Embarrassing, the simplest word I can use to show how it felt to try and look cool during a photo-shoot. Me and the group travelled to a room that was free for use and we were able to find a technician who was able to set up a sole spot light on us and we all tried to pose in our coolest indie/rock styles but we all looked embarrassing. I don't think a modelling career is going to follow this media coursework, the style we tried to go for was limited as we did not have a budget for clothes, in a style used by the script and we were then limited by our time as we had to be finished within half an hour as a class were schedule after us. We couldn't get a group photograph at that time as there was a fault with the camera that stopped us being able to put a timer on it and there was no one else available to take that picture but once we have a picture we will upload it onto our personal blogs and the group blog.
Although the two pictures are in no way similar The Script are a well known band who use dramatic poses in photo shoots, the image on the right is meant to symbolise the sadness in the lead singer (me) due to the emotion used in the song. Each photo-shop may that be professional or amateur usually has a meaning behind e.g. a theme of what the band are trying to show such as sadness, or happiness. We are going down the road of sadness and emotion as the song we are doing a cover for is fill of emotion.
Edits are really important in music videos as a continuous story show or continuous performance many become boring and tiring towards the audience who maybe want a little bit more entertainment or a quick break. Many music videos such as The Fray- You Found Me use these types of edits such as a birds eye view looking down on a major city or a time lapse, doing these creates an one screen visual spectacle to enjoy for the audience rather than being continuously shown the same type of camera shots from the storyline on the screen the edits like the ones mentioned make the music video look a lot more professional and makes it look as if a great deal of effort has been put into the music video making us appreciate it more.
Our music video progress is coming along on schedule, we have so far completed a number of key scenes we plan to include into the music video. The picture below is just one taken from the set of where the music video is being filmed, the setting of the music video is very dark with one single spotlight coming over the top and giving a nice clean video and image. On our Group Blog we have analysed the risk assessment that comes with the setting and we are going to include other images we have taken.
Post Modernism is a very hard topic to understand and it confuses many people including me but the typical connotations of it are somewhat basic. There was then and then there is now, There was Romanticism which was basically surrounded by the belief that god did this and god did that, but nowadays we are more aware of the Government input and we are less trusting to things that years ago would pass us by, but just like societies' judgement has changed as has music in some way there is differences in music and not just via genre but in terms of Post Modernism.
Romanticism basically shows the artist through their songs, artists like Adele who sing it from the heart truthfully and in their own way sum up this type of music.
Modernism, artists like Eminem who have created their own format with their irony and experimentation(such as his mocking of other artists) this sums up these type of artists.
Post Modern is probably the easiest to describe, people like Lady Gaga who is their own person, not a copy and have created them self is a credit to themselves as it embraces the culture of society, Artists like Kanye West are also apart of this due to the way they "Big Up" themselves through their own ego and status this is a revolutionary idea that was unheard of .
An example of Post Modern type of music is 30 Seconds to Mars in the music video below:
This music video contains basically a documentary throughout it, this shows the originality of the band even if it wasn't their own idea to create this. 30 Seconds To Mars also uses post modernism key terms in their music video as they acknowledge that the "City of Angels" AKA Los Angeles is a hyper reality meaning it doesn't truly exist in the way that many people believe that it does. Many people are homeless and have lost their dreams there and this music video helps to show this. It kind of exposes the truth of the city rather than it be viewed in its Hyper Reality through rose tinted windows, the music video focusses on the views of many celebrities and also people that we would consider lower classes to get a good comparison from the people who live or are from there
This music video is an A2 media studies level music video produced as a final coursework attempt by students just like me, this music video is done to a good standard of production through all the key aspects needed such as lighting, sound, camera shots, edits and even the acting involved.
Lighting the lighting from first view is very full so doesn't make anything stand out and seems to be of a low production level but this is probably down to two things either the camera was not very good so the resolution and quality was very low so it doesn't make things stand out very well, or the music video itself was done this way to fit in with the dullness and low tone of the song itself to make the two work in harmony together. The flashbacks done in black and white was a very good piece of production as we as an audience can understand that it is a flash back due to the dramatic colour change.
