Music Video Evaluation

Evaluation

1.       In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

During our research and planning process we had a look at various professional music videos that belong to our genre. We analysed ‘inside my love’ by delilah. Throughout this video we see a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. An example of this is when we hear ‘two strangers just meeting, barely touching eachother’ and we see two people on the screen slowly making their way towards eachother. We also see examples of close ups of the artists face and long shots of the male character and the artist dancing together. Another music video we analysed was ‘born to die’ by Lana del rey.  We see a relationship between the lyrics and visuals and the music and visuals during this video. An illustration of this is when the musics tempo speeds up so do the visuals. The lyrics of this song are parallel to the images in the video. An example of this is when we hear ‘lets go get high’ and we see the artist smoking marajuana.  For the duration of the narrative scenes in this video, we see the use of a dark colour palette, these scenes are all set at night time and sometimes inside a car creating a dark atmosphere right the way through. The artist in the video shows she is fashionable and is dressed in stylish clothing in both the narrative and concept scenes of the video. Direct address is also used a lot, but only in the concept scenes, this is where the artist sings directly in to the camera. All these conventions conform to the codes and conventions of alternative pop as well as Goodwin’s theory. This also illustrates that both music videos have similarities in terms of their genre conventions.

Throughout the production of our music video we decided to conform to these codes and conventions. We thought that conforming instead of challenging them would make it more clear to the audience what genre our video belongs to and to make our video engaging to our target audience. During the editing stage of our video we used slow motion editing, an example of this is at the beginning where the female character pushes past the male character which we slowed down to show its the end of the scene, we continued with this pattern throughout. Another example of editing which we used a lot in our video were jumpcuts, you also see many examples of jumpcuts in our genre of music. An example of a jump cut we used at the beginning of our video is where it quickly jumps from 3 different shots of the artist, we did this so each jump would be in time with the beat of the music. During the filming stage of our video we used many close ups throughout, an illustration of this is during the forest scene with the artist, there is a jumpcut from a medium shot to a close up of the artists face whilst she is singing. We used a dark colour palette during one of the last scenes of our music video, this is where we see the female character and male character cross eachothers path in the street at night. This is how we conformed to all the codes and conventions of the alternative pop genre.

 

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

 

 

When thinking about creating a magazine advert and digipak we NEEDED to think how we could relate it to our media product... So that our Target audience could see a connection between our promotional package and our final music product! We looked at professional promotional packages like Rihanna's album 'Talk That Talk' to get a realistic idea of how to attract our target audience. And magazine adverts from the famous pop icons Jessie J and Delilah, this was really helpful because we could see how our specific genre illustrated their work and information creatively. After analysing professional texts we came up with an idea... We decided to use the main 'artist' of our media product, Mimi, to be the main object or focus  of our ancillary texts. As our music product has a urban and current feel to it we decided to take photographs of our street scene to portray Mimi's urban look. We thought this would make our ancillary texts far more effective and stand out to consumers as they could see the link between the music product and promotional package.

We started with the magazine advert and after analysing professional work we had an idea on how we wanted to edit the image. Working with the video theme as well as appealing to our target audience. As you can see from our final magazine advert cover that we used Photoshop to emphasise the lip colour so the audience's eyes were drawn to that particular part of her face.We also made Mimi another layer in her image to give off a 3D effect and we then used filter gallery to give the background an edgy/urban look. We wanted the digipak to have the same pattern and link to the media product and magazine advert. We did this again by manipulating the image of Mimi, for example, we used the burn tool on Photoshop to enhance the darkness of her mascara and deep coloured eyes. Again, we used filter gallery on each cover of the digipak to make the background have a edgy look to it.Our media product and ancillary texts have a significant connection which illustrates effectiveness and a key pattern.

Overall, we believe that each element has a connection and individually would be recognised as the same promotional package. Consumers would be able to relate to each product highlighting that we have used a continuous pattern and theme throughout the production of our ancillary texts and our overall music product.

