Research - Chosen Song

The song we have chosen to make a video for is a song by a local indie band. The band have been using a recording studio and have released a single which I really love and that needs a video. The band is a five piece named Mustang and their single is called Paralysed.

Lyrics:

That girl take me away into the street lights
her eyes were damned from the start, As we enter the forest' dark,
sacred heart I'll be torn apart,
you can't be afraid of the dark.
Cos I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed like a moth to a flame
burn and feel the shame I will never feel the same cos I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed like a moth to a flame
burn and feel the shame,
I will never feel the same.

That girl take me away into the street lights
her eyes were damned from the start, As we enter the forest' dark,
sacred heart and I'll be torn apart,
you can't be afraid of the dark. Cos I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed like a moth to a flame
burn and feel the shame I will never feel the same cos I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed, I'm paralysed like a moth to a flame
burn and feel the shame,
I will never feel the same. That girl take away into the street light
her eyes where damned from the start.

Research - Music Video Analysis 3 - 'It's Raining Men' Gerri Halliwell

Immediately, the music video for Gerri Halliwell's 'It's Raining Men' strikes a resemblance to a well known movie, The songs video has been known to have created a strong resemblance to the famous films 'Footloose' and 'Flashdance'. The synergy created to these films helps the music video establish a narrative concept.

A particular image of Gerri is obviously trying to be shown in this video. Through her Spice Girls career, Gerri was known as 'the fat one' and so, when she stormed into the solo business, she wanted to be able to show off her new phyique with her intensely toned body and legs. This shot of her behind helps not only promote her new, fantastic image, but also helps to create The Male Gaze (Laura Mulvey), in which women are shown in a certain way to be provocative and attractive to males. However, this song is not mainly aimed at men, the lyrics are clealy aimed at women with the words 'girls' and 'women' being repeated throughout,

Intertextuality is continued here through the repeated references to Flashdance. The judges shown in a row here at a long table re-enacts the scene from the famous dance film, this adds narrative to the video.

This is the first shot in which we see Gerri's face. This has been left for a few shots to build up a little bit of tension until we finally see the new Gerri with her make over and new hair style through a close up shot.

An awful lot of the shots included in the first sequence of the video show off Gerri's body. She has clearly worked very hard on losing weight and toning up, even releasing fitness DVDs to help others achieve her image related success.

Voyeuristic bodyshots are repeated frequently throughout the music video as she is really trying to highlight her new, slimmer figure and show everyone that she has lost a lot of weight and is no longer the 'fat' spice girl.

This low angle shot shows Gerri looking down into the camera which gives her a sense of power and authority, the off the shoulder jumper is again showing a sexualised image, relating to Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' theory as she is appealing to men with her feminine and attractive image.

The synchronised dance routine is a convention of pop music videos, especially when the video is so strongly intertextualised with films like Flashdance and Footloose.

This close up shot is highly sexualised and voyeuristic as it shows Gerri in a very tight fitting shirt and she is running her hands through her wet hair and over her body.

How This Research Has Influenced My Planning

This kind of voyeuristic and sexualised artist is very post modern, as effective as it is, it is not suitable for the type of indie music we have chosen to make a video for. The shots in this video are really effective, especially in the close ups and extreme close ups as they are conventions of pretty much every type of music videos.

Research - Music Video Analysis 2 - Habits (Stay High) by Tove Lo

This analysis will be of the music video for Habits (Stay High) by Tove Lo. I really love the concept for this video and the story it tells.

The establishing shot shows a close up of a woman in centre frame. The remainder of the frame allows the audience to understand that the woman is on a bed surrounded by other people, this immediately suggests a more mature feel to the video with some possible sexual connotations. The state that the woman is in with her clothes on and her make up on suggests that she may have been on a night out so drink/drugs could also be present also relating to the title, 'Stay High'.

Alcohol is very quickly introduced into the video as the first shot evolves into he main woman drinking a can of beer, she had just woken up from what appears to have been a drunken night so drinking immediately after really helps relate the video to the title, if she has to 'stay high' or drunk then she must be feeling very depressed.

There are quite a few close ups featured in this music video, personally I feel like the close up shots make it seem like even the small things like lacing up shoes and applying lipstick feel so dramatic since she's been left alone, that's why she feels the need to be recreational with drugs and alcohol.

There are a few shots in which the background is blurred or undercranked to portray the madness induced by the alcohol, it also shows time slowing down and speeding up to help the story line progress.



This screencapture shows the main actress in the video kissing another woman. This shot appears immediately after a shot of her kissing a man, these shots are shot through a hand held camera as they are both quite shakey and this intensifies the drunk and messy atmosphere. This shot represents a modern society because it is unfortunately unusual for gay and lesbian relationships to be portrayed often in the media, however this is now becoming more common.

