GCT - Technical Shot Analysis Evaluation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHTSxw6zN1E

Artist: The Shins
Track: Australia

As the music video has an asynchronous narrative, the opening shot serves the purpose of being establishing shot as well as showing the ending of the narrative. This shot is a long shot and therefore clearly an establishing shot as conventionally establishing shots have a larger shot size. The ultra low angle used works well in the establishing shot because it disorientates the consumer leading to a narrative fuzz which makes the consumer want to find out more and therefore grabs their interest. I Should look in to using this technique of creating a narrative fuzz when making my own music video, because our genre’s audience consists of mainly focused viewers and therefore it is essential to capture their attention. The band is also introduced through a series of secondary establishing shots, A medium long shot of the band members in first person mode of address is shown, this introduces the artist to the viewer and because of the sot size and use of first person mode of address creates a more personal and intimate relationship between the band and viewer which gives the viewer more consumer satisfaction. When the band are shown through first person mode of address a slow tracking in is used to draw the viewer in closer to the scene. Throughout the music video more lower key establishing shots are used frequently to establish a new location of the passing of time. For example, when the truck arrives at the car park a long shot of the car park is shown to establish the new location, this is also apparent when the car sales men are introduced and when the truck arrives at a field where another long shot is shown to establish that location. There is also a long shot used of the truck travelling along from the right of the screen to the left, this long shot is sandwiched between two medium close-ups and this difference in shot size commutates the passing of time. Many Jump cuts were also present to convey the passing of time as the whole narrative is condensed into the four minute of the song.

Close ups were used a lot in the music video and always showed something that was important to the narrative, they were repeated much like a ‘meat shot’ to convey to the viewer that what was shown in that shot was important to the narrative. For example when the balloons were being cut from the cars, multiple close ups of the scissors cutting the string were shown to connote the removal of all the balloons. From this I have learnt that when making our own music video we can use multiple close ups to reinforce ideas which are important to the narrative.

The video used certain camera techniques to create a relationship between two of the characters without the use of spoken words. This was done by showing a medium close up of one character and then showing a reaction medium close up shot of the other character. This technique would be very useful when trying to show the relationship between two characters in our own music video.

In the video the only times low angles are used are when the band are shown all together driving a long in the truck. This connotes that not only is the truck large but the band have authority and that we, the audience should look up to them. However sometimes the band are shown form a high angle but this is only when one member is on his own and used to connote the fact that he is staying close to the ground and hiding from the car salesmen.

At the end of the music video as the tempo of the music decreases so does the cutting rate, this clear connection between the cutting rate of the video and the tempo of the song makes the video more interesting for the consumer as it splits it up into different sections. The slowing in cutting rate also conveys the message that the track is finishing and therefore when the track finishes it is left on a smooth transition.

CW - Technical Shot Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkITsv3Nk6M

The video took place at a school play, and so not many establishing shots could be used for location, and had to be assumed due to the opening when the curtain opened.

Nearly all shots of the band were either MS or MCU, this gave a more intimate understanding of the way the band looks to the viewer, and so I should take this into account when filming my video.

A lot of LS were used to help establish what period and setting in the story the play was in. This will be useful when establishing location in our video as we plan on changing the location regularly and frequently, e.g. performance to narrative.

CU was used to help depict an object or person as more important or vital to the narrative, this will be distinctly useful when creating my own video for 'Split Needles' as it creates a slight enigma as to why this item may be important and therefore sparks interest in the audience.

Tracking shots were used to bring the viewer closer into the scene, and could be used to give a greater understanding of the structure of the setting to the viewer. This could be useful when filming in a complex scene, and can negotiate to each scene with greater ease without the jarring effect of jump cutting. It can also be used to show things as more significant if tracked into.

Jump cutting was the only transition between shots. This created a slight jarring effect, but cut to the beat, so it gives visualisation of the beat of the music, which is exactly what George and I must take into account when editing footage for our video.

A mask was used half way through the video. This was useful as it gave a voyeuristic aspect to the video, which draws the audience in further due to the feeling of safety it provides.

High and low angles were used during the video. However this changed fairly frequently in depiction of the band, low angles were used mostly when showing the band as a whole or one member, but occaisionally a band member would have a slight high angle. This shows the band as authorititive as the audience looks up to them, but then corresponds with Dyer's paradox that the star must seem extraordinary and ordinary simultaneously, as high angle was used to give the impression as them not being as important. Something that George and I must be very careful about.

Overall this technical shot analysis has been very helpful in helping me negotiate the style of camera shot, shot size and type of editing congruent with this style of music, and will rtake this research into careful consideration when constructing my own video.

CW - Location Proposal

Forest:
Possible uses for this location would be to provide a bright setting, to have the performance section in. It would also be a strange place to have a performance scene in, and so would interest the viewer. For example we could have a guitarist sitting in a tree. Many of The Shins videos are set in, for some part a forest, and so would be in keeping with the visual motif.

Streets:
Here we were planning to use a section where a crowd is sped up around our main character. We were planning on using London for this section, as business men in suits would be walking around, which gives the effect that we want.

House:
For this location George and I were planning on using the kitchen, saturated to give an old fashioned idyllic scene, and also for our main character to get up and get dressed in the morning.
And for some parts, the performance section.

Green screen:
We may use this to place our character in strange locations or situations, e.g. to give the appearance of standing on the ceiling. We could also use this to saturate his surroundings, or to more easily do a sped up scene, or any time altering pieces, e.g. rewinding time.

We may add additional locations later on, when ideas strike us to further enhance our concept of our video. This is most likely to be for our performance shots, as George and I would like to place our performers in a variety of strange places to strike the viewer's interest.

GCT - Brighton 'Reccie'

This week Cameron and I went on a trip to Brighton for a shot ‘reccie’, we also used this opportunity as practise to familiarise ourselves with the camera equipment, practice our time management skills and practise our shot framing and composition. We both feel that we have benefited from the trip greatly and both feel we have learnt new skills. We also formed many new ideas for our music video whist on the trip.

One of the first ideas that we came up with was when we saw some light shrubbery growing from a wall, if you looked at it a certain way it would look like it was actually the ground. We came up with the idea that you could have someone leaning against the wall and if the camera was positioned correctly it would look as if they were lying down, then if you tracked the camera out it would become apparent that they were actually leaning against the wall. Below are some photographs of this idea:

As you can see here, it looks as if Cameron is lying down.

Once the camera tracks out it is apparent he is just leaning against a wall.

Another idea which we formed whilst on the Brighton ‘Reccie’ was to have the camera positioned inside a hole, this would give an interesting angled shot and because of things in the foreground add to good composition. Here is an example of the idea below:



We also had an idea which we could not test out because it would have invalidated our risk assessment. We found a area of stone slightly off a pier which waves were crashing against, we believed it would have a made a very interesting shot in a music video to have someone on the stone singing whilst waves crashed around them. Unfortunately because we did not state this shot on our risk assessment we could not shoot it. I did however take some photographs as reference to the idea when we come to plan our music video which are shown below:



The Trip was also a good opportunity to find new locations so here are some of the locations which we found and believed would be useful when making our music video.