Edits, the edits used are extremely good and creative they are used all the way throughout the music video from the very start, the first noticeable one is when the camera's resolution quality is turned better throughout the filming so as that it zooms in to the main actors face. Another good piece of editing is the extremely quick quick cuts used to create the bin becoming full of paper balls. The use of Photoshop and the way it is incorporated into the music video as still shots was very very creative as it lets us as audience see happier times of the main actor with what we find out to be his former girlfriend. overall the level of camera edits was very creative and also gives myself ideas that could actually be produced during the filming of my own music video. The eye-line match used later on in the music video helps us see the close relationship between the two characters as it uses a shot reverse shot of the two characters looking back at each other smiling
The props and clothing used is very indie as it does not fit in with the normal song, the actors are wearing goofy Christmas hats despite it not being a Christmas song the outfits as well show us how the couple were "meant for each other" and also how the both matched in the relationship as they were both equally weird rather than it being a boring relationship, The music video production is very indie with very limited funds clearly available it shows that this group adapted well in their production in terms of setting as filming it in an open setting helps us see it as more of an indie music video and helps us believe it more and shows it taking place in real world instead of a Hollywood set.
I think the music video could of been improved if the camera the group had available was of a better quality and if the acting was slightly better as in some moments it seemed to pause on specific scenes for too long because the actors took too long during their queues, the lip syncing was very good which is usually one of the hardest aspects of creating a music video but this group done it very well even if it wasn't used a lot. i felt that more lip syncing was what this music video lacked as it focused too much on the relationship of the past rather than what is happening between them two now.
Overall rating from myself 8/10
One Republic- Stop and stare
Within the opening 30 seconds of this song it is clear that there is going to be a very powerful message portrayed in the music video throughout he characters shown we are shown extremely quick jump cuts of random images that at that time make no sense to us, there are numerous stories occurring throughout the music video of different people but they are played by the same person.
The lighting in the music video is sometimes very dull such as when he is in the bath to show that this specific character is in a very dark place in their life. The lighting changes throughout but still relatively stays dull to un-promote the happiness in this song.
The lyrics contain very subtle elements that in turn tell us the true meaning of the song, the lyric "Steady hands just take the wheel" contain that the person in the music video is unsure of what they're doing and in turn is not on a steady path in life. The person in the music video is constantly Stopping and Staring in life and because of this he has no idea how he got the life he has now and he wants to make a change in life. The different characters although played by the same character represent different people in the way they could possibly "stop and stare" in life the song is suggestively a wake up call in that the persons life needs change for the better or they shall end up in a grave in the middle of the desert without any people close to them to miss them.
Another powerful lyric used is "Time to make one last appeal....for the life I lead" this shows that this is the persons last chance at redemption to live a life worth living otherwise they may as well not be alive and the man in the bathtub is a representation of suicide of where the current life he is leading may take him.
The setting of the desert also connotes a lonely place which could may well represent some people personalties and their own life as they have no one to share it with so this is the reason they just walk through life without enjoying it. The crowd setting represents the way people from all sorts of life can blend in together without any of them standing out. they are all Stopping and Staring through the window of their own lives.
Here is my Production log, this is a way of making sure that people in the group are organised and so that they know where to be and when. By creating this production log this meant our organisation was up to a great level and that we can get our music video completed as soon as possible.
To get to know the people in our group better we done this personality test to see how well we knew each other. We had to choose which colour we thought we all fit into to reveal our personalities, we then had to have a discussion to see why we thought we fit into each other and why. we came up with the following results
Joel Lampkin- Blue due to my confidence and enthusiasm towards the effort I put in to my work
Scott Jenkinson- red due to his ability to problem solve and due to the fact that he is outgoing and creative
Jack Hughes- Green due to his laid back style and the description of him is accurate as he is a thinker rather than a creative person
This is my design for the album cover, i think although the album is not as colourful as some album covers. this album cover shows the type of band we are trying to create, Humble with stars in our eyes, many bands become obsessed with drugs, alcohol and money. The band's name we haven't thought of would be in the top left hand corner, the album cover represents the album name due to it having the word "cat" in it. The album cover like the band is very simplistic and i think gives off a good feel that will attract the genre and target audience that we are aiming for. Me and my other group members are going to create a poll and let people decide on the album cover and the band name in a questionnaire.
Here we had to mime the lyrics to the Foo Fighters song, Learn to Fly by doing this we would learn how to match up the song to the actions on the video which we would have to do when editing our music video.
