Research for music website

Creating a brand identity

A-MEN logo:

My own digi pack

The Digi pack shows 6 faces of theme specific images that link to the style we wish to put across to  our target audiences and show our Solo artists identity along with multiple songs included on the album cover.

Final production and analysis

Re-shooting, re-editing etc

Rough cut

Screening-
Feed back-

Titles

Title of artist:
A-Man
A-Men

Title of Song:
Enclosed
The Long Route
The Shiner
Small Town Memories

Editing and description of process, problems etc (effects you may have used)

Anamatics

we are not going to be using anamatics due to standards of how we wish to have our product presented to our audience.

Filming. Description and analysis of days shooting

Organisation and explanation of cast, props and locations

Risk assessment

Shot list

We decided to use basic shots but at different camera angles to showcase our artist as the main point of focus/ centre of attention. Inconsideration to our product we are hoping to include shots like:

• Close up- to show the depth of reaction our artist has to the lyrics.
• Extreme close up- indicates a symbolic reference to the atmosphere.
• Medium shot- establishes our artist and makes it more appealing to see the artist at an average view.
• Long shot- like a mis-en-scene but just to show more of the representation of an establishing shot to where our artist chose to sing his song.
• panning from medium shot (left and right)- to see our artists focus from different perspectives.
• Wide shot- to establish focus and get a feel for our artists surroundings. 

Roles, actors, costume

Role: is of Adam being him self as the solo artist for the single Pompaii by Bastille.

Actor: is Adam Graver acting as him self in our production in the set of a drama room to shoot for camera angles.

Costume: Adam wears an overall black suit with an under white shirt (casual but still smart) shows the artist as a serious but yet laid back approach to the music style.

Location lists

Places to consider when filming:

Ken Stimpson Community School (black drama studio for scenes of shots of artist and emotional attachment to the video)
Cuckoos Hollow (Werrington)
Urban footage of Peterborough (Queens gate)

location scouting, pictures and explaination

main pitch and feed back

Facebook Questionair

Copyright research for song and role of the record company

Permission letter?

As we have made our own version of a song and changed a few bits about it, for example the back ground singers were not needed in our LIVE version and have come to the conclusion we do not need to send a permission letter due to the reason of splicing it down e.g. like when people sing and post it on you tube its not retrieved due to lyrical copy right reasons. Plus its like our own take on the original.

Artist research with lyrics

Bastille:

Daniel Smith- Lead singer
Chris Wood- Bass guitar player
William Farquarson- Drummer
Kyle- Pianist and back up singer

Bastille's bands name was named after Bastille day links to the day Daniel was born on (14th of July) , which also relates to the historic events of Bastille medieval fortress (built in 1370/80 period and was demolished in 1789/90) it was used throughout the late 17th century during the French revolution.

Bastille is signed onto virgin records (since 2013)

Bastille have won several music awards and landed many nominations, including ones for Brit Awards, Billboard Music Awards, World Music Awards, and Grammy Awards. Bastille has sold over 8 million records worldwide.

Studio albums

• Bad Blood (2013)
• Untitled Second Album/Worse Blood (2016)

Mixtapes

• Other People's Heartache (2012)
• Other People's Heartache, Pt 2 (2012)
• VS. (Other People's Heartache, Pt. III) (2014)

Bastille's music has been used on the TV soap Hollyoaks with one week in the early summer focused on Bastille's song "Laura Palmer". Their music also has been on: Made in Chelsea and The Vampire Diaries. Bastille can also be heard on EastEnders fall (2014) trailer with "Things We Lost in the Fire". They can also be heard on Teen Wolf and on the fourth episode of How to Get Away with Murder with the Naughty Boy collaboration "No One's Here to Sleep". The song "Haunt" can be heard in the season 1 finale of the TV series Finding Carter. The band's music has appeared in the FIFA video games twice: "Weight of Living, Pt. II" is featured in FIFA 13, and "Hangin'" is featured in FIFA 16.