Brighton Reccie Video:



Video Evaluation:

From filming on our shot reccie to Brighton, Cameron and I have learnt some key skills for when it comes round to shooting our real music video. By making mistakes in this shoot we can learn from it and ensure that we don’t repeat these mistakes in our music video. The first mistake that we made was to have the tripod screw done up to tightly, this meant that when panning it was quite stiff to move and lead to a jerky panning shot instead of a smooth one which we were aiming for. This is apparent in almost all of our panning shots, including our 360 pan. The next mistake we made was that we didn’t pay too much attention to the spirit levels on our tripod. Because of this a lot of our shots look as if they are tilted to one side, you can see this in our medium long shot which pans across the beach. Next time round we are going to make sure that the spirit levels on the tripod are set in the middle at zero degrees. One shot which we felt we had mastered was the POV Handi-cam shot, we are very happy with the outcome of this shot and feel that we do not need to change anything if we use it when we film our music video. Another skill that we need to improve on is zooming on the camera, the zoom is very sensitive and therefore hard to control, we both need to practice using the zoom before filming our music video. One shot where you can see how we struggle to use the zoom feature successfully is in the first, first person mode of address shot where Cameron walks down the street. Here we zoom out very quickly before stopping and zooming out again. This is also apparent in the last experimental shot. Another shot which we feel we had successfully captured was the second first person mode of address shot, here we strapped the tripod to Cameron’s chest so that it would always be locked onto his face whilst he walked around, we will definitely consider using this shot in our music video. Although we believe the time lapse shot works successfully we both see room for improvement. Because we had positioned the camera in such a way that people were walking towards it and also across it, it made the people walking across move very quickly and the people walking towards move not so quickly. If we were taking the shot again we would find a location where people would only walk in one direction, either towards the camera or across the camera, but not both.

Feedback #1 Deadline 21/9

Excellent work George/Cameron - interactive use of blog, meaningful, thoughtful research. Keep up the good work!
CF

GCT - Group Discussion: Potential Ideas & Concepts

Cameron and I have been discussing potential ideas and concepts for our music video over the last few days. We both talked about our ideas and merged some of them together to create new ideas. We both agreed that we would not want our video to be solely performance, narrative or conceptual based but a mixture of all three. We believe that this would be much more interesting as well as being in keeping with the genre of our chosen track, which is 'Split Needles' by The Shins which Cameron has already posted about.

Our main idea came from the lyrics of the song itself, when analysing the song’s lyrics we interpreted the meaning to be about a young boy growing up and his future unfolding in front of him, unfortunately he is being pressured into the set religion and ideological ideas of a capitalist job where he will be wearing a suit. By doing this he will be paid with an idyllic wife living in suburbia. The idea is that the boy does not want this and the video will show him trying to break away from these conventional ideologies and choosing his own path.

We also discussed visual techniques and how we would accomplish our preferred reading of our video through the use of these techniques. One idea that came up which we both likes the sound of was using awkward passage of time. We believed this could be used to show how the young boy is different from all the other men who have followed the conventional lifestyle. We would do this by showing the boy standing there whilst businessmen rush around him as they have been sped up. Another way to do this would be to get the actor to walk and do everything backwards, and then if we reversed the footage it would show him walking forwards whilst all the other businessmen walk backwards, showing how the boy is different from the rest of the men. Towards the end of the song the lyrics suggest that the boy has given in and that it is his time to embrace the ideological lifestyle, this is evident from the lyrics “You're old enough, boy, Too many summers you've enjoyed. So spin the wheel, We'll set you up with some odd convictions, Because you're finally golden, boy” Because of this we decided a good visual technique to illustrate this giving in to the convention ways would be the use of awkward passage of time again. The boy would be shown stepping off the curb in slow motion whilst all the business men rush past him, as soon as his foot touches the road he would rush off to as if he has joined them all.

Cameron and I also discussed some camera techniques that could be used when showing the lead singer during a performance based section of the video. We have thought about the use of a fish-eye lens during first person mode of address shots as a quirky twist to show the singer as present but absent from the viewer whilst still breaking the fourth wall.

Other ideas we discussed included things such as random people tapping on objects as the drum beats play, as if they are making the sounds of the drums by tapping their hands. Other ideas involved literal concepts which would illustrate the lyrics, performance based ideas and having a band member playing in awkward places in the corner of shots as the narrative unfolded.

We have also looked at other existing videos for inspiration and have taken a keen interest in Carpark North – Human. We believe this video has used visual techniques very successfully. Here is the video below:

GCT - ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ Cover Analysis

Artist: Muse
Album: Black Holes and Revelations

I have chosen to analyse the album cover ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ by Muse. I chose this album cover because it caught my eye as it was packed with semiotics and therefore it would be interpreted differently by different audiences. As it was in the same genre as my chosen track for my own music video I believed it would be very useful to gain a greater understanding of the genres artwork for when I have to create my own. This would also help me understand the use of semiotics in imagery

The album cover consists of four men sitting round a table which has horses on whilst on the planet Mars, this quirky situation signifies that the cover is part of something a bit alternative and from that the genre is clearly evident as indie. The artist’s are not shown on the cover showing that the artist’s are indie due to this being a convention of the indie genre. The reason that they do not show themselves on their cover art is because they want to prove a point that they are more about the music than their image and this separates them from other genres of music, making the album cover key for consumers identifying the genre. The outfits are also a key for the identification of the genre; this is because two of the men sitting at the table are wearing clothing with a repeating pattern on it. This repeating pattern is shown throughout the indie fan base and indie artists on MTV and other music channels, this makes it a modern convention of the indie genre and therefore identifiable as ‘indie’. Because indie consumers are normally focused consumers they need original, interesting and cleaver content, because of this the album cover adopts a incoherence by showing Mars, the four men wearing elaborate clothing and the horses on the table which are all seemingly random things to make it interesting for this target audience, this is another example of how the genre is evident.

Many visual techniques are used on the cover to connote and denote different things or just to comply with the common conventions of the genre. Firstly, the rule of thirds is clearly apparent as the land takes up two thirds of the bottom of the cover and the sky takes up one third at the top. The rule of thirds is also used in the framing of the men at the table who take up the lower third of the shot. This technique is used so that the picture does not look awkward to the eye and is easier to look at. Furthermore, the ground is bright orange whilst the sky is bright blue, these two colours are at opposite ends of the colour wheel and placing them together has been used for the aesthetic pleasure of the consumer. For identifying the band, a more linguistic approach is used, the word: ‘MUSE’ is spelt out in capital letters and in a bold font, taking up one ninth of the cover space, it is positioned on the left hand side so it will be the dominant reading line and therefore the first thing that is read. The word Muse is much bigger than the name of the album so that it will be the first thing to be read and so that the reading path goes from the word ‘Muse’ to ‘Black Holes and Revelations’. This visual technique is vital for the consumer to identify the band before the album. The text is also positioned at equidistance between the edge of the cover and the top, this technique is used for aesthetic pleasure. The texture in the front of the image has been used to denote the rocky baron landscape which the men are sitting in and the red colouration can be interpreted and signifies anger, rage and lust, all of which a very strong emotions. Contrastingly, the sky is blue which is cool and refreshing, being a calming colour this adds an interesting twist to the cover with contrasting emotions. The scene is lit very strongly which says a lot about the band, it connotes that they have ‘nothing to hide’ and are upfront about their music, where what you see is what you get. Semiotics in the cover are used to generate meaning for the consumer. The way in which the four men are sitting in a formal arrangement conveys the message that they are being very seriously, whilst what they are wearing connotes that they are not being serious, this contrast can be interpreted as ideological discourse on a macro level by representing formal businessmen as a ‘joke’. The cover art directly relates to the album name through the scene of mars being shown against the album name ‘Black holes and Revelations’. Pastiche is created by combining the science fiction and the conventions of the indie genre, which are completely contrasting subjects. The album cover could be considered as intertextual because at the time which it came out, Mars was the closest its ever been to the Earth and as close as it would get for sixty thousand years, this would have been useful for publicity and promotion for the band.

