Further Research. - Music Video Theorists.

Sven E Carlsson
Sven E Carlsson said that 'One of the most common methods of analysis is to break up the music video into black and white boxes. Almost everything is then percieved as opposites - trash or art, commerce of creativity, male or female, naturalism or antirealism, etc.. This means that the common approach towards music videos in the sense that binary opposites influence the narration of the video, and move it forward. Sven E Carlsson also believed that there are two forms of categories that music videos have the ability to fall into, they are:

1. Performance - This is where the videos focus mainly of the artist/artists in some way. There can be three types of performance, Dance performance, Song performance and Instrumental performance. The point of the music video is to show as much footage of the artist as possible. When it comes to performance, Carlsson believed the performer becomes an item throughout the video as the point is just to advertise themselves. It is as if the preformer is made into a 'commercial exhibitionist.' By this i mean that the performer is thought to be of as an object for the audience and music video, which makes it like an advert for them. When it comes to this type of performance, it's meant to be eye catching and appealing for the fans, and meant to connote that the artist is a role model, and someone for the audience to aspire to. A good example of these performances would be by preferabl female artists, like Rihanna and Beyonce, as they tend to have more sexually influenced videos, than that of some other artists. They use there good looks, and attractive figures and use them as the main selling point for the music video, by dancing and singing a lot of the way through. They are basically following Carlsson's rule of using yourself as an item to sell music.

2. Conceptual - In conceptual clips, the audience watch something beyond the artist's which aims to have artistic ambition. Without the ideo of narrative in a video, they can include aspects of art such as surrounding and scenery, instead of actually needing the artist to appear in the video. This can be quite difficult to come across in todays society as it not seen much, and the main idea is to get the artist across a lot of the time. Sometimes videos may be seen with the artist in them for only brief moments, which would mean a majority of the video is conceptual, however, this can be argued.


' Modern Mythic Embodiment ' - Sven E Carlsson.
Sven E Carlsson vreated the theory that most performance movies make the performer not a performer anymore. ' He or she is a materializiation of the commercial exhibitionist. He or she is a monger of the own body image, selling everything to be in the spotlight - selling voice, face, lifestyle, records and so on.' He is basically saying that performers are restricted in the way that they can perform as they are being used to sell themselves, in order to make the video appealable to the audience. Sven E Carlsson says that this is down to the artist being a seller of their body image.

Micheal Shore.
Micheal Shore concludes that music videos are recycled styles that contains an overload of information, and therefore contains veiws of adolescent male fantasies. Most videos contain elements of speed, power, girls and wealth. All of these aspects and transformed into soft-core pornography with cliched imagery. This theory relates to curent issues within the musiv industry where the argument is that many music videos convey provocative imagery which is too sexualised for the audience who may be watching it. Women are highly sexualised and objectified in Rap and Hip-Hop videos, hence the term 'video hunnies.' The high sexualisation rate in music videos is rapidly increasing.

Andrew Goodwin.
Andrew Goodwin says that these theoretical conclusions are the basis of understanding music videos.

Cinematic Genre
Advertising
New forms of television
Visual are
'Electronic wallpaper'
Dreams
Post modern poetry
Metaphysical poetry
'Semiotic Pornography'

Outfit For Music Artist

The verses and chorus are of very different dynamics for my song, the verses are very soft and mellow, where as my chorus is quite upbeat and fierce. Therefore, whilst my artist is performing the verses, she will be in white clothing to show how she has been stripped of her love and dignity, it will also conote an innocent side and the character of a hurt woman. However, for each verse of the chorus I will dress my performer in black clothing, quite short clothing, to represent her anger and danger.

Lyrics To Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball.

