Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media product largely conforms to conventions of the genre. After researching the music industry and my target audience I settled on the emerging artist Marina and the Diamonds. Her music appeals to a young indie/pop audience, a strong group according to my research. The genres of music and music video have evolved and branched out in to many different genres including punk, pop and RnB. The music video is not only an expression of art and creativity but also a promotional tool, allowing the viewer to see how the artist performs and their talent. Artist like Michael Jackson and Madonna created stylish music videos with exciting narratives and dance routines. The Beatles know for their revolutionary revolution within the music industry also contributed to the developing music video. They creates films and experimented with the formula for a successful music video. Programs like ‘Countdown’ where the next step allowing artist to appear on screen, as a result videos were made or artist unable to attend due to touring. With the development as such channels as MTV seeing music videos became a popular marketing tool or artist and video became more creative, story lines and narratives were a common convention as well as dance sequences and the artist performing.

Conforming is vital or the music industry to create revenue. The record label after signing their artist will be looking to appeal to their market; they will use adverts, websites and magazines though most importantly they will produce a music video. To finance the video they will have to approached distributors and investors who will be looking to seek a financial return. To assure this return they will be looking to see that the video has a winning formula, the industry is high risk and often a lot of money is invested. The video must conform to the genre which it belongs to and have a strong audience. The genre creates an assured audience and therefore a return may be predicted.

My audience is not gender or class specific, the age range for my video will be primarily young people, perhaps students or young professionals, were pop music tends to be aimed at. The age and style of my artist also attracts a younger audience. My target group has is popular with record labels, they have a lot of leisure income, consisting of young working adults, some have no bills or responsibilities such have no children and a mortgage. I researched my audience expectations by doing a paper and online Facebook questionnaire. My results indicated that indie/pop was a strong market positions and that people liked a narrative, the performance shots and an opportunity to watch the band as they perform. I also asked what they thought about stop motion, I noticed videos form my category used creative elements to help them stand out from the rest. Stop motion is a developing yet popular idea, I had noticed similar artist like Kate Nash and Natasha Bedingfield using stop motion.

I decided on that artist Marina and the Diamonds who has been hinted as someone to watch for 2010 and indie solo female artist are very contemporary. Marina already has a record label and other videos, her debut reached number 12 in the charts and she has an established Internet following due to her blogging. After carrying out research on different music indie/pop music videos I came up with the following conventions to which my video conforms to such as telling a story that corresponds with the lyrics. I also found traveling and pace a popular theme as well as a creative element, my video has walking shots which gain in pace until the end when the camera turns around and sees my main character. For a creative twist I used stop motion and had board game pieces moving on their own and lyrics scrawl out across a piece of musical paper. I know from my historical research promoting the artist name and image is very important and I did this by having my artist name spelled out in scrabble pieces, a link to the lyrics 'board games are underrated'. I had my main actress miming to give the effect she way singing. I also noticed establishing shots, close/mid shots, and traveling, zooming, panning, stationary and reaction shots were all common cinematography and I tried to use as much of these as possible in my video. Lighting I noticed could be used to create an atmospheres and relay emotions, I used the sun in my video and waited till the evening so I capture it in my main characters final walk up to the house symbolising the end of her journey.

I think I very closely adhered to the conventions to create a music video that it the genre well and at the same time, due to using stop motion, stands out as an individual and intriguing music video.

It is very important to create a sense of synergy and to carry across themes to help create an identity and image. My ancillary project also conforms, I analysed existing magazine adverts and found the majority to be an extension of the album design, they were very simple and the main point was the artist name, single and release. It was the picture that summed up the video and intrigued an audience. My research showed that popular music magazines included NME, Q AND Kerrang! I looked in these magazines, indie/pop magazine NME, and found the advert or Bloc Party’s new album Intimacy. The name stuck in my head as it related to the picture an I tried to do the same for my single, ‘Simplify’, the image is of Marina walking towards the camera in a idyllic country like setting, I made flowers a theme. This image will also be used as the album cover image, I found other adverts for Delphic and The Killers and they also used their cover image for their advert. The cover conforms entirely.

My DVD cover also largely conforms with the same image and font used again, this time I looked at music video and live DVD covers. I noticed a stand alone bubble or sticker on the front was common and a rating on the front. All the examples I looked at had strong colour and style themes and I did this with pink, green and white and flowers.

How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary text? Marketing is very important to the success of a business as people need to know you are there and have come to expect some form of marketing. The record labels operate under umbrella cooperation and most are huge conglomerates and own subsidiary labels, Marina and the Diamonds label ‘679’ focuses on Indie/pop music. They are part of the Warner Music Group. It is the promotion department in the record label that ensures that the artist is played on the radio and music channels. Ideally the best type of advertising is television with channels such as 4music and MTV specifically for music.
I looked at marketing tools such as Ansofs Matrix, a method of product placement, my product is a new artist in an existing industry and genre so it comes under product development. I will uses direct marketing and synergy, by using horizontal integrations I will cover all areas of marketing and will be able to directly target a wide audience.

My research indicates that music magazines and website pages are popular and good ways of marketing. Music channels are also very popular and a significant marketing tool, however even more popular is the video streaming site YouTube, my audience feed back shows it was even more popular than industry giant MTV.

Music magazines that would be likely to take on my magazine advert include NME and Q, NME is a British magazine that focuses on contemporary indie/pop/rock music and aims to bring to light smaller artist who may struggle to make their way in to main stream pop music. Marina has already appeared in the magazine and as a British artist would suit their target audience very well. Q is a similar magazine though it is produced monthly and looks at a wider selection of he music industry throughout time. It has a more mature feels than NME which appeals more to my teenage audience. However it has featured Marian before and by placing the advert in Q it will reach a wider audience and perhaps an older readership.

Breaking in to mainstream pop is hard, as hard as it is to break in to America and it would be far easier for Marina to be played on a British indie/rock channel such as QTV or MTV2. These channels still cater to predominantly teenage market and look more at smaller, developing British artist, aiming to broadcast music that would otherwise struggle to find its way in to mainstream pop. Although my working your way in to the charts you are guaranteed to be played on mainstream pop channels such as VIVA channels such as QTV would play the video more often.

Another institution through which my music video may be marketed is the internet which has become one of the fastest, easiest ways to watch music videos on demand, it is very popular with an audience of under 35 and therefore appeals to my audience. My research confirms this with many people saying the watched music videos on such sites as YouTube, daily motion and even the bands home pages. The internet has large catchment area, I think that using the internet as a marketing tool would easily and effectively cover all of these areas, relatively cheaply, this would appeal to young people especially and the ever growing internet social network. Many young bands have been able to grow and develop thanks to websites such as Myspace. Knowing my audience tends to be young people this method of distribution will reach my target audience

When producing my music video I was careful that there wasn’t anything depicted in the video that could be considered distasteful, discriminating or harmful to the audience. Although in the past this has generated controversy and therefore an audience such as Lady GaGa’s banned video for Telephone this is not the image I want for my artist. As a new developing artist Marina does not have the power artist like lady Gaga has to be able to take such a financial risk and it would be unlikely to be requested by any institution. By making the video a PG it will reach a much larger audience and will receive no objections.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Before I made the video I carried out a paper questionnaire and a questionnaire via the online social networks Facebook, the results helped me hone in on my ideas and showed me what my audience wanted to see and what the expected as a convention. This was very useful as it confirmed my initial ideas and helped me refine the genre. It was important I made sure there was an audience for my video before I made and that a financial return could be predicted. By using Facebook and paper questionnaires I could reach a wide audience, Facebook is predominantly used by my audience so it was an excellent method of research.

