Pink Panther exercise

We selected a variety of images which by no means typically relate to pink panther, however, we found these images to be good in terms of attempting to edit to the beat. In this exercise there are many quick edits due to the fast paced music. We used markers in order to gain an exact ideal as to where certain points in the music are, which made editing a much easier process.

Pop Album Covers

Inspiration

This video is a slightly odd one to claim as being inspired by. However, the wacky races is a well known cartoon full of comedy, and although it is a programme aimed at children, it can be seen as inspiring. This is as this large amount of comic effect is present continuously through absoloutely every shot and every angle. We find it to obviously possess wacky attributes and although in our video we do not intend to do races we do still want to create as large a comic effect as we can muster. Therefore, we intend to use wacky attributes similarly in our music video to hopefully create the same sort of effect but we shall be targeting ours at a slightly older generations, and by that I refer to teenagers and young adults.

Lyrics: Scouting For Girls - Famous

Staying in again on a Saturday night,
I'm going to settle on the sofa and turn down the lights.
I got 900 channels but there's nothing to see,
No wonder everybody thinks they should be on TV.

We all want to be famous.
Be a face on the screen.
Read our name in the papers.
Everybody wants to be on TV.

Everybody wants to be on TV.

Forget Audrey Hepburn, Forget Bette Davis.

I want to be known, just for being famous.
I can't act, I can't dance, I can't sing, can't you see?
But I'm young and I'm pretty and that's all that you need.

We all want to be famous.
Be a face on the screen.
Read our name in the papers.
Everybody wants to be on TV.

Everybody wants to be like James Dean.

I want to be the star tonight,
And complain about fame in a story I sell to the news.
I want to be the star tonight,
Want to make the front page as I pose for the boys in the nude.

We all want to be famous.
Be a face on the screen.
Read our name in the papers.
Everybody wants to be like James Dean

We all want. We want to be famous.
We all want. We all want to be like James Dean.
We all want. We want to be famous.
We all want. We all want to be on TV.

We all want. We want to be famous.
We all want. We all want to be like James Dean.
We all want. We want to be famous.
We all want. We all want to be on TV.

We all want. We want to be famous.
We all want. We all want to be on TV.

We all want. We want to be famous.
We all want. We all want to be like James Dean.

Music video analysis: Coldplay - Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

Every teardrop is a waterfall by Coldplay was inspired by Chris Martin, who is the singer and front man of the band, watching Biutiful by Alejandro Gonzalez. There is a night club scene in it and the track in the background was based on “I go Rio” by Peter Allen and Adrienne Andersen. The director, Matt Whitecross makes use of various techniques which allows the portrayal of a successful and appealing music video.

The main concept for this video is the denotation of the lyrics, and so focus on them, as well as the performance of the song. The performance is conveyed in two parts: firstly, with the use of stop motion and secondly, with the use of slow motion techniques as well as strobe lighting and vibrant colours throughout both. I will be using Andrew Goodwin’s 6 point analysis to analyse this video.

The use of stop motion in the video is largely present. This means that it occurs at the majority of points throughout and therefore gives it an entertaining presence and gives us, as an audience, a slightly surreal experience. Stop motion is used from the very beginning of the video when we see the shots of the city. This then goes from the stop motion of the real world to a graffiti image of it on a wall. This can portray an interpretation of the song as some believe it to be in regards a young shut in who uses music to block out the real world and so may reflect a false society. Therefore, the use of this reflects the fantasy world in which he lives. The use of graffiti is then used continuously until he goes through the doorway which is indicated by the stop motion graffiti with the image of arrows to show us where the singer is going to go. This graffiti is used to portray the lyrics by actually depicting them around Millennium Mills, which is close to London City Airport and has featured in a large number of other music videos, for example by Snow Patrol, Artic Monkeys and The Smiths. As well as this it is used as imagery as at various points there are shapes either reflecting what is going on in the scene, i.e. the guitarist playing and the images on the wall behind them of music notes, or to reflect the lyrics. For example, when “my heart is beating” is stated a pumping heart is present behind the singer. This then reflects Goodwin’s theory as the portrayal of lyrics and so the relationship between audio and visual is clearly present. 

Accompanying these lyrics is a great deal of performance. The first member of the band we see is Chris Martin who is singing in stop motion whilst the camera circles around him. Other members of the band are shown as well, however the main focus is on Martin. This also reflects Goodwin’s theory as in which it states that record labels will demand close ups of the artist, and in this case the band, and by focusing on the singer it is well stated. 

The second segment of performance takes place after Martin enters the indicated doorway. We go into a scene which largely resembles a rave with its fluorescent and neon colouring accompanied by strobe lighting. The lighting gives off an almost ultraviolet effect and these rave-like attributes are not usually associated with this type of rock/pop song and so this video is not necessarily conforming to all genre characteristics, meaning that it does not stick to Goodwin’s theory. In this performance slow motion is used to create a dramatic effect and give with performance a greater depth. This also uses a lot of dissolves to black which bring about a sense of mystery and the use of such does somewhat confuse the audience as they find that it is a rather obscure aspect to include in a music video which contrasting conventions. However, it does capture the audience’s attention.

