Lyrics Annotation

As a group we annotated the printed out lyrics and had written down what we believed our interpretation was as a group. By finding out this, we then thought about the different ways that we could inject our music video with the emotions and feelings. By doing this we decided that we could portray them through using props effectively, editing and cinematography. We, as a group talked about including a phone conversation of some sort which will bring the connection to the rapper in the video; this will introduce him initially so that the audience can see him and connect with him at the beginning instead of just suddenly appearing during the middle of the video which wouldn't make the audience feel comfortable.

Image annotation

Roles

In the video below, we all inform you in to our individual roles we will be under taking during our music video task together as well as explaining why we have agreed on these roles and our strengths in that area.


              

Initial ideas and Song details

We have decided to use Cher Lloyd's I wish song but the rap version as this will fit into our chosen genre which will be pop as well as it will fit in with certain ideas we have discussed in our group.
The image below shows the different ideas that as a group we all came up with, these are all explained below.

Our initial ideas for the video are to throw paint at the artist and have a room full of balloons and have the artist dancing in there which has a projector shining down over her. Another idea will be having a Polaroid camera, take a photo of an empty space and then we will change the picture that comes out of it and the picture will be the room filled with props such as balloons or people. Finally, we will want to have the artist singing at normal speed and then the actors in the background in slow motion having a great time.
We all agreed on the performer to be Shannon which will be the lead singer, her image will be a glamorous young girl which wants to have fun and just live. She will be pretty punk.
We will have a fun and free vibe to our video, to support this vibe we will be shooting in our schools drama room, a coffee shop and around London.

Audience Research 2

Below, this Slideshare shows just four of my questionnaires which I have carried out. These show some of the most popular choices with the questionnaire.

Genre research 3

Genre research 3

After viewing many pop music videos, I have recognised that they all follow conventions. I have made a mind map containing my findings:

Below I will show different examples to each of the different conventions that I have found.

The song will be the soundtrack to the whole music video which will start and finish when the music does.



The artist will perform in the video, either dancing or gesturing.



Close-ups of the artist lip-syncing and mid/long shots for the performance.




The artist will appear in the music video.

The video will have three or more different locations through the duration of the video as well as the costumes changing to fit in with the location.



Many different range of shot types and angles used throughout the music video.



Colourful background and colours used during the video which will show the fun and happiness of the video and music.

 

Genre research 2

Genre research 2

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6YLi0GNBTk The Saturdays – What about us

Performance: They are walking through the city and we are focusing on their leg while they are wearing shorts, these shots of their legs are showing that they are dressing provocatively and being very conventional due to many female artists in the pop genre become a sex symbol in order to sell their music. They are also dancing provocatively by moving their hand across their body, this relates back to the sex symbol.

Camerawork: There are many close-ups of each of the girl group members, this is in order for the audience to relate and have a connection with all of the members of the girl group. They have used rule of thirds which is conventional. There are many high angle shots to show the power and authority of the girls, this can be to show that the girls have strength together.

Concept: The concept of the music video is of equality, no matter of your background or looks.

Editing: In the establishing shot they have fast forwarded it so that it looks like time is pasting quickly, this could be related to the setting of the city and everything there is fast paced and also relate back to the lyrics and song, what about us, this could mean that the girls think that they are not seen and noticed by anyone so they are think what about us. They have also used jump shots in the shopping part of the music video, this is because they can get many shots and parts from the video in a short period of time otherwise it may be boring for the audience. The pace of the cuts is very conventional as they are quick and fast paced to give away the excitement.

Mise en Scene: At the beginning we are presented with a shot of the city, this is the establishing shot, where the music video will be set. This is very conventional relating to the settings as they have used over three different settings, the swimming pool, city, shops. They also follow the convention of changing their costumes.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OGyHRKMPOE The Wanted – walks like Rihanna

Performance: The convention of all pop music videos being light hearted, happy and fun is shown in this video as they are introduced and we can see all of their reactions to the woman walking in, which is humorous.

Camerawork: They have used extreme close-ups to introduce the woman which will be new to their audience which is why they have introduced her straight away as well as a panned mid shot which shows that the boys like her so that the audience will. This is also a good way how they introduce all the boys in the group.

Concept: They are trying to say that it doesn’t matter what you think, that they like you and think you’re perfect no matter what.

Editing: There are quick cuts at the beginning when they are all looking at the director, this is to show what they are all looking at and their reactions to what they are seeing.  It is very conventional to have quick cuts, fast paced.

