Interesting Videos

Two Door Cinema Club - Undercover Martyn



When I first saw this music video, I was amazed with what they had managed to do. The three members of the band are being held up by people dressed in all black suits and being filmed from what would be the ceiling. This music video must have been very cheap to make and although it is very simple, it is fun and I could watch this video many different times. Some fast straight cuts have been used in this music video and I think that it is something I will use within my music video because it keeps me, the viewer on edge and it makes me want to see everything which is happening. I am fascinated in the simplicity of this music video but how fun it has managed to be.

Ed Sheeran - You Need Me, I Don't Need You




This music video features a male character doing sign language to all of the lyrics throughout the video. I think that the way the music video has been edited to be in black and white creates a good image as I think it looks more dramatic especially when combined with the lighting. The lighting which has been used is done very well due to the way it goes a long with the backing beat. Fast editing has also been used in this music video as most shots change on the harsher notes in the song.

Music Video Analysis: 'What You Know' by Two Door Cinema Club

Two Door Cinema Club are an indie rock band from Northern Ireland. They formed in 2007 and have only began to recently make it onto the television and radio. The band is composed of band members: Sam Halliday, Alex Trimble and Kevin Baird. They are signed to French record label Kitsuné.



Camerawork
As in most music videos, the camerawork which has been used uses the conventional shots; long shot, mid shot, close up, extreme close up, tracking shots and pan shots. The video starts with a close up of the dancers feets and gradually zooms out to track a long shot of all the dancers in a line. Tracking shots are used regularly within this music video as the camera is trying to follow the dancers movements.

The band are constantly in the background playing their instruments, so the video is mainly performance. Below is the band playing in the video;

Editing

Similarly to blink-182's 'What's My Age Again' video, continuous editing is used throughout. This will be once again because it is the easiest option and straight cuts go well with the song because it is fast and upbeat. Transitions could slow down the pace of the video and I don't think that they would suit this song. The straight cuts go well the pace and lyrics. Towards the end of the video, CGI has been used which creates a good, different vibe for the video. On a black background, one shot has been taken but has been repeated many different times and each time delayed a little bit. Each cartwheel is in a different colour and it creates a good effect.

Mise en scene

Costume will have definitely been thought about in this video. Each member of the band is wearing clothing which would typically worn by the 'indie' genre. This is also something which helps you to define them into the 'indie' genre. The location which is being used is just a large white room which isn't necessarily typical of anything but it shows them well and the dancers have a large space to run around. There are many props which have been used but the main props are the instruments which are being used by the band members.

Music Video Analysis: 'What's My Age Again?' by Blink 182

The first video which I have chosen to analyse is 'Whats My Age Again' by Blink 182. They are an example of a successful rock band and are signed to 'Geffen' record label. 

Overall
'What's My Age Again?' was the first single released from Blink 182's third album 'Enema of the State'. The song written by the bassist Mark Hoppus carries a theme about a protagonist who, despite being an adult, still acts like a prepubescent child. It was released in November 1999.

Camerawork

The camerawork which has been used in this music video is quite simple. Throughout the video, the camera focuses on the band with many different types of shots. The variety of different shots include: long shots, mid shots, close ups, extreme close ups, tracking shots and panning shots to follow members of the band. The video begins with a close up of the bassist Mark Hoppus. I think that this is done deliberately, as I said earlier that Mark Hoppus wrote the song. The shot gradually zooms out to a long shot which shows the whole of blink-182.

'What's My Age Again' includes performance and narrative within the video. Above, they are part of the narrative and below is an example of them performing in the video.

A tracking shot is used regularly through the narrative part of the video. This is done because it is following the band as they run naked through the town. The tracking shot enables the viewer to see what is happening within the storyline. The camera is constantly cutting between the band running through the town and the band inside a room playing their instruments. The camera shots which I mentioned earlier are used within both of the settings to show emotions, facial expressions and also some lip synching.

Editing

Continuity editing is used throughout the video which just involves straight cuts. This will have been used because it is the easiest option. As the band are naked in the video, blurred boxes and their guitars are used to cover their genitals. This has been done because the video would not be able to get airplay if they were not to have the blurred boxes there and some people would see it as very crude. The only shot which does not use the blurred boxes or a guitar is the one at the end. You are able to see each member of the bands bum. blink-182 deliberately did this because it at the time the video was brought out, nudity was not something normal to see in music videos and it would have been seen as edgy and out of the norm. This would mean they would get a lot of attention from the video because of the lack of normality in it. The last shot slowly fases into a black screen which indicates the end of the video. 

