions. To conclude, the lyrics of the song give a representation of stereotypical teenage girls’ emotions when it comes to dealing with the hardship of a relationship.

Thursday 6th October - Choosing the music track

Together with the other two people in my group initially planned to search for an unsigned music artist on the website, 'unsigned.com'. We had found a music artist with a song that would satisfy our needs. However after several contact attempts we were left with no replies and were forced to continue searching. Finally we decided to approach a friend - a female singer around the same age as us who had composited a track as part of her A Level Music coursework...

Audience Research - Vox Pox Answers

Please view the video in full screen

Audience Research - Vox Pox Questions

What genres of music are you interested in?
Do you watch music videos? If you do, where do you watch them?
What do or don't you like about music videos?
Do you prefer a performance, concept or narrative based music videos?
After listening to the song, what thoughts came to your mind?
What genre(s) do you think that a music video, of this song, could be identified with?
What music channel would you expect to see a music video of this type?

Audience Research - Questionnaire Results Analysis



Saturday, 1 October 2011

Audience Research - Questionnaire

Questionnaire for Music Video

Gender Representations (Feminism, Post Feminism and the Male Gaze)

Gender stereotypes is a controversial, sensitive topic when it comes to the music industry. Stereotypes are usually used to help the audience identify themselves with characters. Men and women are the main stereotypes portrayed in music videos.
Men, in music videos, are shown to have the following qualities:
  • dominant
  • independent
  • womanizers
  • rough and tough
  • carefree
Women, in music videos, are shown to have the following qualities:
  • sex objects
  • sexual
  • aroused
  • dependent on men
  • provocative
The representation of women in this way is known as Feminism. It was a movement that started in 1960s where women were completely against these stereotypes and generalisations. Voyeurism is another term that is heard when hearing about Feminism. It supports the fact that women are ill-represented and that erotic pleasure is gained by looking at 'sexual objects'.

A theorist, by the name of Laura Mulvey, believes that women in all industries have the sole purpose of showing their bodies off as sexual objects and that they have a to-be-looked-at-ness quality to them. This is known as the 'male gaze', a theory thought up by Mulvey. She thinks that it is this provocative behaviour that is the centre of the 'gaze'. This is evident in quite a few music videos as we see that in some videos, a male music artist is surrounded by female dancers, wearing revealing clothes.

However Post Feminism (1980s) says otherwise. Post Feminism says that there is no 'male gaze' but in fact a 'female gaze' - females desire the men and that they can be 'as attractive' as they want to be, but maintaining control.

Postmodernism - The Blurring and Breaking of Barriers

Postmodernism began in the 1970s and still continues today. It involves the breaking/blurring of barriers between fiction and reality, genres and style, human and machine and space with time. Rather than using reality, postmodernism has led us into thinking about hyper-reality: a mediated version of reality.

Parody
Work that is used to mock and imitate original work with the intention of generating humour and irony.


Parody made in Toy Story 2 (left) from the film Jurassic Park (right) - "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear" with a dinosaur running after a vehicle.



Parody made by Weird Al Yankovic (music video 'Fat' left) of Michael Jackson's 'Bad' (right).




Parody found in Superhero Movie (left) of a shot found in the first Spider-Man movie (right)

Pastiche/Homage
An artistic work in a style that imitates (not mock) that of: another work, artist or period. Very similar to homage. Homage - Respectful imitation


Weird Al Yankovic's 'Bob' (left) imitating Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues (right). Weird Al goes one step further and uses palindromes.

Bricolage
The mixing of styles and genres
Shawn of the Dead is a mix between horror and romantic comedy (rom com).


Intertextuality is often associated with postmodernism. Intertextuality is when a text is shaped using other existing ones, often allowing readers to relate to the other texts involved.

Modernism - Reinventing Culture

Modernism was a movement that began in 1890s and ended in the 1960s. It was something that opposed realism, something that reinvented culture that had become old and outdated. Surrealism and avant garde (opposite of status quo, pushing traditional boundaries) were part of the Modernism movement.

