Music Video

Goodwin

2008-10-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

Andrew Goodwin's theory of music video:

1. There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, the visuals illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics.

2. There is a relationship between the music and the visuals, the visuals illustrate, amplify or contradict the music.

3. The style of a music video often relates to the genre of the music and iconography also reflects this, this means the values of the genre are evident for example, celebrity status, wealth and attraction important in Hip Hop, live performance to Rock and storytelling to Country.

4. Close ups are very important as this is what sells the artist, these are used on the demand of record companies as their primary concern for music video is promotion of the artist.

5. Voyeurism is encouraged, particularly when it comes to women. This encourages the audience to look at the artist and become more involved with them.

6. Intertextuality is often used, this is where references are made to other texts, either other music videos or film or television.

Questionnaire

2008-09-25T06:56:00.000-07:00

Please circle the answer that you agree with the most.

1. How old are you?

Under 11 11-13 14-16 17-19 Over 19

2. Are you…?

Male Female

3. What is your favourite genre of music?
(Circle 2)

Rock Pop Country Metal Hip Hop Indie R&B Other

4. Where do you watch music videos?
(Circle all that apply)

Television Myspace Youtube Music channels Other:____________

5. Which music channels do you watch?
(Circle 3)

MTV VH1 Kiss The Box Smash Hits Flaunt 4 Music

Q Kerrang

Magic Scuzz Bliss Chart Show Flava NME The Vault

TMF

Fizz U

6. What makes you keep watching a new music video?
(Circle all that apply)

The artist The music The clothes Attractive performers The story

References to other media Genre of music Music channel it is on

Recommended by a friend Association with Television/Movie

Other:______________

7. What aspects of a music video interest you the most?
(Circle all that apply)

The song Genre of music The artist Dancing Attractive performers

Viewing an artist’s performance The story Glamorous celebrities

Other:______________

8. Is it important to have the singer in the story shown in the video?

Yes No No preference

9. Do you like it when television or movie clips are used in some music videos? (Eg. How To Save A Life by The Fray with Grey’s Anatomy)

Yes No No preference

10. Does a music video change the way you see an artist?

Yes No

11. Are music videos important for selling music?

Yes No

Thank you for completing this questionnaire.

Sven E. Carlsson

2008-09-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

1. Music Videos are a form of audio/visual communication and popular culture.
2. People make different interpretations of them, one person may find a video interesting while another person may find the same video boring.
3. Are all about representation, constructing star image and telling the story of the narrative.
4. Ideas are often reused.
5. Often sacrifice meaning for visual style, visuals more important than meaning.
6. 3 Types of performer:
Commercial Exhibitionist - All about image, successful, glamourous, very 'celebrity'.
Televised Bard -Storyteller, creates 'audio-visual poetry'.
Electronic Shaman -Hidden meanings, voice connects images and sounds.

Usually all three are combined in one video.

7. The music ties images and lyrics together. This creates a base for the visuals.
8. If the lyrics and the narrative are very different then it is harder to understand the meaning.
9. Narrative is carried by the music and lyrics not just the story.
10. Repetition and variation are important.
11. Manipulation of colour, motive, setting, footage etc creates coupled ideas.
12. Use visual motifs eg. Lighting effects etc.
13. Individual perception is based on personal experience such as family, peer groups, region, country, language etc so the experience becomes personal.

Animatic

2008-09-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

Storyboard

2008-09-12T10:39:00.000-07:00

Moodboard

2008-09-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

Miley Cyrus, 7 Things - Lyrics

2008-09-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

I probably shouldn't say this
But at times I get so scared
When I think about the previous
Relationship we've shared
It was awesome, but we lost it
It's not possible for me not to care

And now we're standing in the rain
But nothing's ever gonna change
Until you hear, my dear
The seven things I hate about you

The seven things I hate about you
Oh, you
You're vain, your games, you're insecure
You love me, you like her
You make me laugh, you make me cry
I don't know which side to buy
Your friends, they're jerks
And when you act like them
Just know it hurts
I wanna be with the one I know
And the seventh thing
I hate the most that you do

