Research for music video: Laura Mulvey's ideas on representation.

This is a quote by Laura Mulvey on her theory on representation in music videos 

" In world ordered  by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly" 

She believes that the music industry and in normal life women are stereotyped by men they  decide what women should look like their image, they way women should act like to them  and what women are supposed to do.

Katy Perry - California Gurls











The Pussycat Dolls - When I Grow Up

This low angle shot draws attention to the artists.The lyrics connects to these shots "When I was young I wanted attention And I promised myself that I’d do anything Anything at all for them to notice me"

This shot with all the artist looking into the camera waving interacts with the audience makes the viewer feel like they are being waved at by the girls.

In the next scene we see the man looking at these hot girls in the car next to his but we also see his girlfriend in the background getting angry at the fact that he is looking at other girls even though she is right next to him but the he doesn't care. This is a good of Laura's theory about how men determine what a women’s image should be and if they don't fit their image they won’t even notice you like the woman behind him.

 The minimal outfits that are showing lots of flesh will attract men and this is the whole point of this this video to promote the artists and their image. 

I think the lyris are sterotipical of young gilrs and women and what they want to become we they grow up"We all wanna be famous" this makes peolpe think that every girl wants this.

"Drive nice cars, I wanna have boobies"

mood board

Here is our groups 'Mood Board'. We have based these images on the creativity and the imagination of the feeling to the song called "Dog Days" by "Florence and the Machines". We wanted to depict the colour and the vibrancy of the lyrics to show how we feel when we listen to it. 

Here is a Mood Board based on the song called "Every Teardrop is Waterfall" by "Coldplay". Even though my group is very unwilling to choose this song as our final song choice and video choice, what we all unanimously agreed upon was that the creativity and the imagination used in this music video was excellent and it brought our emotions to a high as it was a very uplifting song.

    

RESEARCH: Laura Mulvey

'In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly'                                    (Laura Mulvey, 1992)

Laura Mulvey looked at the representation in music video and she focused mainly on gender. She found that women were more sexualized in order to attract the male gaze.

 This is Rihanna's video for her song rude boy, not only are the lyrics sexual but so is the video. I think the video is to attract men and maybe teenage boys, things in this video that will attract the male gaze are images of the glossed lips, and her wearing skin tight clothes.  This video also reinforces Mulvey's point about women being dismembered (only seeing the lips on screen).

Research for music video: Vernalis's theory

Carol Vernallis theory on the edits in a music video are:

• Edit that are easy to spot draw attention to them like using a wipe or special effect within the music video.
• The traditional rules of 'continuity' editing are not been followed in music videos to attracted the viewer to see what’s on their screens.
• Jump cuts are used 
• There’s a base track to make the music video have structure
• The camera and edits move with the beat of the music  

This music video has may jump cuts.

RESEARCH: Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis looked at editing and camerawork in videos. She found that the usual continuity editing used for TV isn’t used in music video as the edits are more in time with the beat. This allows them to put more in the 3 minutes. Jump cuts and edits are frequently used.

I think Rhianna's S&M video reinforces Vernallis's ideas as the camera moves in time with the beat and the edits used are really evident.

AS to A2: New skills learned

In the 3 as to a2 weeks, I learnt what a music video consists of e.g. they all have a base track. I also learnt how to cut videos using the base tracks; this is very different to the way that we cut our thriller videos. Using this method makes it more smooter and easier to edit to the beat

AS to A2: Skills developed

The skills that I have developed from the start of As are:

-          Filming and how to use the camera

-          Editing, how to use different software such as live type and final cut pro

-       Learn how to use new programmes e.g prezi

Research for music video: Analysis of my preferred music video.

 

I watched the music video for 'Bad romance' by Lady Gaga so that was a simple analyse of the video I did but I think there are still more important points in the video. I think this video show how she went through her music career and how it has changed her as an artist.

This shot shows Lady Gaga coming out of the coffin showing the viewers that she is coming out to the music industry the birth of a new different artist.

This close up of her with the big eyes shows innocents this reflects back to when she first started her music career.

In this next scene we see that she is been forced to take off her clothes this shows that her innocence is being taken away as well and being stripped down to her sexual image. Looking back the Andrew Goodwin's theory Lady Gaga is the singer and the main character the victim in this music video and she is in the centre of attention making the viewers familiar with her face and image.

