HR: Music Video Deconstruction

Institution and audience

All or Nothing by Theory of a Deadman



How might this video be consumed?

• The song was only released as a mainstream single for top 40 and hot AC radio stations across Canada and U.S.A and has not been released in rock format.
• It has generated over 2 million views on YouTube so this web 2.0 has enabled the band to gain access to a more international audience outside of U.S.A and Canada.
• It has been released as a radio single and formatted in CD in the album Scars & Souvenirs and on digital download on websites such as iTunes. As it has not been shown on television, they have had to rely on new media in order to gain sales from the track.

What is the institutional context of this video?

• Theory of a Deadman are signed to Roadrunner Records, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group that  concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands and also 604 Records where their records are distributed in Canada by Universal Music Group. This means they get the advantages of having two different distributors so their music is promoted in a variety of formats, but mainly using new media.
• The genre Theory of a Deadman usually focus on is alternative rock, post-grudge, acoustic and country so this means different types of record labels will in interested in distributing and being a part of their band.

Genre and narrative

Lullaby by Bethan Mary Leadley


What are the forms and conventions evident in the video using Goodwin theory?

• The genre of this video is acoustic so they usually opt for a narrative based video so the lyrics can be amplified. In this video, the conventions have been kept as there is no performance and the story is on the artists point of view as she is the one who wrote the song which was about her.
• There is a link between the lyrics and visuals as it is about relationships and this is reflected in the video as a couple are hugging and holding hands in the streets, but as the lyrics say "I'm feeling sad and I don't know why" he is resistant of her. It's as if she is holding onto the relationship as long as she can. This video is therefore an amplification of the track.
• There is also a link between music and visuals as the cutting rate is in time of the guitar strums, and the colouring of the track is quite saturated and dull to give an old film feel to it.
• There are plenty of close ups of the main singer so this ties in well with Goodwin's theory.
• Inter textual reference is used through the social networking site Facebook to show that he is cheating on her to help move the narrative along.

Could this video be considered art?

• I think this video could be considered artistic as the facial expressions lets you make up your own mind on how the narrative is going to move along and what the characters are thinking, and to me art is adaptable depending on how you think something is portrayed and this music video definitely does that.

Media Language

Resistance by Muse

What is the "message" or purpose of the video?

• The music video is completely performance based apart from the beginning which shows a big queue of people probably lining up to see the band perform.
• The actual song is based on the novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell which is about a world of perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance, and public mind control, dictated by a political system. 
• Another reading could be about coming out as homosexual and how society is not used to it. It is about the limits of the love and what the outcome could be if it become exposed because it is considered not natural. it could also represent forbidden love because of the meaning of the lyrics.
  

What visual techniques are used to do this and why?

• The queue of people can represent the public mind control from the "Nineteen Eighty-Four" reading as they are all lined up queueing for the same thing - the same way of life
• The silhouettes of the band walking forward represent the dictators as they are the ones in control the operation and who the public are waiting to listen to on-stage. The fact they are shown visually higher shows they are a higher status to the public as all eyes are on them.
• Boxes on the stage show lots of lines of writing. This could be seen as the documentations in "Nineteen-Eighty Four" and how they want the public to behave.

Is there any intertextuality/references to popular culture?

• In this particular video there isn't as it is all performance based, so they are using this to help promote their and and to improve the image of the band by showing that they perform live without any help from machines or gimmicks.

Representation

How to be a Heartbreaker by Marina and the Diamonds

How is the artist represented?

• In this video, Marina and the Diamonds is playing the part of a player. Usually males are represented as this by having girls surrounded them, but instead Marina is shown in a shower with topless men dancing around her.
• She is shown as desirable as she is coupled up with very different types of men.
• Her trademark heart on her cheek and this is very relevant in this video as the lyrics say "wear your heart on your cheek" in reference to talking about feelings: "but never on your sleeve"

What is the ideological discourse?

• This video challenges gender representations as the female artist is playing from a point of view what society thinks about a man's morals, ie they cheat on their partners and don't get hurt because of it.
• As the song slows down, she snaps back into the thoughts of a woman: "Cause girls don't want, we don't want our hearts to break in two"  This is shown by a costume change of a long sparkly dress and a location change to on a beach at night. It also cuts to the shot where she is on top of a man looking down on him upside down.
• She is shown as uninterested in the male she is with when she is against the wall because she is looking at her phone, probably texting another one of the males in the video. This is an ideological discourse as women are normally the opposite because they get attached emotionally to males and won't go chasing after others.
• There are many close up of the males in the video. This includes their stomachs, faces and pelvis'. This is an example of Mulvey's male gaze, but instead of females it is males because this video switches the roles around to make men the sexual object instead of the women. The males in the showers are topless and are wearing small swimming trunks to help make them seem more attractive to the female audience.
• Overall, it shows the women are the dominant ones in a relationship, but it breaks this barrier when the song slows down to show the feelings of women and how vulnerable they are. It is almost making fun of the males point of view about control and feelings, as shown when Marina is holding a plate with a decapitated mannequin head covered in fake blood on it. But it is about relationships and how men do not take them seriously. It also stereotypes that all men are players and cheaters.

