Chosen Song

Emma Blackery - Perfect (The Way You Are)
I decided on this song out of the list that I had gathered because I believe that it has the strongest attributes that I can work with to make a great video. The song has sections, a clear genre, lyrics that can easily create narrative as well as sections that will work well for performance.
There is a build up and break down of tempo which gives the song levels meaning the video can range from large narrative to smaller narrative. However, there is a small weakness that the lyrics could be considered repetitive which means there is not as much choice for things to film for narrative within the video.
I have been given permission to use this song as this is for educational benefits and not commercial gain.

Analysing music videos using Andrew Goodwin’s theory.

Analysing music videos using Andrew Goodwin’s theory.

MIKA  - Grace Kelly
Genre: Pop
This video does demonstrate genre characteristics as there is dance due to the pop genre. The lyrics have a weak relationship to the narrative in the video (the visuals), this is because the lyrics to not correspond to what we see in the video. There is, however, a strong relationship with the music and the visuals because as the song gets more intense, there is more people present in the video and the video becomes more intense at the 'party' that happens within the video.
There is a lot of close ups of the singer which is a demand from the record label to create a visual style and so the audience will remember what the artist looks like for marketing purposes - for example if someone saw a t-shirt with Mika's face on it with not writing, they would know who it is just from the videos. There is no notion of looking or voyeuristic treatment of the female body. There is, however, intertextual reference with spoken words from the film "Country Girl", for which Grace Kelly won an Academy Award in 1954, also with the intertextual references of Freddie Mercury from the band Queen.



McFly - Love Is On The Radio
Genre: Pop Rock
The video demonstrates genre characteristics as there is dance due there being dance for the 'pop' aspect, and a lot of performance for the 'rock' aspect mixed together to create the genre. There is a strong relationship between the visuals and the lyrics, for example, the waving when the lyrics say 'hello', as well as having parts of the video translated into sign language, and hand hearts when mentioning heart beats and love. There is also a strong relationship with the music and the visuals as when the song gets slower, the video goes into slow motion.
There are a lot of closeups of the band which is a means from the record label so that the audience can see memorable people within the videos and on the band's merchandise. There is a minor notion of looking when people in the video look directly into the camera, but nothing else such as mirrors, cameras or screens. There is no voyeuristic treatment of the female body. There is a minor intertextual reference as they have a Michael Jackson impersonator within the video.

Andy Black - We Don't Have To Dance
Genre: Rock
This video demonstrates genre characteristics as there is performance as well as narrative. There is a strong relationship between the lyrics and the visuals as the lyrics say 'how don't you drown in a rainstorm' as the visual changes to rain as well as the mention of the sun going down, and the video taking place at night. As well as the link of lyrics about hell and fire which is on camera. There is a strong relationship to the music and the visuals as when the song slows down, the edit is slower, and when the song speeds up and gets more intense, the edit becomes faster.
There is a lot of close ups of Andy which is a means from the record label as so that he is recognisable on merchandise and for live performances and gigs. There is not a notion of looking except for when Andy looks directly into the camera. There is not voyeuristic treatment of the female body, however the females in the video are there as props and nothing more. There is an intertextual reference of the Steve Miller Band which are a rock band from San Francisco who formed in 1966.



Bad English - When I See You Smile
Genre: Power Ballad
The music video demonstrates clear genre characteristics of performance with other snippets of video placed in between. There is small link between lyrics and visuals as there is clips of people smiling when the lyrics get to the chorus. There is a definite link between the music and the visuals as the song is quite slow, and the video has slow edits with some shots in slow motion that match the tone of the song.
There are close ups of John Waite (singer) and the band in general which is a demand of the record label to sell the live performance aspect of the band so that the audience will know what to expect of a concert'gig from the band. There is no reference to the notion of looking or voyeuristic treatment of the female body. There is no intertextual reference.

How do directors use media language in performance in videos?

Joyriding - frnkiero andthe cellabration

Within this video, the camera is steady though out the entire video which emphasises stability. There is a range of shots ranging from high angles to low angles, close ups to wide shots, from perspective shots (from the bands view) to onlooker shots (from the audiences view). The video has two main colours- white and red, with hints of black on some instruments and ties of the band's outfits. The white is all encompassing and has connotations of Heaven, the red comes into the video when the pace of the music picks up and becomes a lot faster - it comes in with spurts and gradually gets more and more intense as the music goes on in the use of blood, and the representation of Hell. The sound uses the performance to create a more intense atmosphere. The sound becomes more aggressive as the video does simultaneously.
There is a large amount of close ups within the video which intensifies the difference between the black and white mise en scene throughout. The close ups are often of a face of of instrument movement which puts more emphasis on the performance aspect - promoting the band's live performance and inducing marketing within their performance video.
The use of using slow motion just as the live performance ends shows how intense the song and video was, allowing the audience to sit back and think about what they just watched. The shots at the end of the video of the band just standing, breathing heavy after a performance shows the enthusiasm and effort that goes into the live performance aspect of their band.
The shot of Frank smiling at the end shows how although the video is intense (and scary to some) the music is really enjoyable and helps people with the message "yea it's cool, I'll be okay" giving the audience something to believe in and smile with.