Mise en Scene: This is very unusual to be showing the making of the music video in the music video, but they have different settings and costumes, the white suits shows the audience that they are innocent, this is very conventional within the pop genre as they tend to come across as very innocent, happy and friendly. The use of the string to control all of the boys at the beginning shows that they put trust and believe what the woman, director, is telling them even though all the others are laughing at them.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CevxZvSJLk8 Katy Perry – Roar

Performance: Katy Perry changes from someone following order to someone being in charge and an individual. She swings from a branch which was provocative as well as showering, this follow the convention that the female artist in this genre are seen as a sex symbol.

Camerawork: The low angle shots show Katy as powerful and in control, this relates to the lyrics of being like a tiger, therefore powerful and stronger than others. There are many different shot types used in this video, one being a tracking shot, this allows the audience to see the surroundings but then zooms in to the focus point of the artist.

Concept: The change from being a quiet person which will not speak out to people and bit their tongue, to now shouting out like a tiger and people will notice.

Editing: It starts off as animation which quickly changes to real life, this is very unconventional in pop genre. The music video follows conventions of having fast paced cuts which will make it more lively, happier and fun, which the pop genre is all about.

Mise en Scene: There is a small change in the settings which is following conventions, the change of costumes in this follows conventions they change with the setting, the change from a shirt to just a tiger patterned bra and this follows conventions to females which dress provocatively to sell their music due to being a sex symbol, as well as relating to the lyrics of the song, tiger.

Advertisement research

Advertisement research

Conventions:

Artist Name

Title of Album

Image of Artist

Songs from Album

Record Company

Rule of Thirds Used

Analysis:

In this advertisement, Rihanna is conveying an idea of rebellion and hardness as well as being unpredictable.

Mise en Scene – Costume – Rihanna is in black leather. This supports the idea about hardness and unpredictability. This also helps to back up the name of the album ‘Rated R’ as it shows that Rihanna herself might be rated R and different to others which she is competing with.

Design – The image is in black and white, this shows that she has no feelings and parties hard, reflecting back to the title of the album. The use of the titles also backs-up the idea about her being rebellious and not thinking about afterwards. The fonts used are different in every text. Rihanna is trying to harden her image this way. It is interesting that ‘Rated R’ is so small and hard to see on the advertisement – it is clear they are marketing solely on the image of Rihanna alone.

Camerawork - This is a close up of Rihanna. She is staring straight at the camera, as if she is looking at the viewer. This helps to connect her to her fans as well as showing the power of her and how fierce she really is.

Performance – Rihanna looks strong and although she has her hand in her face, she is glaring at the viewer.

Conventions:

Artist Name

Title of Album

Image of Artist

Songs from Album

Record Company

Rule of Thirds Used

Mise en Scene – We are presented with two sides, one light and the other dark with the artist in between them both, but there is a glow on her hair on the dark side and a glow in the background of the light side, this may be because as it she has just come from there and she is bringing light and happiness to the dark places of the world. This is conventional as artists in this pop genre are normally shown to be bringing happiness and fun. The glow/magical dust reflect to the title of the album as well as a fairy tale story, this shows her innocence and friendliness.

Design – The use of the bright gold glowing font creates the sense of a bright colourful personality and image. The little use of makeup and the blonde hair with the glow shows the natural beauty and friendliness.

Camerawork – A close-up has been used to give a clear view of the artist and allows the audience to recognise her. It also makes it more intimate as it makes you feel that you are right next to her.

Performance – The artist has her eyes closed showing a sense of innocence and vulnerability, this shows the audience that she is no threat and that she is a peaceful and friendly person. This may be in reflect to her image and music.

Performance – The artist is looking the other way to us, this is not giving us direct address but still gives an impact due to her body facing us, allows the audience to still connect with her as her body language is still open. Her arm is up behind her head showing that she is innocent and no threat, this makes the audience believe that she is approachable and a lovely person.

Conventions:

Artist Name

Title of Album

Image of Artist

Songs from Album

Record Company

Rule of Thirds Used

Mise en Scene – We are presented with dark and dull colours, the black and grey, this is very unconventional as normally in this genre they would use bright and vibrant colours to show the upbeat and happiness of their music. The artist, Florence and the machine, is especially nature and old fashioned, this is shown with the colours as well as the costume. The costume used is very old fashioned and shows her to also be like this and believe in the tradition views, this being that she will not dress provocatively and be unconventional due to many of female artists in the pop genre to become a sex symbol in order to sell their music.