The colouring used throughout is bright, vibrant and brings a sense of fantasy to the video. This is as the colours firstly used in stop motion are bright; however, the majority of it is blue as to fit with the idea of tears and waterfalls. We follow the blue graffiti, which is almost like following a river, going up a wall and down the other side, conveying the waterfall.  The splashing waters create a steady pattern of endless rhythm which is reflected in the unsteadiness and disorder of the colouring near the end of the video which reflects chaos. The bright colours at the end reflect this as it is no longer following the waterfall idea and eve when it does conveys the concept of teardrops they are pink and black which is not a common attribute of tears. These also jump onto the screen at the end covering up the stop motion image of the drummer and bringing the video to a close.

The performance then goes back to them performing outside at the end of the video which is once again in stop motion. In this we clearly see the entire band. This cuts to them in different positions in various shots which once again makes the video more entertaining. Before this Martin goes back out the doorway to join the rest of the band. We see him in various shots, longs shots, then mid shots, then close ups, which provide us with a great variety of angles which allow us to become more entertained by the video. 

The sole purpose of this video is to entertain. We can see this through its various techniques such as stop motion and the bright and luminous performance scenes, which reflects Goodwin’s theory as they follow genre characteristics.        

By Hayley Cook

Scouting For Girls Record Label

Mood Board Analysis

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Ruba Khan

Tom Jones - Lip Sync

When making the Tom Jones video, we didn't have a plan of how we wanted it to look. We decided we wanted it to be random and fun to watch. By using some of the shots we did, it made the video more entertaining and also worked really well with the music. The hardest bit when editing was the last part when everyone disappears behind the tree. this took us a while to work out how to do it but the end result was fabulous. We did this by overlapping the image of the tree with the filmed version of the people disappearing behind it. 

Inspiration: Funky makeup

I decided to upload this picture onto the blog as I beleive it represents our music video. The picture shows a doll faced girl with bright red cupid bow lips, fushia pink blusher on her cheekbones, multicoloured feathered eyelashes and yellow eyebrows. The whole look appears fun and edgy which in my opinion is the sole purpose of our music video. The girls face is simple; similar to our basic idea but her makeup in intricate and animated, which is what we want to achieve within our moving extract.

Inspiration: Mika 'Life in Cartoon Motion' Analysis

I have chosen the image above as I believe it represents what pop culture, and similarly our music video is about. 

This is the CD cover, for Mika's album.I chose this CD cover to analyse as I feel it reflects some of the techniques that I wish to incorporate in our CD cover. Mika is a solo artist that generally tends to produce music that fits into the pop genre which is the same genre as the music video we are creating.

The CD cover is vibrant and inviting, mainly because of the great use of bold and bright colours. It holds a very 'random' theme and the images supported on the cover are extremely varied (from sofa's to a piano); however it all tis together well. This is similar to our idea for the music video as we are incorporating many different acts and shots to create a bizarre video, but at the same time and coherent and fluent extract.

The images are cartoonised (relating to the album title - life in cartoon motion) and out of proportion. A small image of Mika is included, which is featured in a different colour scheme but still following the cartoonised theme. The image is almost a sepia tone. (browns and grey) because these colours are different from the remainder of the bright cover it allows it to stand out and draws the audiences attention towards it. Furthermore Mika's name is in large bold white writing that dominates most of the centre of the cover once again drawing attention to his name in order to promote his label. The name of his album (Life in Cartoon Motion) is in much smaller text and fits in with the CD cover as it almost looks like a doodle.

Analysis of Questionnaire

The questionnaire Smartiepants Productions presented to the class consisted of 7 questions.
1. What do you think about our ideas?
2. What idea did you like the best?
3. What would you change?
4. What genre do think this falls under?
5. What do you think our target audience is?
6. Would you sit and watch the whole video? Why?
7. Rate our overall idea as a whole (1=Lowest 10=Highest)


For the first question, many people believed that we have many good ideas and we have embedded the genre conventions of comedy and pop effectively. However some individuals suggested that 'less is more' and our video can be just as effective without too complicated and intricate ideas.


Many people liked the whole 'Dream Sequence' idea and the fact that we were including Audrey Hepburn, Bette Davis and James Dean look alikes. A few also liked the popcorn idea with the man sitting at home throwing popcorn everywhere in his living room; consequently making popcorn angels rather that snow angels. Some of the audience were also happy with the auditions aspect of our music video, and also how we are going to combine different elements of costumes within the extract. Our logo of pants made of Smartie sweets was greatly approved as well as the technique of stop motion. 