Bastille debuted in July 2010 with their limited edition 7" single that featured the two tracks "Flaws" and "Icarus". Released through London-based independent record label, Young & Lost Club, only 300 copies were pressed. This was followed by the self-release of the EP Laura Palmer later in 2011. After debuting further tracks online through sites such as YouTube and MySpace, the band began to find an audience. In December 2011 Smith signed a contract with Virgin Records. The group subsequently secured a few support slots, and later performed at major UK festivals including Glastonbury, the Isle of Wight, Redfest Reading and Leeds Festival and Bliss fields. The band also recorded and released a two part mix-tape titled Other People's Heartache for free.

Wikipedia Team. (2016). Batsille. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastille_(band). Last accessed 3.3.16.

The Music video to Pompeii:

The official music video was filmed in Los Angeles and Palm Springs, California. It was directed by Jesse John Jenkins and produced by Tova Dann. The video was first released onto YouTube on 20 January 2013 at a total length of three minutes and fifty-two seconds.

The video follows Bastille frontman Dan Smith, as he wanders about an empty-looking Los Angeles, before realizing the few people around all have unnatural vacant black eyes. He steals a car and drives into the desert to escape them, but the car breaks down and he soon realizes he's been infected as well. He climbs a mountain and looks out at the view, before turning around to reveal his own eyes meanwhile have turned black as well. The story is an allegory for the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii.

The lyrics:
Lyrically, the song is about the Roman town of the same name, which met its fate with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. It was nominated for British Single of the Year at the 2014 BRIT Awards. A mash up of the song with Rudimental and Ella Eyre's "Waiting All Night" was performed live by Rudimental, Eyre and Bastille at the aforementioned ceremony.

Star image in a music video

Music videos tend to contain a large amount of camera shots of the artists who are the main protagonist or image of the footage, weather they be trying to show a narrative or

Music directors and influence of styles

http://www.highsnobiety.com/2015/05/12/best-music-video-directors/

Analysis of similar products from ex student

Genre- Pop/Rock.
Codes and Conventions- 
Technical: The technical aspects of the video shows us that camera angles throughout facial expressions are shown in the chorus and mid shots are used in the build up , types of shots, non-diegetic sounds, pace, style of editing.  

Symbolic: the symbolic side indicates to us that facial expressions, gestures, poses, mis-en scene 

Connotation-
Denotation-
Goodwin’s theory-

Target audience of a music video

An essential piece towards making and distributing your music video towards your target audience you  should consider are these:

Demographics- when you have intentions of  your video and type of music's characteristics towards a particular group that inspire their interests. (characteristics such as gender, age, class, ethnicity, sexuality, location, and even education or a particular life style).

Psychographics- the use of segmenting the market groups based off social class, lifestyle, personality.

Young and Rubicon- breaks down into different characteristics

The Explorer: driven by a need for discovery or challenge.
The Aspirer: materialistic/ cares what others think.
The Succeeder: self confidence/ strong goal orientation/ organised.
The Reformer: Values own independent judgement/ anti materialistic.
The  Mainstream: largest group/ need security/ have a daily routine.
The Struggler: seeking escape/ live for today and have less plans for tomorrow.
The Resigned: goal of survival/ likely the older generations.

Research- primary and secondary is needed. primary contains questionnaires, surveys, interviews, vox pops. Where as secondary is made up of internet, books, magazines.

all are essential to how a music video hits an audience where there interests lie.

story board

We have decided that the video will have a narrative in majority of parts mainly a love loss or the aspects of two worlds that are totally different in story but have the same message at the end and as for the gaps in lyrics and filming we will put our singer on a spot light to show the emotion of how and what they were feeling through out the video.

New idea- 2nd Dec
the idea of filming a new piece about having Adam sit in a dark whilst strumming at the intro, then move onto the scene that links in with the lyrics e.g. walking under head lights then cut back

New idea in progress

So far we have changed artists for our music video due to scheduling we have gone from William to Adam. Now Adam has signed on with us he has chosen the song choice that is Pompeii- by Bastille we have currently recorded our first draft of the song and if I am honest it sounds great for its Adams interpretation of it. Although the original is more heavy in terms of bass however our version is more soft on vocals and we decided to get rid of the background singers for it would not suited the type of voice Adam has. As for the footage to go with the audio we still are deciding if we will have a narrative or just have iconic shots of the lyrics used.