  

Mise en scene

The locations within this video are quite typical and not out of the norm. They are performing in a white room and the narrative shows them running through a town and on the streets. On the streets, you see normal things which you would expect to see in everyday life such as shops, cars and people. The props which have been used are mainly the bands instruments. Costume hasn't been used within this music video because they are all naked but this has been thought about well because it is known that they would get a lot of attention due to being naked.

Shot by Shot analysis

The first video that I am going to analyse is 'Sway' by The Kooks. I have chosen this song because it is from the indie genre which I feel is similar to the song that has been chosen for my music video. In this video, the lead singer is lip syncing into the camera throughout the song and then there are some narrative clips within the background. 

Shot Number	Shot Type	Shot Length	Description
1	Mid shot	0:04 secs	Shot of the tide coming in from the sea
2	Mid shot	0:01 secs	Shot of some cards in a pyramid shape, some glasses and a bottle of milk.
3	Low angle shot	0:03 secs	Low angle shot of a man walking on what looks to be a pier
4	Close up	0:04 secs	Shot of someone ringing on an old fashioned ring dial phone
5	Mid shot	0:04 secs	Shows lead singer ringing somebody on the phone just shown
6	Tracking shot	0:05 secs	Tracking shot from the male on the phone to another shot of the male on the phone again
7	Tracking shot	0:01 secs	Tracking shot of the pyramid of cards and someones hand 1
8	Tracking shot	0:02 secs	Low angle tracking shot of a males face whilst he is walking
9	Tracking shot	0:03 secs	Mid shot of a males back whilst he is walking
10	Mid shot	0:02 secs	Male on the phone
11	Mid shot	0:01 secs	Male on the phone again with arm on the wall
12	Mid/close up	0:02 secs	Close up of males face
13	Mid shot	0:01 secs	Male walking towards the camera
14	Close up	0:01 secs	Close up of males ear and hair
15	Tracking shot	0:01 secs	Shot of the lights above on the wall
16	Close up	0:01 secs	Close up of male on the phone
17	Mid shot	0:06 secs	Shows male opening the door whilst on the phone for another male, he walks into a room of people
18	Long shot	0:01 secs	Shows male walking into the room and holding up some cards
19	Mid shot	0:02 secs	Shows him walking towards the people in the room and then slams the cards on the table.
20	Mid shot	0:01 secs	Shows two males sat around the table playing cards and a more establishing shot of the male putting the cards down onto the table
21	Over the shoulder shot	0:01 secs	Another type of shot showing him slamming the cards on the table

Research into Target Audience

For my target audience research I decided to produce a survey on www.surveymonkey.com which I sent to some of my friends through a social networking message. Some of them have already completed the survey but I am still waiting for some results. I asked the following questions;

1. Are you male or female?

2. What age group do you fit under?

3. What genres of music do you like?

4. Do you like to watch a colour or black and white music video?

5. What is your favourite music video and why?

6. What do you prefer in a music video?

7. Do you tend to watch a music video more than once?

I thought that these questions would give me sufficient answers towards my work. 

Once more people have completed my questionnaire I will upload my findings. 


1. Are you male or female?

When I asked the question 'Are you male or female?', it was because I wanted to find out what different genres would like to see in music videos. 81% of the people I asked were female and 19% were male. 


2. What age group do you fit under?

I asked the question 'What age group do you fit under?' so that I could find out if the age group varies to what they want to see in music videos.


3. What genres of music do you like?

I asked the question 'What genres of music do you like?' because I wanted to make sure that Indie was one of the most popular ones as our song is indie and we want it to attract a large audience. 


4. Do you like to watch a colour or black and white music video?

I asked the question 'Do you like to watch a colour or black and white music?' because we wanted to find out which of the two the audience prefer. We have found that they do prefer a colour video but we may not follow this because indie music videos do tend to be in black and white including the following; 

5. What is your favourite music video and why?

Thriller by Michael Jackson because when I was younger I remember waiting for it to come on to TV for the first time when it came out. It was spectacular and still is today, it will always be remembered in the future. 

Take On Me by A-Ha. Before this music video most music videos were quite boring, it changed music videos and made them into an art form. It was very different to anything else which had ever been produced. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914&ob=av2e 

6. What do you prefer in a music video?

I asked the question 'What do you prefer in a music video?' because I wanted to know what people preferred so that we could apply it to our music video. As people have said a mixture of both we have decided to do a mixture in the filming. 

