Goodwin In my post on Goodwin's theory of music video I did an in-depth analysis of the music video to The 1975 - Robbers according to what he theorised encapsulated music video. He proposed the idea that every music video follows 6 conventions:
Music video demonstrates genre characteristics
Relationship between lyrics and visuals
Relationship between music and visuals (illustrative, amplifying or contradictory)
Demands of the record label requiring close-ups of the artist and/or recurring motifs
Frequent reference to a notion of looking, particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body
Intertextual references
The core of his theory was that any music video would demonstrate genre characteristics, in the way of costume, colour, editing, performance footage etc. Looking at a range of genre here are some of the characteristics I found:
Electronic
Bright/neon colours, particularly in pastel, and against dark backgrounds
Fast paced editing
Slow-motion
Costume is often edgy or kinky (collars, chokers, leather, boots, heels, latex)
...
Indie
Representation of the artist as ‘edgy’ (tattoos, drugs, working class backgrounds, boots, leather jacket, ripped jeans)
Natural locations are used for filming (a diner, streets, a hotel room), as these are cheaper and more accessible
Recreational drug and alcohol use, connotes a sense of rebelliousness, stereotypical of the indie genre
Low-key or no lighting is used, music videos are often filmed in the day
Performance footage, showing the lead singers' skills as a showman
A look connoting individuality and uniqueness (e.g. long hair, quirky, often vintage clothing)
Plot Synopsis: A young man (played by The 1975’s lead singer) and his girlfriend are the focus, the video, which follows their relationship through various scenes as they team up in a small town and rob a shop, partaking in recreational drug and alcohol use with their friends along the way.
1. Genre Characteristics
The 1975 are an indie rock band and there are many signifiers of this throughout the video:
Representation of the artist as ‘edgy’ (tattoos, drugs, working class backgrounds, boots, leather jacket, ripped jeans)
Natural locations are used for filming (a diner, streets, a hotel room), as these are cheaper and more accessible
Recreational drug and alcohol use in public locations
connotes a sense of rebelliousness, stereotypical of the indie genre
Low-key or no lighting (naturalistic) is used, as the music video is filmed in the day
Some performance is used, though as part of the narrative, showing the lead singers skill as a showman, and in one shot the lead singer is shown teaching his girlfriend to play guitar
A look connoting individuality and uniqueness (long hair, clothing) - more under point 4
2. Relationship between lyrics and visuals
The lyrics are relevant to the narrative of the music video, so no disjuncture is created, instead there is amplification and illustration.
‘Her balaclava is starting to chafe’ references the bandanas the couple wear when they rob the shop
‘One more line’ - the woman is doing a line of drugs
‘If you never shoot you’ll never know’ is heard when the lead singer is holding the gun
‘Now shoot him if its what you’re worth’ is heard before the music fades out to hear the sound of a gunshot from within the shop
‘We’re driving past my old school’ as the lead singer and his friend are driving away from the crime scene
‘She says ‘babe, you look so cool’’ - in the scene in the diner the girl gives her boyfriend a note with the same words written on them
3. Relationship between music and visuals
The lead singer of the band is seen lip-synching, amplifying the vocals
Cutting to the beat
Short, fast cuts as the pace increases
The music fades out for 20 seconds as the couple enters the shop, so that the shouting and gunshots can be heard to (diegetic sound), which increases suspense
4. Demands of the record label requiring close-ups of the artist and/or recurring motifs
There are many close-ups of the lead singer (Matt Healey), as he is the frontman of the band
No attention is drawn to other members of the band, as the lead singer is the most famous
The lead singer is seen taking drugs, drinking, and wearing ripped black skinny jeans and a leather jacket - part of his image and recurring motif (of when this music video came out several years ago, the band's motif has evolved since)
5. Frequent Reference to a notion of looking, particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body
Both the male and female bodies are framed voyeuristically,
both the male and female gaze theory may be applied
In the scene where the lead singer is performing, the microphone is held against his girlfriend’s mouth, creating a phallic image
The use of the gun, which is only ever seen in the lead singer's hand, never his girlfriend's makes for an interesting point on guns and masculinity, be it a toxic relationship, and also a phallic object, although a point is made on this in the video, as initially he is seen playing with it, and later is shot. The band has made note on regretting including the gun, as they are now notoriously anti-gun.
6. Intertextual references
The music video concept is based off of the film True Romance(1993), directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino, and the plot follows the story of an Elvis fanatic and a prostitute, who kill the prostitute’s pimp and steal a case of cocaine, and end up on the run.
