Initial Ideas PowerPoint

Focus Group

1 – How often do you watch music videos?

2 – How do you watch music videos? E.g. YouTube, music channels…

3 – What is your preference of music video structures and why?

4 – What genres of music do you listen to most?

5 – How do you hear about new music videos?

6 – Could a music video convince you to purchase the song?

7 – Do you like music videos to follow all of the conventions of genre or break some and why?

Picture Storyboard

Textual Analysis 3 - Arctic Monkeys 'Leave Before The Lights Come On'

Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative rock, Garage rock, post-punk revival
Structure: narrative
Written by: Alex Turner
Director: John Hardwick
The video for Arctic Monkeys – Leave Before The Lights Come On is a full narrative video with no footage of performance. This is unconventional of genre as most videos for the alternative/ indie rock genre have a lot of performance to show that they play their own instruments and have talent instead of having it put in for them like pop music. The video features Kate Ashfield (Shaun of the Dead) and Paddy Considine (Hot Fuzz) who are both already stand-alone actors which widens the audience of the music video because the two actors will already have fans so they will attract there fans to see the video. Having two established actors in the music video also shows that the budget for the video was quite large. At the beginning of the video, Considine is walking down a street which looks like it was shot without a steadicam as the shot is quite wobbly but stable enough to clearly make out what is happening. It then makes a cross cut to Ashfield with a medium close up of her face making it unclear that she is stood on top of a building which makes it more shocking to the audience when the video cuts to an extreme long shot of her revealing where she is. There is a lot of empty space in the long shot of her leaning over the edge of the building which allows the audience to look at the shot with more background details to put emphasis on the height that she is stood at. This is also done by using a high angle which makes the space gap from the audiences view to the floor even further. The second shot of Considine walking shows that the two events are happening simultaneously and shows how oblivious to it he is. A low angle on Ashfield makes two pans back and forth across her face to show her fear and possibly vertigo from being at the ledge. After seeing Ashfield, Considine ran up to the roof to stop her from jumping and they both go to a café for a cup of tea/coffee and calm down however Ashfield obviously wants a relationship with Considine whereas he only saved her life because it was the right thing to do and doesn’t seem to want anything in return. This is shown by the use of lighting as Ashfield has a warm glow on her face with the bright lights from the display cabinet behind her and Considine has no excessive glow on his face and has the window behind him showing the gloomy looking sky. It is also shown through the use of body language used by Ashfield as she touches her face and hair a lot. Ashfield rests her had on Consides hand as he went to leave the café which is a literal use of the metaphor “put your head in my hands” which means stay with me showing that she doesn’t want him to leave her. She then goes to kiss Considine but he pulls away and reveals his wedding ring. The mid close up shot used to fit both characters into the shot allows the audience to see the two reactions. Both of the characters look quite embarrassed however the warm glow is still on Ashfield’s face showing that she is still attracted to him. As Considine walks out of the café and Ashfield watches, the warm glow in her face goes away and leaves her face grey almost as a silhouette showing that he has left her feeling empty now that he isn’t around. Ashfield immediately runs after him and jumps on his back as he walks making him think he’s being attacked and carries on walking away from her making her chase him down an alleyway. As he walks his footsteps match the beat of the bass guitar in the song which makes the video come together as a music video rather than just a clip from a film or TV show. Ashfield runs to another entrance to the alleyway s that Considine doesn’t see her coming and run away. When she catches up to him she pushes him and looks angry showing that the affection she had for him earlier in the video has gone. After being pushed Considine also looks angry and starts shouting at Ashfield and pushes her up against a fence and threatened her which shows a contrast as at the beginning of the video he was saving her life. Ashfield tries to kiss Considine again when he has her pinned up against the fence and the warm glow is back on her face showing that although they are fighting and he is threatening her, she feels affectionate towards him again. After Considine walks away again, Ashfield runs back to the top of a building that she was shown to be about to jump from at the beginning of the video showing that the reason that she was there in the first place was because someone had broken her heart. However, It shows her standing and waiting for someone to walk past before purposely kicking her shoe off in front of them. The wide angle shot of Matt Helders (the drummer of Arctic Monkeys) walking down the street in a similar fashion to Considine did at the beginning of the video shows that Ashfield was standing at the top of the building for attention rather than because she was genuinely going to kill herself. That being said, she could just be looking for love and by coming to stop her from jumping from the building she sees that as a sign of affection. The idea of going back to a destructive pattern of relationships is something that I would like to attempt with my video as it would match the lyric, ‘another lesson that has gone unlearned’.
             The band is Arctic Monkeys, who started out in Sheffield and have since gone on to become one of the most popular contemporary indie rock bands in the world. The video was shot in the Cultural Industries Quarter of Sheffield because that is where the band used to perform before they became famous. The Ideology of the video is hard to pick out however the band chose to have it filmed in Sheffield which is where they originated from showing that they believe in staying close to home.
              The digesis of the video is hard to pick out any real ideology because it was purely narrative, meaning that there is no set in stone meaning to the video. However it does touch on suicide as Ashfield is threatening to jump from the building at both the beginning and the end of the video, domestic violence as the two start arguing in the street and other people start staring and then they have a bit of a fight in the alley way and it also touches mental health as you could argue that Ashfield’s character has some form of mental disorder which is making her want to do this as a sane person wouldn’t think to pretend to be suicidal just so that someone will possibly love them.
              The primary audience of the video will be Arctic Monkeys fans which are vary varied in both age difference and demographics. The usual age for Arctic Monkeys is 14-40 and the ABC1 demographic can vary throughout all of the demographic stages. There will be a secondary audience for the video though, that is Ashfield and Considine fans who will watch the video to see them performing.