Health and safety while shooting a music video

Whilst filming we need to have a few essentials-

• Camera
• Tripod
• First aid kit (just in case)
• Food
• Water
• Water proofs or warmth gear (depending on weather)

site for how to make a music video

http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/music-videos/shooting-music-video-tips.html

codes and conventions understanding site

http://www.slideshare.net/abishaw/codes-and-conventions-of-music-videos-finished

Audiences opinion to the music industry

In the 21st century the music industry has become effected by the dramatic uprising of the internet and other influenced technology to take the benefits of the simple record company's money making system a loss of profit.

Due to the internet wide verity to create almost anything on the web, it has led to the piracy to producers products they try making a profit off but this is not always the case there are still buyers but done in a more digital form of purchasing of there products so sound tracks on iTunes to in store purchasing of  albums and mechanise music related e.g. Dr.Dre Beats head phones.

Audiences always want there music fast with no delay or buffer in the downloading process which distinguishes the difference between official sites that you would pay to have instant access to your songs and albums however there are illegal sites that skip the cost process and just give away music for free leading to less profit of the distributor's and the artists themselves.

possible idea

Idea: We are going to have a chosen song in which we will get our friend William Ward to play on his guitar and have multiple shots of him both playing sitting down with a spot light on him as he sings we will cut across to filmed scene's that fit into the lyrics whilst he sings about them. We will edit in these scenes to fit into the final cut and the chosen song and how it will effect or enhance Williams performance through the duration of the video.

Names:

WillTec

WillTeca

W to W

Will Be There (WBT)

Warden/War-Denz

The Actual final cut I am hoping to turn out something like this. well the general idea of it and this is not my video, the right's belong to youtube.

Digipak's

a digipak represents the formal appearance of a new album that shows off the latest hits of the artist keeping to the theme of what the album is about. e.g Gorrilaz shows each character of there band from a side shot in a rebellious looking
style which further brings the understanding of propaganda in there music video and lyrics.

A digipak has 6 faces mainly a front cover which shows off the artist or group logo or has a picture of them with the title in the fore ground. Then there's a context face which lists all the song included in the album and if its a special digipak it comes with a bonus section its usually on the back of the pack for audiences interest as to what it includes but this has only just become a recent major change in the last few years because the contents used to be inside opposite side of the front and customers used to have to open it just to see the song list which lead to damage to the pack. Other sides are inspired art styles suited to the song choices of the album  and gets the audiences attention with the colour and layout scheme.

My Music Moodboard

Potential song choice/style

Riptide (Vance Joy):

We feel that the song Riptide suits the possible ideas of a romantic video or one about friends being together. The light-hearted sounds accompanied by the words that out across a feeling of bliss seems to get put across to the listener. I believe that this song, with the clips of friends together or based around a relationship will provide the listener with a very up-beat and positive video.




Home-made song:
This is the idea that we get one of or some of our friends to play/sing the tune/song themselves. This is due to the fact that it will save us the trouble of going through the copyright process. On top of that, if the artist must feature in said video, it makes more sense to have friend playing the tune because they're easier to acquire and put in the music video.


Evolution of rock (or another genre (or not a specific genre) if need be):
This is the idea that we make a video that shows the evolution of a certain music genre. In this case we will look at rock. The evolution of whichever genre can be shown in two ways; the first is that we just play the our own song in the background and have the videos of different music videos of a genre in chronological order, the second way is that we just grab different music videos and and place them in chronological order with their own sound whilst still incorporating us into it in some way.


​

More Music Artist logo's

The most iconic image in pop history Michael Jacksons logo show's off one of his famous dance move/ stance used in almost all of his music video's, this made a famous icon for it was a single trade mark used to represent him. majority of music lovers will look at this and think of the king of pop.

 Whereas Prodigy's logo consist to there style of music, its the focus on how that ant represent's the band and how this put's there audience in mood for there product it shows attitude and can be seen on there album covers instantly alerting fans or others that it's Prodigy. Also the typography used show the genre of music well for it's electro yet rock format indicate's it is an electro/rock band.

 However Metallica has more of the classical heavy metal look to it showing off its elongated typography at the start with M and at the end with an A and the rest is more suttle with the layout again the iconic thing about classical genres is there logo's end up being black and white.

