Showing posts with label I. Music videos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I. Music videos. Show all posts
Friday, 20 May 2016
Tuesday, 26 April 2016
Wednesday, 20 April 2016
Planning music videos
Music Video Planning
Synopsis
The song don't panic by band Cold play makes remarks about how beautiful our planet is but also how we as Humans take it for granted and are slowly destroying it. We believe the topic and lyrics "we live in a beautiful world" and "all of us are done for" provide ample materiel to produce a powerful music video that makes a statement about the state of the world. We plan to use archive copyright free footage in unison with our own independently shot footage. The idea being that we find footage of human and natural disasters and juxtapose them with footage showing the beauty of our world to the negative and positive impacts we have on each other and the planet. We will also film our local area to show the same by highlighting good and bad points about the area.
The song its self is a rather slow one and this will contrast will some of the volatile images that are depicted and also the pace at which we show them, again another method of using contrast to amplify the comment being made. This contrapuntal method is seen in many music videos and also in films due to its effectiveness.
Scene Breakdown / Locations
As our idea doesn't include an actual narrative story line, we are collecting shots that show the positives of the world and what humans have created that we should appreciate and then the negative side of it, the poverty, drug/ alcohol abuse fights etc. We are collecting some archive footage which is copy right free of war and poverty but we also need to film our own so we had the idea of using supplements to construct a scene where it looks as if someone is preparing drugs, also footage of some of the homeless around our local area and the local soup kitchen where people are helping each other. Also plan to film down Great Yarmouth sea front at night time because of the lights and it's recently been refurbished, we can show this for the positive light to show what we as humans have created. |
| Great Yarmouth sea front. |
As I have a car we can use a steady camera brace (shoulder brace) and film out of the window down the sea front and slow motion it when we edit it, to fit with the beat of the song. It reflects what we have created and shows the positives of the world and how we should appreciate and preserve what we have made.
 |
| Soup Kitchen - Salvation Army Community Centre |
This image is an example of what would occur in a soup kitchen where people help feed the homeless, if we are able to get permission we would like to take a few shots to show another piece of footage to reinforce the positives is to show people helping one another.
 |
| Burgh Castle - Gorleston |
This is an image of a location where it would be free to film, this shows the ruins from a war that occurred centuries ago. As we are filming opposing positives and negatives when we come to editing we would like to compare a negative that fits with a positive and vise versa. With the footage shot here of the many walls of the ruins we could cut to a shot and show archive war footage, to show the audience the out come and show the history we have created.
Many of our shots have been shot abroad in New York and the Dominican Republic. The shots in New York take place in the street depicting some of the pollution caused by humans however also shows many of the Christmas lights and how we as humans can create beautiful things. We also have shots in Central Park to show some of the natural beauty that can be found in a place populated by many humans. We also have some shots taken on the top of some sky scrapers for example the Empire State Building that give a great Birdseye view of the iconic city at both day and night.
When it comes to the Dominican Republic footage we have a lot of shots of sunrises and sun sets on beaches and over the sea to show the natural beauty of the world. We also have footage of much of the flora such as palm trees and also mountains which again show the beauty of the world and also how formidable it can be.
To show the negative effects we have on animals we have shots of tigers and other animals in cages.
We also plan to collect copy right free archive footage depicting much of the worlds historical toils such as Nuclear bomb detonations, the holocaust, pollution and natural disasters for example the 2004 tsunami.
To show footage that we may not be able to get ourselves.
Archive Footage
As the main narrative for our music video is showing negatives and positives of the world, we decided that archive footage from the public domain would be our best choice to get footage of bombs dropping and footage of war. We found a website - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Free_media_resources/Video This has provided us with footage of war and poverty, footage that we would not be able to get ourselves, but reflect the current situation of the world and contribute to our subject. One of the video's in particular interest was the testing of a nuclear bomb, we can edit this footage to speed it up and show the audience this as a negative, we are building weapons that are going to wipe out our race etc. - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ivy_King_test.ogg and also https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima_(color).oggTo show footage that we may not be able to get ourselves.
Tuesday, 12 April 2016
Music video overview
We chose Coldplay's - Don't panic because narrative of our proposed video fits well with the lyrics. We plan to depict opposites of the world, beautiful places, people working together, recycling, and the bad things such as war, pollution, and poverty. We planned to acquire this footage from several locations such as where we live and also copy right free footage on the internet for example footage bombs being released that we ourselves cannot film etc. We will however create some scenes to reflect things such as drug use. We wanted to implement this narrative because it's a serious problem for the planet and we as humans are responsible for much of the worlds issues for example the use and consumption fossil fuels, but also for problems we cause for each other like wars in which countless innocents die. Music videos are an effective platform to convey messages and promote causes. When people like a song they often go on sites such as YouTube to watch the music video and see how the song is supposed to be interpreted. Don't Panic has 4,903,175 views on YouTube reaching a global audience. An cause of such importance requires attention to get the masses behind it and our music video enables the chance of reminding the audiences to reflect on how they them selves effect the world we all live in.
Saturday, 26 March 2016
Styles, conventions, and Techniques in Music videos
Music videos have many different styles and conventions and in this essay I will describe and explain these different styles using examples of professional music videos as a way of identifying them.
In concert/ live footage
A common format for a music video is live concert footage which gives the video an authentic feel. It is also a way of displaying the vast audiences artists bring and depicts the magnitude of the occasion.
An example of this can be found in the music video for Kings of Leon's 'Use Somebody' as seen below. This has the effect of placing the audience within the atmosphere of a live concert adding some authenticity to the video. It may even draw in potential fans to actually go to concert in the future if the footage they see entices them.
