Three short music video ideas

After deciding to do the song 'Because I do' by Pearl and the Puppets, I started to think about what sort of music video's I would do and narratives that may link to the song. These are three of my idea's.

Idea 1

                My first idea for a narrative would be to have the artist stalking a couple for the whole video. She would follow them around as they go about day to day activities without being noticed. For example, she could be saying on them while they are on a date or if they are sitting in a park, she could be in a tree trying to look over on them. I would make it a fun video that is quite comical to make the audience laugh. I would also create a twist at the end, as most people would assume that she is following the guy, however it’s really the girl she is stalking.

Idea 2

                The second idea I came up with is to do a really typical romantic video of a couple, as it is a song about love. The setting could be on a beach and the couple could be on a date, sitting and eating on the sea front. You could also have shots of the artist singing the song to the guy as they walk around. This would fit in with the lyrics well as she could sing the lines ‘Because I do like you’ to him, and it could create a sweet video.

Idea 3

                My final idea is similar to the first, as I want the girl to stalk a guy, however it has a different twist at the end. I thought I could use intertexuality and include the shower scene from psyco at the end, so the whole way through we think she likes him, when in theory she wants to kill him, turning it on its head.            

Deciding on a Song

     In order for my partner and I to devolp and strong star image, we decided it would be best to choose an unknown artist and song, preferably without a music video. This means that we could be more creative and create a star image from the start, rather than building on one that is already made for the video.

Here are some of the options we considered:

The Maccabees - Toothpaste Kisses
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SJmWSWQgdM

We really liked the song and thought of some good potential stroylines, however we figured that the Maccabee's were too famous and the video is already quite complex, thereofre we didnt want to feel as if we were stealing any idea's and just copying the star image that they already have.

Mumm-ra - She's got you high
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKypqSL49Pg

Again, we liked the song and thought it was a decent pace in order to have good editing, however they are relitively known, and the video again builds a strong star image that we didnt want to feel as if we had to re-create.

Rebekah Hesse - Close your eyes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhOXkQLzFHg

This is actually a song written and performed by two of my friends, therefore we considered it as we would have free reign to work with it and develop entirely our own star image. We could also have the added benefit of my friend starring in the video, as she could use it as an alternative to the video that she made herself. However the pace of the song is quite slow and we struggled to come up with narrative ideas so we decided not to go with this song, as the editing will be boring and hard to show a range of shots.

Anyone Else But You - The Mouldy Peaches
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeqqHjyWWtI

Again, this song was quite slow therefore we figured it would be harder to edit. The benefit of this song is that it didn't really have a music video, therefore we considered it as we didnt have any ideas put in our head from the video that was already there, as it was mainly of the movie that it featured in. But we found it hard to come up with ideas that were interesting so we decided to continue looking

So this is the song we decided on:

Pearl and The Puppets - Because I Do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmPx9On4uNA

We really liked everything about this song. The artist is currently unsigned and the video is very basic, therefore it makes it easy with us to create an new idea without feeling as if we are taking from their video. The pace of the song is very quick, meaning we can include lots of fast paced editing and shots, and the lyrics are clear and easy to create a narrative on. Also the unbeat, querky, folk feel to the song allows us to create a clear star image as well, which is why we decided this as our choice of song.

Magazine Advert Analysis

Ellie Goulding is a pop artist which is clearly represented in this advert. The main image is a close mid shot of her, looking off camera which makes her appear vulnerable and needy, which will attract her young female audience of around 12-18 year olds. They will empathise with the image which will attract them to her music as that is what she is representing. The text and the image tie in well with each other as the name of the album is 'lights' therefore a contrasting black and gold is used throughout with golden lights all over her hair. This creates a very girly star image and connotes to her almost being angelic and innocent, which again appeals to her young audience. The gold sparkly colours scheme fits in well with the pop genre and is eye catching. The font is very rounded and is in a glowing texts so it stands out against the black background, making it eye catching and elegant, tying in well with this, innocent, angelic star image she is trying to create. She has also included critics comment, which is a convention of an album advert as it shows the album to be good, making more of her audience want to buy it.