The band are represented through their cover art and album title to show their fascination with science fiction and political outrage. The fact that mars is shown on the cover shows Muse’s intellectual competence; this makes their ideas considerable and makes their political views and opinions more weighted and valid. This then creates a deep meaning in the bands album and songs to induce reading in a more analytical way and so that the preferred readings are read. The fact that the artist are not shown on the cover and that there are no material goods or clothing represents them in a certain way, it represents them as more about the music than their image, another convention of the indie genre. It shows them as not about building a meta-narrative purely focused toward mainstream stereotypical values of success which are about ‘what you’ve got’, for example money, clothes and material goods. As the band do not build their meta-narrative to be about their success they use it in other ways. Firstly the album cover is constructed to be seemingly random, but in reality this narrative fuzz creates a meaning for the consumer who believes they have worked out what it is about and this helps form the consumers relationship with the band, creating consumer satisfaction.

Advert:
The Advert for Black Holes and Revelations is the same as the album cover and therefore I have covered most of the points about it in my cover analysis. The image has just been made wider and the text repositioned with a bit added which says “Out Monday”. This repositioning of the text has been done strategically so that the consumers follows the dominant reading path straight to the band name and album and then down to the date which the album is out. The Advert was featured in NME magazine but was located at the bottom of the page on the right hand side. This is a cheaper part of the page because it is the last place a reader will look as it is last along the dominant reading path. The way in which the band just use their album cover as an advert and do not show themselves in it comply with the conventions of the indie genre where it is more about the music than the band’s image. This also creates more of an enigma which entices the consumer to find out more about the band and that way lures them into focused consuming. This can also be looked at in conjunction with Dyer’s theory on ‘Stars’ where the consumer buys into thinking they have ‘worked out’ the advertisement and helps them form more of a relationship with the band.

CW - Alternative Moodboard

CW - Auteur Video Response

An auteur is someone who has his or her own creative vision portrayed in filmic media. The word comes from the French word for author, and is a very prestigious title among the media.

I have recently been viewing a few auteur music videos to help inspire ideas for my own music video.

So far watching the videos have helped well. 'Street Spirit' by Radiohead uses strange time altering effects, like speeding up or slowing down time to create a strange looking visual style. I also liked the use of two different scenes being merged into one so that the lead singer could interact with himself in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPX3u0XJzKM

'Human' by Carpark North was also a video that I enjoyed immenseley. Its use of time rewind was ecellent in creating creepy effects within the characters. I especially liked the stop motion with the chalkboard, creating scribbles while keeping on the same, fixed point. I also liked the boy banging the desk, and all the other desks flew up at the time he hit his fist. This video was a great example of a conceptual piece, which is what I hope to emulate when creating my music video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmfU9jS5lZg

Lastly, I watched 'All is Full of Love' by Bjork. This was a great video, however it used a lot of expensive machinery and CGI as I watched a video on how it was done. Very little of this video can be taken away and used in other scenarios. Although, altering passage of time on water, as done in this video, gives a very good aesthetic effect, and could be used to convey an asynchronous narrative if used correctly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjAoBKagWQA

I enjoyed all of these videos, and a few more, but I thought these videos were the best to analyse. The thing I have found most about these is that altering passage of time can be used to give very different moods and effects. This would be useful for my video as this effect could bring out additional meanings of the lyrics, which would be vital to my concept.

CW - Chosen Track - 'Split Needles' By The Shins

After much discussion George and I have decided to choose 'Split Needles' by The Shins. This is due to my familiarity with the song and its lyrics, and the sustained imagery throughout the song will be interesting to explore. The meaning of the song is very cryptic withing the song and we hope to convey this conceptually in the video. Our percieved meaning of the song is that of being unsure of the dominant ideologies present in society. Albeit religion, capitolism or coupling. And the seeming meaningless of life without them.

Here is a link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b84TyRyZenE

Song lyrics are:

I've done myself an impossible crime,
I have to paint myself a hole and fall inside.
And if it's far enough in sight and rhyme,
I get to wear another dress and count in time.

Oh, won't you do me the favor, man,
Of forgiving my
Polymorphing opinion here
On your vague outline.

Find myself another burning gate,
A pretty face, a vague idea I can't relate,
And this is what you get for pulling pins,
Another hole inside the hole you're in.

It's like I'm perched on the handle bars
Of a blind man's bike.
No straws to grab, just the rushing wind...
On a rolling mind.

They'll want you to decide
Eventually, it happens-
Some gather on one side,
With all their pearlys snapping,
They close the basement door,
That sets our teeth to chatter,
You never saw it before,
But now that hardly matters.

You're old enough, boy,
Too many summers you've enjoyed.
So spin the wheel,
We'll set you up with some odd convictions,
Because you're finally golden, boy

It's like I'm perched on the handle bars
Of a blind man's bike.
No straws to grab, just the rushing wind...
On a rolling mind.

GCT - Indie Music Moodboard

CW - Wincing the Night Away - Cover Analysis

Artist: The Shins

Album: Wincing the Night Away

GENRE

The genre of the artist as shown by the album cover art as alternative. This is due to its artistic and seemingly unconventional stylings. The lack of artist depicted onto the cover is conventional in indie or alternative bands. The scrawled art over the cover is also not rare in alternative album covers, e.g. The Automatic - Raoul. This gives artistic and care free connotations that appeal to the demographic. These album covers usually have a cryptic meaning to them, and relates to aspects of the songs in the album, or the album title. This album cover is enigmatic, as its meaning is not obvious to the viewer. These designs are often conceptual, and do not display the members of the band, to try to give an anti-narcissistic image. This certainly is present in this album cover. The scrawled image and drawn on math paper connote a childish picture, and through that, innocence, which desexualises the band, which is common in alternative bands, as to show they are more about the music than their image. The image being on math paper also approaches capitolism, causing a challenging ideological discourse on the dominant value that money is the route to success. It conveys this message by putting art onto something that should normally have numbers on it, abandoning the intellectual route to wealth and success, instead opting for expressionism. Many alternative bands try to convey this in their cover art.

MEDIA LANGUAGE

'The Shins' are written along the dominant reading line in the top left corner to be in aggreance with rule of thirds. 'Shins' is written the largest as this is the band's name, and so therefore stands out for branding, and catches the eye first. 'Wincing the Night Away' the name of the album is then written under the name of the artist. The 'blobs' are also drawn in concordance with rule of thirds, as these are the most aesthetically interesting places on the text. Texture is used in the text. The image appears to be scribbled on mathematics paper, the gaps in ink at some sections create the feeling of it being scribbled and creates imperfections. The maths paper background has a slight yellow tinge to it to indicate age. The image however is just in black, what is to be presumed pen ink, it is greyer in some areas. The images on the maths paper are blobs composed of what looks like cells, with fagella coming out of them. This can be presumed due to it looking like the process of two 'blobs' breaking apart as in single cell reproduction, mitosis.

This combination of techniques create a meaning to the cover art. The meaning created here is an overview statement on life. Being that all life is, is consuming and reproducing, repeat. This can be shown through the blob in the top right corner apparently about to eat the band name. It has also just split off from another blob, amking two blobs, and growing long flagella used for movement. The yellow tone of the paper shows that this process has been going since the beginning of life as it provides connotations of age. This is enhanced by depicting organisms with a visable cellular structure. The fact that it looks like it is written on maths paper implies this was drawn at school. The significance of this is that we are being told by the band that school teaches you to carry out the process: consume, reproduce, repeat. The way that the ink looks scrawled emphasises that this is a young child drawing this, and so we are taught this early on. The reasoning that the picture is drawn onto math paper may also mean that, through the logical connotations of the math paper, that creativity is also groomed out of children at school.

Intertextual refences shown here are of parody to a Sam Cooke song 'Twistin' the Night Away' as The band's lead singer James Mercer was an insomniac when writing the songs on the album, and so 'Wincing the Night Away' plays on the song title. Pastiche is created through art and maths being combined from the maths paper and scrawled images. These two areas are usually conflicted in use, but are however brought together to produce meaning.