A suggestion was made stating that the popcorn idea as may appear to be too cheesy. Another individual suggested that the TOWIE idea is too stereotypical and common. One person commented that the dream sequence may be to challenging to achieve effectively. Another technique that is said to be difficult is the split screen at the beginning of our video as it is tricky to achieve and audience tend to find it annoying (However, we have already decided to get rid of the split screens as although it is a good idea, it is an unnecessary aspect of our video and ultimately has no real relevance to the song, along with the fact that, like this, the audience would find it to be an annoying feature and so are scrapping it altogether). Another way to improve our video is not to use the black and white technique according to an individual, as this does not necessarily fall under the pop genre category.


Everyone in our audience believed our music video of 'Famous' by Scouting for Girls fall under the genre of Pop. This is a good sign as it suggest that our ideas and techniques incorporate the conventions of the pop genre and it is apparent to the audience what the genre of the extract is.


The audience also managed to estimate our demographic of being teenagers which is what we set out to achieve. Ages ranged from 13 years old to 17 years old.  


Mostly all our audience were willing to watch all our video as they believe they would find it funny and comic. This is a good sign as it shows that the comic aspect of our music video is achieved. However one individual commented that they would not watch the extract, as it is not a song our genre of music they would listen to.


We calculated the mean score of the ratings of our overall ideas. The score we gained was 7.5. We believe this is a good score however we shall try and improve our ideas to achieve an even higher score by taking into consideration the suggestions made by our fellow classmates.

Letter to Record Company

Dear Helioscentric Studios


We are writing to you in request for Copyright permission to use the soundtrack of 'Famous' by the Scouting For Girls. We are four A2 students that are currently studying Media Studies at West Hatch High School. As part of ourcoursework portfolio we are going to be constructing a music video of the pop genre. Therefore I request permission to use the soundtrack. The final video will only be contained on our own hardrives and school systems and not to the public. If you do have any further questions please feel free to contact me by email.
Smartie.pants.productions.hrss@gmail.com

Yours Sincerely


Smartiepants Productions

Ending

Wordel

Singer and Popcorn guy

Cardboard flip and split screens

Dream Sequence

Costume Moodboard basic analysis

A costume mood board is also essential to ensure we have all our ideas in one place. This will help to narrow the costumes down too, if need be. This will help to increase our organisation and certify that we include all the factors in the video as we wanted initially. Due to the fact that our production company is low-budgeted, mood boards are a low cost way of constructing all our ideas together. 

Costumes

Famous Scouting for Girls

Comedy Conventions

General Moodboard

We constructed a mood board to illustrate the demographics of our music video. Also, a mood board will  help illustrating then style direction we are pursuing for the video as visually as possible. The mood board conveys the main theme of the video with the large smiley face in the middle, which attracts the main attention. We made it very colourful to show the bright, cheerful mood the video will emit. This will help to constantly remind us what mood we are hoping to achieve. Overall, we chose very positive and upbeat images to place in our mood board, consequently ensuring that the correct frame of mind is stemmed. 

Our inspiration came from Christina Aguilera. She makes mood boards for her next album, which includes styles, themes for songs, target audience, the locations she may be using and so on. On the left is an example of a mood board she created before starting to make her 'Back to Basics' album.You can see all the olden time locations, colours and themes in the mood board with the diner, black & white image of the woman, the old fashion hair style and the red lipstick on Christina Aguilera. This implies to us that the album will have very classic, vintage music - not very modern. 

Genre Conventions

Planning

Planning

Original Song List

Music Video Pitch

Michael Jackson Analysis Essay...

Michael Jackson – Thriller

I have chosen to analyze the music video of Thriller, by Michael Jackson. Throughout this analysis I will mention the Costume, Make-up, Location, Lighting, Atmosphere, Sound and also other details I feel relevant. I will be using Andrew Goodwin’s analysis theory to help me. (Andrew Goodwin’s writing in “Dancing in this distraction factory” Routledge 1992) Michael Jackson's Thriller is a 14-minute music video for the song of the same name released on December 2, 1983 and directed by John Landis, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jackson.

Michael Jackson is known for his funny fashion within his music videos. In Thriller, he once again lives up to his expectations. Costume is important to this music video, as if they were wearing everyday clothing then this video would make no sense and the audience would not be very interested. By using the costumes they do, they make it look as though they are in the 1950’s, it also engages the audience and make them want to watch the video as well as listen to the song. Michael Jackson, being the main singer, needs to stand out and be seen in his video, saying that there is no way he could be missed. He is dressed in a bright orange suit. Therefore being in a Graveyard full of dull, dark, black and white zombies, he is going to stand out a lot. Another reason for the video being so successful is the costumes and make up of the zombies. To pass as a zombie you not only need to act like one but look the part to. If you don’t look like a zombie then it ruins the whole atmosphere. Therefore costume and make up are essential to be successful.

By using the location as a movie theatre itself and having the music video starting off as a movie, makes the film seem more interesting and makes the audience feel a part of the action. So from the very beginning the audiences are engaged. The main location for this video is the graveyard.  By using the graveyard, it automatically creates a mysterious atmosphere and engages the audience even more. Here we can immediately see that this is a horror film as the location in isolated and there is no one around to hear him or her scream. The graveyard and the zombies heighten the fear and mysterious atmosphere grows and makes the audience feel as though they are there. Personally it made me shiver. Which is perfect as one of the lines, the lyrics are ‘your body starts to shiver’ which is true. Once again engaging the audience.

