Saturday 27 March 2010
Storyboard
I created a storyboard to plan my camera shots,angles and the position clips would take in my film. I did this so that when I begin filming I will already know what I am doing and will be able to film effifiently. I obviously haven't drawn every shot but I just did some main ones so I give myself a good idea of what I plan to achieve.
mise-en-scene
After analysising different music videos I found that the mise-en-scene was an important element in all videos to make it successful. Mise-en-scene refers to creating an image within a film, so it would be the set, lighting, costumes etc. Mise-en-scene in my own music video is extremely important as if I don't set the mood of my music video how I want my audience may not decode the right meaning of my video and it could also make my music video look amateur.
My whole concept of my music video is toys 'coming alive' so I have to portray this really well to make sure my audience can get the dominant reading from my text. Instead of using a normal bedroom and then adding lots of toys to create the idea of a child's bedroom I spoke to my boyfriend and his family let me use his little sister's bedroom. She is 5 and has the epitome of a kid's bedroom, plus it's a large room so there is a lot of room to move about with the camera and equipment. Luckily my mum throws nothing away so I still had lots of mine and my brothers old toys. I brought these toys round aswell to make sure I had lots of toys covering the floor.
I laid them all over the floor and positioned them as if a child had messily scattered them over the floor. I did this to add to the sense of a child's bedroom to make sure it looked realistic.
Before
After
Another factor I had to take into consideration was lighting. In my video as an opening sequence I used a variety of lights and lamps turning on to lead into my video, because of this I had to have the room dark enough to show the lights turning on but light enough to make sure my filming wasn't dark or distorted. To do this I pulled down the blinds but used extra lights that I borrowed from my cousin who is a photographer and used them for some scenes to create stylised lighting where I needed it.
I had no actors in my video so I didn't need to worry about costumes, hair and make-up so my main focus was on the set design to make sure it was believable as a kids bedroom and created a sense of magic.
My whole concept of my music video is toys 'coming alive' so I have to portray this really well to make sure my audience can get the dominant reading from my text. Instead of using a normal bedroom and then adding lots of toys to create the idea of a child's bedroom I spoke to my boyfriend and his family let me use his little sister's bedroom. She is 5 and has the epitome of a kid's bedroom, plus it's a large room so there is a lot of room to move about with the camera and equipment. Luckily my mum throws nothing away so I still had lots of mine and my brothers old toys. I brought these toys round aswell to make sure I had lots of toys covering the floor.
I laid them all over the floor and positioned them as if a child had messily scattered them over the floor. I did this to add to the sense of a child's bedroom to make sure it looked realistic.
Before
After
Another factor I had to take into consideration was lighting. In my video as an opening sequence I used a variety of lights and lamps turning on to lead into my video, because of this I had to have the room dark enough to show the lights turning on but light enough to make sure my filming wasn't dark or distorted. To do this I pulled down the blinds but used extra lights that I borrowed from my cousin who is a photographer and used them for some scenes to create stylised lighting where I needed it.
I had no actors in my video so I didn't need to worry about costumes, hair and make-up so my main focus was on the set design to make sure it was believable as a kids bedroom and created a sense of magic.
steve archer - which elements were most important for my video
Steve Archer's 8 elements to a music video gave me a better insight into factors that make a successful music video. I found some of these elements more important than others when producing my own media text:
*Music = The music was a main part to my music video as it drove my editing, I wanted all the cuts to be in time with the music, even though this was difficult at lining up the image with the music - for example when spelling out the lyrics on toys, my cuts had to be just right otherwise it wouldn't have worked.
*Camerawork = After shooting my first piece of film for 'Hot Air Balloon' I found some shots way too dark,unsteady and that I hadn't shot enough long shots to establish the scene. I then realised how important camerawork is to a video. I went back and re-filmed some scenes and found it was so much more effect when they were brighter and steady, it made my video look dramatically better. I also realised that playing around with different angles provides more of a visual spectacle for the audience.
*Editing = Editing was really important to me for my video. I think this is the the element that made my video look so much more professional as I have so many cuts due to my video being all performance. I have used fast-cut montage throughout my video and this has given me a great finish to my video and provided syntagmatic connotations to the audience.
*Lyrics = The lyrics were quite important to me through this production as I was trying to amplify there meaning through my video, its all about being 'in a cold, hot air balloon' which I took as reminising on old memories of youth, I depicted this interpretation by using toys throughout the video 'coming alive', as its unrealistic and so is being able to relieve memories.
Steve Archer's theory of the 8 elements of music videos has really helped me, especially these 4 factors which I found to greatly help my construction and planning of my music video.
*Music = The music was a main part to my music video as it drove my editing, I wanted all the cuts to be in time with the music, even though this was difficult at lining up the image with the music - for example when spelling out the lyrics on toys, my cuts had to be just right otherwise it wouldn't have worked.
*Camerawork = After shooting my first piece of film for 'Hot Air Balloon' I found some shots way too dark,unsteady and that I hadn't shot enough long shots to establish the scene. I then realised how important camerawork is to a video. I went back and re-filmed some scenes and found it was so much more effect when they were brighter and steady, it made my video look dramatically better. I also realised that playing around with different angles provides more of a visual spectacle for the audience.
*Editing = Editing was really important to me for my video. I think this is the the element that made my video look so much more professional as I have so many cuts due to my video being all performance. I have used fast-cut montage throughout my video and this has given me a great finish to my video and provided syntagmatic connotations to the audience.
*Lyrics = The lyrics were quite important to me through this production as I was trying to amplify there meaning through my video, its all about being 'in a cold, hot air balloon' which I took as reminising on old memories of youth, I depicted this interpretation by using toys throughout the video 'coming alive', as its unrealistic and so is being able to relieve memories.
Steve Archer's theory of the 8 elements of music videos has really helped me, especially these 4 factors which I found to greatly help my construction and planning of my music video.
Andrew goodwin - which elements were most important for my music video
When researching Andrew Goodwin's 'features of a music video' I found all of his points useful. However there were 4 of his elements which I found most important for my own video to concerntrate on, these were:
*Demonstrating specific genre characterisitcs = this was an important factor for me to considerate before starting my music video as decoders can normally tell by the common forms and conventions, what genre a song normally is by its video. I wanted to stick to some of this typical characteristics to make sure that my target audience took the dominant reading from my text by understanding the genre of my music. This is why I researched other music videos within the Electropop genre to discover forms and conventions and I then applied some of these into my video.
*The relationship between lyrics and visuals = I think the relationship between lyrics and visuals in a music video is important even if they are contradicted. I chose to illistrate some of my lyrics, by literally writting them on toys and spelling them out in the song. The rest of the time the relationship between lyrics and visuals was mainly amplified.
*The relationship between music and visuals = The relationship between music and visuals is also really important, thats why I let the beat of my music determine my editing, all of my cuts were in beat with the music to create a more professional fast-cut montage and to provide syntagmatic connotations for my audience.
*Intertextuality = Seeing as my concept is all about toys coming 'alive' I found the reference to the film Toy Story was constant throughout my video, even without trying to be. I also used the intertextual references of the idea of fairytales with toys coming alive while people are out the room, to create an interesting paradigm.
Looking at Andrew Goodwin's work has provided me with a deeper understanding into music videos and helped me with important elements to concerntrate on withing my own video.
