A successful music video

Advanced Portfolio- Classwork

In today's lesson we learned the star image in a music video. We compared two very well known artists. For example, I noted down some ideas about four different people.

1. Billie Joe Armstrong
   expressionist, unpredictable, rebellious, open minded, controversial, points out what he hates in our world, politically and socially, confident, unique
2. Lady Gaga
   extravagant, expressionist, extraordinary, unique, unusual, unpredictable, out of control, revealing, proud, meaning behind her dressing
3. Adelle
   lady, quiet, competent, conserved, stylish, settled, straight, simple, reserved
4. Eminem
   controversial, open minded, unpredictable, rebellious, all over the place, proud, confident, culture, focuses on rap, serious, autobiographical evidence in his rapping

'A star is an image constructed from a range of materials'  ~Richard Dyer 1979

Music Video Analysis - Goodwin 2

Relationship between the lyrics and what is on screen.

Music video demonstrates special editing effects. Eg. making heads of 'main protagonists' bigger which seems cartoon like.

Demonstrates genre characteristics through: clothing, rap genre: showing the standard hierarchy of events from young to adult- the journey, performance is the usual rap performance with main characters rapping on screen outside as well as indoors but they are breaking the fourth wall by rapping to the camera which is another standard in rap music videos. No dance routine. The routine is only the skateboarding and what the events that follow will show. 

The relationship between the lyrics and what is on screen is throwbacks to actions that show bodies of kids with adult heads. Which is an unusual editing effect but makes the clip be remembered by the audience. This is good because it shows a tight link between the lyrics and the rappers. 

Relationship between the music an visuals can be notices at basic music claps and drums and sometimes the visuals change and sometimes they don't. 

Goodwin Theory

Goodwin’s music video analysis

Andrew Goodwin writing in ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992)

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics
(e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band).

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc). 

Commenting on specific genre. Each genre has it's own style, relationship between lyrics and the visuals. As well as editing to pace of music desired, patterns of looking for example voyeuristic; scopophylic.

Intertextuality

Intertextuality, is the shaping of the meaning of one text by using a different one.
Broadly, if we see music promos as frequently drawing upon existing texts in order to spark recognition in the audience, we have a working definition of ‘intertextuality'.

• It is an idea that any text has been influenced and shaped by texts that have come before it.
  (anything read or seen in the case of movies)
• Therefore no film exists on its own and consciously or not all films borrow ideas from other films, past or present.
• Nothing exists on its own.
• An example of this is Batman. Cartoon ----> Film

It's important for writers, directors and authors. it exists because any kind of media can use it. it's not just in film. Posters, adverts etc all get their ideas from somewhere or use previous ideas as a guidline.

Intertextuality is influenced by creativity as it inspires you to create something. It's inspired by the world around you. Sometimes the media don’t even realise they are doing it.

The same is done in music videos.

Music Video Genre: RAP

The genre we have decided to work in is rap. The idea of working with rap came out of what our preferences to music are. We want to fully explore and have fun with the art of expressive and rhythmic vocal expressions. The form of which is performed in time to a beat and can be really well put with a good music video linking to the narrative of that video.

The stylistic features of rap; the flow, the lyrics, the delivery.
It is really important to have somebody who not only can write lyrics but can deliver them well on screen. This is important because it then appeals to the audience and captivates them in the constantly flowing rhythmic style. Free style rap, ambitious lyrics and unique beats make it all up. The ultimate culture.

Style of Hip Hop differs with the artist preference. The genre is Hip Hop but the actual style of the beats and the music differs from jazz, dub, dancehall, raggae, blues, funk etc. A couple examples, which show a twist to the style in Hip Hop are as follows:

• Joe Kickass works his works around Jazzy Hip Hop.. You can hear the trumpets which add the jazz feeling, also the standard beat in the background.

• A Polish rapper O.S.T.R. does similarly the same.. Except the feel of this track is more of funk. 

The way the beat is made is usually in the studio experimenting with changing hi hat patterns, snare, kick and clap. These are the basics of working with a standard beat to a rap which all come from the drums.

Voyeurism 2- Usher 'Yeah'

Only recently I realised that this video is really good in showing Voyeurism. I wanted to explore how it shows women and how men demand women.

How the camera is used and how images re sequenced will have a significant impact upon meaning. Camera movement, the angle and shot distance all need to be looked at closely. Sometimes the movement of the camera as well as editing may accompany the movement of performers on screen, they may be walking, dancing or even running.

Most of close ups used in music videos are used because of the desire to create a sense of intimacy for the viewer. 

Fast cut montage is the most common form of editing when it comes to music videos. Putting a lot of images together makes it possible to grasp the viewers attentions. Sometimes, videos which use a slower pace of editing and gentler transitions between images do this on purpose to establish a desired mood.

Voyeurism

Voyeurism is an idea that comes from Freud. It has been used in Media Studies a lot, particularly in explaining the gendered pleasure of cinema. It is basically the idea of looking in order to gain sexual pleasure. It is basically from male pleasure. Usually you will get a music video with a girl or a couple of girls who dance, grind and perform sexual moves in order to entertain the males.
A couple of examples of these include Beyonce's 'Crazy in Love' and  User's 'Love in this Club'.

 
In 'Crazy in Love' Beyonce is shown in an extremely sexual way in order to attract the male gaze. At 0:21 she is walking towards the audience with slow motions put in which show her hair flying about and because she is in a tight top her boobs are underlined as well as her legs because she is wearing really revealing shorts.
Also at 0:31 she gets down on the floor and starts to dance and do weird stuff. For example where she twists and turns and puts her legs up in the air attracts the male gaze to her long, strong legs. At 0:35 this continues to develop the attraction of the male gaze as she actually lies down and grinds which shows off her figure. Finally at 0:37 there is a mid close-up on the bum. At this point she is moving it side to side and this is where the male gaze is captured fully.

Similarly in this video 'Love in this Club' at 0:43 similarly there is a woman standing in front of Usher in a tight dress underlining her boobs. Once again a woman dressed in this way will attract the male attention. At 0:47 the woman says 'your every desire' she whispers it into Usher's ear and does it in a bit of a sexual way. From 1:46 - 1:50 the camera doesn't focus on the woman's face but it focuses on her boobs and her flat stomach and then we see her approach Usher in a sexual way. The way she works herself around him by capturing him so he can not leave. Finally, at 1:52 with her mouth she grabs Usher's necklace and grinds around him. Yet again the male gaze has been captured.

Classwork

After a whole month of deciding on possible setting, characters, choreography etc. for the Bruno Mars- Billionaire music video, we have decided to change the idea and this meant that we will have to change everything considering character types, sting and the music genre.
We looked at Chiddy Bang- Opposite of Adults as a song we can possibly create a music video for.

Lesson 16th Oct

In the lesson with Mr.Phillips my group worked on the lyrics of the song which we are going to be creating a music video for. We went through it bit by bit and started to decide whether or not include some effects and what to do at each point of the song.

Lipsync- 'Kid Cudi- The Prayer'

Today we filmed our lip-sync to Kid Cudi's song 'The Prayer'. We filmed in front of a brick building because we wanted it to look simple as we were not focusing on the surroundings that much but on doing the lipsync well enough.
I think we did well with this task and now we are going to put the footage together. Bye :)