The use of lighting with the smoke in the graveyard heightens the mystery in the video. In the graveyard scene, the lighting isn’t directed at the dancers or Michael Jackson. This makes them more mysterious and adds to the atmosphere of the movie. Walking down the street, its dark and mysterious, which is another convention of horror films, the music then starts and Michael is singing in the dark, which makes him more mysterious. Then as they enter the graveyard, the smoke comes in to create dramatic effect. In the main dance scene the zombies start appearing everywhere; the smoke draws over the screen, adding to the dramatic effect.

 

During the music video there is a deep voice over the top of the music with Michael singing in the background, this is the voice of Vincent Price. By using his voice it makes the words he saying even scarier as he says it in a creepy way. This is called non-digetic sound, as you cannot see the Price saying these words. Dramatic sound when Michael is a zombie as well. The camera zooms out to see the zombies dancing, with Michael Jackson in his bright orange suit, contrasting with the zombie’s dark, ripped clothing. By doing this it makes Michael stand out more, as he is the singer. There is a low angled shot of a woman with a flower on her head. This creates contrast as zombies are dead and the flower symbolizes life. Girl runs into the darkness, into a dark, mysterious building. Music is really quiet and you can hear all the noises of the zombies and every sound is heightened. The crashes, the screams of the girl, the smashing through the doors and windows. Zombies gather around the girl, they’re closing in on her and they are in the darkness so you can’t see any of their faces, this creates dramatic effect yet again. Extreme close up on her eyes, wide with fear. Zombie Michael comes into the light and we see his dead face. Girl screams and Michael reaches for her then all of a sudden, Michael is fine and looking down at the girl, in the living room of a house. She is confused and scared, but soon realizes that she was dreaming.

 

To conclude, Thriller uses all the techniques within the music video to create the perfect dramatic effect. Engaging the audience and keeping there full attention the whole way through, not only through their music but through their visual out look as well. Personally I feel that this music video is fantastic and has all the elements needed. It made me want to watch it over and over again. It gave me shivers and scared me a little, which in my opinion I think is a good thing as you are making the audience feel like there really there.

Sasha Thompson

Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire

The music genre presented here is Indie Folk. The artist uses various choices of imagery to promote the music genre, through costume, location, camera angles and the positioning of the band.

To begin with, before the song has even started, the audience is presented with a still image of a falling leaf against a plain black background. This creates a sharp contrast against the flickering of light, which already indicates that the location of this music video will take place in perhaps a dark and sinister setting. Once the music has began playing, the audience is introduced to an extreme-close up shot of the artist, which is a generic technique often featuring in certain music videos, such as Razorlight “America” and The Kooks “Naive.” Close up shots are significant aspect of a music video as it enables their fan base to familiarise themselves with their identity, therefore the viewers are able to recognise members of the band when they release a new album or go on tour.

Repetition of match on action close up shots of a bucket of reflective water and the shot of the artist face is continually switching throughout the beginning sequence, with the fast cut editing. This connotes the speed and energetic beat of the song. The affect of these shots is that not only do they indicate a fast beat, yet the bucket of reflective water acts a key symbol here in allowing the audience to guess what location the band is playing in. The bucket of water therefore symbolises perhaps a stable where animals are kept as that’s what they drink from, and this is reinforced by the following sequence shots of the other band members in an open stable with dripping water and flying birds. This choice of imagery and location tells us that the genre is very unique, and can be presented in many forms as Indie Folk is a genre which experiments with choices of imagery often. Examples include where The Kooks filmed a vast majority of their music video “She Moves In Her Own Way,” on a bus ride where they chase after a female protagonist.

Particular camera angles used throughout the beginning sequence are formed mainly of low angle shots, allowing the audience to gain identity of the dimly lit location, alongside repetition of a close up of a bird, which exaggerates the dirty and sinister location; which is a reflection of the genre of the band.

The costumes of the band are also typical of the Indie culture which although used to be a unique genre in the 80s, is now simply a reflection popular culture amongst young adults. The costume which the band members are wearing consists of skinny jeans, (a generic convention) scruffy shirts, brogue shoes and messy hair, in an attempt to attract a female audience.

Throughout the music video, the link between lyrics and the visuals is strongly represented through the obvious lighting to connote fire, to link with the dominant lyrics “Sex On Fire.” Throughout the chorus where these lyrics are belted out, the camera specifically focuses on images of instrumental sections where the band are playing in the stable. The purpose of this technique is that because Kings of Leon are heavily associated with the instruments they play, it allows their fans to watch visuals of the band playing so they can engage in the action themselves, whilst also acting as form of escapism, whereby the fans can fully engage in the music video and forget about the reality of where they are. The lyrics of “Sex On Fire” is also amplified by mid-shots of the lead guitarist and vocalist portrayed on a bed, and having to be constrained by his fellow band members, which connotes frustration and illustrates that the lead guitarist feels as if his insides are burning up, which is an obvious link with the lyrics.

