Planning: Locations

Some of the possible choices for the lyrics 'Cheese on Toast'.
I found some great britsh cafe locations.



gif creator online

Planning: Location Brainstorm

Research : Difference between Pop and Indie Pop

I want my group to do really well when it comes down to filming the music video so i decided to research the difference between Pop and indie pop so that we get the right costumes & props  and use the right camera shots  and locations for our genre. In AS my group researched a lot into Korean thrillers , the history and mise en scene which helped us greatly when it came to picking things out and filming the thriller . Location , costume , props are really important elements , it would be silly to do a indie pop video and include chains , smoking and a rapper all filmed in a club because it doesn't link in with indie pop at all .


Pop & Indie Pop



I looked at music videos from pop icons such as Britney Spears , Katy Perry and Christina Aguilera and took a few screen grabs , what i noticed is pop videos include a lot of 'the male gaze' . The singers are shown and presented in the way men would like to see them : sexy , cheeky and provocative . There were a lot of dismembered body parts showing skin and i observed that in the pop world less is more. The costume were tight and fitted and the camera shots were angled to show these singers off.

With Indie pop i took a look at Ellie Goulding , Kate Nash and Lily Allen , i think overall the word i would use to describe indie is quirky the clothes are fitted but they cover up, it's modest. Unlike pop , indie pop uses more close up off faces and tend to not include  lingering body shots of legs . They do sexy in a different way . I noticed in one of kate nash' videos that she was making fun of girls who flaunt and flirt with guys in the obvious way. On the bottom, right hand corner you see Kate in an air hostess costume if you compare it to the Britney shot as a air hostess you can immediately note the difference.

Comments found on youtube for a Britney Video :

Comments found on youtube for Kate Nash:

Pop is a really obvious genre and i think the majority of pop videos include 'The Male gaze' whereas with Indie the sexiness is more subtle .

Moreover by looking at these images , i start to think about what my possible target audience might be . Indie pop may not include the male gaze as obviously but i still think that it attracts the male audiences.I will be exploring the target audience for my artist in future posts.

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Planning : MoodBoard

Mood Board: Initial Ideas on Prezi

Planning : Song lyrics annotation

As we decided to use Goodwin's theory of illustration we did a visual annotation of the lyrics including  some locations and props.

Planning: Original Artist's Website- Analysis

Planning: Analysing 3 Influencial Music Videos

^ This is a clip I created, added music too and uploaded onto Yotube.

Planning: Original Video Analysis

Original Video Analysis by AA42765 on GoAnimate

Video Maker - Powered by GoAnimate.

Planning : Copyright Permission

Moshi moshi Records is the label for Kate Nash's 'Merry Happy' which is our chosen song.

London Records is the label for Lily Allen's 'Oh my god' which is our backup song.

Planning : Chosen Song

Kate Nash - Merry Happy

We ended up picking this song for many reasons; theres no video, it has a steady beat, the lyrics can be both illustrated and we can also use amplification.
This gives us the ability to be as creative as we want with the mis en scene.




Back up song - Oh my God

Unlike our chosen song, this track already has a music video. The reason it is our back up is because the music video uses disjuncture which means if we have to, we could remake it using illustration and it would be nothing like the original.

RESEARCH: Musics industry in 2012

The importance of music videos to both the industry and to fans in 2012.

The music industry has changed over the years, with new developments and new trends shaping the way the music is made and how we consume it, in 2012 the music video is now a vital part of an artist’s success, now than ever before.

In the past the music industry was separated into two sectors, the mainstream (majors, large organisations) and the independent (small organisations with niche genres and markets). The music was primarily owned by the record label and one of the main aims of the artists was to sell their albums.

Ownership from the 1960’s till 2012 have declined from the ‘Big 6’ to now currently the ‘Big 3’ which entails Universal, Sony and Warner. Changing from the ‘Big 4’ in 2011 as Universal has brought out EMI for $1.9 Billion and sold Parlaphone its subsidiary company in effect.

The Big 3

Sony Music, Universal Music Grou, and Warner Music                      








Currently, the situation is is that the number of album/sing CD sales are now falling meaning a falling number of profits for record companies. In 2008-2010 the sales for albums dropped to over £100 Million, due to the number of digital sales on the rise.

