Music Video
Music
videos today are completely different to what they were a few years back. Many
of them nowadays challenge and break the rules of what a music video should
typically look like. This is due to the change of technology, were people are
now able to upload videos onto YouTube and watch videos from any year and
comment on them. Whereas before you’d only be able to watch music videos on
television on shows such as ‘Top of the Pops’ and ‘MTV’ and you wouldn’t be
able to choose the song, it would just play and most likely only be able to
watch the video once in a while.
The
genre of a music video is a problematic area. Some music videos are defined by
the artist itself and others buy the type of music. The music video I created
is of the pop genre, in order for it to be a successful music video I have
followed some of the conventions of a successful music video. Andrew Goodwin’s
theory has been applied in my music video a number of times, through the use of
close ups and a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The song I chose to do for my music video is
a song by Pixie Lott – ‘All About Tonight’; it is a quite upbeat and fast song.
Therefore when editing the video I ensured that the pace was compatible with
the visuals consequently each cut I made was to the beat of the song in order
for it to encourage a fluid viewer experience. I have included a dance routine
in my music video and due to the routine being of a fast pace this also fitted
in well with the video. David Buckingham says that “Genre is not simply given
by the culture; rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change”.
I believe that my music video supports past examples, especially the original
music video. This is due to the fact that the dance routine used in my music
video was implemented using the original music video.
Goodwin
explains that music videos should ignore common narrative, as it is important
in their role of advertising. Due to my music video being a mixture of
narrative and performance it makes it easier for the audience to watch the
video over and over without losing interest. My artist acts both as a narrator
and a participant, this helps to increase the authenticity however the lip sync
and other mimed actions remains the heart of music videos. This is clearly
highlighted through numerous close ups of my artist miming to camera, this also
makes the music video appear more real to the audience.
There
is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, as the lyrics sang by my artist
are mimicked in the video, an example of this is ‘I bought a new pair of
shoes’, my artist is seen walking down the stairs in white stilettos and
straight after there is a mid-shot of her walking down the road as the lyrics
‘I got a new attitude when I walk’ is sang. Another example is ‘I’m going out
with the girls’; there is a shot which clearly highlights two girls ready to go
out. Relationship between music and visuals is also applied as you can see
there is a dance performance for the chorus which fits in well with the beat of
the song.
Andrew
Goodwin also states that music videos might also be used to amplify emotions
and moods, without completely illustrating the song. I believe this applies to
my video as it highlights freedom and happiness. This is clearly illustrated
throughout the music video through various types of shots of the main artist
laughing with her friends. There is a direct gaze into the artist’s life, as
you see her getting ready as any typical teenager would do. This is highlighted
with her putting on makeup, doing her hair and putting on jewellery
Narrative in songs is rarely complete, they
are more fragmented. My music video follow an episodic narrative as it is a
story told in a non linear manner. The visuals shown are of my artist getting
ready heading towards a night out, she is seen putting on various types of
jewellery and make up, and styling her hair with her friend. Then there is a performance which then goes
back to my artist getting ready. My music video is visualized in an order of
events. By not following a linear narrative, encourages the audience with
desire to see it again if they missed some things when viewing it the first
time. A quote which I thought backed up my music video is of Steve Archer
(2004) - “Often, music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of
the song by the band. Additionally, a carefully choreographed dance might be a
part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to
aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor. Sometimes, the artist
(especially the singer) will be a part of the story, acting as narrator and
participant at the same time. But it is the lip-synch close-up and the miming
of playing instruments that remains at the heart of music videos, as if to
assure us that the band really can kick it.”
Roland Barthes theory of the Semantic code is
also applied to the music video as the audience see my artist with bright
colourful lips which connotates fun and love as expressed in the lyrics “Ready
to show all the boys what I got I'm letting go of the hurt”.
Vladimir Propp argued that narratives always
have certain character types who perform certain actions. Therefore he believed
that most music videos feature stock characters, this applies to my music video
as my artist is shown to be a stereotypical teenager wanting to go out with her
friends and be in complete different world. My main artist has bright blonde
hair and she wears bright make up to stand out. She has a few changes of
clothes throughout the video which in every one has different shoes also. The
use of changing the outfits a few times link in well with the narrative.
“A high degree of narrative closure”, Pam
Cook’s theory doesn’t apply much to my music video as my narrative is quite
basic and real, for example most teenagers meet up with their friends to get
ready to go out and they go partying etc. and this is what my music video is
all about, it’s all about having fun with friends and letting your hair down
for the night.
Laura Mulvey’s theory of the narrative being
delivered through the eyes of a male is also applied throughout my music video
with the variety of close ups used to emphasise my artist, this is clearly
shown on close ups of my artists face highlighting her eyes and lips which
stand out from her blonde hair.