*Demonstrating specific genre characterisitcs = this was an important factor for me to considerate before starting my music video as decoders can normally tell by the common forms and conventions, what genre a song normally is by its video. I wanted to stick to some of this typical characteristics to make sure that my target audience took the dominant reading from my text by understanding the genre of my music. This is why I researched other music videos within the Electropop genre to discover forms and conventions and I then applied some of these into my video.
*The relationship between lyrics and visuals = I think the relationship between lyrics and visuals in a music video is important even if they are contradicted. I chose to illistrate some of my lyrics, by literally writting them on toys and spelling them out in the song. The rest of the time the relationship between lyrics and visuals was mainly amplified.
*The relationship between music and visuals = The relationship between music and visuals is also really important, thats why I let the beat of my music determine my editing, all of my cuts were in beat with the music to create a more professional fast-cut montage and to provide syntagmatic connotations for my audience.
*Intertextuality = Seeing as my concept is all about toys coming 'alive' I found the reference to the film Toy Story was constant throughout my video, even without trying to be. I also used the intertextual references of the idea of fairytales with toys coming alive while people are out the room, to create an interesting paradigm.
Looking at Andrew Goodwin's work has provided me with a deeper understanding into music videos and helped me with important elements to concerntrate on withing my own video.
Common forms and conventions of the Electropop genre
After researching a previous video by Owl City, 'Vanilla Twilight' and 3 other songs by artists in a similar genre I found a few typical forms and conventions:
* Fast-cut montage - providing a professional look/ leaves audience wanting to see it again
* Unique and bold - Very stylish sets and mise-en-scene
* Concept and narrative based
* Appear quite modern and bright
* Light hearted and relaxed atmosphere
* Use of bright colours within video
* Original ideas - videos within this genre don't like to stick to safe ideas they seem quite experimental
After identifying these forms and conventions, I will take some of these into account when planning my own video. I will stick to some of these conventions such as using fast-cut montage, use bright colours and create a light hearted and happy atmosphere, I will also have a concept video but I am not having performance within my video as I feel it will detract from the innocence and fairytale being created, within this genre I feel I can challenge conventions as this genre is all about being unique.
* Fast-cut montage - providing a professional look/ leaves audience wanting to see it again
* Unique and bold - Very stylish sets and mise-en-scene
* Concept and narrative based
* Appear quite modern and bright
* Light hearted and relaxed atmosphere
* Use of bright colours within video
* Original ideas - videos within this genre don't like to stick to safe ideas they seem quite experimental
After identifying these forms and conventions, I will take some of these into account when planning my own video. I will stick to some of these conventions such as using fast-cut montage, use bright colours and create a light hearted and happy atmosphere, I will also have a concept video but I am not having performance within my video as I feel it will detract from the innocence and fairytale being created, within this genre I feel I can challenge conventions as this genre is all about being unique.
Monday 22 March 2010
Target Audience
Target audience is a major factor in the encoder’s minds when creating a media text. You have to be sure of who you are aiming your product at before you begin so you can know exactly what they are likely to want, even though encoders can never truly know what their audience want, they try to empathise with their audience but at the end of the day try to make an insightful guess into what they want or need. If you get knowledge of your target audience, your product will be more successful as you are providing what that target audience want, or at least what you think they want, so in turn your audience will want your product.
Although the Electropop genre first flourished in the 80’s, it had since gone out of style and only recently has it immerged into mainstream popularity. The majority of new electropop has a young fan base, normally between the ages of 14-25; Owl City is no different with its main target audience being mainly teenagers and young adults. I found this out through researching on the internet the target age of electropop and Owl City and also found this information on Adam Young’s (creator of Owl City) website. Although Owl City’s music is liked by both men and women I found that it has a main target audience of females, again through research on his website; this is obvious through his playful and innocent lyrics and also through his simple, stylish and more feminine CD covers, for example his ‘maybe I’m dreaming ‘CD cover has curved writing, providing a more female feel and baby pink and blue stars, giving a very feminine approach to his artwork. The ethnicity of Owl City’s target audience is predominantly White, European and American, Owl City has only recently found mainstream successful and hasn’t branched to other areas yet so his main target audience will be within Europe and American. I also found in an interview with Owl City him talking about his sound and he said that the majority of his fans are either American or Europian. Researching into social classes I would say that Owl City’s target audience fell within the ABC1 category of social stratification.
Throughout my planning and development of my music video and my ancillary texts I will constantly refer back to my target audience through my own thoughts of what the decoders may what seeing as I fall into Owl City’s target audience so I hope I will have a good sense of what they want and also through my focus groups to receive feedback from my target audience.
Although the Electropop genre first flourished in the 80’s, it had since gone out of style and only recently has it immerged into mainstream popularity. The majority of new electropop has a young fan base, normally between the ages of 14-25; Owl City is no different with its main target audience being mainly teenagers and young adults. I found this out through researching on the internet the target age of electropop and Owl City and also found this information on Adam Young’s (creator of Owl City) website. Although Owl City’s music is liked by both men and women I found that it has a main target audience of females, again through research on his website; this is obvious through his playful and innocent lyrics and also through his simple, stylish and more feminine CD covers, for example his ‘maybe I’m dreaming ‘CD cover has curved writing, providing a more female feel and baby pink and blue stars, giving a very feminine approach to his artwork. The ethnicity of Owl City’s target audience is predominantly White, European and American, Owl City has only recently found mainstream successful and hasn’t branched to other areas yet so his main target audience will be within Europe and American. I also found in an interview with Owl City him talking about his sound and he said that the majority of his fans are either American or Europian. Researching into social classes I would say that Owl City’s target audience fell within the ABC1 category of social stratification.
Throughout my planning and development of my music video and my ancillary texts I will constantly refer back to my target audience through my own thoughts of what the decoders may what seeing as I fall into Owl City’s target audience so I hope I will have a good sense of what they want and also through my focus groups to receive feedback from my target audience.
Owl City's Record Label
Owl city is currently with the American label Universal Republic Records. Adam Young the creator of Owl City signed with them in early 2009 after he gained major success through facebook.
Universal Republic Records was founded in 1995, which saw the merge of two labels; Universal Motown and The Republic group, this is when they become one and changed the name to Universal Republic Records. Today the label is responsible for numerous breakthrough and mainstream chart topping artists, some of these include; Lil Jon, Jay Sean, Mika, Colbie Caillat and Florence and The Machine.
Universal Republic Records was founded in 1995, which saw the merge of two labels; Universal Motown and The Republic group, this is when they become one and changed the name to Universal Republic Records. Today the label is responsible for numerous breakthrough and mainstream chart topping artists, some of these include; Lil Jon, Jay Sean, Mika, Colbie Caillat and Florence and The Machine.
Research into the Electropop genre
Electropop is a form of electronic music which is made with synthesizers. It first came in to mainstream popularity in 1978. Electropop created the basis for many chart oriented pop and dance music songs. Electropop is characterized by an electronic sound normally described as robotic and consists of minimal arrangements. Electropop songs are pop songs at heart. They contain simple, catchy hooks and dance music. Most electropop songs have a futuristic sci-fi edge in terms of both lyrics and beats.
