Music Video Evaluation

Our coursework brief was to create a music video for a song lasting three to four minutes long including conventions of a music video. Examples of music video conventions would be close-ups of our artist and it’s mainly a concept based video with a performance. Before we started creating our music video we researched artists with similar genres to Lana Del Rey. We briefly analysed her and other sadcore artist’s music videos and outlined the similarities and differences between them. As part of our music video coursework we had to analyse how an artist’s image is portrayed by a music video and this made us get a greater understanding of how to shoot our video. The aim of our music video was to create a concept and performance based video that would fit into the sadcore genre. To create the visual of the genre we included natural, distinctive shots and extreme close-ups of our artist/model. Our primary target audience was female students with their age ranging from sixteen to twenty six. The target audience was primarily aimed at females as they are stereotypically known to prefer break up songs rather than males.

By following the codes and conventions which Andrew Goodwin states are most common in a music videos we applied appropriate ones. We connected some of the lyrics throughout the song with visuals in our video, to create a relationship with them both making our video not 'random' and unpredictable all the time. For example during the lyric "Gangster, said you had to leave to start your life over" we have filmed a man who has the right appearance to be a potential gangster with his back facing the camera walking away. This man did not know we were filming him therefor it applies to Andrew Goodwin's codes and conventions. There is also a relationship between the pace of the song to the pace of the music video which Andrew Goodwin states is a typical characteristic. For example during the bridge of the song, which is faster than the rest, we used a range of short shots and because they changed from one to another quickly, it kept up with the pace of the song. However, the song is mainly slow paced and the singer has quite a monotone voice. We visualised this by making our model have a blank expression during these parts. We included close-ups of our model/artist as she is a solo artist meaning she needs to be full attention of the viewers. The aim of the music video is for people to remember who she is and what she looks like, which is why we made our video distinct from other pop videos in the charts. 

Our music video specifically represents young females. This is because our artist is a young female singing about her love for someone and therefor females would be able to relate, especially since its in the a females point of view. Throughout our music video we have represented our artist as a memorable individual as the music video isn't predictable like many others of the same genre. Some shots in our video have a bright lighting but some have dark lighting. This relates to the meaning of the song and lyrics due to emotions being unpredictable and sometimes bright (happiness) or dark (sadness). Wherever our model is seen we have shot in rural and natural areas, she is also wearing an abstract and colourful outfit. We did this as it makes her stand out from the shots. The use of natural filming areas also relates to the lyrics/meaning of the song as it's based on emotions and feelings towards an significant other. The chosen outfit for our model makes her stand out from the crowd of other pop artists as they wear clothing that shows a lot of their skin to gain more attention in the industry and from the public. 

Our music video would be shown on TV music channels such as Q and MTV Rocks because they both play independent pop music. Our video would have also been shown on NME but they don't show music videos any more. The music video will be uploaded onto video sharing sites such as Youtube or Vimeo. This would allow people to share them onto their personal social networking sites which would add to the artists popularity. The video would be mainly shown online as the Internet is the fastest way for information to turn global. Additionally our target audience's generation are known for being online majority online due to the technology used now days.

Our video is mostly made up of our original shots but it does feature a few scenes which we have taken from the Internet and therefor copyright laws would effect us. If we still wanted to use other people clips, we would have to hire a lawyer to see if we could legally use them with their permission. If they said we could use them then our video would remain as it is now but if they didn't agree to us using their shots in our music video then we would have to replace the shots with ones we have taken ourselves. Although this would take extra time, we did shoot more footage that wasn't featured in our music video and so we could replace the found shots with these ones. Since a swear word is featured in the lyrics of the song we've used OFCOM would have to censor the word out during 5:00-21:00 as this is what the watershed states. After 21:00 in the evening the uncensored version of our video would be able to be shown on music channels.

We believe out music video has both strengths and weaknesses. Two weaknesses of our video would be that we haven't used all our own footage and the camera quality of some scenes. When our model is standing on the rock in the pond, the camera quality doesn't look as good as it should be because of the bright lighting. This made us question if we should use the pond shots we took of our model. Additionally we might have liked to use a grainy effect on some of our footage as that's a characteristic of the Indie genre. Some of the strengths of our video would be that we used a wide range of variety with lighting, settings and the angle of shots. The setting of the music video shows two different sides of the meaning of the song; natural and materialistic. For example wherever the model is seen she is in a forest area representing the nature/natural side of emotions and we have a few clips of the sky but other shots consist of money and adverts which shows the materialistic side. This is why I believe we have shown the meaning of the song well though our music video but not in an obvious way. I also believe that the direction of where the model should be in the different shots was good. We didn't want our video to be predictable so she's shown leaning on a fence, sitting on the floor, standing on a rock in the middle of a pond and sitting on a bench. The video is suited to our target audience as its the most popular genre of people their age (pop). Our artist is also a female who is just a year or two older than our target audience making her seem more relatable. We also believe our editing was done well as everything flows with the tempo of the song, for instance where the song may speed up we have shown that with the use of many shots for a small amount of time. Overall we are proud with our creation of an Indie Pop music video.