These close-up shots are shown immediately next to each other, the quick jump cut progresses the story line and also presents how alcohol can affect emotions and the sadness she portrays link to the sad lyrics of the song and how she needs the alcohol in order to be happy.

How this  research has influenced my planning

I really like the jump cuts from one emotion to another, I really hope we can find a way to use this in our music video as I think it is really effective for the story line and to the audience.

I also really liked the way the background blurred to make her the focus of the shot and to highlight her drunken state.

Research - Music Video Analysis 1 - Loveblood by Sundara Karma

The first music video I have chosen to analyse is Loveblood by Sundara Karma. I initially chose this band as they are an indie rock band and this is the genre I want to make a music video for and I really love the song and the video for it.

The establishing shot shows an extreme close up of slow motion red ribbon, this immediate colour association links to the title of the song as conventionally the colour red is linked with passion, love and blood (i.e. Loveblood)






The red ribbon changes to a red background and a silhouette of the lead singer is shown through the red. This is repeated throughout the video but at times is opposed and it is sometimes a black background with a red effect. The black and red are the most important themes in the video as they represent danger and love.

Oscar Lulu, the lead singer of Sundara Karma is often one to challenge the ideas of gender norms. He breaks stereotypical gender conventions by wearing eyeliner and eyeshadows as well as painting his nails, commonly thought of as feminine things.

Another way gender conventions are challenged is the costume choice. In this video Oscar wears what appears to be a lace cropped top, as this is commonly known as something that only a woman would wear, this breaks convention and adds to the indie image, but also represents a modern society where gender norms are broken with acceptance.

The red and black representing danger is amplified in this reaction close up of a woman screaming. The montage shows a close up of thighs, hands and this screaming video. This creates an intense and passionate feel to the video, and also adds some sexuality with the bare thighs in bed sheets.

 Constant shots of the band playing instruments are used. This is quite common with the indie genre as they like to be known as a real band instead of just singers. The shots of the band almost always are through panning camera shots.

Montage shots are incorporated in this music video quite often, the montages don't always appear to have any relevance to the lyrics but it looks very dark with the use of snakes and the recurring black and dark backgrounds.

A montage is used again at this point, the lyrics "the thunder from her thighs, makes me shake" is paired with shots of a woman's thigh and leg in different positions cut together. This shot with the red lighting, along with the lyrics, gives the shot a very intimate atmosphere.

The smashing of the mirror first happens on a key point in the beat, when the song says "Hey!" the mirror is broken for the first time, this shot is repeated a few times in a sequence broken up by shots of the band.

While there is no lyrics being sung, the backing music loses some momentum and becomes slower, the montage of shots here include feathers from a pillow falling from the sky, shots of a girl in bed (pictured left) and slow motion pan shots of the band, this reinforces the passion and love behind the song and video.

The video concludes with various shots of the band. As the music picks up speed, the average shot time decreases and the shots become faster and more like a flash montage. The end of the video shows the red lighting fading and the screen turns entirely to black with the lyrics "one last kiss and away she goes, obsessed with loveblood and no one knows".










How this music video has influenced my planning
I know that this song is a very similar style to the song that I am using to create my own music video, so I feel like this will be a really great inspiration for my planning. I love the lighting and think the red and black lights were a really effective and genius way to represent the love and danger themes in the video so I will hopefully be able to incorporate something similar into my video. I also felt like the montage shots were a really exciting part of the video and the way the image linked to the lyric was really intriguing so I want to take some inspiration and apply it to my own video.

Research - Skills Development - Final Cut Pro X

Today, after we had been round Brigg last week filming a practice music video, we sat down and had our first experience with Final Cut Pro-X. We learnt the basic tools such as placing markers, using the blade tool, importing content and creating new projects.

This practice run is going to be very beneficial for the making of our actual music videos as we will have some experience using the software instead of going on and not having a clue what to do and how when we will have a strict deadline.

 

Research - Skills Development - Filming on location

During our media lesson this week, we went out into the town centre of Brigg and decided to film our own music video. To the Glee Cast version of "Don't Stop Believing", we shot in various different locations around Brigg to help us understand the process of filming and setting up the camera and tripod. We also all had to be in front of the camera at some point in the video, singing (not miming) to the song to help us understand what it is our artists and actors will be going through when we film our actual music videos in October.
 Good Outcomes...

• I now know how my actors will feel
• I know how to set up the camera and tripod
• I understand how to direct people to how I want the shot to be
• I know that it is important to make sure the music is high quality and loud enough to be heard

Bad Outcomes...

• It is very hard to gain a believable performance from someone who isn't too confident
• Natural lighting can be difficult to balance

Response To Brief

A promotional package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

-a website homepage for the band
-a digipak for the albums release
-a magazine advertisement for the digipak

What are the challenges going to be?
Using a camera for moving image instead of still photography will be a learning curve.