The plot of the Robbers video is similar, and many shots very directly reference scenes in
the film, and the letterbox format of the music video also makes it look like a film
Side by side shots of True Romance and Robbers to show the references
I like this section in on the battlements where they appear to be in multiple places at once, its a simple effect but really effective when cut to the beat
Throughout the video performance footage in the car park is shot from in front, then at the end to show the conflict in the relationship, and the emptiness of the break-up/death (or death of the relationship?) the 180 degree rule is broken and we are shown things from the singer's point of view, it really throws you off, I like that it was saved for the end
In the bridge of the song there are these shots with loads of layering, with out of focus lights, and different shots of Evie herself, they worked well to show depth to the emotions of the character after her relationship, being overwhelmed, feeling everything at once, and that tied in really nicely with the underwater shots (as though she's drowning in these feelings) and the bath shots
The 3rd person point of view shots of Evie, that feel as though she is being watched worked well, especially since they're contrasted with the close-ups of her face where she is holding the camera. It was a notion of looking without being gratuitously voyeuristic, and the scenes where she is sexualised, she is sexualising herself (post-feminism)
All the performance footage is really brilliant, with the painted-on tattoos for realism and the performers actually having learned sections of the song
The effect on the drums when he first starts playing looks really cool and ties in with goodwin's theory (amplification)
The slow-mo cross-cutting worked really well
There aren't a lot of narrative shots, maybe expanding on that could have been good, and the baking scene was a little too cheesy compared to the rest of the video which is edgy. This binary opposition works to make the lead singer appeal to a wider target audience, as he is not only edgy, but there could have been other ways of showing the couple doing cute things together
The paint powder is absolutely brilliant
... Oliver Hendon - Gecko (overdrive)
By Ida
I really liked this one overall
The way she sexualised herself, showing a lot of skin, and then completely shoved it in the audiences face by smearing the red stuff all over herself was really well done, if i were to do it though I would want to make it even more repellant, doing something like setting it up with a girl licking ice cream, to it eventually ending in her smearing the ice cream all over her face.
The performance footage of her outside was really good, the make-up looked professionally done and she definitely had a consistent aesthetic
The solo dancing shots of the break dancer were high quality, and the hand held camera really kept my attention on the screen (with the mix of hand held and tripod shots)
... Nine Inch Nails - Sunspots
by Joe
I also really liked this one
The face paint was simple but effective
During the bridge theres a bit where everything was rewinded and sped up and it just worked really well
the layering was one of the better ones from all the examples
In this quickfire challenge I was shown a song by my teacher, and then challenged to come up with ideas for a music video, with the aim of then creating a short (approx. 1 minute) section of that music video. Adam Ant - Cool Zombie
protagonist wearing dungarees and flannel, chewing straw, progressively has more and more zombie make-up on, perhaps during chorus is in full zombie make-up (non-linear element)
or everyone else around him is a zombie - intertextual reference to of the dad franchise for an older audience, The Walking Dead for primary younger audience
About climate change - degenerative - maybe classroom setting, sitting an exam, students become more and more animalistic. Intertextual ref. to Nirvana - Smells like teen Spirit - outsider school setting.
Outsider in this classroom is protagonist, watching everyone devolve, at the end runs outside, the world looks apocalyptic somehow (look at FCPX plugins/filters, aybe layer flames over the top)
For a non-closed narrative, perhaps a police officer grabs them at the end (even though they are clearer smarter than other in class)
Point - don't always be too literal, not having an actually monkey, implied more through this degenerative behaviour
boy taking pictures of girl in car, suggested she's taking clothes off, he is encouraging her to, maybe lower the shoulder of her T-shirt
cuts to later, he's looking at the photos - they start moving, she flips him off, maybe does some gross things (maybe stuffing her mouth with dirty food
she grows old
focus on 3D with the photos
black and white
colour correction
have a go with motion
This one is definitely my favourite idea, and I want to work on my technical skills, especially in FCPX and having a first try with Motion
THE BREIF: A promotional package for the release of an album, to include a music video (large task), together with a website for the band/artist and a digipak for the album's release (smaller tasks)
INDIVIDUAL BLOG - MUSIC VIDEO - DIGIPAK - ARTIST WEBSITE - MULTIMEDIA EVALUATION
There are 3 assessment objectives ("AOs") AO2 - 20 marks Application of knowledge and understanding show how meaning is created may be excellent/competent/apparent to a satisfactory level as demonstrated in all areas of assessment AO3 - 60 marks Ability to plan with detailed evidence Discussions and revisions The journey of the production Sense of branding across 3 products Appropriate use of technology in making meaning apparent for the viewer Digital creative tools are used Creative critical reflection May be detailed/excellent/competent/satisfactory AO4 - so marks Ability to undertake and apply appropriate research - evidenced in detail on the blog examples, conventions, audience, institution May be excellent/relevant/competent/satisfactory
This Blog This is my A2 Media Studies blog which will follow the research into music video conventions, with the final goal of producing a music video for a song by indie/alt/electro artist Aem. Following research into early music video, this blog will follow a clear line of reference for influence on the eventual final cut. ... My Media Experience up to Now After creating a music video to The Smiths - How Soon is Now? 2 years ago, which had very few practical effects, and drew very much upon The Smiths original work in the 80's, mainly narrative based, and then creating an indie social realist film opening last year, this project will be quite different, as a lot of it is more based in aesthetic and visuals. The in-depth conventions research on film openings, and the final cut of me and my partner's film opening, The Journey, can be found on last year's blog, which showcases how my technical and practical skills developed over the year, using FCPX software, and Sony A58 cameras as hardware. The Final cut of our films opening: ... The final Cut of The Smiths - How Soon Is Now? musc video form 2 years ago:
... What I Hope to Achieve By the end of this academic year I hope to have attained more knowledge on the conventions and history of music video, and ultimately create a video to a level at which both myself and the artist I'm working with are happy with. This will mean more attention to detail than in previous projects, and a higher level of technical skill (no accidentally blurry/out-of-focus shots, precise editing, clean effects). I also hope to create some unique/original visuals through the use of practical effects/editing, or to at least explore more of what can be done using both FCPX and practical effects. ...