Group: Concept Development

Today, we carried out a risk assessment and call sheet for the shoot in Brighton on Friday. This allowed us to consider the risks involved in filming in various locations around Brighton, and organise our equipment and shots so that we can make the most of our limited time there.

Creating our call sheet required us to consider all the different types of shot we can carry out, for example, shallow focus, birds-eye view, CU, panning shot.

Group: Location Planning

We have decided to perform a location reccie in the following places:

• School Performing Arts Centre
• School Hall
• Local Theatre

This will involve photographing the area, planning shots that could work well there, and evaluating the potential risks and benefits of using this location in our music video.

On thursday we have to opportunity to work with equipment (including cameras, track and dolly) and a green screen. Although we do not plan to use any green screen elements in our finished video, we will use this opportunity to practice some shots, for example, to discover what distance of close-up works best for a 'meat' shot.

As well as this, we will be travelling to Brighton to conduct some practice filming exercises. Here we will practice filming with different styles, angles and equipment to guage the techniques that will work best in the context of our video.

HR: Music video ideas

Artist: Marina & the Diamonds
Song: Lies
Album: Electra Heart

Ideas

·         starts with lying on a big double bed on her own as the camera zooms out from bird’s eye view

·         Montage of her on different positions on the bed in first verse, she could be tapping her fingers, thinking of this boy etc. some lip sing (in “real time”).

·         As chorus starts she gets up as if she’s about to start on a project and walks through an archway to a garden, some lip singing as the camera tracks her, reminiscing by flashbacks of her on a swing and on a bench writing a poem or music in a notepad - writes the lyrics of the song in some places

·         2nd verse is a dream state of how she wanted her relationship to be with a boy but quickly flashes back to reality of what it was really like with him. Cuts this up by lip singing of her on bench and swing

·         2nd chorus is of them having an repeat of the fight in the middle of the park that made the not friends anymore - shouting, she pushes him, he walks away ripping up on of her poems, she cries - goes back to her bedroom of her in the same crying position sitting on her bed. lip singing “don’t wanna know, don’t wanna know” while she’s crying

·         Last section of the song is her sorting herself out and moving on from him - starts a big art project, splattering multi coloured paint on walls as if she’s getting her anger out, he comes along on the line “can’t let you go” and joins in with her with black paint. She turns around and they start throwing paint at each other. The song ends by them both looking at the splattered white wall.

 

 

 Artist: Ed Sheeran

Song: Grade 8

Album: +

·         Performance based

·         Starts with Ed Sheeran playing his guitar and fades to the other boy playing his guitar in a big empty hall. He packs up his guitar and walks home seeing different posters of local gigs and goes along to one which is ed sheeran’s.

·         He gets inspired and starts to practise anywhere he can. He is then given a business card by a mysterious stranger (you don’t see his face, just a close up of his hand) with a phone number on it.

·         He calls it and it is an offer to be a supporting artist. He doesn’t know who the artist he is supporting but he goes along anyway. He’s on the train listening to music on his iPod.

·         He is then backstage waiting to go on, he starts to perform and the final chorus is when Ed sheeran surprises him by starting to perform with him. He is smiling, bemused of what happened and the song ends when he is hugging his idol, you see him mouth “thank you“.

 

 

Artist: Marina & the Diamonds

Song:  The State of Dreaming

Album: Electra Heart

 

Ideas

·         Greek mythology

·         Starts with a ped up from earth up to a cloudy vision of heaven until you see marina sitting cross legged on the clouds dressed in a classic Greek toga with golden arches in classic Greek statues of the different god and goddesses.

·         These are made of stone but turn into humans in the first chorus. You see Zeus turning them into humans on the line “My life is a play”

·         Different Greek stories are acted out: hades and Persephone will be shown looking down from the clouds into the underworld which is fiery and full of lava, The minotaur who is charging at the cloudy figurines of Greeks that he killed in the past, medusa standing crossed arms with snakes coming from her hair etc.

·          Marina is walking around this environment drinking in the stories, lip singing at appropriate times.