REPRESENTATION

The band are represented artistically to display their intellectual theologies on life. This creates an enigmatic sense around the band, and inspires deep meanings to be read from the text and lyrics. It also displays them as being anti-image, and show that they are more about the music they create than their looks and makes them look like material goods, e.g. money aren't of importance to them. they do this by not showing style of clothes or expensive aspects about them, however wealthy they may be. The album title adds to the meta-narrative as the audience finds out about James Mercer's insomnia they feel they are building a relationship with the band through knowing things about the band's personal life.

INSTITUTION / AUDIENCE

The text can be consumed in shop windows and on shelves easily and should catch the eye of the demographic they are appealing to. This text is to be consumed by the audience to learn more about the band through their theologies and personal lives. This is evident through the title of the album being distinctly visible so attention is drawn to it for the audience to decipher. The images printed are also easily visible and are placed according to rule of thirds to become aesthetically, more interesting. Therefore it is apparent that the band or record label wants to make the meaning of the images to be read and consumed to bring the audience closer to the band, creating loyalty.

ADVERTISEMENT

This cover was also used as advertisement in NME magazine to promote their new album. Not much can be said about the advertisement, that hasn't already been said in my cover art analysis already. However, dominant reading path of the page also corresponds to that of the dominant reading path of the album cover, therefore the band name, and title of the album is read first, and is drawn to the eye.

The advertisement was placed at the bottom left hand of the page. This is a fairly expensive part of the page as the left side is where the eye begins to read from. This is not the most expensive though, as the top half is more expensive as the eye reads from top to bottom also.

The fact that the band or label uses the album to promote themselves means that they are still avoiding being the image themselves, and so produce more of an enigma to the viewer, and depict themsleves as being 'all about the music' and art. The cryptic cover art poses as a puzzle to the viewer, and so the viewer tries to find out more about the album and band, and so may end up buying into the band. Creating a parasocial relationship between the band and the audience. This is inkeepingwith Dyer's paradoxical theories on 'stars'. The band seems both close (due to the solving of the album cover presented to the viewer, forcing a relationship to be built due to the viewer thinking they know something about the personality of the band through finding meaning in the cover art.) And far away simultaneously (because of the obvious literal distance of the band, and the pictures of the band being absent in the cover art. Lack of normal ideals also help to distance the band from the viewers relatability.)

The advertisement was available on thier myspace page also. Here it was on the left hand side, directly below their media streaming interface. This gave a direct link if people like their songs, on how to purchase the album.

The advertisement further promotes the band and album at the same time. It's crypyic message within a seemingly simple graphic is what excites and sustains viewers interest in consuming the text.

GCT - Product Analysis

Mr Brightside – The Killers

I have chosen to deconstruct the music video ‘Mr Brightside’ by ‘The Killers’ because not only do I enjoy the song but I found the video very interesting, quirky and incoherent. I did not fully understand the video and this narrative fuzz caught my interest as it is exactly what I hope to achieve with my own music video. This gave me the opportunity to look at the video in detail, deconstructing it to help me understand the meaning behind it and hopefully gain an insight into the world of making music video and use this information to help me when making my own music video.

The video is predominantly performance based but also includes an intertextual narrative. It is very clear that the video is a music video as it follows many of the typical conventions outlined by Goodwin, for example at the beginning of the video the band are show performing on a stage with the lead singer in front and the drummer at the back. This demonstrates one of the main rock music video characteristics and therefore follows the conventions of the genre. Another conventional trait that the video follows is the clear link between the lyrics and the visuals. An example of this is in the lyrics where the singer sings, “And she’s taking a drag” and at the same time raises his hand as if he were smoking, this is also an example of illustration. The use of the video in an illustrative way is evident throughout the video, another example is when the audience are shown interacting in a intimate manor, whilst this is happening the lyrics “But she’s touching his chest. Now, he takes off her dress” are sung, this reinforces the conventions of the genre for the consumer. This is also apparent during the performance based areas of the music video where ‘meat shots’ are shown of the lead singers face.

Another example of the way in which the video follows the conventions of the genre is the use of females in a voyeuristic way. The women are dressed in burlesque style clothing whilst dancing around in the conventional burlesque way, this strongly suggests the notion of looking and therefore conforms by ‘Goodwin’s’ theory of the characteristics of a music video. Intertextuality plays a key role in the ‘Mr Brightside’ video as the whole video is based on the film “Moulin Rouge” from the art style to the narrative. Obviously this reinforces the conventions of what a music video should be by conforming to Goodwin’s theory, but also creates meaning for the audience who would think about the connotations which are associated with ‘Moulin Rouge’ and apply them to this music video. In this case, it works very well as the narrative in ‘Moulin Rouge’ is very similar to the meaning of the song and exactly the same as the narrative in the video, this technique is used to help the consumer understand the video and meaning of the song. The video does present some challenging ideologies and ideological discourse as the typical ideological view of artists is that they live the life of luxury and nearly always get their own way. In the video however the artists are represented in such a way where things are not going to plan and their lives are filled with jealousy and traitorous alibis. This is apparent through the lyrics “I just can’t look its killing me, And taking control, Jealousy, turning saints into the sea, Swimming through sick lullabies, Choking on your alibis, But it’s just the price I pay”. There is also ideological discourse if you look at the intertextual references as kitsch. Conventionally successful bands are original and if they do copy other texts it is done in a respectful way, in this video however the whole narrative seems to be taken from ‘Moulin Rouge’ and recreated in a way which feels like a worthless imitation, this unconventional way of making intertextual reference can be seen as ideological discourse. More ideologies are shown through the main singers dancing and showmanship. His mannerisms on the stage reinforce the ideologies that rock artists are born performers. Another example of ideological discourse in the video is the way in which the lead singer is represented as camp through the glitter on his face and movement but it is apparent later on in the video that he is heterosexual whereas typical ideologies would suggest that camp men are gay. On another level the video is nearly always going to be a promotional tool for the band, and this is no exception to that, The video blurs the boundaries between music videos, advertising for the band, art with its burlesque styles, the lead singers performances and promotion though adding to their meta-narrative, therefore the video could be considered as post-modern.

The video uses visual techniques very cleverly to provoke certain emotions and convey messages to the consumer. One of these techniques is the use of camera angles. At the very beginning of the video a MLS (Medium Long Shot) is used as an establishing shot of the stage to show the band and then cuts to a MLS of the audience to establish the scene and situation. This technique works very well as it is instantly apparent to the viewer who is the band and who is the audience and lets the narrative unfold smoothly. Another camera technique used is when the lead singer starts to sing, a track in shot is used to draw the watcher in and concentrate on the singer and his lyrics. Another techniques used to keep the viewer focused on the lead singer is to use ‘meat shots’ again and again, as well as being a conventional characteristic of rock music videos this technique keeps the consumer focused on the lead singer. The camera is also used in synergy with the tempo of the song and as the drums start, the camera movement starts; this sub-consciously provokes the feeling of energy in the consumer. Techniques such as editing are also used in building the atmosphere of the video. Suring the opening establishing shots the cutting rate is very slow to match the tempo of the music, as the music tempo increases so does the cutting rate. This connotes the energy of the song through the visual techniques to the viewer. The lighting in the video is a dark shade of red, this would connote luxury, lust, anger and many strong and rich emotions, this and the use of lots of luxurious props such as carpets and golden statues connote luxury and the date the video is set in which is the 1800’s. The use of lots of glitter and shiny objects connotes glamour and this tied in with the women’s burlesque costumes lead to the voyeuristic treatment of women, another convention of the genre. One of the women who feature in the video is not wearing burlesque style clothing and is wearing white instead, this connotes purity and detaches the women from the other women. This visual technique is key for the audience understanding of the narrative as this character is directly involved with the lead singer. This is apparent later on in the video when the lead singer and this woman kiss. The lead singer is also wearing make-up which would add to the glamorous atmosphere.