I made the finished product shorter than the original story board and had to cut two of the last as i struggled to fit the video in the two and a half minutes, I didn't want to over complicate the video. I think my response shows i did the right thing as some of my audience still felt there was too much going on.

After I had finished filming my video I put the video on YouTube and on blog on the website blogger. I played the video to a focus group of my target audience and then showed them the ancillary pieces, I then got them to fill out a questionnaire asking or their opinions. The feedback was mainly positive although the video had its problems. Using a paper questionnaire allowed me to ask for more detailed feed back. The son went down well and nearly everyone said they would buy the single therefore making the video a success. I did have feed back about how the video could be improved and not everyone understood the message though the majority did, the think my audience picked up most on was that the miming could be better and if I were to do the video again this would be something I would work on. The stop motion went down very well and my audience enjoyed the way ‘it mixed elements like real-time with stop animation’.

The magazine and DVD cover also received good feedback and fits well with the message and the video ‘related to video’, ‘shows that something simple can be beautiful’.

By putting the video on YouTube I got more comments and feedback from my audience. The feedback was very positive with comments remarking on the ‘very strong and powerfull elements in the video with the news papers, and the shrine, did have a touching element’. The stop motion received a god response as well ‘I also love the stop motion part, really adds a good element and makes it look really professional’. The video received good ratings and received 120 views in its first week.

Completing this research and using a focus group gave me an early indication of the reception my video would receive. It also gives me a chance to improve on certain aspects my audience may have struggles with.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research planning and evaluation stages?
I used several types of new media technology to create my music video. In the first stage, my research, it allowed by to quickly and easily view music videos online by using the internet, particularly the website YouTube. Thanks to video streaming I could also look at the bands websites and find interviews and music videos there. I also used the internet to research the music video history, the industry and how it developed. I also used the internet to search for other music videos using the same conventions as me. Another great use of the internet was social networking, it allowed me to carry out research over Facebook, Seeing as my target market are the predominant users of the website it gave me an excellent insight as to what they expected and wanted form a music video.

I used the website blogger to present my work, the website has neat, presentable formats and is easy to organise work with. The main advantage of using blogger is that I could access my work anywhere as long as I had internet connection. This meant that with my URL address so could other people which made sharing work easy. This was particularly useful when I was showing people my music video as I could just send them the link as blogger also allows you to upload video and pictures. Other advantages of Blogger where that I could follow other bloggers and artist so I could get an even better incite in to the industry. One of the ways Mariana and the Diamonds has gained an audience is by regularly writing an online log updating and communicating with her fans. Blogger also allows you to use blog on your mobile phone so you can blog and update your work anywhere. I also used the internet to contact the management from the band by finding the email address of their management and using yahoo email service to contact them.

I used Adobe Premier Elements to put my finished work together, although I was going for simple editing this allowed me to use all kinds of special effects and provided the tools to create a professional music video. It also allowed me to cut and paste my clips easily so any problems I had during filming I could fix. It allowed me to work with levels of sounds as well and I could delete the sound I had from the video. I kept the sound of the children's park when the memorial played to give a feel of the background. Although at first I struggles to grasp the software is soon grew confident and tutorials were easily accessed online via YouTube or the Adobe website.

I also Adobe photoshop which I was much more confident with after doing my AS coursework. This allowed me to get a professional look and blur and sharpened images. It was also useful for layering and I used websites such as DeviantArt, an online art community, to source pictures from and require permissions from the artist.

I filmed the video using a Video camera and mobile phone for taking pictures with. The cameras were small light and versatile making filming easy. It was also easy to transfer my video and pictures on the the computer. The only problem was the picture quality and if I were to film again I would experiment with different higher megapixel cameras to get a higher quality of picture.
Finally at the feedback stage I used the popular website YouTube to distribute my film where I could send it to friends and the could rate and comment.

New media technologies allowed me to create my video much quicker and efficiently, most importantly it allowed me to pinpoint an target my audience with precision.

Questionnaire results

From analysing my questionnaire results and my responses on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17CmCvutxbE) I can conclude that my music video is successful as a marketing tool as the majority of the people that watched it said they would be interest in hearing more form Marina and the Diamonds and that they would buy the single.

The results also showed my audience where pleased with the stop motion and understood the concept of the video.

The only downfall is the miming was not up to the standard of the rest of the video.

The ancillary task was also successful as my audience liked the design and found it fit with the music video.

Music questionnaire

Music questionnaire
Music Video

Did you enjoy watching the video for Simplify?

Yes No

Would you buy the single?

Yes No Maybe

Would you look in to more music by Marina and the Diamonds?

Yes No Maybe

What were your favorite elements of the video?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What did you feel needs improving?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Did you understand the message of the video? What was it?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Magazine advert

Did you like the magazine advert?

Yes No

What aspect did you like? Did you feel it related to the video?

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Is there anything you feel could be improved upon?

DVD/CD Cover

Did you like the DVD cover?

Yes No

Did you think it fits the theme of the video?

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Marina and the Diamonds- DVD

Marina and The Diamonds- Magazine Advert

Marina and the Diamonds- Simplify

Production schedule

Important factors of my video include location, props, cast and costume as part of the mise-en-scene.

Location

• My house/bedroom and landing
• My Street
• Salisbury's
• Salisbury's carpark
• Dartford town centre
• Dartford park
• Adult Education Centre cafe
• Heathside Cente for Health and Healing (house in the country)
• Woodlands

Cast

• Sarah Cockle (Main character)
• Victoria Baker (Friend
• Negin Raouf (Waitress)

Costume/Prop list

• Car
• Red floral dress, jeans, red ballet pumps, pink coat, white handbag.
• Board games
• Piano
• Politicians letter
• Laptop
• Chocolate bar/food wrappers
• Store Cards
• Shopping Bag
• Newspaper (GLOBAL OIL CONSUMPTION...)
• Music Sheet
• Floral tribute (bear, note and flowers)

I will only need one day to do all my film and will do it mid day so towards the end of the video the sun is setting (connoting the end).

Animatic- Simplify

Synopsis

The video will open with still close-ups of a piano, board games and a piece of paper. As the video unfolds I will use stop motion to make the board games move as one for the lyrics is ‘board games are underrated’. I will have the paper scroll out the lyrics so the words are emphasized, this is important as I have a lot of correspondence with the lyrics and the video will play them out which is something a lot of music videos conform to and my audience enjoy. The piano will also play itself with the use of stop motion as the instruments in the song are mainly piano. Stop motion and animation is something that has proved popular with my audience. As the video unfolds I will introduce the main character, a girl who will represent Marina, the artist, she will get up and leave her room, she will have been sitting on a pile of board games as they are a reoccurring theme throughout the video. As she comes down the stairs and the artist begins to sing my actor will mime. I will make her mime at the end of the video as well but not throughout as I think her facial expressions are more important to the song. The song, ‘simplify’ is about how the modern world is full of over complications and has the video plays they will escalate in proportions.