The camera movement used in my music video
accompany the performer, especially outside where the audience can see her
walking with her friends. Another place where the camera movement is visible is
in some of the clips where my performers are dancing. They say that music
videos have aesthetics of a TV commercial, I believe that my music video is
quite similar due to the fact that it includes lots of close ups and different
types of lighting being used most prominently for the star’s face.
The most common form of editing in music
videos is fast cut montage; I have edited my music video to have fast cuts
which go to the beat of the song making it impossible for the viewer to see
everything. My music video also consists of colourisation, I have edited many
of my clips by adding a tint of pink and adjust the levels in order for the
clip to have more colour and not seem washed away.
Stuart
Hall stressed the role of social positioning in the interpretation of mass
media texts by different social groups. The encoded message in the music video
was illustrated through costumes and make up, when showing my music video to my
target audience they decoded the message successfully as the message being put
across was to have fun. This was a dominant reading.
My
music video fits in well typical pop music videos, due to the footage
throughout; the colours used and the props. For example a typical pop video
will include bright colours to catch the audience’s eye and my artist is in a
black room and the audience can clearly see her due to the costumes being so
bright against black
Magazine Advert
Similarly
to my music video, my magazine advert was also important to appeal to the
target audience meaning that the advert had to catch their eye and be
convinced/persuaded into buying the album. I have used a three images of my
main artist, the main image is a mid shot of my artist and I have made it black
and white which is positioned at the centre of the page, just behind the main
image on either side there is two other pictures of the artist which is faded
behind the main image in pink. I have stuck to the house colour of pink and
white for both magazine advert and Digipak, as both products are consistent
means the products are easily identified within the genre and the audience. I created two magazine adverts, one being portrait and the
other being landscape, this allows me to be able to have the magazine advert
being advertised in various places. For example the portrait version can be on
a bus stop advert and the landscape version on a landscape billboard. On the
portrait magazine advert it features five-star ratings and quotes such as:
“Best Album Ever” and “Amazingly Talented” by popular magazines such as Top of
the Pops and Sugar, by having these magazines gives a the audience the feel
that the album is a success as a popular magazine is advertising it. I have
used a big bold font to on my magazine advert in order for it to stand out
easily, the artists name is written in white on a pink background so it stands
out from the rest of the text on the page. On the portrait version I have
included a ‘Available on iTunes’ logo which also helps to advertise the album
as many people nowadays tend to buy albums through iTunes in order to have them
on their phones so they can listen to it whenever and wherever. On my landscape
magazine advert I have only included one image of my artist which is the same
image as I used on the portrait but close up, this brings more attention to the
magazine advert as it can be clearly identified by the audience.
Digipak
Equally
the Digipak is just as important as it should reflect the artist’s personality
and attitudes, therefore many close ups of the artist on the digipak is needed
to highlight this. I have used close ups for the front and back page of the Digipak
as this will attract the audiences eye straight away when walking past as they
will be able identify who it is, this is also due to the consistency of colours
used as they also follow the same colour scheme as the magazine advert. The
artists name is written clearly at the bottom with a very feminine font which
includes hearts on the ‘I’ instead of a dot. The name of the album is written
just beneath it in a clear bold font. Both of these fonts have been used
consistently throughout the magazine advert and the Digipak. I have also
included a page which the target audience can contact Pixie, I have used logos
such as Instagram, twitter and Facebook because in today’s generation everyone
follows these social networking sites to find out the latest gossip. A typical
pop genre Digipak includes a message to fans from the artist, I have also included
this. Instead of referring to my artists fans as ‘fans’, I have referred to
them as ‘Little Pixies’, this is similar to artists such as Justin Bieber, and
he refers to his fans as ‘Beliebers’. On the back page I have included all the
copyright details which are typically found, along with the track list and a
barcode, by including all these conventions in my Digipak allows my product to
look as professional and as close to a real Digipak.
As
Richard Dyer quoted “a
star is an image constructed from a range of materials”, both my digipak,
magazine advert and music video highlight the star image; the digipak includes
the singles being released on the album and the image of the star, the magazine
advert also includes the name of the album and an images of the star, and
finally the music video highlights scenes from a ‘live’ performance.
Technology
has changed the conventions of music videos, this is because they are more
affordable allowing us to do anything with them. I had access to a digital SLR
camera which allowed me to film wherever as it was portable. Also I was able to
review footage to make sure that it was of a high quality and that I had
captured everything I wanted to. Some of my footage was shot outside as it was
getting quite dark, these cameras allowed me to shoot with low light and still
have a high quality outcome.
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