The band and artist are represented in a glamorous way through their costumes and also by the use of glittery make-up on their faces but the lyrics suggest that they are jealous. This adds to their meta-narrative by showing how still face the common issues like every day people. By showing how they have been successful against the odds they appeal to the audience as this allows the audience to relate to them and would help sell their products because it makes them seem accessible by the audience. The video shows the underworld burlesque styled people as glamorous, happy and successful as many of them are seen smiling and enjoying themselves whilst surrounded by glamorous objects. On the other hand it shows the trustworthy common performers who are the artists as unhappy, this is apparent as the lead singer can’t get his own way and sings the lyrics “Gotta gotta gotta be down, Because I want it all”. This represents the underworld social group as more successful than the artist’s social group which would also be the audience’s social group. This means that the audience can relate to the artist as they feel that they are ‘on the same level’ socially, and ultimately this helps the artist sell their product. This also reverses the common ideologies and conventions that the ‘good guys’ beat the ‘bad guys’ causing more ideological discourse.

The consumption of this video would be primarily through music channels such as MTV. MTV is a good channel to target the target audience though because the social demographic that watches MTV is the same as ‘The Killers’ fans. Because there is both performance based aspects and very cleaver narrative the video is available for consumption by either focused or ambient viewers without the worry of any flicking between channels and losing interest. The focused viewers would be able to recognise the intertextual references to ‘Moulin Rouge’ and this would keep them fixated on the video. On the other hand, the ambient viewers would be able to drift in and out of the video watching the performance based areas and enjoy the art style without thinking in detail about the meaning and purpose of the video.

By using Richard Dyer’s framework it is apparent that in the video the artists have constructed a set of semi-mythological meanings to make up their ‘star’ persona. By looking at the lead singer it is immediately apparent that he is both present but absent simultaneously. This is achieved by showing close up meats shots of his face so that the consumer can form a relationship with him but at the same time this shot is shot in a well lit studio and the singer has make-up on. This means that the consumer is not seeing the ‘real’ artist and therefore he is absent. Another feature constructed by the artists is their youthful sexual magnetism, they are all wearing make-up including the men and there is a lot of interaction between the lead singer and the women which is very suggestive of sexual activities.

CW - What Can We Take Away From This ?

When George and I begin to plan our musc video for our track, it is vital that we adhere to both the ambient viewing audience, and focused viewing. An exciting, bright video will obvioulsy grasp the attention and focus of the audience, pleasing both a focused viewing, and an ambient viewing. However, this may not be within typical conventions of our chosen genre of music, as alternative music is usually a grey, or moody toned video. However, the challenge, and aim of music videos is to stand out, so that the artist stands out. As the visuals of the video must be seen as exploratory and original, so amplification of the lyrics and sound must be used to further enhance meaning of the track. This excites mainly focused viewers, and occaisionally ambient viewers subconcioulsy. Our idea must advertise the artist, creating a brand image, create or use a motif, so that audiences can immediately associate the image with the artist, and use the idea of bricolage. Which is where a combination of styles presently in use in the world are combined to create a new, genre-less individual design. This, as it does in the music video market place will hopefully create an area to which build on to confuse and stimulate the audience by creating an enigmatic sequence for repeat viewing, and therefore producing a succesful music video.

CW - Why Are Music Videos Postmodern ?

Music videos are considered post modern due to the cross between advertisement, and art. It is partly advertisememnt due to the music video trying to sell a product: The artist.
Music television is exploratory, and as it crosses over ideas and styles already available, which therefore makes it postmodern. The viewer discovers new music, which can be postmodern, as there are no narrow typologies and music videos are encouraged to be more and more out of the ordinary. It also contains new sources of inspiration and stimulation, using new ideas by combiining genres already around, to excite the viewers. This makes the music video postmodern as it challenges stereotypical views of music, and television, which could be considered art. While still promoting the band or artist and creating a brand image. However, the visualisation of music is postmodern in itself. Combining two forms of art, to become one, through synaethesia. Another aspect of the music video that is apparent in its avant garde attributes would be the visualisation of the lyrics of the track. These can be literal, amplified or completely ignored, in disjuncture. These theories can be used to amplify a meaning to a song, and reinforce or challenge ideologies challenged therein. This, again is a postmodern feature of the music video, enhanceing original art by combining it with another. Which is what postmodernism is all about.

CW - Product Analysis

Artist: Radiohead

Track: Just

GENRE / NARRATIVE

I chose to analyse this track due to the simillarities in genre and style of the tracks both I and George have chosen to consider for producing a music video for. I therefore hope that analysing this video will stimulate ideas I had overseen before, and help me to better myself in creating and analysing this form of video.

The genre of the track is of indie-rock, or alternative music. Typical conventions of this genre, especially British alternative music videos, is a grimy look to the location, and dark lighting. This is evident in the track, especially in the opening. Here, a middle aged man is displayed wearing a grey robe, in a dark grey appartment, which is slightly saturated. This is not uncommon in alternative music videos, and gives dark, depressing connotations, due to lack of colour. This suits the meaning behind the lyrics and video, which are not entirely at disjuncture in this aspect. Other connventions evident are the performance pieces shown at different intervals during the video. This advertises the band as genuine, in how they can perform in reality. This is further enhanced by the realistic style and form of the video, denying the artificial look for the band. This makes the band feel easier to empathise with on a personal level, and gives a sense of verisimilitude. One example of the video not conforming to typical conventions of indie music videos, or any music video for that matter, is use of subtitles. This ensures that the viewer concentrates on the narrative instead of the music, and has a focused viewing of the video, but a passive viewing of the music. This is odd as it is the video that is being brought out, and not the music. It seems that the music is being advertised through the use of the video is a different way than others are. Here the video is the focal point, and the music is just in the background, so the music is advertised through riding the coat tails of the video. Instead of the music being the initial product. Another convention typical of indie bands is style of dress. This can include either bright, colourful and inventive costumes, or dark toned suits, and smart casual wear. Here the band dresses in smart casual wear. This is obvious as three members of the band are wearing dress shirts, the lead singer a tie, and one guitarist a blazer. This video conforms to typical conventions within this genre. It is however unconventional in the style of narrative, which is cut between the performance pieces, and eventually becomes part of the performance piece. This is due to the narrative being conceptual in basic form, which is rare in most videos. The video reinforces Goodwin's theory that music videos demonstrate geenre characteristics. For example, the performance piece of the band.

The lyrics are mostly aplified through the visuals. The meaning of the lyrics are unclear. A popular reading of the text is that it is about someone letting an abusive partner into their lives. My own reading of the text however is about the crippling and inescapable feeling of guilt, and how the choices you make in life are from where all your suffering comes from, which matches meanings taken from the lyrics in the chorus 'you do it to yourself, and that what really hurts' this states clearly, unlike the rest of the lyrics that the pain in life is caused by you, and that that is the worst part of it. Other lyrics confirming this theory are: 'Don't get my sympathy hanging out the 15th floor' This lyric reinforces the theory that the meaning to the lyrics are that all the bad things that happen to you are your own fault, and so, people in trouble, pain or, in the literal case of this particular line don't deserve sympathy. This line is illustrated literally in the video by the lead singer looking out of a high up window to the man laying on the floor. This part has a clearer link between lyrics and visuals to easier tie in the performance and the narrative together. This was done to show the bands belief in this philosophy, as Thom Yorke, the lead singer wrote the song. 'You've changed the locks three times, he still comes reeling through the door' In this line guilt and regret is metaphorically represented as 'he' and changing the locks, but 'him' still coming through the door shows that the guilt is inescapable and will always find you. This meaning is found in the video as the reason the man lies on the floor could be thathe will be better off lying on the floor, not going, making choices, and therefore making more oppotunities for regret. 'And soon he'll get to you, teach you how to get to purest hell' The meaning of this lyric is amplified by showing everyone lying on the floor at the end of the video, after finding this truth out from the man on the floor, as they also find out they are better off lying down, 'He'll get to you'. This line talks to the audience in a way that this applies to everyone, and that the realisation of everything being your own fault is the worst punishment of all. This line is also amplified, just as the others are, but there is a less direct illustration of this lyric in the lead singer's facial expression when saying 'hell' he construes his face to connote an anger or hellish expression.