 Along with its ironic colour of black and white the classic Beatles logo shows like a god father typography and is elegant as the music itself and shows the characteristics/style of the band.

 Firstly Daft Punk has a more cosmic and steam punk look there design of logo although liquid like there beats there typography shows a more flow and energetic 3D effect to there design and majority of logo's shows the artists style in general.





Some of the logo's don't have there name printed

out on there cover because they go with a symbol that people look out and instantly recognise it e.g. dead mau5 as a DJ thinks of himself as a party animal/god so he chooses to actually wear a dead mau5 helmet (the logo you see to your left). the artist is known for his epic beats and logo is now a world wide symbol and can be seen on mechanise e.g. T-shirts and headphones.

Where as a logo could be a new sign/ made by the artist to show the songs that are linked to the album. such as this X that has a bright colour contrast of black and green background. Appeals to a wide variety of people who support the album.

LMFAO- logo is meant to be more of a brand and diverse appeal unlike any others even though its no different from dead mouse. They also create unique logos for the songs on their album but tend to use this logo for international purposes.

More Music genre Research

A music genre is a open category that identifies pieces of music to be a shared tradition or set of codes and conventions. It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style.

Jazz- a mixture of classic instruments e.g. saxophone, trumpets, trombone etc. The rhythm of the music is both fast and slow depending on the mood and audience the composer is aiming for e.g. fast paced would be used for a younger age because it would be used at party's and proms where as the more slow paced would be used at more of the elderly audience for the pace is slow and movement and vibe wise suits the physicality (not trying to sound like there old but its what I have witnessed and looks like.) a good example of Jazz is frank Sinatra's "That's life". 

Hip-Hop- A more loud and dramatically paced style and culture it consists of a main singer with a back up or a group (2 or more) that have pimped out car or are in the crib with there crew singing about getting with women or getting money or women mainly the women's looks/clothing the songs refer to living life on the edge or just having a good time and this sort of genre will spark new trends for youth audience.

Punk- Is more like rock but the narrative is more driven for independence and rebellious style including a lot of propaganda to show a rejection to society or to show the time period that all the iconic and cliché's for reasons to rock out like it was the 90's.  

Electronic- a more fractured and elongated of instruments and random sounds fixed together usually on laptops because music software puts tracks together so well. It is to create a more lively atmosphere and mainly used in clubs and late night party's from the 90's through to today and still exists due to remixes of popular songs. (like music latching)
Its common with a younger audience due to artist's such as Skrillex, Neuron, Bass Nectar etc all use there style to make there own iconic sounds.     

R&B and soul- 

Comedy- More narrative driven lyrics that express inside jokes or take the mic out of specific related genre and majority of comedy artists such as the lonely island have special team ups/ one off cameo's e.g. Rihanna, Michael Bolton, Akon, Justine Timberlake, Ryon Renalds, Elisia Wood, Seth Rogen etc. This sort of music is not amongst the most popular but it brings a lively mood to the funny side of you and is always great to watch when you need a cheer up. 

Country- A more soul (Vocal) based genre that relies on a lot of western/wood wind instruments that help enhance the viewer/listener recognise the type of music, also the video is based around rural area's showing off small towns and villages or even just the countryside landscape, that includes a lot of singing on the porch, desert roads that shows the occasional car diving, and even some sort of wild life, the song choice is based off of either views of life or how to live away from the city and find new emotions towards a more traditional way of living.

Music video genre research

Music labels and Brand's Research

Music Brands

Apple Music

Billboard

Google Play

iTunes

Universal Music Group

Twitter Music

Rolling Stone

Spotify

Sony Music

E! Online

NME

MTV

Music labels

• Universal Music Group (most of EMI's recorded music division absorbed into UMG)
• Sony Music Entertainment (EMI Music Publishing absorbed into Sony/ATV Music Publishing)
• Warner Music Group (EMI's Parlophone and EMI/Virgin Classics labels absorbed into WMG on 1 July 2013)

Music directors and influenced styles

This is Joseph Kahn a music director who often know for his latest video bad blood which sung by Taylor Swift involves a wide variety of celebrity cameos but is based around the idea of the classic revenge movies e.g. like the Italian job which adds to the effect that there is rivalry between two people with a load of special effects to martial arts and weapons to show who has the biggest range of dangerous people in a crew.