3.       What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Throughout the production of our music video we gained a lot of audience feedback from our peers and our teacher. We needed this feedback in order to gain constructive criticism so that we could improve and make amendments to our work, and also to gain positive feedback to understand what we have done well. We created a pitch presentation to show our peers our initial ideas for our music video, including examples of the codes and conventions of our genre, our ideas for locations and characters and the type of music video we aim to produce. We then gained constructive criticism in order to improve our ideas and change certain things which would make our video more productive. One of the main things we needed to focus on after gaining the criticism was whether or not our type of video was going to be concept based or narrative based. This helped us greatly as we then realised this was a big part in the production of our music video as we could not create a story board if we were not sure what type of music video we were going to produce. We also found out from our criticism that we needed to decide who exactly was going to cast in our music video. This was very important for the productivity of our music video as we needed to make sure that our cast were available when we were so that we did not fall behind in the filming part of the production. As well as constructive feedback, we also gained positive feedback from our audience. It was clear to the audience that we had a great understanding of the codes and conventions of our chosen genre of alternative pop, which was good so that we could choose to conform or challenge these conventions in our own music video. After the filming process was finished, we then moved on to the editing stage of the production where we then created a one minute rough cut of our music video. We then gained constructive and positive feedback from our peers which helped us a lot as we still had time to make any changes if we needed to in order to make sure our video was at the highest level it could be. One of the constructive criticisms we gained was that the lighting in the kitchen scene was a little too dark. This was good for us to know as it then gave us an opportunity to adjust it using colour correction on final cut before producing the final product. The audience also commented on the lip sync at the beginning of the video, saying that it could be slightly clearer. Taking this comment on board we then went back to our editing stage and as a group decided to use different footage that worked better in terms of lip syncing. We also gained a lot of positive feedback from our audience, and they especially liked the way in which we used slow motion editing throughout the music video, showing a pattern. This was one of our aims as slow motion editing is used in many alternative pop music videos, and so we wanted to make it clear that we conformed to this convention. We also gained many positive comments about the mise en scene in our video, as the audience thought it was very effective and helped show the genre of the music as we used stylish clothing, urban locations and bold, unique make up. Our teacher also provided us with both positive and constructive feedback throughout the whole process, which was extremely useful to us as we could change and adjust things in our music video in order to make it as good as we could.

4.       How did you use media technolgies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages we used many different media technologies. For the planning and research stages we used the internet in order to research into our chosen genre of alternative pop. Youtube was a very useful website in which we used so that we could look at other music videos within our genre so that we could distinguish the certain codes and conventions used throughout the videos, so that we could either chose to challenge or conform them in our own production. In order to conduct our research and planning we used two different computers; Apple MAC and a DELL PC. We found that the apple macs were faster than the DELL PC’s, and had a few more facillities such as Final Cut and Garage Band. We used broadband internet in order to use the internet to gain information. During the construction stage of the production, as a group we used many different media technologies, ranging from a camera to FinalCut. In order to film our music video, we used a video camera and a tripod. We needed a tripod in order to make sure our shots were still and not wobbling, which gave our video a much more professional look to it. We also had to take still pictures throughout the construction stage to show the locations where we filmed, and pictures for our magazine advert and digipaks. We made sure we took lots of photos so that we had a wide variety of photographs that we could use for our ancillary task. As a group we felt very confident using the equiptment as we had had previous experience using it whilst filming for our thriller at AS level, and also as we conducted test shots using the camera before we filmed our final music video. After we had finished filming, we then moved onto the editing stage where we used Final Cut in order to produce our music video. This allowed us to add many effects, such as slow motion, speeding the shot up, colour correcting and adding credits. This was very important to our video so that we could make it eye catching and interesting for the audience, and also so that we could conform to certain conventions of alternative pop music videos, such as the slow motion editing.  We also had to import our music onto Final Cut so that we could match the lip sync to the lyrics of the song.  After we had completed the construction of our music video, we moved on to the ancillary task. During this stage we had to analyse magazine adverts and digipaks from our chosen genre. In order to do this we had to use the internet to find examples, and then we anaylsed them on blogger. We had to do this so that we had ideas on how to make our own magazine advert and digipak. We then created a practice magazine advert using photoshop. As we had not used Photoshop before we did not feel 100% confident, and this is why we had to create practices before we made the final one. We used many tools such as the polygon lasso tool in order to draw around the artist in the photo so that we could manipulate the background using the filter gallery. After we had edited the photograph, we then added the text needed on a magazine advert, for example the artists name, album name and when the album is released. We then created our practice digipak, again using photoshop. We had to create three separate sides of the digipak, so that we had a front cover, middle and a back cover. We wanted our digi pak and magazine advert to have a similarity, so we used the filter gallery again to edit the background, and keep the artist clear in the foreground so that she would stand out. We did the same for the other pieces of the digipak, creating a pattern throughout by using the same kind of background. We then added elements such as a track list, a barcode, and the company logo to make it look like a real digipak. After creating the practices, we felt a lot more confident in using the technology, so we went on to creating the final magazine advert and final digipak.