This is a link to my group blog questionairre this questionairre is extremely important as it could decide what we include in the music video and everything we plan to do along side it. The questionairre is very short and will take no less than 3 minutes and it would be very benficial to myself and our group, thank you!
Carol Vernallis is music video theorist who specialises in interpreting the roles that editing, narrative, meaning and continuity play in a music video. She also specialises in the way that sound is project through a music video to make it look like the sound is diegetic to keep the continuity running and how thinks are done such as editing with transitions and camera shots to keep a piece of text continuous. Carol Vernallis' theory goes into more detial about the key aspects that she finds important, shown below.
Editing Continuity:-
Edits are created and certain camera shots are used to show importance of a certain scene that is taking place in-front of the audience such as a close up of a gun and a shot then the person lying on the ground to show the audience that they have been shot.
Edits:-
Allowed to be used and not pointless due their special effects used such as a fading out for example.
Jump Cuts:-
These are used to speed certain things up, to keep the story moving. The use of jump cuts is often very frequent because a lot is needed for a music video and the audience will get bored of seeing the same scene over and over again.
Camera:-
The camera is used in synchronization with the music so as that it all has a certain rhythm and that nothing looks out of place .
Editing
is often shown "Cutting to the Beat" this is to keep it intact with the music so as that nothing looks out of place, the phrase is used and shows certain glimpses of the music video and what's going to be in it without revealing the full story in it such as a story about love and showing hand holding to not give anything revealing away. Camera movements are sometimes done to show the illusion of an edit, an example of this is panning the room to a number of people at a party moving from place to place continuously to show the continuity of music video and to also set the scene.
The Fourth Wall The fourth wall is a fairly modernist term as it says that there are boundaries within a piece of text that should not be broken, the best example of a modernist text where the fourth wall remains intact is FRIENDS. Friends especially the scenes in Monica's apartment very rarely showed the "Fourth Wall" the camera shots often set the scene but we never see the other side of the camera mainly because it shouldn't be any different when it matter of fact the fourth wall is the TV set where the camera are filming from. Framing
Carol Vernallis states that one of the key and most important camera shots used within a music video is the establishing shot, this is because it makes a music video seem more distinctive and also sets the scene for us to having something to relate it to such as Seeing a skyline with a certain light and recognising the time of day. This can be shown in the music video for The Fray- You found me as they constantly use Establishing shots to set the scenes they use it at least 3-4 times within the music video.
"Music videos ignore common narrative as they are essential advertisements. As consumers, we make up our own meaning of a song in our minds: a music video can anchor meaning and gives the record company/artist a method of anchoring meaning" Basically iconography makes up what an artist is about as it shows key things about the artist they make them who they are. an example of iconography is shown below with the make up used by the band KISS they perform in black and white make up which is extremely iconic and well known to the world.
In most music videos the meaning in the video is similar or is in contrast to the lyrics where they play against the story in the music video. JLS uses iconic things in their music video such as showing their chest to reveal their muscles. Iconography can be shown in many ways not only with props and mise-en-scene but with also the cinematography used in the camera shots such as lots of camera shots and camera shots such as lots of close ups and long shots. Britney Spears' music videos uses lots of close ups to show her emotion and focus on the fine detail involved. The music video below is an example of iconography as they reveal their muscles, by wearing tight tops and or taking their top off. In my music video that i am creating i shall plan to include something that will be iconic, such as a key scene or a facial expression. This theory will come in useful when producing our music video as it is very relevant to what we are trying to produce, after giving this theory some thinking i have come up with a couple of ideas such as the facial expression whether that be angry or sadness of every character involved.
(Morris) the main person behind semiotics stated that there are 3 stages in which semiotics happen they are:
Perception Stage- This means to become aware of object and or sign
Manipulation Stage- This means that the person interprets the sign and has decided how to respond to it
Consummation Stage- The person responds to the sign
Denotation
The denotation of something is the literal meaning involved, an example of this is if you find the definition of car it states:
An automobile.
A vehicle that runs on rails, esp. a railroad car.
This is the denotation as it gives the direction meaning of something and tells you what it is Connotation
The connotation of something is the meaning behind something rather than the actual definition of what it is, an example of this is:
A woman in white in a music video, this connotes that the woman is pure as the colour white represents purity.