At the time of filming the style of the video itself takes a turn to a comic art form as if the city it self is taken from the aspects of the comic like genre e.g. the beginning shows an office building where the scene is set where Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez take on a verity of smartly masked men instantly showing the contrast of good and evil but in a casual setting of a work place this links to real life as its like a corporation of corruption. then we see the be trail of Selena's hero. which we get a glance of a"Sin City" style.

A Mood Board

A Chosen Song and Research with lyrics "Tomorrow Is Another Day"

Tomorrow Is another day (T.I.A.D) is a new sort of genre called modstep which is a unique type of sound that is the mixture of vocals with a pop chorus but has a break down of bass like dub step but without repetition of lyric's. I paid more attention to how it was set up and funded it took a quite small budget to make and most of the time the video's style is like slow and gradually gets faster building into the end but the general narrative works as it uses iconic location's so you tell tell the age group/ audience appeal the director's are aiming at.

Over all i would really like to take a simplistic approach to my project and have a simple narrative and a simple song that is done by a few musical friends or make a new type of genre all together which will take work but then again music is never original only re-edited into a different style.

Initial Ideas for video presentation*

Idea 1)Film a load of summer activities such as Party's, football, hang out, you know chill stuff and then once we come back we go over the footage and pick out the best vibes and film quality which then leads us to decide an over all genre of music video.

Idea 2) Peterborough is full of open spaces so that could lead to more romantic or top pop of the city filming in these sorts of areas or as its more of an industrial and developing city we could use abandoned warehouses and open planes for more of a rock approach.

Idea 3) we think of a narrative/ story that links to the landscape and architecture of our surroundings e.g. top of a car park, club strip,more places that are popular and interesting to shoot at and then once we have a story decide on the genre to suit the narrative we have chosen.

Andrew Goodwin's 6 Features of a Music video- David Hasselhoff "True Survivor"

In His Book Dancing in the Distraction Factory Andrew Goodwin points out characteristics and features that can be found in music videos. Looking at a selection of music videos which can be recognised?

1.Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
(e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).
Shows a variety of cast members from the youtube film (Kung Fury) and includes David Hassel Hoff as a version of the protagonist Kung Fury, the video it self consists of retro battles both filmed to add on or to move through the action of the narrative.

2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). the True Survivor lyrics presences an amplifying bass but has illustrative elements as to what David.Hoff is singing about.     

3.There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). They both are amplifying, this is due to the use of special effects and more climaxes used through out the visual elements and when the chorus hits after. 

4.The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). The style is very much linked into the film's Retro style (80's) itself, the celebrity artist shows more of his own take of the style that is Kung Fury. 

5.There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. There was a few moments for screens within screens to show the Hoff mimicking Kung Fury. there were stages of the film but was also a few sharp shots into stages such as retro alley, Hoff next to Lamborghini etc.   

6.There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc). The intertexual reference of the music video was linked to a custom made Youtube Film which made a trailer of there film idea up until it got funding for a full length feature.

Andrew Goodwin's 6 Features of a Music video- Will.i.am "T.H.E" (The Hardest Ever)

In His Book Dancing in the Distraction Factory Andrew Goodwin points out characteristics and features that can be found in music videos. Looking at a selection of music videos which can be recognised?

1.Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
(e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).
Will.I.Am's T.H.E uses characteristic through every stage of transportation of over coming obstacles E.g. he appears more confident and shows tough gestures and even the facial expression becomes more shown like this.    

2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). The lyric's do compliment how Will is shown and although the song has few lyrics it works well with how idea that the extreme and thrill of how fast one can go impacts how fast the transitions of each shot will be and we get the idea of what he is trying to over come.

3.There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
Seeing all the rare transportation and every tense fast paced short burst momentum help's the mood of the music for it gets viewers wanting to move (this is considered more of an excise song)

4.The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

There are multiple close ups of Will.I.Am especially using iconic products with famous logo's/brand's which helped fund the video. E.g. the HTC phone at the begging, the BMW care, The Dr.Dre beats stereo and headphone helmet. and the style of this is advanced technology and transport that's fast along with cool looking visuals.