Final Magazine Advert

Final DigiPak

Practice Digi Pak

Before creating our final digi pak for our music video project we created a practice digi pak in order to get ideas for what we wanted on our final digi pak. We needed to create 3 different sides; the front, middle and back cover. We decided on three different photos in which we thought related to our genre of alternative pop and our chosen song. We wanted the front cover of the digipak to be simple and eye catching, so we used a simple photo of the artist standing against a wall which is also featured in our video. We then used the polygon lasso tool in order to draw around the artist to make her different and stand out from the rest of the photo. We then used the filter gallery to change the background of the digipak and give it a unique effect. We then added text and chose a colour and font which would stand out. For the middle of our digipak we used a different photo of the artist and did the same thing to it as the front cover, but using a different effect. We then cut a circle out of the background in order to make it look like a disc. For the back cover of the digipak  we used a picture where you can clearly see the artist and the background. We did the same thing to the back cover in order to create a pattern. After we added the effects we wanted, we inserted vital features such as a track list, logo, website and barcode. 

Practice Magazine Advert

In order to create our practice magazine advert we used Photoshop. We chose a picture which we took whilst filming our music video that we thought would stand out as a magazine advert, and is also similar to other alternative pop magazine adverts which we analysed for example, Delilah and Jessie J. We then used the dodge tool and the burn tool in order to highlight features such as her eyes, mouth and earrings. We wanted her lips to stand out in the photo, so we made these a brighter colour and defined them. We also then used the dodge tool in order to eliminate blemishes on the photograph. We had an idea to create a diamond shape around the artist to make her stand out, which also links to her earrings. We did this by using the polygon lasso tool to draw around the artist and create the diamond shape. Once we had done this we then used the filter gallery to make the background different to the artist herself and the diamond shape. We tested out several filters but decided on one that works with the rest of the photo. The final part of our practice magazine advert was adding the text. Firstly we added the artists name in big writing at the top of the magazine to make it stand out. Underneath that we added the album name, and then details about when the album is released etc. By creating a practice magazine advert it gave us confidence to create our final magazine advert.

Key Elements of a Digi Pak

TEXT

Name of the band/ artist:

The name of the artist is clearly displayed on the CD. On the front cover 'R' is emphasised highlighting the artist Rihanna. The rest of the digipak does not display her name however, there are bold images of the artists highlighting the fact that the consumers buying the album should know who she is anyway.

Name of the album:

The name of the album is shown on the bottom on the front cover in black font, even though it is not the main feature of the front cover it still stands out. On the disc itself the name of the album is very eye grabbing and is very clear to the consumer. Inside the digipak the name of the album is also shown cleary and the continuous theme of the name of the album being the title of a newspaper attracts the audience more.

Track listing:

The track list is shown on the back of the album in red which stands out as the main colour theme of the digipak is black and white. However, it is in a small size font but this has been comprimised by the red colour font.

Bonus Material:

The bonus material is included with the track listing highlighting the featuring tracks.