The French artist, Pablo Picasso, also followed Modernism through his work. Below are some examples of Modernistic work he created:



Narrative Theories - Levi-Strauss/Propp/Todorov

Claude Levi-Strauss
Claude Levi-Strauss was a French anthropologist/ethnologist who believed that narratives involved conflict of binary opposites. He believed them as themes rather than events:
  • Good vs Evil
  • Man vs Machine
  • Hero vs Villain
  • Truth vs Lies


Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Propp was a Russian scholar who used to look at Russian folk tales and thought of a theory that they can be compared to many aspects of life. He thought that characters and the events in a story are shown as narrative functions - they were necessary for the structure of any story (stock characters):

  • The Hero - a character that is out to seek something (quest)
  • The Villain - a character who opposes the hero and has to stop him for personal (selfish) gain
  • The Donor - a character who gives the hero mythical/magical objects to assist him on the quest
  • The Dispatcher - a character who sends the hero on his quest for a particular reason (this reason eventually becomes the backbone of the narrative and is the hero's objective)
  • The Princess - a character who gets into/is in trouble, waiting for the hero to rescue her
  • The False Hero - a character who tries to shame the hero, making himself look like the hero
  • The Princess's Father - a character who rewards the hero for his efforts of saving his daughter
These characters do exist in modern, mainstream Hollywood, particularly in fairytale animated films like Tangled.



Tzvetan Todorov
Tzvetan Todorov was a Bulgarian philosopher who believed that all stories and talks started in a neutral state (equilibrium) which was the disturbed by a chain of events (disruption). The narratives would then end in the resolving of the disruption (resolution).

Equilibrium>Disruption>Resolution

Wednesday, 22 June 2011

Music Video Analysis 5 - Bruno Mars' Just The Way You Are




Genre: R'n'B/Pop (Concept)
Directed by Ethan Lader
Released on 8th September 2010


Just The Way You Are is a music video of a rare category: concept based. It is unusual to create a concept based music video as it is not the norm. However I think that this music video has done well with the idea of stop motion animation.

The video starts off with a woman listening to the actual track through headphones on a Walkman music player. Bruno Mars walks in and picks up the player, removes the tape cassette, pulls out the tape onto a table and the song starts. At this point, stop motion animation is used when Bruno writes his name and the song title with the unraveled tape. He then forms a drum with the tape and makes flicking gestures at the same time as the drum beats in the song. For the next few lines of the song 'Oh, her eyes, her eyes, make the stars look like they're not shining. Her hair, her hair, falls perfectly without her trying', Bruno uses the tape to draw pictures as the song is being sung (in this case images of the woman's eyes and hair). This tells us that the video is trying to convey strong feelings and emotions to the audience. 

Direct address is also used when Bruno is looking at the camera but the shot/reverse shot editing technique identifies that Bruno is in fact addressing the woman. Handheld camera is used which makes the video more realistic. Bruno moves the tape to form the shape of himself. Stop motion editing is used again when the tape reel starts to move, showing tape-Bruno singing. Over-the-shoulder shots are used to show the reaction of the woman - she seems quite flattered but finds that he is exaggerating on her looks as she makes amendments to the shapes that the tape reel is making (e.g. closing the tape-woman's mouth to hide her teeth when Mars makes references to her smile). She moves from one of the sofas and sits next to Mars, showing that she has been 'bought' by Mars' charming words about her. Sheilding is mainly used to show the closeness between characters. She starts off on the other end of the sofa and ends up right next to Mars, indicating that she feels more comfortable around him.

A pulling focus is used later the video between Bruno and the woman (medium close-up) and the coffee table with the ever-moving tape-Bruno. Both Mars and tape-Bruno are miming in sync with the song, which may show that his feelings towards are so strong that 'one Mars' is not enough to express it. When the camera is focused on Mars and the woman, handheld camera is used which is often used to make have a more realistic appeal.

There are many themes that are involved in the video, all of them of which are positive. This video incorporates themes like love, relationships, crushes, happiness and looks. I beilieve that, based on the lyrics and the direct address to what seems as an audience (which ends up being the woman), this music video is aimed at young females due to its appeal about finding love.



Music Video Analysis 4 - Eminem's Stan





Genre: Hip Hop/Horror core (Narrative)
Directed by Phillip Atwell & Dre
Released on 9th December 2000

Stan is arguably one of Eminem's greatest songs/videos. Eminem is a world famous Hip hop and R'n'B artist and created this film-like video around a story line. Although this video is very famous, it was considered highly controversial because of the themes of violence, drinking, murder and obsession that had been incorporated. This video has won quite a few awards due to the fact that it was shot as though it was a film.

