My final idea for a music video, and the idea I have decided to pursue, is the song "Half the World Away," performed by Oasis. I think that this paticular song would most likely feature on the music channel "MTV2." MTV itself is a more recent updated channel, but this song was first published in 1994, and MTV2 is a more dated channel and is more likely to show older songs, possibly from the nineties, perfromed by bands such as Oasis. Oasis can be described as an indie rock band and have a vast fan base spreading from males and females in their late teens to their late fourties. I think that Oasis appeal to the working class man. Liam and Noel Gallagher, the constant faces in the group, were brought up in Manchester in very working class backgrounds and this I think appeals to many of their fanbase.
I have noted in general that the majority of music videos and songs are based around love between a man and a woman. I want to show a different kind of love. The love I want to focus on is a love for a certain lifestyle, a love for youth and a love for friends. I feel a successful music video needs something different and this may just be it. My idea in general is to focus the video around a leading male character who is achieving great things in life. The character’s name is David Moore and he is about 14 years old. In this case, David has then grown up and become a great musician, and is spending his time at different parties and basically living the high life. Despite all this action, glory and stardom, David is not happy in life. This is because all David wants to be doing is playing football on the streets with his friends like when he was 14, because it is in fact these times where David was happiest.
Part of my reason for wanting to produce a film in this manner was because of my studying of the song lyrics. “Here I go; I’m still scratching around in the same old hole.” This line is very ironic because how I interpret it, the hole David is scratching around in may be grotty, but it is his home and it is where he feels happiest. “You can’t give me the dreams that are mine anyway.” The way I interpret this is that it may be everyone’s dream to be a rock star and people will be telling him how wonderful it is, but David thinks that once in this showbiz lifestyle, his dream is to be back kicking a ball around with his friends.
My general idea for filming is as follows. At the beginning of the music video we see David playing the guitar, running around the park with his friends, playing football and being a happy person. This then all changes. Filming showbiz and stardom will be a tricky thing to do, so I plan to film a poker scene where David loses all his money and a car and this shows how far he has fallen. He then takes drugs and ends up on the floor of a house and he has lost everything. It then goes back to David being happy when he was younger and the video finishes on that note. In my eyes, it is up to the audience to decide whether the happiness he goes back to is when he was a child or after breaking free from the curse of fame.
This video would be described as performance and narrative. I plan to have certain shots with David playing the guitar as a child showing that he has a talent and is happy. It will then go back to David in his showbiz lifestyle. Using the idea of a poker game, I would like to show drugs being handed over and losing money due to gambling. I want to show things really going downhill for David and his life becoming very dangerous. This will then add emphasis to the importance of David’s childhood. It is everything David has ever known, and is everything that is safe and secure for him. I would like to end the video on a happy note with David playing football again with his friends. This is a general overview of the shots and camera anglesI plan to use in my music video, and also the themes behind my thoughts. The distinction between David’s very different lives should be clear as I plan to have David wearing a suit when filming his scenes as a rockstar and then have him wearing tracksuits when filming his childhood life.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Audience Research-Questions and Answers
I asked 8 people 10 questions in order to gain knowledge about what the public look for in a music video and their general tastes. These questions give me a general idea about where my music video will be placed to gain most attention and what a specific audience enjoys most. From this I will be able to manipulate my idea to please an audience more.
1) Age:
(17,17,18,17,17,46,48,20)
2) Gender:
(Male, Male, Male, Female, Female, Female, Male, Male)
3) How many music videos do you watch per week?
The options given were 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10+
(10+) (10+) (7-9) (10+) (1-3) (7-9) (10+) (1-3)
4) Where do you watch most of your music videos?
The options given were Internet, TV, Other.
(TV) (Int) (Int) (TV) (Int) (Int) (Int) (Int)
5) Please specify your favourite site/channel/other
(MTV2) (Youtube) (MTV2) (Kerrang) (Youtube) (Metacafe)
(Youtube) (Youtube)
6) Whats your favourite type of music video? The options given were performance/narrative/abstract/amplification (mix of others)
(Narrative) (Amplification-Narrative & Performance) (Amplification-
Narrative & Performance) (Performance) (Abstract) (Amplification-
Narrative & Abstract) Performance (Amplification-Narrative and Performance)
Reflecting on my research, it appears clear that most music videos are sourced through the internet side "Youtube." Youtube is a site which booms the general public's videos and music interests and it is specifically popular amongst young people. Music channel MTV2 was also a slightly popular choice. The most mportant point I drew from my research was that amplification videos were the most popular, and especially ones that consisted of a mix of narrative and performance. This is important because my questionaire was aimed largely at young people, and their answers proved that the style of music video I myself am producing is very successful amongst people in their late teens.