Rihanna is an R and B artist, who is very controversial and likes to take risks which is why there is a edgy feel to this advert. Although she is an R and B artist, the album gives off connotations to rock genres as the main image is really dark and mysterious, which we often see within the rock genre. The font used is all in capitals and is very square, giving it a harsh, bold look. This combined with the red, black and white text again is very edgy and makes a bold statement to attract her target audience, which is young females around 15-21. The colours used again connote to the rock genre, however this is the look she was going for with this album, as she was evolving as an artist and changing her image to a more serious and dark one, as she had recently split up from her violent ex-boyfriend, therefore ashe wanted to reflect herself as dark and powerful. The main image is a close up of her face and she is positioned covering half her face, with her makeup dark and she is wearing a black leather top. This makes her again look really edgy and more of a rock artist, but creates this almost vulnerable star image for her as she looks as if she is hiding. However her direct mode of address makes her seem commanding, which would appeal to her audience. The title of the album 'Rated R' suggests that she needs her own category of music, again making her stand out from other artist. This advert definitely shows a shift in star image as although her genre is R and B, most of her image connotes more to rock, showing her as someone who likes to take risks and be different with her music, which would appeal to her target audience.

Analysis of Digipaks

Katy Perry:

             The digipak above is for Katy Perry’s ‘Teenage Dream’ album. The target audience for this is predominantly teenage girls, as she is a pop artist and the pink, sweet style theme will appeal to them. Also in her being positioned in a provocative manner and being attractive, young girls will want to be like her. Furthermore the attractive, sexualised images would also attract males as well, but the main target audience is young females. The dominant image on the front cover is one of her lying in a cotton candy cloud naked. The cotton candy creates a sense of innocence and dream-like atmosphere, which links to the title ‘teenage dream’, however there are sexual connotations as she is naked and laying a in provocative manner, which again links to the title as essentially she is showing herself as a teenage boys dream. She has a direct mode of address, looking directly at their audience and the long shot displays all of her body, representing her as a sex symbol within all this child/teenage mise-en-scene, so although the setting is innocent she is being seductive and being this ‘ Teenage Dream’. The font that is used on the title is like candy canes, again connoting to this innocent and childlike nature. The font her name is in is slightly different, as its bubble writing in red so again links to the idea of sweets. The whole digipak continues this sweet theme with her being overly sexualised in the other images on the inside. There is a close up shot of her again on the candy clouds with a direct mode of address in order to attract her audience, as well as a mid shot of her in a corset from a slightly high angle making her seem weak and vulnerable, yet she is portrayed sexually through the costume and the mise-en-scene. The cotton candy style theme links in well with the genre as Katy Perry is a pop artist, so something sweet connotes to pop and being fun and upbeat.


You Me At Six

                    The You Me At Six digipak shows elements of the rock genre convention quite clearly, however does contrast some stereotypes. The title of the artist is in the plain font which they always use in order to represent their band. The title of the album, ‘Hold the dream’, is unconventional as it is in a fancy fluent font which is uncommon as it connotes to a quite girly or classical genre rather than a gritty rock style. However this will work for their intended target audience, as they will aim at young females from around 14-20, therefore this font will appeal to them. This is apparent on the back cover as they use the same font which feminises the album, again appealing to their femal audience. The image on the front cover isn’t of the artist but this is quite common within the rock genre. The image is of a colourful explosion, which connotes to destruction, linking in well to rock music however it is in bright colours which oppose the norms as rock tends to use quite muted dull colours. This again suggests they are directing it towards a younger female audience as they will be drawn to the bright colours. Rock is often associated with drugs and rebellion and although this album has the black and dark colours; it also has bright colours with flowers which contrast to the normal attitudes and values of rock music. Even the title ‘Hold The Dream’ is quite different and again girly, so it works well for their target audience.

Star Image Analysis: Madonna

Madonna is an American singer, songwriter, actress, director, and dancer. She has sold more than 300 million records worldwide and is known as the world's best-selling female recording artist in history by Guinness World Records. She’s mainly been a pop artist for all of her career, however has done some dance songs. From her early images to the present, she has constantly evolved and grown as an artist, and her image is always changing.

             

  Her early videos portray her as quite rebellious and manly, however still young and naive.  This is evident in her borderline video, where the narrative of her being an up and coming model and ruining the setting that the video is shot in. Her costume is also very different for the time and we get lots of close up shots of her face and not her body, showing she is not overly sexualised.