·         The song ends with her coming down from heaven stretched out like a cross with her eyes closed back to the meadow she was lying in looking up at the clouds. This represents the vision she just had.

 

Group: Mini Pitch Feedback

• The feedback we received from our mini pitch raised a couple of questions about our ideas. One of these is how are we going to make our audience look like a big crowd. We are aiming to fill up the few rows that are in mid shot and film them so we don't have to worry about having to get lots of extras.
• We were also asked how are we going to make rehearsals for the montage realistic. As we both do Theatre Studies, we could film our rehearsal process for our A2 practical piece, so it would be authentic looking.
• We aim to have a lot of posters in the background on the wall of when the actress is lip-synching and when she rips down the posters. Someone asked how we are going to make them look authentic and not amature. As we have experience in PhotoShop from making festival posters, we will be able to make it look official.
• As one of our locations is going to be in a Performing Arts Centre, the lighting will enable us to have a very professional feel which the rest of our classmates praised us on.
• Our original idea is that she is going to reinvent herself an actress by improving her skills through workshops, script readings and auditions. Another suggestion we got from feedback was that she is trying to become like a popular star by the way she dresses, but this is not giving her any success so she rips down the big poster of her idol and changes her look to get herself noticed.

Group: Mini-pitch

RA: Music Video Deconstruction

Institution and audience
Winner by Noisettes

How might this video be consumed?

• This music video was uploaded to YouTube in July 2012 and has generated more than 70,000 views. Uploading music videos to YouTube is standard practice in the music industry now, allowing artists' music to reach a worldwide audience, and creating the potential for viral success. Utilising social networks can be key to the success for many musicians in this age of Web 2.0.
• The video could also be consumed via music channels on television, such as 4Music or MTV.
• The Noisettes also have many of their videos available to purchase online, including on iTunes. This allows users to download the videos onto their smartphone or computer, where they can view them at any time. This means of consuming media is suited to positive technological determinists, who are usually young people, and therefore also the target audience for this genre of music: indie pop.

What is the institutional context of this video?

• Noisettes are signed to the label Vertigo Records (a subsidiary of Universal Music Group). Although this label tends to sign indie, alternative and rock artists, it's ties with UMG are likely to mean that the process of producing music videos for their artists is done in an industry standard manner, as opposed to the more creative and unconventional route that other alternative artists often favour.
• This process involves a video commissioner from the label creating a shortlist of potential directors and sending them the track with a brief which summarises the ideas for the project. The directors then create a treatment for the video commissioner, who will choose the director. At this point, budget and deadlines are agreed.
• Because the band is affiliated with a major music company, the budget for the video is likely to be much larger than independent artists would have for music video production.

Genre and narrative

Runaways by The Killers

What are the forms and conventions evident in this video?

• Andrew Goodwin in Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992, Routledge) identified the key features of music videos. This analysis uses the categories which Goodwin described. 
• The video is performance-based, which is conventional for band of the indie/alternative genre.
• There are multiple close-ups of the singer's face as well as shots of all the band. This will meet the demands of the record label in terms of the video acting as a commercial for the band.
• Goodwin noted the frequent references to the notion of looking within music videos, particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. However, within this video there is no voyeuristic treatment of the female body, and little reference to the notion of looking, other than shots in which the singer breaks the fourth wall.
• Despite the performance-based nature of the video, there are some visual concepts woven in to the performance, notably the recurring shot of a road lit by headlights. This could be seen as intertextual reference, paying homage to the many other music videos in which a 'road trip' is a central theme or visual element.
• Another use of pastiche within Runaways is the use of the smoke-like visual effects. This post-production effect imitates older videos in which that style was common.

Is this an example of illustration, amplification or disjuncture?

• The footage of the road demonstrates an amplified relationship between lyrics and visuals within the video, as it connects to the 'runaway' lyrical theme of the song. It could also be seen as a literal interpretation of the title of the song.
• Due to the performance-based nature of the video, it could be categorised as an overall amplified lyric-visual relationship, as the director has chosen to produce a creative interpretation of the song.
• There is an illustrative relationship between music and visuals. The cutting rate is synchronous with the beat and emotional colouring of the song, and lip synching is used throughout much of the video.

Media Language
Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine

What is the 'message' or purpose of the video?

• The purpose of this video is to convey the lyrics and feel of the song in an artistic form, as is common for artists of the indie genre. The video has no particular 'message' or obvious narrative, it simply uses various visual techniques to compose an intriguing video, creating repeatability.
• The idea of repeatability is an important concept in music video, as it creates a more consumable product. This is because the narrative fuzz means that the target audience may wish to view the video multiple times in order to understand it fully.
• As well as this, another aspect of the video that makes it a success commercially is that Florence is represented very strongly throughout the video, advertising her as a performer.