1) Age:
(17,17,18,17,17,46,48,20)
2) Gender:
(Male, Male, Male, Female, Female, Female, Male, Male)
3) How many music videos do you watch per week?
The options given were 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10+
(10+) (10+) (7-9) (10+) (1-3) (7-9) (10+) (1-3)
4) Where do you watch most of your music videos?
The options given were Internet, TV, Other.
(TV) (Int) (Int) (TV) (Int) (Int) (Int) (Int)
5) Please specify your favourite site/channel/other
(MTV2) (Youtube) (MTV2) (Kerrang) (Youtube) (Metacafe)
(Youtube) (Youtube)
6) Whats your favourite type of music video? The options given were performance/narrative/abstract/amplification (mix of others)
(Narrative) (Amplification-Narrative & Performance) (Amplification-
Narrative & Performance) (Performance) (Abstract) (Amplification-
Narrative & Abstract) Performance (Amplification-Narrative and Performance)
Reflecting on my research, it appears clear that most music videos are sourced through the internet side "Youtube." Youtube is a site which booms the general public's videos and music interests and it is specifically popular amongst young people. Music channel MTV2 was also a slightly popular choice. The most mportant point I drew from my research was that amplification videos were the most popular, and especially ones that consisted of a mix of narrative and performance. This is important because my questionaire was aimed largely at young people, and their answers proved that the style of music video I myself am producing is very successful amongst people in their late teens.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
The View-Same Jeans Music Video Analysis
To help me develop better skills and further my knowledge, I have analysed a second music video. The song is called "Same Jeans" and it is performed by Scottish band The View.
This video is produced as a of performance and narrative piece. The song is approximately 3 minutes 47 seconds long, and features all members of the band.
Generally, the song is about a man (in this case lead singer Kyle) who goes through the path of four days without ever getting changed. This is not crucial information. I gather that the story generally is bout Kyle leading such a crazy lifestyle that he doesn't have time to change his clothes because he is always partying and performing.
The video follows generally the same pattern the whole way through. It starts with Kyle being woken up by a knocking at the door, with a medium close up shot of his face and torso. For the first 25 seconds it shows Kyle (the lead singer of the band) getting up, opening up the curtains of his hotel room, and then leaving the room. This is all done with the use of a hand held camera. After 12 seconds Kyle starts to sing. This is where I noted that the music video was performance as well as narrative. For the next 20 seconds Kyle then walks to the hotel lift and opens it to reveal a live crowd audience. His walk to the lift is covered with camera shots including close up, medium close up, and medium to long.
Between 46 seconds 1:02 seconds, Kyle joins his band members at a live gig and performs the song. During these 16 seconds of live footage, a range of camera shots are included which give off the image of frenziness. The shots show the band performing and show individual performances as well as group. There are also shots of the audience dancing and jumping up and down. This is a regular theme in the other occasions during the music video where a live performance is screened.
After 1:03 seconds, we see a close up camera shot fixed on Kyle singing. The shot zooms out and it shows that Kyle appears to be waiting in airport or some sort of waiting room. His face displays little emotion and this suggested to me that perhaps these are the more boring times in his life. This was also the case in the hotel room and walking to the lift. The zoom out shot lasted about 10 seconds, and we then see a medium to long shot of what appears to be a fellow band member leaning against a wall with a guitar. The next 10-15 seconds then consisted of shots of Kyle and the other band member. The band member then moves towards the camera before it goes back to Kyle, who is then joined by the band member. There is then 2 seconds of singing before it again goes to a shot of the band performing live.