The first complication to occur will be the political parties as she will receive mail through the door from different parties urging her to vote for her. She will screw these up and dispose of them, she then leaves to go shopping at her local supermarket, she picks up a bar of chocolate and then the camera will zoom in on the health wheel which indicates how healthy the food is, this wheel is mainly red and I will show close ups of ‘get your five a day!’ adverts. Sighing my actor will head towards the checkout and opens her purse. She fumbles around for the right store card but drops a pile on the floor, clearly exasperated she bends down to pick them up.

Leaving the supermarket she gets in her car and put her bag on the vacant seat next to her but as she check her fuel gauge she notices the headline of the newspaper she has just purchased, the headline is about the state of the environment and how as a nation we are producing to much fuel emissions.

Again clearly aggravated the girl drives of and meets her friend in the town, as the greet each other they begin to walk down and past the local primary school where children are playing conkers. Smiling the pair walk past and observe as a teacher comes up to the pair and confiscates the conkers due to ‘health and safety’.

Shaking her head the pair enter a cafe where the sit down, a waiter comes up and ask if their ready to make an order and the my main character smiling looks at the coffee, as she scans down the page her face dropped as she is offered a vast array of different brands and styles.

After the cafe she leaves her friend and goes to work to meet her boyfriend and friend, as she sits down her boyfriend is distracted and walks of leaving his phone by her side. The phone buzzes as he receives a text, she is curious and fiddles around with his phone, smiling she reads the text and her face drops.

She slams the phone down on the counter, grabs her bag and coat and leaves. As she marches away she begins to mime again when she spots a bunch of flowers and a teddy bear, pausing to take a closer look and realises it is a memorial to one of the teen stab victims that have plagued newspaper headlines for the last several years. Throughout I will have traveling scenes along a woodland trail. At the end will be the house in the country mentioned throughout the video. Finally she walks up to a house in the country, the sun is shining and the video is left with a positive feel, i didn't want to leave my audience feeling depressed.

Chosen Song

I have chosen to do a Marina & The Diamonds song called Simplify which is about how complicated the modern world is. Marina & The Diamonds is an indie/pop band and I think they will satisfy a wide audience. Her videos all demonstrate what is going on in the lyrics and have bright creative themes which I will take as a challenge to carry through in to my own video.
Lately I have realised
That I need to simplify
Thoughts pass like
ships in the sky
Do, or do not, there is no try

Life became
complicated
When modern times arrived
Board games are underrated
I want a different life
They say, well get out of the city
We say, well
there's no such thing
As a house in the country (in the country)

I am trying to rectify
Habits that clog up my mind
No time to be meek and
mild
Live simply like a child

(chorus repeat)

Simplify, your
life
Simplify, life
I sent to following email to her management asking for permission to use the song

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am an A Level student from Dartford Technology College, Kent. For my Advanced production project this year I have been asked to make a promotional music video and promo package. I am writing to ask permission to use ‘Simplify’ as my chosen track. I would love to use this song as I am a fan of Marina & The Diamonds and have enjoyed her blogs and music over the last year, I think the lyrics and the style of her music will give me a lot of creative freedom when making the video and I already have a story board in mind.

I really appreciate you considering this and I would like to point out that the final music promo will only be assessed by the OCR exam board.


Thank you for your assistance


Rachel Collett

Textual analysis- Uprising by Muse

Muse are an English rock band that formed in 1992 described as ‘kings of no-holds-barred stadium preposterousness’. Heralded for the classical/rock/electronic sound they have since had a steady rise to rock royalty with five studio albums and two live albums and b-sides with each sporting a distinct style. Their last album from 2006 Black Holes & Revelations was their greatest success yet with a massive tour including Wembley Stadium and a double platinum selling album. Muse are renowned for their live performances and the band have said in various interviews that this is how they make most of their money which they plow back in to the music. It is therefore very important that the video promotes their ability to perform. For the Black holes & Revelations tour the album wore only red, white and black and the album themes included, aside from the generic love songs, sci-fi and politics. Their portfolio of videos include Starlight, Supermassive Black Hole, Knights of Cydonia, Plug in Baby and Bliss all of which have very creative elements such as sci-fi cowboys and holographic skin tight suits, they all represent the image of the band as the grow such as the red, black and white tour outfits the band wear in Map of the problematic. Their personal style has become more tailored and individual, they don’t look like the same scruffy teens anymore, their videos have become more flamboyant and experimental and this is obvious when you look at their impressive anthology of music videos.

The band have won a vast array of awards and nominations and their music video have succesfully contributed to their wide spread success. In 2009 released their fifth album The Resistance, the lead single, Uprising, is a deeply political song reflecting on the state of Britain's current parliamentary system and urging the public to rise up and let 'the fat cats have a heart attack'.



The music video follows the band as the travel through a toy town on the back of a toy truck, it is run down, depressed and much like most modern British towns. The song is somewhat inspired by George Orwell's 1984, the song is about how we, the British public are surrounded by cameras, the government is losing trust with mp scandals, empty promises and a leader who was not elected. The band describes the song as “football hooligans chanting in protest at the banking crisis”. It's not the first time Muse have recorded a political song and the song urges the public to 'rise up and take the power back'. As the band are English they know a lot about the current situation and i think this song is a good track for establishing the bond between band and fan as an audience like something the can feel and understand, it makes them feel important. The lyrics of the song correspond well with the message the video is trying to relay, not directly, the video aims to visually translate what the story the song is saying.

One of the reasons I have chosen this video to look at is stop motion, i have noticed the trend occurring through music videos and the internet and my target market likes the idea. Although this may not be stop motion the giant teddy bears look as though they could be, they way the video makes the inanimate move has the same style and concept of stop motion.

The mise-en-scene is key to the telling of the story, the props connotate a further meaning, the props successfully make the most of a message as controversial as this and the toy town acts as an extended metaphor for modern Britain.

The very first thing we notice is not the fact we're in a toy town but a large fuse running down the streets, a spark is ignited as the song begins which we follow as the video progresses. This symbolises the lighting of a spark,the foreshadowing uprising, just one person needs to say something and steadily things will grow and eventually explode which is what the song is about. The fact that the town is a toy town emphasises the idea that as a country we are being played with, we are a mere childs game, we are disrespected and ignored. The town is filled with realistic toy figures and cars, the band have been shrunk down and travel on the back of to truck. Shops are shut and the streets are filled with litter and graffiti, 'going out of business' signs going out of business posters adorn shop windows and a billboard in the background reads 'building for the future'. All this reminds us of the fake promises, the lack of trust and the divide between the people and the government, 'another promise, another scene, another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed.