"Wrecking Ball"

We clawed, we chained, our hearts in vain
We jumped, never asking why
We kissed, I fell under your spell
A love no one could deny

Don't you ever say I just walked away
I will always want you
I can't live a lie, running for my life
I will always want you

I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me

I put you high up in the sky
And now, you're not coming down
It slowly turned, you let me burn
And now, we're ashes on the ground

Don't you ever say I just walked away
I will always want you
I can't live a lie, running for my life
I will always want you

I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck me

I came in like a wrecking ball
Yeah, I just closed my eyes and swung
Left me crashing in a blazing fall
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me

I never meant to start a war
I just wanted you to let me in
And instead of using force
I guess I should've let you win
I never meant to start a war
I just wanted you to let me in
I guess I should've let you win

Don't you ever say I just walked away
I will always want you

I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck me

I came in like a wrecking ball
Yeah, I just closed my eyes and swung
Left me crashing in a blazing fall
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me

Requesting The Publishers Permission

Results for questionairre & Analysis

                                   

1. After reading the synopsis of the music video, do you think that the video should be in:

- Black and White – 10 people

- Colour – 19 people

- Sepia – 1 person

- Black and White, then Colour after the break through. – 10

2. After reading the synopsis, and creating an image in your head what colour hair did the female character have?

- Brown – 13

- Blonde - 17

- Red - 2

- Black. - 8

3. What type of shots would you like to see in the video? ( Pick up to 2 answers )

- Mid Shots - 30

- Long Shots - 10

- Close ups - 15

- High Angle – 8

- Low Angle - 12

4. Where would you expect the setting to be for this kind of video.

- Run Down House - 2

- Forest - 3

- Newly Decorated House - 7

- Run Down Factory - 0

- Dark Alley - 5


-Outside - 23

5. What is your favourite music genre?

- Pop - 15

- R&B - 4

- Jazz - 0

- Rap - 1

- Hip Hop - 3

- Indie - 2

- Rock - 5

- Country - 0

- Classical - 0

6. How often do you view music videos?

- Daily - 18

- Weekly - 7

- Monthly - 13

- Annually - 2

7. Where do you view these videos? (You can pick more than one)

- Music Channels - 38

- Youtube - 35

- Others (If so please state)

________________________

8. Do you think that the music video is just as important as the actual song?

- Yes - 35

- No - 5

Please explain why ____________________________

The people who answered no, said that in this day and age there are a lot of contemporary videos, which have nothing to do with the meaning of the song. And they don’t enjoy watching videos like this.

Target Audience Research.

Now I have my final idea for my music video, I will be doing some intial research into what my target audience would like to see. My song is of the pop genre, but is a soft melodic tune, so therefore I would refer to it as Soft-Pop, so I would be recieving feed back from people who fit into this category. I think that the age range would be 12-18, as the song is such a gentle tune, it would appeal to adults as well, so I will be splitting my research in half, giving 20 questionnaries to 17-18 year olds, and the other 20 to people of 30+ to see the similarities and differences in the results, and meet a compromise if they are completely different.

The questions that I am going to ask are:

1. After reading the synopsis of the music video, do you think that the video should be in:
- Black and White
- Colour
- Sepia
- Black and White, then Colour after the break through.

2. After reading the synopsis, and creating an image in your head what colour hair did the female character have?
- Brown
- Blonde
- Red
- Black.

3. What type of shots would you like to see in the video? ( Pick up to 2 answers )
- Mid Shots
- Long Shots
- Close ups
- High Angle
- Low Angle

4. Where would you expect the setting to be for this kind of video.
- Run Down House
- Forest
- Newly Decorated House
- Run Down Factory
- Dark Alley
- Outside

5. What is your favourite music genre?
- Pop
- R&B
- Jazz
- Rap
- Hip Hop
- Indie
- Rock
- Country
- Classical

6. How often do you view music videos?
- Daily
- Weekly
- Monthly
- Annually

7. Where do you view these videos? (You can pick more than one)
- Music Channels
- Youtube
- Others (If so please state)
________________________

8. Do you think that the music video is just as important as the actual song?
- Yes
- No
Please explain why ____________________________

Analysis of Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop, Pop Genre.