The first scene starts off with a shot of a window. As they camera tracks in, we see rain drops and flashes of lightning accompanied with the sound of thunder. This could be the establishing shot of the video to help us as the audience to set the scene. It cuts into a view of Stan (Devon Sawa) washing his hair with bleach as the camera tracks in. This already tells us about the Stan's obsession over Eminem as he bleaches his hair blonde. He looks at himself quite aggressively in the mirror (as seen through a medium close up) where we can quickly analyse his appearance. He is wearing just a vest and a chain. His left arm is tattooed with a design of some sort, including a crucifix. The background is his bathroom walls and door, very old with the paint peeling off. This indicates that the Stan character is a quite poor man. 

The scene cuts too low angle shot of Dido, who is Stan's girlfriend and is pregnant. She briskly walks down a dimly lit corridor, stops outside Stan's bathroom door asking him to come out. He aggressively opens the door and screams 'What?' in her face, showing his anger for disturbing him. She asks him what he did to himself as she just saw his newly coloured hair. She asks him 'don't you think you are taking things too far?' showing that she is aware of his obsession. He shows his power of Dido as he grabs her and pushes her towards the toilet seat, regardless at the fact that she is pregnant. A high angle shot is used here making it seem as though we are dropping into the private lives of this couple.

The scene changes to a train carriage with Eminem sitting on a seat while a person gives him a pile of letters, indicating the start of the song (we later identify the scenes with Stan as a flashback). The camera tracks from Dido singing in the bathroom (lip syncing) down to the basement where Stan's obsession over Eminem is clear. Whilst Stan writes a letter the camera revolves around him which reinforces Stan's emotions.

The lyrics are very violent and shows Stan's aggression and anger towards Eminem for not answering his letters. He even admits his obsession as he writes 'I got a room full of your posters and your pictures man'. We then see a scene where the reason why Stan did not get any replies from Eminem. A postman drops a letter on the floor while collecting a pile of Eminem's fan mail. We can identify the writer when a medium close up of the envelop shows us the word 'Stan' written in the corner. Stan's next letter is full of swearing which ,again, emphasises on his outrage and disappointment. Stan wishes to replace his girlfriend with Eminem as we see an over the shoulder shot where a picture of the artist replaces Stan's girlfriend in a photograph.

In a later scene we see Stan driving a car in a rain storm (non-diegetic sound of rain and thunder) shouting into a voice recorder. We see various close ups of Stan's face as he shouts that he is 'doing 90 on the freeway' indicating that he is speeding and that he is also drink driving indicated by the lyrics 'I drink a fifth of vodka, ya dare me to drive?'. Intertextuality is used as he mentions that he is playing Phil Collins' 'From the air in the night'. We later find out that Stan has tied up his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk as we hear her screaming in the background. Stan exclaims "Shut up bitch, I'm trying to talk". He then boasts about his actions.

We see a long shot of the car crashing and falling of a bridge as Stan drives the vehicle into a river. The slow motion editing technique is used here. We then see a scene where Eminem is replying to his letter which is flicks back and forth of a scene with Stan's brother Matthew attending Stan's funeral (parallel editing). Eminem then realises that Stan was involved in a car crash, that he heard about on the news.

Stan has a very good narrative although the themes, that have been incorporated, may be violent and disturbing. However the film-like feel to the video appeals to me the most. I may use this to help me generate ideas for my own video.

Music Video Analysis 3 - Pussycat Dolls' Buttons feat. Snoop Dogg




Genre: R&B/Hip Hop (Performance)
Directed by Francis Lawrence
Released on 26th June 2006

Buttons is a R'n'B/Hip Hop video made by the famous female group, the Pussycat Dolls, and the equally famous Hip Hop artist Snoop Dogg. This video is one of the most controversial music videos of our time. This is because the typical representations of gender are strongly shown: Snoop Dogg shows to have power over the Dolls and is the only male in the video, whereas the Dolls are shown to have provocative qualities as Nicole Scherzinger seductively advances towards Snoop at the beginning of the video. Snoop is wearing very 'hip hop typical' clothes: tracksuit bottoms, a hoodie with a baseball cap. This indicates that Snoop is a hip hop artist.