We found out that Owl City was an electropop artist by firstly researching on the internet to see what people said about the genre, we then looked at Owl City’s official website which also made reference to the electropop genre and for final information we went onto iTunes to see what they had categorized Owl City’s genre as. All of this plus listening to the track and what type of genre we felt the music was helped us come to the conclusion that Owl City was as electropop as you could get.
Electropop timeline:
1978 – First flourished. Early electropop artists inspired by David Bowie’s albums’ heroes’ and ‘low’
1980-83 – The first bands named as the Electropop genre ‘The Human league’ and ‘Soft cell’
1989 – Electropop seen as unpopular in majority of North America and Europe, still popular in Asia
1999 – Electropop beginning to creep back into the music scene with female singers such as Kylie
2008 – Becomes mainstream and is evident in Christina Aguilera’s song ‘Keeps getting better’
2009-Present – Has become a major genre in the current music industry with Owl City, La Roux and 3oh3 as just some of the many Electropop artists to be in the charts at the moment
Music styles
The typical musical instruments used when creating an electropop song are mainly:
•Synthesizer
•Drum machine
•Tape loops (create musical patterns in the rhythm)
•Drums
•Guitar
•Sequencer (edits the music; speeds it up etc.)
•Keyboard
•Vocoder (generates synthesized speech)
Fashion
The style in clothing for the majority of Electropop artists is normally quite futuristic and unique (La roux, Lady GaGa for example) can also be regarded as an indie style of dressing, combing smart with casual and giving a quirky, individual style. Their style also appears very young; there isn’t much sense of adulthood in the way they dress.
Music target audience
The main target audience is 15 – late 20’s.
A few artists that epitomise this genre
Owl city, la roux, lights, Jupiter rising, swimming with dolphins, rocket to the moon, hello goodbye, ellie goulding
It has also influenced other artists such as Lady gaga, black eyed peas, Kylie minogue and kesha
We found out that Owl City was an electropop artist by firstly researching on the internet to see what people said about the genre, we then looked at Owl City’s official website which also made reference to the electropop genre and for final information we went onto iTunes to see what they had categorized Owl City’s genre as. All of this plus listening to the track and what type of genre we felt the music was helped us come to the conclusion that Owl City was as electropop as you could get.
Electropop timeline:
1978 – First flourished. Early electropop artists inspired by David Bowie’s albums’ heroes’ and ‘low’
1980-83 – The first bands named as the Electropop genre ‘The Human league’ and ‘Soft cell’
1989 – Electropop seen as unpopular in majority of North America and Europe, still popular in Asia
1999 – Electropop beginning to creep back into the music scene with female singers such as Kylie
2008 – Becomes mainstream and is evident in Christina Aguilera’s song ‘Keeps getting better’
2009-Present – Has become a major genre in the current music industry with Owl City, La Roux and 3oh3 as just some of the many Electropop artists to be in the charts at the moment
Music styles
The typical musical instruments used when creating an electropop song are mainly:
•Synthesizer
•Drum machine
•Tape loops (create musical patterns in the rhythm)
•Drums
•Guitar
•Sequencer (edits the music; speeds it up etc.)
•Keyboard
•Vocoder (generates synthesized speech)
Fashion
The style in clothing for the majority of Electropop artists is normally quite futuristic and unique (La roux, Lady GaGa for example) can also be regarded as an indie style of dressing, combing smart with casual and giving a quirky, individual style. Their style also appears very young; there isn’t much sense of adulthood in the way they dress.
Music target audience
The main target audience is 15 – late 20’s.
A few artists that epitomise this genre
Owl city, la roux, lights, Jupiter rising, swimming with dolphins, rocket to the moon, hello goodbye, ellie goulding
It has also influenced other artists such as Lady gaga, black eyed peas, Kylie minogue and kesha
Name of artist: OWL CITY
Title of track: HOT AIR BALLOON
Outline of ideas
• Toys coming alive by themselves, lights turning on, cars round a racetrack
etc.
• Magical and sense of a fairytale
• Light hearted
• Lots of edits for fast paced video
What resources will you need? (include actors, props, settings)
• Video camera
• Tripod
• Child’s bedroom – my boyfriends little sisters room
• Toys ; race track, lights, cars, robots, Lego etc
• Balloons
Justification of ideas in relation to genre and artist
The genre of Electropop is normally quite an innocent sound of music, it is very upbeat and childlike, and owl city’s music is very much like this, this is why the idea of using toys in an innocent way would fit well with this type of music. Electropop is also a genre that doesn’t have strict conventions, its is experimental with its videos and are often dramatic visual spectacles such as la roux’s ‘bulletproof’ video.
In relation to Owl city its self the idea of using toys throughout the song and setting the video in a child’s bedroom relate to the lyrics and the majority of owl cities music. His lyrics are often simplistic and innocent, with an upbeat and cheerful rhythm this is why using toys to portray that childlike innocence fits perfectly with this genre and artist.
Title of track: HOT AIR BALLOON
Outline of ideas
• Toys coming alive by themselves, lights turning on, cars round a racetrack
etc.
• Magical and sense of a fairytale
• Light hearted
• Lots of edits for fast paced video
What resources will you need? (include actors, props, settings)
• Video camera
• Tripod
• Child’s bedroom – my boyfriends little sisters room
• Toys ; race track, lights, cars, robots, Lego etc
• Balloons
Justification of ideas in relation to genre and artist
The genre of Electropop is normally quite an innocent sound of music, it is very upbeat and childlike, and owl city’s music is very much like this, this is why the idea of using toys in an innocent way would fit well with this type of music. Electropop is also a genre that doesn’t have strict conventions, its is experimental with its videos and are often dramatic visual spectacles such as la roux’s ‘bulletproof’ video.
In relation to Owl city its self the idea of using toys throughout the song and setting the video in a child’s bedroom relate to the lyrics and the majority of owl cities music. His lyrics are often simplistic and innocent, with an upbeat and cheerful rhythm this is why using toys to portray that childlike innocence fits perfectly with this genre and artist.
Brainstorm of initial ideas
This is my rough notes of my initial ideas for my music video,I did this to see if my ideas were feasible. Media encoders and producers are influenced in many different ways and I found this in our initial ideas and what restrictions we would have.ed.
In relation to the process of mediation on institutions, there are many factors which can have a negative effect on their product. Our restrictions were budget and time,two most important factors. We wanted to create a professional music video even though we had a budget of almost nothing, this is why I wrote out my initial ideas to see if there were any problems that I could not carry out.and the influences several factors have on a decision such as institution issues.
People's initial interpretations - Hot Air Balloon - Owl City
We gave the lyrics and played our chosen song to the same focus group, and asked them what they thought this song meant so that we could see if there were any simlarities between the two songs. This was to see if we could put together any conventions in the style and message of the two songs.
"I think it has to do with ignoring your preconceptions and just doing something fun. especially the lines "i'll be out of my mind/and you'll be out of ideas pretty soon" remind me of someone who is making excuses to not do something they really want to." - Paddy
"This song is so catchy. The first time I listened to it, it kind of annoyed me.
but it's so cheery and bouncy. I can't stop listening to it.
I guess it's just about having an adventure,and procrastination of serious things in life." - Lizzie
"I feel that there is such a sad undertone to a lot of the songs owl city put out but all with such an upbeat sound it is distracting many from his lyrics. ..."spend the afternoon in a COLD hot air balloon....I can't wait to kiss the ground wherever we touch back down."