Lyrics Analysis

Textual Analysis 2 - The 1975 'The City'

Genre: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock, Electronic Rock, Indie Pop

Structure: Performance, Abstract

Written by: The 1975 (full band)

Director: James Booth

 

The Video is completely in black and white which is conventional of the genre as it makes the images darker. The bands focus is always away from the audience, which is also conventional of the genre. It gives the video more of a vague appearance, which adds to the abstract narrative. This is done by a lot of artists and not just the alternative rock/ indie rock genres; it can frequently be seen in videos of the soul genre. Most of the people in the video have visible tattoos which is conventional of the genre as it shows the band to be ‘edgy’ which is backed up by the costume used. All black clothes for the band including leather jackets shows that they are individuals but is also very conventional for this genre as it keeps the look of the video dark.   

There are a lot of slow motion shots in the opening shots. This is something that I would like to try for my music video so I will need a camera that has a high frames per second shooting ability. There are also a lot of fast shots which are made to look even faster because of the slow motion shots. There are also a lot of track shots of the band members to go with the fast editing, which makes it look like the camera is moving around the band very fast although it will only be a normal speed when recorded. The band members all have long hair which shows the genre as mainly indie rock but also other sub genres of rock like alternative rock. I don’t think that I will want to use long haired actors in my video because I am focusing closer on the alternative rock genre than the indie rock genre   

The video is edited to the beat of the music which is conventional of all music videos as it helps to bring the digesis of the video together instead of separating the audio and visual aspects of the video which would make the video look strange and not make sense.

There are lots of shots of the band playing their instruments which is conventional however they are all shots of them playing individually rather than as a band which is unconventional. It does however work for this video and looks good but I wouldn’t try it for my video because I think that it is a style of the director that most other people wouldn’t be able to make look right.  

There are three different sets of people in the video; the undressing woman, the fighting men and the couple. The way that the video has been edited together makes it hard to distinguish between the fighting men and the kissing couple at times. This could have been deliberate however, it is hard to tell.   

The opening shot of the video is a white rectangle on a plain black background which is part of the band’s debut album cover which is similar. The only big difference is that the background is grey on the album cover and has the band name written through the rectangle. This establishes the band before the music has started, which is useful for TV screenings e.g. on music channels however online the audience have selected the song that they want to listen to. The white rectangle does however give aesthetic pleasure to the audience as it sets the black and white tone and as it fades out, and the song starts playing the singer’s face is centred inside the rectangle.

There doesn’t seem to be a meaning behind the video and it is purely visual although the images of the city streets at night put onto peoples torsos could show that the city is naked meaning that all it is, is what can be seen and nothing is hidden. This idea is supported by the images of “sex shops” and “video XXX” on other people’s bodies.  

Audience… The audience of the video are fans of The 1975 who are generally aged between 14 and 29 and fit into the demographics C2 – A. They are mainly indie rock fans rather than alternative rock fans but they fit into the same group of people who read NME magazine which publishes a variety of different genres including indie rock, alternative rock, hip-hop and soul, meaning that the readers will find out about other bands and probably go and listen to them depending on the review in the magazine.  