Narrative and interpretive
Most music videos will follow a common convention of depicting an interpretation of the lyrics in the song. Many of these do so with a narrative or story. This may sometimes be a literal interpretation, or may be a story that veers off with a less literal approach. An example of this can be seen with Devlin's remix of 'Watch Tower' that depicts a criminal on the run. Although the lyric do not denote this they do connotate towards criminal activity and prison with "watch tower". Below you can see the video. As people we are naturally captured by stories and so this has the effect of really capturing the audience's attention. It also helps convey certain emotions associated with the song by applying the song to a context and narrative that the audience can understand.
Surrealist/ Absurdist
These videos often have no relation or very little relation to the lyrics and are normally very odd and striking. An example of this is the video for Drake's 'Energy' which merges his face onto prominent people throughout, including Barrack Obama, Tom Cruise and Oprah. The video its self has no relation to the lyrics as in many surrealist videos however does show him in prominent positions. he idea behind it was probably to take advantage of other peoples fame in order to get view. Surreal videos help gain the audiences attention, as they often break certain conventions we notice them more, often finding them amusing. In this case the use of merging Drake's face with other famous artists made people talk and share the video. The swapping or merging of faces seems to have recently become a sort of phenomenon with many apps being created for this specific purpose. Using a seemingly public obsession of 'Face swapping' really caught the eye of the audience.
Impressionist
These videos attempt at capturing the emotions and tone of a song rather than the literal meaning of the lyrics. This makes them considered more artistic and they are often reflections of how the artist sees the world rather than how it really is. An example of such a video would be Kanye West's Bound 2 which features many landscape shots and surreal images in which the connotations are far more important then what is actually seen. The visuals are often very striking and the audience will be enticed by these visuals and will often interpret the video in different ways. Again the goal here is capture the audience's attention with striking visuals. this may result in a positive or negative reaction from the audience. For the video below many people were just confused.
Intertextual:
These are videos which reference other real life events, people or even other media texts. Synergy would be an example, such as a song being purposely made for a film. An example of this would be Eminem's Lose Yourself for the movie 8 Mile (2002, Curtis Hanson). The song features lyrics mentioning the main character and the music video features clips from the film its self as seen below. The audience will associate the artist who created the song with the film. This benefits all parties as it gives everyone involved positive exposure. Fans of the artist may go and see the film and fans of the film may begin listening to the artist.
Alluding to other events or people would also be an example. Another Eminem's Just Lose It for example alludes and parodies Michael Jackson and his appearance in the video. he also imitates him wearing famous outfits Michael used to wear and this is known as a pastiche, the parodying of another aritst style to poke fun at them. At the time it caused much controversy. The video can be seen below.
Animation
This is a music video that uses animation, digital or stop motion. An example would be Kanye West's Women so Heartless as seen below. Animation is often more stylised than other videos. The effect this has on the audience is that they often connote it with child hood cartoons. It also has the benefit of often looking cool and attractive.
Lip sync/miming
Many music videos will feature the artist singing the song. Obviously this isn't recorded live and instead they will lip sync to the rhythm of the song and then the song is edited on top of the footage. Although common in most genres it is particularly important in rap music as an artist's ability to rap the song successfully is a way in which they are judged. This can be seen with Eminem's Rap God, with a section in it in which he raps over 70 words in under 10 seconds. This doesn't have a huge effect on the audience however does make the video sometimes seem more polished and smooth. In this video in particular the use of lip syncing helps display Eminem's ability to rap, showcasing this to the audience and his fans will impress them.
Editing
Music videos are often edited in slightly different ways to traditional films and may even attempt to purposely diverge away from traditional editing as a way of setting them apart. The above Rap God music video in fact won the best music video award in 2014 at the MTV awards. The video contained many special effects for example a portal in which Eminem travels through, and also many interesting cuts as well as sped up motion of him. All of this was to give him 'God' like abilities as mentioned in the song name as well as the song its self being about his superior rapping ability.
The video also couples real life sets with green screen back drops which made for a very diverse video, and there isn't any chronology to most of what we see in contrast to what we would expect from a film. Interesting editing keeps the audience captivated and creates an extremely polished professional music video. For example the slowing down of the audio and video emphasises certain points. The use of portals is very eye catching and an effective way of changing the scene, and in general terms just looks cool.
Cutting to the beat.
A well known convention is that of cutting to the beat of the song. This technique really helps make the video look polished and emphasises the beats and images we hear. Rap God also does this well with the beat its self being rather complicated featuring many different sounds and also tempo changes. Eminem also uses his voice and the syllables in words he says to alter the beat and we often see the cutting of the video switch suddenly from being cut to the musical beat to that of his voice instead. This results in a very effective video and places emphasis on the amount of syllables he is able to pronounce and it is this that gives the song and video flow. Cutting to the beat has a huge effect of the feel of a music video. It makes the cuts far more purposeful, engaging the audience in both the video and the song. In tun this helps merge the two mediums in one.
Post Production effects
Again Rap god contains many of these, like the previously mentioned portals which he steps through. These visual effects are used to impress the audience and catch there attention. You will notice there are many quick cuts in this video and each shot isn't allocated a lot of time due to the high pace of the song. However the section with the portals is a longer shot and comes when the song is at a slower part. This is so the audience are able to really study the shot and the impressive effects being used.
Split screen
This is a common effect found in both film and music videos. It is often used as a way of showing two location at the same time, or even different perspectives focusing on the same place. An example is the video shown by Meese called Next In Line. Link: https://youtu.be/sxkHHxcJaR8
Split screen allows the audience to see two different perspectives at the same time. This is enjoyable to the audience as it gives them an ability they do not posses in real life, and also is an interesting way of giving the audience visual information.
Chroma Key
Chroma Key is what most refer to as green or blue screen effect, the method of shooting footage in front of a green or blue screen and removing the unwanted block area behind and the inserting a wanted image over it. An example can be seen in the music video for Ariana grande's Break Free music video as seen here in the full video and the screen shot below.
