MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS FROM CHOSEN GENRE

 

Visual Codes

The whole video has quite a retro feel, with some of the objects that can be seen being very vintage. This links to the clothing that the main characters are wearing as well as the objects which are from an earlier period. There are quite a lot of bright colours used in the music video to connote the positive atmosphere within the video.

 



 

 

There is typography used in the video, 16 seconds in, this is the title of the song and the name of the band who perform the song.

The font resembles 'junk' which has been made up into words, this references to the garage sale that is happening in the music video, creating a link between both elements of the same product.  

The collection of retro and vintage objects which can be seen have nostalgic connotations which reflect the message of the song.

This image of the old style projector is an example of the retro technology which is seen in the video.

 

 

Technical Codes

 

One of the interesting camera shots used in the video is a close up on a tape the male characters find.

The tape reads 'Capital Cities, I Sold My Bed But Not My Stereo' which is the name of this song and the artist singing it. This is a way of breaking the 4th wall which gives the video an interesting dynamic.

This shot shows the characters dancing and singing along to the song. The long shot shows the characters amongst the other vintage items in the garage sale and their attire. At this point the music video becomes more of a performance video than narrative because the aspect changes and the male characters, who were playing anonymous roles, become the stars, as themselves.

The lights for the projector, lamp and stereo all turn on and off in sync with the music, this references to Andrew Goodwin's theory that the visuals on screen possess a connection with the melody of the song.

This is the example of the lamp which was flashing on and off in time with the music.

 

The editing is very fast paced and cut in time with the change of the music. Some shots last for less than a second due to the rising tempo of the music and the exciting nature of the video. In the second minute of the music video there is a lot of zooming out processes used to create effect. The shot starts off in a close up on the television screen and ends with the shot further back showing all of the older technology.

 

This is quite an artistic effect and also quite gimmicky, it could be described as a convention for the band because of their nonchalant, fun style of music and attitude within the music video.

 

Genre

 

The genre of the video is predominantly indie. Showing the connections with this artist and our artist SBTRKT. However our artist is more Electronic Pop which is also a slightly more mellow song whereas this Indie Pop could be considered happier and a lighter style of music. The genre and style of this version of Indie music requires a light-hearted music video. This means there is no pressing issues featured in the music video just as in the actual song.

Quite expected is the use of the cliché technique that the whole music video has been imagined, almost like a dream sequence. This is very abstract and creates a diverse effect for the whole music video. This could be considered subverted as the music video is on a high, until the realisation that it wasn't real.

 

Narrative

 

There isn't a specific narrative to the video because it is mostly performance based, however, the loose narrative shows the two main characters, who are the member of the band are searching through a garage sale and find a tape which has their own song on it. After this, they break into song and performance accompanying their own music in different situations. They begin by performing on the garage floor and then the video shows them in different television and computer screens whilst the setting changes. The setting changes due to the hue in the lighting while it changes from a brighter more inviting colour to a darkish blue.

 

Organisations

 

Capital Cities are signed to both Lazy Hooks and Capitol Records meaning they are both independent and mainstream. As artists, they are independent when it comes to their niche market but are distributed worldwide by their mainstream record label. Capitol Records probably provided the big budget which would have been required to shoot this complex video. As well as props like all of the technology used, there is special effects used to display the music video within the music video on an old television screen. The song first came to rise with its commercial success being featured in the German Vodafone advert, then topping the German music charts. Lazy Hooks specialise in music for advertisement, which is how Capital Cities managed to have their song on the advert for Vodafone.

 

Audience

 

The audience figures are quite large, due to the 145 million views of the official music video for the song on YouTube. This demonstrates quite a big fan following due to the mainstream record label, Capitol Records. The video would attract an older audience than the song itself. Although the Indie Pop song is aimed for an audience ranging from ages 15-30, the use of vintage technology and olden day appliances in the video could spark interest for older generations. This would lead to the Two-Step Flow, advertising and promoting the video through word of mouth.

 

Representations

 

There are no social representations due to the light-hearted nature of the song. However there are representations of the past with the props and settings.    

      

This screenshot shows some of the 80's paraphernalia which incorporates into the video. The pink flamingos and poker cap are both reminiscent of the 80's.

 



  

 

 

 

 

 

 





MUSIC VIDEO ANALYSIS FROM CHOSEN GENRE

Visual Codes

The video is set in quite a residential area, in a domestic home. The music video involves a man and a woman so the neighbourhood and house may present a married couple.

In the first shot which can be seen in the video, the moon is in the centre of the frame. The significance of this arises from the supernatural and eery connotations the moon holds. It is used to signify Werewolves, predominantly, but it is also used as a signifier for supernatural activity or strange occurrences. 