There isn’t a lot of representation in the video due to the black and white shots and abstract structure. However, the shots used reflect the audience as bans and fans want to look similar so that people know that they are fans of a certain music genre or band.

 

Textual Analysis 1 - Biffy Clyro 'Glitter and Trauma'

Writer: Simon Neil
Genre: Alternative Rock
Director: Shammasian Brothers
Structure: Narrative

 The video shows the band as patients of a mental hospital. In the first scene with the TV, It shows the band playing music, which shows that the video is reflexive as it is self-aware. In the shot of the people sitting down, Simon Neil and James Johnston are the only two people wearing black, separating them from the rest of the group who are all dressed in white to look pure. The difference of clothing colour shows that they are going to be rebellious in the narrative of the video. This is backed up when the two stand up and challenge the woman. This could be representative of the band challenging authority in wider society. The patients start the video sat watching the television and they all look very bored to the point where it looks as if they are under sedation which was my initial thought as the video is set in a mental hospital, however when the band stand up and start performing in the office the patients all get up and dance and look happy. When the patients look happy and are enjoying themselves, security run around the corner to wrestle the patients away from the scene. This shows the bands belief that authority figures all want everyone to behave a certain way and if they don’t then they will be punished.

         The mental hospital is a common setting for rock videos of the early 2000’s era and was used in Green Day’s “Basket Case” video.

         Throughout the video the bands focus switches from the audience to away from the audience but it’s mainly away from the audience, which is un-conventional of the alternative rock genre however, the songs sub genre is experimental rock so it is ok for the band to break conventions. The setting for the video could also be a rehab clinic to show the ‘rock star’ lifestyle and where it leads. It would also be supported by Simon’s drug filled history.

         Mainly, the band isn’t really performing but is pretending to play using a broom as a microphone, pens for drum sticks and another broom for a guitar. This could be reflecting the audience as most people pretend to be part of a band when listening to music by playing along with household items. It could also be to support the narrative as they are playing mental patients and it could be suggesting that they are imagining that they are part of the band.

         When the band is actually playing they are in a dark room with coloured lights on the walls which is partially conventional of the alt. rock genre because the dark room is conventional and is used in most modern rock videos however, the coloured lights are not conventional and for all of the videos I have seen, it hasn’t been used in a single one.

         The institution is the band and their record label, which at the time was Monnow Valley Studios based in Wales. Most of the bands songs are written by Simon Neil and are usually about his mum and/or drugs. The lyrics of Glitter and Trauma are about being under pressure and being pushed to be perfect, which is why the video is set in a mental hospital.

The ideology and message of the video; I think is that people should do what makes them happy although others will discourage it.

         The audience of the video will be fans of Biffy Clyro who are generally C1 and upward in the NRS demographic scale. Their audience are also usually teenagers to late twenties but also appeal to an older group as well for example over 40’s

