This week during my lessons I have been
watching and analysing music videos, we focused on videos made by previous A2
students. Watching the videos made me think of exactly how I would like my video
to look.
However, the last student music video that
I have analysed is the video that has greatly inspired my work. There were specific
elements from their work that I would like to incorporate into mine, for
example, their excellent composition and editing skills.
Nonetheless, watching other videos that in
my point of view weren’t as good, made me realise what I do not want in my
work. I have learnt that throughout my video, the narrative and point must
always be clear t the viewer. Also, I know that throughout filming my music
video, lip-syncing will be a focus point as I believe lip-syncing is important
when making a music video.
Previous media students created the above
video; I have really enjoyed watching it and it has most definitely given me
inspiration for my music video. My favourite element of this video, which in my
point of view has given me inspiration, is the perfect editing, particularly
the time lapse of the passing clouds in the sky at the very start of the video,
this gave the video a theatrical feel.
Not only did I appreciate the fact that the
lip sync is precisely on time, the choice of material and scenery was
fantastic. It added clear narrative to the music video, thus giving the public a
sharp understanding. Another element that stood out was the composition used
for each scene. I particularly liked the fact that for each scene there is an
establishing shot to differ the scenes from one another.
Apart from the amazing quality of the
video, I believe that their use of fade-outs and crossfades helps to make the
video look extremely professional. The actors were well chosen as they played
their roles very well, staying in character and remaining professional all helped
the video to have a high standard finishing.
Don't go knock on my door Don't go knock on my door
Time is up No more cheat n' lie
No more tears to dry
You and I, we're like so "bye-bye" Finally I am over you Totally unblue And I can hear myself saying I am better off without you Stronger than ever and I I'm tellin' you now
[CHORUS:] Don't go knockin' on my door Gotta stay away for sure You say you miss me like crazy now But I ain't buyin' that You better get off my back Don't go knockin' on my door
I can see It's no mystery It's so clear to me What we had is all history It's OK I can sleep at night It will be alright I can hear myself saying I am better off without you Stronger than ever and I I'm tellin' you now
[Repeat CHORUS]
Don't go knockin' on my door Don't go knockin' on my door Don't go knockin' on my door Do what you want As long as you don't come back Don't go knockin' on my door Gotta stay away for sure And now I ain't buyin' that You better get off my back
[Repeat CHORUS]
From reading the lyrics to the song I have automatically made the assumption that its a love song referring to a past love. The title of the song "Don't go knocking on my door" also hints that it is a love song about a past lover that she no longer has interest in. As I continue to read into the lyrics she quotes "Time is up, no more cheat n lie" she then further continues to describe her hurt whilst in the relationship "No more tears to dry". This suggests to me that her now ex-partner was disloyal and untruthful which is why she has come to the conclusion to end the relationship.
Laura Mulvey states that in film and
video women are typically the objects, rather than the possessors of gaze
because the control of the camera comes from factors such as heterosexual men
as the default target audience for most film and video genres. Mulvey believes that
the female model is often put on display directly to the spectator (male
audience), thus viewing herself as the male audience views her.
More than just being an object of a gaze, the
woman in the advertisement becomes what’s
being bought and sold: “The message though was always the same: buy the
product, get the girl; or buy the product to get to be like the girl so you can
get your man” in other words, “‘Buy’ the image, ‘get’ the woman”.
In this way, the male gaze enables women to be a commodity that helps the
products to get sold (the “sex sells” adage that comes up whenever we talk
about modern marketing). Even advertising aimed at women is not exempt: it
engages in the mirror effect described above, wherein women are encouraged to
view themselves as the photographer views the model, therefore buying the
product in order to become more like the model advertising it
A video that puts this theory on display is the video by Madonna
called "Like a virgin". Throughout the video Madonna dances provocatively with a male gazing at her, with camera shots emphasising on her body parts, this video definitely supports Mulveys theory.
Thomas Peter Odell is an English singer-songwriter. He released his debut extended play, Songs from Another Love, in 2012 and won the BRITs Critics' Choice Award in early 2013. He is an indie pop artist.
The title implies that Tom Odell went through some sort heartbreak as he experienced love that according to him, was not real, hence the title. In addition to this, the lyrics in the video suggests that Tom
The term auteur originates from France which translates as author.
The Auteur theory was introduced in the 1950s by French film directors like Francois Truffaut who advocated a focus on the contribution directors made on the style and form of film. Truffault quotes, "A true film auteur is someone who brings something genuinely personal to his subject instead of producing a tasteful, accurate but lifeless rendering of the orgiginal material".
Auteur Theory suggests that a director can use the commercial apparatus of film-making in the same way that a writer uses a pen or a painter uses paint or a paintbrush. In law, the film is treated as a work of art, and the auteur, as the creator of the film, is the original copyright holder.The film maker's style and practice has to be different which then gives them a signature status.
Jonathan Glazer (born 26 March 1965) is an English filmmaker, whose directing work includes feature films, music videos and advertisements. Glazer has a dull grey-ish style that runs through the vast majority of his music videos. They are often dragged and are slow paced, making the narrative videos complexed and often hard to follow and understand. In addition to this, he has a specific theme that runs through his videos which ususally consists of disturbed characters. An example of this would be "Rabbit in your headlights" by UNKLE ft. Thom Yorke (1998)
"Rabbit in your headlight"
From
watching Glazer's work, he tends to use a lot of close up shots and mid
shots to fully portray the tone of the piece. In "Rabbits in your
headlights" his use of these shots illustrates the vulnerability og the
lead role which goes against male objectification conventions. Glazer's
work is typically very cinematic, in this he has fully captivated the
tones of the piece, setting it apart from a "normal" music video.