The scene cuts into a mixture of a low angle medium shot, a long shot and medium close ups, using several jump cuts. This sequence of shots show all of the Dolls walking down a stage full of lights. The dolls are wearing semi-revealing clothing: short clothing and boots. The camera tracks in behind the Dolls as they walk down the stage (perhaps giving a chance for the male audience to check them out). As the camera tracks out of a medium long shot, the Dolls pose seductively.


They walk into a large pipe and start to slowly advance/dance towards the camera, trying to show off their apparent 'to-be-looked-at-ness' quality. The pipe scene uses a lot of basic (continuity) editing techniques like cuts with very short takes to keep the pace of the video fast and upbeat, just like the music track. They start to strip off the light tops they are wearing as exit the pipe, showing themselves off as sex objects. They then start to execute choreography very similar to that of pole dancing, as they wrap themselves around the pole. Scherzinger also uses a chair as a prop to dance on and around. The rest of the Dolls join Scherzinger's 'chair dance' in the same flirtatious manner, making it look like a striptease. A clever technique that the editors used is when the Dolls kick the chairs backwards towards the camera (in the form of a POV shot), it almost hits the camera but cuts into a medium close up of Snoop, starting his rap. The Dolls walk as though they are cat walking as they walk towards Snoop, pose, then walk in the opposite direction.


The next scene shows the individual Doll members dancing in front of a big light, thus creating a silhouette effect. This piece of choreography is sequenced with medium close ups of the individual Doll members breathe heavily onto frosted glass (parallel editing). It cuts into a sequence of dance moves performed by the Dolls to music sounding similar to Arabian belly dancing music, a form of dance that is associated with belly dancers, who are usually seen dancing to please male viewers. CGI is also used - as they crouch, the floor ignites and fire is seen all over the floor (perhaps the Dolls are trying to show themselves as 'hot, desirable women'.


Although this video is sung by female artist, I still think that it is aimed at men as we can see that the Dolls are involved in sexual objectification. However a Post-Feminist view would be that the Dolls are desiring Snoop and that they want the 'to-be-looked-at-ness' quality. This can be backed up by the lyrics as the Dolls are requesting Snoop to 'loosen up their buttons' and referring to themselves as 'sexy mamas'. The music is very upbeat with a strong bass, which is accompanied with lip syncing from the Dolls and Snoop. From the music we can identify that it is aimed at a young audience. This video has won awards for being the most 'sexiest video' in 2006 supporting the idea that it was aimed for people that wanted to gain visual pleasures from watching it. The song overall is very enjoyable, with beat to get feet tapping. However some Feminists may feel that the video shows Snoop as independent and dominant over the Dolls and how they are subject to sexual objectification.

Music Video Analysis 2 - Usher's OMG




Genre: Dance/R&B/Hip Hop (Performance)
Directed by Anthony Mandler
Released on 30th March 2010


At the start of the video we see an old television sitting in a white empty space. The screen flicks between static and a blurry figure of Usher. The camera slowly zooms into the screen and the song starts. The frame dissolves from the television screen and long shot of a room where Usher is surrounded by multiple beams of laser lights and tube lights. The next few seconds allows the audience to analyse Usher's dress sense - he is wearing a suit and hat, something very similar to what Michael Jackson would wear. We know that one of Usher's greater influences is the King of Pop himself and he has emphasised his respect for him through Usher's own choreographed dancing.

The setting seems very futuristic. For this I am pretty sure that green screen technology was used: technology that involves replacing a certain coloured background with anything you want. The scene cuts into a split screen view of Usher and Will.I.Am, perhaps comparing the two music artists. Will.I.Am is known to sing in Hip Hop and Dance music. Will.I.Am is wearing a strange pair of trousers and is in a similar setting to Usher's 'room' but instead of black with blue lights, Will.I.Am stands in a room with pink walls and red lights.