What visual techniques are used to do this and why?

• Visual techniques used to make up Florence's representation within the Cosmic Love video are her screen time which dominates the video, her red hair which acts as a visual motif for her throughout most of her work, and the high levels of 'meat' in the video; close-ups of her singing.
• The video uses various visual techniques to create an arty and creative feel. The mise-en-scene in particular achieves this, for example through the use of the colourful lighting, and the set (such as the light bulbs and leaves).

Representation

Primadonna by Marina and the Diamonds

How is the artist represented?

• This video adds to Marina's 'meta-narative' as it introduces some of the main themes of her new album, Electra Heart. For example, visually she is shown with a small heart drawn under her right eye, which has become a visual motif for many of her recent performances.
• Marina has stated that the theme of Electra Heart is exhibiting the different 'archetypes' of female representation. In this track and video, the 'prima donna' archetype is presented through the use of mise-en-scene, particularly locations, such as a ballroom with chandeliers, and her clothes and make-up.
• Similar to Cosmic Love, Marina has prevalence in terms of screen time throughout almost the entire video, including many 'meat' shots. This helps to sell the product as it familiarises the audience with her as an artist, making consumers feel an affiliation or connection with her.

What is the ideological discourse?

• To create the theme of a 'prima donna' stereotype, the director, Casper Balslev, has chosen many different visuals and signifiers to create the semiotics of the video.
• One of these ideologies is the idea of wealth and greed. The video shows the protagonist in luxurious locations, with grand pianos, chandeliers, etc.
• Another use of semiotics is the idea of glamour and beauty. Signifiers for this are the shots of the protagonist on the exercise bike; her high fashion clothes, such as vintage dresses and fur coats; and her hair and make-up throughout the video, which are highly feminine and glamorous.
• Another aspect that makes up part of the ideology of the video is the idea of media or TV culture. Much of the video is made up of footage which has a grain-style filter on it to make it look as if it's being filmed from an old television. A fuzzy TV screen is also shown.
• Overall, this creates an ideological discourse which represents the selfish and superficial life in an appealing way. However, the stylised and exaggerated style of the video which connote an ironic stance on the glamorous life being represented; which is enforced by shots in which the protagonist seems to come out of character, and by moments of disjuncture. Most importantly, the irony is derived from the emotional colouring and lyrics of the song. "I know I've got a big ego / I really don't get why it's such a big deal, though."
• The video could be interpreted as having an emergent ideology, as it represents a woman who is unapologetically rich and successful, which is traditionally a characteristic more common of males in the media.

Group: Song Choice

We have chosen the song Starring Role by indie pop artist Marina and the Diamonds

Group: Initial Moodboard

HR: Photoshop Reflection

How does Photoshop enable creativity?

• It allows you to manipulate and change photos in order to suit the characteristics that you wish to portray in the photo. This can be by changing the filters, removing the background with the magic wand tool or erasing imperfections with the clone stamp tool.

What are the challenges?

• I found positioning and adjusting the size of each of the photos I used difficult as it was hard to keep everything in proportion to one another. It was also a challenge to make sure everything did not look too clustered in one area and that the text was an appropriate size.
• It was hard to find a high quality image so if I wanted to stretch it, the pixels would not be grainy.

Techniques?
The techniques I used to create my finished project was the following:

• Magic wand tool
• Masking
• Changing the opacity of the layers
• Changing the contrast and brightness of the image
• Emboss and bevel on text
• Using multiple layers and changing the order of the layers

How successful was the finished product?

• I was happy with my finished project, I just felt that the photo I used of Muse was a little too big, even though they were supossed to be the headline act, it did not come across as that. I would probably used less bands as well as it seems excessive for a music festival for one arena, but overall I felt I used creative ideas such as putting Muse's band logo behind them as text.

Moving on to print prodution for the digipack and and advert, what advice would you give yourself?

• I would think about positioning of the text and font style so it looks conventional for our chosen music genre, also so the digipack or advert doesn't look too messy or too plain.

HR: Festival Poster

Group: Concept Development

This is a mind-map of our initial ideas for the 'Starring Role' music video.

RA: Essay "Is music video art, porn or advertisment?"

Is music video art, porn or advertisement?

According to Matt Hanson in ‘The End of Celluloid’ (RotoVision, 2004) “Music video stands in a uniquely important position. It acts as a confluence point for the more freeform moving image arts. It provides a place where visual and narrative experiments can be distilled into a populist short form… It inhabits the crucial space between the commercial and the experimental, and acts as a crossover point.”