Recording information, producer, where it was recorded and when.

Who wrote the songs:

The recording information is shown on the disc itself in a newspaper format including who the executive producer is and co-executive producer etc. Although it is not clear from the image the disc also includes information about the album, following who wrote the songs and where it was recorded.

PICTORIAL

Pictures of the band/ artist:

Images of the artist 'Rihanna' are shown in all parts of the digipak and they each show a powerful image showing the style of the artist for example her being a fashion icon. What's more, the images show off Rihanna's sexual appeal which links to her style of music and independant personality.

Logo:

The logo of Rihanna's record label is shown on the back cover of the album in a small image and shown on the disc its self. However, it is not shown on the unfolds, they are simply the image of the artist.

Barcode:

The barcode is shown on the back cover of the album where you would normally find a barcode label.

DESIGN

Colour and style to fit:

The colour theme of the digipak is simply black and white with some of the text shown in red which allows the important information e.g. the tracking list to stand out. There is a continuous theme of a newspaper article which is used on the digipak the album name being the article title and Rihanna herself being the main feature of the article. This is a great idea to grab the audiences attention and for consumers to purchased the album.

Artists genre:

The images of Rihanna emphasise her individuality and show her sexual appeal which are key codes and conventions of the genre pop.

Unfolds:

The unfolds display Rihanna herself, being the main factor of the digipak it highlights that the album is all about her as there is no other images or texts.

Digipak Analysis

TEXT

Name of the band/ artist

The name of the artist grabs your attention straight away as the style of the text is large and stands out from the image behind it. This tells us immediately that it is the name of the artist and is highlighted specifically. 

Name of the album
The album name is shown below the name of the artist which makes it clear for us to identify what it is. The font gradually gets smaller from the name of the artist to the album name which tells us its not as important as the larger text, but is still bold and large which is highlighted as an important factor of the digipak.

Track listing
The track list on the back of the digipak is cleverly positioned to follow the way in which the artist is flicking her hair which is very unique and so would catch the audiences attention. The track list is in the same font as the name and album on the front which stands out from the backround imaging making it bold and stand out.  

PICTORIAL

Pictures of the band/ artist.

In all three parts of this digipak for Marina and The Diamonds album there are close up pictures of the artist herself. The images are very eye catching and all very individual, for example the picture of her flicking her hair is different and so will attract the audience. The photographs of the artist are also portrayed as sexually appealing, which is a common convention we see when looking at alternative pop artists.  

Barcode

There is a barcode placed at the bottom of the back cover of the digipak. This is not a main part of this digipak but is seen in nearly every digipak.

Website banner
Within most digipaks you will see a website banner, CD/DVD logo etc to promote the artist, but in this particular digipak we do not see this.

DESIGN

Colour and style to fit

This digipak has a very modern and contempary feel to it due to the photographs and colours used. One of the images is in black and white which stands out as it is contrast to the back and front cover. The way that the writing is postioned on the images is very clever as it does not cover up the artists face, especailly the back cover of the digipak. The track list is postioned on the artists hair as she is flicking it upside down which is very different to what you usually see on a digipak, and is very eye catching to the audience. There is also a lot of emphasis on the artist due to the photographs being close ups of her face on the front and back cover, and a medium shot in the middle picture.

Artists genre.

The photographs of the artist are very unique, showing the artists personality and relating to the genre of alternative pop.

Jessie J: Magazine Advert Codes and Conventions 2

We have chosen to analyse a magazine advert of one of Jessie J's albums 'Who You Are'.


1. Name of band/ artist and album
The name of the artist stands out in both magazine adverts, it immediatly catches your eye. We can see that the name of the artist is a very important factor to the magazine advert and should be as clear and eye grabbing as possible which this advert clearly highlights.

2. Date of album release
As you can see from the adverts above the one of the left hand side clearly states in bold capitals the release of the album 'PLATINUM EDITION OUT NOW'. And although the advert on the right does not state the release date it is still advertising the album including album name and who the album is featuring.

