I learnt about Andrew Goodwin and a book he wrote which is called 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' which was published in 1992.
Some of his theories are.
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, (e.g Stage metal video, dance routine for a boy band)
2. Relationship between lyrics and visuals (illustrations that amplify or contradict lyrics).
3. Relationship between music and visuals.
4. Demanding of record label will include lots of close ups of the artist and artist can develop motifs across their work, (such as the Jonas Brothers, always show a performance in their videos).
5. There is frequent reference to notion of looking for example screens within screens and voyeuristic treatment of the female body. (Beyonce in her 'Crazy in Love' video.)
6. There is often intertexual reference to films or TV programs, other music videos. (Jonas Brothers used the theme of James Bond for Nick's character in 'Burning up' video.)
Therefore I will try and use lots of close-ups, intertexual references, and lyrics to match visuals of my music video as well as the visuals matching the music.
We watched a video of Kylie Minougue and these are some of the notes I made.
Kylie Minougue - 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head'
lots of close ups, she is always flirting with the camera, close-up of her bottom.
the music is hypnotising as she is putting you in a trance which is drawing the audience in, she wears short and fitted clothing, lots of women in their underwear, she has lots of different outfits which shows that she is sexy, sporty, sophisticated and sweet.
Lyrics are influencing the Iconography, fast paced edits as the song is fast paced, edit on the sound of a hi-hat symbol, the different way she sings influences the edits, lyrics change completely slow down, amplifies freedom with slow motion. Light of building represents the choreography, and lights on a sound board from a music studio.
Popular music and video style.
Camera: Have a specific meaning, depending on the angles used, and the distance, does the camera follow the choreography? Maybe used to create a more dynamic feel to stage performance for example constantly circling the band as they preform.
Close up pre dominates.
As in most TV, this is partly because of the size of the screen and also because of the desire to create a sense of intimacy for the viewer, it also emphasises half of the commodity on sale (not just the song but artist and in particular the voice).
John Stewart of oil factory states that he sees the music video as essentially having the aesthetics of TV commercial with lots of close ups and lightly being used most predominantly for the stars face.
we watched the video 'Violent Hill' by Coldplay, and these are some of my notes, this video relaunched Coldplay, it has lots of simple but interesting camera tricks, like slowly tracking, guitar strums, and people, close ups of people in the band, symbol of hammer against screen, simple master shots playing around with it half frames people. effective shots, close up big macro and colour wash using the edge of frame. Jump cuts are popular accuracies, big tracking close ups, action taking place but you don't really know what is happening.
Advice for music video; Break rules and be creative have good planing and film rehearsal as artists are more comfortable because they are not under pressure to film.
Editing: most common form is fast cut montage, rendering many of the images, which makes impossible to grasp on 1st viewing, which insures multiple viewings, (Therefore I will use various themes in my video and lots of cuts).
some videos use slow paced and gentile transitions to establish mood, good for female artists with a broad audience such as Dido.
We watched a Radiohead video ' No Surprises'. These are my notes. Flashes of lights, close ups writing across screen, he is getting lit up, goes underwater level rises, Flashing lights, the whole video is just 1 long shot, Holds breath for a really long time (talented, not just a musician).
J
onathan Glazer the director of the music video which was made in 1996, said "With Radiohead, it's very much about convincing Thom Yorke of your ideas. But once he's chosen you there's not any interference - he wants you to go off and be experimental. I'd had this idea for ages that I'd seen in nature programmes, where they'd film an eagle flying at 1,200 frames per second then cut frames out to slow it down. It's a technique you see in every second ice-cream commercial nowadays but back then it was new. …..
In the end, I'd spent so much time filming shots of breaking glass and nuns jumping off trampolines that I hadn't got the right performance out of Thom. I had to cut the video together with black windows inserted where he should have been. But the record company liked what they saw enough to arrange for me to go to Germany a few weeks later to film Thom singing. In the end it worked out. That was the film that, creatively, got me up and running'
Advice for video; if it doesn't look good when you shoot it, it wont look good on the macs, don't try and change something good, just do it. you have to shoot lots of different stuff at least 6 hours of footage.
we also watched 'Street view.' by Radiohead.
Zoomin's lots of closeups, low angle lots of people, living and dead on the street, sound track to film, strange disturbing narrative.
Music video:
since cinema was invented it created ability to bring songs and music to life. Advances in technology have transformed the music videos into what it is today.
Bessie Smith. Music videos have been around since 1920s. and in 1965 Bob Dylan Film one of first modern music videos.