As seen in this screen shot the fore ground will have been shot in front of a green screen and then the rocks and sky in the back ground will have been inserted afterwards.This technique gives the video the ability to travel to far away destination and produce striking visuals that often are very interesting such as this alien planet. The audience in turn are transported into the setting of the video, and this odd setting captures the audience's attention and imagination.
Camera Movements
The way a video is shot can tell us a lot about it and the artist. Going back to the Eminem's Rap God we see lots of quick cuts and jerky camera movements that help suggest along with the song a level of mental disturbance which is a common theme throughout most of his music. In contrast using smoother movements such as pans, tracking shots, crab shots and tilts show movement and can create a certain level of flow and excitement. All of these shot types can be seen in Drake's Worst Behaviour video which can be seen below.
The video uses many of these slower paced tracking shots which are then cut when the beat kicks in to emphasise it. When thinking about how this effects the audience it is similar to cutting to the beat. It places emphasis on certain parts of the video and makes for an interesting striking flow. It can also effect the mood for example the antithesis of fast cuts and then long slow shots allows the audience to get into the pumped up feeling this song in particular is trying to create.
Camera angles and shot types
The camera angles and shot types used can also effect how a music video is received as well. For example we see the use of close up tracking shots in slow motion when looking at subjects that aren't drake for example the screen shot seen below.
In concert/ live footage
A common format for a music video is live concert footage which gives the video an authentic feel. It is also a way of displaying the vast audiences artists bring and depicts the magnitude of the occasion.
An example of this can be found in the music video for Kings of Leon's 'Use Somebody' as seen below. This has the effect of placing the audience within the atmosphere of a live concert adding some authenticity to the video. It may even draw in potential fans to actually go to concert in the future if the footage they see entices them.
Narrative and interpretive
Most music videos will follow a common convention of depicting an interpretation of the lyrics in the song. Many of these do so with a narrative or story. This may sometimes be a literal interpretation, or may be a story that veers off with a less literal approach. An example of this can be seen with Devlin's remix of 'Watch Tower' that depicts a criminal on the run. Although the lyric do not denote this they do connotate towards criminal activity and prison with "watch tower". Below you can see the video. As people we are naturally captured by stories and so this has the effect of really capturing the audience's attention. It also helps convey certain emotions associated with the song by applying the song to a context and narrative that the audience can understand.
Surrealist/ Absurdist
These videos often have no relation or very little relation to the lyrics and are normally very odd and striking. An example of this is the video for Drake's 'Energy' which merges his face onto prominent people throughout, including Barrack Obama, Tom Cruise and Oprah. The video its self has no relation to the lyrics as in many surrealist videos however does show him in prominent positions. he idea behind it was probably to take advantage of other peoples fame in order to get view. Surreal videos help gain the audiences attention, as they often break certain conventions we notice them more, often finding them amusing. In this case the use of merging Drake's face with other famous artists made people talk and share the video. The swapping or merging of faces seems to have recently become a sort of phenomenon with many apps being created for this specific purpose. Using a seemingly public obsession of 'Face swapping' really caught the eye of the audience.
Impressionist
These videos attempt at capturing the emotions and tone of a song rather than the literal meaning of the lyrics. This makes them considered more artistic and they are often reflections of how the artist sees the world rather than how it really is. An example of such a video would be Kanye West's Bound 2 which features many landscape shots and surreal images in which the connotations are far more important then what is actually seen. The visuals are often very striking and the audience will be enticed by these visuals and will often interpret the video in different ways. Again the goal here is capture the audience's attention with striking visuals. this may result in a positive or negative reaction from the audience. For the video below many people were just confused.
Intertextual:
These are videos which reference other real life events, people or even other media texts. Synergy would be an example, such as a song being purposely made for a film. An example of this would be Eminem's Lose Yourself for the movie 8 Mile (2002, Curtis Hanson). The song features lyrics mentioning the main character and the music video features clips from the film its self as seen below. The audience will associate the artist who created the song with the film. This benefits all parties as it gives everyone involved positive exposure. Fans of the artist may go and see the film and fans of the film may begin listening to the artist.
Alluding to other events or people would also be an example. Another Eminem's Just Lose It for example alludes and parodies Michael Jackson and his appearance in the video. he also imitates him wearing famous outfits Michael used to wear and this is known as a pastiche, the parodying of another aritst style to poke fun at them. At the time it caused much controversy. The video can be seen below.
Animation
This is a music video that uses animation, digital or stop motion. An example would be Kanye West's Women so Heartless as seen below. Animation is often more stylised than other videos. The effect this has on the audience is that they often connote it with child hood cartoons. It also has the benefit of often looking cool and attractive.
Lip sync/miming
Many music videos will feature the artist singing the song. Obviously this isn't recorded live and instead they will lip sync to the rhythm of the song and then the song is edited on top of the footage. Although common in most genres it is particularly important in rap music as an artist's ability to rap the song successfully is a way in which they are judged. This can be seen with Eminem's Rap God, with a section in it in which he raps over 70 words in under 10 seconds. This doesn't have a huge effect on the audience however does make the video sometimes seem more polished and smooth. In this video in particular the use of lip syncing helps display Eminem's ability to rap, showcasing this to the audience and his fans will impress them.
Editing
Music videos are often edited in slightly different ways to traditional films and may even attempt to purposely diverge away from traditional editing as a way of setting them apart. The above Rap God music video in fact won the best music video award in 2014 at the MTV awards. The video contained many special effects for example a portal in which Eminem travels through, and also many interesting cuts as well as sped up motion of him. All of this was to give him 'God' like abilities as mentioned in the song name as well as the song its self being about his superior rapping ability.
The video also couples real life sets with green screen back drops which made for a very diverse video, and there isn't any chronology to most of what we see in contrast to what we would expect from a film. Interesting editing keeps the audience captivated and creates an extremely polished professional music video. For example the slowing down of the audio and video emphasises certain points. The use of portals is very eye catching and an effective way of changing the scene, and in general terms just looks cool.