The lighting used in the music video is a significant aspect of the visuals, as in order to connote the symbol of a fire, the produces have cleverly juxtaposed dark and light together, in order to present fire looking fierce and dominant. The darkness is also typical of the location they have decided to shoot in, and a stable is often linked with aspects of dirt and sinister.

However, the culture presented isn’t culturally specific, yet the mise en scene used of a stable yard does indicate a very Westernised culture, alongside the costume and props of the band. For example, stables are often symbolic of England or the USA, as stables are usually located on a farm in the countryside and in urban settings, which is more typical of England and the US, as in Europe or Non-Western cultures farms aren’t as typical. Moreover, the props of the instruments, a bed and a book which are heavily used images in this music video indicate British or American culture, as expensive band equipment combined with the Indie Folk genre is stereotypically associated with England and the USA as the Indies originated in the United States and England in the 80s, with bands such as The Smiths, The Stone Roses and Mary Chain. Therefore, the instruments used and images of the band playing in a slightly odd setting conforms to the generic blue print. For example, the mid shots of instrumental sequences when the chorus begins to play is a typical generic signifier, which was often used in music videos by The Smiths, Mary Chain and the modern day equivalent of the Indie band The Kooks. The purpose of including footage of the band playing is that the audience can emerge themselves in the music video, and gain an identity with the band.

The mid shot also allows us to see the generic Indie costumes, especially the iconic symbol of the skinny jeans, which men who used to dare to wear skinny jeans in the 80s were considered to be laughing stock and queer; where –as now walking through a British city a vast amount of the population of teenagers now copy this style. In terms of the music video juxtaposing the idea of reality with illusions (the reality of the stable setting contrasted against the illusion of fire) shares very similar traits to The Stone Roses music video “Begging you,” as throughout their music video the producer also juxtaposes light with darkness.

 As a whole, the music video is performance based, combined with concept-based ideas on the burning sensation that the lead guitarist and vocalist is fighting against throughout the music video. However, the appeal of this is that there is no complicated narrative structure for an audience to follow, yet the combination if images creates an easy flow of sequence which is fairly clear to understand, as it’s easy to guess that the lead guitarist/vocalist is fighting back the burning sensation throughout his body, which is an obvious link to the lyrics of the song.

The type of world being presented here is quite threatening, in terms of the references of fire combined with sexual connotations in terms of the lyrics used in the song. Therefore, the world is fairly sophisticated and exciting, yet un-realistic in terms of settings used and symbols and ideas portrayed in the music video. In order to strengthen the promotion of the artist, a wide majority of the shots are close ups of the bands faces, in order to strengthen their identity and so their fans can becomes familiar with their brand Indie Folk style. Therefore, the close ups will help with selling their tracks as the band is heavily used in terms of images of them being frequently portrayed, in contrast with purely a narrative based structure whereby no members of the band are actually present throughout. The shots of the band playing however idolise them, as by featuring sequences of them playing their instruments, their fans will aspire to be like them and therefore copy their ability to perform well. However, due to the lyrics used and the symbol of the bed, the artist implies sexual activity and display, which reinforce the notion of males perhaps being the more dominant sex than females. However, because there are no references to females in any sexual way, the music video can’t be interpreted as being crude, as the sexual indications are very weak and are more associated with the connotation of fire.

This music video also references Goodwins theory, by stating that it is essential for there to be a link between lyrics and the visuals, alongside being a link between music and the visuals. This music relates to these aspects of Goodwins theory due to the fact there is a strong link between the lyrics "Sexes on Fire" and the beat.

Overall, the music video would appeal to their fans largely due to effective illusions of dark and light, combined with footage of the band playing, which make a good quality music video which is typical of the Indie Folk genre. Therefore, the music video doesn’t present any realistic value, because the visuals used simply connect to the lyrics of the song, yet don’t connote any views such as feminism or green issues, and don’t join together to make a clear, structural narrative.

The expected target audience who would be interested in watching this music video will be within a demographic of 17-22year old males, and this is apparent through features of the music video which would especially appeal to males more than females. For example, the dark and sinister setting, the theme of fire alongside the subject matter of sex. This is a typical music video representing the wide scale Indie genre, as not only are there generic conventions in term of costume, there is footage of band performance which is often a regular feature in Indie music videos such, as The Smiths "How Soon Is Now."

History of The Music Video and Directors

The origins of the music video resembles little of todays modern standards, with multi billion dollar companies and well produced videos. The origins of the music video started in 1894 when music publisher Edward Marks and Joe Stern hired a man called George Thomas and other perfomers to promote their song, the song that they had written called “The Little Lost Child”. Using a magic lantern, still images were projected onto a screen simultaneously to the live performance. Through the progression of technology in 1930, animations and backgrounds inspired by the art deco period, combined with film of the performers singing. This pathed the way for popular large companies to sell their current works, for instance Warner Brothers cartoons used famous artists of the time to feature in their cartoons and sing.