1970s record industry discovers TV shows as a great opportunity to promote their artists. They focus on producing promotions early music videos which started to replace the live performances of the artist on the TV stage.
Star image: Richard Dyre noted that "a star is an image constructed from a range of materials" the materials include; the songs (their lyrical themes and musical structures/genres),
the record covers (singles and albums and the image of the star they present),
media coverage (from interviews about career and private life through to tabloid gossip),
live performance (the image through the stage show)
the music videos, which may draw upon the image presented in each of the other aspects. Each video may also draw upon its predecessor both in reinforcing the star’s existing image and in taking the image on further, perhaps in new directions. Thus, music videos will act as a showcase for the star’s talents and play a significant part in the construction and maintenance of their image.
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therefore i will use various materials to try and promote the band.
Freud and Voyeurism, he said that it is 'Broadly it refers to the idea of looking in order to gain sexual pleasure. It has been argued that the male viewer’s gaze at the screen is geared to notions of voyeurism in that it is a powerful controlling gaze at the objectified female on display. In music promos the female on display has been a staple element. But Goodwin argues that the female performer will frequently be objectified in this fashion, often through a combination of camerawork and editing with fragmented body shots emphasising a sexualised treatment of the star, such as Beyonce Crazy in love right now. However I feel that my music video is targeted at a more younger audience and not at men, but teenage girls, therefore i will not include and voyuerism shots in my music video.
In male performance videos too, the idea of voyeuristic treatment of the female body is often apparent with the use of dancers as adornments flattering the male star ego. such as 'Candy Shop' by 50 Cent.
The idea becomes more complex when we see the male body on display and we might raise questions about how the female viewer is invited to respond.
Equally, the apparently more powerful independent female artists of recent years, from Madonna onwards, have added to the complexity of the gaze by being at once sexually provocative and apparently in control. This offers interesting questions for discussion of the range of audience experiences of music video and the contradictory meanings they may evoke. The idea of voyeurism is also frequently evident in music video through a system of screens within screens- characters shown watching performers or others on television, via webcams, as images on a video camera screen or CCTV within the world of the narrative.
Intertexuallity, narrative and audience. The music video is often described as ‘postmodern’, a slippery term which is sometimes used as a substitute for intertextuality.
Broadly, if we see music promos as frequently drawing upon existing texts in order to spark recognition in the audience, we have a working definition of ‘intertextuality’.
Not all audiences will necessarily spot the reference and this need not massively detract from their pleasure in the text itself, but it is often argued that greater pleasure will be derived by those who know the reference and are somehow flattered by this.
It is perhaps not surprising that so many music videos draw upon cinema as a starting point, since their directors are often film school graduates looking to move on eventually to the film industry itself. From Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’ (Mary Lambert 1985, drawing on ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend’) to 2Pac and Dr Dre’s ‘California Love’ (Hype Williams 1996, drawing on ‘Mad Max’) there are many examples of cinematic references which dominate music video.
Television is often a point of reference too, as in The Beastie Boys’ spoof cop show titles sequence for Sabotage (Spike Jonze 1994) or REMs news show parody ‘Bad Day’ (Tim Hope 2003).
John Stewart: visual reference in music video come from a range of sources, though the three most frequent are perhaps cinema, fashion and art photography.
Fashion sometimes takes the form of specific catwalk references and sometimes even the use of supermodels, as by George Michael in both ‘Father Figure’(Morahan/Michael 1988) and ‘Freedom’ (Fincher 1990). Probably the most memorable example of reference to fashion photography is Robert Palmer’s ‘Addicted to Love’ (Donovan 1986), parodied many times for its use of mannequin style females in the band fronted by a besuited Palmer. Shania Twain copied it for her ‘Man I feel like a woman’ (Paul Boyd 1999) and Tamara Davis directed a parody of it for Tone Loc’s ‘Wild Thing’ (1988).
For the near future, John Stewart suspects that the influence of video games will predominate for the younger audience with the more plasticised look of characters emerging (as seen in recent years for example in Robbie Williams’ ‘Let Love be your Energy’ (dir. Olly Reed 2001) and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers ‘Californication’ (dir.Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris 2000)
His description of the music video “incorporating, raiding and reconstructing” is essentially the essence of intertextuality, using something with which the audience may be familiar to generate both potentially nostalgic associations and new meanings. It is perhaps more explicitly evident in the music video than in any other media form, with the possible exception of advertising.