Cutting to the beat.
A well known convention is that of cutting to the beat of the song. This technique really helps make the video look polished and emphasises the beats and images we hear. Rap God also does this well with the beat its self being rather complicated featuring many different sounds and also tempo changes. Eminem also uses his voice and the syllables in words he says to alter the beat and we often see the cutting of the video switch suddenly from being cut to the musical beat to that of his voice instead. This results in a very effective video and places emphasis on the amount of syllables he is able to pronounce and it is this that gives the song and video flow. Cutting to the beat has a huge effect of the feel of a music video. It makes the cuts far more purposeful, engaging the audience in both the video and the song. In tun this helps merge the two mediums in one.
Post Production effects
Again Rap god contains many of these, like the previously mentioned portals which he steps through. These visual effects are used to impress the audience and catch there attention. You will notice there are many quick cuts in this video and each shot isn't allocated a lot of time due to the high pace of the song. However the section with the portals is a longer shot and comes when the song is at a slower part. This is so the audience are able to really study the shot and the impressive effects being used.
Split screen
This is a common effect found in both film and music videos. It is often used as a way of showing two location at the same time, or even different perspectives focusing on the same place. An example is the video shown by Meese called Next In Line. Link: https://youtu.be/sxkHHxcJaR8
Split screen allows the audience to see two different perspectives at the same time. This is enjoyable to the audience as it gives them an ability they do not posses in real life, and also is an interesting way of giving the audience visual information.
Chroma Key
Chroma Key is what most refer to as green or blue screen effect, the method of shooting footage in front of a green or blue screen and removing the unwanted block area behind and the inserting a wanted image over it. An example can be seen in the music video for Ariana grande's Break Free music video as seen here in the full video and the screen shot below.
As seen in this screen shot the fore ground will have been shot in front of a green screen and then the rocks and sky in the back ground will have been inserted afterwards.This technique gives the video the ability to travel to far away destination and produce striking visuals that often are very interesting such as this alien planet. The audience in turn are transported into the setting of the video, and this odd setting captures the audience's attention and imagination.
Camera Movements
The way a video is shot can tell us a lot about it and the artist. Going back to the Eminem's Rap God we see lots of quick cuts and jerky camera movements that help suggest along with the song a level of mental disturbance which is a common theme throughout most of his music. In contrast using smoother movements such as pans, tracking shots, crab shots and tilts show movement and can create a certain level of flow and excitement. All of these shot types can be seen in Drake's Worst Behaviour video which can be seen below.
The video uses many of these slower paced tracking shots which are then cut when the beat kicks in to emphasise it. When thinking about how this effects the audience it is similar to cutting to the beat. It places emphasis on certain parts of the video and makes for an interesting striking flow. It can also effect the mood for example the antithesis of fast cuts and then long slow shots allows the audience to get into the pumped up feeling this song in particular is trying to create.
Camera angles and shot types
The camera angles and shot types used can also effect how a music video is received as well. For example we see the use of close up tracking shots in slow motion when looking at subjects that aren't drake for example the screen shot seen below.
However these shots are then contrasted with shots of drake walking which are further away to catch his quick movement and aren't in slow motion which makes the shot a more dynamic one as seen below. Again this contrast of shots helps emphasise the faster pace parts of the song and in turn this power emotion of being pumped up transcends onto the audience.
Mise-en-scene
In music videos this is often very striking due to the limited time the video needs to grab your attention and also to reinforce the mood and tone of the song. The Mise-en-scene can suggest different things in all sorts of ways. the actual objects them selves can suggest things and even the colours that feature can tell use a lot about the mood of the song or the subject featured in the video.
A good example of this is the video for The Killers' Shot at The Night which takes place in Las Vegas and tells the story of a maid who is bored of her mundane life. We see the contrast of mise-en-scene here used to great effect. At the beginning of the video we see her surrounded by bright warm colours as she works in a hotel however this is contrasted with shots of her own life which feature very dull colours to suggest her boredom and lack of fulfilment. This can be seen below.
We notice the warm surrounding here and the contrast of her outfit made up of bland colours. This really isolates her and shows she isn't a part of this luxury world.
This is emphasised more when we see her at her own home and again there is a use of extremely bland colours connoting her mundane life and her need for excitement.
Eventually she is taken into this world of luxury by a love interest and we can see how this is exacerbated through the mise-en-scene and the colour pallet.
As seen she is now wearing a bright yellow dress and is now apart of the bright vibrant mise-en-scene we see through out the video. All these subtle techniques suggest moods and feelings to the audience and can effect their mood as well. For example when watching the video we feel sorry for her as she is surrounded by all the glitz and glam of Vegas but isn't able to enjoy it and be apart of it. This feeling is increased when we see her alone in a very dull flat with only a cat. We then feel joy as she goes out and has a good time with a love interest and the warmer rich colours we saw at the start of the video that didn't include her now do, as she wears a bright yellow dress.
Tuesday, 22 March 2016
Music video research.
The song don't panic by band Cold play makes remarks about how beautiful our planet is but also how we as Humans take it for granted and are slowly destroying it. We believe the topic and lyrics "we live in a beautiful world" and "all of us are done for" provide ample materiel to produce a powerful music video that makes a statement about the state of the world. We plan to use archive copyright free footage in unison with our own independently shot footage. The idea being that we find footage of human and natural disasters and juxtapose them with footage showing the beauty of our world to the negative and positive impacts we have on each other and the planet. We will also film our local area to show the same by highlighting good and bad points about the area.
The song its self is a rather slow one and this will contrast will some of the volatile images that are depicted and also the pace at which we show them, again another method of using contrast to amplify the comment being made. This contrapuntal method is seen in many music videos and also in films due to its effectiveness.