"Under the skin"
In terms of mise-en-scene, by taking everyday environments, Glazer tends to manipulate them with negative or darker connotations and create surrealism. For example, taking a look at "Under the skin", Glazer uses clinical lighting to create an out of place feel to the audience. The evident minimalist take on the movie throughtout provides an 'eerie' and 'unsure' feel for the audience.
In addition to this fast editing and long shots are combined with special effects to create the enigmatic and disturbed feel to the video. In the case of 'Under the skin' he uses the woman as symbolic reference to convey lust/love.
I was browsing on the social media app called Instagram when
I stumbled across what seemed to be Beyonce's New album box set! I must
say I was in absolute shock. After going off and doing some research I found out that a
representative for the singer Beyonce has confirmed that the pop star will in
fact release a platinum edition boxset of her 2013 self-titled album, including
two brand new songs and a disc of live performances.
This method of design for an album is very inspiring to me and I would love to
interpret the idea into my album cover when the time comes. Yet so, I have
taken into consideration that I will be designing an album cover and not a box
set, however if I can incorporate some of the features and ideas into
my work and redesign it to make it my own, I would most definitely do so.
After the
release of Maroon 5 new video, they have been
heavily criticised for their "Animals" music video, with support
groups claiming it promotes violence against women.
In
my point of view the video is a very interesting that can either be loved or
cause controversy.
In
the video, Adam Levine's wife is stalked by his sinister character, a
sociopathic butcher who takes secret photos of her and stores them in his meat
locker.
At one point, he breaks
into her apartment and lies beside her while she sleeps. Covered in meat blood,
Levine fantasises about having sex with her before approaching her in a club
and creepily touching her shoulder. Then there are explicit blood-soaked sex
scenes.
After watching the video, I
thought to do some research to see how the audience reacted to such a strange
video. After all, this is a different side to Maroon 5 which I think shocked
many people.
Unsurprisingly, sexual
assault support groups are disgusted by both the track and its video, a group
called RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network) released a statement of
concern over the "dangerous depiction of a stalker’s fantasy". A member of the group
stated; "The trivialisation of these serious crimes, like stalking, should
have no place in the entertainment industry." I do agree with that
particular statement as I believe that funnily enough the music video
encourages activities such as stalking, which is seen as a crime.
I was also shocked at the
amount of sex scenes in the music video, I immediately started to think about
the younger viewers who may watch this particular video online as there are no
age restrictions as to who can watch it. This has definitely made me consider
the context of my music video and what type of audience I would like it to be
for.
I was watching different music videos online and stumbled
across this new video by Ed Sheeran, I must say that I found the concept very
interesting and thought to look deeper into behind the scenes of the video.
Below is a quote from Ed Sheeran explaining the concept clearly.
"My original concept was to have a
couple walk in and do some made ballroom dancing, at first I was going to get
two talented dancersbut as was the idea was formed, I thought hmm
maybe I should have a crack at this." The
video particularly grabbed my attention because of the smoothness and elegance
that ran throughout. The choreography was so perfectly done, it created
a rhythm with the song, not to mention the perfect camera angles that
showed chemistry between the two. In addition to this I also really liked the
choice of lightings used, the tones of warm yellow lights really set
a romantic theme to the location of the video which seems to be a hall where a
wedding reception would take place.
In this video James Arthur gives an insight into what
life is like for a young man who is, for the moment at least, as
recognisable as anyone in the country. "Fame is repetition," James quoted. The song speaks of how nobody will love you until you are loved and popular by many. You will be unimportant as long as youre not relevant in society.
The use of props and setting in Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" video has inspired me for my music video. In this video the concept of the song matches the location of the video, which is in a jungle, though there are shots and footage of Nicki in other locations, the jungle remain the main focus of the video.
This music video "All about the bass" Meghan Trainor inspires me because of the message behind the song and video. The artist in the video speaks about how she is not the average woman that society has created, she is in fact a woman that has curves and is not skinny, she is "all about that bass", meaning that she is proud of her volumscious body.
"Am I wrong" by Nico and Vinz is extremely inspirational to me because the song is suffused with African rhythms which I am familiar with because of traditional music. The duo are Norwegian and
African. That is important to me because it shows that two nations can come together in partnership in search of peace. They sing about things that they've
been going through and about finding themselves. I believe that it's important to
have a message, and a goal to inspire people to find
happiness.
This video inspires me because of the simplicity of the video. The message in this song is very clear and is portrayed in the video with the actors and style of the video.
I find that colors can be terribly distracting in some videos and can
take the focus away from your subject, this is shown in this video "All of me" by John Legend. I find that in this video taking the color out of an image lets the subject/message speak for itself.
Its raw, it’s stripped back, it’s honest and it allows the viewer to appreciate the message.
Laura Mulvey states that in film and video women are typically the
objects, rather than the possessors of gaze because the control of the camera
comes from factors such as heterosexual men as the default target audience for
most film and video genres. Mulvey believes that the female model is often put
on display directly to the spectator (male audience), thus viewing herself as
the male audience views her. In this way, the male gaze enables women to be a
commodity that helps the products to get sold. Genres that often use women as
objects of male gratification, therefore Mulvey’s theory are usually Hip-hop
and RnB.
A video that puts this theory on display is “Timaya-Bum
Bum” where the concept of the song is about a woman's backside, the very first
scene of the video is of a woman “twerking” (shaking her behind sexually).