The lyrics are very sarcastic. To me this song is about a relationship having a not so great moment. Whatever it is he is using an interesting visual with the Cold Hot wording and he wants out of the "balloon" or maybe situation and can't wait. Of course the interpretation will be different for everyone, as it always it, but I just have to point out that this song never sounded happy to me, just the beat is fun." - James
"This song actually makes me think of playing pretend with kids. You know how they can imagine so much? That's why the cold hot air balloon thing could make sense, because you're not actually flying, you're just pretending." - Bonnie
"I think this song's beat is somehow misleading because it can really be a sad song if you'll listen to it closely and pay attention to the lyrics more." - Jake
"I think it has to do with ignoring your preconceptions and just doing something fun. especially the lines "i'll be out of my mind/and you'll be out of ideas pretty soon" remind me of someone who is making excuses to not do something they really want to." - Paddy
"This song is so catchy. The first time I listened to it, it kind of annoyed me.
but it's so cheery and bouncy. I can't stop listening to it.
I guess it's just about having an adventure,and procrastination of serious things in life." - Lizzie
"I feel that there is such a sad undertone to a lot of the songs owl city put out but all with such an upbeat sound it is distracting many from his lyrics. ..."spend the afternoon in a COLD hot air balloon....I can't wait to kiss the ground wherever we touch back down."
The lyrics are very sarcastic. To me this song is about a relationship having a not so great moment. Whatever it is he is using an interesting visual with the Cold Hot wording and he wants out of the "balloon" or maybe situation and can't wait. Of course the interpretation will be different for everyone, as it always it, but I just have to point out that this song never sounded happy to me, just the beat is fun." - James
"This song actually makes me think of playing pretend with kids. You know how they can imagine so much? That's why the cold hot air balloon thing could make sense, because you're not actually flying, you're just pretending." - Bonnie
"I think this song's beat is somehow misleading because it can really be a sad song if you'll listen to it closely and pay attention to the lyrics more." - Jake
People's initial interpretations - Fireflies - Owl City
We put together a focus group in order to understand different peoples interpretations of the already released song and its lyrics. Here is some of the feedback we got:
"I think this song is about the growing up and letting go of childhood, while still embracing our dreams and acting upon a few of them ("I saved a few and kept them in a jar"), with the fireflies representing those dreams." - Jake
"It's rare that music is this purely happy and good. It makes me feel like everything is going to be okay." - Bonnie
"I like to think of this as a song about childhood too - maybe it's specifically more about a child's summer. Not wanting to end the day. Trying to stay awake so as not to miss any of the excitement going on. Staying up till you're too tired to sleep and falling asleep dreaming of fireflies. Knowing that eventually summer will end and trying to squeeze the last little piece of enjoyment out of the day." - Lizzie
"I feel like this may also have a sadder mood to it. like how he keeps saying "please take me away from here"
and also
"Its hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems"
to me he is kinda saying something is going wrong for him, and he cant sleep because he is so tired of it, but he would rather be asleep when he is awake." - James
"This song to me is about your inner child and being happy and making memories. It does have a hint of sadness in it which I think is because all good things come to an end and you will find yourself missing that time of simple fun." - Paddy
"I think this song is about the growing up and letting go of childhood, while still embracing our dreams and acting upon a few of them ("I saved a few and kept them in a jar"), with the fireflies representing those dreams." - Jake
"It's rare that music is this purely happy and good. It makes me feel like everything is going to be okay." - Bonnie
"I like to think of this as a song about childhood too - maybe it's specifically more about a child's summer. Not wanting to end the day. Trying to stay awake so as not to miss any of the excitement going on. Staying up till you're too tired to sleep and falling asleep dreaming of fireflies. Knowing that eventually summer will end and trying to squeeze the last little piece of enjoyment out of the day." - Lizzie
"I feel like this may also have a sadder mood to it. like how he keeps saying "please take me away from here"
and also
"Its hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems"
to me he is kinda saying something is going wrong for him, and he cant sleep because he is so tired of it, but he would rather be asleep when he is awake." - James
"This song to me is about your inner child and being happy and making memories. It does have a hint of sadness in it which I think is because all good things come to an end and you will find yourself missing that time of simple fun." - Paddy
Post modernism
Post Modernism in terms of music videos basically shows the rejection of reality and a basic narrative and in its place has a mixture of different elements and ideas from other sources.
There are 4 main elements to Postmodernism which we have tried to incorporate into our music video:
Rejection of a linear narrative:
Linear narrative is where there is an obvious storyline from start to finish, for example: girl is alone, girl meets boy, and they fall in love, the end. In music videos encoders will try to reject this linear narrative to create a more engaging, interesting and creative production for the decoder. Our music video gives an ‘anti-narrative’ approach as it doesn’t have a solid storyline which is followed from start to finish. However we do create a story, well more of a fairytale where toys come alive by themselves, so we are presenting a story just not in a conventional way. Our video begins with a finger pressing an ‘on’ button then lights and toys come on by themselves presenting the idea of magic, we then follow this idea through to the end where the lights begin to turn off and the power is switched off. This creates an engaging production for our audience and fits well with the upbeat music and childlike lyrics. It also doesn’t present an obvious understanding from the audience, this means our audience will be more intrigued by this as they will try and figure out the meaning of using the toys therefore will have to watch it more than once which is what media encoders try to do.
Visual spectacle:
We have defiantly created a visual spectacle for our audience. As our video has no human characters apart from seeing someone’s finger at the start, this provides a fresh idea rarely used in music videos of a video entirely made up of toys. By the toys and lights appearing to come alive and turn on by themselves creates an interesting scene and gives a sense of magic, this will engage our audience as our target audience are mainly the younger generation providing a feeling of youth. We have also tried to make some interesting cuts for example, zooming into a toy which then blurs and from that zooming out to see an untuned T.V. By creating interesting cuts and angles we are making our music video look much more exciting and creative, therefore engaging our audience. We have also used fast-cut montage editing in our music video, this is a common convention of most music videos and we have used this to make the images appear so quickly that the decoder wants to watch it again so they understand the whole meaning.
Ambiguity:
There is much ambiguity in the song, after researching peoples interpretations of the meaning of the song, I found a lot of different viewpoints, from someone thinking the song meant the low points in a relationship and another saying that it was about playing pretend when you are a kid. Due to vast interpretations of this song, it gave us an opportunity to be really creative and to not stick to conventional guidelines of a story. After going through the lyrics we found that they were extremely childlike and innocent, which is matched by the upbeat and simplistic sound to the music, childlike innocence in our video. We then decided to show toys coming to life, representing the innocent and childlike lyrics. We found this appropriate as we interpreted the lyrics as reminiscing on memories as a child. I took the lyrics ‘in a cold, hot air balloon’ as looking over his memories as a child, and cold meaning that the memories are just memories. I think that people will get lots of different meanings from the lyrics and our interpretation which I feel makes for a more interesting video as it isn’t a coherent meaning which makes it more interesting to watch.
Intertextuality:
When I started to think of Intertextuality within our music video I was kind of stumped as I couldn’t think of anything that we made reference to, however when I started to think about it more I felt that our music video provided the same sort of scenario as Disney’s ‘Toy Story’, about toys that come alive when no one is around. We were also influenced by children’s story books that create the impression that the children’s toy’s come alive when they leave the room.