Coldplay
Coldplay originally were classed as a British Rock band, however there style in recent years has changed in an effort to stay in the charts with 2011 album Mylo Xyloto being an example. The band formed in 1996 and with the release of their album Parachutes, Coldplay hit their first top 40 in the UK with their lead single ''Shiver''. The band went on to be classed as alternative winning Grammy awards under the category. Despite evolving there music to adapt to ever changing tastes, the band has continued to be successful and has retained there core fan base. They have also recently collaborated with artists such as Rihanna, Jay Z and perhaps most noticeably Beyonce.
Coldplay's most recent single is Hymm for the weekend featuring Beyonce. The video takes place in India and depicts the throwing of colourful powders that occurs in some traditional Indian festivals and is something that we associate the country with. The outfits are also very colourful and reflect the culture and occasion of the video. In fact the entire theme of the video is colourful and focuses on the simple joys of life suggesting we should be thankful for what we have rather than always desiring more and that we should embrace other cultures.
When considering the lyrics we also see the song focuses on appreciating the things we have in life, in this case a person with the lyric "Life's a drink and your love's about to make the starts come out". We also hear "Got me feeling drunk and high" stating that the significant other makes him feel euphoric and there are perhaps connotations of addiction.
The genre of this song would most likely fall under pop like much of there recent music. That being said the video does still feature the band using instruments giving it the band feel.
In the songs I have analysed and in many others there is a common theme of love, care and being thankful for what we have. This fits with the idea we have for our video that promotes caring and appreciating the world we have, as well as identifying the negative effects we have on the planet and each other and contrasting this will the positive things we do. We will use archive footage that is copy right free to show some of the historical things that have happened that we our selves can't capture, for example footage of a nuclear explosion. This will be used in unison with footage we our selves will capture to show some of our local area and also places such as New York that we personally have visited in order to give our video and international, world wide feel.
As mention the song 'Don't panic' tackles this subject and so we feel it will fit well, the lyrics below are an example of this.
The song its self is a rather slow one and this will contrast will some of the volatile images that are depicted and also the pace at which we show them, again another method of using contrast to amplify the comment being made. This contrapuntal method is seen in many music videos and also in films due to its effectiveness.
Coldplay
Coldplay originally were classed as a British Rock band, however there style in recent years has changed in an effort to stay in the charts with 2011 album Mylo Xyloto being an example. The band formed in 1996 and with the release of their album Parachutes, Coldplay hit their first top 40 in the UK with their lead single ''Shiver''. The band went on to be classed as alternative winning Grammy awards under the category. Despite evolving there music to adapt to ever changing tastes, the band has continued to be successful and has retained there core fan base. They have also recently collaborated with artists such as Rihanna, Jay Z and perhaps most noticeably Beyonce.
They have recently become the most successful British band at the Brit awards winning best British band in February 2016.
As mentioned at the start of the bands career songs were slower and perhaps had more emotional content such as "Don't Panic" from the bands debut album "Parachutes" in 2000. There first official single was "yellow" which again was a much slower song with deeper meaning. The song was written by lead singer Chris Martin about his mother going through chemotherapy, again a song that would connect with many people going through similar circumstances and that focused on a big issue.
The video was a dark one with Chris walking on a beach in the midst of a storm looking as if he has just been caught in a torrential down pour with wet hair and a drenched dark coat.
It depicts him feeling out of control and almost lost as one would feel in the situation he was in. We see the colors are mainly made up of tones of grey with only a small section of out of focus grass in the background.
In regards to lyrics the song is very touching as Chris addresses his mother "look at the stars, look how they shine for you" and "for you i'd bleed my self dry". A common theme of cold plays songs is that they address a specific person here with the second person pronoun "you". Obviously this allows for anyone listening to the song to personalise it and think of a person important to them.
The scientist is a song that focuses on the break up of couple, and how one of them wants to start over with lyrics like " oh let's got back to the start" and "tell you I'm sorry, you don't know how lovely you are". The song was off of Cold pays second album "A Rush Of Blood To The Head". Whats interesting about this video is that it is shot in reverse and so technically starts at the end. This works well with the lyrics "lets go back to the start".
In relation to costume there isn't any particular theme just every day clothing
This was a very successful song called The Scientist. In the video they have every day clothing on, for example Chris wears a shirt and black jeans, which could be an attempt at keeping it neutral and allow viewers to form their own ideas of what is occurring in the video, whilst making the diegesis feel like real life.
As mentioned at the start of the bands career songs were slower and perhaps had more emotional content such as "Don't Panic" from the bands debut album "Parachutes" in 2000. There first official single was "yellow" which again was a much slower song with deeper meaning. The song was written by lead singer Chris Martin about his mother going through chemotherapy, again a song that would connect with many people going through similar circumstances and that focused on a big issue.
The video was a dark one with Chris walking on a beach in the midst of a storm looking as if he has just been caught in a torrential down pour with wet hair and a drenched dark coat.
It depicts him feeling out of control and almost lost as one would feel in the situation he was in. We see the colors are mainly made up of tones of grey with only a small section of out of focus grass in the background.
In regards to lyrics the song is very touching as Chris addresses his mother "look at the stars, look how they shine for you" and "for you i'd bleed my self dry". A common theme of cold plays songs is that they address a specific person here with the second person pronoun "you". Obviously this allows for anyone listening to the song to personalise it and think of a person important to them.
In relation to costume there isn't any particular theme just every day clothing
This was a very successful song called The Scientist. In the video they have every day clothing on, for example Chris wears a shirt and black jeans, which could be an attempt at keeping it neutral and allow viewers to form their own ideas of what is occurring in the video, whilst making the diegesis feel like real life.
The locations that feature are an ordinary estate with local corner shops and graffiti being seen which suggest again a real life setting, reflecting real life and making it relatable to the to viewers. However we also see train tracks and even a forested area eventually, and the narrative slowly pieces together together in an interesting way. The story is depicted to us in reverse and we start from the end and watch Chris walk backwards. Chris sings the song while he moves in reverse, and this results in giving the viewers a unique insight into the story, with the lyrics and actions of the video telling us about the narrative.