             

We also see this in Papa Don’t Preach (1987), where she is portrayed as a young vulnerable girl, who entirely relies on her father and the man she is in love with. However she is much manlier in this video, her hair is cut shot and she wears simple, casual tops and trousers, giving her a ruff, manly appearance. This shows her stage image to still be edgy, but still very vulnerable and innocent, which her target audience of young teenage girls could relate to.  We also get a slightly more sexualised Madonna as she is a bit older now and so are her fans, so we get the intersexual reference to Marilyn Monroe in the dance sequence, with the short blonde hair and red lipstick, with tight fitting clothes. This shows a slight change in her star image as she is becoming more sexual.

                    


 Later on in her career she becomes very feminine and sexualised in the roles she plays. In all her videos she plays roles which is common within the pop genre. Like a Prayer was her most controversial video as the ideas of her kissing Jesus and the burning crosses caused out cry within religious groups and controversy, which in turn made her famous and known worldwide. In the video she again is portrayed as very vulnerable, but in an overtly sexual way. There are many high angle shots looking down her, giving the audience the feeling they are on top of her, and again that she is weak. Also as well as close ups of her face with a direct mode of address to sell the artist, we get many of her head flung back, which is a very sexual portrayal of her. There are also a lot more close ups of her chest, and her costume is only a thin, low cut dress, with the straps down, again showing a sexualised, vulnerable woman. This video made her famous because of the controversy that surrounded it, as many people considered her to have been disrespectful. Her star image changed drastically, as she was now seen as a sex symbol and many people didn’t like her because of this video.

From then on she was known as a controversial star who was highly sexualised within the media. In her Human nature video, we see her purely as a sex symbol and even the song is about it. The whole video was shot in black and white, which gave it a dark, mysterious feel. All the dancers including Madonna were dressed in tight, black leather suits, which give off a sensual feel to the video. The opening shot is a mid shot of her being stroked by all the male and female dancers, which is very provocative and sexual. Again we see many close ups of her body, especially towards the end where she is in black underwear, which portrays her in an erotic way. The props used connoted to  S and M and bondage, as she gets chained up, blindfolded and whips people, again giving the video a very erotic theme. There are also sections of the song where this is transferred to her singing, as she whispers certain lines, again in a sexual manner. This whole video shows her as a sex symbol as this was now her star image, she was known for sexy, controversial videos, and as there were a lot of changes in the 80s and 90s as we move into a more sexualised society, women liked her as they wanted to be her and men wanted her, making her really popular.

In 1998, we see a complete image change, back to this idea of an isolated vulnerable woman. Her video Substitute for Love plays on the intertexual reference of Princess Diana’s death.  The video at the start is confusing as all we see is close ups of flashes, making us as the audience feel really isolated and vulnerable. When she is in the car we got lots of close and mid shots of her, selling her image. However she is wearing sunglasses, suggesting she is hiding and again very vulnerable. Her appearance has also changed a lot since the human nature video, as she now as long, natural looking hair, connoting a sense of maturity in her star image.  The whole narrative shows her running away from people and being very isolated. Also at the end we see a child, and get a close up shot of her hugging and carrying her. At this point Madonna had already had her first child, so we started to see a more relaxed motherly and mature side to her, as she was now older and her fans were.

Throughout her time Madonna has stood for many things. In the beginning she represented the typical teenage girl, then she stood for women and sex appeal and finally she matured and stood for mothers and older women. Throughout her career she has evolved and matured with her fans, which is what has made her such a success.

Textual Analysis: Same Girl - Usher ft R Kelly

           The video ‘Same girl’ by Usher and R Kelly, directed by Little X is a typical R’n’B video. It conveys the majority of the conventions that are common within the genre, especially with the mise-en-scene.

                The setting is a stereotypical big house, with luxury furnishing, which we see though long shots and in the background, such as the grand fire place with warm rich colours, connoting to wealth.  They also have big couches and lots of technology, all presenting the rich wealthy style in the mise-en-scene . R’n’B videos often have a rich, glamorous feel as the songs tend to relate to that kind of lifestyle in the lyrics.

             Also they have lots of close ups of women in a provocative manner, which is very much associated with the R’n’B genre, as again having the money and cars connotes to having beautiful, sexy women. Close up shots and tilting down shots are used to explore the woman's body and therefore sexualise her. There are also a lot of mid and close up shots of them drinking and smoking, which is a key prop often used in r and b music videos as they are symbols of people having a good time and again this glamorous and luxurious lifestyle.