There are 4 main elements to Postmodernism which we have tried to incorporate into our music video:
Rejection of a linear narrative:
Linear narrative is where there is an obvious storyline from start to finish, for example: girl is alone, girl meets boy, and they fall in love, the end. In music videos encoders will try to reject this linear narrative to create a more engaging, interesting and creative production for the decoder. Our music video gives an ‘anti-narrative’ approach as it doesn’t have a solid storyline which is followed from start to finish. However we do create a story, well more of a fairytale where toys come alive by themselves, so we are presenting a story just not in a conventional way. Our video begins with a finger pressing an ‘on’ button then lights and toys come on by themselves presenting the idea of magic, we then follow this idea through to the end where the lights begin to turn off and the power is switched off. This creates an engaging production for our audience and fits well with the upbeat music and childlike lyrics. It also doesn’t present an obvious understanding from the audience, this means our audience will be more intrigued by this as they will try and figure out the meaning of using the toys therefore will have to watch it more than once which is what media encoders try to do.
Visual spectacle:
We have defiantly created a visual spectacle for our audience. As our video has no human characters apart from seeing someone’s finger at the start, this provides a fresh idea rarely used in music videos of a video entirely made up of toys. By the toys and lights appearing to come alive and turn on by themselves creates an interesting scene and gives a sense of magic, this will engage our audience as our target audience are mainly the younger generation providing a feeling of youth. We have also tried to make some interesting cuts for example, zooming into a toy which then blurs and from that zooming out to see an untuned T.V. By creating interesting cuts and angles we are making our music video look much more exciting and creative, therefore engaging our audience. We have also used fast-cut montage editing in our music video, this is a common convention of most music videos and we have used this to make the images appear so quickly that the decoder wants to watch it again so they understand the whole meaning.
Ambiguity:
There is much ambiguity in the song, after researching peoples interpretations of the meaning of the song, I found a lot of different viewpoints, from someone thinking the song meant the low points in a relationship and another saying that it was about playing pretend when you are a kid. Due to vast interpretations of this song, it gave us an opportunity to be really creative and to not stick to conventional guidelines of a story. After going through the lyrics we found that they were extremely childlike and innocent, which is matched by the upbeat and simplistic sound to the music, childlike innocence in our video. We then decided to show toys coming to life, representing the innocent and childlike lyrics. We found this appropriate as we interpreted the lyrics as reminiscing on memories as a child. I took the lyrics ‘in a cold, hot air balloon’ as looking over his memories as a child, and cold meaning that the memories are just memories. I think that people will get lots of different meanings from the lyrics and our interpretation which I feel makes for a more interesting video as it isn’t a coherent meaning which makes it more interesting to watch.
Intertextuality:
When I started to think of Intertextuality within our music video I was kind of stumped as I couldn’t think of anything that we made reference to, however when I started to think about it more I felt that our music video provided the same sort of scenario as Disney’s ‘Toy Story’, about toys that come alive when no one is around. We were also influenced by children’s story books that create the impression that the children’s toy’s come alive when they leave the room.
History of the Electropop genre
Electropop is a form of electronic music which is made with synthesizers. It first came in to mainstream popularity in 1978. Electropop created the basis for many chart oriented pop and dance music songs. Electropop is characterized by an electronic sound normally described as robotic and consists of minimal arrangements. Electropop songs are pop songs at heart. They contain simple, catchy hooks and dance music. Most electropop songs have a futuristic sci-fi edge in terms of both lyrics and beats.
Electropop timeline:
1978 – First flourished. Early electropop artists inspired by David Bowie’s albums’ heroes’ and ‘low’
1980-83 – The first bands named as the Electropop genre ‘The Human league’ and ‘Soft cell’
1989 – Electropop seen as unpopular in majority of North America and Europe, still popular in Asia
1999 – Electropop beginning to creep back into the music scene with female singers such as Kylie
2008 – Becomes mainstream and is evident in Christina Aguilera’s song ‘Keeps getting better’
2009-Present – Has become a major genre in the current music industry with Owl City, La Roux and 3oh3 as just some of the many Electropop artists to be in the charts at the moment
Music styles
The typical musical instruments used when creating an electropop song are mainly:
•Synthesizer
•Drum machine
•Tape loops (create musical patterns in the rhythm)
•Drums
•Guitar
•Sequencer (edits the music; speeds it up etc.)
•Keyboard
•Vocoder (generates synthesized speech)
Fashion
The style in clothing for the majority of Electropop artists is normally quite futuristic and unique (La roux, Lady GaGa for example) can also be regarded as an indie style of dressing, combing smart with casual and giving a quirky, individual style. Their style also appears very young; there isn’t much sense of adulthood in the way they dress.
Music target audience
The main target audience is 15 – late 20’s.
A few artists that epitomise this genre
Owl city, la roux, lights, Jupiter rising, swimming with dolphins, rocket to the moon, hello goodbye, ellie goulding
It has also influenced other artists such as Lady gaga, black eyed peas, Kylie minogue and kesha
Electropop timeline:
1978 – First flourished. Early electropop artists inspired by David Bowie’s albums’ heroes’ and ‘low’
1980-83 – The first bands named as the Electropop genre ‘The Human league’ and ‘Soft cell’
1989 – Electropop seen as unpopular in majority of North America and Europe, still popular in Asia
1999 – Electropop beginning to creep back into the music scene with female singers such as Kylie
2008 – Becomes mainstream and is evident in Christina Aguilera’s song ‘Keeps getting better’
2009-Present – Has become a major genre in the current music industry with Owl City, La Roux and 3oh3 as just some of the many Electropop artists to be in the charts at the moment
Music styles
The typical musical instruments used when creating an electropop song are mainly:
•Synthesizer
•Drum machine
•Tape loops (create musical patterns in the rhythm)
•Drums
•Guitar
•Sequencer (edits the music; speeds it up etc.)
•Keyboard
•Vocoder (generates synthesized speech)
Fashion
The style in clothing for the majority of Electropop artists is normally quite futuristic and unique (La roux, Lady GaGa for example) can also be regarded as an indie style of dressing, combing smart with casual and giving a quirky, individual style. Their style also appears very young; there isn’t much sense of adulthood in the way they dress.
Music target audience
The main target audience is 15 – late 20’s.
A few artists that epitomise this genre
Owl city, la roux, lights, Jupiter rising, swimming with dolphins, rocket to the moon, hello goodbye, ellie goulding
It has also influenced other artists such as Lady gaga, black eyed peas, Kylie minogue and kesha
Stuart Hall's Encoding/Decoding model
1. Media Studies tends to focus on one of three key areas.
1.Institution
This is who produces the text and why, these people are the encoders. Factors contributing to the encoder’s product are social factors such as religion or race and also their available budget; these will all have an effect of the finished media product.
2.Content
This is where we study the Media Text itself. We can explore different areas of the text such as Genre forms and conventions, representation or narrative.
3.Audience
This is where we look at who the audience are, these are the decoder’s; we look at the impact the text has on them and their taken meaning from the text.
2 All those who make media texts can be referred to as encoders. Encoders create meaning. When they produce a media text, they do this with an assumption of how the text will be understood by the audience.