The lyrics them selves tell us about the narrative and we are able to assume this is about a relationship that is on the verge of breaking up with the lyric "It's such a shame for us to part" and "no one ever said it would be this hard". Another is "Oh, take me back to the start", which is reiterated by the reversal of the video. Again it also is linked to the idea of a relationship that is ending, and his desire to go back to the beginning of the relationship and do things differently.
The ending of the video shows a car crash in which Chris is driving with a girl in the passenger seat and she dies along with the lyric "Tell me you love me, Come back and Haunt me, Oh and I rush to the start" suggesting the song is not about breaking up but about the death of his partner. Again this links back to the idea of him regretting actions and wanting to "go back to the start" when everything was okay, ending the song with "I am going back to the start" playing into a popular cliché of wanting to go back in time and do things differently.
The genre of this song would probably fit under pop or alternative which aligns with the bads most common genres. The begginning of the song starts of with a slower tempo and softer tone gradually building in both rhythm and volume especially in the chorus of the song.
Coldplay's most recent single is Hymm for the weekend featuring Beyonce. The video takes place in India and depicts the throwing of colourful powders that occurs in some traditional Indian festivals and is something that we associate the country with. The outfits are also very colourful and reflect the culture and occasion of the video. In fact the entire theme of the video is colourful and focuses on the simple joys of life suggesting we should be thankful for what we have rather than always desiring more and that we should embrace other cultures.
When considering the lyrics we also see the song focuses on appreciating the things we have in life, in this case a person with the lyric "Life's a drink and your love's about to make the starts come out". We also hear "Got me feeling drunk and high" stating that the significant other makes him feel euphoric and there are perhaps connotations of addiction.
The genre of this song would most likely fall under pop like much of there recent music. That being said the video does still feature the band using instruments giving it the band feel.
In the songs I have analysed and in many others there is a common theme of love, care and being thankful for what we have. This fits with the idea we have for our video that promotes caring and appreciating the world we have, as well as identifying the negative effects we have on the planet and each other and contrasting this will the positive things we do. We will use archive footage that is copy right free to show some of the historical things that have happened that we our selves can't capture, for example footage of a nuclear explosion. This will be used in unison with footage we our selves will capture to show some of our local area and also places such as New York that we personally have visited in order to give our video and international, world wide feel.
As mention the song 'Don't panic' tackles this subject and so we feel it will fit well, the lyrics below are an example of this.
The purpose of music videos.
In this essay I will be analysing the purpose of music videos, looking in detail at the reasons why they are made. Music videos began to emerge in the mid seventies with Queens Bohemian Rhapsody being accompanied with what was called at the time a "promotional video". This by many is considered to be first music video with Rolling Stones magazine saying "Its influence cannot be overstated, practically inventing the music video seven years before MTV went on the air."
Promotion
One of the biggest purposes for a music video is to promote the image of an artist or band. Promotion in this case refers to almost selling an image and getting people to buy into it. The idea that if the images and narrative of a music video relate to the audience or appeal to their own understanding of the world, then they are more likely to be interested in said artist. Take Hip Hop artists as an example. Much of their videos will contain scenes taken from parties with lots of girls and fast cars. This shows the artist in superior fashion and for those viewing it they become someone to aspire to be. Another frequent narrative associated with the Hip Hop genre is that of a normal often poverty stricken rapper making it big. Take Big Sean's My Last video. Within the video we see he wears several branded products such as the TISA denim jacket seen in the thumbnail. The audience will see these brands and associate them with their favorite artists and want to buy the products they see them wear. A more obvious example of how this works is when an artist actually creates their own brand and it sells well. The reason people buy branded clothes is because of the status it represents and its reputation as a solidified symbol. However when you take a new brand with no history it will obviously not sell as well because there is no reputation or status associated with it. However when Drake a rapper started up his OVO design brand sales instantly came in as the brand is associated with him.
However a music video doesn't only just promote the artist and their image. The producers and directors of a video also get a chance to show off their work and add it to their portfolios. An example of this is with Director Hype Williams. Williams has worked with many artists and has been active for over twenty years. However he is perhaps most renowned for his work with rapper Kanye West having produced and directed over twenty music videos with the artist, including Gold Digger (2006), All of The Lights (2011) and Diamonds from Sierra Leone. In doing so Williams has defined his style over the years as seen with the Gold Digger music video.
Producer strategies
Producer strategies refer to the different methods of marketing artist. Often a collection of methods are used for example radio and TV interviews to gain publicity. However when it comes to music videos, methods will differ.
Mainstream-
Artists are marketed in different ways depending of their labels. Major label companies like Capital Records will spend lots of money to make sure their artists gain lots of publicity and that a shiny perfect image is maintained, and this image will be carried over into the artists music videos. For example you will often see mainstream artists such as Ariana Grande have their videos on channels such as billboard, and the videos will always depict a certain version of perfection. We can see this glossy/perfect image in one of her videos here. In turn the effect this has on the audience is that they strive to be alike the artist (in Ariana Grande's case most of her fans are female, however her attractiveness will also pull in male fans). The fact mainstream artists also have huge financial backing and thus we see there music on large radio stations and TV channels also increases their audience base and exposure. The music they create also tends to be in the style of whatever the fashionable mode of music at the time, for example pop and EDM as this too appeals to the widest range of people and will be played more in the charts.
Independent
However when it comes to smaller acts that are represented by independent labels who don't have the money to produce a large budget video. Artists such as J Cole, when he first started out produced his own videos with private money. An example can be seen below.
Obviously with a lower budget the videos don't contain any special effects or rented out locations. Instead they have relied on real life shots and pieced them together to make a narrative. The effect this has is that it makes them seem more professional an polished from the audiences point of view. If an artist has a good looking music video it makes them appear more established and so the expect a higher level of production and are more likely to listen to the upcoming artists video. In Jcole's case he went on to sign with Jayz's Rockafella record label and now has a successful career.