The signs is this video are extremely touching and significant the transferring back to his past shows his happiest times, the slow music between his music awards and achievements show his importance
I am not a huge music fan but my interests in music are spread about between a number of different artists through different genres. Such as i enjoy music from Swedish House Mafia, The all american rejects, Wiz Khalifa and Eminem. My music interests tends to develop from the genre most popular in the UK top 40 as my music is probably influenced by social influences on me such as my peers.
I dont really have a favourite album cover but there is a number that I admire such as
This is a album cover by Aphex Twin called window licker this Cd cover stands out to me due to the sheer level of comedy they have included in it, its not typical and its not representing the band in any way but it just shows the band have a sense of humour and stands out from the crowd due to the humour involved. It will appeal to the target audience of teenagers who also find it funny and comical.
Intertexuality is a serious homage to a certain piece of video, an example of this is Marilyn Monroe's music number "Diamonds are a girls best friend" is repeated in a homage by Madonna- Material girl. it is different to a parody as it is a serious video rather than a mock of it.
Shania Twain's homage to Robert Palmer's - Addicted to love is a true homage as it is a serious music video and not a comedy or a parody. Shania has adapted the same type that Robert has created and has added a gender reverse/twist with the dancers in Robert's music video being women while in Shania's music video they are men. Other examples of intertextuality include, Taylor Swifts' love story which was a homage to Romeo and Juliet and included serious parts rather than a parody.
In my own Music video we will look at intertexuality as we plan to feature two main characters in our music video story such as a man and a woman we may plan to include a homage to a music video that has featured an argument between a couple such as a Britney Spears music video. The theme we a re going for is delicate so we cant create a complete replica we need to keep our music video our own as the band is still well known and the themes may conflict.
We have created our groups for our music video production and we have also created our group blogs the address is below, I may not post all the time on this blog but i shall post on the group blog frequently as will my partner. Please check our our group blog below which will include up to date step by step guides about how we created our music video and what our aims are.
Wikipedia's definition of an album cover is, "An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album". This is true as it is done as a marketing scheme and technique to attract an audience with their own design of the album cover but i think they have a a much deeper meaning as bands cannot carelessly design an album cover without any thought processes or planning. Album covers are the last of the "olden technology" that we have outgrown its one of the only things in music that we can actually touch as most is done by technology through electronics. An album cover and cd's replaced vinyl records and their packaging while computers and Itunes look set to over take cd's unless they already have. History Before 1938, album covers had just a brown envelope rather the pictures and letters now it shows how much times have changed. They were created by Alex Steinweiss who created the first proper cd cover 1939 he designed the first major cd cover for a collection of songs by Roger and Hart. Alex was the first person to come up with an illustrated design for a cd cover and his design and idea was patented shortly after.
A good example of an album cover that I personally like is the Album cover from Funkadelic called Maggot brain, although not the type of music i particularly enjoy the album artwork makes me enjoy it because of its humour. The album is done very comically with an image of a woman coming out of the ground...like a maggot or worm does, but the woman keeps in touch with the Funkadelic name as she is smiling, happy and has a cool afro whcih is what we tend to associate with the word Funky.
I enjoy this album artwork as it doesnt tell us anything about the music inside and is rather pointless which ties in to a theory of Post Modernism covered by Moe Syzlack that states that "Post modernism is weird for werids own sake" meaning something does not have to have a meaning it can just be weird because it is. Either way i enjoy this cover as its comical and mocks the albums name in a parody style way.
In the music video Naughty Boy ft Sam Smith-La La the music video tells a story to the viewers rather than performing on a stage at a concert to as the video is based on a old folks tale similar to the wizard of oz. The music video itself is very strange to some if they have no understanding of Bolivian stories. The story plays along with the lyrics itself to keep in line with the story adding emotion to the music video. The camera movements shown sync up with the emotions shown from the factors in it, such as zooming in to the main characters faces such as the angry father figure at the start it zooms in to his house to show his anger. It does this again when the man is in the gym and he realizes he is a free to leave it does a close up to his face showing him smiling this connotes his happiness.