More recently the way we consume  music has changed;

·       We are now more active in our consumption of music

·       Commercialisation of the internet and web encourages this

·       People are now wanting singles

New trends have also changed consumption of music;

·       Downloading MP3 formats created such as iTunes and Amazon MP3

•   Illegal downloads on the rise
• Streaming popular –allowing music to be delivered on demand
• Social  networking sites popular between artists and fans, often used by artist to promote their music

This means that the role of the music video is more important today because

·       It gives the artist exposure and keeps fan interested in a way than never before.

·       And is an example of cross-media promotional material

RESEARCH: Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture examples

Illustration, Amplification and Disjuncture Videos.

Illustration:

Illustration is when the video tells the story of the song.

An example of an illustration song is Pink – Family Portrait

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSjIz8oQuko

This video is an example of illustration as the video demonstrates the lyrics said, it shows the emotion of the lyrics through the acting of the characters. The song is about struggle and the contrast in families and the video too shows that. In the video Pink plays the participant and narrator.

Amplification:

Amplification happens when the video introduces new meanings that do not contradict with the lyrics but add layers to the meaning.

An example of an amplification song is Beyonce- If I was a boy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWpsOqh8q0M

This video is an example of amplification as the video does relate and correspond to the lyrics, however the additional features to the music video for example mid song with the dialogue, it adds extra meaning to the lyrics and show and explains the reverse of the roles. In this video Beyonce plays the participant and the narrator.

Disjuncture:

Disjuncture is when there is little or no connection between the lyrics and the video

An example of a disjuncture video is Lana Del Ray- Video Games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE6wxDqdOV0

This video is an example of disjuncture as it does not really comply with lyrics it goes with. The song is mainly about a relationship between two people, however the video contains various different filmed videos of Hollywood, places and people playing around. In this video Lana Del Ray plays the narrator.

RESEARCH: Previous student video review

Previous Student Video Review

One previous student video analysed in class that i like best, is the first video by Mustafa, Nick, Poppy and Chatzon, making a music video for a song made by Florence and the Machine.

The video is very well made and the edits, mise en scene used, such as the clothing, make up and the jump cuts on the beat are all cohesive to the songs genre and feel.

This video in relation to the theories of Andrew Goodwin, Carol Vernallis and Laura Mulvey fit well with their differencing views. Andrew Goodwin comments on the three types of music videos being illustration, amplification and disjuncture, this student video following this falls in the disjuncture category with some elements of illustration for example the woods and the wolf representing hunting. 

Additionally to the Goodwin theory, the video uses the singer as the narrator and as the performer and continually looks at the camera to engage the audience.

                  Carol Vernallis looks at the editing and camerawork in music videos. In relation to this, many jump cuts are used in the previous student music video and they move to the beat of the song, increasing towards the end of the song as the beat gets faster. Several base tracks are used also, which gives the video a sense of structure at its verse/chorus intervals.

                  Laura Mulvey looks at representation in music videos. In this student video the performer is representing herself as somewhat powerful and some tracking shots of her hands can display some feel of the male gaze.

Overall i like the use of the different base tracks with its different elements in the video, the use of props and location, fits well with the song and make it look well made.  

Planning : Music Short list

We've narrowed it down to two artists : Kate Nash and Lily Allen . They both come under the genre of Indie Pop use lyrics that can be illustrated . The beats to the songs we've chosen are not to quick or to slow , so editing to the beat will be less complex.

1) Kate Nash - Merry Happy              

                       - Pumpkin Soup

2) Lily Allen - Knock You out

                      - Oh my God

RESEARCH: Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey on Representation- 1992, Summary

“In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styles accordingly.” – Laura Mulvey, 1992

Laura Mulvey in her studies comments on the representation of gender in music videos. She notes how men are represented as strong, with positive representations and active and women on the other hand represented as objects, who are less powerful and passive. These are called binary oppositions.

In Mulvey’s review due to the differences in power between men and women, the way in which women are represented reflects the male point of view (explaining the male gaze) of how women should look, as many camera men, producers and directors are in fact men.

One example showing Laura Mulvey’s explanation on representation and the male gaze is Wiley- Heatwave

This video is from the male perspective. Here we see dismembering shots of female body parts at various times throughout the video, the mise en scene shows many women to one man, with all the girls in swim suits and bikinis dancing around a pool. With the shots of the women in this way, it reflects on Mulvey’s view on representation.

One example that slightly challenges the male gaze and looks upon the female gaze is Destiny’s Child- Solider

In this video there is less dismemberment of the women in the video, but more close up shots, long shots and mid shots of the group and more cut away shots of the men featured in the video, though not with the same scenes and length of that seen in some male gaze videos.