Self produced artists
With the new internet age artists who aren't signed are finding new ways to expose their talent to the public. YouTube videos are the main way in which unsigned talent does this. For example it was a video of Justin Bieber busking that sent him on his way to becoming signed and eventually one of the biggest artists in the world. Another British Artist who started out this way was Conor Maynard. Using YouTube is a great way to gain audience exposure as the site has millions of users every day. Self produced artists will often make covers of popular songs in the charts as it is likely many people will be talking about it already. They use the exposure and popularity of an already existing song and sort of piggy back off of it. As seen this often brings in fans of the existing song and thus brings more attention to the artist. We can see his first ever video here, a cover of Drake's Marvin's room.
Art Statement
However there aren't always financial and marketing reasons behind videos. Some Artists will make videos to make an artistic statement, in fact there are usually in every video some sort of underlying meaning. These videos will often conform much of the audience's ideology or opinion on the statement in question. Many statements are left wing and anti establishment, and it is likely the fans and artist already have a shared ideology, and so artists may capitalise on this by inserting images that adhere to the shared ideology of there audience.Take Eminem's Mosh video for example. This was a protest against Bush administration and the Iraq war and a plea to the majority that their voices can be heard.
Extension of income
Extension of income refers to the royalties artists receive every time their song is played on the radio or music video watched on YouTube or the TV. However it is impossible to actually count how many times this happens so instead an estimate is made in relation to how popular the single or album is.
This often results in mainstream artists remaining in the charts as their songs are played on the radio all the time. Again people like Rihanna, Drake and Ariana Grande are examples. So the more independent or alternative artists rely more on other media outlets to gain exposure.
This is made even harder when the same mainstream artists with huge financial backing continue to dominate an already saturated market.
The best way for an independent artist to make money is probably to perform live around the circuit and make a name for them selves. Take Ed Sheeran for example, he played over one thousand shows before attaining a record deal. There is also often a certain stigma attributed to artist's that are carried through the industry by a huge record company from the start, that perhaps they are not succesful for there musical talent but just because they are easy to market. However with acts like Ed Sheeran who come from more self made origins a certain level of authenticity and respect stays with them throughout their careers. It also allows the audience to relate more to them and thus gain more fans.
Extension of Outlets and Platforms
When referring to music videos an extension outlet or platform refers to any source which allows access to the media. Examples will include YouTube which often gives access to artists music videos through VEVO accounts as seen. Other channels may also offer access t music videos on YouTube however VEVO channels represent the biggest source. As mentioned before YouTube is a great way for artists to show off there videos as people from all over the world can view them, and it probably has the biggest audience base compared to any other media outlet.
We can also see music videos on countless TV channels. MTV for example was one of the first to do so launching in 1981. Since then the channel has adapted and now mostly shows reality TV, however many music channels have since then adopted the format and show music videos throughout the day.
With this growing number of media outlets there are of course consequences. A disadvantage for outlets is that there is a lot of competition, and therefore it is harder to make money with a smaller market share. However for artists the wider distribution is obviously an advantage as there content will reach more people.
Synergy
This refers to the sale of a product subsidiary to the main product through licensing deals. An example would be Beats by Dre headphones featuring in many music videos. Those owning Beats by Dre will pay record companies money to feature their products in music videos by popular artists. An example can be seen here from the music video for 23, in which the Beat pill was advertised through product placement.
The reason synergistic marketing is popular is because everyone involved benefits. Those getting paid to feature the product benefit financially while those who own the product get advertising and association with a popular artist, in this case Miley Cyrus, and thus the product gains popularity from her fans. This will lead to many fans buying the product in question as they strive to assimilate them selves with their favourite artists.
Conclusion
I believe Music videos offer fans and insight to what is supposedly the life of their favorite artists. It also depicts what perhaps the song means to the artist.
With media outlets such as YouTube it has become increasingly easier to view music videos, and with societies obsession with everything social media these videos are now seen and watched more than ever. Because of this trend artists and record companies have taken advantage of this attempting to make videos go viral and creating more videos in general. This has become even more evident with the recent release of Beyonce's Lemonade album, which was released with a movie made up of music videos for each track. This was a revolutionary way of releasing an album and perhaps will become the dominant way of releasing albums in the future.
Promotion
One of the biggest purposes for a music video is to promote the image of an artist or band. Promotion in this case refers to almost selling an image and getting people to buy into it. The idea that if the images and narrative of a music video relate to the audience or appeal to their own understanding of the world, then they are more likely to be interested in said artist. Take Hip Hop artists as an example. Much of their videos will contain scenes taken from parties with lots of girls and fast cars. This shows the artist in superior fashion and for those viewing it they become someone to aspire to be. Another frequent narrative associated with the Hip Hop genre is that of a normal often poverty stricken rapper making it big. Take Big Sean's My Last video. Within the video we see he wears several branded products such as the TISA denim jacket seen in the thumbnail. The audience will see these brands and associate them with their favorite artists and want to buy the products they see them wear. A more obvious example of how this works is when an artist actually creates their own brand and it sells well. The reason people buy branded clothes is because of the status it represents and its reputation as a solidified symbol. However when you take a new brand with no history it will obviously not sell as well because there is no reputation or status associated with it. However when Drake a rapper started up his OVO design brand sales instantly came in as the brand is associated with him.
However a music video doesn't only just promote the artist and their image. The producers and directors of a video also get a chance to show off their work and add it to their portfolios. An example of this is with Director Hype Williams. Williams has worked with many artists and has been active for over twenty years. However he is perhaps most renowned for his work with rapper Kanye West having produced and directed over twenty music videos with the artist, including Gold Digger (2006), All of The Lights (2011) and Diamonds from Sierra Leone. In doing so Williams has defined his style over the years as seen with the Gold Digger music video.