As the spark gains in momentum In a shop window screens show teddy bears, there are many interpretation of what the teddy bears symbolise, that they are the people, something once buried, turned angry and uprising! The album art has pictures of teddy bears being seemingly grown in a field, are the government trying to 'grow humans'? Furthermore as the video is opening it looks as though a digger is trying to push soil over a bears head. I think that that the teddy bear are the government as half way through the video lead singer Mathew Bellamy smashes the televisions with the teddy bears on them in a typical rockstar fashion. We also see toy people clustering around an angry bonfire of teddy bears. The government teddies are something we trust, they are innocent, or are they we see them with their fangs out, the deceit is revealed and mistrust deepens the divide between the public and their leaders, after all isn't the teddy bear king of toys? Another reason for the teddy bears being the government is how at the end as the giant powerful teddy bears rise a particularly evil red eyed bear pears through a bedroom window, in interviews the band had stated that they were inspired by George Orwell's 1984 and how shocked they were at Britain's 4.2million security cameras. The last flicker of hope the videos shows is a rampaging bear falling to its knees as the video dies out to 'they will no control us, we will be victorious'.

Costume is not a key element to this video, the costume of the small toy figures s very realistic which adds to the metaphor of the modern town. The band themselves wear dark clothes which are clearly not the focus of he video, the band do not promote themselves on their vanity like most rock bands. However I have noticed that their chronology of albums and tours have a distinct clothing pattern in that each tour seems to have a new wardrobe. In this tour their clothing although remaining indie/punk has a much more dark mature theme which reflects the bands album, a mature refined Muse.

The video is set at nighttime, the small town street lights and bus stops highlighting the setting, another advantage of being set at night is that the television screens and the spark which are central to the plot stand out even more. The lighting and colours are very dark and the video is full of shadows, secrecy and anger. The shadows created by the lack of lighting add to the enigma of the band especially as main focus, lead singer, Mathew Bellamy has his eyes completely shaded for most of the video. A feature we rely on to comprehend expression. The shadows on the street also add to the feeling of mystery, lies and hidden agendas. The colours are dark and dull with flashes of red highlighting the dark, angry message of the song.

The cinematography conforms to the styles of most modern music videos, like most rock songs the frames cut between the band and a narrative flow. The video opens with some wide/mid shots establish the setting and panning as if following the spark and then the truck which is when we first see the band together, we then have close ups of bass player Chris and a close up birds eye view of drummer Dom. Then we get a very close up of singer Matt's face. After introducing the band separately we have a mid shots of them together, there are a lot of very close ups on Matt's face as he is the danger and front man. The only other close ups are emphasizing important factors and the teddy bears on the television and as they rise and the people round the town and bonfire. There are a lot of birds eye shots as though the government are looking down on the town and the people.

Although editing seems minimal with a seemingly slow patternless cutting of clips and jump shots, the special effects are essential to the look and feel of the video, typical muse videos are very creative and always make the most of the lyrics. The way the band has been shrunk down really emphasises the was the people feel small in comparison to the mighty, distant, forces of the government. The movement of the bears is in a typical stop motion fashion like old fashioned children's programmes, other Muse music videos show that perhaps Muse do not like to use computer graphics as, like this, they also seems very real.

The song was successful as it got to made it to no 9 in UK charts showing that in promotional terms the video did its job. The video conforms in the way it has a narrative the explains the song and how it focuses on the band and their image. As the lead video form this album this video was the one that would be setting their image for this tour and as it was released before the album it is a taster and important promotional tool for the rest of the album and tour.

I have been inspired by the way the video is so fitting with the song and how the video sells the image of the band, the way a story unfolds, it has made the song much easier to understand for the audience and encourages interpretation. I was also inspired by how current to music video was and the modern setting as i could really relate to this. The creative element was my favorite part and the reason i chose to take an in depth look as the video, i will definitely look at doing something similar to fit my song.

Textual Analysis- Obsessions by Marina & The Diamonds

Solo artist Marina & the Diamonds has been heralded as one of 2010s breakthrough acts of the year and she has already soared in to the charts with her pop/indie single ‘Hollywood’ and accompanying video. New to the music scene Marina has only released a handmade EP ‘Mermaid Vs Sailor’ through her myspace page. She is known for her ‘keyboard-based ballads to more up-tempo new wave-style songs with full band backing.’ Her current music videos include ‘Hollywood’, the lead single from her debut album, ‘Obsessions’, ‘I Am Not a Robot’ and ‘Mowgli’s Road’. They all have a bright, flamboyant, pop/indie feel all with some creative quirk. Marina has stated in interviews how she likes to try lots of different things and be creative, that "you may as well experiment with your work". Marina won runner up in the BBC Sound of 2010 and is nominated for the critic’s choice BRIT award. Marina describes the album as a “body of work largely inspired by the seduction of commercialism, modern social values, family and female sexuality”. This is apparent in her lyrics as she tackles how fame is a fickle distraction from the art of making music particularly for the modern pop female. Already filmed, ‘Obsessions’ is to be the third single released from the album.



The video is set in a large white room with a grey floor, this is mainly covered by a large white sheet draping down from the ceiling. The video follows the artist Marina as she assembles a large ‘flat pack’ diamond frame, the video shows us a very human, fun side of her as she laughs and looks towards the camera in contrast to most modern female pop artist. As a new artist this promotes how she is different and the themes of the album, I think the music market is ready for this as it grows tired of stereotypes and looks to new fresh artist such as from Empire of the Sun and Ellie Goulding. When the pieces are assembles they are propped up and as the camera rotates to face the work full on the shape of the diamond becomes apparent. In the middle eighth and towards the end of the video we see dark clips of small red, blue and green lights (the primary colours) being thrown around on it, in particular a close up on a diamonds stand out. This is very foreshadowing of what happens in the end and adds further intrigue to the video enticing the watcher to carry on watching. This emphasises the diamonds and therefore the artist name. Marina’s Surname is Diamondis which is were her stage name is Marina and the Diamonds has been derived although she is a solo artist. Marina attaches small glow in the dark lights the frame and in the end when the lights are turned on the diamond glows. The theme of the video is hard to pinpoint as the song lyrics could have many interpretations. It seems to me that she is struggling to stay in a relationship and trust a man “We’ve got obsessions, I want to wipe out all the sad ideas that come to me when I am holding you” and that she obsesses about this. The video seems to have little to do with the lyrics and seems to be truly a promotional video in the way that she exaggerates her name and is present throughout the video, the main focus is always on her. It also shows how as an unconventional artist she has a slightly unconventional video as in the way it does not play out the lyrics and create a story like most I have watched as part of my research. I have chosen to look at this artist as she fits my genre well and I like how her other videos have particularly creative aspects, in Mowlgli’s road, which took 17 hours to record, she has concertina legs, arms and stomach. Another of her videos has her face shoulders and arms completely immersed in black glitter.


The mise-en-scene is very plain which just goes to exaggerate what is going on in the scene and directs the focus to what props they do use. The focus throughout the video is clearly the dark metal structure which contrasts brilliantly with the bright white background. The lighting in the video is very black and white, it is either very bright or very dark, and there are no shadows and no in-between. This creates a feel of honesty and simplicity, there is nothing hidden in the video, there is also further intrigue as to the significance of the lights. As the very end comes around and the lights go of and the scene is plunged in to darkness, green lights along the side flash which is reminiscent of when the lights were flashing in the middle eight, then the lights on the diamond come on as the song closes. The lighting has been used to create intrigue, emphasize repetition and reiterate the diamonds and therefore the artist name.