Media theorists Erving Goffman, Sut Jally and Jean Kilbourne studied the way women are represented in popular culture, including music videos. They identified a pattern; women were typically depicted in subordinate, subservient and male-pleasing roles. They concluded that this reinforces sexism.

Art

• The highly artistic video ‘Celestine’ by Spector was directed by Jed Cullen and High 5 Collective in 2012.


• Text has been added in post-production near the beginning and end of the video. This creates disjuncture, as the text does not seem to have relevance to the song or video. This is conventional for the indie-rock genre, as often indie bands want to present themselves as ‘arty’ and unconventional.


• The video employs an artistic/creative approach to conventions in that it uses pastiche to work in references to music video stereotypes, often in a satirical way. For example, the band members are seen messing around during some of the performance shots, including at one point where the guitarist is lying on the floor while the rest of the band are playing their instruments. Much of the video uses disjuncture as the content is irrelevant to the meaning of the lyrics. This ‘concept’ approach (for example, the fizzing drink) allowed them to create humour, as well as narrative fuzz which gives the video repeatability.


• Andrew Goodwin (Dancing in the Distraction Factory, 1992) discussed the relationship between lyrics and visuals. In relation to Celestine it is clear that the majority of the video uses disjuncture. However there is some evidence of an amplified audio-visual relationship, for example in the fast montage sequence there are a number of shots of space and stars, which relates to the title of the video as a Celestine/celestial reference, as well as relating to the recurring idea of time and the past within the song. It also contains shots of a woman in a bath, which may relate to the lyric “I’d meet all the girls who are beautiful now but were miserable then.” The video also uses the EU flag to suggests a deeper political meaning.


• In Celestine we can see that the cutting rate is synchronous with the music, a technique noted by Steve Archer (MediaMagazine 7, 2004). The pace of the video matches the emotional colouring of the song. For example, there is a fast montage sequence before the last chorus as the song reaches its climax. Another example of the visual matching the music is at one point where the instruments stop for one line so that only the voice is heard. To present this visually, a freeze frame technique is used to show the band members frozen mid-air while the singer continues to perform.


• In Celestine mirrors are used to fulfil Goodwin’s ‘notion of looking’. Some shots feature a large mirror in which the singer and guitar player are reflected, so that we see two of the same person at once. The notion of looking is also shown through the use of a POV shot in which the singer removes his circular glasses, which are used throughout the video as a star image motif.


• Music videos are a postmodern form which implies that they often borrow and rework ideas from other texts and forms. Celestine uses intertextuality in many forms within the video; text typed into an internet searchbar is shown at the beginning, a quote is shown at the beginning, and during the freeze frame shot of the band in mid-air, the buffering symbol that is used when YouTube videos are loading is shown in the centre as if the band members have been frozen by YouTube.


• According to Matt Hanson in ‘The End of Celluloid’ (RotoVision, 2004) “Music video is a place where the moving image avant garde comes alive, where it is translated into a universal language.”

Porn

• In the video for ‘California Gurls’ by Katy Perry, directed by Mathew Cullen, Laura Mulvey’s theory of the Male Gaze can be strongly seen.


• Although Katy is the protagonist of the video, Snoop Dogg is shown sitting in front of a game board and rolling dice, controlling the game in which Katy is a part. This denies Katy of agency as a woman, relegating her to the status of an object, controlled by a man as a ‘higher power;’ meaning the audience are forced to regard the action and characters of the text through the perspective of a heterosexual man, as Mulvey noted in her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.”


• This is supported by the theories of Goffman et al, where they note the significance of relative size. Though usually this would mean the literal height of a man and woman standing together, this is taken to the extreme in California Girls where we see him towering over the candy land in which Katy’s action is taking place.


• Goffman et al’s theory of the artificial look is also clear within the video, as we see Katy with pink, blue and purple wigs, pink lipstick and heavy eye make-up, colourful and revealing costumes, as well as studio lighting and possibly airbrushing. This artificial look is used to present Katy as flawless and highly feminine, which is a recurring visual motif across her work.


• The aspect of ‘woman as child’ is an example of ritualization of subordination used within the video; Katy and her dancers are dressed like girl-scouts at one point, and Katy is shown licking an ice-cream. These uses of infantilisation within the video belittle Katy’s position as an adult, presenting her as childish and subordinate.


• Licking the ice-cream is also a moment in the video that can be analysed using semiotics, as in Roland Barthes ‘Mythologies’ (1957). The act of licking the ice-cream is a signifier, which connotes a sexual meaning. Other sexual implications encoded within the video include the use of cherry bakewells as a bra, and the sequence in which Katy shoots squirty cream from a bottle.