Usher's popping moves are repeated throughout the video emphasising that fact that it is a performance based video. Match on action editing is used when Usher is using lip syncing (a typical music video convention), accompanied by very quick cuts and short takes. Direct address is also used which can allow communication and understanding between the audience and the music artist. Edits are executed in time with the beat, making this a very appealing video as well as a very catchy tune.

A wipe is used taking us as the audience into another long shot of a room, full of white light, with Usher in the middle wearing another casual-wear suit. This is followed by a series of wipes (in time with the beat) flicking between Usher and a group of provocatively presented women. The women start to execute their choreographed dancing as Usher sings his song. The women are wearing high heels, knee high tights and a jacket on top of a bra. As we can see, Mulvey's theory of the 'male gaze' is put into practice - the women were in the video, dressed provocatively, for male viewers so that they could get visual pleasure. This may be backed up by the lyrics 'Honey got a booty like pow pow pow, honey's got some boobies like wow-o-wow, girl you know I'm loving your, loving your style, check-check-check-check-check-checking you out like'. This line refers to several body parts belonging to woman and how Usher finds them visually pleasurable. It represents Usher as the dominant male over the female sex objects. In the next scene we see a reflection of the dancing women that are accompanied by the lyrics 'sexy from the head to the toe' followed by the women slowly crawling erotically back to him. This may oppose Mulvey's theory and can put Post-Feminism into practice, saying that the women in the video are lusting for Usher and that it is their choice.

The next scene shows Usher in front of a metal background, very unfuturistic, dancing with 4 of his shadows which does look appealing as it is accompanied by choreographed dancing. He somehow pulls down the background where we find ourselves back in Will.I.Am's pink room where he is surrounding by various provocative girls.

The piece of music in the final scene is slowed down a little. Then the song picks up the pace, ending the whole song with a last bit of choreography with both female and male back up dancers. The camera zooms out of the television screen to end the video, the screen still flickering between Usher and static.

The music throughout the whole video is very upbeat and modern, with a tune to get anyone's feet tapping. But I think that by using provocative female dancers, this song may have been targetted for men. There are elements of concept based video in it - the futuristic setting and the shadow dancing. Apart from the gender generalisations and ill-representation of both genders, I may take some ideas from this video to integrate it with mines.



Music Video Analysis 1 - Michael Jackson's Thriller







Genre: Funk/Disco (Concept/Narrative/Performance)
Directed by John Landis
Released on 2nd November 1983

This video can be said as one of the most popular and successful music videos of all time. Director John Landis released this phenomenon of a video in 1984 under the album which is thought by many die hard fans as Michael Jackson's most popular and successful music of all time.
 
Thriller is a music video that blurs the barrier between fiction and reality, a video about a typical girlfriend-boyfriend situation that does turn quite hairy. I would say that this video pays homage to the horror genre: scary bloodthirsty werewolves, undead zombies, deserted graveyards and the distinctive voice narration by Vincent Price. Vincent Price has been associated to the horror genre (well before Thriller was produced) with works like the 1953 horror film, ‘House of Wax’, the 1958 monster movie ‘The Fly’ and a 1959 horror-thriller, ‘The Tingler’.
Another genre tie-in is the abandoned house. I believe that this house is very similar to that of the abandoned house in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller, ‘Psycho’. The scene in the abandoned house is very similar to the one in ‘Night of the Living Dead’ where people are trapped in a haunted house while the zombies surround them. This scene also follows an idea thought up by Carol J Clover. In her book, ‘Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film’, she suggests that in most horror/thriller movies (particularly ones that involve a psychopathic killer) that a female character in such a movie would be the ‘last one standing’ or the one that confronts the killer. She called it ‘Last Girl’. In a sense this hypothesis can be applied to this video as Jackson has fallen and has become a zombie himself and Ola Ray (Jackson’s girlfriend) must defend herself from the coming horde of zombies.
The video follows quite a puzzling narrative. From the start to the abandoned house scene it seems as though the events surrounding Jackson and his girlfriend is real which is reinforced by the low key lighting which added a sense of realism and a creepy atmosphere. But the dream is finally shattered when Ray wakes up before she is about to be ‘zombiefied’. She sees that a rather calm, normal looking Michael Jackson lifting her up, putting an arm around her shoulder and about to take her home. But before they reach the door, Jackson turns around to face the audience, showing his devilish yellow eyes and the video ends with a spine chilling laugh by Vincent Price. Although the video does arrive to a climax, the audience is still left unsure as to whether the end scene of the video is the dream or the reality.
This video does use plenty of music video conventions like choreographed dancing (which have become iconic), following a narrative and lip syncing. Early 1980’s clothes were used as they were modern at the time, indicating that Jackson had the young Americans in mind in terms of target audience. This is reinforced by using the horror genre which is often associated with young adults as they are known for preferring thrillers over rom-coms or animated movies.
Seamless or continuity editing is used throughout the whole video which is preferred by the younger generations. This also allows the audience to focus on the going-ons in the shot. Semi-long takes allow the audience to carefully study the shot: the dance routine, Jackson and the location. These long takes have allowed the audience to replicate many of the internationally famous dance moves. Short takes are also used, especially in the werewolf scene to increase tension and speed up the pace of the scene. High angle shots are used to show Ray’s feeble and low stature as the zombies crowd her. Long shots are used to show the choreographed dancing to express the hard work put in by choreographers. Towards the end of the video Jackson is shown looking down at Ray in a low angle shot. The light behind him makes him look angelic, he has been sent to save her from the zombies by waking her up.