 

These two shots shows her in the middle surrounded by men that she her as an object the same with how the music industry see artists.

                                    There is definitely a contrast between the mise en scene in both these shots because at the start of before she came into the music industry. But in the second shot they are wearing red clothes and stronger make up showing the dark and dirty side of the music industry.

I think this is a very feminist video about what women have to do and how they are seen as in the music industry but at the same time shows her in control of the situation and it promote her as an artist very well because it uses different techniques to draw so the viewers in so they remember and find the hidden meaning in this video interesting making they know who the artist was. 

 

Research for music video: Music videos I found interesting

While browsing thought YouTube I came across this video. I like the idea of having animation to illustrate the music video. 

The Music Industry


During a previous lesson, in class I learnt about how the music industry has changed in the last 10 years for the better or the worse. I focused on the Production, the Distribution and the Exchanged and how they have been developed for the need of the audience. 


Production (the process of making music and recording it to a sufficient standard so that it can be sold): 

Distribution (how the music gets to people and how they know about it):

Analogue transitions to Digital

Exchange (what changes hands between the people who own the music, and it’s audience in reward for the chance to listen to it):

Current Trends:

In the article called: "Music is thriving, but the business is dying. Who can make it pay again?"

It reported on that in 2010, major record labels were in serious financial threat because sales in the UK went down by 7% and nearly 10% in the United States, the worlds largest music market. SONY and Warner Music Group reported that their pre-Christmas sales went down by 10% and 14%. Downloads on MP3 formats has shown that 67% of people in the UK are downloading illegally. Over 1.2 billion illegals downloads were done in the UK alone. Sites like Google+ and Itunes are combating these issues as they become more popular by the public to access music by legally downloading them. 

Research for music video: Andrew Goodwin's theory

 

Andew Goodwin's theory is that pop videos really apply with the traditional narrative analyses. He gives a reason for the different narrative structures pop videos have:

1. Most pop videos are built around songs
2. Pop video uses the artist as a  narrator and a character within the video 
3. The singer extends the performance by looking at the camera this makes the audience feel involved with the performance 

He also says there are 3 main structures in a pop video:

• Illustration- When the video tells the story of the lyrics
• Amplification- When the video shows a new meaning to doesn’t contradict with the lyrics but makes the video have more meaning to it
• Disjuncture- When there is a little connection with the video and the lyrics or when the video contradicts the lyrics

 Here are the examples I have found that uses these 3 structures

Illustration

 'Because of you' by Kelly Clarkson

Amplification

Grenade by Bruno Mars

Disjuncture

'Run' by Leona Lewis

Research for Music Video: Summary of what i've learnt about the music industry

One part of the media course was to learn about the music industry. To briefly summarise my faint memory of the music industry one thing that was majorly stressed upon was the  "shift from analogue to digital". So due to this major revolution within the music industry alot has changed. For example, digital format means perfect copying time after time. Thus "illegal" copying and sharing files arises.

We had to learn alot of terms, such as convergence, synergy, niche audience (etc),

We also had to have small case studies which had to be included within our exams. By case studies i mean small record companies and what exactly they are doing to confront this new "revolution" of "illegal" downloading and so on. For example Souljazz Records, small company that look for and bring out the small minority of singer, rappers that are urban based, and this company tries to get through to that niche audience.

Research for my Music Video: Analysis of my Preferred Music Video.  

I have watched the song called “Hey There Delilah” by “Plain White T’s”. I really love watching this song mainly because it beautifully coveys the theory of Carol Vernallis. The camera work and the editing are superbly intertwined with each other. The song is an Amplification  (Andrew Goodwin’s theory) because it adds another level of meaning to the lyrics, which is greatly supported by the shots used and how it’s edited. When the artist sings, the camera focuses closely on him as the other shot illustrates hos feeling. 

I really like how this shot cuts up the images into split
screens showing different angles to the video

I really like the puzzle effect or split screen effect where there are separate different shots used together to convey the feeling that the artist is madly in love with a woman who she hasn’t met him yet but he feels like he has done all his life. I really do like how it’s edited together to give this feeling. I feel inspired by this music video because based on how its put together. There are lots of close ups of the artist, his guitar and the woman because we as an audience are meant to be focusing on there as they show great significance. 