• Dismemberment, as noted by Goffman et al, is used to display Katy’s backside and cleavage separately from the rest of her body. This aspect is also prominent in Goodwin’s theory of ‘the notion of looking,’ as the video includes voyeuristic and fetishistic treatment of the female body. Laura Mulvey described this kind of representation as scopophilia; creating something alluring for the heterosexual male audience to enjoy watching.

Advertisement

• “[Music video] inhabits the crucial space between the commercial and the experimental, and acts as a crossover point.” - Matt Hanson in ‘The End of Celluloid’ (RotoVision, 2004)


• Music channels such as MTV and 4Music stream music videos like adverts. As well as this, they will show actual commercial breaks too, associating music videos with advertisement and consumerism.


• The video for Time Bomb by Kylie Minogue (Larson, 2012) can be used to demonstrate many ways in which music videos are a form of commercial. For example, she has prevalence within the video, having the screen time throughout almost the whole video. Close-ups of her face create the ‘meat’ of the video, a theory described by Steve Archer.


• The video promotes commodification and consumerism through the use of designer clothes and expensive cars and motorbikes. This also promotes values of celebrity lifestyle, connoting an association of Kylie with money and success.
• The video has repeatability due to its narrative fuzz, which encourages the audience to watch the video multiple times. This is also a genre convention. Directors may aim to include many genre conventions in their videos, so as to make the video appealing to consumers.


• Music videos may aim to exploit the visual motifs/brand image and meta-narrative of the star to encourage a sense of familiarity with the artist, therefore advertising them as a media product. In Time Bomb, a visual motif used is Kylie’s blonde hair is a visual motif, as this has been her signature look throughout her career.


• Music videos can be used to directly advertise the artists other work. A common example of this is using their other songs in the music video. For example, the opening sequence of the music video for ‘Wide Awake’ by Katy Perry is presented as the set of the California Gurls music video, while the song playing in the background.


• Product placement is an example of how music videos can be extended to advertise other products as well as the song/artist itself.

Conclusion

I think that music videos have potential to be all three. All music videos are a form of advertisement for the song, musician or band, but this doesn’t mean they can’t be considered an art form. I think music videos are a great way of further expressing creativity using a song. In some cases, music videos will not contain any footage of the artists themselves, instead taking a fully conceptual or narrative approach. A strong example of this is the music video for The Suburbs by Arcade Fire, directed by Spike Jonze. This video is in fact made up of footage from a short film that Jonze directed inspired by Arcade Fire’s album, which I feel demonstrates the potential of music videos as an art form.

However, I think that the tendency in some genres to include fetishistic treatment of the female body, particularly common in music videos of the rap and R&B genre, can be socially damaging as it can encourage the objectification of women. As well as this, when music videos by female artists of the pop genre often contain the ‘artificial look,’ sexualisation of the female and hints of subordination, this can encourage women to internalise sexism and create insecurities about body-image.

RA: Initial ideas

Song: The Gambler
Artist: fun.
Album: Aim & Ignite
Idea: Music video all in one location; a large, museum-like room. The song tells the story of a couple’s life together, which is represented illustratively in the video as we see their story unfold as if the snapshots of their life are an exhibit in a museum. Minimal editing as the characters are just moving from place to place, changing only costumes and props. Steadicam.
Links to: Animal Love by Charlene Kaye. This music video is all in one take, relying on the action and the mise-en-scene to create an exciting visual.

Song: Starring Role
Artist: Marina & the Diamonds
Album: Electra Heart
Idea: Amplified relationship between lyrics and visual. The video tells the story of an actress. Hint of deeper message of celebrity culture.
Links to: If I Were A Boy by Beyonce. This video has action before the song begins, which we intend to do- an award ceremony for ‘best supporting actress’ to introduce the idea of ‘starring role.’ This video also has a message, one of gender inequality.

Song: Dark Blue
Artist: Jack’s Manequinn
Idea: Video uses an amplified relationship between lyrics and visual, using a ‘dark blue’ theme: blue dress, sky at night, swimming pool. The singer of the video is also the one who the action takes place around, combining the ‘meat’ of the video- lip sinching- with the narrative of the video, a suggestion of a love story (narrative fuzz).

Group: How does the music industry promote artists/tracks?

 

What is involved in a record deal?

 

• A record deal (a.k.a. recording contract) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist, where the artist makes a record(s) for the label to sell and promote. Usually, artists under contract are only allowed to record for that label exclusively.