Andrew Goodwin - Categorising Music Videos

Music videos can be categorised by genre and whether the video is narrative, performance or concept based.

Genre is French for 'type' and can be defined as the way in which music is categorised based on certain characteristics that can be used to identify itself to a particular type of music. Genre is mainly used to target audiences, who have specific tastes of music, film or book. This also helps the audience to identify which mediums they are more likely to enjoy.

Examples of genre, in relation to music, are Pop, Rock, Dance, Classical, Hip Hop and R'n'B. Hybrid genres also exist enabling artists to target multiple audience (e.g a song with elements of both R'n'B and Dance will attract audiences that like listening to one or the other). This can lead to convincing audiences to listen to more music of other genres, rather than sticking to their preferences.

Another way of categorising music videos is based on its 'form': narrative, performance or concept based videos. Narrative based music video follow a storyline with a typical 'beginning-middle-end' structure. Performance based music videos are based around a performance by the artist(s). Concept based music videos are based on a theme or idea (e.g. stop motion, continuous take, backward film).

Andrew Goodwin - Identifying Music Videos


In his book, Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992), Goodwin identified several key features and characteristics which can be used to recognise a music video
  1. There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visual (with visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contracting the lyrics).
  2. There is a relationship between the music and the visuals (again with visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contracting the lyrics).
  3. Particular music genres may have their own music video style and iconography (E.g. live stage perfomance in heavy rock).
  4. There is a demand on the part of the record company for lots of close ups of the main artist/vocalist.
  5. The artist may develop their own star iconography, in and out of their videos, which over time , become part of their star image.
  6. There is likely to be a reference to voyeurism, particularly in the treatment of women, but also in terms of systems of looking (screens with screens, binoculars, camera etc).
  7. There are likely to be intertextual references, either to other music videos or to films and TV texts.

Along with these key features he created three categories under which a music video can fall into:
  • Concept-based - Videos that are based on a theme or an idea
  • Performance-based - Videos that are based around a performance of the artist/group
  • Narrative-based - Videos that follows a narrative or tells a story

    Planning and Research - Wednesday 22nd June 2011

    I will now begin the planning and research section of the project. For this section I will:

    - Analysise at least 5 music videos
    - Research into the artist / group I am producing the video and ancillary texts for
    - Produce a complete copy of the lyrics of the track and detailed timings
    - Research a possible target audience with results displayed and analysed
    - Produce a narrative breakdown of the composition of the video
    - Brainstorm possible themes that need to be incorporated into the video
    - Sketch out a storyboard for the video
    - Write up a detailed breakdown of the visual codes to be constructed
    - Create a list of nessesary props and a shooting schedule/timetable
    - Produce a list of equipment that I could use
    - Research into the music channel that would exhibit my video.

    Project Brief: An Introduction

    For this coursework I must produce a promotional package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with the following ancillary texts:

    • a CD/DVD digipak for its release (4 panels - front cover, back cover, 2 inlay cards).
    • a magazine advertisement for the release of the CD/DVD.