3 The audience all take meaning out of a text. When we watch a film or listen to music we decode the meaning. We try and understand what the encoder is trying to communicate. We can therefore refer to the audience as decoders.
4 signs are polysemic, which in turn means all media texts are polysemic. We are all individuals and have different life experiences so we must therefore decode media texts in different ways. Stuart hall suggests there are 4 ways in which Media Texts are decoded by audiences. We can say that the audience can decode a text in one of the following ways.
4 Decoding readings:•Dominant reading: the decoder fully shares the text’s meaning and accepts and reproduces the preferred reading.
•Negotiated reading: the decoder partly shares the text’s meaning and broadly accepts the dominant reading, but sometimes resists and modifies it in a way that reflects their own position, experiences, and interests.
•Oppositional reading: the decoder is in a social situation that places him or her in direct opposition to the dominant meaning. The reader understands the dominant reading but does not share the text’s meaning and rejects the reading.
•Aberrant reading: the reader is unable to take the meaning that the encoder put into the text. There is a dissonance between the cultural assumptions of the encoder and the cultural context of the decoder. Meaning that the decoder just doesn’t get it.
5 Media Producers (encoders) will often want their audience to take the dominant reading. To ensure a text is less polysemic and less open to multiple meanings they may try and anchor meaning.
6 Encoders need to talk to their audience in the appropriate way. This is the Mode of Address. Generally encoders will make assumptions about the decoders’ knowledge, interests and understanding of the world and encode their texts accordingly. Those assumptions are cultural and can have an impact upon the audience. For example a young girl’s magazine may be written by men, who don’t know what young girls want so they try to empathise with them, but the encoder is giving the decoder what they think they want, without actually knowing.
7 The assumed language and points of reference an encoder uses to connect with an assumed target audience is known as the ‘Public Idiom.’
1.Institution
This is who produces the text and why, these people are the encoders. Factors contributing to the encoder’s product are social factors such as religion or race and also their available budget; these will all have an effect of the finished media product.
2.Content
This is where we study the Media Text itself. We can explore different areas of the text such as Genre forms and conventions, representation or narrative.
3.Audience
This is where we look at who the audience are, these are the decoder’s; we look at the impact the text has on them and their taken meaning from the text.
2 All those who make media texts can be referred to as encoders. Encoders create meaning. When they produce a media text, they do this with an assumption of how the text will be understood by the audience.
3 The audience all take meaning out of a text. When we watch a film or listen to music we decode the meaning. We try and understand what the encoder is trying to communicate. We can therefore refer to the audience as decoders.
4 signs are polysemic, which in turn means all media texts are polysemic. We are all individuals and have different life experiences so we must therefore decode media texts in different ways. Stuart hall suggests there are 4 ways in which Media Texts are decoded by audiences. We can say that the audience can decode a text in one of the following ways.
4 Decoding readings:•Dominant reading: the decoder fully shares the text’s meaning and accepts and reproduces the preferred reading.
•Negotiated reading: the decoder partly shares the text’s meaning and broadly accepts the dominant reading, but sometimes resists and modifies it in a way that reflects their own position, experiences, and interests.
•Oppositional reading: the decoder is in a social situation that places him or her in direct opposition to the dominant meaning. The reader understands the dominant reading but does not share the text’s meaning and rejects the reading.
•Aberrant reading: the reader is unable to take the meaning that the encoder put into the text. There is a dissonance between the cultural assumptions of the encoder and the cultural context of the decoder. Meaning that the decoder just doesn’t get it.
5 Media Producers (encoders) will often want their audience to take the dominant reading. To ensure a text is less polysemic and less open to multiple meanings they may try and anchor meaning.
6 Encoders need to talk to their audience in the appropriate way. This is the Mode of Address. Generally encoders will make assumptions about the decoders’ knowledge, interests and understanding of the world and encode their texts accordingly. Those assumptions are cultural and can have an impact upon the audience. For example a young girl’s magazine may be written by men, who don’t know what young girls want so they try to empathise with them, but the encoder is giving the decoder what they think they want, without actually knowing.
7 The assumed language and points of reference an encoder uses to connect with an assumed target audience is known as the ‘Public Idiom.’
Steve Archer
In addition to looking at Andrew Goodwin’s key elements of music videos I looked at Steve Archer in Media Magazine 8 has drawn attention to the key elements of music videos:
•Lyrics
Lyrics are one of the most important elements of a music video they are used to create a feeling, mood or portray a subject matter rather than offering an obvious meaning. It is rare in a music video that the lyrics will be simply illustrated however key lines may be shown through visuals associated with the song.
•Music music video’s use the music for a number of things; They can use the tempo of the song to lead the editing, They can lengthen or shorten clips to fit with the music and create a mood or they may emphasis certain sounds in the song by using performance of instrumental solo’s such as guitar, piano or drum.
•Genre
Some songs may fit easily into one genre or they may fall in too many different categories which makes it hard to document their common forms and conventions. The majority of music channels concentrate on particular music genres such as ‘Kiss’ focuses on mainly Hip-hop, R n B and Chart hits whereas Skuzz plays Rock, Metal and Indie music. If you watch these channels over and over you will start to see common characteristics of different genres. These common conventions may be within mise-en-scene, themes, performance, editing styles, camera angles etc.
•Camerawork
The use of camera within moving image text is very important, as how the camera is used and how images are sequenced has a dramatic impact on the meaning. Camera movement, angle and shot distance all need to be analysed. The movement of the camera can be used to link with the movement of the performers such as when they are dancing or walking but it can also be used to create a dynamic feel to a video by for example circling the band as they perform on stage. Close up shots are used a lot to create an intimacy for the viewer. The use of camera angles can also be used to create the idea of representation.
•Editing
The most common form of editing used in music videos is fast-cut montage which normally shows no clip longer than 3 seconds. This type of editing means many of the images are impossible to grasp on the first viewing, this is a clever tool by the encoder as this means that multiple viewings will be needed therefore making their audience want to see the video again and again. However some videos use slow pace editing with gentler transitions to create a certain mood, this type of editing is used in many female solo artists videos. Often accompanying editing techniques are digital effects such as split screens, blurred images, enhancing brightness and contrast and CGI special effects; these are all used to create a visual spectacle for the audience.
•Intertextuality
Intertextuality is where a media text references another text within it. This is commonly used in music videos as if the audience spot the reference they receive a great pleasure and feel flattered by this. However if the audience doesn’t spot the references there will be no detraction from their pleasure in the text. Audiences also may feel more engaged with the product, which is important in this competitive industry. A good example of intertextuality would be in the music video ‘Mr Brightside’ by The Killers which has references to the film The Moulin Rouge or Geri Hallowell’s ‘Raining men’ video which used classic scenes from the films Flashdance and Fame. Music videos don’t just reference films; they can reference TV programmes, current events, people or even other music videos.
•Narrative and Performance
Narrative in songs, as in poetry, is rarely complete and often fragmentary. This is the in music promos, which tend to suggest story-lines or offer complex fragments in non-linear order, leaving the viewer with the desire to see them again.
The Video allows the audience more varied access to the performer than a stage performance can. the close-up, allowing eye contact and close observation or facial gestures, and role play, within a narrative framework, present the artist in a number or ways not possible in a live concert; This creates more of a visual spectacle which is more entertaining for the viewer.