This could foreshadow some mysterious behaviour in the video and set a theme for the music video. 

There are a lot of close up shots used to show the teary eyed man, This allows the audience to visually see the emotion as well as just hearing it from the lyrics.

The man is seen to be driving home to his wife or girlfriend who is leaving him and the expressions on his face show pain, sadness and possibly guilt, this is all made clearer by the use of close ups.

Technical Codes

There is a shot of the female character used which makes it clear that she is packing her things to leave.

This gives the video perspective and makes the narrative easier to follow. This also explains the male characters actions and why he is rushing home in his car, teary eyed. The effect created shows a domestic situation which connects to the lyrics of the song 'Hold On'.  

The editing technique is quite slow in the majority, with the exception of some scenes like the male character searching upstairs for his female partner. 

 

These screenshots show the time of the video and how quite the editing is in this scene. The cuts are all standard cuts, there are no transitions. This may be because of the already confusing narrative, transitions would have been slightly distracting.

Genre

The genre of the song 'Hold On' is of the Indie Pop genre. The video also entails some of these elements like the emotional storyline which can usually be seen in Indie videos as well as the ambiguous narrative which requires depicting. The artist, SBTRKT, has been described to mix elements of dubstep, house, soul, techno and garage into his music also making his genre quite vast. The narrative isn't that typical because the expectation, based on the genre and lyrics, is that at the end of the video the male character will find his partner and they will reconcile their relationship. However, in this video the subverted narrative shows that he keeps seeing his wife from inside the house but whenever he leaves the house she vanishes. This highlights the supernatural element to the video which can also be seen in other SBTRKT videos like Trials Of The Past. 

Narrative

Within the video, the male character is shown to be driving while a female character is packing her things up to leave. Immediately we, as the audience, assume he is racing back to stop her from leaving. Throughout the rest of the video the male character is trying to locate the female character, however, he never finds her. Todorov's structure isn't incorporated into the video due to the lack of equilibrium and the entirety of the video appears to be a reconciliation of the destruction. Due to only being 2 characters in the video it is also unlikely Propp's theory could be considered. We don't see enough of the female character to apply a theoretic character to her and the male character doesn't show signs of being a 'hero'. One of the lyrics of the song is 'I called you later and you were outside' which strongly reflects the predominant scene of the female character being stood outside while the male character looks on.

   

Organisations

Young Turks are the name of the record label that SBTRKT is signed to. While he is a successful self-taught producer, the influence of the record label, financially, shows a great deal of benefit when it comes to this video. It isn't an extravagant video because Young Turks are still an independent label but without them SBTRKT may not have been able to afford to produce a video for this song. Aaron Jerome (SBTRKT) is sold as a quite a mysterious producer with his songs matching the enigmatic persona of him and support the concept of anonymity. He is never seen in the videos for his music and doesn't feature on his album covers. The tribal mask which is the logo for SBTRKT is also a headpiece that Jerome wears when he performs his music live.

SBTRKT started his music on the popular music sharing website Soundcloud. It is a website in which rising artists can make their music available for the public to listen to. SBTRKT still distributes his music through Soundcloud as well as his albums and EP's. 

Audience

The target audience for the video is both males and females, but more males, from the ages of 15 - 30. This is because of the indie nature of the music the audience would be expected to be between these ages. The video is quite complex in understanding and the relationship aspect would make the video suited for possibly older than 15 year olds. Uses and Gratifications theory could be one way in which audiences are attracted to the video. Relationships are a way of creating a more widely accepted music video because the majority of people can relate with the video and understand the video, making it more popular. 

Representation

Relationships are represented the most in this video. However, it could be said to be un-stereotypical. In this video we see the female character leaving the male but the male is very emotional and trying to find her throughout the video. This shows dependence and how the woman could be said to be superior to the male. 

These screenshots show the male character as 'lost' without his female counterpart showing an un-steretypical representation of gender.

   

ANALYSE A MUSIC VIDEO USING GOODWIN'S THEORY

Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop

Links between Lyrics and Visuals:

There is a definite link between the visuals of the video and the lyrics of the song in this Miley Cyrus music video. One lyric in the song Cyrus sings 'To my home girls with the big butts, shaking it like we at a strip club' the visuals show Cyrus and her friends dancing provocatively shaking their bottoms.

The connection is apparent and makes the video feel more in-touch with the song.

Again, the lyrics 'It's our party we can do what we want to' link with the visuals on screen.

The visuals show a party commencing with Cyrus and her friends, connecting with the lyrics of the song.

 

 

Links between Music and Visuals:

 

The music usually links with the visuals to be either be complimentary or contradicting, sometimes to amplify.