I also really love the cinematography because they use colour very effectively. The black and white are shown only to the artist to give a feeling of how colourless and how empty his life is filled without Delilah. And the scenes where there is colour is also used effectively because it shows how he longs for it and how normal it looks, which he wants. 

Handheld Effect used

The camera work I also really like because there are certain scenes where the hand held effect is used to give an impression of Delilah’s point of view. Again, the editing is done precisely as each slide show is played and changed; it changes on the exact beat so it has great fluidity.  

According to Laura Mulvey's theory, this video does literally dissect parts of the woman and the man for different effects. When there are certain different shots of the woman,we have some that are focusing on the woman's face and her legs to show the audience how the artist finds her attractive and when there certain shots of the man being dissected, the intended feeling is that we are meant to feel how broken he is feeling, how lost he is without her which means that this challenges the theory as it isn't just based on the attractiveness. 

Dissecting parts of the body used perfectly by
the split screen effect

I also like how the beginning and the end are similiar scenes showing how the story of the video hasn't changed. I like the realism to this video, imitating how you would imagine a love story film would be. 

Research for Music Video: Previous studen video Analysis

During one of the lessons we were asked to look at some previous student work and analyse it and look at their technical and editing skills that they have used.


I have looked at Karen, Joshua, Anisha and Mohammed's video, what i really liked about their video was the transitions they've used, really effective, shows the editing that they've used.
Just like the whole idea that transitions are used to get to the next scene without a massive cut.




The use of the split screen and the colour is really good, again good sign of editing also colour.

Their base track was being by the wall, really a simple idea but works.

I just like the whole colour scheme and the use of transitions which are meant to b within a music video to draw the audiences attention in.

Copyright clearance letter

Island Records

22 St Peter
London
England
W6 9NW                                                                                                                                                             

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to ask for permission to use the whole song “Rainbow” by Jessie J

I am a student of A Level Media Studies at City and Islington College, and for my Advanced Portfolio I will be working in a group to produce a promotional package for the release of a new album track. I would like to request permission to use the above track for this project.

The finished project will not be made available publicly and will be used solely for coursework purposes. The holder of the original copyright will be fully acknowledged in the finished project.

If you do not hold the rights for this song I would be grateful if you could forward this request to the appropriate person(s), or return it to me with the contact details in order, that I might approach the copyright holder directly. 

Yours faithfully

Kyle Graham

aa29190@candi.ac.uk

RESEARCH: Andrew Goodwin’s theory

Andrew Goodwin’s theory believes that ideas such as Todorov’s do not apply to music videos. He says the main reason is that music videos take a different approach to the narrative as opposed to films, however they still have a beginning and end. The video is based around the song; also the artist of the song is a character in the video. To get the audience involved the artist will look directly at the camera.

Goodwin states that there are three points that links songs to videos.

Illustration:  This is where the lyrics of the song narrate the video

Amplification:  This is where the video uses the lyrics as metaphors adding new meaning to them

Disjuncture: This is where  there is very little relation between the video and the lyrics, or where the video contradicts the lyrics.

The video i have chosen for disjuncture is Florence and the machines 'The dog days are over', the video is really random and doesnt really share a link with the lyrics.

AS to A2: Digipack

The storage system wasn't working on the day of saving our digipack, so we saved it on a hard drive, but it cannot be found. So i currently have no digipack however i will be creating another one to replace the lost one

RESEARCH: Previous student video analysis

The student video I have chosen is the video to the song ‘Cosmic Love’ by Florence and the machines. Firstly I think the mise- en - scene is amazing in this video, and really found it cool how they used an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ theme. They have used edits and transitions well making it look very professional. I like the way at the start the part is black to show she is dreaming.  I think the video fits in with Andrew Goodwin’s idea of disjuncture. I think the only criticism of the video is that there isn’t enough lip syncing.

RESEARCH: Analysis of a music video

The reason I have chosen this video is because the video is a narrative of the song. However in this the singer only makes a cameo appearance (the one who buys the big issue from her). I really like the fact that the whole video is in black and white, which makes it stand out and makes you concentrate more on the video. There are a variety of shots and transitions used.

Also this video was filmed locally in Angel =).

RESEARCH: Functions of a music video

The music video is used as a marketing tool, in the video the main thing you see is the artist(s) therefore the video sells the artist. It also sells the song, gives the audience something to look at as they listen to the song.