There are links between the sound and visuals, in the way of change in speed and volume. At the beginning, the lead singer is shown walking in slow motion from the feet, then the cuts are made in increasing speed, to then show the singer's head slowly rise. This links with the sound rising in speed and volume, as the head finishes rising the track begins to slow again. Once sound is at normal speed again, shots become longer, and cuts happen less frequently. This is known as synaethesia. This links the visuals as less speed in the music creates less excitement in the viewer, and so longer shots are needed to fit the connotations of the sound.When the sound slows completely down at 'Holy cow' the cut is not made at the end of the line, and instead carries into the next one, which then cuts once the music becomes more eratic. This is to link with the note at the end of the line being carried on to the next line. In the last chorus, the sound becomes very eratic. This is displyed through the performance, as the band begins to through themselves around, and thrash about. This creates a chaotic connotation which ties with the eraticness of the sound. The last note of the chorus is also drawn out, with the camera tracking into the mans face to tie in with the narrative, and build the enigma of why the man is lying in the road. This draws out the intrigue. The music builds while the man is telling why he is lying down, the visuals match this by creating more intrigue by not subtitiling the man, and showing the reaction of the band. The music then reaches conclusion once everyone around the man is shown lying on the floor as well. The conclusive sound and conclusion to the narrative match each other.

This video could mainly be considered as art, while also advertising the band. This is why the music video is postmodern. The video presents challenging ideas, as to say all the suffering in your own personal world is created through your own choices,a nd how you interact with other people. This is a provocative, thought provoking idea, as the philosophy of the video makes it so that you cannot blame others for your faults or pains, and that this is the worst kind of pain possible, that you have created it for yourself, and so there is nowhere to hide from your regret and guilt. The video is however also an advertisement as it contains a performance piece of the band, displaying them as genuine musicians, and so this attribute of the band is commercially shown to the public from this product. The use of meat shots force a band image onto the audience. The fact that the product, or music video can be considered art in itself, can force the video to become advertisement, as the band is now conveyed as deep and thoughtful through the challenging ideas of the music video. Videos are postmodern as they are visual representations of sound, combining sound, art and advertisement. This is because the band needs to be advertised, but such a long advertisement must be entertaining and exciting, otherwise a wrong brand image will be created and viewers will lose interest, so art is created within the advert to entertain. The 'art' in the music video also advertises certain styles of living, clothes etc. Which again, combines art with advert.

MEDIA LANGUAGE

Visual techniques are used at the end scene, a bird's eye view is used, while tracking right from the original man on the ground. Here, many more people are displyed lying on the ground. This depicts the sheer volume of people affected by what the man has said. It also displays the people as more insignificant, which is part of the message of the song and video. The bird's eye view is however shown after a middle angled meat shot of the band looking out of the window. This conveys that the band is more significant, and more powerful then the people below them. A low angled shot is used directly after a man trips over the man lying on the floor. The low angled mid-shot connotes that the man standing up is more in power than the man lying on the floor, who is consequently displayed in a middle angled mid-shot, so in comparison the man who fell over gives a more powerful impression. This is then further shown by the man who fell over, crouching over the other man. A lower angled shot is then used when the man starts to become angry. A very high angled extreme long shot is used to then show more people approaching the man lying on the floor, and higher depicts them as insignificant charachters. These characters are then, later, and quite contadictingly given low angled mid-shots to give the impression of importance and authority over the situation. Interestingly, the police officer is the only character to not be given a low angled mid-shot, despite having the obvious authority over the situation, he is instead displayed with a middle angled mid-shot, then a bird's eye view. Giving the impression of having less authority than the other characters in the video. This creates a ideological discourse on institutions having the power in society, and challenges the stereotypical view. At the beginning the camera tracks in to the back of the man who later lies on the ground. This establishes him as the main character to the audience. Throughout the narrative sequence of the video, a brown filter is used to connote a depressing, mundane feeling amongst the viewers. The video is also slightly saturated to give the same impression. These impressions tie in to the costumes of the people in the video. This is due to the people all wearing suits and uniforms associated to office jobs, which are stereotypically viewed as mundane and dull jobs. A blue filter is however used at the start of the video to help depict the man as depressed, and give a cold, sad feeling to the man's character. This inspires sympathy for the man, just as the characters later are sympathetic to the man. This gives a grander meaning to the video, and shows that the meaning is universal, including the audience. The saturation and brown filter was not used for the performance piece. This is because the performance piece has a energetic feel to it, and so the connotations of the filter would conflict with the synathesia of the performance in the chorus. It also advertises the band as brighter and seperate from the boringly depicted people. During editing only jump cuts are used during the middle and beginning due to the jarring effect it gives, and so coincides with the rythm and beat of the music to give a greater relationship between visuals and sound. However a fade is used at the end when everyone is laying down to join with the slow tracking shot. even though this gives a slowing effect for a relatively fast pace of this part of the song, it fades into a different shot with the rythm.
There are no intertextual references in this particular video. Nor were there any identifiable popular culture references. Perhaps pastiche is used in the difference between the crowd's and the band's costumes, due to the different styles (smart and casual) but also between the brown filter not being used for the band, making them seem younger in comparison. This produces pastiche in combination between two styles, times and ideologies, which are mixed and then brought together at the end as the band looks out the window. The meaning created through use of this makes the audience appeal more towards the band's apparent style and lifestyle through 'cult of youth and beauty'. And forces the corporate culture further from the viewer's appeal, due to the crowd embodying the negative associations of that lifestyle.

REPRESENTATION

The band are represented in a stereotypical indie band style. This is due to thier particualr style of dress that is supposed to seem unique and strange to the viewer, but is however actually quite common within alternative music videos. This approaches Dyer's paradox of the band seemingly ordinary but both extraordinary at the same time. Here the band is wearing white trainers, jeans and suit jackets/leather jackets or a black shirt. These seem as ordinary clothing to the viewer, and so are relateable to the audience. However jeans and white trainers and leather/suit jackets worn casually suggest rebellion, which is then hightened when one band member is wearing sunglasses, giving connotations of rebellion and unapproachableness. The performance also conforms to the paradox as the performance displays the members as talented musicians, and so makes the artist-audience relationship inaccessible, which then inspires the viewer to try to regain this relationship through continued consumption. The paradoxical opposite to this situation is maintained by the situation of the performance, which happens to be a run down unglamourous appartment. This directly conflicts with connotations and feeling produced by the performance. The situation forces connotations of normality and fiscal commonality. The extraordianry side of the band is also hightened by the brown filter not being used in the scenes they are present. This makes the band feel more vibrant and youthful, conforming to 'the cult of youth and beauty' therefore making thier status feel unapproachable to the audience. This style created for the band helps to sell them as a product due to thier seemingly artistic and original stylings. The audience wants to buy this sense as a product to show something about thier personality to make themselves seem unique, original and meaningful in the way they are. There are two age groups represented in this video. This is only a slight difference, but they are conveyed very differently. The younger demographic presented by the band displays a more vibrant and care free aspect of life, while the middle-aged people are displayed as boring and depressed people trapped in a corporate life. Therefore the auideience aspires to be the younger demographic, and so rejects the office lifestyle from the 'cult of youth and beauty' shown through the band. This creates a challenging ideological discourse on wealth equalling success and happiness that is conveyed in other genres. The lack of other ethnicities other than white suggest that corporate life is dominated by middle class white people, which fits with the stereotype and reinforces the common ideology that other ethnic groups are financially lower in comparison. More men than women were depicted in the video. This also fits the stereotype and reinforces the common ideology that men do the work and women stay at home to do housework. The institution present in the video is the police. A police officer is called over and tries to deal with the man, as the others in the crowd let him be in charge of the situation. This conveys the police officer as an authorititive figure which is stereotypical. However this is negated at the end of the video as he is also shown lying on the floor at the end of the video. This creates a challenging ideological discourse on the hierachy within society, as the police officer is shown to be in the same situation as everyone else. The video makes a statement upon corporate life, and how mundane and pointless it is as it becomes the same, day in and day out. This is done to appeal to a younger audience, as it displays problems that that demographic does not have to deal with just yet. And distances the band from this formal image created within the crowd. Making the band more relateable.