You make me love you

Illustrating

Amplifying

Music Video: Dixie Chicks, Not Ready To Make Nice

2008-09-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dblAC5uLb8

‘Not Ready To Make Nice’ was directed by Sophie Muller and both the song and the music video are heavy influenced by a political controversy surrounding the band’s lead singer, Natalie Maines. In 2003, Maines made a comment against the US President George Bush’s decision to go to war with Iraq, saying that the band were ashamed that the President was from their state, Texas and that they disagreed with the violence of it. Following this the band received death threats and lost a lot of fans, some accusing them of being ‘un-American’ and sparked a boycott of the band’s music. Maines apologised later saying that her comments were ‘disrespectful’ to George Bush. This did not really help the situation as those who were in support of her were upset that she had apologised at all. Soon after Madonna came out in support of the rights of the band to express their own opinions and postponed the release of her ‘American Life’ music video which originally featured scenes of her throwing bombs at a Bush look-a-like, changing them after seeing the public response against the Dixie Chicks. Even today the band are affected by this as many people still want to talk about it and many of their fans have not come back to them. In 2006 they released a documentary following their experiences during the 3 years after the London concert where the comments were made and are fighting against censorship.

The theme of the music video is censorship and not being allowed freedom of speech, the narrative follows this with scenes set in a classroom where Natalie stands up to speak and the other band members force her to sit and stay quiet mirroring the idea of not being able to speak out for themselves. The teacher then asks her to write lines on the board (a punishment common in American schools), she writes ‘to talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming’ which was something Natalie received in a letter from an angry fan after her comments against the war in Iraq. Other scenes show Natalie in an old fashioned mental institution which brings about social connotations of madness and painful inhumane ways of dealing with mental disorders. Also a psychiatrist Thomas Szasz claimed that the government used mental illness as a form of social control against anyone who disagreed with them or went against their ideas, he was most prominent during the 50’s and 60’s which fit’s the style of the video being set in an unspecified period during this time. Natalie resists treatment and is celebrated by her band mates, this shows the position of support from the others and also that Natalie will continue to try to speak her mind. Another theme that runs through the video is Natalie painting the others with black paint and trying to wipe the paint off her hands on her white dress but she cannot get it off. This shows how what she said affected the band as a whole and her words caused people to boycott the whole band. Not being able to get the paint off her hands symbolises her not being able to get away from it, that no matter how hard she tries or what she does she cannot change some people’s opinion of her or the consequences it has had for them all.

The performance element in the video shows the band against different coloured backgrounds (black, blue, white). The performance is much more subtle than in other videos which allows the narrative to dominate the video, this is quite common in many of the videos by the band and is a convention of country music videos. This also could be a visual interpretation of how Natalie’s comments overpowered the band’s music and many people know of them from that rather than their music and even know reporters and interviewers are more interested in this.

The video used as a background image showed black liquid colouring white which is another way of showing Natalie painting the others black, the house and picket fence draw on social connotations of ideal suburban America, the style of the house is something you would expect to see in Texas where the band is from. The fact that it is crooked shows the band feels everybody else has a skewed opinion on what is right. The bright red background contrasts against the other colours and is also has negative connotations of the devil, therefore associating the band with it.

A variety of coloured backgrounds are used, some are wide and cover the whole scene where as others are very thin and narrow which represents the narrow minded way the band were criticised for thinking differently.

All of the colours in the video are very stark and bold, lots of black, white and red are visually very impacting which makes the video very memorable.

A lot of the camera angles used in the video are straight on to the band which does not portray them in any particular way, high or low angle shots would have given a perspective for the viewer to look at them from but straight on shots allow the viewer to make up their own mind on how to view them and gives them the freedom to choose for themselves, a theme used repeatedly in the video. There are some scenes of Natalie from above which shows how she is looked down on for having her own opinion, these scenes happen early on in the video and as it progresses the shots change to be straight on, this shows how some opinions have changed, or the importance of it has. Possibly even showing how other people’s opinions changed the way Natalie saw herself. When she was not allowed her own voice she felt less than others who could, and that changed as time went on as she realised she was no less than anyone else and would fight for her right to speak freely.

All of the transitions used are straight cuts. During the introduction of the video lots of shots are shown very quickly which gives it a very harsh, raw feeling. Flashes of light and dark add to this, making it feel sharp and disjointed, matching the tone of the song. The disjointed way the clips are put together is consistent through the whole video and adds a feeling of confusion as to what is going on, this pulls the reader into the emotion of the song, as the lyrics talk about the band’s confusion to how the world became this way where those who speak out are treated in such an extreme way. The editing keeps to the pace of the music, clip changes happening to the beat of the music.