A video that I think is good is Rizzle Kicks ‘Down with the trumpets’ although it’s a basic video the edits used and different  camera shots such as the slow motion when the man is jumping off the wall makes the video more interesting.

Research for Music Video: Analysis of my preferred Music Video.

I really like the music video of “Olly Murs” in “Heart skips a beat” because it uses creativity and imagination for the mise en scene like when they use the record for Olly Murs’s single. I like how these props help to bring the music video alive. 


When I first watched this music video, what really made me feel so excited were the wide usage of camera angles and the fantastic usage of editing. I really like how they grasped hold of the concept of fun and entertainment because we get small snippets of footages of people break dancing, skipping – basically enjoying themselves, staying true to the characteristics of this music video. 


According to Andrew Goodwin’s theory, this music video is an Amplification as the music video doesn’t contradict with the lyrics but adds another layer of interpretation. We get a lot of panning shot that suggests we are visually seeing the record player coming into life. This shot is also useful and essential as it covers the whole scene from foreground to the background. 


But what really impressed me about this music video was the editing. I really do love this music video for the editing because it’s shown as immaculate. For example when Olly Murs repeats the word “Skip, skip”, that scene is repeated twice to give you a feel of reliving that happy moment in time. In the beginning when he does say ‘Skip’, its repeated so many times is so many different shots and locations which I really loved because its not staying in one place al the time, its being shown through multiple of shots which I really love. 


We also get the editing of the scene being rewind and then played again which looks amazing. I also loved when the beats and the rhythm are increased where the footages are also increased so that it stays in time with the song. It really is very effective because everything is in sync, everything from the fast pace and the scenes coincide with each other perfect harmony. The editing feature of slow motion is used superbly like when the boy on the drums throws his drum sticks in the air it slowly comes back to his hand right on the beat. This music video has certainly inspired me to use these editing techniques when my group makes our own music video.

Research for music video: What is the function of a music video?

Music videos are like a short movie in a way because it tells a story of something. Music videos are a way for artists to advertise themselves to the world with close ups on the face so the video is showing the artist face and image.

A good example of this is Lady Gaga she came out to the global audience with her single 'Just dance' in 2008. This song featured Akon which made this song and video even more popular.

Research for Music Video: Analysis of my preferred Music Video.

I really enjoyed watching the "Coldplay" video called "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall". I was instantly thrilled by the imagination of the music video through the creative art designs used to convey the feelings of the artists and the lyrics. The vivid colours painted, helped fuel the music video showing its vibrancy and its excitement, what music videos are meant to do and meant to make you feel. I really enjoyed watching it because it isn’t like most music videos because it has both the creativity and the imagination to make the video stand out through the camera work, through images and the swift editing.


From learning Carol Vernallis’s theory of camera work and editing, this music video is the epitome of her theory. This music video clearly defines her theory because instantly we have a handheld effect, which is done very precisely to make it look very spontaneous as if we can almost feel how they are feeling. The main singer Chris Martin is shown through jerky movements, almost jump cuts indicating his impulse movements.

Jerky movements

We have him sometimes looking directly at the camera and sometimes looking ahead of the camera which works best both ways because the look he gives to the camera – the look he gives to the audience, shows he is trying to inject these feelings to you and when he looks ahead of the camera, we feel this feeling fading away which then he injects back into us throughout the music video. I enjoyed watching how the creativity of having a continuous tracking shot where Chris Martin leaves the shot and appears again in a news stance. When the camera is fixed onto Chris Martin, when he almost hovers around the pace, I thought that was also awesome because again with the imagination and the creativity, two key words to make a music video: CREATIVITY and IMAGINATION.

Each beat is hit on each drum beat accompanied by jump cuts

The edits used are simply fantastic because there is a lot of very fast pace beats and rhythms that are accompanied accurately by the shots used through jump cuts and repetition. For example, during the solo scene with the drummer, each beat he hits on the drum matches each jump cut shot and repeated shot, and then the pace increases with each jump cuts shots accompanied by it. I really do adore the mechanics used to create this music video because it has everything you need to make an exciting music video: the creativity of images and the fast, accurate editing through the essential jump cuts, repetition and the usage of fast forwarding and rewinding. This music video has certainly inspired me to use these editing techniques when my group makes our own music video.