7. Do you tend to watch a music video more than once?

I asked the question 'Do you tend to watch a music video more than once?' because I wanted to know if my audience found it interesting to watch a music video multiple times. 

Research into Music Video Directors

Colin Tilley
Collin Tilley is an award winning music video director for Riveting Entertainment who has written and directed music videos for many artists including Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne and others.
His frequent collaborator is Chris Brown and they have worked on more than a dozen music videos together in the last two years including every single off of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. album. He won awards for Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now" video and Justin Biebers "You Smile" video.

Shane Drake
Shane Drake is an American music video director. He has directed videos for bands such as Trivium, Paramore, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Angels & Airwaves and others. From the list of bands just given, it shows that Shane Drake likes to stick with a certain genre of music which is rock or punk rock. He has directed more than 50 music videos and co-produced three films. This shows that he has a lot of experience. He also owns Red Van Pictures which is a Los Angeles based production company. Some of the videos he has produced are;

• Panic! at the Disco - I Write Sins Not Tragedies
• Paramore - Misery Business
• The Rocket Summer - So Much Love
• Plain White T's - Our Time Now
• Avril Lavigne - Smile

Theories on Music Videos

I have decided to research into different theories on the music video so that I can understand what I need to do to make a promotional music video to its maximum potential.

Goodwin
Goodwin identifies that a number of key features manage to distinguish a music video as being a form:

1. Particular music genres may have their own music video style and iconography. For example, punk rock bands tend to have a mixed narrative and performance. Girl and boybands tend to have a dance routine.

• As our song comes under a punk rock, indie genre we could go with the mixed narrative and performance iconography or we could decide to go out of the stereotype and just have a narrative or performance.

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. Music videos tend to illustrate the lyrics by using visuals to help the viewer understand.

3. There is a relationship between music and the visuals. The camerawork, camera shots, editing, mise en scene and lighting should work with the song.

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs (or star iconography) which recur across their work. This should hopefully mean that the artist will create a star image for themselves and look good for the record company.

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatement of the female body. Within the song that we have chosen this could be particularly hard to portray. At the moment we have chosen that we want to use a male actor, but if this is not possible due to not finding the correct image that we would like, we do have a female actress in mind. If we were to use the female actress this would be very easy to do as the song we have chosen is called 'Actin' a disgrace'.

6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

Dyer

Stars and Stardom;

In order to understand the relationship between the music industry and its audiences, you must consider the roles of music stars. The term 'star' refers to the semi-mythological set of meanings constructed around the music perfomers in order to sell the performer to a large and loyal audience.

These are some common values in the music industry:

• Youthfulness
• Rebellion
• Sexual Magnetism
• An anti-authoritarian attitude
• Originality
• Creativity/talent
• Agression/anger
• A disregard for social values relating to drugs, sex and polite behaviour
• Conspicuous consumption of sex, drugs and material goods
• Success against the odds

Richard Dyer has written about the role of stars in film, TV and music. He found that stars do have some key features in common:

• A star is an image, a persona, which is constructed out of a range of materials including advertising and magazines.
• Stars are produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings.
• They depend on a range of subsidiary media - magazines, TV, radio and the internet - so that they can construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to their target audiences.

Negus

"What I'm looking for is the working act. The real act. The act that can get up on stage and do it. That act will give you a career. I signed Black Sabbath umpteen years ago; they are still making records. These are acts that are career acts..Two years ago I started a dance label..Now that's not a carer orientated label. I mean those records are one-off situations and every now and again maybe you'll get an artist come out of it."
Record Company executive, quoted in Negus (1989)

• Identifies two distinct ways of thinking about potential artists from within the music industry.
• These ideologies shape the way in which the artists' images and careers are developed, and the way that they are marketed towards specific target audiences
• The organic ideology of creativity and the synthetic ideology of creativity.

The organic ideology includes a 'naturalistic' approach to artists and the seeds of success are within the artists who have been 'nurtured' by the record company. The image of the artist should be 'enhanced' by the record company and the artist is given time to evolve and progress through their career. Emphasis is given to the album sales and the construction of a successful back catalogue. It is often aimed at older or more sophisticated consumers and the profits generated by this kind of act tend to be part of a long term strategy by the record company.