The song itself is rather childless which does make sense seeing as that it is a children's story that the music video is based on, and that the main actor in the video is a child. To others this video could be very creepy and disturbing without a little insight into the background of it. The lyrics especially this specific part: "When you spit your venom, keep it shut I hate it, When you hiss and preach About your new messiah 'cause your theories catch fire"
This shows the adult part of the song but it almost contradicts itself as it uses the very childish action of covering your ears and saying "la la la" which seems to conflict between who the song it aimed for but it does this cleverly as it shows men performing the action and basically gives off the message that even a child understands that not everything everyone says is true and that you have to listen the way the lyrics are written is in a very playful way regardless of the unrealistic acting.
The music video is very upbeat in the song despite the video being rather dark at the very beginning and at the very end, the happiness comes from the happiness distributed from the child to others in the music video it keeps itself together and makes you feel emotional about the leaving of the child at the end but if you understood the story you would understand the reasons behind this and that its still a happy song regardless.
Nirvana Come as you are basically tells the audience not to be someone your not as the title itself explains, it shows that we should not be afraid to reveal our true identities no matter how other people feel about us. The music video itself does not show Nirvana the actual band members as they truly are as their faces are either shown behind water or their faces being mismatched so as that we never get a clear image of who they truly are. The music video tries to do this to show that this is the world we live in were people no matter how big they are usually have to hide their true identities Nirvana in this music video tries to send off the message that this is what needs to change, not our identities but our attitudes. They do this by revealing their true faces at the very end of the song.
The lyrics in the song contain and repeat the same lyric "I don't have a gun" this is done to show that there is no physical danger as they represent no harm to anyone else. The song seems to try and show what we as people are expected to act like in society as one line says "Take your time, Hurry up" this is contradictory as it says that we are only half doing that we are meant to do as in "Taking our time" an then following what society wants us to do which is "Hurry up".
The camera shots used connote lots of madness as they are quick and there is a lot of them, there is a lot of things in the video that have coded messages and meaning behind them such as the man swinging from a bar, this connotes madness and that we should let loose from our typical selves rather than lead the laid back lives that were expected to follow. The dog with an Elizabeth collar (the big lamp shade type collar around its neck) would normally connote that a dog has a medical condition but in this video its tied to a chain and its used to stop the dog from biting others the message behind it is that we are all tied up not allowed to be let loose from society.
Nirvana's music videos always contain very subtle message as Kobain once stated that he wants people to look at his music videos in extreme detail to make sure they pay attention. Nirvana give off a good message overall in nearly all of their music videos this is to show that they are good role models for other bands to take after.
The music Video from Eminem, is from his very well known song "Slim Shady". The music video is filled with comedy moments to show his playful character as well as his enjoyment in music. The music video is clearly meant to stand out from the regular music videos and also to make Eminem more well known to the public as "Miley Cyrus" has done with her music videos. Eminem's lyrics and the music video combine together as a funny video.
The lyrics make very subtle insults about other artists, this is done to show the public that he feels that he is the best rapper/artist out there and that he is above them in terms of his ability. Eminem takes a very strange unconventional look at this music video as he makes jokes about himself to show hes comfortable in front of the camera. This however is nontraditional as artists such as 50 cent would never show the same comedy value that Eminem does as they tend to rap about violence and extreme issues.
In the music video, some camera shots show Eminem looking down the camera (this does this a number of times) this shows Eminem (real name Marshall Mathers) in a position of power as hes above the centre looking down the camera at the audience showing his power and hes authority. Eminem does some very extreme actions in this music video such as in the Unedited video he shows a obese man revealing his genitalia and also puts his two fingers up to the camera, but Eminem loves his audience and he does this to show how he doesn't care about what people think about him or his music video.
This Music video is probably the strangest music video to be made in 2013, hopefully, the use of all the seductive and revealing outfits tries to show off originality it all has a meaning behind it but its still a very very confusing video. The outfits and the absurdity shown throughout the whole of the video will of been created to show Miley Cyrus' coming of age and that shes not a children's TV star anymore.
The use of colours vary from scene to scene, from pitch black to pure white to symbolize purity the actions shown is very original and its like nothing we've scene from this actress and its very stand out and strange. The video is very hard to analyze and there is no set theme besides randomness i think its meant to show how no one can tell you what to do so basically do what you want as the lyrics say.