Marinas costume does not seem to be key to the plot, it is very young, fun and fashionable, she has a cardigan with a large cat face on it, she also wears the popular hello kitty leggings and a skirt which boost her image as an artist fans can relate to. On her blogs and one of her songs 'Hollywood' she talks about how she does not want to become a 'celebrity' that revels in the glamorous lifestyle and that her focus is her music. Her outfit looks like it could come from any young woman’s wardrobe and complements this belief. The interesting thing about her choice of outfit is that it is entirely black and apart from her face none of her skin is exposed, she even wears gloves only her face is showing. My initial thoughts where that this was just to add extra emphasis to the colours and striking contrast between light and dark that is dominant throughout the video. However I think it also makes her face stand out more, as well as her name the aim of the music promotional video is to make her face recognisable as well. Her clothes also seem very normal, simple and honest which in contrast with most of today’s pop females, she is not selling her clothes and her image. Although I said her clothes were those of a young woman and fairly fashionable it is still hard to place her image, I think this will give her a more universal appeal, other popular female artist such as Lady Gaga and Shakira have outfits that would push away some music lovers and may cause controversy with some audiences.

The cinematography is vital to this music video purely as it adds to the final illusion and is also used to create intrigue. The video opens close up of the back of Marina's head, it is obvious she is doing something but you can't see what it is adding to the intrigue, she then walks forward and the camera zooms out in to an establishing shot. This is followed by a range of mid-shots and close ups zooming and panning fitting with the tempo. In the middle eight this changes to a wide shot and we see the jigsaw coming together, it makes us even more curious as to what she is constructing. As the last chorus comes and the music slows right down we get about ten seconds of a wide/mid shot which is the longest shot in the video, this is followed by a long wide birds eyes shot which reflects the slow music. As the momentum begins to build the length of the clips becomes a lot shorter and they are a lot closer. The video then slows down again to end and the camera pans across a wide/mid shot of the complete structure, then the clips changes and marina is standing in front of it and she walks off as the camera tilts up to take on final look at the diamond before the lights flicker off and the diamond lights up.

The editing is very simple and often the pace of the cutting fits with the pace of the tempo which is very important to the song. There are no special effects and the cutting is very clean.

This video is very different to The Killers music video and does not conform to most conventions of music videos, only the fundamental promotional aspect remains. Most of the videos I have watched have a lot more correspondence with the lyrics or a story, it is a popular media convention and is why most people watch music videos. Marina does not do this with most of her videos and focuses more on the fun, creative feel. I wish to uses this but use what I learnt from my research and have some correspondence in my video.

Textual Analysis- When You Were Young by The Killers

In 2006 with the release of their second album Sams Town, follow-up to the massive Debut Hot Fuss, Las Vegas band The Killers decided to release ‘When You Were Young’ as the lead single complete with 5 minute promotional music video. In the past The Killers had been known for their theatrical pop music videos, particularly Mr Brightside, but the band were experimenting with a more mature refined rock sound and their new video had to promote and establish this new image and album. The song was very successful and reached number two in UK, the album later went on to win a Brit award and the video won a Q award for best video in 2007.

The video was filmed in Tlayacapan, Mexico and has strong themes of religion, innocence and adultery. The setting is essential to the story and the setting allows us to focus on the song and understand the situation the woman is in. The fact she has a traditional upbringing and will probably have to settle for a husband she does not necessarily love. The city is also very old and poor and we can understand why she wants this new exciting man, to escape not only her religion but her boring life. It also works well with the desert theme running through The Killers albums (they grew up in Vegas near the Mojave desert), the album focuses strongly on their childhood and personal upbringing.

The story itself is pretty basic but with front man Brandon Flowers compelling lyrics and a cleverly executed video the video can really pull at the heart strings.

As the video opens we see a large white cross high above a Mexican city. A young Mexican woman approaches dressed in white, she is followed by a man who slowly pulls up in a car, he seems frustrated and bangs his head against the steering wheel. The camera returns to the woman as chilling echoes of the lyrics battle against the wind. The woman weeps against the cross, her a face a picture of agony as we glimpse quick flashes of a couple, candles, crosses and a woman’s hand running across a mans back. The woman, clearly distressed sinks to her knees as the man rushes to her side to comfort her. The song opens loudly and suddenly and the story unfolds. Amongst clips of the band performing in a small bar we are shown the woman praying at church and leaving to meet her husband. The next scenes seem to play out in reverse as she returns home to find him in bed with another woman, she runs out in tears followed by her husband. The video then shows their wedding, the woman washing feet and then the bar were she meets her husband. The video plays out their realtionship in reverse and ends with the couple on the cliff side.

The lyrics corresponds perfectly with the video, this girl is obviously very young, good, devout and innocent. She is looking for a Jesus like figure, a man who is pure, honest and trustworthy, traditionally Latin girls have a very religious upbringing but what she wants is a saviour ‘To save you from your old ways’. She then meets someone who is risky and exciting ‘he doesn’t look a thing like Jesus, but he talks like a gentleman’, she is torn between what is right and what is wrong ‘they say the devils water it ain’t so sweet…but you can dip your feet…’ She believes he loves her and she marries him believing she can make him a good man ‘can we climb this mountain? I don’t know’. The lyrics ‘You play forgiveness, Watch it now, here he comes’ implies that her husbands devious nature has been sent to test her faith and in the end he breaks her heart and she is faced with the ultimate challenge. The relationship has changed her, her trust and her innocence. Her ideas are now the past ‘when you were young’. The video and song can be interpreted many different ways, the ‘devils water it ain’t so sweet…but you can dip your feet every once in a little while’ could be talking about her husband, how to sin is bad but human and that her image of a ‘beautiful boy’ that lived up to Jesus could never exist and was only ever going to be imagined ‘when you were young’.

The mise-en-scene is a vital part in telling the story and this is done throughout ‘When you were Young’ with a mixture of setting, props, actors, costume and lighting. The video is set in Tlayacapan, a poor and traditional Mexican city, it is the perfect setting for the song and fits the story particularly well. We can empathize with the girls for her dull, traditional life and understand why she is thrilled to find this man and how she can be so naive. The city also has the same cowboy, traditional image The Killers are trying to promote. The fact religion is so important and the poverty she grows up is very prominent throughout the video and we see many dilapidated building and crumbling church monuments.

She is very sheltered, literally and in her life style, she is nearly always in a building until after she finds out about her husbands betrayal when she is on the hillside. You finally see the light. The lighting after the church when she comes out to meet her husband is also very light, he is dresses mainly in white and this almost paints him in a good light, you can see how she falls in love with him and believes there is a good side she can salvage. The lighting is also light and innocent in the wedding scene, in contrast it is very dark and dull in the bedroom and bar, the only light is the from the flashing crucifix.