This key elements are important in music videos to make them entertaining for the audience. These elements will help me with my own music video and I will refer back to them to make sure that I take them into account
•Lyrics
Lyrics are one of the most important elements of a music video they are used to create a feeling, mood or portray a subject matter rather than offering an obvious meaning. It is rare in a music video that the lyrics will be simply illustrated however key lines may be shown through visuals associated with the song.
•Music music video’s use the music for a number of things; They can use the tempo of the song to lead the editing, They can lengthen or shorten clips to fit with the music and create a mood or they may emphasis certain sounds in the song by using performance of instrumental solo’s such as guitar, piano or drum.
•Genre
Some songs may fit easily into one genre or they may fall in too many different categories which makes it hard to document their common forms and conventions. The majority of music channels concentrate on particular music genres such as ‘Kiss’ focuses on mainly Hip-hop, R n B and Chart hits whereas Skuzz plays Rock, Metal and Indie music. If you watch these channels over and over you will start to see common characteristics of different genres. These common conventions may be within mise-en-scene, themes, performance, editing styles, camera angles etc.
•Camerawork
The use of camera within moving image text is very important, as how the camera is used and how images are sequenced has a dramatic impact on the meaning. Camera movement, angle and shot distance all need to be analysed. The movement of the camera can be used to link with the movement of the performers such as when they are dancing or walking but it can also be used to create a dynamic feel to a video by for example circling the band as they perform on stage. Close up shots are used a lot to create an intimacy for the viewer. The use of camera angles can also be used to create the idea of representation.
•Editing
The most common form of editing used in music videos is fast-cut montage which normally shows no clip longer than 3 seconds. This type of editing means many of the images are impossible to grasp on the first viewing, this is a clever tool by the encoder as this means that multiple viewings will be needed therefore making their audience want to see the video again and again. However some videos use slow pace editing with gentler transitions to create a certain mood, this type of editing is used in many female solo artists videos. Often accompanying editing techniques are digital effects such as split screens, blurred images, enhancing brightness and contrast and CGI special effects; these are all used to create a visual spectacle for the audience.
•Intertextuality
Intertextuality is where a media text references another text within it. This is commonly used in music videos as if the audience spot the reference they receive a great pleasure and feel flattered by this. However if the audience doesn’t spot the references there will be no detraction from their pleasure in the text. Audiences also may feel more engaged with the product, which is important in this competitive industry. A good example of intertextuality would be in the music video ‘Mr Brightside’ by The Killers which has references to the film The Moulin Rouge or Geri Hallowell’s ‘Raining men’ video which used classic scenes from the films Flashdance and Fame. Music videos don’t just reference films; they can reference TV programmes, current events, people or even other music videos.
•Narrative and Performance
Narrative in songs, as in poetry, is rarely complete and often fragmentary. This is the in music promos, which tend to suggest story-lines or offer complex fragments in non-linear order, leaving the viewer with the desire to see them again.
The Video allows the audience more varied access to the performer than a stage performance can. the close-up, allowing eye contact and close observation or facial gestures, and role play, within a narrative framework, present the artist in a number or ways not possible in a live concert; This creates more of a visual spectacle which is more entertaining for the viewer.
This key elements are important in music videos to make them entertaining for the audience. These elements will help me with my own music video and I will refer back to them to make sure that I take them into account
Understanding semiotics
Useful vocab:
Semiotics: The study of Signs
Sign: A sign is anything that conveys meaning. A sign is made up of two parts; the signifier and the signified.
Signifier: Is the sign itself. A picture, words, music whatever.
Signified: Is the meaning taken from the sign.
Denotation: Is the first order meaning – the obvious meaning of the sign.
Connotation: Is a deeper less obvious meaning – often implied through convention.
Intertextuality: Refers to the relationship between texts, where texts reference one another. For example all texts from one particular genre are intertextually linked. A Music Magazine will be intertextually linked to a song that the magazine reviews/features.
Polysemic: Literally means many meanings. All signs have multiple meanings. This might refer more to connotative meaning more than denotative meaning. The meaning we take from a sign might be influenced by our, age, gender, ethnicity or the context of viewing amongst other things.
Didactic: Didactic texts are more likely to have denotative obvious meaning and are less open to interpretation.
Syntagmatic: Syntagmatic connotation refers to the meaning signs make when they work together. For example a caption under a photograph.
Anchorage: Media Producers use anchorage to prevent signs from being polysemic. They anchor the meaning of a text by using a supporting to sign. There fore signs work together syntagmatically to anchor the meaning and prevent polysemic readings.
There are three main types of signs:
*Iconic signs: The signifier is connected to the signified through the principle of resemblance. Iconic signs are obviously important for images, since many images resemble what they refer to – but not always. such as the image on a male/female toilet.
*Indexical signs: The signifier makes you think of the signified because the two are frequently physically connected in the real world (the principle of contiguity). Cause-and-effect links are good examples of indexical signs: smoke is caused by fire and contiguous with it, and therefore the smell of smoke (signifier) makes you think of fire (signified).
*Symbolic signs: [purely artificial] the signifier is linked to the signified only by an arbitrary, human-imposed convention. There is no physical connection or natural resemblance between the English word “dog” and the concept *dog*.
Semiotics: The study of Signs
Sign: A sign is anything that conveys meaning. A sign is made up of two parts; the signifier and the signified.
Signifier: Is the sign itself. A picture, words, music whatever.
Signified: Is the meaning taken from the sign.
Denotation: Is the first order meaning – the obvious meaning of the sign.
Connotation: Is a deeper less obvious meaning – often implied through convention.
Intertextuality: Refers to the relationship between texts, where texts reference one another. For example all texts from one particular genre are intertextually linked. A Music Magazine will be intertextually linked to a song that the magazine reviews/features.
Polysemic: Literally means many meanings. All signs have multiple meanings. This might refer more to connotative meaning more than denotative meaning. The meaning we take from a sign might be influenced by our, age, gender, ethnicity or the context of viewing amongst other things.
Didactic: Didactic texts are more likely to have denotative obvious meaning and are less open to interpretation.
Syntagmatic: Syntagmatic connotation refers to the meaning signs make when they work together. For example a caption under a photograph.
Anchorage: Media Producers use anchorage to prevent signs from being polysemic. They anchor the meaning of a text by using a supporting to sign. There fore signs work together syntagmatically to anchor the meaning and prevent polysemic readings.
There are three main types of signs:
*Iconic signs: The signifier is connected to the signified through the principle of resemblance. Iconic signs are obviously important for images, since many images resemble what they refer to – but not always. such as the image on a male/female toilet.
*Indexical signs: The signifier makes you think of the signified because the two are frequently physically connected in the real world (the principle of contiguity). Cause-and-effect links are good examples of indexical signs: smoke is caused by fire and contiguous with it, and therefore the smell of smoke (signifier) makes you think of fire (signified).
*Symbolic signs: [purely artificial] the signifier is linked to the signified only by an arbitrary, human-imposed convention. There is no physical connection or natural resemblance between the English word “dog” and the concept *dog*.
Andrew Goodwin's features of a music video
To get a higher understanding of the main elements of music videos I looked into research by Andrew Goodwin who designed 6 main points in analysing music videos which are found in his book Dancing in the Distraction Factory, these points identified the following features of music videos:
1.Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for pop genre).