               

             The video directly links to the lyrics, as the song is all about two friends being in love with the same girl, and that is the narrative that is portrayed on the screen. This video again shows Goodwin's theory, as the visuals illustrate the lyrics quite clearly to show a narrative to the audience. The video constantly cross cut to the scenes they are talking about, like meeting her for the first time, showing the strong relationship between the visuals and the actual song. Also the video is very centred around the girl, there are constantly close ups of her face, so the audience instantly associate who the villain is in the narrative, like the shot above where we see both of them with the girl in between, putting her as the focus, however in a provocative manner as it is an extreme close up of her lips. As well as this the cross cutting suggest a close bond between the men, showing that the video is also based on a close friendship.

               

             There is also strong links with the music and the visuals, especially when it comes to editing. Whenever R Kelly sings, we get close-ups or extreme close ups of his face and its also the same with Usher. If both are singing you either get a wide shot of both of them, an over the shoulder shot (like in the car) or a split screen with close ups. This instantly shows the audience who is singing which part and helps to promote the artist, again following one of Goodwin's ideas that music video's have close ups in order to promote the artist. The video is always constantly cutting to the beat and as the pace of the music gets quicker and it becomes more dramatic, the action match editing reflects it. For example towards the end there is a section where there is a heavy beat of the drums and then three loud beats. The camera cuts to each of those beats and changes to a different close up.

                This video portrays both of the star images effectively as they are similar artists within the same genre and have the same kind of image. They are looking to sell this track by showing lots of close up of the two big R’n’B stars. Having then collaborating on a track would have attracted a huge audience as they are both really famous within the genre, so it is important to have lots of close up and use split screens to show them together in order to showcase them both individually and together, as well as cross cutting to also show this.  Both of there star images are very glamorous and rich, as they have been around for a long time, so they keep within the genre that they do best and create a video to reflect that.  Also if you look at previous videos, they all have the same motifs about girls, money and living a life of luxury, so its giving the audience what it expects of them and not trying to challenge the stereotypes and it sells really well as it is because they have such a big star image.

                The norm within the R’n’B genre is to have a lot of voyeurism and this is evident in this video. We constantly get close ups of this beautiful woman dressed in provocative clothing, making her seem really desirable and sexy. She is used for sexual display and this again is a very common convention for this genre, as voyerism tends to be the norm within this genre, and for music video's in general. A medium shot is used at the beginning, which tilts slowly up her body revealing her figure and then her face. She is overly sexualised purely for the audience to admire her and ‘look in on her’. However as there is a lot of direct mode of address so it could be argued she is an exhibitionist as she likes the attention she is receiving from both men and sends them pictures of herself, which we see in a close up image of their phones. The reason R’n’B video’s are highly sexualised is because they have an older target audience of around 16-30 year olds. Women admire the women and want to be them and men want them, so it draws in and attracts the target audience for this music video.

                There are not many intertexual references in this video other than the story line which is common in a lot of television shows, as the idea of two friends being with the same girl is evident in a lot of media texts, therefore it is something the audience understands and it makes it easy for the target audience to follow the linear narrative as it is often a narrative played on my soap opera’s. In one of the flashbacks, there is a reference to one of the video’s from R Kelly’s hit ‘Ignition’, as Usher is seen in a blue lit club dancing with a girl, which it exactly what happens in the ‘Ignition’ video.

                The music video is a mixture of narrative and performance as they are combined. The artists are clearly performing in the video and we see them singing, however there is still a narrative that fits perfectly with the lyrics so they are performing the song by living it out. The lyrics seem to be a conversation between the two which allows a performance as well as a storyline to occur.

                Overall I think this video is a classic example of a conventional R and B music video, as it heavily sells the artist based on their glamorous lifestyle and is overly sexualised, as this is what their target audience expect and want to see. It also goes in line with both artist star image and represents them similarly to how they were view before.

Textual Analysis: Paramore - Brick By Boring Brick

               The Brick by Boring brick video, sang by Paramore was co-directed by Meiert Avis and Chris LeDoux. The genre is rock however it is an unconventional rock music video but it does apply certain aspects that you see in rock music videos, so it is very mixed.