Producer strategies
Producer strategies refer to the different methods of marketing artist. Often a collection of methods are used for example radio and TV interviews to gain publicity. However when it comes to music videos, methods will differ.
Mainstream-
Artists are marketed in different ways depending of their labels. Major label companies like Capital Records will spend lots of money to make sure their artists gain lots of publicity and that a shiny perfect image is maintained, and this image will be carried over into the artists music videos. For example you will often see mainstream artists such as Ariana Grande have their videos on channels such as billboard, and the videos will always depict a certain version of perfection. We can see this glossy/perfect image in one of her videos here. In turn the effect this has on the audience is that they strive to be alike the artist (in Ariana Grande's case most of her fans are female, however her attractiveness will also pull in male fans). The fact mainstream artists also have huge financial backing and thus we see there music on large radio stations and TV channels also increases their audience base and exposure. The music they create also tends to be in the style of whatever the fashionable mode of music at the time, for example pop and EDM as this too appeals to the widest range of people and will be played more in the charts.
Independent
However when it comes to smaller acts that are represented by independent labels who don't have the money to produce a large budget video. Artists such as J Cole, when he first started out produced his own videos with private money. An example can be seen below.
Obviously with a lower budget the videos don't contain any special effects or rented out locations. Instead they have relied on real life shots and pieced them together to make a narrative. The effect this has is that it makes them seem more professional an polished from the audiences point of view. If an artist has a good looking music video it makes them appear more established and so the expect a higher level of production and are more likely to listen to the upcoming artists video. In Jcole's case he went on to sign with Jayz's Rockafella record label and now has a successful career.
Self produced artists
With the new internet age artists who aren't signed are finding new ways to expose their talent to the public. YouTube videos are the main way in which unsigned talent does this. For example it was a video of Justin Bieber busking that sent him on his way to becoming signed and eventually one of the biggest artists in the world. Another British Artist who started out this way was Conor Maynard. Using YouTube is a great way to gain audience exposure as the site has millions of users every day. Self produced artists will often make covers of popular songs in the charts as it is likely many people will be talking about it already. They use the exposure and popularity of an already existing song and sort of piggy back off of it. As seen this often brings in fans of the existing song and thus brings more attention to the artist. We can see his first ever video here, a cover of Drake's Marvin's room.
Art Statement
However there aren't always financial and marketing reasons behind videos. Some Artists will make videos to make an artistic statement, in fact there are usually in every video some sort of underlying meaning. These videos will often conform much of the audience's ideology or opinion on the statement in question. Many statements are left wing and anti establishment, and it is likely the fans and artist already have a shared ideology, and so artists may capitalise on this by inserting images that adhere to the shared ideology of there audience.Take Eminem's Mosh video for example. This was a protest against Bush administration and the Iraq war and a plea to the majority that their voices can be heard.
Extension of income
Extension of income refers to the royalties artists receive every time their song is played on the radio or music video watched on YouTube or the TV. However it is impossible to actually count how many times this happens so instead an estimate is made in relation to how popular the single or album is.
This often results in mainstream artists remaining in the charts as their songs are played on the radio all the time. Again people like Rihanna, Drake and Ariana Grande are examples. So the more independent or alternative artists rely more on other media outlets to gain exposure.
This is made even harder when the same mainstream artists with huge financial backing continue to dominate an already saturated market.
The best way for an independent artist to make money is probably to perform live around the circuit and make a name for them selves. Take Ed Sheeran for example, he played over one thousand shows before attaining a record deal. There is also often a certain stigma attributed to artist's that are carried through the industry by a huge record company from the start, that perhaps they are not succesful for there musical talent but just because they are easy to market. However with acts like Ed Sheeran who come from more self made origins a certain level of authenticity and respect stays with them throughout their careers. It also allows the audience to relate more to them and thus gain more fans.
Extension of Outlets and Platforms
When referring to music videos an extension outlet or platform refers to any source which allows access to the media. Examples will include YouTube which often gives access to artists music videos through VEVO accounts as seen. Other channels may also offer access t music videos on YouTube however VEVO channels represent the biggest source. As mentioned before YouTube is a great way for artists to show off there videos as people from all over the world can view them, and it probably has the biggest audience base compared to any other media outlet.
We can also see music videos on countless TV channels. MTV for example was one of the first to do so launching in 1981. Since then the channel has adapted and now mostly shows reality TV, however many music channels have since then adopted the format and show music videos throughout the day.
With this growing number of media outlets there are of course consequences. A disadvantage for outlets is that there is a lot of competition, and therefore it is harder to make money with a smaller market share. However for artists the wider distribution is obviously an advantage as there content will reach more people.
Synergy
This refers to the sale of a product subsidiary to the main product through licensing deals. An example would be Beats by Dre headphones featuring in many music videos. Those owning Beats by Dre will pay record companies money to feature their products in music videos by popular artists. An example can be seen here from the music video for 23, in which the Beat pill was advertised through product placement.
The reason synergistic marketing is popular is because everyone involved benefits. Those getting paid to feature the product benefit financially while those who own the product get advertising and association with a popular artist, in this case Miley Cyrus, and thus the product gains popularity from her fans. This will lead to many fans buying the product in question as they strive to assimilate them selves with their favourite artists.
Conclusion
I believe Music videos offer fans and insight to what is supposedly the life of their favorite artists. It also depicts what perhaps the song means to the artist.
With media outlets such as YouTube it has become increasingly easier to view music videos, and with societies obsession with everything social media these videos are now seen and watched more than ever. Because of this trend artists and record companies have taken advantage of this attempting to make videos go viral and creating more videos in general. This has become even more evident with the recent release of Beyonce's Lemonade album, which was released with a movie made up of music videos for each track. This was a revolutionary way of releasing an album and perhaps will become the dominant way of releasing albums in the future.
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