In terms of the artist personality I think shes aiming to proves an adult and that she can make her own choices in life, but this music video kinda proves shes still living in a rowdy teenagers world as the scenes from this music video can be seen in some people parties(but less about that). The music video was made to provoke a reaction to get the media to criticize her and say bad stuff but all this has done has got more of an audience to watch it and given the music video more popular ratings. as the lyrics and song itself are very bland and the music video was also created to try and spice things up and to give the audience something to look forward to from the artist rather than just a bland boring song.
The Killers Mr Brightside video is a very strange music video that plays with the emotions of the lead singer, it seems to evolve around him and we see through his eyes what hes seeing, with his brain being tortured due to his feelings for the girl in blonde in the music video.
The music video shows a performance and a story simultaneously mixed together, to make us feel apart of it and for us to have an emotional bond with the artist rather than just watching them perform without any story line being played out.
In my opinion the music video reminds me of the movie Moulin rouge in a way due to the way they are both portrayed also the colours are quite similar, but the setting is definitely similar. shown below
There are scenes in this music video to show sparks of interest between the two main characters, such as when they are standing on the balcony fireworks can be seen this connotes a spark between them and love. The men just sitting around being mesmerized by the women connote that they see the woman purely as a object of beauty rather than dancers or entertainers. The storyline transfers into the future to make us feel a connection between the two characters, but all in all the music video isn't very strong and isn't extremely powerful as the band is already well known and the song on its on already has a strong sense about it so adding them together is a good mixture and lets the audience have both good senses from visual effects and hearing from the song itself.
Is different to parody but the two concepts are not far from each other, pastiche is a somewhat copy of an original, below is an example of pastiche, The original (Silence of the Lambs) was created to show the evilness in the character played by Anthony Hopkins, the "Mask" shows just how dangerous the character is. Next to him shows Mr Burns who is somewhat of an evil character himself, on the outside people would say it represents a parody but looking closer shows the evilness of the character rather than mocking the original it copies it.
My own opinion: In my own opinion I think that pastiche is a more serious style concept rather than parody and it has a deeper meaning rather than just a joke of an original.
Parody:
Parody is a deliberate exaggeration for comedy effect to please the audience, parody can be formatted on a number of different types of media and it can also be used to parody a lot of different serious things such as people, movies, and TV shows. Below is a definite example of parody, it shows the comedy genre and it shows the actor in the video (Jack Black) playing to the audience and twisting the harmless actions shown in Spider man into other actions. There is also no seriousness in it due to the light hearted tone of the voice of the actors.
A music video that is an example of a parody is the one shown below as although the sound is the exact same and he is just miming he is still mocking her. Greg James although very funny has in no way praised or rewarded Miley Cyrus, it is essentially an act of disrespect in order for more people to compare the two songs as it brings fans of Miley Cyrus over to watch the music video and due to the mass size of social network it will be tweeted and shared all over the place creating a larger fan base and music video population
Samuel Bayer is a well respected music video director, who had created music videos for many highly respected artists such as Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Nirvana.
Samuel Bryer tells a story through the music video to give the audience something to focus on and give them more visual effects along with a strong audio backbone. His music videos require little light and tend to be focused on one or two colours to keep the effect continuous his music videos are powerful and have led the way for other younger directors to follow in pursuit of his style.
Below is a Nirvana music video created by Samuel bayer, you'll notice how something is always happening on the screen to keep the audience interested and enticed.
Samuel's work artistry also includes:
. Green Day- American idiot
. Justin Timberlake- What goes around comes around
. Robbie Williams- Angel
His work is probably the most famous out of the three "Auteurs" I have studied he has done work for the bigger stars and created the more well known music videos which shows he certainly fixed the category
Michel Gondry is certainly an auteur as he has created a totally different style to fit in with the post modernism world we live in now. Michel created a documentary style music video in the Bjork- Declare independence music video -(shown below)- their is certainly a dark twisted element about his music videos almost as if they are trying to make the audience thing about the actions being shown rather than the song actually giving off the message.
Famous works of Michel Gondry include:
Bjork- Declare Independence
The White Stripes- Fell in love with a white girl
Michel Gondry shows off messages with objects that may seem random to the audience the objects give off the "Amateur" effect rather than the "Auteur" effect but never the less his style is very memorable and stays in the mind of those watching it.