Design – The use of the white san-serif font creates a sense of innocence and friendliness, this shows the artists image to the audience. The use of very little makeup and small pink flowers create the feeling of natural beauty and shows that she enjoys the outside and nature.

Camerawork – A mid shot has been used to show her friendliness by only showing the top half of her body, this give the right amount of information about the artist as people can clearly see the artist and recognise her compared to a close-up where they may find it harder. By using this shot is shows the area around her and showing the audience that she contented with her surroundings being nature.

Performance – The artist has her eyes closed showing a sense of innocence and vulnerability, this shows the audience that she is no threat and that she is a peaceful and friendly person. This may be in reflect to her image and music.

Questionnaire

CD cover research

 

This is an animated image of the main artist/singer as well as the boy (Cupid) that is featured in the music video.

There is an angle at the top, you can tell this by the costume of the angle wings. He is coming down from heaven, we can see this by the light shining down on him and him above everyone else.

The background is blue, this helps the other colours and the title stand out. The girls in the background shows what this single is going to be about, the artist getting hit by cupid and then falls in love with all of the girls separately. This idea is supported by all the girls looking at him showing an interest, this may because they are in love with him or already have been.

The costumes of the artist shows that he may not really care about his look and image which may relate to his audience. It looks like there is also holes and dirt over his hoodie which also backs-up the idea about him not caring about his image.

 

This album cover follows the conventions, it has the name of the artist, album title and the image of the artist. The close up of Lady Gaga shows the audience exactly who she is and that she is the main focus point. The props used, the sun glasses, shows the audience Lady Gaga’s image of being different and unique as well as being out there with her personality. It is also showing the girl side of her and trying to tap into the glamorous side of her as on her sun glasses there are diamonds which show the lady side of things and that they are expensive and that links back to the album name, the fame, as this is showing you what it brings you when you become famous. The use of the sun glasses and the shadow may be trying to show us that she has a different side to her as the glasses are split with two designs, they may be showing her different personalities, the normal and relaxed side as well as the different and unique side which looks like it is taking over, this is true as she has become more open with her image.

 

The magazine props are used to link with the album title of headlines, it may also be because they want to be in the headlines due to their new album as well as making it black and white it shows them to be in more colour and real. The colourful background and costumes are following conventions with the pop genre as it is shown to be more vibrant and happier. They use their female figure for the image as they try to relate to their audience that they are in with the fashion, the use of costumes on the album cover and are young which means that they can relate to their target audience as well as bringing in the male audience due to their female figure and the way that they dress; they use this to sell their album, this is very typical of women and girl groups in this genre as they will try to dress and dance in a certain way to gain a more male audience.

Record label research

Universal Music Group 

Universal music group is a record label founded in 1934 as Decca records which changed to Music entertainment group in 1989 and then finally changed to universal music group in 1996. This record label is based in California, United States, and is one of the largest record companies in the US. Due to this record label being a huge success and famous it is supporting any genre and artist that will sell.

Their main artists would include:

-          Akon

-          Nelly

-          NE-YO

SYCO Entertainment 

SYCO Entertainment was founded in 2002 by Simon Cowell and is in joint partnership with Sony Entertainment, this means that they are very wealthy and have huge names supporting it. It is based in London as well as Los Angeles. Many of the company’s signings have come from the X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent; this is due to Simon Cowell owning these TV talent shows. As SYCO is also a massive name and company, they also have no main genre that they will sign, they also will just sign any genre and artist that they believe will sell.

 Their main artists would include:

-          Labrinth

-          One Direction

-          Leona Lewis

Theories

Genre research 1

 

 

This mood board above shows many images, our group all believe that all of these images relate somehow back to the genre that we decided on, this would be pop. The image of The Sun and The Daily Mail relates back to the pop artists always being in the media and having a story to tell, this can also be due to the handcuffs as this shows the trouble that they also get in as they seem to break the law; normally by taking drugs or drinking too much and losing control of themselves. The car is in there as they often have fast and expensive cars, the money shows the artists to be rich and money to blow all the time. The social networking logos relate to the artists always being on them; having their own pages which people can like and follow. The male and female sign is to demonstrate the sex symbol that the female artist become when in the pop genre, the Katy Perry and The Saturdays show this. The IPhone is always owned by a pop artist and they seem to flaunt it to show that they have one. Finally the other images of Justin Timberlake, One Direction and perfume show that they have great taste in fashion and ensure that they always look and smell great.