The live performance follows the same patterns as last time, and is about 17 seconds long. It then cuts to a close up shot of Kyle, being filmed by a handheld camera. The camera follows him for around 13 seconds as he stumbles through a party. The vision is blurry and because it is handheld I took this to mean that Kyle is very drunk and there is madness going on all around him. A medium to long shot is then took of Kyle dropping to a sofa, with the following shot filmed in daylight with him waking up on the same sofa. This pattern is regular and to me it is showing all the different things that are happening to him in his day to day life and these offer reasons why he has not yet changed his clothes. Kyle then gets up and leaves the house with medium close up shots then took of people asleep who were obviously at the party. A medium close up shot then focuses on Kyle leaving the party and singing. He then opens a door and we again see the performing band for the last time. This time the performance aspect lasts for 64 seconds and again follows the same patterns as before. This time however, the camera zooms in and out on members of the audience, and there are many medium close up shots of singular members of the audience. The final shot is then a 10 second shot of Kyle falling back on the hotel bed and then being waken up all over again.
Overall, I think that the music video is average to good at best. It is well consturcted and I think it has a decent storyline behind it which comes across well on screen. The video follows a consistent pattern all the way through. However I think this begins to get slightly monotonous after a while and I think there is too much live footage of the band. I think it would have worked well if there some parts where Kyle plays the guitar on his own, maybe at a party scene, instead of so much footage of a live performance. I also think that a wider range of camera shots could have perhaps been used. All in all, I have learnt a lot from this video, and will try to incorporate some methods into my music video.
Here is a link for the music video if you want to watch it yourself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpF51y8udgY
This video is produced as a of performance and narrative piece. The song is approximately 3 minutes 47 seconds long, and features all members of the band.
Generally, the song is about a man (in this case lead singer Kyle) who goes through the path of four days without ever getting changed. This is not crucial information. I gather that the story generally is bout Kyle leading such a crazy lifestyle that he doesn't have time to change his clothes because he is always partying and performing.
The video follows generally the same pattern the whole way through. It starts with Kyle being woken up by a knocking at the door, with a medium close up shot of his face and torso. For the first 25 seconds it shows Kyle (the lead singer of the band) getting up, opening up the curtains of his hotel room, and then leaving the room. This is all done with the use of a hand held camera. After 12 seconds Kyle starts to sing. This is where I noted that the music video was performance as well as narrative. For the next 20 seconds Kyle then walks to the hotel lift and opens it to reveal a live crowd audience. His walk to the lift is covered with camera shots including close up, medium close up, and medium to long.
Between 46 seconds 1:02 seconds, Kyle joins his band members at a live gig and performs the song. During these 16 seconds of live footage, a range of camera shots are included which give off the image of frenziness. The shots show the band performing and show individual performances as well as group. There are also shots of the audience dancing and jumping up and down. This is a regular theme in the other occasions during the music video where a live performance is screened.
After 1:03 seconds, we see a close up camera shot fixed on Kyle singing. The shot zooms out and it shows that Kyle appears to be waiting in airport or some sort of waiting room. His face displays little emotion and this suggested to me that perhaps these are the more boring times in his life. This was also the case in the hotel room and walking to the lift. The zoom out shot lasted about 10 seconds, and we then see a medium to long shot of what appears to be a fellow band member leaning against a wall with a guitar. The next 10-15 seconds then consisted of shots of Kyle and the other band member. The band member then moves towards the camera before it goes back to Kyle, who is then joined by the band member. There is then 2 seconds of singing before it again goes to a shot of the band performing live.
The live performance follows the same patterns as last time, and is about 17 seconds long. It then cuts to a close up shot of Kyle, being filmed by a handheld camera. The camera follows him for around 13 seconds as he stumbles through a party. The vision is blurry and because it is handheld I took this to mean that Kyle is very drunk and there is madness going on all around him. A medium to long shot is then took of Kyle dropping to a sofa, with the following shot filmed in daylight with him waking up on the same sofa. This pattern is regular and to me it is showing all the different things that are happening to him in his day to day life and these offer reasons why he has not yet changed his clothes. Kyle then gets up and leaves the house with medium close up shots then took of people asleep who were obviously at the party. A medium close up shot then focuses on Kyle leaving the party and singing. He then opens a door and we again see the performing band for the last time. This time the performance aspect lasts for 64 seconds and again follows the same patterns as before. This time however, the camera zooms in and out on members of the audience, and there are many medium close up shots of singular members of the audience. The final shot is then a 10 second shot of Kyle falling back on the hotel bed and then being waken up all over again.
Overall, I think that the music video is average to good at best. It is well consturcted and I think it has a decent storyline behind it which comes across well on screen. The video follows a consistent pattern all the way through. However I think this begins to get slightly monotonous after a while and I think there is too much live footage of the band. I think it would have worked well if there some parts where Kyle plays the guitar on his own, maybe at a party scene, instead of so much footage of a live performance. I also think that a wider range of camera shots could have perhaps been used. All in all, I have learnt a lot from this video, and will try to incorporate some methods into my music video.