Another reminder of the omnipresent religion is that there is almost always a cross in the scene, right from the beginning she leans against a large white cross, this scene is reminiscent of how Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross to atone for human sin. In the next scene she is kneeling before a mural with a crucifix as she prays. As her husband and his mistress make love a picture of the virgin Mary with a crucifix round her neck flashes as his wife enters leaving her crucifix on the table. After this there are no more images of crosses until the last scene. Another symbolic prop is the bedside photo of the husband and wife happily married, it crashes to the floor as the wife backs out of the room after catching her husband, it is a superficial as their marriage. The props in the bar are also very necessary for highlighting what kind of place it is, blinds are shut, it is dark dull and dings and bar is littered with bottles and cigarettes.

Costume is also very important, as well as setting the scene the colours are a good way to relay the emotion of the scene. In the beginning we see the wife dressed from head to toe in white, she embodies purity and innocence as white traditionally portrays. When she stands next to the cross the colour makes them as one especially when her husband dressed in dark denim arrives, the contrast of colour and moral standing is particularly prominent. Red the colour of anger and passion also occurs throughout such as the mistresses red bra and when (before they married) her husband hands her a red apron when she comes to work in the bar, she takes it and puts it on and seems to literally seize the new risky man so detached from her upbringing. Another theme from the Killers album is their new Vegas cowboy attire and image which they adorn throughout the video with trademark ponchos and hats.

I think the actors were perfectly cast, the man is clearly older and charms the young woman with his smiles and confidence, he certainly doesn’t look a thing like Jesus! The actors attire and image fits with the impression we get of his character we get form the song. The young woman is also well cast, she looks very simple and young in comparison the mistress and her facial expressions express her anguish particularly well.

The cinematography starts of very slow during the opening, there are lots of wide establishing shots of the wife and the cross and then close up panning of the man in his car looking for her. Other wide establishing shots are when the couple meet after church and are wandering through the religious monuments of the city emphasizing the religious theme and culture of the song. This use of wide establishing shots is repeated at the end and really establishes the setting. The only movements from the camera are very slight and they are mostly panning, tilting and lots of close of close ups and mid shots. Because the clips are kept to an average of 2 seconds there is not much time for the camera to move. The camera is all about telling the story, throughout the video it focuses on introducing all the character sand scenes with close up panning and tilting. The camera make good use of close ups and mid shots to capture the expressions from the woman when she meets and falls in love with her husband and as she grieves when she find out what he has done. Another interesting piece of cinematography is the extreme close ups in the beginning in when the couple are reunited, the camera first looks at the woman’s tortured, pained eyes and then the remorseful tenderness of her husbands face as he cradles her head, it reminds us that even through sin they still treasure each other and that although he is not perfect he truly loves her. Considering the negative way the husband is seen throughout the video I think this is an important reminder and makes the pain even harder to deal with.

The editing of the video is very simple which fits with the simple, plain cinematography and mise-en-scene. The main focus is clearly the story and all transition from clip to clip are quick cuts. The very beginning and ending shots are the longest but throughout the rest of the song the pace of the clips is irregular but fats to fit with the general temp of the song. The cutting of the clips and does not seem to have any pattern, obvious pace or correspondence with the lyrics except slower pace of cutting clips when the wife is washing her feet (this is the middle eight) and the music slows, then as the tempo gains in momentum to so does the cutting. Another good moment when the editing changes is in the beginning, there are about six very quick flashes of intriguing shots as the wife leans against the cross of later shots hinting there is a story to be told.

In many ways this video conforms to the conventions of music videos, it tells a story and uses lighting and mise-en-scene to tell the story and create an image for the band. The cinematography also complements the story focusing on facial expressions particularly. The promotional video has certainly come a long way from the days of spoony melodies. The video has a lot of symbolism and meaning throughout and can truly be called an art form, an expression of faith and love in music and short film two of the most popular, diverse and flexible canvases for art. However it remains a promotional video and it does its job, to their target market the intrigue and excitement this video creates will surely persuade them in to finding out more and ideally buying the single or album.

Paper Questionnaire

I handed out a paper copy of my questionnaire to get more replies and therefore get a wider range of results and more diversity, on facebook only my friends could answer my questionnaire where as with the paper copy I could get lots of different people to answer and my results would be more fair and a better representation of the market. The results from the paper questionnaire showed that the favorite genre of my chosen target market is Rock closely followed by R&B/Soul and pop. I will therefore choose a song that fits in the rock/pop/indie genre. These results are very similar to my Internet questionnaire answers.

I then looked at the favorite artist of those who liked the rock/pop/genre genre. I did this so I could look at popular artist I could make a music video for and so I can look at the conventions of videos from this genre. My results showed popular artist that fit loosely in to the genre where:

The Killers
Muse
White Lies
Biffy Clyro
Bullet for my valentine
The King Blues
Just Jack
Newton Faulkner
The Kooks
YMAS
Paramore
James Morrison
Daniel Merriweather
Panic at the disco
MCR
Cobra Starship
FOB
HIM
McFly
Editors
Snow patrol
The Blackout
All Time Low
Lost Prophets
Kids In Glass Houses

Pixie Lott

Kate Nash

After looking at all these videos I have noticed a pattern of miming and story telling as part of the video. Good examples included McFly 'Sorry's not good enough' where the band sing along as they tie the lead singers girl friend to a restaurant table and try to convince her to forgive him.

I have watched many videos from a variety of different genres and they all show the artist performing, I like the way a story has been played out to correspond and work with the lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQvOECbFNwI

Another popular artist who used the video to tell a story which worked well with the lyrics in telling a story was The Killers 'Dustland fairy tale' about a couple growing up in 1950s America

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucw4fX1Mj0o

There are plenty more examples from Snow Patrol 'Open your eyes' with the meaning eventually becoming apparent as lovers are reunited to Muse- Uno in which an ex-girlfriend runs frantically through a maze of corridors but she tries to find forgiveness as the band sing 'you could have been number one'.

When I asked people what their favorite music video was and why the majority answered that it was because it was the story, the concept and that they got to see the artist. This was followed by dancing, a theatrical and humorous style and fan-artist interaction (gigs etc). I think this works well with my findings and and I will definitely focus my video around and idea which I think will explain the lyrics and the meanings of the song. It is also a more popular style with the genre I am looking at.

My audiences least favorite factor of a music video was a combination of a loathing for the artist, a boring/uncomfortable format and particularly artist that 'just stand there and sing', they are described as dull and boring. This supports my research as it highlights a need for the video to have a story/meaning and for the lyrics to correspond with the video.

I asked why my audience watched music videos so i could find out what they are looking for. Some people watched the videos just to pass the time or to see the artist and how they performed but the majority said they wished to see how the artist interpreted lyrics 'I like to see the way it has been interpreted in to film'. This again supports my findings and i will make sure my music video interprets the lyrics into a story.

I had a largely positive response to stop motion and animation 16 out of 18 liked the idea of animation and stop motion. I will try to incorporate stop motion in to my music video, it is a current and popular theme.

I asked in my questionnaire 'Whats your favorite style for a music video?'. My results showed humor and dance to be popular themes but by far drama/story was most popular supporting all my earlier research.