Annotations Of A Rock Music Video.

For my annotations of a rock music video, I have chosen to use Blink 182 - I Miss You, as I think it fits the conventions of the Rock genre. Through out the video, there is a black and white theme that is heavily abundant from start to finish, this is used to connote the darkness of the song. In most Rock videos, artists play their own instruments, and this is used in Blink 182's video, and many of their other music videos. There are various different women that appear in the video, however, they are all made up in dark makeup, and are dressed in 1960's clothing. They also use dolls in the video, which are painted with makeup, I think this is used to connote artificial women. I think the dark makeup used through out the video, is to signify the dark side of these women.

Mid way through the video, a woman throws herself into a river, and there is a birds eye view shot, of her body floating, this shows that the woman is dead, after this shot, there is a close up of a red rose, this is used to connote love and romance. However, the rose then loses its stem, and is thrown into the river, and is floating in the same style as the woman, I think this is done to show the death of their love/romance.

The music video, is almost the story of the song, as many clips fit the lyrics in which the artist is singing, I think the most interesting part of this is a close up of a spider, which is mentioned in the lyrics, however, I also think this connects with the darkness of the song, and of the mise en scene of the music video. At the point of around 2:10, there is a woman in a white flowing dress, and a white veil, I think this is used to connote a corpse bride, I also think the white is used to show the innocence of the woman.

Research Into Different Genre's

The first genre that I will be analysing is 'pop' I have chosen to look at a Lady Gaga video called 'Applause.' Her target audience is teenage girls, 12-18 years old, she is a very dynamic and controversial artist and this is displayed in her music videos. I chose to look at this video, as I have a recollection of all her weird and wacky antics. The opening sequence of her music video displays the artist name, and also the name of the song, I think this is a clever idea, as if it is displayed on a music video, people are less likely to turn over on the start of the video, this way they are aware of who the artist is. I think that this video fits with the pop genre, as the artist is dressed in minimal clothing, which is apparent in many pop videos, there is also a choreographed dance routine, which is in a lot of other pop videos, this also fits in with Andrew Godwin's theory that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. Lady Gaga shows a performance piece instead of narrative, as there is no obvious story line this also means that the video has an implicit and subtextual meaning, the audience will rely on connotations. In terms of the mise en scene, the artist has many different outfit changes, I think this connotes the change in the music industry. Later in the video, Lady Gaga holds what appears to be a large torch above her head, this connotes that she is winning, this is in relation to the Olympic torch. There are many different shots in this video, most of them are mid shots or close ups, we see the artists face a lot through the video, I think this is to promote the artist. There is a close up of the artists face where she has a variety of different colours painted on her face, I think this is to connote the artists 'colourful' personality. The editing techniques in this video fit in with the pace and tempo of the song, there is a part where the lighting flashes from dark to light repeatedly, this is done to a fast pace to fit in with the song.






The second video that I will be looking at is 'Flo-rida - Whistle' Flo-rida is a hip-hop artist, so this is also the genre I will be looking at. As in the Lady Gaga video, the opening sequence to this video also includes the artists name and the title of the song, I think that this is all for promotion, so that people will know the artists name and the title in hope of purchasing the song. The video is set on an exotic island with beaches, blue seas and high mountain tops, I think this is to connote the wealth of the artist, to be in such a nice place. Flo-rida is without a top for a majority of the music video, as it seems that he has oil on his body, I think this is so that he is to look sexually appealing for his target audience, which in this case would be young girls however, he also appeals to the target audience of teenage boys by putting women in bakinis in the video. This video shows an untrue representation of women, and this is the case in a lot of music videos, women with beautiful figures are often flaunting it in these videos, although it is visually appealing to men, it is not a good role model for young girls. This is a narrative piece, where it starts out that the artist is enticing the woman, by being sexually inviting, and by also wearing expensive jewellery and accessories, the end of the narrative is the woman then giving into the artist. There is also some product promotion in this video, where the artists holds the Nokia phone, and when there is a close up on this Jordan trainers. The main editing technique is the overlapping of transparent images to lead into the next scene, I think this fits with the music, there is also a lot of split screens, which I think tells the story really well as you can see it from all aspects.