Analysing the Key Features of Music Videos

I am going to be analysing three music videos from different genres. The first video is Bad Romance by Lady Gaga, the second is Lust for Life by Girls and the last is Trouble On My Mind by Pusha T ft. Tyler, The Creator.

Lady Gaga's genre is Pop/Dance music and this is clearly displayed in her video Bad Romance. The characteristics of this genre are notion of looking, women in revealing clothes and dance moves. In this video all these characteristics are featured showing its genre obviously to its viewers. There are many shots of Lady Gaga throughout this video, as she's the artist and they want the public to remember her image. There isn't really a relationship between the lyrics and visuals as most of the time she is just shown dancing to a routine. This music video is performance based with a slight narrative which builds up mainly at the end. Her body is on display a lot during the video and there are many shots when she's looking directly into the camera. Lady Gaga has used this video to promote certain brands such as Heartbeats headphones and Beats by Dr. Dre headphones.

Lust for Life by Girls is in the Indie Rock genre. Some characteristics for Indie Rock music videos are the use of a grainy effect, a narrative and performances based video and lots of close-ups of the band. The video is filmed of 8mm film which gives it a grainy effect and an independent feel to the video representing its genre well. However there is only two close up shots of the lead singer in the band as he is hardly featured in the video at all, as well as the band. The video could be described as performance based and concept based because although you don't see the singer singing, the whole video is made up of little shots where people are singing and dancing along to the song. At 1:37 and 1:43 (both on youtube link) the lead singer of the band is shown playing instruments adding to the performance based idea. There isn't many relationships between the lyrics and the video apart from the lyric 'Fucked in the head' where a girl point at her forehead. Also, where clapping is heard in the song, a shot is shown of people clapping. There is no relationship between the pace of the video with the pace of the song.

Both Pusha T and Tyler, The Creator are both in the Hip Hop genre however Tyler, The Creator is classified as Alternative Hip Hop and and you can see this genre portrayed in some parts of the video. The typical Hip Hop characteristics featured in this video are women in skimpy clothing, alcohol, an expensive setting at the start and them driving in a car. Their are other shots in this video which aren't typically Hip Hop like when they're crashing the house and when Tyler's riding around on ----. This music video consists of many close up shots of the artists, this is because they mostly rap about how they see themselves in the industry. There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals of the video. For example when the word 'tripped' is featured, someone trips over and falls to the floor. Another example is when Pusha T makes a gesture towards his mind during the second last chorus which features the words 'Trouble on My Mind'. This video is mainly performance based because throughout it they're rapping directly to the cameras. Tyler, The Creator talks a lot about pop culture icons and in this song Sarah Palin's daughter is featured, 'Tripped on Bristol Palin'.

Music Video: Filming Schedule

Music Video Idea

Star Image Analysis

I am analysing how Arctic Monkeys star image has developed over time through their music videos. Arctic Monkeys are a band formed in Sheffield consisting of Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O’Mally and Matt Holders. Their first and second albums are indie rock while the third and fourth are more lad rock and have a darker feel to them.

All the videos from their first and second albums are mainly narrative but there’s two which are performance based. In their narrative based videos none of the band members are in the videos and the performance based videos are very casual. Fake Tails of San Francisco, which is their first video, is filmed in bars and venues where they played when they were first becoming known. Their music video Teddy Picker was filmed as though they were recording the song, it also shows scenes where they’re in a pub creating a casual vibe to the overall video. It seems as though the video isn’t staged. Their videos from the third and fourth albums are more performing than narrative based and even their two narrative based videos feature Matt Holders following a similar story in both videos which allows them to become remembered by their faces. Majority of their new music videos are performing for example Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've moved your Chair and Crying Lighting. All the videos from the last two albums have are staged.