He is a music director and an established one at that. His work is well known and he has been labelled as an auteur due to what he has created via his directing.
His music videos contain dark concepts with little light, this could be to give off a dramatic effect to the audience and also to promote the horror genre to the audience and give them a kind of scare. The music Videos are meant to unsettle us and make us worried about what will come next while it also follows the beat of the music and the lyrics involved.
Below is a still from the music Video "Frozen" which Chris Cunningham directed again this shows the dark un colourful "horror style" theme. Full of sadness due to the lack of colour and the posture shown and the facial expression also.
We had a conversation (me our class and my teacher) about songs that represent our life. Mostly peoples music taste from what I've heard is derived from their parents and family. my music tastes are extremely different compared to others who have a strong attachment to heavy metal and loud rock and roll music.
These statistics show that we differ in terms of our preferred genre of music but as you could see from the class all the music was mainly recognisable and enjoy from everyone who heard it.
The person below seems to have done the most effort in creating their Music and Me post, they have clearly had a lot of thought going into it and have included significant music videos that represents important things about them.
Simulacra:- a term coined up by Jean Baudrillard in 1981, is an image or representation, which in basic terms mean something in the world of television that no longer has an original. Baudrillard basically explained that simulacrum is substituting the signs of the real for the real. Such as the McDonald's logo being essentially representing a place of food without any guarantee of food. Other examples of this include a kings crown which represents all of the kings power and importance but its still just a crown which doesn't truly mean power or importance.
Simulation- an act or something that does not actually occur in real life such as a fake world an example of this is disneyland as Baudrillard argued that Disneyland was neither real or fake as it is physically real but it is a made up and "de-real" place as it was created artificially such as Nemesis in Alton Towers representing an alien world we know its not really an alien place but it is created to do so.
Hyper Reality- Baudrillard argues that pure reality is non existent and that everything we do is controlled. Such a higher authority such as the illuminati, Baudrillard wanted to expose the "Open Secret" which was furthered on by a man named Mcdougan. Both philosophers were very controversial as people were very close minded and refused to believe that there whole existence could be a false reality.
We have just completed our first miming session, were we had to mime the lyrics of "The Foo Fighters- Learn to Fly".
In groups of three we attempted to mime the song, I added a few dance moves to show my confidence and to make the task a bit more interesting. It was difficult as your mind suddenly goes blank in front of the camera and the lights make you feel hot and under pressure. It relieved the tension having two classmates next to you as the spotlight isn't solely focused on you. It was an easy task as its a known song that is familiar to most people, the lyrics were easy and not complicated.
The hardest part about the task is learning the lyrics especially if the song in unknown to you, the easiest part about the task is the actual performing of it because your with people in your class who you can put your trust into and its likely you will fail or make a mistake as will they so they pressure isn't focused directly on you
Childhood (Shocker)
This song represents my childhood as it was the first band I ever listened to and the first CD I ever owned. It kinda sums up the MTV generation as it shows that from an early age (6+) we are stuck on rock type of music it shows the type of music that I grew up listening. The music i listened to when i was young has an influence over the music i have a preferred interest in now. This was a song that was quite big and popular growing up and i'm sure a lot of people will of been a fan of Busted as they were a big band during 2000- 2004
Travelling
I chose this because it reminds me of me and my dad driving to wales there and back. Also it was on Peter Kay's phoenix nights which me and my dad alway used to watch it always makes me want to go on a big road trip with the family and gets me excited for holiday (Plus its a classic). Its very much a family orientated song as i can relate it to all of my family members and have a significant bond with this song.
Now
This song represents my life now it basically sums up that nothing will stop just for you no matter what your going through life will always carry on. It always makes me feel better as I first heard this when Lupe Fiasco was relatively unknown and unheard of and its good to know that people feel the same as I feel through hard times. This type of music shows what music I am interested in, the genre is like a mix of hip hop and rap which is the type of music i prefer to listen to.
This music video immediately gives off a serious effect within the first five seconds as it shows a man struggling with life so decides to end. This sets the tone for the rest of the video, its a very personal video as it tells a story of compassion of the man who was minutes away from death but is saved by a woman in white running away.