                The front woman is Hayley Williams which is quite strange for a rock video as the genre normally shows men as the lead, however Hayley is the lead singer and the main person within the group, so in all their videos she tends to be the main focus. Also what is different about this video is that you don’t see any instruments or any shots of the band all together. This is normally a key part of a rock music video to showcase all the talents and create understanding, however as this video has a strong narrative, therefore we don’t see a lot of the band. Furthermore in most rock videos, they don’t wear elaborate costumes. Traditionally they tend to wear dark bagger, casual costumes like a t-shirt and jeans, however in this video there is a clear costume as Hayley is dressed in a white medieval dress, which is very different for this sort of genre as they normally wear dark colours.

                It does show some characteristics of rock videos as we get lots of close ups of Hayley Williams face while she is singing, linking the music to the video as well as establishing who the lead is. This links to Andrew Goodwin's theory, as it is important to have close ups of the artist in order to give them publicity, and it is a common aspect of a music video. There is also a lot of long swooping movements in the camera work, which again is stereotypical of rock genre as they often cut to the beat or move to it. Although the beginning of the narrative is very bright we get that contrasted with the darkness at the end, giving off an eerie, unknown vibe with is quite common within the rock genre. They often show the binary opposition light vs. dark, focusing mainly on the dark.

                There is a clear relationship with the lyrics and the video. The song is all about someone who lives in a dream world to escape reality, yet it all crumbles in the end, and this is clearly represented in the dream like narrative which follows a small girl who's fairytale turns into a nightmare.  The song is amplified by the video as it shows the audience the story that Hayley is singing about, making them fully understand the story she is trying to portray. For example the opening line ‘she lives in a fairytale..’ we see a close up shot of Hayley which then cuts to a medium shot of the young girl walking into an Alice and wonderland type world with fairy wings, so the lyrics clearly link to what she is singing about, again following Goodwins theory, as he also believes that the lyrics and visuals should match.

                The video is also very in sync with the beat of the music as the cuts change constantly to the beat and make it easy for the audience to follow. The whole sequences cross cuts between Hayley singing and the small girl and there is often close ups of her singing, which links the visual to the music as the audience knows who the artist is. Also there is a huge use of CGI in this music video to create the ‘Pans Labyrinth’ style setting that it was based around. Furthermore the leaves are always falling, but the pace at which they fall changes with the music, so as the pace progresses towards the end, they fall a lot faster. Also within the last verse there is a clear change in the pace of the music as the beat quickens and this is reflected in the editing as the cuts become a lot faster and the CGI image changes to a much darker one, to show that the music is changes. It is also the climax of the song and this is clearly reflected in the video.

                The clear star in this video is Hayley as she represents Paramore. This video is very different compared to their normal edgy videos, therefore it shows a level of maturity as it is from their third album as it shows a change in the band as they are getting older and more established. Also she is not overly sexualised; however this is normal for rock genre as women are often not the subject. This is also because Paramore’s target audience is very young, as they are mainly 14-20 year olds; therefore it is inappropriate for a young audience.

                The main aspect of this video is that there is a huge amount of intertexuality that is used to attract the young audience to this video and create the mise-en-scene.  The main theme that runs throughout this clip is Fairytales and many are represented. The world the little girl enters through a door directly relates to the story of Alice in wonderland as she explores this world and meets this mad hatter type character. The video was actually based on the Spanish movie Pan’s Labyrinth and we definitely see that story line throughout, as the movie is very dark and mysterious and that definitely comes across toward the end where the video shifts from this magical land to a dark scary place with lighting. There is also a medieval vibe with the costume and castle, which is quite common within the fairytale genre as they started out as folk stories. All of this helps the audience to follow the narrative as it is a very short video, so by connoting these media texts, they immediately understand what is happening. This is important because although the video is a mixture of narrative, performance and concept based, the narrative is the strongest section as it links so clearly with the lyrics to the song.

                Overall the Video to Brick by Boring brick is very different to the Star image that is often represented of Paramore, as they are known as an edgy rock band with a girl lead singer. Their videos are normally heavily performance based as Hayley is a great front woman. But this video shows the change in their image as all the songs from their new album have videos that match the meaning on the lyrics. This shows they are evolving as a band and not conforming to the normal conventions of their genre.