1 minute shot by shot analysis of an existing video that matches my chosen genre

Skills Development Essay

Over the course of media, I have widened my skills and knowledge of media a lot. When it comes to using digital technology, I have learned especially much. At the beginning of AS, I had never used Photoshop before and had no idea where to start when it came to editing images. My preliminary task of making a perfume advert was terrible but at the time it was the best I could do. If asked to repeat the task now however, I would be able to produce a much better product in a lot less time. I eventually became so confident using Photoshop that I could help people in my class when they got stuck or didn’t know which icon to click on. I didn’t even know how to take photos properly. Ray gave a brief tutorial on how to take photographs for media purposes with the subjects head at the top of the shot instead of centre shot because it wastes a lot of pixels doing central shots. At the end of AS, during the A2 transition period, Ray gave the class a tutorial on how to shoot videos in preparation for recreating an existing music video. He also helped in teaching everyone how to set up lights and the importance of having lighting when taking photographs or shooting videos.
                In terms of creativity, I’ve come a long way over the past year as my preliminary task proves. My preliminary task was a photograph of Leah Haywood photo shopped to look like she was sitting on an apple. This was because the bottle of perfume I was using was DKNY and shaped like an apple so it was the first thing that came to mind to do. Leah was wearing jeans and a t-shirt which I wouldn’t allow if I was to recreate the product because it ruins the mood of the product and is a bad use of mise en Scene. For my magazine, I thought a bit more about conventions and how to use the images to make a professional looking product. The conventional image used for music magazine’s front covers is a close up or medium close up. I tried these types of shot for my front cover but I found that the best image I had for the front cover was a long shot which went against convention but a lot of NME magazines use long shots for their main front cover image so it wasn’t completely unheard of.
                My planning wasn’t as good as I would have like it to be. I think that I sorted everything out in time and got all of my models to meet for the photo shoot on the same day and in the same place but I took advice on where to do the shoot from a friend without actually checking the site myself. The location turned out to be a farm and we weren’t allowed in so I had to quickly change the location while I had all of the models. I ended up setting up under a bridge in Goole which although wasn’t ideal or planned, it turned out well. For my preliminary task, I asked Leah to model for me in the green room at college and we just went straight from tutor to the room without any thought of make up or wardrobe which could be the reason that my preliminary task wasn’t as good as I would have hoped.  The research for my magazine was good. I looked at a few reader profiles and surveyed my class about what they think should have been in an indie music magazine. I also did a group discussion which I recorded. For the AS/A2 transition period, when I re-created an existing music video, my group and I chose to use students from our media class so that we were sure that they would all be free when we were recording. We also used the classroom because the video we were re-creating was, Busted – What I Go To School For which was set in a classroom setting.
                For post-production my skills have developed a lot. Before starting the course I had no idea how to use Photoshop and had never even heard of Final Cut let alone used it. Learning the skills for Photoshop was a lot easier for me than Final Cut because a few of my friends us Photoshop a lot for Graphics or just for editing photos. This gave me a bit of an advantage because I could sit with them during study periods while they did their work and I could get a few tips and pointers to help me with my product. Final Cut had a steep learning curve so it was very confusing to start with but after a few failed attempts to edit our video, I got used to it and now feel confident using it. I think that my original music video over A2 will be good because of my knowledge of final cut but I also think that if I look back at my original video after creating it, I will feel that I could do better because I’ll probably have more knowledge of the software by then.
                For Using conventions of existing media texts, I think that I did well to look at a wide variety of existing music magazines and use some of the conventions from most of them. The layout for my contents page and double page spread were made to look like NME’s contents page and double page spread. My front cover was designed to look like a combination of NME and Kerrang! The only part of my magazine that I went against convention was the type of shot I used for the image on my front cover which was a long shot and should have been a medium close up. However, NME use a lot of long shots for front cover shots from time to time so it wasn’t far away from usual conventions. I designed a website for my magazine which I made to look like Kerrang’s website with a lot of dark colours in the background and bright colours for the text. For my college magazine, I used an image of a student putting folders into her locker which followed conventions as all of the college magazines I looked at used images of students around their chosen campus with some learning equipment like books in the shot.

Lyrics Timings

I fear I'm dying from complications 0:18 – 0:22

Complications due to things that I've left undone 0:24 – 0:29

That all my debts will be left unpaid 0:32 – 0:35

Feel like a cripple without a cane 0:36 – 0:39

I'm like a jack of all trades 0:40 – 0:43

Who's a master of none 0:44 – 0:45

Then there's my father 1:04 – 1:06

He's always looking on the bright side 1:07 – 1:10

Saying things like 1:12 – 1:14

"Son, life just ain't that hard” 1:14 – 1:17

He is the grand optimist 1:20 – 1:24

I am the world's poor pessimist 1:24 – 1:28

You give him burdens sometimes 1:28 – 1:30

And he will escape unscarred 1:30 – 1:34

I guess I take after my mother 1:43 – 1:46

I guess I take after my mother 1:59 – 2:02

But I used to be quite resilient 2:26 – 2:30

Gain no strength from counting the beads on a rosary 2:32 – 2:38

And now the wound has begun to turn 2:41 – 2:44

Another lesson that has gone unlearned 2:44 – 2:49

But this is not a cry for pity or for sympathy 2:49 – 2:54

I guess I take after my mother 3:03 – 3:06

I guess I take after my mother 3:20 – 3:23

I guess I take after my mother 3:35 – 3:39

I guess I take after my mother 3:52 – 3:57

Chosen Song

Title: The Grand Optimist
Writer: Dallas Green
Performed by: City and Colour (Dallas Green)
Album title: Little Hell
Genre: Alternative rock/ Folk rock/ Acoustic rock
Video Structure: N/A (no official video)
Record label: Dine alone/ Vagrant/ Arts & Crafts Mexico
Release date: 2012

A2 Advanced Portfolio Brief

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

•a website homepage for the band;

•a cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package);

•a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package). 