INSTITUTION / AUDIENCE

This text would be consumed at a focused viewing mode almost definitley. This is due to slow editing, slow paced narrative, containing subtitiles, and the complexity of the narrative. However, parts may be viewed ambiently, for example the performance sequences would be viewed ambiently without problem as it contains musical talent and contains faster editing and more aesthetically interesting shots, without complexity in meaning. Channels this would be viewed on would be the musical hits channels such as 'MTV', 'TMF' and 'The Hits' and other popular music channels, excluding those more aimed at R&B consumers. This piece would be more aimed at rock or alternative music stations due to its genre that conflicts heavily with such genres as rap, due to its oppositional ideologies concerning wealth and success. The record label would play a promotional role in this text. It would advertise the complexity of the messages in the text to create an enigmatic aura and attract consumers that enjoy this kind of entertainment. This video would be promoted as an art form to attract the correct demographic, which purposefully, is also the majority of the indie or alternative demographic. This creates a puzzle for audiences to figure out, and becomes a talking piece due to the cryptic ending, which further promotes the track.

GCT - Procedure for Making a Music Video

Before I outline the procedure for making a music video I will firstly define what exactly a music video is. A music video can be referred to as ‘post-modern’ because it blurs the boundaries between entertainment programs, short films and advertising. Therefore it falls into none of these categories yet all of them, this is why we refer to it as ‘post-modern’. Essentially a music video is a promotional tool for the band or artist that are being shown, the video is used to help boost CD and record sales as well as online downloads.

The first thing that is done in the procedure of making a music video is the time management. The average music video has a schedule of five weeks and the different tasks in the in the making the music video are allocated into this time, once the time management is done the treatment can be written. The director’s job is write a treatment that reflects the mood and feel of the song, usually coming up with a conceptual, narrative or performance based idea and in many cases a mixture of all of those. Whilst writing the treatment the director needs to keep an eye on the budget and often will be restricted in what he or she can do by the budget. Although in many lo-fi music videos a low budget is the appeal of the video.

Once the treatment is written and finalized the planning begins, the director will usually only have about a week to complete all of the planning and that means that everything needs to run quickly and efficiently to finish on schedule. The first step of planning is that the director will make sure that all the documentation and copyright agreements are valid so that there are no issues with the record label that the artist is signed to. Then the director can set about looking for locations, when choosing his locations he needs to keep in mind the treatment and find suitable locations which reflect those in the treatment. The director will also receive help from the production manager when finding the location as the production manager typically deals with logistics such as locations and props. The locations must also have enough space for equipment and crew and can’t be anywhere which would be too dangerous. Finally, the last thing that needs to be checked before a location can be used is if you need permission to film there. As well as deciding all the locations the art style needs to be in keeping with the bands image. This is where the production designer comes in, they are in charge of the sets overall image and the director of photography who makes sure all the cameras and lighting are set up correctly. There is also the role of choreographer for dance routines the production assistant to ensure continuity between shoots, a wardrobe artist and many of crew members such as electricians.

When the planning is finally over the shoot can begin. Typically the shoot takes around seven days to complete which would include five days of planning and two days of actual shooting. Because the sound for the video is pre-recorded in a studio, no microphone sound is recorded during the shoot. But this does leave one issue of lip syncing, it is essential to maintain almost perfect lip syncing otherwise the video will look very amateur and un-professional, therefore the song is often played in the background for the artist to lip sync to. After the shoot is complete the editing and post production beings and the final version of the music video is put together ready for exhibition.

The final stage of making a music video is the exhibition. The video will be broadcast to consumers through television on music channels such as MTV. There will also

CW - Role of 'We Media'

We media denotes an idea that technologies are becoming more interactive for the audience to contribute to a webpage or other such technologies. Web 2.0 is usually used to describe such aspects of the internet. An example of this would be a website where people could post comments or ideas for communal discussion. It is a way information can be shared between a wide variety of users regardless of distance. An example of these such websites would be facebook, youtube or twitter. Facebook allows users to upload photos, music and to post opinions and comments onto others own pages. This is an example of we media as the music or photos posted up onto their specific page can be viewed by anyone else on the website, and commented on and shared, recommended and promoted through this way of exposing the media form to a wide variety of people.

Youtube is also such a site and is a tool greatly used for promotion of bands, as the music as well as a music video for it can be viewed for free, and uploaded for free, and is available for everyone on the website to view. More people viewing that particular piece of media means that the piece becomes more popular, and will therefore appear higher up on the search list, promoting that video further and further. Typical bands will have a fan page on facebook where a few songs of the bands can be played and listened to for free, and will contain tour dates, photos of the band to promote image, small biographys and a way for the fans to communicate directly with the band for free.

We media in this aspect acts as an interactive advertisement, and to the hope of the advertisers, will inspire the audience to purchase their product and further promote themselves.

CW - The Role of Digipaks

A digipak is a style of compact disc or DVD packaging that was created by AGI Media. They are usually card folding 'book' with a plastic tray inside to contain the CD or DVD. Digipaks are alternative to the jewel cases usually used for full albums of bands. Digipaks are usually used for singles, and appeal to consumers through their exclusivity. Digipaks grew largely in popularity in the early 2000's among record labels. Companies are starting to favour digipaks more and more due to them ebing able to be made from entirely recyclable materials, creating low carbon credits.

The digipak goes about creating an image for the artist just as art on a record sleeve used to. This was through creating an image onto the digipak as art, or an image of the band, or a mixture. The connotations of the image printed onto the digipak. This helps to assert a motif for the band or artist, promoting the bands image further.

The exclusivity of the digipak also creates a feeling of loyalty to the band, where the consumer feels the need to 'collect' merchandise of the band. The digipak often says 'special edition' making the consumer feel the digipak is rare, making them want to 'collect' it more.

The digipak also often contains a booklet containing the lyrics of the songs of the band, which makes the consumer feel they are getting more fo thier money.

The branding and promoting of the band usually mostly comes from the image on the front of the digipak, promoting and branding the artist through connotations, styles and attitudes in the picture, which would appeal to certain demographics and lifestyles. Promotion also comes from the feeling of exclusivity of the digipak when advertised.

GCT - How Audiences Consume a Music Video

Audiences consume music videos in two different ways. These two different ways can be identified as ‘Active’ and ‘Passive’ consumption, but for analysing consumption of music videos, active and passive are referred to as ‘Focus’ and ‘Ambient’ viewing.

During focus viewing a consumer will actively choose to switch to and watch a music channel. Focus consumers are attentive watchers of the music channels and therefore form a deeper relationship with the videos and channel. Because they attentively watch the music channels, focus consumers are usually much more critical of the channels advertising and therefore more suited to adverts which are subtly integrated into the channel and feel more like a music video than an advert. If the adverts were not subtly integrated a ‘focus’ consumer would be likely to lose interest and flick between channels. Therefore ‘focus’ consumers demand more innovative, cleaver and original content to satisfy their needs and keep them consuming the channel.