Low budget music videos

Low budget music videos

A-Ha! Imogen Heap

Mise en scene

 

 

All of the images above have low key light; it is very dark with vast amounts of shadows. This is very effective for this genre as it brings that dark side of someone’s personality to the video. Added to the blood this is very conventional for this genre. This image could symbolise many things, I believe that the black background symbolises the unknown, the white hand symbolises the life and peace and red blood symbolises death and fear.

 

The way that the props have been used and shown to the audience in the video is great and gives away slight clues. The props are very conventional for this genre as they have used dark coloured and fearful objects.

 

Editing

 

The editing in this video is exceptionally hasty with straight cuts which add affect to the video which ensures that the music video fits in the genre and appeals to the targeted audience. The cuts are great and are at the right timings which create the right atmosphere and look very professional.

 

Cinematography

 

The use of close ups and mid shots work well with the genre and are conventional, using them is affective due to them not revealing too much information about the setting and artist. This gives us the affect of the unknown and makes us weary and uncertain about the artist and the setting and even maybe the lyrics.

 

 

The Fix ''Just Got Paid''

Mise en scene

 

From these images we can see that the costumes, suits, are great for this genre and fit superbly with the music and lyrics. The majority of shots have used high key lighting and mustn’t show many shadows as this will give the wrong affect therefore not fitting in with the chosen genre. The different use of costumes during the video shows the audience two different sides and personalities of all the band members, this shows how a bit of thought and effort into the costumes can have a huge affect and sets the mood.

The shot below really shows how you can make a small and plain space look really affective. The use of lighting has managed to create a great set which fits great with the genre and would be very conventional.

 

 

Editing
Compared to the previous video that I looked at the cuts are at a slower pace although still quite fast which works well for this video being of the pop genre, they had the right balance which will be an important part of my video as the cuts need to be perfect and of the right time to give the best effect possible, something that this video does. The one bad thing about the editing in this is that I feel it could of used a few jump cuts using more locations a a few shots not just of the band.

Cinematography

The shot types in this music video is what I think worked the best for them, this is because it has a very wide variety such as pans, mid shots, long shots, close ups, wide shots etc, this worked really well and something I wana do in my music video, with a wide variety it keeps things very interesting and is what made this in my opinion stand out a lot more than the previous one.

 

The conventions of a music video

Analysis of Rock Videos 2

Analysis of Rock Videos 2

Lenny Kravitz – Fly Away

 

Cinematography

This is one of the first shots we are presented with, this is showing us the setting of the music video; a very dull but packed concert somewhere underground. This straight away can connect to some of the targeted audience as they will go to these sort of places and party there.

After these shots we see the artist singing, connecting with his audience with the music. This is great to do this early on in the video, this is because the audience can then know the artist and what he is all about, from there can enjoy the music and video even more.

This shot is a high angle shot which allows the audience to see the artist as an important person with power and authority, this is also supported by the singer at the front and in the middle showing that he is the one to focus on and he is important in the video. You can also see the instruments that they are playing, this will connect to the targeted audience as well as being very conventional or a rock video.

Sound

The audio in this music video starts off as an instrumental as well as fast paced, it then builds up for the singer to start singing. The artist’s voice is different compared to other rock songs due to his being quite relaxed and laid back, but yet is still conventional of a rock star as he does shout the lyrics. This is a conventional rock song as it builds up from the instrumental, using this great idea builds the tension and makes the audience want to wait and hear what the song is going to give them.

Mise en scene

In this shot you can see the instruments such as the drums, bass and guitar; these are the conventional instruments to see in a rock video, it is also to see instruments as it shows the audience that they care about the music that they make as well as showing them that they have something in common with the audience.

In this shot it shows the setting to be really dark with only one light source but all the windows are covered up which suggests that they are having a fun time but maybe breaking the rule which is why they don’t want others to see them, the dark areas may be telling us that they don’t know what lies around the corner or in the future. This will connect to the audience as well as following the conventions of breaking rules and laws, being dark and not knowing what lies around the corner/dark.

 

Editing

The editing is fast paced and quick change shots throughout the video, this is used to show the audience that a lot is happening at this concert as well as letting the audience see things quickly but maybe not in great detail, this is conventional to the genre. The editing is identical to the song itself because they both are quick paced.

Performance

The performance in the video isn’t conventional as they have people dancing but the artist is just singing and playing instruments which is conventional. The performance is still following the conventions of rock genre which isn’t listening to rules, this would include the dancing that they are doing in the video as well as stripping.