Music videos of the modern day have spawned a whole new kind of director such as Michel Gondry who is a French born director from Versailles. He started his career by creating music videos for the French rock band Oui Oui, which he was the drummer for. After his success with his own music videos, he expanded after catching the attention of the famous music artist Bjork, Gondry made multiple videos for Bjork and was also discovered by many bands, putting himself at the forefront of music video creation. In 2001 he made his feature film debut with the film 'Human Nature', which received mixed reviews from critics. However these critics were quickly silenced with the 2004 release of 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' which became one of the most critically acclaimed films of that year. Michel Gondry is still producing music videos with his most recent release in 2010 'Open Your Heart' by Mia Doi Todd, he also continues his big screen career with the 2011 release of the 'The Green Hornet'.

How Has The Internet Affected Music Video Creation And Distribution

Music videos are normally created, produced and distributed by multinational companies who have a monopoly of the market. However, due to the expenentionally increasing popularity and size of the Internet for people searching for information, many semiprofessionals can now offer their services, with all the expensive kit that large organizations have for a fraction of the price.


One example I have found while researching this particular aspect of media distribution and advertising on the Internet is Edward Mendoza who offers a full music video creation, which ranges from actors, filming equipment and staff to a fully edited version which can be sent to a variety of contacts he has with distributers.


The Internet in the last 5 to 6 years has become a major distributer of video based media. The first website to do this was iFilm in 1997, which allowed people to view short videos and in particular music videos. A huge step forward in media distribution, iFilm in my view was premature in its arrival. Video cameras were still tape based and even if your camera had the function they were a hassle to upload onto a computer. That is if you had a computer. In 2005 YouTube errupted onto the cyberspace scene, becoming one of the most famous websites on the Internet. YouTube’s timely arrival coincided with the falling camcorder and computer prices and the growing popularity of the Internet for increasing recreational use. YouTube now distributes its videos to 24 countries spread around the world. Information below taken from www.youtube.com/fact_sheet Traffic and Stats People are watching 2 billion videos a day on YouTube and uploading hundreds of thousands of videos daily. In fact, every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. Demographics of our user base is broad in age range, 18-55, evenly divided between males and females, and spanning all geographies. Fifty-one percent of our users go to YouTube weekly or even more frequently and 52 percent of 18-34 year-olds share videos often with friends and colleagues. With such a large and diverse user base, YouTube offers something for everyone.

Comparison of Music Video Genres

The two genres that I have decided to compare is R&B/Rap and Pop. The styles differ greatly, but sometimes find common ground. Pop Music has one of the widest styles that can be classed as Pop Music. The R&B/Rap genre is a very male orientated base for their music videos, often with a lot of underdressed women and narcissistic imagery. 1. Props and Clothing - Kanye West’s music video for the song 'Power', involves mythical imagery and Kanye West as a god like figure. The clothing and columns that Kanye West is walking out from, are based on ancient greek designs. The main contrast between the two music videos is, that in Kanye West's there isn't a performance aspect to it at all. This maybe because most of the instrumental tracks in the video (apart from the drums) would be produced electronically and mixed in a recording studio. Even though the music video is based on mythology, modern influences have been added to the costume and set design, such as Kanye is wearing a large gold chain, and at the end of the video an explosion of phyrotechniques is used, (obviously digitally edited) but similar to those used when a performer makes an entrance onto a stage. Compared to the Hurts' music video for 'Stay' there are large performance based areas with a more melancholic colouring to the shots. In Kanye West’s music video there are very vibrant colours like a classic Degas painting. In this one there is no colour apart from the woman in the music video and the dancers clothing which is an emerald green. Even though there are many instruments used in the song, there is only a piano and vocals used in the music video. The clothing worn by the singers are tieless suits with a bland look not typical to the genre, but pop music is so diverse it is hard to discern what is typical. 2. The Technical Aspect - In Kanye West’s music video it starts with a close up of the artists face and eyes. Exaggerated colouring of the eyes. The camera then loosens all the way to long shot very slowly over one minute fourteen seconds of the song. Until it reaches a point where a succession of five close ups of different areas of the long shot. At the end everyone is taken out of the shot except Kanye West and two people jumping towards him swords in hand. The whole sequence is done in slow motion and sped up with people moving more quickly, like the woman at the top right pouring water on herself. The Hurts' song has a very different approach to their music video compared to the more R&B style of Kanye West. The Hurts' have a long establishing shot in their performance parts of the music video, normally about five or six seconds long followed by a quick succession of close ups while the artist mimes. This keeps the viewer interested in the song as not much happens narratively. 3. Mise-en-Scene and Imagery - During the Hurts' music video they use dancers wearing thin material while they dance, so that the wind machine that is used exaggerates their movements. Most of the footage is of the band performing live. Kanye Wests music video contains a more egotistical style typical of the R&B/Rap genre. The use of woman as objects and them in pure admiration of him crawling towards his feet. Also there is a lot of sexual reference throughout the music video such as the women pouring water on themselves and a woman dancing erotically on the left hand side. The design of the shot for the music video reminds me of the painting that depicts George Washington as a god like figure, it is painted on the interior roof of the Capitol buildings rotunda.