The style in which they portray themselves in front of the camera has varied album from album. In two of their older videos, Fake Tales of San Francisco and Teddy Picket, arctic monkeys are seen as scruffy young adults with no sense of style. These videos both contain close-ups of the band. From their third album, the video for Crying Lighting shows them with more of a smarter vintage feel. Suck it and See is off their fourth and latest album, this video is narrative based and Matt Holders plays a typical bad boy adding to the darker rock vibe of this whole album. 

Their videos from the last two albums all have effects except one, Cornerstone which is a very simple video. Their older videos don’t have effect and are kept to mostly natural tones. Don’t Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair is multi-coloured and has a blurred effect so all you can see are silhouettes of them and their instruments. Suck it and See has a vintage effect on the camera and so does Evil Twin. The video for Evil Twin seems as though it’s a follow on from the video for Suck it and See which is why they've kept the same effect. Finally, the video for My Propeller is in black and grey and you only see their silhouettes like in their other video. All these videos are performing based videos which show them rocking out on their instruments which adds to the rock vibe.

The main ways in which Arctic Monkeys as a band have developed is though how they're shown in their videos for instance, majority of their old videos were narrative based while now majority of their videos are performance based. They've grown in style both musically and in the way they present themselves.

Textual Analysis of a Music Video

I am analysing Nirvana’s video for the single ‘In Bloom’. The video was released in 1992 and was directed by Kevin Kerslake. The genre of this band is Alternative indie rock/Grunge and the video characteristics for them genres is generally playing instruments and acting like they don’t care. This video is performance based but the performance is based into the narrative as they’re performing on a show. It has an early 1960’s feel as it’s filmed on an old camera and is continuously in black and white. 

There is a relationship between the lyrics and the video made for this song. The title of the song ‘In Bloom’ is also featured in the song lyrics. This phrase could suggest that they’re the prettiest and most presentable they’ve ever been and will be to the general public. This song is about the fame they’ve received after their breakthrough single ‘Smells like teen spirit’ in 1991 and how people like them because other people do, yet they don’t understand what their music is really about. This is where the lyric ‘He’s the one who likes all our pretty songs’ comes from. Additionally, Nirvana are shown described as ‘thoroughly all right and decent fells’ which is completely different to how they actually are shown.

This video is split into two parts. The majority of the video is the band being shown dressed in suits and playing their instruments normally while the second is them dressed in dresses, tearing apart the stage causing havoc. The second part of the video, they’re shown as how they are majority of the time to the public. This video shows them acting differently to how they normally would, which could suggest they’re putting on a front while dressing in suits when they actually feel like being reckless and tearing the stage apart. Since this video is set in the 1960’s it could be referring to how even though their songs are just becoming popular and they’re just being noticed on the radio they’ve been around for a long time, obviously not as long as the 1960’s but I feel that’s what they’re trying to show.

This video is like their other videos in the sense that all of their videos have a performance based plot with a narrative as well. The video for ‘In Bloom’ has been shot with a 1960’s feel and in black and white, which none of their other videos have. Their video for the song ‘Smells like teen spirit’ also has a crowd but in that video, the crowd seem livelier because they jump up from their seats while in this video they just cheer throughout the video. There is close ups of the leader of the band, Kurt Cobain which is how the label can sell the track because people remember faces rather than names.

Overall this video is mainly a typical music video for the genre of this band with a few differences like them dressing smart and having a 1960's feel to it. It's similar to their other music videos as well, as they all have a performance base.

Evaluative Analysis

The typical poster conventions I have used in my poster are the rating, this will make teenagers who are around the age of fifteen want to see this movie because it’s commonly known that teenagers like to see how their generation is displayed in the media. Another poster convention I have used is making the title of the movie bigger than the rest of the font; this makes the name stand out so hopefully people will remember it. My poster has the information about the movie on the front and the release date. The representations in my poster show that the title and the picture I have used link.

I think my storyboard of my trailer for my movie idea is good because it uses the trailer conventions, I used the correct time line and I believe I have successfully portrayed the genre of the movie in the trailer. My storyboard of my trailer has the title of the movie in the beginning of the trailer and at first the movie is presented as light and it seems as though it doesn’t have a deep story line, but as the trailer goes on you find out that the film has a dark tale. My trailer follows the life of two teenage girls and as the target audience is teenagers above the age of 15, I think my advert displays that perfectly. Teenagers are interested in watching movies displaying how they are portrayed in society today. I chose paramount pictures to produce and distribute my film because I know they have produced other teenager movies like Clueless.