Possible song choices *EDITED 26.06.17*

Song one:
Strengths: There is a very clear narrative that can be used for a story video mixed with performance. The music is very clear, with clear vocals, and a high quality recording. There is a very clear genre of soft pop.
Weaknesses: The song is very slow, making it difficult to choose something to use for a performance. The song doesn't have very clear sections meaning the break up of performance and narrative will be difficult to find placement for these.

Song two:
Strengths: There is a very clear beat to which edit cuts will be able to be used with. The genre is very clear - pop.
Weaknesses: There aren't really sections in the song which makes narrative and performance difficult to combine at certain times. This means that the video could end up being very messy and unprofessional.

Song three:
Strengths: There is a very clear story line within the lyrics that makes the narrative part of the video easy to make. The recording is very clear and high quality.
Weaknesses: The lyrics can be considered repetitive which then makes the story line slightly monotonous if you were to use the same filming or narrative sections, meaning there needs to be narrative behind the lines to make more footage useful.

Song four:
Strengths: There are some clear sections in the song where the tempo changes making it easy to switch between narrative and performance. The song is about self love, meaning the video has a lot of possible filming choices for narrative options.
Weaknesses: The lyrics are repetitive which means there is little story for the narrative footage. The sections are clear when they appear, but there aren't very many meaning there is going to be struggle to switch from narrative to performance and back and forth.

Song five:
Strengths: The quality is high, with singing and instruments.
Weaknesses: There aren't clear sections in the song for switches between narrative and performance. The song is very short, meaning there is not a lot of time for many feature of filming and good quality editing.

Song six:
Strengths:  The quality is very clear. There are clear sections within the song which allows switches from narrative to performance. The genre is very clear - pop style. There is a really clear narrative from the lyrics, allowing a lot to work with when filming.
Weaknesses:  There will be more room for narrative than performance making the video uneven which may look messy and uncoordinated.

Song seven:
Strengths: The quality is very high. There are clear sections in the song for switches between narrative and performance. There is a clear story line within the lyrics - with a very prominent chorus. The genre is very clear - pop.
Weaknesses: There is a lot of vocalising (whoa...) which is hard to choose between narrative and performance for the parts.

Song eight:
Strengths: The quality is very high. There is a clear narrative within the lyrics. There are clear sections within the song for switching between narrative and performance. The genre is very clear - pop. There is build up, and break down of tempo which gives the song levels meaning the video can range from large narrative to smaller narrative.
Weaknesses: The lyrics could be considered repetitive which means there is not as much choice for things to film for the narrative sections of the video.

How and why do different genres use performance and lipsync?

How and why do different genres use performance and lipsync in music videos? What are the connotations and aims of the lipsync?

Within these three examples, the only one to promote their live aspect of their band is Iron Maiden. This is because their video is of a concert, and so allowing their audience to see that if they were to attend a concert of theirs, this is what they would get. Whereas the other two are simply a lip-sync and with walking etc, and so not promoting the live aspect of their music as much as they could. On the other hand, they do use all members within the music video which does allow the audience to see who all will be at a live show. As the Iron Maiden video is the only to show a genuine performance, their video allows them to connect with their audience better than the other two. Out of the three, Iron Maiden and PVRIS are the only ones to show a sense of authenticity as they both show a normalised situation with Iron Maiden in a concert and PVRIS walking and in a room performing to themselves. The sense of authenticity allows the audience to see what kind of thing they should expect in a live show. PVRIS emphasise this by having a little dancing and pronounced singing, giving the sense of reality of what it's like to perform on a stage. On the other hand, the Harry Styles music video is not authentic at all as he is seen to float through the sky which takes away from the normality. The PVRIS music video suits the genre (alternative rock) as it is dark with menacing looks from the two men (Alex and Brian) as they handle bats, the use of Lynn dancing in the dark room, however, links more to the live shows as they are more free to move around with no constricted movements. The Iron Maiden music video links to the genre (metal) as there is a lot of close ups of guitar which is a huge aspect of metal music. The costume also links to the genre as they are grungy. The Harry Styles video suits the genre (pop) by being simple yet complicated at the same time. Most pop videos are known to have some aspect of abnormality in them, the Harry Styles video being the floating in the sky. As for illustrating meaning in a song, the Iron Maiden as a whole is being done with lip sync and so there is not specific part that is emphasised. The PVRIS music video has a lot of lip sync, as does the Harry Styles video (not as much as the Iron Maiden video), which once again lacks emphasis on a certain part of the video.







 

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