My questionnaires also confirmed the internets popularity as a music video distributor. Television is still a popular medium for distributing music and many people said that they like to watch both music videos on television and internet. I think internet is the future of promotion, games and social websites have made it increasingly popular with an ever growing audience and it offers the viewer choice in what they want to watch, what style and genre of video they want to watch. The successful site YouTube has already begun to exploit this, record labels and band have their own page with adverts in the side columns for upcoming releases and 'label mates'. Most television company have started to diversify and move on to the internet, a good examples is the BBC 'BBC iPlayer'. My next internet question also relates to the expanding use of the internet as I asked if and why fans signed up to fan websites for the band. Nearly half of my audience signed up for fan websites (or YouTube, facebook groups) and they expected to receive news, information about the artist and upcoming tour dates, they also wanted easy navigation and access to photos and merchandise.

I asked about music magazines so i could look at them as means for promotion.
Rocksound, Kerrang! NME and Q were all popular magazines and again nearly half of my audiences read these magazines. It seems music magazines are more for those musically dedicated so they do not reach such as wide audience. I will still advertise in this physical form for those who still like music but do not use the internet enough to receive my other advertising and to persuade these people on to the band websites.

In conclusion of both my questionnaires I have decided to emphasize a story that relates to the lyrics in the video and to use a rock/pop/indie artist and song. I will have someone singing as this is a popular convention of music videos and although I will not have the artist I will use miming. I have also decided to use stop motion in my video and that i will heavily promote the video through the Internet and music magazines.

Internet questionnaire

I used the popular social website Facebook to distribute my questionnaires. This allowed me to reach a larger target market and gave my questionnaire more diversity.


http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/note.php?note_id=211424952118&comments

My results are as follows:
First i asked what is your favorite genre of music? I found the most popular brand of music to be Pop closely followed by rock and then dance and metal. Therefore I will choose to do a rock/pop video.

I then asked who are your favorite artist? I asked this so I could look at some of my audiences favorite artist to draw inspiration from their music videos and to help me choose a song. By looking at the my questionnaires and favorite genres I found the favorite genre to be rock/pop/indie I came up with the following artist:

Green day

Pixie Lott
The Killers
Muse
My Chemical Romance
Linkin Park

The Kooks

I have decided to use similar artist to the ones above but will chose more of a pop artist so my vidoe will have a wider appeal. A similarity I noted when looking at videos from the band is that they all like to tell a story that directly corresponds to the lyrics and explains the artist interpretation .

When looking at my answers for question 3.What is your favorite music video? Why? I found that my results reflected my previous observations that people enjoy watching a story to accompany the video. My questionnaire results include 'I like the raw, gritty feel, tells a story, it's colourful and creative' and 'the way they relate to the song and lyrics'. My results also shows that my target market like comedy and to see the artist in the music video.

I asked my audience what they didn't like in a music video so I knew what to avoid, my answers included

'repetitive and boring', 'she sells her body instead of her music', 'murdering and hanging...uncomfortable to watch', 'terribly cheezy', 'not much happens' and 'just run around singing with no real meaning'. I think this backs up my ideas of what a good music video should be. My audience like the video to be all about the song and they like a interesting and creative story.

When i asked my audience why they watched music videos i wanted to find out if it was just something done fro recreation, specifically to understand the song or the see the artist and what image and genre they are pursuing. I think i got a good mixed response and all of my initial thoughts were confirmed. Viewers like to see the artist, to take in their image especially with statement artist like Lady Ga Ga and Greenday. They also like to feel that the artist they adore have taken the time to give this back to their fans, the artist can also showcase their performance abilities. Artist like Muse and Pink are known for their live acts. Another reason my respondents watch music videos is to see how the visuals enhance and interpret the lyrics, how the artist 'interpret the lyrics with the video itself'.

I have started looking at stop motion and animation as i think it will keep the audience interested, will increase the songs potential and will make the video more unique, creative and interesting for the viewer. It is a contemporary style and the idea went down well with my internet respondents, the results were largely positive and any other replies were curious and said it depends on the style.

I asked what style of music video people like, whether theatrical, drama/story, live footage, dance or humorous. Confirming my earlier speculations drama/story proved to be the favorite option closely followed by dance and live.

I then asked how people watched music videos as distribution is vital as part of promotion and I needed to know where to target my audience, many people watched music videos on television and internet, internet was a very strong option .

I then asked how my audience used the internet to pursue their musical interest, the internet is an ever expanding marketing tool and is vital in keeping the distribution and promotional video alive as television moves to reality shows. As these questionnaires where done on Facebook I expected my respondents to use the internet to look up their favorite bands. My answers were positive and people subscribed to newsletters and vlog/blogs.

From these websites people expect music, 'news about them, an eye catching, creative layout and buttons that lead to different sections of the website such as a gallery and media section', 'a personal touch for example JLS make video blogs' and 'offers for the latest gigs and exclusive stuff'.

I also asked about what music magazines my audience read so i would know where to advertise and what style to use. My answers included Kerrang, NME, Kerrang, Top of the Pops, Metal Hammer and Alternative.

Questionnaire

I have put this questionnaire on the internet social network Facebook and I have handed round paper questionnaires. This will give me a wide target audience from different areas and will give me results from my intended target audience of young adults.

My questionnaire:
Media Studies- Music questionnaire
For A2 Media Studies I’m creating my own music video and promo package. Please answer the following questions and circle your answers (you can choose more than one).

1. What is your favorite genre of music?
Alternative Classical Country Indie Metal Pop

Punk/Pop Punk R&B/Soul Rock Rap and Hip-Hop

Other……………………………………………………………………………………………………….

2. Who are your favorite artist?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. What is your favorite music video? Why?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
4. What is your least favorite music video? Why?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
5. Why do you watch music videos? For the performers image? To add meaning to the lyrics? Performance abilities?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

6. Do you like stop motion and animation?
Yes No

7. What’s your favorite style for a music video?
Theatrical Drama/story Live footage Dance Humorous

8. Where do you watch music videos?
Television Internet Other……………………………………………….

9. Do you join websites for your favorite bands? What do you expect from the homepage?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

10. Do you read music magazines? What ones?

Kerrang! NME Q Other……………………………………………………….

Thank you!

Conventions of music videos

A convention in music videos is the way things are done within the video, these conventions vary depending on genre of music. A music video aims to provide something visually that you can't get just from the song, this is a challenge and the following common factors are popular to try achieve this:

The artist performing, the lead singer is normally the focus of the camera followed by panning, dolly track shots, crane shots and tilts. A range of long shots, close-ups and extreme close-ups are normally used. The close up shots tend to be focused on the facial expression of the artist to emphasis the emotion of the song to show the lip-syncing. This is often used as promotion using the artist image and appearance ‘if the next 30STM album had Jared Leto all over it I would but that shit’ – Hayley Smith. The involvement of the artist also makes the viewer feel as though the artist has had personal input and wants to give back to their fans.

The lyrics of the song complemented and played out as part of a story. This shows how the artist intends the viewer to interpret the song and gives them something to keep them watching while the song is playing. The video will by given more time and the intention is that the song will get in to the viewers head and they will go on to buy the song.