Meeting 3

This weeks meeting involved finalising our song choice. After coming together once again, we all went through each others ideas for both 'Famous' and "Mr Blue Sky' and we discovered that everyone had a higher quality of ideas for Famous, which is our reason for selecting this song as our chosen music video. We then discussed our ideas in more depth, which helped to create an image in the groups mind of our final product.

After deciding our song choice, we thought of advertisement ideas. We decided that we are going to create an album cover for Famous, in which we would picture a pair of funky sunglasses of a bright and vibrant nature accompanied by the black and white background of the singer. The singer will be wearing the glasses, which will have "FAM" on one lens and "OUS" on the other. These glasses will be the only thing in colour, whereas the rest of the image will be in black and white. The shot will be a close up of the singers face. 

Planning for 'Famous'

Bruno Mars - Just The Way You Are

I am going to be analysing ‘Just the way you are’, written and sung by an American singer - Bruno Mars. The song itself was released in the US on July 20^th 2010 and the video was released September 8^th that year. This song is from his album - Doo-Wops & Hooligans. Simply from the name, one can tell that the album will be quite different and entertaining. This is why I chose to analyse this video because I believe it shows a variety of different dynamics to portray the genre. Throughout it, Bruno Mars ensures his star image is made and sustained. He carries this out through a number of ways but one that is most noticeable is his choice of clothing - his trademark hat, his tight trousers, a formal check shirt and his informal shoes. His style is very casual yet unique. It defines him as an individual and through the clothes his personality emits. His consistent style of clothing allows creating a brand image and it places him in that specific gap of the music market. Creating an identity is useful for him as a solo singer, as it allows him to be recognized by his demographics easily and to be appreciated in this business.

It begins with a mid-shot using tilt camera movement which slowly moves upwards from the stomach of a woman to her face - here we see the protagonist in the video. A reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body is evident here, from Andrew Goodwin’s six point theory. Beginning instantaneously with the protagonist is a technique to convey her significance to the video. She is shown to be listening to music in her large headphones. These large headphones create a vintage element to the video. The music is very loud and can be heard audibly; consequently inhabiting Foley track. This is purposely carried out in order to permit the audience to hear it too. This is advertising the song in a positive way, by showing how good it is, as she is listening to it quite deafeningly. Rendering is taking place here to convey the feelings associated with the situation on-screen. Bruno Mars then enters into the scene and disturbs her by taking the cassette out of the player. Another point of Andrew Goodwin’s theory has been identified here. The demonstration of genre characteristics is visible – he grabs the cassette tape and turns it off, disclosing the stereotypical role of a man. Indirect mode of address is visible here and throughout the video. This helps to accentuate on the romance. All of these factors immediately illustrate who the two main characters are. The flirtatious facial expressions convey the two lover’s feelings. This right away illustrates the possible genres of the song – romantic, heart-felt and joyful. All of the possible genres portray positive and upbeat characteristics of the song.

The music stops whilst he takes the cassette out, sits down and unwinds the cassette reel. Another use of foley sound here is used to emphasize on the situation. There is no dialogue at any point, which helps to enhance on the romantic atmosphere being created, as they seem to be doing all the communication through their eyes. This emphasizes on the lust between the two. The music then starts clearly from the beginning. The overall video has a very simplistic style, which adds onto the concept of 'simple love' they are trying to convey. Stop motion is visible from 17 seconds onwards. The stop motion is seen through the cassette reel, which makes it very different and interesting. The cassette reel becomes a drum in which he flicks on, it transforms into himself singing, it introduces the title of the song and it shows other objects as well including a bell. 

On the right is a print screen image from the music video conveying one aspect of its' simplicity. The location chosen, equipment and props used were purposely very minimal. Considering the title and the purpose of the song is to show how a woman is perfect just the way she is - without putting effort into herself. He is playing the piano for his 'loved one'; portraying men to be gentleman's and also to show to the demographics that one does not need to go overboard to impress someone. This makes the video relatable. The seems quite low-budgeted on purpose because if it were a high-tech video, the producers would be contradicting themselves.
On the left we can see an example of one use of Stop Motion. It was used very cleverly throughout the video. Most of it was displayed in an animatic way as if he was reeling out the cassette tape and drawing these items himself. Over here he is flicking the drum, which then adds onto the soundtrack of the song. This made the video more exciting as the viewers could visually see where the background music was coming from - on-screen medium. This idea was used throughout the video with the piano being played, the cassette recorder at the start, the drum, the recorder at 2.01 and the bell at 2.38. All of this makes the viewers perceive that he, himself, is creating the sound.
On the right is an image of Bruno Mars himself being illustrated through the cassette reel. If an object is going to be shown through the use of stop motion; it is conveyed in a repetitive way. All the scenes with the cassette involved have the same point of view shot from Bruno Mars' eyes. In the repetitive shots, the audience views Bruno Mars' arms only, the table, the cassette in the middle and the moving image coming out of it. Repeated scenes in videos help to enhance on the concept they are portraying. In this case, the main genre and key concept is cute romance. Thus, the idea of him communicating with the protagonist through drawing everything himself, with the cassette reel, is seen to be very sweet and romantic. Consequently, doing this repeatedly compliments the genre very well and creates the amorous atmosphere required.