 

 

Who is responsible for making branding/marketing decisions?

 

• Branding/marketing decisions are usually made by the record label.

 

 

What is the production process of a music video?

 

1. The process will vary according to genre, artist, budget or director, but these steps generally apply:
2. The label, artist and management agree what to release as a single.
3. The video commissioner makes a shortlist of possible directors.
4. The video commissioner sends the shortlisted directors the track with a brief that summarises ideas for the project.
5. Directors provide outline treatments to the video commissioner.
6. A director is chosen, budget and deadlines are agreed.
7. The director develops the idea with storyboards and location photos.
8. An art director, wardrobe people and director of photography are enlisted, sets are designed and locations are booked.
9. The sets are built.
10. All personnel are on site for the shoot, which usually lasts one or two days.
11. Shooting complete, the film is transferred for editing.
12. The editor produces a rough-cut, which usually takes about three days
13. The label, artist(s) and manager view and comment on the rough-cut.
14. Changes are agreed and made before visual effects are added.
15. Online finished video is passed to label for release to TV stations and airplay in advance of single release.

 

What role does the music press play in promoting artists in a digital media age? Are they still relevant? Give specific examples from the UK press.

• Music press can utilise social networking sites (web 2.0) such as Facebook and Twitter to advertise their artists, encouraging consumers to ‘like’ and ‘follow’ to receive updates on the artist’s tours, appearances, and music releases.
• However, web 2.0 has in many ways democratised the promotion of music, with websites such as YouTube allowing musicians to reach a large audience without label representation.

 

 

Who owns the record labels? (synergy, convergence etc)

 

 

• Record labels are often under the control of a corporate umbrella organisation called a "music group". A music group is typically owned by an international conglomerate "holding company", which often has non-music divisions as well. Record companies (manufacturers, distributors, and labels) may also comprise a "record group" which is, in turn, controlled by a music group.

 

 

How are musicians promoted? Outline different types of marketing strategies/tools

 

 

1. MySpace and YouTube is a way for artists to get their own work online
2. Record labels act as a filter; signposting the public through marketing campaigns to artists that they know will likely perform quality music.
3. With pop acts you spend more money on videos and visual effects. With rock acts it’s more about touring support and putting out special limited edition versions of their tracks.
4. Videos are an essential tool for reaching music fans through services such as YouTube and social networking sites as well as specialist TV channels. Videos are expensive to film and produce. A series of three professionally shot music videos to promote an album might cost around US$190,000.
5. Promotional free sampling allows listeners to have a taste of part of the track before they purchase the full music track so the artist gets recognition.
6.  Radios can help to promote the artist by playing their music.
7. Music reviewers in magazines and the internet help spread the word about an artist.

 

 

Why is a music video so significant?

 

•  Music video involves performance on film or videotape of a musical recording accompanied by synchronised actions, such as a dramatic interpretation of the lyrics or a series of, sometimes surreal, images. It is essential in that it show the action being done and hence makes it more practical than plain words. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings and help to spread the word about an artist.

 

What role do NMTs now play in promoting artists? How has this changed traditional practice? To what extent is this an example of ‘we media’?

• New Media Technologies (NMT) are very significant to promoting artists, especially video sharing sites like YouTube and Vevo as they get millions of views worldwide, so new fans can be created from around the world. The record labels usually have their own YouTube channels where they can show the music video which doesn't cost any money to upload.
• Traditional methods of promotion include TV, newspapers and radio. These are still relevant to today, maybe not as much as it used to be because the Internet is easily assessable for everyone and they can look up exactly what they want rather than being fed mainstream music.

RA: Music Video Auteurs

Music Video “Auteurs”

1. Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand (Jonas Odell, 2004)
2. Exit/Delete - Takagi Masakatsu (Eric Cruz and Sun An, 2006)
3. Around the World by Daft Punk (Michel Gondry,
4. The Suburbs by Arcade Fire (Spike Jonze, 2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRCxhsm4CYU
5. Bullets by Editors (Martin de Thurah, 2005) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj_iM4YNsCQ
6. Treat Me Like Your Mother by Dead Weather (Jonathan Glazer, 2009)
7. New York Is Killing Me (Chris Cunningham Remix) by Gil Scott-Heron (Chris Cunningham, 2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adq_e_NSzQ8

The Suburbs by Arcade Fire (Spike Jonze, 2010)

• The music video follows the action of the protagonists, a group of teenagers who cycle around their suburban town.
• The video uses clips from the short film Scenes From The Suburbs, also directed by Jonze, which was inspired by the album ‘The Suburbs’ by Arcade Fire.