Here is a link for the music video if you want to watch it yourself!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpF51y8udgY
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Coldplay-Fix You (Music Video Analysis)
I have analysed a music video which I considered performing myself. The song is called "Fix You" and was performed by Coldplay. The song comes from the album "X and Y" which was released on 6th June 2005. The song itself was released as a single on September 5th of the same year. The music video was directed by Sophie Muller.
From my own interpretation I believe the general message of the song is to inspire. If one looks at the lyrics: "Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones." These lyrics suggest to me that when you are feeling down you should carry on going no matter what challenges you face in life. It could also be that the lights represent religion and the lights mentioned are those from heaven. It could be that it is God who is looking after you and subsequently guiding you home.
Looking at the video in paticular, I can see that it is performance type video and it is also slightly narrative. It also includes archive footage at the end of a gig which Coldplay performed in Bolton.
The start of the video shows the lead singer of the band, Chris Martin, walking through the streets of London at night time (the whole video is filmed at night). The first three shots are of Martin in slow motion repeating the lyrics of the song. The lyrics reflect the slight mundanity and depression displayed in the video. The shots are of medium close up on Chris Martins face and the setting behind him is very dark with a light occasionally flashing over his left and right shoulder.
The chorus then sets in after 1 minute 9, and the video reflects the lyrics again as the scene becomes a happier one. "Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones." These are the lyrics of inspiration and this is reflected with the whole scene becoming brighter and the light over Chris Martin's shoulders becomes a very distinctive and bright one.
There is then a short instrumental which shows Chris Martin walking but with loads of examples of lights such as cars and buildings. The pace speeds up for this and this could show that maybe his life is getting back on track.
The chorus then returns for a second time and is performed once more in slow motion and at the beginning shows an establishing shot of Chris Martin with a street full of lights ahead of him. A guitar is then introduced at the end of the chorus which speeds up the sound of the song. This is reflected well in the video as it then returns to normal pace and shows Chris Martin running down the big empty streets. He continues to run through well lit streets of London until he arrives at the concert and runs on stage to greet his band. The rest of the video shows archive footage of a gig Coldplay performed in Bolton, playing "Fix You." Chris Martin is seen swinging a light around on stage and this is a constant feature throughout the video.
I think that the video reflects the lyrics very well and the video is a very good one. I think that the use of so many lights is to reflect the lyrics of the song clearly. In general there are only two types of camera shots used mainly. These are either close ups of Chris Martin performing the song with the focus on his mouth and the words, or establishing shots which show Chris Martin and the city of London. The establishing shots are to focus on the scenery and also places emphasis on the lights. The video is mainly of Chris Martin with the emphasis on him, although we are introduced to other members of the band towards the end with the archive footage of the gig in Bolton.
In general, the song puts you in a very inspirational mood towards the end as the pace speeds up in the video as well as the song. The clear connection between the lyrics and video makes it a very enjoyable thing to watch and listen to. I do not think there would be a specific target audience for this video, but rather Coldplay fans in general. I think if one were to pin an audience on it, it would probably be young people who are seeking inspiration in life.
I have not been able to embed this paticular video so have provided the link for it below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skUJ-B6oVDQ
From my own interpretation I believe the general message of the song is to inspire. If one looks at the lyrics: "Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones." These lyrics suggest to me that when you are feeling down you should carry on going no matter what challenges you face in life. It could also be that the lights represent religion and the lights mentioned are those from heaven. It could be that it is God who is looking after you and subsequently guiding you home.
Looking at the video in paticular, I can see that it is performance type video and it is also slightly narrative. It also includes archive footage at the end of a gig which Coldplay performed in Bolton.
The start of the video shows the lead singer of the band, Chris Martin, walking through the streets of London at night time (the whole video is filmed at night). The first three shots are of Martin in slow motion repeating the lyrics of the song. The lyrics reflect the slight mundanity and depression displayed in the video. The shots are of medium close up on Chris Martins face and the setting behind him is very dark with a light occasionally flashing over his left and right shoulder.
The chorus then sets in after 1 minute 9, and the video reflects the lyrics again as the scene becomes a happier one. "Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones." These are the lyrics of inspiration and this is reflected with the whole scene becoming brighter and the light over Chris Martin's shoulders becomes a very distinctive and bright one.