3. Band/ Artist Image/ Style
The image of the artist is represented in sexual way- the close up of the artist emphasises her make-up and facial expression grabbing the audiences attention. The image of the artist is very bold and unique which links to the genre we our focusing on 'Alternative Pop'. The fact that its just the artist looking powerful echos the fact of being independant which again links to our genre of 'Alternative Pop'.

4. Featuring Songs
Both adverts above highlight the songs featuring other artists like B.o.B and David Guetta. The advert on the left illustrates the featuring song at the bottom of the page in bold colour black but it is not in block capitals like the other details on the advert which questions whether its the most important factor of the advert. Although, the advert on the right clearly states the featuring track in bold font and emphasising the featuring artist B.o.B in a bold colour.

5. Form of Release
Both articles advertise the release of the hard copy of the album which is clearly stated in block capitals. But neither disply any release of online downloads.

6. Either photograph or artwork as main image
In these magazine articles the main image is the artist - Jessie J. It is a very bold picture of the artist, and the way she is positioned portrays a powerful image. This relates to other alternative pop artists as it shows their fierce and independant personality. It is a statement photograph and so is very remeberable to the audience. Her image is very different from other artists, for example her black lipstick and her jet black bob haircut.

7. Record Company
Her Record Label 'LAVA' is displayed at the bottom of both magazine advert. It is displayed very clearly, especially the advert on the right as it is placed on a black background and so the white logo stands out well.

8. Bands website
The artists official website is shown on the magazine advert at the bottom in white writing. It is against the black background so it stands out very well, making it clear and easy to read. The website takes you to the artists official website, which tells you lots of information about the artist, for example her tours/gigs etc. It is printed in quite small font as it is not a major part of the advert, but it is still there for the audience to see.

9. Critical notes/ratings

10. Set colour scheme
The colour scheme for the advert on the left is based on three colours; black, white and silver, which links to her releasing her 'platinum album'. It makes the advert very distinctive and quite simple so that the audience can focus on the important parts of the advert.

Delilah: Magazine Advert Codes and Conventions 1

We have chosen to analyse a magazine advert for Delilah's new album 'From The Roots Up'. There are certain codes and conventions that we would typically find in a proffesional magazine advert such as the image above- we will discuss the different codes and conventions.

Name of the band/artist and album
The name of the artist is clearly shown in this magazine advert followed by the album name highlighted underneath. It is evident that this is the main feature of the magazine advert and which should attract the audience to want to read it; it should be eye catching and stand out. The font that is used on this magazine advert is also used on her album cover which makes it obvious to the audience who the artist is.

Date of album release
The date of the album release is clearly visble to the auidence as its right underneath the artist herself. It is also not surrounded by any other writing so that it stands out and catches the audiences attention. The font that is used is simple so that it is easy to read and the colour of the font stands out from the black background which catches the eye.

Band/Artist image/Style
The image of the artist is represented in a unique way; this highlights her genre of 'alternative pop'. She is portrayed as a powerful individual by the way in which she is positioned in the picture. This relates to some of her songs in her album as the female characters in her music videos are shown as independent and in control.

Featuring songs - N/A

Form of release -N/A

Either photograph or artwork as main image
In this magazine advert the main image is the artist herself; Delilah. She is also placed inside of a white triangle which stands out from the dark background, showing the audience she is the main aspect of the magazine article and drawing more attention towards her. The photograph of the artist stands out a lot in this advert, as the colour of her skin is very contrasting to the other colours in the advert. It is also a very bold photo of the artist, suggesting to the audience she is very much in control and independent.

Record company - N/A

Bands website
There is a web address on the magazine article which leads you to the artists official website... delilahofficial.co.uk. This website then tells you more about the artist, news about her, tour dates etc. This is placed at the very bottom of the magazine advert to the left hand side in small font. This is because it is not an important part of the advert, but it is there to give the audience an opportunity to find out more about the artist.