Narrative in songs is rarely complete, more often fragmentary, as in poetry. The same is true of music promos, which often suggest storylines or offer complex fragments of them in non-linear order. In doing this the music video leaves the viewer with the desire to see it again if only to catch the bits missed on first viewing.
Steve Archer states: “Often, music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band. Additionally, a carefully choreographed dance might be a part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor. Sometimes, the artist (especially the singer) will be a part of the story, acting as narrator and participant at the same time. But it is the lip-synch close-up and the miming of playing instruments that remains at the heart of music videos, as if to assure us that the band really can kick it.” (Steve Archer 2004
The video allows the audience access to the performer in a much greater range of ways than a stage performance could.
Eye contact and facial gestures via the close up, role playing through the narrative and mise-en-scene will present the artist in a number of ways which would not be possible in a live concert.
The mise-en-scene may be used as a guarantee of what Simon Frith terms ‘authenticity’ as in the stage performance/use of a rehearsal room by a band whose musical virtuosity is their main selling point.
It can be important to a narrative-based video to establish setting and relationship to existing film or televisual genres.
Equally it may be used as part of the voyeuristic context by suggesting a setting associated with sexual allure, such as a sleazy nightclub or boudoir. Or finally, as John Stewart suggests, it may be used to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle for the audience, as in the current dominance of a futuristic look with emphasis on the latest gadgetry.
Other commentators have divided music videos in terms of style, though often there will be crossover between these; apart from Performance and Narrative, it is possible to identify at least six: Gothic, Animated, Dreamscapes, Portraiture, Futuristic and Home Movie' the information in red, is taken from my media class powerpoints i didn't write this information, our teacher gave it to us.
Camera work; moving image text, how camera is used and how images, angle short distance movement never stationary, close ups intermediate make a connection with artist and audience, song and camera shots are relevant.
Editing; fast cut montage editing that doesn't make sense should sustain repeated viewings.
Development of technical codes:
1990s fast cut montage, many images impossible to grasp on 1st view by split screens, change of colour is also a common effect. Representational techniques in which musical artists never show become more common. Lack of edits long take/ stedi cam also a common experimentation.
people who graduate from film school get into the business by first making music videos and then they become film directors.
David Fincher: Madonna
Spize Jones: Fat boy Slim.
Madonna is classified as the Queen of music video as she reinvents herself.
Alice and Wonderland with dark underbelly of drug use, Snow white (birds , smoke covers her eyes.) She is being represented as maternal towards her brother. He is a typical adolescent, she preforms the mother role to her brother in real life, intertexuality recognise that make judgment and link.
As a class we were told to vote for the artists we liked, disliked or have never heard of, and the results were quite mixed which proved that even though we lived in the same area and went to the same school and are the same age, we have different taste, which could be because of the following, how we dress, our different interests, our culture and religion, self actualisation.
Maslow- Hierarchy of needs.
You can only get to the top of other needs are met,
advertising products that meets insurance ads. cokeacola ads - psychological needs 'get the feeling of being happy' posh cars expensive perfume (top of status)
certain type of people like the same things, some for different reasons such as their friends like it, have a connection with the artist, cultural significance, rap country connotations of it.
mainstremer: belong to group because their friends like it.
Aspires: rap, Kanye West.
Succeders: running companies, top spot, less likely to listing to music.
Reformers: green movement, teachers, soul folk, 'Dido'.
Magazines send media packs to advertisers, talk about social access, have specific audience that they draw to their magazine, and put adverts in that are suited to them. Such as adverts about make-up for teen magazines. Limitations: social economic audience (government), your money goes to your kids when you are older. Upwards mobile: getting higher positions in your career. Advertisers love Dinky's.
Beatles have a key audience: Age (teenagers), Sex ( mainly female), Class (all classes), Race (white), life style and attitudes (trendsetting, sex and drugs).
Sex Pistols main audience: Age (teenagers), Sex (mainly male), Class (working class), Race (white), lifestyle and attitudes (aggressive, anti establishment, shock).
The mamas and papas: Age ( teenagers and early 20's), Sex (female), Class (both classes), Race (all races), Lifestyle and attitudes (free, love, peace, drugs).
Jonas Brothers: Age (teenagers), Sex (mainly female), Class (middle class), Race (all races), Lifestyle and attitudes (peaceful, caring about others, well brought up kids, go to cinema with friends, not party goers, caring about the environment, young and mature).
Echos (my band): Age (teenagers), Sex (mainly female), Class (middle class), Race (all races), Lifestyle and attitudes (peaceful, caring about others, well brought up kids, go to cinema with friends, not party goers, caring about the environment, young and mature).