There is then a short instrumental which shows Chris Martin walking but with loads of examples of lights such as cars and buildings. The pace speeds up for this and this could show that maybe his life is getting back on track.
The chorus then returns for a second time and is performed once more in slow motion and at the beginning shows an establishing shot of Chris Martin with a street full of lights ahead of him. A guitar is then introduced at the end of the chorus which speeds up the sound of the song. This is reflected well in the video as it then returns to normal pace and shows Chris Martin running down the big empty streets. He continues to run through well lit streets of London until he arrives at the concert and runs on stage to greet his band. The rest of the video shows archive footage of a gig Coldplay performed in Bolton, playing "Fix You." Chris Martin is seen swinging a light around on stage and this is a constant feature throughout the video.
I think that the video reflects the lyrics very well and the video is a very good one. I think that the use of so many lights is to reflect the lyrics of the song clearly. In general there are only two types of camera shots used mainly. These are either close ups of Chris Martin performing the song with the focus on his mouth and the words, or establishing shots which show Chris Martin and the city of London. The establishing shots are to focus on the scenery and also places emphasis on the lights. The video is mainly of Chris Martin with the emphasis on him, although we are introduced to other members of the band towards the end with the archive footage of the gig in Bolton.
In general, the song puts you in a very inspirational mood towards the end as the pace speeds up in the video as well as the song. The clear connection between the lyrics and video makes it a very enjoyable thing to watch and listen to. I do not think there would be a specific target audience for this video, but rather Coldplay fans in general. I think if one were to pin an audience on it, it would probably be young people who are seeking inspiration in life.
I have not been able to embed this paticular video so have provided the link for it below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skUJ-B6oVDQ
Monday, 5 October 2009
My Main Product Decision and Originial idea
After studying the codes and convetions of both music videos and documentaries and weighing up my likes and dislikes, I have decided that I would like to create a music video for my A2 Advanced Portfolio. Here is an idea I have worked on over this past week but decided against:
My original idea was to create a music video and I first wanted to cover "Goodbye My Lover" by James Blunt. My general idea was to show two couples getting married, but a man from one couple and a woman from the other were having an affiar. The first couple involved the man marrying into a middle class family and it was more a case of circumstance and parental meddling that meant he was with his future spouse. The second couple were working class and were living a mundane life. The two having an affair are in love but agree to end their relationship for the sake of their respective partners. My idea was to show the build up of both weddings showing how the man and the woman from the affair were unhappy building up to the wedding. The video would then end with the couple following their hearts and leaving their partners for one another. I was very keen on this idea and thought it had a lot of potential. However the more i thought about it the more I became aware it would be very difficult to film. The song itself is 4 minutes 18 seconds long. I don't think my idea is deep enough to contain enough footage for the entirety of the song and I would not like to include scenes just for the sake of doing so. I have one main plot involving the couples which I have just explained but I do not have any other ideas such as sub plots. Therefore I have adopted not to go ahead with James Blunt "Goodbye My Lover."
I will now begin to look at certain music videos and analyse them so that I can try to further my knowledge of how music videos are generally formatted and what certain styles there are.
My original idea was to create a music video and I first wanted to cover "Goodbye My Lover" by James Blunt. My general idea was to show two couples getting married, but a man from one couple and a woman from the other were having an affiar. The first couple involved the man marrying into a middle class family and it was more a case of circumstance and parental meddling that meant he was with his future spouse. The second couple were working class and were living a mundane life. The two having an affair are in love but agree to end their relationship for the sake of their respective partners. My idea was to show the build up of both weddings showing how the man and the woman from the affair were unhappy building up to the wedding. The video would then end with the couple following their hearts and leaving their partners for one another. I was very keen on this idea and thought it had a lot of potential. However the more i thought about it the more I became aware it would be very difficult to film. The song itself is 4 minutes 18 seconds long. I don't think my idea is deep enough to contain enough footage for the entirety of the song and I would not like to include scenes just for the sake of doing so. I have one main plot involving the couples which I have just explained but I do not have any other ideas such as sub plots. Therefore I have adopted not to go ahead with James Blunt "Goodbye My Lover."
I will now begin to look at certain music videos and analyse them so that I can try to further my knowledge of how music videos are generally formatted and what certain styles there are.
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