With a good music video the director should use the pace of the editing to help create a pace and mood fitting with the song to help create a rhythm. This is done a lot and several popular methods have developed. Some videos use the pace of the cuts to complement the rhythm and tempo of the song so the video grows in momentum and pace. This video by Panic! At The Disco is a good example as the chorus comes on the clips are a lot shorter in contrast to the long establishing shots in the begging. The pace fits well with the beat of the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN-kZ5PAdvU

Other editing conventions include reaction shots (expresses the relationship between two or more people, shots flick between two people)and most commonly to jump from a scene of the location to the artist to the instruments and vice-versa.

Mise en scene plays a big part in establishing the genre and therefore certain conventions are bound to occur as music videos often exhibit fashion and style and physical image of the artist.

Lighting and colour also helps create the scene and emphasises the artist image, it is a very versatile factor, the lighting whether it be natural of artificial, coloured, dim or bright helps create the mood and reflects the feeling of the song. The colours are key for representing emotion and are understood easily by most people and are easy to percept. Changes in lighting, particularly from verse to chorus or middle eight. It can highlight a change in mood and tempo. A good example of creative lighting is in Muse’s Starlight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgum6OT_VH8

The video is set on a ship in the ocean and uses natural daylight fro the majority of the video, during the chorus and middle eighth it dramatically switches to the night sky and vibrant red flares.

Props are an essential part of mise-en-scene and to defining a music video. They show the setting and the style and genre of in music. For example Lady Ga Ga’s Paparazzi is known for its lavish use of costume and high fashion. The setting is very glamorous and reflects the artist personality and ideals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOrKLU1h-To

When setting the scene props are also important as they play a vital role in telling the story, in the same Lady Ga Ga video we are told how her boyfriend tries to kill her and how she is pursued by paparazzi. In the end she uses an elaborately designed poison bottle in his tea and kills him. Everything in the video reflects her style and helps to show how she perceives the song in a visual form.

History of the music video- part 3

In 1974 Australian TV shows such as Countdown and Sounds increased popularity and distribution, promoting the music video in establishing them as a successful marketing tool. As these programs grew in popularity other countries picked up on the format.

In the late 1970s long-running British TV show Top of the Pops began playing music videos to keep up with its competition. The BBC had strict limits on how many promotional videos they could air. This was part of the clever marketing so to see a good video again viewers would have to get it in the charts.
In 1981 MTV started broadcasting in America and bought a new significance to music video productions. MTV was broadcasting 24 hours a day and constantly depended on the quick production of music videos, this made making a music video much more important for the success of the artist and artist careers were greatly influenced as image became vital. MTV has certainly left a legacy and is praised for creating an exciting fresh era in music and music distribution. Critics consider it as a n end to true musical talent as an artist success depended more upon their image rather than the musical talent.

Styles evolved and the music video became more creative, there were a wide range of styles from non-representational form (without the artist) to traditional musical style plots. 1983 the most successful music video of all time was released for Michael Jackson's song ‘Thriller’. The video set new standards and the fact the song is so popular shows how influential music videos were and how wide stream distribution had became.

MTV used horizontal integration and divided its business in to different channels and demographics and launched VH1, MTV Europe and MTV Asia in 1991. In 1986 The Chart Show UK's Channel 4 was launched. This program consisted entirely of music videos, the videos were linked by computer graphics and was the first of its kind in the UK.

In the 21st century MTV and its many sister channels mainly abandoned showing music videos and gave way to the new trend of reality television. Most music videos are now viewed on the internet particularly after the 2005 release video website YouTube making music videos easier to view.
As the internet community grew bands had a new format to promote their videos, OK Go are a good example of how the comedic, home made feel could achieve widespread fame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI

The 2008 video for Weezer's ‘Pork and Beans’ made good use of the internet community making their video with help at least 20 YouTube ‘celebrities’. Music has also been promoted on YouTube by live performances, interviews and unofficial, fan-made music videos making the band feel more accessible and friendly.

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI

‘You-Tubers’ meaning the vloggers (video blog) of the site have also been able to create their own music and easily showcase their talent to a wide audience. You tube celebrities who have managed to do this include Tay Zonday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA&NR=1

and large scale vlogger collaboration and Christmas charity song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA&NR=1

Despite this burst of creativity the fact remains a large amount of pop music videos are used for marketing and critics have been known to complain that music videos imprint prefabricated images which can powerfully influence our own imaginings particularly those listening with a tentative feeling about their own interpretations. Some videos can enforce and strengthen the lyrics and meaning of the song.

As music videos have developed they’re status as an art form has been debated, it is true that most music videos are seen as a marketing tool and they are descendants of the ‘promotional videos. The music video has been used to embody everything from fashion, lifestyle and style to charity, celebration and creativity, it has tackled everything from girl power, money, patriotism, dancing, death, life and love so surely it is an art form! Thanks to the diversity of the internet and the creativity and diversity from artists they still do all of this.

History of the music video- part 2

In 1964 pioneering pop artist The Beatles released their feature film and loosely structured musical ‘A Hard Day's Night’ which was to lay a formula for many more successful pop music vidoes.

The Beatles' second film Help! In 1965 followed the same format but was more lavish as their fame and success grew and filmed in colour in London other international locations. In 1965 The Beatles stopped making films and instead just making promotional clips as a promotional tool to accompany record releases. As their image developed through to 1996 so did their promotional videos and they began to produce highly sophisticated work. Their final video Let It Be was made of studio clips straight from Abbey Road. This showed how the image of The Beatles was enough to produce a successful music video and very few artists can use this same simple format successfully.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9SgDoypXcI

The Beatles videos are recognisable by their use of hand-held camera work, rhythmic editing, slow motion shots and reversed film. The style and distribution of their videos were the first of their kind
Initially the first music videos were made in the UK and were popular with artist such as Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones. These were used for when the band was on tour and could not make a TV performance, the video was screened instead.
In 1966 The Kinks released ‘Dead End Street’ and their promotional video was one of the first music videos to have a plot with the band running around London streets as undertakers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0WPC-N3UYE

This is a very popular format and many of today’s music videos have a plot to correspond with the lyrics and tell a story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNZM-BJN9SI

In 1967 Procol Harum’s hit ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ approached a more serious style of music video, there are two music videos for the song one has the band members walking among ruins, with documentary style footage playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7azB3yVc8U

As music videos were developing other countries, particularly New Zealand & Australia, began to produce more local music and by 1967 bands were creating early music videos for their songs. One of the first was in 1967 from The Masters Apprentices for their single ‘Buried And Dead’. This used fantasy sequences and live studio/concert footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?=v7fzpfmXYdNQ

In the 1960s and 70s pop music fashion was constantly evolving as technology evolved and bands preferred performing in TV shows.
As TV carried on advancing and distribution became wider the promotional clip became more important and were aired on programs such as The Midnight Special
The style and technical side of the videos also evolved as music videos became an art form as well as a lucrative marketing tool. More camera tricks, special effects, and dramatizations of song lyrics were introduces and directors began to specialise in promotional videos.
Popular artist such as David Bowie, Pink Floyd and ABBA all used music films promote their music internationally raising the profile of promotional videos.