Critical notes/ratings
There are critical notes and star ratings at the bottom of the magazine advert

Set colour scheme
This magazine advert is based on just three simple colours; grey, white and black. This makes the photograph of the artist stand out and catch the viewers eye. As the background is dark and the writing is highlighted by the bold, white text making it clear and easy to read for the audience.

FINAL MUSIC VIDEO

Textual Analysis 2

Textual Analysis 2

Breathe: Delilah

The music video which I will be analysing is called “Breathe” by the British singer/songwriter Paloma Stoecker known as ‘Delilah’ who is currently signed to Atlantic Records. Her first single ‘GO’ was officially released in September 2011 and her new first debut album ‘From the Roots Up’ was released this year in July. “Breathe” is the third single recorded by Delilah and was released on You Tube in April 2012 it was produced and written by Delilah herself and was able to be in the top 100 charts. Delilah style of music is under the genre of alternative pop, which is new and fresh to the music industry and recently in the last few years this genre of music has become very popular with the likes of Katy B and Alex Clare. The track “Breathe” falling under the genre of alternative pop has key elements of the genre pop such the use of a narrative in the music video however the alternative side makes the video emphasis its indie aspect for instance alternative could also consider it to be concept- base and other characteristics which would take away the pop part would be the bright colours and dancing etc…

The relationship between lyrics and visuals are generally illustrative, the visuals on screen explain the lyrics and illustrate them. For example in the chorus when the artist sings “I cannot breathe (yeah) Let me be free (yeah) from myself” the actress is showing emotion of distress and hiding behind the door whilst the  actors are trying to get into the apartment, illustrating that she wants to be free she’s not happy with the environment she is in. The visuals shown give the audience an idea to what the song is about; relating the visuals to the lyrics creates an explanation. Near to the end of the music video when the lyrics read “I must survive, this wonderful punishment called life” the woman actress packs her bags and leaves her boyfriend in the flat, which visually creates a moral of the story that life isn’t all great and the audience can relate to this.

The relationship between music and visuals compliment well together, the genre of alternative pop has some aspect of dub step which you can tell as the bass compliments the actions of the characters. The video does mainly stay the same pace all the way through, however, the tempo varies throughout the track so the music video in fact challenges Goodwin’s theory which is evident in the scene of the boyfriend and girlfriend, when they are arguing and fighting during the slow part in the track highlighting that the music is contrapuntal towards the visuals.

In this music video the artist Delilah is not in the narrative aspect she is between the scenes singing the lyrics of the song, therefore there are many close ups and medium shots of the artist herself showing the audience her emotion, representation and most importantly reflecting the words of the song from the lip syncing. The track “Breathe” was released in a digital download format on You tube hinting that the record company were looking to sell this track to a young/youthful target audience who are up to date with technology and have new interest of alternative pop. The image Delilah portrays in her music video is young, trendy and soulful which seems to be a motif that she uses throughout all her three singles released and perhaps that is the demand of her record label to show that stylish/ causal side so that the target audience can be influenced and relate to her music.

In this music video there is a lot of reference to the notion of looking, in a very stereotypical and traditional way. From the start of the music video the audience can make out that the woman is the object and she’s in a vulnerable way this is illustrated not just from the relationship between the music and visuals but also from the camerawork. The angle of the camera looking down on the woman from high angle shot shows that the male character is the dominant one and in the video the men are portrayed or seen as the ‘gangsters’ which are causing trouble with the female character for example in one scene the male characters are looking through the window and then the screen shows her in binoculars as if that’s what the male characters can see. What’s more, the close ups on the woman actress emphasises her distress emotion and how she is feeling. However there is no intertextual reference in this music video, it doesn’t relate to other music videos but could relate to real life issues and the problems people face on a normal basis. The moral of the music video is that if you’re in an abusive relationship you can walk out and you don’t have to keep living in that way. Furthermore, this music video is mainly narrative-based as explained above; there is a story being told throughout the course the mise en scene of natural lighting and realistic location gives the audience an idea of what the lyrics really mean. For example one of the first scenes in the music video is in a flat- portraying a realistic feel to the narrative that this can happen on a daily basis. Not only does the mise en scene add to the effect of the alternative pop music video but also the editing it has continuous slow motion transitions and darkened colour correction highlighting the mood of the song  and visuals.