2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either: illustrative, amplifying or contradicting).
3.There is a relationship between music and visuals (either: illustrative, amplifying or 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). For example Michael Jackson with his white socks or Dappy from Ndubs with his bobble hats.
5.There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and even more so if the person is unaware of being watched. There is particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body in the majority of music videos. This is extremely common in R n B videos.
6.There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos, etc). Hall Such as Geri Hallowell’s, it’s raining men video with intertextual references to Fame and Flashdance.
After looking at these points I have gained a greater understanding of analysing music videos and will take these points into consideration when I begin planning and developing my own music video.
1.Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for pop genre).
2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either: illustrative, amplifying or contradicting).
3.There is a relationship between music and visuals (either: illustrative, amplifying or 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). For example Michael Jackson with his white socks or Dappy from Ndubs with his bobble hats.
5.There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and even more so if the person is unaware of being watched. There is particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body in the majority of music videos. This is extremely common in R n B videos.
6.There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos, etc). Hall Such as Geri Hallowell’s, it’s raining men video with intertextual references to Fame and Flashdance.
After looking at these points I have gained a greater understanding of analysing music videos and will take these points into consideration when I begin planning and developing my own music video.
Lyrics - Hot Air Balloon
We wrote a prelude
To our own fairy tale
And bought a parachute
At a church rummage sale
And with a mean sewing machine
And miles of thread
We sewed the day above L.A.
In navy and red
We wound a race track
Through your mom's kitchen chairs
And fought the shadows back
Down your dark basement stairs
I lit a match, then let it catch
To light up the room
And then you yelled as we beheld
An old maroon hot air balloon
I'll be out of my mind
And you'll be out of ideas
Pretty soon
So let's spend
The afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind
Lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait
To kiss the ground
Wherever we touch back down
La la la la la laaa
La la la la la laaa
We drank the Great Lakes
Like cold lemonade
And both got stomach aches
Sprawled out in the shade
So bored to death you held your breath
And I tried not to yawn
You made my frown turn upside down
And now my worries are gone
I'll be out of my mind
And you'll be out of ideas
Pretty soon
So let's spend
The afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind
Lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait
To kiss the ground
Wherever we touch back down
I'll be out of my mind
And you'll be out of ideas
Pretty soon
So let's spend
The afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind
Lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait
To kiss the ground
Wherever we touch back down
To our own fairy tale
And bought a parachute
At a church rummage sale
And with a mean sewing machine
And miles of thread
We sewed the day above L.A.
In navy and red
We wound a race track
Through your mom's kitchen chairs
And fought the shadows back
Down your dark basement stairs
I lit a match, then let it catch
To light up the room
And then you yelled as we beheld
An old maroon hot air balloon
I'll be out of my mind
And you'll be out of ideas
Pretty soon
So let's spend
The afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind
Lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait
To kiss the ground
Wherever we touch back down
La la la la la laaa
La la la la la laaa
We drank the Great Lakes
Like cold lemonade
And both got stomach aches
Sprawled out in the shade
So bored to death you held your breath
And I tried not to yawn
You made my frown turn upside down
And now my worries are gone
I'll be out of my mind
And you'll be out of ideas
Pretty soon
So let's spend
The afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind
Lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait
To kiss the ground
Wherever we touch back down
I'll be out of my mind
And you'll be out of ideas
Pretty soon
So let's spend
The afternoon in a cold hot air balloon
Leave your jacket behind
Lean out and touch the treetops over town
I can't wait
To kiss the ground
Wherever we touch back down
A NEW PLAN!!!
After some great consideration Ciara and I decided to change our inital idea for our music video after we encountered many, many problems.
We firstly had too many characters which meant organising every one to be in one place and one time proved difficult.
Another major issue was that many of the actors would cancel at last minute leaving us unable to film. After finally finishing our filming we began editing and found that our story line got so complicated that when we showed our focus group, they couldn't understand the plot. As encoders to a production such as a music video, it was a disaster when we realised our decoders couldn't decode the dominant reading of the storyline and meaning.
This is when Ciara and I with the help of our teacher decided to take a big risk and start a fresh. We had a long convosation thinking up a new, fresh idea easy to film and something that involved less people and an easier plot to understand. After watching the music video 'Dirty Little Secret' by the All-American rejects we realised we loved the idea of using lots of different people holding up song lyrics, but we couldn't find a song to match this idea. After flicking through 100's of songs we found a song called 'Hot Air Balloon' by Owl City we loved its electronic and upbeat sound with its childlike lyrics. This was our song! Then the brainwave of using toys creating a kind of 'Toy Story' effect where all the toys appear to come alive by themselves proved creative and fun so we decided on this effect.I got the inspiration of toys appearing to move by themselves by watching Kate Nash's video for 'Foundations' where through a series of stills household objects appear to move by themselves.
Next is to brain storm the different ideas we could use in this video.
We firstly had too many characters which meant organising every one to be in one place and one time proved difficult.
Another major issue was that many of the actors would cancel at last minute leaving us unable to film. After finally finishing our filming we began editing and found that our story line got so complicated that when we showed our focus group, they couldn't understand the plot. As encoders to a production such as a music video, it was a disaster when we realised our decoders couldn't decode the dominant reading of the storyline and meaning.
This is when Ciara and I with the help of our teacher decided to take a big risk and start a fresh. We had a long convosation thinking up a new, fresh idea easy to film and something that involved less people and an easier plot to understand. After watching the music video 'Dirty Little Secret' by the All-American rejects we realised we loved the idea of using lots of different people holding up song lyrics, but we couldn't find a song to match this idea. After flicking through 100's of songs we found a song called 'Hot Air Balloon' by Owl City we loved its electronic and upbeat sound with its childlike lyrics. This was our song! Then the brainwave of using toys creating a kind of 'Toy Story' effect where all the toys appear to come alive by themselves proved creative and fun so we decided on this effect.I got the inspiration of toys appearing to move by themselves by watching Kate Nash's video for 'Foundations' where through a series of stills household objects appear to move by themselves.
Next is to brain storm the different ideas we could use in this video.
Styling the band
We looked at different images and music videos by the fray to see their type of style of clothes that they wear when performing so we can dress our band members in a similiar style of clothing which would relate to the target audience that the Fray aimed to represent.
After looking at these I selected 2 photographs which I think sum up the band's style and what they wear in most music videos.
Overall they give a very relaxed, casual feel to their outfits which fits in with their relaxed style of music.
The main features to their style are:
* Dark colours such as black,grey and blue
* Jeans
* Trainers
* Slouchy t shirts or shirts
* Relaxed jackets such as leathers or knits
after looking at their overall style, this helped us with styling our band and photos of our band are soon to follow looking extremely 'Fray like'
After looking at these I selected 2 photographs which I think sum up the band's style and what they wear in most music videos.
Overall they give a very relaxed, casual feel to their outfits which fits in with their relaxed style of music.
The main features to their style are:
* Dark colours such as black,grey and blue
* Jeans
* Trainers
* Slouchy t shirts or shirts
* Relaxed jackets such as leathers or knits
after looking at their overall style, this helped us with styling our band and photos of our band are soon to follow looking extremely 'Fray like'
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