Steve Archer
The following 5 things should be found in recent music videos

1. 'Thought Beats' or seeing the sounds in your head. The basis for visualising images is found from the psychological process called synaesthesia which is where you are able to picture sounds in your mind's eye. When understanding a music video this idea is important as they build on the soundtrack's visual associations in order to connect with the audience and provide an additional pleasure.
This approach means that you need to stat with the music and sort out the way that the song works. You should take into account the way that it has been stacked up with sound. Lyrics do not need to be analysed word for word as they should be considered for the way that the introduce a general feeling or mood. Long lyrics very rarely have a meaning which can be simply read but even if they don't have a clear meaning they are still important in creating a sense of subject matter. Key phrases and lines - especially the lines in the chorus - will play a large part in the visuals associated with the song in the mind's eye.

2. Narrative and performance
Rarely do songs tell complete narratives. The narrative in songs affects the way stories are used in the music video representations of a song's meanings which normally ends up with a suggestion of a story. Music videos should avoid a classic realist narrative because that is their role in advertising. We should be able to watch the video repeatedly in a casual way with a looser approach to their storytelling.  I think that narrative is important in music videos but I also believe that the performance is important as well. Normally, music videos cut between a music performance and narrative. Sometimes, dancing which has been choreographed is used and can be used for an extra aspect to aid visualisation and the 'repeatability' factor. Sometimes, the artist (most commonly the singer) will be part of the story, acting as the narrator and participant at the same time. The lip-syncing close-up and the miming of playing the instrument remains at the heart of music videos as it shows us what the band can really do.

3. The star image
The music business relies on big name stars to fund its activities as it usually fails to connect with the popular audiences - only about one in ten acts put out by the industry actually makes any money. Therefore, what we can describe as the meta-narrative of the star image will have an important part to play in the music video production process. Meta-narrative is a term which describes the development of the star image over time.

4. Three ways in which music videos relate visuals to the song
These are illustration, amplification and disjuncture and I find them extremely useful in attempting to generalise the effects of individual music videos.

• Music videos can illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre, providing a sometimes over literal set of images. Here, then, is the most straightforward technique and the classic example of visualisation, with everything in the music video based on the source of the pop song.
• However, as with all advertising, the most persistent type of video adds to the value of the song. Amplification is seen as the mark of the true music video Auteur, the director as artist, and an increasingly common way to view music video creatives. Crucially, though, and what separates it from disjuncture, is the fact that amplification music videos retain a link with the song and work to enhance or develop ideas, rather than fundamentally changing them.
• Disjuncture is a term used to describe those music videos that (normally intentionally) seem to work by ignoring the original song and creating a whole new set of meanings. This is quite a radical technique and used by arty bands in order to assert their difference and originality to an audience.

5. Technical aspects of music video
The last, essential aspect of music video to study is technical. This includes camerawork, movement and angle, mise-en-scene, editing and sound. It is important to remember the more general features of music videos already mentioned when trying to work out the technical effects, especially those which are post-production effects. Broadly, the technical conventions can be summed up below;

1.Speed! Speed is visualised by camera movement, fast editing (montage) and digital effects.
- Camera movement is often motivated by running, dancing and walking performers.
- Fast-cutting and montage editing creates a visually decentred experience necessary for music video consumption, with the images occasionally moving so fast that they are impossible to understand on first viewing and thus need to be viewed several times (repeatability).
- Post-production digital effects - a staple of music video where images can be colourized, multiple split screens appear, and so on, all to complicate and intrigue, providing pleasure again and again.

Not all camera movement is about speed though and some use slow pace through dissolves or static shots. This kind of editing is striking and effective in setting the song apart from the hustle and bustle of most pop activity.

2. Meat! The meat of most music videos is the cut to the close-up of the singer's face. This is because the voice is seen as the most important part of pop music.

3. Beats! Often, the video will try and represent the music through the use of the cut to go with the beat or key rhythm.

4. Lighting and colour may also be used to emphasise key moments in the song, using methods from lighting live performances for dramatic effect. Colour may be used to show a development in the song, going from colour to black and white or vice versa when the chorus comes in. Equally, any change in the mise-en-scene or camerawork can signal the sme type of thing.

5. Mise-en-scene - obviously the setting for music videos is important, often guarantee the authenticity of the clip rather than anything else. So mise-en-scene for many music videos is the concert hall or rehearsal room to emphasise the realness of the performance or the grit and practice that goes into attaining star quality. Increasingly, CGI is used, especially for dance songs which don't really rely so much on being 'real' like rock and rap acts.