In conclusion, after analysing the music video “breathe” it is evident to say what the key characteristics are and how the genre is illustrated through the relationship of music and lyrics, relationship of music and visuals, how the artist is represented, notions of looking and what type of music video it actually is.

Roughcut And Feedback

This is a roughcut of our music video. We are going to gain constructive criticism and positive points from our other class members in order to make any changes to our video before we complete the whole production.

FEEDBACK
Constructive criticism
-The lip sync could be clearer at the beginning
-Quite dark lighting in the narrative kitchen scene
-More of the short shot duration would be good to keep the audience engaged
-The singing overlaps in one part of the field scene

Positive feedback
-Engaging music video
-The switch between the narrative and performing keeps it interesting
-Good miming
-The different shots that are used are good (long shots, close ups, over the shoulder etc)
-The slow motion is good and effective
-The locations are varied so keeps the audience wanting to watch more
-Good mise en scene

Codes and Conventions in Hip Hop Music Videos

The genre I have chosen to analyse is Hip Hop. I have selected two music videos to help me understand the codes and conventions within this genre.



In Hip Hop music videos the location is usually set in a party, or a club with the use of alcohol shown and no narrative. The artist is usually focused on and very involved in the video, showing off their expensive jewellery with attractive women around them and close up showing off their assets, establishing shots and long shots are also used to show the location and what is going on around them. Recognised brands and clothing are occassionally shown.

I chose to analyse Rihanna - Don't Stop The Music as this is a Hip Hop video that conforms to the codes and conventions. There is no storyline to this video as it  is in a club. There is no alcohol really shown in this video, but the audience would presume there is alcohol as people who go clubbing stereotypically binge drink and get very drunk.The limelight is only on Rihanna in this video, with a  few other dancers on the dance floor who are occasionally shown. The camera focuses on her shoulders up jewellery a lot, perhaps to show that she is well off.
There are lots close ups of rihanna's face to show she is attractive and that she is the main focus in this video. Examples of establishing shots are also used to show the location of the video and the different areas of it, such as the toilet, the dancefloor and the seating area. We can see that she is dressed to go out as swe see right away that he has heels on and a dress. The artificial lighting and darkness also tells us straight away she is  in a club.







The other Hip Hop video I chose to analyse was Beyonce - Party as this video also conforms to the codes and conventions of Hip Hop videos.

There is also no storyline in this video. Straight away we can see that Beyonce is getting ready to go out, as she is cooking, getting her hair done but also all her make up is done as it shows us in close ups. We can see there is a use of alcohol as she has a cup in her hand whilst dancing with her friends. The next scene, there is an establishing shot of everyone dancing telling us its at a party. We also see another establishing shot of beyonce in a swimming pool, with everyone around her drinking from red cups, which tell us its alcohol.

Casting for Characters

Ideas:

In Delilah's music video's she mainly uses a narrative based video type however it is repeated throughout her music videos that she is not involved in the narrative she is simply the artist singing the song. Yet, she emphasises sex appeal and fashionable clothing bringing a real connection with her target audience. We needed to take this into account when we decided who to cast for our music video because we wanted to illustrate the same kind of feel.

Delilah's tracks are all about 'romance' whether it be a good or bad relationship the concept of the song is about love one way or another. For instance, in her music video 'Breathe' a male and female character show a love and hate relationship telling a story this is what we wanted to emphasise in our music video. The male character in Delilah's music video 'Breathe' was very masculine and dominant and the female character illustrated vulnerability and shyness. So, it was clear that we had a few ideas on how we wanted our characters to look in our music video. 

Casting:

For the artist we chose Mimi because she is a very fashionable and a very pretty girl. We wanted someone who would stand out and really catch the audiences eye like the artist Delilah and the target audience watching would aspire to be her. We felt that Mimi would be perfect for the music video. 