The song begins when the hand shown turns on the speaker. This is an example of complimentary links between music and visuals because it portrays the image of the song coming out of the speaker. Again, when Cyrus and her friend are dancing, their bodies are moving to the beat of the music and their actions coincide with the tempo of the music.

 

 

Genre Characteristics:

 

A convention of Pop music videos entail a use of up to date and fashionable clothing. The artists and actors in the video are assumed to be wearing clothes of the current trends and the styles that can be seen in designer and high street retailers.

In this shot both Cyrus and one of her extras for the video can be seen to be wearing very fashionable clothing. Shops like Zara and Topshop are promoting white clothing since last summer when it came back into fashion. People like Kim Kardashian, Victoria Beckham and Cyrus herself have all sported white ensembles and some have been quoted to use the popular motto 'All white everything.' The man in the image is also dressed in popular attire of the current culture and time. Much like Kanye West, Jay-Z and Big Sean he is sporting a backwards cap, tank top and gold chains.

 

Another characteristic of the Pop music video genre is that the star acquires a lot of camera time and is central to the video itself. Cyrus can be seen in nearly every shot of the video in a variety of different shot types.

Cyrus is seen in a close up, mid-shot and a long shot in these screenshots showing her importance in the video and how she is central to the video. This signifies how integral Cyrus is to the music video for We Can't Stop.

 

 

Intertextual References:

 

It could be considered that the use of product placement in the media text is an example of intertextuality.   

Beats by Dr Dre are advertised in Cyrus' music video and by doing this it will encourage audience's to buy them. The effect of the product placement may be to portray to the audience that the Beats Pill is loud enough and capable of staging a party.

 

Another example of intertextuality in We Can't Stop is comparisons between Cyrus and Cruella De Ville, the character from 101 Dalmatians.  



Miley Cyrus' large fur coat and small dog resembles the characteristics of the Disney villain, including Cyrus' hair and make up.

The big fur coat is quite controversial, much like the majority of Cyrus' music video for We Can't Stop. It is unknown whether the fur is real or fake which creates an issue for animal rights activists and caused an uproar for fans and audiences all over the world.

 

 

Notions of Looking:

 

Notions of looking is the ideology of people and characters being seen in certain ways in the media texts. According to Goodwin's theory, women are represented as objects and defined by their sexuality and attractiveness. Cyrus falls into this category well with her promiscuity and sexuality deviance. The majority of her music videos show her in next-to-nude attire and performing sexually explicit moves.

Notions of Looking can be linked with Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory. This explains that the camera takes on the role of the mans eyes and exploits women in front of the camera for their bodies. This could be the case in my first screenshot because the long shot shows the majority of Cyrus's body. The other two screenshots show Miley Cyrus being represented as a sex symbol in accordance with the Notions of Looking.

 

Voyeurism:

 

Similar to the Notions of Looking, Voyeurism is the idea that people enjoy watching other people. This means that music videos work because audiences enjoy watching the artists as people and find what they're doing interesting. Again, this can be done through sex appeal which Miley Cyrus is expected to do.

Theory states that audiences will be attracted to watch the video to watch Cyrus and her friends dancing. The sex appeal is present because of the exposure of her body in a provocative manner.

 

Demands of the Record Label:

 

It is likely that the Record Label for Miley Cyrus, Hollywood Records, instated that she must be in a lot of close ups in her debut music video for her new style of music and brand new image. Britney Spears' video for Baby (One More Time) featured a lot of close ups of her as demanded by her record label.

 

The Beats Pill is probably advertised through the video because of the record labels deal with Dr Dre Beats. Product placement is quite popular in Cyrus' genre of music and other genres like Hip-Hop.

 

 

Performance, narrative and concept based music videos:

 

We Can't Stop is generally a performance based narrative with a lot of lip syncing from Miley Cyrus herself. However a loose narrative of a party can be picked up on while the concept is that she is re-instating that she is young, wild and free and can do what she likes.

This screenshot is an example of Miley Cyrus lip syncing to the song, known as a performance shot.

This screenshot shows a party shot which could be received as a narrative based shot because of the party storyline which accompanies the song. It is the main narrative in the video and apart from partying with her friends, Cyrus can't be seen to do much else.

 

The concept of the video is that Cyrus is free to do whatever she likes and this is highlighted by some of the more quirky shots.

This shot of Cyrus licking a doll that looks like her re-enforces lyrics of the song like 'It's our party we can do what we want to'. The rebellious attitude is a theme in the song and the music video and conveys the concept to the audience.

 

 

Analysing a music video using Andrew Goodwin's theory has helped me understand the theory better so I can apply it to other videos. Also it helps me when I come to create my own music video because I could shoot it keeping the theory in mind. 