The final video that I will be analysis is Dappys 'Tarzan 2.5' this is a rap video, and targeted mainly at young males with an interest in this music genre. The video is filmed in a huge house, where there appears to be a party going on. All the male members of the party are wearing thick gold chains, expensive looking watches and backwards snap backs, this is the representation of a rapper, that they have a wealthy lifestyle, and this is represented by there possesions. This is emphasised by the shots of the possesions throughout the video, there is a long shot of the artist singing, where there is two black range rovers in the background, there is also a close up of some sort of expensive bike. The main wording of this song is 'Versace' which there is many close up shots of the Versace logo. Throughout the video, the artist is surrounded by men, this is to connote that he has a tight relationship with his friends, which is really important, hence the shoutout at the beginning of the music video.

There are two main women in the music video, both of them are wearing matching outfits, I think that this connotes that the women are seen the same, that they are of no real importance, which is how women are represented in many rap videos. The women are also seen to be seducing eachother, this is for male entertainment, and will appeal to the target audience of young males, however, I feel that this is degrading to women, and they should not be represented in this light. This video is a performance piece, as there is no real story line.

Initial Ideas For My Music Video.

With only just starting this project, I am leaning towards doing a dub-step/rap music video, having a song in mind, however I'm going to have to do some research on collaborations on two different music genre's and see what the music video would consist of, and then see if it would be appropriate to what I want to do. If this is to complicated for me to pursue, I think that I will just stick to the genre rap, as I think this will be easy to comprehend with, living in South East London.

Conventions of Music Videos ( Different Genres)

Here is a mood board that I have created of R&B music videos.
As you can see, everything is quite urban, in an R&B music video, the stereotypical protocol is money and women, I think this is evident, from looking at the mood board. There is no actual dress type for an R&B music video, it is all depending on the mood and the meaning of the song, most ones that revolve around women, and impressing a woman, involve 'players' in baggy trousers, and a tight fitting vest top, that emphasises their muscular build. However, if a song is about fast cars and money, then they are most likely to be 'suited and booted' to show how rich and successful they are. R&B music videos are usually set in 'luxurious' or expensive settings, such as on a private beach, on the streets of Miami or a top club.

This is a mood board that I created using a collaboration of Rap Music videos.
Mise en scene is an important factor to consider when creating a Rap music video, here you can see in a majority of the clips, that the artists are wearing snap backs or beanie hats, so if I was to choose rap as my genre, I will have to keep this in mind. Many of the artists are also making gestures with their hands, as rap is quite an aggressive form of music, I think that these gestures emphasize the lyrics that the artists are singing. Most rap songs are about money or 'crews', however, they're not about already being rich, they are about struggles and what they have had to over come to get to where they are now, a lot of rappers use real life events making them narratives.

Here is a mood board of Indie/Alternative Music Videos.
Indie music videos are sometimes very simplistic, just a young girl, in a vintage dress, with a pastel hair colour, other times indie music videos are very extreme, majoring in a weird and wonderful ideas. As you can see in the images above, each artist has one unique thing in the still image, wether its an old style bike, a multi coloured beanie hat, a unique hair colour or are being followed by a marching band, that is what makes an indie music video, and it comes from the word individual (indie.)

My last mood board is clips from music videos from the Rock Genre.
As you can see above, most of the images are dark, as Rock is a quite dark genre, most of the artists are holding a musical instrument, as Rock music is not just about singing, it is about appreciating all aspects of the music. In a Rock music video, artists tend to be using their instruments or have them on display, so that the audience know what genre they are. A lot of Rock stars have a lot of tattoos so I would have to bare this in mind, if I decided to do a Rock music video.