The representation of the band in this music video is mostly to strengthen the idea of them standing by what they believe even when it seems like the whole world is against them, and also that the bonds within the band are still strong (the shot of Martie and Emily holding hands is repeated three times throughout the video, as well scenes showing them celebrating the fact that Natalie has escaped from the doctors shows they are happy and in support with her behaviour).
The doctors whispering as they watch Natalie struggling against the other band members invites viewers to watch too, this is an example of voyeurism. The doctors talking about her shows how everybody was talking about them but nobody wanted to talk to them as they did not want to be associated with them for fear of being put into that position too. Also the band felt they were abandoned by the country music scene in general, as no other band stood up for them they felt that others used it to gain publicity for themselves as talking about something so controversial got them attention, but would then make a point of saying they were in support of the war and therefore against the Dixie Chicks.

Music Video: Jonas Brother, Burning Up

2008-07-14T01:26:00.000-07:00

The video ‘Burning Up’ video was shot in June 2008 in San Pedro, California.

Various camera angles are used to showcase the band, for example close ups are used to create a sense of intimacy with the band. Mid shots are used to show the band performing and long shots show the whole scene with the band performing and all the people around them watching and dancing. Circling the band as they perform gives a more dynamic feel to their performance.

Close ups during the movie sequences show emotion of the characters, for example Nick looking determined to beat his opponent while he plays him at Mahjong. Close ups also add to the narrative as they display the important details, like the identity of Nick’s bond girl and the bomb in Joe’s scenes.

Most of the transitions are straight cuts, but there is a fade from a black screen on the first scene. There are also fades between shots of the band and their video script and then from the script to their movie sequences.

Titles are put onto the move sequences to make them appear more like movies, and Nick’s James Bond sequence has the silver cut out screen which appears in the real movies, this makes the theme seem more realistic. During the Miami Vice sequence the video is paused briefly which slows down the action and allows the audience to see the comical look of Joe. This also happens during Kevin’s movie sequence.

A spot light effect is used on the script which makes them seem like they are being showcased as the central theme of the video.

‘Burning Up’ is the first single from the Jonas Brother’s third album ‘A Little Bit Longer’, musically it is very similar to their previous releases but the video is quite different from their last one. ‘When You Look Me In The Eyes’ was released during the band’s North American tour of the same name and the video showcased and acted as an advert for the tour as it only showed footage from the tour, including on stage and behind the scenes. This conveys the idea of them as performers which is a common theme in all of their music videos and is present in ‘Burning Up’ with scenes of them performing.

The band are targeted at a young teenage audience but are becoming more popular with older teenagers as their music has started to grow up a little, and tabloid stories following their personal lives has started to put them out to a wider audience.

Joe’s paranoia at being watched by the girls possibly imitates the band’s feelings towards the paparazzi following they have since finding fame. Shots of the girls show that they aren’t looking at him, until he stops watching them, then they turn to look at him. Encourages voyeurism as people are looking at them, particularly encourages female fans to look at them and shows them as objects of attraction.

The band take on various roles from film and television, Nick as James Bond, Kevin learning kung fu from the star (David Carradine) of 90’s television series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues and Joe as a 70’s police officer from Miami Vice alongside the band’s bodyguard who also raps in the performance section of the video with them.

Selena Gomez guest stars as Nick’s Bond Girl, this is particularly important as Gomez has been cited in the media as being the new Miley Cyrus after Cyrus’s notorious topless photo shoot with Vanity Fair magazine. Also Nick dated Cyrus and the band starred in an episode of her Disney series Hannah Montana and opened for her on dates of her North American Tour, but Gomez, who also stars in a Disney series (Wizards of Waverly Place) was chosen instead of Cyrus.

The narrative of this video is the band imagining their next video as they read the script for it, seeing the performance elements as well as each starring in their own mini movies. The idea of movies shows the band as actors as well as performers which coincides with the release of their first movie, the Jonas Brothers star in Disney’s latest made for TV movie called ‘Camp Rock’.