Repetition
We see repetition(shown above) as soon as the woman in white sits inside the car, on the journey home the same camera shot is used numerous times to show her new life as this camera shot has not been demonstrated in the video before. Also repetition is shown as she uses her finger to feel the pain from her body and then she paints herself and the man in a cartoon quick draw on the window this is significant as it shows her coming out of her shell and being more creative and interactive. Some camera shots are repeated to show the relationship between the two main characters in the music video, the repetition of the lyrics high hopes gives off the theme of the music video and gives off an overall good feeling that the music video tries to install on us
Non-Linear Editing
The video lets itself down by not incorporating non linear editing which is mixed editing between the band performing the song and the story of the video. This could show the direct line between how the story is relevant to the band and how it makes sense.
Strong Sense of Identity
The music video gives off the bands strong sense of identity in terms of genre via the tone of the music it shows the genre is indie with the constant low tone it remains the same like a mix of a light hearted song and indie to show the bands overall identity
Visual Pleasures
The director who is unnamed provides visual pleasures with the story being told such as when the man sees this woman we all see her as a symbol of hope, it gives off a humble feeling as he just sees it as doing her a favour rather than saving both of their lives. We as an audience feel excited when they finally kiss as it shows what we have been looking for in the story and it gives us relief. When she puts her hand on his shoulder at the end we are also relieved as they both survived, as did their relationship.
Provokes a Reaction?
The music video seems like a short story taken from a film rather than it being created just for this video, this video remains unknown to the majority of the public as the band is relatively unknown despite them having been in the UK charts twice and also being Irish Number 1 in 2013. This music video definitely provokes a reaction when the two main characters are gunned down it makes us feel sad for the two of them as they have come so far and finally seem happy then its suddenly taken away in an instant.
Performance
There is no performance by the band throughout the music video this could be to ensure their genre is strengthened or because the story is a performance enough as it already sends a strong enough message. The band have performed this song live in concert and also created other videos just with an acoustic vibe to it.
Place in Society
The song has been covered by a lot of young singers on youtube who sing it acoustic to try and mimic the soft sound Kodaline created, it fits in with lots of different cross media formats such as the internet and i've seen performances by young and upcoming singers on Facebook this shows its place in society. This music video is very unlikely to be mocked or parodied due to the band being relatively unknown and also the acting in the video is good and not over dramatised enough to mocked, the band in my opinion wanted to tell the theme of how helping people is good and to always have "High Hopes" no matter how low you feel as your symbol of hope may be coming to you, like the woman in the wedding dress did for the man who was trying to commit suicide
On my blog for this media project there will be things such asexamples of music videos from genre ranges with explanations of music videos based on the meaning or what they are trying to represent. The blog posts i will be creating will be related to taks we have been set by our media teachers and they will be all be create for the benefit of our music video overall I will include my own opinions and reviews of music videos such as likes and dislikes and things iIthing have been done for purpose Use of Genre I am going to use the genre of rock and pop for my music videos because it is a genre that I like and the music videos that are used are the ones that i pay attention to the most such as The Killers and The Script. I used to watch a lot of music videos when I was young on music channels like MTV as this was what alot of typical boys my age listened to and enjoyed, im not a huge fan of music but I do appreciate some of the aspects that go into it such as the meaning of lyrics and the style of the instruments played. What I think I will Achieve I think I will find this work challenging, i believe that i should be able to create a very succeful music video, with up to date blog posts that include all of the key posts needed aswell as my own personal posts. I will do my best to get the best mark available and do my own, research based on what the examiner finds nessacery such as looking as key blogs that have acheieved full marks, (Group blogs such as the XYZ'S).
Embarrassing, the simplest word I can use to show how it felt to try and look cool during a photo-shoot. Me and the group travelled to a room that was free for use and we were able to find a technician who was able to set up a sole spot light on us and we all tried to pose in our coolest indie/rock styles but we all looked embarrassing. I don't think a modelling career is going to follow this media coursework, the style we tried to go for was limited as we did not have a budget for clothes, in a style used by the script and we were then limited by our time as we had to be finished within half an hour as a class were schedule after us. We couldn't get a group photograph at that time as there was a fault with the camera that stopped us being able to put a timer on it and there was no one else available to take that picture but once we have a picture we will upload it onto our personal blogs and the group blog.