5.There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
there are multiple camera angles of Jennifer Lopez which show off her outfit, face and poses this can shown of how the female body attracts a more male audience because to me it looks like she is wearing her Friday night get up in the first shots and then moves to a more weird and funky dress code you don't see most women wear in public. 

6.There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc). 
this could link to films that are action packed and set in the future and kind of links to Will's old group the black eyed peas with the beats that are shown.

Andrew Goodwin's 6 Features of a Music video- Analysis of Gorrilaz "Stylo"

 In His Book Dancing in the Distraction Factory Andrew Goodwin points out characteristics and features that can be found in music videos. Looking at a selection of music videos which can be recognised?

1.Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
(e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).
In Gorrillaz "Stylo" the animated characters 2D (singer), Merdock (Bass player), and Robotic Noodle (main Guitar player) show characteristic's through facial and small movement while being in there car and reacting to events that occur to be more dangerous each time the main chorus plays.

2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). Yes there is for the lyrics refer to the car called Stylo that is on its last push because its this pimped out american muscle car that looks like its been through hell and back and the lyrics refer to encouraging the car to make it and as they go along it becomes more and more of a sorrow song E.g. when it spits out sounds and smoke appear's.

3.There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
The visuals are bright in places beyond the scenes of the Stylo car except for one scene where a police man is swallowed by a necromancers cloak at that point the visuals enhance the rhythm of the music making it slower but it pick up more when the visuals are not set inside the car with the animated characters.

4.The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
The visual style of "Stylo" includes multiple of the animated cast and shows off a new form of animation, than the previous music video they had, this ones more linked to a reality step for the Gorrillaz E.g. the detail on there faces as in the pencil marks on the original animation drawing's are still there but represents cheek bones, and the definition adds more to the characteristics such as the dirt on Merdocks face shows he is the animal of the band and 2D's middle incisors missing from a 3D aspect and noodle's age is shown more as the mysterious one and she get a bullet wound to the head which twitches with a spark now. Plus we never see her eyes which shows the mysterious side to her style.   

5.There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. Although there is no treatment of  the female body the song focuses more on male aggression. There is however a scene particularly where Merdock uses his rear view mirror and we see a POV shot where a car is gaining on them. 

6.There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc). The use of the iconic film star Bruce Willis shows off classic action for he is one of the main perusers/Hit man after the Gorrillaz and uses a symbol of action when he pulls out a massive 44. Magnum and the set up narrative of the scenes is like an old chase scene kind of like the Terminator, Mad Max or Fast and furious. Another iconic scene is the cop hidden behind a bill board waiting for cars over the limit/Speeders to come past and the cop uses the iconic gesture of sliding over the bonnet.    

Andrew Goowins 6 features of Music videos- Analysis of Skrillex's "Bangarang"

In His Book Dancing in the Distraction Factory Andrew Goodwin points out characteristics and features that can be found in music videos. Looking at a selection of music videos which can be recognised?

1.Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop). In Skrillex's "Bangarang"  we see a middle aged big man who drives an ice cream truck. We see that he eats his products and has a iconic tattoo of a crocodile (which is the lacoste cameo which helped fund the filming). and whereas three boys each trained in the street arts of crime and mischief who each have a vital role in pulling off hiests. Such as the main boy who have explosive hand held bombs (shows action is the genre and action is about to take place) that say BANG on it, hence the name Banarang of the video.  

2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). The icon image of this is the Bang used on the bombs he throws and the the repetitive of the word "boy's" shows the gathering of there little gang and set up the plan that is about to take place.  

3.There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music. The music on the other hand shows a more constant mix of the tempo where it takes a repetitive route to the structure like most other dub-step like songs so its like a wave and once its past the next ones much bigger and intense and this will link into the visual for when its slow, it shows the narrative and when its picks up and drops the bass the action takes place in the climax.
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). 

4.The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). Although the use of the artist in the video is not used more of personality is shown in the close up's and attitude of the music links to what kind of person the artist is.

5.There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. No female's are used in the music video but there is numerous staging used such as an abandoned industrial area, back street and corner street. And no screens in a screen are used just snippets of scenes of narrative.  