For the male and female character we wanted to find good actors/actresses because we wanted the story to really portray emotion and have a realistic feel to it. Louise and Oscar were the perfect people to pick because they both enjoy drama and were very helpful and got into their characters perfectly. 

Textual Analysis 1 - Wildfire

Textual Analysis

In this textual analysis I am going to be analysing a music video by the artist Sbtrkt called ‘Wildfire’. This song is a hybrid of two genres, alternative pop and dubstep, and I have been able to recognise this due to certain codes and conventions which have been used throughout the music video. The music video for this track is concept based as there is no story line  however, is set behind an idea. The target audience for this song would be older teenagers and young adults, due to the visuals on screen during the music video and the contemporary genre.

There are many different types of camera work used throughout the ‘Wildfire’ video, but mainly extreme close ups. We see a lot of extreme close ups of the characters body parts, for example her eyes and forehead with sweat dripping down, her hands grabbing onto the bed sheets and her hair flying around in the wind. All of these create confusion for the audience and leaving them wanting to watch more in order to find out what is happening to her. There are also many medium shots of the girls sitting on the bed moving in the wind. These camera techniques are typical for an alternative pop/dubstep music video, and so they conform to the codes and conventions for the genre. Another typical code and convention of this genre is the music and visuals being parallel. ‘Wildfire’ shows this when the music and tempo speeds up, so does what is happening on screen.

The editing used in this music video by Sbtrkt works well with the music and the visuals. An example of this is how the cuts are parallel with the music. As the tempo gets faster, the length of the shots also become shorter, and longer when the tempo slows down. This conforms to the codes and conventions of alternative pop and dubstep music videos. When an extreme close up is on screen, long shot duration is usually used to show detail of what’s on screen as it is usually an enigma for the rest of the narrative. An example of this is when there is an extreme close up of the female characters face with sweat dripping down her forehead. A blurred effect has been used throughout the music video, especially on an extreme close up and when there is only one object in focus on screen.

The location of the music video challenges the usual codes and conventions of alternative pop and dubstep as it is filmed in a bedroom, whereas stereo-typically it would be filmed in a club or a dirty, dark urban location. The lighting in the room is low key, and so this matches the atmosphere of the video and what is happening on screen. This conforms to the usual dark colour palette in other music videos of the same genre. The movement of the character is very slow and bizarre, with her grabbing and grasping onto bed sheets and the carpet etc, until the tempo speeds up and so does the character, when she starts to make bigger movements as if she was getting sucked up by the fan.

Andrew Goodwin argues that music videos are associated with 7 areas, and I am going to explain and relate some of them to the ‘Wildfire’ video. Goodwin believes that there should be constant references between the lyrics and visuals on screen, but this video challenges this as there is no relationship between the lyrics and what is happening on screen. He also suggests that there should be a relationship between the music and visuals, and this video conforms to this as when the music gets faster, so does the visuals on screen. I think that there notions of looking in this video, as the female character in the video may be seen as sexually appealing in what she is wearing, and so may be represented as an object. The ‘Wildfire’ music video is concept based, as there is no story line for the audience to follow as the visuals do not match the lyrics. The conceptual idea for the music video is somewhat about the female character being intoxicated or on narcotics. This may be from the way in which she is moving in a strange, disorientated way and the way in which her eyes are rolled back into her head for some of the video. It seems to the audience that maybe she is hallucinating, as we can see that she keeps looking at the fan, and it gives off the impression she is being controlled by it by her body language and movement. We can recognise this type of music video as there is no obvious story line like a narrative music video, and it is not performance based as the artist himself is not performing, and the codes and conventions are very different to those in a conceptual music video.

In conclusion, it is evident that camera work has had a major part in constructing the genre through using many extreme close ups of the character and their body parts, as this is a very typical code and convention for a music video within this genre. The editing has also played a big part in constructing the genre as it also conforms to the codes and conventions of a alternative pop music video, especially the length of the shots in comparison to the tempo of the music. 

Media Production Schedule