Change of song

After showing my media teacher my storyboard for my music video I realised that it wasn't as good as I had initially thought. I had a few other ideas for a music video for this song however they wouldn't have look as good as I want my video to be. I've since had some time to reflect on the advise given to me and decided that the best idea for me now would be to change my song choice from Sleeping With Sirens - Do it now, remember it later to City and Colour - The grand optimist. This will mean having to redo all of my research work from the past couple of weeks as the new son is a completely different genre.

Costume, Prop and Location list

 

KEY

 

 

GREEN = Costume

YELLOW = Props

RED = Location

conventions of my chosen genre

Textual analysis 2 - SUM41 'Fat lip'

Written by: Deryck Whibley/ Steve Jocz

Director: Marc Klasfeld

Genre: pop punk/ rap-core/ skate punk
Structure: Abstract / performance

The video is has a mainly abstract narrative with lots of abstract shots with possible hidden meanings behind them relating to the song. The video is mainly conventional of the genres but also has some unconventional features.

The opening shot for the video is the band singing an acappella version of the first verse of their future single, “What We’re All About” to two confused looking shop assistants. The shop assistants are wearing shirts and trousers which are stereotypical workers clothes. They don’t look like they are enjoying listening to the band sing their song and actually look like they want to leave. They smile at the end of the song before it cuts to the beginning of the song and the shot of the group.

When the song actually starts, there is a wide shot of a group of punks looking intimidating which shows how society views the sub-culture. However one of them is sat in a shopping trolley showing that they really just want to enjoy themselves and they’re not intimidating at all. The male in the next shot has a hat that says ‘ruthless production.’ This could show how he wants to be viewed by society and that actually, they don’t want to be accepted. This is backed up by the lyric, “I don’t wanna waste my time, become another casualty of society” The girl with the tongue piercing shows that the audience are alternative teens who most likely have piercings themselves. The person dressed as a robot on a skateboard also represents the audience as part of the genre is skate punk so it shows that the audience will be interested in skating and it is what they will want to see. The young boy in the video could be representing how the band have been like this since they were young and the older man could show that it’s a lifelong thing and not just a phase. The old man is arguing with the police officers, which shows that he doesn’t care about other people’s views and beliefs. The man is wearing Dr. Martens boots which have been a big part in many of the alternative sub-cultures since the late 70’s and still are today. Another one of the punks has an American flag patch on his jacket arm stitched on upside-down which is a political statement saying that he disagrees with the country’s policies and overall system.

The lyric “don’t tell us to behave. I’m sick of always hearing act your age” shows the immaturity of the band which is often shown in pop punk bands and also that they don’t listen to

When the band is shown playing, for the most part they are moving freely and individually which is conventional for pop punk videos but for a short period of time they are moving in unison to the music which is also conventional however not for skate punk or rap-core which is why it isn’t used in a lot of videos because it shows conformity which is something the song is quite clearly against. This could be why they have chosen to do it – in an ironic manner and not for long. Another conformist feature of the video is the boy skateboarding. He is wearing a helmet, knee and elbow pads which although for the video will have had to have been worn for health and safety purposes but it doesn’t give a sense of verisimilitude as they wouldn’t have worn them if they were skating any other time.

The boy dancing in front of the crowd was doing a two-step which has become a very popular dance move in mosh pits which is associated with rock music including pop punk and skate punk.

The video is set outside of a liquor store which shows that the band likes to drink which is conventional of pop punk videos however most just have party scenes instead. This is more subtle but also leaves more to the imagination as for what they drink as most pop punk videos have beer in stereotypical American red plastic party cups; this video has a full liquor shop.

A lot of the people in the crowd are dressed like geeks this could be because they are classed as social outcasts because of their personalities and choices which is how the band feels.

One thing that stands out to me in the video is at 0:51 there is a girls stood at the front of the crowd standing still not joining in with the other people dancing. This could just be a mistake or it could be representing how society thinks people should behave instead of jumping about and generally causing a disturbance.

The couple on the Vespa seem out of place in the video as their style is thought of for mainly ‘mods’ and indies but they have hybrid styles so they look like a mash up of indie and punks so in this punk video they fit in. This being said, they show diversity which isn’t conventional for any music video especially not punk.