 As the lyrics begin, he starts drawing the protagonists' features according to what he is singing about. Consequently, there is a constant relationship between the lyrics and the visuals throughout the product - another aspect of Andrew Goodwin's theory. For example the first line was: "Oh, her eyes, her eyes, make the stars look like they're not shining." Therefore, as seen in the image on the left, we see him drawing his love interests' eyes. The next set of lyrics are "Her hair, her hair, falls perfectly without her trying She's so beautiful, and I tell her every day." As the lyrics move onto this, the eyes disappear and Bruno begins to draw her whole face including her hair. He ensures that he is relating the visuals to the song. While he does this he keeps gazing upon the protagonist in an enticing manor. This is seen through his facial expressions - he has a smirk on his face and his eyes seem to be smiling as well. These facial expressions reflect on the sweet and innocence concept of love in the video. They are portraying love in a naive, fresh and positive way. Usually, most songs involving love end up to be rather seductive and the women are conveyed to be 'toy-like' items. The producer's of this product are therefore, rejecting Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze. She holds a high status in the feminist theories. Feminism is the response to society's assumptions that women should be subservient to men. Until the emergence of feminism, women were treated almost as objects, passive agents in a male world. Thus, she believes that until this feminist approach took place, we lived in a patriarchy society. A patriarchal society therefore is one where the men dominate and the media are constructed for them as audience. Although in the beginning the protagonist was introduced  in a fetish manner, it was not done in a stereotypical way. The intentions seem to be that they wanted to show all her perfection, including the body.

They used many conventions throughout the music video to portray the genre and the romantic concept. An example is on the right. This image conveys the concept through various ways - the camera shot/angle, the mis-en-scene and the facial expressions. The camera shot is over-the-shoulder to emphasize on the facial expressions between the two lovers. They look very intimate and gazed into one another's eyes. However, they are both blurred in order to enhance the stop motion in the back on the table. At this point, Bruno Mars was singing as an animated cassette reel. The conceptual idea was using the cassette reel to add in another piece of art. This was highly repetitive, which amplified the notion, to drum it into our vision. As mentioned, through this stop animation, he expressed his love for her. He creates the images himself which then start   adapting into a life of their own. It is a very simple song and video which, reflects on our personal music video ideas - this was another reason I chose to analyse this. Another key feature of the video is his voice itself. This is the main factor to attract the audience - if the voice is not pleasurable, people will not listen to the song. He has represented his voice in a very positive way. He made sure it reflected on the concept of the song. As it was a very calm, peaceful, mellow song; he ensured the way he sang conveyed that. The way he sang it was in a very soothing manner whereas, in some of his other more aggressive songs (such as Grenade), he emits a very soulful and powerful tone of voice.

This song is mainly aimed at young girls. The main key theme of the song is to show the idealistic man that most women would desire to have and the idol woman that most women aspire to be like. Therefore, they have shown it in a way where they seem to be engaging the female viewers by showing the respect the man has for his partner. This does not primarily attract the male audience as Bruno Mars does not convey this generations persona of being a "man." 

Andrew Goodwin states that songs can be seen as stories and the artist, being the storyteller, conveys it through the music video visually. In addition, Bruno Mars acts as the narrator as well as the participant (the lover of the protagonist). This assists to increase the authenticity. This was also supported by the lip syncing, which remained through most of the video, to certify and increase the realism the audience takes from it. Bruno Mars stated that he was the main director of this video. Furthermore, this is expressed in this song; many of his interviews he states that this song was written and dedicated to his real-life girlfriend.  Therefore, the protagonist in this video would be illustrating his girlfriend. The way he treats the female central character probably reflects his relationship with his partner. Consequently, he seems to be expressing the positivity within his life.

To conclude, music videos are significant when releasing songs as singles. They help in numerous ways to promote and portray the meaning of the song. Music videos are either (or all); conceptual, narrative and/or performance. This video was mainly conceptual and performance. This was because the artist himself was visually seen a lot in the video singing, which showed the performance side to it. The conceptual aspect, on the other hand, was shown through the idea of both live action and stop motion. Overall, I found this video highly interesting as I believe Bruno Mars sells himself in a very smart manner. He is aware of who his demographics are - young females - and consequently, produces his work accordingly. His music is portrayed in his point of view, thus, one would assume that the females cannot relate to his work. However, this is not the case. Young females enjoy his work due to the fact that it makes them go into this 'dream world' and want what he supposedly gives to women. This demonstrates another point of Andrew Goodwin's theory. The demands of the record label include the needs for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). This is visible evidently in Bruno Mars' work.