6.There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc). Therefore the main structure of the video is of a modern take on such films like the Italian job or mission impossible to have a foundation of story that build on these classic action genre's and is more in the setting of troubled youths becoming good at crime. 

             

Typical Codes and Conventions of a music video

·         Camera Shots: Long shots, close-ups and extreme close-ups are constantly used. Close-ups are usually used in music videos as it puts emphasis on the artist or bands face for promotional reasons and their lips to show the lip-synching.

·         Camera movements: Pans, dolly track shots, crane shots and tilts are used to follow the movements of the singer/band or dancers.

·         Editing: Jump cuts are the most commonly used as its purpose is to jump from a scene of the location to the artist to the instruments and vice-versa. Reaction shots are used with music videos with narrative as it expresses the relationship between two or more people. The pace of the editing is always in synch with the beat of the track.

·         Mise-en-scene: Is associated to the inter-textual link of the music video, therefore it depends on the representation. For example, a video based on a fantasy world (Katie Perry – “Wide Awake” Is based on “A girls perspective of her fantasy and her reality” ) would use iconic staging, characters, costumes and so on to represent the time. Mise-en-scene is also reflected through:

1.      Lighting: Extreme artificial lighting is the most common type of lighting used in music videos as it helps to enhance the look of the artist or band through making them seem ‘ageless’, this is commonly used in pop music videos. Lighting switches help to indicate a shift from the chorus to verse and vice-versa. Finally, lighting also enhances the atmosphere as it can be used to give a bright and upbeat feel particularly in dance music videos or a dark and eerie feel which is used mostly in rock music videos. For example, Lana Del Ray's video for “Summer Time Sadness” uses the lighting to show her flawless complexion.

2.      Props: Props are essential in music videos

3.      Costume: Reflect the genre of the music and the style of the artist; therefore costumes are essential because they compliment the artist. For example, Nicki Minaj has specific clothing to show off her fashion, this is evident in her “Anaconda” video.

4.      Colour: colour represents the mood of the song for example; bright colours are usually used in ‘feel good’ pop songs, a good example is PSY “Gangnam Style” video

5.      Sound: usually the sound is the music and vocals; however some music videos are similar to short films with acting, therefore in these clips there are various sounds which can be heard such as diagetic and non-diagetic sounds.

Hip-Hop Videos

• Usually includes the artist
• Normally set in a club or a party environment
• Usually no storyline
• Typically women dancers or models. Usually half naked
• Features jewellery, alcohol and sport cars.
• Features mansion and branded clothing.
• Usually other famous artists are featured in the video.
• EXAMPLES;  Eminem-Rap God,

Rock Music Videos

• Usually dark/deep colours
• Displays the band performing on stage
• Usually no narrative
• Eerie/weird videos
• Uneasy camera movements
• Hand-held shots
• Usually no use of special effects
• EXAMPLES; Beatles, Abby Road
  
  
  
  
  

Pop Music Videos

• Colourful
• Close up of artists – shows innocence
• Fun and light hearted
• Appeals to younger target audience
• Shows artist/band involved in dance routines
• Good mood – location – happy for example a beach/friends house.
• Teenager scenario ( having a crush )
• Video usually has narrative
• EXAMPLES; Britney spears, Lady Gaga

Indie/Rock Music Videos

·         Shows artist or band throughout the video

·         Some special effects

·         Usually calm setting, but changes when beat kicks in

·         May be black and white

·         Sometimes has a narrative

·         Close up of artists and characters shown in video

·         Shows band performing

·         EXAMPLES; Snow Patrol, Kings Of Leon, Kasabian

Dance Music Videos

• Dance routines
• Sometimes narrative
• Location – Clubs or party
• Upbeat and fun videos
• Women dancers usually half naked
• Bright colours
• All dancers wearing similar costumes
• EXAMPLES; Eric Pryds, Basshunter, Faithless

R’n’B Music Videos

• Usually a narrative
• Artist/band always shown
• Usually dance routine
• Close up of artists
• Usually set in calm locations such as houses, beaches
• Hardly no performance
• Women usually wear revealing clothing
• Money portrayed positively.
• Alcohol and party scenes
• Use of special effects
• EXAMPLES; Destiny’s Child, Rihanna