 



 



 

 

 

GOODWIN'S THEORY

Andrew Goodwin is a theorist in Media Studies who proposed some ideology about what makes a good music video and what is seen commonly in music videos.

Andrew Goodwin's theory has 8 principles:

1. There are links between Lyrics and Visuals

 

This Katy Perry video for Last Friday Night features a lot of connection between lyrics and visuals. At the very beginning of the video Katy Perry sings "There's a stranger in my bed..." and the visuals show her waking up with a topless male (stranger) in her bed.

 

2. There are links between Music and Visuals.

3. There are genre characteristics and generic conventions. These are explained further in my post titled GENERIC CONVENTIONS OF MUSIC VIDEOS.

4. Intertextual references (For example, Fancy by Iggy Azalea ft. Charli XCX has massive intertextual references from the film Clueless.)

5. Notions of looking - The ideology that you are looking into someone else's life. This includes men and women being portrayed seductively and sometimes covers when artists make eye contact with the camera.

6. Voyeurism - People enjoying watching other people. It is a way of selling the artists music through sex appeal. Miley Cyrus again can be used an example of this due to her tendency to appear naked in.

7. Demands of the record label. Record labels may demand that some products are shown in the videos. They may be being paid by artists like Dr Dre who will pay record labels to feature their products in their artists videos. The Beats Pill speaker is commonly featured in Pop and Hip-Hop videos.

8. Performance based, narrative based or concept based music videos. Performance based videos will primarily show the star or actor lip syncing the song and dancing in time with the music whereas narrative based videos will have a storyline with characters and a structure. These two basis' are often mixed for a really successful video.

MUSIC VIDEO FACT SHEET

After reading and highlighting the fact sheets provided I have decided to make notes on the most important things I found after reading them. 

Conventions are a really important part of music videos because it is what sets genres apart. I want to do a slightly indie/ alternative video so having rock conventions will be confusing for the audience and not fit well with the genre of music or the video.

Music Videos are a marketing strategy to sell other products. We are also designing a Digipak and Magazine Advertisement so it is important that all 3 products have a similar house style and connect with each other,

Copyright infringement is a big thing to avoid. To do this it is important that the record label for the song we choose to do is contacted and to ensure we have permission to use their artists material.

The music video has to be interesting and entertaining because its purpose is to encourage audiences to buy a copy of the song.

It is essential that a Music Video complements the rhythm on the song. I will take this onboard when creating the music video, ensuring it matches the tempo of the song perfectly. 

A strong narrative is key for the genre I wish to explore and a interesting storyline is a key aspect of this. I will research other music videos of similar genres and take ideas and influences from their music videos.

Performance shots and lip syncing is another important part of music videos and two features I will definitely want to incorporate into my own. Lip syncing has to be perfect to look professional so a practise session will be essential. 

I like music videos which have intertextual references to other popular films or music videos because it shows development and a artistic respect for other media texts. I would definitely consider taking notes from other films and music videos to include into our music video to give it connections to other popular mediums. 

The fact sheet really helped me understand what is important about music videos and what I need to incorporate into my own. Without the fact sheet I wouldn't have known how strongly Copyright is frowned upon and illegal, and will now ensure I have permission from the record label who's artist I decide to go with. 

INITIAL IDEAS ON OUR MUSIC VIDEO

My initial idea would be to shoot a video for a fairly slow, relaxed, soulful song. This is because after analysing the Sam Smith video I think it would look more professional and do-able rather than attempt a Pop song and create something tacky and out of time.

Soul, R'n'B and Indie music all seem possible to use for a moderately paced music video that I have in mind. I also don't want too many characters because I don't want our music video to be confusing or too busy. A married couple or a group of friends would be a good idea for characters because they are also good relationships to match with a song. I think an emotional song will require a break up or a falling out storyline to create a really heart-wrenching piece. I think a natural setting is a good idea because then there is not a lot of setting up to do.

I like the video for Dilemma by Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland. The mix of performance shots and relaxed narrative is a perfect combination which inspires me for my own music video. I think that a loose narrative is much better than a hard to follow storyline which will distract from the song.

 

As well as all of this, I want my video to be quirky due to the genre I have in mind. Indie, electro music tend to have randomly loose narratives that perhaps have a deeper meaning.

I like the use of Tarot Cards in the Riptide video by Vance Joy. They are symbolic within the lyrics and I an influenced by the use of spiritual tools and equipment.

 

Doing this task has helped me take influence from other videos and realise the sort of video I want to create. I want my video to be quirky and have a loose narrative, with a symbolic meaning which will allow for audience interpretation.