Ambient consumers on the other hand consume the music videos on a secondary level in the background, they consume the channel primarily in audio form but would glance at the screen to consume the visual every so often. Ambient consumers usually consume the music channels during communal situations, for example, when they and their friends are getting ready to go on a night out. Because the ambient consumers are not so focused on the channel this gives ambient consuming a greater mass appeal than focus consumers which you would find to be more fanatical about music channels. Because ambient consumers are not watching attentively they surf the channels less which means the adverts no longer have to be cleaver and inspiring. In fact, the adverts are more successful by adopting a repetitive characteristic and repeating themselves over and over again. This type of advert is sub-consciously consumed by ambient viewers.

From analysing the way in which consumers consume music videos, and identifying the two types of consumption: active and passive, I can now take that information away to use in the planning for my own music video. I will firstly identify the type of audience which would be watching my music video. This audience is most likely to be ‘focused’ consumers. Once I know for definite the types of consumer my audience will be I can then tailor make the music video to their needs. For example, if my audience are focused consumers I would spend extra time making sure that my video was original, innovative and cleaver to ensure I capture and maintain the consumer’s attention.

GCT - Responding to a Track

Artist: Pixies
Album: Surfer Rosa
Track: Where is my mind?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EE59Ex5Px4

This track belongs to the genre of alternative rock, you can tell that it is part of the genre from a few distinctive features. Firstly the unique voice that the singer uses would strongly suggest that the song is alternative rock. This backed up with the type of instruments used and the way in which they are used means that it is very clear and easy to tell that the track belongs to that genre. For example, the use of electric guitar as the lead instrument and drums as a backing.

From analysing the way in which the track sounds and makes me feel, although it would make different people feel different ways. I believe that the track represents a lo-fi video. This is due to the fact that it contains many modest and humble aspects. For example the lyrics talk about things that everyone can relate to and do, furthermore the actual sound of the track is very raw. Therefore I believe that these aspects would be best represented by a lo-fi video. On the other hand, a high-fi video may also be considered due to the track being a well known classic, therefore having to live up to the expectations of the consumers.

Many videos can be comparable to what I imagine the video for ‘Where is my Mind?’ as long as they a rock videos that are either performance based, concept based or even performance based with conceptual aspects. Two of these comparable videos are:

Foo Fighters – The Pretender
Kings of Leon – On Call

The Foo Fighters video is performance based with conceptual aspects and the Kings of Leon video is just performance based.

Unfortunately I could not find the exact budget for the above videos but as both of the artists above are signed by larger record companies I could find out the relevant average statistics. On average a large record label will spend between $60,000 and $150,000 on a music video.

A quick outline of the treatment for the music video for the song ‘Where is my mind?’ by ‘Pixies’ would be: As the track starts slowly, the singer would fade in from black appearing with the iconic image of a microphone, then as the guitar is introduced the guitarist would be shown, the same goes for the drums. The location would then start appearing around them and the viewer would realise that they are all in trees or hanging from trees whilst performing. A second line of video could show a narrative being told at the same time. This would allow the video to be performance based whilst still having conceptual aspects and also a narrative.

The location is very important to the video and therefore suitable locations would include woodland areas, a tree house location and even high sandstone rock areas. A second very different location or set of locations could be used to distinctly show another line of action taking place so that the consumer doesn’t get confused about which the performance based section is and the narrative based section.

The actor which I would use for the singer in the video would have to match the voice of the singer and therefore this decision is very important. As the voice is very unique, the use of a unique person would be suitable; therefore I have decided that an indie styled character would work well to play this role. The person would have to be skinny and not stocky as the voice is a higher pitch.

When considering special effects I listen to the tempo of the track, the style and the sounds. From this I think that using black and white effects would work very well with this track and even a possible sepia effect would also work well. The use of fades would be successful and a colour filter would also be suitable. Pro-filmic effects would include the green screen.

For making the video I would only need to ‘employ’ a few people. I could do the planning, filming, editing and post production by myself and therefore the only roles that would need to be filled would be that of the actors and extra helpers on the set. A singer, drummer and guitarist would all need actors for and I would possibly need an extra set of hands for the set equipment and props.

CW - Responding To a Music Track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPGZddFSsQs

Artist: Late of the Pier
Album: Fantasy Black Channel
Track: Broken

The band Late of the Pier play mainly Rock or Alternative tracks in their genre. But, are also occasionally said to be in the indie-pop genre. This can be told from the heavy use of the guitar in the melody, and a synthesiser used as a backing track, which is common in alternative music. It is also a four man band as opposed to a single artist, this suggests further that the band is in the alternative genre, as single artists are usually confined to pop, rhythm and blues and rap music. While Rock and Indie/Alternative artists are confined to bands.

The track represents high-fi kind of video due to the grain of voice not being gritty at all, with the backing synthesiser conveying a more techno theme to it, which negates the possibility of a low-fi video, this creates more of a feeling of colour and excitement, which is usually used in more hi-fi videos as opposed to low-fi videos, which often use a lot of grey tones.

Videos to be compared with this track would be Space and the Woods, also by Late of the Pier. Due to the track sounding similar to the above mentioned track, and the band and music being of the same genre. A common aspect of these videos all of the same artists are that many of them are located in woodlands, strangely enough, they also contain retro style animations when the location is not in the woodlands. This gives two very different and contradictory images to the band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iudSY7tOrq8 - Focker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMUUIWryE8Q - Heartbeat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFQKZp2D-LY - Bathroom Gurgle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YeF_Iu0bzg - Space and the Woods
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFIyPZnmcyo&feature=fvsr - The Bears are Coming

I was unable to find the budget for the Space and the Woods video, but the video mainly used animation and so may have had a low budget. As no payment had to be made on location and props. Heartbeat by Late of the Pier however used expensive locations in their video, and extravagant props, and so had a high budget.

An outline of a treatment for this track would be to take the lyrics of the track extremely literal, e.g. when the lead singer sings ‘the cold water running past my window kept me crying out’ show a man yelling next to a window with water running down it, fast forwarded to convey excitement and a disconcerting feel. And when ‘its all evolution’s fault now’ show someone pointing and making aggressive movements to a picture of Charles Darwin. At gaps between lyrics a conceptual approach will be taken, to split the video into many segments and maintain interest in the viewer. During the beginning of the song there is a small instrumental introduction to the track. Here I could use this time to start a conceptual narrative to tell a story in between lyrics. An example that I could do during this section could be a chase scene. The song is about drugs and prostitution, making a statement about how sleazy the world has become 'echoes in the crowd' could be spelt 'echos' is a slang term for ecstacy. Which is half of the chorus directly after 'It's all evolution's fault now.'

Grain of voice is not gritty or rough at all, and is fairly high pitched and soft, although masculine. This means that characters used should be that of a less obviously/aesthetically masculine man, perhaps skinny, with medium length to long hair to conform to the genre also. The character should be a white, young adult male to fit this grain of voice and wear clothes conforming to this genre of music, this would be clothes such as cardigans, slim fitting jeans, plimsoles or converse. However in many of their videos they are seen topless, and so may not be required to wear shirts.

Pro-filmic effects that would be used in the production would be lighting effects, pouring the water, perhaps glitter, and perhaps breaking items/props while filming. Later in post-production, effects used would be to put music with the picture, put in any animation, and put the images onto where the green screen was in the shot. I may also need to consider black and white effects and a fade as a transition between two shots.

Others I may need to ‘employ’ would be characters or actors to help play the roles I have chosen in the video. Others I may need to use may be for people to hold the lighting, or general runners needed to help run the set. I may also need to hire musicians to play instruments during a performance piece, e.g. a guitarist, drummer. I would of course direct and edit the footage I shot for the video on set and so would not need to hire a camera man or an editor.