• The video is entirely concept based as it contains no shots of the band or singer. This is conventional for a music video of the indie rock genre as their videos often aim to portray the band as artistic and original.
• This means the music video contains no ‘meat’ (close-ups of the artist), nor star motifs, which would commonly be demands of the record label if the band were of a more mainstream genre.

• There is a mostly amplified relationship between the lyrics and visuals, with some illustrative moments; for example, just after the lyric “one day we'd be fighting in a suburban war” we see the protagonists standing in long shot against a wire fence as helicopters fly above and smoke rises in the distance.
• However the majority of the video has an amplified relationship between visuals and lyrics, as the action of the music video, though related, does not communicate the exact narrative of the song.
• Instead, the video is a creative interpretation of the song, expressing visually the overall subject of the song; the suburban idyll and the hidden fear and corruption that can exist within it.

• Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze can be seen within the video, as there is only one female protagonist and the rest are all male, forcing the audience to regard the action from a mostly male point of view.
• However, parts of Mulvey’s theory which explain the objectification of women do not apply strongly to this video, as there is no voyeuristic or fetishistic treatment of the female body, nor most of the aspects which create the subordination of women that are present many music videos, as studied by Goffman et al.
• However, one aspect of Goffman et al’s theory that is fulfilled by the video is the ‘woman as child’ theory, as the girl is shown being shielded and protected by her boyfriend as she cries.
• But in other aspects, the female representation defies the subservient female stereotype. For example, her function ranking is equal to that of the boys; she rides her bike and shoots the bb gun, just as the males do.

RA: Female Representation Research

HR: Auteurs

·         Street Spirit (Fade Out) – Radiohead (Jonathon Glazer)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrTB-iiecqk

·         Into My Arms – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (Jonathon Glazer)

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

·         Frozen – Madonna (Chris Cunningham)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS088Opj9o0

·         Knives Out – Radiohead (Michel  Gondry)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ1iMQA0egc

·         Heaven -  Unkle (Spike Jonze)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO2SJmMUr6A



·         Human – Carpark North (Martin de Thurah)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Kw6s8CTrk

·         Feeling A Moment – Feeder (Jonas Odell)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6Fo9MPapm0

·         Mad World – Gary Jules (Michel Gondry)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECUrx_HHN2E

In depth analysis

• Street Spirit by Radiohead was directed by Jonathan Glazer who specialises in videos of immense emotional power. The video is in black and white to help heighten the emotional message within the video. The music is in a minor key, so the lack of colour reflects the sadness of the music. The band stated that this song is ‘no light at the end of a tunnel’, yet it shows the light moving around the person so it shows that all hope is not lost. This is heightened by the fact the last line of the song is “immerse your soul in love”.
• It has a variety of different interpretations, one of them could be a statement on the absolute despairs of depression where a person has the sense of disconnectedness where things happen around them; they’re uninvolved on what is going on. An example is when Thom Yorke (the lead singer of the band) is standing singing in the middle of the caravan park and the people around him are sitting down or running away from the caravan.
• There is also a sense that time is moving slowly around that person which is represented by the slow motion used by the people jumping. I think the band wanted to get inside the mind of a depressed person and show this in a literal sense, whether it is by the typical hands in the hair looking down or when Thom Yorke is screaming and reaching out when no-one around him is making any attempt to help.
• Another reading of this is that everyone in the video is trying their best to overcome a situation, whether it is the dog chasing the boy, but stops because of the chain that is holding it down. This can create empathy for the viewers because they could relate with trying their best at doing something, but failing. This is shown visually by people falling to the ground, so I think this video is amplifying because it creates creative interpretation for the audience, but some of the transitions in the video are a fade in and fade out which is an illustrative relationship between lyrics and visuals.
• Another example is when the lyrics say “this machine will not communicate”, a lady sitting down walks away briskly into the caravan, trying to avoid social interaction, so there is a clear distinction between lyrics and visuals rather than between music and visuals.
• A further reading of this is about our society as a whole, it could have a message about all the process that the world has made will fade into nothingness, old technologies are not used anymore because we have created better ones so the old ones are ‘faded out’. It shows a young boy taking a chair, the later in the video he watches the same chair being thrown past him. It then cuts to a shot of glass being smashed by a hammer. This could be a visual metaphor of dreams being destroyed. Again, it links to the whole idea about trying hard but not getting anywhere.
• The cutting rate is slow to match with the slow pace of the song, but near the end of the song the cutting rate becomes a lot faster which could represent his depression becoming out of control as it shows many close up shots of his face during the sequence, some where his head is buried in his hands.